by Perry Rhodan
"I'll be waiting for your call, Egg-Or!" With that the General switched off and his face disappeared from the vidscreen, which gradually grew grey once more.
Egg-Or did not concern himself with Exwin's questioning glance. "Mark this well, Exwin: whatever happens, I'm not going to allow any Terrans or Springers from the Mab 1 to undergo a brainlash! If the Arkonide spacefleet decides to take matters into its own hands and you learn of it, act as though you were saving your own child from brainlashing! Now, let's see if we can't finally make that call to the Administrator of Soral!"
A few minutes later they had a reply. "The Administrator for the Robot Regent on Soral will not be available for the next 10 days!"
Egg-Or grabbed the microphone for himself. "Then connect me with the chief of defense on Soral, my colleague En-E!"
This time the reply came back sleepily and with half a yawn: "Don't you know it's midnight here? Call back tomorrow morning! Goodbye!"
Egg-Or and Exwin swore heartily—then stopped with a start when they heard Sassas giggling.
The positronicon specialist rubbed his hands together in utter delight. "It did me good to hear you gentlemen. We've had more than enough of the Arkonides and their structural compensator detector!"
"We didn't say that," said Egg-Or, trying to hold down his anger.
"No," Sassas agreed, "you gentlemen didn't say that." And he winked at them, pleased.
"The general's waiting for your call," Exwin suddenly remembered.
"He'll call here eventually, and when he does tell him I was called away and you don't know where. If you need me or if some important bit of news comes in, I'll be at the Mab 1. I want to take a look at those Springers myself."
Egg-Or was driven to the cylindrical spaceship. The broad loading ramp had been connected and on an endless rollband huge quantities of wares and freight rolled out of the starship. But before the first work robot could even touch the merchandise, the cargo had been inspected by three different two-man teams, looking to see if a man might be concealed in the wares.
Egg-Or entered the ship by way of the small ramp in the most forward third. Specialists from the defense ministry were still at work in the com center and the control room. The crew was confined to the main cabin and one by one at long intervals they were taken in for a renewed interrogation.
The methods used by Egg-Ors men were not brutal. In the long run, however, only especially strong-willed men withstood the psychological techniques.
Face impassive, Egg-Or listened in on the interrogation of a quite young Springer.
According to the youth's own statements, he had been on duty in the Com Center after the second transition.
The interrogation took up on this point. Question, answer, question, answer... 10 minutes passed and still it was question, answer, question, answer.
Twenty minutes had gone by. Question, answer, question, answer. Exhaustion had plainly left its mark on the young Springer.
"How did you get the wound on your right hand? Answer me now!"
For the first time the galactic trader was taken by surprise. Then he laughed nervously and asked half ironically: "Where? What wound?" At the same time he looked at his right hand and seemed astonished by what he found. "Where did that come from? It looks bad..." he mumbled.
"Who were you fighting with?"
"Me? But I haven't been in a fight for three weeks!"
"The wound on your hand is a combat injury! Had you perhaps fought back when the second hypercom was being destroyed by a thermobeamer? Who destroyed it? Answer me, Springer!"
"Wait a second... Yes, there was something... or somebody. But what or who could it have been?"
"You are to answer at once and not waste any more time—"
"Let the man think!" Egg-Or broke in for the first time He had the impression that the young fellow was honestly trying to remember something.
And then Egg-Or suddenly became suspicious. He saw the Springer struggling with his memory; he saw him labor painfully to pull the forgotten out of the past and into the present.
Something's been done to the Springer,Egg-Or thought over and over again and was honestly disappointed when the Springer could not explain where the wound on his hand had come from.
Meanwhile, Exwin, who was responsible for planetary security inside the Ent-Than spaceport area, had not been idle. He had requested and received all the available information over the starhell, or Sector 00674 B-00001 as it was officially known, from the archives of the Arkonide Administration on Ekhas. The information he found seemed so important to him that he called his chief at the Mab 1.
