A World Gone Mad Page 7

  Harnahan stood on this moon without an atmosphere in the presence of the greatest miracle ever beheld by human eyes. Above him sparkled the unending light of the stars, which made him aware of his utter solitude. He was alone and had to cope with the impossible.

  Your race is mighty, Harnahan, the thoughts of the sphere interrupted him as if they were spoken words,but even the mightiest have some weaknesses. And so do I. I can live anywhere in the universe, also in a vacuum. My spherical shape represents the most favorable of all forms since it is best suited for withstanding the highest and the lowest pressures. I've been on this moon for 700 years storing energy for the continuation of my journey through the universe. The stars radiate too weakly here. Although it is sufficient to maintain my life I can only retain a tiny amount of energy. At this rate it will take a millennium before I can resume my voyage again.

  "I don't get it–it's beyond me," Harnahan groaned, frustrated by his inability to comprehend the incomprehensible. "Who... what are you?"

  A sudden merriment filled Harnahan's brain and he felt as if the sphere was laughing. However he received no answer to his question."

  You're waiting here for the ships of the Springers who are on their way to attack a defenseless world. The Terranians desire to help the weak. I offer you my assistance in return for a reward.

  "A reward?" Harnahan gasped.

  Yes, energy. You've got an abundant supply of it and I wish to receive energy from you for aiding you in your battle against the Springers. I need enough energy to get closer to the sun where I'll be able to take care of myself.

  I've got to consult Rhodan, Harnahan thought. I can't make any commitments without his approval. If he refuses—but why should he?

  He was interrupted by the sphere. I'll support you.

  "How do you propose to do that?"

  It all depends on the circumstances. The least I can do is give you a continuous report of the Springer ships' advance. Optically, of course. My energy reserves are too small to intervene myself. Go and bring your ship over here!

  "My ship? What for? It is camouflaged so the Springers won't be able to detect it."

  Can you get in touch with Rhodan without your ship?

  Harnahan shook his head. "But what if the Springers see me?"

  I've got enough energy to handle that,the mysterious creature promised. GO GET YOUR SHIP!

  Harnahan looked at his watch. It was already quite late. His excursion through the valleys and over the mountains had taken a lot of time. And now this long conversation with—well, with whom really? He sighed. "I won't be able to get back before another hour. And then we'll have to be prepared that they may stumble on this moon by accident and instigate a search."

  Then they'll also regret it by accident,came the reply. And now get going or it'll really be too late. I'll answer all your questions later.

  Harnahan thoughtfully gazed at the darkly shining sphere for a few seconds, then turned around without a word and took off with a vigorous push against the ground.

  His third leap took him far out across the plain.

  • • •

  After the suggestor Kitai had telepathically purged Borator and administered a thorough treatment to him, Pucky took him back to the valley of the shipyard. The Springer had been indoctrinated with his rules of behavior. Faint motley spots indicated that the Plague of Oblivion had already impaired his brain. At least so were Topthor and his companions led to believe.

  Pucky transmitted Rhodan's latest instructions to John Marshall. The short encounter at the spaceport proved that the Springers were more afraid of the epidemic than they had dared hope. Moreover they were. now firmly convinced that the plague not only afflicted human but also positronic brains, a fact which must have been a devastating shock to Topthor as Pucky vividly described.

  "Bloodshed must be avoided," Pucky declared, looking around in the basin which was still barricaded against the outside world by lines of battle-robots.

  For the time-being the 200 Goszuls were put to work helping the robots with the completion of the ship in an effort to expedite the construction. They pretended to suffer from the communicable disease without having reached the crazy stage so far.

  Pucky commented, "Rhodan is of the opinion that this will scare Topthor out of his wits and make him depart on the double, never to be seen again around here."

  "I doubt that we can avoid bloodshed if he lands here," Marshall objected. He knew how ruthless the Springers were and he expected even more brutal methods from the Mounders who were deployed as special shock troops. "Wouldn't it be better to make a counter-attack? We had agreed to repulse Topthor and his men with all the means at our disposal. Have these plans been changed?"

