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

But even then, hidden objects were barely visible. It was damn weird in those cases.

Apart from me and Lozur Ban, there was hardly anyone else who could offer any real resistance to the hidden enemy that Sikur had become. I don't want to be judgmental, but somewhere along the way of learning the fighting skill of the late Vice Admiral Kenji Nolsuro, we learned that we had to be ready to fight any opponent. Kenji was a representative of the free space fighting school, and Von Blask had introduced us to his techniques, and I had also learned the basics of "evoro" from Rento. So Sikur or whoever was lurking in the shadows hadn't guessed! He would have felt real resistance from a strong opponent, which I, Jervond Om San, thought myself to be!

Time in a confined space flowed decidedly differently, or so it seemed to me.

"What does our fear teach us?" this question was running around in my head, making me desperately search for its answer.

- "Come out, Jervond," I heard a quiet whisper, "It's been a long time since there's been anything hidden-a hidden thing."

Maybe it was me, or maybe it really was Sikur' voice approaching me.

- The beast is in you, Gervond. Show this no-good man you trust what you're really capable of. Traitors deserve no mercy!

- "Do you think those around you will serve you faithfully? These scoundrels have come only for prey and ask no particular allegiance to you!," came the same whisper that could have chilled your blood.

Instinctively, I made a movement and the laser cutter flew inches from my face. Perhaps none of you are aware how dangerous this weapon can be in confined spaces. I was relatively close to the eborian chamber and hoped I would be able to use one of the Femovian weapons to fend off this crazed and deranged bastard!

Since the situation was getting tense, I didn't have much time to look around or even think about the best possible self-defense strategy. I tried to pull out one of Femovie's weapons - they had the oddest shape and I had no idea how to really handle them.

The design of these weapons was more than futuristic, and I vowed that I should be able to take down my invisible opponent with my first shot.

Apparently, though, he was moving pretty fast around the relatively narrow interior of the ship. Perhaps I had forgotten to mention the presence of artificial internal gravity, which was being created by a small chevarius generator that was in the adjacent third chamber, which we did not yet have access to.

If I managed to turn it off, the damned thing would still somehow give out and I'd be able to deal with it. I still had my plasma blaster handy, and also a laser cutter.

But the strangely behaving people on Enbright's team didn't inspire confidence in me - maybe something was going on with their minds somewhere in there, and it was going to get worse.

I felt Sikur was influencing them and I didn't like it.

I thought I could just scream in his face to stop with his dastardly numbers, but there was no way that was going to happen because he could be close to me and fatally stab me.

I had to be careful - after all, Sikur had a reputation as a skilled fighter.

I decided to stand in the "bevane" pose, which gave more freedom of movement and, most of all, so as not to hook the eborian camera. My plan was more than simple. Clearly, the generator couldn't be reached that easily, and Lozur Ban stood strangely numb for some unknown reason while the others around drooled brutally.

I dared to fire the Femovian weapon straight at the door, hoping to get it out of the way, while on the other hand I kept the laser cutter at the ready to deflect any sneak attacks. The weapons of the Ervanans were ingeniously constructed, and though usually used with two hands were balanced in weight in such a way that they could be held with one hand.

There was a strange gurgling effect and the door disappeared, leaving a relatively narrow gap where it had stood a moment before.

It was a matter of life and death to manage to get there, and I began a slow retreat in that direction with the clear knowledge that I had to watch my back on two fronts - from my crazed teammates and from my invisible enemy.

It was important to note that this lunatic could come at me from anywhere and I was not burning with desire to be impaled and die among these idiots, imprisoned and alone.

I hoped Sikur' nerves wouldn't hold and he'd make a mistake - though the Ervanans had trained him well enough.

Then one of the burned-out members of Enbright's team tried to touch me on the shoulder. Perhaps Sikur was influencing them through telepathy, or perhaps he knew more than I did about the secret hidden technologies of the Ervanan ship.

Then he appeared and I saw his face change, expressing a look of helplessness and hopelessness. It was not the face of a sufferer, but the face of a true butcher - a psychopath!

- "You should have come here, Jervond!," he shrieked in a voice so grating that a normal person in my place would have fainted. It's time you got your comeuppance!

I realized clearly that he was using telepathy to communicate with me. This ability is innate in all of us, but few of us have the courage to develop it - the late Rento had an excellent command of it, and it had saved him many times when it was really necessary to bribe a customs official or to carry out certain actions not permitted by law.

