by Perry Rhodan
I lowered the squirming and flailing mouse-beaver to the ground. It appeared to cost him a supreme effort to forego his revenge. Fortunately he had blurted out his reaction to his telepathic probing in English, which prevented Admiral Tara and my Arkonide entourage from understanding a single word.
Perry Rhodan came up to me. His lean, angular face with its fathomless grey eyes presented a mask of inscrutability. These were the eyes of a man who was born to command and rule and who demanded of everyone no less than he demanded of himself. He was tall, sinewy and powerfully built with a light and elastic stride. He wore the pastel green uniform of the Solar Empire and in spite of its simple design it became him very well. Perhaps it was his somewhat distant reserve that set him apart from other men. He was one of those figures whom even the most casual observer would have to look at twice.
He wore no orders of merit or striking insignia of rank. Actually it was his hand-worked impulse blaster that did most to hold the attention of those who saw him. He touched a finger to his battered helmet visor. The narrow gold fringe was faded and worn thin from long usage.
• • •
I could not suppress a faint smirk. How easily one could underestimate this Terranian! Those who had made that mistake in the past had been taught swiftly to change their minds.
The big man used very few words. His first glance took in my special wristwatch. "Greetings come later, Old Boy," he said with a quick smile. "How much time do we still have?"
Which was a typical Rhodan approach, under the circumstances. He never wasted valuable time. I checked my watch. "Exactly 30 hours and two minutes. Give or take an hour or two for tolerance."
"OK, that's what I wanted to know. Have you made arrangements for quartering my men?"
"They'll be staying in the palace guest rooms."
"Good. The battle crew will remain on board under Bell's command. Is it necessary to greet all these court dandies?"
"They know who you are. Of course with gross underestimation. They consider you to be a small barbarian chieftain who happened by chance to get hold of a battleship of the Imperium class."
He simply laughed in my face and I felt better for it. My reassurance was complete when I saw the mutants of the Corps appear in the small manlock nearby. The two-headed giant Goratschin caused more commotion than Pucky, who apparently was still trying to figure out what he should do about the Admiral.
Short shrift was made of the greeting ceremonies. Rhodan thanked them for their 'invitation' and intimated that he intended to visit the Arkonide universities and colleges.
Admiral Tara was the only one who took a closer look at the tall Terranian. He even went so far as to use a polite form of address as he spoke to him. "That's a first class ship you have there, Excellency," he said courteously. "Of course it's of Arkonide design?"
Rhodan gave him his most impersonal smile. "Terranian design and built on Terra, sir," he reported. "In fact, already in mass production. The situation along the Druuf front has demanded a rapid expansion of our shipbuilding capacity."
The Commander-in-Chief of the 22nd battlecruiser Flotilla glanced at me quickly. Tara appeared to be surprised.
"In the future," I told him reprovingly, "you should become more familiar with the military armaments of non-Arkonide races. While you preferred to rest on your previous laurels in battle I have been making treaties of alliance with powerful rulers. This seems to me to be more in the interests of the Empire than to carry on daily with gala festivities."
Tara controlled himself. He was among the few still active scientists and officers of the Supreme Council. He bowed slightly with a touch of irony. "With powerful rulers, Your Eminence?" He turned his gaze to Rhodan, for whom the innuendo was meant.
"Quite powerful indeed, Admiral," I confirmed coldly. "Just take a close look at the crew members of this super battleship and you will know the rest."
"Barbarians, Your Grace!"
"Wrong! They are highly qualified fighting troops, technicians and scientists who have recently succeeded in destroying a far superior Druuf fleet. But you've heard nothing of that, have you? You see I take care of all such details through the robot Regent."
I had spoken plainly enough to cause him to pale. The surrounding court officials and commanding officers drew back cautiously. Rhodan passed them in poker-faced solemnity. He considered it superfluous to return the hesitant salutes which followed him. His highly arrogant comportment amused me.
