Attack from the Unseen

by Perry Rhodan

  "Tama Yokida and Pucky will teleport outside as soon as we touch ground. I'm taking the Drusus to Talamon's position and will be back as soon as possible. You know, Pucky, that you and Tama aren't in danger. Just maintain physical contact at all times and in that way you can teleport at any moment. So nothing can happen to you. We will remain in telepathic contact, Pucky. Your channel is Marshall. Everything clear so far?"

  Tama nodded silently.

  Pucky grumbled. "I'd like to know why all the talk? Anyway, well take care of the 'small matter' you mentioned." But his lower lip sagged into such a doubtful expression that it nullified any last shred of conviction.

  The Drusus made its landing and took off ten seconds later.

  Pucky and Tama Yokida were no longer on board.

  • • •

  It was almost as if Marcel Rous had received a blow on the head and he could practically sense the physical pain of it.

  Had his ship taken off without him? True, he had given orders for them to take such action if need be but he never assumed that they'd just go off and leave him in a pickle like this. He had said in case of danger. Had such a danger presented itself? There were no indications of it here, yet considering these uncanny enemies that didn't prove much.

  He circled the area several times where the K-7 had been standing. It had disappeared without leaving the slightest trace of its existence.

  "Now we're alone on this phantom planet, Lieutenant," said Dubruque calmly. "What now? I'd recommend that we look for the Drusus."

  Which wouldn't have been a difficult task, since the small flier was equipped with a normal radio transceiver. If Rhodan were still in the system and remained there for the time being, he'd pick up their call sooner or later. But...

  Marcel Rous shook his head stubbornly. "We haven't done what we came for yet, Dubruque. Should we give up, just like that? And as far as the K-7 is concerned, I think the boys in the control room are going to owe us an explanation. Wait'll they hear from me."

  "And where would you say that will be?" asked the cadet beside him, still as collected as before.

  Marcel Rous didn't answer. He let the flier climb slightly, then picked up speed and steered for the next town. Within just a few minutes the lights of another city twinkled through the semi-twilight. It wasn't until they had lowered altitude again and were gliding along closely above the uneven pavement of the streets that he spoke again.

  "We're going to search everywhere, Dubruque. They just have to be somewhere. And if we don't find them, maybe at least well come across a trace of the Unseen. They may have discovered a method of bending light rays but they're certainly not disembodied. That's what I'm pinning my last hopes on."

  "I don't understand, Lieutenant."

  "If it's any consolation," said Rous grimly, "I don't quite understand it myself yet, but I'm keeping an open mind. When the right moment comes, the answer will come to me."

  "Let's hope!" grumbled the cadet as he turned his attention to the deserted streets. He was determined to find a clue that would lead to the Unseen.

  But in this both men were disappointed. Not only had the city been abandoned by all living beings but apparently also by the Unseen themselves. No further attacks occurred.

  In the next town they made a brief sortie on foot, while prepared at any moment to run back to their small ship and take off. Perhaps even that might not save them but the close proximity of the flier gave them a reassuring sense of protection.

  But this city also remained quiescent without event or attack.

  Then they ascended into the rising sun and started their search on the daylight side of the planet. Here the surveillance was easier and progressed more quickly. It was strange to see the burning street lights in the deserted narrow streets and roadways and equally peculiar to observe the lights in the empty dwellings. No one was there who could turn them off.

  But also there were no signs of the Unseen.

  Marcel Rous did not give in. He landed in every town, in every little settlement and even in front of isolated houses in the country. And what he found was always the same: abandoned dwellings, empty animal stalls, lonely and unceasing silence.

  This led him to believe that the Unseen had left the planet of Mirsal 3, once it had been depleted of all life. The invasion was at an end but no one had taken possession of the conquered world.

  Why had they conquered it...

  • • •

  Tama Yokida looked back at the Drusus but within seconds the mighty sphere became a tiny point in the blue sky and then disappeared. He kept direct contact with Pucky with his hands.

