«Equation of Doom» by Gerald Vance, Randal Garrett

Equation of Doom is a science fiction novella by Randal Garrett, first published in 1957 under the pen-name Gerald Vance.

They grounded Ramsey’s ship on a hostile planet hoping he would starve to death, so the first thing he did was give most of his money away and lose the rest gambling. Then he picked a fight with the Chief of Police and joined forces with a half-naked dream-chick who was seemingly bent on self-destruction. The stakes were big–a planet or two-but it all added up to an––Equation of Doom

What starts out as a battle of wits between an Earthman on an alien world and that world's police force turns into a chase across hyperspace with a couple of sex-objects to the primal inhuman source of all human life in the universe. And a love story.

As far as a story with a brave Earthman and evil aliens goes, this one is better than average. Good characters, and women who do more than simper.

Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 44 min.

Randall Garrett (1927-1987) was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about Earth bringing civilization to an alien planet.