FOOTFALL

'''Footfall''' is a 1985 science fiction novel written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1986.

Contents

Plot summary

Footfall timeline

External links

Plot summary

The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have travelled to our solar system from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet. The aliens are intent on taking over the Earth.
Like several of Niven and Pournelle's books, ''Footfall'' is notable for the imaginative alien species. Physically, the Fithp resemble man-sized, quadrupedal elephants with multiple trunks. They possess much advanced technology, but have developed little of it themselves. In the distant past on their planet, another species was dominant, with the Fithp existing as animals, perhaps even as pets. This predecessor species badly damaged the environment, rendering themselves and many other species extinct. They left behind their knowledge inscribed into large stone cubes (called ''Thuktunthp'', plural of ''Thuktun'' in the Fithp language), from which the Fithp have gained their technology. The Fithp are armed with a technology that is awesome rather than incomprehensible: laser cannon, projectile rifles, controlled meteorite strikes to bombard surface targets, lightcraft surface-to-orbit shuttles the size of warships, etc.
The geopolitics of the world in this novel are those of the Cold War, although the setting of the story is in the mid-1990's. This affects the plot, since in the world of ''Footfall'', the U.S.S.R. is still a major world superpower, and has a greater presence in space than the United States. At the time when the novel was written, this was an extrapolation of contemporary trends. Considering the actual course of history between the mid-80's and mid-90's, the story can now be considered an alternate history of sorts, in which the Communist Bloc never fell, and the aliens invaded an Earth in which the Cold war had continued for at least another several years.
The Fithp are herd creatures, and fight wars differently. Throughout their history, when two herds met, they would fight until it was evident which was dominant over the other; then fighting ceased and the losers were incorporated into the winners' herd. The Fithp expect their contact with humans to proceed along these lines, and are genuinely confused by human attempts at peaceful contact. Upon arrival, they immediately attack the Russian space station, where Russian and Americans wait to greet them, without warning. Then they proceed to destroy military sites and major infrastructure on Earth. A US Congressman and Russian cosmonauts are captured from the ruins of the space station.
The novel's human characters fall into two major groups, those on Earth and those who are taken aboard the Fithp spaceship as captives. Civilians are used to show the effects of the war on day to day life in the United States, while military and government personnel convey a more strategic overview of events. Amusingly, a group of science fiction writers are hired by the government as technical advisors on alien technology and behaviour; these characters are based on real writers, including Niven ("Nat Reynolds"), Pournelle ("Wade Curtis"), and Robert Anson Heinlein ("Bob Anson").
Interaction among the aliens is used to portray the politics and history of the ''Chtaptisk Fithp'' (or 'Travelling Herd'), who are the exiled losers of a war that would have otherwise ended in mutually assured destruction. The Fithp are divided between 'Sleepers' and 'Spaceborn', as the ship is both a generation ship and a sleeper ship. The original leaders of the herd are subordinate to their descendants the spaceborn, who are well prepared to start a space based civilization, but are still dedicated to the generations -old ideal of conquest.
After their initial assault, the Fithp land ground forces in and around Kansas. They defeat efforts by a National Guard detachment (and, somewhat later, three American armored divisions) to dislodge them by the using orbital lasers and barrages of kinetic energy weapons, but a combined Russian and American nuclear attack wipes out their beachhead. It is during this initial invasion that more captives are taken. These also comprise a mixed bag of civilians including an elderly couple from the US Bible Belt and a mentally ill woman. These are put to work by the Fithp on board their mothership, who expect them to integrate themselves into the herd. The humans decide to co-operate until a chance for some serious sabotage presents itself.
The Fithp respond to the defeat of their invasion by dropping a "dinosaur killer", a large asteroid whose impact results in environmental damage on a global scale. In the aftermath the aliens invade Africa, where they enjoy more success.
The United States secretly builds in Bellingham, Washington a large, heavily armed spacecraft propelled by nuclear bombs (a real concept commonly known as Project Orion). The ship is named after the archangel Michael, who cast Satan out of Heaven.
''Michael'' launches and battles through small enemy "digit" ships in orbit. Though seriously damaged, she pursues the alien mothership. One of the space shuttles carried aboard ''Michael'' rams the Fithp ship, slowing it down enough for ''Michael'' to catch and attack it. With their ship (and most of their population) on the verge of destruction, the Fithp accept humanity as the stronger species and surrender themselves to become part of the human "herd".

Footfall timeline

★ '~1915' - The ''Chtaptisk Fithp'' leave Alpha Centauri for Earth on their spacecraft, the ''Thuktun Flishithy''.

★ '~1919' - The sleepers go into their death-sleep.

★ 'September, 1976' - ''Thuktun Flishithy'' swings around the Sun, maneuvering towards Saturn.

★ 'November, 1976' - ''Thuktun Flishithy'' reaches Saturn.

★ 'June, 1980' - ''Thuktun Flishithy'' has been resupplied.

★ 'June, 1981' - The Fithp have established themselves on the Foot, an asteroid colony.

★ 'April, 1995' - The ''Thuktun Flishithy'' begins its journey towards the Earth.

★ 'May, 1995' - Human astronomers in Hawaii realize that there is an alien ship on a trajectory towards the Earth.

★ 'June, 1995' - The initial attack of the Fithp. Kinetic weapons wreak havoc on the Earth, satellites are shot down, the Soviet space station Kosmograd is destroyed, its passengers captured.

★ 'July, 1995' - The Fithp launch an invasion of Kansas. Shortly thereafter the Jayhawk Wars begin, a convential attack against Fithp forces which is rapidly destroyed using space support. About two weeks later, the Americans and Soviets cooperate in a combined nuclear retaliation that defeats the Fithp forces and wrecks much of Kansas in the process.

★ 'August, 1995' - Footfall. The Fithp drop the Foot into the Indian Ocean; tsunamis devastate surrounding landmasses, while the entire globe is enveloped in an endless salty rainstorm.

★ 'July, 1996' - The Flight of the ''Michael''; ends with the formal surrender of the ''Chtaptisk Fithp'' to US Congressman Wes Dawson.

External links

★ an artistic rendering of the Michael