Northworld Pyrrus and Kerk 5 E-Book

Stig Granfors

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Pyrrus and Kerk
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 259

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

The space adventurers Pyrrus and Kerk decide to liberate their fellow colony members, who have seemingly been kidnapped to the dangerous ice planet Northworld. The underground societies on the planet consist of a labyrinth of interconnected cities and villages. The most violent criminals in the universe transported to this penalty colony have rebelled. Rescue will not be an easy task. Pyrrus and Kerk are facing their most difficult task to date. They encounter an icy climate with blood-icing enemies. Fighting the severe ice storms on the planet's surface is about to become the downfall of the space adventurers. The long walk becomes a frightening and endless nightmare. The fifth novel about the space adventurers Pyrrus and Kerk, whose motto is: It will get better. A tribute to Harry Harrison and his Stainless Steel Rat. "When Kerk climbed over the next ice obstacle, he realized that something was wrong. His whole body suddenly trembled and a cold sweat broke out. His breathing was heavy and his legs refused to carry him. Everything around him disappeared in a haze of mist. His brain refused to function and his legs felt like jelly. He sank down on the ice. The ice. The damn ice." "Now, Pyrrus staggered in the icy wind. The storm seemed to get stronger. Kerk also felt the increasing strength in the wind. They now both walked on the hidden and unknown power reserves that a dead tired person is able to muster in extreme danger to life. But the reserves were not unlimited and their shaky steps showed that these reserves were also getting thin. And when they were finished, they would just fall into the shelter of some ice crater and wait for the deep, eternal sleep."

Leseprobe

Northworld Pyrrus and Kerk 5

Northworld Pyrrus and Kerk 5An unpleasant surpriseIce cold walkDeath is nearThe city of the devilGeneral DreyfussFactsCopyright

Northworld Pyrrus and Kerk 5

Stig Granfors/Marcus Granfors

Adventure novel

Original title: Nordvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 5.

Translation: Stig Granfors.

Cover Photo: Nils-Erik Granfors

© 2021 Stig Granfors and Marcus Granfors

stiggranfors.jimdofree.com       Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand GmbH, Helsinki, Finland

Print: BoD - Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany

ISBN: 9789528048152

Books by Stig Granfors

Non-fiction

Civilisationens gåtor (2005)

Skapelsens gåtor (2006)

Livets gåtor (2008)

En skön ny värld (2010)

Historiska gåtor (2019)

Biologiska gåtor (2019)

Fiction

Liv (2011)

Glimt av hopp (2012)

Skärseld (2013)

Strid (2014)

Botnia (2015)

Varningen (2017)

Hotet (2019)

In English

Stonehenge threat (2021)

Books by Stig Granfors and Marcus Granfors

In Swedish

Neodym – Pyrrus och Kerk 1 (2020)

Västvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 2 (2020)

Östvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 3 (2020)

Sydvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 4 (2021)

Nordvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 5 (2021)

In English

Neodymium – Pyrrus and Kerk 1 (2020)

Westworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 2 (2021)

Eastworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 3 (2021)

Southworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 4 (2021)

Northworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 5 (2021)

"Chaos in the world brings uneasiness,

but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth."

Tom Barrett

An unpleasant surprise

”My turn,” Daphne said.

For a week, Pyrrus and Kerk had been looking for the person they assumed had fled the pursuers.

All signs indicated that the colony members had been taken by force from Death Planet. But one of them had escaped. The footprints that led out into the wilderness told them that. But the longer they followed these footsteps, the more obscure they became. The traces of blood also ran out after a while.

Pyrrus sighed deeply. ”There is nothing to be found out there. Everything is just wasteland. Not as much as a small hole for someone to crawl into and hide.”

He looked out over the burnt landscape again. The nuclear weapons had caused more damage than he had expected. There was nothing they could do to restore the planet. It was destroyed. They had gone too far.

And now the colony members were also missing. No one left to save. That was the biggest disappointment. They had sacrificed so much, to no use.

It will get better?

It didn’t look like that.

Not on Death Planet.

Pyrrus was dead tired. He and Kerk had been out searching every day for several hours. They had slept only a few hours a night. Then they had left again. They had methodically searched the areas near the cave, where the colony members had lived.

