by Perry Rhodan
Rhodan sent all available men down and important posts were left unattended. The mutants were already engaged in a desperate fight against the soulless robots who obviously had no concept of death.
"Let them put on their spacesuits," Bell quickly advised. He had flipped back his helmet, exposing his blackened face. "We've got temperatures here up to 500 despite the climate control going full blast."
Rhodan's orders followed each other fast and furious. He had four minutes before the transition. Tiff had reported all systems go. The programming worked out by Bell had been fed to the hyperjump apparatus.
"Thora, please give Col. Freyt a radio signal. Send the word 'dragon' four times and let him confirm it."
When Thora had the transmitter ready to function she beamed the codeword three times and Freyt answered with three beeps for 1/10th of a second. This told Freyt that Rhodan planned to go into a transition in three minutes.
On the lower decks raged a grim battle with robots. Almost 40 men and the mouse-beaver were in mortal combat with the lightning-fast fighting machines whose greatest ambition seemed to be to turn all organic beings into ashes.
It was a tough struggle and possibly even too tough for the veterans of the Vega wars.
The teleporters and telekins performed the most crucial feats. Ivan Goratschin single-handedly blasted one machine after the other to oblivion. He knew exactly at which juncture of the directing brain tiny traces of carbon were present. He had made it his business to determine their location beforehand.
"30 seconds till transition," Rhodan announced via the helmet radios of the spacesuits.
"Twelve... seven... one... go!"
The instantaneously created structure-field surrounded the spaceship. The closely following units of the robot fleet were roughly shaken by the matrix metamorphosis taking place in their proximity and some of the smaller vessels suffered severe damage.
The brand newYeast Ark, which had never been flight tested, went into its first transition.
Rhodan felt the painful strain in his neck. Then an eerie murmuring and whispering seemed to fill the hyperspace which had swallowed up the completely dematerialized energy unit. Here the laws of normal space were no longer valid.
Rhodan saw uncanny light-effects as in a limbo.
For a few moments the furious clash between the antagonists aboard the superbattleship was in abeyance.
10/ MANOEUVRE "VESUVIUS" ERUPTS
Col. Freyt's angular face had oddly changed. It looked like the absurd grimace of a mediocre clown. "He's coming with a superbattleship," he repeated the information of the radio officer.
"With a superbattleship?"
"That's right, sir," the man gasped. He too seemed utterly flabbergasted.
"I'll be damned!" Freyt grunted deeply and felt around for a chair to sit down in.
It took him several seconds to digest the baffling news. If the boss had told a lesser man than Freyt that he came back in a superbattleship after leaving in a tiny Gazelle he would have been alarmed in the extreme. But Freyt had known Rhodan long enough to realize that nothing was impossible as far as he was concerned.
After he recovered from his surprise be whipped around in his swivel chair. "Could the radio message have been some kind of a trick?" he asked tentatively.
"No, sir! I'm positive it was the Chief himself."
Freyt whizzed back from the radio room to the Command Center and moments later the men dozing at their battle stations were startled by his bellowing. Freyt's hectic red face appeared on the telecom screens. "Attention, everybody!" his voice boomed from the amplifiers. "Full battle alert. Weapon turrets to be ready for action. Plan Vesuvius is in force as of now. Close your spacesuits and switch to helmet radios. Breakout will take place in 30 minutes. Engine Control, prepare for emergency start. Fire Control Officer, level energy guns at designated targets. When the turrets roll out you'll have to shoot your guns all at once. Unless we can knock out the retaining field projectors in one blow we'll never get off the ground. Teletrans crew, home in on the remote control tower south of the spaceport. One 20,000 ton fusion bomb should do it if it explodes inside. Power station, start all generators. When the Chief arrives all protective screens must be activated within a second. He'll come barreling in from hyperspace in a transition and will probably emerge close to the planet. You know what will happen to us if we don't have our protective screens. The Chief has informed me that he'll arrive in a superbattleship I take this to mean that we must expect at least a spacer of the Imperium class. So don't let it throw you no matter what kind of a monstrous surprise you get. Report back to me!"
