The fact that he had suffered a defeat had a crushing effect on Clifford Monterny. His technical failure to win the battle against his arch enemy Rhodan didn't especially affect his pride but he simply refused to believe that he should have lost out to him too in a mental contest.

He could have killed Roster but he refrained from doing so for this would have merely resulted in an undesirable reaction of the other mutants who might become critical in view of his current situation. He knew he could keep them in check if they confronted him alone but if they were mentally strengthened by Rhodan's mutants their two forces combined would easily outcla.s.s him.

Escape? Flee?

Monterny's lips narrowed to a pencil-thin line. Of course he had already considered such a possibility and had omitted nothing in this respect. His third destroyer waiting for him in his underground hangar, ready for any eventualities. This ship, barely 90 feet long, could be operated only by himself. Supplies of all kinds were stored aboard. It was well-armed. He could reach the speed of light with this craft. And on the planet Mars waited his last and most horrifying mutant to be used by his master for any action he would deem necessary-however monstrous it might be.

Why then should he wait till he would be up against the wall without any hope of extricating himself from this situation?

Clifford Monterny made a renewed attempt to regain his influence over Roster Deegan but he soon had to realize that his efforts were in vain. Still he kept persevering. He was determined to give Rhodan as hard a time as possible.

While Roster was opening the emergency exit of the underground fortress and while Tatjana's attention was concentrated on this new task, the supermutant suggested post-hypnotic commands to his mutants and blocked off their brains with psycho-barriers. He knew only too well that it would only be a question of time till these blocks also would collapse again. But this step would insure a longer headstart for him and he desperately needed additional time.

But now he was no longer delaying what had to be done.

He cordoned off his thoughts against the outside world and made sure that even no telepath could be on his trail. Although this caused him at the same time to be completely cut off mentally from his men, it didn't matter to him any longer. He was no longer interested in what would happen in his lost realm He was now looking ahead; he had a more important task to pursue.

He hurriedly left the command centre and ran along the main corridor. From behind he could hear shouts and the sound of shooting reverberating in the many underground pa.s.sages; somebody was yelling sharp commands. This noise was interspersed with the rhythmical marching steps of the Arkonide fighter robots. Rhodan's forces had successfully invaded the mutant master's domain.

Clifford Monterny clenched his fists in desperate rage, uttered wild curses and hurried on. He turned into one of the many side corridors and increased his speed. If only he had thought earlier to arrange for some underground transportation system! But who'd have considered such a possibility that a seemingly una.s.sailable hiding place would fall at the enemy's first a.s.sault? Monterny had to swallow a bitter pill and admit that he had underestimated Rhodan as an opponent.

The corridor seemed to stretch ahead endlessly. It was dimly lit by small lamps in the ceiling that occurred at regular intervals. There were dozens of similar pa.s.sages and Rhodan's men would need a long time to discover this particular one.

A bend in the corridor. Then another turn. Then the path continued straight ahead.

The supermutant had been clever enough to build his underground hangar sufficiently far from his command centre. In case the centre would be destroyed during some enemy action, the hangar itself would remain undamaged. Besides, n.o.body would suspect that Monterny's own emergency exit would be located almost a mile and a half from the main entrance.

The noise coming from behind had died down completely. Monterny slowed down. Heavy beads of perspiration were glistening on his bald head. His puffy features, which had been contorted with hatred and exhaustion, relaxed. The hara.s.sed look in his eyes gave way to a familiar expression of icy-cold arrogance. Nevertheless, Monterny was glad that no one could see him now. He, the great mysterious unknown person, who was so far superior to all other mortals, was running for his life, seeking escape in flight!

The corridor ended before a smooth wall.

With trembling fingers Monterny felt along the wall until he found the slight bulge he had been looking for. He greatly pressed down on it; the wall slid up and admitted him to the hanger. The wall closed again behind him.

He was now in a moderate-sized hall, which resembled a shaft. The walls consisted of roughly hewn rocks; ledges and other promontories had been cursorily smoothed over. The rocky ceiling was nearly 300 feet above the floor.

In the middle of this gigantic shaft, resting on its telescope supports, was one of the three destroyers that had been stolen from Perry Rhodan's fleet.

Clifford Monterny breathed a sigh of relief. Not even Rhodan himself could now foil his escape. If right after the takeoff he would accelerate to top speed, n.o.body would be able to catch up with him.

