by Perry Rhodan
Colonel Freyt lost for a moment the aura of confidence he normally exhibited. "Ready to start? Alarm? What's this all about?"
With unaccustomed gravity Rhodan replied: "I've already emphasized that our security is threatened as long as the Supermutant is loose or, indeed, is alive. Don't forget that he's a hypno. Remember the mutants he mercilessly controlled for years. And if you draw the obvious conclusions, Deringhouse's strange behavior becomes a little more understandable."
At first Bell was stunned with surprise. Then he rushed to the door. He opened it and turned around again. "You don't seriously believe, Perry, that the Supermutant has a stranglehold on Deringhouse?"
"I'm not jumping to conclusions, Bell, but I certainly have to take such a possibility into account. Only after the Guppy has landed and John Marshall has examined the whole crew will I be satisfied. Now hurry up. Deringhouse won't keep us waiting very long."
Khrest had turned pale and stood undecided at Thora's side. Dr. Manoli had brushed aside the problems discussed with Dr. Haggard and studied Marshall's face for an answer.
Rhodan turned to Colonel Freyt, advising him:
"Make sure that the radio officer calls Deringhouse constantly. Warn him that we'll open fire on him unless he answers. Put the robot fighter units on alert at the same time."
Freyt hesitated. "Aren't you too skeptical, sir? We might create an unnecessary disturbance. Besides, what can Deringhouse do to us, even supposing he's under the influence of the Supermutant?"
"Freyt! Carry out my instructions at once!" Rhodan said with unusual sharpness, looking angrily at his deputy. "I've got my reasons. Better an unnecessary alarm than have the Earth destroyed. Will you please go now!"
Without another word Freyt turned around and left the room, accompanied by his radio officer.
"Manoli and Haggard," Rhodan called the two physicians. "Go immediately to the hospital and wait further orders."
"But..." Manoli began.
"What's the matter with you all? Doesn't anyone realize the danger we've to contend with. The Supermutant is the most vicious hypno that ever existed. He can have taken over Deringhouse and sent him here to trap us. Don't forget that Deringhouse ignored our radio calls. Why? You don't have any explanation for that, do you?"
The two physicians exited quietly. The remaining men looked at each other with consternation. They had never seen Rhodan like this before. Khrest almost cringed when Rhodan addressed him: "You better retire to your quarters right away, Khrest. You too, Thora. You'll be safest under the energy dome."
"And you?" Khrest asked.
"I'll go with Marshall to direct the mutants. If anyone knows the answer to the impending questions, it'll be a mutant. Come on, Marshall. I've got a nagging feeling that we'll soon find out what our Mutant Corps is worth."
As they went down in the elevator they could hear the alarm sirens wailing at the spaceport.
• • •
Bell was in his element, although he was firmly convinced that the alarm he conducted could be considered only a test. In case the Supermutant actually had succeeded in outwitting and capturing the Good Hope, he was unlikely to risk the valuable ship foolhardily, so Bell figured. On the other hand, he couldn't deny that Deringhouse behaved very peculiarly. He didn't respond to their calls but relentlessly and silently closed in on Terrania. He neglected to make the customary report and had broken off the search for the Supermutant prematurely without giving an explanation for his tactics.
All things considered, Bell concluded, there was ample reason to blow the alarm for Terrania.
Robot fighter units took up their positions around the extensive docks of the spaceport. Although the rayguns were inadequate against the defense screen of the Good Hope, Bell acted on instinct. The spaceport was located outside the protective energy dome and had to be prepared for all eventualities. Final decisions on defensive measures had to be made when their worst fears became reality. Bell still refused to reckon with that.
Meanwhile Rhodan briefed the Mutant Corps. He decided to refrain from deploying the new members and preferred to use only his experienced veterans. They all took the news in stride except Pucky who became quite excited.
The three-foot-tall mouse-beaver jumped restlessly up and down and hit the floor with his flat tail at every step. He furiously bared his incisor tooth and his red-dish brown fur bristled. It would have been a mistake to regard the mouse-beaver as a normal 'animal'—he was much more than that. Rhodan had brought him back from. a distant planet and assigned him to the Mutant Corps owing to his telekinetic abilities. Pucky was also a telepath and as such had easily learned the major languages of the Earth.
