Venus in Danger

by Perry Rhodan

  The beast appeared to have lost interest in him. It let him drop to the ground and beat a hasty retreat. As it was running away its legs seemed to get longer and Tomisenkov heard for a second time the rapid tramping noise as its feet hit the ground.

  The strange creature had been running a distance of 300 feet with steadily increasing speed, when it suddenly unfolded flaps of skin from its back, which spread out to an enormous span of wings. Its staring speed was sufficient to make it soar aloft within a second. It flapped its wings with an unpleasant smacking noise and flew away faster than the searchlights could follow it.

  Tomisenkov and his companions were so stunned by the frightful surprise that they hardly dared breathe. After a minute or two one of them said in awe: "A flying reptile!" His words broke the spell.

  They went to help their savagely assailed comrade but he was dead.

  Tomisenkov was afraid to return to his hut. He stopped the construction of all huts and told his men to sleep in the open. More than half his men were posted as guards and Tomisenkov cursed the pilot and his outmoded rocket that took so long to get to them.

  6/... AND AFTER

  Rhodan had slept two hours. It was enough to make him feel refreshed.

  Consulting the latest observation reports from the Stardust, he developed a tentative route on which he figured he would encounter at least two of the opposing detachments.

  Before he had finished his work, one of the oh servers announced: "Flying object approaching, sir! Size of an airplane but silent."

  Rhodan ran over to the little range finder set and looked in puzzlement at the green spot which slowly wandered to the center of the screen.

  "Velocity about 50 miles per hour," the observer added.

  The spot was still some distance away from the center of the screen when it suddenly changed its course.

  "He's descending," the astounded observer said.

  Rhodan followed the image with concentrated eyes. He tried to find out what the object was; but other than its size the picture of the microwave screen reflected little else. The change in altitude had brought the green spot pretty close to the center of the observation screen. However, just before it reached there, it stopped suddenly.

  "What have we got here?"

  Rhodan now realized that an animal had caused the reflex on the range finder. A rather big creature with wings, possibly a flying reptile. It probably perched somewhere on the trees in the vicinity. The green spot was exactly at the same height as the forest.

  "Don't worry," Rhodan explained to the observer. "It was probably only an animal. Perhaps a..." He stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Did you hear anything?" he asked.

  "I think I did..." the other man replied.

  They held their breath and listened excitedly.

  Before long they heard the sound again. It was a cry uttered in extreme anguish. A human cry.

  Rhodan acted without delay. "Locate direction!" he called to the observer. With that he disappeared into the darkness.

  A few seconds later he was ready to start in a transporter with five men. He steered the vehicle over the head of the observer who gave him the exact direction. Then he went up through the cover of the trees and began his search. The transporter was equipped with its own detection set. On the oscillating screen the colossal beast clearly stood out as a glittering point against the dark background of the forest.

  "Have your weapons ready!" Rhodan ordered as he roughly shifted forward on his flight. "And keep your eyes open. A human life is at stake!"

  The distance from his camp to the animal was no more than 200 yards. When the craft had come within 100 feet, Rhodan's group had the target in perfect range. Rhodan switched on the infra-red searchlight and studied the behemoth through the filter. It sat on a gigantic tree and the ugly sight of his bald skin made him shudder.

  It was without doubt a flying reptile but it also resembled a bird.

  The infra-red beam seemed to bother the animal. It jerked its head up and Rhodan could see the six foot long sharp beak.

  "Neutron beam!" Rhodan called out without taking his eyes off the filter. "One hundredth!"

  The weak energy emission of the neutron beam was just enough to let the beast feel a lurking danger.

  It spread its wings and with a smacking sound, which was transmitted by the microphone, rose a few feet above the tree. They could see no sign of the man whose pitiful screams they had heard earlier.

  "One tenth!" Rhodan ordered.

  The intensity of the neutron beam increased. The creature shrieked and tried to fly away.

  "Impulse beamer!" Rhodan shouted.

  The terrible weapon blasted the reptile out of the air and it tumbled down into the jungle.

  Rhodan started up again. The foliage of the trees was firm enough to hold the transporter aloft. Rhodan set the vehicle down and warned his men to exercise caution as they climbed out.

  Once outside the small airlock, they smelled the disgusting stench of the animal's burned body. They climbed down the heavy branches, which had been stripped of leaves by the claws of the beast, and, shining their flashlights, they found the limp body of the man who had cried for help in a forked branch of the tree.

  Rhodan examined the man before they lifted him into the transporter. His uniform was torn and he was bleeding from several wounds. Rhodan applied some coagulating remedy from the Arkonide medical supplies on board the Stardust.

