by Perry Rhodan
They consisted mainly of a bulky midsection in the form of an ellipsoid and were made of a grey metallic substance. Below the ellipsoid extended two short stumps of legs without feet. The upper end had a rotating ring with short arms.
The contraption was about twenty inches high, standing up, Rhodan guessed.
Fifteen of them were lying in front of the fractured cylinder and this seemed to comprise the entire complement of the hall.
Rhodan called his men. Carefully they disentangled the pile of collapsed robots. Although one could never be sure as far as robots were concerned that they were really destroyed or merely temporarily put out of action, everything pointed to the fact that these little machines had come to the end of their mechanical lives.
"Let's carry them out!" Rhodan ordered. "We can examine them on board the Stardust."
They dragged them, for the time being, to the little hall where the elevator was located. In the meantime Rhodan and Deringhouse investigated the hall. With Lloyd's guidance they found the smaller rooms adjacent to both sides of the hall. However, they were no more successful in ascertaining their functions than that of the machines in the main hall.
After they had inspected the building for half an hour Rhodan became convinced that the sign he pursued was not to be found here. The hall contained two dozen fascinating machines, the side rooms another dozen, and it would have been very challenging for Terrestrial technology to take them apart and determine the principle on which they operated.
But here it was just as impossible to obtain information about the galactic position of the World of Eternal Life as out in the cold sand of the desert.
This was not the place to gather the desired knowledge. Heaven knew why the great unknown mentor, who was pulling the strings in the background, had brought them here.
Rhodan waited until his men had collected the lifeless robots in the elevator room and then sent them all up. He left last. He would have liked to seal off the hall so that nobody could enter until they had finished their search on the planet for what they had come to discover. Then he would have liked to return for a more thorough exploration of the building.
But he did not doubt that many more than these fifteen robots existed on this planet and that he could not prevent them and their masters from returning to the hall as soon as he and his men turned their backs.
With his thoughts in a turmoil he drifted up the antigrav elevator shaft to join his men waiting for him at the hill. The sun was shining brightly.
"Back to the aero-cars!" Rhodan ordered.
The robots were quite heavy. Even a strong man could not carry more than one of them.
Rhodan stayed at the end of the troop. Deringhouse joined him.
"We haven't found out much, have we?" he asked.
Rhodan shrugged his shoulders.
"Let's wait and see. I imagine we can disassemble the memory bank of the robots and decipher the information. The creators of the robots are the people we want. The robots ought to know something about where to find them."
More by accident than real intention Rhodan looked at the watch attached to the left sleeve of his transport-suit. The watch had adjustable timing and it was set for Vagabond time.
"Four o'clock local time," murmured Rhodan. "The thing must have stopped. What time have you got?"
Deringhouse raised his arm.
"One minute past four o'clock, sir. Your watch is right."
Rhodan stopped, grabbed Deringhouse by the shoulder and turned him around so that he could see the sun.
"Sunrise is supposed to be at six o'clock plus. Tell me, what the devil is the sun doing in the sky at four o'clock?"
The records which the Stardust's monitoring instruments had made during the earthquake shed light on the phenomenon.
The Vagabond sun was a star in the phase of regeneration—a dying sun insofar as its radiation decreased but, on the other hand, a star which would be reborn in a not too distant future, by astronomical standards. During the cooling off period the substance of the sun contracted and created a core of unbelievable density. Every shift inside the core produced mass shockwaves which were propagated throughout space with the speed of gravity.
And more than that. Since the part of the sun's core which was not displaced by the shock deflected the effect from the direction from which it happened to be in relation to the shaken segment, it resulted—most of the time—in very well defined fields of disturbance so that someone on Vagabond might not notice the earthquake, whereas. a spaceship millions of miles away in space could be in the middle of a shock-field.
This time, however, the shock-field of the convulsing core had been primarily concentrated on Vagabond. The result was a dislocation of its axis and a formidable earthquake.
Nobody was eager to contemplate what would have happened in such a case on a world which was not as cold and dry as Vagabond. The fact alone that Vagabond was already cooled to the core and its center was no longer liquid and that there existed no oceans on its surface, prevented a devastating holocaust. Vagabond had merely changed the position of its axis and settled down again.
This also proved to be the explanation for the strange experience Rhodan had had earlier at the beginning of the mission when he was on a patrol in a space pursuit ship. Apparently his ship had also become a victim of a similar displacement in the core of Vagabond, although the effect had not been as strong as the one causing the earthquake.
In any case Rhodan was certain that a pure accident was responsible for his gaining access to the machine hall. The shock-field had not been artificially triggered, it was the planet itself that produced it just at the moment when it was most convenient for Rhodan.
Rhodan returned with his men and the captured robots to the Stardust. Lieutenant Tanner held the camp in the center of the hills with ten men. Rhodan wanted to wait till the technicians discovered what data the robots retained, but a preliminary examination revealed that the structure of the mechano-beings was so complicated that they would require at least a week in terms of Terrestrial time to finish their task.
