Perry Rhodan 088 The Columbus Affair by K.H.Scheer Prolog Perry Rhodan's
discovery of the Moon-stranded Arkonide spaceship had been the impetus for the
political unity of Mankind and had formed the cornerstone of the Solar
Imperium, the stellar empire of Terra. Minuscule by comparison with the many
other powers of the universe, the fact that this small empire exists at all or
hasn't dissolved in an inferno of atomic destruction or been degraded into a
colony of Arkon can be attributed to the shrewd moves of Terranians
surrounding Perry Rhodan in this cosmic chess game-and to the luck that
eventually comes to the most proficient... However, the very fantastic streak
of luck that has so far followed Rhodan in his efforts to conceal the galactic
position of the Sol System now seems to be nearing its end. Recently the
Solar Imperium of Mankind has had to take a goodly number of setbacks-even
aside from the emerging COLUMBUS AFFAIR... But now the time has come-and the
question arises as to whether or not this still-adolescent stellar empire of
humankind is strong enough to withstand a direct attack... 1/ THE MESSAGE OF
THE CENTURY THE INCREDIBLE had happened. In clear, uncoded text the
unmistakable signature appeared on the tape. Mute, cold, inanimate-yet
possibly signifying a turning point in human history... Sgt. Bidge had been
carefully checking his entries into the radio log for 11 May 2044. What had
caught his attention was a hyperspace message designated as 76-Hy-11-5-44. It
had been sent out under the pulse-burst coding used by the Fleet, duly
modified by the recognition coding for that particular security period.
Duration: 0.1 second. According to directional beam angle its point of origin
had been in space sector M-13 Hercules. Ordinarily Bidge's task would have
been taken care of at this point with regard to the message if it had not been
for the fact that the automatic rectifier had added that special signature to
the usual ID marks on the punched tape. Those final marks were in clear text.
For this part, Sgt. Bidge did not have to wait through the tedious process of
decipherment of the pulse-burst message, which contained a variable
probability factor ranging over a possible 4.6 million data bits. He caught
his breath sharply when the machine rang its small bell to designate the end
of the rectification cycle. On the plastic tape strip in his hands was a
completely meaningless maze of dots, lines and geometrical figures compressed
into a mosaic pattern. It would require a high capacity electronic brain a
half hour to perform a proper data retrieval on this. It was impossible for
Bidge to gather the import of the message itself by visual inspection-but he
could clearly read that end signature. He repeated it softly aloud:
"I-Rho-Ad-T" For a moment he ceased to be aware of the monotonous humming and
clicking of the operating equipment Sgt Bidge was the subordinate duty officer
in the crypto room of Solar Intelligence. One glance at the clock apprised
him of the fact that he had already lost valuable seconds. The code man next
to him was startled when Bidge reached out suddenly and decisively hit the
alarm button. "Huh? What the...!" The penetrating howl of the sirens left
him speechless. Bidge waited until the armourplate hatch slid upward
automatically and the chief duty officer appeared on the threshold. The crypto
room of Solar Intelligence was under Class 1 security control. Maj. Raynold
Abucot had the reputation of being a superior officer who was a stickler for
regulations. He came forward with carefully calculated steps, not too fast and
not too slow. His face was expressionless. "Who activated the alarm?" The
sergeant raised his hand. "I did, sir." Abucot looked at him sternly. "Who is
'I'?" he asked, unmoved. "First Sgt. Bidge, sir, 2nd duty officer,
Crypto." "That sounds more proper. What's happening?" With some irritation,
Bidge reflected that the question wasn't any too proper, either. Abucot was
apparently having one of his stiff-necked days again. Bidge stood up, came to
attention and reported in sharply accentuated words: "Sir, a pulse-coded
message from Sector M-13 Hercules has just been received and printed out by
the rectifier. It bears the personal signature symbol of the First
Administrator. And sir-it's in clear text!" It would not have been necessary
for Bidge to accentuate his last statement to get such a ludicrous jump of
alarm out of the Major. Bidge watched him curiously but with a sudden sense of
being on his guard as the latter stared at the tape, his eyes futilely trying
to virtually bore through the plastic strip he held in his hands. "That's it,
alright!" muttered Abucot, flabbergasted. He looked about him almost
imploringly. "Sergeant-are you sure this isn't some kind of sick joke?" "I
wouldn't stick out my neck that far, sir." The senior duty officer swallowed
audibly. Finally the Major struggled to put his famed self-composure to the
test. Once more his lean, narrow face became expressionless. "Thank you very
much. You may terminate the alert." After briefly touching the wide peak of
his service cap in a hasty salute of dismissal, he strutted toward the
still-open security hatch. However, before he had fully disappeared beyond it
the men in the Crypto Centre noted that Abucot's feet suddenly picked up a
frantic acceleration. Bidge looked at the clock again. Smiling a bit
uncertainly, he remarked: "The Old Man came to life pretty much in a hurry,
didn't he? He was able to play the ice-berg until he got to the door but I'll
bet a month's pay that he's running through the corridors now at half the
speed of sound." "Make that about 20 km per hour," interjected another
Communications man. "That ought to be about right." "Fast enough, anyway,"
Bidge conceded. "Does anybody remember any other time that Perry Rhodan has
beamed such a message? I mean straight across, directly, without channelling
through camouflaged relay stations in deep space?" Sgt Bidge had to wait
several moments for an answer. The man sitting next to him wiped his forehead
and ventured to reply. "I only know that during our special training it was
always drilled into our noggins that the galactic position of the Earth was
such a high-level security item that nobody could even dare think of sending a
direct message to Terra." "There you are! That was due to the danger of being
traced, isn't that right? So how come the very man who put out this order has
violated his own restriction in this risky manner?" A silence fell in the
deciphering room of Solar Intelligence. The service men stared at each other
thoughtfully. They suddenly realized that something had happened out in the
Milky Way which they were far from fathoming as yet. From then on the Crypto
crew concentrated exclusively on the fully positronic operation of the
deciphering equipment, which had already swallowed up the pre-punched tape
strip for decoding. A minute later the Major called in over the intercom. He
ordered an immediate transmission of the decoded text. Bidge nodded. "In
about 20 minutes, sir. It's in progress now." "Please hurry," answered Abucot
nervously. He knew very well that the operation could not go any
faster. .... ...if you'll permit me to ask it, my dear fellow: are you
sober?" Solar Marshal Allan D. Mercant, Chief of Solar Intelligence, smiled
softly. With slow deliberation he replaced a wonderfully wrought letter opener
of Luurs metal on the blotter of his desk. A narrow beam of sunlight came
through the high, hermetically sealed window, producing a shimmer of
reflections in Mercant's straw-blond crown of hair. His smile widened as Maj.
Abucot strove to improve his already exemplary posture. "Sir, if you please!
I've come as quickly as possible to give you this message personally!" He
stepped forward in order to place the decoded text of the dispatch on the desk
and then he stepped back quickly. Mercant's smooth, unwrinkled face betrayed
none of the tension he secretly felt. With seeming indifference he picked up
the sheet of foil and began to read. Finally he looked up. If Abucot had
expected to be more clearly informed as to the meaning of the message, he was
immeasurably disappointed. Mercant spoke succinctly. "I see that you've had
the strength of the alien transmitter calculated, using your receiver sensors.
Are you sure your mathematicians haven't let some kind of error creep into
this?" "Out of the question, sir!" the Major asserted. "That station is
operating with a broadcast power of at least 50 million kilowatts on the
hypercom bands. I know of only one planet that could possess such a gigantic
installation." "Which is..." "Arkon 3, sir!" Mercant nodded thoughtfully.
His lean, sensitive fingers still held the foil sheet in front of him. "Thank
you very much, Major. You may go now." Disconcertedly, Abucot walked past the
two robot guards, entered the security lock and disappeared. Only when the
red signal light indicated the closure of the outer gate did the Security
Chief venture to move. His right index finger flipped a switch labelled Fleet
High Command. On the big viewscreen of the secret closed circuit the plastic
face of a robot appeared, wearing a stereotyped smile. "Marshal Freyt,
quickly," said Mercant. His voice sounded loud and hurried. "Class 1
priority." "The Marshal will be notified, sir. Kindly wait a
moment." Mercant had to wait two minutes until Freyt's lean, expressive
countenance appeared on the screen. He was breathing heavily. Apparently he
had sprinted the last few yards. The Security Chief allowed the other a moment
to catch his breath. They had known each other too long by now to waste such
moments on polite amenities. Without preamble Mercant said: "Freyt, we have a
hypercom message from Perry Rhodan. Are you alone?" Freyt nodded without
saying a word. "OK, then prepare yourself for the biggest shocker of the past
50 years. Rhodan has broken all communications restrictions and made a direct
beam transmission from Arkon to Earth. The trace and measurement data are not
in error. There's only one transmitter with 50 million kilowatts of output and
that's on the war planet of the Greater Imperium." Marshal Freyt, the Deputy
Commander-in-Chief of the Solar Space Fleet, breathed even more heavily than
before. "You mean he radioed us directly without using an advance cruiser
station as a relay? If that message has been traced to us we'll be smack in
the pits of hell!" "There is such a possibility but he's made allowances for
that. Conditions have changed over night." Suddenly Mercant's voice took on a
note of celebration. "Freyt, the ruling robot Brain of Arkon has been
conquered! Our strenuously prepared commando mission has succeeded. As an
Arkonide who has survived the degeneration of his people, Atlan has been
recognized by the actual security circuits of the Brain-and by that I mean
he's been recognized as the direct descendant of a famous emperor of the House
of Gonozal. All of which gives rise to a very momentous situation. From today
forward there'll be some changes in our galactic policy." "Is that what the
Chief says?" Freyt broke in excitedly. "Yes, quite unequivocally. I'll send
the decoded text to your headquarters by courier. Rhodan is presently with his
commando troops on Arkon 3. Atlan has taken over the power but it's still made
to look from the outside as though the giant robot were still in the saddle.
That way he can conceal himself behind the machine, which was known to be
merciless, and he's able to make clever use of its authority. I go along with
that myself. If it got out that a living Arkonide has taken the Regent's place
there'd be some heavy unrest in the colonial areas of the Greater Imperium.
Rhodan informs us that the situation is under control. The only remaining
functions of the Brain that are independent are connected with questions of
administration and support Important decisions are handled by Admiral Atlan,
whom we have to consider from now on as the Arkon ruler and Imperator." After
intensive reflection, the Marshal said: it's a surprising situation, alright.
Are you aware of the fact that Atlan knows the Earth's location better than
you or I?" Allan D. Mercant again revealed his famous smile. "Only too well!
If he goes sour on us it will only take a single order from him to send a
giant fleet against the Earth. Perry is weighing such possibilities. In the
dispatch you are instructed to send the Fleet flagship Drusus to Arkon at
once. In the same message, Lt.-Col. Sikerman has been promoted to full
colonel. He is to command the Drusus. He has orders to fly to the planet
Zalit. There he will take on board the commando troops that were left
behind-scientists, technicians and mutants. Then he will go directly to Arkon
3. That about covers the contents of the message." "Pretty scanty contents,
I'd say, in view of such a revolutionizing state of affairs," the Fleet
Commander fretted gravely. "It's plenty for me. I see some pretty cloudy
times ahead, Freyt. The future of Mankind depends upon the goodwill of an
Arkonide by the name of Atlan. After he's taken over the robot Brain, all
doors will be open to him. Basically I don't doubt his friendship for us. But
since I'm no alien race psychologist I can't predict how this sudden
acquisition of super power will sit with him. Just prepare yourself for
anything and keep the Fleet on standby alert. Send Col. Sikerman to me before
he takes off. I'd like to give him some detailed information about the Druufs'
unsuccessful invasion. It will be of interest to Rhodan that these insect
offsprings of an alien universe succeeded in setting up a transmitter base in
the U.S. state of Wyoming. Or better yet, wait! I'll come to your place. Keep
Sikerman on hand. See you!" Mercant cut off the connection. For a moment he
sat motionlessly behind his large desk. The light of the sinking sun was
reflected from the keys of the switchboard installation. When the Security
Chief got to his feet he had an unconscious awareness of how old he was. The
bio cell shower he had received on the planet Wanderer would soon have to be
renewed if the cellular deterioration of his synthetically reactivated body
was not to take him by surprise. Mercant walked slowly past the saluting
robot guards. In his hand he clutched the plastic sheet that contained the
overwhelming news. The robot Regent of Arkon had been partially shut down and
reprogrammed! Mercant knew that this meant the dawn of a new era. .... Col.
Baldur Sikerman took the highly classified secret documents and handed them
over to his personal robot bodyguard. The briefing in the Fleet headquarters
was at an end. There were no further questions. "I wish you safe journey,"
said Marshal Freyt. "Keep your eyes open and in spite of everything you should
continue to avoid any action that could lead to a discovery of the Earth. In
outer space there are plenty of intelligences who have good tracking devices.
Make your transitions under protection of your hyper-shock dampers and remain
extremely discreet and uncommunicative. Presumably you will be given a
friendly reception, especially on Zalit. Take our people on board there and
then fly the remaining a light-years to Arkon. If in that area you are
attacked in spite of our hopeful expectations, pull back at once. In the
latter case, Rhodan will have to find another way. Advise the Chief that
everything here is in order." "Including the matter of the Druuf station in
Wyoming," interjected Mercant "Yes, report that verbally to Rhodan. Then
he'll decide whether Atlan should be informed about it or not." Freyt looked
at his watch. "It's time. Take it easy with those hypertransitions. We are
quite interested in seeing you arrive all in one piece in star cluster M-13.
And..." Freyt smiled suddenly "... may those shoulder trimmings continue to
expand, Colonel Sikerman!" The superbattleship Drusus, the most modern of
heavy class warships in the Solar Fleet, took off on 12 May 2044 at hours
05:13. The spaceport of Terrania was flooded in the brilliant light of the
impulse-engines opened at full thrust. Before its deep-throated thunder could
startle people out of their sleep in the nearby capital of the Solar Empire,
the spherical giant, measuring almost a mile in diameter, had already reached
outer space, where Sikerman set course for transition under an acceleration of
500 km/sec per second. He had received clearance for making his first
hyperjump from within the Solar System itself. .... Col. Poskanov received
the first tracking report from Maj. Untcher, chief of the 4th Security Patrol
Wing. A massive figure of a man who was known as an outstanding space
tactician, Poskanov functioned as commanding officer of the 16th Space Pursuit
Force in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Surveillance Zone
12-14A-3746. His flagship, the battle cruiser Osage, picked up Untcher's
pulse-coded message just as the announced flight of the Drusus was bringing
the latter vessel close to the speed of light. Being a logical thinker,
Poskanov issued a general command for his ships to switch all available power
into a hyper-phase operation of their defence screens and for the time being
to avoid any changes of course. In all units of cruiser formation 16, every
thrust engine went into an idling mode. Their gleaming spherical hulls were
inclosed by invisible screens of energy. Thus they were well-protected when
the gigantic Drusus went into its first transition close to the orbit of
Mars. Although all hypersensors had been secured, on board almost all vessels
there was a breakdown of their hyper-shock absorbers. Poskanov felt the Osage
shudder in every joint of its 500 meter hull. During such major transitions
the 'space quake' generated in the fixed 4-dimensional continuum was like a
shockwave of unimaginable magnitude. As the effects of this ebbed away the
commanders of smaller vessels reported damages to outer compartments as well
as to internal installations. Four Gazelles, which were fast auxiliary craft
attached to light cruisers of the State class, requested permission to turn in
to repair docks for overhaul. Col. Poskanov issued the necessary
authorizations. Auxiliary unit G-275 announced that its thermal equalizer
screens were out of order. Poskanov decided to have the Gazelles picked up by
the fast cruiser Congo and taken to the overhaul ship yards at the Moon Base.
As he was transmitting the necessary instructions to the flagship's Com
Central, a high-priority pulse-coded dispatch came in from Solar Fleet High
Command. The deciphering process took 36 minutes. Meanwhile the Congo's
commander was sweating out a difficult course adjustment, getting ready to use
his magnetic tractor beams in an attempt to capture the damaged auxiliary
craft, which was racing through space in free fall. Two minutes before the
actual recovery, Col. Poskanov received the decoded text of the message. After
reading it, his first precautionary act was to contact the Congo. The
cruiser's skipper was disgruntled, after such intricate approach manoeuvres,
to receive orders to break off the rescue at once and return at top speed to
his regularly assigned interceptor sector. Lt. Nafroth, commander of the
damaged Gazelle, watched with increasing amazement as the echo blip rapidly
diminished in the 3-D screen of his matter detector, which operated faster
than light. The Congo disappeared so swiftly that it could hardly be traced by
the tracking beams. Ten seconds later the radio receiver came to life. The
formation chief was on the telecom. Nafroth was instructed to let his small
ship continue to drift, except that he was to avoid any collisions with cosmic
debris. Since the new Moon Base of the Fleet was closer at this time than
Mars, which was on the other side of the sun, it sent out a fast salvage and
recovery tender. The Gazelle's rate of drift was about 10% SPEOL so it took
the tender 7 hours to reach it and pull it into its vast cargo locks. Where
Lt. Nafroth was concerned, this took care of the situation. He could not
suspect that the dangerously close hypertransition of the Drusus presaged an
event in which his was only a very minor role. By the time the tender began
its return flight, Col. Poskanov had already assembled the 16th Space Pursuit
Force within Sector 12-14A. At a minimal velocity the ships drifted in free
fall through interplanetary space. Poskanov tied in a remote-controlled
briefing session over the formation's videophone network, which operated at
normal light-speed. Thus any danger of intercepting their voice-video traffic
was minimized, especially since the flagship's transmitter was only putting
out 250 watts of power. The individual commanders had all gone into their
respective Communications rooms for the occasion and Poskanov was visible to
all of them simultaneously on the viewscreens. "Gentlemen, effective
immediately we are in a war-time combat readiness mode of operation," he
announced in his typically clipped tones. "Events have occurred in star
cluster M-13 which appear to make possible an imminent discovery of the Earth.
You will receive further information when I have more details at my disposal.
