"But how?" Pucky broke in. "I've seen it, Perry. The Akonian ship is stationed almost two kilometers below the surface. It's impossible to reach it with our biggest guns. As long as the time-field surrounds the planet and closes it up tight. Even I had enough trouble to get through If it hadn't been for the boost of the teletransmitter—"

  "We must find a way!" Rhodan said grimly. "If we don't..."

  He left the rest unsaid but everybody knew what would happen. The phantom fleet from the past menaced the present. It was real, not a mere mirage. There was only one way to crush the very real menace: to send it back to the past by putting the time-transformer out of action!

  Terrania responded to their hyperradio call sooner than expected. Perry Rhodan advised Freyt and Bell of the imminent peril and gave them his instructions. He left the possibility open that the problem could be overcome at the source and that a direct attack on Terra might be prevented. He insisted, however, that no risks be taken. As soon as the monitoring stations orbiting the Solar System reported the first transitions all inhabitants of Earth were to seek refuge in the atom bomb shelters. The same precautionary measures were to be observed also on Mars, Venus and Luna in anticipation of the invasion. He ordered no resistance, only delaying tactics. After talking for half an hour Rhodan finally cut the conversation short with the feeling that his instructions were still inadequate to prevent a catastrophe. He was painfully aware of his insufficient power and how weak Earth still was despite the enormous progress it had been able to make. Even his friends could not come to his assistance. He confronted a situation he didn't know how to master.

  He fought a feeling of resignation. Had everything been in vain? Could long deceased Akons intrude in the present and change the future? Was the present time impotent against ghosts from an ancient past?

  Pucky had fallen asleep on the couch. He was plainly exhausted. It would be irresponsible to send him to Arkon 3 again. Rhodan bit his lips as he had to face the helpless look in the eyes of his men when he returned to the Command Center. They were waiting for a word from him, some comfort and a solution to their dilemma. If he only knew the answer!

  "Maybe we can find the answer if we study the past," Marshall said without much conviction. "It's not possible that such an Imperator Metzat actually existed without doing what he is about to do."

  Rhodan sat down. "I'm afraid, John, that you fail to appreciate the infinite variants of the time paradox. If the Akons were able to develop a method of travel in time, it is quite possible that they can influence the present time by a change of the past. Of course we don't in this case have a trip through time in the strict sense. The time-transformer generates a field in whose range time is turned back. The present simply ceases to exist and the past is restored as if brought back to life—and it remains stable. Even after leaving the field itself. This is the amazing and incomprehensible aspect of this phenomenon. The question yet to be answered is whether it will still be stable after the time-transformer has been turned off or destroyed. But here, I think, we have found the chink in the armor. If the transformer becomes ineffective, the ghosts of the past who were temporarily revived will disappear again as if they never existed."

  "But you did not explain it," Marshall remarked, discouraged. "What good would it do us though?"

  "Quite a lot," Rhodan contended. "But you're right—I really can't explain it. However we know one thing: the Akons are way ahead of the Arkonides and ourselves. They can control the flow of time and we have nothing to counter it. At least, not yet."

  "Couldn't we talk to Metzat and explain the situation to him?" Deringhouse interjected. Up to now he had attentively listened to the discussion without joining it. "He must be made to realize how senseless his plan is."

  For the first time a fleeting smile appeared on Rhodan's lips although it was far from happy. "You are misjudging the situation," he said patiently, shaking his head. "Metzat doesn't even know that he lives a second time—because he is not doing it. To him it is the present. He would think we are crazy if we tried to explain to him that 15,000 years had passed in the meantime. And even if we could prove to him the parallel existence of two time-planes, he would naturally consider his own to be the right one. Aren't we doing the same in our minds? Ask yourself how you would react if somebody came and told you, you are living in the wrong present? No, Deringhouse, you might as well forget about it. We can't hope to find the solution that way."

  "But what is the solution then?"

