History Main / ColdEquation

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* The TropeNamer is of course ''The Cold Equations'', the classic 1954 sci-fi short by Tom Godwin famous for averting the AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope. A young girl stows away on a shuttle carrying vital medicine to a planetary colony, not knowing that its fuel has been precisely calculated and her extra weight is enough to cause disaster.
* Echoed and possibly referenced by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson's follow-on graphic novel set ten years after ''{{Aliens}}''. Hicks smuggles Newt aboard a weight-critical ("gravity-balanced") ship on its way to the alien homeworld. The situation is averted on this occasion, as he took pains to dump stores equivalent to her weight before takeoff.
* {{Arthur C Clarke}}'s excellent short story "Breaking Strain" is about a spaceship with only two astronauts that is running out of oxygen. It follows one of the character's thoughts as he becomes more and more tempted to murder his companion. It has two different {{Adaptation Expansion}}s: the novel ''Venus Prime 1: Breaking Strain'', and the film ''Trapped in Space'' (which expands the crew to six people and has a more AndThenThereWereNone kind of plot with successive murders).
* ''The Engines of God'' by Jack [=McDevitt=]. Hutch is piloting a spaceship which crashes into an alien artifact, shutting down their fusion engine. The spaceship starts to lose heat (so much that it starts snowing inside) and the oxygen pumps fail, leaving them with only a week's worth of air in the shuttle and the nearest rescue ship ten days away. A LotteryOfDoom is half-heartedly suggested, but Hutch tells everyone to sleep on it, then sneaks out with the intention of committing suicide (as pilot it's her responsibility to ensure the safety of the others). [[spoiler:At the last moment Hutch realises all they have to do is melt the 'snow' (actually frozen atmosphere) to get the needed oxygen.]] Later on another pilot is looking at his shuttle -- named after a pilot who famously performed a similar sacrifice -- and bemoans the fact that such exciting heroics don't happen now that spaceflight has become routine and safe.
* StanislawLem played with this scenario in ''Moon night''. [[spoiler:And an entirely sensible punchline turned it into great BlackComedy.]]
* The Pern story ''Rescue Run'' had this problem turn up when the rescued colonists try to smuggle in several hundred kilos of precious metals (Which turned out to be less valuable than the homemade medicines they packed legitimately), throwing the mass calculations off. Instead of spacing people, the crew spaces the metal, along with some furniture.
* In ''Down to a Sunless Sea'' by David Graham, at one point the narrator's Boeing and his new girlfriend's Antonov are fleeing to Antarctica to escape the nuclear devastation of the entire civilised world. Unfortunately, they run into heavy cloud which is lethally contaminated with fallout, and the Antonov doesn't have the fuel to make the trip at the higher altitude required to clear the fallout. So the Russian co-pilot calls for volunteers and opens the Anti's cargo doors, and leads a procession of about one-third of the passengers on the long drop into oblivion. [[spoiler: In some editions of the book, it turns out that they were the lucky ones when all was said and done.]]

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* In the second season of ''{{Vandread}}'', TheStoic Meia has to take care of Ezra's baby daughter when a space battle breaks out and in the confusion, they accidentally launch in an escape pod. When oxygen begins to run out, Meia has no choice but to [[HeroicSacrifice throw herself out of the airlock]] ([[GoOutWithASmile with a smile, no less]]) to make sure Karu lasts until the pod is picked up by ''[[CoolStarship Nirvana]]''. [[spoiler:It turns out, the pod has just been picked up, and Meia didn't notice until she walked out.]]
* Lampshaded in the ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'' episode "The Lukewarm 'Cold Equation'", where AntiHero Akito gets stranded without fuel after piloting his HumongousMecha out of range of the CoolStarship, and the two leading contenders in the LoveDodecahedron get stranded with him when their rescue attempts fail due to enemy attacks. Akito ejects the mecha's limbs to get it moving, but the oxygen issue comes up again. Akito finally decides to TakeAThirdOption before they discover that they'd drifted back in range of their starship.
* Subverted in ''{{Planetes}}'', where the exact situation comes up. The testees are placed in a situation where they do not have enough oxygen to outlast the test, either they give up or kill someone to preserve the oxygen they have. Instead, [[{{TakeAThirdOption}} they lower the temperature of the room to reduce their metabolism and oxygen consumption.]]
** Also Ai debating whether to steal a terrorists' air tank to save herself.

