"(novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0091 - (83) Ernst Ellert Returns" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Rhodan stepped from the grid platform and stretched out a hand to Capt. Rous. "You gave me quite a scare, Captain. How come the message went through Marshal Freyt?"
They walked through the corridors toward the Base Commander's comfortably appointed quarters but before they arrived there Rous proceeded to explain:
"Immediately after receiving Ellert's distress call, I sent an emergency message to the Ohio, our contact ship beyond the Rift. I presume that they relayed it at once to Marshall Freyt, who then made contact with you on Arkon. Anyway it's astounding how fast messages can be propagated through the galaxy these days."
He opened the door for Rhodan, who went into the cabin. It was not until the two were seated at the table that Rhodan got to the point of his visit. "What's the situation with Ellert?"
Rous reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. "That's the first message we've received from Druufon on the micro-transmitter hookup."
Rhodan read Ellert's message slowly and carefully. When he replaced the sheet on the table, his brow was furrowed. "So they've finally caught up with Onot and now Ellert is too weak to leave the body of his host and return to Earth. Actually there's nothing left for us to do other than to bring his own body to Druufon. Hm-m-m... that won't be any picnic. But fortunately there's still enough time. It will take several days yet for the preliminary hearings and the trial against Onot to get started."
Rous shook his head. He seemed a bit pale. "Sir, in the meantime another message came in from Ellert. I'm afraid there's very little time. Two hours ago, Onot went before the Supreme Tribunal."
Rhodan stared at him. "You waited until now to tell me?" When Rous said nothing, Rhodan leaned forward and placed a hand on his forearm. "What's the import of the second message, Rous? Do you have the full text with you?"
"I know it by heart, sir. Ellert reported that they had picked up Onot and brought him before the Court. He claimed he no longer had the strength to hold Onot to a specific line of testimony. He said that the Druuf was prepared to tell the judges everything-the whole truth. Ellert is trying to prevent it. He doesn't know how long he can hold out. If he has to leave Onot's body he doesn't know where he can go. He needs more strength than he possesses to leave Druufon."
Rhodan nodded. "I can't quite imagine what would happen if he were to leave Onot without sufficient strength. He might lose his temporal directions and slip back into the stream of time, which swallowed him up once before. At least we know that it requires a certain energy output to hold on to the present. Strange that I never thought of that before." He met Rous' gaze directly. "But here we're sitting around philosophizing when there's not another minute to lose. I'll get back to the Drusus but will remain in the vicinity. If there's an attack on Hades, you can count on me. That is, if Onot blabbers too much..." He stood up and waited until Rous opened the door for him. On their way back to the transmitter he added: "Let me know at once if you get a further message from Ellert."
"That's understood, sir," promised Rous.
Rhodan waved to him a last time before he dematerialised. One second later he was on board the Drusus again and stepped out of the receiver cage. He hurried at once to the ship's hypercom centre.
As always when the fate of Earth or the galaxy was involved, his instructions were issued swiftly and precisely.

* * * *

Marshal Freyt's similarity to Perry Rhodan was not alone in his outward appearance. Along with the Administrator he had also received the life-prolonging bio-treatment on the synthetic planet Wanderer and thus his aging processes had been suspended.
In the Fleet Headquarters of Terrania there was an unusual pressure of activity in the early afternoon hours. Hyperspace communications came in almost hourly from the ships that were stationed in the outer void. Now that the galactic position of the Earth was a matter of public knowledge everywhere, the old security precautions were no longer necessary.
But to Freyt, all these incoming messages were a matter of indifference just now. He was waiting for only one particular message. If he could only guess what its import would be! Rhodan kept him waiting a long time.
He sat and waited nervously in his operations room. His lean figure had a tendency to be stooped forward but it seemed to be due more to habit than to any kind of weakness. The profusion of communications equipment around him threatened to smother him. Everywhere there were viewscreens, control panels and cable leads. The room was a control network centre that not only guided the entire planet Earth but also the Solar System, not to mention a gigantic spacefleet.
Freyt had relayed the radio dispatch from Hades to Arkon, where he knew Rhodan was located at the time. He knew that a decision was pending. Since he was an excellent extrapolator, he had taken the precaution to instruct Prof. Haggard as well as Dr. Jamison and to hold them on standby alert. Both of the medical men were waiting at home for their assignment.
Assignment...?
Freyt shook his head and wondered if he were a doomsday prophet. Things wouldn't turn out to be all that bad with Ellert. The timeless wanderer would be able to find his way back to Earth all right, if he were forced to do it.
Or perhaps not?
A control lamp flashed on. It was Com Central!
But it was only the position report of a battleship that had been deployed to another area. Still nothing! The waiting seemed to be getting unbearable. But finally the hypercom centre contacted him and when they transferred Perry Rhodan's direct transmission to his home, Freyt suddenly became his calm and collected self again.
