About the Book
This novel was first published in the November 1950 issue of Startling Stories magazine. Actual title: The Rapparee, abriged version as The Space Pirate.
Picaresque Irish
adventurer Paddy Blackthorn is caught attempting to steal an
interstellar space drive and is sentenced to death by the ruling council of mutant humans. The mutants' creator bequeathed them the secret of
the drive, and with it a monopoly on space travel, which allows them to
dominate normal humans.
During his escape, Paddy discovers that the knowledge of how to
manufacture the engines has been stored in five gold rings, one for each mutant race. The rings are hidden in five secret locations for
safekeeping. With the help of a beautiful human secret agent, Fay
Bursill, Paddy searches the home planets of each of the mutant species,
in the hope that Earthfolk will be able to resume their rightful place
in space.
