Larry Niven's "Becalmed in Hell": An accident on Venus

Story summary.
Narrator Howie & cyborg Eric Donovan make the entire crew of a team exploring the thick atmosphere of Venus.

They need 3 kinds of propulsion to get back to earth: a pair of ramjets to go to a certain height where atmosphere is thin enough to use rockets; rockets take them to "atomic ion engine" that will take the ship back home to earth.

Deep in atmosphere, Eric loses control of ramjets. They are hooked directly into his nervous system, as is much of the rest of the ship. He can no longer feel ramjets - it's a kind of paralysis.

Tests cannot locate the fault. They go all the way down to surface where Howie goes out to check some connections, but air pressure is too high. They rise a bit, & Howie goes out again to physically pour ice on some electronics accessible only from outside. No luck.

Eventually, Howie presents a hypothesis: "I think you've got a case of what used to be called trigger anesthesia. A soldier who kills too often sometimes finds that his right index finger or even his whole hand has gone numb, as if it were no longer a part of him... Subconsciously you've stopped believing that the rams can feel like a part of you, which they were designed to do. So you've persuaded yourself that you don't feel anything."

Eric doesn't see it that way, but agrees to think it over. Later, he can intermittently feel ramjets, & is able to get them high enough up after some drama.

Real cause of loss of sensation will be revealed only near end of the story - after they land at earth, & experts can examine the problem.

Fact sheet.
Becalmed in Hell, short story, review
First published: F&SF, July 1965
Rating: B
Series: "The Coldest Place" (B), "Becalmed in Hell".