And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Robert Murdock has spent twenty years alone among the stars. Now he's dying, and he's coming home. A terminal illness contracted in the void is killing him, and he knows he won't survive atmospheric reentry. But his parents are still waiting, still believing their son will return from the cosmos. So Murdock makes a choice that will haunt whoever witnesses it: he commissions an android in his image, a perfect copy to take his place, to comfort his parents in his stead. What follows is a meditation on sacrifice, identity, and the lies we tell to protect the people we love. The stars that once represented adventure and wonder now serve as his final resting place. Nolan writes with the restrained emotional weight of a man who understands that some journeys end not with triumph, but with a quiet, devastating act of love.