The Cold Equations
 THE
UNIVERSE DOESN'T CARE
A pilot is on an emergency mission to a planet whose
colony is doomed if he doesn't get there fast. He has just enough
fuel to reach the planet—then he finds that he has a stowaway, a young
girl wanting to be with her brother on the colony. If the pilot spaces the
girl, the ship will barely make it to the planet. If he does not, the ship
will crash and both of them as well as the colony will die. What will
he do? This story rocked science fiction when it first appeared.
Also in this volume is Godwin's long-unavailable
novel The Survivors, which poses another problem in survival: If
hostile aliens have marooned you and hundreds of other people on a nearly
uninhabitable planet, how do you not only manage to endure, but to get
revenge as well?
This is a massive volume by a master of science
fiction adventure, with added dimensions of speculation and cold, hard
realism.
Publisher's Note: The novel The Survivors has
been published separately.
"['The Cold Equations'] is one of the most popular
and controversial hard sf stories of the last fifty years. ..."
—David G. Hartwell, The Ascent of Wonder
"The touchstone story for hard-core science fiction
is Tom Godwin's 'The Cold Equations'."
—James Gunn, The Road to Science Fiction, Vol. Ill
"[Tom Godwin's SF] exhibited a fine clarity of conception, and
considerable narrative verve. ..."
—John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
"The impact [of 'The Cold Equations' on
publication] was immediate .... The impact of the story . . . remains the
same now as then."
—Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss,The Astounding-Analog Reader
Cover art by Clyde Caldwell
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