The American Astronaut

Samuel Curtis is an interplanetary trader from Earth who deals in a rare goods, living or otherwise. His mission begins with the unlikely delivery of a cat to a small outer-belt asteroid saloon. As payment for his delivery of the cat, Curtis receives a homemade cloning device already in the process of creating a creature most rare in this space quadrant...a Real Live Girl. He is presented with a scheme: trade this "Real Live Girl" to the all-male worker planet Jupiter in exchange for a sixteen-year-old boy who will surely be coveted on all-female Venus. But after the journey begins Curtis discovers that he is being pursued by Professor Hess, an enigmatic figure from his past who is leaving a trail of death in his wake. (www.artlic.com)