The Secret of the Time Vault - Clark Darlton, ebook, CALIBRE SFF 1970s, Temp 2
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Perry Rhodan 012 The Secret Of The Time Vault 1/ RHODAN 'CONQUERS'
GALACTO-CITY The Gigantic spacesphere was hurtling across the orbital plane
of the forty-second planet of the sun Vega. It went into the faster-than-light
drive and set course for the planet Earth, twenty-seven light-years
distant. And then-it happened. The huge ship, in an instant, became
invisible. It simply dissolved, dematerialized, disappeared as if it had never
existed. Such is the transition from the fourth into the fifth
dimension. But no four-dimensional body can consciously exist inside
fifth-dimensional space, in which neither three-dimensional measuring scales
nor chronological calibrations have any meaning. The body ceases to be matter
subject to the laws of the space-time continuum. It becomes
timeless. Nevertheless, it exists! Thus the colossal spacecraft eight
hundred yards in diameter, continued to exist, but in another form. So did its
passengers. Perry Rhodan's mind was filled with serious doubts as he issued
the order for the hyperspace jump via the automatically guided electronic
brain, for, after all, he was unfamiliar with the ship. It was an alien craft,
captured in another solar system, wrested from the Topides, a non-human race,
who in turn had seized the spacesphere from its original owners, the Arkonides
- legendary rulers of the universe. Fortunately, the ship's technical design
resembled that of the disabled Good Hope, the ship that had brought Rhodan
into this sector of the universe, where he had become embroiled in a series of
battles with the lizard-like Topides. Rhodan realized the risk that lay in
attempting transition to Earth with an unfamiliar and undermanned ship.
However, he had no alternative, if he wanted to help the inhabitants of
Ferrol, the eighth Vegan planet, in their fight to rid themselves of the
invaders of their world Unaided, the Ferrons were simply incapable of
overcoming the inimitable Topides. Such was the motivating force behind
Rhodan's daring decision to risk the hyperspace jump which might well mean
death and the end of all his plans for mankind and the universe entire. There
was but a single entity aboard the Stardust II - as Rhodan privately thought
of the conquered vessel - that could consciously experience the jump through
space and time: the positronic brain. It automatically stored all sensory
impressions of the dematerialized crew, retaining the information for future
use. Additionally, the positronic brain took care to activate the robot crew
as soon as rematerialization took place, so that the robots' human charges
would be guarded from any possible harm. To Rhodan, no time seemed to have
passed from the moment the spacesphere began its hyperspace jump. But a
tremendous pain raged throughout his body. He felt as if he were about to be
torn apart and was completely incapable of so much as moving a finger. His
friend Reginald Bell, companion of lunar adventures a few years earlier, was
lying on the other side of the command centre, moaning softly, eyes wide open
and staring at the ceiling. The door opened silently and a human shape
entered the command center, glistening metallically in the subdued light. It
was one of the special robots which, having been ordered to do so by the
positronic brain, now obeyed the new masters of the spaceship without
hesitation. Gently it applied self-acting injection patches to its human
charges. Perry Rhodan's intense pain subsided instantly. He sat up and
regarded the automatic calendar. Some time had passed, of course, bm the
calendar had been adjusted to Earth time. A short span - but during it they
had travelled twenty-seven light-years! Suddenly Rhodan realized that the two
shipwrecked Arkonides natives, Khrest and Thora, could now return to Arkon
whenever they pleased, even though their home planet was more than 32,000
light-years distant from Earth. All along they had been eager to do so, but
Rhodan had so far skilfully thwarted their attempts, for Earth's exact
location in the universe had to be kept a secret at all costs. Mankind was not
yet ready to become a decisive factor in cosmic politics, therefore it was
wiser to keep out of it until the time was ripe. Bell sat up slowly, then
swung his legs over the edge of his couch onto the floor, whose covering, like
the rest of the spaceship, seemed somehow to have mysteriously withstood
 thousands of years of use. Bell yawned. 'I've slept an eternity, but I'm
tireder than I was before. Did it work all right?" Rhodan nodded. 'Yes, the
transition has worked fine … so far, at least. We have to check our position
first, though, then we'll know for sure. I had instructed the positronic brain
to let us rematerialize near the orbit of Pluto.' 'Shouldn't we see how the
others are getting on?' Bell asked. 'That won't be necessary,' replied
Rhodan, and got up after the robots had left the room. 'The robot nurses will
take care of them much better than we can. Besides, why shouldn't they make it
if we did?' The visiscreen above the control panel lit up. Slowly the colours
fell into a pattern and then turned into 3-D pictures. The brightly flaming
star to the left side in front of the craft's nose was the sun, Bell and
Rhodan recognized. Directly before them floated a weakly glowing celestial
body, covered by a whitish icy layer … Pluto. The hyperspace jump had been a
success! 'Our Pluto base crew doesn't know our new ship yet,' said Rhodan.
