Caves of the Druufs

by Perry Rhodan

  And even if the situation was not all that serious—it was difficult enough to spend hour after hour on a hostile planet wilderness, waiting for something to happen.

  It soon became obvious that Deringhouse had miscalculated the situation. Barely a half-hour had gone by after Pucky had jumped when the monotonous picture of the plain with its steeply projecting monoliths suddenly began to change. Out of a crevice that Deringhouse had taken to be a natural ground fissure, hordes of glistening, oddly shaped Druuf robots burst forth. His first impulse was to start the Gazelle and get out of there as quickly as possible. Then he saw that the robots were not a bit concerned with the Gazelle. They had a different target. They headed in a direction where, in Deringhouse's opinion, there was nothing more to be found then a few rock needles and, at best, the red lake. What actually commanded their attention Deringhouse was unable to see. After a few minutes of indecision he decided to continue waiting. It was dangerous to undertake anything haphazard in his position. The robots were paying no heed to the Gazelle, although they must have spotted it long ago. They had a specific goal to pursue and he thus had nothing to fear from them. The question was how would the situation change when, in addition to the robots, an organic Druuf would appear out of the crevice.

  Quite some time elapsed as Deringhouse thought it all over. He stared raptly at the robots as they vanished behind a rock needle and then reappeared beyond it, still heading towards the lake.

  Deringhouse raised his eyes and surveyed the surroundings. Something had subconsciously drawn his attention. When he regarded the other part of the panorama screen he saw what it was.

  Something was approaching from the south that looked like a brown wall. At first Deringhouse was baffled. Whatever it might be in reality, it looked compact and massive, as if a mighty giant were shoving an immense mud wall with considerable speed. Only after some time did it become clear that the upper half of the wall was made up of dense clouds and the lower half of whirling dust. It extended to the peaks of the rock needles. Deringhouse watched in horror as a few monoliths were swallowed up by the brown wall and disappeared.

  There could be no doubt about it: a monstrous storm was moving in from the south! Deringhouse saw the column of robots vanish in the brown dust. The picture on the panorama screen darkened visibly. Deringhouse estimated the velocity of the storm at about 250 to 300 kms/hour. Anticipating that the Gazelle would not withstand the storm without the help of the propulsion section, he began to make the necessary adjustments.

  Otherwise the storm suited him perfectly. It simply lessened the Druufs' prospects of discovering him. The longer the stormy weather lasted, the better for the Gazelle.

  • • •

  It was the 'Tommy' who had finally gotten things moving. He had been unconscious for a few hours. During that time his subordinates had discovered the escape of the prisoners and had initiated a few ineffectual measures to recapture them.

  According to the report received by the Tommy after he had reentered the scene, the Terranians had fled through the secret passage designated as escape route for the commander of the base and the top-ranking officers in times of enemy attack. Granted there had been no enemy attack for 200 Druufon years—as there were no more enemies in Druuf Space—the passage was nonetheless secret and the robots that had discovered it were programmed to inform no one of their discovery.

  So the Tommy had finally regained consciousness. He found that his suit had been stolen. However, the 'Oscar' he had been lying on still wore his. The Tommy saw that the Oscar had meanwhile died—either as a result of his wound or because the Tommy had crushed him. Whatever, the Tommy peeled off his suit and put it on himself. He did not feel particularly well. The blow delivered him by that insidious little creature was causing him terrible pain but the Tommy compensated for his lack of physical well being with a heightened sense of duty.

  He left the room in which he had been attacked, returned to his own office and sounded an alarm. He held a quick briefing with the officers and was informed of everything that had meanwhile transpired. The Terranians had apparently escaped to the upper world and they had possession of shock weapons. Thus it would be more advisable to have the robots recapture them. The Tommy ordered two companies of robots from four separate places to hunt for the fugitives. The order was carried out at once. Now the Tommy had time to tend to his wounds. He was convinced that everything was well taken care of and that it was only a matter of hours until the prisoners would again be in secure custody.

  He had not calculated on the storm that at that very moment was setting out far to the south to ravage part of the planet's surface with its devastating might.

  • • •

  It was incredible. Still, as often as they glanced over there in constant fear that the mirage might have disappeared—the picture remained. The Gazelle remained rooted to the spot. The robots ignored it, persistently storming towards the fugitives.

  Perry Rhodan briefly attempted to reach the Gazelle over helmcom. The attempt failed. The Druuf transmitter operated on unusual frequencies and there was no time remaining to continue to repeat the attempt until the communications man on board the scoutship accidentally tuned his receiver to the right place.

  Their direction was not determined. There was no more unclarity about what had to be done next. The question was now: how could it be done? Namely, how could they reach the Gazelle without running straight into the hands of the robots?

  Perry Rhodan only needed a few seconds to develop a plan. "We'll split up!" he decided. "At least that will confuse the robots for awhile. We'll take cover wherever possible and try to get over to the Gazelle. Some time or other they'll catch sight of us. They'll help us, get us on board. Don't think it over too long. We haven't a second to lose!"