”We can’t come with you,” Pyrrus sighed. “Not yet, anyway.”

”I can search on my own,” Daphne replied.

”It’s dangerous.”

But Daphne insisted. ”There are no wild animals out there anymore. And I see no trace of the dangerous plants. They all seem to have disappeared after we detonated the nuclear bombs.” She pointed to the navigator in the spaceship’s cabin. “Look here. You have checked these areas. I take another direction this time. I promise to stick to the marked route and return in three hours. Then you know where I am and can pick me up if something happens.” She began to put on Kerk’s jumpsuit despite weak protests from Pyrrus and Kerk.

Daphne got her way. She quickly jumped away, before anyone had time to stop her. The landscape was depressingly monotonous south of the cave, where the colony had lived so long. The cave had been their home ever since their original fortress was destroyed by the suicide bombers, the small rolling armadillos.

Life on Death Planet had completely outwitted the colony. The colony members thought they could defeat the planet with the grenade launchers, but it had been a costly mistake. The aggressive plant and animal life of Death Planet had hit back harder than before.

At least now it seemed as if the nuclear weapons had defeated the violent species. But only ash remained. They had destroyed the planet at the same time. Daphne looked around, thinking there was no chance of building an ordinary life on the planet anymore.

They didn’t yet know what had happened to the colony members. Their comrades had been taken by force. That much was clear. Daphne had analysed the brown spots Kerk had found in the sand. It turned out to be blood from one of the chemists who had worked with her in the laboratory. There were also signs that this person had escaped the pursuers. They needed to find their comrade. The search had now been going on for more than a week without results. At some point, they would have to give up. But not today, Daphne thought with clenched teeth.

She came to the edge of a ravine. It had sharp edges but she went down the slope anyway. She searched through all the holes and crevices. She found nothing.

She shouted.

No answer.

She climbed up again and continued jumping forward in the wide valley. Her gaze swept over the barren area. Which direction should she choose? The right slope looked steeper than the left. She started with the left.

The black, burnt ground was a depressing sight. Daphne longed to see other colors, something beautiful to rest her eyes on, something that could relieve the boredom.

She seemed to be led by some instinct, as she continued uphill even though she didn’t know the terrain. She moved quickly and safely, jumping from boulders to boulders. If Pyrrus or Kerk had seen her now, they would have stopped her.

”You are taking too many risks,” they had probably shouted.

Daphne smiled at the two adventurers’ strong protective instincts. They didn’t know that she had done more difficult tasks than this. She would show them!

She searched through the mountainside in a zigzag pattern. Went uphill.

Then downhill.

And then up again.

She climbed higher and higher, until she was a good distance above the ravine. Her heart pounded from the effort. She opened the visor of her helmet and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her hand.

She had only one goal in sight, to find her missing colony comrade. She jumped with small steps forward. Occasionally she checked the steeper slope on the other side. There she seemed to see a darker shadow. An opening of some kind?

She hurried down again and climbed up the other slope. The shadow on the hillside turned out to be the opening to a cave, which led far into the mountain. The entrance was hidden by a series of rocks, which surrounded it on both sides. The opening was wide and high enough for her to enter in an upright position. Further in, however, the helmet scratched against the ceiling and she had to bend forward.

Before entering the cave, she clicked on the lamp, which Julius had mounted on the helmet of the jumpsuit. She glanced down. The ravine on the other side of the opening fell vertically into the abyss. The rock wall above was just as steep and smooth.

She saw a glimpse of a shadow creeping between the rocks at the bottom of the ravine. Her heart skipped a beat. Was it a survivor of the colony? But she was immediately disappointed when she saw the brown fur. It was one of the wild animals that had hunted them earlier during their escape from the fortress.

The six feet long wild animal walked with difficulty. It limped on one paw. The coat was matted and clear burn marks could be seen on the back and on one side. It looked as if the predator had run through fire and ash. But the beast was still dangerous. Daphne understood that when the beast saw her. The beast cast a wicked look up at her and showed yellow teeth in a wide grin. It didn’t growl, just limped to the same place from where Daphne had begun her climb and laboriously went inch by inch up the slope.