"That Supermutant!" he chirped in his high-pitched voice. "This time I'm going to wipe him out! I couldn't get into the last fight."
"Don't underestimate him," Rhodan warned, stifling a smile. "We don't know yet whether we'll actually be attacked. All we've now is a suspicion and we'll have to wait to see if it's confirmed. Marshall, try to get in touch with Deringhouse through the mutants who are suited for this special task. Take the teleopticians and telepaths and let Marten make an attempt to get inside Deringhouse's mind and use his eyes. Time is of the essence. Pucky will accompany me to the spaceport. Betty Toufry, you'll have to come with me too. Marshall, you take over the command of the entire Mutant Corps and take the necessary actions. You'll receive the final go ahead signal as soon as the situation warrants. Is that dear?
"Yes, sir!" the Australian acknowledged.
"We'll communicate by radio. Don't leave the protection of the energy dome under any circumstances. unless you receive my special orders."
He rushed out of the building with Betty Toufry and Pucky and got into a fast car that took him and his companions to the spaceport.
Rhodan had special reasons for selecting Pucky and Betty on this trip. Pucky's telekinetic powers were second to none. Sometimes he would steer an entire squadron of fast airplanes by remote control, no matter what the pilots did to resist. Betty Toufry on the other hand was a combination of telepath and telekinetic. She was only twelve years old but had the brain of a genius and talents to match. Rhodan secretly considered her the forerunner of the new human species which was in the process of development. She was way ahead of her time in every respect.
The alarm had caused the streets to appear deserted. It was already dusk and soon night would fall. Normally the night life of Terrania began at this hour but there was no sign of it tonight. The people on their way home from work had rushed into the nearest shelters, which still remained as mute witnesses of the turbulent times when the New Power first came into existence. The officials of the administration remained in their buildings or went down to the basement as required. The ride-walk conveyers kept rolling throughout the city but they were almost empty of people.
Only here and there a lone policeman made his rounds.
Rhodan left the city behind and raced along the thirty foot wide track toward the spaceport. The desert stretched to his left. Far away at the horizon it was already dark and in the west a glowing red sky blazed at the end of day.
Rhodan switched the steering of his car over to automatic radar and with his wristband transceiver contacted Colonel Freyt in the Central Command. "Hello, Freyt! I'm on my way to the spaceport where Deringhouse will land—if he lands at all. Anything new? Did you make contact with the K-VII?"
"Nothing yet, sir," Freyt replied. "The Good Hope still refuses to answer. Perhaps their transmitter is defective."
"That's a possibility," Rhodan admitted but he remained skeptical. "I think Deringhouse would have notified us about it via the Z-45 if such were the case. He knows perfectly well that we treat every spaceship that fails to identify itself before landing as hostile. Anyway, I'll keep my radio on reception. Let me know as soon as you hear of a change."
Betty Toufry made big serious eyes. She looked from the side at Rhodan stroking Pucky's fur. "Does it look that bad?" she asked as she read the anxi
ety in Rhodan's mind. "What could happen?"
"Many things, Betty. We don't know yet and when we find out it may be too late. How far away can you receive mental vibrations, Betty? Do you think you can read Deringhouse's thoughts when he's still outside the Earth's atmosphere?"
"Could be. I'd require the precise direction for my concentration."
"I'll see that you get it in time, Betty."
Rhodan looked forward and switched off the automatic steering. The hangars emerged in the twilight. Only a few lights were burning and the landing field, usually bright as day, lay in almost total darkness in the desert.
Rhodan stopped in front of the main building. He hurried hand-in-hand with Betty to the entrance, followed by the waddling and cantankerous Pucky emitting shrill noises.
Bell breathed easier when he saw Rhodan enter. He was perched behind a gigantic control panel and operated at the same time the transceiver sets by which he directed the defense army as well as the movements of the robots. He issued a few more instructions, put some levers in neutral and leaned back.
