As long as the people of Pern could remember, the Holds had protected them from Thread, the deadly silver strands that fell from the sky. In exchange for sanctuary in the huge stone fortresses, the people tithed to their Lord Holders, who in turn supported the dragonriders, Pern's greatest weapon against Thread.
But not everyone on Pern was protected. Some had been rendered holdless as punishment for wrongdoing. Some, like Jayge's trader clan, simply preferred the freedom of the roads to the security of a hold. Others, like Aramina's family, had lost their holds. And they all feared the outlaws who preyed on holds and holdless alike.
The Lady Thella's renegades were the most dangerous yet--all they needed was Aramina, whose telepathic link with dragons could help them evade the dragonrider patrols. But Jayge was out to stop Thella. . . and he would never let her have Aramina!
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For generations, the dragonriders had dedicated their lives to fighting Thread, the dreaded spores that periodically rained from the sky to ravage the land. On the backs of their magnificent telepathic dragons they flew to flame the deadly stuff out of the air before it could reach the planet's surface. But the greatest dream of the dragonriders was to find a way to eradicate Thread completely, so that never again would their beloved Pern be threatened with destruction. Now, for the first time, it looked as if that dream could come true. For when the people of Pern, led by Masterharper Robinton and F'lar and Lessa, Weyrleader and Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr, excavated the ancient remains of the planet's original settlement, they uncovered the colonists' voice-activated artificial intelligence system-which still functioned! And the computer had incredible news for them: There was a chance--a good chance--that they could, at long last, annihilate Thread once and for all! |
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Travel back to the earliest days of Pernese history in this first-ever Dragonriders of Pern short-story collection!
Join the original survey team as they explore Pern and decide to recommend it for colonization.
Share the terror of the evacuation from the Southern Continent as a flotilla of ships, aided by intelligent, talking dolphins, braves the dreadful currents of the Pernese ocean.
Learn how the famous Ruatha Hold was founded, and thrill with the dragonriders as they expand into a second, then a third Weyr.
And discover a secret lost time: the rescue of some of the original colonists before the planet was cut off forever!
Building a new life on a distant world, braving the dreaded Thread that falls like silver rain from the sky only to destroy every living thing it touches, flying heroically on the wondrous dragons: The Dragonriders of Pern! |
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When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize the oceans of the new planet while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck. The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as the human colonists' dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten...
Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern were preparing to complete the momentous task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T'lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, made contact with the legendary "shipfish." And as the dragonriders grappled with the ending of an era, T'lion, Readis, and the dolphins faced the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land-and ocean-dwellers--and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonist of Pern! |
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Thread: deadly silver strands that fall from the sky like rain, devouring every organic thing in their path, animals, plants, and people alike. Who could believe that such horrible things could exist? After all, it's been two hundred years since Thread supposedly fell on Pern. No one alive remembers that first onslaught. There's no sign of it anywhere in the world. Only the dragons, originally created to be a weapon against Thread, are still around to remind people that once before their population was decimated, their hopes and dreams and livelihoods almost destroyed forever.
For two centuries the dragonriders have been practicing and training, passing down from generation to generation the Thread fighting techniques learned on the fly by their besieged ancestors. And most of the Lord Holders are prepared to protect their people, to provide sanctuary, to assemble groundcrews to search out and destroy any Thread that might be missed by the dragons soaring overhead. All but one.
Even now the ominous signs are appearing: the violent winter storms and volcanic eruptions that are said to herald the approach of the Red Star and its lethal spawn. Impossibly, one stubborn Lord Holder, Chalkin of Bitra, refuses to believe‹and that disbelief could spell disaster for all of Pern. So while the dragonriders desperately train to face an enemy they've never fought before, they and the other Lord Holders must find a way to deal with Chalkin and protect Bitra.
Such a situation can never be allowed to happen again. If only a way could be devised to warn future generations of impending Threadfall, and to instill in them an unquestioning belief in its dangers.
Join Weyrleaders, Holders, and Craftmasters in the creation of the legendary Star Stones and the teaching ballads of Pern!
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Pern: a beautiful world ravaged by Thread, the deadly spores that fall like silver rain, devouring every living thing in their path. Pern: where dragons' flaming breath burns Thread out of the sky before it can drop on the helpless land below. Pern: where harper songs warn of Thread, record history, and prepare for the future. The harpers are the glue that holds the people of Pern together; and no man is more influential than the MasterHarper of Pern.
In a time when no Thread has fallen for centuries--when, indeed, many are beginning to dare hope that Thread will never fall again--a boy is born to Harper Hall. His name is Robinton, and he is destined to be one of the most famous and beloved leaders Pern has ever known.
The son of Petiron, renowned composer, and Merelan, one of Pern's most gifted singers, Robinton is a prodigy from birth. As a child, he is already composing music that the apprentice and journeyman harpers play with delight. And he also discovers another gift: he has the ability to speak with the dragons, who tend to reach out telepathically only to their riders.
But not everyone appreciates his talents. His own father, driven by jealousy, spurns the boy. And far to the north, in the High Reaches, trouble is brewing in the form of a despotic holder, Fax, who hates harpers in general--and Robinton in particular.
It is a perilous time for harpers. They sing of Thread, yet more and more people are beginning to doubt the return of that deadly scourge. They teach reading, writing, and history, yet Fax is determined to keep his growing area of influence free of the learning that might sow unrest. And they extol the dragonriders, whom many view increasingly as a drain on the resources of the Holds. Now harpers are being turned away from holds; and, worse yet, they are being derided, attacked, and even beaten.
It is in this climate of unrest that Robinton will come into his own. For despite the tragedies that beset his own life, he continues to believe in music and in the dragons, and he is determined to save his beloved Pern from itself...so that the dragonriders can be ready to fly against the dreaded Thread when at last it returns! As the teaching songs sing:
Dragonmen must fly
When Threads are in the sky! |
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