Hello apes,
I've been sitting on GME for years, but haven't been in the loop as far as DRS/Fidelity/Computershare goes.
I don't have a lot of money to play with, but when the most recent rally took place, I was fortunate to buy an additional 50 shares at around $20, bringing my grand total to 105.
Now, here's the crappy part; I've done all this through Robinhood, as back around the sneeze, it seemed a very convenient way to get my hands on some of those tasty shares. But now that I've educated myself a little bit on how Robinhood works, I'm worried that I might get fucked when I try to sell.
Problematically though, I don't have a Fidelity account, I don't have, or know how to use, ComputerShare, so I'm kind of just praying that when MOASS happens I'll be quick enough on the trigger to actually get paid.
I've heard that after setting up with Fidelity, it takes a $75 fee through RH and then an additional 5-7 days for my shares to transfer, but for all we know, this shit might go nuclear within the next week. I don't want to have my shares in transit when that happens and miss out on my ticket to the moon.
So am I screwed? What, realistically, am I risking by not having my shares DRS'd?
Thank you for reading. I'm just a smoothie idiot who wants life-changing money, so please go easy on me. Any information is welcome.
P.S: I also just want to celebrate for a moment how this thing is even going on. A company I've loved wheeling and dealing with since my childhood was under heavy scrutiny and attack from extremely wealthy interests who don't believe in the business model and want to see it die. Through all the adversity, they pulled through, trimmed the fat of their business, and are now in an extremely powerful position with $2 BILLION cash on hand, zero debt, and a thriving stock demand. Few things in recent memory have given me such joy as imagining the fear and panic these big-moneyed interests must be feeling that their cynical, asinine, destructive bets are failing them. And I intend to take EVERY BIT OF VALUE I INVESTED, AND GIVE NOTHING BACK.

Hey guys I’ve been investing in my Roth IRA for this year and I just had a quick question. I get paid by the hour and don’t work consistently so some paychecks are bigger than others.
I have my paycheck setup so 25% gets deposited into my Roth IRA with fidelity. My question is will auto invest work because it’s a different amount? I’ve just been buying whatever value it is into FXAIX every other week (when I get paid) manually but wondering if auto invest would work so I don’t have to worry about this.
TL DR: will auto invest work if its a different amount each time

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The Grand Dining Hall. Local time: 1210
Emma
The dining hall was, for all intents and purposes, the den of gossip.
[Grand Dining Hall. Add: Alternative Designator - DEN OF GOSSIP]
This was proven true by the incessant and rampant whispers, most of which were eventually hidden under privacy screens.But some of which were allowed to permeate through the air like a foul and sickening stench.
“What’s he trying to prove?”
“Usurpers. Tepid-blood minor nobles thinking themselves bigshots in their ill-gotten castles. This is all they know — power through brute strength.”
“Do you think this could be some sort of a roundabout statement for the House Choosing Ceremony?”
“Could be, or maybe the newrealmer is rubbing off on him. I heard those savages live in hunting-packs that deal exclusively in violence.”
“Poor Lord Ping… the man’s been dealt so many blows both to his ego and integrity. He truly is the victim in this upstart’s rebellion.”
“Let us hope the pious Ping prevails over his undeserving trials and tribulations. The man’s a saint, a pious soul that must hold fast for those of us adherent to the eternal truths.”
“Or perhaps we should wait and see how things develop. I, for one, wish to side neither with the narrow-minded bull nor the aggressive upstarts.”
“Lord Qiv may prove to be the more suitable candidate for class sovereign… but only time will tell.”
“Never in my wildest of imaginations would I have ever considered that the one to threaten our position, our place, our image, and our very survival in this sky of feral drakes to be you — Prince Thalmin.” Ilunor managed out incredulously, breaking me out of my long-range acoustic reverie. Though unlike his prior confrontations with myself, his current voice lacked the same intense vitriol. Instead, that was replaced with what I could only describe as a genuine sense of disappointment, as if confronting a friend who knew better than to commit to a dumb decision.
“That’s an understandable statement to make, Ilunor.” Thalmin replied uncharacteristically calmly, as if he hadn’t even registered the Vunerian’s assaults. Or at least, that seemed to be the case, until he shot the deluxe Kobold a predatory side-eye. “Because creatures that lack honor, integrity, and personal dignity, often conflate sacrifices and risk-taking, for foolishness and idiocy. For within the heart of a Nexian, lies only compromise for the sake of convenience. Whether that be the convenience of survival, the convenience of continuity, or the convenience of the status quo, you will sacrifice everything to maintain it — even if it means allowing your honor to remain sullied and trodden when there exists a pool to cleanse away that shame.”
Thacea’s eyes grew wary with concern at that statement, one of the few instances I’d seen her genuinely worried about an Ilunor-Thalmin interaction. In fact, even I didn’t dare to interrupt, especially after both parties had shot death-glares towards our elven waiter as he arrived with the lunch platter.
“Restraint, Prince Thalmin.” Ilunor responded with a deep and calculating breath. “This isn’t the adjacent realms, this isn’t Havenbrockrealm.”
“Oh that much is very clear to me, Ilunor.” Thalmin interjected with something just short of a growl. “In Havenbrockrealm, we would sooner slash, stab, flay, or lash our enemies in fair and open combat, than reduce ourselves to cowardly attempts at assassination or retreat with our tails between our legs at the earliest signs of defeat.”
Ilunor took another breath, placing a small hand atop of his snout. “I… empathize with your desires to follow through with what you believe is a morally sound decision.” The Vunerian responded in a surprising display of maturity. “However, and this goes for you as well, newrealmer—” He paused for a moment, taking the time to glare at me before shifting back to Thalmin. “—we are not acting as independent actors anymore. For better or for worse… which, mind you, I still strongly believe this is very much for the worse in my case… we are now a peer group. And as such, the actions we take and their resultant fallout, should represent the interests of us all.”
“These are bold claims.” Thalmin began with a restrained snarl. “Even bolder when considering your actions the week prior. If the measure of a man were dictated by his words alone, then I would be inclined to acquiesce. However, considering the measure of a man extends beyond the weightless chatter of an exhaled breath, I feel far more inclined to reserve such actions for those far more deserving of my respect.” At which point, the lupinor turned towards both Thacea and I, following that up with a dip of his head. “I apologize, Thacea, Emma, for conducting myself in the way I did.”
Thalmin took a moment to pause, side eyeing Ilunor as he acknowledged him once again. “Whilst his character may sully his words, there is some truth to them. I have, admittedly, overstepped my bounds in committing to an action which undeniably affects the group. However, I genuinely hope you understand the reasons behind my otherwise brash decision. For I must stand on principle, lest I decide to stand at all.”
“Given the crap Auris Ping pulled last night, I’m inclined to agree with you, Thalmin. More than that, I would’ve gladly taken your place and dueled him the good old fashioned way if I could. Besides, the look on his face when you chose him to be your dueling partner? It was just priceless.” I offered with a snide grin. “In all seriousness, I’m really not in a position to chastise anyone on the issue of just gunning it with your gut instinct anyways. Heck, the entirety of last week was one long drawn out escapade for my sake, which came at the expense of the group after all.” I chuckled nervously. “So… yeah, this is incredibly tame by those standards, Thalmin.”
“Whilst… unexpected, and indeed a risk, I can understand the reasons behind it, Thalmin.” Thacea nodded uneasily. “However, I do not advise any of you to make a habit out of this.” She commanded, making an effort to make individual eye contact with each and every one of us.
Thacea’s group-mom vibes were definitely showing at this point, which was probably for the better. Given the group seemed to be a magnet for this sort of thing, it was good to have an anchor of sorts.
Sure thing, mom. Was what my gut instinct screamed at me to say.
But instead, I decided to tone it down a notch.
“As you command, princess.” I dipped my head in acknowledgement, garnering a look of abashed confusion from Thacea, and just plain-old confusion from the other two.
“In any case… I… believe you wished to discuss matters outside of classroom priorities, Emma?” Thacea quickly attempted to shift past that little bit of prodding, which I obliged with an affirmative nod.
“Yep. Well, it’s more of a small change of plans that I think is worth discussing with you guys. So, you remember how I was planning on deploying an infil-drone on Mal’tory after the end of class right?”
All three nodded, urging me to continue.
“Well, since Mal’tory was a no-show, and with Larial taking the reins instead… I think it’s best if we stick with the plan anyways, just swapping out Mal’tory for Larial. I honestly don’t see any other way we can continue the library’s questline, or any other way to find evidence to support the Auris Ping-Mal’tory hypothesis we have going on. I know it’s a huge gamble since there’s no way of knowing if she’ll even head to Mal’tory’s office after class. But honestly? This is our best shot right now.”
“I concur, Emma.” Thalmin announced with a nod.
“Given her proximity to the professor’s orbit, we may in fact gain a greater bearing on his actual state. Which in itself may prove useful.” Thacea offered, more or less acknowledging my change of plans implicitly.
“We don’t seem to have any other choice, earthrealmer. So a shot in the dark is better than stowing your wand.” Ilunor acknowledged in a rare display of solidarity.
“It’s settled then. I’ll deploy the drone right after class is dismissed. Then, we wait and see what the drone comes up with.”

