"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 9 - The Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

the brightly lit hallway into her darkened reception room.

Because of the headiness of that evening, perhaps she could be forgiven the few instants of
bewilderment before knowing definitely that something was wrong. She stood frozen in the doorway for a
moment, her instincts giving her a message that her mind was still not prepared to accept. There was a
strange feeling of disorientation, as though she'd suddenly entered a world where everything was forty-
five degrees from perpendicular.

Then realization came to her. The light had not come on when she entered the room. The
computer had been programmed to turn lights on immediately upon her passing through the doorway. Yet
if the computer were simply malfunctioning it wouldn't have opened the door for her at all. Someone must
have tampered with it.

Even though Helena was not really a field agent, she'd trained at the Service Academy and the
instructions they'd given her served her in good stead. She sized up the situation instantly. She was
standing in the doorway to a darkened room with a bright light behind her. That made her a silhouette, an
easy target for anyone inside the room. If she tried to back quickly out of the room, she would remain a
target for several seconds before she could be out of the line of sight. Her best bet would be to go forward,
into the darkness.

Helena dove to her right where she knew there would be a smooth patch of carpet. Once she left
the doorway, the door slid silently shut behind her, enveloping the room in almost total blackness. She
landed on her right shoulder and rolled until her back was against the wall. She scrambled to a crouching
position, subconsciously comparing her own clumsy efforts to the smooth, fluid motion the d'Alemberts
would use for the same maneuver. Her right hand reached to her belt for the ministunner she always
carried there.

From the darkness at the center of the room, where Helena knew the large couch was, a woman's
voice said, "A rather melodramatic entrance, don't you think?"

"Who are you!" It took every gram of control for Helena to keep her voice steady.

"Must we play twenty questions? You know who I am."

Indeed she did. Helena had heard that voice from only one previous source, a videotape recovered
from the planet Sanctuary, but she had replayed that tape many times. The brittle coldness, the crystalline
enunciation, could belong to only one person—Lady A, leader of the mightiest conspiracy ever to threaten
the Empire of Earth.

With that realization came the knowledge that the ministunner she held would do her no good.
Aimée Amorat had long ago transferred her mind into this perfect robot body. A stun weapon would be
useless against it because she had no biological nervous system to be affected. Still, Helena kept her
stunner at the ready in case Lady A had any friends with her.

Trying to remain calm, Helena said, "Khorosho, Aimée, I know who you are. What do you want?"

"To begin with, some common civility. If you won't yet recognize me as Empress, a simple 'Your
Grace' would suffice. I was Duchess of Durward, child, and, as such, your peer."

"I'm not your child," Helena said, "and you're not my peer. And you still haven't answered my