The Children of Zegandaria, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov [first color ebook reader txt] 📗

He was giving the money, and the Doctor had for a long time thought he was doing things on his own. What a fool! So, wasn't that how everything in this world worked.

Equius had prepared a whole bag of arguments regarding his defense before the board. Yeah, he had to goad them a little, too - no way. Everything in this world came at a high and dear price. Any place in the so-called cyber realm was worth a lot of money.

It sounded a bit whacky, but Equius, being a good businessman, had even started selling off plots of land to willing geeks who wanted to own something - even if it was imaginary. Thus he was building a new and even very dangerous illusion - namely, that they were up to something in real life.

Poor naive people were ready to offer loads of credit, and the "real estate" business was growing. Equius was even willing to swear that he was doing this just with the idea of helping.

His fellow shareholders had been expecting him for a long time, and frankly they were sick of waiting for him - he was almost a quarter of an hour late. But the doctor's appointment couldn't be cancelled.

Equius' depth of thought had made him what he was now, given the fact that he'd been orphaned early on.

He trusted virtually no one. And the "City of Light" was his project. It was a peculiar symbiosis between a physical reality and a virtual one - and the treatment was chipping away at the population. The original idea was that once he could hide the undead underground, he controlled them.

The scary part was when they all learned of his intentions. But, as the saying went, judgement day would come and he would get his just deserts for his misdeeds.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE: THE PEOPLE OF ARTHASAN

Only a few separatists had a clear position and had united against the status quo. The people of Arthasan were neither technically backward nor technical geniuses. They aspired to see the real real life and fought against all virtual interferеnce by people like Equius or even Gad ‘Di Enn . Of course, they had to live outside the law - no way.

The more someone wanted to instill in them the fictional values of the future - the scarier it got. Deep down they just didn't want to be assimilated. It couldn't be otherwise.

The Arthasan people had what they called a code of honor, and they did everything in their power to follow it. Somewhere at the bottom of it all was the truth.

They should have fled far to the North back when the new political order was Announced. That alone could have saved them. But they knew that sooner or later it would get to them. It was a question of time. And a matter of money.

They knew about Om Gur Nal's deep fears, Ser Mac Zon's genetic experiments, and Gad ‘Di Enn 's new kind of virtual reality. And they were trying to do something, but frankly failing.

They were idealists of a sort, living in a world of their own that would collapse sooner or later once Om Gur Nal sent a real army against them. It was madness to live like that, but they hadn't seen anything else, and they didn't want to - to live in reality, but in a very limited part of it.

Casilio Vega was a very strange bird, nostalgic for the old days, which everyone thought were the best. Not that they had lived in it, not that they knew it.

They had even befriended some of the archaneans who told them from time to time what it had been like. It fueled them and gave them the strength to move forward with the confidence of Old Time explorers.

Casilio Vega was well aware that the Arthasan people would not be passed over by the wrath of higher powers, but he was giving it his best shot that it would not happen soon. And so the days passed leisurely.

But the people of arthasan had their own work to do - they had to work hard on themselves and their personal qualities. The more time passed, the lazier they became. Eventually they had become sages, but without seeing real life.

Om Gur Nal was aware of the existence of the separatist movement, but for now he let it develop mostly for political purposes, even reinforcing its mythical aura.

Casilio Vega was no fool, however - he quickly found sponsors from the outer planets and began to stock up on weapons - older ones at first, but very soon the latest models. The humans also went through a basic moral schooling on exactly what was required of them.

Then the Supreme Overlord began to take the growing threat more seriously.

Casilio Vega had initially taken over after a coup against the previous leader, who, in the majority's view, was simply not up to the job.

They had hung him with Zeretie ropes and he had stiffEned - then they dangled his corpse for two or three days for the edification of the others. This is how Casilio earned his reputation as a serious man and no one thought them empty dredgers.

The next step was to establish deeper contacts with the inner planets past Zegandaria, where there were similar separatist movements. Their leaders readily agreed to help them.

