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

I had access to some of the knowledge of Voruk Abl Ziarn himself, which was only to my benefit.

I understood the real reason for the attack by the Ervanans. They wanted to harvest the precious euphophate kaori for their sustenance, which were actually supposed to provide them with a peaceful existence - they were a special kind of mushroom that thrived under space conditions, but they were also used by the devoranants - sort of giant space birds that couldn't fly, but which the Ervanans fed on.

I was amazed at how such an advanced race fed in such a comparatively primitive way, but later realized that the reason for this went much deeper. The Ervanans had to raise such birds because of their religiosity, which placed the Great Cosmic Bird, the Bansontuk, at its center.

It was believed that these birds, whose direct descendants were the Devoranants, would have provided them with immortality, since they lived, as we know, for over three hundred years.

I did not have time to delve deeply into the mythology of the Ervanan race, nor to ask myself whether Proxima B would be the best possible place for them to build their space farms for breeding the animals in question.

I activated a special mode on the ship in which it became invisible, as it was enough to even be spotted by some of Proxima B's outposts, and most likely even the ship's energy shields wouldn't have helped me get out alive.

And then Voruk Abl Ziarn's words already made sense in my head. I had never questioned what level of development the Zegandarian civilization belonged to before, for the simple reason that we hadn't had enough contact with it after we were beamed to Charon, but my inner voice told me that it was at a higher level of development than the Ervanan, as I soon learned to handle the ship's technology skillfully, and even learned the basics of their language through a special artificial speech nanosynthesizer.

After some mobilization of the ship's hidden resources, I was able to accomplish another quantum teleportation without problems.

But I was worried whether I would really set the right coordinates, which by the way could easily be confused given that I didn't fully know their ship yet. Apparently, Jessica had been secretly guided by this same mentor of mine, and had therefore done better than myself.

Once I activated the quantum teleportation engine, I could easily target an object in relative proximity to Proxima B.

Voruk Abl Ziarn had advised me to take the ship as a gift for Admiral Or Suv Res, who might possibly spare me for my valuable services and knowledge.

I also found an electronic hologram ring to confirm my good intentions in that same hidden compartment on the right side of the generator room.

And when I turned around the corpse of the Ervanan was gone. That's when I gave up. There was clearly some sort of conspiracy here that needed to be uncovered an hour sooner and I would be aware of what was actually going on.

But I had to get into the cryogenic chamber quickly, as some misfortune might happen to me if the teleportation procedure failed. I crawled in very carefully, given that only my grav boots were holding me to the floor. And then I saw a clear inscription scrawled by who knows who.

"I tricked you into choosing Proxima B, but that's actually where the answer to your question awaits you."

I froze, but quickly came to my senses and managed to slip into the cryogenic chamber shortly before the so-called quantum teleportation took place.

[1] According to the scale of the Russian astronomer Kardashev, cosmic civilizations fall into ten categories of development.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR: THE INSIGHT

Proxima B had been significantly altered according to the Ervanans' understanding, yet they had chosen to build their colonies underground, where they could grow the myriad plantations of euphotic kaori to feed their animals. Of course, they didn't rely on those two things alone for their sustenance, but also fed on lorundi enex, which was absorbed at the cellular level through a complex system of micro-nanoprobes embedded in their spacesuits. This was saving them enormous resources. And the birds were bred mostly for the higher nobility, in particular Admiral Om Suv Res and of course King Zonkurvan! They would accomplish their divine fusion with the Origin and salvation from Shadduck! The underground cities of the Ervanans were super-futuristic and it was expected that they would soon be able to successfully colonize the entire planet, which for certain ideological reasons of the Earthlings had remained uninhabited!

King Zonkurvan had been more than pleased and had ordered the Ervanans to move ahead of the Earthlings and towards Nanjagar, something that would happen very soon.

The further they went the Ervanans clearly realized that they needed a steady development to save their race from extinction.

Or as the spirit of the dead Voruk Abl Ziarn had put it, "Somewhere out there lies the truth, and you will soon know!"

I awoke from my cryogenic sleep, which had apparently lasted indefinitely. But when I opened my eyes I found myself, according to the advanced on-board computers, about one astronomical unit away from Proxima Centauri B - which only testified to the impressive precision of all the Ervanan ship's instrumentation!

I feared I might be easily detected, but the ship's camouflage mode provided some protection for the moment.

