Thora's Sacrifice Page 4

  Conrad Deringhouse kept standing there with his back to his men. He could feel their eyes concentrating on his back but they could not force him to turn around. "Pasgin, who is the Fire Control Officer?" he inquired.

  "Big Alden, General. He's been transferred from the Titan where he was in charge of the gun turrets at both ends."

  "That's a tiny plus for all of us. Is everything shipshape?"

  "Yes sir!"

  "Then up and away, Pasgin! You can reach me in my cabin if you need me."

  He finally turned around with a faint smile on his lips. It was a small sign but one which made his men feel easier.

  As soon as the hatch closed behind him, the Command Center was buzzing with voices. "We're going to see some terrific action..."

  "If Big Alden becomes number one on the Burma with its measly armament, I don't relish getting into my spacesuit..."

  "But we've got Thora aboard," a third one reminded. "We can't... heavens, stars and comets... when I begin to think of the blockade front!"

  Joe Pasgin's sharp-featured face studied them all. He was worried too. The detour to the blockade front on their way to Arkon foreboded complications and the general had given every indication that they had to be prepared for the worst on this mission.

  But the order to start which Deringhouse had given made him put aside his apprehensions. He had to take action.

  "Start in five minutes!" Pasgin commanded.

  The seat of the co-pilot was held by Hendrik Olavson who had come to his post fresh out of the Space Academy. Pasgin had already been in three spaceflights at the side of the young lieutenant and had observed him very closely. However he had already determined on the first trip that the co-pilot seat was the wrong place for Olavson. He belonged in the command seat of a spaceship in the Imperium class, since Hendrik Olavson and a spaceship did not simply represent Man and Technology—Olavson and spaceship were a unit welded together! He was a natural talent when it came to steering a spaceship and where others had to use immense concentration for this task, he performed it with the greatest of ease. Like a game.

  "Olavson, take over blastoff!" Joe Pasgin said casually and added with a chuckle: "Don't be too rough on Terrania!"

  Hendrik Olavson appreciated the joke of the First Officer in good humor. He knew what was going on in the mind of Pasgin. The Burma, a 100-meter sphere with a crew of 150 men, belonged to a class of ships which possessed an incredible potential for acceleration. It was able to reach the velocity of light within five minutes. Of course other features had to be sacrificed due to the size of the extremely powerful drive-aggregate which was on a scale between those of the Heavy Cruisers and the vessels of the Solar class, features such as strong armaments that were commonplace equipment on the heavier units.

  These light ships of the State class were not designed for the offensive. They were on the order of fast reconnaissance ships with moderate arms which had to rely on their speed to appear suddenly on the scene and deal violent blows by surprise after which they had to retreat just as quickly by using their fantastic acceleration.

  The novel body-frequency attenuator prevented that their transitions could be registered by the compensator-monitors of the Arkonides. They were also equipped with another secret weapon which was strictly defensive, the matter transmitter which, however, could be used only when a corresponding station was within its range. This range was also limited to a certain distance.

  The powerful machines of the Burma began to whine. The motors we're already warmed up long ago and now their output was stepped up to a higher magnitude. Olavson lifted his hand off the main switch.

  His work was done. All else was taken over by the automatic pilot that had received its order through him. Now that the ship took off with roaring engines each operation was performed in a continuous smooth flow. The thrust-absorbers automatically increased their function and compensated for the sudden leap of the G-values. The gravitational forces inside the Burma were kept on a constant level despite the phenomenal acceleration which was, nevertheless, normal for the ship. The Burma was a gigantic conglomeration of machines, made evident by the noise in the background, and barely left enough room for its crew to live and breathe.

  "Transition in three minutes!" The announcement reverberated through the entire ship, and was heard by Deringhouse in his cabin.

  Suddenly Deringhouse was overcome by a fear for Thora. He ran out of his cabin and he had to hurry not to be caught on the way by the transition as Thora's room was located not only on the opposite side but also two decks lower.

  When he arrived at her door there were only 35 seconds to go to the big jump. He announced himself but instead of Thora he saw Ishy Matsu's face on the small picture screen. "General? Please..." he heard the voice of the mutant girl who had been assigned by Rhodan as a steady companion for his wife.

