On the isolated, windswept planet of Terminus, seventy thousand scholars reside under the assumption that their sole purpose is to compile the Encyclopedia Galactica—a monument of human knowledge protected by the fading prestige of a decaying Galactic Empire. But as communication relays go dark and the imperial navy withdraws, the ambitious, resource-starved Kingdom of Anacreon moves to annex the defenseless colony. While the academic Board of Trustees chooses passive submission, blindly relying on the mathematical projections of their late founder, Harrison Walker, Mayor Vincent Palmer realizes that parchment cannot stop warships. Seizing administrative control in a bloodless coup, Palmer plays a high-stakes diplomatic game. Armed only with a monopoly on compact nuclear technology, he constructs a delicate web of economic and technological dependence among four rival kingdoms, turning scientific knowledge into the ultimate shield of survival on the galactic edge.
On the isolated, windswept planet of Terminus, seventy thousand scholars reside under the assumption that their sole purpose is to compile the Encyclopedia Galactica—a monument of human knowledge protected by the fading prestige of a decaying Galactic Empire. But as communication relays go dark a...