Egg-Or entered the com center of the cylindrical ship, saw Exwin's face already on the vidscreen and said in a tense voice as he sat down: "Alright, shoot, Exwin!"
Exwin gave a summarized description of the starhell.
"Repeat that again!" Egg-Or suddenly interrupted, bending intently and excitedly closer to the screen.
"Well..." the powerful gravity fields and the pure, highly concentrated radiation are capable of disturbing the electrical capacity of the Arkonide nervous system. Staying within Sector 00674 B-00001 for any length of time can result in psychological aberrations of long duration, including depression and paranoia.
"The Oak, Oak, a battleship which has since been wrecked, was—"
"I think that's all I need to know," Egg-Or interrupted Exwin. "This is interesting! It explains why the crew seems to know nothing of the whereabouts of the two Mabdans. The effects of being in the starhell include not only depressions, baseless fear and so on but also amnesia. But that still doesn't explain where Mabdan 1 and 3 are and who those men were who left the Mabdan 1 right after it landed—What is it?" he asked angrily and turned to the side.
One of the hypercom specialists surprised him with the news that the Mab I had been in radio contact with another spacer while in the starhell.
"Details!" demanded Egg-Or but the scientist only shrugged.
With a reproachful look at the transmitting equipment aboard the cylindrical ship, the scientist explained regretfully: "This old model doesn't have any memory banks for recording incoming and outgoing signals. But the unit that was destroyed by a thermobeam... sir, do you know that it's the kind of hypercom found only on the Regent's warships?"
The connection with Exwin was still open and the chief of the spaceport division was listening in. "Sir," he suggested, "why don't I call the planet Soral again and force those sleepy Arkonides at the other end to connect me with the appropriate agency. If the secret service on Soral doesn't know anything about the Mab 1, then some other agency must"
Egg-Or's hand gesture, which betrayed despondency, broke him off. "Exwin, are you still unaware how sluggish and irresponsible areal Arkonide is? If we can't solve this riddle ourselves, it never will be solved."
"And what if I call the Robot Regent itself, sir?"
Egg-Or laughed. "I won't forbid you but I won't recommend you do it either. If I were you, I wouldn't. Do you seriously believe the Regent has been informed of this trifling matter? Seen in the broad perspective, this affair isn't important at all. The headaches are left to us."
Exwin's face showed dissatisfaction. "Sir, I've set the alien police to looking for four to six Springers and I mentioned that one of them will be seriously ill. But four or six Springers who arrived with the Mab 1 are nowhere to be found. It's enough to drive me to despair."
6/ TAKING THE BAIT
Although the upper fifth was taken up with the prison, the Star Of Arkon was Ent-Than's largest hotel.
Perry Rhodan and his three mutants found quarters in the vast building's lower third.
They had left the Mab 1 just a few minutes after landing without taking any special security precautions. An automatic ground taxi had taken them to an airtaxi stop and from there along with Springers and Arkonides from various other spacers they were taken to the flightdeck on the roof of the Star of Arkon.
They were registered at the front desk an
d according to their identification and other papers they came from all directions on different spaceships. But not one had arrived with the Mab 1.
The four Terrans were given quarters on three different floors. The mutants were told to meet Perry Rhodan in his room in 30 minutes.
Before Rhodan parted company with Fellmer Lloyd, he had the telepath and sensor attempt to discern the whereabouts of Maj. Clyde Ostal and the crew of the Tigris by means of his psychic abilities.
Fellmer Lloyd was quite familiar with Ostal's brainwave pattern but no matter where he turned, he could not perceive the Major's pattern among the thousands he sensed.
When he entered Perry Rhodan's hotel room half an hour later, Kitai Ishibashi and Tako Kakuta were already present.
Lloyd understood Rhodan's telepathic question. No, he replied in the same manner. I haven't been able to contact them.
Rhodan looked at him, meditating. He could not forget what he had seen at the spaceport: the merchant ship Tigris standing out in the portion of the field reserved exclusively for the Arkonide fleet. All its ramps had been extended and all hatches were wide open.