'You'd better inform them at once. They might already have located us with
their spacewarp sensors, or even have given the alarm.' The spacewarp sensors
were an invention of the Arkonides. They reacted over great distances to any
vibrations in the four-dimensional space-time structure and could pinpoint
their location. Each hyperspace jump caused such a tremor, which propagated
itself faster than light and without any loss of time. Gravitation, as the
Arkonides had known for thousands of years, was nothing but ' five-dimensional
energy radiation, which needed no time to displace itself through space. Bell
went to the transmitter to call Pluto. He used a simple set rather than the
hyperwave transmitter. He wanted to make sure no unauthorized listeners
somewhere light-years away would intercept his message. Fortunately for Rhodan
and his men the post on Pluto had not yet relayed the news about the strange
spaceship. Bell breathed a sigh of relief. He reminded the men on Pluto to
remain on the lookout for any approaching spacecraft and to notify
Galacto-City at once. 'We should warn Earth of our coming,' suggested Rhodan.
'Otherwise they might send a reception committee to greet us. The new space
fleet should be completed by now. They might be overwhelmed at the sight of
this giant of a ship. After all, our Good Hope had a diameter of only a
hundred and eighty feet, just like the other twelve auxiliary vessels we have
here on board with us. Use the hyperwave transmitter, but pinpoint the beam so
that it can be received only in Galacto-City.' With the help of the
faster-than-light hyperwaves, communication with Terra was established within
a few seconds. Galacto-City, Rhodan's power center on Earth, came on; but
before the radio officer on duty could say anything, Bell ordered: 'Switch off
your transmitter at once. Don't broadcast with hyperwaves! Now here in brief
are the instructions for your commanding officer: The Good Hope was lost in
the Vega system in a space battle between the Ferrons, our allies from the
eighth planet Ferrol, and the invaders from the Topid system, a double sun
more than eight hundred light-years from Earth. We won and captured a gigantic
spacesphere of Arkonide origin. The Topides and the Arkonides have been at war
for thousands of years. The lizard-like Topidian race rules over three smaller
solar systems at the rim of the Arkonide galactic empire. The Topides
intercepted the distress signal of the wrecked Arkonide space cruiser on our
moon and wanted to attack Earth. But due to some miscalculations they landed
in the gigantic system of the Vega sun. We arrived there just in time to join
the battle. This will explain why we aren't returning with the Good
Hope. 'You must inform all nations of our impending arrival. We'll be landing
in Galacto-City in about four hours. Our spacecraft has a diameter of three
thousand feet and is spherical. In order to avoid panic breaking out among the
peoples of the world you must inform them that this giant is not part of an
invading alien fleet but the new battleship of the Third Power. End of
message. Over and out.' In the meantime a man had come into the command
center. He was tall and gave the impression of being young and resilient
despite his obvious advanced age. Snow-white hair crowned his unusually high
forehead under which peered out a pair of bright, almost golden eyes. Khrest,
the last descendant of the ruling dynasty on Arkon, the center of a distant
 star realm, who had been forced to a crash landing on the Earth's moon several
years ago, and who since that time had become Rhodan's ally, seemed to have
gone through the hyperjump with ease. He smiled briefly. 'With this ship
alone the Topides should have been able to conquer the solar system,' he
remarked in the Arkonide language, which Rhodan and Bell could understand
thanks to their hypnotraining. 'We were fortunate to seize the spacesphere
without damaging it.' 'Even atom bombs can sometimes do some good,'
interjected Bell dryly. Khrest looked at him in surprise. 'I don't get
you.' 'Would there be any mutants without those early atom bomb explosions?
