Read Online Doomsday Warrior 16 - American Overthrow by Ryder Stacy - Free Book Online

designated for industrial and medical tasks. Healthy citizens were expected to walk.
    By the time he reached level 8 the climb had wakened him slightly and his eyes seemed a little more focused. He sure as hell could have used the sleep last night. “Coffee!” he mumbled. “Java! Brown Gold!”
    Even as he walked into the Level Eight Science Testing Chamber, Rockson could smell the thick odors of fresh brewed coffee wafting down the hall. It lured him forward like a rabbit after a carrot. When he had gone another hundred feet and made a right into Dr. Shecter’s office, the smell grew intoxicating.
    “Ah, Rockson, glad to see you,” the white-haired science chief said, sitting behind his desk. “Here, have some of this hydroponics ‘mountain grown synthesized’ brew.” He poured Rockson a large mug from a steaming urn next to the desk and the Doomsday Warrior took it gratefully. It burned his lips, but it tasted great.
    “This is much better than the stuff we’ve been quaffing down for years,” he commented, taking in a few more slugs.
    “Yes, we’ve decided to devote a little more time to consumer goods,” Schecter said with a grin, “rather than just military hardware and medical. Both are necessary. But there’s no reason why we have to suffer any more than nature and our occupiers already cause us to.”
    “Amen to that,” Rockson said, finishing the cup fast and taking another. He could feel his brain start to unlock, a little bit of energy seep into his cells.
    “But excuse my self-lauding,” Shecter said with a self-mocking expression, “I’ve actually brought you here to show you a few new gadgets we’ve been working on that might be helpful to your—mission. I know that the Council voted last night for us to send men up to Pattonville. And I agree wholeheartedly with the decision. Military coups have no place in Free Cities. Otherwise we might as well let the Reds run the whole show and give up.”
    Shecter had singlehandedly changed the face and the workings of C.C. Even in Rockson’s lifetime, since he had arrived at the underground rebel city years before, he had seen miraculous changes. In medicine, warfare, the development of countless labor-saving devices. The man was a Picasso of science, constantly tinkering, getting his lab boys to develop his ideas, many of which came, he said, at late hours of the night when he would sit upright in bed and began sketching some new apparatus or other. He, more than anyone, was responsible for Century City’s being the pre-eminent Free fortress in America. The underground city was looked up to by the other towns and villages as the unofficial capital of America.
    “First,” Schecter said as he reached into a stainless steel container by the side of his desk. “This nasal-gas-blocker.” He held it out to Rockson who took the small odd shaped plastic device and looked at it curiously. “We know that gas is being used by the insurrectionist army up there. I pray that it’s not nerve gas which absorbs through the skin. If it is, this will be useless. But if it’s a breath-intake—just slam those two prongs into your nose and it will filter out just about anything.”
    Rockson tried it, taking the small pliant device and slipping it into his nostrils. It was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing he couldn’t live with. He pulled hard on the thing and air flowed into his nose, cutting off perhaps a quarter of the regular flow.
    “I’ve got as many as you need for your strike team,” Shecter said as he reached down again. He extricated what looked like an aluminized jumpsuit which was folded down so it was hardly bigger than a small notebook. “It’s a heat shield, something we’ve developed out of the heat-reflecting space blankets everyone carries when out in the sun. This affords even more protection, and can cover the entire body. Like you to test some of these out with your men. Shouldn’t take up a hell of a lot of space.” Rockson