by Perry Rhodan
This was in no way surprising to me because at least I knew, from extensive research, traditions and customs of my early forefathers. The words she used must have sounded strange to Rhodan but apparently he didn't realize how merely rhetorical such usage often were.
Instantly the famous smile of subtle sarcasm came to his lips. "Guests? Host?" he queried with a lifted eyebrow. "I don't quite recall having been invited or coming here of my own free will. Do you have your facts confused, Madam?"
He continued to smile at her. The other two Akons looked past him or through him as if he did not exist. Having seen the Regent's evaluations of the reports from members of the Terran expedition, I knew that these people considered both Terrans and Arkonides to be nothing more than insects or vermin. For the first time in my life I sensed that same disdain and arrogance directed at me with which the representatives of my race had treated other galactic intelligences for so many thousands of years. Evidently they did not recognize in me an Imperator of a vast stellar empire but rather an uncouth colonial chief who had sunk into barbarism.
Rhodan was less patient and prudent than I. Anger gleamed brightly in his eyes as he stood up, completely ignoring the threatening weapons aimed at him. Auris of Las-Toor seemed uncertain and the look on her face told me everything. Sothis was what fascinated her about Rhodan! Though only a recent upstart from an insignificant planet system, he dared to defy the representatives of a far superior civilization. This was the same way he had faced up to the members of an Arkonide exploring expedition some decades previously, with the result that an Arkonide woman of one of the noblest families became his wife and one of the topmost Arkonide scientists became his best friend.
I raised myself up in a state of alarm and agitation. My eyes were smarting and now Auris' attention was also turned to me. Against my better judgment, I had decided to adopt Rhodan's tactic. "You are speaking to the ruler of a solar empire," I told her sharply. "And in me you see the Imperator Gonozal VIII, lord of the Arkonide Imperium. I demand an explanation of this inexcusable action which is neither proper nor in keeping with diplomatic tradition."
While her companions continued to remain silent she gave me an enigmatic look. "I am quite aware of your identities," she said.
"Then I demand to be informed as to the purpose of this action which—judging by the circumstances—could very easily lead to a serious altercation between our respective races."
She looked at me with a mixture of pity, interest and pride. "I am not authorized to answer your unsound arguments."
"Then what is your mission?"
"Kidnapping," said Rhodan, "which in civilized circles is considered to be a crime!"
She colored vividly again. Scorn and anger glistened in her dark, eyes, which were so different from those of modern Arkonide women.
"Further proof of degeneration process in modern Arkonides!" announced my logic sector.
"The decisions of the Ruling Council of Akon are not criminal," she said swiftly. "I carry out their orders. I must urge you to follow my instructions without contradiction." She lowered her gaze fleetingly as if to go but Rhodan's next words detained her.
He still wore his famous challenging smile but his manner of speaking changed. Dispensing with all diplomatic guidelines, what he said was hard and straight to the point. "Madam, it seems to me that the arrogance of your people needs to be toned down. I must assure you that your abduction of two statesmen of our galactic importance will not remain without its consequences. If your so-called Ruling Council is interested in our linear space-drive, then let me advise you that this kind of action isnot going to induce the political and military leaders of the Solar Imperium to make such details available to you. You overestimate your powers, Auris of Las-Toor!"
She appeared to ponder this message a moment but nevertheless she finally went out without answering him. She was followed by her double escort. As the hatch door closed behind them, Rhodan lay down again on his couch without a word to either of us. He placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.
I was about to say something to him but Tama Yokida motioned swiftly to deter me. Then I realized that Perry was attempting to get into telepathic contact with the mutants on board theIronduke —and soon he seemed to be succeeding. He began to stream with sweat and his features contorted under the strain. From my knowledge of methods used by the gifted members of the secret Mutant Corps I knew that they were all forming a coordinated pool of their wills, into which they concentrated all of their strength.
Rhodan was only a very weak telepath. One mutant alone could probably not pick up his message.
Some minutes passed before he relaxed again. After another five minutes or so he had recovered enough to be able to sit up. I could guess what had transpired. Rhodan was not the type to let himself be abducted without taking action. And yet it would be very easy for us to lose our lives if we were unlucky. In fact, I had already been fairly close to death. One of the Akons had fired at me, which indicated that if necessary they were quite ready to do away with me. And from this one could draw several conclusions.
Perplexed by my own train of thoughts I realized that they had apparently only been after Rhodan. I had been an unwelcome intruder whom they had brought along simply because it had worked out that way unexpectedly. Rhodan appeared to be occupied with similar thoughts. Naturally he must be asking himself how the Akons had been able to show up at precisely the right moment with their paralysis weapon. This mystery required an answer as soon as possible.
"Do you happen to speak Japanese?" Perry asked me in that language.
It took me a few moments to understand what he had said. I was forced to switch my thinking rapidly. "I did a few centuries ago," I answered, struggling with the unaccustomed words. "I was there when Kublai Khan's fleet attempted to raid the Japanese Island Empire—but his ships were destroyed by a miraculous storm."
