"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan - Atlan 03 - Pale Country Pursuit" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Too smooth! The sudden thought struck me. The characteristic ripple markings of the wind were missing.
"As I veered away from the area in a half circle, Fratulon commented: "What happening-a twitch of instinct?"
"You could call it that."
"In the past few hours the snow ghosts have been strangely quiet," remarked Ice Claw.
"Let's hope they stay that way!" said Farnathia.
I had been watching her almost continuously whenever time and task permitted it. She wasn't merely a beauty, she also had brains. In this present situation, which was an entirely new experience to her, she carried on as though such perils had been a part of her existence. She was one of us.
"I'd like to think that but I'm not counting on it," I said reluctantly and I concentrated on the stretch ahead.
The vehicle was bumping with a hard screeching of springs over unknown rough spots hidden under the snow. The denuded trees and the weird rock formations glided past.
As I suddenly muttered a curse, Fratulon looked at me. "What's wrong, lad?"
"I have a nagging suspicion-Do you think it's possible for the snow ghosts to have planted a trap for us here?"
Fratulon was polishing a spot on his armour with the fur sleeve of his cloak. "Yes and no," he said finally. "They'd attack at any opportunity but I don't think they're smart enough to do any premeditated planning."
"Just the same I'm suspicious," I answered curtly.
"That's not only your privilege," he countered, "it's part of our life insurance!"
I steered the car on a continuing zigzag course or made sharp turns when necessary around the gaunt trees, the weird rocks and the conical earth formations, all the while keeping a wary eye on every part of the scenery. Finally I adjusted the feed valves and came to a stop.
"I'm not driving any farther!" I announced grimly. "You surprise me, lad!" said Fratulon.
"As far as I'm concerned I'll bet you there's a deep pitfall somewhere out there in the direction we're heading. If we keep going this way we'll fall right into it."
Fratulon stopped trying to polish his armour. "I'm getting out," was all he said.
He yanked the hatch open, paused in the circular opening for a moment and then jumped down into the snow. As I slowly moved the car forward he ran ahead and found a tree from which he cut a straight length of branch. As I followed him he probed the ground ahead with his staff and beckoned me onward. We progressed at a walk like that for some length of time while he searched for a pitfall under the innocent-looking white snow. Farnathia and Ice Claw leaned forward and watched him through the front windshield.
"Do you really believe they've made a trap for us?" the girl whispered to me.
"Yes, I feel it so strongly that I almost know it's there," I answered.
I kept the car edging forward. Sawbones ran through the deep snow heading North. He kept on raising his stick and jabbing it downward at the ground. But finally he stopped and shrugged. He turned and made a sign that he was at a loss. The ground was as solid and hard as ever.
I opened a window and yelled out to him. "Up ahead! About 100 paces-I can see it plainly!"
"I'll watch my step! Keep behind me!"
"OK!" I shouted back.
The minutes dragged as though stretched out by an invisible agency. The wheels and tractor treads shoved us slowly onward between the trees and the rocks. Fratulon kept leading the way, still on smooth and apparently solid ground.
My tension increased. Instinct told me that in this region lay a trap of some kind. I didn't know in what form it might appear or even what it would look like or function. Just an instinct, nothing more. But also nothing less. I broke out into a clammy sweat as my nerves tightened under the rising suspense. Nothing happened. We kept driving slowly onward and straight ahead.
Suddenly Fratulon raised his hand. "Stop!" he yelled out loudly.
Still drifting toward him, I smiled. So it was true! My intuition hadn't deceived me. The tree branch sank deeply into the snow. Fratulon turned and signalled for me to stop.
I slowed down still more as I leaned out the side window and called to him. "Did you really find it? A pitfall?"
He shouted back: "No-something worse, Atlan: an earth crevasse!"
My brows shot up as I hit the brakes. A crevasse was worse than a pitfall. We had no equipment or means to get across such an obstacle. It looked as if our flight had come to an end at this point. I opened the door and jumped out. In about 20 strides I was at Fratulon's side.
A canyon-like split in the earth lay before us. There was a bottom to it but who could say what that layer of snow and ice down there might yet conceal-a bottomless drop?
I met Sawbones' yellow-eyed gaze as he pointed to it. "It looks bad," he said.
"So how do we get around this one?" I asked in some desperation.
And his answer astounded me. "I don't know. I see snow and ice down there but no ground. The snow buggy could drop through. Presumably we have to go around this."
This is what we had been daily expecting without realizing it or consciously daring to take it into account. Before us lay a possible abyss which made further progress impossible.
And the Kralasenes were somewhere behind us...








5/ THROUGH THE VALLEY OF STEAM

How deep was the earth-rift actually? Was it conceivable that it could somehow be crossed?
"What can we do, Fratulon? So far you've managed to get us through every obstacle we've encountered."
"I'll do it this time also," he answered, "but I have to think a little bit first."