by Perry Rhodan
"Is anybody else coming along with us?" asked Bell.
"If we can't manage on our own nobody else can help us," said Rhodan as he climbed into the car. The turbo-engine started up with a roar and the little machine sped off with unbelievable acceleration, over the smooth expanse of reinforced concrete and in the direction of the docks, just three miles away from the centrally located administrative buildings of Terrania.
There wasn't too much traffic there at this time; occasionally a lone pedestrian stopped and shook his head in bewilderment at this driver gone mad.
Bell gasped for air. "Can you explain what happened?"
"Hypnotism, what else? The mutant master has placed Becker and his company under his hypnotic influence. We must try and nullify this hypnotic command with our psychobeamer."
The psychray was an Arkonide weapon. With its help it was possible to take over and direct another person's will and to issue post-hypnotic commands. It had been quite awhile since Rhodan had last found it necessary to resort to its use.
"But how about us?" wondered Bell. "How come we haven't succumbed to his hypnotic influence? Can't he force his will on us?"
"We know that he tried it once already with Khrest and it didn't work. Therefore I assume that his powers are ineffective when applied to Arkonide brains. Since we have gone through the Arkonide hypno-training, I suppose our brains are now similar in this respect to those of the genuine Arkonides. At least, let's hope so."
"I hope you're right there, Perry," remarked Bell and took a deep breath.
They were now racing through the desert. The concrete pavement of the road was 30 feet wide and as smooth as a mirror. The shimmering air hung above the roadway with constantly rippling waves. Ahead they could make out the spaceship installations, the assembly halls and hangars where daily new spaceships, of the type of the destroyers were constructed. Rhodan could see indistinct figures running back and forth; big gates were shut and some armored tanks took up positions.
Over to their left in the desert they observed a dust cloud. Underneath that cloud marched Becker with his company of soldiers.
Rhodan couldn't quite explain why the unknown foe of the New Power didn't deploy his forces in another action which would promise a greater likelihood of success. If the supermutant had it in his power to bring entire companies under his influence why then didn't he simply order the New Power pilots to take off with their ships and attack Terrania from the air? why did he content himself with a relatively harmless fighting action whose success was a priori, to say the least, doubtful? It made no sense.
Did the unknown supermutant intend to make Rhodan a nervous wreck?
Well, apparently he had already succeeded with Bell. The Minister of Security of the New Power had meanwhile become a model of fear and trepidation. If John Marshall had been present he would certainly have now called him the Minister Of Insecurity. Bell kept fidgeting with the psycho ray and was wiggling restlessly in his seat.
"Oh, stop wiggling like a worm, Reggie!" Rhodan admonished him. "You can be sure that the supermutant won't be satisfied with this attempt. It's just a beginning.
"A beginning?" moaned Bell in horror. "Our own people shooting at us and you call that just a beginning?"
Rhodan didn't answer. He knew his friend sufficiently well to realize that his loss of composure was but skin deep. The car now passed the first robot guard outposts.
Several pulse-ray cannons were mounted, ready for action. They drove up to a bunker. Some officers were standing about. They wore the uniforms of the guard division. They came running toward the car as soon as they recognized its occupants.
Bell didn't give them a chance to say anything. "Clear the area!" he shouted. He jumped out of the car, waving his psychray. "I'll show you how one can command an entire army!"
Rhodan took the small metal box away from Bell and placed it on the ground before him. He seemed suddenly not to be overconfident as to how well the hypnotizing silver rod would work in this situation. He signaled to Bell: "Give it a try! Order them to make an about face and to return immediately to their quarters." Then Rhodan addressed the waiting officers. "Now you, gentlemen, keep your men in readiness. But don't give any orders to shoot unless I specifically tell you so. We don't want to have to kill our own people."
"But they've destroyed nine robots already," said a captain.
"That's most regrettable but robots aren't human beings. Besides, Becker and his men were acting against their own free will."
"Against their will?" echoed the captain with a questioning voice. But before he could ask any further questions, his attention was diverted. For now Bell had gone into action.
The psychobeam's range was naturally limited but meanwhile Lieutenant Becker's forces had approached close enough. It was an absolute mystery why he took up position close by. He could have opened fire on the docks from a distance of over a mile away. His cannons were powerful enough over such a distance. Instead he advanced to half a mile within the lines of the boarder guard sentinels.
Bell kneeled on the ground and pointed his silvery rod at the involuntary opponent. Then he depressed the activating knob. At the same time he spoke loud and clear: "Lieutenant Becker, I'm ordering you and your men to turn around and march back at once to your quarters. All other orders you might have received are herewith countermanded."
The officers—their number had increased to five meanwhile—stared at Bell with admiring eyes. They knew the Arkonides were said to possess legendary weapons but they had never before seen any of them in action. At least not the psychray. Unfortunately however they were not destined to witness this miracle today either.
For Lieutenant Becker paid not the slightest heed to Bell's commands. The first shot swept close above the heads of the little group and its impact and heat reduced to one clump of molten metal a guard robot who had unconcernedly been making his rounds a few yards further back.
