"The laws of physical nature operate with irrevocable certainty with no room for mercy, kindness, or sentimentality. In space life becomes a cold equation and the equals sign is often followed by death".

 So begins the radio play, from which we took the samples for The Cold Equations EP. This EP was named for the title of the play. The Cold Equations was originally a short story by Tom Godwin published in August of 1954. 

 It follows the crew of a delivery spacecraft that is taking medicine to the colony of a distant planet. When the crew finds a stowaway, they are forced to take chilling actions to ensure the survival of the illness laden colony.

 The novelette was part of a monthly publication called Astounding Science Fiction. It was part of a wave of science fiction stories that hit many countries during the 1950's-1960's. This wave was in tandem with the anxieties of mutually assured destruction and the promises of the nuclear family. 
The cover of the issue of the science fiction monthly in which
The Cold Equations was originally published in August 1954.
Source: The Internet Speculative Fiction Database
The Cold Equations novelette was so popular it was adapted into a radio play on a science fiction radio show called X Minus One. This adaptation aired only one year after the story was first written This is the form in which we came across this story. I implore you to give it a listen by clicking here or in the sources below. All of the X Minus One radio show is available for download and streaming by following this link or by looking in the sources below.  

 As with most pieces of literature by 20th-century men, there is, of course, some problems with the constructions of the female character and her role in the plot. Just a heads up if you have a low tolerance for bullshit.

 Sources & Rabbit Holes:

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