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

"Actually it's the best course for us," Perry hastened to explain, "if we make ourselves a bit scarce around here. A crowd of people are on our tail."
Ivsera and Feriar looked around. But the tunnel lay empty behind them as it had been all along.
Perry reached into his pocket and handed Feriar the small weapon that he had used before to stun the 2 sentinels. At the same time he indicated the passage through which they had come.
"If you see anybody in that direction," he explained, "aim the muzzle at them and depress the red button. That will keep them off our backs. And keep an eye toward Fenomat as well; it may be that Belal will try a pincers movement to catch us between."
His instructions were accepted without comment. Feriar took the strange weapon gingerly and observed it. Ivsera drew close to him, overcome by curiosity as to where Perry had produced the long-barreled apparatus he suddenly held in his hands. As he turned the device on the left wall of the passage, Ivsera saw a brilliant greenish cone of energy sweep out from the end of the device and the wall began to disintegrate. In a matter of seconds the wide-sweeping green flame had made a deep hole and the atomized rock rolled in a gaseous cloud along the tunnel in both directions.
Perry was deeply absorbed in his work yet he seemed to sense Ivsera's and Feriar's astonishment. "On guard, Feriar," he advised, "or they can be on top of us before we know it." The mysterious green funnel of force worked soundlessly and with uncanny swiftness.
Ivsera watched in amazement but then she was distracted by a new development. A rumble of footsteps and a clamour of shouting rang through the passage from the direction of the Sallon bunker. In the light of the ceiling lamps, soldiers came into view who were running toward them through the tunnel.
Although already deep into the wall, Perry was aware of their approach. "Hold them off for just a few moments," he called to Feriar. "Then we'll have it made!"
Feriar trembled more out of fear for the unknown weapon he held than for the soldiers. As he raised the short, compact barrel toward the Sallon mob, the men recognized the two and stormed toward them with angry shouts.
"Shoot!" cried Ivsera anxiously.
Feriar pressed the red button. The effect of the shot was greater than they had imagined. As though they had run with full force into a wall, the men were thrown back, falling unconscious to the ground.
The ones bringing up the rear didn't understand what had happened to the advance troops but they perceived the danger. They took cover behind the bodies of the unconscious men and raised their rifles.
Feriar hesitated.
"Watch out!" cried Ivsera. "Get down!"
In the same instant she lunged forward into a prone position while the guns up ahead began to roar. Feriar remained standing and again raised his weapon. He fired and caused another wave of Sallon men to become silent. Only a few isolated shots came through the passage.
Ivsera heard bullets ricochet from the walls in a mournful howl. A few metal fragments fell directly in front of her and came to rest within her reach. Wonderingly, Ivsera picked one up and looked at it. It was a rifle bullet which some incomprehensible force had caused to slow down and fall powerlessly to the ground.
As though through a thick wall she heard Perry's voice. "Come on! I'm far enough!"
Feriar just stood there staring off toward the unconscious men in the main passage. Ivsera was forced to push him gently into the side tunnel that Perry had created. She noted with astonishment that in the meantime the now excavation had become about 50 yards long. Perry stood at the end of it and beckoned to them.
"We have to block their Way!" he called. "Hurry!" As Feriar broke out of his trance and began to walk swiftly, he added: "Come up close to me."
Then he aimed his long-barreled weapon against the ceiling of the new tunnel. By cutting thin slits in the rock with a narrow beam of force, he soon caused the bore to cave in. Finally the side passage was choked tight with debris for a length of about 30 yards.
"That ought to do it," Perry chuckled. "I think it'll take them at least 3 days to clear away the rubble."
Then he continued his labours ahead until in a short time he broke through into the Fenomat tunnel. They were in luck as they saw that the passage was empty. Either the Sallon forces had not yet discovered it or more likely they were not patrolling it because it served no purpose to them.

* * * *

In the lowest level of Fenomat, surprisingly there were only 2 sentinels standing at the exit of the Sallon tunnel, which happened to be precisely in Havan's former office. Ivsera could imagine the expression on Havan's face when the wall behind him collapsed and the Sallon soldiers stormed in upon him.
With a single shot, Perry took care of the 2 guards. Feriar helped him take them into a neighbouring room. He explained that the intensity of the shot should be sufficient to keep the two unconscious for 2 days. Thus it would be in their favour if nobody discovered the sentries before then.
Feriar studied Perry gravely. He hesitated for awhile and finally expressed himself. "We are very grateful to you and we also know that you are some kind of superior being on Isan. But we would be more at ease if you would tell us what your intentions are, and above all, why..."
Perry nodded. "Very well. I can take care of the first question very easily: I intend to retake the Fenomat bunker. A partial answer to your 2nd question is: if Belal gets possession of the Fenomat bunker he will have taken his first step toward being the top power on all of Isan. Because as far as I know there's no other place on Isan where 2 bunkers are this close together and accordingly there would be no other single ruler over 2 bunkers, except Belal. So Belal will try to grab all the power on Isan and since he is the most powerful of them all to start with, he would succeed." Perry paused to smile sarcastically. "In view of the fact that Belal wants to establish a dictatorship on the entire planet, we'll have to cut his water off."
Feriar nodded earnestly.
"And the other part of the answer?" asked Ivsera.
"We have to be together a while longer before I can give you the whole answer. Just now there isn't enough time.
Feriar intervened: "You're equipped with a number of weapons that assure you an absolute superiority over any individual opponent. But do you also believe that you can overpower the military forces of this bunker, which are at least a thousand armed men? I mean: a bunker installation and its arrangement are complicated. For a single man, it's just about impossible to maintain an overall view of the situation."
Perry smiled patronizingly. "You can believe me when I tell you that I shall have no difficulties in the matter."
Perry dipped into one of the numberless pockets of his suit. He brought out something flat and square and small enough to hold easily in one hand. Ivsera heard him speak a few words into it as he brought it near his mouth but she could not understand what he said.
However, since there was only one language on all Isan and even the concept of an 'alien language' was unknown, Ivsera took this observation to mean that Perry was actually from another world.
It was apparent that Feriar was still far from reaching such a conclusion. He stared at Perry incredulously as the latter spoke into the apparatus and was shocked when a strange voice was heard suddenly coming out of the device, speaking in the same unknown tongue that Perry was using.

* * * *

John Marshall had taken over Perry Rhodan's post while the latter concerned himself with the course of the undertaking he had overheard Killarog discussing.
The transmission that so astonished Ivsera and Feriar had been directed at him. Marshall received a short briefing on the situation below and then the instructions: "Arm yourself with a disintegrator and a thermo raygun and join me down here. We'll wipe this place up from 2 sides. Laury stays with Rodrigo. Do you read me?"
"Perfectly. I'll keep in contact with you, sir."
"Good," concluded Rhodan. "Try not to kill anybody."

* * * *

The re-conquest of the Fenomat bunker was little more than a farce. Perry walked through the corridors and stunned all opposition with his uncanny weapon. It was left to Ivsera and Feriar to segregate the Fenomat people from the Sallon people, to allow the first group to regain consciousness by themselves and to tie up the latter group.
At the start, Perry had closed the openings of both tunnel excavations so that Sallon would have no way, at least underground, to send reinforcements of men or material into Fenomat.
All told, Fenomat consisted of a hundred levels. With his far reaching weapon, Perry required no more than an hour to clean up each level. From time to time he would use his small, square box device to converse in his strange language with another man. The only thing he revealed to Ivsera and Feriar concerning the brief conversations was that a friend had started to mop up the bunker from above and that they would soon meet him at about the 50th level.