Cough, fever, chills, dizziness, headache

Hello I am a 19 year old female I am 5”5 about about 240 pounds
So I don't usually do this, and l've actually never asked a question on Reddit before but I am unsure where to go lol. I am a US citizen that is currently studying in Canada and am having a lot of trouble accessing health services here. I think I may have an anal fistula or like a perennial access that is extremely painful and has l believe burst (this is the second one I have had in the same spot) . I am also exhibiting symptoms of a potential infection maybe i am not sure It's painful and warm to the touch Pus is constantly draining from area and tenderness around the anus along with fatigue etc.. pus has also drained from the anus or around there I believe and I am having more bathroom visits than usual. I do not have a fever, but I have a throbbing pain down there and it hurts to walk/sit/cough etc…
I cannot get a doctors appointment until Tuesday and my doctor will then need to refer me somewhere else so it will take longer. I am in quite a bit of pain so I am wondering if I should wait until Tuesday or go to the ER if that is even worth it.

I’m 13 weeks today (first time mom) and I’m pretty sure I’m coming down with a cold. Should I be concerned? Do I call my OBGYN? Symptoms like cough, fatigue and headache. Is my baby girl going to be okay?! I’m trippin lol

Okay how to explain this. I normally have focal seizures, especially during my period. My medication has been upped because of this. However this month although I don't feel the same auras, I have a lot of trouble with nu muscles.
It's a bit like this:
I could be just chilling and my abs clench, head goes backwards and my right arm(specifically lol) starts shaking and my fingers tense. It's usually very short as if you're coughing. But this happens in clusters. I sometimes drop things because of this or kick my gf while sleeping. I thought it was just a silly little thing but has gotten like really bad this month.
Could this be related to epilepsy? Since its worse with my cycle, like my focal seizures normally were?

