Lurulu

Did You Know?

• The crew of the Glicca includes an eccentric mix of picaresque rogues, pilgrims, and intellectuals.
• Fluter was settled by colonists only a thousand years ago who came from crowded concrete-built cities.

Plot

In Lurulu, Myron remains a member of the space freighter Glicca's crew, serving under Captain Adair Maloof. The ship's company is an odd assortment of rogues, pilgrims, and thinkers, all chasing the meaning of "lurulu," a mythical term for a kind of yearning. The tramp freighter hauls cargo between ports, and the crew samples the nightlife of worlds that range from orderly settlements to rough, lawless frontier towns. The story begins on the lovely planet Fluter, colonized a millennium ago by people who fled concrete cities and swore never to rebuild them, so the planet has only 147 villages and a spaceport. Next, the Glicca visits Naharius, a thinly populated world of wooded valleys whose mountain springs are said to be a fountain of youth, drawing tourists. Myron searches for his great-aunt Hester in Naharius's expensive clinics but finds no trace; he finally locates her in a crowded concrete hospice, gaunt and weak in a cot. She explains that con artists sold her a fake anti-aging treatment, took her money, and abandoned her to die. After her death, Myron inherits her wealth, but he stays with his Glicca shipmates, living in a luxurious home while the freighter is overhauled and upgraded. He also encounters Tibbet, a former romantic interest, who is now married.