"Chapter 06" - читать интересную книгу автора ((novel) (ebook) - Perry Rhodan 0126 - (117b - 118b) The Shadows Attack [HTML])6/ FAR NEBULA, LONG SHADOWS What do you say, Brado? Any contact yet?" "I’m sorry, sir—none at all. But it’s possible
that the tracer signal got through which may help them to track the Caesar.
The antenna is too small, though, to receive any possible return
transmissions." "But could they pick up our distress call?" "That’s quite possible, sir." Lt. Germa sighed with relief. "We can’t ask for
anything more. But maybe it’ll work better now that the Caesar’s
screen is gone. Keep trying, Brado." Meanwhile the hangar personnel had returned. They reported
that some hours before an order from the commander had called them all into the
main corridor and that was where they had lost consciousness. They had no
explanation for it. They deployed themselves strategically with ready weapons and
waited for the enemy. But the enemy didn’t come. The enemy was attacking the Control Central. * * * * Pucky had leapt from his chair. "There—near the
entrance!" 7 or 8 energy beams concentrated on the indicated area. The
shadowy outlines of the alien became visible so that they could see him sink to
the floor. He almost completely materialized before fading away. "Iltu, you stay here!" said Pucky. "I’ll
cover the defences of the rest of the ship. In any case they’ll try to get the
Control Central back in their hands." He dematerialised before Sukril had a chance to give his
permission. The colonel was gradually getting used to the idea that Pucky
operated independently—and operated correctly. Iltu took over the task of detecting the approach of the
aliens and warning the defenders of it. The system of concentrated fire proved
effective as usual. During the ensuing hour they were able to eliminate more
than 7 of the uncanny invaders. At any rate the previous catastrophe was not
repeated. Nobody fell unconscious or came under control of the aliens. In the Control Central the viewscreen was still operating. It
was apparently the only thing that did work. All other equipment had ceased to
function or to respond to controls. The Caesar was moving in freefall
toward the distant nebula but only at the normal speed of light. If anyone were
to track them now from the direction of the galaxy, they would be easy to
overtake. "Turn on the communications equipment!" ordered
Sukril. "Now we should be able to make contact!" While the Com Room crew was trying to put out a call to the
fleet of robotships, the shadow people attacked again. They had changed their
tactics and came in groups of 4 or 5 at a time. And this time they used a new
type of weapon. The energy beams that suddenly shot at the officers out of
emptiness were now orange instead of blue. Capt. Henderson was the first victim. He had followed Iltu’s
warning and gone for cover with his weapon ready to fire but he couldn’t know
where the scattered phantoms were located. Before he could make a defensive move
an orange beam struck him squarely. He remained standing where he was. He
neither collapsed nor turned to smoking cinders, he simply became rigid and didn’t
move a muscle. His eyes stared fixedly but there was life in them. Henderson was
not dead but only immobilized. Sukril let out a shout of surprise which was cut off abruptly
when he too was enveloped by the weird energy and rendered motionless. Iltu screamed a warning and jumped forward with a gun in
either hand. She knew exactly where the nearest alien was standing. Both of her
weapons fired simultaneously at maximum intensity. She hit the phantom, who
immediately withdrew. Without stopping she continued her fire, turning slightly
to hit the next one. But the third one was faster. He got her. * * * * Somewhere in the ship, Pucky was frightened nearly to death
when Iltu’s thought stream suddenly faded out. He had been aware of events in
the Control Central but had hoped that the officers and his little friend would
be able to handle the aliens. But now Iltu wasn’t in contact with him any
more. Without any further deliberation, he teleported into the
Control Central, immediately traced the presence of a phantom, tore a weapon
away from an officer and opened fire against the enemy. Even while he was noting
with satisfaction that the nemesis had disappeared, a human figure materialized
in the room. He was wearing a rather cumbersome combat suit—an old SHK model—and
in his hands he carried an oversized energy gun which he lowered as soon as he
saw the officers and Pucky. It was Ras Tschubai, the African teleporter. Pucky yelled out in astonishment: "Ras! Is it really
you? I thought you were on the Ironduke … " "You thought right," replied Ras, and he looked
about him searchingly. His gaze rested momentarily on Iltu , then wandered on to
Col. Sukril, who had also not moved from his position. "What’s wrong with
them?" Pucky ascertained that the Control Central was free of
enemies. It seemed that the phantoms had decided to leave the scene without
further resistance. "You mean you’ve come for us?" he asked. Ras nodded. "The Ironduke’s alongside. We
tracked you on that tracer signal. It was very weak but we picked it up. I made
a jump over here as soon as we arrived but Rhodan and his men will be coming on
board any second now. They’re at the outer locks." Pucky sank into the nearest chair. "Not a minute too
soon! I still don’t know how we’re going to handle the spooks." On
second thought he jumped up again and ran to Iltu. He carefully touched her and
looked at her closely. "She’s warm—normal temperature! She’s alive.
Look! She’s starting to move again!" He heaved a great sigh of relief and
even began to laugh. "It was only a temporary paralysis. There—even
Sukril is moving and so is Henderson!" It was like a miracle. The officers and Iltu appeared to be
waking up from a deep sleep. Their brains and their memory had been turned off
when the paralysis beams had struck them but now they were turned on again
simultaneously. What had occurred between must have been a blank for them. Iltu finally lowered both of her weapons. Their charges had
been exhausted in this spirited battle. Sukril looked around for further signs
of the enemy but couldn’t discover any. Then the door of the Control Central slid to one side and
Perry Rhodan entered. In one sweeping glance he took in the scene, nodded curtly to
Pucky and then looked questioningly as Col. Sukril. Several other men pressed
past him into the room carrying some strange-looking equipment, which they
deposited on the deck with obvious relief. Rhodan smiled faintly. "It seems we got here in the nick
of time," he said. "Pucky, were those aliens really the same phantoms
of Barkon?" The mousebeaver had taken Iltu by the hand and led her to a
chair. He carefully helped her into it before turning around to Rhodan.
"They’re the ones, Perry. All the same phenomena and reactions." "So they’ve found us again," muttered Rhodan
gravely. "I’ve been afraid this would happen, for a long time." He
nodded to the men who were standing by the mysterious instruments. "Might
as well get to work. First, here in the Control Central. We have to know what’s
happened." Meanwhile Col. Sukril had regained his presence of mind.
"Sir, if you wish my report … " "Thank you, Colonel—I’ve been briefed on the
situation. You were not to blame. You and your men have handled yourselves very
well. The robot fleet is on its way to Terra. You had already accomplished your
assigned mission. A confrontation with the invisible invaders was not
foreseen." Capt. Henderson had finally overcome his sense of awe at
being in the presence of the highest Commander-in-Chief. He had returned to his
station and was trying to pick up the Ironduke on the viewscreen. To his
surprise the tracking system responded immediately. The instruments functioned
without any difficulty. The 800-meter hull of the battleship moved laterally
into the field of vision. Small units were streaming in a steady stream from the
great launch-lock hatches, bringing extra crewmen to the Caesar. But the tracking equipment picked up something else as well. Vaguely discernible in silhouette, another spaceship was
hovering nearby. The instruments gave a distance of 3km. Rather than spherical
in shape, the ship was reminiscent of a missile or torpedo. It was more than 100
meters in length but this was relatively small by comparison. "Sir … we’re tracking an alien ship! The indicators
must not be working because it’s not showing up very clearly … " In 2 long strides, Rhodan was beside him, staring at the
screen. "There’s nothing wrong with your equipment," he said grimly.
"It’s the ship of the phantom people. That configuration is the same we
saw on Barkon." He turned to Col. Sukril. "Colonel—get the Caesar
ready for combat—but fast! Don’t lose a second!" Sukril raced to his commander seat. He switched on the
intercom and gave the necessary orders. He didn’t even have time to be
surprised that the intercom was working. Rhodan turned to Pucky. "Did you knock out the Kalup
absorption generator?" "Yes—there was no other choice." "Alright, so we’ll repair it. I’ve brought the whole
tech team along. I assume all we have to do is replace the generator itself. Hm-m
… How did Iltu work out? I was afraid she wouldn’t match up to the
assignment. She’s so young. Actually, I should have let her stay on Mars …
" "Knockitoff!" muttered Pucky, so softly that only
Rhodan could hear him. Without Iltu I wouldn’t have made it, to be honest with
you. And—well—she’s not such a child, you know she’s quite a young lady,
if you ask me." Rhodan smiled and bent down close to the mousebeaver’s ear.
"Tell me now, are you maybe in love with her?" Pucky drew back as if a snake had bitten him. "In
love?!" he gasped indignantly. "That’s too much! I could never fall
in love with such a stupid little moose—pah!" But he suddenly fell silent
for a moment while he cocked his head and looked at Rhodan confidentially.
"You won’t tell on me, will you?" Rhodan shook his head. "Why should I? They’ll be able
to guess the truth, the same as I did." He grinned and added:
"Especially Bell!" Pucky stamped his foot and grimaced. "Did you bring him
along by any chance?" "At the moment he’s commanding the Ironduke,
along with Claudrin of course." "So I even have to put up with that now!" moaned
Pucky as he waddled away. The Gunners of the Caesar reported battle readiness.
Meanwhile Pucky and Iltu announced that there were evidently no more shadow
people on board the giant warship. Rhodan concluded swiftly: "They’ve given up and are
trying to escape in that ship out there. We have to stop them! Col. Sukril, open
fire! Give your crews the coцrdinates from here because I don’t think their
target scopes can see the ship anymore. Hurry—before they get away!" After the Ironduke had withdrawn from the danger zone
the Caesar opened fire from all gun positions. The attack could only be
directed from the Control Central because the opposing vessel’s outlines could
only be detected on the special tracking equipment. The normal screens revealed
nothing but the distant light patch of the unknown stellar nebula. The energy lightnings darted into emptiness—and struck the
unseen objective. While the beans sprayed off it in all directions, they brought
the outlines of the enemy ship into 3-D clarity for all to see. Whether or not
the aliens had a defence screen couldn’t quite be determined because of the
rapidity of events. Or if they had one it was very weak. Five beams struck in
one spot and that was the end. As the concentrated fire penetrated the armourplate hull, a
blinding explosion forced the Terrans to close their eyes. when everybody looked
again there was an expanding gas cloud where the invisible ship had been. The
glowing mass was attenuating in all directions. Pucky was next to Rhodan. He whispered: "Their thought
patterns—they’ve dropped off. I’m not getting a trace of them." He
turned around. "How about you, Iltu?" "No—nothing more. Do you think—they’re all
dead?" "They must be if your esp doesn’t pick them up.
Did you hear that, Perry? They’ve been wiped out. We did it!" Rhodan didn’t take his eyes from the viewscreen. There was
a deep cleft between his brows as he gazed pensively at the spreading atom cloud
which was still glowing and even obscured the distant stellar nebula. Pucky had followed his thoughts and suddenly spoke up again:
"Yes, I think they come from there, too, but how will we ever really find
out? Could it be that that whole island universe is subject to other laws of
nature? Maybe the spooks simply live in a different dimension than ours. Maybe
in the 6th or 7th—but then what would I know about that?" Rhodan gave him a quick nod. "Precisely! What would you
know about it? But at least we’ll find out what they were after here and what
they planned to do with the Caesar? He turned to the men who were working
with the new equipment. "How far along are we?" "Just about ready, sir. All that’s left is to
determine the wavelength of the heat radiations so that we won’t make any
mistakes." Col. Sukril was standing nearby in helpless perplexity as he
watched the experts manipulate the equipment, making meter adjustments and
turning little dials under miniature screens. A movie camera was coupled to the
largest screen on the control panel. Pucky had joined Ras Tschubai to watch. "What is
that?" he asked. The African shrugged. "New-fangled gadgets, little one.
Unfortunately I haven’t the slightest idea of what it is. We were going to
test it while underway but then came your call for help. As it seems, we can
also check out the invention here." Rhodan joined them. "The infra-red delayed tracking
process isn’t all that new," he said with a faint smile. "All we did
on Earth was to make some advanced developments on the basic principle.
