{"product_id":"the-candle-of-distant-earth-isbn-9780345461339","title":"The Candle of Distant Earth","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom science fiction legend and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Alan Dean Foster comes the climactic final novel  in The Taken trilogy, his electrifying space epic about a man and his dog for whom  the expression “out of this world” takes on a whole new meaning.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Location is everything.  In Chicago, Marcus Walker was a hotshot commodities broker. In the cargo hold of  the alien Vilenjji spaceship, he and a laconic dog named George, who has been speech-enhanced  to increase his value, are just two more primitive creatures being shipped to the  civilized part of the universe, where the market for cuddly extraterrestrial “pets”  is busting wide open.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Though Walker and George manage to escape, man and dog are  far from overjoyed, being even farther from Earth—billions of miles, in fact—and  without a clue as to whether the direction home is up, down, or sideways. Possessing  universe-level social skills, Walker becomes the leader of his own armada. Yet even  a fleet commander is hard pressed to find a piece of space that no one’s ever heard  of, much less cares to find.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e To  make matters worse, it seems the Vilenjji are proving  to be notoriously sore losers. Even if Walker does pull off the impossible and pinpoint  his needle of a solar system in the universe haystack, there’s a good chance that  the unrelenting Vilenjji will get to him before he ever gets to Wrigley Field.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Yep,  it’s a wide-open universe out there, bursting with possibilities—and Walker’s going  to get hit with all of them.Alan Dean Foster has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Star Wars: The Approaching Storm and the popular Pip \u0026amp; Flinx novels, as well as novelizations of several films including Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so.\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eFoster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, live in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from an early-twentieth-century miners’ brothel. He is currently at work on several new novels and media projects.For the eleventh time, Ussakk the Astronomer pored over the most recent  collated readouts while trying to decide how best to kill himself.  Whichever method he chose, it would be faster and cleaner than what was  coming. While the last time the Iollth had ravaged Hyff had been well  before his birth, abundant records were available to illustrate in  gruesome detail their appetite for destruction. Given the history of their  visitations to Hyff, it was remarkable that any of the populace would  continue to resist. Yet invariably, outraged at the periodic demands for  tribute and treasure, some did. And just as invariably, they died deaths  that were as horrible as they were futile.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    That much could be tolerated, if not for the disagreeable Iollth habit of  slaughtering out of apparent boredom the occasional batch of innocent  civilians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Ussakk felt he would be as fated to be among the latter—that is, if the  authorities did not kill him outright as the bearer of bad news. He  sympathized in advance with their probable reaction. There was always the  hope among his people that the Iollth would tire of their cyclical visits  to Hyff, that they would seek to enrich themselves at the expense of  others elsewhere and leave the Hyfft to their peaceful, widespread  communities and to the tending of the crops of which they were so proud.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    A fool’s dream, Ussakk knew. So long as the Hyfft fashioned beautiful  objects out of rare materials, so long as their mines produced rare and  unsynthesizable raw materials, the Iollth would return: to plunder, and  not to buy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The astronomer knew they could not be put off with excuses. A hundred  years ago, the Great Government had decreed that the production of objects  of beauty and the mining of gems was to cease. Despite the temporary harm  this inflicted on Hyfftian culture, it was hoped the absence of such  things would discourage the Iollth. After all, one cannot ransack that  which does not exist. It was a defensive maneuver predicated on a rational  reaction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Unfortunately, the Iollth did not respond in a rational manner. In their  fury and frustration, their unopposed ships laid waste to a dozen of  Hyff’s largest communities. Tens of thousands died. After that, there were  no more attempts to discourage the visitors with clever subterfuges.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Occasionally, there came together bands of Hyfft who were still  determined, somehow, to resist. Sadly, having evolved from sedate bands of  farmers who had known nothing but greater and greater cooperation that had  eventually resulted in the development of the present state of high  culture, the Hyfft were emotionally and psychologically ill-equipped for  warfare. Even thoughts of acquiring an armed starship from one of the  other space-traversing species who paid the occasional rare visit to Hyff  fell by the wayside when none among the Hyfft could be found who were bold  enough to leave the Nesting World long enough to travel between the stars  to arrange the actual acquisition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Though technologically advanced, the Hyfft could not find it within  themselves to manufacture weapons. Psychologically crippled, they could  not muster enough individuals to make use of such weapons even if they  managed to buy them from elsewhere. Located far from the fringes of  galactic civilization, they did not attract the attention of those who  might have offered them protection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Besides, it was rationalized, the Iollth did not threaten genocide. They  came only to plunder and ravage, and that only once every  hundredth-passing or so. Hardly sufficient reason for distant species with  a surfeit of their own problems to take the time and expense to interfere.  