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

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was not to kill him, but to discover exactly what his capabilities were in field action. The
Service of the Empire had to know what its agents could do before it sent them out on
their assignments. With the safety and security of the entire Empire at stake, it could
hardly afford any miscalculations.

Overlooking the rows of technicians monitoring their instruments was a VIP booth,
where special visitors could also witness the proceedings. At present there were three
very interested spectators: two women and a man.

One of the women was a tall, slender aristocrat with long black hair and a handsome
face. Helena von Wilmenhorst was the daughter of, and chief assistant to, the Head of
the Service of the Empire. Despite the fact that she was only twenty-one years old, she
was rapidly maturing into one of the most capable planners and administrators the
Service had ever seen, thanks to the able tutelage of her father. Helena owed her life to
the man now being tested, and no power in the universe would have kept her away
from observing his final tests.

The other two people in the booth were similarly indebted to the young man and
likewise had a great deal of interest in the outcome. Jules and Yvette d'Alembert, the
brother-sister team from the heavy gravity planet DesPlaines, were the top two agents
in SOTE's mighty arsenal. Not only were they naturally strong and quick, as people
from high-grav worlds tended to be, but they'd had a rigorous training almost from the
moment of their births that few people in the galaxy were privileged to undergo. The
d'Alembert family were the owners of, and principal performers in, the Circus of the
Galaxy.

In addition to being the top entertainment attraction on any planet it played, the Circus
bad another function: almost since its inception centuries ago, it had been the
ultra-top-secret right arm of SOTE. Jules and Yvette had been the star aerialists for
years before leaving to move up to their true jobs as agents of the Emperor.

They did not look physically imposing. Jules d'Alembert stood only a hundred and
seventy-three centimeters tall, though he massed a respectable hundred kilograms; his
sister Yvette was ten centimeters shorter and thirty kilos lighter. But the two of them
were in a more superb condition, both mentally and physically, than any mere mortal
had a right to expect. On the thousand point test, Jules was the only person living to
have scored a perfect thousand. Yvette was only an eyelash behind him at 999.

Now they watched eagerly as their friend, Pias Bavol, went through the final stages of
that same test. Although they had met him less than five months ago, the young man
had won their friendship and, indeed, saved their lives in a couple of situations on their
last assignment. Though he had not had the lifetime background in undercover work
that they had, he showed such a proclivity for it that induction into the Service was a
logical result. The fact that he and Yvette had fallen in love and were going to be
married made it necessary as well.