by Gary Gibson
‘And what does this have to do with me?’
Lamoureaux smiled. ‘If there was ever a time we needed you, Dakota, it’s now.’
She felt like weeping. ‘I can’t tell you how out of my depth I feel, just being told all this. I mean, Jesus and Buddha . . .’ She laughed. ‘I don’t know what else to say.’
‘The Accord is something special. It’s much more than the Hegemony ever hoped to be. And its name is no accident – would you like me to show you why?’
Dakota nodded warily.
A moment later she found herself bathed in the sound of a hundred trillion voices, all talking at once. But, rather than cacophony, it was more like a single, infinitely complex piece of music constantly mutating and shifting. She saw through a million eyes, heard a million voices. She felt the touch of an untold number of lovers, smelled the air of a thousand worlds. She felt alien limbs sprouting from her body; tasted the armoured chitin of her brood with her long tongue; swam through sentient corals, sniffing out delicious plankton with a nose resembling a flower.
‘There’s a lot more I have to explain,’ he said, reaching out his hand as he stood up. His movements were fluid, not at all those of an old man. And a lot for you to see. But, if we’re going to get started, I don’t see any reason why we should delay.’
She licked her lips and glanced around the onion dome, then reached out tentatively and took his hand.
Empire of Light
Also by Gary Gibson
ANGEL STATIONS
AGAINST GRAVITY
STEALING LIGHT
NOVA WAR
For Emma
Previously, in Stealing Light and Nova War
When humanity finally reaches the stars, it is only possible with the help of the Shoal, rulers of a vast empire of interstellar trade routes over which they maintain absolute control through their monopoly on faster-than-light technology.
A human expedition to the Nova Arctis system subsequently uncovers the first of the Magi fleet, derelict but highly advanced starships originating in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. Dakota discovers she is uniquely adapted to bond with these thanks to her machine-head implants. When the Shoal-member ‘Trader in Faecal Matter of Animals’ destroys the entire system rather than allow them to escape with the secret of superluminal travel, Dakota, in the company of Lucas Corso, is able to use a Magi ship to jump to safety.
Captured by a Bandati colony many light-years distant, Dakota and Lucas become pawns in a deadly game being played between the Bandati and the Emissaries, a hitherto unknown starfaring species with whom the Shoal have been engaged in a frontier war for millennia.
Trader, believing that a nova war is inevitable should the Emissaries discover that the superluminal drive can also be used to destroy whole star systems, attempts a pre-emptive strike. The plan backfires, and the war spins out of control, threatening to eradicate life throughout the galaxy as system after system is wiped out.
Dakota knows that if any way exists to bring the war to an end, it lies with the Maker, a mysterious entity responsible for seeding the faster-than-light technology in caches scattered across the face of the universe . . .
First published 2010 by Tor
This electronic edition published 2010 by Tor
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ISBN 978-0-230-75373-0 PDF
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Copyright © Gary Gibson 2010
The right of Gary Gibson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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