This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
"Grandpa" was first published in Astounding, February 1955; "The Other Likeness" was first published in Analog, July 1962; "The Winds of Time" was first published in Analog, September 1962; "The Machmen" was first published in Analog, September 1964; "A Nice Day for Screaming" was first published in Analog, January 1965; "Balanced Ecology" was first published in Analog, March 1965; "Trouble Tide" was first published in Analog, May 1965; "The Searcher" was first published in Analog, February 1966; "Attitudes" was first published in Magazine of F&SF, February 1969; The Demon Breed was originally published as a two-part serial in Analog (September-October, 1968), under the title "The Tuvela." It was first published in book form by Ace Books in 1968.
Afterword, (c) 2001 by Eric Flint.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
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www.baen.com
ISBN: 0-671-31984-1
Cover art by Bob Eggleton
First printing, April 2001
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America
Nile heard a series of clanging metallic sounds, partly muffled by the wind. Somebody was down there, perhaps engaged in forcing open her aircar's doors.
She waited, upper lip clamped between her teeth, heard no more. Then one end of the aircar edged into view, turning slowly as if it were being pushed about. A moment later all of it suddenly appeared in the open area—and on the canopy—
Nile's thoughts blurred in shock.
Parahuans. . . .
Some seventy years ago, they'd come out of space to launch almost simultaneous attacks against Nandy-Cline and a dozen other water worlds of the Hub. They'd done considerable damage, but in the end their forces were pulled back; and it was believed that by the time the Federation's warships finished hunting them through space, only insignificant remnants had survived to return to their undiscovered home worlds. It had been the last open attack by an alien civilization against a Federation planet—even planets as far out from the Hub's center as Nandy-Cline.
And we became careless, Nile thought. We felt we were so big no one would dare come again. . . .
Telzey Amberdon
T'nT: Telzey & Trigger
Trigger & Friends
The Hub: Dangerous Territory
Mother of Demons
1632
The Philosophical Strangler (upcoming)
The Belisarius series, with David Drake:
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory (upcoming)
with Dave Freer:
Rats, Bats & Vats