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

"Get ready for transition! Terra and Solar System will come along with us!"

* * * *

"In two hours," was the consensus of the inquiry. "Shortly after change of guards."
Tiff agreed. He had made the same proposal. He left the mess hall together with Eberhardt and Mildred. Hifield remained behind.

The intercom receiverнtransmitters were installed in the walls of the corridor at regular intervals. The distance between the sets was about 25 feet. As Mildred and the two cadets kept their voices very low there was a stretch of about six to ten feet between two sets where the sound could not be picked up by the intercom.
Their conversation proceeded something like this:
"Orlgans was convulsed with laughter." Tiff described the situation during the interrogation he had just endured as they slowly walked past one of the sets. "But you know the Springers. They laugh loudly and amuse themselves royally, thinking all the time about the best way to obliterate you."
"What did they want to know?" Eberhardt asked.
Tiff glanced at the wall. The intercom they had just passed was about 10 feet behind them and the next one 15 feet ahead.
"You'll have to engage the guards in a conversation, Milly," Tiff said quickly and softly. "Pretend you want to show them something and lure them away from the command centre for at least three minutes. Three minutes will be enough for me at the worst but more would be a lot better."
The intercom came closer.
"...nothing, of course," Tiff changed abruptly. I don't have the slightest idea what secrets he thinks that I know. He doesn't give me any clues either. He laughed loudly in my face and said next time he'd apply different methods that would be highly unpleasant for me while he obtained his information."
Mildred's face looked frightened. "Do you believe he'll really do that?"
Tiff nodded. The intercom was behind them again. "He certainly will! You must do your job very cleverly, Milly. Even if I set a time delay, the guards could discover our operation if they should become suspicious and investigate the command centre closely. You'll have to explain it all precisely to Felicita so she won't do anything silly. And tell her not to be afraid! They're nice guys as long as they're your friends. But look out when you cross them up!"

* * * *

"There's no matter to speak of within a radius of 20 light-years," the rangefinder reported.
Perry Rhodan sat in front of the Stardust's pilot console. The observation screen showed the blackness of empty space, overlaid by a contourless veil of cold points of light.
Two blurred, faintly shimmering spots appeared on the screen-the Terra and the Solar System.
"And what is beyond the 20 lightнyear limit?" Rhodan asked into the microphone.
The answer came promptly: "BetaнAlbireo is 21.85 lightнyears away from our present location, a double star in the constellation Cygnus."
"What else?"
"Two more suns at a distance of 53.56 and 62.72 light-years, sir."
"Thank you!"
Reginald Bell was leaning against the side of the pilot console. Rhodan looked at him and said: "We've jumped 350 lightнyears. BetaнAlbireo is located about 320 light-years from the Sun. The positronic indicated an error of 9.2% for its calculations."
Rhodan interrupted himself and connected with the rangefinder again. "Let me have the distance of the two unknown stars from the Sun," he requested.
The whirring of the calculating machine was audible in the loudspeaker. Then came the answer: "The closer of the two is almost exactly on the extension of the line TerraнStardust. Distance from Sol approximately 400 lightнyears. The other one is located at positive Phi from the line. Distance from Sol about 383 lightнyears."
Rhodan clicked off and looked once more at Bell. "Did you hear that?"
Bell was doing some figuring in his head. "Yes, I heard it," he replied thoughtfully. "350 plus or minus 9.2% means that the goal is within a range of 318 to 382 lightнyears distance from Sol; 320 could be right, perhaps even 383 under certain circumstances, but 400 must be eliminated."
Rhodan agreed. "Fine. Now we've got two targets to choose from. Which shall it be?"
Bell twisted his face in a bellicose grin. "The more likely of the two: BetaнAlbireo!"

* * * *

The Springers were descendants of an Arkonide race. In their technical development they were at least equal to the Arkonides, the rulers of the Galactic Imperium, if not superior.
The Springer fleet, whether battleships or merchant ships, was equipped with structureнsensors which could register the disturbance of the fourнdimensional space-time continuum caused by the transition of a spaceship at a great distance.
The Orla XI located the severe disturbance produced by the transition of the three Terrestrial warships without difficulty.
And Orlgans, owner and captain of the Orla, began to realize that he had become involved in an affair that probably was too much for him to handle.
Orlgans consulted with the man who would have been called First Officer on board Terrestrial ships. The Springers were traders and there were no military titles on their mercantile vessels.
The man's name was Ornafer. A Terranian would have had trouble telling the two men apart unless he knew them for some time. They were both the same height-about 6'6"-and of the same solid build. The colour of their untrimmed hair was indistinguishable and they wore the closeнcropped beards which was the current fashion among the Springers.
"Somebody is on our heels!" Orlgans said gravely.
Ornafer laughed defiantly. "So what! We'll teach them a lesson!"
Orlgans shook his head. "They might teach us a lesson instead," he said.
Ornafer was still laughing. "They wouldn't dare touch us. Us, the Springers!"
Orlgans was of a different opinion. "They know the World of Eternal Life. We don't know what technical means are at their disposal."
Ornafer became less adamant. "We can always call in a few warships to help us if you're worried about them."