As the ten-thousand-foot star-steel gates of the Central Judicial Star-Citadel swung wide open and white dinner-napkin surrender banners blossomed across every spire of Planets 91 through 100, the [Gu Family Flying Courtyard Star-Cruiser.] Towed proudly by ten-thousand-mile Star-Dragon Little Fifth and escorted by Vice-Admiral Zheng’s 9,500 dreadnoughts and General Tie Shan’s Crimson Wedding Armada—glided smoothly into the central administrative ring of Sector 6!
Below the floating courtyard, across the ten heavily fortified Administrative & Archive Worlds (Planets 91–100), twelve billion political prisoners were huddled inside underground star-iron holding vaults.
Unlike the miners on Planets 1–30 or the frozen exiles on Planets 51–80, these twelve billion captives were the Educated & Moral Backbone of a hundred star systems. Honest planetary governors who had refused to levy starvation taxes for Chosen Ones, righteous judges who had tried to arrest arrogant protagonists for wrecking teahouses.
Medical doctors who had refused to brew soul-burning pills, and historians who had pointed out that the Script Pavilion’s “Emotionless Dao” was a pyramid scheme!
Because the Heavenly Script Pavilion feared educated thinkers who could see through its narrative clichés. Warden Tianfa had locked all twelve billion of them inside the underground vaults of Planets 91–100 under a vicious automated dead-man’s switch:
