The Shadow of the Ship

Book excerpt: Hendrik Rheinallt leads a dangerous caravan journey on the fabulous Blue Trail across the subspace “meadow” to reach what the travelers hope will be a usable or salvageable starship. The subspatial pseudosurface is more empty than Lunar vacuum, and more deadly. The Ship itself is something that even the visionary Rheinallt with his centuries of experience could not have predicted. The expeditionaries' goals are diverse, even secretly or violently at odds. Rheinallt and his aircat friend Arahant face a complex of challenges aboard the gas-lit caravan, in their exploration of absolute emptiness, and at the enigmatic Ship. Rheinallt's dream and goal, the elusive and the real, mingle and clash in this thoughtful interstellar adventure. “A drop of blood with a flame behind it, the Ship glinted on the horizon of the meadow.” Revised Edition: 98,000 words. Major additions & extensive revisions align the novel more closely with other (projected) novels in theOverflight series. Many smaller improvements.