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The Constructors, whose world lay somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, were thought to
have been extinct for eons. Perry Rhodan and his staff soon discover that the heritage of the
Constructors is as active–and as terribly deadly–as ever. The Terrans cannot destroy their
enemy; instead they must somehow harness the tremendous power of the mysterious
harvestships in the–
HERITAGE OF THE
LIZARD PEOPLE
1/ ADVENTURE ON AZGOLA
8240 LIGHT YEARS from Arkon and 37,111 light-years from Terra—and thus situated at the border
of the known universe and close to the gulf between the galaxies—was a lone sun.
It was listed in the star catalogues of the space-travelling races under the name of Azgos. Its 4 planets
had never played a significant role and only the 2nd had ever been inhabited by living beings. It was
called Azgola but its inhabitants, the once spindly Azgons, had been evacuated. This turn of events put
Azgola in the focal point of attention of many galactic power groups. Now the heretofore little noticed
planet far from the centres of conflict had become a touchstone of human intelligence because Azgola
was destined to be the proving ground for determining the superiority of human beings over robots.
Rhodan’s expeditionary fleet circled the system at a respectable distance. The Administrator himself was
aboard the battlecruiser
Sirius
of the Solar class. He was accompanied by Reginald Bell and several
mutants. The final review of the situation was arranged so that the commanders of the other units could
take part by telecom.
Perry Rhodan recapped the prior events in a short outline for the purpose of acquainting with the facts all
those who had been absent before. It was an essential precaution to make clear the imminent action to
the fullest extent.
Rhodan paused for a moment and gazed thoughtfully at the array of little picture screens in the command
centre of the
Sirius
. Each showed a face-trustworthy and highly determined. One of the faces was most
remarkable because of its large size, the face of Col. Jefe Claudrin, Commander of the superbattleship
Ironduke
. He exhibited a confident grin.
Rhodan cleared his throat. "Don’t be overly optimistic, Claudrin," he warned in an unusually serious
tone. "We won’t win this contest with the power of our war materiel. It will not be decided by our
technical skill but by the power of our logic. We are dealing with an opponent whose positronic brain is
far superior to ours. All will be in vain if we make the slightest mistake. I repeat once more so that
everybody will be aware of the historical background: an extinct race, probably lizards, lived on the
planet Mechanica, more than 50,000 lightyears from the stellar cluster M-13. Their metabolism was
distinctly different from our own. They did not take food in the same manner we do but lived from spores
which they ingested through their lungs and probably breathed in through their skin as well. In order to
obtain a sufficient supply of food they sent out robotships. They used 3 ships to do the job: The Scout to
discover suitable planets, the Seedship with the spores as a cargo and the Harvestship, which has so far
eluded us. We have already been able to find the scout and the planter and disposed of them. Now we
are awaiting the arrival of the harvester. It should return to the Azgola system, provided we succeeded in
operating the abandoned switch station on Mechanica in the correct manner and have transmitted the
appropriate radio signals."
Rhodan paused once more. He knew that his men were waiting for his orders to start on their missions
but the time had not yet come. "The lizards, who probably died out thousands of years ago, have created
a gigantic civilization of robots. Those 3 ships were part of their heritage. The 2 most important ones have
now been disabled and the danger of further epidemics eliminated but we also have to capture the
harvestship in order to undo the damage they have caused. What happens to be good for one is not
beneficial to one and all. The lizards sustained themselves with the spores of lichen whose seeds were
sowed on planets with warm climates by the planting ship. The lichen grows quickly and requires no care.
It blooms virtually without interruption and emits spores of microscopical size which are neither
poisonous nor harmful as such: Their nutritional value is beyond belief. Breathing these spores provides
extremely efficient nutrition but the deposition of fat within a few days is so excessive as to cause obesity
which in the long run proves to be fatal. Nobody is able to resist this excess of fat as long as they must
breathe. For this reason our scientists have picked the simple name of ‘fat-moss’ for this exotic plant."
