"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 02 - The Jade Warrior" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

perfection was a curse. Not that Dickwasperfect, of course. He was stubborn as hell and he had a
murderous temper. And he liked the ladies just a little too well.
Ahead of him Mr. Newton Anthony was waxing philosophical.
"Solipsism," to me, "has never seemed a tenable position."
"Tempting, yes. Oh, indeed yes. Very tempting. But the theory that the self is the only existent thing is
not tenable. Why, it's very near to blasphemy. Rather like saying that the whole world, and God, dies
when a single man dies."
J, following along, saw one of the security guards near a hedge. The man watched them, recognized
them, then retreated into the shadows. J smiled to himself. Someone had to take care of the practical
things. He had a hundred men around the place.
Leighton's unction, as he answered, made J a little ill. The old man was actually clinging to the fat
fool's arm, as much as hanging on every word. J, who knew the old scientist well and liked him in spite of
all their differences, knew what the effort must have cost him. Lord L had more brains in his poor
wracked hump than Mr. Newton Anthony had in his whole fat head. Not that the man was really a fool,
of course. He was one of the big boffins. But need he be such a pompous bastard?
But as they entered the house and made their way into a great high-ceilinged study where a discreet
servant waited, Mr. Newton Anthony made rather a good point. J, who was a fair man, had to
acknowledge it.
"And yet this Richard Blade, when you have altered the molecular structure of his brain with the
computer, and sent him into the new dimension, will be a viable example of solipsism. Hewillcontain an
entire new world, or even a cosmos, in himself. In relation to ourselves back in this dimension, of course.
It will be most interesting to see, Lord Leighton, just how your experiments with the chronos computer
and the memory-expanding drug have worked out. And I will admit that I have not yet quite grasped the
theory. You people are so damned secretive, you know."
J sighed and went to sit by a green phone at one end of the long center table. No help for it. Lord L
was going to have to explain it again. Of course onlyhereally understood it.
 The servant gave them all brandy. Mr. Newton Anthony lit another fat cigar. J declined, as he was
feeling more than a little ill. He watched the old man with compassion. Lord Leighton looked like the sick
and overworked man he was. He was a hunchback and polio had struck him early in life, he scuttled like
a crab rather than walked, and his evening clothes hung on him. His hair was snow white and thin enough
to disclose a wrinkled pink scalp. It was his eyes that carried his spirit. They were large and yellow,
lion-like, streaked with red, and at the moment they could barely conceal their loathing for Mr. Newton
Anthony. Lord L knew that onlyhecould understand his "memory stretching" theory. He was bone weary
and wanted to get this over with and get to bed.
J took a deep breath and held it. Leighton was set to go off like a pneumatic fuse. J raised his glass of
brandy to conceal his expression. If the old man blew now, there might not be any money for future
experiments. This trip through the computerтАФand God help BladeтАФwas pretty well set up. But Lord
Leighton thought like a chess masterтАФmany moves ahead.
Lord Leighton took a sip of brandy. Very softly he said: "You will remember, Mr. Anthony, that
Richard Blade had trouble with his memory his first time through the computer. I thought I had explained
all that rather thoroughly?"
He was having difficulty keeping the old lion snarl from his voice. J took a hasty gulp of brandy.
Mr. Newton Anthony caught a hint of the snarl. Rather hastily he said, "Oh, that, of course I
remember. I recall our conversation distinctly. It is the precise technique that I do not recall. Just how you
enlarged Blade's memory, how you 'stretched it,' as it were, and provided him with this memory
reservoir?"
Lord Leighton lit a cigar with fingers that were like yellow claws, then continued. "Blade began to
lose his memory almost as soon as he landed in the X-Dimension. We use that term for convenience.
Actually it was in a land, or world if you will, called Alb. Blade did not, you understand, lose his memory
totally either way. Going into Dimension X or coming out of it. But his memory was very bad. He could