"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 29 - Angado" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

he bowed and hurried away. A mistake and one he must have
recognized; no assumption could be regarded as proof. Yet it was
a natural one for him to make, for what else was a dead body but
waste? And he had been influenced by Tron who had
demonstrated his weakness by his failure.

All this Avro considered as he made his way to the Dubedat
Hotel. To waste a valuable resource was to be avoided and the
young man could be salvaged. A period of intense training,
exposure to what a true cyber could be, a final warning to stiffen
his resolve and he could yet earn the right to don the scarlet
robe.

A decision made and set to one side as he entered his suite.
Byrne rose to greet him, Tupou at his side. Personal aides who
have traveled with him.

To them both Avro said, "Total seal."

He moved on, into his chamber, the door closing behind him.
A barrier the acolytes would protect with their lives. One
enhanced as he touched the broad band of metal clasped to his
left wrist. A twin to one Tron had worn; activated, it emitted a
pattern of forces which formed a zone impenetrable to any
prying electronic eye or ear.

Avro lay supine on his bed.

The hotel was luxurious, the bed soft, the ceiling decorated
with intricate designs picked in red and yellow and vivid scarlet.
Patterns which vanished as he closed his eyes and concentrated
on the Samatchazi formula. Gradually he lost the use of his
senses; had he opened his eyes he would have been blind.
Divorced of external stimuli his brain ceased to be irritated,
gained tranquility and calm, became a thing of pure intellect, its
reasoning awareness the only thread with normal existence. Only
then did the grafted Homochon elements become active.
Rapport was immediate.

It was followed by chaos.


Avro felt the mental shock and twisted in his mind, screaming
as his body lay immobile on the bed, dumb, soundless, incapable
of movement. A husk that housed roiling insanity, a conflict of
jarring discord, flashes of light, of color, of searing impossibility.
A turmoil in which he spun like a leaf in a gale, helpless to do
other than ride the storm, to wait for a period of calm.

It came with the echoes of rolling thunder yielding to a host of