Beware the Microbots

by Perry Rhodan

  "That's very decent of you," Hathome murmured but Chaney asked: "How do you want to help us?"

  The Hono answered: "We can show you a place where the walls of this valley are less steep than here or we could..."

  He hesitated, rousing Chaney's curiosity. "You could what?"

  The Hono thought a moment and then said: "We could show you the trail of the Gods."

  "The Gods?"

  "Yes. You're trying to find them, aren't you?"

  Chaney was aware that the Gods existed in the mythology of the Approved People and that Rhodan

  was convinced that these Gods were responsible for the Argonin. "How did you learn about that?" he inquired.

  The Hono explained that he had heard it from the Approved who had left their villages and that he was not one of them but an outcast and that he had discovered a track of the Gods.

  Chaney quickly made up his mind and told the Honos to wait a minute. Then he instructed four of his men to leave the cave and to stand 30 feet away from the entrance. Nothing happened. The men after 10 minutes were still just as sound of mind as inside the cave. The scourge that had struck Crimson and Dee seemed to have left the valley or made a pause.

  Chaney got up. "Alright," he said to the Honos. "We'll go with you."

  "We've got to follow the valley to the west," one of them explained. "We won't get very far today but tomorrow morning..."

  "Don't let the darkness hold you back," Chaney interrupted. "We've got good lamps and if you aren't too tired we can march all night."

  Chaney had expected the Honos to decline his suggestion. The outcasts seemed to act quite differently from the Approved in many respects. They completely lacked their apathy and disinterest.

  The Honos agreed. "So much the better. We'll get there that much sooner." Chaney wondered why the Honos were so anxious to show the trail of the Gods to total strangers.

  He ordered his men to leave the cave and to follow the three Honos who had already started out on the trek to the west. The valley would be completely dark in one hour at the latest and they held their searchlights ready.

  In spite of the rough ground they made good headway. The 3 Honos moved nimbly forward on their long legs and the reduced gravitation enabled the Earthlings to maintain a pace they could not have kept up for half an hour on Terra.

  Chaney estimated that they covered about 7 miles an hour. They forgot all about their fatigue the minute the Honos had hinted at the trail of the Gods. Three-quarters of the night were gone when the Honos suddenly stopped and waited for Chaney and his men to catch up.

  "What's the matter?" Chaney asked.

  "We're close to our goal," one of the Honos replied.

  "What do you mean by goal?" Chaney demanded.

  "A deserted village where the track begins."

  "I see. Then let's go on!"

  The Hono hesitated. "I... we..." he stuttered.

  Chaney was overly tired. He was nervous without realizing it. "What's there to stutter about? Take us to the village!"

  "The Gods will punish us!"

  Chaney smiled grimly. "The Gods! I thought you didn't believe in them."

  "Not the way the Approved People do," the Hono admitted. "But they're mighty beyond a doubt."

  "We'll protect you from them," Chaney promised. "Now go on!"

  "Protect us? Can you really do it?" Chaney thought he could detect a little scorn in the question and he decided to watch his step. "I believe so," he retorted. "At least we're going to try it to the best of our ability."

  The Hono, was visibly pleased. "Then we're agreeable. We'll hide behind your backs if the Gods try to do something to us." And so the trek continued.

  4/ GOD TREK

  Tiff was rudely awakened from his sleep, as he was shaken hard by the shoulder. He bounced up and saw O'Keefe's worried face leaning over him, in the darkened carplane.

  "Something's coming out there," O'Keefe reported.

  Tiff got on his feet. Still drowsy he squeezed between the benches and the sleeping men to the pilot seat

  The gorge was an eerie sight on the obscreen. The starlight reached only halfway down the cliffs. Everything below the faint reflection on the walls lay in deep darkness with the exception of a narrow trace of light illuminating a strip of the valley floor.

  Tiff had to concentrate for awhile before he knew what O'Keefe was talking about. When he was able to penetrate the darkness he discerned a small glimmering spot near the corner where the gorge turned east. Tiff noticed that the spot changed its brightness and that it didn't remain still. "What do you make of it?" he asked O'Keefe.

