1941

Finally catching her breath, Perry turned towards the duffel bag beside her, pulling out a small towel to begin drying herself off.

"Do you think you could skip your runs when it's raining?" asked Sofie R. Garnet, a tall, dark-skinned woman that contrasted starkly with the damp, short and pale Perry. Garnet calmly sipped her morning tea while the smaller woman finished running the towel through her soaked hair, leaving a mess that she didn't seem bothered to tame. Compared to Perry, who in her once barely-used university sportswear was rather underdressed for a British Summer, Garnet's black slacks and maroon blouse, along with her Anglican accent, seemed to fit her into Britain more than her Canadian coworker. Glenn Miller played quietly on the radio in the corner of their lunch room, already filled with smoke from researchers and assistants coming in and going out for their breakfast.

"It helps me to clear my head, to wake up for work." Perry defended, taking a sip of her own cup once she put the towel back into her bag. "Plus I have half a leg to make up the difference on.", she added, fidgeting with the upper half of her prosthetic to ease where it was too tight.

Garnet gave a quiet chuckle. "I never would've taken you to be an athletic type."

"Well, if Hitler's going to keep sinking all the coffee sent over the Atlantic, I've just gotta make do." Perry paused while she allowed her breathing to settle. "Anyway, heard anything from the Management?"

Garnet thought carefully as she enjoyed a bite from her sandwich, answering in a more hushed tone of voice, "I've heard word of more of us being sent over to Canada. It's not just pencils and paper now, Perry, we're actually building this thing."

Perry set the cup down onto the table. "Good.", she replied, before pulling out a copy of Amazing Stories.

"Perry", asked Garnet, "Do you ever get...doubts, about our work?"

The shorter woman seemed puzzled by this, "Well, I don't think so, Gas-Diffusion Separation seems to be the simplest and cheapest way to-"

"I don't mean in that way, Olivia, I mean...morally speaking. Are all bets really off, here?"

Perry pushed her glasses back up to the top of her nose, "We left discussion of a fair fight behind when the Germans started bombing and shooting civilians, Sofie, along with whatever else they're doing to them right now. The only reason they're not dropping gas on us is because we could do the same to them, if not more so. All that matters now is ending the war, with Europe free. If we have to drop ten bombs to do that, then so be it."

"Oh, we have to beat the Axis, I know that" explained Garnet, absentmindedly wiping her lab goggles with her napkin, "But you have to think of the future. We might have the moral high ground to Germany, but anyone can see how desperately Britain is holding on to the empire. We need someone like Churchill right now, but would he ready to respect a weapon this powerful?"

"Irrelevant.", Perry dismissed Garnet, "For now the only two countries taking the Bomb seriously is Britain and Germany. Churchill might be practically Victorian, but he ain't no Hitler. How else are we gonna-"

"Change it! Change the radio!", cried a voice from the bar, the noise of the lunchroom cutting out. Soon, somebody had made their way to the old wooden set and changed Glenn Miller over to a much more sober BBC broadcast.

-we can confirm beyond all doubt that German units are now crossing their border into Russia. The British Embassy in Moscow reports some level of disorder in the capital, as what increasingly appears to be a hostile action from Germany continues to unfold. The Prime Minister is to address the House of Commons this afternoon-

The noise throughout the lunchroom grew back as patrons took in the implication of the broadcast. After nearly two years of semi-alliance, the deal between devils seemed to have fallen through.

"Jesus. Who made the first attack?", asked Garnet, covering her mouth in shock.

"Does it matter?", Perry counter-asked, rhetorically it seemed. A devilish smile crept onto her face as she brought her tea back up to her mouth, "The Germans are fighting somebody their own size at last. No more fighting alone for us."

"Wait.", Garnet requested, holding up her hand to gesture a slowdown of thought, "They were our enemies too before now, you're thinking of treating them like allies?"

Taking another sip, disappointed that it's already cold, Perry shrugged, "History's largest empire, and the world's first socialist state? Strange bedfellows, I'll admit. But take it from me, nobody likes a bully."