by Gary Gibson
TIME LINE
2,000,000 years PHA (Pre-Human Era)
The earliest starfaring Magi cultures form within the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
162,000–160,000 years PHA
Maker caches, containing faster-than-light nova drive technology, are discovered in the LMC.
The star drive triggers a rapid expansion of the Magi cultures until they dominate the Cloud.
160,000 years PHA
Multiple Nova Wars break out in the LMC, almost entirely destroying the Magi culture.
A fleet of Magi superluminal craft departs a devastated LMC for the Milky Way, intent on hunting down and destroying both the Maker caches and the Swarms responsible for seeding them throughout the universe.
A few millennia after its arrival in the Milky Way, the Magi fleet is almost entirely wiped out by the Shoal Hegemony. The Shoal subsequently becomes the dominant power throughout a large part of the Milky Way, maintaining a monopoly over nova drive technology stolen from the Magi.
SHOAL TRILOGY
2542 AD (Stealing Light)
A human expedition to the Nova Arctis system, piloted by Dakota Merrick, discovers a derelict Magi ship with a functioning faster-than-light drive.
2542–2543 AD (Nova War)
Dakota and Lucas, along with a Magi ship, are captured by a Bandati Hive. Subsequent events trigger a Nova War between the Shoal and their ancient enemies, the Emissaries.
2544 AD (Empire of Light)
Following the Shoal Hegemony’s retreat from the Perseus Arm, Dakota Merrick locates a Maker Swarm at the same time that the first human-built ships equipped with nova drives emerge from within the Consortium. A later expedition piloted by a resurrected Dakota succeeds in finding a way to bring the Nova War to an end.
EVENTS FOLLOWING EMPIRE OF LIGHT AND PRECEDING MARAUDER
2545–2570 AD
The Consortium, the legislative body acting as a government for human worlds, is dissolved in the wake of the Shoal’s departure and replaced by the pan-species ‘Accord of Worlds’. Further human expeditions meanwhile trigger a rapid expansion throughout the Perseus Arm, a period subsequently known as the ‘Great Diaspora’.
2645 AD
The Three Star Alliance, an independent nation comprising three neighbouring star systems, Alyeska, Kjæregrønnested and Al-Jahar, announces its formation.
2647 AD
The Three Star Alliance formally secedes from the Accord.
2748–2751 AD
The Accord begins an embargo and a long war of attrition against the Three Star Alliance, in order to gain control over nova drives recovered from a Shoal coreship adrift in interstellar space.
2752 AD
The first expedition to the Wanderer, under the command of Gregor Tarrant, sets out from Kjæregrønnested, seat of government of the former Three Star Alliance.
Acknowledgements
These days, if you didn’t know better, you’d think there were only two people involved in publishing a book: the author, and whoever hits the button marked PRINT. Most people are at least peripherally aware that there’s an editor, and a cover artist, and maybe even a copy-editor or editorial assistant or two. However, the explosive growth of the ebook market has led some to believe, erroneously, that anyone standing between the author and that button are somehow excess to requirements.
I wondered if the reason might be that you don’t get to see the names of all the people involved in a book’s production the way you do in a movie’s end credits. Why not, I thought, do the same in a book? Maybe then people might understand better there’s more to this job – sometimes a lot more – than just some guy typing on a laptop. I present to you here a list of some key players involved in getting this book into your hands, and making it a stronger piece of work than it would have been otherwise.
Structural editing – Bella Pagan
Line editing – Peter Lavery
Editorial services management – Eloise Wood
Editorial assistance – Louise Buckley
Copy-editing – Jessica Cuthbert-Smith
Proofreading – Kim Bishop
In-house design – Neil Lang
Illustration – Steve Stone
Marketing – Rob Cox
Publicity – Sophie Portas
Agent – Dorothy Lumley
Also by Gary Gibson
Angel Stations
Against Gravity
The Shoal Trilogy
Stealing Light
Nova War
Empire of Light
Final Days
The Thousand Emperors
Marauder
First published 2013 by Tor
This electronic edition published 2013 by Tor
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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ISBN 978-0-230-74890-3
Copyright © Gary Gibson 2013
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