Project Gutenberg 2020-04-03 Public domain in the USA. 147 Rocklynne, Ross 1913 1988 Rocklin, Ross Louis Fawcette, Gene 1988 The Tantalus Death Produced from Planet Stories Spring 1940 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Tantalus Death" by Ross Rocklynne is a science fiction short story published in the early 20th century, specifically within the 1940s. The narrative unfolds a dramatic scenario where Earth, in its refusal to supply water to Mars, faces grave consequences. The story explores themes of diplomacy and the lengths to which civilizations will go under hardship. In the tale, Olduk, the Martian ambassador, implores the Earth’s Conclave for water amid a backdrop of previous Martian-Earth conflicts. As the assembly rejects his plea yet again, a mysterious mechanism causes water around Earth to transform into impenetrable spheres, making it impossible for humans to drink. The citizens of Earth, now doomed to suffer like Tantalus from Greek mythology—eternally thirsty, unable to access the water surrounding them—must confront their predicament. As chaos ensues, the Governors, driven by desperation, consider a deceptive agreement with Olduk in hopes of regaining access to water, ultimately leading to profound moral reflection about their treatment of the Martian race and Olduk's tragic fate. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 84.9 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories War stories Martians -- Fiction Water -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 63953 2025-07-24T12:10:41.054120 text/html 40394 2024-10-17T17:13:00 text/html 317795 2025-07-24T12:10:43.006097 application/epub+zip 316638 2025-07-24T12:10:41.507109 application/epub+zip 88931 2025-07-24T12:10:41.261099 application/epub+zip 357173 2025-07-24T12:10:44.272070 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 350078 2025-07-24T12:10:42.783087 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 122503 2022-09-27T21:55:57.872856 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 56834 2025-07-24T12:10:40.912079 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 37078 2024-10-17T17:13:00 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17407 2025-07-24T12:10:44.445055 application/rdf+xml 40408 2025-07-24T12:10:41.362091 image/jpeg 5913 2025-07-24T12:10:41.310075 image/jpeg 555343 2025-07-24T12:10:41.070107 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia