" Perry Rhodan 0011 - (5b) Mutants in Action" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

here. But by the same token, in view of prevailing conditions on Rofus and in the entire Vega system, the
Thort no longer possessed a great number of ships to hide away and preserve.

The chamber was empty.

Heklihar came to a halt before an indented line on the floor. He tapped the edge of the indentation with
his toe. A few moments later a small, low personnel car shot into view like an arrow and stopped on the
exact spot Heklihar had tapped. Automatically, its two doors opened to receive passengers. It was an
eight seater with two wide seats arranged in tandem. It was equipped with a simple, easily mastered
mechanism that enabled one to steer in any desired direction or to stop at any moment. The indented
floor lines served as a sort of guide system. Rhodan observed that the long rills crossed the floor of the
chamber, and Heklihar explained that their intersections could easily be used as switching points.

After a few minutes the wall of the chamber loomed up in front of the car. It shot into a well lighted
corridor, in the walls of which a number of doors could be seen.

"Offices and labs," Heklihar explained.

At the far end of the passage he brought the car to a stop, The last door to the left bore an especially
elaborate inscription, but Heklihar was in such a hurry that Rhodan had no time to decipher it. KhrestтАЩs
recent short hypno training in the use of the FerronтАЩs language had included reading, but Rhodan had thus
far had opportunity to practice only the spoken word. The door rolled aside, revealing beyond it a large
room that was richly furnished in true Ferronian style. Behind a piece of furniture that resembled a desk
sat

a robust looking man who wore a more colourful uniform than that of Heklihar.

"Commander," Heklihar said with almost solemn formality, permit me to introduce to you Rhodan the
Arkonide."

The commander got up and stretched out both hands to Rhodan. "Please accept my welcome, Rhodan!
My name is Hopthmar. I amтАФthat is, Iwas the commander of this base."

Rhodan heard HekliharтАЩs quiet departure through the door behind him. "Youwere? " he said
wonderingly.

Hopthmar nodded. "The Thort has granted you extraordinary powers of authority here, Rhodan. No one
in this fortification is in a position to tell you what to do."

RhodanтАЩs wonderment grew, and with it a strong desire to chide the Thort for being a scheming old
rascalтАФsending a shipwrecked captain away on a journey and hiding from him the fact that at the end of
it he would find bestowed upon him the absolute authority of a king! He tried in vain to fathom something
in HopthmarтАЩs expression. Only the devil himself could figure out these Ferrons! The other's small, sharp
mouth was faintly distorted as though in a Ferronian smile; but no message was to be read in the
shadowed depths of his eyes.

"You must know that I did not request this," he explained to Hopthmar. "I asked the Thort for a secure
base to operate from, and he offered me this fort. There wasn't a single word about my being the head
man around here."