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

After gathering the necessary information, we decided to pick our pears before we really fell victim to the alien intruders. Apparently they could kill even if they were completely dead.

We found out that the ship had special hidden compartments where the Ervanans kept a huge amount of oxygen bottles they had stolen from our own colony, or maybe the late Sikur had brought them to them with the help of his also dead patron Brutus.

I was certainly acutely aware that curiosity was the guiding force of these space nomads, who found it all too difficult to fit into the picture of the general existence of the other alien races.

- "They were playing with our subconscious minds," Jessica told me with conviction, 'they wanted to confront us with our greatest fears, but they fell into their own trap! As soon as I sensed Sikur' telepathic waves, I immediately hid in a small weapons bay, and that actually saved me.

- "I'm glad I'll have a companion to accompany me on my way back home," I added cheerfully, "It's worth being near you!"

Our eyes met. Jessica was a little shy, but she had more courage than Enbright's people. Her eyes looked at me as if we'd met in another lifetime - quite different from this one.

The way back to the surface wasn't easy, and we wondered what we were going to eat, since we'd long since wolfed down that small portion of high-calorie pilot food I told you about.

I don't believe in superstitions, but we had a story worth sharing on Charon.

- "I don't believe this propaganda," Jessica turned to me fiercely, "We are slaves to our own minds, and the decision to be here was made by higher powers. They are keeping us imprisoned because we may be hindering their own plans!

I decided to quarrel with my angry but otherwise quite composed companion.

In the past, humanity has used a gauntlet of wires or a polemic boom arm to interact with virtual reality. Our ancestors on Zegandaria have been captive to the perverse experiments of Doctor Gad ‘Di Enn...

- "Will you shut up and listen to me?," she interrupted heatedly, "All that is far in the past, and we live right here!" she stuck a finger in my suit's viewfinder.

- "Apparently the Earth Federation is pretending not to notice us," I joked, although I was fully aware that my joke was inappropriate to say the least, and even somewhat cruel.

- "It's not that," she looked at me with a completely serious expression, "I wonder how you haven't seen the truth yet!"

It took me some time to assimilate her words. Apparently, our ideas of reality and space-time differed substantially. And right now, that didn't have to be the case because we both depended on each other!

- "Remember the simple concept of the holographic universe," she tried to remind me of her idea, "But this is about something much deeper. Imagine that the choices we make create realities in which we ourselves begin our new lives!"

- "That sounds a bit abstract to me," I added after some thought. "You mean we are in another reality right now?"

- "No, my thought is that somewhere out there on our way to our destination we made a huge mistake," she looked at me with a dejected expression.

- "Maybe Rivinus Olk shouldn't have died," I shouted out of nerves, "Maybe it wasn't right for me to leave Semric Syn where it was my destiny to defend these people that Von Blask entrusted to me."

Jessica's expression turned icy.

- "Why are you trying to deny the obvious truth, which by the way is almost under your nose?," she stated, trying to maintain decorum and good manners like a true Edwater.

- "Our world was just branching off, and I'm not talking about the quantum family tree, I'm talking about the morality of the Ervanans," she spat out the pebble.

- "You mean they were trying to give us a chance for free choice?," I asked timidly.

- "I almost guessed!," she looked at me sternly. "There was a way to avoid many casualties on the way up. I'm not saying that you, Jervond Om San, should be held responsible for the actions of absolutely everyone for the simple reason that they also made certain wrong decisions, but..."

I fell silent, waiting to hear the terrible sentence Jessica was hesitant to utter. This aristocratic woman probably knew me more than anyone and was trying to help me, and maybe she knew something else. Something so deeply intimate that I dared not even speak aloud.

- "Didn't you understand, Jervond? Your time is long over!," said Jessica to me triumphantly. "I have your life because I saved you. As leader of the colony, you know that rule no worse than I do!"

She was damn right, and I hated it when someone twisted my arms! On the other hand, there was hardly anyone around to confirm her right to impose her claims.

- "Look here's the thing, Jessie," I addressed her a little more facetiously, "we're both firmly stuck in this. I've got oxygen for nearly two more hours, and the oxygen bottles we found are still intact, as the Ervanans apparently didn't take them more than three or four months ago, indicating that they're still perfectly serviceable."

