Power's Price Read online

  Boss, the way you put that—the best carrot in the world wouldn't taste good anymore. Give me time for the answer. I'm making one more jump now into Titon. I'm going down deeper and I'll be back in about an hour. OK, Perry?

  OK, little friend. That's it!

  The carrot fell out of Pucky's paws. Perry Rhodan had called him his little friend! Touched by emotion, he wiped his big beautiful mouse eyes.

  Before teleporting he removed all traces from the air-regenerator case that might have betrayed his presence. When he rematerialized he found himself at the 270th km level of Titon and his landing spot was in the main security central of this system of caverns.

  During his raids Pucky had found out how to infiltrate these places without setting off the alarms. In all levels there was only one location where one could enter undetected—in the security centers themselves.

  Four Springers were on duty. Two of them were half dozing while the other two conversed. Pucky hid behind a synchronous switching cabinet and listened.

  "Can you figure that, Lonk?" he heard one of them ask.

  He used his telepathy to scan their thoughts and came within a hair of letting out a whistle. They were thinking and conversing about a certain prison and they grumbled about the five-fold security setup that had been ordered for the prison since yesterday. Excitedly, Pucky maintained contact, with the two Springers but then they began to talk about the mysterious catastrophes, eight of which had already occurred in various places today.

  Pucky suddenly had an urge to contact Perry Rhodan. He succeeded in his first attempt. In a matter of seconds he reported what he had found out.

  Rhodan sent back a telepathic question: But didn't you tell me just three days ago that you had inspected the prison, Pucky?

  Sure I did, Chief, but I didn't know that these star gypsies had two of them around here. I don't know yet whether the second one is—but Perry, do you think those beefed up security controls mean anything?

  Try to find out but you're going to have to be very careful now. A half-hour ago Bell told me his thumb was starting to throb again.

  Pucky was amazed. Perry, do you still believe in that nonsense?

  I don't want to lose you, Pucky. That's why I'm telling you to watch out! Keep your eyes open and don't take any chances!

  • • •

  The Lorch-Arto was equipped with a new propulsion unit and the damages to the outer hull of the old

  Soltenite freighter had been expertly repaired. The spacer had been flown from the dock to the port by a robot crew and was just being handed over to Capt. Maixpe.

  The takeoff had been scheduled by the port control for 7:30 standard time. It was such short notice that it allowed no time even to make a test flight with the new engines. It was obvious to Rhodan and his men that the Alien Control police were behind the order.

  But it made little difference to them now.

  The Solten Commando Mission had met with no success. They had not found a trace of Thomas Cardif. All 17 of the men knew what would come next. Now Arkon would begin to search for Thomas Cardif. The mighty legal machinery of the Greater Empire would begin to operate and agitator Cardif would be crushed by its wheels sooner or later.

  Bell watched the last of the Springers leave the Lorch-Arto. Under his bioplastic forehead hump he gazed after them grimly. Unconsciously he rubbed the tip of his right thumb.

  "Do you have to do that even now?" Rhodan asked him in mild reproach. Those who knew Perry Rhodan could understand what was going on inside him at the moment.

  Thomas Cardif, his rebellious son, had finally slipped from his hands and was now marching blindly to his doom. Rhodan was thinking of what Atlan had told him concerning Cardif and the laws of Arkon. Even the Imperator had to abide by the laws and his hands would be tied if an Arkon court should sentence Cardif to death.

  "What am I doing, anyway?" asked Bell in Soltenite. It was only then he became aware of what he was doing. "Oh this lousy thumb—what's wrong with it? Tell me, Perry, is Pucky actually on board?"

  "Pucky?"

  In every cabin and hold of the Lorch-Arto the intercom speakers rang out with an urgent call for the mouse-beaver. Pucky had been on board but at present he was nowhere to be found on the freighter. Nor was he hiding in the air-regenerator unit.

  Fellmer Lloyd, Marshall and the other telepaths were called into the control room. Find Puck! This was Rhodan's order. But if Pucky did not wish to be found he simply screened off his thoughts and then all the mutants including the mental tracker Lloyd could only reach out into emptiness.

