By Walter Jon Williams
First Published: 1989
Rating: Very Good.
“ORPHANS OF DEEP SPACE . . .”

Ubu Roy and Beautiful Maria, two orphans genetically engineered to be expert star pilots, live by their wits on the fringes of human space. But when their luck fails, Ubu and Maria flee to the outer reaches of space where they risk everything in a gamble to win the universe.

They’re outlaws now. Created to serve a function grown obsolete, haunted by the holographic ghost of their father, Ubu and Maria have lived their entire lives skating along the edge of extinction. Now they and their ship Runaway are in flight both from the law and from a predatory clan of competitors. They’re going to come back rich, or not at all.

But what they find in the depths of space isn’t wealth, but a secret so startling that Ubu and Maria will need every last reserve of guile, cunning, and intelligence just to survive.