by Perry Rhodan
Nevertheless the mechanical voice resonated in the radio room of the Drusus after a pause of only two seconds. "It's you Rhodan! I was right to assume that you're still alive. Do you know the Druufs?"
"Yes, I do. What do you suggest?"
"I've got an armada ready to throw into the battle. Join forces with us and we can launch an assault that will annihilate the Druufs."
"I'm not so sure of it." Rhodan rejected the proposal outright because he suspected that the Regent once again tried to kill two birds with one stone. Once the Druufs were eliminated it would be Terra's turn to be conquered. "I've got a better plan."
"If it's better than mine I'll accept it."
This was a logical answer that satisfied Rhodan. "I want you to send a battleship of the Titan type through the expansion funnel into the universe of the Druufs. Put a crew of fighter robots on board with orders to land a contingent of one or two dozen robots on Druufon and to raise havoc on the planet."
There was a moment's silence before the Regent objected. "Such an action doesn't make much sense to me, Rhodan..."
"It will if you keep listening."
"Very well, go ahead!"
And Rhodan continued to submit his plan which he had developed in all details with Atlan. He explained it all in concise language. The idea was so logical and self-explanatory that the Regent didn't hesitate a moment with his answer. "I agree with you. It's an excellent plan and I'll put at your disposal whatever you demand."
"I'll be ready! Issue your orders!" Rhodan responded.
They were surrounded by the ships of the Springers which were so numerous that they darkened the sight of the stars.
Rhodan, Atlan and Bell returned to the Command Center while Pucky remained in the radio room.
"I'm curious to see what'll happen," Atlan said with a sigh, dropping into the nearest chair. "But what could go wrong?"
Rhodan gave no answer. He carefully watched the observation screen which depicted the warships of the Springers. There were several robot cruisers among them. They were particularly dangerous because they obeyed their commands without regard to any losses they had to suffer. They knew neither fear nor pain nor scruples.
In the meantime the Drusus was busy making a few changes. One of the huge storage compartments was emptied. It was large enough to hold several cruisers or other equipment.
Half an hour went by and then a freighter materialized a light-second away from the Drusus. It came out of hyperspace and braked its speed sharply, barely avoiding a catastrophe when it stopped within a hair's breath of the Drusus.
Rhodan made radio contact with the Commander who reported: "I'm bringing the fighter-robots you've requested."
"Thank you. Did you come straight from Arkon?"
"Yes. On the Regent's orders."
"Very good. We'll open a loading hatch and you can have the robots transfer to our vessel. How about my other conditions?"
"An Arkonide battleship is at your service."
Rhodan was gratified and ended the conversation. Everything else was strictly routine. The two ships were anchored and locked together magnetically. 500 heavy fighter-robots marched out of the freighter's batch and across a gravitational gangplank into the storage compartment of the Drusus.
Each was a three-meter-high colossus of the latest model with a rotating ring of weapons at chest level which enabled the robot to shoot simultaneously in all directions. Energy-beamers were attached to the end of their four arms. Once they were committed to action, each of these metallic monsters could create a pandemonium around it. It only depended on the kind of program which was fed to their positronic brains.
Once again Rhodan got in touch with Arkon. "Everything is set, Regent! Start the attack tomorrow. Time 12 o'clock Terra time. Do you know when noon is on Earth?"
"Yes. It's already figured out. All clear!" There was a tiny pause and then the Regent added: "Good luck, Rhodan of Terra!"
"Thank you!" Rhodan smiled coldly. There was no reason to assume that the Regent had expressed his good wishes because of any feelings for Rhodan. He had done it merely because he considered it to be to his own advantage.
The Drusus resumed speed and put a distance of several light-hours between itself and the waiting formations of the Springers and robots. Then Rhodan made contact with Hades.
Lt. Stepan Potkin, Deputy Commander of the secret base in the heart of the Druufs' domain, was already informed. He reported that receiver three of the transmitter station was ready.
Rhodan and Atlan went to the storage hangar of the Drusus. It was of course no accident that the matter transmitter had been installed in an adjacent room.
"Let's take a trip," Atlan said, opening the door to the transmitter room and addressing the robots: "The first 20 robots will follow me in the transmitter. The next group will leave in exactly 10 seconds and the transfer will be finished in 250 seconds. Then you'll receive further programming."
Rhodan stood at the door as Atlan went into the energy cage of the transmitter with the first 20 robots. Two seconds later Atlan and the war-machines had disappeared to materialize again at the same moment two light-years away on Hades.
Then the next 20 and the next...
Rhodan left the Drusus with the last batch, leaving Sikerman behind to stand by together with Bell and Pucky. To do nothing severely strained Pucky's patience most of all.
• • •
Everything went according to plan on Hades. While the technicians were busy preparing the fighter-robots for their imminent task, Rhodan and Atlan went to Capt. Rous, who was in charge of the base together with Potkin. The light cruiser California was berthed in the hangar of Hades.
