"Darlton, Clark - Heritage Of The Lizard People" - читать интересную книгу автора (Darlton Clark)

"I understand, Perry . Besides, I prefer that you conduct your first test on Azgola and study the result. I'll keep in constant touch with you by hyper-radio."
"Fine. Our communications won't be intercepted by the robotship. It reacts only to a special group of symbols and we will duplicate them as soon as it arrives. We were fortunate that we were able to pick up the construction details of the special transmitter on Mechanica and if everything works out satisfactorily we should be able to contact the harvestship."
"Yes," Atlan replied grimly: "If everything works out."
The next radio call went to Terra. The technicians assigned to the construction of the symbol transmitter promised to deliver the apparatus within a week. They were quite satisfied with the instructions they had obtained from Mechanica.
Rhodan concluded the call and sighed with relief. "Now there's nothing left to do for us but wait and hope that our technicians will have finished their job before the harvestship appears. We'll have 2 or 3 days leeway since it will probably take the ship some time to perform its operations for the harvest." He looked thoughtfully at Bell. "Would you please request the commander of the Sirius to approach Azgola within 20,000 kilometers? I'll be in the Command Center in 5 minutes."
Bell got up and quickly glanced at Pucky. "Is it already time?" he asked.
Rhodan nodded. "We can't wait any longer. It would be too late once the harvestship is here. Under no circumstances can it be permitted to notice or suspect the presence of alien vessels. See you in 5 minutes."
Bell left. Pucky, the African teleporter Ras Tschubai and his Japanese colleague Tako Kakuta, remained silent. They did not seem to be happy with their mission. Never before had they been in a situation like this. They would eat no food for the duration of their visit to the lonely planet Azgola and still gain weight steadily. With each breath they would take in more calories than their bodies could get rid of. The oversupply would cause them to become corpulent which was neither fatal nor dangerous in the initial stages but was something they would rather do without. Especially Pucky was more than displeased with the prospect. "Will we be getting fat just by breathing?" he asked again dubiously with a sour face: "Even if we don't eat anything?"
"You won't be hungry," Rhodan predicted'. "You won't have to stuff any carrots in your pockets. I promise you you won't feel like eating them."
"Hm," Pucky grunted incredulously. "At least carrots won't make you fat." Then he cast an amused glance at the slender Japanese. "I'm very curious how Tako will look when he puts on a little weight. It wouldn't hurt him a bit."
"It won't hurt any of you," Rhodan assured him. "We have the necessary drugs to slim you down again after it's all over. However, you shouldn't gulp a bar of chocolate each time you take a diet pill. Right, Ras?"
The Afroterranian nodded guiltily. His craving for chocolate was common knowledge.
The 3 teleporters received their last instructions. Rhodan designated Pucky as leader of the expedition whose task was simply formulated: transport the intact harvest robotship to Arkon after takeover by the special transmitter.
The question was: would the vessel come?

