by Perry Rhodan
Perry Rhodan
The Third Power #8
The Galactic Riddle
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The Galactic Riddle
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1/ THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET
The sun was a tiny speck of light, almost lost in the multitude of stars. It was exactly 27 light-years away.
Sol was replaced now by a mighty glowing ball of incandescence. The blue-white rays of this unbelievable fire-giant scorched the surface of its inner planets. But the star Vega had enough planets to afford such a waste. The life zone of the system reached from the 7th to the 11th planet. A huge sphere of dull metal moved away from the new sun, beyond the orbit of the 9th planet, approaching the 10th world of Vega.
The movements of the spacesphere revealed unmistakably that it was a mechanism manoeuvred by intelligent beings. At first glance, however, one could have mistaken the great globe for an artificial satellite, perpetually revolving around the Vegan sun, but the deliberate changes of course and velocity corrected the first impression. The sphere was the space vehicle of a technically highly developed race.
The ship measured approximately 3,000 feet in diameter and humans were in command in its control center.
Human eyes observed the curved optical screens which were arranged with such expertise that they revealed every bit of surrounding space. As the electronic equipment hummed low, sheets of paper automatically recorded graphs. Slowly a schematic picture was created which held the attention of all present.
"This appears to confirm your assumptions," one of the men said quietly. He was standing slightly apart from the rest and his height automatically drew attention to him. Although outwardly he resembled a human, he came from a far distant system of stars, the center of the declining realm of the Arkonides. "What do you think of it, Perry?"
Perry Rhodan turned around slowly, withdrawing his steady gaze from the graph.
"We can't be sure yet if Lossosher's information is correct, Khrest, but we'll soon know. However, it is also possible that we are on the wrong track."
Lossosher, a scientist from the 8th planet of the Vega system, made a hesitant move. He was the only one aboard the spacesphere whose appearance showed that he did not come from Earth. His small stocky figure indicated that his home world was one of far greater gravity. His bulging forehead served to protect his recessed eyes from the strong rays of the sun. His abundant head of hair served especially well to shield him from the high intensity of the Vegan sun's ultraviolet rays.
"I have only noted an astronomic curiosity," said the Ferron as if apologizing. "You asked me about certain things and, I merely tried to help you."
"Please don't misunderstand me," Rhodan responded in a conciliatory tone. "As you know, we came to this system because we want to find a planet which is situated in this part of space according to ancient sources. It is supposed to be circling around Vega as its 10th planet."
Rhodan cast a glance at the graphing device and saw that it was now tracing the orbital path of the 39th planet. Vega had 42 planets and there were, therefore, only a few minutes left before finishing the map of the whole solar system. "As far as we can determine now, there is no life on the 10th planet. I will go further: there has never been any life whatsoever on this planet. We are going to try to solve this contradiction."
A man stepped forward from the background pushing the two physicians Dr. Frank Haggard and Dr. Eric Manoli gently aside. His heavyset frame had a round, almost flat face with nearly colorless faded-blue eyes. His dull reddish hair stood on end like the bristles of a brush. He ignored the weak protests of the physicians and planted himself in front of Rhodan.
"My dear commander, is it permitted that a little and insignificant assistant may voice an opinion? If so, I should like to state that there is no contradiction at all. The central data bank of the Arkonides mentions the 10th Planet of a system which is undoubtedly identical with Vega. Further, the data disclose that living beings who found the secret of cell conservation-and thereby eternal life-had made it their abode. Since we have now discovered that no animal life exists on this Planet, the only conclusion can be not that a contradiction is involved but, there is an error in the file. We are simply in the wrong constellation. Somewhere between here and Arkon must be another system similar to Vega. I am convinced of that!"
Rhodan smiled enigmatically. He exchanged a quick glance with Khrest, winked at Thora, the beautiful Arkonide woman, then nodded to Lossosher. He regarded the sheet beneath the automatic drawing instrument which had just now finished tracing the orbit of the 42nd planet
"I would like to agree with you, Reg, I really would. But there are a few little matters we have to consider. The Arkonides did not make a mistake 10,000 years ago. Their record is correct. The planet of eternal life did actually exist in the Vega system and did indeed revolve around its sun between the 10th and 11th planets."
"Then what..."
"Wait a minute, Reggie!" Rhodan admonished his eager friend. "We'll get to that right away. Since we have made up our minds to discover this world, we came to the Vega system. The Ferrons on the eighth planet could not give us any clues-or maybe they did not want to. Well, they admitted that they had some visitors 10,000 years ago who were traveling through space and who gave them matter-transmitters. They also mentioned that this alien race 'lived longer than the sun.' That was all. And all our guesswork is based on that. Yet those hints together with the details in the Arkonide data bank give us a definite picture. The home of these immortals is situated in, the Vega constellation. And now, come to think of it, in the light of two other facts, I should say: their home was here."
Khrest nodded his head imperceptibly in the background.
"What do you mean?" growled Bell.
