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Andy Greenwald's Review of "The Fall Guy" was spot on
2024.05.16 20:13 SeanACole244 Andy Greenwald's Review of "The Fall Guy" was spot on
This past Monday on 'The Watch' Andy Greenwald proved that, when he wants to be, he's the best 'critic' at The Ringer. He wasn't holding back or afraid to criticize the movie because he's rooting for 'star-driven movies.' He just called out the movie for:
submitted by SeanACole244 to TheBigPicture [link] [comments]
- Using unnecessary IP no one cares about
- For constantly winking at the camera
- For not just being a straight action comedy
2024.05.16 20:04 thehumanbean_ Let's talk about UFOs and "Perception Management"
 | 1. AARO, DOD, and Perception Management submitted by thehumanbean_ to UFOs [link] [comments] The Influence and Perception Management Office (IPMO) at the Pentagon has defined its role in Perception Management as, "[To] Develop policy, oversight and governance related to DOD perception management (reveal/conceal of defense capabilities) programs and activities" A little more on IPMO from The Intercept, "On March 1, 2022, the Pentagon established a new office with similar goals to the one once deemed too controversial to remain open. Very little has been made public about the effort, which The Intercept learned about through a review of budget documents and an internal memo we obtained. This iteration is called the Influence and Perception Management Office, or IPMO, according to the memo, which was produced by the office for an academic institution, and its responsibilities include overseeing and coordinating the various counter-disinformation efforts being conducted by the military, which can include the U.S.’s own propaganda abroad." The memo in question, "Let’s say DoD wants to influence Country A’s leaders to stop purchasing a weapon system from Country B (because we believe the continued purchasing might jeopardize DoD’s military advantage, in some way, if the U.S. ever had to engage in armed conflict with Country A.) Assuming the IPMO has worked to establish the desired behavior change, how might key influencers be identified that have sway over these leaders’ thought processes, beliefs, motives, reasoning, etc. (including ascertaining their typical modes and methods of communication)? Thereafter, assuming an influence strategy is developed, how might the DIE or IC determine if DoD’s influence activities are working (aside from waiting and watching hopefully that Country A eventually stops purchasing the weapons system in question from Country B)?" So lets move on to where this gets a little more interesting, in 2022 AARO and IPMO awarded a consulting firm called Sancorp LLC $1.9 for their services. Sancrop role with AARO was to implement plans to help with perception management on the UAP topic. https://preview.redd.it/e57fpgwbqt0d1.png?width=1130&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e60418bd9b4bf970189474d074adb6fdf64ac70 BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!! 2. Susan Gough Remember Ms. Susan Gough? The current DOD spokesperson in charge of what gets put out there in through FOIA on the UAP topic also works closely with AARO and Sean Kirkpatrick when he was the director until late last year. She has quite a notable history when it comes to her previous work. According to her LinkedIn page, She graduated from US Army War College in 2003 with a MS in Strategic Studies. She even wrote her thesis on psychological operations, titled "THE EVOLUTION OF STRATEGIC INFLUENCE" The paper starts with her thesis statement, "This paper will examine the evolution of how the U.S. Government and the Department of Defense have organized to conduct strategic influence as an instrument of national power, from the Psychological Warfare Division of World War II, through the Psychological Strategy Board and Operations Coordinating Board of the early Cold War, through the Vietnam years to today. Are they organized effectively today to meet the asymmetric threats of the 21st Century?" And then goes on to include this quote, "It is the significant actions taken by government in and of themselves, the appropriate and most desirable arrangements of such actions, and the manner and emphasis of the publication of such actions to the world, that advance the struggle for men’s minds and create a desirable climate of world opinion. - Robert Cutler" Before her current role in DOD, she worked for a company called Booz Allen Hamilton, whose services are very similar to that of Sancorp. She worked on the Strategic Communication Team and described her role as, "Provided expert advice to DoD and other U.S. Government agencies on strategic communication, organizational change, psychological operations, and information operations policy, concept, doctrine, plan, and strategy development and implementation. Provided full-time, on-site staff support to OSD Public Affairs." I recommend reading the paper for yourself if you have time, it's a pretty strange way to view America's role in influencing foreign countries but also the American public. 3. AARO This last part is my personal opinion, but I think it's now safe to assume AARO exists for two reasons.
I also don't think it's just pure coincidence that the number of bots and trolls on here and other sites have increased since July 2023. So to all the bots that are going to be in the comment section on this post, hello ;) Sources; https://theintercept.com/2023/05/17/pentagon-perception-management-office/ https://irp.fas.org/eprint/gough.pdf https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_HQ003422C0094_9700_-NONE-_-NONE- https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-gough-941a9652/ |
2024.05.16 19:02 ThroneAway34 Anna Kasparian denounces Keffals
Related to the BARPod Keffals arc, and also the recent episode with Anna as a guest where she talked about how disillusioned she is with mainstream progressive positions, Anna Kasparian gives a mea culpa for her support of Keffals when the whole controversy went down. She bases her new understanding of the situation on the Mutahar episode that was posted here a few days ago. Kind of disappointed that Jesse and Katie don't get any mention for exposing this fraud. I didn't watch the Mutathar episode, but does he mention BARPod at all?
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2024.05.16 18:23 Sabaschin Trivia: in 5/6 of New Era seasons, at the F6...
...there has been an idol 'mistake'.
submitted by Sabaschin to survivor [link] [comments]
- S42: Lindsay didn't play her amulet idol on her ally Omar on the last time it could be played, resulting in him getting voted out.
- S43: Cody gives his idol to Jesse and is voted out. Jesse burns Cody's idol on Owen. Karla wastes her idol.
- S44: Heidi plays her idol but receives zero votes.
- S45: Austin plays his amulet idol, but receives zero votes (however, it was the last time it could be played so wasn't a 'real' mistake). However, his ally Drew is voted out instead.
- S46: Q gets voted out with an unused idol.
2024.05.16 18:09 carr1e Updated list of Mikayla's nonsense...
- Transphobic video using the word "tr***y"
- Referencing drag queens as clowns
- Doesn't disclose that reviews were really paid ads Edited her body for an Aerie ad, which is a brand that supposedly prides themselves on using real bodies.
- Was blocking and ignoring customers who purchased her Glamlite Paht 2 collection, never received their order, and asked about it. All of this while Glamlite was siphoning stock to CVS and also ignored customer inquiries about their overdue orders.
- Along with CVS, broke their "Beauty Unaltered" pledge by creating a display unit that is obviously filtered of the Trash Goblin’s face.
- Committed fraud by pledging that 50% of the proceeds from the Paht 2 collection would be donated to women's healthcare after the Dobbs decision. When anyone commented to ask about it, they were banned from her socials. This one is the most egregious, as there are people who might have purchased solely based on her pledge. She lied about not getting paid yet to make the donation just as the CVS distribution happened.
- She's myopic and doesn't care about her supporters, as she continually discusses her ED without the common courtesy of a trigger warning like most creators do for subjects like this. Her explanation for why she doesn't give a TW? "It doesn't trigger me, so fuck all of you." She's so disrespectful of Cody's sobriety.
- Does giveaways by making followers jump through engagement hoops to boost her profile but then didn't deliver on the giveaways.
- Begging... BEGGING.. followers on her broadcast channel to drop an emoji as a comment to inflate her engagement rate, as comments are engagement rate gold for getting paid.
- Claims she donates extra product to women's shelters, and then went on Instagram asking for suggestions on where in her area she can donate women's clothes. She's so fucking dense that she either doesn't realize the same places she supposedly donates product to is a good first start, or she outed herself as never donating before like she said she did if she doesn't know where to donate clothes locally.
- She's a terrible brand ambassador, which is on her and DBA. She went on a free Paris trip sponsored by Caudalie, and she shit talked how broken out her skin got on the trip (with the assumption she was using their products and services) and never once really hyped the brand that was paying for her to be there.
- Took money from Briogio for a campaign and at the same time posted videos about her hair falling out. She's so dumb she doesn't realize that she caused a causation comparison.
- She's lying about having clients, paying clients that aren't her friends and family. She is not a MUA or a certified in MA to do makeup.
- She brigades brands who don't do her bidding like a brat. Pottery Barn in the middle of the pandemic had shipping and quality issues. She sent her followers after them and then begged PB for more free stuff.
- She has her friends like HeartofGreg comment on her videos, which she then stiches the comment to review a product. She then takes that video and shops it to the brand to get them to sponsor the video.. and a few weeks later the video resurfaces as partner, paid partnerships, sponsorship.
- Tax fraud when handling gratis, expenses, and giveaways
- Did a giveaway for Chanel bags with Chris Appleton (Color Wow) and the Boston's Children's Hospital, which was against GoFundMe's Terms of Service. She never gave the winners their prize.
- Dogs a brand who sent her free items but then turns around and praises the brand when they pay her (She did it with Essence and KVD).
- Did a bunch of fake "pick out my wedding makeup" when she 100% knew what she was using including the fact that e.l.f. sponsored her wedding as a brand event. She says that's not true, but I can guarantee e.l.f. writes off the expenses they incurred for her wedding as a business expense.
- Lied about her YouTube page being her page. She feverously uploaded videos when she took her 5:19, baby tantrum, pity party break from TikTok but still needed to earn money. She uploaded her TikTok videos to YouTube, lied that it was her channel, and made money. If it wasn't her channel, you know she and DBA would file a cease and desist .. and win it.. to get the channel removed. It's her channel.
- Her filter usage is fraud. Period. There is no debating it. When you are getting paid to review products and apply a filter on your face and body, you are committing fraud. The viewer thinks it's the product making that effect and not really the software engineering team that created the editing app.
- With the PeeeLouish collab, they were caught pre-applying swatches from the P.Louise palette. She's also not really applying makeup in her videos. Cheeks, bronzer, and eyes are being applied off screen and she's swiping a brush making it look like she's applying it. Another sign she can't do professional makeup at all. It's all fake.
- Every ”in the wild” picture that’s not filtered shows the truth.
- She constantly lurks on other creators pages to find commenters to block when they shit talk her. Insecure much? She’ll unblock people to snark them and lurk, then block them again. We know she does this with Rich Lux.
- She supports James Charles. The grifting carnival barker loves the groomer trash.
- Community Contribution: She shits on her estranged half sister to her millions of followers, when all the evidence points to her sister being frozen out of their family at the age of 14. She claims her sister walked out of their lives because she “wasn’t the precious daughter of the family anymore” after Mikayla was born, and also talks badly about her sister for being on disability. Mikayla is an aunt to two girls, but I doubt she’s ever cared nor met them. Her sister also lived and lives right down the road from Mikayla’s parents home.
- She’s a known bully and coming from someone who’s now being regarded as an ED spokesperson. She told her friend that drinking hot chocolate would be “200 very unnecessary calories”, and that she was “just trying to help since you’re trying to lose weight” with that comment. She’s a mean girl, and she always has been.
- She cries about shade range while she brags about being soooo pale (um, really?). She releases collabs that are not inclusive for POC. She then brags about buying out and hoarding darker foundations and concealers to use as bronzers meaning the very little stock available for darker skin tones becomes even more scarce when her idiot stans buy up the product. She also blackfishes.
- She can't admit when she's wrong and aggressively lashes out to those trying to point it out. She called a comb and brush, and when corrected in her comments, she was incredibly rude to her own followers. You know, the people engaging with her content that's paying her mortgage. She is incapable of saying, "oops, my bad." Her integrity is crap for this behavior.
