"Perry Rhodan 033 - Snowman in Flames" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

1/ THE SEMI-SLEEPERS

The Universe was his domain, his home the gigantic spaceship-2100 feet in length-which was the longest armed craft of his clan.
He was old. Ancient.
A mighty mane of ice-grey hair framed his tanned face with its hard, pitiless eyes which had looked upon thousands of suns.
He looked like a human being but he was not born on Earth. He had never even seen Earth, not even its sun.
He was Etztak, Patriarch of the Springers clan; tight-set of mouth, commanding of character, a being whose vocabulary lacked the word 'compromise'; and he was about to incorporate a new solar system into the Empire of the Traders.
A solar system whose central sun was known as Sol. The Springers were so named because they called the universe their home and leapt from system to system to reinforce and enlarge their trading monopoly. Ever stronger, ever expanding.
The Springers were descendants of the Arkonides, that humanoid race that once upon a time had built a mighty... which to this day they still believed they ruled. Wrong: long since the Springers had be-come independent, no longer giving any allegiance to the Arkonides. They were too busy trading and massing fortunes. And, if necessary, fighting.
Like now.
Etztak's lips drew pencil-thin when he recognized on the videoscreen the face of his clan member and friend Orlgans aboard the ship ORLA XI only a few light-minutes away.
"What's up? A new attack on those damned Terranians?"
Orlgans resembled Etztak except that his hair was not grey but of a darker colour, brown or perhaps dirty-red, depending on how the light fell on it. Orlgans had been the first of his clan to attempt to incorporate an unwilling Earth into the colonial empire of the Springers.
"A new attack?" His furious voice boomed from the loudspeaker. "Who can tell whether this is a new one or the same old one! There's hardly an interval between. I can't figure it out. These Terranians seem so inconsistent. They attack, fire a few shots and with-draw-before we can wipe them out."
"You call that inconsistent?" Etztak's laugh bellowed forth. "I'd call it clever and cautious! They know our forces are definitely superior to theirs."
"Maybe yes," retrenched Orlgans, face contorted in a furious grimace. "And on the other hand, maybe no."
"Right now there's a lull in the battle. We've enough ships to destroy those two Terranian units if we really set our minds to it. They're only playing for time, using diversionary tactics-they seem to want to head us off from something."
"From what?"
"If I only knew! I'd be much happier," Etztak admitted grudgingly. "Why do they defend a solar system which is uninhabited and 320 light-years from their own home planet? There must be a reason for it! Rhodan never does anything without good reason."
Orlgans didn't immediately answer. He was deep in thought while his eyes were fastened on the giant orange sun which hung far ahead in space. A blue satellite orbited it. Four planets circled two suns in an eccentric orbit. The system of the double-sun Beta-Albireo, 320 light-years from Earth, totally insignificant and unimportant, unless..."
"You forget he has a reason, Orlgans said finally. "The second planet of this system harbours a few of Rhodan's people, who know more than they have admitted so far. Rhodan tries to prevent our capturing them."
"So why doesn't he just kill them?"
"Perhaps..." Orlgans stopped short. To his mind the explanation seemed so fantastic that he didn't dare express it.
"Perhaps what?" The patriarch was anxious to hear Orlgans' theory, no matter how wild.
"Perhaps the Terranians are friends of Rhodan and for that reason he doesn't want them dead."
Once more Etztak bellowed forth with uncontrollable laughter. His next words revealed how alien his philosophy was from that of an Earthman's, how small a premium he placed on friendship, how suspicious he was of even those whom he called friends.
"Friends! Why'd he give a damn about that if so much more is at stake? If his friends are dead, Rhodan will be safe from any betrayal on their part."
Orlgans remained silent. He had already had dealings with these Earthlings and learned that they often reacted quite differently from the hardboiled Springers.
Etztak threw a glance at the radar screens to check that his fleet was circling around the second planet of Beta-Albireo in the prescribed battle position. His forehead was deeply furrowed. He was thinking hard but the result didn't seem to upset him.
