Sunday September 27, 2009
Book 11: Massively Parallel — Part III: Credomar Command

Transcript

NARRATOR: The Aleph Fabbery at the Credomaran Stationwaist...

KEVYN: Lieutenant Ebbirnoth...  Put the platoon into rotation and secure this building.

EBBIRNOTH: Yes sir.

KEVYN: Before you go, though...  Have you heard the one about the different branches securing a building?

EBBIRNOTH: Sure.  The fleet officer kills the lights and locks all the doors on his way out.  The infantry commander fills the building with armed men.  Special forces wraps the building in charged razorwire, mines the entries and puts sharpshooters on the roof.

The punchline varies.  Sometimes armored cav knocks the building down on the run with a division of tanks.

Sometimes the artillery captain flattens it calling in a barrage on his own position.  It depends on who's telling the joke.

KEVYN: The way I heard it, Parliament passed a law making it illegal for anybody to enter or leave.  Still, I'm glad you've heard the joke.

KEVYN: By the middle of next week this facility is going to be cranking out enough explosives to level a city, and an army of little robots to place the charges.

EBBIRNOTH: So when you say you want the building secured...

KEVYN: I don't want a punchline.