"Perry Rhodan 17 - The Venus Trap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mahr Kurt)

PERRY RHODAN 17
THE VENUS TRAP

By

Kurt Mahr


v1.0(April 6th 2000)

If you find and correct errors in the text, please update the version number by 0.1 and redistribute.




Chapter One

TROUBLE ON VENUS

LIFE-raw, primordial-teemed on the young world: on its land, beneath its seas and in its air. Prehistoric life forms, not dissimilar to those which once flourished on distant, early Earth -vicious, voracious but ... Venusian.

Venus, "the evening star," second from the sun, a hothouse of horrendous creatures: airborne, landlubbing, oceanic.

Three Terranians found themselves on the surface of a Venusian sea: Perry Rhodan, John Marshall and Son Okura. Rhodan, the leader; Marshall, the esper, reader of minds; Okura the emfer, perceptor of electro-magnetic frequency wavelengths.

About the trio's boat the water gurgled sluggishly. It seemed to be thicker than on Earth, and so it was. A hand submerged in it emerged with a slimy coat for the water was so full of algae, single cells and other minute life forms that it acted like a collodial solution.

The boat plowed steadily through the impeding waves which were the last reminder of the terrible twilight storm that had swept over the flatland and the 200-mile-wide ocean channel more than eight hours before.

The sturdy little generator hummed monotonously, threatening to hypnotize heavy eyelids, lull weary men to sleep.

But to the coaxing arms of Morpheus they dared not submit - none of them! For more than a Terrestrial day they hadn't dared a wink. It had been difficult to stay awake in the darkness, especially for Perry with an unhealed wound paining his shoulder.

Perry Rhodan, President of the New Power, had come to Venus with the intention of restoring order once again but, due to a chain of calamitous circumstances, had been cast with two companions almost helplessly into the wilderness.

At the present time he was far from achieving his goal. There were still 180 miles of water to be crossed in the boat, 180 miles of unknown dangers and 180 miles wherein at any time Col. Raskujan's helicopters could swoop down and attack the defenseless little lifeboat. Darkness per se afforded no guarantee of protection from the colonel's fightercraft for the aerial attackers were equipped with the latest infrared searchlights:

"I wonder if they've noticed yet that we swiped their boat," John Marshall wondered aloud.

Nobody knew. They'd surreptitiously taken possession of the boat from one of Raskujan's helicopters at the height of the battle between the colonel's and Tomisenkov's troops.

"I guess sooner or later they'll discover the loss of the boat," Perry replied.

"And then?" It was Son Okura, the Japanese, who spoke.

Rhodan shrugged his shoulders - and immediately regretted it: the sudden movement made his injury ache. "Raskujan will rack his brains over it. Right now we don't know whether he's even aware of our existence." .

"Tomisenkov will be eager to tell him all about us," Marshall commented.

But Rhodan wasn't at all convinced. "You're misjudging Tomisenkov," he explained. "I've heard the radio conversation between him and Raskujan. The colonel has the men of his reinforcement fleet well in hand. Simply because his men have been well fed, there've been no mutineering tendencies. Tomisenkov's troops, on the other hand, are disorganized. Now Tomisenkov demands that Raskujan submit to him as a general, while Raskujan as a colonel insists that Tomisenkov has lost all rights commensurate with his rank due to his rebellion and the deterioration of his troops. They're both members of the Eastern Bloc but fierce rivals. I don't believe Tomisenkov is willing to give any information to Raskujan. The experience Tomisenkov gained on Venus is very valuable to Raskujan. This knowledge probably gives him a measure of reassurance and he can afford to keep his mouth shut."