The Silence of Zegandaria - Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (golden son ebook .txt) 📗

by our good friends in the Intergalactic Police.

- "Okay," Zanger didn't give up, "specify what sums we could hope for, our previous Captain Esborn retired with over ten million ents and we're poorer than church mice."

- "All in good time," Spikesnar snarled, barely perceptibly, "I'm not sure, but we might each take home at least five times that, if we live, of course. There's a huge chance we'll wind up with exactly nobody on the planet, and we've got a whole small fleet that's quite sufficient to colonize it and seize its considerable riches!"

After these explanations, the small crew of the Echnaton, which had been about a dozen strong but had since been replenished and expanded with some new additions like Zanger Erinus, Mobinus Fuk[2] and some other space flunkies - most of them even literally broken out of prison seemed to have calmed down and returned to watch, to perform their duties conscientiously.

It was explicit to describe the protracted vicissitudes they underwent.

But one thing was absolutely certain - they had mastered the secret of quantum teleportation and managed to reach Nanjagar, where their ships smoothly descended to the surface.

The Earth Federation ship they found there, as modern as it was, was no match for their immense firepower and was soon captured. The smugglers were being smart and didn't want any unnecessary trouble - they could have easily demanded ransom for the captives, and maybe something else - the Earth Senate was unlikely to deny them!

Capturing the Earthlings' ship itself didn't take too long, as they couldn't activate the tachyon engines that quickly - especially while in stationary orbit.

Little by little, it dawned on Hermonal Bivors and Eberald Eziner that GH306 could easily have settled scores with them.

What an incredible coincidence one might say, but the time for reckoning was drawing near.

Once GH306 came face to face with his judges, he humbly asked them:

- How do you feel about switching places, sirs?

The hint of acrimony never left his face, tired from fighting so many battles.

Hermonal Bivors tried to defend his views on the Theory of Evolution and to show his intellectual superiority over his opponent, which was actually his way of hiding his fear, but Eziner's face remained stony.

- "Sometimes the Higher Powers give us signs, but we don't notice them!," he continued implacably to his tormentors. "As they say, we are so insignificant, but we don't realise it!"

- "What exactly are you going to do with us?," the mad genius asked him. "We believed that by using you we would be capable of eternal domination!"

- "Let's cut to the chase," the clone captain cut him off, "We know about the collaboration between Ertol Gis and Korolan Bru. We're just not clear on the final destination of these two corporations."

- "You'll never know it, dear," laughed Hermonal Bivors with an ugly grin. "Be thankful that you somehow contrived to get the Chief Executioner to let you go. Otherwise you could easily have gone into oblivion!"

Amidst the stark beauty of Nanjagar, which glowed with a white-blue light, many were faced with the dilemma of whether to stay here forever or move on.

 

[1] Astrophobia is the fear of space exploration.

[2] A watch is a shift aboard a spacecraft.

THE BATTLE FOR THE PLANET NANJAGAR

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT: THE BATTLE FOR THE PLANET NANJAGAR

 

Soon after, Jervond Om San and the warriors surrounding him landed on the planet. The majestic warriors were formidable, yet too few in number if they had to wage war against an unknown foe. Their ship only revealed itself once they were sure they could negotiate with the smugglers!

The Space Wolves took kindly to them, and after hearing their story, promised to help!

The encounter between the two civilizations was more than impressive, but the sheer surprise when they saw their own ships that they had left under the ice of Charon was simply indescribable!

GH306 had kept his promises and had not wanted to let King Zonkurvan down - especially as he would never have managed without the use of his flying vehicles, but his intuition had not been fooled into staying and exploiting the planet's resources. They could easily make a temporary colony to ensure their survival.

They decided to simultaneously cultivate the planet and the idea was met with unanimous approval.

Jervond Om San was appointed Assistant Governor to King Zonkurvan, who practically owed the survival of his race and finding a truly suitable place for it to him. But they hadn't discovered the demonic computer viruses yet.

Try as we might, however, Eberald Eziner insisted that he should be executed for his enormous crimes:

They led me to believe I was doing the right thing and to expect a bright future that never came, and inwardly I knew the right answer all along.

His courage impressed Gervond, who decided that he could atone for his transgressions simply by helping the colony in some way - something he fulfilled most conscientiously. He had taken with him his wife and two children, who at that moment heard of some of his brutal crimes.

