"Gordon Eklund - Serving in Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eklund Gordon)

Jan wasn't too sure how he ought to answer that: "I want to
go home. That's all."

Gail laughed. "I'd call that pretty crazy." But she shrugged.
"Still, everybody has a right to hold an opinion."

"Then how about you telling me your opinion? Where in the
world are we?"

"Well, not in the world for one thing. But do you really mean
to say you don't know any of it?"

"All I know is that some men kidnapped me. The United
World Corps. They want me in it, but I don't know what it is."

Gail was shaking her head. "Whitlow told me that, but I
couldn't understand it. If you don't know anything, why did they
choose you for the draft? I was picked because my father and
grandfather before me were corpsmen. That's usually the way it
has to be."

"Well, I had a cousin. Norton his name was. My uncle said
they took him, too, years ago. He never came back."

She shrugged. "Neither will you."

Jan felt his anger and frustration building again, but he was
too much in pain to try fighting. He sought to remain calm:
"Why don't you just tell me? All at once? Instead of letting it out
in little trickles."

"I guess you're right. HereтАФ" she held up her fingers and
ticked off the points as she proceeded "тАФfirst, never call it the
United World Corps. That's a front name. We call it the time
corps. Second, you're a time technician in training here at the
Corps Academy. You will be expected to pass a rigorous course of
study, after which you will be sent into the field. Thirdly, and I
guess this really should have come first, what the time corps
does, its purpose, is to travel into the past. We do scholarly
research, probing around, that sort of thing. It doesn't sound all
that exciting when you reduce it to words, but I'm not lying
when I say you're awfully lucky to be here."

But Jan didn't feel the least bit lucky. All he could do was
shake his head hi total dismay. He hardly knew where to begin.
The best he could manage was to repeat the most incredible fact
of all: "Did you say travel in time?"

"Of course. The Lackland Process. Sidney Lackland. You really