by Perry Rhodan
Shortly before the Tigris had taken off, Rhodan had given Maj. Clyde Ostal the order to contact the Terran trading outpost on Goszul's Planet, three hours after making the transition into the Naral System.
Now Perry Rhodan had to let those three hours tick by. When all but 20 minutes of the time period had elapsed, Rhodan called the control room over the intercom and told the commander: "Prepare for Order B/7, Commander. Carry out only when I specifically tell you to!"
Order B/7 concerned a new transition which would bring the Lotus into the welter of stars in the center of the Milky Way.
Rhodan's choice of a new destination had been carefully thought out: it was far from all traveled routes and, moreover, it would be avoided by even the bravest Arkonides like the plague.
The region was 100 light-years in diameter, dominated by four monstrous, invisible and energy-rich radio stars which possessed magnetic fields of unimaginable intensity as well—making navigation in this sector almost impossible and paralyzing hypercom traffic.
Perry Rhodan knew precisely which of the rumors about this place were correct and which were only legends old spacemen might swap. The first time he had been in the area had been with the Titan and on the other two occasions he had taken the Drusus. He had encountered improbable conditions that could be explained only by the magnetic fields of the radio stars which reached deep into space. However, this place in the universe lost all its terrors for someone who learned how to conduct himself there.
Rhodan's well-developed sense of time led him to glance at the chronometer. The third hour was just coming to an end.
Order B/7 was to be carried out!
The universe seemed to explode in front of the Lotus and the ship disappeared, rematerializing in the same instant in the center of the galaxy.
Five minutes later Rhodan was in the Com Center. "Call the Mab 1, code word Arkon. You'll find the hypercom frequency listed in the printed wavelength guide. Bring the reply to my cabin."
Then he instructed that the mutants be sent to him. Even Tako Kakuta, the teleporter, arrived by the normal way.
Fellmer Lloyd, the muscular and dark-haired locator and telepath who could not only perceive brainwaves and analyze them but also sense other people's moods and feel oncoming danger far in advance, had a clumsy, ponderous look to him.
Quite the opposite was Kitai Ishibashi who had been a doctor and psychologist before joining Rhodan's mutant corps. He was tall, slender and perhaps fit the mold of an intellectual. As a suggestor he was all but an indispensable member of the corps.
"Just a few minutes ago," said Rhodan, "I informed the galactic trader Mabdan that I'm waiting for him at the agreed-upon place. We will board his ship, the Mab 1, fly with it to the Naral System and land at the Ent-Than spaceport." Rhodan smiled a little as he looked at the suggestor and continued, "Ishibashi, you had better go talk to the commander of the Lotus right now and let him know how you plan to work. I'd rather not run any unnecessary risks on this mission, especially with the Lotus and its new frequency damper involved. You're the only one who can contact the ship and its commander from Ekhas—even though in only a suggestive fashion. Fill him in so that no one has to be unpleasantly surprised.
"The Mab 1 will be alongside in an hour at most. We'll cross over in Springer spacesuits and we won't be taking any Terran equipment with us. Please check even your clothing over carefully with that in mind.
"The Ekhonides are Arkonides! If we never forget that, we'll never underestimate them."
Rhodan looked at his men thoughtfully. A vague disquiet was bothering him and several times his thoughts centered around Mabdan. That galactic trader was an agent for Earth like many others of his race.
Mabdan belonged to the agents who had worked longest for Rhodan but under one thin pretense or another he had managed to avoid the last three thought-probes by Terran telepaths. It was a matter of bad luck that Allan D. Mercant had to call on Mabdan, no one else being available, for the flight to Ekhas
The press of time which had affected the whole mission from the beginning had simply not allowed the Terrans to find a more trustworthy Springer than Mabdan.
Rhodan spoke to Fellmer Lloyd. "Check the Springer Mabdan's mind as soon as we step aboard. I have my suspicions, Lloyd!"
Soon the Mab 1 was alongside the Lotus; Perry Rhodan and his three mutants floated in Springer spacesuits over to it. The make-up artist aboard the Lotus had produced his masterpiece: even Perry Rhodan would not have recognized himself in the mirror and he entered the hatch of the Mab 1 as Alf Renning.
