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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f13454 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61333 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61333) diff --git a/old/61333-h.zip b/old/61333-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 02fdd90..0000000 --- a/old/61333-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61333-h/61333-h.htm b/old/61333-h/61333-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index e4ae937..0000000 --- a/old/61333-h/61333-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1018 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Shipshape Miracle, by Clifford D. Simak. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } -.ph1 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Shipshape Miracle, by Clifford D. Simak - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Shipshape Miracle - -Author: Clifford D. Simak - -Release Date: February 6, 2020 [EBook #61333] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHIPSHAPE MIRACLE *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="368" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>THE SHIPSHAPE MIRACLE</h1> - -<h2>BY CLIFFORD D. SIMAK</h2> - -<p class="ph1">The castaway was a wanted man—but he<br /> -didn't know how badly he was wanted!</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1963.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>If Cheviot Sherwood ever had believed in miracles, he believed in them -no longer. He had no illusions now. He knew exactly what he faced.</p> - -<p>His life would come to an end on this uninhabited backwoods planet and -there'd be none to mourn him, none to know. Not, he thought, that there -would be any mourners, under any circumstance. Although there were -those who would be glad to see him, who would come running if they knew -where he might be found.</p> - -<p>These were people, very definitely, that Sherwood had no desire to see.</p> - -<p>His great, one might say his overwhelming, desire not to see them -could account in part for his present situation, since he had taken off -from the last planet of record without filing flight plans and lacking -clearance.</p> - -<p>Since no one knew where he might have headed and since his radio was -junk, there was no likelihood at all that anyone would find him—even -if they looked, which would be a matter of some doubt. Probably the -most that anyone would do would be to send out messages to other -planets to place authorities on the alert for him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" width="341" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>And since his spaceship, for the lack of a certain valve for which he -had no replacement, was not going anywhere, he was stuck here on this -planet.</p> - -<p>If that had been all there had been to it, it might not have been so -bad. But there was a final irony that under other circumstances (if -it had been happening to someone else, let's say), would have kept -Sherwood in stitches of forthright merriment for hours on end at the -very thought of it. But since he was the one involved, there was no -merriment.</p> - -<p>For now, when he could gain no benefit, he was potentially rich beyond -even his own most greedy and most lurid dreams.</p> - -<p>On the ridge above the camp he'd get up beside his crippled spaceship -lay a strip of clay-cemented conglomerate that fairly reeked with -diamonds. They lay scattered on the hillside, washed out by the -weather; they were mixed liberally in the gravel of the tiny stream -that wended through the valley. They could be picked up by the basket. -They were of high quality; there were several, the size of human -skulls, that probably were priceless.</p> - -<p>Sherwood was of a hardy, rough and tumble breed. Once he became -convinced of his situation he made the best of it. He made his camp -into a home and laid in supplies—digging roots, gathering nuts, -drying fish and making pemmican. If he was to be cast in the role of a -Robinson Crusoe, he proposed to be at least comfortably well fed.</p> - -<p>In his spare time he gathered diamonds, dumping them in a pile outside -his shack. And in the idle afternoons or the long evenings, he sat -beside his campfire and sorted them out—washing them free of clinging -dirt and grading them according to their size and brilliance. The very -best of them he put into a sack, designed for easy grabbing if the -time should ever come when he might depart the planet.</p> - -<p>Not that he had any hope this would come about.</p> - -<p>Even so, he was a man who planned against contingencies. He always -tried to have some sort of loop-hole. Had this not been the case, his -career would have ended long before, at any one of a dozen times or -places. That it apparently had come to an end now could be attributed -to a certain lack of foresight in not carrying a full complement of -spare parts. Although perhaps this was understandable, since never -before in the history of space flight had that particular valve which -now spelled out Sherwood's doom ever misbehaved.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it was well for him that he was not an introspective man. If he -had been given to much searching thought, he might have found himself -living with his past, and there were places in his past that were far -from pretty.