  Such was the case now...

  Yet the Lorch-Arto was to take off within five minute! The new propulsion unit was in its final stages of warm-up, the power equipment was humming in idling mode. The ship was ready for takeoff.

  Bell saw Rhodan step to the small hypercom transceiver. "What are you going to do?" he asked apprehensively.

  Without turning, Rhodan answered: "To lose Pucky as well as Thomas is just too much. I'm sending off the code signal on pulse-burst transmission."

  "And the main hypercom station on this lovely planet will intercept it and know that we're here!" warned Bell.

  "The Springers can also assume that we've signaled Solten concerning our departure. Anyway, there's no sense to be made of the message. All it carries is the number 13."

  "Oh that's nice!" said Bell sarcastically as he shook his head in desperation. He looked questioningly at Fellmer Lloyd.

  "Nothing, sir," replied the latter in English. "Not a trace of Pucky."

  At that moment the prearranged code signal went out to Atlan.

  "So now what happens, Perry?" Bell wanted to know.

  "We do not take off! We'll report a malfunction in the engines to tower control. That will gain us half an

  hour which is about the time Atlan will need to make a transition to Archetz and put things in order." Perry! groaned Bell and his head sank in resignation.

  • • •

  "This is spaceport control. Why don't you take off, Capt. Maixpe?"

  The harsh voice of a Springer sounded from the loudspeaker.

  Rhodan leaned toward the microphone. "Malfunction in the new propulsion unit. We have a delayed reaction in three of the impulse engines. Maybe I should break my neck in a takeoff, my Lord? What will our women say if we end up being buried on Archetz and..."

  The Galactic Trader lost his patience. "You fools!" he roared, causing the loudspeaker to crackle. "Shut down those engines. We are sending you... What?" He must have been interrupted by someone at the control station because his face disappeared from the screen.

  Bell could almost physically sense the approach of disaster. He kept thinking of what might be happening at the main hypercom station of this enemy planet.

  And it was from that source that calamity struck.

  The Galactic Trader's face reappeared on the screen. "A few minutes ago, where did you send a hypercom message, you liar? You are hereby grounded! Do not try to take off or we'll turn your ship into a gas cloud!"

  "My Lord!" replied Rhodan humbly. "We wish neither to take off nor to die. We wish to return in good health to our wives. We have announced our departure to them and..."

  "But perhaps also to Arkon, liar?" raged the Springer. "Would you like to contradict our hypersensor? Do not forget you are grounded-no takeoff! Over and out!" The Springer disappeared from the screen.

  "And the Solar Fleet, Perry?" Bell ventured to ask.

  "It remains in the Solar System, gentlemen. And just so that you get this straight—I am fully aware of the action I'm risking here together with Atlan. My son and Pucky are both at stake but what's most important of all is to give final proof to these Springers that Imperator Gonozal VIII can even handle the Galactic Traders' main planet—and also to show that the friendship treaty between Arkon and the Solar System is not a worthless scrap of paper. There is nothing more..."

  He was abruptly interrupted by startled gasps from everyone a
s Pucky suddenly appeared in their mid-stand he was not alone. Perry Rhodan stood there unexpectedly facing his son Thomas Cardif!

  The mouse-beaver had obviously used his telekinesis to force him to come with him on his teleport jump back to the freighter.

  Thomas Cardif's albino-like red Arkonide eyes gleamed with hatred at his father, his lips tightly compressed and the corners of his mouth curled downward in scorn. It was a moment in which Rhodan realized that the path to another's heart was often longer than the path to the stars.

  John Marshall had an uneasy feeling. He scanned the room telepathically but it yielded nothing to explain his apprehension. It was only by chance that he glanced at the hypercom screen and happened to see the wave-oscillograph. It showed a constant waveform which was typical of a tracing signal. It was so strong and steady that it seemed the transmitter had to be right here in the control room of the Lorch-Arto.

  "Chief!" He pointed wordlessly to the oscillograph and its hypercom wave-pattern.