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* It is alleged that Godwin (author of ''The Cold Equations'') essentially took the story from a story published in EC Comics' ''Weird Science'' #13, May-June 1952, called "A Weighty Decision," scripted by Al Feldstein. In that story there are three astronauts who are intended to be on the flight, not one, and the additional passenger, a girl that one of the astronauts has fallen in love with, is trapped aboard by a mistake rather than stowing away. As in The Cold Equations, various measures are proposed but the only one which will not lead to worse disaster is for the unwitting passenger to be jettisoned. Other sources note that the theme of Feldstein's story is itself strikingly similarly to the story "Precedent", published by E.C. Tubb in 1949; in that story, as in the others, a stowaway must be ejected from a spaceship because the fuel aboard is only enough for the planned passengers. These sources argue that neither Feldstein nor Godwin intentionally "swiped" from the stories that came before, but merely produced similar variations on an ancient theme, that of an individual being sacrificed so that the rest may survive.
* In the {{Tintin}} comic album "Explorers on the Moon" [[spoiler:Colonel Jorgen smuggles himself on board with the aid of Wolff, a crewmember he is blackmailing. He intends to steal the rocket, leaving Tintin and his companions on the surface of the Moon. When Wolff objects Jorgen points out that they don't have enough oxygen to bring prisoners back to Earth. Later when the villains are overpowered, Tintin [[HonorBeforeReason refuses to leave them behind]] despite having exactly the same problem. After Jorgen is killed in a struggle, Wolff decides to atone for his actions [[RedemptionEqualsDeath by stepping out the airlock]]. Even so Tintin and his companions almost don't make it back to Earth.]]
* ''Rick Random: Space Detective'', a comic of the 1950's. In "Kidnappers from Mars!" SpacePirates get their vessel caught in a '[[SpaceIsAnOcean space tide]]' and realise the only means of escape is the two-man shuttle. The BigBad and his FemmeFatale girlfriend hide until all the other pirates have killed each other fighting over the shuttle, then take off in it.
* Twisted for a {{Xxxenophile}} story. The bomb shelter will only hold two, and the female character tells her two male companions that if she has to repopulate the Earth she wants to enjoy herself doing it, so [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean "auditions"]] are now in order. [[spoiler:World War III did ''not'' just break out, she said it had as an excuse for threesome sex.]]

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* That scenario that was supposed to test 'decision making' but was actually a SpaceWhaleAesop regarding the evils of nuclear proliferation. You know the one: there's six people but only room in the nuke shelter for five -- whom do you throw out? There would usually be an obvious RedShirt character like a priest, supposedly proving the irrelevance of organised religion. These scenarios never included the details that would matter in real life, such as who was your best buddy, who was an attractive member of the opposite sex or who was holding a firearm at the moment the crucial decision was made.
* There's an urban myth this troper knows where people found the dead body of a man in the desert holding a piece of straw. In a line from his body are clothes and equipment. It's impossible for him to have walked and there are no tracks leading away from a vehicle. The solution to the mystery is that he was on a balloon than was descending over the desert; the passengers threw out everything they could to gain height, before realising one person would have to go. The corpse drew the short straw.

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* Twisted for a {{Xxxenophile}} story. The bomb shelter will only hold two, and the female character tells her two male companions that if she has to repopulate the Earth she wants to enjoy herself doing it, so "auditions" are now in order. [[spoiler:World War III did ''not'' just break out, she said it had as an excuse for threesome sex.]]

