Return from The Void Read online

  ALL GALACTIC INTELLIGENCES

  Are endangered by the invisible alien attackers, the Unseen. A defense against this incomprehensible & diabolical enemy must be found if, planet by planet, the inhabitants of uncounted worlds are not inexplicably to disappear from the face of space like the pitiful population of ghost world Mirsal 3.

  What, indeed, happened to the Mirsalese people? No one knows the answer yet to the wholesale vanishment of the populace of Mirsal 3 but Mirsal 2 now takes stage front & center as the most likely spot to confront & apprehend the uncanny opponent.

  A trio of Terranians volunteer to risk their all to save a doomed world in—

  Perry Rhodan

  Atlan And Arkon #51

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  Return from The Void

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  1/ DISAPPEARING MIRSALESE

  "I'M AFRAID!"

  Rosita drew in her legs and curled up on the sofa as though she were cold.

  Rous turned and gave her an encouraging smile. He said nothing. He knew she was sharp enough to take it as a signal from him that he didn't feel the situation to be any more frightening than she did.

  Which was in contrast to Lloyd. Everybody was used to seeing Lloyd the way he was now: sitting there with his elbows on the table and supporting his head in his hands. His eyes narrowed as though focused on some imaginary point. Silent.

  "Can't somebody turn on more lights?" asked Rosita.

  Rous nodded and got up. The room had two doors and beside each one was a length of cord that came out of the wall next to the doorframe and terminated in a wooden knob suspended about a foot and a half off the floor. Rous took one of the knobs and pulled on the cord. Along the low ceiling a row of light-tubes flared to life.

  Rosita blinked.

  Rous went to one of the two windows and looked out.

  "What is it...?" asked Rosita and straightened up quickly.

  Rous made a minimizing gesture with his hand. "Nothing. I guess it'll be a bit stormy tonight."

  "And why do we have to spend it in this particular cottage?" Rosita wanted to know.

  Rous yawned. How could he make her realize that he had already answered that question 20 times today? Though the very words bored him, he answered again: "We can go into any other cottage around here if you want to."

  Rosita made no reply. Rous looked along the street that passed in front of the house. Distributed at random among gardens were the other houses, none of which was any larger than the one in which they had found shelter, nor any smaller. They seemed to have all been uniformly constructed. They were a bit dirty but nevertheless quite new in appearance. All were uniformly 6-cornered. Each of the rooms had two walls with windows which joined each other at a 120 angle, thus giving the room a strange appearance.

  Strange, that is, for Terranians, thought Rous.

  If the storm didn't raise too much dust one could see across the street and make out the garden and another house with brightly lit windows.

  Rous was bothered by those lights—even though he'd been over there and convinced himself the house was just as empty as all the others.

  While the sun lowered somewhere behind a bank of obscuring dark clouds, the light yonder became more noticeable until finally it was all there was to see beyond those windows. The light and a few stunted trees outside that it illuminated.

  Rous turned from the window and went out of the room into another shaped like the first. Its furnishings, however, were different, and there were also three doors instead of two.

  He opened the door in the narrow rear wall and felt for the cord. He caught it in his hand and found the wooden knob, pulled on it. The light came on.

  He asked himself why he had come here again. This round table with half a dozen half-filled dishes and the split wooden sticks for eating utensils—he'd seen them at least ten times today.

  He sat down in one of the chairs and rested his chin on his left hand, picking up one of the split sticks with the other. It had been lying at an angle next to one of the half-filled bowls as though it had been hastily thrown there.

  Behind him he heard the door close. He didn't have to turn around to see who it was. He knew the footsteps.

  "Are you hungry?" asked Rosita.

  It seemed a lugubrious question, which he ignored. "I'm trying to imagine how it was this morning when the people were sitting here and what happened when they disappeared."

  Rosita sat down in one of the chairs. "Are you trying to solve the puzzle by intuition?" she asked mockingly. "Do you believe..."

