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"Breaking Strain," also known as "Thirty Seconds Thirty Days," is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949. It was adapted into a movie in 1994 under the title Trapped in Space.

[edit] Plot Summary

This shipwreck survival drama involves a space liner on Earth/Venus run. A meteor hit during the middle of the voyage has drained most on-board oxygen supplies. They two crew members (Grant and McNeil)realize they will not have enough oxygen to complete the trip. At first they attempt to empty all their cargo in an effort to speed up the voyage. This produces no tangible results, so they are forced to improvise. The two crew members live a few days in exclusion from each other, independently considering plans for survival. The story is primarily told from Grant's prospective (the ship's captain), who becomes frustrated with McNeil's apparent inconsiderate behavior. Eventually Grant realizes that there is enough oxygen on-board for one crew member to finish the trip. He struggles with the idea of deciding who will live or die, though all the while believes he has more to live for than his seemingly selfish partner. As he becomes more and more frustrated with his crew mate, he decides to poison McNeil in order to save himself. Grant poisons McNeil's drink and sits down to a meal with him, waiting for him to die. However, it is soon discovered that McNeil foresaw the murder and replaced the ship's poison with a salty liquid, so that he could detect its presence if Grant tried to use it. McNeil confronts Grant on the subject of suicide or homicide and the two men agree that an agreement must be made to decide who will die and who will live. The short story ends with a retrospective retelling of the decision process by McNeil (the survivor), who is rescued after being alone aboard his space liner for three weeks.

[edit] Trivia

It is interesting to note that the ship in Breaking Strain shares several similarities with Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both ships have a sphere shaped command module which is located a great distance away from the engines of the ship. The command module and engines in both works are connected by a long spine.