  Deringhouse hastily stepped inside and stopped in astonishment at the door.

  "Deringhouse, sit down quickly!" Thora exclaimed in an animated manner. Her magnificent hair shimmered in the soft light as in former times when her striking appearance distinguished her as the radiantly beautiful wife of Perry Rhodan. She pointed to a chair. He had barely time to sit when the shock of the transition hit him. The Burma had left hyperspace again when Deringhouse cringed slightly under the pain of re-materialization. But Thora showed no disturbance. The hyperjump didn't affect her in the slightest.

  The delicate little telepath Ishy stayed in the background of the room. Deringhouse openly showed his happy amazement about Thora's wonderful condition. She exuded an aura of health and seemed to undergo a recurrent rejuvenation. Deringhouse would have been overjoyed by the belief that the process had a lasting effect. But to his sorrow he couldn't forget Dr. Villnoess' warning: the healthier Thora appears to be all of a sudden, the worse she'll feel afterwards. It's hardly more than an unconscious resurgence of all her physical energies—a last burst of the flame of life. But we can't foretell how and when death will occur."

  Just as Deringhouse opened his mouth to give an explanation, he was interrupted by the telecom. As the sound came from the loudspeaker the picture screen lit up. "The Chief wishes to talk to you, Thora!" the Communications Officer called from the radio room.

  Deringhouse listened in surprise. What made Rhodan take the risk of getting in touch with his wife? He was alarmed by the thousands of possibilities which existed to intercept the hyper-radio connection. The electronic smokescreen provided by Grautier could be blown away in one stroke or the Regent on Arkon could learn before they had intended that Thora of Zoltral was assigned to replace Perry Rhodan for the visit. What could have caused Rhodan to disregard all these dangerous possibilities?

  Perry Rhodan's prominent face appeared on the screen and the picture of his critically ill wife was transmitted to his receiver.

  Deringhouse was astounded by the light-hearted, almost youthful laugh of the Administrator of the Solar Imperium as he heard him say to his wife: "Thora, it's a pity that I can't share this trip to Arkon with you. See you soon, Thora!"

  "Perry..." she cried but Rhodan could hear her no longer. The hyper-radio connection from the depth of space to the Burma was ended. The picture screen in her cabin was grey again and the control lamp under the tele-optic was turned off.

  Despite his apprehensions and doubts Gen. Deringhouse smiled at Thora and managed to look mischievous. He concealed his own bewilderment and didn't give Thora a chance to voice her anxious questions. "Thora, I've made a mistake. My timing was off," he said, assuming the role of a scapegoat. "I've waited too long to inform you about the latest change concerning our flight. Let me fill you in quickly and you'll understand why your husband has given you such a pleasant surprise..."

  Sprinkling a few compassionate lies in the truth he brought her up to date as far as he deemed it advisable. He didn't mention the garbled message from the agent on the planet Aralon with a single word nor did he volunteer any information about Bell's hurried flight from G
rautier to Terra. He invented a few embellishments and emphasized Perry Rhodan's role to allay any suspicions Thora might harbor. "...as a result the Chief wanted to relieve you of this task, Thora, but on second thought he realized that your trip to Arkon would not involve irresponsible risks with the possible exception of our required presence at the blockade front. Finally we both agreed that he would send you a short greeting as soon as the situation at the overlap-zone was stabilized. I can only regret, Thora, that I've done such a poor job of directing..." He said it with a grin and hoped that it looked genuine.

  Then his gaze veered to the telepath Ishy Matsu who stood behind Thora off to the side. The face of the young Japanese girl resembled a mask. She had read the thoughts of the general and realized the perilous nature of the Burma’s mission.

  "Deringhouse..." Thora took his hand in hers and her Arkonide eyes beamed with delight and rapture, "I know how sick I am but I haven't felt so full of vigor and ambition in years... and this only because your direction was a little off. Those little words 'See you soon' have made a young girl out of an old woman. How long has it been since I've seen Perry laugh as heartily as a young boy? Would you mind leaving me alone for awhile?"

  Both Deringhouse and Ishy Matsu left Thora's cabin together. Once outside in the corridor the general brusquely asked the telepath: "Ishy, did you track my thoughts?"

  "Yes, General, against your orders..."

  "Oh, forget it. Now you're aware that we might be in for a lot of trouble with the Burma. You know that I had no idea that the Chief would call Thora. She must under no circumstances be allowed to suspect that I've lied to her. Take care of her, Ishy, and ask the three medical officers to go to Thora and give her an examination in about an hour. I don't care what pretext they use."

  He was in such a hurry to leave that he rushed to the antigrav elevator without waiting for her reply. He went up to the Command Center and when he passed the radio room the officer on duty saluted. It was a sign of Deringhouse's pressure that he ignored the formalities and inquired urgently: "How did that message come in?"

  "Through the new Swoon scrambler, General, at 45,000 impulses per second and condensed in..." he turned around to read one of his scales, "...one micro-second."

  Deringhouse paid no attention to the figures. "Where did it come from?"

  "From a light cruiser, General. If our tracker is accurate, it's 800 light-years from Grautier, as we see it, measured by the coordinate Phi, which..."

  "Thank you!" He walked to the entrance of the Command Center and paused before the hatch, mulling his doubts. Did Perry Rhodan strain the health of Thora too much with his unexpected call? Was her body still able to cope with the seething emotions released by the joyous surprise?

  He entered just in time to stop the last preparations for the third transition. Joe Pasgin, the First Officer of the Burma, looked at him questioningly.

  "We've got to exercise more caution because of Thora's state, gentlemen!" he informed all the officers present in the Command Center. "Our ship's physicians are going to give her a thorough check in one hour and let us know how many transitions she can stand without injury to her health."

  He motioned the First Officer to look at the star chart with him. "We're now about here, Pasgin. Over there is the transit zone and this is the depth where Arkon's robotships have thrown a blockading line. If the physicians advise us to restrict our transitions then we must take three jumps to the overlap-zone from our present position without using our own frequency-attenuator. Arrange it in such a manner that the last jump covers a distance of no more than three light-years. I don't want the Burma to be dumped into a cluster of robotships."

  "Didn't they notify Arkon's fleet of our arrival?" Pasgin asked perplexed and visibly worried.

  "I hope so. But if you take into consideration how many contradictory orders the Robot Brain on Arkon 3 has issued during the past hours..."

  They were interrupted by the radio center. "Message from relay station Omega 17!"

  First they heard the characteristic sound of the scrambler and condenser and then a sonorous voice announced in an official tone: "The following orders by the Arkonide Regent have been intercepted and deciphered. The Positronic has concluded its evaluation. TOTAL RETRENCHMENT OF ALL ARKONIDE SQUADRONS. POSITIONS AT FRONT EXTENDED FROM .7 TO 3.0 LIGHT-YEARS. ARKON IS IN THE PROCESS OF BRINGING IN TREMENDOUS REINFORCEMENTS. DRUUF SPACESHIPS ATTEMPTING TO BREAK THROUGH IN SPACE-SECTOR PANTHER 76 and 73A. KEEP CLEAR OF PANTHER 76 AND 73A. ALL OTHER FRONT SECTORS QUIET AT THIS MOMENT BUT ATTACKS BY DRUUFS MUST BE EXPECTED ANY TIME."

  There was a sharp click. The hyper-radio message from a spaceship of the Solar Imperium, stationed far away from Grautier, had transmitted crucial information and clarified the situation for Deringhouse. Now he knew that the Robot Regent on Arkon continued to act with ice-cold logic as before and thus remained the same old treacherous partner.

  What Reginald Bell and the other officers of the Solar Imperium who were stationed as observers on Grautier with Rhodan had considered to be contradictory orders were in reality ingenious strategic moves of a positronic brain whose 'reasoning' was based on logic.

  Finally he received the report from the ship's medical officers. Although they didn't have the benefit of the immense experience and special knowledge of the Chief Physician Dr. Villnoess at the Hematological Department of the Terra Clinic on Venus, their collective opinion confirmed that Thora's condition had reached a dangerous stage where the worst could be expected. However they regarded the effects of the transition as negligible.

  "Proceed to the front in three transitions!" Deringhouse ordered. In spite of the medical test and recommendation he preferred to avoid any risk.

  "I hope we don't arrive with a corpse on our hands," Joe Pasgin remarked, disclosing how little enthusiasm he could muster for the expedition.

  The computer brain of the Burma was fed the transition data. Hendrik Olavson's nimble fingers adjusted the settings on the instrument console. Failsafe controls prevented human errors but Olavson's operation didn't cause an automatic cancellation.

  Then the countdown began to tick off the seconds and the intercom informed the crew of the imminent transition. Everything was quiet in the Command Center but for a few terse commands.

  Deringhouse reassured himself once more. "Is our auto-frequency attenuator disconnected?"

  "Yes, General!"

  Quite unconsciously a mysterious smile appeared on his lips. The device, developed by the Swoons, had solidly blocked the most intensive efforts of the Robot Regent to detect the galactic position of Terra. Even before Arkon had learned of its existence it had made all the secret efforts of the gigantic Arkonide industry obsolete by the time the Great Empire had constructed its compensator-detector. The latter was designed to pinpoint the structure disturbances of transitions by their auto-frequencies and regardless of the application of structure-compensators for the purpose of camouflage.

  In order to mislead the Robot Brain with its built-in suspicions and to keep it from determining that its compensator-detector was not an effective apparatus for discovering Earth, the Terranian spaceships voluntarily permitted the rangefinder station of Arkon to observe their emergence from hyperspace. But only when they were far enough away from Terra.

  In two tremendous leaps which shook the structure of the universe, the Burma raced to the blockade front. It entered normal space again at a distance of three light-years from the closest of the Arkonide battle formations strung out near the overlap-zone.

  Deringhouse, who had remained a spectator throughout the entire manoeuvre, now heard Joe Pasgin's instructions to the radio officer: "Call Arkon fleet unit in space-sector Tiger 46. Advise the commander of our arrival in 15 minutes. Code etc..."

  Pasgin now switched to the Fire Control Officer of the lightly armed Burma. "Alden, all out alarm! Transition in 14 minutes and 35 seconds! The jump will cause a minimal shock to your men. Orders to shoot will be given by me personally."
/>
  "Yes sir!" Alden acknowledged from his Fire Control station. Ten minutes before the transition every man aboard the ship was directed to put on a spacesuit and they all realized that the Burma was on the verge of a hazardous venture.

  And then came the short transition spanning three light-years. The picture of the cosmos on the huge observation screen faded and the Burma dematerialized as the ship passed through hyperspace in 'zero-time' and emerged again with all its contents in the same state but causing a minor shock of pain for every man from Earth.

  "This is hell!" Joe Pasgin exclaimed frantically. He could already envision the Burma evaporating in a cloud of gas when Hendrik Olavson achieved the impossible and took evasive action by a drastic change of course out of the path of the lethal rays in which they had landed.

  The Burma’s formidable acceleration was matched by its powerful thrust absorbers. The roar of the power generators, engines and absorbers penetrated all sound-insulators. Eight murderous shafts of energy streaked past the Burma thousands of kilometers away.

  Now the protective shield of the little spaceship began to reverberate and two huge cascades of fire sputtered away in the black void.

  "Eighty percent of resistance capacity!" Joe Pasgin shouted excitedly.

  The energy field around the Burma had withstood the impact of the foreign energy assault which was instantly followed by a frontal hit.

  "What's going on? Why the bombardment?" Joe Pasgin shouted into the mike to the radio officer as Olavson bolted away in another tight turning manoeuvre pulling the ship off its course.

  "Code signal jammed!" the loudspeaker blared.

  Deringhouse looked over the shoulder of the officer at the sensor panel. Three enormous spaceships of the Imperium class bore down on them with frightening speed, ships with a diameter of 1,500 meters! Their firepower could turn planets into suns—and the Burma measured only 100 meters.

  "Be careful!" Joe Pasgin bellowed but his warning was not so much directed at the crew to gird against the attack from the battleships as at Hendrik Olavson to use restraint in his abrupt twists and turns because he was reluctant to reveal the acceleration potential of the Burma to the Arkonides.