Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds

Mankind was beginning its third leap into the Galaxy, but Old Earth had so long kept to herself that her people were unable to travel safely among the rough-and-tumble cultures that had evolved on distant worlds. That annoyed Earth's rulers, for Hobart Floyt – a minor Terran bureaucrat – had been left a mysterious inheritance by the deceased ruler of a small but wealthy interstellar empire. Earth was dirt-poor, and the government wanted Floyt's inheritance; but to collect it, Floyt would have to travel to the Reading of the Will... many light-years away! And so Alacrity Fitzhugh – a young, but seasoned spacer – is blackmailed into shepherding this naive Terran on a dangerous interstellar quest.