Edward W. Ludwig

Name: Spacemen Die at Home
Author: Edward W. Ludwig

Spacemen Die at Home

Summary

“Spacemen Die at Home”, is a work by Edward W. Ludwig. It explores elements such as Charlie, spaceman and Everson.

Quotes from Spacemen Die at Home (Edward W. Ludwig)

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ You can go into space, I thought, and try to do as much living in ten years as normal men do in fifty. You can be like Everson, who died in a Moon crash at the age of 36, or like a thousand others who lie buried in Martian sand and Venusian dust. Or, if you're lucky, like Charlie—a kind of human meteor streaking through space, eternally alone, never finding a home.
Or there's the other path. To stay on this little prison of an Earth in cool, comfortable houses. To be one of the solid, rooted people with a wife and kids. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ His home, Laura, was the Universe, where the ship was his house, the crew his father, mother, brothers, the planets his children.
You say that the beauty of the other side of the mountain vanishes after you reach it. But how can one ever be sure until the journey is made? Could I or Charlie or the thousand before us bear to look upon a star and think, I might have gone there; I could have been the first?
We said, too, that the life of a spaceman is lonely. Yet how could one be lonely when men like Charlie roam the spaceways? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ Though it was daytime, I saw the stars in my mind's vision, the great shining balls of silver, each like a voice crying out and pleading to be explored, to be touched by the sons of Earth.
They expect a lot from us. They expect us to make a new kind of civilization and a better place out of Earth. They expect all this and a hell of a lot more. They think there's nothing we can't do. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ A moment later Mickey said, frowning, "What was he talking about, Ben? Did he make you an offer?"
I laughed. "He offered me a job here at the Academy teaching astrogation. What a life that would be! Imagine standing in a classroom for forty years when I've got the chance to—"
I hesitated, and you supplied the right words: "When you've got the chance to be the first to reach a new planet. That's what most of you want, isn't it? That's what Mickey used to want."
I looked at you as if you were Everson himself, because you seemed to understand the hunger that could lie in a man's heart. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ Mickey looked down at his feet. "I didn't want to tell you yet, Ben. We've been together a long time, planning to be on a rocket. But—"
"Yes?"
"Well, what does it add up to? You become a spaceman and wear a pretty uniform. You wade through the sands of Mars and the dust of Venus. If you're lucky, you're good for five, maybe ten years. Then one thing or another gets you. They don't insure rocketmen, you know."
My stomach was full of churning, biting ice. "What are you trying to say, Mickey?"
"I've thought about it a long time. They want me for Cargo Supervisor of White Sands Port." ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ Then you murmured, "I—I want to marry you, Ben, but are you asking me to marry a spaceman or a teacher?"
"Can't a spaceman marry, too?"
"Yes, a spaceman can marry, but what would it be like? Don't you see, Ben? You'd be like Charlie. Gone for maybe two months, maybe two years. Then you'd have a twenty-four hour liberty—and I'd have what?"
Somehow I'd expected words like these, but still they hurt. "I wouldn't have to be a spaceman forever. I could try it for a couple of years, then teach."
"Would you, Ben? Would you be satisfied with just seeing Mars? ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ Stardust Charlie, we called him, although I never knew why. He was a veteran of Everson's first trip to the Moon nearly twenty-five years ago, and he was still at it. He was Chief Jetman now on the Lunar Lady, a commercial ore ship on a shuttle between Luna City and White Sands.
I remembered how, as a kid, I'd pestered him in the Long Island Spaceport, tagging after him like a puppy, and how he'd grown to like me until he became father, mother, and buddy all in one to me. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ It'd be a great future, I thought. You'd dream of sitting in a dingy stone dive on the Grand Canal with sand-wasps buzzing around smoky, stinking candles. A bottle of luchu juice and a couple of Martian girls with dirty feet for company. And a sudden cough that would be the first sign of lung-rot.
To hell with it!
I walked into your living room and called Dean Dawson on the visiphone.
I accepted that job teaching.
And now, Laura, it's nearly midnight. You're in your room, sleeping, and the house is silent. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ Mickey noticed my frown.
"What's the matter, Ben? Still sore? I feel like a heel, but I'm just not like you and Charlie, I guess. I—"
"No, I understand, Mickey. I'm not sore, really."
"Listen, then. You haven't accepted any offer yet, have you?"
"No. I got a couple of possibilities. Could get a berth on the Odyssey, the new ship being finished at Los Angeles. They want me, too, for the Moon Patrol, but that's old stuff, not much better than teaching. I want to be in deep space."
"Well, how about staying with us till you decide? Might as well enjoy Earth life while you can. Okay?" ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ Hell, I says, that ain't whoopin' cough, that's lung-rot."
That was when your father said he wasn't so hungry after all.
Afterward, you and I walked onto the terrace, into the moonlit night, to watch for crimson-tailed continental rockets that occasionally streaked up from White Sands.
We gazed for a few seconds up into the dark sky, and then you said: "Charlie is funny, isn't he? He's nice and I'm glad he's here, but he's sort of funny."
"He's an old-time spaceman. You didn't need much education in those days, just a lot of brawn and a quick mind. It took guts to be a spaceman then." ”

[↩︎]

Source: Gutenberg

Edward W. Ludwig, Spacemen Die at Home

“ I saw the old buildings and castles, and the spaceports and the Channel Tube. But after it was over, I realized England wasn't so different from America. Places seem exciting before you get to them, and afterward they're not really. ”

Edward W. Ludwig

Summary

Quotes from Spacemen Die at Home (Edward W. Ludwig)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature