Goodbye, Dead Man!

In Short

Set within a remote Kentucky reactor facility during a mysterious occupation by "Outsiders," this story follows two scientists who exact revenge on a brutal guard named Orley Mattup. After Mattup murders a kind technician, the men use his deep-seated superstitions and a clever, lethal ruse to dismantle his sanity. More than a simple revenge plot, the story explores the intersection of primitive fear and scientific reality. It remains a compelling piece of mid-century science fiction for its tight pacing and its grim, satisfying conclusion.

The Story

The story unfolds at a privately owned, pool-type reactor in Bayless, Kentucky. The installation has been taken over by faceless "Outsiders" who utilize local guards to maintain control. Orley Mattup, a volatile and superstitious man, serves as the primary antagonist. He frequently forces his colleagues—the narrator and his friend Danny Hern—to play cards while he monitors the plant. Mattup’s cruelty culminates one night when he murders Uncle Pete, an elderly technician, simply because the old man wanders too close to the reactor floor. He kills him with a strange, twisting weapon provided by the Outsiders, leaving the body nearby while he finishes his card game.

Driven by a cold, quiet rage, Danny begins to prepare a trap. While Mattup becomes increasingly erratic, boasting of his magical luck and his superstitious rituals, Danny spends his afternoons practicing with cards and working alone in the reactor lab. When the Outsiders announce they are transferring the staff to other facilities, Danny seizes his final opportunity. During a high-stakes card game, he engineers a situation where Mattup aggressively demands every cent the scientists possess, including an extra eleven cents in small change.

Danny surrenders the money with an air of ominous resignation. As they board a bus to depart, he makes a strange hand gesture at Mattup and calls him on a public phone, telling him that the money is cursed and that he has effectively signed his own death warrant. He warns Mattup that if he spends or loses the coins, he will die for the murder of Uncle Pete.

Five years later, the narrator reunites with Danny and learns the truth. Mattup, consumed by the fear of the hex, never spent the change; he eventually fled to the mountains, where he was found dead. The narrator assumes Danny scared him into a fatal breakdown, but Danny reveals the true nature of his revenge. The coins had been placed inside the reactor’s beam tubes, making them intensely radioactive. The "curse" was merely the byproduct of long-term radiation poisoning, and by forcing Mattup to hoard the coins, Danny ensured the guard would carry his own lethal dose until the very end.

How It Unfolds

The simmering tension The narrative establishes the claustrophobic environment of the Bayless reactor, where the threat of the "Outsiders" is constant but secondary to the malice of Orley Mattup. The murder of Uncle Pete serves as the catalyst, shifting the relationship between the coworkers from uneasy tolerance to a desperate, hidden agenda for retribution.

The preparation of the trap Danny spends his limited free time in the lab, ostensibly playing cards but actually preparing the lethal objects for his scheme. While Mattup grows louder and more boastful, his superstition becomes his greatest vulnerability, and Danny exploits it with calculated, quiet precision.

The final hand The departure of the staff creates a ticking clock, forcing a final confrontation over the card table. Danny baits the greedy guard into demanding the tainted money, carefully framing the transaction to ensure Mattup keeps the coins.

The long-delayed revelation Years after the incident, the narrator encounters Danny and finally asks about the outcome of the gamble. The story concludes with the reveal that science, not magic, was the weapon all along. The radioactive coins serve as a grim, silent executioner for a man who believed only in mountain hexes.

The People

Orley Mattup is a man defined by his limited intelligence, his unchecked cruelty, and his frantic devotion to superstition. He craves control over others through his weapon and his card games, but he is fundamentally a bully who relies on the fear of others to sustain his ego. His inability to see past his own irrational beliefs makes him the perfect target for Danny’s trap.

Danny Hern is the architect of the story’s resolution. Unlike the reactive and emotional Mattup, Danny is patient, methodical, and possesses nerves of steel. He hides his hatred behind a facade of compliance, using the very technology that defines their workplace to execute a long-range, invisible punishment. He is a man who understands that in a world governed by science, he can use the laws of physics to play the part of a vengeful ghost.

The narrator serves as the audience’s proxy, initially confused by Danny’s "card-sharp" antics and skeptical of his supernatural claims. He remains a passenger to Danny’s plan, observing the guard’s slow disintegration from a distance until the final, cold clarity of the ending brings the entire scheme into focus.

In Its Own Voice

"Mattup had killed a man, so it was logical he should be punished."

The narrator sets the moral stakes early, justifying the cold-blooded retribution that follows the murder of the technician.

"I'd been keeping the stuff in the reactor beam tubes."

Danny reveals the hidden, scientific reality behind the supernatural curse he used to haunt the guard.

"It was radioactive as hell."

This final, blunt admission clarifies that the guard’s death was an inevitable consequence of physics rather than a mystical hex.

What It's Really About

The central theme is the triumph of rational, scientific coldness over the chaos of superstition. Orley Mattup represents the primitive side of humanity, ruled by "spunk water" and bad luck, while Danny represents the modern, technological man who operates with dispassionate efficiency. The story poses a chilling question: is it more moral to use the tools of science to commit a calculated execution than it is to act on a fit of irrational rage? Danny’s success relies on Mattup’s belief in the supernatural, proving that the most effective way to defeat a superstitious mind is to weaponize its own irrationality. It is a story about the intersection of cold science and human moral failure.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy hard-edged, compact science fiction will find much to admire in this story’s economy of language. It feels like a classic "twilight zone" episode translated to the page—a brief, dark, and perfectly structured narrative that refuses to offer moral comfort. It is a story that lingers because of its unflinching look at how hatred can be made precise through the application of technology.

However, readers should be prepared for the mid-century tone and the period-specific attitudes toward characters and conflict. The dialogue reflects the rough, back-country, and workplace vernacular of its time, which may feel jarring to modern ears. There is no sentimentality here; the "Outsiders" are never fully explained, and the characters’ motivations are strictly limited to their immediate environment and the singular goal of revenge. It is a grim, efficient read that rewards those who prefer a story that knows exactly how to end. What stays with you is not just the cleverness of the plot, but the haunting image of a man hoarding radioactive coins, terrified of a curse that was never a curse at all, but a simple, inevitable, and lethal reality.