Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

I - INVADER AD 43-70

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II - BUILDER AD 122-138

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III - EMPEROR AD 314—337

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EPILOGUE

Afterword

Also by Stephen Baxter from Gollancz

NON-FICTION

Deep Future

FICTION

Mammoth
Longtusk
Icebones
Behemoth
Reality Dust
Evolution

Destiny’s Children

Coalescent
Exultant
Transcendent

Time’s Tapestry

Emperor
Conqueror

A Time Odyssey (with Arthur C. Clarke)

Time’s Eye
Sunstorm

The Web

Gulliverzone
Webcrash

In Weidenfeld & Nicolson

NON-FICTION

Revolutions in the Earth

Title Page

Emperor

STEPHEN BAXTER

Orion

Copyright Page

A Gollancz eBook

The right of Stephen Baxter to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company

This eBook first published in 2010 by Gollancz.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN : 978 0 5750 9874 9

This eBook produced by Jouve, France

All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

vuvuvv.stephen-baxter.com

Place names:

Banna, Birdoswald
Caledonia, Scotland
Camulodunum, Colchester
Durovernum, Canterbury
Eburacum, York
Dolaucothi
Londinium, London
Mona, Anglesey
Rutupiae, Richborough

Tamesis, R Thames
Sabrina, R Severn
Tinea, R Tyne
Ituna, R Solway
Cantiaci River, R Medway

Gesoriacum, Boulogne
Massilia, Marseilles

Principal British Nations:

Atrebates
Brigantia
Catuvellauni
Cantiaci
Durotriges
Iceni
Ordovices
Silures

Timeline

Note on Measurements

1 Roman foot = 0.96 modern foot = 11.5 modern inches (292 mm)

1 Roman mile = 0.96 modem mile = 1686 modem yards (1.54 km)

Oraculum Nectovelinium

(The Prophecy of Nectovelin, 4BC)

Aulaeum temporum te involvat, puer, at libertas habes:
Cano ad tibi de memoriam atque posteritam,
Omni gentum et omni deorum, imperatori tres erunt.
Nomabitur vir Germanicus cum oculum hyalum;
Scandabit equos enormes quam domuum dentate quasi gladio.
Tremefacabit caelum, erit filius Romulum potens
Atque graeculus parvus erit. Nascitur deus iuvenus.
Ruabit Roma cervixis islae in laqueui cautei.
Emergabit in Brigantio, exaltabitur in Romae.
Pudor! comprecabit deum servi, sed ispe apparebit deum.
Ecclesiam marmori moribundi fiet complexus imperii.
Reminisce! Habemus has verita et sunt manifesta:
Indico: omnis humanitas factus aequus sunt,
Rebus civicum dati sunt ab architecto magno,
Et sunt vita et libertas et venatus felicitae.
O puer! involvaris in aulaeum temporum, fere!

The Prophecy of Nectovelin

(freely translated with acrostic preserved):