The Blue System Read online

  I immediately became aware of the muffled rumble of machinery. So this was actually a power station!

  When we arrived in a sector of the giant sphere that lay deep within its interior, the machinery noises increased to a steady roar. I stole a glance at my watch and then whispered hastily to the mutant, "How long will the Ironduke take to get here?"

  "About 11 hours," Tama whispered back.

  From then on I knew that we had to stall for time. We must not under any circumstances leave this deep-space power station prior to the arrival of the Terran battleship. If there was going to be any rescue at all, Rhodan's mutants were going to have to contact us where there were as few people as possible.

  My logic section gave me the only feasible suggestion. I would have to become 'untransportable'. Even if they regarded me as a 'degenerate' rebel with an assumed title they would still have to be concerned about my physical status. After all I still represented a mighty military force. And no doubt Rhodan would catch on to the ruse and demand that I be shown due consideration.

  I began to stagger. I grasped my head with both hands and finally fell with a groan of agony to the floor.

  Tama cried out. Rhodan turned around suddenly. I could only give him a fast signal with my eyes but at first he didn't comprehend. There was a genuine expression of concern on his face as he bent over me. The three Akons behind us were thrown into a state of alarm. The robots drew their weapons in a flash, aiming at us threateningly.

  "Stay here till ship comes!" I whispered swiftly.

  Rhodan got the message. When he took over the act I pretended to fall unconscious.

  "The Imperator needs medical help," I heard him say. "Is there a clinic here?"

  I strained to overhear the ensuing short discussion. The Council Chairman seemed to make no effort to conceal things here. Either he was too worked up at the moment or he didn't think it mattered much to blabber about things that I would have considered to be military secrets. No, the power plant space island was unmanned and was robot-controlled. For this reason there was no clinic. On a scheduled rotational basis there were only 5 technicians on board who handled the most vital inspections of the most important machinery.

  This was very useful information for us. It meant that we must not leave this place under any circumstances. As Rhodan's questions became sharper and more insistent, Lempart of Fere-Khar still made no attempt to conceal tactical information. In his perplexity he suggested that I should be taken immediately to the 5th planet of the system. He explained that this would be only a matter of a few seconds.

  Rhodan got around this point very adroitly. He requested a fast spaceship equipped with all necessary comforts. The Chairman was sorry, explaining that such a 'Primitive' means of transportation had been all but replaced, owing to the high state of Akon technology. Of course we already knew this but it allowed Rhodan to drive home his advantage.

  In an agitated tone he declared: "Even though that's how you transported the crewmembers of the damaged spacecraft to the 5th planet, the Imperator cannot be expected to go through another transmitter."

  "But—Your Excellence—the crew of the Energy Command were considerably worse off than—"

  Rhodan interrupted the older man. It was obvious what he had wanted to say, aside from being quite logical. "Let me correct you there," he said. "The Imperator does not have the youthful stamina of your men. Also you know that due to environmental changes affecting the Arkonides they are not as adapted to such strains. That's why I am urgently requesting that you bring a medical team here with their most modem equipment. For the time being the Imperator cannot be moved. Under no circumstances should he be subjected to another dematerialization. When may we expect the arrival of the medicos?"

  We had won! The Chairman conferred in low tones with the other two Akons, who seemed to be subordinates. A few minutes later the robots picked me up and I was carried into what were apparently the living quarters of one of the on-duty inspection engineers. I kept my eyes tightly closed and attempted to breathe as lightly as possible. There were voices outside. I could hear Rhodan talking with somebody.

  But at that moment Yokida was whispering to me: "They're sending one of the technicians through one of the local transmitters. The Chairman says he doesn't have any spaceships here to satisfy the Chief's requirements. He says all available ships are designed for special purposes and besides they are out on missions. Sir, these people actually don't have a space fleet anymore! Can you imagine what will happen to them if our super battleships can break through the blue screen?"

  Now my breathing almost did stop—I was horrified.

  Did the Akons have any conception of what it meant to face a declaration of war by a major galactic power like the Solar Imperium? Did they have the slightest idea of what it meant to be exposed to the combined salvos of a battlefleet? Certainly their former ancestors had experienced this in the war against the colonists of that time.

  But what was the situation with the present-day Akons? True, they possessed a marvelous super-technology. They had developed a non-physical means of spaceflight and apparently they had always been lucky in their contacts with other intelligences. Moreover, they had apparently managed to make it a standard rule to get around any open conflicts. It had clearly been demonstrated to us how dangerously they could work from ambush and how they could achieve fantastic success by relatively simple means. They were proud and courageous, there could not be any doubt about that. This was apparent in the daring flights of their Energy Command.

  But what would they do if they were suddenly thrown on the defensive? Already something had happened that they had never thought possible. Strangers had succeeded in penetrating the blue screen with a new kind of hyper-flight propulsion. Rhodan's abduction had been but a Pyrrhic victory although the Akons might still believe that they were immeasurably superior. In this respect they were probably deceiving themselves. Terra was in the process of sending her sons into space. Some of them were already close to the borders of the Akon Empire—and they were coming in a linear-drive battleship whose crew alone was enough to destroy the entire solar system.