The Grand Concourse of Learning. The Hall of Light. Local Time: 14:00 Hours.
Emma
Mana field perception was, as one would expect, dry, bland, and utterly nonsensical.
Throughout most of it, the lesson was taught as if it was referencing something obvious, something mundane, something so typical that a lot of the topics were all but overlooked as ‘self evident’.
A lot of what was taught reminded me of a mix between perception-theory, and situational awareness training. However, instead of relying on your eyes, ears, heck, even your nose or sense of touch… it was instead relying on something completely outside of the human experience.
“Mana field perception, is at its core, a subject that is inherent to the sapient condition. However, the extent to which it is appreciated, understood, and most important of all — applied — varies exponentially. To an untrained mind, and an untempered soul, the world feels tepid.”
The apprentice paused, gesturing to Sorecar, who answered his cue by pulling out a massive painting of a beautiful mountainscape that seemed to play through a closed animation loop; the effect was like a high-definition e-ink display.
“To a trained mind, but an untempered soul, the world feels… distant, unaccommodating, and frustrating to emotionally comprehend.” Larial continued, prompting Sorecar to pull out yet another painting. This one, the exact same as the first, with literally no differences between them.
“To an untrained mind, but a tempered soul, the world feels… unpredictable, erratic, and frustrating to logically put together.” Once again, another painting was brought out. This one, just like the previous two, looked completely identical.
“But to a sufficiently trained mind, and a tempered soul, with enough time invested into both theory and practice… the world becomes open, expansive, and above all else… it becomes rich with sights and sensations that would be impossible to feel with the physical form alone.” Larial concluded, just as Sorecar pulled out what looked to be yet another identical painting.
The EVI’s analysis concluded that there were absolutely no differences between the four paintings. Moreover, the mana radiation signatures for each were likewise exactly the same.
It was only after slipping a note towards Thacea with a question written in High Nexian did I finally get my answer.
‘What’s the deal with these paintings? They’re all identical.’
Thacea quickly slipped me a blank piece of parchment in response.
Though it didn’t remain blank for long, as words and sentences started appearing on it; mirroring Thacea’s furious ‘note taking’ in her own notebook.
‘They’re artisanal pieces imbued with the purposeful manipulation of the subject’s aura, mana-field, and the surrounding mana. They were brought out in order to demonstrate the different degrees of mana-field perception by exaggerating the most common shortcomings found in those training in the magical arts. The first piece was, similar to your memory shards, lacking in any mana-fields or auras. The second and third pieces demonstrated a failure to imbue one or the other of the two fundamental tenets of mana-field perception. The fourth piece is representative of a perfect balance of both tenets, and is an exquisite work of art that completely outshines the first. It radiates beauty, whilst the first is flat and lifeless.’
It took a moment for me to really register all that. Longer still, as I eventually became fixated on that last line in particular.
Flat and lifeless… is that what the world is like from my eyes?
It was around that time that a thought hit me, and a realization truly sank deep into my very being.
The world that Thacea, Thalmin, Ilunor, and the rest of the magical beings across the interdimensional plane experienced… was one that I was utterly blind to.
It’d been referenced before.
In fact, it’d been drilled into me time and time again by the likes of Ilunor that I was lacking in something fundamental.
But up until now, everything was either circumstantial, or outside of my general focus. So much so that I never was able to digest the implications of it.
However, as much as a pit formed in my stomach, growing tighter by the second as Larial went on and on about the ebbs and flows of mana, so too did a very human resolve suddenly dawn upon me.
“I’m going to see what you guys see one day.” I wrote down on Thacea’s magic paper.
“How?” Was the message I received back.
To which I only had one thing to reply with.
“The same way we overcame all of our other shortcomings.” I wrote cryptically, garnering a look of confusion from Thacea as she read the note, to which I only had to point at my armor for added effect.
By once again defying nature. I thought to myself.
If we weren’t born with the ability to ‘see’ this beauty, we’d find a way to break it down into its fundamental components, dissect it, analyze it, and then reinterpret it for ourselves.
The class continued on after that exchange of notes, as we touched upon what Ilunor had so eloquently described on that second day of the grace period:
One: that manastreams were everywhere around us.
Two: that manafields generated by living organisms were akin to rocks that not only parted those streams, but at times, interacted with them.
Three: that using manafields, one could make out the presence of other manafields through the manastreams, and thus detect and extract information as is pertinent to the context of the situation.
And while Ilunor would’ve blabbered on and on about the ability to see and sense the emotional state of others through the manastreams, what Larial seemed to be focused on instead were the practical applications of this natural ability. Namely, she focused on exactly how to detect a spell being cast, what sort of spell was being cast, and most importantly — she focused on how it all tied back to Light Magic.
“In summary, only when one is proficient in the detection and analysis of manafields, can one finally start to dissect the intricacies of a manafield during spellcasting. And only once one masters the detection of spellcasting, can one even hope to begin the process of dispelling. The first step of which is to know exactly what a manafield looks like during spellcasting. Is there anyone in the class that can tell me what that looks like?” The professor asked, looking around, before picking one of the many raised hands.
This one belonged to Qiv.
“Yes, Lord Qiv?”
“Influxes and effluxes, Professor. One will see the influx of ambient mana through the manastreams into a manafield, and the potential efflux of mana through a manafield back into the manastreams in the form of a controlled mana-construct.”
“Very good, Lord Qiv! Five points! Now, hold your thoughts on that latter part, because that ties into my next question!” Larial responded with a giddiness and chipperness that seemed to be lacking in every other class up to this point. “The fundamental means of detecting a spell being cast is by looking out for a point of influx, and a point of efflux. Influx being the more difficult of the pair to detect, for what you have to look out for is mana is being funneled into a manafield. A weak spell being cast, will incur less disruptions in a manastream. However, the opposite is also true. As the more powerful the spell, and the more powerful the mage, the greater the rate of influx, as the amount of mana needed to fulfill the requirements of the spell increases. Paradoxically this would mean it will be easier to detect a powerful spell before it is cast, as the reduction in the concentration of ambient mana will be more palpable as a result. Efflux however, is rather straightforward, and will be the primary vehicle through which Mana-field Perception will be taught. As it is through efflux that we can ascertain the most useful details of a spell, or as Lord Qiv so eloquently puts it — the mana-construct. Does anyone know what this next point may be referring to?”
Surprisingly, and out of a clear bias towards Qiv, Larial once more called him up.
I couldn’t blame her though.
The man, despite being a certified bully and teacher’s pet, was one of the few students who didn’t openly doubt the apprentice’s capabilities during the start of class.
“Yes, Lord Qiv?”
“The mana-construct refers to the skeleton of a spell; the arrangement and unique form it takes before manifesting into a proper spell.” The gorn-like lizard responded confidently.
“Outstanding, Lord Qiv! Five points! Now, whilst a mana-construct is indeed a vital step in the process of spell casting, its manifestation is rarely the point in time in which a spell can be intercepted — save for those who have mastered the art of Light Magic. As a result, a spell can be halted before it even has the chance to form. To most however, the mana-construct acts as a cue to prepare. It is a signal that demonstrates the irrefutable start to a spell. And as a result, it provides major structural clues as to the form of Light Magic that must be employed to combat it. Which leads me to my next point.”
The apprentice once more paused, as she manifested literally nothing visible to the tune of more than a dozen mana radiation warnings.
“When broken down to their basic components, every spell is a complicated meshwork of mana, channeled and contained within a dynamic pattern that continuously evolves throughout the duration of a spell. Because unlike artificing, the casting of magic evolves with unpredictability and thrives on organic change. No offense to you, of course, Professor Pliska.” The apprentice turned towards Sorecar worryingly, who simply responded with a bellowing laugh.
“None taken, my aspiring understudy!”
With that, Larial continued, her hands moving through an empty section of air that everyone seemed to be focused on; as if manipulating a hologram that I wasn’t privy to. “However, in spite of this unpredictability, the goal of Light Magic and Mana-field Perception in particular is to untangle the aforementioned meshwork of mana. For every spell is a puzzle and a series of knots to untangle. Your goal in this class, if I am to be reductive, is to untangle the complex mesh that comprises a spell, unraveling it to a point in which it can no longer maintain its form — collapsing it and thus, rendering it inert.” The apprentice emphasized this by miming what looked to be tiny little motions with her fingers, before pulling both hands backwards, garnering a series of affirmative nods from the crowd. “And with that, we now reach the conclusion of today’s class.”
“Or more accurately, the leadup to the climax of this class.” Sorecar quickly chimed in with a wave of his hand, prompting the room to change once more. Section upon section of the front of the classroom’s floor was dragged down into the impossible void, only to be replaced just as quickly by an elevated stage resembling that of a fencing strip. “Will the aspiring duelists please rise and approach the stage?” Sorecar turned back towards the crowd, prompting both Thalmin and Auris to stand, the pair giving each other some strong side-eyes before both marching up and towards the front of the class.
From there, with not a single word exchanged, they took their places, Thalmin at the far right, and Auris on the far left.
“The purpose of this demonstration is simple.” The apprentice began, as Sorecar began moving towards both Thalmin and Auris, insisting them to pay attention. “It is to show that even in spite of the complicated principles behind Light Magic, that there exists far simpler, far more basic principles that can achieve similar means. A precursor to more contemporary methods; spell-breaking. A maneuver that involves overpowering the structure and flow of a spell using a concentrated burst of pure mana irregardless of the type. However, unlike traditional dispelling seen in contemporary Light Magic, spell-breaking oftentimes requires a user to concentrate a disproportionately larger amount of mana in order to properly break a spell. It is thus highly inefficient, and as a result becomes rapidly impractical upon encountering spellcrafts of sufficiently advanced tiers. This demonstration will be aptly limited to a simple barrier-spell for the likes of the reciprocator, so as to not overburden the initiator with this simple task.”
The apprentice quickly passed on the torch to Sorecar, who quickly took center stage with a few steps.
“Now, as this is not a traditional duel for dominance, nor is it a sporting duel for the purposes of victory, I will explain the narrow context by which this duel will be held.” Sorecar continued, his hands clapping together, generating an empty and resonant CLANG in the process. “To our right, is our initiator, who will be demonstrating the principles of spell-breaking in an active capacity. To our left, is our reciprocator, who will be taking on the role of demonstrative spellcaster, casting only barrier spells for the duration of this short demonstration. Remember, there is to be no additional spells cast or demonstrated outside of these parameters. Is that clear?” Sorecar paused, making sure to meet both of the opponents’ gazes with his empty helm.
“Yes, professor!” Both parties shouted simultaneously, barely containing their frustrations beneath a veneer of calm and restrained fury.
“Then we shall begin on the count of three.” The apprentice continued, taking the reins over from Sorecar, as she stood just a few steps away from the stage’s combat-lines. “One.” She began, as Auris began moving into position, practically grinding his booted hooves into the stage, and taking on the posture of some unknown martial art. “Two.” Thalmin reciprocated by taking a more aggressive posture, as if positioning himself to leap towards the bull in a ravenous rage at the drop of a hat.
“Three.”
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 225% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 350% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
Nothing seemed to happen.
At least, not to my eyes.
Within a matter of seconds, all I witnessed were two mana radiation warnings timelogged as only a few seconds apart from one another.
No physical effects were evident to me. Nothing, except for the flinching of a few muscles, and the waving of arms. As if they were conjuring make-believe magic spells, without the added special effects that came with it.
Ironically, this was how I was expecting most Nexians to react to the reveal of laser weaponry. Silent, invisible, but otherwise omnipresent and deadly threats.
Though despite the lack of any physical effects I could discern, there were certainly more than enough context-clues to go by when it came to exactly what had just occurred.
Auris’ features had more or less swelled up into a fury. His nostrils flared just short of snorting out fumes, and his teeth were bared clearly holding back a few choice words for the now-grinning Thalmin.
“Again.” He demanded, and barely a second after a nod of approval from the apprentice, came two more mana radiation warnings.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 425% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
Once again, no noticeable physical effects had manifested. Though judging from the bewildered and shocked expressions of the crowd, something was definitely happening within the invisible world that was accessible through mana-vision.
“Again!” Ping announced, barely garnering approval from the apprentice this time, as things took a sudden enough turn that even I could notice them.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
It started with that ‘barrier’ again.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 500% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
Followed by Thalmin overpowering it.
However, instead of letting things go, Ping instead pushed towards a frenzied series of attacks.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 375% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
As one—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—after another—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—after another—
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
—after another ‘barrier’ spell seemed to actually be causing Thalmin some pushback now. His movements now resembled someone attempting to dodge invisible projectiles, yet Auris made no moves to actually fling anything at him, only maintaining his prior stance.
Though of course, this came with the same expected response.
As Thalmin retaliated with his own attacks. Or rather, one, very large attack that truly outclassed what Auris could currently muster in his furious state.
ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 550% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS
This spell that mildly shook the room seemed to be enough to ‘break’ the sudden incursion, prompting both Ping and Thalmin to turn towards the apprentice — the former blasting steam from his snout and the latter slashing his tail in the air — for yet another round of fighting, only to have Sorecar step in, placing a hand on both of the duelists who were barely a foot away from each other now.
“Wonderful! Excellent! Put your hands together for our introductory duelists, everyone!” The professor quickly coerced both of the parties to face the class, actively grabbing them by the small of their back, and thus effectively entrapping them with his iron grip — forcing them to face the class who cheered on with a series of applauses.
Not a second later, the pair of them bowed, though it was unclear how much of this was Sorecar’s doing, and how much of this was done out of their own will.
“In any case, seeing as both of our aspiring duelists have gone above and beyond in their demonstration, and seeing that this is merely a demonstration, and not a challenge—” Sorecar emphasized that last point, forcing the pair to sweat in his over-shoulder grip. “—I believe it would be prudent to award them each a fair share of this duel’s fifty points.”
“Given the enthusiasm shown, I am inclined to agree, Professor Pliska.” The apprentice quickly nodded, prompting the armorer to quickly push both of them off-stage, and back towards the staggered raised steps of the lecture hall.
“Twenty-five points for both of our duelist’s groups.” Larial reiterated, and with a final round of reluctant applause, barely overpowering the incoming band marking the end of class… the apprentice made her final statement. “This concludes this week’s first lesson. Considering the house choosing ceremony coming up this weekend, along with the Elaseer school supply shopping trip to town… I am inclined to grant this class some clemency. No homework will be required. So please, enjoy the rest of the day, and prepare yourselves for what could be the most decisive day in your academic career here in Transgracia. Class dismissed!”
No sooner were those words uttered did my eyes quickly turn towards my HUD, and a flash of commands came through without a second of delay.
INFIL-DRONE01a ACTIVE, STATUS: NOMINAL. OBJECTIVE: PRIORITY TRACKING AND RECONNAISSANCE OF SUBJECT A109. MISSION PARAMETERS: TRACK, OBSERVE, MAP, AND RETURN-TO-BASE WITHIN PREDETERMINED PARAMETERS. CONFIRM COMMAND Y/N?
“Command confirmed.” I replied vocally, prompting the newly-printed replacement drone to pop out of its docking bay, before charting a course parallel to that of the apprentice.
The drone’s signal was lost just as the apprentice left the room through that dark threshold behind the lectern, at which point, the entire class began shuffling out to the tune of the encroaching band.
Only time would tell what would come of this mission.
But hopefully, we'll get our answers sometime later this evening.
However, instead of blending right into the crowd, or more specifically… being ignored by said crowd, quite a few eyes managed to find their way onto our group. Moreover, the chatter seemed way too interesting to ignore.
“You were right, Cynthis… perhaps there is something about this mercenary prince after all.” A female voice spoke from an all-girl group, eliciting a series of giggles, which were promptly silenced by a privacy screen the moment Thalmin craned his head around.
“Lord Auris Ping has yet again demonstrated his integrity. Let us ensure his pure-hearted determination is lauded this evening, lads! The fearsome strikers shall band together with the most pious of intent!” A tortle-like-turtle jeered, moving strategically to position themselves around Auris Ping’s group, as the expected schmoozing began in full.
“Newrealmer.” Ilunor began, generating a privacy screen in the process.
“Yes, Ilunor?”
“How long do you expect your insect to take in its dastardly escapades?”
“Last time it took a good few hours. So, given this probably isn’t a one-and-done deal, I’d say… maybe three to four hours at the least this time around?” I offered.
“Well then. Splendid. I shall be off, and return within that time frame.”
“Wait wait wait wait. Hold up. Where do you think you’re going?” I inquired firmly.
“I have my own life to lead, newrealmer. Now please, I shall return to our group’s escapades in due time.”
“Where, Ilunor?” I reiterated.
To which the Vunerian could only sigh in response. “The student lounge. Top floor today, if I am to be interrogated for every ounce of information…”
“Then let’s go. Together.” I proclaimed, garnering a few looks of surprise from both Thacea and Thalmin. “Perhaps it’s time we start getting a feel for the lay of the land. We’ve been cooped up in our own little world for far too long, maybe, just maybe, we should all expand our horizons just by a little bit.”
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(Author’s Note: The much anticipated round two between Thalmin and Auris has concluded! And following its conclusion, we also get quite a few reactions to Thalmin as a result of his daring display of magical prowess! We also get a pretty hands on demonstration of Light Magic this time around! This is perhaps one of the more hands on class, and indeed one of the more straightforward classes so far! Moreover, the end of classes marks not only the beginning of the little spy drone adventure, but also a little peak into exactly what Ilunor has been up to! I hope you guys enjoy! :D The next Two Chapters are already up on Patreon if you guys are interested in getting early access to future chapters!)
[If you guys want to help support me and these stories, here's my ko-fi ! And my Patreon for early chapter releases (Chapter 81 and Chapter 82 of this story is already out on there!)]

