"006 The Mutant Corps" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"Could you tell me what your secret landing site looks like? I am interested in details, because I want to make quite sure."

The boss was thinking of India, and in particular of a region between the Kardamom Mountains and the city of Madura. Characteristic of this region was the transition from a dense jungle into a wide, open Savannah grassland.

"This secret airport is an old airport for horizontal thrust engines, but it is quite suitable for our purposes. And we wonТt run any great risk of being found out. How is it then? Will you talk with Adams?"

"Of course, sir. The best thing will be if I talk to him right away."

"Okay. Go now. LetТs consider that we are in a condition of truce."John Marshall returned to the lounge section. "We will land near Rangoon," he explained to the people. "From there weТll have good connections to Japan or to Korea. The only condition the bandits made was that we remain aboard the plane long enough to give them a good head start. This is the extent of concessions I could get them to make to us."."You accomplished a good deal if that is true, but not much if we consider that we have no guarantees whatsoever for their promises."

Marshall tried to calm the speaker. "Beggars canТt be choosers, sir. If you can obtain better conditions from them why donТt you go and ask them personally?"Most of the passengers were on MarshallТs side and praised his courage.While the general conversation became more and more animated and while one of the stewardesses announced that they were just flying over the northern Maldives, John Marshall disappeared into one of the washrooms. There he took a small, unusual looking radio transmitter out of his pocket.

"Marshall calling, Marshall calling. IТm calling the Third Power. Please answer. John Marshall calling. Perry Rhodan please answer."Inside the blockaded zone of the central Gobi Desert, howled and bells were ringing shrilly.

Reginald BellТs voice boomed over the outdoor loudspeakers of the low lying barracks. "Emergency. Emergency. The emergency squad and all vital personnel please report immediately to the central compound."Perry Rhodan, who had just intended to return to the robot brain to have some further detailed calculations made, turned and raced back the 200 yards to the command center. There he arrived at the same time as Kakuta, Captain Klein and Lieutenant Kosnow.

"We have our Secretary of the Treasury, declared Bell, "but he is being held by some bandits inside a big jet that will land in a few minutes at the southernmost tip of west India. Most likely they will kill him at that time. Marshall has just sent this report to me."

"Everybody to the space sphere," ordered Rhodan. "At once!"

Outside he ran into Thora.

"Your fellowmen have another of their alarms," she noted with apparent lack of emotion.

"We need. the space sphere, Thora. I hope that neither you nor Khrest planned to use it right now."

"You can have the space sphere, Perry. Evidently this is once again a case of Earth shaking events confronting you."

There was no time for Rhodan to react angrily to her sarcastic remark. He ran on, for the cue words "Secretary of the Treasury" had been sufficient to make clear the significance of the moment.

He had mentally calculated the distance from the Gobi Desert to the tenth degree of latitude, and he had realized at once that he would arrive there too late if he used his special Arkonide suit for transportation. His only hope of crossing the almost 2,500 miles within a few minutes lay with the spaceship.

Exactly eighty-five seconds after the alarm had sounded, the gigantic sphere left the ground. Reginald Bell was reclining in his seat. He had decided not to make use of the automatic guidance system.

"Peter," he called to Kosnow. "Turn the map to west India. The jet with the bandits will land about ninety miles west of Madura. We must fly toward the jet, a bit toward the south. As soon as. we sight it, nothing can go wrong any more. The last time we heard from Marshall the jet was just above the Maldive Islands."

"Okay," Perry Rhodan said calmly. "WeТll make it with this miracle craft. DonТt worry."The ArkonidesТ sphere flew at an altitude of about eighty miles. Far below, the planet was rotating as if it bad been set in motion by a titanic fist. They could see the highlands of Tibet, the Himalayas, Nepal and the Ganges River. For a couple of minutes they were crossing the ocean above the Gulf of Bengal between Jaipur and Madras. Then Reginald Bell sighted the jet. The men gathered eagerly around the video screen."You see this glimmering line there? That must be it. They are on a straight course. Altitude approximately 30,000 feet."

"LetТs hope they donТt recognize us," said Kosnow."Impossible," grinned Bell. "WeТre using our invisible cloak."Even if the people down there looked up straight to the sky above them, they would not be able to make out the slightest suspicious spot. Shall I descend now?"

"Yes," replied Rhodan. "Approach within a mile and a half of them. WeТll probably have to land immediately after the jet. I would not like to give these bandits too much time to use countermeasures."

"What could they do against our superior force of arms?"

"There are many hostages on board," Rhodan reminded him. "Under these circumstances our technical superiority will not be of much help to us."




CHAPTER THREE