Almost 100 years have passed since the Union of Neptu united the people of the planet. But Cat, the Neptian computer, predicts an imminent attack by the Qhan, a reptilian race, under their self-appointed god Qhatan and the Empire of a Thousand Planets. Neptu and the Qhan home planet, Zhra, are connected by a star gate that has long been sealed, but the despotic Qhatan will stop at nothing to open it again, draining both his resources and his people.When young psychic Joran of Zhra contacts Cat after Qhatan brutally terminates his father, Cat foresees a way to stop their predicted invasion. He reawakens Jalath the Sorcerer to help the young Zoltan develop his psychic powers, a force against Qhatan, and lead a mass exodus to Earth, which has recovered from nuclear holocaust.Meanwhile, on Zhra, Joran seeks to liberate his people, but Qhatan's minions stalk him in Zhra's subterranean tunnels, and as Jalath travels the states of Neptu looking for candidates to establish a new colony on Earth, a group of zealots will stop at nothing to discredit Jalath's knowledge and work.The third book in the Devistor series, The Empire of a Thousand Planets plunges readers once again into Jefferson's deeply sophisticated universe, only to find it balancing on the edge of a knife.