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

- "We are all children of time, and yours has already come," he turned to the clone in farewell, "But know this, we are smugglers in a time of drought, but we stand ready to defend Earth as our native home. Remember that among these seemingly cruel men you may find truer friends and allies than the corrupt nature of Earth's senators was able to offer you!"

GH306 had to make the fateful decision of how to organize their last remaining finances and manage to leave the solar system an hour before they were wiped out in the desperate struggle for power, but first they were going to Charon, where the Earth Federation had already set foot. Incidentally, the Earthlings hadn't had enough time to explore all of Charon, but they had razed the Semrik Sin colony to the ground with thermonuclear bombs. The force of the detonation, however, left the ships hidden beneath the ice unaffected.

The colony was where the last remnants of Zegandaria civilization, or its so-called last generation, were buried. It was located, as we said, in one of Charon's southern reaches, specifically in Nemo Crater, where we were doing just fine - at least until a whole series of calamities befell us and everyone found their deaths in that icy hell.

GH306 possessed enough eloquence to convince the other smugglers that a valuable acquisition awaited them beneath the ice of Charon that would pay for itself many times over - and he wasn't wrong.

The Echnaton ship was fitted with a special camouflage that could give sufficient protection against initial tracking.

The smugglers descended carefully on the planet, taking care to avoid any contact with the radiation background.

And where GH306 had learned of the hidden Ervanan ships was a very interesting question.

In the first place, not everyone could get hold of such information, and Brutus had passed on some of his suspicions over secret radio frequencies - hence GH306, who still kept his contacts in some parts of the military, had not taken too long to come to the conclusion that something serious was afoot, and it was most likely and logical that it should be in relatively close proximity to the Earth Federation outpost.

Later, he secretly acquired a holographic map of Charon's surface and that gave him a huge advantage over the others. With quantum computer analysis, it was easy to make guesses as to which areas the ships were most likely to be hidden in, and after several months of research, he finally located their location to Mordor Macula.

When he presented his suspicions to the others and showed them some of what he had learned, they took his suggestion much more seriously.

The smugglers of the Ehnaton also had a number of smaller artifact-carrying ships that could easily transport whatever hidden riches they hoped to find.

After Commander Brutus' disappearance, his deputy, Erdemon Bonks, announced a crazy reward for whoever could provide accurate information on his whereabouts - this was his way of shining a light on Earth Command and showing his loyalty.

By the way, the whole trade changed and the commander, who was one of their main customers, just messed up their accounts quite a bit. For this reason, they decided that in addition to looking for the ships, they would also claim the prize fund of a whole five hundred thousand ents, which was not to be underestimated at all.

The smugglers' ship slowly descended and left an endless wake on the dead ice surface of the satellite.

GH306 wasn't going to search hastily, but was orienting herself in any way possible to get to the ships.

They knew Erdemon Bonks might be a plant, but the advertised prize money would be paid in any case, and that was the most important thing.

The frightening shadows that enveloped the ship spoke clearly that Mordor Macula was a place of death and fully lived up to its name.

The clone's first mate, Shianzo, addressed him with the words:

- Shall we do a thermal scan of the surface to detect traces of some life?

- "We don't need to," GH306 turned to him, quite calmly, "we don't know exactly what lies beneath the ice. They might have left the ships in hibernation and we'll find absolutely nothing - we need to go down and take a look."

- "We'll have to get weapons, too," his first mate Shianzo interjected, "Mordor Macula is a frightening place.

GH306 mentally recalled his mentor who had retired and given up that lifestyle, but in his case he didn't get to choose what was good and bad.

After a long search through the seemingly endless outlines of Mordor Macula they managed to find the other ships.

Shi'anzo gasped with delight when a special space icebreaker from their fleet managed to get to one of the ships.

- "They really are fantastic. If only we knew how to get them underway," he added, full of enthusiasm.

The Earth Federation had received secret backing to build the largest ship possible, the Ketsandorar, which was fitted with a modern tachyon class three engine - now they had a good enough opportunity to use the stolen knowledge passed on to them by Doctor Gad 'D'en. They would be able to traverse space-time, but some interesting dangers lay ahead.

The smugglers lost almost two weeks to be able to get the Ervanans' spaceships underway, but they were soon convinced the wait had been worth it.

