As captured January 17, 2025

2 files changed, 548 insertions, 548 deletions

diff --git a/72030-0.txt b/72030-0.txt
index 0b9111d..18b7ef2 100644
--- a/72030-0.txt
+++ b/72030-0.txt
@@ -1,219 +1,219 @@
-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***

-

-

-

-

-

-                    AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP

-

-                          By WILLIAM F. NOLAN

-

-                     Illustrated by RICHARD KLUGA

-

-              _He knew, to the exact minute, when he was

-        going to die. And Earth was too far away to reach...._

-

-           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

-                         Infinity August 1958.

-         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that

-         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

-

-

-Alone within the humming ship, deep in its honeycombed metal chambers,

-Murdock waited for death. While the rocket moved inexorably toward

-Earth--an immense silver needle threading the dark fabric of space--he

-waited calmly through the final hours, knowing that the verdict was

-absolute, that hope no longer existed.

-

-Electronically self-sufficient, the ship was doing its job perfectly,

-the job it had been built to do. After twenty years in space, the ship

-was taking Robert Murdock home.

-

-Home. Earth. Thayerville, a small town in Kansas. Clean air, a shaded

-street, and a white, two-story house at the end of the block.

-Home--after two decades among the stars.

-

-Sitting quietly before the round port, seeing and not seeing the

-endless darkness surrounding him, Murdock was remembering.

-

-He remembered the worried face of his mother, her whispered prayers for

-his safety as he mounted the rocket ramp those twenty years ago; he

-could still feel the final, crushing handshake of his father moments

-before the outer airlock slid closed. His mother had been 55 then, his

-father 63. It was almost impossible to believe that they were now old

-and white-haired.

-

-And what of himself?

-

-He was now 41, and space had weathered him as the plains of Kansas

-had weathered his father. He, too, had labored as his father had

-labored--but on strange, alien worlds, under suns far hotter than Sol.

-Murdock's face was square and hard-featured, his eyes dark and deep

-under thrusting ledges of bone. He had changed as they had changed.

-

-He was a stranger going home to strangers.

-

-Carefully, Murdock unfolded his mother's last letter, written in her

-flowery, archaic hand, and received just before Earth take-off.

-

-    _Dearest Bob,_

-

-    _Oh, we are so excited! Your father and I listened to your voice

-    on the tape over and over, telling us that you are coming home to

-    us at last. We are both so eager to see you, son. As you know, we

-    have not been too well of late. Your father's heart does not allow

-    him out much any more, and I have had a few fainting spells over

-    the past month. But Doctor Thom says that we are all right, and you

-    are_ not _to worry. Just hurry home to us, Bob. We both pray

-    God you will come back safely._

-

-                                                         _All our love,

-                                                                Mother_

-

-Robert Murdock put the letter aside and clenched his fists. Only brief

-hours remained to him, and the small Kansas town of Thayerville was an

-impossible distance across space. He knew he would never reach it alive.

-

-The lines of an ancient poem by Robert Frost whispered through his mind:

-

-    But I have promises to keep,

-    And miles to go before I sleep

-

-He had promised his parents that he would come home--and he meant to

-keep that promise.

-

-The doctors had shown him that it was impossible. They had charted his

-death; they had told him when his heart would stop beating, when his

-breathing would cease. Death, for Robert Murdock, was a certainty. His

-alien disease was incurable.

-

-But they had listened to his plan. They had listened, and agreed.

-

-Now, with less than a half-hour of life remaining, Murdock was walking

-down one of the ship's long corridors, his boot-heels ringing on the

-narrow metal walkway.

-

-He was ready, at last, to keep his promise.

-

-Murdock paused before a wall storage locker, twisted a small dial.

-A door slid smoothly back. He looked up at the tall man standing

-motionless in the darkness. Reaching forward, Murdock made a quick

-adjustment.

-

-The tall man stepped down into the corridor, and the light flashed in

-his deep-set eyes, almost hidden behind thrusting ledges of bone. The

-man's face was hard and square-featured.

-

-"My name is Robert Murdock," said the tall figure in the neat patrol

-uniform. "I am 41 years of age, a rocket pilot going home to Earth." He

-paused. "And I am sound of mind and body."

