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

"Yes, sir," came the reply but Lt. Marten's face made it obvious he'd prefer not to have understood. Waiting passively was definitely not one of his great attributes.
Rhodan turned to Bell.
"Feed the following problem at top speed to the navigational brain: "Did the Titan leave its orbit around Voga? If the answer is positive: by how much? Now hurry up, Reg!"
"The Titan?" Bell stammered, bewildered. "You mean the Ganymede, don't you, Perry?"
"You heard me right the first time. The Titan is what I'm interested to find out. Ever heard anything about optical illusions or the relativity principle, old boy? If you try to watch something with just your unaided eye you can't ascertain whether we or the others are actively moving away. And since we seem to be moving in the direction of Arkon I have some wellнfounded doubts about the whole affair. Get it?"
The sudden silence in the control centre was sufficient proof that they had indeed understood him.

* * * *

The calculations indicated plainly that the Titan had been drawn out of the gravitational field of the giant sun by invisible and immeasurable forces. On the other hand, the Ganymede orbited afar in unchanged free fall around the entire giant system.
As Bell showed him the positronicon's figures, Rhodan flipped on the intercom. He only nodded and waited for the com system to warm up. Various pushbuttons provided connections with all sections of the ship, so that his voice could be heard everywhere.
"Attention, all hands!" Rhodan began. His greyнeyed lean countenance was tense, revealing the iron will ready not only to take on human enemies but also, if necessary, a giant robot brain. "By all indications, we've strayed within range of a powerful tractor beam. In view of the fact that we're being deviated toward Arkon, we can assume the transmitter is in that area. So much for the facts. All hands will repair immediately to battle stations. We may be attacked as soon as our position is known. I want five guppies manned and held ready for use. Further orders will follow." He cut off the intercom and established video connection with the Ganymede. "Lieutenant Marten? Your status remains quo. Do not attempt any tactic at this time. While Col. Freyt is on board the Titan, you have the command of the Ganymede. Please confirm..."
"Very well, sir!" came the brisk reply, before Rhodan cut off.
Bell sat in the coнpilot seat in front of the navigation controls. Nothing coming from the direction of Arkon escaped him on the scanner screen. Apparently he was expecting a unit of the Arkonide fleet to appear at any moment.
Thora and Khrest appeared to be uncertain. Colonel Freyt joined them and attempted to learn what be could concerning the probable nature of the tractor beam that had ensnared the Titan. John Marshall and Tiff carried on a lowнvoiced conversation. Pucky was nowhere to be seen: he had probably left the control room inconspicuously in order to go his own way again.
Rhodan suddenly fired up the propulsion engines which encircled the ship. The giant impulse converters developed such a thrust that the Titan could accelerate from 375 miles per second to the speed of light within a short span of 10 minutes. The tremendous inertial pressure, equivalent to 60,000 Earth gravities, was not noticeable because of the automatic field generators. Rhodan slowly activated each thrust unit that was turned toward Arkon.
Bell came to life, swamped by new results. The navigation computer flashed the first new data. The distance to the red sun Voga was increasing proportionately. Even when Rhodan permitted the impulse converters to work harder, thus increasing the repulsion force against Arkon, nothing changed. It was as though the Titan's propulsion had simply been neutralized.
Rhodan frowned, gravely concerned. He threw Bell a quick glance, hesitated a moment, then threw in full power.
Inside the giant sphere the vibration and humming of the wideнopen converters increased. It rumbled in everyone's ears. Everyone's heartbeat became almost painfully audible and seemed to be the pulse of a mighty universe. Under their feet, the deck began to tremble. The Titan struggled with all its power against the uncanny force that had gripped her and was now bent on dragging her toward Arkon.
Bell depressed several keys. The navigation computer began to bum and a few seconds later a thin strip of glistening metal popped out onto the console.
The embossed numerals were clear and distinct.
They were receding with undiminished velocity from Voga. Rhodan shut down the engines. He spoke into the sudden silence. "The robot brain is stronger than we are. So what now...?"
Col. Freyt then proceeded to demonstrate his reasoning powers. "We have to know whether or not the Titan alone can be gripped by the tractor beam. In any case, the Ganymede is free of it. If the guppies are also free, we could use a couple of them to abandon the Titan and go back to the Ganymede."
