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

assumed.

The place, for example, where the Druufs indicated they were to get off the conveyer and wait at the
edge of the passage until three of the ungainly doors on the right side of the passage had been opened,
lay about 400 meters away from the entrance to the caverns. And in the diffuse light from invisible
sources it could be seen that the passageway extended at least once again far into the depths of the rocky
plains.

What Perry Rhodan had taken to be doors finally proved to be an ingenious airlock construction
designed to prevent the poisonous methane atmosphere of the outside world from entering. Behind the
airlocks, through which the Druufs were leading their prisoners, lay a series of rooms. To the great
astonishment of the Terranians, they were furnished with all the benefits and achievements of Druuf
civilization, leaving no comfort to be desired. Unlike the passageway walls, the walls had been
painstakingly smoothed and covered with colourful layers of heat insulator. Thick, springy plastic
sheeting, used by the Druufs in place of carpets, covered the floor, and the furniture was more than ample
and varied, even though somewhat large and cumbersome by Earth standards. It was evident that the
Druufs had gone to great lengths to provide a few rooms in the depths of their cavern system in which
they themselves could comfortably live for weeks or even months at a time, although far from all
civilization. Because it suited their purposeтАФfor they were not motivated by feelings of friendship
towards humansтАФthey were apparently prepared to turn over this excessive comfort to their prisoners.

One of the Druufs equipped with a communicator pointed out to the Terranians that the rooms were
filled with breathable air and that they thus could take off their spacesuits. Aside from that they were to
wait until someone came to tend to them. He gave no indication of when this might come about.

The suite consisted of three rooms altogether. The prisoners looked them over after they had rid
themselves of their spacesuits and after the Druuf, who had thus far accompanied them, had left, taking
the suits with him. The furniture was designed for the bodily dimensions of the Druufs. The bandy-legged
chairs were so large that two men could comfortably sit in them side by side. Just one of the peculiar
suspension frames fastened to the ceiling with thin bars that served the Druufs as beds would do to
accommodate all four prisoners at once. The row of perfectly circular washbasins that lined the wall of
one of the smallest of the three rooms would suffice to fulfil the sanitary needs of an entire army. One
washbasin was large enough to serve as a bathtub in an emergency for a Terranian of not too husky
build.

There were many things whose significance they did not immediately recognizeтАФfor example, a table.
Normally there was only the tabletop to be seen resting directly on the floor. For quite awhile they
speculated on the function of this diskтАФuntil Reginald Bell, hoping to gain some insight, stepped on the
rounded head of the table and apparently touched off a concealed contact. The disk sprang up and with
the support of four sunken legs became a table. Though the prisoners could never use it, as they could
just barely peep over the top when it was in position for use, at least the puzzle had been solved.

After an hour of inspection they were clearly informed about the furnishings of their prison. The Druuf
surveillance system was also clear to them. It was primitive but uncannily effective: they had taken away
the spacesuits. Hence they did not even have to take the trouble to bolt the airlocks. Perry Rhodan had
tried them out and the antechambers offered no resistance. OnlyтАФbeyond the outermost lock lay an
ammonia-methane atmosphere with a pressure of 2,500 Torr. Only a fool would choose to flee that path.
The Druufs did not even need a sentry.

That clarified everythingтАФwith the exception of the organ-like instrument attached to the wall of the