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

First he made use of the imposing machine during his preparations in formulating the questions he would ask. This took several hours.

The memory part of the machine functioned in three ways: It presented the results with the help of its interpretation cells as the final product in pictures, spoken words and printed signals. At the same time all these answers were conserved as permanent records. The typed answer tape was wound on a reel automatically and marked with appropriate cues to its content. Sound and image were put on a parallel tape, where they were recorded and synchronized by electronic impulses.

RhodanТs preliminary examination provided an incredible result.There were more than 22 billion possibilities from which mankind had to choose some sensible path for the future. But in no way was it simply a question of one solution being right and all the others wrong. The scale ranging from advantage to disadvantage ran across the screen in a wide spectrum. After more than a hundred further selective processes, there remained on the positive side more than a thousand possibilities. Rhodan had to search for additional limiting questions to narrow the field to the vital last question.

Many hours went by. His physical exertion was minimal; yet he perspired profusely under the immense mental strain of the experiments he was conducting.

Late that evening that he received the answer to the threat of a new invasion. The answer came almost as a byproduct. He repeated the experiment five times before he could finally accept the solution with all its implications. Еthe invasion is already taking placeЕ!

Rhodan called Bell via radio.

"HowТs it going with Peking, Reg?"

"They are hard to deal with. TheyТre wasting my time with lots of petty details."

"LetТs discuss this purchase of land for our territory at a later time. Something much more urgent has come up in the meantime. Leave your station at once and go aboard the space sphere. Instruct Manoli and our three friends from the secret defence services to join you there right away. The ship must be ready to start within the next ten minutes. No one is to leave the ship, even if I should turn up late. Give the alarm for the whole base."The crew managed to get the Arkonide ship ready within ten minutes. Yet Rhodan did not arrive on board until midnight. He joined his crew in the command center.

"Reg, you will be the pilot. Start immediately! I must have a talk with Tako."

Rhodan switched on the screen and called Tako Kakuta In the main command station of the base. TakoТs face appeared on the video screen."Yes, Mr. Rhodan, what Is it?"

"We are about to leave the base. Observe our start and when the right moment comes, lift the energy screen for a few seconds to let us pass through."

"Okay."

The Arkonide auxiliary vessel shot straight up toward the sky and disappeared from TakoТs view like a quicksilver will-o-the-wisp.Reginald Bell turned toward Rhodan, while his hands carried out the necessary flight manoeuvres with automatic precision.

"WonТt you finally tell us what all this is supposed to mean, Perry? Eric and the others are already doubting my sanity because I rushed them over here and then had them wait for hours."

"I have talked with the СbrainТ since this afternoon and have asked it vital questions. This is what took so long. We will need a guide through this maze if we are ever to find our way amongst the labyrinth of problems the future has in store for us."

"And have you found what you were looking for?"

"Yes, I did, Reg."

For a few seconds Rhodan seemed to be lost in thought. Then he looked straight at Bell. "We must search EarthТs gravisphere at once at least as far as the moonТs orbit. One of the answers of the brain said that the invasion has already started."Manoli was the first to overcome the shock they all felt at RhodanТs news. "Do you mean by the same extraterrestrial we beat back and whose ship we destroyed on the moon just a few days ago?"

"We all know perfectly well that that battle was nothing but a preliminary skirmish. ThoraТs explanations have turned out to be correct. The faster than light transmitter of the destroyed Arkonide spaceship on the moon has mobilized the enemies of both our civilizations and has lured alien intelligence into our corner of the galaxy. Such a race as the Fantan people, bent on annihilation, will not be satisfied with half measures and individual actions. I have fed the information regarding our situation into the brain. The, answer of the machine was that the invasion has already started. Will you please go now to your stations. You know what needs to be done!"Whatever had not yet become routine in the running of the ship became so on this flight The automatic scanner reported in regular intervals, "No foreign bodies can be located."

Rhodan regularly checked the stations manned by Bell, Eric Manoli, Captain Klein, Li Tschai-tung and Peter Kosnow.

At a distance of about 240,000 miles from the center of the Earth, Rhodan ordered the ship to enter an orbital path. He did not, however, let the sphere float without any power drive like a satellite. This would have resulted in an orbital period of almost five weeks. Instead, he had the sphereТs drive thrusting at an angle to the orbital path, which cancelled out the centrifugal force caused by the tremendous speed."ThatТs fine!" murmured Rhodan as the gigantic crescent of the moon fell behind them."The computer is said to be infallible, isnТt it?" asked Manoli suddenly as Rhodan stopped near his station. "Where, then, is our enemy if the invasion has already begun? As far as I know there is no field that can absorb the spy-rays of our spaceship."

"Only man is fallible," confessed Perry Rhodan. "If the invasion is not really taking place, I must have asked the question the wrong way. In this case I almost hope I have made a mistake."

"You have made one indeed," came ThoraТs voice over the loudspeaker. You might just as well come back to Earth, Perry Rhodan. I have followed your endeavours here in my cabin, and I have observed what the scanners reported. There is no alien spaceship out here! You would be better advised to devote your energies to more urgent tasks on Earth!"

"Thank you for this advice. Is Khrest with you?"