"Steve Perry - Battle Surgeons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

tricks, but those were nothing compared to what he had just witnessed. He still wasn't sure what he had
seen. One moment the two men were jockeying for posi-tionтАФthe next, Phow Ji was strolling away and
Usu Cley was on his back trying to remember how to breathe.
What would it be like to know that you could really take care of yourself like that, when push came to
shove ?
That you could defeat a Jedi in hand-to-hand combat?
It was hard even to imagine. Of course, the fastest moves in the galaxy couldn't block a blaster's particle
beam or a projectile from a slugthrower. Although he'd heard that Jedi were actually ableтАФthrough the
Force, he supposedтАФto anticipate such attacks before they were launched, and thus block or avoid
themтАФseeing the immediate future, in effect. He wasn't sure if he be-lieved that. But one thing was for
sure: his credits would be on the new guy from now on.
Beside him, Barriss stiffened, and Jos looked up to see the fearsome Phow Ji approaching, wiping his
face with a towel.
Seen up close, the man's features were lean and hard; his lips seemed set in an expression not quite a
sneer. This was a man who knew just how dangerous he was, and wasn't shy about letting others know
as well.
"You're a Jedi," he said to Barriss. It was not a ques-tion. His voice was even, quiet, but full of confidence.
He ignored Jos as if the latter weren't there. Jos decided that was fine with him. "Yes," she said. "But not
fully fledged yet." "I am Barriss Offee, a Padawan." Ji smiled. "Still believe in the Force?" Barriss raised an
eyebrow. "You don't?" "The Force is a tale made up by the Jedi to scare away anybody who would stand
against them. Jedi are not impressive fighters. I hardly broke a sweat, dropping one a while back." "Joclad
Danva did not use the Force when you fought
him."
"So he said." Ji shrugged, wiped his face with the towel again. "Hot day. You look a little sweaty
yourself, Jedi. HereтАФ"
He tossed the towel at her.
Barriss raised her hand as if to catch it. The towel stopped in midair. It hung there for maybe two
seconds. Jos blinked. What in theтАФ?
The towel dropped and landed at Barriss's feet. She had not taken her eyes off Ji. "The Force is real,"
she said, mildly.
Ji laughed and shook his head. "I've seen much better illusions from traveling carnival mages,
Padawan." He turned and walked away.
Jos looked at the towel, then at Barriss. "What was that about?"
"An error in judgment," Barriss said. "I allowed my-self to become annoyed." She shook her head. "I
have so far to go ..." She turned and started back toward the compound. Jos watched her go for a moment,
then picked up the towel and looked at it curiously. It was a perfectly normal sheet of absorbent syncloth,
the kind that one usually did not see hanging in midair as if from an invisible hook. It was damp from the
teras kasi mas-ter's sweat, but otherwise unremarkable.
He had just seen his first demonstration of the Force.
As shows went, it wasn't in the same league as dodg-ing blaster rays, turning invisible, or shooting laser
beams from one's eyesтАФall of which he'd heard that Jedi could do. But it had been pretty impressive, all
the same.
He wondered what else she was capable of.
When he'd looked at her, standing on the rise of ground outside the base, the wind blowing her robe
be-hind her, he'd felt a powerful attractionтАФor thought he had, at least. There was a sense of inner strength
and peace about her that appealed strongly to the healer that he, too, was at heart. But that same tranquillity
also made her seem remote and unapproachable; more like a simulacrum of a woman than the real thing.
Some men were attracted by the appearance of aloofness, but not Jos.
On top of that was this power she had. Though he'd heard about the Force all his life, he realized now
that he'd never really believed such a thing could exist. Like so many others in his profession, Chief