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  Perry Rhodan

  Atlan And Arkon #53

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  Spybot!

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  1/ TILT!

  ATLANTIS. The legendary continent. A survivor into the 21st century-Atlan, after whom the sunken land had been named-had unfolded an unknown chapter of Earth's prehistory before his listeners.

  Privy in person to Atlan's gripping, vivid narration had been the top officers of the Drusus, flagship of the Terranian Space Fleet, but via the ship's intercom and the viewscreens the ship's complement had been able to share the event either in their quarters or at their posts. When Atlan ended his amazing story a heavy silence descended on all concerned.

  The giant spherical spaceship stood guard at a point 30 light-years from Earth and watched for the very first signs of any attack from the alien time dimension.

  It was very difficult to dispel the deep impression made by the historical revelations of the Timeless One of Arkon. For several millennia there had been only one clue to that fabled area of Earth: a brief observation made by Plato in one of his works. Hundreds of dreamers and visionaries from Donnelly to Iknor had attempted to read into Plato's famous lines more than they said and through the centuries they had sought to trace Atlantis to almost every place on Earth.

  Many theories had been advanced as to what may have caused the Atlantean catastrophe and yet all that time on Earth there was one man in a position to put an end to speculations. One man who could have cleared up the mystery at any time-had he wished to.

  Atlan the Arkonide. Time's Lonely One. The immortal Crystal Prince.

  Atlan, member of the distinguished family of Gonozal, which represented the Emperor at the time of their departure from Arkon. Atlan, the man whose followers so revered him that they named a continent after him on the third planet of a newly discovered solar system.

  Where did all the efforts of the philologists lead? The learned scholars who so emphatically traced the Indo-European word-stem 'tl' or 'tla' to the primitive word tragen, meaning 'to carry', and thus naturally had looked to Atlas the carrier of the globe of the world? What else could it be but a confusion arising from a similarity of sounds in words which were not truly related?

  Atlan's report was a sensation. But it was more: it confirmed that for over 10,000 years Earth-time the mysterious unknown entity dwelling on the synthetic planet Wanderer had known the tremendous peril faced by the entire galaxy due to the threat of the invisible enemy from the alien time dimension. And It had attempted preventative steps against these beings.

  Attempted! The word seemed weak, an understatement when one considered what tremendous powers were available to the wonder-thing on Wanderer and how simple it had always been for It to eliminate all other dangers.

  The immortal being of Wanderer had set Atlan the task of facing the enigmatic creatures from another time-continuum. By human logic this meant the unknown inhabitant of Wanderer could not handle the problem alone. But if It could not face the menace... who could?

  • • •

  Perry Rhodan was the first to break from the spell that Atlan's revelations had cast on them all. He stood up and as he spoke his words were calm and to the point:

  "I thank you, Atlan, for all of us. Your report was more than merely revealing and of course in a sense it was a bit depressing. But I hope that with your practical experience in this matter we may be able to complete the assignment that you received from the unknown entity so long ago and far away."

  Atlan smiled faintly. "Not much has been accomplished from all my experience, Rhodan. Whatever I did then was a drop in the bucket... or a shot in the dark as you people say."

  Rhodan returned the smile. "One should not despair. You know our proverb: a good beginning is half the battle. In our case maybe that sounds a bit ridiculous but in any case when you don't lose heart at the beginning of an undertaking you're in a better starting position."

  Atlan nodded. "Yes, I know. I have known your human race for a long while and its faculty of faith, which is really no more than a certain stubbornness blended with a kind of illogical conviction. I know of many examples where it has moved mountains. This quality is peculiar to Terranians alone. With other races it's sometimes an insurmountable difficulty for them to jump over their own shadows." He looked tip and offered his hand. "So, my barbarian friend, we shall try."

  Rhodan laughed. "And you, my Arkonide friend, must have learned much from us barbarians, it appears to me. Otherwise you'd have thrown in the towel by now and given up trying entirely."