Noticing that one of his commanders grimaced slightly, Rhodan raised his voice. "I realize that the
gentlemen of the officer corps never had to fight a case of overfeeding in our history but this most
incredible thing has now happened. We were forced to evacuate the 2 million inhabitants from the Azgola
planet. The Azgons had become so fat that they could hardly move. We had no other choice than
evacuation because we are still in the dark about the harvesting method of the extinct lizards. Presumably
the moss is sensitive to cold temperatures and is destroyed below 10°C. However Azgola has a
subtropical climate where the blubbery lichen proliferates and can’t be weeded out. Of course it would
be feasible to accomplish this now that the planet has been evacuated but it would mean that we can’t
use Azgola as a trap for the harvest- ship. This could cause the loss of Arkon 2 because the team of
scientists who was assigned to study the lichen was so careless as to infest Arkon with the spores. The
first effects are already visible. Vast stretches of the industrial planet’s land are already covered by the
moss and the Arkonides living there are beginning to get fat."
"Will it be necessary to evacuate Arkon 2?" Claudrin inquired in a booming voice.
"That is impossible," Rhodan shook his head. "Arkon 2 is much too important for the stellar empire of
Atlan. Besides it could not be avoided that the spores of the fat-moss would be spread wherever they
go. As useful as this plant is, it can turn into a scourge if it is not controlled. And we do not yet know how
to control its deleterious defects. Nor do we know as yet how to harvest the spores and use them to best
advantage. We can learn this only from the missing harvestship and that’s why we are here and waiting.
Furthermore, let me tell you a little more about the planet Mechanica. We located it by using the
calculations of Arkon’s robot Brain that evaluated the radio impulses of the 2 spaceships we have
captured. It is an arid and cold planet and the robot civilization created by the lizards still exists—at least
partly. We called the harvestship from the central station on the planet. The ship is waiting somewhere in
space for orders which planet to visit next. We gave it the coördinates of Azgola. As soon as the
harvestship arrives, the central station at Mechanica must be destroyed. This will be your job, Claudrin!
You will stay on Arkon 3 till I give you the order to proceed."
"I’ll be ready, sir," Col. Jefe Claudrin replied from a distance of more than 8000 light-years.
Rhodan continued: "We also found a clue on Mechanica how the lizards got their food and how the
spores of the blubber moss can be adapted for human consumption in the future. Artificial suns were
shining in huge glasslike cupolas which served as diningrooms for the lizards where they collected the
spores. Later, when the planet became too cold, the harvestship brought the crops from the seeds
planted on other planets into these cupolas. Then came a time when the ship failed to arrive and the
lizards all perished."
"And why didn’t the harvestship return?" somebody asked.
"We don’t know. Perhaps it was due to some mechanical breakdown or the scoutship was unable to
find suitable planets. Besides, we can’t be certain that the absence of the harvestship was the real cause
for the demise of the lizards. We don’t know enough about it. But we are sure of one thing: we must find
the harvestship in order to save Arkon. That’s why we have embarked on this mission. We’ll have to
outwit an opponent who died long ago but whose heritage survives in the form of robots. The ship itself is
a robot. Its crew—if there is one—consists of robots as well. If we succeed in building a transmitter
station—and we are now making this effort on Terra—we can direct the harvestship to go to any point
we choose. And this will make it more convenient for us to include the fat-moss in our nutrition."
Rhodan noticed some movement at his side. The mousebeaver Pucky had sat on a chair in the
background. Now he had slipped down and waddled over to Rhodan. "How does this rubber moss
taste?" he was interested to know. "Can it also be eaten? I have no desire to breathe it!"
"His gluttony takes the cake," Reginald Bell murmured from his corner. Pucky lifted a warning finger in
his direction, causing Bell to swallow all further commentary.
"You can try it, shorty." Rhodan replied. "You’ll soon get a chance when you go to Azgola."
Pucky shuddered. "Me—to Azgola? There’s not a living being left…"
"Precisely!" Rhodan interrupted him quickly. "Let me present my plan before you complain. Then you
can raise your objections if you still feel like it. Alright?"
When Pucky nodded without another word, Rhodan continued his briefing. "The harvestship—meaning
the robot—must not be allowed to become suspicious. For this reason we keep all our ships away from
the immediate vicinity. Only 3 teleporters—Pucky, Ras Tschubai and Tako Kakuta—will go to Azgola
and wait for further telepathic instructions. That’s all for now: We can only hope that the harvestship can
be deceived by us and come soon. If not…"
The faces on the picture screens looked silently at Rhodan. The men began to realize how such a good
thing as the nutritious spores undoubtedly were could turn into a danger. They could change the approach
to nutrition for the entire Galaxy and facilitate their agricultural policy. But as long as the spores could not
be properly gathered and their distribution expertly evaluated they remained the objects of deep concern.
