Dirge

Alan Dean Foster has written more than twenty novels set in the Humanx Commonwealth, an unforgettable world where humans, thranx, AAnn, and numerous other aliens live and work side by side. But the amicable relationships between species have always hung in a tenuous balance between distrust and diplomacy. Dirge is the second thrilling novel in The Founding of the Commonwealth, an adventure that delves deeper into the fragile early years when humans made first contact.In the second half of the twenty-fourth century, diplomatic relations proceed cautiously between thranx and humans, who are slow to overcome their aversion to the insect-like beings. But the lowly thranx are nearly forgotten with the sudden discovery of an ideal planet to colonize—Argus V—and the startling appearance of a new race of space-faring aliens. People are dazzled by the beautiful, glamorous pitar. Then tragedy strikes.A cargo ship making a routine delivery to Argus V finds a scene of grisly carnage has replaced t