  I ventured to open my eyes for a moment. Rhodan was just closing the door behind him. His smile was indefinable.

  "You're not really going to attack them, are you?" I whispered.

  "They're due for a little lesson," he said evasively. "The doctors will be here in a few hours—maybe sooner. So get yourself prepared. The Chairman is more or less the head of the Ruling Council. They're getting nervous."

  "Already, sir?" asked Tama Yokida.

  "They have us in their power," I interjected swiftly. "With the first shot from a Terran energy cannon, we're dead!"

  "Of that I am not so sure," he retorted. "Just keep playing sick and at the first shot well be on board the Ironduke. If they're going to kidnap statesmen by force they should do it less conspicuously. Solar intelligence would have handled something like that with much more finesse."

  He smiled suddenly and then I knew that he didn't consider our situation to be entirely hopeless. At any rate I wouldn't have wanted to be in the Akons' shoes just now, provided that the energy screen could be cracked. If that were not possible, Rhodan would not have the last laugh. Once more this incorrigible barbarian was relying on his men to come through for him. Perhaps too much so. If Col. Jefe Claudrin made the slightest mistake, the Akons would be in command of the situation.

  At present everything depended upon this native-born Epsalian. Meanwhile I continued to play my role as a sick man—which was certainly unworthy of the Imperator of a gigantic stellar empire!

  Rhodan patted my cheek and gave me an impudent grin. "You're still a sad old hound dog, Imperator. The Akons would just as soon put you in the nearest brig. For presumption of power, rebellion or you name it. In any case they'd get you for traitorous subversions in the Akon colonial region of Star Cluster M-13!"

  7/ IRONDUKE BREAKS THROUGH

  She had come back to sa
lvage what could be salvaged. Which led me to believe that Auris of Las-Toor was alone in her opinion.

  She was both beautiful and intelligent, the two things about her that I especially appreciated. Perhaps also it had been her scientific background that prompted her to think things over once more from our own standpoint. She had joined the two doctors who had been ordered to get me 'on my feet' again. For the present I did not intend to abandon my pretense at being sick.

  Rhodan helped me with the delaying tactics by making objections to the medical equipment and procedures. He strenuously objected to their intended application of hypno-mechanical therapy, always using the argument that my 'degenerated' colonial brain would not be able to stand it.

  By this means we had already stretched out the time to 12 hours but the feverishly awaitedIronduke was still not here. At least the telepaths on board the battleship had not yet made contact, in spite of Rhodan's strenuous 'listening' with his weak para-senses. The situation had become dangerous. One of the doctors had become indignant and threatened to leave immediately if the procedures he believed to be proper were obstructed. Naturally I could not afford to be too thoroughly examined.

  Meanwhile Rhodan had also been playing the role of a very busy statesman. In the space of just 12 hours he had gone through no less than 7 conferences and in the process he finally learned what was behind our abduction. The Akons were demanding precise construction details of the Terran linear space-drive, plus an operable unit for examination and testing. This was actually all they were after but Rhodan had become very angered by the proposition. Yet his constant counter-negotiator Lempart of Fere-Khar had stubbornly maintained that he was justified in making such a demand—as a negotiable compensation—since Rhodan's test flight had violated the sovereign boundaries of Akon.

  They denied having made the two attacks on Terra and the Arkonide Imperium although we could prove that the plasma monster as well as the time-displacement on Arkon 3 could be traced to their Energy Command's operations. All in all, the representative of the Ruling Council was presenting a very weak case in his negotiations. There was no way of excusing the fact of our abduction.

  The justification for this highly undiplomatic action only brought a pitying smile to Rhodan's face. Lempart confessed that the Council had had no other choice since the First Administrator had not deigned to appear at a conference with the Akon heads of state—in spite of 'numerous' radio calls. No such hypercom signals had ever been recorded in Terrania. The Akons had not communicated in this manner, although meanwhile they may have realized that their procedures had been completely wrong. Their demands for handing over the technical data were just as groundless as all their other assertions.

  On the other hand we now knew what was really behind all the actions of these people. Through Rhodan's test flight they had been torn loose from a security that had lasted for thousands of years. Suddenly an outsider had succeeded in breaking through their powerful defense screen. By a purely logical chain of reasoning they had resolved to either eliminate the unwelcome intruder by military or political means or to attempt to improve the energy structure of the spherical shield. But before they could do that they had to know first how the Terran linear space drive worked and what hyper-physical laws were involved in its operation.

  This was the whole purpose of their undertaking. They wanted to reestablish their accustomed security without running the risk of having Terrans surprise them whenever they pleased. Their attempts to destroy us had failed. We had acted too swiftly and with too much precision. The Akons could not risk an open conflict since they no longer possessed an effectively powerful fleet.

  Thus with many of their Energy Command ships they had eavesdropped on my hypercom conversation with Rhodan and had managed to decipher it. This had led to the abduction, which they now seemed to regard with some uneasiness. Rhodan's war declaration had really been the bombshell but it had still not deterred the Ruling Council in their demand for the linear space-drive data.