  "Naturally I believe," interrupted Rous. "Now just consider: about six o'clock local time we landed in a Gazelle scoutship within four miles of the village of Keyloghal, in hilly country that was lousy for visibility. What's our assignment? To look into all this turmoil that an invisible enemy seems to be stirring up on the planet."

  "According to orders, we were to proceed under cover, without attracting attention. So all we had to do was catch one of the little people who inhabit this world, extract everything he knew from his brain, with the help of a hyperanalyzer, and then let him loose again—naturally so conditioned that he wouldn't be able to recall the incident afterwards."

  "Further: we then took an hour to assimilate the new information we had acquired. We altered our uniforms so that they wouldn't attract attention in the eyes of the people we had to deal with."

  "According to instructions, we then left the Gazelle behind and set out on foot for Keyloghal. We found there a village that resembled an Earthly farming settlement except for the 6-cornered shape of the houses. We saw many people driving about in tractor-like vehicles, going out to the fields or returning from them."

  "They even saw us and looked at us in astonishment because we are a head to a head-and-a-half taller than they are. They could see this difference quite plainly from a distance of 100 yards and we didn't come any closer to them."

  "They disappeared abruptly, dissolving right into the air. Their tractors and wagons remained where they were or some kept going until they bumped into the nearest obstruction."

  "But the people were gone..." Rous got up and took a deep breath. "Do you know why I've told all this to you again?"

  Rosita shook her head negatively.

  "So that you can see that all this is no fairytale," he explained emphatically. "We weren't hypnotized either. With our eyes wide open we saw how the whole population of an average-sized village disappeared within a second. And it doesn't help us any to consider anything metaphysical in this. It had to be due to natural causes. And if that is the case, then there must also remain the possibility of solving the puzzle."

  Rosita looked at him thoughtfully. "Do you think maybe a teletransmitter is involved?"

  Rous stared at her. "How do you mean?—as an explanation for what's happened? Like here, for instance?" He waved a hand over the food-laden table.

  "Yes, exactly."

  "I've already considered that. Look at it from what we know about it: We have teletransmitters that we can set up in one place and with which we can aim at an object in another place. We can then cause such an object to disappear and can hurl it through hyperspace to a third place. That is a teletransmitter. We ourselves could also cause all the inhabitants of Keyloghal to disappear—but one at a time, not all at once! And another thing: if the person we would be transmitting happened to be holding a spoon or a fork in his hand at the moment, such physical objects would go along with him. "So take a look at the situation right here. These people were seated at this table having breakfast. And then it happened. They were suddenly removed from the table. They disappeared. Their eating utensils remained behind. Just
as the tractors and wagons remained behind. No, I don't think we're dealing with teletransmitters."

  "With what, then?" Rous shrugged his shoulders. He was about to make a comment but just then a door slammed and heavy footsteps were heard approaching through the darkness of the adjacent room.

  Fellmer Lloyd stuck his head into the room. "Somebody's coming!" he said simply.

  "Quick, turn out the light!" ordered Rous. "Lloyd—one person or several?"

  "No, a whole bunch of them, maybe 20 and approaching fairly fast."

  "From what direction?"

  "Apparently on the road from Ferraneigh."

  The three of them had also arrived here on that road this morning. Rous went back into the room where he could see the street from the windows. Meanwhile Rosita had put out the light but a narrow shaft of light reached them from the windows of the house across the street where the light-tubes were still burning. Rous had drawn his weapon. Lloyd went to the table and assumed his usual position, seated and with his head supported in his hands. Rosita stood by the door with the wooden knob of the light-cord in her hand.

  "Do you hear that?" asked Lloyd suddenly.

  Rous listened. He sensed a faint trembling in the ground—and from a distance came a steady humming sound. He recognized it. One didn't have to go closer to the source to hear it—the sound pervaded the countryside. "Put the light back on," he ordered. "Lloyd, stay here and take care of Ms. Perez. I'm going outside."

