Editing Delilah and the Space Rigger

{{Short description|1949 short story by Robert Heinlein}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
"'''[[Delilah]] and the Space Rigger'''" is a [[science fiction]] [[short story]] by American writer [[Robert A. Heinlein]]. One of his [[Future History (novel)|Future History]] stories, it originally appeared in ''[[Blue Book (magazine)|Blue Book]]'' in December 1949 and was reprinted in his collection, ''[[The Green Hills of Earth (short story collection)|The Green Hills of Earth]]'' (and subsequently ''[[The Past Through Tomorrow]]'').<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Garyn |title=Early Genius: Robert A. Heinlein's Stories from 1939 to 1949. |journal=Critical Insights: Robert A. Heinlein |date=2015 |page=101 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lkh&AN=112613291&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site}}</ref>

"Delilah and the Space Rigger" is one of Heinlein's stories with a typically strong, smart, capable (for the American science fiction market of the time) female protagonist.

==Plot summary==
Brooks McNye, a communications engineer, wangles a job as a [[radio]] technician (concealing her first name, Gloria) and joins the all-male crew of construction workers building a [[space station]]. On arrival, she is immediately confronted by "Tiny" Larsen, the hard-boiled construction superintendent, who had not realized she was female. He does not want women "sniffing around my boys" and orders her returned on the next shuttle, only to be forced by circumstances to keep her. Larsen is constantly putting his foot in his mouth with remarks like, "Mind what [Hammond] tells you. He's a good man," only to hear a brisk, "I know, I trained him." In the end, he is forced to admit that having a woman on the team has improved morale and efficiency, and he decides to stop [[Sexism|discriminating on the basis of sex]]. He also asks that a [[chaplain]] be assigned to the station, reasoning, "under the new policy we may need one anytime."

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{ISFDB title|id=58501|short=y}}
* [https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133417/1439133417___2.htm Full text of story] at [[Baen Ebooks]]

{{Future History}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delilah And The Space Rigger}}
[[Category:Short stories by Robert A. Heinlein]]
[[Category:1949 short stories]]


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