A young Springer received them with a broad smile. His Intercosmo, sprinkled liberally with slang, he invited them to come with him to his 'Master'.
Unsuspecting, the four Terrans entered the expansive cabin. Then Fellmer Lloyd telepathed his chief,This isn't him! It's Mabdan 3!
The number following the clan name indicated the rank of the Springer bearing it, and numbers up to 50 were not uncommon.
Mabdan 3 came towards them with a friendly expression on his face. He radiated calmness and trust. His invitation to sit down seemed hearty enough and Fellmer Lloyd could find nothing dangerous in the Springer's thoughts after examining them with the greatest concentration.
While the discussion turned around risk, danger and payments, and Perry Rhodan silently pushed a large sum of money to the Springer, Fellmer Lloyd perceived another set of thought emanations. They came from somewhere aboard the ship but they could not be clearly made out or identified.
Lloyd glanced innocently over at Kitai Ishibashi, who was just then relating some amusing space anecdote. It brought Mabdan 3 to laughing but suddenly the Springer's laugh died away.
"What did you just say, Terran?" he demanded quickly and his face grew pale.
The tall, thin Oriental smiled his unfathomable smile. "Mabdan 3, I said..."
And then, grinning, the Springer had an impulse beamer in his hand.
Fellmer Lloyd desperately wondered why he hadn't sensed this coming while sitting directly across from the compactly built Springer with the carefully trimmed beard.
Lloyd felt no fear. The galactic trader had already passed up his only chance to kill anyone with the beamer by waiting too long. Kitai Ishibashi was already 'treating' him. Ever more strongly the slender Oriental forced Mabdan 3 under his will. He was confident of his success and overlooked the fact he had already ordered the Springer twice to lay the impulse beamer on the table.
But Mabdan 3 had no such intentions.
The malicious grin was still spread across his face. He opened his mouth to speak. Then an inexplicable flickering in the air frightened him and his fright became panic when the shortest of the Terrans materialized next to him. The Terran's hand shot out and knocked the beamer out of the Springer's grasp and then Mabdan 3 found himself at the mercy of a thermobeamer trained directly at him.
Tako Kakuta had reversed the situation with one short teleportation spring.
Fellmer Lloyd, who looked so clumsy, acted astonishingly fast. He swiftly disarmed the completely confused Mabdan 3 and threw a psychobeamer of the latest Arkonide model and a paralyzer on the table.
In his panic Mabdan 3 did not notice Alf Renning giving his slim companion a brief but sharp glance. Concentrating with unusual strength, Ishibashi attempted to force his will on the Springer but to no avail. It was almost as if Mabdan 3 did not exist at all, for all the effect Ishibashi's efforts had.
"I'm not getting anywhere with him either," said Fellmer Lloyd in English. "I can't get a clear picture of his brainwave pattern and his emotional patterns have completely changed—I can't get a clear picture of them, either."
These words were directed to Perry Rhodan, who had not moved since the appearance of the impulse beamer. Only his eyes were moving, glancing from here to there. Now he fixed his gaze on the Springer once more. The galactic trader's eyes presented a riddle for him.
However, Rhodan did not have a chance to solve the riddle.
"Th
ere's danger coming from the deck!" Fellmer Lloyd warned, stepping behind Mabdan 3 and forcing the Springer's hands behind his back.
A moment later the commandeered weapons had been divided among the Terrans. Only Lloyd had not taken part: he had to concern himself with Mabdan 3 and continue his attempt to probe the Springer's thoughts.
"The danger is coming closer!" he signaled Rhodan and his comrades. "Two men. They're coming for us!"
Fellmer Lloyd was not able to penetrate the Springer's thoughts. Something was protecting them from his probing mind.
The door opened slowly and the faces of the two entering Springers went white when they saw the three weapons aimed at them. Without waiting to be told they dropped their psychobeamers.
"Ishibashi..." Rhodan only pronounced his name as he ordered with an imperious movement of his head for the Springers to enter the cabin completely. The suggestor was already active at this time and Mabdan 3 thought he was dreaming when he saw the inexplicable change in attitude of his two shipmates who suddenly smiled at the Terrans, spoke in a friendly manner to them and without being asked sat down and made themselves comfortable.
