The Destruction of the Japetus Base (STAR-DUST 10) E-Book

Jens F. Simon

• Herausgeber: epubli
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 89

Beschreibung

Sigurd and Alethea want to return to the year 2019, but due to the attack of two mages they are transported to the year 2080. Here the alien machinery of the Zetschn'cha is not yet active and they cannot undertake another time transfer. Sigurd will re-find the no longer existing MBF organization under the name Paurusa. The headquarters will again be MAITRI, the Japetus station. Sigurd is determined to prevent MAITRI from being destroyed in 2148. To do so, he uses the stasis field in the Artifact City to travel 68 years into the future. Can he save the station without causing a time paradox?

Leseprobe

STAR-DUST

Under the spell of nanites

Volume 10

The Destruction of the Japetus Base

© 2024 Jens F. Simon

Illustration: S. Verlag JG

Publisher: S. Verlag JG, 35767 Breitscheid,

All rights reserved

Distributed by: epubli a service of neopubli GmbH, Berlin

ISBN: 978-3-818751-89-0

The work, including its parts, is protected by copyright. Any exploitation without the consent of the publisher and the author is prohibited and will be prosecuted under criminal and civil law. This applies to electronic or other reproduction, translation, distribution and making available to the public.

Table of content

MAITRI

The manipulated time energy

Stranded

The lonely Japetus Station

Confrontation in 2080

The new MBF organization

Time stasis

Attack of the Mernchen

The rescue of MAITRI

Time is your greatest enemy. You are on a narrow path in between. What exactly this means, you can only guess, but never know. Should you ever arrive at your destination, your mind will no longer understand where you are and what you wanted. The certainty that your life so far has not been meaningless will be displaced by the satisfaction of doing it all over again, should you get the chance. 

MAITRI

Time had no meaning for them. The rooms and corridors, hallways, lounges and living quarters stood empty and deserted since he was gone. There had been no organic life in the station since.

Sir Arthur Newkraft had been the last person to leave it, having disbanded the remaining remnant of the MBF organization in 2030.

Their Ish'all had died on Earth a year later at the proud age of 89. MAITRI counted the two hundred and thirty-first orbit of the moon Japetus around its planet Saturn since then.

It had been fifty years almost to the day today that Sir Arthur had left her. The consciousness of the living station had been in stasis ever since, and it dreamed.

It dreamed of the time with the humans. How it all began, back in 2018, when a certain Sigurd Westall was tracking a dinghy of aliens called Mernchen that had abducted his two colleagues Mark Merlin and Selin Wiegand on Earth.

Their destination had been Saturn's moon Japetus. There their damaged spaceship lay hidden in a huge alien station called MAITRI.

The ensuing battle for the station and the intervention of the Venusian station TRISHARANA had been only the beginning of a new era for MAITRI.

As a material hologram she had enough initiative to inspire the people, above all Sir Arthur Newkraft, for herself. She had always pursued only one goal.

She had already existed on Saturn's moon for over 1000 years. She had lost her memories of the time before, of her emergence. Only the loneliness had remained and ate itself into her soul.

Then, all at once the change when the alien race of Mernchen had appeared.

They besieged the station for almost two years and behaved very strangely. They cut their communication possibilities and condemned the station to passivity. Then came their liberator, Ish'all, the guardian of the incomprehensible power.

He called himself Sigurd Westall and with him also came her sister PAURUSHEYA, the organic spaceship.

It was a heroic time full of new impressions and constantly changing situations.

MAITRI was dreaming her dream. The station was newly discovered by the people of Earth, first Sir Arthur Newkraft. He also had the incomprehensible power. The MBF organization was founded. Its main goal at first was to stop the infiltration of Earth by the Mernchen, who pursued their selfish purposes and thus posed a threat to Earth.

Together with the Queen of the Xxiin, a people consisting of organic nanites, and the Venusian fortress TRISHARANA, Sigurd Westall and the MBF also succeeded in the end in driving them off Earth.

In the further course the MBF organization defined itself under the leadership of Sir Arthur.

It was to monitor and control any extraterrestrial activity within the solar system.

MAITRI remembered the last day before Sigurd disappeared. His disappearance without a trace was a great mystery to everyone and caused the downfall of the organization that had just been formed.

MAITRI was sure that an extraterrestrial power must be behind all the aftermaths. Unfortunately, Sir Arthur could not share her view, and as much as she tried to gather circumstantial evidence to support her claim, in the end all efforts were in vain.

Even when the organic spaceship PAURUSHEYA also disappeared, the right conclusions were not drawn by those responsible.

As a result, even Venus Station sealed itself off from the outside world by a dimensional field and could no longer be reached.

The Japetus Station, as MBF headquarters, was thus deprived of its right to exist.

It had no more spaceships to guarantee the necessary mobility within the solar system. Only the transmitter connection from the station to Earth still existed, but this was too little to guarantee an effective monitoring of the solar system.

MAITRI, the Japetus Station, began to dream of the time when the first specialists were recruited.

They were men and women from the special MI5 unit led by the Scottish ex-major George Foulend, a friend of Sir Arthur's.

>MAITRI materialized right in front of Sigurd Westall and the Xxiin Xaa in the middle of the long corridor.

