The Cold Equations

"The Cold Equations" is a science fiction short story by American writer Tom Godwin, first published in Astounding Magazine in August 1954. In 1970, the Science Fiction Writers of America selected it as one of the best science-fiction short stories published before 1965, and it was therefore included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964. The story has been widely anthologized and dramatized. Summary The story takes place entirely aboard an Emergency Dispatch Ship headed for the frontier planet Woden with a load of desperately needed medical supplies. The pilot discovers a stowaway: an eighteen-year-old woman. By law, all stowaways are to be jettisoned because vessels carry only the fuel absolutely necessary to land safely at their destination. The young woman wanted merely to visit her brother on the remote planet and was unaware of the law. When she saw the "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT!" sign while she was sneaking onboard the , she thought that at most she would have to pay a fine if she was caught. The pilot explains that her weight sabotages the mission by exceeding the ship's fuel limit. The subsequent crash would kill both of them and then doom the colonists awaiting the medical supplies.