"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0040 - (32) Challenge of the Unknown" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

CONTENTS
1/ THE BRAIN MUST BE BEFRIENDED
2/ A TERRIFYING MONSTROSITY
3/ THE REAL RULERS
4/ PUCKY'S POTENT PLAN
5/ THE MOOFFS ARE DYING
(AND THORA IS COMING TO LIFE)
6/ "THE ZARLT MUST DIE!"

THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME

1/ THE BRAIN MUST BE BEFRIENDED

"A PLANETSHIP!" Reginald Bell declared. "I don't call this a spaceship any more-it's a regular planet!" Perry
Rhodan's aide was panting with exhaustion as he let himself be engulfed by the black gullet of the antigrav cylinder.
Lieutenant Julian Tifflor, his eyes shut tight, followed suit. "And we're living inside this planet!"
"You're absolutely right, Mr. Bell." Tifflor-also known as Tiff-uttered these words with great effort while the
speed of their falls was automatically braked till their descents gradually changed to gentle floating. "Sometimes I
think I'll lose my way in this monster of a ship."
"Which of course is the reason for all these constant alarm drills," Bell enlightened him. "We're supposed to learn
how to find our way around in this maze." His healthy red complexion deepened several degrees. Above his broad
moonlike face bristled his reddish hair, while anger and amusement alternately fought for supremacy in his
watery-blue eyes. "I'll never master it!"
Tifflor simply nodded his bead, remaining silent. They had been ordered to report to station H 35, wherever that
might be. 'H' probably stood for 'hangar', indicating that location might be found in the vicinity of the outer wall of
the giant craft. Inside the antigravitor they were falling toward the hull but fervently hoped they hadn't chosen the
wrong side for this would mean they had made a detour of at least a mile and a half.
They came to a sudden halt. Before them stretched a brightly lit corridor marked H. Well, at least we got that much
right, thought Bell, relieved, and left the antigrav tunnel. Close by one of the technicians was taking it easy and
regarding the new arrivals with obvious interest. Bell made his way toward him, asked: "Say, pal, could you tell us
where we might find H 35? We're new here-"
"Hey, Reggie!" came a voice out of nowhere, reverberating through the semi-circular corridor whose ends
disappeared from sight in a gentle curve. "Since when are you permitted to cheat?"
Tifflor flinched. His eyes frantically sought the hidden lens of the intercom-camera which transmitted their images
to the command centre. He could detect nothing. Slightly perplexed, he glanced at Bell but the redhead made an
innocent face, shaking his head vigorously as he addressed the invisible speaker:
"And you call that fair to spy on us, Perry? No one can find their way in this confounded maze of corridors,
elevators, hangars, floors and compartments. A bit of help ought to be okay under the circumstances. I wouldn't be
so petty, Perry, and-"
"Wouldn't you? How about yesterday!" came another rebuke from the air, this time accompanied by a subdued
giggle, which caused Bell's face to turn deep-red with fury. "You were in charge of the emergency drill then. When
John Marshall couldn't find out at once where he was supposed to go and wanted to get some information, you made
such a fuss and screamed at him so that the poor fellow almost had a nervous breakdown. How could he guess there
were hidden cameras even in the restrooms."
Tifflor grinned, relieved, not so much because of the photographic surveillance in the lavatories but because he
assumed that Perry Rhodan didn't take it too seriously that they had tried to cheat a little.
But Bell remained furious. "What business had Marshall to be in that place during an alarm?" he wanted to know
angrily. "Next time everybody might."
"Enough of that!" he was cut short in mid-sentence. "I'll give you another two minutes to find department H 35.
We'll all meet in the command centre in half an hour. Is that clear?"