A small caveat: I am new to this sub, and these have been my personal experiences and impressions while living in Brazil; but they may not be indicative of others who live or have lived here.
This month marks the two-year point that I’ve been living in the country with my Brazilian wife. Currently, I’m living in the interior of the state of São Paulo and I LOVE it here. The interior of São Paulo has very little crime, the people are incredible, and the infrastructure is very good. We get invited to churrascos and pizza night every week. I could write a book about all the good experiences that we had in São Paulo.
However, I used to live in the south of Brazil in the state of Santa Catarina in a city called Joinville. Vou falar sem rodeios: It was a literal hell on earth for my wife and I. During my first month in Joinville, I was by myself, got lost and I asked a local for directions and he said something along the lines of “vai se ferrar!” (translated as “go screw yourself!”) I asked a second guy and he completely ignored me. People from Joinville are notorious for being rude and cold, but I also met a handful of joinvilenses who were nice and friendly. When I walked in the street, I always said oi, opa, or bom dia to everyone, but you will get ignored most of the time. It is also incredibly difficult to make friends there; my wife and I had the goal of inviting people to our house every week to play games and to eat, but only the Venezuelans, Haitians, Americans and Brazilians (outside of the south of Brazil) accepted. My wife is from Macapá and she faced A TON of racism even as a native Brazilian, and a few times natives of Joinville told me to go back to Argentina even though I’m not from there LOL. My wife and I had the same reception in Porto Alegre and in Curitiba. However, the north, northeastern, and rural areas of Brazil blew me away with their warm hospitality. I taught at a local high school in Santa Catarina, and the kids from Joinville bullied the Haitians and Venezuelan students. I don’t recommend the south of Brazil if you’re learning Portuguese; the people aren’t generally too patient. São Paulo was such a stark contrast; the people aren't xenophobic, they were helpful and friendly, and they were happy with anyone that tried to learn their language. For me, this just goes to show that one cannot judge a country by just one city or region. There are friendly and rude enclaves in every country.
Here are the amazing benefits of living in Brazil:
Health: Brazilian healthcare is actually REALLY good. Calling an ambulance is free, you can go to any PA (pronto atendimento) for free, and their private hospitals have incredible doctors.
Nature: Brazil is one of the most beautiful countries in this world, and there is such a huge array of places to travel and places to see.
People: Generally, Brazilians are eager to help, friendly, and will go out of their way to make sure that you have a good experience.
Food: Brazil has such a vast a delicious variety of exotic fruits, foods, and barbecue. This deserves an extensive post in itself.
Infrastructure: The country is very modernized, the public transportation works very well, and I’ve had very few internet issues. The public transportation is way better in Brazil compared to the US.
Affordable: Living in Brazil is very affordable. My wife and I pay about $10 per month for our electricity bill and $300 for rent in São Paulo (although we rented for $120 per month in Joinville). Overall, we spend about $700 (≈3500 reais) per month for all of our expenses combined. Just be warned that technology (cell phones, computers, TVs) is CRAZY expensive in Brazil.
Here are the downsides to living in Brazil:
Safety: I’m not going to sugar-coat it; Brazil is a dangerous country. I’ve stared down the barrel of an assault rifle, and my wife and I have been followed at night on a couple of occasions. This isn’t to say that every city in Brazil is dangerous, but you have to keep your eyes peeled when you’re going out. Although many say that the south of Brazil is safe, it’s not exactly true. Porto Alegre has a murder rate of 34 per 100,000 inhabitants, Curitiba has a murder rate of 41 whereas Rio de Janeiro has a murder rate of 13 (1). The safest cities in Brazil are usually found in the interior of the state of São Paulo and parts of Santa Catarina (2). Lastly, if you’re concerned about safety, it’s better to live in a large apartment complex because the security is much better than renting a house.
Police: I’m sure there’s some good cops trying to keep law in order, but overall, the Brazilian police suck. We knew some neighbors that got burglarized in Joinville. It took three hours for the police to arrive, and the thieves left clear fingerprints on all the windows. My friends asked the police, “Aren’t you going to take samples of the fingerprints?” The police said “who do you think we are? CSI Miami?” Lastly, the police didn’t do anything when my wife was sexually assaulted in a beauty parlor. So.... yeah, they are a waste of space and tax dollars in my opinion.
Corruption: If you live in Brazil, corruption is going to affect you in some way. Don’t worry about getting mugged in Brazil; be more worried about the big Brazilian corporations like the internet companies, the Brazilian banks, the electricity companies, etc. I’ve been robbed on the street just two times from Uber drivers, but I’ve been robbed by big Brazilian businesses on COUNTLESS occasions. Whatever you do, DO NOT GET VIVO INTERNET SERVICES. Lastly, save yourself dozens of headaches, and get yourself a good, local Brazilian lawyer.
Noise: If you’re someone that loves peace and quiet but hates a lot of noise, Brazil is not the country for you, my friend. You’ll hear dogs barking all night, fireworks, the neighbors arguing, soccer matches, the couple next door making passionate love, the churros truck, the gas truck, the Atacadão deals truck, the egg car, late-night parties, and motorcycle fanatics so loud that cause even the deaf to hear. If you don’t like noise, be sure to bring a few pairs of ear plugs or shotgun earmuffs (or both).
Overall, I love living in Brazil, and I will be so sad when I leave at the end of this year. I hope that someone finds this post useful.
References

1. http://www2.portoalegre.rs.gov.bobservatorio/default.php?reg=181&p_secao=17
2. https://www.maioresemelhores.com/cidades-seguras-do-brasil-atlas-da-violencia/

OK, time to sit up straight because I am going to spill some tough love on the men in the community.
This is regarding online dating. This is supposed to serve as a compass for you to navigate yourself correctly through the journey.
This piece is based on three things:
- My own experience with online dating.
- Insights uncovered while helping three cis-gendered, male friends with their dating-app profiles to understand the 'why'(s) and 'how'(s) of Communication and Perception in dating.
- Over a decade of being a Communication and Strategy professional in the corporate sector.
​
(However, if you use dating apps for one-night stands and casual relationships, you can stop here. This post may end up wasting your time.)
​
1) First of all — treat yourself like a 'product' and position yourself accordingly in the market.
Take time to:
- Understand your SWOT.
- Understand your competitor (it is not who you think it is).
- Understand your consumer.
I will elaborate on each one of these later.
​
2) Understand your SWOT:
SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat.
Map it out for yourself, and then...
Work on actually having a personality.
What does not count as 'Personality'?
Going to the gym is not your whole personality.
Your bike/car, or your love for them cannot be your whole personality.
Your height, colour of your eyes etc are not your personality.
BladerunneRPG is not your whole personality.
F.R.I.E.N.D.S. cannot be your whole personality.
And your job, definitely, is not your whole personality.
Therefore, when you put 3 out of 5 pictures from your gym, it puts you in a very crowded room that is jam-packed with other gym-goers, lumping your whole personality as a 'Gym Bro'.
When you lack personality, then it is not that you aren't 6'3" tall and hence women aren't choosing you. Learn to see things for what they are.
Ok, but what is Personality then?
Personality is a combination of goals, fears, aspirations, dreams, hopes, likes, dislikes, beliefs etc — attributes that make you 'you'.
Capitalize on each one of these.
Learn to leverage even your weakness by leaning into it.
For example, if you are a guy who is not a fan of English language, and can't for the life of you understand why people don't speak in Hindi, then why are you writing your profile in English, and slogging your posterior off to attract a Starbucks-sipping chica who may not value what you bring to the table?
Instead, channel your inner Harishankar Parsai and write your profile in Hindi.
When you do that, you will have automatically sifted out anyone who is judgmental about your preferred language, and in fact, you may end up attracting someone who will help you paint the town red over this shared interest!
So, keeping everything aside, understand who you are. The better you understand yourself, the easier the dynamics are going to be.
​
3) Learn. To. Write. Sentences.
Complete sentences. With commas, em dashes, and colons.
Do not put five pictures on your profile with one or two words answers to prompts. Learn to put together coherent thoughts.
It shows your ability to express yourself.
Also, expressing yourself is cool.
Stoicism is fine but Zeno of Citium and Marcus Aurelius did not have to spend their life getting left-swiped in the era that is striving to ensure gender equality. Nor were they fighting battles in a hyper-individualistic world.
They had armies to keep them together. Remember this.
​

