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

I decided to just let the others go for green caviar by lying to them that the late Enbright had left a large fortune hidden away and they were given a certain amount of time to find it. You'd be amazed what wonders greed can work! You will be amazed indeed!

"Oh, yes, Jervond," I said to myself, "your time has come at last! Something depends on you now after all! Do your best! Do your work well! Don't give up! Don't!"

These thoughts ran through my mind in less than a millisecond. And hardly anyone was impressed.

- "Look, we're all guests in this world," I began in a strange voice, "many of us died, we may all die soon. You want to end up like my friend Jake in your own bed? Or do you want to fight like the predators you naturally are? The decision is yours."

My words obviously made a huge impression on them - they realized we could still find common ground.

Now we had to start preparing.

- "How many people do you need for this trip?," the fourth member of the team inquired, "We need to know in order to prepare!"

- "At least twelve people must take part in this expedition," I replied quite confidently, as if I had been leading expeditions all my life.

- "I think we can provide them," they replied in chorus.

- "That suits me perfectly," I ended the conversation.

Then we slowly made our way out of the greenhouses. Luckily for us, we had not attracted undue attention. My plan was already starting to work. I had turned my greatest enemies into my greatest friends!

The biggest irony was that our planet Pluto, had a retrograde orbit that testified to its violent past, and we were on Charon, a place where surviving without violence was nearly impossible!

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE SMUGGLER

- "Being a smuggler isn't for everyone," Rento was fond of saying, 'It takes an arse and a healthy psyche. Something more. It takes being able, when the going gets really tough and you get chased hard, to do the job all by yourself."

I loved him, even if I vaguely knew he was too dangerous. He was an example and a model of a slowly but irrevocably disappearing breed. He didn't venture under that moniker because he didn't have the vast knowledge of a warrior, or was less aware of the principles of astrophysics or quantum mechanics than myself. Rento wanted and loved this lifestyle. To be a member of the pack or a lone wolf. He had no other choice. In my opinion it was the end of an era of real men who kept their word.

Rento fiddled with something on his combat speeder and tried to sort out his jumbled thoughts.

- "Just think, mate," he turned to me amiably, "some really good men have gone. But the process of natural selection doesn't forgive at all. Those we thought were strong warriors and leaders turned out to be not so strong, or just people with little chance."

His reasoning, though simple, shocked me. He spoke the very truth.

- This world is going away. Perhaps a better beginning will come. But it certainly won't be the same. We are already living in another time and many of us feel it. Leave these lost souls to Charon - they don't have the strength of resistance that life requires. They don't know it and they don't want to know it either. They use the simplest and most abhorrent to life itself technique of survival - mimicry. It is not funny, it is scary.

- "What are you going to do when you're done with this craft?," I asked, "You still have to do something, don't you?"

- "I'll go over there," he pointed indefinitely with his hand.

I tried to trace the direction of his finger, but could make nothing out. Rento spoke cryptically.

- "Do you have any idea what brutal impositions corporations like Korolan Bru impose on Earthlings?," he suddenly changed the subject of the conversation.

- "Well, to be honest, I've never given it a second thought?," I muttered, "That's a very specific question in general?"

- "But vitally important," Rento confirmed, "The taxes are ninety-five per cent. Do you have any idea how to live on the pittance the Earth Federation gives you - and most kindly."

- "You speak of these things with great emotion," I marvelled.

- My dear Jervond, remember well social equality or the ideology of a perfect society is an illusion, but what I have seen with my own eyes exceeds even my wildest expectations. It is just a huge outrage and nothing more.

Rento finished repairing his machine and hurried to get ready to make one of the last deliveries.

He knew we were relying on him too much and he had good reason why.

The psyche of a smuggler was something very few people could understand.

The Intergalactic Police had put a huge bounty on his head not because he was breaking certain rules, but for the trivial reason that people like him wanted to live as they knew how. That is, Rento didn't account for the sums owed to her corrupt bosses. Pretty soon his transgressions became too much and he was forced to give up these ventures of his. Of course, no one knew yet that he had killed Von Blask because the military commander had promised to hold his tongue. He wanted to trade this valuable information, and if he was going to talk to anyone, it had to be either a senior associate of the Korolan Bru Corporation or one of the Earth Federation governors. For the moment, he couldn't leave his position on Cerberus, as due to the harsh conditions, a brutal rebellion could easily break out that might not be put down.