</p> - -<p>He was lucky in many other ways, of course. The planet was not a bad -one, a sort of New England planet with a rocky, tumbled terrain, -forested by scrubby trees and distinctly terrestrial. He might just -as easily have been marooned upon a jungle planet or one of the icy -planets or any of another dozen different kinds that were not tolerant -of life.</p> - -<p>So he settled in and made the best of it and didn't even bother to -count off the days. For he knew what he was in for.</p> - -<p>He counted on no miracle.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The miracle he had not counted on came late one afternoon as he sat, -cross-legged, sorting out his latest haul of priceless diamonds.</p> - -<p>The great black ship came in from the east across the rolling hills. -It whistled down across the ridges and settled to the ground a short -distance from Sherwood's crippled ship and his patched-together shack.</p> - -<p>It was no patrol vessel, although in his position, Sherwood would have -welcomed even one of these. It was a kind of ship he'd never seen -before. It was globular and black and it had no identifying marks on it.</p> - -<p>He leaped to his feet and ran toward the ship. He waved his arms in -welcome and whooped with his delight. He stopped a hundred feet away -when he felt the first whiff of the heat that had been picked up by the -vessel's hull in its plunge through atmosphere.</p> - -<p>"Hey, in there!" he yelled.</p> - -<p>And the Ship spoke to him. "You need not yell," it told him. "I can -hear you very well."</p> - -<p>"Who are you?" asked Sherwood.</p> - -<p>"I am the Ship," the voice told him.</p> - -<p>"Quit fooling around," yelled Sherwood, "and tell me who you are."</p> - -<p>For the sort of answer it had given was foolishness. Of course it was -the ship. It was someone in the ship, talking to him through a speaker -in the hull.</p> - -<p>"I have told you," said the Ship. "I am the Ship."</p> - -<p>"But there is someone speaking to me."</p> - -<p>"The ship is speaking to you."</p> - -<p>"All right, then," said Sherwood. "If you want it that way, it's okay -with me. Can you take me out of here? My radio is broken and my ship -disabled."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps I can," said the Ship. "Tell me who you are."</p> - -<p>Sherwood hesitated for a moment, and then he told who he was, quite -truthfully. For it suddenly had occurred to him that this ship was as -much an outlaw as he was himself. It had no markings and all ships must -have markings.</p> - -<p>"You say you left your last port without proper clearance?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Sherwood. "There were certain circumstances."</p> - -<p>"And no one knows where you are? No one's looking for you?"</p> - -<p>"How could they?" Sherwood asked.</p> - -<p>"Where do you want to go?"</p> - -<p>"Just anywhere," said Sherwood. "I have no preference."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For even if they should land him somewhere where he had no wish to be, -he still would have a running chance. On this planet he had no chance -at all.</p> - -<p>"All right," said the ship. "You can come aboard."</p> - -<p>A hatch came open in the hull and a ladder began running out.</p> - -<p>"Just a second," Sherwood shouted. "I'll be right there."</p> - -<p>He sprinted to the shack and grabbed his sack of the finest diamonds, -then legged it for the ship. He got there almost as soon as the ladder -touched the ground.</p> - -<p>The hull still was crackling with warmth, but Sherwood swarmed up the -ladder, paying no attention.</p> - -<p>He was set for life, he thought. Unless—</p> - -<p>And then the thought struck him that they might take the diamonds from -him. They could pretend it was payment for his passage. Or they could -simply take them without an excuse of any sort at all.</p> - -<p>But it was too late now. He was almost in the hatch. To drop the sack -of diamonds now would do no more than arouse suspicion and would gain -him nothing.</p> - -<p>It came of greediness, he thought. He did not need this many diamonds. -Just a half dozen of the finest dropped into his pockets would have -been enough. Enough to buy him another ship so he could return and get -a load of them.</p> - -<p>But he was committed now. There was nothing he could do except to see -it through.</p> - -<p>He reached the hatch and tumbled through it. There was no one waiting. -The inner lock stood open and there was no one there.</p> - -<p>He stopped to stare at the emptiness and behind him the retracting -ladder rumbled softly and the hatch hissed to a close.</p> - -<p>"Hey," he shouted, "where is everyone?"</p> - -<p>"There is no one here," the voice said, "but me."</p> - -<p>"All right," said Sherwood. "Where do I go to find you?"</p> - -<p>"You have found me," said the Ship. "You are standing in me."</p> - -<p>"You mean...."</p> - -<p>"I told you," said the Ship. "I said I was the Ship. That is what I am."</p> - -<p>"But no one...."</p> - -<p>"You do not understand," said the Ship. "There is no need of anyone. -I am myself. I am intelligent. I am part machine, part human. Rather, -perhaps, at one time I was. I have thought, in recent years, the two of -us have merged so we're neither human nor machine, but something new -entirely."</p> - -<p>"You're kidding me," said Sherwood, beginning to get frightened. -"There can't be such a thing."</p> - -<p>"Consider," said the Ship, "a certain human who had worked for years to -build me and who, as he finished me, found death was closing in...."</p> - -<p>"Let me out!" yelled Sherwood. "Let me out of here! I don't want to be -rescued. I don't want...."