  Pucky did not watch the departure of the Drum but carefully observed his surroundings instead. He knew that the Unseen were not able to take him completely by surprise. He had already been able to detect their approach and thus been forewarned. And he was fully prepared to teleport with Tama at the first sign of danger. Under no circumstances were these phantoms going to catch him.

  Pucky was pleased to discover that some of his fear of the Unseen and the mysterious had abated. If he had to he could eventually cure himself of his apprehension. This certainty permitted the mouse-beaver to regain his spirits and his courage so that he became his old self again.

  His change of mood worked its effect also on the Japanese. "Now it's up to us," he whispered. "If they strike, nobody can help us. You have to be quick, Pucky."

  "Nobody's as quick as I am," Pucky assured him confidently. He looked about. "They've set us down in the mountains instead of a city. But why not start our investigations right here? Maybe the Unseen have overlooked some old hermit who lives in a cave. Then we'll finally find out what's happened."

  Actually the Japanese did not share Pucky's vain hope but at least he didn't attempt to influence him in an opposite trend of thought as was the habit of stupid and conceited people. Tama was even firmly convinced that the cause of all hate and bitterness back on Earth was the fact that everybody was always concerned about forcing others to their own point of view.

  To avoid a long trek, Pucky made short teleport jumps with Tama. Although they covered only distances that lay in their line of sight each time, it was a tremendous means of quickly covering a lot of territory.

  It was already getting dark by the time they reached the rim of the mountainous country and looked down at a wide plain below. In the middle of it was a large city. It could clearly be seen that the lights were burning already-or yet. There was no sign of life.

  All this time, Tama had never let loose of Pucky's paw for a second. "Should we have a look at the city?" he asked, meanwhile having lost all fear of the Unseen. "Maybe well find a clue."

  Without answering the other's question, Pucky sighed. "I'd like to know where the heck that crazy lieutenant went to. He couldn't simply have dissolved in the air with the guppy."

  "Maybe he could have, Pucky," contradicted Tama worriedly. "We have proof that the Unseen can affect solid matter-they can pull inanimate material into their invisible world too."

  "A whole ship?" asked Pucky dubiously.

  Tama shrugged his shoulders. "We have to consider even that possibility."

  He didn't yet realize how close he had come to the awful truth.

  • • •

  In the meantime, Rhodan arrived in the Drusus at the coordinates Talamon had given him. The Arc-Koor was a good two light-hours away from Mirsal 3 but on the other hand it had come much closer to the yellow sun. It was an observation that Rhodan registered without comment but which he had no intention of ignoring.

  When the puzzling rocket came within optical viewing distance, he took note of a second peculiarity. At a velocity of just 300 miles per second, it was laboring its way out of the solar system.

  Out of it! And it came from the direction of the sun!

  Talamon didn't keep him waiting long. Rhodan had hardly made a communications contact before the Mounder appeared on the viewscreen.

  "I'm glad you're here, Rhodan. I've h
ad a discussion with the Regent in the meantime. When I told him about the primitive rocketship and expressed an opinion that it might be a vessel of the Unseen, he gave me permission to stay here with the Arc-Koor."

  Rhodan was frankly astonished. "Does that mean the Regent agrees with your opinion? I'd have to rule that out."

  "Why?"

  "The robot Brain thinks too logically to assume that the Unseen would use liquid-fuel rockets to scuttle from star to star."

  Talamon grinned broadly. "Whatever the Regent happens to assume, I've been given the order to investigate the rocket but to be very careful about it. So your additional support has arrived just in time."

  Rhodan glanced at the other viewscreen. Unerringly and without any change of course, the small rocket continued toward its unknown destination. This much Rhodan believed he had learned: that unknown destination happened to be Mirsal 3, the depopulated planet. What did they seek there?

  "Alright, so what should we do, Talamon?"

  "Quite simply, we stop the rocket. With traction beams."

  "Without hailing them?"

  "Why not?"

  Rhodan shook his head. "I'd like to try making radio contact with the crew first. Do you know Talamon, that I don't buy your idea in the least, as far as it's being a ship of the Unseen? On the contrary, I have another theory entirely."

  "What is it? I'd be very interested in hearing it."

  "In a few minutes I can give you its course data from my nav computer. But figure it for yourself: this rocketship is traveling outward from the sun, on a course that's headed for Mirsal 3. Its low velocity is a strong indication that the crew can't fool around and take detours along the way because that would take too much time. Therefore it's obvious that the rocket can only be coming from the second planet in the system."

  "Impossible!" laughed Talamon. "The second planet of Mirsal is uninhabited."

  "It is supposed to be uninhabited," corrected Rhodan calmly. "That's a slight difference. The Arkonides don't take the trouble to investigate every planet in a system; and besides, the catalogs are outdated. We shouldn't forget that. In any case I'm convinced that those enterprising space sailors have their origin on Mirsal 2."

  Talamon pondered over this and then nodded. "Perhaps you have something. So where does it get us?"

  "There are several conclusions, I'm thinking. At least we have the fact that here's still another race of people who are trying to conquer space. I don't know who these inhabitants of Mirsal 2 happen to be but anyway they're a higher class of civilized beings. They need our help and we shouldn't frighten them with a magnetic field. Let's try them on the radio and maybe we'll get an answer."

  Talamon condescended. But before Rhodan could pass his instructions to Com Central, the results came through from the nav computer.

  The robot Brain of the automatic navigator had made a flawless reconstruction of the rocket's course, which confirmed Rhodan's guess. Without any doubt it had originated from the second planet of Mirsal and was attempting to reach the third planet. It must have been under way for a number of days already and would not reach Mirsal 3 for weeks yet, if it did not increase its present speed.

  Was this an exploration rocket, trying to reach its neighboring planet?

  Beyond this Rhodan could arrive at no further answers and was restricted to mere conjectures. Which was all the more reason why a radio contact was important.

  He went into the Com Central and personally supervised the activity of the men there. But in spite of all efforts to pick up an answer to the continuously transmitted call signals, the receiver of the Drusus remained silent. Either the designers of the rocket had never discovered the art of radio communication or they weren't concerned with contacting the two space giants which had appeared so suddenly out of the void.

  Unconcernedly the steel object pursued its course.

  Talamon finally became impatient. "That isn't going to work. We have to stop them and sweat some answers out of them. Shall I take them on board or do you want to handle it?"

  Rhodan hesitated for a moment and once more observed the mysterious object of their deliberations. Somehow the sight reminded him of the time, 70 years ago, when he himself had traversed the staggering distance of Earth to the Moon in such a rocket. That silvery something out there, not more than a mile away, was a fragment of the past, and yet for each race of beings who invented and built such a ship it was always the beginning of the future. Their reactions and feelings now must be similar to his own that time when he first beheld the mighty spacesphere of the Arkonides which had made a crash-landing on the Moon. They would no doubt he assailed now with the same fears that had confronted him then.

  Their pattern of fate seemed to compare with his own at that time, down to a hair.

  "I'll take care of it," he said, finally answering Talamon's question.

  6/ ROCKET TO OBLIVION

  After a few hours, Marcel Rous and Dubruque knew with 100% certainty that aside from themselves there was not another living being remaining on Mirsal 3. The planet was depleted not only of its former inhabitants but of the invisible invaders as well. The Unseen's mission here appeared to be at an end.

  There had not been one sign of further attack and they could move about freely in the cities or the countryside without the least fear of danger. Here and there they encountered some of the lost fighting robots from the Drusus wandering aimlessly about, still attempting to challenge the enemy.

  Pucky and Tama were forced to the same conclusions. In their random teleportations they raced from place to place without finding anyone. Even the uncanny phantom apparitions failed to appear. Pucky had not picked up any thought impulses but when it suddenly did happen, although it was of course surprising it turned out to be no cause for alarm.

