# SF Story about Guy Waking Up Prematurely from Suspended Animation?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 18, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796 "2009-05-18T00:33:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Man_A_Plan_A_Canal)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/1 "2009-05-18T00:33:55Z")
Hello, Dopers; AMAPAC here with a question: Who knows that SF story about a guy who is part of a space crew in deep hibernation while the ship takes them to some faraway place? Something goes wrong and he is awakened in the middle of the voyage, still several decades away from the destination. He spends several years reading, watching movies, and drawing on the inside walls of the spacecraft, and then accidently falls to his death.
Anyone know the name and author?
Thanks…AMAPAC
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/2 "2009-05-18T00:38:27Z")
> [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](#):
>
> Hello, Dopers; AMAPAC here with a question: Who knows that SF story about a guy who is part of a space crew in deep hibernation while the ship takes them to some faraway place? Something goes wrong and he is awakened in the middle of the voyage, still several decades away from the destination. He spends several years reading, watching movies, and drawing on the inside walls of the spacecraft, and then accidently falls to his death.
>
> Anyone know the name and author?
>
> Thanks…AMAPAC
Allen Steele “The Days Between” - it’s the second chapter of the novel “Coyote” but was published independently too.
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### Author:  [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/3 "2009-05-18T00:54:10Z")
That would be a 1980 short story by Phillip K. Dick titled I HOPE I SHALL ARRIVE SOON
Nope, I’m sorry, the story you discribed is NOT this story. I answered to quickly.
Rande. G. Jacobson
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/4 "2009-05-18T00:59:33Z")
> [@Nightfall1](#):
>
> That would be a 1980 short story by Phillip K. Dick titled I HOPE I SHALL ARRIVE SOON
Wikipedia says of the PKD story “In it, a man regains consciousness during a failed attempt at cryosleep on board a spaceship, which is on a ten-year journey. The ship’s artificial intelligence attempts to maintain his sanity throughout the rest of the voyage by causing him to recall memories from his 200-year-long life. Like most of Philip K. Dick’s work, it involves a questioning of what it is to be human and of what reality is. The story also has a theme of guilt, as the memories of the passenger are spoiled by the guilt he retains about actions he initiated during his lifetime.”
“The Days Between” is on line legally here [http://www.asimovs.com/\_issue\_0206/thedaysbetween.shtml](http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0206/thedaysbetween.shtml) - I think it matches the details that A Man provided better than the PKD, but I’ll let the OP decide
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### Author:  [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Man_A_Plan_A_Canal)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/5 "2009-05-18T01:12:05Z")
_The Days Between_, that’s it. Thank you, Andy L.
Now the question becomes “How and where did I run across that story?” I can’t recall, and I don’t recall that author or title–but that’s definitely the story.
Thanks!..AMAPAC
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/6 "2009-05-18T01:25:16Z")
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/7 "2009-05-18T01:29:54Z")
> [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](#):
>
> _The Days Between_, that’s it. Thank you, Andy L.
>
> Now the question becomes “How and where did I run across that story?” I can’t recall, and I don’t recall that author or title–but that’s definitely the story.
>
> Thanks!..AMAPAC
[isfdb.org](http://isfdb.org) (the Internet SF database) appears to be down at the moment, but it’s a good way to find all the places where a particular story turned up. This was an award-winner so it was probably reprinted in a bunch of places
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/8 "2009-05-18T14:08:16Z")
I remember another 1950s-era story in which a guy is awakened by the ship itself because the computer needs him to make a decision (to avoid a collision, maybe?). I remember he barfs when he wakes up, is fed a thin broth and has oils massaged into his very dry skin by the manipulator arms of his cryogenic bed. There was time travel later in the story, too. Anyone remember that story?
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/9 "2009-05-18T14:36:33Z")
A somewhat similar thing happened in Robert Forward’s book **Rocheworld** (and maybe in the earlier versions of the book as well – i haven’t read them all), although in that case the crew isn’t asleep, but sort of regressed to childhood. The ship’s computer needs the ship’s doctor in functioning order to deal with a medical emergency.
I suspect there are lots of other examples of this scenario. I just don’t know of any others.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/10 "2009-05-18T15:43:48Z")
> [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](#):
>
> ? Something goes wrong and he is awakened in the middle of the voyage, still several decades away from the destination. He spends several years reading, watching movies, and drawing on the inside walls of the spacecraft, …
>
> Thanks…AMAPAC
That actually happened to me. Except it was in the back of station wagon with “wood panel” siding rather than a spacecraft and our family vacation destination was the grand canyon rather than nearby star system.
Other than that? Exact. Same. Thing.
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### Author:  [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/11 "2009-05-18T16:09:39Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> “The Days Between” is on line legally here [http://www.asimovs.com/\_issue\_0206/thedaysbetween.shtml](http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0206/thedaysbetween.shtml) - I think it matches the details that A Man provided better than the PKD, but I’ll let the OP decide
Wow, that was a good read. There’s so much more than could be written past the ending (assuming he didn’t die, of course), so it keeps me thinking.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/12 "2009-05-18T20:38:59Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I remember another 1950s-era story in which a guy is awakened by the ship itself because the computer needs him to make a decision (to avoid a collision, maybe?). I remember he barfs when he wakes up, is fed a thin broth and has oils massaged into his very dry skin by the manipulator arms of his cryogenic bed. There was time travel later in the story, too. Anyone remember that story?
Could that be Larry Niven’s “A World Out of Time”?
> **[A World Out of Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_World_Out_of_Time)**
>
> A World Out of Time is a science fiction novel by Larry Niven published in 1976. It is set outside the Known Space universe of many of Niven's stories, but is otherwise fairly representative of his 1970s hard science fiction novels. The main part of the novel was originally serialized in Galaxy magazine as The Children of the State; another part was originally published as the short story "Rammer". A World Out of Time placed fifth in the annual Locus Poll in 1977.
> Jerome Branch Corbell has i...
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/13 "2009-05-18T23:27:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I remember another 1950s-era story in which a guy is awakened by the ship itself because the computer needs him to make a decision (to avoid a collision, maybe?). I remember he barfs when he wakes up, is fed a thin broth and has oils massaged into his very dry skin by the manipulator arms of his cryogenic bed. There was time travel later in the story, too. Anyone remember that story?
This is making me think of A. E. Van Vogt’s “Far Centaurus” - there’s a suspended animation trip in it, and later time travel. Does “Electron psychology” ring a bell? “Far Centaurus” was written in 1944.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/14 "2009-05-18T23:31:37Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> [isfdb.org](http://isfdb.org) (the Internet SF database) appears to be down at the moment, but it’s a good way to find all the places where a particular story turned up. This was an award-winner so it was probably reprinted in a bunch of places
Here’s a list of places it was collected
Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2001
The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection
The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 15th Annual Collection
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### Author:  [@minus269](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minus269)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/15 "2017-04-08T05:08:16Z")
I think you may be describing “Coyote” by Allen Steele, published in 2002. From a plot summary:
"Just three months into the journey, something goes terribly wrong. Leslie Gillis, the senior communications officer, is awakened from biostasis. Expecting the year to be 2300, Gillis is horrified when he questions the AI. There was a mix up, and now it is impossible for Gillis to return to his dreamless sleep. His grueling options are either suicide or a lonely existence surviving off the ship’s supplies. While suicide may be more honorable than devouring his crewmates’ rations, Gillis chooses life…
During Leslie Gillis’ solitary life, he did everything he could to keep from going insane, attempting to eat and sleep at regular hours, reading all of the books which were on board, playing chess against the AI, writing stories, and painting. Using practically all of the ship’s art supplies, Gillis created a story about a prince named Rupert and the fantastic alien world he lived in. He painted scenes of his books on the ship’s inside walls. Eventually, Gillis died in his old age with a fall from the main ladder, after trying to get a better look at the alien ship he had seen. The AI automatically expelled his body into space with the arms of a maintenance bot, and the ship sailed on to 47 Ursae Majoris with no more incidents."
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### Author:  [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/16 "2017-04-08T06:21:14Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> Could that be Larry Niven’s “A World Out of Time”?
> [A World Out of Time - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_World_Out_of_Time)
That’s what I was thinking too.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/17 "2017-04-08T13:37:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> I remember another 1950s-era story in which a guy is awakened by the ship itself because the computer needs him to make a decision (to avoid a collision, maybe?). I remember he barfs when he wakes up, is fed a thin broth and has oils massaged into his very dry skin by the manipulator arms of his cryogenic bed. There was time travel later in the story, too. Anyone remember that story?
Definitely “Far Centurus.” The oil massage marks it completely (though he is awakened because he’s reached his destination). It also has time travel and the sort of Deus ex machina ending that only Van Vogt could pull off.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/18 "2017-04-08T13:42:33Z")
> [@minus269](#):
>
> I think you may be describing “Coyote” by Allen Steele, published in 2002. From a plot summary:
Yes, “The Days Between” mentioned above is an early chapter of “Coyote”.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/19 "2017-04-08T14:09:15Z")
Did anyone else get the feeling while watching _Passengers_ that the script writers should have given Allen Steele a credit?
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-story-about-guy-waking-up-prematurely-from-suspended-animation/496796/20 "2017-04-08T14:11:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Did anyone else get the feeling while watching _Passengers_ that the script writers should have given Allen Steele a credit?
I got that feeling just watching the ads for “Passengers”
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