Invasion From Space

  Perry Rhodan

  The Third Power #7

  INVASION FROM SPACE

  A GREAT COSMOS SPANNING SERIES

  Perry Rhodan, the dynamic leader of the Third Power, had managed with the aid of extraterrestrial super-science to unify the warring factions of Earth. Humankind now stood at the beginning of its greatest Golden Age. But suddenly there came a new enemy, an alien force that had only one aim-to destroy all other intelligent life in the universe. Their most terrible weapon was the frightening ability to take over human bodies minds within their own monstrous insect-like bodies.

  No beings in the galaxy had ever managed to survive against these insidious creatures. Could Perry Rhodan, even with a united Earth behind him, hope to withstand their assault?

  DESPOILERS OF THE GALAXY

  The alien Mind Snatchers were determined to wipe out all traces of intelligent life anywhere in the far reaches of the cosmos. Their reasons were not political or economic—they simply could not tolerate the presence of intelligences rivaling their own.

  With their ability to take over human bodies, move among the people of Earth and ferret out their military and scientific secrets, the Mind Snatchers seemed invincible. Against this fiendish onslaught Perry Rhodan led his telepathically trained Mutant Corps ... and mankind's fate hung in the balance.

  The PERRY RHODAN series and characters were created by Walter Ernsting and Karl-Herbert Scheer.

  Series Editor & Translator:

  Wendayne Ackerman

  English Language Representative

  of PERRY RHODAN:

  Forrest J Ackerman

  INVASION FROM SPACE

  by Walter Ernsting

  AN ACE BOOK

  ACE PUBLISHING CORPORATION

  1120 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, N.Y. 10036

  INVASION FROM SPACE

  Copyright ©, 1970,

  Ace Publishing Corporation

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover by Gray Morrow

  Printed in U.S.A

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  Invasion From Space

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Suddenly the man's eye opened wide in utter horror, as if they had seen something beyond human comprehension. His eyes gazed up into the void, far into the depths of the blue sky that mirrored-itself in the dear waters of the little pond in the woods. Then the expression of his eyes turned into a fixed and vacant stare.

  There was not the slightest tremor in his hand, which was holding a fishing rod. His hand seemed to have become like stone. The man did not react when the swimmer was abruptly pulled deep below the surface of the water. The rod bent under the sudden strain for which Sammy Derring had been waiting so eagerly and in vain all morning long.

  If anyone had looked into his eyes at this moment they would have recoiled in terror at the sight of such horrendous fright mixed with inconceivable amazement. This lasted for exactly five seconds.

  During these five seconds nobody could have recognized in this man, Sammy Derring, statistical clerk, who had worked for many years at the Ministry of Defense of the Western Bloc and for whom all his colleagues and superiors had nothing but praise. He was a bachelor, and his hobby was fishing. Every weekend he drove out to this little lake in the woods, where he caught some trout for his landlady. He did not care for fish, but he believed in the therapeutic effect of fishing. Very soothing for the nerves. His little sports car was parked off to the side, Sam's other hobby. He had only these two vices.

  During the course of those five seconds, Sammy Derring could have been regarded as good as dead. His mind, his reasoning power, his soul, or whatever else people might call it, had left his body. Not of its own free will. It had been forced to do so. Something incomprehensible and far stronger had taken possession of his brain, had simply invaded it and pushed out what had been in there before.

  During these five unbelievable seconds Sammy Derring could observe himself sitting at the lakeshore. He floated Invisibly at a height of about fifteen feet and looked down on himself. He was unable to comprehend what was happening, but he simply saw his own body, as if he had become a stranger to his own self. He saw that he appeared to be dead but that he remained sitting there. Shouldn't he have toppled over? His body should by all rights have fallen down on the ground. But no. There he was, still sitting upright at the edge of the water, unaware that the fish were biting!

  Sammy's mind felt an urge to pull in the fishing rod, but the body down below no longer obeyed his thought impulses. But there was no more time left for all this. The five seconds were over. The picture of the peaceful little lake in the woods became hazy and soon disappeared completely for him as an invisible force yanked him away. He became dimly aware of a wild kaleidoscope of colors. For an instant he thought he saw, way down below, a huge globe, but then everything turned dark.. He felt drawn into something; then all of a sudden his reflexes returned. He could feel his body and his limbs, and he was able to move them.

  Now he could see again despite the darkness around him. Then he noticed that it was not totally dark. The room was filled with a faint glow. He wondered for a moment how on Earth he had come to this place. But then it did not really matter to him any more. He must have had some seizure, and they had taken him to the hospital. That must be it! He was ill. A great weakness overwhelmed him. Wasn't there anyone here to take care of him? He sensed that somebody was nearby. With great effort he tried to sit up, but he could not manage it. Had this sudden sickness overcome him while he was fishing at the little lake? Had people found him there and brought him here? How long had he been unconscious?

  And how had all this really happened? Hadn't he seen himself sitting down there at the lakeshore? Now his eyes had become adjusted to the dark and he could see again. But his weakness grew worse. He felt himself going to sleep. But there was something still active and wide awake in his brain, something that would not let him fall asleep-some observation he had made. It took a long time, precious seconds, before it reached his center of awareness and then changed into stark, maddening reality.

  His fingers ... his legs!

  With his remaining strength he opened his eyes wide for a last look and gazed, full of horror, at the ends of his four arms, at the sharp claws with suction pads ...

  And then he perceived the trunk of his body, like that of a wasp with a very narrow waist, all covered with fine hair. The gruesome shape of the monster to which he had been transformed so swiftly impressed him as being so unreal that he closed his black multifaceted insect eyes with a sigh of relief and stretched out his legs.

  Of course! It was only a nightmare! Why hadn't he thought of that sooner!

  But the sudden flash of insight, that man never knows he is only dreaming while he is having a nightmare, came too late.

  His mind, held captive in an extraterrestrial body, sank into a deathlike trance

  As soon as the five seconds had elapsed Sammy Derring reeled in the line of his fishing rod. He stared at the fat trout without any special interest; then, after some initial hesitation, he pulled it off the hook and threw it back into the water. He flung the rod carelessly into the bushes growing near the edge of the water and began to walk toward the car parked nearby. His gait was unsteady as if he had been sick in bed for weeks. When he reached his car he hesitated again for a brief moment, just as long as it took to obtain all the necessary information from the memory banks of the intellect that had inhabited this body before him. Sammy Derring, who in reality was no longer Sammy Derring, started the car and drove slowly along the bumpy side road until he reached the main highway. There a swift glance at the road si
gns was sufficient. A few minutes later the little sports car raced toward the city.

  Mrs. Sarah Wabble was not a little surprised to see her tenant return so early from his weekly fishing expedition. But her amazement grew when he simply nodded to her and then went straight to his rooms, where he locked the door behind him. No friendly greeting and no trout, either!

  The being that was now sammy Derring felt much relieved as soon as the door had closed behind him. Now he was safe from these human creatures. His experience in taking over the bodies of other organisms was still rather limited. In addition to that, the inhabitants of this planet were of a rather high intelligence, intelligence difficult to remove and to conserve. It would have been so much simpler to eliminate them entirely, but that would have been contrary to his commander's strict orders.

  His commander had not come down to this planet's surface. He was far out in space in an oval shaped spaceship that was revolving around the third planet of this solar system, invisible to these humans' eyes. This glittering metallic spacecraft had not been designed and built by human hands, but by extraterrestrial, nonhuman insect claws provided with suction pads, which were no less skilful than five-fingered human extremities. The intelligence that guided the movements of the six jointed limbs of the almost seven foot long insects, which somehow resembled wasps, was at about the same level as that of the Earthlings. But considering certain mental abilities of these insect-like creatures, it was safe to say that the wasps were far superior to the human race. One of their talents was the amazing ability that enabled the minds of these extraterrestrial beings to leave their own bodies and take over those of other creatures. It was like a regular exchange. They simply snatched the other beings' minds and replaced them with their own.

  But all knowing Nature had made sure that there remained one weak spot in this forced mind exchange. The mind of the seized host body could be subdued and captured only if it was imprisoned for the duration in the insect's own body. Only then full freedom of action was ensured for the mindsnatcher, who could do anything he wanted in his new body, pretending to be the victim himself. In case the host died before it was possible to leave his body, the mindsnatcher died too. And it was also fatal if the insect body that held the victims mind imprisoned was destroyed. Both host and victim lost their life in either case. Despite the limitations, these sinister insects were one of the most dangerous races of the universe. But the Earthlings had no inkling of that peril; not too long ago they had made their first step out into space by landing a rocket on the moon. Earth was like a lonely island in the sea of space, isolated from the happenings in the universe, believing itself all alone. Mankind new nothing of the many intelligent races of the galaxies, of the galactic empires that had been founded and then destroyed again.

  But the extraterrestrial races who new these insects and their uncanny abilities called them the mindsnatchers, or the M.S., for short.

  And now the M.S., had located Earth. This so far completely unknown planet at the edge of the Milky Way had suddenly become the center of events of a magnitude that could not yet be fully evaluated. The M.S. had been attracted by the emergency signals of an Arkonide cruiser. The Arkonides, masters of a vast realm of the stars, were the archenemies of the wasp creatures. It was impossible to conquer them in battle, unless the insects could track their ships down individually and then attack them.

  Such a rare opportunity seemed to have presented itself in this case. One of the Arkonide research vessels must have made an emergency landing in this solar system. But to the great surprise of the M.S., it had turned out that the third planet from this sun was inhabited by a rather intelligent race, which had developed a technology capable of space travel. Therefore, it was high time to investigate them, before the Arkonides would do so.

  This was the reason why the M.S. commander had ordered Terra to be infiltrated. He was absolutely sure that he could seize the most important organizations and key positions of Earth's political, economic, and scientific institutions within a short time.

  He had given the orders for the invasion.

  But mankind was unaware of all of this. All they knew was that some strange spaceship had appeared and had been destroyed. But they did not realize that the M.S. had come to their part of the solar system with more than just one spaceship. And in particular they had no idea, except for a few select people, who these M.S. were and what they intended.

  Monday morning Sammy Derring came to work as usual at the Ministry of Defense. No one could have detected any change in him as far as his looks were concerned. He entered his office and was soon busy managing through file cabinets examining all kinds of papers. Then suddenly he sounded a buzzer to call in his secretary.

  The young girl entered, ready to take the usual dictation. But Sammy simply shook his head and requested in all earnestness, "Will you bring me all records and documents pertaining to the national defense system. Then also all data regarding our present state of space exploration and rocket development. I am particularly interested in the effectiveness of our defense plans ... Don't stare at me like that! Get a move on!"

  The secretary swallowed hard and blushed. "Pardon me, Mr. Derring"

  "Didn't you hear me the first time? Hurry up!" She was about to reply, when she noticed the look in Sammy's eyes. Their expression was so faraway and strange that she shuddered involuntarily. Totally consternated she just nodded and went out of the room, leaving behind a very contented Sammy Derring, or rather something that looked like him.

  Outside the door in her office, the secretary stopped for a moment as if rooted to the spot. Then she vigorously shook her head and walked straight over to her department manager, John Mantell.

  Mantell listened attentively to what the young secretary had to tell him. Finally he frowned, and replied, "Are you sure that Mr. Derring wasn't kidding?"

  "I am absolutely sure. He was dead serious. And then ... this strange expression in his eyes. I have never seen such a frightening look. Never, in all my life."

  Mantell contemplated his immaculately manicured fingernails. "Odd, very odd indeed. He wants to examine all the records of our national defense system. He certainly must know that such documents are accessible only to the secretary of Defense, but never to an ordinary statistical clerk."

  He looked up and smiled ironically at the pretty young girl. "Do you think that Mr. Derring might have lost his mind? He seems to be getting too big for his britches."

  For the first time the secretary dared smile back at her supervisor. "For all we know, be might believe that there is more than just a mere resemblance in their names! He told me once in a joking way that he and the Secretary of Defense had similar names, that someday they might even be mistaken for each other ..."

  "I don't believe that Samuel Daring would take too kindly to such remarks," commented Mantell. "I'll have to set sammy straight on this. Tell him to come to see me at eleven o'clock, will you?"

  She hesitated. "But what shall I tell him now about the files he wants me to bring him?"

  "Oh, whatever you want. I'm busy. Don't bother me any more. Slowly the secretary left the room, but she did not return to her own office. For a few minutes she stood out in the hall, trying to make up her mind what to do. Then suddenly she turned on her heel and marched directly into the lion's den, to the special agent attached to her bureau in the Ministry of Defense. Mr. Smith was quite astonished when he heard her story. He considered the matter far more serious than Mr. Mantell had. Mantell had most likely already forgotten the whole incident by now, but the Commissioner of Defense requested the secretary to come to his office and wait at his receptionist's desk for a while. As soon as she was out of his private office, he became very busy. He took a telephone from a wall safe, dialed a number, and then waited impatiently. Finally he reached his party.

  "This is Smith speaking from the Ministry of Defense. something very strange has happened, sir. Most irregular, unless somebody was just trying to be funny. But I receive
d your instructions three days ago that I should investigate and inform you of any unusual behavior"Be was interrupted by the person he was conversing with. A precise question was addressed to him. Smith trembled slightly and sat up stiffly in his chair. He appeared to have great respect for the man at the other end of the line.

  "Very well, sir. One of our statistical clerks, Sammy Derring, requested our secret national defense plans. Besides, he demanded all information regarding the state of our space exploration program. He made these demands in all seriousness. His secretary told me that she has never before noticed such determination in him. And she was especially disturbed by the odd expression in Sammy Derring's eyes."

  Again there came an interruption. But this time so loud that it could be heard even without the receiver, it anyone had been standing next to Smith.

  "What is his name, did you say?"

  "Sammy Derring, sir."

  "And what is the name of the Secretary of Defense?"

  "Uh, Samuel Daring, sir. But you certainly know that yourself, sir."

  "Thanks, smith. Here are my instructions: Act as if nothing unusual had happened. Tell the secretary to bring Derring the requested papers, but of course, only those that are out of date. Derring must not become suspicious. Do you get this?"

  "Yes, sir. Anything else?"

  "Don't breathe a word to anyone about all this! I'll be over at your office within two hours."

  "You are going to come here in person?" Smith was overawed. That was unheard of Allan D. Mercant, the mighty chief of the Western Defense and of the International Intelligence Agency, would fly over and investigate this affair! Such a piddling little incident! Probably it would all turn out to be just a silly joke that Sammy Derring had thought up in order to impress his secretary because his name resembled that of the Secretary of Defense.