Fortress of the Six Moons Page 2

  Deringhouse waited calmly and impassively for his subordinate, who had by this time become a friend. Rous was very dependable. All that mattered now was to get a breathing spell from the Topides.

  While Sergeant Rous was busy adjusting his machine's course with tiny blasts, a quickly flaming body sank into the dense poisonous atmosphere of a hostile globe millions of miles behind.

  Calverman's space helmet was still leaning against the lens of his telecom. His sightless eyes were fixed on the observation screen. No longer feeling anything, his lips were eternally fixed in a smile.

  2/ GALACTIC GOAL

  He was called the "Thort." It didn't particularly matter what the name of the ruler was; the only thing that mattered to the people recently arrived on the principle planet of the Vega system was to be assured that some-one with authority was sitting at the other side of the table. And this was the case.

  Perry Rhodan, former test pilot of the U.S. Space Force and pioneer on the Earth's moon, didn't lose his legendary calm and superb clear mind during the lengthy negotiations.

  The erstwhile major of the U.S. Space Exploration Forces wasn't willing to compromise at all. The intelligent inhabitants of the eighth Vegan planet, Ferrol, who called themselves the Ferrons, had asked for armed assistance and had promised a trade treaty.

  Now Rhodan deemed that the time had come to conclude the final deal.

  They were meeting in the Hall of Decrees within the Red Palace, which was considered the most remarkable building of all times in Thorta, the Ferronian capital. The name itself derived from the tide of the ruler, Thort.

  Rhodan was somewhat disappointed that the seemingly almighty Thort had brought his Council of Ministers to the conference. Evidently his hands were tied within certain limits, and the negotiations dragged out over a few Ferrol days.

  The Terrestrial delegation was small. It consisted only of Perry Rhodan, Reginald Bell, the Minister of Security of the New Power, and John Marshall as observer. The latter's telepathic powers were sufficient to read the thoughts and probe the minds of the attending Ferrons. It was very easy for Marshall to determine their deliberations and to accurately pass them on directly to Rhodan, even though they were concealing their true motivations.

  Rhodan was in complete control of himself. His wishes, his arguments and his expressions of concern were moderate, carefully thought out and very convincing.

  He had no intention of pulling the wool over the eyes of the Ferrons. He desired instead a clean, dear and morally unobjectionable contract.

  The Thort was again checking the written record, exercising his rights.

  Reginald Bell was physically and temperamentally the exact opposite of his commander. Suspicion and resentment shone in his almost colorless eyes.

  Only Marshall, the telepath, was concentrating deeply. There was no rest for him. He had orders from Rhodan to constantly survey the mental processes of the attending ministers. Rhodan had made sure to be fully protected in this respect.

  Nobody, least of all the Ferrons, had the slightest inkling what thoughts preoccupied the mind of the tall man in the pastel green uniform of the New Power. The insignia on the left side of his chest would have appeared as unusual to ordinary people as the radio helmet resting on the table in front of him, with its movable mini-screens and the built-in micro-TV-transmitter.

  None of these unparalleled features had been invented by Terran scientists and could not be reproduced with Earthly techniques.

  This fact momentarily dominated Rhodan's thoughts. There was nothing more to be said about the treaty. He was filled by forceful, unconscious impulses that would usually come over him at such moments.

  Here he was, a man born on Earth, talking to the representatives of an utterly alien race, and this on a far-away planet of a giant sun which was at a distance of twenty-seven light-years from his home!

  This fact alone might have been cause for concern and apprehension. With characteristic insight and highly critical self-examination Rhodan had felt with extreme discomfort from the beginning of the party that he was out of place.

  Out of place, because mankind was still trying to solve the mysteries of physical laws which the Ferrons had discovered thousands of years ago and put to use with the greatest ingenuity.

  How did all this come about? How was it possible that a man of his generation was suddenly sitting across from a ruler who was practically in command of a whole solar system and in possession of a huge super light-speed spacefleet and all the advanced industrial installations it required?

