by Perry Rhodan
The same text was transmitted simultaneously through the loudspeaker in the large room.
Rhodan looked around as if uninterested. It took a few moments until the speechless listeners detected his grin.
"What do you know! Nyssen has promoted himself to Admiral and me to Exalted Chief Administrator."
"I've never seen such impudence!" screamed Thora, completely beside herself and trembling all over. "How do you dare use the venerable titles of my country for your purposes? You barbarian! You underdeveloped thing!"
She fell silent when she saw Khrest shrugging his shoulders. The great scientist was sitting on a swivel chair beside the red-haired member of the human race, hiding his face in his hands. Bell bellowed in a manner that would have earned little respect and honor for the Security Minister of the New Power.
Thora recoiled in disgust. Her beautiful eyes sparkled. This was too much for her. And worst of all, even Khrest was forgetting his dignified attitude.
"I hate you!" she cried, her face flushed with anger.
Captain Klein escorted the Arkonide woman, who'd gone completely to pieces, Out of the communication center.
"Thank God," sighed Rhodan. "Isn't she wonderful? At least she's honest, and I always appreciate that. She could be a woman from our planet."
Khrest looked up suddenly. A faint smile adorned the lips of the old man. "Perry, that was the finest compliment you could've paid to a woman of my race. Really."
Never before had the men seen their commander so embarrassed.
"Forget it, please," said Rhodan, choking slightly. There was a gleam in his eyes. Then he abruptly turned around to the radio technicians of the hypercom-transmitter, to whom he indicated the answering message be sent via beam transmission:
Rhodan to Admiral of the Fleet Nyssen. Rush all preparations and take off immediately. Order Stage One alarm. Be ready for massed attack on Topide units. Rendezvous in vicinity of 38th planet of Vega system. Courier ship to return at once. End message from Rhodan, Chief Administrator on Capella 5.
Minutes later the coded message was racing from the powerful beam-transmitters of the battleship. Everything possible had been done.
"I'm going mad," mumbled Bell. With how many battleships is Nyssen dropping in? Twenty-two of them? listen, chief, I must say..."
"Cut it out," interrupted Rhodan quickly. "We've come to the crucial point. Has Nyssen's message been picked up on the six moons? From a technical standpoint it's safe to assume that it can be done. Nyssen has moved five hundred light-years out into space. The scattering effect of the beam over this distance was sufficient. Since the Topides are familiar with the code, Chaktor will find the ground well prepared on his arrival. If he hands over, on top of that, the documents purporting to show the position of our home world, I'd have to see the fleet commander who doesn't take immediate action. We're going to beat them precisely because they're always such logical thinkers. That'll be the end of it. We can't afford to exchange any more than these two messages. That would only serve to create suspicion."
"What if the Topides failed to receive the message or were unable to decode it?" inquired Khrest, who was still worried.
"But they did get it! They've cracked the code, although we don't have to know it. There's no reason why it should make them suspicious. Furthermore, the must realize that we can't originate from tired Arkon, where nobody is left with enough ambition to undertake such a venture. If the Topide admiral is smart, he'll leave in a great hurry. He's well aware that he has nothing to match our Stardust. What a calamity he'd be in if he were to wait for a whole fleet of these colossal ships!"
7/ AS IF THE UNIVERSE HAD COME TO AN END
Ferrol, the eighth planet of the Vega system and the main world of an intelligent race, required barely twenty-four hours of Terrestrial time to put all available elements of its fleet into space.
It was a vast quantity of those egg-shaped spaceships which had performed so poorly under the first onslaught of the Topides. They weren't equipped with the energized defense screens. The armament was unsatisfactory since they had none of the beam cannons which functioned with lightning-fast pulse-energy effects. Only a very few units had been fitted out with Arkonide thermo-weapons.
Besides, the Ferronian ships were too slow and much too cumbersome for the indispensable maneuvers. Almost ninety-nine percent of the ships on hand needed one hundred hours of Terrestrial time to attain the simple velocity of light. This was because of the low density application of quanta impulses. The incomparable dependability of the proven engines represented little advantage.
The Thort had looked upon Chaktor's desertion as a great historical catastrophe. While Rhodan was out in space on Stardust II, the Thort called for a merciless investigation by the police and Secret Service on Ferrol and the neighboring colony Rofus.
The existing opposition group had committed criminal acts to overthrow the lawful government of the Thort.
However, Rhodan wasn't present during these searches. Moreover, he didn't consider it advisable to inform the Thort at this time that Chaktor was acting as "double agent." This matter had really nothing to do with the resistance movement.
Thus the fleet of Ferrol had formed its echelons deeply staggered in space. They amounted to nothing more than a pitiful, technically inadequate reserve for a single Arkonide battleship which, at full thrust, reached the speed of light within ten minutes.
In the tremendous expanse of the Vega constellation the fortieth planet was situated at a mean distance of twenty-eight billion miles from its sun. In free fall and at 99.5 percent of the simple velocity of light, it would take the Stardust - including the acceleration and braking operation - about 48.8 standard hours time to travel to the fortieth satellite.