Meanwhile I have received instructions to fully equip and provision this
surveillance and pursuit force accordingly, and to beef up all crews to
regulation strength, after which we are to move out and join the Pluto
Security Task Force under General Deringhouse. That means we will vacate all
previously assigned picket stations in this area. We will fly in closed
formation to the Ganymede base where we'll pick up water, provisions, spare
parts and equipment in accordance with Operation Columbus. Advise your crews
that their last spot for sending out mail must be at Ganymede. All currently
scheduled leaves are cancelled. Although censorship of outgoing mail will not
be imposed, you will advise your men that our further movements are not to be
imparted to anyone. Thank you, that is all for the time being. Cut off now and
switch to your data link tie-ins with the flagship. I will pilot us en
route." The viewscreens darkened. All commanders returned pensively to their
respective Control Centrals. Poskanov looked around in the circle of his
staff officers. The Osage was already picking up speed. The formation chief
listened for a moment to the mighty roar of the engines before he spoke again,
seemingly lost in thought: "There's an old Russian proverb that says a bear
will keep on licking up honey until the bees fly down his throat. I'm thinking
maybe Mankind is feeling those first stings! If we are discovered it'll be a
matter of life and death. Unfortunately in our case we're not going to be
dealing with honey bees but with countless battleships from the depths of
space. It will get a little warm for us, gentlemen!" Poskanov nodded to the
Commander of the Osage. With his massive shoulders bent slightly forward, he
walked ponderously over to his command seat. Before him glowed the giant panob
screens. The aspect of the outer void was the same as ever. Billions of stars
gleamed in the black emptiness. Many of those stars possessed planets and one
day an alien fleet would rise up from some of those solar satellites. And that
would be it! Poskanov decided to write a letter to his wife. Yes, and also
one to Sergei, who was just about to enter into his final exams at the
Academy. The requirements were hard and Sergei was weak in cosmic colonization
theory. Perhaps he could make up for it by getting some outstanding marks in
other subjects-perhaps! No cadet in the Space Academy of Terrania was allowed
more than 5 minus points. Poskanov wondered if he would ever greet his son in
an officer's uniform of the Fleet. With a sigh he got up from the
deep-cushioned revolving seat. He had no more patience for sitting
still. "You'll find me in my cabin," he said to the battle cruiser's First
Officer. "Any detailed dispatches are to be brought to me at once." 10
ADVENTURES FROM NOW Kurt Brand tries to control Unleashed Powers 2/ THE
MESSAGE OF THE CENTURY "I'd like to move out of here, with your permission!
Perhaps in case of attack these deep subterranean cities of yours are very
practical but they are too stifling and depressing for my taste. The Osage
landed over 30 minutes ago. what we are still waiting for?" Perry Rhodan,
First Administrator of the Solar Empire, bent his head back in an attempt to
take in the entirety of the supersized viewscreen. He wasn't quite able to
because he stood too close to its oval-shaped surface. The 3-D image of the
man on the screen was perfect Rhodan had a sense of actually seeing Admiral
Atlan, sitting there before him. Also the Arkonide's voice was transmitted
with high fidelity by hidden 3-D audio units. For a moment the two men gazed
directly into each other's eyes. The Arkonide had a broad and muscular build,
appearing to be considerably more powerful than Rhodan, whose tall, lean
figure hardly betrayed his physical strength. Atlan smiled
scornfully. Rhodan noted it with displeasure. He stared up involuntarily at
the smiling Arkonide whose albino-like reddish eyes were clearly visible. "I
asked you a question!" The loudspeakers boomed forth. "Yes, I know." By the
tone of his voice it was obvious that Atlan was fully aware of how critical
his relationship with Rhodan had become at this moment. "And...?" "You seem
to take me for a monster who's ready to bite your head off, Barbarian! Why do
you have to ask? If you wish to move into your flagship, by all means do it.
You are not my prisoner." Rhodan ignored the reprimand. He gazed searchingly
at the transmitted image of the Arkonide who had become the key figure of the
galaxy after the demise of the omnipotent-seeming robot Regent. Outside of a
very few who knew the truth, no one suspected that the rapid stream of radio
commands issuing from the giant antennas of the war planet were not being
given by a soulless mechanical Titan but rather by a relatively immortal
Arkonide of royal extraction. Atlan had been shrewd enough not to reveal the
fact that the mechanical Regent had been conquered. After a daring and
perilous mission, at the last critical peak of emergency Atlan had been
recognized by the failsafe portion of the Brain-that is, as an Arkonide whose
mental qualities were still unimpaired and active. Only a few days ago he had
finally assumed the absolute authority in place of the Regent. This authority
and power were based on the knowledge of a robot whose countless circuits
covered an area of some 10,000 square kilometres. The history of the Arkonide
Empire was old, in fact ancient, so that it embraced a tremendous scope of
factual information. Since the giant machine contained all this in its
tremendous data banks, there was nothing that it did not know. As a former
admiral of the Greater Imperium and nephew of Imperator Gonozal VII who had
ruled 10,000 years ago, Atlan had taken advantage of this vast storehouse in
order to fortify his position. His decisions were made under cover of
anonymity. Now as before, the many colonial races within the sphere of
influence of the Greater Imperium still thought they were under the
dictatorship of a merciless robot machine. Rhodan vividly recalled the events
of the past few weeks-the landing on Zalit, the masquerade of his combat
commandoes under their native disguises, the futile attack of his mutants
against the giant defence screen of the robot Brain, and finally the crisis of
beginning defeat which was only changed to victory by the intervention of the
secret failsafe portion of the Brain, the existence of which had been
suspected by Atlan. "Have you lost your tongue, friend?" Rhodan came back to
himself with a nervous start. He looked uncertainly about him in the small,
high-security chamber. It was located outside of the mysterious energy screen
that they had underestimated with such near fatal consequences. Only Rhodan
was permitted to enter here. His companions waited for him beyond a locked,
armourplated gate that was guarded by stationary robot weapons. The
hexagonal-shaped room had formerly been used by the scientists from the
Supreme Council of Arkon so that they could be undisturbed during their
conversations and interrogation sessions with the robot Regent which they
themselves had created. Atlan's lean, expressive face now filled the great
screen as the Terranian calmly answered him: "Before I lose my powers of
speech this world will go down in ruins. Atlan, two days ago I requested a
ratification of the alliance and mutual assistance pact which my experts have
prepared. Since when have you undervaluated the human race?" "I don't any
more-not since they have been able, under your leadership, to grasp the
scientific and technological knowledge of my venerable race and turn it to
their own purposes. You must remember that I knew your forefathers when
they..." "...were still in caves and throwing stones at each other," said
Rhodan, completing the statement. There was no bitterness in his voice. Atlan
smiled again. "Oh, have I mentioned that before?" "About a thousand
times." "Then I apologize." "What about the treaty of alliance between the
Arkonides and the Solar Empire?" "By that pompous and high-sounding name you
are probably referring to that tiny little star of yours, whose 10 planets
combined would not fill enough volume to even make one single major class
heavenly body?" "Exactly!" confirmed Rhodan, undisturbed. Atlan laughed
softly. Moments before a very serious mood of disagreement had hung on the air
but now the tension between the two men faded away. "Friend, you ought to
consider my situation. Here I'm sitting in the truly gigantic switching and
circuit rooms of such a miracle of technological achievement that I can't
quite grasp it all myself. At the time the Robot was built I had been
considered to be dead for several thousands of years. Terra time. I'm not
inclined to ratify any treaties when I don't even know if I can keep you in
line. You are urging me to sanction an agreement which is exclusively for the
sake of your own security and the text of which is quite typical of you
humans. However fine-sounding and carefully written, what it's saying is that
you want a guarantee for the safety of the Earth." "Is that too much to ask
for? Until now the location of Terra was considered to be a secret. You are
the only living extraterrestrial who has knowledge of it." "And so? Is that a
reason for suddenly mistrusting me? Or do you actually think that all my
thoughts and aspirations are going to be devoted to destroying you little
barbarians? Perry, come to your senses. If I had wanted to betray you, in the
past few years I had sufficient means and opportunity to do so. One quick
radio message would have been enough to bring Arkon's fleet of robots into the
Solar System. Isn't your think-tank functioning any more? I can't sign this
agreement. My position here is still unsecured. I'm operating under the guise
of the Regent right now only to give the necessary impact to my orders. If I
were to come out into the open as Emperor Atlan, in a few days we'd be faced
with a terrible revolution. How big do you think the Arkonide Empire actually
is? Do you know the magnitude that's involved? How many alien intelligences
and descendants of earlier Arkonide colonists are represented here?" "How can
I sign an agreement in their name when they know nothing of my existence? Or
are you asking me to be a cheat and swindler when I have only just returned to
my home world?" "You could sign the treaty of alliance in the name of the
robot Regent." "You foxy barbarian!" said Atlan coldly. His eyes flashed with
anger. "You Earthlings were always like that and you're no better-even when
the well-being of your very race is at stake." "I don't consider that to be
improper," replied Rhodan. Atlan burst out with an irritable laugh. He
adjusted the image so that his face grew smaller and a part of his torso
became visible. He still wore the uniform with the Arkonide insignia of a
fleet admiral. It had been fashioned according to his wishes back on
Earth. "How can I answer that! For you it's not an impropriety whereas to my
way of thinking it is. It would be sufficient for you if I were to just go
ahead with this great deception. If I were to follow my conscience, this very
day I would have the robot Brain proclaim me as the rightful ruler. But I
refrain from it because I'm considering the welfare of many people. I have to
proceed with extra caution. So you must content yourself with my promise that
I will neither betray nor attack the Earth. What the devil-is it that hard to
believe me?" Rhodan cleared his throat. "Well, that sounded very
un-Arkonide," he said drily. "After devoting some thousand of years to
teaching wild barbarians a few manners and a smattering of knowledge, it's
quite possible, you know, to pick up a few of your native expressions,"
retorted Atlan but his tone was markedly friendly. Rhodan closed his eyes.
Atlan could be very sarcastic. The Arkonide's low laughter pulled him back out
of his thoughts. "OK-it's a deal," he said slowly. "So you're not signing.
What's going to guarantee that your new power isn't going to go to your head?
You know in your mind that Terra is a potential danger." "Oh yes, so
dangerous, in fact, that you have to sneak around and just duck your heads out
here and there from the darkness. That's a strange tactic for such a
formidable power." "It's a measure of self-preservation. What I can offer you
is what you no longer possess: outstanding specialists and trained men for
your inadequately-manned spaceships. Right now I am able to move 10 million
well-trained troops. Together we can put down any rebellions. That includes
the Druuf conflict near the overlap zone. I'll give you the personnel and you
supply the necessary ships." "Agreed, but without a treaty. I'm not signing
anything with a name that nobody knows but you. One day when I can emerge
publicly you will have your ratified agreement of alliance. Is there anything
else on your mind?" Rhodan sensed that it was time to break off the
negotiations. "Nothing else?" said Atlan. "Good! Then move yourself and your
men into the Drusus. Are you going to leave Arkon?" "Only when the treaty has
been signed." "You're as stubborn as an Earth mule," said Atlan. "You'll
never learn. Oh, and that reminds me..." Rhodan looked up again at the giant
viewscreen. Atlan's last sentence had peculiar overtones. "This mouselike
creature named Pucky. I want you to straighten him out and tell him in the
future to abstain from his stupid little tricks." "What?!" Rhodan was
nonplussed. "But Pucky is with the crew we left on Zalit. We picked them up
but they've only just landed 30 minutes ago. What do you mean?" "The little
scoundrel had no sooner arrived than he attempted to use his teleporting
faculties for breaking through the robot Brain's energy shield. Apparently
this unearthly upstart thinks his capabilities are boundlessly beyond those of
your human mutants. Naturally when he made his jump he was intercepted by the
Brain's ultra-dimensional field matrix. The interlocked honeycomb of force
shot him right back and in an extremely painful manner. I knew about it from
the automatic warning system. So take care that in the future such playfulness
is kept under control. I've made it sufficiently clear to you and your men
that the failsafe security section that was built by my forefathers will not
tolerate any penetration into the area of the robot Brain by alien life forms.
The programming is built in and I can't change it. Do we understand each
other, Barbarian?" These last words sounded hard and cold. Rhodan suspected
that he had reached the limits of Atlan's patience and consideration. He
nodded silently but in a few moments added: "That's something else I don't
like. You'd think we'd at least get permission to take a look at this
technological miracle machine." A swift movement of Atlan's head brought a
bright flash to his whitish-blond hair. It seemed as though his red-golden
eyes gleamed a warning. "Perry, you are intelligent enough to assess my words
very well. I am telling you once more that I cannot alter the security
circuits. My ancestors knew what they were doing when they built in these
protections for the indispensable robot Brain. Besides, where that's concerned
I do not trust you! You might 'just happen' to bring along a microbomb and set
it off in the installation somewhere. I know you a bit too well, Terranian! So
you stay in your sphere and I'll stay in mine. After the Regent portion of the
Brain was phased out, it became a harmless automaton but it still retained
unique capabilities. Before I would allow it to be destroyed I'd sooner
annihilate you along with your whole Solar System. If one thinks in terms of
the galaxy-which I presume to rule!-I'd consider the Empire with its more than
50,000 colonized worlds considerably more important than your little Earth. So
beware of ever attacking the machine. In such a case all my pledges to you
would become void. Is that clear to you, Perry Rhodan?" "Oh quite clear.
Thanks a lot." "You can keep your sarcasm. Excuse me now, I have things to
attend to. A new major attack is starting on the Druuf front." Atlan raised
his hand in a parting signal. The glowing viewscreen paled to an imageless
raster. Behind Rhodan the thick armoured doors glided upward. Bright light
flooded into the hexagonal chamber. He walked out in a state of turmoil.
Atlan's final words had gotten to him. In spite of the Admiral's long time on
Earth there was no more denying that he had once more become a major political
figure in the galaxy-and he played his politics accordingly. Rhodan soberly
admonished himself to keep his head about him. With reason and tolerance, he
thought, nothing would ever happen. With this resolution in mind, he entered
the outer foyer. Reginald Bell, his second in command, sat tensely on the
edge of a chair and watched the First Administrator of the Solar System as he
approached. Rhodan came to a stop directly in front of him and looked at his
watch. He said nothing. When the silence became unbearable, Bell contented
himself with a single, half-mumbled sentence. "Judging by your face I'd say
Your Highnesses didn't see eye to eye." Rhodan did not answer immediately.
Still immersed in thought, he looked once more at the armourplated airlock
doors of the interrogation chamber, which had closed behind him again. "It was
to be expected. If I were in his shoes I wouldn't have been sold on the
arguments, either. From a purely strategic point of view the treaty doesn't
make sense, anyway. Who would ever keep him from striking out against us at
any time he pleased, in spite of that piece of paper? So I'm a foxy barbarian,
am I? Hm-m-m..." Bell laughed knowingly. "He knows us too well, doesn't
he?" "Definitely! But that's also my one remaining hope. He should know very
well by now that we're on his side. Under Arkon's dominance alone the Greater
Imperium is short of intelligent and decisive brains. The degeneration of the
present inhabitants of Arkon is so widespread that you're not going to change
them much over night. The best thing Atlan can do is look to the next unborn
generation, provided he starts an educational program that will protect them
from lethargy, corruptions and idiotic philosophies. In about 60 years maybe
he could manage to get the Arkonide Empire back on its feet again. But by that
time we will have seen a few changes ourselves." Bell got to his feet. He and
Rhodan were the last two Terranians in the giant subterranean city near the
robot Brain. The wide, cathedral-like halls swarmed with aliens. Most of them
consisted of the troops that had been conscripted on the colonial planet Zalit
and were waiting down here for embarkation, The two men were not accosted by
anyone as they moved rapidly toward the nearest antigrav lift. Even the
numerous robot guards allowed them to pass unhindered. "How times have
changed!" said Bell ironically. "Only a few days ago they would have burned us
to ashes if we had even shown our noses around here. Atlan's reign is getting
off to a pretty good start I'd say." A Zalite space officer stared in
amazement at the strange uniforms of the Terranians. He didn't know what to
make of their rank insignia. He decided that to be on the safe side he would
give them a proper salute. As Rhodan acknowledged it he thought back to the
difficult days of their commando push when he had been forced to wear the
red-skinned disguise of a Zalite inhabitant. It had been the only way to get
to the fleet mobilization and munitions planet all in one piece. Just before
they reached the lift, Bell inquired almost indifferently: "You come down off
the ceiling yet? I mean-are you calmed down?" Rhodan slackened his pace.
Finally he came to a stop and slowly turned to look at Bell, who was smiling
like a sphinx. "What's wrong?" Bell squinted up at the artificial nuclear
sunball that moved along its simulated course. The conversations of the crowd
of Zalites around them became a dull, heavy roar in their ears. "What is
wrong?" Rhodan repeated, more sharply than he intended. Bell wiped sweat from
his brow. "Getting too warm again down in this cave," he observed after
slightly clearing his throat. "OK, so I'll tell you! Perry, we can't wait any
longer for that treaty. Sikerman brought us some top secret news that isn't
any too heartwarming. They've found out the Druufs were able to build a
transmitter base on Terra." As Rhodan stared at him aghast and searched for
words, he waved a hand. "Don't get excited, it's been taken care of. The
Druufs were discovered by a former collaborator with Intelligence and were put
out of business. It's been established that by some stupid accident the
monsters got hold of our transmitter frequency. Probably had something to do
with our supplies for the Moon Base. They calculated the 5-D effects and
infiltrated over our hyper-frequency. That's not saying by any means that they
are really aware of the Earth's location. But anyway our preliminary
calculations show that there would be a considerable difference between a
direct flight approach and an extra-dimensional transmitter jump." Rhodan had
by now collected himself. His face was expressionless. "Intelligence made a
counterattack?" "Thanks to the undercover man-I've forgotten his name. A few
traitors came within an ace of fixing them up with an exit base. A so-called
group of conspirators was formed which was supposed to serve as backup for the
invasion. Allan D. Mercant is afraid of complications." "That's all I
needed," said Rhodan. "while I'm sweating it out here with Atlan, we have a
surprise raid at home. Did Sikerman bring the full particulars?" "Everything
that Mercant was able to find out." "What's the prognosis? Have the
probability factors been worked out positronically?" "Up to a point. He
didn't have any more time. Our radio dispatch arrived in the meantime and
Mercant decided to use Sikerman as a courier. Hey, what the-?!" Bell got into
motion to follow his companion, who had suddenly started to sprint. Panting,
he reached the antigrav lift, jumped into the barely visible force field and
shoved off. The two of them drifted weightlessly upward. They reached the exit
near the surface dome that they had half destroyed a few days previously
during their desperate battle of retreat from the depths of Arkon. A work
detail of robots was busy repairing the big dock elevator. The bright white
glare of Arkon sunlight greeted them. Rhodan jumped into the waiting hover
glider and shouted a hasty instruction to the robot driver. The flagship of
the Solar Fleet had landed 3 kilometres away, which was still comparatively
close to the vast defence screen. The Drusus was a giant but it was relatively
inconspicuous here among 50 equal-sized battle-ships of the Arkonide Home
Fleet. Rhodan reached the lower manlock of the 1500-meter giant sphere just
as a squadron of fast battle cruisers took off a few kilometres away and
thundered into the cloudless sky. The resulting shockwaves were intercepted by
the fully automatic repulsion fields and their energy was absorbed. On Arkon 3
nothing happened without the systematic intervention of the greatest robot
Brain in the Milky Way. Rhodan followed the swiftly diminishing ships with an
uneasy gaze. Only a few days previously they had come off of the tireless
assembly lines and now they were off on their test flights. "I'd feel a lot
better if we had a production capacity like that," said Rhodan. "Where is
Sikerman?" The tall, broad-shouldered figure of the commander appeared in the
lock. His greeting was restrained. While still in the airlock, Rhodan
remarked: "So our friends from the second time-plane cooked up a little
surprise for us, did they? I want to see the particulars on that immediately.
