"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 09 - Kingdom of Royth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

developing some human sensibilities about the whole Project? Was the cheerful patter an effort to
conceal a sudden nervousness of his own, as well as to attack the nervousness he assumed J and Blade
were feeling? J certainly didn't mind admitting to having the wind up a bit, as usual. He turned to look at
Richard, striding along in massive silence beside him. Blade's lips wore a very faint smile, but it seemed to
be pasted on, out of keeping with the rest of his manner, which was preoccupied and a bit tense. Hardly
surprising, that. Blade had been a first-class field operative for MI6 for the better part of twenty years
and had survived more unexpected dangers than most men would encounter in ten lifetimes. But even the
worst field assignment didn't throw an agent literally naked into a situation about which he knew
absolutely nothing beforehand. So far, Blade's physical and mental qualities had brought him through
safely. But this sort of good luck couldn't last indefinitely.
As if he had been thinking along the same lines, Blade turned to J and said, "How was the American
mission, sir? Do I plan to retire on my laurels after this trip?" There was a note of self-mockery in Blade's
voice that made J feel a little better. Richard was as ready as ever to take whatever the worldтАФthis or
any other oneтАФmight throw at him.
"Don't start planning your retirement yet," J replied in the same light tone. "It's too soon to see if the
Americans can come up with anybody good enough. I have a few names, but that's all for the moment. I
haven't yet even worked out a proper cover story for bringing them over here for testing."
Blade nodded. "Lord L thinks he may be on to a method for the advanced testing of candidates. Not
just physically, but mentally as well."
J nodded grimly. He thought of the ruined shell of a man locked away for the remainder of his life in
aNorthCounty institution because his mind had not survived the trip into Dimension X, even though his
body had returned. Lord Leighton turned around and also nodded.
 "If the mental breakdown was the result of some physical effect that the computer has on the
subject's brain, we're barking up the wrong tree. And if it turns out that Richard is the only man in the
world with a brain immune to that effectтАФwell, we're in a nasty situation. But if it's simply a question of a
man's being unable to adapt to such a fantastically different environment, one of the psychiatrists thinks he
may have developed a new method of testing for stress tolerance. If itтАФah, here we are."
As always, the main computer room, filled with the great shadowy bulks with their crackled finish and
the swarm of writhing multicolored wires reminded J of an abandoned temple of some fantastic and
sinister religion overrun by the jungle. And the squat black chair in its glass cubicle in the middle looked
like an altar for sacrifices of a highly unpleasant sort.
Blade, however, seemed entirely relaxed and at home. He turned to J and said, "Well, sir, it looks
like that time again. No point in making Lord L wait any longer." They shook hands, and Blade stepped
into the dressing room.
Inside, he quickly stripped naked and began smearing on the black paste that protected him from
electrical burns as the computer's immense power surged through his body. Now that the time was
drawing near, he felt his tension slipping away. It was replaced by anticipation. Apart from what it might
bring forEngland , the whole Project offered him an endless series of challenges and adventures. And it
was a love of these that had helped bring him into the intelligence service in the first place.
This time, of course, he was not running away from a broken love affair or running toward some
place he hoped might cure an inexplicable and maddening impotence. He had resigned himself to a series
of fleeting relationships with women as long as he was working on the Project. As for his virility, neither
he nor any of his recent partners could have any reasonable complaints on that score. No, it was just a
case of going out once more to do what he did well and, when you got right down to it, enjoyed doing.
He pulled on the loincloth. This was purely a gesture, since it had never yet survived the trip. He
stepped out into the chamber and strode over to the chair. He knew the routine by now to the point that
he felt like twiddling his thumbs as Lord L adjusted the net of restraining straps, then began attaching the
cobra-headed electrodes to every part of Blade's body. This went on until he was festooned with
wiresтАФblue, green, yellow, redтАФleading off in every direction into the guts of the computer, like some
mad artist's vision of an octopus.