" Perry Rhodan 0081 - (73) Spaceship of Ancestors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

his age. This impression was intensified by the snow-white hair that framed the thin oval face in which two
eyes with a reddish shimmer and an almost feminine nose were set above the narrow mouth. His chin was
determined, revealing an unusually enterprising nature, but the soft lines around the mouth seemed to
testify to the opposite.

The Commander’s hands were resting on a thin pile of filmy plastic document files, as if to safeguard that
no one took them away. His legs, stretched out, almost reached the other side of the metal table, which
was firmly screwed to the floor. The light armchair was the only movable piece of furniture.

One wall was made out of transparent material and presented a view into space. Two other walls were
covered with technical command instruments—entire rows of small screens, panels, levers and scales, in
addition there were dial buttons, regulators and communication devices. In the fourth wall there were just
two doors. One led to the room which no one other than the Commander was permitted to enter.

He looked up as a faint buzz sounded and the upper left viewscreen lit up. Wearily he nodded, got up
and switched on the button below the screen. The face of a man immediately materialized on the screen.
It made a youthful and fresh impression, despite his white hair. The determined features in his face
displayed pleasure in quick decisions and the colourless eyes possessed a keenness that would warn any
adversary to proceed with caution.

"Why are you disturbing me, Officer One?"

The man on the viewscreen did not even flicker an eyelid.

"I must speak to you, C-1," he said briefly. "It is important," he added.

The Commander sighed. "I know what you want," he nodded in a resigned manner. "Why doesn’t youth
bide its time until its turn has come? I know that my time has almost run out but what is the rush, O-1?
You are my successor…"

"I hardly notice that," he countered furiously. "How are the young to develop when the old give them no
opportunity?"

The Commander smiled. "Develop, O-1? You want to develop yourself? If you knew…"

"I want to know! So—do you have time for me?"

The Commander shook his head decisively. "Not yet, O-1! I will inform you when the time has come.
You cannot conceive of the responsibility you are pressuring me to acquire. Once you are sitting in my
seat you will regret your rash haste but then there will be no going back. Whoever sits in my seat will
become the loneliest being in the Universe!"

"No one can be lonelier than the person who voluntarily excludes all others. And that is what you are
doing, Commander!"

"You will do no differently because you will have no choice. One day you will understand me. Until then
have patience, please. I am warning, you, O-1! Any pressure you put on me can be fatal for you. The
time has not yet arrived…"
The young man on the viewscreen nodded grimly. "Do you determine when the time has come?"