-

-Murdock nodded slowly. "Indeed you are," he said.

-

-"How much longer do you have, sir?"

-

-"Another ten minutes. Perhaps a few seconds beyond that," replied

-Murdock.

-

-"I--I'm sorry," said the tall figure.

-

-Murdock smiled. He knew that a machine, however perfect, could not

-experience the emotion of sorrow, but it eased him to hear the words.

-

-You will be fine, he thought. You will serve well in my place and my

-parents will never suspect that their son has not come home to them.

-

-"It must all be perfect," said Murdock.

-

-"Of course," said the machine. "When the month I am to spend with them

-is over they'll see me board a rocket for space--and they'll understand

-that I cannot return to them for another twenty years. They will accept

-the fact that a spaceman must return to the stars, that he cannot leave

-the service before he is 60. Let me assure you, sir, it will all go

-well."

-

-Yes, Murdock told himself, it _will_ go well; every detail has been

-considered. My voice is his voice, my habits his own. The tapes I have

-pre-recorded will continue to reach them at specified intervals until

-their death. They will never know I'm gone.

-

-"Are you ready now, sir?" the tall figure asked gently.

-

-Murdock drew in his breath. "Yes," he said, "I'm ready now."

-

-And they began to walk down the long corridor.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Murdock remembered how proud his parents had been when he was finally

-accepted for Space Training--the only boy in Thayerville to be chosen.

-But then, it was only right that he should have been the one. The other

-boys, those who failed, had not _lived_ the dream as he had lived it.

-From the moment he'd watched the first moon rocket land he had known,

-beyond any possible doubt, that he would become a rocketman. He had

-stood there, in that cold December of 1980, a boy of 12, watching the

-great rocket fire down from space, watching it thaw and blacken the

-frozen earth. He had known that he would one day follow it back to the

-stars, to vast and alien horizons, to worlds past imagining.

-

-He remembered his last night on Earth, twenty long years ago, when

-he had felt the pressing immensity of the vast and terrible universe

-surrounding him as he lay in his bed. He remembered the sleepless hours

-before dawn, when he could feel the tension building within the single

-room, within himself lying there in the heated stillness of the small,

-white house. He remembered the rain, near morning, drumming the roof,

-and the thunder roaring powerfully across the Kansas sky. And then,

-somehow, the thunder's roar blended into the deep atomic roar of a

-rocket, carrying him away from Earth, away to the burning stars ...

-away ...

-

-_Away._

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-The tall figure in the neat patrol uniform closed the outer airlock

-and watched the body drift into blackness. The ship and the android

-were one; two complex and perfect machines doing their job. For Robert

-Murdock, the journey was over, the long miles had come to an end.

-

-Now he would sleep forever in space.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-When the rocket landed, the crowds were there, waving and shouting out

-Murdock's name as he appeared on the silver ramp. He smiled and raised

-his hand in salute, standing there tall in the sun, his splendid dress

-uniform reflecting the light in a thousand glittering patterns.

-

-At the far end of the ramp two figures waited. An old man, bowed and

-trembling over a cane, and a seamed and wrinkled woman, her hair

-blowing white, her eyes shining.

-

-When the tall spaceman reached them they embraced him feverishly,

-clinging tight to his arms.

-

-Their son had returned. Robert Murdock had come home from space.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-"Well," said a man at the fringe of the crowd, "there they go."

-

-His companion sighed and shook his head. "I _still_ don't think it's

-right somehow. It just doesn't seem right to me."

-

-"It's what they wanted, isn't it?" asked the other. "It's what they

-wrote in their wills. They vowed their son would never come home to

-death. In another month he'll be gone anyway. Back for another twenty

-years. Why ruin it all for him?" The man paused, shading his eyes

-against the sun. "And they _are_ perfect, aren't they? He'll never

-know."

-

-"I suppose you're right," nodded the second man. "He'll never know."

-

-And he watched the old man and the old woman and the tall son until

-they were out of sight.

