The Cold Equations
"On the frontier, any frontier, there can be little margin for error. Just as the first covered wagons, making their way across the American desert, had a finite supply of food and water. So too on this even vaster frontier are there laws that must be strictly observed. Thomas Barton has been piloting Emergency Dispatch Ships for five years. He has never been faced with this particular law of the frontier, until now. Thomas Barton is about to discover firsthand that there are limits, even here, in the boundless reaches — of the Twilight Zone."
Captain Thomas Barton (Terrence Knox) is piloting an emergency spaceship loaded with a serum intended for the inhabitants of a colony on a distant planet, who have been stricken by kala fever. He soon discovers a teenage girl named Marilyn Lee Cross (Christianne Hirt) has stowed aboard the ship as a means of trying to reach the plague-riddled colony, wanting to reunite with her brother Gerry. Marilyn was unfortunately unaware that these kinds of spaceships only have enough fuel to carry their cargo to their designated locations, and the resultant policy of necessity dictates that all stowaways are to be thrown into space. Not wanting to have a young girl have to pay the ultimate price for an ignorant-but-honest mistake, Thomas tries to even things out by releasing all excess cargo, to little avail.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: In Marilyn's eyes, she stowed away on Thomas' ship just so she could reunite with her brother. Thanks to her inexperience with space travel, she's deemed a stowaway and forced to be thrown into space. Though in doing this, Thomas is able to get the kala fever serum to his desired location.
- Bittersweet Ending: Marilyn allows herself to be jettisoned into space, allowing Gerry (who she is able to say goodbye to) and the sickly inhabitants of the Woden colony to receive the serum Thomas is carrying, but Thomas himself is despondent and grief-stricken at what he had to do.
- Bottle Episode: The episode takes place entirely on Thomas' Emergency Dispatch Ship.
- Cold Equation: It's part of the title and stated a few times. A teenage girl named Marilyn stows away on an Emergency Dispatch Ship traveling to the planet Woden in order to reunite with her older brother Gerry. The ship is carrying the serum for kala fever, which is needed to save the lives of 35 colonists there. However, ships like Thomas' are only provided with enough fuel to reach their destination, discounting a small surplus in case of adverse atmospheric conditions. Marilyn's added weight means that the ship will not only run out of fuel before it can land, but it will crash on the surface of Woden, killing both her and Thomas and dooming the infected colonists to certain death. As such, there is a regulation stating that all stowaways must be jettisoned into space. Thomas contacts his superior Commander Delhart for assistance, but is told that there aren't any cruisers within 40 lightyears. He and Marilyn attempt to strip the EDS of all non-essential equipment, but when they do so, they're still 24 kilograms over. Thomas assures Marilyn that he would jettison himself if he could, but the EDS lacks a sophisticated landing computer, meaning he is indispensable. As such, he has no choice but to jettison Marilyn. After he does so, Thomas breaks down weeping, having previously told Marilyn that he would be haunted by this decision for the rest of his life.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: As several of the characters lampshade, the plot comes about because Marilyn, who hid on his Thomas' Emergency Dispatch Ship to see her older brother, is a teenager who doesn't know not to stowaway on a spacecraft she knows nothing about, such as the fact that the ship only has enough fuel to travel to its destination and back, and all stowaways must be thrown into space.
- Cunning Linguist: Marilyn was studying linguistics on the planet Mimir before she stowed away aboard Thomas' ship, bound for Woden.
- Death from Above: Group One's base was damaged by a meteor shower, and its supply of the kala fever serum was destroyed. Thomas' Emergency Dispatch Ship is on a mission to replenish their supply when Marilyn stows away.
- Face Death with Dignity: Marilyn is devastated when she learns that she has to be jettisoned into space because of the Emergency Dispatch Ship's precise fuel requirements. However, she is extremely dignified and resigned to her fate when the time comes.
- Gender Flip: The Ship's Records clerk is a woman, while in the short story by Tom Godwin, the clerk is a man.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Knowing that her stowing away puts the lives of her brother and a whole colony at risk, Marilyn lets herself be thrown into space so Thomas can deliver the colonists' serum.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Thomas is forced to jettison Marilyn from his Emergency Dispatch Ship for being a stowaway, as her added weight would result in the ship running out of fuel and being unable to deliver the vitally-needed serum to Woden. However, he deeply regrets that it's necessary and tries to take every possible step to prevent it.
- Meaningful Name: Our stowaway's name is Marilyn Lee Cross. It's similar to the Virgin Mary, mother of a child who died (upon the cross) so a large number of people could be saved in the long run.
- Named by the Adaptation: The captain of the Emergency Dispatch Ship is named Thomas Barton. In the short story, his first name isn't given.
- Oh, Crap!: When Marilyn finds out that she has to be ejected into space.
- Setting Update: The episode takes place in the late 2050s, while the short story takes place in 2178.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Policy dictates that all stowaways aboard an Emergency Dispatch Ship are to be thrown out into space. Marilyn is a tragic example, because her added weight would hinder Thomas' ship to land safely at its destination.
- Video Phone: Thomas communicates with Commander Delhart and the Ship's Records clerk over a video phone. Marilyn later uses the phone to say goodbye to her brother Gerry.
"In the darkness, Thomas Barton hurtles toward his destination with the realization that there is room for emotion on the wilder frontiers of the universe. Emotion and memory of a girl who had not known that sometimes it takes a human life to balance the cold equation, in the black geometry — of the Twilight Zone."