Daphne panicked. She was trapped. The cave looked inviting, but it was a death trap. There was no chance of escaping the beast in there. She looked up. The steep rock wall didn’t look inviting at all, but there were crevices and holes at suitable distances. It was possible to climb.

She took the first step.

Then another.

The rock wall was slippery. She occasionally fell down a bit and scratched her hands and knees. She heard the beast panting below her. It clawed at the rock wall and gave off a faint howl. It seemed as if the beast’s respiratory organs had been destroyed in the nuclear explosions, as it no longer roared in the same way as the beasts had done before. Daphne still clearly remembered the frightening screams. The blood froze to ice when you heard it.

The predator’s breathing sounded strained. Wheezing and strained with a beeping sound from time to time.

Daphne dared to take a look at the beast. It tried to climb after her but didn’t get far. Daphne looked up. She almost got dizzy. The rock wall was suddenly higher than she thought. She had to accept the fact. She would never be able to climb all the way up. The disappointment hit her when she realized this. The climb was a mistake. She should have shot the beast during its climb up the slope. But she was not a good shooter.

She stopped at a narrow ledge, took support with her feet in a crevice and got the pistol out of her pocket. She aimed at the beast. The distance was short, maybe only twenty or thirty feet. The beast had now worked its way up in a newly awakened frenzy. It jumped and scratched the rock wall constantly. The beast frothed even more with rage, when it noticed that Daphne was looking at it. The prey was so close and yet so far away.

Just as Daphne was about to pull the trigger her foot slipped away and she lost her balance. She had to drop her pistol to grab the ledge. For a moment she hung on to her fingertips. She saw that the pistol fell on the beast and hit its nose. It hardly hurt but the blow got the beast temporarily out of balance. The predator took support on its injured paw and immediately twisted around. The beast corrected the position by seeking support with the other paw, but suddenly it found only empty air. With one last desperate sound, the beast plunged straight down to the bottom of the ravine. It hit the rocks down there and didn’t rise again.

Daphne sighed in relief. She hurried down to the entrance of the cave where the gun was waiting. The gun was whole but covered in dust. She cleaned it, blew ash out of the barrel and attached the weapon to the magnet on her belt. Then she came to think that she should test shoot the gun for safety. But she hesitated because she didn’t want to attract more wildlife. She didn’t touch the gun again.

The cliff edge offered temporary support. Her legs shook from fatigue due to the dangerous encounter.

”You’re such an amateur,” she mumbled, leaning her back against the rock.

She would not tell this to the others. They would never let her out on her own again. And if she had any sense, she should not take these risks either, she thought.

She thought about returning to the space ship, but when she peeked into the cave she decided against it. Don’t give up this easy, she thought. When she was still here, she could just as well examine the cave more closely. Daphne took short steps into the darkness. She moved very carefully, because she didn’t know what was in front of her. The deep darkness didn’t want to give way to the dim light of the lamp. The beam of light just cut like a narrow streak straight ahead. She constantly had to swing back and forth to get an idea of ​​where the cave led and what obstacles were in her way. Occasionally she groped in front of her with her hands. Every now and then she stopped. Sharp edges protruded on both sides, and she constantly encountered obstacles on the ground.

Once she stepped out into nothingness. Desperately and terrified, she clung to a protrusion in the rock wall. She stopped the fall in time.

She shouted again.

No answer.

When she turned around, she saw the round entrance of the cave and the daylight outside. The opening was not far away, but still didn’t let in much light. How could it be so dark inside the cave? It was like it was cursed. She expected demons to come pouring out of the cave and attack her. Her imagination ran wild and she had to muster all the courage she had to move forward.

She heard the sound of running water. The sound came from inside the cave. She continued more cautiously than before. The smell of water was noticeable now. The walls were damp and the floor slippery. The cave divided.

She stood silent for a moment, making an effort to locate the point from which the sound of the water came. It came from the right. She tried to judge the distance. It seemed to be no more than twenty feet from where she stood. She continued with small careful steps.

The light on the helmet was meaningless. The narrow beam showed nothing of importance. She reminded her to complain to Julius. You have to sharpen up, she would say in a firm tone. She smiled at the thought. She needed all the encouragement she could get in this closed, dark and depressing environment. The thoughts gave her a sense that she was in control of the situation.

