the cold equations

[cellio]

A recent conversation brought to mind an SF story called "The Cold Equations" (by Tom Godwin), considered a classic by some. I had heard of the story but had not read it (had the title slightly wrong and no author). It turns out to be Googlable; that's probably a copyright violation. But now I've read it. Interesting story (no spoilers here; I make no promises about comments).

I had previously been under the impression that one of the pivotal characters was a child (of perhaps nine or ten), not an eighteen-year-old. I found that this affected my enjoyment of the story; the character makes a mistake with consequences (not following directions, in a really big way), and when I thought those mistakes were being made by a child I had more sympathy. As it is, it's hard for me to really appreciate this character's angst. The story is also somewhat a product of its time (the 50s); the other main character makes a point of saying he would have handled things differently if it had been a "man". (Aside: she's a "girl".) It's still a good story, but I liked it better with my mistaken impressions. :-)

There was a Twilight Zone episode based on the story (the series from about a decade ago, which I mostly missed due to not having the right cable channels available). I'd kind of like to see that.

Comments

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

There was an execrable adaptation of The Cold Equations that appeared on the SciFi Channel a few years ago, and I've done my best to put it out of my mind.

I loved Godwin's story, and here's why I don't think the age of the girl is quite that significant. I hope this isn't too spoilerish, but the impression I had was that the girl who stowed away did so innocently. She wasn't explicitly trying to avoid paying a fare. She just wanted to see her brother stationed far away. When confronted with the fact that she was on an emergency transport and that this wasn't simply a minor infraction any longer, her reaction was the heartrending (for the reader and the other principal protagonist) "I didn't do anything to die for."

I don't think the story would have had less of an impact for me had she been 10, 18 or an innocent twentysomething. I'm thinking in particular of the radio (or whatever the medium was) conversation she had with her brother, which hit me like a hammer when I read it decades ago. An adaptation of that story, true to the original, would be something I'd consider a must see.