Dangerous Planet
Read eBook on Amazon CHAPTER 1
In the spaceport of the planet Cenes were two men. One of them, named Neil Innes, with a phone in his hand, supervised the loading of the expeditionary equipment on board the spaceship Cenes Telor flight. Before the spaceship took off there were about twenty minutes. And they still had time to use the machines to load the last containers, delivered to the spaceport by a cargo car. From time to time Neil gave commands over the phone and looked anxiously toward the building of the spaceport.
"Do not worry, he'll come." Simon, his friend, pulled his hands out of his pockets and looked at the sky. "But there are fifteen minutes left," Neil retorted, watching the next container disappear into the cargo hatch of the passenger ship. "He will come," Simon repeated without a shadow of doubt in his voice. "You better check the loading of the hunter, otherwise he'll run away." "He will not go anywhere," Neil assured him with a confident smile. "This bubble bag visited more than a dozen planets with us and has not made attempts to leave us. Besides ..." Neil smiled almost cheerfully. "Stan swears this monster obeys him and even understands." Neil giggled and added, "imagine, Simon, he sometimes talks to him. I'm telling you the truth, "Neil assured his friend, noticing his incredulous gaze. "Indeed?" "I saw it yesterday myself!" "It's his business." Simon chucked a smile from his face and looked at his watch worriedly. Six minutes remained. All of their expedition cargo, including the hunter from an unknown planet, was already on board the ship while Stan was still out. "Maybe he changed his mind," Neel looked inquiringly at Simon and saw the boss's eyes narrowing and turning into slits. "Do not say nonsense," he said through clenched teeth. "Stan could not do that." "Well, I do not know." Neil switched on his phone, checked the list of numbers and called Stan. For a few seconds he listened to a barely audible rustle, then he cursed softly and hid the phone in his pocket. "He's not answering," he said, after a few seconds. "Probably still fiddling with the computer," Simon suggested almost calmly. "You understand, Stan cannot do this without us". "I know." Neil sighed and turned back to the spaceport building. From there, at a decent speed, noiselessly approaching the magnetic car, inside of which one could see someone's head. In five seconds Neil managed to recognize Stan's face. "At last!" he exclaimed with pleasure and relief. Without asking anything, Simon turned and shook his head in satisfaction. He did not expect anything else. Stan could not help but come. The operation they developed almost a whole month using the computers for this purpose was too complicated and risky that at the last moment one of their group would allow himself to quit the game. They all needed a spaceship. And not just a ship, but a space system with artificial intelligence, equipped with unimaginable perfection in technology and weapons. Simon also wanted that on board the ship were the biosynthesis, aircrafts and research equipment. All these and perhaps even something else were on board the Horst, whose shiny body could be seen a hundred meters away. Simon really liked this ship, and he decided to cease it, and then use it for his own purposes. True, there were also passengers on board, except for the crew, but Simon intended from the very beginning to leave them on some planet and send a signal to the base that the spacecraft after the subspace jump, got crashed, and all the passengers died from unthinkable overload. Such a plan suited Simon completely, but there were some vague moments, which Stan was clearing up. He was a professional in research systems and could, as playing, put something out of two such systems, to which the name would be difficult to come up with. Typically, Simon used Stan to enter any data bank using a computer or to connect to a secret thought channel. When the magnetic car stopped noiselessly a meter from Neil's feet, a protective dome opened and they saw Stan. He was sweating. "Well, how did it go?" Simon asked at once. "It's all right," Stan answered quickly. "Why so long?" Simon asked, taking a seat beside him, inside the car and giving Neil a sign to follow his example. "Boss, there was such a strong security system that I barely managed to break it. These guys did a great job before they came up with it," Stan grinned, and the car slowly moved off. "In order to get the information we needed, I had to connect two computers in parallel, and I had to sit on the thought-link channel myself". "I hope you did not leave a trace," Simon asked through his teeth, staring at the hull of the ship. "No," Stan answered confidently. "Otherwise I could not get anything