"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0058 - (50) Attack from the Unseen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Reno 25 was a peaceful world for there were no more wars in the Arkonide Imperium. And so the inhabitants and the Arkonide Administrator stationed there must have been all the more surprised when 3 huge space ships-each 900 feet long, their cylindrical shape identifying them as Springer vessels-suddenly appeared that day and landed on the spaceport field.
Hardly had the ships touched down when something extremely unusual happened: the hatches opened and several companies of well-equipped fighter robots streamed out. The Administrator's own troops, immediately alerted, were quickly thrown back and the robots occupied the city.
Then it was learned that those responsible were highly organized pirates who lived from the surplus of rich worlds, turning up without warning here or there to loot unsuspecting planets.
At the time of the attack, Marshall had been in his office and had no time to send the sensational news on to Earth via the hypercom. Before he knew what was happening, 2 warrior robots had forced their way into his apartment, which was just above his office, and started to demolish the furniture. Unfortunately, they came too close to the camouflaged hypercom device.
Only the office on the building's first floor remained. The rest of the structure and the 2 robots had been blasted into rubble.
Marshall was cut off from Terra but he could be thankful that he had come out of the accident alive. His first thought was to get to his Gazelle and leave this suddenly very inhospitable solar system but that proved to be more difficult than he had first thought. The pirates had sealed off the spaceport hermetically, preventing anyone from leaving Reno 25.
Marshall sat tight, knowing nothing of the silent command that had been ceaselessly streaking through hyperspace for hours, seeking his receiver. He waited patiently for a chance to reach his spaceship. Once on board he was sure he could take off and easily break through the blockade around Reno 25.
Theory is one thing but practice another. The pirates occupied the Administrator's palace and thus the hypercom station. The connection to Arkon was broken off almost at the same moment a jamming transmitter was put into operation, which prevented even the ships stranded at the spaceport from sending calls for help.
The pirates allowed themselves time to plunder the defenceless planet. Unfortunately for them, it was that same jamming transmitter that sealed their doom. About 8 days after the successful attack, the Robot Brain on Arkon attempted to reach the Administrator of Reno 25 by hypercom-something that happened perhaps once every 10 years. There was no answer. The Regent reacted with unusual speed and sent a huge battleship to Reno to investigate.
Marshall still remained in his small office amidst the rubble. Luckily for him, no further robot attacks had followed the first one and he had been left in peace. He felt safe enough but an increasing anxiety was threatening to make his continued presence on Reno 25 unbearable to him.
Then came the battleship!
Even before the pirates had a chance to organize a defence, the huge spacesphere of the Regent landed on the field. A division of the strongest fighter robots issued from the hatches and was set to their duty. The somewhat smaller robots belonging to the pirates attacked automatically, immediately revealing what had been happening on Reno 25.
Now Marshall could see for himself how much methods of government had changed over the past decades. The Robot Brain of Arkon tolerated disobedience no longer.
Without endangering the life of a single person, the battle-machines of the Regent restored order. They destroyed the pirates' robots in concentrated attacks and took prisoner all the pirates they could find. The 3 cylindrical ships were then melted in the crossfire of energy beams.
Marshall saw it all without budging from his spot. There was no danger of any kind for him since he could prove himself an inhabitant of Reno 25 at any time.
5 hours after the landing of the spacesphere, order reigned once more on Reno 25 and reconstruction was already underway. A company of battle-robots remained behind while the rest boarded the ship and returned to Arkon.
Marshall had only one wish: to leave Reno 25 as fast as he could. What else could he do here, now that he no longer had any means of contacting headquarters? His ship stood over in the hangar and leaving the planet was no longer prohibited. What was he waiting for?
Since all his belongings had been destroyed, he walked past the sentry-robots on watch-duty with empty hands. He identified himself as Probat and reached the hangar where his Gazelle stood, intact, and ready to go, without hindrance.
Everything else was child's play.
Having given the worker robots the necessary instructions, he climbed through the Gazelle's hatch and made his way to the small control cabin. Meanwhile, the roof of the hangar slid to one side, giving free access to the open sky. Marshall flew the small ship straight up, accelerating immediately to maximum speed. The molecules of the air itself burned in the heat of friction and a glowing trail marked the passage of the Gazelle as it shot out of the atmosphere in seconds and hurtled toward SPEOL-the speed of light and transition through hyperspace.
Marshall activated the structural compensator. It was more of a reflex action than anything else but it saved him a good deal of trouble. In that same moment, the Administrator of Reno 25 was receiving explicit directions from Arkon for the investigation of a certain businessman named Probat, as justifiable suspicion existed that this person...
The investigation was made and initially ended at the hangar. Then the inquiry was extended into space, where it ended again, this time at the point where the suspect's ship had vanished without a trace and had crossed over into another dimension without leaving behind any clues.
Marshall of course knew nothing of the investigation. He had enough to do in re-charting his course to Earth after every hytrans. The range of the Gazelle was limited to 500 light-years and Earth was 10,000 light-years away. Each transition required only a tenth of a second to accomplish but the computer programming and calculating necessary beforehand took up to half an hour. Marshall was able to cut down the preparation time with later jumps but close to 3 days had passed before he reached the Solar System and landed on the spaceport field at Terrania.
