# Herbert Albert Adams — Short Fiction character guide

> Herbert Albert Adams in Short Fiction by Clark Ashton Smith.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Albert Adams, Adams

**First appearance:** 0000-the-malay-krise

## Snapshot

A young, brilliant mutineer who, broken by years of interstellar confinement, tries to seize Volmar's space-flier and is condemned to be marooned without weapons or oxygen.

## Who they are

Adams is one of three mutineers—along with Chester Deming and James Roverton—aboard Volmar's flier, a man of proven intellectual ability and flawless constitution who volunteered for a voyage no ordinary man would dare. Unlike the fanatically devoted Volmar, Adams is more human, and the years of bleak confinement among the pits of infinity have eroded his morale until he can bear the nostalgia for Earth no longer. His failed, barehanded attempt to turn the vessel homeward, and the cold sentence Volmar passes upon him, establish the central conflict between human longing and inhuman devotion to an idea.

## Relationships

### [James Roverton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/james_roverton)

_professional_

Herbert Albert Adams is a clerk or accountant working under James Roverton's supervision.

### [Chester Deming](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/chester_deming)

_professional_

Chester Deming and Herbert Albert Adams are colleagues in the same trading company, with Deming as senior partner.

## In the story

### [The Ninth Skeleton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/the-ninth-skeleton)

The narrator and protagonist, who experiences a terrifying supernatural vision while on his way to meet his fiancée.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/i)

A young mutineer, part of the failed mutiny against Captain Volmar.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/ii)

A mutineer who is thrown off the boulder-like organism when it opens; advocates for moving on.

### [A Strange Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/a-strange-land)

Participates in the discussion about direction and is startled when the boulder-form heaves upward.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/iii)

Speculates about the food paste and comments on the novelty of the pygmies.

### [Captured!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/captured)

Another captured mutineer; observes that they are as much a novelty to the alien creatures as the creatures are to them.

### [A Conference](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/a-conference)

Speculates the white paste is the staff of life for the pygmies.

### [IV The Brink of Doom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/iv)

First to swim into the narrow aperture, leading the escape from the pool.

### [Into the Stream!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/into-the-stream)

First to swim into the narrow aperture, following the current.

### [Into the Pouch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/v)

First to be seized by the bird; later captured, eaten, and regurgitated by a plant-monster.

### [Into the Pouch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/into-the-pouch)

Captured by the giant bird and placed in its pouch; later knocked senseless during the bird's struggle.

### [A New Horror](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/chapters/a-new-horror)

Devoured by a plant-monster but ejected when human flesh proves indigestible.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters/herbert_albert_adams
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_9_se/characters