Rhythm rides the rocket

A veteran space pilot discovers his freighter crowded with young women who play in a brass band and are being transported to join the wives of miners on Ganymede as part of a morale program. He learns that company officials and an inventive musician selected instrument-playing spouses for the first shipment and that he must oversee their passage and musical training. The voyage mixes comic culture clash, professional unease, and emerging romantic tensions as crew and passengers adapt to the odd logistics and social aims of bringing music and companionship into deep space.