Especially when most of Hyff never even suffered beneath the heavy foot of  the visitors, except to witness and weep over their sporadic depredations  via relayed images.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    That the fast-moving signatures Ussakk had detected emerging from  deepspace belonged to the Iollth there was no question. The infrequent and  uncommon traders or explorers who occasionally found their way to Hyff  always arrived singly. There was one atypical report from three  hundred-passings ago of two such vessels arriving simultaneously in orbit  around Hyff, but that was only the result of coincidence. They had not  been traveling in tandem, and were as surprised by each other’s appearance  in Hyfftian space as were the Hyfft themselves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    No, without question, a triple signature could signify the imminent  arrival of nothing other than the dreaded Iollth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As the senior astronomer on duty, he had the obligation to deliver the bad  news to the local Overwatch, who would then pass it along to all the  individual elements of the Great Government. Composed of hundreds of local  Overwatches, the Great Government would then dictate an appropriate  response. The best that could be hoped for, Ussakk knew, was that the  Iollth would take what they wanted, murder for entertainment as few  citizens as possible, and be on their way after causing a minimal amount  of damage to Hyfftian civilization. It might be, he reflected as he began  to make inviolable recordings of the relevant readouts, that with luck he  would not be expected to kill himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As soon as the necessary recordings had been prepared, he stored them in  his body pouch and prepared to leave his post. There was no thought of  transmitting such sensitive information electronically. It was his  responsibility, his personal cura, to deliver it in   person. Coworkers were bemused by his nonresponsiveness as he departed.  Such glumness was not usually associated with the bright and chipper  senior astronomer. But no one pressed the limits of what was culturally  acceptable. Though concerned, they left him to his private dejection. That  was just as well, since if they had asked what was troubling him, he would  have been compelled to answer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Let them dwell in happiness and contentment a little while longer, he  decided as he exited the observatory and ambled toward the nearest  conveyor. Horror was now in the neighborhood and would arrive on their  mental doorsteps soon enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The Escarpment of Lann dropped away behind him and his speed increased as  the terrain leveled out. Racing toward the city, he was forced to slow  repeatedly as his vehicle bunched up behind other conveyors. Each held, at  most, no more than a single family. Hyfft did not travel in groups. On a  world as heavily populated as theirs, even though that population was  evenly dispersed, personal privacy was at a premium. So was courtesy,  which was why the   anxious Ussakk waited his turn until one by one, those in front of him  reached their exit points and left the main conveyor route. Only then did  he accelerate again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    There was no road, the conveyor route being only a line on a map that was  duplicated in actuality by perfectly spaced sensors buried in the ground.  The route Ussakk was following ran through fields of pfale, whose dark  green fruit burst from the center of a spray of bright blue-green leaves.  Enormous in extent, this particular field was nearly ready for harvesting.  For a moment, the color and anticipation took his mind off the dreadful  news he was about to deliver. Pfale was famed for its piquant taste, and  for the ability of master cooks to turn it into a variety of elegant  dishes usually supplemented with a quartet of semell condiments. Descended  from wholly herbivorous ancestors, the Hyfft were masters of vegetarian  cuisine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    An alien observer might have wondered why the agitated astronomer did not  simply accelerate his levitating personal conveyor and pass the slower  travelers in front of him. He could easily have done so, to the right or  to the left. But such a move would have been an unforgivable breach of  manners. On Hyff, one politely waited one’s turn. The queue was a way of  life, and woe betide any who vio-lated it. Rules such as waiting for those  in front to finish whatever they happened to be doing were not merely a  matter of unspoken courtesy; they had been officially codified.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Exceptions were tolerated only for extreme emergencies. Unable to see how  delivering his bad news a few morning-slices earlier would make things any  better, Ussakk preferred to take his time and follow custom. Officialdom  might soon berate him as the harbinger of doom, but no one would be able  to accuse him of being impolite as part of the process.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The family ahead of him finally turned off, allowing him to accelerate  afresh. Once within the outskirts of the city, he was able to take  advantage of the much greater multiplicity of available conveyor routes.  Like most urban concentrations on Hyff, Therapp was not large. With few  exceptions, the majority of structures were built low to the ground in  traditional fashion. Such buildings might cover considerable stretches of  ground, but that was how the Hyfft preferred it. They did not like  heights, and they favored open spaces.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Therapp’s administrative center was housed in one such complex, which  extended for several midds from the center of the city and across the  meandering river that cut through it. Slotting his conveyor in a public  receptacle, he quickly swapped it for its much smaller in-house  counterpart. Within the vast structure, municipal workers dashed to and  fro along clearly designated routings, never so much as nudging any of the  pedestrians they passed. Without the internal conveyor, it might take him  half a day to walk to the sector he sought.