"Perry Rhodan 031 - Robot Threat- New York in Atlan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

Another 12 hours before landing on Terra! So much could happen in that span of time.
The foreign agents were robots from their own ranks. Reprogrammed robots!
Very little was discussed in the Command Central. Wherever the Chief of the New Power was present in person, respect instinctively prevailed, even though everyone knew that Perry Rhodan was open to any reasonable idea.
The only one who seldom kept silent was Rhodan's deputy, Reginald Bell, or Reggie, as his closest colleagues called him.
Reggie found the appropriate words to ease their inner tension. "You're all sitting there as if they were about to serve the last meal before execution. What difference do a few hours make till we land? At least we know the score now. After all, those flipped-out robots have been knocking around in our territory for weeks and the Earth is still there, in spite of any subversive activity those guys might have already undertaken. After we've landed it will soon come to an end. I think we'll cross up their plans but good."
Bell fell silent. Here and there someone nodded approvingly but no discussion followed as he had hoped. Perry Rhodan issued a few orders to the observers and requested course controls.
After this routine manoeuvre was over the silence set in again. Thoughts once again went to the future and to the past.
So the K-9 with its commander Deringhouse and Cadet Tifflor had fallen into the hands of the Traders. Meanwhile it was known that Tifflor and his comrades had succeeded in reaching an ice planet on which they had hidden. Rhodan had sent them the peculiar furry creature, Pucky, who could aid them well because of his versatile parapsychological abilities. However, there was no more to be done for the stranded group at the moment. The advent of Trader ship reinforcements had to be reckoned with at any moment and they were units of Arkonide excellence. If Rhodan wished to defeat these foes, who were his equals, he would have to attain superiority elsewhere. And 'elsewhere' could only be found on the planet Wanderer, the planet of eternal life.
Yet to find Wanderer was not a task for routine navigation. Astronautical yearbooks and ephemeris tables were of no help either. The planet of eternal life was a world without a sun. It was a vagabond that lay embedded in the gravitational fields of the Milky Way system, able to change its course according to the whims of its ruler.
Specifications on any given position could be made by the highly developed positronicomputers with fairly accurate probability and the 'most intelligent' computer available to the New Power was stationed on Venus.
This fact alone had prompted Perry Rhodan to return from the distant Albireo System. He needed the data on Wanderer's present position in order to fetch what he still required to be more than a match for the Traders.
Thus the alarm sent by the patrolling cruisers could by no means be regarded as part of his scheme and yet Rhodan made the best of this fact too.
At last there was some clue to the mysteries on Earth. For the plight they were all stuck in was steaming from Earth. Things were chaotic on Terra. For weeks the unknown foes had escaped detection and now, due to Tifflor's effort, they had finally discovered that the instigators were not human beings but robots.
That was reason enough to forego a landing on Venus for the present. What good were victories far out in the galaxy if the Earth, the basis of mankind, fell increasingly under the control of the adversary?
Rhodan deliberately did not convey the information he had received to Terrania. He wanted his arrival to he a surprise. The enemy agents were not to realize too early that they had been detected.
Reaching the Jupiter orbit, Stardust sent in a first dispatch, a brief statement to inform the base in the Gobi of Rhodan's imminent landing.
Confirmation in Terrania was given by Col. Freyt personally.
"Thank God that you are coming, chief! A lot has happened while you were away."
"Don't get me worried, Colonel," Rhodan answered jokingly to confuse any possible enemy interceptors. "I'm not exactly bringing favourable news back either. But I do hope that you have at least dug up those unknown agents by now."
"I claim the right, sir," Col. Freyt answered in a reserved manner, "not to be smarter than you and your mutant corps. We have prepared an exhaustive report about our campaign and I shall take the liberty of handing you our conclusions upon your arrival."
"Don't make things so suspenseful, Freyt! What does it all amount to?"
"That there are no enemy agents."
"Thanks a lot, Colonel! You can just keep surprises like that to yourself. People returning home should really only be told pleasant news. I think you still may learn that in the next 10 years

