Страница 46 из 47
The shuttle raced away from Dark Warrior under full power, relying on speed rather than maneuvering for safety. As Dark Warrior faded behind them, the pilot turned to his passengers and pushed up his mask.
«There's some transparent tape in Locker K. One of you get it out and slap some on the canopy. The main cabin's still tight but keep your masks on anyway. We may still get shot at a bit before we're out of this.»
Blade unbuckled himself, floated over to Locker K, and dug out the roll of heavy glassy tape. He was just floating up past the pilot when suddenly there was a new sun in the sky. It swelled up, poured out light for a minute that seemed like an hour, then faded.
Dark Warrior was gone.
Riya
Blade held her hand. «I know. It would have been a fine ending to our victory. We could have learned a good deal more about the Targans from examining Dark Warrior. But it doesn't matter now. The ship's gone and so is Loyun Chard. Anything else the Targans do in space for a long time to come will be peaceful.»
«We hope,» said Riya
«It's mostly up to you Kananites,» said Blade. «The Targans will be just as proud without Loyun Chard as they were under him. I suspect the Menel will also have-«
As if mentioning the Menel had called them, the radio came to life. Blade recognized the voice coming across space as the Speaker-translated Menel ambassador.
«Targan shuttle, do you have Richard Blade aboard?»
Blade took the microphone. «I'm aboard.»
«Well done, and so say all of us who fought in this battle. It is your victory. Do you wish to be picked up?»
Blade looked at the pilot, who nodded. «Yes. This shuttle's taken a bit of a beating.»
«Very good. Stay on your present course and we will rendezvous within fifteen minutes.» Silence.
Blade finished taping up the cracks in the canopy, then drifted down into the cabin, hand in hand with Riya
The minutes crept by. The pilot was just reporting the Menel ambassador's ship on the radar screen, when Blade felt a familiar pain stab through his head. He rose from the couch, floating upward as he tore off his mask. Riya
«Are you going Home?»
The pains were coming harder and faster than usual, but Blade managed to get out a strangled «Yes.» He thought, This is the first time I've been able to tell someone in Dimension X where I'm going. I'm glad it's Riya
The touch of Riya
Chapter 23
Blade walked along the sands of Dover Beach, listened to the rumble of the surf on the shore, and looked up at the stars.
He didn't look at them with any hope they'd help him sort out his thoughts. He'd already done that, as much as he ever could. He thought he'd done rather well, considering what an absolutely cosmic can of worms this last mission to Dimension X had opened! He'd thought his meeting with the Wizard of Rentoro would hold the record for confusion and complication for a while, but here was the very next trip and the record was up in smoke!
At least Lord Leighton had rolled with the punch and come up swinging. Instead of dying of frustration over all the maddening new questions this trip posed, he was behaving like a small boy let loose in a candy store with a five-pound note.
«You've opened up a whole new approach to Dimension X and all the related phenomena,» he'd said, practically rubbing his hands in glee. «We badly need to explore the possibility of movement through space during the transition into Dimension X. I've always said so but I've never been able to get any support from the people who control the appropriations. Fantasy, they call it. Nonsense! I knew I was right, and now they'll have to admit it and provide an appropriation for exploring the possibilities.»
J's eyebrows rose. He'd heard Lord Leighton conjure up the need for more appropriations often enough before. If all Leighton's brainstorms were added up, the total bill for Project Dimension X would resemble the a
«How much do you expect to need for this exploration?»
«For the preliminary stages, no more than a million pounds or so. We'll have to-«Here Leighton went off into a long list of people and equipment that would be needed, most of which was Greek to Blade.
J's eyebrows rose higher as Leighton went on. When the scientist paused for breath, he asked quietly, «How much do you expect to need eventually?»
Leighton shot the other man a sharp, suspicious glance. He knew exactly why J was asking this question, but still wouldn't be held back from answering it. «A minimum of ten million pounds over the next five to six years.»
That more or less ended the discussion for the time being. No doubt Leighton would get some extra money to start off in this new direction. It was far too important to be ignored entirely. But ten million pounds! Blade could see J trying hard not to laugh as they left Leighton's office.
Here on Dover Beach, Blade did laugh. Leighton certainly had something worth exploring. The computer had snatched Blade back across a hundred million miles of space as well as across the Dimensions. Perhaps they were on the edge of discovering a method of teleportation.
Yet Blade had to wonder. Was Lord Leighton perhaps dashing off after the possibility of teleportation so he would not have to face the infinity of infinities the Menel scientist had suggested, and what it might mean for not only the Project but for all science? Lord Leighton's intellect was immensely powerful and his courage undoubted-but were there things before which even he quailed? It was a question Blade knew he would never get out of his mind, or ever be able to answer.
So Blade preferred to leave the possibilities and perhapses of science to Lord Leighton. His mind turned back to remember the other, more solid things he'd done on this trip.
The technical films made the trip back with him, slightly fogged by radiation in some places but mostly legible. The solar collectors would take some time to develop, because they depended on combinations of metals that apparently were much more common on Kanan than on Earth. The power cells, on the other hand, were something that could be in mass production within a few years. His trip had probably put forward the arrival of a practical electric automobile by a decade or more.
What had he left behind? He'd left Riya
It was also certain that if he ever found in Home Dimension a woman with her qualities, he would love her and leave no stone unturned to marry her. She might not enjoy the ordeal of seeing him hurled off to Dimension X time after time, but she could endure it, and between trips there would be so much they could share.