by Perry Rhodan
"Ship class? Gentlemen, what's holding up the show?" urged the Colonel.
"Still need two more inputs... It looks like... Colonel, it's a Solten type! Zep-shaped—no mistake!"
"Thank you! Baldur Sikerman leaned slightly toward his panel microphone. "Fire Control! By order 1, you're free to fire!"
The confirmation was like an echo: "By order 1, free to fire!"
But the guns of the Drusus still remained silent. Order one required the super battleship to make a closer approach to the target vessel.
The compartments of the Drusus began to set up a rumble. This effect was characteristic of all spherical spaceships when their engines were under full power. Even the Arkonides had so far been unable to eliminate these resonance effects which under sustained full-power flight could be fatiguing to both men and machines.
The Fire Control officer was oblivious to the hull rumble. He was reading the range data coming from the ship's computer and he could see by his panel scopes that his gun positions were aligned with the tiny target blip.
Then the range indicators flashed green!
It appeared that the positronicon was as familiar with Order one as Col. Sikerman or the Fire Control officer.
Green-fire free... The signal came through to pulsator cannon four.
Sustained fire, three seconds. Energy consumption 10, the minimum amount for this duration and range. The energy consoles of power station two only registered the emission on their pen graphs but the main gauges did not move.
The Fire Control officer reported laconically to Col. Sikerman in Control Central: "Direct hit, by order one."
Nobody in Control Central was surprised that the small zep-shaped ship continued on its course unhindered. Also, under full magnification of the special observation screen the Soltenite ship revealed no damage.
In the mutants' Operations Room, the tall lean teleporter Ras Tschubai was looking at the same scene on his screen. An optical counter flashed the range numbers at him from the upper edge of the viewplate. When the alien ship was 300,000 km distant, Ras Tschubai closed his space helmet. At 250,000 km, suddenly his seat was empty.
"He's gone!" announced the telekinetic mutant Tama Yokida matter of factly.
• • •
Ras Tschubai rematerialized in the Control Central of the zep-shaped Soltenite ship, which couldn't have measured quite 80 meters in length. When he became visible he was holding an impulse beamer in one hand and a hypno-gun in the other but he didn't need either of the hand weapons.
Four paralyzed Soltenites were there, two in the flight seats and two on the deck, but they were not in a condition to take notice of his presence. Tschubai quickly inspected these strange-looking men, noting that their eyes were almost hidden under the unusual bulge of their foreheads. They wore their black hair in a fringed style but when Ras looked at their beards a slight smile touched his tense face. They were neatly braided into pigtails and stiffened with a fixative so that they stood out like so many porcupine quills.
Ras did not spend much time in the primitive-looking control room. He searched through one cabin after the other. After locating 15 crewmen he still had not encountered a female Soltenite. He found no one in the four cargo holds which were stacked to the ceiling with smelly hides, and the odor emanating from them was almost anesthetizing. But in the engine and power rooms he found the 16th and 17th aliens, both of who had also been paralyzed into unconsciousness by the pulsator shot from the Drusus.
While in a narrow passageway of the ship the teleporter turned on the telecom of his special suit. "To the Drusus : the crew here consists of 17 men; no women among them. Effect of pulsator beam is 100%. Will now attempt to shut down the propulsion. Over and out!"
Then he went back into the control room and removed one of the Soltenites from a flight seat. After placing the alien on the deck he turned to the console to familiarize himself with the controls. Meanwhile the Drusus was approaching the small freighter at greatly diminished speed. Suddenly in the super battleship’s giant power section the typical high whine of the tractor-beam generators was heard. Before Ras Tschubai had a chance to deactivate the smaller ship's synchro-system the Soltenite vessel was slowed in its course as though grasped by an invisible giant hand.
A half-hour later the small alien ship lay in one of the Drusus ' main hangar bays. Two members of the medico team removed all of the paralyzed 'bumpheads' to the ship's hospital. By comparison with the greater ship the cabins of the Lorch-Arto now seemed to be oppressively small and narrow.