How was your trip?" "Thank you, sir, excellent. I flew in full fighting trim
when I entered the Voga System but we didn't run into any trouble. Our people
were able to come on board without any hesitation. I was only there two hours
before I took off again. I also got through the outer fortress ring of the
Arkon System without any interference. Not even the usual escort ships showed
up. Then we were brought in by the Regent's remote controls and landed on this
spaceport." "Atlan kept his word," Bell confirmed thoughtfully. "Do you think
we're judging him unfairly?" "We'll soon find out," remarked Rhodan.
"Sikerman, can you imagine that the Druufs won't find the Earth? Just consider
that these intelligences succeeded in setting up a transmitter contact
apparently without a hitch. They have a high grade of science. For example, do
you think we'd be able, with the help of hypermath components, to calculate a
stable 4-dimensional reference point with a maximum uncertainty coefficient of
plus or minus 0.5%? Could we do that?" The scientists of the great flagship
who had hurried down for the reception now stood in the background inside the
large airlock. They gazed in silence at the lean, grey-eyed man in the plain
uniform. Sikerman's husky frame blocked the forward pressure hatch, together
with the guard robots that were stationed there. It was as though he wanted to
protect the ship against any alien intrusion. "Sir, very probably we could do
that!" Rhodan's smile was impersonal. "Then the others could do it too," he
said quietly. "Sikerman, get the ship ready for emergency takeoff. Where are
the documents?" "In the Control Central, sir." Within 10 minutes Rhodan had
gone through the reports. While the exhausted men of the battle commando unit
were being assigned to quarters and a buzz of conversation between them and
the crew members of the superbattleship began, Rhodan put in a request for an
Arkonide courier. 30 minutes after Rhodan's arrival on board the Drusus a
heavily armed robot detail appeared at the ground airlock. Simultaneously
Atlan came through the Regent's special waveband. "Problems, my friend? I was
advised of your request. What is wrong?" Rhodan came closer to the small
viewscreen. "I'm sorry to have to disturb you again. But Sikerman has... Do
you know Sikerman?" "Naturally." "He's brought me some very serious news.
The Druufs have found Terra..." "What...?" "So far only through a
transmitter base. My people didn't have time to evaluate the basic data they
obtained. I wonder if you could do that for me. I need a probability
analysis." Atlan needed only a few moments to grasp the situation. Forty-five
minutes after Rhodan's arrival on board the Drusus, the robot courier detail
departed with input data. After it disappeared through the narrow opening in
the defence screen, the period of waiting began within the
superbattleship. No full-scale discussions came up during that time. It was
Rhodan's first opportunity to greet the members of his second unit team who
had been picked up on Zalit. The mutant gave him a report on the false
Admiral's startling sudden demise. Pucky, whose experiment with the mysterious
honeycomb field of the robot's screen had misfired, was in the ship's
hospital. He was still unconscious. Capt. Hubert Gorlat had been playing with
the idea of penetrating the Brain's screen with the help of the
tele-transmitter but decided not to bother Rhodan with such a suggestion. In a
disgruntled mood he told the transmitter crew to shut down the equipment,
which had been in operation readiness. His better judgment indicated that it
might be out of place to harass an ally. So far Atlan's actions had been
beyond criticism. Arkon stood open to the human race. Meanwhile Maj. Art
Rosberg, the transmitter specialist of the Solar Fleet, brooded over the Druuf
data from Intelligence. Mercant's original documents were now in Atlan's
possession. "Is this what all the excitement's about?" asked Rosberg in
sudden dismay. "Do they think the Druufs are onto our location on the basis of
this evidence? It doesn't amount to a hill of beans! Have those people over in
Intelligence lost their minds?" Biologist Costara assumed the question had
been directed at him. He appeared to be helpless. "I'm afraid I'm at a loss.
I'm more interested in the method of bio chemical preservation that's involved
with these Druuf children-the ones they're supposed to have substituted for
the sleeping humans in those strange containers. I can't figure that out,
either." Rosberg brushed back his greying hair with both hands. In some
annoyance he shoved the report aside and turned his attention to the
accompanying photographs. In a shortime he concluded that he couldn't do much
with these either. The basic facts were just not sufficient. "You should join
the mathematical team," the biologist advised him. "I'd say by now half the
crew must have been in the computer room. But I don't think that our
relatively-limited equipment can handle the complex variables involved in the
question at hand. Those machines are too specialized to be able to just
quickly analyse..." "What are you talking about!" Rosberg grumbled. "If it
were up to me we'd be out there at our first transition point by now. If these
monsters do break through and find us, what do you think. will happen back
home? Have you ever actually seen the giant Druuf fleet? Were you ever close
to the so-called discharge zone on the actual battle front? At last report
there were supposed to be 40,000 heavy-class ships out there trying to break
through the Arkonide blockade fleets. If such a massive force were to surprise
us all of a sudden, with our few major class fighting ships we'd be rubbed out
in a matter of minutes." Rosberg shoved his light service cap onto his
angular skull and trudged with heavy steps to the door. Dr. Miguel Costara
looked after him pensively. He was moved by a certain vision Rosberg had
invoked by his remarks of moments before. "Back home," thought the scientist.
Ah yes, back home... He could smell the subtle fragrance of a vast pine forest
and savour the crystal clean air by a gushing waterfall and feel the spray on
his face. Such things as these were 'back home'-on the blue, blue
Earth. .... "...be sending you the written evaluations over to the Drusus
within a quarter of an hour." Atlan's voice sounded in the loudspeakers. "The
bottom line is this: you can rely pretty much on what you've got." "What does
it look like?" Rhodan asked. "Bad for the Earth, which means it's bad for all
humanoid races in the Milky Way. Nobody wants an infiltration of these
completely alien insect creatures, who ought to have enough living space in
their own universe, anyway. The robot Brain reports there's a 99% certainty
that the Earth's discovery is imminent I've checked out all of the robot's
research data. This material has been obtained from our latest defensive
engagements and are reliable. The Brain has made its deductions on the basis
of thorough investigations made by Arkonide examination teams on board a
number of captured Druuf ships. According to this, the science of these
intelligences-especially in mathematics-is so highly developed that they are
capable of drawing conclusions from their successful transmitter contact with
the Earth. It is certain that whenever they have a mind to do so they will be
able to find the Earth. There's nothing more I can tell you." Rhodan stared a
long time at the viewscreen. Atlan waited patiently. He knew what his friend
must be experiencing, which led him to realize that he himself was identified
with all of humanity. "What are you going to do, Perry?" asked the
Admiral. Rhodan seemed to be startled from the depths of his broodings. He
smiled uncertainly. "Fly home and keep my eyes open. At the moment I don't see
any other alternative. Does the Brain give any particulars as to what means
the Druufs might employ if they were set on making a specific attack inside
the Einstein universe?" "That's the 1% uncertainty factor the Robot came up
with. Otherwise the calculations would stand at 100%. Whatever I can do to
keep our blockade going will be done. That is my promise to the
Earth." Rhodan only nodded. Further words were useless. "Maybe the Druufs'
plan will never be carried out," said the Arkonide consolingly. "It's even
questionable that they are intending an Earth invasion in the first place. You
ought to get in touch with your agent you have in the Druuf universe. This...
this..." "Ernst Ellert." "That's right, Ernst Ellert. Under the
circumstances he might know more about it." Again Rhodan nodded. At the same
moment the detachment of robots arrived at the ground-lock with the computer
analysis readouts. The officer of the guard advised the Control
Central. "Your messengers are here. I want to thank you, friend." Rhodan was
weary. I'll be taking off now. Don't forget us entirely. We had good times
together, although you once had the idea that you had to get rid of
me." Atlan laughed softly. "I have a small request, Perry. On Venus there's a
girl named Marlis Centre. She was helpful to me when your specialists were on
my track. Would you convey to her my kindest regards? Tell her I wouldn't have
neglected her if your own mad schemes hadn't taken so much of my time. You
remember the dark-haired student of cosmobiology with the strong sense of
justice?" Rhodan's smile became warmer. Yes, he remembered her. "I'll keep it
in mind. By now she must have gotten her doctorate. Should I give her your
message even if she's married?" Atlan hesitated slightly before he answered.
"Yes, even then. And now, farewell, my friend. Keep in mind that behind the
Regent of Arkon is Atlan from the ruling family of Gonozal, and consider also
that the human race carries a trace of Arkonide blood from long ago. When I
landed on Terra 10,000 years ago, many marriages were consummated between my
men and the native women there. Inkar, who was the commander of the battle
cruiser Paito, has never been forgotten in South America. His son became the
first Inca, the first god-king under the sun symbol of my venerable family
house. I wish you safe journey, little barbarian." The Drusus took off under
escort of 10 fast cruisers of the Imperial Fleet. Close to the outer borders
of the Arkon System the other ships veered off and the Terrestrial supergiant
prepared for its first transition. There was no further message from
Atlan. There was a mood of depression on board. Everyone suddenly realized
that a true friend had been left behind. 3/ OPERATION COLUMBUS Maj.
Untcher, Chief of the 4th Security Patrol Wing in the 16th Space Pursuit
Force, was the first to detect the strange energy source. His group consisted
of the light cruiser Austria and 27 disc-shaped smaller ships of the
ultra-fast space-jet class. The Austria was thus the lead ship of the 4th
SPPF-16. Untcher had just been issued exactly 32 litres of fresh water by the
supply officer so that he could take a shower. As he was turning about in the
pitiably faint stream of the shower spray, he received the emergency message
from the tracking centre. A viewscreen lighted up. He recognized the face of
the Communications officer who was on watch at the time. All units of the
security patrol group were presently located 102 light-hours beyond the orbit
of Pluto in interstellar space. For the purpose of screening their movements,
this stretch was only being traversed at normal light speed. Since the battle
readiness mode of operation within the Solar System, the order was in effect
that all hypertransitions should be avoided unless absolutely
necessary. Untcher was a lean-figured man with premature lines of aging in
his face. He grumbled complainingly as he turned off the hot water. The meter
registered a fresh water consumption of 23 litres, so far. "Can't anybody be
left in peace around here?" he yelled at the pickup mike. "Even here in the
shower, for cripes sakes! I suppose I'm also on display in your
viewscreen!" "Yes sir," confirmed the 1st lieutenant insensibly. "I beg your
pardon, sir. We are picking up a strange source of energy in Auriga near the
giant star, Capella. Nothing on the screens yet but the hypersensors are going
wild." Untcher cut off any further discussion. He made one leap into the
hot-air drier and reached for his underwear. 10 minutes later he arrived
breathlessly in the fast cruiser's Control Central. The 27 space-jets were
green blips in the 3-D screens of the translight echo-sensor consoles. The
regulation distance between the escort jets was 5 million kilometres. The
Austria flew in the middle of the stretched-out surveillance line. In the
tracking room next to the Com Central it sounded as though a volcano were
erupting. The two hypersensors were roaring in instantaneous reaction to a
disturbance of the 4-dimensional continuum. But it was clearly not due to
ordinary hyper-shockwaves. The energy pulses created by spaceships going into
transition always showed a different pattern than this. Somewhat
disconcertedly, Untcher listened to the incessant roaring. The automatic
analysers had already determined the source of these noises. Close to the
giant binary star Capella, some 42 light-years away, something had taken form
that nobody could figure out-not even Untcher or his highly qualified tracking
operators. Until 1st Lt. Fynkus recognized it. With slow deliberation he
said: "Sir, it sounds as if we were close to the discharge zone in the Myrtha
System." Untcher stared at him. "Hey, what are you talking about?! That zone
is almost 6500 light-years from here!" "That doesn't alter the fact that I
know this kind of rumbling noise, sir. I was out there long enough. Something
is wrong in Auriga. Take a look at those flat spikes in the energy pattern.
That's absolutely typical of a discharge zone. The thing even seems to be
stable already. Don't you remember the tracking experiences we had during the
last Druuf attack?" Untcher was conscientious enough to give credence to the
experienced officer's opinion. The thundering of the hypersensors continued.
Fynkus wandered over to the matter-tracking console. The sergeant who operated
it shook his head without a word. Fynkus nodded. "No alien objects have shown
up yet, sir," he stated, matter-of-factly. "But the energy pattern has not
changed." Untcher looked about him indecisively. He suddenly realized that
the incident had placed the burden of responsibility on himself. Could
he-should he put out a radio communication. Pluto was in a favourable position
but was still too far away for normal wavebands. Certainly the other ships of
the 16th Pursuit Force must have heard the same thing on their hypersensors.
Why hadn't the Chief contacted them already? Had it become too dangerous now
to contact a ship outside the Solar System, in spite of the sharp directional
beam transmission available? Even so, the mathematicians in the PF-16's
flagship should have come to the same conclusion as 1st Lt. Fynkus. So in
this case, what was expected of him? What was one Maj. Untcher supposed to
do? He walked back and forth in the comparatively small tracking room. The
situation was getting to be too much for him. What sense did it make, he
thought, to wait out here in empty space 102 light-hours from Pluto's orbit
with his few small spaceships? In an emergency he wouldn't be able to do much
with them. On the other hand his 27 space-jets and the fast cruiser Austria
would play a more decisive role in the assembled mass of the whole pursuit
force. If he did not turn back at once he would also still face the danger of
being tracked and observed by any possible alien ships that might appear. Out
here in open space he didn't have the covering screen of the solar system with
its millions of lines of force, where the additional planetary masses offered
excellent protection against element-tracing instruments. Within 3 minutes
Untcher made his decision. "I want a radio dispatch to all jets," he ordered,
"but over regular UHF. Tell them to break the picket line and fly
non-formation on return course to Pluto sector, where they are to join PF-16.
All hypercom traffic is prohibited! Highest acceleration rates to be held at
100 km per second squared and there will be no trans-light velocities. We have
a tracking hazard out of Capella sector. Switch all jet-pulse wave-dampers to
maximum." The auto-dictation machine had transcribed his words. First Lt.
Fynkus looked questioningly across the room at his formation chief. "That's
it," Untcher told him. "Get that on the air. UHF will have a lapse time
getting to the farthest deployment points. The Austria will hold present
position until we see the last jet blip bug out of the echo-sensor. I want to
make sure that everyone clears the area." Untcher made a light salute, barely
touching the peak of his cap, which was a bit too broad for his thin and
somewhat wrinkled face. As he exited through the circular security hatchway
with a gangly movement of his legs, no man of the crew was moved to
laugh. The hypersensors continued to roar and rumble ominously. The
phenomenon which had taken shape so surprisingly out there 42 light-years away
was not conducive to levity. Fynkus personally transmitted the orders. The
nearest space-jets would be picking up the dispatch within about 17 seconds
whereas the flank positions would take longer. The propulsion engines in the
Austria's ring bulge thundered at full power for several seconds. When they
shut off again the sentry cruiser had already picked up speed. "If those jet
crews are on their toes," muttered Fynkus half aloud, "they'll know by now
there's something in the wind." One of the Communications men whispered to
his companion: "How about that? The winds of space!" .... "Thank God!" said
Col. Poskanov, relieved. "Untcher caught on. His ships are picking up speed.
Ah, he's letting them break formation; that's good! He's even smart enough to
lay off the hypercom. Still better! He's evidently wise to the fact he's a
sitting duck out there." Poskanov straightened up. For a few moments it had
seemed as though he was going to thrust his face right into the big 3-D screen
of the echo-sensor. He quickly wiped the pearls of sweat from his forehead.
Then he listened again to the thundering of the hypersensors on beard the
battle cruiser Osage. What Maj. Untcher could not see was clearly visible
here in the bulky special equipment of the giant ship. The typical spacewarp
pattern of an equally typical discharge cone was clearly outlined on the
energy tracking screen. It looked as though some invisible giant in
interstellar space had dropped an elongated flower blossom. whatever the
contours of it might appear to be, the fact remained that an overlap fissure
had formed through which a tremendous interchange of energies was occurring
between the lines of force in the Einstein universe and those of the Druuf
plane. Poskanov watched breathlessly as the structure's upper arch became
more and more apparent. He had had a number of months of opportunity to become
visually familiar with the naturally evolved discharge zone near the Myrtha
System. So nobody had to tell him that the Fleet Command's instructions
concerning the Arkonide Atlan was obsolete news already! This phenomenon had
nothing to do either with the Regent of Arkon or the Greater Imperium. The
scientific team of the Osage was already at work. The first estimates of the
situation were submitted to him. When Poskanov learned that they were only
dealing at present with the energy cone itself but not yet with alien
spaceships, he decided to send a hypercom report to the Fleet High
Command. There was still time to initiate precautionary measures. After the
alien ships Poskanov expected finally did appear, it would be too late for any
open communications with the numerous spaceships under way in the depths of
the galaxy. 3 minutes following the transmission of his lengthy report, the
vernier sensors of the Osage registered a weak spacewarp shock. The automatic
analyser revealed that the ship that had just completed a hypertransition was
of Terranian construction. Only very special instruments could detect it,
which clearly indicated that the vessel had come through hyperspace under
protection of a residual energy absorber. The unavoidable shock waves were
initially intercepted by the ship's hyper-compensators but the recoil effects
of this equipment were then trapped by the residual absorbers. It was
practically impossible to detect a spaceship that was so equipped, much less
exactly pinpoint its location. But the cruisers of the Solar Space Pursuit
Forces possessed special vernier sending instruments that made it possible,
which also meant that they could differentiate between friend and foe. In
this case what appeared on their screens was the vast shape of the
Drusus. Lt.-Col. Hauer, commander of the Osage, sighed with relief when he
recognized the Fleet flagship. The Drusus had rematerialised at the outer
fringes of the system and was now hurtling at a mad pace toward its
objective. Seconds later, what happened had been expected by Poskanov as a
matter of course. Ships of the Drusus class were equipped with tracking and
sensor instruments that practically nothing could elude. Even before the Chief
of Pursuit Force 16 had a chance to hail the super-battleship, the Osage
receivers were active. Rhodan's face appeared on the main screen. The rough,
unfocused scanning lines of the picture raster indicated that the Drusus'
transmitter was operating at the lowest possible energy output. Rhodan seemed
to know what was transpiring in the Earth's portion of the galaxy. "Rhodan to
battle cruiser-who are you?" "Battle cruiser Osage, Space Pursuit Force 16,
Col. Poskanov speaking. "Ah, Poskanov, good!" answered Rhodan. "I presume
that Marshal Freyt assigned you to the outer defence perimeter?" "Yes sir,
shortly after the Drusus took off. Have you been advised that a discharge cone
has formed in the Capella sector?" "Correct. We spotted it before we went
into our final transition. Have Headquarters been notified?" "10 minutes ago,
sir. I was able to risk it since nothing's shown up yet other than the overlap
rift itself. My advanced jet group under Maj. Untcher is returning in normal
flight mode. Everything is in order there, sir." "Very good. Effective
immediately you are under Gen. Deringhouse's command. Your base is Pluto. If
it should happen that the shipyards and supply depots there are attacked or
destroyed, according to catastrophe provisions of Operation Columbus you are
to pull back to the orbit of Saturn where you will join up with the Middle
Sector Fleet under my command. Wait for further instructions and use no
hyper-frequencies in case any alien ships are sighted." The video contact
became weaker as the Drusus drew farther away at close to the speed of
light. Col. Poskanov was perplexed and dismayed. Catastrophe provisions?