  Rhodan gazed at the observation screen. Arkon 3 reminded him of one of those fog-shrouded planets. Behind that milky cover lay the solution. But how to get there and disrupt the time-transformer?

  The door of the radio room was pushed open. "Sir—a call from Atlan!"

  Rhodan got up. "I'm curious," he said to the others, "what our friend Atlan will have to say when he hears that he has a rival now."

  They noticed that Rhodan's gait appeared to be slightly dragging, as if he carried an invisible load.

  Pucky did not wake up from his slumber. He slept so soundly that John Marshall could take him in his arms and carry him to his cabin.

  And time kept running... inexorably.

  7/ SPACE GHOSTS

  The first unannounced transition came from the proximity of Pluto. The monitor of a surveillance cruiser registered the rematerialization of an alien ship. Since it was not followed by more observations, Marshal Freyt refrained from sounding the general alarm. He assumed correctly that they were merely being approached by a reconnaissance craft. Nonetheless he dispatched several small pursuit-spaceships to unobtrusively watch the alien.

  All inhabited planets had taken the precautionary measures deemed necessary to avoid casualties. The vast cavernous atomic bomb-shelters were sunk far below the surface and would withstand any attack even if the entire surface were devastated. But Freyt hoped that it would never come to this. The Arkonides came from the past primarily to conquer, not to destroy. His task was to put them off till Rhodan and his men—together with Atlan—could put a stop to the belligerence of the Akons.

  The alien reconnaissance craft skirted the various planets and cautiously retreated each time it suspected it was in danger of being noticed. Five hours later it performed another transition. It would inform the Arkonide Imperator that the report of the 'colonists' was true and that the newly discovered race was of a peaceful nature so that it could be expected to submit without resistance to the demands of the superior Arkonides.

  A hyperradio message went to the Drusus and then a long period began with nothing to do but wait...

  • • •

  The following day a radio message from Rhodan was received. It was a brief order to obtain some information from the positronic Brain on Venus. In particular he requested certain historic dates going back 15,000 years. All data of Arkonide history were stored in the data bank of the Brain and it was a simple matter of requesting and retrieving it.

  Bell used the opportunity to take a flight to Venus and obtain the desired information. The inactivity was hard on his nerves and drove him nearly crazy. The traffic between the planets had been reduced to a minimum and an unnatural calm reigned between the populated worlds of the Solar Imperium. They expected the enemy—the phantom fleet of the Arkonides.

  Reginald Bell had a vague idea why Rhodan wanted to be enlightened about the history of the Arkonides. There was no time paradox and thus the imminent event, if it really would take place, would also have occurred 15,000 years ago. Or was it possible that Metzat had done something at that time without leaving a trace? But the Earth of his time was the same Earth as today. Was there another, a second Earth? Bell shook his head and threw up his hands.

  His ship landed and he went as quickly as possible to the positronic Brain in the mountains. By recognizing his identity the Brain permitted him immediate access. Then he took a seat before the tremendous array of switches and put his questions in to be processed. He had to wait an hour before it returned all the answers. Without taking the trouble of studying them he boarded his ship and flew back to Earth where he contacted Rhodan in the communication center to relay the information.

  It was disappointing and at the same time reassuring except for one tiny detail.

  • • •

  Rhodan, on the other hand, found the detail to be reassuring but not disappointing at all. However it posed still another puzzle which he was unable to solve. He faced a situation which was so unreal as to be almost grotesque. The more he thought about it the more it threatened to make him doubt his commonsense.

  He needed the advice of his aides and therefore decided to call another meeting in the mess hall. All officers of the Drusus were summoned. Pucky, who had meanwhile fully recovered and nibbled away half his store of carrots, curled up in the lap of the mutant Betty Toufry and allowed her to scratch his fur. He already knew what Rhodan had to report and he racked his brain, trying to figure out how he would do what had to be done.

