"Perry Rhodan 064 - Prisoner of Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"And this attack, as you call it, manifests itself in that living creatures disappear?"
"That's correct."
The Administrator stared into Ragov's eyes. "I'm convinced that there isn't any invasion by unseen or unknown enemies but that it's just a devilish trick cooked up by you Terrans for some purpose still unclear to me. Otherwise it would be impossible to predict so accurately when such an odd phenomenon would take place. Doesn't that sound logical?"
"I don't think so, Administrator." The Russian shook his head and looked with interest at the technical equipment installed in the room. "Why should we go to all this trouble just to frighten you?"
"I'm wondering that myself," admitted the Arkonide, winning back a little of his usual arrogance. "In any event, I can see now that you are ready to carry out your threat."
Ragov found himself unable to understand. He was still thinking of that idiotic razor back in the Springer's shop and it was difficult for him to follow the Administrator's train of thought. The man was speaking sheer nonsense.
"What threat?" Ragov asked coolly.
The Administrator took a deep breath and replied: "Half an hour ago the entire population of an average-sized city 500 kilometres east of here disappeared. No living creatures were left. Even the fish in the rivers were reported to have vanished."
Ragov awoke as from a dream. "Then it's started!" he murmured. He held his hand high and spoke loudly to the ring: "The time front is rolling, Harras! Tell Lt. Rous immediately-and come pick me up! Or should I fly?"
"What's that?" the Administrator asked, pointing to the ring on Ragov's hand.
By this time, however, the Russian had had quite enough of the eternal distrust. "This is the miracle weapon with which I'll make your shabby little city disappear from the face of Tats-Tor! And if you don't shut your mouth and help us in our struggle, you'll be the next ones sucked into the time stream. Do you understand me?"
The Administrator was grimly silent and waved for Ragov to leave the room.
But the Terran was hardly outside when the Administrator called some of his officers to him and gave them some very specific orders.

* * * *

"It's happening earlier than we expected," Rous concluded, a bit disturbed, when all the men had collected in the spacious galley of the Gazelle and heard Ragov's full report. "My view is that this can only be a forerunner of the actual time front, a forward bulge of the overlapping zone so to speak."
"That means the time front isn't symmetrical," said Noir, "which is just what the Chief wanted to know."
"For the moment we can't say anything with certainty," said Rous, warning against too-hasty conclusions. "We have to go take a look at the scene of the event, first, and wait for further attacks."
"I doubt if they're really 'attacks' at all," Ragov said abruptly. "On the contrary: I'm even convinced that the unseen aliens from the other time dimension have no idea what they're doing to us. Perhaps they can't even prevent it."
Nodding, Rous told him: "Determining that belongs to our mission, as well. I suggest we take off now and go look over the depopulated city."
They did not bother themselves with any formalities. Without warning the scout raised itself from the ground and climbed into the sky, disappearing seconds later into the blue.
Rous, acting as pilot, did not see the stunned faces of the soldiers marching into the spaceport under orders to arrest the Terrans and take over their flat spaceship. He guided the Gazelle towards the east and descended only once the city in question could be seen below. The radiation meter aboard the Gazelle went into operation and drew the outlines of the overlapping area on a map. All inorganic matter, which had been in the other time plane for only a brief period, had aged by millenniums. That was clearly shown by the radioactive decay of certain elements. The boundaries were easily marked.
"It's rather like an ellipse," murmured Fritz Steiner, the specialist in this area. "It looks as though the overlapping zone only grazed the planet. Next time it'll take in more area."
They landed on the edge of the city and investigated it cursorily. No living creatures were to be found within, not even the swarms of insects seen everywhere else.
Fred Harras, manning the radio, called suddenly: "The Administrator has just declared us responsible for the incident and has alarmed his military forces. The police in Akonar have been ordered to arrest us, by force if necessary, and a search for us has been commenced."
With half-closed eyes, Rous stared at the deserted houses. "Rhodan's premonition has come true. The Arkonides have already become so arrogant and decadent that they trust only their own experience. They believe nothing of another's word. All right, they can have their own experience to learn by but this time I fear it won't do them much good. Our world, our time plane, will pass by so swiftly for them that they will be invisible to the Arkonides' eyes. They will remain behind in the alien dimension."
Steiner mourned the fate of the Arkonides somewhat less. "We'd better prepare ourselves," he said warningly. "One of the next attacks-to continue using the not very precise terminology-will take place about 100 kilometres towards Akonar from here. Why don't we land there and wait? It wouldn't make much sense to return to the city itself; it would only cause some unnecessary aggravation."
Rous sighed. "Our mission comes first. Besides, we really don't have the means to help this world's inhabitants when the attack comes." He nodded to Steiner and rested his hand on the Gazelle's throttle. "OK, we'll wait in the desert by Akonar. Luckily there aren't any jungles there but if I'm not mistaken there are large herds of wild animals. A nice fresh steak would taste good to me about now."
"As long as it hasn't been sent through the other dimension and aged 10,000 years-great!" agreed Steiner and went back into the engine room where his complicated apparatus waited for action.






