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

"I don't believe any of this!" said the patient.
"But you have to," said Kirschenbaum calmly. "You've never failed us
before, and you are our only hope."
A strange sense of well-being seemed to wash over the confused patient.
Our only hope. It sounded so familiar… but who could believe these
fantastic tales of his exploits? And no one in the real world would ever be
called Meteor Man.
Brian M. Thomson
Either he was now in the hands of delusionary madmen, the victim of
some bizarre practical joke, or he himself had gone crazy… or, there was
one other alternative, most bizarre of all—maybe they were right. He was
their only hope. The whole phrase felt right… but it couldn't be.
Trying to maintain a certain nonthreatening calm, the patient responded to
his doctors.
"Look," he offered, "I'd like to help, and I'd do anything I could to save
the world, but I'm just one man."
"More than a man," interrupted Parker.
"Whatever," he responded, quickly tiring of the annoying little doctor's
interruptions and clarifications. "But what is the crisis, and what can I do
about it?"
"We've just received an update from our men on the front," answered
Kirschenbaum, now all businesslike and efficient. "The terrorist forces
guarding the plant have been subdued by a black-beret insurgency team,
casualties listed at seventy-five percent."
"An acceptable number, given the situation," said the annoying Dr.
Parker, adding, "so you have nothing to worry about from those
migraine-inducing bazookas for the time being."
"We've since discovered that they've planted an Alunarium bomb, which
when detonated will create an implosion that will generate a black hole
instigating China Syndrome at an almost instantaneous rate which will tear
the Earth asunder from core to crust."
 "And what can I do about it?" asked, the patient known as Meteor Man.
"It's really quite simple," replied Kirschenbaum, producing a mechanical
box not unlike an old-fashioned Geiger counter. "All you have to do is carry
this magnetic wave transmitter into the plant. The waves will erase the
programming of the Alunarium bomb, making detonation impossible."
"What's the catch?" asked Meteor Man, knowing that one had to exist.
"There isn't any catch, at least not for you," answered Parker.
Kirschenbaum explained, "The terrorists flooded the plant
Time for a Hero
area with the coolant from the atomic core. The intense levels of
radioactivity would kill any of us, but you're immune."
Parker added, "I remember your comment to the press when you
smothered the atomic bomb. You said, 'I feel like I've been out in the sun a
bit too long." Isn't that a scream! A lethal dose of radiation to us gives you a
mild case of sunstroke. Walking into the contaminated plant should be a
piece of cake."
"You expect me to believe I'm impervious to radiation," said the patient.
"Of course," said the annoying Parker. "You're Meteor >Man."
Parker gestured towards the patient's chest.