by Perry Rhodan
He suddenly had a feeling of having wandered into a blind alley. And they only had until tomorrow noon to get out of it!
• • •
Uppermost in Ellert's mind were the notes and sketches of the translight linear space drive which Onot carried in his pocket. He knew that he once more had sufficient strength to be able to leave Onot's body without endangering himself but he had no idea of how far his disembodied excursions could extend. And if he didn't have enough strength remaining to penetrate another body...
He didn't dare imagine the results. His bodiless wandering through Eternity would begin again.
"Alright, Onot," he finally informed the Druuf, "if you will listen to me we will work together and see if we can't play a trick on the Superior Magistrate. I'll save you from the medical examination and I'll also fix it so that later, after I have left you for good, nobody will be able to have anything against you."
"How is that possible?"
"I will provide you with a new memory and though it will be superimposed on your old one you will still be left with your own personality. However you will know nothing of me. For you it will be as though I had never existed. And when you stand before the judge you will be speaking the truth. The lie detectors will indicate as much. You will no longer be a traitor."
Onot wasn't particularly enthusiastic about having a new memory but he could see the logic of it and that it was actually the best solution for him. "I accept," he said.
"In another hour it will be night. It's too late now today for them to be coming for you, so tonight we'll escape. We'll try to reach your old laboratory where we can supply ourselves with what we need. Maybe by that time I'll have received news of where my friends are. As soon as I find them, you are free. You'll be able to go before the judge with your new memory."
Onot felt uneasy under his thick hide. "So why should I escape when I'm going to make a new court appearance?"
"Because returning of your own volition will be proof of a clear conscience. Believe me, you will convince them."
"So how do we get out of the prison?"
"That, my dear Onot, you can leave for me to worry about."
The Druuf appeared to be satisfied. Following Ellert's instructions, he lay down on his bed and tried to sleep for awhile. As soon as he had closed his eyes and his conscious mind had become quiescent, Ellert made his first attempt.
Once more Onot lay beneath him while he floated free in space—bodiless, weightless. He penetrated the ceiling and found himself in another prison cell. A Druuf bound in chains lay on the bare floor and stared at nothingness as though with unseeing eyes. They didn't appear to have treated this prisoner as well as they had Onot but obviously he was not a famous scientist.
Ellert refrained from choosing this pitiable creature as his trial host. When he made his choice, it would have to be the right Druuf.
Without difficulty he went through the walls and emerged into the corridor. Actually it would have been easy to simply 'disappear' now. But then Onot would remain in his cell along with his valuable notes and Ellert didn't wish to abandon those except in the most extreme emergency. Of course he might also be able to locate the Superior Judge right now and place him under his influence but that seemed to be too bold a move. Some insignificant attendant or bailiff wouldn't attract much attention if he bumbled or made mistakes—but if in addition to Onot the Chief Magistrate of Druufon should turn out to be mentally disturbed as well, then certainly suspicions would be aroused.
It had to be made to look as though Onot had gotten away by ordinary means.
Ellert descended through the floor and came into the corridor that led to Onot's cell. He was again able to regulate the swiftness of his 'flight' and he was now confident that he could bridge over greater distances. However, he still would not trust himself to venture from one planet to another.
The Druuf time plane had adjusted itself to the Einstein universe in a certain sense but this parallelism was not of long duration. In a few months the two time planes would disentangle themselves and the time differential between them would increase until Druuf time again moved 72,000 times slower than it did, for example, on Earth. Today it only moved half as swiftly. Since the Druufs were big and heavy, this halftime effect wasn't at all noticeable to them. Ellert had become accustomed to their ponderous appearance and movements so he hadn't been constantly reminded that time for them moved at only half the rate that it did for Terranians.
He sensed the thoughts of an approaching Druuf. A man—that is a physical man—would have been tempted to seek concealment at this point but Ellert was not a man in this sense of the word. He remained where he was and nobody would have been able to discover his presence if he did not want them to.
A Druuf came around a bend in the corridor and Ellert already knew that this was the dungeon keeper who always brought Onot his supper. He thought with satisfaction that this would be a good opportunity to make two tests at the same time. He could observe Onot's actions when he was free of his influence and at the same time he could attempt to take over the guard.
The Druuf first took care of feeding the prisoners on the opposite side of the passage but then he finally arrived at the door of Onot's cell. He opened the little trapdoor and shoved a bowl through onto the shelf that the flap created.
"Here's your supper, Onot," he called, and he waited until the prisoner came to the door to take the bowl. "Well, all set for the night?"
Onot appeared to have been sleeping because it took him almost half a minute to get to the door. "I can't complain," he replied. He took the little pot of food and went back to his bed. At no time had he betrayed any impulse to betray Ellert in his absence.
The keeper closed the trapdoor and shuffled away. Ellert followed him, figuratively speaking, until they arrived at the guardroom. Two other Druufs were stationed there and were getting set for their night duty. At the rear of the room was a barred gate giving access into an adjacent passage. Ellert knew that the passage ended in an admittance control room where every visitor was electronically checked for weapons or tools. Also the main registration desk was there, containing the name of every prisoner in computerized records.
