"Aye, and yelled at ye often enough for practicing with my expensive baubles. But 'tis a sound thought. We must find ye a good street corner. Surely ye can't get into trouble performing before these simple locals."

"Sure! I'll go and practice right now."

"Easy, boy, easy. You're nearly asleep on your feet, and I'll not have ye breaking either my goods or yourself. Go inside and lie down. I'll be in soon to fix ye something to eat. Go on now, boy, and be sure and take your monster with ye."

Cradling the exhausted Pip in his hands, Flinx rose and made his way through the displays to the section of the shop that served as their home. Mother Mastiff's eyes followed him.

What was was to become of the boy? Somehow he had come to the attention of powerful, dangerous people. At least there was a good chance they wouldn't be bothered for a while. Not if he had left them "kind of dead." to become of the boy? Somehow he had come to the attention of powerful, dangerous people. At least there was a good chance they wouldn't be bothered for a while. Not if he had left them "kind of dead."

How had he escaped? Sometimes he still frightened her. Oh, not because he would ever harm a hair of her old head. Quite the contrary, as his dogged pursuit and rescue of her these past days had proven. But there were forces at work within that adolescent body, forces beyond the comprehension of a simple shopkeeper, forces he might not be able to control. And there was more to it than reading the emotions of others. Of that she was certain. How much more she could only suspect, for it was clear enough the boy had little awareness of them himself.

Well, let him play at the trade of jongleur for a while. Surely that was harmless. Surely he could not find much trouble plying so simple an occupation.

She told herself that repeatedly all the rest of the afternoon and on into evening as she sat watching him sleep. When she finally slipped into her own bed, she thought she had put such imaginary fears beyond her, but such was not the case.

She sensed that the boy lying content and peaceful in the room opposite hers was destined for more than an idle life of entertaining on street corners. Much more. She knew somehow that a d.a.m.nable universe, which was always sticking its cosmic nose into the destinies of innocent citizens, would never let anyone as unique as Flinx alone.

Alan Dean Foster has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of the has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of the Star Wars Star Wars novel novel The Approaching Storm. The Approaching Storm. He is also the author of numerous nonfiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as the novelizations of several films, including He is also the author of numerous nonfiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as the novelizations of several films, including Star Wars, Star Wars, the first three the first three Alien Alien films, and films, and Alien Nation. Alien Nation. His novel His novel Cyber Way Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work to ever do so. won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work to ever do so.

Foster's love of the faraway and exotic has led him to travel extensively. He's lived in Tahiti and French Polynesia, traveled to Europe, Asia, and throughout the Pacific, and has explored the back roads of Tanzania and Kenya. He has rappeled into New Mexico's fabled Lechugilla Cave, eaten panfried pirhana (lots of bones, tastes a lot like trout) in Peru, white-water rafted the length of the Zambezi's Batoka Gorge, and driven solo the length and breadth of Namibia.

Foster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, reside in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from a turn-of-the-century miners' brothel. He is presently at work on several new novels and media projects.

By Alan Dean Foster

Published by The Random House Publishing Group

The Black Hole

Cachalot

Dark Star

The Metrognome and Other Stories

Midworld

Nor Crystal Tears

Sentenced to Prism

Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Star Trek Logs OneTen Logs OneTen

Voyage to the City of the Dead

...Who Needs Enemies?

With Friends Like These...

Mad Amos

The Howling Stones

Parallelities

Stories:

Impossible Places

Exceptions to Reality

The Icerigger Trilogy:

Icerigger

Mission to Moulokin

The Deluge Drivers

The Adventures of Flinx of the Commonwealth:

For Love of Mother-Not

The Tar-Aiym Krang

Orphan Star

The End of the Matter

Bloodhype

Flinx in Flux

Mid-Flinx

Reunion

Flinx's Folly

Sliding Scales

Running from the Deity

Trouble Magnet

Patrimony

The d.a.m.ned:

Book One: A Call to Arms