The Earth Dies Page 10

  He could hardly suppress a cry of pleasure because the nut contained tree-sized seed kernels, from which mighty, wide-branched trees could be developed. At least 200 of the seed kernels were stored in the shell.

  And as Bernda searched about him more carefully he discovered a great number of the seed nuts. His mood brightened quickly and he began to gather them together into such a pile that he didn't know how he'd be able to carry them all.

  Poor Bernda!

  He still didn't understand that there wasn't a single being on this world who would have the slightest interest in these nuts—not even the fish folk. As for other entities, he would never see any potential customers for the remainder of his life unless somebody picked him up from Betelgeuse 4.

  And the prospects for that became increasingly remote...

  • • •

  15 minutes were still left to go before count 'zero' for the Arkon bomb...

  Deringhouse landed on the wide strip of sand on the seashore, quite close to the two tractor-treaded ground vehicles and the figure of Gatzek, who was incapacitated by fear. The great landing struts sank deeply into the soft ground, causing sea-water to well up around the pods.

  "Lamanche, you take over the battle stations in case we get any back-talk. I'm going outside."

  The Francoterranian turned to the control console governing the ship's smaller caliber fire units. "Take some crewmen with you!" he urged. "The fat one out there doesn't look too feisty just now but appearances can be deceiving."

  "I'm going with Ras Tschubai so that I can disappear at any moment. That's what we've got a teleporter for." He nodded to Lamanche and hurried as swiftly as he could to the wardroom of the mutants. "Ras! We're going to jump to the shore and scare the pants off a Mounder!" The powerfully built Afroterranian, one of the best teleporters of the Mutant Corps, looked at the exterior observation screen and nodded his assent.

  "Hold tight, Major!" Deringhouse gripped Ras firmly—and in the same second was standing outside on the soft, sandy ground, not 10 yards from Gatzek. He drew his raygun from his belt and aimed it at the Mounder, who was wide-eyed in fright.

  "Don't move, Lardbird!" It was an effort for Gatzek to hold his half ton figure in a standing position. He had heard of the mysterious forces Rhodan made use of but this was beyond his understanding.

  "I am unarmed!" he pleaded.

  "Lucky for you," Deringhouse assured him. He replaced his weapon. "Where is Topthor?"

  Gatzek indicated the island. "Maybe there. I'm looking for him myself."

  "Why?" asked Deringhouse pointedly. "Have you allied yourselves with the Topides?"

  "Why?" Gatzek seemed to search his own thoughts for an answer. "We were shipwrecked like they were. So why should we just keep on killing each other? There wasn't any reason for it any more."

  Deringhouse saw the logic of it. He said: "If you just take it easy, nothing will happen to you. I'm going with my friend here, over to the island, and I'm going to look for Topthor. Don't try anything stupid."

  "May I go back to the ship that's waiting for me over in the mountains?"

  "The Springer ship? We destroyed it because it attacked us. I'm afraid it would be useless for you to go back there." Deringhouse gripped Ras again and pointed to the island. The Afroterranian made his jump. They materialized on the upper platform and quickly found the corridor that led to the radio room. The corpse of a Topide lay in front of the giant control console. Deringhouse shuddered. Then he caught sight of Topthor.

  7/ RHODAN DIES

  Precisely as planned, the Arkon bomb detonated at the mathematically predicted second. Rhodan was already back out in space and saw the brilliant Rash that would initiate the chain reaction. It would require several hours for the planet to be converted into a sun.

  The Springer fleet lay at a distance of one light-hour. Maj. McClears on board the heavy cruiser Terra was keeping them under observation and kept the video in continuous relay to the Titan so that Rhodan could maintain a full orientation to the situation. Cekztel's radio messages revealed that the transition co-ordinates for a return to M-13 had already been calculated. The mission was completed: the Earth had been destroyed.

  But everybody knew that Rhodan was still alive.

  This was the point that still troubled Rhodan. He ordered Marshall to come to him in the Control Central after Bell had made some more or less practical suggestions on the basis of which the actual plan was finally crystallized.

  "In the eyes of the Springers, the Titan has to be destroyed," Rhodan began and he smiled faintly as he saw the shock of horror in the telepath's features. "Same way the Earth was destroyed. Only then can we be sure that our little chess game has been won without any hitches. Also, the robot brain on Arkon has to be convinced that we've been eliminated. We've cooked up a very special and quite effective stunt, Marshall, but to pull it off we need a teleporter, either Ras Tschubai or Pucky."

  "Both of them are on the Centurion, sir. We'd have to get hold of Deringhouse and instruct him..."

  "Deringhouse will be here in 10 minutes with his cruiser. In about a half hour the Springers are going to pull out of here and the whole thing has to happen in the meantime."

  "What has to happen?"

  Rhodan continued to smile as he said, "The magnificent demise of the Titan, which will be ripped to atoms in the very midst of the Springers..."

  Marshall did not turn pale because meanwhile he had read Rhodan's thoughts. Then he, too, began to smile...

