Starrigger

John DeChancie

For assistance and encouragement, special thanks
to John Alfred Taylor, il miglior fabbro.

       
For Holly, who stood by me through the Seven Lean Years

All in all, there are about sixty races whose Confinement Mazes — the routes that lead from their home system to nearby planets — are known and mapped. Put all these together, and you get one big Maze, strewn out over several spiral arms. But there is more to discover. Every once in a while, a new race drops into this neck of the woods and stops to be sociable. More information is then acquired, but the process is slow.

“Tell me. Where does the Skyway end?” I asked.

“At the beginning of the universe.”

I drained the last of my sickly sweet drink. “Is there a good motel there?”

Jerry laughed. “Jake, you know how these whoppers get started. Alien booze in human stomachs. Accidental chemically induced insanity.”