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

When Ivsera saw him reach for the control button, she cried out: "Stop! Think a minute before you jump into the fire! That has to be a trap. We haven't come across a single human here today and in spite of that the main lift has been left at this level..."
"So what!" Killarog interrupted her gruffly. "Don't get in my way, girl. In a few minutes we'll have the whole bunker in our hands!"
He hit the call button and the elevator door rolled to one side. He was about to plunge into the lift cabin but at the first step he came to a stop as though he had run into an invisible wall.
With a hoarse shout he aimed his pistol and fired at the group of men who stood with raised weapons inside the lift.
He didn't get very far. He was met with an answering fire and soon crumpled down in the cross hail of machine-pistol bursts. In the narrow confines of the lock chamber the enemy barrage wounded 5 more men from Fenomat. Ivsera saw them topple. Her 2 remaining companions threw down their weapons and pressed against the wall, crying out in their distress.
Ivsera held her ground but with her gun barrel pointed to the floor. "Stop it, you fools!" she shouted angrily at the Sallon men. "Enough blood has been spilled already. We surrender."
At this moment she heard the door open behind her. She turned and saw a 2nd group of Sallon men standing there.
"Everything under control?" asked the nearest of the newcomers.
"Almost everything," answered one of the men in the elevator. "This fool killed Ifers and has wounded Holran badly. But the girl wants to surrender."
"Girl?" laughed the first speaker. "Are they so short of men in Fenomat that they have to send girls?"
Ivsera did not answer. She was consumed by her anger at Killarog whose bad battle fever had brought this misfortune upon them.
She heard somebody asking her: "How many Fenomat troops are still behind you?"
"None," she answered.
"I don't believe that."
"That's your problem!"
"Look, woman, if you-"
"Hold it!" a gruff voice ordered. "We'll cross-examine her down below. You stay outside until we're sure that nobody else is following up from Fenomat. There won't be much action for long because Garok says he's making good headway."
Ivsera deduced that Garok must be the leader of the subterranean attack on Fenomat.
The man in the elevator who had last spoken was evidently the leader here of the surface task force, since everyone obeyed his orders. The 2nd group returned outside to their posts and the outer chamber door was closed.
Killarog had mentioned that the grass offered good concealment. And equally for the men of Sallon, Ivsera added mentally.
Killarog was dragged into the lift cabin along with the other wounded, of whom 2 had become still in the meantime. The 2 remaining Fenomat men who had discarded their weapons were pushed in next.
"Surrender your weapon!" demanded the leader of the group, turning to Ivsera.
The young woman obeyed without a word but in spite of his outstretched hand she let the weapon fall to the floor. It was with some wonderment that she heard him laugh.
"Are you proud, girl? You haven't much reason to be."
She looked at him for the first time through the viewplate of his helmet she saw an intelligent face that had matured perhaps prematurely. The man looked as if the pressure of the situation had made him forget how to smile.
She felt that she owed him an answer. "If I had had my own way," she said, "perhaps by now there would be reason enough."
The man nodded gravely but in a friendly manner. Then, after he had closed the elevator door, he pressed a button which would drop them to one of the lower levels.
The lift cage set itself in motion.

* * * *

During the hour that the elevator required to reach its destination, Ivsera had time to review her situation.
The deeper they penetrated into the earth the more improbable it became that Ther would be able to reach them with his weak transmitter. Up till now he had not broadcast any further message and Ivsera did not deceive herself about it. No news was bad news.
She recalled to mind what Killarog had said about the armaments of the Sallon people in comparison though those of Fenomat. She was impressed by the fact that these men around her were more energetic and spirited than the people she had known in Fenomat. Hunger had placed its mark upon their features and perhaps it was this that motivated their superior aggression.
At the halfway point in their descent, all radiation suits were removed. Ivsera breathed a sigh of relief as the heavy outer apparel slipped off her shoulders. But she was astonished to observe that the Sallon men were better clothed than the men of Fenomat. They wore even more than she, a woman!
The man she had first spoken to turned to her. With a slight bow, he said, "My name is Feriar. I'm sorry your fate turned out so badly. As far as I am concerned, I only wanted to take you all captive. But that man over there..." He pointed to Killarog. "He alone is to blame for what happened."
He intoned the word 'I' so strangely that it alerted Ivsera. In the past half-hour she had regained some of her composure, so now she asked: "As far as you are concerned? And who else is there to be concerned about us?"
Feriar laughed sorrowfully. "I'm only one small wheel in the political machinery of Sallon. During the passage of time there's been some wear and tear on some of the gears around here and some of the cogs have been worn pretty thin. That's why many people are maybe concerned about removing some of them and replacing them with a new set of gears with sharper teeth."
He looked at Ivsera questioningly to see if she understood the allegory. She nodded dubiously and he continued. "Just keep one thing in mind: in Sallon the cogs get sharper as the wheels get bigger. They won't take this thing as easily as I do and I have to turn you over to them as soon as we arrive below."
With a faint smile Ivsera thanked him for the warning. Then she sat against the wall on her radiation suit so that she might the more easily endure the remainder of the journey. She stared into space, apparently lost in her thoughts.
There seemed to be an unspoken understanding between her and Feriar. After not having talked to his men in three-quarters of an hour, suddenly he appeared to have nothing more important to do than to issue orders to this one and that and to jump all over them if they didn't respond fast enough.
Meanwhile the lift cage sank deeper into the shaft.
Ivsera analysed her immediate position. Killarog's cramped, outstretched hand, still grasping the pistol, lay close to her foot. But apparently it would be difficult to open his hand and retrieve the weapon. Besides, if the pistol were to suddenly disappear it would attract attention.
On her right side lay one of the 5 wounded men who had become quiet in the meantime. He had his eyes closed and was breathing weakly. He had not had a chance to draw his pistol from its holster. It hung to one side, its edge balanced between barrel and handle grip against the plastic sheath that held it.
After awhile, Ivsera shifted so that she was closer to the wounded man. After another pause she bent over, pretending to examine her radiation suit on which she was sitting. When she saw that no one had taken notice of this, she finally made a 3rd manoeuvre. She took the pistol swiftly and hid it in the stomach of her dress, which constituted the principal covering of her scanty apparel.
Nobody saw the action.
Nobody?
Perhaps Feriar. But he took no notice of it. He simply stopped ordering his people about so obstreperously.

* * * *