A task unfinished. An eternal Emperor.Ten thousand years of suffering must end.Killing a man was the hardest thing Trysk and Tristan ever had to do. That fact the target was the Emperor himself, murderer of billions, hadn't made the job any easier.But they had succeeded, and the Emperor is dead.Or at least, that's what they thought. Tristan has since learned the Emperor's darkest secret, and why the Empire has lasted as long as it has.In fact, it's only a matter of time until the Emperor is back in action as if nothing had happened, with the endless cycle of suffering and cruelty likely to continue for another ten thousand years.… But not if Trysk and her team have anything to say about it.So, for now, the task remains unfinished, and they must kill the Emperor.Again, and again, and again… James Jacob (J J) Mathews grew up with his nose stuck in books. A voracious reader in his youth, he devoured all of the science fiction and fantasy books he could find at the local library. J.R.R. Tolkein, Isaac Asimov, Ben Bova, Larry Niven, Voltaire and Greg Bear were some of his early influences, with many other authors added to his bookshelf as time went on. Broadening out to read more genres as an adult, J J has always held a special place for fantasy and sci-fi.J J is married and lives in Hamilton, New Zealand with his wife and three boys, and writes in his spare time. An evil Empire. A boy that nobody remembers.And a girl who must remember him, or die.The Empire spans a thousand planets and has lasted ten thousand years.On breadbasket colony worlds like Ockham, every family must give back to the Emperor a portion of their yearly crop, according to the Contract.Like clockwork, the Harvest ship comes to collect His share of grains, livestock, and your eldest child.~~~In the cab of the transport, the Counter took off his helmet and looked in the rear-view mirror."The mother's still following behind, calling out their names.""They know the rules. Whomever touches Harvest and is of age, becomes Harvest. But the whole thingwould be easier if they didn't name them. You should never name the livestock. And that's what they are. Livestock."
