The Blue System Page 9

  Auris' obvious disregard of the mutant was somehow conspicuous in a deeper sense. A suspicion began to form inside of me. Could she actually be aware of Yokida's dangerous powers? Had she deliberately remained silent in order to give us a chance? No, the thought was too farfetched. No matter how tolerant she might be she would not bring herself to a betrayal of her people Perhaps she didn't quite know how to classify the mutant's mentality.

  "You mentioned the name of a planet, Auris," said Rhodan. "I think it was Drorah. Is it the same world we refer to as Sphynx?—the fifth planet of the system?"

  She only nodded. We finally went out of the room with her. The officials of the Akon Government had disappeared. The only persons present were the five regular supervisory engineers and also two Akon officers of the Energy Command who were apparently under Auris' orders. The technicians were unarmed. On the other hand the officers carried weapons which I took to be thermo-beamers. And lastly there were the three robots.

  The force represented here was considerable in a relative sense. Without the mutant it was unlikely that they could be overcome. But the question remained: would there really be any purpose in risking a surprise attack? It would be senseless to force our freedom without the presence of the Terran battleship. In such a case our gains would be only temporary—if any.

  I came to a stop. Ahead of us was the wide, gently curving passage that led to the antigrav lifts. We were approximately 300 meters beneath the flattened dome of the space power station which according to Rhodan was supposed to be about 11 km in diameter. Considering such a diameter I could get a fair idea of what mammoth machinery must be installed here. In turn this began to form a concept of the energy requirements of the blue defense screen which encircled a giant solar system.

  "A light range of some 50 billion kilometers!" my logic sector announced. With 18 planets in the system this estimate was probably far too small. I did not know what centrifugal laws affected planets around a star at the galactic center. There was some experience to indicate that distances between such worlds was much less than between similar worlds not under the influence of compact gravitic fields such as occurred in regions of high stellar densities.

  As I listened to the deep, monotonous rumbling that seemed to come from all directions, I wondered how many of these giant power plants might be swinging through their fixed orbits out here and how many of them might be necessary to maintain a steady supply of power to the great blue screen. How many billions of megawatts was the insatiable Moloch consuming? In fact had I been conservative in thinking only in terms of mere 'billions'? Only through such considerations did I finally realize what an achievement the Akons had accomplished in the creation of such a spherical energy field. They were generating the energies of a small sun, exclusively for the purpose of being able to screen themselves off hermetically from the rest of the galaxy.

  Shaking my head, I followed Rhodan and the girl. Tama came behind me. The two officers walked on either side of us and the robots brought up the rear. It might have been easy for me to overcome one of the officers—but to what avail? What could we do with such an impractical type of temporary freedom? Besides: hadn't Auris said that we'd be transported from here 'within about an hour'? Why hadn't she let us remain in the small living quarters until then? Question after question piled up in my struggling mind.

  Ten minutes later we knew why they had let us away to a new location. We were to receive injections for the purpose of stabilizing our blood circulation. The automatic hypodermics were ready. One of the station technicians explained that 'incidentally' he was also a doctor. What knowledge this man must possess!—I thought. In an age of technology which required a thousand-fold division of subjects and disciplines so that any one man could grasp even the essentials of his own particular specialty, this man was just 'incidentally' a doctor as well!

  I was the first to strip down to the waist. The injection was to be given in the left pectoral muscle region close to the heart. I noted the sudden tense interest of the Akon. My cell activator appeared to be consuming him with curiosity. Even Auris took a step nearer.

  "A muscle-bound Viking, wouldn't you say?" said Rhodan.

  I jerked up my head to stare at him but not a muscle moved in his face.

  "Viking?" asked Auris wonderingly.

  "As a sociologist it should interest you to know that this Arkonide has had a great influence on the development of certain races on the planet Earth."

  "Oh...?"

  "Take a look at the scars in the abdominal area. They mark the location of some butchering he suffered one time when he had been forced to swallow his cell activator to conceal it. It had to be retrieved quite rapidly but under very primitive conditions."

  The doctor was practically panting with curiosity now but Auris gave him a reproving look and he had to remain silent What had motivated Rhodan to sing my praises like this? At first I assumed he was merely amusing himself at my expense but he soon explained himself.

  "As you can see, Auris of Las-Toor, this is what the colonial descendants look like whom your people despise and refer to as 'degenerated' Do you think it was very advisable or commendable to kidnap the ruler of billions of people like him?"

  She was about to make a reply. Perhaps she was going to bring up the natural law concerning unavoidable degeneration of colonists, and she might also have been ready to mention sarcastically that there were few Arkonides of the type I depicted. However, she never had a chance to express herself in this vein. Even if she had tried to speak, in any case the alarm whistles of the space station would have drowned her out.

  I jumped so severely when the infernal shrieking started that the high-pressure jet of the hypodermic slipped from my chest and the fine medicinal spray expended itself harmlessly. Soon all Hell seemed to break loose. The two officers sprang to the door with weapons in hand and stood ready to fire. There was something to be said for their excellent training, since they expended no time or energy in curses or audible threats. Their stepping into firing positions had been almost a reflex action—and that was all. But it was enough for us since the robots had also taken the same action.

  The technician who was 'incidentally' a doctor ran from the small room, apparently to join his colleagues. Undoubtedly they would be taking over their operating stations, which might also be weapons control points. Hopefully Jefe Claudrin would be taking this into consideration. It was quite obvious that he had been able to bring theIronduke through the barrier screen and into the Blue System. Now things were getting serious. The alarms could not mean anything else. Otherwise our guards would not have acted so conspicuously.

  Rhodan's face relaxed as though he was receiving something from afar off. I knew that he had made contact with the telepaths on the battleship.

  After the alarms stopped, Auris spoke excitedly. "Unfortunately you will have to go without the injections! I must ask you to go at once to the transmitter station!"

  Now she had become simply an Akon girl who was determined to act purely in the interests of her own people. I made an appropriate reply and was relieved to see that Rhodan's mental absence was not noticed. He had to remain in contact with the mutants so that the right space station could be traced. I was sure that there must be many of these orbiting power plants.

  We kept on going then, but this time the weapons of our organic and non-organic escorts were in fire-ready position. I whispered a few instructions to Tama Yokida in French, on the assumption that they may have been able to translate Japanese in the meantime. I felt safer by keeping them guessing.

  Yokida understood me. He was waiting for my signal but the time for action hadn't come yet.

  8/ THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES

  It had taken us 12 minutes and 23 seconds to reach the wide high-ceilinged hall that contained the transmitter station. Here were at least those transmitters which were used for transporting personnel and supplies. The exceptionally gigantic type of equipment I had seen at first on the outer hull was no
t in evidence here but nevertheless the station here appeared to be designed for heavy duty. Objects or stacks of material as large as a house could be dematerialized in these matter-reduction fields and beamed to receiver stations in the form of extra-dimensional hyper-impulses. It was a marvelous technology but just now it did not concern us.

  Practically speaking, the Akons were running now—fleeing from the swift approach of the Ironduke, which they must have traced by now and whose formidable dimensions they must have measured. It was very doubtful that they had any ship that could even approach this giant of the Terran home fleet with its nearly half-mile diameter.

  The five station technicians were elsewhere but the face of one of them could be seen on a large viewscreen in the area. He seemed to be in charge of the transmitter controls. A 30-foot arc of energy was already taking form and the roaring of unseen high-powered reactors could be heard. The thundering increased in volume and deepened its tone until it became constant, at which time the arc was also complete. Within its red-gleaming outline there was an eerie darkness which was a threshold into the dematerialized state of the transport process. Meanwhile Rhodan had remained incommunicado where we were concerned. In fact his absentminded state had already become apparent to Auris but she still didn't seem to suspect what the Terran was actually doing. I would have to act with Tama alone because Perry could not be interrupted. Telepathically he was our locator beacon.

  The two of us didn't wait any longer. One moment was as good as another. I gave Tama the signal. He came to a stop and his eyes became fixed on the Akon officers. Almost instantly their heavy weapons were ripped from their hands so violently that they cried out in startled pain. Their momentary confusion was all that the gifted mutant needed for handling the robots.

  Before I realized it the three fighting machines were lifted from the floor and brought rapidly to the ceiling where they began to whirl about. In this manner Tama was best able to coordinate his mental forces. By the time the robots were spinning in a lightning blur of motion, Tama released his control abruptly. Gripped by their high centrifugal momentum, the three metal monsters hurtled away in different directions, followed by the terrific sounds of impact.

  Shattered parts and debris shot through the hall like hail but I had already charged the nearest Akon and knocked him out with a blow of my fist. I was struggling with the second officer, who was trying desperately to reach his weapon that was lying on the floor. He did not succeed because I was faster and he soon went down.

  I did not have to worry about the first man because Tama had taken charge of him, at the same time making sure that Auris could not reach the fallen weapons. I ran to them and tossed one to the mutant. Without much hesitation, Tama used his psychokinetic forces to lift up the unconscious Akons and throw them into the dark maw of the waiting transmitter The men disappeared in a lightning-like flash, probably to rematerialized almost instantly somewhere on the fifth planet of the system.

  It had all happened almost soundlessly except for the crashing destruction of the robots. No one had spoken a word. Tama took hold of Auris' wrist and pulled her along with him. I guided Rhodan to the nearby open airlock and we all took shelter behind the armor plate door. Then the first voice was heard. The technician who was visible on the viewscreen was shouting unintelligible words.

  "The transmitter, sir," said Yokida quite calmly. "If they send reinforcements..."

  Knowing that this was our source of danger I raised my alien weapon and groped for the firing button. I was just about to press it when Auris screamed at me.

  "Don't shoot!" she cried out. "You'll blow up the station stop it!"

  I desisted just in time but I turned to her. "If this is a trick, Auris—"

  "It's the truth!" she insisted and I could see that she was trembling. "Your energy beam will cause an uncontrolled release of the wireless current conductors. Do not fire!"

  Finally Rhodan began to show some life. His taut face slowly relaxed. At the same time I was aware of a dull thunder that shook the mighty structure of the station in every seam. Nothing appeared in the still-operative transmitter—not even a robot.

  "That was a beam hit, sir. TheIronduke is attacking!"

  I gave Tama a fleeting nod. He was still keeping an eye on the area outside the airlock. There was also nothing to be seen of the technicians. Was it really this easy, I thought, to escape from this strange imprisonment?

  Another 10 minutes went by in a tense, nerve-wracking silence. Auris appeared to have calmed down somewhat and Rhodan seemed to have picked up another contact. I was just about to make an inspection of the situation but I had only gone a few feet into the hall when Rhodan spoke to me. His voice was strangely toneless.

  "Stand by—the teleporters are on their way."

  He had hardly finished speaking when three figures appeared simultaneously out of nowhere. These were the mouse-beaver Pucky along with teleporters Tako Kakuta and Ras Tschubai. They were probably the most talented members of the Mutant Corps and they worked quickly with hardly a superfluous word.

  "Claudrin is swinging back in 30 seconds—his 4th pass!" announced Pucky in his shrill, high voice. "I'll take you and Perry. Tako, the girl. Ras gets Tama. All set? Hold on tight around our necks—it's a long jump!"

  Rhodan came out of his trance, which also brought me back to action. We grasped hands and then what happened is something I shall probably never be able to comprehend naturally. Pucky's uncanny teleporting powers took the place of what the Akons could only do with the help of their gigantic transmitter equipment. But the little fellow had the advantage of not having to depend upon a receiving station. Something seemed to explode in my brain and there was a moment of pulling pain but before I could sense it fully, everything became bright before me and I had 'landed'.