Rhodan was hesitant. "Granted, that's one way of rescuing ourselves-but at the cost of losing the mightiest ship in the universe. I still believe that Earth will one day make use of this ship. Should we, then, for the sake of expediency, just lightly surrender her?"
"What's the use, now that we've fallen into Arkon's power?"
"Nowhere," admitted Rhodan matterнofнfactly. "But I don't intend to surrender myself to the uncertain captivity we've just run away from. Nor do I intend to give up so quickly now. There must still be some way of outwitting that Brain. In any case, I'm not calling the cards until I can come up with a trump hand."
"A trump hand?"
"Exactly. It'll just have to come to me, somehow."
Freyt didn't answer. He gazed silently at the videoscreen and observed that Voga was already beginning to shrink in size. The Titan's velocity must have increased considerably. Only a tiny point of light indicated the presence of the Ganymede.
Suddenly, Tiff said, "Do you think that the robot brain's radiation can be measured?"
Rhodan looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"If its transmission field density can be determined, then at least we'd know if it's only trained on the Titan or if it has been sent arbitrarily into space and has caught us by mere accident, completely in an unfocused beam."
Rhodan brightened appreciatively and turned to Bell. "What do your instrument's say? I mean in particular the outside electromagnetic radiometers."
Two minutes later they knew. The tractor beam intensity was measurable. By this means it could be determined where and when and in what strength the transmitted energy was present. A hurried connection was made with the Ganymede. A quick investigation revealed that the identical tractor intensity also impinged upon the former Springer ship but completely without effect.
This was the deciding factor that had to be put into application.
With his inimitable logic, Rhodan proceeded to do so. "Very well. So we know that only the Titan responds to the will of the robot brain and not the Ganymede. Therefore, it's reasonably safe to conclude that a special circuitry, some sort of electronic device, exists on board this ship, which can be energized by the Brain even at a distance of three light-years. Once this circuit is activated, then the tractor beam becomes effective-but only then. So we're faced with the problem of finding that infernal device and deactivating it." He gave Col. Freyt a challenging look. "Well now, Colonel, do you still think it would be better to bail out and run to the Ganymede and abandon this magnificent ship..."
Freyt modified his previous stand. "Well, of course we can try to keep her. It would be preferable, I'll admit..."
Rhodan smiled, then immediately became grim as he received Bell's next navigation figures. Since the last reading, the Titan's velocity had doubled.
"So how are we going to locate this blanketyнblank gadget?" Bell growled. "In a ship that's a whole world by itself..."
"Inasmuch as the converters are still working properly, I'd say that the only logical place would be between the drive chambers and the outside radiation shielding," Rhodan answered. "In that way we can narrow down the search area." He looked about him. "Incidentally, where's Pucky?"
It was the first time. anyone had noticed that the mouse-beaver was no longer in the control room.
Ruefully, John Marshall remarked, "I can't pick up his mental impulses. He must have screened them off
"Maybe he's sitting on the-" Bell started to say but cut short when he saw Thora. He wasn't able to suppress a tiny smirk, however, because the suggestion invoked a comical vision.
"Perhaps," Marshall suggested, "Anne Sloane can help us."
Anne Sloane was a very good telekinetic in the Mutant Corps who had already demonstrated that her faculties were quite comparable to Pucky's. Unfortunately, she did not have the technical comprehension of the quick-learning mouse-beaver.
"Pucky can't have disappeared," replied Rhodan. He assented a bit hesitantly. "Alright, Marshall, you'd better get hold of Anne."
When the telepath had left the control room, Freyt asked, "Why didn't you call Miss Sloane on the intercom?"
"Because I don't want to make the crew any more jittery than they are," replied Rhodan. "They're not accustomed to the ship. The Titan hasn't yet won their confidence, which can only happen after we've come through a successful test under fire." He looked at the scopes. "And this may be our baptism."
John Marshall returned in a few minutes wearing an indescribably vacuous expression. The man's countenance seemed hysterically funny to Bell but the seriousness of the situation moved him to a commendable self-control.
Rhodan was surprised. "What happened? You look as if someone just stole your emergency rations."