Snowman in Flames
Perry Rhodan
The Third Power #25
Snowman in Flames
The Springers are cruel, cunning and ruthless aliens who will stop at nothing in their mission to take over new planetary sectors and monopolise galactic trade. Earth is an obvious target and when Etztak, Patriarch of the Springers, gives the order to 'Destroy That Planet,' an emergency message is sent out. Can Perry and his mutants save the solar system? Find out in the stirring story–
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SNOWMAN IN FLAMES
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1/ THE SEMI-SLEEPERS
The Universe was his domain, his home the gigantic spaceship—2100 feet in length—which was the longest armed craft of his clan.
He was old. Ancient.
A mighty mane of ice-grey hair framed his tanned face with its hard, pitiless eyes which had looked upon thousands of suns. He looked like a human being but he was not born on Earth. He had never even seen Earth, not even its sun.
He was Etztak, Patriarch of the Springers clan; tight-set of mouth, commanding of character, a being whose vocabulary lacked the word 'compromise'; and he was about to incorporate a new solar system into the Empire of the Traders.
A solar system whose central sun was known as Sol. The Springers were so named because they called the universe their home and leapt from system to system to reinforce and enlarge their trading monopoly. Ever stronger, ever expanding.
The Springers were descendants of the Arkonides, that humanoid race that once upon a time had built a mighty... which to this day they still believed they ruled. Wrong: long since the Springers had be-come independent, no longer giving any allegiance to the Arkonides. They were too busy trading and massing fortunes. And, if necessary, fighting.
Like now.
Etztak's lips drew pencil-thin when he recognized on the videoscreen the face of his clan member and friend Orlgans aboard the ship ORLA XI only a few light-minutes away.
"What's up? A new attack on those damned Terranians?"
Orlgans resembled Etztak except that his hair was not grey but of a darker color, brown or perhaps dirty-red, depending on how the light fell on it. Orlgans had been the first of his clan to attempt to incorporate an unwilling Earth into the colonial empire of the Springers.
"A new attack?" His furious voice boomed from the loudspeaker. "Who can tell whether this is a new one or the same old one! There's hardly an interval between. I can't figure it out. These Terranians seem so inconsistent. They attack, fire a few shots and with-draw—before we can wipe them out."
"You call that inconsistent?" Etztak's laugh bellowed forth. "I'd call it clever and cautious! They know our forces are definitely superior to theirs."
"Maybe yes," retrenched Orlgans, face contorted in a furious grimace. "And on the other hand, maybe no."
"Right now there's a lull in the battle. We've enough ships to destroy those two Terranian units if we really set our minds to it. They're only playing for time, using diversionary tactics—they seem to want to head us off from something."
"From what?"
"If I only knew! I'd be much happier," Etztak admitted grudgingly. "Why do they defend a solar system which is uninhabited and 320 light-years from their own home planet? There must be a reason for it! Rhodan never does anything without good reason."
Orlgans didn't immediately answer. He was deep in thought while his eyes were fastened on the giant orange sun which hung far ahead in space. A blue satellite orbited it. Four planets circled two suns in an eccentric orbit. The system of the double-sun Beta-Albireo, 320 light-years from Earth, totally insignificant and unimportant, unless..."
"You forget he has a reason, Orlgans said finally. "The second planet of this system harbours a few of Rhodan's people, who know more than they have admitted so far. Rhodan tries to prevent our capturing them."
"So why doesn't he just kill them?"
"Perhaps..." Orlgans stopped short. To his mind the explanation seemed so fantastic that he didn't dare express it.
"Perhaps what?" The patriarch was anxious to hear Orlgans' theory, no matter how wild.
"Perhaps the Terranians are friends of Rhodan and for that reason he doesn't want them dead."
Once more Etztak bellowed forth with uncontrollable laughter. His next words revealed how alien his philosophy was from that of an Earthman's, how small a premium he placed on friendship, how suspicious he was of even those whom he called friends.
"Friends! Why'd he give a damn about that if so much more is at stake? If his friends are dead, Rhodan will be safe from any betrayal on their part."
Orlgans remained silent. He had already had dealings with these Earthlings and learned that they often reacted quite differently from the hardboiled Springers. Etztak threw a glance at the radar screens to check that his fleet was circling around the second planet of Beta-Albireo in the prescribed battle position. His forehead was deeply furrowed. He was thinking hard but the result didn't seem to upset him.
"There are five Terranians down there on that iceworld—three men and two girls. As far as we can make out they also have a robot with them. An Arkonide fighter robot. I simply can't understand why all our efforts to kill these three people have been without success."
"Because we secretly kept hoping we might catch them alive. They know some things it'd be most useful for us to learn—that's why!" Orlgans shook his head. "You realize just as well as I that it would be senseless to annihilate these Earthlings, especially that Tifflor. Tifflor might even have knowledge of where that planet is located about which legend tells us..."
"I'm not interested in legends, only in hard facts," the patriarch interrupted him. "Planet of Eternal Life—there is no truth to it, just a myth. If indeed it exists we would have found it long since. On the other hand I wonder why Rhodan failed so far to rescue his five men from this iceworld?"
Orlgans narrowed his eyes. A peculiar expression came over his face. A dog might look that way that had suddenly discovered a trail it had long been searching for.
"Maybe Rhodan's whole tactics serve the purpose to divert our attention from this iceworld. Why else would his two ships keep attacking us in a half-hearted manner and never let it come to a real battle? Why did this Tifflor pop up all of a sudden, a man who doesn't really know anything at all but gives the false impression of knowing such a lot? Why are we being pushed to concentrate all our efforts in trying to catch Tifflor and his companions here on this iceworld? Couldn't that be nothing but a clever trick of that wily Terranian Rhodan?"
Etztak had been listening silently. The furrows of his forehead deepened. A pensive glitter came over his hard eyes. Then he slowly nodded and raised both his hands as a sign of agreement.
"It sounds very reasonable, what you suspect here. But if Rhodan wants to divert our attention and to delay us—what is at the root of it? What is he trying to accomplish?"
Naturally Orlgans was at a loss for an explanation. "I don't know. In any case we should make an all-out effort to capture these Terranians on the iceworld—or to kill them. How many ships would you suggest sending on this mission?"
"Three should do," replied Etztak. "Make sure that the planet's surface will turn from an iceworld into a fiery hell. And if those Earthlings don't burn to death they'll at least perish by drowning in the melted snow waters."
"Wouldn't it be preferable to have them fall into our hands still..."
"Not necessarily!" countered the patriarch. "The only thing that matters here is to prove to Rhodan..."
He couldn't finish his sentence for the general alarm signal was racing throughout his ship. Rhodan's two fighter units were attacking again. Major Nyssen, commander of the
heavy cruiser Solar System, was in constant televideo communication with Captain McClears, commanding officer of the sister signaled.
The two spacespheres had a diameter of 600 feet and were equipped with the most modern weapons of Arkonide technology. Gigantic reactors created protective screens which could not be penetrated by even the most powerful rays of the Springer ships.
"We're proceeding to a new attack, McClears," Nyssen informed his colleague. "But if Rhodan doesn't heave in sight soon, I'll go crazy. Those guys must catch up with us sooner or later; our luck's bound to run out. And how much longer Tiff can keep up that game of hide-and-seek on Snowman, I wouldn't dare to prophesize."
"I wouldn't care to be in his shoes now," admitted the captain.
"I'll handle that giant cucumber of a spaceship commanded by the patriarch Etztak and you attack the ship next to it. And just remember: fire just one shot and then let's beat it! They mustn't find time to incapacitate us through a concentrated action of their ray cannons—but more important than that they mustn't get a chance to concern themselves with Tiff."
"Got it" replied McClears and grinned. "Will do."
The two cruiser-spheres accelerated, zoomed out of the planet's shadow and arrived within a few seconds near the ships of the Springers, which were taken by surprise by this sudden appearance. A round fire by the cruisers' devastating ray-cannons bounced off the protective screens of their adversaries, flowing side-ways without causing any damage to the Springers' fleet. But at least this sudden assault sufficed to delay once more the hostile actions the Springers patriarch had planned. Furthermore, Rhodan gained some time—although he didn't know it yet.
For just at this moment Rhodan was still more than 1750 light-years away and about to start on a transition.
With the same speed which they had carried out their attack, the two heavy cruisers Terra and Solar System withdrew from the scene. Under no circumstances could they risk endangering these two ships, for they were the only thing for the time being with which Earth could confront the assailants from the depths of the universe. Even though Earth was 320 light-years distant from this spot, what difference did it make if it was possible to travel even greater distances with hyperspace transitions lasting but a few seconds?
In this moment of greatest danger Earth stood but a short distance away from the final union of all mankind. The formation of a world government was only a question of a few more days. The representative of the New Power, Colonel Freyt, would do his utmost to make this union a reality as quickly as possible.
The threat of the galactic traders—the Springers—could not be compared with that of earlier invasions. The New Power had succeeded in driving off the Mindsnatchers, thanks to Earth's superior technological means. Also the lizard-like Topides from the Vega system had not represented too great a danger to mankind. But the Springers were a far more serious menace to the safety of Terra.
The mighty race of the Springers—whose attention had been focused on Earth as a result of a tragic event—was in every respect superior. They were closely related to the Arkonides, the former masters of the universe—they possessed Arkonide weapons, knew and used their tactics and were fully aware of the Arkonides' weaknesses.
The Traders regarded Earth and in particular Perry Rhodan as a threat to their unrestricted galactic trading monopoly. They felt they had to bend him to their will—or else destroy him.
But neither possibility was so simple, it turned out. For this adversary was almost in the same class as the Springers themselves. Neither the Terranians nor Etztak's Springer clan realized that a third party had already entered the dispute. Alerted by the repeated space ruptures caused by many transitions, Topthor had intervened in this fight. Topthor, also of the Springer race, belonged to the clan of the Mounders. In olden times, long since forgotten his ancestors had lived on a planet with a very high gravity.
During the course of many thousands of years the former Arkonides had lost their humanoid shape to some extent: they became wider and shorter. The present day Mounders never measured more than 64 inches—in height as well as in width. They were square-shaped, squat people weighing around half a ton.