A transition in the region of the hyper-continuum in the fifth dimension would have taken only a moment but Rhodan had to give up the idea in the scope of the overall planning. It would have been extremely foolhardy to leap to the six moons with just one spaceship. There was no way of knowing how many of the Topide units had been assembled there.
Naturally, the fleet of the aliens didn't stand a chance against the Arkonide super-giant. Unless they accidentally scored a hit. Only a stupid accident or malicious fate could make the Topides victorious.
But Rhodan had to take all possibilities into account. He couldn't exclude the possibility that the Topides might have captured a few other Arkonide spaceships. After all, they'd seized the Stardust II and had held it temporarily.
This reflection had been the principal reason for the very involved, deceptive ruse. he'd devised. Although the super-battleship was adequately manned, there was on the other hand, not sufficient manpower to spare for the concurrent deployment of the eight available auxiliary ships.
His crew of three hundred trained men was just enough to handle the battleship properly. The big auxiliary ships had to remain in their hangars. At best, he could have managed a lightning-fast sortie of a space fighter group but these pilots would have been missed in the full performance of the ship's operation.
These were truly problems which couldn't be solved in an off hand manner.
The spherical giant had advanced beyond the orbit of the thirty-ninth planet in slightly over forty-eight hours. The bright point of Number Forty already glittered on the contour screen of the location sensors.
The mathematical evaluation of Chaktor's flight had been determined. The positronic computer on board had accurately calculated the data. There was no margin for error in this respect.
Consequently, Chaktor's destroyer had been passed, notwithstanding the fact that he had twenty-four hours headstart. Whereas the Stardust II was still proceeding close to the speed of light, Chaktor had already been decelerating for the last twenty hours.
This meant - according to the evaluation - that the radio message he'd sent to the Topide fleet commander had been received forty-four hours prior to his own arrival.
These forty-four hours were the time-diff
erential between the acceleration and deceleration rates and the radio transmission at the speed of light, a factor which hadn't been overlooked on the Stardust.
The auxiliary ship S-7 under the command of Major Nyssen had returned to Ferrol shortly before Rhodan's start. Nyssen had strained the engines of his little ship to the limit. However, both of the high-grade transitions had been performed perfectly. Rhodan's answer through the hypercom had been heard - loud and clear - on board the S-7. So the order for the immediate start of the alleged Capella fleet should have been picked up on the fortieth planet.
It was a desperate situation with many unknown factors. The pressure was mounting steadily for the urgent solution of the precarious equation. The Topides had to be compelled to evacuate the Vega system now, or they would find the Earth sooner or later.
Perry Rhodan had taken up his position at his battle station an hour before. The optical monitoring screens of the scanning system were glowing before him. The total surveillance also included the contour screen panels of the variable energy locators and the ultra-light-speed sensors.
They already delineated the fast-nearing planet sharply and accurately. Far behind the ship - shrunk to a harmless looking ball of light - the superstar Vega appeared suspended in the deep black void of the universe.
Only the highly sensitive instruments were able to differentiate the fortieth planet from the countless other points of lights. There were billions of suns in the galaxy. The profusion of stars was filling the field of vision. Among the multitudes was also a world which had no light of its own. This was Planet Forty, the huge icy sphere which received but little warmth from the distant Vega.
"Brake retardation in eight seconds," rang out the metallic sound of the automatic navigation control loudspeaker.
Rhodan looked upward. The array and complexity of instruments and control mechanisms was bewildering. Nonetheless, it was in Rhodan's power to control from his high-backed pilot seat the most important operations. Next to him, in the copilot's seat, sat Reginald Bell.
Captain Klein had assumed command of the firing control center. Khrest and Thora were assigned to a positronic computer for specific applications such as instantaneous evaluation of sudden occurrences fraught with danger. The mutants were waiting, ready for action, at their reserve posts in the control center.
All essential departments were hooked up to the small control screen panels in front of Rhodan's seat. The engine control room had already given the all clear signal some time ago. The energy center was set for manual operation and the weapon turrets had been slid out.
Thus, the smooth unbroken line of the hull's curvature had been studded with numerous bulges and protrusions. There were no personnel whatsoever in the turrets, since all firing was directed automatically by Captain Klein. He was aware that he was holding in his hands the greatest power of all times. His control panel was of such limited size that it made an almost ludicrous impression but, belying its appearance, every button could bring death to millions. The Arkonides had created veritable monsters when they built these vessels of the Imperium class. They were capable of destroying entire worlds and indeed had been used to establish the interstellar empire of the Arkonides.
At the end of exactly eight seconds the mighty body of Stardust II began to reverberate. Power Stations I and II had all reactors running at maximum output. Moments later, flashing light signals indicated the generation of the required pressure absorption field.
Rhodan handled the controls with steady movements of his hands. He could have done it in his sleep. On the largest of the observation screens before him he could see the space sector directly ahead of the ship.
"Orientation Section to Commander," the call came over the loudspeaker. "Enemy ships in red zone thirty-two degrees, vertical green eighteen point five degrees; sixty-two units identified, close formation. Positronically computed speed twelve hundred seventy miles per second. Stop."