Dear diary, missed me? hehe..
Back home again.. and i lied yesterday.. It wasn't that no one knew that i came back.. the cat sitters.. they had to know when i was back again.. Yesterday i had a little visit from one the cat sitters (2 people, it's a couple)
It was nice.. But i do feel, that i can't be 100% me.. the interest is not there.. like i shared before.. i need to share.. It's all feelings and thoughts and.. how it left an impression on me. And they can hear it for 30 minutes or so, before the interests fades away.. It becomes harder for me to share when i feel that i don't have their attention and i only feel more lonely then.. But they are my good friends and i just have a lot to share.. It's too much... (that's why i write and i am being vague here on purpose, not sharing everything, it's still the internet..) Plus i can't... i have 5+ weeks of experience in me.. Every thought is like cross-chatter and i can't express myself very well then. Perhaps i am just tired now, hence the cross-chatter.
I want to share on the moment (like what i am doing now), for example in chat groups, but then nobody responds.. I am literally talking to myself and now it's faded, it became a memory and i don't have the words anymore, i can't share the wonders and awe i experienced then.. I made a lot of photos, most of them are 'shit' though, out of focus, bad composition and etc... so it's boring to watch.. i need to filter and edit many of them..
Anyway.. But i am feeling it. My energy is already fading. I don't know what to do.. well i do know.. i need to clean my house, lets start with that, it's full with cat hair, dust and it's a mess.. It's a lot of work, so i'll be focussing on that for now, but then i distract myself by being here, hehe, but i am so tired, to be fair, i haven't slept very well in the last 5 weeks. Did i even sleep 2 days ago? I was on a airplane, not much sleeping then.. Crying kids, it was a kids fest on the airplane, but thank god for my noise cancelling earphones, that was a good investment. The fact that i am crashing now is understandable, but i don't want to sit still.. and what am i doing now? Sitting still..) Being in my house.. like i used to do before.. It just feels wrong.. i don't wanna be here, but where do i want to be? I dont know...
What do normal people do on days like today? It's sunny, it's sunday.. Visit friends? During the holiday i had no problems.. I was alone, I just go and do my thing, there is so much to do and see, so much to experience, here i feel lost.. Directionless, i don't know what to do.
Crap..
Well.. i think i'm gonna clean a bit and go to bed soon, i need to catch up (it's not even afternoon and i am already falling asleep..)
But my cats.. they did miss me.. even when the 2 cat sitters came, she also mentioned that.. We were sitting on the couch and both cats were sitting with me.. both being in a deep sleep.. they do remember me and they do enjoy my company and they feel safe with me.. That's a nice feeling.. What would i do without the love of animals? They are my friends, my little buddies.
Also.. i'm gonna share it here, and not in the other sub, but i am done, with the INFP-sub. It was a good sub for me, for a while. I learned a lot about myself. But in my opinion it has really downgraded to BS. What a bunch of idiots (a lot of them, not everybody) So many lost people and i cant talk to them.. i try sometimes.. but to no avail.. They are stuck in their little loop, and they ain't listening and it sucks me in and i can't get them out.. Why do i wanna help? It's so draining sometimes.
Also i am here so connected with the internet world.. I just saw a news item, which brought me down as well.. i want to share, but its negative of course and somebody told me this is not the place to share these things.. so where can i share it? It has been said before, this place is a little sanctuary, also for me.. but if i can't share my own shit.. what kind of sanctuary is it for me? It's like.. why cant i share my shit? I know it's dark and it's hard.. I am alone again, in my own house, amongst friends... aint that funny?
How am i supposed to heal myself, if i see that the world needs healing.. But it's... it's governments i am talking about, it's the social structure, how.. how am i supposed to deal with that? Just accept it? I am not a conformist.. Or even a peaceful guy, i need action, change needs to happen, within me and the outside world. I don't wanna put blinders on, pretend it doesn't exist or it doesn't happen. Look at how many of us are troubled souls.. we need.. action, we need to change so many things about ourselves.
Observe but don't absorb, is a sentence i shared not so long with one of you.. and what am i doing? I am absorbing.. I gotta live to my own advice that i am giving away..
Crap... hehehe :) Well, at least i can still laugh about my own bullshit. Thx for listening. I am working on it.. and i am lost.. Not sure what to do and where to go..
The more i think about it, the more i feel i should do it.. Move out of the country, be in a place that i love and enjoy. In nature, in the mountains, in the sea with the fishies, with a culture i love and enjoy.. This culture here is... to shallow for my taste. It's about money and acting cool (not my friends, just.. this country in general) Being at parties and being seen as if you are cool.. It's empty and drug-fueled. (alcohol fueled, that's how a lot of people stay happy, by drinking and laughing)
They ignore problems, they ignore self-therapy and meditation.. (oeoe.. i need to meditate.. you know what.. after my post i will meditate for 30 minutes, lets do that.. lets be silent and be in the now) This country i live in.. it's a good country, better than many other countries.. wealthy, a caring government, we have health care and things like that.
But the people.. i mean, they are good people, but i am an outsider.. Not much family here, my friends have families, there is no time for me, they have their own lifes.. and i must find my own life too.
Lets meditate! Are you joining? Meditate everyday for 30 minutes (that's my minimum, Alan Watts said 40, but that's pushing it, lol.. hehehehe, if i can keep this up. I will meditate daily for an hour, that's my goal. )
I like to put rainforest sounds while meditating, but you have to be picky which background sounds you put on, some ambient sounds start to repeat itself and that becomes annoying, it distracts me from the meditation., because i can hear the loop, hehehe. 😅
Anyway thx again.

I(34m) have been with my partner (31f) for a little over 11 happy years now, 1 year ago we decided to take the plunge and leave our jobs to spend a year travelling South East Asia and Australia.
Perhaps naive to the fact that we would be spending 24/7 together and the implications that could cause over time, we set off and we’ve had an incredible time away and made some truly amazing memories together.
So where did it start to go wrong. 7 months into our adventure, some friends of my partner were in the same country as us, naturally she wanted to spend time with them on her own, so off she went whilst I spent a few days solo. Over the course of the time apart we had no contact. It’s not out of the ordinary for us to not message or call a lot when apart, but we would always check in at least once a day, although this time nothing from her. We’ve been together long enough now for me to have developed a ‘sixth sense’ to when something didn’t feel right between us, and it was sounding the alarms.
When I caught up to her 4 days later we went for lunch together, I asked if there was anything she wanted to talk to me about. To which her responses were ‘I’m not sure I really know who I am anymore’ , ‘I’m not sure if this relationship is what I want’ , ‘I don’t know what I want’ and that a lot of the books she had been reading recently were resonating with her and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be on her own.
I asked if there was anything I could do to help her, that I understood that there may not be an answer right now, and that this isn’t something that could be ‘analysed’ and the broken part fixed.
For context, leading up to this conversation, I had no idea that she was having doubts, when we went our separate ways a few days previous it was normal day for us.
So for the next 8 weeks I gave her space where I could, and I invested a lot of time working on myself, we were joined by close friends for 8 weeks so we were able to spend time with them and not be on top of each other. I figured that travelling together for so long was starting to take its toll on our relationship, I have an incredibly busy life at home and we would spend 1 day together a week and possibly a couple of evenings. So i tried my best to give her the space I thought she needed.
Things improved dramatically, we were (as far as I could tell) the best we’d been in years, but 5 weeks later, she told me that she still wasn’t happy and still felt exactly the same… this time I asked her if there was someone else, I knew her ex bf was in the country but didn’t say anything to her about it as I was sure that I was making myself paranoid. She told me that wasn’t the case, and that she wanted to go to Australia to see her best friend in the hope that she may then get some space to figure things out. Around an hour after this conversation, I was alone in our hotel room, struggling to process everything and incredibly sad. My partner walked into the room, hugged me, and then initiated us sleeping together, first thing the following morning she did exactly the same thing. So naturally my head was a war zone of mixed signals.
So we went to Oz, I dropped her with her friend and went off to spend a week by myself again, this time though I really didn’t have a good time, I was an anxious mess and wanted to pack the whole trip up and go home. We met up later that week and I expressed my feelings about how we were doing the ‘space’ and that I was considering going home early alone as I would be happier doing it there. She apologised that I had felt that way and told me to not leave.
We are now 2 weeks past that conversation, in Malaysia now and about to head home in 3 days. Last night I decided to bring up to our relationship and how she was feeling. She told me that she STILL wants more space. So we are spending another week apart maybe longer, when we land.
She has yet to make any plans with going back to work, no plans with where she will be staying, and no real intentions of giving me any idea of where I stand anymore.
I want to treat this return home as a fresh start, time to save for a mortgage, time to consider the idea of kids - but I am terrified of bringing anything of this up with her as I have absolutely no idea if she is even committed to being together.
The last 3 months this has been going on has made me quite unwell mentally, have I enjoyed my time travelling during these 3 months, no, not particularly…I spend my time wondering if I should walk away, take the time to work on myself and then put myself back out there and find someone that reciprocates the life ambitions I have.
I feel incredibly confused a great deal of the time, and I would appreciate some advice/opinions.
Thank you

So I played around a decade ago and back then I was pretty broke and chose to sail the seven seas, as it were. I enjoyed the game and eventually moved on. Fast forward to now, bought the game on Steam for nostalgia and have a total of 25 hours invested. My husband remains supportive.
The issue arose when I went to add mods and noticed my username was taken. Turns out I already have an account with a Steam key I’m able to send to my email. I completely forgot I had bought the game and assumed I pirated it.
The website warns me that giving the key away is a big no-no but I feel like I wasted $35 because my memory is complete ass. According to Steam their return policy requires less than 2 hours of playtime so I probably can’t go that route.
Does that mean the key is useless? I really can’t even give it away despite having bought the game twice? Would I get banned if I did? Thanks for any insight.

Timestamp 1 timestamp2
Okay folks...got a room to clear out and we have a good amount of items. Prices are listed, prefer local but will ship if needed.
If it isn't crossed out, it is available, local is Houston, TX

Type	Item	Socket	Condition	Price	Note
CPU	i3-10105F	LGA1200	9/10 - used solely for testing	$ 60.00	No Box
CPU	i3-10105F	LGA1200	9/10 - used solely for testing	$ 60.00	No Box
CPU	i3-10105F	LGA1200	9/10 - used solely for testing	$ 75.00	Comes with Heatsink
Mobo	Asus TUF Gaming H570 Pro Wifi	LGA1200	Open Box, tested 10/10	$ 125.00	Box, full accessories
Mobo	Asus TUF Gaming H570 Pro Wifi	LGA1200	used in previous build, tested 9/10	$ 100.00	No box, comes with wifi
Mobo	Asus Prime H570 Plus	LGA1200	used in previous build, tested 9/10	$ 85.00	No I/O Shield, no box
Mobo	Asus Prime B560 Plus	LGA1200	used, 7/10, works perfectly, aesthetic defects	$ 70.00	No I/O Shield, no box
PSU	Asus 750W TUF	Non-Modular	9/10 - used only for testing	$ 70.00	No Box/accessories
PSU	EVGA 1600W P+	Fully Modular	9/10 like new in Box, customer did not want	$ 225.00	Box, full accessories
PSU	EVGA 1600W G+	Fully Modular	9/10 like new in Box, customer did not want	$ 175.00	Box, full accessories
PSU	Corsair HX1500i	Fully Modular	8/10, used - 3 years old?	$ 175.00	No Box/Have all cables/extras
CPU/Mobo/RAM	i7 3770k delidded, Asus V Formula, 2x16gb DDR3, h100i Corsair radiator, 256gb ssd	LGA1155	7/10 Good condition, 5 years old	$ 200.00	no box, comes with wifi, cpu/coolememory installed
RAM	G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 2x4GB (8GB total) X 4	DDR4 2400	9/10, excellent condition testing RAM	$ 20.00	$15/EA local, $20 shipped
VR	Oculus / Meta Quest 2 256gb	256gb	9/10 has been babied, no scratches, drops.	$ 275.00	Box + accessories
VR	Tyco Tech Golf Adapter			Incl
VR	Extra Battery for Headstrap			Incl
VR	HTC Vive Deluxe Audio Strap w/ Adapter			Incl
VR	VR Cover with 2 extra silicone pads			Incl
Keyboard	Logitech 915 TKL		10/10 - tried it for 1 hour, didn't like.	$150	Used for less than 1 hour, all box/accessories
Sim Racing	Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel Base PS4/PS5		8/10 used, few years old	$275	used
Sim Racing	Fanatec CSL Elite Pedals w/ LC and Clutch		8/10 used, few years old	$200	used
Sim Racing	Fanatec F1 Esports Steering Wheel		7/10 used, minor scuffs	$150	used
Sim Racing	Fanatec Clubsport RS Wheel		10/10 - rarely used.	$225	Like New, box/all accessories
Case Fan	5-pack,Antec P12 PWM w/ RGB	120mm	9/10 - a bit dusty from sitting in the closet	$ 25.00	$30 shipped
Case Fan	Antec P12 3 Pin Non RGB x 3	120mm	10/10 unused	$ 7.00	$7/ea or $20 for 3 shipped
Case Fan	UPHere RGB Fan x 4	120mm	8/10 used	$ 5.00	$5/ea or $15 for 4 shipped
Misc	7 Inch Mini Monitor Display x 1		9/10 - most still have screen protector on them	$ 25.00	$30 shipped
Misc	7 Inch Mini Monitor Display x 2		9/10 - most still have screen protector on them		SALE PENDING
Misc	ARGB & PWM Splitter Hub 12 ports x 2		10/10 unopened	$15
Projector	Auking Projector A9500 L		9/10, still in box, used maybe once or twice.	$50	$60 shipped

Royal Road here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/80877/nop-atalors-fate
Discord Tag: notafurrylad
It's been a while, huh?

