Ada Palmer - Seven Surrenders

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B EING A CONTINUATION OF Too Like the Lightning,
A NARRATIVE OF EVENTS of the year 2454

Written by MYCROFT CANNER, at the
R EQUEST OF C ERTAIN P ARTIES .

Published with the permissions of:

The Romanova Seven-Hive Council Stability Committee

The Five-Hive Committee on Dangerous Literature

Ordo Quiritum Imperatorisque Masonicorum

The Cousins Commission for the Humane Treatment of Servicers

The Mitsubishi Executive Directorate

His Majesty Isabel Carlos II of Spain

And with the consent of all FREE AND UNFREE

L IVING P ERSONS H EREIN P ORTRAYED .

Qui veritatem desiderit, ipse hoc legat. Nihil obstat; nihil obstet.

Recommended.Anonymous.

I wont be certain who the killer is until I meet them, but if it is Mycroft, be merciful. Keep them alive, and safe, and working. You need them. If you have lost me, you need them. There are things I leave undone that only Mycroft Canner can complete.

APOLLO MOJAVE .

C ERTIFIED NONPROSELYTORY BY THE F OUR -H IVE C OMMISSION ON R ELIGION IN L ITERATURE .

R AT D PAR LA C OMMISSION E UROPENNE DES M EDIAS D ANGEREUX .

Gordian Exposure Commission Content Ratings:

S4Explicit but not protracted sexual scenes ; rape ; references to sex with violence ; sexual acts of real and living persons.

V5Explicit and protracted scenes of intentional violence ; explicit but not protracted scenes of extreme violence ; violence praised; recent incidents of global trauma ; crimes of violence committed by real and living persons.

R5Explicit and protracted treatment of religious themes without intent to convert; theological abuse; theological assault; recent incidents of global religious controversy ; religious beliefs of real and living persons.

O3Opinions likely to cause offense to selected groups and to the sensibilities of many; subject matter likely to cause distress or offens e to the same.

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say, It lightens.

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act II, scene ii

Nihil Obstat Nothing prevents itwas the old license-by-fiat which kings and inquisitors pronounced in stifled ages when no printing press could give its inky kiss to paper until Tyrant Church and Tyrant State had loosed censorships universal gag. But nihil obstet is something else when He appends it to our permissions page, Good Jehovah Mason. Obstet is a prayer, one He made over and over to the many authorities who guard humanity: His Imperial father, the Cousin Chair, the King of Spain, the Sensayers Conclave, the far-seeing Censor, Brills wise Institute: Let nothing prevent it. They feared as much for Him as for themselves, tried to sow doubt in Him, asked Him by His many names: Are You sure You want to do this, J.E.D.D. Mason? Tribune? Porphyrogene? Prince? Tenth Director? Tai-Kun? Xiao Hei Wang? Jed? Jagmohan? Micromegas? Jehovah Epicurus Donatien DArouet Mason? Are You sure You want this snarling, wounded Earth to learn so much of You? But Madame DArouet, who raised Jehovah in that strange bash-out-of-time she cultured in the gold-drenched heart of Paris, also taught Him numbers: one and many, less and more. So, the same grim calculus that compelled Cicero and Seneca to give their lives for bleeding Rome compels Jehovah now to end the desperation-pain of the ten billion who cry for answers, even at the cost of worse pain to those dearest to Him, and Himself. For your sake, reader, He prayed, to one, to many. And for His sake I pray too, to That One Powerabsent from our permissions pageWhich could still stop us, as It stopped firebrand Apollo. The many mouths of Providence have swallowed up a thousand histories, and could swallow one more. So I pray: Let nothing obstruct this book and the Good it aims at. If there is benevolence in You, strange Creator, nihil obstet .