- Just like the above, the unwillingness to admit a simple mistake turned her into an ableist POS. There are those with low vision or no vision who listen to TikToks and rely on accuracy in speech and closed captions. Her "go fuck yourself, bro" attitude when called out about the comb incident made her incredibly ableist.
- She creates rage bait content to generate engagement gold via angry comments. This makes her a carnival barking grifter.
- She begs for engagement on her broadcast channel trying to force things to go viral like "nice and shaaaahhp." It's actually pathetic watching her do this.
- Used a derogatory term used to reference Travelers/Romani people and doubled down on it when people called her out and educated her on the use of the word.
- Lied about creating some Mother's Day shopping spree for a "family in need" saying that when she heard their story, she knew she just had to help. When asked in the comments about the story, she played the, "It's not my story the tell." Come to find out, the story is that the child goes to the school that Mikayla's mom works at. There was a raffle at the school, and one of the prizes was a $500 shopping trip with MikPickMe. The girl's mom paid for 40 entries to win the raffle, and she did. The only reason the shopping was done on Mother's Day was due to conflicting schedules. This was not a shopping spree for a family in need. It was a prize from a raffle that Mikayla's mommy had a hand in.
- MikLieHole took Rael's money and trip and went in days earlier with her emotional support animal, Codypendency, and did meetings with a competitor, Tirtir. Tirtir gifted her a Birkin while in South Korea, too.
2024.05.16 17:56 Plastic_Finish1968 The Long Walk Home: chapter 10 (Tall Dark and Extraterrestrial)
Have you ever witnessed the first formation of life? I mean, I've seen my children, I was there for every step of the process if you know what I mean. Hah. But what I'm talking about is from beyond the beginning. The molten slag of a planet forming over millions or even billions of years into a habitable plane. Have you seen, from that very point, chemicals coalescing and reproducing? Amino acids and the forming proteins?
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.
submitted by Plastic_Finish1968 to humansarespaceorcs [link] [comments]
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.
2024.05.16 17:56 Plastic_Finish1968 The Long Walk Home: chapter 10 (Tall Dark and Extraterrestrial)
Have you ever witnessed the first formation of life? I mean, I've seen my children, I was there for every step of the process if you know what I mean. Hah. But what I'm talking about is from beyond the beginning. The molten slag of a planet forming over millions or even billions of years into a habitable plane. Have you seen, from that very point, chemicals coalescing and reproducing? Amino acids and the forming proteins?
Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.
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Well today, I found out, when you die in the crypts, you don't see a light in the end of a tunnel. You witness something truly beautiful and pointless.
I watched the birth of life from nothing. Short molecular protein chains. No cell walls, no encasing membranes. If DNA or genetic code of any kind was in their descendant's future, it wasn't present now. I watched it cling to the surface of rock, self-replication fueled by the warm free energy of a sun, millions of generations, hard work, decay, and new growth, only to be destroyed by a crashing wave. The weak hydrogen bonds were broken, as simple as that. The ancestor's hard work gone in a single blink-and-you-miss-it moment. Somehow I knew, wherever this was, that was all the life that planet would ever see until it was swallowed up by its star.
It was a quick fleeting spark. All the dramas and soap operas in the world could have taken place in a single raindrop. A unique potential, unlike any others, this planet's chosen ones, snuffed out before it could evolve to breathe its first breath. Rather grim isn't it? I don't know why I dreamt it, but there it was, a pointless creation followed by an equally pointless destruction. I guess it was a nice commercial break from the missing-arm-induced pain i was suffering. A wonderful hilucination, if a bit mocob.
Anyway, back to my unimaginable blood-curdling, mind-wrenching torture porn session. My eyes were closed a very long time, but when they did open, I was finally where I should be. Horizontal in a hospital bed, surrounded by trained surgeons. That said, it was on an alien world, and the surgeons were not trained in human biology. What's worse, they had no way to dull the pain.
Death would have been a blessing, unfortunately, the doctors were good, in spite of the unknown make, model, and engine size laying before them. 5 hours under an experimental knife, and I think an arc welder, is what it took to reattach my arm and fix my internal organ damage. 5 hours of poking and prodding and searing and stitching and pulling and zapping. All things considered, I am impressed it only took 5 hours. Ted's species was remarkable when it came to taking in new information and applying it in the real world. All their extra brains probably didn't hurt either.
If you remember, Ted's species came equipped with five extremity brains, and a central one. That's three for all three of his legs, two for both of his arms, and one in his central body. Ted would have had six individual minds within him before I found him dead in a ditch beside that interstellar sidewalk. By that point, only one, Ted, had survived.
After my, let's say, unique experience, I was left alone in a dark room to rest. Ted came by to visit. Oh yeah, he had a body now. He wore that "Tall, dark, and extraterrestrial" look well. He was easily 7 feet tall in his real body. Those Ted-fu moves should pack a real punch in a body like that.
"That reminds me. You wanted your fighting moves back, right?" My voice was terribly parched after my morning shouting sessions.
Shouting obscenities at medical proffesionals was about all I could do when Ted's doctors were busy inventing a new form of torture. Seriously, take notes. Good stuff in there.
"Keep them. That isn't going to be my concern here. It's hard to even walk now, let alone fight." He admitted. "I'm used to having secondary brains do all the work. I would only take over when the situation required. Now, I'm all I've got."
"Just another one of us handicap one-brainers," I taunted. "How does it feel to be on my level? Could you say you're just 'too single-minded?"
He laughed. I don't think I've ever heard Ted lower himself to laughing at one of my jokes. It wasn't even a good one. I know I could have come up with something better. Hold on. I- huh... well, I guess the moment has passed.
Instead, I teased him again. "so, you have a sense of humor after all."
"Always have. You just aren't funny." He shot back.
Then it was my turn to laugh at a bad joke.
"Bad idea!" I realized aloud. "Laughing hurts. Don't make me laugh."
There was an awkward silence before Ted finally spoke again. Our whole conversation was full of them.
"You're going back there aren't you?" He asked.
"I have to. I have a family somewhere, and I have to know if they're still alive. Something bad is happening on earth and I just want to be there to protect them."
"I don't think you ever will find out."
"Blunt and to the point today are ya?"
"Always have been. You just never listen. Im serious. I dont think you'll make it home."
There it was again, that quiet that kept creeping back up into our conversation.
"What if you run into Brad again?" He asked. "I won't be there to reboot your brain next time. You will either die or-"
"Don't tell me."
"Or you will suffer greatly, then die." He continued while checking his version of fingernails.
"I told you not to tell me. Now I can choose which option I like better."
"I'm being serious." He shot back at me. "You have no defenses against him."
"I know. I'm hoping he's dead. That's three shots from a Tedidian gun he has taken now."
Neither of us were convinced.
"Tedidian? That's the name you gave my species? I'm honored."
"I'm the first of my kind here, I get the naming privileges."
If our conversation took place over the radio, the host would be mortified. Not by the subject matter, no. The silence would be dubbed "dead air" and the host would desperately clamor for a new topic to keep the dialogue active and dynamic. We didn't have that luxury. I think Ted was sorry he couldn't have done more to help, but he would never admit it. I actually might miss him after all- Nah... Too stuck up his own butt to admit his shortcomings. I dont need a guy like that tagging along.
"Do you- mourn the loss of your secondary minds? Were they separate thinking entities?"
"I mourned their loss eons ago. I have moved on. Now I have to re-remember how to walk and talk and do math equations without them. I will be slower than my academic peers, but I have with me knowledge of the unknowable. That should make up for some of my deficiencies."
Eventually, Ted was ushered out. I needed the rest. The doctors here were good. They had managed to piece together this broken puzzle written with a completely different alphabet, and accelerated my healing a great deal. Not really a surprise, given they could build Ted a whole new body. I was back on my feet in a matter of 2 days, using my arm in 3, and back to 70% at 4. I dont think I'll ever make it back to 100%, but all things considered, this is pretty good.
It's hard to tell how long I have been away from earth, but given this trip was meant to last a very long time, I don't suspect I should miss my flight, so long as I find my portal. As long as I can find Eddy. So long as I can find all of them; Eddy, Rook, James, even Jyong and Me-Yan.
Ted's people had a similar arrangement to earth's at first. When Ted was an explorer, their portal was at the edge of the system, but they brought it down to their planet with rockets and parachutes after he and a few others never came back. The history was fascinating. They were a united planet, far and above the most advanced I have come across so far, but in spite of that, the portal slowly leeched off the planet, and spat out horrors beyond their imagination. What they once used as an interstellar fast travel, quickly turned into a speed bump, then a health hazard. There was a reason the builders set this portal so far away from the planet. It wasn't meant to be here, so Ted's people had to build a wall, with poor old lost Ted on the other side. They closely monitored the other side though, and were shocked to find the brain activity of a Tedidian coming from yours truly. That would be Ted's mind, shoulder to shoulder with mine, in my head if you weren't following along. Then they rescued me from Brad.
Speaking of, I asked around about Brad. Someone shot him, so that someone should know if he survived. I had to know if he would be waiting for me on the other side. Eventually, I asked the right person, who introduced me to my rescuer. He wore a white uniform and carried a big gun, even for Tedidian standards. I was kinda jealous. I like my pew pews, but these things were on another level.
He confidently told me that Brad was indeed "dead." I had Ted translate for me whenever I spoke to a native, but they were quickly learning on their own how to speak Sean-ese. That's the language I told them I speak. Might as well leave a lasting mark. That confidence, however, did not come from a place I liked.
"But did you actually see it dead?" I pressed.
"Nothing survives a plasma arc, even a graze, let alone two." He scoffed. Or I think he scoffed. There is no universal interplanetary sign that someone is scoffing at you. You just have to pick up on subtle undertones of pride, shock, or snood. Ted had lots of snood. Luckily, he broke the mold. The people here were as different as people are on earth. I just happened to get the most insufferable one imaginable. Just my luck.
"Then call this thing 'nobody,' because it survived one before." I suggested.
His eyes widened, glad to see that was an interplanetary sign of surprise. "Th-that isn't possible."
"Oh, but it is." Ted interjected
Oh good, that thing could be waiting for me for all I know. I never thought I'd be scared to be without a Ted in my head, but there I was, terrified. He was right. Without him, I had no defense.
We were walking back to Ted's place when I began replaying the past events in my head. My vision was something I couldn't shake. It was real. I felt like I was one of those chains of self-replicating chemicals. That's almost all they were, chemicals, but they had every marker required to classify life. They even responded to change in the environment. They were short-lived bonded protein chains that consumed, produced waste, even grew by self-replication and bonding.
"Hey Ted," I started. "I wanted to run something by you."
"I'm listening, but let's keep it under 280 characters. I'm not in the mood for a marathon today."
I rolled my eyes. "Glad to see you're back to your old self."
"My old self? I've been trying to get back to that, but every time I open my eyes, there you are."
"Look here Dane Cook, I saw something after the attack. It was on another planet. I think someone is trying to show me something."
"You were also close to Brad at the time, who we know can alter your perception."
"Maybe, but this felt different. The first time he affected my mind, he put me in a dreamlike state. Then he used something familiar to me to disguise himself. This was different. I wasn't me, I was this green amino-acid chain with no protective coating. All I could sense were chemicals, no light, no sound, but I knew what was happening too, like I was watching from the outside at the same time."