Operation Columbus? That plan was for use in case the Earth was discovered!
Hastily he called into the microphone: "Sir, are we to expect an Arkonide
attack?" "Nonsense! Atlan is on our side. What you see out there is something
the Druufs have established. Prepare yourself to be literally deluged by
countless fighter ships of all classes. Our only chance lies in not attracting
their attention. The fact the discharge cone is near Capella shows that the
Druuf mathematicians can make mistakes. Their calculations are off by a good
42 light-years. As of now there can be no more open communications. If you
have to send out messages, use low output and tight beams." Before Rhodan's
face faded entirely, Poskanov saw and heard the First Administrator of the
Solar Empire to let out a bitter laugh. Seconds later the connection was
broken. Although Poskanov urged his signal tracing operators to hang onto it,
they failed to capture any more of the superbattleship's rapidly-fading
communication. This pointed up the fact that sharp beaming and precise
directional handling could be a hindrance to detection. A trace would only be
possible if an enemy ship happened to cross the transmission zone by some
unlucky accident Poskanov resolved to take the greatest conceivable
precautionary measures. But the galaxy was vast and at any rate 42 light-years
was a wide enough gap to help them escape discovery, with luck. A chill came
over Poskanov when he thought of the gigantic fleet of the inhuman Druufs.
Near the blockade front in the Myrtha System he had had sufficient opportunity
to witness the fury of the aliens' attacks. "Not that!" he muttered
Half-aloud. "Not here! Hauer, inform the individual commanders of Rhodan's
instructions. But take care you don't let a single pulse-signal escape the
directional beam." The commander glanced across at the cabinets where the
spacesuits were kept Poskanov understood. "Not yet," he decided. "We still
have time-you might say a period of grace. I'm going to..." A message from
the Com Central interrupted the pursuit force chief. The loudspeakers
blared. "There's a big batch of pulse-coded traffic going out from Terra,"
announced the duty officer. "So far, more than 40 dispatches. Our directional
trace indicates that they are being sent to all possible sectors. All ships
outside the system are being restricted from either takeoff or communication.
Effective immediately, all commercial traffic is frozen. Patrol cruisers in
the Outer Fleet are getting special orders. It's going out on an assembly
line, sir. Ye gods-Headquarters doesn't waste any time!" Poskanov elected to
remain silent. His face was grave. The inter-com screen faded. When the
briefing messages had all gone out to the commanders of the various units of
the pursuit force and the confirmations had all come back, the squadron chief
felt a little better. He knew that everything humanly possible had been
done. This fact served to lift Poskanov's depressed spirits. The colonel sat
down in the command chair and turned to the commander of the Osage. Lt.-Col.
Hauer had all he could do to keep a tight ship and hold to regulation
procedures while answering the numerous standby readiness signals from his
battle stations. The colonel waited a moment or so until Hauer leaned back in
his seat with a sigh of relief. From the battle cruiser's tracking room they
could hear the continued rumbling of the hypersensors. The sound had become
steadier now, which was a sign that the observed discharge cone was reaching a
point of stabilization. Probably a state of constant energy exchange had been
established between the two universes. "I'm glad Rhodan is back home!" said
Poskanov softly. "It will raise the Fleet morale and speed up everything that
has to be done. Hauer, I'm afraid we're just now on the eve of a cosmic war.
Whatever we've gone through before is probably nothing compared to what's
ahead of us. In fact, by comparison I'd say that all our previous operations
and commando missions were nothing but light skirmishes, of no account at
all." The commander loudly blew his nose and then care fully replaced his
old-fashioned linen handkerchief in the outer breastpocket of his uniform
jacket. Poskanov watched him with amusement. Hauer was an able officer but
sometimes he was a bit fussy. However, all that changed whenever he had to
make decisions concerning the welfare of his ship. Then he could act
surprisingly fast and use an iron fist. "Sir," he said, finally, "I'm not
fond of issuing firing orders but if it has to be I won't hesitate a
second." Poskanov thought that those few words just about wrapped up
everything that everybody on board the Terranian ship was thinking. Out there
in the depths of interstellar space loomed a deadly threat to the existence of
humanity. Alien, inhuman beings were about to reach out for the Lebensraum of
other races of people. Inwardly the thought had a calming and settling effect
on Poskanov to know that he would be fighting in self-defence if it came to a
battle. It was a good feeling to have that part of it straight and
clear. "Nobody wants this war, there's nobody yearning to have it happen-so
why is it happening, anyway?" he asked bitterly. "I'm not at all fond of
shooting other intelligences. And, by God, we've got every kind of destructive
weapon to throw against them! I wonder if those creatures we call the 'Druufs'
really know that." "They know it, sir," answered Hauer calmly. His broad
hands clutched the armrests of his chair as though to prevent him and the seat
from plunging into some fathomless abyss. "They know it, sir!" he repeated.
His eyes were fixed on the glowing screens of the panob gallery before him.
The billions of stars of the Milky Way were gleaming as brightly as ever.
Never had space seemed emptier and friendlier. .... The crucial strategic
meeting between the Fleet officers and those of Solar Security took place in
the middle of May 2044 in the underground Headquarters of the Central High
Command. The giant deep bunker installations had been built exclusively for
Operation Columbus so that under catastrophic conditions all necessary
security measures could be met with. The Command Central had required 10
years of labour. With all of its vast and costly automatic equipment it formed
the nerve centre of the Solar Empire. Admiral Atlan had once scornfully
remarked that by Arkonide standards it was nothing more than a backwoodsman's
shack but Perry Rhodan and the other leaders of the Earth of course had quite
another opinion of it. Defence mobilization plans had long since been worked
out by the best scientists and strategists of the Earth and had been
constantly updated and improved according to the latest status of science and
technology so that now they were activated in the astonishingly short
time-span of just 2 hours. Had the necessary precautions not been taken, and
if Operation Columbus had never been thought out down to the smallest and even
negligible details and then fine-honed to perfection, the still-young Solar
Empire would have already been plunged into chaos. Immediately after Rhodan's
arrival, all emergency laws came into effect. Having been preprogrammed for
years for this situation, special positronic brains distributed a global alert
signal into the fully automatic alarm systems of the giant industries around
the planet. Within a period of just 30 minutes, all peacetime manufacturing
ceased. New data for assembly lines, technicians and responsible directors
were given. Having been prepared for such a case as this, the great
manufacturing and processing plants of the Earth were converted almost at
once. Stockpiled raw materials, specifically earmarked for emergency
production, were brought out of storage bunkers into the halls of
industry. No one in America, Europe, Asia, Australia or the colonized polar
regions required any blueprint for action or special instructions at this
crucial hour. what each one had to do or bring forth had already been
determined. The benefits of herculean labours during the last few decades
were now beginning to be seen. The Planning Ministry in Terrania was only
pestered in isolated cases by people doublechecking their assignments. The
calling in of Fleet reservists progressed with equal rapidity. Huge transports
standing ready for takeoff and operated by the major airlines of the Earth now
proceeded to bring the reserve units to the designated spaceports. Never
before in history had there been such a perfectly coördinated organization as
this. The new Moon Base was running at full capacity. Especially in the case
of such small, swift spaceships as pursuitships, interceptors and Gazelles and
space-jets, production rolled in quick succession through the staging
checkpoints on the assembly lines. Terra was strong-tremendously strong-in
terms of the smaller fighting units, and in this regard it was actually not
far behind the Arkonide Empire. The only thing that had not yet been done was
to generate a capacity for pushing out major class fighting ships at the same
speed of production. It still required a number of years to construct a
battlecruiser measuring 500 meters in diameter. But in spite of all possible
methods of speedup and simplifications it was still estimated that the
completion of a super battleship of the Imperium class would require at least
12 years. Whereas such a task might be accomplished in an approximate period
of only 5 months if one were equipped with the mammoth production means of the
Arkonides. Since Rhodan was well informed concerning Terranian production he
knew where the limitations of his power were. The countless smaller ships
could deliver hard blows to the enemy but they were not capable of ultimately
deciding the battle. There was a scarcity of heavy and super-heavy types of
weapons which could only be carried by major vessels. Besides that there was a
lack of deep space carrier ships which could bring the light-speed
interceptors and pursuitships to the focal point of the battlefront, through
hyperspace, and then launch them into the fighting. The new 100-meter
cruisers of the State class did not possess a first-rate offensive power.
Earth had never been interested in attacking other races or subjugating alien
populations. So the ships had been so designed and constructed that their
armaments were now insufficient to meet the present situation. State class
cruisers were space reconnaissance ships designed for maximum acceleration and
fast scouting missions. These were the things that came up for discussion
during the strategy talks. No one overestimated his own strengths. Nobody
considered Mankind to be omnipotent. On the basis of these assumptions a very
conscientious and responsible defence plan was established. All available
Fleet units were divided up and strategically deployed, commanders were
designated and dispatches were sent out to all ships outside the Solar
System. It was certain that the appearance of a Druuf discharge funnel had
suddenly placed Terra in a desperate situation. Rhodan did not presume that he
might alter the condition with a wave of the hand or by means of mutant
assignments. A lack of careful circumspection now could only lead to
catastrophe. The populaces of colonized planets were informed via Terra
television. The armoured portals of atom bomb shelters opened and subterranean
supply lines began to operate. Stockpiled food and human-support materials of
every description were brought down into the bunkers. Surface traffic in the
major cities of the Earth began to come to a standstill. Five hours after
Rhodan's landing at Terrania's spaceport, the Earth took on the appearance of
a depopulated fortress. From now on life would carry on beneath the surface of
the world. Only those with the most vital assignments remained in the light of
the sun. Thousands of pursuit interceptors, destroyers and small disc-shaped
spaceships roared through the skies. On the basis of laborious calculations,
the heavier Solar Fleet formations were deployed into their planned battle
positions. All of this happened before the first Druuf spaceship emerged from
the glowing chasm of the discharge funnel. .... The digital clocks in the
Fleet High Command Headquarters registered the 11th hour of the evening. The
strategy conference had not yet ended. The first scientific analyses
concerning the nature of the discharge zone were now available. Khrest, the
aged and wearied Arkonide scientist, reported to Rhodan with the figures. In a
frighteningly sober and dispassionate form, the results revealed what
humankind could expect. In addition to the questions of defence a problem had
emerged which Khrest outlined in a few words: "With our inadequate means it
can't be determined whether a stable discharge funnel may be due to chance or
deliberate plan. Experience tells us that these energy phenomena have a short
duration when they have been generated due to natural overlap effects. Since
the zone we've located has held a connection between the two time-planes for 8
hours so far, and with a continuously increasing stability, it can be assumed
that the Druufs have succeeded by some synthetic means to create a
through-channel into our universe. I recall the force ring field generator or
warp-ring gate we employed previously, which also permitted an entrance into
the other space-time continuum. I don't see why the Druufs may not have made a
similar discovery. In the interests of our defence it would be safe to grant
the existence of such a dangerous invention and to regard it as a fact." This
was the gist of what the Earth's mathematicians had to report. Khrest was in
agreement with them. From that moment on the Chiefs of Staff of the Solar
Empire resolved to make all preparations necessary for the appearance of
additional discharge zones. It was Reginald Bell who put the disquieting
state of affairs into words: "We might be able to handle one of those funnels
but not when they come in bunches! If it comes to an attack on several fronts
we would have to split up our forces when they're already too weak. And that,
my friends, would be curtains for the Earth. Since we know we're kidding
ourselves to place our bets on good fortune alone, I vote for an immediate
transmission of our prepared disaster message to Atlan." Marshal Freyt caught
his breath. Allan D. Mercant remained expressionless. Rhodan put his hands
behind his back and began a nerve-racking march back and forth in front of the
floor-to-ceiling viewscreen. After several minutes he came to a stop in front
of the chart table. "A message to Atlan? Very nice. But that would be
absolutely in the last resort. In order for Atlan to help us, you know he has
to send ships. That means he has to reveal the location of Earth, or else the
ships will never get here. From that moment on, all intelligences of the
galaxy would know where Terra can be found. Our long-standing game of
hide-and-seek would be at an end." "Sooner or later we're going to have to
lay our cards on the table, anyway," interjected Mercant. "That's right,
sooner or later! But it's my intention to remain undiscovered as long as
possible. We're still too weak to hold our own in a wide-open cosmic game with
the galactic races. Mercant-" Rhodan interrupted himself. "Mercant, we ought
to try to frustrate the plans of the Druufs with the means we have at hand.
Send John Marshall to me." The Security Chief had mental reservations in this
regard. Under present circumstances he did not consider the mutants had a
chance. As he was getting to his feet, however, the event occurred that
everyone at Headquarters had been expecting for hours: a viewscreen lit up.
The face of Maj. Abucot was recognized. "Com Central, Security," he
identified himself. "Sir, we have just deciphered a hyper-pulse dispatch from
our advance squadron. The first space fleet units are emerging from the
discharge funnel. So far Col. Poskanov has tracked 500 of the alien ships. The
number is increasing continuously. Judging from the contour trace data, none
of the ships are less than 200 meters in length. This means that heavy class
fighting units are being employed." Marshall Freyt drew a finger across his
throat significantly. Reginald Bell grinned ironically. Rhodan's voice
interrupted the heavy silence. "Thank you. Contact me the minute you have
further news. But not for every ship you see. For the ships that are sighted,
let's start dealing with units of 100." Abucot understood. He cut off the
connection. "That's a real cheerful outlook," said Bell ironically. "Counting
them up by the hundreds, eh? How many Druuf spacers are you figuring on,
anyway?" "According to our observations and findings at the blockade front,
they'll fly their first attack with at least 5000 ships. If those get
destroyed they'll come back with 10,000 more. Marshal Freyt looked for a
place to sit down. Rhodan started pacing again along the front of the master
view-screen. While so doing he muttered almost inaudibly. "Everything depends
on whether or not they find us. In the first place they seem to think the
Capella System is ours. Let them keep thinking it Mercant, once and for all
will you call John Marshall and prepare for a special mutant assignment? I
have a definite idea." Before the Security Chief reached the grav lift,
Rhodan called after him: "Hasn't our base on Hades reported in yet?" Mercant
shook his head. "No. But the fast cruiser Nippon is at the Arkonide blockade
front. The transmitter connection with Hades is working perfectly. I'm waiting
any hour for further information." "That information must not be sent by
radio. Have you made that clear to the commander?" "That's understood, sir.
If necessary, Maj. Matsuro will emerge out of hyperspace close to the Earth.
We've made all preparations for muffling the shockwaves. But if by that time
we've already been discovered, I'll make direct contact with Matsuro. Then it
won't make any difference if the message is traced or not." In troubled
thought, Rhodan watched the Security Chief depart. Now everything depended on
not making one mistake. 25 ADVENTURES FROM NOW You'll gaze upon the Wonder
Flower of Utik 4/ 2000 DRUUF SHIPS The Star of Terra was an older
standard-class cruiser which had been converted for freight and passenger
service. On the 16th of May, at 14:32 standard time, it had taken off
according to schedule from the intercosmic spaceport on the main planet of the
Vega System. For some years now the Star of Terra had been part of a line
service between the planetary systems of Sol and the giant sun Vega, since
passenger traffic had continued to increase as a result of the brisk
commercial relations between humans and the Ferronians. The commander was
Capt. Carl Lister, a former astronaut of the Fleet Lister was considered to be
capable and decisive and was also known to be pleasant in both speech and
manner. Since in addition to this his portly figure gave him an air of
respectability and he was in the habit of maintaining jovial and easy-going
relations with the passengers and crew, he was the ideal man to be in charge
of a spaceship of the merchant fleet Lister's military career had been under
an ill-fated star. He had never been able to get on the good side of his
superior officers. Among his comrades he had simply been regarded as a
bad-luck Charlie. At critical moments he always made a mess of what he could
have accomplished masterfully under normal conditions, even while half asleep.
So Lister had decided to leave the spacefleet and since then he had functioned
as the commander of the Star of Terra. For 6 years there had been no mishaps
or serious accidents and this had given Lister reason to believe that his old
run of had luck had finally left him. But it was his fate that the nearly
forgotten plague of misfortunes should revisit him precisely at the moment
when everything depended upon an exact adherence to regulations. Lister had
just eaten in the first class diningroom with the passengers. He had lust
delivered one of his gallant and patriarchal observations and also had given
permission to a young man to inspect the engine rooms. Fifteen minutes later
the transition calculations had been completed and the Star of Terra went into
a normal hyperjump. Lister covered the 27 light-years to the not-too-distant
Earth in a single transition because basically he thought it foolish to
subject his passengers twice to such an inconvenience. To this extent
everything would have worked out just fine if Capt. Lister had not jumped into
the hyper-dimension at the exact moment that the main station on Terrania had
sent into cosmic space the warning message that was specifically directed to
himself. So it was that Lister did not pick up the critical instructions. When
the ship rematerialised within 7 light-hours of Pluto's orbit, Terrania had
already stopped broadcasting its warnings. Thus the Star of Terra flew toward
the outer limits of the Solar System at 80% SPEOL. In conformance with safety
regulations, lister reduced his speed still further. At only 70% SPEOL, the
freight-passenger ship swung onto course for its final destination. Shortly
thereafter the old captain's misfortune was completed. Precisely when the
first Druuf spaceships were emerging from the discharge funnel, Lister decided
to announce his early arrival over hypercom. He sent out a loosely beamed
message in which, among other things, he reported that the Ferronian ruler lay
on his death bed. Since he considered this to be a fairly important piece of
news he felt justified in really laying it on. He also sent it uncoded in
clearly sharp Morse signals, using the prescribed hyper-frequency band
assigned to commercial channels. Even this would not have been an
irretrievable mistake if Pluto and Vega had not been in unfortunate alignment
at the moment. The Solar System's outermost planet was on the opposite side of
the sun in relation to the discharge zone, so that the course of the Star of
Terra was on a line directly aimed at it. Thus it happened that although the
sloppy directional beam reached the Earth alright it also cut a direct line
outward toward the Capella System. After he had been transmitting for 20
seconds, the ship's receiver crackled loudly. The enraged countenance of a
major of the Fleet became visible on the viewscreen. "Have you lost your
mind?" the voice blatted deafeningly from the loudspeakers. "Stop that
brass-pounding at once! Switch off, you fool! We're in Operation Columbus! I'm
going to court-martial you! Don't let out another peep, do you hear? You're
beaming straight to Capella!" With that the contact was abruptly cut
off. Capt. Lister had turned pale. According to his custom he had come into
the Com Room to personally supervise the transmission of his report. Lister
grabbed the operator's hand to stop him and the man stared at him horrified.
