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

Anyway, our entry into the Dead City had been tentative, and the darkness in our souls had layered itself and kept finding its way in, like a cunning and sneaky snake wondering where to slither. I want to share that once a doubt takes root in your mind, you become a completely different person and the world you see is never the same!

The more we got into this scary area that was to be our final destination, the more I felt some things that had been glossed over all this time we were together. We were practically complete strangers!

There was no doubt that Enbright's people perceived me as a leader, even a capable leader, which was no small thing. But over time, I was able to get to know them at least a little. None of them had managed to find their own direction in life, and depended on the others, or more accurately, on the level of general euphoria with which they threw themselves into the pursuit of any prey.

Yes, Enbright could be bloodthirsty and brutal, he could even be almost psychopathic, but he was the link between them in their quest to make a living. He was the nucleus of this entire group, kept alive by his own selfishness and sense of self-preservation.

Now that all the cards were on the table, there was no room for deceit or innuendo.

As for those who saw the whole thing as a mere joke, well, perhaps now was exactly the best time to see the terrible truth in its purest form.

The Dead City, a place that was known only to us and even the Earth Federation was in the dark as to its existence let alone location.

I'd say these losers with inflated self-esteem should have been kissing my feet in an attempt to appease me, but in the end it was unlikely to do just that.

And now they waited like cunning jackals, ready to nibble most of the possible prey, and why not even snatch it all!

I would like to say one more thing - where they lacked mental baggage, they made up for it with hypocritical loyalty and muscle, which was of little use given that there, in that place, quite other things mattered.

I knew that after the death of my friend Jake Enroad, after the inglorious demise of Averia Downs, and also of Magduggle Enbright himself, few would be interested in my humble persona if I were to return.

I have no reason to lie to you. Almost my entire life had passed on that colony, a bleak and impersonal place where so many lives were slowly extinguished.

Because of our shared 'work', Enbright's men and I were now considerably more cohesive, but each of them simply hoped to survive this icy hell and inhumanly impenetrable darkness.

Lozur Ban approached me and whispered into my cyclotron synthesizer:

- Now is the time for real men to be tested. They must stay by your side, for you have endured to the end, to the very finish. Don't regret the past, or the men you left behind. They are just part of a past life -part of another you. I'll help you at least as long as the force holds me.

This somewhat rude show of loyalty from a man like Lozur Ban, though mixed with uncharacteristically philosophical musings for such a tough guy, lifted my spirits - if only a little.

Somewhere in there I began to sense that Rivinus Olk was having some difficulty keeping up the motivation of the others who were eager to escape like a flock of sheep. I had definitely overestimated their courage, which could spell brutal doom for us all.

I had always believed that fear was a product of our own perceptions, but it should not have turned into a terror that would numb the senses and limbs of the rest of my teammates.

- "Before we move on, let us pay our last respects to the dead," I suggested, even though our supplies were almost at an end.

We had planned this and for that reason, we had hidden some food somewhere in the middle of the route, so we hoped to find it on our way back to Semrik Sin.

The others didn't object although I think they considered it a quirk of mine that only made their lives more difficult.

But in the eyes of Lozur Ban and Rivinus Olk I met approval. Those bastards clearly liked me and I was beginning to look at them differently too.

- "Whatever they've done," I began, and everyone could hear my words over the common frequency of the cyclotron synthesizer, "they deserve forgiveness and respect. May they rest in peace. They did their duty."

The entire tribute lasted less than a minute. And now we were really ready to enter the Dead City.

Don't ask me why anyone ever thought to build such a facility, but I think the Ervanans were shrewd and clever to lay the foundation for something more sustainable and stable.

There was also another question that needed to be asked? Would we be able to carry the loot or whatever was in there?

After all the human losses, we were now down to just twelve people, counting myself of course.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO: THE HIDDEN SHIP

I have to tell you, it wasn't easy getting around in space. That nitrogen ice might have given us some nasty surprises, so I wouldn't push my luck too much. Somehow, I couldn't understand Enbright's hubris. Those bastards!

