The Tigris Leaps

by Perry Rhodan

  Lt. Seeger was still not happy with his comrade's plan and had he known that Hasting himself reckoned the chance of success at 3%, he would never have relented.

  Reluctantly he nodded his agreement and silently disappeared behind the thick 4-meter high bushes.

  Peter Hasting Jay poised, ready to spring. By now, he figured, Lt. Seeger must have finished with his preparations.

  Then he saw on the right six, seven or eight fist-sized rocks flying soundlessly through the air. Just above him a second flight of stones whizzed towards the robot standing in the middle.

  The stones thudded into the ground near where the robot stood. Through a narrow gap in the protective bushes Hasting saw the middle and rightward robots turn around, and the ponderous step of the robots mixed with the thudding of fist-sized stones.

  The men Seeger had put on this operation threw their stones almost unceasingly.

  Then the rightmost robot reacted with its deadly weaponry.

  Three beams hissed in the bright morning light and annihilated a portion of the on-flying rocks. The robot Hasting had been standing precisely in front of reacted the same way, having moved somewhat to the left.

  The moment had come for Hasting to make his break!

  The optical lens systems of the robots stared at the rock swarms coming at them. Hasting knew that the robots could not 'see' behind themselves. But he also knew that the robots would find out in a few seconds the place from which the stones were coming and train all their ray weapons on it, not letting up with their fire until the ground was bubbling lava.

  The gap between the two robots on the right and in front of him was not even 100 meters. Peter Hasting ran like he had never run before. He constantly looked in both directions. The two battle machines were about three-fourths turned away from him but only a slight turn would be enough to bring him into their field of vision.

  Instinctively he threw himself under a bush at, a full run but he did not remain where he was. He crawled farther, like an Indian, and managed not to touch a single one of the low-hanging branches. Then he heard two sharp impacts in rapid succession. Two stones had struck a robot about to turn in his direction.

  Hasting considered with forceful logic. Positronic brains were unfeeling. Being hit with stones did not bother them but the impact was only the beginning of an attack and therefore the robot must react to it and turn back to where it was.

  Hasting sprang up again, threw himself between two bushes, losing the robots from view in the process, and then was shocked to see a ray hit the ground three meters in front of him. The ground began to melt.

  The robot on the left had spotted him! Hasting turned, wanting to run back in his first reaction, then through a gap in the branches he saw two Springers running toward him, summoned out of their quietude by the robot alarm.

  Hands raised above his head, Peter H. Hasting ran towards them.

  Behind his back, a new impulse beam was fired by one of the robots and this time only missed him by a hair. The heat from the bushes and earth blasted into gas struck him all over the surface of his back. Two uncomprehending Springers let their weapons sink! The naked man running towards them with his hands raised could be judged harmless with one glance.

  8/ THE COSMICAVALRY COMES THROUGH!

  Egg-Or not only looked up in surprise when the two robots brought Maj. Clyde Ostal into his office—he leaped out of his chair and started at the Terran.

  They knew each other!

  And the Terran's mocking expression bothered the chief of planetary defense for Ekhas more than he was willing to admit.

  "Sit down, Terran!" snapped Egg-Or more sharply than he had intended.

  A mocking look faced him again and Maj. Clyde Ostal asked: "Do Terrans have the effect of ghosts on Ekhonides and Arkonides or was it only your guilty conscience that got you up out of your seat?"

  Against his will, Egg-Or was impressed by the fearlessness of the man with the impassive face.

  "Sit down... please!" The 'please' came after a conspicuous pause.

  Clyde Ostal glanced at the Robots on either side. "Will these gentlemen object, Ekhonide?"

  "You're making it difficult for me to speak reasonably with you," said Egg-Or.

  "Give me my Tigris back, let me have my crew and allow me to take off with my spacer. Then we'll be able to talk over the hypercom like good friends," said Clyde Ostal, businesslike. "Thereafter I would be happy to report to Perry Rhodan that on Ekhas there's at least one decent Ekhonide."

  "I'd like to know what gives you your confidence, Terran. Your Perry Rhodan won't help you..." The Terran's mocking smile confused him. Frightened, Egg-Or thought of the general's suspicion that Perry Rhodan had only been setting out a decoy with the Tigris.

