by Perry Rhodan
Even if this were so, the enemy still hadn't realized that in capturing Thekus he had really caught a robot. Otherwise he would know that the robot was in constant contact with the pursuers and that actually there was no safe place to hide.
These thoughts ran through Ron's head as the aircar swept along the edge of the brilliantly lit landing field. Either in the air or on the ground the vehicle was not allowed to penetrate the spaceport area itself. He landed in front of a string of administration buildings which were larger and more imposing than those at Tourhathon-North, because at Farthor passenger traffic was also handled. He let his car turn back to Tourhathon and entered the main reception lobby. At one of the counter booths he applied for a permit for entering the landing area. They asked him what ship he wanted to visit. When he told them the simple truth, a call to the K-3605 confirmed that Nike Quinto was on board and that the visitor was welcome.
A robot clerk at the counter made out a pass for him which authorized him to visit the designated ship. Ron took an air bus that serviced the runway area he wanted and asked to be let out within 200 meters of the K-3605. According to field regulations the ship was night-lighted. A quarter of an hour after Ron had sent his aircar back to Tourhathon, he stepped onto the conveyor ramp that led up to the entrance lock of the Corvette.
No one received him. He went through passages on moving floor belts and reached the control room where Nike Quinto was waiting for him, together with Larry Randall and Lofty Patterson. Meech Hannigan was missing.
"Finally!" cried Quinto when he saw him. "Where's your Mokoki—or whatever that thing is called?"
Ron sat down first and then gave his report. Quinto didn't make any open show of being impressed but those who knew him could tell by the increasing ruddiness of his face that he was excited by the information.
"Carba," he half-whispered finally. "The House of Minterol—who would have thought of that!" He turned suddenly and beckoned to Ron. "Follow me."
As Ron complied, Quinto opened a bulkhead hatch at one side of the control room to reveal a scene that was similar to what he had seen a few hours before in the cone-shaped dwelling on Arkon 1. Meech Hannigan sat before a row of instrument consoles and was watching them intently. His main interest was focused on a medium-sized video receiver.
To say the least the scene on the screen was impressive. It revealed a wide, hall-sized room which was partially obscured by darkness in the background. However there was a type of arc lamp which brightly illuminated the foreground. Three chairs were arranged around a table. In two of the chairs were men whom Ron had never seen before—one of them Arkonide, the other from some indeterminate race.
In the third chair was the robot, Thekus.
• • •
"It's in one of those storage sheds across the way," Quinto whispered in order not to distract Meech from his work. "We know exactly where but so far there's been no reason to move in. We may be able to learn something. They've just now started their conversation. So far, nothing of interest."
Sitting diagonally across from Thekus to his right, the Arkonide leaned forward. Ron heard his irritated voice in the speaker.
"This isn't getting us anywhere, Admiral. We've worked together for three whole years. You can't just sit there and deny that you know me."
The robot turned his head toward the other with a slow dignity that was becoming of a Lord Admiral. As Ron caught his profile he saw a trace of boredom and disgust in his expression. "I don't know what purpose it serves to doubt my words," answered Thekus. "I do not know you—neither you nor that other bandit over there!"
Nike Quinto clapped Ron enthusiastically on the shoulder and Ron heard him snort as though in glee. He could understand his excitement. Thekus was handling himself splendidly although he was in a dangerous situation. The people he was dealing with now had all been known to the true Admiral Thekus but Thekus had taken his memory of them with him in death. Therefore the robot was lacking the necessary information to meet the situation without special help.
"Perhaps they damaged his brain during the operation," interjected the other man. He spoke perfect Arkonide. There was no trace of an accent that might have indicated where he came from. "He should be put under examination, Arfar."
The Arkonide called Arfar made a deprecating gesture. "We have that more or less in mind but there's no time for it now. Anyway, this is nonsense. He knows everything else; why should he forget just us?"
Ron had been startled. Arfar—the name was familiar. A high military official in the Arkonide space fleet went by that name. Unfortunately neither Ron nor Nike Quinto had ever seen a picture of him. Could this man who was questioning Thekus now be that same official?
