"Philip Jose Farmer - Riverworld 4 - The Magic Labyrinth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

тАФThe Kasidah of Haji Abdu Al-Yazdi

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SECTION 1

The Mysterious Stranger

"EVERYBODY SHOULD FEAR ONLY ONE PERSON, AND THAT PER- тАв son should be
himself."

That was a favorite saying of the Operator.

The Operator had also spoken much of love, saying that the person most feared
should also be much loved.

The man known to some as X or the Mysterious Stranger neither loved nor feared
himself the most.

There were three people he had loved more than he loved anybody else.

His wife, now dead, he had loved but not as deeply as the other two.

His foster mother and the Operator he loved with equal intensity or at least
he had once thought so.

His foster mother was lightyears away, and he did not have to deal with her as
yet and might never. Now, if she knew what he was doing, she would be deeply
ashamed and grieved. That he couldn't explain to her why he was doing this,
and so justify himself, deeply grieved him.

The Operator he still loved but at the same time hated.

Now X waited, sometimes patiently, sometimes impatiently or angrily, for the
fabled but real riverboat. He had missed the Rex Grandissimus. His only chance
now was the Mark Twain.'

If he didn't get aboard that boat... no, the thought was almost unendurable.
He must.

Yet, when he did get on it, he might be in the greatest peril

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