"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 36 - Return to Kaldak" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

Meanwhile, J had a busy time defending Project Dimension X from enemy agents, accidents, and sheer
human stupidity. He had almost as busy a time defending Richard Blade from Leighton's wilder
experiments.

To J, Blade was more than a friend or a trusted subordinate. He was the son the aging bachelor
spymaster would never have. To Leighton, Blade was hardly more than an experimental guinea pig.

Or at least he had been once. That was before Leighton's experiment with the new KALI computer let
an immaterial but deadly monster from another Dimension loose on the world. Blade eventually defeated
the Ngaa, and Leighton seemed to have learned his lesson. At least he hadn't sprung either of his latest
ideas on J and Blade at the last minute, the way he used to.

Also, the Project was actually beginning to creep toward solutions to some of its long-standing
problems. Blade could now take some equipment with him, even though it had to be expensively
fabricated from a special alloy he'd discovered in a Dimension called Englor. The transitions themselves
no longer left him weakened or suffering from headaches. From the last trip he'd even brought back a
live, functional animal-

"Yeep!" A small brightly colored shape darted out from behind Lord Leighton's desk. It was Cheeky,
the "Feathered One" from the Dimension of the Crimson River. He was about the size and shape of a
monkey, but covered from head to foot with bright blue and green feathers instead of fur.

He was also telepathic.

J had always been open-minded about the possibility of telepathy. He'd seen too many odd things in too
many lands only a little less strange than Dimension X. Leighton had always been a militant skeptic.

What Cheeky did when he was around Blade had converted J to a believer. Even Leighton was saying,
"I'd like to run some experiments under carefully controlled conditions. That's been the biggest stumbling
block in dealing with ESP poorly designed experiments run by believers or outright nut cases!"

J put his foot down, however, on running the experiments right after Blade's return from the Dimension
of the Crimson River. Blade was obviously suffering from something like combat fatigue. Although he
was the sanest and toughest man J had ever known, with enough courage and survival skills for any six
normal people, Blade still reached the limits of endurance at times.

Was the sheer loneliness of Blade's profession also catching up with him? J had to wonder. Blade's
fiance, Zoe Cornwall, had broken off her engagement because the Official Secrets Act didn't let him
explain his trips to Dimension X. When they were on the verge of getting back together, she was
kidnapped and horribly killed by the Ngaa. By all accounts Blade had left a good dozen children in the
various lands of Dimension X, but in England he had neither wife nor child nor steady girlfriend nor much
of a home life to help him forget the grim battles he had to fight alone in Dimension X.

That was why J was so glad when Blade went out and bought himself a country house in Hampshire. He
was even happier to hear that Lord Leighton contributed part of the money. Now Richard was busily
restoring the place. While he was doing this, he'd be too busy between trips to feel lonely. When the
house was finished, he would have a place he could call his own to come back to.

If he lived long enough, he would even be able to retire there and-who could say?-marry and raise a
family.