The Plasma Monster Read online

  In the great processing plant there was a sudden stench of molten metal, burned insulation and smoldering high-tension transformers. The remains of the eight robots lay on the floor in a tangled pile, while a few paces behind them were the unconscious Aras. The ordinary work robots in the plant had taken no notice of the situation. They continued to monitor the ongoing fabrication processes as though nothing had happened.

  Pucky and Ras reappeared before the others. "So what is this layout, Boss?" asked the inquisitive mouse-beaver. "What's going on?"

  "Well, Pucky, to find out exactly, the men we need here are Dr. Koatu and two or three other medical specialists. Do you think you could get them for me?"

  The little fellow straightened up to his full height and met Rhodan's gaze reproachfully. "What? You don't think I could handle a short hippity-hop, just halfway around the Earth? I'll be back in five minutes with the eggheads!"

  7/ IN SEARCH OF MIRACLES

  A few seconds later, as Ras Tschubai was about to follow Pucky, Rhodan called to him on a sudden impulse. "Ras, wait! Go to Terrania and see how fast you can bring me Ulland, Kokstroem and Church back here. I don't care if they're in pyjamas or tuxedos, just bring them as they are!"

  Ras Tschubai quickly nodded to his chief before he disappeared.

  "You're bringing Ulland into this, Perry?" asked Bell with a thoughtful glance.

  But the question was never, answered. Rhodan's meager telepathic sensors had picked up some vague thought emanations from several Aras and he immediately advised his companions. "The impulses are coming from our left. I think they're coming from a laboratory section behind that door over there!"

  "How many, Perry?" Bell asked.

  "Three or four of them," was his curt reply.

  Solar Marshal Mercant only nodded silently. They went around the junk-pile of robot remains and passed four great conveyor lines where the passive work robots continued uninterruptedly with their tasks. The entire battle had not disturbed them in the least. Their programs were set strictly for monitoring the pharmaceutical processes here.

  Just before the door in question, Perry's weak psi faculties enabled him to confirm that four Aras were in the other lab section. "Turn on your deflectors!" he ordered.

  "But then we can't see each other!" warned Bell.

  "It's a risk we'll have to take. You stay on my left and Mercant you stick to my right. OK, switch on!"

  In the next second they were invisible but this protection still had the disadvantage Bell had mentioned: they couldn't see each other. Nevertheless it was only two minutes before two of the remaining Aras were unconscious and two of them were physically caught in Bell's powerful grasp. The aliens did not utter a word. Their thoughts seethed with hatred, rage and fear.

  The door to the main plant was standing open and from it suddenly came a squeaky, familiar voice. "Hi, Boss! I'm here with the four pill-pushers! Aha! So Ras was also in Terrania! He's just pulled in with three gents in tow. You putting them to work, too?"

  While Pucky was chattering, Rhodan returned into the larger lab. He had a fleeting recollection of his instructions to Ras Tschubai as he saw that Ulland, Kokstroem and Church were all completely dressed.

  He turned to the doctors. "Gentlemen, in medical knowledge I'm just a layman, so I can't give you any specific instructions. But get to work as fast as you can— go through this subterranean plant and try to discover the cure they must have here which has kept the town of Soisy-sur-Seine free of plasma sickness. The second search objective is to locate what part of this lab has the processing setup for the enteric paralysis culture. There's clear evidence that the serum ampoule found on the Springer ship was produced on Earth. You now know what conclusions all this has led me to. If you please, gentlemen!"

  Rhodan didn't want to yawn at this moment but the compulsion of his ailment was greater than his will. He was aware of the deep inroads the sickness had made in him, because it was costing him a greater effort than ever to concentrate. But when he finally spoke to Ulland, Church and Kokstroem his voice sounded completely normal.

  "Our medical experts in Terrania have suspected that the plasma monster has a food-sensing faculty but so far they haven't been able to produce any proofs for such a hypothesis. And a case in point is the fact that no case of plasma infection has occurred in Soisy-sur-Seine. What I want you to do is make a search here to see if the Aras have some special device that's capable of interfering with the monster's sensing faculty. I know that's an almost impossible task since it's only based on hypothesis but in a desperate situation like this we have to sort out even the most hopeless-seeming possibilities. So if you please, gentlemen!"