  Pucky grinned, exposing his incisor in lonely splendor. His tooth caused him to lisp a little although he was fluent in several languages. "Yes, to a degree. Topthor has behaved more decently than we expected. He has held his fire against the unarmed Goszuls and Rhodan admires him for that. So the word is now more than ever: Bluff Topthor! In doing so we have to watch that he won't find out who we are. In particular he's not allowed to catch sight of me because Etztak might have told him something about me. But you've got enough men here..."

  A buzz coming from a little box on the table interrupted him. Marshall apologetically glanced at Pucky and pressed the button. A voice which Pucky recognized as Borator, who was under hypnotic influence, said excitedly: "Ambush by a fighter robot in the vicinity of the valley exit. Four Goszuls were killed, the others escaped."

  Marshall was stunned but he quickly overcame his consternation. "A battle-robot? That's impossible! All robots have been reprogrammed and they won't attack Goszuls. What measures did you take?"

  Borator had no doubt whatsoever that he was in charge of the project. He was commissioned by several of the clans to build the first ship of a new class. He would finish his job in four, or perhaps three days, and deliver the new vessel. "I've given orders to the sentries to shoot the robot that's running amok on sight. Where did the faultless positronic brain go wrong?"

  "I don't have the faintest idea, Borator. I'll check into it myself. You can stay on your job."

  Pucky took a deep breath. "The infallible positronic... that's it! The robots are flawless. It's completely out of the question that one of the reprogrammed robots would run amok against our own people. Consequently it must be a robot that was not changed over. It's the one I was unable to locate on my first mission. We're lucky that it's given itself away already. I'll be right back, John..."

  "Wait a minute!" John Marshall jumped frantically up but the chair across was already empty. Pucky had teleported himself to some other place.

  Marshall began to suspect where that place could be. He tucked his impulse-beamer into his belt and ran outside. He sprinted along the chain of guarding robots, hoping he wouldn't come too late to help Pucky. On the way he tried to make telepathic contact with the mouse-beaver. But Pucky seemed to be too busy to concentrate on thought messages.

  • • •

  When Pucky materialized in the valley he saw a mass of Goszuls running toward him. They violently gesticulated with their arms and uttered cries of horror. Before the Goszuls could reach him he jumped again and materialized behind them. The robot that had informed Borator was stationed at the exit of the valley. It was the same robot that was the first to be deactivated by Pucky earlier.

  But before the mouse-beaver had a chance to question it he found some grisly evidence. The bodies of the four Goszuls were crumpled on the ground and furnished him a clue. The unreconstructed robot that was still following the Springers' instructions had to be around here somewhere after it had escaped the cleanup operation in the wake of the take-over. This was the only possible explanation.

  The emergency caused it to shunt a circuit and act independently. It had observed from a safe place how the valley and the plant were occupied by the Goszuls and a few unknown people. Subsequently it witnessed the reprogramming of
its mates. By rights it now should have attacked the assembly plant and the robots who had turned hostile. However, thinking machines have a built-in tendency for self-preservation when this serves the purpose of their masters.

  RK-176 knew it didn't have a ghost of a chance against its 99 fellow robots. Maybe it could disable 10 or 20 of them in a surprise attack but then it would be crushed by their sheer numbers. That way it would accomplish nothing at all. It was more important to get the news of the events which had overtaken the isolated valley to the outside world. The governors had to be informed of the dismal state of affairs. At the entrance of the valley only one guard was posted. If RK-176 could do away with the guard the way to the city was open.

  It started out and soon ran into the arms of 20 Goszuls. The natives had just passed the sentry at the entrance with whom they were already acquainted, Robots were a familiar sight to them.

  RK-176 acted hastily and without its usual circumspection when it opened fire on the inoffensive natives, killing four of them. Only after the survivors began to scream and flee in panic did it realize it had made a grave mistake.

