" Perry Rhodan 0016 - (10) Ghosts of Gol" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"Minimum distance?"

"Eighteen miles, sir, in about forty minutes." Chaney waited. Eighteen miles was a small distance out in
space. One should be able to recognize at eighteen miles what kind of an object with variable light
intensity was drifting in space.

Forty minutes was a long time. Chaney kept looking till his eyeballs hurt but his observation screen was
not sharp enough to make out the outline of the object.

Then the range finder reported again.

"False alarm, sir. It’s the wreckage of a ship from the time of the Topide invasion; a Ferronian ship, sir."

Chaney felt cheated.

"Okay," he said with a tired voice.

Then he got up.

"Lieutenant Forge, take over my place. I’ll go and catch some sleep. I guess it’ll be a while till we get to
see something real interesting."



Rhodan established quiet with an imperious gesture of his hand.

"Let’s start from the beginning," he said bitterly, dividing his anger in equal measure between Khrest and
Thora. "You came to this sector of the galaxy on a search expedition in a cruiser which probably was the
last one you had been able to launch on Arkon. You were hoping to find the mysterious world where the
secret of perpetual cell reproduction had been discovered.

"Your expedition failed at first but now after some detours—which probably caused no more delay than
if you had managed by yourselves—we are once more approaching our goal together."

"In the vault underneath the Red Palace in Thorta we found some clues. We’ve made many great efforts
to follow them up and we’ve found new clues. We’re getting closer to our goal step by step and now you
suddenly want to abandon everything! Why?"

The last word sounded like the crack of a whip. Bell, who was sitting nearby, winced. He could not
remember ever having seen Rhodan so irate as during these past minutes.

Khrest did not reply. He held his long, narrow head lowered and stared at the floor. Thora had moved
forward, to the edge of her chair and looked at Rhodan. Hostility glared in her red eyes.

"I’ll tell you why," Rhodan continued, much calmer after a while. "You are afraid!"
Khrest’s white-haired head shot up.

"And if it were so?" he asked quietly. "Do you think it’s cowardly to be afraid in a situation like this?"