We climbed into the waiting imperial aircar and flew toward the distant palace. The mutants of the Corps followed us in a larger personnel carrier.
When we were finally alone, he breathed a sigh of relief. But I was alerted by his dry burst of laughter. "Atlan, you're not going to be able to do much with a completely decadent social gathering like that bunch! Here's a good piece of advice: kick them out, pension them off or do something to squeeze those nincompoops out of important positions! You still, possess the absolute authority. How are things going with the 100,000 sleepers I brought back for you? Can they be put to work yet?"
"That state of affairs is more difficult than what was at first assumed. Only a few among them have the requisite knowledge and experience. Don't forget that they were colonists. That means that about 99% of them came from the masses of the people. However, I've already started the training program for them. The hypno-stations on Arkon 3 are working day and night. The Regent has been carefully programmed by me personally in this regard."
Rhodan nodded thoughtfully. "You won't be able to use them yet for at least a year. You'll have to try to get through that period of time."
"If I'm still alive by then!"
He leaned back in his upholstered flight seat and gazed at me searchingly. "OK, let's talk about the unavoidable. I didn't want to go into it immediately. How did this raid happen?"
I briefed him on it quickly. By the time the robot-guided aircar climbed at a steep angle to come up over the top of the huge, funnel-shaped palace, the Terranian was informed. Over radio I ordered the Naat Division Commander to still keep the spaceport closed off. When we landed on the broad cantilevered terrace before my private suite of rooms, and the large personnel carrier with the mutants came in behind us, I received a message from the robot Regent. The cold, mechanical voice rang from the loudspeaker of the, command transceiver on my wrist.
The gist of it was that intercosmic commercial traffic had been stopped. Arkon 2 had been declared a restricted zone; 5,000 fast robot cruisers were on picket lines in outer space for the purpose of diverting the incoming merchant ships to other worlds and to intercept any vessels that might take off in violation of the grounding edict. There had been a short interchange of fire between one of the Regent's heavy cruisers and an armed freighter of the Galactic Traders, which had resulted in incapacitating the Trader ship. An investigation was already in progress but so far there had been nothing discovered on board the merchant vessel that could provide a clue to the stolen activator.
Rhodan waited until the report had ended. Finally he expressed approval: "A good piece of work. With its present circuit programming the Brain is indispensable. Without our robot friend there'd be chaos here."
My robot bodyguards flanked the light-pulsing path around the observation terrace. Far below we could see the gardens of the inner courtyard. Here we were 800 meters above the ground.
Rhodan leaned far out over the balustrade until he was gently held back by the invisible grid of the energy screen. "Splendid!" he said appreciatively. "Just splendid! Actually it's not surprising that some people begrudge your having such absolute power as this. But they'll be the ones to be worrying now over my sudden arrival on such short notice following, the robbery. The reception was a bit too unconventional—no parade, no long speeches, in fact nothing! The masterminds behind this will be starting to put two and two together. How much do you think they know about the capabilities of my mutants? After all, we've operated here often enough in the past."
"
The Regent of course knows you well but these lame brains here were never in contact with the giant robot. They don't even know how my recognition by the security circuits came about."
"But Pucky and Goratschin are conspicuous in their appearance alone!"
I waved a hand as though to dismiss the problem while I looked over at the two-headed mutant. "I've dropped a few appropriate remarks around. Everybody takes the little fellow for a kind of house pet, and as for Ivan..."
"What was that?!" cried Pucky, wrinkling his mouse snout angrily.
"Relax!" said Rhodan appealingly. "That's just a cover-up."
"Well, it's a lousy one!" he said almost venomously. "I will not put up with being continuously insulted." And the small inhabitant of Vagabond waddled away indignantly on his short legs.