  Rhodan sat at the head of the table, leafing through the hypergram of Bell's report. "Gentlemen, I'm happy that I can predict with confidence that Terra will neither be attacked nor destroyed. The study of the history of Imperator Metzat III proves this irrefutably. And he can't have lived twice—this would be a paradox. I want to give you a short description of his life and deeds. This Arkonide was one of those active and tough men who built the Imperium. He subjugated seven additional solar systems and demolished two. However Terra was not among them The Imperium grew under his rule but there is no record of any unusual events. I don't want to bore you with the details since they don't deviate from the normal. The history of Metzat is not very different from that of other Imperators. Except for one point!"

  He glanced at his listeners and noticed the tense interest in their faces. Maybe they would be disappointed at first and fail to grasp the significance of the event. But when it sank in, they would be astonished. "During the era of Metzat's reign, Arkon was attacked by a race of strangers. Not in a big battle with thousands of vessels, instead they arrived in a single ship. It descended on the military planet and flew twice around it. When it departed again, it left a huge crater 2,000 meters deep. On the same day Metzat's fleet returned from a mission and reported that no special encounters had occurred." Rhodan looked up. "That was all, gentlemen. Metzat remained on the throne for 50 more years before he died."

  Rhodan saw the disappointment on the faces of the officers and mutants. Only Pucky grinned in amusement on Betty's lap. His gleaming incisor tooth, which he had so little occasion to bare recently, flashed openly. John Marshall, who could also read Rhodan's thoughts, caught on but he failed to understand the reasons for the connections.

  "The time-transformer of the Akons is buried at a depth of 2,000 meters," Rhodan continued. "The crater mentioned in this report extends to the same depth and it was created in the same area where the Robot Brain was eventually built. This is of course the same spot where the time-transformer is standing today. Don't you see the connection? It tells us that we will destroy the time-transformer before the disaster strikes us. The big question, however, is how we can do it. And of course there is another rather theoretical question: what happens if we fail?"

  His listeners stared at him, perplexed. For a fleeting moment they had breathed easier because they had learned with certainty that the time-transformer would be knocked out. Now Rhodan raised another question without giving an answer to the new problem.

  "But, sir, this is impossible," said Deringhouse who was known for his sober judgment. "We can't change the past. The history of Metzat is recorded and the facts are firmly established. The attack took place at that time—eh..."

  Rhodan nodded and smiled. "Yes, at that time. And what about today or tomorrow? You seem to forget that we too will be thrown back 15,000 years the moment we cross the threshold of the energy screen or the time-field. We will be those strangers who attacked Arkon in Metzat's time. The crater is a historic fact which nobody can doubt. Its existence is confirmed by the positronic Brain on Venus. The date has been entered for posterity 10,000 years ago. As you can see, we have a very real problem. We are forced to annihilate the time-transformer to prevent the creation of a time paradox. But I still don't know how to go about it."

  Pucky stretched his limbs. "Perhaps I can take another jump..."

  "You will do no such thing!" Rhodan said firmly. "You couldn't be that lucky again. Furthermore, as history has it, it was a ship that penetrated the energy wall and circled twice around Arkon 3. Do you think you are a ship?"

  Pucky gave no reply. He curled up again and appeared to have lost interest in the discussion.

  John Marshall raised his hand. He wanted to say something but was interrupted by an alarm that shrilled through every department of the vessel.

  Rhodan jumped up and left the mess hall, followed by Deringhouse and other officers. When they entered the Command Center they saw Nordmann standing in front of the big observation screen. He announced without turning around: "The first units of the Arkonide fleet have taken off and are racing with maximum acceleration into space. The monitor robot has already counted 5,000 units. The first have already disappeared in transitions. They keep coming with terrific speed."

