Wait It Out

By: Larry Niven

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

The tragic story of the first manned expedition to Pluto, and the fate of the surviving astronaut who finds a unique way to prolong his lifespan in hopes of rescue.

©2017 Larry Niven (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Unique and Clever

What do you do when your spaceship gets disabled on Pluto and you don’t have the resources to survive until a rescue ship can get to you? Niven’s answer is both unique and clever.

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One of my favorite short stories of all time. A review requires at least fifteen words.

One the best of Niven's Early works

This is one of the better of Niven's early works. Niven has that way of taking a premise and putting it on its ear even when he's the first one to do it. How does one wait it out for the years for rescue when one is sure to die? Niven's unique take on that premise becomes one of his better stories. Although written way before Pluto's moon was discovered and of course way before the New Horizon probe revealed Pluto's "heart" so to speak, he does get the absolute cold of Pluto down pat. Strangely enough a beast appears in this story which foretells one of the more bizarre photos to come from New Horizons. On the frozen plains of Pluto's heart one enterprising net viewer noted a large black blob in the crack of the hexagon plates of Pluto's heart. Could Niven have been right? Could this black blob be the result of a superconducting blob of Helium 3 and contaminants creating a living block of super cold liquids able to move about? Maybe, Maybe.... All we have to do is wait it out......

audio glitches in this title

there are two or three places in this title where the audio just drops out completely for a few seconds and then raises back up to the voice in progress.

Interesting concept

Very short but very interesting short story premise and I would have enjoyed a follow up to this