7/ THE MOST DANGEROUS TERRANIAN

 

The terrible torture was almost unbearable. The ache had started in my head and surged down my spine. Now it had engulfed my entire body.

After the 3rd transition through hyperspace I had collapsed in my cabinet and it was my good luck that Rhodan didn’t hear me fall because of the loud noise in the machine.

I suffered beyond words. The pain choked my throat and I had the most irresistible urge to vent it with screams but suppressed it with a desperate effort.

The last thought in my mind, as it was fading out of my control, was that I had vastly underestimated Rhodan. He must have had the stamina of primitive men combined with the fitness of a well-trained athlete.

I had already, after the first rematerialisation, begun to groan softly. 5 minutes later Rhodan went through the 2nd transition and now after the 3rd I had reached the limit of my resistance.

I was no longer used to travelling in space under these grueling conditions. I had managed to put on one of the spacesuits shortly after starting from the Gobi spaceport despite the darkness in the cabinet.

That way I had deemed myself well prepared for all eventualities. It had been my intention to wait for the expected hypertransition and then subdue Rhodan by force of arms and make him submit to my wishes. I could have taken my adversary by surprise right after the takeoff but I wanted to wait a little longer since I figured we were still too close to Terra.

Thus I had missed my best chance. Of course I had not foreseen that the very first transition would exhaust me so much that I would be unable to lift a hand.

Now I was confined in an unseemly hideout, wracked by pains and remorse. In my condition it would have been sheer folly to attack a man who was immune to these effects. I was compelled to wait and I hoped he wouldn’t turn the tables on me. If he happened to look into the storage cabinet now, I would have been at his mercy without fail.

So I remained immobile for the time being. My rapidly working cell reactivation would enable me to function fully again after an hour. The only question was whether this cold-eyed barbarian would let me rest the 60 minutes I needed.

To make matters worse, I suffered not only intense physical pain but also experienced an uncontrollable psychological state of fear.

Rhodan had performed 3 hypertransitions in space. To judge from the painful effects, he must have covered a great distance at each transition. Where in the world had he taken me? Would it still be possible for me to find my way between the stars? What would happen if he emerged in a region which was totally unknown to me?

It required all my willpower to combat the revolt of my instincts. If only I had been spared this terrible headache which my kind of people was not supposed to suffer. When the engine began to hum loudly, I permitted myself to moan in pain. Although it didn’t help much, I had at least heard my own voice.

I tried to find relief by hating Rhodan. However I found it impossible to nurture such feelings in me. Something inside me refused to consider this man as evil and cruel. No, I couldn’t hate him! All I could do was to curse him for causing me such depressing discomfort.

It’s not his fault, you fool! my extra-sense chided me.

I waited and began to count the seconds. I was afraid I would have to undergo the torture of transition again at any moment. After half an hour had elapsed I dared hope that Rhodan had reached his destination and that my ordeal was over. If I was a little lucky, he was now entering another Solar system at the simple velocity of light, or he would have made his next jump much sooner, considering the superb facilities of his craft.

After an hour my headache diminished and 30 minutes later the regeneration of my nerve cells was completed. I could feel the strong pulsation of my activator.

New strength surged through my body. The microset had operated at highest capacity and automatically switched on and off as always.

I dozed off and was awakened 15 minutes later by the droning of a high-energy transformer bank which converted the thermal power of the catalytic reactor into its effective form.

Rhodan had begun to decelerate prior to braking which meant that a landing was imminent.

This thought was fraught with perils for me. I could let him discover me anywhere else except on a world where he doubtlessly had assistance. This would have ruined it all.

I hastily got up on my feet and picked up my weapon. What was I to do next? I frantically weighed all sorts of possibilities in my mind.

A high-pitched whistling noise mixed in with the low droning of the transformer bank, It came from the 4 swivel jets under the rim of the hull and was a sign that Rhodan was positioning the craft in the vertical.

I groped in turmoil for the door lock. Anything but land! my brain pounded. Don’t let him land!

Forgetting all caution I pushed the door wide open—and faced Rhodan 10 feet away in his pilot seat.

Rhodan looked me straight in the eye. The shimmering muzzle of his energy blaster proved to me that he already knew I was here before I broke in with all that commotion.

I froze in my position. How could he have detected me?

Your mono-screen, you fool! You didn’t keep it up! my extra-sense enlightened me.

This made me realize that my rival also possessed certain telepathic faculties. He had located me by extrasensory perception the moment I had relaxed my guard.

"Drop your weapon and get back into the cabinet, Arkonide!" These words spoken in utter calm hit me with a shock. Rhodan functioned like a machine. He neither showed surprise nor was he hampered by any sign of intimidation.

Furthermore his reaction had been instantaneous as he realized who the stowaway aboard his ship really was. He simply took it for granted that I was the fugitive from the Gobi Desert. I had never encountered a more dangerous Terranian. Rhodan was a fighter with unparalleled nerve reflexes.

When I made no move to obey his order, he touched a lever. The sudden force of at least 5G threw me to the floor. I hit so hard it almost knocked me out.