Ted learned how to roll his eyes just now from me, and mimicked the action to an exagerated end. "Don't think much about it. Many Tedidians see a light at the end of a tunnel when we are close to death. Perhaps this is just your version."
"Perhaps." One thing is certain, even if it scares me, I would be glad to be without Ted. I almost forgot how annoying he was after our little bonding session.
"But I have a question for you. Who is Dane Cook?"
"My planet's worst comedian. Thats not the point."
The day did come that I had to leave, and Ted, in his usual fashion, refused to say goodbye. Instead, all he would say is "I won't be far behind." Cryptic, right? Like, what is that supposed to mean?
At first, I thought "Great. And right after I thought I got rid of him." But then I thought about it. It would be an interesting cultural slang to say "we will meet again." Does Ted believe in an afterlife?does he think I'll wimp out and come back?
Pointless questions aside, there was some good news. He gave me a new gun. This one made an even bigger "kaboom!" It was really fun. Heh. Haha. Gimme-gimme.
I was happy to see Jim-Bob waiting for me at the portal. I hadn't seen him since I set off that sonic weapon. Their feet are so sensitive to vibrations and sound, that weapon really messed with them. The Tedidian doctors had their work cut out for them fixing 5 listening organs per Jim-Bobidian. Together, all 20 odd Jim-Bobs and I, stepped through the portal to the nightmare world.
Now that I was on this side of the portal, I could see that Brad was gone. Oh boy, what fun. You know what else? I held onto that old piece of alien tech that Ted had his brain shoved into. I thought it would make a neat souvenir. Wouldn't you believe it if as soon as the doors closed behind me, I heard that S.O.B's voice saying "So, where to next?"
Ted copied himself yet again into that stupid thing. Didn't take long to figure out what he meant by "I won't be far behind."
"What the hell, Ted?" I shouted.
"Surprised to hear my voice?" He asked?
"More pissed than surprised. I thought I finally got rid of you."
"Oh stop it, you are happy to see me, admit it."
"I thought you wanted to go home. What happened to me just being a pair of legs?"
"Ah yes, but there's a crucial difference between that Ted and this one. This one is artificial, and doesn't get lonely. I am merely a copy of a personality. That way, when you die, I won't get homesick."
"I smell bullshit," I said.
Surprisingly, he didn't make an astronauts and diapers joke. Instead, he said "Got me. I am an explorer, remember? Even if I was homesick, I still yearn for the other-worldly. My adventuring days are not yet over, and this way, I can never die, unlike someone I know."
"News flash, Ted, you did die, and give me that self-aggrandizing crap you pulled in the beginning, and I'm throwing your immortal ass down the throat of the next giant monster I find."
"My path will remain rectilinear, and true."
"Rectum what now? I thought you only knew words I used in front of you. I don't even know what you said."
"True, but now I have learned how your language works, thus am able to intuit new words. You cannot convince me that was not a word. Go- 'look it up' or whatever when you get back to Earth. It means 'I'll stay on the straight and narrow.'"
"Then why didn't you just say so? You're already teetering on the edge of being too annoying to keep around, buddy." I threatened, but I had to admit, a translator would be nice.
I have to say, the next leg of the journey went on without a hitch. The Jim-Bobs, Ted, and I were making good time. Find a monster, kill it, find a planet, explore it, find another monster, kill it too. I found so many new planets, although most were dead or never had life to begin with. The odd part was, Ted was sure he had visited some before, and interacted with the residents, but there was nothing but rock where I stood.
2024.05.16 17:34 Lazy_Cheesecake1808 UPDATE: I reported my now former beat friend's boyfriend and blew up our friendship
So, it's been a few weeks since things went down. Please check my profile for the prior post for background info. Last time I tried to insert a link to a prior post, it didn't show up.
Onto the story...
Jess is in a lot of trouble. 2 weeks ago, the cops and CPS showed up because of my report and made her call her ex Keith to come pick up the boys and take them to a facility for forensic interviews. The boys have been staying with Keith since this happened, and apparently, Jess has only seen the boys for a half hour in the last 2 weeks, even though Keith hasn't tried to keep her from seeing them.
Two days ago they had a hearing with FOC about custody because CPS had Keith file an ex parte for emergency temporary custody. Keith asked me to be there, so I went and sat in the middle behind/between their tables. I was there primarily for the boys. I wasn't called to speak, which is fine.
The referee asked what Keith's offer was, and he stated that he was fine with everything going back to normal, so long as Erik was gone. He would have to be removed from the house permanently and have no contact with the boys, and Jess would be able to have the boys back. Jess did not agree to this, which floored everyone in the room.
Jess's counter offer was for the boys to go stay with a family friend of hers, that Keith knows and trusts as well, and she would visit them during the week and they would go to Keith on the weekends. She had a 6 page write-up about why she didn't want the boys with Keith full-time. The referee flat out told her that she wasn't going to be allowed to read that.
So, an evidentiary hearing has been called. In the meantime, Jess is to have visitations with the boys on Saturdays from noon to 8pm. The referee was extremely exasperated with Jess during the whole hearing, so I'm surprised she granted that much.
Jess admitted in open court that Erik has CP on his phone, but tried to downplay it saying that it's all animated and not real kids. She said they were told that since he cooperated and handed over his electronics, that they weren't looking at him for charges. Being a cop's daughter, I know that's the bullshit they tell people to keep them from running.
All of us were just sitting there stunned at how absolutely unhinged she sounds. The referee even buried her head on her hands several times during the hearing because she just couldn't believe what was coming out of Jess's mouth. I feel like I don't know who she is anymore.
After things wrapped up, Keith and his girlfriend Maddie invited me out to lunch to calm down. The plan after that was for me to go back to their place to see the boys. On our way to the restaurant, Keith called the CPS worker to give her an update on the hearing, but he had to leave a message.
While we were eating, the CPS worker called back and he told her what the ruling was. As soon as she heard that Jess was getting visitations, she immediately said, "No. She is not allowed to be around the boys unsupervised. I will be contacting the court to get that ruling changed." The only explanation she gave was that she has evidence from the cops that necessitated that decision.
Again, all of us are floored. Keith and Maddie think that the cops may think that Jess is a flight risk. But I think it has more to do with the relationship that Jess and Erik got into with a girl I'll call Lani and her boyfriend Tanner.
Lani is the daughter of one of their mutual friends, Kenny. For whatever reason, Lani was living with Kenny's parents in a different state until recently. I was told that she was 17, but I don't think that's true. She always seemed and looked much younger than that.
Lani had been assaulted by a group of guys recently before coming back here. I don't know where she met Tanner, but he's in his 20's so obviously her grandparents don't approve. I also suspect that Tanner may be schizophrenic or at least suffer from severe delusions.
Jess and Erik took them in. Erik made no bones about wanting to be intimate with Lani, and I warned Jess that it wasn't a good idea because of her age and trauma. Apparently this happened anyway, and Jess was involved (I suspected but had no real evidence, so this wasn't in my report). Lani has a baby girl now that her grandparents have custody of.
Tanner is convinced that it's his kid, but I don't think so. I think it's Erik's and that's why the grandparents are holding off on paternity testing for Tanner.
I don't know who told the cops and CPS, but Keith informed me that Lani is cooperating with the authorities. This means that they are looking at Jess for possible SA, which would explain why CPS doesn't want her around her boys unsupervised.
At this point, she doesn't know that the order is being changed. CPS said not to tell her. They are going to speak to her about it.
I feel like I opened a huge can of maggots by reporting. It just keeps getting worse, and more things keep coming out about what Erik has done and manipulated Jess into doing. It's like one of those true-life documentaries you watch about serial killers that make you wonder why humans are like that, and how they get away with it for so long. And how the people around them can rationalize their behaviors.
I'm sorry this update isn't a good one. I wish it was. I don't know what to do anymore besides help Keith and Maddie. I love Jess, but I can't side with her. Those boys are in danger with her and she won't see it. She won't even choose them over Erik. The whole thing just makes me cry.
submitted by Lazy_Cheesecake1808 to domesticviolence [link] [comments]
Onto the story...
Jess is in a lot of trouble. 2 weeks ago, the cops and CPS showed up because of my report and made her call her ex Keith to come pick up the boys and take them to a facility for forensic interviews. The boys have been staying with Keith since this happened, and apparently, Jess has only seen the boys for a half hour in the last 2 weeks, even though Keith hasn't tried to keep her from seeing them.
Two days ago they had a hearing with FOC about custody because CPS had Keith file an ex parte for emergency temporary custody. Keith asked me to be there, so I went and sat in the middle behind/between their tables. I was there primarily for the boys. I wasn't called to speak, which is fine.
The referee asked what Keith's offer was, and he stated that he was fine with everything going back to normal, so long as Erik was gone. He would have to be removed from the house permanently and have no contact with the boys, and Jess would be able to have the boys back. Jess did not agree to this, which floored everyone in the room.
Jess's counter offer was for the boys to go stay with a family friend of hers, that Keith knows and trusts as well, and she would visit them during the week and they would go to Keith on the weekends. She had a 6 page write-up about why she didn't want the boys with Keith full-time. The referee flat out told her that she wasn't going to be allowed to read that.
So, an evidentiary hearing has been called. In the meantime, Jess is to have visitations with the boys on Saturdays from noon to 8pm. The referee was extremely exasperated with Jess during the whole hearing, so I'm surprised she granted that much.
Jess admitted in open court that Erik has CP on his phone, but tried to downplay it saying that it's all animated and not real kids. She said they were told that since he cooperated and handed over his electronics, that they weren't looking at him for charges. Being a cop's daughter, I know that's the bullshit they tell people to keep them from running.
All of us were just sitting there stunned at how absolutely unhinged she sounds. The referee even buried her head on her hands several times during the hearing because she just couldn't believe what was coming out of Jess's mouth. I feel like I don't know who she is anymore.
After things wrapped up, Keith and his girlfriend Maddie invited me out to lunch to calm down. The plan after that was for me to go back to their place to see the boys. On our way to the restaurant, Keith called the CPS worker to give her an update on the hearing, but he had to leave a message.
While we were eating, the CPS worker called back and he told her what the ruling was. As soon as she heard that Jess was getting visitations, she immediately said, "No. She is not allowed to be around the boys unsupervised. I will be contacting the court to get that ruling changed." The only explanation she gave was that she has evidence from the cops that necessitated that decision.
Again, all of us are floored. Keith and Maddie think that the cops may think that Jess is a flight risk. But I think it has more to do with the relationship that Jess and Erik got into with a girl I'll call Lani and her boyfriend Tanner.
Lani is the daughter of one of their mutual friends, Kenny. For whatever reason, Lani was living with Kenny's parents in a different state until recently. I was told that she was 17, but I don't think that's true. She always seemed and looked much younger than that.
Lani had been assaulted by a group of guys recently before coming back here. I don't know where she met Tanner, but he's in his 20's so obviously her grandparents don't approve. I also suspect that Tanner may be schizophrenic or at least suffer from severe delusions.
Jess and Erik took them in. Erik made no bones about wanting to be intimate with Lani, and I warned Jess that it wasn't a good idea because of her age and trauma. Apparently this happened anyway, and Jess was involved (I suspected but had no real evidence, so this wasn't in my report). Lani has a baby girl now that her grandparents have custody of.
