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

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: THE CONSCIENCE OF THE TORTURER

- "Where do you want to go, stranger?," the Executioner turned to him in his gruff voice. "Here on Mars is not your place. Yes, this beautiful space colony looks like the heart of the Earth Federation, but it's so rotten on the inside that you'd be damned. Tell me your wish. I have special privileges and can send you anywhere, and from there on, you're on your own."

GH306 thought about what to answer him. He knew that the Chief Executioner had finished off his associates, but who knew why he felt no particular pity for them - it was as if he didn't know them. The pain they had caused him seemed to have cleansed him mentally.

- "I want to go to Charon," he declared firmly. - "That is my wish."

- "Earthships don't go to that place very often," his saviour replied gravely. "But I'll make a little exception for you and take a capsule. The Intergalactic Police will escort you somewhat, and from there, after a controlled launch, you will cross into the Asteroid Belt."

- "Charon is a cursed place," the Executioner General opined. "But if you are truly a saint, you will survive even there. In any case, it's not a bad decision, since you'll be out of my jurisdiction," he continued to talk to himself, making sure he was making the right decision to take the responsibility off his shoulders.

The deep feeling that he was doing the right thing had not left him.

The Chief Warden remembered a time when he'd walked the outskirts of his hometown-this place was damn beautiful-it was the face of the Earth Federation. There were wonderful places around and the scenery was conducive to solitude.

In the distant future, the futuristic scenery gladdened the heart of anyone who longed to be where the sun shone and its rays fell on the face of the Statue of Harmony - this female statue embodied the harmony of the entire planet Earth, giving anyone who went down the wrong path an opportunity for reflection.

Earth's senators almost never looked her in the face because they had a guilty conscience.

The Chief Executioner remembered the days when he had gone to repent for all the great wrongs that lay on his shoulders.

By chance a little child stood up to him and asked:

- Are you looking for something, sir? Have you lost it? Or perhaps you are checking for someone?

The Chief Executioner's eyes teared up. But no one saw that. But he had a family to feed and had resigned himself to the fate of a bully who had a family to feed. He had two faces, and perhaps even many more. It was so sad that the bread he earned was because his hands were stained with blood.

He remembered that in the past on Earth, such work had only been given to convicted criminals and mainly because there were no willing people to do it, but he had never been convicted and he had taken so many lives.

The Earth Federation wasn't interested in morality, it was a number that had to be met. A certain outcome had to be achieved or crime would take on unspeakable proportions - it was that simple.

The name of the Chief Executioner was Eberald Eziner, and he was a real scourge to his victims.

The child looked at this scary looking man, wiping his eyes and wondered what he had done so wrong. So weren't they all equal in the eyes of God?

The Chief Executioner's circle of communication was also quite limited due to the nature of his profession. At least he was married, which was still something, but due to his frequent business trips around the solar system, he couldn't see his wife or children often.

Now he was asked such a simple question, and he couldn't answer it. What was going on?

He wished inwardly that he could beg mercy from the Statue of Harmony, which was believed to have cleansing powers.

- "Well, I think I've lost myself!," he said, not very confidently at last. "I can't remember how long it's been since I prayed to or trusted in the Higher Powers. - I feel oppressed, but it's the only thing I'm really good at. Pretty corny, isn't it?"

He turned around - the kid was gone. He was left with a gaping mouth.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: EXTRADITION

When they tried to comply with the Chief Executioner's recommendation, the authorities on Mars encountered certain difficulties that could not be so easily overcome. This subject had been convicted of a misdemeanor too serious, such as the murder of a senator, to get away with. But then it was felt that something was not quite right. Letting him into neutral territory without food and water after carrying out the prescription of the person who listened to the commands of the Holy Space Inquisition, which in this case was the Chief Executioner, set an interesting precedent. All the powers that were beyond the Asteroid Belt would be responsible for it, and from there there would be no further return of the ball to their territory. They pulled out a document indicating that they had never been responsible for his whereabouts and that this person had been in transit status, but the liaison ships' courses had been messed up - it was the smartest thing they could come up with.

