Warlord's Revenge by Zac Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

we invite you all to visit our library. If you would kindly follow Aristil and myself.”
    Tears ran down Emmie’s face as she slipped back into her place. John put an arm around her shoulders.
    “It’s OK, Emmie,” said Kaal. “They’re not going to fail you for one wrong answer.”
    “You don’t know that, Kaal,” she answered, her eyes sparkling with tears of pale blue. “What if they do? And there’s more tests yet to come. I’m bound to get all those wrong, too. What if they ask me to leave? Even worse, what if they fail the entire class? If Hyperspace High fails an inspection for the first time ever, it will be all my fault.”

Chapter 7
    John hardly noticed where Aristil and Socrat were leading. Emmie had dried her eyes, but her shoulders remained slumped. She walked in gloomy silence as the two scholars shuffled slowly through gardens overflowing with strange and beautiful blooms, her eyes fixed on the path ahead. On either side of her, John and Kaal exchanged worried glances.
    “The Library of Kerallin,” said Socrat. “Here, all the knowledge of the universe is stored.”
    John jumped. Wrapped up in his own thoughts, he hadn’t noticed that the class had arrived at the domed building he had noticed earlier. Up close, it was enormous – a small village could easily have been built inside – and the only modern-looking building among the towers.
    A flicker of green light washed over the old scholar’s face, as a hidden retina scanner checked his identity.
    “Socrat of Tersia Prime,” said an electronic voice. “Enter.”
    The doors swung open.
    John had been expecting a library similar to Hyperspace High’s, where ancient books were kept behind glass and students could view their contents on ThinScreens. Instead, the sight that met his eyes was unlike anything he’d ever imagined. At his side, even Emmie breathed, “Wow” under her breath and gazed around in wonder.
    Gleaming shelves reached to the ceiling. Not one held a book. Every shelf was separated into small compartments, and every compartment was occupied by a shining ball of coloured light. There were hundreds of globes on the shelves he could see, and, at the centre of the library, even more rows radiated outward like spokes on a wheel.
    “What are they?” he whispered.
    On either side, Emmie and Kaal looked baffled. “No idea,” said Kaal, staring at the glimmering balls above his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    Aristil walked forward and took a globe from the nearest shelf in one of her many hands. Turning back to face the class, she ran another hand across its glowing red surface. Instantly, the globe grew until it was the size of a beachball.
    “It looks like a planet,” said Emmie.
    “This time, you are quite correct, Emmie,” the scholar said. “The planet Yaroh Tar, to be exact. The globe contains the essence of the world – its rocks and mountains, its underground lakes, and, of course, its complete history.”
    Stepping forward to stand at her side, Socrat waved a hand towards the stacked shelves. “The library contains a globe for every planet in the universe,” he said, with a hint of pride in his voice. “You will find nothing like it anywhere else in the universe.”
    “I d-don’t understand,” Kaal stuttered. “Those aren’t holograms. The technology to make something like that doesn’t exist, anywhere .”
    Socrat leaned forward, his already quiet voice dropping to a whisper. “Young Derrilian,” he said, “the scholars of Kerallin choose when to share their discoveries and inventions with the universe. So far, we have not chosen to share our library. In the wrong hands, the power of such knowledge would be very dangerous indeed.”
    Aristil clapped her hands together, the noise echoing from the shelves. “Your next task,” she said, “is to prepare a Galactic Geography presentation. You will use the globe that represents your home world to prepare a presentation for the