" Perry Rhodan 0042 - (34) SOS Spaceship Titan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

For two days Perry kept up his precautionary observations on the space behind him without any course
change, while edging farther and farther from the customary shipping routes of the Arkonide spacers. He
wanted to make sure that the mechanical Regent of Arkon had not discovered his whereabouts and that
none of the many spacers that had crossed their course at a distance might have reported them to Arkon.
His precautions were well understood by everyone on board theTitan , since Rhodan was no friend of
chance contingencies and went out of his way to avoid them.

At 10:43 ship time the command was finally given to take a direct course to the Thatrel System. The
Titan hurtled toward its destination at almost the speed of light. Slightly less than 13 hours later the
remote solar system appeared before them on the panoramic videoscreen.

The spectroanalyst harrumphed derisively as he analysed the small sun’s light rays. Rhodan compared
results with the values listed in the Arkonide catalogue.

He was standing in the main conference room of theTitan , surrounded by Bell, Khrest and Thora. The
conference room was commensurate in its dimensions with the extravagant size of theTitan . Bell had
derisively dubbed it the Ballroom because he frowned on pomp and ceremony and extensive talks and
meetings.

"Perry, why not just make a ‘Mars’ landing on this clod; you won’t find anything there. You don’t have
to make a big project with the catalogue—I found a Galactic Routing and Time-Table in the library. You
ought to take a look at it. There’s not a single shipping route that touches this corner of the Big Deep."

"Then this place is exactly what we need, Reg. You keep forgetting we could hardly powder our noses
on Zalit without a hundred spies watching us. And don’t blame me now if I’m still suspicious of the
Zalites. After their revolt they were all too friendly with Arkon. Can you tell me how we can install the
new hypertrans compensator without being caught at it? Right now on this trip it’s been brought home to
us how important the compensator is to us. Instead of going through multiple jumps we could have said
goodbye to Arkon with a single transition. That’s why I’m glad that Thora has recommended this
deserted ‘corner’ in your Big Deep for us. The installation has to be kept a complete secret. I’d like to
have at least a couple of aces up my sleeve in this game we’re playing against the robot brain on Arkon."

Bell felt rebuked and started rebelling. "So how many aces are 3 million spaceships? You going to
overlook that…?"

"On the contrary, my dear Reg!" Perry was all smiles. "Since I have learned how many spacers there are
in M-13, I have been able to shelve our project for new spacer construction."

"You intend to do some more skyjacking, Perry?" Bell was perplexed. When he noticed Thora and
Khrest grinning, he became angry. He could see no reason for the hilarity and he blustered, "Skyjacked is
the right word, my friends, let’s face it. TheTitan was skyjacked! You have to draw the line somewhere
and face facts!"

"But Reg—you of all people!" Rhodan interrupted, his eyes dancing with concealed delight. "To become
so sensitive on this particular subject! What’s come over you, pal? Need I remind you of a few small
items concerning ‘skyjacking’, where you have drawn a line longer than the universe…? For instance, I
well remember—"

"Okay!" Bell’s excitement had subsided as he saw Perry’s trend of argument. "I pass!"