The oval-shaped viewscreen lit up. At first Rhodan's face was somewhat blurred but then the focus became recognizable. The hyperspace carrier waves instantly bridged an abyss of light-years.
"Marshal, it looks as if both of us expected to be talking to one another soon."
"That's quite true, sir." This direct hookup on hypercom made it seem as though they were sitting across from one another in the same room. "Your present location-is it still Arkon?"
"No. Hades Sector. I'm standing out here on the Drusus near the Rift zone, about 1 light-year from the main Druuf system. Ellert has sent us a second message. He can't leave Onot's body for any length of time without danger to himself. Onot himself has been brought before the Druuf Tribunal, stuck with a charge of treason. Ellert is trying to prevent a confession on his part that could be disastrous for us. It could provoke the Druufs to renewed conflict. I don't see any other solution than to bring Ellert's body out of the mausoleum and take it to Hades. From there we can do the rest."
"I suspected as much," said Freyt. "Haggard and Jamison are ready. When?"
A fleeting smile crossed Rhodan's face. "Freyt, the similarity between us isn't just skin deep," he commented. Then he frowned in earnest. "Begin at once! Make sure that body is handled very carefully. Both doctors are to go along and not let it out of their sight. Will you take care of everything?"
"I shall personally deliver Ellert to you, sir."
Rhodan stared at him in frank astonishment. "But you're my Deputy Administrator there! Who...?"
"I'll only be gone a few hours. Mercant will be able to take over any important matters for me. I think he can handle them."
"Yes, I think he can. Very well, Freyt, I'll be expecting you."
"You can depend on me," Freyt assured him. After a few final instructions from Rhodan, the two men signalled each other goodbye and the viewscreen suddenly darkened.
For a few brief moments Freyt sat motionlessly in his chair, then he came to life. Mercant was contacted and made aware of the situation. The two doctors were ordered to the mausoleum. Fast cruiser C-13 was ordered to stand by in takeoff readiness. Several aircars were called into action.
10 minutes later, Freyt landed in the desert beside the pyramid marker over Ellert's tomb. The structure pointed symbolically into the clear blue skies. Haggard and Jamison were already there, waiting for him. The permanent guard detail stood motionlessly at their posts before the entrance.
Prof. Haggard had also been one of Rhodan's earliest friends and was, like him and Freyt, a recipient of the rejuvenating bio-treatment. He came toward Freyt with great, energetic strides. "What the devil's going on?" he asked. "Has Ellert's corpse caught a cold or something?" Haggard was known for his rough humour, which everyone knew was always well intended. "Or is it trying to rise from the dead?"
"Something like that, in a figurative sense maybe," replied Freyt as he shook hands with his old friend. He greeted Dr. Jamison more reservedly but with equal friendliness. "I've received instructions from Rhodan to take Ellert's body out of the mausoleum and incidentally, my dear Haggard, could you refrain from referring to it as a corpse? Anyway, we have to bring the body to Hades."
"Aha!" said the Professor. "To Hades, eh? Why?"
"Because Ellert can no longer bridge the long gap back to Earth-that's why! I know how to gain access to the tomb... will you doctors be so kind as to join me?"
He stepped between the two sentinels and placed the palm of his hand against the smooth wall of the pyramid. He moved it back and forth as though searching for something... then there was a sound close by. The surface of the desert gaped open, revealing a staircase that led downward into the depths.
"There's the staircase," he urged, and he led the way.
A second door below offered less difficulties and soon they beheld the actual crypt where the time-teleporter's undeteriorated body had lain for more than 60 years, waiting for the return of its 'awakening essence'. Freyt glanced at the complicated apparatus that was capable of giving an alarm at the slightest sign of Ellert's return to life. However, the mirror in front of the 'cadaver's' mouth was clear and uncoated by any trace of life breath. The air in the quadrangular room was somewhat close and stuffy although it had been constantly renewed over a period of 7 decades.
It was only then that the three men noticed a change in Ellert's face. The cheeks had fallen in, the eyes were sunken in cavities, the skin gleamed with a bluish tinge.
Prof. Haggard took a step forward and pointed with a trembling hand at the emaciated figure, the outlines of which were visible under the shroud. "That's the beginning of decomposition...!"
Marshall Freyt felt as though an iron fist had clutched his heart. Involuntarily he sniffed, testing the air. Then he shook his head in desperation. Was everything to have been in vain? Ellert had searched 70 years through time and space for his body and now that he had finally found it perhaps it was too late. Of course Ellert could take over someone else's body but...
"We have to hurry," he said tonelessly and he turned to one of the walls to manipulate certain controls that Rhodan had described to him. "Jamison, help Haggard bring the body to the surface."