The Planetary Union (STAR-DUST 7) E-Book

Jens F. Simon

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

Seitenzahl: 97

Beschreibung

Sigurd is put into a time stasis by the stasis ray of a starting alien machinery on one of the two newly discovered super earths in the solar system. He manages to free himself and learns that a long period of time has passed. Two hundred and fifty years later, the solar system and humanity are an integrated part of a union consisting of five planetary systems. The MbF organization, newly established in 2019, seems to have ceased to exist. Mysterious occurrences are shaking the native civilization. It seems that sorcerous powers and black magic are at play. Sigurd picks up a trail. As events unfold, it appears that a high-tech machine is responsible.

Leseprobe

STAR-DUST

Under the spell of nanites

Volume 7

The Planetary Union

© 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: 978-3-818727-16-1

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

The newspaper article

The discovery

Beyond time

Anno 2268

History

Magic and sorcery

The raid

Venus Refuge

The hideout

When the world is no longer the one you thought you knew, when you lose your footing, when your body fails you, when everything you held sacred breaks, then, my friend, you embark on a tremendous adventure that breaks the boundaries of the traditional, even the boundaries of the universe.

Be of good courage and open heart, then you will find what no one has ever found before, immortality. 

The newspaper article

"What a dream! I awoke only slowly from a long and fantastic dream world. Still a bit dazed from the experience, I blinked into the first sunbeams of the beginning new day.

I lay as usual in my bed, which was in my youth room in the house of my parents.

I gazed pensively at the hundreds of science fiction books neatly lined up on the bookshelves that hung on the wall around my bed.

I tried to remember which book I had been reading late into the night when it burst upon me like a natural disaster; it had not been a dream at all, it was reality.

Everything! I swallowed hard and tried to inhale forcefully at the same time, which resulted in me almost choking on my own spit.

A short and violent coughing fit finally made me come to and wake up.

My adventures of the past few months stood engraved in my memories like a beacon.

PAURUSHEYA, the organic spaceship I had fallen madly in love with and had just like that exchanged me for the Xxiin people with Queen Yiilyix as their head. Since she was apparently descended from the Xxiin, this was probably not particularly difficult for her.

There was the fight against the alien invasion of the Mernchen, there were my new friends Sir Arthur Newcraft, Mark Merlin, Selin Wiegand and Amanda Lerch, former agents of the Life-Int-Ltd. My memories rolled over and my thoughts lingered on the last events that had taken place before I decided to simply turn back time and move back into my old childhood home.

I had lost my body, or rather, I had died, been shot, if it hadn't been for them. I would have to live with them for the rest of my life, as they had now become the main component of my body, nanites.

Nanobots, partly artificial, partly probably organic, had saved my life by starting to replace my body cells.

They gradually took over all the functions of my organs and multiplied exponentially fast.

Within seconds, they had regenerated the normally fatal injuries caused by the bullets and the laser beam by replacing the destroyed cells and taking over their functions.

Except for Amanda, no one from the newly formed MBF organization knew anything about it yet.

Not even Sir Arthur. I had asked for some time off and had first moved back to the renovated house of my late parents.

Back to where I had lived since birth.

After the necessary renovations had been completed, I had arrived here yesterday. Today I was going to see Delian, my old friend from my youth. He and his wife ran a small pub in the village.

I had visited him once with Alethea, the material hologram of PAURUSHEYA.

That had been at the very beginning of our relationship, which was probably over now. I hadn't really gotten over it yet, or better put; I probably wouldn't get over it anytime soon. I just missed her.

I got up and looked around my room. I used to get goosebumps every time I looked at all the books.

I imagined what it was like to have adventures among the stars, fighting evil aliens and winning as a hero. Somehow, though, they had lost all their fascination now.

Frowning, I walked over to the new bathroom. I desperately needed to switch off and come back from the unnatural things I had experienced.

But now, as I stood naked in front of the bathroom mirror, I unconsciously looked for the changes in myself, but couldn't really notice them at first.

I changed my visual acuity and initiated the macro view. Macro vision, that was also one of the new things I had to accept about myself as well.

My gaze focused on my abdomen and although I expected it, the shock was unexpected.

I saw millions, no billions of nanites scurrying about, -next to- and on top of each other. My belly seemed to have become a seething, living organism and as I tried to imagine that the rest of my body looked similar, I sank to the floor with weak knees and needed several minutes to calm down again.

I remembered my subconscious saying that I was now quasi-potentially immortal.

I suppose that statement was supposed to reassure me, but it did just the opposite. It took me over an hour in the bathroom and to get dressed.

My hands trembled as I held them out and looked at them. My parents' rustic living room cabinet had a bar compartment built into it.

There were still a few opened bottles with high-proof contents.

Maybe I should drink a cognac to calm down. As I stood in front of the cupboard and was about to open the compartment, my stomach made itself known with a loud grumbling.

I had not yet eaten breakfast and to load the empty stomach immediately with alcohol, that would probably not make my stomach lining. I decided to go over to Delian's pub and have breakfast there.

He didn't know yet that I was here again and would surely be surprised to see me, after all it had been almost half a year since we had last seen each other.

I was about to leave the house when my eyes fell on several old newspapers lying folded on the first step of the stairs.

