by Perry Rhodan
Of course, today there was no necessity for keeping up the protective screen but Freyt complied, as always, with Rhodan's explicit orders. He knew that his chief's precautions were aimed not at humans but at attackers from outer space who might locate and assault the Earth.
The day was coming to an end. Freyt looked up at the darkening sky. It had been weeks since he received any news from Rhodan. What had happened in the Vega system? Had they been able to repulse the attacks by the Topides the cruel giant lizards? Were the invaded Ferrons saved? Did they find the planet of eternal life?
Questions, questions, but no answers.
Freyt sighed. Rhodan would be satisfied on his return. Terra stood united behind him and his efforts to build up the might of mankind. The first serious steps for a planned world government were already to be seen.
A man in uniform left the next building. Freyt turned slowly around and immediately recognized him. It was Peter Kosnow, the Russian liaison officer with the Eastern bloc. His short blond hair was tinged red and shining in the sunset. When he saw Freyt he changed his direction and walked toward the commander. He greeted him cordially and said:
"If I were in your place, I would not admire the sunset but go to the hyper-radio center."
Freyt was jolted and asked:
"News from Rhodan? You're not putting me on?"
"I'm not playing games," Kosnow said quietly. "The message just came through. It is being repeated now and if you hurry you can listen to the third re-run."
"Is everything O.K.?" Freyt called already on his way.
"What else?" laughed the Russian and sauntered off in the opposite direction.
Freyt raced across the street and up the steps to the entrance. Then he took the elevator which carried him up to the receiving center in the dome. The recording instruments were taking down the message. The radioman on duty looked up quickly and turned back to his equipment. He was just in time for the beginning of the third repetition of the message from far distant space. The hyperwaves did not require any time to travel from their origin 27 light-years away; they reached Earth the same second Perry Rhodan sent his dispatch through the powerful transmitter aboard the Stardust.
"THIS IS PERRY RHODAN, STARDUST, CALLING COL. FREYT, GALACTO-CITY. TOPIDES FORCED OUT OF VEGA SYSTEM. THE FERRONS ARE FREE AGAIN. A TRADE TREATY BETWEEN BOTH OUR WORLDS IS BEING DRAWN UP, MANUFACTURING PLANTS B7A AND 42C TO BE PREPARED FOR PRODUCTION OF EXPORTS. POSITION OF OUR PLANET MUST REMAIN SECRET. NO EXCEPTION FOR FERRONS. STARDUST WILL REMAIN IN VEGA SYSTEM UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. OTHER MESSAGES WILL ONLY BE REMITTED WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. HYPER-RADIO TRANSMITTERS ARE NOT TO BE USED BECAUSE OF DANGER OF DETECTION. THAT IS ALL. THE CREW OF THE STARDUST SENDS GREETINGS TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE NEW POWER. GOOD LUCK! RHODAN."
The buzz of the equipment stopped. The communication was terminated.
"Were the first two messages identical?" asked Freyt
"Exactly the same, sir," replied the radio technician.
"You will get the written text."
"Thank you."
Col. Freyt turned slowly around and left the radio station.
A treaty with the Ferrons, he thought. Rhodan had thus achieved one of his goals: peaceful trade relations with an alien race. The first trading the solar system of the Earth had been established. But more than that: the delaying of the return of the Stardust was a hint that still other missions were awaiting them. Could it have anything to do with the mysterious planet about which Bell had been babbling on his last visit?
However that might be, Freyt had received his orders. The sun was down and Freyt began to feel cold. The fans of the air-conditioning blew the cold evening air throughout the dome of energy. He was not quite so isolated from the outside world anymore.
"We have begun a new era in our history," Freyt was talking to himself as he walked toward his nearby bungalow, "but the people don't know it yet."
2/ WHO GOES THERE?
The Ferronian scientist did not hide his doubts from Rhodan. He had asked for a conference and since Rhodan liked the old man, he had agreed to it. However, this conference had to wait until after his meeting with Khrest and Thora, which was to be private.