The picture screens faded. A few minutes later a connection was made with Atlan, who was in charge of
the operation on Arkon. The face of the Arkonide Imperator looked troubled and showed lack of sleep.
"What’s the situation there, Atlan?"
"Serious, Perry. "I’ve put Arkon 2 under quarantine. Nobody is allowed to leave the planet and we can
already feel the effect of this measure as Arkon 2 is the hub of our trade and the seat of our industry.
However we were able to avoid a panic. The physicians are trying to cure the growing obesity and
neutralize the forced feeding by inhaling the spores. They have had some success and managed to slow
down the rate of fattening."
"Excellent," Rhodan expressed his satisfaction. "There must be a way of compensating the excess of
carbohydrates by increasing the energy conversion of the body."
"Don’t overestimate the limited possibilities of our scientists," Atlan warned, unconvinced. "The spores
contain almost 80% of highly potent fats which are deposited immediately and completely in the body.
The chemical combustion in the human body generates the equivalent of 9.6 calories for each gram of fat.
The remainder of 20% is composed of carbohydrates and protein. The only critical substances are the
fats, and we have to deal with those."
"First of all we have to get the harvestship," Rhodan replied firmly. "It should be the best way to solve
our problem. As soon as we learn the right method of harvesting the spores, Arkon will be saved. And
so will be the other planets where the lichen grows and whose populations can’t be evacuated. So far we
don’t know how many other worlds have been planted by the seedship. The spores could spread like a
plague throughout the Galaxy. If we can capture the harvestship intact we must be prepared to deploy it
wherever it becomes necessary. You will have to be patient, Atlan. It would have been too great a risk to
bring the harvestship first to Arkon 2. The Robot knows that the seedship never worked there."
"I understand, Perry. Besides, I prefer that you conduct your first test on Azgola and study the result. I’ll
keep in constant touch with you by hyperradio."
"Fine. Our communications won’t be intercepted by the robotship. It reacts only to a special group of
symbols and we will duplicate them as soon as it arrives. We were fortunate that we were able to pick up
the construction details of the special transmitter on Mechanica and if everything works out satisfactorily
we should be able to contact the harvestship."
"Yes," Atlan replied grimly: "If everything works out."
The next radio call went to Terra. The technicians assigned to the construction of the symbol transmitter
promised to deliver the apparatus within a week. They were quite satisfied with the instructions they had
obtained from Mechanica.
Rhodan concluded the call and sighed with relief. "Now there’s nothing left to do for us but wait and
hope that our technicians will have finished their job before the harvestship appears. We’ll have 2 or 3
days leeway since it will probably take the ship some time to perform its operations for the harvest." He
looked thoughtfully at Bell. "Would you please request the commander of the
Sirius
to approach Azgola
within 20,000 kilometres? I’ll be in the Command Centre in 5 minutes."
Bell got up and quickly glanced at Pucky. "Is it already time?" he asked.
Rhodan nodded. "We can’t wait any longer. It would be too late once the harvestship is here. Under no
circumstances can it be permitted to notice or suspect the presence of alien vessels. See you in 5
minutes."
Bell left. Pucky, the African teleporter Ras Tschubai and his Japanese colleague Tako Kakuta, remained
silent. They did not seem to be happy with their mission. Never before had they been in a situation like
this. They would eat no food for the duration of their visit to the lonely planet Azgola and still gain weight
steadily. With each breath they would take in more calories than their bodies could get rid of. The
oversupply would cause them to become corpulent which was neither fatal nor dangerous in the initial
stages but was something they would rather do without. Especially Pucky was more than displeased with
the prospect. "Will we be getting fat just by breathing?" he asked again dubiously with a sour face: "Even
if we don’t eat anything?"
"You won’t be hungry," Rhodan predicted. "You won’t have to stuff any carrots in your pockets. I
promise you you won’t feel like eating them."
