A Time of Changes (Robert Silverberg) читать бесплатно онлайн полную версию книги

47

There was a clerk in the Port Justiciary, a certain Ulman, half my age and clearly a man of promise, whom I had come to like. He knew my power and my ancestry and showed no awe of me over that; his respect for me was based entirely on my skills in evaluating and handling the problems of the Justiciary. I kept him late one day and called him into my office when the others were gone. “There is this drug of Sumara Borthan,” I said, “that allows one mind freely to enter another.” He smiled and said that he had heard of it, yes, but understood it was difficult to obtain and dangerous to use. “There is no danger,” I answered. “And as for the difficulty of obtaining it -” I drew forth one of my little packets. His smile did not fade, though dots of color came into his cheeks. We took the drug together in my office. Hours later, when we left for our homes, I gave him some so that he could take it with his wife.