The Wars of Zegandaria by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (find a book to read .txt) 📕

He made an unambiguous gesture to Assistant Head Warden Viar to go and meet the 'guests', to pull the wool over their eyes. This of course he would use at a later stage to malign him and shift the responsibility onto his shoulders. 'But ... all in good time ... ' Acustro thought to himself.

Viar took three of his men and headed for the isolated sections that were not far from the execution site. Just in case, he issued orders for full combat readiness. He was aware that he had no choice to refuse his superior and his mind tried to assess the situation.

The posts set up by Acustro signaled by irenic lamps what was the correct place to land. In response, the shuttle sent a brief glare to confirm that they had understood.

- 'Now is our moment,' thought Lyreuth, uttering a barely perceptible sigh, 'We have to proceed without you, Jonathan! Rest in peace, my friend!'

The other prisoners were also on tenterhooks as to what was going to happen. For the third day now there had been no word or bone from Jonathan Hearns. One thing was clear-he had managed to escape. But whether he had survived was mere conjecture. His friends thought him dead. But Liroith felt that perhaps he was waiting for a moment like this to join their attempted mutiny.

CHAPTER NINE: ENSARIAN

Location: unknown

Time: unknown

About a dozen people were seated around the round meeting table. The atmosphere was obviously tense. The room they were in was neither very large nor very small, but infinitely curious. Its walls had the appearance of a cobwebbed silken thread. In fact, the covering was made of top-secret hyon fibers, one of the prides of the scientific progress of Ubunder's scientists, without parallel. Moreover, upon closer inspection, anyone would be surprised that no door led out of the room, as if it had none at all. This was the purpose of its complete soundproofing and inability to be tapped even with a Rhiandan teraflyther, which could overcome more ordinary defenses such as hydronic doors, for example. The reason for these extraordinary security measures was rooted in the infinitely delicate situation in which the eastern part of the planet, Ubunder, found itself. Nothing said in this hall was to be heard by outside ears.

Admiral Geoffrey Spears nervously tapped his fingers on the metallic table with the extremely precise polish and emblem of the Ubunder Military Council (the equivalent of the Imgradon Military Tribunal) and struggled with his tired eyesight to catch the eyes of the others present at this extremely important meeting. In this top-secret chamber were gathered the people who would decide the fate of the population of half the planet, and in bolder predictions, the entire planet.

- 'So you're saying, then,' Spears interjected without further ado, 'that those from Elohy don't just want our supplies of interron fuel and kevlarite?'

- 'That's right, Jeff,' retorted Elisandra Dionne, Ubunder's intelligence chief, 'I'm afraid there's something far bigger and unpleasant behind all this.'

At her words, the people in the room stirred, barely noticeably. But it was obvious that they were all on edge at the turn of events, and especially at their complete obscurity.

- 'Speak plainly, Elisandra,' Rear Admiral Kenji Nolsuro urged her with the politeness of his ethnicity. - 'Tell us everything. Let us know.'

- I have some information that points positively to the existence of a secret alliance between the Elohyn and the Guarron. As illogical as it may seem at first glance, they are acting in tandem against us.

- 'Impossible,' cheers went up throughout the hall.

A strange mixture of disbelief and confusion was written on most faces. It was as if they had witnessed some sacrilege. These words sounded downright sacrilegious to them. It wasn't long, however, before the agitated spirits calmed down.

- 'But still quite true,' continued Elizandra with a peculiarly mysterious smile. - 'I took care to send our best pilot on a reconnaissance, and...'

There was complete silence in the hall. Surely even the fall of a pin could be heard.

- '...So far, I still haven't gotten any intel from him,' she uttered after a brief pause.

- How could such an alliance even exist? Admiral Spears couldn't stand it. I mean, how do they even communicate with each other?

- 'Apparently they have found a way after all,' intervened for the first time Eohinis Stzadis. He was performing diplomatic functions, and although he was formally a military spokesman, he was more like a confrere or mediator. That is to say, he always looked to reconcile the parties and smooth out the conflict.

- 'Their scientists are very far ahead,' Elisandra began again, 'we assume there are more pieces of the puzzle that we don't even suspect. That's why I sent our man there. To scout out the place.'

- 'And where, exactly?,’ asked Vice Admiral Navarro Gomez.

- 'Realistically, where the enemy least expects it.' replied Elizandra, quite unruffled, 'In the very heart of Elohy. Imgradon.'

- And how do you intend to contain the situation in the capital - most of the buildings have been almost completely destroyed by bombardment and plasma blasts.

- 'We'll hope for some kind of miracle,' Admiral Spears replied a little thoughtfully, then cut in, 'or rather, we'll create one.'