"Mabdan 3 has been blocked, men!" Rhodan said without further commentary.
Kitai Ishibashi, the most intelligent of the three mutants, understood at once what Rhodan meant.
That part of Operation Naral System involving the active participation of Springer Agent Mabdan 1 had been betrayed. And in that case the Robot Brain's defensive section must have reacted instantly.
In the place of Mabdan 1, Terran agent, and ignoring the order of Springer ranking, Mabdan 3 had been prepared.
A hypnotic block lay upon the Springer's mind and Kitai Ishibashi was unable to remove it. The Oriental's suggestive power was psychic in origin whereas Mabdan 3's blockade was the work of an Arkonide hypno-machine which, in its soulless fulfillment of its assigned task, did not hesitate to mercilessly distort the Springer's brainwave pattern.
Mabdan 3 did not understand that he would soon go insane unless Rhodan's mutants soon found a way to remove the artificial hypnoblock.
Fellmer Lloyd, still trying to understand what Rhodan had said, was startled. Once again he had sensed a strange brainwave pattern, and again only vaguely.
He began to search.
There it was again. In a sort of trance, he described to Tako Kakuta the layout of the cabin from which the strange brainwave pattern came.
Perry Rhodan had no objection to Kakuta's teleportational spring.
The two Springers were still under the power of Ishibashi and he gave them the order not to look at what happened in the cabin.
The slender teleporter disappeared in a flickering light in the air from Mabdan 3's cabin. Mabdan 3 himself thought of ghosts and devils while his two men sat harmlessly in a corner and chatted, taking no apparent notice of the odd goings on.
Now Lloyd entered into telepathic contact with Kakuta.
Kakuta had materialized in a small cabin at the end of the spacious deck and found an unconscious man who had a surprising resemblance to Mabdan 3.
Fellmer Lloyd did not have to say anything. Perry Rhodan had tuned in himself. By way of their telepathic contact with Kakuta they witnessed along with him what was to be found in the small cabin, for under these favorable circumstances—Rhodan stood right next to Lloyd—Rhodan was able to receive Lloyd's thoughts.
I know about this poison, don't I? The Aras brew it, right? It's a time-stopping drug that reduces all bodily functions down to an absolute minimum. Four breaths in one minute...
Then the telepathic contact between Fellmer Lloyd and Tako Kakuta broke off temporarily.
"Kakuta is to come back here and spring to the Com Center with Ishibashi, Lloyd!" Rhodan ordered in English.
In the next instant the air behind Mabdan 3 flickered and the small, slender teleporter had returned.
Kitai Ishibashi stood next to Kakuta and waited for Rhodan's final instructions. "Transmit an emergency call to the Lotus using the equipment in the Mab 1's Com Center. The Lotus is to get as fast as possible, Alarm Level #1! They are to send over a commando team 10 men strong with a dozen battle robots!"
While Rhodan was still speaking, Kitai Ishibashi rested his hand on the slender teleporter's shoulder. He neither felt nor saw anything as the small man dematerialized with him and rematerialized at the same moment in the Com Center of the cylinder ship.
Before the three Springers on duty in the Com Center could turn around upon hearing the slight noise of the two Terrans materializing, Ishibashi employed his strongest suggestive powers on them.
"Let me sit down here for a minute, old friend!" Kakuta told the Springer at the hypercom transmitter.
Without a word, the young galactic trader stood up and gave his seat to the Terran. His two comrades saw nothing peculiar about it—and as Tako Kakuta sent his message, they sat off by themselves, deep in conversation and laughing over some joke.
Shortly thereafter, the Springers were back on communications duty. They had no memory of any visitors to the Com Center. However, instead of leaving gaping holes in their minds, Ishibashi had filled the gaps with his suggestive power, and his implanted memories had become reality for the Springers.
Mabdan 3, still sitting defenseless in his seat, no longer followed the comings and goings behind his back. Whatever the Terrans were discussing in their own language remained a mystery to him.
Kakuta teleported into the cabin of the unconscious Springer for the second time. He was to attempt to find out more about the man.
