"H. Beam Piper - Police Operation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

and went to the desk. The policemen grasped their paralyzers, drew their needlers, and hurried into the
dome.

Taking the disk of blue plastic from his packet, he handed it to the clerk at the desk, who dropped it into
a slot in the voder in front of him. Instantly, a mechanical voice responded:

"Verkan Vall, blue-seal noble, hereditary Mavrad of Nerros. Special Chief's Assistant, Paratime Police,
special assignment. Subject to no orders below those of Tortha Karf, Chief of Paratime Police. To be
given all courtesies and co-operation within the Paratime Transposition Code and the Police Powers
Code. Further particulars?"

The clerk pressed the "no"-button. The blue sigil fell out the release-slot and was handed back to its
bearer, who was drawing up his left sleeve.

"You'll want to be sure I'm your Verkan Vall, I suppose?" he said, extending his arm.

"Yes, quite, sir."

The clerk touched his arm with a small instrument which swabbed it with antiseptic, drew a minute
blood-sample, and medicated the needle prick, all in one almost painless[Pg 8] operation. He put the
blood-drop on a slide and inserted it at one side of a comparison microscope, nodding. It showed the
same distinctive permanent colloid pattern as the sample he had ready for comparison; the colloid pattern
given in infancy by injection to the man in front of him, to set him apart from all the myriad other Verkan
Valls on every other probability-line of paratime.

"Right, sir," the clerk nodded.

The two policemen came out of the dome, their needlers holstered and their vigilance relaxed. They were
lighting cigarettes as they emerged.

"It's all right, sir," one of them said. "You didn't bring anything in with you, this trip."

The other cop chuckled. "Remember that Fifth Level wild-man who came in on the freight conveyor at
Jandar, last month?" he asked.

If he was hoping that some of the girls would want to know, what wild-man, it was a vain hope. With a
blue-seal mavrad around, what chance did a couple of ordinary coppers have? The girls were already
converging on Verkan Vall.

"When are you going to get that monstrosity out of our restroom," the little redhead in green coveralls
was demanding. "If it wasn't for that thing, I'd be taking a shower, right now."
"You were just finishing one, about fifty paraseconds off, when I came through," Verkan Vall told her.

The girl looked at him in obviously feigned indignation.

"Why, youтАФYou parapeeper!"

Verkan Vall chuckled and turned to the clerk. "I want a strato-rocket and pilot, for Dhergabar, right
away. Call Dhergabar Paratime Police Field and give them my ETA; have an air-taxi meet me, and have
the chief notified that I'm coming in. Extraordinary report. Keep a guard over the conveyor; I think I'm