Tanner is convinced that it's his kid, but I don't think so. I think it's Erik's and that's why the grandparents are holding off on paternity testing for Tanner.
I don't know who told the cops and CPS, but Keith informed me that Lani is cooperating with the authorities. This means that they are looking at Jess for possible SA, which would explain why CPS doesn't want her around her boys unsupervised.
At this point, she doesn't know that the order is being changed. CPS said not to tell her. They are going to speak to her about it.
I feel like I opened a huge can of maggots by reporting. It just keeps getting worse, and more things keep coming out about what Erik has done and manipulated Jess into doing. It's like one of those true-life documentaries you watch about serial killers that make you wonder why humans are like that, and how they get away with it for so long. And how the people around them can rationalize their behaviors.
I'm sorry this update isn't a good one. I wish it was. I don't know what to do anymore besides help Keith and Maddie. I love Jess, but I can't side with her. Those boys are in danger with her and she won't see it. She won't even choose them over Erik. The whole thing just makes me cry.
2024.05.16 17:26 TMS2017 TMS[7] #7: Nefarious [2023]
4/7/24-5/15/24
Watched on: Amazon Prime
IMDB synopsis: "On the day of his scheduled execution, a convicted serial killer gets a psychiatric evaluation during which he claims he is a demon, and further claims that before their time is over, the psychiatrist will commit three murders of his own."
What a surprising movie, in a good way! For starters, it's a pure thriller - not a "horrothriller," like IMDB labels it. So I wasn't getting the R-rated horror flick I was expecting. But the play-like atmosphere of the film (it's mostly dialogue between a serial killer and his psychiatrist) is really strong and compelling. So, props to the 3 screenwriters. But actor Sean Patrick Flanery (who plays the serial killer) elevates the script tremendously with his fantastic performance. Now, here comes the big warning: It is a pro-Christian film, although it doesn't hit you over the head with it. So, those who are generally unsympathetic to Christianity will probably want to avoid it. Everyone else will find a surprisingly tense and watchable film, from start to finish. A hidden gem IMO, indeed one of the best 2023 releases I've seen.
Rating: 6.8 / 10
submitted by TMS2017 to 100movies365days [link] [comments]
Watched on: Amazon Prime
IMDB synopsis: "On the day of his scheduled execution, a convicted serial killer gets a psychiatric evaluation during which he claims he is a demon, and further claims that before their time is over, the psychiatrist will commit three murders of his own."
What a surprising movie, in a good way! For starters, it's a pure thriller - not a "horrothriller," like IMDB labels it. So I wasn't getting the R-rated horror flick I was expecting. But the play-like atmosphere of the film (it's mostly dialogue between a serial killer and his psychiatrist) is really strong and compelling. So, props to the 3 screenwriters. But actor Sean Patrick Flanery (who plays the serial killer) elevates the script tremendously with his fantastic performance. Now, here comes the big warning: It is a pro-Christian film, although it doesn't hit you over the head with it. So, those who are generally unsympathetic to Christianity will probably want to avoid it. Everyone else will find a surprisingly tense and watchable film, from start to finish. A hidden gem IMO, indeed one of the best 2023 releases I've seen.
Rating: 6.8 / 10
2024.05.16 17:07 Professoryap420 #24: Eliminate a character! Most commented character wins.
 | Linda Miles is out! submitted by Professoryap420 to Wentworthtv [link] [comments] Characters:Bea SmithFranky Doyle Jacs Holt❌ Will Jackson Vera Bennett Matthew Fletcher❌ Doreen Anderson❌ Susan Jenkins Meg Jackson❌ Joan Ferguson Linda Miles❌ Jake Stewart❌ Liz Birdsworth Maxine Conway Derek Channing❌ Jess Warner❌ Kim Chang❌ Nils Jesper❌ Sonia Stevens❌ Marie Winter Rita Connors Ruby Mitchell❌ Allie Novak Kaz Proctor Lou Kelly❌ Judy Bryant❌ Vicky Kosta❌ Bridget Westfall Ann Reynolds❌ Tina Mecardo❌ Dr. Greg Miller❌ Reb Keane❌ May Jenkins❌ Brayden Holt❌ Erica Davidson❌ Sean Brody❌ |
2024.05.16 16:49 EarthDetective Season 20 thoughts
- Jess was a respiratory therapist during covid? How many people died on her watch at that hospital in Iowa because she was shirking her duties while pretending to be Brody and the rest?
- Jess’s kid is going to be profoundly messed up
- When I saw there was a new episode this morning, I thought “I hope Brody finally kills himself this episode so the story can move along.”
2024.05.16 15:37 webbytogo Disney Episode with Flash
Do you all watch that episode thinking it was probably meant to be Cody’s storyline? It was always so weird to me that he was inserted here.
submitted by webbytogo to StepByStepTVShow [link] [comments]
2024.05.16 15:24 Scannerk Sean Cody -- Beyond The Sun [Indie/Singer-Songwriter] (2024)
![Sean Cody -- Beyond The Sun [Indie/Singer-Songwriter] (2024)](https://external-preview.redd.it/N7Xt8pPdNsNNVL8vI-CSJviQIQPyA0FunDhzMrLKYUA.jpg?width=216&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=679875286f03439d64f76f209f59ab060f03ec29 "Sean Cody -- Beyond The Sun [Indie/Singer-Songwriter] (2024)") | submitted by Scannerk to listentothis [link] [comments] |
2024.05.16 15:05 hawque Jess McKenna on After Midnight - May 16 2024
I haven't watched the episode yet because I'm saving it to watch with my wife after work, but heads up that Jess McKenna was on last night's/this morning's After Midnight, along with Colton Dunn and Ana Gasteyer.
After Midnight can be watched on Paramount+, and I believe the full episodes go up on YouTube a day later so it should be available there tomorrow for people without subscriptions.
submitted by hawque to dropout [link] [comments]
After Midnight can be watched on Paramount+, and I believe the full episodes go up on YouTube a day later so it should be available there tomorrow for people without subscriptions.
2024.05.16 14:56 Quick_Performance660 My god Furiosa looks good
Furiosa looks so g ood! My god what a time for the movies. I'm so happy for Amanda and Sean and Bobby as they get PAID to watch and talk about movies. and their best friends and love talking to each other and love each other like friends. and i love listening to them and thinking what it would be like to be there with them having so much fun at the movie and with each other with th ebest life
submitted by Quick_Performance660 to billsimmons [link] [comments]
2024.05.16 14:50 joeythegardener Binged Borneo this week, here were my notes and reactions
(Note, I was four years old when Borneo aired so I did not watch this live at the time. This was my first full watchthrough front to back.)
submitted by joeythegardener to survivor [link] [comments]
- Really amusing how much slow motion they used, even when it was just them walking around.
- In the first challenge, Jeff says he doesn't want to make any judgement calls. Ironic, isn't it?
- I really was shocked by how harshly BB was portrayed in the episode.
- Sue's accent stood out to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd be dead convinced she was a character in Fargo.
- There was a quick moment of Rich running down the beach to get Tree Mail as peppy conga music plays. It kinda clashes a little with the Legend of Richard Hatch that developed over the years.
- It's charming how primitive the challenges are compared to modern day. For example, one challenge is to swim out from the beach, dive down to get a chest, and then bring it back. I could probably recreate that challenge myself!
- Another ironic Jeff moment is when Jeff wants to wrap up Tribal Council quickly because of a huge storm. He'd never consider doing that nowadays.
- During the merge episode, Jenna is over at Tagi being impressed by how nice it is, being fed Rich's latest catch, and then we go back and forth seeing Sean at Pagong awkwardly chatting with Greg and nibbling on scraps. Bonus points for the soundtrack completely cutting out when it cuts to Pagong.
- The first tribal council of the merge is very interesting. The traditional walk in music or voting music isn't there. It really lays on thick that there's something ominous afoot.
- Its really charming how creative they got with Tree Mail in Borneo. Lots of different mediums.
- The Episode 8 immunity challenge had a hilarious moment. It shows Gervace and they show a caption that says "Currently Leading." Then a little later, there's Jenna "Currently Second." And then a little later there's Greg. "Currently Lost." That got a chortle out of me.
- Question to those that were there at the time: I know that Richard was getting a lot of vitriol, but what was it actually like? What things were he specifically getting nasty shit over?
- When Colleen was being voted out, they really treated the whole thing mournfully. No voting music, no walk-out shots with the Survivor theme playing. Just a shot of her snuffed torch as it faded to black.
- Sue kinda impressed me by how she toughed out getting jabbed in the hand by a stingray.
- An interesting quote from Kelly during her bar reward with Jeff: "Wait a minute, we're not evil! We just play bad people on TV!"
- Jeff mugging the camera for the Survivor Witch Project tree mail is incredibly amusing.
- I was not a big fan of Sean. When the wind blew his torch out during his vote, I was thinking about how even the island hated his guts.
- When remembering all of the previously voted out contestants, they show small clips of them that are representative of what they did. Sonja with her ukelele, BB working on the shelter, Stacey swallowing a grub, Joel throwing a spear, Gervace with the cigar, Jenna emotional about her family, stuff like that. But for Greg and Sean? The coconut phone and the Superpole. Perfect, no notes.
- Did Kelly actually reference Bevis & Butthead? When they were burning all their stuff in the campfire, she dropped a "Fire, fire!"
- A Pontiac Aztek was part of the grand prize? What the actual fuck.
- Another question those who were there, why exactly did Rudy get so popular when Borneo aired? Because to me he kinda comes across as a bit of an asshole.
- Adjusted for inflation, a million dollars in 2000 would be worth about 1.8 million today. One of these days I want them to permanently scale up the modern Survivor grand prize and make it two million. It would put the weight back into what you are playing for and what you are screwing others out of.
- The moment of Rich during the finale credits where he hopes the million dollars changes his life for the better hits really weird in hindsight. He really didn't get a happy ending, did he?
2024.05.16 13:44 Sea-Apartment1636 LA to San Diego Run
Hey everyone, just curious about the Cody Trains channel and if Cody ever did the LA to San Diego run challenge with his dad. He talks about it in a lot of Cody trains vlogs and a few Insanely Chill episodes but I can’t find a video on him doing it. Would love to watch that if it’s up. Thanks
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2024.05.16 11:23 nuraman00 The Beverly Hills 90210 Show Podcast: Episode 127: Casting Season 4.
Dianne Young, casting director, is a guest host.
David Gail interview:
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- During season 1, the initial order was for 12 episodes. No one thought they would actually make it to 12 episodes.
David Gail interview:
- He is joining from France.
- He thinks his bellhop role is in season 2. When corrected that it’s season 1, he says “excuse-moi” (in his French accent).
- Young cast him because he was nice and easy on the set.
- His son is also on the video. His son’s name is Gautier. His son makes a bunch of funny faces and hand signs throughout the interview.
- His agent would tell him you don’t need to meet the casting director, for auditions in general. Gail wanted to meet them anyways, because he wanted to meet as many people as possible.
- The original season 1 pilot was 2 hours. Rosin passed. It was eventually trimmed to 90 minutes, and about 30 minutes of music videos were cut. Aaron Spelling then wanted to meet him, after the pilot was trimmed. Rosin took the meeting.
- Aaron Spelling did not want to have a season in college. There was a lot of anxiety about the format changing after high school.
