 What is Ironic about Captain Hannah’s time with the marocca plants?
Captain Hannah climbed painfully down from the Delta Crucis , hobbled across the spaceport to where Beulah and I were waiting to greet him and hit me in the eye. Although he has never been a handsome man, he usually has the weathered and austere dignity that comes from plying the remote reaches among the stars. Captain Hannah had lost the Look of Eagles. His eyes were swollen almost shut; every inch of him that showed was a red mass of welts piled on more welts, as though he had tangled with a hive of misanthropic bees. The gold-braided hat of his trade was not clamped in its usual belligerent position slightly over one eye. It was riding high on his head, apparently held up by more of the ubiquitous swellings. I only drink rhial when I've been exposed to Captain Hannah. I almost felt sorry for him, but just then Beulah came racking across the field with her two-ton infant in tow, to show her off to Hannah. He had foisted those two maudlin mastodons off onto me in one of our earlier deals, and if I had somehow been responsible for his present troubles, it was no more than he deserved. The fruit of the marocca is delicious and fabulously expensive. The plant grew only on the single planet Mypore II. Transshipped seeds invariably failed to germinate, which explained its rarity. The Myporians were usually, and understandably, bitterly, opposed to letting any of the living plants get shipped off their planet. But when I offered them a sizable piece of cash plus a perpetual share of the profits for letting us take a load of marocca plants to Gloryanna III, they relented and, for the first time in history, gave their assent. "I got them there safely," said Captain Hannah. "When I left, marocca was growing like mad," said Captain Hannah. "It was you who said that we should carry those damn plants to Gloryanna III," he said balefully. "Simmer down and have some more rhial," I told him. You know that marocca takes a very special kind of environment. Bright sun most of the time—that means an almost cloudless environment. Days and nights the same length and no seasons—that means no ecliptical and no axial tilt. But our tests showed that the plants had enough tolerance to cause no trouble in the trip in Delta Crucis ." "Your tests were no good," agreed the captain with feeling. "I'll tell you about it first, and then I'll black your other eye," he decided.
 After all Captain Hannah suffers through in order to get to the plants to Gloryanna, it turns out that the Gloryannans absolutely detest the plant, and that it is illegal for good reason. The narrator’s plan to earn a profit by selling marocca where they don’t grow was completely wrong. Hannah suffered for nothing.
 After all Captain Hannah suffers through in order to get to the plants to Gloryanna, it turns out that the Gloryannans have stopped all trade lines. He is asked to leave Gloryannan customs and never return. Hannah suffered for nothing.  After all Captain Hannah suffers through in order to get to the plants to Gloryanna, it turns out that the Gloryannans absolutely detest the plant, and that it is illegal for good reason. The narrator’s plan to earn a profit by selling marocca where they don’t grow was completely wrong. Hannah suffered for nothing.  After all Captain Hannah suffers through in order to get to the plants to Gloryanna, it turns out that the Myporians are the only people in the solar system who eat its fruit, and that virtually everybody else in the universe is pathologically allergic.  After all Captain Hannah suffers through in order to get to the plants to Gloryanna, it turns out that the Gloryannans won’t buy any from him because they are scared of their government. Hannah suffered for nothing.