  However it was too late and it couldn't be undone. RK-176 turned its attention to the sentry who had witnessed his deed and let the Goszuls run away. It proceeded toward the narrow cleft in the rocks where the lonely figure of the robot guard was clearly visible between the shadows of a few bushes. The automaton would have laughed bitterly if it could have done so but a robot never smiles and, conversely, never suffers pangs of conscience.

  RK-176 knew exactly what it had to do. Its weapon arms went into the horizontal firing position. Its lenses were fixed rigidly on the new opponent as it advanced toward the sentry. By means of its receiver RK-176 ascertained that its reappearance was no longer a secret. The hunt for it had already begun.

  Pucky came a few minutes too late. He found the molten debris of the robot in the seared grass and bushes. The energy rays had also left their mark on the rocks but there was no trace of the resisting battle-robot. It must have already gained a considerable head start.

  The mouse-beaver cast a regretful glance at the pile of junk and teleported himself on top of a rock which rose more than 1500 feet above the plain. From there it was possible to see the ocean if the view was clear which, however, wasn't the case today. Yet it was fair enough.

  At a distance of two or three miles he spotted a moving black object, which intermittently flashed a silvery light when it caught a sunray. It proceeded steadily and rapidly in a south-westerly direction.

  It was the fleeing robot!

  Pucky grinned expectantly. His inborn urge to play triumphed over his good training. At last he had a chance again to perform his tricks. He regretted only that he had no spectators.

  Hm, he could fix that...

  RK-176 marched at considerable speed but couldn't go fast enough to get away from a teleporter like Pucky, of course. It still was unaware that a pursuer was on its metal heels and thought it had made good its escape. Its positronic brain was still busy trying to find a logical explanation for the developments which had occurred at the site of the hangar, but it found none.

  Pucky materialized 30 feet behind the robot and concentrated his telekinetic powers on it. His invisible mental vibrations seized the metallic monster and nailed it to the spot in an iron grip.

  RK-176 came to an abrupt stop as if paralyzed by a sudden breakdown of its mechanism. But this was not the case–quite the contrary. Its positronic brain began to work feverishly but futilely, unable to find solutions for its plight.

  "You've killed four people," Pucky said pointedly in Intercosmo: making sure that the robot was unable to move. "For this you'll be junked. Is there anything you wish to tell me?"

  RK-176 rasped mechanically. "I've acted in accordance with my orders. No Goszul is allowed in the vicinity of the construction site. Who are you?"

  "Wouldn't you like to know? Okay, you may turn halfway around. But if you've any intention of shooting at me, you better tell me first. In that case I'll make short shrift of you."

  Naturally the robot would try to kill him. Pucky knew this only too well. Indeed it was the robot's duty to make such an attempt, which was exactly what it did the instant it caught sight of the mouse-beaver. The two energy discharges were wide of the mark.

  "You've sealed your fate!" Pucky growled, staring straight at the monster's eye-lenses. "And now you're going to learn how to fly..."

  RK-176 was not designed for flying but now its brain registered that the gravitation of the planet was diminishing and that it became weightless until it was lighter than the air. It began to rise like a balloon.

  Pucky teleported himself back to the entrance of the valley and steered his victim with skill and joy. The robot provided a spectacular show by continuously blasting away with both rayguns in the hope of scoring a lucky hit.

  At this time Marshall came running around the comer of the valley's exit and was gratified to witness the performance. It was well worth his long run.

  About 100 feet away Pucky squatted on a strip of grass, resembling an airplane model enthusiast who proudly showed off his latest product, flying it around the sky by remote control. In effect, this was just what Pucky was doing.

  Suddenly the little speck high up in the sky began to fall, growing rapidly in size. Pucky turned to John, beaming happily. "Now you're going to hear a big bang," he predicted. "The thing is going to explode. I've never tried it before from such a height."

  "Why do you want to destroy him?" John asked. "We could reprogram him too."

  "Not this one." Pucky shook his head as he watched the wildly firing monster of steel gaining more and more speed. "It would be too much trouble. You sure know how to spoil a fellow's fun..."