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Like the spokes of a wheel, the adjuncts to the office of Overwatch  Delineator fanned out around a central core. As custom   dictated, there were twenty-four such offices. Today the office of  Delineator was held by number nine. Tomorrow it would be ten, and so on  until next-month changeover. In this way the city’s administration had  twenty-four heads, among whom both responsibility and credit could be  divvied up collectively. With only one day in charge each next-month, no  one official had time to accumulate power over another. Occasionally,  number twelve might swap day-work with the official occupying office  twenty-one. Like everything else on Hyff, the system made for an  administration that was both civil and efficient.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Today’s Delineator was Phomma, of office nine. An unlucky number, Ussakk  reflected as he stepped off his conveyor and snapped it into the nearest  unoccupied recharger. Unlucky, because she would be the one to have to  receive and deal with the dreadful news he carried with him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    When he entered, office nine was occupied by a pair of subordinate  administrators engaged in debating the merits of expanding the city’s  southernmost recreation facility. Both looked up at his entry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Devirra li Designer,” declared one. “Zubboj vi Procurer,” added her  companion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Ussakk ri Astronomer,” he responded. While on business, the Hyfft did not  waste time on extended formalities. They were an efficient folk. “To see  today’s Delineator.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The Designer’s reply was prompt and inflexible. “Delineator Phomma qi  Administrator sa Nine is not seeing visitors or supplicants until last two  afternoon-slices. We respectfully suggest you return to request a meeting  at that time.” Small, dark, fast-moving pupils regarded him hesitantly.  “Unless you already have arranged a meeting time for this morning.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “No, I haven’t,” he replied, “but I must see the Delineator immediately.  It is a matter of global importance.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Global?” Long, feathery white whiskers twitching to emphasis his  amusement, the Procurer eyed his fellow subordinate administrator. “From  an astronomer I would expect nothing less than galactic.” They shared a  casual touch, he clicking his prominent incisors against hers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Ussakk was as well-mannered as the next person, but today he had no time  for sarcasm. “You are more right than you say. The Iollth are returning to  Hyff, and will be here within a two-day.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Later, though he could easily justify it, he regretted his bluntness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    A look at his face—eyes staring evenly, whiskers unquivering, short round  ears perfectly erect and forward facing—being all that was necessary to  convince them that the visitor was not joking, the change in attitude  among the pair of subordinate administrators was shocking in its  abruptness. The Designer’s hairless eyelids fluttered once, twice, before  she collapsed. Trembling visibly, the Procurer bent over her and began to  tug on her short arms in an attempt to reestablish normal breathing. He  was so badly shaken he could not sustain his grip, leaving it to Ussakk to  take over and maintain the procedure until the psychologically stunned  female finally regained consciousness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I apologize,” he murmured. “I did not mean to cause shock. That is why I  did not use public channels to communicate the information, for fear it  might get out before it could be appropriately   reviewed. But it must be delivered now, here, so that means of  dissemination to the rest of Hyff can be decided upon, and propagated  accordingly.” His tone, normally relaxed and carefree as that of any of  his kind, was unnaturally solemn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    His seriousness seemed to steady the Procurer. “Go on in, quickly,” the  subordinate administrator told him as he resumed working the Designer’s  upper arms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    With an acknowledging twitch of the whiskers to the right of his nose,  Ussakk hitched up the cross-straps of his formal work attire, turned, and  strode toward the inner wall. Sensing his approach, number nine of  twenty-four ceremonial panels slid aside to admit him to the circular  inner office.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    It was beautifully appointed, the citizens of Therapp and the surrounding  district being proud of their accomplishments and those of their local  artisans. A conical central skylight of synthetic crystal flooded the  interior with sunshine lightly tinted gold by the swirling, stained panel  attached to it. Directly beneath the skylight, a round desk sat embedded  in the mosaic stone floor. There the Delineator of the Day of Therapp sat  and worked. Placing the desk slightly below floor level compelled each of  them to look up at approaching citizens. In this manner, humility was  enforced on the Overwatch’s principal public servant.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Delineator Phomma qi Administrator sa Nine looked up and chittered a  polite traditional greeting, followed by, “I specifically asked staff to  grant me a two day-slice period of privacy. You must have considerable  influence to have gained admittance in spite of that.” Her long, drooping  whiskers inclined toward him as she spoke, the aggressiveness of their  posture belying the civility of her words. Unusually, he noted, they were  tinted a pale red.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I am Ussakk the Astronomer, and I have no influence: only bad news.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Proceed forward.” Rising from her seat, she stepped away from the trio of  readouts that floated in the air before her. They started to follow  obediently until she thought to wave them away. “What news can  simultaneously be so bad and so influential?