by Perry Rhodan
"Hold off-not yet. Wait a moment, please." I turned around to Pucky, who sat with his eyes closed. "Where's Cardif now?" I asked.
"Clear signals, very strong. He's gliding down in a landing pattern."
Bell had overheard him so I said swiftly, "We'll follow him. Keep up your firing cover but stick to chemical charges or vibration heads. Are the Antis slowing down any?"
"Quite a bit. Their screen could be wiped out completely now."
"Just rip it open for me. Concentrate your fire on a couple of field projectors at the edge. I need an opening on the North side-you know our course. That's it for now, Bell."
Alkher dropped the jet in a glide. Antipolis was still 50 km away. I wondered at the lack of ground defenses. The city had been surrounded by four anti-spacecraft fortresses which we had destroyed but they had not been able to bring down a single attacking vessel. Why had the Baalols neglected to build up the planet into a massive citadel? Perhaps they had never figured on such a large-scale attack as this. The global energy shell might have withstood an assault by 1,000 ships or more but it had been no deterrent for 8,000 Terran warships whose commanders had been capable of coordinating a simultaneous bombardment. These barbarians of Terra were not to be matched when it came to formation tactics.
The closer we came the more clearly we saw the thin fingers of light darting downward from space. It was a gossamer filigree of fine ultra-blue, greenish and rosy lines which were forming a web of death. The Terran gunnery officers fired with incredible precision. It was a very rare instance when a raybeam would miss the high-arching energy dome and strike the ground adjacent to it. In such unprotected areas the impacts created glowing craters of molten lava but they were not radioactive.
I pondered the situation as we approached. Naturally it would be foolish to assume that the enemy was going to welcome us with open arms. And certainly they had no intention of opening their defense screen to the Arkonide Imperator merely because he had gotten it into his head that he wanted to catch a criminal. So either I had to come to terms with those seas of lava below or with the energy bell itself. If it did not open it would be impossible to penetrate it in our ship.
They'd probably let Cardif pass through although my logic told me that the god-priests could not be particularly delighted with their visitor. When Cardif was still able to play the role of Rhodan he had been useful to the Baalols. Now he would only be an increased danger for them as well as a surviving witness of their own misdeeds, provided the Antis had found out by now that we had discovered Cardif's deception.
Problems loomed on top of problems. As a teleporter Pucky had been rendered useless here. It was strain enough on him to be able to pick up the paranormal impulses of the cell activator. In this close proximity to so many Antis he became in reality what he had only appeared to be on the surface before: a small, lovable creature with a fragile frame and negligible physical strength. Without his psi capacities he was of less value in a military sense than a Terran schoolboy.
I was still working out the final details of my plan of operation when something happened that confirmed an uneasy premonition I had been trying to ignore. It turned out that the Antis were a little more prepared than we had assumed.
"Look out!" yelled Alkher. He pulled his control column full back and thumbed the red emergency button on its top end. The engines reacted with a howl but it was too late.
At the same time I saw two things simultaneously on the ground-surveillance screen. Down below were three tiny metallic shapes and they seemed to be pointing fiery fingers of energy toward us. In this dense portion of the atmosphere they were probably only half as swift as light, which enabled me to note their flashes just a fraction of a second before they reached us. In fact before my brain could fully register the optical impression our defense screen was ruptured. Two of the discharges had bolted past us harmlessly but the third shot from the mobile defense battery hit us directly.
The space-jet was knocked from its climbing course and whirled about so violently that the automatic inertial absorbers could hardly respond in time. A series of tremendous jolts threw us against our safety belts and simultaneously the deck under my feet seemed to explode. After another explosion that buckled the molecularly densified steel floor plates and made them glow white hot, the engines quit. The space-jet plunged downward.
We were not directly exposed to the thickly rising fumes and smoke because our individual screens were hermetically sealed spacesuits in themselves yet we could .no longer stay on board the ship. Alkher had been wounded. A flame of superheated reactor-plasma gas had partly gotten through his screen and caused severe burns. I saw his pain-twisted face but not a sound escaped his lips. Outside the shriek of the wind increased with our rate of descent. We had been hit at an altitude of about 10 km.
Without wasting any words I struck my fist against the canopy release switch. It still worked. With a dull 'crack!' the pressure cabin was kicked out of its braces. Darting free of the plunging spacecraft it hurtled away in a sweeping curve. At the moment we were still 3,000 meters or so above the ground. We waited for emergency power to come on automatically so that the antigravs would be activated but when nothing happened we understood.
At 1,000 meters altitude, Alkher shot the explosive bolts which released the roof, which still left us with our automatic catapult seats. They sprang free and again we separated from the falling wreck. But this time there was no inertial absorber to take up the shock of acceleration. I was compressed into my seat so violently that the air whooshed out of my lungs.
Even as I flew I looked around me. Pucky and Alkher had made it safely out of the cockpit capsule. In the distance we saw the space-jet crash. It went out in an atomic explosion which seemed to skitter the mobile defense units across the terrain. I released my safety belt and activated the flight system of my combat suit and everything was automatic after that. The suit's antigrav unit braked my fall. The jump seat swept away somewhere out of my sight.