We decided before we left for Zegandaria to send one of the ships to show the route of the whole Zonkurvan fleet and give it a chance to reinforce our position, as there was no telling if some unexpected visitor would appear from somewhere.

Jervond Om San had become a very different person, who remembered Jessica and her charming smile as well as her words well:

- To get forgiveness, Jervond, you must show leniency first!

It wasn't long before Zonkurvan's fleet showed up and quickly helped us reorganize the planet. His bionic ants quickly dug tunnels beneath the hard surface of Nanjagar and we witnessed the vast deposits of natural resources on it.

Zonkurvan turned to me:

- You, Jervond Om San, have done your duty, but only halfway, we must destroy the demonic computer viruses once and for all, for it was they that caused my ships to suffer and destroyed most of them. My words can be confirmed by Admiral Or Suv Res.

The admiral standing near him nodded silently. He knew now that Jervond was a true fighter and no one called him by the derogatory Earthman.

The bionic ants kept digging huge tunnels under the surface of Nanjagar, and very soon we were able to build a huge underground city to house us all. Yes, the Ervanans were relatively reserved with us, but very soon we learned their language and could communicate through more than telepathy.

- But the main problem remained, what had happened to the two huge corporations? Where were their leaders?

Hermonal Bivors had been tortured quite a bit before he confessed everything, and finally the terrible truth was before our eyes - we were facing the last and most difficult test, namely to stand face to face with the creators of all this Hell.

King Zonkurvan simply stated that his race would help us in the unequal struggle we had to fight to the end and deal with this problem once and for all.

After all, no one knew where Rufus Ebendhaus had taken cover, and by capturing him, we would get at least half of the answers we desperately needed.

Of course, we'd also be using the supermodern Ketsandorar, since aside from its impressive tachyon engines, its weapons far surpassed the armament of an Ervanan ship and required at least half a dozen cruisers of the Earth Federation's Joint Force, to give it a decent fight back - its defenses included not only photon cannons and keranium terranders (this was practically a futuristic kind of antimatter weapon), but plasma lasers powerful enough to vaporize you!

- 'I, Jervond Om San, wish my great parent had been proud of me and the fact that each of us, saint and sinner alike, had lived to assert ourselves,' I cried, but no one heard me - it was as if the darkness around was a mute judge!

Time would heal all wounds and erase Jessica from my memory as the solar wind and harsh weather had erased our traces of Charon. But nothing was going to erase this woman filled with dark tragedy from my thoughts and heart forever. Jessica Edwater was there! On reflection, the lives of some were short, but their mission of existence was to be of service to others. Farewell my love, may I see you in the other world when I close my eyes someday! You were my guardian angel!

RUFUS EBENDHOUSE

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE: RUFUS EBENDHOUSE

 

The Earth Federation expected some report to arrive from the ship sent to Nanjagar, but none was forthcoming. As one of Korolan Bru's most senior associates, Rufus Ebendhaus realized that something very serious had most likely happened and their plans to subdue Nanjagar would not be successful. Korolan Bru had invested trillions into developing the super-advanced spacecraft and planning to build an entire fleet, even planning to invade Ertol Gis itself, from which it drew its know-how. Yes, the late Doctor Gad ‘Di Enn had created a time bomb that could go off at any moment.

Rufus was a senator like the late Bondor and Olroy. He despised their ultra-expensive residences and their impressive arrogance toward the weak and disadvantaged. It made no sense to believe they would change their value system, but he knew there was some chance of retribution! That is to say, Rufus had a certain amount of humanity in spite of everything.

He knew that the poor weren't particularly welcome on Veoria, where the whole brood of pseudo-aristocrats only wanted power for themselves.

Rufus Ebendhaus came from a poor family that had relied on his genius to rise socially, but he had managed to preserve his soul on the way to the top, or so he thought. Many criticized the pace of development he dictated to Korolan Bru and longed for him to simply pass into oblivion once some of the most pressing reforms were implemented. No matter how much good Rufus had done, a heavy curse weighed heavily on his shoulders.

He had long wondered to those idiots why the farthest point they had taken as the apex of their policies could not even go beyond the Kuiper Belt, where the true cosmic adventures into infinity began - where everything was allowed and imagination knew no bounds.

In constructing the Kensandorar, he had convinced the others that the roughly five trillion Earth Ents required would pay for itself in no time in colonizing a distant planet, and now he wondered what to think.

Rufus had an impressive intellect, which of course