Sliding Scales (A Pip & Flinx Adventure)

Sliding Scales (2004) is the tenth SF novel in the Pip & Flinx series, following Flinx's Folly. In the previous volume, Flinx met Clarity and fell in love. Yet he could not stay on New Riviera because of the threat coming from the Great Emptiness. The Order of Null tried to eliminate Flinx, but were foiled by plants from Midworld. Flinx then left New Riviera to search for the missing planet of the Pyrassis system. In this novel, Philip Lynx is a biotechnically mutated human. Flinx has the intermittent ability to read emotions and occasionally to project them. He lives in a world of mental noise and has frequent headaches. Pip is an Alaspinian minidrag. Her species are natural empaths. They are also very dangerous pets, at least to those who attack them or their kin. Teacher is Flinx's personal starship. It is controlled by a very advanced Artificial Intelligence -- the ship-mind -- who speaks for the ship. Takuuna VBXLLW is an AAnn. He is a secondary administrator on Jast, an AAnn associated world. Chraluuc is an AAnn. She is an artisan within the Tier of Ssaiinn -- a group of artists and artisans -- on Jast. In this story, Flinx is persuaded by Teacher to take a vacation. Since Flinx is being actively pursued by enemies within the Commonwealth, Teacher recommends Jast as the optimal location. Only a few AAnn are residing on the planet, so they should not be a problem. However, the AAnn are a very paranoid species. The nye who first notices his presence on the planet assigns Takuuna as his guide. Of course, Takuuna is also supposed to keep a close eye on the human. Takuuna takes Flinx and Pip to see a natural wonderland where the floating wildlife fill the air at dawn. As Takuuna is thinking about his suspicions, Flinx remarks on the beauty of the sight and Takuuna absently swings his tail at Flinx in a typical AAnn gesture. The blow throws Flinx off balance and he falls into the canyon. When Takuuna looks over the edge, he sees Flinx bouncing down the slope and out of sight. Then he sees no further sign of the human. Takuuna assumes that Flinx is dead and starts figuring out his story. Meanwhile, Flinx lies unconscious with one foot hanging off the edge of a several hundred meters drop. Pip can not prevent the fall, but she stays to guard his body. Upon awakening, Flinx cannot remember the names of things that he sees. The name Pip seems to feel right for the flying snake, but his own name is not available. So he climbs up the slope and then looks for water. When nye from the Tier of Ssaiinn discover Flinx, he is severely dehydrated and half-starved, with several minor injories from the fall. Chraluuc acts as his companion as he recovers from the injuries and deprivations. Soon Flinx and Pip are welcome guests in the facility. This tale provides Flinx an opportunity to meet AAnn who are not agents of the Empire. The nye in the local colony are viewed as outcasts from mainstream AAnn culture. They still

Entertaining, though the series does remind you of E C Tubb's character or a "Soap Opera," still it does keep you in anticipation of the next episode. Foster is a very accomplished writer.

Flinx, the mysterious (even to himself) young hero of Alan Dean Foster's first novel, has done a lot of maturing by the time this ninth installment in the series begins. He's acquired his own spaceship, operating by an AI (artifical intelligence unit) with which he trades verbal barbs. He's still accompanied by Pip, the Alaspinian mini-drag (miniature dragon, or - if you prefer - flying snake) who's been his companion since childhood. His empathic psychic abilities are still growing, and he still doesn't understand them. He's in a foul mood at present, because his most recent adventure has ended with the love of his life severely injured. Flinx blames himself, and having to leave Clarity behind - without even stopping to be sure she'll survive - galls him. Yet it's the only hope he has of keeping her safe. So his AI tells Flinx that he needs a vacation. Some time to spend deliberately doing nothing, in a place where he can't possibly be recognized. The AI picks out a remote planet called Jast. Jast is home to a sentient species with a highly developed civilization. It's also a target for the Commonwealth's arch-nemesis, the AAnn Empire. When one of the reptilian aliens is assigned as Flinx's "guide" (or minder, actually), the young human doesn't object because he's met the AAnn before. He understands and speaks their language, and thinks he understands their culture quite well, too. But on that point he's mistaken, as he discovers when his "guide" nearly kills him and actually does leave him for dead in a rugged, isolated part of the Jastian landscape. Or he would discover that - if he could only remember how he got there. Initially I groaned a bit when I read the chapter that introduced Flinx's amnesia. "What a tired old plot device!" I thought. But I kept reading, and before too many more pages were turned I'd decided that the tired old plot device was working just fine. There's not much movement in this book toward resolution of the mysteries central to Flinx's on-going story. It's basically a standalone "planet of the week" adventure, with character development (for Flinx, and for the AAnn as a species) its only real contribution to the saga as a whole. But, with that understood and accepted, I found it an enjoyable tale. Not the best in the series (I've read them all), but definitely worth the read.

