“And if they are not telepaths?” suggested the mouse-beaver.
“Then come back here and pick up Noir.”
Ras Tschubai took his raygun out of his belt and pulled back the safety catch. He did not intend to take any risks if he could help it.
Pucky was not carrying any weapon but he asked: “How would it be if we planted a nice little bomb on board those asparagus ships?”
Rhodan suppressed a grin of amusement. “Not so fast, little fellow. We still don’t know what the intentions of the Druufs happen to be. Maybe they merely feel they are being threatened and are acting in their own defence. It’s not the act but the motive that determines the character of an individual.”
“Fu Man Chan speak wise words,” said Pucky facetiously with a deep bow. His brown eyes twinkled pleasantly. “It is to be hoped that the Druufs may share your view.”
“I’ll expect your return soon,” said Rhodan. “Here’s luck!”
Pucky went over to Ras Tschubai and took his hand in both of his paws. They nodded to each other, concentrated simultaneously—and disappeared.
Rhodan stared at the empty spot for awhile and then turned back to Sikerman once more. “Keep the same course you’ve been following and don’t change it except in an emergency. Maintain present speed.”
He was very anxious to know what the 2 teleporters would have to report.
* * * *
As Pucky felt himself rematerialise, his first awareness was of the African’s hand in his. The simultaneous jump had come off without a hitch and they hadn’t been separated.
The lighting around them was very dim. Under their feet the deck was coated with a flexible material, similar to plastic carpeting. The walls glimmered with a vague light that seemed to issue from the substance of their composition. The ceiling was black. From somewhere below came the vibration of unfamiliar machines.
Otherwise, everything was quiet.
“Do you hear something—besides the machinery?” asked Pucky.
The African shook his head negatively but a moment later whispered: “And you? Maybe thought impulses?”
After awhile Pucky shook his head. “Only a jumble of fragments that don’t mean anything—like listening to the caterpillars who were petrified in time. But it’s so far away—I can tell that by the intensity. Wait a see! OK—so I’m a camel!”
“I thought you were a mouse-beaver.”
Pucky was thinking of his long-distance capabilities but was not in the mood for stringing out the joke. “All I was doing was picking up thoughts from the Sherbourne and from the Crystal World below. Here on board this ship there is nobody with any thought process going on—or maybe they are using thought-screen equipment. I can’t trace anybody…”
Ras was about to answer but suddenly stopped, listening. Pucky also heard the sound.
A soft padding of feet seemed to be close by, coming in their direction. The footsteps sounded strangely irregular, sliding and scraping and out of sequence.
“Somebody’s coming!” whispered Ras tensely. He strained to see ahead but the passage which he could only now make out had a turn in it. The footsteps were just beyond this turn but were approaching steadily.
The African grasped Pucky’s arm. “Don’t you think we’d better—?”
“Vanish? I wouldn’t think of it! We stay here! Well, of course I wouldn’t object to a hiding place because I’d like to have a safe and quiet look at the Druuf. Let’s go over there…”
A few yards farther they found a wall niche. Apparently it served as a storage place for various articles of equipment. At the moment, however, it served Pucky and Ras perfectly in that it concealed the 2 teleporters from the approaching Druuf.
Now it came around the curve.
Meanwhile the 2 of them had accustomed themselves to the dim illumination and they no longer found it difficult to clearly observe their surroundings. On the walls close to the lighting sources were strange shapes, the purpose of which it was impossible to guess. Pucky realized at least that they were not supposed to be pictures. They were more like pieces of plastic art, even though that couldn’t actually be the case. Various doors led off into unknown inner chambers.
A shadow came around the curve.
The Druuf was no more than a yard high. Its form was roughly spherical, as far as could be seen, and it possessed a number of limbs with which it achieved its forward motion. Thin feelers or antennas stood up vertically on top of it and waved gently back and forth.
The Druuf came closer and further details came to light.
Ras looked in vain for its eyes, mouth and ears. The creature did not have a face.
In general its body was asymmetrical. It was neither round nor square, neither tall nor fat. It had the look of a big drop of molten metal that had suddenly hardened.
Almost inaudibly Ras whispered: “It’s moving slowly but it does move! So it must be living in our own time-plane.”
Pucky nodded without having anything to say. He watched in fascination as the Druuf glided toward them. That was it—gliding was the correct word for this type of locomotion. The legs—or limbs—continued to move incessantly. Whatever the position the Druuf might be in, 2 or 3 of the short legs always touched the deck. So actually there was no position in which it could not move. Like a distorted sea urchin!
Such was the appearance of the Druuf. But why the antennas? Was it a telepath?
Pucky tried again to penetrate the thoughts of the weird creature, which by now was no more than a half dozen feet away. It was just as useless as the first time. Pucky’s probing thought impulses came up against a wall. They were even reflected back completely.
Actually Ras was right. The Druuf continued to move slowly, probably at the cost of some adaptation. But maybe these were the natural movements of an intelligence that had lots of time on its hands.
When Pucky thought of ‘time’ he shuddered and suddenly remembered his assignment. He had to establish communication with the Druuf.
But why with this one particularly? Maybe it would be smarter to observe him for awhile yet before announcing oneself. Also this one might merely be a subordinate crewmember. If Pucky was going to make any contacts around here it would have to be with the commander of the black cruiser.
As Ras touched him, he returned the pressure of his hand.
Silent and unmoving, they waited until the Druuf had gone far enough to disappear around the next corner.
Ras breathed a sigh of relief. “What kind of creatures are they?” he whispered, bewildered. “Are they insects or mammals?” What do you think? Were you able to determine anything?”
“They can certainly think, or else they wouldn’t be able to wage war,” replied Pucky somewhat sarcastically. “But frankly I wasn’t able to pick up a single thought ripple. Did you see its legs? They’re so arranged that the Druuf always lands on its feet—and I mean in any position. When it walks, they all move.” He paused briefly. “Almost automatically,” he added.
Ras missed the point. Anticipating the mouse-beaver’s thoughts, he said: “Well, let’s get to the control room. I’m anxious to see how they react when they see us.”
“With the shapes they’ve got they’ll think that we are monsters,” surmised Pucky, not illogically. “Let’s hope we don’t scare them out of their wits.”
“If they see you first—” Ras started to say but then he thought better of it. It was safer to remain silent.
Pucky let out a slight, disdainful hiss. “I’d suggest that we teleport to their Control Central, if we only knew where it is.”
This was a problem in itself. Teleporters can only reach their target area when they can either see it directly or at least mentally picture it. So it must either be thoroughly described to them or they must have been there, themselves, previously.
But none of these conditions obtained at present.
Pucky shrugged. “Let’s just walk. Maybe we’ll be in luck. If anybody shows up we can duck into a niche because there seem to be plenty of them. And besides, the Druufs are much too slow to represent any great danger.”
Around the 2nd turn in the passage they came in sight of the Druuf again. Its audible footsteps were misleading in that it actually moved faster than supposed. Each step brought it at least 4 inches farther along and there was another step taken every 2 or 3 seconds.
They waited until the Druuf had glided through a doorway and disappeared. The process required almost 2 minutes.
“They’re still a bit behind the time,” whispered Pucky, without realizing how right he was—even though it was in quite another sense of the word.
Now that the way was clear, they made better headway. They met no more Druufs on the way and thus were able to find the Command Central without further difficulty. The ship did not have the familiar spherical shape but was long instead and of relatively small diameter, so that the control room could only be in the bow.