His outward resemblance to man was quite remarkable; yet he radiated something alien, something unreal. Undoubtedly, the real differences would lie in areas invisible to the naked eye. Rhodan guessed that it might be an unusual organic structure or a metabolism wholly unknown on Earth or something else along these lines. Nevertheless, Khrest was an oxygen breather.
The heat was almost intolerable in the chamber where Rhodan stood, illuminated by an exceedingly bright blue light that probably bordered on ultraviolet.
The mode of illumination and the oppressive room temperature indicated that this creature had come from a planet with a hot and brilliant blue dwarf sun. This was all Rhodan could ascertain, for the time being.
No, there was something more. He had noticed it at once.
Khrest looked weak and emaciated, like a person deathly ill. His movements seemed almost helpless. Rhodan thought back to the cropped off mountain top and wondered if there was any connection between that and the apparent weakness of this alien.
There were two others in the room. Both were male. Rhodan squinted as he surveyed the scene. This was his first encounter with such lethargy. These people were so obviously apathetic, indifferent and generally lifeless that even a poor observer would immediately have been struck by it.
Compared to the others, Khrest seemed, for all his weakness, lively and energetic. It was extraordinary how little stir their arrival had created. When Rhodan and Bell, strange and otherworldly visitors to the aliens, had entered the room, none of them had even turned their heads. They acted as though Rhodan and Bell simply did not exist.
They lay listless on their mattresses and stared up at oval video screens above their heads. They seemed transfixed. Rhodan could find no significance in the instruments to which they gave their rapt attention. He could discern only a kaleidoscope of colours, appearing and vanishing, flickering across the screen. Abstract geometrical patterns were formed in enormous variety. Additionally, he could hear a high whine and whistling.
Rhodan began to feel uncomfortable. Something was not quite right in this otherwise immaculate spacecraft. There was an almost palpable atmosphere of sickness and decay, as though he had stepped into some asylum by accident. The ship itself was spotless, but Rhodan had the feeling that cobwebs and mildew would be more appropriate.
Khrest addressed one of the other aliens. He elicited a charming smile, but after the merest pittance of a reply, the other alien returned once more to his video screen.
Astounded, Bell stood there gaping. That changed abruptly, however, when she entered. Rhodan felt a sudden chill. It was easy to see why. With her whole manner, she seemed to generate coldness, insensitivity and arrogance. Indeed, she deigned to give them only a sideward glance and then proceeded to ignore both Bell and Rhodan.
She was as tall as Rhodan and had the luminous red hued eyes of her race. On Earth, she would have been declared a singular beauty. Nevertheless, this thought quickly lost itself amid others, as Rhodan’s instinct issued a warning. This woman, who so coolly regarded him, was dangerous, and dangerous because it was obvious that she would not face the facts. In her eyes, he and Bell were neither more nor less than some form of creeping prehistoric sea slime, devoid of intelligence and burdened with lips that uttered naught but gibberish.
This realization hit Rhodan with painful impact. He had never before been the object of such scorn, such nose-in-the-air contempt.
He changed colour. and clenched his fists. The woman wore a tight fitting suit-like garment with red fluorescent symbols on the breast. Rhodan was only later to learn that they represented insignia of rank. He felt much more at ease with Khrest, whose boyish face and easy aristocratic manners could enchant as well as impress. With a fluent mastery of English, Khrest introduced the young woman as Thora.
Rhodan thus found himself welcomed by attitudes he could not reconcile. The clash of opposites and paradox was everywhere to be found. Within a spacecraft whose very presence testified to the existence of alien creatures far superior to man, he was ignored by incredible lethargy. On the one hand be was greeted with utmost courtesy, on the other, confronted with icy rejection. These were the strangest moments of his life. To Bell, it was like dancing on a powder keg. It suddenly struck him that they had not been asked to surrender their weapons. This, too, was more than peculiar.
Khrest studied them for a long while, so openly and obviously that it seemed not in the least offensive or intimidating.
