Enterprise Stardust by K. H. Scheer

Author:K. H. Scheer [Scheer, K. H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 2017-12-31T05:00:00+00:00

THE THIRD POWER

CHAPTER ONE

The silence was deceptive.

The mirrorlike surface of the Koshun salt lake in northern China was unbroken by movement. Still as death, the lake lay sprawled across the wide desert. Not the slightest breeze could be felt, and the atmosphere was oppressively hot and dry. The glimmering air was buoyed above the heated stones and lost itself in the blue of a cloudless sky. Far away on the horizon rose a ridge of low mountains, from which had come the river that fed the salt lake.

The river was the only thing that stirred in this part of the Gobi Desert. Heavy and sluggish the river flowed, neither wide nor deep but never becoming completely dry.

Vegetation could not have grown on this stony ground, and animal life would not have found food amongst the flat rocks. Nothing was alive; yet the silence was deceptive.

A slender structure of glittering silver stood close beside the banks of the river. It did not fit into the picture of this lonely wilderness, for it was an interplanetary craft more than ninety feet long whose aerodynamically designed hull and delta wings were in stark contrast to an environment so inimical to human life.

The Stardust, the first terrestrial spaceship ever to land on the moon, had returned to Earth and landed in the Gobi Desert. The whole world already knew this, but only a few would begin to suspect that it had been not an emergency landing but an intentional maneuver.

In the hull of the vehicle, a rectangular opening appeared. A man came into view in the opening. His gaze swept along the river, across to the mountains and then to the lake, where it remained. Captain Reginald Bell, test pilot for the U.S. Space Explorations Command and engineer of the Stardust, drew in the air with eager breath, although it was anything but refreshing. The captain was short and heavyset. He wore the tight-fitting blue uniform of the newly created Space Navy and held his cap under his right arm.

His eyes, which seemed almost devoid of color, bore a faint glimmer of hope as he turned and called into the interior of the spaceship. “You think it’s possible to take a bath in that puddle over there?”

Someone emerged from the dark corridor and stepped up beside Reg. He wore the same uniform but without epaulets. He seemed to be about thirty-five years old, tall and lean, and above a face with hard gray blue eyes there fell short blond hair. This was Major Perry Rhodan, commander of the Stardust and leader of the first lunar expedition.

“Of course it’s possible," he said in answer to Reg’s question, “but the water is warm and hardly inviting. Besides, it’s far too salty for my taste.”

“Oh, I always liked highly seasoned food,” declared Reg in a very serious tone. “I could even drink the whole lake, if necessary.”

“You’d really be in for a surprise. The waters of the Atlantic would taste like sickening sweet lemonade compared with that over there.

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