"Perry Rhodan 066 - The Guardians" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Rhodan)

"What's wrong?" Mullon asked.
Milligan shrugged his shoulders. "I've heard some cries and then I saw a strange thin figure sneak through the street. I followed it but it suddenly disappeared. So I decided to run to you and tell you about it."
Mullon began to put on his clothes. "Take the rifle out of the box," he instructed Milligan. "Freddy, lock the door after we leave."
But Freddy, who meanwhile had gone into the adjacent room, called back: I can't do that because I'm going with you."
Mullon didn't object. 10 minutes after Milligan had come in, they were ready to leave. Freddy had stuck a handy pistol under her waistband.
"Do you have any notion what's going on?" Mullon inquired as he locked the door.
"None at all," Milligan replied, "but something's unkosh (Off Kelter; Fishy)."
The night was so dark that they couldn't see one step ahead. The sky was overcast. It was shortly before midnight, 391/2 o'clock, the time when most of the people slept deeply.
So far Mullon was not too much alarmed about Milligan's observation-a shadowy figure and some cries didn't necessarily amount to a peril-but as President of the People's Assembly he had the duty to look out for the security of the pioneers.
"Perhaps we should check with the guards first," Milligan suggested. "Maybe they've noticed something."
Mullon agreed. Greenwich was ringed by guards because they were afraid that the giraffants might suddenly stampede through the town and crush everything in their path. If any danger was brewing it must have been fomented outside and the guards should have noticed it before anyone else. Mullon's little house stood in the northern third of the town and the prairie began not far behind it. A guard was posted about 200 or 300 meters to the east and Mullon headed in that direction.
Suddenly Freddy stood still. "Milligan is right," she murmured. "Something weird is going on here."
"Feminine intuition?" Mullon asked teasingly. "Or do you really see something?"
"Intuition," Freddy replied. "But you can bet on it!"
Mullon did no such thing. He continued on his way and kept his eyes and ears wide open. However he was unable to detect any signs that the night was different from any others on Grautier.
A few minutes later he began to call the sentry. If he was in the vicinity he should have heard and answered his call. When he failed to get a response, Mullon became concerned. "We've got to look for him," he proposed. "We better separate."
Milligan went left and Mullon right while Freddy remained in the middle to coordinate their orientation. Mullon swore in disgust because he had forgotten to bring a flashlight. He had walked less than 100 meters when he heard Freddy's voice calling him from the rear. "Come back! Milligan found something."
He went back, following the calls Freddy sent at regular intervals. When he reached her, she was silent and they could hear that Milligan was also calling from the north.
They located him and after he saw them emerge from the darkness, Milligan said: "He must've stood right here. The grass is still depressed."
"Well," Mullon said, on edge, "where is he?"
"I don't have any idea. The grass is damp."
"Dew," Mullon commented.
"There's no dew before midnight," Freddy pointed out.
"Let's take a closer look," Mullon said. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and the flickering light revealed that the grass was trampled down and dark drops were clinging to the blades. He wiped the grass with his hand and held it up to the light.
"Oh!" Freddy exclaimed. "Blood!"
"Quiet!" Mullon whispered.
The sentry had apparently been wounded and Mullon hoped to hear a sign of life such as a groan. However the only thing that could be heard was a soft breeze.
Somebody had attacked the guard. It could have been a wild animal although the only wild animals they had so far observed in the vicinity of the town were the giraffants. On the other hand there was the thin figure Milligan had seen and the cry he had heard. Was it an accident that all this had happened in the same night?
Mullon was undecided whether to look for another sentry or return to the city. Before he had made up his mind, Freddy put her hand on his arm and whispered, "Look over there! What kind of a light is that?"
He looked in the direction where she pointed. At first he saw nothing but then he detected a point of light among the clouds south of the town. It could have been a star if the colour hadn't been bright red.
Milligan saw it too after they showed him where it was. He thought it looked like a light on top of a high tower but he couldn't guess how far distant it was. Mullon was of the opinion that it should be inspected closer. Therefore they walked around the town and saw that the light shone from the southeast direction where the wreck of the Adventurous was located.
The wreck loomed like a dark gigantic mass in front of them. They passed it and turned south. Only once did they hear a noise besides the wind. A whizzing sound went through the air and seemed to fade away in the direction of the town. Yet there was nothing they could see.
Mullon's apprehension grew. There was something uncanny afoot and he began to fear the mystery. He concluded that it didn't make much sense to grope in the darkness; unable to see one's hand in front of one's face, as it were; and expect to nab the unknown. It would be smarter, he thought, to return to the town and get a searchlight so that they could see what they were doing.
However the odd red light exerted a hypnotic attraction. Mullon's curiosity gained the upper hand and he felt he would not be satisfied unless he discovered as quickly as possible where the light originated.
They now proceeded much more cautiously. The whooshing sound in the air had increased their suspicion. After the wreck of the Adventurous had submerged again in the darkness, they suddenly heard a rustling noise at their side. Mullon hit the ground and held his rifle ready to shoot. The rustling sound came closer and finally a crouching figure appeared from the darkness.
"Hands up!" Mullon snapped.
The figure flinched and spun around. "Who's there?" came the whispered question. "Mullon...?"
Mullon recognized the voice despite the whisper. "For heaven's sake-Chellish! What are you doing out here?"
Chellish didn't reveal that he had received a warning from Capt. Blailey who was standing by with his Gazelle high in the mountains. He simply replied: I took a walk because I couldn't sleep. Then I saw the red light up there and wanted to find out what it is. And you?"
"We did the same. Did you find out anything yet?"
"No. But it seems to me that a big tower was built under our noses in the middle of the night. Do you see the shadow?"
Mullon was unable to verify it. Chellish joined the little group and together they went forward through the high grass to the spot where the light was suspended.
After awhile they could see that Chellish was right. Something like a pillar which was darker than the night stood before them. The closer they came the more it looked like a tower with a diameter of at least 20 meters and a red light at the tip. It was difficult to guess how high it was.
"Let's go around it so we can get a look at it from all sides," Chellish whispered.
Mullon wanted to follow his suggestion but as he was about to move lie heard a metallic knock from above. A light flared up and a rectangular hatch opened in the tower at a height of about 15 meters. Mullon saw something emerge which looked like a flat motorboat. It left the opening with a sudden leap and shot into the darkness. It made the same whooshing noise they had noticed before. Then the hatch closed again.
Chellish seemed to be unruffled as he remarked: "If you ask me, this is a spaceship."
Mullon had already thought of it but he rejected the impression because he considered it ridiculous that a spaceship of such dimensions could have landed only a few kilometres from Greenwich-even in the middle of the night-without anybody noticing it. However he was at a loss to explain how the tower happened to get there and he expressed his doubts to Chellish.
"Nothing to it," Chellish replied. "If they use a propulsion-field engine you can hear nothing except the sound of displaced air and that isn't much if the ship moves slowly."
"But who in blazes would want to come to Grautier of all places in such a big ship?"
"That's exactly what we came to find out," Chellish answered.