by Perry Rhodan
Tiff turned on his helmet radio to long distance. "It's alright, sir!" he reported as previously arranged. He looked at his watch and added: "Twelve minutes to zero!"
• • •
Pucky whistled with satisfaction when he got the message. "Very good!" He let Etztak know that his men were free. "And now I want to tell you something else."
Etztak perked up.
"My men have stashed away somewhere on board the HORL an Arkon bomb and set the time fuse for 20 minutes, nine of which have already elapsed. The ETZ and the ORLA have now exactly 11 minutes to get out of here and the crew of the HORL must leave ship in their patrol crafts before the time is up to save their lives!"
Pucky said no more. He vanished instantaneously but he was sure that Etztak would heed his warning. He jumped without further delay to Klaus Eberhardt's hiding place. Eberhardt leaped down from the pad. Pucky looked around and found a patrol ship ready to go in one of the other pads. He hopped in and moved the ship into the tunnel. He took Eberhardt aboard after the cadet had advised the hangar officer and complied with the usual routine of taking out a patrol ship, requesting the opening of the airlock.
For a few seconds Pucky feared that Etztak would have overcome his shock too soon and prevented the hangar master from letting them go. But his fear proved to be unfounded. The hatches opened and closed smoothly and the little ship shot out into the icy grey morning. Tiff and Hifield showed up with their ship at almost the same time.
"Back to Aubrey's cave!" Pucky commanded.
• • •
The flight took a few minutes. Pucky used the time to brief the cadets about the various contingencies in case his plan did not work out as expected. Tiff and Hifield listened to the lisping voice coming out of the loudspeaker during the short flight:
"The worst possibility would be that the crew of the HORL finds the bomb. However this is not very likely when you consider that a ship like the HORL has about 5000 separate rooms and they've only 11 minutes for the search.
"The second possibility is that Etztak believes my threat was a bluff and does nothing about it. In this case the three ships will be completely destroyed in a few minutes. They're too close together for one of the ships to survive the catastrophe.
"And the third possibility would occur if Etztak takes my warning seriously but steers the two imperiled vessels away from the danger zone and has the HORL evacuated. Then he could perhaps take up his hunt for us again and we would have to defend ourselves.
"At any rate, we won't be able to stay very long in Aubrey's cave. We'll have to leave it before Etztak recovers from his distress because he's bound to resume the chase again sooner or later. Now we've got two patrol ships. Each is big enough to hold three people if necessary, which is sufficient if I travel by teleportation. We can fly back later to pick up the equipment we've saved.
"That'll be all we've to worry about for the time being. Let's hope they don't stumble onto the bomb!"
• • •
Shortly before the landing the sensor instruments registered wild movements in the north. Two large vessels lifted off the ground and soared out into space. Numerous small specks were detached from the third ship. They were obviously trying to get as far and as fast as possible away from the slowly sinking ship. The plan had worked. The Springers had failed to find the bomb!
At the moment of the landing a sharp jolt made the ground vibrate. The bomb of the HORL was detonated. Nobody doubted that the explosion of the bomb would leave anything but molecular and atomic particles of the proud Springer ship. The fuse had been set to react with the artificial elements which were continuously produced by the fusion reactors of the ship.
Tiff held his breath for a second when be felt the ground shaking. Nobody noticed it—except possibly Pucky. But Pucky said nothing and Tiff was grateful.
Tiff felt no different than a man watching an airplane crash with a load of atom bombs on board. He would do the natural thing of holding his breath, waiting for the bombs to explode at the moment of impact, although knowing the bombs could not possibly explode no matter how severe the shock they suffered, since the fuse of an atom bomb is a much more complicated mechanism.
Tiff was in the same situation. He was well aware that the other Arkon bombs could not be made to go off by exploding one of them close by. The firing mechanism was more intricate than that to allow such a disaster. All that could happen was that the other bombs would be blown to bits without releasing their energy.
Nevertheless Tiff had been afraid that a quirk could somehow cause the detonation of the HORL's whole load of bombs. This would have meant the end of Snowman. But no such thing had happened.
