Every time I go to the eye doctor for my yearly visit, I feel like I notice this same thing. The doctor will have me look through that machine where they will switch back and forth between different lenses and ask you which looks better. It seems like they will take their time to really fine tune my vision through this machine to the point where I can see the bottom line of text crystal clear. I assume they then take that prescription and give me new contacts based on that. The problem is, when I wear the new contacts that they give me, my vision, while still good, is always inevitably more blurry with my new contacts or glasses than when I was looking through that machine. Can anyone explain why this happens? It seems like they have the option to make my vision really clear and crisp but they don’t. Is this intended or do I somehow always just get the wrong prescription?

Hey gang,
The mods over at JapanTravel said this was the place for my question.
I'm going to be in Tokyo from May 28th - June 6th. While I'm there, I'd like to attend STAR ISLAND on June 2nd. Specifically, I'd like to purchase a STAR GROUP SEAT ticket for myself and my family, however this type of ticket doesn't appear to be accessible from the English side of the site.
I submitted an inquiry on the site to see if it was possible to purchase a STAR GROUP SEAT from the English side of things and the reply instructed me to use the Japanese side of the site to buy the ticket.
When I attempt to buy the ticket from the Japanese side of the site, I get to the Lawson Ticket sign in page which states, "If you are using the service from overseas, please apply from [Reservation without member registration] at the bottom of the page." However, this link doesn't exist on the page. (Maybe I'm missing something?)
Alternatively, I had created a Lawson account last year (to buy Ghibli Park tickets for a previous trip) but when I try to sign in with this account I get an error message: "A system error has occurred. Please try again later."
It doesn't seem possible to accomplish this from the United States but if anyone has any advice, I'm all ears.
Thanks!

Hello everyone! I’be been having trouble choosing a new first name. I just don’t know what I look like suits me.
-Middle name might be Jayden or Michael, nothing solid yet. - Last name starts with an R.
-I prefer American names. My house is split with half of us with Latin origin names and half of us with more Americanized first names. So please don’t suggest stuff like Jose or Jesus, I’ve had that a lot in the past.
-I think a name out of the top 100 would be fine? I was born in the late 90s. My original name was chosen off a top 100s list haha.
Many thanks! Link at the bottom for what I look like, or just click my profile. :)
https://www.reddit.com/INeedAName/s/kdpqsckEkE

(DETAILED POST) Hi I’ll jump right to it🤗. I’m looking for a monogamous relationship with hopefully another nerd like myself . Someone who will be there for me and I’m there for them. Getting to know each other personally ,grow together and learn each other boundaries and hobbies. Some info about me .
Appearance : A thick black femboy who loves dressing up sometimes . Height : 5’3. I wear glasses to read manga . My style is mostly goth/casual clothes from mostly anime shirts and chokers.
My hobbies: Anime, cosplay, anime cons, Dueling (Yu-Gi-Oh!) , Pokémon, Yaoi, Pc gaming , overwatch, marvel , DC, Horror, ect. I’m a super friendly outgoing individual. I do collect a lot of anime merch (ask to see my collection). I do play yugioh IRL, Duel Links & Master duel.
‼️What I’m strictly looking for in a guy: I’m looking for is a SINGLE LOYAL MONOGAMOUS guy. A guy who knows what he wants and not the whole “ idk what I want thing”. ‼️ (to put clarity on it , I have have so many DMs about guys saying stuff like “ I’m not sure if I wanted a relationship or not sure about dating a guy” ). Please do not message me if you’re not serious about a LTR OR even ghost me. Like it’s so upsetting and depressing. I’m open to moving in together
AGE: must be 21+ ❕❗️
❕MY TYPE: TALL (taller than my own height) , very communicative, masculine(mostly beards and body hair) gamers/anime nerds✅
Ps: for compatibility reasons I’m a 100% bottom⬇️
❗️Distance : open to USA/CAN dating. I may be open to a LDR in other countries BUT must be very good at communicating daily and have an end date of when we will meet.
If you made it this far, please message me an introduction about yourself. This is extremely important as it tells me alot about you and for me to give you a well detailed response. Mostly a name to call you , hobbies, location (state wise) and what you’re looking for . You may send pics in the first message if you may like 😊

Red Sox @ Braves - Wed, May 08

Game Status: In Progress - Score: 4-0 Braves

Top of the 2nd, 1 out, bases empty, 0-0 count with Chris Sale pitching and Romy Gonzalez batting. Wilyer Abreu is on deck, and Ceddanne Rafaela is in the hole.

Links & Info

• Current conditions at Truist Park: 84°F - Partly Cloudy - Wind 3 mph, Out To LF
• TV: Red Sox: NESN, Braves: Bally Sports South
• Radio: Red Sox: WCCM 1490 AM (SP) (es), WEEI 93.7, Braves: La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM (es), 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan
• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed

	Red Sox Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Duran, Ja - CF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.265	.337	.417
2	Wong - C	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.354	.381	.595
3	O'Neill - LF	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.292	.404	.625
4	Devers - 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.287	.407	.489
5	Grissom - 2B	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.143	.143	.214
6	Cooper - DH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.204	.295	.315
7	Gonzalez, R - 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.400	.250
8	Abreu, W - RF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.287	.382	.457
9	Rafaela - SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.211	.237	.374
	Totals	5	0	1	0	1	3	4

Red Sox
BATTING: 2B: Wong (4, Sale). TB: Wong 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Grissom 2. Team RISP: 0-for-2. Team LOB: 2.

	Braves Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Acuña Jr. - RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.265	.370	.356
2	Albies - 2B	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.298	.365	.442
3	Riley, A - 3B	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	.243	.313	.397
4	Olson - 1B	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	.205	.319	.361
5	Ozuna - DH	1	1	1	3	0	0	0	.312	.390	.624
6	Arcia, Or - SS	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	.268	.290	.423
7	Harris II, M - CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.261	.298	.388
8	d'Arnaud - C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.263	.341	.550
9	Kelenic - LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.280	.333	.373
	Totals	7	4	4	4	0	0	1

Braves
BATTING: HR: Ozuna (11, 1st inning off Pivetta, 2 on, 2 out); Arcia, Or (3, 1st inning off Pivetta, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Albies; Arcia, Or 4; Olson; Ozuna 4. RBI: Arcia, Or (13); Ozuna 3 (37). 2-out RBI: Ozuna 3; Arcia, Or. Team RISP: 1-for-1.

Red Sox Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Pivetta	1.0	4	4	4	0	0	2	21-15	3.75
Totals	1.0	4	4	4	0	0	2

Braves Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Sale	1.1	1	0	0	1	3	0	24-16	3.32
Totals	1.1	1	0	0	1	3	0

Inning	Scoring Play	Score
Bottom 1	Marcell Ozuna homers (11) on a fly ball to right field. Austin Riley scores. Matt Olson scores.	3-0 ATL
Bottom 1	Orlando Arcia homers (3) on a fly ball to right field.	4-0 ATL

Team	Highlight
BOS	Bullpen availability for Boston, May 8 vs Braves (00:00:07)
	Bench availability for Atlanta, May 8 vs Red Sox (00:00:07)
ATL	Fielding alignment for Atlanta, May 8 vs Red Sox (00:00:11)
	Bench availability for Boston, May 8 vs Braves (00:00:07)
BOS	Fielding alignment for Boston, May 8 vs Braves (00:00:11)
ATL	Starting lineups for Red Sox at Braves - May 8, 2024 (00:00:09)
ATL	Chris Sale fans Grissom in first matchup since trade (00:00:07)
ATL	Austin Riley beats out double play after review (00:00:13)
ATL	Marcell Ozuna's three-run home run (11) (00:00:36)
ATL	Nick Pivetta In play, run(s) to Orlando Arcia (00:00:27)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Red Sox	0										0	1	0	2
Braves	4										4	4	0	0

Division Scoreboard

TOR 5 @ PHI 3 - Final
MIA 1 @ LAD 3 - Final
BAL 1 @ WSH 1 - Bottom 4, 0 Outs
NYM 0 @ STL 0 - Postponed
^{Last Updated: 05/08/2024 07:48:37 PM EDT}

