Today’s one page challenge is for The City in the Clouds by J.B. Williams. Finally, a requested challenge, rather than the usual cycle of me finding a story and the person being triggered that I did so. At 234 pages and a whopping price tag of $20.99 for a paperback, it’s a wonder why it looks untouched. Flip some burgers for an hour to pay for this… whatever it is. I was told the editor is good, so let’s see how he gummed up the works.
The rules of the one page challenge are simple: I go through the first page of the book(about 300 words or 3 paragraphs) and say where the average reader would stop. These reviews are short, sweet, and to the point (unlike most of these books). The main things we look for are things like tension, a hint at the plot existing, good feng shui, a feeling like the blurb is accurate, a lack of obfuscation, and the story fulfilling its role as a story. As we go along, I’ll explain why readers love or hate certain elements and we’ll see what straws break the camel’s back.
The title, The City in the Clouds, makes me think of fantasy, but it’s meant to be sci-fi. Clouds symbolize knowledge beyond our reach or something like daydreaming, treated as water in air(mystery in knowledge). Saying the title this way makes it seem like the focus is the city itself, which would be cool if it was something like a dystopian or utopian story. Maybe a tech noir or detective story, but… it’s not. This story is actually about a woman, and it’s a comedy, completely conflicting with the genre in two ways.
I didn’t want to say this but Huston… we’re already having problems.
The ebook cover is a drawing of curly haired woman staring at the camera like she’s constipated, while the paperback version is of an anime girl holding a gun and looking like she has diarrhea. Both versions have her in a suit, with a giant gas planet behind her. Both have similar fonts for the title and name, but the ebook version is so blurred and darkened that it reads like a secret message; the physical version being slightly less blurry. If I saw this on a shelf, I wouldn’t recognize this as a book or know what it was called. I find it strange because the back of the book is very clear, given a blue box for clarity, and has a sun with a red sky that would have made more sense than these frumpy women.
I guess the title and name are made illegible because we’re supposed to zoom our eyes straight to the blurb:

Robin Alia Brook is considered a loser. She works at customer service for one of the largest companies in humanity's interstellar empire, gets stood up on dates, and accidentally kills people. Then when her ex-online boyfriend gives her the winning vacation lottery ticket to the famed habitat, The City of Clouds, she reluctantly accepts it.
Upon arrival, she is greeted by the massive, beautiful gas giant Bellona, and all the glamour and prospects of expansion for the famous habitat. And it is the beginning of a celebration, too! For the election of the new habitat captain! But the celebration and vacation are ruined when pirates attack, seeking the captain's riches.
They are ruthless, they are bloodthirsty, and they won't stop until they get what they want. Unfortunately for the pirates, Robin is really good at accidentally killing people, and with her is a rag tag team of a pilot recruit, an egotistical journalist, a veteran photographer, and the captain himself.
It will be a long battle for The City of Clouds, and the outcome is unknown, but one thing is certain... This is the worst vacation ever.

Slight grammar issues here and there, but most wouldn’t notice that “ex-online boyfriend” would mean the boyfriend was online and not anymore. The delivery is a little bouncy, almost appropriate, but doesn’t give much tone from how much info it tries to cram in. Something I noticed is that very little sci-fi is mentioned, with the only thing giving a sci-fi vibe being the idea of traveling to another planet. If this was a vacation to an island, very little would change from how it’s described. Like the title and name on the cover, a lot of what makes this book a book is hidden from us, in plain sight.
At this point, the average reader would probably not give it a shot, unless the idea of pirates and an ironic Die Hard premise is their cup of tea.
No prologue, no maps, no glossary, just a simple chapter 1 to greet us. Ok, I’m liking this already. I know this is a small thing, but the simplicity of just starting a story is a blessing that should be the norm, and isn’t. I haven’t read a single word and this is already the best OPC so far. Yes, it’s that easy.
Don’t ruin the experience with all your fancy try-hard nonsense and the reader will be in hog heaven.
We are told the planet, sector, system, and date. Very effective in establishing the sci-fi element in this single aside, which also lets us know it’s 400 years in the future. The planet is named Andromeda, which is a well known galaxy, so if this is in that galaxy, I assume it’s going for a “New York, New York” type of gag. The editor did a good job, with the first page establishing a scene in a restaurant. What he messed up on was… everything that’s not the scene itself, which makes up 90% of the words.
The protagonist, Robin Alia Brook has her day off described as “shot in the face”, being delivered in present tense and this has it come out awkwardly. I say this because the second sentence is past tense, then it shifts back to present, back to past. This is why people stick with past tense to avoid the headache, and present tense is now used as a hipster novelty to act as if things are more important because they’re happening as they’re written. Most readers just find it as a distraction and it causes something niche to become more niche in the process. The first paragraph ends with us being told that she’s in a restaurant that is 500 feet under the sea, of a planet called Andromeda.
She is to be dining, but she is NOT dining because her date didn’t show. Cue the audience gasping, because this is a travesty. The part that really kills this opening is the sentence “She is currently obtaining nutrients through Poseidon's generous supply of free lemons water and cheesy garlic biscuits.” This was the perfect chance for worldbuilding, to express something futuristic and fresh. Instead, it tied itself to Earth, talked about mundane food like lemon water, and it didn’t use any of these for a punchline.
This is meant to be a comedy, but is absent of comedy. We don’t need a bunch of humor in the first paragraph, but we do expect a comedy to present a tone that can lead to humor occurring. Every scene for a comedy is a setup for gags and punchlines. Much like horror, the scene is built around the mood, which is brought to a peak around half way. The introduction of a comedy book is going to hold a joke in relation to the entire book.
I believe the blurb when it says this Robin character can kill things by accident, because this book dies right after she’s introduced, around the second paragraph. The third paragraph changes the subject to be about other people in the restaurant, acting as a distraction that leads to infodumps of Robin’s outfit and such. I understand that the “joke” is that this woman is stood up on her date and we are to feel her anguish, but the reader shouldn’t be suffering through the opening this soon. Starting here is either far too late or far too soon. If anything, this is something I expect in chapter 2 or something we hear about as she’s on her way to Bellona.
A good way to put it is that this scene is a non-sequitur done in order to give fashion statements, with the important exposition ignored for window dressing.
The average reader needs tension to get sunk into a sci-fi story, because this is a planet we don’t know about with a character we’ve never seen before. What is the point of having this restaurant so deep underwater? There is a city underwater? She has a job, but where does she work? At the Krusty Krab?
Non-sequitur is a distraction that removes us from the scene and the plot to explain things that don’t serve a purpose to either. If I changed the first sentence to only hold what was part of the scene, it would be the characters name and nothing more. To strengthen an opening like this, we would have to set it up for a punchline, reinforce the sardonic tone, and tie the scene with the situation. The first sentence would go like:

Five hundred feet below the sea’s surface, Robin could not stop drinking.

This will give the impression that she’s getting drunk, while attaching her drinking to the sea outside, giving the impression that she’s drowning. But even then, I wouldn’t start here, I would begin with a comedic amount of assurance that she’s going to have her date show up, then the next scene is her waiting with this. That, or I would have her doing the walk of shame, allowing the plot to begin sooner when she gets her golden ticket, which would be like:

The ocean floor outside was slowly swallowed by darkness as the elevator pod took Robin away from Poseidon.

Here, we have a moment for her to think back to the situation, and the word “darkness” gives hint to her current feeling about the restaurant. This is a setup for the punchline that follows, already skipping the failed date and able to move forward to the poster she sees in the elevator. Movies tend to do this type of exposition with the main character telling the situation to another person, who is helpless to escape. That can add more humor and make the main character express their personality quirks. The goal is for less opening to be used up for non-sequitur and to focus it on moving forward in relation to the plot.
For a story like this, the rejection comes from a lack of being straightforward. We can always fix up a sentence and how it sounds, but this doesn’t mean much when the bones are disjointed. Thankfully, for this one, a lot of readers are used to openings like this from online serials, so there is hope that a lot of it will get a pass. It’s that first hump that it has to get over in order to shine. Sadly, for little Robin, that hump was not achieved, so her journey through the city in the cloud might as well not exist.

I feel like I could scream and cry, I’m so angry and desperate. I‘m (35 f) having my second BFS episode with twitches, jerks and for three weeks now, I’m having stiff legs and neck and sore muscles. I can’t walk well, it feels weird. I can’t sit on the floor and it’s even more painful to get up. I went to my doctor twice, but since my blood, lungs and heart seemed fine, he sent me off as healthy. He checked my knee and said, he can’t find anything and I should see an orthopedist. I tried to reach one, but I won’t be abled to see one in the next three months. I’m freaking out, cause my big, fancy wedding is in four weeks. I want to be be happy, but instead im sliding in a second episode of bfs and extreme health anxiety. Last time this happened, I had just given birth to my son and this absolutely destroyed month of my life that should have been wonderful, but I was in excruciating fear. I still can’t forgive myself for being this depressed, crazy, anxious person I was then. I don’t want to do this to my boyfriend again. I hate this, I’m scared and I feel so so let down by the medical system and by my f***** body.

Hey ladies! I’m looking for a dress that checks a few different boxes, and I was hoping that the hive mind could help me. 🤗
I’m (mid-30’s F) going to a wedding in the mountains of Mexico. It’s going to be hot, and it’s going to be a black tie affair. This is my “fancy“ side of the family and everyone will be dressed to the nines.
Keeping in mind the hot and slightly humid weather, I also need a dress that will cover my left upper arm to my elbow. The shoulders can be exposed, but my left bicep needs to be covered. So either a one sleeve dress (that covers MY left) or something that will just hide that particular area on both sides.
Moreover, I am only 5’3, about 130 pounds and busty (34 DDD). I found some off shoulder dresses that could work, but they have a ton of cleavage and that’s not going to fly around my Mexican family who I haven’t seen in 10 years. Ha ha. Some cleavage is totally fine.
Any ideas/links appreciated!! I have dark hair and a tan complexion in the summer so I can get away with a variety of colors. I have a bunch of fun/neutral heel options between my mom and I’s shoe stashes, so no problem there. Thank you!

I was reading another entry about boomers boomering - see the story about the tires from another redditor in this sub. Anyway it reminded me of the time my toilet went missing.
My mom and aunt inherited everything from their great- aunt. This included an old house on 3 lots in a very rural community and it's contents. My mom ended up taking the house, which she eventually gave me. At the time this happened, she would be considered my landlord. So I move in this house. Packing crap up for them to go through later. Like the weird anthropomorphic fruit figurines in the kitchen that felt vaguely racist. The Last Supper mass produced art turned in to a clock. So many floral vases etc. Now my great, great- aunt was part of the silent generation. Still used a wringer washer in her basement. Mowed her 3 lots with a rotary mower. Microwaves were too fancy. So needless to say, this place HAD NOT been updated in awhile.
So I move in. After a month or so, I tell my mom the toilet flushes really slow. And maybe we should get someone out to look at it. She tells me I'm an idiot. I just don't understand how plumbing works and I should increase fiber in my diet. OK whatever. One day, my aunt is in town and they decide they're going to spend the day going through the various items to pack up, give away, sell etc. I give them guidelines (spoiler... they did not follow them). As I'm heading home, my mom calls and tells me not to go home yet. She's walked my dogs just now. Fed them and the cat. Could I pick up dinner? it's been called in and paid for. Just needs picked up and meet at her house. Now, my spidey senses were tingling because this isn't normal. But I figure meh. My aunt must be a good influence on her. NOPE.
After enjoying dinner with family, I stand up to say my goodbyes. Only to have my mom encourage me to spend the night at her house. Me, confused and I ask her why. That's when she tells me she and my aunt are concerned about how slow my toilet is working and they decided to fix it. And now it's not working. I told her nah. Going home. If I have to REALLY pee in the middle of the night, there is an outhouse- SAID AS A JOKE mind you. Since I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I came home to a large hole in my bathroom floor where my toilet once resided. Said toilet was now in the bath tub which blocked my ability to even shower in the damn thing. I called, screaming at the two of them. Obviously I was irrational. They WERE HELPING. Mom says they'll get a plumber out immediately. For TWO WEEKS I had no working toilet in my home. Taking a shower every morning at my parents. Not drinking water late etc. Thank God for the outhouse. Sigh. Why did it go on for 2 weeks? Well 1. I hadn't figured out boundaries yet. 2. My mom never told my stepdad who said he would call the plumber what was actually going on. She told him I was just unhappy with the flow of the toilet and being dramatic. So it wasn't urgent. He stopped me one morning when he found me coming out of the bathroom after getting ready for the day, basically asking why the grown a$$ kid with a house of her own was using his shower. Especially when he brought the tub into modern times by building me a makeshift shower until my remodel. Me- because the toilet is in the tub and I can't take a shower. Him- why the f is there a toilet in your tub? Me- because 2 weeks ago your wife and her sister removed my toilet because they thought they could fix it. Him- WHAT?!!? Me-i just have a hole in the ground.
Next day the septic guys and the plumber out fixing everything. Relaying the story to my cousins. Cousins- oh yeah. Mom thinks she can fix plumbing mishaps. She can't. We assume our inheritance has gone to overpriced emergency repairs. Good luck!

TL:DR; This is a journal of how i started astrophotography starting from just random noise to an actual photo of the stars, and while there isn't anything fancy like a nebula, this is just to show that while you may believe you can't do it with the gear you have, you certainly can get photos of the stars at a very reasonable quality, just don't expect to get anything amazing like deep space photos.
Day one: Never tried astro before, i've been using my partner's 1100d since he recently upgraded and while he mentioned i couldn't do astro on that camera i really wanted to try, LIKE I REALLY WANTED TO TRY. so i stuck my head out my window and tried to take some photos,
it was a very cloudy night and not to mention i live in the city, while i couldn't see a star in my sight i really just wanted to believe i could capture something, and while at the time i thought i was capturing something, i learnt about pattern noise in the days to come (can't really recall what it was called now but i think it was that)
so while i stacked all this up in sequator, for the night i slept happy thinking i captured something.
Day one picture: https://i.imgur.com/3vRNQp2.jpeg
Day two: now at this point the skies were clear, and i really wanted to capture something,
(in reality while the light pollution is bad in my area, it's not as bad as other peoples so i had to at least try to take something good)
now this time I ran 5s shutter, f/5.6, 1600 ISO (Shooting raw for all my photos)
and for another day i was extremely happy, i also believed i had caught some amazing photos.
For someone's second day without anyone really there to give me solid advice, no fancy telescope.... or even basic telescope, just an unmodified DSLR and a window using the lens cap as some sort of stabilizing makeshift tripod under my lens.
at this stage my partner had already lost interest in what i was doing in the dark in the bedroom, BUT I WASN'T DONE YET! while in my mind i wanted to believe this was an amazing photo for me inside i still had doubts that some of this could have been random noise.
Day two picture: https://i.imgur.com/hjTFRhR.jpeg
The third day: that day I went on the hunt for information about astro, i learnt about the ISO i should be using for my camera and for the best dynamic range,
I learnt about ISO variants, unsure if that's what you call it, but to sum it up quickly some cameras can have the same quality if you increase the EV+ to match a higher ISO and i knew mine didn't have that, and even though i knew it didn't i still went and performed the test to see, and from my results, 100ISO moved to 800ISO equivalent was the same result as 1600ISO, just a bit of food for thought.
while i was doing these tests I put my camera in a dark place and took a photo, and this was when I realized my first photo was just a bunch of stacked noise, So what did i do about it? I went and researched calibration frames,
I didn't do flats since at this point the sun was slowly setting and i didn't really have the confidence to do them,
so I made a bias master using DSS, I shoved my lens cap on and shoved my ISO to 1600, I ramped up my shutter speed to 1/4000, and took 70 photos just like that, i used the auto continuous mode to do ten at a time, and then stacked them up,
Bias master created,
Now i went to the window once again, and found the brightest star i could find, I opened my aperture to the max, for me this was f/1.8, and with the ISO at 1600 my shutter speed had to be set to 0.6, now i shot the star for 10 shots using the auto continuous mode, then moved the camera ever so slightly over, i zoomed in on live view and made sure to keep the star within the box at 10x, and i repeated this 7 times, leading to 70 photos,
and while this is a low amount for this i wanted see the results,
after my shoot I did my darks, lens cap on, same shutter speed, same iso, and did 50 photos of just my darks before exporting everything to my computer,
Now i've never used DSS properly, It looked intimidating and that's why i went and used sequator HOWEVER TODAY WOULD BE DIFFERENT,
i setup DSS, shoved my bias master in (that i had also made in DSS), shoved in my darks and my lights, and let it get to work, and then i saw them, the stars, I was so happy, I then jumped into darktable to increase the EV to see if noise would occur and to my surprise it was the cleanest image I've taken of the stars, there wasn't any noise or pattern this time, I showed my partner and they just mentioned "it's just stars" before turning back to their phone, but to me it felt like i actually captured something, a light that comes from thousands of miles away, to me it was special and to be able to capture that from my window was an amazing feeling.
while i had to export the file as a jpg from darktable i still have the Raws/Tifs, from being told i couldn't take pictures of the stars less than 3 days ago i really tried even though i don't have any fancy tracker or telescope, i really just wanted a picture of the stars,
while i was EXTREMELY EXTREMELY LUCKY to have clear skies, during all of this knowing that my first picture was just a bunch of noise to actually getting a picture i was happy with, all the information i learnt to try to take even better photos, i really was on a journey to finding a new hobby.
Day three picture: https://i.imgur.com/l8rd4Zv.jpeg
I wrote this all on imgur first privately and copy and pasted it over to save time but I wanted to express my feeling and thoughts while i was taking these photos so that it hopefully also motivates some beginners to try to take some photos of the stars, while i know they aren't up to the quality of any nebula photo or moon photo shot on a mobile phone (which i think is absolutely amazing and yet mind-blowing) they are still special to me and while "they are just stars" it's the beginning of something great.
I really hope you enjoyed this long read and little adventure,
I hope this encourages you to take pictures of the stars, planets and possibly nebula from where-ever you are in the world!

