The Secret of the Time Vault Page 10

  There was a bitter smile around Rhodan's mouth as he turned to leave the room.

  Khrest's eyes followed him. There was no expression in them.

  The subterranean room was sparsely lit.

  Next to Rhodan were standing Bell, Tanaka Seiko, Anne Sloane, Ras Tschubai and Ishy Matsu, the telepath who was endowed with another amazing talent. She had telescopic eyesight. If she concentrated on any place, no matter how far away, she could plainly 'see" what was going on there. Rhodan hoped to make good use of her special talent during the forthcoming experiment.

  The Japanese, Tako Kakuta, announced after a few seconds, "Yes, I can feel it. The cosmic rays that exist everywhere are being bunched together and concentrated right here in this hall. It starts up there near the ceiling. Then the beam expands and forms an opaque cone. I cannot penetrate it at all. Cosmic rays are identical with the passage of time. in my opinion."

  "They do originate from the fourth dimension, after all," Rhodan whispered almost inaudibly. "I wonder if you could detect these waves of the radio stars, or better still, stop them altogether?"

  "So that the cone would cease to exist? I'm not sure."

  "You must try it! At the same time, Sengu will concentrate and tell us whether he can see whatever is concealed inside the energy vault."

  Tanaka looked at Anne Sloane. "If I can let Anne see what I'm seeing, she ought to be able to deflect the rays. They are matter, only in a different form."

  There was apparently nothing in the room in front of them. The invisible vault guarded its secret and wasn't yet ready to yield it.

  Tanaka grasped Anne by the arm. The young girl's slender body stiffened and she closed her eyes. Suddenly Sengu shouted: "There it is!" He pointed to the center of the empty room whose walls were throwing back the dim echo of his excited voice calling out, "A box - it's gone again. What was that?"

  Rhodan felt the excitement coursing hotly through his veins. For a moment he stood as if paralyzed, then pulled himself together.

  "A box?"

  Tanaka had let go of Anne's arm. The two mutants could not properly concentrate under such circumstances and thus no longer possessed the necessary mental strength to carry through with their task.

  "A small, glittering box. It was floating in the center of the room, up there in the air. I could see it for just a second and then it disappeared."

  "It's working this way," Rhodan whispered. "Tanaka and Anne, you must try again, but concentrate longer this time. Ras Tschubai will jump the moment Sengu sees the box again. The whole thing mustn't take more than two seconds. I don't know what might happen if Anne's endurance gives out while Ras is still inside the crypt ..."

  The African's face turned a sickly gray. Sengu put an arm around Tschubai's shoulders. "Don't worry; I won't startle her again. I won't say a word. I won't do anything to interrupt her. You just watch me. I'll raise my arm, and then you jump at once."

  Ras nodded his head, but didn't reply. His thoughts were probably busy figuring out where he'd be in case Anne or Tanaka failed in their combined efforts. Then he said: "I'm ready."

  Rhodan could feel his body vibrate under the tremendous tension. He took a deep breath and then gave the signal.

  At first nothing seemed to have changed, but then Rhodan noticed a slight movement in the middle of the room. The air became visible while still remaining transparent. The air began to vibrate and flow, condensing into pale colored spots that merged and separated. And then Rhodan saw the box.

  It appeared from nowhere all of a sudden and it shimmered like pure gold. It hovered unsupported above the floor, surrounded by a radiant glow.

  Sengu didn't need to give the prearranged signal. Ras Tschubai jumped, for he could perceive the marvelous phenomenon on his own. He simply vanished and then reappeared next to the box. His hands seized the shimmering object and then ...

  Anne called out and collapsed.

  Rhodan whirled around and caught her in his arms.

  At the same moment Ras and the box vanished from sight. The room was empty once more.

  "What happened?" Rhodan asked, and shook Anne, who lay limp as a rag in his arms. "Anne, Anne! Come on, Anne! What's the matter?"

  She opened her eyes and stammered like a child: "It was too much for me - too great an effort ..."

  "You must try again! Right away, Anne! Think of Ras! He mustn't leave him in the lurch. Pull yourself together. Tanaka? Ready?"

  Rhodan supported Anne, who closed her eyes once more. A tense expression came over her face and made her look like a stranger. Bell was standing a few steps away, rooted to the spot, and said nothing. He didn't dare make a move. His eyes were staring, wide open, at the spot where Ras Tschubai had been just a moment earlier.

