"Morgan, Richard - Woken Furies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morgan Richard)

'Good. This work is not dissimilar.'

'You've got terrorist problems? Are the Quellists acting up again?'

She makes a dismissive gesture. No one takes Quellism seriously any more. Not
for a couple of centuries now. The few genuine Quellists still around on the World
have traded in their revolutionary principles for high-yield crime. Same risks,
better paid. They're no threat to this woman, or the oligarchy she represents. It's
the first hint that things are not as they seem.

'This is more in the nature of a manhunt, Kovacs-san. An individual, not a
political issue.'

'And you're calling in Envoy support.' Even through the mask of control, this
has to rate a raised eyebrow. My voice has probably gone up a little as well. 'Must
be a remarkable individual.'

'Yes. He is. An ex-Envoy, in fact. Kovacs-san, before we proceed any further, I
think something needs to be made clear to you, a matter thatЧ'

'Something certainly needs to be made clear to my commanding officer. Because
to me this sounds suspiciously like you 're wasting Envoy Corps time. We don't do
this kind of work.'

'Чmay come as something of a shock to you. You, ah, no doubt believe that you
have been re-sleeved shortly after the Sharya campaign. Perhaps even only a few
days after your needlecast out.'

A shrug. Envoy cool. 'Days or months Ч it doesn't make much difference to
mЧ'

'Two centuries.'

'What?'

'As I said. You have been in storage for a little under two hundred years. In real
termsЧ'

Envoy cool goes out the window, rapidly. 'What the fuck happened toЧ'

'Please, Kovacs-san. Hear me out.' A sharp note of command. And then, as the
conditioning shuts me down again, pared back to listen and learn, more quietly:
'Later I will give you as much detail as you like. For now, let it suffice that you are
no longer part of the Envoy Corps as such. You can consider yourself privately
retained by the Harlan family.'

Marooned centuries from the last moments of living experience you recall.
Sleeved out of time. A lifetime away from everyone and everything you knew.
Like some fucking criminal. Well, Envoy assimilation technique will by now have
some of this locked down, but stillЧ