The Earth Dies

  Perry Rhodan

  The Third Power #41

  The Earth Dies

  The Springers are gathering a force of 800 ships under Cekztel commanded by Topthor to destroy the Earth. The Topides reinforce Betelgeuse with 400 ships under Al-Khor and move off to the 3rd planet to mislead the Springers. The Titan and the two heavy cruisers make multiple appearances to reinforce the deception that Betelgeuse is SOL. Perry realizes that this is not enough and stages the destruction of the Titan and himself. And so in this final Adventure of the First Cycle, 'The Third Power,' read now how–

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  THE EARTH DIES

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  1/ FORCE UNKNOWN

  "THE GREAT PUZZLE-SOLVING MARATHON now begins, Reggie. The Galactic Traders will consider us to be Terranians and they'll be right. But, if all works according to plan, the Topides will mistake us for Galactic Traders."

  "We'll give them a helping hand in that direction," promised Reginald Bell.

  • • •

  Beyond the space-time continuum defined by Einstein, in hyperspace, all ordinary laws of nature cease to have validity. The concept of time vanishes; vast distances shrink to zero.

  In the 'natural' universe, a fraction of a second passed as Perry Rhodan leapt 10,000 light-years into the Milky Way in the mighty spherical spaceship Titan. Leapt far beyond his actual goal.

  In the blinking of an eyelid our sun Sol diminished to the tiniest of stars, traceable in the kaleidoscope of bright and faint celestial bodies only by the most supersensitive of electron-telescopes. Even Betelgeuse, the red giant, seemed at the point of extinction now, 9728 light-years from the Titan in the direction of Terra.

  Ahead of the Titan stretched the boundless reaches of the universe with its inhabited and uninhabited systems and their corresponding dangers.

  Perry Rhodan sat before the panoramic viewscreen gallery, which afforded him an awesome view into the depths of infinity. Next to him sat Reginald Bell, his best friend and companion of many a space-time campaign in the interests of Earth, who presently rubbed the aches of transition from the back of his neck, brushed back his unruly stubble of red hair and narrowed his eyes in order to see more clearly. The Titan moved silently through the endless panoply of stars, now only 'creeping' along at nine-tenths speol. At this rate it could take years to reach the next star!

  "Let's hope our rematerialization sent out a space-warp shock strong enough to register with everybody concerned," said Rhodan casually. He nodded toward the door of Com Central. "Well, we'll soon find out. With hypersensor stations spotted all over the galaxy, they're able to track all hyperspace transitions and, since we didn't use our compensator on this jump, they should've picked us up.

  "The great puzzle-solving marathon now begins!"

  Bell stretched his thickset body, which made him appear a bit plump and sluggish but he was anything but, from either a physical or mental standpoint. "Those Topide lizards must take us for Springers by now and with the Springers its the other way around—they come from the depths of the Milky Way and presume Earth's in the Betelgeuse system where the Topides are trying to establish themselves! The Springers want to destroy Earth so they'll mistakenly attack Betelgeuse 3 and bump into the Topides. That'll touch off a battle royal and we have only to stand by and watch in order to accomplish our objective. A pretty slick arrangement, Perry!

  "The main spectators are going to be Deringhouse and McClears. We're going to have to get in touch with them again.—I wonder where their cruisers are hiding?"

  Bell considered the question a form of request and got up, saying, "Okay, I'll take a look-see. Do you want the radio traffic coded?"

  "Yes, absolutely." Rhodan continued to search the viewscreens. "Ask for their positions and let me have a report on their situation. And tell Deringhouse to stand by when you get him—I want to talk to him myself. We don't want any video setup because we don't want to give any of the pessimists a hint to the contrary. The more we can do to make the Earth disappear from the scene for awhile, the better off we are."

  "That's right," Bell grinned. "A lot is hanging on that one, alright." He crossed the dome-shaped Control Central and entered the adjacent radio room. "Hi, Martin. Good morning."