  "Rhodan?" asked Clyde Ostal, surprised. "Ekhonide, who do you think we Terrans are? Each one of us is a Perry Rhodan! All of us! How long will it take for the Great Imperium to finally learn that? We don't sleep with our eyes open but we do play with open cards and... Ekhonide, we're looking for friends so that we can live with our friends in peace!"

  The call from Gen. Sutokk interrupted the conversation between Egg-Or and Ostal just as it was beginning to enter an interesting phase. On the vidscreen appeared Sutokk's harshly outlined face. His voice was equally as harsh. "Egg-Or, I have just learned that the captain of that merchant was recaptured. I request that you turn him over to the Arkonide fleet immediately. By order of the Regent! You'll have the original of that order in the next 10 minutes! Over and out!"

  Did this Egg-Or forget about me?Clyde Ostal wondered, looking at the Ekhonide who stared without seeing at the greying vidscreen. Ostal was still standing in front of Egg-Or's desk, flanked by the two Arkonide robots. Then Ostal's distrust awakened. Why had this Gen. Sutokk emphasized that it was an order of the Regent for the Terran to be turned over to the fleet and that the original of the order would shortly be sent over to Egg-Or?

  Was there some sort of rivalry between Egg-Or and the General?

  • • •

  In that same moment, Fellmer Lloyd impulsively laid his hand on the arm of the Administrator of the

  Solar Imperium. They sat by 2s at different tables, waiting in the predominantly Springer-trade restaurant for the rollband to bring their orders to the table.

  "I'm on Ostal's trail, Chief," whispered Lloyd from behind his hand and then switched to the telepathic connection.

  Clyde Ostal now finds himself a prisoner of Egg-Or. This Sutokk seems to be an especially fanatical supporter of brainlashing, for his orders are that Ostal is to go into brainlash as soon as he is delivered... Egg-Or, chief of the planetary defense, has so far refused to allow any Terran or Springer from the Mab 1 to be turned over to the fleet for a brainlash... Chief, there's even an order from the Robot Regent demanding brainlashing. The original of the order has just been delivered to Egg-Or by courier... odd. They're only thinking of Major Ostal. The General hasn't thought once about the rest of the Tigris crew...

  "Well," said Perry Rhodan in a low voice, seeming to regard with interest the food on the dishes just delivered by the rollband. "Soup's on!"

  "OK, I see..." Fellmer Lloyd said without thinking, receiving Rhodan's telepathic order:

  You must now find Clyde Ostal, Lloyd! Search for him, then I can put Kakuta and Ishibashi into action. If I understand your thoughts correctly, Ostal must be in the city. Why is it so hard for you to find him now?

  For Fellmer Lloyd there was only one answer to that: Ostal isn't thinking of us at all, Chief! I don't believe he thinks we're on Ekhas. There isn't any other explanation. If he would only wish we were here one single time... Fellmer Lloyd's thoughts suddenly broke, as though his mind had suddenly gone mute. Then his thoughts hammered against Rhodan's forehead once more: Chief, a swarm of officials from the alien police are on their way here to investigate the place!

  Among the thousand or more Springers in the restaurant, their getting up and motioning Ishibashi and Kakuta to follow did not
attract any attention. They headed by pairs towards the four rear exits.

  On the way, Lloyd came close to Ishibashi briefly, long enough to whisper in English to him: "Alien police are coming to investigate here!"

  "Surely we didn't have to leave our food in the lurch like this," Ishibashi commented in Intercosmo.

  "Orders from the Chief," Fellmer Lloyd whispered back in answer and separated himself unobtrusively from the other mutants, going towards the third rear exit with Rhodan. There they found that the alien police had arrived first. The officials in their inconspicuous uniforms occupied all the rear exits. From this moment on, no guest could leave the restaurant without having his papers checked.

  With the calm of a genuine Springer, Perry Rhodan gave up his identification pass, which had been manufactured by Solar Defense. The official who was to check him gave it back after a fleeting glance. Fellmer Lloyd experienced the same.

  They crossed the street by way of a bridge-like antigravity band. In front of them floated Tako Kakuta and Kitai Ishibashi.

  "Well done, Ishibashi," said Rhodan as he and Lloyd caught up with them.