2/ SLOW MOTION WORLD

The frontier between jungle and desert turned out to be a small paradise they had not anticipated.
The ever-thicker jungle began towards the south, stretching to the shores of the ocean. Akonar lay just a hundred kilometres to the west. Towards the north was the grassy steppe, which merged into the infertile desert. The east resembled the west, except that there was no city in that direction, only the fertile area between jungle and desert.
The Gazelle rested on its telescopic legs in the middle of some luxuriant bushes. They fulfilled the function of camouflage only imperfectly but served well as shade when the sun grew too hot for someone. One of the six men was constantly on duty in the main room of the small spaceship, holding it ready for takeoff at all times.
Steiner had his equipment ready for action. Just one twist of a knob and the LFG would open the door to another dimension of time. The other important device, the ray meter, was continually in operation. Any change in the rate of aging would be instantly registered and thus indicate the approach of the time front.
So equipped, the members of the expedition allowed themselves a rest pause. Harras and Noir had gone hunting, returning with a dead quadruped resembling to some distant degree a deer. Even the peace-loving Ragov did not balk at taking part in the preparations for a feast. He examined the meat and found that it was edible. Lt. Rous supplied a hand-beamer which, turned to low power, served as a source of heat that would not go out very quickly.
While the tempting aroma of cooking meat wafted out across the steppe, Steiner sat duty in a bad mood in the Gazelle. The radio was on and let him know what was going on across Tats-Tor. The Administrator had alerted his military forces, it turned out, because he was firmly convinced that only the Terrans could be behind the extraordinary disappearance of the inhabitants of an entire city. His logic was flawless: no one but the Terrans had known of the event in advance, therefore they must be responsible for it.
As previously pointed out, Tats-Tor was a peaceful world. The Administrator had no spacefleet and no actual army. He had only his police corps and the attached vehicles. He had some manoeuvrable fighter-spaceships and some small bombers but they were hardly suited for extended flights into space. Should events develop on an interstellar scale, the Administrator would have to call Arkon for help. A feeling of uncertainty prevented him from making use of this alternative.
In any event, Steiner had not heard anything in the multitude of radio messages that indicated that the Regent had been informed of the events on Tats-Tor.
The move against the Terrans at the spaceport had turned out unsuccessful at the last moment but one of the fighters had been able to follow the Gazelle and observe it land by the now lifeless city. That only seemed to confirm the Administrator's suspicion.
He gave his police the order once more to arrest the 6 Terrans.
Steiner reported to Rous and his expression was serious. "Now what can we do? Our hands are tied and we aren't allowed to even defend ourselves if attacked. I don't understand what Rhodan has in mind with all this."
"He won't force anyone to accept our help," said Rous, trying to explain. "Anyway, self-defence isn't forbidden: we just aren't allowed to hurt anybody by it. Even Noir isn't supposed to intervene in such an event. That's all."