First / Previous
Back on the job, my eyes kept going to the camera that was on enclosure one. Andrew told me its real name, but I think that’d be a step too far, putting that out on the internet. I’d just stick with ‘Steve the bear’. Whatever it was, I just knew I’d have a nightmare about it eventually. Last night I slept fitfully but okay. But I know my brain, and I’d already had a nightmare about Yui stabbing me with one of her legs (they are not needle-sharp in real life, this was dream logic) and walking around, having not noticed I was a Ripley-kebab on her leg. I kept trying to get her attention but for some reason I’d been worried about sounding rude.
On my third walk around the zoo, at about 12 a.m. I saw Leila again, who I’d been noticing more and more often. She never looked interested in talking, only walking through the enclosures, and by that I meant any and all of them. She didn’t seem to have a favorite. I assume that however much of her mind that was left over from being alive still gravitated toward looking at the animals, since getting too close was what killed her in the first place.
Then, in enclosure eight, I saw a new creature and stopped abruptly. This one looked chill, but I wasn’t about to make any assumptions. It looked unique in a strange way, shaped like a giant lizard but built like a big cat of some sort. It had an uncanny valley human face, green hair for a mane, and also a horn like a unicorn. It felt like something drawn by an imaginative five-year-old brought to life, but was still somehow oddly endearing.
“Hello,” she spoke, noticing me noticing her. Her voice was distinctly female and oddly deep.
“Hello,” I responded with false cheer.
She pushed herself to her feet and I took an instinctive step back, but she seem to notice, much less take offense. “You’re the guard here?”
“Yup. That’s me.”
“Thank you.”
I blinked, taken aback. “Ah…you’re welcome. For what?”
She cocked her head. “For guarding me.”
That was different. Most of the impressions I had gotten from the animals so far were that they wanted to eat me. And the idea that this one was thankful for me doing my job was refreshing, don’t get me wrong, but made me wary. Call me a cynic, I guess.
“My name is tàiyang. You can call me Sun,” she told me.
“Hi, Sun. I’m Ripley.”
Then she looked toward the sky. “It’s going to rain tonight.”
After a thoughtful moment, I asked, “Does that make you sad?”
“Why would it make you sad?”
I smiled. “Because your name is Sun.”
She paused and then said, “I don’t understand.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, telling a pun to one of the animals. “Never mind.” I glanced up at the sky. “I thought the rain is supposed to stay away from here. Are the ones who told me that wrong?”
“Yes.”
“Well that’s good to know,” I murmured to myself, thinking of my raincoat hanging in the security office closet. It wasn’t that surprising, honestly. Sometimes I felt like the meteorologists in Arkansas try to read the entrails of goats to figure out the weather. It’s all a mess and it’s all made up.
At that, the animal looked to the sky and fell silent. She appeared to be the most uneventful introduction I’d had so far, and I was incredibly grateful for it. Except then the animal kept talking. “He’s under a spell.”
I blinked. “What?”
She looked back to me. “Andrew. He’s under a spell. He’s very unhappy.”
I had no idea how to react to that. For a second I just stared. The sudden jolt of being told my boss was currently being afflicted by magic left me floundering. “He… What?” I finally asked. “Where is he?”
“In his office.”
Oh shit. My eyes instinctively darted in the direction of the main office. I always just entered through the door on the west side of the building, of course, since it led to the security room. It was unnecessary for me to go through the door that first led into the lobby-slash-office Andrew worked out of. Sometimes he even left early, so it was locked anyway. I had the key, but again, it was unnecessary.
Whatever had happened, assuming this animal wasn’t joking around (she seemed completely serious), I needed to establish whether she was right. Leaving the enclosure of the animal I’d just met, I quickly walked back to the small building.
Taking a deep breath, I knocked loudly. “Andrew, are you in there?”
The only reply was silence. I stood there until enough time had passed that it was obvious that no one was coming to answer the door. Taking out my phone, I dialed his cell number and wait as it rang. Then I grimaced when I heard it ringing inside.
Hanging up and shoving the phone back in my pocket, I stared at the closed door.
Trying the doorknob, I found that it was unlocked, and my heart skipped a beat. Andrew always locked his office before leaving. Opening the door slowly, the lights were off in the room, leaving only the faint red glow of the lights outside peeking around his curtains, so I turned on a light. Then my heart plummeted into my stomach, because there was Andrew, splayed limply on the ground, his eyes only half open.
I bolted to him and dropped to his side as he let out a whimper.
“Andrew,” I said, putting two fingers to the side of his neck. He remained silent, and despite his relaxed, wilted appearance, his heart was racing, and I wondered if he was in pain. The room smelled, and it was clear to me that he’d lost control of his bowels. I couldn’t believe I’d been working here for hours without knowing he was in the next room like this.
“Fucking hell. I’m so sorry it took me so long to find you. Can you hear me? What happened?” He made a small sound, unfocused eyes attempting to meet mine, but it was as if he were severely deprived of sleep or something, unable to focus. His mouth opened and he tried to say something, but he couldn’t speak. All I got was halting words mushed into each other. I felt for him; he must’ve been mortified by his condition. I would’ve been, at least.
The obvious solution would be to get Suzanne’s number from Andrew’s phone, so I searched him for it and found it in his right jacket pocket. I pressed the button the iPhone, swiped, and let out a sigh of frustration. He was security conscious enough to lock his phone with a code, of course.
“Can you… You can’t tell me the code,” I said knowing. He grunted quietly.
“What happened?”
I shrieked and jumped to my feet. Leila stood in the doorway, staring in shock at Andrew’s body. “You scared the bejesus out of me,” I exclaimed. I stopped myself before asking if she could make some noise when she moved or if I could put a bell on her. “What does it look like happened? Someone put a spell on him.” Abruptly, my stance changed, standing up straight. “Wait. Do you know how to get in touch with…anyone?” I asked desperately.
“I know Ms. Cooper’s phone number,” she said frankly.
My eyes widened. “Seriously? How?”
“Andrew gave it to me after I worked here for three months.”
That stopped my brain dead in its tracks. “You…used to work here?” I whispered. I remembered Andrew telling me that one of the night shift managers had been killed, but he hadn’t told me it was Leila. Whether it was for her own privacy or her dignity or some other reason, it didn’t really matter. What mattered was that I could call Suzanne.
“I worked here for three months,” Leila confirmed as I took out my own phone.
“Okay…what’s her number?” I asked, ready to dial. She rattled off the number and dialed it.
The phone rang twice times before someone answered. “Hello?”
“Hi, is this Suzanne?”
“Yes, who’s this?”
She had a British accent like Andrew did. I took a deep breath and said, “It’s Ripley Mason. I got your number from Leila. I’m here in Andrew’s office and he’s in really bad shape. Someone cast a spell on him and it’s like he’s lost control of the part of his brain that lets him move around and speak.”
“What?” she snapped. “What happened?”
“I-I don’t know,” I said, glancing back to Andrew. He actually looked calmer now, and I hoped that was because he knew Suzanne could fix this. “I was doing my rounds and I met Sun; she’s the one that told me and that’s why I came into his office. I don’t- Who would do this? What do I do?”
“It’s okay, Ripley. I’ll leaving now and will be there soon,” she told me. I heard rustling in the background, the sounds of getting out of a chair and footsteps. “Did you check the security cameras?”
My eyes shut in irritation against my stupidity. It hadn’t even occurred to me. “I’m sorry. Of course, I’ll do that right away.” Proof positive that I was completely out of it. Some security guard I was, not even able to keep my head in an emergency.
“Don’t apologize, Ripley, you’re quite within your rights to be discombobulated at the moment,” she said. “And I’d like you stay with Andrew, but I would prefer to know what happened. Leave his side just for a second to check the footage.
“Okay.” I crouched down to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be right back.” His eyes flicked to me, but he didn’t make a sound. Getting back to my feet and walking over to the security room door, I went in and sat at my desk, putting the phone on speaker so I could more easily navigate the footage.
After fidgeting around with the unfamiliar aspect of the program, since I’d never needed to look back before and Andrew only showed me how to do it once, I finally went back to the point where the spell had been cast. “Okay, he walked into his office with two men at…4:08 p.m. and it looks like he was fine with it. He wasn’t under duress, from what I can see.”
“That’s likely Michael Wise and Eric Henry,” Suzanne told me. “They were allegedly making a donation, a herd of Bagot goats.”
“Allegedly?”
“Well, I’m operating under the assumption that they lied if Andrew is spelled.”
I grimaced. That was a good point. Watching them have a conversation, I saw Andrew tense, and then turn to dart toward his desk, but he only made it two steps before one of the men raised what looked like a wand, snapping it in my late boss’s direction, speaking something. As I saw Andrew’s body seize like he’d been hit with a taser and collapse, I hissed in a sharp breath. “Cripes.”
“What is it?”
“One of them had a wand,” I managed. “He-He did something with it.”
“I’m here, Ripley. Come back to the office.”
My eyes widened and I did as I was told, stunned to see her opening the front door. “How did you get here so fast?” I asked.
The woman gave me a small smile, rendered grim by the situation. “Call it a trick of the trade.”
“Oh. Gotcha.”
Suzanne was all hard edges, her pin-straight blond hair cut at an angle just below her ears, and she wore a smart blue pants suit with matching pumps. But then she looked to Andrew and her face softened, despair and fury flashing across it as she quickly walked to him and knelt at his side, taking his weak hand in hers.
“Oh, Andrew,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry. You’ll be okay. I already texted a healer and asked her to come by. A friend of mine named Janine.”
I looked back to Andrew’s face, his eyes open and his expression one of exhaustion, but then quickly looked to Suzanne. “Why would someone do this?” I asked.
“I have a feeling at least one of our animals is missing,” she told me, her voice low and hard.
Anger flared up in me. “What?” I asked tersely. I glanced back in the direction of the cameras. “Should we check the cameras to see which enclosure they went to? Do we- Are there cops you can call for this? What do we do?”
Suzanne’s face slowly faded to sadness. “I’ll take care of it,” she said. “You’re accurate in that I do have a different police I’ll call about this. But there’s a good chance we won’t get the animal back.”
“Wait, why? Come on, there’s got to be magic you could do, right?” I asked anxiously.
“The animal will have been warded and sold to someone immediately,” she explained. “They would’ve had a buyer set up, and gone straight there to reduce the risk of being caught with it. Anyone who is buying an animal like this is extremely powerful, which means that even if we catch the men who stole it, they’d go to prison, but they wouldn’t risk angering the buyer. They won’t tell the authorities who it was, even for a lesser sentence. Losing an animal to robbery has only happened twice in the zoo’s history, this is the third time, but that’s how it played out both times. Actually, in the first instance, the police didn’t even catch the people who took it, since they were wearing masks.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Suzanne pushed herself to her feet, walking over and opening it without hesitation. “He’s in here.” I took the opportunity to open the windows and turned down the thermostat so it would start displacing the smelly air.
A woman walked in, Janine presumably. “Oh, goodness,” she breathed, going quickly to Andrew. She took his pulse with one hand as she pulled a wand out from her purse with the other. “It’s good he’s staying calm. Redire orior can be terrifying to be subjected to.”
“He wasn’t calm when I got here,” I told her quietly. “I’ve been here for hours and didn’t know he was here until just a few minutes ago.”
Janine swore softly. “All right. Let me get started.”
I didn’t know what that meant, so I turned to Suzanne. “What did she call this?”
“The spell is ‘redire orior’. It’s a regression of part of the mind, basically all the way back to when we were first born,” she said tightly, anger flickering across her face. “He has no more control over his body than he did when he was a newborn baby.”
I grimaced, looking back to him. “Oh my god,” I whispered. It meant exactly what it had looked like when I’d walked in: Andrew had been rendered completely helpless. Rage welled up inside me, despising the men who’d done this and wishing desperately that Suzanne had been more confident in finding them.
Suzanne took the opportunity to walk into the security office and I heard her sit in my chair. Janine put down her wand to have both hands free and told Andrew, “Just relax, concentrate on breathing slowly,” she said, carefully pulling both of his legs out and rolling him onto his back. She then put his arms at his sides and, picking up her wand, pointed it at his forehead.
I took in a sharp breath of surprise as I saw a faint glow coming from the wand, through the top of it and then to Andrew’s forehead. She held that position for a while, muttering under her breath.
A few minutes later, Suzanne came out and took her phone from her pocket, saying, “I don’t recognize either of the men in the footage. But they seemed distressed, particularly the one that didn’t hurt Andrew. I don’t think that’s what was meant to happen.”
“Meant to or not, it happened,” I muttered through clenched teeth. I’d already decided that my new to-do list every day included first checking the office cameras.
“Andrew,” Janine said, letting the glow fade. “Can you speak?”
“I…yeah,” he whispered.
Suzanne came over to my side. “Thank goodness. How are you feeling? How’s the vertigo?”
“Pretty much gone,” he said, closing his eyes for a long moment, though he didn’t try to stand up.
“Andrew, I pulled up the cameras in the office and listened to the audio,” she told him. “I know what happened.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “The cameras have audio?”
“It’s under admin privileges, but yes. Andrew, you should have known better,” she said softly, looking back to him. “The gun in one of the desk drawers? I presume that’s what you were lunging for, because those two men had just made it clear they were here for an animal.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I just…” He looked distraught.
“They told you to just let them get what they came for,” Suzanne said. “Why didn’t you?” My lips parted in shock.
“The last time this happened, I cooperated, but…I regretted it,” he growled. “We never saw Harriet again. I couldn’t just stand here and let them do whatever they wanted. Not again.” I assumed Harriet was one of their animals, but I didn’t ask.
“Don’t ever do something so foolish again,” she told him, on the verge of being upset, her emotions likely tempered by his condition. “I want to make it clear to you that this job, these animals, they’re immensely important, but they are not worth your life. He could have killed you. If someone gains access to the zoo again to steal an animal I want you to cooperate fully. Understood?”
“Yeah,” Andrew muttered.
The idea that Andrew had tried to bring a gun to a wand fight was staggering. Something heavy curled in my stomach at the thought. It was clear he cared about the wellbeing of the animals to a degree I hadn’t comprehended.
Janine took one of the small pillows from the couch and tucked it under Andrew’s head as Suzanne continued. “All right,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll go through the footage to determine what they stole and then call the authorities to report the theft. Janine, can you continue to treat him?”
I wasn’t sure what that entailed, but Janine apparently did, since she nodded and knelt back down as Suzanne went back into the security office. Janine did the same thing that she’d done before, that soft glow channeling light into Andrew’s head. Obviously, I wanted to ask what she was doing, but I knew better than to think I’d get an answer. Instead, I sat in one of the loveseats in front of Andrew’s desk, turning it to face them.
I heard Suzanne’s voice faintly speaking to someone on the phone and the minutes ticked by. Eventually, Suzanne came back out again and she stood next to me for a long moment, watching the healing process before turning to me.
“Andrew told me you were attempting to create some enrichment activities for the animals?” asked my boss.
“Oh, uh…yeah, I am,” I answered. I assumed she was trying to make small talk to distract me from the current situation, and I appreciated it. “The first one went well. Spike loves artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts. I went with things that made it a challenge to eat, like it’s a challenge to pull out fingernails of its prey.”
Suzanne’s expression brightened just enough for me to notice. “Ripley, that’s wonderful. Very clever.” She let out a breath. “It’s becoming more and more obvious to me that Andrew chose well in hiring you.” I gave her a small smile. “Listen, I’m going to hire someone else to be here with you on duty,” Suzanne told me, “and by that, I mean someone from my neck of the woods. Andrew explained that to you, correct?”
“Not much. Just that you’re not from Earth.”
Suzanne smiled. “That makes me sound like an alien, but yes, I’m not from this dimension. I can hire someone who has similar abilities to mine, who can check in every few hours, make sure everything’s all right, but generally make themselves scarce unless there’s an emergency. He wouldn’t have been able to do much if he’d already been here, but he’d have known what was going on. Andrew would have received assistance immediately.”
I was curious of what those abilities were, aside from being able to see the animals, but I wasn’t bold enough to ask. Also, I was curious about who this new ‘employee’ would be, but presumably I’d find out sooner or later. “That would make me feel a little better,” I said, nodding. “Knowing there was someone else here.”
She nodded once. “It’s as good as done, then. As for Andrew, he’ll need to take a few days off to recover. Would you be willing to give the tours until he’s back in ship-shape?”
My eyes bugged out of my skull. “Wait, what? I can’t even see all the animals!”
Suzanne chuckled at my expression and shook her head. “I can enchant a pair of specs for you to wear,” she told me. “It’ll give you a bit of a headache, but you’ll be able to see all of the animals. Also, I’ll give you the background for each of them, because you’ll be speaking about them to the tourists.”
I blinked, thinking of how awesome it would be to finally know all about them all. And it was flattering, the fact that she had such confidence in me that, without hesitation, she asked if I could take over for Andrew. The best thing for me to do, of course, was to be confident and assure her that I could take any temporary promotion in stride. “I’m…I’m not great with people,” I managed.
Yup. Nailed it.
“You can be a little harsh with them if you need to,” she said with a small, knowing smile. “I assumed that signing up for a job where you interact with a screen of cameras the whole time means you aren’t great with people. And Andrew did brief me on you when he hired you. How good are you at couching your insults in polite talk? The British are quite skilled, but I know Americans aren’t too bad at it.”
I smirked, remembering how a coworker friend of mine once told a customer, “Oh, bless your heart,” in her thick southern accent and it sounded like the worst insult. “I can manage that, I think.”
A buzz from the gate that went to the panel on the wall drew our attention and Suzanne walked over to let the visitors in. It was three people, a man and two women, with a gurney.
Walking over to Andrew, I folded my arms with a small smile as Janine released his head from the glow the wand was emitting. “Hey. Sorry you had to lay on the floor for so long knowing I was cluelessly reading a book in the next room.”
“Eh, not the end of the world,” he whispered. “I’ll be back on my feet soon. So, no parties while I’m gone.”
I snorted and my smile widened, and he returned it.
Going back into the security room, I pulled the system back to the multi-camera exterior view, and I sat there and listened to Suzanne talk to one of the medics, explaining everything that had happened in detail. Once she’d done that and they brought Andrew outside on the gurney, presumably to a waiting ambulance, I gave my statement, and then…it was back to work.
Obviously going back to work like nothing had changed felt weird, but Suzanne stayed, letting me know that she would get some work done at Andrew’s desk until my shift was over. It was likely the opposite of necessary, the robbers were gone, but it did make me feel a tiny bit better knowing that she was in the next room with her wand.
First / Previous
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So I’ve been eating eating gluten free for years. I used to take gluten-aid because I was gluten intolerant but eventually they stopped working and all gluten food made me really sick so I cut it out. Over the past 3 years I have become painfully careful about gluten. I won’t even kiss my husband until he’s brushed his teeth after eating gluten.
For example, I had a piece of dumpling dough on my edamame one time. I simply removed it thinking I’d be fine. About 20 minutes later I started feeling nauseous, couldn’t stop burping, and began bloating. Another time I felt randomly “gluten nauseated” (which always feels different from a regular belly ache nausea). We did a ton of research and looking back on what I ate only to come to the conclusion that the cough drop my husband had is what got me sick since he kissed me while having it in his mouth.
I have every symptom possible. Diarrhea, bloating, nausea, vomiting (if I’ve had enough but I got used to keeping it down in high school until I realized what it was), headaches, hard to think/confusion, body aches, tired even after sufficient sleep, etc. It’s hard to not gaslight myself into thinking maybe I’m just being dramatic and these things are actually happening and it’s not that bad.
When I first tried gluten free I did it for 2 months. Right before then I’d dropped down from 150 to 125 even though I was eating like a horse. Had an endoscopy done twice as well and they said they found nothing wrong.
Fast forward to now and I just had bloodwork done and an endoscopy. My doctor told me that if I’m that sensitive I shouldn’t need to do a gluten challenge and so I didn’t before all of this. Even though I’ve been carefully gluten free for 3 years. Everything came back negative. He says since it’s negative there’s no need to do the challenge and therefore retest. I’m so frustrated and again beginning to wonder if maybe I’m being over dramatic or it’s really not that bad. I don’t know if I should go to another doctor and try to get a second opinion and do the gluten challenge or what. The idea of eating gluten makes me anxious because how I always feel afterwards. Maybe it’s just gluten intolerance and I just have bad reactions?
Is anyone else in this position or has been and has any advice? I feel at a loss of what to do next.