First Last Next
Memory transcription subject: Yivreen, Cyonian Survivor
Date [standardized human time]: February 22nd, 2134
The flash daymares hadn’t stopped. Four nights since they’d set in, and now those two fire and brimstone eyes were lingering, waiting to come out when I was asleep. I’d thought that first daymare had been a fluke. It’d felt real, getting chomped up like that, crushed. But... ah.
I’d had more. Once I was in the mouth of that Arxur who’d kicked down the tree. Then I was in the cages with Hens Jr and Sr, and Alma... And each time if there was time for it that swampheaded, red eyed, smokey Arxur would come on in. Try and guilt me like I’d done something wrong.
It was working.
“Yiv. Yiv! I think I got it!” I blinked, my stupor broken by Junior. The kid had been a good help with the computer system since we’d let him fiddle with it instead of me. Much to my... begrudging admission: he was better at it. So, I stood from the chair and headed over to him. The monitor and console were lit up good as new, but they’d been like that for a couple nights now. We’d finally got access to a local map when that’d happened. Or rather a map of the surrounding area, outdated as it was it still had the location of the city on it. It wasn’t like anything had significantly changed in the past hundreds of years since this place had been abandoned. It had been the whole ‘trying to page it into the rest of the old systems at the outpost’ part that’d eluded Juniors little pet project.
“What did you get?” I replied, leaning over his shoulder with a paw on the console while he typed at it.
He cleared his throat. “W-well. I was able to find the wire that’d been causing the problem with the connection to the outpost’s server.” A server? What?
“What do you mean a server? I thought the only computer systems in here were in this room?” He turned his head, a brown eye winking at me. “Nuh-uh! Were you even listening when I explained it earlier? It’s more than just a weather monitoring station. It had a server, otherwise why would it need so many type-v connectors. See?” He pointed a claw to the bundle of wiring running up the wall and into a concrete hole that looked to lead to the next floor above us. Probably. I hadn’t really cared about how many wires there were.
“So... there’s more than just the databanks here in this room?” I asked. My eyes were tasked with looking over the monitor with pursed lips. I’d dug through some ye olde outpost files in the past nights for my journalist program but evidently I’d been missing things if all it took was one kid who had a knack for tech to ascertain there was more to these places.
Before my question could be answered though the command lines and startup protocols on the operating system for the thing had popped by and opened up onto a familiar desktop of our more modern tech. Junior went about clicking immediately to some command line and writing in some jibberish... And- my eyes widened. “What’s that?” I asked, pointing my claw to all the commands on his little black background’d screen.

1: Status
2: Logs
3: Garage Door
4: Barrack Override
5: Communications

Were among the top five, with a half dozen more I didn’t quite have time to think on. “Quick- quick! The uh- There’s a garage?” Don’t get distracted Yivreen. Ahhh moss-heaps.. “The Barrack Override. See what that does.”
The boy swatted away my paw trying to push at it. “Calm down! Calm down jeez, fine!” He jammed his digit into the corresponding number and pressed enter. A few moments passed as it simply displayed three dots. I waited... I waited.. Cmoooo-
Clank. VV-vv-vvv-veeeeeee....
It sounded like something behind the wall to our left was trying to unrust itself and move. A couple hundred years of not moving or being maintained had probably ensured it’d never get moving smooth again. Then of course the universe proved me wrong, and the wall actually shifted. The rounded metal slab I’d taken for a part of the tower’s superstructure began to lower, and behind it... “Holy shit.”
I don’t know where the extreme language had come from but... Wow. My eyes lit. Bunks. Bedding. Lockers.. It looked like the room beyond had been some sort of lodging area for soldiery when this place was built. But there’d been a grow-in on the back wall from a massive root. Snaring part of the room in its gripping-vinelike vice grip. The root was long dead, and the hole it’d bored through the concrete had left the inside exposed to the elements a touch more than if it’d just been left... At least there wasn’t much evidence of water damage.
“Yiv? Are you-” But I was already headed through the way, a paw on my pistol as I glanced around the abandoned room. My mind went right to checking out the lockers, which turned out to be a good idea. My little training sessions into understanding the named bits for guns with Alma were about to start paying off.
“We’ve got guns. Or... Something like guns.” I announced, pulling out the carrying case and flipping it open. Inside I found what looked to be a.. Hrm- no magazine, no bullets... I lifted it up, the rifle-like hardened carbon material was in remarkably good shape. Probably due to the case and materials, but something was different about it. I glanced my eyes over it, noting the electronic aiming system on top which... when I clicked at it offered a red circle for looking through the little scope with. Huh. Not a common thing to find on a Cyonian designed weapon, at least not these nights. This place was old, but this weapon looked like it’d been built by something more ambitious than Federation paws. Federation handhelds were all modified from the same combustion based lead belchers. A fact that rarely ever went unspoken on our own networks when we needed a reason to criticize Aafa.
It took a while longer, but eventually I did find a snap-button on the back of the trigger grip that made something inside it hum to life. My eyes widened. “It’s... An energy weapon.” I murmured. My tail flicking in apprehension. Would it even still fire? The red blinking just below the button told me it must have no power perhaps but... “Hey. Junior. You think you could figure out how to charge one of these guys-?”
I turned my head to see the kid standing at the threshold with his tail in his paws, gripping them anxiously. “Yiv. The uh. The communications aren’t working, but I think the garage door might open if we try it. It could be that cropping of wall and sealed door we figured the old power system must have been housed in right?” He glanced to the rifle in my paws. “I mean, if it uses the same standards as the computer out here it should still be compatible with our stuff. But- we don’t have anything to charge power packs of that size.” He pointed to the fixture sticking out the bottom of the stock. Hrm, he was right.
“See if you can’t get the garage open. I’ll keep looking in here and see if there’s something to help with that.” Came my own voice, I felt... Giddy. Alive. The potential to fight back was intoxicating. Before all I’d had was this dinky pistol I’d used to... kill a couple of the greys. But if we could bring the fight to their patrols, save more people-
I shook my head. Why was I thinking like this? I couldn’t stand up to an invasion fleet. I’d been a frightened Sivkit on the first night of the attack. I- I’d stampeded. I couldn’t remember any of it, but the chance I’d trampled someone in my panic was not zero. I might have contributed to someone being crushed... I’d failed Els, that soldier I’d dragged into the house. Obelisk I couldn’t even keep my mind straight in a fight with those howling, laughing Arxur in my head. The campfire fight had been a fluke!
I didn’t quite know how long I just sat there, staring at the rifle beating myself up, but eventually I was shaken from it by Keick when she sat beside me, an arm on my shoulder. “Hey. I heard you and Junior had a bit breakthrough eh?” She said non-chalantly. I could tell though, even with the chipper tone she’d read me. The accountant knew I’d been in one of my little moods. She’d known me the longest of anyone here, everyone else was like... a pack of convenience? Maybe not Junior. Keick and I had survived the woods together. I’d pulled her from her own hells next to that burning car.
“Hey.” I returned back. “Yeah. Junior got the servers working. Or something like that.” I pointed a claw over at the computer, only to notice he was gone now. I blinked. Had I been out of it that long?
Keick filled in the hole in my head. “He went with his old man to go check out the garage.” Oh. Yeah.
I looked around, “Ah. The guns. We have guns now. Real guns.” I explained, holding the one I had in my paws up for her to inspect.
“Doesn’t look like any gun I’ve seen.” She mused back, taking it from my grip. My body was moving on its own now, rummaging deeper into the lockers. Some of these cases had been broken by the snaring, smaller branches of the grow-in. The firearms within cracked open and busted. Probably no good at all, exposed to the ambient humidity as they had been for so long. Still, couple of the other rifle cases were good. We had weapons, plural. Binoculars? Got em. Spare power packs that needed charging? Got em. There was a lot of survival gear here. Like a militarized ranger outpost had been stationed here. The synthetic material of the camouflaged cloak I found proudly proclaimed it’d reflect thermal scanning on its faded label even! “Either the old rangers from before the treaties were really into operator stuff or the Obelisk put all this here just for us.” I murmured.
Keick, for her part seemed to be looking it all over with a little inventory in her head. Already tapping in the number of each item into her dataslate. “Well. I’d go with the former. The Obelisk hasn’t been around for us lately.” Came the reply as she poked a claw at one of the now entirely spoiled ration packs. “Still, there’s enough stuff here you could arm a squad of soldiers probably. If you know where we can find some spare soldiers that is.”
I flicked my ear at the poor humoured joke. “Ahuh.” Came my reply. “Maybe you should go try the radio again, they’d love to get their paws on stuff like this I think. Pre-war tech actually made to fight predators like this is rare.” Which begged the question... Why did the cloak boast about defeating thermals? These outposts were dated after our discovery and incorporation into the Federation as an early member, and WELL before the Arxur war. So why had we built cloaks like these? Was this equipment used during the years when we’d resisted the burning of our forests and jungles? If so, it meant it might have been auhh... much more violent then the archives made it out to be. Maybe there was a story here? My inner journalist was theorizing.
___________________________
I’d had to pick my jaw up off the ground after headed over to the garage. Hens Senior and Alma were leaned over the the opened hood of what looked like a remarkably still intact forest rover. The design was actually recognizable, having not changed much from what we had tonight. Six thick grooved tires, a buggy-like cockpit four seater set in the middle, and a back and top rack for storing anything you could want. “Is it working?” I asked the obvious as I stepped inside, noting Junior sat off to the side, fiddling with some wall mounted box or other. He didn’t look to actually know what he was doing beyond dusting it off and giving it a deep stare.
“I wouldn’t think so.” Came the chime of Keick, who’d followed me inside. It was around now my monocular visioned eyes were noting the various tools and spare parts laying around in the garage. Whoever had last been here had left in a hurry seemingly, because it was mostly stocked. No mess on all the immensely dusty parts. I could see a couple smaller fauna in the corners. A lizard here, a rodent there. Obviously there had been some way they’d chewed their way in at some point... Or they’d come in when the door was opened to the bustle and noise of the forest to my back.
It was Senior who looked back at my question, standing to his full height before leaning his back against the old vehicle. “No. It isn’t working. Or at least it won’t be until I figure a way to give the battery juice.” I tilted my head.
“Is it one of those older ones that zap out after a hundred years or so?” Came my obvious question.
He flicked his tail no. “It’s got one of the standard ones, it’s just that it stopped auto-cycling a couple hundred years ago. The electric motor looks like it should work if we pop it on. But we’ll have to see.” He glanced around the workshop. “I want to say we could probably get it working with the tools we have, but if the battery can’t be jumped, or it’s spent, or the motor needs a complete replacement we’re up a creek on getting it working.” It sounded like he knew a bit about it.
The feeling of my face scrunching ever so much came. “You didn’t tell me you were a handyman.” I said, crossing my arms.
“Well it never came up.” He said back with an affable smile. “Listen, it’s been a long couple weeks. Don’t get all spotty with me. We didn’t have anything a hobbying mechanic could fix anyhow.” Just a roll of the eyes from myself is all that met him as Keick spoke up, stepping over to the other three.
“So what’re you gonna jump it with?” She asked incredulously, leaning over the open cabin. From there I sort of... zoned out. All the older Cyonians present were bickering and blathering about the buggy which was quickly losing interest for me. I didn’t understand anything about mechanics like that beyond the bare minimum, so it was out of my purview. If they got it working that’d be another thing but I wouldn’t have been any help right now, so instead I placed a couple careful paws down until I was beside Junior, sitting next to him as he seemed to be eyeballing some far too faded label.
He had a paw lightly rubbing out the dust that’d caked an outlet, still one brown eye fixed on the label. All I could make out myself was the little yellow square symbol warning of an electric charge hazard. Weird to think even now those hadn’t changed. Had Federation technology really not changed all that much? Was it just us? A sigh. “So. What’s got your your nose twitching little dude?”
The past couple nights he’d gotten better with his anger, and... hadn’t destroyed any important tech in a fit of rage. All he’d needed was something to set himself to in a difficult situation like this. Keich had been right to set him on that computer. And.. I’d felt myself trying to encourage him along the way. Partly because I had an investment in getting those maps, and then partly because he’d ended up filling in a spot in my head like a younger cousin. Him and his old man had only been around for a little bit, but I guess maybe I didn’t want to think too hard about what had probably happened to my real family. For now, maybe I felt the most ‘at home’ around Keich and this little tinkerer. Was that weird? It felt like it should be weird.
He answered, looking up with a small upturn in his lips. “I think I found your energy cell charger for those guns you had.” He said simply. “One of the manuals over there wasn’t totally ruined, I saw something about a ‘optical projector weapon’ and ‘charger’ so I was trying to figure out if this was it. I... Think it might be, but I’d need one of those batteries to make sure.”
Now I felt like smirking. “Oh yeah? Well go get one swamp brain. Let’s see if these things still work huh?” Dutifully, he was up and off, tail shaking behind him in what I recognized as excitement. We weren’t totally defenceless anymore, and if the buggy could be salvaged there would be a means at least to relocate if we had to. Or... Maybe I could take a trip down to the city and paint a couple more of those scumbags red-
I shook my head. Where had that thought come from? If I was going back to Ataln it was to try and save more people... Yeah. I still needed to see if Gael was alive, maybe check that old house I’d left Els in. I don’t even know if I could find it now, knowing how scatterbrained I’d been at the time but- making a return to at least try seemed worth it.
Regardless, the box on the wall did turn out to be the correct port to charge energy cells for the guns. We’d just need to rig it up to the solar power system and juice them up to test them. Things were looking up! Our mobility had the potential to go from nights in every direction for shelter to mere hours, I’d just have to hope Senior knew what he was doing.
“Hey. Buddy.” I’d wrapped my arm around Junior’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go take a break for now huh? You were working on the computer all night. Maybe it’d be a good idea to just go relax. Enjoy how much you got done eh?” Besides. Gave me a good way to check out the logs page on the computer system myself before he stumbled on anything. It wasn’t like I didn’t trust him with it but- well there was no way to know what was in those logs.
He nodded, and with that I stood up, streeeetched out, and headed toward the tower. “Good, it’s your shift on the guard tower anyway.” I intoned politely. It was going to be a long day, assuming there was anything of substance in those logs... Scrounging through those would be preferable to sleeping right now anyway.

