Atlan in Danger Page 5

  "Well, then, it's all simply a question of the risk!" Cardif triumphantly concluded, but his voice remained calm. "The Bank cannot even lose any money if you cause inflation in the Arkonide Empire! And an economic blow is of more consequence than a lost battle!"

  "When will you set off the inflation? Decidenow or we will make use of all the documents and the Bank of the Galactic Traders in Titon on Archetz will be bankrupt within an hour!"

  Never since the Bank had been founded had anyone spoken in such a threatening manner to its two owners. For many generations the clans of Atual and Ortece had gloried in the fact that they had been approached solely with respect.

  One person, however, who was Perry Rhodan's son and had had an Arkonide princess as a mother, confronted them with the alternative of either accepting his plan and causing inflation within the Great Empire or declaring bankruptcy within the hour.

  Beads of perspiration appeared on the foreheads of the 18 Springers as well as those of Atual and Ortece. Thomas Cardif was sitting next to Cokaze.

  Ortece, the slim Springer, cleared his throat. "Tomorrow, Terran! Tomorrow, three time-units after the new rates have been reported from Arkon, Terran!"

  The expression 'Terran' sounded like a curse. Ortece's voice was trembling with helpless fury.

  Thomas Cardif spoke. "Thank you," he said, smiling at the two men. He understood the bankers well. They left without any parting words.

  Eighteen Springers regarded him as if he were a deadly peril. In a cracked voice Cokaze asked: "Cardif, where did you acquire that knowledge about financial interdependencies?"

  "What knowledge am I supposed to have? I'm supposed to know about financial matters? I can't answer that because up until these negotiations with Atual and Ortece I've never given it any thought whatsoever!"

  • • •

  The GHC Company in Capetown was no longer a heavy industrial center of the African Federation. By declaring a state of emergency, Perry Rhodan had the industrial complex confiscated by Solar Defense. The search mission uncovered so much evidence of traitorous connections to the Springer clan of Cokaze that not even the opposition publication of the African Federation dared to criticize the confiscation.

  The Ara toxins found at Rochard's, Artun's and Sharkey's were analyzed in the medical laboratory and found to be previously unknown poisons which, when injected in a human, elicited hypnotic or suggestive abilities of phenomenal strength. Their great danger lay not in their toxic quality but in the fact that the effect lasted for over 6 months.

  The solar system, startled out of a deceptive calm in the first half of the year 2044 by the sudden appearance of Druuf spaceships, next experienced the invasion by a great Arkonide robot fleet. And it had made the acquaintance of the cylindrical ships of the Galactic Traders.

  Suddenly being confronted with these facts and realizing that the enormous might of the Solar Empire was not what they thought it was, made the people excited and led to domestic political tensions of a serious nature. Rhodan had mastered the situation; the Springer fleet of Patriarch Cokaze had left the System. Thanks to Atlan's generosity, the Solar combat units were stronger than ever but nothing could detract from the realization that there were dangerously loud rumblings within the Arkonide Empire and that the collapse of the Great Empire would also result in the downfall of the solar system.

  Once again the destiny of mankind lay in one hand. And once again only a few were aware of it. Not even the men of team 065Propulsion had any idea why Perry Rhodan had been urging for days that they complete their assignment.

  The Hindu, Rabintorge, discovered by Frank Lemmon, section head of F-1 in Solar Defense, had become the team's motor. He himself was motivated by his ambition to prove that his daring hypothesis was correct. He was not contradicted nearly as often as in the initial days. One of the largest computers of Terrania, which he had requisitioned, repeatedly confirmed his findings. But before the computer could be fed this unique data it had to be compiled.

  Structure changes caused by linear hyper-propulsion was the basic problem, doubly difficult to solve as the propulsion itself was almost a mystery to the scientists, except for a few clues.

  In the middle of the night Perry Rhodan was torn from his sleep. The readout screen on the intercom next to his bed flashed on. The dark face of Rabintorge was looking at him—the face of an old man, someone about to have a breakdown.

  "Sir, the positioning device is ready..."

