The Rebel of Valkyr By ALFRED COPPEL ... _From the Dark Ages of Space emerged the Second Empire ... ruled by a child, a usurper and a fool! The Great Throne of Imperial Earth commanded a thousand vassal worlds--bleak, starved worlds that sullenly whispered of galactic revolt.... At last, like eagles at a distant eyrie, the star-kings gathered ... not to whisper, but to strike!_ [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Fall 1950. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] _Out of the dark ages of the Interregnum emerged the Second Empire. Once again in the space of a millennium, the banner of Imperial Earth waved above the decimated lands of the inhabited worlds. Four generations of conquerors, heirs to the greatness of the Thousand Emperors, had recreated the Galactic Empire, by force of arms. But technology, the Great Destroyer, was feared and forbidden. Only witches, warlocks and sorcerers remembered the old knowledge, and the mobs, tortured by the racial memories of the awful destruction of the Civil Wars, stoned these seekers and burned them in the squares of towns built amid the rubble of the old wars. The ancient, mighty spaceships--indestructible, eternal--carried men and horses, fire and sword across the Galaxy at the bidding of the warlords. The Second Empire--four generations out of isolated savagery--feudal, grim; a culture held together by bonds forged of blood and iron and the loyalty of the warrior star-kings_.... --Quintus Bland, ESSAYS ON GALACTIC HISTORY. I Kieron, Warlord of Valkyr, paced the polished floor angrily. The flickering lights of the vast mirrored chamber glinted from the jewels in his ceremonial harness and shimmered down the length of his silver cape. For a moment, the star-king paused before the tall double doors of beaten bronze, his strong hands toying with the hilt of his sword. The towering Janizaries of the Palace Guard stood immobile on either side of the arching doorway, their great axes resting on the flagstones. It was as though the dark thoughts that coursed through Kieron's mind were--to them--unthinkable. The huge warriors from the heavy planets of the Pleiades were stolid, loyal, unimaginative. And even a star-king did not dream of assaulting the closed portals of the Emperor's chambers.