A spaceship engineer held captive by would-be revolutionaries plots a daring escape in a rocket constructed of odds and ends and powered by beer in this hilarious romp from a master of golden-age speculative fiction
The last thing the crew of the Mercury Girl expected to find on the terraformed worldlet known as Grendel was a band of Irish revolutionaries. As far as the ship's engineer, Knud Axel Syrup, is concerned, being taken prisoner by the more-than-slightly-nutty Shamrock League Irredentist Expeditionary Force could be a lot worse. At least there's plenty of cold brew available to keep him occupied . . . and more than a little tipsy. But these crazed Fenians are spoiling for a fight, and the last thing Syrup needs is to get caught in the middle of a war between the Shamrocks and their sworn rivals, the Anglians.
Luckily Syrup has a plan. With the help of a somewhat-ditzy dancer named Emily and an alien in six-legged lederhosen, he...