The Orpheus Machine

Description for THE ORPHEUS MACHINE by Ray Aldridge:

In the decadent, powerful, and amoral Pangalac Worlds, slavery is a thriving business. It is managed by the Art League, a ruthless and pervasive corporate entity. Born a slave, Ruiz Aw now plays a dangerous double role: both feared enforcer for the League and lone Emancipator, sworn to smash its evil commerce in human flesh.

THE ORPHEUS MACHINE

On the embattled island cities of Sook, the pirate Lords are killing their own kind with a mindless ferocity; an alien-sponsored death cult lures humans into excruciating suicide; and behind the nightmare: a race of servile empaths tending a godlike organic machine whose appetite for anguish is unlimited. Even the all-powerful Art League has little influence here---which is why Emancipator Ruiz Aw chose this place to set free his group of fugitive slaves. But shipwrecked into the clutches of the chaos-creating Orpheus Machine, Ruiz Aw discovers a mind-bending plot for galactic domination---and faces the ultimate enemy...

This is #3 in The Emancipator Series.