"It's good to see you," he said. "I couldn't have managed much longer alone."
"Is everything all right?" Rhodan wanted to know.
"As far as I can tell, yes. I'm beginning to believe that you're too pessimistic. Deringhouse will get a kick out of it when he sees the hullabaloo he's stirred up. Perhaps his transmitter has conked out..."
"We don't have time to debate the pros and cons of our precautionary measures. Time is running out," Rhodan told him.
At the same moment Rhodan's receiver began to buzz. It was Freyt.
"Are you all ready at the control tower?"
"Yes, you can switch over."
A second later Freyt's face appeared on the video-screen. He stared vaguely for a moment into the room before he said: "Deringhouse has slowed down his speed. The spacesphere has reached the Earth's atmosphere and is getting lower. If it follows its present direction it'll land on our territory." He made a slight pause and then continued: "We've got the K-VII on screen. No exterior damage or changes are visible. Coming closer. Defense screen not activated. I begin to believe we've been seeing ghosts."
"I don't believe in ghosts," Rhodan shot back and ended the conversation. Then he called Marshall. The telepath came on right away.
"Mutant Corps has started its operations, sir. Wuriu Sengu has already taken his first blurred look into the Command Center of the K-VII." Sengu had the extraordinary gift of seeing through solid matter even at great distances. "He claims Deringhouse is steering the spaceship. He's recognized Deringhouse in the pilot seat. Unusual, don't you think?"
"Why shouldn't the Commander conduct the ship himself during the landing?" Rhodan was baffled by Marshall's notion. "Anything else?"
"Fellmer Lloyd received a weak brain-wave pattern which he couldn't identify. It was his impression that the pattern mainly reflected indifference. In addition he registered something very obscure and was unable to describe the feelings that moved the owner of the brain pattern."
"Let him go on concentrating," Rhodan ordered. "Advise me immediately of any new developments." Then he switched back to Freyt. "Colonel, I require at once the exact position of the K-VII."
Two minutes later Betty Toufry sat in a comfortable chair, closed her eyes and 'stared' at a slant toward the ceiling that presented no resistance to her probing thoughts. With bated breath Rhodan stood at her side waiting for the result. The face of the young girl suddenly took on a taut expression. She pressed her lips together and her hands trembled. She seemed to listen to a distant voice that she could barely understand. Then she opened her eyes. "It's Deringhouse who's handling the controls—but then again it's not quite like Deringhouse. Some of the mutants we've captured earlier from the Supermutant displayed a similar thought pattern. I'm afraid..."
Rhodan didn't lose a second. He called Freyt and instructed him to order alarm state #1. Marshall was also informed. Bell gave the army the necessary commands. The robots aimed their guns toward the sky which had in the meantime turned dark.
Terrania was ready for its reception of the Supermutant, who was approaching via the mind of Deringhouse.
Everybody knew that Deringhouse was doomed.
Lieutenant Carell of the Border Guard knew it too. His small unit was not equipped with ray-cannons that could have destroyed the Good Hope. It was his duty to guard the border of the New Power toward the east. He was just making the rounds for inspection and was in continual communication with the command post via a small transceiver. Since the border was not exposed to an acute danger, he patrolled the landing field and checked on the individual guards posted there.
There was the outline of a tremendous shadow against the dark horizon. It was Stardust II, the biggest spaceship in existence, half a mile in diameter, ultra-light-speed with armament that staggered the mind and a permanent crew of 500 men. Rhodan had wrested the ship away from the Topides when they attempted to conquer the Vega system.
Nearby stood the two heavy cruisers of the Terra class,Terra and Solar System, that had recently been built on Earth. Their diameter was only one fourth of the Stardust and had the same spherical shape. The twelve Guppies of the same size as the other ships of the Good Hope class, ready to go, were farther in the background and waited for orders to take off.
Lieutenant Carell took notice of all the details while he listened to Rhodan's alarm orders. He was not certain that Deringhouse...