out of there." he paused for a moment and then with a little doubt in his voice asked, "Do you still think that this ship is so necessary for us?" "But you?" Simon answered the question with a question, without even looking at him. "I do not know," Stan said after a pause. "But before that we did without it. Besides, we can run into trouble." "We can," Simon agreed, "but only if our plans fail. But I hope that everything will be as we calculated." Simon paused for a second, and then added. "As before, the main role in the implementation of our plans is assigned to the hunter." "Is he already on the ship?" Stan asked, continuing to control the car. They slowly drove to the ship. "Yes," Neil replied instead of Simon. "I supervised the landing of the hunter and the loading of our equipment myself." "Let's hope: nothing unforeseen will happen," Stan stopped the car a few meters from the ship's gangway and looked at the boss. A few minutes later, Horst was due to start, and all the passengers had long since taken their seats. "Let's go," Simon ordered and got out first. "When the ship jumps into the subspace, you, Stan, will go into the cargo bay and see how the hunter is doing there. Do you understand everything?" "What is so incomprehensible here?" Stan shrugged his shoulders and first ran aboard the ship. Simon and Neil went on board too. They together went to the passenger cabin and took their seats. The spaceships of the Horst type were not large and had not more than half a kilometer in diameter. For this reason, there were no magnetic capsules on board, and the only means of transport were air tapes. They functioned continuously all the time while the ship was in flight. When Simon and his people got on one of these tapes, the ship took off smoothly and quickly began to gain vertically the altitude. "In six hours, we'll be in orbit of Deron," Stan said in a slightly worried voice. "Mg," Simon replied, inattentive, busy with his thoughts. Neil said nothing at all and only allowed himself to squint at Stan. As for him Stan's behavior was alarming, but he was a guru in the field of cybernetics, otherwise he would perhaps refuse to participate with him in this operation. But Neil did not say anything to anyone and kept quietly examining Simon's head simultaneously clutching the sweaty hand over the phone in his pocket. "Do you know how to get to the cargo hold?" Simon asked, turning to Stan. "Weird question." "Check the hunter and come back. For some time, pretend to be unfamiliar with us," Simon said, ignoring his remark. "And anyway," Simon smiled and turned to him the thin face, "try to get acquainted with some girl. If it is possible, of course," he added, continuing to smile. "What for?" Stan pricked up his ears. "You will not be bored," Simon explained. "I do not bore," Stan replied with a restrained response and jumped off the track in order to switch to another. "I'll be back in ten minutes," he shouted and waved his hand. "Check the hunter's protective field!" Simon complimented him and together with Neil slowly disappeared behind the turn. Stan muttered something to himself, then switched to the track, which took him in half a minute to the cargo hold. Having made his way straight in the rows to the sector, in which all their cargo was neatly packed, Stan mechanically counted a dozen containers containing the equipment necessary for survival on a wild planet. Having done this he stopped in front of the dome, inside of which was a hunter. What he really was, none of them knew for sure. The hunter, however, reminded them of several earthly creatures, which in the most inconceivable manner were mixed into one whole, thus forming an unprecedented creature. First, the hunter lacked permanent appearance and form. For example, from time to time some thin limbs appeared from the body, which could be both paws and legs. It was impossible to understand what exactly it was. He also had a leather hood, which was sometimes warmed by warm air, thus allowing the hunter to fly into the air a few meters and soar. The same one can say about the head of this outlandish creature. Sometimes it appeared on a quite ordinary neck, and it could even make out the mouth, littered with small teeth, and three white eyes that, because of the absence of the eyelids, were constantly staring at you and it was incomprehensible whether the hunter was looking or sleeping (if at all he ever sleeps). But at a certain time, the hunter's head, like everything else on his body, dissolved, and on his back three white eyes wandered, which, depending on the mood of their master. Sometimes all three eyes were together, but in another moment they were located in unimaginable ways: one could be on the stomach, the second - on one of the limbs, and