“That couldn’t have been easy.” The navigator said softly.
“He was my friend.” Rene had nothing more to say. He handed the still-smoking musket back to Deschane, feeling soiled in way that he knew would never wash off.
Deschane nodded grimly.
“It had to be done. For the good of the Fleet.”
They hid and waited. The Amits scuttled into view and prodded the body with furtive movements. They conferred, tapping quick rhythms with their feet and making tactile signs with their vestigial arms. Then without any preamble, they took hold of Lethway’s feet and went off, dragging him after them.
It would have ended there had not at that moment an Amit come striding into the clearing, bearing aloft a curious standard. It was one of the staked carcasses of their brethren that lined the perimeter. The Amit carrying it was shaking it about in evident fury. It reared up high and waved it about, pieces of dried chitin falling away to scatter onto the ground.
From all around them, the Amits gathered, intrigued by the display. Rene watched as one by one, the Amit touched the lips of the corpse, passing the fingers of their hands over its ruined face with something approaching reverence. He was startled when he recognized this gesture: the nymph by the river had done the same with its nursemaid.
Shudders of thought carried down from the center of the gathering mass of warrior brood, emanating from the one at center, he that bore the object of their displeasure. He pointed to the distance, towards Mound 13, shaking with rage. The others began to flex their mandibles in eagerness.
“Ancestors preserve us,” breathed Deschane.
“The fear-death pheromones? Why aren’t they affected?”
“Command thought they were a separate race. But these were their elders. Their holy men, their priests and caretakers. And Mound 13 was their sacred place.”
The Amit reached a consensus. Their teeming ranks turned towards Mound 13, towards their position, and Rene already knew it would be no use running.
“Give me your pistol,” said Deschane.
“But how will I fight?”
“You won’t. Get back there and raise the alarm.”
“What about you, sir?”
But Deschane was already heading off.
“I’ve a few tricks in mind. Might buy you some time. Now go, before I change my mind.”
Rene turned and ran. The last he saw of Deschane was him moving along the tree line, firing all that he could into the approaching mass, a man tossing pebbles into an oncoming wave.
Rene reached the main road and began signaling the towers for all he was worth. He made the hand sign for enemy contact, holding his arms up in a wide A. They saw his message, and bells began to toll from every corner of the mound.
He squeezed past the gate just before they barred it shut, mounting the palisades and taking his place next to Admiral Prota.
She watched, pale-faced, as the Amit host came on. They had torn up all the stakes and were waving them on high in defiance and hatred.
“So they do possess empathy. How unexpected,” said Admiral Prota faintly.
Terrified men rushed into position and the palisades bristled with armament. Canon were wheeled into place and hurriedly prepared.
Just out of musket range the Amit paused, eyeing the towering defenses before them.
“What are they waiting for?” a trooper wondered aloud.
“Let them,” said his companion, barely able to keep his teeth from chattering, “It gives us time to load the cannon.”
An officer came forward and asked:
“Your orders, madame?”
“Fire when ready.” Her voice did not tremble, though Rene knew she felt the same fear.
With an earth shattering roar the artillery began tearing holes into their serried ranks. And with that, battle was joined. A great line of smoke erupted down the length of the palisade. Several were cut down by the fusillade, but many more surged on. Such was the impetus of their charge that they reached the base of the walls before another volley could be gotten off and began to scale the vertical surface with their grasping digits. Soon it became apparent that the first layer of defense would not hold. The defenders fixed bayonets or fired at point blank range as the enemy spilled over the tops of the walls like a swollen river bursting through a dam, slaying as they went. Men were cast down from the heights into the gleeful throng below and torn apart.
The order to withdraw was given. Rene crammed into the pressure gate with the rest of the bloodied defenders, heard cries of despair from the ones left behind as the great door began to slide shut.
All about was chaos. Alarm bells rang incessantly. Men scrambled to put on their surface gear in anticipation of the inevitable breach. Admiral Prota was in the midst of it, directing their desperate, futile efforts.
“Brosio! Take your platoon to the southern tunnels and hold them there! They’ll be climbing down from the breach on the eastern side at any moment! Engineers, prep the charges! Make them pay for every inch!”
She caught sight of Rene as he stood bewildered.
“Ensign! Go up to the artillery on the second feeder tower and ask them why they’ve stopped firing!”
Rene’s instinct to serve snapped him back into reality. He saluted, then ran off before remembering that he was in a foreign mound and had not the slightest idea how to get there. He grabbed a passing trooper.
“The stairs!” he screamed into the man’s face, “Which way to the second feeder tower?”
“Damned if I know!” the trooper yelled back, before shoving him roughly aside and hurrying off down the corridor. Already he could hear gunfire echoing down the tunnels. The Amits had found the holes in the damaged eastern section and had pried their way inside.
Rene found a landing and dashed up the spiraling steps. He was panting heavily when he opened the door at the top and was greeted by a cold rush of air. He looked up and saw the great turbine fans turning slowly in their shafts, linked to an endless source of running water beneath. Far above him, at the tower’s peak the guns had fallen silent. He saw Amits crawling over the lip of the opening, like flies into the open mouth of a bottle.
“Get out of the way!”
A squadron of men bustled past him and formed up to surround the bottom of the tower. They fired upwards, and bodies began to rain down, bouncing off the sides or cut to pieces as they were caught by slanted blades of the fans. A bisected Amit, still alive, fell at his feet. It slashed at him with a stone dagger, and he leapt back and bayonetted it in the brainstem three times in quick succession. It shuddered and went stiff.
Reasoning that since the artillerymen were all undoubtedly dead, Rene considered his duty there as done. He went back down the stairs and stumbled into a hot wash of flame. Meat was burning, whether of friend or foe he could not tell. A bullet whistled past his nose and he ducked back into the stairway.
“Human! I’m human!” he cried out.
“Well then, get over here you idiot!” the shooter replied.
A makeshift barricade had been set up with old crates and furniture. He scrambled past the charred remains of dead Amits and clambered over to the other side.
They were throwing incendiaries down the hall, flammable oil in glass flasks, stoppered by cotton wicks. The air was thick with smoke. On the other end of the hallway amid the carnage and the dead the Amits cowered behind the corners and doorways, multifaceted eyes glinting with malice.
Rene joined the defense of the barricade. Ever so often one or two Amits rushed out and were driven back by the cocktails or roasted alive. With each assault however, the men of the Fleet were losing more ammunition. Already they were down to the last box of fire flasks. It would not last.
The Amits sensed this and became tense. Quietly the men fell back. An engineer set the fuse to a mining charge and scurried away. The Amits made their rush, clambered triumphantly over the top, and were buried in flame and rubble as the archway collapsed onto them. The men cheered and began preparing the next barricade.
This pattern was repeated several times. The Amits broke off stalactites and shaped them into crude picks, digging away the debris to make their assault anew. The men laid ambushes, hiding in the side corridors and shuttered rooms and rushing into the thick of them at the appointed signal. They repulsed each assault with unyielding tenacity, then with rousing hurrahs led their own counter-charges to break the enemy’s momentum.
Stone axe met bayonet in bloody conflict amidst the ruined halls of Mound 13. It was a brief, brutal war of annihilation, and the toll was bloody on both sides.
Gradually the humans were pushed back, collapsing tunnel entrances as they went, until at last the final barricade was put up, and they resigned themselves to their fate. In the vaunted star chamber what was left of the weary defenders propped blocks of stone against the entrance and wedged broken beams of wood at the direction of the engineers. They had salvaged a small twelve-pounder gun, which they wheeled into position at the firing hole, loaded with canister shot.
In the tired crowd of pale, hopeless faces, Rene spotted Admiral Prota, breathing hard in her bloodied sealant suit. An Amit mandible was embedded in her chest. With every breath she took came painful sucking noises.
“Well, ensign. This looks to be it,” she said as Rene knelt by her side.
“Aye, sir,” he replied, “We made them bleed for it, though.”
“It’s a shame. Ever since I came to this place, I’ve wondered what things would have been like if we’d known the truth, whatever that is. I doubt if it would have changed our relations with the Amit. We seem to have been destined for conflict with one another right from the start.”
“Were you ever close to finding it?”
She smiled sadly.
“Shreds and hints of the grander scheme of the ancestor-gods, but never definite answers. If there are any to be found, they were probably buried in the eastern section. But we never got around the exploring it,” Prota sat up, pain written on her face as blood came curdling up into her mouth. She spat to the side and continued:
“Ah, but maybe it’s for the best. Maybe your commander was right. Perhaps it’s better to forget the past. To forget the sins of our species. To forget…” Prota’s voice trailed away, and her head slumped forward. Rene did not attempt to rouse her. It was better that she wouldn’t be conscious for what came next. He clasped her hand in his own and waited for the end.

Blurb: Stranded on the hell-planet of Arachnea, the last remnants of the human Fleet fight to survive in a world overrun by insectoid monsters and a sentient ecosystem gone mad. It is a war they are destined to lose, as with every century that passes, more of the ancient science lies forgotten, replaced by myth and superstition. That is, until assistant navigator Rene stumbles the mightiest weapon of the ancestor-gods...
Link to 1st chapter here: 1st chapter on HFY
Link for all the chapters available here: Engines of Arachnea on Royal Road

First there is some necessary equipment being a first-time EV owner and want to be able to charge at home:

• $285 - Tesla Mobile Connector + 5-20P Adapter - Comes with 14-50P and 5-15P, added the 5-20P to round it out. I have an existing 14-50R outside my house that my father-in-law wired in for their RV, and I am going to charge off that outlet for now. I also wanted to have a mobile charger for traveling to my in-laws (14-50R at their home) and off 5-155-20R standard outlets for something like an overnight at a hotel or friends place to be able to get a little juice while sleeping.
  Yes, this does require an adapter (see next item), but even with that cost, it's still a lower cost option than the Webasto Go and J+ Booster 2 which are the only other good option I found that has native J1772 plug and changeable input plugs. Beyond the cost, the other reason I chose the Tesla Mobile Connector is that it gets me a charger with native NACS for the US "all NACS future", assuming car manufacturers stay on that train given the recent actions of Musk at Tesla. I will eventually be adding a hardwire L2 charger in my garage and this mobile setup will live in the car exclusively.
  
• $100 - A2Z EV Tesla (NACS) to J1772 Adapter "Stellar Plug" - I know the TeslaTap is the most widely recommended online but the "guy making adapters out of his garage" aspect of TeslaTap is a little sketchy to me, and the price is absurd. A2Z is a legit established company in Canada and based on some info they posted on reddit, I trust their adapter is high quality and will meet UL certification when that standard is released (they have already tested it to meet the requirements in the UL draft).
  
• $51 - Hubbell HBL9450A 14-50 Receptacle - The gold standard for 14-50 receptacles (along with Bryant 9450). The current 14-50R at my house is about 10 years old and a lower dollar unit (although not super budget one). While I don't expect to rely on that outlet for extended period of time, I was willing to spend $50 to make sure I have a quality outlet that won't catch fire.
  

Then there's the "mods":

• $170 - Shark Racing Smart Proximity Door Lock Module - My prior car was the first one ever that had walk-up lock and walk-away lock and I absolutely loved it. I don't like the 10 second delay in this module before locking, but I'll take it. I'm so used to never manually locking my car after getting out, I needed to have this. I did purchase from The Ioniq Guy with the trailer harness kit/case, which is why it cost a little more, but it meant for a seamless install. I don't have any intention of adding the trailer kit so wasn't concerned about the connector being used with this module.
  
• $6.50 (normally $13) - FIILINES Center Console Organizer Tray - Got this on a lightning deal for half price which is why I picked it. It also happens to come with flat only and blue trimmed inserts, where as most other trays you only get 1 set of inserts. But otherwise no different than all the other trays that sell for same money, other than slight variations in layout (ie. no coin holder).
  
• $21 - MARCHFA Lower Center Console Organizer Tray - I also tried the BestEvMod v2 Lower Tray but liked the MARCHFA more overall as it's full depth. The BestEvMod being half dept lets you hide stuff below it but I ultimately didn't have anything I felt I needed to hide under the tray. The cupholders in the BestEvMod are kind of useless, good for a plastic water bottle or soda can and nothing else. It may fit a paper soda cup from fast foot place, but given how shallow this tray is, I wouldn't trust those in there to not easily knock off.
  There is one thing I don't like about the MARCHA and that's the bottom rubber insert design. The bottoms are designed with a recess for the inserts and 1/4" non-recessed area around each section. This leaves a small border in each section that isn't covered by the rubber insert.
  
• $90 - BestEvMod Cargo Liner and Second Row Seat Back Covers - I like the surface texture on these. The rear seat back covers fit great. The cargo liner needs more time in the heat to flatten out as it comes folded 2x in the box but looks like it should be a good choice. One nitpick is that the cargo liner is very snug fit width wise so doesn't lift up super easy to get under the false floor, but not difficult either. Would have benefited from being around 1/4" narrower overall.
  
• $66 - Pacewalker Retractable Cargo Cover - There are a ton of these on Amazon, few different variations if you look closely at the pictures. I settled on a variant that had a lot of good reviews and then found this specific one was the lowest cost. This one fits perfectly and looks OEM.
  
• $100 - Rockville SS8P Active Powered Subwoofer - The Meridian sub is completely worthless, like it's not even getting any power from the amp. I listen mostly to rock and pop from 70's through today and don't need heavy boomy bass, but need more than what the stock sub doesn't put out. Found a video of YT of a guy with this Rockville 8" playing some bass heavy music and it was way more than I'll need, so going with the low cost route here. Waiting for the harness (below) to arrive before I can install.
  
• $25 - OEM Harness interface (P/N 18790-03730AS) for Meridian Subwoofer - $5 for the part, $20 in shipping since it's coming from Korea. Will be used to wire in the SS8P without having to splice into any wires.
  
• $110 - Gooloo GT4000S Jump Starter - Not really a mod, but needed a 3rd jump pack because we now have 3 cars instead of 2 and keep a jump pack in each car. Might not be quite as high quality as Noco packs, but I know quite a few people with Gooloo who have had great experiences with them.
  

Money still to be spent:

• $110 or $320 - FormulaOne Pinnacle Series Cermaic Tint - Have to get appointment scheduled with my preferred place. It will be $110 if I just do front sides but if I need to also layer on top of the rear sides and hatch window to get a perfect match it will be $320. Not going to do front windshield (would be another $150 for AIR 80 or 90) but since this just a 2 year lease and I don't drive this car much, I'm going to not do front windshield this time around.
  
• $600 and up - Hardwire L2 charger - The absolute cheapest with electrical will be $600, but if I opt for something with load management and that will push it to $800 minimum. Top options for consideration are Wallbox Pulsar Pro, Emporia Energy, and Tesla Universal Wall Connector.
  
• $???? - Anything else worth taking a look at?
  

PS - Prices are USD before tax, and none of the links are affiliate links, so you can safely click away.

Is this normal? I'm having an issue with thrulines as evident by my post here earlier today. But I decided to contact support (first time ever needing to do so) using the beta AI Support Assistant. This was all done while on the ancestry website I did not click any external links. I just logged into my ancestry account as normal, went to the thrulines page and clicked on the little AI Assistant button at the bottom right of the screen.
I asked to speak to real person via chat and the AI connected me. I explained my issue and was told I needed to provide my email, full maiden and married name, and zip code so they could find my account. I did so then they stated a code was being sent to my email to verify my identity. I was a little weirded out at that point after providing all the prior information but I gave it. The "assistant" immediately disconnected the chat. I tried again to see if another person would ask different questions, nope. They too disconnected after getting the code.
I changed my password and I do have 2-step verification on just to be safe. I'm just wondering if this is normal behavior from support as I have nothing to compare these experiences too. Thanks for any help and advice in advance!

First Previous
Captain Semnik sat in the electrocart as it whirred down the paved pathway to the rocket launch site in the distance. He pulled at his environmental suit, disliking how the fabric would catch on his fur when it shifted over his body. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his heartbeat that fluttered from the nerves.

“Nervous, Sir?” Navigator Fasili said. “It’s hard to imagine that the first Meer in space has anything to fear.”

Semnik frowned. He didn’t like the smarmy grin on Fasili’s face. Sure, he had been the first Meer in space. He was, in fact, the only Meer to ever be in space. His only mission involved circling the planet a few times before instructing his conical capsule to crash through the atmosphere and parachute into the ocean.

The entire ordeal was terrifying. The gravitational pressure as the rocket shoved him back in his chair on the ascent felt like he was going to be squeezed into jelly. The odd feeling as the blue sky vanished into a field of black, only the stars and Skyfire above along with Meeria below to keep him company. The worry that his equipment wouldn’t work and he would be stuck up there. The fear he would burn up in the atmosphere upon reentry. The terror that the parachute would fail and he would pancake in the ocean. The unease at wondering if the recovery ship would even find him.