  "But..." John shut up. The spectacle also fascinated him. Besides he knew that he couldn't change Pucky's mind. The mouse-beaver seemed to be awfully mad at the robot which now came down at a fantastic speed and bit the ground at a distance of 500 feet.

  At first it looked as if nothing much had happened. The robot's great mass caused it to penetrate deep into the rocky ground. This was made much easier by the melting of the rock due to the uninterrupted firing of the energy-beamers so that the automaton virtually landed in a puddle of lava.

  Then there was a blinding flash. A white cloud formed like a mushroom above the place of impact till the wind blew it away.

  Pucky breathed loudly. "A truly splendid crash!"

  John Marshall went over and put his hand on Pucky, bending down a little. "I wouldn't have believed you can enjoy so much smashing up things."

  "Sometimes I get the greatest kick out of it." Pucky looked up to the blue sky and narrowed his gentle brown eyes. Without changing his tone of voice, he continued: "Take my hand! I'll jump back to the hangar. It's better if you come with me."

  John knew that Pucky had no trouble teleporting together with him. Before they left he also looked up to the sky. The tubular spaceship of the Springers crossed low over the mountains which had hidden it from their sight up to now.

  • • •

  Topthor gave Rangol a sign. "I'll put down my ship on the plateau near the valley. There's not enough room in the basin. An auxiliary ship will take a scouting team into the valley. You'll stand by at an altitude of 30,000 feet, ready for action. Keep in touch with the communication center."

  "Will you leave the ship, Topthor?"

  "I'll lead my men. Keep an eye on what's going on but don't intervene with an attack which could endanger me and my men. At the slightest sign of a threat by contagion, our plans will be revised."

  The orders of the Mounder were transmitted by intercom to all departments of the ship as it slowly descended horizontally to the plateau bordering the valley on a precipice 1500 feet high.

  As soon as the vessel touched the ground a hatch opened and a bulky attack ship emerged. It was held 18 inches above the rocky ground by an antigrav field. Men in battle suits rushed from the large vessel into the mu
ch smaller one. The hulking square figures of the Mounders looked awesome and menacing. Despite their appearance these enormous chunks of men were incredibly agile and swift in their movements.

  The hatches of the mothership closed up again. It remained waiting for instant action the moment Topthor gave the order. He kept in constant contact with his deputy commander via the transceiver in his helmet.

  Topthor was the last to climb into the attack ship. The craft silently rose 10 feet, floated over the edge of the chasm and cautiously sank slowly deeper. Topthor paid scant attention to the pilot and the 20 Mounders accompanying him. His eyes were riveted to the observation screen.

  There he was at the famous place where the secret ship was constructed which if its builders could be believed was capable of conquering the universe. Topthor had no idea what the advantages of the new class of ships were but he began to believe that the rumors he had heard here and there were no idle gossip.

  His craft gradually went lower. Now he clearly recognized the robots in the first line of defense facing the exit of the valley just as Etztak had described it to him. Everything appeared to be in good order. No plague, no insurrection of automatons, no crazy Goszuls...

  Topthor suddenly remembered that no Goszuls were allowed to work on the ship. Borator exclusively used robots. At least in the past. But that could change today or tomorrow.

  He still believed he held all the strings in his hand and didn't suspect that he was only a puppet on a string pulled by somebody else.

  Perry Rhodan!

  • • •

  John Marshall, the suggestor Kitai and Pucky kept out of sight and watched with undivided interest the landing of the Springers.

  The work in the plant proceeded on as if nothing had happened. Borator sat in his office issuing new instructions. The first flight test was scheduled to take place already the day after tomorrow. The robots were working in high gear. He was lucky he had help from the Goszuls too.

  Outside the shadow of a Springer attack ship glided over the ground. As soon as it touched down the formidable figures of the Mounders sallied forth from its hatch. Impulse-beamers were at the ready in their fists. Their spacesuits: were closed but communication was made possible through transceivers.