"But—why?"
Hanson made a weak gesture.
"Because they're—out there!"
"What?" I said. "Outside the ship? How come? Why?"
Hanson's eyes were haunted.
"Biggs," he said in a hollow voice, "thought they were garbage cans! He used them to dispose of the rotten cargo!"
Well, there wasn't any danger of the Forenzis getting lost, anyway. But do you know I even had to point that out to Mr. Biggs? Yes. That night I got a personal message for him, and I took it down to his cabin. Being confined to quarters, he was lonely. He looked so abject that I felt sorry for him, and lingered to talk for a while.
"I guess you think I'm a frightful dummy, Sparks," he said ruefully. "And I know Captain Hanson thinks so. But—this is my first flight, you know. And nobody ever told me what to use for garbage pails—"
"Look, Biggs," I told him, "there's no need for garbage pails in space. You can't just dump things out the airlock and expect to get rid of them."