  "Don't, Rous!" cried Rosita. "Stay here! Do you really know what it is?"

  "Yes," he said somberly. "It's a bus." It was a bus. With blazing headlights, it came down the road from Ferraneigh with astonishing speed. The storm whipped up bright whorls of dust in the oncoming glare of the headlights.

  The heavy vehicle came clattering into the village without slowing its pace. Apparently the driver had no intention of stopping in Keyloghal. Rous stood in the middle of the street and waited until he was caught in the illumination of the headlights.

  Then he began to wave with both arms. For a moment or two he wasn't sure that it wouldn't be a better idea to jump out of the way. But then the brakes squealed, the motor hum struck a deeper note, the bus swerved to the right and came to a stop within a few yards of Rous. The stirred-up dust reflected enough light so that he could make out the route sign: RESAZ-FILLINAN.

  The passenger door swung open. A short little man sprang out.

  "What's the matter?" he asked excitedly. "Why aren't there any people anywhere? Where have they all disappeared to?"

  Rous gave him the local sign of not knowing—a raised hand and a bent index finger—and answered him in the language which he had learned that morning in the course of an hour, utilizing the hyper-analyzer. "I don't know. We're strangers here. We arrived this morning. When we were within about a tenth of a mile of the village, the people disappeared. Where do you come from?"

  "From Resaz," replied the driver. "We left around five this morning. Between five and eight we stopped at Gollan, Gortrup, Vineigh and Bostall. Everything was still alright then. About half past eight we got to Millander... and there wasn't a soul around. That's the way it's been ever since..."

  Rous thought this over. They themselves had arrived at Keyloghal between eight and 8:30 in the morning. Apparently people everywhere had disappeared at the same time.

  "Did you notice anything on the way?" he asked.

  "No, nothing. Once we got to Millander I didn't have any more time to pay attention to other things. My passengers started to panic. Some of them wanted to go back, others wanted to speed up and go ahead and another bunch of them wanted me to take side roads because they thought the main highway was too dangerous. I tell you I had my hands full to keep them all quiet or even to be able to keep on going."

  Rous made a quick decision. "There are three of us here," he said. "Will you take us with you to Fillinan?"

  "Sure, why not? From here on it's just three units per person."

  Rous agreed. He didn't think it was necessary to mention that neither he nor Rosita nor Lloyd possessed any native money. In Fillinan maybe something could be found with which to pay the driver in place of the nine units of price for the fare.

  He fetched Lloyd and Rosita from the house. Rosita wanted to know what he had in mind. "To go to Fillinan," he answered curtly. "We won't get another chance like this. Do you notice the people are so worked up that they don't even react to our size?"

  Lloyd put the case containing the micro-gear under his arm. Rosita went ahead of him.

  The driver stared at her in some wonderment but he said nothing.

  Directly behind him was a window bench that was empty. Rosita sat down there, followed by Fellmer and Rous. But Rous sat closest to the driver so that he could see ahead through the windshield and keep an eye on the road.

  The passengers in the bus conversed excitedly and hardly paid any attention to the new arrivals. There were a few hesitant, curious glances, that was all.

  Naturally the conversation had to do with the strange events of the day—the disappearance of the people from the villages. The only thing that Rous could extract from the bedlam of voices and opinions was what he knew already: that this phenomenon was unique in their eyes. Nothing like it had ever happened before.

  The bus needed only a few moments to leave Keyloghal behind.

  Apparently the driver was attempting to control his fear and anxiety by shoving the gas pedal clear to the floorboards.

  It was factually a gas pedal, as such. Rous had time to observe the steering and shifting mechanisms and to compare them with what he was familiar with on Earth. There were no essential differences. Rous was confident that he could drive the bus without any other information. He'd have to go on what he knew because Mirsal 2 was about 14,500 light years distant from the Earth.

  An hour later they roared through another settlement named Wimmanat. It wasn't necessary to stop in order to see that the place was just as deserted as all the others that the bus had gone through since 8:30 that morning.

