The Blue System Read online

  I said nothing. We knew each other too well to waste words. I knew what he was trying to tell me. Naturally I had not neglected to provide myself with emergency defense equipment in addition to my more obvious weapons belt. I knew I still had the device on my person. The Akons' search of my clothing had probably been quite thorough but they apparently could not imagine that a man of my lofty rank could be forced to resort to such melodrama in order to counteract paid assailants and half-mad fanatics.

  "What can you come up with?" This time Perry looked directly at me. Yokida's face had also become tense.

  "An honorary donation from the Supreme Council of Arkon, which is still in my chest pocket. It's a pulse-powered writing machine for preparing pretty documents in 3 separate colors."

  "How nice! So what else do you have?"

  I was aware of giving him a mischievous grin. "Nobody knows that it's been reworked by your little cucumber people, the Swoons—the most ingenious micro-technicians in the galaxy. They built in a micro-beamer. That was with the kind permission of your Solar Intelligence organization."

  His brow furrowed for a moment. Apparently Allan D. Mercant had made no file record of it, which was a sign of the man's special circumspection, if not his consideration. Rhodan checked his watch again and finally began to lay the groundwork for our action.

  "It's pretty darned hot in here, you know?" he complained. He stood up and wiped sweat from his brow while he turned his eyes toward the air-conditioning outlet. Then he walked up to the ventilator screen and placed his face as close as possible to it as though to take advantage of the stream of fresh air.

  Tama Yokida looked at me expectantly but in the interim I had reconsidered.

  "Don't force it open unless I fail in something I'm going to try. Hold off!"

  I began to rummage through the drawers of the built-in commode nearby and Rhodan came back. It wasn't time yet to keep the camera lens covered but it was a good rehearsal.

  "You looking for something?"

  "Writing material," I said in pretended vexation. "Pulse foil or even ordinary paper..."

  "Oh."

  Moments later I walked over to the large viewscreen. It was built into the steel wall right next to the door. I could hear the roar of the ship's propulsion system, which was evidently still functioning at maximum power. Just as I was looking for the right buttons to push, the screen lit up and the face of Auris of Las-Toor appeared. But she was not calling in regard to what I had pretended to be looking for.

  "Please get back on your cots," she said, "and prepare to hold on tight. Our next flight manoeuvre will be quite a strain on you."

  Her tone of voice was merely indifferent but that quickly changed when Rhodan made a fast retort.

  "Well now, is your linear space-drive so poorly designed that physical discomfort can occur? In ours we've eliminated all that."

  The girl appeared to become indignant. As Rhodan watched her on the screen his facial expression was enough to bring far less sensitive persons to the boiling point.

  "That is a matter that must be left to the judgment of the Akon scientists, Your Excellence!"

  Rhodan acknowledged mockingly. "That is my title, Madam—thank you for your courtesy. May I put in a request?"

  "Hurry, then—the manoeuvre takes place in 3 minutes!"

  "The Imperator requires writing materials so that he may prepare a formal complaint for the representatives of your government. Pulse foil if you have any. We have a small writing machine."

  "I'll attend to it."

  She gave us a formal nod and closed the connection. I cleared my throat nervously and went over to lie down on my cot. Again I had occasion to marvel at Rhodan's quick uptake. He had grasped my idea almost immediately. It was better to have the door opened by the Akons themselves. Certainly we wouldn't have gotten by the guards they must have posted outside—not without using force. So I had preferred to have them enter by official orders.

  Tama and Rhodan also lay down on their bunk-like cots. Seconds later we heard a new thundering which emanated from the wall to our left. I suspected that they had put their mysterious hyper-propulsion into operation for linear flight. There followed a severe type of warp-shock which brought with it a pulling pain of short duration. For about the length of a single breath my vision dimmed but then it returned to normal.

  That was all there was to it. We heard a shrill sound of bells, which seemed to announce that the emergency was over with. I raised myself up again.

