New attack ship captain is finally accepted by his crew when he reveals he's sterile





.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}






up vote
6
down vote

favorite












Earth is at war with alien attackers. (I believe most of the conflict takes place in the Jovian system at the time of the story.) Earth has suffered terrible losses, and the alien ships are incredibly difficult to destroy. The most effective human ships are essentially crewed single-shot missile carriers with a moderate chance of success and a low chance of survival.



The protagonist is being shipped out to captain a new missile ship; as he passes through Earth-based facilities, his observations tell us that most non-combatant roles are filled by women, and he notes approvingly of every pregnant woman he sees. (It is made clear that the birth rate is being pushed as high as possible to make up losses from the war.)



He arrives at his ship, and meets his crew. They are very hostile to him. It seems that his crew is composed of something like clones, except I recall them being described more as partly regenerated from salvaged body parts. But they are patterned after famous heroes of past battles, somehow gaining some of the capabilities of their prototypes.



Part of the reason they are hostile is that as created people they are second-class citizens. In confrontation with the captain it is revealed that they are looked down on because they are all sterile, thus only useful as cannon fodder.



The captain finally wins some sympathy from his crew when he reveals that he's been sent there because he is also sterile (some accident or previous battle injury) and so he is also no more than cannon fodder.



The story closes with the crew agreeing to try to fight hard under him, because it would be great to have a few more of him around the mess.



I recall this being a short story, or at least no more than novelette length. I would probably have read it approximately 30 years ago, in a paperback borrowed from a cousin.










share|improve this question




























    up vote
    6
    down vote

    favorite












    Earth is at war with alien attackers. (I believe most of the conflict takes place in the Jovian system at the time of the story.) Earth has suffered terrible losses, and the alien ships are incredibly difficult to destroy. The most effective human ships are essentially crewed single-shot missile carriers with a moderate chance of success and a low chance of survival.



    The protagonist is being shipped out to captain a new missile ship; as he passes through Earth-based facilities, his observations tell us that most non-combatant roles are filled by women, and he notes approvingly of every pregnant woman he sees. (It is made clear that the birth rate is being pushed as high as possible to make up losses from the war.)



    He arrives at his ship, and meets his crew. They are very hostile to him. It seems that his crew is composed of something like clones, except I recall them being described more as partly regenerated from salvaged body parts. But they are patterned after famous heroes of past battles, somehow gaining some of the capabilities of their prototypes.



    Part of the reason they are hostile is that as created people they are second-class citizens. In confrontation with the captain it is revealed that they are looked down on because they are all sterile, thus only useful as cannon fodder.



    The captain finally wins some sympathy from his crew when he reveals that he's been sent there because he is also sterile (some accident or previous battle injury) and so he is also no more than cannon fodder.



    The story closes with the crew agreeing to try to fight hard under him, because it would be great to have a few more of him around the mess.



    I recall this being a short story, or at least no more than novelette length. I would probably have read it approximately 30 years ago, in a paperback borrowed from a cousin.










    share|improve this question
























      up vote
      6
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      6
      down vote

      favorite











      Earth is at war with alien attackers. (I believe most of the conflict takes place in the Jovian system at the time of the story.) Earth has suffered terrible losses, and the alien ships are incredibly difficult to destroy. The most effective human ships are essentially crewed single-shot missile carriers with a moderate chance of success and a low chance of survival.



      The protagonist is being shipped out to captain a new missile ship; as he passes through Earth-based facilities, his observations tell us that most non-combatant roles are filled by women, and he notes approvingly of every pregnant woman he sees. (It is made clear that the birth rate is being pushed as high as possible to make up losses from the war.)



      He arrives at his ship, and meets his crew. They are very hostile to him. It seems that his crew is composed of something like clones, except I recall them being described more as partly regenerated from salvaged body parts. But they are patterned after famous heroes of past battles, somehow gaining some of the capabilities of their prototypes.



      Part of the reason they are hostile is that as created people they are second-class citizens. In confrontation with the captain it is revealed that they are looked down on because they are all sterile, thus only useful as cannon fodder.



      The captain finally wins some sympathy from his crew when he reveals that he's been sent there because he is also sterile (some accident or previous battle injury) and so he is also no more than cannon fodder.



      The story closes with the crew agreeing to try to fight hard under him, because it would be great to have a few more of him around the mess.



      I recall this being a short story, or at least no more than novelette length. I would probably have read it approximately 30 years ago, in a paperback borrowed from a cousin.










      share|improve this question













      Earth is at war with alien attackers. (I believe most of the conflict takes place in the Jovian system at the time of the story.) Earth has suffered terrible losses, and the alien ships are incredibly difficult to destroy. The most effective human ships are essentially crewed single-shot missile carriers with a moderate chance of success and a low chance of survival.



      The protagonist is being shipped out to captain a new missile ship; as he passes through Earth-based facilities, his observations tell us that most non-combatant roles are filled by women, and he notes approvingly of every pregnant woman he sees. (It is made clear that the birth rate is being pushed as high as possible to make up losses from the war.)