the third, for example, could lie quietly on the ground next to the hunter, and then somehow return to him back on his back and join the others. * * * When Stan first saw such a spectacle, he felt uneasy. Still would! Even Simon, at the sight of an eye lying apart from hunter's body, lost his self-control for a while and could not hide his disgust, mixed with ... admiration: he had never seen such a creature before. This time everything was almost normal. True, the hunter's head, as before, had disappeared, but his eyes were not scattered around his body, but quietly stared at Stan, lined up in a chain on the back of the hunter. The hunter himself did not show signs of life and Stan did not react to anything. On Stan, this indifference, too, did not produce an impression, and he leaned over the computer that controlled the mode of operation of the protective field. Without this field and other means of protection, which Simon, Stan and Neil kept in strict confidence, the hunter would long ago have already destroyed the crew of the ship and all the passengers. He did not need more than ten minutes to do this. And the matter was not only that the hunter possessed power and at times released from his dough-like body powerful jaws, which in just half a minute could turn a person into a bloody mash without a single whole bone. The main weapon of the hunter was hypnosis and no less dangerous ability to inflict telepathic attacks, which could disfigure a person no worse than jaws. But at this time, the hunter was not dangerous, since he did not belong to the world of highly organized beings and, in general, had no relation to the Earth. Stan had a great time with him before the hunter let himself be tamed first, and then managed himself and his abilities. This was done with the help of portable ultrasonic generators, which were available for all three of them. A certain code based on ultrasound worked on the miniature brain of the hunter, and he responded with action. Through various signals, the hunter could perform quite a large number of various commands. But he did it now! Stan didn't want to even think about how it was six years ago when he first saw the hunter. Everything was different at that time. This strange and unusual creature they found on some unexplored planet in the Southern Cross system. During the exploratory work in the equatorial belt of the planet Stan came across someone's broken planetary boat, in the cargo compartment of which, except for the whitened bones of the crew, was a cage with a hunter. As now, he was under a power dome, and his eyes were strewn in various places. About the fact that it was just the eyes, Stan became known much later. But then Simon picked up the cage of the hunter by the protective field and already wanted to throw it out of the planetary boat. But his decision changed immediately after the scattered eyes of the hunter gathered in a heap and returned to their master. Such a sight shocked not only Simon but all of them. And his shock intensified even more when an ugly head appeared from the hunter's body and blinked with sharp eyes. After such transformations, Simon returned the cage with the hunter to its original place and ordered Stan and Neil to search through the entire boat for information about the origin of this creature. Such information was soon found, but in addition to the code that could control the hunter, there was nothing else in it. About where the hunter came from, they learned a little. But Stan assured everyone that the hunter, allegedly, was found in the wrecked ship of another's civilization. But to find out whether he flew on this ship or crawled there after the collision with the planet, failed. But anyway, the study of the hunter Simon put on Stan, and he was very pleased and felt pride. Over the past six years, carried out together with the hunter, allowed them to obtain a lot of valuable information and learn the habits of the hunter. It's no surprise that Stan carefully took care of this strange creature and was ready to spend the hours near his cage. Especially since the hunter did not bother with such excessive attention on the part of Stan and he allowed him to stare at himself as much as he liked. After checking the operating mode of the protective field, and asking the computer some questions, Stan heard behind his back a woman's voice. "Sir, what are you doing here?" politely, but at the same time, this voice insistently asked. Stan turned silently and saw a girl dressed in the uniform of the cosmic stewardess. She was slightly taller than the average with a pretty face and dark eyes. "What do you want to do with me?" Stan joked, measuring her from head to foot. The girl was embarrassed for a moment, then quickly took herself