"044 The Pseudo One" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"And then what-walk back?"
"Hardly. Why would he have been so insistent that you be the pilot? I just hope you know your way around in that thing."
The mouse-beaver put on such an air of superiority that Betty could hardly restrain her laughter.
"A minor detail! After all, I've been trained to handle all makes of spacecraft-even such a ridiculous VIP hotrod as that. When do I get going?"
"The equipment is still being loaded on board. Unfortunately, the long Venus night has just started but it won't make much difference to you if you take off in the dark. So make it about 10 hours from now. If you wish, you can still get in some sleep. The crews at Port Venus have been briefed and are hurrying up the preparations. Rhodan expects you at the latest within 20 hours."
Pucky revealed his incisor tooth and looked about him interestedly. "May I sleep here with you?" he inquired sanctimoniously and cast a yearning glance at Betty's bed. But Betty appeared to have no desire to scratch the mouse-beaver in his sleep. She discarded her robe, slipped under the downy quilt and shook her head energetically. "There's a couch in the next room. Good night!"
Pucky sat disappointedly in his chair for a few minutes, then teleported himself into the other room.
He was still sufficiently conditioned by recent celebrations to fall quickly to sleep and forget his troubles.

* * * *

The luxury spaceboat was in a class by itself. It lay flat on the cement pavement in the bright glare of the searchlights, next to the light cruiser that had brought it here from the Earth. The Arkonide name, Koos-Nor, was marked by black letters on the silvery hull. Its contour was that of a giant egg, approximately 100 feet long and 60 feet in its central diameter. One gained entrance to the inner part of the yacht through an oval hatchway into the airlock. Its range of action was practically limitless if the required overhaul periods were not taken into consideration.
Pucky stood with Betty Toufry in front of the glistening marvel. "That thing must have cost a satchel of solars," he remarked. "I never thought I'd be the captain of a dream boat like that."
The girl looked at her watch. "You know the co-ordinates, Pucky. The chief engineer has briefed you on everything. What are you waiting for?"
"You're right, Betty. I guess I'll hoist a sail and get under way."
"That's the understatement of the year-and from you, of all people. Give my regards to Rhodan and the others. And-lots of luck!"
"Do you mean that well need it?"
"Certainly. Rhodan mentioned that this was an unusually dangerous undertaking."
Pucky grinned happily. "So it's an end to the boredom at last. All the other mutants are on special assignments and here I am on Venus, pacifying harmless settlers, merely for tax violations."
"Maybe it'd be different if they had a mouse-beaver tax," Betty smiled as she stepped back. "Go give 'em all you've got, Pucky!"
He grinned back at her and then jumped easily upward into the entrance hatch. The unused passenger ladder retracted automatically. Pucky waved a last goodbye and then disappeared into the lock. The heavy hatch cover closed slowly in the glare of the lights.
A few minutes later a vibration of power went through the egg-shaped frame of the ship. It rose up weightlessly and drifted slowly away into the night. The searchlights followed it.
Betty walked back to the edge of the field. As she stood there and looked upwards once more into the dark sky, there was nothing more of the ship to be seen. It was as though it had dematerialised.

* * * *

Which is what actually happened. Pucky had determined to make full use of the special capabilities of this Arkonide luxury yacht.
Ships of the Koos-Nor class were equipped with a special damping field that reduced the effects of entering and emerging from hyperspace to a minimum. On this basis these ships were licensed to enter hyperspace while inside a solar system, or to emerge into so-called normal space within the confines of a system. Only the extreme costliness of such an installation prevented all space vessels from being so equipped. The damping field generator was unprofitable for normal use-except in the case of these splendiferous VIP models, which an Arkonide inspector might utilize for the purpose of glamorizing the power and splendour of his empire...
Almost before the Koos-Nor had traversed the yellowish-white cloud layers of Venus, the mouse-beaver activated the DF generator. And in that moment the universe ceased to exist for Pucky-or more specifically: the mouse-beaver together with the luxury yacht had ceased to exit in terms of the normal universe because their state of existence was changed, having acquired a hyper-vibratory pattern of energies.
Until the material state was regained...
As the familiar pains of rematerialisation wore off, Pucky observed the suddenly altered constellations. Then he slipped out of the pilot's seat and decided that he would give the ship a closer inspection. He began to be plagued by curiosity as to why Rhodan had chosen to use this vessel. Instead of making a specific request for this magnificent plaything, why hadn't he just ordered up a heavily armed cruiser? How could a luxury yacht bring anybody successfully through a dangerous adventure?
In the hold he found the cases that had arrived sealed from Earth. But for Pucky the telekineticist, locks and seals presented no particular difficulty and so it was not surprising that the mouse-beaver was able to make an unabashed inspection of Rhodan's special 'equipment'.
10 minutes later he returned to the control room of the Koos-Nor and sat down slowly in the pilot's seat. In great wonderment he stared into the swarm of unknown stars before him.
And he whispered to himself: "I'd sure like to know what Rhodan has got to do with a masked ball..."

* * * *

Hellgate really seemed to be a gate to Hell, as its name clearly implied. No one could imagine a more lonely and desolate planet. Here it had been that Rhodan fought his first terrible battle with Atlan, the Hermit of Time.
Hellgate...
A sun-flooded hell of sand and rocks, devoid of all life or even hope. It would never occur to any rational form of life to settle here because there was nothing to sustain it. The solitary sun was located far from all space routes and was of less significance than a dust mote in the atmosphere of an inhabited planet anywhere in the Milky Way.
Hellgate...
Rhodan had singled out this hell world to become an important base and advanced outpost against the Arkonide Empire. No one would suspect his presence here-if indeed there were anyone who knew of his existence. This, however, was improbable. For almost 60 years now Terra had been considered destroyed, with Rhodan and his giant ship the Titan long gone into oblivion.
So it was on Hellgate that Rhodan constructed his steel-domed base, which provided in its interior the living conditions necessary for Earth life. From here he could make contact at any time with his widely distributed stations by means of the hypercom installation. A swift space vessel lay in a subterranean hangar, ready to take him away whenever the occasion might require it.
He had been established for some time now on Hellgate without making headway toward his goal.
Standing at a distance of exactly 31 light-years was a dimly shining sun, a G-type body which was registered in the Arkonide catalogues as Revnur's Star. It was similar to the Earth's sun and could have easily been interchanged with it. 6 planets orbited around Revnur's Star but only the 2nd world was inhabited. The Aras, off shoots of the Springers and the Arkonides, had discovered it at one time and settled there. Just as the Springers lived principally by commercial trading and were thus referred to as the Galactic Traders, the Aras lived by another kind of specialty: they were the galactic Medical Masters and made their living through sales of their personally developed antitoxic serums and by maintaining a general medical surveillance of other races and their worlds.
In this connection they maintained on the 2nd planet of Revnur's Star the only existing galactic zoo and they had succeeded in discovering a life elixir in which Rhodan took an understandable interest. The 2 mutants, John Marshall and Laury Marten, had been established on the 'zoo planet', called Tolimon, as Rhodan's agents. It was just a week ago that John Marshall had radioed a message hinting of perilous conditions and asking for help. Since then his signals had faded. Nevertheless, Rhodan knew that Laury had succeeded in pilfering an ampoule of the life elixir from one of the laboratories.
Now he had to go personally to Tolimon in order to rescue his 2 mutants from unknown dangers.
Which was the causative factor behind Pucky's surprising departure from Venus.
The steel dome lay under the shimmering heat of a short Hellgate day. In its interior reigned a climate suitable for anyone accustomed to Earth's temperate regions.
Rhodan lay in his bath.