Peril on Ice Planet

by Perry Rhodan

  It was truly amazing how easy it was to forget that Pucky was not a human being when he spoke so seriously and to the point as at this moment.

  Tiff looked at the two cadets. "I'd like to take Cadet Hifield to the HORL ," Tiff proposed.

  Eberhardt and Hifield both looked surprised and so was Pucky as he gazed from one to the other.

  No wonder, Tiff thought with amusement, he can read what is going on in our minds.

  "Cadet Hifield?" Pucky snorted.

  "Yes, sir!"

  "Are you ready?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "Okay, let's get started. We've got to hurry up!"

  As Tiff passed Eberhardt he slapped him on the shoulder. "Take care!" he said softly. He was convinced that Eberhardt understood why he took Hifield instead of him. Hifield should get one more chance.

  • • •

  Etztak's fury was boundless. He stood in the middle of the oval command center and raved violently. His majestic voice filled the room.

  An hour ago a man called Frerfak had told him a story about a furry animal he had encountered in a side corridor who had demanded information as to the exact location of the command center. The animal, so Frerfak claimed, was a telepath as well as a teleporter. Etztak was outraged and threw the man out telling him in no uncertain terms that liars would be severely dealt with on board his ship.

  In Etztak's opinion there were beings present in the Galaxy who distinguished themselves by one or another unusual ability. They were either telepaths or telekineticists or teleporters. But a creature who was a telepath as well as a teleporter had never been seen by Etztak. Therefore he didn't believe in the existence of such an extraordinary freak of nature and he assumed that Frerfak had a vivid imagination.

  However half an hour after Frerfak's tale Holloran appeared in the command center, bothered by his conscience. He described how a creature who perfectly resembled Frerfak's 'freak' had forced him to be taken aboard the ETZ XXI in his patrol ship. Nor did Holloran's description leave any doubt that the stranger was a teleporter and a telepath too. Etztak's preconceived ideas were already beginning to waver.

  Twenty minutes after Holloran's narration, Wernal reported via telecom about the debacle of his search expedition and minutes later the officer in charge of the hangar operations related his weird story of being pressured into releasing one of the patrol ships and having to inform the HORL VII of the imminent arrival of the craft yielded by him.

  As a consequence Etztak's mental balance was badly shattered. He began to rant, shouting orders to his men, countermanding them before they could be passed on. It took him several minutes to calm down sufficiently. Finally he was able to make some sensible decisions and to transmit them clearly:

  "Alert the HORL VII ! Warn them of probable intruders. Direct the HORL VII to land at once and to safeguard its bombs which we want to use to destroy this world!"

  The draconic order was relayed to the HORL VII and confirmed. They verified that a patrol ship had been admitted a few minutes earlier after they had been advised of the Right, that it had given the proper code signal and that it had been berthed promptly. The captain of the HORL VII, Horlagan, was severely shaken up by the warning. He reported back that be had immediately initiated a thorough search and was ready to land.

  5/ Let Sleeping Mysteries Lie?

  All went smoothly. The patrol ship passed through both hatches of the airlock, entered the tunnel to the hangar and was steered automatically to a vacant pad. Following Pucky's instructions Tiff announced in Intercosmo: over the telecom, to the hangar supervisor that he had secured his craft in place and asked permission for himself and his companion to ride up in the ship.

  The hangar supervisor approved routinely. The fact that Tiff used the spacewide language was not noteworthy. Only few Springers still used their own national language. As a general rule for convenience sake they had adopted Intercosmo: even among each other.

  Aided by Pucky's graphic description Tiff and Hifield had little trouble making their way through the vessel. It was also helpful that Tiff had several times visited a Springer ship—the ORLA XI —and that the Springers favored a systematic and functional arrangement for their ships.