I messed up big time. I take Topamax for tension headaches and it works really well. Before I started it, I would get tension headaches all day. Now, I have to have something that triggers them. The only bad thing is that I get dizzy when getting up a few hours after taking it. Last Aug I was getting out of big too fast and fell on my right hip. Ever since then my lower back has been hurting. I have seen the doctor a few times, but they have just said it’s muscular. Therefore, I just blamed it on fibromyalgia. The pain has worsened, so my new doctor made me get an x-ray. Something my husband a has been telling me to do all along. Turns out I fractured something in on the L1 area. I have to go get an MRI. Safe to say I will treat any new injuries as injuries and not fibro related.

I’m on a 14 night trip from the UK, which I saved up for for years.
I got a niggly but not serious cough about a week in. I didn’t think anything of it as I thought it was just dryness from air con. But by night 10 I was coughing like crazy and then spiked a fever. I’ve been in bed feeling awful for two days since.
The only upside is that if I had to get sick, this is probably the best time. We had thankfully already ridden most of the rides we wanted to and were starting to take it a little easier, picking our favourites and going back to them. And hopefully the worst of my symptoms will have passed before my 10 hour flight home.
Though I did miss our Space 220 reservation last night and will miss our Oga’s tonight which is gutting.
It is just so frustrating because getting sick on vacation is one of my biggest fears, especially a vacation I planned and waited so long for. I wore a mask on the plane and in the airport, and have been sanitising/washing my hands diligently. Admittedly though, I haven’t been wearing masks in queues or on Disney transport.
I guess I just wanted to get this off my chest, and to warn people that if you’re on the fence with wearing a mask - just do it. It sucks being sick in the most magical place on earth.

I have a 9 wk old. Last week he developed a bit of a cough. Earlier this week I took him to the doctors. He’s never had a fever. Sleeping, eating and pooping like normal. She told me it was just a regular cold and his body had to go through the motions.
At the beginning I was giving him a low dose of Tylenol (he’s the right weight for it) however I felt like it did nothing for him so I stopped.
He is in great spirits but this damn cough won’t go away. He has some phlegm which he has no idea how to spit out so that has been causing discomfort. Yesterday it started to really affect his eating. He will eat fine but the minute he starts coughing and we remove the bottle, he refuses to take it back. I’m at my wits end trying to ensure he is getting enough food and not losing weight. I have tried all the at home remedies to help with the cough and nothing is working.
Any advice would be appreciated. I’m a first time mom and just worried that he won’t get better or that he will start to lose weight.