  Then the air began to vibrate again; the colors started to flow and run into each other. Ras Tschubai materialized, the box firmly grasped in his hands. He vanished for an instant - only to stand suddenly next to Rhodan, who gently lowered Anne to the ground. He signaled to Bell to come and take care of the totally exhausted young girl.

  Rhodan turned to the African, who held the box out to him. Rhodan took the box and gazed at it in awe before he said: "We almost didn't make it this time, Ras."

  The teleporter smiled weakly and leaned against the wall near the exit. "I'd never want to go through that experience again. These were the most horrible minutes I ever lived through in all my life."

  "Minutes?" Rhodan wondered aloud. "But you were hardly a few seconds inside the vault."

  Ras shook his head. "Impossible! You and the hall disappeared suddenly from view and then I fell into the void. I kept the box clasped in my arms, but no one was there threatening to take it away from me. On the contrary, I had the impression that the box itself was dragging me throughout eternity. For this was exactly what was happening to me. I was racing, faster than thought, out of the galaxy. A few instants later, the galaxy became a gigantic spiral nebula that grew smaller and smaller until it was just one of the millions and millions of specks of light in the universe. I was falling toward a bright spot that was glowing far away, slowly increasing in size. It resembled a window - looking out into infinity, into eternity - or to hell. I couldn't tell, for suddenly the whole process reversed and I was falling back again in the direction where I had come from. The Milky Way loomed larger and larger again. I sank into it - and then I saw this room again. This is what happened to me. But I have no idea what all of this means ..."

  Rhodan patted Ras's shoulder, trying to calm down the frightened man. "Ras, you've gone through an experience that no one has ever witnessed before. You were in an energy vault that was suddenly activated and traveled through time. The box, and you with it, returned to the original place where it had been stored - in the past or in the future - who'll ever know for certain? As soon as Anne detected the waves of the radio stars once more, that had become visible for her by touching Tanaka, the time lock opened again. You were then able to return to the present time and bring the box with you."

  "Time lock?"

  Bell and Ras shot out the question simultaneously.

  "Of course. There must be something that made this time travel possible for you, Ras. And this mysterious something is the waves of the radio stars. As long as they're beamed into this room where they form an impenetrable energy barrier, the object that had been locked inside remains in a predetermined time period. The moment this barrier was nullified by deflecting the radio beams, the normal conditions were restored again. That's all very simple."

  "Very simple!" exclaimed Bell, whose face plainly showed how baffled he was by all this. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. How about the box, Perry?"

  Rhodan pressed it against his body as if he were afraid it might be wrested out of his hands again at any moment by some invisible power.

  "It's been removed from the time field. Whether we'll manage to open it, that's something else again. Let's hope that Khrest can help us with it. Anne, how are you feeling
now"

  The young girl had meanwhile freed herself from Bell's helpful arms, and stood up straight, leaning gently against Tanaka.

  "I'm all right now. It was just the strain that got me."

  "Very well, then," Rhodan said. "We'll return to our base. And something else, friends: keep quiet about all of this! It isn't too desirable that all of Ferrol learns of our success here immediately."

  But his warning words came too late. The Thort entered the hall just as Rhodan finished speaking. The Thort looked magnificent in his brightly colored cape. He approached Rhodan and bowed slightly.

  "May I be the first to congratulate you on your success. You succeeded where we failed for many centuries."

  Rhodan smiled. "You needn't be ashamed because of your failures. After all, the Ferrons didn't have the help of a mutant corps."

  "And neither did they have somebody like Perry Rhodan!" added Bell, full of pride, as if he were speaking of his own son. And with these words he solemnly walked ahead of the rest of the group, leaving the hall with the secret time vault.

  "It wasn't too difficult after all," Rhodan finished his report. He'd assembled his men in the mess hall of the Stardust II in order to inform them of the successful conclusion of his efforts. Two days had gone by since they'd managed to open the time vault.

  "Certainly, we needed to think in a five-dimensional manner up to a certain point, in order to interpret the formula, but the rest could be arrived at by ordinary four-dimensional thought processes. It was just a time lock, made secure by some forces of nature. I must admit, it would've been a hard nut to crack without our mutants" help. Maybe we never could have managed it. The builders of the transmitters wanted to make sure that their invention would become available only to beings of the highest intelligence, who either were already familiar with this invention or who'd never misuse it. I'm confident that we meet these qualifications."

  "Naturally!" It was Reginald Bell. His self-confident remark was greeted with general amusement, although each of the people presented secretly shared his thoughts.

