# Professor Darrig — Short Fiction character guide

> Professor Darrig in Short Fiction by Robert Sheckley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Darrig

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

## Snapshot

A plump mathematical physicist whose restless curiosity treats an unkillable alien ambassador as an intellectual puzzle rather than a death sentence.

## Who they are

Darrig is the only member of Cercy's four-man assassination team genuinely fascinated by the Ambassador as a problem to be solved, not merely a target to be eliminated. He draws on Apache folklore about Metal Old Man's unarmored armpit to suggest the alien might have a hidden weakness, and he is the one who translates the Derichman Analyzer's cryptic verdict into plain language. Cercy is counting on him for the breakthrough that the others' engineering and psychiatry cannot supply.

## Relationships

### [Colonel Cercy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/colonel_cercy)

_rivalry_

Colonel Cercy and Professor Darrig are intellectual adversaries, each believing their approach is superior.

### [Colonel Cercy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/colonel_cercy)

_rivalry_

Colonel Cercy and Professor Darrig are intellectual adversaries, each believing their approach is superior.

### [Colonel Cercy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/characters/colonel_cercy)

_rivalry_

Colonel Cercy and Professor Darrig are intellectual adversaries, each believing their approach is superior.

## In the story

### [Diplomatic Immunity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_48_se/chapters/diplomatic-immunity)

Scientist who studied the Ambassador; driven insane after exposure to the Ambassador's philosophy.

## Links

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