A little plot convinient coincidence never hurt anyone.
First
You know the drill: credit to SpacePaladin15 for the universe.
Thank you JulianSkies for proofreading.
Memory Transcription Subject: Gillab, Gojid Citizen, Husband and Father
Date [Standardized Human Time]: March 27, 2142
It was early in the morning, birds were chirping, and the air was still chilled from the night. It was a comfortable morning, especially considering what had happened yesterday. I could still feel the leftovers of a hangover in the back of my head, but it was more than manageable for me. A small headache like that wouldn’t stop me from visiting the memorial.
I still had a ways to walk before I got there, but I didn’t mind. It just let me take in the beauty of the new New York City that had been built. Even if I wasn’t a Human, I felt a sense of pride at the sight of the glistening towers and the clean streets. Despite only playing a minor role in the clean-up and reconstruction, it was certainly enough for me to feel that I had contributed enough to take pride in it.
I still cannot believe I ever even thought of hating Humans, the fact that I did still disgust me to this day. I wasn’t alone in that mindset either, billions of former soldiers, exterminators, or Human-phobes had woken up to the reality, with tens of thousands of them moving to Earth and trying to repay the Humans what they had taken. Many of them still struggled with coming to terms with their past.
It was because of them that I could become a husband to the most beautiful Gojid in the universe and father to the most rambunctious one. Without their help on the Cradle, I would have died long ago and never have been able to even see the love of my life. They inspired me to become more than just a father and husband, I was going to become just like them.
In my free time, I often worked for charities, volunteered for clean-ups, and tried my hand as a substitute teacher. Even if I wasn’t the best at it, I still enjoyed doing them. It let me feel like I was making a difference in the world, continuing the legacy that the Humans had set up. I would save as many people as I could, just like the person who saved me.
I had lost track of Billy ever since the Cradle, and the one time I had heard about him was from Naeriu telling me how Billy ended up surviving in a cabin in Alaska. It wasn’t like I didn’t try to find him, but it was a big universe, and finding one soldier seemingly determined not to be found made it frustratingly difficult.
After six years of on-and-off searching, I had finally given up on him. I had searched for his name several times on every memorial I could find, desperately hoping to find some sort of closure on his life, but in the end I was left clueless as to the fate of the man who did so much for me.
I sighed the thoughts out of my head, not wanting to have such a negative mindset when I was trying to visit some friends.
I passed under the familiar arch, taking a deep breath of the salty air as I did. After the bombs fell, the crater left behind quickly flooded with ocean water. The near-perfect bowl had become a new habitat for all manner of sea life, a symbol of how even the worst tragedy could be overcome. Surrounding the crater was a ring of stone walls, divided into sections corresponding to when and where a soldier was killed or went missing.
I navigated the massive monument with familiarity, having visited it many times before. I’ve always preferred to visit the day after the holiday, it was always almost empty as people had their fill the day before. Every year or so someone would have a similar idea to me, but it never drew from the experience.
And speaking of, a single man was standing in the exact spot I preferred to stand in. In one of his hands was a bag with the top of a bottle poking out and his other was clenched into a tight fist, his eyes were clenched tightly, his face was strained in pain and profound sadness. You didn’t need to be a detective to know that this man was hurting, whether for lost brethren in arms, lost biological brethren, or simply overwhelming sadness from the loss of life, this man was hurting.
I considered leaving the disheveled man to his devices, but some deep part of my mind told me to talk to him. He didn’t turn to face me as I got closer, he didn’t even open his eyes. It was as if nothing outside of his mind was real to him and it could all be ignored.
“Excuse me? Sir? Are you visiting someone you know?”
He still ignored me, but he loosened the death grip he had on his fist.
“It’s fine if you don’t tell me, but I find that it helps to talk about your feelings with someone else. Even if that someone else is an alien.”
Slowly the man opened his eyes and sluggishly turned to face me. Still, he refused to speak.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to speak, I can stay quiet. But if you won’t stop me, I’d like to speak at you. You don’t have to respond, sometimes it’s better to just listen anyway.”
To my surprise, the man actually spoke. His voice was rough and sad, matching the image in front of me. “Why are you here?”
I smiled and turned to face the wall of names. “I’m visiting some old friends, people who saved my life.”
I pointed a claw at the names. “Owen Oak and James Kle are the ones that I know here, but I know more at other points along the wall. Who did you know?”
The man was silent for a moment. “The same people.”
“Really? How did you know them?”
“I was a soldier. I worked with them.”
I started to nod when a thought flashed through my mind. If he knew the soldiers who worked with Billy, maybe he knew Billy himself. It didn’t seem like a stretch in my eyes, they were all part of the same squad after all.
So, despite having given up on actively searching for Billy, I decided to ask the question. “If you don’t mind me asking, do you maybe know a soldier named Billy Marsh?”
“That’s me.”
I blinked. “W-what?”
“I’m Billy Marsh.”
I stepped back and looked the man up and down. As I did, he finally looked me in the eyes. Once I saw his eyes, the color and shape, I knew with all my heart that this man was Billy Marsh. Even with the scraggly hair, patchy beard, dirty clothes, and brown-bagged drink in hand, there was no mistaking the eyes of the man who saved my life.
“Holy shit… It really is you.”
Billy took a deep drink of his liquor, barely flinching from what I could now see was Venlilian alcohol. He must have been drinking it frequently to be so used to the burning, and judging from his appearance that was no stretch.
“Yeah, it’s me. Billy Marsh, Human trash and parasite to the world.”
My mind tumbled at the words, causing me to stutter and hold out a claw in surprise. “N-now wait a second. You are anything but Human trash or a parasite. You’re a hero Billy, I know for a fact. You saved my life!”
“I’m no hero. I’ve killed so many others. It would have been better off if I never joined the military, maybe more lives could have been saved. Maybe Owen’s life could have been saved.”
He took another gulp of his drink as I spoke. “Now hold on, you saved plenty of-”
Alcohol spilled onto his shirt as he yelled. “I didn’t save anyone! Someone else could have saved so many more lives than I could! At the end of it all, when all was said and done, I was an idealistic fool and a failure and a horrible person. I’ve ended up killing more people than I’ve saved, and I’ve ruined so many lives.”
I took a stand. “Now that’s blatantly not true. Who’s telling you this? Billy, you are one of the kindest, most caring people I have ever met.”
“Was. I was one of the kindest and most caring. And you want to know why? It was because I hadn’t been woken up to just how terrible the universe really was. I mean, what could one young, dumb soldier do in the grand scheme, right? If I really wanted to help, I should have become a doctor or a fucking politician, right? But I chose to be a soldier, a useless fucking pawn that wasn’t even good at its job.”
He took another drink as I stood stunned at who Billy had become. I never could have expected the valiant, patient, caring soldier to become so volatile and angry. I had to help him. I don’t care if I have to miss a few classes, I’m rescuing this man from himself.
“Billy, can I visit sometime soon?”
He spilled a little alcohol as he pulled the bottle away quickly. “Fuck no. I don’t need to ruin your life too. Stay the hell away from me, I’m like a fucking bomb. You are just going to get hurt, it’s a miracle you didn’t the first time.”
“Well if you’re a bomb, then I’m going to disarm you. I don’t know how long you have been like this, but I’m going to heal you.”
He pointed a finger at my chest. “Then I’m just going to fight back. I’m not letting you anywhere near me.”
I pointed right back. “You don’t get to make that decision. It’s my life, and I am choosing to help you.”
“You are going to regret it. I say that with one hundred percent absolute certainty.”
“We won't know until we try.”
Billy took a step back, placed a hand on his head and growled. “You know what? Fine. Try your luck. It’s your life, right? But when you see just how helpless you are to help me, don’t expect to get your wasted time back. I don’t know what you think you can do, but give it a try! It’s still early in the morning, so why don’t we head on back to my place so you can work whatever magic you think you have.”
Billy didn’t wait for a response and stormed off to the exit without another word. I watched him for a long moment before sighing deeply. I don’t know the exact details of what happened to him, but with what Naeriu told me and the names on the memorial I could piece together some vague details. It sounded like Billy had gone through hell, and now he thinks he deserves it.
I clenched my claw in determination before jogging to catch up to Billy. I had some calls to make on the way over to his house knowing just how much work I was going to have to do to help the man who saved me.

Hello and TIA for any help!
So my 8 year old daughter started out with these symptoms 4 weeks ago: sinus pressure, nausea, headaches, dizziness. We waited about 4 days then I took her to her PCP who diagnosed a sinus infection and just said to do Flonase, Zyrtec (which we were already doing).
The nausea continued to worsen and she started having abdominal pain as well which caused her to miss a few days of school. I took her back to the doctor 2 weeks after her initial appointment. The doctor diagnosed constipation, treated the sinus infection with amoxicillin and said to give her prunes/prune juice. I suspected she'd need way more than that due to her symptoms so I gave her 5 doses of miralax throughout the morning, and she pooped 15-20x. Three days later we're at urgent care with suspected possible appendicitis. After an adb ultrasound and X-ray we are diagnosed with a belly FULL of stool, and given orders for a 3-day Miralax/senna cleanout with clear liquids.
After 2.5 days of this misery her poop looks like slightly cloudy pee (she was only having water and broth with miralax that day) so I let her eat applesauce and a small amount of gluten free pasta with olive oil. She tolerated dinner well but the next morning (yesterday) she was nauseous again after breakfast so I kept her home again and did liquids/BRAT foods.
Today she told me she had nausea and abd pain all night and couldn't sleep. She feels moderate pain all over her and (lower abd worse, especially LLQ), nausea and she's very dizzy. I'm afraid she's missing too much school but I can't send her like this. I'm starting to be doubtful it even is sinus issues because morning has helped her dizziness and headaches go away.
She's not faking symptoms because she enjoys school and she feels crappy even when doing something enjoyable like watching favorite movie. It's been 4 weeks of these symptoms with nothing helping. What else could it be that I should be watching for (differential diagnosis)?? She's not had a fever. I'm planning to go to urgent care again today probably for more imaging or blood work but any help would be appreciated!!

I recently paid for sex with a sex worker 25 days ago. I used a condom during intercourse (insertive) the WHOLE time! Only received oral without a condom. In my consideration this was a safe encounter? Not once did the condom slip of or anything. I ended up being really paranoid so I ended up doing an at home test which is sent to laboratories for results... I received a phone call and I knew instantly what it was for, the result was reactive most likely with the p24 antigen. I am absolutely distraught. Immediately after the reactive result I went and purchased a sure check HIV rapid test kit. Negative. I also purchased one today to check again as I can't get it off my mind. Negative. These are taken exactly 24 and 25 days after the event.
Prior to the encounter I was quite ill, had a small fever and I'm still coughing up green mucus today... these symptoms started BEFORE the encounter which I'm quite sure about. Is this a possibility why I might be flagging as reactive?
I've read about a lot of reactive results turning out to be negative... what are my chances based on my encounter? The clinic has taken a proper blood test whilst I await results.

I apologize in advance for my English, I'm not a native speaker.
I'm so so so soooo happy to finally have this done! My surgery was this morning at 8:30am, now it's ~2pm, I'm back at the hotel, chilling, watching Desperate Housewives and eating yoghurt!
So the "short" story time: I'm a female 28y.o. from Lithuania and wanted to get sterilized for a looong time, but unfortunately it's illegal here. Thanks to this reddit I got a recommendation for a doctor in Germany by a fellow redditor. I've sent a letter to the clinic about half a year ago in November I think, and the doctor (Hans-Wilhelm Coenen) contacted me personally, we had a consultation by phone in English, he was very understanding and friendly, no bingos. Agreed operation for 15th of May. So me and mt boyfriend planned everything, got the tickets, hotel and the time was finally here! I was very anxious, because I've never had surgery before and I do not speak German. But everything went sooooo smoothly.

• We flew to Germany on 12th of May, and the next day we went to the clinic to get examination and blood tests done. Everyone was very friendly and it was quick. I met the doctor, we had in person consultation, got all the info how to prepare for the surgery and what to expect.
• Today on 15th of May I was at the hospital at around 7:45am, my anxiety was sky rocketing like crazy, but the nurses were also very very friendly and caring. They showed me and my boyfriend to the pre-op room, I changed into hospital gown, and we chilled for a little bit. Then at about 8:20am the anesthesiologist came, asked all the necessary questions, we exchanged some jokes, and the nurse but the needle in my arm. Then I had to walk to the surgery room, they put me on this operation bed and started the IV. Oh boy was it interesting. I started feeling loopy and felt citrus flavor in my mouth, and poof I'm waking up in the post op room with my boyfriend by my side and the nurses. Was feeling soooooo sleepy.
• After about half an hour I started feeling more concious, they gave me cookies and watetea. Was feeling unexpectedly well. Had the urge to pee and It was no problem, no burning. Also my throat was not sore at all. They gave me ibuprofen and paracetamol through IV. Was shivering a bit.
• The doctor himself came to check on me, asked how I'm feeling, he also informed me that he found endometriosis, but I should get it removed or treated later if it gets bad.I don't know, never felt anything.
• Then after an hour we were let to leave the hospital, the nurse wheeled me outside to wait for Uber, it was very fun!

