on the frontier— any frontier—
there can be little margin for error.
just as the first covered wagons
making their way across the american desert
had a finite supply of food and water
so, too, on this even vaster frontier
are there laws that must be strictly observed.
thomas barton has piloted emergency dispatch ships
for five years.
he has never faced
this particular law of the frontier until now.
thomas barton is about to discover firsthand
that there are limits even here
in the boundless reaches of the twilight zone.
computer voice: computational error.
unauthorized payload.
fuel supply insufficient for mission completion
at present mass.
all right.
come out of there.
i said come out of there.
hold it right there.
right there.
all right.
come out real slow.
come on.
all right, i give up.
i know i shouldn't have done this.
who are you?
i was going to mimir
for the linguistics academy there.
and then i heard your e.d.s. was going to woden, so I...
my brother, gerry,
he, uh, he works on woden
on the government survey team there.
it's been five years since i've seen him.
i haven't seen him since he left earth.
it was just the two of us growing up.
i knew it would be a year before i'd see him again.
five years is a long time.
i've missed him.
i shouldn't have stowed away.
i didn't want to wait another year.
i knew i'd be breaking some sort of regulation.
i'm not a freeloader.
i can pay my way once we get to woden.
i've got a class-b computer license,
and my background is in linguistics.
that might be useful.
this is nice.
what's your name?
marilyn lee cross.
my brother's gerry cross.
you know him?
no, i don't.
are we going faster?
i shut off
the engines that were decelerating us
as we moved into woden's star system.
i'm trying to save some fuel.
why?
stardust, this is eds34g11
barton speaking.
priority blue.
i need to speak with commander delhart.
are you going to...
priority blue acknowledged.
patching you in.
are you asking them to get me?
don't.
barton, what's the problem?
commander delhart, we have a stowaway.
i see.
i assume you followed standard procedures?
negative, sir, i have not.
commander delhart, the situation is unusual.
the stowaway isn't a criminal or a smuggler.
she's a girl.
what?
her brother's in woden.
she didn't know what she was doing.
oh, my god.
commander delhart,
is there another cruiser in the area—
a freighter or scoutship?
we're the only ship within 40 light-years.
what about sending out another e.d.s.?
it wouldn't reach you on time.
a ground-to-space transport from woden?
no, i'm sorry.
there's no possibility of intercept.
there's just nobody out there to help.
barton, i'm sorry.
i wish to god there was something i could do
but there isn't.
you do understand?
what does he mean?
i understand.
ship's records will call for necessary notifications.
delhart out.
are you going to tell me what he means?
i'm carrying serum for kala fever
to group one on woden.
they were hit by a meteor storm.
their supply was lost.
do you know what kala fever is?
it's like meningitis
only it's quicker and more painful.
group two, where your brother is
is 8,000 miles away from group one.
there's no way they can get back to group one
in time to help.
35 men will die
unless the serum reaches them on schedule.
i see.
so i'm throwing you off schedule?
e.d.s.?
this is ship's records.
e.d.s.?
this is e.d.s.
i acknowledge.
we'll need the data
on the subject's identification disk.
one moment, please.
your identification disk?
i.d. t837-y41.
marilyn lee cross.
date of birth: july 7, 2040.
place of birth: grand rapids, michigan.
american commonwealth, earth.
original destination?
fort city, mimir.
time of execution?
what?
what did she mean?
what time was the stowaway ejected from the ship?
i'll inform you later.
ejected?
she can't be serious.
it's my fault.
i should have told you when i found you.
i thought maybe once i contacted delhart,
delhart could do something about it.
if you eject me, i'll die.
i realize that.
fuel supply insufficient.
moving to condition yellow.
i didn't hurt anybody.
i just wanted to see my brother.
nobody wants you to die.
nobody would ever let it be this way
if it was humanly possible to change it.
these emergency dispatch ships are given exactly enough fuel—
maybe a little extra for atmospheric turbulence.
my added weight will cause it to lose its fuel.
it will crash, and we'll die,
and so will 35 people waiting for the serum.
can't thestardust come to pick me up?
it's carrying medical supplies
and food to the outer colonies.
hundreds of people will die
if it doesn't reach its destination on schedule.
you talk like this happens every day—
like you're throwing some excess baggage overboard!
i have to live with this for the rest of my life
every night in my dreams.
don't you think if there was something—
anything— i could do to help you, i would do it?
entering woden gravitational vector.
phase one engine ignition must occur at t minus 85 minutes.
mass must be reduced.
it's all just numbers, isn't it?
ratios.
equations.
it's nothing personal.
it's just mathematics.
yeah, you're right.
you're absolutely right.
it's just mathematics.
