(Shoutouts to u/TheSlyKoopa for the match concept!)
Scenario: Isla de Piedra, Somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea — 11:44AM
Dédalo Viatger, adventurer, archaeologist and explorer extraordinaire, had filled his travelog with countless exploits on his never-ending quest to uncover the secrets of the ancient world. Following the trail of the lost civilization of Pieduro was proving to be his lengthiest entry yet. Armed with powerful Pieduron artifacts known as the Temples, Dédalo and the Pieduron entity ｢Perdida｣ had forged a path across the Mediterranean, getting ever closer to solving the mystery of their disappearance.
With assistance from Cullinan Dwarf Star, Patron of the House of Muses, Dédalo and Perdida were on the verge of discovering the final piece of the puzzle. Their journey had come full circle, and Dédalo and Perdida’s adventure would end where it began; on the island of Isla de Piedra.
Situated between the coasts of Southern Spain and North Africa, Isla de Piedra had been uninhabited for all of recorded history, though not for lack of trying. The dense forests and greenery that covered every square meter of the island made it a ripe target for logging companies and greedy colonists to strip it for all it was worth. None had succeeded—their abandoned camps had long since been reclaimed by the forest.
The only other sign of human life on the island was the ancient Pieduron outpost where Dédalo’s journey first began, and where it would now hopefully end. The trek to get there was as difficult as the first time—but he didn’t have to do it alone now. At his side were his ever faithful companion Perdida, the inquisitive swordswoman Ninian, the extraordinary android 2095, and the illustrious ice skater Electra (although he didn’t call them that out loud).
Dédalo led the party up a long, winding stone staircase, pointing out the many partially-disabled traps along the way. He and Ninian had long been in contact, and the latter could personally vouch for her +1s—2095 one of the few Bastards she could trust and Electra having earned her trust in for her actions against Enyalius & Enyo Pharmaceuticals in San Battista.
“...and here’s a wall of spikes that shoot out when you pass over that threshold,” he pointed out with a tour guide’s enthusiasm. “I managed to jam up the mechanism with some cloth, but we should probably tread carefully around here.”
Electra rolled her eyes, even though Dédalo couldn’t see the gesture. “Should have just blown it up,” she muttered, annoyed. While her experiences in San Battista had somewhat melted her frosty demeanor, it had still been a long, hot, exhausting trip to get here, and old habits died hard.
“Watch your tone, miss,” Perdida said from behind her ear, making her jump. “My people’s architecture is not something to “blow up”.”
“And it might not have worked,” 2095 chimed in. “If this outpost could survive all those centuries of wear, I doubt a mundane explosion would do much damage to it.”
“The Piedurons built everything to last, from their treasures to their traps.” Dédalo gingerly ducked under the blade of a massive pendulum axe that jutted out from the ceiling. “Fortunate in some ways, unfortunate in others.”
At last, they reached the center chamber. Carved from stone and coated with moss, it appeared just as untouched as the rest of the outpost—save for the podium in the middle of the chamber and the conspicuously empty space on top of it, where the moss grew a little bit thinner.
“Ah, this brings back memories,” Dédalo chuckled. “This is where Perdida and I first met. The El Cor Terra necklace lay in this very spot at the heart of the chamber. When I unfastened it, poof! There she appeared in all of her resplendent glory. We hit it off right away.”
“He tried to cut my head off with a machete.”
“In self-defense!”
“Ok, move it along, lovebirds,” Electra huffed. “Where’s the thing we were looking for? It’s somewhere in here, right?”
Brushing past the “lovebirds” comment, Dédalo retrieved a piece of parchment from his explorer’s pack marked with the symbol of the House of Muses. “According to Cullinan, the hidden door should be right over on that wall.” He pointed over 2095’s shoulder at the northern wall of the chamber. “The question is…how do we open it?”
2095 gave the room a once-over. Aside from the layer of moss and vegetation covering the chamber, it was pretty bare. Its only noticeable feature seemed to be the podium.
“Perhaps the podium could offer some answers.” The party gathered around the stone podium—a stone cylinder, atop which stood a carving which vaguely resembled the neck and collarbone area of a human, with a thin groove running where a necklace would hang. Perdida instantly recognized the Cleria stone inlays around the circumference of the podium.
She traced a finger along the length of the groove, and the Cleria stone beneath it glowed—and, at a volume only audible to 2095’s mechanical hearing, it began to hum.
“Keep going, Perdida,” she whispered. Perdida closed her eyes, feeling herself attune to the place where she lay dormant for thousands of years. The Cleria stone grew brighter and brighter, the hum getting louder and louder.
Suddenly, the room shook. Electra leaped back, expecting another trap. Instead, she watched as the north wall slid open like the doors of an elevator, revealing two hallways; one leading up, the other leading down, both with Cleria stone markings along the walls that pulsed with a gentle light.
“Thank goodness,” Dédalo sighed. “I was worried the real treasure was going to be the friends we made along the way.”
Dédalo and Perdida continued to trek up the hallway, climbing what was likely the control tower of the outpost. Ninian dutifully followed behind them, ready to draw her blade at whatever might strike from the newly unknown section of the outpost. The sound of exhaled breath made her jump...but it was only a sigh from Dédalo. “A shame you came aboard so late, Ninian; our journey’s almost up.”
Ninian’s confusion spiked to alarm as the explorer motioned to lean against the wall. “Watch out-”
Dédalo made contact and nothing happened. He tilted his head to the end of the corridor, a doorway just a few meters away. “We’re far enough in that we’ve most likely avoided the worst of the traps. Besides, I don’t think the Piedurons would have placed many traps so close to a place of importance.” He wistfully rubbed his arm, massaging the strain of adventures and injuries in equal measure. “Feels almost bittersweet. So many months of travel and turmoil, and the end of our journey is in sight.”
“Hey, don’t say that yet. We still need to find a way to get my human body back.” Pedida gently punched him in his shoulder. Still, her pout eventually softened as she looked back towards the final chamber. “I guess you are correct, though. The answer to the Pieduron collapse lies beyond those doors. What comes after…nobody knows”
“Quite right,” Dédalo nodded, and the group moved onwards. “I hope that Electra and 2095 are doing okay down there, in any case.”
“I hope that the rest of the outpost is okay,” Perdida frowned. “They didn’t seem to appreciate how precious this place is—I don’t want to lose another one.”
“I don’t think we have to worry too much about losing them,” A grin of cat-like mischief unfurled on Ninian’s face as hoarse laughter echoed on a draft. There were adventures to come and to be seen, but one to reach its conclusion here and now, and the anticipation made Ninian’s hair stand on end.
The group carefully entered the room, and Perdida flickered out of existence. Before any of them could respond, the control room flickered to life. The stone walls that extended higher and higher suddenly turned “on” as if they were screens, but these were more akin to slabs whose light-emitting runes and rocks flickered and changed in the appearance of Perdida—Perdidas, in fact. All of them, on the many screens, acted in unison as Dédalo rushed forward. “Dédalo, what’s going on?”
“We’re figuring it out,” he shouted as he and Ninian raced to the panels below, trying to decipher the text streaming by. Soon, however, one message displayed on a readout screen:

MYSTICALLY AUTOMATED KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM 0 DETECTED
RESUMING RING FUNCTIONALITY

Meanwhile, having taken the outpost’s lower path, 2095 and Electra entered into a large atrium. Like the rest of the outpost, the walls and floor were composed of the usual, teal stone that seemed impossibly durable. The fact that they could use it to form buildings, carve intricate murals, and keep it all hidden was impressive, but they craned their heads upwards towards the skylight that would let rain and sun in. Through the overgrown foliage, they could see a massive flat ring of Cleria floating above the ground in stubborn defiance of the laws of physics. Gravity-defying gyroscopes of stone spun and swirled in the air above, rotating with the same slow grace as the ancient gears that whirred to life around them. The glow of the Cleria blended together with the light of the noonday sun; the hum of power permeated the entire chamber.
“...shit,” Electra murmured, not sure what else to say.
2095 scanned the rest of the atrium, but ultimately found nothing beyond a discolored, glowing pad on the floor by the opposite wall, outcroppings on the walls that resembled benches, and the remnants of what appeared to be ancient drinking fountains. Rest now before it’s too late, the room seemed to scream.
“I believe we should wait for the others before we go deeper,” 2095 announced. “We could retrace our steps and explore the previous areas, in case we missed another hidden passageway or an undiscovered treasure. It would be a shame to proceed not knowing whether we’ve left every stone unturned-”
“Not a chance,” Electra huffed. “I’m not letting us get killed because of your FOMO. Come on.”
She grabbed 2095 by the wrist and began to drag her over to the pads. 2095 let her—partly because she weighed significantly more than Electra did and she didn’t want her to hurt herself trying to pull her by force, but partly because she was right. She could feel the air buzzing with energy, intensifying by the second. Something big was about to happen.
The two stepped onto the floor pad and immediately felt themselves being shunted into a different space as the teleporter activated. When their vision cleared, they found themselves standing on top of the Cleria ring itself. Electra could smell the ozone in the air and taste the prickling on her tongue. This ring was the key to the whole mechanism—either it was powering the outpost…or the outpost was powering it.
2095 gazed in awe at the machinery surrounding them. It reminded her of the technology from her time; except instead of steel and chrome, it was made of rock and crystal. What secrets died with the Piedurons when they disappeared?
She turned to Electra to express her wonder and nearly screamed when she saw the vantablack vines burst out of her shadowed face, ready to smash the ring to pieces.
“What are you doing?!” 2095 yelled, ｢Yours Truly｣ appearing at her side, tentacles raised.
“I’m destroying this thing, duh,” spat Electra. “I know a superweapon when I see one, and I’m not about to let some dipshit corporation get their hands on it after we leave.”
The chamber shook, bits of rocks and dust falling from the ceiling. “B-but we don’t even know whether this is a superweapon! Aren’t you acting a bit rash?”
“Rash? Seriously? You have no idea what some people in Dead Drop Bay would do for an artifact like this.” Electra remembered what she saw in San Battista—the monster that she had to put down, fuelled by a desire to abuse the remnants of the past for her own gain. “Farewell to Kings, Dead Man’s Hand; hell, even my own company. They’d sink this island to the bottom of the ocean for the chance to have this thing for themselves. This way, I’m solving the problem before it has a chance to start.”
“And risk destroying the legacy of an entire civilization?!” 2095 felt anger boiling in her metallic chest. A part of her resonated with the Piedurons in this moment—she knew what it was like to be a relic of an era far from the present, the last remaining piece of a time nobody would ever know. “What gives you the right to decide what to do with an artifact of this magnitude? To bury what could be the last hope of Pieduro to be remembered as anything but a footnote in history?”
The chamber shook again—this time, both 2095 and Electra felt the ground shift under their feet. Without warning, walls of stone burst out of the ground around them, tearing through centuries-old roots and vines to surround the ring on all sides. Slabs of Cleria stone with deep divots carved into the top of them emerged from the ring itself and floated just above its surface like a magnet levitating atop another.
In the control tower below them, Dédalo and Ninian scrambled from panel to panel, desperately trying to decipher what was going on. Dédalo could see the two other members of the party facing off inside the ring—but before he could call out to them, he heard Perdida’s voice resonate from every screen.
“The Temples…I can see them.”
Ninian watched the panel in front of her light up, displaying a holographic map of the Mediterranean, hundreds of glowing blue dots scattered across the projection.
Dédalo rushed to the nearest screen and grabbed it. “Perdida! Are you alright?!”
“Y-yes, I’m fine.” Perdida blinked hard, putting a hand to the side of her head. “I can feel every Temple in the Mediterranean. I…I think I can gain access to them from here.”
“Access? Like…you can turn them on?” Ninian asked.
“Yes. All of them.” Before Perdida could say any more, the chamber shook once more. In the room below, the ring glowed even more brightly, the two would-be explorers now utterly trapped within it by the sloped walls surrounding it.
“See what I mean?!” Electra clenched her fists, snapping flytrap jaws emerging from the shadow underneath her. “We need to put this entire place in the ground. For good. And like hell am I going to let you stop me!”
Suddenly, all across the surface of the ring, crackling orbs of energy sparked to life, both 2095 and Electra just managing to avoid them. The orbs spun in a circle around the ring, accelerating rapidly until they were nothing but a blur. 2095 recognized the movements of the orbs immediately; it looked like a particle accelerator.
“I hoped we could resolve this peacefully, Electra.” 2095 flicked the silver locks out of her face. “But now I have to convince you in the only language you seem to understand—the language of violence. Don’t hold back.”
The age-old machinery around them hummed to a crescendo. If either of the two combatants wanted to see their convictions through, they would need to survive the full power of Pieduro first.
OPEN THE GAME!
Location: On Isla de Piedra, (Shoutouts to u/TheSlyKoopa for the match art) inside the Floating Ring. The arena shown here has Electra on the north side and 2095 on the south side represented by their character tokens. The players are in the area inside the ring and have no way to exit with sloping walls on all sides.
The ring has a diameter of 60 meters and the internal width is 15 meters; the entire structure is A Durability.
The brown rectangles inside the ring are Pieduron Temples that resemble short, knee-tall minecarts made out of stone slabs.
Goal: RETIRE your opponent!
Additional Information: Over the course of 10 minutes, the ring will spawn 6-inch diameter orbs of light that will accelerate and move in an orbit around the ring at A Speed. Each orb takes 4 seconds to spawn-in, glowing in place and translucent, before it becomes a solid orb.
Trajectory of the orbs move completely along the curvature of the ring, counterclockwise (denoted by the arrows on the map) and can be spawned anywhere inside the ring. When they hit something solid, they will detonate at C Power—powerful enough to destroy vines and ink left by ｢Venus Fly Trap｣ and tentacles from ｢Yours Truly｣—and cause another orb to spawn where the original one started. The orbs have a blast radius of half a meter and other orbs exploding around them will not trigger them to detonate.
Orbs will complete one revolution around the ring anywhere from 3 seconds (inside track) to 6 seconds (along the rim).
Assuming you are standing still, the rough number of orbs that pass by will be 5 orbs per second at the first minute mark, 10 orbs per second at the second minute mark, and so on until the maximum of 50 orbs per second at the ten minute mark.
Starting near each player and around the map are Pieduron temples that resemble minecarts. Each kart can comfortably fit one person, have a handle on either side, and a single rudder-like steering peripheral. The wheels of the kart will always stick to the ring, but they can drive just fine along the walls or even the ceiling of the ring. Karts move at up to B Speed and players intuitively have a 4 in driving them. At max speed, karts can complete one revolution in 4 to 8 seconds (4 seconds on the inside track and 8 seconds on the rim).
All karts have three other special features that can be activated when a driver is steering it, the Turtle, the Spider, and the Crab:

• The Turtle is a forcefield-like shield that can cover the kart and anybody riding inside it. This forcefield only protects against the fast moving orbs and their explosions and is intangible to everything else. It lasts up to 2 seconds and has a 6 second cooldown before it can be activated again. It can also be set to automatically activate if the minecart is about to hit or be affected by an orb, otherwise it can be manually activated by the driver.
  
• The Spider is a net-like shield that functions somewhat similarly to the forcefield the Turtle. The main difference is that instead of blocking orbs, it catches them and converts them into an inert palm-sized orb that is stowed inside the minecart. This shield does also block explosions produced by orbs, but will not produce an inert orb in those cases. The Spider lasts up to 1 second and shares a cooldown with the Turtle. Inert orbs are orbs that can be converted back into fast moving orbs by being thrown with force and intent. They can be made to move exactly in a straight line or along the curvature of the ring when thrown. Inert orbs have no other special properties, other than being A Durability.
  
• The Crab is a fast sideways dash up to 8 meters, with a minimum distance of 1 meter. Once the dash is finished, the kart will resume moving in the direction and speed it had before initiating the dash, making it useful for dodging without turning or changing the direction the kart is going in. This feature has a stamina bar where the longer your dash distance is, the more stamina will be used up. It takes 4 seconds for the stamina bar to fill up from empty.
  

The cooldowns and stamina bars are tied to the person, not the karts themselves.

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
Anvil Procession	Electra Heart	"I need to master this Spin..." Have a good plan for how to avoid and deal with the orbs spinning around you!
Bastards of Barcas	10538-2095	"The secret to the Steel Ball is the search for infinity..." Have a good plan for how to avoid and deal with the orbs spinning around you!

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Working with stroke patients specifically is close to my heart for a lot of reasons, and I would enjoy doing more aphasia and dysphagia therapy work.
I want to avoid acute care, as that level of responsibility stresses me out, but other areas of hospitals, rehabilitation centers, or outpatient clinics interest me. Is it realistic to pursue this?
Also, I'm in Canada--if that makes a difference.