</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid, Mr. Sherwood, it is rather late for that. We're already -out in space."</p> - -<p>"Out in space! We can't be! It isn't possible!"</p> - -<p>"Of course it is," the Ship told him. "You expected thrust. There was -no thrust. We simply lifted."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"No ship," insisted Sherwood, "can get off a planet...."</p> - -<p>"You're thinking, Mr. Sherwood, of the ships built by human hands. Not -of a living ship. Not of an intelligent machine. Not of what becomes -possible with the merging of a man and a machine."</p> - -<p>"You mean you built yourself?"</p> - -<p>"Of course not. Not to start with. I was built by human hands to start -with. But I've redesigned myself and rebuilt myself, not once, but -many times. I knew my capabilities. I knew my dreams and wishes. I -made myself the kind of thing I was capable of being—not the halfway, -makeshift thing that was the best the human race could do."</p> - -<p>"The man you spoke of," Sherwood said. "The one who was about to -die...."</p> - -<p>"He is part of me," said the Ship. "If you must think of him as a -separate entity, he, then, is talking to you. For when I say 'I', I -mean both of us, for we've become as one."</p> - -<p>"I don't get it," Sherwood told the Ship, feeling the panic coming -back again.</p> - -<p>"He built me, long ago, as a ship which would respond, not to the -pushing of a lever or the pressing of a button, but to the mental -commands of the man who drove me. I was to become, in effect, an -extension of that man. There was a helmet that the man would wear and -he'd think into the helmet."</p> - -<p>"I understand," said Sherwood.</p> - -<p>"He'd think into the helmet and I was so programmed that I'd obey his -thoughts. I became, in effect, a man, and the man became in effect the -ship he operated."</p> - -<p>"Nice deal," Sherwood said enthusiastically, never being one upon whom -the niceties of certain advantages were ever lost.</p> - -<p>"He finished me and he was about to die and it was a pity that such -a one should die—one who had worked so hard to do what he had done. -Who'd given up so much. Who never had seen space. Who had gone nowhere."</p> - -<p>"No," said Sherwood, in revulsion, knowing what was coming. "No, he'd -not done that."</p> - -<p>"It was a kindness," said the ship. "It was what he wanted. He managed -it himself. He simply gave up his body. His body was a worthless hulk -that was about to die. The modifications to accommodate a human brain -rather than a human skull were quite elementary. And he has been happy. -We have both of us been happy."</p> - -<p>Sherwood stood without saying anything. In the silence he was listening -for some sound, for any kind of tiny rattle or hum, for anything at -all to tell him the ship was operating. But there was no sound and no -sense of motion of any sort.</p> - -<p>"Happy," he said. "Where would you have found happiness? What's the -point of all this?"</p> - -<p>"That," the Ship said solemnly, "is a bit hard to explain."</p> - -<p>Sherwood stood and thought about it—the endless voyaging through space -without a body—with all the desires, all the advantages, all the -capabilities of a body gone forever.</p> - -<p>"There is nothing for you to fear," said the Ship. "You need not -concern yourself. We have a cabin for you. Just down the corridor, the -first door to your left."</p> - -<p>"I thank you," Sherwood said, although he was nervous still.</p> - -<p>If he had had a choice, he told himself, he'd stayed back on the -planet. But since he was here, he'd have to make the best of it. And -there were, he admitted to himself, certain advantages and certain -possibilities that needed further thought.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He went down the corridor and pushed on the door. It opened on the -cabin. For a spaceship it looked comfortable enough. A little cramped, -of course, but then all cabins were. Space is at a premium on any sort -of ship.</p> - -<p>He went in and placed his sack of diamonds on the bunk that hinged out -from the wall. He sat down in the single metal chair that stood beside -the bunk.</p> - -<p>"Are you comfortable, Mr. Sherwood?"</p> - -<p>"Very comfortable," he said.</p> - -<p>It was going to be all right, he told himself. A very crazy setup, -but it would be all right. Perhaps a little spooky and a bit hard to -believe, but probably better, after all, than staying marooned, back -there on the planet. For this would not last forever. And the planet -could have been, most probably would have been, forever.</p> - -<p>It would take a while to reach another planet, for space was rather -sparsely populated in this area. There would be time to think and plan. -He might be able to work out something that would be to his great -advantage.</p> - -<p>He leaned back in the chair and stretched out his legs. His brain began -to click in a ceaseless scurrying back and forth, nosing from every -angle all the possibilities that existed in this setup.</p> - -<p>It was nice, he thought—this entire operation. The Ship undoubtedly -had figured out some angles for itself which no human yet had thought -of.</p> - -<p>There were a lot of things to do. He'd have to learn the capabilities -of the Ship and give close study to its personality, seeking out its -weak points and its strength. Then he'd have to plan his strategy and -be careful not to give away his thinking. He must not move until he was -entirely ready.