A Touch of Eternity by Clark Darlton

“That’s it!” exclaimed Steiner, amazed, and he stared at Atlan perplexedly as the latter glanced at him with a grin. Rous and Sikerman also nodded their confirmation.

Khrest remained calm and collected but in his unblinking eyes gleamed pride in his Arkonide origin. No, the Arkonides were not yet damned to ultimate extinction. They could still think logically and arrive at effective decisions.

At least Atlan!

Finally, Rhodan spoke. “It’s reassuring to have discovered such a relatively simple explanation, even though it was only necessary to demonstrate its correctness.” He glanced at the viewscreen. “3 of the black ships have ceased firing. They are climbing at a relatively slow speed and are turning their bows in our direction. I believe we are to be presented with an opportunity to determine the time differential between us and the Druufs—that is, to see how closely they have approached our ratio. At the same time it will also represent their reaction time.”

Atlan had sat down beside Khrest. The 2 Arkonides engaged in a low-voiced conversation. Rhodan could tell they were discussing the possibilities of getting around the Druufs.

“Hold the Sherbourne ready for takeoff,” ordered Rhodan as he watched the viewscreen again. The 3 alien ships had risen to a considerable altitude, with their bows aimed at the Sherbourne. It was now quite evident that they planned an attack. “Follow my commands closely, Colonel. We have to know how much time they need for reacting to a changed situation.”

After all, this would be a unique opportunity to determine their reaction time. During the first attack against Lt. Rous they had still required 5 minutes. In the meantime they could have shortened this decidedly.

Up above, the 3 ships suddenly revealed their lightnings. Rhodan detected the exact second in which the beams hit the defence screens of the Sherbourne. Before he had not even been able to see them.

The meters soared. The deep-throated humming in the heart of the powerful ship increased suddenly.

“Off!” shouted Rhodan.

Sikerman reacted with a lightning swiftness. With an actual leap, the Sherbourne shot upward and raced above into the stratosphere of the Crystal World. They soon exceeded the 1.25 mile-per-second range and left the pursuing energy beams behind them. But the 3 ships did not give up. They followed swiftly.

1.875 miles per second—that was 75% of the relative light-speed here. It was a complete mystery to Rhodan how the Druufs could see them.

If indeed Atlan’s theory were correct…

But how could it be? The 3 ships behind them were travelling at a rate of 1.25 miles per second. In their own time reference that was just about ½ speol.

Rhodan gave up trying to probe the riddle any further. Of course he could not suspect that a giant ship of the Druufs was light-hours away from the Crystal World in outer space and travelling at the true velocity of light—true in relation to their own time-plane—and that it was in communication with the black fleet units through a relay station.

“The screens have held up,” said Atlan from his corners, this time dryly, while momentarily interrupting his conversation with Khrest. “I would tend to doubt, however, that they could withstand the combined fire from 17 bow shots all at once.”

“In that case we’re in agreement, Arkonide,” replied Rhodan with equal calm. “And we’re not about to let it come to a test, either. I’m only wondering how long we can keep up this game of hide-and-seek with the Druufs.”

“Game?” said Pucky suddenly. “Do the Druufs play hide-and-seek?”

Rhodan drew in a long and audible breath as he turned to the mouse-beaver. “So there’ll be no misunderstanding,” he said emphatically, “nobody has said that the Druufs are playing. I know that you’d even gamble your life if it were a matter of games but now is not the time or the place for it.” He stopped suddenly and regarded the mouse-beaver with a growing new attentiveness. “Hm-m… At least ‘playing’ may not be the right designation.” He paused again to consider something. Then he said, “Go get Ras Tschubai and bring him here.”

Pucky twittered something unintelligible but slipped off the couch obediently and waddled to the door. Just before he got to it, however, he changed his mind, coming to a stop and concentrating sharply. He disappeared in a swirl of shimmering air. In other words, he had decided to take the weight off his feet and to teleport instead.

Atlan was not a telepath. “What have you in mind for Ras Tschubai?” he asked.

Rhodan did not take his eyes from the viewscreen. Far below him the surface of the Crystal World glided past—in fact the planet had already become a huge ball, which the Sherbourne was circling at a speed of 75% the local constant of light. This left them reasonably safe from any surprise attacks.

“Ras Tschubai is a teleporter, just like Pucky. I want to send both of them into a Druuf ship.”

Even Atlan was nonplussed by this plan. For quite a few moments he remained silent before asking: “Why?”

Rhodan smiled faintly as he replied: “Let’s just say I’ve been itching with curiosity to know what the real Druufs look like…”

* * * *

Biologist Ivan Ragov was concerned neither with the appearance of the Druufs nor with any possible attack of their fleet against the Sherbourne. He was busy looking into the psychic and mental side of the captured caterpillars, a task in which he was aided by Noir and John Marshall. With their assistance it had even become possible to establish a first-rate communication system.

Noir was a hypnotist. It was a simple matter for him to create a mental image in the captives’ brains which represented exactly what anyone wanted to tell them or ask them. The caterpillars thought an answer, which was then picked up by the telepath John Marshall.

It was very easy to accomplish.

Ragov shook his head in amazement. “Noir, ask them if they know their lords and masters and how they receive their orders.”

Noir concentrated and made the corresponding mental image. Marshall listened for an answer. As it came finally, he also shook his head in surprise.

“They have never seen the Druufs in their lives, Ragov. They maintain that commands are given out by radio or through robots.”

“The dear little beasties,” muttered Ragov distractedly, still shaking his head. “So they have never seen the Druufs and yet they live together in the same time-plane. Astounding. Perhaps the Druufs are very shy.”

After awhile Marshall observed: “No, the caterpillars indicate that the Druufs are by no means shy. They must have an entirely different reason for not showing themselves. I can’t find out any more.”

Ragov continued to observe the 5 captives for a few more moments, then turned his attention to one of the other cages in which 3 motionless caterpillars still held their originally assumed positions. They were specimens which had been brought on board the Sherbourne by means of the antigrav field. They had been left intentionally in their original time-plane so that they could be studied after bringing them to the Earth. Steiner had suggested that there might be a surprise in store for anyone taking the creatures on a transition through hyperspace.

One of the caterpillars was standing erect and was in the process of lifting its right forearm. During the past 2 hours the delicate member had risen all of 4 inches.

The other 2 were in a prone position. One might have assumed that they were sleeping, which was probably the case.

Ragov returned his gaze to the one that was standing.

The right forearm had risen another 2 inches—not in 1 hour but in only 3 minutes…

* * * *

Ras Tschubai was African. He possessed a sturdy physique and like the other mutants had become relatively immortal through the biological cell shower treatment on the artificial planet Wanderer. This beneficial condition lasted each time at least a good 60 years.

His special faculty was teleportation.

Together with Pucky he appeared a few minutes later in the Command Central and reported to Rhodan, ready for his mission.

The Sherbourne continued to circle the Crystal World, which had been so named because of its seemingly crystallized life. The 3 black ships of the Druufs followed at a slightly slower pace, attempting in vain to overtake the faster spherical ship. Occasional individual shots fell short of their more agile target.

Rhodan assigned Sikerman the task of making sure that the distance between them did not decrease under 62 miles. At such a distance no shot could strike true, especially when one considered that in this other time dimension the assigned distance represented 25 light-seconds.

Rhodan turned to Ras Tschubai and Pucky. “Have a look there in the stern viewscreen. Those are the 3 Druuf ships. Their distance at present is 62 miles. I want you to make the teleport jump together and don’t become separated. I want to know what the Druufs look like. Pucky will attempt to establish telepathic communication with them while Ras will provide cover. If anybody attacks you, you may defend yourselves. It could be that the Druufs over in those ships live at our own rate of speed, so watch out!”

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