The Crystal Prince

by K. H. Scheer

  I gave up the idea. It was hopeless. I had to get at the puzzle from some other direction. The Lords of the Inner Circle were very ingenious indeed!

  Thanks to the hard experience of my youth and careful schooling by Fratulon, by trained instinct warned me of danger here. I wasn’t too happy about that wide-open airlock hatch! Instead of entering at first, I started to walk carefully around the craft—which was perhaps what saved me. The serpent-like but many-legged creature appeared to have been lying in wait for me inside the airlock. It shot out of the hatchway in an attempt to reach me with its first attack but it either didn’t have enough spring or wasn’t quick enough, because it missed me. I heard its frenzied spitting and hissing and then the body rose up about a third of its length to face me. On its armoured skull was a sharp horn that was perhaps 3 feet long.

  I fired in the same instant. In the midst of the creature’s second jump the white-hot beam of the Luccot caught it just below its outstretched head, which severed it and flung it away from the vaporizing upper torso. I waited until the thing’s jerking death throes had subsided. But even then I remained alert to any surprises. The shot-up remains of the monster still measured about 10 meters in length and as I bent over it I saw to my horror that I had been mistaken in one assumption. Evidently from this point onward the Testing Committee was playing for keeps! This was no synthetic or remotely controlled creation. It had been an actual monstrosity from some alien world. Touched by a momentary panic, I turned and fired into the jungle when I heard a suspicious sound there. Something fled away in great haste.

  I heard a distant shout. It had to be Tirako. Naturally he had heard the report of my shots. I didn’t answer, nor did I shoot into the air to signal to him that I was still functioning. My tactical assignment was set firmly in my head. If I had really been transferred to an alien world, even these shots in my own self-defence could betray my location to the enemy.

  So the hope of adapting the jet engine to my purposes was out of the question. It would have served perfectly for propelling and guiding the boat. Maybe they had even made it to fit the transom stem of the skiff, just to increase the deception! I was getting to where I didn’t put anything past these examiners of Faehrl. This time they had clearly put my life in danger. Or had the serpent monster gotten into the swamp vehicle unexpectedly?When I finally entered the glider I discovered the answer to that question. This shelter was only accessible from one side and it appeared that the creature must have chosen it only recently. The 5 reddish eggs were only several hours old; in fact their shells were still relatively soft. One of them appeared to have been laid only in the past few minutes. Which explained the frenzy of the attack. The mother animal had sought to protect its young.

  I didn’t want to destroy the eggs. I took them outside one by one and bedded them down between some sheltering tree roots. In this damp heat they would have to hatch out, provided natural enemies didn’t get at them first.

  Inside the narrow 5-man crew cabin there was a bestial smell but I disregarded it, more intent upon an investigation of the power-generating system. One way or another, I had to make progress now. If the jet engine couldn’t be used separately, my only alternative was to get the hovercraft in operation as quickly as possible. There was no way of negotiating that watery maelstrom in the river with only the rowboat. So what other choice did I have?

  Ten minutes later I slumped into the pilot seat dejectedly. In front of me the maintenance hatch of the machine room stood open. The powerful suction and compression turbines for generating the air cushion had been demolished— deliberately, of course! So I couldn’t use them for getting me out of the swamp and reaching the depot.

  Behind the radiation shielding the small fusion-reactor was functioning again. I had only reactivated it to an “idling” level although I could have turned it on to full power with no particular effort. Under these circumstances what would be the use of current in the power lines? The heavy electric motors for the compressor turbines were beyond use. As for the energy cannon, it wasn’t dependent upon the reactor anyway…

  Thoughts about the cannon jerked me out of my mood of depression. Tensely, I looked up above me. The weapon’s heavy cylindrical base mounting was directly over my head. Inside it was the fusion-reactor chamber. Under the conical cowling were the auxiliary devices that were vital to its operation, such as the nuclear fuel injection pump, the converter chamber for the independent power supply to the field generators for the beat and radiation protection screens, as well as absorption screening for overheating.

  The converter chamber—that was it! All it did was transform a fraction of the liberated nuclear energy into a working current, which was used for building up the forcefields. It was self-evident that no material could withstand the solar temperatures in the superheated zone of the reactor. As also in the case of the rectified radiation in all its focussed concentration, only forcefields could resist such heat. The separate power supply for the energy gun was only for use as a last resort. Of course the cannon could be fired with it but only with a fraction of the energy that was possible if the firing beam were to be fed from a much more powerful source.The rule of thumb was: the heavier the field charge, the more powerful the shot.

  It occurred to me that this was why I’d been able to activate the main power reactor of the craft. Very convenient. Was I supposed to make use of the cannon? With all the power I could generate from the main reactor? If so, what was I to shoot at? Imaginary enemies? At some convenient lineup of robot commandos? Or what?