- The first two to three episodes of Melrose Place got a higher rating than Beverly Hills, 90210. They convinced the president of FOX, Lucie Salhany,
- Gautier has now taken out a puppet. The entire podcast starts laughing, except for Gail, who doesn’t know what’s happening behind him.
- Rosin then promises FOX that they’re going to have Brenda elope, and that will be the number 1 show that week.
- There was a lot of pressure at this time.
- Young kept waiting for more details about the elopement plot line to emerge.
- No one knew that Doherty was going to be leaving at the end of the season.
- Gail was unaware about any issues Doherty might have been having with the management company.
- Gail had no idea how big this plot was going to be.
- Aaron Spelling gave Gail a kiss and hug after his audition.
- Young does not remember other people that auditioned for this role.
- Mollin says Paul Waigner and Jessica Klein also had a big part in casting Gail.
- Rosin says sometimes during auditions, people talk their way out of a role. They get nervous and talk too much.
- Rosin tells a story of how he once met an actor. Rosin told him he liked this movie he was in. The actor then spent 5 minutes telling Rosin why the movie sucked. This was an example of an actor talking his way out of a future role.
- When Gail came in season 1, he read for a recurring role. They didn’t want him because he was too green. They then offered him the bellhop role.
- During season 4, when Gail was offered the role of Stuart, he asked how they could bring him back as a different character.
- Rosin said at the time, he didn’t think people were watching the show that closely. He didn’t know that there would be dedicated fans like there are today.
- Rosin and Young wanted Gail because everyone had liked Gail from before. Young says she had known him from before, and trusted him.
- Young had reminded Rosin of what Gail had done before, in season 1.
- When Gail went into the Spelling office for this season 4 audition, and saw all of the producers lined up, he was intimidated. Gail had to use psychological tricks like telling himself to breathe. Don’t start when they start, but start when you want to start. Wait until you are in that character.
- Gail cannot walk into an audition and just start being in character. He has to be David Gail first. Meaning he has to say hi to everyone as David Gail first. Then he can get in character.
- Rosin says one of Aaron Spelling’s biggest strengths was casting.
- The first time Rosin heard Aaron Spelling say that his strength was casting, Rosin thought that was BS. But, overtime, Rosin agreed that Aaron Spelling was that good.
- Aaron Spelling knew Julia Roberts was going to be a star, when he saw her in Mystic Pizza.
- David Gail’s son somehow appears on screen, upside down, from the top of the camera. Gail has to shoo his son away again.
- During season 2, Doherty had a boyfriend in Chicago named Chris Lupus. He was wealthy. So Rosin created a character that reminded him of that boyfriend, in Stuart.
- Gail says the plot was fun.
- Gail likes how Stuart was spoiled and possibly dealing drugs. He said it’s more fun to play a character like that.
- Both actors that played Stuart’s parents (Peter Mark Richman, Claudette Nevins) have passed away.
- Mollin likes the dynamic of how Stuart’s dad thought Stuart was a loser, and Brenda was making him a winner.
- Gino Conforti, from Three’s Company, was the mechanic in “Strangers In The Night”.
- Both Richman and Conforti were on Three’s Company.
- Jessica Klein created Jesse Vasquez. That was the name of her college boyfriend.
- Young went through a lot of resumes with pictures for this character. She had put Mark Damon Espinoza aside. After a few days, she kept going back to his picture. He didn’t have a lot of credits. She wanted to meet him.
- He was so easy to talk to. He was friendly. He was from Texas.
- He had a good theater background.
- Mollin didn’t like the casting at first. He’s grown to love Espinoza. Mollin says the character worked.
- Mollin: A baby is a show killer.
- Young: All of the cast has an opportunity to give input on casting. Carteris didn’t say things about whether a potential picture on a resume was terrific.
- Rosin and Mollin now think Espinoza was pitch perfect in all of his scenes. Even the ones with Ian Ziering in season 5.
- Rosin: He’s a good friend of this podcast.
- As soon as Young saw Kathleen Robertson, Young knew she had to pay close attention.
- She was easy to work with. She wasn’t nervous.
- Robertson had a unique hat. Mollin and Rosin noticed it. They used that same hat in her character’s intro scene.
- Lou Patrick negotiated Robertson’s contract. (A woman).
- Aaron Spelling had accidentally sent out a cast renewal to Shannen Doherty. Lou Patrick saw that and alerted Rosin. It had already been decided by this point that Doherty wasn’t coming back. They were able to stop that from getting to Doherty.
- Young had hired Nicholas Pryor before on another show. He was professional.
- Young: Christine Belford (Samantha Sanders), Pryor’s wife, was a good actress.
- Kelly McDonald, Young’s assistant, met with actors for D’Shawn Hardell. She was the one that recommended Cress Williams to Young. He was very new.
- Rosin and Mollin liked him.
- Unlike Tico Wells from season 1 (whom Rosin beat in basketball), Cress Williams could not play basketball.
- Young had known Dina Meyer (Lucinda) from before. She had always liked Meyer.
- There wasn’t an audition. Tony Shepherd just told Rosin that Dina Meyer would play the part.
- Barry Bonds and Dina Meyer are the only actors that Tony Shepherd told Rosin who to pick. There wasn’t an audition.
- Young loved Scott Paulin (Professor Randall). She had known his credits.
- Young doesn’t remember too much from Tracy Middendorf’s (Laura Kingman) audition.
- Young: Noley Thornton (Erica) was wonderful. She had seen her from “The Martin Short Show”.
- They had to make a lot of arrangements to get her from one set to another, because she was on both shows. But child actors have some limitations.
- One time, they were praying Thornton would be able to make it, because The Martin Short Show was running long.
- Kerrie Keane (Suzanne) didn’t know that there was going to be a scam.
- When Jessica Klein pitched the scam story to Aaron Spelling, Spelling thought the audience would know right away. He didn’t think the scam would work. Rosin had to promise that no one would see it coming, by the end.
- Rosin likes how he can talk to actors that come on the podcast now, because he was never able to do it when the show was being made. Jason Carter (Roy Randolph) is one such example.
- Young says there were a lot of British actors, at the time, because there was a lot of work in Los Angeles. And they were paid more here, then in British Television.
- Young had met Paul Johannson (John Sears) before.
- He was one of Jason Priestley’s friends.
- David Sherrill (Jack Canner) was another one of Priestley’s friends.
- Young would tell Priestley why one of his friends would or would not get the role.
- Young loves Brook Theiss (Leslie Sumner). She had met Theiss on Growing Pains, and Just The Ten Of Us. She was such a joh to be around. Young also introduced Theiss’ husband to her.
- Young likes Theiss so much, that she would cast her for something right now if she could.
- Young does not remember Kari Wuhrer (Ariel Hunter).
- Young remembers Matthew Perreta (Dan Rubin) a little.
- Young does not remember the Minnesota girls.
- Young loves Jed Allen (Rush Sanders). His acting was similar to Ian Ziering’s. She saw it right away that he was Steve Sander’s dad.
- Ryan Thomas Brown (Muntz) was easy to work with.
- Young had known Zachary Throne (Howard) from before.
2024.05.16 08:38 VolarRecords Thomas Townsend Brown and Nikolai Tesla -- UFOs and Electrogravity Propulsion and How to Build a Flying Saucer
 | Just tried posting this on UFOs and aliens and it was taken down because of Reddit's filters. submitted by VolarRecords to conspiracy [link] [comments] Last night I posted about Thomas Townsend Brown's research into building UFOs that goes back to the late 1920s right about the same time that Tesla was patenting his own research about UFOs. https://www.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/1csdviz/comment/l49mtn9/?context=3 I only know about T. Townsend Brown thanks to this Jesse Michels recent doc that a number of you have seen. I watched it twice when it came out and it blew my mind. I'm not a physicist by any means and can't explain shit to anyone. Just trying to pull together some threads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTEWLSTyUic&pp=ygUkamVzc2UgbWljaGVscyB0aGUgbWFuIHdobyBidWlsZCB1Zm9z Jesse Michels actually learned about T. Townsend Brown from his doc on Grusch documenting his time around his hearing last July. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRO5jOa06Qw&t=3s A number of you in the field of mathematics and physics with a huge interest in UFOs chimed in today, and I can't even keep up. It's all pretty brain-breaking stuff. I'm super armchair about all of this but have always been very interested. So in response to a couple of comments, I took the very simple measure of looking into Brown's Wikipedia. Yes, I'm very aware of the whole Guerilla Skeptics thing. I even happened to pass by their office here in LA after going to the sole US press conference on the Nazca Mummies here in Beverly Hills on March 11th. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbz7Ce4Q5dE&t=2s Here's the u/thegoodtroubleshow episode about the Guerilla Skeptics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ACu-pUSHg&t=13s Anyway, hope this stuff doesn't get scrubbed, but here's Brown's Wikipedia page as it stands now. Seems like a lot of you have already done years of research on him, so I doubt much can truly be hidden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Townsend_Brown Brown filed a number of patents: Patents
http://ttbrown.com/. Maintained by Paul Schatzkin, author of "Defying Gravity: The Parallel Universe of T. Townsend Brown" One of the references mentioned on his Wiki page is this, perhaps a book titled "Lost Journals." Here's Chapter Six. https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/lostjournals/lostjournals06.htm Chapter Six UFOs and Electrogravity Propulsion ~Did Tesla Discover the Secrets of Antigravity~? Nikola Tesla has been credited for the creation of much of the technology that we take for granted today. Without the genius of Tesla we would not have radio, television, AC electricity, Tesla coil, fluorescent lighting, neon lighting, radio control devices, robotics, x-rays, radar, microwaves and dozens of other amazing inventions. Because of this, it is no surprise that Tesla also delved into the world of flight and possibly, antigravity. In fact, his last patent in 1928 (#1,655,114), was for a flying machine that resembled both a helicopter and an airplane. Before he died, Tesla reportedly devised plans for the engine of a spaceship. He called it the anti-electromagnetic field drive or Space Drive. Here's this article mentioned in that publication by Tesla. Man's Greatest Achievement by Nikola Tesla New York American — July 6, 1930 from Rastko'sNetwork Website Here's more from that link: ~How to Build a Flying Saucer~ Tesla had discovered that the electrostatic emission from the surface of a conductor will always concentrate where the surface curves or even presents an edge. The sharper the curve or edge, the greater the concentration of electron emission. Tesla also observed that an electrostatic charge will flow over the surface of a conductor rather than penetrate it. This is called the Faraday or Skin Effect, discovered by ~Michael Faraday~ many years ago. This also explains the principles of the Faraday Cage which is used in high voltage research labs to protect humans and electrosensitive equipment from harm. According to eyewitness reports of interiors of UFOs, there is a circular column or channel through the center of the vehicle. This reportedly serves as a superstructure for the rest of the saucer shaped vehicle, and also carries a high voltage, high frequency coil. It is believed to be a resonant transformer which gives the electrostatic and electromagnetic charge to the craft and establishes polarity. This coil is relative to what is known as a Tesla coil. The Tesla Coil of course, was invented by Tesla in 1891. This column or channel is approximately two feet in diameter and is hollow. On some vehicles this hollow area has a turbine generator in it. When the vacuum is created on one hemisphere of the craft, the atmospheric pressure is allowed to rush through the tube to drive a sort of turbine electrical generator. Some reports say the extraterrestrials use this system as stationary power plants for electrical energy on their planets as well. The eyes of the craft are arranged by electro-optic lenses placed at quadrants or wherever they wish to see from. The screen-like monitors are placed on a console where the navigator can observe all areas around and about the vehicle at the same time. This includes the magnification lenses which are used without changing positions. There are also windows about elbow level and about one foot through or thick. This distance would have to be in view of the four or more walls or plates of the capacitor hulls making up the major portion of the craft. The windows have an iris type of shutter so that when it is closed, it allows electrostatic charge to flow evenly. ~Dr T. Townsend Brown and Electrogravitics~ The idea