Moretti aims the Holle 40 out the trench periscope. She presses the firing stud.
Blackadder peers out. Four hundred yards of no-man’s-land—the barbed wire, the mud, the advancing grey-uniformed figures, and the three German field guns—simply… aren’t there anymore . In their place is a single, two-foot-wide perfect sphere of black glass, hovering three feet above the cratered earth.
“Sir, may I see your monocle for a moment?”
“What are you—that’s priceless —!”
(Stunned) “By Jove. We’ve won.”
“We fire it at dawn. But there is a problem.”
“Just go.”
“That, sir, is the sound of the war ending. Or us all being turned into very small, very shiny cubes.”
Blackadder takes the monocle, turns to Moretti. She nods. He carefully unscrews the tiny metal rim.
(Slowly turning to Blackadder) “Your batman has just summarized advanced quantum matrix inversion. I am horrified. And impressed.”
“Blackadder! Splendid news! The Germans have invented a gun that shoots exploding ferrets! We must counter with something even more ridiculous! What’s this?” (He spots the cube.)
(Sniffing) “This man has the brain of a radish.”
“Worse. The power cell is missing a catalyzing filament . It is a rare alloy. The only piece in France is…”