• • •
They put the two girls aboard the auxiliary ships as well as the untiring stalwart Aubrey. The robot had reported that nothing particular had happened in the meantime. The girls were very curious but Pucky pressed on, demanding that his crew leave the danger zone as quickly as possible. He arranged a meeting place 1800 miles to the south with Tiff and Eberhardt piloting the two crafts. The ships took off at once. Pucky jumped as soon as he lost sight of them and arrived at the meeting place at the same instant. He made good use of the time. Perry Rhodan was waiting for information from him.
• • •
"Pucky is calling you, sir!" John Marshall announced. "Let's hear what he has to say!" Rhodan replied eagerly. Marshall seemed to listen inwardly. Two minutes later he lifted his head and said: "Pucky and the cadets were in danger of being blasted to death with the planet. They've weathered the situation by taking appropriate measures. An enemy ship has been destroyed in the process. Pucky has attempted to keep the number of victims low by issuing a warning in time."
"Good for him!" Rhodan broke in. "Go on!"
"In the course of the operations Pucky has been able to ascertain valuable information from the commander of the largest Springer ship. First: All hostile action taken against Terra stemmed from one single ship, the ORLA, which captured Tifflor and the K-9. Only during the final days, when it looked as if the captain of the ORLA was no longer in control of the situation, were other warships summoned. Secondly: The captain of the ORLA has assigned special robots as his agents on Terra," Marshall paused for a moment.
"That's why our telepaths were unable to detect any of the enemy agents," Rhodan murmured.
Marshall continued: "The robots resemble humans and can only be distinguished by their small fusion motors..."
"Excellent!" Rhodan interrupted again. "Furthermore, the Springers do not yet know exactly how to judge the Earth and its civilization. The information they've received from the robot agents and the experience they've made with our ships in space don't seem to jibe..."
"No wonder!" Rhodan laughed. "Thus they're inclined toward the opinion that Terra should first be studied closer. If it turns out that the planet is underdeveloped the Springers intend to establish a trading base there. If mankind on Earth, however, has reached a level comparable with the Springers, we're to be punished for violating the monopoly of the Springers by carrying on interstellar trade."
Rhodan was still smiling. "We'll make it rough on them!" he chuckled. Then he passed on his own instructions to Pucky: "The Stardust is going to leave the Beta-Albireo sector in a few hours. Terra and the Solar System will remain here. It's necessary to equip the Stardust with new armaments which will enable us to withstand the onslaught of the hostile armada in this sector without other help.
"The Stardust will be gone a maximum of four weeks. Terra and the Solar System have orders to keep the enemy in the Beta-Albireo sector at bay, inflict losses on him and and support our team on Snowman by all means at our disposal. There'll be at least one telepath on board the two ships at all times.
"Pucky and the cadets are instructed to continue their task on Snowman, to collect further information and to keep out of the clutches of the Springers."
After Rhodan had finished his message Marshall transmitted it word for word.
> • • •
The patrol crafts arrived a few minutes later. They touched down near the mousebeaver. Aubrey was the first to climb out. Then came the girls and the cadets were last. Tiff was eager to check the thermometer. "Only minus 112° F," he murmured in surprise. "It's really much warmer here."
"We're fairly close to the equator," Pucky explained.
Pucky had waited in a sort of valley. It was an almost circular basin of over 300 feet diameter completely surrounded by gentle white hills with peaks rising between 150 and 300 feet above the level of the valley.
The place could not have been selected better if Pucky had explored Snowman before. On the northern slope of one of the hills to the south gaped a hole bigger than a man. Pucky had already investigated it and found a tunnel leading from there deep into the hill.
"It's a natural for a hide-out," Pucky pointed out. "Of course we'll have to camouflage the entrance so it can't be seen so easily. But first we'll have to enlarge it enough to hold the two patrol ships. After that I believe the Springers will have a hard time catching up with us."
