by Perry Rhodan
Pucky had calmed himself. I took him up in my arms once more. Rhodan took a firm hold of Ras Tschubai.
"Where to?" asked the teleporter confidently. He was accustomed to eluding his enemies through the paramental planes.
I hesitated. Where could we go? If the time-phaser had ceased functioning, then the cruiser would also be in the present time. That meant a battle which would sooner or later lead to the destruction of the ship. There was no other explanation for our sudden return to our own time. The machine must have failed. Whether by accident or plan was immaterial just now.
"Our target is the Sotala," Rhodan decided. "Then we'll see what we should do."
I waited for the dematerialization but it did not occur. Pucky began to tremble. His eyes seemed to grow dim. Ras Tschubai staggered so that Rhodan had to support him. I felt gooseflesh come over me.
"Pucky... !"
"Antis!" he exclaimed. "Antis are close by somewhere! I can't concentrate-they absorb my psi. Atlan, I can't jump!"
Tschubai confirmed it. I didn't ask any more questions. We knew that the Akons had the support of the Baalol priests. Their mental emanations negated the mutants' para-faculties.
I pulled my minicom set from my equipment belt and turned it on. I sent out a distress call on the hyper-frequency band of the Fleet. We had found that the Brain's honeycomb screen could be penetrated by relatively weak hyperwaves. If the radio experts of the Sotala were alert they would hear me. Of course that depended on whether or not the cruiser had actually returned to present time.
We listened breathlessly. Pucky detected a few brain impulses, then nothing more. So the Antis were also closing in on us. The Sotala did not answer but in its place we heard a strange voice. It was a time announcement in English. Someone was broadcasting on our frequency.
"Ironduke-it is now 11:43, 15 February 2106... !"
The message was continuously repeated except that the time of day kept changing. I tensed, hardly noting Rhodan's sudden grip.
"The 15th of February, sir," said Ras, nonplussed. "The bomb will explode in less than 17 minutes!"
"But-we came out of the ship on the 14th," protested Rhodan. "The conversion table-"
"Was wrong," I interrupted him. "The time-phaser doesn't work as precisely as we assumed. Friend, I'm getting nervous."
He released his grip on my arm. Pucky announced that his psi faculties had surrendered completely. A merciless enemy waited for us outside. We exchanged glances. In a basic sense it made little difference to us which way we would die if it were going to happen. Perhaps an energy beam might be easier to contemplate than being caught up in the sun-hot concussion of a 50-megaton explosion.
"We'll use the emergency exit. All set?" We turned on our individual defense screens. They were strong enough to absorb the impact of hand weapons fire although a robot shot might be dangerous. The deflector screens made us invisible. When I pulled down my absorption filter I could again see my companions.
Ras opened the emergency door in the rear of the chamber. Beyond it was a dimly-lit corridor. There was still no one in sight.
The hypercom message of the Ironduke was still giving the countdown. It was now 11:46...
8/ FROM THE TOMB OF THE AGES
Our deflector screens were machine-generated. Even the mental capacities of the Antis were not sufficient for them to detect these light-diverting lines of energy.
This had been our last hope but then the Akon technicians appeared with their electronic sensors, which homed in on our micro-reactors. The famous Terran radiation-absorption features of our suits proved to be useless. It could not be denied that the Akons were masters of an outstanding technology.
Arkonides were not in evidence, which was a sign that the men of the Blue System had already suppressed my people. We found ourselves in a lengthy hall that I had never seen before. It was an impossibility to get a perspective of this labyrinth of passages and rooms without a construction plan. Also our orientation was all the more difficult because of the complex system of levels. Many of the long chambers were split by two to three mezzanine decks.
I was lying behind a master relay cabinet from which thick cable conduits led to other switching units. The deep humming sound behind the housing panels indicated that the Regent was working at full power. It seemed to have activated all auxiliary sections. The lighting here was very inadequate. We could hardly see the flitting shadows of our attackers although thousands of indicator and parity lamps were flickering on and off. It caused a confusion of vision which was unpleasant.