So now I'm back at the hotel, ate a bananna, yoghurt, feeling a bit dizzy, but thankfully not nauseous. Gas pain is not that bad just uncomfortable. I have energy and want to do stuff haha.
I cannot believe that it's all over, I'm sooo happy!
If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I female age 15 was living in a camper in Rhode Island with my mom age 31 and my dad age 33 along with 2 siblings my mom got into a car crash. Which gave her a concussion so I had to take care of my family and was like a house wife every time I got off from school. My dad didn't help unless it involved my siblings with his game console or with nothing other than steal my mom's stuff to go through it to make sure she didn't catch him cheating on her. Which she did but I hid it all which he had a suspicion of, but my mom was acting like a child at the time.
I wasn't focused on the remarks my dad would make. Whenever i was In shorts he would talk about how my butt looked like mom's but bigger, and how I was better than her. While my mom was getting better my was about to be 15, but something I did notice. While my dad made dirty remarks he was reading a online book, and I caught him multiple times. In my parents bedroom alone rocking his stick, and why I mentioned this. Is because that book he was reading was my whole bathroom situation, but with Mafia people in his book. While this was going on my mom was mostly recovered by the week before my birthday.
But my dad gas lighted her that I did nothing while he did everything, and my mom believed him. For 2 days before he tattled on himself about looking through her phone, and finding some evidence of him cheating. Which made them fight and argue which they were doing before the crash. During the week before my birthday I got a road rash which will be a scar. Forever a reminder of how my dad was able to look at me in the camper. The shower doors were made of glass and if the temperature was lukewarm then you could see everything on the other side. I turned 15 on the day of my road rash I got into the shower around 8:00 p.m. while washing my wound my father went in there and didn't say a word. Just started brushing his teeth and looking towards the mirror which at the time was not looking my way.
I was okay with it at first cuz I thought it would just be for that day, but the next 3 weeks. It went to a transition of him looking at the mirror then to him leaving the bathroom door open lean on the wall towards the shower staring. Playing toxic masculinity podcast of how young women should do what men tell them. I wasn't on social media a lot so I didn't know what "alpha" male ment, but women would refer them as that or they would refer them selfs as that. But then to every couple of days during those three weeks was like him pushing boundary after boundary to the point where I can't handle it. Cuz he tried to touch the doorknob to open the glass doors.
I told him that I wasn't comfortable two times along with my younger siblings telling him to get out because they saw him in there because the door was open. Which he told them that it was okay, that he was my dad, and if anybody deserve to be in there it was him. During the third day of the first week of this happening I wanted to prove to myself that my father wasn't like his stepfather. Which was a S A @bus€r of mine when I was 4 through 6. Because I thought it was because of my schedule of me getting in the shower late, so I changed my schedule throughout the last 2 weeks. During the time of him pushing boundaries I would change the times where it would inconvenience my mother . During her naps or whatever she needed to do to get better cuz she had appointments, or she would be like dead asleep. She would need me to watch my siblings, but I was busy in the shower.
They were messing with her while she had a headache, and my father was complaining about the hot water for dishes and other women chores. I need or my mother needed to complete, but the part that makes it the most messed up is that when it was 20 minutes of me being still in the shower. He would walk out and I would hurry up and get out and he would go back to his game console, smoke a cigarette, and not go to bed for a couple of hours. On the last day of the third week my mom asked me about it cuz she was finally starting to be aware of everything. I told her to wait and I would get in the shower as soon as I got home. He will be in there, and she didn't believe me.
But once I got home, and got in there he was in there with the door open. My mom grabbed him by his shoulder, and ripped him out and yelled at him and told him if he ever did that again that she would go get her shotgun. Cuz now she's more aware than she has ever been after the crash. His excuses that I was taking a shower late, then maybe I should be taking showers so late, then maybe I should be using all the hot water, and that I'm his daughter he changed my diapers so if he wants to be in there he can be in there. if i want the door open for some air he can have it open cuz he also pays the bills and owns everything and that I should be grateful. Which made my mom come up with a plan to start secretly moving after that day. I called my aunt and my uncle who did not believe me and thought there was a better explanation, but they did see my point of view but still thought I was being dramatic.
They question my father and he lied and said it was for 3 days more arguments started, and one day when I had a school day off. My dad as soon as he found out stayed home while my mom had to be at a appointment. She thought he already left but instead he went to chilled some where, and came back to have a conversation with me. Told me that I was delusional, and that if I was uncomfortable I should have told him. When I told him I did and that he didn't say a word he said that he must have not heard me. Once I told him that I said it loud and clear, and that all he did was sigh. Along with looked like he was about to cry and was mad. He said that I'm just like my mother, and that we deserve each other. Then went on to if he had to have boundaries with me, then I have to have boundaries with my mother and we can't get changed in front of each other.
Because we are both bisexual, and then proceeded to tell me that I don't know what's going on. Then told me that I should be ashamed because I don't know how it feels to feel like a predator in your own home. Which left me speechless because I know what it's like to have predators around you every corner, and he knows this and when I told him that. He told me to grow up, and that my hormones should be kicking in. I should have already forgotten about his stepfather already. My mom came home and my dad said he wanted a divorce which my mom says working on it. Then took me for a drive, I told her all about it, and then a couple of days later.
I woke up to my mom crying and naked because my mom had sex with my dad. When he was done and he got her done he kicked her out of the room. When she was wondering why he said she was more convenient then to go get a stranger and do it in the back of a truck. My mom told me to go back to bed and I did at the time not fully knowing what was going on till that day. That my mom going back on her word thinking she needed him. Telling me not to break up the family, and that if he agrees the counseling we're staying even if I said no and don't like it. Which he didn't of course, and also I told her that I would kill her and him and that I have thought about it. Was in their room multiple times with a weapon think about killing them both because of the things they do. Which made my mom understand that she needed to grow up and leave him now. Which is sad for me to say, but we finished up packing. We got a U-Haul and before we left my mom thought it would be fair to him if my siblings had a board game night with him.
Which later I left cuz I couldn't handle that my siblings get a perfect dad. While I always got a cursing, child beating, lying, and disciplining me for no reason father. Couldn't handle that my mom didn't leave them for a military, hasn't killed my father, or believe me on many occasions. Or didn't do anything because of him, and because of her always needing him. He went to go find me a hour later and talked with me said the same things as the other conversation. When I brought up multiple predators in my life and how he did nothing. For example, I had a high school boy threatened to r@p€ me in the third grade, and him and his friends chase me around and has kissed me and touched me multiple times for 2 years. He said that he couldn't because that high school boy was a friends son, but told him to stop but this friend was a mistress of his.
Which later to find out that it would have been 4 years of harassment if my mother didn't threaten to burn his house. Which again shows that my father is a liar and my mother even proved it to me by showing me pictures of text between the high school boy, his mother, and her. At the end of the conversation a dark side of me popped out, and just went to try to go grab the nearest gun to shoot him. cuz my father did was lie, gaslighted, manipulated, and acted like a brick wall. He thought we had a great dad and talk even though I was still crying. I guess he thought I was like my mom and I would given up. My mom stopped me and told me that I shouldn't go to jail, and that we are moving tomorrow.
She will make sure of it no more delays, no more of letting me down we move to Texas where we're originally from. While living with a relative my little siblings could talk to our father, which slowly broke the relationship. Because he would always try to bring up me, and how he wanted to talk to me. He couldn't stand not talking to me, and that he stopped paying child support until I talk to him. In between breaking the relationship with my siblings slowly they started seeing the dad that I saw. During staying here with my relative my mom got some console, and help but at the time my dad was paying for child support. But there wasn't enough to get me help which my family thinks I desperately need.
But when child support stopped her console stopped cuz she can't afford it. Then drama started happening with the relative we were with, and we've been moving ever since. But now my mom is on the road making a lot of money to make up for no child support. Until the child support office is gets their affairs in order because my dad gave them 27 different addresses. We are living with relative to relative that will take us in, and watch us. But my mom will be coming back soon to get a rent house, so that we can finally settle down. After a whole year of dealing with all this without him. I'll be 16, and I don't know how to feel cuz it marks the anniversary of a scar physical, emotional, and mental at my worst. But it is the same day as my celebration of birth. Which I sometimes wish never happened.

So my girlfriend 18F and me 19M have been dating for about 3 months now and so far things are looking splendid, she seems everything I ever hoped for and I adore her so much. Something happened today that threw me off a little… So this morning she said she had a headache, she went to school and was still not feeling well. After school she went to work. Important note here, she goes to work with one of her male classmates from school (they both take the buss to work). On the way there she told me she has a fever. I asked her if she’s okay and how does she know for sure. She told me that her male classmate she’s with touched her on her forhead (because she asked him) and he told her she has a fever. I’m not even gonna lie, when I first heard that I was like what the actual f*#k lol. I admit I was and still am pretty jealous since only a few hours have passed. Am I in the wrong and overreacting here or do I have the right to be jealous/mad? I’d love some responses from the men out there, but women are very welcome to comment what they think as well. I’m genuinely curious.
TL;DR - My girlfriend asked one of her male friends to touch her on her forehead to see if she actually has a fever. Am I right for being jealous here?

