by Perry Rhodan
Khrest looked at him with a radiant expression on his fine face, "Excellent!" he exclaimed with admiration.
Rhodan did not rest. As soon as five minutes had passed the time they needed for recharging the storage condensers with a minimal amount of energy, he started up the engines again. The rest seemed like child's play. Rhodan steered the space sphere into a crevice of the huge mountain wall of the crater in whose center lay the remains of the wrecked Arkonide cruiser. He was convinced that the Fantan people would eventually risk approaching the wreck and that he and his companions would be safest waiting for this moment while hidden in the deep shadows of the crater wall.
Khrest had asked to be excused from any participation during this enterprise. Rhodan had granted his wish, since he knew the mentality of the Arkonide scientist. The era in which they had built their galactic empire had long since gone. Fighting represented an action horrible beyond belief for the Arkonides, grown old.
Haggard was stationed at the radar, Bell at the artillery of the ship, while Rhodan remained at the steering console, in case he had to manoeuvre it manually.
The auxiliary vessel carried two types of artillery-weapons with a, range of up to one light minute and those with a shorter range. Rhodan was reluctant to use the far reaching rockets. Although the Fantan ship was of an old-fashioned type and equipped with rather weak defensive fields, one still could not discount the possibility that they might have installed some improvements before undertaking such a dangerous trip. These far reaching missiles were also liable to be detected too early. This would allow the Fantan people to evade them. judging by what Rhodan knew of their mentality, the crew would not make a stand and fight but would probably turn and flee. But Rhodan was determined to force a decisive victory and not one that included the likelihood of the opponents flight.
Some hours went by. Khrest was lying down resting, his eyes closed tight. No word was spoken. Haggard sat in front of his radar screen, which remained blank, while Bell had his place before a panel covered with a series of buttons and wheels, his battle station.
Only once. did Bell speak up. "I don't like this at all Perry! We should take off and attack them. I'm not keen on lying here in ambush to wait for the enemy to make a wrong move."
"Nonsense, Reg!" answered Rhodan. "I don't want to run any unnecessary risks, and besides, you know what the Fantan people are like, don't you?"
There were no more discussions after this. Many hours passed. Rhodan felt a strong desire to get up and see how Thora was getting on. But he was too much aware that the quiet hours they had been lying in wait could change within one second.
"Here they are!" said Haggard suddenly. "Location phi 15, theta 30."
"What speed?" Bell asked.
Fifty yards per second in direction Phi zero. Distance 500 miles."
Rhodan turned to Bell. "What is our position?"
"Favorable. That means we could lift up a few yards to get to the rim of the crater wall."
The boat started upward. It glided close to the wall of the pitch dark crevice in the crater mountain range, until it reached the rim of the towering rocky bulwark.
"Stop!" Bell called out. "That will do!"
This very instant the spindle shaped enemy ship became visible on the screen, Rhodan examined it thoughtfully. It was still about 500 miles away. it hardly seemed to move. The Fantan people were very cautious and preferred to creep, up slowly on their target. This tactic must appear to them safest, the only chance to make sure of attaining a certain measure of security. The Fantan ship was now sliding along at the same height as the rim of the circular range. They would have to ascend slightly to get over the edge of the crater wall. Such a manoeuvre would command a certain amount of their attention; therefore, it would be the right moment for the Arkonide vessel to attack the enemy.
Yet many hours would pass before they came to this point, considering the slow speed of the Fantan ship. The circular mountain range was fairly small, with a diameter of about sixty miles in the center.
Rhodan kept hoping that they would concentrate their attention on the crater itself and not on the wall around it. There was no doubt that the dome of the Arkonide vessel showed itself for two yards above the protecting rim of the crater wall. That was not much within the extensive rock formations, but still, it would be enough if the enemy was really alert.
Rhodan turned to Bell. "How do you plan to proceed?"
Bell Pointed to a yellow switch and a hand wheel. "Neutralization of the crystal field," he replied. "All that will remain of their ship will be a whirling fog of hydrogen, carbon and metal atoms."
"How long will the bombardment last?" inquired Rhodan.
"I intend to let them have all we have."
"Is that really necessary?" asked Rhodan.
Bell was surprised. "Why, of course. I want to make absolutely sure."
"I would like to show something to Haggard," said Rhodan. "Just demolish their ship. The crew can't save itself, and they will no longer constitute a danger to us."
"Okay," agreed Bell. "I will bombard them for twenty seconds then."
Just then Haggard announced, "They appear to be increasing their speed; 100 yards per second, distance now about 350 miles."
And in the same breath he added, "What do you want to show me, Rhodan?"
"Something that should prove to be most interesting to you as a scientist. just wait and see."
Tension mounted; yet time seemed to advance more slowly. The enemy ship grew bigger on the screen and showed its immense dimensions. Rhodan estimated its length to be about 1,000 feet. In the middle it was narrowed down to a diameter of approximately 100 feet. Even though this was an old-fashioned model, it was most likely far better equipped than the Arkonide auxiliary vessel. Unless Rhodan and his crew succeeded in destroying this formidable opponent, the fate of Earth appeared to be sealed. Rhodan was not confident about the future of mankind in case of defeat, despite what he had so firmly asserted in his talk with Thora.
"Two hundred fifty miles!" Announced Haggard now, after what seemed an endless interval.
At 60,000 yards, Bell would start shooting.
Rhodan did not think that the Fantan people had located them. It was against their nature to continue their flight after having determined the presence of an enemy.
Nevertheless...
"One hundred and eighty thousand! They are increasing their speed!"
And a few minutes later Haggard called out, "They have stopped! They are not advancing any more!"
Rhodan reacted immediately. "Fire!" he commanded.
Bell bit the switch of the decrystallization field and then yelled, "Let's get out of here fast! We must go up higher!"
Rhodan started the ship instantly. With a sudden jerk he pulled the craft up beyond the rim of the crater wall and shot up to a height of several hundred feet. All the while Bell kept firing away.
His aim was perfect. The telescope screen showed the picture of the destruction of the Fantan ship. It was incapable of moving. The crystal structure of its outside wall crumbled away, and the nose of the craft dissolved to dust. Bell's weapon kept on devouring the Fantan ship and made inroads into its center.
Suddenly yellow lightning flashed from across the miles toward the Arkonide ship. Rhodan was blinded by the bright lights and closed his eyes for a second. When he looked again at the video screen he saw the landscape bouncing around madly.
They were still shooting! Incredible! They had hit the energy mantle around the Arkonide ship and caused it to vacillate wildly.
"Faster!" hissed Rhodan.
Bell did not react. With deliberate concentration he directed the decrystallization ray, which continued with its destruction of the hull of the Fantan craft.
There was another salvo coming from the enemy vessel. The shot glanced off the energy screen surrounding the Arkonide spaceship, causing it to vibrate violently under the impact. Bell's directional beam lost its aim for a while but then regained it
and finished with its destructive work. Nothing remained of the outside wall of the enemy vessel. At the same time all its generators were pulverized. Whatever remained-some parts of the equipment, interior walls, doors, instruments and the bodies of its crew-fell crazily whirling to the ground.
Bell breathed a sigh of relief. "Mission accomplished!" he shouted jubilantly. Rhodan flew at low altitude across the center of the moon crater, past the wreck of the Arkonide cruiser, and approached the spot where the Fantan spindle ship had just been annihilated.
Haggard had left his post at the radar equipment and was peering intently at the video screen.
"What I want to show you, you won't be able to see from here, Haggard," remarked Rhodan. "Wait until we land."
He put the ship down close to the circular area on which the metal dust of the strange craft and its few remaining objects had settled. While he was closing the helmet of his Arkonide protective suit, Rhodan said, "Come along with me, Haggard!"
Haggard was ready at once. They left their ship and flew with broad jumps to the spot where the biggest heap of wreckage lay.
There was not much to be seen of the crew. Apparently they had been surprised by the attack with opened space suits. Their bodies as well as their suits bad been shredded to fine pieces through the explosive decompression when the outer hull of their ship dissolved.
Haggard found something that looked like a piece of skin. "Is that all that remains?" he asked with obvious disappointment.
Rhodan simply shrugged his shoulders. "I believe that should give you enough to go on in your examination."
Both men returned to their spaceship. Rhodan debated whether to visit the wrecked Arkonide cruiser once again and silence the automatic emergency signal or to fly back to Earth and bring the good news of the outcome of the battle to mankind, which bad been unable to watch the fight, since it had taken place on the far side of the moon.
Rhodan decided on the second alternative. His reasoning was: The same instant that the Fantan ship had realized it was being attacked, its hypersender had broadcast an emergency signal out into space, just as the Arkonide cruiser had done before. There could be no doubt that the SOS call of the spindle shaped ship was beamed in such a way that it had to hit its receiver. Therefore, it was out of Rhodan's hands to prevent a further arrival of hostile forces from outer space.
A process had been set in motion that could no longer be influenced, let alone controlled or stopped, by anything Rhodan could undertake against it. This was an additional reason for Rhodan to hasten his return to Earth. From now on the minutes would count even more than before. Their next opponent would certainly surpass the first Fantan ship in number and in cunning. There was a flurry of excitement during their return flight to Earth when Haggard examined the skin shreds of the Fantan people with the supermicroscope of the Arkonide ship.
"Their skin is like leather," he explained excitedly, "and it is covered with fine scales. The fleshy remnants that are attached to this skin piece show a quite different structure and segmentation from the muscles of man or any other known animal species."
Rhodan smiled with amusement as he asked, "So what conclusions do you draw from all this, Haggard?"
"There must be a considerable biological difference between the human and Fantan races."
"Can you imagine what these creatures look like?"
"Unfortunately not. These few skin pieces don't give me enough of a clue."