of using high voltage electricity as a means of propulsion is not new. Tesla laid the groundwork in the late 19th century which was then continued by such notables as Thomas Townsend Brown, who discovered in 1923 what was later called the Biefeld -Brown Effect. Thomas Townsend Brown, was a physics student of Dr. Paul Alfred Biefeld at the California Institute for Advanced Studies. Brown noticed that when he had two plates carrying high voltages of direct current separated by a dielectric, the negative electrode moved by itself in the direction of the positive plate. In other words, Townsend Brown discovered that it is possible to create an artificial gravity field by charging an electrical capacitor to a high-voltage. He built a special capacitor which utilized a heavy, high charge-accumulating (high K-factor) dielectric material between its plates and found that when charges with between 70,000 to 300,000 volts, it would move in the direction of its positive pole. When oriented with its positive side up, it would proceed to lose about one percent of it's weight. He attributed this motion to an electrostatically-induced gravity field acting between the capacitor's oppositely charged plates. By 1958, he had succeeded in developing a 15 inch diameter model saucer that could lift over 110% of its weight. Brown's experiments had launched a new field of investigation which came to be known as Electrogravitics, the technology of controlling gravity through the use of high-voltage electric charge. As early as 1952, an Air Force major general witnessed a demonstration in which Brown flew a pair of 18 inch disc airfoils suspended from opposite ends of a rota-table arm. When electrified with 50,000 volts, they circuited at a speed of 12 miles per hour. About a year later, he flew a set of 3 foot diameter saucers for some Air Force officials and representatives from a number of major aircraft companies. When energized with 150,000 volts, the discs sped around the 50 foot diameter course so fast that the subject was immediately classified. Interavia magazine later reported that the discs could attain speeds of several hundred miles per hour when charged with several hundred thousand volts. Brown's discs were charged with a high positive voltage, on a wire, running along their leading edge and a high negative voltage, on a wire, running along their trailing edge. As the wires ionized the air around them, a dense cloud of positive ions would form ahead of the craft and corresponding cloud of negative ions would form behind the craft. Brown's research indicated that, like the charged plates of his capacitors, these ion clouds induced a gravitational force directed in the minus to plus direction. As the disc moved forward in the response to its self generated gravity field, it would carry with it its positive and negative ion clouds and their associated electrogravity gradient. Consequently, the discs would ride their advancing gravity wave much like surfers ride an ocean wave. Dr. Mason Rose, one of Townsend's colleagues, described the discs principle of operation as follows: https://preview.redd.it/m9z2722phq0d1.png?width=1134&format=png&auto=webp&s=75754301a0a8de25ba771c800da8e7ba1f76d6ec Although skeptics at first thought that the discs were propelled by more mundane effects such as the pressure of negative ions striking the positive electrode. Brown later carried out vacuum chamber tests which proved that a force was present even in the absence of such ion thrust. He did not offer a theory to explain this unconventional electrogravitic phenomenon; except to say that it was predicted neither by general relativity nor by modern theories of electromagnetism. However, recent advances in theoretical physics provide a rather straightforward explanation of the principle. According to the novel physics of subquantum kinetics, gravity potential can adopt two polarities, instead of one. Not only can a gravity field exist in the form of a matter-attracting gravity potential well, as standard physics teaches, but it can also exist in the form of a matter repelling gravity potential hill. Moreover, it predicts that these gravity polarities should be directly matched with electrical polarity; positively charged particles such as protons generating gravity wells and negatively charged particles such as electrons generating gravity hills. Thus contrary to conventional theory, the electron produces a matter-repelling gravity field. Electrical neutral matter remains gravitationally attractive because of the proton's G-well marginally dominates the electron's G-hill. Consequently, subquantum kinetics predicts that the negative ion cloud behind Brown's disc should form a matter repelling gravity hill while the positive ion cloud ahead of the disc should form a matter attracting gravity well. As increasing voltage is applied to the disc, the gravity potential hill and well become increasing prominent and the gravity potential gradient between them increasing steep. In Rose's terminology, the craft would find itself on the incline of a gravitational hill. Since gravity force is known to increase in accordance with the steepness of such a gravity potential slope, increased voltage would induce an increasingly strong gravity force on the disc and would act in the direction of the positive ion cloud. The disc would behave as if it was being tugged by a very strong gravitational field emanating from an invisible planet sized mass positioned beyond its positive pole. Early in 1952 Brown had put together a proposal, code named Project Winterhaven, which suggested that the military developed an antigravity combat saucer with Mach-3 capability. The 1956 intelligence study entitledElectrogravitics Systems - An Explanation of Electrostatic Motion, Dynamic Counterbary and Barycentric Control, prepared by the private aviation intelligence firm, Aviation Studies International Ltd., indicates that as early as November 1954 the Air Force had begun plans to fund research that would accomplish Project Winterhaven's objectives. The study, originally classified Confidential, mentions the name of more than ten major aircraft companies which were actively involved in the electrogravitics research in an attempt to duplicate or extend Brown's seminal work. Additional information is to be found in another aviation intelligence report entitled: The Gravitics Situation. Unfortunately, due to the militaries TOP SECRET classification, Townsend Brown's work has not appeared in any physics or science publications that can be accessed. |
2024.05.16 07:11 ThisMFerIsNotReal Of the current line up, who will be the superstars that people will be most excited to see return in 10 - 15 years?
I was a huge WWE fan back in the late 90s/early 2000's during the attitude era of the show. I fell off somewhere around 2003 and I'm only just now getting back into since Wrestlemania XL. I'm still learning the roster and who the big names are currently, but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm definitely a Becky Lynch and Cody Rhodes fan.
That said, I know that when big names from when I was watching before, like Steve Austin, The Rock, etc., return for short periods crowds go wild with excitement and anticipation. So, my question to you all is who are the names that in 10 - 15 years will elicit the same kind of response? Whose theme music will be unexpected during a show but will send the crowd into a frenzy when it goes off? I'm guessing Cody will be one, but who else? Who should I be keeping my eye on as the next superstar?
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That said, I know that when big names from when I was watching before, like Steve Austin, The Rock, etc., return for short periods crowds go wild with excitement and anticipation. So, my question to you all is who are the names that in 10 - 15 years will elicit the same kind of response? Whose theme music will be unexpected during a show but will send the crowd into a frenzy when it goes off? I'm guessing Cody will be one, but who else? Who should I be keeping my eye on as the next superstar?
2024.05.16 06:59 PropRatActual The Black: Ep117 Pure Evil
What's up all! 4th Wall here! I finally have power returned to my home, and can play a little catch up! This one's a heavy hitter, No NSFW needed (I hope) but if you've got kids, be warned.
First, Previous, Next
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A bright flash of blues and whites spat a greyish black object into normal space a mere one hundred Clicks from physical asteroid cloud that provided a natural barrier into the Lurix system. USN Olyvia’s drives instantly flared to life, and she made for the outer edges of the asteroid field with a purposeful stride. The senior Crew was at hand, having alternated shifts so they were well rested for this endeavor. Captain Correllus Grarzia shifted in his chair slightly, watching with interest as his star helmsman switched from his standard control configuration to a more “analog” twin joystick and pedals. ‘The kid really should be piloting a fighter’ he mused just as the young lad turned to look at him. “Ready, skipper”
“Take us in. All ahead slow.” Cory ordered calmly, before keying up the ship wide broadcasting channel. “This is the captain. We’ve just entered the Lurix system. Rig for silent running. I repeat, rig for silent running.” All across the ship, nonessential systems were shut down; their lack of electronic signature aiding the stealth coating on the bulky former troop transport. In engineering. Patrick, Cammy, and the rest of their section powered down a large portion of the larger systems onboard.
Life support was set to emergency backup, with old school oxygen candles lit in special housings that allowed their life-giving emissions to be circulated throughout the ship. Each major section of the vessel had their own supplies of these low-tech solutions, and Olyvia carried enough of these candles to survive for several days without functioning life support if needed.
Only a few were lit this time, using them as an augmentation to allow for minimal use of their perfectly functioning life support systems; and Cammy returned from the compartment just in time to aid in shutting down two thirds of Olyvia’s fusion reactors. This was not usually part of the silent running protocol, but Cory had added it for this mission. While they knew where their target would be, they still knew very little about what defenses awaited them inside the system.
Patrick keyed up the mic, “Engineering reporting in, silent running.”
*acknowledged* came a voice back. And Patrick leaned back in his chair just as Cammy arrived. “Well, that’s that.” He sighed.
Cammy stepped behind his chair, rubbing his shoulders for a second, “candles are lit. Two per section. At this rate we won’t run out for a year.”
Patrick chuckled, standing before looking over at his team, “sandwiches are in the mess hall. Half go now, half after. We’ll wait and go with second shift.” The team nodded and soon. The room was half as full. “Hurry up, and wait” Patrick mused, and turned to the rest. “Hold’em anyone?”
Over the next several days, shifts were kept short with a high rotation frequency. Olyvia picked her way through the natural minefield created by a destroyed world, slipping between the dead planetary shards with deadly caution. She ran quiet, with all but minimal deflectors shut down, and a single detuned laser online on each of her flanks as a last resort against impacts. Cory, Jesse, Patrick, and Cammy met regularly to keep tabs on the ship’s progress. The admiral’s transmission had reached them in time, and the four of them, plus Jacky when she could pry herself from the infirmary, worked to formulate a plan to get into the freighter without killing everyone. They had Hera and Jacobs reports, but those reports also admitted to a certain degree of incredible luck on their part. Things could have gone very differently, and the murder of the freighter during the admiral’s capture operation hinted at a change in tactics from their foe.
Mackenzie’s Privateers had liberated several freighters since they began operations, keeping to their cover as “pirates” by leaving nothing big enough to betray their secrets behind. A few of the other captains had left pieces of inoperative Unity tech, strategically damaged and jettisoned after the fight, as red herrings to convince both the Vorath, and the Thermians that these “pirates” had somehow gotten ahold of Unity warships.
Cory stepped into the cargo bay to meet Patric and Camorra. They were tinkering, carefully he hoped, with one of Olyvia’s harpoon missiles. It was a project triggered by Cammy’s brilliant, if outlandish, idea. “We know these freighters all ran the same codes, and the same infrastructure in their computer cores. Why can’t we hack it. Human computing should be perfectly capable of it.” Cory remembered her words as he stepped up to the two, “at ease” he waved them away as they threatened to salute him, “how’s out little project coming.”
“See for yourself” Patrick smiled handing him a data pad.
Cory took the offered device, quickly scanning through the data, “All I see is Olyvia’s system logs. Did you give me the wrong one?”
Patric smiled evilly, “that is coming from the missile, we found a common power regulator chip that dam near all Delmar freighters use in their integrated core management. Our mole here mimicked that regulators protocols to get into one we installed in a conduit over there” he pointed to an open panel. “It’s designed to cycle through several common chip sets and protocols to get access.”