Hello, is there a way to control a servo motor with a True/False statement like when its true the servo is set at 90° if false then at 0°. Using it on a object detection code. Also I'm using the gpiozero library. TYIA to whoever answers.
Here is the code:
import cv2 from gpiozero import AngularServo from time import sleep
classNames = [] classFile = “names" with open(classFile,"rt") as f: classNames = f.read().rstrip("\n").split("\n")
configPath = ".pbtxt" weightsPath = ".pb"
net = cv2.dnn_DetectionModel(weightsPath,configPath) net.setInputSize(320,320) net.setInputScale(1.0/ 127.5) net.setInputMean((127.5, 127.5, 127.5)) net.setInputSwapRB(True)
def getObjects(img, thres, nms, draw=True, objects=[]): classIds, confs, bbox = net.detect(img,confThreshold=thres,nmsThreshold=nms) #print(classIds,bbox) if len(objects) == 0: objects = classNames objectInfo =[] if len(classIds) != 0: for classId, confidence,box in zip(classIds.flatten(),confs.flatten(),bbox): className = classNames[classId - 1] if className in objects: objectInfo.append([box,className]) if (draw): cv2.rectangle(img,box,color=(0,255,0),thickness=2) cv2.putText(img,classNames[classId-1].upper(),(box[0]+10,box[1]+30), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX,1,(0,255,0),2) cv2.putText(img,str(round(confidence*100,2)),(box[0]+200,box[1]+30), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX,1,(0,255,0),2)

return img,objectInfo 

if name == "main":

cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0) cap.set(3,640) cap.set(4,480) #cap.set(10,70) while True: success, img = cap.read() result, objectInfo = getObjects(img,0.50,0.2, objects=['cellphone', 'mouse', 'keyboard']) #print(objectInfo) cv2.imshow("Output",img) cv2.waitKey(1) 

Hello, is there a way to control a servo motor with a True/False statement like when its true the servo is set at 90° if false then at 0°. Using it on a object detection code. Also I'm using the gpiozero library. TYIA to whoever answers.
Here is the code:
import cv2 from gpiozero import AngularServo from time import sleep
classNames = [] classFile = “names" with open(classFile,"rt") as f: classNames = f.read().rstrip("\n").split("\n")
configPath = ".pbtxt" weightsPath = ".pb"
net = cv2.dnn_DetectionModel(weightsPath,configPath) net.setInputSize(320,320) net.setInputScale(1.0/ 127.5) net.setInputMean((127.5, 127.5, 127.5)) net.setInputSwapRB(True)
def getObjects(img, thres, nms, draw=True, objects=[]): classIds, confs, bbox = net.detect(img,confThreshold=thres,nmsThreshold=nms) #print(classIds,bbox) if len(objects) == 0: objects = classNames objectInfo =[] if len(classIds) != 0: for classId, confidence,box in zip(classIds.flatten(),confs.flatten(),bbox): className = classNames[classId - 1] if className in objects: objectInfo.append([box,className]) if (draw): cv2.rectangle(img,box,color=(0,255,0),thickness=2) cv2.putText(img,classNames[classId-1].upper(),(box[0]+10,box[1]+30), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX,1,(0,255,0),2) cv2.putText(img,str(round(confidence*100,2)),(box[0]+200,box[1]+30), cv2.FONT_HERSHEY_COMPLEX,1,(0,255,0),2)

return img,objectInfo 

if name == "main":

cap = cv2.VideoCapture(0) cap.set(3,640) cap.set(4,480) #cap.set(10,70) while True: success, img = cap.read() result, objectInfo = getObjects(img,0.50,0.2, objects=['cellphone', 'mouse', 'keyboard']) #print(objectInfo) cv2.imshow("Output",img) cv2.waitKey(1) 

Wade held Jasmine in his arms as he flew a low height down the long road to another section of the staryard, Tina on his back and Nathan and F right behind them in the air. Together, the five glided across the base grounds, taking care as to not irritate the aerial security during their search for the meeting room. Being outside for the flight, the group considered it a blessing that Wade's 'enhanced cooling unit' allowed his body to tolerate the breaching sun in the still cloudy sky, which, according to F, was dangerous to drones like her due to the inefficient cooling she and disassembly drones like her suffered from. Given F's physical fault, she had to fly under shady areas in order to safely traverse the base at day.
Originally, Wade and his friends had planned to walk to the meeting zone, but after running into a trooper experiencing a health mishap, the group did what they could to help the distressed officer. By the time he was brought to the medical ward by other soldiers, Wade found that him and his team would be at least a few minutes late if they kept on their way with their walk.
Deciding to speed things up, Wade, understanding the concern for performing such an effort, opted to carry the Fowleys around the base to the meeting area. Reluctantly, F decided to come along, carrying Nathan in a similar manner that Wade was carrying Jasmine. Taking notice of the time on his HUD, which read, "9:47 AM", Wade scouted for the building he and his friends were directed to. "8072" He said to himself, the number being for the building that would house the imminent meeting.
"They said it was down here, right?" Wade asked aloud to Tina before stopping himself in mid-air, the girl holding onto him tightly as he tried to speak over the growing sound of a retrofit Apache flying overhead.
Looking about, Tina nodded as she spotted the target building. "Yes, I believe that's the one over there!" Pointing past his head, Wade followed her finger to a large building ahead at his right. The structure was moderately tall, only about two stories high, with several soldiers and officers going in and out of the building. Wade smiled as he noticed the target number, as well as the big, bold words describing the building's designation. "8072, Briefing Center B"
"Good eye, honey. Hang on!" Continuing his low glide, Wade zoomed towards the building's entrance before stopping just meters above the ground, his two friends close behind as they slowed down as well. The troopers around them initially looked startled by the sudden arrival of Wade and his group, but quickly regained their composure as Wade hovered still above them.
"At ease! Just visitors." One of the soldiers declared as they identified the newcomers, who touched down before Wade let Jasmine down to her feet, Tina hopping onto the ground along with her.
Putting his hands up, Wade apologized for his swift surprise. "Sorry for the scare, we got delayed for a meeting we're invited to."
The soldier gave an understanding nod as he replied to the former worker drone sternly. "I can see that, just be a bit more careful next time, Mr. Carter. You gave the boys here quite a scare."
Wade returned the gesture in embarrassment as F put a hand to his back, chuckling at his efforts as Tina questioned the officer. "Is Mrs. J in there? She's the one who called for us."
The guard gave his reply as Wade and Tina pulled out their IDs for clearance. "Yes she is, Miss. The meeting's set to begin in under ten minutes." Checking the two drones' IDs, Jasmine and the others pulled out theirs as well, the watchman motioning another trooper over to verify the group. Once the guard finished checking the five's cards, he nodded in approval as the watchman spoke once more. "You're clear to enter."
"Thank you Sir, again, sorry about that spook back there." Wade replied with a smile as the trooper gave one of his own, the disassembly drone and his allies making their way towards the office door before stopping upon the call of a voice.
"Hey, Felice!" Wade turned to find the origin of the voice, F doing the same as the two quickly spotted a quartet of soldiers walking excitedly towards F. The disassembly drone glanced to her friends with a smile before turning back to the approaching entourage.
Wade examined the four troops as they got closer: Two human men, one woman, and a male worker drone. One of the male soldiers had short, blonde hair, and a small scar to the right side of their face. The second man bore a tan skin tone and had black hair, with blue strips that went down slightly in a mullet style. The woman bore a set of long, dark green hair, with the hair going down and over her left shoulder. As for the worker drone, he wore the standard green soldier helmet, single eye visor and all. He had no hair on him from what Wade could tell, and bore a pair of whiteish purple eyes on his visor.
As F walked over to the soldiers, the same one that called to her spoke again. "Felicity, I didn't expect to see you around here today! Where you been?"
The girl soldier interrupted his initial chatter. "Hang on Carlos, do you even know if she remembers us?"
"Aye, don't she have one o' them memory locks, or sumthin?" The drone added in a heavy Scottish accent.
F waved her hand as she replied to the group. "Easy, everyone. Thankfully I still got my memories, courtesy of my technician back at Central." Lowering her hand, F let down her usual persona as she gave a wide smirk to the soldiers, clearly pleased to see them. "Good to see you guys around here."
The soldiers gave light cheers to F as they all embraced her, the group having a surprise reunion as Wade and the others watched in surprise. These must've been F's old colleagues from when she was in the service, Wade thought. Quite the coincidence for them to be here at this base of all places.
Not bothering with the convenience of the matter, Wade shook the thought off as he and his friends watched F and her old friends breaking the hug, Tina wrapping an arm around her boyfriend as the second male human spoke to her in what the two discerned as Spanish. "Ay, who your new friends, F?"
"Oh, these guys?" F replied in the same language, quietly startling Wade and the others as they had never heard her speak like that until now. Glancing over to Wade, F motioned him and the others to come over. "Everyone, these are some friends I made in the past few days. Wade, Nathan, Tina, and Jasmine." She pointed her hand to the four as she said each of their names. "I met the boys here during my time on Ceres. Jasmine and Tina here are sisters."
The four soldiers gave various forms of excitement, ranging from hearty laughs to low woops and even a whistle from one of the guys. As F stood next to her old teammates, they each introduced themselves to Wade and his friends. The blonde soldier went first. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all, name's Carlos, Lieutenant Marksman."
"I'm Private Alvaros, good with close-range and stealth operations." Said the tan soldier with a salute.
"Sergeant Lucia Vasquez, usually the one who leads this bunch around these days." The female warrior stated with a humorous smirk.
"And Corporal Duncan Wallace, at your service!" The soldier drone stated proudly as he saluted to the bunch in front of him, who gave warm smiles as Wade shook his hand.
"Quite honored to meet you all, seems you have quite the history with F." The former worker drone said as Carlos patted F on her back.
"Oh, we do! She's the one who took charge when we didn't! Did you all hear of the Pasting of Nola VI?" Jasmine and Tina gave nods of affirmation while Wade, not as familiar with such history, held his hand up in a questioning manner.
"I think, wasn't that the battle where the Navy just barely held the outpost in that system? From the Stryker Clan?" Wade asked as Carlos nodded approvingly to him.
"That's right, and if Felice weren't there, WE would've been the ones getting pasted!" Carlos' statement brought victorious cheers and "oorahs" from the group, F letting a blush loose as she chuckled at her team's praise of her efforts.
"Well, that's not wrong." Although she didn't want to break off from her friends and discuss the past few years since they'd last met, F remembered the briefing. Clearing her throat, she continued. "And as much as I'd like to chat about the good times, I've been called to a meeting here, as have Wade and his crew."
The soldier group gave understanding looks to F as Lucia spoke up. "Thought so, Carl here was real eager to see you, though."
"Maybe we can talk after the meeting?" Nathan proposed as the soldiers collectively nodded in agreement, F readying a smartcomm attachment before turning to face her friends again.
"We're probably getting low on time, you all go in, I'll catch up in a sec." Wade nodded in acknowledgement before taking Tina's hand, the lover drones continuing towards the briefing center as Jasmine and Nathan followed behind them.
Passing through the door, the four guests observed a short hallway, which seemed to split into two paths as they came closer to the other end. Looking to a sign on the wall above, they saw arrows pointing to two separate areas, "Primary Briefing Room; Main Lobby + Secondary & Tertiary" Going to the right, they entered the moderately active lobby, several officers walking and standing about in mass chatter. Walking over to the desk up against the wall to their left, Wade and his group waved a hand to the occupying attendant.
"Welcome, what do you need?" The desk attendant asked as Tina raised a finger to reply.
"We're here for a meeting, Mrs. J called us here."
The attendant nodded in understanding before directing an arm towards the other end of the room, where a single door stood. "She should be in the second briefing room down that way."
"Thank you." Tina replied warmly before she and Wade began walking towards the door, their friends behind them as they proceeded into the room.
The room beyond the door was quite sizable, a large circular table occupying the middle with several chairs surrounding it. The walls went up a few meters, with four whiteish blue lights illuminating the room. On the wall opposite to Wade and Tina were three monitor screens, all of which showed the USN in bright blue. In several of the seats were faces both familiar and unfamiliar, several men and women in varying styles of uniforms conversing about quietly or taking notice of the recent visitors. Standing up near the monitors were three people: A decorated officer whom Tina identified as a ship captain, and the so-called operatives, Tessa, albeit as a hologram, and J.
Walking slowly into the room, Wade gave a low wave of his hand as he tried to hide his nervousness. Noticing his shyness in front of the officers, Tina held his hand and rubbed his arm comfortingly while returning a pleasant smile to the staff in the room.
"Ah, Wade, Tina. Glad to see you all here." J stated with a smile as she scanned the group, raising a digital eyebrow as she noticed one missing guest. "Or, most of you, I see. Did F run off somewhere?"
Wade shook his head as he replied to his fellow disassembly drone. "Oh, no. She just ran into some old friends, she should be back-"
"Right now." F finished aloud as she entered the room, seemingly having heard Wade speaking about her absence. The warrior drone fast walked to Wade's team, taking a seat near them as they prepared to do the same. "Not too late, are we?"
"Not at all." The standing officer answered as the group took their seats, Wade and Tina sitting next to each other as they got comfortable. The captain examined the lot for a moment, glancing to J as he asked about them. "So, these are the ones you helped rescue from the Mojave?"
"Yes Captain, and they helped us out greatly in turn. This is Wade Carter, one of the captured drones whom became a disassembly drone before we could mount the rescue. The luckiest one, if you ask me." Motioning her arm over the others, she continued. "And there's his girlfriend, Mrs. Tina Fowley, and her sister Jasmine." Smirking to F and Nathan, she finished her friends' introductions. "And these two are Serial Designation F and Mr. Nathan, whom I've heard were once under your ranks."
The military captain gave a welcoming smile to the five as they returned the gesture, eyeing F and Nathan specifically before speaking to them. "Indeed they were, we still have records on their contributions to the colonies." Eyeing F, he continued. "Though, in Mrs. F's case, I won't blame her if she doesn't remember us. We've been very well aware of JCJenson's 'memory suppression' protocols when it comes to their DDs."
F laid back in her seat with a smug look as she replied to her former superior. "Well, my friend on the station's a good tech gal. She's... waived that hindrance from me."
"I see, that means your still with us, am I right, Mrs. Lee?" Unlike her friends next to her, F was not startled by her original name being said aloud, rather smiling proudly as she saluted to the captain. "Good to see you again."
"Pleased to be here, Sir." F replied as she lowered her arm, glancing to her companions next to her as J spoke up.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Captain Preston Mitchell, commander of the USNV Vickers down at the stardock."
Wade gave a respectful salute to Preston as he spoke first. "It's an honor to meet you, Sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Carter. I've heard about your efforts from J, you did an admirable job back there, son." Wade failed to hide an embarrassed blush from the compliment, but it quickly faded as a beep sounded from a small device on the table. It was swiftly silenced by the captain as he tapped a button on the small, pyramid shaped timer, then facing Wade's group before continuing. "Though, as much as we could use some small talk, it'll have to wait till later."
"Indeed, we're running late at this point." Said another officer, a highly decorated member of the base with dark skin, dark grey hair and a thin beard. He immediately won the attention of everyone in the room as he spoke up. "I'm General Hugh Hood, overseer of this base. I'm certain you know some of the reasons you're here with us, correct?"
Wade nodded as he spoke to Hood. "Yeah, it's cause of those rogue agents from the JCJenson corporation." Glancing to J, the corporate drone nodded in affirmation before speaking herself.
"Tessa and I spent the last hours of yesterday evening clearing up the matter with General Hood, along with several other officials stationed here." She stopped as the middle monitor behind her flashed with a banner at the top, reading, "INCOMING TRANSMISSION", and in place of the USN emblem was a textless version of the JCJenson logo. Below the profile image was another two lines of text. "N. Jenson (Company Exec); Comms Source: Yottrite IV"
"And also told our boss about what happened here too, he wanted to give his say on this ordeal." Looking to the general, J asked him, "May I put him on?"
Hood only gave a nod of approval to the corporate drone before she picked up a remote on the table and tapped a button, accepting the call as the picture shifted to show a middle-aged man in a pristine-looking business suit on the screen.
Wade and Tina glanced to each other before J introduced their guest on the screen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the CEO of JCJenson: Mr. Noor Jenson."
Jenson gave a pleased nod to his subordinate as he spoke to J. "Thank you for the pleasantries, J. I see we are ready to discuss our plans on dealing with this 'recall' disaster I've bore witness to on the news this morning?"
J nodded as she replied to her boss. "Indeed, I've explained to General Hood here about our efforts yesterday, and, as of recent, we've just received a message from a source we believe to be close to the company."
Mr. Jenson looked down to J attentively as he spoke to her. "Well, that's quite intriguing news, J. Do you have this message available for us to view?" J and Hood both nodded in affirmation, but didn't get an immediate reply as Jenson gazed to Wade and his friends. "...And I presume these are some of the drones rescued from one of the factories?"
Again, J nodded to her superior before explaining her colleagues. "Yes Mr. Jenson, the two drones at the front in particular were among those taken by the Administrator and their subordinates." Pointing an arm to Wade and Tina, she introduced the drone couple. "The disassembly drone here is Mr. Wade Carter, a brother to his-technically speaking-owner, the late Ron Carter. The latter helped us recover Wade during an initial raid inside the Nevada facility." When bringing up Ron, J gave an apologetic look to Wade as to show she did not mean to be offending on him and his brother's relationship. "And this is his romantic partner, Mrs. Tina Fowley. I heard she and her sister Jasmine are pilots."
Jenson looked over the two drones as his obedient employee described them to him, quietly sighing as Wade and Tina returned the gaze with nervous smiles. Once J finished, Jenson spoke to Wade. "I... would say it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carter. But, given recent events, I don't hold fault to you for feeling frustrated at me for my... former subordinate's actions."