Ordinarily the equipment is large and terribly cumbersome—difficult to
transport. What you see here used to take up a small assembly room. Now it only
takes 4 men to carry the whole thing." "Infra-red relayed trucking process?" Pucky
struggled with the long name, not understanding a word of it. "What the
heck is that?" On the larger viewscreen a blur of shadows flitted briefly
and was gone. One of the technicians said almost apologetically: "They’re
human types, after all—have to adjust it finer." "What?" said Pucky, flabbergasted. "Human
types?" Rhodan put a finger to his lips, ordering silence. He
motioned Col. Sukril and Capt. Henderson to get out of the line of sight between
the infra-red tracer and the ship’s flight controls. Everyone waited
breathlessly while the main viewscreen continued to reveal the spectacle of the
glowing cloud of molecular residue from the annihilated ship. It was dispersing
more and more and growing dimmer. Pucky watched the tech team for a while as they worked with
their new equipment. Then he took Iltu’s hand. "Let’s go—this is too
way out for me. I’m hungry." They teleported into his cabin and for the next few minutes
dismissed the fortunate outcome of the adventure from their minds. Pucky
scrabbled around in his luggage and finally produced a plastic bag containing
some carrots. He gallantly offered to share them with Iltu and sat down next to
her on the bed. "Terrific, aren’t they? From my own garden by Lake
Goshun." Iltu nibbled a carrot reluctantly. "But I don’t find
it as good as all that." Pucky stared in amazement. "What—! Not good? I must
not have heard you right!" Iltu shook her little head and revealed her incisor tooth.
"Yes, you heard me. Whenever I get the chance I’m going to cultivate a
field of cabbage turnips." Pucky’s eyes widened as if they were going to come out of
his head. "Cabbage turnips?!" Iltu licked her lips with gourmet appreciation. "the old
carrots couldn’t come anywhere near them, Old Boy." "What did you say?" Iltu nodded for emphasis. "That your carrots couldn’t
compare with——" "No, I don’t mean that! Did you say ‘Old Boy?’
" She nodded again, this time in mock surprise. "Yes—so?" Pucky slipped off the couch and placed his arms on his hips,
striking an almost threatening pose. He took a deep breath and was about to
launch a tirade when Iltu burst out laughing. Her pink incisor came into full
play as she held her stomach in mirth. "How can anyone be so conceited, Pucky? You don’t see
me get insulted when you call me ‘little’ or ‘too young’, as you just
did in front of Rhodan. On the contrary, I’m pleased to know—" Pucky appeared to shrink about a centimetre as he stared at
Iltu in consternation. "You listened when I was talking to Rhodan?" He
fumed angrily. "That was mean and nasty of you—besides being low-down
shameless imprudence!" She stopped laughing. "Now why do you say that, Pucky?
After all, you were telling him such nice things … Or did you
forget?" Pucky closed his eyes. He grabbed one of the carrots and
began to gnaw at it desperately. "anyway, you are too young!"
he confirmed in the midst of his chewing. She nodded while also resuming her meal. "But you are
not too old," she retorted with equal conviction. If possible, Pucky shrank a tiny bit more. * * * * the officers who were present in the Control Central stood in
the background and spoke now and then to Col. Sukril. He also received Lt. Germa’s
report which helped to round out the picture. "Now we’ve got it!" cried one of the technicians
excitedly. He looked at one of the meters. "Two hours back, sir." On the main screen of the tracer console could be seen
shadowy figures which moved swiftly about in the room. The camera began to hum
as it captured these events from the recent past. What the men were looking at
had happened 2 hours before. The invisible invaders had emitted heat rays from
their bodies, which were now rendered visible. Each of the movements they had
made 2 hours ago could now be observed and carefully studied. Earth scientists
had developed this astounding equipment for the purpose of obtaining evidence in
criminal cases. "They’re looking over the controls," muttered
Col. Sukril. He stared in utter amazement at the visible heat imprints of the
now dead intelligences. "Those look like human silhouettes. They seem to be
interested in the engines." "You mean our linear propulsion," said Rhodan.
"Look! They’re also taking pictures! You can’t see the camera but their
movements are unmistakable. I just hope the photographs were destroyed with
their ship because now we know what they were after." He turned to one of
the specialists. "That’s fine, Professor. Now will you be so good as to
repeat the process down in the Machine Centre? We have to know what they were
doing there." The tech team packed up their gear and left the Control
Central. Their films would be evaluated later. Once the intentions of the aliens
were known, conclusions might be drawn with regard to their character, their
mode of living and possibly their origin. The absorption field assembly was replaced and a test run
indicated that the Caesar was able to return under its own power back to
Earth, where it was to have a general overhaul. Rhodan said goodbye to Col. Sukril, wished him a safe journey
home and returned with his men to the Ironduke. He took the 2
mousebeavers with him. They waited until the Caesar started off. It
quickly accelerated and was finally only a tiny star against the silvery band of
the Milky Way. Then it vanished entirely. Col. Jefe Claudrin, Flight Commander of the Ironduke,
also gave orders to get underway. Rhodan’s flagship followed the Caesar. Rhodan and Bell sat at a small conference table at a slight
distance to one side of the viewscreens. Pucky squatted in a chair beside them
and repeated his report in detail. Both men listened intently, frequently
interrupting with questions and attempting to dig out every possible clue
concerning the aliens. "It would be almost impossible to tell they were present
without telepathy," Pucky emphasized again. "Of course they finally
tried to screen their thoughts but it didn’t work entirely. If they’re
really telepaths they’re pretty poor ones. A good telepath can isolate his
thoughts. And there’s another thing I noticed: under a heavy attack they back
off pretty fast. They’re not too keen about fighting. As soon as the Ironduke
showed up they ditched their plans and simply gave up the Caesar when it
was just about in their hands. They escaped—even though it was only to go up
in smoke right afterwards. Then all the blocked controls suddenly came free. Is
it possible that they locked the controls by telekinesis?" Rhodan shook his head negatively. "no, they don’t use
psychokinesis or we would have noticed that during our combats with them. I’m
more in favour of your first idea. They penetrate matter, which offers them no
resistance. On the other hand it can be assumed that there are obstacles for
them which offer no resistance to us. We know for sure, though, that they can
cover short distances in space without a ship. All in all they’re quite
amazing—a very dangerous race. I’m afraid they’re still going to make
trouble for us." Pucky looked up at the viewscreen. "That stellar nebula
there—do you think it’s where they come from?" Rhodan and Bell looked over at the stern screen. The blurred
nebulous spot appeared to be small and insignificant. The unknown galaxy looked
harmless—and very, very distant. But that dim blob happened to be the
Andromeda Nebula in sector BJ-97-UK—the target zone that Capt. Henderson, the Caesar’s
Navigation Officer, had been ordered to steer his course for. If the shadow
people were intent upon stealing the Caesar it could be assumed that they
were planning to take it to their homeworld. Bell had been silent for some time but he suddenly spoke up.
