Fortress of the Six Moons Read online

  The mutant knew for about one hour that the fleet commander had ordered the programming of the transition coordinates. At the present time the computer-controlled ships of the Topidian fleet were ready to start. They were fed all values from the main computer-brain in the flagship. Ras Tschubai didn't know why Khrest had attached such importance to the observation of this procedure. Rhodan, too, had been a little puzzled by the request of the Arkonide scientist, but had raised no objections. Therefore, the teleporter kept watching. The hours passed by. Slowly the project became a torture.

  The moment they neatly materialized at the preselected point, Tako Kakuta disappeared again. Underneath his combat suit he wore a second one just like it. It was his assignment to find the Ferron Chaktor and to rescue him.

  So far, Ras had heard nothing from his companion. The flagship was about thirteen hundred feet long: where should he start looking for Chaktor? There was still a question whether the Ferron was on board or not. It was just as likely that they'd locked him up some place else, or perhaps killed him. Tako Kakuta was searching desperately. For hours he'd been running up and down the corridors, listening to the small receiver which had previously been tuned in to Chaktor's brain waves.

  If it had been feasible for a telepath to enter the Topidian ship, it would have taken no more than ten minutes to find Chaktor. However, the only ones who had been in a position to reach the six moons were teleporters who had no telepathic powers. Tako was wishing fervently that John Marshall were around.

  In his right ear, Tako carried a marvel of Ferronian micro-electronics: transmitter and receiver fitted comfortably. This was his only way of communicating with Ras Tschubai.

  Tako had again to retreat hastily from an aisle he'd just entered, because of the sudden appearance of some briskly walking Topides. The danger of an accidental collision grew steadily.

  Tako was panting. He stopped as he heard something from the little set on his left wrist. Then he lost contact again.

  "Do you hear me, Tako?" came a whispering voice from the micro-set. "Ras speaking. It's getting near the time. They're going to take off in ten minutes. Did you find him?"

  "I had to get out of their way," murmured Tako. "How-are you doing?"

  "Fine. I'm still keeping him on the psychobeam. I'm now suggesting to him that the Capella fleet will be here any minute, and he thinks that it's his own idea. He's raving and demanding instant action. He won't let himself get clobbered helplessly on the moon. I'll wait. You keep looking!"

  Tako rushed once more into the now vacant aisle. After a few steps the set reacted again, indicating that Chaktor was in the immediate neighborhood. The micro-sensor picked up signals only within a radius of thirty feet.

  He continued to advance, but more carefully. He didn't notice any guards. The corridor was getting narrower and there were numerous small doors on both sides.

  He stopped in front of one of the doors where he received the strongest signal. Since the faint whistling might cause trouble, he switched off the little wave-locating device. He knocked cautiously at the cold metal, three short, two long and three short.

  Chaktor jumped up in breathless excitement. It was the secret signal he'd been waiting for. He answered in the prescribed sequence and he knew that one of Rhodan's mutants had come.

  Tako acted quickly and thoughtfully. It would have been foolish to waste any time finding out how to unlock the door. Instead, he took his disintegrator and shot out the lock. The door sprang open.

  They spoke little. As Chaktor stood guard with the weapon, Tako peeled off his combat suit. He wore its duplicate underneath.

  "Put it on; you know how. Quick, we don't have much tine. Where are the guards?"

  "They didn't pay any attention to me anymore."

  "Faster, people are coming," Tako said nervously.

  Chaktor was working desperately by the light of a small lamp. If they discovered him now, he'd be lost. Outside, limber bodies were slipping past the door. Before Chaktor had finished and Tako could adjust the fittings and controls, the wild roaring noise began.

  They're starting, damn it! It sounded loud and reckless in the receiver in Tako's ear. "How far did you get?" Ras asked.

  "We're approaching the command center. Please, wait a moment. I have to catch my breath first. Do they have any pressure absorbers here?"

  "Of course they do. They don't want to get torn apart either. I'm waiting," Ras said.

  In less than a minute Chaktor and Tako were on their way. The Topide fleet was already deep in space when they finally had an opportunity to slip through an open hatch into the center. Ras Tschubai met them at the specified place.

  They were unable to see each other but they found each other by touch. Moving closely together, they could talk to each other softly.

