Curse of immortality (EXO-TERRESTRIAL-FORCES 2): Legacy of OUTER-SPACE nanites

By Jens F. Simon

Mysterious occurrences shake the local civilization. It seems as if magical powers and magic are involved. Several assassinations attempt on Sigurd, which he only survives due to his special abilities, convince him that he must join forces with the new MBF organization to solve the mysteries. His top priority, however, is the search for the organic ship PAURUSHEYA, which also mysteriously disappeared 250 years ago. In a forgotten and impenetrable part of the world, in the middle of the dense Honduran rainforest in the La Mosquitia region, Alethea and Sigurd come across the legendary city. Through the "Ring of Srem", he and Alethea, the former material hologram and avatar of the spaceship Paurusheya, are transported to the energetic half-world of the Zetschn'cha. There is the hemisphere, the refuge of the magician Sol'altoo, the autocratic tyrant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. Verlag JG
• Release date: Jan 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9783966746991

Jens F. Simon

Jens F. Simon is altijd een dromer geweest die zich meer in zijn eigen fantasiewereld bewoog dan in de werkelijkheid. Nadat hij zijn militaire dienstplicht had vervuld, begon hij rechten te studeren. Toen zijn ouders onverwacht stierven, stopte hij met zijn studie en verdiende hij de kost met klusjes. Na het mislukken van zijn eerste relatie ontmoette hij de vrouw van zijn dromen en stichtte hij een gezin. Tegenwoordig schrijft hij de fantastische verhalen die hem zijn hele leven vergezellen. Abonneer je op het Jens F. Simon-kanaal op WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDCFCkBKfhsJQwosr1M

Book preview

The Xxiin race

The interior of the basket house was rather gloomy, and since I had looked into the very large and extremely bright sun disk before, white dots and a bright circle still wove across my iris.

I stopped immediately after entering and rubbed my eyes. Slowly they became accustomed to the new light conditions and revealed to me the true appearance of the Xxiin.

Of course, I had already expected something similar since I had contacted the nanites.

Directly in front of my eyes hovered a dense cloud of dust, glowing reddish, at least that was my first impression. Of course, I could guess that it was not dust particles that had gathered there.

Involuntarily, my field of vision changed as I focused on the cloud.

It hung about a meter above the ground and rotated slightly. At first, all I could see was a flurry of small bodies.

The more I concentrated, the more details I could make out. In the most diverse reddish hues I saw them, organic nanites.

We are the ruler of the large space island, I now heard a strange thought in my head.

The movements of the individual beings I saw spontaneously slowed down. Did the thought come from them? Was I seeing the Xxiin in their true form?

You are on the right path. We are the Xxiin, and we are the Xaa! You are on the space island XAAL on the way through the big nothing to our home place.

Be careful, the Xxiin are reading your mind!

The strange and nevertheless own absolute thought of my subconscious stood razor sharp in my head.

The cloud of nanites moving in the air in front of me had contracted and was rotating less quickly than before.

If a telepathic connection is possible, then the para-shield generator no longer works. You can accordingly use your powers again!

I was startled only briefly, then I had caught myself again.

Human, who calls himself Sigurd Westall, be sure that you are a guest on my ship and not a prisoner.

The words of the Xxiin who had introduced himself to me as Xaa were still reverberating in my mind, when I had already carefully lifted one of the two steel heads standing at the sides of the entrance a few inches off the ground with the power of telekinesis.

It was only supposed to be a test and after what I had just been told, there didn't seem to be any real danger for me now.

Of course, as our guest, you are not subject to any restrictions!

So Xaa had noticed that I had become telekinetically active. Startled, I let go of the robotic body that served as an exoskeleton for the Xxiin, and there was a muffled sound as it touched the ground again with both feet.

Of course, after this strange statement that I was a guest, the question immediately arose as to why I was being forcibly compelled to board this spaceship.

I am speaking on behalf of the Queen. After the TRISHARANA, as you call the station on the second planet of your home system, told us about you, the Queen's decision to bring you to her was only logical. Of course, we couldn't just send you an invitation, it had to look like a kidnapping. The eyes of our enemies are everywhere, even here aboard my ship!