  Atlan's smile became somewhat rueful. "You touch my sore spot, Rhodan. But in the meantime I have to believe that my people have become nothing but a bunch of dreamers and fatuous blockheads."

  "There are exceptions," Rhodan reminded him. "Arkon is not lost yet."

  Atlan nodded. "We will-"

  At that moment he was interrupted by the sharp buzzing of the intercom. A clear, firm voice came through: "Second communications officer to Commander! Com station 2 to Commander!"

  Rhodan reached the pilot's master console in a single leap. He switched on the microphone. "This is the Commander. What is it?"

  "Top priority message from Terrania, Central Intelligence, sir. It came through the relay station from Rigel."

  Rhodan hesitated while glancing askance at the tense faces of the assembled officers. "Wait," he said. "I'll come to Com Central myself." He smiled regretfully at Atlan and swiftly left the room.

  Atlan remained rooted to the spot and stared at the door that had closed behind Rhodan. "Speak of the devil..." he murmured with foreboding.

  • • •

  Pucky had not taken the trouble to hear Atlan's narration in person. He sat in his small cabin during the report and finally snapped to attention when the viewscreen darkened and the face of the Arkonide disappeared.

  Pucky was the only mouse-beaver on board the Drusus. Basically he was the only existing mouse-beaver in the Milky Way, if one were to discount the population of a planet called Vagabond which was lost somewhere in the far reaches of the cosmos circling around a dying sun.

  He was slightly more than three feet in height and his fur was a rusty brown in color. He had the head of a giant mouse and the broad, flattened tail of a normal beaver. But he was endowed with at least three astonishing faculties: Pucky could read thoughts and was accordingly a perfect telepath, in addition to being capable of dematerialization at will and simultaneously popping up in other places. Thus he was also a perfect teleporter. Then, too, he had psychokinetic powers which enabled him to move solid objects by mental means, without touching them physically.

  It was small wonder, therefore, that Pucky was not only Rhodan's special friend but also an outstanding member of the Terranian Mutant Corps.

  Without knocking, Bell stepped into the cabin.

  Reginald Bell, Rhodan's chief deputy and best friend, had left the officer's group at the termination of Atlan's report. His first move was to visit the mouse-beaver, with whom he had formed an unusual friendship. In fact, to outsiders there was a strangely spirited bond between the two, in spite of fairly frequent controversies of a petty nature.

  Pucky had already sensed his approach and now shook his head. "You will never be a gentleman, Reggie," he said in purest English. Even this would have seemed very unusual to the uninitiated but the mouse-beaver's IQ by far surpassed average human intelligence. "What if I had just been changing...?"

  Bell had to grin. For the most part Pucky ran around without clothes on; his thick pelt always made a uniform or even underwear seem ludicrously unnecessary. So what would be the difference if he were to be surprised in the act of changing his clothes?

  "Your sense of hu
mor is about as gross as an elephant's tumor," Bell returned acidly, for openers.

  "You've some temerity, talking to me about tumors, you overgrown ulcer-maker!" spluttered Pucky, for once not getting his tongue in the way of his eyeteeth. "Don't skrag me or I'll teleport you straight through the ship to where the odor of your remarks would blend in with the surroundings."

  Bell paled at the vision of being pinned to the ceiling of the lav. "Aw, Pucky, you know I was only kidding. I just wanted to talk to you."

  "So talk!" The mouse-beaver edged over so that Bell could sit beside him on the bed. "I'm listening though my ears have blisters already-I just got through hearing a couple of hours of Atlan's story. I have to admit that fellow's got a powerful imagination. I wish I could dream up-"

  Bell cocked an eyebrow at him. "You don't mean to say you think Atlan invented his story of Atlantis?! Puckaroo, if Rhodan ever found that out..."

  "Why should he find it out, if you keep your mouth shut?" inquired Pucky, the threatening hint of a growl in his voice. "Don't forget the washroom!"

  "Nobody'll learn anything from me!" Bell hastened to assure him, adding: "Anyway, I found Atlan's story very interesting and informative."

