Conflict Center Naator

by Perry Rhodan

  "That's exactly what I'm saying. Among themselves the robots never use code. And even if they did, it shouldn't be hard for us to decipher it. In any case we have to find out what the action is now at the base in order to plan accordingly. You must never forget that we are sitting in the dead center of a nice big trap. If the Arkonides catch us, we're not the only ones who will go down the tubes. It would be tantamount to the destruction of the Earth. Even though the outer war may have died down somewhat, the Druuf danger isn't over with yet. Still, there's been a slight letup and that gives the Regent some time now to dedicate himself to Terra. As you can see, he's moving in with the absolute consistency of a positronic brain! Let's take that literally an remember it. Only then do we have a chance because it'll keep us on our toes."

  Atlan came back with the Japanese mutant. Tanaka Seiko was slender almost to the point of delicacy. A reddish scar marred the appearance of his left cheek, in spite of his Zalite makeup. His oriental eyes had been disguised and his red skin color made him look like an Indian.

  "If anybody's interested," said Atlan, "I'm hungry." He sat down on his bed again. Although he seemed to have no more important problem on his mind, those who knew him were well aware of his alertness to the situation. It was in the nature of the undying Arkonide to gloss over heavy concerns with mundane superficialities.

  Rhodan smiled knowingly as he turned to Seiko. "We'd be interested in knowing what the Arkonides intend to do now. The main thing right now is, we want to know who they suspect was behind the sabotage in the power plant. What we do from here on in will depend on that."

  "I'll be happy to tell you, sir," answered Seiko diffidently. "Where may I sit down?"

  Bell indicated a bed that was directly under a window. "You can take my cot, Tanaka—you'll be undisturbed there. And if you hear anything on the wavebands let us know."

  "Oh, I'm always hearing something," the mutant assured him with a faint smile. "Admiral Semekho has just put all security and combat robots on top alert. He wants every Naat who is in the restricted area to be picked up—"

  "Exactly what we wanted to hear!" Rhodan broke in swiftly. He looked at Ras Tschubai. "It appears that your guess is correct. Semekho thinks it was the Naats who did it. The poor 3-eyes are to be pitied but we can't fool around. OK, Seiko, go on! What does the Admiral plan to do?"

  The Japanese smiled gently. "It doesn't work that fast, sir. I require time to sort out the transmissions I have received and to process them in my mind. I believe that in about an hour I will be able to tell you more..."

  They gave him clear up till noon and by then he had rounded out the picture. The situation was somewhat as follows:

  Admiral Semekho was thoroughly convinced that the Naats were behind the sabotage. Only one year before, Earth time, a revolt on the 5th planet had been suppressed. The triclopes had been up in arms against the Ara practice of using specimens of their race for their scientific experiments.

  Naats were also residing on Naator They were used for cheap labor and also functioned as servants of the Arkonide teaching staff that was in residence on the satellite. Semekho had just given orders to have all triclopes moved out of the restricted area. He based his action on the theory that no further acts of sabotage would occur if the Naats were unable to get near the vital installations. From this it was clearly evident that he considered the indigenous race to be the perpetrators of this violence.

  "Rhodan learned further that the balance of this day would be devoted to carrying out the new regulations and clearing the Naats from the area. Starting on the next day the regular schedules would be continued.

  This meant that Rhodan had just 20 hours in which to either create a new diversion or bring all Aras under hypnoticontrol. For they alone constituted the only acute danger.

  After noon mess call, the 1000 recruits assembled in the big hall on the ground floor. The robot conducted the lecture session. They were told things that they had long since learned about—at least where Rhodan's group was concerned. The robot outlined the beginnings of the Imperium and traced its rise to the present state of its might and power. The dark periods, difficulties and defeat of that long history were neatly omitted—not one word. And finally he emphasized that Arkon owed its present strength to the fact that it had excellent weapons and fighting forces at its disposal. The improvement of these two factors was supposed to be the main purpose and assignment of the Military Academy on Naator into which the new 'volunteers' were heartily welcomed in the name of the Regent.