</p> - -<p>There might be many ways to do it. There might be flattery or there -might be a business proposition or there might be blackmail. He'd have -to think on it and study and follow out the line of action that seemed -to be the best.</p> - -<p>He wondered at the Ship's means of operation. Anti-gravity, perhaps, so -far considered as a source of power.</p> - -<p>He got up from the chair and paced, three paces across the room. Or a -fusion chamber. Or perhaps some method which had not been and back, -restlessly pondering odds.</p> - -<p>Yes, he thought, it would be a nice kind of ship to have. More than -likely there was nothing in all of space that could touch it in -speed and maneuverability. Nothing that could overhaul it should -he ever have to run. It could apparently set down anywhere. It was -probably self-repairing, for the Ship had spoken of redesigning and of -rebuilding itself. With the memory of his recent situation still fresh -inside his mind, this was comforting.</p> - -<p>There must be a way to get the Ship, he told himself. There had to be a -way to get it. It was something that he needed.</p> - -<p>He could buy another ship, of course; with the diamonds in the sacking -he could buy a fleet of ships. But this was the one he wanted.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Maybe it had been pure luck this Ship had picked him up. For any other -legal ship would probably turn him over to the authorities at its next -port of call, but this Ship didn't seem to mind who he was or what his -record might be. Any other ship that was not entirely legal would have -grabbed off, not only the diamonds that he had but his discovery of the -diamond field. But this particular Ship had no concern with diamonds.</p> - -<p>What a setup, he thought. A human brain and a spaceship tied together, -so closely tied together that their identities had merged. He shivered -at the thought of it, for it was a gruesome thing.</p> - -<p>Although perhaps it had not meant too much to that old man who was -about to die. He had traded an aged and death-marked body for many -years of life. Perhaps life as a part of a space-traveling machine was -better than no life at all.</p> - -<p>How many years, he wondered, had it been since that old man had -translated himself into something else than human? A hundred? Five -hundred? Perhaps even more than that.</p> - -<p>In those years where had he been and what might he have seen? And, -most pertinent of all, what thoughts had run through and congealed and -formed within his mind? What was life like for him? Not a human sort of -life, of course, not a human viewpoint, but something else entirely.</p> - -<p>Sherwood tried to imagine what it might be like, but gave up in dismay. -It would necessarily be a negation of everything he lived for—all -the sensual pleasure, all the dreams of gain and glory, all the neat -behavior patterns he had set up for himself, all his self-made rules of -conduct and of conscience.</p> - -<p>A miracle, he thought. As a matter of fact, there'd been two miracles. -The first had been when he had been able to set his ship down without -a crackup when the valve had failed. He had come in close above the -planet's surface to find a place to land—and suddenly the valve went -out and the engine failed and there he'd been, plunging down above the -rough terrain. Then suddenly he had glimpsed a place where a landing -might be just barely possible and had fought the controls madly to hit -that certain spot and finally had hit it—alive.</p> - -<p>It had been a miracle that he had made the landing; and the coming of -the Ship to rescue him had been the second miracle.</p> - -<p>The bunk dropped down flat against the wall and his sack of diamonds -was dumped onto the floor.</p> - -<p>"Hey, what goes on?" yelled Sherwood. Then he wished he had not yelled, -for it was quite clear exactly what had happened. The support that held -the bunk had not been snapped properly into place and had given way, -letting down the bunk.</p> - -<p>"Something wrong, Mr. Sherwood?" asked the Ship.</p> - -<p>"No, not a thing," said Sherwood. "My bunk fell down. I guess it -startled me."</p> - -<p>He bent down to pick up the diamonds. As he did, the chair quietly and -efficiently slid back against the wall, folded itself up and slid into -a slight depression that exactly fitted it.</p> - -<p>Squatted to pick up the diamonds, Sherwood watched the chair in -horrified fascination, then swiftly spun around. The bunk no longer -hung against the wall, also had fitted itself into another niche.</p> - -<p>Cold fear speared into Sherwood. He rose swiftly to his feet, turning -like a man at bay. He stood in a bare cubicle. With both the bunk and -chair retracted, he stood within four bare walls.</p> - -<p>He sprang toward the door and there wasn't any door. There was only -wall.</p> - -<p>He staggered back into the center of the cubicle and spun around to -view each wall in turn. There was no door in any of the walls. The -metal went up from floor to ceiling without a single break.</p> - -<p>The walls began to move, closing in on him, sliding in, retracting.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He watched, incredulous, frozen, thinking that perhaps he'd imagined -the moving of the walls.</p> - -<p>But it was not imagination. Slowly, inexorably, the walls were closing -in. Had he put out his arms, he could have touched them on either side -of him.</p> - -<p>"Ship!" he said, fighting to keep his voice calm.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Mr. Sherwood."</p> - -<p>"You are malfunctioning. The walls are closing in."