  "Hm-m—that was close to being a dematerialization," said Rhodan. "Obviously a transitional shock on entering semispace. How come they can't do away with that or—" He thought with a new intensity for a moment. "Or do these unpleasant side effects have something to do essentially with an important technical factor we don't know about?"

  I was also surprised by the experience. On the Terran linear drive ships the transition into the dimensionally unstable realm of semispace was accomplished without any noticeable physical complications. However, this gave me an idea.

  "Whenever the Regent tracked one of these Akon ships before, there was no sign of warp-shock disturbances. Could it be that they do fly normally without any transition shocks—just like your new Terran ships—except when they are forced into a special manoeuvre? It seems that your Ironduke is breathing too hard down their necks."

  Rhodan pursed his lips and sat there motionlessly for awhile with the tips of his fingers pressed together. After a time I could tell that he was straining to pick up a telepathic contact with his mutants on board the battleship. After a few minutes his face was streaming with sweat again but he gave it up.

  "No use! We're in a libration zone between the Einstein continuum and paraspace. When any ship travels faster than light-speed like this, it has to develop a spherical field screen which has the same characteristics as a telepathic block. I can't get through anymore. Tama—are you ready?"

  The mutant got up casually. With a forced yawn he strolled leisurely over to the viewscreen and curiously inspected the alien-looking switch-panel beneath it. Rhodan issued a few swift instructions. It was obvious that we had to attempt to reach the Control Central. The crew of this ship could not be very large. Nevertheless we couldn't hope to incapacitate the men of this Energy Command one after another, even though Yokida's psychokinetic powers were worth several heavily armed soldiers. Even he was not immune to deadly weapons and none of us had separate defense screens.

  On the other hand, the limited crew in the Control Central could probably be overcome, provided that we could manage to reach that area.

  Rhodan gave us some additional information about the inner construction of the ship. Pucky the mouse-beaver had once been able to penetrate the interior of an Akon spaceship. According to his report there was little difference between this and one of out own spacecraft. After all, we Arkonides had originated from Akon, and the Terrans had copied our designs faithfully.

  All we were concerned with was to temporarily take over the Control Central, cut off the linear drive and hold the room for a short period of time. TheIronduke was unquestionably close on our heels and once it came within firing range the Akons would be in for some surprises.

  Rhodan got up again and went over to the ventilator, where he turned his perspiring face toward the air stream coming out of the blower. This happened at the moment when the steel door slowly opened.

  5/ PERRY'S ATYPICAL ACTION

  There were three of them: two armed guards and an unarmed officer who wore some unrecognizable rank insignia on the jacket of his uniform. The two men escorting him carried hand weapons which were also strange to us. The gun muzzles were lowered as they entered.

  Tama Yokida stood in a position where he could keep his eyes on the door panel. Rhodan had turned so that his back was to the other wall but his head and neck still covered the ventilator area. His broad shoulders must have been blocking the view of the camera lens.

  The big viewscreen was not operating at the mo
ment, and probably it was actually out of commission because Yokida had manipulated the controls a bit 'too expertly'. What he had also been able to do to the inner circuits of the apparatus by means of his psychokinetic powers I could fairly well imagine.

  I was sitting on my bunk-cot facing the officer. We had to get him to come farther into the cabin. The Akon must have received instructions to maintain a reserved degree of politeness. In his right hand he carried a transparent case containing greyish-white pulse foil, apparently of the same kind that was used on Arkon.

  He came closer to me finally and then stopped with a slight inclination of his head. "Your Majesty, we hope that this material will be usable in your pulse writer. If not, you will have to be satisfied with my manual scriber."

  "Does it transcribe in printed form?"

  "No, Your Highness, you would have to guide the beam-stylus with your hand."

