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

The King looked at me questioningly, but the likelihood of my lying to him was so small that he decided to trust me, yet his loyal warriors stood unseen in the darkness - ready to put me to death at his will!

Then he looked at me with other eyes and openly asked:

- What exactly do you want besides your freedom, stranger? I sense a special sorrow in you. Thou belongest not to this world, but it seems to me that thou belongest not to the other. Something has happened and you wonder how you survived this far, don't you? Maybe you expect that if I pardon you, you'll get away unscathed and get away with it! I'll give you the answer you've been desperately searching for - it's inside you! You traveled all the distance to hear something you fear and dare not admit - that you should not have been born, Jervond Om San, and been invisible all this time. Now I'll tell you why I want the damned computer demon viruses, too - only they can save things, and through certain situations I can rearrange things so that my race can escape with impunity from this reality that is long dead and will disappear!

- "But this universe will continue to exist!," I persisted.

- "That is so, but it will exist without us and without you," the Lord grunted.

- "And what has caused all this imbalance?," I wondered somewhat deliberately.

The warriors hunted with their yumari spears and sang a sad song:

"When the universe decides,

my death will come,

and I must accept my fate.

And pain, and anger, and joy to embrace,

and my enlightenment shall destroy me!"

The King turned to me expectantly. He wanted to hear if he could count on my help.

- "I accept, but I will keep the demonic computer viruses to myself and destroy them afterwards!," I declared solemnly.

The overlord's impassive face expressed something between benevolence and dislike, which he tried to hide. But they were in my hands and they knew it. It was quite possible they would kill me again-no matter what!

The Overlord promised to give me a small thermo-pressurized suitcase in which to take a small number of the planet's bionic ants to Zegandaria to unearth the sealed sarcophagus! I was also explained that I could maintain telepathic communication with them if I wished, but not to rely on them having consciousness, only that they could obey relatively simple commands.

One of King Zonkurvan's loyal men volunteered to accompany me to Nanjagar, where I explained to them that I had something to check. The Ervanans thought I was a spy, but after I explained my reasoning for being an exile, they took it well, but insisted on having a platoon of warriors aboard in addition to the two pilots - just in case!

I had no choice and resigned myself to their terms. I knew from quantum physics that both matter and energy seemed granular and could only be observed up to a point - so I guessed I shouldn't have persisted with their terms and lost my psychological advantage! That we were living in a simulation was one of the many theories proposed by scientists, but in practice it could lead us to solipsism, for the simple reason that it limited us to believing only in individual consciousness, which could not accommodate a holistic understanding of all creation!

For a civilization of such a high class as the Ervanans, it was quite strange how exactly they were restricted from leaving this universe. But apparently the King wasn't quite telling me everything, which I naturally couldn't blame him for.

Anyway, after a while we left Proxima B, which I would describe as one of the places I would never return to. Yes, humans wanted to colonize it, but if Doctor Gad ‘Di Enn's information was to be believed the planet of Nanjagar was a far better alternative than this planet here - the question was whether humans would be able to reach it in the relatively near future, which I highly doubted, but judging by the King's behavior - there was something that posed a hidden threat.

Before we boarded the ship and turned our eyes to the spectacular view of this planet and its raw beauty, I wondered what was so preventing everyone from coexisting in this endless Cosmos.

- "You're lucky the King needed you," hissed one of the Ervanans accompanying me, 'or nothing would have been saved, Earthman! And very soon, after your game is finally over, those attendants of yours will settle accounts with you once and for all!

I realized that he was warning me.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE: DREAMS AFTER DEATH

Jessica Edwater a true lady, but also a fearless warrior who had done her duty - I think I shall remember her as she always was, and my mind would not be deceived, for there were one like her in a million!

Jessica always confessed to me that her dream was to be free, and what she had longed for with all her being was to see what life without darkness and restrictions was like. When the Ervanans gave me permission to depart, they picked up the remains of the corpses of Voruk Abl Ziarn and Jessica herself. I expected that they would throw her away like a rag because she had fought against them and killed their protégé Sikur, but they laid her with the utmost respect on what they called benzonvar, which were special electronic nanoscreening plates. Then they scattered their ashes to infinity. I wasn't sure if they were doing it out of respect or if there was some other ulterior motive, but the fact that they gave her so much attention clearly spoke that they valued true warriors very much no matter what space race they belonged to.

Before we left the planet Proxima B, I was also asked to reveal to them whether the Earth Federation had discovered their hidden ships on Charon, or if it was the underground city of Haumea. I answered in the negative, for I realized that the Earthlings might have proved too sluggish in this peculiar race, which was practically a race of life and death!

After a thorough examination of the ship had been carried out by order of King Zonkurvan, we had permission and protection to depart from their makeshift spaceport.

It is needless to recount the entire procedure of takeoff, but I will say this - the Ervanans showed their admiration for my learning about their culture, yet remained reserved enough in many ways because to them I was the foreigner.

Then I remembered one of my moments with Jessica Edwater - she was so thoughtful as our time in the self-isolated colony of Charon was running out and we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

When you're probably among the last living survivors of your planet, a person like that couldn't help but make an impression.

Oh, she didn't want much - just her dust to be scattered over a place she really loved, or would have liked.

- "I don't want to die here," she had pouted slightly, and with that she had won my sympathy instantly, "I want to see at least a small part of the vast and immense universe."

- "Let us make a vow that whoever of us two is killed in battle or by some accident, the other will have the care to let his soul rest in peace," I addressed her gravely.

Then she looked at me in surprise, but with a kind of melancholy compassion. It took me half a lifetime of that spent on Charon to fully realize her words, which seemed a little strange at the time. It was as if she had been made for that time and place, which had conveyed a grim solemnity to her and could only exist in that part of space-time.

How glad would she be to learn, after all, that her dream had been realised one way or another - her end was a worthy one after all.

There was only one thing I wished - that I could close her eyes. You know, that crazy boatman used to put a coin in each of them and all that. But I knew I'd never see her again. The stellar wind with its tremendous speed and pressure would have done the rest and scattered her remains.

We had long since taken off when one of the warriors approached me and said:

I am sure you understand that the King could not tell you everything, for he feared betrayal. We are here for that, and we will reveal his will to you little by little until you do his bidding.

We could now head to where my salvation awaited me and the deliverance of Zegandaria.

In our journey to Nanjagar, which was extremely distant from the earth, we had also to pass through the constellation Hydra, in order to proceed to the nebula of the "Spirit of Jupiter," which was about two thousand and six hundred light years distant, and from thence on our journey would be in infinity. According to the rough calculations of the Emmanarian quantum computers, we could directly use quantum teleportation to get there faster.

I must have neglected to mention that, in addition to the repairs to the ship, they had actually made some minor alterations to the cockpit and, in particular, the cryogenic sleep chambers.

The Ervanans had noted with amazement that I had been skillfully utilizing the knowledge provided to me by the late Voruk Abl Ziarn and even giving them some minor guidance, as they had gotten the idea of a link between Korolan Bru and ERTOL GIS after the death of Brutus of Haumea.

That had raised me up in their eyes especially, but it had taken much longer for them to be convinced that I was much more on their side under the new circumstances, given the vicissitudes I had left behind.

Sometimes I could hear their inarticulate growls and try to guess their words, but the main means of communication between us remained mainly telepathy, which sometimes really wore me out.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX: THE FATE OF CLONE GH306

GH306 very soon took over the real running of the Echnaton's smuggling operations in the solar system, thus becoming a direct competitor to Samael's best smugglers. On his shoulders rested a tremendous responsibility from which he made no attempt to escape. Old Esborn left them comparatively soon, and left him to