Naturally they both knew the significance of 'Operation Columbus'. "For God's
sake!" groaned the officer on duty. "Sir, Terrania must have sent out a
warning signal to us!" "When we were in hyperspace," said Lister, scared to
death. He realized what he had done. And he also knew that the threat must be
coming from the Capella System. Without saying another word, he turned around
and trudged dazedly to the exit. Beyond lay the Command Central. The grapevine
had already spread the word. The men watched their captain disconcertedly as
he crossed the big room, pale and staring. Lister walked about as if in a
dream. The single thought bored into him that he had committed involuntary
treason but then what also nagged at him was this merciless fate that always
made him a bad-luck Charlie. He could have screamed but not a sound escaped
his lips. His portly frame had the look of a wounded animal that was
struggling toward the safety of its cave with its last ounce of strength. He
would be spared from nothing now-neither torture of mind nor anguish of
soul. At the entrance to the Command Central stood a group of passengers. The
Second Officer of the Star of Terra, being assigned to the normal ship
operations, was just explaining the virtues of a bulkhead system, using the
simplest possible phraseology. Lister felt someone touch his arm. Mrs. Nattan
was the wife of the director of the General Cosmic Co., a mining operation on
Ferrol. At this moment she loudly proclaimed her enthusiasm over the ship's
tour. "Oh my dear captain, it's just heavenly! I never realized that there
were such things. Why this spaceship is a miracle! And it's astounding how all
this functions!" Carl Lister smiled through his torment. "Of course,
Madame-naturally it functions." The old matriarch's shrill laughter made him
wince. He listened listlessly to the profusion of conversation, until someone
addressed him again. "But my dear fellow. You look pale! Don't you feel
well?" "It's... it's just the trip... ha! ha! A young greenhorn like me often
gets space sick... ha! ha!" Capt. Lister swayed slightly as he closed the
door of his cabin behind him. Breathing heavily he threw himself on his bunk,
where he lay staring at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. "You fool!...
Operation Columbus!... court-martial... Capella... brass-pounding...!" It
hammered into his skull. Suddenly groaning aloud, he cursed the day that he
first walked up the wide steps of the Space Academy. .... Only a few humans
might have comprehended the function of the alien apparatus. Instead of the
usual computation curves of a magnetically guided polygraph, as would have
been expected of an Earthly positronic brain, this machine spewed out a maze
of strange geometric symbols. Inwardly it did not differ much from the
equipment that had been built by humanoid life forms but the mathematics
involved was something related to alien, inhuman intelligences. With this
fundamental difference the multiple circuits were logic-gated so that the
output data simply appeared in another form. But these were mere
superficialities. What was more important was the faultless reliability of
operation at this particular moment. The gloomy red light in the room was
reflected in the huge eyes of the monstrous creature who stood motionlessly
before the machine until the last symbols appeared. The organic antennas of
the Druuf picked up an ultra-high-pitched whistle tone that was in a frequency
range of 200,000 cps. With what seemed to be a very slow moment, he shut off
the P-calculator. With a heavy tread the 10-foot giant marched to the open,
unpanelled doorway. In the next room were giant oval-shaped viewscreens and a
mass of equipment that looked like a display of abstract art. Dark, spherical
heads with lipless triangular mouths and fluorescent eyes turned to look at
the one who had entered. This might have been one of the deepest sub-cellars
of Hell. No human would have heard anything here and yet there was
conversation. Normal articulation was replaced by ultra-high impulses, and the
body antennas picked up the vibrations, conducting them into their brains for
processing. But they were not all that unintelligible, these insect
derivations from an alien time-plane that had no connection with the known
universe. The 'silent' conversation between the officers and the chief
mathematician of the long, rod-shaped heavy fighting ship took place within
about 16 minutes after their reception of the strange hypercom transmission.
The Druufs had not needed more time than this to complete the signal trace.
Other calculation machinery began to function. On the surface of a spherical
indicator appeared the stars of that sector of space which surrounded the
discharge funnel. The surprisingly well-articulated hand of a Druuf pointed to
a place on the sphere where 4 tracer lines intersected. At that spot was a
small, yellow sun. The deep thundering of the engines became louder. The ship
was increasing its speed. Simultaneously the first of the signal data were
sent out. Another formation of 500 ships had just come through the discharge
rift and now swung off. On the viewscreens of the lead ship gleamed the head
of a Druuf. Essentially what he said was: "Sending you bearings on the
signal. Investigate and report. If findings are positive, I will follow." 500
heavy-class fighter ships disappeared. It was a phenomenon that human
scientists referred to as 'sneaking into the 5th dimension". In contrast to
Arkonide principles of operation the Druuf hyperspace travel technique was
based on a linear duration of movement under the influence of 5th-dimensional
laws. The mode of 'flying' was smooth rather than an abrupt transition jump.
In this respect the Druufs were superior to all intelligent life forms whose
hyperspace propulsion equipment was based on Arkonide designs. Producing only
a brief and low amplitude shockwave, the squadron disappeared into
extra-dimensional space and picked up speed. Neither was there an actual
dematerialisation as with Earthly spaceships, nor was there any painful
process of dissolution or loss of consciousness. At many thousands of time
faster than light-speed they flew toward that point from which a hypercom
transmission had been received. The trace coördinates were precise, of this
there could be no doubt. The only factor of uncertainty was whether the
rhythmic signals had come from the Terrans they were seeking or had been
propagated by a passing merchant ship of some unknown race. In the latter case
they would merely have demonstrated the excellence of their tracing technology
without having arrived at any practical results. So they would just have a
look at what was going on in the vicinity of this unimportant little star.
Since the Druuf mentality related to comparative measurements of size and mass
it seemed to them almost impossible that such a significant race as the
Terrans could have developed under the light of such a weak sun. The Druuf
fleet flagship flew to mighty Capella but no intelligent life could be found
on any of its planets. So an order for assembly was given. 2000 ships, which
according to plan were reinforced every hour with additional groups of 500
each, soon made their appearance in the outer reaches of the Capella System.
The commanding Druuf was concerning himself meanwhile with the thought of
ordering a careful reconnaissance of all stars lying within a radius of at
least 50 light-years. Their capable mathematicians could not have
miscalculated to any higher degree of error than that. The commander-in-chief
finally decided to wait for the results of the first reconnaissance assignment
There was time, plenty of time! And anyway during the waiting period they
could prepare exact star charts and at the same time try to orient themselves
to the great blockade front using this alien system as a reference
point. These beings from the other time-plane had planned and calculated well
but of course they had not taken the Terran power of resistance into
consideration. The principle Druuf commander also did not suspect that his
ships had long since been tracked. But if he had known this it would have made
little difference to him. What counted in the long run was the mass
concentration of heavily-armed spaceships. A quick discovery of their presence
would only mean a temporary impedance. But resistance was not the same as an
'untenable' situation. One built up armaments only with patience. Squadron
after squadron welled up out of the artificially-induced discharge rift. They
were taking no risks, even though they were thrusting into a universe where
the time rate was twice as fast as that of their own plane. By this it was
plain to the chief commander that his ships would be 50% slower than the
expected ships of the enemy. But if one recognizes his danger he can adjust
himself accordingly. The Druufs intended to compensate for their inferior
manoeuvrability by a superior concentration of heavy ships and super-powerful
weapons. This tactic had best demonstrated itself at the blockade front. The
success of the Master Plan depended only on two objectives: to pin down the
famous Arkonide Fleet with very powerful forces and then to conquer Terra and
build up a second front at the backs of the Arkonides. If this succeeded, the
strategy of the Druufs would change over night. 50 ADVENTURES FROM
NOW You'll join in the Gigantic Risk 5/ THE MOST CRITICIAL MOMENT IN THE
ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE Lt. Aluf Tehete, leader of the 586th
Interceptor Group in Space Pursuit Force 64 was one of the first Terranian
officers to hurl his 1-man pursuit ship at the heavy phalanx of the Druuf
reconnaissance ships. Basically Tehete's interceptor was nothing much more
than a projectile, 15 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter. Ninety percent
of the interior space was taken up by a compact high-powered propulsion
unit. In addition to this it possessed a fixed heavy impulse cannon but
whenever the monstrous piece of ordnance was fired it seemed to the pilot that
his outer hull was going to blow to atoms. The defence screen was almost
pitifully weak but even more skimpy was the area that the designers had
allotted to the pilot. Tehete crouched in a narrow observation capsule which
was the cockpit. It was directly behind the sharp bow, which was integral with
the cannon muzzle. Actually it was asking a lot to send young men into battle
under such conditions but the pursuit pilots were satisfied. They didn't envy
the men who had to serve on board a 'fat' ship. Pursuit pilots had more
freedom. They saw and heard what was going on in space and they never had to
wait for permission to fire. They had to decide on their own, attack on their
own and rely on themselves for survival. The Druuf ships had hardly returned
to normal space before they were spotted by the fast cruisers of the SPF-64
and simultaneously Tehete led his group into the attack front. On the control
column in front of him was an adjustment that permitted a skilful control of
the jet pressure vanes. This provided a fabulous manoeuvrability, the effects
of which the completely surprised Druufs were to feel a few minutes
later. The first space combat in defence of Terra was exclusively an
engagement between the Earthly interceptor forces and the Druuf scouting
units. Not one heavy vessel of the Solar Fleet took part in it. Everything
happened too swiftly to permit any manoeuvres on the part of the major
fighting ships. These fleet hornets swarming out of the various cruiser
squadrons struck the first successful surprise blow. Equipped with guns that
were more suitable to a 500-meter battle cruiser, they generated a nuclear
holocaust that annihilated 85% of the Druuf formation in a time-span of 7
minutes. As Lt. Tehete placed his hand on the firing button at the upper end
of the control column he was thinking of the broad steppes of his East African
homeland. On the 30 cm screen of the automatic firing sight were the sharply
delineated outlines of a long, rod-shaped spaceship. The green indicator of
the matter tracker flashed at him insistently, signalling him that he was
definitely not dealing with a Terranian ship. The alloys employed were alien,
as were the propulsion radiations. Aluf Tehete was able to determine that the
Druuf he was tailing was actually flying at half the speed of light. This
corroborated the data he had concerning a time-rate differential of 1 to
2. His greater speed was an incalculable advantage. Even more vital, however,
were the tiny dimensions of his machine, which could hardly be detected in the
vastness of space. So he remained on target course until his automatics told
him he was within 300,000 km of his quarry. It was an optimum firing distance
for an interceptor. Although the distance was sufficient for his own safety
the hit-probability quotient stood at 95%. His holding angle was small and the
light-fast raybeam shot would strike home in a second. His positronically
guided approach manoeuvre brought the outlines of the alien ship into his
green target circle and Tehete pressed the firing button. Since his present
velocity was close to light speed, the normally imperceptible cosmic dust that
was present tended to 'pack' in front of his bow. Every pursuit pilot hated
this compaction effect because it made the cannon's sun-bright impulse beams
optically visible. If this light-conducting medium were not present, the
energy discharges could not be seen. Tehete felt the hammer-blow recoil of
his machine. In front of his cockpit was a flare of white-hot light. It
expanded into a fireball from which shot a beam of energy 10 meters long and
as thick as his leg. Then it vanished into the dark deeps of the void. The
beam was still out there but without the cosmic dust compaction it could no
longer be observed. Painfully blinded for the moment, the group leader pulled
his ship away from the approach course. Since he was almost as fast as his
weapon beam he had to avoid plunging at full speed toward the target. As
Tehete shot away within 10,000 km of the Druuf ship a blue-white bubble of
incandescence swelled beneath him. The energy sensor indicated a powerful
burst of nuclear forces. Thus the young Terranian knew he could chalk up the
first kill of the war. His sudden shout in the speakers gave a start to the
Com officers on board the flagship of the SPF-64. But Tehete's yell was not
the end of it because suddenly the hyperbands came alive with victory cries.
The pilots were still too young and inexperienced in battle to take their
first successes with a quiet sigh of relief. They needed recognition, the word
of a friend or a favourable nod from their superior officers. They yelled
themselves hoarse and flew their attacks with such zeal that the powerful
Druuf formation was almost totally annihilated. During this action it
happened that a cruiser of the State class emerged unexpectedly from
hyperspace and was so badly hit by one of the interceptors' powerful raybeams
that 3 engines were knocked out and a fire started in the power control
room. The cruiser's commander was Maj. Matsuro who was just returning with
important news from the blockade front. On the basis of the urgency of his
mission, Matsuro had risked bridging the great distance between the Myrtha
System and Terra with only one transition. However it was seldom that one
could avoid small margins of error in such a long-range jump. By comparison to
the vast stretch he had covered, being off by some 80 billion km in his
premature emergence could even be considered an outstanding cosmonautical
feat. It could not be determined later which pursuit pilot had fired the
fateful shot The Nippon limped out of the fire line at half power. Matsuro
still didn't dare send out a radio message but then the decision of the First
Administrator came to his aid. In all spaceships of the Solar Fleet, starting
with the vast superbattleship Drusus and including everything down to the
smallest interceptor, the viewscreens lit up to reveal Perry Rhodan, who was
using a basic frequency band common to all. He was seen and heard everywhere
at once. "This is Perry Rhodan. Attention all units: effective immediately,
the imposed radio silence is lifted. You can all talk. But keep strictly to
your prescribed frequency channels so you don't start heterodyning. We have
finally been discovered. We were able to pick up radio messages from the Druuf
ships that our interceptors attacked and our experts are attempting to
decipher them. You can count on a wide-open battle now. Our old game of
hide-and-seek has come to an end." Then followed a long series of deployment
instructions. The numerous cruiser squadrons used short hyperjumps to transfer
to the outer defence perimeter. Close to the orbit of Saturn the second line
of defence was reinforced by the main body of heavier vessels. Here Rhodan had
personally taken command. The outer line was under command of Gen.
Deringhouse. Maj. Matsuro waited until the important dispatches had been
completed. Only then did he hail the Drusus using priority code 1. He got his
contact immediately. Matsuro's face appeared on the giant hypercom screen of
the vast battleship, whose Command Central was serving as a flying
headquarters. "Cruiser Nippon-Commander, Maj. Matsuro," he announced. "I have
just returned from the blockade front. But sir, in the heat of the fighting
one of your interceptor pilots lost his head and mistook me for a Druuf. My
ship only has a minimum spaceworthiness at present. We were able to contain
the fire in the power control room by drawing out the oxygen but the Command
Central is crippled. Do you have specific instructions for me, Sir?" Rhodan
grasped the situation at once. Apparently the Nippon was bringing news from
the Hades base. "This conversation is restricted," he decided quickly. "Launch
a Gazelle and get over here to the Drusus-bring your ship on board. We'll
guide you in by remote. Have your first officer take over the Nippon for you.
He will run a low-speed course to Pluto where he is to go into a holding
orbit. Can that still be managed?" Matsuro turned to look at his chief
engineer, who nodded a confirmation. "Yes sir, the engines can still make it.
But whether or not we could manage a landing can't be determined as
yet." "Good. The Pluto Base will be informed from here. I am expecting you.
Prepare a damage report. I want to know the effect of that interceptor shot.
Where was the Nippon hit?" "Midships above the ring bulge. The impulse beam
went through both defence screens, burned through the armour plate and spent
the rest of its thermo energy in the main switching room." Matsuro was not
surprised at the satisfied nod from his highest superior. Naturally Rhodan
wanted to know the effect of his interceptor weapons. Probably this one piece
of knowledge was worth even one light cruiser of the State class. "OK, that's
enough for now. Don't lose any time and get yourself launched out of there. I
presume you have some important news, do you not...?" "And how, sir!
Otherwise I wouldn't be here." .... Maj. Nako Matsuro felt trapped in a
circle of high-ranking officers. Even Solar Marshal Allan D. Mercant was
present in the Command Central of the superbattleship. There seemed to be
something in the air that few men were informed about. Matsuro had already
given his report, which had been evaluated. He had been able to establish
contact with the agents at the Hades Base. Upon further interrogation, the
commander of the observation cruiser Nippon explained: "Yes sir, the
communication came through ungarbled. Capt. Rous informs us that the Druufs
have succeeded in creating a synthetic discharge cone. Our cosmic agent Ernst
Ellert appears to be in some difficulty. He has informed Rous that he is
gradually losing his power over the Druuf scientist, Onot. Onot is being
accused by the ruling Council on Druufon. They don't think he's entirely
unconnected with the destruction of the main computer central." "And of
course they're right," remarked Rhodan. drily. "Go on, Matsuro." "Actually
that's about all, sir. Ernst Ellert is hiding the same as ever in this Onot
creature. Ellert doesn't seem to be too happy with the radio contact with the
13th planet of the giant star system. Capt. Rous fears complications." "And
what was that about this mammoth space station near the double star, Siamed?"
inquired Mercant again. Matsuro felt that with this question the
unprepossessing little man had put his finger on the heart of the
situation. "That information came through just as I was about to go into
transition. Ellert informed us, through Rous, that the Druufs had built some
kind of giant structure. The space station's whole purpose was for generating
an outlet funnel. By certain measurements Rous was also able to find out that
the narrow end of the cone starts right over this space station." No further
information was to be recovered from Matsuro. The trained crew of his heavily
damaged cruiser were picked up by a fleet tender and taken to the Moon Base.
When Matsuro arrived there the command of a brand new ship was handed over to
him immediately. Within 7 hours of his parley with Rhodan, Maj. Matsuro took
off for his first flight test .... Where the Solar High Command's defence
plan was concerned, these 7 hours developed into a very crucial period. On the
one hand, the light cruiser California lay briefly alongside the Drusus,
parked motionlessly just over its ring bulge. It was under the command of Col.
