" Perry Rhodan 0029 - (22) Fleet of the Springers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

also compensated for the effect of tearing away from the grip of the huge
ship. Nobody inside the K-7 who didn't watch an observation screen and the
sensors was able to notice the manoeuvres performed by the ship. However it
was clearly visible on the receivers in the command centre that the Orla, a
thin glowing line, was already left more than 500 miles behind them. They had
knocked out two more guards posted in front of the command centre. The two
remaining ones seemed to roam around somewhere in the ship. Tiff had
distributed his men in such a way that they would run into them sooner or
later. Nothing could go wrong. Cadet Eberhardt had taken over the observer
station. He studied the view for awhile in the careful manner that was
characteristic of him, suddenly became amazed and finally shouted with a
cracked voice: "There's a third ship!" Tiff spun around. "Already?
Where?" Eberhardt pointed with a silent gesture to the green light of the
sensor screen. Tiff ran over and recognized two fast-moving spots of light.
One was oblong and slim-the Orla undoubtedly-and the other a point which grew
rapidly to a circular disk. "The Stardust!" Eberhardt murmured, trembling
with excitement. Tiff read the position co-ordinates. The spherical ship was
approximately 12,000 miles away at the moment Tiff took the reading. If it
were the Stardust it should have appeared much larger on the screen. "Hand me
the Hycom!" Tiff shouted without taking his eyes off the screen. "Here it
is!" somebody replied. Tiff whirled around and grabbed the mike. "Attention!
This is an emergency call! K-7 calling all ships of the Terrestrial
spacefleet! K-7 calling all ships of the Terrestrial spacefleet!" Then he
waited quietly for an answer. It came within a few seconds. "Solar System to
K-7, Commander Nyssen speaking. We'll be right over but first we have to take
care of something else." Tiff smiled. "O.K. We'll wait for
you." .... Orlgans trembled with anxiety as he watched the manoeuvre of the
attacking ship. Ornafer stared motionlessly at the observation screen. "This
time they're going to get us," Orlgans gritted his teeth. "They've already
bungled enough shots." The spherical ship had swooped past the Orla for a
second time, fired a series of shots that missed again and turned around once
more in a bold manoeuvre for its third approach. This time Orlgans ordered
his gunners to return the fire. There could be little hope that the relatively
small. cannons of Orla XI could accomplish anything against the strangers but
even traders don't want to die without making an attempt to defend
themselves. .... Rhodan waited impatiently for news from Nyssen and the K-7
but it never came. "It's about time we hear from them," Bell
grumbled. Rhodan glanced at his watch. It was 21:12 hours Terrestrial time.
Then he bent over the microphone. "Rhodan to McClears. Get ready for a
transition! We want to take a look at what's happening!" .... 21:12 hours
Terrestrial time on board the K-7. "The machines are working at 60% of
capacity," Hifield stated. Tiff replied: "That's not sufficient for the
protective screens." Hifield shrugged his shoulders. "What do you need the
defence screens for? The Orla is almost 20,000 miles away and quite busy with
the Solar System, Nobody is after us. Tiff contemplated before replying.
"Let's hope it'll stay that way. I just can't imagine that the
Springers..." A shrill alarm signal cut off his words. "Structure-sensor!"
one of the cadets shouted. "Hytrans at close distance!" Tiff paid scant
attention to the report. "It's the Stardust!" he said. But the observer set
him right: "Thirty unidentifiable objects, distance 18,000 miles, Phi 21,