Bill, the Galactic Hero

SUMMARY: Bill was a peaceful farm boy until he was lured by the martial music of apassing recruitment sergeant, drugged, and made to enlist in the EmpireSpace Corps. His basic training is sheer hell, but somehow he manages to stay alive and achieve the rank of Fusetender 6th Class in the process.En route to an engagement with the lizard-like Chingers, Bill'sspaceship is involved in a supreme conflict and -- by accident -- Bill isthe man who saves the ship and wins the day. A grateful Galaxy awards him its highest accolade: the Purple Dart, to be presented by the Emperor himself on the fabulous aluminium-covered planet Helio. And then his adventures really start to take off in the most bizarre and surprising ways . . . It was the highest honor to defend the Empire against the dreaded Chingers, an enemy race of seven-foot-tall lizards. But Bill, a Technical Fertilizer Operator from a planet of farmers, wasn't interested in honor-he was only interested in two things: his chosen career, and the shapely curves of Inga-Maria Calyphigia. Then a recruiting robot shanghaied him with knockout drops, and he came to in deep space, aboard the Empire warship Christine Keeler. And from there, things got even worse.