Hidden Empires

Hidden Empires is a science fiction novel by Kevin J. Anderson, published in 2002. It is set in a distant future in which human beings are one of three intelligent races known to exist, and the newest of the three, having had star travel for a few centuries.

The second race is the Ildirans, who are ruled by an emperor they call the Mage-Imperator and who have been established in the galaxy for far longer. The third race, the Klikiss, appear to have vanished, and what they left behind is a world full of artefacts and remarkable technology.

Human beings are now finding that technology and beginning to use it, which puts them in possession of devices they do not understand. One of those devices has the power to turn a gaseous and useless supergiant planet into something valuable, and the novel works from the question of what happens when a newcomer starts operating the equipment of a vanished civilisation.

The novel opens a larger story about the three races and the technology the vanished one left behind, and it keeps its attention on how quickly a newcomer can start operating equipment it does not understand.