* ''StarTrekEnterprise'' ("Shuttlepod One"). Trip Tucker and Malcolm Reed are stranded on a shuttle, and the latter decides to throw himself out the airlock to give his companion more time, only to be ordered back at phaser-point by Trip.

* Subverted in {{Planetes}}, where the exact situation comes up. The testees are placed in a situation where they do not have enough oxygen to outlast the test, either they give up or kill someone to preserve the oxygen they have. Instead, [[{{TakeAThirdOption}} they lower the temperature of the room to reduce their metabolism and oxygen consumption.]]

* In an episode of {{Futurama}}, this occurs when the [[RecycledINSPACE Space Titanic]] is sinking into a black hole. The main characters board an escape pod, but the extra weight of Bender's GirlOfTheWeek is causing the escape pod to drift towards the black hole, [[HeroicSacrifice so she willingly lets go]], saving the other characters. She is, of course, killed by falling into the black hole, and is never heard from ([[ForgottenFallenFriend or even mentioned]]) again.

* In an episode {{Futurama}}, this occurs when the [[RecycledINSPACE Space Titanic]] is sinking into a black hole. The main characters board an escape pod, but the extra weight of Bender's GirlOfTheWeek is causing the escape pod to drift towards the black hole, [[HeroicSacrifice so she willingly lets go]], saving the other characters. She is, of course, killed by falling into the black hole, and is never heard from ([[ForgottenFallenFriend or even mentioned]]) again.

* The TropeNamer is of course ''The Cold Equations'', the classic 1954 sci-fi short by Tom Godwin famous for averting the AlwaysSaveTheGirl trope. A young girl stows away on a shuttle carrying vital medicine to a planetary colony, not knowing that its fuel has been precisely calculated and her extra weight is enough to cause disaster. The pilot has no choice but to have her ThrownOutTheAirlock. Unfortunately the story has an obvious (and ''incredibly polarizing'') plot hole in that the pilot has the legal authority (and even a weapon) to evict stowaways, yet doesn't take the simple precaution of searching the ship before launch or putting a lock on the door.
** Also, due to the extra weight, the ''launch'' would be slower. Assuming it would cost exactly as much energy to speed up as to slow down (adjusted for respective gravity), it wouldn't even matter.
** After realizing that the shuttle is carrying vital medical supplies to her brother's colony and saying her good-byes, she voluntarily [[HeroicSacrifice steps into the airlock]].

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "The Galileo Seven". When the shuttlecraft Galileo crash lands on a planet it loses so much fuel that it can't even reach orbit unless they lighten their load by 500 lbs. It's immediately pointed out that 500 lbs. is the weight of three men. Two of the crew die while on the planet, and they eventually take off and achieve orbit. Unfortunately they had to use the boosters to do so, so they're guaranteed to burn up on re-entry.

** Given that Transformers can [[BatmanCanBreatheInSpace breath in space]] and that there were plenty of other planets closer than Cybertron around, it's pretty clear they could have easily [[TakeAThirdOption Taken A Third Option]] if they were really inclined. Starscream just wanted to finally get rid of Megatron, who was one of the wounded.

* One ''{{Paranoia}}'' mission includes a RunningGag with malfunctioning elevators to the 99th floor, one of which is airtight and slo-o-o-ow. Sure, the [=PCs=] ''could'' just use their lasers to ventilate the wall - and face a fine for damaging Computer property - but, this being ''Paranoia'', they're just as likely to instead ventilate the traitors who were using up all the air.

** Given that Transformers can [[BatmanCanBreathInSpace breath in space]] and that there were plenty of other planets closer than Cybertron around, it's pretty clear they could have easily [[TakeAThirdOption Taken A Third Option]] if they were really inclined. Starscream just wanted to finally get rid of Megatron, who was one of the wounded.

