| "Allamagoosa" | |
|---|---|
| Short story byEric Frank Russell | |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Astounding Science Fiction |
| Publication type | magazine |
| Publication date | May 1955 |
"Allamagoosa" is aHugo-winning humorousscience fictionshort story by the English authorEric Frank Russell, originally published in the May 1955 issue ofAstounding.
The story is a satire of the bureaucratic mindset - in this case in a military setting - and the second-order complications caused by a "creative" attempt to evade it. It has been collected inThe Hugo Winners (1962),The Best Of Eric Frank Russell (1978), andMajor Ingredients: The Selected Short Stories of Eric Frank Russell (2000), as well as a number of other anthologies.[1]
Shortly after landing at a spaceport in Vega, the military spaceshipBustler is informed of an impending surprise inspection. Captain McNaught recalls the crew from leave and begins a tedious line-by-line inventory of the ship'smanifest. Communications officer Burman discovers that the list of equipment theBustler was originally issued includes something called an "offog"; however, no one among the crew has any idea what an offog is, much less where to look for it. Misplacing equipment is a serious infraction, and asking headquarters to identify the item would be tacitly self-incriminating, but McNaught comes up with a solution: on the assumption that "offog" must simply be a playful nickname for some obscure, seldom-used gadget that has gone missing, he orders Burman to fabricate a small box, outfit it withblinkenlights, and regale the inspecting officer with sometechnobabble. The ruse works, and the ship passes inspection.
Five days later, theBustler receives an unexpected order to return to Earth for a complete overhaul. Alarmed, Burman warns McNaught that shipyard engineers will immediately spot his impostor device, but the captain solves this second problem by discreetly disposing of the fake "offog", and blandly notifying headquarters that it had "come apart under gravitational stress" as the ship passed close to a star. Two days later, an emergency transmission recalls Earth's entire fleet to the nearest spaceports; an equally urgent query is directed specifically to theBustler, demanding a detailed account of the "gravitational stress" incident. McNaught and Burman belatedly realize that "offog" had been atypo for "off.dog," or "official dog" (the ship's dog, a friendly mutt named Peaslake, having made several conspicuous appearances in the course of the story.) The story ends with the pair dejectedly awaiting their doom.
The story contains a good deal of humorous foreshadowing: Peaslake's collar, drinking bowl, and bed had immediately preceded and followed the "offog" on the inventory, and had been dully ticked off the list without McNaught or Burman noticing the implied connection between the objects; the Bustler's excitable French cook even blurts out "Nom d'un chien!" when pressed to identify the mystery item.
"Allamagoosa" was the inaugural winner of theHugo Award for Best Short Story in 1955.[2]
John Joseph Adams has called it "uproariously funny".[3]
James Nicoll has commented that it is "apparently based on anurban legend".[4] In fact, it is essentially a science-fictional recasting of a traditionaltall tale known as "The Shovewood".[5]