  Cadet Martin acknowledged the greeting without turning around. He sat in front of his equipment and observed a rash of numbers as they spun across his colored megacycle dials. An oval viewscreen revealed a flicker of color lines which raced meaninglessly across the convex surface. Nothing of a recognizable nature seemed to want to form there. A crackle of static emerged from the loudspeaker.

  "The hyperjump went off okay, sir. There've been no radio receptions since then—at least none that pertain to us.

  "I want you to send a hyperspace message to Deringhouse in the direction of Betelgeuse. Code it according to system HB-33. Positronic. Maj. Deringhouse is to give us his position and stand by for reporting. The Chief wants to talk to him personally. Let me know as soon as you have the connection."

  "Very well, sir, it shall be done!"

  Bell looked on for a few moments while the chief duty officer of Communications activated his hyperspace transmission equipment and put the dispatch into the scrambler, removed the coded tape and connected it to the transmitter. The call would continue to repeat until an answer was received on the same frequency. It could go on for hours, or perhaps only minutes.

  "We're running the search call," Bell told Rhodan as he sat down again in the First Officer's seat. "I hope we don't get tracked down by any Springers."

  "We won't," smiled Rhodan. "It's true that under certain circumstances hyperspace transmissions can be traced out as to their direction but not their distance. So they could do a lot of fancy long-range triangulations before they'd find us. That make you feel better, Reg?"

  His thickset companion grumbled something unintelligible and then devoted himself resignedly to a contemplation of the universe, as though he had never seen a star in all his life.

  In his time, however, he had seen more stars than most have seen pretty girls...

  • • •

  The heavy cruiser Centurion, a spherical vessel with a 600-foot diameter, hovered with no apparent motion in space and waited. Close by, about one mile distant floated the sister ship Terra, whose commander was Maj. McClears.

  On board the Centurion were 10 mutants in addition to the telepath John Marshall—not to mention Pucky the mouse-beaver. Pucky's temporary separation from his bosom pal, Bell, was in a way an improvement: At least he was not adding any new colorful language to his vocabulary and had to content himself with what he had already picked up—which was considerable.

  Deringhouse had slept a few hours and had just returned to the Control Central in order to relieve his second-in-command, Capt. Lamanche. "What's new, Captain?"

  The Francoterranian shook his head. "Nothing, sir. Our distance from Betelgeuse is still 30 light-years. The hypersensor has picked up a heavy rash of transitions in the vicinity of the system. The Topides are evidently getting their promised reinforcements already."

  Deringhouse nodded wearily. "Good, Lamanche. You can relieve me again in 5 hours."

  5 hours...

  Deringhouse didn't sit down at once but wandered back and forth for awhile in the spacious Control Central of the Centurion. Many things had happened in the past number of days...

  Rhodan's plan to trick the powerful enemies of the Earth was taking shape with increasing effectiveness. Through Topthor the Springers had a strong card in their hand. The Mounder, Topthor, knew where the Earth was to be found. At least, he believed that. What he did not know was that Rhodan's mutants had long since altered the pos
ition of Terra in the Nav positronicon of the Top 2. If one were to retrieve data from his computer now, concerning the location of the Earth, the answer would be that it was the 3rd planet of the giant sun Betelgeuse.

  The end result that Rhodan was aiming for was that the Springers would attack the 3rd planet in the belief that it was the Earth itself that lay before them. By this ruse he would gain time to build up and strengthen the home solar system against the day of a second confrontation with the robot brain of Arkon. He wanted all alien intelligences to assume that the Earth and the Terranian, Perry Rhodan, had ceased to exist.

  Deringhouse smiled softly. It was a shrewd and daring plan which, if it succeeded, would solve a great number of problems.