      He arrives at his ship, and meets his crew. They are very hostile to him. It seems that his crew is composed of something like clones, except I recall them being described more as partly regenerated from salvaged body parts. But they are patterned after famous heroes of past battles, somehow gaining some of the capabilities of their prototypes.



      Part of the reason they are hostile is that as created people they are second-class citizens. In confrontation with the captain it is revealed that they are looked down on because they are all sterile, thus only useful as cannon fodder.



      The captain finally wins some sympathy from his crew when he reveals that he's been sent there because he is also sterile (some accident or previous battle injury) and so he is also no more than cannon fodder.



      The story closes with the crew agreeing to try to fight hard under him, because it would be great to have a few more of him around the mess.



      I recall this being a short story, or at least no more than novelette length. I would probably have read it approximately 30 years ago, in a paperback borrowed from a cousin.







      story-identification






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked 1 hour ago









      DavidW

      1,2111221




      1,2111221






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          4
          down vote













          "Down Among the Dead Men", a novelette by William Tenn, also the answer to the old question I am looking for the title of a short story about dead soldiers bodies being reused; first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1954, available at the Internet Archive.




          "Fortunately," I whispered, "it wasn’t a wound that showed." Weinstein started to ask me something, decided against it and sat back. But I had told him what he wanted to know.

          "A nucleonic howitzer. The way it was figured later, it had been a defective shell. Bad enough to kill half the men on our second-class cruiser. I wasn't killed, but I was in range of the backblast."

          "That backblast.” Lamehd was thinking aloud. “That backblast will sterilize anybody within two hundred feet, unless he's wearing—"

          "And I wasn't." I had stopped sweating. It was over. My crazy little precious secret was out. I took a deep breath. "So you see—well, anyway, I know they haven't solved that problem yet." Roger Grey stood up and said,
          "Hey!" He held out his hand. I shook it. It felt like any normal guy's hand. Stronger, maybe.

          "Slingshot personnel," I went on, "are all volunteers. Except for two categories—the commanders and soldier surrogates." "Figuring, I guess," Weinstein asked, "that the human race can spare them most easily?"

          "Right," I said. "Figuring that the human race can spare them most easily."

          He nodded.

          "Well, I'll be damned!" Yussuf Lamehd laughed as he got up and shook my hand too. "Welcome to our city."

          "Thanks," I said, "son."







          share|improve this answer























            Your Answer








            StackExchange.ready(function() {
            var channelOptions = {
            tags: "".split(" "),
            id: "186"
            };
            initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

            StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
            // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
            if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
            StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
            createEditor();
            });
            }
            else {
            createEditor();
            }
            });

            function createEditor() {
            StackExchange.prepareEditor({
            heartbeatType: 'answer',
            convertImagesToLinks: false,
            noModals: true,
            showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
            reputationToPostImages: null,
            bindNavPrevention: true,
            postfix: "",
            imageUploader: {
            brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
            contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
            allowUrls: true
            },
            noCode: true, onDemand: true,
            discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
            ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
            });


            }
            });














            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f199559%2fnew-attack-ship-captain-is-finally-accepted-by-his-crew-when-he-reveals-hes-ste%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown

























            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes








            1 Answer
            1






            active

            oldest

            votes









            active

            oldest

            votes






            active

            oldest

            votes








            up vote
            4
            down vote













            "Down Among the Dead Men", a novelette by William Tenn, also the answer to the old question I am looking for the title of a short story about dead soldiers bodies being reused; first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1954, available at the Internet Archive.




            "Fortunately," I whispered, "it wasn’t a wound that showed." Weinstein started to ask me something, decided against it and sat back. But I had told him what he wanted to know.

            "A nucleonic howitzer. The way it was figured later, it had been a defective shell. Bad enough to kill half the men on our second-class cruiser. I wasn't killed, but I was in range of the backblast."

            "That backblast.” Lamehd was thinking aloud. “That backblast will sterilize anybody within two hundred feet, unless he's wearing—"

            "And I wasn't." I had stopped sweating. It was over. My crazy little precious secret was out. I took a deep breath. "So you see—well, anyway, I know they haven't solved that problem yet." Roger Grey stood up and said,
            "Hey!" He held out his hand. I shook it. It felt like any normal guy's hand. Stronger, maybe.

            "Slingshot personnel," I went on, "are all volunteers. Except for two categories—the commanders and soldier surrogates." "Figuring, I guess," Weinstein asked, "that the human race can spare them most easily?"

            "Right," I said. "Figuring that the human race can spare them most easily."

            He nodded.

            "Well, I'll be damned!" Yussuf Lamehd laughed as he got up and shook my hand too. "Welcome to our city."

            "Thanks," I said, "son."







            share|improve this answer



























              up vote
              4
              down vote













              "Down Among the Dead Men", a novelette by William Tenn, also the answer to the old question I am looking for the title of a short story about dead soldiers bodies being reused; first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1954, available at the Internet Archive.




