" Perry Rhodan 0012 - (06) The Secret of The Time Vault" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

even themselves and then transport all over tremendous distances. Via the
fifth dimension! Without any loss of time! For this one needed technical and
mathematical knowledge. And the Ferrons quite obviously lacked those. John was
certain they were even unable to build such a transmitter. These machines had
been handed down through generations; they must have originated in the far
distant past. The story of their origin had been lost. They were the remainder
of some period of splendour, a highpoint of technological excellence that had
vanished. Or had the Ferrons once been in contact with a superior
civilization from whom they had obtained these transmitters? And had that
civilization fallen into oblivion? John found no answers to his questions and
no longer pursued this train of speculative thought. He knew that Perry Rhodan
had been puzzled by this problem too but had not arrived at any conclusions.
Maybe this was the key to a secret whose solution would answer many
questions. Suddenly it was much easier for him to divine the thoughts of the
Ferrons who were hurrying past him. They were fleeing. They were leaving the
city to seek refuge in the mountains before the enemy's impending
attack. John found his fighter exactly the way he had left it. He removed the
barrier and took off without delay. Shortly after leaving the atmosphere of
Rofus, he accelerated to the speed of light and set course for the
twenty-eighth planet. Vega shrank rapidly and lost its brightness. Once again
he detected another spaceship with his position finder but it was too far away
for direct sighting on his visiscreen. He didn't doubt for a single moment
that it was another scout ship of the Topides. He cautiously circled around
the twenty-eighth planet several times before he landed on the moon Iridul.
Doctor Haggard was already waiting for him and opened the airlock. Two
minutes later the pilot climbed out of the cabin and announced: 'We must send
the message, Haggard. The Topides are resuming their activity. I'm convinced
it's high time to chase them out of this system.' 'Rhodan's orders are to use
the hyperband sender only in case of emergency - we risk detection, you know.
Fortunately nobody can determine for whom the message is intended. And Earth's
position must remain a secret.' 'But it must be sent. Get everything ready;
I'll compose the text of the message. It must be brief and still say all
that's necessary.' Doctor Haggard nodded in agreement. 'I'll make it in about
ten minutes. By the way - two hours ago we made an instrument sighting of a
Topidian ship. It was orbiting around Iridul as if it were looking for
something. Is there any connection with the things you've been able to find
out?' John could hardly hide his consternation. 'You bet there is,' he said
quickly. 'A great deal, even worse than I thought. Hurry up, we'd better not
waste a second. Scout parties may be harmless, but they're usually the
forerunners of far less harmless events later on. I'm afraid the Topides are
preparing to take possession of the Vega system.' Doctor Haggard switched on
the current. A dull roar suddenly filled the wide cavern. Lamps started
glowing. The gigantic sender began to vibrate, sending waves to Earth without
any loss of time, for one light-year meant for them as much as twenty-seven
light-years. Indeed, exactly the same as 32,000 light-years - and there was
the snag. Throughout the universe receivers would be registering these
waves. Position finders might even indicate that the sender could be found
somewhere in the Vega system. But since this system was not part of the
Galactic Empire, it would probably arouse curiosity. Someone might decide to
investigate this situation and see which race had reached and surpassed the