Needless to mention, there had been at least two rebellions in the recent past that were too dangerous for the entire colony and could have threatened the existence of this outpost that the Earth Federation hoped and relied upon.

The commander's name was Brutus and he knew how to bargain. He'd worked his way into this position with the most brutal of grasps and seized every opportunity for personal gain.

Brutus had quite a street manner, but he was by no means a fool - he knew how to bargain away a piece of information that could prove valuable and useful. But one of the things that stood out was the real possibility of achieving a ridiculous kind of autonomy.

The Earth Federation had devised a cunning ploy to encourage betrayals of commanders by giving them some autonomy.

Of course, nothing was known and Brutus was barely able to keep up with the rising demands. Many before him had failed and hadn't even gotten that far.

Earth wanted higher and higher performance, and Cerberus' growth opportunities were limited. However, Brutus was the first to provide professional nurses and also a military doctor to really be of help to the wounded veterans. Because of this sound judgment, he was able to pass on much valuable information to Earth Command.

As a matter of fact, when the Cerberus Outpost budget was voted on, some uncharacteristically sanctimonious comments were made concerning the development of the entire space policy of the Earth Federation.

The upkeep of the base, the platoons, the various installations, and not least the medical staff was in the order of a hundred billion ents, which was too much. It was almost four percent of the entire budget of the Korolan Bru Corporation, which had yet to deploy its serious conquest capabilities.

After the revelations had been made, however, the platoon commander hoped that the budget would be increased and his services to the common good would be honoured. He also hoped he wouldn't be left with just the one hope.

Anyway, the nurse had been questioned, not by the commander, but by someone else entirely, and it was highly likely that she had said something unpleasant.

But he would look into the matter. He immediately dropped his connections and did his best to learn everything he could get his hands on. Somewhere not very far ahead something really big was brewing!

Brutus was going to howl like a street dog, because he knew the Earth Federation was about to displace the outpost on the little dwarf planet Haumea, which to him was utter nonsense. Not that Cerberus's sprawl was going to cease to exist, but he could have easily lost his head.

He had only ordered access to Von Blask's body, and it had actually turned out to be a winning move. There was a small ciphergram in there, which he deciphered with a tremendous amount of willpower and the help of the colony's supercomputer.

"Rento, I fell by your hand. But know that in the next world ... there is retribution!"

Commander Brutus took a moment to comprehend what was written before him. Rento? So wasn't he the smuggler for whose head they wanted such a large bounty?

It was worth checking, but he couldn't do so directly as the Intergalactic Police were all too likely to sniff out his unhealthy interest in their work.

A short time later, a special news bulletin about him was received over internal channels via the Mars broadcasting station.

"Rento. Former bounty hunter. Zegandarian. Extremely dangerous and cunning smuggler!"

The commander wanted to sink straight into the ground and that was the end of him, but he quickly steeled himself and decided not to go down without a fight. He had to succeed and do something - otherwise he was done for good.

But somewhere behind him he heard voices. He quickly left the command room with the supercomputer. He also had to recharge his spacesuit, as oxygen was running out relatively quickly.

Then he realized. They were not alone. Rento had come here on this same little dwarf planet, and it hadn't just happened. What if it had been a Korolan Bru man?

He decided not to deal with him directly, but to share the valuable information in a way that his promotion couldn't escape. He didn't want to be liquidated for meddling in the corporation's affairs. It would have been utter nonsense! Korolan Bru used a special organization called the Holy Space Inquisition to kill, castrate, dismember, and destroy the unruly. Holy cosmic morality!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE COSMIC INQUISITION

- "Let me go, you beasts," bellowed a young smuggler who clearly didn't have Rento's luck.

- "We'll castrate you for edification, scum," the Chief Executioner bellowed at him, "I have the right to turn you into a sexless