Kurt Mahr was the pen name of Klaus Mahn (Klaus Otto Mahn), a German science fiction writer famous for his contributions to the Perry Rhodan franchise.
He was known among the writing staff as 'The Physicist', due to his original profession, which also allowed him to give a greater degree of scientific accuracy to his literary work.
He was killed in an accident in Florida in 1993, aged 59.
The Gazelle, with Reginald Bell and his Mutant Corps team, was able to escape Laros but was taken by a mysterious telekinetic force to crash on the planet Gom in the Twilight Zone. All have survived and have found refuge in a cave during a violent storm.
The approximately Saturn sized planet is indeed an oxygen world, however, people are exposed to massive stresses due to a surface gravity of 1.9 g, an air pressure of about 20 bars and outdoor temperatures from 100 to 500 degrees Celsius.
After the storm subsided, the telepath John Marshall and Betty Toufry receive faint contact with a semi-intelligent, flat creature that stands out only by a change in color of the floor and looks like a brownish varnish stain or a flounder. Initially curious, it approaches the cave, find the Terrans not interesting and leaves.
The telepathic attempt to make contact with Gucky on the TITAN fails. Apparently the superimposed transmission of the strong but senseless thought impulses originating from Gom are interfering and so they have no other choice but to wait.
Almost one Earth day long they spend in idleness. But suddenly the wreck of the Gazelle has disappeared. Tako Kakuta finds out via a short teleport jump that there is an incalculably large stain that can be seen from his long-range reconnaissance All at once as if under hypnotic influence Ivan Ivanovich Goratschin, Kitai Ishibashi, Wuriu Sengu and Tama Yokida embark and stand on the flounder and likewise disappear. The suspicion is that both ship and mutants were "eaten".
Again pass uneventful hours, until they are surprisingly attacked by the large stain creatures. They flee at first, but then have to face up to the fight, only to find that they have no chance against the two-kilometer-long and half a kilometer wide flounder. By chance, Marshall discovers a apparently man-made hole leading deep into the ground. Since the flounder cannot seem to follow them, they decide to escape into the tunnels.
The TITAN under Perry Rhodan continues to condemn the inaction because the patriarch conference still continues. Gucky believes he is receiving signals, but cannot fix on them because of the telepathic "noise" existing in this sector. Nevertheless, hope rises that there are survivors.
The small force with Reginald Bull, meanwhile, has found that the passage leads to an enigmatic system consisting of chambers and tunnels. The temperature is maintained at 14.3 degrees Celsius. Marshall receives hostile impulses and in one of the chambers, which is full of small flounders, they find the unconscious Goratschin. To all appearances, he was protected by his spacesuit before digestion. His rescue provokes a massive attack of Gom-being. Since the beings can only perceive two dimensions, but manages to escape via random steps created with thermal beamers. Then Marshall perceives a clearly formulated telepathic kill command which is directly followed by an armed attack by Ara-Bios. The Terrans technically have nothing to oppose this massive assault force. In a desperate attempt it is possible for the two telepaths to direct the Bios to retreat via suggestion.
Due to the sudden emergence of Bios, Marshall develops a theory. He suspects that the Aras have only therefore settled on Laros to use the Goms, as he referred to the flounders, for the basic substance in the production of the Bios. It is his opinion must be an environmentally sealed vacuum chamber created as a huge maternity ward with temperature regulation.
After finding the vacuum chamber, the pressure can be brought relatively easy to tolerable conditions for humans. It proves to be a good place to take off the space suits. Only in this way they have the chance to get to use the food concentrates they carried from the Gazelle. During this rest break Marshall succeeds in getting in touch with one of the Over-Goms - the merger of many Goms into an intelligent and conscious being. It turns out that the Goms are not very well-disposed toward the Aras and the Over-Gom by clarifying some misconceptions promises to show the Terrans a way out of the facility.
Once outside, they are attacked by two hundred Bios that just landed. While Tako Kakuta tries to seize one of the attackers’ flying discs, the other fight desperately against the overwhelming force and are saved only by the intervention of Goratschin who the awakens at the last moment. He destroys all Bios with a nuclear explosion. Because they are so close to the action, they lose consciousness for an extended period.
Tako realizes that his captured flying aircraft is remote controlled and he does everything possible to override the remote control mechanism controlled from Laros. Even Reginald Bull, again awakened from unconsciousness, tries to make contact with Tako Kakuta to help him get a flying disc in his control. However, this proves to be extremely stressful and difficult because of the planetary conditions.
After the destruction of the first group of Bios, the Aras attack again. First, they send another four hundred Bios. Second, they command the Goms to capture the enemies and deliver them to the Aras or they will cause the destruction of at least half of the Gom-substance. The Goms give in to the pressure and combine to create a thousand square kilometers of Over-Gom and along with the now landed Bios begin their attack on the Terrans. Ras Tschubai and Marshall may still emit a coded cry for help to the TITAN prior to the battle using the partially disabled flight boat. During the fight the three missing mutants appear entirely unexpectedly and Tako can positively influence events with the conquered flight disc.
Ultimately, however, the TITAN comes to the rescue. Since the meeting of the Springer is over and their fleet has left the Gonom system, Perry Rhodan can at last intervene. Gucky calls on the super-Gom to retreat. The castaways are taken on board and the TITAN attacks Laros. With an Arkon bomb set so that the Aras have enough time for an evacuation, the moon is destroyed.
From Talamon, Rhodan learns of a hyper radio message that states the attack on Earth is decided and to be carried out shortly. The TITAN sets course for Earth.
this is it.. the big fight! Bell and what's left of the mutants against the Gom... who are a race of Gelatinous Cubes that can shapeshift... and merge to become bigger and smarter.
The bigger plot of the Springers attacking Earth at the behest of the Aras takes a back seat for the batter for survival with Bell and co.
It's pretty fun, and it's really nice to see Bell get some positive screen time, instead of just being comic relief. This is one of the few times I've actually felt like it makes sense for him to be Perry's 2nd in command, instead of just being told that and wondering why. The battle has a few conviences that are a bit ridiculous, but its not like there was any chance they were killing Bell off, so it wasn't so bad.
One of the 'shock shorts' was a pretty good one pager..'Turnabout' by Greg Akers. Cosmos also continues to crawl along.. I'm pretty much over Cosmos... you've taken too long and lost my interest ;).
Bell and the Mutants on the planet Gom. Where they have to fight... the Goms! Goratschin is allowed to use his powers, or is it their powers? Maybe I have liked reading it as a kid, but somehow I doubt it.
Gom antwortet nicht ist ein Filler-Roman. Reginald Bull musss sich mit seiner Crew auf Gom durchlagen und ebenso mit dem Goms. Die Goms sind irgendwie interessant, aber logisch ist der Roman nicht unbedingt. Es hat vielleicht seinen Grund, dass er es nicht in die Silberbände geschafft hat.