"Perry Rhodan 029 - Fleet of the Springers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

1/ Prisoners Of The Springers

UNKNOWN TO ALL but the Springers was this secret place. This place where prisoners of the Kн7 were confined.
The Kн7, auxiliary ship of the Terrestrial spacefleet, measured 200 feet in diameter and was presently bound to the Orla XI by a highly effective magnetoнmechanical bond. The bond neutralized itself inside the Orla, which was one of the gigantic spacers of the merchant fleet of the unique race known as the Springers.
A captive of the alien ship, the Kн7 and its crew had gone through hypertransition with the Springers and emerged, after the hytrans process, at this unidentified place in space. Beneath the Kн7, parasitic prisoner of the Springer ship, lay a strange cloudнcovered world around which parent ship and kidnaped ship had been circling for endless hours.
Three humans stood together in the command centre of the Kн7: Humphrey Hifield, Klaus Eberhardt and Mildred Orsons. Hifield and Eberhardt still wore the regular service uniform of Space Academy cadets. Mildred was attired in one of the comfortable sheer spacesuits of Arkonide manufacture, with a helmet that hung on the back like a hood when not in use.
"It's taking a long time!" Eberhardt growled.
Hifield shrugged his shoulders.
"I hope they don't hurt him," Mildred sighed.
The remark seemed to irritate Hifield, who flared: "Why should they do anything to him? He'll be back in five or ten minutes and laugh at you for being so scared. I wish somebody would make that big a fuss about me!"
Mildred refrained from reacting. Eberhardt looked sideways at Hifield and grinned: "You're always very careful not to get into situations that would cause us to worry about you, aren't you?"
Hifield was not the man to let such an insinuation pass unnoticed. But before he could retort, Mildred cried out happily: "Here he comes! Over there!"
A hole suddenly gaped in the smooth wall of the strange ship. A human figure emerged, pushed off and floated across the chasm. On the observation screen, the figure was lost from sight when it disappeared behind the curvature of the Kн7.
Mildred was already on her way. "Come on! Let's go meet him!" she shouted.
Eberhardt ran after her. Hifield angrily shook his head, then reluctantly followed.
Posted at the exit of the command centre were two heavily armed Springer guards but these the trio stormed through and ran down the wide corridor to the main elevator.
The two tall longнhaired Springers didn't move a facial muscle. They had observed the three prisoners while they were in the command centre and were certain that they hadn't done anything undesirable.
Mildred, Eberhardt and Hifield reached the airlock of the auxiliary ship at the same time as the hatch opened. The man they had seen float across from the Orla XI stepped in, pulled his helmet back over his head and let his shoulders drop in a gesture of resignation.
"What's the matter, Tiff?" Mildred asked anxiously.
Tiff-Julian Tifflor, Cadet of the Space Academy in Terrania on a clandestine mission so secret that he himself had not been informed of its true purpose-waved his hand. "Nothing," he answered wearily. "They've grilled me. And, by Jove, they've got a way of interrogating you that makes you forget how to smile!"
"And how much did you spill?" Hifield asked a little more acrimoniously than he really intended.
"Not a thing!" Tiff shouted, enraged. "I don't know anything so I couldn't blab anything!"
"Says you!" Hifield shot back unmoved.
Mildred gave him an exasperated look. "Can't you stop this quarrelling for five minutes?" she upbraided him. Then she turned toward Tiff to ask him something but Tiff said quickly:
"Let's all go up! I've got to talk to you!"
He led the way. The two cadets and the girl followed him. They rode up in the antigravнelevator to the section of the auxiliary ship where the cabins and the small mess hall were located. In the mess hall they found six of the 10 cadets on board the Kн7, Felicita Kergonen, the botany student and Major Deringhouse who had hobbled down on crutches from his cabin to enjoy some company.
They knew that Julian Tifflor had been called on board the Orla for questioning. When he entered their conversation fell silent.
Tifflor first raised his hand from his hip in a quick silent gesture. Then he said: "Good morning! How are you getting along around here?"
The reply came hesitantly and in exactly the manner Tiff had expected: dispassionately and unsuspiciously.
They had understood his gesture on which they had agreed a few hours earlier. Raising the hand from the hip meant: I've got to say something the Springers aren't allowed to hear. Watch the intercom!
The Springers were anything but fools. They knew exactly what kind of prisoners they had captured-prisoners who would only give up the thought of escape when their throat was cut. The Kн7 was equipped with a very efficient intercom system and the Springers made thorough use of it to survey their captives.
Tiff started some innocuous chatter. A few of the cadets surrounded him and asked him about his experiences on board the Orla. The others kept talking to Deringhouse who, with his wounded leg, had pushed together two chairs in order to be comfortable.
The group around Tiff stood shoulder to shoulder. The circle was so tight that Tiff was able to hastily write something on a piece of paper without being detected by the intercom, all the while giving insignificant answers.
He passed the slip to Hifield who stood next to him and was sure that the news would get around within a few minutes.
The conversation continued while the ship circulated. The message read:
"The Orla is inferior to the Kн7 in equipment and energy output. We can get away if we manage to start our engines. The two girls will have to distract the guards from the command centre. I'll switch on the controls and set a time delay of about one hour for takeнoff. Any suggestions when we can start?"

* * * *

The Stardust hovered near the outer edge of the Terrestrial solar system between the orbits of Pluto and Neptune. The gigantic battleship-half a mile in diameter-was flanked by the two heavy cruisers Terra and Solar System. Perry Rhodan kept in constant touch with the two commanders via intercom.
Structureнsensors had detected the transition of the strange spaceship and pinpointed the location of departure. Rhodan had submitted the data of the sensor to the positronic calculator and demanded a rapid evaluation.
Rhodan knew that even the tremendous positronic computer of the Stardust would require six to seven hours for the evaluation of the complicated sensorнdiagram if the result was to be obtained with an error of less than one percent.
But Rhodan didn't have time to wait six or seven hours.
He, the Stardust and Terra were facing an enemy that had been able to keep hidden in spite of all the efforts on Earth. This was an indication that their technical achievements were far from underdeveloped.
Rhodan had worked out a plan according to which Julian Tifflor was supposed to lead him on the track of the adversary. Tifflor had measured up to his expectations. However nobody had foreseen that the enemy would capture the Kн7 and take it from the orbit of Pluto into hyperspace so that Tifflor's cellнtransmitter had been transferred from within a second outside the range of reception by the telepaths.
Rhodan was prepared to risk an error up to 10% in the evaluation of the diagram but he was not ready to tolerate a delay of more than an hour.
"We must find the Kн7 again!"
Hardly anybody had heard another word from him since the auxiliary ship had disappeared.
Reginald Bell brought the plastic strip printed with the result of the calculations of the positronic computer. Rhodan grabbed the strip out of his hand and studied it. That took a minute.
Bell glanced at him from the side. "Well... ?" He wanted to ask more but at that moment Rhodan lifted his bead and shouted: