Part 1 (2/2)
”If the new booth hadn't worked out so smoothly the first time, I'd have my doubts,” said Blade slowly. ”As it is, I'm willing to try it. What about you, Cheeky?” He spoke as if he was speaking to an intelligent, rational being. J found himself looking around for the person being addressed.
”Yik-yik-yeeeek!” went the feather-monkey. Then he hopped up on top of Blade's head and clung with all his fingers and toes buried in Blade's hair. Blade stood with a long-suffering expression until Cheeky climbed back down onto his shoulder. Then he nodded.
”He's willing to try it.”
”Splendid!” said Leighton, with genuine relief and enthusiasm in his voice. ”The new booth is a real breakthrough. The faster we can exploit it, the faster we can make the Project really successful. Or at least less vulnerable to accidents,” he added. ”I'll really sleep a trifle better when the Project can survive Richard's falling off a ladder while fixing the roof on that confounded Hamps.h.i.+re mausoleum of his!”
”I couldn't agree more,” said Blade. ”In fact, do we need to limit my equipment anymore? The fabric and rubber material I took through last time survived as well as the Englor Alloy.”
”More equipment, as well as Cheeky?” said J dubiously. ”That's two experiments on one trip.”
”True,” said Blade. ”But some sort of backpacking outfit shouldn't make that much difference. I was also thinking of Cheeky. I can forage for my meals or tighten my belt better than he can. I've got to take some food for him, at least.” The feather-monkey yeeeped in apparent approval.
”I must say I was thinking along similar lines my self,” said Leighton. ”I would suggest some care, though. We've got a second knife made of EA Two, so you'll have a spare. We can also make up one for Cheeky in a few days. Other than that, I'd suggest not taking anything metal. Above all, no guns. I'd be a trifle uneasy about subjecting anything explosive to the new field this time.”
”I wasn't thinking of a gun,” said Blade. ”It's the sort of thing I might find a bit hard to explain if I landed in a pretechnological society. I've been suspected of black magic often enough as it is. What about one of those knockdown crossbows we used to have in MI6A? You remember them, sir. Fit in an attache case, but a two-hundred-pound pull and no metal in them.”
J nodded. ”I think I still have enough influence to rout one of them out of the Weapons people.”
”Then it's settled, is it?” said Leighton.
”As far as I'm concerned, it is,” said Blade. ”What about you, sir?”
J still had reservations. This was going to be the biggest leap into the dark since the original KALI computer. However, they were already far beyond the limits of what anyone outside the Project considered science. What did they have to lose?
”Might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb,” said J. ”See you next week, Richard.” They shook hands, and J also reached up and patted Cheeky's head. Blade had tried to teach the feather-monkey to shake hands, but he flatly refused.
Outside, J was so preoccupied as he walked to his car that he was nearly run down by a delivery truck pulling into Complex Two. Several men came out and started unloading crates and film canisters. J watched them idly for a moment. It seemed that Complex Two was growing every time he came.
Well, it certainly didn't hurt the Project to have room to expand. There was already more than enough equipment and people to fill two of the three buildings. If the Project was on the edge of a real breakthrough . . .
J firmly squelched his optimism and climbed into his car. No matter how close they were to a breakthrough, everything still depended on Richard Blade.
Chapter 2.
During the next few days, everyone's nerves were stretched tight over the risks they were taking. Blade tried at first to a.s.semble his equipment from many different countries, so that no one would be able to tell where he himself came from. He spent several days trying to find South African hiking boots and Czech canteens before realizing that he was wasting his time. The Russians had penetrated Project Dimension X twice, but both times their agents had died before revealing its secret. It was highly unlikely that he would meet anyone in Dimension X who knew or cared where his gear came from.
He still carefully tore off all the labels and tags. If he landed in an advanced society, someone might notice the strange language and the unknown names and get curious. Such curiosity could be as dangerous to the Dimension X secret as Russian spies, even if it didn't have immediate consequences in Home Dimension.
Blade bought new clothing and equipment, but decided to keep his old hiking boots, which were well broken-in and comfortable. He was prepared to die for England but not get unnecessary blisters for it.
Cheeky was a strict vegetarian, but he would eat nearly anything which wasn't meat. Blade had seen him munch brussel sprouts, daffodil bulbs, and sc.r.a.ps of leather. The same fruits, nuts, whole-grain cereal bars, and chocolate Blade was going to eat would also do for Cheeky.
