"John DeChancie - Skyway 3 - Paradox Alley" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

skin was smooth, sleek, and dry. He was warm, but his body
temperature was slightly lower than normal, or so I thought.
But who knew what was normal for him?

No carotid pulse. I looked at his left eye again, then swi-
veled his head to examine the right. Then I stood up.

"He might be dead," I said.

"Good God," John murmured.

"That's crazy," Carl said in almost a whisper.

"Oh, my." John came over to stand beside me. "Jake, are
you... are you quite sure?"




4 John DeChancie

"No. But he doesn't have a heartbeat, leastways none that I
can detect. He's not breathing, I don't think. We should roll
him over and... hell." I slapped my forehead. The past sev-
eral minutes had been so disorienting that I had slipped into a
sort of semiparalysis. Here, ostensibly, was a human being in
need of help, and we were all standing around like dummies. I
came out of it. "Daria! Run and get the medikitтАФknow where
it is?"

"Yes." She ran back to the truck.

I got out the key and called Sam.

"This has all been very interesting," Sam observed.

"Sam, set up to monitor this guy's life signs."

"If he has any. Is he human?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

Carl was slowly shaking his head in disbelief. "Crazy. I
just poked him one. It couldn't have been enoughтАФ"

"It was enough," John said acidly. Then he bent over
slightly and peered at Prime's face. "Of all the bloody, beastly
luck." He straightened and let out a long sigh. "Well, that's it,
isn't it? We're all dead."