"Perry Rhodan 041 - The Giant's Partner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

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Old Zernif, former commanding officer of the Zalite spacefleet and Admiral to the dead Zarlt, waved his hand uncertainly. "The time is up. It's long past midnight. Rogal didn't make it back. The precautionary measures we discussed must now be faced. If we are discovered in our rendezvous here, Zalit is lost. Then even the Strangers will not be able to help us."
The Strangers-!
For a brief moment the rebels recalled to mind the Strangers who had stolen an Arkonide battleship and come to their world. They had placed themselves in contact with Zarlt and appeared to be mixed up in his plans. The truth was, however-and Rogal especially had claimed this-they did not approve of the Zarlt's traitorous intentions.
"One way or another, we should get out of here, whether or not Rogal has succeeded. If Demesor escapes the assassination attempt, it'll be bad for us. He has no mercy and will kill us all."
"If he can find us!" said Zernif with a meaningful nod. He stroked his copper-coloured beard, which gave him a venerable appearance. "But if they force Rogal to confess, that could easily happen."
"Rogal would die first!"
"And if he doesn't have time to die?"
Silence.
Admiral Zernif sighed. "We will wait another half hour, then we will disappear. If Rogal still makes it, he will know where to find us."
The prescribed half-hour ran out without any sign of Rogal.
The leaders of the resistance movement prepared to disband. They knew that the secret passage into the palace now had little value for them. They would have to disappear if they did not want to be taken here by surprise by the henchmen of the Zarlt. They took their weapons, both light and heavy calibre ray-beamers of Arkonide design, and set the time fuse on the high-explosive bomb which would blast away the old and deserted building-and along with it the exit of the secret passage.
Suddenly a noise was heard coming from somewhere in the wall. Someone groped uncertainly through rubble and tapped at certain places against the walls. Zernif listened. At first his startled eyes reflected joy and hope but now they narrowed in suspicion.
"That's Rogal!" said someone happily. "He'd better hurry. The bomb goes off in 30 minutes."
"Perhaps it is Rogal," murmured Admiral Zernif, while concealing the shakiness of his voice. "Why doesn't he give the pre-arranged signal?"
No one answered him.
If the person creeping toward them were indeed Rogal, then he would give the recognition signal-3 consecutive knocks on the wall before opening the secret door. If the door opened without this signal, then it could not be Rogal who approached their hiding place.
The men glanced silently at each other. Their hands reached automatically for their weapons and drew them. Swift fingers released the safety locks. Six gun muzzles were aimed at the spot in the wall where the door was concealed.
No sound eluded their suddenly attentive ears now. A number of men had to be gathered behind the stone wall: the foot shuffling revealed this. Now it was certain that Rogal's attempt had met with disaster. Worse yet, the Zarlt's executioners had discovered the secret passage. Whether this was Rogal's fault or not remained to be seen.
Zernif whispered, "Conceal yourselves so that they don't see us. First we have to know how many they are. We will open fire only when they have all come out of the passage. Do you understand?"
The 5 men nodded. They darted behind empty boxes and mouldy pieces of furniture. The electropyro had already cooled off but a trace of its pleasant warmth still lingered in the room. Nevertheless, the conspirators began to shiver.
The time-fuse ticked away in the background: 20 minutes to go, then this whole place would be blasted to fragments. In the wall before them there was a clicking sound and then it began to open. One part of the wall slid to the right, the other to the left. A figure became visible.
Rogal!
He gazed with strangely empty and expressionless eyes into the room and appeared to see nothing. Behind him, men in colourful uniforms appeared with cocked rayguns in their hands. They shoved Rogal into the room and when nothing happened they followed him. All together there were 12 palace guards, inclusive of 2 members of the Zarlt's feared secret police.
Adm. Zernif recognized them at once and many of the others as well. He aimed his weapon at the 2 secret police officers and shouted, "For freedom and the Empire!"
He fired.
His 5 companions had only waited for his command. Without voicing a challenge, they sprang from cover and opened fire on the 12 soldiers of the Zarlt. One of them hurried forward a few steps in spite of the danger and pulled Rogal out of the line of fire. Without a glance behind him, he shoved Rogal to the ground, and only then did he turn to again face the enemy.
60 seconds later it was all over. The 12 palace guards were dead, with 2 of the rebels fallen. Zernif had picked up a glancing shot in the arm, which did not prevent him from appearing quite satisfied. But there was yet no reason for satisfaction.
Rogal still lay where he had fallen. He looked around him uncomprehendingly. One look into his strangely staring and expressionless eyes convinced Zernif that he had not consciously betrayed them. Something had happened to him. If his hunch was confirmed, then Rogal was as good as dead-or in another sense: He'd be better off dead!
Now there was no time to waste.
In 15 minutes the bomb would detonate, leaving not a trace of the old building.
"Take care of Rogal, we have to take him with us. Perhaps we can learn something from him. We have to hurry."
Outside the night was dark. In the distance gleamed the lights of Tagnor, the capital city of Zalit, comprising 30 million inhabitants. Only a few steps behind the bushes in the park and then they clambered into their hidden vehicle. The engine started humming. A few curves ahead and they would reach the arterial road. The tempo increased.
Suddenly a giant jet of flame shot into the dark sky, a blast of concussion swept over the parkland and the deafening report of the explosion followed.
The secret passage to the palace of the Zarlt was no more.








2/ RHODAN AND THE REGENT

The spaceport of Tagnor was more than 12 miles wide. This seemed large but was actually small when one considered the unimaginable load of traffic that dominated ,the area. Almost every minute, freighters, passenger liners and fighting ships and cruisers of the Zalite fleet were taking off or landing. It all gave the impression of an overloaded beehive.
At least that was the opinion of Reginald Bell. His bulky figure lounged in a fragile-looking seat before the control console of the panoramic indicator screens, by means of which he could scan all the goings-on of the spaceport. Now and then a satisfied grin spread over his broad features, and more than anything else his smoothed down stubbly hair was an indicator that this was no occasion for alarm.
He was not alone in the mammoth control central of the Titan, as they had named the stolen battleship. Measuring approximately one mile in diameter, it was the largest known spacesphere in the universe, the latest product of Arkonide technology.
Perry Rhodan's almost ascetic figure leaned against the navigation console and he appeared to feel at ease in this position. His lean face revealed a mixture of suspense and serenity. It was as if all troubles had fallen away from him, or at least as if none of them were plaguing him just now-because there were more than enough to go around.