The Ripple in Space-Time: Free City Book 1 (The Free City Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the two-hour road
trip had been fairly uneventful as he steered the monstrous road machine
through the citadel gates of Dublin. He paid their entry fees and the Dublin
Municipal toll-taker directed them to the Free City Consular ’ s house.
    He pulled the creaky behemoth into
an open space in front of the official resident. A brawny security guard barked
loudly at them until Ryo presented his badge.
    The guard bowed slightly in
deference, “ Sorry Inspector Trop, the locals are constantly trying to
snatch this prized real estate. ”
    “ It ’ s not a problem. Is Liaison
Agent Norton inside? ”
    “ Yes sir, Norton ’ s been waiting for you. ”
    Lev gawked at the fortress-like
row house, “ It seems so intimidating for a diplomatic building, almost
like it was built to withstand a siege. ”
    “ Sadly, I think it was, ” Ryo noted.
    The guard led them up the wide
stairway and slid his fingertips over a small interface screen on the doorjamb. “ Inspector Trop and his associate for Agent Norton. ”
    After several seconds, the heavy
steel door opened. A startlingly attractive young woman, probably in her
mid-twenties, clad in stained blue coveralls and clenching an antiquated toilet
plunger studied the visitors keenly. “ Good morning gentleman, please
come in and wait in the parlor for a few minutes. We ’ re all attending to a regrettable household emergency with the old
plumbing right now. ”
    “ Certainly, ” Ryo nodded to the reluctant
plumber.
    Lev scrutinized the fetching
mahogany-haired woman as she hurried off to deal with the calamity. “ I certainly wouldn ’ t mind being on the household
staff with her, ” he whispered.

9. News Item: A somber Commemoration Day Dateline: 9th of June, 2445; Roscommon Park, Free City,
Earth
    Residents solemnly observed
Commemoration Day during several somber memorial events throughout the city
yesterday.
    The grim annual observance marks
the end of the Second Amero-Asian War two hundred and forty-nine years ago and
commemorates the loss of so many lives.
    Most citizens stood in brooding
silence at 11:18 AM to contemplate the most retched of all human undertakings.
Nearly a million people endured a cold drizzle in Roscommon Park to lay
symbolic notes to the dead at the War Atrocities Monument.
    The destruction brought about by
the Second Amero-Asian War is now widely regarded by scholars as on a par with,
if not more detrimental to the advancement of human achievements than the slow and
moldering decay of the earlier Dark Ages.
    Many of the forbidden weapons from
earlier conflicts were employed during the war with horrific efficiency.
Biological agents, toxic gases, nuclear and high-energy particle weapons
rendered Europe east of the Urals along with nearly all of Asia and North
America poisoned and uninhabitable. By 2196 nearly 5 billion humans had fallen
victim to the protracted conflict and its ghastly side effects.
    All citizens of Free City are
familiar with the savagery that obliterated the great cities of New York,
Beijing, Moscow and many others; regrettably only a few of these ancient
communities have been rebuilt, most notably New Rome. Nearly everyone has
personally witnessed the persistent effects brought about by the cataclysm
beyond Free City ’ s borders in the domain of the Warlords.
    The war had no winners and not a
single armistice or peace treaty was ever penned by the battling nations.
Indeed, the combatants had managed to not only slaughter their enemies, but
also themselves. No mere piece of paper could be held high as a symbol of
victory after the long and unforgivable folly.

10. The accomplice Ryo and Lev had been waiting for
twenty anxious minutes in the parlor of the Free City Consular ’ s residence in Dublin as the house staff noisily battled an especially
tenacious plumbing problem involving the third floor commode. Loud thuds and
profuse swearing sporadically pervaded the official household. Through the open
sitting room door, the men