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

of the mercenaries who fought against you. Eventually the whole planet got sick of you and chased you off hard.,' Mieru continued to gloat, but she had every right to do so.

Cyclo To realized for the first time how used by the Governor he actually was. So much time at that for one nothing. Cyclo To mentally agreed that Gordon deserved a terrible fate as well.

Sebur Nag was enchanting with the maranatha that descended over the southeastern slopes of the Zin Or Tug mountain range. Wonderful majestic hills rising not too far from the castle of Cyclo To. Gordon could easily have been left wearing only a spacesuit, without a spare compressed air bottle and sacrificed as a Seburnag Tirfan. Although no such animals were found on the planet Sebur Nag, their natural habitat being another planet bearing the sonorous name of Mar Tun Dok, they were carried in huge Tibenian capsules for transporting animals in space conditions. Cyclo To had an entire herd inhabiting an isolated area, as the entire area of the planet that housed his administrative domain was warmed by an artificial sun that fully supplied his needs. Gordon always stayed at this residence of his because of said sun.

At first, Mieru simply said they could let Gordon go to the Tyrphans, who would stomp him to death, but Cyclo To was merciful. He decided to let providence punish the cruel politician.

The metropolitan city of Naras Tu was exactly six hundred and seventy-five seburnag miles from the Sovereign's chambers. He loved spending time here, plotting devious plans with Gordon Elmbaum. Now, however, under the influence of the little queen, the governor would be sent back into open space. And keeping him company would be his clone-protégé, Chris Zonrethis. It was meant to be!

They prepared Gordon's ship and reprogrammed it to maintain autopilot until entering the so-called preparatory exanal phase, before making the collapsar jump. For the first time, Gordon was about to observe something over which he had no control - being sent in a completely unknown direction.

Cyclo To knew that on Osonia, which was incommensurably distant from Sebur Nag, some people were questioning our hero very hard. And they were burning with desire to stop him and hold him to account. The oracle decided that this was the right thing to do.

THE RECKONING

 

CHAPTER THIRTY: THE RECKONING

 

Kenji decided to go back to Osonia again, as the journey further was too risky. They might not have enough fuel, and the next quadrants were extremely poorly explored and perhaps completely deserted.

Penrose accepted his argument with slight reservations, but agreed nonetheless.

The political prisoners released from the cage were happy to see Pindor, who was still in an awake coma. When they inquired about his condition, they were very saddened. To survive the jumps, his body was in a special isolated airtight chamber to which only Captain Penrose had access.

Shortly before takeoff, they saw a small white dot moving across the surface of the planet. It was Jonathan Hearns. Without giving it much thought, they activated a special gravity field that sucked it inside the hull of the ship.

Acustro turned white with rage as he saw the fugitive Hearns across from him. He knew that Jonathan was most aware of many details surrounding the colony and would only make his already rosy situation worse. Acustro was probably looking at a death sentence or being shot alive in a burial capsule into outer space. He wasn't going to get away with the enormous atrocities he'd committed.

Jonathan held himself impassively. But there was triumph in his gaze. Triumph at looking his former oppressor straight in the eye, and not even blinking. He had to be taught that he wasn't omnipotent.

The return of Osonia this time would also arouse the suspicions of the locals. So they decided to remain in a state of free hover in close orbit to the planet. They could think of no better idea than that.

Penrose actively set about interrogating Acustro. He answered rather stiffly and glossed over some minor details, hoping to ease his situation. Then Penrose questioned the prisoners one by one. Kenji had given him some preliminary information and now he was checking everything. No one had lied. Which was good.

Liroith was looked upon with particular respect as he was one of the main instigators of the mutiny. The prisoners would give him the credit he deserved as soon as they landed in someplace more peaceful.

The flight was not much more interesting this time.

Standing in a close orbit to Osonia, they caught some changes, which was of course normal from the accumulated subjective time. There was nothing wrong with that. The planet was also different from when Spears and the others had landed on it.

But then something very strange happened - they spotted a military shuttle also standing in close orbit around the planet. They decided to look them over from a safe distance. Spears had also decided to make subjective jumps in hopes of getting a lock on the Governor. So far, it wasn't working out for him. Gordon was still going to show up sometime.

Spears also spotted 'Emsiru'. He immediately guessed that a similar shuttle was most likely coming from Zegandaria. But just in case, he ordered battle readiness.

Soon signals were exchanged between the ships and they guessed they were friendly.

Miraculously, Gordon's ship materialized between them. This he could not have foreseen. Instantly they fired on the engines. And the interron fuel ignited. The ship slowly began to ‘lose’ altitude and plummet into deep space. On board it was most likely the Governor. With his engines damaged, he had nowhere to escape even if he catapulted a life capsule. Spears chased him down with one of the shuttles. Kenji didn't bother him. It was pointless to include him. A short time later, the Governor was captured. As was his protégé, Chris Zonrethis.

