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

which consisted of transparent material. Probably an observation room.
To the right of him he saw the massive hull of the Titan towering above. A human figure walked briskly through a
plastic boarding tube to the other vessel, under escort of several officers: probably the alien commander whom
Rhodan wished to interview.
Ras observed with some relief that only one door gave access to the observation room. He hurried to it and risked a
quick look into the corridor beyond. It was empty. From this direction there was nothing to fear. He closed the door
and turned around.
And then he saw the monster.
* * * *
From the beginning, Tako had not fared so well.
When he materialized he found himself in the midst of a group of people who were engaged in a highly agitated
debate. Without exception they were Zalites and they wore smudged and soiled work clothes, indicating that in all
probability they were members of the technical personnel.
Tako didn't have the presence of mind to disappear immediately. Now that he'd been discovered, perhaps he didn't
consider the fact overly important, since naturally it would be impossible for them to capture him.
The excited discussion stopped abruptly. The men turned to him with a general raising of brows. They stared in
speechless amazement at this strange apparition which had popped up in their midst and who nonetheless seemed to
be composed of flesh and blood. Tako was inwardly amused but maintained a bard and grim expression, which of
course was in tremendous contrast to his very delicate frame.
One of the Zalites, a hefty fellow in green trousers, came up to Tako and took hold of him, his face a mixture of fear
and curiosity.
Tako pushed his hand away. "Okapka!" he warned in Intercosmo. "Don't touch me!"
The Zalite understood him. "Tono-who are you?" he asked, and added suspiciously, "Alda-where do you come
from?"
"Perhaps I can make myself invisible," retorted Tako. He pushed the nearest Zalite aside and walked leisurely
through the opened passage between them to the nearest door. "With your permission, I'll just take a look at your
ship."
He opened the door. No one stopped him. They simply stood and stared at him, unable to believe the evidence of
their eyes. Only when Tako was already halfway into the corridor and had the door just about closed behind him did
the reaction set in. They came storming and crowding into the narrow opening like commandos and sought to grasp
him. But they grasped at empty air.
Tako dematerialised and sprang toward the middle of the ship but had the misfortune of arriving precisely in the spot
that Ras had just vacated seconds before. Thus it happened that the officer who was just emerging into the corridor
became witness to an event that might require years for his reason ever to explain.
At first he saw a black monstrosity that suddenly began to shimmer and dissolve into the air. Certainly this was a
most uncanny phenomenon that defied explanation, because the black apparition had no sooner become invisible
than here was another form materializing in its place. The form of Tako.
With a cry of alarm the officer drew back and clanged the door shut behind him. Puzzled by the unusually fast
reaction of the Zalite, Tako concentrated on seeking out Ras. He reasoned that he must be somewhere about, barring
the unexpected.
He had hardly taken 10 steps before the alarms began to shrill through the entire ship. The sirens had an
unpleasantly high tone to them which was painful to human eardrums. It was enough to wake the dead.
Tako cursed his luck and raced along the corridor. Actually he had accomplished nothing other than to panic these
people into a full alarm. Rhodan wasn't going to be too happy about it but the damage was done. He figured be
might just as well return to the Titan, as Ras might have done already.
So Tako teleported.
* * * *
Ras Tschubai froze in his tracks. He had thought he was alone in the bubble chamber but he was not.
The creature was approximately five feet high and about three feet wide and somewhat circular in shape, reminding
Ras of a giant jellyfish. Beneath its body he was aware of an indeterminate number of short feet which appeared to