Short Fiction · Chapter
Half Around Pluto explained
Lieutenant Wofforth, stranded on Pluto with Jenks and Corbett after their scout rocket crashes and the mother ship departs, leads a desperate sled journey across the frozen surface toward Base Camp.
What happens
Lieutenant Wofforth, stranded on Pluto with Jenks and Corbett after their scout rocket crashes and the mother ship departs, leads a desperate sled journey across the frozen surface toward Base Camp. Tensions erupt when Jenks shoots Corbett, puncturing their tent and causing a fatal loss of pressure. Wofforth survives by donning a spacesuit, buries the dead, and continues alone at high speed across the plain.
Themes in this chapter
Isolation and Otherness
The three men are utterly alone on Pluto, abandoned by their ship, facing the desolate and alien environment.
Fear and Control
Wofforth struggles to maintain command and morale as fear of death and dwindling supplies drive Jenks and Corbett to violence.
Characters to notice
- Lieutenant Wofforth
Injured and abandoned, he commands the sled journey, shaves despite the cold, and ultimately survives alone after his companions die.
- Jenks
A sallow, hollow-cheeked crewman who argues with Corbett, shoots him, and dies in the tent collapse.
- Corbett
Beefy and slit-eyed, he is shot by Jenks during an argument and dies in the tent.
Key passages
“I said it's a dying man that's talking. Won't you let me say my dying say, lieutenant? Let's all die honest.”
Jenks insists he is speaking as a doomed man and wants to speak truthfully before they all perish.
Jenks confronts Wofforth about the futility of their journey.
“I'll make it. I'll make it!”
Wofforth declares his determination to survive and reach Base Camp alone.
After burying his crewmates, Wofforth drives the sled faster, alone on Pluto.