  I jumped up and squirmed past the impulse cannon’s base mounting. I yanked open the turret hatch and looked about me. Foliage and more foliage were all I could see in the near vicinity. But farther to the right on the other bank of the river I saw the “reversed” outlet of the mountain stream and the wildly surging waterfall.

  I drew back into the turret and got into the narrow seat before the controls. I manipulated the switches there and the indicators flashed to life. The viewscreen of the optical target-seeker worked perfectly, as well as the 3-D position indicator of the radar tracker. The turret also rotated flawlessly and its elevation adjustment presented no problem. In contrast to the other furnishings and equipment in the vehicle, the impulse-cannon was in perfect working order.

  Then I noticed something in the optical target screen. The image was clear, 3D and in colour. The distant image was seen through the filigree pattern of the target markers. I depressed the button switch of the automatic range calculator and the electronic readout appeared in the upper right comer of my field of vision. I stared critically at the odd rock formation in my sights. It looked like an ancient, widely arching stone bridge from which a piece had been cut from the centre span.

  The smoothly regulated magnification showed me some interesting details. It was not a bridge. Two rocky outcroppings merely reached toward each other over the raging tributary. It would have been possible to use the stone projections as a bridge if one were to place a few tree trunks across the gap.

  I was troubled by a half-formulated thought. What had bothered me especially at first glance? What was peculiar about that formation? In the course of millions of years the mountain stream could have hollowed out the massive rock wall and broken through it, thus creating a bridge-like formation. That was all. It couldn’t be otherwise.But then the solution to the mystery came to me. That was not all! The maximum setting of the target magnifier revealed the secret. Where the flood of waters was tumbling down a stone arch could have been worn through but not 20 meters above that level where the water had probably never been. Here some advanced technology had provided assistance—no doubt the Lords of the Inner Circle—in order to alter the course of the stream to my disadvantage.

  I laughed aloud to myself, overjoyed by the discovery.

  The position of the sun, however, revealed that I had lost far too much time. I could hesitate no longer. The impulse-cannon swung to the target. The “coldignition” fusion process began to
build. I shoved the injection regulator to maximum and focussed on the target. If I could cause the overhanging masses of rock to collapse, it should form a diversion dam for the mountain stream. Then we would see what would happen to the water barrier in the main river!

  I opened fire. A sun-bright bolt of energy thundered from the spiral muzzle of the cannon’s field generator. The beam left a tracer track of vapour resulting from condensation of the very humid air, followed by a straight line of iridescence. There where the left-hand outcropping of stone emerged from the cliff, the unleashed fury of energy struck home. The usual impact detonation resulted, accompanied by a spray of molten lava. The thunder of air masses clapping back into the vacuum was deafening.

  I quickly snatched up a pair of thickly padded ear protectors and slipped it over my head. My 5th high-powered shot was adjusted for a wider beam. This time it bored into the glowing and boiling holocaust and completely separated the hanging rock masses from the cliff. With a thunderous roar the huge fragments crashed downward into the streambed. The whole formation shattered into many pieces but I still wasn’t satisfied.

  I brought the entire cliff wall of the opposite bank under fire. After my 8th shot the safety switch shut off the reactor. Impatiently, I decided to risk everything. With the armoured point of the elbow joint of my spacesuit, I shattered the plastic safety cap of the red button for emergencies and depressed it with my thumb. It released the safety stop on the reactor output. Of course I had a chance of easily being atomised along with the cannon but I risked it.

  The 10th shot brought down the rest of the rock masses. The added obstruction served to completely dam up the mountain stream. The waterfall farther down stream dried up to a mere rivulet.

  After that I did nothing but run for all I was worth. It was a race against time in two senses of the word. On the one hand I had lost too much time and on the other hand it was healthy to put as much distance as possible between myself and the white-glowing base of that cannon. If it exploded, a synthetic sun would rise above the primeval forest.Almost completely exhausted, I finally reached Tirako Gamno. He asked no superfluous questions. Naturally he had been able to observe what had happened. He had already shoved my boat into the water, ready for a quick departure. He was sitting at the oars. The insuperable wall of water had disappeared. The powerful main stream had carried away the last of the frothing eddies.

  As Tirako began to row I stopped him. I had to do that part myself. He relinquished his place without a word and I started to row toward the middle of the river. Once there we were gripped by the full current. Moments later we passed the place where the water barrier had thwarted our further progress

  “That’s a top-grade performance,” said Tirako with genuine praise, once I had caught my breath. “I’d never have thought of it. May I hear directly from the source, oh man of action? What went on there in the dimness of the forest?”

  “A real drama, sonny,” I told him, taking a deep breath. “I know now, that nobody’s gotten this far yet. No Hertaso entered that tank before me.”

  “Tank…?”

  I described it to him. He nodded thoughtfully. An ironic smile played about his lips. “Seems to me the serpent creature was unforeseen. Wait and see, Commander, what surprises may yet be lying in wait for us!”

  I looked back anxiously upstream. The hovercraft’s cannon didn’t seem to be acting up as I had expected. Otherwise we’d know it by now. Luck! Or was it?

  I laughed sarcastically. Naturally—a robot commando from the Inner Circle would have blocked the explosion.

  7/ DEADLINE: SUNDOWN

  But further surprises seemed to be held in abeyance. Tirako and I had apparently made a false assumption. If the Faehrl examiners had any further lifeand-death chicanery in store for us, not a bit of it occurred during the rest of the river journey. They were very shrewd—just waiting for the right moment!The general goal of the test run was a small lake, which we reached about two hours after our experience with the water barrier. I had an instinctive feeling that other dangers awaited us here.

  The lake was situated in the lowlands. After coming through one more tussle with racing rapids we had left the mountains behind us. All around us I saw a broad terrain that was gently rolling but covered with only sparse vegetation. Suddenly the tropical forest had faded away. A savannah opened before our view.

  Here and there I saw spread-out copses of woodland and shrubbery. These thickets lay picturesquely between low hills and lush patches of deep grass.

  My first thought was that we had very poor chances of concealment here. The terrain gave little promise of any place to hide and in such a place it would be difficult to sneak up on the target without being observed. It was intentional! We still had daylight on our side. By sundown I must have found the depot or the strenuously executed test would have been passed for naught—that is, passed so far! Either now it was a matter of life and death, or the rest of the task was so simple that for that very reason it was classified as the greatest difficulty of them all. Perhaps on the basis of previous events the Ark Summia candidates anticipated an increasing degree of difficulties ahead.

  I avoided this trend of thought. It was entirely possible that this close to the goal a preference had been given to normality. I had separated from Tirako. It had been his wish to search for the depot alone. He hoped by that means to gain a few plus-points for himself. He wanted to keep out of my way because he feared he might damage my chances if he were with me.

  I had also abandoned the boat and had begun to reconnoitre. Far and wide there was no sign of a depot. Of course it would have been unusual if it were visible here since Fleet security regulations required that it be camouflaged.

  Farther ahead of me the predominantly steep shoreline eased off in a gentler slope to the water’s edge. There it would have made an ideal landing place and a good spot for shipping out backup supplies. From there a few traces of several roads led into the countryside. Tirako had been lured by these faint tracks. I couldn’t imagine how a man of his outstanding intellect and obvious talents for logical reasoning would actually permit himself to be misled by such deliberately planted signs.

  It was probably a trap which he must have recognized. He figured he didn’t have any more chances, so he wanted to help me. He ‘Was deliberately running into a jam in order to perform a service for me.I had activated the small tracking device with which the spacesuit was provided. In one form or another it would have to give me some sign of the depot’s presence in the area, or else no one would have been able to locate it. Even the smallest trace of an energy pickup would have been enough to get a bearing on the general location of the place.

  However the apparatus revealed absolutely nothing. I could conceive of a situation where the support base would have cut off all of its power-generating machines. It was a security measure which would be mandatory under top alert conditions.

  I jumped to the next rise and took cover under a widespread tree. Tirako was already far away. He was following the road but the farther he walked out onto the plain the fainter the tracks became. I had let him take my vibra-knife. When properly used the razor-thin blade of compressed Arkon steel could be a dangerous weapon. The high-frequency vibrating edge of the instrument could even slice through solid metallic plastics.

  As far as I could see, nothing was moving out there. Only to the south of my position I saw some peacefully grazing animals. They were too small to be dangerous. I had harboured an instinctive expectation of suddenly encountering some Maahk-type combat robots or other such automated creations but nothing of this sort developed. It looked as if they wanted to really test a person’s patience and endurance.

  How had Fratulon always put it? “Every action should be preceded by careful deliberation. To see, to distinguish and to know is the art of a true warrior.”

  Tirako Gamno approached a stand of trees that seemed to lead into a woodland area. He hesitated and then switched on the vibra-field of his knife. I
could tell by the immediate reaction of my energy detector.

  When he moved forward again, I caught sight of a quivering flash of something like lightning. It shot out from between the trees and with the swiftness of thought it materialized into a flickering energy field which enveloped Tirako. In the next instant, he disappeared

  I stomped and swore. Hadn’t I warned him enough?

  But my attention was turned to the detector. The occurrence of the force lines around Tirako probably indicated a transport field generated by a matter transmitter. A high burst of energy had been released and my detector had registered it.

  That part wasn’t as important as the question of where the generator itself might be located. That’s where the depot would have to be, provided that it was a depot transmitter that captured Tirako and not another one someplace else.The tracer was still running. The racing blur of numbers under the tiny view-slot told me that energies were still being released somewhere. But the radiation quickly lessened and the luminous indicator finally fell to zero. I had seen enough. What I had picked up in just those few seconds had obviously been the dying down of a nuclear power generator. It had only been flashed momentarily to full power in order to operate the transmitter.