The two of them were taken into a special room covered in hyon fiber where the interrogations began. The governor was beaten and tortured with special devices, but despite the pain he confessed nothing. Their surprise when they realized that Chris was an android and not a human was immense. They removed the deity chip from his head along with the hyon chip.

The greatest computer specialist was Jonathan Hearns, and he quickly set about decoding the encrypted information. It was interesting to say here that the data chips were an older technology, but Gordon had presciently transferred all the valuable information to the ion chip.

- 'We need special equipment to break the hyon chip, which I'm not sure will be found on Osonia,' called Herns. 'There may be another way, but it will take longer.'

- 'How much?,' he was asked in chorus.

- 'Maybe roughly four hundred zegandarian years,' he replied.

- 'That's too many,' was Spears' reply. 'But it's not fair to judge it before we've gathered the full evidence.'

- You know, we could leave the decryption machine and do a few jumps with subjective time. In that time, the password cracking will be done.

Speech-steady.

They installed the machine in Tubur Nog's cave, which is where they found his riches. When they returned after four hundred years, they found all the information decrypted:

'You who listen to this information should know that no one is insured of being judged by the people's wrath. My son Viar was assigned as a superintendent at Labor Colony 206, I never saw him. My grandson Andrew Dislan doesn't know me either. I, Gordon Elmbaum, take responsibility for my actions, but the circumstances surrounding those actions should be clarified. As we know, this war was started for slightly different motives than officially stated. If you look where you need to, you will see that I am not lying to you. But what became the main reason for the conflict was precisely the opportunity to reap maximum dividends with minimum effort. What do I mean? I was not alone in my deeds, I was assisted by Keith Endwalk, the son of an old friend of mine. He was the reason Diomede Base fell. But no one suspected him because he cleverly combined his part of the plan with the Guarron attack. Jacob wanted revenge on his own people for all the wrongs they had done him. There you see, although I am the mastermind, I am not the only culprit. Besides, Chris Zonrethis was acting under my pressure the whole time, not realizing he was an android. The riches I hid on Osonia are only a fraction of all my wealth that I never managed to transport. It's in an underground bunker, right where Sergeant Zorin's men were killed in the attempted assault and the guarrons were killed.'

Those present looked around. They stared in amazement at Dislan, who had bowed his head, flushed with shame. He could not bear such humiliation. All his life he had lived with this burden. No one set out to attack him. On the contrary. But he slipped away unnoticed and burst his skull into an adjacent gallery. They tried to stop him, but it was too late. Gabriel burst into tears when he saw his lover's bloodied face. He seemed to be more at ease now than in life. Even Spears was touched.

Elmbaum was taken from his cell aboard the ship. His eyes were hooded, and his expression was more than serious.

Spears met him. Their eyes met. Elmbaum said nothing. Then suddenly he asked:

- 'Was it he?,' his voice was simply unrecognizable.

- 'Yes, it's your dead grandson,' confirmed the admiral, who could not sympathise with such a vile creature as Gordon, but at the same time was trying to put himself in his place.

He pulled back to leave him for a moment with the dead man. Gordon carefully felt the body. He did indeed recognize his own blood. In the curve of his lips and on his cheekbones, but mostly in his eyes. Those were Viar's eyes.

- 'I have lost my son and my grandson,' Gordon moaned, crushed by the weight of his terrible fate.

- 'Governor,' Spears told him later, giving him some time to compose himself, 'your wealth has been confiscated for the benefit of the survivors of the unfortunate war. Their families will be fully compensated. They too have lost their children.'

Gordon was silent. He had nothing to say. He looked at Chris's open head, the android he had created in his own image, and sighed heavily.

- 'You have defeated me, General, and you, Rear Admiral,' he spoke rather heavily.

- 'I have a question, though?,' interjected Kenji. 'What happened to the crew of the Enzoria?'

- 'The crew is safe, but only if you let me go,' Gordon replied cheekily.

Kenji barely refrained from smashing his face.

- 'You mean you kidnapped them as insurance?,' the rear admiral asked outside himself.

Even through the tears, which were genuine as far as his dead son and grandson were concerned, Gordon was dangerous.

- 'I'll tell you where they are, but only on one condition,' he whispered confidentially.

- 'I'm not sure you're in a position to make any conditions,' Spears pronounced gravely.

- 'I want my ashes scattered over my native Zegandaria,' the governor pronounced with anguish.

They all gasped. They did not believe it to be a trick. The request was too personal.

- 'Well, well, where are they?,'