Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Captain’s Quarters — Too Much Winning

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Captain’s Quarters — Too Much Winning
The summer air was thick with the rumbling of powerful engines and treads rolling against metal as tanks continued to cross the river over the pontoon bridge. Everyone knew the war was effectively won last year after the landings at Normandy, but there was a palpable difference between “effectively won” and “actively winning”, and this difference was felt rather strongly today as Allied forces began entering Germany itself.

As the seventieth tank completed the crossing and continued driving in the vague direction of Berlin, the rather portly bald man looked upon the sight with the sense of weary satisfaction that comes from building something useful under stressful conditions. And with that thought in mind, he turned to his similarly-bespectacled companion who had a can of cashews with him.

“Hey, sorry if I was a dick before,” the fat man said.
“Thank you.” The reply was terse, yet still expressive.
“You know, there’s one thing we haven’t done yet.”

The fat man pointed to the small box with a plunger sticking out of the top, and wires coming out of the bottom that went… somewhere.

“That will be a great feeling,” the cashew guy said. “Literally close to ten years of political and practical work.”

The fat man set his empty glass of blended scotch whiskey down on the cocktail waitress’ tray before he continued speaking to his friend. “I know you feel like you don’t do that much these days, but you’re really one of the most instrumental people for this whole project. We wouldn’t be going down this path if it weren’t for you. So I’d like to let you do it.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that.”

The man who previously had cashews now walked up to the box and pulled the plunger upward. He nodded to the fat man to indicate that It Was Ready. The fat man stood at attention, and he uttered the signal phrase that had been agreed upon years earlier:

“I WIN!”

There was a bright flash of light, and in the distance a giant fireball grew from some unseen place miles away. It was silent at first, and then seconds later the thunderous sound came crashing-

---

Johann gasped, as he suddenly found himself awake, leaning upright from where he had been previously asleep. He was surprised to find that his ocular implants were already active, something that was rare even when he dreamt.

What the hell was that? he wondered.

Vora was stirred out of her sleep by some noise but it took her a moment to realize it was the man beside her. Rolling over, she gazed up at him and gazed at him with concern. “Johann, are you alright?” she asked softly, reaching out to rest a pale yellow hand on his arm.

Lt. (j.g) Zorell, Sciences

He was surprised momentarily by her touch, but not as much by whatever it was that just happened. He blinked for a second, and his mechanical gaze met her maroon one.

“I had the strangest dream,” he said with great confusion. “I don’t even know where to begin. I think I was in it, but I wasn’t myself. I was fat. I think. I’m not sure. There was some other guy there too. Come to think of it, they might have both been fat…”

He seemed to be distracted by this entirely unimportant detail of his dream.

– Johann Dvorak, CO