" Perry Rhodan 0055 - (47) Shadow of the Mutant Master" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

1/ DANGER: TERRA!



ETERNITYтАж theLotus seemed to be hovering immobile in deep Galactic space as if waiting for the
passage of endless eons.

A light cruiser, City Class, of the Terranian Spacefleet, the 100-meter sphere hung suspended
motionlessly in space 4,300 light-years from Earth. It floated like a random fleck of stardust between the
near and far suns which tried to do battle with the basic darkness of the universe, tried with their pitiful
pinpoints of light to illumine a black and hostile cosmos. Silent and cold, the coloured ray emanating from
the closest sun was but a needle prick of wan luminescence, not even powerful enough to reflect from the
polished skin of the interstellar traveller.

Inside the ship, the placid surface of the endless sea of ebon spaceтАФwaveless, crestless, eternally silent
as the graveтАФwas mirrored on the panoramicon of theLotus command centre.

TheLotus was in standby position. Its efficient anti-detection equipment precluded the possibility of any
alien spaceship discovering it by a freak accident. Behind its protective veil life went on aboard theLotus
.

The cruiser was located within the confines of the region where the Great Empire of the Arkonides was
dominant. The stellar realm controlled by Arkon was concentrated in the globular star-cluster M-13 but
branched far out into space and ruled the solar system closest to the position of the Lotus.

Capt. Jim Markus, Commander of theLotus , was deep in thought as he observed the area of the
panoramic screen where the distant light of Hesperais was visible, 2.46 light-years farther out in space.
Rather stockily built, Markus looked like a man of 40, though the hair at his temples was unusually white.
Pleasant laugh wrinkles accented his bright eyes.

Hesperais was a star among many others, the centre of a planetary system similar to hundreds of millions
of constellations in the same galaxy, but what interested the captain most about this solar system with 6
planets was the 2nd one. Inhabited, the Mars-sized globe was known to Arkonides and Galactic traders
alike as Volat. In contrast to Mars, Volat was a warm humid world with rolling oceans and great
primordial forests. Gravity 0.8G, considered normal by the Arkonides and Traders.

VolatтАЩs importance was not based on the fact that its capital, Kuklon, had a super modern spaceport
serving as a transit station for merchandise shipped throughout the stars but that it was the official
residence of the Arkonide Administrator. The Administrator had been ordered to the planet by the giant
positronic Brain that ruled Arkon, to represent the newly reestablished power of the Great Empire on
Volat.

Ralph Sikeron, audio-monitor, a 27-year-old member of Perry RhodanтАЩs mutant corps, had been
dispatched to Volat to study the situation and obtain information in order to make a total assessment of
the prevailing conditions.

Capt. Markus deposited Ralph Sikeron on Volat and then was ordered by Perry Rhodan to retreat to a
safe distance and stand by in case of an emergency in which the cosmic agent would need help. Rhodan
had learned a lesson from some unfortunate experiences in the past!
Waiting for news from Ralph Sikeron for 12 days, theLotus had remained at the same spot in space,