-

-

-

+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***
+
+
+
+
+
+                    AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
+
+                          By WILLIAM F. NOLAN
+
+                     Illustrated by RICHARD KLUGA
+
+              _He knew, to the exact minute, when he was
+        going to die. And Earth was too far away to reach...._
+
+           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+                         Infinity August 1958.
+         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+Alone within the humming ship, deep in its honeycombed metal chambers,
+Murdock waited for death. While the rocket moved inexorably toward
+Earth--an immense silver needle threading the dark fabric of space--he
+waited calmly through the final hours, knowing that the verdict was
+absolute, that hope no longer existed.
+
+Electronically self-sufficient, the ship was doing its job perfectly,
+the job it had been built to do. After twenty years in space, the ship
+was taking Robert Murdock home.
+
+Home. Earth. Thayerville, a small town in Kansas. Clean air, a shaded
+street, and a white, two-story house at the end of the block.
+Home--after two decades among the stars.
+
+Sitting quietly before the round port, seeing and not seeing the
+endless darkness surrounding him, Murdock was remembering.
+
+He remembered the worried face of his mother, her whispered prayers for
+his safety as he mounted the rocket ramp those twenty years ago; he
+could still feel the final, crushing handshake of his father moments
+before the outer airlock slid closed. His mother had been 55 then, his
+father 63. It was almost impossible to believe that they were now old
+and white-haired.
+
+And what of himself?
+
+He was now 41, and space had weathered him as the plains of Kansas
+had weathered his father. He, too, had labored as his father had
+labored--but on strange, alien worlds, under suns far hotter than Sol.
+Murdock's face was square and hard-featured, his eyes dark and deep
+under thrusting ledges of bone. He had changed as they had changed.
+
+He was a stranger going home to strangers.
+
+Carefully, Murdock unfolded his mother's last letter, written in her
+flowery, archaic hand, and received just before Earth take-off.
+
+    _Dearest Bob,_
+
+    _Oh, we are so excited! Your father and I listened to your voice
+    on the tape over and over, telling us that you are coming home to
+    us at last. We are both so eager to see you, son. As you know, we
+    have not been too well of late. Your father's heart does not allow
+    him out much any more, and I have had a few fainting spells over
+    the past month. But Doctor Thom says that we are all right, and you
+    are_ not _to worry. Just hurry home to us, Bob. We both pray
+    God you will come back safely._
+
+                                                         _All our love,
+                                                                Mother_
+
+Robert Murdock put the letter aside and clenched his fists. Only brief
+hours remained to him, and the small Kansas town of Thayerville was an
+impossible distance across space. He knew he would never reach it alive.
+
+The lines of an ancient poem by Robert Frost whispered through his mind:
+
+    But I have promises to keep,
+    And miles to go before I sleep
+
+He had promised his parents that he would come home--and he meant to
+keep that promise.
+
+The doctors had shown him that it was impossible. They had charted his
+death; they had told him when his heart would stop beating, when his
+breathing would cease. Death, for Robert Murdock, was a certainty. His
+alien disease was incurable.
+
+But they had listened to his plan. They had listened, and agreed.
+
+Now, with less than a half-hour of life remaining, Murdock was walking
+down one of the ship's long corridors, his boot-heels ringing on the
+narrow metal walkway.
+
+He was ready, at last, to keep his promise.
+
+Murdock paused before a wall storage locker, twisted a small dial.
+A door slid smoothly back. He looked up at the tall man standing
+motionless in the darkness. Reaching forward, Murdock made a quick
+adjustment.
+
+The tall man stepped down into the corridor, and the light flashed in
+his deep-set eyes, almost hidden behind thrusting ledges of bone. The
+man's face was hard and square-featured.
+
+"My name is Robert Murdock," said the tall figure in the neat patrol
+uniform. "I am 41 years of age, a rocket pilot going home to Earth." He
+paused. "And I am sound of mind and body."
+
+Murdock nodded slowly. "Indeed you are," he said.
+
+"How much longer do you have, sir?"
+
+"Another ten minutes. Perhaps a few seconds beyond that," replied
