The Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey [0]
DRAGONRIDERS
OF
PERN
DRAGONFLIGHT
DRAGONQUEST
THE WHITE DRAGON
Anne McCaffrey
A Del Rey Book
BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK
CONTENTS
Title Page
Prologue
Map
VOLUME I: DRAGONFLIGHT
Dedicatory Note
PART I Weyr Search
PART II Dragonflight
PART III Dust Fall
PART IV The Cold Between
VOLUME II: DRAGONQUEST
Dedication
I Morning at Mastercrafthall, Fort Hold / Several Afternoons Later at Benden Weyr / Midmorning (Telgar Time) at Mastersmithcrafthall, Telgar Hold
II Evening (Fort Weyr Time). Meeting of the Weyrleaders at Fort Weyr
III Morning over Lemos Hold
IV Midday at Southern Weyr
V Midmorning at Ruatha Hold / Early Evening at Benden Weyr
VI Midmorning at Southern Weyr / Early Morning at Nabol Hold: Next Day
VII Midmorning at Benden Weyr / Early Morning at the Mastersmithcrafthall, Telgar Hold
VIII Midmorning at Southern Weyr
IX Afternoon at Southern Weyr: Same Day
X Early Morning in Harpercrafthall at Fort Hold / Afternoon at Telgar Hold
XI Early Morning at Benden Weyr
XII Morning at Benden Weyr / Predawn at High Reaches Weyr
XIII Night at Fort Weyr: Six Days Later
XIV Early Morning at Ruatha Hold / Midday at Benden Weyr
XV Evening at Benden Weyr: Impression Banquet
XVI Evening at Benden Weyr / Later Evening at Fort Weyr
VOLUME III: THE WHITE DRAGON
Dedication
I At Ruatha Hold, Present Pass, 12th Turn
II Benden Weyr, Present Pass, 13th Turn
III Morning at Ruatha Hold, and Smithcrafthall at Telgar Hold, Present Pass, 15.5.9
IV Ruatha Hold, Fidello’s Hold, and Various Points Between, 15.5.10-15.5.16
V Morning in Harpercraft Hall, Fort Hold, Afternoon in Benden Weyr, Late Afternoon in Harpercraft Hall, 15.5.26
VI Ruatha Hold and Southern Hold, 15.5.27-15.6.2
VII Morning at Ruatha Hold, 15.6.2
VIII Ruatha Hold, Fort Weyr, Fidello’s Hold, 15.6.3-15.6.17
IX Early Summer, Harpercraft Hall and Ruatha Hold, 15.7.3
X From Harpercraft Hall to the Southern Continent, Evening at Benden Weyr, 15.7.4
XI Late Morning at Benden Weyr, Early Morning at Harpercraft Hall, Midday at Fidello’s Hold, 15.7.5
XII Ruatha Hold, Fidello’s Hold, Threadfall, 15.7.6
XIII A Cove in the Southern Continent, 15.7.7-15.8.7
XIV Early Morning at Harpercraft Hall, Midmorning at Ista Weyr, Midafternoon at Jaxom’s Cove, 15.8.28
XV Evening at Jaxom’s Cove and Late Evening at Ista Weyr, 15.8.28
XVI At the Cove Hold, 15.8.28-15.9.7
XVII Fort Hold, Benden Weyr, at Cove Hold, and at Sea aboard the Dawn Sister, 15.10.1-15.10.2
XVIII At the Cove Hold the Day of Master Robinton’s Arrival, 15.10.14
XIX Morning at the Cove Hold, Star-gazing in Late Evening, Next Morning, Discovery at the Mountain, 15.10.15-15.10.16
XX At the Mountain and at Ruatha Hold, 15.10.18-15.10.20
XXI Next Day at the Mountain, Cove Hold, and the Southern Hatching Ground, 15.10.21
Afterword
Dragondex
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Copyright
Prologue
Rukbat, in the Sagittarian Sector, was a golden G-type star. It had five planets, two asteroid belts and a stray planet that it had attracted and held in recent millennia. When men first settled on Rukbat’s third world and called it Pern, they had taken little notice of the strange planet swinging around its adopted primary in a wildly erratic elliptical orbit. For two generations, the colonists gave the bright Red Star little thought—until the path of the wanderer brought it close to its stepsister at perihelion. When such aspects were harmonious and not distorted by conjunctions with other planets in the system, the indigenous life form of the wandering planet sought to bridge the space gap between its home and the more temperate and hospitable planet. At these times, silver Threads dropped through Pern’s skies, destroying anything they touched. The initial losses the colonists suffered were staggering. As a result, during the subsequent struggle to survive and combat this menace, Pern’s tenuous contact with the mother planet was broken.
To control the incursions of the dreadful Threads