"John DeChancie - Castle 08 - Bride of the Castle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

Perilous, and other stuff. I always wondered how he could be a lord and a king at the same time, but he
says his traditional title, in the castle's world, is `Lord.' Like a duke, or earl, or something. Which makes
him vassal, really. But inside the castle, it's a world in itself, and in that respect he's a king, of the realms
of Perilous. See what I mean?"
Max opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He shook his head.
Jeremy said, "Look, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. You saw the lab, how crazy it is. I could
take you out into the hall and show you a window. It'll look out onto the castle's world. But if I take you
to the next window, you'll look out and see, like, a totally different world."
Max took great pains to say, "Hochstader, listen to me. Tell me this. What the hell happened to this
world?"
"I was coming to that. Like, I said, Earth is just another of the castle's worlds, and you get to it by going
through a portal, like the one in the next room. That's a portal leading back to the castle. It's a
passageway between two worlds, the castle's and ours. Got that?"
"Got it. I guess."
"Okay. Now, you see, what I did was de-tune the portal a little bit."
"What?"
"De-tuned it. I did it with the castle mainframe. Just tweaked it a little. And what you get when you do
that to a portal is basically the world you started with, but one that's a little different."
"Different?" Max said.
"Yeah, but the differences are minute. Like, for instance, in this de-tuned Earth, the place where you
work doesn't exist, but everything else is pretty much the same."
"I see. Why?"
Jeremy shrugged. "Hard to say. Maybe in this variation of Earth's history, things happened a little
different. Was it your business?"
"No, it belongs to a guy by the name of Herbert G. Fenton."
"Okay, so maybe in this world, Herbert G. Fenton didn't start that business. Maybe he started another
business, or none at all. Maybe he doesn't exist in this world, or got killed long ago."
"You know, now that you mention it . . ." Max got up and walked to the fly-specked window. "Now that
you mention it, Herb is forever talking about that car accident he was in a few years ago, and how he
almost got-"
Max trailed off, gazing out into the night. Then he turned toward Jeremy with a strange look.
Jeremy grinned, raising his arms. "So there's your answer. What's important, though, is what happened to
you in this variation of Earth."
Max frowned. "Me?"
"Yeah, you. Your history, your life story is going to be different in this different Earth. Your situation
might be a little different. Or a lot different. Or . . . well, tell you the truth, I've been in this world before.
Did some snooping, some detective work. And I think I have a deal for you."
"A deal for me."
"Yeah."
Hochstader got up and strode to a coat tree in a corner, undraped a blue and white athletic jacket, and
slipped it on. He grinned at Max. "Feel like taking a little night air?"

The taxi made its way quickly through sparse late-evening traffic. It had begun to rain earlier, but now
only a light drizzle fell. The cab driver was the silent type, seeming uninterested in the strange
conversation that was going on in his back seat.
"Tell me again," Max pleaded. "This "aspect." It's a whole different world?"
"Universe, actually," Hochstader corrected. Passing lights briefly illuminated his boyish, perpetually
grinning face. "And really not very different in most respects from the one we came from. But as far as
your situation is concerned . . . well, that's another matter."
Max slumped back in the seat, his mind full of cobwebs. He looked out, seeing shadows that threatened