+Murdock.
+
+"I--I'm sorry," said the tall figure.
+
+Murdock smiled. He knew that a machine, however perfect, could not
+experience the emotion of sorrow, but it eased him to hear the words.
+
+You will be fine, he thought. You will serve well in my place and my
+parents will never suspect that their son has not come home to them.
+
+"It must all be perfect," said Murdock.
+
+"Of course," said the machine. "When the month I am to spend with them
+is over they'll see me board a rocket for space--and they'll understand
+that I cannot return to them for another twenty years. They will accept
+the fact that a spaceman must return to the stars, that he cannot leave
+the service before he is 60. Let me assure you, sir, it will all go
+well."
+
+Yes, Murdock told himself, it _will_ go well; every detail has been
+considered. My voice is his voice, my habits his own. The tapes I have
+pre-recorded will continue to reach them at specified intervals until
+their death. They will never know I'm gone.
+
+"Are you ready now, sir?" the tall figure asked gently.
+
+Murdock drew in his breath. "Yes," he said, "I'm ready now."
+
+And they began to walk down the long corridor.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Murdock remembered how proud his parents had been when he was finally
+accepted for Space Training--the only boy in Thayerville to be chosen.
+But then, it was only right that he should have been the one. The other
+boys, those who failed, had not _lived_ the dream as he had lived it.
+From the moment he'd watched the first moon rocket land he had known,
+beyond any possible doubt, that he would become a rocketman. He had
+stood there, in that cold December of 1980, a boy of 12, watching the
+great rocket fire down from space, watching it thaw and blacken the
+frozen earth. He had known that he would one day follow it back to the
+stars, to vast and alien horizons, to worlds past imagining.
+
+He remembered his last night on Earth, twenty long years ago, when
+he had felt the pressing immensity of the vast and terrible universe
+surrounding him as he lay in his bed. He remembered the sleepless hours
+before dawn, when he could feel the tension building within the single
+room, within himself lying there in the heated stillness of the small,
+white house. He remembered the rain, near morning, drumming the roof,
+and the thunder roaring powerfully across the Kansas sky. And then,
+somehow, the thunder's roar blended into the deep atomic roar of a
+rocket, carrying him away from Earth, away to the burning stars ...
+away ...
+
+_Away._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The tall figure in the neat patrol uniform closed the outer airlock
+and watched the body drift into blackness. The ship and the android
+were one; two complex and perfect machines doing their job. For Robert
+Murdock, the journey was over, the long miles had come to an end.
+
+Now he would sleep forever in space.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the rocket landed, the crowds were there, waving and shouting out
+Murdock's name as he appeared on the silver ramp. He smiled and raised
+his hand in salute, standing there tall in the sun, his splendid dress
+uniform reflecting the light in a thousand glittering patterns.
+
+At the far end of the ramp two figures waited. An old man, bowed and
+trembling over a cane, and a seamed and wrinkled woman, her hair
+blowing white, her eyes shining.
+
+When the tall spaceman reached them they embraced him feverishly,
+clinging tight to his arms.
+
+Their son had returned. Robert Murdock had come home from space.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well," said a man at the fringe of the crowd, "there they go."
+
+His companion sighed and shook his head. "I _still_ don't think it's
+right somehow. It just doesn't seem right to me."
+
+"It's what they wanted, isn't it?" asked the other. "It's what they
+wrote in their wills. They vowed their son would never come home to
+death. In another month he'll be gone anyway. Back for another twenty
+years. Why ruin it all for him?" The man paused, shading his eyes
+against the sun. "And they _are_ perfect, aren't they? He'll never
+know."
+
+"I suppose you're right," nodded the second man. "He'll never know."
+
+And he watched the old man and the old woman and the tall son until
+they were out of sight.
+
+
+
 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/72030-h/72030-h.htm b/72030-h/72030-h.htm
index 67a720b..151066f 100644
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+++ b/72030-h/72030-h.htm
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-      And Miles to Go Before I Sleep | Project Gutenberg