  By this I knew that they had made a close inspection of my special 'typewriter'—of course without discovering its hidden secret. Also, it seemed that the admonishments Rhodan and I had given them concerning the possible consequences of our abduction had finally borne fruit The Akons were suddenly being quite accommodating. Had they had time to realize what complications their diplomatic 'goof' might engender? The close pursuit of theIronduke could not have gone unnoticed. They might even have picked up a radio challenge from its commander.

  The officer removed a sheet of foil from the case and placed it on a portable writing pad he had brought along. I very calmly reached into my pocket and withdrew the writing instrument which was not much larger than an old-fashioned fountain pen. Unobtrusively I released the firing safety. It was uncanny what the Swoons had been able to pack into the tiny space provided. The thermal-type needle beam was 10 times thinner than the finest hair. It did not operate on the normal catalysis principle of a laser-type fusion emission but was more like the original laser beam, using a fine concentration of high-frequency light. It produced largely the same effect.

  I saw Yokida's eyes staring at nothing, as though he was in a trance. Actually, however, he was concentrating on the two guards. During the apparently boring discussion they had let their weapon muzzles sink even lower toward the deck.

  In a pontifical gesture I looked up at the officer and pointed my micro-weapon at him as he took two steps backward uncertainly. At the moment Rhodan could not take a hand in the action. He still had to keep the camera eye covered. With the instrument pointed at him the officer presumed that I was addressing him indirectly.

  "How good or bad are your medical scientists?" I inquired.

  The question startled him. "Have you been injured, Your Highness?"

  "No, but unfortunately I am going to have to wound you somewhat. It won't be too bad."

  I pressed the tiny firing button, at the same time narrowing my eyes to slits for protection. Which was none too soon because a soundless and blinding light beam struck the Akon in his right shoulder. At first he did not react but then he began to sway, after which he finally dropped to the deck. Ultra-frequency beams of this type were seldom deadly, especially when so finely focused and not directed at vital organs. However, the shot was generally accompanied by such a shock of pain that in most cases the victim lost consciousness.

  It had all happened in the fraction of a second. Tama Yokida had acted with far less delicacy. His incomprehensible powers had gripped the two sentries and slammed them down on the floor. I sprang to their sides and stunned them senseless with a brief throttling of blood supply to their brains. This trick of inducing unconsciousness had been taught to me by a Greek doctor whose superior knowledge at that time had won him an appointment as royal physician to the Roman military monarch Septimus Severus.

  These ancient memories came to me fleetingly as the second guard lost consciousness. Hastily I got to my feet. Yokida was already busy with the task of destroying the hidden camera pickup. He had to be clever enough in his work to make it look like a normal electronic failure.

  Rhodan came forward without a word. He appropriated the guards' weapons and tossed one of them to the mutant. We hardly had to say anything because our course was clear. The narrow passage outside our cabin was empty. The thundering of the ship's propulsion drowned out the sound of our footsteps as we hurried along toward our goal. When we came to a turn in the passage we paused to orient ourselves. According to the ship's sounds we appeared to be on what was known as the equatorial deck in the center. From this area the bulkhead hatch of the Control Central could be reached. If the Akons operated in space according to our own experience, there should be no difficulties in this region. There were no other crew stations on the equatorial deck since there were no weapons installations here nor any auxiliary navigational posts.

  We continued forward. In about 5 minutes the guards would regain consciousness and sound the alarm. Meanwhile perhaps the failure of the spy camera would have been noticed. But now we were committed—it was all or nothing. The corridor started to curve which was typical of a spherical spacer. A few yards farther on we discovered a radial passage which evidently led to the centrally located Control Central. There was more probability of encountering someone here than elsewhere because the lift shaft was somewhere close by.

  Rhodan spoke in low tones. "Tama—if anybody gives us any trouble, you have permission to fire."

  He carefully checked the cross-passage but there was no one to be seen. A few moments later we were standing in front of the circular hatch door of an airlock. It was obvious that it led to the Control Central. Rhodan calmly activated the opening switch and the steel hatch swung back. We knew that this would cause an indicator lamp to light up on a panel somewhere inside. This one had to expect no matter whose ship was involved.

