"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 16 - The Crystal Seas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

TheCrystalSeas
Blade Book 16


By Jeffrey Lord




Chapter ONE
^┬╗
It was all about to start again. Richard Blade was feeling tense, not frightenedтАФhe had been beyond that
for many years. In twenty years as a secret agent and then several more years of travels into Dimension
X; he had seen and done nearly everything a man could do. There was nothing left in this world and little
in any other that could actually frighten him. But a trip into Dimension X was a trip into the unknown, and
Blade was always keyed up to an extra pitch of alertness when facing the unknown. He had to be.
Otherwise he would have been dead a good many times, both on earth and in the "somewhere else" of
Dimension X.
That "somewhere else" was still a mystery, even after the years of time and the millions of pounds that
had gone into Project Dimension X. Its existence had been discovered the day Blade's brain was linked
to Lord Leighton's computer. That computer had been almost a moron, compared to the brilliant
scientist's latest creation. But it had served to fling BladeтАФsomewhere. And after Blade's long ordeal of
survival, in the "somewhere else," the computer had also served to bring him back.
The discovery of Dimension X completely eclipsed Leighton's original project of linking a human and
a computer intelligence. Being able to penetrate other dimensions and bring back their knowledge and
perhaps resources toEngland was obviously an enormous breakthrough. So what had started out as an
eccentric genius's private fancy suddenly became a Frankenstein's monster. Everybody seemed to want
to get in on the act. Eventually Project Dimension X settled down to focus on four key people.
There was Blade, the only living man able to travel into Dimension X and return alive and sane, one
of the most perfect physical and mental specimens alive. He only hoped that he could stay that way under
the strain of successive trips into Dimension X. The one now only a few minutes away would be his
sixteenth.
There was Lord Leighton. No doubt the scientist was waiting now in the main chamber of the
complex far below theTowerofLondon , among the looming gray bulks of his computers. A
hunchbacked, polio-twisted body, which looked like the caricature of a mad scientist's, housed one of
the greatest scientific brains in history. It also housed one of the most irascible and ill-mannered
dispositions, but anybody who had to work with Leighton for more than two days either got used to that
or fled. The key men of Project Dimension X could not afford to flee.
There was the Prime Minister, who kept money in the project's budget and inquisitive politicians out.
He kept his eye on the "big picture" and his hand firmly on the administrative reins to keep Lord Leighton
from galloping off in all directions at once. This administrative hold was badly needed.
And there was J, walking beside Blade at this moment, down the long, gleaming corridor in the
underground complex. Blade stole a glance at J. The man looked older each time they met, but he still
hadn't lost the appearance of an upper-grade civil servant. Under that near-perfect natural disguise lurked
one of the great spymasters of modern times, a man held in respect and sometimes awe or fear on both
sides of the Iron Curtain. As head of MI6, he had recruited Richard Blade fromOxford more than twenty
years ago. As head of MI6, he had been Blade's guide and mentor and almost father-figure during those
twenty years. Still as head of MI6, he did for Richard Blade and Project Dimension X all the things that
scientists or politicians couldn't do. The strain had shown on him; that was obvious. But he was the sort
of man who would not abandon his post as long as he was alive.