Language was invented for one reason, boys--- to woo women---and in that endeavor, laziness will not do.
Dead Poet Society

​
4) Re-evaluate your brand-messaging. (Understand your consumer)
Do all/most of your pictures have you posing next to a Merc/BMW etc, and then you cry about attracting gold-diggers?
If you are not looking to attract gold-diggers, tell us what do you bring to the table? Do you have skills required for 'adulting' like keeping a house, planning a meal and ordering for grocery? Do you know basic cooking? If your mom (or someone else) does it all for you, pause dating for a while and contribute to unpaid efforts that go in keeping you alive.
What does it do, you ask?
It softens rough edges of your personality, develops emotional maturity and an ability to estimate and take on the impact of silent mental load. It gives you something real to talk about. It gives the other person something relatable to benchmark you against.
Relationships are much more than booking OYO for a few hours.
(There is a reason your cool collection of Legos cannot be a part of this 'what you bring to the table' exercise. I will explain it later.) Assess if you actually have a personality or are you a humanoid who can code (or whatever else it is that you do), and otherwise bring very little to the table.
​
5) Speaking of Gold Diggers...
Some of you men disintegrate and combust into flames the minute a girl tells you that she is looking for someone who is better off financially (or has a benchmark that requires money).
Why?
Do you not switch your job for better prospects?
Do you not look for someone way hotteprettie smarter than you are?
How are women not allowed to have a richer partner? Please explain.
(I am not asking whether she is a student, banking on dad's money, or hustling at work herself in this case. It does not matter. If you have a wishlist, she too has one. Can you match up? No? Move on then. What is the logic behind becoming bitter about it?)
​
6) To attract the right mate, you need to become the right mate.
For some weird reason, one of the friends I was helping said something that meant something like he will straighten up for the right girl.
Bro, what.
This is not how it works. It, in fact, works the other way round.
You focus on becoming the right person and that takes you one step closer to finding 'the one'. If you are a mess when the right one comes along, they are likely to walk right past you.
You dress up and then go to the bus-stop, wait for the right bus, and board it when it reaches the bus-stop you are at. You don't show up at the bus stop nude and start dressing up the minute your bus pulls up.
​
7) "bUt dOn't wOMEn waNt eQuality?"
They do.
Plus, nobody is trying to rip you off of the four pennies you have saved after 5 years of grind and hustle. Last of all women who have worked their *ss off and fought centuries of patriarchy to get a seat at the table.
Women like to pay for their meals happily, at least the ones I know. However, there will be some who will expect you to foot the bill. It is possible that she is looking for a mate who can afford to take her out for dates totally on his own. She is well within her rights to have this expectation. And you are well within yours to refuse to meet it.
If such is the case, do not let this make you salty and call her a 'gold-digger'.
It is indicative of a poverty-mindset towards money. Instead, use it as marker to understand your relationship with money.
But that aside, if you cannot afford to take both of you out for a coffee/desserts date, take a break from dating and work on your financial health first, because it will keep you stressed and while you cry about having to pay for coffee, another dude would sweep her off her feet because...
...most women may not be looking for you to have 10 billion dollars in your bank account, but in case you both intend on getting married and having a family together, they have a right to assess if you can afford the fact that she can take some time off her work and look after herself (after the delivery) and the baby without your family getting driven to poverty. I understand Maternity leaves and all, but women's brains are prepared to deal with the worst, and they factor in everything and more, even if subconsciously. It contributes to them feeling 'safe' regarding the future. (Not all women, but many. And this is no sin.)
(I am talking about an average scenario. If you are a person whose dynamics worked out in a circumstance different from this, good for you. I have approximated this basis what my guy friends came across in the dating pool. This depends on the privileges, level of education, upbringing, mindset etc, and sometimes varies from person to person within the same family.)
​
8) Speaking of Equality...
... I hope your house-keeping, care-taking, and cooking skills are in alignment with the kind of contribution you are expecting from your partner in terms of finances.
Equality is not a one-way street. And no, I 'let her' drink is not Equality.
​
9) If you are looking for a one-night-stand, state it upfront, the first thing. For some weird reason, the max amount of respect is garnered by guys who mention this right in the beginning. Or, better still, mention it on your profile itself, saves everyone the hassle.
​
10) Emotional Intelligence
There will be m-a-n-y things, in life and on the internet, that you may not like. If at all, this is where you need to practice Stoicism.
Don't believe that there should be more genders than two? Cool, keep scrolling.
Don't understand what is this 'they/them' business in pronouns of individuals? No problem. Put forth your point in a civilized manner and move on. You don't have to dunk on people.
See a 43-year-old unmarried woman asking for advice regarding her love-life? Do you have something constructive to contribute? No? Keep scrolling.
Some lady wore sleeveless to the office? Unless you have something positive to say, keep your opinion to yourself.
See a 63 YO 'aunty' on a dating app? Are you interested? No? Keep Swiping.
Understand that the world does not need your permission exist. (Yes! I know! I am equally baffled!)
​
Your inherent need to straighten the World does two horrible things to you:

• You end up focusing on things that should be none of your business, thereby adding no value to your own life. At worst, you become an outdated version of your parents (who, by the way, might have still been relevant in their times) in a world that needs you to be hyper-agile in your mindset (and regarding your ability to change your opinion and understand the other person's perspective). But I understand that this may be quite a tall order for the majority of the people.

​

• Every time you hyper-fixate on fixing things outside of you, you lose the opportunity that could have either given you a better understanding of something you don't have the first-hand understanding of, or helped you focus on yourself.

​
There is no magic wand to becoming an emotionally intelligent person. In the era of tech and ChatGPTs, your EQ is what will make you stand out. Period.
​
11) Self-worth.
Pause, and understand your worth, (or the lack of it). Don't just randomly hope to be swiped right by anyone. If you are marred by low self-worth, it reflects in every aspect of your life, including how you talk. Take a break from dating and work on your self-worth.
Building self-worth is an inside job.
There is a friend I have who is a Coder by the day and a Baker by the night. Once or twice every month, he invites us over for an evening of chilling around where we also get to sample the latest recipes of cake, quiches, pizzas, and breads he has tried.
The dude is 35YO, the most zen person I know, has never had to be on dating apps because his hobby has everyone chasing him for recipes, 'let's bake together?' (s), ingredients etc. Not a one-night-stand sort of guy, so the street-cred works in his favor. When he dates, he sticks to a lady until things don't work out for whatever genuine reason there is. Once he and the lady part ways, both of them never bad-mouth each other.
Take from that what you will.
Working on your self-worth is stacking up of favorable actions, one after the other. There is no abra-ca-dabra to this.
Also,

• Refrain from becoming someone because of whom women have to close their DMs. Over time, you will lose respect for yourself, and that happens very silently.

​

• There is a difference between speaking the truth and being harsh. Your ability to learn the difference and the art will single-handedly be responsible for success in your profession as well as your personal life.

​

• For some weird reason, a 25 YO man from a Western country is far more emotionally evolved as compared to an Indian man. That is one part of it. The other part of it is that most Indian men are so surrounded by their own type, that they r-e-a-l-l-y will have to break a lot of cycles to even fathom what is expected of them. To break this cycle, educate yourself ruthlessly. Accounts like this may help you break the mould to some extent, but you will still need to break the cycle with respect to your surroundings. Hangout with men who see women in positive light.