Of course, she could always go back. Neither animals nor humans had taken refuge in the cave in recent times. But for some reason she immediately rejected the idea.

Something forced her to continue.

A sixth sense?

She stopped and listened again. Only the rippling sound of water further ahead. She fumbled her way forward again. The water was very close now. At that moment, she slipped on a wet rock and fell into the water, which reached all the way up to her neck. Frightened she cried out loud. The sound echoed into the cave.

She was looking for a crack in the rock wall. All she found were just wet and flat cliff walls. The jumpsuit was of no help. It just sucked her into the water. She couldn’t jump. She had to wade back the same way she had come.

The water was icy cold. Despite the protective cover of the suit, she froze. Only now did she realize her mistake. Never enter a foreign environment alone. That was the first rule in an astronaut’s manual.

The water was suddenly not as deep as before. She lifted herself up on dry ground. She looked around, didn’t see the entrance anymore. Where was she? She cursed her own stupidity. Now she was not only cold but also lost.

She stomped on the spot for a while to warm her legs and arms. Then she suddenly remembered the air conditioning. She could set it to a higher temperature. Soon the suit was filled with warm air. Daphne drew a sigh of relief. She would definitely not tell Pyrrus and Kerk about this. A typical beginner’s mistake. Not keeping track of the vital functions of the costume.

”That was an unexpected bath,” she muttered in the dark, ”no more of that, please.”

She looked at something she perceived as a dim light. Suddenly she saw the entrance again. She calmed down and took a heavy breath. She was again at the point where the cave split and she peeked into the left cave opening. This part of the cave was brighter than the previous one. It apparently had an exit further ahead. She walked towards the light.

Was it imagination or did she really see something resembling a figure further on? At first she thought it was an illusion after all staring into the darkness, but eventually she realized she was right. Determined to solve the mystery, she rushed into the shadows.

It was a woman lying on her back on the hard stone floor. She breathed, but very weakly. Daphne recognized her, even though the features of her face had changed during the hardships the woman had undeniably suffered. It was Michelle, one of the assistants in the lab.

The laboratory had once been their pride. Now there was not much left of the once perfectly equipped laboratory in the old fortress. The armadillos had also destroyed this in their last attacks on the fortress.

Daphne gave Michelle water to drink. However, the water immediately flowed out of the woman’s mouth down the cheek until it was finally sucked up by the dry and flat cave rocks.

”Michelle,” Daphne whispered, caressing the woman’s cheek tenderly. ”What has happened?”

The woman didn’t answer. She had apparently been hidden in the cave for a long time. A deep wound on her right arm showed that she had been shot. The blood had clotted. Daphne felt Michelle’s forehead. It was burning hot. An infection, Daphne suspected.

Daphne lifted her friend and pulled the body toward the exit. She only managed halfway. Completely exhausted, she placed Michelle in a sitting position against the cave wall. She gave Michelle more water to drink. Now, Daphne got a few drops to run down Michelle’s throat. But Michelle didn’t wake up.

Daphne shook her and shouted: ”Michelle, can you hear me? We have to get out of here!”

Still no reaction. Michelle was on the border between life and death. Daphne tried to lift her again, but Michelle was too heavy.

”I’m such an idiot,” Daphne whispered softly. ”I should have gotten help as soon as I saw her.”

She looked at Michelle. The woman had endured such hardships that it was a pure torment to look at her. It also felt awkward to suddenly leave her there in the cold cave without any protection. But Daphne understood that she couldn’t stay either.

Without further thinking, she left her unconscious comrade and rushed towards the exit. There she slid down the slope without thinking about the risks of injuring herself against the many rocks that were in her way. Down in the valley she jumped with quick steps towards the spaceship. It was further away than she had expected.

She stopped and fired a shot into the air. She didn’t dare shoot more than once. There could be wildlife nearby. She looked at the clock. She had promised to be gone no more than three hours. The clock now showed three hours and a quarter. Pyrrus and Kerk were probably very concerned at this point.

That was true, because when she came halfway, she saw a jumping figure coming towards her. It was Kerk.

