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

"Right, sir!"
"Why don't we just all march over to Klein's headquarters?" Bell inquired. "We would get the progress reports first hand."
"We're staying here," Rhodan decided. "A concentration of the most essential women and men in Klein's district could only arouse suspicion. I don't want to expose the headquarters for today's mission to additional danger. Klein must work under cover as long as possible."
Kakuta carried out his orders, remaining absent longer this time. But the news he brought back was more encouraging.
"Half of all the combat robots stationed in our territory have been put out of action, sir. Eight other machines had to be destroyed because they put up resistance. Captain Klein has no losses to report."
"It's really going without a hitch," Bell said in satisfaction and for a few hours that remained correct.
When the new dawn broke, every last combat robot had been deactivated. In the early morning hours the transport to the inspection hall began, where the 2.30-meter-tall giants were subjected to the same inspection as their colleagues from the labour caste.
At 7 o'clock Capt. Klein handed in a complete list itemizing the time and place individual machines had been deactivated. Eleven positions bore the notation 'destroyed'.
"You managed that fantastically," Perry Rhodan praised the Captain. He spoke a few seconds too soon for at that moment the turning point arrived.








2/ THE IGNITER STRIKES

The characteristic buzzing of the viewcom started automatically just as the droning of the alarm sounded. Above the screen the red light flashed on at short intervals.
A lieutenant came into focus on the screen. "The robots are on the march, Captain. They broke out of the hall and are advancing in broad formation on three streets..."
The lieutenant held the lens of his apparatus out of the window of his guardhouse and everyone in Klein's office was witness to the proceedings. More than 1000 combat robots were streaming out of the hall, flooding the wide front courtyard. They had already formed into three spearheads, penetrating towards the north, the west and the east.
"Issue a withdrawal order to all military posts, Captain!" Rhodan cried. "Every last living being in the vicinity of the hall is to retreat at least 500 meters and take formation... Mutants to Col. Freyt at headquarters: get going, Colonel! Reggie, you come with me!"
The two friends jumped into Rhodan's car and raced off in the direction of the positronicomputer. The drive did not take much longer than 150 seconds.
150 precious seconds, they both thought. Still they knew that this loss would be regained.
Of course it was possible for Rhodan to send an alarm from any locality. The all-purpose device on their wrists could do that. However, calling a specific alert phase was not sufficient for the present catastrophe. There were several thousand possibilities programmed in the positronicomputer, already present for emergencies, by which means all special reactions could be simultaneously determined and communicated.
Rhodan had barely opened the last gate-the computer was immediately activated for reception of orders by his mere appearance.
"Reggie! Box 3! Let's have it!"
A drawer filled to the brim with perforated cards slid out of a wall cabinet. Rhodan grabbed a bundle of cards out of his friend's hand and threw it in the three-meter-long input slot. Bell handed him other packets, which disappeared unsorted into the first phase of the selector. Rhodan pressed 9 buttons consecutively, the combinations of which he knew by heart since his Arkonide hypnotic schooling.
"Now take three deep breaths and exhale slowly!" That hardly took more than 15 seconds. As they finished, the first evaluation was finished and Rhodan was holding a card in his hand.
"This is it! Alert reactions for the entire New Power area, taking into account the absence of all purely individual robots combined with danger from within..."
The card had long since disappeared into another section of the computer. The hyper-dimensional apparatus sprang into action at hundreds of spots. Each basic reaction triggered off new ones. With lightning speed the positronic impulses registered the entire assignment and subsequently automatically undertook the complex and manifold task of dispatching orders.
Rhodan and Bell could only stand by and again take three deep breaths.
The dispensation of orders also covered the civilian sector. Higher civil servants received their notification of action instructions directly over home and office viewcom connections. General directions were issued over national radio, the normal programs being automatically interrupted.
As the positronicomputer prepared for the first repetition, Rhodan added a personal message that was broadcast over a network of loudspeakers, primarily outdoors. This reached everyone in the territory of the New Power... including the enemy... but that could not be avoided at the moment.
With admirable brevity Perry explained the state of emergency and concluded by announcing that further special instructions would follow secretly.
They left the computer.
As they stepped out into the street the first troop trucks assigned to guarding the most essential technical installation of the nation were rolling up. Soldiers jumped off and took up positions around the block. Rhodan winked at them optimistically and received trusting glances in exchange. He could rely on these men-of that he was certain.
Bell had the same impression. "Our company morale is good, isn't it?" He grinned and hurried to jump into Rhodan's already moving car.
Back to headquarters!
There the orders were already being carried out. The immediate staff stood prepared and clad in the cumbersome Arkonide combat suits.
"We'd better not wait any longer to get into those things ourselves," Bell urged. "We won't last long in ordinary cars without them."
"You are going to turn into a mind reader one of these days," Rhodan teased. He was already changing into his suit. The helmet was left open. In an emergency it could be connected very quickly.
Arkonide combat suits had been issued with increasing frequency in the past years to important functionaries and men on special assignments for the New Power. Originally only Bell and Rhodan had had them but the fantastic versatility of the devices had resulted in their being used by the Mutant Corps and higher officers and civil servants.
The Arkonide suit is a somewhat clumsy article of clothing worn over normal dress. It is capable of flight by virtue of a built-in anti-gravitational device and has light wave deflectors that can render the wearer invisible within the frequency range of the 'normal' human eye. Finally an energy blocking screen about equivalent in strength to those of combat robots saw to the personal safety of the wearer.
An officer was waiting for them outside. He was the commander of the troop detailed to guard Col. Freyt's office.
"OK, Captain," Bell said. "Do your duty and be sure you only allow people with important messages to enter."
Rhodan had meanwhile turned his attention to the viewcom screen. The major stationary facility on Earth had switched on the connection which now produced a picture taken from a bird's eye view by helicopters.
No more than 8 minutes had elapsed since the alert and yet the street scene had already changed rapidly.
The three troop wedges of the robot army were marching unchecked. So far they had not met with any resistance worthy of mention. Captain Klein's line would be reached at any moment, however; and as apprehension was still growing, it happened.