The Wars of Zegandaria by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (find a book to read .txt) 📕

Quadrant 100. Yet the inhabitants of Quadrant 175, and in particular Sebur Nag, spoke a different language altogether.

Kenji decided to explain himself with gestures. This, though slightly unaccustomed to him, seemed the most appropriate option. He learned from the locals that Gordon Elmbaum had been at this location and that he was responsible for Paley's death. Of course on Sebur Nag several generations had changed as well, during Gordon's time in the other dimension. But strange why the inhabitants of this planet still cherished the memory. Perhaps it was because aliens came here relatively rarely. Or almost never.

Kenji immediately contacted Penrose:

- Captain, I believe we've hit a trail. And this time it's not a fake.

- 'Go ahead, Rear Admiral,' Perose maintained his formality.

- It seems to me that our friend Governor Elmbaum has been here.

- 'So far so good,' said Penrose calmly.

- 'And that he killed Paley,' Kenji finished.

Here Penrose was almost going to sob. The Governor had made a lot of forward moves. Too many. Apparently they'd missed it, but while making the hyperspace jumps, the deducted subjective time had saved them from obsolescence and certain death. They had only aged a few seconds.

Clearly, Sebur Nag was no longer the perfect resting place on their onward journey to the Unknown Quadrant.

The inhabitants of Himun Sor graciously fed them what they had and let them go on their merry way.

The very next day they prepared to leave the planet.

The weather on its supposedly calm surface had changed. Stormy winds blew, ruffling the turbulent but tender vegetation that was found there. Sebur Nag was much more beautiful than Zegandaria. They called it the Purple Planet. There were so many emeryridium blossoms here, saturating the atmosphere with oxygen. Some even called it the Planet of New Hope. The two men stood shoulder to shoulder. They wanted to say a few words to each other before heading into the absolute unknown.

- 'That Gordon had killed Paley so brutally did him no honor at all. To strangle your own admiral exceeded not only the bounds of bad taste, but of human conscience in general. Though obstinate, he had never betrayed him,' Penrose said indignantly. A commander-in-chief, whether captain or governor, should never have resorted to such methods towards his loyal men. Gordon was clearly already heading for his downfall. Something tells me, however, that this story is not over at all. And we haven't seen the nastiest part of it yet.

- 'The death of an innocent cannot atone for your sins,' Kenji pronounced with an icy expression. 'Though strangers in this new world, we must seek it. If we find it, well, if not, at least our conscience will be clear for having tried.'

Zorin approached. He had overheard their conversation.

- As far as I can see Gordon is no fool to return to Sebur Nag. I just don't trust him. The next planets are too far away. And which one it is, we can only guess,' he guessed.

- 'You know, while I'm not allowed to share classified information, I've heard of the so-called antimatter stash. It is possible that in his desperation Gordon resorted to it,' Sasia interjected.

- 'How do you know that?,' sniffed Penrose. Even he had not heard of such a shenanigan. He was just the captain of a conraband ship under the military jurisdiction of the former Zegandarian High Command. This was getting too delicate even for a man like him, used to seeing anything and everything.

- 'Well, I had a meeting with General Zengal,' Sasia stammered.

Zorin slapped himself on the forehead.

- 'There is no such general in all of Imgradon. Gordon has simply tricked you. 'But there may be a grain of truth in all this misinformation,' the sergeant laughed. 'General Zengal, General Zengal. 'Gordon always had taste and a high level of intelligence,' he finished his thoughts.'

The locals had never seen a ship like the Emzirou, so the newcomers looked like gods to them. Gods that had come briefly to their funny little planet that they loved so much because they had never left it.

- 'How about we take someone with us,' suggested Linus, Captain Penrose's craziest crew member. 'We'll have some real music on board. Real fiddle people. Well almost.'

- 'E, Linus, only you could come up with such a crazy idea. 'Definitely crazy,' Captain Penrose patted him on the back.

A little later, the Emzirou was getting ready to take off. But then something unexpected happened.

One of the fiddle men approached and confidentially said to them:

- This is a recording from Admiral Paley, give it to us for safekeeping in case you ever pass by here.

- 'We'll be sure to look it over,' Kenji called back, carefully tucking it away.

Now they really could leave. ‘The Emzirou left the atmosphere of Osonia and headed into the true unknown, beyond the so-called First Ring of the Outer Asteroid Belt. The asteroid belt in question stretched across a diameter of hundreds of thousands of light years, and was something truly impressive. Some claimed that it was formed by failed attempts to form planets, but no one had fully explored it due to its extraordinarily huge size.

- 'Let's hear the recording though,' Zorin suggested. 'It might be helpful.'

- 'Looks like we're going to have trouble reproducing it,' Kenji, who was a space engineer first-class, was also a little nervous. 'The technology seems a little dated, but we'll manage.'

