The Cold Equation By Tom Godwin Summary
The Cold Equation
In the short story "The Cold Equation" Tom Godwin explains the theme that you don’t always get what you want. The characters are Marilyn Lee Cross,her brother, and the EDS pilot. When the EDS pilot finds her in the ship he had a conversation about how she was going to die. on page. Before she died she had the chance to talk and sends letters to her brother and family. The time had come, she would be ejected out of the ship. The story begins with a girl that wants to see her brother so she decided to hide on an EDS ship. She stowed away in the supply closet, and when the pilot found out that she was in there, he had to make an unimaginable decision. He would have to transmit her into space in order to conserve fuel.
One example that shows you don’t always get what you want is when she explains why she hid on the ship. " I wanted to see my brother. He's with the government survey crew on Woden and I haven't seen him for ten years, not since he left Earth to go into government survey work".(2) The next example is when the EDS pilot tried to let her speak to her brother. "He held down the button that would flash the grid lines on the viewscreen and used the known diameter of the planet to estimate the distance the southern tip of Lotus Lake had yet to go until it passed beyond the radio range”.This is when she would be able to talk to her brother but in 30 minutes, the signal would be lost and she would no longer have the chance to talk to her brother. (7) The story ends when she is ejected out of the ship. “Something shapeless and ugly was hurrying ahead of him, going to Woden where its brother was waiting through the night, but the empty ship still lived for a little while with the presence of the girl who had not know about the forces that killed with neither hatred nor malice”. (12) This supports my theme because no one gets want they want in this story. This story illustrates how you don’t always get want you want as show by Tom Godwin in “The Cold Equation”
In the short story "The Cold Equation" Tom Godwin explains the theme that you don’t always get what you want. The characters are Marilyn Lee Cross,her brother, and the EDS pilot. When the EDS pilot finds her in the ship he had a conversation about how she was going to die. on page. Before she died she had the chance to talk and sends letters to her brother and family. The time had come, she would be ejected out of the ship. The story begins with a girl that wants to see her brother so she decided to hide on an EDS ship. She stowed away in the supply closet, and when the pilot found out that she was in there, he had to make an unimaginable decision. He would have to transmit her into space in order to conserve fuel.
One example that shows you don’t always get what you want is when she explains why she hid on the ship. " I wanted to see my brother. He's with the government survey crew on Woden and I haven't seen him for ten years, not since he left Earth to go into government survey work".(2) The next example is when the EDS pilot tried to let her speak to her brother. "He held down the button that would flash the grid lines on the viewscreen and used the known diameter of the planet to estimate the distance the southern tip of Lotus Lake had yet to go until it passed beyond the radio range”.This is when she would be able to talk to her brother but in 30 minutes, the signal would be lost and she would no longer have the chance to talk to her brother. (7) The story ends when she is ejected out of the ship. “Something shapeless and ugly was hurrying ahead of him, going to Woden where its brother was waiting through the night, but the empty ship still lived for a little while with the presence of the girl who had not know about the forces that killed with neither hatred nor malice”. (12) This supports my theme because no one gets want they want in this story. This story illustrates how you don’t always get want you want as show by Tom Godwin in “The Cold Equation”