"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 34 - Ruins of Kaldac" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

A choking sound made Blade turn around. He saw J trying to stifle laughter. To give the older man time
to recover, Blade turned back to Leighton. "Joking aside, sir, why this particular piece of equipment?"

"Two reasons," said Leighton. "One, it was the biggest thing we could make with the amount of EA 2 we
had and still have enough left over for further experiments. We could have made you a small helmet, but
we'd have had nothing left except your wire and some scraps and powder."

"I see."

"Two, you've often carped about arriving in other dimensions stark naked. Well, now you have
something to wear-an immodest garment, to be sure-nevertheless, it does cover you somewhat, and it
does protect a vulnerable part of your body. You wouldn't deny that, would you?"

Blade laughed. "Hardly." An injury there could easily cripple a man from pain or loss of blood, even if it
didn't castrate him, so maybe the silver loinguard did have some practical use. It was reassuring for Blade
to realize that even if Lord Leighton sometimes acted like a mad scientist, he still had Blade's best
interests in mind. Blade remembered the splitting headaches he used to have when he woke up in
Dimension X, before Leighton invented the KALI capsule. Sometimes those headaches were so bad he
wouldn't have found it easy to either fight or run. The KALI capsule got rid of them, which improved his
chances for survival.

But now Blade's mouth tightened as he remembered all the people the KALI capsule hadn't helped to
survive. Leighton had the seven-foot capsule controlled by a new, self-programming computer. The
computer opened a path between the Dimensions to a monstrosity called the Ngaa. It killed more than
thirty people, put the whole world in danger, and nearly destroyed Project Dimension X before Blade
fought and destroyed it in one of his grimmest battles.

One of the Ngaa's victims was Zoe Cornwall, once Blade's fiancee. He now knew that he was never
likely to love another woman the same way, yet he would never be able to marry a woman he didn't love
as he'd loved Zoe. Considering how he made his living, that was probably just as well, at least for the
woman.

Still, Zoe should not have been dead! Blade had not allowed himself to grow bitter and no longer held
her death against Lord Leighton. He also did not let himself forget her. He had to remember that Lord
Leighton's scientific genius was something like a two-edged sword, which could slash both friends and
enemies.

Blade picked up the loinguard again. "Can I get this off in a hurry if I have to?"

"Yes." Leighton pointed. "See-there's a quick-release hook on the side."

Blade saw the hook but tested it several times before he put the loinguard back on the table. He still
wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a bawdy joke by Lord Leighton, but it was also a step on the way to
arriving better-equipped-and better "dressed"-in Dimension X. That meant survival.

"I'll take a chance," he said. "What do you think, sir?" he asked J.

J frowned. "Well, Richard, it's your-ah, anatomy."
 "And I might add, Richard," Leighton now said, "your traveling to and from Dimension X with this
garment brings us one step closer to making an alloy-wire weapon or even an alloy-wire suit that will