"08 - The SSR Sings the Blues" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

Which was true-and what difference would it make anyway?

I gulped it down. The champagne had tasted a lot better.

"I will now explain," he said, recapping the bottle and putting it back
into his briefcase. "You have just drunk a thirty-day poison. This is a
computer-generated complex of toxins that are neutral now-but which will
kill you horribly in exactly thirty days if you are not given the antidote.
Which is also computer-generated and impossible to duplicate."

He jumped back quite smartly when I leaped at him. But the chain on my
ankle would not quite reach. My fingers snapped ineffectually just in front
of his throat.

"If you will cease clawing at the air I will explain," Narcoses said with
an air of weary sophistication. Had he done this kind of thing before I
wondered? I folded my arms and stepped back.

"Much better. Although I am a lawyer licensed to practice on this planet, I
am also a representative of the Galactic League."

"Wonderful. The Paskonjakians want to drown me-you poison me. I thought
this was a galaxy of peace?"

"You are wasting time. I am here to free you, under certain conditions. The
League has need of a criminal. One who is both skilled and reliable. Which
is an oxymoron. You have proved your criminalistic ability by your
almost-successful theft. The poison guarantees your reliability. Do I
assume that you will cooperate? At the minimum you have a life extension of
thirty days."

"Yes, sure, you're on. Not that I have a choice."

"You don't." He looked at the watch set into his little fingernail and
stepped aside as the door opened. A chubby, bearded youth came in with a
sheaf of papers.

"Excellent," Narcoses said. "You have the will?" The young man nodded. The
door was closed and sealed again.

"Five minutes," Narcoses said.

The newcomer pulled down a zipper that sealed his onepiece suit. Took off
the suit-and a lot of flesh with it. The suit was padded. He was not fat at
all, but lean and muscular quite like me. When he peeled off the fake beard
I realized that he looked exactly like me. I blinked rapidly as I stared at
my own face.

"Only four minutes left diGriz. Put on the suit. I'll fix the beard."