Wasteland of Flint
by Thomas Harlan

Description:
Led by the ambitions of the powerful, world-girdling Empire of the Mexica, the human race has spread out among the stars, only to discover a perilous universe once ruled by vast interstellar civilizations that suddenly vanished, leaving behind their mysterious artifacts. Dr. Gretchen Anderssen, a xenoarchaeologist and second-class citizen of the empire, has made a career of searching for those first Sun artifacts. She has suddenly been recalled by her employer and sent to discover the fate of a missing survey team. To her consternation, she discovers that her team is to travel on an imperial warship, under a Japanese commander, instead of using a company vessel. Worse, an Aztec aristocrat, Green Hummingbird - an imperial judge who is also a brujo, or sorcerer - is in command of the rescue mission. Clearly, there is more to this assignment than rescuing a team of company scientists from a dead world. In the company of Green Hummingbird, Gretchen will discover that there is far more to Ephesus III than meets the eye. For the vast, rocky wasteland of the seemingly dead planet hides a secret life and may hold treasures far too deadly for the empire to ever allow her to discover.