  "Let's cut it short," murmured Ras, whose psychobeam was no longer directed at the admiral. "Chaktor, do you really know how to operate this suit? If you make a mistake, that'll be the end of you."

  "I can do it," replied the Ferron, with a shaky voice. "What are you planning to do? I'm not in possession of your powers."

  "There's an emergency hatch directly behind us. I've already investigated it. The hallway leads to a hangar for lifeboats. We'll cut through the outer wall with our disintegrators and let the air carry us out into space."

  They managed to get to the hangar unmolested. When the inside hatch closed behind them, they felt fairly safe. In the meantime the Topidian ships had gained speed with every passing second. It would take them almost three hours to reach the velocity of light. Then they'd be ready for the transition.

  They were facing the outer wall of the ship's hull where three Topides were sitting at a console listening to instructions over a loudspeaker and operating the controls.

  "I can't help them," said Ras Tschubai with regret. "Okay, are you ready?"

  His disintegrator, operating on the principle of structural destruction, was working at full strength. The wall began to glow, became transparent and all of a sudden there was nothing in its place.

  Chaktor heard the shrill cries of the Topidian guards, then he was sucked out with explosive force by the rush of air. He was so forcibly expelled through the opening that he gave vent to his terror by shouting uncontrollably.

  Seconds later everything was over. The flagship was a mere flickering point behind which many other small points shot through the interstellar void. They'd left the planet system of Vega.

  Three men were drifting helplessly in space. Only their powerful transmitters were working. Naturally they didn't experience their drift through space at high speed. They maintained the momentum which they'd acquired through the enormous acceleration of the flagship. It was a mathematical problem for a big ship to exactly match their movement but Ras Tschubai was very confident that Rhodan could do it.

  "Attention: transition to be performed in ten point two seconds," announced the computer controlling the automatic sequences.

  Perry Rhodan crouched in front of the observation screen of the optical monitors. They'd reached simple velocity of light, the same as the fleeing Topidian fleet.

  "If they make their transition leap now, they'll have programmed the operation exactly in conformance with my calculations," said Khrest. There was an unusually hard look flickering in his eyes, which drew Rhodan's attention. He scrutinized the scientist.

  "I'd only requested you to check the data I'd worked out and to put it on tape. I..."

  Rhodan was unable to finish his sentence. The Topides jumped exactly within a fraction of a second. The horrendous fluctuations of their energy-shield imperiled even Stardust II.

  When the situation returned to normal, the more than three hundred Topidian units had vanished without a trace.

  Rhodan looked at the clock.

  "They'll arrive in the Capella system in a few moments. You've done an excellent job of programming. Now we're rid of them. The only question that remains is what they'll do in that deserted system, devoid
of any life. Of course, they'll find out right away that they've fallen into a trap and that they've become the victims of a deceptive maneuver."

  As Khrest walked away slowly, he said: "They'll never come back! And they won't find out how we lured them away. They've followed my data precisely, hence they'll jump from hyperspace directly into the very core of the sun Capella. I'm sorry, Perry, but I'm an Arkonide and a representative of the Great Imperium and as such it was my duty! You can't be held responsible at all."

  He was gone, leaving Rhodan stunned. Thora, following her fellow Arkonide, waxed bitterly philosophical as she left.

  "You see, Perry, my ancestors have always reacted that way. Don't delude yourself that you can build an empire in the stars with well-meaning words alone. Nobody could in the past, nobody can now. And you, Perry, will never achieve it in the future... I'll go and take care of Chaktor. He's exhausted."

  Rhodan regarded Bell in silence.

  "I guess we have a thing or two to learn," Doctor Haggard said at last. "Basically she's right."

  Rhodan replied flatly: "I'm human and I'll always be human. We'll have to wait and see. The retreat of the Topides proves that it can be done without needless bloodshed, if we apply our minds. And we can do that in the future too... Reg, let's return to Thorta."

  The interstellar peacemaker left with bowed head. His thoughts were far distant and philosophical; they revolved around the star Capella, the flaming giant that had consumed the monstrous alien fleet of Topides, those reptilian war makers who'd found their target with fiery fatality.

  Next time--

  The Galactic Riddle