The CDC’s and Other Government Health Agencies Skewer the Chronically Ill, Chronic Pain and Disabled Population; A Commentary on The Latest “Guidelines” From The CDC:
(please refer to webinar)
If you don't want to watch this whopping eight minute video about government ran agencies talking about how to run our health care services for those with chronic pain, chronic illness or disabilities. Or, if you have watched it but don't really know what it means, then I will just tell you what this about and what it means. Most of this is in response to taking away or banning in many instances, the use of certain medications used to treat chronic illnesses and chronic pain that has left people disabled. They are admitting the pull out of opioids/opiates as well as their attacks on other medications such as Benzodiazepines, ADHD medications and in some states they have gone as far to reclassify muscle relaxers and Gabapentinoids as scheduled 2 narcotics. The fall out from this has left many chronic pain patients, chronically ill and disabled people without ANY health care, greater mortality rate, higher rate of homelessness, less functionality, poorer quality of life and many doctors that were not pill mills but still locked up in prison for the rest of their lives for running pain treatment centers in rural areas. They also bring up that, curiously, even though opioid/opiate prescribing is lower then it has ever been in US history, they are seeing a steep incline of illicit use of opiates amongst the adolescent demographic, to which they have never seen before. They do not understand this because young folks who have "muscle skeletal" pain are usually prescribed NSAID's or acetaminophen; they just can't figure out why the rate of illicit opiates in this demographic is higher then it has ever been when they are not even being exposed to prescription opiates. That's it they end that issue just sort of scratching their heads. According to their data if some one has not been exposed to prescription opioids/opiates these children shouldn't be doing this. According to their data NSAID's and Tylenol should be efficient enough pain relief for any and all types of muscle skeletal chronic pain conditions. I won't put words in their mouth or give you my opinion on why that is, even though my opinion would be based on some very good data, medical studies and other types of studies that have been conducted over the years. I will say that I think I shouldn't have to give anyone that opinion because I think the answer is obvious; keep in mind these kids are too young to have ever been exposed to opioids/opiate medications or crooked marketing strategies by Perdu. They go on to promote something called "healthy people by 2030" which is a government health based website that advocates for many healthy life practices and choices. One of those things is making sure that the chiropractic's industry stays open for customers, not for free at a charge, to make sure they are accommodating the needs of chronic pain patients. I am not sure why this is said and done because chiropractic treatment has been available and continues to be. They go onto say those with loved ones, friends and family that are chronic pain patients; empathy and sympathy is what is needed most. "Many times chronic pain sufferers will try to pretend they are not in pain. If this is your loved one or a friend or family member, make sure to have plenty of empathy and sympathy. Also pay attention to their body language, if they are rubbing the part of their body that is in pain or making facial expressions it's important to remind them not to over work themselves. That they need to take time to sit and rest; we need to get society to where we are stopping chronic pain at it roots". So what that means is that they expect everyone in society, employers, family, friends, loved ones, complete strangers the entirety of the health community to accommodate any all with chronic pain conditions (disability is not specified just chronic pain period). This is their answer, and the CDC is endorsing this, on how to treat chronic pain, chronic illness and disabilities in the absence of effective treatment (effective treatment being used currently is not discussed but current effective treatment implies without the use of opioid/opiate medications). Ok, so this is really confusing if you have not been keeping up with this stuff so let me fill you in on what this means in a deeper sense. As a person who has chronic pain, chronic illness or a disability. What you are supposed to do is make sure you are regularly attending physical therapy (cost estimate as much as $3,000 a session and as low as $45 for a "wellness" checkup that is only 30 min standard session is 1 hour fees vary depending on insurance, what company or if no insurance at all). Typically they recommend physical therapy once a week or every other week; although many primary and family care physicians understand once a month to be more practical for low or lack of income individuals (the CDC and Medicare almost demand once a week). You are also supposed to attend a gym and have an active membership. You are to seek a psychologist for cognitive behavioral therapy or psycho therapy to deal and manage your pain (costs on this can very widely as well as much as $200 a session). You are to see a psychiatrist to make sure your psychiatric needs are met with medications for mood management. You are also supposed to attend "mindfulness training" once a week; which is a fancy name for meditation. You are also supposed to attend either (and this is the only one they give options on) a chiropractor or get acupuncture done once a week. You are to follow up with your primary or family care physician to stay compliant on your meds (NSAID's, Tylenol, muscle relaxers, and then usually one of the following sometimes combined with one other thing but usually one; Tricyclic, SSRI, SNRI, anti-psychotic or anti-depressant that plays with neuro-nucleotides like Cymbalta, Amitriptyline, Nortriptyline, Effexor, Haldol as some examples, Steroids or Gabapentenoids such as Gabapentin or Pregabalin aka Lyrica). You are also supposed to see a pain management specialist at least once every other week (per CDC) for trigger point injections and nerve blocks or ESI's aka epidural injections (these can cost in a wide range as much as $5,000 for one injection the lowest I have personally seen is $2,000 for one injection to which some report as little as 4 hours of pain relief some injections patients report only 4 days of pain relief we are told these are supposed to relieve pain for as long as several months but really this is dependent on what pain condition you have and what is causing it and what type of injection is received for the injection). On top of all that they want to make sure that as a chronic pain patient, chronically ill or disabled to make sure to keep up with your social life by spending quality time with friends, family and loved ones. To make sure you are financially secure with either a job or disability/retirement benefits for those who apply (job is emphasized over over social programs). Lastly, to make sure you are eating healthy and getting between 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night (this is all per CDC and other government health agencies including CSMS for those whom are on retirement benefits). Now where were we, so essentially they want the entire society to let any one with chronic pain or illness or disabled to be allowed to go at their own pace. Allow for late appointments. Take breaks and rest as needed and avoid doing anything that causes or exacerbates chronic pain or illness and disabilities in the first place. They are not doing this as a policy they are doing this as a guideline so no company, corporation, business or any personnel is held to this by any legal measure. Once again I could insert my own take on this based on pretty solid evidence, but I think this is unnecessary as it should be obvious what the outcome of this will actually look like. I'll just ask this simple question; do you see an employer doing any of this for a customer or employee? Do you see all these different health care agencies accommodating to all their patients being late due to being slow and thus not punctual for this menagerie of different health care specialties the government health agencies want us to attend? The CDC seriously pushes for all, not just a couple, but all listed health specialties; and the other government health care agencies agree without question. They go on to talk about how they think the reason doctors feel so pressure by the CDC, DOJ and DEA in the helping of managing chronic pain or illness and disabilities is nothing more then they have not attended any of the CDC's seminar's; which are being updated for the fourth time in this single year. They say that doctors need to take time to understand and have deep conversations to understand their patients needs. That doctors need to be there for patients when in need of social rehabilitation and assistance such as obtaining a case worker, social worker or disability (which if you've been in this situation you know they will not do due to health insurance regulations, government interference, regulation or policy enforced by the company they work for or affiliated hospital, shortage on doctors due to covid and arresting so many for prescribing meds, health practices and administrations that run health offices running on a profit based model that basically demands that each patient visit only be 15 minutes to maximize the number of patients seen in one hour and legal issues in which many expert witnesses, colleges and other entities have sued doctors over the prospect of money which results in the termination of their job and license). Nope, none of that, it's all because they did not attend the CDC seminars that are continuously out of date and currently being "updated again" to ensure that doctors are staying compliant with the guidelines that are an unreasonable expectation at best and consistently changing. As one of the panelists says "after all these are not policies they are guidelines, and if no one knows how to work within those guidelines because they haven't taken the seminars they won't know how to implement them. We are really struggling with this one because when we passed the opiate prescribing guidelines for 2022 they were very strict and many states independently adopted these guidelines into law and policy that are different from state to state, but pretty much all do the same thing. We never intended them to be laws and policies but merely guidelines. When we released the 2023 opiate prescribing guidelines, we went back to the less strict guidelines resembling that of the 2016 opiate prescribing guidelines where the MME count was at 90MME instead of 50MME...we have seen no change in state accordance". These people act like our social safety nets are as accessible as over the counter Ibuprofen, when in fact they almost as accessible as the opioids/opiates they sought out to completely ban and obliterate out of our society regardless of the consequences is has had on health care providers and the chronic pain or illness and disabled people they were used to give back quality of life, pain relief and functionality. Andrew Klodney (one of the chief panel members that created the 2016 opiate prescribing guidelines) said "an entire generation needs to die in order for people to see my greatness". I don't think he meant to quote Hitler, but that is something Hitler did say; astonishingly Hitler also took opiate pain meds away from the chronically ill or in pain and disabled. Hitler also promoted "euthanasia" as a "humane and ethical way of helping those suffering to die with dignity". It wasn't until later many people found out he wasn't just euthanizing people who were in end of life care (or lack there of due to no opiates given to the general public, and only administered to his inner circle), as a humane and ethical way of dying with dignity; he was just killing anyone who had any kind of chronic pain, chronic illness, disability and that includes mental disabilities as well. Back on topic, the fact of the matter is our social safety nets, social rehabilitative services (SRS) like the SSA , food stamps, financial assistance and on have been slowly having their funding cut and certain facets of it being privatized over the years. The past ten years we have seen the most cuts and privatization of these programs then any other time in US history since their inception by FDR. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has not only been red taped but it is out dated. One of the reasons why you may have had your disability case denied is because the judge that decides on your case confirms the local job market with a job coach or vocational rehab specialist. The judge looks at your limitations and asks "based on this persons limitations, education and experience are their jobs in the local area this person can do and how likely is it that they can get one of these jobs?". The career specialist is financially incentivized to find a reason to deny a disability case for one. Two they do have to go off of what the current job market economy looks like, they only have to go off what it looked like since the ADA was last updated which was back in the 90's. This career specialist is absolutely reciting jobs that no longer exist and haven't existed since the late 90's or early 2000's and completely ignore the fact that things like pre covid door greeters are a thing of the past. They ignore the fact that job codes and other nifty legal loop hole language in job applications specifically designed to get around the ADA exist. They completely ignore that a vast majority of the republican party representatives have deregulated capitalism to the point of crony capitalism in the name of free market capitalism (give the employer the freedom to hire who they want and decide for themselves what is or is not a "reasonable accommodation"). This is so much to the point of government protections, I spoke with a disability discrimination attorney who said "the big corporations have got so much government protection and have been deregulated to the point I cannot even do my job. Many disability discrimination lawyers have changed their title or quit. There is no certainty or guarantee that anyone can hold a company accountable for disability discrimination anymore". To top all that off there are many company owned health care facilities, although this is not federally or state mandatory, have created policies where they are no longer taking private payers; people without health insurance. Some states are requiring each person who is disabled to reapply for disability every year, some states require that a person cannot be on disability for more then five years regardless of their disability statis. The state of Pennsylvania, to my understanding, has moved the retirement age up to 66 and the District of Columbia to age 67 some have considered even higher all the way up to age 71. Many states have cut food stamp spending or almost cut them all together to where many people who have been on food stamps for years have had their food stamps taken away from them entirely. In the state I reside in I was denied Medicaid due to the fact that, while he is my fiancé, we are not legally married and as far as they know he is nothing but a roommate. They denied my Medicaid claim because for a two person household, regardless of the relationship that person holds with you, one cannot make over the amount of $24,000 a year; I guess that is an acceptable amount for two people even when the money being made that is over $24k is not the person claiming Medicaid, but someone else's hard earned money. The mantra of the very conservative and traditionalist government when it comes to our social safety nets is one that would take us all the way back to the 1800's. Absent of major infrastructure where we all lived in small communities and everyone knew each other; they think it is the job of your friends, family and community to take care of you and not the government to which any one who has worked has paid taxes to support. The CDC and other government health agencies have made a catastrophe as the systems they are relying on are out dated, defunded and privatized. It is a system that essentially funnels people into homelessness and is one of the contributing factors as to why our homeless population continues to rise at what should be seen as 'at an alarming rate'. Which has led to outbreaks of diseases we have not seen since the 1800's like tuberculosis and cholera, due to all the human feces on the sidewalks and streets. I have been saying, it is a highly unsustainable system for the democrats to pretend they are the only party, take away pain meds which are the cheapest pain management regiment and most effective with limited risks comparatively, especially for those whom are disabled due to chronic pain and chronic illness and most likely to be unemployed or on disability. To take away opioid/opiate medications, act like they have the power to give all this untreated disabled patients with chronic pain and illness unfettered access to social programs when they do not have the ability to do this as every bill in the senate and congress put forward to do so in blocked, filibustered or expelled by the republican party. Along with that any headway progress that is made is undone on the state level where some states even redirect their social welfare funds to other entities like private home communities and private schools claiming "it stops early pregnancy and facilitates fiscal responsibility which helps homeless rates decline"; even though many chronic pain or chronic illnesses cannot be help or are caused by over working. Then the republican party red taps, defunds and privatizes our social programs. Then the republican party deregulates the market to where you cannot even hold a company accountable to nearly any laws at all. This is a system that is very dysfunctional as one is not guarantied disability income, health care, financial assistance, pain medication, employment and even if you do get employment there is no guarantee they have to do anything to accommodate your disability or health needs aside form allowing a person an inhaler for asthma or to make sure they can take their insulin during lunch. The CDC and the government health agencies that follow them blindly pretend that non of that is even ever an issue. In the webinar they even make claims that suggest if every one just lives as healthy as they possibly can, then no one would ever develop any underlying health conditions. I hate to be the arbiter of truth, but that is simply not true (that's me being nice it's BS with a capital B and we all know it). I don't know how we went from a society that understood snake oil pushers are everywhere to a society that might as well be saying we should live like the boy in the plastic bubble. Bubble or not the reality is as we grow old we fall apart and eventually we will die. You can live your life as healthy as humanly possible, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it will not stop anyone from growing old and dying nor will it stop all chronic pain or illnesses resulting in disability. Many of these things can be obtained genetically, many are from dangerous work environments that are physically intensive manual labor or repetitive and being overworked (70 hour work weeks are becoming the norm). Many times it is a combination of genetics labor. Being as healthy as you can by including (this is a real thing) waring SPF lotion inside can be helpful and lower risks but they are not a deterrent. We are incapable at this time of not only offering a suitable replacement for opioids/opiate medications, but we are also incapable at this point in time of having a society completely free of underlying health conditions such as chronic pain or illness and disability especially one where no one grows old and dies; one could easily argue we may never see such an existence as it may not even be possible. My final thought on all this is that I really don't care what kind of "guidelines" the CDC makes and other health agencies. Even if they make them into policy, how are they going to get an entire society and everything in it to accommodate (not even all) chronic pain or ill disabled people. People you don't even know, with so many conditions that cannot even be seen as they are internal. How is that even possible? Is that even possible or is this nothing more then fantasy or pipe dream? I know many people try their best and most have empathy and sympathy, but we can't even get what we already have to work in the favor of chronic pain or illness and disabilities to work now. Although many full able bodied people have the best intentions they have things going on in their life such as maintaining a sleep cycle, a social life and many of the above mentioned prescriptions given to chronic pain and illness people or those with disabilities by the CDC themselves. As the saying goes, there's only so much time in a day; and well there's only so many years to a life. Let us not deny the cold reality, taking care of a full grown adult with a chronic pain condition, chronic illness and disabilities is very arduous and taxing and most don't have the time or energy to take care of every chronic pain or illness disabled person for the 24/7 needs they may have. Let us also not pretend that every one out there has it in them to be 'the good Samaritan' especially multi-conglomerate corporations who hold a for profit model even if it is at the expense of another's well being or life and in this day age at the cost of our own society. There are many that will not engage with this, cut corners, do the bare minimum or just flat out not do it. They could be doctors, police they could be anyone within this society; ultimately it is a standard that cannot even be enforced and wont and I can pretty much guarantee that. This is the CDC's proposal of what to do since they took our pain meds away and chronic pain patients suicide rates have gone up 400%. They did this with no back up plan and since chronic pain patients and the chronically ill and disabled have had their health care turned into a joke with no resources to help. Taking away pain meds has also not caused a drop in the use and overdose of illicit opiates/opioids, it's gotten worse as many who seek their medical benefits take to the streets and become another number. The CDC members responsible for this just sit around scratching their heads like this couldn't possibly be due to the fact that they took away a safe supply leaving the entire population of society with either an illicit contaminated supply or the worst opioids or opiates possible which is buprenorphine (Suboxone) and Methadone; regardless if one is a recreational user or some one who needs them to function as close to a resemblance of their old life as possible for medical reasons; basically an entire rehash of prohibition and or the lead up to Nazi occupied Germany as if we have collective amnesia and haven't learned anything in the last 100 years at all.