Then Om Gur Nal was really worried now. This threat had to be nipped in the bud, but he was too busy with his old enemy the Archmistress and his cousin, the Duchess of Learnia, and also with his other adversaries.

It was too much for him to fight on so many fronts, but something still had to be done.

He tried to intimidate them by killing Casilio Vega - but it was unsuccessful.

The rebels only grew angrier from it. And since then, Om Gur Nal has had one more еnemy. He knew full well that his end was coming.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO: THE BOARD MEETING

The majority of the co-actors didn't even really know Equius - his swagger and mysteriousness intimidated the others. But he wasn't in a hurry to stick the knife in them yet-he needed them. The closer the negotiations got, the more he realized what was brewing.

They greeted him with cold and calculating satisfaction. They had expected him to be late, and he was.

They didn't want to get straight to the main point, but to give him a little more time, to study him - they looked like predators, but Equius clearly knew they were just cannon fodder. And he was going to tear them apart piece by piece.

Alsengar Abrams, the oldest and most experienced member of the board, was the first to call. He was of noble lineage and knew that background makes others have one thing in mind for you.

- The market is not living up to our expectations, we will soon have to sell out at much lower prices. Maybe even at a loss! Think carefully - our products are contrived to say the least, and we've barely gotten a license to trade with some of the planets in the so-called Outer Ring - he stammered and even started spitting saliva like a spoiled garden hose - he was that angry.

Equius didn't interrupt them because he wanted to hear their arguments through. He would return that 'verbal fire' later. Plus, he might learn something new.

"The weird bugs in level five virtual reality make it unstable and frankly dangerous to manipulate," one of them began unexpectedly.

- "But hasn't anyone been there?," Equius didn't bother to call.

- "Not exactly," the other one refuted him. "Yes, technically you're right, but Om Gur Nal conducts his operations there, and we are the guarantors of their security."

Equius was about to forget his good menners for a moment and mutter "Ya, again..." but he steeled himself and kept his mouth shut. Apparently, Om Gur Nal was also relying financially on this same level by using it as a base for his financial operations. The question was, how were they accomplished since no one else had access to it.

Equius refused to beat his head over this as yet unsolvable question, which resembled questions like "And is the universe infinite?" - something that even now in the year 293506 had no unanimous answer. Scientists were simply expanding the diameter of the so-called observable universe.

The other members of the board did not seem fascinated by their colleague's answers, but waited to see if there would be any other statements.

Equius felt himself sweating profusely. Obviously the meeting wasn't going to go smoothly, but it was still going to be pretty hard to keep his secret at least a little longer. Maybe if he pushed them to think more on this problem, he'd buy enough time.

Equius decided to act on the fly without bothering with nonsense. He knew he was doomed anyway, but at least he could play his cards the best he could.

He glanced at the faces of the other board members - they were almost impenetrable. There was a sort of dreaminess visible, though - as if each and every one of them wanted to peer into the forbidden plane and gain that dreamed-of power.

- "Gentlemen, if you will permit me, I would like to make a stock split - it is the only way to keep everyone happy," he suggested.

- "That's rather pointless, my dear Equius," one of those standing nearest to him contradicted him.

- "But at least we'll buy time," he tried to justify himself, masking his mean thoughts behind this not very easy financial move.

- "Well, it's been a long time since there were any major new co-shareholders," Edamanthus Roenberg yawned into his handful.

- "There is the key!," replied the father of Kazuk Mon.

- "But they'll hang us, Equius!," indignantly cried another.

- "Well, if we do it on some distant planet from the Outer Ring it won't be heard or seen. First we'll raise more money and then we'll move out for good. We'll always be able to justify it with wrong quotes or something," he said firmly.

- "But that's almost illegal," another board member called Ezenaya Durban spoke up.

Both Durban and Roenberg and Abrams were specialists, but they were far from the class of a scoundrel like Equius - he was a born scoundrel, especially in financial affairs.

- "You will grant me the rights of Om Gur Nal, but only for a little while," he said, his last thought.

- "You'd better shoot us!," shouted Abrams, coming