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  For more than twenty years, Tom Doherty and Linda Quinton at Tor Books have been supporters of my work—as cheering section, sounding board, and business partners. Eternity’s Mind is the end of the Seven Suns universe, for now, and this novel is dedicated to them.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  When I write a big book like this, I dictate chapters at a furious pace, sometimes as many as four per day, nearly overwhelming my typist, Karen Haag, but she keeps up with me and I owe her a special thanks. Also, my gratitude for the work of my editor, Pat LoBrutto; my agent, John Silbersack; test reader, Diane Jones; and, as always, my wife, Rebecca Moesta.

  THE STORY SO FAR

  Even as the mysterious and deadly Shana Rei attack random colonies throughout the Spiral Arm, industrialist Lee Iswander expands his operations to extract stardrive fuel from clusters of bloaters—enigmatic nodules that drift in the dark spaces between the stars. Bloaters seem similar to plankton in space, and since they are filled with the valuable fuel ekti-X, Iswander considers them a treasure trove. He keeps his operations completely secret, to prevent competitors from producing great quantities of cheap stardrive fuel, which would glut the market and cause prices to crash. But many Roamers are desperate to know the secret.

  Aelin, the green priest who serves Iswander at the bloater-extraction field, suspects the nodules are something very important. He can tap into the immense verdani mind and all the knowledge there, and he also senses a powerful presence among the bloaters. Occasionally, unpredictable energy discharges ripple through the nuclei of the nodules. In an attempt to understand them, Aelin flies a stolen scout pod out among the bloaters with his treeling and is inadvertently caught in one of the discharges—which sends him into a coma of overloaded thoughts and revelations. He claims that bloaters are filled with the “blood of the cosmos” and that the Iswander operations are causing great harm. Iswander and his hardline deputy, Elisa Enturi, believe Aelin is mad. The green priest tries to escape the extraction field to sound a warning, but he is captured and held, considered a threat. Since the bloater outburst destroyed his treeling, Aelin has no way to communicate with other green priests on Theroc.

  Back on the worldforest planet, the green priests are intrigued by the newly arrived Onthos, the remnants of a nearly extinct race of “Gardeners,” who once tended another worldforest in a distant star system. The Onthos and their worldtrees were wiped out by the Shana Rei long ago, and now the last hundred of them request sanctuary on Theroc. With the blessing of the green priests and the worldforest, King Peter and Queen Estarra grant them permission to stay.

  Their daughter Arita, who failed in her attempt to become a green priest, is fascinated by the Gardeners. She hovers close and listens to the Gardeners talk about their lost homeworld and how they cared for their immense but now extinct worldforest. Though she is not one of them, the green priests tolerate Arita’s presence. More surprisingly, the leader of the Onthos, Ohro, takes an interest in Arita, telling her she is more special than the green priests, that she can connect with something else. Indeed, she has heard strange whispers of thoughts in her head from a distant and immense consciousness, but she never understood them.

  Arita’s brother, Prince Reynald, suffers from a debilitating disease which will soon cost him his life, a rare illness he contracted from the worldforest itself. The King and Queen have spread the word to all worlds in the Spiral Arm and the Ildiran Empire, searching for a cure, but they have been unsuccessful. Osira’h, daughter of the Ildiran Mage-Imperator and the human green priest Nira, has befriended Reyn and now stays with him on Theroc as his condition continues to worsen. He collapses on the tree canopy, and Osira’h tends him but feels completely helpless.

  Meanwhile, Osira’h’s father, Mage-Imperator Jora’h, deals with crises in the Ildiran Empire. The Shana Rei and their black robot allies have attacked Ildiran colonies, but the shadows have also infiltrated the Ildiran telepathic network of the thism. Though he tells no one, even his green priest lover Nira, Jora’h fears the shadows are inside him as well. A mob of possessed Ildirans recently wiped out an enclave of human settlers in the capital city of Mijistra, and Jora’h announces he will go to Theroc to personally express his regret to King Peter and Queen Estarra. With the Shana Rei continuing their depredations, Jora’h hopes to strengthen the Ildiran alliance with the human Confederation.

