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As a spy, Sylvia didn't like to dream. When she first underwent spy training, her dreams were so short and bleak that she felt it was better not to dream at all.
And yet, the night that Yor told Sylvia about her dream where she went to the moon, Sylvia had her own dream of space.
She dreamt she was the administrator of the National Westalian Space Administration, in a position where she no longer worked in the shadows. Instead, she and her team were perpetually in the public eye as the world eagerly waited to see who could put a man on the moon first.
Her crew consisted of the same WISE agents she knew in the waking world, including Twilight (now just an actual civilian named Loid Forger), her second in command, and the rookie, who worked as an intern—a sloppy one who often raised alarm about junk news about the space race from third-rate tabloids, but a respectfully dedicated one nonetheless.
A few days ago, yet another one of their test launches failed. The rookie wailed that this was never going to work, and Sylvia had to smack him in the head for being so pessimistic (and just plain whiny). Loid immediately scrutinized the plans to see what exactly went wrong, and Sylvia once again dreaded having to report this to the government. Both in dreams and in the waking world, she still faced the mercilessly slow knife of bureaucracy.
Though they couldn't get a test launch to work, Sylvia knew their spacecraft was cutting-edge, even if they couldn't specifically achieve the relatively narrow, specialized task of getting a man on the moon. Westalian engineers still remained hard at work on various projects as some began to believe that a man on the moon was unrealistic and unnecessary.
A few weeks later in her dream world, all of Westalis and Ostania tuned in to watch a televised Ostanian mission to put a man on the moon. Westalian citizens were furious that they couldn't be the first to carry out such a mission in the first place, yet they still wanted to witness such a momentous occasion. Some hoped to see them fail, but despite her alignment to Westalis, Sylvia personally wanted them to succeed.
To the amazement of the entire world, they managed to do it. Ostania put two men on the moon. From her spot in the space administration's headquarters, a mix of emotions ran through everyone in the room. The rookie sulked and weeped. Loid simply looked on, stone-faced. Sylvia was much the same, but deep inside, she thought, Congratulations, Ostania.
No one will ever get to know, but before the Ostanian astronaut could say it, Sylvia herself thought, That's one giant leap for mankind.
But then the unthinkable happened.
The return phase of the mission failed. The first men to ever step foot on the moon were stranded there, and Ostania wasn't capable of a rescue launch. Another mix of emotions ran among her crew, with some genuinely mourning the two astronauts and others celebrating Ostania's "embarrassing loss"—damn fools.
Loid told Sylvia about a rocket his team of engineers produced that could be adapted for a rescue mission. She immediately set about contacting the Ostanian space administration to join forces and save the astronauts. Government officials on both sides didn't like this, but they were willing to do it for the sake of humanity.
Then, to the great surprise of the entire world, the joint mission between Westalis and Ostania was successful. The men on the moon were rescued, and for a moment, the world felt united. Together, Westalis and Ostania had put aside their differences to achieve the unthinkable, a true testament to the power of hope, cooperation, and human ingenuity.
Sylvia's spy training sharpened her mind enough that she could easily recognize when she was dreaming. She wished the dream could be so short as to end there, and yet it didn't.
Although much of Westalis was in celebration, many hardline Ostanians, including factions of the government, accused Westalis of sabotaging the initial mission just so they could swoop in and take the credit for saving the men. Government propaganda ran wild, and even some citizens of Westalis were either still angered by the fact they didn't put a man on the moon first, or they were mad they had to work with the Ostanians in the first place.
Sylvia received death threats from both Westalians and Ostanians alike. Despite her position as a leader of a public space agency, she felt like she was no different than a spy. Even in a lucid dream, she couldn't control the whims of fate.
One night, under the light of a bright full moon, she met with Loid Forger's wife, Yor Forger, at a town square. She just wanted to talk about something else with a kindred spirit and take her mind off of the news, but then an eager paperboy suddenly rushed in and shoved a bunch of tabloids into her chest before running off into the fuzzy, abstract distance.
She looked at the tabloids, which contained such sensationalist headlines as "Sylvia 'Saboteur' Sherwood?! How the Crooked Space Administrator Sabotaged the Ostanian Mission!" and "Shaking Hands With Pigs! Westalians Forced to Share Glory With Ostanian Oafs?!"
She rolled her eyes as she sat down at a table with Yor.
"Hello, Yor," she said, putting on a weary smile.
"Hi, Sylvia!" Yor said with a bright smile. "How have you been?"
Sylvia chuckled. "I'm... surviving."
"I'm still so proud of you and Loid! It's so wonderful to see Westalis and Ostania coming together like this! Everyone I know is so happy about it."
"That's wonderful, Yor," Sylvia said before looking around. Though they were surrounded by people smiling and having fun, even noticing a few Ostanians in the crowd, Sylvia couldn't find it in herself to celebrate with them.
Yor's head tilted. "Are you okay, Sylvia?"
"Mmm, yeah. I've just been feeling down because of the news."
"News?" Yor said. "What news?"
She looked wistfully at the tabloids in her hand, and then back at Yor's smile. Suddenly, the only thought Sylvia had was that she didn't want to see it fade.
"...Nothing. Nothing at all."