With an increasing velocity the Drusus left the Forit System under full coverage of its anti-screens and withdrew to a seldom-travelled area of space in one of the stellar arms of the cluster. Meanwhile Rhodan's specialists were going over the specifications and construction of the captured ship and other experts were delving into the pertinent language and ethnological data. At the moment the main positronicon was exclusively restricted to the use of these specialists. The super computer made a quick analysis of the Soltenites' planetary language. Within an hour it had organized the grammar, vocabulary and syntax.
"So we even come to that," grumbled Bell when he heard that hypno-training was to be used. The only way he was going to quickly learn the alien's language was through this process of suggestion which had been developed by the Arkonides.
The hypno-course was also given to Rhodan, Marshall, Pucky, the two teleporters Tako Kakuta and Ras Tschubai, also to the telepathic hypnotist Ishibashi as well as the telekinetic mutant Yokida. A half-hour later they all came out of the hypno-training room with a fluent capability in the Soltenite language, both in speech and the written word. A second group to undergo the treatment consisted of Fellmer Lloyd, mental tracker and telepath, André Noir the mutant hypnotist, and three others. There was still a third group waiting for processing.
The bio-plastic surgeons and makeup men were already waiting for Rhodan and the rest who had come through the speed training. Of course nothing could be done to Pucky. He was—and remained—Pucky the mouse-beaver. But the humans were turned into Soltenites. Earthmen were converted into characteristic 'humpbeads'.
Under direction of Dr. Tschai Toung, the Chinese plastic surgeon and clinical makeup expert, the bioplastic specialists strove to prove that they were connoisseurs of their art.
Tschai Toung was preparing the Deputy First Administrator for the next phase of the procedure. "And now for the spike beard—the porcupine special..."
Bell's retort did not reflect the finer side of his nature, probably because Pucky was ribbing him to the core. The mouse-beaver kept grinning at him relentlessly with his gleaming incisor tooth.
In the Drusus ' 'Operation Detail' department, everything was going at a fever pitch. Here the connotation 'detail' was actually an understatement. Next to the Center in Terrania it was the most ingenious camouflage plant in the galaxy and even the Greater Imperium had nothing to compare with it. Here the watchword was: nothing impossible! Which was not an overstatement. They were so good at imitation that their creations could withstand the most intensive Arkonide inspection—and little more than that could be asked for.
At present there were only 16 Soltenites in the ship's clinic. Through application of Ara-type medication the Terranian doctors had removed the aliens from the paralysis induced by the pulsator beam. However they took precautions to prevent the therapy from leading to a condition that might get out of control. A state of hypnosis was built into the regeneration process. This was calculated to hold the Soltenites in a submissive state for at least 30 hours.
The 17th 'humpy' was in the bioplastic section under control of three physicians and was serving as a model for the makeup artists. By this means, from Rhodan on down, every last man of the combat commando team was changed into a 'genuine' Soltenite.
• • •
Three hours after the hypno-processing the Solten Commando Team was ready for its mission. Seventeen 'Soltenites' boarded the Lorch-Arto. At the moment since Pu
cky was playing the role of himself with nothing to hide, he did nothing to conceal his special faculties. Instead of carrying his odd-looking supply case he let it float ahead of him supported by his telekinetic powers.
Rhodan and Bell did not find it difficult to become familiar with the somewhat unusual design features of the Lorch-Arto because in spite of its zep shape it followed basic Arkonide concepts. It required a number of hours for all hands to become accustomed to it but finally Rhodan signaled the Drusus Control Central that he was ready to launch from the hangar.
Once more the alien vessel was gripped by the mighty tractor beam and was removed into outer space at a considerable distance beyond the anti-detection screens.
Slowly the Lorch-Arto began to pick up speed. The men in the super battleship’s Control Central watched silently as the elongated little ship dropped away into the blackness of the void. It looked as if it was about to make a wide loop around star cluster M-13 but the infallible tracking system of the Drusus was not to be deceived. It revealed that the Lorch-Arto was taking a direct course for Archetz, the Springers' most important planet.