Ellert left the three guards to themselves after ascertaining that they were the only persons in charge during the night shift within the prison proper. There was only one more Druuf who operated the electronic main gate.
Onot was not especially surprised when he sensed Ellert's presence again. "You made an excursion?" he asked as he spooned up the last of the indefinable gruel in the bowl. "I think prison food must be the same everywhere in the universe—all bad. If I weren't hungry..."
"You have to keep up your strength," Ellert admonished him. "I've taken a look at the situation on the inside and it seems to me it shouldn't be hard to break out. Don't forget, though—it all has to look natural. And it has to happen tonight because tomorrow it will be too late." He did not realize how correct he was in this statement. "In a few hours when everything's quieted down outside, I'll take over one of the guards and come back here. As soon as he opens the door you have to strike him down. Do you think you can do that?"
Onot shoved the bowl under the bed. "I think, perhaps, it has come to that. Basically any kind of physical force is repulsive to me but in my situation I have to put certain principles aside. What do I use for a weapon?"
"Unfortunately I can't bring you any. That chair over there should do, if you break off one of its legs. Let's do all our preparing now."
Although the chair had appeared to be fragile it proved to be otherwise. Onot had to exert himself strenuously to break off a leg, which turned out to be a formidable-looking club.
"Of course you know I could have the guard furnish you with a raygun but that would add mystery to your escape which is one ingredient you don't need. Everything has to look very ordinary."
Onot stretched himself out on the bed. The chair leg was beside him. "Well, as far as I am concerned, we're ready. It
's ridiculous, though, that there's no other way to convince the Superior Judge."
"I'll wake you up when it's time," said Ellert, ignoring the other's remark. "Go to sleep for now."
Onot's breathing soon revealed that he had in fact fallen asleep. His primary concerns had lessened somewhat under this new plan. The aspect of the future was not quite as depressing as it had been before.
Ellert also rested although with him there could be no such thing as 'sleep'. Sleep is a physical process and even when the body is asleep the mind is capable of work. He did not require sleep.
During the passage of these hours of rest, Ellert's thinking processes were quiescent and this was why Pucky had not been able to trace his thoughts. Any residual impulses that might have been present were too weak to be picked up. And later Pucky was assigned to other duties.
Outside the darker hours of the night had settled upon the city. Ellert had an urge to make another excursion but he was warned by the very fact of his recent recovery. How could he be sure that his weakness would not return? At any rate, his experience of the previous evening had given him new courage.
He looked at Onot's watch. Midnight! The scientist was sleeping soundly. Ellert almost didn't have the heart to wake him up but Onot had to be ready when the guard came.
"It's time, Onot. Wake up!"
At the first thought-impulse, Onot awakened. He sat up and looked around as though to collect himself and remember where he was. Then it all came back to him and he reached for the chair leg. "Is he here already?"
"Who, the guard? No, but I'll get him and I'll have him come in here. That's when you knock him down—not hard enough to kill him, though."
"Unfortunately I'm not experienced in such matters," replied Onot, blinking all four of his eyes.
If Ellert could have grinned he would have done so. He departed from Onot's body with a friendly thought-pulse. Seconds later he was gliding through the long corridor and soon he reached the guardroom. One of the Druufs was sleeping on a cot. One of the other two was Onot's cell keeper. The two Druufs were sitting at a table where they were playing some kind of game. Ellert was not familiar with the game but he could see that it was going to have very little effect on his strategy. Any changes in plan were negligible.
Without the slightest difficulty he slipped into the Druuf's brain and took conscious control of it. Actually he turned it off by providing it with an amnesia block. Whatever the guard would think and do from this moment on would not be of his own free will and later he would not be able to remember any of it. When he woke up in Onot's cell he would also not know how he had got there.
Ellert regarded his opponent in the game through the dungeon keeper's eyes.
"It's your turn!" came the other's ultra-sonic challenge.
It was easier said than done. Although the alien game may have been very simple, it was not one of Ellert's specialties. But the big wall clock gave him an out. He knew the prison schedules from the memory of his victim. He pointed to the clock and got to his feet.
"We'll continue later," he said. "I have to make my rounds. It's almost past my time."
"Who keeps exact schedules? Since when have you been so punctual?"
"Since now, maybe," retorted Ellert, and he left the room.
He had sensed the puzzled look of the other Druuf but was no longer concerned about it. Even if the guard's colleague asserted later that he had acted strangely, it wouldn't arouse much suspicion. Besides, his present host would probably defend himself by blaming his lack of punctuality on the clock.
Ellert walked along the corridor in the guard's body, approaching Onot's cell. He took the key out of his pocket. The key was electronically coded. He shoved it into the monitor slot and turned it like a switch.
Onot's cell door opened immediately. Unsuspectingly, the guard stepped inside. Ellert saw Onot standing near his bed, the improvised club clutched in both of his hands. He appeared to be hesitating. Perhaps he wanted to wait until Ellert crossed over to him, which of course was nonsensical because Ellert could not feel pain in the body of his host unless he willed it so.
"Well, strike and get it over with!" he caused the guard to say.
