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

"Can you see them?"
"Just a moment!" Said Pucky-and vanished.
The rest of the group in the cave looked at each other with dumbfounded faces. The mouse-beaver had once more transported himself without warning out into the open in order to reconnoitre the terrain.
Klaus Eberhardt was just about to say something when Pucky rematerialised in the middle of the cave.
His brown fur was covered with snow.
"We've to get out of here!" he shrieked in excitement. "One more minute and this mountain will be a hell. The Springers discovered me. But I still managed to destroy one of their ships."
"Destroy?" gasped Hump, perplexed.
"Later!" replied Pucky. "Fortunately, meantime I used the opportunity to scout around for another hiding place. I'll take you there. Right away! Close your eyes-and your space helmets. The new place hasn't any airlock yet."
"Airlock?" wondered Tiff, but vanished the same instant before he had a chance to say anything more. The two girls followed one second later. Then it was Eberhardt's and Hump's turn. Finally the robot and the boxes with equipment followed suit.
It was just like magic.
Pucky was standing in the centre of the cave and directing the entire proceedings like a field marshall. Whatever he was looking at would disappear as if carried off by an invisible ghost. Within a fraction of a second he could transport anything anywhere he desired, provided it did not exceed one 1000 times his own weight. And that was exactly what he was doing now.
Those involved noticed nothing. Although they retained their natural body forms, the transport was effected so rapidly that their sense organs had no chance to register even the slightest impressions.
Tiff was still exhaling when he found himself in a pitch-dark room. Quickly he shut his helmet; it was ice cold in the place.
He turned around and noticed a faint glow of light in the distance which he took to be the entrance to the cave. How far away the new cave was removed from their former hiding place, he was unable to guess, for there was no relation to the distance covered by a telekinetic transport and its duration.
Within seconds all the others appeared nearby in the darkness. He sensed rather than saw it. Not until RB-013 lit up his lamp could Tiff reassure himself that all were safely reassembled.
Except for Pucky.
This fact however did not worry Tiff unduly.
"He probably wants to watch what's happening at the old cave," he guessed. "Too bad we'll have to build another airlock here again. By the way, that's not ice here, it's solid rock. I think Pucky has brought us to the equator where there are still some ice-free spots. It seems to me, also, it isn't quite so cold here."
"Yes" Hump laughed sarcastically. "Instead of 150░ below freezing we have only 125░ below."
The emotionless voice of the robot interjected. "It is exactly -70░ Fahrenheit. If I switch on the heating aggregates, we can manage quite well without an airlock. It will suffice if we use the boxes with the equipment as an entrance door."
"That's a splendid suggestion," said Tiff. "Let's go to work!"
"And how about Pucky?" wondered Klaus Eberhardt.
Hump glanced at him with a lofty air.
"How stupid can you get! Since when can Pucky be stopped by some boxes?"
Eberhardt was just about to reply but had hardly opened his mouth when Pucky suddenly returned.
"Friends!" shouted the little guy and his voice was shrill with excitement. "That was some sight! I'll never forget it as long as I live! They melted down our whole ice mountain."
"At first I managed to destroy one of the three attacking ships. I teleported into its command centre and almost tore out the commander's red beard. The guy was so startled that he lost control of his ship, ramming it at high speed into the nearest glacier. His ship disappeared halfway into the mountainside. I can't imagine any survivors of this disaster-their sister ships were busy letting their comrades go up in steam. Whether it's part of their strategy not to permit any survivors, isn't clear to me. In any case, I leaped off the ship at the last moment to carry you all to safety. Then I returned. The two ships were just about to turn our ice cave into an ocean of flame. I'm telling you, my friends, we would have been miserably burnt to death-or drowned. Anyhow, I still managed to put another Springer ship out of action. I jumped into its arsenal and set off an atom bomb stored inside. Unfortunately I couldn't save our auxiliary vessel."
"You mean to say then, Pucky, that only one of their ships escaped?" Tiff inquired. He no longer looked as dejected as before. "Man alive, Pucky, what would we do without you?"
"No insults, please," Pucky replied soberly, at the same time displaying his lone incisor, a sign that he really didn't mean what he was saying. "After all, I don't call any of you a mouse."
Tiff grinned. "What part of the planet is this here?"
"I transported you about 300 miles farther south. This iceworld is approximately as large as your Earth but has a smaller gravity which leads us to conclude it has also a smaller density. We are now near the equator in a natural rock cave. The Springers should find it rather difficult to roast us down here-600 feet of rock are not to be sneezed at!"
"The way you talk!" complained Hump. "It's obvious Bell gave you language lessons."
"Kindly refrain from insulting Mr Bell," Pucky defended his secret pal in a very formal manner.
"So we are underground?" asked Tiff. Pucky shook his head.
"No, not exactly underground. We are inside a mountain. But we are surrounded by solid rock not by ice. Let's settle down here and wait comfortably till Rhodan picks us up. And if he picks us up, Tiff, you will have served your purpose."
Tiff was suddenly wide awake. "Purpose? What purpose?"
Pucky grinned. His incisor seemed to wink roguishly at Tiff. "The cell sender sewn inside you during an operation has a range of two light-years. Our telepaths therefore always know where you can be found. You can't get lost. But the Springers believe you know a lot of secrets, that's why they're after you and not after Rhodan, who wanted to shake them off his back for awhile. Rhodan went to the Planet of Eternal Life meanwhile in order to get a new weapon, since he couldn't handle the Springers with the arms at his disposal. So if he returns that will mean he has obtained the new weapon. Sounds logical, doesn't it?"
"Sure does," admitted Tiff. He looked rather unhappy and startled. "That means I was nothing but bait here for the Springers all the time?"
Pucky was still grinning. "So was I, don't worry. All of us!" Suddenly he turned serious. "It was most important, however, that Rhodan obtain that new weapon, otherwise Earth would have been lost."
"He hasn't got it yet!" objected Hump.
"True," said Pucky. "I only claimed that he will have it in his possession when he comes here to liberate us. Till then we'll have to be patient. By the way, I hope to be able to establish better communication with the semi-sleepers. They should be more alert here near the equator."
"Semi-sleepers?" asked one of the girls who so far had not participated in the discussion.
"Yes, Milly. That's what I call the inhabitants of this planet. So far we haven't seen any of them but I was able to receive their thoughts. They are rather confused but still quite intelligent thoughts. They live somewhere below the planet's surface under the ice and as far as I could make out come above ground when the ice melts during the planet's short summer. But this won't happen for a few decades."
Tiff shook his head. "I'd never believed there could be life on this iceworld."
"If you could call this life in our sense of the word; we'll have to wait and see," Pucky cast a damper on their expectations. "Maybe we'll soon find out. I'll try to establish contact with them. But first let's build a wall to ward off the cold. Let's do it with our hands; we need the exercise.
"And afterwards I want to go for a walk outside on the surface."
"I'll come with you," Mildred added quickly.
"Me too," whispered Felicita.
Pucky nodded his little mouse-head.
"You can leave as soon as we're through here with the work. Our robot can produce enough heat to make life bearable for us down here. Outside you'll need half the capacity of the heating aggregate in your spacesuits. A space helmet is not absolutely necessary."