by Perry Rhodan
The object the two robots were studying appeared to actually be a blueprint or building plan. Since Gorlat was now only about 10 yards away from the floodlight mast, he could even make out a few lines on the drawing. One of the big robot's hands was running along one line as if to show the other one what he wanted.
Gorlat looked at his watch. Five seconds more!
Tompetch's shot came according to plan and produced the desired results. A few moments later, that part of the basement closest to Gorlat was entirely empty. The robots had climbed out and were trying to search now in the darkness beyond the floods for the brazen assailant who had dared to disturb them in their construction work.
The large robot who crouched before the building plan with the other, smaller robot did not seem to reveal any sign of excitement. Gorlat thought he saw it look up just once when the shot occurred. In fact, 'looking up' was a questionable term, thought Gorlat, because he didn't know where the thing's eyes were located. But then it turned back to the drawing and continued to indicate the lines on the paper or whatever it was.
It was a lucky thing that among robots there were also generals who considered the actual battle as a task for the lower ranks. Gorlat had to admit that he'd have been in a fix if the big robot had also charged off with the others in the search.
He moved forward, crawled out from under the brush and converted the smaller of the two robots into a cloud of metallic vapor with a well-aimed shot from his disintegrator.
This time the large robot seemed to be frankly confused. It stood up and turned another side of its glittering, faceted body toward Gorlat. Gorlat aimed at the narrow part of the chain and pulley drive mechanism that emerged from the actual body of the robot. The shot was fired just as the robot started to move toward him. One of the two chain drives was completely destroyed and the robot started to turn in circles. Gorlat noticed that it raised one of its grasping limbs and realized that it might also be a weapon arm—so he shot it in two.
After that, the robot came to a standstill. Gorlat moved toward it while keeping his weapon ready and his senses tensely alert so that he would be able to elude any surprise movement on the part of the many-faceted monstrosity. It was the first time that he noticed that the robot towered at least two heads above him. It would be harder to get this thing onto the cargo deck of the flier than it was to load the sea cow a few hours before.
Gorlat observed that the robots in the excavation were not interested in anything but their work. If they had noticed the new incident they were probably programmed to leave the matter to the others who had gone after Tompetch. Gorlat came to a halt within two yards of the big robot. Having discovered several more prehensile-looking limbs depending from the strangely formed body of the thing, he shot them away. As far as he could make out, the monster was peeled down to where he now had no means whatsoever with which to grasp him.
He walked around him and attempted to shove him toward the bushes. He only succeeded partially. Because of the missing drive chain the robot had developed a right drag which kept turning it. Gorlat pushed him a bit to guide him correctly and found to his astonishment that it didn't take much effort so he kept on shoving. After two minutes of this labor he finally arrived at his previous hiding place.
He looked back and saw to his horror that the robots in the excavation were now becoming alerted. They had interrupted their work and had turned in his direction, exposing the narrowest facets of their bodies as though this were their way of looking toward the bushes where he had disappeared with his towering companion. Shortly after that about 50 of them started moving. They climbed up the nearest side of the foundation wall.
Gorlat left the big motionless robot to its own resources for the moment. He threw himself to the ground and brought his weapon into position. As long as they didn't deploy themselves more shrewdly than at present, he thought, he'd be able to hold them off until Tompetch arrived.
He had not even fired the first shot before he heard the low humming sound of the aircar's engine somewhere behind him. Tompetch brought the flier down among the bushes and sprang down to his side.
"Let's get out of here!" he exclaimed in a low, urgent tone. "It won't be long before the others pick up my trail. Where's the monster?"
Gorlat jumped up. "Over there. Have you built up the antigrav field? The robot's heavy and won't be easy to hoist on board."
"All set," confirmed Tompetch. "Give me a hand and we'll push it over to the airco."
They put their shoulders to the task and had finally gotten the heavy cargo onto the deck and tied it down just as the first of the pursuing robots appeared. Gorlat crawled directly from the cargo deck into the cupola while Tompetch swung around outside and dropped into the pilot's seat with a sigh of relief.
In the next moment the ship climbed steeply into the air. A single energy beam hissed past them in the rear but missed by at least 10 yards. A few seconds later the aircar was out of sight and firing range of the Druuf robots.
"Well done!" Gorlat praised him. "Really, you were fabulous!"
Tompetch looked at him, somewhat amazed, and then laughed. "That's funny," he said. "I was just going to tell you the same thing!"
• • •
Rhodan scanned the sky. In one area it was brighter than the surrounding darkness: the first reflection of the rising sun.
"I don't believe they have any need of tracking you, Lieutenant," he remarked. "They'll know that we're the only ones who could have kidnapped their building superintendent so they'll come here by the most direct route possible. Actually I'm surprised that they're not here already."
Tompetch glanced doubtfully at Rhodan who lay beside him on the ground. "They could still be looking around in their own area," he answered. "They still don't know that we've established a camp here."
During the time that Gorlat and Tompetch were on their mission, Rhodan, Bell and the Arkonide had pushed their march farther, finally arriving at the ground depression where the K-238 had been standing. Rhodan was completely satisfied with the success of the two officers and agreed with Gorlat that if any of the Druuf robots knew what they wanted to learn it would have to be this big one.
