Reunion (Foster novel)

Last updated
Reunion
Reunion cover.JPG
Author Alan Dean Foster
Cover artist Robert Hunt
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
2001
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages326
ISBN 0-345-41867-0
OCLC 45784280
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3556.O756 R4 2001
Preceded by Mid-Flinx  
Followed by Flinx's Folly  

Reunion (2001) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the seventh chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

Contents

Plot summary

Flinx has returned to Earth for only the second time in his life to search out the records of the extensive computer network known as the Shell that is maintained by the Unified Church. To do so he uses his empathic Talent to seduce Elena Carolles, a security guard in the Shell, and convinces her to allow him direct access to the most secure databanks. In the Shell he discovers a new bit of data about his mysterious past, information about the Meliorare Society, but the file containing this data has already been stolen by an operative hiding behind the front company Larnaca Nutrition.

The agent has absconded with the file to the bleak desert planet Pyrassis deep in AAnn held territory. Flinx has no recourse but to pursue in his own space ship, Teacher, leaving Elena in an emotional lurch. Once he reaches Pyrassis he finds the agent's ship, the Crotase, in orbit and apparently abandoned. A search of the ship for the missing file turns up nothing, so Flinx must pursue the ship's crew to the planet surface. On his trip down to confront the thief, he discovers that his shuttle has been sabotaged by the Crotase's AI. He crash lands far from his target, the camp of the ship's crew. Now forced to march across the desert with few supplies and only Pip, his minidrag, for company Flinx discovers the strange flora and fauna that exist on the harsh world.

The difficulty of his journey results in Flinx losing most of his supplies and being captured by a mated pair of AAnn scientists. They inadvertently reveal to him that the strange terrain over which he had been traveling wasn't just the broken lands of a desert, but was in fact an ancient alien transmitter. During Flinx's struggle to escape the reptilian scientist before members of the AAnn military take him into custody, they accidentally activate the transmitter revealing a secret on the outermost planet of the Pyrassis system, a brown dwarf star.

After escaping on a shuttle thoughtfully provided by Teacher's AI, Flinx follows both the Crotase and the transmitter's signal to the brown dwarf where an alien construct is found. He pursues the missing file into the construct where he finds the other ship's crew and his long lost sister Mahnahmi Lynx who is intent on killing him.

Flinx manages to use his mental Talent to defend himself when the Qwarm that Mahnahmi has hired attacks him. After binding the Qwarm and holding Mahnahmi at bay with a weapon, the two siblings exchange information confirming to Flinx's satisfaction and surprise, that Mahnahmi is indeed his sister and she was the one who stole the sybfile. Their reunion is broken up by a troop of AAnn soldiers hunting for the humans who had infiltrated their territory. The Qwarm is killed aiding in the siblings' flight while Mahnahmi breaks the tentative truce the pair had struck up, attacking him and stealing the transport Flinx had used to reach the alien construct.

His only means of returning to Teacher now gone, Flinx flees from the AAnn back into the depths of the construct which he discovers to be another Krang apparently also made by the Tar-Aiym, a long dead alien race. Using the Krang he fights off the AAnn and takes the shuttle that had belonged to Mahnahmi's ship, Crotase to return to Teacher.

It is revealed to the reader that the Krang wasn't communicating directly with Flinx, but with the plants that he had been given from the planet Midworld, plants that have achieved sentience and had been assisting Flinx in his adventure.

Characters

Related Research Articles

The Humanx Commonwealth is a fictional interstellar ethical/political entity featured in the science fiction novels of Alan Dean Foster. The Commonwealth takes its name from its two major sapient species, who jointly inhabit Commonwealth planets and administer both the political and religious/ethical aspects. They are the mammalian Humans of the planet Earth and the insectoid Thranx which dwell upon Hivehom. The Commonwealth is described as a progressive, well-intentioned liberal democracy spanning many star systems, and is somewhat similar to the United Federation of Planets from Star Trek. The Humanx Commonwealth is notable for its portrayal of a human–alien relationship that is not just mutually beneficial but symbiotic, allowing an amalgamation of the two species.

Dimension X is a fictional alternate dimension or galaxy in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. It appears in various forms in the 1987 series, the TMNT Adventures comics, the 2012 series, the IDW comics, and the UK Hero Turtles comics.

