Under the Stars of Druufon Read online

  Everson breathed a sigh of relief. “Not here in the ship but on the seventh planet of a star we call Myrtha, which is a long way away. How—how can you come into the ship with us?”

  I could make the trip to Myrtha all by myself but to do that I would have to use up much energy which I could only slowly replace. So I will fly with you in your ship. So that I don't endanger you, handle me as you would any other object. I will not move of my own accord unless it's unavoidable. I will also concentrate myself so that I will take up less space. Return to the ship, Everson. I shall follow you.

  And then something took place that seemed miraculous even to Everson, who up to this point had been more or less calm and composed.

  Before his eyes the sphere began to shrink. It grew smaller and blacker. Finally it reached the diameter of a mundane and ordinary tennis ball, still lying upon the rocky ground. What had become of its former mass could not be guessed but if it had remained in the small object then the sphere must now be unimaginably heavy.

  But that, too, seemed to be an error of logic for the sphere suddenly raised itself as though it were weightless. It floated slowly upwards, coming to a stop close to Everson's face.

  It was a quite natural process, it declared, telepathically as always. Nor am I any heavier. Energy and time have no weight at all. What are we waiting for now?

  Everson gave no reply. He stepped back a pace and looked up. If he leaped up and forward, he might reach the entrance hatch with a single jump. If not, then he would leap again.

  He signaled to the sphere, then sprang.

  His estimate of the distance and the force necessary for his leap had been approximately correct—but only approximately. Just before he could reach the hatch, he began to sink back down. He looked around.

  The black sphere floated slowly upwards and now had reached the same altitude as he. It continued to rise... and he followed it!

  It was as though an invisible hand pulled him towards the hatch and set him down on the threshold. Then he suddenly felt his natural weight as the artificial gravity field of the ship began to have its effect on him.

  The sphere was also in the airlock. It floated in the middle of the room, glistening with dark and yet colorful reflections.

  Everson pressed a button and the outer hatch door closed. Air flowed into the chamber until the pressure was equal to that inside the ship itself. Only then did he open the inner hatch.

  Wordlessly, Everson climbed out of his heavy spacesuit and hung it in a cabinet. Then he said: “There are many corridors and lifts on the way to the control room. Do you think you can follow me without any danger?”

  Take me in your hand, Everson!

  The officer hesitated. He trusted the strange and inexplicable being and he knew it would do nothing harmful to him but it was still hardly a normal thing to hold a piece of energy or time in one's bare hands.

  Slowly he reached out his arm and opened his hand. As though automatically, the small sphere floated through the air and landed gently in the palm of Everson's hand. It felt cool and light.

  That is all, it thought, amused.

  Everson closed his fingers around the sphere and went out into the corridor. As though in a dream he walked through the ship and finally reached the control room, where Lt. Gropp let out a sigh of relief as he saw his superior come in.

  “Thank heavens you're back, Colonel. Did you find it?”

  “It's here in my hand,” Everson answered, showing the sphere to the lieutenant. It still rested harmlessly on his palm, seemingly lifeless. “This is Harnahan's sphere.”

  Gropp stared at it in incomprehension. “That... that's supposed to be...”

  Perry Rhodan is waiting! The urgent thought suddenly bore into the brains of both men. We should not hesitate any longer; too much time has already wasted. I don't know if I can render any decisive help but I will at least try.

  Lt. Gropp overcame his surprise, collected his thoughts and turned to the positronicon for calculation of the data for transition.

  Everson spoke to the sphere: “Did you say 'if you can help'? Rhodan was positive that...”

  The somewhat cryptic reply interrupted him: Perhaps what I meant was—if I may help!

  2/ INTO THE ALIEN UNIVERSE

  Several thousand light-years from the Earth gaped a hole in the universe. It was an opening of some billion kilometers in width and length, fluctuating between half a light-year and an entire light-year. It had been the result of an overlapping between the two time planes and remained astonishingly stable. However, it moved along the edge of the Milky Way at the relatively slight velocity of 150,000 kilometers per second.

