Vagabond of Space

by Perry Rhodan

  "I don't think it can do that," said Rhodan, who had discussed this with Dr. Gorl Nkolate. "It not only thinks slowly, it can only react slowly. We saw that when it swallowed the space-jet. If we were to remain very long in any one place, the same would happen to us."

  "So as long as we keep moving, nothing can happen to us?" Bell seemed visibly relieved, yet another thought bothered him. "But we can't just keep going endlessly! When do we sleep? When do we eat?"

  "We have to, Bell—we haven't any other choice!"

  "So how do we sleep?"

  "I've been working on that problem," said Rhodan. "We can always set up sleeping schedules for maybe five or 10 men at a time. The others would have to carry them because there can be no bedding down in the normal way. However, let's wait till daylight because then there might be other possibilities."

  And so they marched onward with the alien stars above them and the elastic hide of a hungry monster beneath them. Until the day finally dawned. And then what they had been fearing began to happen.

  Ahead of them they saw the first of the man-things silhouetted sharply against the morning sunlight. During the entire night nothing had happened. They had even been able to try the sleeping shifts while men were being carried and they had managed to eat while walking. But now that the light had come the monster seemed to awaken to attack.

  There were at least 200 of the manlike outgrowths which were now moving slowly in their direction. They were larger than the figures encountered the previous evening but they still carried no weapons. It was apparent that the monster was not able to simulate inorganic materials.

  "There's some of them off there to the right!" shouted someone at the rear of the column. "They're cutting us off!

  They were also coming from the left and from behind. Hundreds of them— perhaps thousands. Rhodan experienced an unfamiliar sensation of weakness in his knees. At first he attributed it to sheer fatigue but then it became frighteningly clear to him that it was a symptom of actual fear.

  He, Perry Rhodan, was terrified!

  It was no consolation to realize that everybody was afraid now and that he was no exception. The situation was hopeless and a hideous death lay before them. Certainly they could delay the ultimate end for awhile—but how much longer?

  Bell had turned pale. His red bristle of hair stood up straight from his head but this time nobody was in a mood to make fun of it. Not even Pucky, who had come up to them with the other mutants.

  "What now?" asked Pucky, who was back again on the powerful shoulders of the double-headed Goratschin. "Knock off and blow the whistle?"

  Rhodan was aware of being the focal point of everyone's anxious gaze. He shook his head. "Not yet, little buddy. If it's time to blow the whistle, we won't go out without a fight." He looked about him and met the eyes of his men with firm decision. "We're going to carve ourselves a passage through them. Before they can form again we'll be gone. How much that will help I can't say but at least we're going to give it a try. You want to give up while we still have a spark of life and hope in us?"

  For answer they all shook their heads without a word and took the safeties off their weapons. Rhodan had not expected any other reaction. He observed Goratschin speculatively but decided that he would reserve the 'Igniter' as his last line of defense.

  "I don't know," he continued, "why the monster has to imitate our form in order to attack us. It may be that it's never encountered another life form before now and it may think that it can only conquer us in our own image. And maybe individually we're too light-weight and small, comparatively speaking, to be... well, swallowed up. At least that's one possible explanation." On a sudden thought he turned to John Marshall and Pucky. "You two are telepaths. Can't you

  pick up any kind of thought impulses from this monster?"

  The two of them denied having sensed anything at all.

  "Too bad," said Rhodan. "Then we'll just have to follow our own instinct for self-preservation. Lt. Sikhra, you man the rear guard. Major Krefenbac! Take the left flank—and you, Claudrin, cover us on the right. Bell and I will spearhead the front, which will handle the breakthrough manoeuvre. Actually, the fact that the monster's started a big attack like this gives me some food for thought. In the direction we have been heading there must be something that could offer us some protection. Otherwise, why should the monster try to prevent us from continuing our course?"