"Hm," Pucky grunted incredulously. "At least carrots won’t make you fat." Then he cast an amused
glance at the slender Japanese. "I’m very curious how Tako will look when he puts on a little weight. It
wouldn’t hurt him a bit."
"It won’t hurt any of you," Rhodan assured him. "We have the necessary drugs to slim you down again
after it’s all over. However, you shouldn’t gulp a bar of chocolate each time you take a diet pill. Right,
Ras?"
The Afroterranian nodded guiltily. His craving for chocolate was common knowledge.
The 3 teleporters received their last instructions. Rhodan designated Pucky as leader of the expedition
whose task was simply formulated: transport the intact harvest robotship to Arkon after takeover by the
special transmitter.
The question was: would the vessel come?
* * * *
A teleportation was not necessary. When the
Sirius
was only 20,000 kilometres from Azgola, Rhodan
ordered a Gazelle to be launched. These swift and highly manoeuvrable, disk-shaped reconnaissance
ships could get away without a trace even if the harvestship were to arrive earlier.
"The Gazelle will put you down somewhere on Azgola," Rhodan explained to his 3 mutants. "You are at
liberty to move around anywhere on the planet, which is now uninhabited. Find a good place to hide,
perhaps in the city of Timpik, which previously had a population of a quarter of a million Azgons. Or you
can stay in one of the forests. As soon as the harvestship shows up, Marshall will make telepathicontact
with you. Or Betty Toufry if it is too difficult for him. You will act exactly according to my instructions. Is
that clear, Pucky?"The mousebeaver nodded warily. "Why make a point of it? Did I ever fail to carry out
your orders?"
He looked so guileless as to make Rhodan grin. "Let’s not talk about that, shorty," he decided. "You
know what I mean, Pucky. You’ll do only what I tell you. We are not confronting a human opponent but
a robot."
"Oh," Pucky scoffed, disappointed. "I’ve been in that rut before. Didn’t we have enough trouble with the
robot Brain of Arkon?"
"This one is completely different," Rhodan insisted. "The robot Brain of Arkon knew exactly whom it
was fighting. It acted consciously and logically whereas the robot who is in charge of the harvestship
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zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl audipoznan.keep.pl
The Constructors, whose world lay somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, were thought to
have been extinct for eons. Perry Rhodan and his staff soon discover that the heritage of the
Constructors is as active–and as terribly deadly–as ever. The Terrans cannot destroy their
enemy; instead they must somehow harness the tremendous power of the mysterious
harvestships in the–
HERITAGE OF THE
LIZARD PEOPLE
1/ ADVENTURE ON AZGOLA
8240 LIGHT YEARS from Arkon and 37,111 light-years from Terra—and thus situated at the border
of the known universe and close to the gulf between the galaxies—was a lone sun.
It was listed in the star catalogues of the space-travelling races under the name of Azgos. Its 4 planets
had never played a significant role and only the 2nd had ever been inhabited by living beings. It was
called Azgola but its inhabitants, the once spindly Azgons, had been evacuated. This turn of events put
Azgola in the focal point of attention of many galactic power groups. Now the heretofore little noticed
planet far from the centres of conflict had become a touchstone of human intelligence because Azgola
was destined to be the proving ground for determining the superiority of human beings over robots.
Rhodan’s expeditionary fleet circled the system at a respectable distance. The Administrator himself was
aboard the battlecruiser
Sirius
of the Solar class. He was accompanied by Reginald Bell and several
mutants. The final review of the situation was arranged so that the commanders of the other units could
take part by telecom.
Perry Rhodan recapped the prior events in a short outline for the purpose of acquainting with the facts all
those who had been absent before. It was an essential precaution to make clear the imminent action to
the fullest extent.
Rhodan paused for a moment and gazed thoughtfully at the array of little picture screens in the command
centre of the
Sirius
. Each showed a face-trustworthy and highly determined. One of the faces was most
remarkable because of its large size, the face of Col. Jefe Claudrin, Commander of the superbattleship
Ironduke
. He exhibited a confident grin.
Rhodan cleared his throat. "Don’t be overly optimistic, Claudrin," he warned in an unusually serious
tone. "We won’t win this contest with the power of our war materiel. It will not be decided by our
technical skill but by the power of our logic. We are dealing with an opponent whose positronic brain is
far superior to ours. All will be in vain if we make the slightest mistake. I repeat once more so that
everybody will be aware of the historical background: an extinct race, probably lizards, lived on the
planet Mechanica, more than 50,000 lightyears from the stellar cluster M-13. Their metabolism was
distinctly different from our own. They did not take food in the same manner we do but lived from spores
which they ingested through their lungs and probably breathed in through their skin as well. In order to
obtain a sufficient supply of food they sent out robotships. They used 3 ships to do the job: The Scout to
discover suitable planets, the Seedship with the spores as a cargo and the Harvestship, which has so far
eluded us. We have already been able to find the scout and the planter and disposed of them. Now we
are awaiting the arrival of the harvester. It should return to the Azgola system, provided we succeeded in
operating the abandoned switch station on Mechanica in the correct manner and have transmitted the
appropriate radio signals."
Rhodan paused once more. He knew that his men were waiting for his orders to start on their missions
but the time had not yet come. "The lizards, who probably died out thousands of years ago, have created
a gigantic civilization of robots. Those 3 ships were part of their heritage. The 2 most important ones have
now been disabled and the danger of further epidemics eliminated but we also have to capture the
harvestship in order to undo the damage they have caused. What happens to be good for one is not
beneficial to one and all. The lizards sustained themselves with the spores of lichen whose seeds were
sowed on planets with warm climates by the planting ship. The lichen grows quickly and requires no care.
It blooms virtually without interruption and emits spores of microscopical size which are neither
poisonous nor harmful as such: Their nutritional value is beyond belief. Breathing these spores provides
extremely efficient nutrition but the deposition of fat within a few days is so excessive as to cause obesity
which in the long run proves to be fatal. Nobody is able to resist this excess of fat as long as they must
breathe. For this reason our scientists have picked the simple name of ‘fat-moss’ for this exotic plant."
Noticing that one of his commanders grimaced slightly, Rhodan raised his voice. "I realize that the
gentlemen of the officer corps never had to fight a case of overfeeding in our history but this most
incredible thing has now happened. We were forced to evacuate the 2 million inhabitants from the Azgola
planet. The Azgons had become so fat that they could hardly move. We had no other choice than
evacuation because we are still in the dark about the harvesting method of the extinct lizards. Presumably
the moss is sensitive to cold temperatures and is destroyed below 10°C. However Azgola has a
subtropical climate where the blubbery lichen proliferates and can’t be weeded out. Of course it would
be feasible to accomplish this now that the planet has been evacuated but it would mean that we can’t
use Azgola as a trap for the harvest- ship. This could cause the loss of Arkon 2 because the team of
scientists who was assigned to study the lichen was so careless as to infest Arkon with the spores. The
first effects are already visible. Vast stretches of the industrial planet’s land are already covered by the
moss and the Arkonides living there are beginning to get fat."
"Will it be necessary to evacuate Arkon 2?" Claudrin inquired in a booming voice.
"That is impossible," Rhodan shook his head. "Arkon 2 is much too important for the stellar empire of
Atlan. Besides it could not be avoided that the spores of the fat-moss would be spread wherever they
go. As useful as this plant is, it can turn into a scourge if it is not controlled. And we do not yet know how
to control its deleterious defects. Nor do we know as yet how to harvest the spores and use them to best
advantage. We can learn this only from the missing harvestship and that’s why we are here and waiting.
Furthermore, let me tell you a little more about the planet Mechanica. We located it by using the
calculations of Arkon’s robot Brain that evaluated the radio impulses of the 2 spaceships we have
captured. It is an arid and cold planet and the robot civilization created by the lizards still exists—at least
partly. We called the harvestship from the central station on the planet. The ship is waiting somewhere in
space for orders which planet to visit next. We gave it the coördinates of Azgola. As soon as the
harvestship arrives, the central station at Mechanica must be destroyed. This will be your job, Claudrin!
You will stay on Arkon 3 till I give you the order to proceed."
"I’ll be ready, sir," Col. Jefe Claudrin replied from a distance of more than 8000 light-years.
Rhodan continued: "We also found a clue on Mechanica how the lizards got their food and how the
spores of the blubber moss can be adapted for human consumption in the future. Artificial suns were
shining in huge glasslike cupolas which served as diningrooms for the lizards where they collected the
spores. Later, when the planet became too cold, the harvestship brought the crops from the seeds
planted on other planets into these cupolas. Then came a time when the ship failed to arrive and the
lizards all perished."
"And why didn’t the harvestship return?" somebody asked.
"We don’t know. Perhaps it was due to some mechanical breakdown or the scoutship was unable to
find suitable planets. Besides, we can’t be certain that the absence of the harvestship was the real cause
for the demise of the lizards. We don’t know enough about it. But we are sure of one thing: we must find
the harvestship in order to save Arkon. That’s why we have embarked on this mission. We’ll have to
outwit an opponent who died long ago but whose heritage survives in the form of robots. The ship itself is
a robot. Its crew—if there is one—consists of robots as well. If we succeed in building a transmitter
station—and we are now making this effort on Terra—we can direct the harvestship to go to any point
we choose. And this will make it more convenient for us to include the fat-moss in our nutrition."
Rhodan noticed some movement at his side. The mousebeaver Pucky had sat on a chair in the
background. Now he had slipped down and waddled over to Rhodan. "How does this rubber moss
taste?" he was interested to know. "Can it also be eaten? I have no desire to breathe it!"
"His gluttony takes the cake," Reginald Bell murmured from his corner. Pucky lifted a warning finger in
his direction, causing Bell to swallow all further commentary.
"You can try it, shorty." Rhodan replied. "You’ll soon get a chance when you go to Azgola."
Pucky shuddered. "Me—to Azgola? There’s not a living being left…"
"Precisely!" Rhodan interrupted him quickly. "Let me present my plan before you complain. Then you
can raise your objections if you still feel like it. Alright?"
When Pucky nodded without another word, Rhodan continued his briefing. "The harvestship—meaning
the robot—must not be allowed to become suspicious. For this reason we keep all our ships away from
the immediate vicinity. Only 3 teleporters—Pucky, Ras Tschubai and Tako Kakuta—will go to Azgola
and wait for further telepathic instructions. That’s all for now: We can only hope that the harvestship can
be deceived by us and come soon. If not…"
The faces on the picture screens looked silently at Rhodan. The men began to realize how such a good
thing as the nutritious spores undoubtedly were could turn into a danger. They could change the approach
to nutrition for the entire Galaxy and facilitate their agricultural policy. But as long as the spores could not
be properly gathered and their distribution expertly evaluated they remained the objects of deep concern.
The picture screens faded. A few minutes later a connection was made with Atlan, who was in charge of
the operation on Arkon. The face of the Arkonide Imperator looked troubled and showed lack of sleep.
"What’s the situation there, Atlan?"
"Serious, Perry. "I’ve put Arkon 2 under quarantine. Nobody is allowed to leave the planet and we can
already feel the effect of this measure as Arkon 2 is the hub of our trade and the seat of our industry.
However we were able to avoid a panic. The physicians are trying to cure the growing obesity and
neutralize the forced feeding by inhaling the spores. They have had some success and managed to slow
down the rate of fattening."
"Excellent," Rhodan expressed his satisfaction. "There must be a way of compensating the excess of
carbohydrates by increasing the energy conversion of the body."
"Don’t overestimate the limited possibilities of our scientists," Atlan warned, unconvinced. "The spores
contain almost 80% of highly potent fats which are deposited immediately and completely in the body.
The chemical combustion in the human body generates the equivalent of 9.6 calories for each gram of fat.
The remainder of 20% is composed of carbohydrates and protein. The only critical substances are the
fats, and we have to deal with those."
"First of all we have to get the harvestship," Rhodan replied firmly. "It should be the best way to solve
our problem. As soon as we learn the right method of harvesting the spores, Arkon will be saved. And
so will be the other planets where the lichen grows and whose populations can’t be evacuated. So far we
don’t know how many other worlds have been planted by the seedship. The spores could spread like a
plague throughout the Galaxy. If we can capture the harvestship intact we must be prepared to deploy it
wherever it becomes necessary. You will have to be patient, Atlan. It would have been too great a risk to
bring the harvestship first to Arkon 2. The Robot knows that the seedship never worked there."
