"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 32 - Pirates of Gohar" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

this arrangement, either. Even the most obtuse Prime Minister or Minister of Defense knew that J
working half-time was worth any other two men working full-time. There are great namesтАФthe
equivalent of Rembrandt or EinsteinтАФin the shadowy world of intelligence and espionage. J was one of
these.
After the usual greetings, J and Leighton sat down to talk, while Blade went off to the changing room.
He threaded his way among the gray crackle-finished consoles of the main computer. There weren't any
loose wires dangling, and everything had been largely cleaned up. Just as wellтАФit would be years before
anyone let Leighton play with the sleek, squat consoles of the KALI system again.
 Inside the changing room the routine was nearly the same as always. Blade stripped down and pulled
on a brief loincloth. The loincloth was more like the fig-leaf in a painting than anything useful. Blade hardly
ever arrived in Dimension X other than naked as a newborn babe. When he did, it seemed to be more a
matter of luck than anything else. At least he no longer had to smear himself with that foul-smelling black
grease to prevent electrical burns.
When he returned to Leighton and J, they'd just finished discussing his proposal for an above-ground
laboratory complex. "Sound enough, in theory," said J. "I much appreciate your suggestion, Richard.
Unfortunately we still can't be sure how much about the affair of the Ngaa reached the opposition. We
did our best, but that may not have been good enough. If it wasn't, the KGB may know enough about the
Project to recognize anything associated with it. Then they'd give any new laboratory a high priority and
give us a first-class headache. Frankly, I'd rather devote our resources to getting that second capsule
operational."
Leighton grinned like the Cheshire cat. J was normally rather reluctant to give his blessing to any of
the scientist's cherished ideas. Getting J behind the two-capsule rig made it almost a foregone conclusion,
given time, money, and hard work.
"So would I, sir," said Blade. "I usually need all the help I can get in Dimension X."
"We'll listen more carefully than usual for any strange noises from the opposition," said J. "If we don't
hear anything in the next few months, we can certainly give the matter some further thought." He looked
around at the rock walls. "This blasted tomb certainly does cost a bloody fortune."
Blade stepped up to the KALI capsule, the twin of the one in the damaged workshop. This one had
its lid standing open and the padded interior, contoured specifically to Blade's body, standing open. As
he lay down, he saw Leighton press the START button on the controls for the main sequence. Then the
scientist and J gripped the lid and carefully swung it shut on Blade. Now he was in darkness, as complete
as if he'd already been in a lightless alternate universe. He knew that he was also linked to the computer
more thoroughly than he'd ever been in the days of wires and cobra-headed metal electrodes.
Then there was no more blackness, only an eye-searing flash, which made Blade think he'd been
shifted into still another universe, one filled with light. He felt a tingling all over his skin, a series of sharp
blows on his chest and temples, and then he was falling endlessly through a cool clear blueness.


Chapter 2
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The dream-like falling sensation went on until Blade got used to it. It began to remind him of the days
he'd been weightless in Riyannah's spaceship on the way to Kanan, during perhaps the strangest and
certainly the most far-traveling of his adventures. That time, he'd traveled not only some unmeasurable
distance across the Dimensions, but at least a hundred light-years across interstellar space as well.
Blade was just beginning to recall pleasant memories of making love to Riyannah in weightlessness,
when suddenly the fall came to an end. Something solid slammed up under his feet so hard that his knees
buckled, and he fought for balance as the normal world started to take shape around him.
At first, all he could see were blurred forms, which might have been anything, and he could hear only
a muffled whispering like wind or waves. He was clearly aware of his own body, and was relieved to
discover that it seemed to be in working condition. He had no trace of a headache, no pains in his joints