“I got the message, Perry!” Pucky reassured him. “But the sooner the better.”
“I thought you wanted to make a little vacation of your trip.” Rhodan reminded Pucky of the time on the island in the river. “Why are you in such a hurry now?”
“Do you think I’m as bad as those 2 natives in the forest at the Cascade Lake? They’ll be disappointed when the blubber moss is gone and they’ll be forced to go to the trouble of eating again.”
“I’ll have the transmitter ready,” Rhodan returned to the real subject under discussion. “But I’ll use it only after you’ve boarded the harvestship. I’ll try to make contact with the robot commander. In the meantime you must secure its hypnotic weapon and disengage the propulsion system of the ship. Whatever you do, don’t let the ship get away!”
Ras Tschubai slapped his fat thighs. “If this goes on, I won’t be able to move in a couple of days. Too bad we don’t have a scale.”
Pucky rolled his eyes and examined his bulging body. “To get on a scale would be the last thing I want to do but soon I won’t care anymore what happens to me. You watch your figure all your life and in one week you look like a huge hippy-pudgy mouse. If I see one of those blubbermoss lizards, I’ll skin it alive.”
“That wouldn’t hurt it a bit,” Tako commented. “Everybody knows that lizards shed their skins regularly.”
“They do?” Pucky asked, astounded. He had a dense fur and found it difficult to believe that anyone could lose their skin. “Be that as it may but I would give that lizard a piece of my mind.” He looked at the sky where the huge vessel circled gathering the spores. “I wonder how much longer we will have to wait. The last teleportation jump has been much harder for me than before.”
“For me too,” Ras confirmed with apprehension. “We ought to warn Perry Rhodan.”
“He knows it,” Pucky declined. “If it won’t work out, it will be his fault. Why does he wait so long?”
“He must have his reasons,” Tako said, apologizing for the Chief.
Of course Rhodan had valid reasons.
And this difficult period of waiting finally reached its end.
The mousebeaver perked up when he received Betty’s thought impulses. Attention, Pucky! Teleport to the harvestship in exactly 10 minutes!
So sudden? Pucky gasped involuntarily without taking his eyes off the slowly circling vessel. Does the transmitter function?
That we will know only when we use it, Betty replied. In case of emergency, Rhodan wants you to jump back to Azgola.
I wouldn’t think of it, Pucky protested vigorously. We’ll take over the harvestship with or without the transmitter.
The fact that he received no interdiction deeply astonished Pucky. Rhodan gave him a free hand. He hardly had any other choice if he didn’t want to lose the ship.
Pucky looked at his watch. In 8 minutes. Wish me luck!
Everybody does! came the reply.
About 100 seconds before the jump, Betty sent a final message. Attention, Pucky! The automatic weapons of the harvestship, probably hypnotic batteries, must be put out of action at once. Urgent order. Is that clear?
Acknowledged in my own best interest, Pucky replied, checking his watch again. 50 seconds to go… 10 seconds… Now!
The spot where they had stood was suddenly empty. Only a slight flickering of air was left to indicate that 3 living beings had disappeared into the 5th dimension. But it took merely a fraction of a second.
.
Rabotax 3 registered the disturbance of the time-space continuum with intellectual curiosity, if the interest of a robot could be so described.
The disturbance was so slight that it could not stem from a transitioning spaceship. Since nothing but a spaceship could perform a transition, the cause of the disturbance was unknown for the time being.
More than 50% of the spores saturating the atmosphere had already been sucked in and processed as mash. Half the silos were filled and the task would soon be finished.
Suddenly a signal flashed: FOREIGN CREATURES ENTERED THE SHIP!
Without stopping the harvesting machinery, Rabotax 3 alarmed the Weapon Control Center and put the ship in a state of defense.
It had only seldom happened in the past that alien intellects had attacked the ship but it did happen. Rabotax remembered one such case and the eventful hours flashed thru its photo-cells in the fraction of a second. At that time the scoutship had found an inhabited planet and rejected all attempts of the population to make contact with the visitor. A little later the planting ship arrived and showered the planet with the seed of the moss, ignoring their radio signals as well till it departed. Later Rabotax received the command impulse to begin the harvest. Rab rushed to the planet but was greeted in an unfriendly manner. As soon as the robot commenced its work it was attacked by a squadron of small but highly maneuverable spaceships which opened a blistering fire. Several energy beams hit the rear of his ship and would have destroyed it completely if Rab’s Weapon Control Center had not reacted in time. The Robot’s hypnotic guns were turned on the aggressors and their ships spun out of control, crashing on the surface of the planet except for those whose automatic recovery system remained intact. After the interlude Rabotax finished its work undisturbed but the battle was not forgotten.
A little later – after the planet of his masters had rotated more than 1000 times around its sun – a second attack took place, not in the vicinity of a planet, but in outer space. It would have been a minor episode if it had not occurred under somewhat remarkable circumstances due to the fact that the attackers were not organic beings but robots. A small fleet of 4 spaceships had pounced on Rabotax and the hypnotic guns had fizzled. There was no malfunction but they failed to have the expected effect. They could paralyze only living organisms, were ineffectual against mechanical foes. The 4 raiders unleashed a barrage of energy beams and heatwaves on Rabotax and in the end the automaton tried to save itself by calling for a cease-fire with its enemies. They responded to its call and agreed on a compromise. Rabotax had to give them assurance it would never intrude again in this sector of the Galaxy and would refrain from revealing the location of the incident. Then they let the robot go. Rabotax had learned very little about the 4 small mysterious spaceships which were also piloted and commanded by robots but it was enough to stimulate some ideas from which Rab drew certain amazing conclusions, to wit:
A great and highly intelligent race had once lived in this sector of the Galaxy. In the fairly typical course of their development they had spread out to other stars and eventually perfected the art of automation. And with the latter they started their own decline. Their robots relieved them of work and finally did their thinking for them as well. The race died and the robots remained. They consciously took over the heritage of their creators and built a mighty civilization in a gigantic realm of stars. Their realm was hermetically sealed off from all intelligent organic beings to whom they felt inferior despite their enormous material power. They were limited to drawing from their experiences of the past and unable to conceive new thoughts, whereas organic intellects keep growing and developing original ideas. They are creative and robots are forever sterile.
Thus a great body of robots existed somewhere between the stars of the Galaxy among the other empires. It was not isolated by energy screens but guarded by patrols of vigilant robots. No alien ship could trespass on their mysterious realm without running the danger of destruction. It was the luck of Rabotax to be saved by a fellow chapek. Rab was recognized as a “member of the race” tho not independent but acting in the service of absent masters.
Rabotax was fond of recalling the experience. Once Rab even toyed with the idea of escaping the masters and joining the robots but couldn’t defy the laws of controlling Rabotax 3, metallic servant. They had to be obeyed.
And now the disturbance…
Somebody had intruded into the ship from another dimension. Rabotax was unable to explain it but with robotic efficiency reacted automatically and thus with instant speed. First the ship had to be defended, then time enough for questions.
The guns slid their barrels out of their covers and pointed them at the stars but the rangefinders were unable to locate an opponent. The space remained empty. No alien ship was in sight.
Inside the vessel all partitions were closed in order to lock in any intruders altho Rabotax realized that this was useless. If the stranger – or strangers – had passed thru the 5th dimension, a wall of steel was no obstacle for them.