​

• The women you are trying to woo, have their standards constantly reset by content from all over the world. You have to understand what you are up against.

​
12) Understand how Reticular Activating System works regarding attracting the right mate.
Reticular Activating System is explained the best here.
And how to hack it is explained here.
From Marketing and Communication stand-point, no brand spends h-o-u-r-s ridiculing and hating on the prospective consumer. Instead, they spare no efforts in getting to know their consumer and then tailoring their offerings to ensure that the consumer sticks around.
This is what I mean when I say know your Comsumer.
(Anyway, what is the point of hating on women throughout the day, and then crying here in the group at night asking for feedback on your dating profile to woo, drumrolls, those same women?)
When it comes to women, your competition is not another man. It is her peace of mind. This is what I mean when I say 'know your Competitor'.
​
13) What makes dating difficult?
Not the process.
It is you hoping that it was easier.
But this is one aspect that demands ruthless growth. Just embrace the pain and hardships of getting left-swiped on and use it to upgrade your mindset and mentality. But all the while, be kind to yourself and know that you are doing your best.
​
14) One last thing...
Analyze if any part of your childhood/teenage was chaotic or traumatic. What we experience in our childhood, if left untreated, goes on to become our 'normal' in adulthood.
So, if you grew up in chaos, peace would seem boring to you. You will constantly look for 'spark' instead of comfort and end up attracting damaged goods.
If your childhood was not peaceful, it may be worthwhile to consider therapy. Therapy is good, it brings out the gunk of the soul that you did not know you were carrying around, all the while stinking because of it.
If you are interested in understanding this better, read Letting Go and Attached.
The thing is, you attract your tribe.
If you are attracted to someone, something in them must have resonated with you. Surprisingly, many times, it is the toxity that binds two people together.
And toxity in oneself is the most difficult to accept.
To stop attracting damaged goods, you will have to heal yourself.
You will be surprised what a therapist can do. You may have to look around for a while before you chance upon a good one though. Twitter has two crowd-sourced list, in case you need: List 1, List 2.
​
Notice how I haven't touched upon topics like what you should write in your bio/profile or what you should message her because these things are a direct manifestation of who you are. They can be 'manufactured' but only to some extent. The mind games last only for so long. After that, you will have to work on yourself.
I hope this makes sense to some extent and someone. Take time to read this. I don't expect anyone of you to get all of it in one go.
If you disagree, happy to hear your point of view.
Thank you for reading!
Have a lovely dating journey.

