**Mankind has conquered space and moved toward the starry heart of the galaxy. Earth is a planet of no importance, riddled with radioactivity by long-forgotten wars.**When assassins target his rooms and news arrives that, many light-years away, his father has been murdered, student Biron Farrill fle...

**Mankind has conquered space and moved toward the starry heart of the galaxy. Earth is a planet of no importance, riddled with radioactivity by long-forgotten wars.**When assassins target his rooms and news arrives that, many light-years away, his father has been murdered, student Biron Farrill flees for his life.

Stunned, grief-stricken, and outraged, Biron is determined to uncover the reasons behind his father's death, and finds himself entangled in a web of deep-space rebellion, espionage, and political intrigue.** Asimov's Galactic Empire novels are among the earliest stories by one of the twentieth century's greatest visionaries. Filled with ideas and wonders, they are classic adventures from science fiction's Golden Age.**