Tifflor, who had by now become a legendary figure. And on the other hand, the
top commander of the Druufs issued certain specific orders. So when Matsuro
took off for his test flight, it marked a turning point for a number of
critical actions. Col. Tifflor came on board the flagship as John Marshall,
chief of the mutants, gathered his special team around him. Under protection
of advance cruiser squadrons, 5000 1-man pursuit ships flew to newly assigned
defence sectors. And simultaneously the first Druuf battleships emerged from
the veil of hyper-dimensional space. This time it was no mere duel on the
remote periphery of the defence line with all the advantage of surprise on the
Terranian side. The heavy cruiser Cattano, flank ship of the SPF-106, took
salvo fire from four heavy-class Druuf ships and exploded. The Cattano was the
first vessel of the Solar Fleet to go down in the battle for Terra. To the
consternation of the pursuit pilots a new weapon was employed by the
attackers. Although it could have little effect on a really major class ship
it was deadly for them. It was a thermo needle beam which was propagated in a
burst of high-peak intensity thin a force-field diffraction grating so that it
was split up into tens of thousands of 1-mm beams. This had the effect of an
atomic shotgun with enormous fan-but capabilities and the highest degree of
hit-probability. Whereas even auxiliary craft as small as the Guppy class
were not especially endangered by these high-intensity needle beams, they were
deadly to the tiny interceptors and 3-man destroyers. About 60% of the
attacking small craft were promptly detected and immediately fired upon by the
special weapons which had been specifically designed to handle them. Lt. Aluf
Tehete flew his group into just such a beam-riddled battle zone. Neither he
nor the other 11 pilots of the 586th Interceptor Group were favoured with a
chance to announce any victories this time. All 12 pursuitships went down
before the withering fire of the on-pressing Druuf fleet. A second or so
prior to this ominous wave of destruction, Col. Poskanov withdrew the battle
cruiser Osage from the front lines. The vibrator shots intended for him went
by underneath the fleeing Osage and were lost in the depths of the void. Two
hours after the first major attack, an overall view of the situation was
obtained. Approximately 5000 Druuf ships were being committed to the initial
thrust but a rapid succession of new fleet formations was streaming out of the
discharge rift. After three hours Perry Rhodan knew that he could not prevent
the destruction of Terra with the limited forces he possessed. The advance
wave of Druuf ships were already attacking the Pluto base. For the time being
that stronghold's terrible ground-fire was able to either shoot the aliens
down or drive them away, yet it was obvious that the planet could not be held
much longer. Added to this clearly evident fact was the question of whether
or not the aliens would be able to build up a second funnel. If that happened,
the Terranian defence would not be able to hold out Col. Poskanov reported
the loss of 11 cruisers from his space pursuit force. The interceptors and
3-man destroyers that had been launched from the bigger ships could not be
picked up again during the heavy fighting of the retreat manoeuvres. Those
pilots received orders to the effect that they were on their own and would
have to try to break through the enemy lines in order to reach the waiting
fleet of the inner defence ring, which was under Rhodan's command. After the
collapse of the outer defence perimeter, the area to be protected became
smaller. The closer the action came to the central sun the more the radius of
the battle plane tightened in. But in this Rhodan saw a better defence
possibility. His major class ships could be concentrated more effectively and
could be deployed more quickly to the focal points of the fighting. Five
hours after the start of the Druuf invasion, the Terranian super giants moved
into battle for the firstime. These 1500-meter brutes were the Hannibal, the
Gen. Pounder, the Barbarossa, the Wellington and the Alexander. After a short
transition they suddenly appeared in the thick of the tumult and immediately
opened fire. Only the Drusus and the older Titan remained behind as a
backup. Never before had the Druufs experienced such a counterblow. From
previous experience they recognized the super Imperium class ships but
heretofore such vessels had only been manned by Arkonide robots. Behind the
guns of the Terranian ships were highly qualified humans who knew very well
what they were risking their lives for. In a time-span of just 8 minutes, the
Wellington alone shot down 27 enemy vessels without being seriously
endangered. Her mighty defence screens took everything the Druufs had to
offer. All of which enabled the pursuing battle cruisers to have a field day
with the hard-pressed invaders. There was a temporary collapse of the enemy
front. The leading wedge of the Druuf attack was annihilated but an hour later
the gap was reinforced again. At this time Gen. Deringhouse called to the
flagship. His lean face revealed every sign of extreme exhaustion as it
appeared on the large telecom screen of the fleet flagship. Rhodan was
standing before the pickup cameras. "Sir, I estimate that Pluto will fall
within the next 30 minutes. I can't risk the big ships any longer at the
front. The Druufs have a new game out here-for each of our ships from cruisers
on up, they are throwing in at least 50 heavy units apiece. Till now our
superior manoeuvrability has let us skin by in the worst cases but this is
something else again. Sir, what are you going to do?" Rhodan finally gave the
order to retreat Pluto was evacuated of humans and the defence installations
were left in the hands of the robots. The squadrons of the outer defence ring
pulled back to the orbit of Saturn where they assembled and regrouped into new
formations. Rhodan waited until the casualty and damage reports had all come
in. Once he knew the extent of his losses, he turned to the circle of staff
officers around him. "Gentlemen, the critical moment has arrived. If we wait
any longer there'll be no need to ask Atlan for help. Have you any logical
objections to our sending out a distress call?" "I'd have done it 24 hours
ago," replied Bell calmly. "Our losses are frightening. The fact that we've
shot down more than 2000 Druuf ships doesn't stretch our chances at all.
Nobody has any objections!" Without a word Rhodan went to the Communications
Central. It was the most critical moment in the history of the human race.
Perry Rhodan, First Administrator of the Solar Empire, now had to reveal the
location of the Earth, which until now had been kept a secret by every
possible means available. The hypercom contact had already been set up on a
standby basis for some time, so now within 4 minutes the communication was
established. Atlan's face was clearly visible. The vast distance of 34000
light-years made no difference to the hypercom frequencies. "So it's come to
this?" asked the Arkonide gravely. "I've been watching the attack for hours,
via 5 robot cruisers standing near Capella. Do you want my help? If so you
have to realize that I can't keep my promise much longer." In an almost
broken voice, Rhodan replied. "We are asking for the support of the Greater
Imperium. Atlan, we're being attacked by approximately 8000 Druuf ships. With
my own resources I can probably hold the front for another 24 hours. Then
they'll be moving in on Mars, Terra and Venus." "The pertinent mobilization
programming has been prepared. It appears to me that these monsters are
throwing in all they've got in order to pin down the Arkonide forces at the
main discharge zone. I'll send you everything I can spare. In about 10 or 12
hours the fleet will arrive there. Do our agreed recognition signals still
stand?" "Without exception. I'll communicate them to the Terranian
commanders. Our IFF equipment will be programmed accordingly." After the
Arkonide had cut off the connection, Rhodan continued to sit in front of the
blank viewscreen for some time. He seemed to feel the eyes of his staff
officers on the back of his neck. "Don't try asking us if we think you're a
traitor," said someone, "or you're going to be in trouble with me!" Rhodan
turned to see Reginald Bell standing there in grim, stubborn loyalty. The
other men exchanged glances, until he replied: "No... we're beyond that now.
Good Lord, how simple it was! In a single radio communication I have snuffed
out everything that we built up in 70 years. From now on, Terra will be public
knowledge; it will be open to friend or foe. It will begin a new epoch for
us." "I'm glad, sir," declared Marshal Freyt. "We couldn't have remained
hidden much longer, anyway." 6/ WHEN MUTANTS ENTER THE RING Allan D.
Mercant, chief of Solar Intelligence, had opened the briefing session at 13:30
standard time in the large crew wardroom of the light cruiser
California. Present were all crew members of the ship and the special
commandoes of the secret Mutant Corps. Perry Rhodan was missing because he had
other tasks to take care of. These preparations for sending the mutants into
action came under the heading of Intelligence operations. The Solar System
was engaged in a raging battle for the survival of Terra. All humanity had
been forced to take up arms. In the large mess hall, silence reigned. Mercant
summarized the situation: "Events have indicated that you, ladies and
gentlemen, are not able to threatened the attackers in spite of your
paranormal capabilities. This is a wide-open conflict that hasn't anything to
do with your functions as capable agents-thus far. Just the 3 teleporters
among you would be far too ineffective with the old system of teleporting
nuclear demolition bombs on board enemy ships. While you would be operating
like that on a ship by ship basis, in the meantime we could be plunged into
disaster. Pucky has already tried this system and has succeeded in two
instances. On his third teleport jump he missed his target and was almost
killed." A thin little voice spoke up in the background as the mousebeaver
joined in. "That crazy Druuf stepped on the gas just as I was concentrating,"
he complained. "I came close-very close-but that never happened to me
before." "It would happen again and again. Considering such a concentration
of space vessels of every kind, mutant action of this nature has become
useless. So for that reason I want you to stick to your own sphere of
operations. Leave the actual battle to the spaceships that were designed for
it." Mercant interrupted himself to signal a greeting to the Administrator,
who had just entered the mess hall. Perry Rhodan acknowledged curtly. Above
his head hovered Harno, the strange ball-shaped creature. "Are you all set?
Marshall, do you think you can handle this?" Marshall's tall figure separated
itself from the crowd of crew members. "All set, sir. We'll give it a try. I
realize that telepaths and other colleagues in my field can hardly be
effective in open warfare." "Those are the words of a wise man I know who has
expressed that fact for many years," said Rhodan. "His name is Atlan. For your
information, I have asked for his help. He will send us all the ships he can
spare. Nevertheless, I don't want to leave anything untried. In 10 minutes the
Drusus is going to withdraw from the front and Col. Tifflor will follow with
the California. At a prescribed place I'm going to generate a ring-field for
you and you'll be able to penetrate the Druuf universe as you have in the
past. I want you to take full advantage of the cruiser's extra acceleration
capacity. Make contact with the Hades base. Pucky can attempt to reach Ernst
Ellert, who seems to be in trouble. Make a thrust into the Siamed System and
determine whether or not the space station exists that Rous has informed us
about. If that structure is actually a flying power plant that they're using
to generate a synthetic discharge cone, then do what you think is necessary.
Tifflor, you and Marshall will work hand in hand together. You pilot the
California and Marshall will apply the mutants to the situation accordingly.
At all costs you must try to destroy that station. There should be plenty of
possibilities for you to do it because your capabilities are tailor-made for
such an operation. You may not expect any assistance from me. I have my hands
full right here. So keep the fact fully in mind that you are strictly on your
own. I can't even give you support with the transmitters. All available
special ship's equipment is urgently needed for rescuing the wounded. We're
transferring the crews of crippled ships into other undamaged vessels." "So
you can see how difficult our situation is. I will not use the word
'desperate', not just yet-but it's very likely that things will be very acute
in the immediate future." After a slight pause, Rhodan continued. "We are all
human beings. We all have a common home which we simply refer to as the Earth.
Pucky and Harno belong to us. After all, we do not regard other forms of
intelligence to be monstrosities, provided they are not malevolent. Nobody can
do anything about his outward bodily appearance and form." "Thank you!"
chirped Pucky from the background. His large incisor tooth was gleaming. "I
wasn't talking about you in particular," said Rhodan, smiling. "You're not the
only little monster around, you know." It served to relieve the tension among
the men who were listening. It seemed as though Rhodan had just broken a
spell. "You should understand that you are going on a difficult mission. If
everything goes as we hope it will, you will be cutting off the Druuf supply
base from their fighting ships. That would be half the battle. Naturally there
would still be the problem of getting rid of the enemy fleets that are still
in our own universe. But that isn't your worry. See if you can destroy this
mysterious space station. This is war! If you have to attack with nuclear
weapons, just keep in mind that Mankind is fighting for its life. That's all I
have to say. Are there any more questions?" Rhodan looked up at the wall
clock. Marshall raised a question about the duty assignment of Harno, the
televidic creature. "Harno stays here," Rhodan decided. "I urgently need his
gifts so that I can make best use of the tele-transmitter on board the Drusus.
I'm using it to attack the leading Druuf ships." After that, the Chief of the
Solar Empire went back to the flagship, to which the 100-meter hull of the
California was clinging like a barely noticeable protuberance. Five minutes
later the cruiser freed itself from the grip of the magnetic mooring beams.
The Drusus picked up speed and went into transition. It was the only ship in
the Solar Fleet that was still equipped with a special warp generator for
producing a ring-field. Behind her the California also plunged into
hyperspace. After a wide jump, both ships rematerialised near the blockade
front, which was about 8300 light-years removed from the Earth. A short 2
light-hours distance from them the combined Arkonide fleet was fighting with
the Druufs who were still pushing through the discharge rift. It was evident
that the aliens were trying everything possible to pin down the Arkonide
forces here. It was further noticeable that entire squadrons were being pulled
from the front, which gave assurance to Rhodan that Atlan had already put out
the necessary orders for helping Terra. Nobody knew as yet that he was behind
the robot Brain. His instructions were issued over the recognized frequency
band that was used by the Brain, so they were obeyed without question. The
California held a position at a distance of 100 km behind the Drusus while
matching its full-powered braking manoeuvres. Once the flagship had come to a
stop, the smaller ship cautiously drew alongside. Rhodan appeared on the
telecom screen. "Well done. We're just in the right spot. If you penetrate
the Druuf universe from this position you should come out near the Siamed
System. In your further actions you have to keep in mind that
extra-dimensional points of reference are different from ours. Don't beat your
brains out over the fact that you'll be discovering the space station of the
planet Druufon, even though the discharge cone it's generating is somewhere
near the Earth about 6300 light-years from there. These are hyper-mechanics of
another time-plane and don't apply to the ordinary concept of distances. Here
are some final particulars: "If you are successful we'll know it when that
funnel gets wiped out. In that case I'll come back here with the Drusus, build
a new warp ring and pick you up. If your attack misfires or you find that the
existence of the assumed power station is erroneous, land the cruiser at the
Hades base and wait there for further communications. In that case I'll try to
pull you out by using one of the Fleet's transmitter ships. Everything
understood? OK, then let's get started." .... Col. Julian Tifflor had an
unpleasant sensation near his kidneys when he saw the strange apparition of
energy starting to form in front of his fast cruiser. He stood almost at
attention before the viewscreens while he waited for the completion of the
technical miracle that the scientists on board the Drusus were producing. At
the moment he was thinking back to the first mission he had ever flown for
Rhodan. At that time he had been assigned to the task of playing a trick on
the Galactic Traders. He recalled that he had been a mere youngster then. His
classmates had been shocked when he had been yanked right out of final exams
at the Academy. A Terranian surgeon had then proceeded to plant a
micro-apparatus in his body-a tracing signal transmitter which he still
carried inside of him close to his kidneys. Now here he was again on a
special mission for Rhodan. Close ahead of the California the portal was
taking form-a sort of transitional field which served to coordinate and
equalize the energy components of two space-time dimensions. In the centre of
the dark void appeared a ring of light that was just 300 meters in diameter.
What lay beyond it could not be described in a few words. Lines of tension
came into Tifflor's lean face which had remained astonishingly young. His
memories faded. The predominant thought now was that the Earth was at stake in
what he had to do. John Marshall stood behind him. As a member of the Mutant
Corps, he had been one of his first associates. In his eyes Tifflor could not
detect any hint of the telepath's feelings. "John, we ought to wish each
other the best. I was just thinking back to old times." "Same here, Tiff,"
replied Marshall quietly. "Do you realize we should have been dead long ago?
It's ironic to think that we were given the bio cell-shower treatment on
Wanderer to give us a temporary reprieve from the aging process-only to face
this. Tiff, this could turn out to be our last mission." "Takeoff is go!"
boomed Rhodan's voice from the loudspeaker. "Move it! What are you still
waiting for? Do you know what kind of power this thing is eating up?" Tifflor
gave the required commands. With gently thrumming engines the Earth's most
modern cruiser glided toward the light-ring. A minor course correction brought
it exactly into the centre of it. Within 30 meters of the strange portal,
Tifflor personally switched the controls to higher acceleration. The weird
iridescence brightened briefly and the vanished. The men felt a painful tug
internally but the sensation passed quickly. Radio contact with the Drusus was
cut off as though by a knife. Rhodan's last words could no longer be
heard. "Entrance manoeuvre completed, sir," the second officer announced. "We
are on the other side." Tifflor turned again to the viewscreens, which were
now bolstered by the teleoptics. Here was the dark and gloomy universe of the
Druufs where all colours seemed to be overlaid with a deep red hue. It was the
same impression Tifflor had gotten from previous adventures here. The
California's tracking equipment came to life. There was evidence of heavy
space traffic just 2 light-years away. In a similar manner the matter-sensors
quickly revealed that the double star out there was the core of the Siamed
System. The giant dark red sun had a greenish-glowing companion. Since it was
not unusual to find double stars with a family of planets, the initial
discovery of these two suns had not appeared to be anything out of the
ordinary. However, all that had changed when it was determined how eccentric
the orbits of the system's 62 planets were. Some of them circled the principal
red star exclusively, others orbited around both suns, and a third group wound
their way on apparently counter-rotational paths through the strong
gravitational fields of the binary star. For Julian Tifflor, Siamed had
always been a nightmare. Here nothing appeared to be normal and everything was
fraught with incalculable factors. Added to this was a wavering time ratio
throughout the entire universe, the extent of which was also unknown.
Terranian cosmonautical science had restricted itself to a closer study of the
Druufs' home system. What might be happening on the planets of all the many
other stars was beyond Tifflor's knowledge. He was quite content just to know
how to get into this brooding red Hell. The California hovered in space
without apparent motion. "The ring-field is gone," announced the tracker,
Tanaka Seiko. Tifflor ran a hand through his hair. For a moment there was a
slightly confused expression on his youthful and beardless face. Somewhat
disconcerted, he looked around. "So-we expected that. The Drusus is needed
back at the front John, what do you suggest? Unfortunately nobody was able to
give us any further instructions beyond this point." Marshall stepped closer
to the glowing viewscreens. The big panob gallery, usually filled with
brightly shining familiar stars, now presented a scene that was depressing to
human instinct. The cruiser's hypersensors rumbled incessantly. Only 2
light-years away,large fleet units were either manoeuvring toward the
naturally-created discharge rift or were already plunging into the narrow
throat of the funnel-shaped formation. The vast number of ships developed such
a volume of energy that it drowned out force radiations that were undoubtedly
being generated by the exit funnel. Marshall asked for more information from
the tracking centre but nobody could give him any further details. The only
thing definite was that Rhodan's calculations had been exact. They were here
close to the Druufs' home system where the mysterious space station was
supposed to be located. At present, however, it could not be seen. The
distance was too great, the tremendous mass of the numerous planets caused too
much interference and any residual echo traces coming through were effectively
jammed by the full-powered engines of countless warships. Marshall caught
himself uttering such a hefty curse that it startled the female mutant Betty
Toufry. "Why John!" she admonished him reproachfully. Pucky the mousebeaver
let out a shrill guffaw. He seemed to be the only living creature on board who
was without a care. Obviously bored, the little fellow pattered into the
middle of the Control Central. Placing his dainty hands on his hips, he
comfortably supported himself on his wide, spoon-shaped beaver tail. "You
could at least wait until I'm not present!" he declared indignantly. "Look
who's talking!" said the two-headed mutant, Ivan Goratschin, speaking from the
head that was on his right side. The other head, known as Ivan the Elder,
laughed amusedly. Pucky's narrow mouseface twisted scornfully. His big ears
turned to the 71/2-foot giant with the clumsy, green-scaled body. "Nobody
asked for your opinion." he said. "On the other hand I have decided
that..." "You what?" interrupted Marshall. "...that we have no other choice
but to jump into the system," he said, completing his sentence unperturbedly.
"What else? Here we're completely isolated. There's no telepath on Hades and I
don't advise using the hypercom. Ernst Ellert is a good telepath but he seems
to be too tied up with this Druuf scientist. The lastime I already mentioned
how much Onot keeps resisting Ellert's mental influence. So there's just no
other choice but to..." "What?" interjected Marshall again. "I don't like to
be interrupted all the time," chirped the mousebeaver angrily. "Some people
have their nerve! Now may I please continue?" Marshall waved his hands
resignedly and Tifflor sat down in the nearest chair, also giving up. "That's
better," said Pucky, mollified. "I suggest that we make an advance of at least
10 light-hours. From that point I'll probably be able to contact Ellert. If
necessary, John, Betty, Ishy Matsu and I will have to make a combined
telepathic signal, and that's bound to reach him. He should know where that
station can be found. Maybe we can drop the idea entirely of contacting Rous,
because it's dangerous to send radio to the 13th planet. If that flying power
plant blows up he'll know soon enough that we've left our calling card. Well,
what do you think of it?" Marshall was cleaning his nails, lost in
thought. "Hahem-m!" The telepath, Ishy Matsu, cleared her throat
reprovingly. John shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and looked toward
the California's commander. "Tiff, what do you think? Does the little rascal
have something there or are you toying around with something else?" "I don't
see any better way. There are still other alternatives but they're more
involved and equally as dangerous. I think we should risk it I have to find
the source of the discharge cone whether it's being generated on a planet or
on a space station. All I can hope is that our agents haven't made an error.