We postponed further discussion until we had arrived in the large reception foyer, where I sent away the Arkonide chief of the robot serving staff. Only then did I give my greetings to the members of the Mutant Corps. Betty Toufry was the only female member that Rhodan could reach on such short notice. I was pleased to know that the capable telepath and telekinetic operator was present on Arkon 1.
After I had reactivated the security screens around my part of the palace, we began with our first strategy talks. I described the pertinent events once more and asked for suggestions, which were soon in coming.
After we had eaten I learned still more. The passenger ships which had taken off during the critical time period had been overtaken by units of the Fleet and ordered back. They had since landed on Arkon 2. The pilots of the four small private vessels had also been identified and detained. But that was all the Regent had done so far on the basis of my instructions. As a result of swift action, all prospective suspects were now collected in one group on the world of commerce and industry.
"Excellent!" commented Rhodan finally. "What I like is that this way we don't have to be scattered out too much. For the time being the Drusus will remain here. We'll take off in the California. And we'll keep the Togo in a wide orbit around Arkon 2."
I looked at the dooked at the dial of my watch. Since the theft of the activator, 32.06 hours had passed.
4/ SOLAR INTELLIGENCE STEPS IN
One man whose name was not widely known on Earth, let alone in the galaxy, was the one who pulled the threads together: Allan D. Mercant, Chief of the famous Solar Intelligence, half mutant, Marshal of the Empire. He had listened quietly, asked only a few questions and had finally taken over the internal operations.
It proved to me once more that empires can be conquered by quite other means than the mere might of weapons. What Mercant demonstrated in his taciturnity and quiet reserve was a masterful play using the facilities of a mammoth organization.
Three hours after the Terranian fleet contingent had landed, I had begun to enact a new role in accordance with Mercant's directions. First I convened the Supreme Council again but before I made my appearance there Mercant personally handed me a marvelous facsimile of my stolen cell activator. He advised me to Year it on top of my uniform in plain view.
When I finally arrived in the Hall of Ancestors, I found it very difficult to look down in triumph at these top officials and officers of the realm. They say it is not an easy thing for a dying man to maintain his self-composure—and at that moment I was actually the man who was dying!
During a discussion of questions pertaining to provisions and appointments— again in accordance with Mercant's advice—I casually made a remark to the effect that some thieves had stolen a very vital apparatus from me. At the same time it enabled me to establish a reason for the thorough measures presently being taken on Arkon 2.
After the session was ended, Mercant had nodded his approval. "That was the first stroke, sir," he smiled. "I'm sure it will cause certain people to start banging heads and blaming each other. Have you provided for an exact duplication of your cell-wave frequencies?"
And again an hour later I learned that this master of intrigue of Solar Intelligence had even taken some advance action prior to the departure of the Drusus from Earth. During the flight itself the most capable micro-technicians of the galaxy had started to work—the Swoon who were otherwise known as the Cucumber People. They converted a pulse sensor device used for measuring hyper-short-wave frequencies of individuals and finally by means of a tremendously complex adjustment process they had set it to my personal wave pattern.
Mercant's strategies suddenly appeared to be simple, except that I had to confess that I probably wouldn't have thought of the whole idea myself!
He reasoned that my stolen device had no doubt been exactly tuned to me. Therefore it should be traceable, provided that one were equipped with a perfectly aligned tracking device which would also be sensitive to my bodily vibrations in the hyper-short-wave frequency range.
Such had been the preparations. After they had been tested and checked out, the fast State-class cruisers California and Togo took off. The mighty Drusus remained behind on the Crystal World under command of Reginald Bell, who held the vessel in full battle-readiness.
I landed with the California on Arkon 2, the most sumptuous world in the known galaxy. Here the Arkonide style of architecture had not been adhered to because it would have prohibited the accommodation of such a highly concentrated population. Arkon 2 was a planet of metropoli which were centers for the most gigantic industrial concerns throughout the Milky Way. For some 10,000 years the famous avenues of the various cities with their prestigious stores and shopping centers and merchandise warehouse districts had been visited by every known type of intelligent beings from the farthest stars. On Arkon 2 there was everything to be purchased that had ever been found, invented or cultivated anywhere in the known universe. A billion Solar businesses and transactions were the order of the day; exchanges as high as 200 billion Solars were customary and the closure of deals bordering even into the quadrillions was not particularly astonishing.