However there were few men on board the Drusus who knew the real reason Rhodan and his best mutants had undertaken this dangerous mission. And those who did know kept asking themselves: would the Chief find Thomas Cardif and would it finally result in a reconciliation between father and son?
5/ MYSTERIOUS DESTRUCTION
On the Springer world of Archetz the spaceport at Lus had suffered little damage from the Druuf attack. It had remained operable as the only port on the planet that had not required extensive repairs.
The Lorch-Arto had been hailed by telecom and directed to land at Lus where for two hours it had been sitting at pad number 2005. As soon as it had set down it was surrounded by the Springer port police.
"Nobody leaves the ship! Open your cargo ports—let's have your IDs and the manifest!" The Springer inspection detail came on board with five combat robots. The mechanical guards posted themselves at the airlocks while 11 Galactic Traders went through every nook and corner of the Lorch-Arto.
The Soltenite commander made a weak attempt to protest. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked.
One of the Springers retorted scornfully: "Ask your wife when you get back home, Maixpe! Maybe she'll be in a good mood and will only give you a light spanking for your stupid questions."
Three other Springers burst out laughing as they looked down derisively at the two stooped 'hump-heads' in the Control Central. "Get out of the way!" said a Springer in harsh tones and he pushed one of the Soltenites roughly out of the way although this one seemed to be rather ruggedly built in comparison to the rest of his people."
"Trobbel!" exclaimed the Soltenite angrily as he was shoved aside but at the same moment he had to duck a menacing blow from the port official.
"Lousy liar!" growled the latter and he turned to an inspection of the freight documents.
The Lorch-Arto carried a cargo of 'od' pelts which were aromatic animal hides from the innermost Forit planet. Each good skin was worth a fortune. The so-called ods were fur-bearing animals about five feet long with snake-like 6-footed bodies but with heads that reminded Terrans of bulldogs. For centuries they had been hunted almost to extinction and during the last five decades or so they had become so rare that the price of od-pelts had increased 800%.
"Who's getting these furs? Naturally, Cokaze... The Old Man has his fingers in the game no matter where you look," commented the Springer grumpily as he continued to go through the manifest.
In an obsequious tone of voice the commander of the freighter asked: "Gentlemen, am I permitted to put in a call to Patriarch Cokaze?"
The leader of the policing force turned on him angrily. "Here you are permitted even less than at home, hump-head! Hold your tongue! That terrible Intercosmo of yours is a pain in my ears! Now you just wait till we've finished the inspection!"
"Yessir—just as you say, gentlemen!" said the commandant with a humble bow—but he attempted to ignore the furiously clenched fists of his first officer, the Soltenite with the thicker than average build.
"Hey, Soltenite, what kind of a course do you call this—the one you came in on?"
Almost with too much zeal, Maixpe bent over the course indicator stylus. "Oh—ah—you see, my Lord, we encountered a ship from the fleet of the Mounder Onkto and we were forced to change course and fly to his headquarters. It cost us 30 pelts as a toll charge for passing through. May the demon gods favor me with a good excuse for this loss before the Council of the Great Mothers..."
"Out of my sight!" The Soltenite's obsequious affectations were repugnant to the Springer. "Both of you get out of here—come on, make it fast...!" He shouted several curses after them and was still muttering to himself as he returned to inspect other papers.
On the lower deck the two supposed Soltenites—Perry Rhodan and Reginald Bell—were alone and the latter was giving vent to his rage.
"I tell you I can't put up with all this fawning and cringing very much longer! And what was that nonsense about the Big Mother Council?"
They didn't have a chance to converse. A Springer came out of the parts storeroom and when he saw them he shouted to them.
"Come here and open up this air-regenerator case!" he ordered. "Make it snappy!"