Thus far, Rhodan had hardly said a word. He simply stood tall and straight in the center of this room, which was silent and spotless and without furniture, surrounded on all sides by a multiplicity of video screens, instrument panels and the like.
Khrest leaned back on his cot. Behind a weak smile, he was breathing heavily. Then Rhodan recognized, for the first time, a look of genuine concern on the face of the young woman Thora.
She called out sharply to the other two aliens. One of them rose halfway up from his mattress, then returned with an idiot smile to his surreal pleasures.
Rhodan knew that now was the time for action. Bell could stand the tension no longer. One needed only to look at this face—shock white, with a rigid jester’s grin—to know that.
The veiled expression was now gone from Khrest’s dark encircled eyes. He seemed to sense that his guests had had quite enough of this affair. Rarely had Rhodan observed such curiosity in the eyes of another. Khrest seemed only to lie in wait of that word which would bring him salvation.
What role did he play aboard this ship? Did this woman wield any power? In what capacity did she serve?
Thora turned swiftly as Rhodan came a few steps closer, his helmet dangling on its hinges. Like a threat, her hand flew to her belt with a blur of colour. Rhodan countered her glance. Hers was an expression of utmost disgust, but his own communicated such cool unconcern that she was more startled than repelled. Bell’s plaster cast of a smile relaxed. His eyes narrowed. He knew Rhodan, and he knew that Rhodan had just switched over. They could either discuss this in a sensible manor, or they would have to settle for a split-second duel to their mutual disadvantage.
Rhodan brushed past Thora. She recoiled as though she had been touched by some venomous scorpion.
Khrest watched tensely. When Rhodan stood close beside him, he closed his eyes. Reg had never heard his commanding officer speak so softly.
“Sir, I know you can understand me. How and why this is so is of no importance to me at the moment. Nor does the current situation concern me greatly. My name is Perry Rhodan. I am a major in the United States Space Force and the commanding officer of the terrestrial spaceship Stardust. You have forced me to make an emergency landing. However, we need not discuss this just now.”
“If you take another step, you are going to die!” rang Thora’s voice, half retching with unrestrained rage.
Rhodan’s nerves jarred at the sound of this dark voice. He slowly turned his head and displayed his famous grin.
Apparently, this woman had also switched over. For a moment, it seemed she was enveloped in a silken halo; or that was the way it seemed to Rhodan. A mixture of shock and surprise swam in her eyes. Slowly Rhodan began to understand. She was obviously possessed of such a superiority complex and such interplanetary chauvinism that she regarded his very proximity to Khrest as a kind of blasphemy. Rhodan revised his initial estimate of the reasons behind her all too apparent contempt. Here, she was the rational being and he was the scion of a fine old Stone Age family. That was it. At last he understood the situation completely.
Khrest seemed to have guessed what was going on in Rhodan’s mind.
“I am sorry,” he said weakly. “It was not in my power to circumvent these difficulties. You see, we were not prepared for your arrival. According to my information, the third planet of this solar system is supposed to have been an undeveloped world inhabited by primitive mammals. There was no mention of… Well, things seem to have changed a great deal since our last exploratory flight. We
had no desire for a confrontation between our races.”
Thora intervened. “Leave at once! You have violated the laws of the Imperium. I am forbidden contact with creatures below developmental stage C.” Her face was on fire. “Leave immediately!”
Rhodan’s hopes collapsed like a house of cards. “Creatures,” that is what they were, in the aliens’ eyes. A helpless fury welled up within him.
“Then why have you let us enter your ship at all?” he asked sharply. “Why? What do you mean by it?”
“It was at my suggestion,” said Khrest. “You will not understand this at once. Your race is still in its infancy. Because of my disease, I am permitted certain privileges by the Law. There are special provisions for these circumstances. We may take up contact with inferior forms of life as soon as our existence becomes—”
“I understand,” Rhodan interrupted. “I understand completely. Sir, you are in need of our help.”
Thora snorted at the absurdity of such a statement. Nevertheless, she seemed once more to be worried.
