Beware the Microbots

by Perry Rhodan

  It had been impressed on the 30 men remaining with the carplanes not to leave the vehicles. It was still unknown what had caused Crimson and Dee to become sick but no more attacks had occurred in the meantime. However it was too early to draw the conclusion that they were now safe.

  Chaney and Tiff had at first assumed that the mountain crack, being so narrow at the entrance, wouldn't extend farther than one or two miles into the cliffs. After having marched till dusk without seeing more than the little creek, the smooth stony ground and the occasional sand and pebble deposits with the shrubs growing in them, they realized that their assumption had been premature. And for all they knew, the cleft could stretch for hundreds of miles.

  Fortunately they encountered the caterpillar tracks in the sandy silt again and again so that they were not left in doubt which way the unknown foe had traveled.

  When it was completely dark, Chaney ordered the men to rest. He posted three men with searchlights both at the front and the rear of the column and instructed them to check the cleft continuously with their

  lamps. He advised the other men to switch off their helmet radios and catch some sleep.

  Due to the crowded conditions of their camping place there was no possibility for the Honos to seek

  seclusion. They sat down among the men and were ready to go to sleep.

  Tiff made himself comfortable at the wall. He lay next to Nathan who had put his long bony arms on his legs and was staring pensively. From time to time the reflections from the searchlights illuminated his sharp features.

  "I'd like to know," Tiff said suddenly, "in what respect you differ from the Approved People."

  Nathan shuddered as if he had been aroused from deep brooding. He looked to the side and tried to

  recognize who talked to him. "Oh, it's you. Your question is easily answered. We don't believe in the Gods the way they do."

  "Hm," Tiff insisted. "I've heard this already before. But—whatdo you believe?"

  "We think that the Gods are very potent beings," Nathan replied after awhile, "but we don't believe

  they're Gods."

  "And how do these mighty beings differ from Gods?" Tiff felt that the question caused Nathan to squirm.

  "They can't perform miracles," Nathan explained quickly and Tiff thought he detected an undertone of

  regret.

  "What would you consider a miracle?"

  Nathan reflected a little. "For instance if the Gods could destroy you by their mere wishes without having

  to resort to practical methods."

  "Listen," Tiff protested, "that isn't a very friendly example."

  Nathan produced something like a snicker. "But it's clear."

  "Are you sure the Gods wish to destroy us?"

  "Yes, definitely."

  "But why?"

  "Because they've never tolerated somebody pursuing them."

  "Did you every try to sneak up on them?"

  "No. We fear the Gods too much to do that."

  "And you don't know where they live?"

  Nathan made a negative gesture. "There's a legend among the Approved..." He hesitated as if he had

  some doubt whether it was proper to trust Tiff with such knowledge.

  "A legend?" Tiff urged.

  "Yes. The Chastened People believe that the Gods live underground. But this is sheer nonsense of course. If they're Gods—or only powerful beings as we believe—why should they go to the trouble of living beneath the ground?"

  This seemed a sensible conclusion. Tiff pondered on the legend and when he wanted to ask Nathan another question he noticed that he had fallen asleep—or at least pretended to be asleep to avoid further curious questions.

  • • •

  The night and the following day passed into late afternoon without any significant events. They continued on their trek and the cleft never changed its width or appearance. The strange caterpillar tracks were still imprinted on the sandy spots.

  In the late afternoon, however, the cleft suddenly widened into a basin. The change occurred without transition and came unexpectedly because it could not be foreseen in the permanent twilight. The first men of the column were already standing on the grassy soil of the basin before Chaney ordered them to stop.

  The basin was circular, as Chaney determined by sweeping his searchlight along the walls, and measured about 150 feet in diameter. The walls rose vertically all around. The creek along which Chaney's troop had advanced seemed to spring from the opposite wall. It traversed the basin and provided enough moisture in the ground to create what was, for the general conditions on Honur, luxuriant vegetation. The ground was covered with high dense grass with bushes in profusion. There was a group of low trees along the bed of the brook.

  The abundant vegetation in the midst of the desolate stony mountains presented almost the effect of a miracle and it took a little while before the always practical and unimpressionable Chaney recovered enough to start searching for the track of the caterpillar treads.

  Naturally the grass had risen again and thus didn't retain the trace of the trail as well as the lifeless sand along the bank of the creek. However, they could recognize a small strip of dried up blades along which the strange vehicle had moved.

  Chaney was reluctant to let his men enter the basin. "I don't know," he said to Tiff, his helmet radio at low volume. "I don't like the situation. Once we get inside they can close the exit and we sit in a trap."

  Tiff looked around. Two of the searchlights still spread their beams broadly into the basin. There didn't seem to be another exit. "The Titan could send in a few Gazelles to assist us in an emergency," he suggested. "After all, we're not playing Indians here."

  Chaney smiled bitterly. "You've not yet been forced to crack up with a Gazelle on Honur."

  "In that case Rhodan would move in with the Titan itself," Tiff defended his proposal. "In any event it wouldn't make much sense to turn around now."

  "But it's better to be inconsistent than dead," Chaney opined.