Not since the Ganymede had been occupied by human beings had there been such frantic activity.
Playing cards were pitched into a comer and half-eaten rations dropped to the floor. Due to the precautionary measures that had already been in effect all stations reported within three minutes after the command was issued that they were ready for battle action.
Disintegrator cannons turned in their turrets. There was no need to adjust the aim after they were rolled out.
The First Artillery Officer ran his fingertips over the firing buttons of his "pipe organ" of cannons. More and more green lights lit up.
The teletransmitter crew worked separately. The simple looking target screen was focused on the 1500 foot-high remote control and communication tower from whence the detonation field projectors were operated.
Before Rhodan's departure the mutants had pinpointed where these projectors had been installed in the ground forming a circle in which the huge Ganymede stood on its rear fins.
Machines began to hum. Ten minutes after Rhodan's intercom message nothing more could be done or done better.
Almost a thousand men tensely waited for the decisive moment, listening to their helmet radios. Freyt had the intercom receiver connected to the shipboard communication system so that each man could hear the crucial signal.
Freyt fully expected to receive further instructions from Rhodan before he went into transition. Time seemed to drag and seconds grew into eternities. Just at that moment the liaison officer of the planet Naat came on the special line.
Freyt hastily fled into a corner and motioned to the suave Lt. Tanner who calmly stepped before the screen. The round-headed, three-eyed face of the Naat Novaal appeared on the screen. He again wore the uniform of a battleship commander. "Did your Commander Perry Rhodan return from his mysterious trip in the meantime?" the alien ironically inquired.
"He'll be back in about an hour, sir!" Tanner answered nonchalantly. "Believe me, the Commander only wanted to take a walk. He was unable to stand it any longer aboard the ship."
"We'll see about that. Where's Rhodan's deputy? Why doesn't he come to talk to me?"
"He's taking a bath, sir!"
"A what?"
"He's washing himself. Cleaning the dirt off his skin. We always do this with soap and water."
"Mad!" marveled the Naat, inhabitant of a bone-dry world. "Water is for drinking! You've started up all machines. Why?"
"To maintain them in shipshape condition. And the crew has to be kept busy too. A question, sir: where are you?"
"At the control tower. Why do you ask?"
"It's nothing, sir," Tanner smiled very amiably. "I always like to know where the party I'm talking to is at. Shall I tell the Commander you want to speak to him?" The Naat switched off without an answer. "He doesn't know that his luck has run out," Tanner murmured grimly.
A few minutes later the next intercom message came through. "Triple 'dragon'," the radio officer shouted. Freyt waved to him and watched the clock. Three minutes later the structure sensors registered a nearby transition and Freyt simultaneously pressed all buttons within reach. The power stations started with a roar and a highly compact energy field spread over the outer hull of the Ganymede with a loud boom.
Gun turrets sprang forth from the retracted hatches and the Gun Control Officer opened fire before the thunderous crash of re
entry from hyperspace in close proximity shook the structure sensors. A barrage of impulse-rays flashed through the air and where the infernally hot beams struck the ground, it began to boil. Craters bubbled everywhere the field projectors lay anchored. The massed energy of an Arkonide bomb shot like a streak of lightning to a battleship of the Imperium class which had landed not far away. The totally unprotected gigantic sphere vanished in a shimmering light effect.
At the same moment a white hot column of fire spewed forth from the massive control tower. The teletransmitter had broken through the defense shield with ease and deposited the bomb in the middle of the building. Glowing debris was sucked up into the sky by the typical mushroom cloud of the atomic explosion. The hot turbulence of the pressure wave made little impact on the Ganymede because of the effect from much greater forces which were released in the same fraction of a second as the 20,000 ton bomb. A veritable monster returned into normal space close above the atmosphere of the fifth Arkon planet.
"Freyt, are you free?" blared a familiar voice which was still strained from the transition shock. "Take off! I'll be over the spaceport in 10 seconds."
Freyt slammed the step switch down. The holocaust around the Ganymede had served its purpose. The heretofore insurmountable field had ceased to exist.