  We stepped inside, closed the outer hatch behind us and activated the switch of the inner door. I prepared myself for meeting men now who would be armed with ready weapons. To me it seemed that a whole day must have transpired since we had overcome the three Akons in our cabin but my watch told me that not even 4½ minutes had passed.

  Slowly the ponderous inner hatch swung back before us. The subdued light from the airlock flooded into the dimly illuminated control room. We made out only the heads of two Akons whose backs and shoulders were shielded by their high-backed contour seats. Due to our restricted angle of vision these two were all we could see at first.

  Tama Yokida sprang ahead of us and I followed with Rhodan behind me. As he came through the hatch he swung his free hand to activate the closure of the lock behind us. I heard someone cry out. The mutant stood there with his legs apart, slightly inclined forward like a track-runner ready to spring, his eyes on all who were present in the relatively small chamber.

  There were five men and a young woman—Auris of Las-Toor. She was resting on a contour couch that was off to one side which indicated that she was not connected with the ship's fight crew. I recalled Rhodan's report in which she had been described as a sociologist. She probably understood very little of a translight spaceship's controls.

  I whirled around and aimed the micro-beamer at the thin line separating the armorplated hatch door from the bulkhead wall. As I fired a searing brilliance of light pained my eyes but the steel began to melt immediately. I produced a few weld joints so that I could be sure that no one would be able to enter here without special equipment.

  Then I heard Rhodan's announcement: "I hereby declare a state of war between the Solar Imperium and the Akon stellar empire. By virtue of my administrative authority and on the basis of emergency powers vested in me I am authorized to issue this declaration even without the written consent of the Solar Federal Government. I must inform you that as prisoners of war you must obey my orders. As of now you are under martial law, which you will kindly not confuse with piracy and ambush!"

  I had suspected as much! Rhodan had actually acquired extraordinary emergency powers. The happenings of the past few months and now this abduction were sufficient grounds for him to take dir
ect action and make this official war declaration. Therefore, our present activities came under the heading of a legitimate military operation.

  One of the tall Akons ducked down suddenly in his seat and reached for his weapon. Tama Yokida fired first and the Akon was killed instantly. Auris screamed, staring at us in bewilderment. Rhodan turned about and also fired his alien weapon at the lock door, which became all the more deformed and unworkable. The Akon raygun operated with very little sound and generated no heat effects other than at the impact point. Evidently it was a version of the Arkonide disintegrators, which shattered molecular bonds in crystalline structures.

  Alarm whistles began to shriek. We paid no attention to them. The four remaining members of the fight crew did not make a move. They sat there silently and watched us. Only in Auris' lovely face could we see a trembling reaction.

  Rhodan didn't give her time to collect her thoughts. "You will give the order immediately to come out of hyper-flight and return us to the normal universe. I am not jesting, Madam!"

  I noticed that she cast a quick glance toward the main viewscreen. A superimposed light line pointed toward a blue sun that was still but a small, barely discernible disc. I presumed that it was the central star of the Akon System. This was how the target was kept in sight during translight space travel.

  Auris still hesitated. She seemed about to say something to us but quickly restrained herself. One of the other Akons cleared his throat nervously as she gave the order: "Follow the instructions of His Excellence," she said. "The state of war alters the situation."

  Rhodan looked at her suspiciously. I was also immediately on my guard. Her acquiescence had come a bit too quickly. When I saw one of the flight officers touch a green-lighted switch, I yelled.

  "Hit the deck—the G-shocks!"

  I dropped to the deck and was joined there by Tama and Rhodan. It was obvious that they had hoped to take us by surprise in our standing positions so that we would be incapacitated for a few seconds by the pressure of the momentary thrust and the semi-dematerialisation effects, during which they planned to overpower us. I was aware of the eerie murmuring whisper that accompanied the transition but here somehow it was not as pronounced. The pulling pains followed and for a moment my vision dimmed again.