  Without being detected the two cadets went up as far as the third deck by using the big freight elevator shaft to which no person was admitted under the strict rules. At the height of the third deck they were in danger of colliding with a load floating down from above. The huge load filled the shaft so completely that there was no gap left big enough for Tiff and Hifield to squeeze through. They had no choice other than to escape from the shaft through a door to a gangway on the third deck. The load slid farther down and just at the moment when they thought that the danger had passed another threat appeared in the person of a Springer rounding the corner of the gangway and walking rapidly toward the shaft.

  Hifield jumped him from the side and knocked him down with the butt of his weapon. Tiffs help was not needed.

  "Where can we dump him?" Hifield panted.

  Tiff tried to guess how long the Springer would remain unconscious. Twenty minutes? Perhaps half an hour? He walked to the next hatch door, raised his thermo-beamer and let the door slide open. The room behind it was small and empty. "Let's hide him in here," Tiff whispered.

  Hifield dragged the unconscious man over. Together they stowed him away in the little chamber and closed the hatch again.

  "Move on!"

  Without further mishap they reached the fifth deck. According to Puck's survey the store room was located a little more than 150 feet from the exit of the antigrav shaft. They had to pass through a narrow, twisting corridor. There were no obstacles around the exit of the shaft but after listening for a few seconds they could hear the babble of voices farther in the background.

  "Let's go!" They held their weapons ready to shoot and scurried down the corridor. Tiff figured that the corridor was lined with storage rooms and that they would have a chance to run inside in case they encountered another Springer.

  After they had passed around three corners they found a bunch of Springers coming their way. "To the left!" Tiff grunted. The hatch slowly opened up. Hump squeezed through first and groaned as he nearly crushed his chest.

  Tiff followed him, taking a last look along the corridor. There was no sign that the Springers had discovered them. Tiff turned around. He stood behind Hifield's broad back and murmured: "Saved in the nick of time..."

  Hifield acted very oddly—as if he were scared! Tiff leaned to the side and peeked around him. Ten feet before Hifield stood a Springer with the funnel-shaped barrel of his weapon trained on Hifield's belly. It was only one man but he had the advantage that he had already raised his gun, ready to shoot.

  Tiff, looked around. The room was full of shelves and automatic sorting machines were mounted on the upper edges of the racks. The machines were made to move up and down on vertical rails. The shelves were stocked with parts, measuring instruments and switch units. Tiff was standing next to a rack and he only needed to reach out his hand to touch it.

  "Vantu," Hifield asked hoarsely in Intercosmo: "What do you want?" The Springer began to laugh. "I want to know who you are and what you're doing here." Hifield scraped the floor with one foot. Tiff got the signal. Hifield planned to distract the Springer and it was up to Tiff to make use of the feint. Hundreds of thoughts flashed through Tiffs mind but none of them was practical.

  "None?" Tiff leaned to the left toward the rack. From the corner of his eye he could see that he was able to reach the sorting machine which had been left at a lower shelf after its last use. Cautiously he began to stretch his hand toward the machine while endeavoring to remain out of sight behind Hifield's back.

  It'll be too bad for you, Springer, Tiff thought grimly,if you don't know how dangerous it is to line up two enemies behind each other!

  "I can answer that question easily," Hifield replied. Tiff who knew him so well could tell from his voice how keyed up he was.

>   Steady, Hifield! Tiff kept thinking. Here's the switch. The switch clicked softly as he flipped it. The machine started to hum and glided swiftly up the rail. The Springer was startled and glanced sideways.

  Tiff stepped to the right, pulled up the barrel of his weapon and fired.

  The Springer was killed on the spot. Tiff and Hifield remained still for a few moments, unable to move.

  "Let's get out of here!" Tiff urged, the first to regain his composure. As cautiously as they could in their excitement they opened the hatch. The corridor was empty. They hurried on past the next comer and another one...

  There it was! Number 78 written in Intercosmo: letters on the strong metal doors of a large hatch. The hatch opened just like the others. There was nothing to indicate the special importance of its contents. Tiff had expected to find guards stationed in front of the hatch doors or behind them but none were present. The mentality of the Springers was obviously unencumbered by fear of abuse of the most terrifying weapon they had ever built.

