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Chapters (43)
  1. Gary Gibson
  2. Empireof Light
  3. Contents
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-one
  25. Chapter Twenty-two
  26. Chapter Twenty-three
  27. Chapter Twenty-four
  28. Chapter Twenty-five
  29. Chapter Twenty-six
  30. Chapter Twenty-seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-one
  35. Chapter Thirty-two
  36. Chapter Thirty-three
  37. Chapter Thirty-four
  38. Chapter Thirty-five
  39. Chapter Thirty-six
  40. Chapter Thirty-seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-eight
  42. Epilogue
  43. Empire of Light

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
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-0-230-75373-0 PDF
ISBN 978-0-230-75372-3 EPUB

Copyright © Gary Gibson 2010