  In the next moment Rhodan sent out a signal beam on the hypercom—three times, wide open, without pulse coding or scrambling. It was the special Mayday signal 13 to Atlan. Then he turned calmly to everyone and announced: "Whether he knows it or not, Thomas Cardif is carrying a locator transmitter either on him or within his body. The Galactic Traders must know by now where he is. Gentlemen, our role as a Soltenite crew has been played out. We can drop the masquerade now and prepare ourselves for something unpleasant!"

  • • •

  Pucky wasn't in a mood to report how he had found Thomas nor was he given any time to do so.

  "They're coming!" announced Rhodan crisply. "If we make a move the Traders will use all their energy weapons without compunction. Lt. Cardif, I hope that you've correctly evaluated your situation. Don't try anything now because it would be quite imprudent of you. Pucky, you will know what to do to restrain him, won't you?" He looked at the mouse-beaver but there was little enthusiasm in his answering nod. He did not like this episode with Thomas Cardif. Again he had the feeling that Rhodan had not handled his son correctly.

  Cardif answered Rhodan's warning with silence.

  Rhodan glanced at the viewscreens. "Two heavy cylindrical cruisers!" he confirmed.

  Within a matter of minutes the Springers had brought into action everything they could muster on such short notice, yet their surrender ultimatum had not been given. Then—

  "Unconditional surrender, Perry Rhodan!" it blared from the speaker. "Otherwise we will destroy you!" The ultimatum could not have been more tersely stated.

  Somebody laughed. Thomas Cardif. "It seems that my goal will be reached after all! I thank you, mouse-beaver, for bringing me here!" His Arkonide eyes gleamed irreconcilable hate at Rhodan.

  The father cast a pensive glance at his son. Any path to his heart was doomed to destruction under this tidal wave of hate.

  The freighter's loudspeakers rang again with the hard voice of the enemy. "We'll give you five minutes to leave the Lorch-Arto ! This is our last warning!"

  The teleporter Tako Kakuta was standing by the hypersensor console. Other than a few inconsequential warp patterns, the entire Resuma system appeared to be unusually quiet. Atlan's fleet—the one last straw they were pinning their hopes on—was apparently going to be too late.

  By now the small freighter had been surrounded by two heavy cruisers, 19 light cruisers and half a hundred heavily armed police craft.

  "Four minutes yet," said Rhodan calmly. "Gentlemen, I am also afraid that Atlan won't make it in that short length of time. So we're going into action. Let me have a look there, Kakuta."

  The teleporter made room at the sensor panel but Rhodan was more interested in the wave-oscillograph beyond it. He adjusted the telecom dial to the same frequency as the microtransmitter that was apparently planted in Thomas Cardif's body.

  "The time, please?" His reassuring calmness was contagious.

  "Three minutes, 20 seconds," answered John Marshall.

  "OK! Teleporter action. The target: radio central of the port control tower. Hypnosis at once for Cardif! On the double, teleporters!"

  There were three teleporters on hand: Pucky, Tako Kakuta and Ras Tschubai. Fifteen men would have to be teleported. There were slightly more than 180 seconds available for the task. They'd have to double up on their jumps but it still left only 36 seconds for each turnaround. It was excruciatingly little time.

  "Mr. Bell, Mr. Cardif and myself will be last," Rhodan ordered.

  Kitai Ishibashi processed Rhodan's son with his most intensive suggestive powers. He gave him a command to make no attempt against his father or the other men during the next hour nor to do anything to interfere with their actions. Cardif was powerless against this attack and unknowingly fell under the sway of the suggestions.

  "It's going to be tight!" said Bell as the three teleporters returned from their first two-way jump, having taken 40 seconds for it.

  "There're 18 Springers in the radio central!" chirped Pucky. His incisor tooth flashed brilliantly as he grabbed his next passenger and disappeared.

  However the teleporters made up for their lost time. They were on their 4th jump.

  Tako Kakuta reached for Kitai Ishibashi. "All Hell's broken loose in the radio central!" he cried out. As the other Japanese clung to him, they both disappeared.

  Bell had his eye on the digital countdown. "42 seconds to go," he said calmly.

  "Hey Tubby, it's your turn!" chirped Pucky beside him.