"Where is Mabdan 2?" Rhodan demanded sharply of Mabdan 3. "We've found the clan chieftain unconscious in a small cabin... your clan is going to wonder in a few days why you are playing the role of your patriarch. And then, my friend, I think you'll have some very unpleasant minutes ahead of you. Now, where is Mabdan 2, Springer?"
Perry Rhodan's warning made no impression on the defenseless man. Kitai Ishibashi told his chief as much. "It's not getting through to him at all, sir. I have—"
"Ah, Perry Rhodan!" exclaimed the Springer, his face distorted.
Kitai Ishibashi had made the inexcusable error of addressing Rhodan with the word 'sir'. He telepathed Kakuta, hoping that setting the teleporter into immediate action would at least halfway make up for his mistake. Kakuta, spring at once into the Com Center! Look to see if there isn't a second hypercom unit that's transmitting the conversation here in the cabin. Hurry Kakuta!
In that moment, Perry Rhodan, the Administrator of the Solar Imperium, became conscious when Mabdan 3 cried out his name that the giant positronic brain on Arkon 3 knew only one goal: learning Earth's galactic position at any cost and by any means, and then eliminating the threat of Perry Rhodan and his Solar Imperium by making it into an Arkonide colony.
The Robot Regent had assembled all data that could possibly lead to tile identification of Perry Rhodan and the English title 'sir' was one such identifying datum!
Rhodan's thoughts raced farther. It surprised him that Mabdan 3 had betrayed his discovery in such a stupid manner. At that point Fellmer Lloyd interrupted his consideration of the problem. "Sir, Mabdan 3's brainwave pattern... I've never seen anything like it, not even with insane persons..."
And then Fellmer Lloyd was interrupted, as well.
Kakuta appeared in a shimmering of air. His face was bruised and he was bleeding from the left temple. But he paid no attention to that. His report was more important to him now than his own life. "Every word, everything that was said here, was transmitted by a second hypercom, transmitted on the Robot Regent frequency... up to two minutes ago. But not any more..." And the slender Oriental showed his thermobeamer to Perry Rhodan with an apologetic gesture. "I used this on the hypercom. But the damage has been done, there's nothing we can do about it now. I'm just surprised that Arkon hasn't sent a few dozen super battleships out here already with a friendly invitation for us to come aboard..."
"I'm not at all surprised," said Perry Rhodan and there se
emed to be laughter in his grey eyes. After all, he knew this part of the universe and its four invisible radio stars.
5/ THE STARHELL
The Ekhonide prison administration for the Star of Arkon had its own opinions about the matter of hygiene and so far had had good results, especially with newly arrived prisoners from outer space.
Processing the entry of each new prisoner was quickly accomplished with the help of positronic equipment but despite first class Ara methods disinfection took up a relatively large amount of time.
Maj. Clyde Ostal and his men went from one surprise to the next without any time to recover from the first.
Just now they were being sent to the seventh department; no one felt very much at ease about it. They were taken up by antigrav lift for a 'Virospectroscopic Examination'.
The Virospectroscopic Department was on the top floor of the huge skyscraper and took up a good third of that level.
Six Ekhonides armed with shock weapons brought them to the entrance. As in the six preceding medical departments, the guards remained outside while the Terrans went in.
Maj. Clyde Ostal waved him away hastily when Lt. S. Seeger wanted to talk to him. The Terrans were lined up two by two and Ostal was in front of Seeger. Then the entranceway was sealed off by a powerful energy screen. Maj. Ostal did not notice: a small sidedoor through which Ekhonide medics were coming and going attracted his attention.
Now he saw that the sidedoor was open again and that it was staying open longer than usual. An older Ekhonide stood in the doorway, calling something up above.
Up above... that was a moving walkway leading sharply upwards. Beyond it Ostal could see a narrow stripe of the blue, cloudless sky of Ekhas.
"Here comes Hasting," Ostal heard Lt. Seeger say.
At that moment the major understood that Hasting, who had broken his arm by falling against the energy barrier at the entrance to the prison, had been treated. He whispered sharply to Lt. Seeger: "Bring Hasting over here!"
They were still waiting in the large, long-stretching anteroom of the Virospectroscopic department. The walls and ceiling were coated with a white plastic substance and the room was lighted indirectly from all sides. The Ekhonides passing through the room on business stared at the Terrans as though they were strange animals.