Rhodan was crouched a few meters away behind the base of a transformer. Its rumbling sound covered our whisperings. I noted that he was carrying his heavy impulse beamer over his shoulder. So far we had not used our hand weapons. The Antis' defense screens were reinforced by their mental abilities and were not normally penetrable. We had not brought along any of the new combination "persuaders" which had been designed to combat the Baalols. No one had foreseen that we might be fighting the mysterious priests.
I saw a figure at the end of an aisle. Its outlines seemed to flow and change, which was proof that the god-priest had fully activated his screen. It would be useless to bring him under fire.
I checked my watch which I had synchronized with the Fleet's countdown broadcast so that I would know when the moment of destruction would come. The tolerance limit of the uranium timer lay between plus or minus three minutes. I was hoping for a breakdown of the bomb's ignition system, which I knew could not happen.
I was startled by a thundering sound nearby. Ras Tschubai had fired his weapon. The white-hot glow of a thermo-beam lit up the dim twilight around us. Somebody yelled out piercingly and I saw an Arkon stumble out from behind a bursting bank of equipment. I did not shoot although he was apparently only wounded. Two Antis dragged him to cover behind a stack of memory banks.
Ras changed his position. The enemy's greenish weapon beams struck back. Wherever they hit the material was converted to dust. The Regent sounded more alarms. Whenever any part of the installations was destroyed a new battery of sirens became activated.
Rhodan jumped across the aisle and threw himself down beside me. "Let's go back to those mezzanine stairs. We'll work our way to the surface," he said. "Are you ready?"
I beckoned to Pucky and Ras. Then we ran for it. In that moment the spot I had left was hit by a disintegrator beam. The relay cabinet collapsed under it and meter-long sparks shot out of the cabling and connector housings. The bedlam of sirens increased so that it didn't matter if we shouted to each other. Ahead we saw the stairs. Rhodan yelled at us to take cover once more and we followed his advice.
Our battle tactics developed a set pattern within minutes. We would risk opening fire and then quickly change our location. It always took a new space of time for the Akon sensor equipment to pick up our trail again. I figured we had a good chance as long as they didn't get the idea of concentrating exclusively on our gun muzzles whenever we opened fire. But for that it would be necessary to open a frontal attack, backed up by many marksmen in the background.
We would then be thrown on the defensive and it would make it still easier for them to fire at our blazing muzzles. I knew it wouldn't be long before the Akons started applying such logic to their tactics.
We were now communicating by hand signals. Pucky made it clear that we were surrounded. In the rear of the hall the Regent's combat robots were showing up. They appeared to have been guided to our position by radio. If necessary they could also track us with their own sensor equipment. But by this time it made little difference to me.
On a signal from Rhodan we all began firing again. I shot blindly at the robot Brain's installations. I jumped forward a few meters and opened fire anew. The racket of our energy weapons was greater than that of the alarms. Irreplaceable circuit banks exploded while flying fragments damaged still other equipment.
After this onslaught we gambled everything on one last manoeuvre. When our abandoned positions
were attacked and the smoke clouds obscured the opposition's visibility, we turned on our antigravs and rose above the floor. After adjusting my equipment for negative weight, I placed my hand against the low ceiling and crept along like a fly toward the stairwell opening."
"Stop!" yelled Rhodan.
I had braced my feet against one of the landings but drew them back as the robots brought the spiral stairs under fire. We held onto several refrigeration pipes to keep from being blasted away by the shockwaves. Glowing fragments hammered against the pipes and equipment nearby. Where the stairs had been was a bubbling mass of synthetic metal. Our defense screens reflected the heat so we were able to dart up through the opening into the next level.
One storey below us everything seemed to be in confusion. The thunder of the robot weapons went on incessantly. Stifling gases shot up out of the stairwell opening.
"They're shooting at the Antis," yelled Ras. "Where next? They're giving us a breather!"