  Bell was standing close to Rhodan since there were no seats available. "If I had my druthers I'd like to put a cord in that thing's mouth," he muttered bitterly. "I haven't heard such a bunch of lies all in one place since my last talk with Pucky!"

  "Lies are all a part of propaganda," returned Rhodan in an equally low tone. "But keep it down, will you? Some of the Zalites are looking at us!"

  The hours passed. The long period of standing became uncomfortable but of course the robot could not sense this. It delivered its 'gospel' of dogma and finally signaled that the lecture had come to an end.

  The recruits retired to their quarters and the evening meal was distributed.

  When it was dark outside, Rhodan called for his two teleporters, Ras Tschubai and Tako Kakuta. Other than services performed back on Zalit, the Japanese had not yet been put into action but present circumstances demanded that he too would now have to make a contribution toward the success of their plan.

  Rhodan looked at Ras as he spoke. "You have a rough night ahead of you. Since Admiral Semekho has barred all Naats from entering the restricted area, there's only one way to keep making them look guilty for further sabotage. You'll have to expand your activity to objectives which lie outside the Academy zone. Tonight I want to see bombs going off everywhere on this whole satellite, along with a proportionate amount of destruction. I want the whole Arkonide security system to concentrate on apprehending the saboteurs. I believe that will allow time for Noir to bring the whole bunch of Aras under his control—which has to be done if we're not going to attract attention during the medical examinations. The sudden restlessness among the 'natives' should keep the Arkonides busy. It ought to make them relax their watchfulness over us while they're looking for their opponents elsewhere."

  "We can do it," Ras assured him while he gingerly passed a hand over the blanket on his bed. Underneath it lay a fair-sized arsenal. "With this gear here we'll blow up half of this moon!"

  "Rhodan cautioned him: "Just don't overdo it, Ras! Naturally the Naats themselves could possibly get hold of bombs and hand grenades but they'd probably do a very primitive job with them. The Naats aren't very intelligent, even though the Regent gave them a few commissions in the space fleet before their rebellion. So take care that you detonate a few bombs uselessly, that is in non-vital areas where they can't do any damage. Semekho's suspicions must only be aimed at the Naats and nowhere else. You can guarantee that automatically if sabotage acts occur on the other side of the moon—that is, on the dayside. No one man can be in two places at once.

  "Except a teleporter," interjected Ras.

  "Almostat once, even for him," retorted Rhodan, and he smiled thoughtfully. It was another way of saying that the briefing was at an end.

  André Noir also received his final instructions and bits of advice. Ras was to teleport him into the hospital along with Son Okura and come back for them before dawn. During that time the hypno and the signal tracer were to be left to their own resources. But this would not be quite as dangerous as before because Chief Physician Koris and his subordinate medico Renol had already been subjected to an extensive hypnotic treatment, so that now they were allies although they didn't know it.

  Half an hour after the briefings, Ras made his jump with Noir and Okura. Returning within 30 seconds, he took hold of Tako Kakuta's hand, who was to be his companion in crime this night. They made the first jump together. Each of them carried a package containing two dozen grenades and time b
ombs. Within one hour before dawn, all of them were to be detonated.

  Somewhere on the satellite known as Naator...

  • • •

  It was mainly to Tanaka Seiko's credit that "Rhodan was kept informed as to the success of the operation and was advised concerning counter-measures taken by the Arkonides. The mutant monitored radio messages all night long.

  Once more, Admiral Semekho was awakened in the night. Alarms shrilled through the Academy compound when a time bomb exploded 20 kilometers away in a spare parts warehouse. The area was sealed off immediately and the few Naats residing in that vicinity were arrested. Ten minutes later they were set free when a second explosion occurred.

  Semekho's suspicions were being strengthened to the effect that the passive resistance of the natives was stiffening. For this reason he gave the Naats their liberty in the hopes that they would mark a trail to their ringleaders.

