by Perry Rhodan
"Wuriu Sengu, was your vision clear during the whole time?" Bell waited tensely for the 'seer's' answer.
"Very clear, sir!" replied Sengu positively.
"Then I'd better turn this over to Marshall," Bell decided, and got up. "Gentlemen, Project Memory Section Topthor is temporarily suspended!"
Whereupon he went to look for John Marshall, who normally was the leader of this Corps during mutant missions.
• • •
The call signal sounded on Keklos' communicator with the highest priority classification. The Chief Biologist glanced up from his documents, switched on and heard an excited voice announcing that Moders had been found.
Keklos cut through the long-winded introduction. "State your report concisely and at once!"
With increasing interest, he listened. On the screen he could see Moders' condition. He had not connected the reverse transmission of his own image. The group of physicians surrounding the unconscious Moders could not have suspected how satisfied Keklos appeared to be. He made no specific disposition of the report submitted. "Do whatever is necessary, gentlemen!" he said and disconnected.
Shortly thereafter he summoned the bio-man that Moders had been assigned to send in to him a few hours before. As the synthetic creature entered for the second time this night, it was startled by Keklos' reaction. The bio-man was not aware of the Chief Biologist's fanatic animosity toward any approaches to his person within the 10-foot limitation. The artificial life form created out of biological substances was confused by Keklos' sharp reproaches. It took a few hasty steps and stood close in front of its creator.
The bio-man heard Keklos' panicked outcry. It saw the Chief Biologist's hand grasp the weapon. It understood Keklos' wild shout of "Back! Back!"—too late. As the thermo-weapon in the Ara's hand spewed forth its terrible energy beam, it destroyed a synthetic life that had barely been 'born'.
Keklos glared down at the remains with blazing eyes. Furiously, he hissed, "Now I have to provide myself with another 'intermediate transmitter', so I'll start all over again... And when Moders wakes up he won't be happy to find he is research material for the aromatic infections department. I would have thought him capable of mote intelligence. Up to the time he passed out, he still must not have grasped what plan I am following, and my instructions should have given it away."
Keklos forgot no detail. Before he summoned the next bio-man, he informed the experimental section of the aromatic infections department that Moders was at their disposal as research material.
10 minutes later another humanoid stood in his room. The Chief Biologist made him into an 'intermediate transmitter'. Through the ersatz being he communicated with the Basic Substance which a space freighter had flown in fresh from the planet Gom and which per Keklos' instructions had not yet been unloaded.
Moders had been found unconscious in front of this space freighter and Keklos knew why!
• • •
Wuriu Sengu had given Tako Kakuta and Ras Tschubai the agreed signal. Using his special powers, he surveyed Topthor's Control Central.
It was empty.
At two locations behind Sengu the air shimmered and into these shimmering points the two teleporters disappeared. Almost in the same instant, however, Sengu saw these two conceal themselves in the commander's station of the old Mounder, behind heavy cabinets of the communications installation.
The two teleporters oriented themselves quickly. Now their close study of Talamon's TAL 6 and the Control Central came to advantage. From the time they had become familiar with Topthor's secret, thanks to Marshall's telepathic faculties, they had examined the nav-computer with extraordinary thoroughness. The positronicon, which occupied almost the entire wall on the other side of the commander's station, was the mirror-image duplicate of Talamon's own installation.
In spite of this, it was no cinch to program a specific area of the core-memory section. Both men even possessed the knowledge of an Arkon specialist, through the Arkonide hypno-schooling, but in order to master a positronicon in both theory and practice one needed the intelligence quotient of a Perry Rhodan or a Reginald Bell.
For Perry's corpulent comrade everything had always been child's play. Here he would have been the right man at the right place but Bell was no teleporter and without this fantastic faculty he would have long since lost his life under fire from the Ara fighting robots who were watching Topthor's great battle spacer on 4 levels of security.