"The supermutant's power is greater than that of our psycho-ray," remarked Rhodan calmly.
Rhodan had in the meantime completed his preparations and was squatting, ready for action, beside the rim of the sheltered concrete dug out. At any moment he could quickly duck into this shelter, if he would deem it necessary. The five officers had already taken cover in the bunker. They had radioed to their men who were dispersed in the area to await further orders and under no circumstances to open fire on the mutineers.
Bell tried his luck again. He directed the hypo-beam once more at Becker's men, issued a second command which was ignored just like the first. The situation grew critical. For now three neutron cannons blasted away at the nearest spaceship assembly hails.
It was then that Rhodan realized that he would be unable to defeat the supermutant's hypnotic powers with mental weapons. Only brute force could overcome his influence on Becker's group. Rhodan pointed the objective of the gravity neutralizer toward the mutineers. He released the activating switch.
The effective range of the instrument was fan-shaped, beginning directly in front of it and spreading out in the direction of the opponent, its efficiency diminishing with distance. Its efficacy however was still sufficient to render Becker, his men and all their equipment weightless.
Sergeant Harras was just putting one foot in front of the other, most unwillingly since he saw no valid reason for doing so, when suddenly he became detached from the ground. He was gently floating upward while slowly spinning like a top. Fear-struck, he let go of his weapon but it did not drop to the ground, rather it remained constantly at the same height as himself.
Harras' fate was shared by all the others of his group. Lieutenant Becker, who leapt across to one of the cannons, was hardest hit by the sudden loss of gravity. Like a human missile he shot diagonally up into the clear desert sky, flailing his arms and legs desperately trying in vain to grab ahold of something in the empty air. Unfortunately, Rhodan was unable to continue observing his flight. The unlucky lieutenant passed shortly beyond the effective range of t
he neutralizer and plummeted like a stone to the ground. He was the sole victim of the attack that had been forced upon him, apart from the three drivers and three gunners riding in the armored tanks which had been destroyed earlier by the robots.
Almost the entire fighting forces under Lieutenant Becker's command were now hovering high up in the air. They assumed various positions depending on the respective movements with which they had become detached from the ground when they were rendered weightless. Since however the Arkonide instrument's range was not unlimited it was imperative to act now in order to prevent any additional accidents and fatalities.
Rhodan turned to the officers who had followed the entire procedure utterly dumbfounded and delighted. "I'm now diminishing the intensity of the neutralizer. Send your men out to capture the airborne company as they will be landing again on firm ground. Have your men move with extreme caution across the terrain—it's subject to only one-tenth normal gravity. Watch out for Becker's fighting tanks as they come down. If necessary you'll have to render their gunners harmless."
It was amazing how fast the officers recovered from their state of perplexity. It took hardly a few minutes for them to mobilize their soldiers, who then proceeded to very slowly advance with peculiar, slinking steps toward the slowly sinking figures who helplessly were fidgeting in the air, struck with horror. Most had simply released their grip on their weapons and thus no longer presented any danger.
Gradually Rhodan reinstated normal conditions of gravity and then waited until the mutineering company had been subdued. He had meanwhile taken the beamer from Bell's hand and screened the soldiers against any further hypnotic commands emanating from the master enemy mutant. He sensed instinctively that such a screening-off was entirely possible while the Arkonide instrument was ineffective to pierce through a hypnotic block once it had been placed in a victim.
Hardly five minutes passed and the supermutant withdrew.
Sergeant Harras felt all of a sudden how the pressure in his head was getting weaker and finally leaving him completely. At first he couldn't understand where he was, he thought he was still lying at the bottom of the swimming pool and was most startled to peer suddenly into the threatening orifices of guns pointed at him. Rhodan in person explained what had happened to Harras and his comrades. He also pointed out to them that this mysterious incident might. repeat itself at any time. Since however they didn't expect any armed attack from the outside, the weapons in the hands of the guards were to be reduced to a bare minimum.
Not far from them, off to one side, lay the motionless figure of Lieutenant Becker. Bell threw a glance in that direction and with a sombre face, murmured: "That's the ninth victim already today, Perry. It's time to undertake some decisive action."
Rhodan did not reply. Silently they drove back to Terrania, where some more bad news awaited them. Major Freyt had received a message from New York where the financial genius of the New Power, Homer G. Adams, had his headquarters. From there the mutant with the eidetic memory extended his network of influence, ruling the economies of the whole world. Homer seemed to be infallible and had never made a wrong decision. At least not as long as there hadn't been the supermutant. The first attacks of the unknown enemy had been warded off without irreparable damage but Perry Rhodan had taken preventive measures and had sent little Betty Toufry to protect his financial genius. Betty was the most powerful telepath and telekineticist in Rhodan's mutant corps.
And the alarming report had been sent by her.
As earlier, Homer G. Adams seemed to have become affected by the mutant master's sinister influence. Homer's latest financial deals obviously lacked common-sense and would have been disastrous for the General Cosmic Company.
At the last minute Betty succeeded in canceling his business dispositions by applying her psychobeamer. As long as she remained in Adams' presence he was safe from outside hypnotic influences but she could not accompany him day and night wherever he went.
