by Perry Rhodan
"This turned out to be their mistake and our salvation. When Tifflor and the 2 sergeants annihilated the remainder of the robot army before they could activate them, they panicked and fled and 3 of them who had been prevented from escaping were murdered in cold blood by the fourth one to keep them from giving us information.
"That's about it, the way I see it, and I don't believe I'm too far from the truth."
His listeners remained in thoughtful silence. Only Tifflor cleared his throat after awhile and inquired: "I'd be grateful to you, sir, if you could enlighten us as to why there exist such radically different groups of natives on Honur, those infected by the Argonin and the 4 with whom we were embroiled."
Rhodan tapped his forehead and smiled. "Right! I'm glad you reminded me, Lt. Tifflor," his voice suddenly became stem, "I have to reprimand you!"
Tiff was scared stiff but Rhodan allayed his fears. "Don't take it so hard. It wouldn't have made much difference anyway. Lt. Tifflor, what is the color of the Honos' skin?"
Tiff thought a moment. "Reddish brown, sir," he answered.
"And the 4 'Gods' you've seen?"
It began to dawn on Tiff. "Colorless, sir. Albino type."
"All 4?"
"Yes, sir. All 4!"
"This should have made you stop and think, shouldn't it? You can meet one albino occasionally but 4 together under such suspicious circumstances... this should have piqued your curiosity." He paused for a second and Tiff knew what came next. "The 'Gods' are no Honos! They were not born on this planet but belong to another race. Our friend Khrest has examined the 'God' I shot down by the Ganymede and refreshed his memory. I wish we'd have had this information from the beginning."
"These people are members of a race called Aras. It's a branch of the Springers with whom we've had so many run-ins. They've lost nearly all contact with that race of Traders and have established a life of their own."
"The Aras are endowed with a special gift in the area of biological medicine. They know every disease in the Galaxy and can cure them all. Khrest says they're not handicapped by consciences, so it may sound like an old doctors joke but there's nothing the least bit funny about it: they're quite capable of inventing new diseases just to have handy for whatever dirty work best serves their purposes."
"The Aras are the biggest medicine men in the Galaxy: 95% of all drugs used in the Milky Way are manufactured by them—and 99% of all narcotics.
"These were Aras, Lt. Tifflor, not Honos as they pretended. But don't feel bad—it was easy for them to fool you: they look so much like Honos it was only natural for you to assume they were members of the same race."
The production base of the poison traffickers was so thoroughly guttered that it could never again be used for the manufacture of Argonin.
The 19 casualties claimed by the action on Honur were lodged with the 700 others.
The 4 dead Aras were buried at the lakeshore for Perry was loath to deny the last rites even to the most loathsome of enemies. Afterward he called Lt. Tifflor again. "You'd like to know what measures we're going to take next. I'll tell you. First we'll have to learn all they know about the Aras in the Arkonide Empire, then we're going to pay them a visit, put the pressure on them if necessary to make it clear we won't stand for any trouble from them. We've got a difficult mission ahead and can't tolerate any interference from a troublemaker on our back"
"To get the information we need we'll have to consult the robot brain on Arkon. Now that both our ships have structo-comps we don't have to be afraid any more that the Brain might track our flight so there are no objections to such a trip."
"We'll have to exercise extreme caution but every scrap of information we can glean from the Machine will be worth it."
"We'll have to keep our eyes and ears open, won't we, sir," observed Lt. Tifflor.
"More than that, Tiff. Our minds."
• • •
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEW POWER'S HISTORY
The rocket Stardust reaches the Moon and Perry Rhodan discovers the shipwrecked research cruiser of the Arkonides. Establishment of the New Power against the combined resistance of the Big powers on Earth and defense against invasion attempts from outer space.
The New Power intervenes for the first time in the affairs of the Galaxy. Perry Rhodan encounters the Topides in the Vega sector and tries to solve the Galactic Mystery. Perry Rhodan lands on the planet Wanderer where he & Bell gain a measure of immortality—but they lose more than 4 years.
Perry Rhodan's belated return to Earth and the fight for Venus. The Mutant Master attacks. The Springers come to eliminate the potential threat of competition for Galactic trade by Terra. Perry Rhodan's first contact with Arkon. On mission as agent of the ruling robot brain in the globular cluster M-13.
When a strike-force of 700 men loses the inclination to obey their Commander, even a gigantic fighting machine like the Titan is in serious jeopardy.
To make things worse: the crew infested by the Nonue plague is close to death because the antidote is unknown to human medicine, Only one hope remains: to track down the microbots and extract imperative information.
THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME
THE SINGERS!
That's right—not the Springers... the Singers! Synthetic... nonliving... creatures capable of teleportation. One knows when these alien menaces are in the vicinity because of the high keen sound they give off.
Perry & his people track the Mooffs back to their planet of origin—a world of Jovian dimensions wracked by fierce storms & drowning in ammonia—and there they receive a decidedly unwelcome welcome. But 700 of Perry's crewmen lie in deep sleep, near to death, and the galactic medical masters, the elusive Aras, are their only hope of recovery.
Thora plays her part (with Perry's heart) and some 'one' new has been added to the activities: Rhodan's adviser on the psychology of the Robot Regent of Arkon Dr. Certch—himself an automaton!
It all comes on, loud & clear, in high gear, in an episode geared to high adventure as you meet Trorth and observe the clash of—
MAN & MONSTER
by K. H. Scheer