Wade shook his head lightly, taking Jenson's light apology with a faint smile as he replied to the CEO. "Actually, I don't. The only person I have such feelings put towards is," He hesitated for a moment, his anger at Dr. Halloway returning for a short moment before he eased himself. "..That bastard Halloway."
"The feeling's mutual, Mr. Carter. Dr. Halloway has been trying my patience for years now, especially with you and your fellow disassembly drones." Looking to J, then F, he returned his gaze to Wade before questioning him on his new body. "I don't know if J has told you of this, but if there's one truth my company has admittedly not held up to for a while, it's our quality. Recently, some of my research staff here made blueprints for an upgraded variant of the disassembly drone design. It's intended to fix several faults we expected to be nonexistent previously, most notably that atrocious cooling unit."
As a schematic pulled up on the left monitor, everyone glanced to the improved design before F spoke up about it. "If I may ask, Mr. Jenson, how big of an improvement is this new cooling unit supposed to be?"
"Good question, F. Frankly, it's supposed to do away with the issue entirely. Saves us from sacrificing enormous supplies of oil for the poorly built unit in the previous iterations. We even tested it with a repaired drone just a few days ago, and it worked flawlessly." Then, glancing to Wade again, he questioned the former worker drone on his new form. "Speaking of, how does your enhanced body feel, Mr. Carter? I'm certain it feels better to not have to-"
"Actually, Mr. Jenson," Wade interrupted, pulling out one of his canteens as he answered the CEO on his upgrades. "I guess Halloway changed up the blueprints, cause unfortunately this new cooling unit didn't cure the overheating problem. I... kinda learned that the hard way." Wade glanced to Tina apologetically, still feeling bad from her seeing him eat the corpse of the dead murder drone back at the factory.
The corporate CEO grimaced in frustration as he took in Wade's statement, already intolerant of the head researcher's actions as he replied. "...I was worried about that, Edgar always likes to run things his own way, making excuses for that 'Administrator' he watches over." Taking an agitated breath, he continued on with his spew on the two culprits of yesterday's events. "It was only because of all the very impressive creations and enhancements she and her research team provided that I tolerated them for so long, but this..." Sitting up straight in front of the camera, Jenson finished sternly. "J said the Administrator... Cyn, I believe? She was apparently something worse than we presumed originally, and I'm very inclined to believe so after yesterday."
"As well as the program tied to the Administrator, the AbsoluteSolver." J clarified before receiving an agreeing nod from Mr. Jenson, standing corrected on his placing of blame.
Raising a hand, Nathan asked about the supposed plans. "Yeah, about this "Solver Project", what do we plan to do about that?"
"Good question, Nate." Tessa replied as she crossed her arms before looking to Jenson and beginning her explanation. "Initially, we were going to investigate the other factories spread across Earth in order to get some more info on the Administrator before things get worse. But, just this morning, it seems someone else saved us the trouble." Just as Tessa neared the end of her sentence, J held up the remote again, tapping a few buttons before the left monitor shifted to show a slightly grainy video onscreen.
The video only showed a single being, a worker drone, dressed in a chrome suit and bearing a set of yellow eyes. Behind them was what appeared to be a vacant room, a few shelves holding many books within them standing still in the back. The drone's visage indicated they were filled with immense anxiety, terrified of being caught as they spoke quietly to the camera.
"I can only hope someone gets this in time, they're gonna be on me once they find out the transmitter screens are down!" Turning the camera, he showed what appeared to be a large factory room, several more of the mysterious conveyor belts like at the factory slotted next to each other. It was hard to discern every detail due to not only the window reflection, but also the dark lighting in the inactive conveyor room. Filming the room beyond, the drone continued. "Dr. Halloway's a madman, he's got more of those stolen drones being brought here and he's going to be overseeing it in the afternoon tomorrow! I've seen what happened back in Nevada, I can't take this any longer! I'm at coordinates ##.######, -###.###### Please, send someo-"
The suspicious, partially scrambled transmission immediately cut off to static, leaving Wade, Tina, and their friends with confused expressions as Tessa spoke up. "Yeah, that caught me by surprise too."
"So, that guy says they got more drones being sent 'there', but... where is there, exactly?" Jasmine asked with immense curiosity.
"I was hoping you'd ask that, Mrs. Fowley." The technician replied as she glanced to J, who tapped a few more buttons on the remote before speaking over her boss-friend.
"While the transmission itself isn't much to work off of, our friends from Comms over here managed to intercept the signal earlier, and even better, discern where it originated from." As J started her explanation, the screen shifted once more to show a large city, with one skyscraper highlighted in red as it was zoomed towards on the screen. "That scrambled audio wasn't a simple glitch, it was intentionally done so as to hide key information for us to uncover. Upon cleaning up the message, we managed to recover a set of coordinates, which direct to this structure here, in San Francisco."
Wade and his friends stared at the building in shock, examining the tall structure as it stood over the shorter buildings in the city. Tina broke the silence in her gaze. "So, this is another factory? It looks... terribly different from the one we got out of."
"Not exactly, Mrs. Fowley." Mr. Jenson answered, Tina and the others looking to him as he continued. "THAT is the Administrator's main laboratory, its location was kept on the down low so other authorities and terrorist groups wouldn't find out what the buildings true purpose was." Sighing, Jenson completed his reply. "But, with this recent mistake of Halloway's, that place has lost all purpose for us at the company."
Wade raised a hand to speak. "So, we're going to pounce on that place? Get Halloway before he runs off again?"
"Exactly." General Hood replied as he looked up to Mr. Jenson. "This whole 'recovery/recruitment' effort has gotten out of hand all across Sol. We've gotten countless reports of people being killed because of this, be it the brutal robberies here in Nevada or the bloodbath on Ceres. Even if Mr. Jenson refuses to cooperate, this has become a dire matter for us now. One way or another, this insanity will be stopped with due haste."
The CEO nodded in acknowledgement before explaining his own plans for the mission. "Speaking of cooperation, upon seeing what was happening at Earth, I ordered a detachment of our corporate starships in orbit at the time to depart for Sol in order to help with investigating the situation. They're not warships, but they are well-armed. I'll dispatch them to your authority upon concluding this call." Glancing to Wade and his team for a moment, Jenson continued. "As for the mission, I may not have much of a say, but let it be known that you have my blessing to do whatever it takes to end this madness. I don't care what you do with Halloway or any of his lackeys, or what happens to that facility down there... I want that program shut down."
"Thank you for the extra hands, Mr. Jenson. We'll make sure this Administrator is dealt with." Hood replied gratefully as Wade sat firm in his seat, Tina and the others following suite.
"General?" The former worker drone said aloud, catching Hood's attention before he made his request. "I know I'm not a soldier, but I want to help with dealing with Halloway and his grunts. After what he did, after losing my brother, I can't rest until I see that man stopped."
Tina raised a finger as well. "As do I, Wade could use a hand with those people, and given how we did during our escape run out of that place, I think the two of us make quite the duo." She glanced to Wade with a smirk as she referenced their combat prowess when flying together.
Nathan and F stood up before the latter gave her own request. "Sir, I wish to take part in this mission as well. I can also recommend Wade for you too, as I fought alongside him during the factory raid."
"Wouldn't mind giving a hand myself! And I'm sure my pal Kurtis would love to help, he's here at the base too!" Nathan added with a confident smirk, the group's determination encouraging Jasmine to stand up as well.
"I'd like to help too." She stated simply, a smile on her face as the general and his companions observed the five guests.
Admittedly, Hood knew it would be a bit absurd to allow these people to take part in an operation which would certainly involve bloodshed, especially considering most of them merely had civilian status at the moment. But, upon careful evaluation of the five, their desire to see this problem dealt with, and the fact that some of them had experience on the field...
He paused his train of thought as Captain Mitchell spoke to him. "General? I read up on the Fowleys' files when we recovered Mrs. Jasmine here, they provided service in their early careers." He smirked to the pilot sisters as he finished adding his say. "And to be frank, we need more people like them here. The records we have of them showed them to be damn fine pilots."
Tina blushed at the praise from Mitchell as she spoke to the general. "That is true, we uh... did get discharged for our... 'fancy maneuvering'."
"Sir?" Jasmine said, the general's attention on her as she added to the conversation. "Even if our flying is a bit out of protocol, Tina saved a lot of people on that starjet a few days back. I can promise you, she's an excellent woman to have at the wheel."
Glancing to Wade again, Hood took in his face, one of begging desperation as he spoke once more. "Please, Sir. My brother, the troops he brought from the Coalition, Halloway's gotten them all killed cause of this. I want to do this. I HAVE to do this, at least for them."
The good general took a deep, quiet breath, considering his decision once more before finally revealing it to Wade and his friends. "Mr. Carter, Fowleys? I'm probably making myself a fool for saying this, but you're permitted to assist us in this mission."
The drone couple contained their gratefulness in the form of ecstatic grins as Wade replied to the general. "Thanks, General. We won't let you down."
"And Mrs. Lee?" Hood said as he glanced to F, who returned the gesture as he told her, "You're technically under Mr. Jenson's authority, whatever his answer is, it's mine as well."
Bringing her yellow-orange eyes to her CEO, F awaited Mr. Jenson's answer. "F, yes? I heard Mr. Hood call you by a different name just now, I assume you have some experience with the army?"
The warrior drone nodded as she explained herself. "I once inherited the name of Felicity Lee, Mr. Jenson. I served under the USN Defense Forces before joining the DD Division." Then, glancing to the military staff near her, she finished with, "I had hoped to provide my enhancements to the Force one day."
Jenson gave a hint of a proud smile as he finally gave his decision. "Well, it seems you'll finally get that chance. From now on, even after this mission on Earth is over with, you're hereby dispatched to serve under the USN."
F admittedly couldn't hide her excited smirk as she flung a salute to her now former boss. "Thank you Sir!"
Looking up to Jenson, General Hood asked the CEO, "Mr. Jenson, how long until your ships can reach Earth?"
Jenson glanced down at his communication console as he answered the military leader. "At max speed, their Ion drives should be able to bring them into orbit in as little as one to two days. I believe there should be some ships within the system that could help as well."
"Signal them when you can, Mr. Jenson. We could use all the help we can get from them." The CEO nodded to Hood as he stood firmly to the viewer, the general turning to face Wade and his colleagues. "And Mr. Carter? We'll be mobilizing our forces immediately after this meeting concludes. It'll be a minute, but I want you to gather whatever items and belongings you'll need for this operation. Be ready to head to the flight pads in no more than three hours."
"Understood Sir!" Wade said with a salute, Tina, Jasmine and Nathan giving their own as Jasmine raised a finger.
"What about the area around the lab? That place looks like it's in the middle of the city."
J raised a finger as she told Jasmine and the others about their resolution of the civilian obstacle. "Shortly after reporting our findings on the transmission, Hood told us that they were sending in some teams to clear out the civilian population within several miles of the facility. Once we get there, it should be of no concern."
Jasmine sighed in relief as Tina spoke up. "So the people should be safe from any sort of danger?"
"Correct, Mrs. Tina." Preston answered before continuing. "Given the resistance Halloway and his men showed during the Coalition's raid, they most certainly won't hold back there."
"One more thing, Sir." Nathan asked. "The Coalition's going to help us out with this too, right?"
"You can count on it, Mr. Nathan." The Vickers' captain replied as he looked to J, then to Jenson as he spoke further. "I met the leader of the Coalition's detachment working with us when I was introduced to J and Mrs. Elliott here, they intend to see this conflict finished. I highly doubt they're willing to sit back and let us do this by ourselves."
"And their help will be much appreciated." Hood added, everyone's attention returned to him as he looked to Tessa, curious eyes scanning her holographic form. "And Mrs. Elliott, if I may. Do you mind heading down here to assist us in our investigations later on?"
"Funny you say that, General. I'm almost done with my own snooping around on the JCJ up in orbit, Cyn has some small departments of hers aboard, and I thought I'd gather some more intel before coming down." Glancing to Mr. Jenson, she saw him giving an understanding nod before returning her gaze to the military staff. "I should be down there by the evening, judging by where you're located."
"Do what you must, Mrs. Elliott. We could use whatever you find." Hood replied firmly as he turned once more to the JCJenson CEO. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Jenson. We will get to the bottom of this."
"It's my pleasure, General." Glancing to J and Tessa, he spoke to them once more. "J? Contact me when you've finished with Halloway and his Administrator."
"It'll be done, Mr. Jenson." The obedient servant answered before saluting firmly, receiving a final nod from her boss before he ended the transmission.
With their off-world guest out of the way, Hood looked to Wade and his friends, J, Tessa and Captain Mitchells sharing the gaze with them as the general spoke to them in finality. "Well, you know what comes next everyone. You're all dismissed for now. And remember, landing zone by 1300."
"We'll be there Sir." Wade said with a nod as he and his friends stood up, pushing in their chairs before making their way out to the door.
As they neared it, Wade stopped for a moment as they heard Hood call to one of his friends. "And F?" The soldier drone looked to the general as he continued. "Before we depart, would you mind changing your uniform? I believe it could help with identifying you from the other disassembly drones more easily." Glancing to J, then back to F, he finished with, "I recall hearing about the most formidable drones having clones prepared, yes?"
"Correct, Sir. I'll stop by the nearest barracks while I can." F replied before turning back to the door with her colleagues, Wade opening the door for them all as they passed through. After them, Wade passed through himself, shutting the door to the meeting room as he returned to the lobby.
Walking about together, F spoke to Wade and the others. "Well, that went smoothly. I'll be heading down to the barracks, then head over to your place to help out."
"Actually," Wade replied, raising a finger up as he asked his fellow murder drone, "You think you could bring your friends over? We could get to know each other while we're getting ready."
F glanced to Nathan with a smile before returning her eyes to Wade. "I could see about that. You're gonna like them, I can promise you that."
Taking Tina's hand, Wade walked with his girlfriend alongside Jasmine and the others, nearing the hallway they came through as they prepared for the walk back to the apartment.