"Upon a renewed examination the file record mentions 43 planets, my friend. You too must have noticed that only 42 bodies are revolving around Vega. Therefore, we have to be in the wrong solar system. Furthermore, it is supposed to be the 10th planet. However, we do know that there was never any life there. It doesn't add up, does it? We have a discrepancy here. But Lossosher helped me with the solution of our problem. He divulged that there is a big gap between the ninth and 10th planets. His information agrees with the picture outlined by the automatic graphing machine."
He took the sheet of paper out of the machine. The hum of the electronic mechanism stopped. The radar telescopes were retracted in their housings; they had scanned all bodies encountered in the constellation, calculated the time of their revolutions, the distance from the sun and recorded all details. The result was an accurate map of the Vega system.
"Will all of you, please, closely look at this map. It will answer at least the question why the right information can be wrong."
Bell saved himself the trouble of looking at the sketch.
"You don't think that...?"
"That is just what I mean! One planet is missing in the Vega system!"
The interval between the ninth and 10th planets was great enough to imagine another planet between them.
"How can you explain that?" asked Khrest. There was a glint in his reddish albino eyes. As one of the last descendants of a once mighty race whose degeneration had hastened the decline of the glorious empire of the Arkonides, he had placed all his hopes on discovering that civilization which had the secret of eternal life-or at least was said to possess it. The trail was obviously leading them here. And now it ended abruptly in empty space.
"There is only one answer to this," observed Rhodan thoughtfully. "This planet, that once revolved around Vega, left the system unknown ages ago. That means the whole planet, including its inhabitants."
> "You've got to be kidding!" Bell protested gingerly. The idea was too much for him to swallow even though he had quite a fantastic imagination himself. "You can't remove a whole planet and put it someplace else just like that!"
"You will be amazed, buddy," Rhodan predicted patiently.
Then he pointed to the mapped out constellation.
This makes it quite clear that we have lost the track. It ends right here in the empty gap between the ninth and 10th planets. The race of the immortals left without a trace. They want to keep their secret, at least that's what it looks like. But in reality they are willing to share it with a race which is their equal. We have evidence of this. The matter-transmitters of the Ferrons, which they neither constructed nor understand, are the beginning of a new trail. The immortals deliberately wanted to arouse the curiosity of a superior intellect, and only people who are capable of fifth-dimensional thought will be able to grasp the mode of operation of the matter-transmitters. That they made the first condition: the secret of eternal life is only for those with the capacity to understand the fifth dimension."
"As if we could do that." mumbled Bell in disgust.
"Our positronic brain can accomplish it for us," retorted Rhodan. "It has already shown us the way to the vault under the Red Palace."
The government building of the Ferrons was located in the metropolis of Thorta, named after the ruler, the Thort. In the cellar was a vault, secured with a time lock, which contained the construction plans of the matter-transmitters. Rhodan had managed to remove these plans from the vault with the help of his Mutant Corps.
"That vault," continued Rhodan, "will lead us to the way. It will probably require a chase through the universe and thousands of years to find the missing planet. Already 10,000 years ago the immortal people decided to leave this system. I am convinced that we will soon find a new clue. The immortals wish to be found some day, but only by the right individuals."
"And that means us?" Khrest expressed doubt with a wan smile.
"If we find them-yes," said Rhodan softly.
The quest for the planet of everlasting life had entered a critical stage. The massive spacesphere had once more flown around the 10th planet of the Vega, system and scouted for signs of present or past life. It merely confirmed the original observation-planet number 10 was a lifeless and almost sterile world, which resembled the surface of Mars and exhibited similar conditions.
The spaceship returned to Ferrol and landed on the outskirts of the capital on the airfield of Rhodan's base. As soon as the huge sphere came to rest on the rocky ground, the protective dome of energy which guarded the base against assaults formed again.
Perry Rhodan recapitulated in a short briefing the results of their efforts up to date.
"It is certain the 10th planet of the Vega system was the home of the immortal race, provided of course that they did not originate from, another world and settled down here later. Furthermore it is certain the current planet number 10 was-at their time-number 11 and that the initial planet of eternal life left this area. If we try to contemplate the advanced technology of a civilization which had discovered the secret of constant cell rejuvenation it no longer strikes us as unbelievable that they had the capability of transporting a whole planet anywhere they chose. We do not know their motives but we may assume that they prepared their globe for a journey through space and turned their back on their own sun. Their goal is a mystery for us but Khrest and I are of the opinion that the vault under the Red Palace will furnish us a clue. We have questioned our positronic brain thoroughly and the information it has supplied indicates clearly that the unknown race did not intend to disappear completely. They simply left this system for the purpose of giving an inquirer the occasion to prove his intelligence and skill. To find the 10th planet in the Vega system is child's play. To follow the road through the five dimensions, that will be our real challenge. We have only just begun the search for the planet of eternal life."
"That's simple enough," Bell piped up triumphantly. "Ras Tschubai has already entered the vault once before, why shouldn't he be able to do it again? He can get the information."
