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

identification check similar to the first. When he had assured these new people that he
was who he claimed to be, a guard escorted him to his study cubicle and locked him in.
From now until he signaled to be let out, Jules would be totally alone.

The cubicle was equipped for the basic human needs. A small 'fresher unit stood in one
corner and a food dispenser was built into the wall to satisfy his appetites. There were a
lounge chair, should he grow tired, and a bookreel viewer mounted on the wall. A small
desk served as his work area; from there he could link into the computer and receive
information either in display form on a small viewing screen or printed onto bookreel
tape for a more permanent record. A decidedly uncomfortable chair went with the desk;
Jules wondered briefly why institutional furniture was never designed to accommodate
the human body properly.

He sat down at the desk and began his researches. Ever since his and Yvette's
adventure on Sanctuary, the top SOTE command was aware that there was a
broad-based conspiracy, previously unsuspected, acting within the Empire. Its goals
were not yet known, but that it boded no good for the present regime was an obvious
conclusion. One of its highest officers, if not the actual leader, was the mysterious Lady
A. This archtraitor knew the identity of the Head of SOTE and seemed to have an
excellent working knowledge of the Service's activities. The Service, in turn, knew
nothing about her. That situation would have to change.

To maintain utter secrecy, only five people within the Empire's forces were allowed to
know of Lady A's existence: The Emperor, the Head, Helena, Jules, and Yvette. The
information had not even been fed into this computer Jules was now using, lest Lady
A's conspiracy had somehow managed to tap into its resources. Only as long as Lady A
thought her existence was still unknown to SOTE would the Service have any
advantage over her at all.

They were grasping at straws, and the Head admitted it. As long as Lady A knew what
SOTS was doing, she could act with relative impunity. They would have to plug the
leak, and fast, but to do that, they needed to know more about Lady A herself.

To that end, Jules was going through this elaborate disguise to get information that
rightfully should have been his for the asking. The Service would have to get its
information in roundabout ways. If they simply ran an identity check on all people who
looked like Lady A, it could warn their quarry and spoil the element of surprise. So
instead, Jules had to content himself with peripheral glances, hoping to find enough
small clues to fill in the larger puzzle.

Their starting base was abysmally small. They knew what Lady A looked and sounded
like from a captured recording of her actions. She was a strikingly beautiful woman of
indeterminate age, with a cold voice and an imperious manner. They knew she ranked
high in the underground organization, and that she knew the identities of the Head and
his Girl Friday and some of SOTE's inner workings. And they knew from her clothing
that she kept abreast of the latest fashions at the Imperial Court, which required her
presence at court functions occasionally, since fashion was constantly changing. That
was all.

In his cover identity as Pierre Abelard, Jules was ostensibly researching attendance at