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I read the first of what I think was a trilogy back in the 1980s, as a child. It was about a man, set fairly far in the future. He was travelling on a large spaceship. He had one companion, a female alien. She had a much lower body temperature, and lived in a much colder climate. They had a sexual relationship (although that was a minor plot point).

The man could interface with the ship and most any sort of computer. As an example, he could "see" through the ship's sensors. I seem to remember a scene where he takes a computerized test and finishes what is supposed to be a several hours-long test in ten minutes.

I'd like to revisit the story and a) see how it holds up to my memories, and b) finish it.

Thanks much in advance for any sort of help!

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    Is that possibly the same story mentioned in this question?
    – Mark Beadles
    Feb 18, 2012 at 15:43
  • Thank you very much for the comment. However, they were able to touch. They were able to have a sexual relationship, albeit via a somewhat abbreviated one. It seemed like no more than an hour or so at a time, but they were able to touch...
    – pennyrave
    Feb 19, 2012 at 17:08

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The Timequest Trilogy with the first book being The Rashanyn Dark by William Tedford

Protagonist is in an advanced egg shaped starship made by Stargods. He interfaces his mind with the starship to control it and view the universe. In the Andromeda galaxy he rescues a woman from a wreaked photon drive starship. She is blue and requires a very low environmental temperature.

Protagonist finds a solar system colonized by humans in space cities. He is given a job aptitude test that he passes in a fraction of the normal time.

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  • This was it. Thank you so very much!
    – pennyrave
    Dec 23, 2016 at 16:55
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I'm not certain but that sounds vaguely like Roger Zelazny's "Halfjack".

Here is a summary from a review:

This isn’t a story, so much as a scene. We meet HalfJack, a man who is half-machine and can connect to starships. His skin, on half his body peels off (which is what happens, graphically, in the course of the story). After we learn this about him, he leaves. And that’s the story. It’s a nice and interesting scene, but nothing more or less than that.

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  • I also thought of Zelazny, specifically the short story The Furies that's in the Four For Tomorrow collection. It has some of the elements. There's a man travelling with an alien woman, and he's a cyborg, parts of him replaced and connected with his spaceship. I'm not sure the rest matches up.
    – Avner Shahar-Kashtan
    Jun 14, 2012 at 4:56
  • 3FJ, do you have any more evidence to support this half-match?
    – AncientSwordRage ♦
    Jun 14, 2012 at 16:24
  • I don't I'm afraid, it has been over a decade since I've read it and I wouldn't be surprised if it was out of print.
    – 3 Fingered Jack
    Jun 25, 2012 at 21:05
  • I'll check it out. Thank you very much for the lead. :)
    – pennyrave
    Sep 11, 2012 at 16:18

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