by Perry Rhodan
Much to his regret, Double-O had not been able to follow the operation because he had to be recharged and had thus missed a part of the chase. Now he was on his way up to the commander of the upper echelon in order to serve him with his indispensable advice. When he got to the upper end of the shaft and came out he saw one of the controllers flit past him without even noticing him.
The adviser watched him go with a feeling of contempt. Now the time had come for him to show these types what he had in him. He thought almost pleasurably of the distinction between himself and the phase watchers, those useless machines that loafed around in the ship.
Double-O hurried on his roller feet along the passage and activated his shield in order not to make a common field of tension with others passing by. He reached the top level central and beamed out his identity signal. The commander told him to enter. Until now Double-O had only observed the center from the information booths, and as he came in he was surprised by the complexity of the furnishings and equipment here. The commander had connected himself with all the communicators.
"We've caught two of them already," said this one.
Double-O could not escape a sense of regret. He would have been only too happy to have taken part in the capture of any organic life form. But the commander's next words were some consolation.
"The third one is presenting us with many problems," the consultant was informed. "So far he's escaped every attack. We are going to have to kill him."
"There are still other alternatives," Double-O reminded him, although he gathered the impression that the commander had already decided.
Of course the leader's attention was taken up entirely by the communicators, so his silence didn't necessarily signify a rejection. 13 of the 47 communicator tie-ins faded out and the commander took time to swiftly ask: "What do you suggest?" To his disgust Double-O saw one of the useless phase watchers come in and importantly check over the main indicators. The recharger could have sworn that the phase watcher had only made an appearance because of his interest in the conversation, probably because it wasn't being conducted by means of an information station.
"Our experience has shown that organic life can easily be affected by the paralysis beams," he said reluctantly. "Why don't we try them out?"
"The commander of the lower level has had some misgivings in that regard because the aliens have used a similar weapon on us. He fears that they may also have a corresponding means of defense."
"Nevertheless we should try it," said Double-O.
The phase watcher couldn't remain any longer in the center without being conspicuous and he withdrew ceremoniously. The commander appeared not to have even noted his presence.
"Very well," he said to the adviser. "I shall give the necessary orders." The recharger thought that he had done everything in his power for the ship.
He had proved that he was an important factor on board. It only depended now on whether or not his plan would work.
• • •
Four metal clamps imprisoned his body and Ras Tschubai suspected that it was the will of his keepers that he should remain in this place for the time being.
They had brought him into a small room that contained a number of storage racks.
The robot that had handled him so roughly in the antigrav shaft had since disappeared but in its place was a sort of sentinel contraption. This guard was a flying cone with a large lens covering the front of it. The thing kept watching Ras with a mechanical persistence. The mutant was hanging in a rack at an odd angle to the floor and the clamps around him hindered his slightest movement. He could have easily freed himself by means of teleportation but he still wanted to find out what they were intending to do with him.
His guard hovered in front of him, slowly bobbing up and down with apparent indifference. Ras was careful not to pay any attention to it because he wanted any chance remote observers to think that he wasn't aware of the purpose of the camera robot.
The next living creature he saw was none other than Tako Kakuta. Of course he didn't come of his own free will, as was evidenced by the extremely noisy robot that brought him in.
"Greetings!" said Tako with a grin while still struggling in the spidery arms of his captor.
"I figured sooner or later I'd be having some company," quipped Tschubai.
"They have very comfortable accommodations here."
"I can do without the comforts of home just now," replied the Japanese mutant grimly. His next words were cut off as the rattling robot tipped him over like a puppet and hung him on one of the racks. Kakuta was facing downward.
Tschubai watched him with interest. "You making a floor survey, Tako?" he inquired mockingly.
"Look who's talking!" retorted Kakuta spitefully. He shifted as best he could so that he was finally in the same situation as Tschubai.
The robot withdrew with a loud rattling sound and their single guard began to hover back and forth between the two Terrans as though perplexed. Kakuta realized at a glance what the purpose of the flying robot was.
"They've got us under remote observation," he said to Ras.
The African nodded and craned his neck to have a better view of his companion. "I'm anxious to see what's next."
"Pucky," said Tako drily.
"I imagine they're underestimating our little friend's tenacity by a wide margin," commented Tschubai. "He'll cause plenty of confusion on board. It doesn't look as if we're very welcome here. So far all I've seen is robots of all shapes and forms, as you've probably noticed."
"Yes, I ran into the same thing," Kakuta reported. "The actual masters of this ship seem to be extremely uncommunicative."
"When I think of the failure of our anesthetizers," said Ras, "it makes me wonder if maybe there are only robots on board this fragment ship. And that reminds me of something else."
"Mechanica!"
"Yes but with one difference: here there's a countless number of different kinds of robots, and each one seems to work independently of the others." Tschubai tried to scratch his chin reflectively but was reminded of his clamps.
"Everything points to Mechanica and yet it's all different. Sounds paradoxical, doesn't it?"
