Menace of the Mutant Master Read online

  • • •

  Rhodan was taking stock of the situation. All reports transmitted by both search details who were scouring the area of block G and the place where the three destroyers had been stationed, were gathered in his command center, transferred to impulse-strips and then fed to the positronic brain for evaluation.

  The positronicon handled this task in its own way. It found 2500 different possible explanations for the explosion in block G and 3800 for the kidnapped destroyers.

  Rhodan eliminated of these 6300 possible explanations all but 100 that showed more than a certain degree of probability.

  The 100 possibilities were then fed into the deductor combinatoric phase and some answers obtained which greatly resembled those he had meanwhile puzzled out on his own. Khrest assisted him with the last evaluation.

  Khrest was the tall, white-haired scientist, one of the two survivors of an Arkonide research expedition which had made an emergency landing on the Moon and had subsequently been destroyed by terrestrial fusion bombs. Khrest was the alien who—quite in contrast to the other survivor, Thora, the female commander of the Arkonide research cruiser—had from the very first sided unconditionally with Rhodan and had had placed at the Earthman's disposal not only the superior means of Arkonide technology but had also transmitted via hypno-schooling the far superior treasure of Arkonide knowledge. Thus Khrest had been instrumental in helping Rhodan to form the New Power and save the world from total destruction by an atomic war.

  There was a strange bond of friendship between Khrest and Rhodan. An outsider might observe them for days on end without noticing anything the two had in common. But in times of crises, or impending danger, he would sense the instantaneous accord between them, both agreeing on the necessary course of action without even having to consult each other, for it was based on the highest degree of insight that ever had been reached by intelligent life within the known realm of the galaxy.

  Throughout the years, Khrest had come to take part in Earth's development in almost as interested a manner as Rhodan himself, although from a different point of view. The amazing events of the preceding night excited him to the same degree as Rhodan.

  "Any idea what might be behind all this?" Khrest inquired of Rhodan.

  "No use guessing as long as the positronicon is still busy evaluating."

  "Oh, don't pretend you haven't come to some conclusions of your own, Perry, as to who blew up block G and kidnapped the three destroyers!"

  For awhile Rhodan pretended not to have listened to Khrest's remark but then he lifted his head and looked at the Arkonide scientist. "Oh, sure," he admitted, "I have some idea!"

  • • •

  The positronic evaluation confirmed what Rhodan had surmised.

  For reasons obvious to anyone at once when looking at the results of the calculations, Rhodan informed only his closest collaborators. Besides Reginald Bell, Colonel Freyt and Majors Deringhouse and Nyssen, only the Arkonides Khrest and Thora were present at the short briefing session. Khrest looked worried, while Thora was as self-confident as ever, her face radiating unearthly beauty which had not been diminished by the terror-filled days of her latest adventure when she had fled to Venus.

  Rhodan placed a pile of thin impulse foils on the table at which the small group was seated. Rhodan's face displayed a serious mood. "Although more than several thousand explanations had been given by the positronicon for the events of last night," he began, "and although we had to eliminate all but those with the greatest degree of probability, we cannot doubt the result of the brain's evaluation."

  "The catastrophe in block G which cost 10 human lives, and the abduction of the three newly-constructed destroyers, was not the act of some extraterrestrial enemies. It is a fact, to the best of our knowledge, that no alien intruders can come anywhere near our solar system without being detected in time. This doesn't at all exclude the possibility that some race of far superior intelligence might have played some part in this attack. But this alternative has only a very limited degree of likelihood."

  "Therefore we assume this attack was the work of some Earthly foe. The question how both plots could be carried out successfully can be answered logically only in one way: Somebody has arrived at the same solution as we ourselves when we searched out and selected the best qualified type of persons to become our collaborators!"

  None of those present, except for Khrest who already knew the result, understood what Rhodan was alluding to.

  But then all of a sudden it became clear to them and they also understood why none of the mutants had been invited to this conference. This was in contrast to the usual proceedings. The mutants, to whose special talents a great deal of the New Power's successes were due, had always been previously included in meetings of this kind.

  • • •

  This conference between Rhodan and his inner circle of co-workers took place on the morning of July 20. Almost exactly five years previous to that day the following event had occurred in Gardiner, a small town in Montana near the Wyoming border:

  A man had come to Gardiner a few days before. He did not make a very sympathetic impression, although he looked quite prosperous. There were two hotels in Gardiner and he lived in the more expensive of the two.

  People in Gardiner were curious by nature. Gardiner was not a tourist center although it was located near the entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Strangers were an unusual sight in the little town and people started to get interested in this visitor.

  His name turned out to be Monterny and he was a natural scientist by profession. Monterny was not especially tall but he was quite heavy. His mighty, hairless head with the deepset eyes led to the simple and plausible conclusion that there was sufficient brain matter inside this skull to make its owner an outstanding scientist.

  This was all the information that the good people of Gardiner managed to obtain about that stranger, yet there was one thing they failed to find out: the purpose of Monterny's visit to their little town.