But if that crossover funnel turns out to be due to natural causes we can turn
back with a clear conscience." Marshall's face became inscrutable. Tiff
became uneasy when he looked into those dark eyes. They seemed to burn with an
inner fire. "Not even then," said the Chief of the Mutant Corps emphatically.
"From Atlan's account of the destruction of Atlantis we've learned that he was
able to cause similar energy formations to collapse by shooting at them with
converted impulse engines. In such a case we'll be governed accordingly and do
what the Arkonides have effectively demonstrated 10,000 years ago. OK, should
we get going?" Julian Tifflor got up. He had understood completely. John
Marshall was unshakably convinced that the uncanny energy phenomena would have
to be put to an end in one way or another. The mutants went back into the mess
room because they had nothing to do with flying the ship. A half hour later
the calculations for transition were completed. Tifflor had them rechecked 3
times until all uncertainty values were levelled off to a maximum possible
exactitude. By human standards the California had to hit its destination
point right 'on the nose' when it emerged from hyperspace, which seemed to
demonstrate the same laws in the Druuf plane as in the Einstein continuum.
When they had first penetrated this second time-zone the hyper-dimensional
factors had proved to be stable within themselves. Tifflor made an
announcement over the ship's P.A. "Transition will occur at about 6 minutes
after acceleration start. Spacesuits for all hands. Combat mutant detail, put
on your Arkonide battle gear. Teleporters may have to go into action sooner
than the others. If the chance comes up, let's not miss it by being asleep at
the switch. Marshall, see the weapons control officer. Get your issue of
prepared micro-bombs and divide them up among your people. Whatever happens,
this thing has to go like clockwork." The light cruiser came to life. It
picked up speed under full power thrust of the engines. The 150-man crew began
to sense the initial buildup of tension which was always a part of going into
action. This was seen in the fact that all necessary announcements or reports
began to be short-lipped and to the point. The G-shock absorbers took up the
tremendous inertial forces of the acceleration surge. No one on board the
California sensed that they were hurtling through the alien universe at a rate
of 1000 km/sec. For Julian Tifflor the flight characteristics of the special
ship were very gratifying. If the Druuf weapon technology was superior, at
least they had a spacer that no Druuf ship could match in terms of speed and
acceleration. And to this was added the assurance that the Druuf fighting
units were hampered by the difference of time-rate here, which only enabled
them to move at half the speed of light, that is, in their own normal
continuum. It was another story, of course, when the aliens used their linear
transition technique of extra-dimensional travel. In that ease they were again
superior. Within a few minutes the spherical hull of the light cruiser began
to vibrate strenuously. The propulsion units had been operating for some time
now with the supercharger injection wide open, which held the acceleration at
maximum. 10 seconds prior to transition, Tifflor activated the closed circuit
video intercom. "We're going into the jump, John, are you all set?" "OK,
we're ready. Here's luck!" Then came the pains of dematerialisation which
seemed to pull at the very marrow of their bones. They were all accustomed to
it, yet every hypertransition was always a torture to the entire body. The
California vanished from the normal Druuf continuum. Due to the
hyper-compensator, no shockwaves were propagated. Thus the prospects were good
for making a surprise appearance in the Siamed System. 7/ THE BATTLE FOR
TERRA The 13th planet's librational fluctuations were a cause for concern. It
was apparent that its impossible-seeming orbital path was bringing it closer
and closer to the giant red sun. By astronomical standards it was not very hot
but for crew members of Hades, the Terranian base, it was like an atomic oven
whose blazing tongues of hydrogen flame threatened at any moment to vaporize
the planet's surface. Hades was a so-called orbital rotation body, meaning
that only one portion of its surface always faced the sun. On the day side the
average temperatures exceeded 340° Fahrenheit. The eternal night side had long
since surrendered its last traces of heat to outer space. There the
temperatures approached Absolute zero. The base had been built in the
'twilight' zone between the day and night hemispheres. It was roughly 80 km in
extent but its spread-out features were subject to such changes that its
configuration was never very constant. Capt. Marcel Rous looked at the
special wristwatch of his heavy spacesuit The air-conditioning blower in the
back of his oversized pressure helmet drowned out any faint sounds from the
outside. Hades had turned another fraction of a degree. Apparently the
gravitational influence of the nearby giant sun had such a powerful effect on
the Mars-sized planet that the former twilight belt was slipping into the
direct range of the solar rays. Rous looked across at the Hope Mountains with
an increased uneasiness. During the first Terranian visitation of this world,
a camouflaged station had been built into the mountainside and in the course
of ensuing months it had been expanded and improved. It had grown brighter.
Deep red shafts of light touched the craggy rim of the low cordillera and
fanned upward into the dark sky. It would not be long now before this
semi-twilight region would be like a smouldering melting pot. Rous drew back
slowly behind the protection of a steep tower of rock. It was high time that
he left the unpleasant outside world to seek the more favourable climate of
rooms inside the stronghold. About 1 km behind him the first evaporated wisps
of frozen gases were rising. There was a notable increase in temperature. In a
few hours this area would be visited by a considerable storm of vaporizing
gases. Rous decided to leave his observation post but just once more he bent
back his upper torso in order to elevate his field of vision. Breathing deeply
he looked outward into the star-spangled depths of space, which began
practically at the planet's surface. These mere traces of gas could not be
considered to be an actual atmosphere. Out there Rous could see what the men
in the California had not been able to discover. In the midst of the empty
void was the glowing dark red mark of Druuf technology. It began as a thin,
tubular formation somewhere near the 17th planet and stretched away into
immeasurable distances. When Rous leaned back to his limit he could plainly
see the beginnings of the funnel. With a grunt the captain reached out for a
support and got up. The heavy suit was cumbersome. In spite of the negligible
pull of 0.35 gravs, every movement was an effort. On his mind was the fact
that it had been some days now since he had been in contact with the Terranian
communications cruiser. Any hour now he expected a transmitter ship to arrive
outside the nearby discharge zone. At this far advanced secret base, Rous
felt somewhat isolated and lost. Maj. Matsuro, the commander of the Nippon,
had been the last one to give him any news of happenings on the faraway home
front. He had spoken of a surprise Druuf attack and then he and his ship had
vanished. Rous had a graphic vision of what must be going on in the Sol
system at present. He cursed the fate that tied him to this infernal planet.
Disgruntled, he looked once more at the nearby mountain range. The gaseous
wind became stronger and the angle of the sun's rays intensified the heat and
glare. If he had his druthers, he reflected, he would leave this post within
the very next hour. While preoccupied with these thoughts he was surprised by
the sudden crackling of his helmet receiver. Lt. Kagus was on the radio.
"Hello, Marcel-you still alive out there?" "Thanks for your kind concern,"
Rous answered irritably. "If I could, I'd junk this lousy rock. Libration's
increasing. In 3 or 4 hours it'll be about 360° out here in front of the cave
entrance." "Sounds real comfy. All the more reason you should get here on the
double. I think we just traced a transition jump by a Terranian ship. At any
rate it wasn't the usual warp shock and it wasn't the kind of flicker the
Druufs put out when they make a hop. It's pretty likely that somebody's just
gone into hyper under a frequency damper." "Now you tell me!" yelled
Rous. "What do you mean now? I only just opened my yap." The captain got
under way. In 10 minutes he reached the narrow manlock that was so perfectly
camouflaged that it could have only been discovered by accident. He waited
impatiently as the armourplate hatch swung leisurely back to reveal the small
airlock behind it. When the hiss of incoming air became audible, he hit the
magnetic release of his helmet ring and his pressurized internal air escaped
like a small explosion. Without saluting the guards at the inner hatch, Rous
ran down the passage that lay beyond. The stronghold's tracking and
communications rooms were besieged by the men of the base crew. To the left
of the area were the cavernous chambers where the matter transmitters had been
installed. With this equipment it had always been possible to establish a
direct contact with the fast ships of the Solar Fleet, without any necessity
for making a dangerous breakthrough. The matter transmitters operated through
hyper-dimentional channels. When two of them were exactly attuned to each
other a contact could be made with practically no possibility of interference
from existing influences of the normal environment. Once there had been a
mis-channelling but these side effects had since been overcome. Somebody
activated the sliding panel and Rous stumbled into the room, where he flopped
into a chair, exhausted. Lt. Kagus sat tensely at the vernier tracker.
Without turning from the console, he said: "They've emerged into normal space
again. I'll bet my head it's a Terranian ship. These flat curves are typical.
Somebody's jumped through under a residual energy screen. Here, see for
yourself." Rous shook off his cumbersome spacesuit and let it fall to the
floor. The wave pattern was indeed typical of what they hoped for. They could
not be picking up the wave shocks of a regular warp. Only the residual traces
of an operating compensator had come through, which the highly sensitive
special instruments were registering. "Who can it be?" asked Rous. "Do you
have any idea? First of all, how did they get into the Druuf plane? If they
had penetrated the discharge front we'd have known about it from all the
fireworks. For days now the Druufs have stopped all penetration by that route.
They've set up whole fleets across the entrance zone." He strained closer to
the RE-tracker but saw no further impulse patterns. Kagus took off his head
phones. "If I'm not mistaken, the folks back home remembered the old
ring-field generator. They can also get in here with one of those, you know.
Maybe we should get ready for a field overlap at any time." Rous stared
searchingly at his friend. "Field overlap? Does that mean you expect a
collapse of the exit cone?" "Right you are. If the Chief has put any of his
boys through the warp-ring and brought them here into the Druuf plane, you can
bet they're no normal men. I'm thinking of a mutant commando outfit. The last
thing we did was to tell the Nippon's commander about the weird formation
that's built up in our neighbourhood. Of course I don't see how a funnel in
this area could be used for a surprise attack on the Earth but anyway there's
always that possibility. At any rate we can assume that Maj. Matsuro wouldn't
have kept the information to himself. That's why it seems logical that Perry
Rhodan must have decided to take action." He was tapping the plastic readout
strip of the sensor with his fingernail Marcel Rous had become
pensive. "Let's wait and see what happens. If our people have arrived here
they'd hesitate to put out a radio call. The danger of being traced is too
great. Anyway, we should prepare for trouble. Under the circumstances they may
be forced to land on Hades. Sgt. Eicksen, you get your group into the
transmitter room. If the machines give a green signal I want to be notified at
once." Thus they had covered the basics of the situation. The small crew of
the agent headquarters on Hades was aware of what was going on in outer
space-up to a point. What they did not suspect was the scope of the Druuf
invasion. In their own concept the new force cone must have come out into
Einstein space somewhere near the naturally generated discharge zone. But it
emerged near the Earth; and therein lay a slight difference. As Rous and
Kagus were leaving the tracking station, the captain stopped at the door. "Do
you really buy that theory of yours-mutant commandoes?" Kagus grinned. "You
ought to know the experts in High Command better than I do. Don't you think
they would have evaluated our report immediately? In any case, just a few
minutes ago a Terranian ship made a hyperjump. That had to be inside the Druuf
universe or we wouldn't have been able to detect it. If our people locate that
new cone, we can get set for anything to happen." "If they're not shot down
before then," answered Rous gravely. "The Siamed System is swarming with all
shapes and sizes of fighting ships." .... The position within 10 light-hours
of the Siamed System was very temporary. After determining that they had not
been spotted by the Druufs, Tifflor had immediately prepared for another
transition jump. During this operation the heavy flight traffic among the 62
planets came to the aid of the California. It was apparently impossible for
all ground stations to sift out the traces of the relatively small cruiser in
the massive presence of their own hard-driving ships. The new funnel had not
yet been sighted. In the course of the feverish search, one of the scientists
of the mission team hit upon the right idea. It was plain to see that an
energy trace of this nature was prohibited just now by the heavy interference
effects of their surroundings. However, considering the tremendous size of
such a funnel it should have become visible before now in their optical
instruments. They were still wondering if they had emerged in the right place
when suddenly the aforementioned physicist swore aloud in a startling manner.
"How long has the funnel been there? Just a few days, isn't that right? And
how fast is light in Druuf space? Exactly 150 thousand km per second.
According to that it's no wonder we haven't seen this apparition yet. Its
light hasn't reached us yet, gentlemen! Fly farther ahead and it'll show
itself-you'll have proof of how slow we were in finally coming to our
senses!" This was actually the reason for Tifflor's decision to make the
second transition jump. Now, following the second manoeuvre, all was
revealed. The big viewscreens of the panob gallery couldn't encompass the full
extent of the light phenomenon. Tifflor estimated its height to be in the
range of 10 billion kilometres. At the mouth of the cone where the
transitional effects began and the thing faded out it must have been about 20
million km in diameter. These were tremendous measurements, yet in
astronomical terms they were still small and insignificant At any rate the
zone's diameter was sufficient to permit the passage of entire fleet
formations without hindrance or danger into the Einstein continuum. The
tracking and sensor instruments of the California were reacting
uninterruptedly to the new environment. The ship had emerged from hyperspace
near the 15th planet. Planet 16, the home world of the Druufs, was just 250
million km away. The gleaming disc of the planet, named Druufon, now appeared
about the size of a fist under magnification of the trans-light mass
detectors. They were fairly close to the tubular end of the synthetic exit
cone which had already had such fateful consequences for the Earth. At least
Tifflor hoped that the phenomenon was due to artificial causes. They still saw
no sign of the reported space station. Tiff was thinking of calling the Hades
base for more information but it was still too dangerous because a radio call
could betray them more easily than the presence of the cruiser itself. The
thundering super power of the engines shook the hull in every seam. They were
putting on all the brakes in order to cut down their entrance velocity. Once
at a standstill they hoped to pick up more specific tracking and sensor data.
Also it was an old rule of thumb that a motionless body was considerably more
difficult to make out than a ship that was moving rapidly. Tiff was fairly
certain he wouldn't get away with a continued approach flight for long. Three
minutes later the California came to a relative state of rest. While the ship
hovered motionlessly in space, the tracking experts redoubled their efforts in
search of the space station. However, the incoming echo traces and radiation
pickups always came from Druuf ships that were either taking off or landing.
The 16th planet appeared to be a fleet base and stronghold of major
proportions. The closer one came to the source of these disturbances, the more
indistinct the individual traces became. "Keep trying," Tifflor told them.
"As long as we remain undetected we have time. As for what may be happening on
the home front I'd rather not think about it." He wanted to contact John
Marshall but changed his mind when Ivan Goratschin told him that Marshall was
busy. So he contented himself with observing the mutant chiefs strange
operation by means of the video intercom. On board the battle-ready and
heavily armed cruiser, which was a monument to human inventiveness and
technological advancement, a strange assembly had gathered. The members of the
Mutant Corps who were gifted with telepathy stood in a close group and held
each other's hands. These were Pucky, John Marshall, Betty Toufry and Ishy
Matsu. Their faces and staring eyes were devoid of expression. No one was
present in the room but themselves because it was vitally important that no
extraneous sounds should interrupt their combined concentration. Only the
pickup cameras of the closed video system were present but they operated
silently. Marshall functioned as 'spokesman' for their combined mentalities.
Working as human conductors the other 3 mutants merely placed their own powers
at his disposal, which Marshall not only combined with his own transmission
but also used as an inner amplifier of his thoughts. The contact was
established after 10 minutes of very intensive telepathic broadcasting. In
this case the distance itself was now a negligible factor. Through a unique
ability, Ellert's personality had taken possession of the Druuf scientist
Onot. However, inasmuch as he took so long to answer the urgent and powerful
mental call of the mutant group it became obvious that he was in some kind of
serious trouble. Marshall had continued to repeat the fortified call until it
finally produced a response. Somewhere in John's subconsciousness a faint and
distant voice became discernible: "Who's calling?... John?" "You're in
trouble... we can feel it. We've built a mind pool here. Can we give you
support?" "No, but make this short. It's taking everything I've got to keep a
grip on Onot's rebellious personality. Did you come because of the new funnel
formation?" Marshall confirmed as much. He and the other mutants had to
strain against their own growing fatigue in order to strengthen the weakening
telepathic impulses. "We're looking for the space station you reported,
Ellert." "It's orbiting Druufon at a distance of 3 million km. Destroy it.
The Leading Druuf scientists are on board. They've put everything into it that
high rank or intelligence can offer in order to keep that funnel going. The
equipment they're using was developed from Onot's time-stasis machine. The
station is the only one of its kind. If it's destroyed along with the brain
trust out there, there's no way they'll ever build another generator platform.
Onot has been placed in a kind of protective custody. He and I are down here
on the planet. Attack, or it will be too later!" With that the connection
broke off abruptly. No matter how hard Marshall tried to regain the contact,
Ellert was heard from no more. Tifflor was at a high state of agitation. When
the weird fixity of the mutants' eyes began to relax, the colonel hastily
grabbed his microphone. "What is it? What did he say? Come on-out with it! We
can be discovered at any moment!" Marshall summarized: "The station is
orbiting around Druufon. Distance: 3 million km. That's why you couldn't track
it because the planet is so big and has been eclipsing it. Ellert cut off all
of a sudden. I'm afraid he's in deep trouble. We should make an
attempt..." "No!" Marshall was startled by the sound of Tifflor's voice.
When he looked up searchingly at the viewscreen he saw that the frank,
youthful countenance of the commander had changed. This was the hidden but
genuine Tifflor, who was capable of unsuspected harshness when the occasion
demanded it. "Rescuing Ellert is a task for a separate mission. We aren't
equipped for it and we don't have the time. John, I'm making a jump. Get ready
for action. I have a hunch we don't have another minute to lose. Get in here
to Central with your 3 teleporters." Tifflor cut the connection. His hard
refusal still burned on the tip of his tongue. Secretly conscience-bitten, he
looked around him for reactions but found none. While the short transition
was being calculated, Marshall appeared along with Pucky, Tako Kakuta and the
dark-skinned Ras Tschubai. Except for Marshall, all of them were teleporters.