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-<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***</div>

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP</h1>

-

-<p class="ph1">By WILLIAM F. NOLAN</p>

-

-<p>Illustrated by RICHARD KLUGA</p>

-

-<p><i>He knew, to the exact minute, when he was<br>

-going to die. And Earth was too far away to reach....</i></p>

-

-<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>

-Infinity August 1958.<br>

-Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>

-the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus" style="max-width: 40.625em;">

-  <img class="w100" src="images/illus.jpg" alt="">

-</figure>

-

-<hr class="chap">

-

-<p>Alone within the humming ship, deep in its honeycombed metal chambers,

-Murdock waited for death. While the rocket moved inexorably toward

-Earth—an immense silver needle threading the dark fabric of space—he

-waited calmly through the final hours, knowing that the verdict was

-absolute, that hope no longer existed.</p>

-

-<p>Electronically self-sufficient, the ship was doing its job perfectly,

-the job it had been built to do. After twenty years in space, the ship

-was taking Robert Murdock home.</p>

-

-<p>Home. Earth. Thayerville, a small town in Kansas. Clean air, a shaded

-street, and a white, two-story house at the end of the block.

-Home—after two decades among the stars.</p>

-

-<p>Sitting quietly before the round port, seeing and not seeing the

-endless darkness surrounding him, Murdock was remembering.</p>

-

-<p>He remembered the worried face of his mother, her whispered prayers for

-his safety as he mounted the rocket ramp those twenty years ago; he

-could still feel the final, crushing handshake of his father moments

-before the outer airlock slid closed. His mother had been 55 then, his

-father 63. It was almost impossible to believe that they were now old

-and white-haired.</p>

-

-<p>And what of himself?</p>

-

-<p>He was now 41, and space had weathered him as the plains of Kansas

-had weathered his father. He, too, had labored as his father had

-labored—but on strange, alien worlds, under suns far hotter than Sol.

-Murdock's face was square and hard-featured, his eyes dark and deep

-under thrusting ledges of bone. He had changed as they had changed.</p>

-

-<p>He was a stranger going home to strangers.</p>

-

-<p>Carefully, Murdock unfolded his mother's last letter, written in her

-flowery, archaic hand, and received just before Earth take-off.</p>

-

-<div class="blockquot">

-

-<p><i>Dearest Bob,</i></p>

-

-<p><i>Oh, we are so excited! Your father and I listened to your voice

-on the tape over and over, telling us that you are coming home to

-us at last. We are both so eager to see you, son. As you know, we

-have not been too well of late. Your father's heart does not allow

-him out much any more, and I have had a few fainting spells over

-the past month. But Doctor Thom says that we are all right, and you

-are</i> not <i>to worry. Just hurry home to us, Bob. We both pray

-God you will come back safely.</i></p>

-

-<p class="ph2"><i>All our love,<br>

-Mother</i></p>

-</div>

-

-<p>Robert Murdock put the letter aside and clenched his fists. Only brief

-hours remained to him, and the small Kansas town of Thayerville was an

-impossible distance across space. He knew he would never reach it alive.</p>

-

-<p>The lines of an ancient poem by Robert Frost whispered through his mind:</p>

-

-<div class="poetry-container">

-<div class="poetry">

-  <div class="stanza">

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>But I have promises to keep,</i></div>

-    <div class="verse indent0"><i>And miles to go before I sleep</i></div>

-  </div>

-</div>

-</div>

-

-<p>He had promised his parents that he would come home—and he meant to

-keep that promise.</p>

-

-<p>The doctors had shown him that it was impossible. They had charted his

-death; they had told him when his heart would stop beating, when his

-breathing would cease. Death, for Robert Murdock, was a certainty. His

-alien disease was incurable.</p>

-

-<p>But they had listened to his plan. They had listened, and agreed.</p>

-

-<p>Now, with less than a half-hour of life remaining, Murdock was walking

-down one of the ship's long corridors, his boot-heels ringing on the

-narrow metal walkway.</p>

-

-<p>He was ready, at last, to keep his promise.</p>

-

-<p>Murdock paused before a wall storage locker, twisted a small dial.

