History Literature / TheColdEquations

* ScienceHero: Also a deliberate aversion -- no-one pulls a technological AssPull to save the girl.

* NoOSHACompliance: While the Rocket Equation does limit the amount of fuel to be used in the shuttle, the idea that a futuristic space shuttle would have fewer fail-safes or backups than a 20th century airplane (modern aircraft are always given a large enough fuel supply that, even if there's a delay due to weather or problems at the landing site, they can typically circle the runway for several minutes, or possibly even hours, regardless of the distance of the trip) is more than a little strange. Either the OSHA does not exist in the future, or someone decided that a shuttle that can literally hold only one person and a small amount of cargo, and just barely enough fuel to get them from point A to point B, is a good idea, something that in the 20th and 21st century would never leave the design phase.
** It's mentioned that the pod ''did'' have some extra fuel, which is why there was a certain amount of time before the girl had to be spaced. The extra fuel that would be used to maneuver if there were a storm at his destination or some other complication, was instead used to prolong the time before deceleration would start, the amount of time Marilyn had to live. The computations for the change were made on the main ship's computers and relayed back to the EDS with a combination of disapproval and understanding on their end.
** It's also mentioned that the flight in question is an emergency flight being conducted at the absolute outer limit of the spacecraft's fuel range, with very little margin for error. Of course this still doesn't excuse the total lack of a preflight inspection (as even the most cursory one would still have found the girl before takeoff), so OSHA still has lots of citations to hand out here.

* TakeAThirdOption: The fact that there isn't one is the entire point. The story was originally [[http://zoo.nightstar.net/viewtopic.php?p=335078#p335078 a much-needed subversion]] of early [[TheFifties 1950s]] ScienceFiction and its omnipotent men of ''SCIENCE!''.
* ThrownOutTheAirlock: The only option in the end.

** It's mentioned that the pod ''did'' have some extra fuel, which is why there was a certain amount of time before the girl had to be spaced.
** It's also mentioned that the flight in question is an emergency flight being conducted at the absolute outer limit of the spacecraft's fuel range, with very little margin for error. Of course this still doesn't excuse the total lack of a preflight inspection (as even the most cursory one would still have found the girl before takeoff), so OSHA still has lots of citations to hand out here.
** Indeed if the mission was done with absolutely no margin for error the lack of such a check is insane since there are countless tiny things that might go wrong. Disaster for such ships seems unavoidable, stowaways or not. Barton expect that Marilyn's presence s will cause him to run out of fuel a thousand feet from the ground which means that the rocket is expected to run out of fuel essentially at the instant it touches down. Its difficult to imagine a scenario where the rocket doesn't crash. Even a moderate headwind while landing would result in the rocket running out of fuel before landing.

** At the same time, real life disasters such as the one that befell the Challenger show that such measures [[RealityIsUnrealistic are taken all the time.]] In that case, the Challenger's design flaw had been known about, but ignored because it had never caused a problem to the mission before.

** At the same time, real life disasters such as the one that befell the Challenger show that such measures [RealityIsUnrealistic are taken all the time.] In that case, the Challenger's design flaw had been known about, but ignored because it had never caused a problem to the mission before.

"The Cold Equations" is a short story by Tom Godwin, first published in ''Astounding'' in 1954, which has been done as a radio play for the ''Radio/XMinusOne'' radio drama of the 1950s, an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'', and a 1996 made-for-TV movie for the SciFiChannel.

"The Cold Equations" is a short story by Tom Godwin, first published in ''Astounding'' in 1954, which has been done as a radio play for the ''Radio/XMinusOne'' radio drama of the 1950s, a 1988 episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', and a 1996 made-for-TV movie for the SciFiChannel.

%%* IDidWhatIHadToDo

%%* ThrownOutTheAirlock

* ExecutiveVeto: ''Astounding'' editor ''John W. Campbell himself'' refused to publish the story until the author wrote an ending in which the girl died.