Suddenly, everything started to sound too clear.

'You who are listening to this recording made shortly before I died should be very careful. Gordon Elmbaum is not only a scoundrel, but much more dangerous than I thought. He is indeed guilty of all the crimes of Zegandaria, something that perhaps many already know no worse than I. But I have also discovered something that may be of use to all those after me who choose to hold him to account. Gordon does not rely on ordinary time jumps, where only so-called subjective time accumulates, in his attempt to escape. He has a much deeper idea. He wants to connect with the Higher Mind running the universe, or the so-called Universal Voice. I believe that even an artist like Gordon cannot fool the very Creator of our Universe. But, what was my amazement when I discovered that Chris Zonrethis, never existed, but was just a highly evolved android who carried a part of Gordon's mind in his own head. I know it sounds crazy to you, but Gordon never separated from Chris simply because Gordon and Chris are the same thing, or more accurately, because they share a common consciousness in part. Gordon has compartmentalized that knowledge which he will need after his so-called talk with the Higher Mind. He intends to make use of the so-called anti-tremes to rejuvenate himself sufficiently, since the feathers of the Archanaeans are unable to keep him healthy and vital for much longer. They only relieve him. How do I know this, you ask? When Gordon announced an alliance between the three, they removed the Narenzian chips from our heads. Then they wired us up with special hyon chips - just like the hyon filaments, they isolate noises from the outside environment and we can communicate with each other through a telepathic link. You heard right. Gordon has reassured himself that if anything happens to him, he can live on through me or Chris until his consciousness is transferred to a stable medium. Even if that doesn't strike you as an unprecedented miracle, since it's still very possible that something could happen to him, Gordon has also taken another really odd measure. He's inviting himself to transfer the remaining pieces of his own mind and thoughts to the surviving Archanians, and will arrange for their return to Zegandaria. You heard me right. Even if someone or something ever survives and returns to my home planet, they will not leave it alive. Gordon's hatred will haunt him even from the grave. However, when I defied his plans, I was met with his violent reaction. Gordon never forgives stubbornness. That's why he changes his skin like a chameleon every time, but he survives. End of recording! Made in the third quarter of the Lunar Cycle of Sebur Nag Year 293475 of the Cyclo To Calendar, supreme leader of the inhabitants of the planet.'

The recording was further corrupted. There may well have been some more important information, but obviously it would not see the light of day. This may well have been done quite deliberately, as Paley, under the muzzle of the plasma weapons, was made to speak what pleased his more powerful partner.

- Interesting plans this Gordon has. Clearly his power is growing. He's already making a name for himself as a universal factor,’ Zorin stroked his chin. He plays roles, but when one of his many guises and incarnations is broken into a thousand pieces, like a mirror, he will lose his bearings and become vulnerable. What he's done, by the way, isn't all that impressive, but I'm amazed at how many different backups he's prepared ahead of time.

- 'Check the record to see if it's real. Don't send us for green spawn like with the non-existent General Zengal,' Sasia added caustically.

- 'We have a small lab on this ship for checking such communication records,' Penrose joined in. - 'We'll even go over it a few times just in case. Now let's calculate how much subjective time will accumulate on the next time jump to Calistro 325 in the Cicada constellation in Stellar Quadrant 415.'

- This is too delicate because we are counting on replenishing our fuel supply from the small refinery of the fake asteroid, which may be long gone and there is absolutely nothing in place at these coordinates.

- 'There may still be surviving prisoners out there somewhere,' Sasia hoped.

- 'I don't think so,' Kenji dared to contradict her. 'Too many jumps makes such a thing a venture with a foregone conclusion. But if you're so insistent, we could set those coordinates.'

Emsiru switched on his quantum stabilizers. And entered a preparatory phase for making a hyperspace jump.

THE CYCLO TO

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: THE CYCLO TO

 

- This android might as well have killed Zorin. But you dropped it. You failed when it was in your hands, and you missed a unique opportunity - its owner's voice was simply furious.

His face was still nowhere to be seen. But the shadow cast over him was ominous.

- Chris, you are my other self. I will never become good, no matter what those fools on Osonia think. A planet hiding my riches, too far from both Zegandaria and the Unknown Quadrant.

- 'I'm sorry, Governor. That is all I can say. I can only regret that he came to his senses before brain death overtook him. 'We've lost an expensive android,' Zonrethis replied.

- Zorin's too smart. Much better than all the others put together. An extremely dangerous subject. But there's something that definitely needs to be said. He is not, and never will be, happy with the way things are going. He knew he had a traitor. The traitor was Keith Endwalker, of all people. But most likely no one sensed it. He was also Mark's friend, got somewhat under the skin of Sasia, Elizandra's spy protégé, even managed to trick the nice