Riyannah drifted up beside Blade as the light from the exploding starship died. «We put one bomb in the main power supply and rigged a warhead in the missile magazine. We would have been perfectly happy to just cripple the ship, then take her as a prize, but-«She shrugged.
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 Riyannah softly.
«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 Riyannah. They perched on the arms of couches side by side and looked at each other in silence. They were both drained to limp rags by the strain of the fight, too drained to think of anything worth saying out loud.
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. Riyannah stared up at him.
«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 Riyannah I can tell. «Good-bye and good luck,» he gasped. Then the pain was so fierce he could no longer think or speak. He reached out, felt Riyannah's fingers on his arm, then felt them slip down and pat the bracelet on his wrist. His own fingers twisted, clutching at hers, holding on.
The touch of Riyannah's fingers on his was the last thing Blade remembered as the pain in his head blotted out everything.
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 annual appropriations for the Royal Air Force.
«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 Riyannah-and as he thought of her he looked at the glowing bracelet on his wrist. He'd left her, but if there'd been any way to do it otherwise- No, he hadn't loved Riyannah-he hadn't allowed himself to love her, although it was certain she'd loved him.
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.
So he'd left Riyannah-left her in a strong position to influence Kananite policy. He'd left the whole of Kanan shaken to the point where they'd have to look for new ways of dealing with other races. He'd left Loyun Chard dead, his starship destroyed, his regime crippled, and his enemies greatly strengthened. The Targan underground might not win easily, but no one would be able to ignore them now-and that included the Kananites as well as their fellow Targans.
He'd brought home a treasure of the stars, but he'd also left much behind in payment.