The short stories are interlinked by having to do with travel, or more particularly, life outside of Earth as we know it. Characters, that, based on the circumstance, should not interact with one another, do and connect in each of these stories. In, “The Cold Equations” Barton and Marilyn should not have met; any interaction between a captain and a potential stowaway ends in the stowaway’s painful death. The “cold equations”, a derivative of the laws of nature enacted by man force a human being to factor in variables that do not account for human traits; such as conscience and impending consequences. “Those forces were blind and deaf”–Barton is put face first in a situation the reader can infer he has been in before, or at least his knowledge about how to handle, as stated in the first page. However, when more variables are entered in these cold equations, the gravity of those equations becomes heavier. The longer he spoke with Marilyn the more variables he was adding, her brother, the idea of being a coward, facing her parents, her slow death, etc. What started as a routine mission to deliver antibiotics/medicine ended in Barton question the laws of nature in relation to the laws of man.
I did not enjoy “Down and Out on Ellfive Prime” because it was very convoluted and difficult to follow. However, it does discuss an interesting human trait which, according to the characters, is inherent in all humans: greed/selfishness. Both Zen and Almquist show a duality of the life on Ellfive; Zen being the prototypical underground revolutionist, and Almquist representing the white-collar, hard-working middle-class individual who reaps most of the benefits of this quasi-utopia. Yet, they have the same goal; they both want to use their respective powers and abilities to further themselves in their own societies, ultimately bettering only themselves. They used the catastrophe that occurred to their advantage.
“Night’s Slow Poison” was another interesting take on character interaction and character morals either being questioned or shifting. Even though Awt Emnys turned out to be a spy, (shocker) his conversation with Inarakhat Kels about snake bites proves to leave a lasting impression on Kels. The last lines of the story convey that even Kels’ friends do not matter as much to him. The significance of the title seems to counter the story of the quick death of the tea-named snake. The spy gaining trust on the six-month voyage is supposed to represent the slow poison eventually infecting Ghaon. The infection was stopped quickly, by a bullet, similarly to the quick death of that particular snake’s venom.