  They knew that. If anyone could plan quickly and well, it was Perry Rhodan, who needed only a second to think over what took others a minute. Atlan the Arkonide, also familiar with Rhodan's ability of 'instant re-think', trusted it implicitly.

  They crept away from each other in all directions. The speed of their movements was in grotesque disproportion to the hurry they were in.

  Perry Rhodan did not veer from the path he had taken from the rock chamber. The robots were approaching from the left. There was some chance of reaching the shelter of the monolith before them and making himself seen by the Gazelle from there—but it was very slim.

  Panting, Perry Rhodan hoisted himself forward meter by meter. The distance between him and the robots reduced with every second. The metal mammoths were moving slowly in keeping with their specific time but each step was almost two meters long and the oppressive gravity of the methane planet did not seem to make any difference at all to them.

  Perry Rhodan thought he could feel the ground rumbling under the steps of the mechanical beings. He remained still a few seconds and raised his head. There seemed to be others coming from somewhere else. Indeed, at three other places he saw robots appearing out of cracks in the ground and rock doorways. But they were much too distant to cause the rumbling.

  Bewildered, he turned to the other side and there he saw the cause of the rumbling. A gigantic, dirty brown wall was rushing at him with terrifying speed. He expected it to swallow first the robots, then him at any moment. But when he looked at the foot of the wall he realized that it was still a few kilometers away and much larger than he had at first assumed. It actually towered above the highest of the rocky peaks.

  At that moment the robots discovered that the prisoners had separated. Confusion set in among them. A few minutes passed before they agreed to separate as well and pursue each prisoner individually.

  Rhodan took advantage of the time. With superhuman strength he jerked forward and won several meters headway. This was soon of no consequence, however, as the robots implemented their new tactic. With slow but long steps they went after him and now it really seemed as if there would be no salvation if the storm did not reach them in time.

  •
• •

  When the storm seized him at the proper angle, Rhodan simply let go and rolled with the might of the wind across the plain. What luck that it was perfectly smooth and that no bits of rock were lying about! Otherwise it would have simply been a matter of minutes until his suit would tear, exposing him defenseless to the toxic, dusty atmosphere of the methane planet.

  All around him was darkness. The storm had come with a vehemence that he had only experienced once before on Grautier after the Arkonide bombardment. Were he his normal weight, no amount of clinging would have helped. He would have been lifted and blown away.

  He had wished for the storm to come in order to reach the Gazelle unharmed in the cover of darkness. But now he cursed it and was not even sure that he could keep his direction in the dark.

  The robots were completely out of sight. They did have better vision than he did and the world would not seem so black to them, even in the midst of a storm. However, they had a different handicap, they had to stay erect and thus presented the wind a large surface to attack. Perry Rhodan did not know if the strength of a robot was sufficient to defy this world-ending storm.

  Blindly he placed one knee before the other. He estimated that he had long since covered the 600 meters from the monolith housing the chamber. But in a radius of half a meter, as far as he could look, there was no incline to be seen.

  Perry Rhodan did not know if he could endure the strain. His own weight tugged at his arms and more than once he came within a hairsbreadth of simply letting go and flying away with the wind. Occasionally he attempted to speak to his companions but the drumming of the dust against his helmet prevented him from even understanding his own words.

  He felt a new squall that blew at the correct angle, and let go. The wind carried him away. Rhodan frantically moved his head to keep the helmet's view panel from hitting the ground. After a few seconds the squall diminished and it was time to seek another steady support so that the next gust would not drive him in the wrong direction. He stretched out his arms in an attempt to lessen his momentum and grab hold of something. Before he could manage, though, he slammed against a solid obstacle. For a few seconds he was so dazed that he was unable to move. Then he realized that the obstacle he had backed up against was seeing to it that the storm could do him no harm.

  At last he had a look around. Behind him a dark wall cut steeply into the darkness. The rock needle! He had not lost the way. He was still headed in the right direction. If the storm had not appeared, he would have only had to go another 500 meters before arriving at the place where he could attract the attention of the Gazelle.

  A fierce joy welled up in him. He was halfway there. Now he only had to crawl a short stretch, then remain motionless and wait out the end of the storm.

  As this went through his mind, something hit the rock near him with a thundering crash. Instinctively he ducked and felt a shower of heavy little pieces rattle down on his helmet and suit. Nothing more happened, so he sat up again and gazed in astonishment at a piece of dented metal with a silver shimmer lying exactly in front of his eyes.

  Doubtlessly it had still been some component of a robot a few seconds ago. The storm had clutched the erect robot and flung it against the boulder. The battered piece of metal was one of the few things that had remained.

  If only that had fared all so badly! Perry Rhodan hoped. Then, suddenly, an acrid stench rose to his nostrils. Ammonia! He did not have to think long about what this meant, his suit was not airtight! One of the metal slivers must have penetrated the synthetic folds and the poisonous air of the planet was pouring through the hole.

  The robot had still achieved his goal in death!

