" Perry Rhodan 0046 - (38) Project Earthsave" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

All hands began to recover from the shock of the transition. As always, the first to shake off the after
effects were Perry Rhodan and his friend Reginald Bell. Before them, as revealed by the gigantic circular
video screen gallery of theTitan , the myriad suns of this cluster system sparkled with indescribable
splendour. This glistening and shining and streaming of all colours and nuances of stellar light was in itself
a most magnificent signboard for the great Empire of the Arkonides.

"If only they werenтАЩt such dumbbells!" sighed Bell.

"Be careful, Fatso!" Perry called to him in low tones.

Behind them stood the Arkonide Khrest, and a little farther off Thora, refined, shrewd and
temperamental Arkonide womanтАФboth of them of the highest social level of the stellar empire whose
suns now gleamed before them.

Bell was an honest fellow and a daredevil. He turned to Thora with a grin on his wide face. "Any
objections?" he asked her.

With imperious composure, she replied, "ItтАЩs about time, Bell, you think of something new."

Bell only grunted and turned to Perry. "ArenтАЩt you going to put in a call to that old Bucket of Bolts," he
asked, "so that you can request a leave of absence?"

To refer to the giant robot brain on Arkon as a тАШbucket of boltsтАЩ was more than just irreverent, yet the
two Arkonides did not in any way reveal that they resented Perry RhodanтАЩs second-in-command for
having used the expression.

Pucky sat at one side of Bell. He murmured lightly: "OkayтАФso тАШbucket of boltsтАЩ, is it? My friend, you
seem to have all the delicate sensitivity of a bull rhinoceros!"

Hearty laughter resounded through the Control Centre of theTitan . Pucky the mouse-beaver, the
telepath and many other entities in one, had baptized his squarishly built friend Reginald Bell with the
name of тАШbull rhinocerosтАЩ. It fit so well that several of the men in the more than 30-man crew in the room
were laughing with tears in their eyes. And this was joined by the bell-like tones of ThoraтАЩs laughter. Even
Khrest, unable to suppress his amusement, held a hand over his mouth to cover his smile. Perry Rhodan
shook with inner mirth

"You rotten little mouse!" Bell yelled above the laughter and made a grab for Pucky.

But he grasped at thin air. As swift as lightning, the mouse-beaver had removed himself by means of his
usual teleportation. Pucky landed in ThoraтАЩs arms. Into the sudden stillness following BellтАЩs shriek came
the mouse-beaverтАЩs lisping question: "Thora, are you petting me because you approve of the new name I
gave himтАФbull rhinoceros?"

Regrettably, this little human episode was abruptly throttled by a sharp announcement over the speaker
from Com-Control Centre: "Robot Fleet OGG-06 is requesting the Code-for-the-Day."

Which catapulted everyone back into stark reality.

Rhodan merely nodded by way of response. But his nod was visible on the videoscreens of the
Com-Control Centre. TheTitan , the most gigantic spherical spaceship in the galaxy, having a diameter of