Hi everyone.
To Kill a Predator is a work of fan fiction set in the Nature of Predators universe originally created by SpacePaladin15 whose Patreon you should subscribe to.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Depiction does not equal endorsement.
Hope you enjoy it!
[First] [Previous]
---
Memory transcription subject: Martin Russo, Human Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: December 14th, 2136
​
The initial search through the offers is not going well.
“What about John Hopkins University?”
“Pre-approved for their internal loan program.”
“University of California Berkeley?”
“Pre-approved for their internal loan program.”
“Dartmouth?”
“It’s pronounced Dartmouth, and they’ll help talk to the bank to take out a loan.”
“Are there any universities in your entire tribe that don’t want us to take out huge expensive loans?!”
“No.”
With a frustrated yell, Vilek throws herself on a chair. Thiva sighs and crosses more names off the list.
I was expecting this. The US and its wretched predatory profit-based educational system is a non-starter. I am not saddling the lambchops with about a million dollars of debt. Each.
At least I’m unlikely to have to pay my own student loans back, what with my debt holder being a smoking crater.
“Hey, this is promising!” Thiva’s ears perk up. “I told Johan we were looking into education on Earth and he said he’d see if he could talk to some people at Lund University. They sent us an offer, check it out!”
“Lund University. That’s in Sweden…” I’m reading the letter rapidly on Thiva’s pad and getting more excited the more I read. “They’ve got both therapist and engineering courses. And they’re willing to transfer your credits and give you both full-ride scholarships, as long as you’re willing to start the term early and ‘establish a baseline of knowledge’. And they’ll split your classes into morning and evening so you don’t have to run double-claw studies like we usually do… And they’ll even have the UN pay for housing and transportation to Earth? Jesus Christ, that’s… really damn good.”
Vilek perks up too, both of them watching me closely now with wagging tails. “So what’s the catch?”
I read it again. Slowly and carefully. And I find myself faced with a bastard of a choice. “Well for a start… this says nothing about me.”
​
Vilek and Thiva are running the math. It’s not looking good. “What if we sell your house? That should give us plenty of money, right?”
“Vansi still owns it, even if she’s never setting foot there again. How about a loan?”
“Nah, that was the first thing I checked. Banks aren’t issuing loans right now. Even taking out any money is hard. With the economy in freefall they don’t want to encourage a bank run.”
I chime in unhelpfully. “And I don’t think they want to give out a loan for a one-way ticket someplace they can’t make us pay it back.”
Thiva pouts with frustration. “That too. Ughh, this was such a good opportunity, too!”
“It is. So maybe you girls should go anyway.”
Thiva’s eye locks onto me right away. “No.”
“I’m just saying-”
“No, I’m not leaving you alone here! I can just finish school here, and…”
“…and leave Vilek alone on Earth instead? No, you two should stay together. I can house-sit Thiva’s place and try to find a job. Maybe get enough money for you girls to head back during summer and winter breaks.”
“I told you it’s not my place, it’s Vansi’s.”
“And she’s welcome to it as soon as she gets out of jail.”
Vilek flicks her tail-tip with uncertainty, ears moving thoughtfully. “…Are you sure this is our best bet?”
“I’m pretty sure it is. And we don’t have a lot of time to look for alternatives. Says here you guys will be working with a pair of tutors to make sure your knowledge base is up to spec, and that’d start in just a few days.”
They’re my friends, and they have an amazing opportunity here. I have to be strong. It’s what’s best for them. It’s just a year or two.
It’s not like I’ve barely survived the last month and a half on this wretched rock.
​
Date [standardized human time]: December 15th, 2136
​
Today’s physical therapy session is in my room. If I were hoping that’d lead to less pain, I would’ve been wrong. “C’mon, keep pulling your leg back! That’s the way!”
My arch-nemesis is currently leaning on my leg and levering it back toward my torso with her entire weight, and is encouraging me to pull back with both arms too. I’m pulling like a beast, teeth gritted so hard I think they might crack. “don’t… fucking… say it…”
My vision is blacked out from the sheer goddamn agony, while Chasa cheerfully encourages me. “Gold star, Martin! Do it for the gold star!”
But it’s the only way I’ll be able to restore a normal range of motion without lopping my limbs off and going for prosthetics. “mother… fucking… hate you…”
Which I can’t afford. And besides, upper prosthetics are nowhere near as advanced as people think. “That’s the way! Alright you can let go now, you did an amazing job!”
I collapse back immediately and straighten my leg. Opening my eyes I can see white stars dancing in my vision. Chasa pads up the bed and licks her paw before stroking it through my hair, giving me another cowlick. “Good boy, I’m so proud of you!”
I am defeated. “…thanks.”
“Hey, uh, is this a bad time?”
I blink at the familiar voice and turn my head. Mosun’s standing there with a confident expression, and Jarkim is right beside him. They both look good, far better than me at least. Jarkim’s got bandages on his leg and Mosun’s got a clavicle brace, but they’re both mobile.
Chasa gingerly climbs down from the bed and moves over to my file. “Nope! We were just done for the paw, except I was gonna give Martin his gold star~! He loves the gold stars!”
“…I am going to eat you.”
Jarkim squawks with alarm at my threat to my Zurulian nemesis. She is undeterred and cheerfully says “No you’re not.”
Jarkim speaks up. “Aren’t you… concerned, about him using that sort of language?”
Chasa stretches idly before placing the shiny sticker on my file. I’ve still got one for every session. “Nah, he doesn’t mean it. Threats and cursing are proven to help human pain responses, that’s all! He’s a big softy; I’ve got him eating out of my paw.”
I try to sound disagreeing but it comes out as a rather pathetic whine. “…I’m an apex predator…”
​
“So you were both discharged?”
Mosun flicks his ear affirmative. “I was in for a paw longer than Jarkim was, but we’re out and healing now. It’ll be another thirty-ish paws before my collarbone’s fully fixed up, but I can return to daily life.”
That’s an insanely short time to recover from a shattered collarbone, but I suppose the medi-teddies are the leading health care providers in the galaxy for a reason.
I nod. “Well, that’s good. The rest of the posse doing okay?”
Jarkim moves a wing in the positive. “Hanya got in contact with that human you mentioned, doctor Eriksson. She seems positive about it. Slavik’s back on their farm.”
I nod. “So what are you guys gonna do? I, uhh, I don’t know what you do for work, Mosun, but I think Jarkim’s out of a job.”
Mosun grins, before getting a thoughtful look and tapping his leg a few times on the floor. “I drive around stocking vending machines, so nothing that matters. But I’ve been teaching Hanya a little, like she asked. And I think… I think I’d rather like to start a Dance school. So I’ll be saving up a bit and getting it set up while I heal.”
It’s clear he doesn’t mean ballet, but I make sure to censor myself around Chasa just in case her cheerful disposition toward humans doesn’t carry on to ‘primitives’. “I think that’s a fantastic idea. I know there are a ton of humans who’d be lining up for a chance to learn your culture’s Dances. Yotul too, obviously. And Hanya’s shown there’s interest from other sapients too…”
Jarkim clacks his beak twice before speaking. “I’ll go work on Slavik’s farm for a while to pay them back, and to stay airborne. But after that… I want to help people. And I’ve still got contacts. So I was thinking of setting up a sort of troubleshooting agency. People could come to me with problems, and I’d try to help them out.”
I laugh, but quickly reconsider as my body protests the action. It’s the most stereotypical ex-cop thing he could do! “You’re gonna become a freaking private eye?!”
Jarkim looks me dead-on and deadpan. “…What’s a private eye?”
​
Date [standardized human time]: December 19th, 2136
​
My fingers run through Vilek and Thivas’ fur slowly. I have been discharged from the hospital, but I’m still going to be in for physical therapy every other paw for the foreseeable future. Right now, though, I am relaxed. “How long, now?”
Vilek answers. “Half a claw.”
That’s not a lot of time, but I am determined to not ruin it with a foul mood. “Mm… You girls all packed?”
“There’s not a lot to pack. We’re getting most everything once we’re there.”
“Mm.”
Thiva’s currently quietly crying onto my shirt. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, lambchop. But I’ll feel better with you two together, and doctor Eriksson is in Lund, so you can have in-person sessions.”
“And you’re sure you can’t come with?”
I shake my head. “Unless you got any new ideas. Besides, moving between human nations is a pain in the ass. I can’t get in as a refugee. Sweden’s been strict about refugees since before the Satellite War: I set foot on Venlil Prime first and VP’s been willing to house me, so that means according to Sweden and most other nations that I have to stay here until I can go back to the US.” Fucking ‘first safe harbor’ laws. “And since I’m a citizen of the United States of America I can’t move to Sweden on my own anyway. At least not without having a job or family or something there.”
Thiva looks up at me and says softly “…We’re family, right?”
Oh, wow, okay. I bite my lip for a second to keep from crying. It mostly works. “Yeah, of-of course we are. But that’s not how they see it. Don’t worry, we’ll try to figure something out. We just need to be patient.”
She gives a soft and sad sigh. I scratch behind her ears and look over at Vilek.
​
Vilek gives a soft beep and leans her head against my other hand. “Do you know a lot about the place?”
I shake my head. “Almost nothing. Lund’s a city in Sweden, and Lund University is around five hundred years old. Before going to Venlil Prime I had never left the US, which is almost as far from Sweden as you can go before you start getting closer again. But it was practically untouched by the extermination fleet, and the people are famous for being friendly.”
Even that much I had to search online to learn. The stereotype that Americans can’t tell Swedes from Swiss might not be true but it’s apparently not as far off as I thought.
“You’ll be studying one claw, then a break claw, then another claw of study, then you have three claws off. These six-claw periods are a day. You’ll study five days, then have two days to yourselves.”
Vilek whistles a soft laugh. “So there’s a lot of time to recover.”
“Remember, humans tend to sleep for eight hour stretches. So most people sleep eight hours, study or work eight hours, and have the remaining eight for transportation and personal stuff.”
“Hopefully that’s not going to be a problem…”
“I managed to adjust to VP’s time, I’m sure you’ll manage Earth’s. Worst case scenario, there’s coffee. Every student lives on coffee. And there’s soda, and potato chips, and curry. There are so many tasty things that you girls will adore trying on Earth.”
Thiva wags her tail softly, looking up at me. “You make us sound like gluttons.”
“No, I’m saying I miss those things because Venlil food sucks.”
Both girls play-push me and bleat with protest, making me laugh.
Mary mother of God I am going to miss them.
“Speaking of that, it smells like the food’s done.”
“Huh? I don’t smell anything?” Thiva gives me her most deadpan expression of confusion, and I roll my eyes at her and gently pinch the tip of her ear to pay back her jest. That elicits an adorable little squeak, and I smile while I get up and grab my crutch. I won’t be able to walk unaided for a long time, perhaps ever. I’m okay with that. I kinda want to have a walking stick anyway. A classy wooden one, like Tom’s.
Maybe I can be the first human with a walking stick made from Venlil wood?
​
I put out the spread. Cooking has been an extra pain in the ass with my injuries, but I’ll be damned if that’s going to stop me.
I present the plated-up meal on the table by the couch with a small flourish. “Here we go, girls. This is the meal I was going to make for you before things got… hectic. Tomato focaccia and pasta alla norma. And to drink, wine. That’s a fermented drink from the juice of grape berries. This particular wine is a variety called Nerello Mascalese, from my family’s ancestral home of Sicily.”
Vilek wags her tail as she leans forward. “This focaccia looks sort of like Strayu, but with a bunch of stuff on top?”
“It’s a sort of bread, almost all human cultures have some variation on bread. I’ve topped it with cherry tomato fruits, rosemary herbs, and kosher salt.”
The lambchops look at it with excitement, and Thiva’s the first to tear off a bit and place it on her outstretched tongue. She rolls it into her mouth and starts chewing, and her ears perk up and her tail wags at once. Her eyes half-close and she looks like she’s melting. “Ohhhh Protector… it’s so sweet, and salty, and juicy, and-and-and-”
Vilek excitedly tears off a piece for herself and plops it into her mouth. I’m rewarded for my hard work with an adorable squeal of joy from her, and she takes a second piece and shovels it into her mouth too. Only after swallowing does she focus an eye on me. “If I didn’t already want to mate with you beforehand, this ‘focaccia’ would’ve sealed the deal!”
I find myself blushing rather hard, and simply take a small bit of the bread for myself wordlessly. Thiva and Vilek both whistle a laugh.
​
After having thoroughly sampled the bread Thiva pokes at the pasta dish with a claw. “So what’s this other stuff? It looks utterly wild!”
I smile at the two, letting my explanation cool my jets a bit. “Pasta is made by combining a ground wheat powder with water, and then shaping the resulting dough and boiling it. Here I’ve combined it with a sauce made with tomato fruit and herbs, as well as a spongy and nutritious plant called eggplant. You guys don’t seem to mind bitter plants, so I figured it might be a good idea. Finally, it’s got a vegan ricotta made with almond nuts, lemon juice, and garlic powder… and basil, a wonderfully fresh leafy herb. This is a classic meal from Sicily, modified the tiniest bit for my herbivorous lambchops.”
The two take a pair of spoons and scoop up some of the mixture, making sure to get a bit of everything. They look at each other and, on an unspoken signal, put the food in their mouths.
They squeal and gasp. Vilek even squirms happily in her seat, while Thiva just wags her tail rapidly and moves her ears in slow little circle motions as she chews. Vilek’s the first to speak up. “…this is absolutely crazy, there are so many flavors… all at once! But I can taste each one…”
I pour some of the wine into their glasses, wincing a bit at having to awkwardly brace the heavy bottle in both hands.
I know the Venlil can hold their alcohol well enough to make the Irish blush, so I’m not concerned about that part. Having tried Venlil drink once, I am mostly curious as to if the lambchops will be able to appreciate the complexity of something that doesn’t taste like everclear and paint thinners.
As they take small sips, I needn’t have worried. Thiva in particular bleeps with joy and perks her ears. “Oohh… that’s rich! There’s sweetness, and acidity, and a sort of dried herb taste underneath it all?”
Vilek adds her own opinion, but is slower with it. “There’s a sort of earthiness… and I can taste it a little differently just by holding my mouth near the glass… that’s wild. It goes really, really well with the food too…!”
I laugh quietly. “Heh… I’m glad you girls enjoy it. Just make sure to leave some room for dessert. There will be chocolate cake.”
Thiva tilts her head. “You humans have meals for after your meals?”
“Only for special occasions. Don’t worry, you’ll love it.”
​
“It looks like dirt.”
“Wet dirt.”
I wait patiently with a small smile. They load their spoons with some of the moist, spongy chocolate cake and the rich frosting that I’ve so lovingly slaved over. And into their mouths it goes. I wait for the reaction.
It does not disappoint.
“MMHH!!!” “MMFF-MFFH!!”
They immediately start devouring their dessert, while I grin. “Well girls, If you don’t want the ‘dirt’ I’ll be glad to take it off your paws.”
They quickly protest. “Don’t you dare!” “Yeah, we’re keeping the whole thing! This stuff is better than mating!” “How would you know? You’ve never even done it!” “Yeah okay, but am I wrong?” “…I didn’t say that!”
Laughter and whistling fills the room. As far as last meals together goes, this one is going about as well as I could’ve hoped.
​
We’re standing outside. We’re beside the politely impatient cab driver that’ll take the girls the first leg of their journey to the space port and on to Earth. Thiva’s crying again and clinging to me. It hurts, but I grin and bear it.
Vilek smiles, the human expression looking a bit foreign on her face. “…You promise you’ll be okay? I… I need to hear you say it.”
Thiva flicks her ear and tail. “Yeah. W-We can still change our minds, if… If you need us.”
I have no goddamn idea what I am going to do after you girls step into that cab.
I smile at my beloved lambchops, give them a warm hug, a pair of quick kisses on their cheeks.
And I lie to their faces.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine without you.”
---
This is the penultimate chapter of this story. Thank you for reading so far!
[First] [Previous]