Pucky and Alkher were close behind me. Our flight units were neutralizing the planet's pull, which in the equatorial region was measured at 1.08 gravs. I made hand signals to them. No doubt our helmet radios would have been jammed by the local interference. We were not very far from the dome-shaped screen over Antipolis, which was breaking down under the ceaseless bombardment. We glided downward and my feet finally touched ground in the midst of a thick forest. Alkher and the mouse-beaver followed.
I went over to take a look at the young officer. After he turned off his screen I examined his wounds. His left hip didn't look good. The burns were worse than I had thought. He was moaning in pain.
Meanwhile Pucky was trying in vain to detect the thought impulses of any approaching intelligences. "The Antis are jamming everything," he complained. "I can't be much help to you anymore. Without my special feelers what can I do? I'm just a little guy tagging along..."
"But you're a good little guy and a friend. Keep trying to locate that activator."
"Oh I'm onto that! Cardif is going to the city. His ship must be here somewhere close by."
I opened Alkher's first-aid kit, which was attached to his backpack. From the assortment of medicines I selected a pain reliever. The automatic hypodermic hissed as I released its contents into Alkher's arm.
"Alright, lad, in three minutes you won't feel anything but you'll be very groggy. You stay here and wait."
"Nonsense, sir."
"Not at all. I can't be responsible for taking you along in this condition. You wait here until help arrives."
His brown eyes pleaded. "Sir, I'll be alright. I don't feel any pain now. I can at least go along to cover your back."
"You stay! That's an order, Lieutenant!"
Pucky had risen on his flight unit to take a look around and now he landed again. He hurried over to me on his little short legs. "I've spotted Cardif's ship! It's about two km west of us in a basin. There's a river there."
Without a word I turned on Alkher's flight
unit. By now he was so groggy that he hardly knew what was happening. We made a swift low flight and in a few minutes reached the other space-jet. It was undamaged and deserted. It was with a sigh of relief that I finally placed Alkher on a collapsible contour couch.
"You are forbidden to take off, is that clear? Just don't try to fly anywhere. You are underestimating the effects of that pain drug. It has reduced your reaction timing to a minimum."
"I can feel what you mean, sir," he stammered with a heavy tongue.
I touched his face. He was going to need medical attention as quickly as possible.
A few moments later I turned on the small spaceship's powerful radio and called to the Fleet. The Ironduke answered immediately. Bell appeared on my spacecom screen.
"Well, at last!" he shouted in relief. "We saw the crash. Where are you?"
"In Cardif's ship. He is probably in the city already. We weren't able to catch him in time. Pucky and I are going after him."
"Are you crazy?!" he yelled. "They'll hunt you down like a couple of rabbits. It's bad enough that those characters already have one hostage on their hands."
"How is that? Do you know for sure that Rhodan is here?"
"I got an answer to my ultimatum five minutes ago. The Antis are angling for a truce. They want to think things over. Yes, Perry is in the city-unharmed!"
He said the last word while beaming with joy. I myself felt a sudden surge of gratitude. Now all was well.
"Go on, Bell."
"Well-so you know they'll be demanding all sorts of things in exchange for Perry's release. We haven't let one word leak out as yet-about Cardif's deception. What do you suggest?"
"Set down a space-landing division at once. Surround the city. Alkher needs help. Take care of him."
"OK-what else?"
"What's the status of their defense screen?"
"Shattered open in seven places. The northern sector is wide open. Where their projectors are knocked out the Antis can't build up the energy field again. So huffy it up-what else? I'm afraid they may be cooking up something we haven't figured out yet."
"Land your troops. I presume the Antis will make contact with Cardif first. At least they may hope to get some useful information from him if possible. Advise me immediately if anything unusual starts to happen. And one thing more: inform all crewmembers of the Fleet at once! Tell them the truth of the situation. It's possible that Cardif may try some more of his masquerading. If he gets support from the Antis he can make use of their transmitter and make himself heard on every ship! Don't think he's not capable of accusing you, me and the top command. If the troops get the idea that we've started a mutiny I wouldn't like to fall into their hands. Watch out for him, Bell! Don't underestimate Cardif or the Antis. They're not asking for a truce for nothing. When I give you the signal we agreed on, open fire on the southern hemisphere of what's left of the screen-but don't rake the northern section. That's where Pucky and I are going in. Have you got that?"
I heard him grumble but I cut the connection. Alkher was still conscious.
"Alkher, do you think you could be a relay station for me-for any incoming messages? I don't think my wrist transceiver will be enough."
"OK, sir. You can count on me." He raised himself up. The expression on his hard, lean face was determined.
Ah, these were men! Once more I wished that I had a few millions of them under my command. But there was no time now for such reflections. Pucky and I prepared ourselves.
We had lost our new combination 'persuaders' in the crash of our ship so we were back to normal weapons. That is, unless Pucky would still be able to use some of his own. I had no impulse-beamer in my holster. It was something else. Before leaving the Ironduke, Mercant had given me a handgun that had been considered the ultimate in Terran engineering prior to the advent of the energy weapons.
It consisted of a Russian automatic pistol with a 7.63-mm caliber barrel. The 'Topeff' fired little rocket missiles which were capable of generating an impact of 836 m/kg. The double magazine held 18 armor-piercing projectiles.
There was an optional adjustment for either explosive heads or normal firing.
7/ THE RETURN OF PERRY RHODAN
Three minutes before, the Ironduke had started an effective bombardment again, along with the super battleships Barbarossa and Drusus. It was the most precise planned position firing I had ever seen. Even in the days when I had been an admiral and task force chief of the Arkonide battle fleets I had considered such an exact concentration of fire to be impossible.
The two super-class ships attacking the southern half of the energy dome restricted themselves to the use of thermal impulse-guns. The Ironduke employed ultrasonic cannons whose cell-shaking high frequencies were getting through the Anti-field here and there and causing many of the Baalols to fall into a deep state of unconsciousness.
Prior to the surprise attack from the depths of the outer void, new information had reached me. Apparently the chief of the Trakarat god-priests had no name. He called himself the Supreme Baalol. He had tried to use delaying tactics with the Terran fleet's top command. Actually something was probably being plotted that would be damaging to us in the final outcome. Rhodan really seemed to be here on the homeworld of the Antis, which wasn't at all surprising to me. In fact the Baalols had acted so logically in this respect that no other conclusion had been worth considering.
Now there was an open state of war again. An inevitable result of the concentrated fire was that Perry Rhodan's position would be much more perilous. It was time to move in!
Pucky and I were hovering 500 meters above the northern defense perimeter. The subterranean screen projectors here had been so completely destroyed that any rapid repairs were out of the question. But in spite of this, large sections of the screen were still in operation.
We hadn't been able to approach the surface any closer since the terrain at the outskirts was still red hot from the previous attacks. Here and there we could still see bubbling craters of molten lava which were throwing up poisonous vapors and dangerous heatwaves. A storm had come up and it was only with an effort that we could remain aloft. Just before Bell's latest attack the city had been relatively calm. We had been able to observe a number of intelligences who seemed to be Arkonide or at least human types, to judge by outward appearances. But when the first impacts of the new bombardment were felt we could make out signs of a rising panic.
Now only a few minutes later many thousands of Antis were running in utter confusion through the wide streets of the magnificently planned city. A number of the typical pyramid buildings had collapsed and a surface fire was still burning where the first attack missile had exploded. Under such conditions it was not surprising that the Antis' paramental influence had begun to wane. Apparently most of them had more things to do than to stand motionlessly in one spot and link their mental powers with those of other Baalols. But it had not been possible to reinforce the energy dome with such powerful paranormal forces otherwise.
I still waited awhile before I called to Pucky. In spite of our special optical equipment it was not likely he could have seen me, since I had turned on my deflector screen. To normal eyes we were both invisible now. I did not suspect that the Baalol priests' faculties could also affect purely physical phenomena but actually we were not observed. For the moment I had no instrumental means of determining the situation with regard to the ground-tracking stations, which were certainly present in the area. But they apparently hadn't detected us or we wouldn't be alive. And there was no more reliable proof than that.
We flew swiftly through a wide rift in the field-structure of the energy dome. To the right and the left of us were blinding flashes of discharge lightning emanating from the crumbling field. We landed on the flat top of a building and saw nothing but chaos below. Some Antis were shouting at each other while others were trying to leave the city in surface vehicles.
"They're fighting!" exclaimed Pucky. "Nothing could be better for us."
He was right. Signs of serious disagreement were in evidence. Occasionally I could make out groups that seemed to be in combat with each other. Even the Antis were creatures endowed with an instinct of self-preservation. It would have been strange indeed if they had not been opposed to this fate that was crashing down upon them from the skies.
Probably for hours now the top leaders of Trakarat had been far below ground in their security bunkers. But that was only incidental to my main concern, which was Thomas Cardif. So far Pucky had been able to keep track of him successfully. Even though his psi faculties had been restricted here he could still pick up the hyper-plane impulses from the cell activator. He told me he sensed them as though they were a distant song which now and again would be drowned in peals of laughter.
I suspected that the last stage of developments was at hand. Cardif would no doubt be desperate by now, especially since the Antis must surely know that his role as Perry Rhodan had been played out. Of how much use would he still be to them now? What would they be willing to risk for him?
Nothing more!-said my logic sector. They'll probably try to do something with him. If the experiment fails they will drop him.
I was of the same opinion. But what would they try to achieve with Cardif? So far nothing had happened. Pucky was following his movements. He was somewhere in the center of the city.
We flew onward. The little one had taken hold of my hand so that he could guide my course. Our antigrav units functioned well except that we got into difficulties whenever a shockwave hit us. Overhead was a continuous thundering as we flew along over the burning buildings. Far to the south, perhaps nine or 10 km distant, the mighty ray bombardments of the super battleships were hammering at the screen. Even where we were we sensed some of the effects of the ultrasonics from the other guns.
The mouse-beaver spoke very little, being intent upon his quarry. He came to a stop over a broad plaza which was surrounded by magnificent buildings and parks. This time we landed on the curved roof of an exceptionally large dome structure.