by Perry Rhodan
Nor did they lose a second.
Manoli was occupied with Ellert, whose legs were still too stiff for him to be able to move without help. There was no time to fool with the stretcher table, so Ras and Pucky teleported doctor and patient into the nearest transmitter, which had already been activated. A hypercom dispatch from Hades Com Central had alerted the Drusus, whose matter transmitters had been switched immediately into a receiver mode.
"Strong Druuf formation on approach flight," announced a com officer just before he closed the timer on the prepared demolition charge. It was perhaps a superfluous security measure but no one could be sure whether the Druufs would destroy Hades or try to land here and inspect the base.
The base crewmembers hurried into the grid cages of the transmitters, taking only their most indispensable personal belongings. They disappeared in rapid succession, to rematerialize almost a light-year away on board the Drusus.
Rhodan and Marcel Rous remained to the last. They waited until the Gazelles took off, which they did not choose to surrender to the enemy's destruction. The scoutships only carried two-man crews so as to reduce the risk of casualties. They were to attempt to get through the discharge rift to the relay ship that was stationed just beyond it, after which the relay ship was to escape in a sheer blind transition.
The viewscreens in the Control Central were still functioning. In the rear of the room the demolition timer was ticking.
"We still have 30 minutes," said Rous a bit rigidly due to the strain he was under.
"The Druufs will be here before that," replied Rhodan.
Nearby the door stood open which led to the matter transmitters. If the situation called for it, the two men could get to safety in just a few steps. In the screens the dark sky of Hades was covered with thousands of stars. Suddenly it seemed as if many new stars had appeared out of the void but Rhodan could ten by their swift movement that these were glowing exhaust flares from the engines of spaceships. The fleeing Gazelles had enabled them to get an angle on where they were.
"You know if we don't show them any resistance..." Rous began to say.
Rhodan had already guessed his thoughts. "Let's fool them. Hades can't fall into their hands—it has to be destroyed. Activate the automatic defenses, Captain. Let them think we're sitting here in the trap."
It happened fast. The Druuf ships had hardly come close to a certain security distance from the stronghold before the energy cannons opened fire, hurling their deadly lightning toward the fleet in outer space. In the viewscreen, Rhodan could detect the collapse of defense screens on two of the Druuf ships. The other units pulled back almost immediately but they regrouped into a typical 'bombing run' formation, which clearly revealed their intention to destroy the planet. It was exactly the reaction Rhodan had wanted from them.
"That's it!" he muttered, finally taking his eyes from the screen. "In a few minutes their bombs and torpedoes will be converting the crust of Hades into molten lava—which should make it pretty hot down here!"
Rous remained unmoved by the prospect. With a few quick adjustments of the controls he set the automatic firing range for a greater distance. Lightning bolts of energy shot from hidden gun positions and penetrated the Druuf formation but this time without creating any additional damage. Still, it served to advise the enemy that the secret base was being manned by someone. As a result, they launched an all-out attack.
The first bombs fell far from the target but caused incredible devastation. A second wave of torpedoes struck nearby cliffs, turning them into bizarre molten shapes of lava which almost instantly hardened again. But then the first nuclear bombs fell. They unleashed an atomic fire that would remain unquenchable. Hades was lost forever.
"At least now we know that nobody's ever going to make use of this base," said Capt. Rous with a slight note of regret in his voice. He looked searchingly about him. "Sure going to lose a heap of valuable stuff. Just the 12 transmitters alone..."
"Stuff!" retorted Rhodan and he beckoned to Rous as he went to the transmitter room. "You said it, Rous—it's a swap, really. We're swapping all this stuff in exchange for human lives. That shouldn't be a difficult choice."
Without further words they both stepped into the waiting transmitter cage and Rhodan threw in the switch. Within the same second he was standing with Rous in the hold of the Drusus.
The first thing they saw was Bell's worried face, which suddenly brightened in relief. "That was cutting it real thin, gentlemen! In another minute I'd have come to Hades to get you two!"
"You would have gotten your fingers burned," retorted Rhodan curtly. "All set to leave?—Where's Ellert?"
