Mistress of Molecules

By Gerald M. Weinberg

Libra has never seen a tree, let alone a forest. She lives on the planet Precursor, where anything that grows is poisonous to humans. The planet is, however, rich with heavy-metal molecules which are mined by huge industrial chemical plants, plants that pollute the air and shorten the lifespan of the populace. The planet, like most human planets, is controlled by these powerful corporations who use the militant churches to anesthetize and control the populations.

Libra has a hidden fully-equipped chemical lab, built by her father before he was taken away and killed by the Church of the Living Entropy for the crime of possessing forbidden chemicals. Now she continues her father's work as she fights for liberty using her extraordinary powers of chemical synthesis to terrorize those in power.

Far away across the galaxy, Andre Sucher is raised in isolation, indoctrinated from birth by the rigid, misogynist church of Yahweh's Tender Touch. At puberty he is sent to Seminary to become a fighting minister. Andre uses his prodigious intelligence to escape ministerial abuse and stow aboard a Zgaarid spaceship. Tolerated by the Zgaarid crew, Andrew learns that this armadillo-like people, who control all space travel through their Quilt technology, has long ago lost their ability to innovate, living only off the vast accumulated wisdom of their Ancestors. When Andre's quick thinking saves the Zgaarid spaceship and crew, he's honored, transformed into a Zgaarid ancestor, and implanted with hidden technology and access to all Ancestor wisdom. When Andre meets Libra, the reaction is explosive. The galaxy will never be the same.


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