As the battleship rose from the ground with flaring rear jets and slowly began to gain height, another catastrophe befell the airbase of Naatral.
A glowing ball of fire of gigantic proportions suddenly zoomed out of the East. TheGanymede quickly accelerated at maximum speed and shot into the sky, barely avoiding the pressure wave from the terrible hurricane created by the new superbattleship coming in at an altitude of six miles and leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
Never before had the fifth world experienced such a hurricane. Heavy spaceships were torn loose from their moorings and technical installations collapsed like cardboard.
Then it was already gone. A tiny glimmer of light raced far away. The glow that flickered around the Veast Ark in a wide aura faded away as soon as the vessel left the atmosphere.
A few seconds later Rhodan made out the Ganymede. At the same time the supergiant appeared on the sensor screen of the Terranian ship.
"For heaven's sake!" the Commander gasped. "What's that?"
The picture screen lit up and showed Rhodan's distorted face. "Freyt, I've got only 10 men to fly this big ship since all the others are locked in a fight with robots. Don't ask questions now. Thora will give you the coords. Switch over to the autopilot, follow our course and proceed with maximum acceleration. We'll make a transition into the center of the star cluster in about 11 minutes. You'll get the transition data after we've correlated our course. Hurry up! I need reinforcements in the worst way."
The crew of the Ganymede acted with unerring precision. Rhodan didn't have to explain to them how difficult it was to pilot such a tremendous ship under emergency conditions.
Freyt received the correlating data and the Ganymede changed its course with its engines running full blast. After the final correction they found themselves practically in the jetstream of theVeast Ark .
The transition coordinates were fed directly into the automatic pilot, thus eliminating laborious programming.
"Objects registered in green 32°, approximately 100 ships," the rangefinder section reported. "50 additional units in red. Transitions taking place continuously."
Freyt activated the structure compensator. When he entered hyperspace he was not likely to be located. However this could easily happen to Rhodan's ship. Freyt began to sweat blood. The boss staked everything on one card again. He probably counted on the utter confusion in the Arkon sector.
"20 minutes to go," Rhodan called in a voice which was hardly recognizable. "Ten... six... one... go!"
Two huge spheres vanished in glaring light effects. At the same moment the structural upheaval of space around the fifth planet began. More than 200 battleships and heavy cruisers almost simultaneously plunged into the normal space.
Rhodan's transition was short. While in the throes of the rematerialization pains he was barely able to move.
Close to the superbattleship the Ganymede broke into the normal dimensions at the same reentry speed of 11% less than light.
"Hurry up, Freyt, or we'll be finished in half an hour!" Rhodan called into the mike. "Do you register transitions?"
"Incessantly," Freyt excitedly replied. "Weren't we lucky, sir! I'm sure they won't be able to tell where we emerged in this terrific hubbub. There's a big red sun ahead of us. No identification as yet. Can you haul me in with your tractor-beam?"
"Sorry, I've got nobody available for that," Rhodan whispered, almost exhausted. "I'm going to switch off the protective screens. Try to catch up with me!"
Rhodan performed the necessary manipulations himself. Thora still drooped unconsciously in her pilot seat.
One power station after the other stopped running and the 18 engines discontinued their operation at once. Only the smaller aggregates for the internal power requirements remained working.
Defenseless and in freefall the superbattleship raced through the void toward the still-distant red sun.
Rhodan staggered up from his chair and helped Tifflor to get on his feet.
"I'm okay again, sir," Tifflor smiled weakly. "Two transitions in quick succession were a little bit too much."
"Stay here!" Rhodan ordered with surprising calm. "Open the hatch at the upper pole as soon as Freyt's men are ready for the transfer. I'll take a look down below."
"Sir, don't!" the young man cried out with wide frightened eyes.
Rhodan merely waved his hand. As he stepped into the circular corridor outside the Command Center he heard the thunder of fire arms and the jarring boom of frequent detonations. Ivan, Perry thought with reawakening vigor.
