"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 33 - Killer Plants of Binaark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

the crotch, joints, and soles of the feet. We'd start off with a coarse mesh, then tighten it up until you'd be
going through practically wearing a suit of armor. After that we could start adding equipmentтАФa knife, a
folding bow, fishing gear, a slingshot."
Leighton had obviously been thinking matters through quite systematically. Blade nodded. "It sounds
very much worthwhile, sir. But I can see at least two problems.
"First, the suit is going to have to be easy to take off and put on without help. Second, it's going to
have to be cheap enough so that I can afford to lose it or even throw it away if necessary."
Leighton frowned. "I don't imagine either will be impossible. But may I ask why these are problems
at all? Do you like romping naked through strange Dimensions?"
Blade laughed. "Hardly. But consider that the suit is going to be centuries ahead of the technology of
most Dimensions. They may think technology that is too advanced to understand is magic. Magicians
sometimes get an unfriendly reception. I've had better luck with my 'traveling warrior' or 'exile' cover
stories. I'd like to be able to strip off the suit and hide it any time it would spoil my cover."
"I see your point," said Leighton. "In any case, I wasn't proposing to suit you up for this trip. Nor are
we yet ready to try sending another person into Dimension X. It will take a few weeks to make the alloy
into enough wireтАФthe stuff's fiendishly hard to work, as you might expect. I was thinking of starting this
time by gluing this piece onto your skin and sending it through with you."
Again Blade and J looked at each other. Both minds held a single thought: Leighton becoming
cautious and conservative? Either he's gone round the bend or the age of miracles isn't over yet.
Both Blade and J realized that an alloy-wire suit and equipment would increase Blade's chances of
survival in Dimension X without making it more dangerous to get there, and it would also increase the
survival chances of some other Dimension traveler. However, such a man or woman, even if he or she
was as tough and sane as could be, would still lack Blade's positive genius for surviving bare-handed,
bare-skinned, and bare-witted in the strangest environments. Thus, Leighton's caution was admirable.
"Very good, sir," said Blade. "I'll have no objection to being wired up."
It was a feeble pun, but Leighton seemed to think it called for a drink. In fact, they eventually decided
it called for quite a few drinks. However, Leighton served excellent brandy, which didn't leave even the
faintest trace of a hangover. Blade was entirely clear-headed the next morning when he glued the wire to
the inside of his left thigh and climbed into the KALI capsule for his thirty-third journey into Dimension X.


Chapter 2
┬л^┬╗
Blade got the worst headache he'd had in several trips into Dimension X, but that wasn't the fault of the
KALI capsule. He landed at the top of a steep bank, lost his balance, rolled down, and banged his head
against the tangled roots of a large tree at the bottom. The world danced around him, and he wasn't sure
if the singing he heard was from birds in the tree or from inside his own skull.
Blade crawled deep into the damp, musty shadows under the tree, lay down on a mat of leaves and
needles, and breathed deeply until he could sit up. Then he tested all his limbs and joints to make sure
they were working, and propped himself up against a root until the headache began to fade. When he felt
his head there was a tender spot, but no swelling, no bleeding, and definitely none of the symptoms of a
concussion. That was good news. A mild concussion could have disabled him for a couple of days. A
bad one could have left him defenseless for weeks. Blade had always accepted the fact that a disabling
injury on his way into Dimension X might be the end of him. Since there was nothing he could do about it,
he stopped worrying. He'd learned very early in his career with MI6A that unnecessary worrying was a
dangerous luxury.
Now that his worst problem was solved, he checked the wire. It was still in place on his thigh. Gently
he peeled it loose and wound it around his left wrist like a bracelet. Where it had been was nothing
except a red mark from the glue. So far Lord Leighton's experiment seemed to be working.
Blade saw that he'd landed in a sort of tropical rain forest. Except for the steep bank where he'd