Hidden Empire
From the
New York Times
bestselling author of
X-Files: Antibodies
and The Jedi Academy trilogy comes a spectacular new series set in an incredible new universe…
THE SAGA OF SEVEN SUNS
HIDDEN EMPIRE
BY KEVIN J. ANDERSON
“Wondrously imagined.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A realm of wondrous possibilities….The characters are well-drawn and the plotting is fast-paced.”
—Brian Herbert, coauthor of
Dune: House Corrino
and
Dune: Butlerian Jihad
“SF on a grand scale…richly detailed characters and planets.”
—Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine
“A setting so rich and detailed that the reader will suspend disbelief and actually be there.”
—R. A. Salvatore, author of
Transcendence
“Galactic fantasy at its adventurous and romantic
best….Intriguing characters love and battle among the
stars. A great read!”
—Margaret Weis, author of
Dragons of a Vanished Star
“Tightly plotted, fast-moving adventure with all the right ingredients: cool aliens, clever technology, intrigue, and secrets,
a little romance, a lot of action.”
—Kate Elliott, author of
Jaran
and the Crown of Stars series
“Impressive…with the rich texture and complex plotting that marked
[Dune
author Frank] Herbert at his best.”
—Katherine Kurtz, author of the Deryni series
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
WARNER BOOKS EDITION
Copyright © 2002 by WordFire, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including
information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may
quote brief passages in a review.
Aspect
®
name and logo are registered trademarks of Warner Books, Inc.
Warner Books, Inc.
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
.
Originally published in hardcover by Warner Books
ISBN: 978-0-7595-2721-8
First eBook Edition: July 2002
Contents
GLOSSARY OF CHARACTERS AND TERMINOLOGY
A Preview of "A FOREST OF STARS"
To IGOR KORDEY,
an imaginative, hardworking, and extremely talented
artist. In the early conceptual stages of
The Saga of Seven
Suns
, he helped me to visualize and design many of the
key elements of this universe. His questions and ideas
have fleshed out
the series to a greater extent than
anything I could have done alone.
D
uring the creation, writing, and editing of this series, many people have offered their advice and their enthusiasm. In particular,
I would like to thank Betsy Mitchell and Jaime Levine at Warner Aspect and John Jarrold at Simon & Schuster UK; Matt Bialer,
Robert Gottlieb, Maya Perez, and Cheryl Capitani at the Trident Media Group; Larry Shapiro at Creative Artists Agency; Jeff
Mariotte and John Nee at Wildstorm/DC Comics; and artists Stephen Youll and Igor Kordey.
At WordFire, Inc., Catherine Sidor gave her usual 150 percent effort in transcribing all my tapes of the chapters (and keeping
up with me), as well as proofreading and offering general comments; Diane Jones also helped out with insightful questions,
suggestions, and brainstorming. Gregory Benford helped me design the Klikiss Torch technology. Brian Herbert gave his support
and help with the series from its very beginning.
S
afe in orbit high above the gas giant, Margaret looked through the observation port at continent-sized hurricanes and clouds
far below. She wondered how long it would take for the entire planet to catch fire, once the experiment began.
Oncier was a pastel globe of hydrogen and mixed gases five times the size of Jupiter. Moons surrounded the gas giant like
a litter of pups jostling against their mother. The four of greatest interest were large bodies of ice and rock named Jack,
Ben, George, and Christopher, after the first four Great Kings of the Terran Hanseatic League. If today’s test proved a success,
those moons could eventually be terraformed into Earthlike colonies.
If the Klikiss Torch failed, the respected career of Margaret Colicos would fizzle along with it. But she would survive. As
xeno-archaeologists, she and her husband Louis were accustomed to working in blissful obscurity.
In preparation for the experiment, the technical observation platform bustled with scientists, engineers, and political observers.
Though Margaret had nothing to do with the actual test, her presence was still required here. A celebrity. She had to make
a good show of it. After all, she had discovered the alien device among the ruins.
Tucking gray-streaked brown hair behind her ear, she looked across the deck and saw Louis grinning like a boy. They had been
married for decades and had never worked without each other. It had been years since she’d seen him in a dashing, formal suit.
Margaret could tell how much he reveled in the excitement, and she smiled for his sake.
She preferred to watch people rather than interact with them. Louis once joked that his wife had become fascinated with archaeology
on alien planets because there was no chance she might have to strike up a conversation with one of her subjects.
With plenty of dirt under their fingernails and groundbreaking discoveries on their résumés, Margaret and Louis Colicos had
already sifted through numerous worlds abandoned by the insectlike Klikiss race, searching for clues to explain what had happened
to their vanished civilization. The alien empire had left only ghost cities and occasional tall beetlelike robots that bore
no helpful memories of their progenitors. In the eerie ruins on Corribus, the Colicos team had discovered and deciphered the
remarkable planet-igniting technology they had called the “Klikiss Torch.”
Now excitement thrummed in the filtered air of the observation platform. Invited functionaries crowded around the observation
windows, talking with each other. Never before had humans attempted to create their own sun. The consequences and the commercial
possibilities were far-reaching.
Chairman Basil Wenceslas noticed Margaret standing alone. When a small-statured server compy came by bearing a tray filled
with expensive champagne, the powerful Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League snagged two extruded-polymer glasses and walked
over to her, proud and beaming. “Less than an hour to go.”
She dutifully accepted the glass and indulged him by taking a drink. Since the reprocessed air of the observation platform
affected the senses of smell and taste, a cheaper champagne would probably have tasted as good. “I’ll be glad when it’s over,
Mr. Chairman. I prefer to spend my time on empty worlds, listening for the whispers of a long-dead civilization. Here, there
are too many people for me.”
Across the deck she saw a green priest sitting silent and alone. The emerald-skinned man was there to provide instantaneous
telepathic communication in case of emergency. Outside the observation platform hung a ceremonial fleet of alien warliners,
seven spectacular ships from the Solar Navy of the Ildirans, the benevolent humanoid race that had helped mankind spread across
the stars. The beautifully decorated Ildiran ships had taken up positions where they could observe the spectacular test.
“I understand perfectly,” the Chairman said. “I try to stay out of the limelight myself.” Wenceslas was a distinguished man,
one of those people who grew more attractive and sophisticated with each passing year, as if he learned how to be suave rather
than forgot how to be physically fit. He sipped his champagne, but so slightly that it barely seemed to wet his lips. “Waiting
is always so hard, isn’t it? You are not accustomed to working with such a rigid time clock.”
