"Gordon R. Dickson - The Last Dream" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

HE FELT HIMSELF BEING WRENCHED AND FLUNG—

AS IF ACROSS SOME IMAGINABLE DISTANCE OF TIME OR SPACE…

The aged face of the man who called himself James Rater Bailey had worn a snarl when they left him
alone in the cell with Doug. His gnarled fingers clutched at the tattered charms he always wore about his
throat and he muttered something, as if praying to the devils it had been said he worshipped.

Doug has never sought help, knowing he could expect none. It had been a fair fight after he was
attacked, and the hoodlum’s death had been an accident. Doug could have escaped if he had not called
for an ambulance. But he had not asked for mercy even after he had learned the drunk was the son of the
state’s Governor. He had faced their gas chamber without pleading.

“Doug.” The old man’s voice had been urgent. “I came to help you—for your grandfather’s sake.”

Doug snorted. “Miracles don’t work against cyanide.”

“Doug, listen. You won’t believe me—nobody ever did. But take this!” A tiny capsule had fallen from his
crooked hand.

Now, fighting the spasms from the deadly gas, Doug seemed to be dreaming . . of another time and
place…


THE LAST DREAM


GORDON R. DICKSON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

These stories have appeared previously, in a somewhat different form, as follows:

“St. Dragon and the George,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1957. © Fantasy House, Inc.,
1957.

“The Present State of Igneos Research” and “Ye Prentice and Ye Dragon,” Analog, January 1975. © Conde Nast
Publications, Inc., 1974.

“A Case History,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1954. © Fantasy House, Inc.

“The Girl Who Played Wolf,” Fantastic, August 1958. © Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., 1958.

“Salmanazar,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1957. © Mercury Press, Inc., 1962.

“With Butter and Mustard,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1957. © Fantasy House Inc.,
1957.

“The Amulet,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1959. © Mercury Press, Inc., 1959.

“The Haunted Village,” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1961. © Mercury Press, Inc., 1961.