* * * *

Stardust emerged in the opened energy dome of Central Terrania. Several vehicles were awaiting the officers at Landing Field A to take them to their quarters. The other crew members were transported in some robot buses. Only 10 maintenance men remained behind, who immediately contacted the service robots to arrange for a thorough cleaning and overhaul of the gigantic spacecraft.
Rhodan himself drove straight to Freyt's office, accompanied by Reginald Bell.
Contrary to custom, the Colonel had not appeared at the reception of Rhodan and there was nothing ceremonious about his greeting as Rhodan and Bell entered his office. Freyt made a dejected impression. He stood up behind his desk and said somewhat wearily: "Please have a seat, gentlemen."
He hesitantly sat down and heaved a sigh of relief. The sigh seemed to mean that from that moment on he had returned the responsibility for the New Power to the hands of Rhodan; still he did not seem relieved.
"It's the same old story, sir, only that the enemy is getting bolder by the day."
"You told me there were no enemy agents, colonel."
"According to our investigations, there aren't. But they are all the more present when you read the newspapers, Mr. Rhodan."
"OK! Tell me about it, Freyt. Forget our conversation! We are alone and can speak openly."
"I doubt that we are alone, sir."
"Now don't be neurotic, colonel! I've yet to know you to suffer from hallucinations, so don't start now."
"I mean it just like I told you, sir. It is definite that the agents exist but no living being on Earth can be identified as one of them. You yourself saw the failure of the Mutant Corps..."
"Don't remind me of my failures. We know more today. Cadet Tifflor has found out that the mysterious agents are our own robots-or at least some of them are.
Col. Freyt stared at his boss. "Our robots," he stammered. "That is..."
"...neither impossible nor unbelievable, Freyt. It is the only explanation and Tifflor is quite positive. He did not simply put two and two together, he listened in on our enemies. And the explanation is plausible. Everyone knows, for example, how difficult it is for our telepaths to read the thoughts of robots. The process of thinking occurs within a different frequency range than that of natural people. Furthermore, artificial cell reactions are substantially more primitive and crude than in our brains. So you may rest assured that my explanation is reliable."
Freyt suddenly seemed transformed. His bearing displayed the optimism so typical of him.
"But then everything is all right, sir! We cut off the robots' energy and bring them all in for a general overhaul."
"I already made that decision 8 hours ago," Rhodan countered. "But I do hope that you are able to imagine what it would mean if we were to inactivate all the work robots at 3 in the afternoon. Our plants are operating at top capacity. Elimination of a few thousand supervisory attendants would cause indispensable reactions to cease. Just imagine that a blast furnace tap-off were neglected or that the graphite control of a reactor wasn't checked or...
Col. Freyt raised his hand in protest. "Of course I understand, Mr. Rhodan. Our industry is inconceivable without the constant service of robots. It would be a catastrophe..."
"We are slaves of our technology," Bell completed his line of reasoning. "A crazy situation: the enemy is our own personnel and when we switch it off our entire city will blow up the same day! This dilemma is a task for you, Perry."
Rhodan proceeded to demonstrate that the problem was not as difficult as they imagined. However, it would require a desperate expenditure of energy on the part of the human inhabitants of Terrania.
"We have 7 hours in which to prepare the campaign. At 10 p.m. the last shift in normal industries returns home and by that time 90% of our plants are shut. So we only have to bother with the remaining 10% that work day and night. The power plants, the general control stations, hospitals, police units, the strategic surveillance service and so on... By 10 p.m., gentlemen, all of these positions must have been inconspicuously taken over by people. At 10:10 the energy for all robots will be switched off."
"For all work robots, Perry," Bell interjected. "Don't forget that the combat robots are individually operated and are not dependent on the central computer."
"That's a risk we will have to take," Rhodan declared. "You can't achieve everything with one campaign. But the work robots do make up 80% of our entire stock. With them out of action at least the major risk is removed. -Round up the immediate staff, Colonel! I want to speak to them in a half hour."
Instantly Terrania went into a flurry of action such as it had seldom seen. Under most stringent secrecy and telepathic control, Rhodan's closest co-workers were given their instructions. They then issued orders to their various subordinate branches.