What is the conflict in "The Cold Equations"?

The conflict of Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equations" is that because of a mistake, Marilyn has to die, and Barton has to be the one to send her to her death.

Set in a more scientifically advanced future, Barton is piloting an Emergency Dispatch Ship carrying much-needed medicine to a colony of people that live on another planet called Woden. He discovers that a young woman named Marilyn, naive to the consequences of her actions, snuck onto the ship before takeoff, hoping that she would be able to get to see her older brother Gerry, who is currently working on Woden.

What Marilyn does not know before deciding to stow away on this ship is that it only holds enough fuel to reach its destination with one person inside. If she remains on the ship long enough, it will run out of fuel before it reaches Woden. That would mean not only the death of herself and Barton, but also the people on Woden waiting for the serum that the ship is carrying.

By law, in order to save fuel and save lives, Marilyn must be jettisoned out of the ship and into space, meaning she will die. Barton talks with his Commander to see if there's anything he can do to save her, but its no use. Marilyn goes through a lot of emotions, as would be expected, but she eventually understands that her fate cannot be changed. At the end of the story Marilyn steps into the airlock and says "I'm ready," and Barton has to pull the lever that releases her into space. The last line of the story shows us that Barton will not be getting over the guilt of this death any time soon:

It seemed, almost, that she still sat, small and bewildered and frightened, on the metal box beside him, her words echoing hauntingly clear in the void she had left behind her: I didn’t do anything to die for...I didn’t do anything...

The science fiction story "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin tells of a pilot named Barton who is carrying emergency medical supplies from a starship to colonists on a frontier planet. He is piloting an Emergency Dispatch Ship, or EDS, which has a limited amount of fuel. He is fully prepared to jettison a stowaway that he discovers is aboard until he finds out it is an 18-year-old girl named Marilyn. Barton tries to do everything he can to somehow compensate for the extra weight, but in the end he has to eject the girl out into space to die because the ship is not carrying enough fuel for two passengers.

There are actually two conflicts in this story that can be termed "people against nature." The first, of course, is the conflict between Barton's compassion for Marilyn and the relentless "cold equations" that limit Barton's options in the immensity of space. Godwin has set the story up so that the lightweight EDS ship has such a limited supply of fuel that it cannot carry the extra weight of a stowaway all the way from the starship to the planet's surface. The author describes the inevitable physical law that must be followed like this:

A physical law had decreed: h amount of fuel will power an EDS with a mass of m safely to its destination; and a second physical law had decreed: h amount of fuel will not power an EDS with a mass of m plus x safely to its destination.

In this case, nature takes the form of a physical law that cannot be rescinded. The other conflict in the story that involves people against nature concerns the situation on the planet that Barton is on his way to help. It is a frontier planet, and six of the colonists have been stricken with a feverous disease carried by "green kala midges." The colony's own supply of medicine has been destroyed by a tornado, so Barton is bringing an emergency supply from the starship.

Early within "The Cold Equations," the story reveals a policy by which any discovered stowaways would be thrown into space. However, the short story proceeds to note that "it was a law not of men's choosing but made imperative by the circumstances of the space frontier." This is the core conceit which shapes the story and for which the story is named. It is not as if the pilot wishes to jettison Marilyn; rather, this is presented as an unhappy necessity of space travel given the razor sharp margins under which it operates.

The plot of this story follows Marilyn, who sneaks onto a cargo ship and is unaware of this policy. However, the mission parameters had been carefully calculated ahead of time, allowing for no margin of error. Fuel had been carefully allocated with the mass of the pilot factored in. Introducing a second passenger threw off those calculations, leaving them without enough fuel to reach their destination safely.

That is the essential conflict within the story. When we think about "man" versus "nature," we usually imagine a conflict built around things like harsh climates, weather or temperature conditions, geography, and so on. In this story, however, the conflict is built around something more abstract in that it is focused around those carefully calibrated calculations. Marilyn does not die as punishment for her actions: she dies because the equations require her to die. It's the only option available if the ship is to safely reach its destination.

How is the problem resolved in "The Cold Equations"?

The problem is solved by ejecting the girl, Marilyn, into space and to her death.

The problem is that Marilyn stowed away on a space transport, headed for a planet where her brother is a colonist. She has not seen him in ten years. The planet's human colonists experience an epidemic, and the ship is launched to take them medicines; without them, the colonists will die. The ship has *exactly* enough fuel to complete its mission, and no more. Marilyn does not realize this. She thinks she will get in some trouble, have to pay a fine, but it will be worth it to see her brother. The ship's captain tries to figure out some way to save both Marilyn and the colonists, but there is no way around the numbers--the ship does not have enough fuel to transport her, and she is sacrificed to save the colony.

What are the main events of "The Cold Equations"?

Before the reader even knows who “he” is, we learn in the first sentence that this person “is not alone.” His realization, therefore, is the first significant event. The narrator follows a set of logical steps that this man goes through in his mind and by consulting the gauges in front of him, as well as looking around the empty room. The next important event is the decision that the man makes, which is that he must kill a stranger. He shows himself to be a dutiful, law-abiding person.

The story’s exposition reveals information to the reader that is already known to the protagonist but does not consist of events. He reflects on the reasons that the law he will enforce was originally enacted. In this way, we learn that he is a pilot on an Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS), which is a type of space ship, and that his duties are very narrowly prescribed. Additional backstory information is that this particular EDS is en route to deliver medical supplies to Woden, presumably a planet, where some explorers have fallen ill. The EDS had been launched from a larger vessel, or cruiser, an hour before the story’s events begin.

The pilot spends a little more time contemplating his necessary, but unwelcome, action. He stares at the door behind which he knows a stowaway is hiding. Finally, he approaches the door and loudly commands the stowaway: “Come out!” He has to call out a few more times before the person opens the door . Expecting to see a man, the pilot is startled to see a girl. This sets him thinking some more, as he is apparently more reluctant to kill a female than a male.

The next event is a rather long conversation between the pilot and the stowaway, as she explains to him why she hid on the ship and why she was unfamiliar with the serious reasons behind the laws forbidding such actions. Through this conversation, both the pilot and the reader develop sympathy for the girl. The pilot briefly contemplates deviating from the legal requirements. He even makes a call to his commander, who reminds him that many lives depend on his adherence to regulations.

The pilot patiently explains to the girl, who is understandably upset and disbelieving, the reasons she must be jettisoned from the ship. The pilot tries a few adjustments to slow things down, but the records off and his commander (both on other ships) interrupt and remind him he must get back on track. As the ship travels on the adjusted, fuel-conserving course, the girl and the pilot continue to converse. He agrees to deliver some letters for her and allows her to call her brother and say goodbye. In the end, the most important event is her ejection from the ship. She walks into the airlock, the pilot seals her in. Then “he jerked down the red lever” that opens the outside door so she is sucked out.