Snowman in Flames Page 5

  Hump cleared his throat and took her head, holding it between his own two large ones. "Don't be frightened, honey, I'm here with you."

  Felicita smiled bravely. Tiff grinned. He glanced at Milly and their eyes met in secret agreement. "How nice this monster Hump can be if he loves the right girl. I like him much better when he behaves this way."

  Hump mumbled something incomprehensible and turned to Pucky. "Well, where are your pretty citizens of this iceworld sleeping?"

  Pucky kept on waddling ahead. "Whether they are pretty or not still remains to be seen. After all, tastes differ." And with an oblique glance in Felicita's direction he added: "Thank goodness!"

  • • •

  The fleet of the Mounders was approaching Terra's Moon. Topthor, somewhat filled with misgivings after his conversation with the Earthman whom he believed to be Rhodan's proxy, had instructed his commanders not to let their direction finders out of their eyes for even a single second. He was in constant communication with Grogham.

  "I wonder if they really meant it when they warned us, Topthor? What if they really are as powerful as they want us to believe? What if they actually do possess another ship of the same type as the Stardust , armed with the same weapons? We might have been mistaken..."

  "Nonsense!" Topthor cut him off in mid-sentence. "Under no circumstances can we allow anyone to resist us. What would that lead to? Other people might find out about such a rebellious attitude and get silly ideas of raising their custom duties or trying their own hand at galactic trading. We would lose our monopoly. No, unless we assert ourselves as the masters of galactic trade, all traders can pack up and go home—wherever that might be. And we would be out of a job, for what convoys of valuable goods would there be left to protect for us?"

  Grogham didn't avert his eyes from the screen. "You are right, Topthor, of course. But I can't help feeling very alarmed. I can't forget how quickly that Rhodan wiped out our five ships."

  Topthor did not reply. Grogham's words reminded him of the first defeat he had suffered in his long life. He still was at a loss to explain how Rhodan had managed to destroy five of his battleships before the two enemies had engaged in a proper battle. Rhodan must possess a weapon beyond anyone's power of conception. This weapon could pass right through all powerful energy screens and penetrate inside the battleships where they would set off a horrible, all-devastating explosion.

  He was startled out of his reverie by a sudden shout from Grogham. "Look there—the Terranians! The giant spacesphere of the Arkonides! Those traitors have made common cause with the lowly Earthling."

  The Stardust came zooming in at almost insane speed, then circled around Topthor's fleet keeping at a safe distance from it. For the present it did not look as if an attack was impending.

  Topthor checked his instruments. "Continue on the same course, Grogham. We are going in for a landing. Do not attack. Wait until they open fire on us."

  He remembered only too well that Rhodan would not destroy his enemy's ships until they had first opened up with hostilities. Maybe the commander of this enemy ship shared Rhodan's point of view in this respect.

  Of course he had no way of knowing that this commander actually was Rhodan in person. Neither could he know that Rhodan considered this imminent landing manoeuvre already an hostile act with the implicit consent of the Immortal who had put the tele-transmitters at his disposal.

  The Earth's moon was gliding by over to the left. The green-blue globe of Terra rapidly grew larger, for Topthor still had not issued the command to slow down. The 11 giant spacecraft continued their unflagging advance toward that planet which the galactic traders intended to incorporate in their colonial realm.

  Topthor was not especially surprised when an excessive loud voice suddenly sounded above all his loud-speakers aboard. It was the same cold hard voice he was already familiar with. It must be that Freyt again, who had earlier made such an unyielding impression.

  "Topthor, I warned you! Keep your hands off Earth! We are ready to enter into free trade relations with the galactic traders but we are not willing to submit ourselves to your terms."

  "We'll start negotiating after we land on Earth!" replied Topthor, although he felt none too happy at the thought. "Our weapons will not speak unless forced to."

  "Nobody is stupid enough to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, as we say here on Earth, Topthor. You only pretend to come in peace. Your landing on our planet is a hostile act. I'm warning you a second time! You have exactly 30 seconds left to clear away from here."

  Topthor stared at the Earth which constantly kept increasing in size. He could distinguish the various continents from each other and recognized the big cities, the white ribbons of the big roads linking towns, the glittering network of the railroads, the expansive cultivated areas. Down there were all the signs of a thriving civilization; these people were carrying on trade and industry, profits were being made—this was too tempting an opportunity to pass up so easily.

  "Why won't you allow any negotiations on your planet?"

  "We have our reasons, specifically reasons of a tactical nature. And foremost it is a question of principle." Of course Rhodan could not admit that there were a sufficient number of other motives not to permit the Springers under any circumstances to land on Earth. For Earth was not yet officially united, did not yet own a powerful spacefleet with which it was possible to ward off potential attacks of entire galactic civilizations. Earth's might was still based on a bluff, for the Stardust was the only genuine battleship at Rhodan's disposal. "I am warning you now for the last time, Topthor! Turn around before it is too late. Five seconds to go!"

  However Topthor let these precious seconds pass too.

  Unmoving he sat in front of the frontal screen on which everything was to be seen which was of interest to him; the Earth, the gigantic spacesphere and his own 10 battle cruisers. He was beset by doubts for the first time in his life. He was not sure whether he was doing the right thing - or whether he was making a mistake.

  But Rhodan quickly relieved him of this uncertainty.

  Topthor suddenly saw how two of his ships began to glow from the inside and simply broke apart. The molten wreckage fell heavily toward the planet, whose gravitational pull had become effective in the mean-time. Inside less than 10 seconds Topthor lost two ships despite the fact that the spacesphere had made not a single movement which would lead to believe it was about to make an attack. And still, only this space-sphere could have accomplished this feat.

  Now the frontal screen showed Rhodan's face. "Well, Topthor, you still want to land on Earth or have you changed your mind? I'm giving you a final chance."

  But Topthor did not want a final chance. He still believed in his own superiority. So far his ships had not fired a single shot. He never so much as looked at Rhodan and never even stopped to think how that Terranian he believed to be Rhodan had managed to hook up with his own television network. Regardless of the fact that his commands could be heard as well as seen by the unwelcomed outsider, he roared full of fury: "Grogham—attack! Simultaneous general attack! Torpedoes, energy ray cannons! Deploy all available weapons!"

  Then once more he looked at the screen and gazed into the Earthling's eyes, now grown flint-like in their steely stare.

  "You have no one to blame but yourself. Topthor," said Rhodan and his voice had the hard ring of metal. "I'll spare you and Grogham—not out of pity or leniency but merely because I want some one of the Mounder clan to survive, so that the other Springers can learn what fate awaits them if they come to Earth with notions of conquering us. Terra is far stronger than all the war-like civilizations of the Milky Way, Topthor. And there is another message you can carry back to your race: we are prepared to live in peaceful coexistence with anyone but we'll annihilate ruthlessly all who attack us. The empire of the Arkonides is still living—as well as its laws that serve the preservation of peace."

  Topthor's eyes narrowed as he waited for Grogham to pass on and
carry out his orders. But before Grogham could do anything at all, Topthor lost two more of his ships, which without any noticeable reason suddenly dissolved into their atomic particles.

  With the rest of his seven spaceships, the Mounder tried to take his opponent by surprise in a desperate all-out attack. But the torpedoes detonated before they could reach the spacesphere's hull and the concentrated beams of the energy ray cannons flowed off harmlessly from the invisible protective shell around the Stardust .

  And then there were only five of Topthor's ships.

  Topthor's mind refused to accept the reality of this catastrophe. It was unheard of that anyone in the universe could simply break through energy screens as if they did not exist. These Terranians must possess some mysterious method by which they could change their enemies from one state of condition to another—from matter to pure energy. But how could that be accomplished without touching the protective screen? Topthor found no answer to his question and now he had only three battle cruisers left.