But Ras Tschubai and Tako Kakuta were not entirely alone. Bell, who had often taken many risks, had proceeded this time with the foresight of a tight-minded tactician and refused to leave the smallest detail to chance.
Wuriu Sengu saw what was transpiring in Topthor's Control Central and maintained a quick running commentary about it. John Marshall and Kitai Ishibashi sat in front of him. Marshall was Rhodan's best telepath. Ishibashi, a suggestive hypnotist, had often demonstrated that he could exert his will over hundreds of people so powerfully that his subjects were convinced they were acting on their own volition.
As the ultimate safety factor, Bell had the telekin, Tama Yokida, in reserve. The distance between the Gazelle and Topthor's Control Central had been measured off to the last inch. Yokida had a sketch on his lap, which showed the relative distances between various equipment in the command station and how far each important individual gear was from the other.
Tama Yokida had to take part in the mission whenever robots threatened. Using his telekinetic powers, he would float them like balloons in such a way that they would smash against obstacles and be converted to so much scrap metal.
Suddenly Wuriu Sengu became mildly excited. "Sir, the entrance door is opening in the Control Central. Topthor is coming in with two of his clan followers."
Even as Sengu spoke, Marshall and Ishibashi were already at work.
Bell sat back to one side and observed them calmly. Nor did he fret inwardly. He merely surveyed his men with a confident alertness. Each one of them who was directly engaged in the operation worked with assuredness and concentration.
Kitai Ishibashi had reached out toward Topthor's will. With a lightning swiftness he pressed into his thoughts and instantly discovered the point of attack from which he could most easily influence the Mounder. Ishibashi called this his 'laminar method'. He did not inundate the will of the other like a flash flood but instead forced his will upon him layer by layer.
John Marshall was not able to give direct support to Ishibashi's endeavors but as a telepath he could monitor the 'victim's' thoughts and give the suggestor valuable clues as to how to apply his gift.
• • •
Topthor waited until the bulkhead door had closed behind him. His old, greenish face reflected an angry uneasiness. "Sit down," he said harshly to his clansmen. The two young Mounders, equally as squarish in structure as the old man, eased themselves down into their seats, watching him expectantly. Topthor's dark mood advertised that they were not in for a picnic.
"This Keklos character, this Ara chief on Laros—I think he's crazy! You two have to stand watch here until I send you a guard replacement. The highest-ranking biologist is seeing ghosts. He thinks those aliens that were seen yesterday afternoon on this ship, and unfortunately got away, are some kind of phantoms working for Perry Rhodan! What you and I may think of the matter is our own affair. Keklos has half-pressured me into a decision: either I set up a security guard over the Control Central with my own people—in which case we'll be maintaining a constant video connection with Keklosor else he will order a half dozen Ara fighter robots in here!... So, that's it! Now let me see your weapons."
One of the clansmen cursed angrily but he responded to Topthor's order by exhibiting his hand weapons, as did the other man. They both glared at the old man in wide-eyed challenge.
Topthor, the eternally growling and grumbling patriarch, burst into a laugh. He even went so far as to give them a cheerful wink. "Make yourselves at home here," he said, giving them carte blanche. "If you need to
take a nap, go to it. As for the video hookup to Keklos—I'll have a talk with him from my cabin once more. If he still insists on it, I'll let you know."
"That's fair enough, sir," chuckled the larger of the two youths and he nudged his companion in the ribs.
He was suddenly in the best of moods and stowed all his weapons deep inside his pockets. "By the stars, Sir, I'm as tired as if I'd been carousing 3 days and nights!"
"It's no better with me, either," replied the patriarch and he yawned heartily. "It's time I got to bed!" Whereupon, he exited.
• • •
Hidden behind the massive communications equipment of Topthor's battleship, Tako Kakuta and Ras Tschubai winked at each other in relief. From the moment when Topthor wanted to inspect his men's weapons, he had almost instantly become another person. Having always been strong for discipline on board his ship, he himself had suggested that the assignment here could be taken lightly. Both of the teleporters knew who was at work here, influencing the wills of the 3 Mounders.
Then Topthor's ponderous steps faded away and the heavy bulkhead door closed hermetically behind him.
Ducked down behind the communications cabinets, the two mutants exchanged glances once more. They listened acutely. Both of them waited for the two Mounders to start snoring. Finally the two mutants emerged from behind the communications equipment, moving as soundlessly as shadows...
• • •
Less than two miles away in the small Control Central of the Gazelle, Bell gave the telekinetic mutant, Tama Yokida, a special assignment. "Fix it for me so that in the next 15 minutes nobody can get through the main bulkhead door of Topthor's Control Central—not by any means whatsoever!"
Tama Yokida merely nodded his assent and opened up with his telekinetic powers, hurling them across to Topthor's battleship, where he then unleashed unimaginable energies. These energies probed inward to the locking mechanism of the door, shorted itself across Arkon relays, caused strong magnetic fields to collapse and worked between hatch and slide-bars like an unbreakable welding seam.
• • •
Topthor's positronicon was operating! The two guards sprawled in their seats and snored. Neither Kakuta nor Ras Tschubai turned even once to watch them. They trusted Ishibashi's ability without reservation. Memory registers! Tako Kakuta had switched them on but he was now uncertain as to which adjustment to make.
In the control room of the Gazelle, Marshall told Bell, "Kakuta doesn't dare feed the t-impulse into the memory core section. He's still hesitating and—"
Bell was prepared for such unforeseen events with a complete set of counter-measures. Kitai Ishibashi would have to forgo his 'suggestivity processing' of Topthor momentarily. "Take over Kakuta! Here—" he pointed to his checklist of switching sequences. "This is where he's hung up! Make it fast, Ishibashi!"
As Kakuta now unhesitatingly fed the t-impulse to the memory section of the nav-computer, he had no idea that Ishibashi had given him the command to do so from a distance of almost two miles.
"All set?" the African asked him. Ras Tschubai had taken rare of his part of the assignment.
"Just a sec—"
A voice bellowed out behind him: "What's going on there?"
One of the guards had awakened!
Ras Tschubai had disappeared before Kakuta's eyes. The big, slender African had dared to teleport at the moment of the challenge. Kakuta did not take the risk but if Tama Yokida in the Gazelle failed him now, he was lost.
Tama Yokida had not had time to inform Bell. He released the bulkhead door-lock of the Control Center from his telekinetic forces and began instead to work on the Mounder.
The latter, just awakened from hypnotic sleep, was nevertheless still under control of an alien will and didn't find it at all surprising to rise suddenly out of his seat and be stuck to the ceiling of the Control Central. During his ascent, Tama Yokida had turned him so that his chest pressed against the ceiling and he couldn't observe what was going on below.
Wuriu Sengu the 'seer' continued calmly with his commentary on what he saw, in spite of this latest incident which could have dire consequences.
"Kitai!" snapped Bell but he realized by the hypnotist's hand signal that he was already on top of the situation.
Then Sengu announced: "The bulkhead door is opening! Topthor is—"
Suddenly, an invisible wave of force struck through the control room of the Gazelle. Bell and his mutants were swept into a corner. Sengu groaned aloud. He had been struck on the head. Marshall held his own head tightly with both hands. Beside Bell, Ishibashi was back in action at once. They exchanged glances.
"Marshall!" Bell called to him sharply. "Marshall and Sengu!"
Both of them were working from the floor, including also Tama Yokida. Now for the first time Bell himself was aware of this monstrous unknown force. What had hurled them all against the wall? What powerful thing had discovered them and attacked?
"Sengu, what's old Topthor doing?" asked Bell quickly.
"I can't see him!" came the surprising and unbelievable answer of the 'seer'.
Bell stared at him uncomprehendingly but in the next moment he shot a question at Ishibashi: "Do you have Topthor under your control again?"
He could only shrug his shoulders but it told Bell enough. Then he let out an oath as Ras Tschubai, the African teleporter, rematerialized.