  O'Keefe muttered: "Looks like a distant searchlight behind the corner."

  "Right, but who'd be roaming in this neighborhood with a searchlight?"

  Before O'Keefe could reply another thought suddenly occurred to Tiff and he added: "Wait a minute! How far are we from the place where Chaney cracked up his Gazelles?"

  O'Keefe nodded in approval. "That's just what I was going to say, sir. It could be Maj. Chaney with his men."

  "Good. Let's see if we can pick up their conversation with our antenna. If it's Chaney and his men they'll probably be talking to each other on the radio of their spacesuits."

  O'Keefe extended the antenna of the extremely sensitive listening device for the whole spectrum of radio waves and as soon as he turned it on the loudspeaker blared: "He says the village is at the bend. Halligan! Keep your eyes open!"

  And Halligan called back: "Yes, sir! I'm looking."

  O'Keefe began to groan. "No!" he gasped. "What did I do wrong to deserve this? It's Halligan, the old cannibal!"

  The love-hate relationship between the two sergeants, Halligan and O'Keefe, was a famous topic in the Terranian Space Fleet. They couldn't sit down to play poker without getting into each other's hair. On the other hand they had fought shoulder to shoulder on Venus with comparatively primitive weapons and they had held Gen. Tomisenkow's hordes at bay for 3 hours until reinforcements came and the enemies could be taken prisoners.

  Tiff was delighted and he sent a code signal that could be received by Chaney's helmet radio, adding: "This is Lt. Tifflor speaking, sir! Our carplanes are located around the bend but don't stumble over our Hono; he's sitting at the wall."

  For a few moments everything was quiet. Then they heard Chaney's surprised voice: "Tifflor! Can you hear me?"

  "Perfectly, sir! We've intercepted you with our radio tracker."

  "Excellent! We'll be there right away. Turn on your headlights!"

  Tiff complied. A few minutes later Chaney's troop, led by the 3 Honos, turned around the corner. Tiff got out off the carplane and told Chaney that the vehicles had room only for half of his men and that the others would have to spend the night in the open. Chaney didn't like the prospect of sleeping outside and related the story of what had happened to Lt. Crimson and Sgt. Dee.

  They searched the mountain walls with the bright cones of their lamps and found a cave similar to the one Chaney's band had used before the appearance of the Honos. Two-thirds of Chaney's men took refuge in the cave and the others were put up, in the vehicles. Chaney and Halligan climbed into carplane #1. O'Keefe, who saw them coming on the observation screen, flopped down on the bench and pretended to be asleep.

  The 3 Honos who had guided Chaney joined the fourth, which had led Tiff's column, without greeting each other. The sleeping Hono apparently didn't even wake up. They squatted down in the same manner and went to sleep with drooping heads.

  Thus Chaney's mission obviously had taken a turn for the better. The Titan was immediately informed that they had joined forces and the officer on duty made no bones about the relief he felt. Tiff requested further instructions and was advised to conduct the search as he saw fit; he could follow the Honos and it was unnecessary to take them to the Titan by force. Rhodan intimated he considered their story of belonging to a different clan from the Approved People to be credible and that he didn't expect to find anything important by a
psycho-examination.

  The main cause for concern was that Tiff found his suspicion confirmed when he examined Dee's and Crimson's spacesuits the following morning. Both suits showed three tiny holes that—in contrast to the prick Tiffs protective suit had suffered—penetrated through the plastic material. The two patients were disrobed in one of the carplanes and examined for needle wounds but none were detected. If there had been any—and Tiff was convinced they had been present—they were already closed up since the day before without leaving a mark.

  Next they investigated the deserted village. The huts were made of bamboo-like wood and constructed in a primitive manner, containing a single room. To judge from the dirt accumulated on the compacted floor the huts must have been abandoned long before the Earthlings set foot on Honur. But Tiff, Chaney and Hathome, who conducted the investigation, realized they knew little about the sanitary customs of the Approved Ones and that it was quite possible that they preferred to live in this dirt.

  The four Honos seemed to stay away as far as possible from the huts during the search as if they were afraid of the forsaken dwellings. But Tiff had to call on the four Honos because he was unable to find the track of the Gods.

