by Perry Rhodan
In the Fleet Headquarters of Terrania there was an unusual pressure of activity in the early afternoon hours. Hyperspace communications came in almost hourly from the ships that were stationed in the outer void. Now that the galactic position of the Earth was a matter of public knowledge everywhere, the old security precautions were no longer necessary.
But to Freyt, all these incoming messages were a matter of indifference just now. He was waiting for only one particular message. If he could only guess what its import would be! Rhodan kept him waiting a long time.
He sat and waited nervously in his operations room. His lean figure had a tendency to be stooped forward but it seemed to be due more to habit than to any kind of weakness. The profusion of communications equipment around him threatened to smother him. Everywhere there were viewscreens, control panels and cable leads. The room was a control network center that not only guided the entire planet Earth but also the Solar System, not to mention a gigantic spacefleet.
Freyt had relayed the radio dispatch from Hades to Arkon, where he knew Rhodan was located at the time. He knew that a decision was pending. Since he was an excellent extrapolator, he had taken the precaution to instruct Prof. Haggard as well as Dr. Jamison and to hold them on standby alert. Both of the medical men were waiting at home for their assignment.
Assignment...?
Freyt shook his head and wondered if he were a doomsday prophet. Things wouldn't turn out to be all that bad with Ellert. The timeless wanderer would be able to find his way back to Earth all right, if he were forced to do it.
Or perhaps not?
A control lamp flashed on. It was Com Central!
But it was only the position report of a battleship that had been deployed to another area. Still nothing! The waiting seemed to be getting unbearable. But finally the hypercom center contacted him and when they transferred Perry Rhodan's direct transmission to his home, Freyt suddenly became his calm and collected self again.
The oval-shaped viewscreen lit up. At first Rhodan's face was somewhat blurred but then the focus became recognizable. The hyperspace carrier waves instantly bridged an abyss of light-years.
"Marshal, it looks as if both of us expected to be talking to one another soon."
"That's quite true, sir." This direct hookup on hypercom made it seem as though they were sitting across from one another in the same room. "Your present location—is it still Arkon?"
"No. Hades Sector. I'm standing out here on the Drusus near the Rift zone, about one light-year from the main Druuf system. Ellert has sent us a second message. He can't leave Onot's body for any length of time without danger to himself. Onot himself has been brought before the Druuf Tribunal, stuck with a charge of treason. Ellert is trying to prevent a confession on his part that could be disastrous for us. It could provoke the Druufs to renewed conflict. I don't see any other solution than to bring Ellert's body out of the mausoleum and take it to Hades. From there we can do the rest."
"I suspected as much," said Freyt. "Haggard and Jamison are ready. When?"
A fleeting smile crossed Rhodan's face. "Freyt, the similarity between us isn't just skin deep," he commented. Then he frowned in earnest. "Begin at once! Make sure that body is handled very carefully. Both doctors are to go along and not let it out of their sight. Will you take care of everything?"
"I shall personally deliver Ellert to you, sir."
Rhodan stared at him in frank astonishment. "But you're my Deputy Administrator there! Who...?"
"I'll only be gone a few hours. Mercant will be able to take over any important matters for me. I think he can handle them."
"Yes, I think he can. Very well, Freyt, I'll be expecting you."
"You can depend on me," Freyt assured him. After a few final instructions from Rhodan, the two men signaled each other goodbye and the viewscreen suddenly darkened.
For a few brief moments Freyt sat motionlessly in his chair, then he came to life. Mercant was contacted and made aware of the situation. The two doctors were ordered to the mausoleum. Fast cruiser C-13 was ordered to stand by in takeoff readiness. Several aircars were called into action.
10 minutes later, Freyt landed in the desert beside the pyramid marker over Ellert's tomb. The structure pointed symbolically into the clear blue skies. Haggard and Jamison were already there, waiting for him. The permanent guard detail stood motionlessly at their posts before the entrance.