"h" amount of fuel
won't power this ship safely to its destination
with "m" plus "x" amount of mass.
it's as simple as that.
"x." that's me, isn't it?
the unwanted factor in a mathematical equation.
i can go alone, or i can take 35 others with me.
in case you're wondering,
the e.d.s. doesn't have sophisticated landing computers.
i mean, you can't pilot the ship by yourself.
i know.
thanks for the thought, though.
isn't there anything else?
a jettison?
these things are designed pretty lean.
there's hardly an extra kilogram.
wait a second.
just wait one second.
fuel supply insufficient for mission completion.
do you think it's enough?
we'll soon find out.
damn it, that's not even half of what we need.
how long do i have before i have to leave?
i have to reactivate the engines and start deceleration
by 1900 hours.
that's less than an hour.
oh, god,
how did this happen so fast?
it's different out here.
it's not like earth.
the frontier is so vast there's no margin for error.
you make a mistake, there's nobody to help.
entering woden gravitational vector.
phase two engine ignition must occur at t minus 75 minutes.
do you want to talk to him?
do you want to talk to your brother?
i think we're within range now.
yes.
eds34g11 to group two on woden.
please copy.
command officer: group two, woden, we copy, e.d.s.
gerry cross, please.
it's urgent.
he went out on a reconnaissance mission.
he won't be back for a while.
over.
please notify him as soon as possible
then signal us.
it's urgent.
e.d.s. out.
it seems to go faster all the time, doesn't it?
i just want to hear his voice.
i think when i hear his voice i won't be so scared.
it's cold in here.
is it cold?
no, it's, uh...
yeah, it's colder than it should be.
maybe, uh...
maybe i shouldn't... wait.
maybe...
maybe i'm just being selfish.
maybe it will be better for gerry if-if, uh...
you told him afterward.
no.
that's not what he'd want.
he'd want you to wait.
is it getting dark where he is?
i've hurt...
everyone i love.
i've been so stupid,
so selfish.
it wasn't your fault.
it really wasn't your fault at all,
and they'll understand that.
i'll never be able to tell them i never took them for granted.
that i knew about...
all those little sacrifices they made
so i wouldn't have to do without.
oh, god!
never being able to tell them
how much i love them.
they know.
i've read about how people look
when they die in space.
but I... i didn't do anything.
i didn't do anything to die for.
please, i know you didn't.
i know you didn't,
and i know you're not to blame.
and i'm sorry.
do you understand me?
i am so sorry.
i'll be okay.
signal transmission from...
gerry!
it's gerry.
cross here.
what is it?
e.d.s., come in.
gerald cross here.
gerry?
i wanted to see you.
marilyn, is that you?
what are you doing on an e.d.s.?
i wanted to see you, so i hid.
you hid?
as a stowaway.
i didn't know what it would mean.
oh, marilyn, what have you done?
i didn't mean to hurt you, gerry.
i just wanted to see...
i'm sorry.
don't cry, sis.
i didn't mean it to sound that way.
it's just that it's unfair.
it's because of me?
don't feel like that, gerry.
don't let me go knowing you feel like that.
e.d.s., have you calledstardust?
is there anything?
there's nothing.
he tried everything.
no one can help me now.
i know that.
i just wanted to say good-bye, gerry.
the planet's starting to swing.
we're losing contact with the base now.
gerry, you're fading away, so i have to say good-bye now.
but maybe we'll see each other again.
i'll be nothing you can see,
but i'll be there.
always think of me like that.
always like that.
never any other way.
good-bye, gerry.
i love you.
marilyn, i love you.
fuel supply insufficient for mission completion
at present mass.
condition red.
mission status in jeopardy.
condition red.
i'm ready.
entering woden gravitational vector.
phase three engine ignition must occur at t minus three minutes.
all systems functioning normally.
in the darkness, thomas barton hurtles towards his destination
with the realization that there is room for emotion
on the wilder frontiers of the universe.
emotion and the memory of a girl who had not known
that sometimes it takes a human life
to balance a cold equation
in the black geometry of the twilight zone.