* ''DestinationMoon'' (1950). The rocketship loses reaction mass landing on the moon, so someone has to stay behind even after they've thrown out every piece of equipment they can unbolt. [[spoiler:While the {{Campbellian Hero}}es are arguing over who gets to make the HeroicSacrifice, the PluckyComicRelief sneaks outside and larconially tells the others to take off without him. Fortunately someone realises how to dispose of an extra piece of equipment so they can all return safely.]]

-->'''Lambert:''' "Well why don't we [[LotteryOfDoom draw straws]] then__"

* ''Starflight One'' (1983). Disaster movie involving a hypersonic passenger plane that gets stuck in orbit. Most of the passengers are successfully evacuated and the crew intends to try and achieve reentry, but they're running out of oxygen (the plane is only meant to pass through space for a short time before returning to Earth). A CorruptCorporateExecutive on the ground half-heartedly suggests that if there were a couple less passengers...whereupon the pilot retorts that if he survives this experience there's going to be one less executive.

* This is evoked at one point in ''RedPlanet'', and one of the three still-alive crewmen decides to try and reach the old Russian module alone. The second crewman later dies protecting the third one.

Note: Please do not include discussions on the short story ''The Cold Equations'' on this page. [[JustBugsMe/TheColdEquations Instead post them here]].

* Echoed and possibly referenced by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson's ''{{Aliens))'' follow-on graphic novel, set ten years after ''Aliens''. Hicks smuggles Newt aboard a weight-critical ("gravity-balanced") ship on its way to the alien homeworld. The situation is averted on this occasion, as he took pains to dump stores equivalent to her weight before takeoff.

* Echoed and possibly referenced by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson's ''Aliens'' follow-on graphic novel, set ten years after ''Aliens''. Hicks smuggles Newt aboard a weight-critical ("gravity-balanced") ship on its way to the alien homeworld. The situation is averted on this occasion, as he took pains to dump stores equivalent to her weight before takeoff.

** Echoed and possibly referenced by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson's ''Aliens'' follow-on graphic novel, set ten years after ''Aliens''. Hicks smuggles Newt aboard a weight-critical ("gravity-balanced") ship on its way to the alien homeworld. The situation is averted on this occasion, as he took pains to dump stores equivalent to her weight before takeoff.

* One ''{{Paranoia}}'' mission includes a RunningGag with malfunctioning elevators to the 99th floor, one of which is airtight and slo-o-o-ow. Sure, the PCs ''could'' just use their lasers to ventilate the wall - and face a fine for damaging Computer property - but, this being ''Paranoia'', they're just as likely to instead ventilate the traitors who were using up all the air.
** Another mission gives the PCs an ever-expanding authority role over a project [[spoiler:driving all of Alpha Complex toward mass starvation]]. Near the end, someone may notice a [[spoiler:[[ChekhovsGun politically-discredited but effective device]] that converts [[ImAHumanitarian any organic material]] into food]].

** Another mission gives the PCs an ever-expanding authority role over a project [[spoiler:driving all of Alpha Complex toward mass starvation]]. Near the end, someone may notice a [[spoiler:[[ChekovsGun politically-discredited but effective device]] that converts [[ImAHumanitarian any organic material]] into food]].

* Subverted in {{Planetes}}, where the exact situation comes up. The testes are placed in a situation where they do not have enough oxygen to outlast the test, either they give up or kill someone to preserve the oxygen they have. Instead, [[{{TakeAThirdOption}} they lower the temperature of the room to reduce their metabolism and oxygen consumption.]]

** Another ''Star Trek: TOS'' episode "The Conscience of the King" had this, not in a space ship but on a planet. Kodos "the Executioner", former governor of the Earth colony of Tarsus IV, was responsible for the massacre of over 4000 people, including members of Kirk's family. Governor Kodos had ordered the executions of more than half Tarsus IV's population after the food supply was all but destroyed by a fungus. This would have allowed the rest of the population to survive until relief came. It so happened that the vital resupply ships that could have saved the whole colony arrived much sooner than Kodos had anticipated, rendering all the executions unnecessary.