" Perry Rhodan 0088 - (80) The Columbus Affair" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

'I'?" he asked, unmoved. "First Sgt. Bidge, sir, 2nd duty officer,
Crypto." "That sounds more proper. What's happening?" With some irritation,
Bidge reflected that the question wasn't any too proper, either. Abucot was
apparently having one of his stiff-necked days again. Bidge stood up, came to
attention and reported in sharply accentuated words: "Sir, a pulse-coded
message from Sector M-13 Hercules has just been received and printed out by
the rectifier. It bears the personal signature symbol of the First
Administrator. And sir-it's in clear text!" It would not have been necessary
for Bidge to accentuate his last statement to get such a ludicrous jump of
alarm out of the Major. Bidge watched him curiously but with a sudden sense of
being on his guard as the latter stared at the tape, his eyes futilely trying
to virtually bore through the plastic strip he held in his hands. "That's it,
alright!" muttered Abucot, flabbergasted. He looked about him almost
imploringly. "Sergeant-are you sure this isn't some kind of sick joke?" "I
wouldn't stick out my neck that far, sir." The senior duty officer swallowed
audibly. Finally the Major struggled to put his famed self-composure to the
test. Once more his lean, narrow face became expressionless. "Thank you very
much. You may terminate the alert." After briefly touching the wide peak of
his service cap in a hasty salute of dismissal, he strutted toward the
still-open security hatch. However, before he had fully disappeared beyond it
the men in the Crypto Centre noted that Abucot's feet suddenly picked up a
frantic acceleration. Bidge looked at the clock again. Smiling a bit
uncertainly, he remarked: "The Old Man came to life pretty much in a hurry,
didn't he? He was able to play the ice-berg until he got to the door but I'll
bet a month's pay that he's running through the corridors now at half the
speed of sound." "Make that about 20 km per hour," interjected another
Communications man. "That ought to be about right." "Fast enough, anyway,"
Bidge conceded. "Does anybody remember any other time that Perry Rhodan has
beamed such a message? I mean straight across, directly, without channelling
through camouflaged relay stations in deep space?" Sgt Bidge had to wait
several moments for an answer. The man sitting next to him wiped his forehead
and ventured to reply. "I only know that during our special training it was
always drilled into our noggins that the galactic position of the Earth was
such a high-level security item that nobody could even dare think of sending a
direct message to Terra." "There you are! That was due to the danger of being
traced, isn't that right? So how come the very man who put out this order has
violated his own restriction in this risky manner?" A silence fell in the
deciphering room of Solar Intelligence. The service men stared at each other
thoughtfully. They suddenly realized that something had happened out in the
Milky Way which they were far from fathoming as yet. From then on the Crypto
crew concentrated exclusively on the fully positronic operation of the
deciphering equipment, which had already swallowed up the pre-punched tape
strip for decoding. A minute later the Major called in over the intercom. He
ordered an immediate transmission of the decoded text. Bidge nodded. "In
about 20 minutes, sir. It's in progress now." "Please hurry," answered Abucot
nervously. He knew very well that the operation could not go any
faster. .... ...if you'll permit me to ask it, my dear fellow: are you
sober?" Solar Marshal Allan D. Mercant, Chief of Solar Intelligence, smiled
softly. With slow deliberation he replaced a wonderfully wrought letter opener
of Luurs metal on the blotter of his desk. A narrow beam of sunlight came