- Global war smashed civilization — or so the legends told — butnot all of its machines. A caste of scientists arose who knew how to repair andoperate the ancient machines — but not how they worked — andworshipped at the altars of the atomic gods who were said to make the machinesrun. Society was a strange mix of the modern and the medieval, with armiesriding on horseback into huge spaceships, then flying to human colonies on otherplanets to wage war with swords and arrows. Then came the mutant Clane, whowould have been put to death for his deformities had he not been born into theruling family. Though his body was twisted, his mind was brilliant, and he notonly recovered the lost science behind the ancient machines, but found the truthbehind the legends of civilization's downfall. Alien invaders, not human war,had reduced humanity to barbarism as a prelude for a later return in force tocolonize the Solar System. And that return would happen soon, unless Clane couldfind a way to stop it!
- For the first time, the entire Clane saga, told in the two novelsEmpire of the Atom and The Wizard of Linn, complete in one volume.Also included is Van Vogt's sweeping novel of interstellar adventure, Missionto the Stars, along with the two short novels in the Ezwalseries.
- ISBN10 1451638922
- ISBN13 9781451638929
- Publish Date 27 May 2013 (first published 14 October 2006)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 11 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Baen Books
- Format Paperback
- Pages 320
- Language English