The speed with which he attacked me was indescribable. His laser cutter sliced through the air so quickly and mercilessly that I didn't have much time to react. It was pointless trying to parry the attacks of an unseen adversary, but by his hissing voice I was able to somewhat orient myself to where he was.

With lightning speed, I raised the laser cutter and delivered the so-called "evae" strike that was supposed to dismember the innards of this nobody!

Clearly he hadn't expected such a rebuff, yet he defended himself admirably and did well for some fearsome hooligan from a small colony where almost no livelihood existed.

But my second shot seemed to hit right on target and hurt him enough to see his blood drain. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to get my bearings and keep punching him. Merciless! Again and again!

What I didn't count on, though, was that at that exact moment, Lozur Ban was going to charge me in the back and I was going to take an incredible blow to the suit's scab. I managed to keep my balance, but now the balance of power was in their favor.

- "Where are you headed, Jervond?," replied Lozur Ban in a strange voice. "It's thanks to my strength, sharp judgment and skill that I've made it this far. Have you forgotten the death of Rivinus, who saved all our lives?"

I then decided to masterfully direct Sikur' attacks at Lozur Ban and bowed slightly. His blade cut mercilessly into the giant's shoulder, and he looked at him with his clever eyes, which still held a hint of childish naivety.

- Jervond, this time won't even take you to Hell! You're digging your own grave!

I was thrown almost two meters forward as my spacesuit crashed into the invisible body of the villain Sikur!

Apparently I had pinned him somehow, because I could feel he was dying - his blood was slowly draining and he was completely helpless, but Lozur Ban was still behind me. With a lightning feint, I managed to grab the cover of the eborie chamber and send it into the target, and the hydraulics of my suit decimated the force of the impact. The suit's composite seemed to buckle and inflict more damage. Then the noisy decompression that followed caused his death.

- "You are a true animal, Jervond," pronounced the dying Sikur, "But remember, there will be retribution for you in the next world! The path of thy soul shall not be as ours!"

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX: THE MAD REALITY

I resolved to see what lay in the remotest part of the Ervanan ship-perhaps there was the key to all secrets. There were more things to learn, even about myself!

The problem now was that I couldn't count on those spittle-flecked hillbillies, who were apparently soon to prove an insurmountable obstacle in my path to the truth.

I turned to Sikur, who by some miracle was still alive

- "What the hell did you do to them?," I roared at him, filled with despair. "I hadn't counted on them to get this far. I was their leader in this Hell! What did you expect me to do?"

- "You're all alone from now on, Jervond," he sighed, each of his wheezes spewing more and more blood, "and you'll see the world with different eyes. Soon the picture will line up before your eyes, and it might even make you think. The road back home is long - too long. Let's hope you can make it!"

Then he died and one last convulsion convulsed and disfigured his already crippled body. He had accomplished his mission.

After passing through the futuristic looking door, or more accurately the opening left after the use of the femovie weapon, I saw something that was beyond all reasonable explanation.

There were corpses from the colony - in perfectly preserved condition. Yes, they were disfigured, for they had been killed with Ufurgan poison, the same poison we used to try to rid ourselves of the hideous Anzarani buffoon, and we seemed to have succeeded in destroying it for good - at least on Charon. But they were there!

The corpses of Zerilia Cox and Enbright lay close together. Yeah, fuck him! Who had we cremated then? I can feel no sympathy for such scoundrels, who surely were of no use to anyone in their lifetime except their band of misfits who had worked for them and who also inwardly loathed them to death. But the question was, what next?

I decided to take a walk around the futuristic hall and then noticed that my oxygen level was critically low. I went back to use Sikur's oxygen. Yes, I, Jervond Om San, was going to breathe through my enemy! How touching! That same air I had taken from him would enter my lungs with its intoxicating effect for freedom! I wondered if I was becoming the same thing Enbright himself had become in his desire to survive. A filthy beast - a bully who could only exist alone with his sick imagination!

After replenishing some of my dwindling supplies, I found that my oxygen would only last another two or three hours and I would suffocate painfully! I decided to take a chance and reveal things fully, so I stepped forward. Then I realized clearly that, in addition to hacking the programming stations, the Ervanans had used these ships to study us - us