  Jora’h departs Ildira with an entourage including two warrior women as bodyguards: Yazra’h and Nira’s halfbreed daugher Muree’n. The Mage-Imperator leaves his eldest son, Prime Designate Daro’h, in charge, with Nira’s halfbreed son Rod’h as his friend and adviser. Rod’h resents the fact that he has become irrelevant since the Elemental War; born as part of the Dobro breeding program to be a savior of the Ildiran Empire, he never got the chance to fulfill his destiny, and feels like he has no purpose. Rod’h tries to help Daro’h in his duties, and saves the Prime Designate when a shadow-possessed Ildiran mob tries to kill him. If the Shana Rei can infiltrate anyone, anywhere, then no place is safe. Fortunately, all of Nira’s halfbreed children—Rod’h, Osira’h, Muree’n, Tamo’l, and Tal Gale’nh—seem to be immune.

  Adar Zan’nh, the leader of the Solar Navy, works with Ildiran factories to produce sun bombs and laser cannons, the only weapons that have proved effective against the Shana Rei. Tal Gale’nh, the protégé of Adar Zan’nh, still struggles to recover from the horrific experience of being captured by the Shana Rei. When Gale’nh was held prisoner in a Shana Rei entropy bubble, the creatures of darkness could not penetrate him, and he does not know why he was ever freed. After checking on the sun-bomb production, Zan’nh takes Gale’nh to a Lightsource shrine on the planet Hiltos, where the young tal hopes the lens kithmen can give him insight.

  The Adar’s counterpart in the Confederation Defense Forces, General Nalani Keah, has also set the CDF weapons industries at Earth to work at full capacity. Dr. Jocko Krieger modifies old Ildiran sun-bomb designs to create even more powerful sun bombs, but the the new bombs are produced in such a rush that safety routines are not followed, and an unfortunate accident destroys one of the major factories in lunar orbit. Back to square one.

  Mage-Imperator Jora’h and Nira meet with the King and Queen on Theroc, cementing their alliance. Prince Reyn’s health is declining, and Osira’h asks her father to send a message to Tamo’l (also one of Nira’s halfbreed children), who tends the “misbreeds,” misfit survivors of the now-defunct breeding experiments on Dobro. The misbreeds are often deformed, barely able to survive, and are considered sad mistakes of the program, but Tamo’l believes that they are not just discards, but possess some special worth. Receiving her sister’s plea to help find a
cure for Reynald, Tamo’l investigates some of the rare kelp strains on Kuivahr, the ocean world where her sanctuary domes are located.

  The only facility that might possess the medical information Reyn requires is Pergamus, a secret library of diseases and cures owned by the wealthy recluse Zoe Alakis, who built the secure facility on a poisonous planet and has no intention of sharing her treasure of data or her cures with anyone. Zoe stays sealed in a sterile environment, afraid to be infected by the outside universe. Her loyal majordomo Tom Rom provides everything she needs and often risks his life to acquire new specimens for her collection. He just recovered from the deadly Onthos space plague, which he accidentally caught when forcibly obtaining a blood sample from Orli Covitz, who was herself infected. The researchers on Pergamus finally found a cure for Tom Rom, and now he continues to complete whatever mission Zoe gives him.

  Orli was cured of the plague, too, by immersing herself in the protoplasm inside the bloaters—which the green priest Aelin called the blood of the cosmos. Once she recovers enough, Orli goes with her new companion Garrison Reeves and his young son Seth to settle on the quiet colony planet of Ikbir. As their relationship deepens, Orli and Garrison realize that Ikbir is just too dull for them, and they set off to the Roamer capital of Newstation, where Seth will go to school. On their way out of the Ikbir system, though, they see an astonishing number of bloaters drifting in clusters and chained together like breadcrumbs across vast reaches of space. Because she was once immersed in a bloater, Orli feels a strange connection to them.…

  Iswander keeps producing ekti-X, and the main distributors are Xander Brindle and Terry Handon, pilots for Kett Shipping. Rlinda Kett has made huge profits from all the new stardrive fuel, but she, as well as Xander’s parents Robb Brindle and Tasia Tamblyn, remains suspicious about where the ekti-X comes from. It seems too cheap and too easy. Xander and Terry make the unpleasant discovery that some of the medical treatments they deliver for Kett Shipping have horrific consequences. The treatments come from Rakkem, a biological black market with an extremely dark track record and a string of corpses in its wake. Concerned, they decide they need to know more about the suppliers who hire Kett Shipping and the products they deliver—which include ekti-X.

