Ecclesiastes 1:9

[james_davis_nicoll]

Tough problems demand tough-minded solutions! LIFE BOAT RULES! LIFE BOAT RULES!

Inexplicably not titled "I have a totally original idea nobody has ever had before and that I will not research to see if there are known pit-falls! Let's pay undesirables to get vasectomies!"

My favourite line?

While I have not crunched the numbers to support this hypothesis,

Comments

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

On a not really related note, were you aware there's an example of the Someone Must Go Out The Airlock story from 1891? A Plunge into Space by Robert Cromie.

This is in Chapter 5

“One word more.” He pointed to a door in the side of the globe opposite to that by which they had entered.” That is what we have called the ejector. By a simple device of double doors any superfluous or deleterious article or—or—body can be expelled with only a trifling loss of air. Should we run short of oxygen it will be my duty to name the man who must first pass through that door.”
The men below shuddered.
“If that be not enough I shall name another, and so on, till only myself and the engineer are left. Then I shall go in the hope that he may reach the end in safety, to the growth of knowledge and the advancement of science. If any man hesitates—if any man is afraid—we can still easily return to the Earth and set him free. He may never have another opportunity to go. I now require every man to accept or decline my terms.”

By the end of the novel someone is ejected...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sorry, forgot to include a link

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14800554-a-plunge-into-space

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

By the end of the novel someone is ejected...

Gives the title a double meaning, no?

I think I would try to arrange to be the engineer.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Higher education never looked so good.

This is a great setup for a murder mystery. Off people who annoy you to save air, before the commander points the FINGER OF DEATH at them.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

It makes me consider the advantages of preemptively inserting the commander into the airlock.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Ah, you backed Singularity&Co. too?

[avram]

“The ejector”? The ship has a special airlock just for throwing people out of?!

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

Well, things and er um harumph people yeah those too.

-Dave, they couldn't have just made it too small to fit a full-grown man out of? Or would that only encourage chopping up the bodies first?