  • • •

  Gloomily, Deringhouse returned to the vicinity of the Centurion. When he and Ras Tschubai materialized on the beach they noted that the Mounder, Gatzek, had disappeared. He, too, had elected to seek the protection of the forest. He must have figured it was better than being taken prisoner.

  Deringhouse didn't make the effort to chase after the fugitives. Akvo offered them everything they needed to sustain life, Or almost everything. They'd have to look out for themselves. Just now he had other worries.

  Where was Pucky?

  Topthor was no longer among the living. Deringhouse had found Topthor sitting in a strangely distorted posture in a chair directly in front of the radio control console, his head lying against the panel counter. Or whatever it was that still remained of his head. For Topthor had killed himself with his hand weapon.

  Clutched in his hand, the raygun's muzzle was aimed at his head. Topthor was dead and with him the secret that had threatened his life was also dead. Deringhouse took the Afroterranian's hand. "Let's go into the ship," he said wearily. "If I only knew how we could find Pucky..."

  They materialized in the Control Central. Lamanche was still seated at the controls but there was nothing left for him to monitor. Contentedly purring in his lap, Pucky was getting his neck scratched.

  As Deringhouse finally gave voice to a suppressed cussword, the mouse-beaver shook his head reproachfully. "Chief Deringhouse," he chirped, "during the last hypertransition it seems you've lost your good upbringing."

  "How long have you been here?"

  "Long enough," sighed Pucky, "to get grey hairs waiting around for you. Did you find Topthor?"

  "Why did he commit suicide, Pucky? Do you know anything about that?"

  "He was tired of living, Major. He wanted to kill me first and then himself. It's only that he got the sequence of things turned around."

  "And...?" pursued Deringhouse but he looked up as the radio man on duty came into the room.

  "Message from Rhodan, sir. You are to go to the prearranged co-ordinates. The calculations are..."

  "Alright!" Deringhouse waved him off. "I'll come in and see to it personally." He cast another glance at Pucky and said: "That thing about the reversed sequence of events... I'll want you to explain it to me when Rhodan is present..."

  Pucky made no reply.

  • • •

  "It's comparatively simple but it all has to happen at the exact second," concluded Rhodan and he looked questioningly at Pucky. "I
f you'd prefer, you know Ras could handle it, instead."

  The mouse-beaver shook his head so vehemently that his ears flapped. "Ras should spare himself, Chief. Besides, he's with Deringhouse on the Centurion but I am here..."

  Rhodan nodded. "For the time being, I'd just as soon pigeonhole your weak explanation concerning Topthor's death. But what really happened?" He looked at his watch. "You'll have to make it snappy, we only have a couple of minutes left."

  Pucky shifted back and forth nervously. He looked pleadingly at Bell. "Actually, I took him by surprise and called to him. He turned around and wanted to shoot me. What was I supposed to do? What would become of you, Chief, if you didn't have me any more? And above all, poor Bell...! No, I just didn't have the heart to allow myself to be killed..."

  "And...?" urged Rhodan impatiently, again checking his watch.

  "No and! Topthor held the raygun to his head and pulled the trigger. That's all."

  Bell snorted knowingly: "Not mentioning the fact that you're a psychokinetic little clown and able to move solid objects without touching them. Which is what you're going to have to do now with the atom bomb."

  Pucky gave him a sad look. "Just as you say, Belt Buster."

  Rhodan looked at his watch for the last time "In any case, you'll get those carrots, Pucky. But now shake a leg, we don't have any time to lose. The Springers will be out of here in 5 minutes. Pucky, get to the weapons central! Set the timer on the bomb at exactly 5 seconds and then wait for my command. Is that clear?"

  "It's still too long a time-setting," twittered Pucky and he disappeared. Bell stared, nonplussed, at the suddenly empty spot where he had been.

  The hypercom was turned on.

  The first message was coded and went to McClears and Deringhouse: "Activate your hyper-compensators and make 10 random transits before you return to Earth and land in Terrania. There you can expect to see me shortly. Everything in order?"

  "Roger—over and out!" returned their double reply. 20 seconds later the Centurion and the Terra were no longer present in the system of the red sun Betelgeuse. Only the Titan remained behind.

  Rhodan had calculated his co-ordinates precisely. But before he made his hyperjump, he allowed the hyper-transmitter to warm up a bit more. He tied it in to the frequency of the robot brain. Now with a single flick of a switch, Rhodan could be in contact with the Regent of the Arkonide Empire, more than 30,000 light-years distant.

  Pucky appeared on the viewscreen. In his arms he held an elongated object: the bomb!

  "Ready, Pucky?"

  "Ready!"

  "Hold on, everybody. Here we go!"

  The Titan dematerialized and then reappeared in the same second only a mile and a half distant from Cekztel's ship. Close by hovered more than 200 fighting units, all of them getting ready for their long-distance hypertransition. Owing to this very circumstance, there was a considerable pause before they opened fire on the spherical spaceship.

