It is also aimed at experienced human rights activists who are looking for a handy collection of facts to use in any confrontations online – or in real life.

We didn’t think anything of it at the time, but we saw several of the bodies of the crew, space pirates all, with what looked like necklaces of garlic around their necks. There was salt strewn on the floor in places, and it made a crunchy sound as we walked over it. Some had died clinging to crude wooden and metal crosses. Religious fanatics, I thought then – after all, isn’t it usually the worst sort of people who turn to religion when they suddenly see their end approaching and they fear some kind of reckoning coming their way?

Those who deny any group of people human rights are really denying the humanity of that group - and their own.

Human rights is a numbers game. Who is going to care if only 20 people pitch for a protest?

For starters, that’s a rather simple principle of Time Travel right there – and according to the pioneers of time travel, it’s one of the foundation stones of the Theory behind it. It’s something of a paradox – a mind-boggling annotation in the ever-puzzling and ever growing Anals of History. (Some readers may still be thinking that should be ‘Annals’ – however, the author of this work cannot be blamed for what you may think.)

He looked at the viewscreen and couldn’t believe it. If the other ship were any closer, then it would’ve been up his nose! There was an urgent scuttling as the bridge crew scrambled back into their respective seats.