  Rhodan had a bitter taste in his mouth as these thoughts engaged his mind again. Involuntarily his eye wandered over to Bell. The stocky man wasn't subject to such inhibitions. Just now he was objecting - speaking his broken Ferronian language - that he didn't like the third paragraph of the so-called exchange items. They listened to him with obvious respect as if he were the member of a race of highly superior intelligence.

  Rhodan coughed lightly. John Marshall smiled imperceptibly; he recognized what was going on in his commander's mind. Character virtues like these had helped Rhodan's success with his fellow men. His followers worshiped him and his power on Earth was second to none.

  It wasn't advisable for Rhodan to examine his past too closely if he didn't want to run the risk of failing to see his own success in its proper light.

  In those days, only a few years ago, he started as a low-ranking but highly specialized major of the Space Force in the first atomic spaceship's manned flight to the moon. He was part of a team of four men selected from the early astronauts after the most rigorous and exacting training.

  The Stardust had blasted off into space and Perry Rhodan, commander of the first atomic spaceship, had made a perfect lunar landing.

  To be sure, mankind wouldn't have awakened from its troubled sleep except for the incident of a gigantic alien spaceship that appeared on the moon just before Rhodan's arrival.

  The Arkonides - the inhabitants of the distant planet Arkon - had been forced to make an emergency landing. They had come to the Terrestrial solar system neither to benefit nor to fight humanity on Earth. It happened to be a simple coincidence which, however, enabled mankind through Perry Rhodan to obtain galactic powers.

  Rhodan had found the voyagers of the crashed spaceship, whose scientific leader was suffering from a severe illness and was brought back to Earth by Rhodan.

  Nobody saw clearer than Rhodan how far the Arkonide science and technology surpassed anything on Earth. Whereas mankind was on the brink of atomic war, a great empire had existed for many thousands of years in the deep reaches of the galaxy. A huge administration complex had been created for interstellar trade throughout their magnificent realm.

  It was at that time that Rhodan realized with perceptive clarity that other races at incomparably higher stages of development were living - "out there." He reacted in his most characteristic manner: he disobeyed orders and set the returning moon rocket Stardust down in the middle of the Gobi Desert.

  Arkonide weapons, which Rhodan had carried with him in the rocket, protected them from unwelcome visitors.

  From then on a New Power had been established on Earth.

  Rhodan remembered his battle for survival and the prevention of atomic war, thanks to the superior technology of the Arkonides. But it had taken a long time until the futile attacks against him were given up.

  However the U.S. Air Force managed to destroy the Arkonide space exploration ship, which was immobilized on the moon, by using a new type of H-bomb. As a result, the last two Arkonide survivors had to remain on Earth with Perry Rhodan. They had imparted their knowledge to Rhodan, not without ulterior motives, for they were hoping that this way he'd make it possible for them to return home someday.

  The question of transport had been the big stumbling block. At the time there was only one auxiliary ship of the demolished super space vessel available in which the female commander, Thora, had escaped destruction. The auxiliary ship was, by Ea
rly standards, a giant structure, with a diameter of about two hundred feet and with a speed faster than light; but its range was, unfortunately, limited to five hundred light-years, while the distance to the Arkonide world amounted to 34,000 light-years.

  Thus the Arkonide survivors were stranded on Earth. Meanwhile, Rhodan had worked hard to overcome the troublesome problems among the nations on Earth and had established his mini-state in the middle of the central Asian Gobi Desert.

  Then the first reports of disturbing events in the nearby Vega system had cropped up. Rhodan had become aware that the galactic position of the Earth was in great peril of being discovered. The automatic emergency transmitter on board the destroyed super space exploration ship had emitted ultra-fast distress signals. That was the reason Rhodan expected that some strangers from outer space would make their appearance someday, if for no other purpose than "sight-seeing."

  It had been unavoidable because in the far reaches of the galaxy a realm existed called the Great Imperium. The Arkonides had forged it and planets had been colonized. Power struggles between the Arkonides and other races were waged with awesome arms at a tune when men on Earth were still living in caves.

  When the probing signals came in, Rhodan decided to take immediate action. He'd flown the Arkonide auxiliary ship, the spacesphere named the Good Hope, to the Vega system. He'd been afraid that a foreign race had picked up the emergency signals of the Arkonide ship and locked onto them.

  Why had the unknown spaceships appeared in the Vega constellation and not in the vicinity of the sun? Rhodan suspected that the aliens must have miscalculated the position, and he considered it a blessing to have gained time.

  That was exactly what had happened. When the Good Hope approached the giant star system, they were given some reception. Spaceships of two different races appeared. One of them resided in the Vega system, and it was already known to the Arkonides through reports from expeditions ages ago.

  They were the Ferrons from Ferrol, the eighth planet of the Vega system. Ferrol was not unlike the Earth. The egg-shaped spaceships of the Ferrons were quickly recognized. But there were those other long, thin spaceships with bulges around the middle....

  Khrest, the scientist from Arkon, had identified them, too. They belonged to a nonhuman race which had been engaged for the last thousand years in fighting the might of the Great Imperium by rebellion and lightning attacks on outlying bastions.

  These descendants of reptiles were called Topides by Khrest, and they came from the Orion-Delta constellation eight hundred and fifteen light-years away.

  They had hurtled into the Vega system with their ultra light-speed spaceships because they expected to find there the Arkonide ship whose distress signals they had intercepted. This had been a miscalculation on their part.

  Rhodan had become embroiled in a tough space battle which the Good Hope would have won with flying colors had it not been for the sudden encounter with a truly gigantic battle cruiser which struck the much smaller ship a disabling blow.

  It was already too late when they realized this battle cruiser had been captured from the Arkonides by the nonhuman Topides. Rhodan fled immediately to the ninth planet, where he contacted the ruler of the Ferrons. Finally, with a daring coup, he succeeded in capturing the battle cruiser from the lizard race who'd landed on the eighth planet.

  Thereupon he'd eliminated the Topide army from the principal occupied areas in a bloodless rout by employing the unique Mutant Corps, and the Topides had, as a consequence, retreated to the six moons of the far-out fortieth planet.

  This was the situation when Terra's peacemaker attempted to come to a satisfactory trade agreement with the Ferronian Thort.

  As the past history was flowing through his mind, Perry couldn't help thinking that he would still be a test pilot for the American Space Research Command if he hadn't found the superior technology of the Arkonides by accident.

  The Ferrons, whom Reginald Bell now regarded as somewhat "retarded," were thousands of years ahead of mankind as far as their technical and scientific developments were concerned. On the other hand, they lacked the proficiency for traveling faster than light because their brains weren't adapted to thinking in five dimensions.

  Rhodan felt a little ashamed, yet the goal was to attain strength for his fellow men throughout the galaxy. The presence of the Topide invaders was proof positive how weak his people were and how little time remained to rectify their inadequacies.

  Rhodan's relations with the members of a nation of another star would've been quite unthinkable in the recent past. Now he was sitting across from the Ferrons who looked almost like slightly more robust humans, and it was as if it had always been so. The discovery of aliens with real intelligence had caused a great shock at the outset but practical considerations were already wining the upper hand.

  The products of the Ferronian industry were of incalculable value to Earth's economy and it was essential to open fruitful trade relations.

  It would've been so simple if he didn't have to reckon with the hostile alien species on the six moons. This was like a dark threatening cloud which Rhodan couldn't afford to ignore.

  Five of the eight auxiliary ships had been launched. The super battle cruiser, captured from the Topides, had carried twelve extra ships on board, each of which had a diameter of two hundred feet and was as good and powerful as the old Good Hope, the shot-up wreck lying in a hanger on the ninth planet of the Vega system.

