The Silence of Zegandaria by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (book recommendations website txt) 📕

Typically, the service rooms were located on the first floor and the living quarters on the second and third floors.

I was just about to lie down on the anti-gravity bed and switch into hibernation mode when I was viciously attacked by at least five thugs. The spacesuit rattled from their blows - they were armed with Ansarian boxers, clearly wanting to kill me. Two of them also had laser cutters, but then I didn't have time to look around.

I reacted quickly and aimed a strike at the closest of them. As Von Blask's pet, I had inherited some of his fighting skills - he had studied under Kenji Nolsuro the basics of so-called space combat and was doing his best to pass that knowledge on to me, believing that I was destined to carry out important tasks.

And he turned out to be right. The impact nearly shattered the intruder's jaw and brutally shattered his suit's visor. Agonizing decompression followed and he began to slowly suffocate. He was wiry and didn't give up easily, so I grabbed the laser cutter of one of the attackers and stabbed him in the heart, finishing him off for good. This blow would have been shown by Rento shortly before we finally parted ways. He claimed the "evoro" had some advantages at close range. And that saved me.

The others ran away.

CHAPTER TWENTY: ENBRIGHT'S SECRET PAST

After the attack in question, I decided to dig carefully into the past of my worst enemy. It was shrouded by a deep secrecy that was decidedly too convenient and worked to the advantage of this now subdued subject.

Some experienced hand seemed to guard it. But at last I was able to get at something interesting. It turned out that McDougle Enbright was an Earth clone who had been spying among us. Then I decided to dig deeper. I didn't have a corpse, and I couldn't question left and right without arousing serious suspicions.

It turned out that the lifespan that was genetically determined for these creatures was the real cause of death.

- My God, that also means that Zerilia Cox and also my friend Jake were ...

Pain gripped my throat and I cried. I cried silently. I cried because I realized the tragic predestination of these creatures. But soon I understood. Apparently the Earthlings wanted to make contact - they weren't sure what race we belonged to, or what exactly the nature of our psyche was. I also didn't know if any information had been leaked by our colony members, who were being resold by Enbright in his cruel gambles.

- "Now that really means I have to take matters into my own hands," I said.

Behind me, the darkness seemed to agree with my position.

I decided to poke around after all, and maybe something would pop out of somewhere that would be of use to me about this scoundrel.

The only thing that came to light, however, was something rather disturbing.

Enbright seemed to have popped out of nowhere and had failed in any form to leave any trace behind. After a meticulous examination of the colony's archive, which was housed in one of the isolated dungeons not too far from some of the greenhouses, and was heavily guarded, I discovered a small Narenzian chip that was so encrypted that I was unable to even open it - let alone decipher the nature of its contents.

I was surprised, but I returned the chip to its place so that its absence would not be felt. I kept digging - and eventually absolutely nothing came out!

It was as if McDougle Enbright had not been born at all, nor had he had any life before Charon.

- "That's impossible," I exclaimed, "absolute madness."

I decided to question from afar some of his people who were perhaps more knowledgeable than myself.

The only thing I learned was that Enbright had been trying to sell some interesting things to someone and that was where he had first sensed some danger.

Enbright may have been a brash and self-righteous bully, but he was certainly a pretty intelligent man with balls and didn't care about anything or anyone.

I tried to make some guess as to what could have happened so much to put his courage in question?

It was as if even the walls were mute witnesses to all my fruitless searches.

Nor could his dead partner be of much use to me, which quite narrowed the range of my search.

One thing was clear - everything around him resembled mortal obscurity!

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE DEAD CITY

The Dead City we called a very strange place. Perhaps I failed to mention that our colony was located in one of the craters in the southern part of Charon. It was located in the Dark North Polar Region - it was one of the coldest places on Charon, which was generally extremely inhospitable.

Some time ago we decided to organize an expedition to uncover possible traces of previous life on the satellite. We assumed that perhaps the Ervanans had stayed here briefly, but there was no way to be sure. Planning such an undertaking was not easy. I had to engage my best people to commit to the cause and really show their skills.

First the remoteness of our end goal was indeed a difficult hurdle. We couldn't just tread through the ice. Second, we also had no real weapons with which to deal with a potential adversary.I decided to take Jessica with me, who was the great-granddaughter of the late Mrs. Edwater, who had helpfully rescued Mark and Sasia at St. Joseph's Clinic. She had an innate sophistication and her bearing exuded real confidence.

I definitely needed a technician, too, because the built-in mechanisms and traps of some civilization could prove a serious test for us.

Finally, I felt a real dire need for people who could fight, because there weren't too many other suitable people besides me and Enbright's men.

Whether I wanted to or not, I had to seek their help and hope that the revelation I made about their leader would turn them in my favor.

I decided to meet in the greenhouses, after the evening shift there was a short pause, which was caused by the work cycle itself - it was the change of the parameters of the irrigation system. The problem was that due to the very freezing temperatures, we were using granulated water, which was gradually being absorbed by the plants.

The Enbright people were not impressed and were not at all willing to interfere with my projects. They were eager to play solo, which would mean to put the noose on themselves, because hunger and stalemate in the colony were increasing.

I was first approached by Rivinus Olk, who was so bloodthirsty and was in fact the right-hand man of Enbright himself:

I want you to know that for us to come, we have to get more than sweet talk about whether Enbright was cloned or not. On the other hand, the information you give is too valuable. So we've been led by the nose all this time. Damn it!" he finished his tirade with an audible curse.

'I don't want to lie to you, the colony we had intended to be sustainable may not be at all,' I called to Jervond Om San, a descendant of Seraija Gul San who was, after all, one of the last survivors of the Battle of Au Kaktir.

Our appearance somewhat respected them. They also knew that the ship had sunk long ago and were in a hurry to shed their skins. The problem was that while he was with me, Rento had canceled them in that part and the smugglers couldn't profit on the backs of the poor colonists. It was definitely messing with their health. And to rely on gambling profits in a place like this was pure madness!

I want to say one more thing here, in her lifetime, Zerilia Cox had put her affairs in order. And Magduggle - as much as he was written of as a charlatan and a rogue - was not. There were payment irregularities between the gang members, and on the whole my offer sounded enticing enough to them.

They still looked at me with suspicion, but I had a real feeling they were going to pounce. And I wasn't fooled.

- "Okay, we'll accompany you, but I want to know from now on what our actual share of the profit or loot will be. Black and white. And besides, we need more serious weapons. What are you practically offering us?," growled another gang member named Lozur Ban, who was the most bloodthirsty bastard of this rotten gang of blackmailers and murderers.

- "You'll get fifty per cent," I replied quietly, "I'll keep only ten for myself. And what I do with them is my business!"

- "And where will the other forty percent go?," another gang member inquired. "That's a lot of money."

- "That's none of your business either," I snapped at them.

They looked at each other. They felt I wasn't lying to them, but they also felt they were treading on thin ice that, if it cracked, could easily drown them. They were not treading very confidently, for they were used to imposing their own rules. And that was their own business.

I liked Lozur Ban - he was ready to snap any creature's neck, and he was just as strong as a small Groandus. That bastard clearly wasn't born a woman!

Our little council could easily attract prying eyes, so I made sure to take the necessary precautions. It was true that we didn't have any Riandan teraflyters, but I could still think of something. I was resourceful and flexible enough, and it was no coincidence