Discussion Questions for “The Cold Equations”



Discussion Questions for “The Cold Equations”

How does astronaut Barton know he is not alone on his Emergency Dispatch Ship?

What does Paragraph L, Section 8, of Interstellar Regulations, state?

Why were Emergency Dispatch Ships created?

What is the power source for the hyperspace cruisers and why don’t they use that power source for the engines of the EDSs?

Why must they so carefully ration the rocket fuel that powers the EDSs?

What do the cruisers’ computers not calculate when they are figuring out exactly how much rocket fuel each EDS will need to make each trip?

What is the mission of this particular EDS at this time?

What does the astronaut Barton know that he must do about his stowaway, and how does he feel about it?

Why does it make a difference to the astronaut Barton that his stowaway is a girl and not a man?

Why had she stowed away?

How does Marilyn’s demeanor change when she finds out what Barton has to do about her having stowed away?

In what way is Barton’s report to Ship’s Records about his stowaway highly irregular and very different from the way that kind of report is usually done?

What does Marilyn seem to think about how everyone feels towards her for having stowed away, and what does Barton tell her so she won’t feel so bad?

Why does Commander Delhart not mention Barton’s violation of regulations when Barton has not immediately jettisoned his stowaway and has instead just cut his deceleration to save fuel for the time being?

What is the reason, Barton realizes, why it’s so hard for Marilyn to accept what must be done to her because she stowed away?

What does Barton realize Marilyn is to him and her parents and her brother, and what she is now to the physical laws of nature?

What does Barton think about how Marilyn’s brother and their parents will react to his decision to jettison Marilyn out the airlock?

What does Marilyn do in her last hour?

When Marilyn says she’s a coward for fearing death, what does Barton say to her about fear and about cowardice?

What had previously been Marilyn’s impression of her brother’s dangerous life on the frontier?

When Barton informs Marilyn that because of the planet Woden’s rotation, Gerry will soon be out of radio range, what does she tell Barton about how long she’ll stay on board the EDS?

What does Marilyn regret most?

What are some of the ‘little things’ that Gerry had done for her?

What does Barton tell Marilyn about what she has done for her family?

What does Marilyn know about the way people die when they are jettisoned without a spacesuit into the vacuum of space?

What do Marilyn and her brother Gerry have to work through and communicate to each other in the minute or two that they can communicate?

What does Marilyn tell Gerry about Barton’s efforts since he discovered her?

How does Marilyn want Gerry to remember her, and how does she not ever want him (or their parents) to think of her?

How does Barton walk back to the pilot’s chair once he has jettisoned Marilyn out the airlock and into space?

What does this tell you about how Barton feels about what has happened?

Do you think Barton will continue to pilot EDSs after this?

If you were in the shoes of the astronaut Barton, and you had this young girl stowed away on your Emergency Dispatch Ship, how would you feel, and what would you do?

How would your decision affect you over the course of the rest of your life?

In what other circumstances do people have to face the choice of sacrificing some lives or even one life to save the lives of many, many others?

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