by Leo Lukas
The poisonous soup reached the lifeboat, swirled around it, and filled the gorge to its ever lower ceiling. It couldn't do anything against the protective force shield. However, Rhodan didn't dare activate the HO or Paratron shields . The continuous discharge of 100 percent of the shields' capacity would have quickly led to overheating, resulting in the total failure of the projectors. The lifeboat had become a submarine that was making slower progress than before, but at least it was still making progress.
Soon the scanner showed that the liquid was rapidly cooling off and freezing to greenish ice that encased the lifeboat. Again the thermo-beamer went into action and again it was too slow.
"Sorry, people," Perry Rhodan said, "but this is the end of the line for now."
18
Concerning Luck
Icho Tolot kept to the steep mountainsides in order to fly under any radar. Like those of the HALUTE, his battlesuit's deflector and anti-detection systems were certainly superior to the millennia-old technology of the Beasts. However, the emissions of an antigrav could never be completely suppressed. Using his bare fists, he had hammered a kind of machete out of a block of ore. He used it to cut through all the tendrils and meter-thick thorn branches that tried to entangle him. That way he avoided any beam-fire that would give his position away, and he made good if not especially swift progress.
He was still about seventy kilometers from his destination when he noticed a speck on the horizon that quickly grew to an armored battle-glider. Tolot dropped into the undergrowth at the foot of the mountain and dug himself deep into soil and gravel. He deactivated all his suit's systems except for passive scanning, hardened his bodily structure, and waited. By the time the circling glider finally disappeared behind the snow-covered mountain peaks, Tolot had been swallowed by three different giant monsters and excreted as indigestible. It had been a thoroughly interesting though not very edifying experience. After he had cleaned himself off as best he could, he continued on his way.
When it was time to make contact with Rhodan again, he was unable to receive any signal from the lifeboat. Rhodan had probably been forced to conceal himself in much the same way as Tolot had just done. He set the picosyn to call the lifeboat every five minutes from then on.
Unhindered, he crossed the snow and ice-covered main ridge of the long, extended mountain range. Here, at an altitude of more than 5000 meters, annoyance by the plant and animal kingdoms was minimal. Beetles the length of an arm buzzed around him, but their mandibles had no effect on his force shield. Once a snowdrift about sixty meters high suddenly reared over him. It was a kind of sting-ray that had apparently adapted to living at high altitudes. Tolot punched through the flat, pancake-shaped creature like a cannonball. The whipping, spark-spewing stinger missed him, then the white ray went shrieking amid an avalanche down into a valley.
From out of the towering cloud of whipped-up snow, a battle-glider shot towards Tolot.
There was no time left to hide. Even if the enemy pilot couldn't see him due to the deflector shield, he was given away by the clearly visible point of origin of the avalanche. With that the Beast knew where to concentrate the glider's fine-scale scanner. Tolot pushed his flight system to the maximum, darting from side to side. At the same time, he deliberately allowed his ordinary brain do the flying, which a Halutian in such a situation would normally never do. It was wasted effort, as the scanner impulses pelting him showed. The enemy had him targeted, and then fired.
He pushed his thumb firmly down on the firing button, as though he could increase the effectiveness of the thermo-beam that way. Which of course was sheer nonsense. But the heat ray ate through the thoroughly solid poison ice so slowly that Perry Rhodan found it nerve-wracking.
He had waited until the canyon was frozen solid and no more soupy liquid was flowing in. The ceiling now grew only very slowly downwards, compressing the ice so that the pressure on the lifeboat's protective force shield grew ever greater. The exterior microphones picked up a groaning and crackling which hardly lifted morale in the cabin.
"Don't worry," Rhodan told the members of his team, "we'll get out of here soon. We'll have to go on foot, though."
He was answered with a collective sigh.