Lord Leighton was not only nervous but found time on his hands. He kept making telephone calls to both J and Blade, fussing over trifles. The last straw came when he rang up Blade to ask which sedatives should be given to Cheeky when he was sent through the transition.
”No,” said Blade, ”I won't suggest what sedatives to use! I will not cooperate with this whole idiotic proposal! If you go on with it, you'll never find Cheeky, and you may have some trouble finding me!”
”Richard, you're-”
”I'm not what you're going to say I am, that's for b.l.o.o.d.y well certain. I'm tired of Cheeky's being treated as an experimental animal, that's what I am!”
”Besides,” he added. ”You're forgetting the telepathic link between me and Cheeky. Sedation might break it. How can we be sure he'll go with me without the telepathy? Can we even be sure of finding a safe sedative without a pile of experiments? Do you want to delay the next trip?”
”If you'd given us a free hand with Cheeky when you came back from the Crimson River, we could have made the experiments by now,” said Leighton.
”Well, I didn't. With the att.i.tude you're showing now, I think I was b.l.o.o.d.y well right!”
After a long silence Leighton cleared his throat. ”Richard, I'm sorry I raised the matter. I said I wouldn't put pressure on you. I meant it. I'm afraid I'm not thinking quite as clearly as I ought to. The strain, you know.”
That was more of an apology than Leighton ever gave anybody, and Blade decided to accept it, such as it was. ”I understand,” he said. ”Well, let's get me and Cheeky fired off into Dimension X, and you and J can both relax.”
Blade still didn't breathe easy until two days later, when he and Cheeky showed up in Complex One ready for the trip into Dimension X. Complex One lay two hundred feet below the Tower of London, with a concealed entrance guarded by dark-suited Special Branch men. Once it held the whole Project, and it still held the master computer, the new booth, and everything else which might give away the secret of Dimension X.
That wasn't enough to fill the whole Complex. An entire corridor of offices and laboratories once alive with lights and voices and hard work was now dark and empty, the equipment having gone to the new Complex Two or else shrouded in dust covers. Blade had the feeling ghosts would be lurking in those empty rooms before long.
As usual, Blade stepped into the changing booth to get ready. Once, had had to strip to a loincloth and smear himself with foul-smelling black grease to prevent electrical burns from the ma.s.s of electrodes which linked him to the computer. Now he pulled on net underwear, heavy socks, woolen trousers and s.h.i.+rt, and a light windbreaker. He slipped one knife into a wrist sheath and hung the other along with a canteen on his belt. A light rucksack held a poncho, a spare canteen, extra socks and underwear, soap and toothbrush, several days' rations for himself and Cheeky, water purification tablets, snares, fis.h.i.+ng line, and the disa.s.sembled crossbow.
Meanwhile, Cheeky was pulling on a modified dog sweater and belting on his own miniature knife. He wasn't quite intelligent enough to reason out for himself how to use unknown tools. He only had to be shown a couple of times, though.
With Cheeky perched on his shoulder, Blade stood as the wire-mesh booth was lowered over him. Last trip it had been about the same size and shape as the gla.s.s booth which held the rubber-padded chair of the original computer, before the KALI capsule. For this trip it was six inches larger all around, to provide just enough room for Cheeky. Looking out through the mesh, Blade saw Leighton standing by the manual control panel.
That was all right with Blade. For the first time he wouldn't reach Dimension X alone. For the first time he was also taking someone else into its unknown dangers. He was glad to see that Leighton wasn't adding to those dangers unnecessarily by using the untested new automatic sequencer.
”All right, Richard?” said Leighton.
Blade gave a thumbs-up gesture and Cheeky imitated him. Leighton's hand pulled the red master switch in one swift motion to the bottom of the slot.
From where J sat on a folding stool, the booth suddenly seemed filled with green light, with Blade and Cheeky clearly visible inside it. Then the light turned silvery, Blade and Cheeky blurred, and both they and the light vanished.
Leighton stood with his hand on the switch until the lights on the consoles seemed to satisfy him. To J, they made less sense than so many Egyptian hieroglyphics. Finally the scientist turned to J.
”Do you need a drink as badly as I do?”
”Probably more so.”
”I sincerely doubt if that would be possible,” said Leighton. He reached under the control panel and came out with a silver flask and a thermos jug.
”Weak or strong?”
Blade only saw the green light. Then the wire mesh and the room beyond it wavered. He seemed to be looking at them through the hot air rising from a fire. He felt a stab of some strong emotion in his mind from Cheeky, not quite fear but certainly discontent with the situation.
<script>