Menace of the Mutant Master
Page 10
And that same evening Captain Barina reported to Rhodan from Salt Lake City that he still hadn't found any trace of Richman's murderer. "If I hadn't seen his body with my own eyes I wouldn't believe someone actually killed him. It's the perfect crime—not a trace ...nothing at all!"
Rhodan pondered the problem a moment, realized there were others more pressing, decided to abandon the search for Richman's murderer, told Barina so and switched off.
At this point Thora entered Rhodan's room. The door closed quietly behind her and she remained very still as she observed Perry sitting lost in thought. He sat staring at the colorful little lights of the big telecom switchboard and at first she thought he hadn't noticed her entry. But presently, without looking directly at her, he said: "There's so much work ahead of us, Thora. Do you realize that?"
Thora came closer. "Yes, I've a pretty good idea."
Perry now directed his gaze at the comely Arkonide. "There's one problem in particular for which we haven't a hint of an answer yet."
Thora thought she knew the one he meant. "The explosion in block G—?"
"Exactly. We can imagine how the destroyers were removed: one teleporter of the caliber of the one who abducted Khrest could do it. One by one—or maybe even both at the same time—he could teleport his accomplices to Terrania to materialize inside the command center of the destroyers. The rest would be easy from then on. But how someone could manage to cause a nuclear explosion in a huge assembly plant which didn't contain even a milligram of nuclear explosives—well, that's a mystery of the first order." Perry paused briefly.
Thora broke the silence with a question that for her was an unprecedented admission of admiration: "Do you really think that a man like you will remain in the dark for long?"
Perry was shocked. He looked at the platinum-haired enigmatic alien intently, searching her beautiful face for a sign of derision—but of mockery there was not a trace. The planets threatened to reverse their orbits. The sun to go nova. The moon to fall. Plainly, incontrovertibly, incredibly,Thora had paid Perry a compliment! Did the future hold any greater surprises?
MENACE OF THE MUTANT MASTER
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