  This idea made sense to all of them. They continued their forward march. The figures behind them did not come nearer and the grisly phalanxes to their right and left moved in at only half their usual pace; but those in front made a concerted attack at twice their normal speed.

  "Fire!" Rhodan commanded without the slightest compunction.

  His fear had subsided. The cold steel of their weapons renewed his confidence and this apparently was the case with everyone. Even Bell's red bristles seemed to be lying flat again and his rugged face had taken on a healthy flush of angry belligerence. Twenty blinding bolts of lightning issued from as many weapons and easily found their targets. The humanoid figures came to an immediate stop when they were hit, as though some kind of machinery in them had ceased to function. They started to glow with the white-hot energy and then to melt down. Devoid of any sustaining structure they collapsed into a flowing grey mass that simply rejoined the surface material. Whether or not they now consisted of dead substance was a moot point.

  The counter-attack had produced a gap in the monster phalanx. When it was wide enough the Terranians stormed their way through it. It was only after Lt. Sikhra had reached the safe territory beyond and joined his companions that the remaining monstrosities turned to pursue them.

  "Come on!" ordered Rhodan, urging the men onward. "We have to get a good lead on them!"

  This tactic soon left the monsters far behind until finally they sank back into the surface without a trace. After the human survivors had marched for another hour without incident, Rhodan finally ordered a halt. Most of the men dropped where they were in exhaustion-even too tired to eat. They closed their eyes and tried to sleep.

  Although Rhodan had still not had any rest he refused to grant himself the luxury of a catnap. He could not escape the feeling that there were other surprises in store for them yet, even though the monster had remained passive during the past hour. He and Bell and Col. Claudrin made a general inspection. There was sufficient food on hand as well as reload cartridges for their energy weapons. But it was calculated that the ammo would be exhausted after five or six more attacks like the last one. Beyond that point there was only Goratschin. The 2-headed mutant was capable of converting matter into nuclear energy at great distances.

  After making his survey of the group, Rhodan finally permitted himself to sit down. Beneath him he sensed a faint vibration of the treacherous ground. Although he did not sink into it he would not have been surprised if he had. The world-spanning plasma mass of the monster undulated away in all directions to the horizon. He wondered—did it actually cover the entire planet? Or were there still places it had not yet covered? Perhaps ancient mountain peaks somewhere.

  Rhodan cursed their precipitate landing. They should have made a closer survey of the planet beforehand, in which case he would have had an answer to his question. His roving gaze suddenly held on a distant point at the horizon. It was like a low outcropping, flat but extended. If the distance did not deceive him, that 'hog-back' was several hundred meters long. It was unusual. So far the monster had not formed any protuberances like that.

  A trap...?

  Rhodan rejected the thought almost immediately. This plasma horror wasn't that intelligent. So far it had only known how to produce a single weapon: the imitation man-forms. So how could it come up with the idea of making an artificial island—and what purpose would such a manoeuvre accomplish?

  A piercing scream tore Rhodan from his thoughts. He sprang to his feet. Close to one of the lieutenants—it was the lanky officer of the watch, Brazo Alkher—a humanoid figure sw
elled up from the surface like a bubble. The legs, arms and hands took form, but there was no face.

  Maj. Krefenbac reacted with incredible speed. He whipped his weapon out of its holster and sprang between Alkher and the forming monstrosity. His energy beam destroyed it before it could do anything. Rhodan breathed a sigh of relief. The plasma presence did not represent an immediate danger although its constant annoyances could prove to be dangerous in the long run. Eventually they could be forced to succumb to it.

  When a second monster figure appeared, Rhodan ordered a resumption of the march.

  After another hour's trek, when the sun had risen higher and the light was much better, Rhodan came to a stop and borrowed Claudrin's field glasses. He carefully studied the low-lying hogback ahead, which couldn't have been more than five kilometers distant. The first thing he noticed was its brighter grey coloring. The skin of the plasma monster was darker. The sunlight was reflecting more brightly from the outcropping than it was from the surrounding surface. This comparison alone served to strengthen his conviction that the low rise consisted of inorganic material.

  "Onward!" he said finally while pointing ahead. "It could be that we may be sleeping better tonight." Then a thought occurred to him that for some unimaginable reason had skipped his mind until now. "Pucky!" The mouse-beaver was beside him at once. "Pucky, do you see that hill up ahead? Take a jump over there and see what it is. But come right back—without delay!"

  The mouse-beaver was happy to finally have an assignment again. He nodded obediently and concentrated on a teleport jump—then dematerialized. Within about 10 seconds he was back.

  "It's an island, Perry! A sure-enough island of rock! But it only sticks up about 20 meters above the ocean of plasma. Probably the top ridge of a mountain."

  Rhodan nodded with a sense of relief. "In a few years it will also disappear, if not sooner. You did well, Pucky. Now we finally have a destination."

  After fighting off two or three more attacks by the man-things they arrived at the outcropping of rocks by late afternoon. It turned out to be 300 meters long and 100 meters wide. Not very large and completely devoid of vegetation; solid rock. In other words, solid ground to stand on!

  Rhodan immediately organized sentinel posts in a ring around the island, all guards being assigned to keep a surveillance on the 'beach'. The possibility had to be considered that as soon as the plasma beast realized this place was offering shelter to the humans it would cause its humanoid figures to try to conquer the island. And it was not too slow to realize such things, as was indicated by past experience.

  The sun was still high in the sky when the expected attack took place. Rhodan and his men had long since been watching the apelike figures rise up from the plasma sea and take form all around the island. Apparently they were the monster's only means of sweeping upward onto the land. The creature's surface was fairly rigid and immovable in a sense but at least its walking 'extrusions' might be able to capture and eventually absorb the men, given enough time.

  Rhodan stood like a field marshal on the flat top of the rise. From here he had a clear view of all sides. He had assigned fighting units to the officers which were quickly organized and deployed. He kept Pucky next to him so that he might use him as a courier for his commands.

  The nightmare army of monster men began to move. About 10 feet away from Rhodan stood Goratschin. Fundamentally the Russian mutant was a congenital monstrosity. In his native land he had suffered much from the scorn and disdain of his countrymen because of his two heads, until he had been taken over by a criminal genius known as the Mutant Master. Later, Rhodan had taken him into the Mutant Corps.

  Inside Goratschin's double brain the ominous ignition impulses could be generated. They remained harmless and without any effect as long as they were not concentrated on any selected focal point. Then of course an atomic explosion was inevitable.

  Rhodan signaled to him. "Out there, Goratschin—the enemy attack front. Destroy it."

  The mutant nodded without a word. One of his faces revealed a cheerful grin while the other countenance remained grave and stern. The two heads were not always in agreement with each other but they both obeyed Rhodan's commands unconditionally. The right head had already turned toward the target area and now the left head slowly turned in the same direction until both pairs of eyes were fixed upon the same point.

  Then the disruptive impulses came to a focus at the target.

  The men threw their arms over their faces to keep from being blinded. Out there among the plasma figures a piercingly bright fireball flashed into existence and expanded violently. It devoured all of the mock creatures in the area and caused them to return to their mother substance in glowing molten droplets. A hole was created in the 'skin' of the planet monster, which became filled with a glowing mass. The edge of the crater dissolved then and the hole began to spread.

  The black mushroom of smoke clambered swiftly into the sky, making a grim signal of the presence of human intelligence. But it was also a sign that humans knew how to protect their own skins. The fireball subsided but the mushroom continued to spread out into the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

  But the crater in the ruptured surface also remained. A little later, Rhodan sent Pucky to take a look at the area and the mouse-beaver reported that the glowing mass had disappeared. But he also confirmed that the hole did not fill in again.

  Goratschin caused three more such explosions, after which the plasma monster desisted in its attacks. Apparently it was intelligent enough to perceive the futility of its actions. It would require time now in order to conceive of some new tactic.

