" Perry Rhodan 0062 - (54) The Blue Dwarfs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

 To the 4 occupants of the helicopter, the view offered by the radiantly clear light of the blue-white sun
was overpowering in its size and loneliness. Mountains that no human eye had ever seen at close range
reared far distant into the blue-white heavens, torn by faults and crevices that seemed to stretch deep into
the heart of the planet itself. Where the mountainsides had consisted of relatively soft rock, rain, frost and
storm had eaten away weird and uncanny shapes that seemed to stand guard over the ravines.

Mullon brought the helicopter up to 12000 feet for an overview of the foothills. Next to him sat Freddy,
operating the built-in camera. Foot after foot of film sped humming through the machine from one reel to
the other.

Meanwhile Milligan and Pashen surveyed the terrain below with their naked eyes. Shortly Milligan
spotted a whitish-grey spot immediately below, moving swiftly across the face of a steeply rising
mountain wall. So the mountains were not as devoid of life as they had seemed at first glance. There were
animals down there and if one could see them from an altitude of about 6000 feet, they had to be rather
large.

Mullon was a technician and knew his way around helicopters. He knew, therefore, that he could not
descend much farther before he would be required to determine the patterns of air movements over the
mountains. To descend suddenly into the confusion of conflicting winds and collisions of air masses of
differing temperatures would be sheer folly.

Mullon spent the next 2 hours finding where the dangerous areas were and where he could move without
risk. Then he let the helicopter drop to a low altitude and glide along just above the sides of the
mountains.

But the animals Milligan had seen earlier had disappeared.

Mullon sent the helicopter through a narrow pass whose bottom lay some 7500 feet above the foot of
the mountains. The pass stretched for some miles through the mountains, beneath extremely high rock
walls that seemed to touch the sky on either side. On the other side of the mountain ridge, the pass
opened up on a deep and broad valley which, to MullonтАЩs surprise, was heavily overgrown with bushes
and isolated trees. The valley ran more or less exactly from north to south and with its shadow-casting
plant growth seemed so fitting for a temporary camp that Mullon landed the helicopter without further
hesitation. He brought it down next to a huge plant growth that stood by itself in the midst of the valley
floor.

The silence that followed the landing of the helicopter was not unimpressive. A soft wind blew through
the wide valley and slightly rustled the smallest branches on the treesтАФand that was the only sound to be
heard.

Freddy shut the camera off. Mullon turned around and addressed Milligan and Pashen. "Break out the
tent and put it up under the tree. WeтАЩre going to stay here for awhile, I think."

Milligan and Pashen responded by setting to work with energetic fervour while Freddy and Mullon
remained sitting in the helicopter cab.

Freddy stared off into the sun-splashed valley where heat waves seemed to dance in the distance. She
murmured: "A strange worldтАж but a wonderful one!"

Mullon was less inclined to sentimentality. "It might as well be hell if we canтАЩt find any water nearby!"