  The tear in space was a so–called 'discharge vent' in the Einstein Universe: it permitted entrance into the Druuf time-plane without any need for technical equipment and the return into normal space was just as Unhindered.

  In front of the tear patrolled the mighty battle fleet of the Robot Regent of Arkon, who had finally recognized the danger threatening its realm. There were more than 50,000 ships, most manned by robots, attacking the emerging Druuf ships in terrible battles and endeavoring to destroy them. The Arkonide units often succeeded but more than once battles ended with wrecks of the robot ships floating helplessly out into the endless reaches of space.

  Meanwhile, Rhodan sat on the sidelines, watching the titanic events as a secret observer and, for the moment anyway, as a neutral 3d party.

  He sat with the largest part of his Terran battle fleet in the Myrtha system, 22 light-years away from the scene of the gigantic struggle. The system's seventh planet—Grautier—had been turned into a well–camouflaged base and here Perry Rhodan received the reports from his scoutships.

  Things were falling into place.

  The light cruiser Lebanon reported: Druuf units penetrating Einstein space, meeting heavy resistance from Regent's fleet. Losses on both sides.

  Message from Guppy K-28: No further nearing of time planes observed. Difference between two as before. Druufs move half as fast as we do.

  “That's still better than before,” rumbled Reginald Bell peevishly. He sat with Perry Rhodan and several officers in the brightly lit, subterranean command center on Myrtha 7. The walls were covered with vidscreens and other information-delivering equipment. The men had taken their places in the comfortable seats: “At least,” Bell went on, “we're so fast for them they can't see us.”

  Rhodan did not respond to Bell's words. Calmly and quietly, he pressed the button under a vidscreen over which shone a red light.

  An officer's face appeared.

  New message from the light cruiser Lebanon: An estimated 10,000 units of the Regent's fleet have drawn together at one point. It looks like an incursion into the Druuf-plane is planned. We're remaining at our observation post, 1½ light-years from the opening.

  “This is a fine how d'you do,” muttered Bell. His red hair bristles stood on end, showing his excitement. “They're starting before we are!”

  This time Rhodan smiled as he answered. “At most they're just saving us some work, Reggie. Don't worry. They'll hardly succeed in destroying the Druufs' home system. It's too big and powerful for that. But the Druufs may be able to put some of the Regent's ships out of commission and examine them.”

  “So? And then what?” Bell wanted to know.

  “And then what? Quite a bit, old friend. For example, the Druufs will learn to their astonishment that they're fighting robots, not normal living beings. That will open up a completely new perspective for us.”

  “What... ?” said Bell, curious. He was completely convinced that he would immediately learn the answer to the mystery to which Rhodan pointed but he had to be seriously disappointed for Rhodan answered:

  “Old proverbs don't lose their validity very quickly, I presume. You should learn a few of them by heart, Reggie.”

  Without any regard for the disappointed look on his friend's face, Rhodan answered the next call from the Com Center and made the necessary con
nections.

  A familiar face suddenly appeared on the vidscreen.

  “Message from the Kublai Khan, commanding officer Col. Everson reporting: Mission in Tatlira system carried out and successful. We'll be landing in half an hour, the time required by normal-space flight to reach Myrtha from here.”

  “Thank you,” replied Rhodan and his relief could be clearly sensed. “We'll be waiting for you in the Command Center on Myrtha 7.”

  The image on the screen dissolved. The men looked at each other in silence.

  Rhodan said: “Well, that's that! Now to see if the legacy of Sgt. Harnahan is worth anything or not.”

  “I wouldn't count on it being worth much,” sighed Bell. “After all, what we're really doing is chasing a will-o'-the-wisp, and a will-o'-the-wisp from the past, at that. A ball that lives off starlight—bah, humbug!”

  Rhodan remained serious. “I wouldn't talk like that, Reggie. Who knows— maybe it can hear you and will retaliate. With an electric shock, maybe.”

  Bell gave a visible start but said mockingly: “I'd rather put my faith in the energy cannon or the mutants. Who can say what fairy tales Harnahan might have dreamed up all those years ago?”

  “But you heard Everson reporting the fulfillment of his mission and the mission was to find the sphere and bring it back.”

  Bell grumbled something but did not say anything more.

  One of the officers raised his hand. “There, sir—a message!”

  Rhodan pressed a button. On the vidscreen a man with the insignia of a scientist appeared. He belonged to the special scientists' team which played no small role in this gigantic power—struggle now shaking the universe.

  “Sir, I fed your questions into the positronicon for evaluation. Can I give you the answers now?”

  Rhodan understood why the man hesitated. He did not know if all the men present in the Command Center would be allowed to listen to what he had to say.

  “Go ahead,” said Rhodan. “We don't keep any secrets from our top officers.”

  The scientist read from a strip of metallic computer tape. For the sake of clarity, he also repeated the original questions.

  “First Question: What would have happened had the Regent of Arkon not discovered the opening in space which leads to the Druuf Universe. Answer To First Question: The Regent would have continued its attempt to learn the galactic position of Terra so that it could attack and conquer the Solar Imperium.

  “Second Question: What are the chances of the Druufs defeating the Regent of Arkon's fleet? Answer To Second Question: The chances are slight. No basis for it.

  “Third Question: What are the chances that Arkon will defeat the Druufs? Answer To Third Question: The chances are slight Again, no basis.

  “Fourth And Last Question: The Regent is sending constant calls for help to Perry Rhodan. Why does it want help against the Druufs when it seems to be strong enough to defeat the enemy by itself? Answer To Fourth And Last Question: Making contact with Terra is wanted only to learn the position of that planet. Help against the Druufs is only a means to an end. Probability factor: about 98.7964%.”

  The silence reigning in the Command Center was complete. Reginald Bell did not even clear his throat:

  Finally Rhodan spoke. “Thank you, Henderson. I have more questions for evaluation but they can wait until later.”

  The screen went blank.

  Bell stirred uneasily in his seat. “So the Robot Brain is still trying to find us!” he declared. His voice was expressionless and betrayed nothing of his mood. “You would have thought that after all this time it would have finally realized that...”

  “Are you asking for something like insight from a positronic brain—from the biggest positronic brain in the Galaxy?” Rhodan demanded. “You're making a mistake, Reggie! The Regent, ruler of the Arkonide Imperium, acts only on a logical basis. And that same logic tells it that we constitute a threat. So it must remove that threat. That's how it was programmed to act, thousands of years ago, and that's how it will act—at least until it's reprogrammed.”

  “Didn't it promise us its friendship?”

  “Friendship!” Rhodan pronounced the word sceptically. “Do you really think that a machine can feel friendship? The Regent knows only goals and purpose, nothing of feelings. And if we want to deal with it, then we must think the same way. That's the only way to, do it!”

  “Well,” said Bell, “at the moment the Regent has other worries. The Druufs are giving it as much to worry about as we are.”

  “The Druufs,” said one of the officers present, summing up, “are thus the common enemy of the Regent and of Earth.”

  Rhodan suddenly smiled. “I already told Reginald Bell that old proverbs are still valid today. When I said that, I was thinking of this one: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now consider this, General! You maintain that we and the Regent have a common enemy in the Druufs and thus we must ally ourselves with Arkon.”

  “Only in appearance—not really, of course!” the General hastened to reply, looking quite shocked that he could perhaps have been misunderstood.

  Rhodan was still smiling. “What would you think if we allied ourselves—only for appearances, of course—with the Druufs against Arkon?”

  The room was completely silent, when Bell began to laugh loudly. The General seemed shocked but did not answer—perhaps because of his shock.

  “With the Druufs against Arkon!” Bell was laughing yet. “You're a genius, Perry! A real genius!” He paused, then suddenly added: “But what for? What do you really have in mind?”

  “It's all very simple. We'll make contact with the Druufs and have the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with their home world at our leisure. Our short visit there, being a matter of pure chance, didn't really tell us much we already didn't know. Now we'll go see Siamed 16 all very officially.”

  Siamed was a double star system on the other side of the time wall. There was already a secret Terran base on the 13th planet. The 16th planet was twice as large as Earth and had almost twice the gravity; it seemed to be the world from which the Druufs had originally come.

  “And how do you plan to go about it?” asked Bell. The thought of visiting the Druufs did not seem to strike him as a pleasant one. “Do you think these overgrown hippopotami will be waiting for us with open arms?”

  “No, not at all. But there will soon be some opportunity to demonstrate our friendly intentions to the Druufs—that should give them something to think about and make them curious.”

  “Hm,” mumbled Bell, sinking into deep thought.

  Rhodan looked up at the officers. “You can return to your ships, gentlemen. The state of alarm will continue in effect. You'll be hearing from me.”

  When he had shut the door and was alone with Bell, he said: “In the next few hours a few things will be decided one way or the other. Unlike you, I'm expecting Harnahan's sphere to prove to our advantage. I don't know exactly what it is but certainly it isn't hostile to us—it assured me of that itself. Colonel Everson will be landing at any moment now. Bring him here; I'll be waiting. And inform John Marshall and the other mutants aboard the California. I'd like them to be here when we greet our guest.”

  Bell stood up and went to the door. “Guest!” he growled angrily. “I've never heard such nonsense! The more you have your hopes up, Perry, the bigger your disappointment's going to be!”

  Rhodan silently watched him go.

  A slight smile played on his lips.

  As clever or cunning as Bell might be, he still could not quite think as completely in a cosmic sense as was necessary in the age of space travel.

  Vitally necessary!

  • • •

  When Col. Marcus Everson entered the brightly lit room, he looked into the expectant faces of the waiting men.

  Beneath the vidscreens and to the left sat Perry Rhodan and Bell; next to them were John Marshall, Fellmer Lloyd, Wuriu Sengu and. Ralf Marten. Atlan stood a bit off to the side and had an
amused smile on his face. In front of the gathering, the mouse-beaver Pucky crouched on his feet, supported by his broad beaver tail. His ears were sharply raised but his incisor tooth could not be seen.

  Everson stood at attention. “Reporting back from mission, sir,” he said in Rhodan's direction. “Mission carried out.”

  “Thank you,” said the Administrator of the Solar Imperium, smiling broadly. “Please sit down and give your report.”

  Everson sat down with an inordinate amount of care, almost as though he had rotten eggs in his pockets. He stretched his legs out in front of him, returned Bell's grin and then described in a few words his experiences in the Tatlira system. Rhodan seemed satisfied when he finished.

  Everson reached into his pocket. When he brought it out again and extended it towards the others, a small, black ball hardly six centimeters in diameter lay on his palm. It could have been hidden entirely in a man's closed fist. Its surface was smooth and seamless—and it seemed to be lightly pulsating.

  “This,” said Everson quietly, “is our 5,000,000 year old friend Harno—as he wants to be called. In memory of his first human friend, Harnahan.”

  The men stared at the sphere without comprehending.

  Rhodan stood up slowly and walked towards Everson. His gaze rested thoughtfully and expectantly on the black sphere.

  He stopped in front of Everson.

  “The worth of a friend is not determined by the way he looks but in his intentions and deeds,” he said with special emphasis. “Harnahan told me years ago that the sphere had a diameter of half a meter. It spoke to me and him, as well. Can it still speak today?”

  The soundless answer suddenly rang in the brains of not only Rhodan but all those present in the Command Center.

  You are right, Perry Rhodan! Value is not determined by appearance! But if you know that, you need not have had to wonder at the fact I am now smaller. Is not a small sphere easier to transport than a large one?