EP322: Chicken Noodle Gravity

[rotheche]

Of course we ALL know that if we carried on past the point where the story finishes then Steve would pop out of the can, still stoned and then would go off with Bill to get cured  and they would live happily ever after. WE ALL KNOW THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED AND THERE IS NO NEED TO CONSIDER ANY ALTERNATIVE. OK? 

Abso-freakin-lutely.

I loved this: the mixture of absurdity and lurking grief are absolutely real to me, but I come from a long line of specialists in gallows humour.

On the oxygen question, the instructions did say that family pets would pop out again, none the worse for wear, so I reckon Stephen wasn't in there for very long.  The brownies were just in case.

[Scattercat]

I normally fuss about science, but this story was clearly not even attempting hard science in the slightest, so I'm categorizing it as "magical realism" and giving it a pass.  It was cute and fun.

[CryptoMe]

I too was willing to suspend my disbelief about the science of the black hole. But what irritated me (science-wise) about the story was the fact that the timing was off. From the number of soup cans left (1 + the black hole) and the fact that Steven is not expected to outlast the soup, we are given to believe that Steven has 1 to 2 days at most.  But then we are expected to believe Steven will survive "a few days" in the black hole alone. That discrepancy did bug me.

But, even with that, I still enjoyed the story. 

[ElectricPaladin]

That discrepancy did bug me.

The discrepancy that bugged me was that Steven was supposedly so sick that he only had a day or two to live, and yet the narrator expects that a recovery will be possible as soon as he is decanted, so to speak. This seems very unlikely. Even if they have techniques that will remove the tumors, it seems unlikely that these techniques will also be able to restore all the other parts of his body the cancers have destroyed, and fast enough to prevent his death.

But, even with that, I still enjoyed the story. 

Me, too.

[Talia]

That discrepancy did bug me.

The discrepancy that bugged me was that Steven was supposedly so sick that he only had a day or two to live, and yet the narrator expects that a recovery will be possible as soon as he is decanted, so to speak. This seems very unlikely. Even if they have techniques that will remove the tumors, it seems unlikely that these techniques will also be able to restore all the other parts of his body the cancers have destroyed, and fast enough to prevent his death.

Well, seems to me the narrator is pretty unreliable. When you're desperate and trying to stave off grief, you're going to try anything. I don't think the story was actually suggesting saving Steven would be possible, just that the narrator had convinced himself it would be. Because the alternative was unacceptable.

[CryptoMe]

That discrepancy did bug me.

The discrepancy that bugged me was that Steven was supposedly so sick that he only had a day or two to live, and yet the narrator expects that a recovery will be possible as soon as he is decanted, so to speak. This seems very unlikely. Even if they have techniques that will remove the tumors, it seems unlikely that these techniques will also be able to restore all the other parts of his body the cancers have destroyed, and fast enough to prevent his death.

Well, seems to me the narrator is pretty unreliable. When you're desperate and trying to stave off grief, you're going to try anything. I don't think the story was actually suggesting saving Steven would be possible, just that the narrator had convinced himself it would be. Because the alternative was unacceptable.

Okay, that is an interpretation that I can get behind.

[LaShawn]

Wow. That's...wow.

I think this is the sweetest story Escape Pod has ever run. EVER.It had love. It had Dr. Who. It had black holes. And it had sacrifice. Though it also had the potential for becoming extremely dark as well, if you think too hard about it. I'm glad it didn't. And I'm also glad it ended the way it did, combining comeuppance, the result of long patience, and boyish glee. Well done.