Marcel Rous was one of the men who first succeeded in penetrating to the time-plane of the Druufs before the time-modifying funnel connection existed. With the help of a lensfield generator he managed to surmount the barrier of time and almost was dumped into a time-prison from which there would have been no escape.
He felt relieved when he saw Rhodan and Atlan enter and walked to them smilingly with outstretched arms. "I'm happy, sir..."
"Everything is fine," Rhodan reassured him and shook his hand. After Rous and Atlan had greeted each other, Rhodan reported what had happened on Earth and concluded: "What we need now is telepathic contact with Ellert. I don't know how we would do it without Harno's help."
He reached in his pocket, took out the small sphere and asked: "Can you find Onot?"
Atlan had not even noticed that Rhodan had taken Harno along.
The sphere became bigger and turned into a picture screen.
I'm going to try, was the answer in the brains of the three men.
Multicolored configurations spread out over the milky surface of the ball and formed the image of a planet which quickly increased in size. Druufon!
But Harno kept searching and pried under the surface of the planet. All important installations of the Druufs were located deep in the protective ground of stone inside Druufon. Down here ticked the heart of a superb technology with the goal of victory over time itself.
Onot was clearly visible. The chief physicist of the Druufs rested on a large bed with his eyes closed. It should be easier now, Rhodan thought, to get in touch with Ellert, provided Ellert's mind didn't sleep too, if he could do so at all.
Rhodan didn't have time to ponder the question further since he began to feel the cautious probing by which Ellert made his presence felt.
Atlan and Capt. Rous also understood what Ellert 'said'. I like your plan, Rhodan. It's very ingenious. Can you see me?
"We can see the scientist Onot. Harno has found him."
Your thoughts are coming through only in fragments. Please describe your plan in a concise and orderly manner so that it'll not be ruined by a misunderstanding. I'm listening.
And so Rhodan explained: "The fleet of the Arkonide Regent will make another raid on Druufon and try to land a battleship with fighter-robots. The action is conducted as a diversionary m
anoeuvre because we don't expect that the robot warriors will be able to occupy the computer center. This will be done instead by our robots who will be piped in by our transmitters. It will be your job to correlate the receiver of the transmitter station in the computer center so that it will 'happen' to coincide with ours. Can you do that?"
It will be done because I am Onot too. The answer was clear and confident. I will contact you beforehand, Rhodan. We're bound to succeed. Anything else?
Rhodan was pleased. "We're all set, Ellert. Until tomorrow..."
There was no further answer. Perhaps it was too much of a strain for Ellert to maintain contact with them and he wanted to avoid wasting his energy.
Atlan cleared his throat. "And what part are we going to play in the proposed action? I haven't been able to see it as yet."
"At the proper time we and Capt. Rous will pay a polite visit to the Druufs. I want them to think that we're still their friends—at least until we learn the secret of the ultra lightspeed propulsion system." Rhodan suddenly smiled. "We're going to call it star-drive."
"And how about the time-freezer?"
"This would be a gift that would be hard to reject—if we can get it," Rhodan replied, expressing some reservations. "It's not as important as the star-drive with which I'd like to equip our spaceships. It has a lot of advantages over a hypertransition."
"When do we start?" Rous inquired anxiously.
"Tomorrow," Rhodan put him off. Then he suddenly shook his head. "No, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, Rous. It'll be better if I fly to Druufon with the Drusus. The Druufs know that dreadnought and have a healthier respect for it than for the little California. Don't be angry with me..."
"Tactical considerations are more important," Rous gamely smiled, hiding his frustration. But perhaps he didn't really feel all that disappointed. It would certainly be no joyride to fly into this cauldron of hell.
Rhodan gave him some final instructions about timing to avoid any possible interference and went back with Atlan and Harno to Lt. Potkin who supervised the programming of the robots.
"They'll start their work of destruction as soon as they arrive in the subterranean computer center," Lt. Potkin advised Rhodan. "Each of these fighter-robots possesses the nuclear firepower of a light cruiser. If I imagine that all these 500 machines will be let loose at the same moment..."
"Don't do that," Rhodan said amiably, glancing at the machines lined up in straight rows. They looked like armored knights out of the past although they belonged to the future which had just begun for Terra.
Harno came down and let Rhodan put him in his pocket, where he seemed to feel cozy and which could very well have been the case. Rhodan didn't notice any weight.
"We're going to return to the Drusus today but we'll be in touch with you via hyperradio, Lt. Potkin. As soon as Arkon's fleet launches the attack tomorrow, our big gamble with the Druufs will begin. I hope they'll play their part."
"We really depend on them," Atlan remarked.
But Rhodan shook his head. "It won't make a great difference. We'll get into the computer center with our 500 warriors in any case and they'll smash everything that gets in their way. We can't help that but the Druufs will no longer consider me their friend, which I would regret very much."
Atlan gave no answer. He silently walked with Rhodan to the transmitter which would take them back to the Drusus. He remained skeptical, true to his nature.
• • •
It was four hours till the start of the attack.