in hand and repeated her question. "If you do not answer, I'll let the captain know," she warned, just in case. "I think we can do without this," Stan again measured her with his eyes and realized that he did not like her. "You're a passenger, are not you?" the girl asked, half-inquiringly, from time to time with a curious glance at the cage with the hunter. "Yes," Stan answered affirmatively, "I need to go to Telor." "I understand, sir." she nodded her head and thought for a second. "But passengers are not recommended to be in the cargo hold during the flight." I hope you know this? "How can I say that?" Stan pushed his chin slightly forward and tried to suppress the irritation that had arisen. "I had to see how my friend suffered a start and a leap into the subspace. Have we already committed it? " Stan looked inquiringly at the girl and received an affirmative answer. "Ten minutes ago," she added. "Mm," Stan grumbled knowingly, again shifting all his attention to the hunter. "Where's your friend?" after a moment's silence the girl asked, making sure that there was no one else in the cargo hold beside them. "Here," Stan nodded at the cage and increased the generator's power. "Is that it?" the girl asked incredulously, stopping next to him. "Yes." "And what is this?" "Not what, but who," Stan corrected. "A-ah," the girl said, and leaned curiously over the transparent cupola. "What do you need it for?" she asked, satisfying a little of her curiosity. "For different reasons," Stan answered evasively, not intending to give her an account of his affairs. "I understand," she straightened and looked at him. "My name is Shirra Russell," she said in the most unexpected way. "So what?" Stan growled. "How," she said, surprised. "Aren't you unpleasant to meet me?" "No," Stan snapped and gestured for her to move away from the hunter's cage. His attitude to women for some reason was not too good. Telling the truth he did not like them at all. "Hmm." she snorted and turned sharply. "Take care that this bag does not run away," she said, and headed for the exit. But at the door she stopped and went back. Stan was surprised, but did not show it. "I grew up in Deroco, and I happened to see many different animals," she said, not knowing why, not paying attention to his displeased expression. "But it was a long time ago…" "But what," Stan interrupted. "I remember I met creatures like that." she nodded toward the hunter and came closer. "Be careful," Stan warned her. "He might not like it." "But it's screened," Shirra said. "It does not matter. He belongs to me, and you have no right to approach him without my permission," it was said in a harsh tone, and Shirra was forced to move away from the cage with the hunter. "Isn't it Muraba?" she asked. "No." "But it looks like that." "Maybe." "But you could not ..." "Listen, baby," Stan said, stepping on her. "If you do not leave me, you'll be ...I warned you." "Sorry," Shirra said through clenched teeth and quickly left the cargo hold. Stan for a while silently watched her, then turned to the hunter and took out of his pocket a flat, palm-sized control unit. For a few seconds he looked closely at the hunter, then pressed two buttons and watched the small head appear from his body, and quickly assumed a certain outline. "Good hunter, good," Stan muttered and pressed another button. Hunter quickly got up on his limbs which seemed to appear from nowhere and with the small steps quickly crossed the diagonal of the cage, inside of which he was. Now his face was turned to Stan, and his eyes from the back moved to some kind of forehead. "Show me what you're capable of!" Stan suddenly shouted and jumped abruptly aside. At the same moment the container of impressive size was torn from its place, and with one powerful blow was smashed against the walls into the smithereens. As soon as the contents ceased to pour on the floor, the hunter shook his whole body and lifted his snout, as if waiting for Stan's praise. And he got it. "Very well, hunter," Stan said, looking at the cargo that was scattered from the broken container with satisfaction. "The same thing had to be done with this annoying fool," he added, almost lovingly looking at the hunter, whose head again disappeared into the body, while the small limbs continued to claw their claws. The hunter reacted to Stan's praise as follows and rather peculiarly: his eyes were scattered inside the cage and one of them rolled to the border of the power screen. "It's all right, mate," Stan added and headed for the cargo hold exit. Because of the fuss with this fool (as he called Shirra), Stan spent a lot of time near the hunter. "And Simon, I guess, is dissatisfied with my absence." Stan thought.
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