Harvest

The young man who took the steel tumbler of whiskey with trembling hands was a Mutant whose appearance differed from that of an ordinary person.

He had shark-like gills on his face, allowing him to breathe underwater. His ability could be extremely useful when it came to tracking down king crabs.

But this mutant ability was not without flaws. For one, he suffered from the same hypothermia issues in the Bering Sea as ordinary people did. He was fine in the water, but once he surfaced, things could get serious if he did not dry himself off quickly.

And after diving into the sea, boarding the ship again amid the treacherous waves would take quite a bit of time.

All these difficulties limited how useful he could actually be.

So during the voyage, everyone still relied on Captain Old George's experience to track the king crab schools. They would only send him out if they had gone a long time without finding any crabs.

Over those five days, the young Mutant had dived into the sea no more than twice.

Perhaps due to his mutant ability, he was even thinner and weaker than the average white man. As a result, this young Mutant occupied an awkward position among the crab fishermen—useful, but not quite useful enough.

As for whether there was discrimination against Mutants on crab boats, Old George had put it plainly: with the current labor shortage, anyone with working hands was welcome, whether they were a Mutant or not.

Just do not eat everyone on the boat as a snack when you got hungry. Other than that, nobody really cared that much.

Like they said, when everyone was on the same boat, there really was not much room for discrimination.

Unless someone boarded the ship only to slack off and court death. Then if they were accidentally flung into the sea by a huge wave, they could only blame their own bad luck.

The fright of that accident left the young Mutant clutching his steel tumbler of whiskey for over twenty minutes before he recovered and rejoined the crab-catching work.

No one blamed him for taking extra time to rest. After all, he had just escaped death. If it had been anyone else, no one could say how quickly they would have pulled themselves together.

Henry, on the other hand, got back to work after downing a glass of whiskey. After five days of intense labor, everyone had developed a certain degree of coordination.

Sometimes, they did not even need to shout. A glance was enough to tell each other where to help. This crab-catching voyage had been so efficient largely because Little Green had proved far more useful than anyone had imagined.

Though it had not seemed remarkable at the time, everyone who looked back on it felt that he had worked with them perfectly. That had saved them so much time and improved their efficiency by so much.

So, on the morning of the sixth day, Annie 21 returned to port smoothly. They had not finished catching all the king crabs at the last spot, but with the hold full, they had no choice but to return.

There were designated berths for unloading. Once king crab season began, the fishing companies stationed people at the docks around the clock, waiting to buy the catch.

At larger fishing ports, there would be dedicated seafood markets and auction sites. Like bluefin tuna, auctions would be held at set times every day.

But in a small place like this, bidding was usually conducted right on the dock.

The crew was not done just because they had reached port. They had to carry the king crabs out of the hold, pack them into crates, and weigh them.

At that point, Old George would argue over prices with several fishing companies he was used to dealing with.

Usually, after looking over the first few baskets of king crabs, they could roughly estimate the quality and price. Then they would purchase the entire boatload, with the winning fishing company remaining on the dock to wait for the final weighing results.

As soon as the results came out, the fishing company would immediately write a check and hand it to the boat owner or captain.

Then, once everything was finished and the crab boat had been moved to its maintenance berth, it would be time for the crew to settle their wages.

Most crew members received the fixed wages agreed upon before boarding. A few experienced hands also received a percentage of the haul.

If the captain and owner were not the same person, the captain would also receive either a guaranteed payment or a share.

Naturally, this was to motivate those veterans. After all, most of the time, a boat's catch depended on how well the experienced hands performed.

As the greenest newcomer, Henry was naturally the last to receive his check. Seeing the satisfied smiles on everyone ahead of him, he knew Old George was not a stingy boss.

Even the young Mutant flicked his check with a finger and shouted that he would treat everyone to a drink at the bar.

When Henry received his check, the number on it startled him. He asked, "Boss, did you write the wrong amount?"

Old George naturally knew what he had written. "Kid, this is what you deserve. I checked the broken end of the rope. It had snapped because it was worn out. I should have noticed the problem when I inspected the equipment beforehand."

"So not only did you clean up my mess, you also helped that kid keep his arm. The extra money I gave you is far less than what the insurance company would have claimed from me after I screwed up. So take it without worry."

"What? I had a chance to get insurance money?" the young Mutant said excitedly.

A veteran beside him immediately smacked him upside the head and asked, "Do you want the insurance money, or do you want that arm?"

Understanding what he would have to trade for it, the young Mutant hugged his injured arm with one hand and muttered, "The arm is good. My arm is fine."

Henry then accepted it without hesitation, waving the check in his hand. "Thanks, boss."

Although no one said how much they had received, Henry used his superpower to learn the number on every check. Even so, he was still at the lowest pay grade, receiving the same amount as the young Mutant.

But as Little Green, getting that amount was already more than expected. So he had nothing to complain about.

With money in their pockets, the men naturally started discussing where to go have some fun. A few who had families in town planned to go home and sleep for three days and three nights.

Old George would cut loose before setting sail so he would have no regrets if he really failed to return. But now that he had made it safely back to port, all he wanted was to take his money and go home, so he did not join the younger men.

But when he saw that Henry had not left and seemed to be waiting for him, Old George remembered the kid's situation.

He walked over and said, "You do not have a car, right? Come with me. I'll find someone to take you back to Old John's bar. If you want to cash your check, I can take you to the bank too."

"Boss, I just wanted to ask if there's another chance for me to come aboard. I want to make money."

Although Old John and the others described crab fishing as dangerous and grueling work, it was really nothing to Henry.

Take the most exhausting part, working nonstop around the clock. As long as he could bask in the sun, Henry felt as if he had endless strength inside him. That bit of fatigue was nothing at all.

He knew what money meant in modern society. The money earned on a crab boat was legal, so there was no reason not to make more whenever he had the chance.