  Jefe Claudrin's massive figure appeared in my field of vision. He gave me a brief nod, just as if I had merely left the Control Central to get a drink of water. Close behind us came the other teleporters—Auris utterly confused, Tama Yokida heading at once for his action post. Rhodan also sprang into action. Almost before getting his bearings correctly he was already giving commands.

  After hardly giving me more than a friendly smile, Pucky started to waddle away on his short, powerful little legs. "That was class, eh?" he chirped. "100,000 kilometers, man—some milk run!"

  I was reminded of the mouse-beaver’s characteristic playfulness. In spite of circumstances I could almost forgive him when I thought of the daring missions that this 3-foot-high little creature had gone through

  I remained seated on the floor, still exhausted. Auris slowly got to her knees, her face as pale as a ghost. She looked at me imploringly and I managed to smile at her. I wanted to say a few kind words to her and explain that our escape plus the appearance of the Ironduke were not as alarming as she might perhaps think they were but at that moment the alarms began to shrill.

  "Fleet Chief now in command!" blared the loudspeakers.

  Rhodan was already seated in the Commodore chair, Jefe Claudrin close beside him. Reports were coming in from the central control stations for machinery, engines and weapons. One of the hypersensors began to roar. The flat curve on the scope indicated a minor warp-shock.

  "Tracking to Commander—space station has activated a transmitter. Assume crew has evacuated—over and out!

  I knew that this was true. The five technicians had only been waiting for us to leave. But this meant that Rhodan had nothing to hold him now. Auris sank back to the deck in tears. Nobody was watching us. The tall soldiers of Terra had their hands full. They had hardly had time to acknowledge the return of their Chief. Here and there I noticed a fleeting wink, a glance from the corner of an eye, perhaps a chuckle of satisfaction. That was all. It was enough to know that he was back on board.

  The Ironduke's power converters suddenly thundered louder and seconds later the space station's first salvos blasted against the high-tension screens of Earth's most modern battleship. The Ironduke r
ecovered easily. Only the outer layer of the three-ply screen revealed an 80% drain of its absorption capacity.

  A tremendously precise war machine sprang into action. No commands were shouted, no one spoke louder than was absolutely necessary. Everything was carried out calmly and with disciplined efficiency. For the Terrans it was no more than a practice manoeuvre to fly toward the unmanned space station and prepare their fire for exactly the right moment.

  "Broadside red—fire!" said Rhodan into his microphone.

  The Ironduke transformed itself into a fire-spewing monster. The hard recoil of the red batteries knocked me back on the deck where the vibrating armor-steel plates seemed to be in the grip of an earthquake. The roaring and thundering repeat salvos, chattering almost like titanic machine guns, threatened to tear the ship apart. I thought an eternity passed while I listened to this infernal racket but the whole thing only lasted three seconds. Then the Ironduke was past the target, flying at half speol, and the space station ceased to be a miracle of technology.

  It took 48 seconds for the light to reach us. The stern viewscreens finally flared with a blinding light. I had seen many a spaceship explosion but this was much more like the birth of a minor star. An ultra-bright hall of blue fire seemed to sear the faintly iridescent fabric of the system-spanning energy screen and suddenly a great rift began to expand in the barrier wall. This time the crew yelled with enthusiasm because suddenly the star-strewn blackness of outer space could be seen beyond the bluish veil.

  Auris sobbed and buried her face in her hands, which caused me to feel terribly helpless. Rhodan glanced up at the large ship's chronometer. By Terra time it was 00:32 hours.

  "Where is the next one, Col. Claudrin?" asked Rhodan coldly. "I hope you've tracked a few more stations. Where is the Fleet?"

  The Epsalian answered swiftly. 5,000 Terran units were out there beyond the screen and they harbored within themselves an additional 4,000 fast interceptors and destroyers. They were in striking position, only waiting for a rift in the barrier screen. And now it was there.