and be offered the kingdom.'
'You will own Planet Blue?' I said, incredulous - this sounded like good going, even for a pirate.
'The Central Power will own Planet Blue. I will take my share, a vast virgin country bounded by rivers. Dragon, kingdom and . .. princess . . . '
'Who's your princess?' I asked.
'You've met her. You could say she's your sponsor.'
And Spike came smiling across the ship and kissed Handsome. 'Hello, Billie,' she said.
'I thought I was the one who was supposed to be helping you escape.'
'As it turned out, there was no need . . .'
'I organized that part,' said Handsome. 'I refused to leave without her.'
'And then we heard you were coming aboard.'
'It was a little bit unexpected.'
'Join the party,' said Handsome, which was a mistake as Pink McMurphy was sliding by, and to her the word 'party' was the same as the word 'drink' — lots of it.
Handsome took his cue and brought out the champagne, fizzing the Jeroboam, and throwing it like liquid rope into bollard-shaped glasses. 'To Planet Blue,' he said, raising his glass, and there on the diode screen was the picture of our new world, and underneath:
She is all States, all Princes I ...
'And to you,' he said to Spike.
'Isn't she a robot?' said Pink, in an unusual moment of moral questioning.
Just then my luggage started to bark.
'What's in the bag?' asked Handsome — the kind of man who was used to barking bags.
'Did you think I was going to leave my dog behind?'
'Can't leave behind what you love,' said Handsome, but I didn't answer that.
Pink McMurphy, in her kitten heels, was looking around the main deck in some confusion. 'What's all this writing stuff?' she said.
— I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, tho' not of that country . . .
'It's a shipwreck story,' said Handsome. 'The men like it.'
'Are these things books?' asked Pink, picking a crumbling volume off the shelf 'That's cute. I never seen one of these.'
'We were flying in a strange part of the sky,' said Handsome, 'and we thought we'd hit a meteorite shower, ship spinning like a windsock in a gale. I took a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree shot of the ship, and I saw that what we were flying through was a bookstorm - encyclopedias, dictionaries, a Uniform Edition of the Romantic poets, the complete works of Shakespeare.'
'Yeah, I heard of him,' said Pink, nodding.
'Scott, Defoe. We netted as much as we could — some were just loose lost pages and those I glued on the walls. This one is my favourite — I read it again and again.' He lifted down a battered eighteenth-century edition of Captain Cook's Journals. 'The record of where he sailed — Tahiti, New Zealand, Brazil. I feel I know him. I feel he would understand what we're trying to do now. You should read it — here.' He passed me the book — I opened it at random:
March 1774. We plied to windward in order to get into a Bay which appeared on the South East side of the island, but night put a stop to our endeavours.
'Where did these books come from?' I asked, but Handsome just shook his head.
'A repeating world — same old story.'
'What do you mean?'
'You'll hear enough of my theories later,' he said. 'Spike doesn't swallow a word of it.' He paused. 'I taught the crew to read.'
'Handsome is old-fashioned,' said Spike. 'He believes in reading and breeding.'
'Not me,' said Pink. 'I like downloads and womb-free.'
There was a whistle from above, and Handsome was called away to balance the solar sails. I took my chance. 'Spike, why is Handsome on this mission, and not the Central Power Space Force?'
'Handsome believes he has found a way to solve the problem that doesn't involve poison or nuclear pollution. The planet is pristine . . . '
'I was told they're already selling real estate,' said Pink. 'Dinosaurs will depress the house prices.'
'We underestimated the threat,' said Spike. 'Dinosaurs are an early evolutionary species, human beings are a late evolutionary species. We
'You will own Planet Blue?' I said, incredulous - this sounded like good going, even for a pirate.
'The Central Power will own Planet Blue. I will take my share, a vast virgin country bounded by rivers. Dragon, kingdom and . .. princess . . . '
'Who's your princess?' I asked.
'You've met her. You could say she's your sponsor.'
And Spike came smiling across the ship and kissed Handsome. 'Hello, Billie,' she said.
'I thought I was the one who was supposed to be helping you escape.'
'As it turned out, there was no need . . .'
'I organized that part,' said Handsome. 'I refused to leave without her.'
'And then we heard you were coming aboard.'
'It was a little bit unexpected.'
'Join the party,' said Handsome, which was a mistake as Pink McMurphy was sliding by, and to her the word 'party' was the same as the word 'drink' — lots of it.
Handsome took his cue and brought out the champagne, fizzing the Jeroboam, and throwing it like liquid rope into bollard-shaped glasses. 'To Planet Blue,' he said, raising his glass, and there on the diode screen was the picture of our new world, and underneath:
She is all States, all Princes I ...
'And to you,' he said to Spike.
'Isn't she a robot?' said Pink, in an unusual moment of moral questioning.
Just then my luggage started to bark.
'What's in the bag?' asked Handsome — the kind of man who was used to barking bags.
'Did you think I was going to leave my dog behind?'
'Can't leave behind what you love,' said Handsome, but I didn't answer that.
Pink McMurphy, in her kitten heels, was looking around the main deck in some confusion. 'What's all this writing stuff?' she said.
— I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, tho' not of that country . . .
'It's a shipwreck story,' said Handsome. 'The men like it.'
'Are these things books?' asked Pink, picking a crumbling volume off the shelf 'That's cute. I never seen one of these.'
'We were flying in a strange part of the sky,' said Handsome, 'and we thought we'd hit a meteorite shower, ship spinning like a windsock in a gale. I took a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree shot of the ship, and I saw that what we were flying through was a bookstorm - encyclopedias, dictionaries, a Uniform Edition of the Romantic poets, the complete works of Shakespeare.'
'Yeah, I heard of him,' said Pink, nodding.
'Scott, Defoe. We netted as much as we could — some were just loose lost pages and those I glued on the walls. This one is my favourite — I read it again and again.' He lifted down a battered eighteenth-century edition of Captain Cook's Journals. 'The record of where he sailed — Tahiti, New Zealand, Brazil. I feel I know him. I feel he would understand what we're trying to do now. You should read it — here.' He passed me the book — I opened it at random:
March 1774. We plied to windward in order to get into a Bay which appeared on the South East side of the island, but night put a stop to our endeavours.
'Where did these books come from?' I asked, but Handsome just shook his head.
'A repeating world — same old story.'
'What do you mean?'
'You'll hear enough of my theories later,' he said. 'Spike doesn't swallow a word of it.' He paused. 'I taught the crew to read.'
'Handsome is old-fashioned,' said Spike. 'He believes in reading and breeding.'
'Not me,' said Pink. 'I like downloads and womb-free.'
There was a whistle from above, and Handsome was called away to balance the solar sails. I took my chance. 'Spike, why is Handsome on this mission, and not the Central Power Space Force?'
'Handsome believes he has found a way to solve the problem that doesn't involve poison or nuclear pollution. The planet is pristine . . . '
'I was told they're already selling real estate,' said Pink. 'Dinosaurs will depress the house prices.'
'We underestimated the threat,' said Spike. 'Dinosaurs are an early evolutionary species, human beings are a late evolutionary species. We
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