Tama Yokida looked at me curiously. My Japanese was archaic and probably not too understandable.
"Good enough!" said Rhodan. He looked suspiciously about in the small room and finally checked his watch. He continued in the language of the insular state. "Naturally we're being monitored by a bug of some kind. But it will take them time to translate these new sounds with their mechanical devices—I'd say maybe 24 hours at least. So we can say what we're thinking now."
Tama was just returning from listening at the door when a great bedlam was heard outside. Sirens and alarm whistles began to shriek. The sound of running feet was heard beyond the door, which apparently wasn't too thick. Within moments we could hear the rumble of heavy machinery. For a fraction of a second we felt the effects of powerful G-forces but then the inertial shock absorbers came into play and absorbed the pressure.
Nevertheless Tama was thrown to the deck and I was pressed back on my folding cot. Only Rhodan had been able to balance himself quickly enough. But we knew now for certain that we were on board a spaceship, which had evidently increased its velocity on a crash emergency basis.
"So the super-vermin are making a run for it!" said Perry sarcastically. The look in his eyes disturbed me. I had a presentiment that something was happening which he had started.
He looked at me directly as he spoke curtly and concisely. "I'm sorry, Atlan, but I've had to encroach on your authority. I was able to make contact with my telepaths. Pucky, Marshall, Betty Toufry and Fellmer Lloyd built up a single para-block between them. They understood my instructions and I was able to get their messages. We got that far and everything is working."
My suspicions were confirmed! "But what do you mean about encroaching on my authority?" I asked.
"The Regent responded immediately and communicated with Col. Claudrin. The Brain saw everything that happened, including our sudden disappearance. The robot units he dispatched could not get in to us because they ran up against an unknown curtain of energy. That's why we didn't get any help. Just before we were abducted I had managed to send out the necessary orders, so C
laudrin took off at once. By the time we materialized on this ship, theIronduke was already into outer space where its special sensors could go into action."
He tapped his knuckles against the edge of the narrow cot. "This ship was detected only a few moments ago and its coordinates were determined. Claudrin is in pursuit. It should be interesting since the Akons also have linear drive. Anyway, that's why they got under way so fast. At the time they were just 3 light-months outside the Arkon System. That's the location they were operating from. Their terminal transmitter was probably placed in the Regent's underground bunker two months ago when they were attempting to change the course of time. That's the only way it could have been possible for them to kidnap us so easily. The receiver terminal of the transmitter was on board this ship. They waited patiently for us to show up, and then they struck Two birds with one stone, Atlan!"
"Slow down a minute!" I protested. "Those are theories. It could have happened differently. How could they have known the exact time to strike?"
"The Regent has found out that your last hypercom message to me was traced. I assume that they deciphered it and that's why they knew I'd be showing up soon on Arkon."
"Which did not provide the information, however, that I would be taking you down into the Regent's inner computer section. There's something wrong with your story."
He waved a hand. That's relatively unimportant at the moment. In any case they were aware that I would be arriving soon. If I had not shown up in screen room seven they would have probably gotten to me in another location and maybe by another means. These people seem to have had plenty of practice at things like that."
I gave up trying to find logical explanations. At the moment it was useless. "But I still don't know what you mean when you say that you have encroached upon my authority. You mean you acted in my name?"
His lean face tightened perceptibly as he began with some very weighty information. "Claudrin contacted Earth and gave the mobilization order in my name. Bell is taking off with all available units of the Solar Fleet and is going into transition en route to the Blue System. All available linear drive units are following him just about now. In addition to that, through Col. Claudrin I instructed the Robot Regent in your name to launch the Arkonide fleet and have it set its course also for the Blue System. Atlan, in that action I did something that I had strongly rejected only four hours ago. If we haven't managed to escape from this ship by a certain time, Col. Claudrin will attempt to split open a rift in the Blue System's energy screen so that the fleets behind him can get through And then we'll have the war on our hands that we had hoped to avoid under any circumstances."
I felt a sudden dryness in my throat. Rhodan had acted swiftly and without compromise. Had he made the right move? Was he not overestimating even the combined power of both Imperiums? Had he fully comprehended what it meant to strike out against an enemy like this? In fact were we really dealing with an enemy in that sense of the word? Yes, it probably had to be so. Both of the Akon secret attacks had been more than a provocation. In both cases the very existence of humanity had been threatened and no doubt also that of the Greater Imperium as well.
Then on top of it there was this armed kidnapping by force. That had been a very unwise action on the part of the Akons. It had to cause political complications since Rhodan thought and operated more militaristically than politically. His quick reaction was typical of him. Had I acted in his place I probably would have still attempted to clear up the whole mess by means of negotiation. It might have been possible to convince the Ruling Council that they could not disregard a force of some 40,000 spherical ships of the Solar and Arkonide Imperiums. Especially the Terrans had been erroneously classified by the Akons.
Ihad certainly come to know them—these rash, bold men from the planets of an insignificant sun! As a rule everybody always underestimated them, as other intelligences besides myself had already learned. Nonetheless, there should first have been an attempt at negotiations, and in this regard I expressed my thoughts.