  In the end he informed the carplanes of their discovery and thoroughly combed the basin with a patrol of 10 men. Then he no longer objected to letting the entire detachment follow the strip of dried grass, which the caterpillar tread had left behind, till they reached the opposite wall.

  The trail ended abruptly a few feet before the wall. But Chaney decided to postpone further scrutiny till the next morning since it was shortly before dark and the most important consideration for the present was to secure their camp in such a manner as to preclude all surprises.

  The men whom Chaney had sent to explore the walls of the circle reported they had found only one cave. And even that one was so small that it had room for no more than 4 men. Chaney disliked this intensely. Ever since Crimson and Dee had been so suddenly afflicted he abhorred open areas.

  However there was nothing he could do about it. It would have been possible to burn out a big cave in the rocks with the disintegrators but such weapons used an enormous amount of energy, which could have been detected thousands of miles away with sensitive instruments. Hence Chaney preferred the risk of sleeping in the open.

  His men were seized by anxiety. Everybody could see that the trail they had followed ended here in the basin. The tracked vehicle either had to be in the basin or it had disappeared in the mountain wall.

  Whatever the case, they had reached some sort of a turning point.

  Tiff tried again to find a place for the night near Nathan but the Hono seemed to have anticipated him and avoided him. Obviously he was not inclined to answer more questions.

  • • •

  Sleeping in a spacesuit is uncomfortable at best. Although the helmet provided some support for the head it was useful only if one was in the habit of sleeping on his back. Otherwise he already had a disadvantage to contend with.

  Tiff woke up several times during the night. He cussed his uncomfortable helmet, moved his head and tried to fall asleep again.

  But once, he slippe
d off the stone on which he rested and became wide-awake by his effort to restore his position.

  Five or 10 minutes long he stared motionlessly up into the circular segment of the star-studded sky described by the walls of the basin, waiting to doze off again.

  He noticed, at first unconsciously, that something seemed to be amiss in the neighborhood. Slowly and cautiously he slid down from the stone on which he had climbed with so much trouble; now that his head was upright, he began to watch.

  Minutes elapsed and Tiff was already half-convinced that he had been mistaken, when he saw a movement. Although it was indistinct he could see something slowly crawling through the grass about 15 feet away.

  It was chiefly pure curiosity that motivated Tiff. Guards were stationed at all important places in the basin and no stranger could have entered it without being noticed, even from above.

  Then Tiff looked at the spot about 30 feet away where Nathan had sat down to sleep the evening before. The light of the stars was bright enough to let him see that Nathan's place was empty.

  Tiff craned his neck and looked for the other Honos who had been sitting near Nathan. They were also gone.

  Tiffs first guess was they had rued their decision of following the Gods and attempted to get away secretly, perhaps to escape the ridicule they anticipated. On the other hand he considered the matter important enough to investigate further.

  Tiff ducked down and crawled to the spot where he had seen the shadowy movement. Half groping and half seeing he discovered the wide trail stretching through the grass. What puzzled him was the fact that it didn't lead to the exit of the basin but toward the wall on the left.

  He followed the track and moved fairly quickly without seeing the Honos. When he had almost reached the wall 20 feet away from where the row of sleeping men began, he noticed once more the hasty blurred movement that had attracted his attention in the first place.

  Throwing caution aside he jumped up and rushed to the wall. The thought of exposing himself to a danger came at the very moment he was grabbed by an unseen force and hurled back. Then something was done to his head, which felt as if a hand grenade exploded in his brain.

  Tiff fell to the ground and almost lost consciousness. After lying for a few seconds he pushed himself up again with great effort and stared at the wall. He was close enough to see that the Honos, or those he had followed, had vanished.

  He realized they were in trouble without understanding its nature. He turned his helmet radio full up and shouted: "Alarm! The Honos ran out on us!"

  For awhile he heard only the noises from men waking up from their sleep, slowly raising themselves up and fiddling with their helmet radios. But then came Maj. Chaney's carefree, fatherly voice: "What are you getting excited about, Tiff? Why do you care about the Honos when life is so indescribably beautiful?"

  5/ INSECTS EXTRAORDINARY

  The attack on the Titan began in the middle of the night. It didn't take the ship by surprise since the crew had nothing else to do after the ship landed the second time on Honur but to keep their eyes open.

  Moreover the attack was carried out in such a peculiar fashion that the outcome of the battle couldn't be doubted for a minute. Vast hordes of robots emerged from the valleys, the shores of the lake and from the plain on the observation screens of the Command Center and marched toward the ship.

  Perry Rhodan was present in the Command Center at the time. He allowed the robots to advance until they revealed their true intentions by loosing a salvo of shots from a type of impulse-beamer.

  The protective screens of the Titan absorbed the barrage without difficulty. Disintegrator shots from the ship's heavy cannons tore a wide swath through the rows of robots and blew clouds of whirling metal dust over the lake.

  The hostile machines scattered but continued their unrelenting bombardment. Without interruption the white-hot energy rays hissed against the invisible defense shield, going up in a puff with colorful light-effects.