Rhodan was unperturbed. He didn't seem to notice the sweat on Bell's forehead.
The Arkonide pulse-drive engines in the bulging equatorial rim of the battleship began to roar. Complicated nuclear reactions were automatically regulated in each engine with such precision that full synchronization was maintained at all times. There wasn't the smallest deviation nor the slightest vibration as a result.
Nobody felt the inertia forces which were brought into play by decelerating the thrust at three hundred miles per square-second. The field absorbers held the effective rate of gravity to one G, the normal value on Earth.
Glittering floods of light beams were shooting into space. The expelled particles were as fast as light but the ship's velocity was decreasing by the second.
A strange phenomenon could be observed. As the Stardust II was traveling close to the speed of light, it looked as if the pulse-energy beams were glued to the aperture of the energy-field jets. The more the ship slowed down, the farther the streams of light streaked forward, until they finally faded into space.
After a long quiet flight, Stardust's machines had suddenly turned the ship into a frenzied giant.
Rhodan switched his controls with a flick of the finger, causing intricate chain reactions. One push of the button activated the interconnected automatic switchbox which was carefully programmed to convert one electric impulse into a myriad detailed separate functions.
More and more power generators came alive. Never before had the crew experienced the battleship in action. This was the first time!
And so they watched the raging spectacle in great awe. Once more new reports came from the orientation Section.
"We're plunging straight into them," said Bell over the radio. This was the only means of communication possible in the pervading din. All men were wearing the studded combat radio helmets with micro-receivers and transmitters. The officers had, in addition, visiscreens for interpersonal communication.
"They know that, too," replied Rhodan curtly. "I'd like to see how much respect they have for us. Captain Klein wait for permission to fire. orientation Section, did you identify Chaktor's destroyer?"
"Far behind us is a single ship trailing in space. Evaluation of energy output indicates quanta-drive engines."
"That's him. We're going to push through their line. When Chaktor arrives, we'll be very busy. The Topides will want to give him a safe escort."
Over the speakers of the radio helmets came a sigh, followed by Khrest's voice:
"Don't risk everything, Perry! How do you know that Chaktor's radio message about his escape has been properly appreciated by the Topides?"
"Intuition, premonition, sixth sense, call it what you like. Human beings have something of the sort. I'm sure they know on the six moons that a fleet from Capella is approaching. If I'm not badly mistaken the only reason for holding their lost position is their desire to wait for Chaktor and the escaped Topide officer, and it's for this purpose alone that the fleet commander called out the greater part of his available forces... Klein, permission to fire in three minutes. By that time we'll be within ten light-seconds distance. Khrest, will the density range of our beam weapons be effective over this distance?"
"You'll be surprised," Thora's voice came through. "You're playing with powerful instruments about which you know next to nothing."
"We'll see about that," promised Rhodan. His face was an expressionless mask and his eyes were glued to the frontal screen. The brief radioed instructions ceased; only the titanic machines kept on droning.
The body of Stardust II had been surrounded for some time with the five-dimensional defense screen which was invulnerable to energy units of the normal universe. It was inherent in the structure of the defensive weapon to absorb or reflect the more limited forces, regardless of whether they were materially stable bodies or nuclear reactions, hot as the sun.
And there were a few additional surprises the ship could dish out.
The protective screen extended almost sixty miles out into space.
In the meantime,
the Topidian ships had become visually discernible on the front screen. They were traveling far below the speed of light and thus the flames of their engines could be seen easily and quickly.
The battleship was racing at half-speed of light toward the wedge-shaped formation of the enemy. Now was the time for the showdown and everybody was conscious of it.
They were rapidly approaching, so rapidly that a quick evasion had become impossible. There was only one way to go - straight through.
"The tactics of these lizards are all wrong," said somebody. "I'd have halted, turned around and moved in the opposite direction. All they'll get to see of us is our lightning-fast shadow."
"Who was that?" roared Rhodan's voice from the radio helmet.
"Major Deringhouse, sir."
"Keep your mouth shut, even if you're right. Is that clear?"
"Ready for the airlocks, sir. This time, I already know the ball game. This is the area where they jumped me with Rous and Calverman. It's the defense perimeter of the Topides."
It took only a few more seconds. Everything went so fast and with such uncompromising determination that the outcome was inevitable. All they could do was hope and-if they had to-scream.
The speed of the Stardust II had been reduced by now to 48,000 miles per second. With blazing engines the battleship was racing toward the Topidian fleet; reached it and broke through.
It was only a matter of one second. Klein's computerized firing control gave the signal two seconds before reaching the line. He pressed the dimly glowing buttons with all ten fingers.
Rhodan heard Bell shout. Amidst the terrible roar of the firing weapon turrets, a shrill screaming and howling resounded as if the universe had come to an end.
It was almost too much for human senses to recognize the instantaneous emergence of the object coming at them with tremendous speed. They perceived only that a Topidian cruiser had smashed head-on into the defense screen of Stardust II.