The Pseudo One Read online

  Only after opening the outer lock did he go back and awaken his companions.

  In less than five minutes the planet sank away beneath them into the eternal day of the interplanetary void, which was continually illuminated by the sun. Tolimon became a silver crescent. Trulan could be seen clearly as a twinkling diadem of diamond lights on the dark portion of the planet. Apparently the city was still awake in its search for the false inspector and his curious servant.

  Rhodan set the controls on automatic pilot and turned around. "Rodrigo, there's nothing you can do now. Laury will show you to your cabin. Get some sleep now. We don't know what's still ahead of us so it's best to be fresh and rested. Laury can also go to sleep."

  He waited until the two had disappeared into the passageway, noting that Pucky's grin followed them.

  Marshall looked questioningly at Rhodan "And what about us?"

  "I want you to stay here with me until we've mad our first transition. For that we need to get light speed and it'll take us 10 minutes to get there. These 10 minutes are the most critical of the entire mission, Marshall. You take over the control console of the heavy impulse-disintegrator and destroy any attacker who shows himself within striking distance. You don't have to wait on my permission to open fire; you've got carte blanche, right now."

  Marshall nodded and disappeared into the narrow weapons control cubicle. Pucky gazed thoughtfully after him.

  "And me?" he pouted. "What am I supposed to do?"

  Rhodan pointed to a comfortable couch next to the communications and radar equipment.

  "Lie down and wait. Watch the viewscreens. Or man the search radar. Call, out every ship sighting. You can see there's plenty to do. If I'm not mistaken, things are going to get hot around here in a hurry."

  Rhodan was not mistaken.

  On the tracking screen a green, oval-shaped blip was seen to creep from an angle onto their course. Numbers whizzed across the right-angled scale of the tube raster, showing distance, velocity and mass.

  Rhodan muttered a reflective "Hm-m-m" and then said: "Heavy cruiser. It's best that we disappear as quickly as possible. Our speed is just under 0.8 light velocity. There's still a way yet to go. An awkward situation, to say the least."

  "Marshall can take care of that one," growled Pucky.

  Rhodan shook his head. "Too many men have failed in their missions because they overestimated their strengths and capabilities and I'm not about to make the same mistake. We can't make out against a heavy cruiser. Well be lucky if our defense screen holds and we're not cracked open by the first shot."

  "But I don't want to be cracked!" exclaimed Pucky indignantly. "I'm not a nut!"

  "At least not an empty one," confirmed Rhodan but with gravity. He looked at his instruments. "Velocity 0.89 speol. We'll soon be there." He picked up the intercom mike. "Marshall, maybe you'd better wait fill the enemy opens fire—and then return the compliment."

  "Will do, sir," came the reply, calm and collected.

  Now the ship was recognizable on the visual screens. It was one of the spherical spacers having a 600-foot diameter, classified by Rhodan as a 'Terra Class' cruiser. He had no desire to destroy a ship of the Arkonide Empire, which was once his ally and would be again someday.

  0.94 speol—only a few seconds more!

  Pucky had already turned on the radio receiver. He adjusted the controls as a voice blasted through and drowned out all other sounds. The broadcast was on all frequencies and it was obvious that it came from the nearby ship, which now swung around and matched their course. The Koos-Nor and the heavy cruiser glided through the void in parallel formation. Weapons were in firing position on both sides but the giant held off its attack.

  The voice in the speaker was reduced from its crackling blast to a volume that made the words clearer. "...ordered in the name of the Empire to cease your acceleration! You will surrender or be fired upon. The Regent of the Empire wishes to speak with you. Answer!"

  Rhodan gave a signal to Pucky, who signaled back. The mouse-beaver turned on the transmitter, selecting an appropriate wave band.

  The Robot Brain on Arkon apparently wanted to see this reckless Arkonide who had dared to represent himself as an inspector. Rhodan smiled because he understood the motive of this logically cogitating positronic robot that ruled an entire stellar empire. To accomplish its virtually unimaginable task, the machine had need of human powers and, above all, human initiative. An Arkonide who could manage to deceive an entire world and come off as an actual inspector should certainly be able to accomplish more useful wonders.

  This was why the Robot Brain had given orders not to kill the miscreant. Rhodan knew he could relax. Under no circumstance would the heavy cruiser open fire.

  More or less reassured, he spoke into the microphone. "Message received and understood. Who are you?"

  He was hoping to gain time. Once in hyperspace he would be lost to his pursuer because the hyper-compensator was already activated. Nobody would be able to detect any warpage of the space-time continuum or to track their course. The luxury yacht would disappear without a trace into the depths of intergalactic space.

  "Commander RO-867 here, by order of the Regent. You will surrender!"

  So this was a robot! The heavy cruiser was commanded by a fighting robot of the Arkonides. That made the situation considerably easier because there was no possibility of a robot's going against the Regent's directive. With a human commander a point might be reached where his own power of decision making could handle any possible surprises. With a robot it was different. When Rhodan perceived the Robot Regent's hidden motive, he knew his life was no longer in danger. The fighting robots had received an order to capture him alive and they would adhere stubbornly to that order, even if observance of all related commands allowed the quarry to escape.

  "I have to be sure, RO-867, that you are not bluffing. Give me your recognition signal."

  It was a thinly veiled diversion manoeuvre because the space speedometer already registered 0.98 light speed. Only 10 seconds more.

