The Fleet of the Springers Read online

  "Missed!" Hifield shouted disappointedly.

  Tiff forced the destroyer into a sharp curve. The crew felt a gentle pressure, no more than one tenth G. Eberhardt's rangefinder automatically followed the calibrated objective.

  "Three point four!"

  "Fire!"

  This time Eberhardt refrained from shouting but Hifield quickly screamed into the headphones: "Perfect!"

  Eberhardt sighed a breath of relief. Tiff went into a second manoeuvre on the assumption that the remaining ship would return their fire. The turn carried him about 500 miles closer and Tiff realized instantly that this manoeuvre was the most serious mistake he had made.

  He later found out that the range of the heavy Springer guns was below that of the disintegrator and neutron-beamer on board the destroyer. Before Tiff executed his last turn he had been outside the reach of the Springer weapons. His latest turn brought him into the critical range and the Springers were excellent shots.

  His craft suffered a terrible jolt. Tiff closed his eyes in pain. When he was able to open them again the picture on the observation screen had changed. The lights of the stars drew wild streaks from right to left against the black background of space. The damage caused the alarm to give off a whining signal but Tiff didn't need it to know that the destroyer had been hit and its functions badly impaired.

  Tiff realized that it was now a matter of life and death. "Eberhardt!"

  Eberhardt groaned: "Yes...?"

  "Do you have him on target yet?"

  "On target? Good heavens, not Our ship's gyrating. How can I..."

  "I know that," Tiff said brusquely. "The rangefinder works automatically. Start firing when you have him lined up on your scope or he'll finish us!"

  "Yes, I'm drawing a bead on him," Eberhardt said shortly. "But only for three or four seconds."

  "That's enough," Tiff barked. "Shoot!"

  Eberhardt got off another shot but it missed again. Instead the destroyer took another hit that made it rotate in the opposite direction. It also considerably slowed down the violent pitching. Apparently the blow had only grazed them. The alarm signal didn't even sound. Eberhardt fired again. This time he could see on the observation screen that a part of the alien ship went up in gas. It was impossible to determine which part had been vaporized and if the enemy was put out of action.

  "Keep shooting!" Tiff urged.

  When the enemy came into view again he noticed a brilliant white needle-shaped energy-beam flash from the undamaged section of the ship. He doubled up in expectation of the jolt but there was none. The shot soared past the incapacitated destroyer into empty space. However Eberhardt's last shot hit a bull's-eye in midship and eliminated the threat once and for all.

  "We've been lucky," Eberhardt said dryly. "We've just run out of energy for the cannons."

  Tiff whistled through his teeth. "Bad news!" he replied quietly and began to check his instruments.

  First he looked at the life system control indicator. The red lamp blinked and a warning sign read: EMERGENCY RESERVE, DURATION 15 HOURS.

  The hyperwave-transmitter was knocked out. Tiff switched on the receiver but all he could hear was a faint monotonous hum. The drive engines were reduced to 2% of their normal energy.

  3/ Aboard A Springer Ship

  The Solar System reported at 21:45 hours Terra time that it had taken the K-7 on board. Two minutes later the Terra scored another hit on a ship of Captain Harlgas' group, turning it into scrap metal. At 2:51 hours the Stardust and the Terra observed that the other ships of the group launched small auxiliary vessels that transferred the survivors from the badly damaged warship. Rhodan forbade any interference with the rescue work.

  Bell protested. "How are we going to find out whom we're up against?"

  But Rhodan answered calmly, "We can learn that from examining the shipwrecks."

  Shortly before 22:00 hours the Stardust picked off another enemy ship. This time they watched again as their foes made all efforts to save the life of the crew. Then Rhodan gave orders to slow down. At the same time as the Terra and the Stardust reduced their speed, Captain Harlgas fleet fled further from the scene of the debacle.

  Harlgas had meantime been informed that the two ships dispatched in pursuit of the little craft were lost. As soon as his group had reached sufficient velocity Harlgas initiated a transition and disappeared a few minutes later from the sky of the Beta-Albireo sector. Rhodan calmly observed the flight while Reginald Bell stood behind him with clenched fists. "You're letting them slip through our fingers and we're left behind twiddling our thumbs," Bell grumbled.

  Rhodan got up. "Have two rescue teams ready to leave in 10 minutes!" Rhodan commanded sharply without paying attention to Bell's complaint. "I'll take charge of one. Tell Khrest that I would like him to accompany me. Nyssen can lead the other one. He's closer to the first wreck."

  Bell passed on the orders without delay.

  A few minutes later they received the message from the Solar System that three cadets and two girls had left the K-7 in a destroyer just before the Solar System arrived. Among the cadets whose whereabouts were unknown was Julian Tifflor. Bell repeated the message to Rhodan in a state of extreme excitement. Rhodan, however, remained surprisingly unruffled and smiled. "That's alright! Tifflor knows how to take care of himself."

  Bell was so outraged that he couldn't utter a word for some time. And when he finally was about to make a remark, Khrest entered the command center.

  Rhodan walked toward him.

  Khrest's gait was languid, in marked contrast to Rhodan's stride that was indicative of his boundless energy. Khrest's shiny white hair and reddish sparkling eyes displayed an almost unreal beauty. Rhodan's hair looked like raised bristles, after he had repeatedly stroked it with his hands during the recent commotion. His eyes were half closed as if the bright lights in the large room blinded him.

  The Arkonide-descendant of an extremely ancient race and the Earthling-member of a race that had just begun to form a unit.

  "I'd like to take a look at one of the shipwrecks," Rhodan informed him. "I'd appreciate it if you'd accompany me."

  Khrest agreed willingly.

  Five minutes later the rescue team reported its readiness. Rhodan and Khrest rode down to the airlock. The team used a rather primitive vehicle as transport. It had been specifically designed for use between ships in space and was essentially only a rectangular platform of metallic plastic. The platform was large enough to accommodate 20 people. Underneath the simple platform was a highly efficient engine which permitted acceleration and braking up to 100 G and a shock-neutralizer which created a protective field around the entire platform and its crew.

  The field of the neutralizer made other safety measures superfluous since it prevented the men from drifting out into space. Rhodan maintained communication with Reginald Bell, who informed him soon after the bulky platform had left the Stardust that Nyssen and his men had also started out on their mission.

  It took the platform 10 minutes to reach the battered ship. The neutralizer produced a directional gravity-field on the upper part of the vehicle which made it immune to acceleration forces and gave the men the impression that the mighty body of the strange ship were lowered upon them from above.

  The ship had gigantic dimensions. Rhodan estimated its original length at about 1000 feet. The diameter of the cylindrical hull measured approximately 200 feet. Rhodan had seen a lot of alien ships but none could compare in size to this giant. The platform carefully nestled against it. Even now after almost half of the ship had been vaporized it still left an impression of concentrated power and mighty fighting spirit.

  Khrest stood next to Rhodan as the metallic plastic quivered slightly under their feet when it bounced against the hull. Rhodan looked at the Arkonide and saw his lips move behind the flexible face shield as he heard him on the helmet radio say in his Arkonide language. "It's a Springer ship."

  Rhodan nodded thoughtfully. As a result of an intensive and
protracted hypno-training he possessed about the same knowledge as the Arkonide. He was as familiar with the history of the Springers as the Arkonides and knew that only the Springers built ships such as the one before them.

  "What do they have against us?" Rhodan asked.

  Khrest thought for awhile. Finally he answered: "Perhaps they've learned about Terra's trade with Ferrol. This is something that is bound to disturb them greatly."

  "Because they're of the opinion," Rhodan concluded the thought, "that they're the only ones who are allowed to engage in trade on a large scale and across great distances?"

  "Exactly," Khrest confirmed.

  The young lieutenant who had crossed over from the platform to the side of the hull to look for an entrance, reported to Rhodan: "There's no hatch in sight, sir!"

  Rhodan called back: "Take a look if we can enter through the hole from our gun."

  The lieutenant pushed himself away and floated across the hull to the place where the disintegrator-shot from the Stardust had left a jagged hole in the wreck.

  The young officer disappeared inside and called back: "There's nothing in the way, sir; we can get in."

  Rhodan told him to come back. "You're to remain here with three men and wait for us. The others come with Me!"

  The seven men drifted along the high wall of the vast ship, carefully pulled themselves up around the ragged edge of the torn wall and shined their searchlights into the darkness of the fuselage.

  The layout was simple and easy to survey. A spacious gangway formed the axis of the cylindrical ship, leading all the way to the forward end. Before the destruction of the disintegrated rear end it probably extended back through its whole length. Rhodan entered first. He took one step and braced himself firmly against the ribbed floor of the gangway to counteract the jolt of gravity in case a neutralizer had been left intact.

  However he felt nothing. Weightlessness prevailed in the farthest comers of the dead ship. Rhodan pushed himself away and floated through the gangway with a searchlight in his hand.

  Khrest followed him. "Can't you at least tell me what you're looking for?" Khrest inquired.

  "Evidence," Rhodan replied. "It's not enough for me to suspect what's in their mind and why they attacked us. I've got to know!"

  There were a number of hatches and recesses in the walls on both sides of the corridor. Rhodan distributed his men and let each one of them search a few of the rooms behind the hatches. He received the first reports while he was still trying to reach the forward end with Khrest. "Energy capsules for gravity weapons," one man announced.

  "Storeroom for gun repair parts," another reported.

  Rhodan muttered softly. "I figured that the most important departments are located up front," Khrest heard him say.

  They reached a spot where the corridor became twice as wide. Hatches lead into all directions.

  Rhodan called two of the men who had gone through several rooms and found nothing of interest. "Take the left side," he told them. "Khrest and I will inspect the right half."

  The first room Rhodan entered appeared to be the navigation section of the hostile ship. Rhodan recognized a number of the instruments and saw a few with which neither he nor Khrest were familiar. The two soldiers informed him they had found a battle station and probably also the control center of the ship. Rhodan instructed them to look for written records and quickly explained to them that Springer books consisted of little stacks of plastic strips held together at one end.

  A few minutes later one of the two called with the greatest excitement: "I've found a body in here, sir!"

  Rhodan interrupted his search and ran with Khrest to the room from which the message had come. The soldier had turned the bright cone of his lamp on a hulking figure lying motionlessly on the floor. The dead man was clad in his spacesuit but his helmet was not closed and he apparently had died as a result of the implosion following the Stardust's disintegrator shot.

  "Tall and robust," Rhodan murmured. "Built for stronger gravitation. A Springer!"

  Khrest turned away. The sight was too unpleasant for him. He examined the room further with his own searchlight. Khrest began to wonder why the Springers had neglected to order the closing of all spacesuits at the beginning of the battle. They must have been out of their mind. How could it happen on a warship that a member of the crew could be caught by surprise with his helmet open, letting the air for breathing escape?

  This puzzle occupied Khrest's mind so much that he paid no attention to the long metal box standing against the side of the room. Finally he glanced at it again and became horrified. His eyes bulged in fright. Rhodan and the soldier continued to examine the body of the Springer. Khrest was the first to feel the gentle pull of the returning gravity. A few seconds passed before he was able to control his shock and utter a cry of warning. "Look out!"

  Rhodan wheeled around—the searchlight in his left hand and the little thermo-beamer ready to shoot in his right. "What is it?"

  Khrest pointed weakly to the narrow box. "There! A gravity time-bomb!"

  • • •

  The girls regained consciousness at about the same time. Felicita began to cry again after she realized how precarious their situation had become.

  In the meantime Tiff had managed to stop the rotation of the little craft, the spin produced by the impact of the last hit. The destroyer now flew with a speed of about 12,000 miles per second, using the blue satellite of Beta-Albireo as reference point as it was closest to the vehicle. The course was at a right angle to the direction in which the destroyer had moved away from the K-7.

  The retardation of the gyration had cost more energy. If it was possible at all to find a place for landing, it would have to have a dense atmosphere for aerodynamic flight or a surface gravity of less than one G. In any case, the best they could expect was a crash-landing without any guarantee that they would be spared from injury. Eberhardt and Hifield tried to determine what kept the hypercom from functioning and soon found the cause.

  The converter aggregate had been demolished by the shot. The converter aggregate had a three-dimensional input from the generator side and a five-dimensional output to the transmitter side. What went on in between the circuits was among the most difficult processes to understand. There were only two or three people on Earth besides Rhodan who had the expertise required for the converter aggregate and none of the three cadets were among them.

  "No go," Hifield sighed resignedly.

  This was the result Tiff had expected. "Keep the receiver tuned in anyway!" he reminded them.

  After awhile he came to see that the destroyer would cross the imaginary line between the centers of gravity of the two suns approximately midway, which meant that they would pass a few thousand miles closer to the surface of the orange-colored giant since it was considerably larger than the blue dwarf.

  So far Tiff had been unable to locate any planets, since some of his most important navigation instruments, especially the long distance rangefinder, had become inoperable. However, Tiff was not overly concerned about it. He had noticed from aboard the Orla XI that this star system possessed a planet. Systems with one plant only occurred very rarely and it was, therefore, fairly safe to assume that there were other satellites present.

  The vital question was, though, whether the destroyer would perchance get close enough to one to risk a change of course and to make a landing attempt. Of course all this would have to happen before the critical time of 15 hours had expired. Eventually Felicita ceased crying, which provided great relief for everybody. After an hour had elapsed, Tiff said with a tired voice: "Fourteen hours left. Go to sleep if you can! Later on we'll have to be wide awake."

  • • •

  A terrific wave of unchained gravity surged into the small room at the instant Khrest had sounded his warning. The soldier collapsed, moaning. The floor shook as he went down. Khrest was brought to his knees. Rhodan alone was able to stay on his feet. Khrest's first shout had prepared him for the w
orst. Nobody reacted faster than Perry Rhodan. But the terrible pull weakened him more and more. Rhodan carefully lowered himself to the floor and lay flat on his back. He tried to regulate his breathing. The attempt was successful. Rhodan felt jabbing pains with every movement of his lungs but his breath kept flowing and his life was maintained.

  Rhodan tried to remember what he knew about gravity time-bombs. Gravity time-bombs were insidious weapons whose purpose was to pin down an opponent until the user had gained enough time to return with reinforcements or to slowly torture a victim to death.

  How foolish of me, Rhodan thought, wondering at the same time about the slowness with which his mind worked under the influence of the increased gravity. I should've anticipated that they'd lay a trap in this wreck.

  With a tremendous effort he turned his head around enough so that he could get a glimpse of the bomb. The searchlights of Khrest and the soldier had fallen out of their hands and lay broken on the floor. His own lamp was still shining at his side. Although it was not pointed at the bomb it bathed the entire room in light. The shell of the bomb was about three feet long. It was cylindrical with a diameter of about one foot.

  A ridiculously small object like that can produce such an immense amount of gravitational energy, Rhodan thought.

  He estimated the pressure prevailing in the room at about 15 to 20 G. In any case it was too much to let him move a hand. Rhodan noticed that the gravitational force was still growing. He tried to estimate the rate of increase and guessed that it amounted to about 0.1 G per minute. He could have erred by a factor of 2 or 3. Nevertheless the time would soon come—and at this point in his deliberation he suddenly thought of Nyssen. Nyssen! Nyssen was crawling around the other ship. Perhaps he was falling at this very moment into the same trap! He rallied all his waning strength and spoke: "Nyssen... a G-bomb... concealed... in the wreck. Watch yourself!"

  Perspiration flowed from his forehead and ran into his eyes. He moaned and turned his head back to its original position. His helmet radio crackled. "Nyssen to Commander! We've found nothing, sir! Anything wrong with you? Shall we come over to help you?"