Of course what he was looking for in the area of the K-238's old landing site he had not as yet revealed to anyone.
One hour later the sun came up. The temperature rose fairly rapidly from 125 to 140°. The men sought protection from the solar heat and glare beneath the thorny branches of the bushes.
The grey-bodied Solitude Intelligence lay motionless in the dust. Its psychic entity had separated in order to wander about and keep a lookout for the Druuf robots. ½ hour after sunrise, however, the sea cow showed animation again, which indicated that its entity had returned. The intelligence communicated to Rhodan that a group of 100 robots was approaching from the direction of the cave and that another group of five robots had been observed who were 'fast-time' oriented. This meant that they moved within the faster time-frame of the Terranian's own universe.
It was these five who were the main source of Rhodan's immediate concern. The plan he had in mind made little allowance for any time-accelerated robots.
He had long since brought to light the small code transmitter that had been buried in the vicinity of the landing site. The device was the size of a matchbox and was equipped with a single control button. The pressure of a finger on the button released the code signal that would activate the K-238 to shut down the defense screens and permit free access to the ship's main airlock and entrance hatch.
The very unusual phenomenon involved with the box now, however, was that it still belonged to the other time-frame. Rhodan could detect this when he pressed his thumb hard against the rear partition of the device. The metal-plastic material, which normally was harder than steel, yielded elastically to his thumb pressure like a very taut-stretched piece of rubber. Nevertheless, depressing the control button still released the code signal, now as before. The signal duration would be too short to be detectable by anyone in the
Druuf time-frame—to be exact: 0.00015 microseconds. But it would affect the receiver of the K-238 because the ship was still in the same time-plane as the code sender.
There were just the time-accelerated robots to worry about now.
That is, thought Rhodan, if he were right about the possibility of the K-238 returning. In that case he would need 10 seconds from the moment of sending the code signal to enter the airlock and close the outer hatch behind him. Ten seconds amounted to 200 hours from the reference point of the accelerated robots, or slightly more than eight days.
Consequently he saw that he had no other choice. He was forced to resort to trickery. The time-honored strategy of camouflage and diversion would have to be resorted to.
• • •
The sea cow entity assured him that it would not be detrimental to divide its projected essence into two separate parts. It confirmed that it could produce two 'ersatz bodies' and, just as it had originally 'materialized' in the form of a little man, two such projections could separately present an outward appearance or 'reflection' of other persons-namely, a semblance of Rhodan and Capt. Gorlat. It saw no problem in accomplishing this feat.
Rhodan was satisfied with this. With the help of his heavy disintegrator he excavated four man-sized pits in the ground, covering them with branches and camouflaging them with earth, leaving only a narrow entrance in each.
Then he acquainted Bell, Atlan and Tompetch with his plan, since Gorlat and the Solitude Intelligence were already informed about it.
Although the men were in full agreement with it, of course Bell had a comment. "If I only knew what makes you so sure," he said, "that the K-238 is going to come back..."
Rhodan shrugged. "Calculation, old buddy. Just calculation."
A few minutes later the 100 robots who were still in the Druuf time-plane made a strategic observation. Having advanced from the cave position about 300 yards in the meantime, they were able to see three persons leaving the former campsite near the earth depression. They were flying in some sort of air glider or shuttlecraft.
On the other hand the five robots in the accelerated time-plane had a different impression. To them it appeared that there were five persons in the aircar and their motions were so slow that they seemed to hang suspended in the air. In their accelerated state the non-material projections of the Solitude Intelligence had become visible.
So to these five robots it was clear that the enemy had fully vacated the former campsite in order to retreat from the approaching fighting force represented by the slow-time robot army. Consequently they sent out a command impulse to their slower colleagues, directing them to the new target. For the five, the signal lasted 10 seconds, where-as to the other robots this was equivalent to only 140 microseconds, but it was sufficient to achieve the desired response on their part. The five faster robots never did learn that their slower companions had only seen three persons on board the flier. And even if they had found out about it they probably wouldn't have given it a second thought.
• • •
Rhodan and Gorlat remained hidden in their observation pits until the coast was completely clear. This was about three hours after sunrise—a point in time when Rhodan figured that his masquerade trick would have either succeeded entirely or fallen flat on its face.
Rhodan was the first to push the roof of branches away and climb out of his hole in the ground, sneezing and shaking the dust off. He wiped the sweat from his face and forehead and waited until Capt. Gorlat also emerged.
"Shoosh... that's an oven down there, isn't it?" Rhodan groaned.
"It's not exactly a deep-freeze, sir," Gorlat confirmed, while looking about. "Where are they?"
"Out of range, I hope. But I don't think it's time yet to turn cartwheels or shout hallelujah. In the time we take to speak 10 words, a year passes by in the sunny life of the revved up robots. They could return here in the flash of a second and discover us."