He didn’t want to ever go through that again. Yet here he was, enjoying a chauffer service to something that could spell his doom.

In that moment, Semnik decided to get a little revenge on the arrogant Navigator. “Six out of ten of these things have exploded going up. I have good reason to be nervous.”

Fasili’s ears folded down as her eyes went wide and her whiskers pulled back against her snout. Her realization of how dangerous this task was plastered all over her face.

“It’s not that bad, Captain,” Engineer Zandis rejoined, his finger wagging. “Remember, most of those explosions were early in the program before we sent anything valuable up. We’re a lot better at it now.”

Fasili let out a breath she was holding in relief. “See, sir? Nothing to worry about. We’ll be fine.”

“That’s right,” Zandis replied. Then a wry grin came over his face. “After all, we improved the safety to only one in five exploding.”

Of course, all three were perfectly aware of the risks they were taking. They shared a laugh from the black humor, a brief moment of mirth before they had to get down to business.

The last few decades had been rough on Meerkind. Now 20 years removed from a massive war that devastated the planet and pushed the Meers nearly to extinction, they had come together in the aftermath. There was something about nearly seeing your civilization end that snapped everyone out of their old grudges.

After the end of the war, only the Northern Alliance remained as a functional state. Their efforts had switched to consolidating the few remaining refugees from the other three continents, which had suffered catastrophic damage.

The Northern Alliance, in a bid to improve morale, decided to turn to the stars. The Meer people needed something positive, a small victory to hold onto. They needed to know that their civilization was more than conflict and strife, that it had capacity to do something better.

It started with the rocket program. Repurposing the old weapons that had devastated the world, they removed the warheads and aimed them to the heavens. Realizing sending a rocket into space was much harder than lobbing them across an ocean, the Meer imagination kicked into gear.

After a few years of effort, and a number of lost rockets, they finally managed to get one to successfully leave the planet. The next step was sending up an artificial satellite. They intended to send up a small sphere, put it into orbit and have it transmit a simple radio signal down to the world below.

After three more lost rockets, the newly established Meer Aeronautics and Space Agency, MASA, put one up there.

Scheduled to make a full circumnavigation of Meeria, the small metal sphere was released and on the planned trajectory. Then something peculiar happened. About halfway through its journey, the orbit suddenly shifted 30 degrees south at a sharp angle, slowed and eventually burnt up in the atmosphere.

MASA engineers were perplexed. The capsule was little more than a radio beacon and a battery, so it didn’t have a propulsion system. It was a well-known principle that nothing spontaneously changed momentum. Something had to act upon the satellite.

It took some time to prepare an observation telescope. The satellite was deflected over a region of the Eastern Continent, which had bad pockets of radioactivity from the war. MASA struggled to get approval from the Northern Alliance to redirect funding to the construction of a new telescope, commandeering a vessel that was still used for refugee relief and the associated funding and personnel to command the expedition.

MASA was able to get over one hurdle when it pointed out that they could get a ride on one of the ships already bound for the continent to ferry more refugees. Then the funding was provided by a series of small fundraising efforts. MASA created merchandise, requested donations and the MASA Director even sold his personal luxury conveyance to finance the expedition.

It wasn’t looking good until a wealthy industrialist, someone working on a global communication network to link all the computers together, something today know as the Interburrow, provided a substantial donation.

The expedition was on and Semnik was one of the young interns that received the honor of joining. Setting up the telescope, they scanned the skies in the region the satellite had changed course. After a few weeks of painstakingly scanning every inch of the heavens, they found it.

And no one could believe their eyes. There, hovering over Meeria, was a metal tube with blue rectangular protrusions coming from each side. This caused a massive stir in the scientific community. Then it got out and a few odd conspiracy theorists, taking old religious texts, started claiming the Meers were visited by prehistoric extrameerestrials. There was even a Meer with shifty eyes and wild hair that managed to get a viewscreen program where he claimed that most, of not all, Meer achievements were a result of these old aliens.

Semnik scoffed at the idea. It was absurd to think that some alien species decided to orbit Meeria just to watch them. If they did, they’d be disgusted at the violent, warlike behavior. No, Semnik was convinced this was some secret device the Eastern Imperials had concocted and the information was lost with the collapse of their government.

Weeks went by studying the object. The only thing breaking up the solid shining metal exterior were small black squares that engineers decided were viewports. Whatever might be behind the windows was a mystery.

They also determined that the shining blue material was some kind of power generation device. There were some working hypotheses that the energy produced by Skyfire could be harnessed for the benefit of Meerkind. The problem is, no one knew how to go about doing it. It was when the blue material would pivot to maintain maximum exposure to Skyfirelight did they realize it wasn’t some fictional dream.

There was no an ongoing battle between the engineers wanting to explore capturing Skyfirelight for power and the ones focused on converting the energy from their weapons warheads to useful power. They posited that if they can control the energy released by the yellow death rock, it could be used to generate limitless power. There was even a faction saying that if they created a small explosion with the yellow death rock, they’d be able to fuse the first gas element and produce even greater power.

Semnik didn’t particularly care one way or the other. That was for the engineers to fight over. What interested him was that not only was this satellite up there, it was also in a perfect Meersynchronous orbit over the planet. He was proud to be the one to identify this peculiarity, since it would have taken a tremendous amount of precision and mathematical calculation to get an object to sit perfectly over one spot on a rotating planet.

Semnik posited whatever it was orbiting over must be important and was permitted a small research team to explore the area. After some calculations, Semnik discovered the object was orbiting over the most unassuming chunk of land on all of Meeria.

Arriving at the location, the team found a small valley nestled between a ring of mountains. At the edge of the valley was a forest and, at its center, was a grassland that measured approximately 2 kilos long and 1 kilo wide. Down the center of the valley, a small river flowed. It reminded him of a Northern Alliance Gleekball. The proper kind of Gleekball, in Semnik’s opinion.

Guessing the center of the meadow was the best place to start, the team transitioned there. There, under a small copse of trees, Semnik’s team made a discovery that would rock all of Meerkind. Under the ground were the remains of burrows.

The burrows were supported by ancient, rudimentary stone work and were just large enough for an adult Meer to squeeze through. Many of the tunnels had collapsed since their construction and they discovered primitive stone tools spread in the various rooms. According to an archaeologist on the team, they had a high likelihood of discovering the origin of the Meer species.

This was confirmed when they found ancient fossilized remains of a species that looked Meer-like yet were old enough to be considered a precursor species. It sparked off interesting discussions on evolution.

This alone was a monumental discovery. Yet it was overshadowed by something even more incredible. In one of the rooms, in a small hole covered by a rock, the team discovered something that shouldn’t belong there.

In the hole was a black box. Five of the box sides were made of a black polymer while the sixth was made of glass and had the appearance of a viewscreen. Polymers were only recently invented during the war, meaning this object didn’t belong here.

Assuming it was some forgotten prank, Semnik had the box sent in for the new radiation dating process that scientists had come up with. They’d test the half-life of the materials in the box to determine roughly how old it was.

The results were troubling. The material was old. Very old. Over 200,000 years old. The interior, unfortunately, was so corroded by time that no one could determine what the device was used for. All anyone could ascertain was the glass screen would present visual information.

MASA determined to keep the discovery of the box secret. The authorities had successfully contained the prehistoric alien conspiracy nuts by explaining the orbiting structure was a forgotten Eastern Imperial test. They were happy to let the public enjoy the discovery of their origins.

The box remained under wraps and was what led to this mission. Semnik became obsessed with the orbiting station and the box so much that he worked his way to becoming the first Spacemeer. It had taken two decades to reach the point where they knew enough about the hostile conditions of the region beyond the planet and how to protect from them.

Now, they were ready to send a Meered expedition to the floating object. Semnik would finally find out what was hovering over the world and if it had any relation to the black box discovered in a long forgotten prehistoric burrow.

The three brave explorers ascended the lift onto the walkway and entered the rocket. They took their seats in the cockpit and strapped themselves in.

Even with the training and doing this once before, Semnik found it disorienting. He was sitting with his back facing toward the ground many meets below. Everything was oriented correctly in his vision but his body was screaming things were wrong as he stared out into the vast blue sky.

“All ready for liftoff, Captain,” Zandis announced.

“Good,” Semnik replied. “Fasili? Prelaunch check.”

The Navigator checked her station and flipped various switches. “Ready for launch.”

