" Perry Rhodan 0047 - (39) The Silence of Gom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

minutes it would take before their position at the boulder was overrun.

The telepathic danger which also threatened from the uncanny substance was all but forgotten in the
excitement.

"Marshall!" Bell called, "crawl around the left side of the needle and shoot from there! IтАЩll manage to
hold out here."

Marshall complied at once. He slid past Bell around the needle and planted himself a few feet farther left
where the brown layer of veneer almost outflanked the defenders. Bell heard his wild and furious screams
as he drove the enemy back with steady fire. Suddenly Marshall interrupted himself and shouted
triumphantly: "HereтАЩs a better hide-out! Come over quickly!"

Bell didnтАЩt ask questions. He waved to Betty, moved muttering to the place from which Marshall had
called and held the post till Betty reported that she had made it. While keeping up his fire he managed to
call back the two teleporters.

Then he crawled over as quickly as he could. Tako Kakuta stood near a hole and motioned to him. A
few feet behind Bell the dark brown veneer seeped through the crack between the rocks which he had
just left.

Tako held the entrance to the hole open with staccato fire. Bell sent him down and followed after a few
more shots.

Up to now there was no time for Bell to wonder about the new hideout. As he dropped down into the
hole, he noticed that it was a shaft leading at an angle of about 50┬░ into the ground to a considerable
depth. Bell was thrown and bounced till he finally landed with a dull thudтАФhis feet up in the airтАФamong
the group that preceded him.

Somebody cried out in pain but Bell quickly got hold of himself again. "Silence!" he commanded.

He turned around and held his head so that the right outer mike aimed upward into the shaft. Holding his
breath, he tried to hear what was going on above.

For a few moments everything was quiet. Then a soft scraping became audible, quickly growing louder.
Bell held his weapon ready to shoot. But eventually the noise remained at a constant level. Bell kept
listening for awhile, finally turned back and growled: "For the love of Mike! Why doesnтАЩt somebody turn
on a light?"

Two helmet-lamps lit up. Bell looked around. The room in which they had landed was only the beginning
of a horizontal continuation of the shaft leading from the surface of the mesa into the ground.

Bell switched on his own light and turned it into the passage. The light was strong but it didnтАЩt reach to
the end of the tunnel, which was semi-circular and had a flat floor. It was 10 feet wide and 5 feet high.
"For the time being weтАЩre safe," Bell sighed. "The brown thing doesnтАЩt seem to intend to come down
here. Now weтАЩve two possibilities. First: to investigate this tunnel and find out if it has a second exit.
Second: wait till the scraping stops and climb out again."

Betty spoke up: "I can feel that the brown thing is probing for us. It wonтАЩt give up its search so quickly.
Perhaps it would be better to inspect the tunnel. As long as the enemy lingers up there, we canтАЩt do much