"John Varley - Anthology - Super Heroes - Various Authors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Varley John)

you must remember the crisis… your mission… what you have to do…"
 "What do I have to do?" he asked, hoping that this dream would soon be
over.
"Save the world, of course," answered Parker.
"Save the world?" he repeated.
"Of course," Kirschenbaum insisted. "You must remember. So many lives
are at stake."
"I don't even remember my name," the patient realized, now painfully
awake and aware of his own befuddlement.
The two doctors were shocked.
"He doesn't remember his name," Parker said to Kirschenbaum.
"He doesn't remember his mission," Kirschenbaum said to Parker; then,
after a brief inspiration added, "You don't suppose he has amnesia, do you?"
"It could be," Parker said. "A hard blow to the head of a normal man
could lead to amnesia. A blow such as one from a bazooka shell to a head
such as his… who could tell?''
"Wait a second," the patient insisted, interrupting their consultation.
"Why do you say 'a normal man'?"
"I'm sorry," apologized Parker. "Maybe I should have said a mortal man,
or an Earthman, or…"
"Well, what am I then?" the patient insisted, anger replacing his
confusion.
Time for a Hero
"He really doesn't know who he is," Kirschenbaum said to no one in
particular, perhaps to himself, perhaps to his patient.
"Who am I?" he demanded, the threat of violence barely masked in his
voice.
"Why, you're Meteor Man," Kirschenbaum answered, "and time is
running out, and you have to save the world."
For the next few minutes, Doctors Parker and Kirschenbaum carefully
reassured the patient known as Meteor Man of his real identity.
They told him the now-famous origin story that had been immortalized in
comic books, cartoons, and Sunday features, of how a meteor fell from the
sky, and after seven days of cooling cracked open, giving birth to a
super-infant, hatched like a chick from an egg. Raised in secret by a retired
five-star general and his wife, the super-infant matured and eventually
became Meteor Man, strength of a thousand, indestructible, and savior of
the planet.
"Surely you must remember the time you averted disaster by extending
the course of the Missouri River to put out the raging fires in southern
Oregon?'' insisted Dr. Parker.
 "Or the time you outwitted the deadly brain-stealing ETs from Alpha
Centauri?" added Kirschenbaum.
"Or when you single-handedly shielded all of Las Vegas from an atomic
bomb blast when you smothered the explosion with your own body,"
continued Parker, adding, "and lived."
"And lived?" repeated the patient known as Meteor Man, in disbelief.
"Of course," added Dr. Kirschenbaum; then, chuckling, he said, "And
who'd have thought a little thing like a bazooka shell would cause
amnesia?"