by Perry Rhodan
And so it was that one of the unfortunate aborigines of Passa lost its life because it didn't know what a 'house' was. Its instructions had been: "You will remain here until the sun has disappeared behind the roof of the house..."
Since it did not know what a house was, however, and had no way of figuring it out, it also had failed to realize when it was supposed to get up and continue on its way. Thus it had sat there until overcome with hunger and thirst and its skin began to shed. The poor thing had died of ignorance.
5/ TRAIL OF THE UNKNOWN
Misfortune is upon us, thou Magnificence! The Prince of Darkness, Uuuyi-Iiio, casts his shadow upon us, thy poor servants. Stand by us always, mighty Ayaa-Oooy! O help thy children, Wisest of the Wise...!
• • •
Ron Landry ruffled swiftly through the pages of his notebook while Larry looked on attentively. Meanwhile, Lofty Patterson was poking around in the empty food containers to see if he could find any leftovers from their meal.
Finally Ron pocketed the notebook. "Bushnell's fleet only reports two bogey blips in the past few months—that is, tracking signals apparently caused by intangible objects."
Larry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So what do they do in cases like that?"
"Both times the blips were picked up by Passa ground stations. Just momentary flashes on their screens that faded in a few moments. They questioned the mobile stations out in space about them and were informed that the monitors there had not shown a thing. As a result they merely logged it for the record."
"I see," said Larry. "In other words, on the assumption that if something had come from the outside, the ship stations would have tracked it—right?"
"Yes, and you can't say it isn't a reasonable assumption."
Larry raised a hand in protest. "Sure, if you forget that there are a few very hot pilots around who can shave out of a hyperjump practically at the surface of a planet and at entry velocities low enough not to burn them up. There are such maniacs, you know. We have a few in our own fleet."
Ron nodded. "Right you are. But now you've got to explain what happens to the warp shocks when a ship enters or exits a transition. What about that?"
"I was going to bring that up next. What happened to the hypersensors? At the same time those blips were seen, shouldn't they have registered the shocks?"
"Now comes the cute part," said Ron, smiling suddenly. "Those so-called phantom blips were spaced 15 days apart, by Passa time. One of them was in the early A.M. The other was in the twilight hour." He watched Larry expectantly.
"Alright, and so...!"
"They were exactly timed to match the takeoff of a freighter in each case—both of them bound for Terra and making a transition entry while still close to Passa."
• • •
When the great red sun was high in the sky, Ron and Lofty prepared to do some reconnoitering. Lofty was issued a thermo hand-beamer which he was proud to possess. He could hardly be prevailed upon to put it in his belt. Ron was similarly armed but also took along the weapon that he referred to as a psycho-beamer. With the latter item he could be sure of keeping the Evergreens in the dark as to their purposes. They were not yet worried about the Springers. If their suspicions were correct, those phantom blips picked up by Bushnell's tracking stations meant that a couple of Springer spaceships had made a break-neck landing somewhere and they would probably be hidden between the mountains to the West. Ron could not conceive of them operating in the open among the Evergreens. Presumably they kept in the background and managed to influence the natives with their idol or whatever the Sssst thing was.
Ron's first objective was to determine whether or not the region they had landed in was cavernous enough to deserve the designation, the Caves of Sssst. This he considered to be a fairly easy task that would not be particularly dangerous. When he set out with Lofty, however, he couldn't know that things were going to be different than he expected.
By means of a portable transceiver they were able to maintain contact with Larry Randall, who had remained to guard the glider. Of course Ron had stipulated that they were only supposed to communicate in case of an extreme emergency, because if any Springers were in the area they'd probably have similar equipment and would be able to pick up the conversation.
Lofty started out in a northeasterly direction toward the most rugged part of the region. With a skill and dexterity that Ron would not have attributed to him, he wound his way expertly between the glass tree trunks. In places where Ron couldn't push through the oldster displayed remarkable strength in holding back the underbrush long enough for him to get through the openings thus provided. By this means they made faster progress than Ron had expected.