This mission was, formally, to test the new navigation systems. The rocket that Semnik previously flew on was little more than a jumped-up missile. It flew up into space, spit him into orbit and fell down again. It was just there to see if a Meer could survive going up and coming back.

This rocket had multiple stages. The third stage would allow for maneuvering in orbit and a more controlled return. Of course, that was cover for their other mission – explore the floating station. MASA needed to know if it was a threat or not.

“Ready for launch,” Semnik announced. A voice over the radio announced it was go. Semnik flipped some switches on his console and a loud roar rose up around the rocket.

There was something fundamentally insane about the Meers in the rocket. They were sitting upon a tremendous amount of controlled liquid explosives and using it to overcome their planetary gravity. Semnik vowed to press for research into a method a little less ridiculous to go into space in the future. Even if they could reduce the risk, he didn’t like the idea of taking the chance of turning into a glowing fireball in the sky.

The rocket began to shake as it slowly lifted off the pad. A plume of smoke rose around them, which the rocket quickly left behind as it gained speed. Semnik could hear the tandem pressured breathing of his Navigator and Engineer over the open radio. It was a combination of the growing pressure pushing them into their seats and the fear generated from the roar and shudder.

Semnik couldn’t blame them. Even though he knew this was normal and experienced it before, he was also terrified. If Meer was meant to move this fast, the Ancestors would have constructed fuel ports in place of their bums.

The roar and shaking only lasted a few minutes. Even then, it felt like an eternity. Soon, the shaking began to subside and the roar quieted as the air thinned. Then, like a switch, the roaring ceased along with the rumble. They had entered the boundaries of space. Fasili and Zandis now entered the tiny population of Meers who had the pleasure of leaving their home.

“Stage 1 release,” Fasili announced as she flipped a few switches. Semnik was proud the Navigator. She had overcome her initial fears and professionally handled her duties.

The pressure briefly let up before returning once more, signifying the start of the next phase of their journey. This stage would put them into the same orbital distance as the object before they used the third stage to navigate toward it.

Using her instrumentation, Fasili adjusted the trajectory of the rocket. Without an atmosphere to hinder it, the rocket would move at tremendous speeds. It would take nearly a day of travel from the MASA launch center to the site of the first Meers. In space, it would take them around 30 minutes to reach the object.

The time went by quickly. Semnik reported back to MASA Ground Control as scheduled to report the data on the navigation system. The results bode well for their satellite communication plans. It would be relatively simple to maneuver satellites into their proper position with manned crews.

As they approached the floating object, they took in its size. From the ground, observers had no point of reference to determine how big the object was. In orbit, the object was massive. It was easily longer than two full size rockets and many times wider.

Fasili carefully matched the orbit of the object. To Semnik, it looked like they weren’t moving at all. The object remained still and he could see the forgotten valley down below, sitting perfectly still underneath. Of course, he knew they were moving at incredible speeds since they had to match the rotation of Meeria to be able to remain still.

Semnik radioed back to MASA with an update and added some babbling about how beautiful the world was from above. At least the part he saw. The sections he could see elsewhere that were ravaged by war were left out of the comment. Everyone below knew how bad the war was, they didn’t need reminding it was visible from space.

Little did Semnik know, his embarrassing ramblings were recorded and released. They’d be taught in schools for generations to come.

Carefully maneuvering around the exterior of the station, they took images of it for later study.

“Sir, I see something. It looks like a portal,” Zandis said, pointing a gloved finger out of the window. Ahead, in the otherwise perfectly smooth exterior, was a line in the shape of a circle.

Maneuvering close to it, Semnik ordered they extend the tube to allow entry to the object. The engineers designing the capsule had anticipated the potential need to board the object and created an extending metallic sheet tube. The hope was the object was magnetic and they could connect the ship and crawl over.

Using a camera mounted to the center of the exterior hatch, Zandis maneuvered the extended tube toward the object.

“This is strange,” Zandis commented as he peered through the viewfinder. “The outer hatch is huge. It’s easily triple the diameter of our boarding tube. There is a clear handle that looks like a means of entry inside and it has symbols painted on it. I’ve never seen symbols like those before.”

Semnik hummed. He wanted into that object and he was wondering if it would be safe to exit the rocket without the tube. Maybe walk in space. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“No, sir,” Zandis continued. “What’s stranger is there is a smaller hatch with another handle dead center in the larger one. And I can read the writing. It’s in an archaic dialect, yet the words are clearly instructions on how to open the hatch.”

All three occupants sat in stunned silence. Semnik didn’t quite believe Zandis and took a look for himself. Sure enough, the scene was exactly as Zandis described. A large hatch with a smaller hatch built in and ancient Meeran text stamped on the surface.

Fasili was the first to break the long silence. “Are you sure this is wise, sir? Everything about this feels wrong.”

Semnik peered out of the window at the large orbiting structure. While it was indeed strange to have an object in orbit labeled in ancient Meeran text along with indecipherable runes, nothing about the object triggered his instincts. It didn’t feel hostile. In fact, he thought it was more inviting.

Taking a breath, Semnik announced, “I’m going over. Neither of you are obligated to take this risk if you don’t wish to go.”

Fasili and Zandis looked at each other. They then nodded in tandem, both agreeing to go.

Zandis maneuvered the passage across the distance. Luckily, the surface was magnetic and allowed the tube to connect. Oddly, whoever or whatever had built the object planned on this since the tube subtly shifted to align perfectly with the hatch. The creators had anticipated a magnetic docking mechanism and created magnetic seat points.

Semnik took the lead and, after cycling the airlock, moved slowly through the opening. It was eerily quiet, the only sound his breathing in his helmet and the breathing over the radio from his two companions. Space was frighteningly silent.

Reaching over, he read the proto-language instructions. Make Turn. Right Tight. Left Loose.

Turning the handle leftward, the door silently released a puff of gas before opening. A white light from a strange bulb that looked like it was made of plastic turned on and led the three Meers into a much larger space. Instructions near what they thought of was the floor told them which buttons to hit in what order after closing the outer door.

Following the instructions, Semnik heard the growing hiss of air as the space filled with gas.

Floating lazily in the middle, Zandis looked at some gages on his wrist. “Seems like the air is breathable. The mixture and pressure is a perfect copy of Meeria.”

“Are you certain about those readings?” Semnik asked, secretly wishing to remove his helmet and get the first taste of the object’s air.

“Yes, sir. Unless there’s a catastrophic failure in the device that just happened to perfectly match Meeria, it’s fine,” Zandis replied.

Reaching up, Semnik released the seals around his neck. His Navigator and Engineer shouted in horror. Yet nothing happened. There wasn’t a telltale hiss from a differential in pressure. Semnik took a deep breath and took in the cleanest air he had ever experienced. Not clean like in the remote valley. Clean like the air had nothing but its component gases.

When Semnik didn’t pass out after a few minutes, Fasili took her helmet off followed by Zandis.

“This is incredible,” Fasili said. “I’m starting to think that weird guy on the Prehistoric Extrameerestrials show is correct.”

Semnik didn’t want to admit that and replied, “There’s still the possibility that this is an Eastern Imperial project.”

Zandis looked like he wanted to argue yet decided to keep his mouth shut. He knew that Semnik didn’t believe his own words and didn’t need to state the obvious.

Opening a Meer size hatch cut into a larger one, the trio were led to a huge central shaft as more lights came on to illuminate the space. A ladder with rungs too far apart to make sense moved from the bottom to the top. At various landings, which were odd given the lack of gravity, were a series of doors opposite the ladder. There were 20 of these doors in all.

As they ascended, they found each of the doors, also three times too large than necessary, closed and locked. None of the doors had a convenient set of instructions on how to open them nor did they have Meer size portals cut into them.

Reaching the top, they found another hatch with a Meer sized entryway and opening instructions.

Entering, they found a small hallway with a number of side rooms in them, also illuminating as they entered. The rooms, save for one that looked like the remains of an immense kitchen, were bare. The kitchen only had a sink that didn’t operate. Zandis commented why anyone would put a sink up here when the water would float all over the room in this setup.

The final door opened up to a bizarre room. In the room was a single gigantic viewscreen on a desk. In front of it was a chair. The desk and chair, like everything else, was about three times bigger than it needed to be.

The three Meers propelled themselves up to float waist high to the top of the desk. On the bottom corner of the giant viewscreen was a big red button.

The three stared at it for a long while. They weren’t sure what it would do if pressed.