After a refreshing sleep Atlan and Pucky entered Rhodan's cabin almost at the same time. Bell was already there and sat on the couch with a dreamy look on his face. Pucky waddled to the couch, jumped up and made himself comfortable, leaning against his friend. It didn't bother him that Bell looked suspiciously at him out of the corners of his eyes.
Rhodan had had his breakfast and was in a confident mood. They had laid their plans and nothing would change them—and they had four whole hours with nothing to do.
Harno the mysterious creature of time and energy, floated beneath the ceiling, shrunk into a harmless ball.
Atlan sat down across from Rhodan. "Now it won't take much longer, barbarian."
"There could be circumstances when four hours would be along time..."
The Drusus was positioned a small distance away from Arkon's spacefleet, about one light-year distant from the scintillating alignment funnel which stood still in relation to the Drusus, the fleet and the solar system of the Einstein Universe, although it actually wandered around the universe at half the velocity of light. It was due to this coincidence that it remained stable for such a long time. At shorter encounters these time-overlap zones of the two worlds existed only for days or hours and sometimes only for a few seconds.
"I'm glad to get a little respite," Rhodan admitted. "The past hours and days were extremely strenuous and I doubt that the future will be less demanding."
"Hardly," Atlan agreed. He looked at Bell, who was busy stroking Pucky's fur. "Even our corpulent friend will have to be very nimble."
Bell barely looked up. "Nimble? How well you put it, Admiral! But you're quite mistaken. What's there for me to do? The robots and Ellert will take care of this job." He hesitated as if mentioning the name had reminded him of something. "By the way, is Ellert going to report again?"
"I'm sure he will. But only a few minutes before the attack or during the action. That'll depend on the opportunity he gets." Rhodan paused and glanced up to the ceiling as though he wanted to ask Harno something. But then he refrained.
He had underestimated Harno. Why don't you ask me, Rhodan?
The thought-impulse was received by all brains and was understood by everybody in the room. Rhodan was embarrassed for a moment when he was caught by surprise but then he smiled cheerfully, shaking his head. "Don't pry so much, Harno Anyway, you know what I wanted to ask you—and not only today. Answer me if you please."
You would like to know whether I can do more than show pictures. Of course I can, Rhodan, but sometimes I'm not permitted to go further. There are things which are forbidden also to me.
"Forbidden—by whom?"
It was the same question which Harno had refused to answer before. Could he ever answer this question or was he even willing to do so?
By him whom you've met before.
Rhodan stared at the ceiling and gave up asking further questions since he realized that Harno was reluctant to say more.
Not Bell though—he was not one to pussyfoot around. "Whom do you mean? We've met many people in our time...
You can't classify him as one of the 'people', Harno lectured him silently but authoritatively. It's a being with sublime intelligence, immortal like me but much wiser and mightier. His home is the whole cosmos and the light of the stars is his food.
"It seems to me that you've got many things in common," Bell said pensively. "You also live by the light of the stars. They give you energy and the ability to be what you are. But what are you really?"
"I've got a feeling that you're a little bit too nosy, fatso!" Pucky growled, growing uneasy.
Before Bell could reply, Harno continued to explain: As I said before, curiosity is the source of all knowledge. So don't hold it against him. Whether I can give you answers or not, doesn't depend on him but solely on what I'm allowed to tell you and what not. Yes, I am related to him, the powerful being that has limits too. I've never met one that is omnipotent and nobody else will.
Rhodan was afraid that the conversation was treading intangible ground. "Let's not press him any further," he said sternly. Harno will reveal it whenever he thinks that it will be proper. However this'll not keep me from asking you about the other things you can do, Harno. What else can you do besides showing us any spot in the universe?"
As if this weren't enough, the reply came back a little tauntingly. What do you expect me to do?
Rhodan was startled by the response but he quickly formulated a general ques
tion, desiring Harno's answer. "Can you change the spherical shape of your body and put it to some other use? For instance, can you change it into a cube?"
They all could sense laughter. Harno was indeed laughing although there was nothing to be seen of it on the little black ball. However there could be no doubt that Harno was amused by Rhodan's question.
Harnahan also wanted to know why I'm a sphere and I told him that a sphere is the most ideal of all forms. Naturally I can take on the shape of a cube if it's necessary.
"Thank you, Harno I'll remember that if it becomes necessary. This could happen to be very soon. There's one more thing I'd like to know: Can you fly at ultra lightspeed in any form?"
Yes.
"This is all I wish to know for now, Harno," Rhodan replied, greatly pleased.
The significance of what they had just learned slowly began to dawn on the listeners. They kept staring at the ceiling where the little black ball hovered inconspicuously.
Only Pucky piped up with a roguish grin. "You see the size of your body doesn't matter very much. It all depends on whether you've got it in you or not. Bell is physically so much bigger than I. The logical conclusion would be..."
Harno chuckled with amusement in their brains.
• • •
Chief physicist Onot hadn't felt well at all for some time. It had begun three or four months ago. At first he had suffered some headaches to which he had paid scant attention. But then he lost his consciousness for seconds, or so it seemed, but when he looked at his watch he found that a few hours had lapsed.
Was it a sickness? The symptoms worried Onot more and more.