“You hacked Olyvia?” Cory asked, eyebrow raised in a combination of amusement and irritation.
“Well, “Cammy said calmly, “we had to test it, and Oly’s the only ship close enough…”
“I see…” Cory mused, “it will have to do, we will be reaching the edge of the field in three days, how many of these can you have ready?”
Patrick scratched the red stubble punctuating his jaw line. “Hmm two, maybe three, including that one.” He winced at his captain’s expression, “took us a minute to get the virus right, sorry.”
Cory sounded to himself like a broken record, “I guess that will have to do as well. I’ll leave it to you.” He turned to return to his office but was interrupted half way there by an urgent request for his presence on the bridge.
Jesse rose to greet him as Cory stepped into Olyvia’s command center, and he nodded towards the ready room off to the side. The two of them quickly stepped inside and Jesse closed the door. “Jesse, what’s this about” Cory asked, settling into his desk chair.
Jesse, his first officer, and battle born brother looked at him seriously, “The first of our stealth probes have made it into the system proper….. It’s not good” He tapped at his data pad before handing it to his captain, “The enemy is doing something big down there, and we don’t know what. What we do know, Is that there are three heavy cruisers in orbit, and three more destroyers in floating patrols around the system.”
Cory scrolled through the pad as his first officer made his report, pausing at the same information on the planet’s surface, “These are military installations. This makes no since. We haven’t had a use for Lurix in millennia. It’s always just been a haven for aquatic and semi aquatic species. Why didn’t our intel warn us of this.”
Jesse nodded grimly, “I don’t know for sure, but I have my suspicions.” He reached over, tapping at the tab to open a particular file Cory had yet to find. “We found these in orbit as well.” He pointed to a pair of Delmar constructed freighters, parked in orbit over the marsh world. “I authorized a single transmission to a single drone, uploading Patrick and Camorra’s hacking program into it, and we sent it to one of those freighters... this is what we found.”
Cory opened the indicated file, and felt bile rise in the back of his throat as he watched. “Ready a tight beam, send it back the way we came, Towards Simo.” Jesse looked at his captain in understanding. The risks of transmitting this close to the enemy was a grave risk. Measured against the information they just witnessed; however, it was an absolute necessity. Jesse took the offered tablet, “The Admirals need to see this…. Both of them.”
————————————————————
Clint Stevens groaned as his communicator beeped from his desk. It was a very early morning on a weekend, and Frie had let Natalie stay at her grandparents for the weekend. He quietly slipped from the entanglements of a profoundly comfortable Delmar goddess he had somehow been gifted with as his wife, and silently cursed the inevitable destruction of his plans. The Com was linked to his computer console, and Clint tapped the file as he sat down.
The file opened, beginning with a grim looking Corellus Grarzia who made an intro statement that froze Clint in his thoughts. Before he could begin to prepare himself, images flooded in that turned grogginess into razors edge consciousness ringing with a white hot fury. Frie was ripped from her slumber instantly, reaching for her biometric pistol safe as a response to the unbridled rage she experienced from her husband. It took her a moment to realize that they were not being attacked, and she rushed from their bed, neglecting even basic decency to be by his side.
The two of them watched the Horrors unfold. Children… small children of multiple different races, stacked in a freighter’s hold like cattle, being thrown food like one would an animal. Massive screens played, promising safety and full bellies should they only but kiss the hand of a severe looking Vorath female. All who had not, were treated to daily ice cold sprays mixed with random beatings. He watched as desperate older siblings attempted to shelter their kin from the abuse, often times paying the ultimate price for their valor.
Clint and Frie were spared a further assault on their senses by a beeping light, indicating an urgent call from Clint’s adopted brother. Frie slipped out of view, reaching for a night gown as a furious Mac, accompanied by an equal parts shocked and livid Lyrian, appeared on screen.
“You’ve seen it” Clint stated. There were no barriers between them, no formalities. Only pure truth.
“I have,” Mac rumbled. “Why is it always kids..”
Clint shook his head, “I can have a battle group there in two weeks. It’s not soon enough, but.”
Mac nodded sharply, “I’m redirecting everyone not on critical missions. Simo and Kid are already there with Olyvia. Wisconsin is enroute. We will await your arrival….. Clint…” Clint’s eyes met Mac’s in a joined promise that reached across time and space.
“No, there won’t.” Clint answered, responding to Mac’s unspoken statement.
___________________________________________________________
A week later, The Chancellor Thomas Durrant of the Sol Federation perused the latest transmissions from Unity space. He was due for reelection this coming fall, and it was a close race. His opponent was labelling him a Warmonger, as he was an outspoken proponent of a more active role in the struggle against the Vorath, and it was working. The points were closing in the polls, and The Chancellor had not come out on top with the latest debate results. Humanity simply was not interested in further conflict. For the first time in human history, the vast majority of the Human race was content with peace.
The Chancellor took a sip of his mug as he opened a file from Admiral Stevens marked priority, but not top secret and promptly spit the contents in his mouth back into the mug. It was a complete file on some kind of intelligence operation, and Durrant almost wondered if it had been sent to him in error. The gruesome cover video dispelled that notion as the leader of Humanity itself watched horrors thought long dead play out in front of him. Several minutes later, he closed the file, and opened a message prompt.
“Viktor, are you up.” He typed.
*Yea, Tom. I’m up, the campaign ain’t gonna run itself into the ground.*
Durrant snorted at the dark humor, “Viktor, I was sent something. It changes… everything” he typed, attaching the cover video, and the longer form surveillance recording he had found inside the file from Clint. Several minutes passed in tense silence before…
*Jesus Christ, Tom.*
Tom Durrant took a long slow breath, “Do you still have your man at The Post.” He paused before sending, knowing what he was asking.
*Yea… yea I do, Tom. Are you sure you want to do this. This has ‘it will blow up in my face’ written all over it.*
“I know, but this bigger than me. Do it, and announce a press conference to follow if The Post runs with it.” Durrant typed and sent the last message, closing down his console. He stood slowly, feeling his age for the first time in recent memory, and walked heavily to bed.
The Post ran with the story. In the next 48 hours, the “leaked” scenes of tortured children, some barely more than infants ripped its way into Humanities Psyche. The revelations of what exactly was going on behind Vorath lines assailed Humanity, spurring many to call for blood, and Others to cry hoax. Around and around the political commentators debated, and redebated the shocking footage.
Chancellor Thomas Durrant followed through on his word, and was now stepping up to the platform and the Microphone as promised. He stood there for a full minute, meeting the eyes of as many of the hundreds of reporters before him as he could. The weight of his expression prompted a flurry of flashes as camera drones captured the image. Durrant allowed all of this to happen, waiting until the din of activity settled into a heavy silence. “People of Humanity… By now, you have undoubtedly seen the shocking pictures from the far side of the galaxy. Many of you believe it to be a hoax, a desperate ploy for political points. Allow me to be clear. This is no hoax, I received these disturbing images directly from Admiral Clint Stevens, who is marshalling the forces at his disposal as we speak. He aims to do something about these orbital concentration camps, and I support his actions with the full backing of my authority as Chancellor of the United Sol Federation.”
Durrant paused, letting the information sink in before continuing, “to answer the question as to whether this is a political ploy for points. Let me be perfectly clear, I alone released the footage from inside those torture ships, and I do not care if you believe it to be a political ploy. If Humanity can see the atrocities committed to the young innocents in those images and refuse to stand up for them; I no longer would wish to lead that Humanity. Yes, we are few compared to what we once were, but we have a strength that cannot be fathomed by those who chose to side with pure evil. Make no mistake, any being that is capable of torturing and murdering children deserves the title.” The Chancellor of United Sol skewered the silent crowd with a withering gaze, “All of you here know that I have been an ardent supporter of taking a more active role against this pure evil, and my opponent has made a great many statements regarding my supposed “warmongering”. I believe that to debate him further on this matter is as wasteful as it would be irrelevant. As such, I am suspending my campaign immediately. Pending permission from donors and the campaign review board, I will be donating the totality of my campaign war-chest to the purchase of relief supplies and construction of rehabilitation facilities for these children.” Durrant paused as a wave of gasps swept through the room as a volley of flashes assaulted his eyes. “Holding the position of leader of the Human race seems so insignificant in comparison,” he said softly, almost to himself before scanning the crowd. “The election is 4 months away. If you wish to reelect me, so be it; but know this.” Thomas Durrant rose to his full height, “If you elect me this fall, know that I will use the full weight of this office to unleash the full might of Humanity upon this evil, or I will resign from my post and travel to Unity space myself.”
With that. Chancellor Thomas Durrant spun on his heals and marched off the stage.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you made it this far, Thank You! I hope you enjoyed the episode. If this if your first time seeing this series, I hope you will join us from the beginning. I do have a patreon that has extra content that is not main story arc, but still cannon shorts, as well as exclusive content from some of my other series. If you believe I've earned it, feel free to give it a look; but know that just coming to hang is already enough.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
First, Previous, Next Patreon
submitted by PropRatActual to HFY [link] [comments]
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A bright flash of blues and whites spat a greyish black object into normal space a mere one hundred Clicks from physical asteroid cloud that provided a natural barrier into the Lurix system. USN Olyvia’s drives instantly flared to life, and she made for the outer edges of the asteroid field with a purposeful stride. The senior Crew was at hand, having alternated shifts so they were well rested for this endeavor. Captain Correllus Grarzia shifted in his chair slightly, watching with interest as his star helmsman switched from his standard control configuration to a more “analog” twin joystick and pedals. ‘The kid really should be piloting a fighter’ he mused just as the young lad turned to look at him. “Ready, skipper”
“Take us in. All ahead slow.” Cory ordered calmly, before keying up the ship wide broadcasting channel. “This is the captain. We’ve just entered the Lurix system. Rig for silent running. I repeat, rig for silent running.” All across the ship, nonessential systems were shut down; their lack of electronic signature aiding the stealth coating on the bulky former troop transport. In engineering. Patrick, Cammy, and the rest of their section powered down a large portion of the larger systems onboard.
Life support was set to emergency backup, with old school oxygen candles lit in special housings that allowed their life-giving emissions to be circulated throughout the ship. Each major section of the vessel had their own supplies of these low-tech solutions, and Olyvia carried enough of these candles to survive for several days without functioning life support if needed.
Only a few were lit this time, using them as an augmentation to allow for minimal use of their perfectly functioning life support systems; and Cammy returned from the compartment just in time to aid in shutting down two thirds of Olyvia’s fusion reactors. This was not usually part of the silent running protocol, but Cory had added it for this mission. While they knew where their target would be, they still knew very little about what defenses awaited them inside the system.
Patrick keyed up the mic, “Engineering reporting in, silent running.”
*acknowledged* came a voice back. And Patrick leaned back in his chair just as Cammy arrived. “Well, that’s that.” He sighed.
Cammy stepped behind his chair, rubbing his shoulders for a second, “candles are lit. Two per section. At this rate we won’t run out for a year.”
Patrick chuckled, standing before looking over at his team, “sandwiches are in the mess hall. Half go now, half after. We’ll wait and go with second shift.” The team nodded and soon. The room was half as full. “Hurry up, and wait” Patrick mused, and turned to the rest. “Hold’em anyone?”