Ron called out a command to Meech. "Test parens A parens 2-2-8 comma 2-2-8 comma 3-0-0."
Ron had extensive parts of Thekus' program in his memory. Giving the instruction to Meech in positronic language saved him at least half a second in translation time—and half a second could be strategic during an interrogation like this.
On the viewscreen Thekus tilted his head slightly as though he were listening, and in a sense that was what he was actually doing. Meech transmitted the command and Thekus activated a new part of his program.
It was a blunt ruse. "You don't mean to tell me," said Thekus, "that you are the same Arfar who manages billions of sums of money for the Arkonide Fleet in the service of His Highness?"
Arfar seemed to lose his patience. He sprang to his feet. For an Arkonide he was surprisingly capable of emotion. "This is too much!" he shouted angrily. "You know me well enough to know which Arfar I am!"
A-0, decided the positronic logic. The test showed no result. But the program was on a loop that brought Thekus back to the original command. The index number had advanced one bit, which called for another ruse.
Thekus smiled. "I knew you couldn't be the top official I was alluding to. Unfortunately I've never seen him, but that Arfar is not the kind of man who would get into such dirty dealings."
Now Arfar was close to Thekus' chair. He banged his fist down on the armrest and shouted at him.. "Don't you worry about my morality—you worry about your own!"
A is greater than zero, decided the positronicon. The test had succeeded. "My morality" had been the key words.
The rest proceeded automatically. In the course of the next 10 minutes everything concerning the director-general, Arfar, that was available from the K-3605 was dumped into Thekus' memory units. It was more than the actual Thekus had ever known about his colleague. On the other hand, of course, certain details were missing, such as Arfar's underground activities which had never been observed or recorded.
Nike Quinto again clapped Ron on the shoulder appreciatively. "Well done!" he whispered. Which was surprising because Quinto was not in the habit of singing praises.
The conversation revealed by the viewscreen continued. With the exception of a few inserted remarks the non-Arkonide remained silent. The exchange of words was between Arfar and Thekus. But enough was said that the other man's name was revealed to be Melaal. Even that, however, provided no indication of his origin.
Now that Thekus knew the person he was dealing with, he dropped some of his reserve. He did it slowly and skilfully enough to keep Arfar on edge continuously, as the latter wanted to come swiftly to the core of the matter. The Arkonide had gone back to his seat again and he kept interrupting Thekus' long-winded but finely-turned phrases. Merely from what Ron could immediately grasp, without making a tedious backplay of the recordings, it became clear that Arfar and Thekus were both members of a revolutionary movement—or at least had been. The goal of the movement was to reform the Arkonide Imperium. The first step of the reformation was to depose Imperator Gonozal VIII but what was to develop after that was not made clear by the conversation.
Something else came to the surface instead. Lord Admiral Thekus had suddenly refused to be associated with the activity. He didn't seem to be in agreement with the objectives any longer, much
less the methods employed, and as Arfar crudely expressed it, he had bailed out. But for the conspirators it had become too dangerous to let Thekus continue, considering his inside knowledge of the situation. So they had "taken care" of him.
"You still have one foot in the grave," warned Arfar, using a Terran expression that had become popular on Arkon. "Our plans have been changed where you are concerned. But not enough to where we wouldn't get rid of you again, right here and now, if you cross us. So get used to the idea that from here on you're only playing a minor role in our little production."
Thekus nodded pleasantly as though he'd been paid a compliment.
Arfar continued angrily. "Now tell me once and for all, what made you so skittish all of a sudden?"
At this point Thekus made a mistake. As a robot he was programmed to always relate to the last-mentioned point of a conversation where the objective wasn't definite. Also, this made him grasp the general meaning of a sentence whereas he might not clearly judge certain specific words. For Thekus the word "skittish" referred to his attitude during the present interrogation. He was thinking that Arfar wanted to know why he had been reluctant to recognize him.