  And Rhodan saw the young Indian slowly collapse, his face fading from the screen. A moment later he was connected with the main hospital.

  "Rhodan speaking! Immediate medical alert with full equipment to Tract 18, Section 065Propulsion! All men present there need medical attention. Total exhaustion. Over!"

  Then Bell was awakened by Rhodan's call. Reginald Bell's sleepy face stared at him from the screen. "You...?" he said, disgruntled. "Do you know how late it is?"

  "Reggie, the tracking device for structural changes by linear hyper-propulsion is ready!"

  Bell was still not fully awake. "Linear hyper-propulsion..." Rhodan saw Bell screw his eyes shut, wipe his hand across his face, yawning heartily as he did so, then instantly become wide awake. "Did you say ready? Who will tell me how the device works and..."

  Rhodan hastily interrupted him. "I'll call you right back." He had made a mistake. Reconnection with medical emergency. He heard that they were already on the way to Tract 18. "Then connect me with Tract 18!" Rhodan demanded.

  A moment later he was speaking to Aeskul-6 of Medical Emergency.

  "Listen," Rhodan hastily urged the physician, "you'll find an Indian in 065 in a state of collapse. Revive him for one-half hour but only if you can take that responsibility. He has to give Mr. Bell some explanations!"

  Rhodan's loudspeaker clicked. He had already switched back through to Bell. "Reggie..." he called. "Rabintorge will brief you on the new tracker in 065Propulsion!"

  • • •

  Four hours later Bell, on board the California, with which he had penetrated space, transmitted only one word: flyswatter.

  Within the exact minute the Drusus took off from Terrania. It was a super battleship with a diameter of 1500 meters, with Perry Rhodan, Mercant, Freyt and the great majority of the Mutant Corps on board. An additional 200 specialists of various scientific fields were included in the special mission which bore the peculiar name of Fly Swatter.

  Far from Pluto's orbit the Drusus warned the measuring stations of the structure shock and simultaneously reported the time of their impending transition.

  Only emergencies permitted a transition within the System; Perry Rhodan laughed bitterly as he thought of it. Again it was all or nothing!

  300,000 kilometers from the California the Drusus returned out of hyperspace back to the normal cosmos. Five minutes later Reginald Bell, a few companions and a work robot swung over to the Drusus cruising alongside them.

  The work robot was carrying the new special tracking device. Bell had not even dared carry it himself. It weighed only a few kilos, was light and easy to transport but it was the only device as yet in existence and Bell considered it his duty to entrust it to a robot.

  It took his group 10 minutes to get from the airlock of the Drusus to the gigantic Command Central. There was no particular reason for haste. While still in the airlock he contacted Rhodan via microphone, stating: "16 25/F 13/S 27, Arkonide sidereal catalog."

  The positronic computer on board registered this information, depositing the perforated strip in the input slot one second later.

  The triple group of letters and numbers was the Arkonide designation for a tiny, dark red sun, 8136 light-years from Earth, which had two equally tiny, uninhabited planets. In this system, which lay in the direction of the so-called 'corkscrew', one arm of the galactic spiral resembling a corkscrew, Reginald Bell had located something. Using the newly developed special tracking device for structure change by application of Druuf linear hyper-propulsion, he had positioned
those 3000 Druuf spaceships which had disappeared into the depths of the Milky Way after their flight from the Solar System.

  The tape that Perry Rhodan thoughtfully held in his hand furnished all the data necessary to fly to this small, dark-red glowing sun that was only 1/8th the size of the terrestrial sun.

  At that moment the Drusus and the California were four light-years from Earth. That, too, had been considered in the calculations of the computer.

  Military perfection began to unfold in the large ship Central. Rhodan issued succinct, clear-cut orders, received confirmations from all sides and retained his composure through all questioning.

  When Bell and his group, including the robot carrying the special device, reached Central Command, the California, a ship of the state class measuring 100 meters in diameter, was already on the return flight to Earth. The Drusus, however, was preparing for transition which was to bring it across 8,100 light-years into the vicinity of the insignificant, but for Rhodan now doubly-important, little sun system.

  The super battleship began to accelerate. The computer had set the jump through hyperspace for the 31st minute.

  Perry Rhodan left the Central accompanied by Bell, Mercant and John Marshall. He had delegated command of the spherical giant to Deringhouse.

  Conferences in Rhodan's cabin were always a signal that significant missions were imminent.

  Thus far only Allan D. Mercant had been fully initiated into the plan of Fly Swatter. The Administrator never held long introductions. "At midnight the California will land in Terrania. At that time we in the Drusus will have approached within. 10 to 15 light-years of the system to which, the remainder of the Druuf fleet retreated. A courier ship is waiting in Terrania for the confirmation that we have approached the two planets on which the Druufs landed. Upon receiving our message the courier will take off for Arkon 3. The courier does not know what message he is delivering to the Admiral. The ship computer will not receive any word of it, either. But I hope that Atlan will recall something I once designated as the Ring of the Nibelungs while he and I were in a spherical ship's command central. That key word is all the courier is delivering." Rhodan noticed that Bell was breathing heavily. "Are you short of breath, Reggie?"

  "You couldn't have made it any more complicated, could you, Perry?" he inquired in an equally friendly manner, shaking his head.

  "Complicated?" Rhodan slowly repeated. "Not a bit. I'm simply not willing to incur the slightest risk on this mission. Atlan will have the Ring of the Nibelungs brought from the courier ship. He will immediately know what I have sent him. Then the courier does not return to Earth but will follow us and wait for notification of a coordinate point. Meanwhile we will have contacted the Druufs..."

  Bell and Marshall wanted to get up but they resisted. Bell pensively contemplated his thumb.

  Rhodan's grey eyes blazed momentarily but then he overlooked Bell's insinuation. "We shall arrive at an agreement with the Druuf commander!" Rhodan's voice had suddenly taken on a different tone. His assertion, which sounded implausible, lost its unbelievable character by virtue of his positive assurance.

  Bell remembered the many favors from the Druufs he had experienced first-hand and would never forget. He had no fond memories of them and he was not the man to keep this under wraps. "Perry, we will only reach an agreement with the Druuf boss when he sees no chance of living another second otherwise."

  "How well you have comprehended the situation of the Druufs," Rhodan gently chided, "for the Druufs don't have a chance of ever reaching their own universe."

  "The overlap zone between their universe and the Einstein Universe has become so unstable that a simple changeover from continuum to continuum is becoming more difficult every day. We know that and Atlan knows that but no other person in the Arkon Empire knows it and a certain Thomas Cardif does not know that!"

  "Our trump card is the fact that the captains of the 3,000 Druuf ships know it. They must have discovered by now that their fantastic hyper-propulsion units do not help at all because speed offers no path from our space into their universe and they do not have our lenticular field projectors."

  "That plus the second, equally unfavorable fact that since they brought along their own time, they are only half as fast as we and only reach 50% of the speed of light in normal space flight."

  "The Druufs one day will have computed where the stable discharge fissure is to be found between our two universes, gliding past one another. But I am willing to bet you, Reggie, that they know as well as we do how distant the day is when they'll find the point that will take them home!"

  "When that day arrives, even the longest-living Druuf will have been rotting for decades."

  "Perry," Bell asked in his typical manner, "have you ever heard of the desperate man driven by panic and despair into acting like a madman and doing just the opposite of what everyone had expected?"

  Perry Rhodan nodded affirmatively, then asked: "And have you ever heard of a straw, Reggie?"

  "If we weren't dealing with Druufs, I would have to say—you are right. But the Druufs and their incomprehensible mentality..."

  "If dying is involved... when fear of dying enters, then all creatures are the same, Reggie. That is my basic assumption when I contemplate negotiations with the Druufs."

  The hypercom was activated by Communications Central; the flickering screen demanded Rhodan's attention.

  "Sir, news from the Admiral!" the officer on duty in the large Com Central of the Drusus reported.

  Atlan's grim face regarded the men in Rhodan's cabin. "Perry, I congratulate you on your son. You would be proud of him if he were on our side!"

  That was the prologue. Rhodan's face flushed slightly.

  "Barbarian, the largest bank in the Arkonide Empire, the Bank of the Galactic Traders in Titon on Archetz, has been coerced by a certain Thomas Cardif into creating inflation!

  "You know we have an institution similar to your stock market: for the past three hours it has been the meeting place of men gone crazy because I have not been able to stabilize the dropping exchange rates with the means of the State Bank. My robot computer has given me the advice to undertake nothing against it.

  "Our dear friends the Aras have temporarily discontinued delivery of any medications under very transparent pretenses. I have learned that Thomas Cardif and Cokaze negotiated with the Council of 10 for several hours on Arkon, the main world of the Galactic Traders.

  "Dispatches are arriving from all sectors of the Empire that not one Springer ship is landing or delivering goods. There are only unflightworthy cylindrical ships docked at the space harbors in the various worlds.

  "Three cruiser task forces flown by Galactic Traders have attempted to land on M-13. When I found out about it, the automatic robot defense had already intervened, destroying the three task forces down to the last ship... 362 units!"

  "An absolutely reliable source reports that the Mounders are flying security guard around Archetz."

  "The only worlds where revolution is not yet brewing are Arkon 1, 2 and 3."

  "The reliability of the combat ship commanders at the Druuf front was evaluated by the computer at 47.3%.

  "Now it is rebounding on us like a boomerang that the giant computer largely replaced the robot crews at the Druuf front with people. If the situation continues to degenerate as rapidly as it has for the next 10 hours, then I will give final warning and blast the planet Archetz into the skies. And if that doesn't deter them, then they will get just what they have..."

  Rhodan interrupted him. "Atlan, I would like to advise you not to do anything before hearing from me."

  "Don't underestimate your son, Perry! I could really admire him! Alright, I'll wait, assuming that Cardif allows me the time for it!"

  Rhodan was not able to explain later how he arrived at his response: "Admiral, he will allow you the time!"

  And Atlan on Arkon 3, alone in the gigantic dome of the mammoth computer, suddenly widened his eyes, smiled weakly, then nod
ded and replied: "Rhodan against Rhodan, friend! Does he know you as well as you know him? And do I know you well enough to place the Empire of my fathers and my descendants into your hands for hours? Haven't you realized that our friendship is being subjected to an unbelievable strain as a result of your doing ?"

  "What did you tell me?Admiral, Cardif will allow you the time! "

  "Just consider what I could suspect is behind that and don't forget what the Computer answered to my question of who was masterminding the rebellion. It named the name of Rhodan but it forgot to mention the first name. It should have said Thomas Rhodan alias Cardif! "

  Arkon switched off. Perry Rhodan, always able to instantly react and adapt to a new situation, failed this time. He remained standing in front of the darkened screen to prevent the others from seeing his face which mirrored the storm within him.

  Indeed, he had subjected their friendship to the most severe test. And with his assertion that Cardif will allow you time he had aroused the suspicion that he was covertly working together with Thomas Cardif!

  Anyone else in Atlan's position would have drawn that conclusion. Atlan, however, only asked one question: does Cardif know you as well as you know him?

  But how had he come to make that assertion?

  Rhodan, the mightiest man of the Solar Empire, screwed his eyes shut and tried to compel himself to think about something else but this time his feelings were stronger. They cried out for Thomas. The father cried out for his only son!

  However, Thomas Cardif was on the other side. He did not know any father called Perry Rhodan.

  5/ INEVITABLE CATASTROPHE

  The dark-red little sun was only a pinpoint on the enormous panorama screen of the Drusus. Rhodan had approached within eight light-years of the system in the super battleship. For minutes the transmitter that he had used on missions in the Druuf universe was running warm.

  From the weapons deck the all-clear came. The Drusus was at peak combat readiness. More than 2,200 people on board the cylindrical giant were wearing spacesuits. Tension was crackling in the ship. A half hour previously, shortly after transition, Rhodan had informed his men in brief words about the nature of the mission and its perils.