"Wasn’t that little Iltu a pain in the neck for you?" Pucky was caught off guard. "A pain? How come?" Bell grinned. "Well, I seem to remember how badly you
complained about her once when we made a visit to the colony on Mars. Isn’t
that the fresh little guy who was always so impudent—the one who tossed the
camp commander through the air?" "Iltu isn’t a ‘guy’, Fatso—she’s a girl!" "A mousebeaver’s a mousebeaver," retorted Bell
somewhat disdainfully. "Anyway, you were really sore at her. That’s why
we assigned her to you without giving you any previous warning. It was to be a
surprise so that you wouldn’t have time to complain … " "She was a surprise alright!" "Oh?" Pucky nodded. "Yes, a pleasant one. Without her help I
wouldn’t have been able to handle those spooks. Iltu is a first-class
teleporter." "Well, so what?" said Bell in mock disparagement.
"She’s still a young child—you said so yourself." "She’s no child now!" fumed Pucky angrily, and he
bared his incisor tooth. This time it was not a sign of pleasure. "She’s
a grownup young lady mousebeaver! Anybody who insults her is also insulting me.
Just get that into your head, once and for all, or something could happen to
you!" Bell caught a warning look from Rhodan. he had almost failed
to realize that the situation had changed. Previously he had always had Pucky’s
support whenever he had complained about Iltu—or any of the other mousebeavers
of the colony—but today such an approach produced the opposite effect.
Strange. OK, little buddy. I didn’t mean it like that." "Well that’s what it sounded like," grumbled
Pucky, although he was already half-consoled, "I will admit, though, that I
underestimated Ilty … " "Who?" Pucky’s mouse ears twitched in a sign of embarrassment.
"Oh I often call her that. It fits her better than Iltu." "My, my!" said Bell, grinning broadly. "You
already have a pet name for her?" He winked at Rhodan. "When will
congratulations be in order?" Pucky seemed to be exceptionally slow on the uptake today.
"Congratulations? What for?" "Don’t hand me that! You know very well what I mean.
You’ve gone off the deep end for Ilty—or haven’t you?" "You dare call her Ilty?" chirped Pucky in new
irritation. "Don’t dodge the subject. Do you love her or don’t
you?" Pucky gasped under the shock of the other’s merciless
suspicion. "For that—she’s too young. She’s only just a child …
" Bell burst out laughing. "You know you change your
opinion like I change my shirt! Only now you were just saying … !" He
broke off suddenly. The air was shimmering in the middle of the table. Then Iltu
materialized from nowhere. She stood there and looked about at everyone
triumphantly until her gaze rested on Pucky. "So!" she chirped menacingly. "After all, now
I’m such a youngster again, am I?" Pucky was noticeably cowed. Rhodan and Bell couldn’t
remember ever having seen him so humbled. "Well now … I mean … !"
He pointed to Bell. "Fatso’s talking out of his head, Ilty—Iltu. I was
only defending you, that’s all." Iltu came closer to him. "So I’m so young, am I? Then
you know what you are!" Pucky cast an imploring glance at Rhodan. He was caught
squarely on the horns of an awful dilemma. If he insisted that Iltu was young,
then it was a guaranteed certainty that here in front of Bell she’d give him
the title of "Grandpa". And if he should admit that after all she was
not "too young", then the other trap would close! Women!—he thought bitterly. One shouldn’t get
mixed up with them. Men always came out on the short end of things because they
were dumber! But it wasn’t all quite that bad. "Listen, Ilty, do we
have to discuss this right out in public, for the ears of this nosey Fatso? Just
look at his ears bending forward! What business is it of his what the two of us
… I mean, the way we two … " He became hopelessly confused and slumped
disconsolately. "Take it any way you want to!" Iltu went over to Rhodan and slipped into his lap looked at
him guilelessly and took his hands in hers. "Don’t you agree, Perry—when
I’m grown up I get to marry Pucky?" A choking sound came from where Pucky had been sitting. The
mousebeaver had lost his balance and fallen under the table. On all fours he
came scrabbling out again, trembling in all his limbs. "No! I will not get married! I’m too … no, not now
anymore! I won’t!" "You don’t mean to say, perhaps, that you’re too
old?" said Rhodan as he stroked Iltu’s silky hair reassuringly. "But
Pucky, who would want to admit a thing like that?" "I didn’t admit it … but all the same … " "Grandpa!" whispered Iltu all the same … " Pucky went rigid. Rhodan tensed. Bell began to laugh uncontrollably. "Grandpa!" he
exclaimed, at the same time groaning with mirth. "That’s a good one!
Grandpa!" And he kept on as if he would never stop. "When Iltu saw what she had wrought by her remark, she
got quickly out of Rhodan’s lap, pattered over to Pucky and took his hand.
"You know I didn’t mean it like that … !" Pucky remembered his manhood. "Leave me alone!" he
snapped, and shook her hand away. "You … you infant! You babe in diapers!
You … you … you … " Words failed him. Iltu stared at him and then drew herself up until she was
almost taller than Pucky. She shouted at him in a shrill voice: "Oh, so now
you’re getting smart, are you? Well, I’ll fix that, you just wait!" She
took him by the hand again. "You come now, right now. The two of us alone!
Are you in for a surprise! Pah! Too old! Too young! That’s an excuse! Now will
you please come along?" They dematerialised. The last thing Rhodan and Bell saw of Pucky was his sorrowful
look of reproach. Rhodan spoke first. "You can stop laughing now, Bell.
You should have respect for the feelings of our little friend. He’s fallen in
love." Bell ceased laughing abruptly. He stared at Rhodan in
astonishment. "You don’t mean it’s for real, do you?" "Of course I do. Haven’t you ever been in love?" Bell turned red and shifted uncomfortably. "But Iltu is
only … " "A mousebeaver? So? For Pucky I’m sure she’s the
most beautiful and attractive maiden in the universe. What would you say, for
example, if one day Pucky were to become—not a grandpa, that’s still too far
away—but let’s say a proud father? The father of 3 or 4 tiny, cute little
mousebeavers? When I think of it——" "No thank you!" groaned Bell, horrified. "That
I couldn’t take! All I have to remember is my visit to the mousebeaver colony
on Mars. The little rascals sat around on my head and my stomach and my legs,
scratching me and making a big game out of it where I was ticklish. No! Pucky’s
pups will be the death of me!" Rhodan looked thoughtfully at the dwindling blob of light in
the middle of the viewscreen. "Maybe it will be just the opposite—for the
Earth." He was still watching the spiral nebula, which was many millions of
light-years distant and was perhaps the home of the invisible foe. "Maybe
one day Pucky’s children will determine the fate of the human race." 6/ FAR NEBULA, LONG SHADOWS What do you say, Brado? Any contact yet?" "I’m sorry, sir—none at all. But it’s possible
that the tracer signal got through which may help them to track the Caesar.