  The room was smaller than Tiff had imagined. The bombs, which were five foot long metallic cylinders with rounded ends, were each stored in separate fixtures of tough plastic metal. Tiff locked the doors of the hatch behind him and watched how Hifield cautiously removed one of the bombs from the fixture and weighed it in his arms. He panted a little but when he turned around he grinned: "I'd guess they weigh about 175 pounds. Not too heavy to be carried!"

  "Now it's about time for Pucky to do his job," Tiff replied.

  • • •

  With his abundance of parapsychological talents Pucky helped Cadet Eberhardt to board the ETZ XXI in one elegant jump. Pucky moved him in the same manner which he had used a day earlier to transport the bales from the Z-13 to Snowman—by teleportation.

  Eberhardt landed in the hangar tunnel and crawled into one of the empty pads. Pucky appeared right behind him, made a mental note of the location of his hideout and vanished again.

  Pucky held Eberhardt in reserve and he only intended to call him into the fight if the circumstances required his assistance. Now that he knew his whereabouts he was always in a position to contact him.

  On the other hand, if anything happened to Pucky, Eberhardt could probably easily manage to seize one of the patrol ships and leave the ETZ XXI unmolested. For the time being, however, Pucky had no doubt that he could accomplish his purpose with no trouble at all.

  When Pucky materialized again he stood in a little room adjacent to the command center and separated from it only by a thin wall. Out of the flood of obtuse thoughts—mostly fearful and anguished—emanating from the command center he quickly isolated Etztak's impulses.

  • • •

  Etztak felt in the middle of his outburst that a mysterious force reached for him. Completely vexed be fell silent, tried for a few moments to analyze his impressions and felt fear well up in him. He wanted to scream and when he did he was no longer in the command center yet he had noticed no movement. It was as if one curtain had been pulled away from his face and another dropped behind him. Etztak was familiar with the room, which was next to the command center. What he didn't know was how he got there.

  None of the men present in the command center worried about his sudden disappearance. In the first place they enjoyed the silence and secondly, Etztak had been standing near a hatch while the officers were bent over their tables ostentatiously engrossed in their work. He could very well have slipped out of the room without being noticed which was what Pucky had hoped although he was not quite sure that this would work out.

  Etztak's scream became suddenly stuck in his throat when he saw the furry little animal sitting on a table in front of him. He sat on his hindlegs with his body erect, holding in his right paw a little impulse beamer. Nobody had ever seen Etztak as flabbergasted as he was at this moment.

  "Get hold of yourself!" Etztak understood. "I've got to have a little talk with you."

  The bluntness of this approach brought Etztak to his senses. He wanted to Rare up but the stranger didn't give him the opportunity. And he also explained why. "It's imperative that we act fast," Etztak was given to understand. "Two of my men are on board the HORL VII right now and as a result of the alarm you've called"—a fact which Pucky read in Etztak's mind—"they're unable to leave the ship without hindrance."

  Etztak twisted his face into a jeering grin.

  "You'll see to it that they're able to leave the ship without getting hurt!" Pucky continued.

  Etztak started to laugh. "And what if I don't?" he inquired.

  "Then I'll blow up the whole shebang, the ORLA, the ETZ, the HORL and the whole planet!"

  Etztak became serious. "And how do you propose to do that?"

  Pucky whistled shrilly: "Exactly the same way you wanted to do it. With Arkon bombs I!"

  Etztak shuddered. "You'd be killing yourself and your people too!"

  "That's right!" Pucky answered simply. "It's that important to us."

  Pucky sensed how Etztak desperately tried to find a way out. He could also feel the desire of the old man to procrastinate and to gain time by prolonging the conversation.

  "Quit stalling!" Pucky urged, raising the impulse-beamer and aiming above Etztak's left shoulder. He fired a short burst of low energy against the wall. Etztak winced and raised his hands.

  "No!" he panted. "I'll do what you want!"

  Pucky determined immediately that he meant what he said.