"Ish'all, greetings. I sensed your presence here in the station immediately, although your cellular core radiation has changed. What happened?"

The human embodiment of Japetus Station stood in the corridor and faced Sigurd with a smile.

"This is a somewhat longer story. First, I'd like to speak to Sir Arthur. Where can I reach him?"

"Just follow me, I'll take you to him!"

Sir Arthur and Sigurd met for the last time in Sir Arthur's private chambers.

"Perhaps we should get the rest of the old troupe to join our conversation as well!"

Sigurd placed his glass on the small table in front of the window and sat down. Sir Arthur turned to face him.

"Mark and Selin are currently on Earth scanning Life-Int-Ltd. with some MI5 people for any other Mernchen. But Amanda could join us."

"No, never mind, I've changed my mind after all. It doesn't really matter either. What do you know about the two super-Earths?"

Sir Arthur frowned and looked at him questioningly. Sigurd held out a newspaper clipping to him.

"There's no such thing!"

Sir Arthur skimmed the article and frowned again.

"Do you really think there are these two giant dark planets in our solar system?"

"I'm going to make a strong assumption that they wouldn't have published this article if there wasn't something to it."

"It would be the greatest discovery since Columbus, nay, since the discovery of fire." Sir Arthur drew a deep breath.

"I wish I could go with you."

"Why not?"

He finished his glass in one draught. "Well, as you may have noticed, I'm just getting the new MBF organization up and running with the help of MI5 and my old friend George Foulend. We're in the middle of setting it up, and I don't want to interrupt my work here for a second!"

"Amanda could join you!"

"Arthur, I think we'll leave it alone altogether. After all, this isn't a mission against a threat to the solar system. I'm flying the Xxiin ship into the Oort Cloud by myself. It must have been a stupid idea of mine to take anyone else with me!" Sigurd backed down. <

MAITRI had overheard every word then, although Sir Arthur's privacy was normally protected by her.

Even without the logic evaluation of her positronic control brain, it was immediately clear to her that something particularly serious had occurred in the aftermath on the super-Earth the Ish'all was visiting.

Sigurd Westall had not returned from there.

The Xxiin, above all guide Xaa, had looked for him for weeks, but had not found him.

When Amanda disappeared, the beginning of the end of the newly founded MBF organization was set.

The thoughts of the living station flowed sluggishly. Every single detail of the events of that time was repeated, as if she was caught in an endless loop.

> "MAITRI, it doesn't look good. The Queen of the Xxiin has let me know that she will now finally stop the search for Sigurd."

Sir Arthur stood in front of the material hologram, holding onto his cane with both hands as if there was no real support left in his life other than himself.

"Can you please inform Amanda, Mark Merlin and Selin Wiegand that I expect them in briefing room III in ten minutes!"

He had to inform them that Sigurd had been given up. His own hands were tied in this regard, since PAURUSHEYA had also not reported in for a week and they had no other spacecraft at their disposal.

Queen Yiilyix had retreated with her two ships to Venus.

Only now did it really become clear to anyone at all that the Japetus moon was perhaps not the optimal location after all.

Sir Arthur felt a leaden fatigue in his old bones as he reached Briefing Room III. Mark and Selin were already present, only Amanda was missing.

"Arthur, you won't believe this, but one of our reconnaissance parties has discovered huge manufacturing facilities southwest of here at the so-called top of the station. They extend over 20 stories deep into the ridge."

Mark Merlin seemed visibly excited and had immediately approached Sir Arthur as he stepped through the now opening bulkhead.

For a month now, ten squads of 12 men and women each had been out mapping the huge station. With a width of 500 meters and a length of 2 kilometers as well as a height of almost 1000 meters, this was no easy undertaking. It was assumed that there were about 200 floors.

Even MAITRI had to admit that she did not have access to all floors and rooms.

That this was so, she could not explain herself. In any case, this information, mentioned in passing, was the reason for Sir Arthur to send all available MBF agendas on a reconnaissance mission, especially since they had little else to do now.       

The manipulated time energy

The two Zetschn'cha held up their wands and pointed them at me at the exact moment I released the magical time energy and teleported at the same time.

Something hit my body and my consciousness suspended.

Slowly I came to again.

My conscious mind crawled to the surface of its immaterial being authorization. A lightless darkness surrounded me. Then, like a beacon from another dimension, I saw the light.

At first still small and inconspicuous it became larger and larger. A round ball of light the size of the head of a pin moved towards me and became increasingly larger.

A fluid of billowing white light surrounded it. When I thought the ball of light, now the size of a soccer, was within my grasp, a strong aura of feeling emanated from it.

I spontaneously felt extremely pervaded and intoxicated by this light.

I was still a bit confused when the voice spoke to me. "Sigurd, I have a headache. But that's not possible at all since I don't have a head at all right now. That means you have a headache!"

I recognized Alethea from the voice pattern and immediately my memory resumed accompanied by a very strong headache.

The bright ball of light I thought I saw was nothing other than the spiritual embodiment of Alethea, who was currently in my body.

For her, I also had to have the form of a ball of light. Our communication took place telepathically and thus on purely mental level. Why did I still have a headache?

My body nanites should have intervened long ago. Where was I anyway? Why couldn't I see anything through my eyes?

"The two wizards, you remember? They attacked us just before we teleported. Something hit our bodies."