The Forlorn

SUMMARY: The relentless search for opal-like sections of a matter transmitter is on, for without them the only human colony-planet will die. A group of unlikely heroes--including a young street thief and a spoiled princess--must find the sections before alien destroyers get hold of them.

The relentless search is on: find the opal-like sections of a matter transmitter, scattered acros a continent. Without them the only human colony-planet dies. The pieces are hidden in the vast deserts, tangled jungles, medieval cities and stark fortresses of this world. They are defended by fanatics. The fifteen sections are technological miracle-workers, more precious than fist-sized diamonds in a colony regressed to the 14th century level. Yet, the various hunters will let nothing stand in their way.

Against humanity's questoers race the Morkth, space-traveling xenophobic alient destroyers of Earth. They are determined to destroy all these human vermin, soon. But first they want the matter-transmitter...They want it badly, and they destroy anything that tries to stop them. They have nukes and lasers to the colonists' swords and spears. It's no contest.

All that stands between the Morkth and the destruction of the planet are three unlikely heroes: a street-child thief, a dispossessed and totally spoiled brat of a sixteen-year-old princess, and a confused, amoral, Morkth-raised human. If they can gather all the transmitter sections before the Morkth do, then there is a chance of survival. But the Morkth already have several sections, and all the others are lost, or guarded and hidden. It seems like a lost cause...a forlorn hope. But it's all humans have.

While the xenophobic alien Morkth race searches the galaxy to destroy the last of human "vermin", the lightly armed members of the only human colony must figure out how to defend themselves from the coming attack. Reprint.