Hi everyone!
I started doing TAM about a month ago and I love this style of working out! I’m curious if you guys have tried any other sort of similar styles, like the sculpt society or Hamelin D’Abell’s method, etc and what success you’ve found with it?
Basically, is TAM just magical or are other similar high rep low weight styles also effective?? Thanks !

I’ve posted on here a couple times now and things has gotten better since those posts but now I’m backed down into a ditch again. Same guy, I’m pregnant with him again. 1st pregnancy didn’t last too long. I found out I was 6 weeks 2-4 days before my birthday last year and I ended up miscarrying a couple days later so as you can understand all the emotions I went through in less than a week. It’s let a toll on me. I still cry to this day thinking about the miscarriage. My body feels so empty. Lost almost. Even though I’m 9 weeks pregnant right now. I still mourn the loss of my previous one because I’ll never be able to have that first pregnancy again. Things aren’t going well with the baby daddy. And I think it’s time that we break up. As much as I’ve fantasized about it and wanted it to happen. I always back out when it comes because I still want to try and work things out. He doesn’t like it when I vent to my friends about our problems so I’ve stopped and when things really get bad for me, I’ll post on here. He says I’m too emotional for him and I use the pregnancy hormones as an excuse. He’s mad at me for not taking accountability bc he went to jail with me cause I had a restraining order against him. But he was the one that called on me and said you wanted this, we can go to jail together. I’m getting an abortion. As much as he wanted an abortion the first day of finding out and I resisted. I’m now getting one and he’s resisting. I can’t bring a baby into a broken toxic relationship. That’s not the life I wanted for myself or for my baby. I don’t want to be a single mom. I’ve been told I’m a high risk pregnancy. It’s hard for me to get pregnant and it’s easy for me to miscarry than other women. It’s not fair. Life isn’t fair. But the thing is, I put myself into these unfair situations so I can’t blame anyone but myself. After I get the abortion, I’m thinking about giving away my sweet boy, paco. He’s a black cat. Cute, cuddly, sweet, affectionate. It’ll be easy to rehome him. He gets along with dogs, loves people. Hes neutered, He’s not an asshole cat like how some cats can be. He just doesn’t like kids. He doesn’t attack or bite or hit them if they annoy him. He just runs away and stay in a safe area until they’re gone. It’s gunna hurt a lot to give him away cause he’s my heart but I think after the abortion, I’m going to be severely depressed and I want my baby to be with someone that’ll love him just as much as I do. After that, maybe it’ll be best for me to go as well. Rehome myself. It’s a selfish thing to do but at this point, what will I lose? I’ll try to talk myself out of it but honestly. Im tired. Im stressed out as ever. Stressed about the relationship, the baby, court, the economy, money, my family and his family. All i wish for is to become a ghost so I can haunt the people that did me wrong. Still spiteful and petty in the after life lol. Idc. It is what it is atp. Maybe I’ll update later on.

In the early 90s, I worked in front of a terminal, and at lunch time, would drive out to the countryside to burn my lunch with the cows and black eyed susans. Coming back from lunch, I would toss out some lines of verse, about dragonflies or some such, and post it as a poem on rec.music.gdead as mr molecule. It wasn't meant to be literature, just whatever spilled out of my post lunch reverie. Coffeetalk. No big whoop. I enjoyed it, didn't seem to hurt anybody.
At some point, I began feeling unwell, and my carefully arranged chaos began deconstructing itself, byte by painful byte. Now, it was a decade before I realized my health problems were being caused by me being an unintentional asshole, so I went through every known health protocol known to humans, but I just kept sliding off the griddle of life.
It became clear that life was not going to continue on as normal, so I said my goodbyes to the online community of deadheads, and hoped to see you all again sometime in the future. Now, someone had the idea to help me. I mean, we're deadheads, yuh. Now this was controversial because at the time, early mid 90s, usenet was being kept 'pure' of commerce, so that the .gov and .edu pron could flow freely, unconstrained by monetary limits. The pure internet.
In any case, envelopes and jiffy sacks started arriving. A green pair of organic socks. Various odd letters and cards, I still have them. Bill from SF sent one $100 bill. A high schooler at the time, here in vermont, sent me 12 $1 dollar bills. They were stacked like they were saved one by one, if that doesn't melt one's heart, it melted mine. So many people reached out.
Later, I would go up to the UVM lab to check email, and would see that some people were taking flak for even considering using rec.music.gdead this way, and for sure, there are many ways that the process could/would be abused. But for me, it was little carrots leading me on to the unknown future, and getting out of the less survivable past.
So, reforming my self/ego enough so it no longer made me sick took some effort and time. This post is to recognize what Deadheads did for someone they took in as their own, when they were down, hit bottom, no bounce, down. And how much it helps when humans reach out with love. Your love pointed me in the right direction, if that makes sense.
When Robert Hunter came to play, I was sleeping on couches, and someone on rec.music.gdead told me to go backstage after the show, and when I went down the stairs, Hunter leapt off the card table he was sitting on, and bear hugged me for an uncomfortably long time. But I wasnt going to stop him. All those letters and gifts, and that long hard bear hug from Hunter, did more for me than anything I could ever say here. It is what is in our hearts that makes us heroes.
I found out many times what kind of heart beats inside the Grateful Dead org and fam, this is just one small tale. I love you, fam, and I have always felt love from you, the love that sustains.
Deadheads and Diamondbacks forever!