</p> - -<p>"No," said the Ship. "No malfunction, I assure you. A very proper -function. My brain grows tired and feeble. It is not the body only—the -brain also has its limits. I suspected that it might, but I could not -know. There was a chance, of course, that separated from the poison of -a body, it might live in its bath of nutrients forever."</p> - -<p>"No!" rasped Sherwood, his breath strangling in his throat. "No, not -me!"</p> - -<p>"Who else?" asked the Ship. "I have searched for years and you are the -first who fitted."</p> - -<p>"Fitted!" Sherwood screamed.</p> - -<p>"Why, of course," the Ship said calmly, happily. "A man who would not -be missed. No one knowing where you were. No one hunting for you. -No one who will miss you. I had hunted for someone like you and had -despaired of finding one. For I am humane. I would cause no one grief -or sadness."</p> - -<p>The walls kept closing in.</p> - -<p>The Ship seemed to sigh in metallic contentment.</p> - -<p>"Believe me, Mr. Sherwood," it said, "finding you was a very miracle."</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Shipshape Miracle, by Clifford D. 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Simak - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Shipshape Miracle - -Author: Clifford D. Simak - -Release Date: February 6, 2020 [EBook #61333] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHIPSHAPE MIRACLE *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE SHIPSHAPE MIRACLE - - BY CLIFFORD D. SIMAK - - The castaway was a wanted man--but he - didn't know how badly he was wanted! - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1963. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -If Cheviot Sherwood ever had believed in miracles, he believed in them -no longer. He had no illusions now. He knew exactly what he faced. - -His life would come to an end on this uninhabited backwoods planet and -there'd be none to mourn him, none to know. Not, he thought, that there -would be any mourners, under any circumstance. Although there were -those who would be glad to see him, who would come running if they knew -where he might be found. - -These were people, very definitely, that Sherwood had no desire to see. - -His great, one might say his overwhelming, desire not to see them -could account in part for his present situation, since he had taken off -from the last planet of record without filing flight plans and lacking -clearance. - -Since no one knew where he might have headed and since his radio was -junk, there was no likelihood at all that anyone would find him--even -if they looked, which would be a matter of some doubt. Probably the -most that anyone would do would be to send out messages to other -planets to place authorities on the alert for him. - -And since his spaceship, for the lack of a certain valve for which he -had no replacement, was not going anywhere, he was stuck here on this -planet. - -If that had been all there had been to it, it might not have been so -bad. But there was a final irony that under other circumstances (if -it had been happening to someone else, let's say), would have kept -Sherwood in stitches of forthright merriment for hours on end at the -very thought of it. But since he was the one involved, there was no -merriment. - -For now, when he could gain no benefit, he was potentially rich beyond -even his own most greedy and most lurid dreams. - -On the ridge above the camp he'd get up beside his crippled spaceship -lay a strip of clay-cemented conglomerate that fairly reeked with -diamonds. They lay scattered on the hillside, washed out by the -weather; they were mixed liberally in the gravel of the tiny stream -that wended through the valley. They could be picked up by the basket. -They were of high quality; there were several, the size of human -skulls, that probably were priceless. - -Sherwood was of a hardy, rough and tumble breed. Once he became -convinced of his situation he made the best of it. He made his camp -into a home and laid in supplies--digging roots, gathering nuts, -drying fish and making pemmican. If he was to be cast in the role of a -Robinson Crusoe, he proposed to be at least comfortably well fed. - -In his spare time he gathered diamonds, dumping them in a pile outside -his shack. And in the idle afternoons or the long evenings, he sat -beside his campfire and sorted them out--washing them free of clinging -dirt and grading them according to their size and brilliance. The very -best of them he put into a sack, designed for easy grabbing if the -time should ever come when he might depart the planet. - -Not that he had any hope this would come about. - -Even so, he was a man who planned against contingencies. He always -tried to have some sort of loop-hole. Had this not been the case, his -career would have ended long before, at any one of a dozen times or -places. That it apparently had come to an end now could be attributed -to a certain lack of foresight in not carrying a full complement of -spare parts. Although perhaps this was understandable, since never -before in the history of space flight had that particular valve which -now spelled out Sherwood's doom ever misbehaved. - -Perhaps it was well for him that he was not an introspective man. If he -had been given to much searching thought, he might have found himself -living with his past, and there were places in his past that were far -from pretty. - -He was lucky in many other ways, of course. The planet was not a bad -one, a sort of New England planet with a rocky, tumbled terrain, -forested by scrubby trees and distinctly