“Should we press it?” Semnik asked.

The other two shrugged.

“Zandis, what do you think?” Semnik requested, hoping his Engineer had some insight.

Zandis looked over the object. “Strangely, the device seems remarkably simple. Apart from the panel being as flat as paper, it looks like a basic viewscreen. Nothing unusual is connected to it. I think we can turn it on.”

Semnik slowly reached his finger out and gingerly touched it to the surface of the red button. He still had his gloves on, so he didn’t know what it felt like. It looked like a sort of polymer material.

Taking a deep breath, Semnik applied pressure. With a soft click, the button pressed into the screen and it activated.

On the screen was an ugly face. With the exception of a tuft on the top of the round head, it was completely bald. The face had a nub for a nose and eyes had a green ring around the central black pupil. The skin was pale like a Methis flower.

Semnik noted that the figure sat in the gigantic chair behind the three Meers and made it look normal. The creature, the alien Semnik finally realized, was positively gigantic.

“You sure this thing’s on?” the figure said in a deep, booming voice. The Meeran it spoke was just as old as the text written on the portals.

Out of view, a different voice shouted. “Why are you asking me? Is the light on?”

“I’m just the anthropologist. You’re the engineer,” the figure shouted back.

The other voice off-screen yelled back. “Figures a Hillbilly can’t figure out this new-fangled technothingy.”

“That’s Redneck, ya pencil neck!” the pale figure yelled. Semnik didn’t comprehend the odd behavior yet, somehow, knew that there was no hostility in the words.

“Sorry about that,” the pale figure commented. “Heya little buddies. If you’re seeing this, that means you managed to get past one of the big civilization filters. Congratulations! My name is Frank Martin and I’m what is called a Human.”

The three Meers looked at each other. Unless the Eastern Imperials decided to play a giant prank, it was becoming more and more obvious that the Meer with the weird hair and crazy eyes was right.

The face on the screen suddenly put on an expression that Semnik took as dark. “Before I get to it, I have a warning. All that warring you guys are doing? I suggest you find peace with yourselves. When you start getting up into space, it means weapons are getting real bad. You’ll end up killing yourselves off if you don’t. We lost count of how many other civilizations out there ended themselves over it.”

Sadness entered Semnik’s features. The kindly species observing the Meers had predicted the big war and the Meers were too late to get the warning.

The thought was mirrored in the figure on the screen. “And if you’re here after that? Sorry that you had to go through it. We know what that’s like. The upside is, if you learned your lesson, things will get better.”

Frank leaned back in his chair and crossed his appendages over his chest area. “As for what we’re doing up here and why you’re hearing this? Well, it’s a long story. We, Darryl and I, are researchers. We discovered your people a while back and decided to study your development.”

“We found your people in an early part of their evolutionary period. Their lifespans were roughly 1/5^th of what they were when we headed off, more on that later, and we watched you grow and evolve over a long period of time.”

Frank took a deep breath of air and slowly released it. “Normally, civilizations like yours never even leave their point of origin. It’s a concept called the Dark Forest Hypothesis. To put it simply, the unknown is dangerous so it’s safer not to go there. My people went in there and ended up in space. Yours, at least until something happened, was perfectly content hiding out in their burrows.”

“Unfortunately, something happened that upended your development. A species, extinct at the time of this recording, was in its early space development phase. They discovered your planet and, for reasons we don’t know, decided to send a weaponized predator to destroy your world. We didn’t know it was coming and, by the time we figured out something was there, it had already landed.”

“We did our best to kill it off, but not before we were witnessed by one of the locals. We have a rule not to interfere, yet we made exceptions if something off-world showed up and threatened you. If that happened, we had protocols to try and scare your people back into their old ways. It also doubled as an emergency in-case that off-world threat came around again.”

“You see, directly below us is the origin of your people. If you haven’t found it by now, you should find the remains of your ancient ancestors. Along with it will be a black box. It ran out of power ages ago, so it should be an inert brick. Still, it’ll be obvious since it’s made out of materials not possible from the era.”

Semnik found his mouth starting to hang open in surprise. Everything this Frank alien was saying continued to be prophetic.

“A while after our first encounter, we discovered that the critter that we thought we exterminated had already multiplied. It then threatened to wipe out your ancestors. One of your ancestors, a guy called a Storyteller, called for help. We showed up and took care of business. While we didn’t get them all that day, Darryl did come up with a scanner and we ended up wiping out the rest of the buggers over the next year or so.”

Frank leaned in close to the screen. “Unfortunately, we opened up something we like to refer to as a Pandora’s Box. There’s more details behind it, but the common usage is for something that, once done, can’t be undone. While your Storyteller wished to keep what happened a secret, just too many of your ancestors had witness what happened. It changed behaviors.”

“Emboldened by the assumption that we would show up and protect them from any threats, your people started to venture into the forest for the first time. Once this behavior was cemented and we were forgotten, your ancestors started to develop tools to help deal with the threats of your world. Time passed, you evolved and became more sophisticated.”

The figure let out a deep gust of air once again. “I have a bit of an apology to make. While it is protocol to leave you alone, and we did a good job of that, some things did make their way into your society. The big ones are a number of your units of measurements as well as your names. I’m the one that called you Meers. You guys just referred to yourselves as People before.”

“This happened because I kinda forgot to turn off the transponder signal after giving it down to the scout. It took a while for me to figure out it was on.”

“You?” the other voice shouted with what sounded like indignity. “I’m the one who found it. After you put your damned boots up on the console again and got dirt in the board.”

The figure let out what sounded like a cough. “Yup. With my judicious use of your planet’s surface, I had discovered my error. In any case, I turned it off and at least stopped polluting your culture. For the most part, everything you came up you did so on your own. So if you have any weird fellas down there claiming we helped you build giant triangles out of stone, you have it from my authority that we didn’t.”

Semnik smirked. If this image was ever recorded, returned and declassified, this section would be the very first he would want aired.

“In any case, you’re probably wondering why we’re doing this at all after telling you how careful we have been about interfering. Well, think of this is as a big gift. In addition to the warning, we have 20 floors of data and archives to give you.”

Semnik notice the sudden wave of excitement emanating from Zandis. Which was immediately quashed with the next words.

“No, we aren’t gifting you technology. Sorry, you gotta figure that out for yourselves. Anything left here to keep the station functioning isn’t at a level that you probably already haven’t figured out or won’t soon. If you’re seeing this, and haven’t blown yourselves up, you’ll figure it out the rest eventually. No, it’s an even bigger gift. Something that not even we Humans have at our disposal. It’s your history.”

Semnik blinked. A sudden wave of euphoria rose in his chest. Was it what he was thinking?

“Yup, all those locked doors down below? Archives. In both digital and printed form, you’ll find the history of your people dating back to the very moments we arrived. Your proto-Meer ancestors and on. One of the big sadness of Humanity is we really don’t know much about anything before we started writing stuff down. Even when we did, we didn’t always have the best storage methods. Art, culture, language, everything prior to the written word is lost forever to us.”

Frank lifted up the corners of his mouth. Semnik assumed it must be happiness, something he was now feeling full-blast. This was an incredible gift, far more valuable than technology.

“Before I unlock the doors, I need to give you a small warning. Within each archive cabinet you’ll find a lead box. This is to protect you from the contents. If you’re up here, I’m assuming you know what radioactivity is. The reason for this is, since we don’t know how you guys use your calendars or how long it’s been since when we left, I can’t use things like years to communicate with you. To get around that problem, we put a sample of a dozen different radioactive isotopes in each box. At the time of the archive, the isotopes were fresh. All you gotta do is measure how much is left and you’ll know when the events in that cabinet happened.”

When the sentence ended, Semnik heard a series of clicks echo from down the hall. Twenty of them.

“So, anyway, enjoy the gift. We’re gonna head out now. There’s another interesting species on a different planet we’re going to study for a while. You guys have just developed simple telescopes and we really don’t want to be up here flashing lights when one of ya’ll looks up. Humanity will pull back a few star systems. When you figure out how to travel to the next one, you’ll be certain to get the welcome wagon. We’re really looking forward to the second race to figure out faster than light travel. I really hope it’s you guys.”

“Anyway, good luck. We’ll be out here waiting for you. And when you do make your way outside of your system? Ask for the Prees named Frank and Darryl. They’ll know who you’re talking about. And don’t worry, we’ll probably still be around. We live a really long time. I’d like to get some drinks, formally welcome you to the galaxy and have a nice chat with the people I got to know for a good part of my life.”

