The end of a legend (STAR-DUST 20) E-Book

Jens F. Simon

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

Seitenzahl: 87

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Sigurd's nanite body begins to change. The nanites begin to degenerate and multiply uncontrollably. At the same time, important cell components simply die off. Have the tablets of fate left him a Janus gift? Was it the brief fusion with a Lifebot that caused the changes in his body nanites? Sigurd is doomed to die. Saviier, specialist and Gravo designer, suggests sending him back through the artificial black hole in his castle to where he once came from. It is his only chance. But it also means that he has to say goodbye to Alethea. When Sigurd wakes up again after the passage, he is in his human body and lying in his bed. It is the year 2018.

Leseprobe

STAR-DUST

Under the spell of nanites

Volume 20

The end of a legend

© 2025 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: 978-3-819032-82-0

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.

One day you wake up and feel that you can no longer control your body properly. Your memory fails you and you no longer know your surroundings. Someone else is controlling you and using your body. You are only a spectator. Your ego is banished to the depths of your subconscious. You believe there is no way back. You believe that insanity has a firm grip on you. What can you do? Do you want to do anything at all to change this situation again?

Table of content

Body nanite fight

In the Virtual Reality Center

Survival essential

Saviier's suggestion

The farewell

Space and time

The arrival

The SCIFI Freak

Body nanite fight

I had just teleported and was standing in the middle of Professor Yout’jang's office when I felt downright woozy.

My whole body seemed to be without power for seconds and I let myself slide into one of the hover chairs that was right in front of me, groaning.

"That really was a last second rescue. I just hope the Lifebot made it too!"

I heard Alethea's thoughtful voice as if through a fog.

"You must mean Fraank's consciousness. The Lifebot body has most definitely been destroyed."

I had slight problems concentrating, but the last few minutes in the erupting inferno were still burned in my mind's eye. Only now did I begin to look around slowly.

The room's lighting had dimmed to minimal. A gray in gray gloom surrounded me.

I felt Alethea's body Xxiin begin to separate from my body nanites.

Alethea's outline emerged immediately in front of me as another gray silhouette in space. I felt nauseous.

The sudden drop in blood pressure caused a temporary undersupply of oxygen to the brain.

The retina restricted its ability to function due to the lack of supply. The visual cells were literally "switched off," which manifested itself in my suddenly going black before my eyes.

I would have almost toppled off the chair if Alethea had not reflexively held me.

"Sigurd, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know. I already felt so strange after the jump. Now, when our bodies separated, I felt like I was having a circulatory collapse. But that's impossible. My body nanites prevent that. They constantly regenerate all the important organs. Such a thing should not normally happen."

I looked up at her a little uncertainly. She was standing in front of me and now stretched her arms out to me.

"I guess the nervous strain you've been under lately has been too much for your body nanites, too. Come here, take me in your arms!"

As I looked into her brightly shining eyes framed with dark blue eye shadow, I forgot all my problems.

I held Alethea tightly in my arms and didn't want to let her go.

We kissed each other long and continuously. I smelled the delicate peach scent of her body, which I liked so much since our first meeting in Tenerife, and let my feelings run free.

I don't know how long we stood together so closely entwined, in any case, at some point I heard an initially quiet clearing of the throat, which was repeated several times.

I opened my eyes and noticed that it was as bright as day in the room.

Alethea was also surprised; I could tell by her suddenly dilated pupils.

Reluctantly, I let go of her and withdrew my right palm from her bottom.

"I wouldn't have expected that now, an apparently amorous couple in my office!"

Professor Yout’jang stood in the doorway, looking in our direction with a cynical grin.

"I know that face. Isn't that Paurusa!"

It sounded more like an observation. Of course, Yout’jang had recognized us both immediately.

"That was Paurusa. It was the only way we could escape the inferno. Now we're just Sigurd and Alethea again," I replied impulsively, not paying attention to his facial expressions.

"To what do I owe the returning honor of your visit?"

Professor Yout’jang walked with measured steps past us toward the desk that stood directly behind me. As he did so, he did not take his eyes off Alethea. I felt like a bum caught making out.

"A lot has happened since we last met."

I tried to get my thoughts in order.

"We actually just came to ask about Fraank, too," Alethea replied, taking the notebook from my hand.

Yout’jang mine changed abruptly.

"What makes you think this Fraank is here with me?"

This time it was my turn to grin ironically.

"Fraank told me everything. We were together in the tower-like structure on ENMERKAR. You remember? The expedition to the neighboring continent. Fraank, the conditioned Lifebot, equipped with a portable Karyo radiation safe!"

Yout’jang looked me in the face with a fixed stare. I felt as if he was trying to look behind my brow.

I noticed from his demeanor that a retort was on the tip of his tongue, but it never came.

He was distracted by a frantically flashing light on his desk. The Virtual Visible Table System, or VVT for short, established contact without his intervention.

