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| Cover art by Darryl K. Sweet |
| ORPHAN STAR Alan Dean Foster New York: Del Rey Books, August 1981 | Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-345-29903-1 | ||||
| ISBN-10 0-345-29903-5 | 234pp. | SC | $2.50 | |
This second interstellar adventure begins with Flinx captured by Conda Challis, another rich merchant of Moth. Challis wants to use Flinx's mental gifts in manipulating the Janus Jewel in his possession. The Jewel, a costly 2-color gem as big as a man's head, can produce moving images under mental control. Challis uses his for pornographic pictures. Flinx also encounters Mahnahmi, Challis's daughter, a child with some serious but immature mental muscle.1
With the invaluable help of Pip and Small Simm, Flinx escapes. But a remark Challis made during his escape tells Flinx the merchant may know something about his true parents. After winning the blessing of Mother Mastiff, he sets off in pursuit. Challis has gone to HiveHom, the thranx homeworld, when he has a mining operation. Flinx follows, gets captured again, escapes again. Now, he learns, Challis has fled to his company's main offices on Terra. He surely will be well-prepared for Flinx this time.
But Flinx is also prepared, with a brace of robotic doppelgangers for Challis and his guards to blast. Getting them constructed severely depletes the generous payment he received from Malaika. He reconnoiters Challis's home near Brisbane, Australia, then sends his doubles in. The third one, with a mechanical Pip on its shoulder, gets him the answer he wanted, secure in a portable recorder, before it too is destroyed. Mahnahmi wails over missing a chance to mess with the real Flinx. Clearly her powers will play a further part in this adventure.
Flinx journeys to the island of Bali, where lie the headquarters of the United Church. The island is off limits to most, but Flinx disguises himself as a native and boats across. A guide drives him to the genealogy building, where friendly staff members help him locate his mother's record — and find parts of it have been removed, a thing that should be impossible. While they ponder this mystery, Pip tears off without warning. They chase the minidragon through the corridoers, finally find it menacing a senior church official who turns out to be an AAnn infiltrator. The AAnn blows himself up, but that and other things Flinx learns there suggest to him the Janus Jewels are involved in a problem Church officials are trying to solve. He also learns from the mind ot the dying AAnn the name of a world: Ulru-ujurr. But he withholds his new knowledge; if he shares it, he won't get to force Challis to reveal the stolen record.
Flinx lies to a young female thranx, who helps him retrieve the data on the world of Ulru-ujurr. They learn it is Under Edict and will thus be guarded by automated warships. She knows immediately that this cannot be where his parents went. Flinx comes clean and reveals his true motive: he needs her, a Church security officer, to bypass the blockade. Having saved her from the AAnn, Flinx is able to bind her to an oath; she will come with him, albeit unwillingly.2
Depleting his credit account, Flinx rents a commercial KK-ship for three days. It will take longer to get to Ulru-ujurr, but Flinx doesn't care; he's already under the gun for kidnapping. The flight is uneventful; the thranx gets the defenses to stand down, they take orbit and find a facility near an upland lake. A radio message invites them to land their shuttle; when they do so, they are taken prisoner. Flinx recognizes the head woman as part of the Nuaman Company he's fought before. Challis and Mahnahmi are there too. When Challis breaks down on seeing Flinx, the head woman proposes to eliminate him and his daughter. The daughter unleashes a mental blast and escapes in Flinx's shuttle, stranding him — not that he had much hope of leaving in any case. But he bides his time, finding in due course that the huge, bearlike natives are not what they seem.
I like the complex plot of this tale, and it holds together well. Plenty of action and jeopardy are provided. Unlike many Foster novels, this one gives us no panoply of weird and ravenous predators. But the friendly native ursinoids are weird and interesting enough, if a bit unlikely. Full marks.
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