" Perry Rhodan 0072 - (64) The Ambassadors from Aurigel" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)Perry Rhodan 072 The Ambassadors From Aurigel 1/ MISSION: PEEP "I'm
worried," Wee-Nii emphasized with his high-pitched squeaky voice. "Why did the ship stop reporting?" Wee-Nii was almost 21/2 meters tall and very thin. His appearance indicated that he belonged to the privileged class of the nobility. Only for noblemen who had never performed physical work was it possible to grow so tall and slim. Those others who had to toil were never permitted by nature to grow taller than 2 meters and had to keep their girth under 60 centimetres. The man with whom Wee-Nii talked was of the same stature: Fij-Gul, Airfleet Officer of his Excellency the President-King. He was rather young and apparently little inclined to share Wee-Nii's concern. "What could've happened?" asked Fij-Gul somewhat derisively. "The transmitter could've broken down or something like that. I don't believe there's any cause for apprehension." Wee-Nii made an uncertain gesture with the spidery fingers of his hands. "Believing isn't good enough," he objected. "We've got to know! And knowledge is precisely what we lack. Capt. Sey-Wuun has given us only very scanty hints about the inhabitants of that planet. He considered them to be completely harmless. He even told us that it is fairly easy to find traitors among them who are willing to collaborate with us for their own advantage; but otherwise we don't know very much." "Except that we depend on them to deliver grain to us," Fij-Gul added. The admiral agreed with an emphatic gesture. "Yes indeed! His Excellency must have valid reasons for limiting the rations of the Airfleet so drastically. If Sey-Wuun doesn't come back within 10 days we'll have to ask His Excellency for an advance delivery because our men'll no longer have anything to eat." Fij-Gul walked over to the window and looked out at the city with its high-pointed towers and deep gorges of streets. superior. "There's nothing those primitive people can do to him." We-Nii spread his fingers again. "We don't even know if they're really so primitive," he argued. "Sey-Wuun has sighted the wreck of a large vehicle lying in the vicinity of their town. The agent he has won over assured him it was a spaceship in which the strangers had come to Weelie-Wee. Sey-Wuun gave orders to inspect it but his men didn't seem to understand much about it. They demolished some equipment to prevent the aliens from ever using it again but... well, I don't know. In any case, I'd be glad to hear again from Sey-Wuun." Fij-Gul thought for a moment. "And if we don't hear from him," he asked, "what are we going to do?" Wee-Nii looked at him, distraught. "I'm asking myself the same question. The wing of our Airfleet which serves in outer space consists of only 3 vessels which are in a class with Sey-Wuun's ship. If he has suffered an accident and doesn't come back with his ship, we have only 2 spaceships left. Would it be wise to send one of them to Weelie-Wee and run the risk that the aliens destroy or capture it too or whatever else they've done?" Fij-Gul demurred. "I don't think we should assume that the aliens are responsible if Sey-Wuun fails to return. I've heard his report. In his opinion there are only a few thousand poor fools living on Weelie-Wee who've got trouble to keep themselves alive. If anything happened to his ship, it must have occurred during the flight. Perhaps it collided with a meteor or something like that. If these were the true circumstances, we would undoubtedly send a 2nd vessel to Weelie-Wee. Don't you think?" Wee-Nii heaved a sigh. "I hope you're right, Fij," he replied, "but I'm afraid you indulge in wishful thinking. You'd like to get your own command of a |
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