The thermo-beam ate a perfectly straight, meter-wide tunnel through ice and rock. The walls seemed to hold. If necessary, they would have to be stabilized with the hand-beamers. Rhodan had detected the sub-planetary reservoir from which the poisonous flood had been released. He had turned the lifeboat in that direction before the ice-mass immobilized them. It was four and a half kilometers to the reservoir. Widening the tunnel until the small spacecraft could pass through it would have taken days.
"Okay, people," Rhodan announced as soon as the heat ray had drilled a hole through the reservoir's steel wall, "I'll fly in the lead. Hayden will bring up the rear. Solina, can you continue taking care of Boryk? It'd be a good idea to synchronize your picosyns."
"Already done."
"Excellent! Now let's move out!"
He opened the hatch, then floated through the air-bubble that surrounded the lifeboat within the protective force shield and head-first into the narrow, pipe-like tunnel. As soon as Hayden reported that everyone was behind him, Rhodan closed the gap in the force field by remote control so that there was no additional strain on the shield. Not that there was much chance of ever being able to free the lifeboat from the ice, but there was no reason to give up hope completely.
He accelerated to 100 kilometers per hour, trusting that despite the high speed he could react in time if the walls caved in. He held his handbeamer in front of him, ready to fire. The other arm reached down to his hips. Somehow this flying posture reminded him of a comic-book character from his youth ...
It was a very long, very uneasy three minutes until they reached the reservoir. Although it was two kilometers wide and just as high, the thermo-beam had come within a hair of missing it entirely.
Either I've got very good aim, Rhodan thought, or just some very good luck.
Fortune favors the bold, the Terrans said about such things.
There was also a contrary expression, something about dumb luck.
Halutians didn't think that way. They were highly intelligent but not very imaginative. Despite their superior mental faculties, they showed a relatively small amount of creativity and capacity for innovation. It was generally considered to be due to their synthetic origins. Some interpreted it as the result of a deliberate security measure by their original creators, the Okefenokees, also known as the First Vibratory Power.
Had Icho Tolot been fascinated by the Terrans from the start because of that? The were so unlike Halutians, apparently wasting a large amount of their time with art and light-entertainment?
He admired, even envied them to some extent because they found it so easy to devote themselves to the enjoyment of art and distraction. He could hardly do that himself. Of all the many kinds of their music, he could to some extent appreciate those named after hard rocks or heavy metals. Even then though, only when he listened to them at a volume that he himself found deafening.
Of all the things to run through his head just when he was staring Death in the eye ... but whether because he was bold or dumb, he was lucky. And he had a good friend in a Terran Space-Jet.
Who or what else could it have been? Tolot hadn't seen or picked up anything on his scanning equipment. But the battle-glider had exploded immediately after the Beasts had fired the first shot and made his shield collapse.
He resolved to enjoy life and listen to loud Terran music more often in the future.
His destination was now only 15 kilometers away. Tolot could make out the distinctive mountain formation with his naked eyes. The Paratron shield reared like a dome, a thin bubble that was still impenetrable by hand weapons, over a collection of low buildings. Well, they would tackle that problem when they came to it. The picosyn made another futile attempt to signal the lifeboat. But then Perry Rhodan called on his multifunctio
n wristband.
Rhodan and Tolot compared their positions. As a meeting place, Tolot suggested the cavern entrance, which according to his scanner was connected to the reservoir by an extensive system of tunnels. Both had probably been built by the Akonian mine workers.
According to Rhodan's estimate, it would take them about half-an-hour to get there. Their antigravs would only be of limited use in the mining tunnels and shafts. They could use them to make climbing ladders and stairs easier, but hardly for flying or at least only very slowly.
"Mining by hand using lasers and micro-fine disintegrators," Hayden Norwell explained, out of breath. "Basically the same principle as thousands of years ago with pickaxes and compressed air drills. The stuff is so damned tricky that larger machines can only be used for boring tunnels. But man, this has such quality ... People, are you aware that we're plodding through a fortune here?"