Rhodan debated whether to abandon the camp or return to it in full force.
Then something happened that gave him a new idea.
It came as quite a surprise as quiet had reigned on board the Stardust for two Vagabond days.
On the day, however, when Rhodan tried to make up his mind about his next step, a heavy gravity generator shortly after midnight started to produce so much gravity that it was eventually torn from its mounting and floated humming through the vast generator hall.
The technicians hovered over it on a repair rig and brought it back down by cautious regulation.
There were, moreover, a series of smaller mishaps, but they had to wait till noon for the main event.
Rhodan was just returning from a short lunch in the mess hall when the sirens began to wail. He started to run and reached the Command Center at the instant Reginald Bell issued his commands over the telecom.
"Attention, all guards! Off duty time is canceled! Guard unit one, first group, occupy Command Center! Clear all battle stations and man with double crews! Alert, range finders: double your crews!"
"An Arkon bomb has broken loose from its rack in arsenal Deck E. Alarm state number one." Rhodan stopped in his tracks.
An Arkon bomb!
Weapons which had the capacity to cause an un-extinguishable atomic conflagration of all elements above the atomic number 10 and of any other chosen element by setting the trigger of the bomb for the specific selection.
The bomb triggers in arsenal Deck E were set for 26. Atomic number 26—iron. There was more iron present in the Stardust than in a steel mill! The ship was doomed if the bomb exploded!
Bell finished his broadcast. He turned around and looked at Rhodan.
"Do you agree?" he asked gravely.
Rhodan nodded.
Thora appeared at his side. Her eyes were wide open and she moved mechanically, as if in a trance.
"No!
" she whispered. "You can't do that. You have to evacuate the vessel!"
Rhodan shook his head.
"That would be the best way to lose it."
Then he moved quickly. His helmet was lying on the pilot seat. He put it on without closing it.
"Constant communication!" he said tersely and went out.
Thora stared in consternation.
"Where is he going?" she asked.
But Bell had other matters to attend to and did not answer her.
Three minutes after the alarm call the Command Center was occupied by the guards. Bell assigned them to their stations and cautioned them to be on the alert.
"Rhodan is up on arsenal Deck E. His orders must be instantly obeyed. Shut your helmets and maintain radio silence!"
Rhodan did not go alone. The two Japanese, Tako Kakuta and Tama Yokida, accompanied him. They were both mutants. While Rhodan had no preconceived plans for using the teleporter Kakuta, he knew very well on the other hand that he would need the telekinetic Yokida.
The Command Center of the Stardust was located on Deck D. They had to surmount a height of close to five hundred feet from there to Deck E. The antigrav elevator terminated about nine hundred feet from the entrance to the arsenal.
The wide transport conveyor had been cleared in the meantime. Bell had opened the hatch to the arsenal from the Command Center and they all could see the metallic egg from far away as it was suspended motionlessly six feet above the floor near the hatch.
"Yokida, go to work!" Rhodan said sharply. "Guide the bomb to one of the racks and hold it there!"
Yokida went in through the hatch and focused his eyes firmly on the bomb. He knew the type of bomb with which he was dealing and that he had to be careful to stay away from the trigger.
He stopped. Rhodan watched him and saw how the muscles in his neck bulged. All of a sudden Yokida started to lean and staggered forward. He would have fallen down if Tako Kakuta had not rushed to his aid and caught him in the nick of time.
"I can't do it, sir!" Yokida grunted. "He's holding it too tightly!"
Rhodan clenched his fists.
He! Who was he?
He pushed the Japanese to the side.
"Tako! Watch it!"
The Japanese knew what he had to do. Rhodan leaned heavily against the bomb which was hovering capriciously in the air. The Japanese held his outstretched arms underneath. If the bomb was suddenly released by the unknown telekinetic power, he would have to catch the heavy weapon or it would smash to the ground and trigger the ignition.
Rhodan's efforts, however, proved to be in vain. Whoever was toying with the dreadful bomb held it in such an unrelenting grip that Rhodan was unable to move it a fraction of an inch.
"We'll have to dismantle it!" panted Rhodan. "Tako, get the tools!"
Tako hurried away.
A few seconds later the bomb began to move. Holding his breath, Rhodan followed as it slowly drifted toward the hatch and out into the hallway to the right toward the northern airlock.
Rhodan placed himself in its path and tried for a second time to stem its advance. He might just as well have attempted to stop an armored tank. The bomb simply shoved him over to the side.
It continued drifting down the hallway. There was no doubt that it was aimed for the airlock.
"Command Center!"
"Speaking!"
"Open airlock inside!"
"Very well, sir!"
The huge loading hatch rolled up. The bombed moved toward it.
Tako Kakuta came running with a toolbox. Rhodan made a negative gesture.
"Too late now! Fasten your suits!"
They remained right behind the bomb.
"Yokida!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Watch the bomb. It's possible this joker might get tired of playing around and simply let the bomb drop. Then it's up to you to hold the bomb securely."
Yokida nodded.