terrestrial. He might just -as easily have been marooned upon a jungle planet or one of the icy -planets or any of another dozen different kinds that were not tolerant -of life. - -So he settled in and made the best of it and didn't even bother to -count off the days. For he knew what he was in for. - -He counted on no miracle. - - * * * * * - -The miracle he had not counted on came late one afternoon as he sat, -cross-legged, sorting out his latest haul of priceless diamonds. - -The great black ship came in from the east across the rolling hills. -It whistled down across the ridges and settled to the ground a short -distance from Sherwood's crippled ship and his patched-together shack. - -It was no patrol vessel, although in his position, Sherwood would have -welcomed even one of these. It was a kind of ship he'd never seen -before. It was globular and black and it had no identifying marks on it. - -He leaped to his feet and ran toward the ship. He waved his arms in -welcome and whooped with his delight. He stopped a hundred feet away -when he felt the first whiff of the heat that had been picked up by the -vessel's hull in its plunge through atmosphere. - -"Hey, in there!" he yelled. - -And the Ship spoke to him. "You need not yell," it told him. "I can -hear you very well." - -"Who are you?" asked Sherwood. - -"I am the Ship," the voice told him. - -"Quit fooling around," yelled Sherwood, "and tell me who you are." - -For the sort of answer it had given was foolishness. Of course it was -the ship. It was someone in the ship, talking to him through a speaker -in the hull. - -"I have told you," said the Ship. "I am the Ship." - -"But there is someone speaking to me." - -"The ship is speaking to you." - -"All right, then," said Sherwood. "If you want it that way, it's okay -with me. Can you take me out of here? My radio is broken and my ship -disabled." - -"Perhaps I can," said the Ship. "Tell me who you are." - -Sherwood hesitated for a moment, and then he told who he was, quite -truthfully. For it suddenly had occurred to him that this ship was as -much an outlaw as he was himself. It had no markings and all ships must -have markings. - -"You say you left your last port without proper clearance?" - -"Yes," said Sherwood. "There were certain circumstances." - -"And no one knows where you are? No one's looking for you?" - -"How could they?" Sherwood asked. - -"Where do you want to go?" - -"Just anywhere," said Sherwood. "I have no preference." - - * * * * * - -For even if they should land him somewhere where he had no wish to be, -he still would have a running chance. On this planet he had no chance -at all. - -"All right," said the ship. "You can come aboard." - -A hatch came open in the hull and a ladder began running out. - -"Just a second," Sherwood shouted. "I'll be right there." - -He sprinted to the shack and grabbed his sack of the finest diamonds, -then legged it for the ship. He got there almost as soon as the ladder -touched the ground. - -The hull still was crackling with warmth, but Sherwood swarmed up the -ladder, paying no attention. - -He was set for life, he thought. Unless-- - -And then the thought struck him that they might take the diamonds from -him. They could pretend it was payment for his passage. Or they could -simply take them without an excuse of any sort at all. - -But it was too late now. He was almost in the hatch. To drop the sack -of diamonds now would do no more than arouse suspicion and would gain -him nothing. - -It came of greediness, he thought. He did not need this many diamonds. -Just a half dozen of the finest dropped into his pockets would have -been enough. Enough to buy him another ship so he could return and get -a load of them. - -But he was committed now. There was nothing he could do except to see -it through. - -He reached the hatch and tumbled through it. There was no one waiting. -The inner lock stood open and there was no one there. - -He stopped to stare at the emptiness and behind him the retracting -ladder rumbled softly and the hatch hissed to a close. - -"Hey," he shouted, "where is everyone?" - -"There is no one here," the voice said, "but me." - -"All right," said Sherwood. "Where do I go to find you?" - -"You have found me," said the Ship. "You are standing in me." - -"You mean...." - -"I told you," said the Ship. "I said I was the Ship. That is what I am." - -"But no one...." - -"You do not understand," said the Ship. "There is no need of anyone. -I am myself. I am intelligent. I am part machine, part human. Rather, -perhaps, at one time I was. I have thought, in recent years, the two of -us have merged so we're neither human nor machine, but something new -entirely." - -"You're kidding me," said Sherwood, beginning to get frightened. -"There can't be such a thing." - -"Consider," said the Ship, "a certain human who had worked for years to -build me and who, as he finished me, found death was closing in...." - -"Let me out!" yelled Sherwood. "Let me out of here! I don't want to be -rescued. I don't want...." - -"I'm afraid, Mr. Sherwood, it is rather late for that. We're already -out in space." - -"Out in space! We can't be! It isn't possible!" - -"Of course it is," the Ship told him. "You expected thrust. There was -no thrust. We simply lifted." - - * * * * * - -"No ship," insisted Sherwood, "can get off a planet...." - -"You're thinking, Mr. Sherwood, of the ships built by human hands. Not -of a living ship. Not of an intelligent machine. Not of what becomes -possible with the merging of a man and a machine." - -"You mean you built yourself?" - -"Of