  Mercant and Bell stared at him in thunderstruck amazement. The Solar Marshal remained silent but Bell felt more at personal liberty to express himself.

  "Man, you're sure way out, Perry! Ye gods, what an imagination! What's come over you today?"

  "Nothing much," replied Rhodan, unimpressed. "Actually, you can thank our Solar Marshal here for the trend of my speculations."

  "What?" In his surprise Mercant twisted his facial features as he normally would have but he forgot the present disfiguration caused by the spongy plasma growths. The sharp pains reminded him of his condition but did not prevent him from speaking. "Sir, back there by that wall by the machine works you also made a similar remark. But I can't recall having given you the slightest lead on such speculations."

  "However, you did, Mercant. You told me of your conversation with Prof. Degen. You had been inquiring about the status of the 'stone-belly' plague on board the Springer ship. Just as we found that the monster swallowed up the paralysis culture in Terrania, you learned that the plague viruses had suddenly disappeared on that freighter. So now let me tell you what I extrapolated from that.

  "I avoided the regular trend of thinking in order to cover the side roads, you might say. The indisputable fact that the virus ampoule from the Springer ship was produced on Earth was the first lead but when I heard there was no plasma sickness in the area of Soisy-sur-Seine it was suddenly like adding two plus two to get four. Which in the final analysis meant that here must be some means of defense against the plasma monster! Contrary to information from the Arkon Brain there was one missing fact connected with that ancient case of plasma plague in the Arkonide Imperium. Once again in their usual secrecy the Aras had managed to develop either a cure or a defense against it!"

  "Let's hope your guess is a good one!" said Bell soberly. He happened to see Dr. Koatu standing between two assembly lines. "Doc!" he called to him. "Come on over here a minute!"

  Koatu approached them but had to yawn as he did so.

  "I have a question," Bell told him. "This lousy monster thing is supposed to jump on anything containing protein. Since I'm no slouch in the protein department, it sure as heck picked me out in a hurry, but how come it also attacked the robots and stuck itself to the hull of the Drusus? That seems to contradict the theory that it's only on a protein diet!"

  "No," Koatu countered quietly. "You haven't considered the plasma's sensing-capability sufficiently. Every robot has a number of protein-base circuit elements in its make-up—albumin or plastic compounds, if you will. In the plasma's attempt to reach them it was merely blocked by their metallic shells. This doesn't mean, of course, that we should attribute any intelligence to it. Its sensor mechanism is a kind of instinct. That's why it didn't give up and leave the robots, which any modicum of reason would have dictated. So that's why it also remained on the Drusus' hull. What we had first mistaken for some kind of oxidation turned

  out to be a monster life-form driven by an intense sensing instinct."

  "Doc, do you have any actual proof of such a sensing faculty?"

  The scientist shook his head. "It's all merely hypothesis, sir—pure conjecture."

  Just then the mouse-beaver interrupted with his excited, squeaking voice. "Perry, you're right! I've just tapped the thoughts of an Ara. The dirty crook is afraid that we're goi
ng to find the thing. Hey, do you know what an oska-pulsator is?"

  There was a rising note of excitement in Rhodan's voice when he answered. "Never heard of it, Pucky. What's it supposed to be?" The others were also looking intently at the little fellow.

  "The oska-pulsator is the thing we're not supposed to find, Chief. Darn it all, he's shut off again! But man, is that Ara shaking! His fear of its being discovered blanks out everything else in his mind. And the second Ara's about to have apoplexy, he's so afraid."

  "Tell Ulland, Church and Kokstroem about that pulsator. It may help them in their search."

  Pucky vanished without a word. Dr. Koatu followed in the direction he had obviously taken. Only his two friends, Mercant and Ras Tschubai, remained with Rhodan.

  Chief—are you there?

  Rhodan sensed John Marshall's telepathic call. The missing leader of the Mutant Corps reported in.

