Time to learn something!
1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!
Wow, this is timely:
"Breaking Strain," also known as "Thirty Seconds Thirty Days," is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949.
Plot Summary
This shipwreck survival drama involves a space liner on Earth/Venus run. A meteor hit during the middle of the voyage has drained most on-board oxygen supplies. As a result there is only enough oxygen for one of the two crew members to complete the trip. At first the crew of the ship attempt to empty all their cargo in an effort to speed up the voyage. This produces no tangible results, so the crew is forced to improvise. It is finally decided that several of the crew must die in order to ensure the survival of the rest. Poison from the ship's medical cabinet is mixed into several cups of coffee. These poisoned mugs are given to randomly selected crewmen. Unaware of the danger, these crewmen die and are jettisoned from the ship. Eventually the two surviving crewmembers, the captain and engineer, are rescued just as the oxygen supplies are exhausted.
Trivia
It is interesting to note that the ship in Breaking Strain shares several similarities with Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both ships have a sphere shaped command module which is located a great distance away from the engines of the ship. The command module and engines in both works are connected by a long spine.
Arthur C. Clarke died today. RIP.
Reminds me of The Cold Calculations by Michael Burstein.
Posted by: scott | March 19, 2008 at 06:57 PM
Actually, that short story is the plotline of the 2007 movie "Sunshine", where a ship doesn't have enough oxygen and some crew members have to die. It's a very weird, trippy movie (they're on their way to the sun to launch and detonate an atomic bomb to restart our dying star), with one scene i can't get out of my head which involves a crew member going from one ship to another ship parked right next to it, but not attached, WITHOUT A SPACE SUIT. It was like watching a movie version of the dream where you are in a speeding car and can't slow down, or something like that. I'm sure tunnels were involved too. Also Freud.
The movie shared a similarity to 2001 in that it would probably be better if viewed under the influence of...whatever you prefer when watching trippy movies!
Posted by: amy | March 19, 2008 at 08:42 PM