const response = await fetch('/convert', { method: 'POST', body: formData }); const blob = await response.blob(); const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob); const output = document.getElementById('output'); output.innerHTML = `Download Converted Image`; 

PC
Reddit Account: u/MercuryDances
Discord Tag: Hopeless Situation
Name and House: Deziel Blackmont
Age: 25
Cultural Group: Stony Dornish
Appearance: Of average height, clean-shaven, brown-haired and green-eyed, with skin tanned from a lifetime under a harsh Dornish sun. He speaks softly and strides lightly.
Trait: Strong
Skill(s): Dual Wielding (e), Swords, Daggers, Ranger
Talent(s): Hunting, Hawking, Rock Climbing
Negative Trait(s): N/A
Starting Title(s): Heir to Blackmont, Ser
Starting Location: the big hunt
Alternate Characters: Allyria Blackmont
AC
Name and House: Allyria Blackmont
Age: 51
Cultural Group: Stony Dornish
Appearance: Small, slim and weathered, with graying hair and the same bright green eyes as her son. Her posture is uncommonly straight and steadfast.
Trait: Inspiring
Skill(s): Tactician, Cunning, Vanguard
Talent(s): Singing, Wine-Drinking, Shit-Talking
Negative Trait(s): N/A
Starting Title(s): Lady of Blackmont
Starting Location: the big hunt
Alternate Characters: N/A
Bio:
Blackmont is a harsh place. A lonely castle high in the Red Mountains, it has long been a haven to raiders and mystics alike, home to an ancient dynasty, perhaps less infamous than the likes of the Wyls, but perhaps no less ruthless. It was here that Deziel Blackmont grew up. His mother, Lady Allyria, came from another age, a violent time when the Blackmonts terrorized The Reach, and at times were terrorized in turn by vengeful Reachmen. She was an expert in the ways of war, someone who knew the backways of the mountains inside and out. And while it seemed her son might grow up in more peaceful times, she had no desire for her oldest child to be soft.
From a young age, Deziel, Dez to his friends, took well to his family's teachings. From his mother and from his father, a scion of House Toyne, he learned a fast-paced, uniquely Dornish style of fighting with short swords and long knives, of moving lightly in the wilderness and of doing whatever he had to do to survive. Chivalry was for fat Reachmen who struggled to mount their fancy horses. If you needed to kick your opponent in the balls and then stab him with a hidden dagger, then you kicked him in the balls and stabbed him with a hidden dagger. Those were the rules of the Red Mountains.
But while Deziel was gifted as a fighter, growing up strong and fast and sparring with Dorne's finest, his true love was the wilderness itself. He was a soft-spoken lad who often preferred his own company, and even as a young boy he would wander far and wide alone, sometimes for days at a time, adventuring and exploring, hunting and hawking his own food and learning to find water in the harshest drylands. Out there, under the hard sun and cold stars, he felt wholly at peace.
As time went by, Deziel would take to the mountains more and more often, for life in the castle was growing more complicated. His mother had begun pressuring him to find a wife, but Deziel quite simply did not want one. He preferred the company of men, something that was less of a problem here in Dorne than it might have been elsewhere, but still presented certain issues. Mother wanted grandchildren, and Deziel wasn't interested in giving her any. He tried his best, he truly did, but no Dornish girls caught his fancy. He wandered the region, seeking beauty, and found it, but also found confusion. Always he found himself back in the mountains and deserts, the places where he felt closest to the divine, looking at the sky and wondering why the Gods had made him this way.
In time he found his voice. He fought in skirmishes with bandits and rebels, the kind of fiends who always haunt the backways of the Red Mountains, even in peaceful times. He killed his first man, then another and another. Bringing death haunted him, but paradoxically it made him more confident, more sure of his skills and himself.
While he's still an introvert, he's learned to speak out when he has to. He loves his mother, but sometimes his younger siblings need protecting from her venom. But he's also done his best to meet her halfway, as one does for those one loves. Hence why he's at this stupid fancy hunt. He'd never have come here, if he had his way, but such is life. Hunt yourself a buck, she tells him, and a maiden while you're at it. Deziel is more than a bit skeptical, but who can say?
The Blackmonts, on the whole, are not at home in this new Dorne, this new world, a world of opulent prosperity and the distant but ever-looming threat of dragonfire. But their particular skills, quick blows and flashing blades, are skills that never do go wholly out of style in Westeros, and perhaps they'll yet come in handy in the years to come.
Timeline:
1 BC: Deziel Blackmont is born to Lady Allyria Blackmont
4 AC: Deziel's brother Vorian is born
7 AC: Deziel's sister Mara is born
10 AC: By now, Deziel is already growing into a gifted warrior and wilderness explorer
11 AC: Deziel's brother Myles is born
17 AC: Deziel begins to intermittently travel around Dorne
19 AC: Deziel kills his first man in a mountain skirmish
25 AC: Deziel and Lady Allyria travel to the hunt
Family tree: https://www.familyecho.com/?p=DP6SG&c=8q4s17xqi1hovosi&f=720821804468611556
NPCS: Damon Toyne, Castellan; Vorian Blackmont, Warrior (Bows)

