"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0032 - (24) Infinity Flight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"I don't care who she is!" raved Rhodan, still trying to free himself from the unyielding embrace of his unwanted amour. "Get a move on, you two! Help me!"
Redkens couldn't make any sense out of Rhodan's orders. Why on Earth had his commanding officer taken along this love goddess if he really didn't like her? He would never have thought his idol capable of such obviously conflicting behaviour. But still...
"Come on, Redkens," moaned Bell and started to move. "I'm completely baffled by all this. Nothing makes any sense any more. She must have gone off her rocker."
But hardly had he touched the beautiful woman's arm than she let go of Rhodan, turned around and peered lovingly into Bell's red face. "Reggie, my darling little Reggie­boy! So we do meet again here after all these years. Come into my arms; let me kiss you, my sweet!"
And now it was Bell's turn to be trapped in a tight spot. The luscious red lips of the formerly so unattainable film star were lovingly pressed against his own lips, thus fulfilling his age­old desire once to be kissed by the beautiful Rallas. He offered no resistance and let the gorgeous Cleopatra have her way with him, paying no heed to the Homeric laughter in his ears. Even Rhodan, glad to be released from the iron grip of the unexpected visitor, had to laugh at the sight of his friend, the normally ice cold, steel hard Reggie, as he was literally melting in the arms of the superstar, Stella.
Only Redkens, the hapless cadet, felt that fate was treating him unkindly in this situation. His head swung to and fro, from Rhodan to the lovingly embracing couple. The poor fellow was at an absolute loss what to think of this whole affair.
Finally the Immortal seemed to realize that this scene had gone far enough. It arranged that Cleopatra should release her victim. Suddenly, Bell was standing there, all alone, his arms embracing someone who was no longer present.
His friend's posture struck Rhodan as being so absurd that he completely forgot his anger and started bellowing with laughter. Bell's eyes, shut tight in ecstasy till this moment, opened slowly. He realized how silly he must look. And that in the presence of Redkens, who was still leaning against the wall, stammering over and over again: "An autograph! How I would have liked to get an autograph from her!"
"Oh, shut up, Redkens! That woman could never have given you an autograph-it was nothing but a ghost, Bell reprimanded the young fellow.
Since Redkens had not been along on the initial trip to the Planet of Eternal Life, he knew nothing of the strange incomprehensible jokes the Immortal was so fond of playing on those who had come in search of It.
"A ghost? But I certainly know Rallas when I see her..."
"It might just as well have been Columbus," interjected Rhodan. "But Columbus wouldn't have scared me as much as that... what was the lady's name?"
"Rallas-the ravishing Rallas!" moaned a very disappointed Redkens. "How could she have been a ghost if she had a real live body?"
"It can accomplish anything It wants to do," Bell enlightened him. He had gradually overcome his shock, once he understood who had fooled him with this illusion. "Out of our imagination It creates concertized illusions. They are nothing but our materialized thoughts. Rhodan's subconscious mind contained the memory of this one particular film with the film star Rallas-this was enough for the Immortal to form an exact imitation of her and have her materialize right here in our ship. It's quite simple-though I must admit to having been tricked by the apparition for a moment."
"That was quite a lengthy moment" observed Rhodan, "in case you weren't aware of what was going..." Rhodan fell silent in mid-sentence. There was suddenly a voice in his brain-the soundless telepathic voice of It the Immortal.
"Hello, old friend," It said. "You have come to visit me? Oh, I see you have important reasons for this visit. Well, we should have a longer talk about all this. Keep the same course as before, also the same speed. In exactly three minutes you will hit Wanderer's protective screen. Shut off the engines."
Rhodan awaited further instructions but they never came.
He looked at Bell. "Did you just hear a voice?"
"No. Did you?"
Then Rhodan realized that It had spoken to him alone. And as strange as it might seem, this time It appeared to make it a point to speak to Rhodan as soon as possible. The fact that It had given Wanderer's exact position directly to Rhodan seemed to be an indication of It's decision.