I was negative on Armin labs for babesia but I have
Headaches Yawning 24/7 Feeling light headed/dizzy Depression Anxiety Libido/erection issues Hair loss
Does this sound like babesia symptoms?

Hello I am 21F, I went to urgent care yesterday for a lingering cough (2+ weeks) and some chest pressure/pain with shortness of breath. I have previous heart issues and have been taking phentermine so I was worried. Anyway, the doctor (who was in a rush) said my lungs sound clear but i have a low grade fever so he wants me to go on Prednisone 5 days 50mg and take a ZPak. I was hesitant on taking steroids so I did my research on the drug and quickly saw that tapering is important. If it’s 5 days should I decrease the dose everyday until it’s at 20? Does it matter if it’s only 5 days.
Also- my chest still hurts tbh. Should I see a second opinion? would phentermine+prednisone be bad on a weak heart? I also vape, but I quit almost a month ago!
more info- Cough is productive and painful. Loud “barking” sound. One instance I had a coughing fit that prompted me to vomit. I had an Atrial Septal Closure devise placed into my heart through a catheter in my vein at 7. I should be going to yearly cardiologist visits to make sure it’s stays in place but i haven’t gone in 5 years.

CHAPTER 9 – ENTROPY
DATE: MARCH 10th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION) LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL
CAPTAIN HENRY O’TOOLE
"Ah, there you are Commander. Your message said there was something you wanted to talk with me about?" Henry asked as his executive officer approached the system map.
“Aye Captain, now's a good a time as any. As you know, the rate of disciplinary incidents has more than tripled in the last two weeks. We've had six fistfights, one near strangling, a few dozen counts of sexual harassment amongst different parties, and a few more incidents of a nature that I would rather not get into for fear of derailing the point of this conversation. I need additional resources to allocate towards ship internal security. With your permission, I'd like to borrow some of our more trusted marines to help the MA's out on their off shifts.” Commander Alvarez asked.
“Yeah, of course, take what you need to nip this in the bud. I can't say I'm entirely surprised; we expected a certain amount of this with the stresses of FTL travel. With everyone cooped up like this, maybe we should brainstorm some new outlets for the crew. Were there any specific incidents I need to get involved with?” Henry replied as he looked up from the list of updates and reports on his own console.
“No, I have it covered. It's just the regs state I need to ask permission to use marines for internal security matters.” The Commander waved it off.
“Excellent, continue to keep me in the loop then. Can I ask you a question?” Henry took the opportunity to ask something that had been bothering him.
“You just did. Hah! Just kidding, put the axe away boy! Now what would you like to know?” He said with a twinkle in his eye.
“I've seen your file, well, the parts that weren’t redacted anyway. If anything, I should be taking your orders! I mean, you're the Space Wolf! Nobody came even close to the number of ships captured or destroyed than you in the early days of the battle for the belt. Why would they want me to be captain when they had someone like you coming along the whole time? Why aren't you a captain anymore? By all right this should be your command, not mine.” Henry asked, after taking one last look around to verify they were still alone around the system map.
Commander Alvarez seemed stunned for a moment before he settled into a more pensive look.
“Listen, son, you're all full of the vigor and high passions of youth. By that I mean you've got a certain fire and aggression in you, yet I've seen you generally keep it balanced by wit and wisdom. You are a perfect match for the job, even if you could use some more real world experience. With some guidance, you'll do just fine, if you can keep strict standards for yourself and crew and a cool head when things get tough."
"I appreciate that, and I will definitely lean on your experience whenever possible. However, you didn't really answer my question... Why aren't you a captain anymore?"
"I... got a lot of damn good men and women killed in an impossible situation when we lost the Michigan-II, and I never truly got over it. No amount of medals, captured enemy ships, or the fact that I've saved many more lives than I lost can make up for that. I finally found peace with that, but that peace required that I relieve myself of any chance of future command. My legacy, for better or worse, is set in stone. Joining this expedition gives me another chance at adjusting the scales without breaking my former vows, even if the only people who will ever know it are here on the voyage with us.”
“So, you claim you have no aims or desires for leadership, but here you are a mere heartbeat away from it.” Henry said, carefully studying his executive officer's every reaction.
“My time for glory is mostly gone, yours is at your feet before you. To the world, I am retired in comfort and isolation. In reality you have me here to help make your will law. You can relax. I already turned down command of this expedition. I was plan A, why do you think they had to scramble to find you? I will take command of this mission only if you are incapable of doing so yourself, Sir. In the meantime, let my experience and whatever wisdom I can offer guide you.”
An emergency alert snapped both of their attention out of their conversation. "There's a fire in one of the officer's cabins?!" Henry’s pulse quickened as he referenced the map to find which one.
“Fuck, it started in Chantal’s room!” Henry said, horrified.
“I've got the CIC under control. Go on and get her out of there, I'll send the cavalry."
“Thank you, Commander.” Henry called back over his shoulder as he rushed for the quick lift.
The officer cabins were the in the very next deck overhead, so he was able to arrive quickly and break into a sprint. The ship shifted as it dodged some antimatter, causing Henry to slip and scramble back to his feet. As he rounded the corner he saw her door was closed and the keypad powered was off. He could hear thumps and muffled screaming from within the room.
"HANG ON CHANTAL, I'M COMING!" Henry shouted in the hope that she could hear him as he pried at the manual override panel.
Two modified Paladin exo-combat armor suits rounded the corner seconds later with a hospitalman trailing behind pushing a medical cart.
"WE'LL TAKE IT FROM HERE, SIR." A speaker-amplified voice spoke from behind him.
One of the Paladin suits accessed the manual control override and forced the door open enough for the other suit to reach in and pry it the rest of the way open as smoke plumed into the corridor. The second suit charged into the room with its flood lights on as a water cannon mounted on the right wrist sprayed flame retardant from a pack on its back. The first suit abandoned the door control and entered, emerging moments later with Chantal awake and coughing from inside the darkened door frame. She was quickly ushered into cleaner air, set gently down, wrapped in a blanket, and was quickly attended to by a hospitalman who began to check her vitals.
Relief flooded Henry’s mind as his adrenaline surge broke against the wall of worry he had built up during his mad dash from the CIC.
“Baby you came for me! I thought I was going to die in there." She pulled him into a tight embrace as she wept in cathartic release.
"Of course I did! I couldn't stand to lose you, especially not over something like this. So, what the hell happened in there?"
"Well you know me, I was all burning the midnight oil and then I smelled smoke! Then there were some sparks, the outlet pops then whoosh! My computer station and my desk are all ablaze along with half my notes, then the damned door wouldn't work! I had to drop to the floor under the smoke and pound on the door in hopes that someone would hear me. God, it was horrible... I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life." She replied with a deep shudder.
"You're safe now, it's going to be alright."
"I know, but what about my work?" She replied with a forlorn look back at her smoke damaged room.
"What about your work?"
"As you know, I lost a ton of it just now, but what’s worse is I don't even have the ability to recover them! Remember how I lost my backup drive last week? Like, I know I packed it and it is not here anywhere! It’s like some sick cosmic joke on me or something. Sorry! Gotta keep it positive, girl! I get to rethink my last few weeks’ worth of work from scratch... that was almost positive! I probably have most of this recoverable from email sent box backups. Fuck, what do you do if there's no good silver lining?” Chantal bemoaned.
Henry couldn’t help himself but laugh for a second, while his girlfriend stared at him, waiting for a response.
“I’m sorry, is this funny to you or something?”
“No, no of course not. This might be one of those times where the only silver lining is that you're alive. Plus, if anyone can remember and rebuild their notes, you can." Henry smiled down at her.
“Fine, fine, at least I am alive. I was only breathing smoke for a few seconds after all.” She said, rolling her eyes. “Thank you for rushing down here right away anyway, it means a lot. You're amazing, you know.”
Henry smiled, slightly uncomfortable for a moment, so he changed the subject.
“I do my best... Anyway, it seems like these electrical issues seem to be getting worse instead of better. Whatever patch these clowns have slapped on my ship to get her to pass inspection is clearly coming undone. What do you think is going on here?” Henry asked in mild exasperation.
“Honestly, I can’t tell you without digging into the systems myself, which I would rather avoid. My plate is full enough as it is right now, especially having to reproduce so much of my own work now. This ship has kilometers of power cables running throughout it, after all, and you have an entire loyal, capable team down there in electrical, so it should only be a matter of time before they sort it out for you. Let them do their jobs without harassing them too much, please?”
Henry felt a little irked at her for not giving him credit to know not to go overboard, but he stowed it, seeing as she ultimately was right.
“The crew has been under a lot of stress, too, between the technical issues with the lights going out, losing power to workstations, or the constant antimatter threat. More than a few people have tried to convince me to turn us around and return to S33 for a more in-depth refit and repair cycle before we try the mission again. So far, everyone has accepted the fact that we are continuing the mission without much argument, but I fear what may happen if these issues are seen as getting worse. Our orders are clear, though, we must continue the journey.” Henry said, uncomfortable with the implications, even if he didn't dare voice it.
“You should get on the Q-Comm to report the fire to S33. Maybe they will order us back to base after this.” She offered, looking for a solution to an impossible problem.
“Good idea, at least the Q-Comm is still working. It’s incredible to me those particles maintained their entanglement once we passed through the baryonic barrier. That alone has been a huge morale boost, being able to contact home base with no time lag.” Henry replied.
“It’s incredible to you because you only have a basic grasp of the science, hon. But that’s alright, very few people truly understand it. That’s in part what you have me here for anyway. Einstein called the effect spooky action from a distance; I always liked that line.”
Henry ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Chantal, with a shake of his head and a smile.
“Listen, Henry, I just had a crazy stressful experience and I need to unwind. Plus, I haven’t slept in almost a day, so I am bone tired. Let’s go to bed, huh? What do you say doc, am I clear to go?” Chantal asked.
The hospitalman closed her eyes and shook her head before responding. "Yes, you are cleared to rest, and only to rest, do you understand me?"
Chantal mouthed a thank you before she took Henry by the hand and led him off to the captain’s quarters. Henry felt no desire to fight it, nor flaw with her reasoning. Sleep sounded good, really good. Plus, he was about an hour from the start of his sleep shift anyway, and Alvarez had the CIC well covered. The lights flickered again, but Henry very purposefully ignored it.
“Hey, since we have a little time and we are both a little wound up, Why don’t we take a shower together real quick?” She said with genuine enthusiasm and a wink.
“Madam, I like the way you think.” The couple raced just a bit faster than regulations would have liked, and arrived at his door in record speed.
Inside the room they fell upon each other in great passion and need, stripping each other out of their BDU’s and underclothes. Henry tossed a giggling Chantal onto the bed, and proceeded to kiss her neck and nibble on her ear causing her to purr in anticipation before he moved down her chest, past her navel, and then eagerly began to move his kisses in between her thighs.
“Hah…. I haven’t showered. Are you sure? Oooookay! I think…. Hah…. Okay.” She said breathlessly as Henry began to work his tongue until she began to shiver and squirm before she cried out as she melted in his mouth.
“Enough, please, I can’t take it anymore! Just fuck me already!” Chantal pulled herself together enough to beg for it. Henry stood rigid and ready and set himself to granting her request, first slowly, and then with a growing intensity. She once more began to squirm as he paid close attention to her hip’s cues, knowing very well by now what she liked.
As she climaxed again, Henry lifted her from the bed and pushed her up against the wall, and then bent her over his desk for a bit before he could take it no longer and they finished together.
“Holy shit… my legs aren’t gonna work for a bit after that one. Help me up?” Chantal said in between shallow breaths.
“Yes, ma’am. It would be my pleasure.” Henry said as he helped her to her feet and into the shower, staying in longer than was strictly necessary.
Henry left the steam first, once more thankful that his cabin included its own small bathroom, rather than a communal one. Being captain had its perks, after all. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, then handed another to Chantal who gratefully accepted it before it dropped to the ground as she stared straight past him.
“Henry!" She squeaked as she pointed past him.
"What?" Henry asked, confused.
"Henry, someone was in here!”
On their bathroom mirror, wiped from the steam were the words TURN BACK.
Henry's blood ran cold and his adrenaline spiked him into overdrive. He waved Chantal back into the shower and put his finger to his lips. She nodded then wrapped herself in her retrieved towel and dropped to the shower floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, whimpering slightly. Henry moved silently along the wall, watching the visible half of his room for any movement. He then burst round the door frame, only to find everything perfectly, precisely as they had left it. The shock of finding nothing collided with the spike of his adrenaline surge, which only fed his growing unease.