  Rhodan breathed a sigh of relief.

  The second major onslaught had been repulsed. However, in spite of this welcome development the fact remained that their overall situation had not been improved in any measurable degree. They were still stuck here on a desolate monster world and were not sure of their lives. Their food provisions could not be replenished and water was getting short. If no one picked up their distress signal, their death was a certainty.

  In fact death was more certain now than it had ever been before in their long experience.

  25 ADVENTURES FROM NOW Other Adventures are Put in the Shade as

  The Shadows Attack

  5/ LIZARD vs. MONSTERS

  Capt. Graybound only needed a few quick observations to arrive at the same conclusion as Perry Rhodan. The planet's mystery was revealed to him.

  "It's no wonder," commented Rex, "that the analyzer only indicated organic material. Do you think maybe it's one giant amoeba?"

  "I didn't say it was," contradicted Graybound emphatically. "I'm no scientist. At any rate it looks like no individual life-forms ever evolved down there—just one solid entity that's probably growing bigger all the time. Don't ask me how it's possible. Man, I sure wouldn't like to be in the shoes of those survivors if they landed here!"

  "That's why their transmitter faded out—they're dead."

  "Hm-m-m..." Graybound did not appear to be as convinced as his companion that the castaways were dead. He looked down again at the area where the Lizard's beam fire had vaporized the manlike figures.

  "Are you telling me that anybody could survive even a minute on top of that thing?" asked Rex doubtfully.

  "Wanna bet?" challenged Graybound. "We can always land and see for ourselves. Then at least we'd know if our search for the survivors would make any

  sense."

  "Land...!" exclaimed Rex in alarm. "Have you lost your mind?"

  "Cracked in the head!" called the parrot with a tone of conviction but the two

  paid no attention to him and his screeching protests.

  "Why not? Plasma is easier to destroy than metal or other inorganic materials."

  Rex shook his head. "No, I can't agree with you there. What good would it do you to just take pot shots at a monster like that? You can't kill it because it's too big. It's better to just start searching for those castaways."

  Of
course this was an argument that even Graybound had to recognize. It was with an effort that he finally tore his gaze from the still gleaming crater that the ship's guns had created in the living surface of the planet. "I'll go along with that," he grumbled, only to add threateningly: "But don't think you were going to override my decision! The thing about landing here was just a joke. I wanted to see how you'd react."

  Having thus attended to the matter of his authority, Graybound turned the navigation over to Rex and concentrated again on the viewscreen. The Lizard was just drifting slowly along over the featureless landscape, following an imaginary line of latitude. It might take days before they discovered the survivors, if at all.

  Flying in a westerly direction they outran the sun, which brought them into the night side. Graybound turned on the main searchlights, which swept their broad and brilliant rays along the surface. The Lizard's speed was reduced still more. If the ones they were searching for happened to be only a hundred meters outside the light beams they could not possibly be seen but Graybound assumed that they would at least have signal rockets or flares with them. If not, then they could use energy weapons. They could make their presence known with those, most assuredly.

  The night passed without event. Of course it had been a short night period of only a few hours' duration because they overtook the sun again.

  In fact, it happened three times.

  • • •

  "If you ask me, there's no sense to this," said Rex Knatterbull as the sun came up for the fourth time.

  Graybound answered with an angry grimace. "I'm still not going to give up!" he growled stubbornly. "Not when we've invested two flight days already looking for them. I have to see these idiots with my own eyes—landing on this planet without checking the surface first! I want to tell them how stupid they are and that they'd be better off staying at home and leaving space travel to experienced men like me. Let them take up farming or something, like milking cows." Graybound was in a lather now. "And that's what the Government pays money for! They send out blockheads like these guys in expensive ships and then sit there and wonder why they don't come back! Pah, and me they wanted to retrain! They can't even be satisfied with the old reliable ships. The miserable nitwits!"