"Shut off the engines!" ordered Rhodan. "Bell, alert the crew to be prepared for tremendous sudden deceleration. Despite our gravitational fields we should experience a considerable jolt. In three minutes we'll hit the energy field of Wanderer. This will act as brakes for us. And then..."
Somebody was laughing. It was Redkens. The young cadet was still standing at the same spot as before, leaning against the wall. But now he was holding a postcard size photo in his hand. He kept staring at it, laughing so hard that the tears welled up in his eyes.
Bell walked over to him and took the picture. He examined it for barely a second before he, too, burst out laughing. Then without as much as saying a word he passed the photo on to Rhodan. Rhodan glanced at it and saw an excellent colour print of the lady, who just a few minutes earlier had squashed him so energetically against her breast. The picture bore an inscription in a delicate handwriting: "To my faithful admirer Redkens with best wishes from your friend Stella."

* * * *

The Springers' spaceships had been constructed according to Arkonide principles though most did not resemble each other. All the flagships of each of the clans' fleets had been equipped with structure sensors which registered and announced every concussion occurring in the space­time structure. The sensors had been coupled to a group of instruments that not only could almost pinpoint the exact location but also calculate the distance covered by any object causing such a space rupture.
Thus it was not particularly surprising when Topthor and his fleet returned to normal space hardly five light-hours away from Rhodan's Stardust."
Topthor soon arrived at the same conclusion as Rhodan before him: within a radius of 50 light­years there was not a single larger chunk of matter-apart from the quickly located Stardust, of course.
His face all puckered up in anger, Topthor stared at the video­screen. From another screen close by could be seen the fairly calm­looking mien of Grogham. "So where is your marvellous fairy tale planet, Topthor?"
The leader of the Mounders remained imperturbable despite the anger he felt inside. His eyes remained fixed on the screen; not for a fraction of a second did he dare take his eyes off the Stardust. He didn't want to risk letting that ship out of sight nor lose instrument contact with it.
"Do you really think, Grogham, that we'd find that ship right in front of us? I'm sure there are appropriate precautionary measures, and if I'm not mistaken..."
He fell silent suddenly.
On the main videoscreen where the Stardust could be seen, something strange was taking place.
The Stardust was a gigantic sphere with a diameter of 2,400 feet and now one of its hemispheres began to disappear. The observers were under the impression that over there, just five light­hours away, a lunar eclipse was in progress. All went very fast. One half of the Stardust vanished within the course of two seconds, while the rest took about 10 seconds. Apparently this vanishing act slowed down toward the end.
Topthor was at a loss how to explain this phenomenon. "Damn it, that wasn't a normal transition," he said somewhat bewildered. "There was no space rupture, no disturbance in the continuum. Something simply-devoured Rhodan's ship."
"Devoured?" stammered Grogham. His face grew pale. "What do you mean by that?"
A full alert signal spread instantly throughout Topthor's craft. The fleet set out on a miniature leap across five light-hours. When the ships rematerialised, they found space all empty around them. Their instruments showed nothing whatsoever within a radius of 50 light-years. Therefore, the Stardust had become non­existent, although this was totally impossible. Matter can be rendered invisible, if need be, but it cannot be made to vanish without a trace. At least not without a normal transition which would undoubtedly have been registered by the instruments.
Where had the Stardust gone?
Topthor found no answer to his question and for the first time he was confronted by an unsolved problem. Actually, even, by an unsolvable problem. Over a distance of more than 1,500 light­years he had been able to pursue Rhodan-and now all of a sudden this Earthling had vanished into an absolute void. There was something fishy going on here!
Grogham spoke up: "Since he disappeared at this spot here, he'll return to the same place. All we need is enough patience to wait till then."
"That's what I thought myself," mumbled Topthor angrily. "Be prepared for a long wait-but we have lots of time."
"May I let the crew have a rest period?" asked Grogham.
Topthor nodded his head in agreement. "Yes. Also pass on the order to the captains of the other ships. A full sleep period for the crew. I don't believe there will be anything happening for a few hours at least."
Topthor was quite wrong in such an assumption. But how could he have had any inkling that his men would not even have the time to fall asleep?