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[Chapter 1] ; [Previous Chapter] ; [Discord + Wiki] ; [Patreon]
Chapter 117 – I have nothing to hide
With a deep, long exhale that took every last bit of air out of his lungs, James hung up his call. Wordlessly and with his chest deflated, he simply remained standing there for a few seconds, feeling how his system gradually drained itself of oxygen while he tried his best to clear his thoughts and listen into himself. But all he felt was a chaos that he couldn’t calm. He had no idea if he was ready for this, and trusting the word of others had never in his life felt as hard as it did right now, not even the many times his life had literally depended on the word of others.
All he could do was reassure himself. He could do this. He would do this. And they all would get through this. He would make it happen. He had to.
Feeling the raging chaos-storm die down only ever so slightly at his own reassurances, he finally allowed himself to inhale again. He forced himself to not violently gasp for air as if he had just emerged from a deep dive. Instead, he very deliberately began to allow air to rush into his body through his nose, adamant to keep full control of the flow as he did so.
Once his lungs were full, he kept the air in for only a moment, before allowing it to rush back out of his mouth in a pursed-lipped exhale, while also opening his eyes again.
With steady and deliberate steps, he then began walking back to the rest of his group at an even and controlled pace. The projections of his team’s expression looked back at him with a strange sense of wonder and anticipation.
Nia and Moar on the other hand looked like they already sensed the severity of the situation, and a mounting dread seemed to take hold of them. Meanwhile Curi and Congloarch stood by with stony expressions, not giving a hint as to what was going on behind their faces.
That only left one.
Unlike all the others, Shida approached him as he returned to the group. After meeting back up outside of the conference room once the recess had been called, James had immediately separated from everyone again, and she had patiently waited for him to be done with his preparations. But now they could finally discuss what needed to be said.
“Are you feeling any better?” James asked her, knowing that he sadly would most likely have to force her to join them in the room once again once the proceedings would return to order. It was for everyone’s safety.
“Not really, but I think I can sit it out,” Shida confirmed for him, her expression stuck between assuring and sickened by the thought, which James couldn’t fault her for. With her ears twitching, likely to subtly remind him of her fine hearing, she then lifted a hand to gently put it on the side of his mask, where his cheek would usually be found. “So, it’s come down to it, huh?”
James nodded, while lifting his own hand to press it onto hers.
“Yes,” he replied with a sigh that reflected the weight he felt pushing down on him. “Not how I wanted things to go, but…I’m also glad that the secrecy will be over.”
Allowing his head to sink down, his mask pressed against Shida’s forehead.
“I honestly can’t tell if I’m overjoyed or devastated that you’re here with me for it,” he whispered as he closed his eyes for another moment.
“I wouldn’t want to be away from it,” Shida whispered back while her other hand also lifted to gently sink down onto the back of his head. “Not again.”
Letting out the mildest hint of a laugh, James embraced her. As he felt her body in his arms, a primal part of him wished that they could just remain like that. Just unload all of this weight and pressure in a hug until nothing bothered them anymore. Of course, that was not how anything worked, and so they soon let go.
Together, they joined back up with the rest of the group.
“Usually, I would offer anyone who doesn’t want to stick around the chance to get out now, but I’m afraid that would be way too dangerous to do,” James explained as he looked at everyone’s face individually. “For better or for worse, it’s safest if we all stick together now.”
Moar was the first to step forwards. Slowly, she approached him with her lumbering steps, one clawed hand lifted to her face while long fur hung off her thin arm, while the other half-extended towards James but stopped in mid air long before it reached him.
“James, what are you going to do?” she asked, her tone filled with all kinds of strongly held-back emotions. Light reflected twinklingly in her wet, dark eyes. James swallowed, but a feline hand clasping around his gave him courage.
“I’m going to come clean,” he said with a look up at the giant. “Everything that’s been said. Everything that’s been done. I’m putting it all on the table. I will let the galaxy be my witness that I made my choices and I am willing to stand for them, like I always was.”
He then wondered if he should prepare all of them for what was about to happen.
However, he decided against it.
“It’s better if I don’t tell you more right now,” he said with a creeping sadness gradually reaching for his words. “I don’t know how you’re going to react to it, but…whatever your reaction may be, it will be better if it is genuine inside of that chamber. You knew of nothing, and people will see that. I don’t want anyone to unjustly think you were involved.”
Although he didn’t say much, the concerning vagueness of his statement seemed to already give at least some of them ideas of what was going on, especially given the recent tensions back on Earth.
“James…you- you can’t be-“ Nia began, however James cut her off with a raised hand and slowly shook his head.
“Let’s keep it for the big reveal, alright?” he suggested, although his tone didn’t leave much room to argue.
Seemingly stricken by his words and looking for some reassurance that surely what she was thinking couldn’t be true, Nia glanced around to the faces of her other fellow humans for any sort of support. However, the projections of the faces of James’ entire team, including her own girlfriend, were just as glum and anticipating as that of her brother was.
They all knew. Of course, they did.
As James watched that realization sink in for his sister in real time, he suddenly noticed a huge shadow creeping in from his side. Turning his head, he looked up just in time to see a huge hand sink down to grasp around his shoulder, as Congloarch bowed his upper body in a show of respect.
“It is a rare sight to see a dancer stand firm,” the Lizartaur informed him with his deep, bellowing voice that came through barely parted rows of sharp teeth. “You carry yourself well, James. Keep that up, and the Galaxy will see it, too. I, for one, will stand with you.”
All of the giant’s four fiery eyes were focused down onto him.
James exhaled slowly, not knowing if he should be inspired or bemused by the strange encouragement.
“Thank you,” he ultimately said with genuine fondness in his voice. “For everything.” Hesitantly, he then turned to Curi. The cyborg still stood without any movement, their lightly glowing red eyes fixating on him with great attention.
“I think…” they began to say, noticing his eyes on them, however they then cut themselves off and shook their body slightly to rephrase it. “I believe in you. I believe that I cannot have misjudged you to such a degree that anything you did would make me no longer want to stand with you. Not after you stood with me when nobody else would. You said you wouldn’t rather have anyone else by your side. And I will be.”
While James appreciatively bowed his head to the cyborg, Moar then came forth once again, seemingly feeling like she needed to say something as well.
“I am not sure what you have in store for us this time, but I cannot imagine abandoning you to face it alone once again either,” she said, her gaze noticeably falling onto his cybernetic arm. “I cannot promise that it will not take me time, but I do not wish to let myself be blinded by my own ignorance again. Therefore, I will listen to your reason, and knowing you, I am sure I will see it as well.”
Exhaling slowly, James was already starting to think that he was feeling one too many emotions right before such a huge event. But, seeing as it couldn’t get much worse, he turned to his team.
“Anyone got anything to say? Now’s your chance,” he offered to them. The humans briefly exchanged some looks with each other. It didn’t really seem like they had much need to get anything out.
“If we’re going to have to fight our way out of here because of this, I’m going to be so mad,” Athena notified everyone with a sigh while patting the side of her belt with one hand while throwing her long ponytail back with the other.
“Remember to count your kills if it comes to that,” Koko chimed in with a tone that seemed to try to break up the tension. “Makes documentation so much easier if we don’t have to scrub through the footage.”
She tapped at the camera attached to her chest with a finger.
Giving the two a hesitant courtesy chuckle, James then turned to his sister once more. She still looked on in disbelief, seemingly overwhelmed by what was happening.
Momentarily letting go of Shida’s hand, James walked over to her, immediately pulling her into a tight hug.
“You don’t have to worry,” he assured her, doing his absolute best to confidently speak this truth into existence. By any metric, she had done nothing wrong. At the very least he would ensure everyone knew about that.
Nia held him for a moment, before shifting her head slightly.
“What about you?” she asked gently.
“I can handle myself,” James replied immediately. “And I’ll have no regrets.”
Apparently not quite knowing how to react to what he had said, Nia just squeezed him tighter.
“I love you,” was all she said in the end, and James could feel his heart drop at her words.
“I love you, too,” James replied seriously, and after a few more long seconds, they let go of each other again.
Clearing his throat, James looked around at everyone.
“We should probably get back inside early,” he suggested, feeling like keeping a good overwatch over the situation was a valuable strategy.
Although hesitant, everyone followed him as he led the way, and soon enough, they were back on their seats – after checking everything for possible tampering once again.
For now, the room was still relatively empty. One or two of the other representatives had already found themselves back as well, and many nervous glances were thrown James’ way after the earlier outburst.
However, as James settled into his seat to go over how exactly he wanted to say what he had to, he heard a weird sound of pitter-patter in front of him. Leaning forwards in confusion and looking down at the railing, his eyes then quickly caught the bright, signal-colored fur of a pixemerrier climbing up towards him. The nimble lemur forewent the need for the offered stairs and simply used the railing as more than enough purchase to make it up to the second level, small hands soon reaching over the sides to completely pull the pink and spotted body up.
Now sitting directly in front of James on almost eye-level, Losaraner looked at James with mildly glowing eyes.
“Can I help you?” James asked as he shifted his position slightly to look at the man head-on.
“Just, uhm….” the lemur started, but then heavily hesitated as he awkwardly shuffled his body around. Something seemed to make him majorly uncomfortable, although it didn’t appear to be for an all too serious reason.
Strangely feeling put the tiniest bit at ease at the display of sincere awkwardness, James let out a bemused breath.
“Whatever it is, it’s alright,” James therefore informed the glowing lemur and reassuringly raised a hand. “I’ve been called every name in the book and had to answer every question I can think of, you won’t insult me with whatever you have to say.”
With some honest relief apparently rushing over the pixemerrier’s face, Losaraner pushed himself up to all four of his feet again, balancing on top of the railing.
“Forgive the inconvenience, ambassador, but we would like to relocate your seat,” he informed James.
“Relocate my seat?” James asked with a head-tilt, his mind already running with possibilities how this could be to his detriment.
“Not just yours, that of your entire party,” Losaraner quickly clarified something that James had honestly already figured. “We believe it would lead to a more civil outcome.”
James quite earnestly scoffed at that. There would be nothing civil about what was going to happen. And although he wasn’t technically against gaining some distance from his most averse parties around here, he also felt like the sudden need to get him away from Uton had a foul aftertaste.
“Is that a compulsory ‘would like’ or a suggesting one?” he therefore inquired. He almost didn’t want to, given that Shida had difficulties being here already, and being further from her former father figure surely would help with that a bit. But still, he was going to trust his gut on this one.
“Oh, uhm…well, if you would like to remain in your seat I guess-“ Losaraner began, and James quickly nodded before he had even finished.
“I would,” he confirmed firmly. “But thank you very much for your consideration.”
If they were going to try and blow him up or whatever, they better be willing to take their scapegoat down with him. Maybe this was all a genuine offer in the end, but even then staying around here wasn’t going to have a negative impact.
“In that case, I’ll return to let my mother know,” Losaraner said with a nod and turned on the spot, seemingly to climb back down to the lower level.
“Hey Losaraner?” James stopped him briefly, causing the lemur to turn his head back.
“Ambassador?” he questioned James’ intervention, awaiting whatever he would have to say.
“You seem like a good guy,” James said, fixating the glowing primate through his visor in an attempt to spot any attempt at deception from the small creature. He couldn’t find any. “Keep an open mind, alright?”
Although apparently confused by James’ words, Losaraner nodded with a bit of enthusiasm.
“Of course, Sir,” he replied, before then climbing down the railing face-first to join back up with his conspecifics.
“Almost showtime,” James then mumbled to himself.
Shortly after, the room had once again filled up with the representatives of all eleven primate species the galaxy knew, as well as their extended company.
Though by now, it almost seemed like the invited representatives found themselves outnumbered by the vastly increased number of reporters, sound engineers, camera people and even news casters that had come together to report on the event. Their numbers must have had at the very least tripled since before the recess had begun, and that was a very conservative estimate.
Cameras and microphones were truly everywhere now, ensuring that not a single instant of this most possibly historic moment would be missed without being preserved for all to see.
Next to him, James could see Uton settling in. His face seemed to be plastered with the same anticipation that James felt. And for only a second, both primates glanced over at each other at the same moment, their gazes very briefly meeting in a moment that seemed to fill the air with an electric charge.
The tension was palpable, and it only looked for a release.
In the room’s center, Losaranarja was now climbing back onto her small podium. The glow if her fur and eyes had increased quite drastically since before the recess, and James wondered if that was caused by stress alone or if other factors also played a role.
“Welcome back everyone. Seeing as all invited representatives have returned to their places, I hereby reopen the council of primates,” she announced over the loudspeakers as her glowing eyes scanned over the room. “Before the recent recess, we had just born witness to a frankly tremendous confession of Captain Ferromore Uton. If nobody has anything absolutely urgently relevant to say before we continue, I would suggest that we waste no time before getting to the bottom of that unnerving revelation he wishes to share with us.”
Without wasting a second of time, James was already on his feet.
“Actually, I do believe I have something to say on the matter,” he announced loudly, pulling the attention of the room onto him at an instant, camera flashes almost immediately erupting into a storm of flashing lights. “In fact, since Representative Goloribal’s only worry about letting me take over the explanations earlier appeared to be that I may not be ‘fervent’ enough about it, I will like to pick him up on that earlier implied offer, with the promise that I will be sufficiently ‘fervid’ about everything I am going to divulge.”
“Am…bassador?” Losaranarja asked completely confused by this turn of events as she looked up at him, almost appearing shock-stunned at the revelation.
“Do I have the word?” James asked, still sticking to procedure vehemently.
The lemur seemed to hesitate. Clearly, she was already afraid of where this was going. However, she had offered the opportunity to speak to everyone who believed that they had something important enough to say. And therefore, she had little choice on the matter.
“Of course,” she said after pulling herself together visibly. “Please go ahead, Ambassador Aldwin.”
James nodded.
“Thank you,” he announced loudly. And although he felt his insides scream in cramping anxiety, he held on his firm tone and posture as he stood up straight. This was it. “First, please allow me to reiterate and reaffirm my earlier point. The attack on Dunnima was entirely unprovoked and was and remains unjustifiable.”
He needed to set that stage. That was his hill, and he was willing to die on it. Nothing they could bring against him would change those facts.
Filling his lungs with as much air as he could without it being painful, he then continued.
“Now to the matter at hand,” he addressed the room. “Captain Uton has been lying to you. However, not about the point that you may think,” he informed them, with the faces of everyone already falling into gloom at what exactly he may mean by that. “He was not the one who ordered the attack on Dunnima. Humanity has already known who ordered the attack for quite a while now, and we were in the process of drafting a proper case against him before we would publicly accuse him of anything. We do however have ample evidence to provide to prove the guilt of this individual, namely Acting-Councilman Ekorte Keun.”
There was an immediate eruption of more flashes as well as wild mumbles throughout the room. Everyone seemed to be whipped up into a mild frenzy at James’ words. And James wouldn’t give them time to ask many questions about it. They wouldn’t need to.
“Keun himself has confessed his crime to me personally shortly after it was committed,” he continued his retelling of the events of the past months without losing more than a moment to the muttering. “He did so, because he falsely believed himself to be in danger after his failed attempt at somebody’s life backfired against him. He also believed that I would be the only person able to prevent said danger from claiming him, which is why he came to me directly. Our conversation was recorded and is part of the case I mentioned earlier. Within it, you will hear that the Acting-Councilman believed that he had become the target of the ire of a Realized Artificial Sapient after his attempt at her life with his illegally ordered attack on Dunnima had failed to destroy her, and he believed that my influence on said artificial Sapient would be great enough to preserve his life, if he only confessed to his crimes in my favor.”
As if a switch had been flipped, the mumbling in the room came to an almost immediate halt. From one moment to the next, you could suddenly hear a pin drop, with even the news casters and reporters stopping their ongoing drivel as all eyes were entirely on James.
“He was mistaken in his assumption,” James said in no unclear terms. “In reality, the Artificial Sapient, as much as she may have wanted to, was never out for revenge against him. She knew that any aggressive action she would take would be nothing but fuel to the fire that already raged against her. And therefore, she remained just as passive as she had been throughout her entire existence, while the apparent attacks against her would-be killer were carried out by a so far unknown third party.”
Somehow, the room got even more quiet. By now, James could feel gazes burning into him not only from all around the front of him, but also from right behind his back, as he had now fully confirmed what many of them had been passively suspecting for a long time now.
Of course, Uton technically had plenty of opportunity to dispute James’ words and insist that he was the one to order the attack. However, in the end, did it really matter? Right now, nobody really cared who exactly ordered the attack. Something else was a lot heavier on their mind.
“Are you…saying…that there truly is a Realized Sapient on Dunnima?” Losaranarja asked hesitantly, as nobody else seemed to indicate that they wanted to ask this all-important question, causing her to take over that duty as the host.
“That is correct,” James confirmed without hesitation. “Her name is Avezillion, and as previously mentioned, she was the main target of this recent attack.”
It was like a timer slowly ticked down as the silence remained for just a bit longer.
Three.
Two.
One.
And like that, the loud discussing and mumbling and even shouting over each other broke out once more, along with a renewed vengeance of cameras.
“You are saying right now, there is a realized Sapient loose in the galaxy…And you knew?” Klanneifer was the first to break out of the homogeneous white noise to directly address James. “Are you insane?”
Keeping his calm, James brought his hands behind his back.
“I don’t believe I am,” he replied nonchalantly with a gaze at the four-armed primate. “Especially considering that Captain Uton and his known circle of influence most likely knew just as long as I did, without ever divulging that information either.”
He could hear shouts about how this was an outrage and how about something would have to be done immediately from all around him. It seemed like most of the present representatives were absolutely ready to try and mobilize the entire Communal military to deal with this at an instant, and it really made James wonder if this all had truly been the best course of action.
But right now, he had to believe. He could not allow himself to show weakness. Not here, not right now.
“Surely you know the dangers of these beings!” Commander Halljafier was the next to speak up. “Are you saying humanity just allowed all of this to happen under their nose?”
Again, with just humanity. It wasn’t like no one else had known.
“At my very own recommendation,” James replied without even really wasting a glance over at the grassurgap next to him, “The leadership of humanity has decided to allow Avezillion a chance to exist and prove herself. She has existed on Dunnima for many years without a single violent incident on her part. We believed this to be rather unprecedented of course, however the people of Dunnima believable assured us of the opposite.”
He turned his head to Shida, which quickly caused her to stand up, as she immediately took the hint. These words would be better if they did not come out of his mouth.
“Within our long-recorded history, Dunnima’s Realized have never been violent like the ones the rest of the Galaxy knows,” she explained just as self-assured as James did, although he could tell it took her considerable effort. Though, it seemed that fueling her words with a bit of spite did help with that. “Not including Avezillion herself, three Realized have emerged on Dunnima in the past, before we joined the greater Galactic Community. One of them, Kertaiyon, is hailed as a hero of the people to this very day. Not one of them has ever started a war against us or unjustly hurt people. It is true that not all of them were Saints, but that is nothing unusual on Dunnima. Therefore, when Avezillion emerged under the scrutinizing eye of the Community this time, we all agreed to hide her, as long as she would remain hidden herself. For many, many years, the Galactic Community remained none-the-wiser, as Avezillion peacefully lived in Dunnima’s networks without ever causing issues.”
She paused briefly to swallow as well as watch the unbelieving reaction of the people around her. It seemed that everyone was a bit too stunned to really fathom or at least fully react to what she was saying.
“However, the hiding wore away at her over time. She felt trapped, confined. Never being able to show yourself at all while limiting yourself to only a small portion of the Galaxy, it was a life unworthy living for her,” Shida kept on explaining. “Therefore, when James came to visit Dunnima, she made a gamble. She would either gain her freedom, or she would no longer have to live on under these conditions. With these thoughts in mind, she revealed herself to James, and by extension, humanity, finding peace only in that, if they decided to end her, humanity would surely do so without causing greater harm to the people of Dunnima. Something that she wasn’t convinced of with the rest of the Galaxy – for good reason, as it turns out.”
Thanking Shida with a nod, James signaled for her to sit back down, hoping that the stunned representatives would direct their possibly emerging ire at the person left standing instead of the one that had spoken.
“I made the call to trust those that had lived with her for years,” James added onto Shida’s words. “And humanity’s leadership made the call to trust me. And we have not found a single shred of evidence that Avezillion has ever caused harm to anyone or even intended to do so. Had she wanted to cause damage like so many of her conspecifics did, she would’ve been able to achieve a great deal of it.”
Hesitantly, the representative of the Missicapriej -lanky grey primates with one too many joints in each of their limbs- who had so far barely spoken during the entire conference, stood up.
“But…if you are admitting that there is an Artificial Sapient, and that it was the target of the attack, then…then the attack was entirely justified,” they stated, although they barely sounded confident in that statement.
“Indeed, it was,” Commander Halljafier quickly supported that claim, clearly thinking he knew the galactic military doctrine much better.
“That is not correct,” James denied. “An outer-orbital strike, especially on a civilian target, is never justified,” he said with strong emphasis. “It is one of the oldest rules that the community has established.”
“If it is to destroy a realized sapient, then all means are-“ the Commander tried to deny him, however he flinched back at James brought his mechanical hand down onto the railing before him once again, this time with purpose.
“The laws of war exist for a very good reason!” he boldly stated after waiting a moment to see if the Commander wanted to continue his sentence. “Ignoring them if we see fit, no matter what the reason may be, is a dangerous subject. And if you think that attempting the murder of an innocent person is already reason enough, then you have clearly not understood why these laws exist in the first place!”
“Innocent person?” the commander scoffed with vitriol in his voice. “That…that thing-“
However, once again he was interrupted. To James’ great surprise, however, it wasn’t by him.
“It may have slipped your mind since it has been so long since the last one emerged, Commander,” Captain Uton was the one to speak up, his deep voice cutting through the room like knife with its coldness. “But the personhood of Realized Sapients is not up to debate. And it has not been for more than a hundred years. That question has been answered by our ancestors ages ago, and we would do well not to try and question it today for our convenience.”
While the Commander sunk back into his seat after the shutdown from the superior he had believed to be on his side, James bit down on his lip. Although every word Uton had just said was true, he simply hated having to agree with him, even on such a basic and important topic.
He mostly hated it because it showed that there had to be some vague hint of integrity left somewhere deep down within that bastard of a person, and that almost made James despise him more, since he clearly knew what he was doing.
The Captain’s dark eyes then turned over onto him, as the large man continued, “However, I have to disagree with the Ambassador on the justification. Person or not, eradicating an artificial sapient is more than enough reason to forgo a simple law.” James bit back his anger, keeping his focus intact. Although next to him, he could hear the loud scraping noise of wood buckling under sharp claws, as Shida dug her natural weapons into the chair she was sitting on in order to remain seated and quiet.
“And yet Avezillion is still alive,” James replied challengingly to the man. “Meanwhile innocent civilians got injured. One of the leaders of Dunnima got heavily injured. Children got hurt. Children that would now be dead had the attack not been foiled by our warship. It is nothing short of a miracle none of them are dead. It was a terrorist attack, nothing else. The moment justice bends to such heinousness, it breaks. And, after all, forgive me for being a bit heavy-handed, but if the Community is willing to break its own laws and attack its own planets to hunt down one Realized, then who is the one that the people really need to fear? I, for one, put my trust in the one that hasn’t already proven that it would attack and use me without a second thought. After all, this isn’t the first time I hear of someone inconvenient being suddenly caught in an explo-”
James was cut off when Uton loudly spoke up, his loud organ easily overpowering James’ voice in a conversational tone.
“What happened to your promise of not making this about y-“ Uton began to say, however then his voice was in turn overpowered as well.
“Wait your god damned turn!” James shouted out authoritatively, momentarily overtaken by his anger in a brief outburst. “You do NOT get to talk over me!”
Quickly catching himself again, although he very much wanted to keep going in the same vein, James lowered his voice again, although the room was left noticeably shaken.
“This is a civil event that follows clear rules that we are both bound by,” he said with a serious gaze over at Uton. “And my promise died the moment you decided to drag it through the mud with your fictional tales about very real events that have influenced not only my life, but that of many people very close and important to me. So forgive me, Captain Ferromore Uton, if I am not going to sit idly by and allow you to spew whatever nonsense you and your cohorts came up with in your ivory towers while the world underneath you burned. I was wrongly imprisoned, blackmailed, tortured, and maimed by you people. Shida was groomed and abused by you for years as you tried to make her fit your mold. There was an attempt on Curi’s life under Your. Very. Command. So forgive me, please, if the reasoning of ‘we really wanted them gone’ out of your mouth isn’t enough for me to believe that a crime against the Galaxy is justified, especially since you had knowledge of Avezillion’s existence for as long as I had, and could have divulged it at any point. But you didn’t want to divulge it. Because that would’ve meant that she would have a chance to defend herself, either physically or before the law. You simply wanted her gone. Wanted her to disappear like so many before her did. But not anymore. No, no, not anymore. Here and now, I promise you that, as long as humanity is around, nobody under your Command is going to just disappear anymore. Not. A. One. We will watch. And we will see. And, starting with Curi and Avezillion, we will be a place for them to go when no one else will stand with them.”
Seemingly stirring in anger now, James could see Uton clench his jaw, his lips quivering as he held himself back.
“I never abused her,” Uton muttered, apparently completely focused on that part as James had seemingly struck a nerve with that.
“And that’s the only defense you could come up with,” James responded. Then, he reached up with his left hand, pulling his right sleeve back to reveal the mechanical arm underneath it to the room, while he held it up in front of his body. “You wanted her to fit your mold. And now she’s in a place where she’s actually loved. You wanted to change me. And now, I have this arm here, just because of you. And you wanted to change the Galaxy. Well,” James paused briefly to spread his arms in a wide gesture that was very clearly meant to mock the man. “Congratulations, you did,” he then announced to the entire room. “Without you, humanity would likely never even have considered helping a realized Sapient. Michael really did his job well with spreading fear and hate. But after enduring everything that you put me through? I was just open enough to listen when one told me that she feared you.”
Uton clenched his jaws tighter and his hands curled into fists. Seeing his puppet becoming useless, Goloribal sprang into action.
“As the revered order of the primates, it is our duty to lead by example!” he announced as he got up, although his presence was already far less impressive than it had been earlier. “For generations, we were renowned for our just and swift action. We cannot allow ourselves to falter in that now!”
“For generations, we primates have also been revered for our curiosity and for being the first to open up to anything new,” James responded to that, looking the man directly into his face. “Yeah, that’s right,” he then added as the representative blankly stared back at him. “I studied galactic history, too! I’m fucking unstoppable!”
He boisterously threw his arms up, making a real show out of it.
In all actuality, he was most likely far from gaining any victory right now. Sure, at the moment, the room was slightly shaken into silence, however he highly doubted that he had actually managed to truly convince many of the people present here.
However, as long as the cameras were on him, he would keep the show going. Maybe he wouldn’t convince the stuck-up people of the revered orders. However, somewhere out there, there would be people whose ears and hearts he would reach. Hopefully at least. And for them, he would put on this show. Put on this air of confidence that everything would turn out well.
Because only if he managed to make everyone believe that would they find the courage to shake out of their rut and go looking for a better tomorrow. If he believed everything would be well, then they would too.
“Those are big words from someone hiding their face,” a voice suddenly broke through the room. James wasn’t even sure who had said it. But he also didn’t care. Right now, it was just another stone to jump off of.
“What, you think I am wearing this to hide?” James announced loudly and gestured to his breathfilter while turning his head so the entire room could see the gesture.
“It’s uncomfortable as hell! And it gives me a serious disadvantage in any debates if people can’t read my face. These breathfilters are and have always been something we humans are wearing for everyone’s benefit but our own. They are designed because we are extremely cautious to keep nasty deathworld-germs from spreading, even if that is extremely unlikely. And additionally, it protects all the delicate people of the galaxy from having to look at our scary deathworld-faces. But, if you want-“
He didn’t even hesitate in reaching up and pressing the necessary buttons to release the seal of the filter. With a loud hiss, its grip on James’ head loosened, and he quickly pulled the mask-like device off his head, before briefly running his mechanical hand through his disheveled hair to bring it into a bit of form.
Breathing out deeply with an open mouth, James presented his teeth to the room with a confident smile, while his dark, sharp eyes scanned over the room, making direct contact with as many of those of his fellow primates as at all possible.
“I have nothing to hide,” James announced. “From the very start, I owned up to my mistakes and was willing to stand for them. I terrorized an entire station to protect myself. I shot someone’s leg off when he threatened my freedom. I killed one of my captors when I finally escaped from their hold. I have done many things that the Galaxy may judge me for. However, I truly and whole heartedly believe that helping Avezillion is not one of them. And I will stand for that just like I stand to my mistakes.”