Prof. Haggard had also been one of Rhodan's earliest friends and was, like him and Freyt, a recipient of the rejuvenating bio-treatment. He came toward Freyt with great, energetic strides. "What the devil's going on?" he asked. "Has Ellert's corpse caught a cold or something?" Haggard was known for his rough humor, which everyone knew was always well intended. "Or is it trying to rise from the dead?"
"Something like that, in a figurative sense maybe," replied Freyt as he shook hands with his old friend. He greeted Dr. Jamison more reservedly but with equal friendliness. "I've received instructions from Rhodan to take Ellert's body out of the mausoleum and incidentally, my dear Haggard, could you refrain from referring to it as a corpse? Anyway, we have to bring the body to Hades."
"Aha!" said the Professor. "To Hades, eh? Why?"
"Because Ellert can no longer bridge the long gap back to Earth—that's why! I know how to gain access to the tomb... will you doctors be so kind as to join me?"
He stepped between the two sentinels and placed the palm of his hand against the smooth wall of the pyramid. He moved it back and forth as though searching for something... then there was a sound close by. The surface of the desert gaped open, revealing a staircase that led downward into the depths.
"There's the staircase," he urged, and he led the way.
A second door below offered less difficulties and soon they beheld the actual crypt where the time-teleporter's undeteriorated body had lain for more than 60 years, waiting for the return of its 'awakening essence'. Freyt glanced at the complicated apparatus that was capable of giving an alarm at the slightest sign of Ellert's return to life. However, the mirror in front of the 'cadaver's' mouth was clear and uncoated by any trace of life breath. The air in the quadrangular room was somewhat close and stuffy although it had been constantly renewed over a period of seven decades.
It was only then that the three men noticed a change in Ellert's face. The cheeks had fallen in, the eyes were sunken in cavities, the skin gleamed with a bluish tinge.
Prof. Haggard took a step forward and pointed with a trembling hand at the emaciated figure, the outlines of which were visible under the shroud. "That's the beginning of decomposition...!"
Marshall Freyt felt as though an iron fist had clutched his heart. Involuntarily he sniffed, testing the air. Then he shook his head in desperation. Was everything to have been in vain? Ellert had searched 70 years through time and space for his body and now that he had finally found it perhaps it was too late. Of course Ellert could take over someone else's body but...
"We have to hurry," he said tonelessly and he turned to one of the walls to manipulate certain controls that Rhodan had described to him. "Jamison, help Haggard bring the body to the surface."
In his silent despair he hoped that they would not be bringing up a corpse...
3/ IN THE SHADOW OF JUDGMENT
Cold and merciless eyes looked down at Onot.
Behind a long, elevated table sat 12 judges in fiery red robes. Farther behind them at a raised podium was the Superior Judge, who was simultaneously the prosecutor and chief counsel. Onot felt small and insignificant as he looked into the pitiless eyes of his accusers. He was forced to stand before them between two armed Druufs who looked at him grimly. Behind him he could hear the noises of the spectators—high personalities in the ranks of science and politics. His trial had excited considerable interest.
"I repeat," said the Superior Judge in cutting tones which could not have been registered in human ears, "what do you say to the charges which have been preferred against you? Do you plead guilty?"
"No!" retorted Onot and it was of his own free will. Ellert must not have been prompting him at the moment, even though he was no doubt on his guard. It had been inevitable that Onot's alert mind should have discovered some of his secrets, which he was not supposed to reveal under any circumstances. "As the indictment stands, I plead not guilty!"
The Superior Judge nodded as though he had expected as much. "Then I call upon the witness, Brodak."
Onot thought he remembered someone named Brodak. Wasn't he the assistant who had been in the auxiliary computer section near his secret laboratory? What could he know about any of this?
A Druuf was, led into the hall and brought before the judges. He seemed quite prepared to do everything possible to destroy Onot.
