" Perry Rhodan - Atlan 01 - Spider Desert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

an outstanding teacher and trainer. He had transmitted to me his knowledge as a physician, a scientist and
a philosopher, to the point where I had been able to work in Tarkihl as his assistant. He had also taught
me how to fight and to use my powers of reason.

However, when I would press him for specifics of his past he would tighten his jaw and hold his
silence.

I had him to thank for having taken me in from the age of four and raised me. But I could not believe
that he knew nothing of my origin. He persistently maintained that I had been a complete orphan with no
living or traceable parents at the time he had found me somewhere on Gortavor, but in the very next
breath he would make some mysterious allusion to factors that he refused to elaborate on.

But as I say I had outgrown the time when I would press him with such questions. Now and again,
however, when the opportunity presented itself, I would still attempt to trick him by artful and devious
means. But even when he failed to see through my deception he would become as silent as the Spider
Desert.

Fratulon was purported to be incredibly wealthy, but there was no more proof of that supposition
than there was for any of the other stories that were told about him. There were even some who
maintained that he wasnтАЩt an Arkonide, and considering his thick-set and stubby figure this was not
entirely unbelievable. But this only caused Fratulon to laugh to himself, and he would say nothing to the
contrary.

His most curious possession was the sword he wore. It was short with a broad blade and a pommel
that bore a strange carving on it. This figure appeared to be worked in silver, but even under the closest
inspection its details could not be clearly made out. On the contrary, the more carefully one studied it the
more indistinct its contours became.

I had myself fought with Skarg, as Fratulon called the weapon, but could discover nothing unusual
about it other than the fact that it sat very well in my hand.

тАЬItтАЩs hot?тАЭ announced Ice Claw again.
 Automatically, I regulated the air-conditioning for him.

Before us lay the monotonous landscape of sand, still overshadowed by the endless web of silvery
strands. But its aspect had changed in the meantime. A wind had come up and was driving dust devils
and a haze of sand before it. The visibility lessened as the sun shone faintly through the dust clouds.

тАЬThe wind is increasing?тАЭ I announced concernedly. тАЬI think it wonтАЩt be long before it turns into a
sandstorm.тАЭ

тАЬYou could be right!тАЭ agreed Fratulon. тАЬWhenever you feel like it I can relieve you at the controls.тАЭ

I was grateful for his offer. Not that I didnтАЩt trust myself to guide the rover even through the storm. It
was just that my powers of concentration were lagging somewhat after the long drive, and it might do me
some good to relax a while.

I pulled the rover to a stop and got out in order to go around to the other side, but just as I did so the
ground suddenly gave way under my feet. I strove to hang on to the tractor treads of the machine but had
already sunk down up to my waist.