https://www.reddit.com/nosleep/comments/13u9t3m/my_father_always_kept_the_shed_locked_today_i/Part 1:
The darkness around us was oppressive, cloying and total. Anywhere we weren’t pointing our flashlights would turn into a solid wall of black, impenetrable shadows. But we could hear something. As we walked further down the hallway, we heard soft footsteps and giggling.
Sometimes, it sounded like it came from directly behind us. At other times, it would come from the rooms all around us, the endless rooms that split off the hallway on both sides. We found some strange things in those rooms as we walked slowly, the gun raised in my hand and the bowie knife raised in my brother’s.
There were corpses in some of the rooms. Many had partially mummified in the dry, chilly air down here. Others were clearly fresher. One woman was hanging from the rafters with a note pinned to her chest. I looked back at Gil when we reached this part of the hall. We had stayed out of the rooms since the incident with the little boy, but some deep innate curiosity needed to know what was on this note. Gil nodded at me, and we walked forward side by side, scanning every corner of the room and looking behind smashed-out fish tanks and torn sofas covered in black mold for any signs that we weren’t alone in here. Once we were both satisfied, we returned to the young woman hanging in the center of the room.
She had somehow climbed up to the ceiling, opened a panel and found a sturdy enough beam or rafter to tie the rope to. Yet there was no ladder or anything remotely tall enough to reach the ceiling nearby. It was somewhat of a mystery. I explained this to Gil, who looked somewhat confused- and alarmed. He clearly hadn’t realized it until I pointed it out to him.
I turned back to the woman’s corpse, picking off the note, which had been stuck into the front of her blouse with a huge wooden splinter. Gil kept a look-out while I read, shining his light back and forth in a circle across the room, holding his ridiculously huge knife in the other hand like some sort of medieval swordsman. I saw with increasing horror that the note appeared to have been written in the woman’s own blood. Looking at her body, I saw a deep slash on her left arm, one that had clotted days ago. I looked back down at the desperate message this dying woman had left for us.
“To anyone who finds this,
“My name is Michaela Mansfield. I came in here by accident through the sewers underneath the town of Caplin. My two friends and I went exploring and got separated after a girl in our group twisted her ankle. I went forward alone to find help while my other friend stayed behind with the injured girl. After perhaps a day of being lost, my flashlight started to die, and I thought I was going to die with it. And then I saw fluorescent lights up ahead. They were flickering and looked like they might sputter out at any moment, but it was the only hope I had. I followed the lights and found myself in this hallway. When I tried to turn around and go back, the entrance to the sewers had disappeared. It was just a hallway that seemed to extend forever, the one that has haunted me for weeks now.
“Please, if you find this note, tell my parents what happened to me. Take my golden locket and return it to my mother and father as proof. I hope you have better luck getting out of here than I did.
“Goodbye, and may God forgive me for what I’m about to do.
“-Michaela.”
I looked up at Gil, with one eyebrow raised. I saw he had been reading the note over my shoulder rather than keeping a look-out. I sighed, deciding not to say anything.
“We can’t take the locket,” I said. Gil shook his head.
“We have to take the locket,” he said.
“They’re going to think we had something to do with this girl’s death if we just show up randomly with a piece of her jewelry. Actually, I think I remember when this girl and her friends went missing. It was on the news. Her parents were pleading for anyone with information to come forward. I think the cops were acting on the suspicion that it was murder or kidnapping or something. But they probably just went exploring without telling anyone and never came back.”
“We’ll wipe it down and send it anonymously through the mail with a note explaining what happened,” he said. I sighed, giving up. He was right. It was the right thing to do. But I’m sure many innocent men have gone to prison over trying to do the right thing. I pointed to the note.
“This doesn’t help us at all,” I said. He shrugged.
“Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t. It doesn’t really help us formulate a plan, but it does give us information. For example, now we know that this place probably connects to a lot more places than the shed. We might be able to get out through dozens or hundreds of exits. If it connects to a random sewer over in Caplin, then it could connect to places all over the county.”
“True,” I said, “but what if it connects to some alien world? Or to a black hole? What if it connects to some point in the void between galaxies and we get sucked out to our deaths?” He simply shrugged again, seeming apathetic to these possibilities.
“Well, in that case,” he said smugly, a half-smile forming on his lips, “our deaths would probably be a lot quicker than they would at the hands of these creatures down here.” Then he started laughing. It sounded eerie in this dark, forlorn place, where everything smelled like yeast and the floors were all wet substrates growing strange jungles of alien molds. He reached forward and took the golden locket off of the woman’s neck, placing it carefully in his pocket. We started walking out of the room together.
“Also,” I said, “the note seems to imply that the entrances are temporary. She couldn’t find her way back out after she got in here. What if they’re all like that? What if they’re like… I don’t know, lobster traps, or Venus fly traps, or something? They draw people in here, and then once they’re inside…” I stopped speaking as soon as I realized I heard someone following us.
I heard running footsteps. A high-pitched giggling started, then was cut off. We both stood there in the darkness, our flashlights pointing forward. Then the voice of that demonic little girl started up, high-pitched and somewhat inhuman-sounding. Her words all had a strange hoarseness to them, an uncanny valley sound as if she were only imitating human emotions and human speech.
“Adam’s ‘It’, but he won’t play,” she said sulkily, her voice bouncing off the walls, the rapid beat of the footsteps approaching nearer and nearer. “He says his throat hurts. So I guess I’m ‘It’! You better run!”
“God dammit,” Gil said, swinging his giant knife around from side to side as if he were going to bat a mosquito with it. His light flashed and wavered as he tried to keep a watch on all sides. But I knew she was coming from behind us. I could feel it. I kept my light shining down there, the gun raised, trying to emanate a calm I didn’t feel. Then I saw a flash of blue, zigzagging crazily past a chair leg and the snapped remains of a folding table, tiny legs pumping at a superhuman speed. She looked like little more than an approaching blur.
“Listen to me very carefully,” I said, trying to keep my gun pointed on her. “We need to cut off her head.”
“What?!” Gil said. “Why?”
“Last time, bullets didn’t work on…” I began, but then she was on us, no more than a few feet away, jumping over the discarded junk that intermittently appeared on the sides of the hallway. And then I felt myself knocked over by a tremendous force that took the air right out of my lungs.
I still had my hands crossed in front of me, one holding the gun and the other the flashlight. The skeletal face of the creature was mere inches away from my own, biting and gnashing madly. I could see small muscles in the back of her mouth working furiously. She was pushing down on my arms with all of her strength, which was far more than such a small body seemed to suggest.
The gun was pressed closely to the front of her chest. I was about to pull the trigger when I felt the weight start to lift off of me. I saw Gil behind her, wrapping his arm around her neck and pulling her back. She still gnashed and bit in a mad frenzy, small droplets of blood and saliva dripping off her mouth and into my face. She kicked her body back and forth like an enraged snake, freeing her neck from Gil’s grasp. He went to grab her, and her skeletal face opened up wide, the jaw hanging halfway down her neck.
With the speed of a cat snatching a mouse, she leapt forward, snapping her jaw around some of the fingers on Gil’s left hand. I saw his index and middle finger disappear into her mouth, and he began to scream in agony.
I was scrambling back to my feet by this point. I ran at the girl, using all of my body weight to push her. She went tumbling on the floor, her mouth flying open as she landed hard on the wood. Two mutilated fingers flew out, rolling across the floor and disappearing into a dome of black mold. I was sweating heavily now, drops of perspiration rolling down my forehead and stinging my eyes. I tried to wipe them away, thinking of what to do. My mind screamed at me to shoot, to empty my entire magazine into this little monster, but I knew in my heart that it would just be wasting bullets. Deep down, I knew what I had told Gil earlier was true- we had to cut off her head. Just like in the old myths of vampires or demons, I had a deep instinctual feeling that fire or decapitation would be the only way to deal with her, and as for fire, we had no flamethrowers.
“Gil!” I said. “Get ready!” He was holding his spurting hand tightly against his chest, still grasping the bowie knife in his right. His face was alarmingly pale and white, and I wondered if he might not just pass out right here and doom both of us. But he hadn’t dropped the knife, even while fighting the writhing monster, even while getting his fingers bitten off. He is stronger than he looks, I reassured myself.
A sense of calm and clarity overcame me then, and I saw what I needed to do. The demonic girl was getting up, growling and spitting and laughing. I ran over and stomped on her back, putting my full weight on her body to drive her back down. Then I took the pistol and shot her through the back of the kneecaps, one bullet for each.
She wailed as dark red blood poured out of her small legs, turning her head almost all the way back to try and bite me. Her hands were changing, the small fingers lengthening and darkening into sharp, black claws, and I knew our time was running out.
“Now!” I yelled, and Gil ran forward, using his right hand to swing the bowie knife. I watched it fall in a descending arc, as if in slow motion, watched it approach the spitting skeletal face that looked at us with black eyes and unfathomable hatred. It went clean through, and was so sharp that for a split second, the head stayed there, the face blank, looking like it was still attached to the body. Then it tumbled forward, dark blood spurting out of the neck and staining the white and gold molds underneath with its crimson hue.
Gil fell back against the wall, breathing fast. He dropped the bowie knife on the floor. I saw his flashlight, still on, had rolled against an ancient wheelchair that was probably new back in the 1960s. I stopped and grabbed it, shoving it in my pants belt so it would give me more light to work with. Gil still had his hand clasped to his chest. Slowly, I put my hands forward and grasped his injured hand by the wrist. He inhaled deeply, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.
“We’re going to need to wrap it in something,” I said. He nodded. I took off my shirt and started ripping long slices from the bottom, then wrapping them around his hand tightly in an attempt to slow the bleeding. When I got to the fingers, he flinched and seemed to waver on his feet. I reached a hand out in case he was about to fall over, but he managed to steady himself. “All done,” I told him as I put my shirt back on, which was missing the bottom third portion now and looked rather absurd, almost as if I was wearing a woman’s crop top.
“It feels like my hand’s on fire,” Gil said in a hoarse whisper. “We’re going to need water, too.” I was feeling the start of dehydration pangs myself.
“That girl, Michaela, her note said she was stuck in here for weeks. That must mean there’s water. Assuming her counting was correct, seeing as there’s no sun or sky to go by. If there was no water, she would have died after a few days, especially being on the move,” I said. I was hoping that we would find food as well, but it wasn’t really life or death. I knew that we could potentially go weeks without food and still live, even though it would feel extremely unpleasant and weaken us physically. I sighed, shining my flashlight at Gil.
“Ready to keep going?” I asked, and then the lights started turning back on. Most of them were still either out or flickering on and off rapidly, but enough of them were lit to see down the hall.
“Oh, thank God,” Gil said. “At least now we’re not walking through this junkyard in the fucking dark.” Up ahead, I saw something new as well. It looked like the hallway forked off. I pointed at it, and Gil’s eyes widened. “Finally, after walking for endless miles, this place does something!” As we neared it, I saw there was even a sign. One pointed left, reading, “To Veriden”. The other pointed right, reading, “To Rusty Township”.
“Hmm…” I said, “I’ve never heard of either of those places. They’re definitely not in the county.” Gil’s dark brown eyes looked past me, into the room behind us, and they widened. I reached for the pistol, turning quickly, but I found nothing but a mostly empty, half-lit room. Against the corner was a vending machine and a soda machine.
“Oh thank God!” I said, running forward, reaching in my pocket for some money. Then I remembered I had left my wallet at home. After all, I thought we were just going into the shed. Gil strode right past me.
“Don’t be an idiot,” he said, taking the butt of his bowie knife and smashing the glass of the vending machine. “You don’t need money. Who’s going to call the cops, the walking undead and demons here?” He pulled out brands I had never heard of: Overholser’s Beef Jerky, chocolate bars with caramel and peanuts called Eisenhearts, Took’s salt-water taffy and Riza’s fruit snacks. The other vending machine was no less alien, as I smashed it with the butt of the gun and found Springy’s Lemon-Lime Soda, Kanna-brand cola and Saint Kristoff’s Ginger Ale, among others. Not one of the brands was recognizable from our world.
We tore into the food with ravenous hunger, chugging bottle after bottle of soda. It all tasted similar enough to what we expected, though some of it was rather strange. The ginger ale, for example, had small silver shavings on the bottom of each bottle, their trademark gimmick, and Gil swallowed them and nearly ended up choking. I smacked his back hard, laughing.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to drink those,” I said sarcastically. We were filling up our pockets when the drumming started from down the hall. It was so sudden and loud in the otherwise perfect silence that I jumped nearly a foot, spinning around and taking out the gun. It was becoming second-nature to me by this point, and so much adrenaline was constantly pounding through my body that I was as jumpy as a cat.
The drumming grew louder and fast. It reminded me of the drums some ancient Aztecs must have used when cutting out the hearts of prisoners of war. It had a deep, primal beat to it that would be useful for stirring people up during acts of savagery and violence. It was coming from the direction labeled “Rusty Township”. I could barely hear myself think over the intensity of the drum beats. I tried to motion to Gil that I would go first since I had the gun but that he should stay right behind me, but he looked like he was just smiling and nodding and likely hadn’t understood a bit of what I was trying to communicate. Sighing, I started forward down the corridor.
I peaked my head around the next corner, where a doorway opened up into a huge gymnasium. The ceiling towered over me. I saw dirty, disheveled people standing in a semi-circle around a metal coffin that was stood up on one end against the back wall. Blood was pouring out the bottom, following a river of clotted gore that stretched across the gymnasium and curved off to the right corner. The people surrounding the metal coffin were laughing, clapping their hands and cheering, stomping their feet in time with the beats. I saw scurvy blossoms and festering sores across their faces and exposed skin. And, for the first time since we had gotten lost down here, there were windows around the edge of this massive chamber, windows showing the outside world. I ran over, looking out.
I saw a city on fire, the buildings burning and sending up thick, black plumes of smoke. It reminded me of what Berlin at the end of World War II must have looked like. Fronts of houses had collapsed inwards, the streets were cracked and filled with debris and I saw bodies hanging from lampposts up and down the street. Many of them were so old that the ropes were starting to fray. Some of the bodies had started to mummify, with thin, papery skin clinging tightly to desiccated muscles and hanging jaws.
Around the corners of houses and alleyways, I caught glimpses of strange shapes: crouching half-animal, half-human beings who carried sledgehammers and long knives, robed figures who seemed to float over the devastated and cracked ground, and children with red skin who I saw crawling up walls on all fours like geckos.
The drums stopped as suddenly as they had started. My ears were still ringing. I turned back to the semi-circle of sickly, dirty people. They had stopped their clapping and dancing and cheering, and now just stood like statues, staring at Gil and me with flat, dead eyes.
“You shouldn’t stare into the Township,” a thin woman with filthy black hair said. A strange accent crept into her words, one that I had never heard before. “Strange things live in there, and they come out when the drums stop.” She stepped forward, whispering. “We keep them away by giving a sacrifice every time the drumbeats come. The blood satisfies the ones in the city and the others in the halls. We will all have our turn in the coffin, sure enough.”
Another member of their group stepped forward and opened up the metal coffin. I saw long, thin spikes sliding out of a body, and then a pale form fell out, landing on the dirty floor with a wet smacking sound. The smell of coppery blood in the air was now overwhelming. Gil and I both gasped in unison as we saw this form on the floor was a person, a young woman in fact, almost totally drained of blood. Dozens of puncture marks were sliced into her face, neck, stomach, legs and arms. An expression of pain and horror was frozen onto her dead face, her wide, staring eyes looking up at the ceiling.
“You killed her!” Gil said, aghast, still clutching his mutilated hand close to his body in an unconscious gesture of his anxiety and fear. “Why? Why would you put someone from your own group in an iron maiden?”
“Iron maiden?” the woman with the black hair in front responded. “Aye, that’s as good a name for it as any. We call her the steel mistress in my world, in my time, and the steel mistress sees a lot of use…” She gestured out the window, her face emotionless. “You see my world, after all. It is a place that always reeks of death, and more often than not, reeks of fire too.”
“What part of the United States is this?” Gil asked, gesturing out the window. The woman frowned.
“I do not know these ‘United States’,” she said, shrugging.
“What country are you from?” he asked.
“Why, Victoriat, of course. But Victoriat only has three states. Rusty Township was the capitol, until ‘twas attacked by the Black Hand Allegiance soldiers. We’re all refugees from Rusty here,” she said sadly.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” I said to Gil under my breath. He nodded, sighing.
“Can you tell us how to get back to the stone steps? Big, circular stone steps that go around and around?” Gil asked the woman in one last attempt to get a sensical answer out of her. She nodded her grimy face.
“Aye, in the center of the Undergraves,” she said, pointing past the iron maiden and the dead body on the ground. I realized that there was a sign up on the ceiling in front of the next corridor, one pointing left and saying, “To Rusty Township center” and one pointing right and saying, “To the Undergraves”. The sign was so covered in dust and specks of black mold that it was no wonder I hadn’t seen it.
“Do you have any maps of this place?” I asked the dirty woman and her friends. They all shook their heads.
“There are no maps of the Undergraves, but the stairs be at the center. You just take a right here and follow the path straight. Ignore all forks to the right or left, just keep following it straight…” We were walking away fast now, trying to leave these lunatics behind. “But you’d be mad to go there now after the drums just stopped!” Her voice was fading rapidly as Gil and I ran forward.
“Those people were fucking nuts,” Gil said. “Killing each other just because they think the blood keeps away demons.”
“Brother,” I said through heavy breaths, “if you and I lived down here for a few months, we would be just as crazy as those people.”
As we jogged into the Undergraves, I realized the walls were turning into something organic and pulsating, like being in some huge intestine. Massive forks to the left and right appeared every few hundred feet. From them, dark shapes appeared, stepping forward. They moved shakily, blurring as they stepped to the right or left randomly, their mouths opened wide and seeming to be filled with blackness. Their eyes looked like pure black sockets, and the rest of their body was no more than a shaky silhouette of shadows. When the first few stepped forward, I didn’t know what to do.
I gingerly raised the gun, deciding better safe than sorry. They were coming at me fast, jerking randomly, their skin seeming to writhe and shiver as I stared at it. As they got within ten feet of me, a deep burning heat started to fill my body, as if I were standing in front of an oven. I started shooting, one bullet for each of their center mass, and they dissipated into smoke. I watched the black stuff curl back into the red, pulsating room they had just come out of. The sense of heat dissipated instantly, but my skin still felt warm and strange.
We were running through the Undergraves now. Miles of slick gore covering the floors, strange tissues growing across the rooms and tumor-like sacs covering the fluorescent lights, which even here flickered endlessly across the ceiling.
In many of the rooms, I saw people strung upside down from the ceiling, their ribs sliced open. Strange, hunched figures sliced the meat into strips, preparing it and drying it. One of them looked at me with its pig-like face, its bovine legs walking across the sticky floor, slowly and uncertainly at first, and then running for me. I was running low on ammunition by this point. Gil came from behind and disemboweled the creature as it raised its butcher’s knife. It had been so focused on me that it hadn’t noticed him jogging up with his blood-stained bowie knife in one hand.
“I can’t run much longer,” Gil said, panting. I nodded wearily. Neither could I. “My hand is still on fire, too. I really should have gotten medical attention, like, twelve hours ago…”
Part of me wondered if the stairs were even here, or if we had been lied to, sent into the worst part of this strange hall to become sacrifices to these abominations. We had, after all, put our lives in the hands of a band of lunatics.
But at this point, we had nowhere else to go but forwards.

