The novel “The Void Captain’s Tale” by Norman Spinrad was published for the first time in 1983.

Void Captain Genro Kane Gupta is given command of the starship Dragon Zephir. Generally Void pilots remain isolated from the rest of the crew, though formally they have all the privileges of the ship’s officers. However, the Captain soon discovers that Dominique Alia Wu is a really out of the ordinary pilot.

The Captain quickly becomes obsessed with Dominique Alia Wu and her strange way of conceiving her task. Between the two of them begins a complex sexual relationship which is at the same time strangely spiritual. Dominique Alia Wu keeps on performing regularly the jumps that allow the starship to cross interstellar distances but tries to convince the Captain to perform a blind jump against all the rules.