For a fleeting moment he thought of the abducted scientists who now would be found and released by Perry Rhodan. Monterny felt no regrets for he had made all their specialized knowledge his own; he no longer needed them. They had taught him how to pilot perfectly this stolen s.p.a.ceship.

In a few strides he reached the telescoped supports and activated the control b.u.t.ton of the entrance hatch. Immediately the hatch slid open, many feet above his head, and a ladder emerged and descended toward the floor of the hangar. While this was going on, he ran quickly back to the rock wall, pushed another b.u.t.ton hidden in a little depression. Expectantly, Monterny gazed up to the ceiling of the shaft.

The ma.s.sive rock wall, high above began to move sideways, opening the escape route. Bright daylight filtered down into the hangar.

Clifford Monterny didn't waste any precious seconds. He raced over to the descended ladder and climbed up the rungs. In a few seconds he had disappeared inside the destroyer. The hatch closed with a dull thud.

Long seconds pa.s.sed. They grew to minutes.

From inside the ship's engine compartment came the roar of the power units and transformers revving up. Highly densified streams of particles were shooting through two-feet thick field conduits, were further compressed in the engines, were accelerated and finally left the glimmering field jets in the ship's rear in the form of fast-as-light, ultra-bright pulse-beams.

The rocky floor underneath the destroyer began to boil while the telescope supports were drawn up. The ship shot upwards.

The energy beams spread in all directions under tremendous pressure, hit the walls of the hangar and melted the solid rock walls. The secret entrance door, leading from the underground labyrinth of corridors into the hangar, was destroyed.

It was obvious: the mutant master had intended to use this escape route only once.

With unbelievable acceleration, the ship shot vertically up and, like, a gigantic missile, pa.s.sed through the 300-foot-long barrel, soon to disappear in the blue depths of the waiting sky.

5/ "NO ESCAPE".

Rhodan left the Good Hope V-also known as K-5-the same instant Roster Deegan emerged through the opened emergency exit at the surface. Roster was walking toward Tatjana with a blank stare in his eyes. The young Russian girl approached him and gently tried to restore Deegan's own will, giving it back to him bit by bit.

The mutant corps relieved the robots and the soldiers and were in charge of security. The esper John Marshall stayed near Rhodan and informed him: "Tatjana reports that there are 10 other mutants besides Deegan in the fortress. A post-hypnotic command forces them to obey the orders of the mutant master. They'll have to be liberated individually from Monterny's influence."

"How about Monterny's prisoners? What has Tatjana been able to find out about them?"

"No definite news but she believes they're somewhere inside the fortress."

"Very well, then," said Rhodan, "the battle of the mutants can begin! I'll personally take care of Monterny."

He seized his psychobeamer and advanced toward Tatjana and Deegan, who opposed each other, locked in a silent battle of wills. They were standing near the entrance to the underground fortress. Steps led down into the labyrinth.

"I'll come with you," Marshall said. He had kept close to Rhodan. "Also Sengu, Anne Sloane and Betty Toufry. Sengu can warn us of any impending danger while the two telekins can immobilize any attackers until we can break their hypn.o.block."

At this moment the hypn.o.block was breaking inside Roster Deegan. The American shook his head as if he had just surfaced from deep water and was suddenly feeling free from the pressure of the deeps. He took Tatjana's hand. "I still don't quite understand everything but I'm beginning to get some idea of what has happened. Count on me. Set the others free as well, please!"

Rhodan joined their little group. "Come along, Tatjana. We mustn't waste any time. n.o.body knows what devilish tricks the mutant master still has up his sleeve."

Roster regarded Rhodan quizzically; their eyes met and then he held out his hand. "You must be Rhodan. I recognize you from pictures. I presume you'll be interested in increasing the numbers of your mutants. In that case there are 10 more mutants waiting down there in the fortress who would be proud to join your forces. But they aren't free yet.

Tatjana pointed to both Rhodan's psychobeamer and her own. "It won't be long now," she promised.

In one of the corridors, on their way to the command centre, they encountered the first telekineticist.

Rhodan suddenly was flung to one side. If he hadn't reacted instantly by a reflex and stretched out both hands he would have crashed into the wall head first. He slipped to the ground, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible and thus escape the direct line of vision of the fortress' defender. Then calmly he pointed his hypno-rod toward the shadowy figure, which stood out very indistinctly against the poorly lit background.

He directed a powerful barrage of urgent commands at the man's hypn.o.block with very little success. Not until Andre Noir joined forces with him and broke through the existing barrier by exerting tremendous hypnotic pressure, then implanted his counter orders in the mutant's brain, did the mutant master's power over this man give way.

Rhodan, prudently, then gave the man a post-hypnotic command with the help of the psychobeamer. Now was not the time for long explanations.

Step by step they penetrated farther into the supermutant's realm, now deserted by him. They encountered bitter resistance from the mutants who were still under Monterny's spell. But little by little, Rhodan's and Noir's combined efforts removed this obstacle.

Including Roster, they found 10 mutants altogether who were soon willing to switch allegiance from the tyrannical mutant master and join Rhodan's mutant corps. However their number should have been 11.

Where was the eleventh mutant?

And where was the supermutant himself?

Rhodan looked around. "Ras Tschubai?" he inquired.

The powerfully built figure of the giant African drew near. "Yes, sir?"

"Have you searched all the rooms?"

The teleporter raised his hand in an uncertain gesture. "I couldn't tell for sure. This warren has so many corridors, pa.s.sages and rooms that it's impossible for me to say whether I have been in every one of them or not. I have definitely located the command centre; it was empty. Not a trace of that bald-headed fellow."

"And how about the scientists?"

Before Ras could answer, Sengu the seer interjected. "They are imprisoned in a dungeon-an entire complex with regular cells. There's an elevator leading down there." The j.a.panese fixed his eyes on a spot on the floor to indicate the direction. Trying to imagine that he could clearly see through solid rock, one couldn't help but shudder in awe. "Somebody seems to have located them-I can see a figure that's trying to force open the entrance door leading into the prison complex. I can't quite make out who it could be."

Betty Toufry, both telepath and telekin, joined the little group around Rhodan. "I'm receiving the thoughts of a man," she whispered and glanced uncertainly in the same direction as Sengu. "His thoughts are rather weak and confused. He wants to kill."

Ras Tschubai turned to Sengu. "Describe the location of the dungeon, I want to catch that man before he causes a disaster. Hurry, please!"

There was nothing much Rhodan could do here. He just watched pa.s.sively and gave free rein to his own mutants. He couldn't see, hear or feel anything. Rhodan was not a mutant but a very normal human being-quite apart from certain characteristics which however had nothing to do with structural changes in the brain.

Ras Tschubai listened as Sengu specified the exact location. Then the African teleporter nodded briefly-and vanished.

Those that remained behind felt the slight breeze caused by the air rushing into the vacuum created by the teleporter during and after his rematerialisation. At this very same instant, Ras Tschubai materialized again in his own body, exactly at the desired spot he had concentrated on.

Rhodan wanted to make use of this time during Ras' absence. "Tatjana and Marshall, accompany me. We must find out where Monterny is now. I can't imagine he'd crawl into a corner and wait till we find him. He's not the pa.s.sive type."

"This fortress has dozens of pa.s.sages. None of us has seen all of them," observed Tatjana. "But I do know, one of these corridors leads to a hangar hewn out of the solid rock. And in this hangar is hidden one of your stolen destroyers. Perhaps Monterny has meanwhile..."

"No doubt," Rhodan said sharply. It was one of the rare occasions when he briefly lost his temper. You should have told me that sooner. I'm convinced the supermutant is smart enough to realize immediately when he is defeated. But... say that again! There's a hangar in the underground rock walls?"

"Yes."

"That means it's to the west. It shouldn't be too difficult to discover the right corridor leading to that hangar. Come along!"

Rhodan hurried ahead through the empty pa.s.sages, followed immediately behind by Tatjana and Marshall. The sound of their steps was echoed back from the solid walls with a hollow thud.

They arrived at a fork in the road. Rhodan quickly checked his watch compa.s.s and chose the outer branch to the left. "This path runs due west-it could be the right one."

He didn't wait for a reply but ran on.

From farther ahead suddenly came a dull vibration in the rocks. The floor was shaking under their feet, reminding them of the tremor of a mild earthquake.

Rhodan stopped in his tracks. Marshall grew pale. Tatjana lowered her hand with the hypno-rod in it. "What was that?" she whispered barely audibly. Rhodan clenched his fist. "Our destroyer-at least we know now that we chose the right way. "We've come too late. Maybe our men above-ground are more watchful. Let's have a look at least at that mess!"

