Clifford D. Simak

Name: The Shipshape Miracle
Author: Clifford D. Simak

The Shipshape Miracle

Summary

“The Shipshape Miracle”, is a work by Clifford D. Simak. It explores elements such as Sherwood, planet and diamonds.

Quotes from The Shipshape Miracle (Clifford D. Simak)

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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? ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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." ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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...." ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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." ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape 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. ”

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Source: Gutenberg

Clifford D. Simak, The Shipshape Miracle

“ 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. ”

Clifford D. Simak

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Quotes from The Shipshape Miracle (Clifford D. Simak)

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