The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp
that have traveled to our solar system from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft
driven by a Bussard ramjet. The aliens are intent on taking over the Earth.

Physically, the Fithp resemble man-sized, quadrupedal elephants with multiple
trunks. They possess more advanced technology than humans, but have developed
none of it themselves. In the distant past on their planet, another species was
dominant, with the Fithp existing as animals, perhaps even as pets.
This predecessor species badly damaged the environment, rendering themselves and
many other species extinct, but left behind their knowledge inscribed on large
stone cubes (called Thuktunthp, plural of Thuktun in the Fithp language), from
which the Fithp have gained their technology. The study of Thuktun is the only
science the Fithp possess. The Fithp are armed with a technology that is superior
rather than incomprehensible: laser cannon, projectile rifles, controlled
meteorite strikes to bombard surface targets, lightcraft surface-to-orbit shuttles
the size of warships, etc.

The geopolitics of the world in this novel are those of the Cold War, although
the setting of the story is in the mid-1990s. This affects the plot, since in
the world of Footfall, the U.S.S.R. is still a major world superpower, and has
a greater presence in space than the United States. At the time of the novel's
writing, this was an extrapolation of contemporary analysis.

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