"Well then, imagine a cylinder with rounded off ends, my dear Haggard,"
Rhodan began to lecture in professorial tones. "This cylinder is elastic to a certain degree and is completely covered with fine scales. In its upper part this cylindrical body contains several openings, which to us would look like so many dark holes. But in reality they do fulfills the functions of eyes, nose and mouth.
Six identical extremities branch off this cylinder at various places. They serve as organs of locomotion, food intake and the usual functions of our own legs and arms. The only difference is that there is no difference between the Fantan people's extremities; they are all alike.
"The Fantan race is asexual and is propagated by a process similar to one known in some of your house plants, Doctor Haggard, where a branch of a shoot off the parent plant gives rise to a new offspring.
'This is what the Fantan people look like. Did you assume that all intelligent races from the universe must have the same appearance as you or me or Khrest?
In time we will meet up with intelligent living beings that will seem more repulsive to us than our toads or tapeworms."
On Earth the news of Rhodan's victorious mission was received with indescribable jubilation. The atomic alarm was terminated without delay and the population returned to their cities.
The interruption had cost the world's economy a total of $80 billion. But what was this cost compared with the tremendous progress the nations made toward a united mankind!
Shortly after landing back on Earth, Rhodan received the special envoys of the three big power blocs. They had come to tender their thanks in exuberant phrases. Each had brought along some high and impressive medal to honor mankind's hero, who only yesterday had been considered enemy number one. Rhodan let them carry on with their ceremonies and waited patiently until it was his turn to speak.
"Gentlemen, I regret that I am unable to share your great joy. You can't realize yet, the way I do, that this encounter was but the first in a series of hostile confrontations with alien intelligent races that inhabit the universe. We were very lucky that we could ward off this first attack. But luck alone will not be sufficient the next time around.
"I am very happy that world opinion approves of the steps we, the Third Power, have taken. Not only that; they even bestow medals and honors on us,"
he added with a faint trace of irony in his voice. "But please relay this message to your governments-we have won only the first round of a war that might consist of a thousand or more battles. I want to emphasize in the strongest terms to all concerned parties that you are witnessing here the beginnings of a development that will stretch over centuries or even millennia. The decisions we make here today will affect the fate of mankind for all time to come!
"Take this message back home to your governments! Tell. them that there is no ally more loyal than the Third Power as long as the welfare of the entire human race is concerned.
"We demand from them in return recognition and full freedom; for the time being we are the only power capable of preparing effective defensive measures to fight off the next attack from space."
He paused briefly and allowed himself the luxury of a faint smile. "Spread this message to the four comers of the world, gentlemen! Make mankind understand that a new chapter in the history of the human race has just started. We are forced to think in terms of thousands of years, for we might perish otherwise!"
The next day the first partial delivery of metal plastic sheets arrived from Pittsburgh. The delivery took lace via the same route any businessman would have used for a normal shipment of goods from the United States to the Gobi Desert.
Rhodan looked at this as a sign that the governments had reacted favorably and acted in a hurry upon his wishes. It reinforced his hope that mankind would see the light shortly and realize the enormous energies it possessed if only it were united.
He saw himself close to achieving his preliminary goal of a united mankind. He marveled at the relatively short span of time in which this development had taken place.
He realized, though, that this progress had not drawn its strength from within itself. The automatic hypersender and the Fantan ship it had lured to this part of the universe had played important roles in accomplishing this process of unification of the formerly divergent factions of mankind. That evening Rhodan received an invitation to participate in a conference of the three big power blocks in Cairo. The invitation was extended to him by the same special envoys he had met the previous day.
Rhodan accepted the invitatio
n with a great deal of satisfaction, since it was proof of the posthypnotic effect his interview had left in the minds of the special envoys. These men did not know that from that moment on they had become so convinced of his arguments that they were now representing his views, rather than those of their own governments.
The Third Power had been asked to participate in the Cairo meeting, not as an observer, but as a full fledged member.
Still later that night he had a conversation with Thora. For the first time since the spindle shaped Fantan ships had been located by the space station Freedom I, she left her cabin. She came into Rhodan's room just as unannounced unexpected as a few days earlier.
Rhodan offered her a seat. She accepted with a friendly smile.
"I have had a lot of time to think about a great many things," she said. "I am sorry for having acted differently than I should have in many instances."
Rhodan was startled. He had never believed she would get that far in examining her inner self.
"I am gradually realizing," continued Thora, "where the way that you have chosen leads. I have complete confidence in you. You are a born leader of men, and mankind will follow you. But as far as mankind itself is concerned, I cannot yet judge. The little I know of them is not encouraging. Up till now they have been busy mostly with cutting each others throats. I am not sure whether your expectations in your brother man are really justified.
"To come to the point-in the future you will no longer have to contend with me as an adversary. I will sit back and wait to see what comes of your plans. Your plans are good. Perhaps, given sufficient time, your fellowmen will turn out to be that race which will become heir to the Arkonide Galactic Empire. But until the Earthlings have reached that level in racial development, I will wait with my final decision."