  They approached reluctantly. The Hono who had accompanied Tiffs column, and who had been given the name Nathan by O'Keefe, walked at the head.

  "We're looking for the track of the Gods but we can't locate it," Tiff said.

  "It's not here," Nathan answered with dignity. "It's farther back where the cleft between the walls

  begins."

  Tiff looked at the cleft. It was about 6 feet wide and seemed to get narrower toward the back. The little creek flowing through the hollow at a leisurely pace was a sign that the ground inclined very gradually. Where the creek left the opening some low shrubs with hard leaves grew along the rocks.

  Tiff, Chaney and Hathome scoured the ground around the shrubs while Nathan and the 3 other Honos looked on, showing little interest. After a few minutes Nathan finally said: "You'll have to go into the bushes over there where they are thinner and you'll find the trail."

  Tiff went to the spot pointed out by Nathan and examined it. It indeed looked as if it had not come about naturally. "Do you see these broken twigs, sir?" he asked Chaney.

  "It looks as if something forced its way through it a few days ago, I guess," Chaney replied.

  Tiff kneeled down. "The branches and stems are damaged down to the roots," he observed.

  Chaney squeezed through the bushes, breaking a path with his elbows, and disappeared in the cleft. Tiff heard him gasp in surprise and call out: "Hathome! Tifflor! Come here!"

  Tiff pushed through the bushes with Hathome hard on his heels. In the twilight inside the mountain fissure Maj. Chaney crouched near the narrow brook, pointing his gloved hand to a deep, distinct impression on the ground.

  The impression was about 3 feet long and half as wide. The width was divided into small rectangles of

  about 10 by 15 inches, by deep lines.

  Tiff didn't know what to think of it. But meanwhile Chaney had walked on a little and suddenly shouted once more: "Over here! It's much clearer here."

  The second piece of the track was about twice as long. In all other respects it looked exactly as the first except for the dirty white, crushed body of a Nonue lying in the middle of the imprint.

  "It's a caterpillar tread!" Tiff exclaimed.

  Chaney jabbed his finger at the ground. "Of course, but only one! Where's the second tread?"

  Tiff measured the width of the impression. "I don't believe there's a second one," he claimed.

  "What do you mean?"

  "He means it's a one-track vehicle," Hathome interjected.

  "Exactly. The track is about 20 inches wide and it can easily support a narrow vehicle."

  Chaney thought for a moment. "You could be right, Tifflor," he admitted. "It's got to be a small vehicle or it'd never fit in here."

  Tiff looked at the little dead animal. "Now if you consider that the Approved have no other means of transportation than their own legs..." he said thoughtfully.

  "...then you come to the inevitable conclusion," Chaney continued doggedly, "that we've indeed discovered the trail of the so-called Gods."

  Hathome failed to agree. "Now if you could tell me why anybody'd want to get into this dark hole with a tractor I'd be very much obliged. So far this all seems pretty..."

  "Why?" Chaney interrupted. "The fact is that they did drive in there. They've probably taken the Honos to some hiding place. According to everything I know about the Approved they'd not have moved quickly enough without a vehicle."

  "Could be..." Hathome murmured.

  "Don't be so skeptical!" Chaney chided him good-humoredly. "Here's the trail and we're going to follow it."

  Tiff looked around ostentatiously. Chaney noticed it and asked: "Any questions?"

  "Yes, to be frank," Tiff replied. "We can't get through here with the carplanes."

  "That's right. We'll leave half our men behind with the carplanes to cover our rear. I think we can take care of ourselves with the weapons we'll have with us."

  Tiff thought of the little holes in the spacesuits but raised no objections. Not because he was afraid to contradict Chaney but because he was anxious himself to pursue the trail.

  The time was to come when he would feel the heavy burden of responsibility for his recklessness.

  Meanwhile Chaney had walked deeper into the cleft. The ground was in general hard and consisted of smooth stones. Only where the creek curved a little and deposited sand and pebbles on its banks was the impression of the tread visible. There were also shrubs or little trees at these windings and they were able to get some idea about the shape of the vehicle from the damage it left in its wake.

