The gripping hand

SCIENCE FICTION. Robert Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." "The San Francisco Chronicle" declared that "as science fiction, "The Mote in God's Eye" is one of the most important novels ever published." Now Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, award winning authors of such bestsellers as "Footfall "and "The Legacy of Heorot, " return us to the Mote, and to the universe of Kevin Renner and Horace Bury, of Rod Blaine and Sally Fowler. There, 25 years have passed since humanity quarantined the mysterious aliens known as Moties within the confines of their own solar system. They have spent a quarter century analyzing and agonizing over the deadly threat posed by the only aliens mankind has ever encountered-- a race divided into distinct biological forms, each serving a different function. Master, Mediator, Engineer. Warrior. Each supremely adapted to its task, yet doomed by millions of years of evolution to an inescapable fate.