"Perry Rhodan 040 - Challenge of the Unknown" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"You just wait!" growled Pucky threateningly and closed his eyes as though he could not endure the sight of his old friend. Actually, he was just too tired to spar with him as usual.
Rhodan took the uncoded text and read:
TO MAJ. DERINGHOUSE, TERRA... REQUEST IMMEDIATE REPORT FROM AGREED POSITION, IF ALL IN ORDER LOCATE ALIEN HYPERTRANSITS AT ONCE OUR RETURN DELAYED... CONSIDER PROBABLE EARTH ATTACK AND PUSH DEFENCES ALL POSSIBLE... RHODAN.
He returned the dispatch to Bell and nodded assent. "Transmit and stand by for reception. The reply can't get here for a couple of hours because Deringhouse will need time to prepare it That is-if everything is normal."
Bell exited the command central. Rhodan turned to Pucky, to continue the conversation, but it was already too late: the mouseнbeaver lay stretched out on the deck and emitted intermittent little noises that reminded one of the purring of a cat
He had fallen asleep.








5/ THE MOOFFS ARE DYING
(AND THORA IS COMING TO LIFE)

To a certain degree Rogal had succeeded in evaluating correctly the situation on Zalit. He was only an ordinary technician working in one of the large plants where detail parts were produced for standard television equipment. He had little free time but what he did have he utilized in political activity. This was not out of any thirst for power or any particular desire to emerge from the darkness of anonymity but rather due to a genuine concern.
His friends knew as well as he did that the new Zarlt had not come into power by legal means. Of course the sudden death of the old Zarlt was never openly declared to be a political assassination but the omission was merely an open formality. The officers who had penetrated the palace in the night and killed him now occupied important and influential positions and had never been punished. In spite of these things, the official government decree of the new Zarlt declared that it had been death due to natural causes.
Rogal knew that this assertion was a lie.
Yes, and then came the Mooffs. A ship brought them in. They put them in pressureнcontainers so that they could live here on Zalit. At first they were considered to be some new toy for the fleet officers but later their importance came to be recognized. The Mooffs could read the thoughts of the Zalites and could communicate telepathically. Everybody who could afford it bought himself a Mooff. With its help they could then even control their neighbours' thoughts.
And that was the first danger that emerged.
The arrests and imprisonments began. Anyone who was not in accord with the new Zarlt was traced down by the Mooffs and betrayed. The Mooffs mixed quite openly in politics and placed themselves on the side of the new government, which consisted almost entirely of officers of the spacefleet.
From that time on, Rogal hated the Mooffs.
He found friends and adherents who were not in agreement with the direction the government was taking. They wished to be and to remain loyal subjects of the Empire, even though it was guided by a mechanical creation. This seemed in any case to be better than to recognize the new Zarlt in his assumed position.
So it was that the resistance movement came into being. It suffered many setbacks but nevertheless it continued to grow stronger and more influential.
Its greatest enemy was and remained the Mooffs.

* * * *

When Rogal entered the small basement room, most of his friends were already present. He greeted them and perceived in their faces the signs of renewed confidence which he had missed for so long.
"The Mooffs are dying!" came a loud, clear shout. "They are dying everywhere-and nobody knows what makes them die."
"That's right," smiled Rogal. "Soon they will cease to be a threat."
"But transport ships are already going out to bring back replacements. The Government can't exist without the telepathic Mooffs. They would lose control over us. Since the Mooffs started dying, the influx of members in the resistance movement has increased ten times over."
"That's understandable," Rogal explained to his friends. "As traitors disappear, so does fear in the hearts of the timid."
He did not know that there was also another reason for the new influx of supporters. The Zalites who had been freed from the suggestive influence of the Mooffs were able to recognize now with sudden clarity the great danger in which the System found itself. They were determined to overthrow the Zarlt-and now there was no mental compulsion against it.
"Do you think the aliens have anything to do with what's happening?" someone asked.
"The strangers? What do we know of them? They are guests of the Zarlt. Besides, they stole an Empire ship. I don't think we can look to them for anything. And the last thing I'd give them credit for is the death of the Mooffs."
"Perhaps you are mistaken, Rogal." From the entrance of the room, the voice came loud and clear. "Judge us after you have come to know us."
Heads swung around and eyes stared at the two men who stood in the doorway, calmly and fearlessly returning glance for glance. They wore inconspicuous uniforms and carried strangeнlooking weapons in their belts. Rogal recognized them. He had seen the TV newscasts often enough.
The Strangers.
For a moment a sense of panic consumed him. Were they entirely lost? If his instincts concerning these strangers was valid, the answer was yes. But hadn't the Stranger himself said that be could perhaps be mistaken?
He decided to stake everything on one move. He had really nothing to lose, since the discovery of their group here by the Strangers already meant that their plans were known.
"You come to us?" he asked, after collecting himself. "Why?"
"Perhaps to help you," said John Marshall, while reading a mixture of doubt and hope in Rogal's mind.
Andrщ Noir next to him began immediately to analyse the natural mental screening ability of the men who were gathered there. Within a few seconds he knew that without exception he would be able to control their wills if their attitude required it
"Help us? -how?"
"By reestablishing Zalit as a world in which living is worth while. You can see that I am being quite frank and open with you. May I expect the same from you?"
"How is it that you know our intentions? You are aliens here and an enemy to the Empire-the same as the Zarlt. How can we trust you?"
"Appearances are deceiving, Rogal. You, yourselves, appear to the outside world as loyal subjects of Demesor, yet you are his enemy. Why shouldn't we also be able to appear as enemies of the Empire-and yet be its friends?"