  He did not know the man but judging from his uniform he was a member of the military forces from the Eastern Bloc. If he could keep him alive, he should be able to furnish valuable information.

  After they had carefully carried him into the transporter they flew back to their camp.

  Responding to the medical treatment which was available there, the man quickly regained consciousness. Rhodan made sure that he did not feel any pain when he woke up. He raised himself up on his elbow and inquired in Russian: "Where am I?"

  "I can't understand you," Rhodan answered. "Do you speak English?"

  The man nodded. "Are you...Rhodan?" he asked hesitantly.

  Rhodan confirmed with a nod. "And who are you?"

  It could very well be that the man had no intention of answering Rhodan's question truthfully. Not withstanding the fact that Rhodan had saved his life from the clutches of the reptile, he still was his opponent.

  But Rhodan's mind had been honed to the finest degree by the treatment he had undergone on the planet Wanderer so that he posed his question with the power of suggestion. The man had no choice but to tell the truth.

  "My name is Trevuchin. I'm Gen. Tomisenkov's aide."

  Rhodan was satisfied.

  He continued interrogating Trevuchin, who responded with facts and figures in spite of his determination to lead Rhodan thoroughly astray.

  • • •

  Tomisenkov did not get a chance to sleep. His rib ached and the events of the last day were too dreadful to take, even for a man of his fortitude. When he managed to doze off, fire-spitting hot-eyed reptiles swooped down from the air clamping their long beaks around his neck and shrieking so loudly that he woke up in a sweat.

  He rolled around on his other side and stared into the bushes which were set off black against the muddy gray of the sky.

  It's the dense atmosphere and the vicinity of the sun, he reflected in his tired state. It never gets completely light on Venus because the air is too dense. Neither can it be perfectly dark as the air is such a good conductor of light.

  One of their searchlights kept slowly rotating in a circle from north to east, then south. Tomisenkov closed his eyes to avoid getting blinded when the cone of light passed across the bushes.

  When he opened his eyes again he saw that something was moving in the brush. A bulky object emerged.

  Tomisenkov was the only one who had noticed it in the light of the beam. At first he thought it was

  another signal but then he heard the slight humming of a machine.

  Perry
Rhodan!

  The thought struck him like an electric shock.

  Rhodan had discovered the location of his camp and had come to attack!

  Tomisenkov did not wait to verity his suspicion. Moaning softly, he slowly got up, trying not to attract any attention.

  The borderline of the bushes was more than 100 yards away. Rhodan was certain to proceed warily and slowly and by that time he would be safely gone. It would have been foolish to attempt any resistance to Rhodan with his few sleepy and demoralized defenders. If Rhodan moved against the camp he probably was adequately prepared.

  Under the circumstances it was most important that he, Tomisenkov, did not fall into the enemy's hands.

  He fled northwest into the bushes, crawled another 50 yards and waited.

  Now he took time out to consider his next move. Alone, he had an excellent chance to escape furtively during the turmoil of the battle which was momentarily about to break out.

  But when five minutes went silently by without a stir in the camp, he became nervous. The way he figured, Rhodan should already have commenced his attack.

  After waiting a few more minutes his curiosity gained the better of him and he cautiously crawled back to the camp.

  When he was within earshot he heard voices in the clearing. Getting a little closer he could understand the words spoken in English.

  He froze as he listened to Rhodan's instructions to his men:

  "He must be hiding somewhere in these bushes. He can't be very far. Go look for him, but watch yourselves!"

  The sound of breaking twigs set Tomisenkov in motion again. He fled once more as fast as he could in the same northwesterly direction. He felt anything but well as he broke in great haste through the undergrowth in the dark and he did not stop to speculate where his flight would take him. The general direction was correct and perhaps he could somehow draw the attention of the rocket ship.

  What irritated him most was the realization that Rhodan had taken over the camp without a fight. He was silent, cool and efficient. After a while—he did not know how much time had passed—the terrain which heretofore had been gently rising north, became level and then declined evenly in the same direction.

  The brush became denser and gradually a few trees appeared here and there. Whenever he stopped to catch his breath, he could hear the rustling of the leaves and the voices of his pursuers following not far behind. It was easy enough for them to see his tracks with their lamps. From now on he proceeded more stealthily. He tried to break fewer twigs and to leave no footprints on the ground.

  He was so engrossed in his endeavor that he failed to notice the approaching creature despite its formidable size and he almost ran into its broad hairy chest when it hissed its foul breath down in his face.

  Tomisenkov reacted instinctively, which saved him. He did not know what kind of animal it was into whose fangs he had almost blundered. It resembled a bear as much as he could see in the darkness but it was at least three times as big as any bear Tomisenkov had ever seen.