After running a thorough scan of the entire surface, I realized that the key to the Ervanans' survival was me. I could give them more than valuable information, but beyond that they might be hoping to get their hands on Zegandaria's notorious demonic computer viruses.

My ship slowly descended, apparently attracted by the external overwhelming forces that had to identify it.

I hoped I might be able to convince their King that I would help them in exchange for my own life. There was little reason to spare me, but still.

The Ervanans sent a special speeder to pick me up from their makeshift spaceport, which by the way was filled with enough ships to take over the entire constellation!

I was confused, but in the commotion I hoped I wouldn't forget the fragmentary parts of the Ervanan speech that had imprinted themselves on my mind!

I was greeted by a whole guard of warriors who made their attitude towards an alien who was piloting their ship on top of everything clear!

One of them was probably going to punch me in the chest and only warrior discipline prevented him from doing so.

I was dragged into the underground city, where I could see the level of organization of these creatures - it surpassed even that of Earth ants. So perfect a construction!

Such huge excavations were made by means of many robot ants, which so-called bionics had brought to a very high level of synchrony in their group behavior. Earthlings also had similar technology, where piezo-ceramic transducers were used to drive them, but the Kelarian nano-core reactors embedded in these bionics allowed the ants to run almost forever.

The Ervanans used them for transport purposes in addition to tunneling.

When I was ushered into King Zonkurvan's throne room, I was able to appreciate his immense power and far-sighted wisdom. Zonkurvan had seized every moment to gain a strategic advantage over the Earthlings. There was also no doubt that somewhere out there lurked Admiral Om Suv Res himself, awaiting his orders for a possible quick march to Nanjagar!

When I was brought before the King, he asked me:

- Who are you, young man?

I didn't know what to answer him, given the fact that I had so much going on in my head, and I had stumbled into enemy territory that could very soon be my last refuge!

- "I am a descendant of Seraija Gul San himself, who was the greatest fighter of Zegandaria!," I uttered proudly.

The King was apparently not particularly impressed by my words.

- Look, boy, the cosmic demon viruses will tilt the outcome of this war in our favour, and it must happen while I, Zonkurvan, am King of this cosmic pack!

Apparently the Ervanans weren't as well-mannered as I thought them to be, but in practice, come to think of it, it was a real miracle they hadn't killed me yet. I guessed the King would want a private audience with me, and he was worried about other things besides that.

He sent away the other warriors, leaving only the King's Guards and Admiral Om Suv Res, who was practically as directly interested as the King himself!

Or Suv Res approached me - he was indeed a worthy warrior who had suffered many battles and seen too much in his life. The King bowed his head barely perceptibly and let the Admiral ask the question for him.

- "How exactly did the Earthmen defeat us, alien?," he asked me with absolutely no prevarication. "You must have an idea, given the fact that you managed to get away not only from them, but from our great warriors aboard the Voargis."

- "You know?," I tried to explain to them, "The universe is against our existence and we can thrive in the only one possible for us."

- "I mean," Or Suv Res was slightly confused.

- "Sometimes we have to accept our extinction with philosophical resignation," I called, "Look at my own civilization on the planet Zegandaria. It was the most advanced in the known universe, and we had even left its borders. And a simple lack of morality has brought us to this point! I lost my friends on Charon! Killed in someone's wish to exist fleetingly and even due to the fact that the situation could not be otherwise!"

- The King did not interrupt me. Under different circumstances he might have taken my head with his own hands, but he seemed to agree with me somewhat. He just didn't want to admit it. I felt his inner need to hear the rest. And so I prolonged my story.

Computer demon viruses can, at best, create an enhanced reality that is well managed by you until the inevitable collapse occurs again. They're only a temporary solution - the product of the sick mind of a mad scientist named Gad ‘Di Enn.

- "So our death is inevitable," the King turned to me, his gaze fixed intently on the man before him, from whose lips he was hearing such a severe sentence.

- "You still have some chance, your Majesty," I turned to him quite unintentioNaly; "but I have one condition, that I shall do anything you ask!"

- "Say it," interposed the Sovereign, "I give you my royal word that if you save my race, I will spare your life!"

- "What else did Voruk Abl Ziarn have to say to me?," I looked him so intently in the eyes that my behaviour might have been considered too bold under other conditions.

- "He was my last advisor," Zonkurvan turned to me sadly, "he shouldered the mission of dealing with all those problems that were preventing us from settling down somewhere permanent. But I see he has perished at your hand."

- I am afraid, Your Majesty, that Voruk Abl