Bill 07 The Final Incoherent Adventure by Harry Harrison

Author:Harry Harrison
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

Sam and Sid weren't nearly as good at this as Bill was, but they were getting the hang of it. Fortunately,

the Imperial Troopers weren't strafing; they weren't even attacking seriously. The bodyguards caught up,

but before they could catch their breath Bill led them on a final dash across the last few yards into one of

the few buildings still standing.

The two Eyerackians collapsed, gasping, into the nearest chairs. Bill, however, had not yet reached his

goal, and he marched up to the counter.

"Three SuperHestburgers, three double beers. Fast," he said. "To stay." He turned back to Sid and Sam.

"What do you guys want?"

An explosion rattled the windows, and the girl behind the counter ducked for cover. By the time she

reemerged, Bill had the rest of his order. "One Chilly-Chili, One Horse Dog, a large Tranqui-Cola."

He carried the trays over to their table.

"Gee, Bill, we were sure lucky."

"Yeah, imagine finding an open Burger Barn. I haven't had a burger since ... since ... maybe I've never

had one before. But I've seen the commercials!" Bill washed down the first burger with the first beer, in

one gulp each.

The girl behind the counter turned on the holovision. A miniature President Grotsky, a little thinner than

when Bill had met him and looking more than ever just like Sam and Sid, stood on the counter. "The war

is going about as well as can be expected," he said, "under the circumstances. Casualties are pretty high

on both sides, and there's a lot of nasty stuff falling out of the sky all over — rockets, bombs, shrapnel,

pieces of airplanes and spaceships. I really suggest you stay indoors. The underground malls and tunnel

trains are a good idea. Personally, I'm planning on staying in my bunker for the time being."

"Gee, poor old Millard doesn't sound terribly inspirational, does he, Sid?"

"No, Sam, he doesn't. But he is under a lot of pressure, after all."

"True enough, Sid. But at least he doesn't have to eat at Burger Barn." Sam poked reluctantly at his

Horse Dog. "I don't think there's even any real horse in this thing."

"Doesn't have to?" Bill said with artificial ingredients dripping down his chin. "All this stuff is made

from real processed meat-like food-type product. You can't get anything this good in the Troopers."

Sid nodded. "That explains why they're so aggressive."

Bill shoveled the last of his meal into his mouth, chewed two or three times, and swallowed.

"Uuurrrppp," he eructed. "That was good. What's our next stop?"

"The neutron mine. At least we'll be safe there. Everything's underground, including the barracks where

we'll be staying. Some of the bombs were a little too close for comfort last night."

"You worry too much. They didn't even come close to the hotel." After a week of touring in areas that

were under attack, Bill had gotten blasé about it. Since nobody was really aiming at him, he didn't take it

as personally as he did when he was still aboard the Heavenly Peace. Although secretly he was happily

looking forward to getting into a nice, safe, deep mine.

Sam gathered the trays and carried them over to the recycling bin, where the trash would be reprocessed

into more GungeBurgers.

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