"03 - Time Streams" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

silver man perceived more than just things. He perceived the

organization of things, their disposition, and what they

implied about their creator. The laboratory was a study in

the mind of Master Malzra-ancient, obsessed, brilliant,

tireless, preoccupied, short-sighted, grandiose....

Master Malzra, meanwhile, studied him. The man's gaze

was penetrating. Folds of aged skin drew up skeptically

beneath one eye. His nostrils flared, but he didn't seem to

breathe at all. One soot-blackened hand trembled slightly as

he raised it to scratch his ash-blond beard. He swallowed,

blinking-but with eyes like that, as hard and sharp as

diamonds, it seemed he didn't need to blink at all.

"Any noticeable change in the probe's energy profile,

Barrin?" Malzra asked over his shoulder.

It was a strange greeting. The silver man felt somewhat

offended.

"A reasonable enough question," came the response-from

Malzra's second, a master mage. Barrin stepped from beside

an injection mold. He wiped grit from his hands with a white

cloth. "Why don't you ask him?"

Malzra blinked again. "Ask whom?"

"Ask him," the mage repeated, quirking one corner of his

mouth. "The probe."

Malzra pursed his lips. He nodded. "Probe, I am Master

Malzra, your creator. I wish to know if you notice any