" Perry Rhodan 0059 - (51) Return from The Void" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"Take out the psycho-beamer!" he told Lloyd. "We donтАЩt have any other choice because we have to
keep on straight ahead."

Lloyd nodded. He took the weapon out of the case and hung the case on a strap over his shoulder.
Then they kept on walking. Rosita followed behind.

The first thing Rous saw in the gray dimness was a cylindrical weapon barrel with a 4-inch muzzle that
was sticking out of a garden hedge on the left side of the street, supported on a double frame.

Rous knew that it was a type of flame-thrower. On Mirsal 2, ordnance technology was not as well
developed as it had been on Earth at an equivalent time-period. Ordinarily Mirsal guns were no more
dependable than the clumsiest flintlock of EarthтАЩs ancient past and more than anything they were equally
troublesome to operate. So by comparison a flame-thrower was a virtual miracle weapon.

Rous pretended that he hadnтАЩt seen the flamer, though it made him a bit uneasy. He was not too familiar
with the Mirsalese mentality, especially now that they had become trigger-happy over the disappearance
of their people in the villages. It was hard to tell whether or not theyтАЩd prefer to shoot first before asking
questions.

As it turned out, his apprehension appeared to be unfounded. A small, brown-skinned man raised up
from the garden foliage behind the flame-thrower and waved his arms urgently.

Rous stopped where he was.

"Halt!" shouted the man. "Wait!"

"Careful now!" he said softly to Lloyd. "If he comes out alone, make him bring out the others."

Lloyd nodded.

The little man stepped into the street and came toward them. Rous noted that he carried a smaller
version of the flame-thrower in his right hand. As the man drew near, he attempted to register an
expression of astonishment.

"WhatтАЩs the matter?" he asked. "Why are you stopping people?"

The little man gave no answer until he had come to within 5 yards of Rous and his 2 companions.

"Where are you from?" he asked suspiciously.

"From Wollaston," Rous told him.

Wollaston was a fairly large island in the Central Sea. The people who lived there represented a
separate race, semi-civilized, whose average height was 8 to 10 inches greater than the normal Mirsalese.

"From Wollaston?!" inquired the guard in astonishment. "On foot?"

"No. We came by plane as far as Resaz and from there by bus to Keyloghal. From that point on, of
course, we came on foot."
"Credentials please?"