Mutants who can read thoughts and are capable of jumping halfway around the
world? Would there be any human beings who possess telekinetic powers? Or to
put it differently: would we even have become aware without those detonations
what abilities have been slumbering in our brains for thousands of years,
talents that suddenly have come to life? We have eighteen of these mutants as
allies, and without their help we'd probably not be sitting in this spaceship
here.' Khrest smiled again. This time with more amusement. 'The logic of
your argument is overwhelming. I submit without protest.' Then suddenly
serious, Khrest added: 'I only hope that your argument will remain as valid in
more important matters. so far we have not totally defeated our Topide enemies
in the Vega system, don't forget that, my friend. It's only a hop, skip and
jump (as you humans would say) from here to Earth. Unless we return in time
…' 'No need to worry about that, Khrest,' interrupted Rhodan with a slight
smile. 'I've sent at least five messages from Vega to Earth, and all have been
received in Galacto-City. I'm convinced au my instructions have been carried
out: As soon as we land on Earth we'll find a well-trained crew ready waiting
for us, to man the Stardust II. In addition to that we'll have at our disposal
fighter squadrons of F.T.L. mini-spaceships, ready for battle. It will take
but a few days or weeks at most to chase the Topides to the end of the
universe.' 'Let's hope you‹re not too optimistic.' The cool voice spoke from
the direction of the entrance. Nobody had noticed when Thora, the former
female commander of the Arkonide expedition that had foundered on the moon,
had come into the room. She too was tall and had whitish hair that contrasted
strangely with the delicate tan of her lovely complexion. Her eyes were
shining golden-red and flashed in a mixture of icy contempt and quiet
admiration. It was just this strange mélange of her feelings that continuously
attracted Perry Rhodan to this beautiful alien woman. They had grown closer
during the past few years since first they met. Yet they had never been
completely able to bridge the abyss that time and space had created between
them. Millennia of decades and more than 30,000 light-years lay between them.
But Rhodan already felt appreciative that she had come to regard humanity as
thinking beings and no longer wild primitives that should be destroyed, as she
had done at first. However, Rhodan recognized the new danger that lurked
behind that beautiful face. Thora had become their ally for one reason only:
the Earthlings were supposed to assist her in finding a way to return to her
home planet Arkon. And this moment she had so longed for had now arrived, for
the Stardust II, the Arkonide battleship Rhodan had captured from the enemy,
was the spaceship that could carry her back to Arkon. 'I doubt that I'm
overly optimistic, Thora,' Rhodan replied calmly, looking straight into her
reddish-golden eyes. 'Certainly, I admit that I was quite worried before we
dared the hyperjump through the fifth dimension. But we succeeded. And we
shall return via the same route, but this time well armed. The Topides won't
find an opportunity to attack Earth. They don't even know where Earth is
located in the universe.' 'Still, you must admit that you're in a bad spot,'
she said with an odd lurking note in her otherwise melodious voice. 'Mankind
has hardly ventured out into space and you encounter undreamt-of obstacles. In
the course of a few years you've already met four extraterrestrial intelligent
races. You managed to ward off a dangerous invasion of your home planet only
with the help of our powerful weapons. And now Vega! For the first time,
Earthlings interfere with interstellar affairs and enter an area that so far
belonged exclusively to the Arkonides. Do you think that is right of
 you?' 'Of course I think we're right to act this way. I wonder what the
degenerate Arkonide race would have done in my place? You weren't even capable
of lifting your crash-landed cruiser off the moon again! We had to come to
your assistance, Earthlings that had for the first time reached the moon in a
