The planet was no longer a threat to visitors altho there were still a few narcosis guns left intact. Rhodan had been unable to destroy all of them on his first visit to Mechanica. The robot civilization had been neglected for too long a time to react quickly. The robots were able to perpetuate themselves but made mistakes in their service. Thus, the radio station which was to maintain contact with the 3 spaceships had become defective as well as the guidance system of the automatic cannons.
Col. Jefe Claudrin, Commander of the Ironduke, based his hopes on these existing flaws when he left Arkon and headed for the sun Outside to carry out the mission Rhodan had assigned to him.
The gigantic battleship, a sphere of the Stardust class measuring 800 meters in diameter, sped with incredible acceleration toward the outer edges of the Galaxy. It was equipped with linear drive, which eliminated the necessity of going thru a transition to reach its destination. The vessel could reach a million times the speed of light as it traveled in semispace between the regular Einstein universe and the 5th dimension. The star of its destination was made visible by a figuration sensor.
The agglomeration of brilliant dots of light receded behind the ship. The stellar cluster M-13 grew smaller and turned within a few hours to a luminous blurred spot, one of which the universe abounded in countless numbers – and yet this pale spot of light represented one of the largest realms of stars that had ever existed. However it would have perhaps been more accurate to say that it was the largest stellar realm that the Terrans had come to know. There could be hundreds or even thousands of such domains in the depth of the Galaxy which had no contact with each other and knew nothing of their existence. Despite the incredible velocities the spaceships of the Earthlings had attained, the Galaxy did not give the impression that it had shrunk. It was still as if a man walking on foot wanted to try to find the only living person on an otherwise uninhabited planet. The vastness of the Galaxy was as unimaginable as the mind-shattering velocities. But this galaxy was merely one of millions and the space between them was empty.
The Terrans had reached the stars but only a few in their own Milky Way. They constantly encountered new surprises, good and bad, as they discovered new civilizations.
What would they find in the future when they would leave the Milky Way and explore the infinite expanse of intergalactic space? Jefe Claudrin pondered the thought as he watched the Galaxy begin to compress behind him into a wide milky ribbon. Yet he would never reach intergalactic space, merely its edge where the sun Outside was located, a sun which had begun to burn out thousands of years ago because it radiated its energy to sustain the life of a race of lizards.
Claudrin’s enormous bulk rested in a special seat. He stared in fascination at the forward section of the panoramic observation screen. In the black infinity of space before his ship stood a single star. It shone red and menacing like a furious eye. Except for this star, Claudrin discerned only feebly glimmering patches – distant galaxies, bigger or smaller than the Milky Way and millions of lightyears away. Their light would shine after they were long gone and forgotten. It would travel thru space, on and on to the end of time till, it finally reached its destination where nothing existed anymore.
And what would happen then? Claudrin sighed. He liked to dream when the automatic pilot steered the ship and he was alone in the Command Center. Especially on occasions like this one when he was entrusted with a mission taking him into unknown regions.
The last of the farout suns quickly retreated on his right and left and submerged in the anonimity of the wide mass of light as the red star before him grew larger.
And suddenly he noticed another star. It had sprung into view as abruptly as if it had been instantly created. Smaller and white in appearance, it almost seemed to touch the red giant as it moved away from the Ironduke.
A moving star? Jefe Claudrin leaned forward and avidly studied the picture screen. There was no reason to alert the ship. In case of an attack the battleship was prepared to defend itself automatically but there was nothing to indicate that such an attack was imminent.
A state of “night” prevailed aboard the ship. A period of rest had been put in as the flight to the distant star took considerable time and Claudrin was reluctant to break the rest unless it became inevitable.
As he watched the moving body he soon realized that it was not a star but a huge spaceship traveling on a course which the Ironduke would cross before long.
Claudrin’s tremendous but dexterous hands adjusted a knob to magnify the picture. As the mysterious object came into closer view he saw that it was indeed a spaceship in the shape of a cylinder.
Why would a spaceship ply the empty space between the galaxies? Claudrin wondered whether he was on the threshold of a stupendous discovery. The velocity of the strange ship surpassed the speed of light as his instruments verified beyond a doubt, proving that it had a linear drive. But who except the Terrans and the Druufs had a linear drive? Who was the pilot at the controls of the cylindrical ship a few light-days away and what did he look like?
Col. Claudrin wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t have enough time to contact Perry Rhodan, who was somewhere between Azgola and Arkon. Was he authorized to make his own decision and pursue the stranger or would it be considered neglecting his orders? What if he failed to reach Mechanica in time to carry out his task.
The answer was clear. He was not allowed to do it. Whatever happened, the original order took precedence and no matter who the stranger was, crossing the path of the Ironduke by the most incredible coincidence, he would have to let him escape in the vast space where he might vanish forever.
Jefe Claudrin did not yet realize how wrong he was. He didn’t know that he was not the first one who had encountered a ship of a hitherto unknown race. Nor could he suspect that the first visitor was the involuntary guest of Rabotax 3.
The cylindrical vessel quickly moved toward the edge of the observation screen. It seemed to have increased its speed, possibly as a result of having spotted the gigantic spherical ship of the Terrans. Apparently it tried to maintain a safe distance and it was fast enough to require a daylong pursuit if the Commander of the Ironduke actually entertained such an idea.
Jefe Claudrin sighed again. There he was rushing to a desolate world, missing the chance of his life because he had to follow orders. If the ship had attacked him, he could have taken action but the intriguing stranger avoided all contact, depriving him of any justification for taking the chase.
As silently as it had emerged from eternity it disappeared again. A passing star full of mysteries that did not yield its secrets, a fleeting vision in the dark.
When it was gone it left behind the dying sun of a lifeless world whose image had become bigger and moved closer.
Claudrin continued to gaze at the screen after the speck of light had faded away. He knew how minuscule the probability of such an encounter was. The odds of 2 ships of alien races meeting in space were one in a billion. Now that it had happened the chance had slipped away.
2 hours later Claudrin ended the rest period of the Ironduke. The ship circled the red system in a wide orbit, waiting for a signal from Rhodan over the hyper-transceiver.
Claudrin surmised that the Terrans were not the only ones who had discovered Mechanica. Or could it have been a pure accident that the spindle-ship had followed the same course?
Claudrin decided to report the baffling encounter to Rhodan later on. Perhaps it was still possible to trace the stranger.
“You won’t believe it,” Pucky said with an embarrassed gesture, “but I feel hungry.”
Ras and Tako sat across from him on the bare metal floor of the room they had chosen as their temporary living quarters. There was not a single comfortable room aboard the harvestship.
The African nodded, unsurprised. “Strange as it may seem – so do I. Wouldn’t you think that we have accumulated enough fat in our bodies to last us a few weeks?”
“Maybe so but my stomach doesn’t seem to think so.” Pucky grumbled in disgust. “Anyway, where is my stomach?” He touched his misshappen belly with a glum expression, trying to find his stomach hidden under deep layers of fat. “I can’t find it. I must have lost it.”