This time the ugly rat-a-tat-tat of the machineguns sounded pleasantly far away. They're attacking the boat for a second time, Rhodan noted with relief.

He heard some hissing and crackling and saw a shower of sparks sprayed across the water as one of the projectiles blew up the depot of ammunition in the boat. Virtually at the same instant, the helicopters ceased their fire. They probably were of the opinion that it was impossible for anyone to survive such an explosion.

Okura called over that two of the 'copters hovered low over-the boat's debris.

"You better swim a little faster!" Rhodan called back. "They'll soon find out we got away. How much farther, Son?"

"Two hundred feet, sir!"

He tried to test how deep the ocean was but it was almost impossible to get his legs down in the water.

Then Okura's voice roared: "Look out. They're coming! "

The vehicles approached slowly. They had not yet determined where the crew of the boat had fled. They played their infra-red beams over the water and probed for the elusive defenders.

Rhodan guessed that they were still 120 feet from the sh.o.r.e and that the helicopters had come within 300 feet behind them.

Marshall suddenly exclaimed: "Solid ground! From here on we can walk."

Rhodan swam toward the voice. He saw Marshall's waving arms appear from the dark and let his feet sink down till he touched bottom.

Walking wasn't much faster but it was easier. Step by step they got closer to the coast, which began to emerge as a black line in the dark night. Meanwhile the helicopter also came constantly nearer. Rhodan heard the j.a.panese groan abruptly: "They spotted us!"

Rhodan was unable to see the cone of the searchlight but he could hear the chattering of the machineguns. The bullets plopped a few feet to the right into the water.

"We've almost reached the seals!" Marshall called above the noise. "They're straight ahead of us!"

The gunship corrected its aim. Rhodan observed the splashing tracks of the shots wander toward himself. They were closing in within 15 feet.

He stumbled over something and fell head first into the water. He was grabbed hard by the shoulder and put back on his feet. Upfront Marshall shouted something he didn't understand. His voice sounded peculiar and hollow.

The cave! Marshall was already inside the cave. Rhodan watched the squirts of water whipped up by the machinegun fire pa.s.s behind him. With a feeling of indescribable relief he staggered across the smooth ground covered with water and noticed that it was slightly climbing. Finally he reached a slab of stone protruding a few inches from the water. Marshall was sitting on top of it and waving to him. The j.a.panese was about to clamber up from the other side.

Marshall helped Rhodan get out of the water. Rhodan pulled his legs up and stretched out on his back, deeply inhaling the damp musty air in the cave of the seals.

Outside the machineguns of the helicopters kept rattling on. But the entrance to the cave was much too small and filled high with water. It effectively prevented the enemy from doing any harm to the fugitives.

Chapter Three.

TERROR OF THE TYREX.

"Have you made up your mind?" Tomisenkov asked. Thora was startled when she discovered him crawling under the wall into her tent. However, she kept her composure in spite of it. "I've decided to cooperate with you," she said with all the dignity she could muster, "if you can convince me that there's any hope for success."

Tominsenkov sat down uninvited and gazed at her with narrow eyes. "I can guarantee you that you and I and a few of my men can leave the camp unmolested and that we can advance a few hundred yards into the jungle. What happens next, however, depends on what you or your fabled Venusian fortress can do to protect us from Raskujan's helicopters and soldiers."

Thora's reddish eyes lit up suspiciously. "If you believe that I'd allow you to walk into the base as easily as that, you're badly mistaken . . ."

Tomisenkov gestured angrily. "The time for that has pa.s.sed," he a.s.sured her. "I'm no longer interested in conquering the bulwark. I can live without it."

"And what are you interested in now?" Thora asked, not without scorn.

Tomisenkov looked at her and answered earnestly

"I desire to prevent a fool from raising havoc on Venus. You don't know us humans very well, do you?"

"I've never bothered to learn much about you," Thora replied stiffly.

This didn't hurt Tomisenkov's feelings. "You ought to make up for this neglect at the first occasion. We're an interesting race. Living for one year on Venus with the bare necessities was sufficient for me and most of my men, for example, to learn to love this ugly and horrid world. We're the first ones to have existed on Venus for a whole year without homes, soft beds and similar amenities, roaming the jungles, mountain valleys and always living in trees. Venus is ours and we're now Venusians or whatever you want to call it. That's why I'm no longer interested in your base and why I want to make it impossible for Raskujan to play dictator. Can you understand this?"

Thora gave no direct answer. "Very well," she finally said. "We'll leave the camp together. I can't make you any promises. But under the circ.u.mstances our flight could look like . . ."

Rhodan allowed himself only a few minutes to catch his breath. Then he raised himself up. "Marshall, tell the seals they must leave the cave as quickly as possible."

The helicopters had departed. Quiet reigned in the cave, broken only by the lapping waves and the sc.r.a.ping of the seals' flippers on the wet rock in the background.

Marshall advised the seals of the warning. "They don't understand why it's necessary to vacate their cavern," he told Rhodan.

"Because the helicopters will hurry back to throw a few bombs at us."

Marshall transmitted his words although it was difficult to describe the concept of a bomb to the seals. "Agreed," he finally said. "Does this cave have an exit on land?" Rhodan inquired.

Marshall asked the seals. "Yes, there's an escape hole. A pa.s.sage leads upwards and ends in the middle of the jungle."

"Excellent. We'll use it to get out. I think Raskujan has left one of the machines behind to watch the surroundings. If we can disappear unseen, it'll be a great advantage."

Rhodan estimated the radius of the danger zone to be expected from the bombs and let Marshall explain to the seals how far they should go away from the cavern in order to stay safe. It turned out that this was no trouble at all for the seals. They were by nature wandering animals and there were more than a thousand caves lining the coast. They promised to warn other families of seals to shun the hazardous area.

Marshall also took the additional precautionary measure of alarming all seals in the vicinity by telepathic calls. Finally he tried to convey the feeling to the seals that Rhodan was grateful for the help they had received and would be happy to do anything in his power for them.

Surprisingly, the seals had no wishes. Their needs were small and Venus was a generous world for them. They took leave in a somewhat awkward manner due to their different mentalities and a.s.sured each other of their friendship.

Then Rhodan and his companions departed. They crawled on their knees through a 300 foot long pa.s.sage smelling of fish and blubber and reached the outside at 202:00 o'clock some distance away from the coast and under the dense cover of the jungle where they couldn't be seen.

Marshall had obtained a rough description of the territory from the seals.

The topography of the seals was no exact science but Rhodan was able to determine that the place where the northern continent joined the peninsula was between five and ten miles away from their present location.

"Very well," he stated. "A maximum distance of 10 miles to the juncture. The defense screen of the bulwark begins about 12 miles north of the coast. At most a distance of 22 miles together to the defense screen. There we should be able to activate the identification process of the positronic brain. And then," he said with a tired smile, "the worst will be behind us!"

Corporal Wla.s.sow came stomping out of the darkness in a great rush. "I need help," he panted. "Tomisenkov is gone! "

Five guards were posted at the gate of the primitive prisoner camp. A sergeant was in charge. He gave Wla.s.sow two men to aid him in the search for the escaped general and told him: "I'll give you 15 minutes to find Tomisenkov. Then I'll have to make a report."

Wla.s.sow nodded and ran with his two comrades back into the darkness. One of the guards switched on a flashlight but Wla.s.sow hit him over the arm. "Turn it off !" he snarled. "Do you want him to see us coming? That's no way to catch him."