  Almost at the same time, however, he received alarming dispatches from the other side of the moon. Two heavy-class combat robots were shot down in ambush. Nothing like this had ever happened before on Naator. This was open rebellion! Semekho immediately got in touch with the Regent and requested permission for a broader scope of action against the native people. The Regent ordered him to arrest every Naat who had any kind of suspicious record.

  In that very same night, robots broke into the living quarters of the unsuspecting triclopes and took them to a central detention camp. The action came so swiftly that only a few of the Naats were able to escape into the almost inaccessible wilderness of the moon where they went into hiding.

  In spite of the arrests the wave of sabotage continued. Everywhere the time bombs were more or less well placed and they caused rather grievous damage. A number of relay stations for wireless transmission of power were put out of commission. A total of seven more combat robots and two robot tanks were also destroyed. In not a single case had any witness of such encounters survived.

  Admiral Semekho lost control of himself and flew into a rage. He kept in constant contact with the Academy's radio station, receiving the news of each calamity and issuing further orders. Meanwhile he also made reports to Arkon and asked for instructions. Although he had of course arrested the majority of the Naats he was Sure that the actual rebels had escaped his grasp.

  Just so the new recruits from Zalit did not find out about what was going on! This thought led to an early morning order which had come from the Regent:

  Examination and training of the fighting forces would be suspended for three days!

  • • •

  When Tanaka Seiko picked up these instructions issued by Admiral Semekho the next morning and transmitted them to Rhodan, a big sigh of relief went through the ranks of those who heard him.

  They had achieved their objective.

  Shortly thereafter, Ras brought Noir and Okura back. The two had succeeding in bringing another five Aras under hypnoticontrol. The rest of the medicos could be processed during the coming night. The third night was reserved for the medico-psychological monitoring instruments. But for Rhodan it was enough to know that Koris would be under a hypno-block during the exams. He had a special plan whereby one of his technicians was to 'doctor' the IQ testers beforehand.

  Three days and three nights went by. The sabotage activities suddenly ceased.

  When on the fourth day robot 574 gave the order for everybody to line up outside the cone-shaped building in rows of five, and when the whole normal schedule of the Academy came back into operation, Rhodan and his Terrans were ready.

  They had done everything necessary to prevent any discovery by the Aras. In a quite calm and collected fashion they marched with the first group to the hospital. At the entrance an Arkonide officer took charge of them and sent robot 574 back to his post. But even though this Arkonide was an unforeseen element in their program he no longer constituted a threat to them. John Marshall scanned his thoughts and was able to determine that the man suspected nothing.

  They were admitted in groups of 10 and at one minute intervals. The quickness of handling was due to the technical perfection involved, so that the examinations went along as though the whole thing were a conveyor belt on an assembly line. Lower rank Aras of no significance guided the group meanwhile from one examination room to another.

  Noir was well satisfied with the work he had done to pave the way. Whenever he entered one of these rooms, all he had to do was give a certain keyword or signal to the doctor in charge. He could be sure that the Ara would then carry out his post-hypnotic command—at least where the 150 camouflaged Earthmen were concerned. It had been arranged that the windup man at the end of the group would be Bell and he was to give the second keyword. Which would cause each Ara to carry on normally again.

  Rhodan was in the first unit of men going through. With him were Noir, Atlan, Marshall and Gorlat. If everything went smoothly with them it would be a guarantee that it would also go smoothly for the following 14 units of 10 men each.

  "Hail to the Regent!" said André Noir. After about two hours of processing they had reached the big room where Koris was in charge of the tests.

  The Chief Physician looked up and met the hypno's gaze. A curious glint leapt to his eyes but only for a second or two. Then the Ara's expression went blank. "Hail to the Regent!" he responded, while giving a signal to his assistant.

  But that was superfluous since Noir had also brought the assistant medico under his control.

  What next occurred in the medical center on Naator was nothing but a farce, as it certainly would have appeared had any pickup cameras or microphones been handy.