  It appeared to he about three feet high and not much wider than the track it left on the ground. If it was longer than 6 or 8 feet, it had to be flexible or jointed since there were at least 4 places in the first 300 feet of the cleft where a rigid vehicle could get stuck.

  Tiff was vexed by the presence of the dead animals they found in half of the impressions at the beginning of the trail.

  Hathome expressed his theory with a great deal of doubt: "It looks to me as if they threw one of the creatures in front of the vehicle every 100 feet or so. Maybe as some sort of sacrifice?"

  It was useless to ponder the mystery. They knew too little about the mentality of the Approved Ones to guess the answer.

  They returned to the exit of the cleft. The four Honos with Nathan at the head were still waiting, full of dignity, at the other side of the bushes.

  "Did you find the trail?" Nathan inquired.

  "Yes, we did," Maj. Chaney said loudly in a breezy tone, "and we're going to explore it."

  Nathan looked apprehensive. "You know that we don't believe in the Gods as the Approved do. Nevertheless we're afraid the Gods are extremely powerful beings. We don't know if it's wise of you to follow their trail. They could lure you into a trap and destroy you."

  Maj. Chaney stepped close to Nathan. "Listen, my boy," he said in a friendly manner, "why did you show us the trail? Did you expect us to look at it and run away?"

  "No, not really."

  "But?"

  Nathan glanced at his three clansmen; then he answered more confidently: "We assumed you'd go on

  but we wanted to warn you first."

  "Are you going to accompany us?" the major asked.

  Nathan was terrified. "Oh no! What could we do to help you?"

  "Well," Chaney drawled, "I didn't expect you to help us. I just thought you might be interested to know

  where the Gods hang out."

  Again Nathan looked at his companions as if asking for help. "I'm afraid," he finally confessed, "we don't have as much self-confidence as you."

  Chaney gave up his prodding. "If you are seared, you might as well wait here till we come back."

  • • •

  The men were assigned to two de
tails. One group under the command of Hathome remained behind with the carplanes and the two patients and the other led by Maj. Chaney and Lt. Tifflor took up the pursuit of the trail of the Gods. There was only one slight hitch, and it was caused by Sgts. Halligan and O'Keefe.

  When O'Keefe heard that Halligan was to take part in the search he rushed immediately to Tiff. "Sir, it's impossible for me to work in the same group with that cheater Halligan! I won't be responsible, sir; I swear there'll be bloody murder in the first hour," he gasped.

  Tiff wanted to appease the furious O'Keefe but before he had a chance he already heard Chaney's voice calling him on the helmet radio: "Lt. Tifflor! This is Chaney speaking."

  Tiff answered at once.

  "Listen, lieutenant," Chaney began and his voice sounded as if he would crack up with laughter any moment. "I've got Sgt. Halligan standing in front of me complaining that he couldn't possibly stand it if he has to go with Sgt. O'Keefe. By the way, does that counterpart of the sergeant happen to be with you already?"

  Tiff suppressed a chuckle. "Yes, sir!"

  "Good. Then tell him what I've told Halligan, that I'll personally slit open their spacesuits the first time they give me any trouble on the march."

  "Right, sir! I'll give him your message."

  Of course O'Keefe had heard every word on his helmet radio too. Tiff saw him roll his eyes and said: "Too bad, O'Keefe, just too bad."

  O'Keefe stomped away without another word.

  However there was a real surprise which had nothing to do with their men. Nathan provided a little flurry of excitement when he sought out Maj. Chaney and announced: "The four of us have changed our minds. We'd like to accompany you after all."

  Chaney was diplomatic enough to control his inclination to sneer and simply answered, "You're perfectly welcome," letting it go at that.

  • • •

  The detachment selected by Maj. Chaney consisted of 20 men, not including the four Honos, and it set out at noon. In addition to their weapons the most important piece of equipment they carried was a portable transceiver with its own power supply which they had removed from one of the carplanes. It had a considerable range and enabled them to keep in touch with the carplanes or, if necessary, they could easily contact the Titan or the Ganymede .