Short Fiction · Chapter
One Man's Poison explained
Two stranded space miners, Hellman and Casker, run out of food and land on a barren, mountainous planet.
What happens
Two stranded space miners, Hellman and Casker, run out of food and land on a barren, mountainous planet. They discover a warehouse filled with unknown goods and use a Helg-Aloombrigian dictionary to try to find something edible. After a series of failed attempts, they are attacked by a creature they eventually kill and eat, allowing them to survive the return trip.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the dramatic climax because Morrison reaches the psychological breaking point of his twenty-first day…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Isolation and Friendship
Hellman and Casker are isolated in deep space with dwindling supplies, relying on each other's complementary skills to survive.
- Alien Encounter and Otherness
The planet Helg and its warehouse present completely alien substances and a dangerous creature, emphasizing the challenge of understanding the unknown.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Hellman plucked the last radish out of the can with a pair of dividers.”
Hellman used dividers to retrieve the final radish from the can.
This marks the last of their food, setting the desperate tone for the chapter.
“If one man's meat— and his poison—are your poison, then try eating something else.”
What is food for one being may be deadly for another, so one must experiment cautiously.
Hellman reflects on the central irony of the chapter: the difficulty of finding safe food on an alien world.
