"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0010 - (5a) Space Battle in the Vega Sector" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)
Only one human appeared, to receive him. The thin faced, dark haired man also wore the new uniform of the Third Power, but the becoming uniform bore no insignia of rank. Instead there gleamed on his left breast an unusual service patch, which on closer inspection revealed a brain surrounded by a shining aura. The mutant, John Marshall, waited until Rhodan’s gaze locked with his. He sensed instinctively what was going on inside the cranium of this great man. It seemed to him almost as if Rhodan were deliberately delaying his entrance into the command center."Hello, Marshall! How goes it with the mind reading business?"
"Not so well, where you are concerned," asserted the other.
"You are expected, sir. Bell is beside himself. The world security leaders will be here in about fifteen minutes. We don’t quite know what’s going to develop."Rhodan stepped wordlessly into the shimmering field of the antigrav lift, which carried them weightlessly below. Marshall was thinking of how Rhodan might handle himself in this situation. In contrast to the madhouse atmosphere inside the government building, he seemed the epitome of calm and self-possession. Marshall probed cautiously, searching for the thought content of his dark blond companion.
Rhodan’s hair was damp with perspiration. He still wore his light spacesuit."Cut it off, Marshall!" Rhodan said darkly. "You’re bumping against a wall. Have you tried probing General Pounder?"Marshall frowned, Sudden displeasure kindled in his dark eyes. "He thinks we are monsters!" he growled. "Certain people don’t appear willing to realise that we, the so-called monsters, came into being only as a result of monstrous nuclear research."Rhodan smiled grim amusement. "Otherwise Pounder is clean, right? Listen, John, you shouldn’t get worked up over monster inferences and similar expressions you may hear. You have to think of the normal human and how he would react to your superhuman gifts. Now as to myself—"His words were drowned out by the heavy thunder of a landing spaceship. At the next floor, Rhodan sprang out of the lift. "The Good Hope has come back!" he exclaimed.
"I should have coordinated that with you. Thora thinks it advisable to leave the ship under the energy screen for the time being. Reg Bell has blocked his mind from me. I can’t detect what be thinks of it. I still don’t even know what’s really happened."Rhodan’s lean face, which had become angular under suppressed tension, was relieved momentarily by a fleeting smirk. "So Reg is playing games too. Okay, the time is up. Have you noticed that I’ve been stalling too?"The telepath smiled. Yes, he had noticed.
"Let’s go—and pray to God that we come out of this in one piece! The Earth is still far too weak to sustain an attack by one of the great galactic powers. With our space fighters we would be hopelessly outmatched by a real fleet. Come on!"
CHAPTER 3
She comported herself in a self-possessed manner, cool and arrogant. Nevertheless, whether or not she really had her nerves under control was questionable.
Thora, former female commander of the Arkonide space research cruiser that had made a forced lunar landing and had subsequently been destroyed by Earthmen, was again mindful of her origin. Her manner was brittle; more unnatural seeming than it was dignified. Thus, silently, she observed the scurrying Earthmen in the inner sanctum of their command center.
Rhodan had been unwilling to establish this most important control point underground. If the protective screen were broken through, by whatever power source, then the best subterranean bunker would be purposeless.
Thora’s beautiful face, which gave no sign of her age, was like an expressionless mask. She had stated her demands. It depended now on Perry Rhodan to indicate just how ready he was to fulfil them. She felt uneasy among these terrestrials who hurried about so and made hasty calculations and carried on their heated discussions. As a lineal descendant of the Arkonide Empire’s ruling dynasty, she had more than once expressed the opinion that the human race was very low on the evolutionary ladder.Her gaze wandered to the founders and rulers of that miniature terrestrial state which was known as the Third Power. Her lips tightened bitterly. Granted, Perry Rhodan was a superior human. Now, after he had absorbed the entire wisdom of the Arkonide race through hypnotic learning methods, he had even evolved to a state that was beyond normal humanity. This was a man who could never again he taken unaware by any event. For this very reason, she thought, he should reflect a little more often on the fact that his knowledge and ability stemmed from the Arkonides. In grandiose fashion and with astonishing casualness he had taken over the total gifts of a science and knowledge that his species had been ignorant of only three and a half years ago. He juggled elementary powers and projects about in a manner that was breathtaking for the Arkonides. Be that as it might, she did permit herself the conclusion that Perry Rhodan was the only noteworthy individual in almost four billion members of his race.
