"W. T. Quick - Dreams of Gods and Men" - читать интересную книгу автора (Quick W T)

suddenly from a sheath.
Nervously, Toshi tried to raise his right hand to wipe sweat from his burning eyes, forgot about the mandrakes and, but for the slow
freezing of incipient paralysis, almost blinded himself. "Damn it!" He paused, then swallowed heavily. "Uh, Levin, I take it back.
Whatever you're gonna do, you better get started. I don't think there's much time -- "
He didn't finish the sentence. Levin took control of his vocal cords. And everything else.
It was an eerie sensation. Toshi felt as if he were watching himself from a distance, slow and dreamy, but without connection. Yet
he was still in his body. Levin was pushing buttons, pulling all the nervous wires.
The implants which connected him to Levin were modeled on some very nasty wrinkles in mind control the NASA-INTEL people
dreamed up in the late nineties and later discarded as too dangerous for even their arcane purposes. Levin actually used him as a
remote input-output unit. He watched from Toshi's eyes; heard from his ears, shared his enthusiasm for the taste of dark beer and the
smell of fresh bread. In their strange relationship, Toshi functioned at times as an ultimate Waldo. Berg said it was safe. Toshi trusted
Berg. And Berg had designed Levin. But, he thought uncomfortably, we've never truly put it to the test -- and when the Blade flowed
into his rocky nest like a striking bushmaster, all his emotions clamored blindly against the prison of his skull. Toshi's hands, covered
with electrified, razor-studded mandrakes, moved suddenly, a blur faster than he could follow. The unbidden movement shocked him.
Amazing, Toshi thought. Nice set of reflexes.
The Blade sported his own set of jumped-up nerves and muscles, backed with genetic memory grafts. The Church augmented
Blades as bodyguards and assassins, and the resulting samurai were the best ever known at those poignant trades. A single Blade
was perfectly capable of chopping a battalion of ordinary troopers into prebreakfast snacks. This one grinned flatly as he flicked a pair
of steel-spiked nerve balls at Toshi's eyes. As part of the same fluid motion he raised his left foot, toes inward, for an immediate killing
strike.
Toshi watched this with an intense concentration. Two score answering moves jittered through his shrieking brain, but the
synapses weren't passing on any messages. Time slowed down. A deep hum began to pulse at the base of his spine. The Blade's foot
came up and up. Toshi's left hand rose slowly, batting the nerve balls away as he turned. His right knee blocked the foot strike, moved
forward to drive at the Blade's groin. The little man backed away, beginning a roll, but Toshi's fight hand, 'drake buzzing and spitting
power, brushed his face.
The Blade convulsed. His spine arched like a broken bow.
Toshi's left hand came down. The Blade screamed once, but it was too late. He was already dead.
_That fast?_ He felt himself go numb at the ease of it.
Levin broke the loop. Toshi found his voice.
"Jesus, Levin, what was _that?"_
"I told you it would work."
"Yeah." Toshi stared at the body crumpled at his feet. He had always wondered if he could take one of them even up. He still
didn't know. Had he done it? Or Levin -- or both of them?
The God was still at work somewhere. Free of the feedback loop, Toshi felt ghostly tendrils of control begin to surge again at the
walls of his mind. Certain problems were now painfully evident. The efforts of the dead God were almost immobilizing him. Sooner or
later the situation would turn fatal. He had to get out, and only Levin could do that for him. He carefully considered the logic of it, but
the deep levels still recoiled at turning over control once again.
Yet the word had to get out. The interminable war with Arius and New Church, Inc., had probably been futile from the start, but he
still fought. And so did Berg, and Calley, and all the others. They had to know about this new mind control weapon -- it was deadly in
itself. But perhaps only Berg could truly gauge the threat embodied in the system itself -- that Arius could somehow function in the real
world without a body, or at least a brain, for physical support. He recalled Berg's often muttered question: What _is_ real? He shook
his head. It was Berg's question. Let him answer it.
At the moment it was all beside the point. The contract was definitely busted. He had to get the hell away. And do it now, he
reminded himself. Nevertheless, he asked the question again. Maybe there was a different answer.
"Okay, Levin. Now what?"
"I can put you out while I take over." Levin's voice was soothing. As always, he answered the unspoken words first.
"That would be better." Toshi exhaled slowly. "I don't like it much the other way."
He could almost see Levin nod agreement. Then came the sudden dark, and Levin marched him out of there like a big, blind
baby.
When he opened his eyes he saw night. He shook his head and watched faint starbursts flicker at the back of his eyeballs. The