All Big Pete and the Swede want, after a hard season mining orichalcum in the asteroid belt, is a beach, a girl and some good food. Maybe not in that order. But when an Imperium agent steals one of their girls, and some art work turns up bearing mysterious coded messages, the two men take to their spacecraft to work out what's happening.A chase round the galaxy ensues, with kidnap, treachery, mystery and aliens all playing their part in the quest, as both men discover life is not as simple as they had worked so hard to make it. Will the girls succeed in flying a spaceship? Will the Federation recover the secret weapon? Will the Imperium infiltrate the Viridian System? And will Pete's destiny prove to be the end of the men's partnership - or is that the Swede's fault for keeping secrets even from his best buddy?The Perihelix is the first book in the Viridian System series