"From here on we fly," I shouted back. "They haven't found out yet that we're on antigravs. Onward! Keep looking for other overhead openings. Somewhere there must be a way out. Don't fire unless we're under specific attack. They may try to force us to show where we are by keeping up random firing, hoping we'll answer back."
Pucky discovered the next opening. Another staircase led upward. We glided through the stairwell gap and arrived in an arched, dome-like chamber which contained the main register banks for a principal memory extension. In these units billions of pieces of data were stored for retrieval.
Just as we thought we were reasonably safe we were tracked again. Pucky picked up a few thought impulses but they faded away immediately. The Antis were everywhere. They seemed to be exerting every possible effort to counteract the paramental faculties of the mutants.
Then we were finally surrounded. The combat robots and Akon forces appeared simultaneously. I managed to check my watch at that moment and saw that it was 12:04-the 15th of February, 2106.
We could no longer hear the warning countdown from the Fleet of the Ironduke. An interference transmitter had come in on the same frequency. All I could hear in my minicom speaker was a faint high squeal.
We let ourselves sink to the floor and took cover behind some equipment racks. Rhodan resignedly hung his heavier weapon over his shoulder and then stared at my watch. The explosion would have to come at any moment. Somebody fired up ahead. Robot weapons pay much attention to the shockwaves anymore.
I stiffened with alarm when I heard a terrible roaring sound. Ras threw himself to the floor and grasped an upright support. We waited for death but it did not come. The sound increased its volume. The cyclonic howling was not quite like a nuclear explosion. It was as if a hurricane had been unleashed in the labyrinths of the robot Regent.
Tschubai's dark countenance was twisted with tension. Rhodan had grasped both my shoulders. We kept on listening. The shooting had been silenced. Underneath us the floor was shaking. Here and there shockwaves shot through the armored hatches of the exits. The Regent was opening all its doors. It was obvious that the Brain was being destroyed even though our bomb had not detonated. We looked at each other in amazement.
Pucky raised up. He listened with his head cocked on one side. Then he cried out: "I'm getting a message! The Antis are dead or they're pulling back."
"Can you jump now?" asked Rhodan. There was a spark of hope in his eyes.
"No, not yet. Watch it! Somebody's coming! He's sending thoughts on a para-plane. He says: 'Don't shoot-I come as a friend.' It keeps repeating itself, the same words... "
Even though annihilation was raging through every other area, in our chamber it was still. No machines exploded, except that the memory banks ceased their humming. They had suddenly died out.
A strange object appeared in the connecting passageway. It was a coupled vehicle that slithered its way toward us on tractor treads.
"The transmitter!" cried Pucky excitedly.
We waited until the thing stopped in front of us. The side panel fell open, revealing seats inside. I recognized it as being an inspection vehicle. However, this particular one appeared to be of special design. I didn't hesitate any longer. In this situation it didn't matter what avenue we turned to. I entered the passenger cabin, sat down abruptly and waited for the others to join me.
When they had all come inside, the panel closed. The inspector car was completely automatic. In front of us a viewscreen lit up. I tensed suddenly when I recognized the features of Epetran. His smile was genuine. All of his mysterious inscrutability had vanished. The speaker crackled and his voice was unmistakable.
"This is a visitape which I prepared after the visit of Your Excellencies, Imperator Gonozal VIII and Solar Administrator Perry Rhodan. I won't be able to work out the principle of the time-converter since my life is too short now. Although I perceived from probing your minds with the mento-monitor where you come from and what you intend, after studying the future I have decided to set up a self-destruct program for the Regent in case it should become influenced by alien powers in a way that is against the interests of the Empire. Thus I am placing the destiny of the Greater Empire in the hands of Your Highnesses."
Epetran fell silent while bowing his head. Rhodan had turned pale.
