"Simon R. Green - Deathstalker - 3 - Deathstalker War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

around to see his followers slaughtered or imprisoned. His cause had failed, but he kept
the legend alive.
Except the older Jack Random claimed that wasn't he. According to him, his last
campaign had been on Cold Rock, several years earlier, when his forces were
ignominiously scattered, and he was taken captive by the Empire forces. He spent a
long time in interrogation cells, tortured and brainwashed by the mind techs, until
finally his friends were able to break him out and smuggle him to safety on
MistworldтАФwhere he gave up his name and his legend to become just another face in
the crowd, hidden and safe from entreaties or responsibilities.
ExceptтАж Jack Random, the professional rebel, had been visibly active on several
worlds during that time. So who was telling the truth and who was lying? Who was the
Real Jack Random? The older Jack admitted that the mind techs had done a real
number on him, during his months of captivity, messing with his thoughts and
memories as they broke his spirit day by day. Maybe he just thought he'd been the
famous professional rebel; a nobody molded by the Empire to be paraded as a broken
man for propaganda purposes. As with so many other things, Owen wasn't sure what he
believed anymore. At least the older Jack was more or less the right age. The younger
Jack looked to be no more than his late twenties, and in perfect shape. Surely his long
years of rebellion should have left some mark on him, even allowing for his claimed
extensive use of regeneration machines.
The underground hadn't been able to make up its mind one way or the other. The old
Jack claimed to have the experience, but the young Jack looked so much more
convincing. So for the moment the underground accepted both Jacks, and sent them off
on separate missions to prove themselves in action. Old Jack went to stir up trouble on
the mining planet Technos III, and Owen and Hazel ended up with Young Jack on their
team, despite their loud objections. Young Jack took it all with a good-natured smile,
which made Owen trust him even less. Never trust a man who smiles too much, his
father had always said. It's not natural, not in this day and age. Hazel was even less

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Simon R. Green - Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War


impressed with the man than Owen, if that was possible, and had told Young Jack to his
face that he was a liar and impostor. He just kept on smiling, and said he hoped he'd
have the chance to prove himself to her. Hazel told him that if he laid one finger on her,
she'd make him eat the finger. Young Jack chuckled good-naturedly, and said she was
very pretty when she was angry, and Owen had to hold Hazel down until the red mist
had gone from her eyes.
The other new arrival was the esper known as Jenny Psycho. She had forced her way
onto the Mistworld team, on the grounds that a planet largely populated by runaway
espers would want to meet the last person to manifest the uber-esper Mater Mundi, Our
Mother Of All Souls, who had single-handedly made the great esper escape from
Wormboy Hell possible. Jenny didn't look like much, at first glance. She was short and
blond, with a pale ghostly face dominated by sharp blue eyes. She had a wide mouth,
and an unsettling smile that showed more teeth than humor. Her voice was harsh and
unattractive, her throat damaged by constant screaming in the dark cells of Silo Nine.
Before the underground sent her into Wormboy Hell as their undercover agent, she'd
been just another esper; but since the Mater Mundi touched her, Jenny Psycho had
become a major esper power overnight. Her presence all but crackled on the air around