The Plasma Monster by Perry Rhodan

Author:Perry Rhodan [Rhodan, Perry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Unknown, Classic, Sci-Fi
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1976-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

• • •

"You're right!" exclaimed Bell. "It's actually an Akon transmitter!"

There was no longer any doubt. Within seconds a 100-meter arc of energy had spread out over the thing. Impervious to the seventh planet's natural forces it began to glow red around its inner edge. The entire formation appeared to concentrate its energies into compact lines of force as a darkly shimmering tunnel took shape.

The only one who spoke in the Drusus' Control Central was Gen. Deringhouse as he ordered the robots to stop where they were and await further orders. It was not necessary for him to say more. Their programming took care of the rest. The Terranian fighter machines stopped their march within 200 meters of the Akon transmitter and its red-glowing energy field.

Now Rhodan pulled the microphone to him. "Whatever comes out of the transmitter is to be captured. Under no circumstances is there to be any

destruction or killing!"

He returned the microphone to the general. And then the waiting period began.

The vast wall of the Drusus facing the Akon structure loomed in fire readiness. Unswervingly its heaviest thermo-disintegrators and impulse cannons held their sights fixed on the technological product of an alien race, ready to convert it into a fiery tornado of destructive forces.

Through this direct observation of the mission, Walt Ballin learned more about the capacities of the Solar Fleet than he would ever have dreamed of. He kept watching Rhodan and his admiration for this man's cool, considered calculation grew with each passing moment. Perry Rhodan was neither a dictator nor a dogmatic martinet.

At the moment he was saying: "The Akons certainly didn't go to this trouble just to play games with us. Perhaps we have already waited much too long."

"But nothing's happened yet," Bell reminded him.

Rhodan didn't argue with him. "Deringhouse, bring the robots back into the ship—on the double. This thing is getting a bit too weird for me. Gentlemen, what are the instruments picking up?"

The question was directed to the officers in the Control Central. Deringhouse sent out his radio command to the robots, causing them to turn back. Bell did not agree with the procedures but he shrugged and let things take their course.

For the first time in his, life, Walt Ballin felt what it was like to have cold feet. An uncanny fear possessed him, yet it was not a fear of the strange, red-glowing structure out there, it was a deeper fear of something indefinable.

"Pole turrets! Fire at will!" Rhodan's voice fairly rang in the room as he spoke into the intercom mike.

Almost simultaneously, yard-thick disintegrator and impulse beams shattered the Akon transmitter. Everything went up in an atomic gas cloud that was instantly shredded and dispersed by the methane hurricane. In the place where the station had stood was a glowing spot where the frozen rock surface turned to lava and vaporized.

The bombardment from the Drusus' upper turrets lasted three seconds. When the energy cannons were silenced, four km away was a gaping crater in which the molten rock was slowly cooling off under a forming crust of gleaming obsidian.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.