Daphne waved excitedly. ”I found her! I’ve found her!”

Kerk noticed the waving figure and hurried forward.

”Is everything all right?” he asked, as he paused in front of her.

”Yes,” Daphne replied. ”I found Michelle. She is badly injured. I couldn’t carry her myself. Come on, I’ll show you where she is.”

Together they jumped towards the valley and the cave up on the hillside. Michelle lay where Daphne had left her. Kerk lifted the unconscious woman in his arms. He had to struggle to get to his feet. There would be only short jumps on the return trip due to the extra burden.

Kerk climbed out and slid down the hillside as Daphne had done before. Loose rocks came down with him and he was suddenly covered in dust.

Daphne remembered that she should check the cave all the way to the second exit. Maybe there were other survivors?

She shouted at Kerk not to wait for her.

“One last check of the cave,” she shouted. “”I’ll catch up with you in a moment.”

Kerk raised his hand in response. He hurried away with the precious burden in his arms. The woman’s face was full of scars. And the wound on her arm required surgery. Kerk understood that immediately. The wound was swollen and dirty. He half-ran with fast but short steps. At the same time, he hoped that Daphne didn’t take unnecessary risks.

Inside the cave, Daphne inspected the second tunnel. She saw no trace of other survivors.

She shouted loudly.

No answer.

She reached the other opening. It was higher up than she had expected. The steep rock wall plunged straight into the depths. Daphne turned around. Back to the ship. There was nothing else to do. Michelle needed care and Daphne was the most skilled in that area. Doctor as she was. Pyrrus and Kerk were not amateurs either, when it came to bandaging wounds. But in this case, it would require more, Daphne guessed.

She followed in Kerk’s footsteps. He had advanced faster than she thought. She got hold of him and Michelle close to the spaceship. Soon they had Michelle lying on a stretcher in the cargo room, which now served as both a temporary laboratory and a hospital.

Daphne connected Michelle to the vital devices and gave her vitamin and antibiotic injections. She then examined the wound. It looked bad. She decided to have surgery immediately. She pushed the men out. ”I manage this by myself,” she said firmly.

An hour later she came out and wiped the sweat from her face. The others looked at her worriedly. ”I have cleaned and sewn the wound. The inflammation should subside in a few days. She has received all the injections she needs. The rest is up to her.”

”Is she strong enough to fight the bacteria?” Kerk asked. ”She looked really weak, malnourished.”

”We’ll see,” Daphne replied. ”She has apparently lived on water all this time on the run. But why and for how long?”

”Hopefully we will get answers to those questions soon,” Kerk said. ”Without her testimony, we don’t know where to start looking for the other members of the colony.”

Daphne nodded resignedly. ”I know.”

Michelle slept all night and the next day. On the third day, however, she opened her eyes. It happened during Pyrrus’ watch shift. At first she didn’t recognize Pyrrus, but when he came closer she saw who it was.

”It’s me, Pyrrus,” he confirmed in a soft voice. ”You’re safe now. What happened?”

Michelle tried to answer, but only a croaking sound came out. Pyrrus gave her water to drink.

”They took them,” the woman said with a weak voice.

”Who,” Pyrrus asked.

”They talked about Northworld.” That was all Michelle managed to say. She collapsed again. Completely exhausted by the little effort, she fell asleep.

Pyrrus bit his lip.

The penal colony.

Where the most violent criminals were kept.

Had some of them managed to escape?

Had the criminals suddenly decided to torment the other colonies?

He walked out of the hold and told the others what Michelle had said.

”Northworld next,” Daphne summed up the report.

”It will not be an easy task,” Pyrrus said with clenched teeth. ”No one goes there voluntarily. And if the criminals are on the loose, the penal colony is even more dangerous than before.”

Pyrrus opened the navigator. Northworld was a very cold planet covered in ice and snow. The prisoners had built huge underground towns and villages, which were connected to each other with long tunnels. Underground, the temperature was kept at a level acceptable to humans. The information about the planet was otherwise very scarce. Most of it was censored. It was not meant for anyone to travel to the planet. The penal colony was a matter only for the authorities. This would not be an easy journey.

”Nothing for amateurs,” Pyrrus told Daphne when she announced she wanted to join them on the trip. ”You and Julius stay here and take care of Michelle,” Pyrrus stated briefly.

Daphne protested, but realized after a while that she was losing the fight. ”You need me,” she finally pleaded. ”Someone who does the background checks and keeps track of what you are getting into. An extra pair of eyes.”

”That’s true,” Kerk said. ”But if you come along, we can’t concentrate on what needs to be done. We – or rather I – will be so busy thinking about where you are that it puts us all at great risk. So you don’t get to come along. It’s as simple as that. This is a life-threatening mission.” He saw Daphne open her mouth. ”Yes, I know you did well among the dangerous predators on Southworld. And we are grateful for that. But Northworld is something completely different. We are talking about the worst psychopaths. You can’t trust anyone on that planet. No, you’re not attending this mission.”

Julius settled the heated discussion. ”I’m going with them, Daphne. You can stay. Besides, you’re the best for Michelle right now.” He raised his hands to stop Daphne’s protests. ”I will be all right. We all know this is the only option.”

Daphne’s protests were of no use. She went into the lab to tend to Michelle, who looked healthier than before. The fever had gone down and the bacterial level in the blood had dropped. But Michelle was still weak. The recovery required a lot of rest.

Daphne and Michelle had to move up to the cave. They also took care of a large part of the food and other necessities. Kerk also handed over the few weapons they had and the two jumpsuits.

”We are getting new ones on Westworld,” Kerk said. ”That planet is a suitable stopover for us. In addition, the inhabitants there know more about Northworld than we do. We can get useful information. The navigator didn’t tell much.”

He pulled Pyrrus aside. ”Let’s have someone on Westworld to pick up Daphne and Michelle, when Michelle has recovered. I don’t like to leave them here alone for a long time. If something happens to us...” His voice broke. ”Well, you know.”

Pyrrus nodded. ”The people of Westworld owe us much gratitude for rescuing both countries from Xaoping’s tyranny. That shouldn’t be a problem.”

They didn’t know that Daphne had similar thoughts about the risky journey. Not that she needed a rescue ship, but she wanted to marry Kerk. Get the ceremony over, as she put it.

”It doesn’t sound very romantic, when you say it like that,” Kerk said. ”Get it over with?”

”Oh, you know what I mean,” Daphne replied resolutely. ”We don’t have time for romance at this stage. Every minute is precious to our comrades. Who knows what has happened to them in the hands of the convicts. If the criminals are the perpetrators of this kidnapping, that is.”

She didn’t mention that this was perhaps the last chance she saw Kerk.

”Aren’t you a bit dramatic now,” Pyrrus objected.

”No, just get started,” Daphne asked. ”We really want this. You can take care of the ceremony. You are the captain of the spaceship. We are not that demanding about the details.”

Pyrrus had performed similar ceremonies on his home planet Neodymium, and he pretty much knew what to say. Michelle also got to attend the ceremony from her bed in the cave.

Kerk had no ring to give Daphne. Julius, however, had cut a piece of cloth from his yellow shirt and made a thin bracelet out of the yellow cloth. Kerk put it on Daphne’s left arm to end the ceremony. They kissed and Pyrrus and the others applauded. It was a simple and quick ceremony. But it had thousands of years of history and everyone realized the great responsibility that belonged to the ritual.

Their departure was filled with emotions. Would they see each other again? Would they find the colony members? Were these still alive? Lots of questions, no answers.

Many words also remained unsaid. It was as if they were afraid to say the words out loud. If they did, the trip would surely fail. And they would never forgive themselves for leaving their colony comrades to their fate. They had to do their utmost to get them back.

One week later, Pyrrus, Kerk and Julius landed on Westworld. There was no time for happy reunions with old friends and acquaintances. Pyrrus and Kerk decided to pay a visit to the mayor of the nearby North town.

Julius was given the responsibility to buy weapons and supplies.

”How long will we be gone?” he asked.

”Get supplies for five or six weeks,” Pyrrus replied. ”The trip to Northworld takes only a week or more, but it can be tricky to find our comrades. From what I’ve heard, the whole planet is a huge maze. But I hope the mayor has a map that can help us.”

