Howard scratched his head. "...Do you think this could be some kind of revelation from God? Ever since I joined the Super Soldier Program, I've been dreaming nonstop. Maria often complains that I've become all weird and superstitious."
"Me too... Tell me what you dreamed about."
"Uh... I was just saying it casually, but I think it's more like... inspiration from a genius. You know what I mean?"
In fact, this was not the first time Howard had dreamed of such things.
The rechargeable high-capacity battery now used to store the Tesseract's energy had come from an idea he got in a dream. He had talked about it endlessly, and it had already become a celebrated story in the field of materials science:
Howard Stark found inspiration in a dream after a thousand repeated experiments and solved the research problem.
"Ahem, all right, I'll explain." Howard took a sip of his drink, gathered his thoughts, and said, "I dreamed of a perfect... Earth. Power grids and information networks covered the entire surface. The global orbital transportation system operated around the clock, and we had even opened up new areas in synchronous orbit..."
As he listened, Dr. Erskine continued, "...There, Earth was like a village. Humanity had surpassed its biological limits. Everyone could eliminate their physical defects and become better?"
Howard froze. "That was your dream?"
Dr. Erskine nodded.
Howard pondered for a moment. "I need the Tesseract to complete the acceleration experiment and obtain artificial Vibranium. This energy source is the foundation of everything. We're just one final experiment away."
In fact, the theoretical basis for artificial Vibranium—the core material of the Arc Reactor—had originally been something Howard left to his son. Calling it the final step was no exaggeration.
In his dream, he had received another revelation and created