They went to work at once. Tiff flew back once more to the cave Aubrey had dug out of the rock to pick up those of Pucky's supplies they had been able to salvage on their hasty flight from the shelter.
Tiff meanwhile had already determined that the most vital equipment had been hauled out, as for instance the parts of a miniature power station which was adequate for providing the comfort of light and heat in their new abode. They had saved weapons and foodstuff as well as an efficient hypercom transceiver with the necessary components for condensed transmissions, frequency integration and similar secret devices for clandestine operations in a hostile country.
When Tiff returned Aubrey had already widened the tunnel sufficiently to let the auxiliary ships be moved inside. A hundred feet from the outside and covered by a dense hill they ran little risk of being detected.
Farther inside, approximately below the peak of the hill, they built their own quarters. The power station was quickly installed. Ice covered the surface of Snowman to a depth of at least 60 feet but here they were below that depth and the walls turned to rock. With the heat ray of his thermobeamer Aubrey smoothed the glittering cold rock walls and in a remarkably short time created five chambers in a row.
Only after the job was finished did Pucky finally settle down and acquaint the cadets and the girls with the instructions from Rhodan.
Hifield frowned as he listened to the news. He appeared on the verge of making one of his famous nasty remarks. Observing the telltale signs, Tiff forestalled him by saying, "We'll be comfortable here for four weeks."
Pucky agreed and Hifield stared at the floor.
"There's something else I have to tell you," Pucky said, and his tone was so peculiar that it immediately aroused everyone's interest "For some time now I've been receiving by telepathy the strangest emanations. As if there is somebody in the vicinity who is unconscious or in a state of hibernation. I'd like to know who it is. If the Springers will keep off our tails long enough"—and with the mousebeaver it was more than a figure of speech—"we can try to get to the bottom. of this curious phenomenon."
• • •
The Springers kept peace temporarily. Not a single enemy ship neared the hide–out. Whether this was because Etztak had halted his pursuit or they were simply unable to track them down, no one could say, but the upshot was that they were left alone and this was of paramount importance.
Pucky applied himself with great diligence to the search for the somnolent impulses. However, the source could not be determined because the emanations were so diffuse, coming from varying directions and in fluctuating intensities. Mystery of mysteries! What might happen when the sleeper woke... or the sleepers waked?
Hifield, in the meantime, reverted to his old obnoxious behavior pattern. To his previous inane rivalries he now added jealously. Because Mildred was showing her preference for Tiff, Hifield was so miffed that he failed to observe that Felicita Kergonen somehow was attracted to him.
Hifield taunted Tiff and Tiff teased him in return but Hifield never caught on till Klaus Eberhardt told him one day, "If I were as dumb as you I'd lock myself up for two days without opening my silly trap once!"
Pucky watched the antics and quarrels of the cadets with a brain born for amusement. He was glad these hotblooded young Terrestrials had a period of rest and peace so that they could engage in more human problems.
An end was bound to come soon enough when idle play would turn once again to imminent peril. The day—or night—when Etztak would strike his next blow. When the Springer enemy would spring again!
PERIL ON ICE PLANET
Copyright © Ace Books 1973,
by Ace Publishing Corporation
All Rights Reserved
THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME
Temporarily we leave Tiff, Pucky, the girls, the cadets—all God's frozen people—on Snowman the ice planet to journey with the Peacelord on a trip through Space & Time that takes him back to the Planet of Eternal Life for an important confrontation with It, the Immortal Unknown.
En route to Wanderer, however, Perry gets involved in an exciting detour to Barkon. Yes, that's right, not Arkon—Barkon.
And, while the canine life on this unusual planet may be among the tamest in the myriad worlds of the space-time continuum—you may even be familiar with the expression in Intercosmo: "'Barkonikan noknash,' which, translated, means 'A Barkon dog never bites'—the world itself is anything but placid.
You have one month's warning to lay in a goodly supply of oxytabs because you're bound to be breathless as you speed with Perry on his perilous...
INFINITY FLIGHT
by Clark Darlton