  "Once we had the box in our hands, it wasn't difficult to get it open. Our positronic brain figured out the key to the code according to the engraved instructions on the box. Only a five-dimensionally thinking person could have deciphered the symbols. And so, the mystery surrounding the construction of the matter transmitters has been solved."

  "Can we build them now?" Doctor Haggard asked eagerly.

  "Of course, as many as we want to," Rhodan answered. "But I don't think the right time for it has come yet. Much later, when the many inhabited planets of the universe have established peaceful relations with each other, the transmitters should be used to replace ordinary spaceships. You push a button - and you have traveled many thousands of light-years. But this is still imagination."

  Bell burst out laughing. "Perry, not too long ago a trip to Mars was considered sheer science fiction. Just think how far we've come in this short time! And you still speak of utopian fantasy!"

  Rhodan seemed amused by his friend's reminder that nothing could ever be considered fantastic seen in the light of their recent experiences. He reached for a small case lying on the table in front of him.

  "I have a surprise here for Khrest and Thora." He opened the briefcase and pulled out several very thin metal plates. "These metal sheets remained when the positronic brain translated the instructions for the building of the matter transmitters. Whenever I presented one of these seven plates, the brain refused to translate them. It said my brainwave pattern was different from that of the rulers of the universe for whom these instructions were intended. The rulers of the universe are, of course, according to the positronic brain, the Arkonide race." Rhodan hesitated, then added with respectful appreciation of their antiquity: "These must certainly be very ancient records."

  Thora threw Perry a quick glance, a question in her eyes. A shrug of Rhodan's shoulders was her only response. Khrest walked over to Rhodan and accepted the metal plates from his hands. He regarded the cryptic records with a frown. Then he spoke slowly: "This is a language that existed ten thousand years ago. But it's not a simple text, it's written in coded sentences. I wonder what it might be."

  "Perhaps, at last, a clue," said Rhodan. "Perhaps finally even a definite message."

  "About what?"

  "About the planet of eternal life, Khrest."

  "Then we shall soon find out," the scientist said softly. "My brainwave pattern is that of the Arkonide race."

  Rhodan's gaze followed the two Arkonides as they left the mess hall to consult the positronic brain. He knew they'd reveal the information to him as soon as they themselves found it out and the right opportunity presented itself. In the meantime there were more urgent problems to deal with.

  "Manoli!"

  The former physician of the early moon expedition stepped up to Rhodan.

  "Eric, make sure this message is sent to Earth by hyperwave. Dispatch it at once as follows:

  "NECESSARY I REMAIN IN VEGA SYSTEM. BASE ESTABLISHED ON VEGA EIGHT. GOOD PROSPECTS FOR TRADE TREATIES WITH NATIVES. RETURN TO TERRA INDEFINITE. DO NOT REPLY. LOCATION OF TERRA MUST REMAIN ABSOLUTE SECRET."

  STARDUST II.

  "Did you get that, Manoli?"

  "Got it. Right away."

  Perry's gaze encompassed those around him. "Friends, thanks again for your continued loyalty. We'll meet again soon. The Thort is preparing a big victory celebration to which we have all been invited. And then ..."

  "The lizards!" Bell could no longer contain himself. "What about the lizards? What's going to happen with them?"

  "Cool it, you hothead!" Perry threw a reprimand at Bell. "I was just coming to that. And then, after the victory celebration, we'll take care of the Topides. Perhaps we'll be able to come to an amicable arrangement with them. Chrekt-Orn seems to be a sensible man."

  "Man!" Bell snorted in disgust. "How can you call that lizard a man?"

  "You must learn to think in galactic terms, Reg," Rhodan chided. His voice grew very serious. "What does it matter what an intelligent life form looks like if we want to remove the barriers between us? I don't doubt but what you're not exactly a beauty in the eyes of the Topides, Reg ..."

  "Nor even in our eyes," a female voice chimed in loud and clear from the rear of the room: Anne Sloane.

  Bell spun around and cried in her direction: "Is that how you repay my kindness? Didn't I help you when you needed me? I held you and let you rest your head in my lap. You were as helpless then as ..." Suddenly embarrassed, he stopped, then added: "Down below ... in the Red Palace ... when we got the box from the secret time vault, what were you all thinking then?"

  He looked about but nobody answered. Only John Marshall, the telepath, grinned broadly. He was a gentleman; he wasn't telling.

  A red-faced Bell stomped out of the room, leaving his friends behind. They chuckled with amusement: a man's innermost thoughts could no longer remain secret.

  Not if mutants were around.

  Next time--

  The Fortress Of The Six Moons