  Lee Iswander refuses to tell anyone his source, and Rlinda is sure Iswander is hiding something. Xander and Terry do some subtle spying on their own, even deciding to place a tracker on Elisa Enturi’s ship the next time they receive a delivery. For his own part, Lee Iswander has been treated with suspicion by the Roamer clans, who snub him and claim he is not a real Roamer. He makes overtures, offering to help, but they simply don’t see eye-to-eye. He feels disrespected.

  Shareen Fitzkellum, a spunky and ambitious teenaged Roamer, gets assigned with her friend Howard Rohandas to Fireheart Station, where they will become research assistants for Kotto Okiah, the legendary but eccentric Roamer genius who is building a gigantic experiment in the middle of a nebula. Kotto doesn’t want any apprentices, especially teens, but Shareen’s grandfather, Del Kellum, uses his political clout to get them the position. Del, a former Speaker for the Roamer clans, runs a distillery on the ocean world of Kuivahr with his daughter Zhett and her husband Patrick. They make exotic liquor from the same kelp extracts that Tamo’l uses to treat her misbreeds. Del thinks Shareen has so much potential, he wants her to learn from the best: Kotto. Del delivers Shareen and Howard to Fireheart, and they get to work with the famous but eccentric scientist.

  Kotto gives them busywork projects of half-developed ideas or designs that he never completed. Thinking it’s a test, Shareen and Howard work on the problems and find innovative solutions. Kotto compliments them, but is secretly disturbed, since he himself was never able to finish those problems. In fact, though he used to be a great genius, he hasn’t produced anything significant in many years and fears he no longer has the talent. He is constructing a gigantic high-energy experiment, the Big Ring, in the middle of a blazing nebula, banking his entire reputation on this concept, and he secretly fears it might not work. He won’t show Shareen and Howard the detailed plans, worried that they would find something wrong with it, and he doesn’t want to know.

  At the isolated Hiltos Lightsource shrine, Tal Gale’nh and Adar Zan’nh meet the lens kithmen who have devoted their lives to developing their mental abilities and studying philosophy. There, they are alarmed to discover Rusa’h, the mad Designate who nearly brought down the Ildiran Empire with his destructive alliance with the faeros and his civil war against Mage-Imperator Jora’h. After his defeat, Rusa’h was exiled to Hiltos and has caused no trouble for twenty years. Now, knowing the incredible threat of the Shana Rei, Rusa’h insists that the only way to fight the creatures of darkness is to renew the alliance with the fiery elementals—a shocking proposal, considering how much destruction the faeros caused before. Zan’nh and Gale’nh refuse to consider the suggestion.

  Then the Shana Rei and their swarms of black robot battleships strike Hiltos, drawn by all the lens kithmen’s connection to the Lightsource. Led by the black robot Exxos, the ships devastate the shrine as Adar Zan’nh evacuates as many of the lens kithmen as possible, as well as the disgraced Rusa’h. The Solar Navy battles the Shana Rei in orbit, and the Ildiran warliners barely escape, suffering great damage. Rusa’h insists on going back to Ildira and presenting his plan to the Mage-Imperator.

  As their diplomatic mission to Theroc finishes, Mage-Imperator Jora’h and Nira join a meeting in which General Keah debriefs the King and Queen about CDF military preparations against the Shana Rei. Ohro surprises them by revealing the location of the lost Onthos star system, which shows up on no star charts. The leader of the Gardener refugees explains that the Shana Rei swallowed up their sun and all its planets. Eager to learn anything about the shadows, General Keah proposes a mission to the dead star system, and Jora’h agrees to let Adar Zan’nh and a group of Solar Navy warliners join the expedition.

  Ohro and the Onthos refugees do not want to go along, though; they are too frightened of the creatures of darkness. Instead, the aliens ask permission to settle on the isolated continent of the Wild, where they can live in peace. The only others in the Wild are a group of isolationist green priests (including Arita’s friend Collin) and Queen Estarra’s estranged sister Sarein, who lives as a hermit. King Peter lets the Gardeners pack up and go.