"Manoli took him to the ship's hospital. Gen. Deringhouse is waiting for your instructions, Perry."
"You take care of that. Immediate transition. We have to get back to Earth as soon as possible. Be careful to make several transitions and in different directions."
"You're not coming into the Control Central?"
"Later. I have to see about Ellert."
Bell nodded and disappeared. Marcel Rous had his hands full meanwhile, collecting his men and assigning them to new quarters.
Rhodan left the cargo loading holds where the transmitters were installed and made his way to the ship's clinic. Marshal Freyt had been back in Terrania for some time now where he would have made all the preparations. It was going to be a surprise for Ellert.
Ellert...?
Rhodan sensed a warmth of affection. After all, he had found his old friend after he had virtually died 70 years ago. He had actually survived the whole time although it was in another place, in another dimension of time and in another body.
The lift brought him to the deck he wanted and he quickly located the clinic, where he paused a moment before entering, still trying to get used to the idea that Ernst Ellert had come back to himself. True, he had lost his faculty of being able to project his mind at will into the future but maybe that was just as well. Just the thought of time travel was confusing, blurring the mind with complexities that one couldn't cope with. While Rhodan still held his hand on the doorknob of the clinic entrance he asked himself what might happen if he could see into the future? Wouldn't the knowledge of future events rob him of his power to cope with the present?
When he entered he looked into the faces of Haggard and Jamison. Behind them was Manoli, who was leaning over Ellert's outstretched form.
"Didn't you two go back with Freyt?" he asked wonderingly—and then a hot wave of fright gripped him. "Doc, what's wrong? I mean... Ellert?"
Manoli straightened up. "Everything's alright, sir. He's resting. And that includes his mind. His body is showing signs of making rapid strides toward recovery. We believe that within a few weeks he'll really have it made."
Rhodan was deeply relieved. He hardly heard the explanations from Haggard and Jamison in which they assured him they had only remained behind with the intention of helping Manoli. He walked over to the bed and looked down at Ellert. The face that had formerly been so pale and deathly in its appearance was now alive. Beneath the skin was the life pulse of blood. The eyelids fluttered and then Ellert was suddenly looking at him. It was a strange sensation to see this body in a living state again after it had been 'dead' for so many decades.
"Ernst Ellert... how do you feel?"
The mouth moved but his words could hardly be understood. "It's great to have mind and body united again," was what Rhodan could just barely make out. Then, somewhat more coherently, Ellert continued: "So many people would like to be somebody else but they don't have any idea how stupid they are. One can only be truly at peace in his own body. Can you understand that, Perry?"
"Yes, I follow you," replied Rhodan, placing a hand on Ellert's forehead. "Now you will be able to be Ernst Ellert again."
Ellert smiled weakly. "I'll be happy with even one arm."
Rhodan glanced at the doctors around him and then he also smiled. "You will soon have two arms again, Ernst. Professor Haggard has been doin
g a lot of thinking and when we found out what wonderful faculties you would be bringing back with you from your wanderings in Eternity we came up with an idea. Actually we can thank Onot for it. Is it too much of a strain on you if I talk?"
"No, just keep on going."
"It became difficult for you to influence Onot because of his resistance. You lost a lot of energy and became weak—almost dangerously so. So you're not only going to have yourself a new arm, at the same time you're going to get a hypno-technical type of weapon. It's an improvement we've made over the old hypnotic raygun. With your new arm you'll be able to bring people under your control with purely technological means. Of course we've already been able to do that but the effect of the control ceases when the hypnobeamer is shut off. It will work differently in your case. While you are beaming your opponent you'll be able to take over his paralyzed intellect without any personal effort. There'll be no one who'll be able to resist such a takeover."
Ellert smiled faintly. "I guess you've thought of everything. And—will I also be able to work and eat with the new arm...?"
"It will be like a regular arm. On the inside it is made of semi-fibrous plastic containing semi-biotic nerve fibers and elastoplasma muscles and tendons. Outwardly it has living culture tissue produced with the help of your own genetic code. No one will be able to see that it's any different from your left arm. Its secret is hidden on the inside."
Manoli intervened. "He must rest, sir. It's too much of a strain on him."
