By Clark Darlton ( = German issue #26, “Duel of the Mutants,” Friday 2 March 1962)
A space
pilot training mission is ambushed near Mars by one of the destroyers
previously stolen in the first move by the as yet unknown supermutant
against the New Power. Captain Hawk is killed in the initial attack,
but cadet Julian Tifflor, “Tiff,” takes charge and is able to
turn the tables and capture the enemy pilot. The attacker is brought
back to Terrania, but under telepathic/hypnotic interrogation he
simply dies at the Mutant Master's mental command.
A New
Power defensive fort outside Terrania attacks the New Power's space
ship manufacturing plant. We read this section from the perspective
of one of the soldiers who manages to keep some degree of awareness
for a time but is unable nonetheless to resist the mental compulsion
of the supermutant. Using Arkonide technology, Perry Rhodan manages
to quell the attack, but these two assaults are just the beginning of
attacks around the world on various fronts. The Mutant Corps is
running ragged resisting the enemy's campaign, simply putting out
fires until Fellmer Lloyd captures the Russian telepath Tatjana
Michalowna.
Tatjana
is subjected to interrogation by telepath John Marshall. In this
section we receive a clear statement of Perry Rhodan's philosophy:
“Mankind
[has] to learn that it is not the only intelligent life in the
universe. Should mankind remain in isolation in order to one day
become the victim of a hostile invader's surprise attack? Or isn't
it better to adjust to your surroundings? That's all we are really
doing! Only a united Earth, with a strong leadership, will not fail
to join up with the rest of the galactic civilizations – on a
par with them. Not too long
ago, such developments seemed to lie in the very remote future for
mankind; they were looked upon like the wild dreams [of] fantasy
writers. But today it has become reality. ...”
Tatjana
protests Rhodan's statement: “Do you consider yourself the
policing force of this globe, or even the peacelord of the universe?”
Rhodan
answers her: “In a way. But we are mainly trying to pave the way
for a better understanding among the nations of this Earth and a
peaceful existence with the rest of intelligent life all over the
universe.” (pp. 55-56)
These
arguments make an impression on Tatjana, but the clincher is when she
learns that the Mutant Master unscrupulously compels his followers to
suicide, whereupon she reveals to Rhodan her ability to block the
supermutant's compulsions, and furthermore that she knows his
identity: Clifford Monterny.
This
is the break the New Power needed. With Tatjana's help, working with
Allen Mercant and the world's intelligence organizations as well as
the FBI, Rhodan and the Mutant Corps nullify as many of Monterny's
mutants as they can and mount a raid on his stronghold in the Utah
desert. Ray guns and atomics versus Arkonide force shields!
Telekinetics versus Arkonide robots! Hypnotics versus ground troops!
– until finally Tatjana and Arkonide technology (hypno rays)
overwhelm Monterny's forces. Monterny himself cuts and runs, fleeing
in one of the other captured destroyers into space. Tiff and a crew
in high orbit as a picket line see the launch and follow, but
Monterny demonstrates the ability to gain control of a subject's
consciousness even through a communications link and gets away –
leaving Tiff and his crew compelled to attack Reginald Bell in the
pursuing Stardust II
until Pucky teleports into Tiff's ship and disable it.
Back
on the ground, once Monterny was gone Rhodan and company managed to
free the mutants he left behind, about a dozen, who seemingly were
none of them following the supermutant willingly but who were
helpless against his powerful hypnotic compulsion. They all join
Rhodan, but tell him that Monterny has one other secret, and very
powerful, mutant as an ace-in-the-hole.
Calm
seemingly restored, and Monterny having slipped away into hiding,
Rhodan convenes a summit of world leaders. The crisis precipitated
by the Mutant Master simply highlights the dangers that face the
still-divided world. He gives the world's leaders an ultimatum:
They have one year to put aside their differences and bring true
unity to the world, or he, Rhodan, would impose unity by force.
For
another synopsis, see
http://perryrhodan.us/php/displaySummary.php?number=26
.
*
* *
I'm
very curious about Tatjana's question to Perry Rhodan: “Do you
consider yourself the policing force of this globe, or even the
peacelord of the universe?”
(p. 56, quoted above, emphasis added here). “Peacelord of the
Universe” – virtually a subtitle to the series included on many
of the covers of the Ace paperbacks. My question is, however,
whether that phrase is original to the German or is it (as I suspect)
something that Forrest J. Ackerman dreamed up? Hopefully a reader
can elucidate that in the comments.
Judging
from the comments from Tom and Peter Brülls to the previous book
(see here),
Julian “Tiff” Tifflor becomes a very important character. His
prominence in this story maybe would have tipped me off to that even
were I not clued in by their comments. From the similar emphasis
given to Tatjana Michalowna, I would guess she also will be at the
very least a recurring character. I have no memory of either of them
from my teen-aged reading, which was mainly of English numbers
seventy or so onward to about #140-ish (and not every one of those),
and only very spottily outside that range. I do remember Monterny's
“ace-in-the-hole,” despite Peter's surprise that I remember him
and not Tiff. I remember him as a member of the Mutant Corps.
([Spoiler – Highlight to see] But
the image of a two-headed giant who can telekinetically create
nuclear explosions made quite an impression on teen-age me!)