- "What do you suggest?," she asked, not very confidently, "It's crazy to go back the other way. What if they've already sniffed out exactly what's going on. The Earth Federation might even have occupied Charon's colony. They'll capture us and torture us."

I hated any kind of playing on people's fears, but honestly, Jessica was totally right! That girl was damn smart! If my ribs didn't hurt so much, I probably would have laughed at my own wit. But we were running out of time.

After searching some more, we headed out of the ship, but first we had to unsolder the soldered panels, and then I wondered where the hell Beria Clistehad come in from.

We soon came to the conclusion that his consciousness had simply passed through solid matter, visualizing itself before us through the body of the dead Ervanan pilot.

So we had to reopen this isolated slit. The mess we saw outside was indescribable, but the blood had flowed and frozen instantly - what's more, it had even been partially vaporized by the powerful explosion. Everything else was quickly covered by the numbing ice of the satellite.

According to popular opinion, when the body temperature dropped to as low as twenty-two degrees, an agonizing death occurred - well, the severity of the trauma itself also played a role here. OccasioNaly, a paradoxical undressing occurred - in Beria's case, such a thing had simply not happened due to sheer lack of time. I can imagine the suffering of that poor fellow! He clearly had the brutal hellish desire to tear off his own skin just to get rid of it! The corneas of his eyes had become covered with ice and he had apparently gone blind for a moment, which had further contributed to the accident.

You know full well that everyone is generally, consciously or unconsciously, a champion of some cause, even Beria had moved with Enbright's men to have a real chance of surviving Charon's dire conditions. When you think about how little morality is actually worth! This brutal criminal had sold himself relatively cheaply, but he clearly had an expectation of finding untold treasures on this ship - well, he was bound to be disappointed!

We continued up through the ice and after a while we had reached the surface. Charon still looked as dead and lifeless as before. After a quick reckoning, Jessica and I both decided it would be far safer to return to the ship after all.

Of course, if we had still opted for the option of re-crossing Oz Terra, we could have fallen victim to the distinct signs of tectonic activity on Charon's terrain that had also led to Rivinus Olk's demise!

"In hell, death is the least of dangers."

Richard Mathieson

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT: THE RESCUE OF JESSICA

Don't get me wrong, but Jessica's idea of taking this old trough for a spin grabbed me, so we both set about exploring the technical possibilities of this ship. It turned out that the alien craft were powered by a special kind of engine that we weren't fully familiar with yet. Yes, I was getting used to the strange alien speech of these creatures and had to give them credit for definitely understanding spacecraft engineering.

But to get back to engines, humans in the very distant past had used all sorts of engines - chemical rockets and solar sails were later replaced by ion and plasma engines, and much later by some distant semblance of tachyon models. Not to go into too much technical detail, it is necessary to tell you that we had long outgrown the stage when some small technical discovery drove us to a state of frenzy.

The Ervanans were using a radically different technology to power their ships that was worth describing. The ship was equipped with two different types of engines, which amazed me - in addition to a quantum teleportation engine, they also had an antimatter-based engine. I wondered why they needed exactly two, when obviously the first one was doing a great job!

And then the epiphany came to me - these brutal creatures could drop an antimatter bomb right in the center of the solar system and wipe out everything around with ease. What if the ships had been left as hacking stations in addition to secretly hidden bombs that could be detonated remotely. In my opinion, this reasoning was not entirely without merit!

With antimatter drives, one could easily accomplish interstellar travel over relatively shorter distances when ships needed to show more flexibility and get into tighter battle formations.

Jessica and I set about looking at the fine workmanship of this marvel. As you will recall, poor Brendan Sonks had long been in overdrive and there was no way we were going to benefit from his magnificent services as an excellent pilot. And what alternatives were we left with?

Jessica was a vindicated enough lady and didn't give me too long to ponder the matter. Very soon she broke me out of my stupor and set about explaining her point of view.

- "They are not dead," Jessica called back, "but merely deep asleep in the..."

- "Who are they?," I looked at her in bewilderment, trying to follow her thoughts.

- The pilots of the ship. I found the technical drawings in a ... according to them, the name of the ship is the Veoargis, whatever that means.

- "How can we drive it?," I asked, "It seems to me that we are not the best people for this, but we have no other choice."

We both strained all our strength and tried to assess the situation. We had oxygen for a total of-at least-ten days, which wasn't that