Footfall
Encyclopedia
Footfall is a 1985 science fiction
novel
written by Larry Niven
and Jerry Pournelle
. It was nominated for the both the Hugo
and Locus
Awards in 1986, and was a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller.
species called the Fithp that have traveled 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.
Physically, the Fithp resemble man-sized, quadrupedal elephant
s with multiple trunks. They possess more advanced technology than humans, but have developed none 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, but left behind their knowledge inscribed on large stone cubes (called Thuktunthp, plural of Thuktun in the Fithp language), from which the Fithp have gained their technology. The study of Thuktun is the only science the Fithp possess. The Fithp are armed with a technology that is superior 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-1990s. 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 of the novel's writing, this was an extrapolation of contemporary analysis.
creatures, and fight wars differently from humans. Throughout their history, when two herds met, they would fight until it was evident which one was dominant over the other; then fighting ceased and the losers were incorporated into the winning herd. The Fithp expect their contact with humans to proceed along these lines, and are confused by human attempts at peaceful contact. Upon arrival, they immediately attack the Russian space station, where Russians and Americans wait to greet them. They proceed to destroy military sites and important 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. Science fiction writers are employed as technical advisers on alien technology and behavior; these characters are based on real writers, including Niven ("Nat Reynolds"), Pournelle ("Wade Curtis"), and Robert Anson Heinlein
("Bob Anson").
Facing possible extinction due to the long-term effects of biological weapons, a group of high-ranking Fithp were selected by wager to escape to the stars. The Chtaptisk Fithp ('Traveling Herd') 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 the center of the North American continent, primarily in and around Kansas
. They defeat efforts by a National Guard detachment (and, somewhat later, three American armored divisions) to dislodge them by using orbital lasers and barrages of kinetic energy weapons
, but a combined Russian and American nuclear attack
wipes out their beachhead. 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 "foul their own garden" with radioactivity. Human protagonists, however, are exultant with victory.
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
as well as a young woman who was a high functioning mental patient at Menninger's
. They are put to work by the Fithp on board their mothership, who expect them to integrate themselves into the herd. The humans decide to cooperate until a chance for some serious sabotage presents itself.
results in environmental damage on a global scale, in particular the almost total destruction of India
. In the aftermath, the aliens invade Africa, where they enjoy more success. One result is the end of South African Apartheid. Simply, Whites and Blacks become equal under the rule of the Fithp.
The United States secretly builds a large, heavily armed spacecraft propelled by nuclear bombs
(a real concept commonly known as Project Orion
). While an earlier implementation of the idea was ruled out due to environmental reasons and the danger of radioactive contamination, in the desperate situation facing humanity such considerations are cast aside. The ship is named after the Biblical Archangel Michael
, who cast Lucifer
out of Heaven.
The Michael launches and battles through small enemy "digit" ships in orbit. Though seriously damaged, she pursues the alien mothership. One of the space shuttle
s carried aboard Michael rams the Fithp ship, seriously damaging it, and slowing it down enough for the Michael to catch and attack it, dealing additional damage.
On Earth, American President David Coffey receives an offer of conditional surrender from the Fithp. Coffey leans towards accepting the offer; he is willing to let the Fithp withdraw into space, and is reluctant to destroy their sophisticated technology and cargo of females and children. He is opposed by his advisors, who feel that by allowing the Fithp to escape and regroup, he risks the whole of humanity; pressing the attack risks its foes. When Coffey seemingly folds under the pressure of making a final decision, his hardliner National Security Adviser, Admiral Carrell effectively stages a bloodless coup d'etat
, circumventing the President and communicating the rejection of the aliens' terms. A final act of sabotage by escaped humans aboard the alien vessel forces the Fithp to accept humanity as the stronger species and surrender themselves to become part of the human "herd".
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written by Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
and Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
. It was nominated for the both the Hugo
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and Locus
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
Awards in 1986, and was a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller.
Plot setup
The book depicts the arrival of members of an alienExtraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
species called the Fithp that have traveled to our solar system from Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet
Bussard ramjet
The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion proposed in 1960 by the physicist Robert W. Bussard, popularized by Larry Niven in his Known Space series of books, and referred to by Carl Sagan in the television series and book Cosmos....
. The aliens are intent on taking over the Earth.
Physically, the Fithp resemble man-sized, quadrupedal elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s with multiple trunks. They possess more advanced technology than humans, but have developed none 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, but left behind their knowledge inscribed on large stone cubes (called Thuktunthp, plural of Thuktun in the Fithp language), from which the Fithp have gained their technology. The study of Thuktun is the only science the Fithp possess. The Fithp are armed with a technology that is superior rather than incomprehensible: laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
cannon, projectile rifles, controlled meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
strikes to bombard surface targets, lightcraft
Lightcraft
A lightcraft is a space- or air-vehicle driven by laser propulsion. Laser propulsion is currently in early stages of development. Lightcraft use an external source of laser or maser energy to provide power for producing thrust. The laser/maser energy is focused to a high intensity in order to...
surface-to-orbit shuttles the size of warships, etc.
The geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
of the world in this novel are those of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, although the setting of the story is in the mid-1990s. 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
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At the time of the novel's writing, this was an extrapolation of contemporary analysis.
