"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 5 -Appointment at Bloodstar" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

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APPOINTMENT AT BLOODSTAR

Volume five of The classic Family d'Alembert series

By E.E. 'Doc' Smith
With Stephen Goldin

CHAPTER 1
The Thousand-Point Test

The man stood in the darkened room, nervously awaiting the events to come. His
compact body, product of a high-gravity world, was clad in a skintight bodysuit that
allowed maximum freedom of movement. He had spent the past four months preparing
for this moment, and now all his acquired knowledge would be put to the ultimate test.
For better or worse, the outcome of this trial would affect the rest of his career. His lips
were dry, no matter how often he extended his tongue to moisten them.

Suddenly a bright light shone straight into his eyes. Even as he blinked, some instinct
told him he was an easy target standing up in the glare. Without even knowing where
he was going, he crouched and sprang forward in the direction of the light. As he did so,
he heard the buzzing sound of a stun-gun, but felt none of the effects. Had he remained
where he was, the test would have been over the instant it had begun.

Now that he was moving, he realized that his only hope of passing was to remain in
motion. There would be more traps ahead to overcome, and he dared not slow down to
let them reach him. Safety, he had been taught, lay in speed. But not blind speed; his
reflexes had to be in complete linkage with his brain to achieve the finesse that many
delicate situations required. He had to think as he moved, so that thought and deed
could be accomplished as close to simultaneously as possible.

He knew of only one thing in this darkness besides himself-the light that was still
shining almost directly into his eyes. As long as that light was on him he would be in
constant danger. It made sense, therefore, to move toward the light and put it out of
commission before the stun-gun's owner put him out of commission.

His leap forward brought him down on his right shoulder. He rolled as he'd been taught
and came up in a low crouch, prepared to move again. He took a few quick steps to his
right, then zigzagged back to his left. The short buzzes of the stunner kept sounding
out, proving that he was far from home free; but by keeping his movements in a random
pattern, he rendered his would-be destroyer unable to hit him.

The light was much closer now. One more small leap took him to a point just beside it.
It turned out to be a small spotlight some thirty centimeters in diameter. Lifting his foot
in an arc that would have made a ballet dancer jealous, he gave the bulb a vicious kick.
The plastic covering shattered and the light burned out instantly, leaving him once more
in darkness broken only by the blue spot before his eyes, the afterimage of the
spotlight.