Scrimshaw

In Short

On the desolate far side of the Moon, an aging man named Pop Young operates a lonely supply shack above a deep mining colony. Surviving a brutal attack years ago that wiped his memory and killed his family, Pop discovers that staying near Sattell—the man responsible—gradually coaxes his lost memories back to the surface. When Sattell orchestrates a desperate multi-million-dollar diamond heist using a stolen luxury rocket, Pop fights back on his own terms. This poignant science fiction story explores memory, trauma, and human resilience against the crushing emptiness of space.

The Story

Pop Young lives alone in a dust-covered dome on the edge of the Big Crack, a massive fault on the far side of the Moon. His job is to manage supplies for the underground mining colony and guide incoming rockets, a task he handles with meticulous care despite the psychological strain of low gravity and absolute isolation. Pop carries a severe head scar from a past assault that wiped his memory and left his wife and children murdered. By sheer accident, he encountered Sattell years later and realized Sattell was the man who destroyed his life. Though he lacks proof, Pop follows Sattell to the Moon simply because being near him triggers lost fragments of his youth, allowing him to slowly reclaim his stolen memories through vivid drawings.

Meanwhile, Sattell languishes underground, consumed by paralyzing fear and paranoia. Convinced Pop is plotting a horrific, lingering revenge, Sattell resorts to smuggling desperate letters back to Earth in a frantic bid for escape. His plotting eventually bears fruit when a group of criminals, capitalizing on a failed luxury passenger-line venture, steal a scrap rocket and land on the far side of the Moon to steal millions in newly mined diamonds.

The red-headed leader of the criminal crew approaches Pop's shack, brandishing a weapon and demanding the current cannister of uncut diamonds. He forces Pop to call the mine and summon Sattell with the rest of the fortune, threatening to destroy the shack, the landing cable, and the entire underground colony if Pop refuses. Pop plays along submissively, but he has his own plans. Returning to his shack, he empties the diamond cannister, packs it with cotton soaked in liquid oxygen, adds magnesium powder, and rigs a broken lamp filament as a detonator.

Pop carries the rigged bomb back to the rocket under the guise of handling the hoist. The red-headed criminal takes the bait and accepts the container. Shortly after Pop leaves, the bomb detonates, completely destroying the spacecraft and killing the criminals in a brilliant flash across the lunar dust. Pop calmly returns to his quarters, completely unbothered by the chaos he leaves behind. He sits down at his table with a prized piece of plastic stair-rail salvaged from the wreckage, eager to carve a new piece of scrimshaw while thinking of Sattell to recover even more of his cherished past.

How It Unfolds

The lonely guardian Pop Young manages supplies and rocket signals at a remote shack on the Moon's hidden side. He lives in complete isolation, coping with the psychological weight of low gravity while secretly tracking a man from his forgotten past.

The recovery of memory Although Pop cannot remember his murdered family, being near Sattell allows him to slowly piece together fragments of his lost youth. He makes detailed sketches of his wife and children to anchor these recovered recollections in reality.

The criminal conspiracy Paralyzed by terror, Sattell schemes from deep underground and manages to coordinate a criminal plot from Earth. A desperate gang uses a scrapped luxury spaceship to stage an armed robbery for the colony's raw diamonds.

The armed confrontation A ruthless, red-headed criminal lands near the shack and brutally forces Pop to cooperate under threat of total destruction. Pop appears entirely submissive while secretly engineering a cunning explosive trap using liquid oxygen and a modified lamp.

The final explosion Pop delivers the rigged diamond cannister to the spaceship before walking away. The ensuing blast tears the vessel apart, leaving Pop free to return to his quiet routine and his newfound artistic materials.

The People

Pop Young is a remarkably resilient, methodical survivor who manages the lunar surface station with unblinking care. Having lost his family and his entire personal history to a violent attack years prior, he wants only to recover his lost youth and identity. He uses his strange proximity to Sattell as a psychological anchor for his memories, ultimately ending up tranquil, victorious, and happily returning to his quiet routine to carve new art.

Sattell is a deeply terrified, paranoid criminal hiding underground in the lunar colony. Having committed a brutal murder back on Earth, he wants desperately to escape the Moon and avoid Pop, whom he assumes is plotting a slow, agonizing vengeance. Tormented by guilt and terror, he orchestrates a disastrous robbery from afar that ultimately destroys his co-conspirators.

The unnamed red-headed man is a violent, nerve-racked criminal sent from Earth to execute the multi-million-dollar diamond heist. Driven by the intense psychological strain of early space travel and raw panic, he relies on brutal intimidation, vicious beatings, and threats of mass destruction. He ends up completely obliterated along with his stolen ship when he accepts Pop's rigged explosive device.

In Its Own Voice

Describing the brutal environment of the lunar far side, the narrative emphasizes the extreme physical and psychological toll placed upon the station's lone keeper:

By day the environment was heat and torment. By night--lunar night, of course, and lunar day--it was frigidity and horror.

Illustrating the harrowing psychological claustrophobia experienced by those who live beneath the surface, the text explains:

In the Moon's slight gravity, a man is really adjusted to existence when he has a well-developed case of agoraphobia.

Capturing the harsh reality of frontier crime and human desperation in space, the story notes:

This was not an expert approach. It was a faulty one.

What It's Really About

The story explores how human consciousness adapts to extreme environments, contrasting the psychological decay of isolation with the therapeutic power of memory. While Sattell is broken by guilt and the crushing weight of open space, Pop uses his antagonist as a bizarre catalyst for psychological healing. The narrative also examines the harsh economic realities of frontier space exploitation, where priceless diamonds are treated like common pebbles yet breed profound human greed and violence. Ultimately, it questions what constitutes a stolen life and how an individual reclaims their humanity after experiencing devastating trauma.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate classic mid-century science fiction driven by psychological depth rather than mere action will find much to admire here. Murray Leinster crafts a wonderfully moody, atmospheric portrait of lunar isolation, blending gritty frontier survival with an unusual character study of trauma and memory recovery. Reading it feels like stepping into a cold, silent landscape where the internal psychological weather is just as vast and threatening as the vacuum outside. Modern readers might note some mid-century technological assumptions and stark character dynamics typical of 1950s fiction, but these dated elements do not detract from the narrative's tightly controlled pacing and remarkably unique premise. What ultimately stays with you long after finishing is the haunting, quiet image of Pop Young calmly turning wreckage into art, finding a strange and hard-won form of peace on the silent, forgotten side of the Moon.