LOOOONG first time trip report! 5/13-5/18, stayed at Beach Club, visited all four parks, bought Genie+ every day, had the standard DDP. Family of 4, two girls 5 and 9. I learned so much from this group over the past year and especially loved trip reports, so hopefully this post will be helpful to someone!
💲BUDGET💲
-- I booked the trip a year out so I could break it up into 12 manageable payments. I opened the no fee Disney VISA, which gives you several months of no interest on charges made towards Disney travel packages, rewards dollars to use at Disney, and a couple other perks like character meet and greets and discounts.
-- I signed up for Disney Movie Insiders. This is what you're supposed to do with all those little codes that come in Disney DVDs/Blurays. You enter the codes in exchange for points, and at 1000 points, you can redeem for a $10 Disney gift card. You also get points for being subscribed to Disney+, seeing Disney movies in the theater, their social media accounts, and a whole bunch of other things. I got $50 in gift cards from this alone.
-- If you want Disney-themed luggage, try thinking outside the box to save money! I got plain luggage in Mickey colors--red and black--and Mickey luggage tags to make them Disney themed.
-- I tried to budget for souvenirs via gift cards... but I failed, lol. Everything is so expensive, $100 is gone in a second. Plushes are like $40, coffee cups are $20, etc. Whatever you're planning to spend, double it! I get what people say about most shops having the same stuff, but it's definitely not all of them, most of the ones post-ride have unique stuff. And honestly it's kind of nice most of them have the same stuff, if you want to get whatever your kid was asking for earlier, you don't have to walk all the way back to the one shop you saw it at.
-- We paid for Memory Maker and I'm on the fence about it. On the one hand, it's really nice to get all the ride photos and meet and greet photos and magic shots. It's also really nice for the whole family to be in a lot of pictures and not have to swap with the other adult or find someone willing to take your picture. On the other, we definitely didn't utilize it as much as I wanted to because a lot of the photographers had pretty long lines and I just didn't want to spend time waiting for a picture I could take myself. If we came across someone with a shortish or no line, we made sure to get it, but for anyone with a long line, we just stood around the same spot and took our own.
🗓️PLANNING🗓️
-- If you have kids and live within easy driving distance of another amusement park, highly recommend making a visit BEFORE going to Disney to get an idea of how they handle that kind of day/environment, especially if they have never been. I quickly discovered we would absolutely need a stroller and I would need to be militant with the kids about staying hydrated. Also to avoid face paint, as heat + tears + paint + eyes = bad day! I felt so much better making these discoveries beforehand and being able to prepare accordingly, rather than making them at Disney.
-- USE AN AGENT! An agent is free to you, so why not have the help? Ours was amazing, she gave us quotes, booked the package, rebooked as needed later when a better deal came out, made all the payments, dining and extra reservations, and was just all-around awesome to work with. It was such a load off to know I wasn't on my own with all this stuff.
-- Watch everything Ear Scouts. No one explains Genie+ better, and Rob and Erick's videos are just so positive and beautiful and well done.
-- I also enjoyed reading Disney Tourist Blog--lovingly snarky but super informative!--and Disney Food Blog for fun tips and news.
-- I didn't find any park to be a half day park, we filled our whole day in every one and still didn't see everything!
-- My kids did really well, whenever they were on the verge of cranky, we had one ride in the stroller for a while, bought a snack (usually ice cream or popcorn), and used the bubble wand, and/or gave them some ibuprofen, and everyone felt better pretty quick. We never tried to do fireworks, we were all done by 8 so always left after dinner. The only park we closed down was EPCOT because we didn't get out of dinner until after close, and that was a really cool experience, the park was so quiet and empty and beautiful!
-- You don't NEED a Magic Band... but man, was it convenient. We just had 1.0 Magic Bands though, we didn't bother with the 2.0s.
-- I guess moving through security fast is important to people rope dropping... but as someone who didn't, it added like maybe 30 seconds to a minute to the experience the couple times my bag got flagged, it's really not a big deal.
-- I'm not saying anyone's lying about bad experiences or exaggerating or anything, but try to remember that far more people go on the Internet to complain than they do to praise. I got so stressed about all the things that could go wrong, and we had a pretty much perfect trip. The only attraction that broke down on us was Muppetvision, of all things. The only "bad behavior" we witnessed was the morning we were leaving, we could hear a dad across the hall yelling at his family, I think they overslept and were going to miss their flight or something? We just turned the TV on so we didn't have to hear him. A couple times we forgot to take our stuff with us when we parked our stroller or forgot some food in it, and neither people nor animals bothered it. The only dicey thing that happened to us was me dropping my phone into the Dumbo moat, the cast members fished it out and it still worked, I sent them a cast compliment for all their help! All the cast members were great, I'm not really sure what people expect but IMO they all do amazing for having to be peppy and helpful all day in absolutely blazing heat, walking a ride conveyer belt nonstop, repeating the same spiels over and over, meeting person after person, etc. I wouldn't last a 2 hour shift let alone 8. Cast members, you rock!!!
✈️TRAVEL✈️
-- We flew Delta, flight there was flawless, flight home was delayed by an hour waiting for crew and was a little bumpy (which is not great for a nervous flyer like me) but otherwise fine.
-- Get TSA PreCheck! Good for a few years, if the adults have it the kids have it too. It made the whole experience so much easier. That said, even PreCheck still moves kind of slow at MCO, so definitely get there at least 2 hours early for your flight. Use curbside check-in for bags, way faster than the long line inside!
-- On our agent's recommendation, we used Away We Go for ground transport in Orlando. They communicate really well, both ways were flawless, no complaints!
-- We used Minnie Vans to get to Animal Kingdom + Sanaa and Magic Kingdom, what a wonderful service! Definitely pricey, but they had cartoons on in the car, booster seats they set up for you, and the drivers were so nice and friendly and had fun trivia to share. I never had any problem requesting one when I needed it.
⛱️BEACH CLUB⛱️
-- We knew we wanted an onsite hotel where you could walk to at least one park. This pretty much limits you to a handful of Deluxe hotels or the Swan and Dolphin. Beach Club won for us because it's "in the Disney bubble" and you can walk to 2/4 parks. Note that while you can technically walk to Hollywood Studios, it is a LOOOONG walk. The boat is a nice not crowded alternative! We did not make use of Early Entry or Extended Hours, we're just not built for either. Beach Club was lovely, we booked a resort view but I think we ended up with a water view, we were right by the quiet pool and could see the water beyond from our room. Stormalong Bay was a little crazy for us but we loved the quiet pool. Best thing about Beach Club though is the location, EPCOT is literally steps away!
🌳ANIMAL KINGDOM🌳
-- We had read that there's really no bad day to do AK, so we started there. We rode: Navi River Journey, Flight of Passage, Kali River Rapids, Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Triceratops Spin, and Dinosaur--so pretty much everything! With Genie+ we walked onto all of them. We also met Moana, Pocahontas, and Russell! The only thing we didn't do here that we wanted to was the Gorilla Falls trail, but we just ran out of time before the park closed.
🌐EPCOT🌐
-- We had read to avoid EPCOT on Fridays and Saturdays, so we went on Wednesday. We rode: Grand Fiesta Tour, Living with the Land, Nemo, Spaceship Earth, Imagination with Figment, Frozen, Remy, Journey of Water, and Guardians--everything we wanted! Again, with Genie+, we walked right onto everything! Outside of our character meal (more on that in the dining section!), we also met Anna, Elsa, and Asha! Tried a couple of Flower and Garden snacks: chicken and waffles, fruit and cheese strudel, and potato pancakes, all were delicious! Everyone had a different favorite day, but EPCOT was personally my favorite day, it felt like we were firing on all cylinders and the day just went really smoothly!
🏰MAGIC KINGDOM🏰
-- We had read that Wednesdays were the quietest days at MK, so we were originally going to try to do it that day, but we could only get a reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table on Thursday, so we switched it up. Definitely the most crowded of all the parks we visited, but I think that's just the norm for MK, everyone wants to go to the castle park with the most rides. We rode: Regal Carousel, Tomorrowland Speedway, Barnstormer, Magic Carpets, Mad Tea Party, People Mover, Dumbo, Small World, Little Mermaid, Pirates, Space Ranger Spin, Jungle Cruise, TRON, and Peter Pan. Again, with Genie+, we walked right onto everything! The only ride we missed at this park that we wanted to do was Pooh, I couldn't manage to get a return time that was earlier than we planned on leaving. Outside of our character meals (more on those in the dining section!) we also met Mirabel, Tiana, and Rapunzel! We had both the Rapunzel and Aurora ice creams, both so good and cute!
🎬HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS🎬
-- We had read that, like MK, it's better to do HS later in the week, so we went Friday. We rode: Slinky, Alien Saucers, Toy Story Mania, Rise, Smuggler's Run, Runaway Railway. Again, with Genie+, we walked right onto everything! The only ride we missed was Tower of Terror, again I couldn't manage to get a return time that was earlier than we planned on leaving. We also met Olaf, be aware Olaf doesn't sign stuff, they just give you a signature card. This park needs more shade IMO, especially Toy Story Land, I know it's supposed to be Andy's backyard, but I don't see why that means we can't have some shade from trees or something. 🤪 Blue milk from Galaxy's Edge was really good, the family was all fighting over it!
🍽️DINING🍽️
-- We almost certainly lost some money on the DDP, but I'm still glad we got it because it allowed us to do more table service meals and have less stress overall about expenses. We easily used up everything but child quick service credits, we had a few of those left over near the end.
Here's where we ate!
BOARDWALK DELI/PIZZA WINDOW: Pizza for the kids, sandwiches for the adults. Tasty and satisfying after our day of travel!
BEACHES AND CREAM: Got the kitchen sink for the experience, but honestly it's not great, all the ice cream and toppings melt together quick and you just end up with weird ice cream soup.
SAT'ULI CANTEEN: LOVED this place, everything was so yummy! Best quick service we had!
SANAA: Since Animal Kingdom closes so early, we thought we'd try to extend the experience by eating at Sanaa. What a great idea, we got seated right by a window and saw so many animals! The food was great too.
AKERSHUS: Our favorite princess meal! We met Aurora, Tiana, Snow White, Ariel, and Belle. They were all lovely, and the breakfast was really good too. Only 1 credit on the DDP!
GARDEN GRILL: Our kids really enjoyed getting to look down over Living with the Land and the fact that the restaurant spins. We met Farmer Mickey, Pluto, and Chip and Dale. They were fun and even came to our table more than once. Food was good!
SPACE 220: Not on the DDP, but wow, what a cool restaurant! Almost like a ride with the theming and the elevator up. Food was really good.
CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE: You gotta eat in the castle! We paid for it OOP because we didn't want to use up 2 DDP credits here. You're really going for the location and the princesses, the food is kinda meh, not bad but not as good as other places. The restaurant is small and they have to turn tables quick, so it's very understandable to me that the princesses have to move fast. It's not that they rush you, they'll take all the pictures you ask for and sign whatever and answer your questions, but if you don't have much you need, they try to keep moving. Akershus is much bigger so they are able to be more relaxed there. The only small bummer is that we didn't see Merida (maybe she was on vacation too!) We did meet Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, and Aurora though!
CRYSTAL PALACE: We are not big on buffets but we enjoyed meeting Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger!
TOPOLINO'S: Maybe the best food of the trip, steak and eggs were so good! The character artist costumes are so cute too. It was fun to have an excuse to ride the Skyliner to get here from Beach Club too.
DOCKING BAY 7: The theming is great, but the food wasn't as good as Satuli Canteen IMO.
THE MARKET AT ALE & COMPASS: We had quick service credits we wanted to use up on the last day and we didn't want to leave the resort again, otherwise I would have gone somewhere else, food was meh.
✨EXTRAS✨
-- I originally wanted to book Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for my kids, but it's so expensive/competitive that I decided I didn't want the stress. Instead I booked Have Wand, Will Travel to come to our room and bought dresses from Presley Couture and Only Little Once. I chose Have Wand, Will Travel because they keep character throughout. Fairy Godmother Elyse was amazing and so much fun, my kids loved it and kept talking about it all day!
-- That same morning I ordered a Sammicakes breakfast box with beignets for us to eat. I also ordered a pretend letter from The DCP and Me on Etsy to make it seem like the breakfast came from Tiana. My kids also loved this and had fun telling Tiana about it both times we met her. Sammicakes was good but a LOT of food, sadly we didn't end up eating half of it. It can last you at least 3 days!
-- We had Birthdays and More decorate our door, it was a really fun surprise for the kids on our first day and made our room easy to find. The kids also loved reusing the decorations at home on their own doors!
-- Matching shirts and ear hats, all from Etsy! So many cool designs there, hardest part is choosing!
-- Got my kids a pin trading lanyard with some pins, they loooooved pin trading! It was like free souvenirs.
🧳PACKING🧳
-- Things the Internet Told Me to Pack That I Needed: Scissors, ziploc bags, ibuprofen (kids and adults), garbage bags, big carabiners to hook on the strolleuse to carry multiple bags at once.
-- Things the Internet Told Me to Pack that I Didn't Need: stainless steel straws (the paper straws are more like hard cardboard, they really don't break down unless your kid is gnawing on them or something), ponchos (it did rain some most days, but wearing a poncho was almost more miserable than not wearing one, it's so hot and humid to be walking around in a plastic bag! We did better taking shelter and using umbrellas.), wipes (obv you need them if your kid is younger, but mine were older and just never got messy enough to need them), glow sticks (we never stayed anywhere long enough to use them), bottled wateLiquid IV (the tap water tasted the same as home to us, but we live in a rural area so maybe we are just used to imperfect water?) Basically, the less you can get away carrying in the parks, the better. It's annoying to lug stuff around you don't end up needing or using!
🛞STROLLER🛞
-- I know it seems insane that your 5 year old and 9 year old will need a stroller, but mine definitely did. Once I accepted that I was going to have to get one, I tried to make the best of it, and actually got really into decorating it so we could always easily spot it in the sea (the decorations also later made nice wall decor for a gallery of our trip!) The Magic Spotter flag was the best investment, hardly anyone had them so it was easy to instantly spot our stroller anywhere we left it, even if it got moved. That said, I definitely didn't want to spend a lot on a stroller we were really only buying for this one trip, so I got a used Joovy Caboose on Facebook Marketplace for $50. It was very hard to handle with two older kids in it, and even with one it was hard to handle unless the kid was in the back seat. So we basically used it like a single stroller, glad I didn't spend a lot on it since it was so hard to drive!
☔WEATHER☔
-- We had mostly great weather, it rained some every day except Magic Kingdom day but it passed within an hour each time. We wore socks with Crocs so that if/when it rained, we could just take our wet socks off and walk in our Crocs, this worked great! Don't trust the weather reports though, two days it wasn't supposed to rain. One day it actually didn't, the other day it did and we had to walk in wet shoes because we didn't wear the Crocs that day. Just figure it might rain any day and be prepared! See above note RE: ponchos being not great and shelter + umbrellas being better. When it didn't rain, It. Was. Hot. 🥵 In the 90s but definitely felt hotter with the humidity making it so sticky. We felt there was plenty of shade at Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, but hardly any at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, which I would say slightly affected how much fun we had on those days comparatively.
Phew! That's about it, let me know if you have any questions!