A small hologram appeared on the tabletop directly in front of him. It showed a male person in a gray and white coat.

At the same time, I also heard the voice: "Professor Yout’jang, please come as soon as possible to the Stasi Chamber VI, Sector 18. Classification Level Omega. Your presence there is urgently needed."

As Yout’jang slowly rose again from his place behind the table on which he had just settled, he asked in my direction in a forced calm voice, "What exactly happened?"

He was now standing in front of us, apparently expecting a detailed situation report. I could not give him that, of course.

The little I could remember did not necessarily concern the expedition.

I looked at Alethea questioningly.

"Sigurd and I teleported when the entire structure were about to be destroyed. We had to leave Fraank behind in the process. That's all we can tell you now. But I think Fraank's consciousness can. According to his own statement, he should now be back in his original body. The Lifebot was most likely destroyed."

I nodded in agreement, then realized my mistake and said aloud, "Yes it is. That is why we are here. I would ask that we be able to speak with the Akkattarier Fraank. I am in his debt. He saved my life, so to speak."

"Yes, and mine as well," Alethea added hastily.

Professor Yout’jang seemed to consider for a moment.

"Come with me. You got the call, didn't you? Stasis Chamber VI, Sector 18, that's Fraank's resting chamber. It does seem that he has awakened."

Professor Yout’jang did not wait for us to decide, but already turned toward the exit.

The elevator first took us back to the actual building of the Virtual Reality Center.

I had only a vague memory of where I had woken up after passing through the black hole here.

In any case, the room we now entered still looked familiar.

What struck me immediately, however, was the fact that there were no normal beds here, but regular reclining machines.

These were lying surfaces, which were almost completely integrated into a technological equipment. I counted exactly four such machine blocks, but only one was occupied by an Akkattarier body. They were placed in pairs on the left and right sides of the wall.

Yout’jang immediately walked up to it as well. Two male Akkattarier in gray and white coats were already approaching him.

"The body functions are slowly beginning to stabilize again. For a short period of time, it looked like we were going to lose him. Something extremely stressful to his psyche must have happened to the Lifebot. The neural symbol server indicated a clear rash of a death experience. Fraank's consciousness will come to in a few minutes, and then we will know more."

I listened silently to the staff member's explanation.

"Are there any other unusual observations? Anything that might be causally attributed to the Karyo radiation safe?"

The two staff members looked questioningly at Professor Yout’jang.

"No. We don't have any more data, anyway."

Alethea and I were standing to the side of the professor when a loud groan came from Fraank's mouth.

All eyes turned to him. With a jerk, his eyes opened abruptly. Alethea pushed past and was now standing right next to the couch. Fraank's gaze immediately locked on her.

"It's all right. You're safe. The flames are in the past!"

I had never heard her speak so empathetically before.

A smile conjured itself on Alethea's face, causing the tension in Fraank's body to immediately recede.

His features, which had been rigid a moment ago, softened and a soft sigh came out of his mouth.

"That's good. I'm back in my body."

He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, I could see more life energy in them again.

"Professor, I'm not going through that again. Karyo radiation safe or not. Burning alive and doing it while fully conscious isn't exactly what I had in mind when I agreed to the transfer."

Fraank tried to straighten his torso, but immediately dropped back.

"Not so hasty, my young friend. Your body does need some consideration after the stasis. For now, lie still and let the neuronal analytics do their work."

As if in confirmation, I suddenly heard a low hum from the apparatus that surrounded two-thirds of Fraank's body.

A bright green, broad beam of light, fanned across his exposed torso.

One of the Akkattarier in a gray and white coat was operating the medical scanner. I was about to thank Fraank again for helping Alethea and me so unselfishly and freely.

But when I saw that he had closed his eyes again and had apparently fallen asleep, I let it go. I would probably have plenty of time to talk to him in the next few days.

I was startled out of my thoughts when Alethea made herself known to me telepathically.

"Sigurd, we really need to talk. I want to know everything that happened after you disappeared so easily before my eyes. I especially don't like the fate tablets thing at all, in retrospect."

I didn't know what she meant by that.

For now, I was just glad that those darn tablets were no longer in my right shoulder.

"Yes, we should talk," I returned telepathically as well.

I suddenly felt weak and downright drained. I desperately needed some rest.

Perhaps I would be able to persuade Professor Yout’jang to give us both a room in the Virtual Reality Center, as a temporary refuge, so to speak.

"Fraank's consciousness is now going through a phase of regeneration. This is all the more important because he experienced a near-death experience in the body of the Lifebot."

Yout’jang spoke to Alethea and me while the two assistants read and logged data on the neural analyzer.

"We will wait until he recovers from the traumatic experience. Is it possible for you to provide us with a room by which we can also retreat for a period? As you can imagine, Alethea and I have not all come to terms with the events of the past few days either."

Yout’jang looked at me with a questioning look.