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cate_stern52292's review against another edition
5.0
This was the story that taught me life wasn't fair. I first read it in high school, and tore through it, completely absorbed in the story of a young stowaway who just wanted to see her brother and the intense moral dilemma she imposes upon the pilot. After I finished it, I felt numb, like somehow the world was a little less magical, less nicer than it was before. I can't speak for anyone else but because of my personal experience with this story, it remains one of my favorites to this day.
clanhay's review against another edition
1.0
Not a good book IMO. It’s basically the “Trolley Car Dilemma” but set on a space ship. The author tried for emotional anguish of eminent demise. In reality it’s a lazy method and for such a short story it somehow manages to seem long and tedious. Lots of whiny teenage musings that made me feel annoyed rather than sympathetic.
I started with 2 stars but writing this review made me realize it only deserves 1.
I started with 2 stars but writing this review made me realize it only deserves 1.
villyidol's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! This story really packs a punch.
I probably shouldn’t write anything more than that in order to leave you unprepared. But it’s hard to hold back, considering how much I loved this.
So either you just trust me and go in blind (link to the story at the end) or, well, here’s my review:
An Emergency Dispatch Ship is on its way to the planet Woden to deliver vitally important medicine to one of the exploration groups there, when the pilot discovers a stowaway on his ship.
Interstellar Regulations demand that any stowaway on an EDS shall be jettisoned immediately. The reason for that is quite simple. The ship does not carry enough fuel to reach its destination as soon as the weight of the ship goes beyond mission parameters.
To get rid of the stowaway on the other hand turns out to be anything but simple, for the stowaway is a young girl who didn’t know what she was getting herself into. She only wanted to visit her brother, who is stationed on Woden and whom she hasn‘t seen for many years.
What follows is a heartbreaking story about a man who has to kill an innocent young girl in order to fulfill his mission and save the lives of the people on Woden. And also the story of a young girl who didn’t want to do anything wrong but now has to understand that she has to die in order not to be responsible for the deaths of several other people.
It’s a short tale that works brilliantly because of its uncompromising premise and its strong characters.
If there ever were a fictional story that would make me cry, it would probably be this one here.
Thanks, Oleksandr, for mentioning it to me. Otherwise it is quite possible I would have missed out on this fantastic experience.
For anyone interested, the story can be read here.
I probably shouldn’t write anything more than that in order to leave you unprepared. But it’s hard to hold back, considering how much I loved this.
So either you just trust me and go in blind (link to the story at the end) or, well, here’s my review:
An Emergency Dispatch Ship is on its way to the planet Woden to deliver vitally important medicine to one of the exploration groups there, when the pilot discovers a stowaway on his ship.
Interstellar Regulations demand that any stowaway on an EDS shall be jettisoned immediately. The reason for that is quite simple. The ship does not carry enough fuel to reach its destination as soon as the weight of the ship goes beyond mission parameters.
To get rid of the stowaway on the other hand turns out to be anything but simple, for the stowaway is a young girl who didn’t know what she was getting herself into. She only wanted to visit her brother, who is stationed on Woden and whom she hasn‘t seen for many years.
What follows is a heartbreaking story about a man who has to kill an innocent young girl in order to fulfill his mission and save the lives of the people on Woden. And also the story of a young girl who didn’t want to do anything wrong but now has to understand that she has to die in order not to be responsible for the deaths of several other people.
It’s a short tale that works brilliantly because of its uncompromising premise and its strong characters.
If there ever were a fictional story that would make me cry, it would probably be this one here.
Thanks, Oleksandr, for mentioning it to me. Otherwise it is quite possible I would have missed out on this fantastic experience.
For anyone interested, the story can be read here.
oleksandr's review against another edition
4.0
a cool short story about the clash of morals and laws on nature, which do not care. In free domain, available online.
june_moon's review
2.0
An initially captivating short story but it soon becomes full of holes and a complete lack of logic. It's impossible to be sympathetic to the protagonist or his cruel world which did not troubleshoot for such an obvious problem?? "Sorry that's the way it is, I must kill you." There is no compassion nor one thought of altruism that might give this story some heart. Truthfully "cold."
hoppy500's review against another edition
4.0
The short story 'The Cold Equations' itself is well written and certainly packs a punch. The end is not what you might expect. Some sources say that the author originally wrote a standard ending, but that the publisher made him change it. The other stories in the book are completely different in style and content. The story The Cold Equations is definitely worth five stars, whereas the other stories are probably around three.
trish204's review
4.0
This story is old. Some say it has not held up well. I beg to differ. The enduring (and in my opinion undying) theme is that nature is indifferent to humans. Either you survive or you don't. No amount of pleading will make a storm change its course or a lightning strike less painful. It is what it is and you have to deal with it.
In Godwin's story, we follow a pilot on board a small vessel (called EDS) as he is en route to a planet that some humans are surveying. One of the survey teams is in trouble, the other can't get to them and they are running out of time. The problem is that the big cuisers connecting the various planets humanity has colonized can't just drop out of their scheduled routes because the system would then collapse (apparently, not all planets are self-sustaining). Thus, such smaller vessels are sent.
The next problem: the computers ration the precious fuel and usually give barely enough for an EDS to reach its destination.
The final problem and central point to this short story: there is a stowaway on board the EDS and regulations are clear on what the pilot has to do. Namely, tossing the stowaway out the airlock as the added weight would mean the EDS would crash when landing on the planet and all aboard as well as those needing the precious medication on board would die.
However, there are no "happy lands of absolutes" no matter what Herodotus once said. Not all (if any) stowaways are criminals, engaging the pilot in a fight over life and death, making it morally easy to toss them out. No matter what the rule book says. And this pilot is learning this particular lesson the hard way.