  The IQ tester functioned 'perfectly'. Only one intelligence quotient was higher than that of Rhodan or the other Terranians, and that was Atlan's—now disguised as Captain Ighur—which made the reading stand out considerably above the average Zalite, of course. Yet even so it was unlikely to arouse suspicion and Atlan did not have to fear any re-examination—the reason being that since he was an actual Arkonide he had all the internal physical characteristics of a Zalite, even to the bone structure.

  The computer registers collected all the examination results, which were to be evaluated by the Arkonide medicos and acted upon accordingly.

  It was close to noon by the time the first group was able to leave the hospital and march back to the barracks. One minute later the next group of 10 men followed.

  When the examination by Koris had ended for Bell's group, he said: "Hail to the Regent!" While he and his nine companions were being led out of the room by an Ara and guided toward the exit of the hospital, this key signal was having its effect. The hypno-block that Noir had placed in Koris' brain became neutralized. His normal thinking processes returned to him but were coupled with a pre-planted false memory.

  This happened not only to Koris but to all the other medicos as well.

  It was the noon break. They had examined 1000 recruits. By order of the Admiral they had gone more slowly and carefully than usual. Normally they would have processed at least 1500 men during a morning run.

  Yet they had encountered nothing extraordinary or suspicious.

  The Ara, Koris, shrugged his shoulders as he left the examining room to go back to his own quarters. After lunch the work would begin again. Monotonously unchanged as always.

  What unexpected or unusual thing was he supposed to look for? What could go wrong...?

  This was something that Rhodan also asked himself as he learned from Bell that the final group had passed the tests successfully. Now the most difficult part of 'Operation Troy' lay behind them. There was hardly any more fear of being discovered.

  To this extent Rhodan was correct but at the moment, he had failed to include another factor in his considerations. He was reminded of it when he heard the faint buzzing of the tiny hypercom receiver that was concealed in his ear. A certain finger-pressure enabled Rhodan to turn on the apparatus, which also put out a confirming signal that he was ready to receive. Contact with Maj. Rosberg w
as established.

  "Forward station V-4 reporting, sir, something terrible has happened here..."

  Rhodan's voice was brittle: "Give me the report."

  And Maj. Rosberg reported...

  5/ RIGHT ADDRESS, WRONG MAN

  By the time they approached Tagnor the sandstorm had abated.

  Over the desert a clear sky was visible once more. The red sun of the Voga System continued its unrelenting pace toward the western horizon but Murgo gave assurances that they would still reach the capital before dark. Isolated aircraft went by at great altitudes but none came lower or attempted to land.

  "Do you think maybe they won't stop us for inspection?" asked Rhog, daring to hope.

  But the bearded caravan leader shook his head. "We shouldn't count on it," he replied. "Nobody gets in or out of Tagnor without going through a checkpoint. Road blocks and cordons everywhere—and the actual main control point lies ahead of us."

  They fell into silence and stared straight ahead at the lowering sun. Just beyond the near horizon lay Tagnor. No one without a clear conscience ventured into Tagnor but there was not one of the eleven Zalites in the caravan who didn't have something to hide.

  The outlines of the city slowly emerged from the desert. On their left they began to make out the spaceport and its installations. They saw the silhouettes of spherical spacers as well as the slender merchant ships of the Zalites. Standing nearby were several cruisers.

  "Now it gets critical," muttered Murgo, pointing ahead.

  In the waning light Rhog recognized the familiar reflections from armor plating robots. Standing at intervals of 100 meters, each of them only had to cover an area of 50 meters on either side. It would be impossible to find an opening through their line. With one hand, Rhog grasped the butt of his weapon, which was of little use to him here. With his other hand he fingered his poorly falsified I.D. card. Would a robot be able to notice the alteration...?

  Murgo brought his vehicle to a stop as the two nearest robots came marching toward them with raised weapon arms. He climbed laboriously out of the cabin and went to meet the representatives of Arkon. Rhog couldn't catch a word of the conversation but he knew that Murgo was trying to explain the purpose of his caravan to the robots, letting on that it had come directly from Larg. The confab seemed to be getting along all right.