  Their last jump brought the two mutants to the top of a mountain which was crowned with a mighty fortress. It was reminiscent of the castles of the European Middle Ages and by the local standards no doubt represented a powerful bastion. Certainly it had once been inhabited by the prince or monarch who ruled the surrounding country. Now it lay deserted in the glare of the bright sunlight.

  Rigid and silent, Pucky stood in the center of the wide courtyard and looked up at the battlements. Tama was close beside him but had let go of his paw.

  "There's nobody here," said the Japanese. "I can't see anybody."

  Pucky didn't answer. With his ears lying back on his head, he listened in a specific direction. Tama became alert and looked across toward the drawbridge, which spanned a deep moat. -What is it, Pucky?"

  The mouse-beaver finally condescended to answer. "Somebody is here," he whispered with perfect calmness. "I'm not exactly certain who it is but there's no possibility of it's being one of the Unseen. Those things' thoughts are blurry and shadowy. I think it's..."

  "There!" cried Tama suddenly, pointing straight ahead where a massive tower formed a comer of the main castle structure. "What is that?"

  Pucky looked in the direction he was pointing. The sunlight was brightly reflected from a metal object there. Momentarily blinded, Pucky closed his eyes and then slowly opened them again.

  Only part of the object could be seen because it was half-obscured by the tower. It was a cone-shaped metallic form which lay motionless on the ground.

  "Let's go, Tama!"

  The Japanese followed with some hesitation while gripping his weapon in one hand.

  Before they had arrived at the tower to be able to see the mysterious object fully, Pucky said, "It's Lt. Marcel Rous. He and another crewman are searching the castle."

  Pucky concentrated on a teleport jump, aiming himself at the source of the thought impulses. Then he dematerialized along with Tama.

  In the same moment, Marcel Rous and Dubruque entered a great hall that was just as empty as all the other rooms in the castle. On either side of the hall, weapons and other articles of armament leaned against the wood paneling of the walls. In an open fireplace were the glowing embers of
a fire. In a copper vessel the last trace of water was steaming away. It could only have been a few hours ago that people were here, snatched away by some incomprehensible fate.

  Whither now...?

  Pensively, Marcel Rous' gaze turned to the long table covered with all kinds of drinking vessels and wooden plates. It was as though a gay company had been sitting here at a feast when the calamity struck.

  Rous started suddenly as he saw the air shimmering between him and the end chair. Then he saw the two materializing figures. He quickly grasped Dubruque's arm. "Don't shoot! It's our own people. Mutants!"

  Pucky and Tama appeared.

  "Dubruque has probably been watching Western movies again," remarked Pucky peevishly. He examined the empty hall. "Where did you leave your ship, Rous?"

  The lieutenant finally recovered from his astonishment. "You sure found us in a heck of a hurry," he said. "The whole planet is empty. We have thoroughly searched it and haven't found a living soul!"

  "A marvelous piece of observation!" Pucky's mock praise was deliberately sarcastic. "But you didn't have to go to all the trouble. What do you think the Chief is going to say to all this? And the K-7? Aha-so you don't even know that! Well, that makes even a finer cuddle of fish!"

  The mutant grinned at Pucky's misusage.

  "I only wanted to help my three missing crewmen," said Marcel defiantly. "Even Rhodan can't deny me that. Now the K-7 has disappeared! You should be helping me to search for it instead of criticizing."

  "In the last couple of hours we've covered the whole surface of Mirsal 3 but, we didn't find any trace of a guppy."

  "Do you think the Unseen stole it?"

  "There could be some connection maybe," Pucky nodded. He waddled confidently toward the 'exit that led into a wide hallway. "Let's all take a look at the castle together. I keep hoping we'll find some Mirsalese who was overlooked-and I have a feeling there's one around here somewhere."