  At that moment Fellmer Lloyd lost contact with his immediate surroundings. "I've got him, Chief!" Lloyd suddenly exclaimed, slightly exhausted. "He thought of you. He's just learned... learned through Egg-Or, that the general wants to have him brought in for brainlashing. The Major is now in the headquarters of planetary defense. He's still in Egg-Ors office, guarded by two robots."

  "How is it that he was captured alone? Where are his men?" Rhodan suddenly demanded of Lloyd.

  Fellmer Lloyd switched again to the telepathic connection, for that means precluded any misunderstandings.

  Last night, on a march through the jungle, Ostal and his men discovered an Ekhonide relay station. Ostal approached it alone and was shock-beamed by a robot. The relay serves as a listening post over hypercom communications and it reported its capture to the defense ministry immediately. Ostal was picked up this morning by a small rayship and brought to Egg-Or. Ostal does not know where his men are now.

  • • •

  "Klot!" exclaimed Lt. Seeger, leaping in fright to one side. The face of a slender galactic trader had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to him. Then the lieutenant's eyes became unnaturally large and he whispered hoarsely, half in disbelief and half in hope: "Kakuta...?"

  Kakuta saved himself the trouble of replying. "What kind of place is this, Seeger?"

  With an all-inclusive gesture, the lieutenant indicated the windowless room in which he and 31 men had been imprisoned. "A landing station and trading post for smuggling Springers, and our second prison on Ekhas. The Star of Arkon was much more luxurious in comparison..."

  The teleporter interrupted him, paying no heed to the fact that the entire crew of the Tigris had crowded around him in order not to miss a single word. "Is Lt. Hasting still dickering with the Springers?"

  Lt. Seeger repressed his surprise at Kakuta's excellent information and hastened to reply: "They've been at it for hours. Or we hope they're still at it, anyway, and that they just didn't lock him up by himself somewhere. Tough customers, these Springers! Well, at least we have clothes now and we've had something to eat..."

  "Describe to me the room in which Hasting is conferring with the Springers! Are you familiar with it, Lieutenant?"

  "Yes, I was in there for 10 minutes myself. It's underground too, only a lot deeper than this hole. If I'm not mistaken, two or three large storerooms lay behind it. The room looks as follows..." And with astounding precision he described the parley room in a few words but so graphically that the teleporter Tako Kakuta could picture it well in his own mind.

  The mutant disappeared in a shimmering of air, as silently as he had come.

  Tako Kakuta rematerialized in total darkness. The numbing aroma of unknown herbs or drugs penetrated his nose like a cloud of poison gas. He thought of Lt. Seeger's assertion that there were two or three of these storerooms below the ground.

  His teleportation succeeded. He rematerialized in halfway fresh air, though again in impenetrable darkness. He looked around for a moment but found no light anywhere and switched on his spotlight.

  The spotlight had been built into the third button of his overalls and represented a piece of Swoon work. While Allan D. Mercant's Solar Defense had not yet been equipped with Swoon devices, Rhodan's mutant corps had already been outfitted completely with the unbelievably tiny but monstrously powerful and maintenance-free gadgets.

  The beam of his spotlight rested on the large storeroom door. Nowhere could Kakuta find an energy barrier or an alarm system. Calmly he threaded his way between the piles of merchandise crates to the door.

  The door could be opened. The teleporter pushed it open only as far as a hand's breadth and peered through the slit. Kakuta was looking into the very room that Lt. Seeger had so precisely described to him. Voices came to his ear, speaking in the plainest of Intercosmo, Now he recognized the voice of Lt. Peter Hasting. There was impatience in his tone and a threat.

  "Springers... for the last time! Help us and you'll make the best bargain of your lives! It'll be all over for smuggling drugs, of course, but you'll smuggle information! Valuable information that would interest Perry Rhodan and you'll get good money for it—more money than you're making with smuggling drugs.

  "Change your smuggling operation into a secret information agency. It surely won't be hard for you to do it. And don't tell me how much you're concerned with the security of the Imperium! You must make your choice... now! And if you decide for Rhodan that means you will secure a spaceship for us Terrans at the same time..."

  "Not so fast, Terran!" Kakuta heard the bass voice of a Springer. "Who's paying for this? You know of course that we can perhaps be the best of friends if you pay better than Arkon or the Aras or whoever."