The former commander of the Arkonide research expedition was summarizing her position:
"Our point of view is not incompatible with yours, Perry. You want to use our Arkonide battleship Stardust to expand the influence of Terra, whereas we want to return to our home, Arkon. We both wish to use the Stardust and the positronic brain to find the planet of eternal life. We must try to reach these three goals in such a manner that nobody will have to suffer any disadvantage. Therefore, we have to establish priorities."
Khrest interrupted in a serious tone.
"You are quite right, Thora. I am glad to see that you realize it. Before we make any other decision, we can agree on one point. First of all we will endeavor to find the planet of everlasting life. All other actions will follow from whatever eventuates as a consequence."
"I can only concur with your suggestion." Rhodan was pleased. "Once this is accomplished , I will have no more objections to flying to Arkon and revealing the whereabouts of the Earth to your nation."
Thora stretched both arms toward Perry Rhodan.
"We will make a pact, Perry. We will proceed in the following order: search for the planet of eternal life first; then to Arkon; and finally to Terra. Agreed?"
Rhodan grasped her hands.
"I will go along with that, Thora and Khrest, but I would like to make one minor condition in our pact if you don't mind."
"What condition?" Thora asked suspiciously.
"Nothing bad, Rhodan grinned indulgently. "Simply that the Arkonides shall not learn the space coordinates of Earth until I give my permission. The nations on Terra are not disposed to become a colony of a decaying stellar empire. You will have to admit that your race is already degenerated, however difficult such self-realization is for you. We would like to cooperate with you in preserving your empire but we don't want to create any new conflicts. Now..."
"I accept your condition," interjected Khrest.
Both men looked at Thora. She hesitated but then nodded.
"Alright. I am convinced that the Council of Science of my government will understand your fears. Now that we have cleared up the situation, we can proceed in our attempt to reach our mutual goals. The sooner we find the mysterious planet, the sooner we can see Arkon our home, again."
"Thank you very much for your confidence. As soon as I have finished talking to Lossosher, we will go to work."
"What does the Ferron want from you?" asked Khrest.
"I don't know. He wants to talk to me. It may be important: who knows--"
Rhodan left the two Arkonides alone and went to another room where Lossosher was already waiting impatiently. The Ferron remained seated as Rhodan entered.
"I should have thought of it earlier," he began without introduction, "but the possibility did not occur to me until now."
"What possibility?"
"That our stellar system might still have our 43 original planets."
Rhodan was startled and did not answer. He failed to understand Lossosher. The Ferron noted it without showing his quiet satisfaction and continued.
"You stated your opinion that the mysterious strangers who visited Ferrol 10,000 years ago and brought the transmitters were able to move their planet at will. Automatically we all assumed that if it is possible to accomplish such a feat, they must have left our constellation. I believe that is not necessarily the right conclusion. It would not be impossible that they remained here, but in some other place."
Rhodan sat down and asked with raised eyebrows:
"And where could that be?"
Lossosher smiled.
"Now you are asking too much. I don't know where. It is only a possibility which I am pointing out to you. Maybe on one of the big moons which circle our larger planets. Maybe they pushed an uninhabited out of this system and took
its place. Anyone looking for them would instinctively follow the departed planet, exactly as you are planning to do."
"Your argument is quite attractive," Rhodan admitted cautiously, "but it is pure theory. Why should these technically gifted beings go to so much trouble to make a fool of anyone? One can safely assume that they had highly effective weapons to keep all intruders away. I am convinced that they are playing this game of hide and seek mainly for fun but not entirely without serious motivations. The point is that we are indeed supposed to find them and that is where we have to begin. They have left clues for us and the track is leading out of this system."
"At least permit me to search for this planet within our gigantic Vegan system. In case I discover something, I will let you know right away."
Rhodan gave the matter some thought. Lossosher's theory could not be dismissed out of hand-it merely lacked probability. To refuse him his wish would not only be unfair but could arouse some suspicion. The Ferrons had their own space fleet and could handle the undertaking by themselves. If the planet of eternal life really turned out to be somewhere around here...