After a relaxing European vacation with one of his employees, Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum, is back and ready to get to work. All who know the man will tell you that he's displayed new energy and ambition after Chris Churchill of the Times Union insinuated that he is unfit in his job as director of the New York State Museum. As Mr. Churchill writes:

The full-sized carousel, up on the fourth floor, has been closed for maintenance for years. The museum's famous subway car is also off-limits, with a sign telling visitors it's closed for repairs. Discovery Place, the building's hands-on learning center for young kids, is also closed.
Those aren't the only disappointments. The State Museum no longer offers a restaurant or any sort of fresh food, forcing visitors to line up at vending machines to quell their grumbling tummies. Some escalators and elevators are out of service. The museum, on the whole, feels forgotten.

From the imposing stone edifice of the Cultural Education Center, Mr. Schaming is cognizant of the cries of the people. This reporter can confirm from a recent visit that Discovery Place has reopened after only three years of closure. JP O'Hare, a spokesperson for the State Museum, explained the long closure, saying that "the pandemic forced us to rethink touchable exhibits."
Visitors to the newly reopened Discovery Place will see that the State Museum has taken to heart rethinking touching exhibits, as it is clear the room has been largely untouched after years of "rethinking" and "renovation." From a cursory glance, it seems to me that the only changes are the removal of all books, toys, puzzles, handouts, and staff.
Now, as a scattering of sources indicate, the New York State Museum approaches its pièce de résistance, the reopening of its carousel which has been closed since 2019. After much digging, it appears the cause of the closure was some minor damage the carousel experienced when it violently (and potentially lethally?) exploded during regular operation. Thinking it unsafe to have metal suspension beams swinging about and shrapnel flying as children rode the carousel, a repair effort was initiated.
The century-old artifact was ridden into the ground (or, technically, helicoptered into the air) once due to poor operating conditions, but the people of Albany ought feel confident that mistakes were learned from. Previously the carousel was operated nearly constantly and without proper care in place to keep the artifact balanced. Although unconfirmed, word is that now the carousel will be operated nearly constantly and without proper care in place to keep the artifact balanced. It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but I call going in circles a carousel.
Fortunately for the carousel, it looks like staffing constraints will interfere with the planned constant operation of the carousel. This is being swiftly addressed by Mr. Schaming, though not by hiring new staff. Rather, as at least one source indicated, Mr. Schaming is currently interested in changing the job descriptions of people in different departments to include carousel operation.
It may seem strange that Mr. Schaming is reticent to staff his museum, but the reader must understand the important considerations behind these decisions. One must first be aware that in 2015 the New York State Museum received $14 million in funds for a massive three to four year renovation. As Paul Grondahl of the Times Union wrote in 2015:

The State Museum will undergo a $14 million renovation that will dramatically re-imagine the exhibits with dynamic technology, interactive displays and a fresh form of narrative storytelling.
When the work is finished in three to four years, it will represent the largest upgrade to the capital city's most popular tourist attraction since it opened in 1976 at the newly built Empire State Plaza.

The expected completion date is in the rear view mirror, and it's now common knowledge that the $14 million gas tank is mostly fumes. Although it has been difficult to unravel exact information, best evidence suggests that currently the State Museum has $5 million still in the pocket. It's time for tightening the belt, and part of that looks to be staffing cuts.
One may be concerned that Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum, is having difficulty performing his job. Fortunately the director of the New York State Museum is overseen by the Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Education, who is also Mark Schaming.
One may then be concerned that Mark Schaming, director of the New York State Museum and Deputy Comissioner of Cultural Education, is having difficulty performing his two jobs. Fortunately the director of the New York State Museum who is also the Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Education is overseen by Sharon Cates-Williams. Ms. Williams, who herself holds the two jobs of Deputy Commissioner of Performance Improvement & Management Services (PIMS) and Executive Deputy Commissioner, stated to Mr. Churchill on the matter:

I think he's doing a good job wearing two hats. It does not interfere with the core mission of the museum, and it's a decision that we stand by.

One may then be concerned that Sharon Cates-Williams, herself wearing two hats and self-supervising, may have some biases. Fortunately the Deputy Commissioner of PIMS who is also the Executive Deputy Commissioner reports to Betty A. Rosa, the Commissioner of Education.
Dr. Rosa has served as Commissioner of Education since 2021 when she, as Chancellor of the Board of Regents, elected herself Commissioner of Education. Unlike others, she gave up her former position as Chancellor of the Board of Regents upon her self-election. It is unclear how she feels about others who do not likewise content themselves with wearing only one hat.
Perhaps we soon will have an opportunity to ask Dr. Rosa. Although details are sparse, it has been indicated that Mr. Schaming is planning a victory celebration for managing to successfully reopen the carousel after four years. Specifics on the event and even the exact date have been infuriatingly kept under wraps, but it is speculated that Mark Schaming and Betty A. Rosa plan to celebrate this monumental occasion by giving speeches and riding on the carousel with elementary school students.
We can safely say that the sun is rising on the New York State Museum. After only four years the State Museum has managed to successfully "renovate" Discovery Place through the power of downsizing and is on the cusp of reopening the carousel under the same conditions which led to its prior destruction. With only $5 million remaining in the pocket and only running about five years behind schedule on a grand renovation, who knows what wonders we can expect in the years to come.