They passed through the hatch, the bomb no more than three feet ahead of them.
"Command Center! Shut the inside and open the outside hatch. Hurry!"
They complied with the order.
"Protective screens out!"
"Protective screens out, sir!
The pumps worked at full capacity. Before the bomb had traversed the airlock, the inside pressure had been equalized with the outside pressure. The outer hatch rolled up and—to all appearances—the unknown force was directing the bomb toward the outside.
"The bomb's leaving the ship!" Rhodan said quickly. "We'll reinstate the protective screen with the least possible radius as soon as the bomb is past that distance.
"Tell Tanner to return to the ship as quickly as possible. Let him leave tents and equipment behind. If the bomb explodes out there over the sand with the iron oxide, this planet will be an atomic furnace in half an hour."
The bomb drifted out of the airlock. The narrowest radius for the protective screen extended one hundred fifty feet beyond the ship's hull. If the bomb got as far as that without exploding, at least the ship would be saved.
"Attention...!"
And then, when nobody had expected it, things took another turn. The bomb interrupted its slow progress for a fraction of a second, awkwardly rotated halfway around its short axis and reeled toward the ground.
"Yokida!"
The Japanese leaned recklessly out of the hatch, tenuously holding onto the frame with his fingertips. Tako Kakuta stood behind him, ready to help in case he slipped. Rhodan crawled on his stomach to the edge of the hatch. He could see the bomb slowly falling down along the ship's hull, following the weak gravity.
Deck E was situated high in the upper half of the Stardust. Unless a miracle happened, the bomb was going to collide with the vessel's midsection and Stardust's existence and the crew's lives depended on whether the trigger would be released by the impact.
Rhodan remained cool and calm. He tried to estimate the distance which the bomb could still fall. Another one hundred fifty, maybe one hundred eighty feet.
Yokida moaned. Rhodan wanted to turn around and look at him but at this moment the bomb decreased the speed of its descent. Only sixty feet from the hull!
Fifteen feet away from collision and doom, the movement of the bomb stopped completely. For a moment it hung trembling in the air and then...
...then it started to rise again. At first slowly and, hesitantly then a little faster and more determined, it finally approached the airlock hatch with considerable speed.
"Yokida!" Rhodan shouted. "We've got to intercept it!"
They were ready. Yokida closed his eyes, concentrating his mind in a superhuman effort to guide the bomb. It wobbled and came closer. It was now about six feet higher than the floor of the airlock.
"Down three feet!" Rhodan directed.
Yokida followed his instructions. He lowered the bomb and hauled it in with his telekinetic powers.
"Now!"
They grasped it simultaneously. For a second the bomb felt as light as a feather. Then they suddenly felt the entire weight of the heavy missile and the strain made their foreheads break out in sweat. Up front they heard a thud as Yokida dropped unconscious to the floor. With his last strength he had pushed himself away from the hatch and tumbled inside.
They dragged the bomb back to the arsenal. Groaning, their hands clasped under the bomb, they carried it down the hallway into the arsenal and gingerly lifted it onto the rack from which it had broken loose.
One last push and...
"Careful!"
...there it was.
With aching fingers Rhodan locked the harness holding the bomb in place. He ripped off his helmet and took a deep breath. His hands were trembling as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Tako looked at him and Rhodan broke into a grin.
"That's that!" he said and slapped the Japanese on the back.
It took a work detachment three hours to fasten all weapons in the arsenal so that it would be difficult for the stranger to repeat his experiment.
During those three hours Rhodan had a heated discussion with the two Arkonides, Khrest and Thora. They both voiced the opinion that the last episode had exceeded their limit of endurance and that it was imperative for the Stardust to depart from this planet without any delay.
Rhodan disputed this. He had devised another strategy in the meantime. He could not convince Khrest and Thora that it would be foolish to abandon their task now. But he made it clear to them that he was in charge and that he could make the decisions with or without their consent. Finally Khrest said:
"All right, you're the commander and let nobody say that an Arkonide doesn't adhere to discipline. We'll debate it no longer but you must be aware that we don't see eye to eye."
"You'll agree with me," Rhodan replied in a conciliatory tone, "when this action is finished."
Thora said no more. But he could see the fire of her anger in her eyes as he had not seen again since the first year he met her. Rhodan issued his orders. He would take part once more in the new expedition. He stressed to his officers:
"We haven't got a second to lose. The sooner we're on out way, the better the chances for our survival."
In the meantime. Lieutenant Tanner had returned with his men. He had left the tents and the equipment behind as ordered.
The expedition was ready to start in the evening. It consisted of ten aero-cars, seven of which were loaded with various equipment and weapons. Other than Khrest and Thora, Rhodan had so far told nobody anything about the details of his plan. When Reginald Bell inquired what the seven car-loads of weapons and other sophisticated implements would do him for his purpose, Rhodan answered:
"We're going to play a little game with the strangers but this time we're going to choose the time and place, where is isn't so hazardous for us."
5/ RHODAN'S REVELATION
