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

"Anne Sloane-she wasn't there. Pucky just picked her up 10 minutes ago. He also took Wuriu Sengu with him."
Sengu was the Japanese member of the Mutant Corps, who was known as the 'seer' because of his wild talent for seeing through solid matter.
"Well, that's not so bad," commented Rhodan. "He and Miss Sloane and Sengu are already moving ahead on this, on their own. That's a little more like him..."
"How did he know about it?" asked Col. Freyt, bewildered. "He'd already left the control room when we made those measurements."
"He's a telepath and is definitely following our conversation. He decided to do the necessary, and I'll admit he did the smart thing to back himself up with reinforcements and to think of our seer. So I think we can relax and wait to see what will happen. And it won't be too long before we know more."
Rhodan proved to be right.
Bell had just gotten up and was talking to Col. Freyt when the air in the control room began suddenly to shimmer and the figure of the mouseнbeaver took on a solid form. Without paying anyone the slightest heed, he waddled to the control console and slithered with a flop into Bell's empty seat. His white incisor tooth gleamed triumphantly. Pucky was grinning.
Rhodan waited patiently while Bell began scolding in the background, not in very complimentary terms. He quieted suddenly, however, when Pucky turned around ominously, raised his left paw and pointed toward the ceiling. Bell was not anxious to have another demonstration of the fact that telekinetics are stronger than normal mortals-in spite of the benefits of the biological cell shower.
Reassured, Pucky turned once more to Rhodan. "The circuit was located just under the outer ring bulge and was hermetically sealed. With the best instruments and the most powerful cutting torches, we would have required months to get through the dense arkonite panels. Wuriu located the receiver. Together with Anne I was able to disconnect it and make sure it was jammed." Pucky was still grinning. "It was only possible through telekinesis. I can assume that the designers didn't reckon with that."
"Well done," praised Rhodan. He stroked the silky pelt of the mouseнbeaver's neck almost caressingly. "Sometimes I think I'd never make it without you."
Pucky ceased grinning. The incisor tooth disappeared quickly. Almost humbly, the little fellow bowed his head and placed his face on Rhodan's hands, which he had drawn to him with a paw. Then he straightened up and turned around. "I am going to show you right now, Reginald, which of us is the bigger hypocrite. You have just earned yourself another lesson." And before anyone could intercept him, Pucky had slipped out of the seat and gone over to Bell. With his startled victim, who hadn't been able to bridle his thoughts, he disappeared without a trace. He and Pucky were transferred elsewhere.
Col. Freyt appeared to be very nonplussed. "Will somebody give me a playback on that...?"
Rhodan smiled and signalled for data from the navigation computer. "You have to get used to that, Colonel. Pucky and Bell are the best of friends, except that they won't admit it. If I know that mouseнbeaver, be's giving his friend a little education so that he can relax for a few days. Ah-the new data." He took the foil in his hand and nodded with satisfaction. "Now we're down to our initial free fall velocity. That can be changed."
Once again the impulseнconverter droned into life but this time not in vain. In the course of a few seconds the wild flight of the Titan toward Arkon was arrested and the return course reinstated. Only two minutes later the Ganymede was back in visual range.
The instruments indicated that the distant robot brain's tractor beams were still everywhere in evidence, except that now they could find no anchorage. Thereby it was taken as a proof that their location was not known and that they had merely fallen accidentally within range of the tractor beam's indiscriminate transmission.
When the Titan drifted within close range of the Ganymede and locked into its former orbit, Pucky popped up in the control room. He acted very innocent and gave no answer to questions regarding Bell. Only when further discussions ensued without bringing Bell to light, Rhodan began to worry. He had not been in his cabin. Had he again gone off on his own into his journeys of exploration? His aversion to the great size of the Titan was well known, so the latter possibility seemed unlikely. However, Pucky continued his silence. Even Marshall failed to uncover anything because the mouseнbeaver had screened off his mind.
It was not until six hours later that one of the technicians, making his rounds through the corridors of the sphere's inner segments, heard unusual knocking sounds coming from one of the unused portions of the ship. He followed the sound while conjuring up in his mind unsuspected monsters that had probably taken up their abode somewhere in the depths of the gigantic spaceship. The pounding emerged from the area of the men's lavs. In between these sounds, an uncanny bowling was beard, as though coming from someone who no longer could decide whether to give vent to rage or despair.
The technician stood in front of a closed door. The fairly simple lock mechanism could only be operated from the outside if not barricaded on the inside. The designers of the Titan were only human, after all. So was the technician. He felt compassion mingled with a heroic urge to discovery.
He drew his weapon and opened the door. Cautiously he sprang back and raised the weapon but then lowered it when he recognized the pitiable human wretch who after six hours of despairful waiting could finally leave the small room that normally was not intended for such an extended sojourn.
It was Bell who had been missed for so long. No one could surmise just how he had come to be trapped in a room that was locked from the outside. Only Rhodan and the other crew members in the control room had their suspicions.
And other than Bell there was only one who knew what had really happened-Pucky, with his innocent stare. He, however, was as reticent as Reg.