Rhodan at once established communication with the General Cosmic Company. The picture of an embarrassed Homer G. Adams came onto the screen. He was a rather short man, his thin hair for ever looking disheveled, and now he made the impression of having spent a few nights without sleep. Betty Toufry sat in the background. She too looked extremely tired.
"Hello, Adams," began Perry Rhodan as if New York were only a few miles distant and not halfway around the world. "I was told you've experienced some difficulties again." Adams attempted to answer but Rhodan did not wish to be interrupted. "You needn't apologize, Mr. Adams. We've lately been through similar trouble here ourselves. The power of our opponent extends over the whole globe. There's one thing I'd like to know from you. Could you tell when the influence begins to make itself felt?"
Adams slowly nodded his head. "Yes, I first notice a pressure in my head but by then it is already too late. If little Betty hadn't been near me I really don't know what would have happened. I'm very sorry about this but I don't think you can count on me from now on. I'm no longer a reliable help to you."
"Nonsense, Adams, don't say that. Remain passive until you receive further instructions from me. Avoid any important business deals in the next few days. And the moment the enemy exposes himself in the slightest way—and I believe this is inevitable—we'll be ready to strike."
"I hope this'll happen soon. I assure you it's most unpleasant to be constantly threatened with loss of control of your five senses."
Rhodan smiled at him reassuringly and cut off the connection. But the moment Adams' image had disappeared from the screen, Rhodan's smile also vanished.
• • •
There was nothing extraordinary in Fellmer Lloyd's appearance, he looked like the typical man next door. Many years ago he had worked in an atomic power station as assistant to the chief scientist. But then he had been tracked down and discovered by Rhodan's agents.
For Fellmer Lloyd was a natural mutant.
He could not accurately be described as a genuine telepath but his abilities closely resembled those of the true mind readers. A part of his brain had undergone changes due to the radiation his parents had been exposed to. As a consequence he was at any time in a position to absorb the brain-wave patterns of other people around him, sort them out and analyze them. He couldn't read their thoughts but he could recognize their basic emotions and consequently more or less judge their intentions. when talking to another person he knew at once if he was friend or enemy. He used this talent by working as a 'spotter' for the mutant corps.
Fellmer Lloyd was standing inconspicuously near the exit barrier of the Moscow airport, scanning attentively the departing and arriving passengers of the regularly scheduled jet plane. This plane was one of the passenger crafts that daily commuted between the New Power and the various continents of the world. This airline was sponsored by the New Power.
Only last week two of these machines had been destroyed in midair by an act of sabotage. The Ministry of Security of the New Power had therefore deployed some mutants in order to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
Fellmer Lloyd was one of the mutants who had been charged with this mission. He was flying from continent to continent, cautiously probing all the passengers' brain-wave pattern, endeavoring to make sure that no saboteur would slip aboard.
He hadn't yet made up his mind whether he should leave again the capital city of the Eastern Bloc on this particular flight. He liked Moscow; he had made friends here. Everybody seemed so pleasant and kind that he didn't like the idea of departing so soon.
Only superficially he checked out the elegant couple that was just passing through the barrier and then proceeded to cross the asphalt strip leading to the jet plane. Probably some newly-weds starting out on their honeymoon. Harmless, in any case, he quickly stated.
In the background he saw the roofs of the city, glittering in the light of the setting sun. Towering sky-scrapers reared up into the clear sky, trying to gather the last rays of the setting sun. The broad freeway leading
from the city to the airport was brightly illuminated. There was dense traffic.
Fellmer Lloyd suddenly was startled out of his contemplation of that peaceful evening scene. From somewhere surged something evil. Somebody was thinking of violence and caution, murder and death.
The range of his mind-searching ability was not very extensive, only a few hundred yards. But judging by the intensity of the brain-waves that were overwhelming him, they must originate in his immediate vicinity.
Hastily he looked around.
People were standing in little groups all about. They were talking to each other, saying goodbye, embracing and waving a last greeting. A young lady with unusually pretty legs was striding with determined steps across the barrier and the waiting machine. She carried a large. brown leather bag in her hand. Over to the left, Fellmer Lloyd noticed a policeman who attentively was scanning the crowd.
Lloyd's glance returned to the young lady. His brain was now registering stronger impressions. Yes, indeed, these violent thoughts emanated from her; no doubt. For a moment the mutant believed he had been mistaken but he knew he could trust his sense of orientation.
Cautiously he set himself in motion, walking behind the young lady. She was wearing a modern suit and gave the impression of being the sports type. Her gait was elastic, almost soft.
Three minutes before take-off.
He walked up the gangway and saw how the young lady presented her ticket and the number of her seat to the stewardess. Then she went inside the plane. Lloyd followed her. He showed his identity card to the stewardess; that was enough to let him aboard. The stewardess assigned him the seat diagonally across from the young lady.
The thoughts of something horrible became weaker now and finally gave way to a sense of security. Lloyd knew then for sure that there was no threat of immediate danger. But he also knew that he mustn't let this pretty young lady out of his sight, not even for a moment, during the entire flight.