He arrived just in time to take part in the last briefing session.
Rhodan looked up as Marshall entered the small room in which the officers and Mutant Corps members had assembled. "You finally made it? I'd almost given you up for lost, John. My order to leave your planet went out more than 10 days ago."
"I was held up," the telepath smiled and gave a, brief account of the events on Reno 25.
Rhodan appeared to be interested in only one part of it: the Regent's swift and sure reaction. "A few things have changed in the Arkonides' realm," he decided. "So we'll have to expect an opponent who is in every way our equal and not at all decadent. The Regent has learned how to accomplish its goals. I don't think things are going to be very easy for us."
"Oh yeah?" came an emphatic chirping voice from the background. "That pile of positronic tin cans will shake like Jell-O when we give it our conditions."
"If that's the case," replied Ralf Marten roguishly, "perhaps the Robot Brain would tremble all the more if it didn't see you. Once it caught sight of you, the only shaking it would do would be with laughter."
The previous speaker with the chirping voice drew himself to his full height, measuring then about a yard. He crouched on his hind legs, supported by a broad beaver-tail. The upper body and head were that of, a huge mouse.
"Me? Stay in the background?" demanded Pucky, becoming quite shrill. "I'm a telepath, telekineticist, teleporter, hypno..."
"Anything else?" inquired Rhodan pleasantly.
Pucky wanted to answer but shook his head with sorrowful gravity and sat down. He seemed to regret being such a deficient mutant.
Rhodan restrained a grin and continued, more to Marshall than anyone else. "As you know, we deceived the galaxy and the Regent of Arkon in particular into believing that the Earth was destroyed 56 years ago. We did this to gain time. Today we are strong enough to lay our conditions before the Regent, even though it has also increased in strength over the years. The Regent's discovery of our existence was thanks to Talamon the Mounder, who recognized me when I picked up Fellmer Lloyd a few weeks ago. The Regent was informed immediately and since that minute has been continually broadcasting a call to me. It wants me to get in touch with it. Our robot-psychologists have determined that the Regent must be in trouble of some sort, otherwise it would have reacted differently. So, we will respond to the Regent's call and announce ourselves. That's how the situation stands now, Marshall."
"And they're leaving me behind again," growled an annoyed voice in the rear. All eyes turned to look at the speaker. He was not a big man but rather a stocky one with; red hair and a broad face that at the moment seemed anything but jovial.
Reginald Bell, Rhodan's second-in-command and best friend, was obviously unhappy with his role.
"But Reggie," said Rhodan reprovingly, "you carry a heavy responsibility here on Earth. I can't spare you here. With the project we have before us, I need to feel certain while I'm away that things on Earth are being taken care of the way I'd want Do you think that's not important?"
Bell forced a smile but he was still unhappy. "I'll see that you get a Nobel Prize for being the best peacemaker, Perry. Alright, I'm not angry..."
"Just jealous!" Pucky interrupted, showing his incisor tooth in pleasure and wiggling his long ears. "You'd be green with envy if you could see me go into action, Reggie! The entire galaxy will tremble and pale when it learns that the mighty Pucky is back..."
"A pale galaxy should be an impressive sight," Rhodan admitted but made a warning gesture toward the mouse-beaver. "And now let's have some order or well still be here tomorrow. I'm going to announce the names of those taking part in the operation: the spearhead this time will be the Mutant Corps, represented by telepath John Marshall, the telekineticist Tama Yokida, the seer and telepath Fellmer Lloyd, teleporter Ras Tschubai, teleopticist Ralf Marten-and Pucky. With them, will be the officers and crew of the Drusus. Men, you probably aren't familiar with the Drusus yet. It's a spacesphere of the Titan class, measuring 4800 feet in diameter and carrying a crew of 2000. Aboard are 40 guppies, each auxiliary spacer having a diameter of 180 feet. The Drusus has a hytrans range of 30,000 light-years and all other data match the Titan. Finally, the Drusus was built on the Earth: it isn't stellar booty of any sort. I think we will impress the Regent considerably with it."
"Hm," murmured Bell but otherwise remained quiet.
Rhodan continued, undisturbed by the slight interruption. "I've had this super battleship designed and built exclusively for the purpose of demonstration. Nevertheless, it is equipped with our best and most effective weaponry-and that includes the tele-transmitters. Liftoff is set for tomorrow morning and I'll issue the final instructions on board. Any questions?"
Ras Tschubai, the powerful Afroterranian, raised his hand. "I have one sir. Does the Robot Brain on Arkon know we're coming to visit it?"
"Of course not," Rhodan smiled. "Tomorrow we'll make a short spring through hyperspace-the structocomp will be in operation, of course-and then contact the Regent. It can then get a fix on our location as it likes, without endangering us. Its logic will tell it we would never transmit a hypercom message from the Earth."
No further questions were asked. Each of the men present knew that Rhodan would tell them all they needed to know in his own good time.
"Alright then, till tomorrow," said Rhodan, closing the conference and leaving the room. Bell followed as he still had some questions.
The mutants watched the 2 men leave.
To them remained but one more night on Earth.