The cover page of the top newspaper caught my attention.

Next to a picture of a space telescope, it read in large letters, "Two Super-Earths Discovered in Solar System." I couldn't remember the newspapers; apparently construction workers had left them here.

I sat down on one of the steps and started reading the article, "The world's largest reflecting telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert has discovered two giant celestial bodies beyond Neptune and Pluto. These cold, dark super-Earths are up to four times the size of our Earth, but smaller than the gas giants Jupiter or Saturn. However, previous models of planet formation assumed that it was impossible for planets to form at this great distance from a sun. The existence of super-Earths was demonstrated when gravitational forces emanating from them were clearly established based on the unexpected orbital parameters of the many smaller objects within Oort's Cloud."

The paper was dated July 26, 2018, so the discovery was several months ago. I had to smile for a moment.

I was messing with aliens, even being abducted to another solar system, but barely knew the home solar system.

That had to change absolutely. In any case, I took it upon myself to have a closer look at these super earths.

My stomach announced itself already again with an unpleasant pulling.

Delian's pub "Zum Habicht" was only two hundred meters away from here. It was a sunny but cool morning. I glanced at my wristwatch. It was not even 08:00 yet.

Delian always opened very early in the morning, although there were almost no customers expected at that time.

I knew, however, that he and Anisha, his wife, always had breakfast in the taproom themselves at this time. In fact, I reached the pub the moment Delian unlocked the door.

"Man dude, so we meet again. Where are you from?" He looked past me outside for a moment.

"Are you alone? What's Alethea doing? Now come inside first," Delian pulled me by the shoulder into the taproom.

"It's a long story!"

I said nothing more at first and followed him to a table that was already set.

"Wait, I'll get another cup!" Delian dashed behind the counter.

"Anisha, come on, we have company!"

I was still standing when he returned with the cup and was just sitting down when Anisha entered the room through the door behind the counter.

"Hello Sigurd, this is quite a surprise. We haven't heard from you at all since the last time you visited us with Alethea!"

We hugged and she joined us at the table.

"Tell me, are you still working for that personal security company?"

Delian poured out the coffee. "What was it called?"

"Life-Int-Ltd," I replied.

"Yeah, right!"

I tried to put on a sheepish smile. Of course, I couldn't tell the truth. After all, very few people on this planet had heard about the alien threat from the Mernchen.

Delian and Anisha would think I was crazy, or at least wouldn't believe me, or think I was pulling their leg if I told them.

"How is Alethea?"

My expression darkened at the repeated mention of the name. Anisha, of course, noticed immediately. She surreptitiously winked at Delian, probably thinking I hadn't noticed.

"Let him be!" 

"No, no, it's okay. I'm not doing so well right now, you're quite right. Alethea and I broke up. Don't ask me why. I've decided to take some time off for now, and I'm going to do it here, at my parents' house."

I looked from Anisha to Delian.

"By the way, the renovation went well. Thanks again for taking care of it!"

Delian grinned at me. "Yeah, that had been one of those things when you had that bathtub crashing through the ceiling into the kitchen that time."

I just nodded and grabbed a croissant. Anisha looked at me a little pityingly but was otherwise silent.

I was glad not to have to elaborate further on my current life for the time being.

Here, in village life, not much had changed. Everything was still the same as it had been for years. The daily routines still seemed to be the same.

I could not get the article of the old daily paper about the two super earths out of my head.

As if by chance, my eyes fell on today's newspaper, which was also lying on the breakfast table. On the bottom half of the first page, a beat page again caught my attention.

"I may?"

Delian nodded at me in confirmation.

I took the newspaper and first read the headline: "Formations pose a mystery. Astronomers discover giant Martian clouds."

Immediately I thought of the space nanites that had settled in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

I got a little nervous and read on, "Researchers have discovered huge vapor formations rising to a height of 250 kilometers above the planet. A team of experts is trying to find explanations."

"Is something wrong? You look so disturbed!"

I ignored Delian's question at first and read on, "Astronomers have discovered very large plumes of steam or smoke over Mars. These extend to a height of about 250 kilometers above the planet's surface, towering above the familiar, ordinary Martian clouds. An international team of researchers has precisely measured the phenomenon and is now looking for explanations. According to current knowledge of the Martian atmosphere, ice crystals, dust or auroras cannot explain these mysterious formations. The known Mars clouds from carbon dioxide or water ice crystals reach up to a height of 100 kilometers, dust clouds occur only up to 60 kilometers over the surface and polar lights are so far up to a height of 130 kilometers observed. Scientists are faced with a riddle."

Were space nanites supposed to have taken on a life of their own and started exploring the solar system?

I had discovered them in the Xxiin solar system at that time, and since they had saved my life then, I had decided to take a certain number of them with me and settle them near Japetus Station as a possible protective field, so to speak.

Delian had noticed my interest in the article.

"Science has nothing else to do but deal with things that are happening so far away from us that every thought wasted on them means lost time. And the billions and billions that go into all this. Space flights, other planets, such nonsense. The ladies and gentlemen should rather take care of the old earth, of the people who starve to death every day or perish through some wars."

He began to talk himself into a rage.