The antenna is too small, though, to receive any possible return
transmissions." "But could they pick up our distress call?" "That’s quite possible, sir." Lt. Germa sighed with relief. "We can’t ask for
anything more. But maybe it’ll work better now that the Caesar’s
screen is gone. Keep trying, Brado." Meanwhile the hangar personnel had returned. They reported
that some hours before an order from the commander had called them all into the
main corridor and that was where they had lost consciousness. They had no
explanation for it. They deployed themselves strategically with ready weapons and
waited for the enemy. But the enemy didn’t come. The enemy was attacking the Control Central. * * * * Pucky had leapt from his chair. "There—near the
entrance!" 7 or 8 energy beams concentrated on the indicated area. The
shadowy outlines of the alien became visible so that they could see him sink to
the floor. He almost completely materialized before fading away. "Iltu, you stay here!" said Pucky. "I’ll
cover the defences of the rest of the ship. In any case they’ll try to get the
Control Central back in their hands." He dematerialised before Sukril had a chance to give his
permission. The colonel was gradually getting used to the idea that Pucky
operated independently—and operated correctly. Iltu took over the task of detecting the approach of the
aliens and warning the defenders of it. The system of concentrated fire proved
effective as usual. During the ensuing hour they were able to eliminate more
than 7 of the uncanny invaders. At any rate the previous catastrophe was not
repeated. Nobody fell unconscious or came under control of the aliens. In the Control Central the viewscreen was still operating. It
was apparently the only thing that did work. All other equipment had ceased to
function or to respond to controls. The Caesar was moving in freefall
toward the distant nebula but only at the normal speed of light. If anyone were
to track them now from the direction of the galaxy, they would be easy to
overtake. "Turn on the communications equipment!" ordered
Sukril. "Now we should be able to make contact!" While the Com Room crew was trying to put out a call to the
fleet of robotships, the shadow people attacked again. They had changed their
tactics and came in groups of 4 or 5 at a time. And this time they used a new
type of weapon. The energy beams that suddenly shot at the officers out of
emptiness were now orange instead of blue. Capt. Henderson was the first victim. He had followed Iltu’s
warning and gone for cover with his weapon ready to fire but he couldn’t know
where the scattered phantoms were located. Before he could make a defensive move
an orange beam struck him squarely. He remained standing where he was. He
neither collapsed nor turned to smoking cinders, he simply became rigid and didn’t
move a muscle. His eyes stared fixedly but there was life in them. Henderson was
not dead but only immobilized. Sukril let out a shout of surprise which was cut off abruptly
when he too was enveloped by the weird energy and rendered motionless. Iltu screamed a warning and jumped forward with a gun in
either hand. She knew exactly where the nearest alien was standing. Both of her
weapons fired simultaneously at maximum intensity. She hit the phantom, who
immediately withdrew. Without stopping she continued her fire, turning slightly
to hit the next one. But the third one was faster. He got her. * * * * Somewhere in the ship, Pucky was frightened nearly to death
when Iltu’s thought stream suddenly faded out. He had been aware of events in
the Control Central but had hoped that the officers and his little friend would
be able to handle the aliens. But now Iltu wasn’t in contact with him any
more. Without any further deliberation, he teleported into the
Control Central, immediately traced the presence of a phantom, tore a weapon
away from an officer and opened fire against the enemy. Even while he was noting
with satisfaction that the nemesis had disappeared, a human figure materialized
in the room. He was wearing a rather cumbersome combat suit—an old SHK model—and
in his hands he carried an oversized energy gun which he lowered as soon as he
saw the officers and Pucky. It was Ras Tschubai, the African teleporter. Pucky yelled out in astonishment: "Ras! Is it really
you? I thought you were on the Ironduke … " "You thought right," replied Ras, and he looked
about him searchingly. His gaze rested momentarily on Iltu , then wandered on to
Col. Sukril, who had also not moved from his position. "What’s wrong with
them?" Pucky ascertained that the Control Central was free of
enemies. It seemed that the phantoms had decided to leave the scene without
further resistance. "You mean you’ve come for us?" he asked. Ras nodded. "The Ironduke’s alongside. We
tracked you on that tracer signal. It was very weak but we picked it up. I made
a jump over here as soon as we arrived but Rhodan and his men will be coming on
board any second now. They’re at the outer locks." Pucky sank into the nearest chair. "Not a minute too
soon! I still don’t know how we’re going to handle the spooks." On
second thought he jumped up again and ran to Iltu. He carefully touched her and
looked at her closely. "She’s warm—normal temperature! She’s alive.
Look! She’s starting to move again!" He heaved a great sigh of relief and
even began to laugh. "It was only a temporary paralysis. There—even
Sukril is moving and so is Henderson!" It was like a miracle. The officers and Iltu appeared to be
waking up from a deep sleep. Their brains and their memory had been turned off
when the paralysis beams had struck them but now they were turned on again
simultaneously. What had occurred between must have been a blank for them. Iltu finally lowered both of her weapons. Their charges had
been exhausted in this spirited battle. Sukril looked around for further signs
of the enemy but couldn’t discover any. Then the door of the Control Central slid to one side and
Perry Rhodan entered. In one sweeping glance he took in the scene, nodded curtly to
Pucky and then looked questioningly as Col. Sukril. Several other men pressed
past him into the room carrying some strange-looking equipment, which they
deposited on the deck with obvious relief. Rhodan smiled faintly. "It seems we got here in the nick
of time," he said. "Pucky, were those aliens really the same phantoms
of Barkon?" The mousebeaver had taken Iltu by the hand and led her to a
chair. He carefully helped her into it before turning around to Rhodan.
"They’re the ones, Perry. All the same phenomena and reactions." "So they’ve found us again," muttered Rhodan
gravely. "I’ve been afraid this would happen, for a long time." He
nodded to the men who were standing by the mysterious instruments. "Might
as well get to work. First, here in the Control Central. We have to know what’s
happened." Meanwhile Col. Sukril had regained his presence of mind.
