# Casker — Short Fiction character guide

> Casker in Short Fiction by Robert Sheckley.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-final-examination

## Snapshot

A supporting figure in the war council against the Ambassador, present as Cercy's hand-picked staff debates how to kill something that becomes whatever weapon you use.

## Who they are

Casker belongs to the small, carefully chosen team Cercy assembles to assassinate the Ambassador, a being whose defense is to become each particular weapon aimed at it. The council's early sessions—Harrison's gamma-ray flood, Darrig's Metal Old Man parable, Malley's Derichman Analyzer report—define the problem Casker shares: quality over numbers, and a target that cannot be touched by any single approach. The group's escalating, futile plans against an invisible, polite enemy drive the story's central puzzle.

## Relationships

### [Hellman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/hellman)

_rivalry_

Casker and Hellman are locked in a bitter conflict, each trying to outmaneuver the other.

### [Hellman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/hellman)

_rivalry_

Casker and Hellman are locked in a bitter conflict, each trying to outmaneuver the other.

### [Hellman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/hellman)

_rivalry_

Casker and Hellman are locked in a bitter conflict, each trying to outmaneuver the other.

## In the story

### [One Man's Poison](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/chapters/one-man-s-poison)

The ship's pilot, impatient and focused on survival; he is the first to spot the creature and is cornered by it.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/casker
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters