The General first ordered for the Peacemaker to be tied hand and foot between two pillars in the palace hall. He stayed there until it was done, and Dorina Vaccer was standing completely helpless with her arms and legs spread between the two pillars...
Two armed guards stood a few steps away from the Peacemaker. They did not let her out of their sight, although the woman had no way of freeing herself from the bonds.
The General approached her slowly...

"Don't do it," she advised him calmly. She didn't seem afraid, didn't even feel threatened. "Let's talk peacefully. There are so many possibilities for you that you can't even imagine." She was unable to use body language because she was tied up, but she was confident that her skills were sufficient to control the General. As a Peacemaker, she was used to her powers of persuasion prevailing.

But in this case she was wrong. Her words had no effect on the General. She tried again with other phrases but had no success. Then she finally understood that her abilities were failing her in this case. She looked at the General, extremely uncertain. He grabbed her blouse and ripped it open with a jerk. The cellular activator hung between her uncovered breasts...

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German magazine Perry Rhodan is the most published science fiction periodical in the world, with over one billion copies sold. It's been running continuously since its debut in 1961 and thus exceeds 3,300 consecutive weeks in print. Each issue contains about sixty pages of text offering the latest chapters in an ongoing space opera saga spanning thousands of years. Humanity has colonized space for so long as to become subdivided into biologically distinct subgroups with different characteristics and abilities.

Individual stories (called "cycles") are serialized over a period of 1-2 years. Issue #1554 comes from the cycle "The Linguids," also the name of the human subgroup which it concerns. They are famed for their linguistic skill (hence the name) and powers of persuasion, so they often function as mediators, "Peacemakers."

Dorina Vaccer is a Linguid, described earlier as "a petite, fragile-looking woman with fiery red hair that she had styled to flare up on her face like the rays of the sun. Her deep-set green eyes contrasted sharply with her hair and the bronze skin that was only visible on her nose and around her mouth. She had a smoky, throaty voice and spoke in a strikingly quiet tone. Her speech was extraordinarily accented and clear, like that of someone who had received careful language training. Atlan noticed that she was wearing figure-hugging trousers of beige fabric and a particularly wide blouse made of a soft material. This clothing was clearly carefully chosen, as was the jewelry on her wrists and shoulders. Nothing about her seemed obtrusive or exaggerated…."

In the Rhodan mythos, Monos was a galactic dictator for six hundred years. His "Children," also known as Monkins or Bionts, are failed cloning experiments. On the planet Skiagatan, an aging and disfigured general named Zoporra has been reduced to piracy to feed his Biont followers. He attacks Perry Rhodan and his friends, demanding that they surrender Dorina's cellular activator, which could extend his life.

Cellular activators are a central plot feature in Perry Rhodan stories. They are the creations of fickle galactic super-intelligences and can't be replicated by humans. Most are keyed to the biology of their owner, allowing a few recurring characters to stick around for centuries and even millennia. A few are generic and can be used by anyone. Naturally such an immortality trinket serves as a McGuffin for any number of plots, as it does here.

Dorina voluntarily goes with General Zoporra, thinking she can use her Bene Gesserit-like mental powers to subdue him later. It doesn't work out that way, as described above, because the activator (seen around her neck on the cover) is messing with her abilities. Before the general can use the cellular activator, a vengeful rival (the third figure, standing in the shadows on the cover) steals it. By the time it's recovered, the General, now portrayed as a pitiful figure, is too far gone to save. He didn't molest Dorina; he just wanted to live.

Even so, Dorina spends a day and a half chained spread-eagle between two pillars (the text leaves a chicka-bow-bow impression; the cover image is less lurid, and gives her a somewhat more comfortable posture too) before Perry Rhodan arrives to free her. By then, she's more concerned with the plight of the Monkins living in abject poverty on Skiagatan, and she vows to help them. Pretty large of her, all things considered. I guess that's why her job is "Peacemaker."

Herbert "Johnny" Bruck (1921-1995) was an extremely prolific painter. He had been producing covers for Perry Rhodan (as he did for its predecessor Terra) since its very first issue.

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