"Kakuta," Rhodan said to the slender teleporter, whose small figure passed least well for that of a Springer, "I'd very much like to know what's going on now aboard the Tigris and if any of the crew are still there. But don't take any risks. Would 10 minutes be enough?"
Kakuta, who like the others was disguised as a Springer, chuckled. "I'll be back right on time, sir!"
Then the air where he was sitting began to shimmer strangely. The energy the small Japanese was now developing within himself allowed him to leave the room and rematerialize in the place he was concentrating on: Maj. Clyde Ostal's cabin aboard the Tigris.
Hardly had the teleporter disappeared then Fellmer Lloyd was given his orders.
"Try to find the commanding general in the Arkonide fleet headquarters, Lloyd. We have to find out as soon as we can where Maj. Ostal and his men are. I have the feeling someone is searching for us."
Fellmer Lloyd, leaning back comfortably in his seat, closed his eyes. For him the world consisted only of brainwave patterns, of telepathic energy and his spotting sense. He no longer perceived what Perry Rhodan was now saying to Kitai Ishibashi.
"The crew of the Mab 1 is going to make problems for us, Ishibashi. That is not meant as a reproach. I'm able to judge whether or not you've done your work well but if from here on in we don't have enough time for good work, then we'll have to be ready for trouble of any kind. Because of the capture of the Tigris, the Ekhonides are going to be uneasy and so doubly distrustful. That means that they'll examine very closely every spaceship that doesn't carry passengers and they'll surely notice that there isn't any captain on board the Mab 1."
"I could influence anyone who tries to investigate the Mab 1..."
"It's too late," Rhodan said. "Because of what happened on it, we arrived here too late. Who knows how many people are already involved with the Springer ship by now and..."
Kakuta made his reappearance in a shimmering of air, sitting in his former seat as though he had never left. Rhodan and Ishibashi looked at him expectantly but Fellmer Lloyd saw and heard nothing of what was going on around him.
"Sir," the slender Oriental began. "The control room and Com Center are swarming with scientists from the planetary defense. Their chief is named Egg-Or. I heard the men talking about him. I also heard that they've swallowed our bait whole. They believe that in a few hours they'll have the Earth's coordinates. Not one Ekhonide suspects that all the information they've labored so long to extract is fallacious."
"Did you learn anything about the crew?" Rhodan wanted to know.
"Not a word. Everyone was too busy trying to get their job done. No one spoke of our men."
Rhodan glanced at Fellmer Lloyd but he still sat with his eyes closed, seeming to be listening to something far away.
"Ishibashi, I don't want to underestimate the Ekhonide defense and alien police. Go down to the reception desk in the lobby and put a block on the five or eight Ekhonides I saw on duty there."
"Right, sir," answered the thin suggestor and quietly left the well-furnished hotel room.
He went down by way of the antigrav lift and crossed the huge lobby to the reception desk. Everywhere he saw registrar robots and had the feeling that they were somehow perceiving him, for their staring lens-eyes were trained on him. He went up to the desk, behaving like a traveler who had left his home planet for the first time and felt lonely and uncertain on this alien world.
Kitai Ishibashi did not force his way through the crowd to the desk but the others did. Springers, Aras, Arkonides and intelligences belonging to non-human races, even some in spacesuits because the local atmosphere was deadly for them—they all pushed and shoved towards the desk, wanting information from the nine Ekhonides on duty behind the counter.
Kitai Ishibashi heard the stock answer over and over again: "Please direct your question to one of our information robots! Please direct your question to one of..."
Kitai Ishibashi's face was relaxed. It betrayed nothing of the strain of his efforts to concentrate his suggestive power and beam it at the Ekhonides behind the desk.
His suggestive order was simple: "Tell any officials who inquire about four, five or six Springers that with more than 20,000 guests in your hotel you cannot give any information. Refer them to your information robots!"
It was an order that could not be any simpler and still attempt to protect Perry Rhodan and his three mutants.