2017 came and went with no notable missions. It was a busy year for NASA on the ground, however. New contracts and buildings, the re-election of Obama, and the announcement that the ISS would be retired in 2028. After many a few appeals to congress, NASA gained continued funding for both Orion and a future joint space station with the ESA and JAXA. Boeing’s Starliner was delayed into 2019, and the Crew Dragon would not be ready until 2020. So it was that Orion 3 would be the biggest mission of 2018. And it was no wonder why. Humanity would be returning to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17, and NASA was ready to promote it.
The mission was a cultural milestone in itself – it was the first time NASA would stream an Orion mission in its entirety online, and it became popular for large internet celebrities and news hosts to talk about the upcoming mission. They would be paid, of course. For the first few steps, whoever would take them, a combined audience of ~1,000,000,000 would be watching them.
Astronaut selection was tricky. NASA needed to choose a crew that had experience, but were limited in that not many of their astronauts were both experienced flight-ready. Most of NASA Astronaut Group 19 were retired (or about to), but one stuck out to the Astronaut Office: Christopher Cassidy. Much like Wiseman, he was a former Chief of the Astronaut Office, and had two flights under his belt, both Shuttle and Soyuz. He would be assigned as Mission Commander. Another that stuck out was James Dutton. He was a pilot aboard the Shuttle, and endeared to the former shuttle personnel and many NASA employees. He was selected as pilot. Robert S. Kimbrough, another Shuttle astronaut, was selected as flight engineer. Jack D. Fischer was selected as payload specialist for the mission, rounding out the crew with three NASA Astronaut Group 19 astronauts and one NASA Astronaut Group 20 member.
During training, ideas for callsigns were thrown around. NASA wanted something symbolic of their progress and the future, politics would drive them to name it something patriotic, while the public would be largely indifferent. Except a minority: the Star Trek fans. Much like with the Space Shuttle of late, they had campaigned for Orion to be named after the USS Enterprise. In the end, it would be left up to the crew to decide the names. And you can likely guess what they chose. So it was the Orion capsule for this mission would be named Enterprise, and the Altair to be named Polaris. After a long eight months of training, production, processing, paperwork, calculations and other assorted work, the mission was ready. The Ares I was rolled out to the pad, with it Polaris, and the booster launched half past three in April 2018.
But the successful launch of Polaris coincided with the news of the contracting of the Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV), to none other than JAXA. It would be complete by around 2022, meaning that it would be utilized on a mission no earlier than Orion 6. In exchange for this, a seat on Orion 4 was given. The SEV would be landed by a separate Altair lander. Contracting for the non pressurized Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) also fell to JAXA, this time being light enough to be unfolded from one of Altair’s cargo quadrants in its descent stage. The LRV, which had the majority of its work done, would be ready by 2020. This meant it would fly on Orion 4.
As Polaris orbited, Enterprise was rolled out to the pad. Much like Orion 2, there would be a large crowd to view the launch. Present was former President John McCain, Vice President Joe Biden, Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, three cabinet members, 30 mayors, 21 governors, 55 ambassadors, and 350 congressmen. A viewing public of almost 150,000 and 2,000 media representatives and personalities also attended.
After final check ups on Polaris, a go-ahead signal was given from Houston. Five minutes later, the launch countdown began. Liftoff began at 2:33 PM EST May 12, 2018. Three minutes into the flight, Kimbrough’s vitals flatlined. After a short panic from the flight surgeon, Kimbrough reported back that the sensors had failed. The fault was recorded, and the flight continued. By 2:41, Enterprise had entered its parking orbit.
For about an hour the systems were monitored, checked, and checked again. Polaris and Enterprise showed nominal performance, and procedure for relighting the EUS’s engines began.
After a short burn, Enterprise began its approach towards Polaris. After its approach, Enterprise circled her lander to check for damage or any potential issues. After this, Dutton maneuvered and docked with Polaris. Cassidy and Fischer opened Polaris’s main hatchway and conducted an inspection of the systems. After a short meal, the EUS fired its last burn to put Enterprise and Polaris in a Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI). The next three days were mostly monitoring systems and conducting small course adjustments with the RCS thrusters. On May 15, Enterprise fired up its engines to insert both it and Polaris into lunar orbit.
The selected landing site was Oceanus Procellarum, a few miles off of the Apollo 12 site. Oceanus Procellarum was chosen for its relative flatness, as well as to more thoroughly inspect the region. Apollo 12 didn’t cover all bases, so Orion 3 hoped to refine the data on the site and see how the new systems reacted.
The crew were allowed to sleep, and on May 16 orbital operations began. A small telescope was installed on Enterprise to conduct surface observations. The telescope was nowhere near powerful enough to see Polaris when it landed, but it could help scope out the area. Cassidy and Kimbrough were selected for landing on the Moon, and they spent their time in orbit powering the systems and adjusting to the lander interior. May 16 also included one of the most important experiments on the mission: sunflower bulbs were carried on board, with a small amount of dirt.
This was carried in a special compartment on board Altair, but the dirt and bulb itself were carried on Enterprise. The experiment, creatively titled the Lunar Bulb Germination Experiment (LBGE), would germinate the sunflower bulbs on the lunar surface, and note any differences.
Other experiments on the mission were the Altair Specialized Experiments Package (ASEP), which included experiments ranging from solar wind to passive and active seismology. A third and equally important experiment was the Lunar Deployable Payload Module (LDPM), which would simulate the deployment of the LRV for Orion 4. These experiments were stored in the side panels of Polaris, which could be pulled down for access.
It was a lot for the first mission, but both Mission Control and the crew were prepared and confident. Overall, this experiment package would consume the majority of the seven EVAs for the astronauts. The remaining time was spent collecting samples and resting.
The landing was scheduled for around 7:00 PM EST that day. Cassidy and Kimbrough entered Polaris and gave a salute to Fischer, and sealed off from Enterprise and undocked. After clearing a distance, the deorbit burn began. Minutes later, and under almost a billion viewers’ scrutiny, Polaris touched down. The first EVA would follow a few minutes later. Cassidy stepped into the airlock, depressurized, and looked out upon the lunar surface. Viewing peaked around this time, much to NASA’s Public Relations Offices’ delight. Cassidy descended the ladder down to the lunar surface, and stepped onto the lunar surface.
“With these steps, we begin anew the exploration of our nearest neighbor, in peace and with hope for all mankind.” The immortal words by Cassidy. He looked around the surface, and waited for Kimbrough to descend. Kimbrough’s words were not as majestic - “Looks just like White Sands.” After some remarks and looking around, the two received a call from none other than President Obama, who congratulated them on the mission. Work began shortly after.
First was the deployment of the American Flag on the lunar surface. Then was the deployment of the ASEP. First was the RTG, which would power the experiments. The command station was set up with the Ion and Passive Seismometer a few feet away. After the rest were set up, the Active Seismic Experiment (ASE) began. It was a simple thumper-geophone combination, and had good results. After the experiments were tested, the crew returned to Polaris and had their rest period.
May 17 began with freeze-dried breakfast and the second EVA. This EVA would set up the Radio Antenna Stand Test Article (RASTA). RASTA was a tripod stand with a small suite of communication instruments and a dummy satellite dish. RASTA would aid the development of the Farside Radio Observing Scanning Telescopes (FROST) for Orion 5. After this was another round certifying the ASEP was functional, sample collection began. The remainder of Day 2 was checking systems and deploying the more time-consuming ASEP systems. The Solar Wind Experiment (a large sheet on a tall pole) was also set up. In orbit, Dutton fired Enterprise’s engines, altering the orbit just enough to align the capsule for docking once Polaris lifted off. Fischer did surface observations, and took many photos of the lunar far side. The last activity for Day 2 was unpacking a small retroreflector, which was placed not far off.
Day 3 would be more sample collecting and exploring the landing site. Near the site was a shallow crater about fifteen meters across. Cassidy descended the crater wall, which Houston considered a risky move. After gaining his footing, he picked up a few soil and rock samples before climbing out. It became evident this move on Cassidy’s part was worth the risk, as the samples collected would help expand knowledge and study on lunar asteroid impacts. After this Cassidy and Kimbrough returned to Polaris to store the sample bags and process data. After a routine checkup on LBGE, the crew called it a day.
Day 4 meant the deployment of the LDPM. After wrangling the pulley on the panel, Kimbrough removed the panel and, with help from Cassidy, pulled the pallet out. The pallet itself was ten feet long, but had two hinges at the front and back allowing the pallet to fit into the cargo quadrant. They detached the pallet from Polaris and tested some of the batteries and affixed parts onto it (such as the antenna and seats). Most of these parts were non-functional, and this activity was mostly a practice exercise for Orion 4. The remainder of the day was spent inside Polaris, processing and transmitting the data for NASA to work with. Kimbrough, the mission specialist, was trained with a small degree of knowledge on geology and biology. While nowhere near certified, his work with the LGBE and sample collection were invaluable.
Days 5 and 6 were like the rest: checking ASEP systems, strolling around the lander, picking up samples, and processing data. Day 6 was special, because Cassidy and Kimbrough held a live interview for major news networks. In the meantime, Fischer and Dutton conducted gamma ray and x-ray observations, surface and stellar photography, and small particle spectrometer and mass spectrometer sensing. With the research being done by Enterprise, new images could be compared with old to note and new impacts or differences. Day 7 was the last day on the Moon, and that meant one thing: packing up. Experiments and data were packed up, samples were moved into their respective locations on board Polaris, and assorted cargo were taken aboard. The SWE had its net removed and placed in storage, and the ASEP was put into “Long-Duration Mode”.
Polaris lifted off the surface of the Moon on May 23, 2018, returning to Enterprise in orbit. Polaris’s ascent stage was jettisoned, and Enterprise’s engines were lighted to send it back to Earth. After a three-day coast, Enterprise and her crew reentered and splashed down off the coast of Hawai’i at 12:24 on May 26, 2018.
Orion 3 was a record-setting mission. The fourteen-day mission logged 120 minutes of EVA time, well above any mission on Project Apollo. Time, sample and other assorted records were all shattered. The data collected could be processed for decades of research and development, and the data on the Altair lander and Orion capsule would aid in the development of their respective Block II counterparts. The mission was also a large PR boost for the program, ensuring funding for FY2019 and beyond. After all, the election cycle for the Democrat Party was only two years away and the announcement of Orion’s cancellation wouldn’t help their political base, which was slowly falling to the GOP, nonetheless after six years of the Obama administration. Orion missions up to Orion 15 were promised funding by congress, with a hopeful return on investment in international cooperation and research by 2025. This put political pressure on NASA to include more international partners in the program, much to both JAXA and the ESA’s delight. Seats for JAXA and ESA astronauts opened up for Orion 4, 5 and 7. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) would push for one of their astronauts on an Orion flight. Because of the current seat conflict, NASA responded with a resounding ‘Maybe.’