liquid fuel driven primitive rocket. Don't forget that when you speak of the
present conditions. If we hadn't rescued you from the moon you probably would
still be sitting there whiling the time away by watching senseless abstract
patterns on a picture screen.' Khrest stepped over to Thora and put his hand
on her shoulder. 'You shouldn't talk this way, Thora. We and Rhodan are
friends, allies in a battle against a hostile world. He's helped us the same
way we helped him. If ever we see Arkon again one day, we'll have to thank him
for it.' For a moment Thora stood motionless next to the entrance, then she
lowered her eyes. As many a time previously she gave up the fight against
Rhodan. This man's will was stronger than hers. But it was not only the power
of logical reasoning that told her so; there was something else besides. They
had long since crossed Saturn's orbit. Jupiter became visible at the side and
soon disappeared behind them. But not until they had reached the orbital path
of the planet Mars did the Stardust II diminish her speed. Perry Rhodan
prepared the ship for a landing on Earth. The first radio messages were
exchanged. Colonel Freyt, who had been in charge of the Third Power's affairs
during Perry Rhodan's absence, confirmed the receipt of the hyperwave
communication from the Vega system and announced that all orders had been
followed. For an instant Rhodan's and Thora's eyes met. He exchanged a
friendly smile with her, without displaying the triumph he felt inside.
Reginald Bell was far less considerate. 'Haven't I always told you that
nothing could possibly go wrong?' he said with a great deal of self-assurance,
and patted his friend Perry on the back. 'Do you want me to take charge of the
landing procedures!' 'Yes, take care of everything,' answered Rhodan in an
absentminded way. For his thoughts were already preoccupied with what would
await them upon their arrival on Earth. Galacto-City was filled with intense
activity. At the shores of the Goshun-Saltlake, in the middle of the Gobi
Desert, had risen the gigantic metropolis of Rhodan's mighty domain. His
territory was hermetically sealed off from the outside world. It formed a
square whose sides were each 120 miles long. In its very center reposed the
invisible energy dome which was fed by the inexhaustible Arkonide reactors.
Below the center of the energy screen was the heart of the new realm, the
gigantic positronic brain. Outside, strictly separated from the administrative
and living quarters, stretched the long sheds of industrial plants where
50,000 specialists were busy at work. If their number had not been
supplemented by an army of work robots, the extensive installations would have
needed at least 500,000 workmen. Altogether 230,000 carefully screened
inhabitants called Galacto-City their home. Beyond the residential area were
two regular airports in addition to a spaceport, all heavily guarded by robot
troops. Three space-fighter squadrons, built on Earth, stood ready for battle:
altogether one hundred and sixty-two ultra-modem fighter machines. As the
gigantic sphere appeared in the sky, even those who knew of its existence felt
their hearts skip a beat. At first they noticed only a small ball that quickly
grew in size. But the sphere kept getting bigger until the sun was blacked out
by this new celestial body. The shadow of the Arkonide cruiser fell over
Galacto-City. The craft floated for several seconds above the energy dome
before it began to drift off slowly as if it were a child's balloon. It
disappeared below the horizon in order to touch down at the spaceport. Perry
Rhodan was the first to leave the spacesphere. He saw a man come toward him
who was as tall and lean as Rhodan himself. He was dark-haired and
approximately thirty-seven years old. Sharp lines marked his face, but some of
these wrinkles revealed clearly his great sense of humour. He came to a halt
in front of Rhodan, extending a hand in a friendly greeting. 'Welcome back to
good old Terra! we're happy to have you with us here again!' 'Thank you,
Colonel Freyt!' Rhodan smiled, grasping his friend's hand with a firm shake.