* * * *

A teleportation was not necessary. When the Sirius was only 20,000 kilometers from Azgola, Rhodan ordered a Gazelle to be launched. These swift and highly maneuverable, disk-shaped reconnaissanceships could get away without a trace even if the harvestship were to arrive earlier.
"The Gazelle will put you down somewhere on Azgola," Rhodan explained to his 3 mutants. "You are at liberty to move around anywhere on the planet, which is now uninhabited. Find a good place to hide, perhaps in the city of Timpik, which previously had a population of a quarter of a million Azgons. Or you can stay in one of the forests. As soon as the harvestship shows up, Marshall will make telepathicontact with you. Or Betty Toufry if it is too difficult for him. You will act exactly according to my instructions. Is that clear, Pucky?" The mousebeaver nodded warily. "Why make a point of it? Did I ever fail to carry out your orders?"
He looked so guileless as to make Rhodan grin. "Let's not talk about that, shorty, " he decided. "You know what I mean, Pucky. You'll do only what I tell you. We are not confronting a human opponent but a robot."
"Oh," Pucky scoffed, disappointed. "I've been in that rut before. Didn't we have enough trouble with the robot Brain of Arkon?"
"This one is completely different," Rhodan insisted. "The robot Brain of Arkon knew exactly whom it was fighting. It acted consciously and logically whereas the robot who is in charge of the harvestship obeys the orders of a race that died out long ago. Thus it merely responds to prearranged instructions and we don't know what it will do when it learns that its instructors are extinct and its task has become superfluous. Perhaps it will try to attack us if we give it enough time. Maybe it will destroy itself - and this would be the worst disaster to befall Arkon. You cannot compare the harvestship at all with the robot Brain on Arkon, Pucky. This robot must not be permitted to find out that it has an opponent. And if it does, it must be instantly put out of action. In this respect it is a blitzkrieg altho I can't predict how long you will have to wait for it to break out. None of us knows how much time the ship requires for its flight nor the place in the universe where it was waiting for orders."
"But it did receive such orders?"
"They were sent from Mechanica - assuming that we handled it correctly. We received a confirmation and it should be on the way by now."
"Onward to do battle with the robot!" Pucky chirped cheerfully as he waddled to the door.
"Wait, I'll go with you," Rhodan said and followed him into the corridor. Ras Tschubai and Tako Kakuta walked behind them and they all entered the gravitor to go down to the hangar.
The Gazelle was waiting to be launched. A young lieutenant saluted and reported to Rhodan: "Recship G-7 ready to start, sir!"
"Thank you," Rhodan nodded with a quick smile. "Drop the commando team off on Azgola. It doesn't matter where but it is important that you take as little time as possible. I don't want you to stay on Azgola any longer than necessary. As soon as you return to the Sirius we will retreat to our former position."
The 3 mutants said goodby to Rhodan and climbed into the Gazelle. They were not in very high spirits, which nobody was anxious to admit.
Rhodan watched on the observation screen as the Gazelle was launched from the airlock and shot toward the nearby planet. The hot Azgos star shone brightly in the dark firmament. Azgola looked blue and green, reminding him of Earth. Its surroundings were indeed very similar to those on Earth altho the planet was considerably smaller, about the size of Mars. The surface consisted of wide continents and oceans without islands. The land was mostly covered with forests and interspersed by big rivers. There were also a few prairies and some mountains with bare plateaus where the fat-moss thrived despite lack of care. The Gazelle returned in less than 20 minutes and the lieutenant reported to Rhodan: "Passengers landed, sir." Rhodan glanced at Bell, who stood next to the commander of the Sirius. He nodded silently and left the Command Center without a word.
Bell took a deep breath. His face was grave as he worried about Pucky. Altho he constantly quarrelled outrageously with Pucky, everybody knew very well that the 2 most unlike beings were devoted to each other in great friendship.
Rhodan's nod was an order, causing Bell to direct the commander: "Return to our former position, Major! Distance from Azgola . . . 2 light-weeks."
The lone planet vanished from the observation screen within a few seconds. A planet where only 3 intelligent beings were left behind - 2 humans and a mousebeaver waiting for the harvestship.

* * * *

Pucky looked around in all directions. He was far from enthusiastic about the scene. Neither were his companions elated about their surroundings. The Gazelle had deposited them on a high plateau without vegetation where not even the undemanding lichen had been able to take root. The stone was naked. The bluish peaks of a distant mountain range touched the clouds in the sky. The plateau was strewn with rocks.
"I'm not going to stay here," Pucky finally growled. "My fur will get wet if it rains. Besides, we can't take cover here when the ship arrives."
"It's up to us where we want to wait," Ras reminded him. "If we don't like it here we can look for a better place."
"Suits me," Tako smiled. "Let's pick a spot to aim for."
As they were unfamiliar with the geography of Azgola they were limited to teleportation by sight. By choosing a visible point, they could dematerialize and land instantly at their selected goal. In this manner they would be able to circle the planet in a few hours if they wanted to do so.
Ras looked at the distant mountain range but Pucky shook his head. "I've had it up to here with cold mountains - at least for now. Let's look down at the plain. It's not far to the rim of the plateau and we can walk over there."
They walked the short distance to the edge where the plateau sloped steeply into a wide plain. The slope was covered with gravel and the rock was divided by deep crevices. A few lone dwarf-trees were the only sign of vegetation on the otherwise desolate mountain landscape.
"Down there is a river," Tako said, studying the plain. "It winds thru the impenetrable primeval forest stretching as far as the eye can see."
"I can see an island in the river," Ras observed, pointing in its direction. "Nobody would find us there and we'll be more comfortable than up here in the mountains. We can make a fire there if it gets too cold at night."
Pucky grinned as he concentrated on the jump. "To the island! Who'll get there first?"
Teleportation was a paranormal feat which required utmost concentration. A brain sector, lying fallow in all normal people, had to be activated. Such dematerialization jumps were extremely strenuous in the initial phase of a teleporter but they performed it without trouble. Thus it was not surprising that the 2 friends responded almost simultaneously to Pucky's challenge. They disappeared from one second to the next - only a fraction of a moment after the mousebeaver.
Consequently Pucky was the first to materialize on the island in the stream. Due to the long distance it was rather difficult to judge the height precisely. He noticed at once that he was falling thru the air. Opening his eyes he had the presence of mind to grab the first branch within his reach. His fall was braked with a jerk and then he saw that he was hanging 20 meters above the mossy ground.
Ras Tschubai fell like a stone after he materialized. He was not alert enough to go thru a subsequent teleportation and would have hit the ground very hard if the mousebeaver had not used his other ability and held the African up telekinetically, depositing him gently on the ground. Tako landed on a strong branch and clung to it tightly.
"Beat you!" Pucky exclaimed, releasing his stream of mental power. "You would have bored a big hole in the ground."