Although the red sun overhead was a giant, its brilliance was dwarfed by that of its companion star which was the actual daystar of Passa. Also, in spite of the semi-transparency of the foliage here the forest still obscured some of the weak illumination. At ground level the glass jungle created a twilight in which it would have been difficult to read a newspaper. A further problem was the fact that after the red sunlight had filtered down through the top of the forest its rays were widely scattered by multiple refraction. All around Ron was a dimly glittering confusion that blurred the outlines of every object and quickly tired the eyes.
Lofty suddenly came to a stop just when Ron was pressing through a thicket of young glass saplings. He noticed it too late and bumped into the older man's thin but wiry back. Lofty's reaction was astonishing. He bent over sideways instantly and flung out his arm to gain leverage from a nearby trunk, whereupon he pushed backward with such strength that he came within a hair of capsizing Ron entirely. Ron let out a curse but Lofty whirled and slapped a hand across his mouth. So he finally got the idea that something unusual must be happening. He calmed down at once and pulled Lofty's hand away.
Silently, Lofty pointed at something that was in front of him by a fallen tree trunk and Ron peered over his shoulder. At first he could see nothing but the usual dim glitter of reddish twilight and what seemed to be a black hole but which was actually a small clearing on the forest floor. However, the dark spot suddenly acquired contours as well as movement. Ron saw an animal which was as large as a rat and had a similar appearance. As his eyes became more accustomed to the dim illumination he realized that the animal was not whole. Its hind portion was missing and yet it seemed to move.
He marveled at this and bent down to have a closer look but then he felt Lofty's gentle but firm grip on his collar. He stared at the half of a rat in front of him and saw that what was keeping it in motion was a swarm of beetles. They appeared to be black in color and were individually about half the size of a thumb. Actually the motion of the animal was an illusion. What was really happening was that it was being eaten alive. The beetles were consuming the body so rapidly that the rat seemed to be creeping into the swarm while gradually disappearing in the process.
Now Ron could understand Lofty's sudden alarm. If Ron had pushed him one more step forward when he collided with him he would have put his foot right in the middle of the voracious creatures. By the speed with which they were consuming the rat it was easy to imagine that it would only have taken them a few seconds to penetrate the plastic leather of Lofty's boot and get into his flesh.
Apparently they were also sensitive to sound. When Ron moved his foot into a more comfortable position they seemed to hear the faint rustling it made and they became motionless for an instant. Two or three of them went toward the source of the sound but when there was no repetition of the noise they soon returned to their ghastly feast.
Ron felt slightly nauseated. Carefully he drew the psychobeamer from his belt and aimed it at the swarm of carrion beetles. When he pressed the trigger their movements ceased immediately. Several of them were knocked into the air by the silent shot but they simply fell back and lay still. The energy charge that would have caused an intelligent being to surrender his will was sufficient to destroy their tiny insect brains.
"Passa beetles," Lofty finally announced. "Worst part isn't the pain they cause when they grab onto you. They don't eat that fast with just their teeth or whatever you call those choppers—they spit out a juice that dissolves what they're working on and practically all they have to do is suck in. The stuff is a hellish poison when it gets into the blood stream."
For a long moment Ron felt helplessly weak. If Lofty hadn't been with him he could well imagine that he might have simply stamped right into the deadly swarm. He pulled himself together and when Lofty continued the march again he resolved to be more careful.
The terrain suddenly rose upward steeply. Without any apparent reason the glass tree trunks were not as close together here as before, so in spite of the incline the two men moved ahead more swiftly. Finally, Lofty again came to a sudden stop. Ron discovered that they were standing in a small circular clearing, which was strange since he recalled having seen no openings in this area when he had flown over it in the glider. Looking upward he noted that the trees arched together overhead in such a manner that they provided as thick a coverage as anywhere else, if seen from above. Several of the trees that concealed the clearing were growing at a higher level on top of a rocky ledge to his left. When he looked more closely at this outcropping of stone he discovered that there was a deeper darkness under its rim that must have been several meters in width and height.
