" Perry Rhodan 0108 - (100) Desert of Deaths Domain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

It looked as if something had pumped out everything from inside Dr. Zuglert’s head. The skin of his face
was all wrinkled, shrinking visibly to fill the sudden vacuum. His cheekbones jutted out sharply and from
one moment to the next an ugly dead man’s skull was grinning at Gerard. The shrunken skin continued to
deteriorate. The doctor’s healthy, tanned complexion turned a disgusting, flaccid shade of yellow. The
lower jaw suddenly dropped, revealing 2 uneven rows of dirty, brown teeth. Gerard remembered in a
flash how barely an hour ago he had admired Dr. Zuglert’s flawless dental display.

Gerard stood up quickly. Suddenly he felt afraid of this man who sat silent and motionless, fixing him
with a glassy stare from across the narrow writing desk. Gerard withdrew from the table toward the front
of the room. Horror stricken he observed that there was no way out to safety: just a window, and this
window was on the 23d floor of an old highrise building.

Still, Gerard drew back farther and farther from the fearful sight at the desk. Maybe he could open the
window and shout for help. Perhaps someone would hear him. Gerard turned around and tried to open
the window. This is when Dr. Zuglert began to speak again:

"You needn’t be afraid of me, young man," he said with a weak voice, wheezing like an ancient smoker
in the last stages of emphysema. He was seized by a violent coughing spell. As soon as he recovered
from the attack he continued: "I need your help now, Mr. Lobson. Would you kindly assist me in getting
out of my seat?"

Gerard breathed a sign of relief. So the doctor was no longer able to stand up under his own power!
And now he was plotting to get Gerard to help him rise, which would give him the chance to seize him by
the throat and strangle his visitor!

Gerard saw the door behind Zuglert’s back. If only he could manage to reach it, then he would be out of
danger!

Zuglert started up again. Speaking seemed to require a tremendous effort for him. His words came
haltingly, constantly interrupted by a wheezing cough. "Important for Terra, young man …" Gerard could
barely make out. "Must warn everybody … my case proves …"

Zuglert kept on talking but Gerard no longer listened. With a friendly smile he moved toward the writing
desk as if to indicate to Zuglert he was coming over to help him.

"… alcoholic solution, quite inconspicuous …" Gerard snatched up the phrase just as he reached the
writing desk.

With one swift leap he rounded the obstacle in his path and before Zuglert realized what Gerard planned
to do, the latter grasped the doorknob, turned it and the door opened without force. Gerard shot out of
the office while he grasped the side of the door with his right hand and slammed it shut behind him with a
loud bang.

Gerard was standing in the hallway of an old-fashioned office building. There were other doors to his
right and left and on either side of the corridor. All doors were closed. Nobody had heard anything that
had just taken place in Dr. Zuglert’s small office. Gerard deliberated whether he should tell anyone of
Zuglert’s frightening metamorphosis. Suddenly he remembered that Zuglert had known m a most
mysterious way what the proposition was Gerard planned to tell him about. Gerard quickly dismissed the
notion of letting others know about Zuglert’s condition. He risked that Zuglert might inform whoever
came to his rescue about Gerard’s plan and that was the last thing he needed now.