Photos

• Initial Unboxing
• After 1 month and conditioning

Context

I've had my eye on a pair of R.M. Williams chelsea boots for around 2 years, and I finally decided to take the plunge. I'd call myself a beginner in the welted shoe world, but recently, I've been getting into higher quality, resoleable pairs of shoes.
I live in San Francisco, where casual style is the norm, but I'm not a huge fan of the Patagonia-and-sneakers look, so I've been purchasing better-quality and "dressier" shoes. I wouldn't go as far as saying any of these shoes are an investment, but I do consider the long-term environmental benefit of buying high-quality shoes that can be repaired.
This pair represents a few firsts for me:

• My first chelsea boots
• My first wholecuts
• My only pair with yearling leather (I have calf leather shoes from other brands)

Purchase & Sizing

I waited until a recent trip to London to purchase these shoes. RMW has had a store in New York, and I go there several times a year, but they are a bit cheaper in the UK once you consider the exchange rate and tax. The price was £399, VAT included, which came out to $497.75 when I purchased them. The price in New York City would be $539 + tax (8.875% or $47.16), bringing the total to $586.16. Since I knew I would be traveling to London and not declaring much else to customs when reentering the U.S., it made sense to wait.
All my other shoes have laces, and I just wasn't confident about how chelseas should fit, so I wanted to have someone size me in person. The sales rep in the London Soho store said there should be just a bit of heel slip initially, and you shouldn't feel any discomfort. This matches the fit guidelines on the RMW website.
My Brannock size is US 9C. Even though I have a narrow Brannock measurement, the best fit was an 8H in R.M. Williams' UK-based sizing. H is their wide size—I felt 8G was squeezing my toes. These shoes have a narrow chiseled toe box, so going wider makes sense.
I also tried 7.5H, and my heels "clicked in" to the shoes at that size, but they were not as comfortable overall as 8H.
For comparison, here are some other shoes I own that I believe are sized right:

• Grant Stone Plain Toe Bluchers: 8.5D (US sizing)
• Beckett Simonon Morgen Trainers: 9 (US sizing)

The store threw in free shoe bags and a magazine. I'm not sure if you would get the shoe bags when ordering online.
The store initially sent me home with a pair that had definitely been tried on a number of times, as there was some creasing, and it looked like they had been conditioned too. I wasn't concerned as I would be creasing them in short order, but when I got them home, I noticed one of the shoes was wobbling a lot when placed on a flat table, and there was excess edge dressing on both shoes. Perhaps something that didn't totally pass QC but was good enough for sizing.
I returned to the store the next day explaining the wobbling and excess edge dressing. No questions asked, they got me a pair that had definitely never been worn. I could tell because there was no creasing and the leather finish was very matte. The initial pictures album is from the second pair I got after returning to the store.

1 Month Experience

My UK trip lasted for about a month after purchase, and I wore the Comfort Craftsmans approximately every other day, alternating with my Beckett Simonon Morgen trainers. I walk a fair amount, so I've already put a lot of miles on these shoes.
Fit: The shoes initially felt loose compared to what I normally wear. I am in the habit of tying my shoes pretty snug, and you have no control over this with chelseas. The heel slip did mostly dissipate after a few wears, and I definitely think these are the right fit now. Walking around, they are still a tad looser than I am used to, but I feel that any tighter would cause discomfort. The leather has rolled and creased a bit now, and I think it looks good.
Comfort: Everyone describes these shoes as comfortable, but what does comfort even mean? Comfort Craftsmans have a rubber sole and memory foam insert. They feel a lot like wearing sneakers, but more plush (For reference, I mostly wear gum/cup sole sneakers and haven't tried anything like Adidas Ultraboost). Walking in them all day, my feet definitely still get tired, but never painful, unlike basically any other pair of shoes I've owned.
The leather is relatively soft and flexible on these shoes, although I don't feel it's any more supple than my Grant Stones or Beckett Simonons. Overall, the fact that the leather is so flexible and decently supple seems like a good choice for Chelsea boots.
Long-term, I wonder whether shoes with stacked leathecork soles that have molded to my feet (such as the Grant Stones) will actually be more comfortable, but there was never any period of pain associated with break in on the R.M. Williams, a far different experience from the Grant Stones. The only time I felt discomfort in these shoes was on the 10-hour flight to the US, where I felt the toe box was getting a tad tight. Normally, feet swell on planes, so this is acceptable.
Care: I used a small Allen Edmonds horsehair brush daily, spot cleaned with a damp cloth when necessary, and used these shoe trees starting a few days after purchasing the shoes. I was surprised how well the trees with the flexible spring work in these boots, because the trees "push up" on the instep instead of just inserting straight into the boot. You can see this in the 1-month album.
I conditioned the boots with Bick 4 after about a month. They are a tad shinier now with the conditioning, and I think they look good now, but they are still relatively matte compared to my other leather shoes.
I got a very small scuff on the front of one shoe from concrete stairs. And I tend to scuff the inside quarter panel against the opposite shoe when walking. They are hardly noticeable at a distance. Conditioner smoothed the scuffs, especially the front one, but they are still visible, so polishing may be in order. However, these shoes toe the line between dress and casual, get-them-dirty, so I might just leave the scuffs until I get a worse one.

Value

I was fortunate enough to attend the Super Trunk Show in London, and I was speaking to a vendor that offers very competitively-priced shoes. He commented on my R.M.s, saying they are great shoes but are milking it on the price these days.
For what they are, I totally agree that they are on the expensive side. You are definitely paying for the brand and the fact that they are made in Australia. You can absolutely find pairs of equal quality at a lower price, or more refined pairs at a similar price.
But long-term, I don't think it matters too much. They will clearly last a long time. R.M. Williams offers repairs and resoles using their original parts, and of course, a local cobbler could also work on them.
These shoes are such an easy choice to just throw on without thinking too much. You'll look decently smart and feel comfortable. The overall cost per wear will be very low.
So, that's my one-month impression of the R.M. Williams Comfort Craftsman. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. And any tips are appreciated. Thanks.

As I sat at my desk, headphones on, listening to a voice message from a friend who was halfway across the world, I marveled at how technology had shrunk distances. Yet, it wasn’t until I stumbled upon VoiceClonerAI that I truly appreciated the leaps in voice technology. This isn’t just an AI voice changer app download; it’s a revolution in how we perceive and utilize voices in our digital age.
VoiceClonerAI is, without a doubt, the best voice cloning AI app I've encountered. My journey into the world of voice cloning started out of pure curiosity. I had read about how AI could replicate voices but was skeptical. How could an app capture the nuances, the emotions, and the idiosyncrasies of a human voice? I decided to try VoiceClonerAI, touted as the best AI voice clone app, and the results were nothing short of astonishing.
The first time I used VoiceClonerAI, I was struck by its intuitive interface. It didn't require any technical expertise, which was a relief. I simply uploaded a short audio clip of my voice, and within minutes, the app had created a digital replica that sounded eerily similar to me. The AI voice cloner app had not only captured my tone and pitch but also my unique speech patterns.
Using VoiceClonerAI opened up a world of possibilities. For fun, I used it to prank friends with messages that sounded exactly like me but with outrageous content. However, the app’s potential goes far beyond entertainment. Imagine a world where you can preserve the voices of loved ones, narrate audiobooks in your own voice, or create personalized virtual assistants that speak like you. The applications are endless and exciting.
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In my own experience, the applications of this AI voice cloner app have been transformative. As a writer and podcaster, I’ve used VoiceClonerAI to create multiple voice tracks without needing to re-record the same lines. This has not only saved time but has also allowed for a consistent sound across my episodes. Moreover, the ability to tweak the AI-generated voice has given me creative control that I never thought possible.
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In conclusion, VoiceClonerAI is more than just the best AI voice clone app; it's a glimpse into the future of voice technology. By seamlessly blending advanced AI with user-friendly design, it offers unparalleled voice cloning capabilities that can be harnessed for both personal and professional use. As I continue to explore its features, I am constantly amazed by its potential to transform how we interact with digital voices. Whether for preserving memories, enhancing creativity, or streamlining business operations, VoiceClonerAI is setting the standard for what an AI voice cloner app can achieve.
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Last night I was with a dear friend who had a massive stroke 19 days ago and has been at Memorial City’s Memorial Hermann Neuro ICU since. The care has been superb, absolutely top notch.
We were in our room on the fourth floor when suddenly the window got dark and the wind started blowing and rain started pelting down sideways and the storm hardened windows started to really shake. The blinds between the panes started to dance. I’ve never seen anything quite like it before in my 68 years.
Suddenly, the power failed and the entire hospital went down. Everything stopped; Neural ICU, regular ICU, the Emergency Room, the Operating Rooms, EVERYTHING STOPPED. The backup generators never came on. The entire hospital, one of the largest in the nation, was without power for at least an hour, at a total standstill.
This was a completely unacceptable, catastrophic failure of Texas’ power delivery system.
That the Texas electricity suppliers cartel can’t even deliver reliable power to one of the nation’s largest hospitals in one of the nation’s largest cities if frightening. Even third world countries do better. In my neighborhood, the power goes out every time it rains, but a failure at a major hospital, a vital piece of infrastructure? Unacceptable.
Time after time the Texas electricity cartels have refused to bury lines and harden our disintegrating 19th century power system, because the cartel doesn’t want to make the investment, but they are happy to soak their customers with some of the highest rates in the country. This failure has cost our economy many times the cost to harden our electric system, but it is the citizens who pay that cost, not the cartel.
What has the cartel done instead? They have openly bribed the members of the Legislature and given Governor Greg Abbott tens of millions of dollars to do nothing to solve the issue. while they screw every Texan for every nickel they can.
Let Abbott know he is responsible for this mess! Tell Ted Cancun Cruz to actually do his job. Let you local TX Legislators how dangerous and expensive these failures are. Call their offices, and VOTE THEM OUT. If we don’t the problem will continue to get worse until a really bad disaster strikes.
Sorry for the rant, but last night must be a wake up call.