"That old fox of a Topthor is lying on C-Deck and he's sleeping on top of Arkon bombs!" said Tschubai.
Bell didn't have to go into this piece of information. Instead he asked: "Tschubai, in the last few moments were you attacked by some unknown force?"
"Attacked?" asked the African.
Sengu shouted, "Kakuta has completed the Earth-position corrections. Now he's standing over the Mounder, who has fallen from the ceiling. He seems to be injured."
"That's all I need!" growled Bell. "Ishibashi, plant a suggestion in Kakuta to teleport the fellow into the ship's sickbay, if he can do it without any risk!"
Ishibashi concentrated. It gave Bell a few seconds of respite in order to think clearly.
Only they who were holed up in the control room of the Gazelle had been thrown to the floor. Almost two miles away, Ras Tschubai had not noticed a thing. Suddenly Bell recalled that during their stay in Talamon's private cabin they had experienced 3 inexplicable phenomena one after the other.
"Marshall—" He didn't get any farther.
Talamon stormed into the small control room with every sign of the highest agitation. His news was not good.
Since a few minutes ago, more than 100 Ara fighter robots had started stamping through the rooms of the TAL 6 accompanied by almost 200 silent Aras, all armed to the teeth. They were making a systematic, room-by-room inspection.
Bell looked at the patriarch reflectively. The longer he knew Talamon, the better he liked him. The old boy wasn't afraid of anything—except that just now he gave out a shriek.
Tako Kakuta had rematerialized exactly in front of him and had opened his mouth to give his official report but he recognized the Mounder in time. He controlled himself quickly but then launched a question that made everybody present shudder: "Did you know that 3 battleships are floating in fixed position over the TAL 6?"
9/ PERRY RHODAN'S DARKEST HOUR
Chief Biologist Keklos was inflamed with suspicion. Two reports lay in front of him: one was from the main hyper-communications station; the other pertained to the previous night's search through the TAL 6.
Keklos thought neither of the one nor the other. He pondered instead over his own experience and asked himself the same question over and over again: "Why did Topthor call me last night and what could have been the purpose of his insignificant blabbering?"
Last night he had visited Topthor's flagship personally because he had suddenly come to distrust the video transmission he was picking up from the Control Center. But everything in the Mounder's battleship had been in order and the oldster had triumphantly shown him a part of the security c
ircuits he had added to the core memory of the nav-computer.
"Chief Biologist Keklos," Topthor had said, "from this you can see that I had already done everything on my part, before you resorted to your defense measures!"
Last night, that demonstration had looked good and sounded good, but at that time he had not yet received the two reports which now lay before him.
The statement from the hypercom station was disturbing:
Four technicians had suddenly picked up a strange hypercom broadcast, which in a few seconds was blanketed by electronic jamming. Before the source of the jamming signal could be determined, the interference had spread across all frequencies. This unprecedented situation had deterred the technicians from concerning themselves at once with the initial clear portion of the transmission. While they were still trying to investigate the interference, the power station went out for a few seconds. Shortly thereafter, for reasons completely unexplainable, the M-wave grid collapsed and, almost at the same time, the hyper-converter tube exploded. When all of these damages were finally taken care of and they returned to an examination of the clear-text portion of the hypercom broadcast, the memory playback section they had heard originally now had something different on it: a chirping voice that announced a "Dance of the Howling Dervish"—and then a hellish music broke out, unbearable to Ara ears.
Keklos had stumbled at once over the strange word 'dervish'. He had researched clear back to Aralon but there was no philologist there who was capable of giving him the meaning of it.
"It must be star devils!" he exclaimed, shoving both reports aside. The investigation of the TAL 6 had also uncovered nothing. Or—?
He suddenly sat bolt upright and reached almost greedily for the TAL 6 report. It only took a glance for him to read that the inspection of the mighty battleship had lasted only slightly more than an hour. This did not sound right, inasmuch as that was a ridiculously short time period for such a large task.