  Then his instinct of survival won out over his ambition. "Grogham—let's leave! Emergency transition! Rendezvous with Etztak!"

  And his huge hand slammed down on the lever which would carry him away to safety. Grogham followed suit but the last ship of the Mounders could not escape its doom. It evaporated high up above Earth's atmosphere. Never before in his life had Perry Rhodan struck so hard and pitilessly. But he had to do it for the sake of mankind's survival—and he was determined that the human race should go on living free from alien invaders' rule.

  4/ THE IMPLACABLE PUCKY

  Although Orlgans was the first to discover the Terranians and also to establish contact with them, he submitted to the will and to the orders of his clan patriarch Etztak who now has assumed the direct chief command. The Springers were not at all used to doing battle, for they were foremost a nation of traders mainly interested in business deals. If in the pursuit of their activities it turned out that they had to fight in order to accomplish their goals, they simply called upon the Mounders to come to their assistance, paid the agreed upon wages—and were rid of them again in no time.

  This time however the situation was entirely different. This case dealt with a thus far completely unknown planet, by the name of Terra, whose inhabitants had leapt forward all of a sudden to become one of the space traveling races. They had found support by the Arkonides in their endeavors. It was definitely a world worthwhile exploiting commercially.

  If other clans should find out about this discovery, Etztak was bound to forfeit his hoped for trade monopoly. Therefore Etztak had made up his mind to battle it out on his own against Earth and Rhodan. It seemed more difficult that one would have believed. And to top it all off, the Mounders had turned up after all, but Etztak was not sure whether they knew Terra's position. They might be just bluffing.

  Well, Topthor had promised to let himself be heard from.

  These were the thoughts passing through Orlgans' mind as he was orbiting in ever narrowing circles around the iceworld. Now and then he had his energy cannons fire some rounds at the ice mountains and bare rocks, although this seemed a totally senseless enterprise. The motivation for these useless acts was of a purely psychological nature.

  Orlgans cringed at the thought of destroying this inhabitable planet by starting an unextinguishable atomic conflagration. This measure was permissible only if one's own safety depended on it. This was not at all the case here. In his fury, Etztak wanted to annihilate an entire world, simply because he wanted to revenge himself on five Earthlings who had led him by the nose.

  Orlgans hadn't much to do. He needed only to land on any odd place on this planet, so cruelly and unnecessarily condemned to death, and to plant a time bomb which would be detonated after the landing party had safely escaped. But once exploded, the bomb would release a chain reaction which would continue as long as there was any solid matter present on this planet. The reaction proceeded slowly. Days would pass before the planet would be completely changed into a fiery sun—but once started, the process was irreversible. There was nothing that could save the condemned second planet of the Beta-Albireo system from its doom.

  Yet Orlgans was still hesitating.

  In case the Supreme Court of the Traders should call Etztak to account for his deed, Orlgans too would be held responsible by law and subject to the same punishment. They would say he ought to have refused to execute this insane order which wiped out a world capable of development. But what on the other hand would have happened to him if he had disobeyed Etztak's instructions? Wouldn't he have brought down the patriarchs ire on himself? Wouldn't the old man have caused him untold difficulties forever?

  Orlgans was breathing heavily as he stared at the icy desert whizzing past below his spaceship. Was there anything down there that actually could be destroyed? Ice and snow, that was all. Any living beings? Only those five Earthlings. Otherwise, nothing.

  He shrugged his shoulders and grasped the controls. He executed a sharp turn which brought the ship to the North pole where it touched down gently in the deep snow. But the snow was not resilient; it was hard and frozen over. Orlgans switched on the intercom. He waited until the first officer of the ORLA XI came on, then said:

  "Report to me here at central command, Raganzt. We have to carry out a mission."

  Orlgans had no idea, however, that he had already halfway executed Etztak's orders, for one of his randomly fired energy shots at the surface of the iceworld had by now set in motion a series of catastrophic events.