  "Upon my honor as an officer of Perry Rhodan, I promise that payment of the still to be negotiated sum will be made to you 15 days after our escape from Ekhas..."

  Two or three Springers laughed hollowly. Only the trader with the bass voice rumbled: "Shut your mouths, you blithering fools! Didn't you hear what was just said? So you're an officer, eh Terran? Good! Let's talk about what the spacer will cost and then you can give us your word as Rhodan's officer. I think that will make a very good start..."

  Two sharply protesting voices loudly interrupted.

  I won't let my clan move a finger for this Terran!" exclaimed one.

  "I'm not one bit in support of this Perry Rhodan!" asserted the other.

  "Have it any way you like," commented the bass-voiced trader. "We'll just close the deal without you but because you know too much already, you'll just have to make yourself useful on the Gango plantations and..."

  "What?" shrilly demanded one of the other voices. "Are you threatening us? You want to send us to the drug farms on Klinu-Lun's Planet?"

  "You heard me correctly," affirmed the bass-voiced Springer. "Haven't you had enough of this vile drug business? Sooner or later the Ekhonides will spot one of our drug ships taking off or landing... and then it will be all up for us!"

  Tako Kakuta remained motionless at the slightly opened storeroom door, listening. Hasting's idea of making information agents out of drug-smuggling Springers was worth as much as the peaceful conquest of a planet.

  The argument between the Springers went on for half an hour, coming to a sudden end with an ultimatum from the galactic trader who believed implicitly in Lt. Hasting's sworn word. Kakuta did not dare to open the door any farther but he believed that the bass-voiced Springer had made coming to a decision easier for the other two by holding a beamer on them.

  Suddenly the teleporter heard an inarticulate short cry. His sharp hearing perceived approaching footsteps. In the same instant he concentrated and as the door behind which he had been listening was jerked open, he teleported back into the first storeroom.

  He did not dare breathe the narcotic atmosphere but then came the moment when his lu
ngs were screaming for air. An audacious idea shot through his mind and he carried it out almost simultaneously.

  Lt. Hasting saw the air shimmer before him. He did not quite understand what was happening until Tako Kakuta stood in front of him with a thoroughly unfamiliar face. Yet he recognized Kakuta by his small, slender figure and by his manner of entry.

  He reacted immediately. He stepped between the Oriental and the Springers, who were busy in the storeroom, blocking their view of him. Kakuta spoke. "Rhodan is on Ekhas. If the Tigris crew can't escape with the help of these Springers, we'll get you out of this ourselves. Try to convince the traders that they should become our agents and..."

  "Disappear, Kakuta!" Hasting hissed at him. He listened to the Springers discuss the open-standing door; they seemed to be looking for something in the storeroom.

  Two of the traders saw nothing more than a slight shimmering in the air but thought nothing more of it, chalking the apparition up as an effect of the lighting.

  Tako Kakuta rematerialized on the edge of the city where Perry Rhodan, Kitai Ishibashi and Fellmer Lloyd were waiting for him. They stood in front of their small transport vehicle which they had purchased the evening before and which was only partially loaded.

  A smile seemed to twinkle in Rhodan's grey eyes. Kakuta had ended his report and Rhodan asked: "I wonder if the police or the planetary defense will ever figure out who these clothes were meant for when they find the truck here with its load today or tomorrow?"

  • • •

  Egg-Or, chief of planetary defense for Ekhas, let Gen. Sutokk's mixed squad of space soldiers wait. Sutokk had ordered over the telescreen for the Terran Clyde Ostal to be turned over to him immediately.

  Again flanked by two robots, the Major of the Solar Security Service entered. Egg-Or's deathly pale face boded nothing good.

  The vidscreen buzzed and a face appeared on it. Exwin, responsible for the security of the Ent-Than spaceport, spoke hurriedly. "Sir, the Terran crew was spotted at the northern edge of the spaceport when they were leaving a small Springer cutter. But our agent was unable to determine if they boarded a Springer spacer or flew to the city in three or four airtaxis; he was knocked out by an unknown assailant during the Terrans' disembarking manoeuvres. "I immediately..." For some seconds Exwin's voice could not be heard. Egg-Or stared at the vidscreen. Maj. Ostal listened with feverish tension.