"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0041 - (33) The Giant's Partner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

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The drive pulse aggregates of the Titan suddenly came to life. Thora gave the signal for all-out alarm. The crew, which meanwhile had been perfectly drilled, rendered the gigantic spacecraft ready for immediate defensive action within 4 minutes.
However orders were to avoid a battle where mainly innocent victims would be killed. Therefore flight was the only possibility to foil the attack by the Zalite fleet.
In the next hangar the Ganymede was lifting off on the meanwhile activated gravitational fields and soon shot with unimaginable speed up into the dark skies of Zalit. A few seconds-then the 2400-foot-long space ship had vanished.
Blinding flashes came from the cannons at the edge of the landing field. Dazzling energy beams chased after the fleeing spaceship but glanced off ineffectively from its defence screens. Now the batteries swung around and bombarded the Titan.
Thora observed how the energy rays burst on impact on her protective forcefields and then scattered in all directions. Farther away in the background the first destroyers of the Zalite fleet lifted off, intent on attacking the Titan from above.
She switched on the intercom.
"Attention! Calling all hands! Well start in 10 seconds! Top acceleration with all neutralizers running. Transition in 11 minutes!"
Thora didn't know how many of the hostile ships were already aloft above the spaceport, ready to attack; she only knew that she was leaving Rhodan behind on this world-and she was doing this because he wanted her to. She felt a coward but she had to bring this ship to safety-and she had to spare the life of the enemies.
5 seconds, to go.
She was seized by the most intense dilemma of emotions she had ever experienced. Her right index finger slowly sank lower over the starting button. She would depress it firmly, the Arkonide reactors would release their energies-and the giant vessel would be hurled into the black sky with incredible force-into a sky which in reality was not black but a confusion of glittering stars.
The last second seemed to last longer than any before.
But now it too had passed and then all hell broke loose on the landing field of Tagnor.
The Titan shot up into the night sky and effortlessly broke through the echelons of the waiting destroyers. The protective screens surrounding the Zalite ships were nullified when the energy bell enveloping Rhodan's battleship impinged on them while passing through. Unsteady, like withered leaves, 10, 20 destroyers tumbled out of the sky, down to the ground where they smashed, breaking up in a huge jet of flame. The suction of the mile-wide sphere alone destroyed 3 energy-cannon emplacements and the underground installations on the landing field.
Thora was unaware of all this. She kept staring at the videoscreens and hardly paid attention to Lt. Tifflor, who silently was sitting in his navigation-seat a few yards away from the Arkonide woman, never once taking his eyes off her.
Tiff had no idea what the true reasons were for Thora's pent-up anger; he assumed her eagerness to be due to her desire to annihilate the foe. It did not occur to him that Rhodan might be responsible for Thora's vile temper.
Then the planet sank away below the Titan, soon to be swallowed up by the deeps of space. As soon as the speed of light was attained the transition took place.
When the Titan returned from hyperspace into the 4th dimension, the Ganymede was standing at a distance of about 0.005 light-seconds from the emerging Titan, so precise were the calculations even though both ships had covered a distance of exactly 2 light-years in the meantime.

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Pucky materialized in front of the awestruck eyes of the rebels. To his great regret he had no time to bask in the light of their obvious admiration. Rhodan's desperate appeal for help was still too fresh in his memory.
"Adm. Zernif," urged the mouse-beaver, "would you have in your possession a detailed map of the Zarlt's palace? Especially of its underground installations? It's most pressing!"
The leader of the rebels motioned a man to come closer.
"When you found the secret passage didn't you make a plan?"
"Of course. Rogal has it."
"Thank you!" twittered Pucky-and vanished.
A very perplexed Zernif and several wide open mouths remained behind.
Pucky knew where Rogal was at the moment, namely in the farthest advanced post of the rebel bide-outs, barely 300 feet before the palace entrance. A corridor connected the 2 rebel centres.
But Pucky felt too rushed to run this distance-his short legs were most unsuitable for such efforts. He simply concentrated his thoughts on his destination-and jumped.
As a precaution he landed on the surface, in this case in a park.
All seemed quiet. The red glow of the nearby palace tempted Pucky to act on his own hook but then reason won out-and prudence.
Who knew where he might land if he were to jump at random?
Two additional teleportation attempts brought him to the hideout. Rogal almost fell off the stool on which he had just sat down. The other Zalites. stared at Pucky as if they were seeing a ghost. Despite the serious situation Pucky grinned back and, pleased about the commotion he had created, he displayed his incisor. Then he emitted a loud and dissonant whistle, waddled over to Rogal and chirped:
"I need the map of the palace-I'm especially interested in the layout of the basement. Rhodan is in danger."
Rogal jumped up. He began searching through his pockets but could not find the plan. He looked puzzled. Then he remembered.
"I don't have the map. It's probably still in the old headquarters where we were earlier and..."
He spoke into empty space. Pucky was no longer present. While Rogal was still completing his sentence the little mouse-beaver was already carrying out a search in the old headquarters and found the map in the breast pocket of a uniform jacket draped over the back of a chair. He executed a short leap to visit briefly with Wuriu Sengu and Kitai Ishibashi. The 2 mutants were very unhappy to be condemned to sit around inactively, unable to be of any help.
"Where have you been all this time?" growled Sengu. "What's the matter with Rhodan?"
"He's been taken prisoner, don't you know?" Pucky countered saucily, then studied the map. A little while later his bared incisor revealed its owner's mood had changed and become more optimistic. "We must come to his aid before it is too late. The Mooffs' suggestive thought streams are superimposed on Marshall's telepathic impulses. I can't receive him any more. This is why I fetched this plan; it will help me calculate properly where to jump. I'm going back alone again to explore the territory. Then I'll return to pick up Wuriu. And, as soon as we know precisely where the prisoners and the Mooffs are holed up, I'll come to fetch Kitai-then we'll attack. Is that clear?"
A little confused, the 2 Japanese mutants shook their heads. Although they had known Pucky for quite some time already it still impressed them as strange when an oversize Mickey Mouse asked 2 adult men if they understood something.
Pucky misinterpreted their head shaking.
"I want to know if you get me...!"
Eagerly and still confused the 2 men nodded their heads in affirmation but Pucky had once more disappeared.
After all, he could read minds...