Perry Rhodan Lemuria 1: Ark of the Stars (16 page)

So. A good historian was resourceful in any situation. Solina called up all the available data on the mysterious object. The numbers relating to its size were extremely vague; the only thing certain was that it was quite large. Such a large object in space was most likely a ship. Did Jere von Baloy hope that she would recognize the type? If so, that was either a very stupid or a very clever test, depending on what he intended by it. If he hoped that she would recognize the type, he was stupid. There were literally billions of spaceship types that had seen use in the galaxy over the preceding tens of thousands of years. The chance that Solina would recognize one that wasn't listed in the ship's memory was nearly zero. If he hoped to show her up with her failure, he was fiendishly cunning.

Whatever. Solina had no choice but to play along. The historian called up ship types from the
Las-Toór
's database and started with the most obvious comparison: the cylindrical ships used by the Springers in all eras. But Solina wouldn't have been Solina if she hadn't kept an ear open to what was going on in the control center. The dome-shaped room was filled with the oppressive silence of enormous tension.

"Entry into normal space in ninety seconds," the Keven announced.

No one commented on his report.

"Sixty seconds to go."

Another voice spoke up. "Hyperdetection! A second object has emerged from hyperspace in the vicinity of the destination point!"

Jere von Baloy swore. "Wonderful! Someone has gotten there ahead of us!"

"That's not all!" exclaimed the Davron. "Ten, correction, eleven other objects, considerably smaller, are grouped around the first object."

The commander took a deep breath. His gaze covered the control center, passed over Solina, who made a quick effort to look occupied by staring at the holo in front of her, and finally landed on Oe ta Acenusk, the Therso.

"Ready, Oe?"

The weapons control officer grinned wolfishly. "Have been for a while now."

"Entry!" called the pilot.

The muffled roar of the ultra-light engines faded away, and the flickering of hyperspace suddenly gave way to the blackness of normal space.

"Hyperdetection?"

"It's Terran!"

An angry groan went through the control center. It
would
have to be Terrans!

"Signature resembles that of a heavy cruiser."

"But is it?"

Solina was not a military expert, but she knew they didn't have a chance against a warship.

"It appears not. The radiation scatter from its energy emissions is too small. Possibly built on a heavy cruiser frame. But the small escort ships could be fighters of some unknown type."

Solina knew that the
Las-Toór
had four fighters of its own on board. Four against eleven; that didn't sound good.

Jere von Baloy was about to turn away from the Davron. "But there's something else, Maphan. The Terran has its Paratron up and the gun turrets extended!"

The maphan hesitated for a brief moment. "Oe, shields up to battle load. Target acquired?"

"Already done. Attack?"

"What are our chances?"

"Fifty-fifty. But they won't get any better if we wait. If we launch the fighters now and—"

"We'll wait."

"But Maphan, the Terrans will claim that they found this thing first and it's theirs by right!"

"I said we'll wait. We don't even know yet if that thing, as you call it, is worth anything, and before we do I'm not prepared to sacrifice even a single life for it. Not even that of a Terran, understand? Put it on the main holo!"

The visual pickup of the object was now perfectly clear, but when Solina tried to call up data on her console, the hyperdetector seemed unable to register it as a scan.

Echkal cer Lethir spoke up, the Ma-Techten of the
Las-Toór
. He was small, stocky and a Terran-hater of the first water; in the officers' mess, he proclaimed at every suitable and even unsuitable opportunity that the Akonians should teach those Terran upstarts a lesson they'd never forget, with the help of the Arkonides if necessary. More than once Solina wondered what he was doing on a research ship. Lethir belonged on a warship—or perhaps on a psychiatric ward for aggression reduction treatment. Solina had overheard that Lethir had once served in the fleet. Given his attitude it was probably true, and his martial posturing was an attempt to compensate for the shame of failing to meet the requirements of the Akonian fleet.

"Let's call the fleet for help," the Ma-Techten urged. "I happen to know that a squadron is operating in the immediate vicinity of the Ochent Nebula. In an hour, this Terran pest will be a bad memory!"

Jere von Baloy didn't reply to the suggestion. He turned to the historian. "Solina, have you gotten any further?"

"Ship type comparison negative," Solina reported, finding herself infected by the clipped military-style speech pattern used in the control center.

"Is that all?" Jere von Baloy's disappointment was unmistakable.

"At the moment ... "

"That isn't enough. Use your brain, Solina!"

Solina would have taken anyone else to task for the public insult, but Jere von Baloy was the maphan. And the truth was that the comment sounded more like a plea for help than an insult.

For some reason she couldn't figure out, Jere von Baloy seemed to be pinning his hopes on her.

All right,
she told herself.
Use your brain!

"Maphan, as Therso of the
Las-Toór,
I must concur with the judgment of the Ma-Techten," Oe ta Acenusk said. "We are in contact with an artificial object of unknown origin. Its builders are potential allies—or enemies, if we leave the field to the Terrans!"

Solina feverishly reviewed the existing data on the object. Here—it was moving at near light-speed. She'd overlooked that before.

Why did Jere von Baloy call me?
she asked herself.
What can I do that others can't?
The answer was obvious: She knew more about Lemurian history than anyone else on board. But by all the stinking glowfish of Shaghomin, how did that knowledge apply?

"It is our duty to secure this object for the Akonian Empire," Echkal cer Lethir urged the maphan. "It could contain advanced technology that we must not allow to fall into other hands!"

Lemurians, Lemurians, Lemurians ... that had to be the key. But Lemurian artifacts were being found practically every day somewhere in the galaxy. Assuming that this was an artifact, what made it so special?

Well, it was gigantic, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. It was located in a barren region of the galaxy known to be uninhabited by intelligent beings, friendly or otherwise. It was moving at nearly light-speed.

Why was it moving at light-speed?

Was it about to make the jump into hyperspace? Or were its ultra-light engines broken down? Or ... or perhaps it didn't have ultra-light engines at all?

"Maphan, what are we waiting for? Let's call the fleet!"

Aha! Solina used the syntron to make a quick calculation, then cried out, "Maphan!"

She practically screamed. All heads turned toward her, disapproval writ large on most of them. What did she, the superfluous historian, have to report in a situation like this?

"Yes, Solina?"

"I believe this object is Lemurian!"

"And how do you know that?" snapped the Ma-Techten.

"I traced its flight path to the point of origin. Assuming that this object hasn't changed its course and speed significantly, it started out fifty-five thousand Terran years ago—in what was then the Lemurian system!"

"A Lemurian generation ship? I've never heard of such a thing."

"Nor have I," Solina replied. "But the earliest period of Lemurian history has been researched only sketchily. The fact that we have no knowledge of Lemurian generation ships doesn't argue against one existing. If my calculations are confirmed, then this is a discovery of enormous importance."

Jere von Baloy said nothing. But she saw in his eyes a gleam of acknowledgment and recognition for the value of her work that Solina had never seen in anyone's eyes before now.

Echkal cer Lethir spoke up. "Very well. If it's a Lemurian generation ship, that's all the more reason for us to call the fleet. It's a matter of security for the Akonian Empire!"

"You are mistaken, Echkal," the maphan declared. "This is not a matter of security but of research. If this ship really has been under way at sub-light speed for more than fifty thousand years, no technology it carries on board would interest us. But it would be a huge research bonanza for all the scientists on the
Las-Toór.
From the historian"—he smiled in Solina's direction—"to the metallurgists to the planetary ecologists. I see no reason to call the fleet. The Lemurian ship is no threat, and even the Terran ship has shown no aggression as yet."

"And what about the activated Paratron and its fire-ready status?"

"The Terrans are just being cautious. They can't know what might be hiding behind the object on their hyperdetectors."

"That means we won't chase them off?" Sounding disappointed, Oe ta Acenusk withdrew his finger from the sensor fields of the automatic gun control, over which it had been hovering since their entry into normal space.

"We'll see. Launch the fighters to patrol the immediate area. Perhaps our Terran friends are timid and will withdraw."

"And if not?"

"Let's wait. Perhaps they are in a mood to talk instead."

* * *

"They're launching fighters!" Sharita Coho exclaimed. "Harriett, can you blow them away?"

The weapons control officer thought before answering. The circular holo of the offensive and defensive systems had formed around her like a barricade. "The fighters, yes," she said at length. "But the Akonian mother ship? I doubt it."

"Why not? It isn't a battle cruiser."

"That's correct. Judging by the energy signature, it's probably an Explorer. But that isn't the point.
We
aren't a battle cruiser either. Our systems are designed for defense—and right now, that's a good thing."

Right you are!
thought Alemaheyu Kossa, who had been observing events from the comm console with increasing concern. What had gotten into Sharita? The control crew was familiar with her outbursts against the Akonians, and quite rightly refused to take them seriously. It was like the ancient Terrans expressing their opinion about the weather. The meteorologists always got the weather wrong, but no one thought to punish them with transform cannons and heavy disintegrators.

"Thank you for the reminder, Harriet," Sharita snapped. "As it happens, I am thinking about defense. If what those fighters are doing just now isn't an attack, then—"

"—it's a transparent attempt to scare us off."

Sharita gave up. If Harriett didn't want to fire a weapon then she wouldn't, and even the commander had to accept it.

"Very well, then we won't attack. But I won't allow them to get hold of that Lemurian thing out there. We were here first, so it's ours."

"Should I contact them?" Alemaheyu asked. "Then you can tell them that to their faces."

And you'd forget about the idea of turning them into a particle cloud!
the comm officer added to himself. People generally found violent acts more difficult once they had looked their opponent in the eye.

"Good idea, Alemaheyu. And what do we do when they claim they picked up the thing on their hyperdetectors first?"

"Then ... there's the Law of Space Travel, which the Akonians are bound to as well!"

"Law of Space Travel! Right, we'll drag them in front of a galactic court. The lawyers will put a big 'Keep Out' tape around the thing until all the arguments have been presented, and if we're lucky, our grandchildren will be able to set foot on board. Or those of the Akonians. If the thing hasn't run into a star in the meantime!" Sharita slammed her fist onto her console. "No, I won't let it happen! This thing belongs to us! Rhodan was right. We had the courage to take a risk, and the reward is right in front of us!"

Now Alemaheyu understood which way the wind was blowing. With the discovery of the gigantic Lemurian spacecraft to her credit, the commander saw her chance to finally get her own ship. The comm officer's eyes were drawn back to the flattened sphere of the Akonian ship that hung over them in the main holo. Suddenly he felt sorry for the Akonians. They had no idea with whom they were dealing. Once Sharita set her mind on something, only people tired of life got in her way.

Why didn't Perry Rhodan do something? The Immortal sat in his chair and called up syntron data as though nothing happening in the control center was any concern of his. Rhodan had to realize that Sharita was threatening to spin out of control.

But the Immortal continued his work of analyzing the hyperdetector data. And then something happened that the comm officer never would have anticipated: Sharita asked Rhodan for help.

"Perry ... " she began in what for her passed as a sugar-sweet voice, at the same time stepping down from the command post.

Pearl Laneaux, as surprised as the rest of the bridge crew by Sharita's apparent transformation, leaped from her contour chair and followed right behind the commander.

"Perry!" Sharita stopped one step in front of Rhodan.

The Immortal deactivated the data holos. "Yes?"

"I need your advice as a strategist. Our situation seems muddled. In terms of weaponry, we're in a stalemate with these Akonians. How should we proceed?"

It seemed to Alemaheyu that the commander's equivalent of a quadruple backward somersault actually disconcerted the Immortal. In any event, Rhodan took a few seconds to come up with a reply.

"Well, I think—"

"Yes, so do I!" Sharita interrupted him. "We need reinforcements, right? An LFT squadron—a small one, let's say a battleship and a handful of cruisers—would show the Akonians who's boss around here."

"Sharita!" the first officer exclaimed from behind her back. "You—"