After some hours of trying to manually eq 7hz zero through 711 measurements and tone generator for high frequencies, then noticed the 10k peak in tone generator exactly corresponds to 5128 squiggles. I just said fuck it and auto eq-d default 5128 target for crinacle tool df....And it sounds heavenly tonally. I'm seriously almost in tears at how transparent my music is for like 30 dollars. Makes me question this hobby, and reality for that matter

I’m a sprintehigh jumper and do workouts pertaining to the 200/400. During my workouts I feel I get slightly tired faster than my teammates yet I stay with them, but it’s after my workout that causes the issue. Even after everyone else has recovered I still find myself breathing hard, feeling sick, slightly nauseous,etc. I’ve always been very active and I don’t believe my eating habits are what causes this. What could this be? Is this something I should be concerned about?

I’ve had an idea for a business and I wanted to get some opinions here regarding its feasibility. So as a kid my dad brother and I built trails together (think board walk sections, mulch, gravel, fully built out steps). It was one of my fondest memories and as I’ve grown up I find myself walking the trails we made and enjoying nature a lot more then I might have otherwise.
This leads me to my question being could this be a form of landscaping business? I’ve considered adding tree labeling to this as understanding tree species has become an interest of mine largely due to these trails. It’s also worth noting I live in a hcol rural area.

I have a plausible idea where it might be in Milwaukee. I think most of it starts in Lake Park going south towards the grand staircase then through the North point light house. Problem is he says go southwest but is vague on how far so I went pretty far to the North Point water tower following the Oak Leaf Trail where I discovered the St Mary's School of Nursing launched by the three Daughters of Charity (Sister Monica) that links to German immigration. The illustration may be a Nun or Nurse of sorts. Looking down on google maps the top of the building looks like a foot and is five stories high (fifth). The water tower across from it sorta looks like the city hall towers and the circular pool could be like the millstone. There is a point of grass the looks like the forehead where roads intersect. Facing St Mary's from it's south side on the left is a little fence with a pattern similar to the neck piece on the illustration. I think it's right there. I'll include a google pic of where I think it is.
https://imgur.com/a/6wqdqK1

TLDR: don’t be me, don’t do this to yourself
He encouraged me to find a more autistic friendly job (starvation pay, of course) so that he could take care of me and I could be free to be myself, but he is completely failing in this promise. His idea of “taking care of me” is doing whatever he wants to do and never once indulging in my interests. Im not asking to be spoiled all I need is a few cheap hiking trips a year and some extracurricular money (which he can afford) but he isn’t following through. He spends the money on himself and if we go anywhere it must be an activity of his choosing never mine. He makes the money but he just spends it on himself, which he is free to do but why would he tell me I would be taken care of then??? When I need things he complains and makes me feel like a burden. I guess neurotypicals feel like putting a roof over your head is enough to be taken care of? No enrichment at all?!!!
This has put me in an equally bad state as I was when I was working a high stress job so now he’s taking it out on me by not investing in me even more. And while I get back up on my feet, I have to live with him meanwhile because he’s still paying for basic expenses and is my only support.
I feel like a fool. I quit my autistic friendly job because luckily I scored another job in my field, but it’s also starvation pay (nonprofit) and because the market tanked, I’ll need to be here for at least 3 months before applying to other jobs. Then after getting a job (which could take months in this market - I work remote in tech) I need 4 more months to save & pay off debt before being independent again. So, 7 months back to freedom at the least. Meanwhile I wake up everyday sad & depressed due to this and it hinders my progress. 🥲
I really hate how disabilities screw with your relationships.

I am looking to get a third credit card to continue diversifying my credit and increase my credit score. Credit score is consistently high 700's but has been stagnant for a while now. First card was Discover student card with rotating 5% cash back that I got four years ago. Second care was Chase Freedom with 2% cash back on all purchases that I got two years ago. I love that I can alternate the benefits of these two cards based on what quarter I am in for the 5% cash back with Discover and then use the Chase for everything else. I have never missed a payment and pay my due amount in full each month.
I am a third year medical student (U.S., M.D.) about to take a gap year in a large metropolitan area for research with a $50,000 salary. I currently have no debt due to scholarships and good money habits. What card would you all recommend? Again, my main goal is to increase my credit. I don't do a lot of traveling so not sure how interested I am in flight mileage cards.