  "Well, I suppose I did too," admitted Pucky and made an obvious project out of scratching his back.

  His reproachful expression was not in vain. Bell sighed and yielded to the unspoken request. He sat closer to the mouse-beaver and began to gently rub his fur. There was no greater pleasure anyone could offer the little fellow.

  "But everything else is starting to be drag-time around here," drawled Bell. "Here we sit in a giant ship out in space-and we wait. What in the devil are we waiting for?"

  "Haven't you asked Rhodan yet?"

  "If you think you can get anything out of him you're mistaken, chum."

  "Don't be so snooty, lardbird," retorted Pucky. His continuous association with Bell had caused him to develop a slangy vocabulary. "Anyway, I don't mind all this lazing around. But nobody who can barely move a finger doesn't need to fake off."

  "Flake off," Bell corrected his alien friend, who often had trouble with English idioms.

  Bell stopped scratching and straightened up. "Are you trying to say that I..."

  "Are you really so anxious to visit the bathroom?" Pucky almost purred with velvet menace.

  Bell sighed and muttered: "Why did I come here, anyway? Instead of taking it easy I have to sit around and take a lot of threats. That's the grief you get into when you mess around with semi-intelligent species." He swiftly began to scratch Pucky's pelt in self-defense. "I mean-now surely you can take a harmless little joke, little buddy?"

  "But of course, fatso," Pucky assured him guilelessly and he revealed his incisor tooth. He normally used this to masticate his food-especially fresh vegetables and pre-eminently carrots-but it also served to delineate the mouse-beaver's form of grinning. And when Pucky grinned there was usually nothing to fear, so Bell breathed a sigh of relief.

  For the next few minutes a pleasant silence pervaded the cabin, interrupted now and then by a sigh of pleasure from Pucky, who knew well how to put his friend's back scratching mood to the fullest use.

  But finally this little idyll was abruptly interrupted.

  A sharp buzzing sounded, followed by a familiar voice. "Hello, Pucky, does Bell happen to be down there with you?"

  "Rhodan!" Bell jumped to his feet and turned the intercom switch. Then he spoke into the small grid of the microphone on the panel of the ship's communication system. "Yes, I'm down here with Pucky. What's up?"

  "I'll tell you later. Get up here to Command Central. Don't walk; hurry it up!"

  Rhodan did not seem to be in a joking mood. "We don't have any time to lose. I'll expect you here in exactly two minutes. Pucky will no doubt make it faster if he doesn't take you with him."

  Bell put his hand on the intercom switch as though to shut off but then he asked one more question: "Does this mean that-?"

  "Yes," came Rhodan's reply, which was an answer to the unfinished question. "This means the waiting time is over."

  A crackling sound indicated the connection had been terminated.

  Pucky slipped off the couch and came up to Bell in order to take hold of his hand. "Okay then, fatty, let's give it a go," he chirped happily.

  Seconds later the air in the cabin began to shimmer and Bell and Pucky disappeared. In the same moment they materialized in the Command Central of the Drusus.

  Rhodan waited till things had quieted down. Some of the officers who had listened to Atlan's story a half-hour before were still present in the Command Central. Among them was Baldur Sikermann, Lieutenant Colonel and First Officer of the Drusus, plus Second Officer Major Teldje van Aafen and Capt. Hubert Gorlat, the ship's Security Officer.

  Altogether the Drusus' crew consisted of 2000 men and officers. Considering the one-mile diameter of the huge spacesphere such a personnel complement was not surprising, especially when one took into account some 40 guppies-small spherical craft with a 100-foot diameters-which lay in the ship's hangars and would have to be manned in case of emergency. Aside from the Titan and the General Pounder, which were of the same class, the Drusus could be considered to be the largest and mightiest ship in the galaxy. At best, only Arkon might be able to match it with anything of an equivalent size and capability.

  "We've received a hypercom message from the Earth," said Rhodan, breaking into the expectant silence. "I'm not sure whether this may have something to do with our actual problem but even if it doesn't we will have to respond to this request."