"The special vehicle your crew detected in front of the Sotala was able to mento-monitor you also. The results proved to me that you have spared yourselves neither dangers nor difficulties in your efforts to preserve the stellar empire in accordance with the ancient traditions. Your thoughts are known to me. I am informed concerning the situation of your own time. When you hear this tape you will be back again in your own plane of reference. In order to hasten that process, shortly after you entered the Brain I had the simulated Sotala towed to another part of the landing area."
"I know that this will place Your Excellencies in danger but I have found no other solution. This robot vehicle has been exclusively designed to bring you and your companions to safety. It is with painful regret that I must destroy my life's work. I took the liberty of removing the time bomb from the base of the reactor. In its place the robot Brain was furnished with an extra safety circuit which would be activated when you arrived-you, the rightful Imperator with truth in your heart and risking life itself in the cause of the Empire. This has now occurred-the 'Insanity Circuit' has taken over. The Regent will self-destruct. I thank you for the new data concerning transition technology. I send greetings to the true friends of the Imperium. What will happen henceforth in your own era is unknown to me. I could only follow your thoughts as far as February of your year 2106. Take now the heritage of your ancestors. I have done my best."
The voice became silent and the picture vanished. I cried out imploringly, speaking the name of the old scientist, but he did not appear again. Rhodan had to shake me by the arm before I regained control of myself.
Now we knew what that monitor vehicle had been up to. Marshall's guess had been correct. Rhodan and I had been scanned again during our visit without our knowing it. By the time we said goodbye to Epetran he had already become informed concerning events of the future millenniums. He had been wise enough not to destroy the Regent beforehand because otherwise he would have changed the course of history. Instead he had chosen our planned date of February 15th as the key point of destiny.
The experience left me shaken. Only now could we fully perceive the man's greatness. What other scientist of the era of Tutmor VI would have been able to make such wide-ranging decisions? Epetran had overlooked nothing. We, the visitors from the future, had been recognized by him. The chain of related factors was mind-staggering. We, the intelligences of the advanced present, had to marvel at the genius of the old man. While we were still trying to figure how we could escape from Arkon 3, he had already worked out a 6000-year plan.
The rumblings and thunderings were still going on outside. Our vehicle traversed unknown halls. After taking an antigravitor upwards it finally brought us to the surface inside an armore
d dome. The journey was ended. We got out. The steel gates of the dome stood wide open. Before us lay the central spaceport which we had walked upon in another time. There was nothing to be seen of the Sotala. Epetran had caused it to be taken to another location. With the increasing distance we had come out of the zone of influence of the time-conversion field. The expedient had been correct even though it had placed our lives in danger. Apparently the old man had wanted to be positive of the results. If the Regent had not been tampered with by the Akons it would not have activated its own self-destruct circuit. Epetran could not have installed a better security factor for testing the veracity of our thoughts long after his death.
There were thousands of robot spaceships on the landing field but they had become inactive. Beneath us the ground was still rumbling. The "Insanity Circuit" must have reached out to all sectors of the Regent at once. It meant the total inactivation of the robot fleet as well as the remote-controlled defense fortresses, automated industries and supplies and everything else. At the moment the Imperium had become a scrap heap without the slightest ability to defend itself.
We waited under cover of the armored dome. Here and there the ground cracked and fissured as machines exploded below. I thought I must be dreaming. Operation "Last Ditch" had come to an end. The Akons and Antis on Arkon 3 had lost the battle. Without the Regent they were more helpless than before.
Rhodan put out a call to the Sotala, which produced an immediate response. The crew had returned to present time.
"Heintz here, sir. We are attacking an Akon ship but give us your tracking coordinates."
Minutes later there was a distant clap of thunder. A dark point suddenly expanded until it burst into a sun-bright explosion. Then we made out the outlines of the Sotala. It came tumbling down toward the ground in our direction. After grazing a robot battleship it bounced to a stop. The lower section was in flames. The cruiser must have received a heavy hit.
Rhodan stared as if entranced toward the West where the planet's atmosphere was beginning to vibrate with rising thunders. The Terran super battleships were the first to appear. With titanic force they attacked the spaceships of the Akons and the Antis.