-A door slid smoothly back. He looked up at the tall man standing

-motionless in the darkness. Reaching forward, Murdock made a quick

-adjustment.</p>

-

-<p>The tall man stepped down into the corridor, and the light flashed in

-his deep-set eyes, almost hidden behind thrusting ledges of bone. The

-man's face was hard and square-featured.</p>

-

-<p>"My name is Robert Murdock," said the tall figure in the neat patrol

-uniform. "I am 41 years of age, a rocket pilot going home to Earth." He

-paused. "And I am sound of mind and body."</p>

-

-<p>Murdock nodded slowly. "Indeed you are," he said.</p>

-

-<p>"How much longer do you have, sir?"</p>

-

-<p>"Another ten minutes. Perhaps a few seconds beyond that," replied

-Murdock.</p>

-

-<p>"I—I'm sorry," said the tall figure.</p>

-

-<p>Murdock smiled. He knew that a machine, however perfect, could not

-experience the emotion of sorrow, but it eased him to hear the words.</p>

-

-<p>You will be fine, he thought. You will serve well in my place and my

-parents will never suspect that their son has not come home to them.</p>

-

-<p>"It must all be perfect," said Murdock.</p>

-

-<p>"Of course," said the machine. "When the month I am to spend with them

-is over they'll see me board a rocket for space—and they'll understand

-that I cannot return to them for another twenty years. They will accept

-the fact that a spaceman must return to the stars, that he cannot leave

-the service before he is 60. Let me assure you, sir, it will all go

-well."</p>

-

-<p>Yes, Murdock told himself, it <i>will</i> go well; every detail has been

-considered. My voice is his voice, my habits his own. The tapes I have

-pre-recorded will continue to reach them at specified intervals until

-their death. They will never know I'm gone.</p>

-

-<p>"Are you ready now, sir?" the tall figure asked gently.</p>

-

-<p>Murdock drew in his breath. "Yes," he said, "I'm ready now."</p>

-

-<p>And they began to walk down the long corridor.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>Murdock remembered how proud his parents had been when he was finally

-accepted for Space Training—the only boy in Thayerville to be chosen.

-But then, it was only right that he should have been the one. The other

-boys, those who failed, had not <i>lived</i> the dream as he had lived it.

-From the moment he'd watched the first moon rocket land he had known,

-beyond any possible doubt, that he would become a rocketman. He had

-stood there, in that cold December of 1980, a boy of 12, watching the

-great rocket fire down from space, watching it thaw and blacken the

-frozen earth. He had known that he would one day follow it back to the

-stars, to vast and alien horizons, to worlds past imagining.</p>

-

-<p>He remembered his last night on Earth, twenty long years ago, when

-he had felt the pressing immensity of the vast and terrible universe

-surrounding him as he lay in his bed. He remembered the sleepless hours

-before dawn, when he could feel the tension building within the single

-room, within himself lying there in the heated stillness of the small,

-white house. He remembered the rain, near morning, drumming the roof,

-and the thunder roaring powerfully across the Kansas sky. And then,

-somehow, the thunder's roar blended into the deep atomic roar of a

-rocket, carrying him away from Earth, away to the burning stars ...

-away ...</p>

-

-<p><i>Away.</i></p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>The tall figure in the neat patrol uniform closed the outer airlock

-and watched the body drift into blackness. The ship and the android

-were one; two complex and perfect machines doing their job. For Robert

-Murdock, the journey was over, the long miles had come to an end.</p>

-

-<p>Now he would sleep forever in space.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>When the rocket landed, the crowds were there, waving and shouting out

-Murdock's name as he appeared on the silver ramp. He smiled and raised

-his hand in salute, standing there tall in the sun, his splendid dress

-uniform reflecting the light in a thousand glittering patterns.</p>

-

-<p>At the far end of the ramp two figures waited. An old man, bowed and

-trembling over a cane, and a seamed and wrinkled woman, her hair

-blowing white, her eyes shining.</p>

-

-<p>When the tall spaceman reached them they embraced him feverishly,

-clinging tight to his arms.</p>

-

-<p>Their son had returned. Robert Murdock had come home from space.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb">

-

-<p>"Well," said a man at the fringe of the crowd, "there they go."</p>

-

-<p>His companion sighed and shook his head. "I <i>still</i> don't think it's

-right somehow. It just doesn't seem right to me."</p>

-

-<p>"It's what they wanted, isn't it?" asked the other. "It's what they

-wrote in their wills. They vowed their son would never come home to

-death. In another month he'll be gone anyway. Back for another twenty

-years. Why ruin it all for him?" The man paused, shading his eyes

-against the sun. "And they <i>are</i> perfect, aren't they? He'll never

-know."</p>

-

-<p>"I suppose you're right," nodded the second man. "He'll never know."</p>

-

-<p>And he watched the old man and the old woman and the tall son until

-they were out of sight.

