The computer rooms were a complex within a complex, a series of linked chambers hewn from the solid rock. But most of that rock was hidden behind the looming bulks of the computer consoles and auxiliary equipment. From the sullen gray faces of the computers, covered in a crackled plastic finish that made them look diseased, a fantasy of multicolored lights flickered and winked down at Blade. He found the computer rooms the only part of the whole underground establishment that really oppressed him, but he had never had to spend enough time there for them to really bother him.

Nor would he have to this time, either. Lord Leighton popped out the door to the central room. His eyes gleamed behind their thick glasses in a way that, Blade knew, meant the main computer was all ready to go.

«Good morning, good morning, Richard. I trust you're ready to go? The computer certainly is. I don't like to keep it on the line at maximum level for very long now. All these new attachments increase the current drain by over forty percent. One of these days Richard is going to find himself caught between Dimensions by nothing more exotic than a blown fuse. We've got to convince the PM that the supporting equipment for the power plant has to be replaced, and soon.»

«No doubt,» said J with an urbanity that Blade recognized as a hidden mischievous impulse to indulge in a little verbal fencing with Leighton. «But most of those new attachments were provided for your subprojects. If you hadn't insisted on installing them, there wouldn't be any problem. And the PM didn't balk at providing the money for that.»