  Before he can depart for home, the Mage-Imperator suddenly senses catastrophe in the Ildiran Empire: the Shana Rei attack on the Hiltos shrine, and the mob assassination attempt on Prime Designate Daro’h. He and Nira rush back to Mijistra, bringing their daughter Osira’h. There, they learn that Rod’h saved the Prime Designate from the possessed mob, and they meet the ragtag Solar Navy returning from Hiltos with mad Designate Rusa’h, who is very unwelcome after his crimes against the Empire. When Jora’h expresses grave reservations about joining forces with the faeros, Rusa’h claims that the Mage-Imperator is too weak to do what is necessary to save his people. As a contingency, Osira’h and Rod’h—the most talented of Nira’s halfbreed children—seek out contact with the fiery elementals. The two encounter the faeros, but the sentient fireballs flee, refusing to communicate. Osira’h and Rod’h realize the faeros are afraid of the Shana Rei.

  Back at his bloater-extraction facility, the powerful Lee Iswander feels snubbed and disrespected by the Roamer clans. He discusses with Elisa Enturi how to restore his reputation. Loyal and defensive, she agrees to do what she can when she delivers a large shipment of ekti-X to the trading hub of Ulio Station, where she will meet with Xander Brindle and Terry Handon.

  The desperate green priest Aelin escapes from the Iswander facility by hiding in Elisa’s ekti shipment. At Ulio Station he slips away to spread a warning about the bloaters. When he sees the ambitious Roamer traders, though, he fears they won’t heed his warning, but might instead rush off to begin extraction operations of their own and cause even more damage to the bloaters! He inadvertently blurts the information to clan Duquesne and hunk
ers down at Ulio Station, not sure what to do.

  Elisa Enturi delivers her stardrive fuel; a large stockpile will remain at Ulio, and the rest is sold to Kett Shipping. Xander and Terry place a tracker on Elisa’s ship, so they can follow her movements and know where the ekti-X comes from. Elisa flies off, unaware that her trading partners are spying on her.

  Terry and Xander receive a mysterious message to meet a ship out in deep space and are surprised to find the wandering vessel of old Maria Ulio, founder of Ulio Station, who vanished years ago. Maria was a mentor to Terry, and she surprises Terry by transferring to him all of her wealth, which is locked in Ulio Station accounts. Stunned, Xander and Terry fly back to Earth to report to Kett Shipping.

  Orli Covitz and Garrison Reeves, along with Garrison’s young son Seth, travel to the Roamer capital of Newstation. On the way, Garrison stops at Rendezvous, the abandoned site of the former Roamer capital. For years, Garrison’s stern father attempted to rebuild the asteroid cluster, but eventually gave up. Leaving Rendezvous, they arrive at Newstation, where Garrison learns of Kotto Okiah’s Big Ring experiment, which is exactly the sort of work he wants to do. Although he and Orli are very close, both have been through difficult relationships, so they decide to spend a month apart to assess their feelings for each other. Leaving Orli, Garrison heads to Fireheart Station to join the Big Ring work crew.

  At Fireheart, Shareen and Howard continue to amaze and intimidate Kotto Okiah. The two young assistants secretly get their hands on detailed plans for the Big Ring and are dismayed to see flaws in Kotto’s calculations. The experiment won’t work! Indignant, Kotto refuses to listen. He insists the Big Ring will be completed shortly and the experiment will proceed as planned.

  As Prince Reyn’s health declines further, one of Zoe Alakis’s former medical researchers comes to Theroc, selling information about the secret Pergamus library to the King and Queen. With new hope, Peter and Estarra dispatch Rlinda Kett to negotiate for any relevant data Zoe might possess. But Rlinda is angrily rebuffed and chased out of the system. Tom Rom is upset to learn that one of Zoe’s former researchers betrayed them, so he finds the man, incapacitates him, and sells him to be used as an experimental subject in the biomarkets of Rakkem. Knowing that Pergamus has been revealed, Tom Rom and Zoe have to decide how to proceed.