  All day long he did nothing but go for walks. Gardiner consisted mostly of one long main street, lined on both sides with one-story houses, inhabited by some 200 persons. There were hardly any side streets. Therefore it seemed to make little sense that the stranger kept roaming up and down Main Street. This led to the rumor that Monterny was waiting for someone.

  Monterny did not fail to notice the curious attention he received from all sides. The business that had brought him to this town could do very well without all this curiosity and Monterny started getting nervous when finally, on the 18th of July, he found what he had been seeking.

  It was in the late afternoon. He was walking up and down Main Street, as he had been doing for days, when suddenly he noticed a young man driving up to the drugstore in an old jalopy. He stopped and got out of his car, intending to go to the store to buy something.

  Monterny was standing on the other side of the street and observed the young man with great interest. The young fellow, however, was unaware of this. He entered the drugstore. Monterny crossed the street and stood waiting in front of the store.

  When the young man came out again, Monterny addressed him: "Pardon me, could I ask you for a favor?"

  The young fellow seemed a bit puzzled. "What do you want?"

  Monterny smiled somewhat embarrassed. "It's something I'd rather not discuss here in the street. I'm living at Wolfrey's Hotel, would you mind accompanying me there?"

  The young fellow was just about to refuse politely when Monterny continued: "Maybe you could drive me there in your car?"

  This was of course utterly ridiculous, for the hotel was just a block away from the drugstore. But somehow Monterny seemed to have found the right approach, for the boy felt flattered that anybody should want to drive in his old jalopy. "I'll make it worth your while, I promise you," added Monterny.

  Any argument that the young fellow had wanted to advance suddenly seemed to vanish. "I'll be glad to go with you. Get in, sir!"

 
They drove to Wolfrey's Hotel and went straight to Monterny's room. "Sit down, will you!" Monterny said, pointing to a chair, not quite as friendly as he had been before.

  The young man took the seat and Monterny sat down opposite him. He stared intently at the young fellow. For awhile the boy looked back in Monterny's eyes, first with a smile, then grinning, finally grimacing stubbornly. Then he averted his eyes and looked around the room, trying to avoid Monterny's glance. The whole thing impressed him as being rather silly. Then Monterny began to speak: "Have you ever seen me before?"

  The young fellow was puzzled and replied: "No. I've been away for two weeks. I've stayed with some friends in..."

  "Idaho Falls!" interrupted Monterny. "That's right, isn't it?"

  The boy wasn't especially surprised. "That's right. How do you know that? Did you ask my parents?"

  Monterny shook his head. "No. I've never laid eyes on your parents! Your name is Ted McMurray and your friends call you 'Tiger' because you like to wear jackets with a tiger pattern. You have friends in Idaho Falls because you used to live there with your parents. Your father is a nuclear reactor technician who was exposed to some radiation during an accident. He was pensioned off because of his injuries. You were born about one year after that nuclear accident.

  "Two days ago when you were in Idaho Falls you met two girls, Sue and Dorothy. You can't make up your mind which one you like best. That's right, isn't it?"

  McMurray jumped to his feet. After Monterny's first words he had wanted to protest against the familiar tone with which the stranger was addressing him; but then he had felt increasingly perplexed at all that man was telling him about himself. Most of the things were of course not too difficult to find out. Almost anybody could do it if they would set their mind to it. But that he had met these two girls in Idaho Falls and that things had gone pretty far between him and Sue and Dorothy, wasn't known to a living soul—neither he nor the girls would ever talk about it.

  "How come... How do you...?" stammered Ted. "I know a lot more about you," said Monterny. "To be exact: I know as much about you as you yourself. And in particular I know of something you have never discussed with anybody. You have a special gift which is almost unique in the world."

  Ted turned pale and fell back into his chair. His eyes had a dangerous glitter as he asked Monterny: "What do you want?"

  Monterny paid no attention to his question. "You need only close your eyes and wish you were again in Idaho Falls—and you'd be there, correct? The phenomenon is known as teleportation and you are an outstanding teleportationist. What's the greatest distance you've covered so far?"

  "Two hundred..." answered Ted impulsively but clammed up again at once.

  "Miles," completed Monterny with a smug, satisfied smile. "That's very good for a beginning but you'll have to improve on that later."

  He stood up and continued while calmly pacing the room: "Ever since you realized you have this special talent, you've been dreaming that some day you'll become an important man. I'll provide you with that opportunity. You'll work for meat first for $2000 a month plus expenses, with the sky the limit. Agreed?" He turned around and gazed at Ted.

  The boy stood up. "You're right," he admitted with a surprisingly firm voice. "I've been dreaming for years of becoming a great man. But I've always dreamed that I'd accomplish it with everything above board. The offer you just made seems to be a bit shady, otherwise you'd come right out with it to my parents."

  "I don't need your two thousand bucks, I don't want your expense account! And what's more, I can't stand the sight of you!"

  With this Ted turned on his heels and walked out the door. Monterny made no attempt to hold him back. For a few moments he stared, with hate-filled eyes, at the door that had just closed behind Ted McMurray.

  Then he shut his eyes and began to concentrate on something. Meanwhile Ted had stormed out of the hotel. His head was filled with all kinds of confused thoughts. He got into his car, made a U-turn by crossing a double line, intending to drive home.

