" Perry Rhodan 0116 - (108) Duel Under the Double Sun" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Bell walked over to Manoli and picked up the film cassette. "We’ve shown you what’s happened to
Rhodan. No one could blame you if you thought of him as a monster. I’ll confess that I’ve had that
impression more than once, myself."

"What conditions?" I asked, deliberately interrupting him.

"You are very adamant, sir," interjected Marshall.

"Not at all. As long as I’m still asking questions, as long as I’m still here negotiating with you—Rome is
not lost."

Mercant smiled. He was probably thinking of my past. But aside from that it must have seemed strange
to hear an Arkonide Imperator speak of an ancient Earthly city. However, the colloquialism appeared to
relieve some of the tension.

Bell put the film cassette to one side. "OK, then we’ll lay our cards on the table. Perry is in the process
of ruining everything we’ve built up since the 20th century. Of course his actions and attitudes can be
excused on a personal basis but in a larger sense they can’t be tolerated any longer. He no longer
accepts the advice of old friends. You wouldn’t believe what kinds of underhanded chicanery we’ve had
to put up with in the past few weeks. It all started with the unexpected activity of the cell activator, which
we didn’t even know he had—and now the thing’s practically buried in his chest. He’s irritable, impatient
and both unfair and unjust in everything he does or says."

"He’s completely changed from the old Rhodan," confirmed Manoli. He spoke with authority because he
had also been a member of the unique astronaut team over 100 years ago which had landed on Earth’s
moon. There the 4 men had found the representatives of my own race and from that point onward
everything had begun which had led to the creation of the Solar Imperium.

I at first sought to make a logical assessment of what Bell was inferring but finally I didn’t dare to
contemplate the conclusions. Instead I reported my fruitless flight to the artificial planet, Wanderer, where
Homunk the bio-robot advised me by radio thatIt was not available for consultation.

Mercant studied me for some moments before he spoke. "Sir, we had expected you to make a move of
this sort. We’re grateful to you but I could have told you at once that it would be useless to try it. We’ve
run our own evaluations using computerized logic and the indications are that It is not interested in helping
Rhodan. The cell activator, which he obtained under mysterious circumstances, appears to be a form of
punishment for him. What transgression he may be charged with is beyond our knowledge."

This statement alerted me. Mercant’s tone of voice was strange. When I looked at him searchingly he
dropped his gaze. What was he getting at? What did he suspect? If he had something definite in mind,
why didn’t he come right out with it?

"Alright, Mercant," said Bell gruffly, "get off the cloak and dagger bit! Why should a composite entity
like that be interested in punishing somebody who’s probably the most important puzzle piece in his
whole galactic game? What do you mean by ‘punishment’ anyway? We’ve been studying this thing for
weeks. The smartest brains in human civilization have been working on this question and the most
modern computer equipment has been put to use. The whole thing has to be a technical failure of some
kind." He turned abruptly and came up to me. "Or have you ever experienced a similar malfunction with
your own device, Atlan?"