  The 3rd planet of Betelgeuse was an uninhabited jungle world that would have to be sacrificed. On the other hand, the 4th planet, the water world of Akvo, had turned out to be a surprise. On the single continent that sat in the great ocean like an island, the Topides had established a military base. These reptilian intelligences who were old enemies of Rhodan were under the control of a dictator who ruled a stellar empire that was 815-light-years distant from the Earth. And now here they had appeared in much closer proximity to the Earth. In a quickly conceived plan of strategy, Deringhouse and his people had represented themselves as Springers and revealed to the startled and suddenly very attentive Topides that the fighting forces of the Mounders, who were a special police force of the Springers, were now on their way with the intention of destroying the Topides' stronghold. It was also represented that fighting units of the other Springers and the Aras were taking part in the operation.

  The reaction to this was as they had expected it to be. The reptiles put in a request for reinforcements in order to defend themselves against the attack. Deringhouse had pulled out of the area and was now located 30 light-years away, in order to await the results of his deception.

  A sharp buzzing sound smote his ears. It came from the adjacent Communications Central. Lt. Fisher was standing watch. This particular buzzer signified that a hyperspace communication was being received.

  Rhodan...?

  With a leap, Deringhouse crossed the control room and pushed open the door of the Com Central.

  Fisher was adjusting the volume controls and searching for the code key. Then he activated the unscrambler and threw in the decoding equipment.

  In the same moment, the incomprehensible sounds emerging from the loudspeaker became understandable.

  "...turion. Repeat. Titan to Centurion. Give your position, Maj. Deringhouse. The Chief is waiting for a detailed report. I repeat the entire message. Titan here. Position 10,000 light-years from Terra in the direction of Arkon. Titan to Centurion..."

  "Answer them, Fisher," ordered Deringhouse. "Who knows how long they've been signaling? Or did you just pick them up?"

  "I've no idea, sir, when the beamed transmission reached us."

  There was a 2-minute wait till Rhodan's voice was heard in the loudspeaker. His words did not require the thousandth fraction of a second to bridge over the unimaginably great distance between them.

  "Rhodan here. I'm 9,728 light-years from you, Deringhouse. Many transitions are giving us an indication here that the expected assembly of the Springer fleet is taking place. The total number of units is unknown so far. What's happening there?"

  "We were able to decode the latest hyperspace dispatches of the Topides. Their dictator has committed strong fleet contingencies which are being rushed to the aid of the threatened base on Akvo. I would estimate that 500 ships are under way."

  "I think the Springers will also bring about that number of ships into the action, so there are going to be some rather dramatic accompanying circumstances surrounding our planned demise of the mock planet Earth, If the Topides and the Springers clash, there won't be very much of them left. We have to make sure they don't get a chance to clear up their own confusion. The Springers have to mistake the Topides for the Terranians or their allies and the Topides must consider the Springers to be their bitterest enemies. Then if we make a few appearances at the right time and allow ourselves to be seen briefly here and there, it would seem to be enough to complete the deception. Do you have anything else, Deringhouse, or is everything clear?"

  "No, just one question, sir."

  "What is it, Deringhouse?"

  "Are you going to remain there or are you going to come here to support us? And one more thing: when should we return to Betelgeuse?"

  Rhodan did not delay in giving an answer. "We will work together. You will receive your attack orders at the moment that the Titan makes its jump to Betelgeuse. That will occur in the same moment that the Springers and the Topides have their first encounter."

  "Do you think 3 ships are enough to deceive both sides?"

  "I think so, if we don't always show up in the same place. So until then, Deringhouse..."

  The Major nodded at the viewscreen, which would have revealed Rhodan's face under normal circumstances. Then he returned to the main Control Center, sat down in the Commander's seat and brooded to himself.

  Hopefully, Rhodan's calculations would work out correctly.

  Otherwise...