  As the mouse-beaver made off with Bell, the tall black figure of Ras Tschubai was seen to grasp Thomas

  Cardif about the waist. Then Tako Kakuta reached for Rhodan.

  "Hold it, Tako!" Rhodan paused to turn on the telecom and in that moment there were two tracer transmitters on Archez: the one in Cardif's body and, the other on the Lorch-Arto, set at the same frequency.

  When Rhodan and Tako Kakuta rematerialized in the control tower's radio room they were just in time to see Bell knock out the last of the Galactic Traders with a right hay-maker.

  Pucky sat at the master panel and reached out with his: left paw to a red button. He pressed it and activated a continuous alert for space attack.

  "Pucky!" Rhodan was about to shout at him in anger but caught himself at the last moment. Then all he could do was to shake his head over the mouse-beaver’s ingenious inspiration.

  The whole planet of Archetz was placed on alert. Space alarm! Attack from the void!

  Added to that were two tracer signals on the same frequency.

  Already thunderstruck by the mere fact that Rhodan and a commando team were on their world at all, the Galactic Traders were now strained to their limits of containment and had to hold onto their nerves to keep from losing control. But then Rhodan's mutants met the next attack. Springers came at them from other sections of the port control building. Attempting to storm the radio central they ran into a crossfire of a half-dozen hypno-blasters.

  Out on the spaceport the Lorch-Arto dissolved into a reddish-yellow gas cloud. Losing their heads, the Galactic Traders had opened fire on the small and ancient freighter from the Forit System, using the heaviest weapons at their command.

  But then the entire planet of Archez was struck by an earthquake. The vast port control building was shaken to its foundations.

  Bell pointed skyward and roared: "There they are!"

  Atlan had arrived!

  Arkon had arrived!

  Power had arrived!

  In its 18-world systems, Archetz was surrounded by a formidable ring of planetary fortresses, yet not one of them dared to fire a shot at the super battleship fleet of Imperator Gonozal VIII. More than 300 Drusus -sized space monsters made a high-speed entry into the Archetz atmosphere with all retro-engines thundering at full power. Unleashing hurricane forces that shook every building on the planet, they hurtled downward, darkening the sky in a massive formation that finally hovered at an altitude of 3,000 meters-ship next to ship—an overwhelming demonstration of migh
t!

  • • •

  "This should make a lasting impression on the Galactic Traders," observed Rhodan. "May they never forget us for it!

  With Thomas Cardif between them, he and Bell left the port control building and now without any hindrance approached Atlan's flagship, which was the only one that had landed.

  Thousands of Springers watched in helpless rage as the hated figure of Perry Rhodan marched across the plastic pavement and disappeared into the groundlock of the Arkon ship along with his handful of men.

  Cardif was assigned to his own cabin, which was guarded by two combat robots. The first thing that Rhodan and his mutants attended to, however, was to remove their Soltenite disguises. Each of them was relieved to no longer have the appearance of those pitiable men of the Soltenite race. But while the bioplastic experts were carefully removing their makeup, Rhodan gave Bell, who was lying next to him, an order.

  "I want you to go to Solten and arrange for a replacement of the Lorch-Arto and also take care of the 17 Soltenites who are still on board the Drusus. I don't want them to be punished by the Council of the Great Mothers on our account and I don't want them to suffer any financial losses."

  "Perry, why don't you send Pucky there? This whole brainstorm was his idea in the first place!" Bell exclaimed defensively. He had no desire to be reminded of the Soltenites in the next 20 years.

  "I might have sent Pucky, Bell, under other circumstances. But for one thing you've taught him the uncouth expletive Trobbel and then you've also allowed yourself to be blackmailed by it! Now what do you suppose Mercant would think of you if Pucky were to tell him what this word from the Olgetz language..."

  "I'll wring his neck if he spills that!" threatened Bell.

  "Alright, then you fly to Solten and straighten things out with the Big Mother Council, my friend, and I'll butter up Pucky to refrain from telling anything to Mercant!"

  "If that isn't blackmail on your part," muttered Bell, "then I don't know what else I can call it! But I'm hollering Uncle. So I'll fly to Solten!"