But Ellert didn't agree. "No strain, Manoli. On the contrary! You ought to know that good news or good fortune is never hard to take. In the course of my wanderings I've visited many planets and seen many types of intelligences. I've lived with them and come to know them but I've never found a race like humans. It would have been a shame that time 70 years ago if they had succeeded in destroying themselves. I am fortunate to be able to be a human being once more."
Rhodan nodded to him. "Even good fortune can wear you down, friend. So now I'm going to give you the first order you've ever received from me as Administrator of the Solar Empire. Don't speak another word and I want you to go to sleep. No back-talk! Back on Earth we'll have plenty of time for chitchat. Get well, Ellert, because the future of that humanity you're talking about is going to need you—all fresh and ready for action. I trust you understand that, don't you...?"
Ellert nodded feebly. "Yes, I understand. But one day maybe... I'm going to visit an old friend. Onot. Just now I wouldn't want to be in his skin—in the full sense of the word! But he'll get through it all. They'll end up by setting him free."
Rhodan nodded to him once more and then the four men left the clinic.
Out in the corridor, Haggard raised a question: "About the Druufs—will they know who built the base on Hades? Do you think they'll connect it with us?"
"We've wiped out all traces, at least any that could lead to us. No, I don't think we'll run into trouble on that account. They also have enemies in their own universe, you know. Why shouldn't some of them have found a foothold inside that double-sun system?"
"What do you think will happen to this Onot entity?" Jamison wanted to know.
"Ellert took away the incriminating portions of his memory," Rhodan explained. "Before the court he will claim that he is not a traitor. The lie detectors will prove that he is speaking the truth. They'll have to let him go."
"And then what about..." He was interrupted as Pucky materialized before them in the passageway.
"You keep talking and talking and in two minutes we'll be going into the first transition," he said. He adjusted the belt of his special uniform which had been custom-tailored for his small stature. "How about retreating into a cabin?"
"Mine is right here," interjected Manoli and he opened the door. "If you please..."
Once they were seated, his interrupted question came back to him. "What about that translight space drive of the Druufs? Ellert didn't mention it."
"I almost forgot!" Pucky blurted out. He slipped off the couch in order to rummage through his pockets. In the last one, fortunately, he found what he was looking for. He handed the crumpled foil to Rhodan. "I took that from Onot. Those are the plans for the super spacedrive."
Rhodan took the foil and unfolded it. Naturally he couldn't understand any of the details but he saw by the rough sketches that the data had to do with a stellar spacedrive such as the Druufs were using. "Thanks, little one," he said, "You have just handed over Ellert's greatest gift to us. An even trade, I suppose, since he's gotten his life back in exchange."
"Plus a hypno-shocker as a bonus," promised Haggard.
Perry Rhodan still held Onot's priceless notes in his hand as the first pulling pains of the transition began. He realized that what was on that piece of foil would make all such pains of transition superfluous. In the future the race of humans would be able to hurtle through the star seas with their eyes open, at a thousand times—yes, even a million times—faster than light. No more would they be blind as they took such giant strides through the void.
The far light of galactic suns would beckon them and guide them on their way as did the old lighthouse beacons for the ships of Earthly seas.
A new era of space travel would begin...
ERNST ELLERT RETURNS!
Copyright © 1975 Ace Books
by arrangement with Arthur Moewig Verlag
All Rights Reserved
THE SHIP OF THINGS TO COME
A PREVIEW of the exciting chapters you will read next time:
"Position Desperate," "Shipwrecked on Moluk," "The Mysterious Tower," "Evil Embodied," "Whirlwind Sinister," "Trapped in the Tower," "The Mento-Duel," "End of the Race."
And a sample happening: "Careful, my friend," said Dr. Lewellyn. "What frightens you and your people so much about the desert? Do you fear the terrible storms or do you believe that demons and evil gods live there?"
The bird-creature nodded. "The wasteland is evil embodied, Doctor. Many Greens have disappeared there or they have returned insane. Strange things happen that are uncanny to us." Get the whole exciting story in—
SECRET MISSION: MOLUK by William Voltz