  Prior to this, however, a number of things happened simultaneously.

  Pucky teleported with the atom bomb and materialized outside the Titan. He wore a spacesuit and was not discernible against the silvery shining hull. With one hand he depressed the timer button. When he released it, 5 seconds would elapse before the detonation. His telepathic tendrils groped toward Rhodan's mind and he waited for the command.

  Meanwhile, Rhodan had depressed the transmitter button. The contact with Arkon was established. But the robot brain wouldn't be the only one to bear the message. Anybody else could hear it also because he had intentionally cut off the encoder.

  In contrast to the Centurion and the Terra, his hyper-compensator was turned off. It was intended that every hypersensor in the Milky Way should be able to detect the transit jump of the Titan.

  The invisible defense screen encircled the ship, especially to offer Pucky protection against the ray beams of the Springers.

  Cekztel's ship fired off the first shot. It was a signal for the rest of them—and for Rhodan.

  In a loud and desperate tone of voice, he shouted into the microphone of the hyper transmitter: "This is Perry Rhodan, System of Sol! The Springers have destroyed our planet Terra!" He utilized the brief pause to concentrate mentally: Pucky, now! Then he continued—and he had exactly 5 seconds to finish: "My hyperfield generator is damaged and I'm trying to escape toward..."

  He released the transmission control to "off" position. With his other hand he threw in the program commit lever of the hypertrans equipment.

  The Titan dematerialized.

  The bomb remained behind but the time differential to the point of detonation was so slight that Cekztel became the understandable victim of a misconception.

  He believed that he saw with his own eyes how the Titan was decimated by a terrific explosion right in the midst of dematerializing. Simultaneously, Rhodan's appeal for help to the robot brain roared in his ears and it was abruptly cut off by the explosion. The hypersensor on Cekztel's ship—and with it also thousands of other hypersensors in every region of the Milky Way—was able to register the beginning of the Titan's hypertransition.

  But no one was able to detect his reemergence into normal space. Rhodan had remained in hyperspace.

  He was disengaged from the existing plane of time.

  Cekztel was triumphant. His uncoded hypertransmission raced a million times faster than light throughout the galaxy and was received by all concerned aliens:

  We have eliminated the greatest danger in the Universe: RHODAN IS DEAD! The planet Terra has been transformed into a sun! The Empire is no longer threatened! Long live Topthor, architect of our triumph!

  But Topthor was beyond enjoying praise: eulogies are never appreciated by the dead.

  When Rhodan slipped back into normal space under the warp-absorbing protection of the hyper-compensator, he was just in time to hear Cekztel's epitaph speech and a mocking smile came to his lips.

  Once more the co-ordinates were set up. The next hyperjump, still utilizing the invaluable hyper-compensator, would return the Titan fully intact to Earth. To an Earth submerged in an ocean of oblivion for years and perhaps decades to come. At least as long as Rhodan deemed it necessary. Most definitely until such time as Earth was strong enough to repel any attack from outer space.

  Pucky sighed blissfully and moved Bell's massaging hand to another place on his furry back. "You know something, my king-size comforter? Life is beautiful—but I never thought it'd be even more wonderful to be dead!"

  "Dead right," agreed Bell, too much at peace for once to take issue with Pucky, even oblivious to the fact that his choice of words was faintly ironic.

  Rhodan observed the 2 mismatched friends momentarily, then placed his hand on the master switch of the hypertransystem.

  Slowly, deliberately, he activated the switch.

  Once more the Titan materialized in another spatima matrix without leaving the slightest trace of its passage. As the ship glided smoothly into this new space, a familiar old yellow-white sun appeared, father of 10 planets, of which the 3rd from the solar hearth attracted the affectionate attention of all aboard.

  To eyes of humans born and bred on Sol 3, it was the most comforting, the most welcome, the most beautiful sight in this or any other universe:

  The blue globe cherished by all native to it. The world the Peacelord had 'destroyed' in order to protect it.

  Mother Earth.

  The Earth Dies

  Copyright © Ace Books 1973,

  Ace Publishing Corporation

  All Rights Reserved

  THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME

  RHODAN'S INCREDIBLY daring plan—with some help from Pucky—has succeeded: all intelligences in the galaxy have come to believe that the Earth has been destroyed. Thus Mankind has won the extra time vital to the undisturbed unfoldment of its destiny, its progressive development toward the establishment of a Solar Empire—an Imperium. The dramatic events of the next volume take place well into the 21st century as we leap ahead in
to a new epoch in humanity's history which you will witness at first hand through the eyes of a hibernator from the past, a man of many personalities, possessor of a powerful 'monoblock' & an invisibility device.

  The Hermit of Time.

  Atlan!

  Antagonist of Rhodan!

  A clash of giants ensues 12,000 light-years distant from Earth on Hellgate when the Peacelord encounters...

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  TIME'S LONELY ONE

  by K. H. Scheer

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