  I'm here with your journalist. Just now we're trying to find our way to the park around all these burning streets. Oh—it's no longer necessary, Chief! Pucky overheard me and he's just arrived. We'll teleport with him!

  As this last thought from Marshall came through Pucky appeared with the two men in tow. "Perry, I tipped off your specialists. They never heard of an oskapulsator, either!" He ignored the fact that he had just performed a lightning-swift mission and brought in Marshall and Ballin. It didn't seem worth mentioning.

  "Marshall..." Rhodan deliberately ignored the fact that Marshall seemed to have had a rough time. "Take charge of the two Aras you'll find tied up in the next room. Drag everything you can out of their heads. Every minute we can gain in our discoveries here will help to save many humans from the plasma sickness."

  "OK, sir. The Aras will be real happy to see me!" It was not a threat of physical violence. The two Galactic Medicos were not facing a beating session to make them confess. Marshall was not going to harm a hair on their heads, but telepathically he was going to uproot their most secret thoughts.

  Meanwhile, Walt Ballin had been looking about him in amazement. He noted the group of half-burned and destroyed robots as well as the work robots who tended their programmed tasks along the conveyor belts.

  "Sir," he asked Rhodan, "are we waiting around here for something in particular?"

  "For a miracle, Ballin," Rhodan replied gravely.

  "Oh—oh!" squeaked Pucky, next to him suddenly, and he disappeared.

  Rhodan tried to make telepathic contact with him but the mouse-beaver had screened off his thoughts. "Cheeky little rascal!" he muttered half aloud, even as Pucky came back again.

  "Perry, I caught a thought from Ulland! Do you know what he's looking at? It's the oska-pulsator! He's found the thing and he's yelling his lungs out for Church and Kokstroem!"

  "So once and for all, Pucky, do I get to know maybe what an oska-pulsator happens to be?" Rhodan's tone was noticeably sharp with impatience.

  But Pucky was impudent enough to reveal his incisor tooth, even using a patronizing air as he answered. "Perry, it's the thing—the thing that keeps the monster away from Soisy-sur-Seine!"

  Pucky had practically gotten away with murder with such insolence but at the moment Rhodan might have forgiven him for much worse. "And how does it work, Pucky?" he asked quietly.

  But Bell wasn't as patient. "If you leave us dangling any longer I'll wring your neck!"

  "Quit bragging, Fatso!" retorted Pucky, responding to the threat. "Perry, if I understand Ulland's thoughts right, the oska-pulsator is a transmitter of some kind. It sends out some very weird and complex interference pulses that block the monster's sensor fields."

  "Aha!"

  "Perry?" Now the mouse-beaver's voice was almost unrecognizable in his anxiety. "Now can we all get well again?"

  Rhodan looked down for several seconds at the faithful little fellow before he finally shook his head negatively. "I don't believe so, Pucky. We've already been infected. I doubt if the oska-pulsator can be of much help to us in particular. Yes, Marshall?" He spoke the question although Marshall had called to him telepathically. "Where? What...? In silo 18? What medication are you talking about? An aromatic decoy material—for the monster? Marshall, you're losing me—I don't quite follow! Repeat that again!"

  The others held their breaths tensely as they stared at Rhodan. So that they could share the message directly, he was putting it into words for them. "The perfumed bait, you say, makes a molecular combination with the monster and inactivates it? I see... by crystallizing its cellular structure."

  The micro-telecoms in their spacesuits signaled an incoming call. The Medical Research Center in Terrania was urgently asking for Perry Rhodan. When he identified himself the message came through

  They heard a man yelling for joy through their headphones. "Sir, thanks to the analysis data from Arkon we have found a means of combating the plasma plague! It's an aromatic lure that attracts the monster and converts it into harmless protein crystals! Sir, we did it! Thank God! What a wonderful day this is for all of us..."

  John Marshall came back. In spite of everything his disfigured features expressed nothing but bitterness.

  "Here now, John, is there something else?" Rhodan asked him.