  In any case the general leaped frantically to the side and escaped the first strike of its paws. He nimbly jumped a second time and was out of reach of the fearsome animal.

  He scrambled away without caring in which direction he moved. He heard the rumbling and stomping noise behind him and looking back over his shoulder he saw the dark swaying mass come after him.

  He would probably have been lost if Lady Luck had not come to the rescue.

  When Tomisenkov landed after a wide leap across a fallen tree, the ground gave way under his feet. With a muffled cry he stretched out his arms to both sides and tried to grab a hold. However, the treacherous hole exceeded the span of his arms. With nothing to hold him back, he slid down a shaft which was even darker than the night of the jungle.

  He plummeted down to a depth of about 20 feet where the shaft took a turn and after a scraping ride he was dumped into a room which—as he soon found out—was formed like a funnel in a fairly regular shape.

  He listened closely and heard a deep growl. Clods of dirt poured down the shaft. After a few seconds it was quiet again. Then he heard the bear trotting away.

  Tomisenkov took a deep breath. Whatever the quandary in which he found himself, this hole had saved him from the bear.

  He struck a match and surveyed his surroundings.

  It was a miracle that he was unscathed by the fall. The funnel was about 12 feet high and the hole through which he had entered was about 10 feet above the point of the funnel, a little below the ceiling of the odd room. There were several such openings where other shafts presumably ended. Unfortunately the wall of the funnel was too steep and too smooth to let Tomisenkov climb up to one of the holes.

  He pulled out his knife and went to work cutting steps in the glared surface of the wall. Though it was difficult, his rate of progress gave Tomisenkov hope that he could cut enough steps to reach a hole in five hours. For the time being it was essential that Rhodan's men be prevented from capturing him. Down here he felt safe.

  Only then did he begin to wonder about the function of the funnel and its inlets. He had noticed that the tip of the cone was filled with waste two feet high. One would have assumed that only dust could have passed through the entrance on the ground since it was closed with a thin cover of soil. But Tomisenkov felt solid objects under his feet.

  He lit another match and examined the floor on which he stood. He picked up one of the hard objects to take a closer look. It was a piece of bone; there could be no doubt about that.

  Tomisenkov felt a little perturbed. How did the bone get into this hole? It was unlikely that rain could have washed out the funnel in such even shape. What about the glaze on the wall and the entrance which was so adroitly camouflaged?

  It had to be a trap!

  A trap laid by one of those obnoxious beasts which abounded on Venus. Surely, it would come every so often and devour what had been caught in its trap!

  Tomisenkov continued his hard work on the wall at top speed under the pressure of growing panic.

  • • •

  Perry Rhodan had learned the location of Tomisenkov's camp from his aide and attacked it by means of a psycho-beamer.

  The beam covered the entire camp a few seconds after Tomisenkov disappeared; it imposed Rhodan's will on the defenders. They did not object in the least that their arms were taken away and obediently let themselves be tied up with ropes. Nobody offered resistance.

  After they had all been safely secured, Rhodan terminated the hypnotic spell and the prisoners began to swear vociferously.

  Rhodan did not interfere. He picked out one of them and questioned him about Gen. Tomisenkov who was obviously not among the bunch of soldiers they had overpowered. The man had been standing guard near the bushes where Tomisenkov disappeared and willingly gave information as Rhodan put the full suggestive power of his mind into his question. Thereupon Rhodan sent a search party after Tomisenkov which was on his heels when he evaded it.

  The search party returned after one hour with empty hands. They had found the tracks of a large animal which overlapped Tomisenkov's footprints. That was all. Nobody knew where Tomisenkov had gone.

  Another success fell into Rhodan's lap when two hours after seizing the compound an unwieldy rocket ship with fiery exhaust landed with laborious manoeuvres about half a mile from the camp.

  The pilot was taken prisoner as well as the whole crew of the rocket ship. They gathered from the pilot that the entire division had no more than 80 operable spaceships left.

  Whereupon Rhodan dryly remarked:

  "And now there are only 79!"

  7/ FUGITIVE ON VENUS

  Rhodan assumed that Tomisenkov's fate was sealed. He was convinced that the fugitive had doomed himself senselessly. The people from the Eastern Bloc were so inadequately armed against the perilous conditions existing on Venus that none of their men could hope to stay alive by himself in the jungle for more than half a day.

  Rhodan's next target
was the new base of the space landing division in the mountains northwest. Judging from the information he had received from the prisoners, he could not expect it to be a pushover. Although Tomisenkov did not know the territory, he had given orders to spread out the remnant of the division over a large area. In view of the inaccessiblity of the sprawling terrain, Rhodan had to be prepared to conduct a regular guerrilla war.