ENotes- Tom Godwins science-fiction story The Cold Equations takes place entirely aboard the Stardust, an Emergency

Dispatch
Ship (EDS) headed for the frontier planet Woden with a load of desperately needed medical supplies. The pilot, Barton, discovers a
stowaway: an eighteen-year-old girl. By law, all EDS stowaways are to be jettisoned because EDS vessels carry no more fuel than is
absolutely necessary to land safely at their destination. The girl, Marilyn, merely wants to see her brother, a colonist on Woden, and is
not aware of the law. When boarding the Stardust, Marilyn sees the "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT!" sign, but thinks she
will simply have to pay a fine if she is caught. Barton explains that her presence dooms the mission and will result in the deaths of the
colonists. He is forced to eject her into space. The story, first published in the August 1954 issue of Astounding, has been widely
anthologized and even dramatized. It is in the form of a cautionary tale, which commonly has three parts. First, a cautionary tale
presents a restraint or restriction, in which something is said to be taboo, dangerous, or forbidden. The story's fifth paragraph sets up the
first part by including a quotation from "Paragraph L, Section 8, of Interstellar Regulations: Any stowaway discovered in an EDS shall be
jettisoned immediately following discovery." Second, the story introduces a hero figure who disregardswittingly or unwittinglythe
restriction. Readers of "The Cold Equations" learn that Marilyn has not seen her beloved brother for ten years, and because she has not
traveled before, she is unaware that "the laws of the space frontier must, of necessity, be as hard and relentless as the environment that
gave them birth." The third part of a cautionary tale consists of the transgressor coming to a tragic end. In "The Cold Equations," Marilyn
realizes that nothing can be done to save her. She accepts her fate and is ejected into space. Despite its status as a classic sciencefiction story, "The Cold Equations" has engendered some controversy. A similar tale involving a female stowaway who must be
jettisoned, "A Weighty Decision," appeared in a 1952 issue of the comic book Weird Science, written by Al Feldstein and drawn by artist
Wally Wood. Interestingly, an even earlier story may have influenced Feldstein: Precedent by E.C. Tubb, from 1949. Again, a stowaway
is ejected from a spaceship because there is not enough fuel. In all three cases, the form is of a cautionary tale, and the basic theme is
that an individual must be sacrificed so that others survive.

Wikipedia- The story takes place entirely aboard an Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS) headed for the frontier planet Woden with a load
of desperately needed medical supplies. The pilot, Barton, discovers a stowaway: an eighteen-year-old girl. By law, all EDS stowaways
are to be jettisoned because EDS vessels carry no more fuel than is absolutely necessary to land safely at their destination. The girl,
Marilyn, merely wants to see her brother, Gerry, and is not aware of the law. When boarding the EDS, Marilyn sees the
"UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT!" sign, but thinks she will simply have to pay a fine if she is caught. Barton explains that
her presence dooms the mission by exceeding the weight limit, and will result in the deaths of the colonists. No cargo can be jettisoned,
and the presence of the captain is required on ship, so Barton cannot sacrifice himself. After contacting her brother, Marilyn willingly
walks out of the airlock and is ejected into space.

Shvoong- The Cold Equations This piece of science fiction is best suited to a classroom of thinkers. I have, over my many years as an
ajarn (teacher), enjoyed the discussions and writing Ive gotten from students at the conclusion of this piece. Heres the basics of Tom
Godwins story, in the year 2178, Barton pilots a spacecraft toward the planet Woden, carrying on board serum for six gravely ill men.
But, Barton discovers a stowaway which will create a moral dilemma of the highest degree. The stowaway is eighteen-year old Marilyn,
who simply misses her brother so much that she has decided to break the law and find any way she could to go and see him. She is a
character than young readers will relate to because of her human qualities, innocence, and beauty. But, Godwins tale is no love story
between the young captain and the teenage girl, nor is it a rescue piece, this is a story made for thinking about the hard decisions which
people have to make in times of crises. This young lady, in her naivety, failed to calculate her own body weight. She is going to crash the
spaceship because it was loaded with only the amount of fuel needed to reach Woden. Barton has no desire to kill her; however, he can
not sacrifice himself because she can not perform his tasks and to crash the ship will not only kill them, but the six ill people who are
dieing while they wait for the drugs he carries. Marilyn accepts her fate, although in tears and with a great deal of fear, writes a letter to
her family, is even briefly able to speak with her brother, but in the end she enters the airlock, and is blown into space where she dies. As

I said, no love story and no rescue. The cold equation of the living is that at times we must chose to annihilate something or someone in
order to rescue something or someone. It is a brilliant piece and always a hit in my literature class.