Thirty feet before the spot where the corridor formerly ended abruptly in a blank wall, they encountered a dry heat-wave which prevented them from going on. In the dim light coming from the poor lamps in the ceiling Rhodan saw on the ground and on the ceiling stalact.i.tes and stalagmites consisting of first molten and then congealed rock. A sudden insight flashed in his brain: of course, the hangar was behind that blind wall in the rocks!

"The heat generated as the destroyer was taking off couldn't dissipate into the atmosphere as is usually the case during blastoffs. It melted the walls instead. I hardly believe we can get through from here into the hangar." He reflected for a few seconds then added with resignation in his voice: "It wouldn't do us any good anyhow. Monterny is already racing through s.p.a.ce. We can only hope somebody up there noticed his escape."

"Shouldn't we inform the Stardust of his flight?" suggested Marshall.

"Even that would be too late," said Rhodan with a bitter smile, "but don't worry, Marshall. In the long run Monterny can't get away from us. We have some idea where he might try to escape to."

And before Rhodan's inner eye came the vision of the desolate loneliness of a reddish desert, crossed by broad strips of green vegetation. A lonely world only spa.r.s.ely heated by a far distant sun.

6/ PUCKY DARES THE IMPOSSIBLE.

Pete Maros was a Mexican but he had very little in common with his original ancestors.

One trait, however, he had definitely inherited from his forefathers, was his volatile temper, which was in sharp contrast with the cool disposition of the Englishman Ray Gall. Ray was the radio man of the destroyer Z-82 which had been taken over by Rhodan after its repair.

Commander of the ship was Julian Tifflor, for the time being still cadet of the s.p.a.ce Academy.

The group of the new destroyers had fanned out and stood not quite 20 miles above the State of Utah. Another 30 miles higher up Reginald Bell comforted himself with the thought that in certain sense he now represented Perry Rhodan's headquarters and had to watch out for the safety of the Stardust. Under no circ.u.mstances would he risk endangering the giant s.p.a.cesphere.

Both Tiff and Bell were preoccupied by the same thoughts. "Here we are dangling high up in the sky and can't even watch what's going on down there below the clouds. Even radio contact has been interrupted-or have you been able to hear anything, Pete?"

The mechanic pointed to the door of the radio cabin. "Ray hasn't budged from the spot. Let me check."

The Englishman sat without moving in front of his silent receiving set, dozing. The picture screen which could establish direct communication with the Stardust was dark.

"I'd let you know the moment something happens," grunted Ray. "That set has been deader than a doornail." Ray shut his eyes again.

Pete noted with relief that at least his ears seemed to be wide open. He left the radio cabin and returned to the command centre.

Meanwhile Tiff had switched over to magnification of the scanning tele-camera and pointed the lens straight toward the surface of the Earth. There were no clouds to obscure his view. Within a few seconds Tiff could see the entire state of Utah like a map on his observation screen. The magnification increased automatically. The map grew hazy and as soon as it showed up again with sharp outlines it had shrunk to a smaller section but still in the same dimensions. This process repeated itself several times until finally Tiff could clearly recognize the round spot marking the destroyer K-5, landed next to the destroyed farm house.

Tiff remembered Rhodan's instructions: don't bother watching what happens around the K-5, concentrate on the area surrounding the farmhouse and the airs.p.a.ce above Utah.

Tiff sighed. Well, so what else would he do now, even if n.o.body actually could check up on what he was doing? But anyhow...

Slowly he moved the objective of the camera toward the west where the high mountains were. Not a very pleasant landscape, he thought. What kind of person would ever have the desire to settle there. Jagged rocks and sharp rocky ridges jutted out from the dense bush. In between were the steep and deep clefts of the canyons cutting through the wildly romantic and irregular terrain.

He was struck at once by the regular outlines of a mountain. It didn't fit into this landscape.

On a relatively flat plateau, covered by a growth of low bushes which was surrounded by steep rocks, he noticed a small, lone mountain. Here by accident? Although it consisted mainly of boulders and rubble, it showed plentiful traces of fertile soil. Still, there was not a single tree growing there. Only spa.r.s.e tufts of gra.s.s revealed that plant life could exist on this mountain.

The foot of the mountain was bulging out in the shape of a crescent while the opposite side seemed to cave in to the interior.

The mountain looked like a man-made structure; reminded Tiff of a slag heap.