" Perry Rhodan 0024 - (17) The Venus Trap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

earlier with his 500 spaceships.

Raskujan turned out to be a great deal luckier than the general. Tomisenkow's first encampment had
been blown to smithereens and cast to the winds by the tornado created in the wake of theStardust .
Tomisenkow's undamaged ships were hidden in the mountains where they were put out of action one by
one in systematic pursuit by Rhodan.

Thus Raskujan had found an unobstructed field for his landing. TheStardust had scorched a wide strip
straight through the jungle as it flew across Tomisenkow's camp, leaving it with blackened and glazed
earth. Raskujan had started out from Terra with 200 ships. At that time he still served under Major
General Pjotkin. Thirty-four of those ships were lost when the Stardust, on its way back to Earth from
Venus, slammed through the fleet and incinerated in its formidable defence screen the helpless vehicles
from the Eastern Bloc. Among them was the flagship with Major General Pjotkin on board.

Raskujan reassembled the vessels which had escaped the holocaust and continued to Venus. Another
43 ships were destroyed in the aerodynamic landing manoeuvre. They crashed and sank as fiery bright
meteors in the oceans and forests of Venus.

A total of 123 ships had withstood the flight intact and landed proudly on Tomisenkow's original airfield.
Their mobility, however, was severely restricted by a lack of fuel.

No trace of Tomisenkow could be found at that time. Colonel Raskujan assumed responsibility and he
had to use his own judgment as to the best way of achieving success for the enterprise.

This didnтАЩt appear to him to be very difficult. His superiors were interested in gaining control of the New
PowerтАЩs fortress. Since Rhodan was absent from Venus at the time of the arrival of his reinforcement
fleet, Raskujan believed that the base was unguarded and considered its conquest childтАЩs play.

Raskujan had to revise his ideas about тАШfortifications.тАЩ For almost a year he daily butted his head against
a will. Rhodan had surrounded the bulwark with an impenetrable protective screen. Among the members
of RaskujanтАЩs expedition were many scientists and technicians. These experts wereтАФfor reasons
unknown to RaskujanтАФmostly women. But even the most skilful technicians were stymied by the
forbidding energy screen.

When Raskujan had reached a dead end, his attention was diverted. The first trace of General
Tomisenkow and his men was found on a peninsula which extended south from the big northern
continental landmass. It was engulfed by a sea channel of the great primordial ocean.

Raskujan, whose orders had been to bring relief and support to TomisenkowтАЩs troops, began to collect
information. He learned that Tomisenkow's Space Landing Division had become disorganized under the
terrible conditions of life on Venus and suffered serious mutiny.

Subsequently Raskujan had mapped his plans. Tomisenkow and his men had to be subjugated.

As Raskujan had the necessary means to carry out his plans against Tomisenkow's disillusioned soldiers,
he succeeded in taking the general himself prisoner as well as many of his followers. Furthermore, he was
able to seize Thora, the Arkonide woman, who became his most important captive. Thora had been the
greatest source of the knowledge which enabled Rhodan to establish the New Power.
Raskujan was triumphantтАФuntil he realized that Thora had as much respect for him as for one of the
pesky Venusian flies.