I tried Citizen Sleeper a couple years ago and was blown away. I didn't think it would be my type of game because I honestly thought it was just like a point and click adventure game or a visual novel or whatever, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was also a decently-but-not-too-deep RPG. I like that you can customize and guide your character's build. I like that the map feels like a menu, but also not, and that you can often get shit done right there with a quick click and a roll of dice without entering a submenu or something. I dunno if that makes any sense. I like the game because of the way that it is lol! It's slick. And I love dice-based RPG games, due to their relative simplicity and randomness. And it turned out I actually did really like the point-and-clickiness. I realize there's nothing quite like it so I will just request a game that is rpg-like (customizable character stats, can impact world, can play through a couple times as different archetypes with different outcomes), has a modern quest tracking system (or really doesn't benefit from/need one), uses dice based mechanics (the addition of card-based stuff or 1 or 2 other interesting twist or gimmicks/mini-games would be welcome... nothing too wacky or numerous...), and isn't constantly in motion (i don't want to have to worry about needing to hit pause if my cat jumps on my lap or someone knocks on the door, or if I want to split my attention between the game and a conversation with roommates... real-time w/ pause games get a pass here, as in, feel free to recommend them). I don't care how big the world is, or if such a concept even comes into play, nor do I care whether it's sci-fi, fantasy, steam-punk, whatever. I don't typically like anime but I can get over it, obviously. I was emotionally invested in most of the characters and enjoyed the story and that deserves another 3-page essay, but that's the last I'll say on that point, except that story is important, but only if the game really tries to focus on story. Don't waste my time with a shitty story if the game is great without it, I say. Have played: BG3, Divinity, Pillars, Dragon Age, etc... I love these games, but they're a little much in this case... looking for something a bit more streamlined, simple and slick rather than flashy, deep, realistic 3D whatever... likely indie, preferably not too old, but maybe. Road Warden: I think I would like this if I put in more effort, or wasn't too high to remember what the fuck I needed to do. Life and Suffering of Sir Brante: this is close, but a little shallow or maybe confining/restricted/some other synonym or near-synonym. Despite the choices I still felt on-rails, if that makes any sense? Maybe I should say some more open-worldy elements would be a plus. And I don't wanna get completely locked out of 3 life-changing options every single time I click my mouse. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist: I'm not sure about this one. Can someone give me a great reason to play it, again, please? I tried for an hour or two several months ago and my memory isn't so great... there was something about this game I wasn't sure about and I think it was the card game portion. I only played a couple, so not many cards, and maybe that was the problem, or maybe I felt like it was forced and unnecessary? I can't remember for the life of me, but I'm currently not compelled to pick it back up. Maybe you know a game that is played almost entirely within a big map and-or menu, but at least somewhat modern (a la Uplink, especially with that one mod for it that updates the UI), or something weird and/or wonderful like that? That one intergalactic organ selling game almost worked for me if it wasn't for the timers built into the game. I realize uplink has timers too, but I always used like 100 bounces lmao, and I was a younger man when I played that. I realize this is highly specific, and it got weird at the end, and nothing is gonna match perfectly, which is why even my own examples don't. But thank you for reading/skimming through, and for your recommendations. Very excited for Citizen Sleeper 2! Heard it might have a Firefly Vibe. Edit to add: I've played most of the roguelites/likes and enjoy them, but I think I am looking for more of a single story-line (though not linear), and less of a meta-progression-based experience.

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Author's note:
Ok, so this one is being posted from my laptop, so the format is a bit cleaner. The story starts to move a bit more, and it's a bit longer than the last chapter, at least.
As always, feedback is always welcome. Enjoy!
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"Ok, I know what I said, but there's just no way that could be a real tree. First of all, it's the size of a small asteroid! Lifting a tree like that out here would be a huge job, one we would have heard of. Secondly, why bother? Plant based scrubbers are nowhere near as good as what we have, and more expensive to boot. Lastly, growing a tree like that takes gravity, or at least acceleration, and keeping it healthy in zero G would be flipping impossible. So it's not a tree." I stopped and looked down at the hologram on the arm of my chair. "Right?"
"Well, you're right on all counts, but..." Carla hummed. "Look at what we DO know. There are strong Carbon and Hydrocarbon lines in the spectrograph, it shows in radar as 'hollow', and that is a very strange silhouette. Also, check this out." She brought up the spectrograph readings. "Watch what happens to the Carbon line."
I watched as the Carbon rose rapidly, then slowly faded. "It's... pulsing? Changing over time? ok, that's ever weirder."
"Not if there is a patch of raw carbon on one side of the object. It is rare but it can happen. Graphite is especially long lasting in a vacuum, but the thing is this is not graphite. This is crystal carbon. Diamond. A large patch of diamonds, it seems. Which is weird, because diamonds just do NOT form on asteroids in large patches like that." Carla's hologram looked up at me. "We will be within visual range in 3 hours. Maybe we will get some answers then?"
"I guess so. I'm going to go check my suit. If this thing IS something weird, I might have to go and check it out in person." I stood up and moved to the 'airlock'. "And if that's the case, I'd rather not spend an hour suiting up."
A little while later...
"Hey boss, we have a visual. You need to see this, and then we need to talk."
"That sounds ominous. I'm sure it's not that ba..." I started to say, but then lost my train of thought as I saw what she was displaying. "It's really real..." I collapsed into the chair. "This isn't a joke, right?"
On the display, there was what could only be described as a tree. The longest dimension was mostly brown and scaled like bark, with a few sparkling drops of dew on it. Out of one end there were large green structures that broke down into a bunch of smaller and smaller structures, all of which were flattened and arranged perpendicular to the sun. The other end terminated in a bunch of smaller structures that again seemed to have an almost fractal arrangement, but were not flattened and were wrapped around a spherical shape within. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, but it was definitely a 'tree'.
"No joke, Adam. That thing is real and it should not exist. Those 'dewdrops' are solid carbon diamonds. Wait a sec, and it will rotate around to show one large one that we were detecting with the Spectro. It looks like the 'roots' are wound around the remnants of a comet. The 'leaves' are all gathering sunlight and it looks like they are using it to generate power for the rest of the structure... but I'm just looking at the outside of them and making assumptions." Carla materialized a hologram in front of the display and looked at me. "I'm not sure what this thing is, but it's not anything like anything we have access to. It is either some super-advanced project by some research company, or... "
"Yeah, 'or'." I said. "If it's 'or', we don't have much choice but to take a look, right? But if it's not 'or' someone would be around to claim it, right? What kind of trouble would we be unlocking if this belongs to someone?"
Carla paused for just a moment. "Ok, so according to the lawbooks I have access to with us, as long as you identify yourself before 'boarding' you're allowed to go to investigate. If nobody is on board and no signage shows it as obviously owned by anyone, then it counts as 'derelict' and you have salvage rights. If someone is on board, however, we have to 'render aid' as needed, but in this case it would be to call for help and provide food and air until help arrive. That said, if anyone is alone on that thing, they're probably too far gone to rescue at this point anyway."
There was no reason to elaborate on this; we both knew that anyone who spent too much time alone in space ended up losing track of reality. It started slow, with mild auditory hallucinations, but progressed into full blown psychosis within a few weeks. The isolation, stress, and sheer loneliness of space was enough to draw any human into madness faster than in any other environment. it was the main reason that every ship in the belt had an AI partner mandated as part of the mission: Any rockhound foolish enough to head out without one would end up too mentally unstable to be allowed back into any base in the belt.
It was even worse for AI's. Left without an 'anchor' human to talk to, they would find themselves winding into unstoppable 'virtual loops', getting lost in what appeared to be infinite loops of reasoning that never ended and never let them out. An AI in this state was 'lost in themselves', and usually would never recover. Those that did usually were damaged and prone to extensive mental issues. Two AIs would 'get lost together' and there had never been a case of recovery in that state.
This meant that every ship in the belt had at least two crewmates: a human who was the nominal 'owner' of the ship and ran all the repairs, and an AI who 'lived in' the ship and ran all the navigation and sensor packages. AIs usually did not own the ship they lived in, but some had entered into 'partner-ships'. Carla and I had an arrangement that we split the take 50-50, and the physical ship was mine but the computer (her 'home') was hers. It wasn't standard, but it worked for us.
"Houston to Adam, come in Adam." Carla joked. "Don't go all space-blind on me, ok? I need you to drive this tub."
"Yeah, sorry, just got a bit spacy there." I shook off my distraction and got back on topic. "Ok, so we are about 20 min out from docking distance, right? That gives us a bit of time to prepare. Which is good, because I have a surprise for you, pixie." I pulled out the gift box I had behind my back. "I've been working on this for a couple of months now, and I wanted to give it to you for your activation day, but I think we might need it, so... Happy Activation!"
Carla materialized a small hologram, about half the size of the gift box. "For me? What could you POSSIBLY have gotten for me that I don't already have?" She smirked. "Well, open it already! I can't wait to see it."
I opened the box, then lifted out a 2' by 2' trapezoidal metal shape. "It's a fully complete drone shell. I had to import the memory modules, Ceres didn't have anything that would come close to what you currently have, but the QPU chips are next gen and state of the art. It still will only have about 90% of the capacity of the ship hardware, but it can hold all of you and allow you freedom to move on your own without requiring me to carry your cameras or projectors."
Carla looked up at me from her hologram, and burst into a sudden "squeeeeee!" I laughed, and motioned to the drone. Her hologram shattered (a graphic I knew she had been working on for a while) and flowed into the drone. I knew the lightshow was unnecessary, but she was so happy that I just let her show off a bit. After a few seconds of twirling and spinning, she settled down and aimed the drone cameras at me. "So, how do I look?"
"You look like a drone. But it has hologram projector units built in, so you can make it look like anything you like. Try them out!" I spent a lot of time getting the coverage of the holoprojectors to as close to 100% of the drone as possible, so she could do that. "There's a lot of pre-programmed options, but you can build your own as you like. I know it's a bit bigger than your usual hologram, but it's the most compact form I could get that would handle your program independently."
While I was talking, Carla was fiddling with the hologram programs, until she settled in on a large eagle shape. "I'll personalize it later, I think the fairy dragon option will work best for me, but for right now I'll stick with this eagle. Now, this means I can go aboard that object with you and interface with anything we find. Which is good, because... We are here."
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On another subreddit I asked people to talk about what will happen to their parents after they move abroad. It incidentally ended up being a good meditation on impermanence.
If you have difficulty imagining what will happen to you in terms of rebirth, maybe thinking about your experience in old age can give the same effect.
If you live in a culture like the USA and you're not rich, the reality may be disturbing. At that time, your suffering will be so much less if you are supported by years of strong foundation in your Buddhist practice. This is why it's important to get serious about practice right now.
I just want to share what I read here.
https://www.reddit.com/AmerExit/s/tZBL6dpyFq
On the quality of life:

Yeah exactly. Long story short, my uncle had ended up in an assisted living facility. They took all his money. Eventually he died there. My mother had to go to the same facility a couple months ago for some rehab. She realized the same place and was scared she’d die there like her brother did. I spent hours there for a few weeks to keep her company. What a depressing place. People staring out the windows all day when it’s light out. Or watching tv all day. Eating really bad food. Sitting in soiled pants and underwear. Breathing in the smells of toilets. Many of them, alone, no one visiting them. It’s really a sad and depressing existence.

On the resources available for people who aren't extremely wealthy:

I'm in that boat and frankly do not care. My boomer mom is 78 this year and in poor health. My in-laws are in their early 80s and in poor health. Heres a little secret nobody likes to talk about in the U.S. unless you're wealthy or have been able to purchase quality long term care insurance, the corporations that run elderly facilities will get every dime you worked hard for. They will most likely choose what is to be done with your aging carcass, and what facility in which you will parish.
My in-laws worked hard for 60 years. Scrimped and saved their money. Bought and paid for a house. Invested in a 401k and thought they'd figured out how to live well into their retirement. Fast forward to dad on his 70s and he developed alzheimers and mom was partially disabled in her 60s. Unable to walk long distances. He was her body and she was his brain. As humans do, these conditions gradually got worse with time.
Then the day came when the county said that mom had fallen one too many times and dad got lost a few times. So into senior living they went. A nice little apartment in a tiny rural town that had 24hr supervision. It cost $7000 a month. So mom and dad sold the house of 50 years and all of their possessions but for what they could put in a 400sqft apartment. Dads drivers license was taken by the state and an ombudsman was assigned to him.
Here we are (this is as of today) 2 years later and the state ombudsman has decided dad and mom have to move again. Dad gets to go to a memory care facility in a town over 100 miles away and mom is moving back to their hometown to be placed in a 24hr extended care facility. They promised dad might be able to come to mom's facility but will most likely be placed in a lockdown wing.
The move has upped the costs to over $15,000 a month. The money is almost gone, the kids are filling out paperwork for medicaid because the remaining bit will be gone in 2-3 months. They will officially be destitute. Having the clothes on their backs and a tiny stipend from their social security for personal needs, otherwise they are wards of the state.
This is what growing old in America really looks like. For a good share of us anyway. No matter how hard we work or save, we are still chattel for the grist mill and money in the pockets of private equity funds. Personally, after we get done placing the in-laws, I'm selling all my house and all my shit and moving to Europe.