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  Viesspahn was already climbing up the steep metallic spiral stairs when I cautiously left the cramped isolation chamber. I could hear the trampling of his heavy boots above me as he went to the small firing stand from which the whole field could be swept by the blaster.

  I observed him as he adjusted his dual target system. It consisted of an infrared scope coupled to a radio-sensor. This method enabled him to pinpoint his target in the dark of the night with utmost precision. I wondered whether adequate precautions had been taken in providing such formidable means of destruction to the eternally rebellious colonists. How simple it would be to remove these little cannons from their fixed positions and use them for other undesirable purposes.

  I sat down on the swivel chair in front of the remote steering controls of the tractors and waited for the next turn of events. It was almost dark outside. Cascades of water, driven by the gale, pelted the armorplast panes of the dome. This new world was in danger of being inundated again.

  The anemometer measured a wind velocity of 180 kilometers per hour, a magnitude making it inadvisable to leave the protection of my present surroundings.

  Viesspahn was perched on the edge of his seat behind his impulse-weapon, concentrating his eyes on the two sprinter lizards which were about 200 meters away. Despite the distance they had the frightening effect of moving towers. Their horny tails whipped up tons of the hard gained newly tilled soil which was turned into a swamp.

  The tornado didn't seem to hurt the 100-foot behemoths in the slightest. They rampaged through the fields, reared up against the wind and roared so menacingly that I tightly gripped my gun.

  I never put down this lifesaver in the hell of the jungle for more than a minute. Although I had appropriated from Viesspahn's armory another more handy and very powerful shock-beamer it would have failed miserably against these gargantuan creatures. Only the enormous firepower of an impulse-weapon could be expected to destroy a sprinter lizard.

  When the beasts came closer Viesspahn opened fire. As a precaution I turned my face away from the wide muzzle of the rectifier barrel but the hot blast blinded my eyes anyway. The stream of fire created a fascinating effect. It drew a path like a tunnel through the mass of water gushing down from the clouds and turned it into dense steam which swirled and sizzled along the track till it was ripped apart and carried away by the raging storm.

  Viesspahn was right on target. A brightly glowing spot developed between the shorter forelegs of the lizard and exploded in a flash of lightning. The excess energy which was not absorbed by the body of the mammoth beast shot out through its dorsal Armor in the form of a sunburst.

  I could see the colossal body collapse. The dragon had received a lethal blow but its reflexes had not yet ceased. It was horrible to watch the deadly fury with which it dug up and scattered the softened ground.

  The second saurian broke away and ran screeching toward the jungle, disappearing behind the sheets of water coming down from the skies.

  Viesspahn disconcerted me. When I looked at him again, his beard quivered around his mouth. He seemed to launch a new string of his more profane invectives. This was a feature I disliked in the man.

  I wanted to go into the adjacent storage room when a thunderstorm broke out. The stupefying bolts and thunderclaps made me cover my ears with my hands. This was not a world which could be conquered by peaceful characters. Obviously it took men like Gunter Viesspahn to tame this forbidding planet.

  Not far from the tower several trees caught fire and burned fiercely notwithstanding the torrential rain and the succulent vegetation. There was no thunderstorm on Earth which could be compared with this spectacle.

  Viesspahn still crouched behind his energy-cannon. I gained the impression that he was drunk with the power he held in his hands.

  Just when I was ready to leave I noticed a shimmer. A body materialized behind the agitated settler out of nowhere. After the contours had emerged more clearly I realized that not one but two individuals had appeared.

  This time I was spared the panic which had overcome me before. I knew already about this confounded mouse with the beavertail. I remained transfixed on the spot although no other sound could be heard in the noise of the thunderstorm.

  Almost unconsciously I reached for the shock-beamer in the holster. My extra-sense seemed to react with derision. Why was I so reluctant to attack Rhodan's friend with a deadly weapon even when the circumstances clearly required it? It was a nagging paradox that opposed my logic impulses.

  The second individual was unquestionably a Terranian. He got off the back of the extra-terrestrial creature who apparently had transported the husky man. I noted with concern that I had again underestimated the capabilities of this non-humanoid being. If he was able to carry a second body through his state of dematerialization his supranatural powers must be extraordinarily strong.

  I stood slightly stooped behind the switch console of the tractor's remote control. It was big enough to hide a man and they couldn't have seen me even if I hadn't made myself invisible with my light-deflector.

  Viesspahn had evidently failed to notice the arrival of the intruders. He kept up his vigil and vented his disgust by voluble outbursts.

  The ludicrous little creature whom Rhodan called Pucky seemed to concentrate on reading the mind of the pioneer farmer. Evidently a surprise investigation had been undertaken by Rhodan and I considered myself fortunate not to have taken Viesspahn into my confidence. As long as he was not aware of my presence be couldn't betray me knowingly or unknowingly.

  I could feel a gloating smile on my lips as I looked calmly up to the small firing platform. I was tempted to laugh when I saw Pucky making an angry gesture. The big mouse had determined that Viesspahn had no knowledge of my whereabouts.

  The Terranian who accompanied Pucky shrugged his shoulders and made a sign which seemed to indicate that he was ready to leave again.