"On the day when the computer center in the capital was destroyed," declared Brodak, "I saw Onot at our computer section near the desert. He was coming from the underground tramway and he was in a great hurry. An hour before that time the enemy robots had penetrated into the Central and destroyed it. Strangely, Onot had had time to escape. Since the raid was too swift, no one else had been able to get away. But Onot managed to escape—which is proof that, he knew about the attack."
There was a murmur and movement among the spectators. The judges put their heads together.
Triumphantly Brodak continued. "We now know that the robots broke in by means of the matter transmitter. It had been switched on to a receiving mode—exactly for the time of the raid. And by none other than Onot!"
The ensuing tumult was indescribable. Onot heard threatening shouts and shuddered. If it were left up to the spectators he would have been torn asunder on the spot.
The Superior Judge pounded for order. "What say you, Onot?"
Ellert concentrated his strength and forced Onot to answer: "It's a cheap lie! An intrigue against me! I did no such thing!"
"May I remind the defendant that every murderer protests his innocence? Now prove it!"
"No!" shouted Onot. "What is more to the point, can you prove my guilt?" For a few seconds Ellert had been off his guard because he had been confident of his control. Onot reared up mentally against the inner restriction. "Naturally I turned on the transmitter but allow me to explain..."
The Superior Judge appeared to be somewhat perplexed. First the traitor lied, then he confessed to the crime. Where could one begin with such testimony, since it had the earmarks of outside influence?
Ellert had fought Onot back under control. The Druuf added: "Of course I retract that! I don't know what made me confess to a deed that I did not commit!"
"Why will you not obey me?" asked Ellert. His struggle to hold on was like a physical pain. "It would be better for you if you did."
But Onot fought stubbornly against his mental coercion. "I am not the criminal here," he shouted, "but rather it is the voice inside of me! It forces me..."
"The voice?" interrupted the Superior Judge, casting his colleagues a significant glance. He began to see the defendant's developing line of defense. "What voice is that?"
This time Ellert was on the alert. He made Onot answer: "Voice, opinion, whatever... that's what I call those who are envious of me. They accuse me of things I have never done. I insist that I am innocent. I have given my people many valuable inventions..."
"We will give this favorable consideration, Onot," said the judge with a curiously benevolent tone. "However, I believe that a frank confession on your part would considerably improve your situation."
By now Ellert realized that he couldn't continue to keep Onot under control without any letup. He could only manage it spasmodically over small intervals and in between he had to release Onot's mind. But perhaps this very alternative could be converted by a smart manoeuvre whereby his weakness could serve as a weapon...? If Onot could be thrown into self-contradictions, admitting his guilt in one breath and then denying it moments later, this would have to confuse the judges and the spectators.
He left Onot to his own resources.
"It was this voice that ordered me to turn on the transmitter. But I would not have done it, regardless, if it had not exerted its power over me. I could not defend myself, I couldn't resist. It took over my body and directed my nerves and muscles... It was this thing which guided my hands and forced me to activate the transmitter."
Onot fell silent, exhausted for the moment. He had hurried with his confession because he had feared he would be cut off. To his great surprise, however, he was not obstructed by his eerie foe. So before the judge could interject a remark he continued.
"It is a disembodied entity of some kind which has found a new home within me, using me as a host. It is not of this world but from a planet that is many light years distant. Just now it's lost its power and governs me no more. Its world is..." He broke off as Ellert moved in Again. Onot must not reveal too much. The spectators were thus amazed when Onot continued: "Don't listen to me, friends. I'm talking pure rubbish. Everything I've just said is not true. I am not a traitor."
The Superior Judge lost his patience. "Onot, you are attempting to deceive us with a pretended nervous breakdown. It will avail you nothing. In one moment you confess and then in the next you deny everything you've said. A voice—pah! Can we see this voice of yours?"
"It is invisible and everywhere, Your Honor! Even now it is in this room." Without pausing, Onot added: "Often I imagine that this voice is real and that it is inside my brain."