“You are very young and spirited,” murmured Khrest. “Is It thus with all of your race?”
Rhodan was moving his lips. Khrest could be sure of that much.
“Have you no doctors on board? Why can’t you be helped?”
“There is no cure,” returned Thora tersely. “Now, will you go? You have humiliated me quite enough. Khrest has seen you. My patience is at an end. I am commanding this spacecraft.”
“Huh?” was all that Reg could find to say. Following this, he sank slowly into a stupor of amazement. He had had quite a different conception of the first encounter between alien intelligences. All this seemed too fantastic, too much like a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
In reply, Rhodan removed his helmet. His eyes were burning. Henceforth, he would simply ignore her. Khrest grew even more attentive. His gaze was an inquiry and an analysis.
“You are refusing?” he whispered faintly. His astonishment knew no bounds. “Do you not know to whom you speak?”
Rhodan was rude. He replied, with sarcasm, “Yes, indeed I do. Yet, through no fault of my own, I can claim a high IQ, although your commanding officer would prefer to think otherwise. It is therefore obvious to me that I have a ship full of either mental or physical invalids on my hands. If I consider your scientific advancement, I can find no reason why your sickness should not have been treated by now. Your people just don’t seem to give a damn. You and your commander are probably the only sane individuals aboard. I have a feeling that all of you are only the decadent descendants of a formerly highly developed civilization. You have my sympathies, but just take a good look at those two men over there. On Earth, they’d be sent to a sanitarium for treatment.”
Rhodan turned abruptly. He brandished his weapon, now menacing, his finger on the pushbutton trigger.
Thora paled, but in an instant there were two whirring metal monsters at her side. The only robots Rhodan knew were the bulky machines and electronic computers of Earth. These, however, were huge automatons in human form, with ingeniously equipped appendages for tools and weapons. They were just, suddenly, there. Empty eye sockets in bullet-shaped heads defied him. The barrels of unknown weapons, emerging en masse from metallic holsters, were aimed at him.
“Stop this nonsense!” Rhodan’s voice was high and shrill. “Let’s use the intelligent way and discuss our differences. You yourself know that I’ve spoken the truth. If it bothers you that these conclusions come from a ‘savage,’ then you should never have let us come aboard.”
His finger lay ready on the trigger. Reginald Bell had already taken cover behind a couch.
Thora’s face was now ugly in a paroxysm of rage, as she gazed, quite pale, at Rhodan’s weapon. “How dare you?” she shrieked. Her fists were clenched and her fingers drawn in angered spasm. “How dare you speak such heresies in a vessel of the great Imperium! How dare you! Unless you leave immediately, I shall have you annihilated on the spot!”
“Agreed. I’ll go along with that. Then you will let us leave without any interference? Will you let the Stardust blast off again? This is only the Earth’s satellite. We can’t live here.”
“I cannot permit that. I cannot allow you to spread the word of our presence here among the inhabitants of the third planet.”
“Very well. So you think it’s perfectly all right to let us suffocate here, or what? We haven’t the technical know-how you seem to have inherited from your illustrious ancestors. We can’t produce oxygen from stones, nor food from dust. We’ve only just begun the conquest of space.”
Rhodan would have thought impossible the response that followed in the wake of his statement. This stranger Khrest, previously so decidedly tranquil, uttered a wild cry. Once the very antithesis of strength, he seemed now to have forgotten all weakness.
“What did you say? You have just begun with what?”
“With the conquest of space,” Rhodan repeated, matter of factly. “Does the thought disturb you? We shall go our way, and someday we too shall possess great ships like your own, but much sooner than you would ever believe possible.”
“Wait!” moaned Khrest. “Please.”
Nonplussed, Rhodan paused. The RAK automatic was lowered. In that moment, there ensured such a heated discussion between the bedridden alien and his feminine superior that he felt his presence there quite superfluous. Rhodan joined Bell on the sidelines.