Captain
Hawk who meets an early demise in this book immediately reminded me,
solely because of the name, of the rather ill-conceived avian warrior
of the same name introduced in the equally ill-conceived second
season of the 1970s TV show, Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century, as played by Thom
Christopher. But once the image was in my mind, it stayed.
One
feature of the Ace series pretty much since it started regular
publication with #6, I believe, was little blurbs at the end of each
chapter announcing what adventure would be coming ten, twenty, fifty,
a hundred or more volumes after the current book. I was mildly
amused to learn on p. 106 of this issue that “300 ADVENTURES FROM
NOW [we would] Gasp at The
Fantastic Four.”
Needless to say, that didn't happen; publication of the English
translation of Perry
Rhodan
had ended far short of that mark, but for what it's worth I believe
that the adventure in question would have been German
#327, Die
vier Unheimlichen,
“The Four Terrifying Ones,” by K. H. Scheer, accounting for
various discrepancies in numbering.
*
* *
The
Gray Morrow cover on the Ace paperback edition – I got the 1974 2nd
edition, but the first edition had the same cover – sports what I
most remember about the 1970s Perry Rhodan covers in that the
man and woman (Rhodan and Thora?, except her hair is too dark) are
clad in garb that is very much like then-current comic book super
hero costumes. I find the design aesthetic in this case
very reminiscent of Mike Grell's costumes for the Legion of
Super-Heroes.
This
volume is dedicated “to the late ROG PHILLIPS who, among many other
stories, wrote 'The Mutants' in 1946. Gone but Not Forgotten” (p.
[4]). Wikipedia has a very short entry on Phillips here;
his bibliography
appears on The Internet
Speculative Fiction Database.
“The Mutants” appeared in the July 1946
issue of Amazing
Science Fiction.
For the first time in I believe several volumes, there's actually an
interior illustration – of our favorite mousebeaver, Pucky – on
p. 6:
Ackerman
gives over his “Stardust Editorial” to a rebuttal against an
Australian reviewer who went by the nom de plume “Mouser,”
who in SFNews #36 evidently heaped a good amount opprobrium on
Perry Rhodan, specifically #6, The Secret of the Time
Vault, which ultimately considered and rejected coining a new
term for “this sort of stuff … moroni-fiction” before
concluding “that there is already a completely satisfactory
category: trash.” Ackerman's retort? – “One man's trash is
another man's treasure” (p. 9). … I'll bet that made
“Mouser” reconsider his judgment!
… As
insulting as it is, I'm kind of tickled by the term, “moroni-fiction”
….
After
the Perry Rhodan
lead story abstracted above, there is a “Shock Short,” “Relics
from the Earth,” by John
Pierce. An archaeological expedition makes
its way from Triton to the mother world of humanity and back, retrieving the
Woolworth Building (the tallest building in the world at the time of
this story's writing – 1929 says the introduction although it was
published in Science Wonder
Stories' March 1930 issue
according to the ISFDB here)
as well as the Eiffel Tower. Frankly, however, I can't figure out
the point of this story. It's pretty straightforward as a narrative
although there is some kind of undefined trouble on the return trip.
We
are then treated to Part Four of the serialization of Garrett P.
Serviss' unauthorized sequel to H. G. Wells' War
of the Worlds, “Pursuit
to Mars,” comprising two more chapters, seven and eight, “Mars'
Mask of War” and “Mars' Great Surprise.” [ Links to Parts One,
Two,
and Three.
] The retaliatory expedition headed by Thomas A. Edison tours the
red planet at a high alititude, then the a black smoke screen forms
enveloping the entire globe. The Earthlings realize that they do not
have time to outwait the Martians because their provisions, packed
for three years, have mysteriously spoiled. They have only ten days
left, not even enough time for them to abandon their campaign and
return to Earth. It's imperative that they win a quick victory and,
moreover, find some way to reprovision. Edison intrepidly determines
a way through the cloud layer to attack the main population center.
A great aerial battle ensues, and the Earthlings inflict great damage
on the Martians – but they are outnumbered and lose about a third
of their forces before they retreat back to above the cloud layer. A
new strategy is deployed – attempt to land a task force on the
other side of the planet and attack the Martians from the rear. The
narrator joins this force, so we follow them to man's first actual
landing on Mars. Exploring the area on foot, he and his companions
hear the unexpected sound of Earthly music – from a human girl!
A
second “Shock Short” featurette is entitled “Little
Johnny,” written by Oscar
G. Estes, Jr. (originally published in Fantasy
Book, February 1948).
Maybe I'm obtuse or something, but again I'm not sure what the point
or even the plot of this story is. On the surface, it's the tale of
the narrator being beguiled by some spider-like creature into
believing it is his distant son, then another individual is affected
the same way.
Finally,
an expanded “Scientifilm World” column bumps the “Perryscope”
letters column this month, announcing the First Annual Science
Fiction and Film Convention in typically Forry overblown bombast.
Assuming it took place as announced (I can find no Internet record of
it under that name), it was 72 straight hours of “imagi-movies”
over Thanksgiving weekend 1972 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles.
Next
issue, it's Clark Darlton again for The Thrall of Hypno ….
Thanks
for reading! Cheers!, and Ad Astra!
