PERRY RHODAN.

THE VENUS TRAP.

By Kurt Mahr.

Chapter One.

TROUBLE ON VENUS.

LIFE-raw, primordial-teemed on the young world: on its land, beneath its seas and in its air. Prehistoric life forms, not dissimilar to those which once flourished on distant, early Earth -vicious, voracious but ... Venusian.

Venus, "the evening star," second from the sun, a hothouse of horrendous creatures: airborne, landlubbing, oceanic.

Three Terranians found themselves on the surface of a Venusian sea: Perry Rhodan, John Marshall and Son Okura. Rhodan, the leader; Marshall, the esper, reader of minds; Okura the emfer, perceptor of electro-magnetic frequency wavelengths.

About the trio's boat the water gurgled sluggishly. It seemed to be thicker than on Earth, and so it was. A hand submerged in it emerged with a slimy coat for the water was so full of algae, single cells and other minute life forms that it acted like a collodial solution.

The boat plowed steadily through the impeding waves which were the last reminder of the terrible twilight storm that had swept over the flatland and the 200-mile-wide ocean channel more than eight hours before.

The st.u.r.dy little generator hummed monotonously, threatening to hypnotize heavy eyelids, lull weary men to sleep.

But to the coaxing arms of Morpheus they dared not submit - none of them! For more than a Terrestrial day they hadn't dared a wink. It had been difficult to stay awake in the darkness, especially for Perry with an unhealed wound paining his shoulder.

Perry Rhodan, President of the New Power, had come to Venus with the intention of restoring order once again but, due to a chain of calamitous circ.u.mstances, had been cast with two companions almost helplessly into the wilderness.

At the present time he was far from achieving his goal. There were still 180 miles of water to be crossed in the boat, 180 miles of unknown dangers and 180 miles wherein at any time Col. Raskujan's helicopters could swoop down and attack the defenseless little lifeboat. Darkness per se afforded no guarantee of protection from the colonel's fightercraft for the aerial attackers were equipped with the latest infrared searchlights:

"I wonder if they've noticed yet that we swiped their boat," John Marshall wondered aloud.

n.o.body knew. They'd surrept.i.tiously taken possession of the boat from one of Raskujan's helicopters at the height of the battle between the colonel's and Tomisenkov's troops.

"I guess sooner or later they'll discover the loss of the boat," Perry replied.

"And then?" It was Son Okura, the j.a.panese, who spoke.

Rhodan shrugged his shoulders - and immediately regretted it: the sudden movement made his injury ache. "Raskujan will rack his brains over it. Right now we don't know whether he's even aware of our existence." .

"Tomisenkov will be eager to tell him all about us," Marshall commented.

But Rhodan wasn't at all convinced. "You're misjudging Tomisenkov," he explained. "I've heard the radio conversation between him and Raskujan. The colonel has the men of his reinforcement fleet well in hand. Simply because his men have been well fed, there've been no mutineering tendencies. Tomisenkov's troops, on the other hand, are disorganized. Now Tomisenkov demands that Raskujan submit to him as a general, while Raskujan as a colonel insists that Tomisenkov has lost all rights commensurate with his rank due to his rebellion and the deterioration of his troops. They're both members of the Eastern Bloc but fierce rivals. I don't believe Tomisenkov is willing to give any information to Raskujan. The experience Tomisenkov gained on Venus is very valuable to Raskujan. This knowledge probably gives him a measure of rea.s.surance and he can afford to keep his mouth shut."

Okura was about to reply something when Marshall called with a m.u.f.fled voice from the bow: "Stop the boat! "

Rhodan reacted instantaneously. He pushed the lever to lift the little propeller out of the water. The hum of the idling motor slid a few notes up the scale before Rhodan switched it off.

Everything was quiet around them-except for the splashing of the languid waves.

"What's the matter?" Rhodan asked.

"There! " Marshall answered, pointing with his hand.

Rhodan moved forward and looked. He had no trouble seeing the fluorescent shimmer on the water at a distance of about three hundred feet and spreading out as far as the eye could see to the east and west.

Rhodan became apprehensive.

"What is it?" Marshall asked perplexed. "It can't be a..."

Rhodan nodded. "Yes. It's a jellyfish. The biggest one I've ever seen."

Son Okura also came to the bow. He was capable of receiving certain wavelengths in the electro-magnetic frequency band which were beyond the perception of normal eyes. Thus he saw infra-red heat waves and ultra-violet radiation as distinctly as visible light.

"What can you see?" Rhodan asked.

Okura narrowed his eyes. The warm water of the Venusian ocean was for him like a carpet flooded with light. The jellyfish, however, which absorbed a part of the water's heat and reflected another portion into the ocean, appeared on his retina as a long dark stretch.

"It extends about two miles to the west," Okura said, "and as far east as I can see."

Rhodan considered. "Alright, then we'll go west to get around it." He started the motor up again and immersed the propeller in the water. Swinging the rudder hard to starboard, he steered the boat around in a sharp curve.

"Is it that dangerous?" Marshall wanted to know.

"Have you ever seen one of these jellyfish?"

"No. Only a small one in a bay."

Rhodan gave an understanding smile. "I'll give you a demonstration. In any case, we'd have been lost if we'd run into it. There's more power in this thin carpet of jellyfish than in 10 motors like ours."

The boat proceeded now on a northwesterly course. Rhodan tried to follow around the western rim as closely as possible. The boat had a speed of about 20 miles an hour. They could ill afford to lose even a precious second on a detour.

About ten minutes later they were due west of the jellyfish carpet. John Marshall was fascinated by the sight. The flourescence was composed of many different blending colors and presented a spectacle of beauty in motion that never failed to impress Rhodan, too, no matter how often he had seen it before.

It was hard to believe that this carpet of light was in reality a single animal spread out flat on the water and lurking for prey. The beauty was a deceptive mask for the enormous voracity and irresistible power exercised by the jellyfish to drag its victims to 'the depths.

Rhodan took a few heavy steel nuts out of the boat's toolbox and stood beside Marshall. The western side of the jellyfish was no more than 50 feet away from the wall of the boat.

"Okura!" Rhodan said softly.

"Yes, sir!"

"Are you ready to close the boat covers? Wait for my signal."

The j.a.panese nodded. Rhodan handed the nuts to Marshall.

"Toss them in ! "

Marshall weighed the heavy metal pieces carefully in his hand. Then he swung his arm back and pitched them all together far onto the colorful and shimmering jellyfish.

The reaction was instantaneous. The nuts had hardly touched the animal when the colors began to fade away. Within a few seconds the glittering ceased completely. A rumbling noise started as the gigantic jellyfish began to contract itself around the spot where it had been hit by the nuts in order to pull down its catch.

The first breakers. .h.i.t the boat: About 100 feet from the boat, the heretofore peaceful fluorescing carpet had formed a hemispheric lump of nondescript color.