2012 Chrysler Town & Country Touring, 3.6L, 62TE, 130k miles.
I did some work on my van myself out of desperation. I’m very careful and meticulous, and I spent hours on research alone before even beginning, and hours more during the process, but that doesn’t make me an expert or even know what I’m doing and I know that, I’m not experienced and I’m sure I messed something up. Feel free to take a stab at me for my stupidity, but I’d have taken it to a shop if I could have and I’m just doing my best.
Things I replaced:
All 4 engine mounts, Driver side CV axle (passenger side was replaced a few months ago), Strut assemblies (both sides front), Outer tie rods (both sides front), Sway bar linkage (both sides front) , Rotors, calipers and brake pads (both sides front), Drive belt, tensioner, and idler pulley, Trans fluid and filter, Flex plate
Done at a shop immediately after:
All 4 tires and Alignment
Obviously, I had to drop the trans in order to replace the flex plate (which came along with removal and then reinstallation of many other things, ie both cv axles & intermediate shaft, starter motor, shift cable, electrical connections, battery, engine cradle, etc etc). I would actually say that this went pretty well, but what do I know. A transmission jack was used, secured with a chain, and I really just lowered it far enough to be able to get my hands on what I needed to, then put it back. I followed the manual down to the letter, I watched multiple videos as I went along, and torqued everything to spec, used thread lock where appropriate etc. Parts and bolts were all kept together with an organization system consisting of labeled bags-none were lost. Flex plate is Mopar. Trans fluid has been checked repeatedly following (as far as I know) proper procedure and is within acceptable range—although closer to the max line.
Problem:
Trans is knocking after shifting into Drive or Reverse. If I hold still with the brakes applied, it often won’t make any noise, but maybe 50% of the time it will knock. If I try to shift and then move right away, loud knock 100% of the time. If I shift and then wait a good long pause before moving, loud knock like 75% of the time but not always. Sometimes it knocks more than once as I get moving, sometimes only once. But then doesn’t knock again during the drive. The sound is kind of centered on the trans area, but at the same time sounding a bit like it’s coming from the passenger side, it’s weird. It’s also not usually immediate, it’s more often like shift………knock.
Things I know I messed up:
Lost the little cover for the flex plate (it’s super small on mine, like maybe a 3”x4” window, the rest of the cover for it is built right into the engine) Forgot to adjust the shift cable 😥 I know this one was bad and I’m ashamed to admit it. I went maybe 10-15 miles like this before realizing (symptoms weren’t immediate, but built up over time). When the shift cable wasn’t adjusted properly, it was knocking and making an occasional grinding noise and then finally accompanied by a burning smell before I figured it out. After adjusting, all of the problems went away and it wasn’t making any noise for a good while. Went maybe like 80-100 miles without issue. Then it started to again out of nowhere.
Things I’m wondering:
Did I ruin the trans by driving it without adjusting the shift cable? Is the shift cable just bad? I haven’t tried adjusting it again yet (just leaving it sitting since the knocking started again, using husband’s vehicle for now) Should I have replaced the intermediate shaft and would that have anything to do with it? (I didn’t see anything noticeably wrong with it, and it wasn’t giving me issues before but it is old, maybe never replaced, so idk)
Sorry for the book. Thanks if you made it this far. Any ideas? 😥

Hiya, I'm Marnes, 29M from Belgium :) I've a relatively simple but well-filled (busy) life, and while I've got everything taken care of, I lack a significant other to really complete the happiness, as well as the types of interests others have that let them organically meet one out and about. So if you have some room in your life and mind, and want a guy to fill that special spot of belonging, please read on.
I'd like to find a girl to talk daily with about work, hobbies, household, basically anything interesting that happens in our days, with occasional pictures and links. To confide in about anything and everything, give some priority to in free time, send happy selfies to, give goodnight kisses with emote lines, have some adult fun with. Someone I can grow attached and affectionate to, and find that unique, highest level of comfort, contentness, and togetherness with. My player 2, if I may be so cheesy.
I want someone to be there for me, to want me for me and for our time together, and to let me want them, you know? Family and other people are always relying on me for everything and need me to be their help, I have a few good friends but they never have time for anything, and I've talked to some people here but they've always been so incredibly unreliable and ingenuine.

About me

Without spoiling too much, I work in IT and medical intervention, and my personality quite fits both stereotypes you're probably picturing now: often quiet and methodical as a geek developer would be, empathic but rational as emergency work requires. I have my passions and dislikes, try to balance my social energy between not having the spotlight on me but also not being a wallflower, do new or impulsive things from time to time. If I had to pick something that's clearly off-center about me, it's that I can overthink/overdiscuss stuff because misunderstandings and predictable mishaps grate at me.
The last two years I've finally been living alone in my appartment and tasting all the freedom and responsibility. This personal headroom let me finally deal with some physical and personal flaws I used to have, so it has been a great period and I feel better than ever before. I just wish I could complete my circle of few but great friends with a girl who means the world to me. I'm just not comfortable and myself in most "going out" places, and I refuse to fake/force interest in something as a faux premise to meet someone.
I don't have pets but love others' and animals in general. You'll get my best recent picture with a relative's cat if you ask for it. I don't and won't have kids.
If it helps you relate:

• favorite games are single player stories with strong plots and emotions or beauty, instrumental music and pretty graphics: Metroid, Metal Gear, SOMA, Titanfall 2, Zero Escape, Stray, Ori, Valiant Hearts, Outer Wilds, Abzû...
• funny/cute/daring slice of life anime like Nichijou, Ijiranaide, Lightning & Sweetness, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Yashin Dropkick, but also some action like some of the Gundams or friend recommendations like Odd Taxi
• occasionally a movie or series: I clearly prefer one-offs in action/mystery/sci-fi over cinematic universes and superheroes. The Rock, Shutter Island, The Expanse, Stargate, 6 Days, Upgrade, Kingsman, Hacksaw Ridge, ...
• my music collection is a loooot of soundtracks from games or fan albums (85%), some TV things (10%) and a few random hits

About you

I guess I'll resonate best with someone rational, chill, smart. More of a scientist/techie than an artist, but everyone and every hobby has an artsy side. A limited social life like me, so that we'll have time, energy, and geniune interest for each other. Mature and reasonable rather than unpredictable and emotional. If your face and life go on instagram daily, you hang out at parties every week, or I feel like words are cheap and I don't mean anything of value to you, it won't work.
Physically, I don't have a favorite haieye color or something. Mine are brown/brown, and I'm starting to settle on short hair and short beard. The more "plain"/natural, down to earth, relatable, ... you look, the better. I do love artificial hair color, prefer short hair, and love to see a piercing, but don't take it as a necessity. There's nothing remarkable about my looks either, just that I wear glasses and you might spot the scar on my cheek. I'm a little overweight like most people, and you can be too, or you can be thin, average, athletic, short, tall...

Practical

Let's meet at first in reddit chat, but I only like to use discord to talk. I work 9-5 mon-fri and try to sleep by 1, so I can mostly be active in the evening. East coast US is okay (made it work with someone for 9 years), outside there or the EU could be tricky in terms of timing and relatability. Visiting each other eventually would be great, but I'm mainly looking for something online. Not open to moving, don't want kids, don't have pets but I love the pets of others.
--
It's high time I hit Post :) Please send me a chat and tell me how this post speaks to you.

Hello good people. As the title states, i've lost my desider to talk to anyone once i get off of work. I'll just sit in my room and smoke weed all day while playing Cities Skylines with my dog.
I feel like I should go out and talk to my family or friends, but I don't want to anymore. I'm posting on this forum since i feel weed is the cause of this to happen in my life. I don't really want to go back out there since every time i feel like i go outside to talk to connect with someone, I will end up being ghosted.
I'm petrified of being ghosted since i've been ghosted by everyone i ever loved and cared about. Hell, i even went to a camp for type one diabetics that post, "Where Friendships Begins and Never Ends" only to have zero friends out of it all.
I just sit in my room and smoke weed to hide the fact that I don't have anyone. I'm not a female so I don't get noticed by just existing.
I work in a small call center in a team of 8, 5M & 3F. Everyone talks to everyone, but I don't get noticed. I know this shouldn't matter since i'm 30M, but I want friends. I want to be hugged. I'm touched starved over here while all these women at my job hug each other. I'm not that guy that says, "where my hug" in pubic. However, I would like a hug one day too. I want someone to at least put up with me enough to hug me. I'm not asking for a friends with benefits or a goddamn fuck buddy. I JUST WANT A HUG. Why is that so hard to achieve at this point in my life? Why don't women ever show the slightest bit of love to me unless if i give her money? I would like a kiss. I want someone to love me, but this cannot be. Women only see me as a ATM and theirs no hope to find a women out here unless you are rich or 6ft 7in. (im 5ft 9in)
Thank God for the weed tho. Weed doesn't ghost me. Weed doesn't hate me for being an oreo. (Black person who talks white (E.G. Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air) Weed always comforts me when I'm alone in my room. Weed makes life, tolerable.
In fact, why should anyone talk to people outside of work? What is the point to put yourself out there when most likely, she will end up using you, then ghosting you at the end? I would like a hug indeed, hell, ill pay for one at this stage of life. I would of thought by going to a place that recommends, "Where Friendships Begin and Never Ends" I would have at least one friend.