Topthor had eight ships which were circling around Earth's solar system beyond Pluto. With eight additional ships he had followed Rhodan to the vicinity of the Planet of Eternal Life. Upon his return from that artificial world, Rhodan had surprised Topthor, who had attacked the New Power's Stardust , with the new weapon obtained from the Immortal. Five of Topthor's ships had been annihilated during this battle. Topthor fled panicstricken, found however still enough time before setting out on a blind transition to send a message via hyperwave radio to the members of his race. Rhodan could not prevent Topthor from sending this warning to Etztak but he knew its contents.
Some 1500 light-years from Beta-Albireo, Topthor's three ships emerged from hyperspace. It took several hours until they calculated their exact position and found the coordinates for the next jump.
The leader of the clan of the Mounders, Topthor, intended to return to that solar system in which Terra was revolving around its own sun as the third planet. Topthor still possessed eleven ships. This was sufficient, if necessary, to destroy Earth.
But this would mean at the same time the destruction of a potentially very lucrative colony. And Topthor was foremost a businessman, even if his clan dealt more with convoy duties than trade. The other traders would summon him and his battle fleet to come to their aid whenever they would run into difficulties. And Topthor was well paid for these services. This time, however, the opportunity had presented itself for Topthor himself to found such a colony—besides that, Rhodan owed him five ships. Topthor therefore ordered his ships to leap back to the solar system of Earth.
And apart from the insignificant fighter forces of the New Power, Earth was at this moment quite helpless.
• • •
About every 123 years there was an 80-year long Ice Age on the second planet of the system Beta-Albireo. This was caused by its eccentric orbit which again was the result of its twin sun system. The central star, an orange-colored giant, was 600 million miles distant from the second planet, while its blue companion was still another 180 million miles farther away. Because of their present tremendous distance the double suns supplied so little light and warmth to the second planet that there reigned forever twilight and an average temperature of minus 150° Fahrenheit on this frozen planet. This iceworld called Snowman was a hell, a very frigid inferno.
Despite this, some human beings lived on it. While fleeing from the Springers they had been forced to an emergency landing which left them shipwrecked in this unfriendly climate. Since that time they had been condemned to lead a life of inactive waiting on this lonely, dead world; but they knew that Rhodan had not forgotten them and would come to their rescue.
Julian Tifflor, the leader of the little shipwrecked band, was 21 years old and reputed to be the best mathematician of the Space Academy of the New Power. Rhodan in person had selected him for this special mission, although Tifflor had not been properly informed of its purpose.
The second man on Snowman was Humpry Hifield. He was 20 years old, had straw-blond, stiff hair and believed himself to be irresistibly handsome. He could not understand, therefore, why Tiff had been able to snatch from under his nose the 19-year-old Mildred Orsons. He lived in constant dread of not being sufficiently noticed by others and despite his physical superiority was forever plagued by inferiority complexes. This was at the bottom, though not exclusively, of his hidden hostile feelings toward Tiff.
Cadet Klaus Eberhardt was the third man of the expedition which was now waiting on this deserted world to be rescued. His hair was dark-blond and he was rather stocky and thickset. He always needed time to solve problems; quick action was not his forte.
Mildred Orsons, the cosmo-bacteriologist, could rightfully be proud of her pitch-black hair, her dark eyes and her finely chiseled features. Until recently she could never make up her mind
between her two admirers Tiff and Hump but this seemed to have changed now. Quite openly she had made it clear to Hump that she preferred Tiff.
And finally Felicita Kergonen should be mentioned, the rather reticent galacto-botanist with blond hair and a dainty figure. Her secret love was Humpry, the plump and awkward one, who apparently noticed nothing of Felicita's affection. Felicita was all of 18 years old and was thus the youngest member of the foundered expedition.
That is, of course, if one forgot Pucky.
Pucky—it must be emphasized however—was not a member of the human race, and nobody knew how old he was. The 3-foot tall mouse-beaver came from a far distant planet where he had managed to stow away on Rhodan's spaceship. Ever since that time, Pucky would not leave Rhodan's side unless he was forced to by an important mission. Pucky's outer appearance resembled strongly that of an oversized mouse with a very broad beaver tail. He was especially remarkable for his lone incisor which was particularly noticeable whenever Pucky was grinning.
Unfortunately, there was not the slightest reason at this moment for a happy grin.
Pucky distinguished himself mainly through his almost unbelievable talents, which made him the most amazing of all the mutants. This mouse-beaver, who looked so harmless and droll, was an outstanding telepath and therefore capable of learning at an incredible speed most languages. In addition, he had mastered teleportation, so that he could transport himself at any time wherever he pleased. And finally, Pucky was a telekineticist. Using only his mental powers he was able to move objects and living creatures without having to lay as much as a paw on them.
All these mutant traits had not fully unfolded until the past few months, for in the beginning of his friendship with Rhodan, and particularly with Bell, he was only capable of telekinesis. But then, being constantly in the company of the members of Rhodan's Mutant Corps, Pucky had plenty of opportunity to improve his talents. He was certain to eventually uncover additional hidden abilities presently lying dormant inside him.