A drabble – a 100 word story.  Thanks to @KenMagee for the idea.  Read his too! 

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 Click! 

The last component slid into place.  Ken admired his handiwork.  Seven years of painstaking labour had gone into the silvery device that lay on the workbench before him.  Seven empty years trying to fill the space Barbara had left behind. 

It was small, barely larger than a paperback book, much more compact than the prototype he had never dared activate.  One large, red button drew the eye.  

Should he press it?  Should one ever power up a POP machine? 

POP – his acronym for a machine no-one would ever know existed.  

Planetary Obliteration Pod.  

His finger hovered over the button. 

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