The Stolen Spacefleet Read online

  "Of course I've given it a lot of thought but I haven't come to any conclusion yet. What plausible reason could we give the Akons for making such a demand? We can't just tell them that they're making us lose some sleep over that fleet of theirs."

  "Let's use Cardif as our excuse. The agreement was made on completely false premises."

  Atlan motioned to the robot who had accompanied him. The metal automaton came over and handed Atlan a briefcase. Then it returned to its post and continued to observe the area. It was its sole assignment and Atlan and Rhodan could not have imagined any better bodyguards than their two robots.

  "Here's a listing of the ships I handed over to them," said Atlan. He extracted a thick document from the case and gave it to Rhodan. "It includes all the technical data. Any other information you may need you can get from me when you want it. I'm very familiar with this affair because it caused me so much grief."

  Rhodan opened the document file and soon realized that he was familiar with the technical details they contained so they weren't going to do him much good. Nevertheless he studied the long list while Atlan lay on the soft grass and closed his eyes. It was obvious how desperately he needed even this meager respite.

  After 10 minutes Rhodan closed the file. "May I keep this?" he asked.

  Atlan remained where he was. "Yes, of course-but why?"

  Rhodan lay back on the grass beside him. The two most powerful men in the known universe lay there on a green knoll beside a stream on an almost unknown planet. It was such an unusual situation that Rhodan had to smile-but it was a happy and contented smile.

  "Because a thought has come to me. Do you remember when the Akons made their time-shift attack? They deactivated the robot Brain and came close to destroying Arkon because all the robot-controlled facilities failed. Even the robot fleets."

  "Yes, I remember-but what has that to do with this?"

  "What if the shoe were on the other foot, Atlan?"

  Atlan opened his eyes. He turned on his side to look at Rhodan. "I don't understand, Perry."

  "Well, it's quite simple. Your list tells me that every one of the ships you sent to the Akons was designed for a robot crew. In other words, they originally were remote-controlled by the robot Brain on Arkon. Isn't that right?"

  "If that's what the list says-yes."

  "Excellent. I presume the Akons know that?"

  "Of course they know it. They even began to convert them immediately."

  Rhodan sat up abruptly. "They're converting them? How do you mean that?"

  "Quite simply. They intend to man them with their own people so they have to deactivate certain robot circuits. That in itself isn't really a conversion, you might say, but merely a bypassing of certain connections. The key microcircuit elements are about the size of a finger. When they're removed from the remote-control sectors, the ships' positronic brains are just computers again-they can't control the vessels or respond to the robot Regent. The only way to reverse the process is to re-install the remote micro-circuit elements."

  "So that's all-I see..." Rhodan thought awhile and then asked: "Are you sure the Akons don't have any other conversions in mind?"

  "Well, only to improve comforts. You know the robotships haven't any crew quarters or officers' cabins and other such luxuries. Naturally the Akons will provide those things because certainly there is enough room for them."

  "And those micro-elements? I mean, have they returned them to you?"

  Atlan shook his head. "Naturally not. What do we want with them? I don't know what they've done with them. Why do you ask? Are you coming up with an idea?"

  "Yes, I am," I said. "What if the shoe were on the other foot? There's a certain event of the past we can turn around in the other direction. At that time the Akons crippled us by cutting out the robot Brain. This time we'll surprise them by reactivating the robot sectors of their ships. Do you get the picture now?"

  Now Atlan also sat up and he suddenly began to smile. "Not a bad idea. And later nobody would know how it could have happened. The Akons couldn't do much with a purely robot fleet. At any rate we couldn't be blamed if they lost the fleet just because something went wrong with the automatic circuits. But on the other hand the Akons shouldn't be underestimated. Besides-how are you going to rework an entire fleet on their own planet? Don't forget that we can't move around on Akon with the kind of freedom that would be necessary for such an operation. We'd be under observation every minute. You have to install a microelement in each of the ships' remote activation section. And that takes a specialist-not one of your teleporters, if that's what you have in mind."

  "But the teleporters can transport such specialists anywhere-even into the ships. We'll get away with it. In any case we'll have to map out a precise program of action. Everything has to be timed to the minute. And the Akons must not get suspicious. They have to believe that their fleet went wild and later destroyed itself. Anyway, that's much better than simply demanding to have the ships back again. On the contrary, we should carry on as though it made no difference to us that they have a fleet. We don't want any political complications and there must be no war with the Akons."

  They discussed a few more details, after which they got up and returned to their respective ships. Each of them would now go back to his home planet-Atlan to Arkon and Rhodan to Terra. The plan had been blueprinted. It was now but a matter of time till it would be executed.

  But time was on the Akons' side.

  • • •

  Almost at the center of the galaxy burned the giant blue sun of Akon, the great star of the so-called Blue System, home of the Akons from whom the Arkonides had descended.

  Akon possessed 18 planets, of which the fifth was known as Sphynx, that mysterious world where Terrans and Akons had first made contact. Here was the center of the empire which was not controlled by means of spaceships but by a system of matter transmitters. On all planets of the system were matter receivers and senders. By merely stepping through an arch of light a person could go from one planet to another.

  Their once-vaunted blue energy screen was now a thing of the past. Rhodan's ships had destroyed their power station satellites. It was only possible for a ship with linear spacedrive to get through the system-wide defense screen which had isolated the Akon Empire for thousands of years from the rest of the galaxy. But now that isolation had been terminated and Terra as well as Arkon maintained commercial bases on Akon 5. Thus the contact had been made permanent and was backed up by treaties.

  Rhodan's base on Sphynx was relatively small. The spaceport was only five km in diameter. At the edge of it were a few administration buildings and the dwelling of the permanent representative of the Earth in the Akon System.

  Stanislaus Jakobowski had not been too happy about his assignment to this post which exiled him to a world that was many tens of thousands of light-years removed from his native planet. His only consolation was that they had not sent him here alone. His assistant, Axel Wiener, shared an isolation with him that was almost complete in a civilization that in many respects was superior to their own. Each man had furnished his house according to his personal taste because it was the only place he had. The area surrounding the base was off limits to them. They were not allowed to ever leave the spaceport premises.

  All attempts to ease the general situation were shattered against the wall of almost sullen stubbornness on the part of the Akons. They always pointed to the agreements of the treaty in which it was specifically stated that Perry Rhodan had only demanded a base on Sphynx. There was nothing in the treaty that said anything about going into the Akon cities.

  As a civilian official of the Terran world government, Stanislaus Jakobowski would be entitled to a pension if he did not quit the service before his retirement age. Thus it was that he had accepted the orders of his superiors without protest when they had assigned him to Akon, where he was to represent the interests of the Earth. By means of a small hyper-transceiver he was regularly in touch with Terrani
a and through the same channel received his instructions. Almost daily the merchant ships came in from either Terra or the colonial planets. They brought trade goods for the Akons as well as mail and food supplies for Jakobowski and Wiener.

  The latter stepped back from the window, which afforded a wide view of the spaceport area. He was not particularly tall and he wore a full beard in the manner of the Galactic Traders. He had been looking through the contacts of the mail sack they had received that day.

  "They sent us movies, Chief-all about the babes of Terra! And here we sit on Akon 5!"

  Of course Jakobowski wasn't contented with the situation either but he did not make a habit of revealing it. "Where the movies are concerned-at least they're a sign that we haven't been forgotten. They don't want us to get rock happy out here. If we don't want to look at the films we don't have to."

  "What do you mean, not look at them?" countered Wiener almost indignantly. "When they're free? Oh no, I'm running the movies alright!" He shook his head and rummaged through the mail sack which had been brought in this morning by a merchant ship. There were magazines, newspapers, books, private mail for the crews of ships regularly calling at Akon 5, rolls of film, music tapes, plus the usual fistful of official envelopes and instructions.

  Wiener drew a long envelope out of the sack and looked at it in some wonderment. The hand-written address indicated that it was for Jakobowski but there was no return address. He held the envelope up to his nose and sniffed.

  "Hm... no trace of perfume," he grinned, and then he waved it about in the air. "I'm all excited-who could have written to you? Maybe your babe?"

  "Don't have one," Jakobowski advised him, and he grasped the envelope. He studied the handwriting for a moment. "I don't recognize it either."

  He opened it up and when he unfolded the letter he was amazed to see a large sheet which was fully written on from top to bottom but which he could not decipher at all. True, the letters were all in even rows, separated by proper spaces and with sentence punctuation-but the words remained incomprehensible. They didn't make sense.

  "Well?" said Wiener impatiently. "What does she want from you? Does she miss you...?"

  "Knock it off!" retorted Jakobowski sternly. He handed the sheet to him. "See what you can make of that mess!"

  Wiener made the attempt, naturally without success. He stared at the letter, completely stumped. "Somebody must be playing some kind of a joke on you, Chief," he theorized. "But which of your friends know that you're located here on Akon?" He looked at the high-priced interstellar postage on the envelope. "A pretty expensive joke, I might say."

  Jakobowski took back the letter. "Naturally I'll have to report this," he said, business-like. "It isn't right to overload the mail traffic when it's already overloaded-and with such tomfoolery..."

  A buzzer on the ceiling sounded. Somebody was hailing them on the hypercom. Probably a ship trying to announce its landing.

  "You take care of it," ordered Jakobowski, and he continued to study the letter. He shook his head and thrust the puzzling message into his pocket, whereupon he left the room.

  Whenever he wished to ponder something he was in the habit of taking a walk. Of course here on Akon he was limited strictly to the landing field-but fresh air was fresh air. Even when it was warmed by a blue sun.

  Blue sun...?

  Jakobowski had walked a few hundred meters when he suddenly came to a stop and looked up. The sky was almost always blue here but it had seldom appeared to be of such an intense and brilliant blue as it was today. There were no clouds to be seen. Only the splendid blue and the almost violet glare of the giant sun.

  Hm...

  Jakobowski was thinking that the sky hadn't been this blue yesterday. Also there were a few other items that suddenly occurred to him as strange. For example the unusual policing of restricted areas during the past few days. The Akons had stationed armed guards all around the spaceport. Formerly they had not appeared to consider this necessary. So why now all of a sudden?

  As he continued his walk his thoughts returned to the curious letter. Who could have tried to play such a joke with him? It would have to be one of his old acquaintances.

  It seemed that someone was calling him. He turned about slowly and saw Wiener standing by the house and waving his arms. He appeared to be very excited. Jakobowski chided himself for not having brought along his micro-transceiver.

  When he hurried back within speaking distance of his assistant he called to him harshly. "What in the world is the matter? Stop yelling-I can't understand a word!"

  "It's a call from Terrania!" yelled Wiener, exactly as loud as before. "Interstellar Com Central!"

  "What?!" Jakobowski gasped and began to run. "Why didn't you say so at once?"

  He went past his dumbfounded companion in a big hurry. Moments later he reached the radio room and dashed to the receiver. Perry Rhodan's face looked down at him from the viewscreen. Jakobowski naturally recognized Rhodan even though it had never happened that the Chief had made a direct contact with a mere trading post. The event was so extraordinary that Jakobowski almost lost his self-composure for a few seconds. But he was a capable official and quickly controlled his surprise. Even as he sat down where Rhodan could see him, he answered the call.

  "Akon Base-Stanislaus Jakobowski, sir!"

  "Have you received my letter, Jakobowski?"

  "Letter, sir?" Jakobowski racked his memory but could recall no letter. Certainly no letter from Perry Rhodan. "No, sir, I have not received any communication from you."

  Rhodan smiled knowingly. "The letter carried no return address and I'm afraid that its contents may have caused you some head-scratching. I considered it to be the best method to use for sending a few instructions to you. You know in spite of coding in hypercom transmissions there's always the possibility of messages being intercepted. So listen, Jakobowski. As soon as you receive a letter with no return address and containing a nonsensical string of words..."

  "Sir!" interrupted Jakobowski. "That letter I just received a half hour ago. Please excuse me..."

  "Excellent!" said Rhodan. "Read the letter through at your convenience but give me an answer in three days. Be very careful. In three days write down your answers and observations-following the outline of my letter and using the same method. Just handle it like an ordinary letter. A merchant captain by the name of Samuel Graybound will report to you and inquire about mail for Terra. You will give the letter to him."

  "Sir!" called Jakobowski before the connection could be cut off. "The letter-how shall I read it? It must be coded!"

  Rhodan laughed. "Quite simple. Use commercial code 20-a to decipher it. So, in three days. I'm counting on you!"

  The screen darkened. Jakobowski was alone again but only for about two seconds because Wiener came into the radio room.

  "Well-anything new, Chief? We getting our rotation relief pretty soon?"

  Jakobowski shook his head. He got up and slowly took the ominous letter out of his pocket. He regarded it with a mixture of antipathy and awe. Then he took the sheet out of the envelope and began to unravel the tangle of words according to Rhodan's instructions.

  In clear text the letter read as follows:

  To Stanislaus Jakobowski:

  I need answers to the following questions:

  1. Where have the Akons stationed the 1,000 ships which they received from Arkon? What work is being done on them? What kind of security is being used to guard them?

  2. Has the attitude of the Akons changed toward Terrans during the past three weeks?

  3. What noticeable measures have been taken to restrict Terrans specifically to the base?

  4. What has come to your attention other than this?

  5. Are you able to house about 10 people without having to make any structural changes or additions to the present facilities?

  Also take note: With this same mail delivery an Arkonide combat suit has been sent to you. It may be found in the crate marked 'Canned Goods
'. Every effort should be made to answer the five questions. Signed: Rhodan.

  Wiener looked questioningly at Jakobowski as he handed the letter back to him. "That's a strange assignment if I may say so. Are we Trade Commission representatives here or are we secret agents of the Solar Imperium? If the Akons catch us at any spying business they'll wring our necks."

  "Not necessarily-but it wouldn't be pleasant. But after all, Rhodan has sent us a combat suit. If I remember correctly, those things can make you invisible. So one of us should be able to get into the restricted areas without any danger and that way we can find the answers to the five questions. You'd be good for that, Wiener-or should I say that with the Arkonide gear you'd be well 'suited' for the job? I'd say you're the natural-born spy..."

  "Thanks-but no thanks!" retorted Wiener. "Those Akons are weirdix and I have no desire to fall into their clutches. Invisible or not, there's always the possibility. Those kookers are capable of anything!"

  Jakobowski sighed. "So I guess I'll have to go, myself. Perhaps it's better that way."

  It was true that the Arkonide combat suits were capable of making one practically invisible. They were equipped with antigrav generators which made it possible to adapt the wearer to almost any gravitational environment, and by this means flight was also possible. The principle of invisibility was based on a reflecting field or screen which passed light around it. Furthermore each suit contained a device which built up a bell-shaped energy-field around the wearer, thus providing a defense screen that could ward off any weapons fire that was not too massive. In its packaged condition this type of suit appeared to be quite harmless and simple nor was it any heavier than the lighter types of spacesuits designed for short excursions in a vacuum. All equipment and controls were encased in the wide belt where they could easily be reached with the hands.

  It was with mixed feelings that Jakobowski inspected the suit and read the accompanying description. He also read the instructions thoroughly. Then he put the suit on and prepared to accomplish the assignment Rhodan had given to him.