The eager cooperativeness of Khrest, her scientific adviser and fellow being, filled her with scorn. The leading Arkonide scientist, the symbol of the mental superiority of the "Greater Empire," seemed to thrive once more under the influence of Rhodan’s will. It was astonishing to what extent Rhodan could dominate the best mind of Arkon.Thora bided her time in the background, absorbed in a strange mixture of love and hate for the man to whom, on the one hand, she would grant anything and, on the other, continue to deny. Boundless indignation and resentment were joined with an unbidden awakening of tender emotions in her.
On the concave output screen of the positronic robot brain, conclusive data symbols darted and glowed. Rhodan manipulated the controls with a trancelike infallibility. He controlled a machine whose consummate perfection had never before responded to a human command. Nevertheless, it responded.
The hoarse voice of a stocky, broad shouldered man rang out. "Warp rupture number 118!" he announced.
Thora was shaken. Reginald Bell, former captain in the U.S. Space Force and one of the Earth-lunar pioneers, now also demonstrated his legendary coolness under fire, which those who knew him had come to expect.
"Another hyperspace jump, the 119th transition," he announced even louder above the whirring and humming of the vast electronic installation. "That does it! It’s senseless to monitor the reports any longer. Gentlemen, what do you say?" His glance darted between Perry Rhodan and Khrest.The two men harboured different opinions. Rhodan got up from the swivel chair. "Do you agree, Khrest?" he asked pensively.
The Arkonide revealed traces of an excitement, very unusual for this completely reticent but amiable extraterrestrial. Rhodan felt that the Earthbound Third Power was at a turning point. So he said, "I believe that the second epoch of our enterprise has just dawned. Think about it. The reports from our robot station on Pluto indicate conclusively that the hyper disturbances detected by the warp sensors are located in the region of Vega. Further, it has been determined that countless spaceships have completed a hyperspace jump back into the normal cosmos. This means that unknown intelligent life forms are equipped with the means and power to investigate a probable Vega system. Be logical, Khrest. I value your understanding and tolerance. You have been of great help to humans and to the Earth in general."
"Then for once consider our special wishes!" Thora interjected from the background.
Doctors Haggard and Manoli quickly exchanged glances. Haggard frowned, perturbed. Undoubtedly, Thora was going to be difficult.
"Your special wishes were not possible to fulfil before," Rhodan retorted sharply. "The position of Earth in the galaxy must always remain secret. Three years ago the incident of the Mind Snatchers was enough for me. Khrest, you and your conjectures are on the wrong track."
"I am going to have to beg and implore you now, as I have before, to launch a flight toward Vega at once," Khrest persisted. "My calculations indicate precisely that the world I have searched for so desperately must be among the planets of that great star. Perry—at least once, heed my wishes! It has been almost four years, by Early reckoning, since we made a forced landing on the moon. That landing was never our intention. We came to this remote region of the galaxy in search of a planet whose inhabitants possess the secret of biological cell conservation. That means eternal life."
"You don’t even know for sure if Vega has any planets at all," Reginald Bell interjected. "Your calculations may be right—so what? I see no reason to throw ourselves into this witch’s kettle. The ships that have come there from hyperspace are probably not a threat to Earth at the moment, even though their arrival means that the location of Earth will eventually be exposed to discovery."Rhodan maintained his disquieting state of silence. Below in the great conference room sat the heads of the world security and representatives of Earth governments. The alert had been on a global scale—and now this surprise turn of events!"I hold to my opinion that these are Arkonide spaceships whose commanders have also been commissioned to search for the world of eternal life," Khrest asserted excitedly. Rhodan’s iron calm seemed to upset him severely.Again, the answer came from Bell. "Khrest, you don’t believe that! We’ve all agreed that the once mighty and active race of the Arkonides was degenerating rapidly. Their mental decline was so bad only four years ago that they put out their maximum effort, just to pull themselves together long enough to equip their own research cruiser. Those characters that have jumped out of hyperspace into the Vega system have nothing in common with your own people. Trust my instinct in this. I reject the idea of launching the Good Hope on an interstellar mission, which would require a hyperspace jump. If our space warp sensor equipment can locate and take accurate bearings on their points of emergence, why shouldn’t they be able to pick up our own hyper disturbance? That could betray the entire solar system. what the hell—what am I Security Minister for?"Bell got up from the control seat. Above him the image screens of the hypercommunicators lighted up, responding to translight speed impulse. The message came in from Major Nyssen of the first space fighter group that the solar system was completely free of alien objects.
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