Many well understood that to avoid justice and get out of this declining star system, as they called it among themselves, it was better to buckle down and get hard at work.

Too much effort that was rewarded! Before they left, however, GH306 quickly sensed the whiff of death that seemed to lurk in Mordor Macula. When he shared his feelings with Shianzo, he only shook his head and said:

The ancient Aztecs of Earth believed in the constant struggle between good and evil and knew that the gods needed blood to live. But I think the universe is cyclical and every thing comes to an end, and it is not clear if there is a new beginning by what laws it would take place. According to their beliefs, each of the four major eras ended in a flood.

-"We're lucky Charon's dry," he laughed at his witty joke.

GH306 agreed with his trusty sidekick, but felt he had to be quick.

- "Where do you think the other ship is?," he asked him again.

- "My people pulled nine flying vehicles out of the ice," Shi'anzo cut in firmly, "which, come to think of it, isn't bad at all, and it's a whole fleet - so we should be grateful!"

The remaining smugglers struggled to finish the last preparations and put the ships in position for immediate take-off. Then they tied them down with special Zerethium ropes Brutus had given them, which were Zegandarian technology. The ships were hoisted up, tied down like cargo, and their antimatter engines were subsequently activated in mid-air.

A brave GH306 clone whispered:

- Onward to the planet Nanjagar, where all must end.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN: THE WAY OF THE SOUL

When a soul makes its way between dimensions, it realizes its insignificant condition. Many did not have the courage to admit it, but Enbright had never suffered from astrophobia[1], but his soul had to wander between the two worlds without finding rest. The truth was, it was his soul that had bonded with Jervond Om San, not some fictional Voruk Abl Ziarn. Enbright had occupied an extremely high position in the hierarchy of the Ervanans, and their credit for succeeding in attracting Jervond Om San was again his. But the truth was that his spirit had thus found rest. Try as we might, the Cosmos remained inscrutable.

After they flew away and left Charon, most of the smugglers raised the question of how they would distribute their future shares of Nanjagar's eventual booty.

Assistant Captain Spaixnar called in that they simply had to take into account the merits of the individual members aboard the ship and historically the more prominent should get more. GH306 quickly settled their dispute with the following words:

- In the monotony of space, it doesn't matter to us where we are - as long as we survive! I promise, as captain of the Ekhenaton, that you will get enough land and up to seventy percent of all the resources we find on the planet. According to some information I've gathered, it's also quite rich in rare metals that we can harvest.

Still, some of the crew seemed to back away from their captain after the initial enthusiasm. There was a good chance he was telling the truth - there would be no doubt, but what would they do next!

Assistant Captain Spixnar called in that they simply had to take into account the merits of the individual members aboard the ship and historically the more outstanding should have received more. GH306 quickly settled their dispute with the following words:

- In the monotony of space, it doesn't matter to us where we are - as long as we survive! I promise, as captain of the Ekhenaton, that you will get enough land and up to seventy percent of all the resources we find on the planet. According to some information I've gotten, it's also quite rich in rare metals that we can harvest.

Still, some of the crew seemed to back away from their captain after the initial enthusiasm. There was a good chance he was telling the truth - there would be no doubt, but what would they do next!

Assistant Captain Spikesnar tried to reassure them and was quick to assure them of the rightness of GH306, and also to point out some ideas for a fairer distribution of the shares, which they could easily sell to whichever civilization they wanted within the Galactic Federation.

But these somewhat naïve explanations did little to assuage their Earthly mindset - most of these space wolves hadn't been involved in flights outside the confines of the solar system, and that was now a real concern for them.

One of them named Zanger called:

- We're going to the end of the world, and you're offering us vague promises. There would be no doubt that we were likely to become rich people as well, but most of us had over a hundred thousand pence of pure earnings before we agreed to embark on this journey of unknown end!

- There's your reward for all your efforts!" replied Spixnar very kindly, but beneath that seemingly pleasant exterior lurked a veritable cosmic predator and assassin, "You may consider yourselves no longer as smugglers who were running from the law, but therefore earning comparatively better than the average officer in the United Earth Federation forces, but as investors in an enterprise or venture that could make you immeasurably wealthy. Even stealing artifacts and running dirty errands a hundred thousand ents would get you absolutely nowhere. Remember also that I have paid the bail of many who have been captured and quarantined