Flinx Transcendent

From one of the most brilliant imaginations in science fiction comesFlinx Transcendent, Alan Dean Foster's thrilling conclusion to the series that began over thirty-five years agothe epic adventures of Flinx and his flying minidrag companion, Pip. Flinx is the only one with even the tiniest chance of stopping the evil colossus barreling in to destroy the Humanx Commonwealth (and everything else in the Milky Way). With time running out, Flinx is a man in search of a solution and in search of himself. His efforts take him to the land of his mortal enemies, the bloodthirsty AAnn, where chances are excellent that Flinx's discoveryand summary executionwill eliminate all his demons and doubts in one masterstroke. The way Flinx is feeling, that might not be the worst imaginable end. After years of searching for his father, he finally hasand must bearthe truth. And now he must also seek out an ancient sentient weapons platform wandering around somewhere in the galaxy and then communicate with it, a powwow that could very well fry his already frazzled brain. Then there are the oblivion-craving assassins determined to stop Flinx before he can prevent total annihilation. With a future that rosy, it's no surprise he's flirting with disaster. Still, Flinx is no quitter, and he's got something else going for himan uncanny ability to improvise and triumph (or at least survive) in impossible situations. He's certainly been through enough of them, and now he's going to need every ounce of that know-how, because he's venturing to places where the laws of physics fear to tread, where no one's ever been, to do what no one's ever done, and where his deadliest enemy is so close it's invisible.

ALAN DEAN FOSTER has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is also the author of numerous nonfiction articles, as well as novel versions of several films including Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber Way was the first science fiction work to win the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. He lives in Arizona.

Chapter One


Insofar as he knew, Flinx was the first unofficial, uninvited representative of his species to set foot on the AAnn homeworld of Blasusarr. Very few humans and even fewer thranx had ever been formally accredited to do so. Only the minimum number essential to facilitate those few diplomatic exchanges where electronic representations were insufficient and face-to-face conversation was demanded had ever been allowed actual physical access. The idea that a single human operating entirely on their own might somehow succeed in penetrating the elaborate and extensive defenses that redundantly englobed Blasusarr was sufficiently ludicrous to promulgate all by itself entire new orders of cognitive absurdity. Everyone knew that no non-AAnn ship could so much as approach the outskirts of the homeworld system without being challenged—or blown to bits.

However, the AAnn scientists and engineers who had designed and built those impressive planetary defense systems had never envisioned a ship like the Teacher. In their defense, neither had anyone else.

Wrought with all the exponentially developing skills the energetic and enthusiastic Ulru-Ujurrians had been able to muster, Flinx’s vessel was imbued throughout its body with the chameleonic ability to so completely transform its appearance that one moment it could present the perfect likeness and detection signature of a private passenger craft, and the next that of a heavily armed military escort. Now settled in unobtrusive orbit around the AAnn homeworld, it displayed the convincing aspect of a minor clan AAnn cargo vessel. Furthermore, it was not the only persuasive transformation to have taken place in that vicinity. There was also the elaborate and difficult provisional makeover Flinx had devised for himself.

So accomplished was the result that he had been on Blasusarr for a local teverravak, or sixteen days, without drawing more than the occasional casual glance. Perfectly fashioned though it was, the simsuit that enveloped him completely would have been inadequate to sustain the ruse had he not been so knowledgeable in the ways of the quasi-reptilians among whom he moved. He knew how to emulate the loping AAnn gait, which involved bending slightly at the knees and invigorating each step with a slight hopping motion; was intimately familiar with their eloquent repertoire of communicative hand gestures; could eat their food (though the profoundly carnivorous diet was beginning to have adverse effects on his waistline); and through the use of tiny but powerful integrated servos lodged in the suit’s hindquarters was even able to satisfactorily manipulate its integrated lightweight tail. Built-in nanoneuromatics operated the double eyelids. Having to view the world through their slitted pupils somewhat restricted his peripheral vision, but the result was more than adequate. He saw everything that threatened to trip him.

Thus camouflaged and experienced he passed freely if cautiously among his unknowing hosts, the loose spaces and the specially constructed sleeping pocket within the suit providing ample room for Pip to both rest and move about while retaining a certain amount of freedom.

Not even the operators of the subsurface transient burrow where he had rented living space suspected that he was anything but a nye: a fully mature adult AAnn. Utilizing a mastery of his hosts’ language that was rare among his kind while keeping conversation to a minimum, he found himself accepted by his fellow burrow-dwellers as one of their own. He even took care to make appropriate use of the sand room in his quarters, remembering before departing each day to leave the suitably scaly impression of his simsuit on the heated surface.

Thankfully, the suit’s thermosensitive cooling system was up to the task of coping with Blasusarr’s demanding climate. The AAnn had evolved on a desert world. While Flinx

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Excerpted from Flinx Transcendent: A Pip and Flinx Adventure by Alan Dean Foster, Alan Dean Foster
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