- 'And if we still fail?,' voiced his concerns Gen. Stockton, in charge of administrative affairs and food supply for the civilian population of Ensarian.

- 'Then God help us!,' said Elisandra grimly, pursing her lips testily as she watched the reaction of her colleagues.

The attendees glanced at each other and directed their gaze to Admiral Spears, who had narrowed his eyes slightly, lost in thought. Suddenly, he broke the silence that had fallen and cut in:

- In my opinion, there is nothing to linger over. It's a matter of days before they reach us. From tomorrow I am ordering full military mobilisation, including for the civilian population.

Although with some reluctance, all present in the room nodded their heads in approval. In this respect everyone shared one opinion.

The meeting came to an end.

The hall sank into darkness.

^^^

There was true chaos in the streets of Ensarian. About a third of the city had already completely collapsed, and the remaining two-thirds were barely holding on and would soon collapse as well. The beautiful gothic elements in the ultramodern buildings of this city-state would be obliterated forever. The population was in complete shock. Electronic screens, acting as billboards, relayed real events of the fighting. But there was no one to monitor them. The feeling of emptiness was simply overwhelming. To some extent, this could be explained by the martial law and the strict ban on civilians on the streets.

Prostitution was indeed a problem. There were wealthy families who could afford it and who could buy basic commodities such as gorenay hiras and elendorans (equivalent to bread and potatoes) on the black market, but even these were becoming prohibitively expensive and would soon be beyond the means of even the wealthiest.

The glass sphere of endosian that was the pride of the city had cracks that made fresh oxygen scarce, and this forced anyone daring to go out for a 'walk' to carry an aspirator.

There were rumours of guarrons raids, and quite close to the town. Under normal circumstances people would have greeted them with derision, but these were not normal circumstances. Now anything seemed possible to anyone and no one felt protected.

The monument to King Midriel, the patron of the human race on this planet, was cracked and had split down the middle. This, many believed, portended evil.

Mark's family was forced to endure hardship. They did not enjoy any privileges, as did the chiefs of the city.

Various schismatics began to preach utterly foolish things and sow further fear in the people. Of course this could not be done in the street because of martial law. But dark thoughts set in among the people and they began to acquire the instinct of a herd of wild animals being chased by some particularly powerful and ruthless predator. What else was left to these suffering-tormented creatures but the hour of speedy deliverance? Who could help them? These questions no one deigned to answer.

The lack of communication further exacerbated the whole situation and became a fertile ground for the creation of numerous legends with which children were lulled to sleep at night.

Guards were on duty at the border posts of the megalopolis, though most of them had been turned into piles of rubble and this rather defeated their function. But there was nothing to be done. So at least there was still some tiny glimmer of hope.

It was clear to everyone that this was the beginning of the end.

The news of the slaughter of many of their soldiers did not act particularly encouragingly, but evacuation was inevitable.

It was just that High Command hadn't decided to give the order for it yet. The city was divided into zones of influence between the opposing troops and the fighting was being fought with very variable success. Someone or something had to change the situation, but what?

^^^

Since the bombing had started in Ensarian, the civilian population had to deprive themselves of many things. Including the light of the zegandarian sun. The situation was getting worse by the day, and already some of the main fighting had moved to the very approaches of the capital. And if a curfew had existed before, it now, in the face of full military mobilization, constituted a woefully inadequate preventive measure.

Under the prescriptions of Ubunder's Military Council, anyone unfit to fight - and this included children under fourteen, the seriously ill, the disabled, the parturient, and the elderly - was transferred to the secret bunkers beneath the city, bearing the secret name of the 'Garden of the East' because of their complete oxygen autonomy from the surface. Special greenhouses with green plants, vigilantly guarded by 'ghost warriors' provided practically endless refreshment of the air, and ultra-modern aeration plants distributed it to all points of the huge underground facility.

The bunker itself was located approximately three hundred and fifty feet below the zegandarian surface, so that it would not be affected by the shockwave of proton bombs that were about to rain down on the city from the Elohyn side. But the foresighted architects of this peculiar Noah's Ark did not rely only on the thousands of tons of earth at the top, but also on the supermassive double concrete protective cushion, more than five meters thick, which brought additional security for the deliverance of the last remnants of the population of the eastern part of the planet.

Mark's father and mother had still managed to get a place in this lifepod, and in a rather unusual way.

They had been at home for the last few days, when said curfew was still in effect, worrying about the fact that they hadn't received any news about their son in months. Keith's father did give them some support - though rather token, as he had recently retired and had largely lost his former position. Still, they could hardly have