Суық теңдеулер

Science fiction short story by Tom Godwin
the science fiction story

"The Cold Equations" is a science fiction short story by American writer Tom Godwin (1915–1980), 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. It has been widely anthologized and dramatized.

In the year 2178, a small EDS — Emergency Dispatch Ship — has launched from the interstellar cruiser Stardust on a humanitarian mission to assist a team on the frontier planet Woden with desperately needed medical supplies. The EDS pilot — Barton — soon discovers a stowaway: eighteen year old Marilyn Lee Cross. By law, all EDS stowaways are to be jettisoned because EDS vessels carry only the fuel absolutely necessary to land safely at their destination. Marilyn wanted merely to visit her brother Gerry on the remote planet and was unaware of the law. When she saw the "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT!" sign while she was sneaking onboard, she thought that at most she would have to pay a fine if caught. Barton sadly explains to her that her weight sabotages the mission by exceeding the ship's fuel limit. The subsequent crash would kill both of them as well as dooming the colonists awaiting the medical supplies. After recovering from her shock and horror, and contacting Gerry in the last moments of her life, Marilyn willingly climbs into the airlock and is ejected into space.

Richard Harter wrote a detailed analysis of the story in 1977, with special attention to the possible negligence of those who designed the situation in which dilemmas like this could occur, and how this paralleled similar concerns involving industrial safety legislation. Writer Don Sakers' short story "The Cold Solution" deconstructs the premise. In 1992 it was awarded "the readers' favorite" Analog short story of 1991. In 1996, critic and engineer Gary Westfahl wrote that because the story's premise is based on systems that were built without adequate margin for error, the story is "good physics", but "lousy engineering", and that it frustrated him so much he decided it had been "not worth [his] time". In 2014, writer Cory Doctorow made a similar argument: he sees the situation presented in the story as an example of a "moral hazard". Doctorow notes that the constraints under which the characters operate are decided by the writers, and not "the inescapable laws of physics". He argues that the decision of the writer – to give the vessel no margin of safety and a critical supply of fuel and to focus readers' attention onto the necessity of tough decisions at a time of crisis, rather than mulling over the responsibility for proper planning from the onset is intellectually dishonest and that "stories about how we can’t afford to hew to our values in time of crisis are a handy addition to every authoritarian’s playbook". In a 2019 essay, Doctorow condemned Campbell for turning the story "into a parable about the foolishness of women and the role of men in guiding them to accept the cold, hard facts of life".

The story was also adapted into an episode of the radio program X Minus One in 1955. In a 1958 episode of Exploring Tomorrow, the stowaway is a woman trying to visit her husband to make amends for an affair. Another adaptation featured as a part of Faster Than Light on CBC Radio's Sunday Showcase in September 2002 by Joe Mahoney. The program was hosted by science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer.

An adaptation of the story aired on the 1962 British anthology series Out of This World and starred Peter Wyngarde and Jane Asher. The episode was lost soon after broadcast, but an audio only recording has survived and is available on DVD. Out of This World (DVD)DVD details at Cinema Paradiso
Another television adaptation aired as part of the 1985–1989 revival of The Twilight Zone. Episode 8 of the anime Martian Successor Nadesico is named for and takes elements from the story. The story formed the basis for a 1996 made for TV movie starring Billy Campbell and Poppy Montgomery, which aired on the Sci Fi Channel. It is the basis of the award winning 2014 short film, "The Stowaway", which was released on YouTube. A similar premise is used for the 2021 film Stowaway.

The fiction podcast The Drabblecast released a full cast reading of the story on July 15, 2013.

Tied for 9th place in Astounding/Analog magazine's 1971 All Time Poll short fiction category. Placed 8th in the 1999 Locus Awards for best novelette.