In other words he was looking at the entrance of one of the caves he'd been searching for.
He was about to step past Lofty to have a closer look at it when Lofty blocked him with an arm.
"Take it easy!" whispered the old-timer. "You can never tell what might be hiding in there."
Lofty bent down and took a close look at the ground. He finally picked up a few small stones and threw them into the cave opening. Ron could hear them clattering against the walls inside. But it was the only sound—nothing more.
"OK," said Lofty, "now throw a light beam into it from where you're standing. If nothing comes shooting, flying, creeping or slithering out of there, then maybe we can be fairly sure the cave is empty."
Ron followed his advice. He switched on his hand lamp and aimed its brilliant beam into the cavern's entrance. Inside there was a reflected glitter from jagged walls but he also noticed that there was a still deeper darkness beyond where the shaft of light became lost without reaching the end of the cave. At any rate there was nothing to be seen of the things that Lofty had feared might be in there. The cave was empty.
"Alright," Lofty grunted, "so now you can take a look around inside. But what do you expect to find?"
Ron wasn't sure, even though he had expected to find caves in this area. The mystery of the strange god Sssst was connected with the caverns. It seemed to be the simplest expedient to go into the caves and take a look around if he wanted to uncover the secret. This in itself might have been sufficient motivation but now Ron had a feeling that something in the depths of the cavern was drawing him as though by some magical power; and so it was only partially on his own volition that he stepped through the dark entrance. It was an impulse he would have been unable to explain to Lofty if the latter had challenged him face to face.
However, now that the old man had seen for himself that the place was empty he had apparently lose his sense of uneasiness. He walked closely behind Ron but with a quick and confident step, while looking about him in all directions. After another 10 meters, Ron again directed the light beam from his lamp into the back of the cavern. The results were the same as before. The shaft of light still did not reveal any end to the place.
They continued onward. The bare rock walls offered nothing to their inspection other than a seepage of water droplets here and there. But the weird spell of attraction that came from the abyss of darkness ahead was somehow oppressive. Ron stopped to look at Lofty, who seemed normally curious but at ease. Apparently he had sensed nothing of the bewitchment of the place. This irritated Ron. Why didn't the old fool feel anything? he asked himself. Am I alone susceptible to it? he thought.
And in that moment Lofty commented: "I guess we can turn around and go back. We won't find anything more in here."
Ron found it difficult to control his anger. "I'll decide what we're going to do, Lofty!" he snapped at him. "Just remember that!"
Lofty looked at him in astonishment and then his expression changed. His smile and little wrinkles of cheerfulness, disappeared, to be replaced by a grimace of derision and scorn. "Oh, is that so?" he chuckled maliciously. "Then you just get on by yourself. Far as I'm concerned I'm going back. And from now on when you have to sneak through the woods all by yourself, don't forget all the pointers I gave you. Otherwise—" He motioned vaguely with his hands as if to demonstrate what could happen.
"Oh, so now your true colors come out!" Ron snarled at him. "Leave me in the lurch, will you?" He drew his weapon. "Well, you're not getting away that easily, chum. You're going to stay here with me!"
Something in Lofty's look warned him. The old man did not seem to be impressed by the drawn weapon. He looked beyond Ron as though something new were to be seen in the depths of the cave. And Ron fell for the oldest trick in the world. He whirled around but realized his mistake too late. The butt of Lofty's thermo-gun came down on his head and he fell to the ground. His shoulder struck a protrusion and the pain of it made him rise up again.
