Mirkheim (Future History of the Polesotechnic League #6)

By: Poul Anderson

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: Here is the stunning conclusion to Poul Anderson's six-volume future history series. In Mirkheim we feel the awesome movements of grand ideas and great civilizations: the first interstellar war is about to begin. A thousand years have passed; earth has established interstellar colonies; aliens have been contacted. The terran empire is loosely governed by the capitalist Polesotechnic League of trading companies. Nicholas Van Rijn, protagonist of Trader to the Stars, heads one of the largest, and his granddaughter is married to David Falkayne, hero of The Trouble Twisters and Satan's World. But the old order is dying--the PL is collapsing and a few huge corporate blocs are taking power. "Mirkheim" was a gigantic planet blasted and vaporized by a supernova. Its transmuted core survives and becomes the only natural source for vital supermetals. Falkayne discovers this phenomenally rich body, but does not report it to Van Rijn and the PL. Instead, he turns Mirkheim over to an association of poor colonies. But the secret is short-lived, and an alien race--the Baburites--with the help of a few rapacious humans, steps in and claims the planet. This investigate, and the outcome of the Baburian conflict signals a new phase in man's social evolution. Poul Anderson illuminates the sweep of time, the death and birth of human orders on a cosmic scale. Mirkheim is a magnificent and scintillating conclusion to the superb future histories--a splendrous work of science fiction.