"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 21 - Champion of the Gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

he was showing any emotion, it was anticipation, anticipation of what might be waiting for him in
Dimension X. J knew that he himself had once gone off on field missions in much the same frame of mind.
But those days were far behind him now.
J pulled out the folding spectator seat installed for his benefit on one wall and sat down. Blade had
already vanished into the changing booth. J leaned back as far as he could, wished he could light a cigar,
and watched Leighton bustling about the room, making final checks on the computer.
A few minutes later Blade emerged from the changing booth, stripped to a loincloth and smeared
from head to foot with a sticky, strong-smelling black grease. The grease was supposed to prevent
electrical burns. The loincloth did absolutely nothing that anybody had ever been able to figure out. Blade
always landed in Dimension X alive, sane, his head aching, and naked as a new born baby.
Blade sat down in the chair in the glass booth and Lord Leighton went to work. Like a gardener
fastening vines in place, he fixed scores and hundreds of wires to every part of Blade's body. Each wire
ended in a cobra-headed metal electrode taped to Blade's skin. When Leighton was finished, Blade
reminded J of a statue—a statue in some city long abandoned to the jungle, now completely overgrown
with a tangle of creepers and vines. As always, Blade sat perfectly still. With all the wires attached to
him, he couldn't have fidgeted even if he'd wanted to.
As Lord Leighton moved over to the master control panel, remembered to ask one of his usual
questions. "Any tricks this time?"
 "No. We're still accumulating data on Blade's return to Tharn."
J nodded, relieved. Lord Leighton was firmly determined to improve the Project in every possible
way. So far all they could do was land a stark-naked Blade somewhere and bring him back with
whatever he happened to be holding on to at the time. There was a lot more than that to be done
ifEngland was ever to benefit from all the millions of pounds poured into Project Dimension X.
So far, though, nothing they had done had broken the pattern. Once Blade had returned to a
Dimension he'd visited before, thelandofTharn . But that had apparently been pure accident. Lord
Leighton hated "accidents" with a violent passion, and sometimes he became a little too determined to
prove the superiority of the scientific method. When that happened, he sometimes threw novelties into the
computer without consulting anybody else or even taking proper thought for Blade's safety. So far they
had been very lucky. Richard himself had said that there was always such a thing as running out of luck,
however. As he always did, J mentally crossed his fingers and prayed that this would not be the time.
The lights on the control panel showed that the computer was reaching the end of the main sequence.
In a few seconds it would be ready to receive Lord Leighton's command to hurl Blade into Dimension X.
Lord Leighton reached out with one thin, twisted hand, in a surprisingly smooth and sure gesture. The
long fingers closed on the red master switch. The scientist seemed to draw himself almost straight. This
was his moment, the moment when the miracle he had made possible would take place again.
Lord Leighton pulled down on the switch. There was no sound, no thunderous roar to mark the
power let loose, not even a faint hum or hiss. But a searing golden light flashed through the chamber.
Every bit of metal and glass sparkled and glowed as if it had been dipped in molten gold.
J squeezed his eyes shut against the glare. When he opened them, the chair in the center of the room
stood there in its glass booth—empty.


Chapter Two
«^»
It usually took a little while for Blade's senses to reorient themselves as Home Dimension faded out and
Dimension X took shape. Usually he whirled through a nightmare of strange sounds and even stranger
sights while this happened.
This time things were different. A hammering pain exploded in his head and a searing golden light
swamped his vision, leaving him staring blindly into total darkness. Before he could even draw a breath
he landed with a distinct and unmistakably real thud an a hard, lumpy surface.