"Sir, if you wish my report … " "Thank you, Colonel—I’ve been briefed on the
situation. You were not to blame. You and your men have handled yourselves very
well. The robot fleet is on its way to Terra. You had already accomplished your
assigned mission. A confrontation with the invisible invaders was not
foreseen." Capt. Henderson had finally overcome his sense of awe at
being in the presence of the highest Commander-in-Chief. He had returned to his
station and was trying to pick up the Ironduke on the viewscreen. To his
surprise the tracking system responded immediately. The instruments functioned
without any difficulty. The 800-meter hull of the battleship moved laterally
into the field of vision. Small units were streaming in a steady stream from the
great launch-lock hatches, bringing extra crewmen to the Caesar. But the tracking equipment picked up something else as well. Vaguely discernible in silhouette, another spaceship was
hovering nearby. The instruments gave a distance of 3km. Rather than spherical
in shape, the ship was reminiscent of a missile or torpedo. It was more than 100
meters in length but this was relatively small by comparison. "Sir … we’re tracking an alien ship! The indicators
must not be working because it’s not showing up very clearly … " In 2 long strides, Rhodan was beside him, staring at the
screen. "There’s nothing wrong with your equipment," he said grimly.
"It’s the ship of the phantom people. That configuration is the same we
saw on Barkon." He turned to Col. Sukril. "Colonel—get the Caesar
ready for combat—but fast! Don’t lose a second!" Sukril raced to his commander seat. He switched on the
intercom and gave the necessary orders. He didn’t even have time to be
surprised that the intercom was working. Rhodan turned to Pucky. "Did you knock out the Kalup
absorption generator?" "Yes—there was no other choice." "Alright, so we’ll repair it. I’ve brought the whole
tech team along. I assume all we have to do is replace the generator itself. Hm-m
… How did Iltu work out? I was afraid she wouldn’t match up to the
assignment. She’s so young. Actually, I should have let her stay on Mars …
" "Knockitoff!" muttered Pucky, so softly that only
Rhodan could hear him. Without Iltu I wouldn’t have made it, to be honest with
you. And—well—she’s not such a child, you know she’s quite a young lady,
if you ask me." Rhodan smiled and bent down close to the mousebeaver’s ear.
"Tell me now, are you maybe in love with her?" Pucky drew back as if a snake had bitten him. "In
love?!" he gasped indignantly. "That’s too much! I could never fall
in love with such a stupid little moose—pah!" But he suddenly fell silent
for a moment while he cocked his head and looked at Rhodan confidentially.
"You won’t tell on me, will you?" Rhodan shook his head. "Why should I? They’ll be able
to guess the truth, the same as I did." He grinned and added:
"Especially Bell!" Pucky stamped his foot and grimaced. "Did you bring him
along by any chance?" "At the moment he’s commanding the Ironduke,
along with Claudrin of course." "So I even have to put up with that now!" moaned
Pucky as he waddled away. The Gunners of the Caesar reported battle readiness.
Meanwhile Pucky and Iltu announced that there were evidently no more shadow
people on board the giant warship. Rhodan concluded swiftly: "They’ve given up and are
trying to escape in that ship out there. We have to stop them! Col. Sukril, open
fire! Give your crews the coцrdinates from here because I don’t think their
target scopes can see the ship anymore. Hurry—before they get away!" After the Ironduke had withdrawn from the danger zone
the Caesar opened fire from all gun positions. The attack could only be
directed from the Control Central because the opposing vessel’s outlines could
only be detected on the special tracking equipment. The normal screens revealed
nothing but the distant light patch of the unknown stellar nebula. The energy lightnings darted into emptiness—and struck the
unseen objective. While the beans sprayed off it in all directions, they brought
the outlines of the enemy ship into 3-D clarity for all to see. Whether or not
the aliens had a defence screen couldn’t quite be determined because of the
rapidity of events. Or if they had one it was very weak. Five beams struck in
one spot and that was the end. As the concentrated fire penetrated the armourplate hull, a
blinding explosion forced the Terrans to close their eyes. when everybody looked
again there was an expanding gas cloud where the invisible ship had been. The
glowing mass was attenuating in all directions. Pucky was next to Rhodan. He whispered: "Their thought
patterns—they’ve dropped off. I’m not getting a trace of them." He
turned around. "How about you, Iltu?" "No—nothing more. Do you think—they’re all
dead?" "They must be if your esp doesn’t pick them up.
Did you hear that, Perry? They’ve been wiped out. We did it!" Rhodan didn’t take his eyes from the viewscreen. There was
a deep cleft between his brows as he gazed pensively at the spreading atom cloud
which was still glowing and even obscured the distant stellar nebula. Pucky had followed his thoughts and suddenly spoke up again:
"Yes, I think they come from there, too, but how will we ever really find
out? Could it be that that whole island universe is subject to other laws of
nature? Maybe the spooks simply live in a different dimension than ours. Maybe
in the 6th or 7th—but then what would I know about that?" Rhodan gave him a quick nod. "Precisely! What would you
know about it? But at least we’ll find out what they were after here and what
they planned to do with the Caesar? He turned to the men who were working
with the new equipment. "How far along are we?" "Just about ready, sir. All that’s left is to
determine the wavelength of the heat radiations so that we won’t make any
mistakes." Col. Sukril was standing nearby in helpless perplexity as he
watched the experts manipulate the equipment, making meter adjustments and
turning little dials under miniature screens. A movie camera was coupled to the
largest screen on the control panel. Pucky had joined Ras Tschubai to watch. "What is
that?" he asked. The African shrugged. "New-fangled gadgets, little one.
Unfortunately I haven’t the slightest idea of what it is. We were going to
test it while underway but then came your call for help. As it seems, we can
also check out the invention here." Rhodan joined them. "The infra-red delayed tracking
process isn’t all that new," he said with a faint smile. "All we did
on Earth was to make some advanced developments on the basic principle.