  During the past two hours—so I was informed by a worried Tama Yokida—the tone of the Akons had become sharper. At this point in time, Auris came to see us for the first time since her return. Other than the time spent for discussions, Rhodan and Tama had been with me continuously on the grounds that they could not leave an important ally by himself.

  Three minutes before, Auris had made her appearance in our quarters, this time as the legitimate female ambassador of the Council of Akon.

  • • •

  I had immediately resumed my pretense at being unconscious. A half-hour before this one of the doctors had given me two injections that had a very stimulating effect. My pulse was sure and sturdy. Seldom in my life had I felt so healthy and vigorous. Under these circumstances it would have been difficult for a much better actor than I to play the part of a weak and helpless man.

  Auris had come alone. I risked a quick glance at her. The smile with which she greeted Rhodan filled me with misgivings. I had to take another look. She was standing close to him and was looking up into his steady grey eyes which were suddenly not glittering so much with the cold rejection he had radiated since the beginning of this abduction business. Why didn't she look at me like that?

  I involuntarily moaned and turned on my side. Tama Yokida cleared his throat in a warning signal and I lay still again.

  "If I were you," she said, "I wouldn't try so hard."

  An icy shock ran through me. Whom had she meant? Was it possible this shrewd maiden had perceived what the medicos hadn't been able to see through Rhodan gave the answer. He was too rational to attempt to fool Auris anymore.

  "You can relax and open your eyes, friend," he told me. "This is between the four of us."

  "Betrayed!" my extra-brain signalled to me. But I didn't need any help to arrive at such a conclusion.

  I turned slowly and, opening my eyelids, I found myself looking directly into her pale, tense face. Her hands gripped the seamed edges of her shoulder cape. Rhodan was standing calmly beside her.

  "The doctors have gone back," she explained. "They found out that you're not sick. Why this attempt at deception? What did you hope to accomplish by it? I am instructed to inform you that..."

  "That what...?" Rhodan urged her.

  "That within about an hour you will be transported to Drorah—by means of a matter transmitter."

  Yokida gazed at her in concentration, undoubtedly trying to sense whether or not she were concealing a weapon on her person; but as it turned out she was unarmed. My suddenly aroused affection for Auris was forgotten, however, because my watch interested me more just now.

  "Hardly a sign of true love!" quipped my logic sector cynically.

  I shook my head angrily in response, which appeared to startle Auris. Where was the Ironduke ? What had gone wrong? Had Jefe Claudrin been unable to break through the energy screen? Was it impossible to repeat the performance of the first test ship Fantasy , which had been accomplished with so little effort? To what extent had Rhodan miscalculated?

  Once more he was wearing that noncommittal smile of his but I knew that his mental wheels were turning. Naturally he was mulling over the same questions that bothered me. I felt that my expression might be revealing more of my premonitions than I intended—but who was the 'sad old hound dog' now? Maybe all of us! We were in a boat that somebody had shot full of holes. In view of the high Akon technology it was practically a dead issue to think of being saved by the mutants, once we had been taken to the main planet. But even if we remained here any attack by the fleet would be stymied because the Terrans certainly weren't inclined to shoot at their First Administrator.

  "Nor at you!" added my logic sector.

  "Why this deception?" Auris again demanded to know, and she added somewhat plaintively: "Right after I heard the news about you I knew right away that you could not be so sick and exhausted."

  "And you remained silent about it anyway?" queried Rhodan.

  She dismissed the question with a wave
of her hand. I have brought to the attention of the Ruling Council the fact that this abduction was wrong. They don't believe me. I reminded them of the Great War between Akons and Arkonides—they consider it dead and gone but they haven't forgotten it. They know that Atlan probably commands a powerful force."

  "I am refraining from military steps at the moment," I told her.

  She nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, but soon you will also issue a declaration of war. As an absolute monarch you have the authority. Either my people will be victorious or it will be the end of them."

  She suspected something! She seemed to know also that the combined forces of our two empires were not to be taken lightly. Disheartened, she turned and opened the door. Outside stood three of the same kind of four-armed combat robots that the positronic Regent of Arkon employed.

  "The robots have been tuned to your individual wavelengths," she said warningly. "Please don't try anything rash. It would be most regrettable."

  "To you? Why?"

  Rhodan still wore his impersonal smile. Auris gazed at him searchingly.

  "I don't quite know why."

  But I knew! With a sense of resignation I realized that she had lost her heart to this tall, grey-eyed Terran.

  "Now follow me," she said softly.

  Rhodan remained where he was. Tama Yokida was observing the three robots carefully. Apparently the Akons hadn't thought it necessary to use any larger guard detail than this. Hadn't they noticed during our previous escape attempt that uncanny powers had been in operation? In any case they didn't seem to suspect that our capable psychokinetic friend would be able to handle these fighting machines quite easily. All he had to do was to hurl them forcefully against the nearest steel bulkhead and it would be all over with them as far as their high-precision brains were concerned.