A barely audible voice came from the dark shadows to the right of the cave. Marshall couldn't understand a word. He left Rhodan alone and went to the side of the j.a.panese with his weapon ready to fire. "Who's there?" he demanded.

Okura shrugged his shoulders. "He claims to be one of Tomisenkov's men and that he ran away from the prison camp."

Marshall lowered his gun. He closed his eyes while Okura kept the stranger covered with his impulsebeamer and concentrated on the thoughts flowing from the brain of the unknown man. "He's OK," he finally nodded to Okura. "The man has no hostile intentions."

Okura lowered his weapon as well. He called to the stranger to come closer.

Then Marshall saw him emerge from the darkness. He was fairly small but very broad-shouldered, with small slanted eyes and high cheekbones. He turned to Son Okura and said: "My name is Alicharin and I'm a member of General Tomisenkov's forces. I've got some important information to give you."

Although ,he had no time to lose, Rhodan was anxious to hear his report. Alicharin quickly recounted the details of the events since Raskujan's raid on Tomisenkov's post.

"After what happened it won't be easy for Thora to resist Raskujan," Rhodan murmured "He'll do any thing to make her talk. We really must hurry! "

They left the cave and proceeded along the wall. Taking advantage of any cover they could find, they sneaked forward while Son Okura continously kept a sharp eye on the helicopters. Alicharin's report and his fear about Thora's fate seemed to have given Perry Rhodan a second wind. He was able to walk half the remaining distance on his own legs until he was forced to lean on Marshall again.

They approached the luminous wall within 50 feet without having been spotted by Raskujan's machines. But from here on it became crucial.

The last stretch of territory was virtually devoid of a place to hide. There were only a few isolated rocks, scarcely big enough to give protection for one man.

Rhodan antic.i.p.ated that their foes would drop bombs as soon as they had spied their victims and those little rocks provided no protection whatsoever against bombs.

It was plain to see that Rhodan had reached the limit of his strength. His cheeks were sunken and red splotches dotted his skin. His voice was hoa.r.s.e and he wheezed with every effort. "We've got to create a diversionary maneuver," he instructed his friends. "One of us will have to draw their attention away from the others. While they're kept busy by him, the rest of us will rush to the barrier. I expect that the positronic brain will only require a few seconds to identify me and to open the barrier for a moment. Who wants to volunteer?"

"I'll go," Alicharin said at once.

Rhodan had no objection, at least none for which he could take time to bring up. Alicharin was not a citizen of the New Power; it was not his duty to risk his life in a bold maneuver. However, there was no time for a debate.

Alicharin sneaked away after it was pointed out to him that he would have to start running like the very devil as soon as the defense screen was dimmed. n.o.body knew what he planned to do to distract the gunships.

They waited - feverishly and impatiently.

In Major Pjatkow's opinion the high valley leading from the south to the energy dome was the most plausible place where the fugitives could be intercepted.

Pjatkow didn't have the slightest notion whom he was hunting but he a.s.sumed that either a lot of people were involved or that they were especially dangerous as Raskujan made such extraordinary efforts to catch them.

He looked at his watch. They had only enough fuel for five hours flight. Then they'd have to return for refuelling. Within five hours the unknown persons had to . . .

"There!" the observer exclaimed. "A man!"

Pjatkow pushed the observer to the side and peered through the filter eyepiece. There was a man moving between the rocks below. He was only 6o feet away from the barrier and was running like mad.

"Fire!" Pjatkow barked.

The observer squeezed himself behind the automatic cannon, aimed at the moving target and began to shoot. He was disgusted to see his projectiles explode far from the runner and corrected his aim but before he managed to focus on the target, the man had disappeared behind a boulder.

Major Pjatkow was breathing excitedly. "Lower! Lower!"

The aircraft descended.

"Circle around the rock!"

The pilot banked the aircraft and began to fly in a wide circle. "Closer!" Pjatkow shouted angrily. And then he discerned another movement from the corner of his eye. He pulled his viewer around and detected three men one hundred feet away scurrying to the radiant barrier. He instantly grasped that the man below him had only executed a feint.

The real danger was that group of men over there!

"To the left!" he yelled at the pilot. "We've got to get them first!"

The flier, who saw only the events straight ahead of him, wasted little time responding to the command and changed his course.

"Faster!" Pjatkow urged. "Get the bombs ready!" He slammed down the switch of the radio transmitter at his side with a crack. It was unnecessary to waste words to explain his actions. The other machines were able to determine from his orders what was afoot.

The fleeing men reached the barrier.

"Bombs ready! " the observer reported.

Pjatkow took notice that two other machines were flying beside him and were laying down heavy fire from their automatic cannons.

The bombs the observer was about to unleash were ordinary high-explosive sh.e.l.ls. It wasn't feasible for a helicopter flying at low alt.i.tudes to drop a nuclear bomb no matter how small.

However, the high-explosive bombs were more than adequate to . . .

The radiant dome was gone!

Pjatkow uttered a piercing scream of horror as the barrier vanished. Yet at the same instance he grasped the unique chance that suddenly was offered to him. "To the right!" he bellowed to the pilot. "Get through the barrier!"

The pilot didn't measure up to the task. He fumbled around for five seconds before he changed his course. Pjatkow was fuming.

At last the machine turned around and raced with top speed toward the place where only moments before the protective shield had towered above the floor of the valley.

n.o.body in Pjatkow's helicopter got even a glimpse when the barrier began to radiate again at the precise instant that the machine was about to push through to the field inside.

A brilliant explosion was all the other helicopters could see as their radios crackled sharply. A shower of flaming debris fell to the ground and was soon extinguished.

It was impossible for anyone to say later whether Pjatkow's gunship had been swallowed up by the energy of the reactivated defense screen or had been torn apart by its own bombs exploding under the impact.

Following the initial shock of terror the accompanying helicopter crews recognized that everything had been restored in the aftermath to the previous state after the short interruption and that the unknown people had obviously succeeded in setting foot inside the defense field during the few seconds the barrier had been lifted.

Colonel Raskujan received the terse communique: "Major Pjatkow killed in action. Unable to apprehend fugitives. Escaped into fortress."

Raskujan was fully aware of the significance of the message that Rhodan had reached the safety of the fortress.

He a.s.sumed that it would be merely a matter of minutes before Rhodan would attack his post with the superior technical means at his command and completely wipe them out.

He ordered the defense alert for his post which required no extensive preparations or changes. Since the day he landed his replacement fleet on Venus he had antic.i.p.ated such contingencies and deployed his troops and equipment in such a manner that they could defend themselves in all directions.

It was a different question, however, whether the strategic placement of his troops would have any effect against the technical juggernaut to be expected from Perry Rhodan.