Khrest smiled leniently behind him. Next to him stood Thora, the former commander of the expedition which had crash-landed on the moon. Thora was, for human, eyes, a very beautiful woman whose age was impossible to tell. Her attitude toward mankind-which she regarded as primitives-had not changed much. She felt constantly the urge to prove the superiority of the Arkonides to the terrestrial natives. But the confidence of her mind was already shaken. Conflicting emotions possessed her: hate and admiration, repulsion and love, total negation and absolute surrender. She adored and loved Perry Rhodan but she also hated him. Sometimes she even hated herself.
"You have received the same hypno-training as Perry," she said derisively to Bell "I can't understand how you can make such a thoughtless remark. it shows again the immaturity of the human race..."
"We didn't come here to discuss the maturity or immaturity of our races," Rhodan interrupted, winking at Bell and calming him. "Reginald does not know the conclusions of the positronic computer. You should consider that. Maybe it would be better if Khrest give you the information."
The Arkonide nodded and immediately began to speak.
"Perry has managed to open the time vault for a few seconds. He was helped by some of his mutants, especially by the telekinetic Anne Sloane, the teleporter Ras Tschubai and the seer Sengu. But it was only for an extremely short time. However, it became apparent that whatever that unknown race had deposited in the vault had not been hidden in space but rather in a different time. The African Ras Tschubai was flung thousands of years into the past where he found the box containing the plans for the matter-transmitter. The whole incident did not take longer than 10 seconds. Today we know that the vault is truly a safe made by coordinated cosmic rays which belong to a different time plane. We also know that we can extract all objects from the vault in the present time regardless of where or rather in what time-slot they are conserved. The descriptions found in the cassette were sufficient to supply the positronic brain with the needed clues. Now we have to work out the next step in our program."
Bell caught the expression in the eyes of the physicians Haggard and Manoli. He shrugged his shoulders. It was not his fault that they did not believe in eternal life. It would be alright with him to attain an age of 1,000 or more years.
Rhodan took over again.
"I would like to stress once more how important it is that nobody else learns the astronomical position of the Earth. For this reason our hyper-radio communications with our home base must remain strictly limited. The universe is not entirely empty but is populated by many intelligent races who are observing anyone who is reaching for the stars. Some of them are hostile hordes as we have experienced before. Others even have space-warp sensors to detect any disturbance of the space structure. From a distance as much as 1,000 light-years away they are able to register the hyper-jump of our ship Stardust. This is the reason we will not return now to Terra as promised. A short radio message is all we can risk. We are going to bring the contents of the vault into the present time and study it at leisure."
"Are there any other articles beside the box in the vault?" inquired Dr. Haggard.
Rhodan nodded.
"I expect so but they will be in different time eras. The new formula will bring them all simultaneously into the present time. We have to reconstruct the conditions that existed when the vault was built."
"They got a real smart hiding place, I have to admit," Bell commented. "I wonder what we'll find there. I hope it will be the formula for immortality."
"That's possible but not very probable. More likely, these immortals will make higher demands of those who wish to become their heirs."
"How can you inherit from people who never die?" Bell posed a logical question.
"Let me put it differently so that your legal mind won't object," replied Rhodan. "The unknown race will make the
highest demands of those with whom they are willing to share their secret."
"But it will I be a long way to find them," Khrest said slowly. "Much farther than to Arkon."
Rhodan glanced briefly at him.
"I would like to talk privately to you about this-and to Thora if she cares to attend."
The commander of the Arkonides nodded her head.
"I most certainly would, and you better have some convincing arguments."
Twenty-seven light-years away the Earth circled unchangingly around its sun. During the last few years, however, the political and national organization of mankind had undergone considerable changes. The expedition of the Arkonides, which had had to make an emergency landing on the moon had placed such powerful technological advances in the hands of Rhodan, Bell and Manoli that they were in a position to prevent the outbreak of atomic war and to unify the people on Earth. The three power blocs-the West, the East and the Asiatic Federation-still remained, but Rhodan was able to keep the peace with his own organization, the New Power.
His first base in the Central Gobi desert had been enlarged with vast installations. Galacto-City sprang up, the most modern metropolis of the world with fabulous skyscrapers and fantastic skyways. During the absence of Perry Rhodan he was represented by Col. Freyt, with whom he had established a close relationship. They resembled each other so much, even in their looks, that one could almost take them for brothers.
Freyt was 37 years old; tall and lean, with strong lines around his mouth and a constant look of amusement in his eyes. When he did not act as Rhodan's representative, he held the position of commander of the space fighter force. Everything was running smoothly. The newly erected industrial plants were already manufacturing goods according to plan. The world was becoming economically dependent on Rhodan.
This fortified base had a quasi-cosmic appearance. It was protected by a continually activated screen of energy, providing absolute security. Not even the most destructive atom, bomb could penetrate this screen. Earlier bombardments with atom bombs by hostile forces had repeatedly given proof of this.