As the other protagonist of this story is learning the even harder lesson that all actions have consequences, even if you didn't mean anything by it, even if you didn't intend any harm.
And death isn't always malicious. Sometimes it's just the termination of life. Because that is nature and nature doesn't always give us enough margin to save the day as in most action stories.
I think the reason this story works so well, amongst other things, is because the author himself lived in the harsh environment of the Mojave Desert. Thus, he knows what nature can be like.
I had heard about this story before and know that some don't like it at all. Supposedly, it has very dated views on gender roles - which I couldn't find here. Age played a part, certainly, but how often - upon encountering an obituary - do we feel more for a child having died than for an old person (regardless of gender)?
What I can relate to is the people not liking. In fact, I thought . I think it stemmed from the author's need to create a character who was on their way to work somehwere on one hand and on the other hand. Nevertheless, the character was indeed the perfect representation of most humans' problem in understanding science in the first place and also that there is no fairness in life, that life isn't supposed to be fair as that is an entirely human concept and has no effect on the laws of nature. The incomprehension and unwillingness to comprehend was very well done - and one of the things that enraged me the most (as in real life). *lol*
So while the story had the one noteable weakness mentioned above and while we could argue about how much sense the whole fuel plot makes from an engineering point of view (to say nothing of the fact that passengers/civilians are apparently not informed of the rules and regulations and their raison d'être despite them affecting said passengers/civilians), the story was very well written and addressing a very important issue in a tragical and engaging way.
As for the morality: yes, sometimes some lives are more important than others. But not how you might think. In this particular story, the pilot can pilot the ship and thus save all the sick people on the planet. The stowaway couldn't. One life sacrificed to save 6. Makes sense to me. It's like people climbing Mount Everest - if you're on the rope and dragging others with you to death, you cut the line and that is that. Harsh, but not unkind.
You can read the story for free here: http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/
In Godwin's story, we follow a pilot on board a small vessel (called EDS) as he is en route to a planet that some humans are surveying. One of the survey teams is in trouble, the other can't get to them and they are running out of time. The problem is that the big cuisers connecting the various planets humanity has colonized can't just drop out of their scheduled routes because the system would then collapse (apparently, not all planets are self-sustaining). Thus, such smaller vessels are sent.
The next problem: the computers ration the precious fuel and usually give barely enough for an EDS to reach its destination.
The final problem and central point to this short story: there is a stowaway on board the EDS and regulations are clear on what the pilot has to do. Namely, tossing the stowaway out the airlock as the added weight would mean the EDS would crash when landing on the planet and all aboard as well as those needing the precious medication on board would die.
However, there are no "happy lands of absolutes" no matter what Herodotus once said. Not all (if any) stowaways are criminals, engaging the pilot in a fight over life and death, making it morally easy to toss them out. No matter what the rule book says. And this pilot is learning this particular lesson the hard way.
As the other protagonist of this story is learning the even harder lesson that all actions have consequences, even if you didn't mean anything by it, even if you didn't intend any harm.
And death isn't always malicious. Sometimes it's just the termination of life. Because that is nature and nature doesn't always give us enough margin to save the day as in most action stories.
I think the reason this story works so well, amongst other things, is because the author himself lived in the harsh environment of the Mojave Desert. Thus, he knows what nature can be like.
I had heard about this story before and know that some don't like it at all. Supposedly, it has very dated views on gender roles - which I couldn't find here. Age played a part, certainly, but how often - upon encountering an obituary - do we feel more for a child having died than for an old person (regardless of gender)?
What I can relate to is the people not liking
Spoiler
the girl as she was getting on my nerves as well with how she acted and what she saidSpoiler
she didn't act and speak like an 18-year-old at all but an 8-year-old insteadSpoiler
who would inspire the pilot's protective instinctSo while the story had the one noteable weakness mentioned above and while we could argue about how much sense the whole fuel plot makes from an engineering point of view (to say nothing of the fact that passengers/civilians are apparently not informed of the rules and regulations and their raison d'être despite them affecting said passengers/civilians), the story was very well written and addressing a very important issue in a tragical and engaging way.
As for the morality: yes, sometimes some lives are more important than others. But not how you might think. In this particular story, the pilot can pilot the ship and thus save all the sick people on the planet. The stowaway couldn't. One life sacrificed to save 6. Makes sense to me. It's like people climbing Mount Everest - if you're on the rope and dragging others with you to death, you cut the line and that is that. Harsh, but not unkind.
You can read the story for free here: http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/
cathepsut's review
3.0
A pilot finds a stowaway on his shuttle, with deadly consequences...
Tragic story. I even cried a little. But I also confess to some skimming, because the writing did not really grab me and I wasn’t all that invested in the conversation that happened.
Also the initial premise is pretty flawed. The morality of the whole set-up is questionable. It begs the question, why and if one life is more valuable than another. And what the parameters might be. And why they couldn’t simply add a decent door lock to their little ship and maybe design it better.
Anyway, this story is mostly a mind game, I guess, and not an attempt at hard sci-fi.
The brief scene about working out an equation by computer was quaint. How little they knew in 1954!
Can be read for free here: http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/
Tragic story. I even cried a little. But I also confess to some skimming, because the writing did not really grab me and I wasn’t all that invested in the conversation that happened.
Also the initial premise is pretty flawed. The morality of the whole set-up is questionable. It begs the question, why and if one life is more valuable than another. And what the parameters might be. And why they couldn’t simply add a decent door lock to their little ship and maybe design it better.
Anyway, this story is mostly a mind game, I guess, and not an attempt at hard sci-fi.
The brief scene about working out an equation by computer was quaint. How little they knew in 1954!
Can be read for free here: http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/
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