!!NOT REPLACING!!
Hey, my name is Harley, 23, looking for new writing partners at least 20 or older. Gender doesn't matter, just don't be weird.
A bit about my writing style- I write in 3rd person, past tense, anywhere from 4 paragraphs to a nitro message and a half depending on the scene. I'm pretty much available to write all day every day since my job is easy, though I do have ADHD and forget sometimes. Usually though, I remember pretty quick and reply.
I do prefer playing female characters but depending, I'm happy to play male characters!! I prefer FxM, though I'm open to FxF as well. I also can double, though I don't like to- it can get overwhelming and kill my motivation.
All that being said, I'll list what I'm looking for below!
Fandomless - Like dark romance? I have an OC named Blaire who might be your new favorite! Looking for a sort of "ride or die" type male character to go with her in a mafia-esque setting. - Cowboys strike your fancy? I've got a cowgirl we can play with that has a driving story that explains why she ends up losing her marbles! (Can use RDR2 for reference) - Literally anything modern vampires. I find them very fun! - Jack Sparrow adjacent characters, anyone? 🏴‍☠️
Fandom (mostly OC x Canon, but open to options) - Supernatural! Always on the hunt for a Dean Winchester writer for my OC, Rhiannon. - Red vs Blue! A niche, I know, but I love North and Felix, and it'd be a dream to find someone who writes one of the two. - Mass Effect! Shakarian or OCs, either works! - Skyrim, with the dragonborn being split between two souls who need to work together to defeat Alduin. - Fallout (specifically 4), with a love for Deacon and Hancock.
You can also tell me your ideas! I can't promise I'll be into them, but it can't hurt to try :)
I'm the type to make playlists, pinboards etc of our characters. I commission artists for art (I used to draw but my iPad broke), and I really love befriending my partners so if you don't like being friends with the people you write with, we probably won't work together.
If you're interested, message me!

Hello, Sorry if I sound dumb as I'm new to this kind of stuff, but there is this game I want to rip the background music from. So far, I have extracted the Midi from the SEQ files, but I would like to have the original sound font as well because the Midi files are, well midi. Right now the directory where the I got the SEQ files stores the SEQ files with accompanying .bin and _MAP.bin files.
For Example
T1.SEQ
T1.BIN
T1MAP.BIN
I'm aware that the Saturn runs these SEQ files through it's sound chip but I'm curious if there is a some sort of sound font or something that I can get from these BIN files or from something else.
Anyways, help would be appreciated because I'm new to the Sega Saturn and would like to learn more about it!