"I won't stand in your way," Rhodan gave his assent. "I'll put one of my space fighters at your disposal. The cabin is very small but two people can squeeze in if we remove some non-essential equipment. I'll order Deringhouse to make a fighter ship and a pilot available for you. You will have to keep in touch with us constantly via radio."
The old Ferron rose. His small figure made him appear younger.
"I am much obliged, Rhodan. My success will be your success."
Rhodan followed him pensively with his eyes. And finally a third meeting took place. Reginald Bell had assembled the Mutant corps for a briefing. The time of the meeting was set in the early afternoon hours of the long Ferrol day. Perry Rhodan did not take part but had given Bell all necessary instructions.
The mutants arrived one after the other. The radioactive fall-out of many, atomic bombs had caused severe hereditary damage to the current generation. However, not all of the effects were negative. Heretofore unrecognized potentials of mankind were awakened and became activated. Rhodan had realized his chance in time, located the best mutants and engaged them to work for him.
More than once Rhodan's Power had been saved and protected by these mutants. As usual, Bell flinched as the Japanese teleporter Tako Kakuta materialized out of thin air and almost stepped on his toes.
"I only hope that someday you'll make a mistake and wind up in a blast furnace," he growled angrily because he always fell for the same gag. Then he added in his most official manner:
"Kakuta, if you dare once more to scare your superior officer I'll see to it that you get three days behind bars."
"I'll be delighted." The Japanese grinned and winked at his colleague Ras Tschubai who was just entering the room like a normal human being. "But you will have to see to it that my cell is surrounded by a five-dimensional energy field and a time lock so you'll be sure I won't break out."
Bell did not reply. He knew how senseless it would be. To get over his irritation he turned to Anne Sloane and little nine-year-old Betty Toufry. Anne and the little girl were both outstanding telekinetic wonders. By strength of their will alone they were able to move physical matter across great distances. Betty was, in addition, a telepath and worked mostly together with the other telepath, John Marshall.
There was a total of 15 mutants in the gathering.
Bell pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, tried for two minutes to decipher his own handwriting and put it back in his pocket hoping he would not forget anything.
"Friends" he began, jumping with surprising agility on a table from which be could overlook his audience, "Perry Rhodan requests your cooperation. I don't have time to make a long speech. You all know-at least from hearsay-about the five-dimensional vault underneath the Red Palace. Ras Tschubai gained admittance to the vault but be made an involuntary trip through time, which took him back to the beginning of the universe."
"Now we will again go into the vault but without the risk of traveling into the past or the future. The positronic brain has evaluated all the latest information and selected its instructions. By utilizing a new formula, the Arkonide energy generator will form a new network of rays which will neutralize the effect of the cosmic rays which are the substance of the vault. Thus all objects inside the time vault-even though in a different era-will be returned to the present time. Then all we need do is simply remove them from the vault."
"You are not programmed for immediate action but you are required to stand by during the experiment so that you can execute without delay any operation requested of you."
"That will be all. Wait in your quarters for the alert we will proceed via transmitter to Thorta and go on to the vault from there. Thank you."
Bell jumped from the table and left the room.
Sgt. Groll was not very happy about his assignment. When Commander Deringhouse summoned him he anticipated with some excitement a special mission. But his hopes were soon disappointed. Instead of going on a reconnaissance flight with his pals, he had to check all Vegan planets and their moons with this old Ferron.
Like a good soldier he complied with resignation. Assisted by the technical personnel, he pulled out the weapons from their mountings in his pursuit ship to provide room for the scientist in the narrow cabin. The radio equipment was removed as well. Groll received in its place a handy little radio transmitter which was adequate for any emergency within the Vegan system. The contour couch was ripped out and replaced by another seat.
