The Wars of Zegandaria by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (best thriller books to read .txt) 📖

Jacob Wallace. He's on the ship with them now too I guess. Naturally we can't communicate, but we have every real reason to count on him to bring them down from the inside. Osonia will wash my face, which has long felt sick and slack.

- Governor, I've never heard you talk like that. Look, Chris, the implantation of memories was to some extent wrong. I don't say this out of scruples, because you know damn well I don't have them, but what sane person would choose bad memories for themselves? Few of us could be like that. Few of us could resist the pressure. So many different problems. So many hard fates. Everyone thought I was a monster. But this monster has served five full terms, making twenty-five zegandarian years. This city was in much worse shape before I took over, but people have short memories.

- 'Governor, what are we to do about Cyclo To, the supreme leader of Sebur Nag?,' inquired Zonrethis.

- 'That is difficult to say. At the moment, Osonia is literally tying me to life. Cyclo To is a warlord mindset, but he will never have a galactic, let alone a universal mindset. It's just convenient to manipulate. We'll go back to Sebur Nag for support,' the Governor continued calmly.

- 'So it's all just theatre again?,' asked the congressman, who was an android but had never been aware of that fact. He was programmed that way. Gordon guarded it like the apple of his eye. And there was a reason why.

- For now, yes. I suspect that someone other than those who were already on the surface of the planet might have followed on our heels. We must be careful. This is something too serious to be groping through fingers. Sooner or later, they're going to drop in on Sebur Nag. Some of them might make it to Osonia. I don't believe we can fool the Universal Voice, but we can at least settle scores over the half-lost war with Ubunder.

- 'How did it start?,' The congressman asked.

Jacob knew of our plans to combine production on both halves of the planet. Synthros was a small obstacle, but I would never, on any occasion, allow myself to simply start a war lightly out of greed or a lust for power. I wanted peace and tranquility, but I wanted the autonomous rule of Synthros to be abolished so that I could trade freely with the Intergalactic Federation. That didn't happen, of course. Ubunder has always had a particularly clear and precise sense of morality. Extremely unpleasant, but a fact. It's so hard to tell right from wrong sometimes. But even for that, I still wouldn't start the war. Jacob Wallace was an authority. He was always the better and more prepared of the two. I wouldn't be surprised if he helped them get to me somehow.

- 'But I feel like you're still not telling me something,' the congressman countered.

- You know me pretty well, Chris. What happened to me was actually quite dangerous. I lost my only son.

- 'And what's his name?,' the congressman asked him again.

- 'Viar,' was Elmbaum's terse reply. 'I heard he had a son, though he never saw him. I was fed up. Because of these problems, I had to send him as a regular superintendent to Labor Colony 206.'

- 'Why as an ordinary?,' the Congressman continued. 'So you held all the power!'

- He never saw me. I sent him to an ordinary farmer. He thinks he is his father. In fact I have never seen him or my grandson, which is rather sad.

- 'And what is your grandson's name?,' the congressman continued with his questions.

- 'He is a technical genius. His name is Dislan,' the governor replied simply.

- 'Andrew Dislan?,' gasped Zonrethis.

- 'Exactly,' replied Elmbaum. 'Then he was on the Space Second Ring to keep it safe before the war broke out.'

- 'Then it all seems much more prosaic,' sighed Zonrethis. 'And Ultra City?'

- Again, Jacob's stupid shenanigans. He was firmly of the opinion that it was a good and proper way to create stability and balance in relations between the countries. Something I'm far from sure of. Ultra City never really existed. It was actually a hyperspace anomaly that was convenient for us.

- 'And all the rumors about it being a neutral city-state?,' asked Zonrethis again.

- 'That was nonsense. When you repeat a lie a thousand times, it becomes the truth,' Gordon continued his reasoning, 'But one thing is absolutely true. Not a word can be said when we speak of the Archanaeans as observers of our civilisation. They performed everything exactly.

- 'What next?,' still Chris Zonrethis asked him.

- 'Honestly, not much,' Elmbaum said, a little sadly. 'I'm sick of fighting and wars for stupid supremacy. But that's life. Either you eat them or they eat you.'

- 'And what has become of your adjutant Isongdar?,' asked Zonrethis.

- 'If he betrayed Paley, he'd betray me. We left his corpse on Sebur Nag under a rock. His ambition destroyed him. And there were some good points that could have helped us in the moment,' Elmbaum sighed. ‘When we let someone get too close, they just take advantage of our kindness. That is. But at least no one will find him there. I'm sure. Let him lie still. On the other hand, Area Nine where we did the gene experiments was also a big mistake. Now at least some secrets might not come out even if we get caught.'