  From the background Bell asked: "What kind of request?" There was a note of rejection in his words, which was understandable.

  Rhodan smiled briefly. "I'll read you the text of the message. As you may have surmised, it's come through to us in pulse bursts and coded, as well as by a roundabout route. So there's no danger that it was intercepted and even less possibility of anyone having been able to determine its direction or origin. It reads as follows: To Drusus! A three-alarm call has been received from Agent Jost Kulman on Swoofon, System of Swaft. Requests immediate pickup. No details.

  "This is signed by Central Communications in Terrania. I think we'd better take care of this item and make a flight to Swoofon. Are there any questions?"

  The questioning went fairly fast because no one had prepared any particular questions. Where was Swoofon located? Who lived there? What was Kulman's problem? In fact, who was he, anyway? Were these all the questions the situation called for or was there something perhaps more important?

  Bell used his prerogative to make a start. "Couldn't Kulman have said what was pressing him...?"

  Rhodan nodded patiently. "Naturally he could have but he didn't. Next...?"

  Sikermann saw that he had the floor. "Who will take over our position if we fly to Swaft? That would leave a hole in the control net that has to be closed."

  "Hardly!" Rhodan shook his head. "We were only buffering the guard front. If we withdraw it will be back to normal."

  "Then I don't have any other questions."

  Rhodan looked around at the others. "Anyone else confused? I was beginning to wonder. After turning over our control position we will make a transition toward Swaft and have a look around. It could well be that something may have changed there since Kulman sent his emergency call. I don't intend to run into a trap. So prepare yourselves for a few hours of heavy duty, gentlemen. May I request that Reginald Bell and Capt. Gorlat remain here? I don't want to overlook any precautionary measures. Thank you."

  He stood motionlessly and waited until only Gorlat and Bell were left in the room. Pucky, who had balled himself together on the couch, was overlooked; at least Rhodan acted as though he had not noticed him.

  "Swaft," he began, "is a relatively unknown sun which supports life on its second planet, Swoofon. Swoofon is the native world of a very unusual race of people, known as the Swoon. They are reputed to be excellent mechanics and technicians. To be more sp
ecific: they are micro-technicians. Their eyes can see better than our microscopes. Their specialty is making instruments and mechanisms which the normal naked eye can hardly detect. In fact this was the main reason why we sent agent Jost Kulman to Swoofon."

  "If I remember correctly," interjected Gorlat the Security Officer, "Kulman belongs to the Mutant Corps."

  Rhodan nodded affirmatively. "Kulman is our micro-optic specialist. He has the amazing faculty of being able to change the focal length of the lenses in his eyes at will and by this means he can establish quite different visual ratios. Without any optical aid he is able to perceive and identify objects of microscopic size."

  Rhodan looked at his watch. "I have to give Navigation the coordinates for Swaft. The system is just about 1000 light-years from our sun. Using the hyper-compensator we can risk making it in one transition, without having to fear that anybody will detect the Earth's position."

  Hubert Gorlat smiled his satisfaction. "Yes, it's really a break for us that we have these compensators. Without them we couldn't make any hyperspace jump and keep it a secret. It'd be a fine mess if everybody always knew where the other fellow was located."

  "A worse mess," interjected Bell, "if everybody knew where each other's home planet was located."

  "For us it would be fatal," Rhodan confirmed conclusively. "After all, our most powerful weapon is that nobody but ourselves knows the galactic position of the Earth. Look at all the efforts the Arkonides and the Springers have made to get that information. The hyper-compensator is truly our good luck because what good are the Arkonides' hyper-sensors if they have nothing to sense?" With this, he waved a hand at them and left the room.

  The others soon followed and went to their respective posts.

  Only Pucky was left behind, rolled up on the couch. He thought it would be appropriate to take a little snooze.

  • • •

  The Drusus materialized out of the void and the star called Swaft appeared as a bright sun. The second planet lay between it and the motionlessly poised Drusus, which had returned soundlessly into the normal universe out of hyperspace without causing the slightest disturbance of the space-time structure.