" Perry Rhodan 0082 - (74) Checkmate Universe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

All he heard was his own panting. He made an effort to suppress it. He opened his mouth widely so that
he could breathe with as little sound as possible. But there was nothing beyond the pounding in his
temples and the dull pain of the blow from which he had not yet recovered.

Tifflor wished he had a weapon. Any weapon. It did not even have to be a thermobeamer. A hand
grenade, a rifle—or anything else.

He turned around slowly so as not to make any sound. The unconscious man lay two meters behind him
and another two meters farther on lay the small beamer the man had had in his hand and dropped. Four
meters! Tifflor began to move. He had come out from behind the two machines, which were both as tall
as a man, and step over the unconscious man. He did it carefully and quickly, looking around constantly
in the process.

What had become of the second man?

Julian Tifflor did not have a chance to find out. When he had come close enough to the ownerless
weapon that he needed only to stretch out his hand to touch it, he was struck by a violent blow that set
his entire body to vibrating painfully. Before he lost consciousness he was able to realize that it was the
sort of pain caused by being hit by the impact of a shockbeamer.

He sank into a deep dark abyss.



****



Then a bright light suddenly lit up in the darkness. It had no shape, it seemed unreal. Yet Tifflor had the
feeling that his eyes were hurting unbearably.

He tried to move his eyelids. In doing so he realized that he had closed his eyes. He was not able to
open them. The light, then, was not a normal one. It did not come from outside.

A voice began to speak. It came from the light but naturally the speaker could not be seen. "Julian
Tifflor." said the voice. "Listen well!"

It spoke in a tone ridiculously deep and slow. Tifflor felt a sudden urge to laugh. But before he could
laugh, the voice continued to speak. And the longer it spoke the more the slowness and the deep, full
tone fascinated him. He could do nothing else, he had to listen. He soaked up the words like a sponge
soaking up water, knowing that he would never forget a single word.

Besides, that which the voice had to say was most surprising—not to mention sensational.



****
With his usual casualness, Reginald Bell entered the broad room from which Perry Rhodan had once
more been guiding the destiny of the Solar Imperium since his return to Earth.