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    He descended the six short ceremonial steps, each corresponding to one of  the whiskers that dominated the Hyfftian visage. “This morning I regret to  say that I was forced to reconfirm certain previous significant  observations made by my facility’s instrumentation. Three starships have  entered our system from deepspace. Though it has not happened in my  lifetime, I know from history that infrequent visitors to our world  invariably arrive in only one such vessel. One time, by coincidence, two  such marvelous craft arrived at Hyff.” He blinked meaningfully. “The  presence of more than that can mean only one thing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As an educated person, the Delineator Phomma knew what it meant, too. To  her credit, she neither fainted nor shook. But moisture did begin to  appear at the lower edges of both eyes. She wiped it hurriedly away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “This leaves no time for advance lamenting. That will have to come later.”  Turning, she moved purposefully back to the seat she had been occupying  when he had arrived. Her hovering tripartite readouts had to move fast to  hold their positions in front of her   eyes. This time she did not dismiss them. “The Great Government must be  notified immediately. You will provide all details. Work must be started  to minimize the inevitable panic that will greet the official  announcement.” As her hands moved, the four short fingers on each waving  instructions at the readouts, she glanced over at him. “Who else knows?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Ussakk considered for a moment. “Only the two sub administrators whose  permission I had to seek to enter here. Their personal reactions,” he  added thoughtfully, “were as might have been expected. Otherwise, not even  my colleagues at the observatory know. Yet.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    She chirruped an acknowledgement. “Then this can be handled appropriately.  Or at least, as well as can be hoped.” He thought he saw tears begin to  rise again, but the Delineator shut them down before they could dampen the  neatly trimmed brown fur under her eyes. Leastwise, the formal face paint  that streaked and speckled her plump cheeks did not run.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “If you do not require my presence any longer,” he murmured, “I should be  getting back to my work.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    She replied without looking up at him, her hands busy with the readouts.  “Your work is here now. As Delineator of the Day for the Overwatch of  Therapp, I am requisitioning your services to city administration. When  your coworkers have been notified, they can monitor the approach of the .  . .” She could not choke the name out, did not want to get the name out.  “Of the incoming vessels,” she finally finished.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Ussakk was appalled. “I am an astronomer, not a bureaucrat or civil  servant. I answer to the Great Science, headquartered in Avvesse. Of what  possible use could my extended presence be to the city government of  Therapp?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    She paused in her work to study him. His whiskers quivered slightly under  her suddenly intense stare, but he held his ground. “It is clear you are  not a politician, either. Very well; if you need a reason, I feel that  your continued presence in an urbanized area will in itself help to  provide some small modicum of reassurance to the general populace.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    His small black nose twitched. “How can that be?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “By showing that you have not run away.” She returned to manipulating the  readouts. “In the coming days, that may prove critical. I don’t suppose  you can tell by the angle of approach of the Iollth ships where they  intend to put down on Hyff?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    He reminded himself that this was not a fellow scientist he was talking  to. “Angle of approach means nothing. They may decide to go into extended  orbit around Hyff before choosing a place to—put down. Or they may decide  to land at three different places. History shows that—”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I know what history shows,” she barked irritably. He took no offense at  the sharpness of her response. Helplessness bred frustration, and  frustration bred anger. He felt like doing some yelling and screaming  himself. As a scientist, he realized the futility of such reactions better  than most.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    A tenth of a day-slice later, she waved both hands simultaneously, and the  readouts that had been hovering before her vanished. With a weariness not  even her elaborate ceremonial makeup could dispel, she turned back to him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “The appropriate authorities have been advised. The Great Government is  now in motion.” Eyes as red as her whiskers met his. “All continental  representatives are to meet here tomorrow. That is as fast as travel  allows. Each of the eight continental Overwatches will determine how best  to respond should an Iollth vessel set down in their territory. If all  three approaching craft send their landers to one place, a worldwide  response will be coordinated.” The tearing started again, and this time it  did not stop. “As we have throughout our history, we can only hope to  minimize the destruction.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Stepping forward, Ussakk took her in his arms. The fact that   she was the day’s Delineator and he a research astronomer, and that they  had never met before this moment, meant nothing. The Hyfft were a species  as emotional as they were demonstrative, among whom   close physical contact was not only commonplace but expected. Anyway,  Ussakk was glad of the opportunity to embrace someone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    He needed the warming physical contact as badly as she did.","brand":"Del Rey","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301588324581,"sku":"NP9780345461339","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345461339.jpg?v=1742924566","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-candle-of-distant-earth-isbn-9780345461339","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}