This was Carrell's last thought. As he was walking hale and hearty across the concrete landing field he became from one moment to the next an exploding atom bomb that melted the concrete within a large circumference. The bursting ball of fire illuminated the vast landing field as bright as day and made every detail clearly visible. A black mushroom cloud spread out and slowly rose up. Gradually the glowing flare faded away again,
The pressure and heat-wave raced across the spaceport toward the ships lined up to start.
Rhodan and Bell observed the flash. The form of the explosion told them about the nature of the energy discharge. While the two men threw themselves to the floor to escape the shock-wave, Rhodan already called the fifteen spaceships: "Take off at once! Keep in touch! Retreat to safe distance!"
Still sitting on the floor, Bell switched on the monitoring system of Terrania. Twenty optical screens lit up, showing the entire territory of the New Power from a bird's-eye view. The city stood out in relief under the observer. The lighted streets ran straight as arrows. To the side the desert stretched to the airport. The screens in the middle depicted the area under the energy dome where the vital centers of Rhodan's power were located.
With a stony face Bell watched as two robot-controlled ray-cannons situated at the edge of the landing field were incinerated in a blinding radioactive cloud. The incident was dearly visible in all its stages on the picture screen, rendering it the more mysterious. No shot had been fired at the installation and no bomb was thrown. Good Hope VII was too far away to hit it so accurately.
Nonetheless, atom bombs were exploding on the territory of the New Power!
"Impossible!" Bell groaned. Betty was still reclined in her chair. The shock-waves of the explosions had not yet ceased rumbling across the terrain. It was most unbearably hot.
"There must be an explanation for this," Rhodan muttered, realizing that he did not have one handy.
Several other spots on the screens began to blaze. Atom bombs coming from nowhere were detonated everywhere. Entire units of the robot army were blown up before they could go into action—against whom? Not even Rhodan was aware that the robots themselves had turned into atom bombs.
Colonel Freyt called urgently over the radio: "Perry Rhodan! Emergency alarm! The K-VII is attacking us. It must be the K-VII under the command of Deringhouse. Khrest recommends the deployment of a gravitation bomb. He suspects that Deringhouse applies the new weapon of the Supermutant that enables him to initiate a fusion process with any matter over great distances. Awaiting
your orders."
A fearful quiet fell over the landing control tower. Rhodan stared into Freyt's wide-open eyes. For the first time he could read in them absolute helplessness and he couldn't shake off a similar feeling himself.
"The G-Bomb," he shuddered. "On Earth? This could mean total ruin, Freyt. Tell Khrest that I dare not use the ultimate weapon. We must find another way out. For the time being you'll be safe under the energy dome.
At the same moment Rhodan was made a liar. He clearly discerned from the corner of his eye how a fiery point appeared on the central screen, quickly grew and died away. The weapon of the Supermutant penetrated the defense shield of the Arkonides that had been impervious to the most destructive atomic rockets on Earth.
It was the end unless a miracle happened.
"Bell!" Rhodan's voice remained calm and collected. "Take one of the three-man interceptors and get up into the stratosphere. Betty and Pucky will accompany you. Try to make contact with Deringhouse. Move!"
But Bell did not move. "What about you?"
"Do what I tell you. Don't worry about me. I'll take the Stardust and follow with the other interceptors. Perhaps our hypnos will manage to break the will of the Supermutant."
Bell rose slowly and looked at Betty. "You want me to take a girl along? It's a matter of life and death."
"I'm a full-fledged member of the Mutant Corps!" Betty protested indignantly. She knew no fear.
"Betty is our most potent telepath. If there's anyone who can ferret out the intentions of Deringhouse and the Supermutant, it's Betty. We'll keep in touch."
At the same time Rhodan alerted the interceptors in the hangars. Freyt was notified. Marshall rushed with his mutants to the spaceport while two more robot fighters were atomized.
Bell, Betty and Pucky climbed aboard the Z-13, that was ready to go. The hatch was hardly closed behind them when the ship glided on the horizontal starting ramp out into the open and rose immediately at a steep angle up into the air. Then it shot with fantastic acceleration into the dark desert night-sky.