Soon Lossosher joined him with his notes and papers under his arm. After they had climbed into the small cockpit, Lossosher gave the signal to start. Thanks to quick hypno-training he spoke passable English although he had no idea in which part of the universe this language was used. In any case he was able to communicate with his pilot.
"The inner planets can be disregarded since their climate is too unhealthy but," he added quickly, "who knows what is healthy or unhealthy for immortals? However, the history records indicate that their habitat was cool. The 12th planet has three fairly big moons and we can start our investigation there."
Sgt. Groll nodded.
"Alright then, lets go!"
And the sleek machine glided like a silvery drop into the ocean of waiting stars. Thora changed her mind at the last, minute. Now she no longer wanted to enter the vault. This left only Rhodan, Bell, Khrest and the mutants to step into the big matter-transmitter on their base.
The thing looked like a huge wire cage. Generators furnished the considerable energy which was consumed in the dematerialized transport through hyperspace. The requirements were more obvious than the explanation for the method. They knew the power needed in operating a matter-transmitter-even though the operating principle was a mystery to them.
The gate closed.
The gate closed, Rhodan adjusted the coordinates and activated the machine. Nothing whatsoever seemed to happen. This was according to plan, for none of the usual pain could be felt while dematerializing over short distances.
The gate opened again. They had arrived in Thorta, the capital of Ferrol. The Thort's bodyguards were waiting for them, and accompanied them with all due reverence as far as the basement of the palace. Then they left them to their fate for none of the Ferrons was in the least interested to risk their lives in an encounter with the evil spirits known to haunt the place.
Ras Tschubai scouted out the terrain by teleporting himself to various spots. John Marshall the telepath, intercepted Tschubai's thought impulses during his jumps and passed on these thoughts to Perry Rhodan. This way Rhodan was fully informed as to what was lying ahead of him.
The generator had already been brought down to the vaulted room the previous day. It had been placed near the entrance of the hall in whose center the mysterious crypt was known to be.
There it was-invisible to human eyes, yet impenetrable for any matter. This crypt was a bell of pure energy, which
had been set up thousands of years ago by an unknown race to house and conceal in it many incomprehensible secrets. The crypt was formed by the rays of distant radio stars. Somewhere deep in space a mysterious installation must be hidden which converted these rays into one beam and directed it to the ceiling of the underground vault in the palace. There the beam spread out to form an invisible cone-shaped structure of pure energy.
Anne Sloane, the telekinetic, had once succeeded in deflecting these rays for a few seconds. The crypt opened and Ras Tschubai jumped inside. But this procedure had not permitted a thorough exploration of the crypt's contents. Therefore Rhodan had been pleased to obtain a formula from the positronic brain that would achieve the neutralization of the beamed rays of the radio stars. This effect was based on the principle of polarization, as Khrest had explained. There was no time limit on how long this polarization could be applied. At the same time the time barrier would be lifted according to the information supplied by the positronic automaton. This fact was of the utmost importance for Perry Rhodan and his men, for what good would it do them to enter the crypt if the objects hidden inside were not present at this time but thousands or even millions of years in the past or the future?
Rhodan distributed the mutants around the crypt so as to be available when needed, ready to jump inside. Then he bent over the generator to check for the proper adjustment. Satisfied, he straightened up again.
"Khrest, Bell and I will be the first to go inside. Only Miss Sloane and John Marshall will join us immediately while the rest of the mutants will hold themselves ready. We don't know yet what special qualifications will be needed, but in case..."
Everyone understood what he meant to say.
"...we should encounter some obstacle, the mutant whose special talents will best qualify him to remove this obstacle will have to join and help us." This was what Rhodan had intended to express.
Rhodan hesitated slightly. Then he bent once more over the generator and pushed a button. There was a clicking sound, followed by a soft constant hum. Now the atomic battery inside the generator provided the energy needed to produce the polarizing ray beam. All were waiting with baited breath. Were the positronic brain's calculations actually correct? Had the message inscribed on the golden box, rescued earlier from inside the vault, been properly decoded? A tiny mistake was all that was needed to...