  "They must have moved up their starting time," Rhodan commented, shrugging his shoulders. "What difference does it make?" He stared at the picture screen where new ships kept popping out of the milky veil of the time-field and zoomed into space without paying attention to the Drusus . Their radio transmitter maintained silence. They obviously assumed that everything was normal on Arkon 1 and 2. The idea that Arkon 3 possessed a time of its own did not occur to the commanders. The ring of fortresses did not yet exist at that time and they crossed it now without being challenged because it ceased to function without the Robot Brain. "Keep the Drusus ready for military action, Major! If one of the ghost ships attacks, it must be destroyed. However, nothing of the sort is going to happen—or we would have read something about it." He turned around. "I'll be in the radio room in case I'm needed."

  Rhodan instructed the radio technician to contact Arkon 1 and carried on a long conversation with Atlan, bringing him up to date concerning the latest events. Although Atlan was swamped by his own problems, he promised to join Perry as quickly as possible. The Administrator had pointed out with great emphasis the possible consequences of a time paradox. If it occurred indeed, the very existence of Atlan could be a questionable mystery. If Atlan was never born, there could be no such person.

  A total of 20,000 ships had departed by the time Atlan arrived aboard the Drusus . His usually composed expression appeared hectic and nervous. One could see the anxiety that assailed him so deeply and raised doubts about his future. What would happen? What had happened...?

  As Rhodan greeted his friend and escorted him to his private cabin, Metzat's first ships emerged in the Solar System.

  • • •

  It was what they were waiting for.

  The hostile armada effectively sealed up the entire system from the universe and slowly advanced. The effort failed to provoke the slightest resistance. Not a single Terran spaceship attempted to leave the Solar System. The normal traffic between the planets continued as usual and the commanders ignored the hostile fleet. They acted as if it were a daily occurrence that alien spaceships paid visits to Terra.

  Marshal Gagolk, the representative of the Imperator, closed in aboard his flagship and circled around the third planet, which had been identified as the homeworld of the humanoids. For three hours he tried to make contact with these intelligent beings and space travelers but nobody paid attention to his presence. Even when he landed nobody objected. They did not appear to notice him and acted as if he were invisible.

  At first Gagolk was thoroughly confounded and could not decide what to do. His orders were to conquer the humanoids or to kill them mercilessly in case of defiance. Well, there was no sign of defiance. On the other hand the space patrolships and the formidable warships stationed on the big spaceports proved clearly that they were in a position to mount a counteroffensive. Why didn't they take any action?

  Gagolk became nervous. He would take too great a risk if he ordered his fleet to land and he could not give orders to open fire either as this would have violated the strictest laws. Nor was it feasible to leave his ship and start negotiating with people who ignored him.

  His unknown antagonist was Bell, who did not feel much more comfortable in his role. He trusted his assumption that Gagolk was bound to follow the orders of the Imperator not to initiate a pre-emptive military action. It was essential to gain time until Rhodan had hit upon a successful strategy.

  And if his endeavor failed? This was the question Bell kept asking himself but the answer eluded him. He was inside the energy dome of Terrania, which protected him against the first attack. The population had been warned. They pursued their normal activities but were ready for the alarm. At the first sign of an enemy raid they would disappear from the surface within 10 minutes.

  But he could not allow the situation to deteriorate that far. If necessary Bell had to enter into negotiations with the Arkonides in order to gain precious hours or, hopefully, days.

  The Solar System was blockaded by an array of 30,000 warships which kept circling its borders. More and more of them approached the Earth, putting a tight noose around it without heeding the Terran ships guarding the Solar Imperium.

  The tension grew unbearable. Disaster was liable to strike any moment.

  • • •

  Atlan looked pensively at Perry Rhodan. "Often the most difficult dilemmas are eliminated by the simplest solutions. Why shouldn't there be a simple answer to our problem too? All we have to do is one thing, that is to disable the time-transformer with the inevitable result that a fleet of 30,000 ships is paralyzed or made to vanish. The Akons have achieved a similar feat by making the Robot Brain nonexistent. Since it is gone, its effects cease to function as well. If we succeed in doing away with the time-transformer, it will also put an end to whatever it engenders."

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10