*Edited to correct typo
Tl;dr: if you have a partner, especially an AMAB partner, who has dated, pursued, or even just been generally very open to dating far younger women, and you are uncomfortable with it/disappointed with this but not to the point of immediately calling it quits, how do you deal with this and how does it impact your attraction/relationship? If your partner’s willingness to date women far younger makes you feel icky and makes you feel less attracted to partner, how are you handling that? Coping, de-escalating with them, leaving?
So here’s my situation, with some of its nuances:
My (37 cis f) serious, entangled partner (39 recently transfem nonbinary) of 5 years is comfortable dating/fucking women far younger than them (13+ years), is actively intending to pursue a 25 year old right now, and I’m struggling with feeling pretty grossed out and disappointed about it, while also feeling like *I* am failing at being sex positive or respecting young women’s autonomy by being uncomfortable in the first place.
Partner also is into women their own age and even a few years older, and I don’t see this as some predatory or exclusive pattern, but that doesn’t make it suddenly feel fine to me.
Over 5 years, there have been 4 people who’ve hit a chord with me feeling too young for this partner. The gaps have been 13, 17, 13 and 14 years. The youngest was 20 at the time, the oldest/current is 25.
The first one (they were 34 and 21 years old, respectively) was formative to my mistrust of partner, and our ongoing conflict about age gaps. They met and had sex at a festival I didn’t attend, then lightly dated/mostly had booty calls. At some point not too long after they had me meet her, I brought up massive discomfort around the connection because I quickly perceived her as spectacularly immature - she honestly felt like a high schooler to me, which was extremely jarring - and it felt like a really inappropriate match. Plus my partner was this established, home owning professional adult, living as a cis man at the time, and this young woman was unstable, in a shitty and possibly abusive relationship with an older person, and marginally employed with very little experience. The power differential was huge, though partner insisted that they were mindful of it (I believe that they intended to be mindful, but I don’t feel confident in their ability to perceive where power dynamics actually show up). After I brought up my concerns, partner eventually had a conversation with her about the age gap. Their connection then cooled; partner however still feels like it was fine and they should have been good to keep going with her if she had reached out again. TBH I know that partner held back a bit because of me and I get the feeling they felt some resentment about doing so. I still feel really squicked out by all this. I am also frustrated that when we’ve revisited the situation, partner recalls it differently than I do, and it feels like their recollection paints things rosier and rosier, with partner increasingly looking like a white knight or something with every retelling/discussion.
For a while, this didn't come up much, or in pretty limited circumstance, but the issue has reared its head again.
Currently, there’s someone partner announced to me the intent to pursue. We both made out and cuddled with a woman at a party several weeks ago where most people were in their 30s and 40s; we found out she was 25 later that night. Again, for me this makes me want to back off as I don’t feel great about the gap even though it’s a little smaller for me. Partner, however, recently announced to me their intentions to pursue something with her since they felt they’d had heavy flirtation and good physical chemistry.
Even though she’s solidly in her mid 20s and I feel slightly less distressed about this particular match, at least on the age front… because partner has felt judged by me in the past for the times they’ve been interested in much younger women, they insisted we revisit this topic. So it has been blown open again and it’s creating an enormous amount of friction.
Honestly what’s creating the most friction is that in spite of my best (though imperfect) efforts to be calm in discussing this and to hold space for best intentions, partner has seemed really defensive to me and that’s been so frustrating. For example, when I said that I think they have a bias towards younger women, they immediately started listing all the older women they’d slept with or dated (all of whom were 8 years older or less, except one woman from years ago who I don’t remember them ever having mentioned to me) instead of acknowledging that this is true, which they eventually did when I asked them to answer me directly about it. A number of times when I think they were trying to understand my own position on this matter more clearly, their inquiry came off a lot more like a bunch of “gotcha” questions about my own dating since I have a girlfriend who is 5 years younger than me. None of these questions really “got” me, but it felt like deflection though partner insists it wasn’t.
When I examine my discomfort with these age gaps, I can identify three sources of difficulty.

1. First, I feel like I must to preemptively acknowledge that my own feelings about aging as a woman and becoming less societally and sexually visible could contribute to this issue, particularly as that may impact my own feelings of jealousy. That being said, I’ve been in this rodeo for a long time, and feel pretty confident about my ability to process and work through the jealousy piece specifically, and frankly, I’ve blossomed in my 30s so I feel pretty damn desired and powerful myself. But I don’t want to pretend this couldn’t have an impact.
2. Second, there’s the individual power differential stuff. Partner has far more resources at their disposal compared to someone who is that much younger. I believe their intentions are good and that they would never purposefully abuse, exploit, or harm someone else. However, partner has exhibited instances of not understanding that a younger person, for instance, might just assume that older partner is authoritative or correct on some sexual, relational, or other point by virtue of being older. Partner did not intuit or understand that a very young woman might feel like she owed them sex because they bought fancy dinner, or whatever. These are both real things that came up in the past that surprised them. Ultimately, it’s hard not to perceive this as partner being willing to take risks that have the chance of weighing more heavily on people less powerful than themself, which doesn’t feel good to me.
3. Finally, there’s a more collectivist feminist angle. Just the fact that our society imposes an unhealthy amount of sexual attention onto young women, in a way that I believe is really unhealthy for girls and women of *all* ages. To a large extent, women 16-25 don’t get to choose whether or not they are heavily sexualized based on their age, and are often sexualized by people who are not their peers (I remember being sexualized by older men as a teen, and learning to also see my own sex appeal as a paramount feature of my self and value, even at a time when I was not receiving much romantic attention from peers). Furthermore, I and many others believe that it’s the hypervisibility (and oft-sexualized critique, whether implicit or explicit) of young women, which is anchored in that sexualization, that leads to a tremendous amount of self-consciousness, warped self-worth, obsessive behaviors, anxiety, overwhelm, etc. And frankly, I think the world would be better if older people (especially older men) just didn’t perpetuate this by pursuing or participating in sexual relationships with much younger women so readily; I personally think it’s better to have an approach of, “she’s great, but I’m going to nurture attaction toward my peers instead.” It disappoints me that partner doesn’t see value in restraint in this regard.

There's also the feature that this has become *extra* difficult to discuss because I want to take great care not to unintentionally invalidate my partner's gender experience and journey. They were AMAB and cis-identifying for 37 years, came to identify as nonbinary two years ago, and have gradually come to embracing themself as transfemme and are taking a lot of gender transition steps (recently starting HRT, undergoing a strong shift toward feminine aesthetics, etc). It's been hard won and I want to be in their corner all the way. But it also means that talking about things related to, say, male/masculine privilege, or socialization, or themes of female experience, can be touchy and carry the risk of coming off as me saying that my partner is essentially just a man which is not only untrue, but also not an extra burden I want them to have to deal with.
Partner has expressed that they felt very unattractive and undesirable as a young person, and as a result places a high degree of value on the validation and pleasure received from sex. I see that this may also contribute to having a hard time closing doors to feeling desired by someone else, even if that someone else might not be a good or appropriate match.
Unfortunately, though, with #2 & #3 together, I find that my own normally robust sexual attraction to my partner is negatively impacted since I don’t feel values aligned, and that just feels… way less hot to me. And with our sex life impacted (we’ve had far less sex than normal during this recent conflict period), some facet of #1 seems more challenging because I feel less confident in my connection with my partner and more afraid of it falling apart or shrinking. I’m also anxious to explicitly tell my partner that their openness to/interest in much younger women makes them less attractive to me, because I have anticipate that they are likely to self-limit as a result and feel resentment about it later.
I feel stuck in a cycle and it’s hard to see a win here. Help?!

CSS tags are used in web design to customize text without needing a full UI of options, just additional text. If you use reddit mobile you're probably familiar with something very similar.
For example, if the player typed into a book and quill: Example Text
It would appear as: Example Text
There are loads more tags that would be useful such as:
bold
italics
colored text (red in this case)
underline
strike through

for large font size, higher numbers = smaller font size

For those that don't know, this is how you would make text look different if you were manually typing out a web page. the first defines where you start bolding and the defines where you stop bolding. the letter in the < > defines what special action you're doing, like bolding, italicizing, etc.
there are tonnes more that would be useful, but that's all that comes to mind right now. Obviously not every tag should be in the game, linking to a website from within the game seems rife for abuse, but the simpler ones for basic text customization would be good.
This has the advantage of adding tons of customization possibilities to books and quills without needing any more UI and without adding more data to a book because the tags are stored as plain text, only displaying as fancy text. It also lays the foundation computer skills for younger players, something microsoft seems somewhat interested in.

Hey everyone looking for some advice
Background: almost 30 , F , no debt but won’t really have an inheritance (parents are immigrants and did an amazing job sacrificing). Fiancé has similar story.
Live in NYC (born & raised), rent apt w fiancé ~$4K/ month. Having an expensive wedding in 2025 ~$100K but families will contribute.
Fiancé works in big tech (great job, loves it, well paid, lbut layoffs are scary).
I work in (not big) tech too but hate it and want to quit to become a therapist.
HHI: ~$500K (~185K me ~330K partner (w RSUs) NW: ~$1M (~40% in 401K)
Considerstions: - Neither of us enjoy luxury or care too much about vacations but we have a very big friend group and love hosting , giving gifts, going to weddings/ baby showers etc. Essentially we are not frugal and like being generous but also don’t have fancy tastes at all lol - Neither of us will have to take care of parents in retirement as they were frugal but I’d like to be able to help mine - Don’t want to leave NYC - Want 1-2 kids and will likely have to go surrogacy route for at least one (pls don’t judge) ~200K - We’d like to be able to pay for kids colleges but hoping kids don’t need private school and can get into specialized high schools - Hoping to buy our first apt in next few years
So here’s my question… At what age would you find it reasonable for me to quit my job and pursue my dream of becoming a therapist? This would probably be 3 years of lost income (negative if you consider cost of school but hoping to get into a program that is ~30K per year… and a few years of very little income trying to get licensed and then possibly low income for a while as therapists especially without doctorates are very poorly paid (~70K?)
Thanks so much!