"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0088 - (80) The Columbus Affair" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

They were still wondering if they had emerged in the right place when suddenly the aforementioned physicist swore aloud in a startling manner. "How long has the funnel been there? Just a few days, isn't that right? And how fast is light in Druuf space? Exactly 150 thousand km per second. According to that it's no wonder we haven't seen this apparition yet. Its light hasn't reached us yet, gentlemen! Fly farther ahead and it'll show itself-you'll have proof of how slow we were in finally coming to our senses!"
This was actually the reason for Tifflor's decision to make the second transition jump.
Now, following the second manoeuvre, all was revealed. The big viewscreens of the panob gallery couldn't encompass the full extent of the light phenomenon. Tifflor estimated its height to be in the range of 10 billion kilometres. At the mouth of the cone where the transitional effects began and the thing faded out it must have been about 20 million km in diameter.
These were tremendous measurements, yet in astronomical terms they were still small and insignificant At any rate the zone's diameter was sufficient to permit the passage of entire fleet formations without hindrance or danger into the Einstein continuum.
The tracking and sensor instruments of the California were reacting uninterruptedly to the new environment. The ship had emerged from hyperspace near the 15th planet. Planet 16, the home world of the Druufs, was just 250 million km away. The gleaming disc of the planet, named Druufon, now appeared about the size of a fist under magnification of the trans-light mass detectors. They were fairly close to the tubular end of the synthetic exit cone which had already had such fateful consequences for the Earth.
At least Tifflor hoped that the phenomenon was due to artificial causes. They still saw no sign of the reported space station. Tiff was thinking of calling the Hades base for more information but it was still too dangerous because a radio call could betray them more easily than the presence of the cruiser itself.
The thundering super power of the engines shook the hull in every seam. They were putting on all the brakes in order to cut down their entrance velocity. Once at a standstill they hoped to pick up more specific tracking and sensor data. Also it was an old rule of thumb that a motionless body was considerably more difficult to make out than a ship that was moving rapidly. Tiff was fairly certain he wouldn't get away with a continued approach flight for long.
Three minutes later the California came to a relative state of rest. While the ship hovered motionlessly in space, the tracking experts redoubled their efforts in search of the space station. However, the incoming echo traces and radiation pickups always came from Druuf ships that were either taking off or landing. The 16th planet appeared to be a fleet base and stronghold of major proportions. The closer one came to the source of these disturbances, the more indistinct the individual traces became.
"Keep trying," Tifflor told them. "As long as we remain undetected we have time. As for what may be happening on the home front I'd rather not think about it."
He wanted to contact John Marshall but changed his mind when Ivan Goratschin told him that Marshall was busy. So he contented himself with observing the mutant chiefs strange operation by means of the video intercom.
On board the battle-ready and heavily armed cruiser, which was a monument to human inventiveness and technological advancement, a strange assembly had gathered. The members of the Mutant Corps who were gifted with telepathy stood in a close group and held each other's hands. These were Pucky, John Marshall, Betty Toufry and Ishy Matsu. Their faces and staring eyes were devoid of expression. No one was present in the room but themselves because it was vitally important that no extraneous sounds should interrupt their combined concentration. Only the pickup cameras of the closed video system were present but they operated silently.
Marshall functioned as 'spokesman' for their combined mentalities. Working as human conductors the other 3 mutants merely placed their own powers at his disposal, which Marshall not only combined with his own transmission but also used as an inner amplifier of his thoughts.
The contact was established after 10 minutes of very intensive telepathic broadcasting. In this case the distance itself was now a negligible factor. Through a unique ability, Ellert's personality had taken possession of the Druuf scientist Onot. However, inasmuch as he took so long to answer the urgent and powerful mental call of the mutant group it became obvious that he was in some kind of serious trouble.
Marshall had continued to repeat the fortified call until it finally produced a response. Somewhere in John's subconsciousness a faint and distant voice became discernible: "Who's calling?... John?"
"You're in trouble... we can feel it. We've built a mind pool here. Can we give you support?"
"No, but make this short. It's taking everything I've got to keep a grip on Onot's rebellious personality. Did you come because of the new funnel formation?"
Marshall confirmed as much. He and the other mutants had to strain against their own growing fatigue in order to strengthen the weakening telepathic impulses.
"We're looking for the space station you reported, Ellert."
"It's orbiting Druufon at a distance of 3 million km. Destroy it. The Leading Druuf scientists are on board. They've put everything into it that high rank or intelligence can offer in order to keep that funnel going. The equipment they're using was developed from Onot's time-stasis machine. The station is the only one of its kind. If it's destroyed along with the brain trust out there, there's no way they'll ever build another generator platform. Onot has been placed in a kind of protective custody. He and I are down here on the planet. Attack, or it will be too later!"
With that the connection broke off abruptly. No matter how hard Marshall tried to regain the contact, Ellert was heard from no more.
Tifflor was at a high state of agitation. When the weird fixity of the mutants' eyes began to relax, the colonel hastily grabbed his microphone. "What is it? What did he say? Come on-out with it! We can be discovered at any moment!"