So he answered: "It's entirely my own business whom I choose to recognize. In your case I had at first decided against it. Am I responsible to you for that?"
Ron held his breath. Arfar obviously wanted to know why Thekus had suddenly become unfaithful to the reform movement. Thekus had misunderstood! But the danger-point passed. Arfar apparently considered the answer as another evasion and paid little heed.
"I don't mean that!" he exclaimed, making an impatient gesture with his hands. "I want to know why you suddenly turned your back on us.
Ron also noted that the man named Melaal had not reacted to Thekus' mistake.
In a perfectly simulated gesture, Thekus scratched his chin. "Well," he said hesitantly, "I've already given you my statements concerning that. Why should I explain it all again?"
Arfar waved both arms in the air. For an Arkonide he was unusually active and quick. "You are to tell me the truth!" he shouted. "I don't want to hear that you don't happen to like the new setup of the Finance Committee or that you see a danger for the revolution if we don't have the right man in the finance posts. I want to know why you've really bailed out!"
Thekus did not answer. Naturally he didn't know why the real Lord Admiral had turned his back on the conspirators. But his hesitation led to an unexpected development.
"Don't our alien accomplices suit you?" asked Arfar, obviously trying to give the prisoner an opening.
Ron almost jumped. Aliens! Who were the alien accomplices? Were non-Arkonides taking strategic positions in this revolution? He waited tensely for the robot's answer—forgetting that Thekus had no answer to give because he didn't know what the real Thekus had had on his mind.
The observers on board the K-3605 momentarily forgot the true situation. For just a few seconds they regarded their robot decoy as the Lord Admiral of the Imperial Fleet who was about to make a sensational revelation. And it almost cost the machine entity its semi-bionic existence.
It came as a complete surprise that the second interrogator Melaal suddenly asked a question. It was an oblique question, actually. He leaned forward and shot it directly at Thekus. "What do you know about Belubal?"
Thekus' head jerked around to stare at the man. Ron caught the mask-like rigidity of his expressionless face. Here was the dreaded trap!
Who was Belubal?
Ron had never heard the name. Thekus couldn't use the same old routine that he didn't know. It would have been a giveaway. The conspiracy hadn't chosen dummies to cross-examine the Lord Admiral.
Who was Belubal? A kingdom for the right answer!
Nike Quinto's shrill voice shouted next to Ron's ear. "Out! Cut him off! Make him pass out!"
Meech Hannigan followed the order with robotic swiftness. He pressed a button-switch. Ron could hear its click.
On the viewscreen, Thekus was seen to slump. He had become "unconscious".
• • •
When they left the observation room, Nike Quinto wiped the sweat from his brow. "We almost lost the whole ballgame there," he groaned. "Glord—my blood pressure! I think my heart has hit the ceiling!" He pressed a hand to his skull. "Now who in the devil is Belubal?" he wailed.
Larry and Lofty looked up from their work. In front of Larry were some sheets of paper on which he had been working out a block diagram for a new robot program. Lofty had been watching over his shoulder in order to learn the technique. Although they asked no questions it was obvious by their expressions that they wanted to know what had happened.
"I don't know," said Ron. "We ought to make some inquiries on Arkon 1."
Quinto nodded in agreement as he turned to Larry. "Randall, find out if there's anything in the records of His Eminence referring to a certain Belubal. Make it a priority call. We need the data in a couple of minutes."
Ron looked back toward the door of the observation room, which he had closed behind him. "Is Meech going to keep monitoring?" he asked. "They could get the idea of calling a doctor."
Quinto waved a hand in rejection. "Don't worry, Meech is staying with it. Probably all a doctor would do would be to feel his pulse, and his pulse works perfectly. I don't think that a doctor looking for the cause of fainting would find out that Thekus is a robot. And besides, an empty warehouse isn't exactly the place to find a doctor handy."
Ron searched his memory for any clue that might cast light on the mystery of Belubal. Belubal was not an Arkonide name. Where did the man come from? And what had the actual Thekus had to do with him?
