A Cure for Cancer - читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги автора Michael John Moorcock (Respiration Check) #21

Respiration Check

'Mind you, this is in Brisbane, well south in Queensland. Melbourne, 1200 miles further down, gets very variable weather and can get nippy days even in the middle of summer. Shocking place. Unreliable. But 1200 miles to the north, up past the Tropic of Capricorn, lies Cairns — beaches, palm trees. Great Barrier Reef, free coconuts, tropical paradise, the coming tourist Mecca of the Pacific. And still in Queensland, which is over 2l/2 times as big as Texas. How about that? And contains perhaps two million people — how about that? Away from the cities a man can often drive for miles and miles without sighting another human being. Smog? What smog? Color problem? What color problem? Population explosion? Jesus, you have to be kidding!'

Jack Wodhams, letter to SFWA Bulletin

I The stranger on the whole road

Jerry increased the power and checked that all dimensions could be phased in at the right moment. He synched Jimi Hendrix in. He began to sing Third Stone from the Sun very loudly. It was all part of the ritual; all part of the spell.

And it was a tense moment.

He twisted his head to look at Catherine, and set the pointer to Automatic.

Things began to hum.

Swiftly Jerry increased the entropy rate to maximum, preparing himself for the ensuing dissipation.

He began to feel dizzy as he gave the universe a whirl. For all the shielding in his lab, he wondered if he were safe after all. He blinked and could see the leaping cord that led to Catherine's throat, saw Catherine's body tremble.

He adjusted the identity stabilizers and locked in the coordinates. There was now a golden mist swirling everywhere and the box had become very hot When everything was on Full he fell backwards and onto and then through the bed and continued to fall.

He pulled himself together as best he could. It didn't matter about the extent of the dispersal so long as he kept everything in the right order. He began to flood through the universe and then through the multiverse, to the sounds of the Beatles singing A Day in the Lite, throbbing in time to the cosmic pulse. Universe upon universe; dimension upon dimension; they spread out together and the extraneous energy released in the explosion poured into the box and into Catherine's body.

Faster and faster flew the particles and Jerry hung on. Framed against the spreading gases he saw other human shapes and he knew that some of the transmogs were managing to resist the conversion of the universe.

He looked about him and waited as Helter Skelter echoed through the infinite. It was quite a nice trip.

At last maximum diffusion was reached and everything became a little unreal. He felt a moment's concern before the switch clicked over, Jimi Hendrix started to play Are You Experienced?, and things began to come together again.

Soon he would know if the experiment had paid off.

2 A sweet little schooner

Jerry took a deep breath, opened his eyes and saw springs moving. He was under the bed. He rolled out and there was his machine steaming on the bench. Its circuits appeared to have fused. He activated the TV monitors and got the surface.

The towers of the Cathedral were white against the white sky. It was snowing. It was only to be expected. Otherwise Oxford looked pretty much as it had always looked.

With a sigh, he looked down at the bed. Catherine turned uncomfortably in her sleep, her long-fingered hands at her throat.

Jerry ripped off the surgical tape and threw the cord aside. 'Catherine?'

She sniffed and moistened her lips. Then she woke up. 'Jerry? Are you all right?'

'I think so. I had a bit of a turn a moment ago, but I'm fine now. How about you?'

'I thought I was dead.'

'Strictly speaking you are. I managed to work out a way of getting you a few extra days — maybe a week or more — before you finally popped off. I've been experimenting for months.'

'It was nice of you, Jerry.'

'Frank's dead, by the way. He won't be bothering us.'

'Oh good. I was wondering about that.' She got up. They were very much alike. 'You've turned quite pale, Jerry.'

'It's for the best, I suppose.'