Perry Rhodan NEO: Volume 18 Part 1 by Christian Humberg Frank Borsch

Author:Christian Humberg, Frank Borsch
Language: eng
Format: epub

Novaal reacted just in time. He whirled around, braced himself against the rough ground of Rayold I, and jumped more or less blindly into the hoped-for cover of the nearest crater depression. Directly behind him, the beam of energy slammed against the barren stone, melting it.

They found me! The thought flashed through his mind. He feverishly checked the remaining systems of his battledress. Many were no longer functional because the crash, and its consequences had taken a massive toll on him. The energy reserves were no longer sufficient to power the force field.

Cautiously, Novaal crept back to the rim of the small crater. The gravity on Rayold I was less than usual; accordingly, he had to proceed with caution. Otherwise, he ran the risk of losing contact with the ground. Even with little muscle strength, he would make huge jumps, and during the uncontrollable landings, he would most likely get lost in one of the many crevices that seemed as deep as they were numerous. It should not come to that.

Novaal peered over the crater rim. In fact, the Topsidian robot hadn’t budged yet. The wretched thing was the size of a particularly clunky humanoid and still stood perhaps ten meters away, its spotlights pointed at the depression. The flickering light of the force field that surrounded Rayold I was reflected on its shiny metallic outer shell, and Novaal didn’t have to be a Topsidian weapons engineer to interpret the flashing lights and other indicators on the front of the technical killing instrument that he couldn’t read but could recognize.

From the rim of the crater, glowing rock rained down on his helmeted head. It couldn’t end like this. That fact was as simple as it was mandatory. Novaal hadn’t survived a starship crash only to fall victim to a piece of technology that had crossed his path by pure chance in a crater depression, far from the actual battle. It would be a ridiculous, useless death, unworthy of a Reekha. Therefore, he decided, it wouldn’t happen.

Pressed close to the rock face, he crept on, looking for a way out of the crater that didn’t put him directly in the robots’ firing path. But the circular rock funnel into which he had taken refuge, at the bottom of which lay the lifeless body of the soldier from the Keat’ark, had no emergency exits. Novaal would already be in danger if he moved just three more steps to the right or left, because the wall that hid him from the robot’s sensors could no longer protect him.

Another rain of weapons fire fell. He escaped the beam of dazzlingly bright energy by a hair’s breadth and cried out as a thin thread of the molten crater wall touched his right glove. The rock had turned to liquid fire from the attack and burned through the Arkonide suit, causing a leak.

“Warning. Pressure drop inside the suit. Loss of atmosphere is imminent.”

I know, Novaal thought grimly, wishing the Positronic, who had to tell him the obvious, all the devils his culture knew.

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