By
Kurt Mahr (= German issue #25, “The Overlord,” Friday 23 February
1962)
On
the very eve of Perry Rhodan's return from his extended stay on
Venus, Terrania is hit by acts of sabotage and hijacking. Rhodan –
and the Robot Brain – perceive that this has to be the work of
other mutants besides those who have been identified and enlisted in
the ranks of the New Power. They are, of course, right. The
mastermind – German Overhead
“Overlord,” English “Mutant Master” – is Clifford Monterny,
whose powerful talent is mind control. He hates Perry Rhodan and the
New Power for no good reason other than Rhodan's success. He aims to
bring them down and establish his own political and economic
dominance.
Almost
immediately after the incidents which open this story, Monterny
starts exploiting advanced technology on the market. Rhodan and the
Mutant Corps cannot predict his next target. So Rhodan travels to
California and confronts the president of one front company. When
the Arkonide hypnoray does not work against his target, Rhodan is
almost captured, but turns the tables and takes him prisoner instead,
sending him back to Terrania for interrogation. Meanwhile, another
of Monterny's enthralled agents inflicts a major economic blow
against the New Power through Homer Adams and the General Cosmic
Company – but that agent chickens out from carrying through with
the complete plot, leaving the damage incomplete.
In
Terrania, Khrest and Thora psychoprobe Rhodan's captive, getting
nothing useful. Rhodan, however, formulates a plan and sets the
Mutant Corps on lookout and guard. Eventually a hostile effort is
made to abduct Khrest. The mental control from outside Terrania is
detected by John Marshall, and teleporter Tako Kakuta surprises and
follows the hostile teleporter as he jumps away. Reappearing in
Monterny's base, Kakuta comes under overwhelming psychic attack and
barely manages to jump back to Terrania. During his debriefing,
Kakuta then attempts to assassinate Rhodan – but Rhodan had
foreseen this and is prepared. Rhodan's people have managed to track
Kakuta's jump through hyperspace, which gives them a rough idea where
their enemy is based. Major Nyssen is therefore dispatched to Osaka.
Monterny's
agent Ted McMurray makes a second foray into Terrania. This time he
goes undetected because Monterny realizes his previous error – that
it was his constant sending of mind waves to his agent that had been
detected. McMurray abducts Khrest and jumps away. While in
captivity, Khrest discovers that Monterny has crude technological
means to augment his telepathic commands.
Nyssen
having made progress in Osaka, Rhodan leads a team to support him.
But Nyssen is abducted. Tracking Nyssen by means of a subdural
micro-telecom allows Rhodan to further narrow the strike. Nyssen
finds Khrest and coordinates their rescue/escape with Rhodan.
Monterny eludes capture – abandoning his agents, including
McMurray, who are all killed by a neutron bomb set in the base by
Nyssen when they believe Rhodan's warning to be a ruse.
In
the face of the continuing threat, Perry Rhodan sends Betty Toufry
off to protect Homer Adams and the General Cosmic Company from
further mental influence. Rhodan remains bothered by the nature of
the sabotage which began the book – which took the form of a
localized nuclear detonation in an area where no nuclear materials
were detected – but receives an unexpected vote of confidence from
Thora that he would solve the mystery.
*
* *
Well,
overall I found this a much more engaging story than the “Venus
Saga” which preceded it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped.
Doubtless it is an effect of my essentially burning myself out on
Perry Rhodan
last year; notice how long it has been between my last and this
entry. I will persevere, however, but likely nowhere near the pace I
established at the beginning. I am curious how the “Mutant Master
Saga” will progress....
*
* *
I have nothing snarky to say about the covers, other than the bad guy with the pet monster on the English edition looks like Lex Luthor, and that I particularly like the look of sheer terror on the face shown on the German cover.
The
dedication is “to (quite naturally) the Master Mind of Nexialist
Fiction A. E. 'SLAN' VOGT.”
Ray Bradbury contributes the foreword, “Apollo Murdered: The Sun
Goes Out.” Forty years later, we know that Bradbury's impassioned
plea against gutting the US space program went tragically unheeded.
Since I can find no trace of this short essay on the Internet, I am
going to fly in the face of copyright restrictions and reproduce it
in whole at the bottom of this post.
“Scientifilm
World” is essentially a set report from Forrest J. Ackerman about
the mishaps which plagued Riders to the Stars (1954,
Directed by Richard Carlson) during production, which included one
fatality. This is accompanied by a couple of typically low-quality,
murky black and white photographs.
The
first of two “Shock Shorts” is “The Survivor” by Spencer
Strong, telling of an old, bald scientist who is offended by the
visual appearance of a long-haired young assistant – “No hairy
hippie is going to ride in my time machine!” The younger man
nevertheless stows away as the older man begins his first attempt to
travel forward in time. Something goes wrong and they end up tens of
thousands of years in the past, where a group of Neanderthals are
horrified at the old man – “Tesku targu!” they cry as they kill
him. Inexplicably, they welcome the young man, who proceeds to
jumpstart human technological advancement and only over time comes to
understand their language, and that “tesku targu” means …
“hairless monster.”
Garrett
P. Serviss' unauthorized sequel to H. G. Wells' War
of the Worlds, here
titled Pursuit to Mars,
continues its serialization with Part 3, containing Chapters 5, “The
Martians are Coming!,” and 6, “Touchdown: Enemy Planet.” The
Martians who were detected last installment land on the asteroid, but
the humans win the subsequent firefight. They then engage in some
fun experiments with extremely low gravity ballistics before
launching on the last leg of their flight to Mars. This includes
shooting some gold toward Earth. I haven't run any of the math to
know if the figures given here are in any way plausible. As they
approach the red planet, they manage to learn some aspects of their
single prisoner's language, establishing some rapport. Its glee as
they arrive at Mars and the realization of the odds that they face
are sobering. They begin their high-altitude reconnaissance of the
planet ….
The
last “Shock Short” is introduced with a short editorial blurb:
“Careful: if you have a heart, this story by the widow of E.
Everett Evans might break it.” She wrote “When the Marsboy's
Time Came” under the name, T. D. Hamm. It tells of how a
ten-year-old boy raised on Mars feels like an outsider on Earth and
eventually comes to a bad end through a misunderstanding exacerbated
by his heightened sense of hearing in Earth's far denser atmosphere.
Finally,
the “Perryscope” prints several pages of fan letters and 4SJ's
(half-)witty responses.
*
* *
A
few random thoughts that came to me as I read or wrote this blog
entry....
I
didn't know there was a technological means of analyzing a
teleporter's jump through hyperspace.
I'm
not sure we've had such an explicit description of a teleporter in
action as on p. 83: “A few seconds later … the outlines of his
figure began to grow blurred and shortly afterwards he vanished
completely.” The teleporter in action here is Monterny's agent,
McMurray, and I'm assuming the manifestation is the same for all
teleporters. My impression hitherto was that teleporters basically
popped
out of and into existence rather than fading in and out.
It's
rather quaint that this is obviously a world without general usage of
mobile or cell-phones – p. 85: “Nyssen arranged with Michikai
[an Osakan whom Nyssen has enlisted] that from now on they would
communicate with each other only by phone. This meant that Michikai
would be at a certain restaurant at certain set hours where and when
Nyssen would be able to reach him.” Of course, in our world just
about anyone would have such a device. On the other hand, according
to the internal chronology of the series, these events are happening
in 1981 according to Perrypedia.
It stands to reason that the boost from the acquisition of Arkonide
technology would not have spread so far as a low life in Osaka by
that time, only a decade or so into the overall story.
The
fate of Monterny's men is rather sobering – pp. 107-108: “Rhodan
was informed of Khrest's and Nyssen's rescue. At once he ordered the
attack to be stopped. One of his men, armed with a microphone and a
loudspeaker, penetrated into the interior courtyard of the villa and
broadcast an announcement which could be clearly heard by everybody,
even the guards down in the cellars: 'Clear these premises
immediately! You have five minutes to get out! Then a bomb will be
detonated which will annihilate all life within a radius of 100
yards.'
“Naturally
the effect of this warning was practically nil. Everyone in the
farmhouse believed it to be a trick. The men tried to ask Monterny
for advice but he was unavailable.
“The
men decided then to wait and after the five minutes had passed
without anything untoward happening, all began to triumph.
“However
neutron rays can be neither seen nor heard nor smelled. Not even
neutron flows of 1017 neutrons per 0.155 square inch per second.
“That
the bomb actually had exploded was not noticed by Monterny's men
until their skin suddenly turned red and started to hurt. Within a
few seconds they lost their eyesight. In sheer panic the blind men
started racing through the corridors, trying to get out of the house.
But by then it was too late.
“Only
two guards who had obeyed the evacuation order escaped the
catastrophe. They surrendered to Rhodan's men.”
This
is not exactly the effects of a neutron bomb as described here,
which would seem to be from a much larger-yield weapon, although the
idea is the same – killing personnel while preserving
infrastructure. The specificity of the “neutron flows” given
above makes me believe the effect was derived from some kind of
scientific report. The technology had been conceived a few years
earlier according to Wikipedia here.
*
* *
And
now, as promised above, I end with an unauthorized reproduction of
Ray Bradbury's essay that served as the foreword to this volume. If
the copyright holders – presumably his estate – contact me and
insist, I will remove it, but until such a time it stays. While I do
not agree with all its details, it deserves to be read, and widely.
APOLLO
MURDERED:
The
Sun Goes Out
By
Ray Bradbury
One
billion years from this night, men and women sitting around on some
far world, many light years away, will cast their minds and talk back
to a special year, a special decade, a special century.
What
was the finest century, the finest decade, the finest year of man?,
they will ask.
And
the answers will come: The 20th
Century. The seventh decade therein. And the date July 20th,
1969.
The
special day when, after three billion years of genetic waiting,
genetic dreaming, Man reached up to Touch Space, Touch Moon, Touch
Eternity.
I
wonder, those people in the far future will muse, did all the
billions of people alive on the night of Apollo 11 know how special
their time was? How privileged they were to be alive and witness the
fulfillment of a dream? Or were their eyes in the dust and their
minds with the worms and their dreams only under their fingernails
and behind their ears?
If
so, they let the most important date in the entire history of man
pass unnoticed. How sad for them. How silly to be alive in a
special fine time and not know it.
How
even more silly and sad, in the middle of the time of Apollo, to
dismantle the rockets, refuse Eternity, and discard the dream.
And
yet, right now, that is what we are doing.
The
talk is of priorities.
Why
are we spending all that money on the moon?!, is the cry.
As
if there were a huge crater on the moon into which, by the bushel, we
were heaving tons of cash.
The
facts are otherwise.
We
have spent not one dollar, not one dime, not one penny on the moon.
It
has all been spent right here. To buy houses, put food in mouths,
purchase cars, educate people who are black, white, brown, or name
your color.
Priorities?
What grander priority is there than the Life force, realizing its
position in a strange and cold universe, struggling to survive not
just here but on other worlds, forever and forever?
Priorities?
Is it better to spend $60 billion destroying the country and the
peoples of Vietnam or $2 billion insuring the immortality of God's
flesh on far worlds that we cannot now even imagine? $60 billion or
$100 billion wasted on annihilation? Or $1, $2, $3 billion invested
in some new strange green Garden into which we will invite ourselves
on a morning of rebirth when our rockets touch down 6 light-years off
in the Abyss?
We
are so busy fighting, drawing blood, rending flesh that our eyes are
on our spilled guts and not on the stars that promise us that very
Life Everlasting told of in our Bibles. The fictional heavens of our
half-blind ancestors have withered. The real heavens of Apollo and
beyond Apollo beckon with real territory and real survival for our
very real flesh.
Go
out and look at the stars tonight.
Let
the darkness between the stars warn you.
There
is more dark than light in the Universe.
We
must be part of those small touches of fire that fill an otherwise
empty Space.
We
must choose Light and not delay. Otherwise, Darkness chooses us.
Priorities!?
The
money we invest in Space is money that will pay dividends beyond
Alpha Centauri three billion years from this afternoon.
It
is money invested in a revival of faith and an idealism so great and
beautiful as will grow boys tall to men and make them truly proud.
We go to save Mankind from itself.
Unless,
of course, our priority is Vietnam and murder and death. Then, of
course, let us invest all our money there and go mad.
As
for me, I know where all the money is.
It
lies in the hands of the military.
I
would seize it away from their claws.
If
you are really interested in big money, don't take away the penny I
would bank for the Apollo rockets.
Grab
the tens of thousands of millions of dollars that are basted each day
devastating the Orient.
I
will help you shout for it and grab it to invest in cities, clean
air, good water, rapid transit, but save out a penny or a dime for
tomorrow's rockets.
When
the Sun dies, they will be our salvation.
The
unborn speak to us from a million years ahead.
They
are in the Garden, waiting to be secured.
Would
you murder them?
Then,
by all means, please, shoot down Apollo.
(pp. 8-10)
*
* *
Thanks
for reading. Ad Astra!
Next
(but I can't tell you when): Mutants
vs. Mutants,
by Clark Darlton.