The telepathic transmission broke off abruptly. I had understood little of what Xaa had been trying to tell me.

It seemed to me that he was already assuming more knowledge about the overall situation than I really had.

It wasn't long before I heard his thought message again.

We are on our way to our home system. It is known to you by the human name of Epsilon Eridani and only about 10.5 light years from your sun. Queen Yiilyix will be able to answer many of your questions. She will inform you immediately. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience we have caused you, but the tense situation has left us no choice. We are flying into our home system right now. In a little less than half an hour of your time, we will have reached Xelio. Please accompany me!

The cloud of Xxiin rose a little higher and then moved straight toward the exoskeleton I had telekinetically lifted earlier.

On the steel head, the two eye sockets opened as the approaching cloud bisected and the organic nanites floated into the head through the two openings.

It looked as if two thin plumes of noise were literally sucked up by the steelhead's eyes.

In an instant they disappeared into the head and the eye sockets were closed again by a reddish glowing disk.

Come, follow me, I heard the summons in my mind.

This time it was not through the huge biotope with the hot sun disk again, but Xaa's way led into a narrow corridor.

The corridor was in semi-darkness and my pupils again needed a few seconds to adjust to the light conditions.

But I didn't have exactly those few seconds anymore. A roaring flood of energy hit me.

My subconscious reacted faster than I could do to press my belt buckle and activate the protective field.

It would have been far too late, too, because the flood of radiation had already reached me before I could even lift a finger. Xaa's exoskeleton glowed brightly and began to liquefy in my abdomen.

He was on my right side, and as the telekinetic interception field protected me, his robotic body got even more.

I was still standing upright in the middle of the narrow corridor while Xaa was flung to the side.

Are you all right inside?

My telepathic question was not answered at first. Long ago, the energetic protective shield was now around my body again.

The dimness of the hallway was flooded with a frantic flashing blue light that seemed to come from the walls.

I was now standing in front of Xaa, who was first leaning at a slight angle against the side wall and then sliding down it. I covered him with my body against another bombardment.

But none came again. Instead, a bulkhead in the wall opposite became visible that I had not noticed before.

Two steel heads came out, and while one of them dropped to his knees next to Xaa, the other, with an elongated weapon in both hands, charged past me into the corridor from where the attack had come.

I watched as the steel head next to me tampered with the eye sockets of Xaa's exoskeleton lying on the floor with an instrument.

It took only seconds, then the accesses opened, and two plumes of smoke left the head and floated directly into the second steelhead, who still held the instrument in his hands.

Apparently, this robot's head had been unoccupied by the Xxiin.

The entity calling itself Xaa responded immediately after the eye sockets closed again, and I heard its telepathic message: My exoskeleton unfortunately suffered damage in the sneak attack that made it impossible for me to contact you. We rely on the positronic-neutronic control of our carrier robots to make telepathic contact with organic beings.

He was silent for a moment and rose.

Forgive this dastardly ambush. We could not have anticipated it, though indeed we had to assume that the renegade Mernchen would now show their true colors.

Again, I understood too little to ask a meaningful question.

Please be patient a little longer. Queen Yiilyix will explain everything to you. Please follow me to her now. The space island XAAL has landed in the meantime.

When we left the huge ship, I had initially expected to enter a space port or at least a base for spaceships.  But far from it. There was not even a solid ground.

The support plates of the landing legs stood on a green meadow. However, I assumed that not the entire weight of the ship rested on them, but that the main mass was held weightless by an antigrav unit.

In general, such a device should be standard for spaceships. At least that's what I had read in my books.

I looked around with interest. The landscape I could overlook had a very close resemblance to the biotope aboard the XAAL. Even the living baskets existed.

However, they looked many times larger and more massive than I remembered them from the spaceship.

At about 1000 meters, I could see a particularly large and exceedingly magnificent basket building. It seemed to be even larger in its entire extent than the ship behind me.

