" Perry Rhodan 0124 - (115b-116b) The Psycho Duel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

meters away. Evidently the lower floor was already in flames.

Henno looked doubtfully at the radio transceiver. Two days ago he had sent out a distress call when the
uprisings had begun. Did they expect him to wait around here until these raging rebels broke in upon him?
If the Imperator failed to send a fleet to his aid, Henno didn’t see why he should stay here and sacrifice
himself.

All his life Salor Henno had been in the habit of carefully weighing events in his own favour. He knew
very well when he was on the losing end of things and there was no motive of pride in him which could
have moved him to hold out as a loser. The planetary official responded solely to the facts of any
situation.

Those wild attackers down there had achieved a forward momentum now; they had set the building on
fire and were pressing in from all sides. The people were on their side, having been whipped into a frenzy
by flaming speeches. They had drunk in the promises of liberation and now they were intoxicated by the
heady wine of revolt. Once more the cry was: "Down with the Imperator!"

The rising smoke irritated Henno’s nose and forced him to sneeze. The robot stood waiting at the door.

"We’ll make a run for it," Henno decided. "You lead the way!"

He pulled himself away from the window with the roar of the rebels still in his ears. Above the desk was
a 3-D picture of himself which had the effect of making him look younger than he was. Henno raised his
weapon and destroyed it because it made him uneasy to think of it gradually burning away in the flames
of the rising fire.

The combat robot had entered the passage in front of the office, its weapon arms raised in readiness to
fire at any resistance forces.

"Wait!" ordered Henno.

Opening a secret compartment in the desk, he took out a pouch containing paper currency. He grinned
as he secured the pouch in his belt. Very calmly he aimed his beamer at the desk and opened fire,
causing it to burst into flames immediately.

"Too bad about your tax money, Imperator!" he said scornfully. After one last look around in these
familiar surroundings he turned toward the robot. "Alright, let’s go!"

As they ran out into the passage they encountered the first of the retreating guard troops who were
pouring out of the lifts and storming up the staircase. Their sweat-gleaming faces stared at him in
desperation. Henno blocked their way. "We must fight!" he shouted at them. "If we give up, all of us will
be lost!"

He brandished his own weapon and the soldiers reluctantly turned back to the fighting again. Henno
smiled, satisfied. If these fools could delay the attackers long enough for him to get to the roof, nothing
more would happen to him. The glider would take him safely to the spaceport where he could continue
his flight in a robotship. It was unlikely that the spaceport had fallen already because it had been strongly
fortified long since as a matter of policy. Ever since the earlier Arkonides had colonized Zalit, the planet
had been a focal point of seething unrest.
 Henno turned in an opposite direction to continue his retreat and the robot glided along soundlessly