Project Gutenberg 2020-12-01 Public domain in the USA. 156 Shedenhelm, William McWilliams, Al 1916 1993 McWilliams, Alden Spurr McWilliams, A. Patch Produced from Planet Stories Fall 1950 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Patch" by William Shedenhelm is a science fiction short story published in the early 1950s. The narrative revolves around the character Pop Gillette, an old space pilot who refuses to let modern automation replace his skills. Set in a future where space travel and automatic piloting are the norm, the story highlights themes of nostalgia for traditional roles and the impending risks of reliance on technology. In the story, Pop Gillette is called to help with a distress signal from All-Planetary Liner Twelve, which has suffered damage and cannot land safely. Understanding the urgency of the situation, Pop offers his unique expertise and devises a creative solution using makeshift materials to patch the large hole in the ship's hull. His ingenuity shines through as he uses bedsheets as a mold to create a metal patch from frozen mercury, demonstrating both his pilot skills and adaptability. The narrative concludes with Pop's successful landing of the damaged liner, underscoring the importance of experience and lateral thinking in a world increasingly dominated by technology. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 92.0 (5th grade). Very easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Rescues -- Fiction Space ships -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 41391 2025-07-25T09:49:17.344914 text/html 17473 2024-10-18T08:46:31 text/html 513479 2025-07-25T09:49:19.144876 application/epub+zip 512298 2025-07-25T09:49:17.759867 application/epub+zip 70959 2025-07-25T09:49:17.523885 application/epub+zip 546001 2025-07-25T09:49:20.349879 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 538731 2025-07-25T09:49:18.943921 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 97584 2022-09-28T19:55:04.846449 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 35113 2025-07-25T09:49:17.248879 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 15393 2024-10-18T08:46:31 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17081 2025-07-25T09:49:20.487857 application/rdf+xml 29774 2025-07-25T09:49:17.623909 image/jpeg 5048 2025-07-25T09:49:17.572876 image/jpeg 444571 2025-07-25T09:49:17.358891 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia