Menace of the Mutant Master - Kurt ...

Menace of the Mutant Master - Kurt Mahr, ebook, CALIBRE SFF 1970s, Temp 1

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As if from the entrails of Hell itself an evil Mastermind materializes:
MONTERNY!
A super-hypnotist who enslaves the minds and bodies of his own band of mutants and sets them against
Perry and his futuremen in a war of wills for the highest stake of all–
THE FUTURE OF THIS PLANET EARTH
MUTANT MASTER
1/ THE IMPOSSIBLE EXPLOSIONS
Great risk always accompanied Perry Rhodan on his missions in space.
One day he might he the victim of a crippling accident. Even a killing one.
Or meet his master.
Then Col. Freyt would have to
try
to fill his spacesuit.
So the colonel smiled as he spoke the words, "The boss’s arrival is scheduled for shortly after midnight,"
and his relief that Rhodan was coming back was evident to his adjutant. Terrania, the Gobi base of the
New Power, would breathe easier with its leader safely back.
Freyt was convinced that the survival of the artificial political structure known as the New Power was
dependent on Perry Rhodan’s continued existence. And much more: the welfare of the entire human
race. Which was why Freyt was rejoicing that Rhodan had emerged once again safe and sound from one
of his interplanetary adventures and was now on his way back to Earth.
"No official reception, as usual, I suppose?" ventured the adjutant.
"As usual," confirmed the colonel.
 * * *
Terrania, the capital of the New Power, established in the heart of the great Gobi desert, was a city in
growth. It currently numbered half a million inhabitants.
Science had transformed the climate. Artificial rainfall, produced according to need, changed 15,000
square miles of hilly desert country into an ever green and flowering garden. Terrania was indisputably
one of the most beautiful cities of the world.
In the immediate vicinity of the metropolis rose the shining energy dome which housed and protected the
actual centre of the New Power. The vibrations of the dome would ward off any hostile attempt to
approach the heart of the new city.
* * *
Shortly after midnight, in anticipation of Rhodan’s arrival, Freyt and his adjutant left the administration
building and the energy barrier.
The colonel and his aide walked along the outskirts of the city and saw the flat buildings at the edge of
the rocketport loom up in the dim light of the stars.
A bright light suddenly skittered across the landing area. Puzzled, Freyt stopped in his tracks, looked
around. "What was that?"
Another lightning flash, this time from far beyond the roofs of Terrania, and almost simultaneously there
arrived the roaring thunder of an explosion.
Freyt stood stock still. His eyes widened in frightened confusion, failing to comprehend what was going
on when the roar of the second explosion swept over them.
"It’s over at the salt lake!" he groaned. "At the reactor installations!"
He turned and sped back to the city. The adjutant was running close behind him. They had hardly
advanced 30 yards when the thin wail of the alarm sirens reached them.
Still running, Freyt ordered a car via the small sender and receiver set which was standard equipment for
his uniform. The car met up with them as they were almost at one of the wide main roads leading into the
city.
"What’s going on?" asked Freyt, flopping down in the seat next to the driver of the car.
"An explosion in block G, sir!" answered the chauffeur. "No details are known so far."
"Please drive me there!" ordered Freyt.
 They made a U-turn and the car took off at high speed. With blaring sirens they made sure nothing
would obstruct their way. The driver was a real dare-devil but Freyt was too preoccupied with other
things to pay attention to him.
What the blazes was there in the reactor installation that could be made to explode? Freyt was a soldier
first and a technician next but he had a definite idea how a reactor worked. He also knew what kind of
materials were used for the construction of a reactor. But try as he might he couldn’t think of anything
that might have brought about two explosions of the kind they had just heard.
And how was it possible such explosions could even occur in view of the extensive security measures in
force there?
Freyt could find no answer to either of his questions. The chauffeur drove the car to the entrance gate of
block G where he came to a halt. Freyt was startled out of his thoughts.
Before the two explosions, block G had consisted of a long, low hall in which various separate
components, brought in from the outside, were assembled, the end product being the catalyst R reactors.
Some 300 men worked there during the day.
Now the outlines of the former assembly hall could still be recognized but otherwise it gave the
appearance of a battlefield that had been bombarded for hours by steady gunfire.
Rescue teams had arrived shortly before Freyt. Dressed in protective clothing, the men stomped through
the heat of the area which was strewn with debris. They were searching for survivors. From a police
inspector Freyt learned that at the time of the explosion about 10 men of the night crew and guards had
been present in the building.
Nobody knew anything about the cause of the explosion. With the help of special instruments they had
found two spots within the area of block G whose current temperature was over 3600° Fahrenheit. In all
likelihood this was where the explosions had taken place.
Freyt turned to the police inspector. "Have you checked for radioactivity?" he asked.
The police inspector put on a forced smile. "I beg your pardon, sir! There wasn’t a single speck of
radioactive material in the whole place!"
Freyt shook his head. "I want to make sure in any case," he answered sceptically. "Call the dosimeter
crew!"
The police inspector walked over to his car to pass on the request.
Freyt began to feel ill at ease. "There’s nothing we can do for the time being," he told his adjutant. "We’ll
have to wait till at least the first check has been made." In the midst of all the excitement he had forgotten
all about Rhodan and his impending arrival.
This incident was not just another accident: one of the most important factories had been destroyed.
Without the Arkonide reactors there would be no nuclear drive engines—without power units no
spaceships—without spacecraft no protection for Earth.
Was it by chance that of all things block G should have fallen victim to the first major accident inside the
 area of the New Power?
Colonel Freyt began to wonder what chances a saboteur would have of getting inside the domain of the
New Power, and in case he did get this far how much chance would he have of actually carrying out an
act of sabotage?
None whatsoever, was Colonel Freyt’s conclusion.
Still, this thought was no comfort to him now.
Freyt looked around, wishing to see the police inspector and find out from him what in the meantime the
result of their search for survivors and traces of radioactivity had been.
He had been so lost in his thoughts that he had failed to notice the arrival of the dosimeter group, all
dressed in bright red uniforms, who meanwhile had spread out all over the devastated terrain.
But he couldn’t avoid noticing the ear-rending zeeep—zeeep—zeeep of the radiation alarm. The
radiation crew had activated their sirens atop the roof of their trucks. Freyt saw that the rescue team
began fleeing abruptly from the heap of ruins.
One of the men in the bright red protective uniform approached him. He saluted him hastily and blurted
out: "Emergency, sir! Highest danger. The entire area is contaminated, at least 10 roentgen per hour!"
This was the moment that Freyt changed his opinion about the absolute efficacy of the anti-sabotage
safety measures. For a second he lost his composure but regained it instantaneously, his cool reasoning
mind winning out. "What radioactive material?" he asked sharply.
The dosimeter man shook his head. "We don’t know yet; it’ll take another 15 minutes to find out."
"Okay. Let me know as soon as you get the result!" The man in the bright red uniform saluted. Freyt
turned away and marched off. He paid no attention to whether his adjutant was following him. Not until
they were both sitting in the car next to each other did he become aware of him again. "What do you
think of this whole affair?" he asked with a grim expression.
"What’s the use guessing as long as we have no clues, sir?"
This seemed to make sense. Freyt nodded his head as if to say, you’re right!
The whole incident made Freyt feel depressed. It had taken place during the time he had acted as
substitute in Terrania during Rhodan’s absence. And although it was quite obvious that he personally had
had no influence either way in aggravating or easing the catastrophe, he nevertheless felt responsible for
it. The fact that the accident had occurred during his term of office was interpreted by him as a personal
failure.
Another warning signal came painfully loud over the car’s radio. "Stop the car!" shouted Freyt.
The car came to a sudden halt. Freyt was hurled forward and hit his head against the windshield but paid
no attention to it. He concentrated on the announcement: "Three recently completed ships of the Z fleet,
so called space destroyers, took off a few minutes ago without starting clearance. The identities of the
pilots aboard are unknown. The ships almost immediately reached top speed and have already passed
beyond the local radar range.
 "Calling Colonel Freyt! Calling Colonel Freyt!…"
Freyt gritted his teeth. He flipped on the switch of the telecom sender. The small screen came alive
showing the grim face of the man who was giving the alarm.
"This is Freyt speaking! What’s the matter?"
Freyt noticed how the man switched off all sender channels except his own. "Three destroyers have
been kidnapped, sir!" he reported curtly.
"Kidnapped!" growled Freyt. "How on earth can a destroyer be kidnapped?"
The answer was immediate if unsatisfactory. "We’ve no idea, sir, how this could have happened. Our
robot guards functioned in the usual manner, we know that for sure. None of the robots noticed anybody
or anything attempting to approach these three destroyers."
Freyt stared straight ahead. "Who’s conducting the investigation?" he asked shortly.
"Major de Casa, sir."
Freyt shook his head wearily. "Over and out."
He ordered his driver to proceed at once to the field where the destroyers were kept. He drove to an
area near the immense final assembly halls located in the southern part of the city. These class Z
destroyers had been designed by Perry Rhodan himself, based on the original design of the one-seater
space fighters which Rhodan had found many years ago in the underground hangars of the ancient
Arkonidian Venus base. They couldn’t properly be called spaceships since they lacked the hyper drive.
Their corpuscular-drive engines merely enabled them to accelerate within an extremely short time to the
speed of light. However, they were incapable of escaping into the outer reaches of space via a
hyperspace jump.
Nevertheless, these Z ships were at least 500 years ahead of anything that the most modern techniques
on Earth could produce. They were a potentially fearful weapon in the hands of those who knew how to
handle them.
While the car was speeding south to the assembly halls Freyt issued a series of commands. The defence
corps was instructed to shoot immediately and without warning at any plane trying to take off from
Terrania. Hand in hand with this order followed another command grounding all air vehicles. And finally,
a large number of robot guards were sent inside all spaceships to prevent any unauthorized take-off.
There were more important things to lose than these three destroyers. There was so much more at stake.
Freyt broke out in a cold sweat wondering what might have happened if the unknown abductors had
managed to steal the two cruisers of the new Terra class—space-spheres with a diameter of nearly 600
feet, armed with the most sophisticated weapons and capable of executing instantaneous hypertransitions
throughout the universe.
In the meantime, however, the little red warning lights were blinking regularly and calmly from atop the
gigantic spacespheres stationed on their launching pads.
The car stopped in front of the heavy, shining figure of a robot that barred the way leading to the area
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