2/ A TERRIFYING MONSTROSITY

The automatic ship's calendar, which had by now been set for Earth time, indicated the 17th of June. Since yesterday, nothing had changed.
The Titan's communication centre operated routinely at full capacity. The receivers were in a permanent scanning mode in order to detect and record all possible information emanating from Arkon. The hypertrans sensors picked up all variations in the surrounding area and registered all such data in the computer memory bank. From such technical inputs a constant was derived, which indicated an hourly average of 500 hyperнtransits within the system of Voga. It was no wonder, then, that the Titan had not been discovered.
Gradually, Rhodan began to piece together an assessment of their situation. The robot brain on Arkon had issued a red alert to no avail. All fighting forces stationed in star cluster Mн13 had been ordered to report the space giants appearance immediately. A direct engagement was not recommended, as the robot brain was only too well aware of the invulnerability of the stolen ship in the hands of a shrewd commander. It had already recognized in Rhodan a commander of such calibre.
Thus the greatest search mission ever seen in this part of the Milky Way had been unleashed. Moreover, no one had the slightest reason to suspect that a similar situation had once occurred in another part of the galaxy.
Rhodan was waiting it out As long as he remained undetected, he had time to continue training his crew. Only when this training was completed could he make further plans. Then the eventual return to Earth would cease to be a problem. But before all that, be had to accomplish one thing more: he had to make the robot brain understand that he was a friend of the Empire.
A new message came in. The communications chief sent it through to him:
SECTOR BMнGнYн378нJ. STRONG HYTRANS INDICATIONS IN DIRECTION OF CNнGн76нK. NONE OF OUR OWN UNITS THERE. SEARCH PROCEEDING. MAY BE SEVERAL SHIPS. END OF MESSAGE.
No signature. No clues. Just the one piece of raw data.
Bell, who had finally recovered from his personal adventure, handed the dispatch back to Rhodan. "So? We've had this information for hours already. It can hardly be intended for us."
"Nobody's saying it is but at some time or other there may be a piece of data traffic that involves us. So we always have to be prepared."
Bell rubbed his chin. "I can't see why you insist on sweating it out here when we have a terrific chance to just disappear without being detected. Why not let the Brain think whatever it wants about us? The main thing is, we're outside its domain."
Rhodan gave him a cold smile. "Who would venture to say how extensive the sphere of influence of such a robot brain may be?"
"Well, the nebula, or star cluster, is just about a hundred lightнyears in diameter. Id say that ought to be enough territory for the monster."
"In all probability it isn't. The security of the Empire is top priority. We probably endanger that security. I'm convinced that in case of any threat the sphere of the brain's influence isn't going to be limited to a specific number of lightнyears. I'm further convinced that if it recognizes a need for defensive action, and if it knows our homeнbase position, it could attack and destroy the Earth in about a half hour's time. Does the magnitude of our precarious position sink in?"
Reg revealed his dawning fear but nevertheless gave a rebuttal. "So, granted all that, what do you gain by staying here? It's not going to make the Brain more lenient. Don't forget, we've stolen an Empire ship."
"If we can prove that it was done for the good of the Empire, the robot brain won't be able to reject the logic of it. The only chore to accomplish here is-to prove it!"
"And how do you propose to do that?"
As Rhodan was about to answer, one of the communications officers came into the control room.
"Sir, turn on your optical scanner. A ship is approaching from the Voga system."