by Kumar L
“Oh, what the hell! If the two of you have not had enough so far and want to commit communal suicide, who the hell am I to stand in your way! The Chairman had better watch out for us.”
Anara said a silent prayer. She had her allies with her. It was time to finish the operation. It was time for retribution.
Epilogue
RyHiza sat with its closest advisors. The Discat was in disarray. A quarter of its leaders had switched sides and joined the Chairman. The war was at a stalemate, but there were reports that the enemy was gearing up for a final push.
It looked out of the windows wearily. The verdant green and blue of the city of Nova Zephyss had been devastated. All that remained were ruins. The daily bombardments from the sky and the terrorist attacks had taken a heavy toll. Half the population had moved out to safer locations in the distant towns and villages. The waterways were choked with debris. There was little food for its people.
“There has been no progress on the eastern front, Ducas,” said its aide, using the official title for RyHiza. “Our forces continue to retreat. Very soon the enemy will be at our door. We must plan to abandon the city. It is indefensible. At least, let us shift what is left of the Discat to a safer location so we may continue the fight.”
One year was all the TrueKif had taken to overrun the mighty Vrakss nation, overwhelming RyHiza and the Discat’s army. RyHiza detested the doctrine of the TrueKif, but nurtured a grudging admiration for their leader who had raised its own army in complete secrecy. The TrueKif had destroyed the peace gained over many generations, throwing the entire planet into civil war.
I am out of resources. I am out of time. We are out of options. Even if Anara has received my message, she might already be too late to save KifrWyss. And if the mercenaries have been successful on Earth, will she even be able to persuade her government to help an enemy planet?
“We will not abandon Nova Zephyss at any cost. This city stands for justice and the unity of the entire KifrWyss people. If this is to be my grave, then so be it. We will make our last stand here and we will make it now.”
◆◆◆
“The telescopic array on HuZryss has been destroyed as per your orders, my Arch,” said PiYena continuing his report. “You were right, disabling it was not enough. We were able to conclusively determine that, despite our efforts in damaging the array, RyHiza still managed to send a signal to Earth. But that is no longer possible for anyone.”
“What about the human hostages from HuZryss?” growled the Chairman.
“They are still at our prison compound, back on Voxis. Shall I get them executed?”
“No!” the Chairman thundered. “The forty-seven humans must not come to any harm. When we take over Nova Zephyss, I will personally execute them one by one. Then I will send their heads back to Earth. That will be the last trip ever between the two worlds. Earth and that nation, France, have outlived their usefulness. When are my mercenaries, Jur and Biw, expected back?”
“We have not received any news, my Arch. It will be another few months. My people are looking for them.”
“See that they get a hero’s welcome, then execute Jim. If he can attack his own people, he can betray me. No loose ends. Once this war is over, we will start our glorious work of building a new society on KifrWyss. From the ashes of Vrakss will rise the new TrueKif nation!”
Dear Reader,
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Thank you,
Kumar
Coming Soon
Earth To Centauri: Civil War
A blind captain. A ruthless enemy. An alien planet at war. The final mission.
Captain Anara and her crew limp towards the planet HuZryss in the Alpha Centauri star system. Spaceship Antariksh is low on fuel and damaged from its encounter with the black hole.
The world of KifrWyss is in turmoil. Its cities destroyed. Thousands killed in the civil war. Its population desperate for succour. Anara must now take sides in a war which is not her own. She decides to help the Discat and RyHiza against the forces of the enigmatic ‘Chairman’, leader of the TrueKif terrorists.
Anara must snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But first, she must make an impossible choice—should she use her nuclear weapons and end the war at the cost of destroying half the planet, or should she instead engage in a stealth mission against the ‘Chairman’ even if it means asking her crew to make the supreme sacrifice?
The ‘Chairman’, however, has other plans, none of which involve allowing Anara to leave the planet alive.
Glossary
Light year – The distance that light travels in one year. It takes eight minutes for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth, also referred to as Astronomical Unit or AU.
Faster than Light (FTL) – Nothing can theoretically travel faster than light. However, all science fiction writers assume that this barrier will be broken some day and that man will be able to reach the stars in FTL spaceships like ‘Antariksh’.
Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri – This is the three star solar system, which is closest to Earth at 4.2 Light years away. It will take us approximately 40 years to reach with current rocket ships.
Proxima B – A planet supposed to exist in the Alpha Centauri star system, which may be suitable to support life.
Voyager 1 – This is a space probe launched by the USA’s NASA on September 5, 1977. Part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System.
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/
Golden Record – A 12-inch gold-plated copper disk engraved with sounds and images from Earth carried on board Voyager to share details of life on Earth with extraterrestrials.
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/
Radio Telescope – A special antenna that sends and receives radio signals from space.
Electromagnetic Waves (EM) –Waves in electromagnetic fields like radio, microwaves, light, etc.
Goldilocks zone – A habitable zone near a star where the temperature and other conditions are suitable for life, like the Earth.
Black Hole – A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting gravity so strong that nothing can escape from it, not even light. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole.
Event Horizon – In general relativity, an event horizon is a boundary in spacetime around a black hole from which light cannot escape. It may also be the region where the accretion disc of a black hole forms.
Singularity – According to classical physics theory, at the centre of a black hole the density is infinite because all the matter is compressed into zero volume, a one-dimensional state. Hence the name - singularity.
Anti-matter – Antimatter particles share the same mass as their matter counterparts, but with an opposite electric charge. For example, the positively charged positron, is the antiparticle to the negatively charged electron. When matter and antimatter come into contact they annihilate each other releasing enormous amounts of energy.
Wormhole – A wormhole is a theoretical concept or structure that links two separate points in spacetime much like a tunnel with two ends. Also known as Einstein-Rosen bridges.
Time Dilation – In the theory of special relativity, time slows down for anything that moves. The faster we go, the more time slows down when compared to a clock at rest. Time, therefore, is relative, not absolute.