  "You have only five seconds!" said the loudspeaker and in the same moment several flashes emanated from the equatorial region of the other ship.

  The brilliant bundles of beamed energy crossed the path of the Koos-Nor but were ineffectual. Now Rhodan was not quite certain whether this was a warning salvo or a badly aimed blow of annihilation.

  His hand moved to the lever of the hypertransition equipment.

  Still two seconds. It would be a blind leap into the other dimension. They would rematerialize at a distance of anywhere from 100 to 200 light-years.

  "You're too late, RO-867!" he said calmly and pulled the lever.

  The mighty spacesphere disappeared. In the very same moment it was replaced by alien constellations which had not been there before.

  Rhodan examined a calibrated scale. "123 light-years," he murmured. "We made it."

  Pucky slipped off the couch and beamed. "Then there's nothing else, Chief, except to drop back to Earth. I still have something to straighten out with Bell. I have him, specifically, to thank for steering me onto those raggedy settlers on Venus and..."

  "It's not time for Earth yet," replied Rhodan, shaking his head negatively. "At least not just now. You know, you ought to consider what may have been going on out here in the past 60 years. Can you be certain, nowadays, that transit jumps can't be tracked in spite of hyper-compensators? You see? It could be that they might still follow us and track us home. No, we'll stay out in space for a few weeks, maybe cruise around and find some remote planet. There we can listen in on the universe awhile and wait till the dust has settled. Our action on Tolimon may tickle the memory banks of the Robot Regent and awaken a few old memories. Sooner or later the Brain is going to think of Rhodan."

  "A remote planet?" Pucky grimaced and his incisor tooth disappeared quickly. "Where?"

  "Somewhere," said Rhodan and prepared for the next hyperjump.

  • • •

  After th
e fourth random transition, the Koos-Nor materialized close to a curious looking solar system. A giant red star was accompanied by a small blue dwarf, which only had one planet. The red mother orb had two of them.

  A double solar system, its suns only light-minutes apart!

  The radio receiver was silent. It was reasonably certain there was no intelligent life in this part of the universe, which supported the assumption that the three planets before them were uninhabited. Whether or not humans could even exist on any of them was a moot question.

  Pucky regarded the two suns distrustfully.

  Rhodan read his thoughts and smiled wryly. "That's right, Pucky—if one of those worlds is suitable, we're going to hang around awhile and have ourselves a vacation. Nobody's searching for us here. As soon as the Milky Way uncurdles, well take some back alleys and sneak back to Earth."

  Pucky's face was a study in chagrin. "Vacation? I'll bet you a raw carrot to a diamond one there's no movies down there, no Reggie to heckle, no pretty girls to make over me..."

  "Alright now, don't be silly!" Rhodan interrupted with some vexation. He turned on the spectro-analyzer to check out the planets. "Go wake up the others."

  Pucky dutifully waddled toward the door. But happening to glance at the clock as he did so, he turned around and asked, "What do you mean, wake them up? They probably haven't gotten to sleep yet! At least not Laury and Uncle Touché."

  Rhodan raised his head and studied the mouse-beaver intently. "Pucky," he said slowly, gravely, a warning note in his voice, "Laury is a respectable girl. And I'm sure the Count..."

  "Yes, yes, I know," Pucky agreed, nodding, the while making a precautionary move toward the door, which he opened and exited part way into the corridor before finishing his thought. "She's a respectable girl—but she's also in love..."

  Then he wisely disappeared.

  Rhodan looked at the closed door and sighed, waiting for the results of the automatic analysis test of the three planets.

  When Marshall came sleepily into the control room the decision was already indicated. The Koos-Nor flew at the speol toward the solitary planet of the blue companion star.

  "Pucky said something about a vacation," said Marshall. "Are you serious?"

  Rhodan pointed to the viewscreen, where the planet was taking on a discernible shape. "Something like that John. It's a paid leave of absence but it's up for grabs who's going to pay off in the end. Not us, I hope."

  The door opened again. Pucky came in, gingerly carrying the Count's sword in front of him. With a single jump he landed on the couch and lay the murderous weapon beside him.

  "He threw it at me!" he muttered fretfully. "That Count sure has a short temper. How was I to know that..."

  "Aren't you an esper?" Rhodan inquired with obvious reproach.

  Marshall observed the telepathic mouse-beaver critically. "Do I detect the green tinge of envy?'

  "Green tinge! Hmphf! You must be color blond! I mean cuddle blind! Aw, go climb a carrot!" spluttered Pucky, then turned his attention to concentrate on the image of the approaching planet, which he suddenly found to be of profound interest.

  THE PSEUDO ONE

  Copyright © Ace Books 1974

  Ace Publishing Corporation

  All Rights Reserved

  THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME

  THE DAMNED OF ISAN. Victims of hydrogen war holocaust. Decimated remnants of a once advanced culture that went down to defeat in an atomic Armageddon, a Final War.

  It is among these unfortunate survivors of planetary warfare that Perry Rhodan and his people find themselves after the Affair of the Pseudo One, just completed, on Tolimon.

  Unusual adventure & exciting events await the Rhodanites in an uncharted area of space, among the despairing inhabitants of Isan in—

  UNKNOWN SECTOR: MILKY WAY by Kurt Mahr