Over the next several days, shifts were kept short with a high rotation frequency. Olyvia picked her way through the natural minefield created by a destroyed world, slipping between the dead planetary shards with deadly caution. She ran quiet, with all but minimal deflectors shut down, and a single detuned laser online on each of her flanks as a last resort against impacts. Cory, Jesse, Patrick, and Cammy met regularly to keep tabs on the ship’s progress. The admiral’s transmission had reached them in time, and the four of them, plus Jacky when she could pry herself from the infirmary, worked to formulate a plan to get into the freighter without killing everyone. They had Hera and Jacobs reports, but those reports also admitted to a certain degree of incredible luck on their part. Things could have gone very differently, and the murder of the freighter during the admiral’s capture operation hinted at a change in tactics from their foe.
Mackenzie’s Privateers had liberated several freighters since they began operations, keeping to their cover as “pirates” by leaving nothing big enough to betray their secrets behind. A few of the other captains had left pieces of inoperative Unity tech, strategically damaged and jettisoned after the fight, as red herrings to convince both the Vorath, and the Thermians that these “pirates” had somehow gotten ahold of Unity warships.
Cory stepped into the cargo bay to meet Patric and Camorra. They were tinkering, carefully he hoped, with one of Olyvia’s harpoon missiles. It was a project triggered by Cammy’s brilliant, if outlandish, idea. “We know these freighters all ran the same codes, and the same infrastructure in their computer cores. Why can’t we hack it. Human computing should be perfectly capable of it.” Cory remembered her words as he stepped up to the two, “at ease” he waved them away as they threatened to salute him, “how’s out little project coming.”
“See for yourself” Patrick smiled handing him a data pad.
Cory took the offered device, quickly scanning through the data, “All I see is Olyvia’s system logs. Did you give me the wrong one?”
Patric smiled evilly, “that is coming from the missile, we found a common power regulator chip that dam near all Delmar freighters use in their integrated core management. Our mole here mimicked that regulators protocols to get into one we installed in a conduit over there” he pointed to an open panel. “It’s designed to cycle through several common chip sets and protocols to get access.”
“You hacked Olyvia?” Cory asked, eyebrow raised in a combination of amusement and irritation.
“Well, “Cammy said calmly, “we had to test it, and Oly’s the only ship close enough…”
“I see…” Cory mused, “it will have to do, we will be reaching the edge of the field in three days, how many of these can you have ready?”
Patrick scratched the red stubble punctuating his jaw line. “Hmm two, maybe three, including that one.” He winced at his captain’s expression, “took us a minute to get the virus right, sorry.”
Cory sounded to himself like a broken record, “I guess that will have to do as well. I’ll leave it to you.” He turned to return to his office but was interrupted half way there by an urgent request for his presence on the bridge.
Jesse rose to greet him as Cory stepped into Olyvia’s command center, and he nodded towards the ready room off to the side. The two of them quickly stepped inside and Jesse closed the door. “Jesse, what’s this about” Cory asked, settling into his desk chair.
Jesse, his first officer, and battle born brother looked at him seriously, “The first of our stealth probes have made it into the system proper….. It’s not good” He tapped at his data pad before handing it to his captain, “The enemy is doing something big down there, and we don’t know what. What we do know, Is that there are three heavy cruisers in orbit, and three more destroyers in floating patrols around the system.”
Cory scrolled through the pad as his first officer made his report, pausing at the same information on the planet’s surface, “These are military installations. This makes no since. We haven’t had a use for Lurix in millennia. It’s always just been a haven for aquatic and semi aquatic species. Why didn’t our intel warn us of this.”
Jesse nodded grimly, “I don’t know for sure, but I have my suspicions.” He reached over, tapping at the tab to open a particular file Cory had yet to find. “We found these in orbit as well.” He pointed to a pair of Delmar constructed freighters, parked in orbit over the marsh world. “I authorized a single transmission to a single drone, uploading Patrick and Camorra’s hacking program into it, and we sent it to one of those freighters... this is what we found.”
Cory opened the indicated file, and felt bile rise in the back of his throat as he watched. “Ready a tight beam, send it back the way we came, Towards Simo.” Jesse looked at his captain in understanding. The risks of transmitting this close to the enemy was a grave risk. Measured against the information they just witnessed; however, it was an absolute necessity. Jesse took the offered tablet, “The Admirals need to see this…. Both of them.”
————————————————————
Clint Stevens groaned as his communicator beeped from his desk. It was a very early morning on a weekend, and Frie had let Natalie stay at her grandparents for the weekend. He quietly slipped from the entanglements of a profoundly comfortable Delmar goddess he had somehow been gifted with as his wife, and silently cursed the inevitable destruction of his plans. The Com was linked to his computer console, and Clint tapped the file as he sat down.
The file opened, beginning with a grim looking Corellus Grarzia who made an intro statement that froze Clint in his thoughts. Before he could begin to prepare himself, images flooded in that turned grogginess into razors edge consciousness ringing with a white hot fury. Frie was ripped from her slumber instantly, reaching for her biometric pistol safe as a response to the unbridled rage she experienced from her husband. It took her a moment to realize that they were not being attacked, and she rushed from their bed, neglecting even basic decency to be by his side.
The two of them watched the Horrors unfold. Children… small children of multiple different races, stacked in a freighter’s hold like cattle, being thrown food like one would an animal. Massive screens played, promising safety and full bellies should they only but kiss the hand of a severe looking Vorath female. All who had not, were treated to daily ice cold sprays mixed with random beatings. He watched as desperate older siblings attempted to shelter their kin from the abuse, often times paying the ultimate price for their valor.
Clint and Frie were spared a further assault on their senses by a beeping light, indicating an urgent call from Clint’s adopted brother. Frie slipped out of view, reaching for a night gown as a furious Mac, accompanied by an equal parts shocked and livid Lyrian, appeared on screen.
“You’ve seen it” Clint stated. There were no barriers between them, no formalities. Only pure truth.
“I have,” Mac rumbled. “Why is it always kids..”
Clint shook his head, “I can have a battle group there in two weeks. It’s not soon enough, but.”
Mac nodded sharply, “I’m redirecting everyone not on critical missions. Simo and Kid are already there with Olyvia. Wisconsin is enroute. We will await your arrival….. Clint…” Clint’s eyes met Mac’s in a joined promise that reached across time and space.
“No, there won’t.” Clint answered, responding to Mac’s unspoken statement.
___________________________________________________________
A week later, The Chancellor Thomas Durrant of the Sol Federation perused the latest transmissions from Unity space. He was due for reelection this coming fall, and it was a close race. His opponent was labelling him a Warmonger, as he was an outspoken proponent of a more active role in the struggle against the Vorath, and it was working. The points were closing in the polls, and The Chancellor had not come out on top with the latest debate results. Humanity simply was not interested in further conflict. For the first time in human history, the vast majority of the Human race was content with peace.
The Chancellor took a sip of his mug as he opened a file from Admiral Stevens marked priority, but not top secret and promptly spit the contents in his mouth back into the mug. It was a complete file on some kind of intelligence operation, and Durrant almost wondered if it had been sent to him in error. The gruesome cover video dispelled that notion as the leader of Humanity itself watched horrors thought long dead play out in front of him. Several minutes later, he closed the file, and opened a message prompt.
“Viktor, are you up.” He typed.
*Yea, Tom. I’m up, the campaign ain’t gonna run itself into the ground.*
Durrant snorted at the dark humor, “Viktor, I was sent something. It changes… everything” he typed, attaching the cover video, and the longer form surveillance recording he had found inside the file from Clint. Several minutes passed in tense silence before…
*Jesus Christ, Tom.*
Tom Durrant took a long slow breath, “Do you still have your man at The Post.” He paused before sending, knowing what he was asking.
*Yea… yea I do, Tom. Are you sure you want to do this. This has ‘it will blow up in my face’ written all over it.*
“I know, but this bigger than me. Do it, and announce a press conference to follow if The Post runs with it.” Durrant typed and sent the last message, closing down his console. He stood slowly, feeling his age for the first time in recent memory, and walked heavily to bed.
The Post ran with the story. In the next 48 hours, the “leaked” scenes of tortured children, some barely more than infants ripped its way into Humanities Psyche. The revelations of what exactly was going on behind Vorath lines assailed Humanity, spurring many to call for blood, and Others to cry hoax. Around and around the political commentators debated, and redebated the shocking footage.
Chancellor Thomas Durrant followed through on his word, and was now stepping up to the platform and the Microphone as promised. He stood there for a full minute, meeting the eyes of as many of the hundreds of reporters before him as he could. The weight of his expression prompted a flurry of flashes as camera drones captured the image. Durrant allowed all of this to happen, waiting until the din of activity settled into a heavy silence. “People of Humanity… By now, you have undoubtedly seen the shocking pictures from the far side of the galaxy. Many of you believe it to be a hoax, a desperate ploy for political points. Allow me to be clear. This is no hoax, I received these disturbing images directly from Admiral Clint Stevens, who is marshalling the forces at his disposal as we speak. He aims to do something about these orbital concentration camps, and I support his actions with the full backing of my authority as Chancellor of the United Sol Federation.”
Durrant paused, letting the information sink in before continuing, “to answer the question as to whether this is a political ploy for points. Let me be perfectly clear, I alone released the footage from inside those torture ships, and I do not care if you believe it to be a political ploy. If Humanity can see the atrocities committed to the young innocents in those images and refuse to stand up for them; I no longer would wish to lead that Humanity. Yes, we are few compared to what we once were, but we have a strength that cannot be fathomed by those who chose to side with pure evil. Make no mistake, any being that is capable of torturing and murdering children deserves the title.” The Chancellor of United Sol skewered the silent crowd with a withering gaze, “All of you here know that I have been an ardent supporter of taking a more active role against this pure evil, and my opponent has made a great many statements regarding my supposed “warmongering”. I believe that to debate him further on this matter is as wasteful as it would be irrelevant. As such, I am suspending my campaign immediately. Pending permission from donors and the campaign review board, I will be donating the totality of my campaign war-chest to the purchase of relief supplies and construction of rehabilitation facilities for these children.” Durrant paused as a wave of gasps swept through the room as a volley of flashes assaulted his eyes. “Holding the position of leader of the Human race seems so insignificant in comparison,” he said softly, almost to himself before scanning the crowd. “The election is 4 months away. If you wish to reelect me, so be it; but know this.” Thomas Durrant rose to his full height, “If you elect me this fall, know that I will use the full weight of this office to unleash the full might of Humanity upon this evil, or I will resign from my post and travel to Unity space myself.”
With that. Chancellor Thomas Durrant spun on his heals and marched off the stage.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you made it this far, Thank You! I hope you enjoyed the episode. If this if your first time seeing this series, I hope you will join us from the beginning. I do have a patreon that has extra content that is not main story arc, but still cannon shorts, as well as exclusive content from some of my other series. If you believe I've earned it, feel free to give it a look; but know that just coming to hang is already enough.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
First, Previous, Next Patreon
2024.05.16 05:45 Glittering_Caramel58 So wendigoon inpired my horror novel
 | Hello my name is Raymond jesse and im a horror witer and im makeing a debut short story and i wanted to say thank u wendagoon for inspiring me to work harder everyday watching creep cast and reading alot of novels really helped with my work and i wanted to community to this i hope all of u are havening a great day and i love u all submitted by Glittering_Caramel58 to creepcast [link] [comments] |