Once there was a red-headed rodeo queen, a self-sufficient descendent of Thomas Jefferson who grew up in a primitive shack, engaged in cattle ranching upon the isolated desert steppes of northeastern New Mexico. Being good at math, she migrated west to the Atlas missile project in San Diego, meeting another rocket scientist, a wild Kiowa Indian warrior from Texas. They couldn't stand each other, which was resolved by marriage. Next, joining the Apollo moon project, and hence was born X. J. Scott, who grew up under nomadic circumstances. By age 10 he was forced to fight bands of savage pirates to the death in hand to hand combat on the high seas. His life ranges from quixotically variegated to stunningly dull with a preference for the latter. Tending to goats and organic farming eschews the tasteless genetically altered corporate stuff at the supermarket. He speculates that some of the aliens that have bothered him have their provenance in secret government experiments.