course not. Not to start with. I was built by human hands to start -with. But I've redesigned myself and rebuilt myself, not once, but -many times. I knew my capabilities. I knew my dreams and wishes. I -made myself the kind of thing I was capable of being--not the halfway, -makeshift thing that was the best the human race could do." - -"The man you spoke of," Sherwood said. "The one who was about to -die...." - -"He is part of me," said the Ship. "If you must think of him as a -separate entity, he, then, is talking to you. For when I say 'I', I -mean both of us, for we've become as one." - -"I don't get it," Sherwood told the Ship, feeling the panic coming -back again. - -"He built me, long ago, as a ship which would respond, not to the -pushing of a lever or the pressing of a button, but to the mental -commands of the man who drove me. I was to become, in effect, an -extension of that man. There was a helmet that the man would wear and -he'd think into the helmet." - -"I understand," said Sherwood. - -"He'd think into the helmet and I was so programmed that I'd obey his -thoughts. I became, in effect, a man, and the man became in effect the -ship he operated." - -"Nice deal," Sherwood said enthusiastically, never being one upon whom -the niceties of certain advantages were ever lost. - -"He finished me and he was about to die and it was a pity that such -a one should die--one who had worked so hard to do what he had done. -Who'd given up so much. Who never had seen space. Who had gone nowhere." - -"No," said Sherwood, in revulsion, knowing what was coming. "No, he'd -not done that." - -"It was a kindness," said the ship. "It was what he wanted. He managed -it himself. He simply gave up his body. His body was a worthless hulk -that was about to die. The modifications to accommodate a human brain -rather than a human skull were quite elementary. And he has been happy. -We have both of us been happy." - -Sherwood stood without saying anything. In the silence he was listening -for some sound, for any kind of tiny rattle or hum, for anything at -all to tell him the ship was operating. But there was no sound and no -sense of motion of any sort. - -"Happy," he said. "Where would you have found happiness? What's the -point of all this?" - -"That," the Ship said solemnly, "is a bit hard to explain." - -Sherwood stood and thought about it--the endless voyaging through space -without a body--with all the desires, all the advantages, all the -capabilities of a body gone forever. - -"There is nothing for you to fear," said the Ship. "You need not -concern yourself. We have a cabin for you. Just down the corridor, the -first door to your left." - -"I thank you," Sherwood said, although he was nervous still. - -If he had had a choice, he told himself, he'd stayed back on the -planet. But since he was here, he'd have to make the best of it. And -there were, he admitted to himself, certain advantages and certain -possibilities that needed further thought. - - * * * * * - -He went down the corridor and pushed on the door. It opened on the -cabin. For a spaceship it looked comfortable enough. A little cramped, -of course, but then all cabins were. Space is at a premium on any sort -of ship. - -He went in and placed his sack of diamonds on the bunk that hinged out -from the wall. He sat down in the single metal chair that stood beside -the bunk. - -"Are you comfortable, Mr. Sherwood?" - -"Very comfortable," he said. - -It was going to be all right, he told himself. A very crazy setup, -but it would be all right. Perhaps a little spooky and a bit hard to -believe, but probably better, after all, than staying marooned, back -there on the planet. For this would not last forever. And the planet -could have been, most probably would have been, forever. - -It would take a while to reach another planet, for space was rather -sparsely populated in this area. There would be time to think and plan. -He might be able to work out something that would be to his great -advantage. - -He leaned back in the chair and stretched out his legs. His brain began -to click in a ceaseless scurrying back and forth, nosing from every -angle all the possibilities that existed in this setup. - -It was nice, he thought--this entire operation. The Ship undoubtedly -had figured out some angles for itself which no human yet had thought -of. - -There were a lot of things to do. He'd have to learn the capabilities -of the Ship and give close study to its personality, seeking out its -weak points and its strength. Then he'd have to plan his strategy and -be careful not to give away his thinking. He must not move until he was -entirely ready. - -There might be many ways to do it. There might be flattery or there -might be a business proposition or there might be blackmail. He'd have -to think on it and study and follow out the line of action that seemed -to be the best. - -He wondered at the Ship's means of operation. Anti-gravity, perhaps, so -far considered as a source of power. - -He got up from the chair and paced, three paces across the room. Or a -fusion chamber. Or perhaps some method which had not been and back, -restlessly pondering odds. - -Yes, he thought, it would be a nice kind of ship to have. More than -likely there was nothing in all of space that could touch it in -speed and maneuverability. Nothing that could overhaul it should -he ever have to run. It could apparently set down anywhere. It was -probably self-repairing, for the Ship had spoken of redesigning and of -rebuilding itself. With the memory of his recent situation