Lofty had been surprisingly quick. Ron could see him now through a mist of pain and nausea, coming at him with his fists. As he ducked sideways, Lofty crashed against the jagged wall and let out a yell of rage. Ron was still too slow because the other's bruised fists didn't. seem to deter him. Lofty clamped his hands together and brought them down on Ron's head like a club while simultaneously ramming a knee into his stomach.
He crashed to the ground a second time but by now his temper had reached a stage where pain and nausea were secondary. He was back on his feet in a flash and was charging at Lofty like a battering ram. Yet all the while there was a voice somewhere in the back of his mind that kept trying to tell him all of this was madness, that actually he didn't hate Lofty at all and there was no reason to be fighting him like this. It also told him that Lofty had nothing against him, either, and that both of them were carrying on like a couple of grade-A skons.
But he didn't listen to this voice. He was fully worked up now and he simply lit into Lofty with no holds barred. He heard the old man let out a shrill, sharp cry—and then he himself banged head first against the dark wall of the cave.
It was one blow too many. A giant bell hammer clanged inside his brain as if his skull was ready to crack and then he dropped to his knees as he lost consciousness.
6/ IN THE CAVERNS OF SSST
Triumph, O Glorious One! Joy is upon thy children! Three new sacrifices shall we bring thee and then shalt thou praise our faithfulness to thee! Kings were these among their tribes and their names are on the lips of unbelievers. Thy grace returns to us, O Mighty One, and we praise they name forever, Ayaa-Oooy...!
• • •
Larry labored strenuously to gather the fragments of memory and reassemble them in his mind so as to form some sort of coherent pattern. All this was going on while his eyes were closed. There was something in him that made him wish that he could continue to keep his eyes shut so as not to have to look at his surroundings. Nor was there any motivation in him to counteract the inclination.
He had been sitting in front of the glider while observing the eerie shimmer and sparkle of the glass tree trunks in the dull red light. He was wondering about the possibilities of making a tourist planet out of Passa—a place where wealthy Terrans could come for an exotic vacation. This had led him to philosophizing and he reflected that a mere 200 years ago the men of Earth didn't even have a good idea of what an airplane was. Except for a few pioneers the idea of a journey to the stars was considered to be preposterous and even the pioneers had been ridiculed.
But when Perry Rhodan had made his debut on the stage of history, things had changed s
wiftly and fundamentally. By now Terra had progressed to the point where it had to protect its colonies from hordes of wealthy adventurers. Not only the colonies but also the primitive inhabitants which were to be found on many of the planets.
Larry remembered that he had suddenly become angered at the Terrans, in spite of being one himself. After all, what were the Terrans doing, actually? In their spaceships they stormed their way through the galaxy and subjugated one world after another. They gave the indigenous peoples no chance at all to live lives of their own.
Was this a race worth belonging to? No—not by any means. Larry's rage reached a murderous peak. He would have been ready to kill Ron or Lofty if they had been there. So it was that the glider, a product of Terran technology, became an object upon which he could vent his anger. He also recalled having had just a momentary flash of conscience, as though standing aside and watching himself as some kind of madman, yet he had swung aboard the glider and used the butt-end of his gun to start smashing the control panels. He remembered tearing out pushbuttons and switches until finally he must have got an electric shock of some kind, because his memory did not reach beyond that point.
What a piece of insanity, he thought. Whatever had given him such an idiotic compulsion? He tried to turn on his side but his shoulder struck something hard and unyielding. Then he began to really wonder where he was. Finally his curiosity overcame his desire not to look at his surroundings. He opened his eyes.
The first sensation was one of being blinded by a powerful source of yellow-white light. He narrowed his eyes to mere slits so that he could accustom himself to the sudden brilliance. The second thing he noticed was that the warm air around him was laden with a wondrous aroma. The pleasant smell seemed to be familiar, somehow, but it was some time before his confused mind could register the fact that the air carried the scent of Evergreen skins. Judging by the hardness under him he was lying somewhere on a stone floor. He figured that if he sat up he'd be able to see more than just the glare of light—so he sat up.