Pyrrus and Kerk didn’t ask for an audience when they arrived at the mayor’s residence. They resolutely pushed away the male secretary who stopped their entrance to the office and interrupted the meeting in the mayor’s office.

”Excuse me, gentlemen,” Pyrrus said. ”But we have an important and urgent matter for the mayor. Can you leave us alone for a moment? We will be eternally grateful to you.”

One of those present, who didn’t recognize Pyrrus and Kerk, protested loudly. But he was immediately interrupted by the smiling mayor, who stretched out his hand. ”Pyrrus and Kerk, what a pleasure to see you again!”

He pushed the others out. ”I’ll see you in a moment,” he reassured them. ”We can solve the ranch problems later.”

”What problems,” Kerk asked curiously.

The mayor waved his hands in the air. “The same as always, cattle theft. Some guards have also disappeared. Maybe problems with the savages again. The ranchers want us to improve the surveillance. Traces of spaceships that have landed in the wilderness have also been found. Pirates, maybe. We have received reports of new gangs plaguing the colonies. You had pirates on your home planet, too. On Neodymium, I believe?”

Pyrrus nodded thoughtfully. ”It may be that we have encountered a common problem.”

He briefly recounted what had happened on Death Planet. ”We have reason to believe that some convicts from Northworld have escaped and are terrorizing the nearby colonies.”

”It’s impossible,” the mayor replied. “Security is top notch over there. It has to be. Northworld is the only planet and colony in the galaxy that receives unwanted individuals with criminal backgrounds. The surveillance is very strict. To escape, steal a spaceship and leave is an impossible undertaking. In addition, we haven’t heard any alarming reports from the penal colony.”

”Do you keep regular contact with the guard force?” Pyrrus asked.

”Yes, once a week,” the mayor replied. ”Everything is ok, according to last week’s report. They had just received a shipment of prisoners from Eastworld, among them a general, the former dictator of the Union. He was overthrown like the one before, whom he betrayed.”

Pyrrus and Kerk clearly remembered the Union dictator Xingping, whom they had tricked into a trap and handed over to the neighbouring country, the Confederacy. They had not met with the replacement, General Dreyfuss, but anticipated that he would not retain power for long after Xingping’s fall. The opposition was too strong. Pyrrus and Kerk had helped the resistance movement to get weapons.

Kerk couldn’t help but ask: ”Do you mean General Dreyfuss?”

”Yes, do you know him?” the mayor wondered. ”The former dictator was named Xingping. He died shortly after his captivity in one of the Confederate hospitals.”

”No, we have not met this Dreyfuss, but we have heard of him,” Kerk replied. “We also thought he wouldn’t be particularly long-serving as the newly appointed dictator of the Union. Any news from Eastworld, by the way?”

”It consists of only one country nowadays,” the mayor replied. ”The Confederacy had a functioning society and it was well expected that the border between the two countries would be abolished. But I have heard that the former Union is said to have some form of self-government, when it comes to local issues.”

”What about Westworld, then?” Pyrrus asked.

”Everything is fine,” the mayor beamed. “Still two countries, but we work well together. Only the ranches have small problems from time to time with cattle thieves. But it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

”But this thing with spaceships landing in unexpected places out in the wilderness, that can lead to bigger problems,” Pyrrus pointed out. ”If they originate from Northworld, you may be facing an impending invasion.”

The mayor chuckled softly. However, he didn’t want to offend his guests. “Now, don’t let your imagination run wild. As I said, the situation is under control on Northworld.”

”How do you know the reports are coming from a reliable source?” Kerk asked. ”The criminals may have revolted and send false reports. Can you in any way be sure of the information?”

”Yes, we use codes,” the mayor replied. ”They are in this.” The mayor waved a small booklet tied in black leather.

”And they have the same codebook on Northworld?” Kerk asked.

”Of course,” the mayor said indignantly. ”Otherwise, they can’t send messages.”

”So, if someone gets hold of the book, they can send coded messages,” Kerk said. ”And that basically means anyone.”

”No, it’s not that simple,” the mayor said. ”Only the commander of the guard force and his closest man know how to use the code. It must be repeated at regular intervals to be comprehensible.”