Previous
Captain Vohr’Doe was waiting in the hangar as Kahv’Hosh set the shuttle down, a slew of emotions raging inside her, all vying to be the leading sentiment. Though, she - of course - would probably have to lean more towards 'gratitude’, if made to pick a single one. She was more than grateful that her crew were no longer in danger - and yes, that even included him - and that those pirates were no longer a threat to anyone else, either.
And then there was the obvious awe at the humans had weaponized gravity; she had heard the horror stories of what could happen if a gravity plate malfunctioned - she had to have electrical replace the ones in the gym just a few days ago, as Kyle had pushed them up to 15G in his training - but to actually use it as a weapon?...
And, of course, there was an overwhelming amount of anger. Well, maybe not anger, per se; but there wasn’t really a word for the feeling between extreme frustration, and anger. What kept her from completely registering it as anger was her wholehearted belief that he had good intentions for having something so destructive on board her ship. But that only just tempered the vexation she felt at him having smuggled a gravity bomb onto her ship! Not only that, but there were two crates that had been marked as ‘gravity generators’, which she had initially assumed were for his comfort, to put his room - or possibly his campsite - to a more comfortable gravity. But she could see now how very wrong she was.
As the door to the shuttle opened, she watched first Admiral Shane, then Kahv’Hosh exit the craft. Kyle exited after a delay of a few seconds, and after sweeping the hangar with his gaze, he lowered it when it met her’s, looking for all intents like her nephew when he gets caught doing something he shouldn’t, and - not for the first time - an almost motherly feeling came over her. Which wasn’t so far out of the question, seeing as - according to the data provided on them - humans were by far the shortest-lived people in Galactic Records, where the shortest-lived species after them - the rahv’oyeck - averaged around 500 years, give or take a few decades.
Not to mention the fact that - for however short a time, he was a part of her crew, and as such, she instinctively felt protective of him, the fact that - as his captain - she was responsible for him notwithstanding. Plus, he really did seem to be almost ‘childlike’ at times, with a simple - almost naive - attitude towards the goings on around him. Not that he was clueless when it came to interacting with others; as many of the crew had come to find out, apparently.
But it was his obvious contrition that tempered her attitude, so that when they had made their way over to her, it had simmered down to intense irritation. Once they were standing before her, Kyle finally looked up to meet her gaze, and she felt her heart soften further at the expression on his face; not that she would let him know that, of course.
“Would you care to explain yourself, Mr. Redding?” she asked, being sure to keep the edge to her voice; she couldn't be seen as ‘soft’.
“I didn't know that they were sending it,” he began quickly, ”I only found out about it after I got to my equipment room, the first time.”
“Them,” she replied, and at his confused look, continued,
“Them; plural: there were two crates listed under ‘gravity generators’, and they were both the same size. I don't believe that the other one actually contains gravity plates stacked up; not this time.”
Kyle gave a look of understanding, and she believed that he really did momentarily forget about the other one.
“Right,” he said, “Two. Yeah, I didn't know they were gonna send them…”
“And afterward, it never occurred to you to tell me that you had two bombs on board that could make this entire ship - and everyone on board - become one dense atom?!” A little more edge crept into her voice than she would have liked at that moment. It was Admiral Shane, however, who answered; taking a step forward, he cleared his throat.
“Captain, if I may?...” It was the respect - the deference - in his voice that gave her pause, and helped to calm her thoughts a bit. She nodded in affirmation, and he continued,
“What would happen to us - in the immediate sense - if this ship were to lose all power right now; primary, and emergency backup power?”
The question seemed so random, that her mind basically blanked out, and she found herself saying the first thing that came to her mind.
“We would all begin floating, seeing as the artificial gravity would be out, as well.”
“Precisely,” he continued, “And short of directly supplying power to the artificial gravity, how could we get the plates to work?”
She began to understand his point.
“I see where this is going, Admiral, but unless I’m very much mistaken, there were no ports on that box that would accept any power crystals with the required energy to fuel that miniature black hole. Which means that it had power the whole time.”
“That's true,” he said in a mollifying tone, “But the power to the core was disconnected, and needed a code that would cause even an A.I. trouble hacking it, as it's a 300,000-page code, randomly coded in every written language known to humankind. There are even symbols in the code that don't show up on the screen, if someone were to try to hack it manually; an A.I. is needed to even crack the code within a year. And only Kay’Eighty has the codes for those two programmed into her memory.
“So,” he concluded, “While I agree entirely with you that he should have let you know about them, I can give you my word - on behalf of the honor of all humans - that no amount of damage could cause an accidental activation. While I won't say that the other one is harmless, I can assure you that there is no chance of it going off by accident. However, I won’t hesitate to take it off of your ship, if you so desire.”
She took a moment to digest everything that Admiral Shane said, and eventually came to a conclusion.
“No, I’ll allow him to keep it on the ship; I would say that there's likely never going to be a reason that we would need it, but I would have said the same thing this morning, and we can all see how wrong that was.”
“If you like,” Kyle offered, “We could attach it to like, a missile, or something, and Kay’Eighty could give you a data chip with the code for it.”
She thought for a few seconds, then nodded.
“That sounds acceptable; but what if we need it detached?”
“She can attach it to the outside on a molecular level with her nanobots, and detach it the same way.”
She nodded her head, and then sighed.
“Well, I won't pretend that I’m not happy about the way this all played out; still, I’m just glad their cargo holds and brigs showed no signs of life. At least we didn't send any innocents to their doom with that ploy. You could have at least told me what it was when I asked you why you needed the scan of the pirate ships in the first place.”
“Yeah,” he replied in that casual tone of voice that she would tolerate from few others, further enforcing that matronly feeling over him, “But we didn't have time for you to be pissed off at me, then… But - for the record - I am sorry for not telling you; I should have let you know a lot sooner.”
She gave him the sternest look she could muster in that moment, and replied,
“I’ll accept your apology if - and only if - you let me examine this fruit tree of yours.”
Kyle's face brightened, and a wide smile appeared as he said,
“Of course; you could've come seen it any time.”
She smiled at him, and turned to leave, passing Kah’Ri, who had held back - as per her request - while she talked to Kyle about the heavy ordnance he had on her ship. She heard the impact of the two, and the sound of them kissing, that was immediately mixed with the sound of hurried footsteps as Kahv’Hosh and Admiral Shane gave the two their privacy.
The meeting with the Council went smoother than she could have expected, with them simply stating that - as a interstellar ambassador - Kyle was authorized for a higher level of weaponry utilized in his protection, and as his current ship of transport, the Golden Egg had the authorization to use such weapons, if need be. They did - however - require any and all recordings of the interaction to be sent to the Council, for analysis of their capabilities.
There was also the matter of Grol’Rosh, the suul’mahr representative who had watched the probe’s descent into the dark of the planet below. The doctors felt that it was best to keep him in a medically induced coma, as when he was conscious - and heavily restrained - he was moaning and whimpering, rambling incoherently about the ‘darkness that sees, hiding the sea of flesh’, of ‘clawed feet on chitinous arms, too-long hands reaching from fanged tentacles’; and the sound, which he mentioned as the ‘screams of the damned from so many mouths, they know all, 'THEY ARE THE HOLES LIKE EYES!!!’
She noted the looks that ranged form disquiet, to disgust, but it was between the humans that she saw a look of understanding horror pass.
“But…” Kyle began weakly, looking at Admiral Shane, “That was just a movie. Wha-…?”
“Well,” the Admiral replied in a slightly dazed voice, “I think it’s safe to say that blowing the planet up is out of the question.”
“Or what?” Kyle began in amused incredulity, “A piece of it’s gonna hit a wormhole, and go back in time to Alaska sometime before the 1980’s?” The laugh he ended this with was close to hysterical, to which the Admiral shrugged.
“At this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out. However, the more likely scenario would be that it lands on a different planet, wreaksand havoc from there. Even worse would be for it to hit a previously uncontacted, sapient species’ home world. The results of a single cell of this… thing’s biomass were to make it to a planet with living creatures on it would be beyond catastrophic. There’s no amount of destruction - short of throwing it into a star, or a black hole - that I would trust the safety of the galaxy to, when it comes to the lifeform that calls this planet its home.”
Chairwoman Hahss’Chom spoke up at this.
“While I obviously have no knowledge of this movie the two of you reference, I must say that your assessments of this seem to be at least plausible. I don’t know so much about the time travel aspect, but it would seem that this would be the best summary of the events, here. It would appear that a sapient race evolved on this planet, and that their Gift was that of assimilation. At some point, it would seem they began assimilating each other, until they reached a critical mass, and ‘they’ became ‘it’. And from Grol’Rosh’s description, it doesn’t sound as if this is a pleasant experience for whatever they… it has become. I believe that it is not only a matter of protection for the wider galaxy - universe, even - but also as an act of mercy that we should put this… thing out of its misery.” There was a general murmur of agreement around the council chambers as no one seemed to want to disagree with that sentiment.
They moved the Golden Egg to the other side of the system from the planet, keeping the sun between it and them. Upon hearing about the ‘darkness that sees’, Kyle had exclaimed that that was what had bothered him so much about the planet; the darkness was watching them. They didn’t want to find out if the life form on the planet may be able to ‘stack’ itself ‘up’, away from the planet, and reach out to the ship were they to get over the dark side, but at the same time, no one wanted to be under the gaze of such a massive predator.
They were parked in that system for almost an entire Standard week, though, it should have been longer; however, with their A.I. able to make the calculations for them, they were able to drop further into subspace, where not only do the ‘shadows’ become larger - therefore reducing the ‘space’ needed to travel - but the speed of your craft rose exponentially, so it was extremely easy to overshoot one’s target, going a ‘shorter’ distance at a greatly multiplied speed.
The moon/ship was amazing to behold. It had - originally - had an outer layer of ice, with an inner ocean, and a deeper ice layer, followed by a rocky mantle, and heavy iron core. The humans - but really, the A.I. - had mined out the iron core, and used it in building the outer shell of the craft. The water was harvested - according to their records - and support columns on the inside were used to maintain integrity of the craft. It now appeared for all intents and purposes as a giant metal moon, with engines on one end, and millions of lights that dotted its surface, obviously viewports. A close-up scan showed that it was blanketed in guns, but those were obviously only big enough to serve as defense; it was apparent that this ship wasn’t built as a gunner.
Once it had come into the system - keeping out of ‘view’ from its dark side - they enveloped the planet with the craft’s tractor beam, the space around the planet lighting up to an almost gray aura, as the beam took hold. Once they had reported a full grip of the planet, the Europa Contingency dropped back into subspace, the planet ‘disappearing’ with them, only to ‘reappear’ around an hour later, the ship’s massive engines working more efficiently in subspace to move the much larger planet. Once they reappeared, the light around the planet went out as the Europa Contingency released it from the tractor beam, dropping back into subspace for an easier retreat from the sun.
No one wanted to go to look at what was happening to the planet, which would entail either getting into its range of ‘vision’, and also the possibility of seeing whatever it was that drove the suul’mahr representative insane. Readings showed the loss of mass, as the planet was burnt up in the corona of the star, and everyone watched on as the sun continued to consume its wayward planet. With the planet also having been thrown - not simply having 'fallen' - into the sun, it wasn’t long before it had been fully encased in the cleansing fires of the star.
She was also relieved to see that the humans had appropriately somber expressions, obviously taking no joy in the destruction - the mass loss of… ‘life’ - that they were responsible for. They watched the reading coming in with the seriousness of attending a loved one’s funeral, and never spoke a word, not in praise, or even the acknowledgement of what was happening. She was glad to see that they weren’t entirely aggressive, that while they had the capacity to not only think of these types of weapons, but to also create them, that they weren’t the type of people who would use them so willingly. She could see in their faces the regret they had in destroying this planet, even as it was done to save countless others; for someone would eventually break quarantine, either to try to exploit the resources ‘available’, or to use the ‘lifeform’ on the planet for their own twisted ploys. And so this was a necessary evil; though they were empathetic enough to realize it for the evil that it was.
After they had witnessed the destruction of the planet, the Admirals insisted on escorting the Golden Egg to Captala’Ellats, the space station that was the next stop on their itinerary. Not having any reason to refuse a military escort, Captain Vohr’Doe graciously accepted, and they were soon on their way; this had certainly earned a bit of a reprieve for her crew, and she wouldn’t say no to a bit of shore leave, herself.

