I Won a Spaceship

I am Crawford MacAdam, an ordinary man living an ordinary life until the evening the odd-looking man at my door announced I was the winner of the Grand Galactic Lottery. The prize – the most advanced, most luxurious spaceship ever made. To say I was incredulous would be an understatement. After all it’s common knowledge that there’s no other intelligent life in the universe and, besides, I don’t do the lottery.

The strange being was persuasive and I was forced to accept the truth; the galaxy was awash with life, there really was a Lottery and I had won it. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as the salesman makes out. There were some conditions attached to my sudden good fortune. I had to travel to Geretimal in the Capellan system where I would be presented with my prize on the Galactic Lottery trivee show watched by billions across the Galaxy. I would meet the President of the Capellan Theocracy. There would be promotional duties and a grand tour of Geretimal. Then there was the Breeding Programme. Oh, and I had to leave now. I balked at this one. While I could reluctantly abandon my job, my family, my friends and my house there was no way I could abandon my cats. They had to come too.

It all sounded so easy back on Earth. Five minutes in front of the trivee cameras then a few weeks of smiling and waving and giving vapid interviews before zooming off in my brand new spaceship Crawford MacAdam, playboy of the universe. The reality was somewhat different. The bizarre world I encountered was a minefield of intrigue, corruption, conspiracy, bureaucracy, an environment that would kill me if I stepped out of doors and some anonymous beings who seriously believed the galaxy would be a better place if I wasn’t in it. Even the Lottery turned out to be a sham whose sole function was to induce me to impregnate the twenty-three carefully chosen young female beings of the Breeding Programme.

I could buckle under the pressure or I could fight. I fought and along the way I discovered friends in unlikely places. I also fell in love. There were times I felt I was alone in a galaxy of 57 septillion beings, but I survived. More than that, I thrived. Even the loss of loved ones couldn’t break me. I’m still alive. I have the support of true and loyal friends. I will survive.