" Perry Rhodan 0021 - (2c) Menace of Atomigeddon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

no longer required to attack the superior battleship.
At 15:04 Chandikarh explained to his officers: тАЬLetтАЩs be sensible, gentlemen! What can we
throw against such an enemy who has spread devastation and horror throughout the landтАФall
this with a single ship as far as we can tell. What if they have 2 or 3 such ships? Or even a fleet
of them?тАЭ
A young major interjected in a high voice. тАЬWe can count it on our 10 fingers, sir! WeтАЩll all
be obliterated before we can fire the first shot.тАЭ
Other officers voiced their approval and Chandikarh agreed. тАЬLetтАЩs vote on a resolution,тАЭ he
proposed. тАЬWe, the entire officer corps of the Airbase Karaganda-East, submit that the Supreme
Council of the Eastern Bloc cease at once all resistance and enter into negotiations with the
enemy. Our experience has taught us that it would be irresponsible to continue resistance and
thereby invite further retaliations. WeтАЩve become convinced that the Supreme Council will
share our opinionтАФhowever reluctantlyтАФthat we are facing an opponent who cannot be
conquered with our present military methods.тАЭ
Chandikarh received unanimous applause. He had worded the resolution rather mildly
although his state of mind was extremely agitated. Make peace with the New Power, you
blockheads! He would have liked to tell them. But he was not sure that his officers had changed
their opinions as radically as himself and he therefore preferred to use a more polite
formulation.
The text of the resolution became public knowledge in the city within half an hour and
caused vociferous jubilation among the population. Chandikarh was surprised by the vehement
reaction and overcame his reluctance to send the resolution to Moscow.
At 2:00 Moscow time the General Staff and the Supreme Council at the capital of the Eastern
Bloc were informed of the opinion prevalent at Karaganda. Harsh words were bandied and the
accusation of mutiny was raised. It was decided to disregard the resolution and to send several
Secret Service agents to Karaganda.
Amazingly, nobody seemed to have grasped the seriousness of the situation. None of the
responsible leaders denied that the opponent had superior technical means at his beck and call.
ButтАФso went the argumentтАФa single enemy ship could be only at one place at a time and if the
New Power believed it could force the Eastern Bloc, which was armed to its teeth, to its knees
by letting a lonely spaceship cruise over its sovereign area, causing all sorts of tricks, it was
badly mistaken.

****

Perry Rhodan kept track of the events at Karaganda and Moscow to the full extent his
surveillance instruments allowed. Nothing that happened there was a surprise to him. The
change of mind that occurred in Karaganda was inevitable after the psycho-beamer raked the
region of the city and the General Staff at Moscow wouldnтАЩt have been good soldiers if they had
thrown in the towel already.
At 4:00 p.m. Karaganda-time Maj. Deringhouse, a lanky young man with great derring-do
and one of RhodanтАЩs bestтАФleft the Stardust equipped with an Arkonide transportsuit and in full
command of the Russian language acquired by hypno-training. The deflector field of the suit
made Deringhouse invisible and the strong neutralization generator helped him descend
smoothly to the ground. He dropped from the height of 40 kilometres to the ground in 20
minutes and sent back the arranged signal by hyperradio in order to avoid any unnecessary risk.
Then the Stardust started to move again and let the sun shine once more in the sky over the
city after an hour-long interruption but not before the psycho-beamer had made sure that the
change of mind experienced by the citizens and soldiers of Karaganda was permanent.
Posthypnotic suggestion required only 40% more power than direct and instantaneous hypnotic