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

[nickjong.livejournal.com]

"The Cold Equations" has always been one of my favorite short stories. I first read it as a young and impressionable high school student, so maybe I should take another look at it some time.

[geekosaur]

Given the culture of the time, your original impression of it is probably a more accurate modern rendition of it. :)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

There was an interesting debate a while back in the New York Review of Science Fiction (http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html) on whether or not "The Cold Equations" should be viewed as a sexist story. I've always just seen it for its theme that the universe is indifferent to us.

If you found the story on the web, it probably is a copyright violation, and you might want to track it down in a library to make sure that the version you read was accurate. It's been anthologized a lot, so it's not hard to find.

[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.

[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.