For a second or so he was amused by Onot's stupefied expression and then he figuratively ducked as Onot made a powerful leap toward him and swung the club. The guard's body had actually gone through the motions of ducking so that he caught the blow on the back of his head. Even as the Druuf fell, Ellert left him and penetrated Onot.
"Well done, my friend. He won't come to until early in the morning."
Onot placed the club carefully on the floor. "Does he have a weapon?"
Ellert hadn't thought of it but it was not a critical oversight. There were enough weapons in the guardroom. But also in the guardroom there was a Druuf who wanted to finish a game.
"We'll still get ourselves a weapon, Onot. Let's hope you won't have to use one—that would be much better! Let's go now."
Apparently Onot had expended his last spurt of courage when he had struck down the guard. There was not much spirit left in him and now he hesitated. "What should I do if somebody comes?"
"Leave that to me, Onot. Come, we have no time to lose!"
The Druuf obeyed. He stepped out into the corridor and began to walk in the right direction. Ellert made a disembodied 'flight' ahead of him and penetrated the other guard, who was still sitting at the table. Giving him an amnesia block, he ordered him to sleep. Two minutes later when Onot arrived on the scene he saw the two remaining guards asleep on their night cots. They were sound asleep and did not move. Ellert knew that even a cannon shot would not have awakened them at present.
"There on the wall you'll find weapons," Ellert told the scientist. "There are also long-range shock-beamers. If I were you, that's what I would take. Later that will help you to prove your peaceful intentions when you stand before the Supreme Magistrate."
"Don't remind me of that!" grumbled Onot and he selected a weapon. As a scientist he of course had an idea of how these electronic devices functioned. He checked the energy charge and then shoved the beamer in his belt. "So we keep going?" he inquired, a bit more self-confident now.
"That's the way!" Ellert encouraged him. "Through that door over there. Beyond is the admittance room and the exit. We have to go through there first."
In the admittance room the only problem presented was that the computer checked visitors and prisoners out as well as in. Ellert naturally had no control over the electronic brain there, so it would simply have to register the fact that a prisoner had passed through In the morning when the authorities questioned it about the prisoner's successful escape it would dispassionately testify to the fact that Onot had come through the checkpoint alone.
They reached the exit without hindrance. Of course Ellert had projected himself ahead again and taken over the guard. Without any difficulty, Onot was able to stun the Druuf into insensibility with his shockgun. The victim's state of unconsciousness would last for about five hours.
"We're doing excellently," enthused Ellert as he saw the slumped figure of the last guard behind his table. "Press that button there near the videophone. It operates the main gate."
Onot's escape operation was becoming more like child's play. Of course one would have to admit that there were extraordinary circumstances. He had a very valuable helper at his side. He would never have risked it alone or had a chance to succeed.
"On the edge of the spaceport is where they park the public air cars. We'll pick one out and fly to the mountains and your laboratory."
"An aircar? They are guarded."
Ellert laughed soundlessly but Onot was clearly aware of it. "You've already seen how much good the guards can do. They will be no obstacle."
To this extent Ellert was correct but there was something he didn't know. Each guard was secretly equipped with a positronic monitor device which was similar to a micro-pickup camera. In the monitor room of the court building a technician sat facin
g a floor to ceiling panel which contained hundreds of small viewscreens. Each screen reproduced the exact scene that was registered by the four eyes of each camera carrier.
On one of the screens the technician had seen the prison cell of one of the Druufs—indicated as that of a prisoner, Onot—and he had observed him as he swung his club.
The technician sounded a general alarm.
5/ PUCKY PROWLS FOR A GHOST
"It's a very desolate region, rocky and almost devoid of vegetation," reported Ras Tschubai.
Pucky confirmed the report in his own inimitable way while grinning and showing his incisor tooth. "We couldn't have found a better hideout. Looks as if we'd landed in the middle of the Alps."
"In the daytime it will be different," observed Rhodan apprehensively. "We have to conceal the Gazelle. An overhanging cliff down in the canyon would be the thing."
"Already located one, sir. If Mundi can trust himself to...
Lt. Mundi straightened up as though he'd just been appointed leader of the band. "Trust myself? If I had to, I could juggle this cookie into a mouse hole without a scratch!"
Ras grinned at him. "I figured as much. But let's hope you can also do it in the dark!"
"Easy with the infra-red field, buddy. It wouldn't be good to use the headlights. All you have to do is show me that place..."
Rhodan interrupted. "Nobody is doubting your flying capability, Lieutenant. We have to get going and find that hiding place. We don't know whether or not they fly night patrols that are equipped with infrared sensors. OK, Ras—you be the guide."
The manoeuvre actually required almost an hour but finally the Gazelle was parked close to the rising cliff wall. Fifty meters overhead the rocks jutted out far enough to block any view from above.
Rhodan was weary but there was no time to think about it. "Pucky, we're going to pay the city a little visit. Because of the danger of being traced we won't keep in touch over radio. If anything happens here, Pucky will know about it. In case of emergency, Lt. Mundi, take off. The Gazelle must be preserved at all costs. Ellert's body is more important than our getting back on schedule."