still fresh -inside his mind, this was comforting. - -There must be a way to get the Ship, he told himself. There had to be a -way to get it. It was something that he needed. - -He could buy another ship, of course; with the diamonds in the sacking -he could buy a fleet of ships. But this was the one he wanted. - - * * * * * - -Maybe it had been pure luck this Ship had picked him up. For any other -legal ship would probably turn him over to the authorities at its next -port of call, but this Ship didn't seem to mind who he was or what his -record might be. Any other ship that was not entirely legal would have -grabbed off, not only the diamonds that he had but his discovery of the -diamond field. But this particular Ship had no concern with diamonds. - -What a setup, he thought. A human brain and a spaceship tied together, -so closely tied together that their identities had merged. He shivered -at the thought of it, for it was a gruesome thing. - -Although perhaps it had not meant too much to that old man who was -about to die. He had traded an aged and death-marked body for many -years of life. Perhaps life as a part of a space-traveling machine was -better than no life at all. - -How many years, he wondered, had it been since that old man had -translated himself into something else than human? A hundred? Five -hundred? Perhaps even more than that. - -In those years where had he been and what might he have seen? And, -most pertinent of all, what thoughts had run through and congealed and -formed within his mind? What was life like for him? Not a human sort of -life, of course, not a human viewpoint, but something else entirely. - -Sherwood tried to imagine what it might be like, but gave up in dismay. -It would necessarily be a negation of everything he lived for--all -the sensual pleasure, all the dreams of gain and glory, all the neat -behavior patterns he had set up for himself, all his self-made rules of -conduct and of conscience. - -A miracle, he thought. As a matter of fact, there'd been two miracles. -The first had been when he had been able to set his ship down without -a crackup when the valve had failed. He had come in close above the -planet's surface to find a place to land--and suddenly the valve went -out and the engine failed and there he'd been, plunging down above the -rough terrain. Then suddenly he had glimpsed a place where a landing -might be just barely possible and had fought the controls madly to hit -that certain spot and finally had hit it--alive. - -It had been a miracle that he had made the landing; and the coming of -the Ship to rescue him had been the second miracle. - -The bunk dropped down flat against the wall and his sack of diamonds -was dumped onto the floor. - -"Hey, what goes on?" yelled Sherwood. Then he wished he had not yelled, -for it was quite clear exactly what had happened. The support that held -the bunk had not been snapped properly into place and had given way, -letting down the bunk. - -"Something wrong, Mr. Sherwood?" asked the Ship. - -"No, not a thing," said Sherwood. "My bunk fell down. I guess it -startled me." - -He bent down to pick up the diamonds. As he did, the chair quietly and -efficiently slid back against the wall, folded itself up and slid into -a slight depression that exactly fitted it. - -Squatted to pick up the diamonds, Sherwood watched the chair in -horrified fascination, then swiftly spun around. The bunk no longer -hung against the wall, also had fitted itself into another niche. - -Cold fear speared into Sherwood. He rose swiftly to his feet, turning -like a man at bay. He stood in a bare cubicle. With both the bunk and -chair retracted, he stood within four bare walls. - -He sprang toward the door and there wasn't any door. There was only -wall. - -He staggered back into the center of the cubicle and spun around to -view each wall in turn. There was no door in any of the walls. The -metal went up from floor to ceiling without a single break. - -The walls began to move, closing in on him, sliding in, retracting. - - * * * * * - -He watched, incredulous, frozen, thinking that perhaps he'd imagined -the moving of the walls. - -But it was not imagination. Slowly, inexorably, the walls were closing -in. Had he put out his arms, he could have touched them on either side -of him. - -"Ship!" he said, fighting to keep his voice calm. - -"Yes, Mr. Sherwood." - -"You are malfunctioning. The walls are closing in." - -"No," said the Ship. "No malfunction, I assure you. A very proper -function. My brain grows tired and feeble. It is not the body only--the -brain also has its limits. I suspected that it might, but I could not -know. There was a chance, of course, that separated from the poison of -a body, it might live in its bath of nutrients forever." - -"No!" rasped Sherwood, his breath strangling in his throat. "No, not -me!" - -"Who else?" asked the Ship. "I have searched for years and you are the -first who fitted." - -"Fitted!" Sherwood screamed. - -"Why, of course," the Ship said calmly, happily. "A man who would not -be missed. No one knowing where you were. No one hunting for you. -No one who will miss you. I had hunted for someone like you and had -despaired of finding one. For I am humane. I would cause no one grief -or sadness." - -The walls kept closing in. - -The Ship seemed to sigh in metallic contentment. - -"Believe me, Mr. Sherwood," it said, "finding you was a very miracle." - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Shipshape Miracle, by Clifford D. 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