"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0002 - (1b) The Third Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

A wide ring had formed around the endangered area. No one could really believe what was perhaps due to occur here in a short while, but no one, nevertheless, wanted to miss the opportunity of observing a spectacle of nature, a spectacle of nature, however, that was produced and announced by a still very secret power.

Another five minutes passed.

Durbas nudged Corporal Abbas. "It will be getting dark in a other hour. Rhodan should hurry up. And by the way, we have been given the command to return to Fort Hussein right away. Something must be going on."

"War?"

"How am I supposed to know? If you really think about it, we have been in a state of war since 1945."

The corporal glanced at his watch. "ItТs about time now," he whispered, and looked toward the east; but in the same instant he closed his eyes like everyone else, blinded by the intensity of the light.From out of the clear sky there fell a broad curtain of light that bathed the sandy desert some eighteen miles from the observation front. The spectators could see the bright light even through their closed eyelids. The origin of this ray, becoming progressively narrower with increasing altitude, lost itself deep in the blue sky, to be exact, where the crescent of the moon was standing invisibly.

A heat wave swept over the frightened group, but the radio broadcasts continued and the TV cameras kept operating, never ceasing to report the phenomenon live to all the world. On the screens of the news centres of all nations, the ray could be seen blazing. One of the airplanes that approached the danger zone too closely was seized in a tremendous vortex and carried directly into the heart of the flame storm. It was instantly transformed into a giant drop of molten metal that evaporated by the time it had fallen only a few yards.

For one minute this ray played down upon the desert. Then it was extinguished. All of a sudden, night seemed to fall. The sun, which before had been so brightly shining, now stood like a dying star, pale and reddish in the sky, still high above the horizon. One could look into it with open eyes.

Where the beam of energy had struck the earth, there was no longer any desert. A deep abyss lay agape in sand and rock, bottomless and with glowing borders. Within its interior there was a reddish luminescence, a fiery incandescence. Vapours rose from the depths of this newly created hell.

Only from an aerial perspective could one observe the crater in its entirety. It was gigantic in its dimensions and exactly circular, as if drawn with a compass.

The world held its breath.

For three hours.

The time of the ultimatum came and went.

Three red buttons remained untouched.




CHAPTER FOUR


Lieutenant Klein arrived in Peking by a roundabout route. He made contact with Number Two, in accordance with his instructions, and received further briefing from him. The assignment he had begun seemed impossible, but he had to attempt it. Perry Rhodan meant danger for the whole world. Whoever could remove this danger would gain undying fame, regardless of the nation of his origin. It was a task that demanded the highest personal commitment and the greatest courage.

There was, however, one circumstance that seemed to make it easier. Allan D. Mercant himself had given this important hint to Klein before sending him on his journey.

"Listen carefully, Lieutenant Klein. This Rhodan could never be removed by ordinary means. There is only one possibilityЦtreason. DonТt worry unnecessarily about the morality of the matter, because Rhodan has betrayed us. You must succeed in penetrating the force field. How you do this will remain your own problem. And something else, you are not alone. Agents of the Eastern Bloc as well as of the Asiatic Federation are working toward the same objective. It is not entirely impossible that the common crisis will bring about a certain understanding among ourselves. Until the Stardust has been destroyed, the agents from Moscow and Peking are our colleagues. So, now, good luck."Good luck. That was what Klein could really use, and so far he had actually had it.

In Kalgan, some seventy-five miles northwest of Peking, he had bought a truck. There he noticed a Chinese he had already seen three times in the same day. This fellow observed him and never let him out of his sight for a moment.

The truck was apparently a good cross country vehicle. Along with it he had bought supplies and provisions, in addition to a tent and all equipment necessary for starting a small expedition. The roads were good, even if they were closely watched.

On the side of his truck, in large letters, he painted words that would place him above suspicion: TRIAL RUN FOR THE ARMY. His papers declared him to be an engineer. He was to determine whether the vehicle was suitable for troop transport through desert and mountains.

As Klein drove the truck out of the city, he watched in vain for the suspicious Chinese he had observed previously. Perhaps the fellow had understood at last that he could find nothing of value here to steal.

"TheyТre on the lookout for foreigners," mumbled the agent, evading a vehicle that came toward him. "But I donТt look as rich as a foreigner. What could you steal from an engineer?"In the evening hours he passed the city of Kwai-hwa while driving along a new road that led alongside the Great Wall. He had no way of knowing that at the same time, Mao-Tsen, Asiatic Federation Minister of defence, was sitting in faraway Peking, hunched over a radio device that announced the precise location of the presumed test vehicle. Beside him was the Major ButaТan, his chief agent."Lieutenant Li Shai-tung is one of my best men," said ButaТan proudly, as if this were of his own doing. "He found the American right away and has not left his side. I am eager to test the validity of your theory that the others will cooperate with us. If this be so, then, as we have reason to believe now, the Stardust is really not an American military base. Indeed, were the Western Bloc to possess a weapon such as the ray from the moon represents, we would not be alive any more. Does Li know that the Stardust must fall into our hands intact?""He has received his instructions," Mao-Tsen agreed thoughtfully. He was listening to the shrill voice that emanated from the loudspeaker. "Ah, the American has driven on. He will soon reach the Hwang-ho and perhaps even Pau-tou, if he does not prefer to stay overnight in the open."