"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 19 - Looters of Tharn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

other supported him from knees to feet. Then all three tentacles lifted. They lifted him in through the hatch
as easily as a housewife lifting a loaf of bread from the grocery shelf. They laid him down as gently on a
smooth but warm and yielding surface. Then they withdrew, and in the same silence the hatch swung
closed. Two clicks sounded again in the darkness as the latches snapped into place.

Chapter 7

Lights flashed on. For a moment the sudden white glare after the darkness dazzled Blade. He closed his
eyes, then opened them slowly as they adjusted to the light. He did not try to rise or even move so much
as a finger or a toe. The relief at being safe for the time being from those coiling tentacles was too great.
His skin dripped a cold sweat from head to foot.

His plan had worked. He was where he had to be to learn to operate the machine and then drive it away
from the city. But awareness of that stayed in the back of his mind for a couple of minutes, while he
savored the sheer delight and relief at being alive.

After those minutes Blade gathered his legs under him and rose to his feet. His head promptly banged
into the roof of the cabin, hard enough to make him wince and swear. He hunched his shoulders, rubbed
the sore spot on his skull, and looked about the cabin.

The machine had obviously been built by and for humans, or at least beings about that size and shape.
That was good news. Blade had been too busy to consider the problems of operating a machine
designed for a crew with seven stalked eyes, four arms, three legs, and a prehensile tail. But they would
have been nasty problems. He was perfectly happy not to have to face them.

The layout of the controls was a model of simple design. Six screens on the forward wall of the cabin.
No doubt they showed views in four directions plus up and down when they were turned on. A control
panel with various dials and large switches. A black-enameled wheel on a central shaft in front of a
leather-upholstered seat. Three more control levers sprouting from the shaft.

Blade sat down in the chair and fastened the seat belt snugly around his waist. His first few efforts to
control the machine would probably be a bit erratic. He didn't want to be splattered all over the cabin if
the thing turned over or started doing loops. Then he examined the switches and levers more closely.

One was most likely the main power control. The dial above it glowed silvery blue for about a quarter of
the way across its face. Blade left that one strictly alone for the moment.

Of the three levers on the control column, the bottom one had a purple button on top. Blade left that one
alone too. The color suggested it might be the firing button for the machine's ray-weapon.

Of the other two, one had a silvery zig zag on its black handle. Blade had to study it for a while before
he realized that the silvery zigzag looked like a stylized metal leg. It would be the control for starting and
stopping the machine's four metal legs. The computer probably took care of controlling their movements
on a continuous basis.

Probably. Blade wished he didn't have to use that word so often. But what else to do? It would be silly
to press the wrong button and blow himself and the machine all over the plain. But it would be a damned
sight sillier to sit here doing nothing, after going to so much trouble to get into the machine in the first
place!