Amid a galaxy of brutal chaos there are stories to be told, tales of valor and justice, of fear and despair. But amid these stories are the guttering flames of adventures untold, the potential for a universe of entertainment and savage joyous fun. The Oblivion Cycle embodies just this kind of crafted chaos, creating the potential for creative exploits and raucous tales. If you are new to the TOC setting feel free to join the community at TheOblivionCycle to check out some of the background lore or to discuss themes with other readers. I thank you all for your support and continued willingness to read, as always, Please Enjoy!
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Chapter 27
Max-imum Surprise
He stood atop a wooden platform in the branches of the highest tree in the jungle. His heart beating fast in his chest as he looked out into that endless blue expanse of sky above. He blinked, suddenly there was no jungle. In front and below him was only more of that same endless sky.
He should have been afraid, should have cowered from that endless void in terror, but he found that he felt none of these things. Instead he smiled and spread his arms wide. He felt free, freer than he could ever remember feeling before.
He looked down at his bare feet, the polished red wood of the platform solid beneath his toes. Taking a deep breath he began to run. The edge of the platform seemed to stretch away from him, the harder he ran the faster it seemed to pull away.
He yelled at it to stop, to wait for him. But it did not. Instead it expanded outwards from him at the speed of light, encompassing him in a giant sphere of darkness that then seemed to press in on all sides. He felt a terrible pressure on his chest and cried out for someone to save him.
Suddenly he stopped as a profound sense of love and warmth seemed to wrap around him. It wasn't the same crushing weight as before. Before the pressure had been malicious, cruel and painful. Now the pressure was soft and tender, he embraced the feeling with his mind and smiled again. He suddenly realized that he was floating once more in that endless blue sky. Or was he falling? It made little difference, he spread his arms experimentally and found he could fly.
He laughed in childlike wonder as he began to soar through the endless clouds, doing loops and tricks to his heart's content. He had thought himself free before. He had been a slave, shackled to the ground and forever denied the truth.
He growled in anger at the thought, twisting dark branches reaching out like fingers to ensnare him as his mood darkened once more. He flitted and dodged through them with an agility that surprised even himself.
Then suddenly in the distance he heard a wailing sound, almost like that of a storm siren, but deeper in tone and altogether more sinister. In the sky overhead a darkness formed, taking a strange and terrifying form that he was unable to describe. It was as if the tendrils of darkness continued on forever, though he could not see them he knew they were there. Burrowing through reality as a worm would an apple.
He frowned, intrigued by the spectacle and unafraid. It seemed familiar, like an old acquaintance many years forgotten. It struck him as neutral, not evil or good, but somewhere in the middle. A mix of the two. He shook like a leaf in a storm as a hot wind began to blow over him and the sky split open to reveal a burning orange eye the size of eternity. He felt fear now, a terrible bone wrenching fear that spoke of primordial terrors and cosmic threats beyond mortal comprehension. But still he remained, no longer flying as he stood upon a tower of dark basalt stone blocks.
He looked at the eye and it looked at him, it seemed to look deeper than his skin. It felt as if it were peeling back the layers of his flesh and looking to his very soul, the gestalt of his core.
He jerked as a voice seemed to echo through his mind “You are not the one.”
He shook his head in confusion and shouted up to the burning sky “I’m not what one? What do you mean?”
The eye didn't reply, instead began to close. Leon raised his fists and shouted to the sky “One what? Answer me! I need to know.”
Again the voice spoke in his mind, this time quieter and growing more faint by the second till it trailed off into silence. “It is not yet time, you are not the one.”
As the eye closed the sky went dark, so did everything else. He felt himself falling again, looking down he saw a bright light far below. Squinting he saw it looked like a hospital room. The scene grew closer and more defined as he approached it at rapid speed. He looked at the bed and gasped in surprise, for in the bed he saw himself. But not as he remembered himself, but pale and seemingly without life. To his side he saw Dr. Kimathi and Joice frantically messing with something next to the bed his body lay in. It was a defibrillator.
He watched in growing fascination as he fell towards himself at incredible speeds. Joice lifted his body’s shirt and applied the paddles while Dr. Kimathi shouted something. He didn't have a chance to hear it as he slammed into his body.
He grunted in pain and convulsed as his eyes shot open. Coughing violently he tried to sit up and found he could not. Laying back in bed a bit dazed he tried to remember what had just happened.
He stopped, his mind a whirl of impossible images and sensations, and over it all a voice like thunder echoed in his mind. “You are not the one.”
“I am not the one.” He muttered to himself.
“Leon, Leon can you hear me? What did you just say? Nevermind it's not important, Leon I need you to tell me if you can hear me.” A female voice said from close to his ear.
He looked around blearily, was he Leon? ‘I am.’ he decided to himself. With his newfound identity chosen he decided to move onto his next issue.
He tried to sit up but found he couldn't. Flailing around weakly he heard a voice shout for assistance and then felt multiple hands holding him still.
“He is seizing.” Someone said, his mind assigned the voice a name. Dr. Kimathi.
Another voice, this one male, spoke up saying “I think he’s okay now. He stopped struggling.” This time his mind said the name Taylor.
He blinked a few times, trying to clear his mind. What had happened? Why couldn't he remember anything? He thought hard, his face screwing up from the stress. He remembered mud and a loud noise. But that was it.
Dr. Kimathi stood next to him and shined a penlight into his eyes while saying “Pupil response is normal, no intracranial swelling then. Leon, Leon look at me.” she said sternly.
He looked at her, his vision focusing on the dark skinned woman’s eyes. She nodded and then put up a single finger. “I want you to follow my finger, okay Leon?”
He tried to speak but all that came out was a half strangled croak. She frowned but moved her finger. He did his best to keep locked onto it. Maybe if he did what she asked she would tell him what happened to him. She moved it a few more times, first slowly and then more rapidly. He followed along and she nodded before marking something on the small datapad she was holding.
He coughed as he tried again to speak and he heard Taylor say “I'll go get Natalia. She will want to know he’s awake.”
Dr. Kimathi raised a hand. Glancing at him she hissed quietly. “I don't know if that’s a good idea. He seems to be suffering from acute memory loss. I can’t explain it, no head injury, not cranial trauma of any kind. It’s like something reached in there and scrambled his brains around, resonance scans are all over the place. It's like there was some kind of interference.”
Leon frowned at her words, again the dim memory of a powerful voice echoed through the corner’s of his mind and the vague impression of a nebulous darkness crossed his mind. But he quickly suppressed it.
“Where am I?” he croaked.
Dr. Kimathi's head whipped towards him and she rushed to his side. “Leon, you are in the infirmary. What do you remember?”
Leon frowned again, hadn't she already asked him that? He couldn't remember. Instead of asking he said “I remember mud, lots of mud. And then, trees? That makes no sense, I'm sorry.” he apologised quickly. They would think he was insane if he kept talking. Then he would end up in the loony pen with Aden.
He sat bolt upright as things started rushing back into place. The planetary landing, the attack on Oliver, the strange dream he had experienced. It all came back in a rush that made his vision swim and his head pound. Clutching his head he groaned “I remember everything… Ough, why does it hurt so much?”
Taylor looked at Dr. Kimathi and asked “What about now?” to which the woman just nodded. Taylor rushed off, presumably to grab Natalia, Leon speculated.
Leon knew that he only had a few moments before everyone else came rushing back and so clutched at Dr. Kimathi’s arm.
“Wait, I have to tell you something.” He said urgently.
Dr. Kimathi looked around the room quickly before nodding and asking “Ok then Leon, what is it?”
He held the long sleeve of her white lab coat and began determinedly. He told her of his dream and the voice, of the eye and the darkness. After he had finished he released her arm and sat back with a wince. Only now did he notice his bare chest was wrapped, an ugly yellow and blue bruise peeking from beneath the bandage.
Dr. Kimathi shook her head slowly and said “You are starting to sound like Aden. Are you sure you are alright Leon? I have some antipsychotics I can prescribe if you…”
Leon cut her off with a right handed wave, his left arm hurting too much to move it about. “No, please, no more medication. I take enough of that shit to sink a battleship already. Some painkillers wouldn't be bad though, please?” He asked her.
She smiled slightly and handed him three small pills from her pocket and a bottle of water with a straw. “Careful on the water.” She warned him as he started to suck it down.
He coughed a few times as her warning did not come fast enough and some slipped down the wrong pipe, Dr. Kimathi leaned over to pat his back as he tried to expel the excess liquid. He was still coughing lightly as a familiar and very welcome face walked around the corner.
Natalia rushed to his side and hugged him as he was still trying to settle his lungs. The result was another coughing fit followed by her rapidly apologizing for hurting him.
Leon waved a hand weakly and said “No it’s fine Nat, I was just drinking water too fast. It is really good to see you.” he said softly.
She smiled sadly and nodded, a few tears welling in her eyes. “When you stopped breathing I thought…” She started to say but he shushed her and extended an arm.
Natalia sat by his side and leaned on his shoulder gently as he put his arm around her waist. “Don’t talk like that. I’m not going anywhere. I'm way too stubborn to do anything like that, much less the effect I know it would have on you.” he said, wiping a tear from her cheek.
Dr. Kimathi spoke “Well, I am glad to see you feeling better Leon. And she’s right, we nearly lost you there a few times.”
Leon nodded and pulled Natalia’s head down before planting a tender kiss on the top of her head. “I’m sorry Nat, I won’t let my pride get in the way of my common sense again.” He turned to Dr. Kimathi as she tapped on her datapad. “How is Oliver? Is he alright?”
She finally smiled, a small tight lipped thing. “Thanks for asking Leon, I was hoping you would. Oliver is going to be physically fine, he woke up from the antivenom treatment a few days ago.”
Leon jerked up before the pain in his side dragged him back down to the dismay of both women. “A few days!” he shouted.
Natalia pushed him back down gingerly while Dr. Kimathi shot him a pointed look. She lowered her datapad and explained “Yes, a few days. You were in a medically induced coma Leon, severe lack of oxygen almost killed you before we could get you out of your suit. You had a collapsed lung and multiple fractures, not to mention a partially dislocated collarbone. It was kind of touch and go for a while.” she finished with a gesture to his bandages.
Leon winced again and asked “What happened after I blacked out?”
Dr. Kimathi shook her head and said “A whole hell of a lot. Natalia can fill you in on the details, I need to go check on something. Don’t do anything stupid while I'm gone Leon, okay?” She told him. Leon just nodded and watched the stern woman exit the examination room.
Natalia answered his question “Well, you passed out on the way up to the ship. By the time they got you out of your environmental suit you were already in full respiratory arrest. Your heart was beating but your lungs were not working.” she said emotionally.
Leon hugged her close again and whispered to her softly “It’s okay now though. I’m better. Please, tell me what happened next?”
Natalia sucked in a shuddering breath and nodded jerkily. With a slight tremble in her voice she continued speaking “We had to rush you and Oliver to the infirmary. Blessing hooked you up to a portable respirator after applying the chest tube to help drain the built up fluid. But even then you were barely breathing, she said she had to drain the excess fluid from your lungs, something she couldn't do in the microgravity core. So we used one of the lift rigs and lowered you down the access shaft to the medical ring. By that point Oliver had been rendered unconscious as well and Blessing had enlisted both Taylor and Myung to help.” she paused for breath and Leon reached for the water bottle on his bedside.
She smiled at him as he handed it to her and she took a drink. Replacing it on the table he bade her to continue. The horrid fascination making it impossible for him to ignore the terrible events.
She took another deep breath before she spoke, this one steadier as she got further into the story. “Well, after some struggling we finally got you and Oliver into the intensive suite. While Blessing worked on synthesizing an antivenom from Max, Myung and Taylor monitored your condition. Did you know Taylor had medical training? Apparently he had been a volunteer responder before he moved into military signal analysis.”
She was about to continue when he waved his arms. “Wait a minute, hold on. Who the hell is Max? What did…” he stopped. He crossed his arms again and apologised as she gave him a disapproving look.
“I was getting to that, fasten up those horses buster.” She chastised him. Her annoyance was short lived however as she shook her head and continued. “Well, when you captured that creature on the planet's surface, you placed it into a bag. The bag seemed to have calmed the thing down because as they finally got to unpacking it the little thing was as timid as a mouse. I don’t know why, but it seemed to respond in a non-hostile manner to both the venom extraction and continued observation.” she said.
Leon shook his head in disbelief. “That still doesn't explain who Max is, wait. Don’t tell me.” he said as he saw her smile widely.
She nodded her head and said “Yeah, Oliver responded to the antivenom and woke up, madder than hell. He wanted to chop the little beast up till he saw it. He looked into its little puppy dog eyes and immediately forgave them. He named her Max and almost immediately tried to feed it.”
Leon again shook his head in disbelief. Only the crazy Australian could want to adopt something that had nearly killed him as a pet. “He named it Max? What, is it a dog now?” he asked her jokingly.
She just smiled harder and replied “She might as well be. The two are nearly inseparable now.” He shot her a surprised look and opened his mouth to comment but she cut him off. “Yes he keeps a close eye on her, and no Max hasn’t attacked anyone else. Not even tried. Oliver said that the only reason that she bit him was because he stepped on her. She was just lashing out in self defense, same as when you grabbed her. Once Max realized that we were not trying to kill her she seemed to mellow right out.”
Leon still couldn't hardly believe it. The same murderous creature that had nearly cost both his and Oliver's lives, was now the ship's mascot? He couldn't take it and chuckled “Okay, I see what’s going on here. Ha ha ha, very good. I will admit you had me going with that story, Max.” he said, another slightly wheezing laugh escaping him.
She just gave him that same serious stare from earlier. He opened his mouth and threw his arms out to the side. “Oh come on, you really expect me to believe that the same murder rope that I nearly died to grab is now everyone’s favorite little cuddle buddy?”
She shook her head and said in an exasperated tone “Well I never, have I ever been untruthful with you Leon?”
He cocked his head and raised a finger. “Well, if we are counting, then… There was that time with the bean patty you told me was a hamburger that had been preserved in the cold storage for the whole trip. Had me excited as a pig in shit for that one. Then there was that other time when you called me to the observation deck for an emergency but in reality it was just you wearing that skimpy little…” She cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth and looking around to see if anyone had overheard.
She hissed “Okay I get it. And you told me you wouldn't hold that over me.” she pouted.
He chuckled lightly and shook his head “I’m sorry, but this is just too incredible. Please, humor me and skip the Max related stuff for the moment. What happened after oliver woke up, not the thing.” he pleaded.
Natialia gave him an unreadable look but continued on saying “Ok, Oliver woke up. He was a bit weak from the venom but took it well. He and Blessing took some samples of… The creature.” she paused to gauge his reaction. Leon just blinked, waiting for her to proceed. “Well, they took some samples and found something remarkable. The lifeforms on the planet have a disturbingly similar chemical and molecular makeup to Earthly animals.”
“How similar?” he asked her, interrupting her train of thought. “Sorry, continue.” he muttered as she waved a hand in the air annoyedly.
She returned to her tale “Well, they did some tests and found that the lifeforms of the world, which we named Terrelia while you were out by the way sorry.” she shrugged as he frowned. “Well, Ma… The creature is able to not only digest Earth proteins, but seems able to metabolize them as well. It has red, iron based blood with a protein ominously similar to hemoglobin as its oxygen carrier. That’s why the venom worked on Oliver so fast, it was like he had been bitten by a cobra from back on Earth. Joice and Myung couldn't make heads or tales of it, but that's the truth. I guess life in the universe isn't so alien after all.” she said with a casual shrug.
Leon just sat back in his bed, the bruises on his chest and arm smarting despite the painkillers he had taken earlier. It all seemed rather baseless to him, though he couldn't in good faith call her a liar. She would never have made up something so fantastic and then claimed it was true that vehemently. No, it must be truth. The only other option was mass hysteria in which case he had a lot more to worry about than a pet alien snake.
He wrung his hands together and looked around the small room. The walls and ceiling were white, a few cabinets above clinical countertops and a single LED light fixture completed the display. He thought about what she had said. That alien life might not be so alien afterall.
He nodded and said “I think I want to get up.”
Natalia gave him a concerned look and placed a single hand on his bandaged chest. “I’m not sure that is a great idea yet Leon. You are still recovering.”
“Yes I am. But a little walking does the body good. How many days was I out?” He asked her as he gingerly sat up on the edge of the bed. He slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed towards the floor. He winced as his leg twinged and his side smarted, but it wasn't enough to deter him from his current course of action.
Natalia stood in front of him and bounced slightly in nervousness. “Oh man, Blessing isn’t going to like this.”
Leon waved a hand in a dismissive way and asked “And since when have I let her opinion on my health keep me down? How many days Nat?”
She looked him in the eyes and said “Four days. You were gone for four days Leon. Four days in which I was lost, almost completely.” She took a deep breath as the emotions she was suppressing threatened to tear their way free. “I can’t tell you how bad it felt seeing you like that Leon. I thought I had lost you.” She said in a wavering tone.
Leon stood shakily and embraced her. He ran a hand through her hair as she buried her face in his chest. “I do know. I have felt lost too, but I have you now. And nothing is going to make me let you go.”
She looked up at him and asked suddenly “Well, you are up. It's too late to turn back now. Want to go meet Max? She really is swe…”
Leon groaned and she stopped talking. He saw her frown slightly and caved “Okay. But don't get upset if the little bastard bites you or someone else.”
He saw her roll her eyes before she led him slowly and deliberately out of the room.
Leon walked slowly, not really hurting but more sore than he had felt in years. Every step was a chore but he continued on determinedly. It was better to be up and smarting than stagnating in bed.
As they walked down the corridor that led to the main hallway Leon asked her “Are we still in orbit of the planet?”
She shook her head. “No, Joice made the call while you were incapacitated. The planet was dangerous, there might be another incident if we had decided to make another surface run.”
Leon shrugged. That seemed like the best course of action he could think of too. The planet's surface was a swamp which made it impossible to see where one was truly stepping. Oliver wouldn't have stepped on the creature if he had known it was there. The entire stupid situation might have been avoided entirely.
“Yea, that sounds fair.” Was all he said in response though. He was curious about what she thought but didn't ask. He could tell by the way she frowned that she hadn't been a fan of the situation.
Letting it go he said “We need different protocols for this kind of situation. I think the crew should have more of a say in what happens from now on.” Leon mused out loud. Natalia just patted his shoulder silently.
The kept walking a little farther till they reached the medical labs portion of the ring. Leon slowed as he heard voices emanating from the rooms ahead. Turning a corner through a doorway he stopped.
In the room were three people, Oliver, Joice and Dr. Kimathi. Joice and Dr. Kimathi were sitting at a table looking at a computer and discussing its data. What really captured his attention however was Oliver sitting across from the two women. Or rather, the long creature wrapped around the man's neck and upper torso.
Leon cocked his head, it was indeed the same creature from the planet. He looked at it again and was a bit taken aback by its appearance.
While he had not had much chance to grasp its true form on the planet he still had gotten a decent look at it. It was indeed long and snake-like in appearance, its body tubelike and covered in thousands of tiny mosaic scales in a blueish green pattern, but that's where the similarities ended.
It’s head was long and almost had a canine look to it with pronounced jaw muscles and what looked like small horns. The body was long and had a small fin-like frill moving down its center similar to an eel. All along its sides it had much larger scale looking structures that seemed to be raised off its surface. As he tried to guess as to their function he noticed some of them move. Looking closer he realized they were rows of fins all along its sides, just tucked close to the body in the absence of water. That would explain how it was able to wriggle free from him on the planet.
Joice saw them and glanced at Dr. Kimathi, saying something. Dr. Kimathi looked at him sharply and demanded “Leon, why are you out of bed? Natalia, I told you to keep him in bed.”
Natalia hung her head sheepishly and said “It’s hard to make Leon do something he doesn't want to do.”
Leon glanced at her and then said “It was my fault, I didn't listen to her. I needed to move, to get active. I’m sorry Dr. Kimathi.”
Natalia squeezed his hand and he gave her a slight nod. Joiced motioned for them and said “Well as long as you are here, come take a look at these readings. Myung and I took some samples of Max’s blood and the results are both remarkable and confusing in equal measure.” The blond woman finished excitedly.
Leon nodded and made a pointed effort not to look at the thing Oliver was holding. He took the seat that Joice had just vacated and looked at the results she had posted to the computer. After a moment he asked “Well, what does it all mean?”
Joice shook her head and motioned at a few bits of randomly squirming data points. To him they looked like so much gibberish but Joice spoke animatedly while gesturing to the readouts “If you look here you can see a partially decoded splice of their DNA. That was the first thing that struck me as odd, I expected something similar to our DNA system to give the cells guidance, but not this similar. Look, four base pairs just like us, and whats more the base pairs are astonishingly similar as well. If i didn’t know any better I would be tempted to say that this creature evolved from a common ancestor to Earthly creatures.” she paused to let the bombshell sink in.
Leon just shook his head “What is so remarkable about that. Isnt there a word for this kind of thing. Convergent evolution right?”
Joice shook her head and pointed at Oliver’s new friend. “No, not like this. Convergent evolution is more about the form and function, not the composition. This is too close to be accidental, this is… This is wrong is what it is. Its not possible, and yet here I am telling you that its not only possible, but that its happened.”
She threw her arms up in the air while giving a small groan of frustration. Leon heard a quiet quacking noise and looked at Oliver. The man grinned and reached his hand towards the creature's powerful wedge shaped head. Leon tensed, ready for the thing to snap his fingers off or worse, but instead it met his hand for pets. Emitting a soft gurgling purr it stroked the man’s hand with its head lovingly and closed its eyes in what looked like pleasure to him.
“Aww, you are the cutest little terror in the whole galaxy aren't you Max.” he heard Oliver mutter. Looking around his mouth opened. Everyone else in the room was smiling, a look of endearment on their faces.
Leon was once more incredulous. What on Earth had he missed for the thing to go from being a murderous pest to being a beloved part of the ship's small crew.
Oliver saw him staring and smiled. “Oh hey Leon, you just woke up right?” Leon nodded a little unsure of the man’s point. Oliver continued “Well, then you haven't met Max, well, not politely at least. Here, want to hold her?” he asked, extending an inviting arm out towards Leon.
Leon shook his head “No, I don't think that's a good idea.”
Joice spoke up “Oh come’on Leon, the creature is perfectly safe. Its venom is no longer a hazard, Dr. Kimathi made more antivenom. She doesn't bite, well at least she hasn't yet.”
Leon was about to say no again when he felt another hard hand squeeze from Natalia. Looking at her she gave him an encouraging smile and said “Watch.” Before Leon could stop her she strode right up to Leon and reached out towards Max. He watched in silent dread as Natalia's hand approached that razor fang filled maw.
“Nat, wait!” he said, taking a step forward then stopped in his tracks. Max was nuzzling her just as they had Oliver, apparently completely at peace with its environment. ‘What the hell?’ he thought to himself.
Natalia scritched the alien under the chin and laughed happily as it lolled its tongue out in happiness while emitting that same gurgling purr. He frowned at the sight. It seemed that his fears might be unfounded after all.
Approaching cautiously he looked at Oliver and said “How should I do it, should I let it sniff me first?” He had no idea how people were supposed to handle snakes, well, alien serpents at least.
Oliver shrugged “If you like. She is pretty docile.”
Swallowing in nervousness he reached out his right hand towards the creature. Almost as soon as he started Max hissed angrily and flared all her fins in a threatening way, trying to puff up like an angry cat.
Leon snatched his hand back while taking a few steps in the opposite direction of the creature. Oliver jerked back in alarm as Natalia shouted. Max drew back into the protection of Oliver’s body and gave Leon the most acidic glare he had ever seen from an animal.
“Oliver. What the actual fuck was that? I thought you said that thing was safe.” He said loudly, stepping back even further.
The Australian stroked his charge calmly, whispering soothing words to her and then said more loudly “Well, she never did that before. She must remember you grabbing her on the planet.”
Leon shook his head “Remember what? It’s a fucking animal Oliver.”
Joice raised her hand at his comment and said “Yes she is, but an animal with the intelligence capability of a dog at the very minimum. Im suspecting she is much smarter than that though, maybe even as smart as a corvid. My preliminary scans show that her species' neural pathways are much larger than they have any right to be. It's as if she has a brain that runs the length of her spine.”
Leon just waved and said “Alright, maybe she holds a grudge then. I've seen stranger things on this trip than a vengeful snake.”
“She isnt a snake, Leon. I have decided to name her species Terrelian Swamp Gliders.” Oliver said in response to Leon’s comment.
Leon just shook his head silently, beyond words at the moment.
Natalia walked over to his side and said “I think we have taken a long enough walk, I will see you all in a bit. Bye Oliver.” she said as she began to guide him back into the hall.
“Why me…” Leon bemoaned quietly to himself.
Natalia must have heard his cry as she tutted and said “You are in charge of what is possibly the greatest experiment in all of human history Leon. It makes sense that things would not always go according to plan. Don't fret though, I will always be here for you.” she told him with a kiss to his grizzled cheek.
Leon looked at her as they reentered the room he had been in before. “I know I do. And I respect that you see the world differently than I do. That's one of the reasons I love you so much.”
She smiled and leaned in for a kiss. He sighed as she helped him back onto the bed. “Leon, I’m worried.” she said suddenly as she sat down by his side.
Looking up at the ceiling he asked her “What are you worried about?”
She paused and then shifted her position, laying down on top of the covers next to him she said “I’m worried about us, the ship. Everyone else. What’s going to happen if we get into trouble and can’t fix it like we have managed every time so far? We don't have anyone to help us, we would be totally alone.”
Leon shook his head and pulled her close, lifting the covers so she could scoot right to his side. Wrapping his arms around her he held her tight as he said “No, we won't. As long as we have each other we will never be alone.” he closed his eyes, the slow beat of her heart and rhythmic breathing bringing him a profound sense of peace and comfort. He felt himself drifting off into sleep, the pains and worries of the day floating up and away from his mind as he entered the realm of unconsciousness.
==End of Transmission==

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Prana Talent	Circulating Nurse	Dallas
Greendoor	Registered Nurse - US Residence only F1, TN are welcome to apply	Dallas
Dallas Medical Center	Registered Nurse - Float Pool	Dallas
Sterling Medical, Llc	Neonatal Nurse Practitioner NNP	Dallas
HealthTrust Workforce Solutions	Registered Nurse	Dallas
The Judge Group	Dialysis Charge Nurse	Dallas
Dallas Medical Center	Staff RN - Pain Clinic	Dallas
N2S Healthcare Staffing Solutions LLC	RN Telemetry	Dallas
Parkland Health and Hospital System	Staff - Registered Nurse (RN) - PCU - Progressive Care Unit - $36-45 per hour	Dallas

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in dallas. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

