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

standard gravity. He didn't care what other traps might await him there; they couldn't be
any worse than this.

Still the gravity increased, and he sank slowly to his knees to crawl forward. Although
the floor looked perfectly level, it felt uphill all the way.

At seven gravities his eyes were refusing to focus. He continued forward out of habit
and willpower rather than by any conscious plan. Even holding himself up on his hands
and knees seemed too much of an effort. He slid down on his belly and pulled himself
along. Sometimes he felt he was barely making any progress at all, but he did move
forward, however slowly.

After a dozen eons the force on his body suddenly eased. Startled, he looked around
and found that he had passed through the doorway into a well-lit room. There were two
chairs and a desk there. The desktop was littered with papers. Before him stood his
teacher, George Wilson, in a clean uniform, looking down on him with a smile on his
face.

"Congratulations," Wilson said. "You seem to have made it in relatively one piece." He
extended a hand to the man's prostrate form. "Would you like some help up?"

"No, thanks. I can manage." The testee pulled himself shakily to his feet and, at his
teacher's nod, walked over to one of the chairs and sat down.

Wilson took the other chair and started shuffling through the papers. "Now for the
evaluation," he said. "You didn't do too badly, actually. You made very good time
against the spotlight. You were a bit clumsy jumping over the electrified plate in lap two,
but results are more important than form in something like that. You were quick to find
your way out of the water chamber, and you had the stamina to pull your way through
the grav room. Which leaves only..."

And before he had said another word he was pulling a blaster from a concealed holster.
He was still smiling, but now the smile seemed cold and heartless. Wilson would have
loved nothing better than to direct a blaster beam straight through his student's heart.

Tired though he was, the testee reacted to this new and totally unexpected threat. All
through his training, his teachers had warned him against complacency. "Expect
anything at any time," they told him. "In our business, you won't go far wrong that way."

From a totally relaxed position, the testee quickly pushed his chair backwards and slid
under the desk. Arching his back upwards, he lifted the entire desk off the floor and
slammed it into his instructor. Wilson was prepared for the trouble and knew how to fall.
The blaster flew from his hand and landed on the far side of the room. Both men
scrambled for it, but the student got there first. Picking up the weapon, he aimed it
squarely at his teacher. "Khorosho," he said between pants, "maybe now you'll tell me
what's going on."

In the control center, a host of technicians kept a careful watch on the events of the
test, making sure everything started when it should and that nothing, no matter how
dangerous it seemed, would cause any serious harm to the participant. The purpose