And I might never be able to do that either.

Let me make myself perfectly clear. The people who were with me wanted the loot without a doubt, but I was almost certain that very few of them had a real plan for what they were going to do with it next - after we parted ways. It wasn't particularly smart to take some of what was due to you and just go back. That would have killed you. Economic conditions in the colony were steadily deteriorating as money wasn't working properly, and there was very rarely any new income from outside.

Let me explain a little bit about autarky - this economic system of self-sufficiency that usually failed in the end - that was proven economically.

In practice we traded only with Cerberus and to some extent with Mars on a limited basis, and then mainly through Rento on his pre-long orbits around the solar system.

It wasn't like providing all your own goods and importing them from outside - the kids knew that.

Paying smugglers was a tricky business, as they could take the money and not deliver the goods - not that it happened too often, but it still wasn't out of the question.

There were some things about the specifics of the cargo - the smugglers, while hungry as wolves, would not pounce on absolutely any prey.

Some of the valuables ransomers were particularly picky in that regard, and would be unlikely to be bound by attempts at persuasion even if the leader of Echnaton himself stood against them.

Esborn was getting old and needed loyal friends he could rely on, at least a little. And at least for a while. He couldn't keep pirate raiding, smuggling, and so on and so forth. He was approaching fifty and dreaming of a real retirement - he would soon have accumulated almost ten million Earth Ents, and maybe more. He figured that would be enough for about thirty years of luxurious living on some of the small asteroids the Earth Federation was going to be cultivating in the near future, and maybe he'd even settle for a small piece of land and residency rights as a neutral citizen of the Earth Federation somewhere beyond the Kuiper Belt. Of course, there was no way he could completely erase his criminal past. Nor his sins!

Hell, if he had to go to jail, he probably wouldn't even last ten lifetimes, but luckily he regularly bribed whoever he had to and so far hadn't been in trouble. Of course, sooner or later, something somewhere in his perfect plan was going to crack, and he didn't want to get to that point. Still, the luck of even the bravest adventurer had a certain limit, and he had to keep some account of that fact.

So whatever we found would not be handed over to either Rento, who had long since been buried beneath the ice of Haumea, or to Esborn himself, but would be transported for ourselves and each member of the team would take his own direction in life. It sounded too good only we hadn't found anything yet and the darkness was growing thicker - that description is even a bit humorous, for the darkness of Charon was permanent - I mean, after all, the night was descending on Charon and it was shaping up to be a hell of a long one, and that made our task all the more difficult.

In addition to the laser cutters, we'd also stocked up on two or three Bonetier rifles that Rento had swiped from somewhere - most likely, perhaps, from some of the old City of Light veterans who'd long since died off, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

The Bonettian rifle operated on kinetic energy and could deflect almost anything in the direction of the shot's trajectory.

I'd also picked up a plasma blaster from somewhere that only I had - it was earth-made, but the quality was satisfactory.

In fact, I forgot to mention that while small, Cerberus's outpost had its own weapons manufacturing, which basically met its needs for dealing with the enemy.

The Earth Federation's idea was to bring some of it to Haumea, which I thought was a good and promising idea overall. But so much for that!

We decided to proceed in an organized, tight formation to deal with any ambushes, which were not out of the question.

The Ervanans were extremely intelligent and a basic principle with them was to press the losses as much as possible.

And then we saw it - deep under the ice there was an Ervanan battle cruiser. We wondered in amazement what we should do so that we could actually make it to the command center of the aircraft. There was no way it was going to happen, and the Bonetie guns would be of no use.

That's when Rivinus Olk came calling as the most experienced and wise of Enbright's men.

Try a reondan torch. It's slow, but we can get there.

The depth wasn't abnormal-maybe two meters-but the nitrogen ice couldn't just melt because there might be an explosion. It was clear as day!

I dismissed Rivinus's suggestion as not very good.

And then something interesting occurred to me. Way too good, and one I wasn't going to miss.

I realized. We could use the probes we used to get water. It was easy, but they had been left at the colony and there