The palace of our queen, was already the telepathically given message in my mind. For better or worse, I had to get used to the fact that any Xxiin could read my mind so easily.

The palace shone golden yellow to orange and ochre in the setting sun.

The Xxiin were organic nanites and from a few 10,000 individual beings they developed a mental intellect, they became intelligent.

Now when I entered the room, at first I thought Xaa had made a mistake. I had expected a very large, spacious, and bright throne room, where Queen Yiilyix would greet me.

In contrast, this small, gloomy room was a real disappointment.

I wanted to turn to Xaa, but he had already disappeared from the face of the earth. I stood as if lost in the middle of the otherwise empty room and waited. My inner tension was rising.

I tried to recognize something concrete in the gloom surrounding everything. Did it just seem that way or did the air around me somehow begin to grow denser.

Dark wisps of mist were rising from the floor throughout the room. Then I noticed that the fog was slowly gathering in a place about two meters in front of me.

It was eerie as a human figure formed out of the gray and white web. More and more details became discernible.

Then, explosively, the process accelerated, and a young woman stood before me, smiling up at me. Startled, I took a step back.

In front of me stood an image of Alethea.

I don't think that's funny at all! My thoughts must have been more than angry, because immediately the shape of the face and the hair changed.

It was not our intention to hurt you. We thought it would please you specially to face a creature you cherish. We thought it would elevate the contact and our relationship to a friendly level!

The thought message appeared in my mind and synchronously the woman in front of me moved her lips.

In front of me now stood a strange being in the form of a human woman, who was very pretty but no longer bore any resemblance to Alethea.

We are Queen Yiilyix. We are the quintessence of the Xxiin. We are made up of about a million individual beings. Be welcome human you who call yourself Sigurd Westall.

What do you want from me? Why did you kidnap me and how did you know about the existence of the TRISHARANA? Why did it help you and what were you doing in our solar system together with the Mernchen anyway?

Once started, more and more questions came to my lips. Here and now was the opportunity to get all the answers.

Sit down, human, you who are called Paurusa, guardian of the incomprehensible power.

She knew about that, too. Slowly it was getting creepy for me, although the whole situation was already more than unreal. I had to think about my books again.

At the same time, I looked the queen directly in the eyes and noticed a somewhat dreamy look. Should the Xxiin already again sniff in my thoughts. I had not quite finished the thought; there her look had cleared again.

We sat facing each other on the bare floor as she continued, To anticipate some of your questions, we have come to your solar system because we are constantly in search of so-called rare earths" which we, or rather our allies, the Mernchen, need to create complex positronic assemblies. The Mernchen are not able to synthesize these raw materials themselves.

For a few periods of time, something has happened that we cannot explain. The Mernchen are becoming more and more aggressive towards us. Our relationship has never been truly harmonious, but rather a kind of symbiosis, a community of convenience in which each party benefits in some way from the other. We know that the Mernchen basically despise us Xxiin because of our lack of intelligence as individuals. Nevertheless, as a group, we are much more intelligent than they are and have been able to develop their technology. In return, we received the technology that we could not build ourselves due to the lack of infrastructure from them."

On the one hand, I listened to what the queen had to say; on the other hand, I tried to think how to counteract the constant snooping in my mind.

It was more than unpleasant for me to reveal my very own thought to a foreign intelligence. 

One option would be the nanites you still carry around in your pocket. Try to use them as a shield!

The absolute thought of my subconscious made me sit up and take notice. What did he mean with it and at all how should this happen?

The Mernchen try more and more to use us for their purposes, without further also delivering an adequate return.

The thought transmission of the queen mixed with my own thoughts and my mind was additionally burdened with the remarks of my subconscious.

The nanobots might be able to shield the neural correlate of your consciousness from outside influences. You can control the nanobots. With their help it could be possible to control the neuron networks in your brain, which allow a telepathic thought transmission or a thought reception, respectively, in such a way that this is no longer possible without your voluntary consent!

Now I was gob smacked at first. How did I, or rather my subconscious, know about these things?

