
It would be akin to a contractor demanding to have his name on a Frank Lloyd Wright house." įoster also wrote the follow-up novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978), written with the intention of being adapted as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the film was unsuccessful. Not having my name on the cover didn't bother me in the least.
When asked if it was difficult for him to see Lucas get all the credit for Star Wars, Foster said, "Not at all.
3.13.1.1 Star Trek: The Animated Seriesįoster was the ghostwriter of the original novelization of Star Wars, which was credited solely to George Lucas. Porsupah gets drunk, while Mal and Kitty start a romantic relationship. The drug is devastatingly effective against the creature, which had proven immune to conventional explosives and energy weapons fired by the Replerian constabulary (as well as the AAnn weapons) weakened, the Vom succumbs to the Tar-Aiym Guardian.Īfter the battle, the Guardian self-destructs Flinx leaves Repler on his ship Teacher. Left behind by the AAnn, Rose desperately attempts to negotiate with the Vom while it is still engaged in the life-or-death battle instead, the Vom consumes him, and his bloodhype supply. Flinx joins Peot against the Vom, but despite their combined efforts, the Vom slowly gains the advantage. The Vom and Guardian engage in a psychic battle as an AAnn fleet arrives to evacuate their survivors, and the fleet commander tricks the greedy Rose into returning (alone) to the base to retrieve data that could damage the reputation of the base commander. Alerted to the presence of the Guardian, the Vom escapes the AAnn base, destroying the installation. Awoken by Flinx’s psychic abilities, the Guardian prepares to fight the Vom again, while Kitty, Porsupah, and Mal prepare a raid on the AAnn base to capture Rose. Led by Mal, the agents enlist the help of another wealthy (but legitimate) Replerian merchant, Chatham Kingsley, who has discovered the Tar-Aiym Guardian (named Peot) and his machine now orbiting above Repler. Flinx, who has only been working for Rose's organization a short time, finds out who they are and that they are being held against their will Flinx helps them escape.Īfter the agents report Rose’s activities to the United Church, Rose escapes to the AAnn base, where he blackmails the base commander into promising safe passage off-world lest Rose release his entire supply of bloodhype via an over-pressurized container with a "dead-man" trigger (which would lead to a horrible death for everyone on the base). While awaiting the trade, they encounter Flinx, currently in Rose’s employ as an "assistant sanitation engineer". Mal's arrival interrupts Rose's plans to torture Kitten to death by vivisection, and Mal is forced to trade the drug for the release of the Church agents (and himself).
Meanwhile, Kitten's and Porsupah's covers are blown, and they are captured by Rose. Mal discovers the drug accidentally, and determines that Rose caused it to be included with the shipment that Mal brought to Repler angry, Mal secures the drug on board his ship and goes to confront Rose, proposing to exchange his silence (and the destruction of the drug) for Rose avoiding arrest and mind-wipe by ceasing all production and distribution. Once on Repler they make contact with the drug trader Dominick Rose, who had used an unwitting Captain Malcolm "Mal" Hammurabi and his ship, the Umbra, as unwilling transporters of bloodhype. Lieutenants Kitten “Kitty” Kai-sung, a female human, and Porsupah-al, a male Tolian, have been sent by the Intelligence Arm of the United Church to Repler to investigate the newly re-established trade in the drug bloodhype (also known as "jaster", "silly salt", "brain-up", and "phinto") as the most deadly and addictive drug in and outside the Humanx Commonwealth. Carmot MMYM, a commander in the AAnn Empire, discovers the Vom and brings it to the planet Repler for study at an AAnn base that had been conceded to the reptilians as part of a negotiated settlement of ownership of the planet the AAnn base is sovereign territory, allowing them to conceal the nature of their work. Following years of battle with the Tar-Aiym it has sheltered on a planet where it has gone dormant for 500,000 years, waiting for an opportunity to escape the Tar-Aiym Guardian orbiting in space above it. The Vom is an intergalactic intelligence described as a large black blob resembling a gigantic amoeba, impervious to almost all energy and physical attack.