Upon the urging of his spaceship, Flinx decides to take a vacation on a little-known desert planet that is nominally independent but operating within the zone of control of the AAnn Empire. The AAnn aren't precisely at war with the humans and their Thranx allies, but they aren't exactly at peace either--and Flinx, along with his pet flying lizard Pip, are admitted only if accompanied by a minder, the AAnn, Takuuna VBXLLW. When the minder loses his temper and pushes Flinx over a cliff, the human nearly dies and loses his memory. But the minder is promoted to be in charge of anti-terrorism activities. Because somewhere on the planet, someone, or some group of someones, has decided that the AAnn have got to go. Could the human really have been in league with the local Vssey? One thing Takuuna knows for sure--if the human comes back and remembers Takuuna's brief loss of control, the results would not be career-enhancing. The war on terrorism is important, of course, but not more important than Takuuna's career growth--especially not to Takuuna. Rescued by a commune of low-status AAnn artists, Flinx spends time with the semi-enemy aliens, and discovers a growing affection toward many of them. Gradually, most members of the commune come to accept him as a fellow artist. While he wishes for a return of his memory and some sense of his goals in life, he savors the beauty and art around him. Of course, his peace can't last--because eventually Takuuna will learn that the human isn't dead and is a threat to his future. Author Alan Dean Foster combines an engaging space-opera tale with a look at the way career-minded bureaucrats and politicians can create vast conspiracies out of their own needs and ambitions. Foster toys with the notion that art might be a unifying theme between intelligent species--and part of a bridge that might be more effective than embassies and politicians. It's an idealistic view, but he develops it well. Fans of the Pip & Flinx series will find SLIDING SCALES to be a bit more psychological and a lot less adventure-oriented than they are used to. From a continuity perspective, the critical contribution of SLIDING SCALES appears to be Flinx's greater understanding of the AAnn--and the de-demonification of this interesting and dangerous species.

Flinx is on emotional overload. He was forced to leave the love of his life on New Riveria to recover from serious injuries while being pursued by the Order of the Null (end of the world fanatics) and is wanted by the Commonwealth authorities. He also needs to find an invisible weapons platform made by an extinct race that could detect what coming behind the Great Emptiness. His ship's A.I. has the solution to erase the stress from Flinx's life, something he has never tried before. He is going on vacation. His A.I recommends he goes to the neutral planet Jast where no Commonwealth authorities exist and the sentient inhabitants the Vsses resemble hopping mushrooms, but there is a presence of the Aann Empire. This reptilian species is bringing the planet under their control. On the orb, an Aann guide accidentally knocks him down a canyon and leaves Flinx for dead. The Tier of Sjaiinn, a native artisan group held in contempt by the Empire takes Flinx in to their compound. Since he lost his memory they take care of him. Meanwhile, someone is attacking Aann installations with plans to remove the species from the planet and the guide returns to complete the killing of Flinx. The adventures of Flinx and his mini-drag Pip are always fun to read as Flinx somehow attracts troubles like a magnet so that even an innocent vacation turns ugly and could harm friends. SLIDING SCALES is a superb outer space tale with species that seem genuine especially as they relate to the planet and to Flinx. Alan Dean Foster has provided an exciting young adult tale that adults will enjoy too. Harriet Klausner