Having reached this point, we had to act. By chance we were in your home system, and also by chance we received knowledge of a very old space station.

Queen Yiilyix's thought message continued to drum into me, mingling with the thought processes of the subconscious and my own musings.

I was already afraid of completely losing it, or at least going crazy.

In the onset of panic, I did what had been suggested to me by my subconscious.

I activated the nanobots in my pocket. What exactly happened then, I could not perceive directly, but only think to myself.

Here it came to the first contact with you, Sigurd Westall. Unfortunately we were prevented by the Mernchen from a peaceful establishment of contact and had to leave the solar system prematurely. However, our ship sensors picked up a space-time rupture beforehand, leaving an energy signature that we knew from ancient records.

The last words had somehow become quieter. The alien thoughts in my mind faded and an unnatural calm set in.

In the back of my mind, I felt a slight pressure that no longer changed.

Broca's area, the speech center is irritated by the action of the nanobots. A side effect to be accepted for the fact that you can now determine for yourself if and when you want to allow people to read your mind.

... the Mernchen are an aggressive and power-obsessed race. In order to find a point of attack to confront them, we took every possible opportunity.

The queen abruptly stopped the thought transmission.

What happened, I can't feel your presence anymore?

That was a good question. I hoped that my impulsive decision to let the nanites into my head did not turn out to be a sword of Damocles. As it turned out, however, they did exactly what I had instructed them to do.

An additional assistance on my part was already necessary! Or do you think these little things would have known right away what neuron nets are and where they are!

My subconscious had just addressed me directly.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and a chill ran down my spine. Was there a second intellect in my head?

I was distracted. The queen sank into the ground before my eyes. With wide eyes, I looked at the place where she had been sitting a moment ago.

Hopefully, I had not offended her. After all, I had blocked her speech.

I was still considering what to do next when I heard a loud roar from outside the room.

The room had no windows. I looked thoughtfully at a spot on the wall directly across from me, fixing on a particular point as my field of vision began to narrow. I already knew that.

But what I was now able to see not only amazed me but left me downright speechless.

The wall of the living basket consisted of millions of nanites. Except for a few, they did not move, but maintained the position once taken.

However, I could tell from their dark red glowing beady eyes that they could become active at any time.

I let my gaze glide along the wall up to the ceiling. Everywhere the same, nanites upon nanites. Even the floor through which the queen had sunk was made of them.

As I looked again at the same spot as at the beginning, a certain mischief came over me.

Without thinking, I used my telekinetic power and purposefully sent the command, Open! to the exact spot of the wall on which my gaze still rested and which I was now telekinetically touching.

I imagined at the same time a round opening of about one meter.

Since the room otherwise had no window, at least it couldn't hurt to have some sunlight coming in.

I hadn't quite finished the command when the nanites already began to become active. It seemed as if they had just come to life.

They flitted and grabbed, they flew and hopped over and under each other across and over the wall surface.

Startled by the effects of my brazen action, I withdrew from the macro view. Immediately, the blurry edges of my field of vision disappeared and I looked in bewilderment at the rapidly widening hole that magically appeared in front of me in the wall.

I could unabashedly look out. Under the slowly fading rays of a now setting sun lay a field of flowers in a sea of grass.

A little further in the background I saw the support plate of a landing leg of the spaceship XAAL.

The silvery material was struck by the last rays of the sun, sending bright flashes in toward me.

I squinted my eyes in fright and looked back into space.

Standing in front of me was Queen Yiilyix, looking a bit irritated if I interpreted her facial expression correctly.

Of course, it was an artificially formed figure, but I could already imagine that the Xxiin had also correctly adopted the facial expressions of a human being in their copy. After all, it was a matter of communicating with a completely alien species from their side.

Facial expressions and gestures were just as important a means of communication here as the natural signs and the word language.

I allowed the queen's thoughts to reach me, but conversely, she could not receive my own directly, but only when I addressed her directly.

I have just received information that the Mernchen have broken off their alliance with us. This was done in a somewhat extreme manner.