  At this moment the unexpected happened!

  The Terranian, who was unknown to me, suddenly stretched out his arm and pointed exactly to the place where I stood. Simultaneously his lips opened for what seemed to be a loud shout which, however, I was unable to hear due to the howling storm. All I knew was that the unknown man had seen me notwithstanding my deflector shield and right through my opaque cover.

  Seen me! It was incredible! Was he capable of looking through solid walls and light-deflector screens?

  All my blood seemed bent on flowing up to my brain contrary to the laws of nature. The shock of surprise affected my mental equilibrium and came close to inhibiting my ability to take action. However an impulse from my extra-brain came to my rescue: the little one!

  I trained my stun gun on the big mouse as he spun around with remarkable agility and turned his face toward me. Once I had been discovered, the extra-terrestrial creature was undoubtedly the greater threat to me. I had witnessed already what he had done to the pioneers.

  The Terranian again shouted something and reached for his blaster. At that moment I pulled the trigger.

  I heard the sharp crack of the nerve-debilitating discharge although I could barely see the flash since my eyesight was still impaired by the surge of blood to my head.

  Up above on the platform the body of the outlandish animal was engulfed in my shock-ray. I saw his mouth open to cry out before he fell down with paralyzed muscles and malfunctioning nerve reflexes. He would be knocked out of action for the better part of an hour.

  My second shot was fired simultaneously with the blast of the Terranian who was set to kill me.

  I felt the heatwave from the needle-thin thermo-beam which struck the high back of the swivel chair less than six feet from me and set it ablaze.

  The unknown's shot had been fired too hastily whereas my beam found its mark again. His body crumpled as he fell down.

  As his strength failed him he made a last effort to discharge his weapon. The thin energy-beam pierced the metallic floor of the platform and demolished the fuse box of the electric gri
d circuit guarding the farm and set off a shower of sparks.

  I had recovered from the danger of my first anxious moments. When the sparks flashed from the metal box I crouched already in the open door of the isolation chamber.

  Gunter Viesspahn stared with his mouth agape at the two motionless bodies. It took him awhile till he finally climbed down to fight the smoldering fire with a portable extinguisher.

  He was flabbergasted and looked around with frightened eyes trying to figure out where the two crippling shots had come from.

  I quietly retreated from the smoke-filled room. The left arm of the paralyzed Terranian dangled from the firing platform and I noticed that the tiny signal lamp of the micro-radio set on his wrist flickered.

  Somebody apparently tried to make contact with him. I had to assume that the two agents had not come alone and I had a hunch that Perry Rhodan was somewhere in the background. He probably had deployed a full defense team. A man like Rhodan either organized such a surprise action properly or not at all.

  I realized that I didn't have a second to lose.

  With deliberate calm I went back to the storage room where I had slept the last few days. I picked up the bag with food I had previously prepared and hung it over my shoulder making sure it was inside my deflector field.

  I checked my heavy arm-long impulse weapon and the rest of my equipment. Then I lifted the cover of the emergency shaft under the floor which Viesspahn had excavated underneath a year ago by using an atomic blaster.

  The shaft went down at a steep angle till it reached a level tunnel which led straight to the bank of the Hondo River.

  A second subterranean passageway connected the reactor chamber in the energy tower to the nearby living quarters.

  If Rhodan planned to ambush me there, that route of escape was liable to be already closed to me and it was therefore my logical conclusion that it would be safer to get away through the narrow tunnel to the river.

  I stopped to listen inside before closing the massive cover over my head and locking the heavy bolt. Although the cover could be destroyed with one short blast of a gun, I figured it would take at least 15 minutes until the molten entrance would have cooled off enough to allow access to the shaft.

  The tunnel was circular and little more than three feet high. I had to bend down very low and hold the bulky energy-weapon in front of me. The light of my lamp was reflected a thousand times from the glazed walls.

  I had gone through the shaft several times and I knew that it was about 600 meters long. But this time I didn't stop to lie down and rest my aching back. I didn't think Rhodan would waste a single second in a critical situation.

  Pucky was an extraordinary telepath. Rhodan possessed the same gift although to a lesser degree. But he was sure to know already that his little friend was incapacitated.

  As I kept plodding forward I tried to analyze with critical and cool detachment how the Terranian had been able to see me. Apparently he was a member of Rhodan's Mutant Corps. If the man really was able to see through my deflector screen he also must be capable of visually penetrating solid matter with his unique mental powers.

  However he did not seem to be endowed with other extrasensory features and I had therefore acted correctly by putting the big mouse out of action before him.

  I saw a picture of the mutant's broad face in my mind. He had become my most perilous enemy after Rhodan's telepaths: had been frustrated by my thought screen.

  From now on Rhodan was likely to send his seer into the breech and as soon as he detected me his comrades could open fire on me or attack me by some extrasensory power play.

  You should've killed him, fool! my extra-brain reminded me.

  I took a deep breath and pressed on with tightened lips. It was torture to keep going for such a long time without a pause but I could not afford to take a break.

  When I finally reached the widened place before the steel door I could hear the water of the Hondo River rushing by outside. The storm was still going strong. Such winds could last a long time in the twilight zone.

  I opened a door and warily looked down a pit whose bottom was covered with water. There Viesspahn's armorplast boat rocked on the waves.

  It was a very stable, unsinkable and completely enclosed vessel. Its machine worked on the reaction principle, taking in water with a powerful turbo-pump and discharging it under high pressure through a movable jet, eliminating the normal rudder.

  I had already taken the precaution of becoming familiar with the boat and this foresight now paid off.

  A narrow ladder led down to a stone landing. When I opened the wide watertight boat-hatch a lamp lit up over the steering wheel.

  Everything was in working condition. I lifted the cover of the engine compartment and made sure that the one-man flying machine I had stashed away inside two days ago was still there. Viesspahn had not been near the boat in the meantime.

  I put my weapon on the forward bench, switched on the bottle-sized miniature reactor and pushed the step switch of the powerful pump-motor to the right.

  The boat lurched forward and gained speed. It responded perfectly to the steering manoeuvres of the rear jet.

  The Hondo River was three miles wide at this spot and I had already anticipated that it would look more like a gale-whipped ocean. However I had no other choice for leaving the dangerous trap than by this route.

  I propped my feet against the forward bulkhead and flipped the switch to full speed. The boat pulled sharply ahead, tore through the growth proliferating at the embankment and raced into the wide bay.

  I was received by the howling fury of the hurricane. Evil demons seemed to battle for the rule of the jungle above the towering riverbanks.

  As long as I stayed in the protected bay I encountered little difficulties but they began when I reached the open waters. Suddenly my little sturdy turbo-boat was pounded by wild waves. It was as if I had been abruptly thrust into a storm-tossed ocean. Before I realized it the armorplast deck was awash with foaming floods.

  I dared the furious elements. The wind came from the left and it required the full power of my motor to prevent the boat from drifting in the wind. I wanted to get away as far as possible from the shores in order to reach the middle of the river which was shrouded in darkness. There it was less likely that I could be detected by radar.

  As soon as I was out far enough to lose the protection of the steep banks against the thrashing wind, the boat began to pitch and roll. It was impossible for me to see where I was going. The usually calm waters of the Hondo River churned and swirled as if invisible monsters were trying to tear the riverbed asunder.

  After a few minutes I began to hope that I had escaped my tenacious pursuers. However, no sooner had I come to this conclusion than all hell broke loose behind me.

  Due to the incessant howling of the hurricane I was unable to hear the roar of the cannon fire but I saw the sun-bright energy tracks which ripped into the water left and right of the dancing boat, creating steaming, sizzling geysers.

  I remained undisturbed. I had reckoned with the possibility of an attack and there was no cause for panic. I simply endeavored to make the boat which was already nearly out of my control dance even wilder.

  Seconds later the shots were aimed farther away. The automatic targeters must have made the mistake of picking up some floating tree trunks.

  At the last burst of light I could see that I was more or less at the center of the river. I let the torrent carry the boat and hoped that the stormy wind blowing from behind would drive me out of the danger zone in no time. It was difficult to judge my course. Now and then the keel of my boat scraped over some obstacles. The riverbed had many shoals and I couldn't expect to avoid them all.

  I switched on my infrared viewer in order to see what little I could of my surroundings. The stream resembled a huge boiling pot. I considered myself fairly safe now because Rhodan probably realized that his airborne craft were useless in this weather. Thus I hoped that the hurr
icane would keep raging with undiminished force although the squalls became more intermittent and the end of the storm was in sight as the forces of nature were on the downswing again.

  The famous Marshall Falls were supposed to be eight miles downstream. There the waters of the Hondo gushed almost three miles straight down into the valley. Obviously such a jump through the air was the last thing I wanted to do.

  I had underestimated the speed of the boat. Before I had decided where to turn I already heard the swelling roar of the falls emerging through the slowly fading sounds of the storm.

  Sharp rocks jutting out of the river's surface came into view and the mass of water hurtled to the depth close behind them. The drift of the boat increased dangerously and I began to steer at once toward the distant shore.

  I succeeded in breaking out of the river's maelstrom at the last moment. The keel rammed hard aground with an ominous-sounding burst. Apparently I happened to land on a rocky shore.

  I turned off the engine and tried to listen outside. The sky was getting a little brighter in the east as much as this was possible in the twilight zone. It was high time for me to get out if I wanted to take advantage of the dim light and the last gusts of wind.

  Before I opened the cabin hatch I put my flying machine on my back. It consisted of two counter-rotating hubs each with a set of three small blades which were unfolded by the centrifugal forces of the revolving rotors.

  Now the highly elastic rotor blades still formed a plain little package which was attached to the backpack containing the minuscule reactor drive unit.

  When I climbed out of the boat I was greeted by a whirlwind. The storm was much more violent than I had realized in my protected cabin. I turned the boat's bow down stream, leaned inside and switched on its water jets to full force, making it shoot down the river.

  Thoughtfully following the speeding boat with my eyes I watched it as it was swept away by the swift current. A few moments later it disappeared in the frothy waves, hiding from my view its plunge over the wall of cliffs and water.