Challenge of the Unknown Read online

  Perry Rhodan

  The Third Power #32

  Challenge of the Unknown

  Perry Rhodan is on a secret mission on a planet of Arkonide descendants. With him, on a mile-long 'liberated' space battleship is the extraordinary Pucky, and the imperious Thora. But new mysteries arise on the planet Zalit. The Zalites are coppery-skinned aliens with copper-green hair. Their planet has become the base of the 'Watchdogs'–telepathic, marine methane-breathing creatures from another world who establish themselves on Zalit for unknown purposes. What are their aims? Are they malevolent? A new and fantastic challenge for Perry Rhodan and his mutant allies... This is the stirring story of–

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  CHALLENGE OF THE UNKNOWN

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  1/ THE BRAIN MUST BE BEFRIENDED

  "A PLANETSHIP!" Reginald Bell declared. "I don't call this a spaceship any more—it's a regular planet!" Perry Rhodan's aide was panting with exhaustion as he let himself be engulfed by the black gullet of the antigrav cylinder. Lieutenant Julian Tifflor, his eyes shut tight, followed suit. "And we're living inside this planet!"

  "You're absolutely right, Mr. Bell." Tifflor—also known as Tiff—uttered these words with great effort while the speed of their falls was automatically braked till their descents gradually changed to gentle floating. "Sometimes I think I'll lose my way in this monster of a ship."

  "Which of course is the reason for all these constant alarm drills," Bell enlightened him. "We're supposed to learn how to find our way around in this maze." His healthy red complexion deepened several degrees. Above his broad moon-like face bristled his reddish hair, while anger and amusement alternately fought for supremacy in his watery blue eyes. " I'll never master it!"

  Tifflor simply nodded his bead, remaining silent. They had been ordered to report to station H 35, wherever that might be. 'H' probably stood for 'hangar', indicating that location might be found in the vicinity of the outer wall of the giant craft. Inside the antigravitor they were falling toward the hull but fervently hoped they hadn't chosen the wrong side for this would mean they had made a detour of at least a mile and a half.

  They came to a sudden halt. Before them stretched a brightly lit corridor marked H. Well, at least we got that much right, thought Bell, relieved, and left the antigrav tunnel. Close by one of the technicians was taking it easy and regarding the new arrivals with obvious interest. Bell made his way toward him, asked: "Say, pal, could you tell us where we might find H 35? We're new here—"

  "Hey, Reggie!" came a voice out of nowhere, reverberating through the semicircular corridor whose ends disappeared from sight in a gentle curve. "Since when are you permitted to cheat?"

  Tifflor flinched. His eyes frantically sought the hidden lens of the intercom-camera which transmitted their images to the command center. He could detect nothing. Slightly perplexed, he glanced at Bell but the redhead made an innocent face, shaking his head vigorously as he addressed the invisible speaker:

  "And you call that fair to spy on us, Perry? No one can find their way in this confounded maze of corridors, elevators, hangars, floors and compartments. A bit of help ought to be okay under the circumstances. I wouldn't be so petty, Perry, and—"

  "Wouldn't you? How about yesterday!" came another rebuke from the air, this time accompanied by a subdued giggle, which caused Bell's face to turn deep-red with fury. "You were in charge of the emergency drill then. When John Marshall couldn't find out at once where he was supposed to go and wanted to get some information, you made such a fuss and screamed at him so that the poor fellow almost had a nervous breakdown. How could he guess there were hidden cameras even in the restrooms."

  Tifflor grinned, relieved, not so much because of the photographic surveillance in the lavatories but because he assumed that Perry Rhodan didn't take it too seriously that they had tried to cheat a little.

  But Bell remained furious. "What business had Marshall to be in that place during an alarm?" he wanted to know angrily. "Next time everybody might..."

  "Enough of that!" he was cut short in mid-sentence. "I'll give you another two minutes to find department H 35. We'll all meet in the command center in half an hour. Is that clear?"

  "Okay, okay," growled Bell and turned around and looked at Tifflor. "Come along, Tiff. We'll find that dam place without anybody's help... aha, here's number 34. Then 35 can't be much farther."

  And he was right.

  Before their time had run out they managed to place the palms of their hands against the lock of a door which opened in response to their body warmth. There was a big sign reading H 35 on that door.

  It was a hangar.

  Most of the huge ball was taken up by a giant sphere whose diameter was nearly 180 feet. A spaceship of the guppy type. Faster than light, easy to manoeuvre, heavily armed and equipped with powerful protective shields.

  "Thank heavens!" said Tifflor and announced his name to the officer in charge. "Not a second too soon."

  "Nor too late!" observed Bell, highly pleased, stating his name although the officer knew very well who he was. "And now let's get back to the command center. If we don't hurry we can starve before we get there. The next alarm drill is scheduled for five hours from now—unless something unforeseen should happen, of course."

  • • •

  Two very different monsters were hovering apparently motionless in the infinite cosmos which was completely filled by stars, leaving not a single dark spot in a great blaze of light This confusion of suns presented an unusual sight to a human being familiar only with the nocturnal sky above Earth. But the sun of Arkon was 34,000 light-years from Earth. It was located in the globular cluster M 13, which consisted of over 30,000 stars packed into a relatively small space 99 light-years across. Some suns were so close together that they might be mistaken for twin stars, which, of course, was not the case from an astronomical point of view.

  Arkon was situated almost at the center of this globular cluster and three light-years away from the two monsters which were circling a gigantic red sun at a distance of 12 billion miles.

  With one single leap through hyperspace Rhodan had fled from the Arkonides' sphere of influence, hoping to gain sufficient time here in the vicinity of the giant red sun to familiarize his crew with the captured Titan. Under these circumstances it had seemed too risky to return immediately to Earth with their new acquisition.

  The captured Titan was one of the monsters.

  It had the same spherical shape as the old Stardust, although it was twice as big. With a diameter of nearly one mile, the super-battleship of the Arkonides eclipsed anything Rhodan or any other human being had been able to imagine. Its engines and armament generally resembled that found in the old Stardust, except for greater size and extent. There was nothing in the known universe capable of penetrating the protective screen of the giant sphere.

  Two bulges to the north and to the south of the sphere's equator were formed by the hangars housing the 40 guppies, the 180 foot wide space spheres, which could be ready for immediate action at any time. The guppies carried a crew of at least 15 men.

  Moving quite close to the Titan, in their orbit around the red giant sun, was the spaceship Ganymede. She looked almost dainty, although she was some 2500 feet long and 600 feet wide at her thickest part. But not only her size distinguished her from the captured battleship which Rhodan had named Titan: she was cylinder-shaped rather than spherical.

  There was a crew of 300 men aboard the Ganymede who were spared the drill manoeuvres to which the 700 people manning the Titan were forced to submit, for the Titan had been seized by Rhodan just a few days ago.

  The Titan'
s control center was twice the size of the one on the Stardust, which had remained back on Earth. There was a mind-boggling profusion of instruments and control panels whose function would have remained incomprehensible to Rhodan if he had not passed through the Arkonide hypno-training. This way it took only a few hours until he had learned to control the ship and could do whatever he wanted very much to the dismay of the most gigantic of all positronic brains in the universe, which in actuality was the, ruler of the empire of the decadent Arkonides.

  For that had been the greatest surprise to Perry Rhodan: neither the Arkonides nor their Imperator but a giant positronic computer administered the mightiest star realm ever in the history of the universe. This was the only reason that galactic empire had not broken up a long time ago.

  Rhodan was standing, his back leaning against one of the control panels, and contemplating his closest collaborators and friends whom he had requested to appear in the control center after the latest emergency drill was over and they had time for a quick snack in the mess hall.

