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THE IMPERIAL STARS Volume One of The classic Family d’Alembert series By E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith With Stephen Goldin CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE - THREE MEN .. 3 CHAPTER TWO - JULES AND YVETTE . 9 CHAPTER THREE - THE BRAWL IN THE DUNEDIN ARMS . 15 CHAPTER FOUR - THE HEAD .. 23 CHAPTER FIVE - THE CHASE . 30 CHAPTER SIX - BANION THE BASTARD .. 36 CHAPTER SEVEN - CITIZENS OF EARTH .. 43 CHAPTER EIGHT - AMBUSH IN THE PARK .. 52 CHAPTER NINE - STORMING THE CASTLE . 58 CHAPTER TEN - THE SWITCH .. 65 CHAPTER ELEVEN - THE BLINDING FLASH AND THE DEAFENING REPORT . 72 CHAPTER TWELVE - THE MASSAGERIE . 79 CHAPTER THIRTEEN - THE FORTRESS OF ENGLEWOOD .. 88 CHAPTER FOURTEEN - THE IMPERIAL STARS . 96 CHAPTER ONE - THREE MEN By the year 2447, the Empire of Earth would have looked remarkably healthy to an outside observer. In the almost two centuries since its formation, it had nearly doubled its size in terms of subject planets, while trade between inhabited worlds was proceeding at a smooth and industrious pace. Hunger and need had been, if not obliterated, at least confined to small pockets of despair. Yet even the most vigorous body politic can harbor a cancer that, if not excised quickly, will eat away at the insides and leave just a useless shell as evidence of its passing. Such a cancer was, in that year, threatening the very existence of the Empire. (M’benge, The Empire - Yesterday and Today, slot 437.) The first man was dressed in black from head to toe, the only break in that color scheme being the goggles over his eyes - and even they were smoky gray. The dark cloth was smooth and pliable; it made not even the slightest swishing sound as he moved. The man’s belt was divided into a series of compartments, each housing a useful and, in several cases, lethal tool. Outside, the clothing was completely insulated against electrical shock; inside, between the black fabric and the man’s skin, was another layer of insulation, this designed to keep the man’s body heat in so that he would not register on an infrared detector. Because of this insulation, the interior of the suit was hellishly hot, but the wearer did not complain. Better to be uncomfortable than dead, was his belief. The night around him was cool and dark. The planet Durward had three small moons, but only one - the smallest - was shining tonight. Its light was scarcely more powerful than a flashlight at a thousand paces - hardly a threat to give him away. The house in front of him was another matter. Set out in the open countryside, kilometers away from its nearest neighbor, it looked to his trained eyes like nothing so much as an enormous booby trap. One false step, one misguided movement would certainly mean the end of his life ... and possibly worse than that. The fate of the Empire could be resting on his skill, but the thought didn’t make him hesitate. There were some risks that had to be taken. There were no guards patrolling the wall that surrounded the house, and that fact worried him more than if there had been a regiment. No guards meant that the wall itself was hazard enough, and that the people behind it expected very few survivors to cross to the interior yard. Reaching into his belt, the man in black took out a sensitive energy detector and gave the wall a quick scan. He felt no surprise to learn that the barrier was composed of only a thin shell of stone, inside which was a plethora of electronic equipment. The sensors within the wall could detect heat, electromagnetic discharge, pressure, or an attempt to alter the circuit functions. The scattered bodies of birds, insects and small animals at the base of the barrier gave mute testimony to the fate of anything coming in contact with that wall. The man had come prepared for this eventuality. Beside him on the ground was a long fiberglass pole. Picking it up, he backed off some twenty meters from the wall and then ran a