Earth, Air, Fire and Water by Robert Sheckley. Short summary

5 seconds

Redell arrives on Venus to pick up recording equipment and test the latest space suit. He gets caught in a blizzard and burns the suit to survive.

1 minute

Redell arrived on Venus to retrieve the recording equipment from the ship. The second task was to test the latest space suit.

Redell went to get the equipment. A blizzard started, snow drifted in. He tried to pick up the company wave on the radio, but other people’s voices disturbed him.

Redell tried to make skis out of the oily stalks that grew on the planet. To tie them together, he ripped the heater wires off his suit. But nothing worked.

Then Redell built a fire. The company heard him on the radio and promised to pick up the astronaut in ten hours.

To wait for rescuers, the fire had to be kept going. He burned oily branches, but they burned too quickly.

When rescuers found him, Radell was sitting by the fire, supporting the flames with pieces of his most expensive and modern space suit.