It was the odd-looking supply case that Pucky had floated on board with his telekinesis. And it was also his new home for the duration of their stay because no Springer must catch sight of him. Pucky could claim the dubious reputation of being even better known in the Arkonide Empire than Perry Rhodan! So here he was hiding inside the pseudo-air-regenerator box.
Rhodan sought to connect with the mouse-beaver’s thoughts but did not detect the slightest impulse.
"Open that cover, you lump-headed liars!" the Springer snarled at them and aimed his impulse beamer at them.
This even stirred Bell to a faster pace, although he still trembled with rage. The cover was lifted up and placed to one side. The Springer pushed forward roughly and stepped on Bell's foot in the process. The Earthman pulled back his foot but it caused him to fall on top of a portable current generator. With great effort he held back a curse and raised up to see the Springer's scornful grin, which he also had to swallow.
As Bell got up he swelled with anger but controlled himself. He scraped and bowed and spoke in the worst possible Intercosmo "My Lord, you are so kind..."
The Springer shuddered in revulsion at such servility. When he turned to inspect the inside of the regenerator case, however, he failed to note that a considerable number of circuits and components were missing.
But of Pucky there was not a trace. He had made himself scarce.
The Springer finally stomped out of the parts supply room and slammed the door behind him.
"Perry," Bell whispered, "I'm not going to put up with this treatment much longer!
Pucky appeared between them out of nothingness. "Boss, do I have to go back into that cramped case again?"
When Perry only nodded, Pucky crawled into the box. Rhodan and Bell put the cover back on and secured it.
"We'd better let ourselves be seen in the Control Central, Reggie."
They entered the control room just as the leader of the inspection detail completed a connection with the clan of Cokaze. The patriarch's oldest son was visible on the viewscreen.
"We've been notified of the shipment," they heard the future clan chief say. "There's no security involved here at all. You should know the Soltenites are flying under our license. What's all this time-consuming red tape?"
From his own standpoint Cokaze's elder son spoke the truth but he did not suspect that the shipment notice had not come from the second planet of the Forit System. Instead it had come from the Drusus. So far Rhodan's espionage system was working perfectly.
It was then that Cokaze's son spied the two Soltenites. He knew Commander Maixpe and the Lorch-Arto's First Officer Trexca. Under their bioplastic makeup Rhodan an
d Bell sensed a flush of anxiety.
"Alright, Springer," replied the port control inspector, "but you know there's been a tighter security on Archetz because of all the upheavals going on in the Greater Imperium. This ship and crew are cleared. They're all yours, Springer!"
• • •
The precious od-pelts had just about all been removed from the last hold of the Lorch-Arto when a tremendous explosion occurred in the old freighter's engine room and strained every rib in its hull. The force of the explosion ripped a hole in the stern section that was five meters by seven in extent and suddenly flames shot out and roared into the air. A radiation alarm howled through the Lorch-Arto.
Although back home the 17 Soltenites would have been confused and helpless under the tyranny of their wives, here they displayed an amazing cool composure in the face of the catastrophe. However, the Lorch-Arto would have melted into ruins if it hadn't been for the help of neighboring vessels and their fire-fighting equipment.
The battle went on for 10 minutes against bursts of energy, new explosions and thousands of degrees of heat but finally the ancient tramp ship was removed from danger. However, it was no longer capable of taking off. It would be necessary to move it to a Springer repair dock where a new propulsion unit would have to be installed.
"How do I explain that to the Council of the Great Mothers?" said Maixpe whiningly to the eldest son of the Cokaze clan. But in the next moment he straightened defensively and put on a noble air. "Oh well, I'll just tell the Council that they don't know about such things and to kindly mind their own business! That's what I'll tell them—right, Trexca?"
The Springer cut him short. "Quit bragging, Maixpe, and don't be so anxious to brand yourself as a liar! You know you won't dare contradict anybody back home and you'll take your punishment in silence! Anyway, you Soltenites aren't men... you're—well, Soltenites. But getting back to this, you know our engineers still can't figure out what caused that engine explosion, Maixpe. Strange... a very puzzling case."