  The S-7, under the command of Major Nyssen, was posted near the outer planets. It was imperative that all tactical movements of the foreign invaders be under strict observation.

  An almost inaudible whisper startled Perry and broke the chain of thoughts which were preying on his mind. Evidently the mutant Marshall had failed to make direct contact with Rhodan's mind, and so he'd begun to whisper.

  Rhodan shifted his eyes without changing his position.

  They take exception to our proposed trading station in their country, sir," breathed the mutant whose parapsychological attributes were the result of exposure to atomic radiation. There were sixteen other mutants with Marshall on board the Arkonide battle cruiser. It had been a difficult task to pick these mutants. The manifestations of their special properties had to be detected, first of all. The telepathic Marshall was one of those with positive changes who'd discovered their gifts in themselves.

  Now the esper was probing in depth the private thoughts of the ruling Ferrons. So they were unwilling to concur. Rhodan had been afraid of it. Nobody wants to tolerate the agents of a foreign power on their own soil, least of all a ruler like the Thort.

  "Let's wait and see," Rhodan replied very softly. "They'll have to admit eventually that the trading station is a necessity. Did you receive any messages from the ship?"

  Marshall shook his head slightly. The telepaths remaining there hadn't yet learned anything new, other-wise they would've informed Marshall immediately.

  Reginald Bell was breathing hard. Wrath was smoldering in his pale eyes. He wasn't even trying any longer to keep his composure, although he knew that it would've been much more fitting to show restraint and self control on Ferrol.

  "I hope these procrastinators won't take another coffee break or something," he muttered under his breath. "What's there to think about?"

  He looked angrily at the stooped figure of the Thort. The ruler had been in office for a long time. It hadn't yet been determined who was to succeed him. The appointment to this honor wasn't in hereditary line.

  Rhodan was trying to look into the eyes of the old Ferron. He'd become accustomed to the pale blue skin of these people and the sharp contrast of plentiful copper colored hair was no longer distracting.

  Somewhat more unpleasant for human tastes were those very small, deeply recessed eyes which were overshadowed by a massive, bulging forehead.

  of course these were biological prerequisites under the blinding glare of their giant sun. The eyes were well-protected from the profuse ultraviolet r
adiation prevalent and the thick hair prevented the burning of their heads. All these features served the purpose of adaptation to nature which allows no failures to survive.

  Nevertheless, Rhodan found the barely visible eyes disturbing. It was practically impossible to catch the expression in the eyes of a Ferron and divine his feelings, except by the mutants" mind-probe.

  The Thort's attention was apparently aroused. He lifted his head and the tiny mouth broke into a friendly smile. But this, too, had an unusual appearance.

  "Sir, I'm expected on board my ship," Rhodan said loudly. "Could you come to a decision? Do you have any questions?"

  Rhodan spoke the Ferronian language very well. The Arkonide hypno-training proved invaluable, as usual, for all applications. Without it, it would've been impossible for a man like him to comprehend the exceedingly intricate Arkonide technique, let alone master it completely within three years. However, no one except Rhodan and Reginald Bell had received the all-inclusive education. The pilots, for instance, had only been instructed in their specialized field of knowledge. It was quite sufficient if they could handle their space-fighters and understand five-dimensional hyper-mathematics.

  "We're asking you to be patient," replied the Thort. "The treaty will cause vital changes in the life of all Ferrons. The invasion has played havoc with our industry and we're only just beginning to get back on our feet. We have to make a study of whether the trade relations between us should be under control of the state or whether we can permit the free exchange of goods without government interference."

  This was clear - very dear, at last. Rhodan sympathized with the Thort and his problem. It was a strictly internal matter of the Ferrons. It made no difference to Rhodan what kind of special laws had to be decreed.

  "I suggest that you take some time out for further considerations. Your sun is hot and stifling. With your permission, we'd like to spend the lunch hours in the comfort of our ship." And he added with a smile, "I beg your indulgence, sir. The gravity of your world is one point four G, and that is zero point four G more than we're used to."