This book is made of Funny.
- The Martians' chess obsession is a running gag as is their vile taste in championship cups.
- Sarge's description of the chunk of cosmic flotsam that holes the Upsydaisy - 'Said object taking the form a gob of meteoric nickel-iron ambling along at the characteristic speed of pssst!'
- Captain McNulty's description of that same disaster as 'an embarrassing predicament'.
- Kli Morg: '- we cannot control the ship while squatting in the icebox like three and a half dozen strawberry sodas!'
- Photographer Wilson's technique for ensuring the safety of his fragile photographic plates: "When at first I let 'em go on trust I had them walloped to powder in two successive accidents. Then I developed the habit of worrying about them. I was doing a really good job of worrying just before that Century Express smashup and I lost only two, both unexposed. I worried all but six of my outfit through the big Naples quake. So it pays me, see?"
- The landing party on Mechanistria is sitting on the bank of an alien river watching the water when a local animal crawls out of its burrow, drinks. Looks at them - and sits itself at the end of the row. 'Still nobody said anything. There didn't seem anything adequate to say.'
- Communications man Steve Gregory and his acrobatic eyebrows.
- The engineer with the four foot wrench 'with which - it was rumored - he often slept'.
- Crewman Jepson falling '- at the incredible rate of two vulgar adjectives per foot'.
- The entire crew has been captured - again - and tied up like Christmas presents. Sarge is dropped next to Jepson and they have the following exchange:Jepson: The smelly bums!'Sarge: Take it easy, if we play it their way they may give us more rope.Jepson: And I don't care for guys who try to be witty at the wrong time!Sarge: I wasn't trying to be witty. We're bound to hold our own opinions, aren't we? You're all tied up!"Jepson: There you go again!