  At this instant a strange force invaded his conscious awareness like a furious blow. The turmoil of confused thoughts suddenly vanished from his brain and Ted knew only one wish:

  Return to the stranger!

  He backed up to the hotel entrance, got out of his car, passed by the startled Mr. Wolfrey and walked upstairs. The door to Monterny's room was open. Ted entered without knocking.

  Monterny welcomed him with a smile. "Well done, my boy!"

  He carefully studied Ted for several moments. The boy's eyes had a blank, glassy stare, just what Monterny expected to see in someone who had come under his mental spell.

  "You'll go back home now to your parents," commanded Monterny, "and you'll tell them that I asked you to accompany me to my hotel because I mistook you for someone else. For the next 20 days you'll keep on living the way you've always done. No changes. Except for one thing: you won't make any teleportation jumps and neither will you tell a living soul that you are capable of such things."

  "In 20 days, however—remember the date: August 7 at 5 P.M.—you'll come to Salt Lake City by teleportation. Do you know where the big Mormon Temple is?"

  Ted nodded silently.

  "Fine. I'll be standing in front of the main entrance and wait for you. And don't forget, boy: You can become a great man with my help but I'll always remain boss!"

  • • •

  Twenty days later, as Monterny had ordered, Ted McMurray disappeared from Gardiner never to be seen there again. Nobody made any connection between Ted's disappearance and the stranger who had left Gardiner already 20 days ago.

  The police made an investigation and tried to find Ted's whereabouts but to no avail. When finally the police discontinued their search Ted's father died after a long lingering illness caused by the nuclear accident some two decades earlier. The people in Gardiner believed his end had been hastened by grief over his only son's disappearance.

  Clifford Monterny meanwhile continued gathering around him people with special gifts. He sought them out in those places where increased cases of radioactive radiation had occurred because he knew that radioactivity will bring about changes in human genes not necessarily always of a negative nature.

  Monterny did nothing different than Rhodan had done several years before him: he put together a mutant corps. The only—but significant—difference from Perry Rhodan's procedure in engaging the services of these mutants was that Monterny did not bother asking the members of his mutant corps whether they wanted to work for him or not. All it took for him was a brief meeting of a few seconds' duration to absorb their brain-wave pattern. This enabled him to read his victim's thoughts even when they were separated by thousands of miles from him and to force his will on them without their offering any resistance.

  For Monterny was a mutant himself—the most powerful telepath, hypno and suggestor in one person. In this respect he represented an absolutely unique exception. His involuntary followers called him the Mutant Master. Most of them didn't even know him in person. He realized that he was carrying on a dangerous business and that a small mistake might bring about his downfall. He was satisfied to know that once someone entered his service they could never escape from his influence. Wherever they might be, he always held them firmly in his power.

  Ted McMurray had become his first victim. Five years later Monterny had assembled as many highly efficient mutants as he needed to plan his first attack. This attack was directed against the man whose mere success had been sufficient cause to arouse Monterny's eternal hatred.

  And this man was Perry Rhodan.

  2/ GENERAL COSMIC CO. MAKES NEWS

  It had taken several days of hard work for Rhodan and Khrest to gather all the material which in their opinion might furnish some clue to the identity of the unknown attacker. They spent hours transposing it to the complicated Arkonide machine code and then fed it to the positronic brain for evaluation.

  The result had been very meager.

&n
bsp; The positronic-computer claimed that some economic power was behind all the acts of sabotage, kidnapping and aggression which employed economic means to undermine the New Power and bring about its downfall. The goal of the unknown power was stated simply as: world domination.

  "That isn't too helpful, what the positronicon has told us," sighed Rhodan.

  During the past few days the situation had become aggravated. Several scientists who had visited the space academy at Terrania had disappeared over night. Somebody had stolen a series of tiny engine drive components and had made off with them.

  The Unknown displayed a great deal of activity. The only people capable of keeping him in check were Rhodan's Mutant Corps since the aggressor himself was working with the help of mutants.

  But even mutants couldn't be everywhere at the same time. To deploy them at the right place and at the right time would have required someone who could guess in advance the plans of the unknown foe.

  This was a task that neither Khrest nor Rhodan, and not even the positronic brain, was capable of handling.

  Rhodan took care that the necessary information reached the Terranian Defense Federation via secret channels. This mighty worldwide secret service organization was directed by Allen D. Mercant, who had played such an important and positive role during the first few months after the New Power had been established.

  Mercant set in motion his extensive machinery for obtaining secret information and already one day later he sent the first clue to Perry Rhodan.

  Perry Rhodan regarded this clue as sufficiently important to investigate it more thoroughly in person. A few hours after he had received the news from Mercant, he was on his way to Sacramento, California where according to Mercant's informants a machine factory had begun to place robot-guided agricultural machines on the market.

  Rhodan refrained from marching directly into the lion's den. He didn't go to the firm's office right away but rented a room in a hotel. He let a day go by before he got in touch with Mercant's two agents, who were counted among the most able people working for the Terranian Defense Federation. They were Captain Barina and Lieutenant Richman.