Ordinarily the equipment is large and terribly cumbersome—difficult to
transport. What you see here used to take up a small assembly room. Now it only
takes 4 men to carry the whole thing." "Infra-red relayed trucking process?" Pucky
struggled with the long name, not understanding a word of it. "What the
heck is that?" On the larger viewscreen a blur of shadows flitted briefly
and was gone. One of the technicians said almost apologetically: "They’re
human types, after all—have to adjust it finer." "What?" said Pucky, flabbergasted. "Human
types?" Rhodan put a finger to his lips, ordering silence. He
motioned Col. Sukril and Capt. Henderson to get out of the line of sight between
the infra-red tracer and the ship’s flight controls. Everyone waited
breathlessly while the main viewscreen continued to reveal the spectacle of the
glowing cloud of molecular residue from the annihilated ship. It was dispersing
more and more and growing dimmer. Pucky watched the tech team for a while as they worked with
their new equipment. Then he took Iltu’s hand. "Let’s go—this is too
way out for me. I’m hungry." They teleported into his cabin and for the next few minutes
dismissed the fortunate outcome of the adventure from their minds. Pucky
scrabbled around in his luggage and finally produced a plastic bag containing
some carrots. He gallantly offered to share them with Iltu and sat down next to
her on the bed. "Terrific, aren’t they? From my own garden by Lake
Goshun." Iltu nibbled a carrot reluctantly. "But I don’t find
it as good as all that." Pucky stared in amazement. "What—! Not good? I must
not have heard you right!" Iltu shook her little head and revealed her incisor tooth.
"Yes, you heard me. Whenever I get the chance I’m going to cultivate a
field of cabbage turnips." Pucky’s eyes widened as if they were going to come out of
his head. "Cabbage turnips?!" Iltu licked her lips with gourmet appreciation. "the old
carrots couldn’t come anywhere near them, Old Boy." "What did you say?" Iltu nodded for emphasis. "That your carrots couldn’t
compare with——" "No, I don’t mean that! Did you say ‘Old Boy?’
" She nodded again, this time in mock surprise. "Yes—so?" Pucky slipped off the couch and placed his arms on his hips,
striking an almost threatening pose. He took a deep breath and was about to
launch a tirade when Iltu burst out laughing. Her pink incisor came into full
play as she held her stomach in mirth. "How can anyone be so conceited, Pucky? You don’t see
me get insulted when you call me ‘little’ or ‘too young’, as you just
did in front of Rhodan. On the contrary, I’m pleased to know—" Pucky appeared to shrink about a centimetre as he stared at
Iltu in consternation. "You listened when I was talking to Rhodan?" He
fumed angrily. "That was mean and nasty of you—besides being low-down
shameless imprudence!" She stopped laughing. "Now why do you say that, Pucky?
After all, you were telling him such nice things … Or did you
forget?" Pucky closed his eyes. He grabbed one of the carrots and
began to gnaw at it desperately. "anyway, you are too young!"
he confirmed in the midst of his chewing. She nodded while also resuming her meal. "But you are
not too old," she retorted with equal conviction. If possible, Pucky shrank a tiny bit more. * * * * the officers who were present in the Control Central stood in
the background and spoke now and then to Col. Sukril. He also received Lt. Germa’s
report which helped to round out the picture. "Now we’ve got it!" cried one of the technicians
excitedly. He looked at one of the meters. "Two hours back, sir." On the main screen of the tracer console could be seen
shadowy figures which moved swiftly about in the room. The camera began to hum
as it captured these events from the recent past. What the men were looking at
had happened 2 hours before. The invisible invaders had emitted heat rays from
their bodies, which were now rendered visible. Each of the movements they had
made 2 hours ago could now be observed and carefully studied. Earth scientists
had developed this astounding equipment for the purpose of obtaining evidence in
criminal cases. "They’re looking over the controls," muttered
Col. Sukril. He stared in utter amazement at the visible heat imprints of the
now dead intelligences. "Those look like human silhouettes. They seem to be
interested in the engines." "You mean our linear propulsion," said Rhodan.
"Look! They’re also taking pictures! You can’t see the camera but their
movements are unmistakable. I just hope the photographs were destroyed with
their ship because now we know what they were after." He turned to one of
the specialists. "That’s fine, Professor. Now will you be so good as to
repeat the process down in the Machine Centre? We have to know what they were
doing there." The tech team packed up their gear and left the Control
Central. Their films would be evaluated later. Once the intentions of the aliens
were known, conclusions might be drawn with regard to their character, their
mode of living and possibly their origin. The absorption field assembly was replaced and a test run
indicated that the Caesar was able to return under its own power back to
Earth, where it was to have a general overhaul. Rhodan said goodbye to Col. Sukril, wished him a safe journey
home and returned with his men to the Ironduke. He took the 2
mousebeavers with him. They waited until the Caesar started off. It
quickly accelerated and was finally only a tiny star against the silvery band of
the Milky Way. Then it vanished entirely. Col. Jefe Claudrin, Flight Commander of the Ironduke,
also gave orders to get underway. Rhodan’s flagship followed the Caesar. Rhodan and Bell sat at a small conference table at a slight
distance to one side of the viewscreens. Pucky squatted in a chair beside them
and repeated his report in detail. Both men listened intently, frequently
interrupting with questions and attempting to dig out every possible clue
concerning the aliens. "It would be almost impossible to tell they were present
without telepathy," Pucky emphasized again. "Of course they finally
tried to screen their thoughts but it didn’t work entirely. If they’re
really telepaths they’re pretty poor ones. A good telepath can isolate his
thoughts. And there’s another thing I noticed: under a heavy attack they back
off pretty fast. They’re not too keen about fighting. As soon as the Ironduke
showed up they ditched their plans and simply gave up the Caesar when it
was just about in their hands. They escaped—even though it was only to go up
in smoke right afterwards. Then all the blocked controls suddenly came free. Is
it possible that they locked the controls by telekinesis?" Rhodan shook his head negatively. "no, they don’t use
psychokinesis or we would have noticed that during our combats with them. I’m
more in favour of your first idea. They penetrate matter, which offers them no
resistance. On the other hand it can be assumed that there are obstacles for
them which offer no resistance to us. We know for sure, though, that they can
cover short distances in space without a ship. All in all they’re quite
amazing—a very dangerous race. I’m afraid they’re still going to make
trouble for us." Pucky looked up at the viewscreen. "That stellar nebula
there—do you think it’s where they come from?" Rhodan and Bell looked over at the stern screen. The blurred
nebulous spot appeared to be small and insignificant. The unknown galaxy looked
harmless—and very, very distant. But that dim blob happened to be the
Andromeda Nebula in sector BJ-97-UK—the target zone that Capt. Henderson, the Caesar’s
Navigation Officer, had been ordered to steer his course for. If the shadow
people were intent upon stealing the Caesar it could be assumed that they
were planning to take it to their homeworld. Bell had been silent for some time but he suddenly spoke up.