Solina Tormas didn't care in the least. She was having trouble keeping up with Boryk. The little man seemed to be in his element. He chattered without a pause, telling her about his Holy Quest, about the Vertical Village in the Silver Mountain ... It was as though he was pouring out a confession covering his entire life. He told her his story and as a tale of adventure, it could hold its own with many others.
Isaias Shimon's story of the spider-like foster parents occurred to Solina. Perhaps Boryk could find out what really happened back then by putting Shimon in deep hypnosis?
She immediately rejected the thought. She knew the exo-biologist well enough now to know that he would simply refuse. Perhaps life was ultimately better for him with only vague memories than it would be if he knew the true facts.
Thanks to Boryk's continuous stream of chatter, Solina was distracted from the rigors of the climb, and the time went quickly.
Icho Tolot was waiting at the cavern's exit. Despite their exhaustion they all leaped on him like boisterous children. Even Hayden Norwell and Perry Rhodan joined in, although Rhodan was perhaps a bit more restrained.
"We've almost done it, haven't we?" the Resident said.
"The Beasts have a base at the indicated location," Icho Tolot said, dampening the general euphoria. "I could not register any heavy artillery emplacements. However, there is a Paratron shield spanning the entire area, and we have nothing with us that will penetrate it."
"You're certain that is where our destination is?"
"Absolutely."
"Hmm."
They looked out at the desolate expanse of ice and snow. A house-sized tangle of gray tentacles as thick as arms was being blown in their direction by the wind. Solina recognized it as a kind of Hydra, a multi-headed snake creature. It didn't pose a threat, being long dead and dried out. Apparently it had starved to death because it had found itself in a location for which it wasn't adapted.
A warning? Solina wondered. So far we've come out of things very well, even if we've had to sacrifice the HALUTE and its lifeboat. But when all is said and done, we're as much out of place, as dwarf-like and overshadowed, as Boryk was on Drorah. Only Tolot can stand on an equal footing with the new masters of this planet. Except ... what can he do against them alone?
Flashes shot across the sky, then a second sun flared up in the north. Seconds later, the roar of a colossal explosion reached them.
"What was that?" asked Hartich van Kuespert, who had instinctively ducked his head.
"I suspect it's the cavalry," Rhodan said.
19
The Finale
All readings showed that the Construction was fully operational.
The central cones of both funnels now glowed a fiery red, as though they consisted solely of pure energy. Mist condensed within the glassy spirals. An arch of light spanned each of the smaller cones on one funnel with its opposite number on the other. Between the two funnels a seething energy field had formed. It was nearly five meters high and over three meters wide at ground level, similar to the transport beam of a teleporter. Garm had left the arbitrarily selected coordinates for the test run unchanged. Contact with the receiving end remained stable. No failures were indicated anywhere. The power supply, energy storage rings, frequency changers, antenna systems, and projectors were all functioning satisfactorily.
Otherwise, there was little reason for Garm Hesset to celebrate. Although a small group, the invaders had reached as far as the exterior of the energy dome. The discus-shaped flying vehicle, which despite its small size had highly advanced shields and devastating weapons, had opened the way for them. In the process, all three battle-gliders and two manned ground positions had been destroyed. Five other Righteous had fallen. Their number had been reduced to eleven. That disturbed Garm the least. The accelerated rearing program would soon reach fruition and the planet would be flooded with young Righteous.
Until then, he had to hold this base and defend the Construction at all costs. A stalemate had ensued. The enemy raiding party had no way to crack the Paratron shield that seamlessly spanned the base. For reasons that weren't clear, the flying disc that was certainly in the area was holding back. This puzzled Garm as he suspected the advanced vehicle would probably have weapons that could break through the shield. Garm's overbrain calculated a probability of over 40 percent that it was unwilling to take the risk of damaging the Construction. Meanwhile, the invaders had activated their Paratron-like individual shields. The largest was generated by the red battlesuit of that being who resembled a Righteous. But it was impossible that he could actually be a Righteous because he made common cause with vermin and even protected them.
