![]() When Coffey seemingly folds under the pressure, National Security Adviser Admiral Carrell stages a bloodless coup d'état, circumventing the President and rejecting the aliens' proposal. He is opposed by his advisors, who feel that by allowing the Fithp to escape and regroup, he risks the whole of humanity. ![]() Coffey is willing to let the Fithp withdraw into space and is reluctant to destroy their technology and cargo of females and children. On Earth, US President David Coffey receives an offer of conditional surrender from the Fithp. One of the shuttles rams the Fithp ship, damaging it badly enough that it cannot escape Michael. Though seriously damaged, she pursues the alien mothership. When there is a security leak, Michael launches prematurely and battles through small enemy "digit" ships, aided by one-man gunships and larger space shuttles carried aboard Michael and released as needed. The ship is named after the Biblical archangel Michael, who cast Lucifer out of Heaven. The US secretly builds a large, heavily armed spacecraft in Washington state that is propelled by nuclear bombs, a real concept known as Project Orion. On numerous occasions, the Fithp are assisted by human leaders seeking to keep their power over the masses. The Fithp then invade southern Africa, successfully subjugating most of its people. The Fithp respond to the defeat of their invasion by dropping a large asteroid into the Indian Ocean, whose impact results in environmental damage on a global scale, particularly the almost total destruction of India. The Fithp, who are familiar with nuclear weapons, but prefer to use cleaner ones, are shocked by what they consider the barbarity of humans' willingness to "sow radioactive fire on their own croplands". They initially repel attacks with orbital lasers and kinetic energy weapons, but a combined Soviet and US nuclear attack wipes out their beachhead. Science fiction writers are employed as technical advisers on alien technology and behavior the characters are based on real writers, including Niven ("Nat Reynolds"), Pournelle ("Wade Curtis"), and Robert Anson Heinlein ("Bob Anson").Īfter their initial assault, the Fithp land ground forces in the center of North America, primarily in and around Kansas. Civilians are used to show the effects of the war on day-to-day life in the US, and military and government personnel convey a more strategic overview of events. The human characters fall into two major groups: those on Earth and those who are taken aboard the Fithp spaceship as captives. US Congressman Wes Dawson and Soviet cosmonauts are captured from the ruins of the space station. They proceed to destroy military sites and important infrastructure on Earth. ![]() Upon arrival, they attack the Soviet space station, the country still being a world superpower, where Soviets and Americans wait to greet them. The Fithp are confused by human attempts at peaceful contact. Fighting then ceases, and the losers are incorporated into the winning herd. When two herds meet, they fight until it is evident which is dominant. The Fithp are herd creatures and fight wars differently from humans. The original leaders are subordinate to the Spaceborn, who are prepared to start a space-based civilization, but are still dedicated to the generations-old goal of conquest. The herd was divided into "Sleepers" and the "Spaceborn", as the starship is both a generation ship and a sleeper ship. The leadership of the loser formed the Chtaptisk Fithp ('Traveling Herd'). An arms race between two rival herds threatened to render the species extinct, so they wagered to see who would depart in a starship and seek a new home elsewhere. The predecessor species badly damaged the environment, rendering itself and many other species extinct, but left behind their knowledge inscribed on large stone cubes from which the Fithp gained their technology. In the distant past on their planet, another species was dominant. They possess more advanced technology than humans, but did not develop any of it on their own. The alien Fithp resemble baby elephants with multiple prehensile trunks. Their intent is conquest of the planet Earth. The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have traveled to the Solar System from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet. ![]() Footfall is a 1985 science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
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