"Wasn’t that little Iltu a pain in the neck for you?" Pucky was caught off guard. "A pain? How come?" Bell grinned. "Well, I seem to remember how badly you
complained about her once when we made a visit to the colony on Mars. Isn’t
that the fresh little guy who was always so impudent—the one who tossed the
camp commander through the air?" "Iltu isn’t a ‘guy’, Fatso—she’s a girl!" "A mousebeaver’s a mousebeaver," retorted Bell
somewhat disdainfully. "Anyway, you were really sore at her. That’s why
we assigned her to you without giving you any previous warning. It was to be a
surprise so that you wouldn’t have time to complain … " "She was a surprise alright!" "Oh?" Pucky nodded. "Yes, a pleasant one. Without her help I
wouldn’t have been able to handle those spooks. Iltu is a first-class
teleporter." "Well, so what?" said Bell in mock disparagement.
"She’s still a young child—you said so yourself." "She’s no child now!" fumed Pucky angrily, and he
bared his incisor tooth. This time it was not a sign of pleasure. "She’s
a grownup young lady mousebeaver! Anybody who insults her is also insulting me.
Just get that into your head, once and for all, or something could happen to
you!" Bell caught a warning look from Rhodan. he had almost failed
to realize that the situation had changed. Previously he had always had Pucky’s
support whenever he had complained about Iltu—or any of the other mousebeavers
of the colony—but today such an approach produced the opposite effect.
Strange. OK, little buddy. I didn’t mean it like that." "Well that’s what it sounded like," grumbled
Pucky, although he was already half-consoled, "I will admit, though, that I
underestimated Ilty … " "Who?" Pucky’s mouse ears twitched in a sign of embarrassment.
"Oh I often call her that. It fits her better than Iltu." "My, my!" said Bell, grinning broadly. "You
already have a pet name for her?" He winked at Rhodan. "When will
congratulations be in order?" Pucky seemed to be exceptionally slow on the uptake today.
"Congratulations? What for?" "Don’t hand me that! You know very well what I mean.
You’ve gone off the deep end for Ilty—or haven’t you?" "You dare call her Ilty?" chirped Pucky in new
irritation. "Don’t dodge the subject. Do you love her or don’t
you?" Pucky gasped under the shock of the other’s merciless
suspicion. "For that—she’s too young. She’s only just a child …
" Bell burst out laughing. "You know you change your
opinion like I change my shirt! Only now you were just saying … !" He
broke off suddenly. The air was shimmering in the middle of the table. Then Iltu
materialized from nowhere. She stood there and looked about at everyone
triumphantly until her gaze rested on Pucky. "So!" she chirped menacingly. "After all, now
I’m such a youngster again, am I?" Pucky was noticeably cowed. Rhodan and Bell couldn’t
remember ever having seen him so humbled. "Well now … I mean … !"
He pointed to Bell. "Fatso’s talking out of his head, Ilty—Iltu. I was
only defending you, that’s all." Iltu came closer to him. "So I’m so young, am I? Then
you know what you are!" Pucky cast an imploring glance at Rhodan. He was caught
squarely on the horns of an awful dilemma. If he insisted that Iltu was young,
then it was a guaranteed certainty that here in front of Bell she’d give him
the title of "Grandpa". And if he should admit that after all she was
not "too young", then the other trap would close! Women!—he thought bitterly. One shouldn’t get
mixed up with them. Men always came out on the short end of things because they
were dumber! But it wasn’t all quite that bad. "Listen, Ilty, do we
have to discuss this right out in public, for the ears of this nosey Fatso? Just
look at his ears bending forward! What business is it of his what the two of us
… I mean, the way we two … " He became hopelessly confused and slumped
disconsolately. "Take it any way you want to!" Iltu went over to Rhodan and slipped into his lap looked at
him guilelessly and took his hands in hers. "Don’t you agree, Perry—when
I’m grown up I get to marry Pucky?" A choking sound came from where Pucky had been sitting. The
mousebeaver had lost his balance and fallen under the table. On all fours he
came scrabbling out again, trembling in all his limbs. "No! I will not get married! I’m too … no, not now
anymore! I won’t!" "You don’t mean to say, perhaps, that you’re too
old?" said Rhodan as he stroked Iltu’s silky hair reassuringly. "But
Pucky, who would want to admit a thing like that?" "I didn’t admit it … but all the same … " "Grandpa!" whispered Iltu all the same … " Pucky went rigid. Rhodan tensed. Bell began to laugh uncontrollably. "Grandpa!" he
exclaimed, at the same time groaning with mirth. "That’s a good one!
Grandpa!" And he kept on as if he would never stop. "When Iltu saw what she had wrought by her remark, she
got quickly out of Rhodan’s lap, pattered over to Pucky and took his hand.
"You know I didn’t mean it like that … !" Pucky remembered his manhood. "Leave me alone!" he
snapped, and shook her hand away. "You … you infant! You babe in diapers!
You … you … you … " Words failed him. Iltu stared at him and then drew herself up until she was
almost taller than Pucky. She shouted at him in a shrill voice: "Oh, so now
you’re getting smart, are you? Well, I’ll fix that, you just wait!" She
took him by the hand again. "You come now, right now. The two of us alone!
Are you in for a surprise! Pah! Too old! Too young! That’s an excuse! Now will
you please come along?" They dematerialised. The last thing Rhodan and Bell saw of Pucky was his sorrowful
look of reproach. Rhodan spoke first. "You can stop laughing now, Bell.
You should have respect for the feelings of our little friend. He’s fallen in
love." Bell ceased laughing abruptly. He stared at Rhodan in
astonishment. "You don’t mean it’s for real, do you?" "Of course I do. Haven’t you ever been in love?" Bell turned red and shifted uncomfortably. "But Iltu is
only … " "A mousebeaver? So? For Pucky I’m sure she’s the
most beautiful and attractive maiden in the universe. What would you say, for
example, if one day Pucky were to become—not a grandpa, that’s still too far
away—but let’s say a proud father? The father of 3 or 4 tiny, cute little
mousebeavers? When I think of it——" "No thank you!" groaned Bell, horrified. "That
I couldn’t take! All I have to remember is my visit to the mousebeaver colony
on Mars. The little rascals sat around on my head and my stomach and my legs,
scratching me and making a big game out of it where I was ticklish. No! Pucky’s
pups will be the death of me!" Rhodan looked thoughtfully at the dwindling blob of light in
the middle of the viewscreen. "Maybe it will be just the opposite—for the
Earth." He was still watching the spiral nebula, which was many millions of
light-years distant and was perhaps the home of the invisible foe. "Maybe
one day Pucky’s children will determine the fate of the human race." |
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