  The Mutant Chief drew a deep breath. "Chief, it's unbelievable what these Aras were planning to do to us! Your suspicions are correct. It's here that they produce the enteric paralysis culture. They planned to use it to decimate the Earth's population and to take over Terra. The case of plague on the Trader ship was their last field test. Within three more days their operation was to begin here. The fact that we were attacked by the plasma plague suited them fine. They had nothing to fear from it. On the one hand the oska-pulsator kept the plasma sickness away from them and on the other hand they had the means to cure it. When you keep running into such criminals it's enough to make you lose faith in everything."

  Rhodan broke in on his tirade. "Alright now, John, you shouldn't be talking like that. Not all Aras are criminals any more than are all Earthmen bad but there's always going to be the other kind and you can't judge them all the same way. Now come with me—I want you around when I talk to the Aras."

  The parley was a short one.

  "Aras, there is no capital punishment anymore on Earth. And it appears that no Terran has been victimized yet by your plan. There were the Galactic Traders, however, and doubtlessly Ekhonides, Arkonides and other races belonging to the Greater Imperium. I'll arrange to place you under the jurisdiction of the Arkon Imperium. Within this hour, Imperator Gonozal VIII is being informed of this incident and he will certainly see to it that you are brought to Arkon."

  One of the Aras tried to make an offer to prevent his extradition. "Rhodan, we are in a position to help the Solar Imperium against the plasma plague."

  Rhodan's tone was frigid when he interrupted the Galactic Medical Master. "With the oska-pulsator and the plasma lure in silo 18, Ara? Haven't you learned yet that I've never made deals with criminals and that I never shall?"

  With that he went out, completely impervious to the hail of invectives the Aras shouted after him.

  • • •

  Perry Rhodan had a half-hour to spare for a conversation with Walt Ballin but that was all his schedule permitted. Nor did Ballin want to take any more time than that because his ship was leaving for Paris at 13:45. At 20:00 he had a date at Trois Poulardes with Yvonne Berclais. He had reserved the table by long distance from Terrania.

  "When do we get to, see your report about the plasma monster, Ballin? Until now the Administration has not announced any details. People still don't know the circumstances which enabled them and the Earth to escape destruction. You do it! No holds barred—everything. Even my blunders."

  "Wait, sir!" Ballin interrupted energetically. "Who could reproach you for anything? One way or another the Akons would have planted that monster on the Earth. In this case everyone should be grateful to you because you were the only one in the midst of the crisis who was able to guess the true implications and
put the facts together."

  "That's not quite true, Ballin. If it hadn't been for Jeff Garibaldi I'd never have heard of the little town of Soisy-sur-Seine. Let that be an example to you that no man can be anything alone unless he has capable assistants and colleagues. Teamwork is everything, which includes the entire Solar Imperium. Even your article is a part of it, because it will inform mankind concerning the monster they were dealing with."

  "Sir, it's now four months since the outbreak of the plague and as of today it's been three weeks since any case of illness was even reported. Nobody wants to hear anything about a monster anymore. What's more, I can't take the responsibility of revealing all the details involved. If I did, wouldn't I also have to reveal that at any time we can expect a new attack by the Akons?"

  The faces of the two men did not even show any scars. The fungus growths had not left any deformities on either of them.

  Rhodan smiled. "It seems I can remember a feature article once that expressed the opposite point of view. That article demanded that the Administration must inform people about everything—otherwise humans would never get to be citizens of the universe."

  "Sir, at the time I didn't know what I know now. This experience has taught me what a tremendous load of responsibility you have taken over for everyone concerned. I have one request before I leave: At some convenient time would it be all right if I visited Terrania again?"

  "Not only is the answer yes, Ballin—I'll be expecting you," Rhodan answered and extended his hand.

  Ballin hesitated before gripping it. "One last question, sir. Do the monsters out there outnumber us? I mean, is the universe one big bag of horrors or a galaxy of wonders?"

  "You give us a hand, Ballin, in making people into citizens of the universe. So long as humans fear, that in itself is the monster. Once their fear has been conquered they will perceive the wonders of creation. It's a long road yet but at the end of it is humankind, to whom the universe belongs..."