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

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

Analog published a short story awhile back which referenced The Cold Equations. Female pilot finds herself in similar situation, and remembers the original short story and decides there has to be a better way. The solution was to program the ship for a fully automated landing and use some laser tool that happened to be onboard to amputate all four of the stowaway's limbs and the pilot's! When the limbs are jettisoned, the weight is now back in acceptable limits. I thought it was a really long chain of improbable co-incidences.

[cellio]

Eww.

Ok, stories about jetisoning all possible equipment (down to the clothing) and succeeding aren't very interesting, so I guess you have to end up with either the original answer or the pilot sacrifice you describe. (Or a crash, but let's assume that's not acceptable.) But that does not make for a story that satisfies me, perhaps because the passenger is insufficiently sympathetic for me. Maybe I'm too cold-hearted or something, but I would have more sympathy for a toddler or dog that wandered on by accident than I would for someone who walked past the "no trespassing" signs and stowed away. I mean yeah, it's sad -- that's the point -- but it was avoidable.