The Emperor's Last Stand by David Lubar

Author:David Lubar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

* * *

“I’m glad she’s gone,” Clave said after they’d dropped Fleexbeezle and Gavish off at the docking station orbiting his planet. “I can’t believe I was a fan of hers. She’s dreadful. No wonder her crew abandoned her. They must have felt like they were getting a large splinter removed.”

“She was kind of hard on you,” Nicholas said. “But she’s gone. And we have to figure out how to find my parents. Janice, can you find Morglob?”

We’ve been looking, they said. It’s odd. There’s no sign of him. He’s as cloaked as the Alexandrites.

“Maybe he teamed up with them,” Nicholas said.

“Even Morglob wouldn’t be that evil,” Henrietta said. “He’ll work with your enemies, but not with the universe’s enemies. And I doubt they’d work with him. There’s nothing subtle in their strategy. It’s all about force. They’d squash him as quickly as they’d squash the rest of us.”

“Good luck trying that,” Nicholas said with a shudder. He pictured someone trying to squash the mucus-like agent. “But where could he be?”

“Enemies!” Stella said, grabbing Nicholas’s arm. “That’s it! I know where he is.”

“Where?” Nicholas asked.

“He’s with the Unilluminated,” she said. “Their planet is cloaked to prevent any sort of discovery of their plans. Right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s cloaked,” Nicholas said. “But their leaders were wiped out when we destroyed Morglob’s home for the second time. They aren’t a threat anymore. At least, until they can rebuild their leadership.”

“No, they’re not a threat,” Stella said. “But their planet is still cloaked. I’d bet anything Morglob is there. Enemy of my enemy. Think about it. They’d help him. At the very least, they’d let him take advantage of the cloaking, even if they didn’t actively join in with whatever he’s planning. And he’d certainly want to be somewhere where he couldn’t be easily found.”

“Do we know where the planet is?” Nicholas asked. “I mean, it’s cloaked, right?”

That makes it easy to find, once we knew what to look for, Janice said. It stands out by not being there. We found it easily as soon as we heard what Stella said. It’s a big, gaping hole in the universe. Here are the coordinates, Clave. Janice recited a series of numbers.

“Got it,” Clave said as he manipulated the navigation controls. “And we’re off. I hope Gavish and what’s-her-name are making progress.”

“I hope so, too,” Nicholas said. “I wonder how the rest of the universe is doing.”

The rate of attacks is growing, Janice said. It’s still controllable, if we can stop them soon. But if it goes on for too long, there will be more invaders than the universe can defeat, and we’re afraid they’ll keep coming. They wouldn’t have launched an invasion unless they had enough power to ensure victory.

“We have to figure out how to stop them,” Nicholas said. “As much as I never wanted to be the emperor, I really don’t want to be the last one.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.