Beachcomber in Space, Part 2

 

cover art by H.W. McCauley

Read/Watch 'em In Order #160

The second adventure of Ebbtide Jones ( "The Girl in the Whirlpool," written by Miles Shelton) appeared in the August 1940 issue of Fantastic Adventures. It picks up pretty much where the first adventure ended--with Ebbtide staying on the small "planet" of JONES, formed by detritus that floated in to an out-of-the-way area of space that has become a temporary gravitational eddy.

Ebb's friend, Stan Kendrick, will be coming back for Ebb soon. In the meantime, the beachcomber has been gathering a small fortune in equipment that floats in from around the solar system. This includes the chest of jewels recovered at the end of the first story. All together, Ebb has a small fortune in salvage. After Stan shuttles him back to Earth, he'll turn quite a profit.

But then a live girl floats in. Trixie Green is drop-dead gorgeous, but Ebb is uninterested in her. He notes the value of the spacesuit she's wearing, but estimates her value at $3.50. This goes up quite a bit when it turns out she can cook, but she's still not necessarily valuable enough to take up space in Stan's ship.

But trouble is afoot. Trixie ended up floating in space when a guy picked her up in a club back on Earth, took her for what she thought was an airplane ride, then got too forward with her when they reached space. She jumped out of the ship, but the guy might still be looking for her.

Ebb, of course, eventually falls for the girl, several times increasing the amount on the price tag he's hung on her. His gradual realization that he actual likes her and comes to see her as something more than a commodity is what drives the humor inherent in the story.

When the bad guy shows up, Ebb turns down a $2000 offer and fights for her. It's not a proprietous moment to start a fight, though. The gravitational eddy that held the small planet together is reversing itself sooner than Ebb thought it would. The planet begins to fly about, sending valuable salvage sailing away into space. Can Ebb save the girl AND save his chest of jewels? And why has he suddenly decided the bad guy is valuable salvage as well? And, finally, will Ebb's skill with a fishing pole prove useful at just the right moment?

The story never quite gets to laugh-out-loud level with the humor, but it's still fun. And that final fight scene, set on a tiny planet as that planet breaks up around them, is a unique action set-piece.

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