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

various court activities as a function of season and other social factors; in fact, he was
poring over all the pictures taken at such events, hoping for a glimpse of the elusive
Lady A, and then checking guest lists for some clue to her identity.

The search was not very rewarding. After a week, all he had to show for his efforts were


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a couple of faces off to the side or in one corner that might be his quarry. The guest
lists themselves were worse than useless because they were invariably incomplete.
There were always gate-crashers, or last-minute invitees who never made it onto the
lists, or people who did not show up and gave their invitations to others at the last
moment (without, naturally, notifying their hosts), so that names and faces bore almost
no correlation whatsoever to one another.

Jules was getting heartily sick of looking at pictures that produced no positive results.
He would almost rather face an army of villains armed with heavy duty Wasters than
have to look at another dull crowd shot of another senseless party. But he knew that the
dull parts came with every job, and that for every second of excitement in the field,
there were hours of backup research work at some desk. With a tired sigh, he clicked
off the current picture and summoned up the next from the computer's memory.

And suddenly he sat bolt upright. There she was, in a full-face shot. She was far in the
background, to be sure, but there was no mistaking the cold beauty of her face, the
expression of superiority and self-confidence. He had found that she was definitely on
Earth at an official court function at some time in the recent past.

He cross-checked the date of the picture and groaned. It had been taken four months
ago in Bloodstar Hall at the official announcement of the Crown Princess's engagement
to Choyen Liu, a mystical young man from the planet Anares. There would be no pos-

sible way for him to check the guest list for that event; it had, by tradition, been a public
gathering, open to all who could come. Most of the attendees were the nobility, who
found it easier to wangle their way in; but that did not preclude Lady A from being
anyone else on the entire planet.

Jules felt very frustrated at having a vital clue be handed to him and then snatched
away again before he could make anything of it. He recorded the data number of the
picture in case he should ever need to refer to it again, then went doggedly on to the
next picture.

By the end of the day he had found no new leads and was utterly exhausted. It never
failed to amaze him how research work like this could be more tiring than any amount of
fighting. Bundling up his notes, he signaled to be let out. Several minutes later a guard
came and unlocked his door, and he reversed his path to the shuttle entrance. He
waited more than an hour for the next craft down to Canaveral Spaceport, and from
there took a taxi to the shabby apartment where "Pierre Abelard" made his home.