"There are five Terranians down there on that iceworld-three men and two girls. As far as we can make out they also have a robot with them. An Arkonide fighter robot. I simply can't understand why all our efforts to kill these three people have been without success."
"Because we secretly kept hoping we might catch them alive. They know some things it'd be most useful for us to learn-that's why!" Orlgans shook his head. "You realize just as well as I that it would be senseless to annihilate these Earthlings, especially that Tifflor. Tifflor might even have knowledge of where that planet is located about which legend tells us..."
"I'm not interested in legends, only in hard facts," the patriarch interrupted him. "Planet of Eternal Life-there is no truth to it, just a myth. If indeed it exists we would have found it long since. On the other hand I wonder why Rhodan failed so far to rescue his five men from this iceworld?"
Orlgans narrowed his eyes. A peculiar expression came over his face. A dog might look that way that had suddenly discovered a trail it had long been searching for.
"Maybe Rhodan's whole tactics serve the purpose to divert our attention from this iceworld. Why else would his two ships keep attacking us in a half-hearted manner and never let it come to a real battle? Why did this Tifflor pop up all of a sudden, a man who doesn't really know anything at all but gives the false impression of knowing such a lot? Why are we being pushed to concentrate all our efforts in trying to catch Tifflor and his companions here on this iceworld? Couldn't that be nothing but a clever trick of that wily Terranian Rhodan?"
Etztak had been listening silently. The furrows of his forehead deepened. A pensive glitter came over his hard eyes. Then he slowly nodded and raised both his hands as a sign of agreement.
"It sounds very reasonable, what you suspect here. But if Rhodan wants to divert our attention and to delay us-what is at the root of it? What is he trying to accomplish?"
Naturally Orlgans was at a loss for an explanation. "I don't know. In any case we should make an all-out effort to capture these Terranians on the iceworld-or to kill them. How many ships would you suggest sending on this mission?"
"Three should do," replied Etztak. "Make sure that the planet's surface will turn from an iceworld into a fiery hell. And if those Earthlings don't burn to death they'll at least perish by drowning in the melted snow waters."
"Wouldn't it be preferable to have them fall into our hands still..."
"Not necessarily!" countered the patriarch. "The only thing that matters here is to prove to Rhodan..."
He couldn't finish his sentence for the general alarm signal was racing throughout his ship.
Rhodan's two fighter units were attacking again.
Major Nyssen, commander of the heavy cruiser Solar System, was in constant televideo communication with Captain McClears, commanding officer of the sister ship Terra.
The two spacespheres had a diameter of 600 feet and were equipped with the most modern weapons of Arkonide technology. Gigantic reactors created protective screens which could not be penetrated by even the most powerful rays of the Springer ships.
"We're proceeding to a new attack, McClears," Nyssen informed his colleague. "But if Rhodan doesn't heave in sight soon, I'll go crazy. Those guys must catch up with us sooner or later; our luck's bound to run out. And how much longer Tiff can keep up that game of hide-and-seek on Snowman, I wouldn't dare to prophesize."
"I wouldn't care to be in his shoes now," admitted the captain.
"I'll handle that giant cucumber of a spaceship commanded by the patriarch Etztak and you attack the ship next to it. And just remember: fire just one shot and then let's beat it! They mustn't find time to incapacitate us through a concentrated action of their ray cannons-but more important than that they mustn't get a chance to concern themselves with Tiff."
"Got it" replied McClears and grinned. "Will do."
The two cruiser-spheres accelerated, zoomed out of the planet's shadow and arrived within a few seconds near the ships of the Springers, which were taken by surprise by this sudden appearance. A round fire by the cruisers' devastating ray-cannons bounced off the protective screens of their adversaries, flowing side-ways without causing any damage to the Springers' fleet. But at least this sudden assault sufficed to delay once more the hostile actions the Springers patriarch had planned. Furthermore, Rhodan gained some time-although he didn't know it yet.
For just at this moment Rhodan was still more than 1750 light-years away and about to start on a transition.