Plot conflict
The Fithp are herdHerd
Herd refers to a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic, and also to the form of collective animal behavior associated with this or as a verb, to herd, to its control by another species such as humans or dogs.The term herd is generally applied to mammals,...
creatures, and fight wars differently from humans. Throughout their history, when two herds met, they would fight until it was evident which one was dominant over the other; then fighting ceased and the losers were incorporated into the winning herd. The Fithp expect their contact with humans to proceed along these lines, and are confused by human attempts at peaceful contact. Upon arrival, they immediately attack the Russian space station, where Russians and Americans wait to greet them. They proceed to destroy military sites and important 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. Science fiction writers are employed as technical advisers on alien technology and behavior; these characters are based on real writers, including Niven ("Nat Reynolds"), Pournelle ("Wade Curtis"), and Robert Anson Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
("Bob Anson").
Facing possible extinction due to the long-term effects of biological weapons, a group of high-ranking Fithp were selected by wager to escape to the stars. The Chtaptisk Fithp ('Traveling Herd') are divided between 'Sleepers' and 'Spaceborn', as the ship is both a generation ship
Generation ship
A generation ship is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than the speed of light...
and a sleeper ship
Sleeper ship
A sleeper ship is a hypothetical type of manned spaceship in which most or all of the crew spends the journey in some form of hibernation or suspended animation. There is currently no known technology that allows for long-term suspended animation of humans....
. 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 the center of the North American continent, primarily in and around Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. They defeat efforts by a National Guard detachment (and, somewhat later, three American armored divisions) to dislodge them by using orbital lasers and barrages of kinetic energy weapons
Kinetic bombardment
A kinetic bombardment is the act of attacking a planetary surface with an inert projectile, where the destructive force comes from the kinetic energy of the projectile impacting at very high velocities...
, but a combined Russian and American nuclear attack
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
wipes out their beachhead. 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 "foul their own garden" with radioactivity. Human protagonists, however, are exultant with victory.
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
Bible Belt
Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...
as well as a young woman who was a high functioning mental patient at Menninger's
Menninger Foundation
The Menninger Foundation was founded in 1919 by the Menninger family in Topeka, Kansas, and consists of a clinic, a sanatorium, and a school of psychiatry, all of which bear the Menninger name. In 2003, the Menninger Clinic moved to Houston. The foundation was started by Drs. Karl, Will, and...
. They are put to work by the Fithp on board their mothership, who expect them to integrate themselves into the herd. The humans decide to cooperate until a chance for some serious sabotage presents itself.
Plot resolution
The Fithp respond to the defeat of their invasion by dropping a "dinosaur killer," a large asteroid whose impactImpact event
An impact event is the collision of a large meteorite, asteroid, comet, or other celestial object with the Earth or another planet. Throughout recorded history, hundreds of minor impact events have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage or other significant...
results in environmental damage on a global scale, in particular the almost total destruction of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In the aftermath, the aliens invade Africa, where they enjoy more success. One result is the end of South African Apartheid. Simply, Whites and Blacks become equal under the rule of the Fithp.
The United States secretly builds a large, heavily armed spacecraft propelled by nuclear bombs
Nuclear pulse propulsion
Nuclear pulse propulsion is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust. It was first developed as Project Orion by DARPA, after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1947...
(a real concept commonly known as Project Orion
Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)
Project Orion was a study of a spacecraft intended to be directly propelled by a series of explosions of atomic bombs behind the craft...
). While an earlier implementation of the idea was ruled out due to environmental reasons and the danger of radioactive contamination, in the desperate situation facing humanity such considerations are cast aside. The ship is named after the Biblical Archangel Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
, who cast Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
out of Heaven.
The Michael launches and battles through small enemy "digit" ships in orbit. Though seriously damaged, she pursues the alien mothership. One of the space shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
s carried aboard Michael rams the Fithp ship, seriously damaging it, and slowing it down enough for the Michael to catch and attack it, dealing additional damage.
On Earth, American President David Coffey receives an offer of conditional surrender from the Fithp. Coffey leans towards accepting the offer; he is willing to let the Fithp withdraw into space, and is reluctant to destroy their sophisticated technology and cargo of females and children. He is opposed by his advisors, who feel that by allowing the Fithp to escape and regroup, he risks the whole of humanity; pressing the attack risks its foes. When Coffey seemingly folds under the pressure of making a final decision, his hardliner National Security Adviser, Admiral Carrell effectively stages a bloodless coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
, circumventing the President and communicating the rejection of the aliens' terms. A final act of sabotage by escaped humans aboard the alien vessel forces the Fithp to accept humanity as the stronger species and surrender themselves to become part of the human "herd".
Footfall timeline
- ~1915 – The Chtaptisk Fithp ("Traveler Herd") leave Alpha CentauriAlpha CentauriAlpha Centauri is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus...
for Earth on their spacecraft, the Thuktun Flishithy ("Message Bearer"). - ~1919 – The sleepers go into their death-sleep.
- September, 1976 – Thuktun Flishithy swings around the Sun, maneuvering towards SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.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 conventional 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
- Footfall at Worlds Without End