  "I'll give the HORL instructions to break off the search and to cancel the alarm," Etztak suggested.

  Pucky refused to agree. Not because he was afraid that the old man would play a trick on him but because he realized the uncertainty and confusion which would be caused by two contradictory orders following each other in short succession.

  "No! You order a full battle alert for the HORL. Every man on his post and all men off duty to stand by in reserve. And do it right here! Do you follow me?"

  Etztak hesitated. Pucky raised his weapon again and thereby broke the resistance of the old man. Etztak went to the intercom and took the microphone. Pucky placed himself outside the range of the receiver and made it clear to the Springer that be was prepared to shoot if he said as much as one wrong word.

  • • •

  For a few minutes the floor reverberated from the clatter of numerous feet running around in the corridors. But suddenly everything fell silent and then came Pucky's short message: "All clear!"

  Tiff let the hatch slide open. Hifield staggered through the opening and Tiff closed the door carefully. Then he rushed over to Hump to help him carry the bomb.

  The HORL was in full battle alert which meant that nobody was around in the vicinity of the storerooms.

  Without harassment they reached the shaft of the freight elevator in which they had ascended half an hour earlier. Breathing heavily Hifield tumbled into the antigrav field with his bomb and was slowly carried down the shaft with Tiff in tow.

  "Stop at the second deck!" Tiff told Hifield. As they came abreast of the deck Hifield pushed himself away from the wall to leave through the exit.

  "We'll have to go at least 150 feet from here," Tiff said.

  The corridor was empty. Tiff deciphered the markings on a hatch and determined that they were in an area of a hospital. If Pucky's plan worked all right, the Springers would remain behind the hatches without venturing into the corridors during the alarm unless they were called out. Hifield reeled along the hallway. The inscriptions on the hatches were of a great variety. One of them read: Food & Drug Laboratory.

  "In there!" Tiff ordered. The vessel was a merchant ship. But even these merchant ships were armed to a certain degree and Tiff knew that everybody had been assigned a post in case of alarm. It was unlikely that they would find a Springer at this time in a lab for analyzing unknown foods and drugs.

  And so it was. The lab was rather spacious and equipped with all sorts of devices. Tiff directed Hifield to place the bomb on its end near a dehydration machine consisting of four
cylindrical containers. There the bomb looked very inconspicuous.

  "Set the timer for 20 minutes!" Tiff said, helping Hifield with the fuse. The trigger mechanism of the bomb was not very complicated.

  "Ready!" Hifield reported. "Let's get out of here!"

  They returned to the antigrav elevator and went clown to the hangar deck. Hastily, but almost noiselessly, they stormed through the gangway to the inner airlock, hatch where the hangar officer had his control room.

  During the state of alarm it would have been an impermissible infraction of regulations for the hangar supervisor to release a patrol ship via the usual procedure. The officer was alone with his assistant. Tiff and Hifield entered the little room without being challenged. The hangar master noticed only after they got in that they were strangers and the assistant never knew what happened. Tiff put the assistant out of action with a well-aimed blow against the collar of his protective suit. Hifield darted behind the desk and struck down the hangar officer before be was able to defend himself or call for help.

  Tiff was already busy with the next task. He leaped with two quick steps to the huge control panel and pulled two well marked red levers.

  "The inner hatch is open!" he called to Hifield. "Now to the patrol ships!"

  Hifield dashed out. A few moments later the lentil-shaped body of a patrol ship glided through the hangar tunnel and moved through the open hatch into the airlock, where it stopped. The canopy opened and Tiff clambered aboard by pulling himself up over its rim.

  "Let's get on with it!"

  Hifield started up again and moved across the vast airlock just at the moment when the inner hatch closed and the outer one slid open in accordance with the signal Tiff had actuated on the control panel. The little ship scooted outside and left the HORL behind.

  Tiff cried out in surprise when he noticed that the big ship was only six miles above the surface of Snowman. The landing manoeuvre would be over in a few minutes.