The time it took to travel between that system, and the station went by fairly quickly for Kyle. He’d been alone most of his life, with little to no friends, so to have a group of friends now - who actually wanted to spend time with him, who would seek him out to do so - brought him to a new high that he had never acquired in his memory. But having acquired a girlfriend - one who came from a people whose culture emphasized affection - brought him to a level of bliss that he didn’t think was possible. Kah’Ri had taken to spending her nights in his room, as the only real difference between general, and officer’s quarters was a bigger gym, that also served as a bit of a lounge for the officers.
He had - of course - applied for shore leave, and it had been immediately approved. Kah’Ri had also applied, and likewise was approved immediately; she had apparently never really gone on shore leave that much, only ever going at certain spots that were closer to any drahk’mihn colonies they happened to go near, or similar space stations. They had opted to get a hotel separate from the one that the Captain would be hiring to room the crew, as staying in the same hotel as the rest of the crew on the same space station would be little different than being on the ship. Zeck’Tish had recommended her cousin’s hotel, stating that he could use the business. Not that he was failing - Captala’Ellats was a major space station along the trading lanes - but with the divide between insectoid, and vertebrate species, he didn’t get as much business as others might. Of course the insectoid races all patronized his hotel, but with the insectoid species making up only about a third of all known species in the Federation, that wasn’t as much business as one might like.
And so he was currently on a call with Kohr’Sahr and Kahs’Hahn, having invited them to meet up a few days prior.
“... and so we’ll have to stop by the Council Headquarters to give our testimony of our time spent with you,” Kahs’Hahn was saying through Kohr’Sahr, “But we should be able to meet up tomorrow; we’ll send you a message when we arrive on-station, and we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds good,” Kyle said, just as he heard the door open; he’d given Kah’Ri the authorization to unlock his bedroom door without her security card, and she’d authorized him for her’s, in turn, “We’ll see you, then.”
“We?” Kohr’Sahr asked - he had long since learned to tell the difference between their slight accents when talking.
Kyle turned to Kah’Ri, smiling as he put his arm around her waist, and she slipped her tail around his, while wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He noticed her eyes widen slightly as she saw who was on screen, and he looked in time to see Kohr’Sahr’s eyes also widen in shock. He opened his mouth slightly, and Kyle noticed the barely perceptible shake of Kah’Ri’s head. Kohr’Sahr then cleared his throat, and said,
“Well… it seems as if we made quite the impact on you, eh Kyle?” ending in an awkward chuckle.
“Well,” he continued, “I don’t want to keep you from packing; Kyle, we’ll talk later. It was nice meeting you,” he added to Kah’Ri, and before either of them could reply, he cut the call short. Kah’Ri gave a soft sigh, then turned to walk to the bag she’d left on the floor by the ‘wall’ in front of the door.
“Come on,” she said, “We’ve docked with the station, and it’s time for us to go.”
Grabbing his own bag from the bed, he followed after her, locking his door behind them, and slipping his arm back around her waist.
“Did you know him?” he asked as they made their way to the elevators; she sighed lightly, but answered with a simple,
“No.”
“Well,” he pressed gently, “He seemed to know you… What are you, like, a runaway princess, or something?” While he finished with a light chuckle, Kah’Ri gave another slight sigh, and stopped walking. Kyle looked at her, feeling a growing sense of unease.
“Holy shit,” he said as she remained silent, “Are you?!”
She closed her eyes for a second, then turned to look into his eyes.
“I promise,” she said, and he was absorbed by the genuine care in her gaze, “I’ll tell you everything; but not right now. Later, when it’s just you and me, I promise I’ll tell you the truth.”
He looked into her eyes for a second, seeing the tears that wanted to come, and simply reached out, putting his hand on her cheek, and drawing her in for a kiss. As they separated, he gave her a small wink, and said,
“C’mon, let’s go see this station.” She gave him a shy smile, and they set off again.
After they’d been checked out by one of the other security chiefs, they were met by a crowd of their crew mates, all of whom were milling about outside the ship. They were soon informed why, as the Captain came up to them and informed them that the Federation Council was conducting interviews with a number of the crew, most notably those who’d had contact with Kyle; they would be conducted by the Council Representative for their people. Kyle also had an interview scheduled, though his would be with the suun’mahs Representative, in a mirror reason for the interviews of the rest of the crew: where the crew was obviously being interviewed to see how the newest species fit in from their point of view, he would be interviewed to see how other humans might react to the Federation, along with a chance to voice any grievances of his own.
Soon enough, they had all been contacted by their respective Representatives, and led off into separate rooms. Kyle was glad to see that this wasn’t an interrogation room, again, looking more like a general conference room. The suun’mahs who was to be interviewing him was male, and hadn’t seemed taken aback by the presence of Cheshire, indicating that while he may - or may not - have known about Cheshire himself, the human drive to turn predators into traveling companions was nothing new to him.
“Well, Ambassador Redding, this shouldn’t take too long; a few questions about your time in the Federation, so far, and then we can have you out of here, and enjoying your time off.”
“Thank you,” he replied, “And please, call me Kyle.”
Representative Ran’Teek smiled as he put what Kyle recognized as a holocamera on the table.
“Of course,” he stated, “You don’t mind if I record this, do you?”
“Of course not,” Kyle responded.
The questioning indeed didn’t take very long, barely even ten minutes worth of explanation, while other parts he was able to supply with a simple transfer of video data. Kay’Eighty made her appearance for that, and Representative Ran’Teek had a few questions for her, as well. Mostly about what she may need for the A.I. to be properly accommodated in the Federation, though he was obviously in untrodden ground, on that topic. Soon enough, they were done, and had exited the room.
“Well, Kyle,” Representative Ran’Teek stated as they made their way to the ‘streets’ of the station, “I guess this is where we part ways; unless you’d like for me to show you around? I still have quite a bit of time before our ship leaves, and it would be my pleasure to show you a few sights.”
Kyle checked the time on his wrist, and seeing that he also had no message from Kah’Ri telling him she was done, he could see no reason to refuse.
“Sure,” he replied, smiling, “That would be great.”
[Next] Patreon