- 'Let's hope we don't stay on this planet too long,' Zonrethis added. 'That way the risk pure and simple increases.'

The conversation was taking place on one of the well isolated docks of Osonia. Zonrethis had rented it for a huge sum of money and now they were living there. It was just quite beautiful to observe the atmosphere of the planet through the thick dome of endosian. It was unforgettable. The atmosphere was intimate - like between old friends. They knew the denouement was coming very soon. It was a matter of time before they found them.

 

^^^

Gordon knew that time was running out, so he and Chris decided to go to Cyclo To, who was, among other things, the supreme oracle of the planet Sebur Nag. They booked one of the private speeders, inaccessible to the ordinary commoners of Osonia, and set off, heavily guarded by half a platoon of Osonian mercenaries. The beautiful mountain ranges, covered in some semblance of snow that was actually more like frozen methane, were definitely eye catching. The whole planet was quite peculiar, but therein lay its charm. There was no avoiding the encounter that was about to take place. Cyclo To would give them the answers, or at least he could tell them what to do. The journey was going to take several leaps of subjective time. The journey wasn't the most appealing thing, but they were giving it their best to withstand the pressure.

Cyclo To had the status of a deity of the native Sebur Nag. No one could challenge its authority and no mere mortal could approach it. But it was terribly dependent on Gordon, at least financially. The Governor had made him a puppet who was practically a hostage to his own plans. This suited him considerably. No matter what, there were too many people who needed to be bought off by him. He'd rather just buy one and keep the others through him. It was a somewhat winning strategy. But Gordon had already begun to bend, or rather external circumstances were about to do that to him.

Somewhere deep in his heart, he knew that Chris was coming with him out of obligation, simply because the fates of the two were linked by a common cause. There was no other real explanation for it.

The Sebur Nag had been warned in good time of the Governor's visit and had made preparations. Something that was to be expected.

Cyclo To possessed supernatural abilities capable of generating brainwaves and motivating each of his subjects to do certain things of his own volition. With this, he controlled the entire population of the planet Sebur Nag.

He was not particularly moral or benevolent in his rule, let alone calm, but above all he wanted to show to himself that he was capable of withstanding pressure.

There, somewhere in his heart, he had lost the thread of his feelings and felt the pain of failure and the subsequent doom associated with it. He had to hold and stabilize his power. And Gordon was his only ally.

The two of them fixed their eyes on each other. They were used to understanding each other without unnecessary talk, even though Gordon did not speak the dialect of Sebur Nag and needed an interpreter. They had worked out their own symbolic language to avoid outside interference in their conversation. It was a special moment in their lives.

Chris was in the role of confrere, but in foreign territory. He was trying to be as cooperative as possible.

- 'So, Gordon, they've got you all over the place now, eh?,' asked Cyclo To in no uncertain terms.

- 'So it seems, and the options seem to be running out,' the Governor replied, a little reticently.

- 'Death isn't the scariest thing, my dear fellow,' the seburnag turned to him more cheerfully. 'There are far more terrible and awful things. For instance, having nowhere quite to go. Do you understand what I am saying?'

- 'Do you believe in reincarnation?,' asked Gordon.

- 'Leave that nonsense alone,' Cyclo To countered.

- 'I need some more time,' Gordon apologised.

- As long as it takes, you'll have it, but no more than two weeks. You need to find a solution to your problem by then. Already a lot of people are asking about you. I can't hide you forever. And I have my own problems,’ the seburnag told him, a little nervously.

Chris did his best to lighten the atmosphere. The three of them walked out to a spacious terrace covered in endosian. Everything was visible on it. The ‘planet of new hopes’ could have been the planet of new nightmares. This Gordon understood only too well.

He had to get back to Osonia and get ready for a fight of his own.

THE SWARM

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: THE SWARM

 

The Myeranian threat that no one suspected was already approaching Sebur Nag. The Myeranians had organized their swarm. They figured they could attach themselves undetected to a small transport fleet of ships near Kikluk Sor, the border planet beyond the hundredth quadrant that everyone was trying to avoid. Mieru remembered well what he wanted to accomplish. Sebur Nag was the ‘Planet of New Hopes.’ Though parasitic, her race would have to be much more restrained and responsible in the new place to ensure their survival. It would not have indiscriminately destroyed resources, at least at first, without being sure it would find a new location. That much was clear. It was so frightening to think that all of these creatures were confined to their nundrigo, each ship housing up to five hundred of the little creatures. In stature they were all like Mieru and looked like children. Maybe they should have used their super-advanced villeria cannons to take her over. However, that would be a double-edged sword. First, they had no way