  Representing the Mutant Corps was the telepath John Marshall, originally from Australia. He was standing beside Thora, whose dreams of a glorious return to Arkon had been so abruptly shattered. Her tall, slender figure revealed nothing of the keen disappointment that had almost destroyed her emotionally. On the contrary: Rhodan thought he had never seen the white-haired, golden-eyed Arkonide woman look so determined and full of vigor as at this very moment. Also Khrest, her older companion and leader of the expedition that 13 years ago had crash-landed on Earth's moon, seemed to have awakened from a long and refreshing sleep.

  Rhodan noted this change for the better with a sense of relief. At first he had feared their painful disappointment would have a disastrous effect on his friends but now it became evident that just the opposite had been the case.

  Col. Freyt, now commander of the Ganymede was also present. His external appearance resembled that of Perry Rhodan, which always filled him with secret pride and gave Bell a chance occasionally to tease him in a goodnatured way.

  Bell and Tifflor were standing side by side. The young lieutenant, former cadet of the Terranian Space Academy, had gained the full confidence of his superiors and had become part of the 'family,' a term frequently used by Bell. Many missions together had resulted in a close friendship between the two men.

  And of course, there was Pucky!

  Three feet tall, covered with a rust-brown fur, Pucky resembled a giant-sized mouse with a broad, flat beaver-tail. His brown eyes with their endearing look had given him the nickname 'the monster with the guileless glance'. For he was a monster, at least as regards his special abilities. He liked to be known as an animal, since he refused categorically to be compared with a human being—an insult in his eyes. Pucky had stolen aboard the Stardust when it landed on the Planet of the Dying Sun. There Pucky began to deploy his telekinetic gift in a playful manner. Nobody at that time had any inkling that he also possessed the gift of telepathy and teleportation. Not even Pucky himself was aware of his talents. Not until he had been thoroughly trained by Rhodan's other mutants had his talents properly emerged and then been improved.

  Today Pucky was counted among Rhodan's best and most capable friends.

  He was sitting upright, his back leaning against the wall. His sole incisor, slightly protruding, lent a roguish grin to his cute pointed mouse-face. A look of impatience had replaced the usual expression of devotion in his eyes.

  And then Pucky said in faultless Intercosmo: "If I'm not mistaken everyone is here now. Can't we finally get started? I'd like to know where we're at and what our plans are."

  His voice rang out in high-pitched, chirping notes. Bell grinned and inconspicuously poked Tifflor in the ribs.

  "Isn't it marvelous to have Pucky around? I just saved myself asking that dumb question."

  Rhodan smiled in Pucky's direction and threw a brief glance of warning at Bell. There was no time now for the customary squabbles which usually would end with Bell's getting the short end of it.

  "Let's examine our situation," Rhodan began. "The red giant sun is not registered in our terrestrial star catalogues and will therefore be named by us. Our calculations so far have shown that it is being orbited by 15 planets, of which several are inhabited or at least sparsely settled. We are not quite sure but the fourth planet appears to be main world of this solar system. So far we haven't been discovered, which is not surprising considering all this traffic."

  "Traffic?" Tifflor asked, failing to understand.

  "Yes, traffic. Don't forget, lieutenant, we are here at the center of a huge star realm. The three light-years distance to Arkon is practically negligible. In any case, we're much safer here than in some deserted sector of the galaxy where every transition is bound to be noted at once. Here, however, it was merely one among many others. Nobody has become aware of our arrival here. For that reason I believe it'll be right to continue with the training of our crews before we make plans for our flight back home to Earth—if at all."

  Bell stepped forward. He believed there was a question he ought to ask for the benefit of all concerned. "Why should we stay here any longer? Haven't we accomplished our mission by doing our best to help Thora and Khrest return to Arkon? Why don't you ask them if they're still interested in remaining any longer in this section of the Milky Way, which is so decadent and robot ruled."

  "You really think we accomplished our mission, Reg? I don't. What did we find out? A computer, built once upon a time by superior Arkonide intellects, is now ruling the mighty star realm by force and cold logic. Without this positronic brain this realm would no longer exist. But even the Brain can make mistakes. We've seen proof of that—and without that proof we wouldn't be alive today. The Brain was wrong. Therefore we are justified to assume that it would be worth while trying to bring about some mutual agreement. How do we know the robot regent didn't already order a battleship to fly to Earth in order to destroy it? And all this, of course, in the interest of safeguarding the interests of the Arkonide Empire! The positronic brain might have found out about Terra's location in the universe—naturally we don't know for sure. If our old enemies the Galactic Traders should have betrayed Terra's position to the Arkonides, we must be on our guard. The question we are facing now is simply: shall we attempt to bring about an agreement with the Brain or shall we return to Earth as soon as we have familiarized ourselves with this ship and have learned to manoeuvre it? There is no other alternative."

  Thora, who had seemed to want to say something for quite a while, spoke up: "We shall not remain undetected for long here in this area. The ship was stolen. Perry, you mustn't believe that this fact will be accepted without any counter measures. It won't be long until the Brain has discovered our whereabouts."

  " How long?"

  "Days, perhaps even weeks. It all depends where they begin their search. It will also depend on the inhabitants of this red star system. And by the way, Perry, there's no need to find a new name for the red sun: we call it Voga. Voga has 15 planets. The fourth planet is the main world and is known as Zalit. So far the Zalites have always been loyal subjects of our Empire. And I see no reason why this should have changed."

  "Is Zalit suitable for oxygen breathers?"

  "Like most habitable worlds it has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. Some 15 thousand years ago Zalit was settled by our Arkonide ancestors. This makes the Zalites direct descendants of the Arkonides. Their planet's close proximity to Arkon ensures us their absolute loyalty."

  Rhodan did not fail to notice the implied threat in Thora's remark but this threat was not intended for him.

  "We don't know in what way things might have changed here," he cautioned. "Just remember, Thora, all that has happened on Arkon during these past 13 years since you left. Your ruling dynasty came to an end; you and Khrest have been ostracized from Arkonide society because a new reign took over your government. Don't you think it possible that something similar might have occurred here on Zalit?"
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  "In that case Zalit would no longer exist!"

  Khrest nodded his head in agreement. "Thora is right, Perry. There would be no more Zalit."

  Bell could no longer restrain his opinion. "How come?" he wanted to know. "Or do you mean to say that these ridiculous Arkonides, that no one can even take seriously, had the courage to attack another system and to destroy it? They'd much rather spend their time in front of their television sets staring at abstract color lines. They do nothing but let things take their own course."

  "Not quite," interjected Rhodan. "The problem is that they leave everything to the gigantic and organically thinking positronicon, which rules the empire. And this mechanical brain rarely makes a wrong decision. Sorry, Bell, but Thora is right. If Zalit exists we must regard it as proof of their continued loyalty to the Empire."

  "And?"

  "That means if we should meet them we have to remain on our guard. My foremost concern is to gain the robot brain's confidence. We know it is acting according to an ancient special programming and that it is precisely informed about Arkon's situation. It therefore knows what degree of decadence befell its former builders and it is consequently interested in ferreting out those still capable of thinking and to 'awaken' them. Compared to the rest of their compatriots, we ought to characterize Khrest and Thora as youthful firebrands. That's why they were again acknowledged by the Brain, although not unconditionally accepted. I'm convinced that I, too, could be approved by the robot brain, if I could prove to it the sincerity of my intentions toward Arkon."

  "Acknowledged—as what?" interjected Col. Freyt, who had thus far refrained from any remarks. "As an Arkonide perhaps?"

  Rhodan smiled. "Come, come now, dear Colonel! As a member of a loyal, second-class nation, what else? But it would do. That way I could keep the ship and move about freely within the Empire. Terra would not be endangered any more and would be indirectly protected by Arkon."