  • • •

  The 2nd player at the galactic chessboard was Al-Khor, Commander of the Topides in the Betelgeuse system. Since he had eliminated his opponent, Wor-Loek, and made his own contact with the home planet, a few changes had been made. The relatively weak military base on the 4th planet had been dismantled hastily in order to remove it from danger in case of an attack from outer space. Al-Khor had become a useful part of Rhodan's plans without in the least being suspicious of the fact. Moreover, his strenuous preparations had only served to strengthen the impression of the Springers that the jungle world of the 3rd planet was in fact the Earth.

  For Al-Khor had transferred the fighting forces of the Topides to the 3rd planet.

  Hour after hour, new reinforcements were arriving from the Topides' home system, which was more or less 500 light-years distant. It was easy for Deringhouse to register the hypertransitions and up to this time he had counted about 400 units.

  On the upper plateaus of the primeval forests, energy beams carved out tremendous caves in the rocky cliffs. The previously uninhabited planet was transformed into a fortress bristling with weapons. Patrol ships of the reptiles circled Betelgeuse 3 in precisely calculated orbits, providing a guarantee against any surprise approach of the Springers. Other units were concealed in the shallow oceans and waited there for the signal to attack.

  The Topides were well armed and prepared to give the greedy Springers a proper reception, whose motives this time they had completely misunderstood. If they had actually known why the Galactic Traders were attacking Betelgeuse and that they considered the 3rd planet to be the Earth, their actions would have been considerably altered.

  But they did not know this...

  And so it came about that, without any further help from Rhodan, the uninhabited world whose galactic position had been represented as that of the Earth in the memory banks of Topthor's positronic Nav computer had become an interplanetary fortress practically over night—a fortress that was considered in certain circles to be the Earth.

  Al-Khor had no idea that he had become a pawn in the game.

  He was on board one of the last ships to leave Akvo, the water planet. As the bluish world shrank away behind him, he nodded with satisfaction to the commander of the cruiser. "The Springers will never get the idea that we're as interested in the 4th planet as we are in the 3rd and they will also have no opportunity to correct their mistake. The Dictator has just advised me that a further fleet of 200 heavy class warships will join us in the attack when we are in full engagement with the enemy. Perhaps not a single Trader ship will escape destruction."

  "A very shrewd move," praised the commander of the cruiser. "Your name, Al-Khor, will go down in the history of the Topides."

  Al-Khor nodded calmly. He already saw himself participating in the
victory parade before the Dictator, who would decorate him as a hero of the stellar empire.

  The cruiser arrived at the 3rd planet and brought Al-Khor to the new headquarters of the reptiles, a hollowed-out mountain near the equator. The hypercom equipment was already in operation. In less than 2 minutes, Al-Khor established a connection with his home planet. The Commander-in-Chief of the fighting forces there answered him and requested a full report. Then he promised: "Al-Khor, you can depend on the fact that the Springers are going to suffer the greatest defeat in their long history. The Dictator is very pleased with your tactical preparations. Send us the agreed-on signal as soon as the Springers attack and make sure that we are continuously advised concerning the progress of the battle."

  "We will be victorious," said Al-Khor loftily.

  There was a moment of silence, followed by the answer: "You must be victorious, Al-Khor!"

  • • •

  The 3rd player at the galactic chess game was called Cekztel, an ancient patriarch of the Mounders who had received the Supreme Command over the collective fighting forces of the Springers. His massive figure—he weighed more than 13 hundred pounds—was supported by a special seat in front of the controls of his ship, from which vantage point he intended to lead the mission.

  It was a mission that would signify the end of a planet called Earth.

  In effect, Cekztel was now officiating merely as the executive functionary of the operation. The actual initiator, however, was called Topthor, and so we will concern ourselves principally with him, because it was he who at one time discovered the Earth and managed to secure its galactic position in the memory banks of his positronic Nav computer. As Perry Rhodan continued to become an increasingly dangerous factor the worth of this piece of information increased correspondingly. But finally Topthor had been forced to surrender it to his own race because his own safety depended upon it. The Springers had unanimously decided to eliminate Rhodan once and for all. His home planet was to be destroyed. Topthor provided the key.