To that Leighton could not come up with a quick reply. He glowered in mock fury at J, then painfully levered himself up out of his chair. On his polio-twisted legs he walked with surprising speed twice around the table. His hunchback was visible under a tweed coat old enough to have been worn at Queen Victoria's funeral. Then he sat back down, fixed J with a penetrating stare from those large and surprisingly alive eyes, and grinned.

«A point well taken, J. Now-how long is this really going to take, with Richard?»

J was about to speak when Blade broke in. «It seems to me there's no need at all to delay the mission. If the estate is as run-down as J says, I imagine it would be wise to get a surveyor and an architect to give it a thorough going-over. Otherwise we might wind up putting in a new office one day and then having the whole thing drop through the floor the next. That would be rather embarrassing. And of course you'll be wanting to set up full security arrangements before you even start surveying. All this will take time. And in the meantime I can head out to Dimension X and be back-«

«In time for tea?» interrupted Leighton with a grin. «Quite so, quite so. Well, J?»

J nodded. «It seems reasonable enough, if it's all right with Richard. And if there's any-delay-in getting you back, we can go ahead with some of the planning anyway.»

It was obvious to Blade that J was simply trying to remind Leighton that Blade was not his property, to be sent hither and thither like a case of canned asparagus. Blade appreciated J's efforts, but he couldn't see the point of them.

All his debriefings after Dimension X missions were down on tape where any trainer or psychologist could settle down with a beer and play them to his heart's content. And he didn't want to spend days or weeks waiting around for «consultation» with a Dimension X mission hanging over his head. He wanted to go down into the complex, into the computer, and into Dimension X as quickly as possible.