The old man just wanted to get back his memory—and the methods he used were gently hellish, from the viewpoint of the others…. that’s the internal description of Murray Leinster’s Scrimshaw, a short story from Astounding Science Fiction’s September 1955 issue. I’d heard that word before, but had to look it up:
scrimshaw [noun]: the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the byproducts of harvesting marine mammals. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of Sperm Whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses. It takes the form of elaborate carvings in the form of pictures and lettering on the surface of the bone or tooth, with the engravings
Scrimshaw
By Murray Leinster; Read by Roy Trumbull
1 |MP3| – Approx. 39 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: Story Spieler Podcast
Published: 2009?
Provider: Internet Archive
From Astounding Science Fiction, September 1955. A mining colony on the moon is home to a murderer and to his victim who is slowly recovering memories lost when he was left for dead. A bold attempt is made to hijack $5 million in diamonds from the mine.
Posted by Jesse Willis