  Beyond Wimmanat the highway widened. The proximity of the capital city of Fillinan became apparent. Rous looked ahead and sought to discern the sky through the glare of city lights but either the distance was still too great or the storm had raised too much dust. The sky was black and devoid of stars.

  Rous figured that if the people of Fillinan had not yet disappeared a few vehicles should eventually make an appearance on the road. Or it could be that they had blocked the city exits in the direction of Resaz and declared that area a forbidden zone.

  He turned to look at Rosita. She had stretched her legs out and was resting her head back against the headrest behind her. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at the ceiling.

  Rous was about to say something but before he had a chance Lloyd suddenly broke from his lethargy. "Look out!" he yelled.

  Rous felt a shock of alarm run through him. Lloyd was staring beyond the driver at the windshield but Rous couldn't see anything unusual.

  The driver and the other passengers were startled by Lloyd's shout. The driver reduced his speed slightly and looked behind him.

  In that moment it started.

  Rous suddenly saw the brilliant beam of the right hand headlight right through the body of the driver. He threw himself forward to grasp the disappearing man by the shoulders. But before he could carry out his intent the driver was no longer there. Rous' hands grasped at empty air.

  "The wheel!" cried Rosita in fright.

  Rous bent over the empty seat and strove to control the steering wheel. Fortunately the street was well paved and now that nobody was holding the gas pedal down the bus came to a halt rather quickly. Rous kept it safely in the middle of the road.

  When the danger had passed he forced himself into the small narrow seat and pulled the lever that he thought might be the hand brake, which it was.

  Then he got up and looked around.

  The bus was empty. The 20 people who had made the journey this f
ar from Resaz or Resaz-Gollan or Gortrup had disappeared—just like the driver.

  The only survivors were Fellmer Lloyd, Rosita Perez and Marcel Rous. A mutant, a psychologist and a lieutenant.

  Lloyd had seated himself again. The matter didn't seem to concern him.

  "What's going on?" asked Rous. "What did you see?"

  Lloyd shook his head sullenly. "I saw nothing. I sensed a clutter of mental patterns. Pretty confused and in comprehensible and worst of all they only lasted a few seconds."

  Lloyd had detected something similar to this previously. For example, at the time when the Mirsal 2 rockets disappeared in outer space.

  With a groan, Rous dropped back into his seat. In contacting Rosita next to him he felt that she was trembling.

  "Take it easy, girl," he said, trying to reassure her. "They passed us up this time. It looks as if they prefer swallowing just the Mirsal inhabitants. Apparently we're too bitter for them. If I only knew why!"

  2/ MUTANT TASKFORCE

  Some 18 million miles from the scene of adventure on Mirsal 2, the signals from the three agents' body-transmitters were being received by the Drusus, the mightiest ship of the Earthly spacefleet. The sensitive equipment detected a momentary drop of signal strength and the event was duly recorded. The ship's commander, Perry Rhodan, received the brief report:

  "At 19:34 ship time: brief attenuation of signal strength in body-transmitter beams from Rous, Perez and Lloyd. Simultaneous and for same time-span. Half-arc cycle: 2.8 seconds. Attenuation mean average: 0.01 normal intensity. Thereafter reception undisturbed."

  Rhodan read the data over several times.

  After the peculiar if not actually uncanny incidents on Mirsal 3, Rhodan had decided that his top priority was to gather every scrap of data he could concerning the enemy. There were unmistakable indications that some powerful, unknown opponent was about to challenge the combined forces of the Solar Empire and the whole stellar empire of the Arkonides. A possible lead was obtained through the disappearance of the primitive chemical rocketship just when it was determined that it came from Mirsal 2. To date, nobody yet knew what role Mirsal 2 was playing in the drama nor did anyone know how its inhabitants had managed to remain undetected all this time, even though their technology was centuries in advance of the people of Mirsal 3. Yet the latter world had been known to the Arkonides for a long time.