The combined shields were too strong for Garm's handbeamer, and this base wasn't equipped with more powerful weapons since the battle-gliders had been stationed in the immediate vicinity. With that in mind, Garm used the com to request reinforcements from one of the still available space-spheres.
Then the pseudo-Halutian called Garm Hesset on all frequencies. Again he appealed to what he called reason.
"You have been blinded," he claimed, "and that is not your fault. You have been put to sleep and awakened. You could not choose the world into which you were born for a second time. You could not determine when, where, and as what you began. Instead, you were molded by the place and time of your rebirth. But believe me—who you become and how you live until you die—that, at least, lies in your hands. The genetic program that compels you to irreconcilable enmity towards the humans, who are just as intelligent and basically peace-loving as we are, can be changed. Tell me your name, give me your hand, and then we can begin to correct an historical error."
Garm Hesset didn't even consider believing the lying claptrap. Standing next to the lowly humming Construction, he waited for the space-sphere that would eliminate the vermin and the ridiculous clown in the red suit.
What came, however, was not the reinforcement he was hoping for, but a succession of bad news reports.
Five sphere-shaped battleships dropped out of hyperspace in orbit of the seventh planet. They flew directly towards Gorbas IV. The two remaining Righteous ships took off to intercept them. In the battle that followed, they managed to destroy two of the enemies before they themselves were destroyed.
Now they were down to nine ... Then, almost immediately, to six. A fort in space and two on the ground fell victim to the destruction of the terrible bombs that were effective in null time. A further enemy ship was destroyed as well.
Then the two ships that were left hovered over the base. Garm resigned himself to losing his life. It had been a short one but one in which every second had been devoted to the service of the Righteous of Time.
A com call came in. A Translator voice spoke to him in the idiom of the Righteous: "You have exactly thirty seconds to shut down the Paratron, Beast. If you do not, you will go straight to Hell along with your holy of holies."
Garm Hesset considered. The knowledge that had been fed into his overbrain along with his blood stated that the Construction must be kept operational at all costs. In no circumstances could its destruction be allo
wed. Better to let it fall briefly into enemy hands. Soon, when a quarter-million young Righteous had awakened, they would fight and win it back. The odds of that lay over ninety percent. Garm Hesset considered and calculated everything one more time and came to precisely the same conclusion.
Twenty-eight seconds of the allotted time had passed when he reached for the remote control and deactivated the Paratron shield.
"Stay together!" Perry Rhodan called.
He didn't have to direct that order to Solina Tormas. She had no intention of voluntarily leaving his immediate vicinity or that of the Halutian.
They fell into marching in step, almost leisurely, between the snow-covered boulders in the direction of the strange, teleporter-like construction. The Beast standing next to it didn't lay down the beam weapon that he carried in three of his arms, but he did lower it. Icho Tolot asked it something in Halutian, probably what the device, now apparently in stand-by mode, was intended to do. The Beast didn't answer. Outwardly, hardly any difference between him and Tolot could be seen. However, the urge to kill gleamed in the three plate-sized eyes. Or perhaps Solina merely imagined it.
Something was happening in the sky. Solina leaned her head back and was about to shield her eyes with her hand. Such an act wasn't actually necessary. Her suit's picosyn was faster and activated a filter in her helmet's visor to protect against the direct sunlight. A standard, box-shaped container had been ejected by one of the two Akonian battlecruisers and was floating slowly downwards.
Then a discus-shaped shadow shot out from behind a mountain peak. A Terran Space-Jet! It reached them in a few moments and stopped. It hovered twenty meters above the ground, and about twice that from Tolot, the Beast, and the strange construction.
"And now, my little ones, the time has come," the Halutian said almost ceremoniously. Spreading all four of his arms, he walked towards the Space-Jet.