The most important city of the planet was Torgona, so named in commemoration of the first Arkonide merchant who had taken off from here in an armed freighter to barter with his goods on alien worlds. But of course that had been some 18,000 years ago by Earthly reckoning.
Immediately after our landing Mercant went into operation again. And again something was produced that I had not expected. A special robot of Terranian design put on my uniform with its imperial insignia. During the short trip between the two Arkon planets the machine was tuned to my voice frequency so, that finally the robot could imitate me perfectly. Mercant explained matter-of-factly that these machines were occasionally used on Terra to act as doubles of important people.
On the other hand I myself was swiftly disguised. My white-blond Arkonide hair was concealed by a wig and several alterations of my facial features were made. This was why Mercant had brought along the makeup and camouflage experts.
So it was that I finally disembarked as a Terranian captain and the robot strode along the lines of the honor guard that had hastily appeared, giving his proper greetings. He spoke as I did and he acted like me. In this case he acted with an unusually cool reserve and from time to time made a biting remark. I could not have done better myself.
• • •
Since landing on Arkon 2, nine hours had gone by. During seven of them I had been lying in a leaden slumber which had not particularly refreshed me. When I awoke my first glance was at my timepiece. The dial knew no mercy: 43 hours and 37 minutes had already passed since the robbery.
The port commander of Torgona, following my advance instructions, had assigned the Terranian visitors to an excellent section of the city which was close to the downtown area. We had free movement and there was no. one to question us as to our direction or intention. Non-Arkonide visitors were too commonplace to attract much attention. On the wide, luxurious boulevards of the merchant city all the intelligent beings of the galaxy met. One did not even turn around to stare if some methane-breathing monster puffed its way across the street under prot
ection of his grotesque and clumsy-seeming spacesuit.
Nonetheless, Rhodan had gone along with Mercant's instructions. Since he had arrived as an official visitor he had been forced to take part in a number of receptions for him. This was just as well with me because anyway he couldn't have contributed much in the present situation. Of prime importance were the mutants who had been active without pause since the landing. Officers and crew members of the California who were not engaged in our investigation were sent to visit all those places which Rhodan had pretended he was interested in.
And so began the grand tour of colleges and industrial plants. In recognition of his rank the officials of the Ministry of Alien Race Studies greeted Rhodan with the appropriate form of address. As far back as my forefathers the ground rules and procedures had been worked out for the proper handling of aliens.
So Rhodan went through one stereotyped reception after another. Everywhere they spoke just those words which had long been prescribed for the situation. The magnitude of compliments and tributes he received were proportional to the level six classification they had given him, which however was noteworthy by its peculiar definition. Level six was applied to so-called 'absolutist imitative rulers with a sphere of influence embracing at least one solar system containing a minimum of eight planets...'
No one on Arkon 2 could suspect how much Perry Rhodan was amused by this classification. By now I felt too weak to joke with him about it. The absence of the stimulus impulses was being felt. For the present it made me nervous but in about 45 more hours the effects of physical debility would be appearing abruptly and with little previous warning. I knew the gathering symptoms, though, from bitter past experience. More than once I had been forced to wait until the last moment.
My robot double was working excellently. Since the machine was equipped with a micro-video transmitter we could follow its steps from our quarters. At this time, however, my 'proxy' had retired to sleep. He lay in the luxurious bed of the Imperator in the palace on Arkon 2 and was storing the data into his brain, which were being radio-transmitted to him by Dr. Ali el Jagat, the chief mathematician of the Drusus. By this means the activities of the false Imperator could be programmed for the following day.