“The most idiotic situation of a lifetime,” Bell whispered hastily. “What’s going on? It looks like a battle to the death. I’m not at all happy with those robots watching over us. Shouldn’t we get out of here while there’s still time? What do you think?” His questions followed in rapid fire succession. He had waited too long with curiosity’ unquenched.
Rhodan observed the proceedings closely, trying to interpret what was going on, and in a low tone of voice he said, “It would seem to me that our fate is being decided. Certainly, he has some authority, or she wouldn’t yield so much ground to him. What a woman! It still escapes me how they can speak and understand our language so well. What do they mean by ‘the great Imperium’? It sounds to me as if mankind has lived for thousands of years alongside the most astounding events and been wholly ignorant all along of what was going on. That’s a frightening thought. Obviously, these are not the only intelligent creatures in the universe. There are tremendous possibilities here.”
“Pull yourself together, old man. We’re staying. This is a great game, even if it does seem ridiculous. These people must think in concepts far beyond our comprehension. They are accustomed to things whose mere mention would cause our statesmen on Earth to break out in uncontrolled weeping. Don’t let them notice your surprise. We must speak up while we have a chance. Here we are the representatives of mankind, and I would like very much to see mankind at last united, strong and mighty. Do you understand that?”
“Of course I do,” Bell replied. “But I’d also like to come out of this adventure alive.”
“I have an idea that Khrest is reaching a decision now. Look at that! Thora’s growing more and more meek and nervous by the minute. Something is happening. I can feel it. Just watch.”
Thora seemed to be beside herself. Her eyes, which so fascinated Rhodan, had become the colour of bronze. Khrest added something that sounded hard and decisive. In response she assumed an angular pose that impressed Rhodan as a respectful salute with which she honoured her superior.
He caught her enigmatic glance. She was pale and plainly disappointed. With no other ado, she turned and left the room, accompanied by the two hulking robot servants.
Then they were alone with Khrest. The two wraith-like forms, reclining glassy eyed on their cots, did not count.
Exhausted, Khrest had sunk back onto his couch. A feeble gesture of his hand urged Rhodan to step forward. He bent over the alien with a feeling of honest compassion. Only then, at close range, did he first realize that he had before him, in reality, a very old man. His ageless complexion
was a mask behind which many tales were left untold.
“Sir, I have an outstanding physician on my ship,” Rhodan insisted. “You must be examined and treated. You have not convinced me that you can find any help here. How long have you been on the moon?”
Khrest recovered somewhat. The sharp lines of exhaustion were now less pronounced. “We have been here for what you would call four months.” He hardly seemed to breathe. “It was an accident, an involuntary crash landing. However, we have made use of the opportunity to learn the predominant language of your planet. Improbable as it may seem to you, our brains are utterly unlike your own. We have photographic memories and the power of total recall. Of course, we were eavesdropping on your conversation. It was very simple. We have been monitoring your broadcasts for weeks, and from what we have heard, we were fortunate in not having landed on the third planet itself. You are about to commit a horrible transgression against the laws of life.”
“Atomic war—yes,” muttered Rhodan sadly. “It grieves me to have to admit it. The crisis is almost at the boiling point; but rest assured that mankind really doesn’t want this war.”
“But it will lead to it all the same. Our conclusion was, therefore, to regard your species as a still primitive form of life. I have now changed my opinion. You are young, curious and ambitious, with very receptive, lively minds. After careful consideration, I have officially classified you under developmental stage D. It is my prerogative to make such a decision. I have given Thora the command to enter this revision of your planet’s status in the memory banks of our positronic brain. I am the scientific leader of this expedition, Or that is what I imagine you would call me. Thora is responsible only for the effective operation of this ship. Can you understand this? Are there similar differences in your terrestrial chain of command?
Rhodan confirmed that there were.
“Your words have had direct influence on the classification system of the Imperium. Living creatures who have already undertaken the conquest of space may be upgraded by an authorized scientist. This I have done. Consequently Thora’s objections have become invalid and irrelevant. We may therefore take up contact with your species.” He smiled weekly, silent triumph shinning in his eyes. Rhodan understood.
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