“There’s nobody here!” Henry called out after checking the closet, the only other place someone could have hidden.
“Did you lock the door?” Chantal asked, her mind already working on the mystery.
“I set the security protocol to auto lock every time it closes.”
“Paul. We need to talk to Paul.” Chantal said, squeezing her BDU’s up over her hips with a few hops. Henry pulled on his undershirt before tossing over her bra.
“Why would we want to bring that weasel into this?” Henry asked, incredulous at to how he could possibly help.
“Because he has access to the surveillance tapes, why else?”
Henry stared at Chantal, brimming with rage, trying his hardest to keep it isolated to Paul over the invasion of his privacy.
“Did you just say surveillance tapes!?!” Henry asked in an icy tone. “That does it, I’m going to strangle him.” Henry said, moving with a purpose toward the door.
“Stop. Turn around and give me a kiss. I already disabled the video cameras, at least all the ones I could find. He has audio at best, even that I doubt. What he does have that I want is the data from the motion sensor that he had installed just in case you found the more obvious bugs. Unfortunately, I sabotaged its effectiveness by blocking the sensor with dense foam, but there might be enough of something to give us a clue."
“How in the hell do you know about all of this anyway, and why the hell didn’t you tell me?!” Henry roared.
“This entire enterprise is run by an intelligence agency; how can you not have seen that one coming a mile away? I have gotten very good at catching bugs over the years. Just because I expect the invasion of privacy to be happening, doesn’t mean I have to make it easy on them. Just be happy I already took care of the issue, alright?” She replied firmly while staring him in the eyes with raised eyebrows.
“You’re incredible, I love you.” Henry blurted out before he could catch himself. Chantal beamed and tackled him to the bed sitting on his lap.
“What took you so long? Never mind, don’t answer that. I love you too, man have I wanted to say that one for a while now.”
“You know these things aren’t easy for me. I had to be sure, I also didn’t want to mess anything up. We need to be able to work together even if we had turned out to be a bad couple.” Henry admitted, Chantal made an show as she thought it over, but she then smiled and helped Henry to his feet.
“Alright, my captain. You speak great wisdom. While I have certainly felt, and thoroughly enjoyed, the depths of your passion, it is really nice to hear about it too. I do think it makes it all the better that you rule said passion with reason. It’s just one of the many things I love about you.” She said, laying her hand over his heart.
Henry took her other hand and kissed it before replying. “I think above all, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t take you for granted, nor suffer the same in reverse. A wise woman once gave me some great advice there that I have taken to heart.”
“Okay, Romeo, maybe you have a better handle on these things than you think. Now… Let’s go interrogate Paul.” Chantal had a fire in her eyes that Henry was loving very much at that moment.
“I have wanted to turn the screws on that spook for a while now.” Henry smiled as he spoke, and he opened up the connection to the ship’s intranet through his neural implant to send a message.
MEET ME IN YOUR QUARTERS IN 5 MINUTES FOR A DISCUSSION OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE – CPT. O'TOOLE
“That ought to get him there and alone.” Henry smirked. “Let’s go.”
Together, they made their way to Paul’s equivalent-sized quarters, which he had somehow secured for himself in the ship design to help facilitate his role as the official thorn in Henry’s paw. I guess being the captain’s handler has its perks as well. Henry’s eye twitched at the corner.
After making them wait far too long, Paul opened the door and gesturing them inside. The door closed and Paul turned towards them, narrowing his eyes, studying them both.
“Is this about the fire?” Paul asked before Henry punched the weasel right in the diaphragm, forcing him to gasp for air. The look of shock on his face as he bent forwards was priceless.
“What the fuck, Henry!?” Paul managed to choke out after a minute between gasps.
“Relax, I didn’t do any permanent damage, yet.” Henry said, Paul for just a second showed actual fear in his eyes before he sneered in defiance. “Oh? That got your attention, did it? Why were you spying on me?” Henry growled.
Paul closed his eyes, dropped his head, and began to laugh before Henry grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. Foolishly, Paul even then kept laughing amidst the gasping. So Henry squeezed until Paul started slapping his arm, looking genuine fear once more growing across his face.
“Orders… I was following orders!” Paul managed to say amidst gasps and coughs.
“I thought it might be something like that. You're going to open up those files, now, and you're going to show me everything.” Henry said, dropping him to his feet at last.
“Fucking hell, Henry, I thought you of all people would have anticipated this was going to be the case. Do you think the people who made this all possible would simply let you fly around the most dangerous, advanced warship in human history without some insurance?”
“Don’t try and weasel out of your own personal culpability here. You may also want to think back to other people who were “only following orders” while performing acts they knew were wrong before you wave that line around like some get out of jail free card.” The fact that he had nothing to say spoke volumes.
“You should have told me, Paul.” Henry growled.
“That defeats the purpose! Plus, your girlfriend sabotaged them all before we ever left S33 anyway, and once more after! That type of tech doesn’t just grow on trees you know, and I don’t have an unlimited supply. You should be thanking me for covering for her and reporting back like things are normal!” Paul shouted in indignation.
“This is pointless, show me the files from around fifteen minutes ago, motion trackers, thermals, anything you have that's not blocked or sabotaged.” Henry commanded. Paul’s eyes narrowed, but after a long moment he huffed and closed his eyes.
Paul then sat down at his station and fired it up.
“Like I said, I've got practically nothing. No video, muffled audio and readings from what I assume to be a faulty motion sensor, that’s it. What are we looking for?”
“Chantal and I were, well, together. After we got out of the shower we saw that someone had written turn back in the condensation on the bathroom mirror. Only problem? My door auto locks when closed and only opens for my biometrics. That is why all of this even came up in the first place.”
“Motherfucker. That's a whole heap of bad news.” Paul said. Henry merely nodded, paying rather more attention to the screen to see if he could catch Paul in a lie about the extent of the spying.
“There’s nothing. No disturbances in the air that would even remotely resemble human movement between you two getting in the shower and you charging into your bedroom. With the noise of the shower and the distance to the microphone, there is nothing I can discern that is anomalous. You can see it all right here for yourself.”
Henry found himself even more confused and alarmed than before.
“How is that possible? Look again, run through some filters or something. There must be some evidence somewhere!”
“Alright, relax, I will get to work on this and get you a report by the end of C shift. In the meantime, you look like a mess. Get some sleep man! I can take care of it from here. Oh, and I want you to remember that I forgave you quite magnanimously for that little episode back there where you attacked me.” Henry and Chantal gave each other a look as Paul spoke.
“Wasn’t gonna apologize anyway, you had it coming. I’m going to hit the rack. I expect that report to be detailed and ready when I get up.” Henry took Chantal by the hand, and they left together, not waiting for a response.
“What a snake. Did you see him in there? Zero guilt or recognition whatsoever about spying like that. It just makes my skin crawl. Gives me bad memories.” Chantal said, turning pensive and quiet.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Henry asked, seeing that there was something clearly bothering her.
“I… had an uncle that lived with us from time to time and he would spy on me when I was dressing, try and sneak looks in the shower, stuff like that. Never touched me or anyone else that I know of, thank god, but man did it screw me up a bit still. Played havoc with my sense of security and even my sanity, never being quite sure it was real or all in my head. I wish I had said something, but I was afraid everyone would think I was overreacting or imagining it. I saw it in his eyes though, that look of... predatory lust. At least I didn't see anything like that in Paul's eyes. To this day it makes my skin crawl.”
“Good God, I can see how alone you must have felt in the middle of all that.” He squeezed her hand, she smiled up at him.
“Yeah, that was one of the hardest parts. I don’t think Paul is some raging pervert or anything, but it concerns me how normalized it was to him. Even if he isn’t being a creep with it, as if we can take his claims to be covering for me at face value. There is still no way I am going to let him have easy access to intimate videos of us, if I can possibly help it.” Chantal said before adding, “I’ll be all right, don’t worry about me. Let’s just get some sleep.”
Henry put his palm against the biometric scanner outside his room and the door slid open for them. They definitely needed some sleep after the emotional roller coaster of the past few hours, and the irresistible warm embrace of his bed called for him. The Q-Comm report could wait until he woke, he decided.
Better to have the electrical inspection ordered up, too.
I WANT A FULL REPORT AND INSPECTION PERFORMED ON THE ELECTRICAL FIRE IN CHANTAL’S ROOM BY THE START OF A SHIFT. – CAPT. O'TOOLE
Good enough. Henry thought as he sent the message. Now he could sleep. The chief could handle it from there.
MEANWHILE…
DATE : MARCH 10th, 7 A.U. LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL
FIREMAN APPRENTICE SARAH CALLAHAN
It'll be back again tonight...
Sarah’s haunted thoughts repeated like a mantra. She had to be ready, but how? Her skin crawled and itched, the long sleeves of her BDU’s prevented her from being able to do anything about the painful sensation from the inflamed scratches they hid. She blearily rubbed at her sunken eyes, and she drained the rest of her coffee. All the numbers on the screen had started bleeding in together and her eyes hurt horribly, with the throbbing pain in her abdomen only compounding her misery.
“My god, Sarah, you look a wreck, hon. How have you been sleeping?” Yvonne, her shift partner asked, with concern in her voice.
“I have a monster tension headache, I just hope the meds kick in soon. Can you check my math? I need to get out of these white lights for a few minutes. Close my eyes for a bit, something, anything. I've been having nightmares again.” Sarah felt good, being able to admit it, and Yvonne had long since proven her friendship, so it was easier to actually speak.
“Yeah, no prob. As soon as I am done here I will check your readings and we can get out of here. Do you mean nightmares from the invasion?” Yvonne asked, carefully picking her words and tone.
“Kind of the same general themes, but different. Everything is going wrong, like the worst possible outcomes of my worst nightmares are all combining together. Like, it feels actively malicious, I don't know, its hard to explain...” Sarah said, bleakly.
“That’s hard, I am sorry. You need a shower, and an uninterrupted nap. Sleep deprivation plays all kinds of hell on the body and mind. I had a friend who went through an insomniac phase so extreme he would go days without sleeping. Wound up in the hospital after trying to drive to work while hallucinating his dead fiancée was sitting in the passenger seat screaming at him to watch out. Wound up rear-ending the car in front of him. Thank God he lived to tell the tale, but that is why it worries me to see you like this.” Yvonne planted her hand on Sarah’s shoulder as she told the story.
“Yikes, I think I slept like two hours into my sleep shift before I started having the nightmares again, woke up, and passed in and out of some restless sleep. It got really bad around oh three hundred. There were sounds... noises like scratching and a loud bang, and the shadows were moving. I just kept feeling like I was being watched, but everyone else seemed to be having disturbed sleep in their bunks. God, it was a creepy feeling.” Sarah took a moment to compose herself.
“I know how crazy this will sound, maybe that I am sleep deprived and likely hallucinating like your friend, but just hear me out. There was something there Yvonne, in the dark at the edge of perception, I could feel it. I also know I wasn’t the only one tossing and turning either. I could also hear scratchy whispering, too. I just hid, strapped in under the weighted blanket. At some point I slept some more, I must have, but not for what felt like a few stressful and draining hours. I'm just making a total mess of explaining this, aren’t I?”
“No, you're fine, girl! I am sorry that happened, my dorm has been pretty quiet, but I have always slept like a rock. Is there anything I can do?”
“I could use a hug.” Sarah said, which caused Yvonne to laugh, breaking some of the tension. They embraced warmly for a good minute, which did wonders for relieving some of the headache and her black mood.
“Thanks, Yvonne, I know it’s all in my head and it’s a vicious feedback cycle due to lack of quality sleep. Thanks for listening without calling me crazy.“ Sarah said, shying away from the last thing she hadn’t the courage to say.
She didn’t dare mention how she had hidden under the covers as she felt it get near. How she had felt something pushing on the mattress. How as her fear peaked, she herself peeked over the covers to find nothing there just to have the oppressive feeling evaporate along with the sensation of pressure by her feet. Her dorm mates all seemed to stop stirring after that, and only then did the nightmares stop for her that night. By then she was left with barely enough time for one last short sleep cycle before the start of A shift that very morning. This was a secret she would have to keep to herself, nobody would believe her anyway.
“I think I'll ask the Chief for a break from my duties today to rest and to visit med bay. Maybe they can give me something to help catch back up on my sleep.” Sarah said.
“Good idea, can I come with? I’ll back you up.” Yvonne said. Sarah smiled at her friend before she nodded at her before they checked off the last of their duties on site and headed away to find the Chief.