              "Fortunately," I whispered, "it wasn’t a wound that showed." Weinstein started to ask me something, decided against it and sat back. But I had told him what he wanted to know.

              "A nucleonic howitzer. The way it was figured later, it had been a defective shell. Bad enough to kill half the men on our second-class cruiser. I wasn't killed, but I was in range of the backblast."

              "That backblast.” Lamehd was thinking aloud. “That backblast will sterilize anybody within two hundred feet, unless he's wearing—"

              "And I wasn't." I had stopped sweating. It was over. My crazy little precious secret was out. I took a deep breath. "So you see—well, anyway, I know they haven't solved that problem yet." Roger Grey stood up and said,
              "Hey!" He held out his hand. I shook it. It felt like any normal guy's hand. Stronger, maybe.

              "Slingshot personnel," I went on, "are all volunteers. Except for two categories—the commanders and soldier surrogates." "Figuring, I guess," Weinstein asked, "that the human race can spare them most easily?"

              "Right," I said. "Figuring that the human race can spare them most easily."

              He nodded.

              "Well, I'll be damned!" Yussuf Lamehd laughed as he got up and shook my hand too. "Welcome to our city."

              "Thanks," I said, "son."







              share|improve this answer

























                up vote
                4
                down vote










                up vote
                4
                down vote









                "Down Among the Dead Men", a novelette by William Tenn, also the answer to the old question I am looking for the title of a short story about dead soldiers bodies being reused; first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1954, available at the Internet Archive.




                "Fortunately," I whispered, "it wasn’t a wound that showed." Weinstein started to ask me something, decided against it and sat back. But I had told him what he wanted to know.

                "A nucleonic howitzer. The way it was figured later, it had been a defective shell. Bad enough to kill half the men on our second-class cruiser. I wasn't killed, but I was in range of the backblast."

                "That backblast.” Lamehd was thinking aloud. “That backblast will sterilize anybody within two hundred feet, unless he's wearing—"

                "And I wasn't." I had stopped sweating. It was over. My crazy little precious secret was out. I took a deep breath. "So you see—well, anyway, I know they haven't solved that problem yet." Roger Grey stood up and said,
                "Hey!" He held out his hand. I shook it. It felt like any normal guy's hand. Stronger, maybe.

                "Slingshot personnel," I went on, "are all volunteers. Except for two categories—the commanders and soldier surrogates." "Figuring, I guess," Weinstein asked, "that the human race can spare them most easily?"

                "Right," I said. "Figuring that the human race can spare them most easily."

                He nodded.

                "Well, I'll be damned!" Yussuf Lamehd laughed as he got up and shook my hand too. "Welcome to our city."

                "Thanks," I said, "son."







                share|improve this answer














                "Down Among the Dead Men", a novelette by William Tenn, also the answer to the old question I am looking for the title of a short story about dead soldiers bodies being reused; first published in Galaxy Science Fiction, June 1954, available at the Internet Archive.




                "Fortunately," I whispered, "it wasn’t a wound that showed." Weinstein started to ask me something, decided against it and sat back. But I had told him what he wanted to know.

                "A nucleonic howitzer. The way it was figured later, it had been a defective shell. Bad enough to kill half the men on our second-class cruiser. I wasn't killed, but I was in range of the backblast."

                "That backblast.” Lamehd was thinking aloud. “That backblast will sterilize anybody within two hundred feet, unless he's wearing—"

                "And I wasn't." I had stopped sweating. It was over. My crazy little precious secret was out. I took a deep breath. "So you see—well, anyway, I know they haven't solved that problem yet." Roger Grey stood up and said,
                "Hey!" He held out his hand. I shook it. It felt like any normal guy's hand. Stronger, maybe.

                "Slingshot personnel," I went on, "are all volunteers. Except for two categories—the commanders and soldier surrogates." "Figuring, I guess," Weinstein asked, "that the human race can spare them most easily?"

                "Right," I said. "Figuring that the human race can spare them most easily."

                He nodded.

                "Well, I'll be damned!" Yussuf Lamehd laughed as he got up and shook my hand too. "Welcome to our city."

                "Thanks," I said, "son."








                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited 57 mins ago

























                answered 1 hour ago









                user14111

                97.4k6381487




                97.4k6381487






























                    draft saved

                    draft discarded




















































                    Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





                    Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


                    Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


                    • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

                    But avoid



                    • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

                    • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


                    To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




                    draft saved


                    draft discarded














                    StackExchange.ready(
                    function () {
                    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f199559%2fnew-attack-ship-captain-is-finally-accepted-by-his-crew-when-he-reveals-hes-ste%23new-answer', 'question_page');
                    }
                    );

                    Post as a guest















                    Required, but never shown





















































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown

































                    Required, but never shown














                    Required, but never shown












                    Required, but never shown







                    Required, but never shown







                    Popular posts from this blog

                    數位音樂下載

                    When can things happen in Etherscan, such as the picture below?

                    格利澤436b