It isnt easy travelling with an extraterrestrial fl ower, especially an intelligent Martian one who has the power of thought and speech. Being pursued through time by homicidal maniacs hardly makes it any easier. Space ethicist Kim Hawthorne and our long-suffering narrator Ishmael Starbuck join Hymoliga Eight on a wild ride through history, to the Gold Rush, where time travelling robbers are stealing all the gold, to ancient Ephesus, where they become involved in a plot to kill Saint Paul, and to Pompeii, on the eve of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. But for Hymoliga Eight, the pressing question is: can he tell a story well enough to persuade Jonathan Swift to accept him into a famous 18th century writers club?
