The Rebel of Valkyr
By ALFRED COPPEL
... From the Dark Ages of Space emerged the Second
Empire ... ruled by a child, a usurper and a fool!
The Great Throne of Imperial Earth commanded a
thousand vassal worlds—bleak, starved worlds that
sullenly whispered of galactic revolt.... At last,
like eagles at a distant eyrie, the star-kings
gathered ... not to whisper, but to strike!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Fall 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Out of the dark ages of the Interregnum emerged the Second Empire. Once again in the space of a millennium, the banner of Imperial Earth waved above the decimated lands of the inhabited worlds. Four generations of conquerors, heirs to the greatness of the Thousand Emperors, had recreated the Galactic Empire, by force of arms. But technology, the Great Destroyer, was feared and forbidden. Only witches, warlocks and sorcerers remembered the old knowledge, and the mobs, tortured by the racial memories of the awful destruction of the Civil Wars, stoned these seekers and burned them in the squares of towns built amid the rubble of the old wars. The ancient, mighty spaceships—indestructible, eternal—carried men and horses, fire and sword across the Galaxy at the bidding of the warlords. The Second Empire—four generations out of isolated savagery—feudal, grim; a culture held together by bonds forged of blood and iron and the loyalty of the warrior star-kings....
—Quintus Bland,
Essays on Galactic History.