Queen Yiilyix was still looking out into the open through the hole that had been created. The XAAL had its shields up.

I could tell by the slightly milky glow that had now settled around the hull.

We understand less and less why the Xxiin people are being treated with such hostility. The five Mernchen aboard the XAAL fired their handguns at Steersman Xaa and two other Xxiin without warning. We had to place you under arrest!

The queen made a visibly helpless impression.

Human Sigurd Westall, the Xxiin people once again ask for your help.

With a simple movement of her head towards the hole created in the basket wall, she added, We know of your special talent and your path to perfection, to Paurusa. We would be proud to follow you!

Again, I understood only half of what she said, and this time my subconscious was silent as well.

The XAAL has wrapped itself in a protective field. Why?

Our system outpost has just reported that a large fleet of starships has entered our solar system. It has already reached the outer planet Xccal and continues course for Xelio. They are clearly Mernchen ships. Normally they announce themselves when they enter our system. Despite repeated attempts to make contact, the ships remain silent. About the same time we noticed them, the Mernchen aboard the space island XAAL began attacking the crew.

Are there any other Mernchen on your planet?

No. There was still a technician group that oversaw us. However, this was picked up by a Mernchen ship a few time units before you arrived.

I will board the XAAL and fly towards the Mernchen fleet. Please inform Steersman Xaa accordingly to briefly deactivate the shield.

I had already turned around and was about to head for the exit when the queen said, Ish'all, we trust you!

I nodded briefly to her again, although I wasn't sure if she had even understood that gesture and left the living basket. Only now, on the way to the Xxiin mother ship, did I really realize what she had just said.

She had called me Ish'all. PAURUSHEYA and the Japetus Station called me the same. I remembered that the designation meant a deference and translated as 'lord', which in ancient times meant the superior over the inferior or the commanding over the servant.

I was still thinking about what the queen wanted to tell me with this, when I had already reached the lower pole lock of the XAAL. It was open and I could see the exoskeleton of a Xxiin waiting for me in front of it. 

PAURUSHEYA's solo run

The ship had grown organically. As a transport medium, it could create from itself a skewed hexagon prism, with a base of 50 square meters, the so-called prism space.

This transporter was also of organic structure and moves by parallel displacement of space-time. It virtually created its own so-called subspace bubble that flowed into normal Einstein space.

Sir Arthur had decided to pay a visit to PAURUSHEYA.

Alethea, the quasi-material hologram of the ship, had picked him up at Japetus Station. Of course Sir Arthur knew that Alethea and PAURUSHEYA were quasi one and the same intellect.

However, he hoped to have a greater influence on PAURUSHEYA through his physical presence and personal presence in the ship.

The organic spaceship had in fact announced that it would leave the solar system and go in search of Sigurd. For Sir Arthur, this request was an absolute mistake for several reasons.

First, the ship did not know where Sigurd had been abducted.

It was only certain that the Xxiin were behind it. Second, it would deprive them of the only spacecraft that allowed them to stay in contact with Earth. Finally, they had to assume that aliens were still there.

Meanwhile Sir Arthur also assumed that the Life-Int-Ltd. had been infiltrated by them.

He had thought of paying a visit to the central headquarters of Life-Int-Ltd. in Salisbury, England, and meeting an old acquaintance who might know more about the Mernchen Rafael Dijkstra and his entanglements.

This, of course, required the help of PAURUSHEYA. But just now she had announced that she wanted to leave the solar system.

With mixed feelings Sir Arthur entered the bridge and looked around briefly. Most conspicuous was the wall-spanning panorama screen. It divided into three segments.

We could have had a conversation in the station!

Alethea, the material hologram of PAURUSHEYA had left the prism room behind him and was now standing next to him.

You know I'm in a hurry. I will leave the solar system today. As soon as I receive the necessary coordinates from Venus Station TRISHARANA, I will go in search of Sigurd Westall!

That sounded very energetic and final.

You really think Venus Station could tell you where the strangers took Sigurd?

Sir Arthur was still standing in the center