-</p>

-<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***</div>

-</body>

-</html>

+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      And Miles to Go Before I Sleep | Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
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+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***</div>
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP</h1>
+
+<p class="ph1">By WILLIAM F. NOLAN</p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by RICHARD KLUGA</p>
+
+<p><i>He knew, to the exact minute, when he was<br>
+going to die. And Earth was too far away to reach....</i></p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br>
+Infinity August 1958.<br>
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br>
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus" style="max-width: 40.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus.jpg" alt="">
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap">
+
+<p>Alone within the humming ship, deep in its honeycombed metal chambers,
+Murdock waited for death. While the rocket moved inexorably toward
+Earth—an immense silver needle threading the dark fabric of space—he
+waited calmly through the final hours, knowing that the verdict was
+absolute, that hope no longer existed.</p>
+
+<p>Electronically self-sufficient, the ship was doing its job perfectly,
+the job it had been built to do. After twenty years in space, the ship
+was taking Robert Murdock home.</p>
+
+<p>Home. Earth. Thayerville, a small town in Kansas. Clean air, a shaded
+street, and a white, two-story house at the end of the block.
+Home—after two decades among the stars.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting quietly before the round port, seeing and not seeing the
+endless darkness surrounding him, Murdock was remembering.</p>
+
+<p>He remembered the worried face of his mother, her whispered prayers for
+his safety as he mounted the rocket ramp those twenty years ago; he
+could still feel the final, crushing handshake of his father moments
+before the outer airlock slid closed. His mother had been 55 then, his
+father 63. It was almost impossible to believe that they were now old
+and white-haired.</p>
+
+<p>And what of himself?</p>
+
+<p>He was now 41, and space had weathered him as the plains of Kansas
+had weathered his father. He, too, had labored as his father had
+labored—but on strange, alien worlds, under suns far hotter than Sol.
+Murdock's face was square and hard-featured, his eyes dark and deep
+under thrusting ledges of bone. He had changed as they had changed.</p>
+
+<p>He was a stranger going home to strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Carefully, Murdock unfolded his mother's last letter, written in her
+flowery, archaic hand, and received just before Earth take-off.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p><i>Dearest Bob,</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Oh, we are so excited! Your father and I listened to your voice
+on the tape over and over, telling us that you are coming home to
+us at last. We are both so eager to see you, son. As you know, we
+have not been too well of late. Your father's heart does not allow
+him out much any more, and I have had a few fainting spells over
+the past month. But Doctor Thom says that we are all right, and you
+are</i> not <i>to worry. Just hurry home to us, Bob. We both pray
+God you will come back safely.</i></p>
+
+<p class="ph2"><i>All our love,<br>
+Mother</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Robert Murdock put the letter aside and clenched his fists. Only brief
+hours remained to him, and the small Kansas town of Thayerville was an
+impossible distance across space. He knew he would never reach it alive.</p>
+
+<p>The lines of an ancient poem by Robert Frost whispered through his mind:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>But I have promises to keep,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>And miles to go before I sleep</i></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>He had promised his parents that he would come home—and he meant to
+keep that promise.</p>
+
+<p>The doctors had shown him that it was impossible. They had charted his
+death; they had told him when his heart would stop beating, when his
+breathing would cease. Death, for Robert Murdock, was a certainty. His
+alien disease was incurable.</p>
+
+<p>But they had listened to his plan. They had listened, and agreed.</p>
+
+<p>Now, with less than a half-hour of life remaining, Murdock was walking
+down one of the ship's long corridors, his boot-heels ringing on the
+narrow metal walkway.</p>
+
+<p>He was ready, at last, to keep his promise.</p>
+
+<p>Murdock paused before a wall storage locker, twisted a small dial.
+A door slid smoothly back. He looked up at the tall man standing
+motionless in the darkness. Reaching forward, Murdock made a quick
+adjustment.</p>
+
+<p>The tall man stepped down into the corridor, and the light flashed in
+his deep-set eyes, almost hidden behind thrusting ledges of bone. The
