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

He held his gun in his hand, ready to shoot, but he waited patiently till the first flounder reached the step.
He wanted to trigger his gun because he was certain that the step would not hamper its advance and that
it soon would creep up on it.

But he didnтАЩt press the trigger when he saw that the odd creature touched the rock with its forward
edge, slid back a few inches and stopped its motion completely.

Other flounders crept closer and slid over each other since the shaft was rather narrow. But none of
them behaved differently from the first one. They all collided with the stone, fell back and remained
motionless a small distance away.

Marshall tried an experiment. He put his weapon down for a moment, picked up the uppermost
flounder, making sure that none of the others stuck to it, and lifted it up to his step while he moved up one
more step.

The Gom creature was almost as big as the top of the step. He watched as it wandered in confusion a
few inches back and forth and skidded against the stone underneath his foot. Then it slid backward till it
hung over the edge of the step. When more than half of its body extended into the air, it lost its balance.
It flipped over and fell on top of its fellow creatures lying at the bottom of the lowest step.

Marshall picked up the flounder once again and placed it on the first step as before. It was repugnant to
his scientific mind to draw far-reaching conclusions from a single experiment.

However, he was distracted in the middle of his investigation. At first he thought heтАЩd heard a scream.
But when the strange noise was repeated, he realized that it was a telepathic signal. In contrast to the
jumbled impulses emanating from the circular rooms, the strong hostile signal calling the flounders to
attack and the distant but easily understandable thoughts of his comrades, the latest message gave the
impression of coming from a brain which was similar to that of humans, albeit extremely awkward, the
gist of it simply being: "Help us! Kill the aliens!"

Marshall knew Betty would hear the call as clearly as he did but he assumed Bell could use all their
weapons when it came to a confrontation. He was convinced the call originated from the floundersтАФor
to be precise: from the total collective of flounders assembled in this placeтАФand was directed to a brain
that did not respond well to the telepathy of the Gom creatures, thus resembling in this respect the human
brain too.

Fanning his fire he killed all the flounders crowded around the lowest step. Then he turned around and
clambered up the steps, rushing to the best of his ability. On his way he communicated with Betty. Betty
had also received the call for help and immediately informed Bell. But so far there was no indication that
anyone intended to come to the aid of the flounders.



****



Bell had already given up the hope of ever reaching the horizontal tunnel through which they had made
their way into the subterranean layout when the front wall of the man made shaft broke into large pieces
under big sizzling shots and suddenly a dark hole with ragged edges opened up. The room behind it