"I suppose so," said Kakuta, "but how long are we going to put up with this game? I move that we get out of these meat-hangers and go look for Pucky. He's no doubt waging his own private war somewhere against some unlucky robots." Tschubai could well understand the non-typical agitation of the Asiatic. Ever since they had penetrated the fragment ship they had been fighting robots without coming one step closer to their objective. It was time for them to do something more decisive. Nevertheless the African had an instinctive sense of warning. The robots they had encountered so far did not appear to be outspokenly hostile but Tschubai suspected that this was not their real attitude. There was something about this ship that was cold and evil. He didn't know what was behind this presentiment but it had haunted him like a shadow ever since he arrived.
Even this seeing-eye sentinel over their heads with its glowing big ox-eye of a camera lens, seemed to exude an almost palpable hatred, although Tschubai kept telling himself that was impossible. A robot couldn't hate or show any other emotion; it could only respond to its positronic or other kinds of circuitry and programming.
Yet even these thoughts were not able to dispel the mutant's suspicions. A glance at Kakuta told him that his companion was on the same wavelength with him. Both of them sensed the lurking menace of the ship without being able to actually define it. It was a situation that left Tschubai undecided.
"Let's wait a bit longer," he said to Kakuta. "We don't want to show our trump cards too soon." As if it had understood the meaning of these words, their guardian sank about a half meter lower.
• • •
Any objective observer would have said that Pucky had landed in one of the most dangerous areas of the ship. He materialized right in one of the turrets that was manned by three gunners. In contrast to the robots he was prepared for
such an encounter, and as the brilliant blue machines jerked around and fired the mouse-beaver was already on the ceiling where he neutralized the gunner's weapons by means of telekinesis. The robots leapt from their seats like blue bolts of lightning, even as they received a command from the upper lever commander to become quiescent. They had been removed from firing status, which of course Pucky couldn't know.
For the mouse-beaver the rest was child's play, and when he left the gun turret there were three less robot fighters on board. Pucky told himself that he had now given them cause for the proper amount of respect. From here on they'd be approaching him with much more caution.
Next to the turret was a chamber which was occupied by a messenger robot.
This one merely blinked at Pucky and remained quiet. The mouse-beaver looked at the onion-shaped thing undecidedly. His inborn revulsion against robots of any kind urged him to attack the weird contraption but his mind told him that in this case it would be better to hold back.
But at this moment the messenger was making contact with the lower level commander, and suddenly he got up from his station. Its movements seemed at first to be so clumsy and heavy that Pucky was taken by surprise as it shot past him out of the room with unexpected speed.
"Hey, not so fast!" Pucky called after it. "I'm just a peace-loving little old mouse-beaver!" The messenger seemed to be of another opinion because when Pucky stepped into the outer passage the robot raced around the next curve out of sight.
Wonderingly, Pucky exposed his gleaming incisor tooth. This did not seem to make him any more attractive, however, because three approaching fliers took advantage of his hesitation and swiftly attacked. They came from behind him and simply fell on top of him. Lt. Puck of the Solar Fleet fell face forward and was forced to rescue himself by means of short-range teleportation. In a rage he materialized 20 meters away. The robots were busy scrabbling about, searching among each other's limbs for the creature who had vanished so suddenly. Pucky took advantage of their confusion by slamming them back against a sidewall.
Unexpectedly they recovered swiftly from this kind of treatment and set out in pursuit of their now visible victim.
Again, Pucky brought his psychokinetic powers into play. In a very unprogrammed manner the robot in the rear accelerated unaccountably and rammed against the machines hovering in front of it. That appeared to do the job because they soon retreated, badly damaged. Pucky stretched out his head threateningly. He'd show these characters that they couldn't mess around with him so easily.
For some seconds he concentrated his telepathic extra senses until he picked up the faint thought threads of Tschubai and Kakuta. He knew it was time to join forces with the other teleporters so he oriented himself toward their thought source and jumped.
He materialized in a fair-sized room where he saw Kakuta and Tschubai bound and "stored" in a most peculiar fashion. With a grin at his friends he regarded them with folded arms. Before he could make any wisecracks, however, the floating sentinel glided over them. Without too much exertion the mouse-beaver smashed the thing to the floor where it burst into pieces.
"That wasn't very smart, little buddy," said Tschubai in some vexation. "Here we've been playing it cool the whole time so that our hosts could observe us in peace and now you come in and run berserk!" Pucky attempted to look crushed with dismay and remorse.
"It's useless for us to stay here any longer," said Kakuta. "After Pucky's exhibitions they may be able to guess how we got on board." Using telekinesis, the mouse-beaver released the other two from their clamps.
Tschubai got down and kicked the remains of the observer robot out of the way.
"There's one of them who's out of business," he said grimly. Kakuta looked around uneasily. "It's time for us to get out of here," he said. "Pucky, have you found out where the leaders of the ship are and where the Control Central is located?" The former inhabitant of Vagabond looked at him sharply. "I'm no wonder worker," he complained. "All I did was keep those robots off my neck, which you can see by the fact I didn't get caught!"