'I'm afraid, though, I'll stay here for only a short time.' Freyt could not
 conceal his consternation. 'I don't understand …' Rhodan turned around and
pointed at the gigantic structure made of unknown metal alloys towering up
into the sky like a skyscraper. 'And you don't ask me what this is, Freyt? I
really admire your self-control.' The lines in the former officer's face
seemed to grow deeper. 'Curiosity isn't one of my virtues. I suppose you'll
tell me all about it in due time. Why should I bother you?' 'You're right
there, Freyt. By the way, I'm just as anxious to hear your report as you are
to hear mine. Bell is taking care of the disembarking procedures of the crew
and their transport into town. I'll come directly with you. The meeting will
take place in two hours under the energy dome. Will you see to it that all
those in authority remain close by, to be consulted if the need should arise?
Now, just let me know quickly if everything is all right here.' 'In perfect
order, don't worry!' reassured Colonel Freyt, who was now smiling again. An
airglider brought Rhodan, Khrest and Thora to Galacto-City where they were
greeted by a jubilant population. Two hours later the meeting began of the
outstanding heads of Rhodan's Third Power, as the coalition between the
Arkonides and the Terrans was generally known. Rhodan opened the
session. 'I'm pleased to note your joy at our return, but I want to tell you
immediately that we came only in order to leave again as soon as possible,
equipped in the best possible way. Before I give you a detailed report of our
experiences I would first like to call on Colonel Freyt for his résumé.' The
colonel cleared his throat but remained seated. 'We received your hyperwave
messages from the Vega system and have some idea about what happened to you
there. We started at once, according to your request, with the hypno-training
of two hundred and fifty specialists from the guard troop. This training has
been completed successfully in the meantime. These men will become part of the
crew for your new spacecraft as you had indicated. We've also concluded with
great success the specialist training of the mutants on our Venusian base. The
mutant corps is ready for action with the exception of Nomo Yamhin, whose
telepathic abilities are not up to par yet. I've already arranged for the
return of all mutants to Earth. They're back home from Venus.' 'Splendid.'
Rhodan nodded with pleasure. 'Crew and mutant corps are then ready for action.
How about the robots?' 'As you know, some robots were salvaged from the
destroyed Arkonide cruiser on the moon. These were mainly specialists for
repair work and maintenance. If you can make use of those …' 'Certainly,
Colonel Freyt. Our new ship is immense. How far did you progress with the
construction of our own spaceships here on Earth?' 'It will take us another
year to complete the cruiser according to the plans put at our disposal by the
Arkonides.' But our cruiser won't be as gigantic as the one you brought back
to Earth with you from Vega …' 'Some ship, isn't it?' interrupted Reginald
Bell, sounding as proud as if he himself had built the huge
spacesphere. Rhodan did not pay any attention to him and methodically
continued his inquiry. 'How are things here on Earth? Any political news? Do
we finally have a united world government?' Slowly Colonel Freyt shook his
head. 'I'm afiaid not yet, Rhodan. You can't really expect that age-old
traditions will be overthrown within a few years. You accomplished a great
deal at the time when you prevented the outbreak of an atom bomb war with the
help of the weapons from your Arkonide allies. This brought about a union of
all the great powers of the world. But we are still far from a regular world
government, I'm sorry to say. On the other hand, something has happened that I
consider to be of the same order of importance. Allan D. Mercant has succeeded
in uniting all defence and secret services of the world under one
organization, which is known as T.D.U., Terra Defence Union.' Allan D.
Mercant was the chief of the Western Defence and thus one of the most powerful
men of the free world. He sympathized with Rhodan's cause and had come over to
his side on the basis of rational conclusions. 'Well, that's at least
something to be grateful for,' admitted Rhodan. 'But let me tell you now about
my own plans. In the Vega system we became involved in the battles between
some of the native inhabitants and alien invaders. The natives are the Ferrons
from the planet Ferrol, while the invaders are known as the Topides, members
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