* [[ScienceMarchesOn Science]] / TechnologyMarchesOn: Today we'd simply build an ummanned robotic ship with no life support; you could probably afford to send three ships, just for redundancy.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo

* ThrownOutTheAirlock

* NoOSHACompliance: While the Rocket Equation does limit the amount of fuel to be used in the shuttle, the idea that a futuristic space shuttle would have fewer fail-safes or backups than a 20th century airplane (modern aircraft are always given a large enough fuel supply that, even if there's a delay due to weather or problems at the landing site, they can typically circle the runway for several minutes, or possibly even hours, regardless of the distance of the trip) is more than a little strange. Either the OSHA does not exist in the future, or someone decided that a shuttle that can literally hold only one person and a small amount of cargo, and just barely enough fuel to get them from point A to point B, is a good idea, something that in the 20th and 21st century would never leave the design phase.

* ExecutiveVeto: Ironically, it was ''Astounding'' editor ''John W. Campbell himself'', who refused to publish the story until the author wrote an ending in which the girl died.

* ExecutiveVeto: Ironically, it was ''Astounding'' editor ''John W. Campbell himself'', the TropeNamer for CampbellianHero, who refused to publish the story until the author wrote an ending in which the girl died.

* SwissCheeseSecurity: The whole situation could have been avoided by a 30-second pre-launch check.

* ExecutiveVeto: Ironically, it was ''Astounding'' editor ''John W. Campbell himself'', the TropeNamer for Campbellian Hero, who refused to publish the story until the author wrote an ending in which the girl died.

This story supplies examples of

"The Cold Equations" is a short story by Tom Godwin, first published in 1954, which has been done as a radio play for the ''Radio/XMinusOne'' radio drama of the 1950s, a 1988 episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', and a 1996 made-for-TV movie for the SciFiChannel.

* ExecutiveVeto: Ironically, it was ''Campbell himself'', the TropeNamer for Campbellian Hero, who refused to publish the story until the author wrote an ending in which the girl died.

* NoOSHACompliance: While the Rocket Equation does limit the amount of fuel to be used in the shuttle, the idea that a futuristic space shuttle would have fewer fail-safes or backups than a 20th century airplane is more than a little strange.

* [[ScienceMarchesOn Science]] / TechnologyMarchesOn: Today we'd simply build an ummaned robotic ship with no life support you could probably afford to send three ships, just for redundancy.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Very Hard, with the exception of hyperspace aircraft carriers, as the fuel dilemma is based around the application of the Rocket Equation, which can be simplified to: In space, you need fuel to lift the fuel, and more fuel to lift that fuel, so every gram counts.

Barton, the pilot of an Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS) dropped from a Hyperspace cruiser, discovers there's a stowaway on board, a young girl named Marilyn. His ship is taking a load of vaccines to the planet Woden, it has just enough fuel to make the deceleration and landing with no reserve, and if they don't get there, 8 colonists will die. Also, there is no way to reduce the weight of the ship to compensate for Marylyn's mass. Typical practice as required by regulations is to jettison stowaways, as these vessels do not have any reserve fuel to allow a safe landing with the extra weight. However, the situation is complicated because Marilyn is an innocent who just wanted to see her brother (who is stationed on Woden) and didn't know that stowing away on an EDS would carry a penalty worse than a stiff fine.

The primary ship informs Barton there is no way the primary ship can retrieve Marilyn (Other lives depend on their strict timetable as well), that there's no other ships in the area, and he knows there's no planetary launch available, either. He must reduce the ship's mass, but he lacks the appropriate means to, for example, seriously strip the ship of unnecessary components. (There's nothing on the ship that ''isn't'' necessary.) She can't land the ship either as it's not computer-piloted, so Barton can't sacrifice himself. Barton doesn't like the only choice available, and realises that he's going to have to live with the thought of what he's going to have to do for the rest of his life.

* CampbellianHero: Also a deliberate aversion -- no-one pulls a technological AssPull to save the girl.