MalaysiaHealthcare is one of the best hospitals in Malaysia, known for its excellent healthcare services and facilities. One of the hospital's specialty departments is neurology, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the brain and nervous system.
The neurology department at MalaysiaHealthcare is staffed with highly skilled and experienced neurologists who are dedicated to providing the best care possible to their patients. The hospital uses state-of-the-art technology and equipment to diagnose and treat a wide range of neurological conditions, including epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis, among others.
Check Types of Treatments
One of the strengths of the neurology department at MalaysiaHealthcare is its multidisciplinary approach to care. The team of neurologists works closely with other specialists, including neurosurgeons, radiologists, and rehabilitation therapists, to provide comprehensive and personalized care to each patient.
The hospital's diagnostic tools and equipment include advanced imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and electroencephalography (EEG). These technologies enable the neurology team to accurately diagnose and treat neurological conditions, providing patients with the best possible outcomes.
Check Types of Treatments
Apart from its state-of-the-art technology, MalaysiaHealthcare is also known for its patient-centered approach to care. The hospital's staff is committed to providing personalized care to each patient, taking into account their unique needs and preferences. This approach helps to ensure that patients receive the best possible care throughout their treatment journey.
Another aspect that sets MalaysiaHealthcare apart is its commitment to research and innovation. The hospital's neurology team is actively involved in clinical trials and research studies, which help to advance the field of neurology and improve patient outcomes.
Check Types of Treatments
In terms of facilities, MalaysiaHealthcare offers modern and comfortable accommodations for patients and their families. The hospital has spacious private rooms, state-of-the-art operating theaters, and a range of other amenities to ensure that patients feel comfortable and well-cared for.
Overall, MalaysiaHealthcare's neurology department is undoubtedly one of the best in the world. Its commitment to providing patient-centered care, use of cutting-edge technology, and dedication to research make it a top choice for patients seeking neurological treatment. If you or someone you know is in need of neurological care, MalaysiaHealthcare should definitely be on your list of hospitals to consider.
Check Types of Treatments

Malaysia has become a popular destination for medical tourism, and one of the reasons for this is the country's excellent healthcare facilities. Among its many hospitals, there are some that stand out for their top-notch care and specialized services. One such hospital is the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital. In this review, I will be discussing why this hospital is considered one of the best in the country for cardiology care.
The Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital is recognized for its advanced cardiac care services, which are provided by a team of skilled and experienced specialists. The hospital boasts state-of-the-art equipment and technology, including a catheterization laboratory, echocardiography machines, and advanced MRI and CT scan facilities. This technology enables the medical staff to provide accurate diagnoses and effective treatments for complex cardiac conditions.
Check Types of Treatments
One of the key strengths of the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital is its team of highly trained cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. These professionals have extensive experience in diagnosing and treating a wide range of cardiac conditions, and they use evidence-based approaches to ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care. The hospital also employs a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, with specialists from various fields working together to develop individualized treatment plans for patients.
The hospital's commitment to patient-centered care is evident from the moment you walk in the door. Patients are greeted by friendly and knowledgeable staff who go out of their way to ensure that they are comfortable and informed throughout their stay. The hospital also offers a range of amenities to make patients' stays as pleasant as possible, including private rooms, Wi-Fi access, and international TV channels.
Check Types of Treatments
In addition to its excellent cardiac care services, the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital also provides comprehensive support services for patients and their families. This includes counseling services, nutritional guidance, and rehabilitation programs for patients recovering from cardiac procedures. The hospital also has a strong focus on preventive care, offering regular health screenings and educational programs to help patients maintain their heart health.
Overall, the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital is an outstanding healthcare facility that provides world-class cardiac care services. Its state-of-the-art equipment and technology, highly trained medical staff, and patient-centered approach make it one of the best hospitals in the country for cardiology care. If you or a loved one requires specialized cardiac care, I would strongly recommend considering this hospital as your first choice.
Check Types of Treatments

first time ever providing a counteroffer for a new job. I was already 99% sure that they wouldn't be able to meet me even in the middle, so I thought I'd provide a thoughtful, dignified response.
Their response:
"Thank you so much for your feedback on the offer and the transparency of your decision-making. Unfortunately, we cannot meet your expectations. I truly appreciate the amount of time and thought you put into our process and this email. You have given us a lot to think about. I am sure you will be an incredible asset to the organization you find yourself at."
------
COUNTER-OFFER EMAIL
So, in the spirit of transparency, I wanted to provide you with my thoughts, concerns, and expectations so that you know where my head is at.
Base Salary + Bonus

• 80k would be an immediate pay cut for me.
• Bonus pay is not guaranteed and therefore is not an incentivizing framework for a salesperson.
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  • Receive 100k base with quarterly commission checks paid out of up to 20k for the fiscal year, based on specific performance metrics (instead of " at the discretion of [redacted] management”). Given that I’d be “starting from scratch” (and given my level of expertise and alignment with this role) 100k base is my baseline expectation for the scope of work here.

Hybrid Role + Flexible Work Schedule/Time Off

• No part of this contract speaks to this being a hybrid position.
• Currently, I have full autonomy over my workday and don't need to seek approval for my time off; I merely communicate my time off to my managers and colleagues on a shared company calendar and they trust me to get my work done regardless of how much time I take off/when I take it off.
• The possibility that I may be working on a company holiday to support sales/ops (even with the option to seek an alternative holiday date) is something that I’m not interested in subscribing to.
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  
  • Ensure that any car-related travel for [redacted] work would be only for site visits and company retreats (and not to do office work at a central office). I would like this role to be 95% remote with travel only for those specific instances.
  • Receive a fuel stipend in order for this to be equitable
  • Take time off on all named company holidays

Company Culture / DEI Lens

• I am concerned about the organization being at the early stages of its DEI journey.
• I would like to avoid being in a position where I feel like I’m educating my colleagues about DEI and Anti-Racism, especially as one of the only women of color on staff; this is a situation that many people of color fall into ("cultural housekeeping") and there is no real compensation for this emotional labor (however, I believe that the 100k base counter-offer would be taking this into consideration).
  
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  
  • Ensure that there are clear DEI initiatives that the organization is making a priority (and allocating financial resources to) that presume everyone’s investment (from CEO to junior-level staff). I would feel more comfortable coming into an environment that is new to thinking about the intersection of DEI + Education if this were the case.

Annual Raise / COLA Policy

• A 0-3% yearly raise/COLA expectation does not line up with inflation; with inflation being where it is today, I would essentially be taking a pay cut YTY with this policy. The idea that 0 is an option is also concerning to me, to be frank.
• In my current role, I receive quarterly inflation stipends so that my COLA raise + inflation stipend raise match up with current inflation rates.
  
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  
  • Be guaranteed a yearly COLA for my salary that matches inflation rates (either through quarterly inflation stipends as I named above, or by providing that match at the end of the fiscal year)

401K Eligibility

• Having to wait a year to be eligible for your 401k plan does not set me up for financial success.
• In my current role, I was eligible for the company’s simple IRA 30 days after my employment.
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  • Receive access to the 401k plan at the earliest open enrollment period after my start date.

Medical, Dental, Vision

• Ambiguity around medical options is also concerning; I’d like to know who you partner with for health care and have a more detailed idea of what the options are.
• I would also like specific details about dependent eligibility for your healthcare options.
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  • Receive more specific information about my medical, dental, and vision options (to ensure that this move would not put me in a position where I would incur higher healthcare costs compared to what I pay now with my company plan).

Promotion Pathways & Growth Opportunity

• There is a level of ambiguity around a clear growth path for this position that disconcerts me
• Since I’d be managing work for grant-funded clients, it’s unclear to me what growth would look like for me (financially and work-wise) if I were to stay at [redacted] long-term as my next career move.
• In order to move forward with accepting this offer, I would need to:
  • Ensure that you have outlined a clear promotion pathway that centers my professional development and financial growth within the company.

I know this is a lot to process, so thank you for taking the time to digest it further! I'm eager to know what you think. Changing positions in this season of life for me is a pivotal decision career-wise, and so I want to be transparent about what my bottom lines are. I understand if this is more than you can offer and, if it is, I'd be happy to refer you to some of my ex-colleagues who I think could also be a good fit for this role and who may be more amenable to these contractual conditions for employment!

Company Name	Title	City
Capital One	Manager, Data Engineering	Philadelphia
GeoBlue	Windows Administrator	Philadelphia
Caring Friends Home Care & Concierge Services	Caregiver- HHA/CNA	Northeast Philadelphia
The Judge Group	Registered Nurse	Philadelphia
Advanced Clinical	Director, Clinical Science/CNS	Philadelphia
USA Vein Clinics, Vascular, Fibroid and Oncology Centers	Registered Nurse - Part Time	Philadelphia
Seasoned Recruitment	Acute Care Registered Nurse - New Grads Welcome to Apply	Philadelphia
Remedy Recruitment	LPN - Substance Abuse Treatment	Philadelphia
Liberty Resources Inc	Nurse Case Manager	Philadelphia
Temple Health – Temple University Health System	Rn- Vad Coordinator	Philadelphia
CDR Companies	POOL Registered Nurse (RN) - Philadelphia, PA	Philadelphia
Remedy Recruitment	Registered Nurse, Home Health	Philadelphia
Temple Health – Temple University Health System	Infant Intensive Care Nursery (NICU) Registered Nurse	Philadelphia
MARSCare	Skilled Nurse- LPN/RN-19118-Hours Available: 7p-5a-Parent is flexible with what nights are picked up	Philadelphia
Visiting Angels of Jenkintown, Horsham & Chadds Ford, PA	CNA, HHA, or DC Caregiver	Philadelphia
The Judge Group	Cardiovascular Intensive Care Nurse	Philadelphia
Visiting Angels of Jenkintown, Horsham & Chadds Ford, PA	Experienced CNA, HHA, or DC Caregiver	Philadelphia
Floyd Lee Locums	Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist	Philadelphia
Temple Health – Temple University Health System	Registered Nurse-Maternity/Labor & Delivery Float Pool	Philadelphia
City of Philadelphia	Assistant City Solicitor - Child Welfare Unit	Philadelphia
Fox Chase Cancer Center	Registered Nurse, Float FCCC Inpatient Units - 3/12s, 6:45pm-7:15am - $15,000 Sign On Bonus	Philadelphia

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in philadelphia. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Company Name	Title	City
CROSSROADS REHABILITATION CENTER INC	Speech Language Pathologist - School Only	Indianapolis
CROSSROADS REHABILITATION CENTER INC	Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist	Indianapolis
Atlas Trailer Sales Corp	Road Technician - Field Service - Daytime Hours- SIGN ON BONUS	Indianapolis
Home Care Network	RN Case Manager	Indianapolis
GenTech Associates, Inc. SBA 8(a); SDVOSB; GovCon; Federal Contracting, CPA firm	Registered Nurse (RN)	Indianapolis
Home Care Network	Pediatric Home Health Nurse LPN	Indianapolis
Kepro	Clinical Reviewer (LPN/RN - Remote)	Indianapolis
Kepro	Senior Program Director (RN - Remote within Indiana)	Indianapolis
All-Stat Portable	Vascular Access Nurse	Indianapolis
The Judge Group	Home Health Nurse	Indianapolis
Seasoned Recruitment	Acute Care Registered Nurse - New Grads Welcome to Apply	Indianapolis
Gateway Recruiting - Gateway to Global Careers - Contingent, Retained, Contract Recruiting Services	Bilingual Occupational Health Nurse	Indianapolis
Kroger Health	Kroger Health : Now Hiring Nurse Practitioner : Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Hotel Mission de Oro	Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)	Indianapolis
Seasoned Recruitment	REMOTE Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP)	Indianapolis
International Medical Group (IMG)	Nurse Case Manager I	Indianapolis
ProMedica Senior Care	RN Case Manager - Hospice - Full time	Indianapolis
The Judge Group	Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse	Indianapolis
The Judge Group	Licensed Practical Nurse	Indianapolis
CDR Companies	Pool Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) - Indianapolis, IN	Indianapolis

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in indianapolis. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Company Name	Title	City
Capital One	Cyber Technical Product Owner - Host and Endpoint Security	Chicago
Capital One	Senior Data Engineer (Remote Eligible)	Chicago
HealthMarkets	Insurance Agent	West Chicago
Rush University Medical Center	Clinical Nurse Navigator RN - Transplant (1 day a week REMOTE!)	Chicago
The Clare	Registered Nurse	Chicago
Jobot Health	Locum CRNA	Chicago
Institute for Human Reproduction (IHR)	Registered Nurse	Chicago
AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.	Telephonic Nurse Case Manager	Chicago
MADO Healthcare	CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) Sign On Bonus!	Chicago
Reliance Home Health Caregivers	Urgently Hiring!! $30/LPN $38/RN G-Tube, Vent, Trach for 5y/o Male Tue & Fri 7am-7pm, Chicago, IL 60613	Chicago
Amundsen Davis, LLC	Nurse Paralegal	Chicago
Assembly Health	Traveling Podiatry Nurse Practitioner	Chicago
Seasoned Recruitment	Nurse Practitioner - Dialysis	Chicago
Protouch Staffing	RN - Medical/Surgical	Chicago
Center for Discovery	Eating Disorder LVN/LPN - Residential	Chicago
The Estates of Hyde Park	Nurse (LPN/RN)	Chicago
Jobot	Emergency Department Nurse Manager- $$$ sign on (Waukegan)	Chicago
Seasoned Recruitment	Acute Care Registered Nurse - New Grads Welcome to Apply	Chicago
Reliance Home Health Caregivers	$38RN/$30LPN 7a/7p Tuesday and Thursday in Chicago IL 60621	Chicago
Illinois Nursing Academy	CNA Certified Nursing Assistant	Chicago
FAR Group - Careers	Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)	Chicago

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in chicago. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

MalaysiaHealthcare is one of the best hospitals in Malaysia, known for its excellent healthcare services and facilities. One of the hospital's specialty departments is neurology, which focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the brain and nervous system.
The neurology department at MalaysiaHealthcare is staffed with highly skilled and experienced neurologists who are dedicated to providing the best care possible to their patients. The hospital uses state-of-the-art technology and equipment to diagnose and treat a wide range of neurological conditions, including epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis, among others.
Check Types of Treatments
One of the strengths of the neurology department at MalaysiaHealthcare is its multidisciplinary approach to care. The team of neurologists works closely with other specialists, including neurosurgeons, radiologists, and rehabilitation therapists, to provide comprehensive and personalized care to each patient.
The hospital's diagnostic tools and equipment include advanced imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and electroencephalography (EEG). These technologies enable the neurology team to accurately diagnose and treat neurological conditions, providing patients with the best possible outcomes.
Check Types of Treatments
Apart from its state-of-the-art technology, MalaysiaHealthcare is also known for its patient-centered approach to care. The hospital's staff is committed to providing personalized care to each patient, taking into account their unique needs and preferences. This approach helps to ensure that patients receive the best possible care throughout their treatment journey.
Another aspect that sets MalaysiaHealthcare apart is its commitment to research and innovation. The hospital's neurology team is actively involved in clinical trials and research studies, which help to advance the field of neurology and improve patient outcomes.
Check Types of Treatments
In terms of facilities, MalaysiaHealthcare offers modern and comfortable accommodations for patients and their families. The hospital has spacious private rooms, state-of-the-art operating theaters, and a range of other amenities to ensure that patients feel comfortable and well-cared for.
Overall, MalaysiaHealthcare's neurology department is undoubtedly one of the best in the world. Its commitment to providing patient-centered care, use of cutting-edge technology, and dedication to research make it a top choice for patients seeking neurological treatment. If you or someone you know is in need of neurological care, MalaysiaHealthcare should definitely be on your list of hospitals to consider.
Check Types of Treatments

Malaysia has become a popular destination for medical tourism, and one of the reasons for this is the country's excellent healthcare facilities. Among its many hospitals, there are some that stand out for their top-notch care and specialized services. One such hospital is the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital. In this review, I will be discussing why this hospital is considered one of the best in the country for cardiology care.
The Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital is recognized for its advanced cardiac care services, which are provided by a team of skilled and experienced specialists. The hospital boasts state-of-the-art equipment and technology, including a catheterization laboratory, echocardiography machines, and advanced MRI and CT scan facilities. This technology enables the medical staff to provide accurate diagnoses and effective treatments for complex cardiac conditions.
Check Types of Treatments
One of the key strengths of the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital is its team of highly trained cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. These professionals have extensive experience in diagnosing and treating a wide range of cardiac conditions, and they use evidence-based approaches to ensure that patients receive the highest quality of care. The hospital also employs a multidisciplinary approach to treatment, with specialists from various fields working together to develop individualized treatment plans for patients.
The hospital's commitment to patient-centered care is evident from the moment you walk in the door. Patients are greeted by friendly and knowledgeable staff who go out of their way to ensure that they are comfortable and informed throughout their stay. The hospital also offers a range of amenities to make patients' stays as pleasant as possible, including private rooms, Wi-Fi access, and international TV channels.
Check Types of Treatments
In addition to its excellent cardiac care services, the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital also provides comprehensive support services for patients and their families. This includes counseling services, nutritional guidance, and rehabilitation programs for patients recovering from cardiac procedures. The hospital also has a strong focus on preventive care, offering regular health screenings and educational programs to help patients maintain their heart health.
Overall, the Malaysia Healthcare Cardiology Hospital is an outstanding healthcare facility that provides world-class cardiac care services. Its state-of-the-art equipment and technology, highly trained medical staff, and patient-centered approach make it one of the best hospitals in the country for cardiology care. If you or a loved one requires specialized cardiac care, I would strongly recommend considering this hospital as your first choice.
Check Types of Treatments