The vision gave out and the three Meers stared at the blank screen in stunned silence. Then a smile crept over Semnik’s mouth. Here was a hyper-advanced species that came across the galaxy, studied them and gave them the most precious gift imaginable. Their history.

In that moment, Semnik knew he liked these Humans. He couldn’t wait until the Meers figured out how to go meet them. He would gladly have a drink with the ones named Frank and Darryl.
Once again, thanks for reading. While this story didn't pop off as much as Intragalactic Pet and Garden Show, I think I needed a little exercise in writing something a bit more serious. I hope the introspection and hopeful end worked well.
That said, the stories are coming to an end for a while. I procrastinated enough with what I should be writing at the moment. That said, like I mentioned in IPGS, I plan on coming back with something more novel length that I think everyone will enjoy.
Take care!

Rangers @ Athletics - Wed, May 08 - Doubleheader Game 2

Game Status: In Progress - Score: 5-4 Rangers

Top of the 4th, 0 outs, runners on first and second, 1-1 count with T.J. McFarland pitching and Evan Carter batting. Nathaniel Lowe is on deck, and Adolis García is in the hole.

Links & Info

• Current conditions at Oakland Coliseum: 79°F - Clear - Wind 16 mph, Out To RF
• TV: Rangers: Bally Sports Southwest, Athletics: NBCSCA
• Radio: Rangers: KFLC 1270 (es), 105.3 The Fan, Athletics: Bloomberg 960 AM/103.7 HD2, A's Cast
• MLB Gameday
• Game Graphs
• Savant Gamefeed
• Discord

	Rangers Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Semien - 2B	3	1	2	0	0	1	0	.283	.328	.476
2	Carter - LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.217	.307	.425
3	Lowe, N - 1B	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	.313	.421	.438
4	García, Ad - DH	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	.266	.316	.489
5	Smith - SS	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.296	.406	.472
6	Heim - C	1	2	1	2	1	0	0	.299	.341	.427
7	Jankowski - RF	2	0	2	1	0	0	0	.275	.326	.375
8	Duran, E - 3B	2	0	1	1	0	1	1	.237	.297	.271
9	Taveras - CF	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	.252	.326	.378
	Totals	15	5	6	4	3	5	6

Rangers
BATTING: TB: Duran, E; Heim; Jankowski 2; Semien 2. RBI: Duran, E (4); Heim 2 (25); Jankowski (6). 2-out RBI: Jankowski; Heim 2; Duran, E. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Duran, E; Taveras. Team RISP: 3-for-6. Team LOB: 3.
FIELDING: E: Lowe, N (2, throw).

	Athletics Batters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	OBP	SLG
1	Toro - 2B	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	.283	.338	.433
2	Bleday - CF	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.246	.331	.429
3	Rooker - RF	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	.275	.365	.626
4	Brown, S - LF	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	.186	.248	.309
5	Langeliers - DH	2	1	1	3	0	0	1	.205	.258	.518
6	McCann - C	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.367	.457	.700
7	Schuemann - SS	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.176	.310	.324
8	Soderstrom - 1B	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.000
9	Harris, B - 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.174	.296	.565
	Totals	15	4	5	3	0	2	5

Athletics
BATTING: HR: Langeliers (9, 2nd inning off Leiter, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Brown, S; Langeliers 4; Rooker; Soderstrom; Toro. RBI: Langeliers 3 (24). Team RISP: 0-for-2. Team LOB: 2.
FIELDING: PB: McCann (2).

Rangers Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Leiter	3.0	5	4	2	0	2	1	46-34	12.15
Totals	3.0	5	4	2	0	2	1

Athletics Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-S	ERA
Bido	2.2	3	4	4	2	4	0	57-33	13.50
Kelly, M	0.1	3	1	0	1	1	0	26-18	2.57
McFarland	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3-2	6.23
Totals	3.0	6	5	4	3	5	0

Inning	Scoring Play	Score
Top 2	Ezequiel Duran singles on a sharp line drive to left fielder Seth Brown, deflected by shortstop Max Schuemann. Jonah Heim scores. Travis Jankowski to 2nd.	1-0 TEX
Bottom 2	Shea Langeliers homers (9) on a fly ball to center field. Seth Brown scores.	2-1 OAK
Top 3	Jonah Heim singles on a ground ball to center fielder JJ Bleday. Marcus Semien scores. Nathaniel Lowe scores. Josh Smith to 3rd.	3-2 TEX
Top 3	Travis Jankowski singles on a ground ball to right fielder Brent Rooker. Josh Smith scores. Jonah Heim to 3rd.	4-2 TEX
Top 3	Ezequiel Duran strikes out swinging.	5-2 TEX
Bottom 3	Seth Brown reaches on a fielder's choice, fielded by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. Abraham Toro scores. Brent Rooker to 3rd. Throwing error by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.	5-3 TEX
Bottom 3	Rangers challenged (play at 1st), call on the field was upheld: Shea Langeliers grounds into a force out, pitcher Jack Leiter to second baseman Marcus Semien. Brent Rooker scores. Seth Brown out at 2nd. Shea Langeliers to 1st.	5-4 TEX

Team	Highlight
TEX	Ezequiel Duran's RBI single (00:00:14)
OAK	Shea Langeliers' two-run homer (9) (00:00:29)
OAK	Osvaldo Bido strikes out Adolis García (00:00:07)
TEX	Jonah Heim's two-run single (00:00:30)
TEX	Travis Jankowski's RBI single (00:00:13)
TEX	Jonah Heim scores on a passed ball (00:00:09)
OAK	Osvaldo Bido leaves game with finger injury (00:00:48)
OAK	Abraham Toro scores on error (00:00:50)
OAK	Shea Langeliers' RBI fielder's choice (00:01:40)
OAK	Shea Langeliers hits a 454-foot home run (00:00:36)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Rangers	0	1	4								5	6	1	3
Athletics	0	2	2								4	5	0	2

Division Scoreboard

LAA 5 @ PIT 4 - Final
TEX 4 @ OAK 9 - Final
HOU 1 @ NYY 4 - Bottom 3, 1 Out
SEA 0 @ MIN 0 - Top 1, 2 Outs
^{Last Updated: 05/08/2024 04:48:58 PM PDT}

Out of social media land and with real life numbers. This question implies an encounter. Cuz if there's no encounter both are harmless. BearVault, says that for black bears (the most common) from 2000-2017 there's 11.7 non-fatal conflicts per year. That's 198.9 encounters over 17 years, so say 200. From 2000 to 2017 there have been 26 black bear kills. So both both are around 226 bear encounters where 26 of them were fatal. That's 11.5% chance to die in a black bear encounter. The American male population is 168.000.000 as of 2022. And combining all the sexual abuse offenders from 2017 to 2021 there's 5272 sexual abuse offenders (I added them all because of the unreported cases per year, this is closer to the real number) That's 0.003% of males are sexual abuse offenders. I'll take my chances with a man. [Edit: My data is from the United States Sentencing Commission about the number of sexual offenders. HOWEVER as pointed by a another redditer, there's 463634 victims of sexual assault per year and assuming they're all different male offenders, which is not the case, the math still says it's 0.3% of males are sexual offenders. I would still take my chances with a man, even with this overestimate.]
Found it on a feminist sub, I just scrolled down to the bottom and found this gem. Anyways, that's not my point. It's an honor mention.