I heard his sonorous laugh which made me hate him all of a sudden. This barbarian dared to bring me—an Admiral of the Arkonide Fleet and a scientist of the Great Empire—to my knees with such a ridiculous trick!

I was seized by a stupendous rage. It made me blind and deaf to the realities of the situation and momentarily made me forget my weakness and the excruciating pains in my body.

The surface of a desolate planet came into view on the observation screen. When I was poised for my attack we had already descended within 200 meters above it.

Rhodan had spun around for a split second to watch his controls. By the time he turned back I had already reached him. I saw his suddenly taut face and the amazement in his eyes. He probably had believed he had put me out of action.

If he judged me by the image he might have gained from meeting some of my people, he was certainly badly mistaken in my case. All Arkonides were considered to be weaklings and utterly helpless according to the revelations of the Encyclopaedia Terrania but I had far superior powers.

I heaved him out of his pilot seat, grabbed his shoulders and sent him crashing to the floor. Then I seized the leg he kicked up and twisted his ankle.

Rhodan reacted very swiftly by throwing his body in a turn, thereby robbing my grip of its effect. However in doing so he rolled over on his stomach.

I plunged forward and applied my Dagor hold, which would render him unconscious in a few moments unless he had specifically learned how to counteract it.

His hands shot up and tried to clutch my neck. I knew what he tried to do. "It just won’t work, barbarian!" When I started to laugh triumphantly the inevitable result of my rash action befell us.

The spaceship smashed into the ground with a thunderous thump. I caught a glimpse of the observation screen which showed for a split second blazing flames and swirling clouds of sand.

An irresistible force pitched me out of my kneeling position, loosened my grip and hurled me backwards. I slammed into the mounting base of the pilot seat, slid around it and was arrested only when my space helmet crashed into the console full of instruments, breaking them into clattering little pieces.

I had lost sight of Rhodan. The force of the impact must have shoved him into another corner. I realized at once that the craft had made a relatively soft landing. It had come down at a slight angle and performed something resembling a belly landing.

I was benumbed. My raging fury abated as quickly as it had overcome me. I tried desperately to extricate my pinned down legs while I listened to the rumbling noise below.

Just as I freed my shoulders I heard a violent crack, followed by the shrill whistling of escaping air. Luckily the automatic system of my spacesuit was in good order. My helmet snapped shut before the explosive decompression could suck all the air out of my lungs.

Evidently we had landed on a planet without an envelope of air.

Dark dense smoke billowed through the cracks torn in the floor. The main engine was on fire. Terrifying sparks flashed from the transformer bank which discharged the energy it had built up over the nearest available conductor.

The undamaged climate control whistled its alarm. It was high time to abandon the burning ship. I couldn’t help wondering how it could possibly hum on this world without air. There was not a whiff of oxygen on the planet.

But then I noticed the steady hissing of the tanks containing liquid oxygen which must have sprung a leak. As they were mounted underneath they were feeding the fire. Besides the heat produced by the lightning discharges was enough to melt most of the little spacecraft.

A figure loomed before me. It was impossible to recognize it in the black smoke but it could only be Rhodan.

I felt his grip as he yanked me out of my precarious position. Suddenly my feet were free.

He disappeared to the top where the emergency exit was located. The warning signal in my spacesuit started to buzz. The suit was able to absorb a temporary rise of temperature up to 30°F but no more.

Nonetheless I still was eager to have my weapon and I found it at the base of the pilot seat. Without the raygun I was afraid to face this man waiting out in the open for me. Next time he would not let me take him by surprise.

The warning signal became shriller. A red-hot spot developed where I had lain a few seconds ago. I would surely have been asphyxiated or burned to death there.

Staggering, I reached for the rungs of the emergency ladder and pulled myself up. The narrow hatch had no airlock. It was only designed as an emergency exit.

I climbed out and slid down the outside of the inclined hull. I dropped into the sand close to the demolished forward end of the incapacitated spaceship.

After being dazed for a moment I opened my eyes; Rhodan had not yet fired a shot.

I looked up into the sky. It was blue-black and a burning, white-hot sun which looked incredibly big to me at the moment was suspended on the horizon. It looked like the glowing eye of a bloodthirsty killer.

I raised my weapon and looked around.

Rhodan was already far away. He had freed me from my trap but then left it to me to escape to a safe place.

He had been very fair and I admired him for that.

Suddenly I recognized his goal and chuckled.

Farther ahead—perhaps 2 kilometres away—I saw a dome of steel arching out of the desert. It looked like a fortress to me.

I switched on my helmet radio and spoke with deliberate calm into the mike: "Hello, barbarian! I’ve got you right on target. You don’t seriously believe I’ll let you get into that fortress?"

I pulled the trigger. The blinding energy shot was clearly audible, a sign that a residue of a former atmosphere was still present.

An explosion formed a crater 30 feet away from Rhodan and splattered liquefied stones around.

I could hear his startled cry in my receiver, he had also turned on his radio.

"Many thanks, barbarian! Now we’re even. You dragged me loose and I missed you on purpose."

I chuckled again, for I was still able to laugh.