But Kitai Ishibashi was not through with his work yet. Suddenly he pushed his way up to the desk. "May I help you, sir?" he was asked by the Ekhonide behind the counter.
"I'd like..." Ishibashi began, and thereafter he only moved his lips. Any chance observers would have heard nothing. Using all his power, the mutant suggested to the young Ekhonide: Tell me when the registrar robots are changed!
"Only once a year, sir," answered the Ekhonide politely, convinced that the slender Springer had asked the question out loud.
Who gives the order for the robots to be changed?Ishibashi next demanded.
"Ulgald, our chief engineer, sir..."
Where can I find him?
"On the first floor, wing gg-/3, Registry Dept., sir."
"Thank you," said Ishibashi out loud. He left quickly, then searched for the registry department on the first floor. He spoke to an Ekhonide he met on the way and got directions.
"Forget that you ever spoke to a Springer!" Ishibashi ordered suggestively, then went on with his search for chief engineer Ulgald.
But he was not sufficiently familiar with the arrangement of Ekhonide offices in the building and lost his way. He asked directions of another Ekhonide after a long wandering about, and the reply was:
"I am Ulgald, Springer..."
As the two went to the antigrav lift shaft, as companionable as old friends, the chief engineer seemed no different than usual. He gave the tall, thin galactic trader with the slightly bent posture a hearty farewell, then quickly went off to his office to order a change of robots.
His order was accompanied with a note of such urgency that no refusal or even questioning of his instructions was possible.
The young Ekhonide at the reception desk did not remember Ishibashi or his questioning even while the robots were being changed.
Ten minutes before the alien police arrived, the robot change was complete. The memory banks containing information covering the last nine months and three days were completely erased and blank.
Bits of information that might have led to Perry Rhodan and his mutants no longer existed.
For the first time in the hotel's history, the Star of Akron had no records concerning its guests. To make the confusion complete, the memory bank erasure had taken place just before the robots were scheduled to transmit their recorded data to the bookkeeping department, as they did regularly every three hours.
Ulgald, who would remember this terrible day with a sh
udder still 20 years later, did not lose his position for the alien police wrote the inconvenient robot change off as an act of pure chance and left, shrugging their shoulders in resignation.
Subjecting every single one of the more than 20,000 guests of the Star of Arkon was beyond even their capabilities.
When Kitai Ishibashi reentered Perry Rhodan's room after a 45-minute absence, Tako Kakuta was already back from his second teleportation spring. In the meantime, Fellmer Lloyd had read the thoughts of General Sutokk—and once during the telepathic reception even laughed out loud.
"What?" Perry Rhodan had demanded in surprise, looking at Fellmer Lloyd in disbelief. "Ostal and his men made their escape stark naked? Are you sure the General wasn't telling some disreputable joke while you were reading his mind, Lloyd?"
Fellmer Lloyd swore that the General had not been telling any jokes. In any event, the General had no good thoughts of any sort for the chief of the planetary defense because Egg-Or had refused to allow the Arkonide fleet to brainlash even one solitary Terran.
"But is he trying to make a connection between the Mab 1 and the capture of the Tigris?" Rhodan pressed.
"He isn't exerting himself especially in that area, sir. He's much more interested in getting Earth's galactic coordinates into his hands as fast as he can."
"He'll have them before long," said Perry Rhodan, half sunk in thought. "Kakuta is taking his time..."
The small, slender Oriental had made his second spring to the flagship of General Sutokk for a look at the newly developed Compensator Detector.
As a mutant he, like most of his comrades, had not only received a cell renewal on the planet Wanderer to keep him from aging for the next 62 years but again like most of his comrades he had undergone an intensive hypno-training that made him well-informed in all areas of knowledge.
Tako Kakuta rematerialized in the vast transformer chamber of the flagship Ebneb, in the shadow of a house-sized, ring-shaped magnetic coil that reached from the floor to the ceiling and angled over the transformer at 45°.
The light noise that Tako Kakuta made by his materialization was drowned out by the constant humming of a large number of energy banks.
