"The Cold Equations"

The narrator of The Cold Equations is put in a situation where he must jettison a stowaway to save the lives of seven other people. You would assume that the stowaway was a brutal man, possibly even a criminal, who knew what he was doing when he hid himself on the Emergency Dispatch Ship which is what the pilot assumes as well. But the stowaway turns out to be an innocent girl who didn't know what she was doing she just wanted to see her brother. Now you would think this would be no deal this girl would just be in trouble possibly fined for sneaking aboard the ship however, the Interstellar Regulations state that: "Any stowaway discovered in an EDS shall be jettisoned immediately following discovery." This is regardless of the who the stowaway is or the circumstances surrounding their actions because every EDS only has a limited amount of fuel to go from point A to point B, fuel that would be used up faster because of the extra weight of the stowaway causing the ship to crash and therefore killing the pilot and the people he was meant to save with the medicine aboard the ship.

Is it right to kill this young girl just because of her nativity and for just wanting to see her brother? To think that this girls life will end just because "the ship doesn't have enough fuel?" If it was any other corrupt person trying to take advantage of the EDS the pilot himself said that he would take the mans life "with an objective lack of emotion". However the circumstances can not be changed the law is the law and it is there for a reason. No matter how cruel this logic may seem it has merit, What would you do if you were put in a situation similar to the EDS pilot.

One Life to Save Many

It's not as if the people behind creating the law or the people who have to follow it are inhumane it's just a simple logic. Why would you sacrifice seven people when you could just end one persons life instead?

" You understand now, don't you? No one would ever let it be like this if it could be changed."

"I'm sorry - I can do nothing. This cruiser must maintain its schedule: the life of not one person but the lives of many depend on it. I know how you feel but I'm powerless to help you."

"It's different here; it's not like back on Earth," he said. "it isn't that no one cares; it's that no one can do anything to help."

"I didn't do anything to die for... I didn't do anything."

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin