" Perry Rhodan 0080 - (72) Caves of the Druufs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

hue which corresponded to one of Earth. Here and there solitary rock-needles, monoliths, soared
upwards, climbing to dizzying heights despite their thinness. Their needle-sharp peaks pointed to a brown
sky and the little turquoise clouds floating beneath it. It was not possible to determine the source of the
light in the sky. Probably the daystar of the planet was about to rise. Not far from the Druuf ship the
rocky ground dipped downward, forming a basin several hundred meters in diameter that was filled with
a ruby-red fluid. A mild wind rippled the surface of the lake and from time to time little waves spilled over
the edge of the rocky basin onto the plain.

It was a fairytale landscape, wonderful to behold and as poisonous as a toadstool. EverythingтАФthe rock
formations, the vast plain, the little cloudsтАФindicated that the atmosphere consisted of ammonia and
methane, as was the case with many grandiose but useless planetary giants found in almost every
planetary system.

As they glided down the rollramp they were astonished by the fact that the gravity of the fairyland
seemed to be the same as it had been on board ship. They did not know that the shell of an artificial
gravity field widely enveloped the Druuf ship. The border lay several meters beyond the foot of the
rollway.

Only upon crossing the border did they discover their error. A giant fist knocked them down and held
them pinned to the ground. Panic-stricken at first, they writhed about trying to get back on their feet, but
they achieved nothing more than utter exhaustion. Then they lay still and recalled the rules they had
learned for coping with extreme pressure. They relaxed and forced their lungs to draw breath. Slowly
they drew up their knees and leaned on their arms which threatened to give way under the massive
weight. Centimetre by centimetre they drew themselves up. When they had managed to stand upright it
felt as if they were strapped in a brace that was pressing them to the ground with all its might.

But they remained on their feet. Around them swarmed the Druufs, three meters tall on their Cyclops
legs. Although accustomed to higher gravitation than the Terranians, they were nonetheless a bit
awkward and stooped under the enormous pressure of this world.

Perry Rhodan estimated the gravitation at a bit below 3-normal. Much later they determined that the
exact value was 2.60-normal. This meant a load that the human body could endure for awhile without
injury but under which it would collapse upon longer exposure.

The Druufs made no attempt to ease the burden of their prisoners. They herded them in the direction of
the closest monolith and the Terranians complied, dragging themselves towards it. If, while gliding down
the rollramp, they had still given any thought whatsoever to seeking some opportunity to escape here in
this colourful methane wasteland; such thoughts were long extinguished by the gruelling strain that sapped
all their strength.

Perry Rhodan still retained some semblance of cool reflection. He knew that their situation would be
completely hopeless if they werenтАЩt able to determine where this planet was situated, although he really
had no clear notion of how this information could be of use. To date human knowledge about the foreign
universe inhabited by the Druufs was more than scanty. The Terranians were acquainted with the Siamed
System, the native system of the Druufs, and they were also acquainted with the two solitary worlds they
called Solitude and Crystal PlanetтАФwithout knowing, however, where the two planets stood in relation
to the Siamed System. Even their knowledge of the native system of the Druufs was incomplete, in
keeping with the haste and secrecy necessarily accompanying their investigations. The Siamed System
revolved about a double sun, a red giant and a star whose wavelength of maximum energy was 5,000
Angstrom, making it appear yellowish-green to the human eye. The system was composed of 62 planets