That telepathic link, J now knew, might be one of the biggest advances the Project ever made. Or at least that was Leighton's best guess-not that he was ever willing to admit that he was «guessing,» of course. He regarded «guessing» as an obscene act. Nevertheless, the peculiar bond between Cheeky and Blade seemed to enable the feather-monkey to travel into other Dimensions, too. Maybe now the scientists were close to discovering how to send other human beings to Dimension X.

With a subdued Cheeky on his shoulder, Blade led the way to the part of the house that he had already cleaned and redecorated. He had bought the country house for himself a short time ago; it was to be his haven in Home Dimension, a place to house the growing menagerie of creatures he brought back with him from his strange travels. Built in the eighteenth century and neglected since before the Second World War, the house was going to need even more work before it was really comfortable. But at least you could move about through it now without falling through the floors or having portions of the ceiling fall on you.

Blade removed dustcovers from three chairs and pointed to a fine mahogany sideboard on top of which were glasses, bottles of liquor, and a dish of dried fruits and nuts. «If you gentlemen can make free with the contents of the sideboard, I'll go take a shower. Cheeky will play host.»

«Yeeeeekkkkkkhhhhh!»

J looked at Blade. «You almost said that with a straight face. «

«Who? Me or Cheeky?»

«You.»

«Too bad. I didn't mean it as a joke.» Blade set Cheeky on the floor and went out. The two men stared at Cheeky, then at each other.

«If I thought Richard was playing a practical joke-«began Leighton indignantly.