"I understand, Perry. Besides, I prefer that you conduct your first test on Azgola and study the result. I’ll
keep in constant touch with you by hyperradio."
"Fine. Our communications won’t be intercepted by the robotship. It reacts only to a special group of
symbols and we will duplicate them as soon as it arrives. We were fortunate that we were able to pick up
the construction details of the special transmitter on Mechanica and if everything works out satisfactorily
we should be able to contact the harvestship."
"Yes," Atlan replied grimly: "If everything works out."
The next radio call went to Terra. The technicians assigned to the construction of the symbol transmitter
promised to deliver the apparatus within a week. They were quite satisfied with the instructions they had
obtained from Mechanica.
Rhodan concluded the call and sighed with relief. "Now there’s nothing left to do for us but wait and
hope that our technicians will have finished their job before the harvestship appears. We’ll have 2 or 3
days leeway since it will probably take the ship some time to perform its operations for the harvest." He
looked thoughtfully at Bell. "Would you please request the commander of the
Sirius
to approach Azgola
within 20,000 kilometres? I’ll be in the Command Centre in 5 minutes."
Bell got up and quickly glanced at Pucky. "Is it already time?" he asked.
Rhodan nodded. "We can’t wait any longer. It would be too late once the harvestship is here. Under no
circumstances can it be permitted to notice or suspect the presence of alien vessels. See you in 5
minutes."
Bell left. Pucky, the African teleporter Ras Tschubai and his Japanese colleague Tako Kakuta, remained
silent. They did not seem to be happy with their mission. Never before had they been in a situation like
this. They would eat no food for the duration of their visit to the lonely planet Azgola and still gain weight
steadily. With each breath they would take in more calories than their bodies could get rid of. The
oversupply would cause them to become corpulent which was neither fatal nor dangerous in the initial
stages but was something they would rather do without. Especially Pucky was more than displeased with
the prospect. "Will we be getting fat just by breathing?" he asked again dubiously with a sour face: "Even
if we don’t eat anything?"
"You won’t be hungry," Rhodan predicted. "You won’t have to stuff any carrots in your pockets. I
promise you you won’t feel like eating them."
"Hm," Pucky grunted incredulously. "At least carrots won’t make you fat." Then he cast an amused
glance at the slender Japanese. "I’m very curious how Tako will look when he puts on a little weight. It
wouldn’t hurt him a bit."
"It won’t hurt any of you," Rhodan assured him. "We have the necessary drugs to slim you down again
after it’s all over. However, you shouldn’t gulp a bar of chocolate each time you take a diet pill. Right,
Ras?"
The Afroterranian nodded guiltily. His craving for chocolate was common knowledge.
The 3 teleporters received their last instructions. Rhodan designated Pucky as leader of the expedition
whose task was simply formulated: transport the intact harvest robotship to Arkon after takeover by the
special transmitter.
The question was: would the vessel come?
* * * *
A teleportation was not necessary. When the
Sirius
was only 20,000 kilometres from Azgola, Rhodan
ordered a Gazelle to be launched. These swift and highly manoeuvrable, disk-shaped reconnaissance
ships could get away without a trace even if the harvestship were to arrive earlier.
"The Gazelle will put you down somewhere on Azgola," Rhodan explained to his 3 mutants. "You are at
liberty to move around anywhere on the planet, which is now uninhabited. Find a good place to hide,
perhaps in the city of Timpik, which previously had a population of a quarter of a million Azgons. Or you
can stay in one of the forests. As soon as the harvestship shows up, Marshall will make telepathicontact
with you. Or Betty Toufry if it is too difficult for him. You will act exactly according to my instructions. Is
that clear, Pucky?"The mousebeaver nodded warily. "Why make a point of it? Did I ever fail to carry out
your orders?"
He looked so guileless as to make Rhodan grin. "Let’s not talk about that, shorty," he decided. "You
know what I mean, Pucky. You’ll do only what I tell you. We are not confronting a human opponent but
a robot."
"Oh," Pucky scoffed, disappointed. "I’ve been in that rut before. Didn’t we have enough trouble with the
robot Brain of Arkon?"
"This one is completely different," Rhodan insisted. "The robot Brain of Arkon knew exactly whom it
was fighting. It acted consciously and logically whereas the robot who is in charge of the harvestship
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