" Perry Rhodan 0050 - (42) Time's Lonely One" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

The few steps exhausted me enormously. With a sigh I slouched into the soft cushions of the vibrator
chair which continued the intense kneading treatment of the robot hands in a more unobtrusive way.

Rico served me the first liquid nourishment. It was still too early to offer solid food to my stomach. It
would take at least 3 or 4 more days before I felt fairly fit again.

Rico rolled the movable mirror before me and helped me to sit up. I had lost only very little weight, a
sign that my body had endured the period of the deep-sleep very well.

I motioned him and watched him move the mirror back into its place in the wall. Then the automaton
came back and stood in front of me. RicoтАЩs face could have looked human if it hadnтАЩt been so colourless
and waxen.

"My friend, what I wouldnтАЩt give if a real person were standing in your place!" I exclaimed feebly. "What
does it look like up above?"

"A lot of water, Master," my personal valet replied diplomatically.

I observed him intently. Was his answer only a psychological trick to arouse a certain feeling of ire in me
or didnтАЩt he really know any better?

"Of course thereтАЩs a lot of water. WeтАЩre here at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near the island Sao
Miguel in the Azores where the famous underwater trench with its enormous depths begins. So we have
a great mass of water over us. What I wanted to know is what the European continent looks like. What
did the atomic war do to Spain and France?"

"This isnтАЩt known, Master!"

My blood welled up in my face. RicoтАЩs humble plastic smile suddenly looked like a scornful grimace to
me. "Why not?" I questioned him sharply. My vocal chords were already functioning flawlessly. "Why
didnтАЩt you follow my instructions to observe the surface?"

"ItтАЩs your own fault, Master. All 3 observation satellites were shot down by rockets. We were aware
that it was senseless to put the monitor spheres in operation because the space above the planet was
swarming with fighter crafts. However we couldnтАЩt go against your orders."

A wave of disappointment, shock and rage surged through me. Naturally the robots had no option to
react in any other manner after I had given them the premature, command to survey the major continents
at once. I had been anxious to find out what had occurred during the war as soon as I woke according to
plan.

Now I was completely cut off. I was not only the loneliest living being on Earth but also the most
ignorant.

Above the steely hull of my deep-sea pressure-sphere rested a tremendous mass of water. Of course it
had protected me against the deadly fallout from countless nuclear explosions but this alone hardly served
my purpose.
The burning desire to hear a word from human lips became so overwhelming that I felt nauseous.