" Perry Rhodan 0103 - (95) The Plasma Monster" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

We'll run a headline on the front page that our chief writer, Walt Ballin, has
been called to Terrania as an adviser to Perry Rhodan..." In that moment,
Walt Ballin turned in his notice without saying it in so many words. He
abruptly interrupted the proprietor of the great Europa News. "Mr. Jacquuse, I
am not Perry Rhodan's adviser or anything of the kind! And I will not allow
you to bring out any such announcement. Since it is now 12:58 I'll be leaving
the building in the next few minutes. Good day, Mr. Jacquuse!" The little fat
man stirred and got up from his chair. "You might as well have said farewell,
Mr. Ballin. After your interview with Rhodan is over, you won't find a chair
you can call your own in this newspaper building. But don't forget your
ticket. Without that pass you won't get by the robot. Shall we go?" . . .
. At 12:00 Standard Time, Lt. Harold Fitzgerald again took command of Relay
Station Ori-12-1818. Since Sgt. Stainless did not have any unusual events to
report, the latter retired to his cabin as he did every day at 12:00 to get
some well-deserved rest. Ori-12-1818 was stationed in an orbit around the
largest system in Orion, that of the giant red sun Betelgeuse. The super sun
had a diameter 500 times as large as that of Sol and had once possessed 14
planets but in recent times, only 118 years ago, the 3rd planet had been lost
in an atomic explosion. That was when the great fleets of the Springers and
the Topides had clashed in this section of the galaxy. The Galactic Traders
had mistaken the Topides for allies of the hated Terrans and the Topides had
believed Conrad Deringhouse's warning that the Springers had come here to
destroy Topide power in the region. The laughing 3rd party in the background
had been Perry Rhodan who at the time was fully occupied with the task of
concealing Earth's position when Terra which was still comparatively weak. By
a ruse he had contrived to falsify the vital data stored in the positronicon
of a Trader ship, leading them to believe that Earth was the 3rd planet of
Betelgeuse. The horrendous power of a single Arkon bomb had annihilated the
uninhabited world. Planet 4 was the world of Akvo, Earth-sized but with 95%
of its surface covered by water. It was a life-supporting world containing a
single continent that was about as large as Europe and here Terra had long
since established a trading settlement and built up a military Fleet base. In
the course of many decades the name Akvo had fallen into disuse. Now like all
the rest of the satellites of Betelgeuse, it was designated by a number.
Number 4 had thus become #3 and the methane-gas giant in the farthest orbit
was now #13. Every 3 months the crew of the relay station was relieved by
replacements from the 3rd planet. Lt. Fitzgerald had just completed his check
of all the controls and now that he had time for musings he began to think
about his forthcoming relief. At a distance of 172 million km beyond the 13th
planetary orbit, Ori-12-1818 circled the Betelgeuse System, using its
sensitive instruments to register every disturbance of the space-time
continuum. Although the spherical station was not equipped with high-powered
propulsion units it was an advanced bastion of the Solar Imperium on the outer
fringes of the Terran sphere of interest. Fitzgerald was tall and strikingly
lean in figure and was endowed with a crop of straw-blond hair. He was
startled out of his reverie by a drum-like rattling sound. The hypersensor
equipment had set off an alarm as it detected the transition of an unannounced
spaceship. The Solar Fleet maintained a continuous surveillance of all areas
of space which had been declared commercial territory for Terra. Any approach
flight by alien ships had to be announced beforehand. The relay stations