+man's face was hard and square-featured.</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Robert Murdock," said the tall figure in the neat patrol
+uniform. "I am 41 years of age, a rocket pilot going home to Earth." He
+paused. "And I am sound of mind and body."</p>
+
+<p>Murdock nodded slowly. "Indeed you are," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"How much longer do you have, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Another ten minutes. Perhaps a few seconds beyond that," replied
+Murdock.</p>
+
+<p>"I—I'm sorry," said the tall figure.</p>
+
+<p>Murdock smiled. He knew that a machine, however perfect, could not
+experience the emotion of sorrow, but it eased him to hear the words.</p>
+
+<p>You will be fine, he thought. You will serve well in my place and my
+parents will never suspect that their son has not come home to them.</p>
+
+<p>"It must all be perfect," said Murdock.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said the machine. "When the month I am to spend with them
+is over they'll see me board a rocket for space—and they'll understand
+that I cannot return to them for another twenty years. They will accept
+the fact that a spaceman must return to the stars, that he cannot leave
+the service before he is 60. Let me assure you, sir, it will all go
+well."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, Murdock told himself, it <i>will</i> go well; every detail has been
+considered. My voice is his voice, my habits his own. The tapes I have
+pre-recorded will continue to reach them at specified intervals until
+their death. They will never know I'm gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you ready now, sir?" the tall figure asked gently.</p>
+
+<p>Murdock drew in his breath. "Yes," he said, "I'm ready now."</p>
+
+<p>And they began to walk down the long corridor.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>Murdock remembered how proud his parents had been when he was finally
+accepted for Space Training—the only boy in Thayerville to be chosen.
+But then, it was only right that he should have been the one. The other
+boys, those who failed, had not <i>lived</i> the dream as he had lived it.
+From the moment he'd watched the first moon rocket land he had known,
+beyond any possible doubt, that he would become a rocketman. He had
+stood there, in that cold December of 1980, a boy of 12, watching the
+great rocket fire down from space, watching it thaw and blacken the
+frozen earth. He had known that he would one day follow it back to the
+stars, to vast and alien horizons, to worlds past imagining.</p>
+
+<p>He remembered his last night on Earth, twenty long years ago, when
+he had felt the pressing immensity of the vast and terrible universe
+surrounding him as he lay in his bed. He remembered the sleepless hours
+before dawn, when he could feel the tension building within the single
+room, within himself lying there in the heated stillness of the small,
+white house. He remembered the rain, near morning, drumming the roof,
+and the thunder roaring powerfully across the Kansas sky. And then,
+somehow, the thunder's roar blended into the deep atomic roar of a
+rocket, carrying him away from Earth, away to the burning stars ...
+away ...</p>
+
+<p><i>Away.</i></p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>The tall figure in the neat patrol uniform closed the outer airlock
+and watched the body drift into blackness. The ship and the android
+were one; two complex and perfect machines doing their job. For Robert
+Murdock, the journey was over, the long miles had come to an end.</p>
+
+<p>Now he would sleep forever in space.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>When the rocket landed, the crowds were there, waving and shouting out
+Murdock's name as he appeared on the silver ramp. He smiled and raised
+his hand in salute, standing there tall in the sun, his splendid dress
+uniform reflecting the light in a thousand glittering patterns.</p>
+
+<p>At the far end of the ramp two figures waited. An old man, bowed and
+trembling over a cane, and a seamed and wrinkled woman, her hair
+blowing white, her eyes shining.</p>
+
+<p>When the tall spaceman reached them they embraced him feverishly,
+clinging tight to his arms.</p>
+
+<p>Their son had returned. Robert Murdock had come home from space.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>"Well," said a man at the fringe of the crowd, "there they go."</p>
+
+<p>His companion sighed and shook his head. "I <i>still</i> don't think it's
+right somehow. It just doesn't seem right to me."</p>
+
+<p>"It's what they wanted, isn't it?" asked the other. "It's what they
+wrote in their wills. They vowed their son would never come home to
+death. In another month he'll be gone anyway. Back for another twenty
+years. Why ruin it all for him?" The man paused, shading his eyes
+against the sun. "And they <i>are</i> perfect, aren't they? He'll never
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you're right," nodded the second man. "He'll never know."</p>
+
+<p>And he watched the old man and the old woman and the tall son until
+they were out of sight.
+</p>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>