  • • •

  Cadet Klaus Eberhardt had cleared away the washed dishes and amused himself by asking RB-013 totally superfluous questions. He was lying comfortably on a blanket, stretched out in front of the robot's feet, which supplied a constant pleasant warmth. "Are you feeling cold, Aubrey?" he queried the machine man. The robot had been baptized Aubrey by the five members of the expedition. "After all, you have no one to keep you warm."

  "A very logical question, provided I were a living organism," retorted RB-013 Aubrey. "Since I am not anything of the kind, your question is illogical."

  "I was merely asking for lack of something better to do," apologized Eberhardt. "It's so boring if the others aren't here. It's enough to get scared."

  "This too is illogical," reprimanded the robot with a slightly rusty sounding voice. "The danger would not be any less if the other four were here with you now."

  Eberhardt sighed. "Man alive, can't you even once forget that you are only an automaton? Haven't you any feelings and don't you know something besides logic?"

  "You call me 'man,' you forgetful creature! I am RB-013, built in Terrania with the serial number..."

  "Oh, I know all that!" moaned Eberhardt, regretting ever having started such a conversation with this miserable Mr Know-It-All. "It was just a slip of the tongue; I'm sorry."

  Suddenly the young cadet heard a shrill whistling noise, an eerie howling—and then he was inundated by a wave of almost unbearable heat. The blankets they had hung up between the boxes were torn away and flung against the rocky wall. But although the blankets no longer screened off the light intruding from the exit as before, it still was dark at the spot which led to the outside surface. Nor did any icy polar air stream into the cave, as should be expected now. On the contrary, the temperature was rising.

  Aubrey automatically turned off the heat and took his blanket. He slowly sat up. "What was that? What happened?"

  A clearly audible clicking noise came from the robot's inside, a sure sign that he was consulting his positronic brain. Then he said. "The cave entrance has been closed off by heat rays. There are two logical indications for this: first the rising temperature inside the cave and second the absence of daylight. Thirdly it should be mentioned that the icy draught is also missing. My thermometer shows a temperature of 70° Fahrenheit. That is rather unusual. But again it is not so unusual if my conclusions are correct."

  Eberhardt grew pale at the realization what these conclusions were.
"The cave is sealed off from the outside?" He rose to his feet. "Is that what you mean to say? By heat rays? The Springers?"

  "Probably. Who else could have done it? Their energy rays melted the rock and the cave entrance was then sealed off from the outside when the molten rock masses began to congeal again. I suppose this happened by sheer accident."

  "Some consolation," whispered Eberhardt, noticing how sticky the air had become. "How thick is the wall?"

  "This can be ascertained only when Pucky returns." Now suddenly the thought of his comrades and the girls crossed his mind. "Good heavens, the others! I wonder where they are now? I hope nothing happened to them!"

  "They are safer than us here," Aubrey reassured him. "Let's just wait here quietly till they get back. Meanwhile we are perfectly safe here. At least I'm saving energy now because it is not so cold in here as before."

  "And how about the air? What are we supposed to breathe if there is no new supply of fresh air coming in from the outside?"

  Aubrey raised one of his four arms and pointed in the direction where Pucky and his friends had disappeared. "There is a constant new current of air with the right amount of oxygen streaming in here from over there. It even makes it unnecessary that I switch on my air renewal aggregate."

  Eberhardt stared into the dark corridor. "Fresh air? From there? How's that possible?"

  For the first time the robot was at a loss what to answer. "I do not know," he admitted. "I have no clues to find an explanation for this phenomenon.

  Eberhardt sank down again on his blanket and seemed to forget that he had become a prisoner of the cave. "Thank God!" he moaned contentedly. "I finally did it, I stumped the expert!"

  • • •

  Tiff came to a halt and inhaled deeply several times. "I believe it has become much warmer. I'm also wondering how the air can be so surprisingly fresh down here so deep below the surface. Is there any explanation for this, Pucky?"