Empire of Silence

Hadrian runs into difficulty while trying to find a way to leave the planet. Buying passage on a ship requires paperwork and blood scans that would instantly alert his father, so he considers hiring pirates, but Gibson tells him that “fear is a poison” (113) and gives him a book titled The King with Ten Thousand Eyes. Unlike most of his books, this is an adventure novel about the pirate king Kharn Sagara. Hidden inside is the handwritten, encoded letter of introduction required for Hadrian to enter the scholiast athenaeum. Gibson warns him about “the ugliness of the world” but also advises him to “focus on the beauty of it” (116).

As Hadrian packs to leave, bells call for a special assembly of everyone in Devil’s Rest. He hides the book and Gibson’s letter in his bags, then attends the assembly and watches as Alistair announces that he has caught a traitor who planned to have Hadrian kidnapped and sold to the Extrasolarians (humans who have broken away from the Sollan Empire). He then reveals Gibson, who is tied to a whipping post. Hadrian tries to stop Alistair, but guards emerge and grab him. Alistair tells the crowd that Gibson has betrayed them.