"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 01 - The Bronze Axe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

mass of highly specialized material. Material that is esoteric and sophisticated, in the form of symbols and
words, and in combinations of both, and at this moment, Mr. Blade, with your brain as it now is, you
could not even faintly begin to comprehend it. This machine, Mr. Blade, is programmed to solve
problems and utilize knowledge that evenI do not understand! Doyoubegin to understand at all?"
Blade did. It was beginning to come through. It seemed eons ago since he had been readingThe
Timesat breakfast.
Direct interaction between the computer and humanbrain.
Blade had spoken the words aloud. Lord Leighton did not appear surprised, but rather pleased. The
little man clapped his crippled hands together. "Exactly, Mr. Blade! Exactly. I see that you have been
reading the newspapers. I must take the blame, I am afraid, for misleading them a bit about dates. I
stated 1990, I think, as the earliest possible date for such direct interaction? Yes, I did. I am a liar, Mr.
Blade, but I am sure you will understand.Theyare working along the same lines, and the more we can get
them to underestimate our progress the better it is."
Blade knew all about that. It was in his line of work. "So if this experiment works," he said, "I'll be
carrying around a lot of high powered knowledge that I haven't had to sweat to get? That I haven't had to
learn? It will just be there?"
"Precisely." The little eyes glittered at Blade. "It will just be there without any effort on your part. You
will know, and be able to use, what it has taken me, and hundreds of my colleagues, all our lives to
accumulate. The machine will impart it all to you in a few minutes. The machine is only a machine, after
all, and can give you only what has been programmed into it, but nevertheless it will mean instant genius
for you, Mr. Blade. Instant genius! And now, with your permission, we will get on with it."
"But," said Blade, seeing the catch, the trap, "I won't be the same man afterward. I won't beme. And
I don't think I wanttobe a genius. I'm quite satisfied with things the way they are."
Lord Leighton raised a hand. "Think, Mr. Blade. Think hard and long before you say no—think of
your country and the relatively low estate to which we have fallen. I am a genius, Mr. Blade, but I am
only one and can do only so much. But if this works, we can turn out geniuses by the dozens, by the
hundreds, thenEngland can find her place in the sun again. Without armies and navies. Without economic
superiority. We can lead the whole world in scientific genius. Can you refuse, Mr. Blade? Can you?"
Blade was suddenly aware that he couldn't. Leighton had reached behind him and pressed a button.
Blade was aware of a low humming sound, of gentle electrical charges surging through his body and
making little waves in his blood.
Blade could not move now. He willed his legs to move and they did not respond. Nor did his hands
and arms. There was no pain, yet the current held him in the chair like a giant repressing hand, a hand that
had solidity but no weight. He was rigid, immobile, bound to the chair by invisible chains of electricity.
His vision began to blur. His head began to swell like a balloon. Lord Leighton's twisted body
changed into a ball of color, a flame, a whorl of spinning haze that faded away and away and then was
gone. The glass around Blade changed to water and began to run over him, yet he did not feel wet. The
wires were tiny snakes now, biting at him with shiny jaws, yet their bites drew no blood, brought no pain.
The roaring began in Blade's ears. He was free now, no longer in the chair, soaring through the sky
and rolling and dipping in an absolute freedom he had never known before. He was a spirit without body.
He lived, and yet he wasnothing; he was huge and he was tiny; he was an ant and he was a planet.
Storm now. A mingled wrath of darkness and light. Blade went curving into it at a trillion miles an
hour, into an awesome boil of clouds. Lightning stabbed at him. Again. Closer. Blade knew cold and fear
and he screamed as the lightning came again.
The massive lightning bolt was a crooked golden dagger slashing at Blade, skewering his head. His
brain exploded. The pain was beyond bearing. There had never been pain like this before, never would
be again. All the pain since the world began was being poured into his skull.
The pain vanished. Blade, a seared leaf, a crumple of dust, a trace of moisture, trembled upward into
void.