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Description:

Art Gordon didn’t think that being a janitor on an alien starship would be a complicated venture—but it didn’t take long for him to really
tick off one of the alien officers. Then he fell in love with one of the other crew members... and she fell in love with him, too.

But it wasn't until they declared themselves married and celebrated in the traditional newlywed style that the complications started getting out of hand. Art was quickly dumped at an interstellar port habitat and the starship took off with his new wife still on board—facing termination.

Is there any possibility that an alien judge will rule in his favor?

Excerpt:

Yep, I’m a human, not a Tani’Anneray. Arthur Gordon, or Art to my friends, freelance spacer. I was here to sue for the return of my Tani’Anneray wife, Choon Sempry. Choon, like me, was a person of very low social status. Her aunt, Captain Shevileen Tonctyr of the research vessel StarToucher, was considerably higher in social rank. Shevileen had kidnapped Choon to keep her away from me.

Our party sat on one side, House Tonctyr on the other. Their box had high seats, almost like thrones, for the most important family members, and the Tonctyr banner floated unsupported, in mid-air, above it all. The box was packed with green and blue-furred people in green House Tonctyr business suits with the family sign on the breast—a black silhouette of the goddess Chishtee transfixing some hapless animal with an arrow. Our box was filled mostly with spectators.

I turned to look at my barrister, Rahssny Hentuary. Like most Tani’Anneray, she was shorter than me, with pointed, triangular ears, fur, and a prim, neat set to her body—relaxed, yet ready to spring, like a cat. Her fur was blue. Tani’Anneray fur comes in blue, green, and purple, colors appropriate to the swamps where the Tani’Anneray ancestors had evolved.

I looked to my right before looking back at Rahssny. Choon was deep in conversation with Yern, the student who had found me in the woods half beaten to death and nursed me back to health.

“Rahssny,” I said in a low voice. “Rayn told me they might try to kill Choon.” Rayn was Yern’s lover, who had helped carry me to the dorm room he shared with Yern.

“What?” she said, rather loudly. I held a finger to my lips. “Who might try to kill Choon? House Tonctyr? What information does he have? We must contact the police!” She had lowered her voice but still looked and sounded agitated.

“No, not a specific plot, I didn’t mean that. I’m not talking about assassinating her. Rayn said that in the past, in trials where a top family member tried to sue and lost the case, they would perform personality overlay on them. What is personality overlay, exactly?”

“I will tell you later.” Rahssny calmed down visibly, and spoke quietly enough that Rayn wouldn’t be able to overhear. “Rayn is a fool, worrying you for nothing. Yes, great houses have been known to perform personality overlay on deviant members. But not over something like this. It happens in cases where a family member has been convicted of serious crimes or is hopelessly insane.” She turned to her intuiter and rapidly tapped keys. “House Tonctyr last performed personality overlay on Lady Reeya Tonctyr, female, age 56 Tani’Anneray years, convicted of rape and child molesting in the year 27,312,969 by our dating system.”

“When was that?” I asked.

“About 12,000 years ago,” she said. She laid a hand on my shoulder. “Calm down, Art. Nobody is going to kill Choon.”

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