The Tower and the Hive

Table of Contents

 

 

 

“Readers looking for intelligent, heroic adventure will find it here, and Rowan fans will be especially pleased at this felicitous closing of a popular SF series.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 

“McCaffrey maintains the high quality of characterization of humans and aliens alike, and, once again, she skillfully interweaves the plot threads, making it easy to follow the action on all fronts. A rousing conclusion to a most satisfying series.”
—Booklist

“Fans of the series will plunge right in.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The fifth installment in the author's Rowan series brings to a satisfying culmination the tale of three generations of a uniquely gifted family while leaving room for future novels. McCaffrey's skillful storytelling and fluid writing ... make this a necessary purchase.”
—Library Journal

 

 

“A well-told tale ... McCaffrey's popularity is immense and justified.”
—Booklist

“Charming ... A warm and vivid picture of a struggling frontier society.”
—Publishers Weekly

“One of the best McCaffrey novels to come along in years.”

 

“McCaffrey is in fine form ... Interesting ... Amusing ... tempestuous.”
—Locus

 

“Winning, carefully developed young characters, an attractive alien society, and an enemy drawn with more than a touch of mystery.”
—Publishers Weekly

“McCaffrey's fans won't be disappointed... Hugely enjoyable ... Fascinating in its exploration of the brain's potential and untapped powers.”
—Calgary Sun

 

“Another exciting episode in the thrilling epic of the Rowan ... Read and enjoy!”
—Romantic Times

RESTOREE • DRAGONFLIGHT • DECISION AT DOONA • ALCHEMY & ACADEME (COMPILED BY ANNE MCCAFFREY) • THE SHIP WHO SANG • MARK OF MERLIN* • DRAGONQUEST • RING OF FEAR* • TO RIDE PEGASUS • OUT OF THIS WORLD COOKBOOK • A TIME WHEN • KILTERNAN LEGACY* • DRAGONSONG • DRAGONSINGER • GET OFF THE UNICORN • THE WHITE DRAGON

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THE TOWER AND THE HIVE

 

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author

 

Copyright C 1999 by Anne McCaffrey.

 

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I have excellent reason to be particularly grateful to four experts in writing this conclusion of the Talent (aka
The Tower and the Hive)
series. Dr. Jack Cohen of the University of Warwick and I discussed how I could solve the problem of colonizing Hivers. So I had a structure to begin with. I was dumbfounded to discover that my dictionary had only five lines about the very complex subject of pheromones. The Web came to my assistance and I asked for help, which was quick in coming from Jonathan Brecher and Louis Culot of CambridgeSoft on their special expertise, both as generalists and for specific knowledge about pheromones. We had some lively E-mail exchanges, since Jonathan knew of
Lyon's Pride
when I approached him for assistance. His colleague Louis Culot supplied additional details. I wish also to thank Bibb Graves from Hewlett Packard Houston for a description of gas chromatographs, which register the strength and composition of pheromones. We extrapolated—as is the function of science fiction—that the future would miniaturize what are actually large and cumbersome instruments. But then most current gas chromatographs (GCs) have altered considerably from their original forms, and no doubt will have altered even more by the time of
The Tower and the Hive.

I am also grateful to my readers—Mary Jean Holmes, Lea Day and my daughter, Georgeanne Kennedy—who try to spot any inconsistencies, typos and grammar problems which might occur in the fifth of a series that was first started in 1990. I am indebted to my editor, Susan Allison, and her staff of copyeditors, for their valuable comments and assistance overall.

what has gone on before...

When an unknown enemy threatened all Human life on Deneb, Jeff Raven shouted—telephathically—for help and reached the Rowan,
¹
the lonely Lady in the Tower at the Callisto Tower of Federated Teleport and Telepath (FT&T). With her help as Callisto Prime Talent, Jeff freed his planet of invasion. He also became the next Earth Prime.

The Rowan and Jeff Raven had five children. The precocious Damia, the second daughter of their marriage, emerges as a Prime Talent too, and is sent to occupy the Tower at Iota Aurigae's new mining planet.
²
There she encounters an intelligence on a distant spaceship, known as Sodan. He tries to lure her into giving him directions to her planet. Her family becomes suspicious of her enchantment with this “mind” and sends her brother, Larak, and Afra to divert her. In the ensuing meeting of minds, Larak is killed by a brutal telepathic bolt from Sodan, who is only a mind. Damia and Afra are seriously injured too. While recuperating on Deneb, Damia and Afra are contacted by the “dreams” of the Mrdini. An alien race, they have been fighting the dread spheres of the Hiver queens, who were the invaders which Jeff and the Rowan had thwarted.

The Mrdini are exceedingly impressed by the fact that Deneb was able to defeat the attacking Hiver sphere without loss of life. They have been fighting the Hivers for two centuries and only suicide squadrons are able to penetrate and destroy the spheres.

In order to cement relations between the two species, Mrdini young are placed with Human young and grow up learning each other's language and culture. Damia's children,
³
starting with young Laria, each have a pair of Mrdini young.

When Laria reaches sixteen years of age, she is sent to Clarf, one of the five Mrdini worlds. On Clarf, Laria teaches Basic to Mrdinis and learns their “adult” language, accompanied by her two 'Dinis, Tip and Huf. At eighteen, she takes over as FT&T Prime at Clarf Tower as the Star League Alliance of Human and Mrdini continues to track down or resist the Hiver incursions.

Then three Hiver spheres penetrate League Space and three pursuit squadrons of mixed Human and Mrdini ships are sent after each of the Hiver ships, to track them to their separate destinations. Another group is sent to trace their ion trails back to their planet of origin. In order to continue these searches most effectively, FT&T is asked to supply the flagship of each group with a Prime, or sufficient lesser Talents, to keep in touch with the League Base and to “receive” additional supplies of food and material on what could be long voyages.

Young Thian Raven, Laria's brother, is sent to the
Vadim,
under the command of Captain Ashiant, as he and the ships backtrack the fleeing Hiver spheres. Thian himself comes under threat when the nova-blasted, derelict Great Sphere of the Hivers is found in space. A jealous latent Talent attacks him while he is part of a team exploring the dead sphere, and he is nearly killed. Damia assists him in identifying his assailant.

Meanwhile one of the queens fleeing the Great Sphere has been captured and is incarcerated in an unused facility on Heinlein Moon Base, where she can be studied from a viewing station carefully placed safely out of her reach in her “prison.” Mrdini and Humans alike await her exit from the pod. Attempts to contact the huge, mantislike queen are futile, as she does not recognize any other species. All hopes to establish negotiations and thus curtail Hiver incursions in the Star League are thwarted.

The Mrdini are not convinced that the nova which had devastated the Great Sphere has destroyed the Hiver homeworld and wish to have proof. Thian, bravely recovering from the attack, agrees to accompany the Mrdini ship the KLTL in its Search, thus making sure of supplies and contact during what is possibly a yearlong trek. By doing so, he will prevent any young Mrdinis from “going on the line”—a Mrdini euphemism for self-sacrifice to feed their crewmates.