"You know," said Quinto, interrupting his train of thought, "this Melaal character doesn't especially appeal to me. He's sneaky. I wouldn't be surprised if he's seen through Thekus by now."
Ron was only listening with half an ear because he was still preoccupied with thoughts concerning Belubal. He didn't look up when the bulkhead hatch hummed and slid to one side. He was only alerted to the fact when he heard Quinto's shrill voice.
"Sergeant, why have you left your post?"
Meech Hannigan stood in the open doorway of the observation room. He gave a regulation salute. "Excuse me, sir," he answered calmly. "At the moment there's nothing to observe. The two men have left the storehouse and Thekus is still unconscious. But sir—would you permit me to make a remark?"
Quinto signaled him to speak. "OK, Meech, let's have it!"
"As you know, sir, I am conversant with a number of languages and dialects. I have heard the name Belubal and I think I know what dialect it belongs to."
"Dialect?" asked Quinto, amazed. "First tell me what Language!"
Unperturbedly, Meech continued. "Actually, dialect isn't quite the right term for it, sir. We call high-spoken Arkonide a language and consider anything related to it as dialect. Our science of philology should give us some better terminology in such cases."
Ron thought impatiently that Meech could often be stuffy and long-winded. But in the next second it came to him what Meech was getting at. It filled him with a searing shock of sudden fright.
"In reality there is an older language than Arkonide," the robot concluded. "And that's where the name Belubal comes from. The language is Akonide...
7/ THE ADMIRAL DIES TWICE
For one long moment they were all flabbergasted.
The Akons!
The mysterious inhabitants of the Blue System, the Arkonide mother race and the secret enemies of the Solar Imperium! If Akons had taken part in the conspiracy on Arkon 1, then the danger was very critical—a red alert!
However, Nike Quinto did not want to jump the gun before he learned more. Terra had to be notified at once but he didn't want to set off a false alarm. He questioned Meech Hannigan closely to find out how he had caught the significance of the name Belubal. Meech had a thorough knowledge of the Akon language and with what Quinto himself knew about it he was able to follow him sufficiently in his expl
anation to realize that he had not made a mistake. And of course it would have been very unusual for a robot to be mistaken.
So Belubal was an Akon, and he was involved in the conspiracy. Quinto sent Meech back to his post while he prepared a coded dispatch for directional beam transmission to Earth. Within a few minutes the message went out. Practically in the same instant it would be received on Earth without giving anybody time to intercept or decipher it.
Nike Quinto gave a sigh of relief. At least that was off his chest.
Meech Hannigan announced over the intercom that Thekus had "come to" again and that the 2 conspirators had come back. Ron Landry and Nike Quinto went in and resumed their places in the observation room.
• • •
Melaal's face was impenetrable as he looked at Thekus. The robot played his part perfectly. His eyes appeared to be dazed as he opened them. He looked about him in confusion while his lips parted to barely whisper.
"Where...where am I?"
Arfar grasped him roughly by the shoulder and straightened him up. "You are here!" he fairly snarled at him. "In front of me!" As Thekus looked at him unflinchingly he demanded: "What about Belubal?"
There was the question again. So far all Thekus knew was that Belubal was an Akon name. Larry Randall's investigation hadn't uncovered anything more. Was it possible to get somewhere with the mere knowledge of the origin of a name? Ron bent forward and gave Meech an instruction in positronic program language. Meech responded at once.
On the viewscreen, Thekus laughed quietly. "Belubal the Akon," he said thoughtfully as though just now remembering the name. "That person!" he added scornfully.
"He is one of our most important men!" shouted Arfar angrily. "If we didn't have him..."
Nobody found out what would happen if the plotters did not have the Akon, Belubal. There was an interruption. In the rear of the big room there was a sound of hasty footsteps. At first all that could be seen on the viewscreen was a vague shadow which quickly took form however. The man who approached came directly into the picture-generating hyper-field that Thekus was radiating. Then he stepped into the light of the arc lamp and Ron recognized him.