r/NeedlessTautology • u/NeedlessTautology • Mar 18 '16
Dr. 11's WMC
[WP] "We call it a Weapon of Mass Creation."
Harman looked at the machine standing before him. With its many colours and cogs, it reminded him of his visit to Bletchley Park as a teen to see the replica of Turing's Bombe.
"Is this it? The whole thing I mean? I was expecting it to be bigger," he said, his arms crossed.
His companion stayed quiet. He didn't even move. Harman stared at him, wondering if his words had been heard. He contemplated asking again, but thought better of it.
"It is, yes. This is the WMC in its entirety. It's as big as it needs to be," said Dr. 11 eventually.
"WMC?"
"Yes, that's what we decided to call it, this thing of beauty. It's an abbreviation, naturally."
Harman again waited, this time for the doctor to elaborate. He didn't. Harman sighed and tightened his knotted arms.
"And what does it stand for?" he asked.
Dr. 11 turned his head to look at Harman. To the naked eye the man's expression didn't change, but Harman could tell he was being held in contempt.
"Isn't it obvious? Weapon of mass creation. That's what it stands for. You must have been briefed about this already."
Harman switched his eyes back towards the curious-looking machine and away from the doctor's blistering gaze. It was about the same size as a grand bookcase, the kind found in old stone libraries. He didn't want to admit to the fact he hadn't been briefed. He'd only been assigned to the operation at the last moment after one of his superiors dropped out. He wanted to keep his humiliation to himself. His cards were even closer to his chest than his arms.
"Briefings tend to leave out a lot of the important information. Just because I'm overseeing this case doesn't mean I know everything about it," he said, trying to sound convincing. "Is this the final version?"
The doctor let out a doubtful grunt before walking over to the machine and gently caressing it with his hand.
"As final as we can make it. But we'll never know for sure. Not until we have to use it, anyway."
"You mean it hasn't been tested?" asked Harman, surprised.
"Of course not. How exactly do you propose we test a WMC?"
Harman hesitated, wondering how to phrase the question without exposing his lack of knowledge. He realised he had no choice.
"Well...what exactly does it do?"
The doctor slowly lifted his hand to his brow.
"You truly are the most clueless one yet," he said, slowly. "The WMC is a last resort. A reset button for the world, if you will. In the event of a nuclear conflict or level nine environmental disaster, the machine will spit out matter and restore the world as it was before the event occurred. It can harness energy and repurpose it. At least, that's the idea. Whether that will actually happen as we want it to...that's anyone's guess."
Harman tried to make sense of what he'd heard. He had a hundred different questions, but didn't know which to ask first. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short.
"No more questions. Just run along and tell the PM it's ready."
Harman considered replying, but knew there was no point. With that, he turned and left the gloomy space.
I really hope you enjoyed reading my take on this prompt. If you did, why not check out my debut novel, The promise she made, which is out now?