  • • •

  At first the Tommy was not willing to believe that the storm could hinder the search in any way. After all, in this hellish world there was a murderous storm every two Druufon days on the average and the work of the base had never been affected by them.

  He had meanwhile received the highly bewildering report that two alien beings had been apprehended at almost the same spot in an outer passage of the base and that they had been taken into custody. One of the creatures looked like a Terranian, only his skin was as dark as a Druuf's, the other creature did not look like anything the Druufs had ever set eyes upon. Both were wearing spacesuits tailored to their body proportions and no one knew how the two of them had entered the cavern. The 'Mike' that had stunned them by means of shockray and taken them prisoner, claimed that they had appeared out of thin air. That, of course, was nonsense.

  The Tommy considered it important to have a look at the new prisoners. He rode the conveyer strip to the place of their confinement and inspected them. First of all he realized that the description he had gotten was correct. One of the prisoners was doubtlessly a Terranian, while the other was, by Druuf aesthetic standards, a genuine nightmare.

  The Terranian was still unconscious whereas the nightmare had already regained consciousness. Through the plastic dome of his helmet he glared malevolently at the Tommy.

  The Tommy was accompanied by several officers. Suspiciously he circled the curious creature and regarded it from all sides. The prisoner followed his gaze. His mouth was open, revealing one single tooth, but a gigantic one.

  The Tommy felt very ill at ease. His uneasiness kept him from noticing that his weight was gradually reducing. He only became aware of it when, quite involuntarily, he lifted from the floor and slowly drifted to the ceiling. Instinctively he had the feeling that the strange prisoner was responsible for this incident. He became enraged and kicked the odd creature. His kick landed below the helmet on the neck. The attack was powerful enough to lift the little creature from the floor and hurl him against the wall. He seemed to lose consciousness, sinking down the wall and remaining motionless with closed eyes.

  All at once the Tommy plunged to the floor. This happened so quickly that in the confusion no one noticed that the Terranian prisoner had just regained consciousness. He moved his head with utmost caution so as to attract no attention and looked around. The nightmarish creature that had received a kick from the Tommy also opened his eyes.

  The glances of the two prisoners met. They needed no words to communicate. Simultaneously they activated the extra sections of their brains and disappeared before the Tommy and his officers understood what had actually happened.

  When they noticed, they could not believe their eyes. The room they were in was locked. There was no way for the prisoners to slip past them unnoticed. There was no exit other than the usual airlock. Still the prisoners had vanished without a sound or trace.

  The Tommy began to consider the possibility that the blow he had received had damaged some part of his brain, overlooking the fact that his officers had made the same observations.

  • • •

  The hole was on the lower left arm. It could be held shut with the right hand to prevent any more ammonia from seeping in but then he would no longer be able to crawl.

  Nonetheless Perry Rhodan tried.

  The storm had not slackened. With undiminished impetus it swept across the plain, howling as it broke against the monoliths. The dust rained down on his helmet as before and suffocated every other sound.

  Rhodan shoved his way out from under the rock, let himself be caught up by the squall and whirled away. He pressed one finger of his right hand against the hole with all his might and, while rolling, tried to determine by the intensity of the ammonia smell whether his measure was successful. The odor did not become stronger but even as it was, it sufficed to cause pains in his nose and to stimulate constant sneezes.

  He did not know how long he was jostled by the wind before he got stuck at the next obstacle, a gentle recess that drew across the plain like a furrow. It provided sonic shelter from the storm, but Rhodan could not remember having ever seen that furrow before. It certainly did not lie in the direction of the Gazelle.

  The ammonia dried out his mouth. He attempted to speak but was unable to produce a single wo
rd, His strength was at an end. He knew that he was lost if a miracle did not occur—and he had never in his life been a man to believe in miracles.

  He tumbled out of the furrow and was picked up by the new squall. Ordering no resistance, he allowed himself to be tossed over the rocky ground, shoulder over shoulder, his head high to safeguard the helmet, his hand pressed to the hole in the sleeve.

  Interminably long. He became dizzy. Nausea plagued his stomach. The salivary glands of his mouth did their utmost. Saliva trickled down his cheeks.

  Then all at once he stopped. He was surrounded by some sticky, swishing liquid. He glanced around and discovered that he had arrived again at the shore of the red lake. He had moved in a circle. The storm had driven him back to the place from which he had set out to reach the Gazelle.

  This was the end!

  • • •

  Deringhouse was almost overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events. At a moment when he least expected it, Pucky and Ras Tschubai returned together. Ras Tschubai gave him a brief report while Pucky retired to one corner of the Command Room and seemed to be listening to something. Tschubai had not yet finished his report when Pucky interrupted him in a high, lisping voice to state that he could pick up the thoughts of four Terranians in the vicinity of the Gazelle and that they were beyond doubt the four that had been missing since the catastrophe of Grautier.

  The mouse-beaver, whose head was still throbbing from the severe kick it had received, stated this with supreme casualness, then instantly disappeared without having been instructed to do so. When he reappeared, some being clad in a strange outfit was clinging to him. He stood up.