He found the first combatants two decks farther down. Sergeant Rous had taken charge of the defense squad. A scorching heat had spread through all rooms. Rhodan was forced to close his helmet tightly.
"We're doing alright, so far, sir! We're holding them at bay," Rous said over the helmet radio. "We've shot down about 250 of them. The credit for most of those goes to Ivan and Pucky. It wouldn't be so bad if the robots didn't shoot holes in the ceilings to get up to the higher decks."
"Try to hold the central elevator! Where's Bell?"
Rhodan was gripped by a sudden fear for the life of his friend. He shouted louder and with increasing desperation for his companion.
"Deck #32, at the hatch of a machinery hall!" he finally heard Bell's raspy voice. "They're attacking here like savages. Did you get the Ganymede ? We've noticed only two transitions."
"We'll have about 800 men here to reinforce us in 20 minutes at the latest. Freyt is manoeuvring now to get alongside our ship. Keep your chins up, boys! You can do it!"
Rhodan slithered down steep emergency stairs. The lower he went the more insufferable became the heat.
The construction material of the ship was impervious to the appalling temperatures. There was not a door nor a brace on the ship which wasn't made of Arkonide steel. The material was good for more than 50,000°F.
Rhodan came across six of Bell's men crouching behind the support columns of a large room. They bad two portable disintegrator guns and heavy impulse-beamers with which they held a strategic position.
"Look out!" somebody yelled.
Rhodan jumped behind the nearest cover. A white heat spot blistered where he had stood and hissing metal sprayed over the floor.
Rhodan shot spontaneously. The brilliant beam of his impulse weapon made the defense screen of the robot burst into flames. He scored a second hit on the fighting machine that had suddenly appeared from a side corridor. The figure was sent crashing to the floor where it writhed furiously. Bright flames licked from the opening in the molten breastplate.
It was a weird, nerve-wracking battle. Nobody could say for certain where the remaining 100 robots were prowling around. They mov
ed with a swiftness which was typical for them and the men had to be on their guard when they suddenly appeared at their back. Once the robots began firing their heavy weapons there was no stopping them. The men had to prove they could match the superior mechanical speed of the soulless machines against the agility of the human mind.
Up to now they had held their own. Rhodan didn't want to think about the fate of the men who had been surprised nevertheless.
Pucky popped up momentarily. He and the two teleporters were virtually the only impregnable living beings and the mouse-beaver had the advantage that he also was the master of the art of the telekinetics in addition to teleportation.
The furry creature had seen the fleeting metallic figure faster than Bell's men could swing around their guns.
Rhodan heard himself laugh hilariously as the robot was suddenly lifted up and hurled against the ceiling with such force that its well-nigh shockproof microbrain was rendered completely useless. Then it was twice more flung so hard against the floor that its metallic limbs crazily flailed around in circles.
"Wow, this is fun!" the mouse-beaver squealed with delight and was gone again.
Rhodan kept laughing hysterically till he suddenly stopped with a shrill cry. "Well, men, I've got nerves like everybody else," he muttered into the helmet transceiver. "Each man report to me if you can!
Where's Khrest?"
"In the Engine Control room, Perry," he heard the voice of the Arkonide. "We're caught in a very strong drag field. It seems that..."
A blast from a disintegrator drowned out his words. The man at the portable cannon chewed an automatically dispensed food concentrate behind the faceplate of his helmet. "I always insist on good table manners," he said sarcastically.
REALM OF THE TRI-PLANETS
Copyright © Ace Books 1973
All Rights Reserved
THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME
KIDNAPPED by mysterious forces! Pinned down on the 4th planet of the Voga system. Problem: to free the Titan, mightiest battleship of the Arkonide Empire, from the tractor beams that hold Perry and his people at an alien spaceport against their will. 34,000 light-years from Earth, among the coppery skinned, green-haired Zalites and the gelatinous mystery creatures, the Mooffs, the New Power people must try everything in their power to determine who, behind the Zarlt (ruler) of Zalit and his subjects, is the Unknown Power that controls the Zalites like puppets on a string and is making them plot against the Great Robot.