Gorlat nodded. He smiled in spite of the heat. "Actually it looks like everything has worked out smoothly," he said, still searching the area with his eyes. "Everything is quiet. If only your hope concerning the ship—"
Suddenly—in the interval between one breath and another—the K-238 was back again. It stood there where Rhodan had landed it a few days before, just as though it had never moved from the spot. There was no landing manoeuvre, no point of light emerging from the sky—nothing. It just came down.
It was simply there.
With a swiftness of which he was capable only at the highest moments of crisis, Rhodan raced down from the edge of the depression. A fraction of a second later Gorlat saw the shimmering of the defense screen vanish.
From Rhodan's point of view, however, he seemed to move more slowly than a snail. He had chosen the location of the earth pit so that he would have a minimum distance to run in order to reach the ship's entrance lock. While he charged down the slope toward it, he had the feeling that his mind and reason were functioning in the old accelerated time-plane while his body was moving in the slower plane.
He activated the button of the signal sender while on the run. The shimmering defense screen vanished while an opening appeared suddenly in the side of the ship. He swung up into the open hatchway, rolled across the-deck of the airlock and at the same time pressed the signal button again. Outside, the defense screen again sealed the K-238 hermetically from its environment.
But Rhodan's task did not end here. He jerked the weapon from his belt and trained it on the thick hatch door of the inner side of the lock, burning a hole in it the size of his fist. Only then could he be certain that the ship would not fly away, for any reason. Whoever might be sitting at the master flight console would not be able to operate the propulsion system until the damage was repaired.
In spite of his exhaustion, Rhodan pulled himself from the deck and opened the inner lock hatch after closing the outer one. Then he entered the adjoining corridor and headed for the Command Central. He didn't trust himself to use the conveyor belts because he knew they were moving at a relative speed of over 200 miles per hour He wondered that they didn't fly to pieces.
Fighting fatigue, he reached the control room quickly and with an equal swiftness grasped the controls he needed in order to complete the success of his mission. He turned on the warp-field generator but was not surprised that he couldn't hear it operating. He knew that the sound-waves of the faster time-plane were at a frequency which was far beyond his present audible range.
Nevertheless he saw the milky ring of energy taking shape outside beyond the defense screen. Slowly and carefully he turned certain control knobs on the control panel, which were as tacky to his sense of touch as the small box of the code sender. As a result the warp generator gradually focused the energy ring, projecting it into the Command Central itself.
He stood before the vaporous circle for a long moment—and then stepped through.
• • •
In the same moment he heard the high hum of the warp-field generator once more. To him it sounded as beautiful as Thora's voice.
He looked around and saw that his surroundings had not changed. He was still in the Command Central of the K-238. The landscape outside was green and peaceful-looking. The bushes were not moving in the wind any more and no swirling dust devils moved across the plain. There were just a few transparent dust shapes above the bushes, seemingly hanging there motionlessly.
The experiment had succeeded. He had returned to his accustomed plane of time!
On the viewscreen he saw Capt. Gorlat standing next to an earth pit, seemingly as motionless as a statue. He again adjusted knobs on the control panel and caused the generator to project the energy ring outside to a spot where Gorlat could reach it in a few quick steps.
Then he leaned back in his seat and waited. At least ½ hour would pass before Gorlat even became aware of the force ring. Then it would still take him time to walk forward and step through the warp aperture. To Gorlat: three seconds. To Rhodan: 60 hours.
Rhodan could envision the expression on Bell's face and could already imagine the questions he would be asking: "So you knew that the K-238 would come back. You even knew approximately when. Is it supposed to be a secret how you knew all that... or would you care to spill it to me gently?"
And then he, Rhodan, would attempt to explain to him the principles governing the two space-time continuums. He knew that it would be a difficult chore because Bell was sharp and very knowledgeable and had an inborn aversion to all things of a vague and abstract nature—especially where the vagaries involved were due to a lack of usable theory where nothing could yet be expressed as mathematical reality.
"Our operation on Solitude," he would explain, "has been a teeter-tottering back and forth between two space-continuums and two reference frames of time. During the first few hours after our landing, we and the K-238 together constituted an alien object in this universe. We were a part of its chain of events but we still did not belong here. We were something like a small piece of foreign territory stuck into another country.
"Then we made a fateful move. We flew the K-238 from its original landing site to a second location, meaning here—and we moved at a velocity which was greater than the local speed of light. To any observer indigenous to the slower time-frame of the Solitude universe, the event would work but something as follows: he would see us take off from the first landing site but would not be able to see us land here. Because the landing in the second location was acausal result of the take-off from the original place—since it is specifically causality that is lost when one exceeds the velocity of light.
"For us it was otherwise: we flew at the ridiculously slow speed of slightly over nine miles per second, or about one twenty-thousandth speol. We took off and a short time later we landed. It was a simple continuity of cause and effect.
"The confusion started when the Druufs projected a warp-field to the surface of the planet and simultaneously transferred us to the alien time-plane while accelerating some of their robots into our faster time reference. Because then we were the ones who became the observers. For us the K-238 had jumped the causality barrier because of its higher-than-light speed, and although to us it took off alright from the first location, it had not yet arrived in the second location. So when we came back looking for it, it wasn't there... it couldn't have been.
