"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0053 - (45) Unknown Sector Milky Way" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Perry picked up the alien thought currents just as he was about to step into the lock. He whirled around and at his first glance he detected a dark hole in the ground about a hundred yards distant, just as something long and round was emerging from it.
He did not hesitate for a second. He threw himself clear of the transport belt and off to one side-in the same moment that Belal's first shot left the barrel of the launcher.

* * * *

Rodrigo froze in bewilderment and did not know what to do. Laury cried out in alarm but her scream was drowned out by the cracking roar of a concussion that rocked the ship and darkened the picture on the panorama viewscreen.
She managed to get to the control console. "Turn on the defence screen!" she called to Rodrigo.
But Rodrigo didn't even know what a defence screen was, much less how one turned it on or off. Something white flashed across the damaged viewscreen. A second explosion shook the ship. Laury was knocked off her feet to the deck. She crawled forward on her knees.
The space jet suffered a 3rd hit before Laury could throw on the defence screens.
But the viewscreen did not light up again. It exhibited a slight sputter when a belated shot came toward the ship and exploded harmlessly against the defence screen outside; but otherwise it was dead.
The ship was damaged.
Rodrigo suddenly came to his senses. "Rhodan is in danger!" he shouted. "I have to go out to him!"
Laury didn't have time to worry about him. "He can take care of himself!" she declared.
But Rodrigo would not be stopped. In a few quick steps he was at the airlock. He operated the opening mechanism and slipped through before the hatch had opened more than half a yard. In his haste he overlooked the fact that he was weaponless-he didn't even have his sword. True to his nature, all he could think of was to help. He could hardly wait for the inner hatch to close. As the outer one opened automatically, Rodrigo darted out, down the lift belt and out onto the plain. "Rhodan!" he shouted. "Rhodan... where are you?"
The defence screen was not able to block anyone who came from inside its perimeter, so Rodrigo did not feel it. He left the protective shield and ran on farther, shouting as he went...

* * * *

"There comes one of them!" cried Belal. He was lying up on the edge of the exit hole. The rocket launcher had ceased firing since its missiles had splattered uselessly against an invisible wall in front of the ship.
Belal always carried his pistol with him. He raised it and took his time until the stranger who had left the ship came closer to him, still shouting and searching about. Then he pulled the trigger and emptied his magazine.
Rodrigo heard the first report. Something struck him with a terrible force in his chest. He toppled over backward and was dead before he struck the ground.

* * * *

The first hit had blasted Rhodan far to one side. His suit's defence screen warded off the main effect of the explosion, and the antigrav generator prevented him from falling to the ground, allowing him to sink down gently.
But the shock wave of the blast had slung him about 200 yards away from the space jet. It took him some time to extricate the small transmitter from his pocket, which he had used moments before to shut off the defence screen. Valuable seconds passed but fortunately Laury succeeded in the meantime in putting the screen back in action.
As Rhodan sent out his code signal he saw a rocket explode at some distance from the walls of the ship. Breathing a sigh of relief, he let himself sink completely to the ground. In order to keep cover, he retraced the distance on foot.
He saw Rodrigo dash out of the ship and heard him call. He answered but Rodrigo didn't hear him. Then he saw a man rise up partially from the hole he had seen before and he witnessed the shooting. He jerked out his weapon and fired blindly at the sniper.
The scorching energy beam overshot the target. And Rodrigo crumpled under the withering pistol fire.

* * * *

"Get out of here!" screamed Belal in terror. "Here comes the stranger!"
He had heard the hiss of the energy blast that missed him by only a few yards and he had seen Perry. The 2 soldiers prepared to pull the long barrel of the launcher back into the tunnel and close the hatch cover but Belal drove them from it. "No time to lose!" he gasped. "Just run-get out!"
They hurried along through the passage, Havan in the lead. In his excitement Belal failed to notice that Havan had suddenly made an astonishing recovery from his recent state of lethargy.
After about a half mile the tunnel made a sharp turn. Belal remained behind and let Havan and the 2 soldiers ran onward. When they were out of sight, Belal reached up for a small ring that protruded from an inconspicuous place in the ceiling of the passage. He pulled out a small length of chain toward him and when he let loose of it the chain and the ring returned upward to their original positions.
Belal waited patiently. After a few seconds he heard a roll of thunder and then a moment later the excavated passageway back of the turning point caved in. Clouds of dust welled forward and enshrouded Belal's figure.
Then he turned and hurried after Havan and the soldiers. The stranger would have a difficult time of it to clear all the rubble away and pick up the trail that led to the secret laboratory.
Nevertheless, a few minutes later after Havan and the 2 soldiers had reached the actual laboratory entrance, he posted a guard of 20 men there and cautioned them to keep their eyes open.
When he was back in his headquarters he received a report from a middleman who had the assignment of keeping an eye on events outside in the Sallon bunker. The situation was favourable. The accomplice told him that only one stranger was left in the bunker. Belal did not feel that this one man could be dangerous to him so he gave the order for everybody to stand by to move out.
Havan heard about it and went to Belal. "What are you planning to do?" he wanted to know.
"We put that ship out of commission," Belal explained to him, "and now we're also going to capture its crew."
"By the Almighty Soul!" groaned Havan. "Do you think that's so simple a task? The aliens have weapons that we..."
Belal waved away his objections. "Get off that eternal pessimism of yours. Did you look at the stranger from the spaceship that I shot? Didn't he seem to you to be out of his mind? I think all this time that we've given the strangers more credit than they deserve. So what if they have a few superior weapons? It's only a small crew and if you corner them in a real emergency they lose their heads. No, Havan, our prospects are very good. In just about 2 more days we're going to have this situation under control!"
Havan left the room without another word. He deliberately acted as though he considered all their plans to be hopeless but secretly he believed that Belal was right.
But in view of this very fact it was high time that Belal was eliminated. Under no circumstances could Havan wait now until the strangers fell into Belal's hands. The triumph that he would harvest then, not to mention the weapons he'd get hold of, would make it impossible to dislodge him from his new position of power.
Havan started his preparations.

* * * *