"I don't feel right," said Tschubai suddenly.
Kakuta also felt weighed down by a depressed feeling, and Pucky sniffed about suspiciously. Tschubai suddenly sensed that his limbs were getting heavy and he began to be alarmed.
"Strange," said Kakuta laboriously. His lips moved with an unnatural slowness.
"We're being hit with a paralysis beam!" yelled Pucky. "Scram out of here!" They gripped each other's hands and jumped. When they materialized in a brightly lighted corridor they found that the sensation had not subsided in fact it was stronger. It seemed that the invisible frequencies were everywhere.
"We have to get off of the ship," said Kakuta with an effort.
Tschubai laughed humorlessly. "Where would you suggest, Tako?" The African sensed that his growing weakness was getting the better of him. It would be only a question of time before he wouldn't be able to make a teleport jump.
"The Theodorich is still too far away." Pucky's voice was labored. "But there's another ship that's fairly safe."
"The Frisco?" asked Kakuta. "She's gone!" Pucky swayed slightly as if he were under a heavy load. "No!" he cried out with his last burst of strength. "I mean the Hat-Lete!" Three seconds later the three figures dissolved as if they had never existed.
They jumped on board the Arkonide robot ship, which was swarming with robots from the fragment ship.
But they only found it out when they arrived.
5/ THE SUICIDE SQUAD
There were some spacefaring races who maintained that if you threw a Terran out your front door he'd soon come in the back way, and that he would continue his efforts until you either killed him or gave in to his stubbornness. The authors of this story nevertheless added with some vexation that the cases in which the Terrans had succeeded by far out numbered those in which they had failed.
It was only one of a number of stories that were told concerning earthmen but such rumors would have gained new support if there had been any witnesses to Rhodan's repeated attempt to approach the fragment ship in the Theodorich. Since the only ones involved, however, were Terrans and robots, the historians of Earth were restricted to merely setting down in sober prose the fact that the First Administrator of the Solar Imperium had again launched an attack against the fragment ship.
The reality of the situation, however, was much more dangerous. The rash undertaking began when Rhodan glanced at the ship's chronometer.
"It's time to go pick up the teleporters," he said to Claudrin.
"This time we'll have to come in closer, sir," the commander warned him.
"I know, Jefe. But this time we're prepared for an attack and can do some dodging. Besides, our own weapons are going to do some talking." Claudrin wasn't exactly overjoyed at the prospect of battling the fragment ship but he did not reveal the fact.
"As soon as we're out of the libration zone we'll open fire," Rhodan ordered.
"This time with the heavy rayguns. Commodore, get set for a breakneck evasion manoeuvre."
"I'll take her through a dozen hells and out again if I have to," Claudrin confirmed. When he looked like this, short but wide and powerfully determined, his words did not seem to be exaggerated.
Of course the husky Epsalian had a crew at his disposal who were unexcelled in terms of experience and special training. These men faced every situation with a cool composure, and as long as they could still move they carried out the orders given to them. Even the lowest ranking man on board the flagship was a well-trained expert of above-average intelligence and capability. The whole crew was a well-coordinated team who could handle every type of situation.
Rhodan contacted Fire Control on the intercom and ordered the responsible officer to stand by and be ready for action. The Theodorich picked up speed and raced toward its goal. In the Control Central the top officers, stood before the panob screen.
The fragment ship reacted even faster than on the flagship's first approach.
> The Theodorich had hardly broken out of semispace before the countless gun turrets of the cube ship spewed out their murderous fire. But this time Claudrin was prepared and the mighty ship swept out of the impact area.
Rhodan followed the action with glaring eyes. He gave Fire Control the order to open a counter-barrage. The impulse cannons of the Theodorich fired incessantly but the fragment ship did not seem to be affected by it.
"Those characters must have super-powerful defense screens," commented Reg Thomas, and nobody doubted his word.
The first enemy fire struck the Theodorich and rattled it to its frame, although the screens this time absorbed the energy impact. Claudrin changed course and hurtled on a breakneck return path toward the alien giant. A concentrated salvo of deadly beams whipped past the Solar Fleet's flagship.
The Epsalian made another twisting course change just as the Terran gun turrets flashed lightnings or retaliation. This time the barrage was more powerful than before but the fragment ship simply swallowed it up. Its defense screens revealed no signs of weakening but on the other hand the force of its answering attacks increased against the Theodorich. The ship lights dimmed somewhat and Rhodan glanced significantly at his commodore. The flagship was racing past the other two vessels within only a few miles.
"Why don't the teleporters jump back, sir?" called Slide Nacro anxiously.
"Let's hope nothing's happened to them but we can't stay around here much longer!" Claudrin thundered out a war whoop and pulled the Theodorich into another tight turn. It wasn't enough to avoid several more enemy hits, although the screens still held up under the beating.