"Alright, alright!" interrupted the judge. He motioned to a court bailiff. "Have the medical examiners check into this claim of Onot's. Witness Brodak will not be needed further. The defendant is to be taken to his cell. This session is hereby suspended until the results of examination have been submitted to the Court."
Onot protested bitterly as the two guards took him between them.
But Ellert knew he would not be able to hold out under the forthcoming medical investigation—not without a miracle!
• • •
The ball-shaped thing was perhaps half a meter in diameter. It was milky white like a television screen and hovered in the middle of the room, apparently weightless.
Perry Rhodan, Reginald Bell and Col. Sikerman, Commander of the Drusus, were sitting close to it and were observing the scenes that Harno was relaying to them from the planet. Harno, who was now a full-fledged member of the Mutant Corps, was gifted with a universal vision and could enable humans to see any desired locale by reproducing the scene on his 'surface'. At the same time he was able to pick up telepathic impressions from such locations and reproduce conversations audibly for non-telepaths.
So it was that the three men were direct witnesses of the court session that was being conducted on Druufon.
Rhodan was heard to mutter: "Ellert's waging a desperate battle against Onot, who is getting stronger. If only we knew the cause of this weakness of Ellert's that has been coming on for such a long period of time, maybe something could be done about it. Harno, do you have an answer?"
The spherical creature remained motionless before them in the air. It understood the question and responded telepathically. "Ellert is a disembodied mentality. It is only the physical body that is able to hold to the present, since the mind is bound neither to time nor to space. He is like a man clinging to a rock in a swift river, who has to hang on with all his might so as not to be swept away. If his strength ebbs away, he will let go and be carried with the tugging stream. For years, now, Ellert has been holding on to Onot, who has been that rock in the flood."
Rhodan nodded. "That I can see—quite graphically. But what can anyone do about it?"
Harno replied: "There is only one solution: Ellert must return to his own body. He could still make the transition—perhaps. If not, he will have to remain with Onot, of course not as the dominant entity but as a sort of suppressed subconsciousness of the Druuf. Not a very desirable fate!"
Since Harno's telepathic communication was powerful enough for non-telepaths to receive it, Bell was also aware of the creature's
thoughts. "Many intelligent beings have a subconscious mind," he interjected. "Is that supposed to mean that maybe..."
"Do not make premature conclusions!" warned Harno. "Every organic intelligent being has a mentality. This is their basic duality, that is all. The intellect on the surface is called reason, whereas the suppressed adversary is called the subconscious."
"Then supposing Ellert were to subside within Onot, wouldn't his hypothetical condition be comparable to that?"
"Have I implied that?"
"That's what it sounded like."
"If that were possible there would have to be two intellects in every being."
Rhodan considered it best to interrupt this debate. Whenever anybody got Harno started on philosophizing there was never an end to it.
"You have a point," he said, and he watched the court scene as the two Druuf guards took Onot away. "It would be a good idea for us to make use of that court recess. Freyt is due here any time."
Harno's surface altered its appearance. Colored patterns swept across the spherical field of vision and slowly formed a steady picture: the outer void. Millions of stars seemed to convert the immensity of space into a velvet cloth that was covered with countless sparkling gems. So thickly were the stars clustered against the dark background that at a greater distance space might have appeared to be white instead of black. A small sphere hovered close to another sphere that was 15 times its size.
"That's the Ohio and us," muttered Rhodan. "Freyt's not out there yet. According to his radio message, it ought to be about time..."
Even as Rhodan spoke, a small Fleet cruiser materialized not more than two light seconds away. It raced forward at a wild velocity but Harno's formless 'camera eye' followed it and closed in.
"It's Freyt!" Rhodan exclaimed with relief. He watched the ship as it made a sweeping curve back toward the spot where it had emerged from hyperspace. "Harno, from now on I want you to watch Onot continuously—and let me know as soon as the Druuf is picked up for his medical examination. We may not have too much time left."
