[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
printed words seemed to jump off the plastic into his brain. The metal box was
a food-processing machine, and here were detailed instructions for its use.
Blade's sigh of relief nearly blew the plastic sheet across the room. Whatever
else might have happened, he'd learned Kananite. He retrieved the plastic
sheet and tried reading the instructions out loud. His vocal cords, tongue,
and lips combined to produced the clipped, high-pitched words of the Kananite
language.
It was an impressive achievement, implanting the whole language in his brain
this way. The secret of the
Teacher Globes would be something worth having. It would be an enormous
blessing to a Home
Dimension where education fought a desperate battle with rapidly-accumulating
facts. It might even help
Lord Leighton understand what happened to Blade's brain as he passed into
Dimension X so that he could speak the local language. For the moment the most
important thing was that Blade could talk freely with his hosts or captors. He
wasn't sure which they were now, but at least he had some chance of finding
out.
Blade made another test of his new knowledge by dialing for a menu, then
ordering a meal. It came out hot and steaming, spiced exactly as he'd ordered
it, complete with a bottle of wine. Blade found he was both hungry and thirsty
and made a hearty meal. He obviously wasn't going to starve to death, even if
he had to stay here until the Kananites made up their minds about him.
Unfortunately good food wouldn't make any difference if the Kananites took as
long to reach that decision as he expected. He could sit here in comfort for
months or years, knowing nothing of the outside world, nothing about Riyannah,
nothing about the crisis with Targa, cut off from Lord Leighton's computer by
the light-years between Targa and Kanan. He might sit here until the outside
world finally penetrated in the form of a Targan H-bomb bursting over Mestar.
Blade finished his meal, put the dishes and bottle in the food machine's slot,
and watched them vanish.
Then he began to explore the living room, searching for other machines or a
door.
He found the second door the same way he'd found the first. Something in it
sensed his presence and it quietly slid open. Blade looked out into a
surprisingly normal Kananite hallway. The floor was pebbled metal with inlays
of pastel mosaics. The walls were plain white, but carvings of veined bluish
wood hung from golden brackets every few yards. With almost universal leisure,
two-thirds of Kanan's people had at least one artistic hobby. Original
paintings and sculptures were displayed in the local equivalent of hot dog
stands and car washes.
Blade stepped through the door and walked toward the bend in the hall about
fifty feet away. He'd covered half the distance when a man and a woman came
around the bend. Like most Kananites indoors, they were lightly dressed. The
woman wore a short sleeveless dress, belted with a green sash, and was
barefoot. The man wore a similar sash holding up bell-bottomed trousers. His
chest was bare and painted in swirling abstract designs of green and purple.
Page 60
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Both were also carrying pistol-sized hurd-rays in shoulder holsters. They were
the first armed people Blade had seen on Kanan, and they confirmed his
suspicions. Whether he was a guest or a prisoner, he was certainly under
restraint now.
Blade smiled politely as the two guards approached. He noted that both of them
came within easy striking range before stopping, instead of one standing back
to cover the other.
"I'm sorry to bother you," he said in perfect Kananite. "But the food machine
gave off some smoke when it took the dishes and bottles after the meal. Should
it do this?"
The woman shook her head. "No. We'll have the system checked out and send
maintenance people if necessary. Is there anything else?"
"Not today, thank you."
"Good." The woman gave a pasted-on smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Have a
good night's sleep." The note of polite dismissal in her voice was
unmistakable and Blade took the hint. The last thing he wanted to do at the
moment was make the people guarding him suspicious.
Blade found a bathroom on the far side of the bedroom. He took a leisurely
shower, and as he soaped himself he mentally revised his plans. He was still
going to have to do something drastic to make the
Kananites notice him. Obviously they had ideas about him they hadn't had
before. Perhaps they'd probed his mind and revealed his true background and
history, including the existence of Dimension X. That meant his situation
could be acutely dangerous now, but there was nothing he could do about
it-except act as quickly as possible.
Dimension X or no Dimension X, he'd have to get out of here or at least make a
damned good try at it!
If he got out, he'd find ways of making the Kananites know they had someone
unusual on their hands, who couldn't be ignored while they played
politics-as-usual. Even if he didn't get all the way out, even making the
effort might send the same message.
In some ways he was worse off than he'd been. He didn't know where he was, he
was watched and guarded, and there wasn't anything in his quarters to use as a
weapon. On the other hand, the guards didn't look very alert. If he could
surprise them he could certainly handle them with his bare hands. Then he'd
have their guns and a clear road at least to the end of the hall. Finally,
Riyannah was nowhere around. There wouldn't be any danger of her getting hit
by a stray shot if it came to shooting. There wasn't even much danger of her
being held responsible for his escape and anything that came of it. He hoped
she'd realize that his motives were honest, although he doubted she'd be in a
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
