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

a strong reaction to the transition that he believed for a moment that the
instrument was out of order. Yet the other ships in his group indicated the
same magnitude and he soon received the report that two more units had
appeared behind the attacking ship, one of them a veritable giant with a
tonnage equal to all the ships of his own fleet combined. Harlgas: ordered
retreat. The Springer group started to move away, to leave the system like
Orla XI. He chose not to go into transition since two of his ships had gone
after the tiny craft that had left the first of the ships. Harlgas was aware
that his men alone out there would fall easy prey to the enemy when they lost
contact with his group. .... The speed of the little destroyer was almost
equal to that of the Springer ships, which were gradually getting
closer. Tiff assigned duties. Hifield watched the sensor screen over
Felicita's shoulder and reported as soon as a change occurred. Eberhardt
operated the cannon. This was rather difficult considering he had to reach
around Mildred Orsons for each manipulation. Mildred tried to facilitate his
job but there was no room for dodging. The distance to the nearer of the
Springer ships was still about 5000 miles. The range for well-aimed shots from
their disintegrator and neutron-beamer was only about 3500 miles. The
question was whether or not their foes had more efficient guns. Tiff decided
to take advantage of the greater manoeuvrability of his small craft. "Change
course!" he said succinctly. Then he pulled the destroyer around, straining
the thrust neutralizer to the limit of its capacity. At the same moment
Hifield shouted: "The Stardust and Terra!" The destroyer was not equipped
with a structure sensor. Hifield had located both ships by direct sighting on
the observation screen. Tiff tried from the side to get a glimpse of which
way the ships were heading. He could see that the Stardust and the Terra
proceeded toward the enemy's fleet and that the Springers were beating a
retreat. He also observed that the Solar System split off from the others and
sped toward the K-7. "Damn it!" Hifield muttered under his breath. "We
should've stayed on board. It would have been a lot safer." "Nobody could
have known that," Tiff rebuked him. The two Springer ships behind the
destroyer were not adversely affected by Tiff's evasion attempt. They simply
followed the curve steered by the little machine with greater mobility than
Tiff had expected. "I've got them so beautifully on target," Eberhardt
sighed. "If they'd only come a little closer." Tiff did some figuring. On the
present course the destroyer would race past the blue satellite of the central
star at a distance of about 10 astronomical units and after that the flight
would go on for eternities unless the pursuer or the pursued exhausted his
energy reserve. Tiff had little doubt that-if that were to occur-it would
first happen to the little destroyer. Tiff made a quick decision and in the
style of a commander who doesn't owe any explanation to his subalterns he
declared: "We're going to let them catch up with us now. Watch out,
Eberhardt!" He heard Eberhardt take a deep breath. Then came the answer:
"O.K. Let 'em come!" Tiff decelerated as fast as his craft would permit.
Within two minutes the small machine had lost half its speed. It was obvious
that their pursuers were not prepared to cope with such an unexpected
manoeuvre. At the same rate as the destroyer slowed down, the two cylindrical
ships kept rushing closer. "Three point nine!" Hifield called out. Eberhardt
sweated it out at the control panel of the two heavy cannons. Felicita became
so excited that she forgot to cry. "Three point seven!" "Attention,