Philip Lynx is a fictional character, an adventurous young man with unusual qualities in a series of books set in the "Humanx Commonwealth

Humanx Commonwealth

The Humanx Commonwealth is a fictional interstellar ethical/political entity featured in the science fiction novels of Alan Dean Foster. The Commonwealth takes its name from its two major sapient species, who jointly inhabit Commonwealth planets and administer both the political and...

", written by Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster is an American author of fantasy and science fiction. He currently resides in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, and is also known for his novelizations of film scripts...

 and published by Del Rey Books

Del Rey Books

Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...

.

Character biography

Flinx was born 533 A.A (2933 A.D) in Allahabad, India, on Terra. Flinx was born to a high-end prostitute named Rud Anasage Lynx (the last part Lynx is a title for her form of prostitute, not a last name.) She was approximately age 22. It was recorded that Flinx had unusual R-wave activity in his brain at birth that was noted as indicating potential or possible abnormal class one talent. However, the Anasage was not his "mother" in the conventional sense, nor did he have a "father." As revealed by Anayabi in Patrimony

Patrimony (novel)

Patrimony is a science fiction novel by Alan Dean Foster. The book is the thirteenth chronologically in the Pip and Flinx series.-Plot:...

, both the paternal and maternal genetic material was combined from base elements, "a strand of protein here, a fragment of nucleic acid there," before being inserted into Anasage; Flinx was one of many experiments by a group known as the Meliorare Society, though Skua September admitted donating genetic material to the Meliorares when a similarity between Flinx and himself was noted.

Flinx together with several other "experiments" was raised in several locations, constantly being relocated to avoid the authorities, who eventually overpowered many of the renegade engineers and reclaimed the children. Flinx was evaluated as normal, and deposited in a slaver market where, at the age of eight, he was bought by Mother Mastiff and thereafter raised in a lower class section of Drallar on the planet Moth. Mother Mastiff practiced a variety of scams, often aimed at tourists, and Flinx followed in her footsteps becoming a minor thief. Early on, Flinx discovered that he had a quite erratic and uncontrollable empathic

Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...

 (i.e. sensing another's emotions) ability. He came across and was befriended by an Alaspinian minidragon in an alley during his wanderings around Drallar; he named the minidrag "Pip" and it become his closest companion.

Not all members of the Meliorare Society had been captured and rehabilitated by the authorities, and the members still at large had been trying to track down their escaped experimental subjects. Having apparently located Flinx, they appeared in Drallar and attempted to capture him. In the process, Flinx met two traveling researchers and left Drallar with them, leading to an interstellar adventure during which he encountered the ancient artifact known as the Krang, which apparently stimulated his empathetic ability considerably, making episodes more frequent if no more controllable.

Flinx earned a large sum of credits for his assistance with activating and empowering the Krang, decided to do what he could to discover something about his biological father, and so Flinx set off for the centralized Commonwealth birth records on Earth. While in route there, he made enemies with a wealthy businessman named Conda Challis, who was one of the few individuals who had known Flinx's mother (she had been his 'consort'). Flinx suspected that Conda might be his father. Challis and Anasage had had a brief relationship, during which Anasage gave birth to girl (at least Flinx's younger half-sister and possibly his full sister) named Mahnahmi. She also had been one of the Meliorare Society's experimental projects. Trailing Challis to a world off-limits to the general public and kept off most maps, Flinx found and befriended a bear-like species of primitives (albeit with not entirely obvious super-intelligence and considerable powers, and engaged in a millennia long reconstruction of their planet by tunnelling) called Ulru-Ujurrians. Flinx attempts to teach them enough to cope with civilization, including the reptilian AAnn, and helped them make a few steps toward becoming a "civilized" people. In turn they declared him 'The Teacher' (despite his protests) and built him a unique and powerful starship which they christened "Teacher".

Having failed to find anything worthwhile about his father Flinx put aside that pursuit and explored the Commonwealth, helping people out as and when he can, but unfortunately made some new enemies. After discovering some evidence that the cosmos contained a being of malignant evil, Flinx realized he may be destined to become involved in a conflict with it. Unfortunately, Flinx draw too much attention to himself and his uniquely designed ship and ended up being hunted by many groups, including the authorities, throughout the Commonwealth. As of the most recent novel, Flinx is still on the run from the authorities and continuing to try figure out what, who he is, and how and why he has become a central figure in a very large problem.

Flinx is one of a few who have been befriended by an Alaspinian Miniature Dragon, or "minidrag". Minidrags are reptilian, resemble flying snakes, and come from the planet Alaspin, home of some many very large and not all understood ruins. They are not sapient; nonetheless, they are empathetic, or "emopaths", who sometimes bond strongly to a sapient being. They are quite capable of defense (of their companions or themselves), as they spit a highly corrosive neurotoxic venom. Because he has such a lethal pet, Flinx has become expert in anti-venoms and other problems which might happen if Pip does something unfortunate.

Flinx is wanted by the Commonwealth government for several violations of law including: violation of Shell and Box security on Earth, refusal to heed an order to stay in Terran space, illegal visitation of two worlds Under Edict, and assaulting a female security officer.

Character trademarks

Flinx originally carried with him a thin stiletto boot knife in his right boot. He also usually wears a universal command bracelet on his right wrist, which serves as a go-between for communicating with his ship from a planetary surface. In the latter books he more often wears a "survival belt" consisting of rations for himself and Pip, a med kit including a healing beamer that can be tuned to different species, a side arm, a charging pack for the beamer and sidearm, a communicator, a universal translator and various other tools. He is well versed in combat techniques and is quite capable of holding his own in most close conflicts. Flinx is also a highly accomplished thief, often carrying a variety of specialized equipment for breaking and entering. Flinx has also demonstrated considerable artistic ability and was adopted into an AAnn family in the novel Sliding Scales, receiving the surname Flinx LLVVRXX from the Tier of Ssaiinn on the planet Jast. He has also acquired considerable knowledge of computer systems and has become adequate at hacking computer systems, as well as some ability to manually pilot shuttlecraft.