Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

“It wasn’t luck, I can tell you that.” He grasped Jorn by the elbow and

lowered his voice confidentially, although there was no one else in the

ward room. “Listen, maybe I shot off my mouth a little the last time I saw

you, but you know I didn’t mean anything by it, don’t you? Old Big Mouth

Wester, I just love to sound off. But I owe you a favor for putting me on

to this nice soft berth. And seeing as bow you haven7t got a stripe yet,

maybe I could give you a tip or two. Let bygones be bygones. Okay?”

“Fine,” Jorn said. “Only I don’t see whaes so soft about it. You had to go

through most or all of what I did or you wouldn’t be here, let alone with

the stripe. And it didn’t strike me as so soft.”

“Oh, I work,” Jurg said scornfully. “I work like hell and I make a big

impression-when I have to. I was the only man in my old section who never

goofed in plain sight. I always do everything exactly by the books, even if

it’s nit-witted to do it that way. That’s what The Project says it wants

and that’s exactly what I give ’em, right down the line.”

“All right, but if that adds up to a soft berth, I’ll still take concrete,”

Jorn said, baffled.

“You’re not using your head, Birn, I can see that. For instance: who was

your section clerk?”

“One of the women-you wouldn’t know her. She was top-notch at it, too.”

“No doubt,” Jurg said. “But in my section, I was clerk. I saw to it that I

was. You’d be surprised bow much a simple thing like that can save you in

wearand-tear on the feet-and in hours of sleep.”

“I sure would. In our section the clerk’s job was an extra; it didn’t save