Marshall summarized: "The station is orbiting around Druufon. Distance: 3 million km. That's why you couldn't track it because the planet is so big and has been eclipsing it. Ellert cut off all of a sudden. I'm afraid he's in deep trouble. We should make an attempt..."
"No!"
Marshall was startled by the sound of Tifflor's voice. When he looked up searchingly at the viewscreen he saw that the frank, youthful countenance of the commander had changed. This was the hidden but genuine Tifflor, who was capable of unsuspected harshness when the occasion demanded it.
"Rescuing Ellert is a task for a separate mission. We aren't equipped for it and we don't have the time. John, I'm making a jump. Get ready for action. I have a hunch we don't have another minute to lose. Get in here to Central with your 3 teleporters."
Tifflor cut the connection. His hard refusal still burned on the tip of his tongue. Secretly conscience-bitten, he looked around him for reactions but found none.
While the short transition was being calculated, Marshall appeared along with Pucky, Tako Kakuta and the dark-skinned Ras Tschubai. Except for Marshall, all of them were teleporters. They were wearing Arkonide combat spacesuits. The suits generated defence screens which made normal space armour unnecessary. Each one had a wide shoulder holster in which was contained ball-sized, black-gleaming objects-the ultimate weapons of destruction.
Three minutes prior to the new transition, the California was detected in spite of its built-up screen: The duty officer in the Com Room was heard from. "Lt. Instedt reporting, sir. We're picking up impacts on the hyper band-intensity range 7. Now we have 3 different impacts, now 5. Their tracking beams have us, sir."
Then from the tracking room: "Shockwave echos with flat curves. Several ships going into hyper-dimensional space. Contact lost. Warp configuration shows linear propulsion. Over and out."
Tifflor was suddenly the epitome of calmness. He skipped running a recheck on the jump coЎrdinates. As the last strips of data spewed forth from the P-calculators the California's big engines roared to life. The cruiser shot forward.
The high acceleration hurled them away from their holding position like a bullet. By the time the tracking room reported five Druuf ships the California had already put several million kilometres behind her. But the transition coЎrdinates were not quite ready. Automatic programming of the hyper-field generators took its own time.
In the viewscreens linked to the outboard opticals the previously clear reproduction of the stars was blurring and fading. They were approaching the relative speed of light. As the thundering of the engine compartments indicated that the supercharger injectors had automatically started operating, Tifflor knew that in the realm of normal flight there was nothing that could overtake him now. The Druuf ships didn't have this much acceleration capacity nor could they achieve the Earthly version of speol. Tifflor figured he still had 5 minutes to spare so he turned almost indifferently to the teleporters.
"Now here's the plan, so listen carefully. It's impossible for the California to attack the space station with weapons fire-we'd be shot down before we could try it. I'm going to rematerialise within 3 million km of the main planet of the system. After that I'll have about one minute to locate the satellite base and blast toward it on full power."
"As soon as it's in our viewscreens and you align yourselves with it, make your jumps and don't forget those bombs. Immediately after you disappear I'll make a short blind hyperjump, which will move me out of the action. I'll need 5 minutes after reentry to brake to a stop. Then another 5 minutes for calculating the return transition. But on that trip I'm not going to rev up to entry speed again. Instead, I'll try a little Russian roulette and attempt a standing jump which should bring me exactly in front of the space station."
"If I make it you'll get a short hyper-blip from me over the radio. Then you concentrate on teleporting back on board. All told you'll have from 10 to 12 minutes for messing around inside that station. There's no way to get back to you sooner than that. Once you hear my call blip, however, you'll have just 30 seconds to make it to the ship. Is that clear? Any questions?"
Pucky spoke up. "Why not hang around a few secs until we've dropped our little love notes? At the most, maybe only a minute."
"Our neck's going to be hanging out for a minute, as it is, until I can locate the station. If I give those Druuf weapons officers another 60 seconds to draw a bead on me the California will be hanging around, alright-as a miniature sunball! We'll stay with the plan. You make your jump, I take a hyper-dive, then come back and send you a call beep. Remember-30 seconds is the time you'll have to pile on board. I'll not wait a second longer before blasting out. Now-can you do it?"
Tako Kakuta smiled. "I'd call that a real clear piece of instant planning, sir. We'll make it."
"We're all set!" agreed Pucky somewhat plaintively. "We'll last your 12 minutes."
Immediately thereafter, new Druuf ships were detected. This time the enemy was pursuing the California by means of the much faster linear trans-light propulsion method.
"By now the whole security fleet is alerted," observed Tifflor quietly. "Hang on for transition. I wish we had all these Druufon fireworks behind us."
Just as the pursuers made a sudden reappearance in the normal continuum of the Druuf universe, the California launched itself at light-speed into hyper-dimensions. The raybeams that groped out after them expended their shots without effect.
At the same time the tracking station on Hades registered another transition.
Capt. Rous went on red alert, as did the sentinel ships near the space station. It only took a few moments for the just-vanished cruiser to cover the short transition of 250 million km.
When it became visible again it also appeared on the viewscreens of the Druuf ships.

* * * *

Oddly enough the projected weapon beams were also visible! What had been normally impossible in Einstein space because of the lack of matter had become a phenomenal reality here. True to the local time-ratio mechanics, the bundled streaks of deadly energy travelled at only half the speed of light, so it was relatively easy for Tifflor to dodge them and still maintain his course.
But how much longer could their luck hold out? Tifflor was well aware of the old saw that too many hounds meant death for the hare. He flew the California on manual override, which enabled him to make evasive manoeuvres without any nav computations and thus escape the increasing energy bolts.