They were wearing Arkonide combat spacesuits. The suits generated defence
screens which made normal space armour unnecessary. Each one had a wide
shoulder holster in which was contained ball-sized, black-gleaming objects-the
ultimate weapons of destruction. Three minutes prior to the new transition,
the California was detected in spite of its built-up screen: The duty officer
in the Com Room was heard from. "Lt. Instedt reporting, sir. We're picking up
impacts on the hyper band-intensity range 7. Now we have 3 different impacts,
now 5. Their tracking beams have us, sir." Then from the tracking room:
"Shockwave echos with flat curves. Several ships going into hyper-dimensional
space. Contact lost. Warp configuration shows linear propulsion. Over and
out." Tifflor was suddenly the epitome of calmness. He skipped running a
recheck on the jump coördinates. As the last strips of data spewed forth from
the P-calculators the California's big engines roared to life. The cruiser
shot forward. The high acceleration hurled them away from their holding
position like a bullet. By the time the tracking room reported five Druuf
ships the California had already put several million kilometres behind her.
But the transition coördinates were not quite ready. Automatic programming of
the hyper-field generators took its own time. In the viewscreens linked to
the outboard opticals the previously clear reproduction of the stars was
blurring and fading. They were approaching the relative speed of light. As the
thundering of the engine compartments indicated that the supercharger
injectors had automatically started operating, Tifflor knew that in the realm
of normal flight there was nothing that could overtake him now. The Druuf
ships didn't have this much acceleration capacity nor could they achieve the
Earthly version of speol. Tifflor figured he still had 5 minutes to spare so
he turned almost indifferently to the teleporters. "Now here's the plan, so
listen carefully. It's impossible for the California to attack the space
station with weapons fire-we'd be shot down before we could try it. I'm going
to rematerialise within 3 million km of the main planet of the system. After
that I'll have about one minute to locate the satellite base and blast toward
it on full power." "As soon as it's in our viewscreens and you align
yourselves with it, make your jumps and don't forget those bombs. Immediately
after you disappear I'll make a short blind hyperjump, which will move me out
of the action. I'll need 5 minutes after reentry to brake to a stop. Then
another 5 minutes for calculating the return transition. But on that trip I'm
not going to rev up to entry speed again. Instead, I'll try a little Russian
roulette and attempt a standing jump which should bring me exactly in front of
the space station." "If I make it you'll get a short hyper-blip from me over
the radio. Then you concentrate on teleporting back on board. All told you'll
have from 10 to 12 minutes for messing around inside that station. There's no
way to get back to you sooner than that. Once you hear my call blip, however,
you'll have just 30 seconds to make it to the ship. Is that clear? Any
questions?" Pucky spoke up. "Why not hang around a few secs until we've
dropped our little love notes? At the most, maybe only a minute." "Our neck's
going to be hanging out for a minute, as it is, until I can locate the
station. If I give those Druuf weapons officers another 60 seconds to draw a
bead on me the California will be hanging around, alright-as a miniature
sunball! We'll stay with the plan. You make your jump, I take a hyper-dive,
then come back and send you a call beep. Remember-30 seconds is the time
you'll have to pile on board. I'll not wait a second longer before blasting
out. Now-can you do it?" Tako Kakuta smiled. "I'd call that a real clear
piece of instant planning, sir. We'll make it." "We're all set!" agreed Pucky
somewhat plaintively. "We'll last your 12 minutes." Immediately thereafter,
new Druuf ships were detected. This time the enemy was pursuing the California
by means of the much faster linear trans-light propulsion method. "By now the
whole security fleet is alerted," observed Tifflor quietly. "Hang on for
transition. I wish we had all these Druufon fireworks behind us." Just as the
pursuers made a sudden reappearance in the normal continuum of the Druuf
universe, the California launched itself at light-speed into hyper-dimensions.
The raybeams that groped out after them expended their shots without
effect. At the same time the tracking station on Hades registered another
transition. Capt. Rous went on red alert, as did the sentinel ships near the
space station. It only took a few moments for the just-vanished cruiser to
cover the short transition of 250 million km. When it became visible again it
also appeared on the viewscreens of the Druuf ships. .... Oddly enough the
projected weapon beams were also visible! What had been normally impossible in
Einstein space because of the lack of matter had become a phenomenal reality
here. True to the local time-ratio mechanics, the bundled streaks of deadly
energy travelled at only half the speed of light, so it was relatively easy
for Tifflor to dodge them and still maintain his course. But how much longer
could their luck hold out? Tifflor was well aware of the old saw that too many
hounds meant death for the hare. He flew the California on manual override,
which enabled him to make evasive manoeuvres without any nav computations and
thus escape the increasing energy bolts. The dull red space between the
planets here was normally only sparsely relieved by a dark glimmer here and
there but now it was interlaced with a jumbled filigree of the heaviest
calibre thermo-discharges. Apparently in such close proximity to the binary
sun a large amount of cosmic dust had been captured and concentrated by the
tremendous gravitational field. When Tifflor issued orders to open fire, the
stern gun positions of the Terranian ship spouted a flaming cascade of
fireballs. In the course of 5 seconds two hits were made. The two resulting
atomic explosions marked what was left of the two Druuf ships that had been on
an exact approach toward the California. It had been simple to find the space
station, much easier than expected. All they had to do was head for the
tube-end of the funnel. The gleaming formation was exceptionally visible in
the dark-brooding vault of space and they knew that where it began the
orbiting power plant had to be located. There was no other
possibility. Tifflor raced onward. The California's engines howled under
full-power load. Two seconds prior to this the forward repulsion shields had
cut in automatically. Owing to the surprisingly heavy concentration of
interplanetary micro-particles in the central part of the system, some
undesirable friction effects had been noted. The cruiser's leading hemisphere
was already glowing dangerously when the projectors finally sprang into
operation. They ionized the tiny particles and then repelled them magnetically
from the flight path. 40 seconds of Tifflor's predicted one-minute leeway had
passed already. On the forward viewscreens a disc-shaped object appeared
bright and clear. It was at least 8 km in diameter and 1.5 km thick. Just
before the lapse of the planned one-minute time-span, it appeared that the
security fleet had finally gotten their range. Very precise lead angles had
been calculated so that now the first shot struck the defence screen. It
happened just 1 second prior to the planned action. At the end of the minute,
Tifflor knew it was high time to go. A second shot sideswiped the defence
screen and inside the cruiser there was a dull reverberation as though they
were in the centre of a resounding bell. The space station was still a good
50,000 km away. "Jump!" yelled the commander but he was a fraction of a
second too late. The 3 teleporters knew that they could manage the remaining
distance in spite of their heavy bomb load. Where they had just been standing
was a rapidly vanishing swirl of shimmering air. Simultaneously Tifflor hit
the transition commit lever. The California disappeared into hyperspace just
as 14 mighty thermo-beams crossed the spot where the ship would have been had
it continued in normal flight. Inside the long since alerted space station
the Druuf scientists congratulated each other. It was obvious that a desperate
attack by a suicide commando group had been repulsed since they had clearly
seen how determinedly the enemy had sought to bring the station under fire.
But the intruders had not managed to land a single shot. The funnel stood
there the same as before. It was just this attitude that Tifflor had hoped to
generate. Now all that was necessary was for the mutants to be able to operate
unobserved. By human estimates it had to succeed. No one would imagine that 3
paranormal beings could have left a spaceship going at almost the speed of
light without using a lifeboat or some other small vehicle. As the California
promptly rematerialised, the navigation officers began to compute the return
transition even while the engines went into emergency retro-braking under a
fuel-consuming mode of medium super-charging. Almost in the same second, 3
mutants arrived at their destination. .... Ras Tschubai had the misfortune
of landing right in the middle of a high-tension power room between a number
of free-standing transformers. Blinded by the incessantly-crackling discharge
lightnings and the steady glare of the power conductor beams, he staggered
back with a loud groan. His body was still racked with the pains of
rematerialisation. It had only been noted at the last moment that the whole
surface of this space station was encased in a bell-shaped energy barrier.
Apparently it had energy characteristics which were alien and antagonistic to
non-Druuf type matter or flesh and blood. Tschubai had clearly sensed a
resistance as he broke through. He crouched down in a protected corner and
was very careful not to come too close to the current transmission beams.
Beyond the fixed metal bulkhead thundered the power machinery. Judging by the
noise there were probably giant high-powered nuclear piles in there hooked up
to converter banks. In this respect the Druufs operated no differently than
humans except that some other catalysis process was involved in the
stabilization of their nuclear power generation. Ras acted without delay.
Carefully removing the heavy bomb from his shoulder harness, he checked his
watch and then set the ignition timer. Taking the seconds into consideration
which had already passed since his arrival, he set the running time for 15
minutes. The commando mission was being performed by 3 teleporters
simultaneously in order to provide the highest possible safety factor. Even if
two of the bombs should be discovered and defused in time, the third one would
be sufficient to destroy the space-going power plant in spite of its
size. From then on, Tschubai waited for the planned signal beep. His armband
receiver was on. The allowed 30 seconds of grace must be used to good
advantage because if he missed it there would be no way back. Pucky and Tako
Kakuta had been fortunate to land in some giant chambers where there were
sufficient nooks and corners to provide ample concealment. Once they had
landed inside the station their task was relatively simple. Naturally the big
atomic piles and other power unit stations were remotely controlled. Only
Pucky spotted a Druuf who was evidently going thin a monitoring passage. In
exactly 12.3 minutes the microcoms suddenly beeped the call signal.
Simultaneously the mutants heard the angry thunder of energy cannons from the
space station's defensive batteries. They teleported at once. When they
acquired their physical status again they found themselves on board the
Terranian cruiser, whose commander was in the process of manoeuvring wildly to
escape the crossfire. The Druuf ships fired salvos in unison. When the
California took two hits and the screens collapsed due to exploding field
projectors, Tifflor decided on a hyperjump although the prescribed transition
speed had not been reached. The pains of dematerialisation were horrible,
indicating that they had not made the transition as smoothly as under normal
conditions. The California vanished into the 5th dimension. When they
returned to normal space the colossal exit funnel had been extinguished. They
found themselves on the outer perimeter of the Siamed System. Here where the
sensors had formerly indicated the presence of the cone, now the trans-light
equipment revealed a tremendous eruption of energy. Of course in the optical
sense the original form of the funnel was still there but it was an illusion
due to the half light-speed of Druuf space. For the same reason the stupendous
sphere of exploding forces could not be observed with the senses because its
light had not yet reached outward to the 62nd planet. Only the instantaneous
sensor, working on a trans-light basis, was able to show that the synthetic
young nova was no longer the exit funnel. Ras Tschubai and Tako Kakuta
struggled against nausea. Pucky had fallen unconscious. The accelerated
hyperjump together with the effects of the former space station's barrier
screen had resulted in a total depletion of their energies. Tifflor was
beaming. He could report a successful mission. Now the only thing they had to
worry about was getting out of the Druuf plane all in one piece. Again the
California picked up speed and finally went into a proper transition. Exactly
at the place where they were supposed to wait for the Drusus to produce the
warp-ring, Tifflor brought the cruiser to a halt. All machinery was shut down.
Every piece of equipment whose radiation would have been able to betray their
position was turned off. The swift cruiser from the Earth resembled a ghost
ship. The only thing still operating was a carefully shielded emergency power
reactor, which supplied energy to the vernier tracker. With this instrument
they could tell if they were being swept by echo pulses, thus warning them in
case they were being tracked. .... Three hours after the 5th attack wave the
first remotely-controlled weapons detonated on the moons of Jupiter. A cruiser
was hit accidentally and was so heavily damaged that it plunged into a
formation of interceptors and destroyers that had been ready for takeoff. In
the Middle Sector of the front the battle raged with undiminished ferocity.
The Solar Fleet losses were frightening and yet the Druufs had lost five times
the number of ships in all classes and sizes. The superbattleships were the
backbone of the front lines. Especially the Drusus, using the
tele-transmitter. Its effectiveness was so terrible that wherever the colossal
ship appeared in the face of the enemy a gaping hole would inevitably take the
place of the leading phalanx of a Druuf attack force. Two events occurred in
rapid succession, 9 hours after the return of the flagship. A tracking-sensor
operator had difficulty controlling his own voice when he announced that the
discharge funnel near the Capella System had suddenly collapsed. Perry Rhodan
did not hear all the jubilation on board the Terranian ships but he took
special note of the fact that his demoralized fighting forces swung back to
the battle with renewed spirit and courage. The Druuf squadron that made an
appearance near Mars was destroyed in just a few moments. But the enemy still
had too many ships to allow any guarantee of a Terranian victory. Rhodan put
out a hypercom command, ordering a retreat to the third and final defence line
of the Solar Fleet. The scattered and widely dispersed units of all major
classes were brought together there for a desperate last stand. Then came the
second and decisive event of the war. Two seconds after the destruction of
the fighting ship Osage under command of Col. Poskanov, the hypersensors on
all Terranian ships went mad and virtually threatened to explode. Countless
spaceships were hurtling out of hyperspace with astonishing speed. Atlan had
been able to mobilize faster than expected. Only 9 hours after the distress
call, 10,000 of some of the heaviest units of the Arkonide robot fleet
arrived, including their major class superships. The entire force was under
command of the Arkonide, Admiral Senekho, who made a businesslike exchange of
recognition signals according to plan and then immediately threw all units
into the Battle for Terra. But 5 minutes later another contingent of some
4000 spaceships arrived, their hull configurations indicating that they
belonged to the Springers. This was the firstime in history that the Galactic
Traders had flown unhindered into the Solar System-into that system which they
had searched for so long and in vain. "I am here by order of the Regent,
Administrator," rumbled the voice of an old bearded patriarch from the
loudspeakers. "Cokaze is my name and I am the elder chief of my clan. Where
are you hurting the most?" Rhodan stood almost paralysed before the
viewscreens. The sinister face of the old clansman awakened in Rhodan all the
years of resentment and opposition he had felt for the Springers. However, he
managed in very reserved tones to give the wily chieftain the necessary
tactical information. Almost simultaneously he withdrew his lighter units from
the front, leaving only the superbattleships, regular heavy class ships and
still-undamaged cruisers on the battle line. The exhausted pilots of all
interceptors and 3-man destroyers lost no time in making a high-speed retreat
to their separate bases behind the lines. And from then on all the staff
officers on board the Drusus had to do was observe the systematic destruction
of the remaining 8000 Druuf ships. It only took the inhuman
Commander-in-Chief of the enemy forces about 15 minutes to evaluate the
situation. As one ship alter the other exploded, and as he saw that the
collapse of the exit funnel had suddenly cut off his urgently needed
reinforcements, he issued a general order. Just 3000 ships, the pitiful
remains of a once gigantic invasion fleet, were able to flee into the nether
regions of a hyper-dimension. A strange inversion of status occurred for the
Solar System from one minute to the next. Whereas on the one hand it had been
swept clean of one enemy, on the other hand now others were present who were
equally not welcome. Rhodan made contact with Admiral Senekho. The old man
belonged to that minority group of Arkonides who had still retained a
sufficiently active mentality to entrust them with command positions. As the
Admiral's tired and wrinkled face appeared on the big viewscreen of the
Drusus, Rhodan suppressed a secret smile. Senekho was the same officer who had
supervised and checked out his commandoes disguised as Zalite spacers and
assigned them to the ships of the Imperium. This had been on Naator, the great
moon of the triclopes' planet Naat. That had only been a few weeks ago and yet
it seemed to Rhodan as though years had intervened since then. "You've come a
long way, Terranian," Senekho began. "It appears to me that you and the Regent
get along well together. Your enemies have fled. There was nothing else to
expect. I have been instructed to follow your command. What is there left to
do?" It was short and to the point. In contrast to other members of his race
who were afflicted with a mental and psychic degeneration, Senekho seemed to
have considerably outstanding qualities. "Nothing more, but thanks. If you
need fresh water, provisions or other items you are free to land at any of the
bases of the Solar Imperium." "Imperium?" Senekho repeated the word in some
wonderment and then laughed. "That's quite a way of putting it, isn't it? Do
you refer to this pitiful little star with its handful of dwarf
planets?" Reginald Bell reddened with anger and stared wrathfully at the
viewscreen but in spite of this typical Arkonide arrogance Rhodan refused to
be perturbed. He answered calmly: "Quite so, Admiral-Imperium. You must have
heard enough about us by now to be able to realize that the size of a solar
system is not necessarily any indication of the qualities and capabilities of
its inhabitants. However, that wasn't what I wished to discuss." "And what
is?" Senekho leaned forward with new interest so that his face became larger
on the screen." "According to the covenant I have made with the Regent of
Arkon, I was assured protection for the Imperium. How does it happen then that
4000 Springer ships have suddenly appeared in my system?" Senekho smiled. "I
have no knowledge of such a covenant but what's happened is no doubt justified
in terms of tactical logic. Otherwise I would not have been pulled away from
the blockade front. The Regent sent in the Springer ships as well because he
feared that my own 10,000 ships might not be enough. We did not know that the
monsters from the other universe had already suffered so many casualties. Is
there anything special you require, Terranian?" Rhodan considered. He knew
that the Springer patriarch Cokaze was listening in on the hyper channel. "I'd
like you to inform Cokaze that Terra does not wish to be incorporated into the
Springer community. We are an independent system and such we shall
remain." "I understand," said the Admiral discreetly. "I fully
understand." With that the communication was ended. But while the Arkonide
fleet assembled itself near the Martian orbit to take up a waiting position,
the 4000 Springer ships continued flying toward the Earth. Rhodan put in a
call to the clan chieftain and advised him in icy tones: "I'll give you 3
minutes to change course, Cokaze! Otherwise you'll see our teeth. I didn't ask
for your assistance, so don't ask for your pay." "We're traders and we don't
take action for nothing." "I didn't call you. If you bow to the Regent and
follow his orders, that's not my fault. I'm still strong enough to teach you a
lesson. My fleet forces are setting a course right now. You will turn away at
once!" For the present Rhodan could not know what Cokaze thought of it but in
any case his ships went into deceleration and a shortime later they joined up
with the robot fleet. Only about 60 battle-damaged fighting units received
landing permission from Rhodan. Thus it was that Galactic Traders landed for
the first time on Terranian soil where they were received by a silent and
hostile-looking human personnel force. Rhodan transferred over to the
superbattleship Wellington in order to continue his observation of the more
welcome contingents of the visiting fleets. But the commanders of the
Terranian Fleet were recipients of secret orders. Rhodan concluded his
briefing there as follows: "It's obvious that neither Admiral Senekho nor the
Springers are informed concerning the change of the guard on Arkon 3. For the
love of Heaven don't breathe a single careless word or Atlan's position will
be endangered. Our first concern here is to force the Springers to withdraw.
In a few days the robot fleet will fly back to the blockade front-Atlan has
guaranteed it. So only the Traders present a threat to us. You will open fire
on them the moment any of them dares to fly toward Terra, Venus or Mars.
Gentlemen, this is the hour of awakening! The hiding game is past. From today
forward, everybody will know where to find us. Therefore it is necessary to
adopt a different galactic policy. I am of the opinion that we will succeed
with it. So keep your eyes open-and I thank you." While the Drusus sped
toward a transition point on its way to pick up the cruiser California, which
was waiting in the Druuf universe, Rhodan withdrew to his cabin. Wait, he
thought. All of you just wait. Up till now the Earth has not been asleep, nor
shall it sleep tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. You shall come to know us
yet, all of you out there...! The End
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