But when I had finished he gave me a strong rebuttal: "My friend, you'd still do better as an admiral than a statesman or an Imperator. I have no intention of losing the one ace I have in exchange for the unlikely good will of your so-called mother race. My telepathic contact could be broken at any time when maybe it would be too late. I am not able to bridge great distances, you know. That's why I had to give the decisive orders before that became impossible to do. The appearance of the combined fleets in the Blue System won't necessarily mean cosmic war—at least I hope not! In fact I am of the opinion that this demonstration of power will accomplish much more than a thousand negotiations around a green-topped table."
I could sense that he was right and yet I was frightened by the possible consequences of his action. I thought of the tremendous weapons and technology we had already witnessed as a result of our involuntary contact with the Akons.
"Perry—they'll destroy our ships faster than we can even imagine!"
Rhodan smiled. "There is the flaw in our reasoning. I know definitely that the Blue System has not been doing any ordinary space traveling for thousands of years. They operate enormously powerful super transmitters which handle all of their intergalactic traffic. There are only a few small space vehicles left, of the type you have under your feet right now. We've simply been impressed by those few Akons who fly out in these little space buggies in order to set up their receiver transmitters on other worlds. They call themselves the Energy Command. I'm sure that we're dealing with such a unit now. So that's why I don't buy the idea of their being able to destroy a super fleet of our combined forces—as long as each commander is smart enough to keep out of range of any cosmic fortresses or main defense installations on the ground."
So the grand avalanche was in progress! I tried to imagine what must be happening on the Earth by now and among all the planets of the Sol System. I knew they had prepared plans or 'war scenarios' for such mobilizations as this and there would be no delay in launching thousands of fighting spaceships into the void—including the super giants of the Imperium class. The Terrans' new destroyer carriers would also be taking off and every pilot in those tiny but terribly swift marauders would be receiving his instructions.
The giant military machine of the Solar Imperium had come alive—there could be no question about it anymore. And on all the worlds of the Arkonide Imperium there were similar activities going on. I was fully familiar with the incredible precision of the numerous robot fleets.
But I still harbored the faint hope that we would be able to nip this burgeoning holocaust in the bud—before any attacks began. Rhodan was a genius in tactical space strategies but his ships were a long way from being inside the fabulous system-wide defense screen of the Akons. My remarks in this regard caused Perry to clear his throat somewhat laboriously before he answered.
"Of course you have a point there," he admitted, "but the Akons seem to lose sight of the fact that I have my linear drive ships now and they have no conception of such commanders as Jefe Claudrin, not to mention the mutants, of whose existence they don't seem to be aware. Our snooty girlfriend is probably wondering right now how such a sudden pursuit could come about—by a Terran battleship equipped with linear spacedrive. If she'll listen to her own instincts, maybe this war can be avoided. If not, then by hook or crook Jefe Claudrin is going to blast his way through the blue defense screen. Once inside, he'll try to find the generating plant or power stations that are projecting the main screen. That thing hasn't formed all by itself, you know. Atlan, do you have any regrets about my order to the Robot Brain?"
What was I supposed to do in such a situation as this? I had no recourse but to agree. Actually I was puzzled about my hesitancy, which was not characteristic of the mentality of a former space admiral. What hindered me from accepting Rhodan's logic and making it a part of my own? I could find no answer. At any rate I knew that there was probably no other alternative but to show the mother race how serious this situ
ation could get.
I was startled out of my brooding by Tama Yokida. The mutant was standing by the locked door and was scanning it with his special faculties. "I can open this lock quite easily," he announced suddenly. "A fairly simple pulse mechanism controls the bolt. I could either move it by forcing it against its stop-frame or I could turn the 6 sliding contacts to where the door would open automatically—but even though that would be the normal way for the pulse controls to open it I can't say whether or not it would set off an alarm somewhere."
I forgot the emotional burdens of my advanced age and my instinctive opposition to Rhodan's plans, which in the final analysis could mean the mutual race suicide of three of the most advanced civilizations in the galaxy. Suddenly I was nothing more than Atlan the old Arkonide admiral who after his fateful exile had fought and suffered for many centuries with the inhabitants of the planet Earth.
This fellow Tama Yokida here was another typical example of humankind. While Rhodan and I had been discussing the situation he had already been working on a little plan of his own, which he now revealed to us.
Rhodan comprehended at once. He gave me a quick glance and I nodded my agreement. He checked his watch.
"OK, we can still talk without detection. The Japanese language should offer a few problems to even the best translator devices. Are there any hidden spy cameras in here?"
Tama leaned back against the door and looked indifferently at the wall across the room. "In the right hand corner over there—right under the ventilator screen."
Rhodan did not look in the indicated direction, which would have been too obvious. I was in the best position to see the spot without being conspicuous.
"He's right." I confirmed. I was becoming more tense now, aware of Rhodan's readiness for action.
He finally turned to me with a meaningful smile. "Imperator, you must have been worried about your safety for months now, wouldn't you say?"
