"Don't count on my help to get you into the base," Thora shouted angrily.

"I've got ways to make you do it," Raskujan threatened, beginning to lose his composure.

Thora made a disdainful gesture. "Who are you to force an Arkonide to do anything? Besides, you'll be in Rhodan's hands before you're through talking."

Raskujan jumped to his feet. "Rhodan isn't even here on Venus!" he shouted uncontrollably. "And if he tries to land here, I'll know how to keep him away." At this point Thora's emotions got the better of her. With fire in her eyes she exclaimed: "You won't have to worry about preventing Rhodan's landing on Venus. He's already here!"

She realized she had made a mistake the moment the words slipped out. But to see Raskujan turn pale and stagger back to his chair was worth making a mistake.

Behind her she could hear Tomisenkov say softly: "You shouldn't have given him a warning!"

Alicharin kept marching. With the patience of an Asian he tried against all obstacles to reach a goal the existence of which he could so far only guess.

While being held in Raskujan's prison camp, he had heard about the weird events occurring over the open sea - the light that had been observed and that two helicopters had failed to return, as well as about Major Pjatkow's extensive search, the discovery of an empty lifeboat and the dropping of an atomic bomb.

Alicharin knew more than that. He remembered the ambush on the strip of land near Tomisenkov's camp a few days before Raskujan attacked the post. The ambush had been repulsed. Three men had been sighted but none captured.

Alicharin also remembered well the impulsebeamers used by the New Power during the fighting a year ago. The bursts of light over the ocean described by Raskujan's men probably originated from such weapons.

The rest was nothing but speculation and guess work. If three members of the New Power were ' stranded on Venus, apparently vitually deprived of technical aids, Alicharin figured that their most urgent goal would be to get in touch with the positronic brain inside the fortress.

These were the reasons that Alicharin marched toward the mountains. He was aware that the huge protection field has a diameter of 30 miles, representing a periphery of about 95 miles. He realized that the odds for meeting the three men somewhere in these 95 miles were pitifully small; but they were improved by the fact that they - just like Alicharin - were approaching from the south and would probably try to enter the barrier from that direction.

However small his hope to find them was, it was the only chance he had. Wherever else he turned the outlook was much bleaker than linking up with the citizens of the New Power.

Therefore he continued marching in the chosen direction.

When he had climbed halfway up the mountains he perceived at last the shimmering dome of the protective screen between two peaks touching the ceiling of clouds above.

By this time the vegetation had become less profuse and the going was much easier.

Alicharin's spirit was buoyed up and he walked very briskly.

No matter what people thought of Raskujan, they had to admit that sometimes he was capable of a.n.a.lyzing the situation.

From the onset he'd been puzzled by Major Pjatkow's report concerning the three men. Who would dare to cross the Venusian ocean at night in a puny boat, though it was only a 200 mile wide channel?

Raskujan knew that there was a possibility, no matter how small, that the three men had survived the cannon fire and the bomb.

What if one of these three people was Perry Rhodan?

Raskujan followed his train of thought and came to the same conclusion as Alicharin at about the same time although at a different place.

If Rhodan had ventured out to sea in the liferaft it meant that, for some reason, he must have lost contact with Earth as well as with the Venusian bulwark. Otherwise he would have been in possession of far more technical equipment than seemed to be at his disposal at this time.

With this view in mind it was a fairly simple matter to conclude that Rhodan would do his utmost to reach the barrier and penetrate to the base. Raskujan didn't doubt for a minute that this was entirely in Rhodan's power to achieve.

The logical consequence of this deduction was an order to the entire fleet of helicopters to fly to the defense barrier and shoot at anything moving in the vicinity. However, Raskujan kept it a secret that this ma.s.sive action was directed against Perry Rhodan. He was afraid that the mere mentioning of his name would put a terrible fear in his men.

After an interval that was unanimously considered far too short by all crews, the helicopters took off again.

Raskujan observed the start from the brightly lit helipad by television and felt some rea.s.surance, seeing the spectacle of his gunships lifting off and racing away.

He didn't consider it in the least ironic that the greatest of all actions launched on Venus was intended for a single man. If he'd had more fighting strength available, he'd have deployed 10 times as many men and machines to seize and destroy this single man

Perry Rhodan!

Rhodan's maltreated body had used the last period of rest to protest the constant neglect it had suffered: it reacted with an attack of fever. His teeth were chattering audibly when it was time to depart again. Marshall and the j.a.panese suggested that he wait until the fever pa.s.sed but Rhodan answered with a grim laugh: "I'm afraid that this old ticker," he pointed to his chest, "is going to act up as long as I don't give it something better to do"

They continued on their trek. They were fortunate that the diminishing vegetation hampered their progress less and less.

Rhodan, however, was plagued by bad luck. He was forced to revise his opinion about his ticker. His attack of fever didn't let up, it was growing stronger and stronger. At times he had to hold onto Marshall to keep from falling down.

Shortly after 229:00 o'clock they traversed a small valley high in the mountains and, pa.s.sing through its exit, were regaled with the magnificent sight of the gleaming dome over the base, seemingly close enough to touch.

Rhodan breathed a sigh of relief. They had almost accomplished their task, a task that had required superhuman efforts.

The terrain they were crossing now was a high rocky plain with a few bushes far and between. They made good time and the glistening wall of the barrier moved perceptibly closer.

"Only twenty-five hundred feet to go," Marshall murmured after awhile to encourage Rhodan and to take his mind off his pains. He scarcely had finished his sentence when a light buzz arose from south of the mountains. Marshall hesitated and Rhodan, who was leaning on his shoulder, also stood still.

Son Okura spun around and stared at the dark sky.

The humming grew louder and reverberated over the high valley they had just pa.s.sed through and dissolved in the whistling of jets and whirring of rotor blades.

"Choppers!" shouted the j.a.panese. "At least 40 of them!"

With an abrupt and determined effort Rhodan stood up under his own power. He looked hurriedly around. "Take cover!" he panted. "Over there ! Try to reach the side of the valley!"

For a few minutes Alicharin had the impression that the huge fleet was sent to track him down. He watched the whirlybirds zooming over him where he had quickly concealed himself and as they began to circle around the shimmering energy curtain.

Alicharin soon understood what they were after. Someone had come to the same conclusion as he and were attempting to capture the three men from the New Power where they were most likely to be found.

Without further delay he set out again and after a short time came to a tortuous pa.s.s crossing over the last mountain chair separating him from his destination and leading beyond at the western end into a high vale surrounded by steep walls.

Farther north - perhaps a little more than a mile the shining dome rose from the floor of the valley.

However, the helicopters were also circling up north as Alicharin could hear distinctly. Being familiar with the efficiency of their infra-red searchlight, he kept strictly under cover. This slowed him down quite a bit but he advanced with safety.

The helicopters scoured the valley at low alt.i.tude. Rhodan and his companions had been unable to reach the wall of the gorge and sought cover in the shadow of a huge boulder. When they saw that they had not yet been detected, they retreated farther and took refuge in a shallow cave indented in the steep western wall of the ravine. From there Son Okura observed the gunships. "They're dividing up," he said. "Two formations are flying east and west along the defense shield and the third's cruising in front of the shield.

Rhodan could barely muster enough strength for an answer. "We've got to go on," he whispered. "We can contact the positronic brain only at the border of the field."

Marshall remonstrated. "In your place I'd rather ..."

"Uh uh!" Rhodan silenced him, pushing himself up on the wall of the cave.

At the same moment Son Okura, who was standing at the entrance of the cave whirled around with a m.u.f.fed shout and raised his thermo-gun. "Halt!"