I have been with my girlfriend on and off for around 2 years. At first she chased me to be with me and it felt nothing was too much. Now it feels like we’re just friends living together. I would prefer sex 4-5 times a week. She says once a week is normal but it’s often less than that now. I always have to initiate and she often will start coughing randomly or come out with a random conversation if I start kissing her to avoid it. This makes me feel rejection to the point where I don’t bother now as I hate the feeling of been unwanted. It feels like she is always searching for external validation on social media. In the past this didn’t bother me but in the past before we broke up I found out that these men who were messaging her were some of the ones she went on to see after we broke up. I have addressed how I feel but nothing changes. Every night she is either too tired, has a headache, stomach ache or not showered. I would be grateful if anyone had any advice or had any experiences similar?

I am used to pvcs if I am poorly and have a fever.. cos the heart is going faster due to fever.
However, I have a cold right now (sore throat, runny nose, headache) but no fever, heart isn’t going any faster than normal… But I’m getting PVCS..
Does this happen to anyone else?

Started Paxlovid 2 weeks ago. Started on Day 3. I know where I got it and when.
First run of Paxlovid went well. No issues.
Second time went well too but I'm left with a dry cough.
I've been testing negative since the end of Paxlovid.
The cough is the only symptoms I have. No fever, no runny nose. I've gained my sense of smell and taste. I'm no longer fatigued.
I was told to use my Symbicort and Ventolin. Normally Ventolin always worked for any cough I've had but not this time.
I'm still coughing.
It's a dry cough and sometimes I cough so much it's like I'm missing air in my lungs.
Should I call my doctor for antibiotics or wait and consider it part of COVID recovery?

22M 81 kg 180cm, no other underlying conditions, not drinking/smoking/or any pills, and I don't drink anything with caffeine; I have those headache in a specific area above my left eye (around the left eyebrow to 2 cm above), they have a pulsating feeling. Usually happening when I'm commuting back from university (not to in the morning only back which can be at hours like 13 or 21), the travel is around 100 minutes (while commuting I'm sitting in the front of the bus, put on an audiobook/music and don't use the phone or read or anything else which causes headaches to worsen) I don't know how long they stay without treatment since I always take paracetamol (either 500 or 1000mg), with this treatment the headaches lasts anywhere from 1 hour to 6 hours, (laying down helps), when having those headaches they range in effects from let's say a 4 (meaning have some trouble thinking/doing work but still able to read/watch videos) to a 7 (can only listen to music laying down, can't read or watch videos, with dizziness) I hope this is enough to pin down what is the source of these headaches and maybe possible treatment to prevent those in the first place or stop those so I can work when I get back home.