<i>Ship of Fools</i> (Russo novel) 2001 novel by Richard Paul Russo

Ship of Fools is a science fiction novel by Richard Paul Russo. First published in 2001, it won the Philip K. Dick Award for that year.

<i>The Tar-Aiym Krang</i>

The Tar-Aiym Krang (1972) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. It is Foster’s first published novel and started both his Humanx Commonwealth universe and his two most popular recurring characters, Pip and Philip Lynx ("Flinx"). The book is second chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>Bloodhype</i> 1973 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Bloodhype (1973) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is eleventh chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series, though it was written second; the main characters only appear in the last third of the book. Foster originally started the novel as a stand-alone work, but was encouraged by his publishers to include the characters from his previous novel. In the series, it falls after Orphan Star, where Flinx meets the aliens who build him his ship, the Teacher. The novel takes its title from a deadly and addictive drug, for which there is no known antidote, and which causes instant addiction followed by a long, slow, painful death unless the user continues to take increasingly greater doses.

<i>Orphan Star</i>

Orphan Star (1977) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is Foster's eighteenth published book, his fifth original novel, and is chronologically the third entry in the Pip and Flinx series. Bloodhype (1973) was the second novel to include Pip and Flinx, but it is eleventh chronologically in the series and the two characters had a relatively small part in that novel's plot.

<i>The End of the Matter</i> 1977 science fiction novel by Alan Dean Foster

The End of the Matter (1977) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is fourth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>Flinx in Flux</i>

Flinx in Flux (1988) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is fifth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>For Love of Mother-Not</i>

For Love of Mother-Not is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster, first published in 1983. The book is chronologically the first in the Pip and Flinx series, though it was written fourth, as a prequel to help flesh out Flinx’s early history.

<i>Mid-Flinx</i> 1995 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Mid-Flinx (1995) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the sixth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>Flinxs Folly</i> 2003 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Flinx's Folly (2003) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the eighth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>Sliding Scales</i> 2004 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Sliding Scales (2004) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the ninth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>Running from the Deity</i> 2005 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Running from the Deity (2005) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the tenth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

<i>Patrimony</i> (novel) 2007 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Patrimony (2007) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the thirteenth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.

"Child's Play" is the 139th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the 19th episode of the sixth season. Icheb takes center-stage as the crew of the USS Voyager spacehip once again grapple with the cybernetic Borg aliens, and their impact on the Delta Quadrant.

X is a science fiction space trading and combat simulator series created by German developer Egosoft. The series is set in the X-Universe where several races populate a number of worlds connected by jumpgates. The games feature free roaming gameplay with trading, combat, empire building, and missions; leading to the series' phrase: "Trade, Fight, Build, Think". The series, which was launched in 1999 on the Windows platform, consists of five base games: X: Beyond the Frontier, X2: The Threat, X3: Reunion, X Rebirth, and X4: Foundations. X Rebirth introduced a new rendering engine as well as a new plot, one which X4: Foundations now extends the storyline beyond ten years after the events in X Rebirth.

<i>Flinx Transcendent</i> 2009 science fiction novel by Alan Dean Foster

Flinx Transcendent is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster. The book is the fourteenth in the chronology of the Pip and Flinx series. It was published in April 2009. The novel is the final volume in the "Great Evil" story arc, but not the final Humanx Commonwealth novel, or even the final Flinx novel.

<i>Quofum</i> 2008 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Quofum (2008) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster.

<i>Fire and Stone</i>

Fire and Stone is a comic book series crossover set in the fictional universe of the Alien vs. Predator franchise. It was first published by Dark Horse Comics in the fall of 2014 and continued until 2015 and was followed by the comic book series Life and Death (2016-2017). The comic book series is considered part of the extended universe of the Alien and Predator franchises, being set after the events of Prometheus.

<i>Alien: Out of the Shadows</i>

Alien: Out of the Shadows is a 2014 novel written by Tim Lebbon and published by Titan Books. Set between Alien and Aliens, the book chronicles Ellen Ripley's involvement in a Xenomorph outbreak on the planet LV-178 and the mining vessel in orbit above it. The survivors' attempts to escape the creatures are further complicated by Ash, whose A.I. consciousness has survived inside Narcissus, the shuttle that brought Ripley to them.