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"the [science fiction] writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true...and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you."
- Frederik Pohl

Provigil-C  
  A special drug that promotes wakefulness in troops.  

"Michelle, order all the AIDs to administer Provigil-C."

The drug was a combination of Terran anti-narcolepsy drug and a Galactic stimulant. The Terran drug prevented sleep from forming. However it was believed that the stresses of combat were such that more than an anti-narcotic was necessary. When the powerful and persistent Galactic stimulant started coursing through their veins, the troops started to move.

Technovelgy from A Hymn Before Battle, by John Ringo.
Published by Baen Books in 2000
Additional resources -

Provigil is the name of a real drug (Modafinil) used to treat narcolepsy.

The idea of a pill or other means for doing without sleep recurs in science fiction. Robert Heinlein's 1941 story Methuselah's Children has a reference to a "sleep surrogate" that you could take in the morning after an inadequate night's sleep. Also, see the article for A-som, anti-somnolence drugs mentioned in Paul Di Filippo's 2006 story Shuteye for the Timebroker; this story examines what it would be like to eliminate sleep entirely.

Thanks to Connor Lawrence for writing in with the quote for this item.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from A Hymn Before Battle
  More Ideas and Technology by John Ringo
  Tech news articles related to A Hymn Before Battle
  Tech news articles related to works by John Ringo

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