|
|
|
Corgi • Fantasy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
INTRODUCTION
When mankind first discovered Pern, third planet of the sun Rukbat, in the Sagittarian Sector, they paid little attention to the eccentric orbit of another satellite in the system. Settling the new planet, adjusting to its differences, the colonists spread out across the southern, most hospitable continent. Then disaster struck in the form of a rain of mycorrhizoid organisms, which voraciously devoured all but stone, metal and water. The initial losses were staggering. But, fortunately for the young colony, 'Thread', as the settlers called the devastating showers, was not entirely invincible: both water and fire would destroy the menace on contact.
Using their old-world ingenuity and genetic engineering, the settlers altered an indigenous life form that resembled the dragons of legend. Bonded with a human at birth, these enormous creatures became Pern's most effective weapon against Thread. Able to chew and digest a phosphine-bearing rock, the dragons could literally breathe fire and sear the airborne Thread before it could reach the ground. Able not only to fly but to teleport as well, the dragons could manoeuvre quickly to avoid injury during their battles with Thread. And their telepathic communication enabled them to work with their riders and with each other to form extremely efficient fighting units known as wings.
Being a dragonrider required special talents and complete dedication. Thus the dragonriders became a separate group - set apart from those who held land against the depredations of Thread, or those whose craft skills produced other necessities of life in their crafthalls.
Over the centuries, the settlers forgot their origins in their struggle to survive against Thread, which fell across the land whenever the Red Star's eccentric orbit coincided with Pern's. There were long intervals, too, when no Thread ravaged the land, when the dragonriders in their Weyrs kept faith with their mighty friends against the time when they would be needed once more to protect the people they were pledged to serve.
After one such long interval, when Thread renewed its violence, the dragonriders were down to one single Weyr - Benden. Its courageous leaders, F'lar, rider of bronze Mnementh, and Lessa, rider of the only gold queen, Ramoth, brought forward in time the other five Weyrs, and all their inhabitants, to renew the defence of Pern.
Circumstances encouraged exploration of the southern continent, and there Lord Jaxom, rider of white Ruth, his friend F'lessan, rider of bronze Golanth, Journeywoman Jancis from the MasterSmithCraftHall, and Piemur, harper at large, discover the most important artefact in the settlers' original Landing: AIVAS - Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System.
With myriad files of information, which the colonists had brought with them, Aivas is able to restore lost pieces of information for all the CraftHalls. He is also able to tell them, and instruct them how to rid their world, of the cyclical dangers of the erratic satellite inaccurately called the Red Star. F'lar and Lessa, Benden's courageous and far-seeing Weyrleaders, are the first to encourage Lord Holders and CraftMasters to end the domination and start a new era on Pern. Almost all Lord Holders and CraftMasters agree, especially since Aivas can provide them with new methods and technologies to improve life and health.
Those who consider Aivas an 'abomination' attempt to stop the splendid project but are defeated. Instructed and trained by Aivas, the young riders and technicians are able to transport, by means of the dragons, the antimatter engines of the three colony ships, still in orbit above Landing, and place them in a massive fault on the Red Planet. The subsequent explosion is visible from much of the planet, and people rejoice to think they will finally be rid of Thread. However, Thread continues to fall because the swarm brought in by the Red Planet has not yet completely passed by Pern. Dragonriders and harpers explain to those who will listen that the erratic orbit of the Red Planet takes it through the Oort cloud that surrounds the Rukbat system - on its way into the system and again on its way out - attracting to itself the mycorrhizoid spores that fall on Pern as Thread. Now that the Red Planet's orbit has been irreversibly altered, it will no longer come close enough to affect Pern. This Pass is the last one Pern will have to endure.
They must now start planning for a Threadfree future, making use of the Aivas files, full of useful, but not highly sophisticated, technology that will improve life for everyone on Pern. Even the dragonriders, for centuries the defenders of Pern, must fit themselves for new occupations. The questions are: which technology is proper to use without disrupting the culture of the planet, and how will the dragonriders integrate themselves and their splendid friends?
PROLOGUE
Crom Mines 5.27.30 Present Pass
Aivas Adjusted Turn 2552
The journeyman on duty in the prisoners' quarters at Mine 23 in the western foothills was the first one to see the bright, almost bluish streak in the sky. It was coming from a south-westerly direction. It also appeared to be coming straight at him, so he shouted a warning as he scrambled down the steps of the guard tower.
His yells attracted the attention of other miners, just coming up from the shafts, tired and dirty from their long day digging iron ore. They, too, saw the light - coming straight at the hold. They scattered, yelling, diving for the nearest shelter under ore carts, behind the raw mounds of the day's tips, behind the gantry, back into the shaft. There was a rushing noise of thunder, rumbling from the sky itself, and not a cloud in sight. Some insisted that they heard a high-pitched shriek. Everyone agreed on the direction from which the object came: southwest.
Suddenly the high stone wall that surrounded the prison yard was breached, showering pieces of rock down on the other sections of the minehold and causing miners to fall flat, covering their heads against the fragments. A second explosive noise followed the first, punctuated by screams of terror from those in the prison quarters. There was the stink of very hot metal - a familiar enough smell in a place where iron ore was smelted into ingots before being shipped to SmithCraftHalls. Only this stink had an unusual acidity that no-one could later accurately describe.
In fact, from the moment the journeyman shouted his warning, only one man of the several hundred in the mine-hold kept his head. Shankolin, imprisoned in the Crom Mines for the past thirteen Turns, had waited for just such an opportunity: a chance for him to escape. He heard the wall shatter, of course, and saw a moment's reflection of the blue-white light in the small window of the heavy door that was the only entrance to the building. He threw himself to the left, diving under a wooden bunk just as something large, hot and reeking pierced the wall where his head would have been. It hissed as it ploughed down the main aisle and buried itself in the far corner, dropping through the wood planks, smashing the corner pillar, buckling the wall and causing part of the roof to collapse. Someone was screaming in pain, pleading for help. Everyone else was howling with fear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Transworld Publishers |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More Information
Publication Date: 04/02/2002 • 592 pages • 178 x 106 mm
• ISBN: 0552146315
Territory: UK C/Wealth ex Can |
|
|
|
home
about Transworld
how to buy
news by e-mail