I feel like most bear supporters use this argument a lot, "90% criminals are men, x% rapists are men etc." So, that means a bear is a safer choice. Which to me, is senseless (If someone can, please share a link which disapproves this claim of them, because I remember reading/seeing it somewhere but can't remember where) Even without all that, I feel like there's no proper stats on the total number of men who actually commit the deeds, it's all about "x% of women getting affected by them" which doesn't really holds any value in itself. A better question is to ask how much percentage of men (tbh, we shouldn't even use men here, but using it for the sake of argument) have actually commited those deeds if u wanna demonise one gender. Is there any study which has been done on a worldwide basis? If there isn't already, we really really need it because all of this media blow-up has created a very delusive perception about men which actually leads to today, worldwide censorless unrestrained demonization of men. This wasn't created by man vs Bear argument, it was there but hidden, born due to media trying to represent us in the bad light, creating a subconscious bias. And to me, what bear vs man has proved, is how much more prevalent casual and institutionalised misandry is in the whole world rather than it's original aim women's issues (or so the people say is it's aim).
Also, I found an article-

To start despite common misconceptions and a greater unwillingness to report it men and women are victims of sexual assault at basically the same rates (in 2011 a survey found 1.270 million women and 1.267 million men victims respectively https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4062022/). And the vast majority of these incidents are committed by acquaintances (about 72%) while out of the remaining 28% that are perpetrated by strangers men are slightly more likely to be victims (13.8 percent for female victims and 15.1 percent for male https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/01/nypd-captain-majority-of-rapes-are-not-total-abomination-rapes-committed-by-strangers.html) .
How much right the above quotation is? Or, what would be your argument against comments like, "but this is unreliable"

A Montreal newspaper article (in French) published a story today about a woman who appealed to the Facebook public to help find her stolen vehicle. A group of restaurateurs found the vehicle shortly after. What caught my attention was this statement (translated from French by Google): "They also tore off the part where the rearview mirror is located, because there is a vehicle tracking system located there."
A quick search on the history of vehicle tracking devices mentions that because of the very high cost (in the thousands,) they were mainly used by the army at first & it was only in the late 90s that they became more affordable for the general public. I've linked at the bottom of this post one of many articles on the subject if you are interested.
Couldn't this be the reason why someone tore off the rearview mirror from Fred's (Maura's) Saturn? Couldn't it also explain the damage to the windshield-damage which occurred from some sort of tool used to remove the rearview mirror? Keep in mind that whoever tore off the rearview mirror doesn't necessarily know if a tracking device was present or not but might have torn it off just to be on the safe side.
There's something else of interest about the possible removal of a vehicle tracking device from the Saturn & which suggests to me that Maura (or a helper) was the one that had it removed in order to avoid being tracked. Let me go back to an old post I wrote & then I'll get back to you.
ETA: https://www.safepointgps.com/vehicle-gps-tracking-history/

Backstory: I applied for a Hometrust no foreign exchange fee card, the page froze during verification and refreshed for me to start over, did again and said the system declined it. Applied to scotia bank no forex fee, they declined. I checked my credit score with my CIBC app, it dropped my score 65 points for the "hard pull" and maybe more because I applied multiple times when their webpage went down. After scotia declined there was a transunion link, so I thought I'd check if the score was different there.
On the page, the cookie banner at the bottom conveniently blocks the fee which are not mentioned anywhere else on the page, just a "*" beside the text.
I thought because they are a canadian official credit bureau it would be free. I make an account, sign in, they say "sorry our service is down temporarily, check back later" so I try to log in again and my credentials don't even work, and I received no email for account creation, their "terms" say nothing about a price.
However I did get a $30 notification on my credit card that is pending! Good service. I wouldn't recommend it and I will be disputing it. Ridiculous. I understand due diligence but I am so frustrated with all of this hoop jumping, bad servers, and obscure fees.
Feels predatory as I was feeling down after being declined and clicked the link.

LEAVE YOUR SURVEY LINK IN COMMENTS AND I’ll fill it out!!
Hey!! I’m conducting research for for my senior capstone research project at R-MC that looks at parents’ perception of their children’s food preferences and eating habits. please share your thoughts and experiences by completing the survey at the link attached at the bottom of the message. Your participation is voluntary and you will not be providing any identifying details so you will remain anonymous. THANK YOU so much for your help!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedpRj5coO2p4HYxN8-f0jkO4Im7e13zkwlFYwlkJ9e9h27SA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Hey there travelers! I’m currently looking for a few players for a new campaign in a semi-traditional fantasy homebrew world. We’ll be running weekly on Wednesdays at 8PM CST. I’m looking for 5-6 players and I plan to be running a session 0 on Wednesday, May the 15th.
If you saw this post yesterday, all applications that have already been sent in are still being reviewed, so no worries about submitting another, I just wanted to post again and reach some more people too!
This is a world I’ve been working on for a really long time so I’ve got plenty of lore and history for anyone curious, but there’s also plenty of room to tell any story you want to tell! So whether you like to come in hot with new ideas or base them off the world’s lore, anything is possible! Magic is very common in the world and the country in which the game starts even sees a bit of steampunk inspirations in the way of magic meeting technologyI’m looking primarily for players who really enjoy the roleplay aspect first and foremost, because I love forming a party that gets to know each other and really get invested in shared story-telling. If you’re the kind of person who likes DnD streams because of the level of story, roleplay, and engagement, this is the kind of campaign I’m hoping to build! I really hope to focus on building a party that enjoys interacting as a unit and with an ever-expanding world full of secrets at every turn!
Despite my focus on finding players who love roleplay, I do plan on making a game that’s well balanced with a good amount of combat and exploration as well, I just want the players to drive the story! I think the best kinds of parties are the ones that learn to work together on and off the field. I also want this game to encompass everything that makes DnD fun! Roleplay, combat, exploration, decision making, I aim to have it all! To answer some questions I usually get asked as a GM

• I plan on using Roll20 as a VTT, with Discord for Voice Chat.
• I do allow homebrew, it just needs to be run by me first to okay it for balance. I also offer a fair bit of homebrew classes, subclasses, and races I’ve made myself over the years for my players to use if they like!
• We’ll be starting at level 3, starting equipment will be covered during session zero!
• World lore can be provided as soon as you’re in!
• I’m also looking for players 18+ only because as an adult, I’d prefer playing with other adults even if I don’t cover any kinds of graphic content at my table!

The crystal-like material known as Vis is a relatively new discovery in Halfsen, on the continent of Rostorus.Vis has served as a power source and increased the level of technology by leaps and bounds. New forms of transportation, automaton servants referred to as puppets, and new weaponry. However, as the material is still under study, Halfsen is not comfortable sharing it with everyone just yet.The countries of Dolre and Ildore are not exactly content with that. They want access to Vis as well, viewing the actions of Halfsen as them hoarding the material. As such, they declared war, and are trying to forcibly take the valuable resource of Vis.
A disease, more of a plague really, is currently sweeping through the continent. No one knows the source of it, how it spreads, or who it's targeting. It's known as the Violet Fever, for the eyes of the infected turn a brilliant, iridescent purple as they begin to develop a fever. A fever that doesn't stop climbing, until the body can do nothing but rest. At the worst point, the infected simply stare upwards, their body too hot to be touched and moved, but eternally alive or seemingly so.
We’ll be starting in the incredibly prosperous mining city of Alkeran. But what they mine here isn’t ore or jewels, it's Vis. But unfortunately tragedy has struck the city. Reports of foul play are circulating, as the mine has collapsed leaving the governor and several of the mine foremen in the depths of the mine. As the days go on, the city is growing desperate for a solution, regardless of the source. The office of the governor has offered a sizable reward of 8,000 gold pieces to anyone who can reopen the mines and see the governor and foremen safely returned.
If you’re interested in applying, please fill out the google form listed below! If you have any further questions, feel free to message me here on reddit or even just leave a comment as I keep a pretty close eye on the post! I’m not sure how long this post will be up, but rest assured, when we fill up I will close the post and the forms, so if the post says we’re still open and applications can still be sent, you can still apply! Thank you all for your time, and I look forward to rolling with you!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfHY1jqNw4wIggNpXtt-YjdwInywynDMia_xVAmTL8xttb1qQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

LEAVE YOUR SURVEY LINK IN COMMENTS AND I’ll fill it out!!
Hey!! I’m conducting research for for my senior capstone research project at R-MC that looks at parents’ perception of their children’s food preferences and eating habits. please share your thoughts and experiences by completing the survey at the link attached at the bottom of the message. Your participation is voluntary and you will not be providing any identifying details so you will remain anonymous. THANK YOU so much for your help!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSedpRj5coO2p4HYxN8-f0jkO4Im7e13zkwlFYwlkJ9e9h27SA/viewform?usp=sf_link

the screenwriting software I used, studiobinder, wouldn't let me correctly format sluglines, character names, dialogue, etc to the top of a page. so instead of having a character and then their dialogue with a (more ) linking two pages, it will sometimes have the characters name at the bottom of a page and the dialogue at the top of the next page, or a slugline and scene setting separated similarly. there was nothing I could do to fix it apart from buying a software I couldn't afford and typing it in. My screenwriting professor, who has won nicholl before, assured me it would be fine, but I'm beginning to worry that it could be the difference between my script advancing or not. thoughts?