  The crews in the artillery stations of the Titan had to change to precision firing after their massive hail of fire had wiped out half the robots. The total number of robots was estimated at 8000. They were of the same type that had launched an attack from a spaceship the first time. the Titan had landed on Honur.

  Perry Rhodan directed the fight from the Command Center. The mass of robots melted away. They came nowhere nearer to the defense shield of the Titan than 300 feet. A few machines that had ventured too close went up in flames in the field of the screen.

  Not a single robot moved after two hours of battle.

  Now the men aboard the Titan tried to surmise the purpose of the attack. They had no reason to assume that their opponent was so misinformed as to believe he could defeat the Titan with 8 or 10 thousand such robots.

  The receivers which had been in constant operation during the battle had automatically recorded the answer. The communication officer picked up the printed telecom message sent from the amphi-carplanes: "Commando team Chaney-Tifflor ambushed by unknown enemies Position..."

  It was followed by a few data by which the little valley basin in the mountains could be exactly located. The message further stated that Lt. Tifflor had sent the alarm call.

  Apparently the assault on the Titan by the robots had served no other purpose than to divert their attention from the search team in the mountains.

  A few minutes later the men stationed at the carplanes had received a second message: "Don't worry about us! we're fine. Life is so beautiful!"

  This message was transmitted word for word to the Titan and spread panic in the Command Center. Everybody rushed to his station to perform the operation necessary for the instant start they expected Rhodan to order.

  However Rhodan did nothing of the sort. With a faint smile he admonished his men to stay calm. "I don't see how we can help the poor fellows at the moment," he explained—but he failed to say what made him think he could help them later on.

  Aggravating the confusion among his officers, he ordered the column of carplanes to return to the Titan

  as quickly as possible.

  A while later, after the carplanes were already on the way back, the vessel received a short and unusual message on the regular radio frequencies: "The three of us are gonna go on a little junket."

  If they could trust their ears, it was Tiff's voice but it sounded as if he had a Scotch Whisky accent. The officers in the Command Center blamed Tiff's merriment on the Argonin. What else could it be? But Rhodan's secret chuckle baffled them.

  • • •

  Of course Rhodan couldn't be quite sure of the circumstances. Tiff could have remembered the cue 'junket' in his poisoned state and could be having fun tweaking his commander's nose by using the pre-arranged code word.

  Nevertheless Rhodan doubted that a person drugged by Argonin was still capable of thinking up a reasoned joke. It was far more likely that Tiff and two other men had found a way to escape the frenzy.

  Now there was nothing else to do than what grated Rhodan's temperament most: Wait. Wait for the success of the 'junket'.

  It was almost as unpleasant that Rhodan had kept his knowledge to himself and had to bear the sight of the painfully confused faces of his helpless men.

  But the risk was too great. He had to reckon with the possibility that his adversary monitored their radio and telecommunications and if so he was already familiar with their language. In case somebody happened inadvertently to drop the merest hint about Tifflor's true fate—as for instance in a call to the Ganymede —it would rain Tiff's 'junket' and the entire enterprise would be back where it started from.

  It was better to wait and keep his mouth shut!

  • • •

  Tiff grasped at once what had happened. The worst of all calamities that could have befallen his mission had occurred.

  After Tiff had shouted his warning and got Maj. Chaney's joyous reply, the whole basin was in an uproar. Searchlights flashed and shined on men who bounced around in the gr
ass with grotesque leaps. The cries of the stunned but not yet affected people mixed with the jubilation of those who already felt the effect of the Argonin. Soon the rejoicing became louder and the cries diminished.

  Tiff crawled on his belly across the basin to the spot where Chaney's men had detected a little cave the evening before, calling out repeatedly: "Everybody who's still well, to the cave!"

  He kept shouting till he thought everybody in his right mind would have understood and followed him. When he reached the cave it was empty except for one man "Who are you?" Tiff asked.

  "Sgt. O'Keefe, sir," came the reply.

  "Do you have your arms?"

  "Not only that, I've got the transceiver too."

  "Excellent!" Tiff took the transceiver and sent the first message that was received by the Titan after their battle with the robots. Then he warned O'Keefe. "Turn down your radio to a minimum. We mustn't be heard more than 10 feet."

  O'Keefe complied silently. Then he asked: "What are we going to do next?"

  "Wait a little," Tiff murmured. "I don't want to tell everything twice."

  After an hour had gone by since the ruckus started, Tiff was fairly sure nobody except O'Keefe and himself had been spared from the perfidious onslaught. The men poisoned by the Argonin kept howling and cavorting in the basin like freaked out hedonists, enjoying life to the hilt. The noise of the pandemonium was muted by their receivers which were turned low. When finally a dark body slowly moved through the grass in the direction of the cave, Tiff thought at first it was another of the infected men with an odd idea of having fun.

  When the man got close to the wall he raised his head and asked in a muffled voice: "Lt. Tifflor?"

  Tifflor confirmed his presence. "Halligan? Is that you?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "Come on in and turn down your radio! What kept you so long?"

  "I was waiting till that swarm of beasts disappeared."