The space capsule was launched from one of the ports and glided out into infinite space, carrying this intruder away.

The conviction of a prisoner was a most unpleasant thing, but even more unpleasant was the grimace the Warden placed on GH306's electronic file. It read verbatim as follows:

"TOP SECRET! Special and special prisoner. Extremely dangerous. Prone to psychomanipulation. To be executed at the first opportunity beyond the Asteroid Belt. Backed by the full authority of the Holy Institution and the appropriate bodies of the Earth Federation."

Apparently the duplicity of the Executioner General's character had shown itself again, and having reported certain holy sentiments to the institutions, he now practically displayed his bloodthirsty nature.

Instead of going to Haumea, as GH306 had asked, he had ordered that he be sent to Cerberus, where Commander Brutus would tell the game his way.

Few of the humans realized what a sentence it was to be a clone, especially one who had received a first degree conviction in manslaughter.

Strange thoughts circled GH306's head as he was introduced to the space capsule.

He was acutely aware of what lay ahead. The space capsule was made of composite and had a very small diameter of about two and a half meters - just enough to hold him.

After a while, GH306 realized he was never going to go to Haumea. He was no fool, but he was counting on the higher powers to give him some assistance in his attempts to reach safer territory.

Once he reached the Asteroid Belt, the liaison ship sent on the orders of the Executioner-in-Chief simply dropped the capsule and left it drifting among the debris. Nowhere did it say that the order was to be followed explicitly. The chief executioner had washed his hands of the others. The formal order had been fully complied with, but somewhere in there there was something - something special and strange. And that was the feeling of coming face to face with himself - where there was no room for lies and false facts. Where he would receive his sentence!

They hadn't left him food for more than a day, and that was just to follow the proper procedure, which was anyway out of the jurisdiction of the Chief Executioner himself.

The more time passed, the more frightening it became. Ironically, he was brought down in the same place where he had achieved his astonishing military victory. So impressive and unique. Now he was placed in a situation from which there was no escape.

So deeply and clearly did he realize that all that debris could easily breach the capsule and decompression would ensue - and that would lead to a quick death.

Incidentally, it was believed that Jupiter's gravitational pull, had caused its entire formation, and GH306 feared that was where it would end up - at least now there was the small hope of being spotted by an Earth fleet ship, or at least the smugglers would try to retrieve the capsule out of curiosity.

After the Ervanans had been driven out, many and varied brutal smuggling formations had been roaming the area - each of them had at least a dozen ships at their command.

The two main formations were the Akhenaton and the Samael - named after an ancient Egyptian ruler and one of God's angels respectively.

Time passed, but nothing happened, and the most frightening thing was the complete silence. A person who stayed so long under these conditions could easily go mad and even attempt suicide.

GH306 was somewhat protected in this regard, as he was a clone, but when natural biological givens took over, he had to choose between instant death or a cruel and tragic end.

The smuggler ships that roamed these regions could realistically harvest prey of all sorts - often many Earth Federation Ents traveled to some of the more remote locations like Cerberus' outpost. Often, then, smugglers would agree to profit-sharing to avoid bloody wars, of which there was no shortage, by the way.

Somewhere out there, he saw a light - it was coming from nowhere. Someone's presence was trying to protect him. The clone - the one whose existence was against the nature of normal nature.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: THE SMUGGLERS

He'd been picked up by a rather dubious ship, which incidentally was meant to deal with all those things like the Intergalactic Police and Cerberus' outpost. Few would have accounted for anything that might have interfered with his rescue, but he was lucky that there was a duty ship of one of the smuggler formations out there that was awaiting a large and serious money transfer. When they saw the capsule, several crew members rushed down to attempt to retrieve it. After boarding it, they clearly found that it had absolutely no markings or anything of the sort on it.

- "Eberald Eziner is a master of these numbers," they shouted aloud, for there was one member among them who had slipped away from him in time.

- "If I catch him I'll skin him," called another.

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