#Lurin

[neopronouns]

flag id: a flag with 9 stripes, with the first and ninth being smallest, the fourth and sixth second smallest, the fifth largest, and the second and eighth second largest. they are very dark red, dark dull green-yellow, medium dark faded purple, faded purple, faded light blue, faded purple, medium dark faded purple, dark dull green-yellow, and very dark red. end id.

banner id: a 1600x200 teal banner with the words ‘please read my dni before interacting. those on my / dni may still use my terms, so do not recoin them.’ in large white text in the center. the text takes up two lines, split at the slash. end id.

beautestructian: a moin (monachoric-in-nature) and zabin (zabainal-in-nature) lurkerian gender related to finding oneself in blooming heather fields as a survivor of a doomsday event which caused buildings to collapse, death to spread, and the undead to roam. this gender is related to the out-of-place serenity and peace that surrounds one and beauty among destruction

[pt: beautestructian: a moin (monachoric-in-nature) and zabin (zabainal-in-nature) lurkerian gender related to finding oneself in blooming heather fields as a survivor of a doomsday event which caused buildings to collapse, death to spread, and the undead to roam. this gender is related to the out-of-place serenity and peace that surrounds one and beauty among destruction. end pt]

for 🐕‍🦺🗞️ anon! the flag uses the lurkerian format and the outer red stripes are blended from the monachoric and zabin flags. the dark green stripes represent death and the undead, the purple stripes represent heather, and the blue stripe represents peace. the term is 'beaut' from 'beauty', 'estructi' from 'destruction', + 'ian' from 'lurkerian'!

tags: @radiomogai, @liom-archive, @macchiane, @genderstarbucks, @sugar-and-vice-mogai

tags cont: @prettypinknarc, @skrimbliest, @seraphtrix

dni link

[kitom-kortil]

Lurin's fav pasttime is randomly called Ravio an incel

[almanach-international]

29 juin : c’est la Saint-Pierre, la fête des pêcheurs

Dans les ports de Provence et du Languedoc, la Saint-Pierre est la fête des pêcheurs, occasion d’une procession traditionnelle transportant la statue de saint Pierre de l’église jusqu���au port, comme c’est le cas à Antibes, à Sète, à Nice ou au Grau du Roi. Le 28 au soir, dans le petit port de Gruissan, la sérénade traverse les rues du village avec la « musicalité maritime » bien connue du réveil gruissanais. Le lendemain, c’est le « jour de gloire ». Le cortège part de la Prud’homie, jusqu’à l’église Notre Dame de l’Assomption pour célébrer la grand’messe. C’est là, que les pêcheurs gruissanais portent la barque d’apparat (symbolisant le travail) et un cierge allumé (qui exprime la foi) jusqu’au buste du saint placé dans le chœur de l’église. 

Certaines localités, comme Cassis, la Seyne-sur-Mer ou Antibes, ont cependant déplacé la fête au dernier week-end de juin, ce qui permet aux festivités de s’ouvrir par un feu d’artifice le vendredi soir et de se terminer le dimanche soir par une grande sardinade et une soirée dansante. À Agde, pour des raisons touristiques, la fête a même été reportée au premier week-end de juillet. Cette année, elle débutera le vendredi 7 juillet avec arrivée de la statue de Saint-Pierre à 21h par le fleuve Hérault avec animations, danses traditionnelles, peña… Place de la Marine. Le lendemain, au Grau d’aide, la sardinade sera accompagnée de musiques gitanes. Le dimanche, une gerbe sera jetée à l’eau en mémoire des pêcheurs disparus en mer. À Nice, la fête de la Festa de San Peïre (en nissart), débute par une messe à l'église Notre-Dame-du-Port puis se poursuit par une procession des pêcheurs depuis l’église jusqu'au port rythmée par des musiques et des danses folkloriques.

Dans les Caraïbes, principalement à la Jamaïque, une Journée internationale des pêcheurs est célébrée chaque 29 juin. Saint Pierre, l'un des douze premiers apôtres et le premier évêque de Rome, était à l'origine un pêcheur du lac de Tibériade. Pour cette raison, il est vénéré comme le saint patron des pêcheurs. Chaque 29 juin, l'Église catholique célèbre dans une même fête liturgique les apôtres saint Pierre et saint Paul. Le choix d'une seule date pour célébrer ces deux grandes figures s'est opéré après la réforme liturgique en 1970. Jusque-là, saint Pierre était fêté le 29 juin et saint Paul le lendemain.

De fait la Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul est un jour férié dans certains pays catholiques : Malte, Chili, Pérou, Italie, Colombie et dans certains cantons suisses. Sur la côte péruvienne, dans les ports de Chorillos et de Lurin, la figure de saint Pierre est venue se superposer à celle du dieu fondateur Naylamp lors de cérémonie visant à bénir l’eau pour une bonne pêche tout au long de l’année. La a San Pedro y San Pablo est également très fêtée en Équateur.

Simon (alias Pierre) était le fils de Jonas, vivait à Capharnaüm où il est pêcheur sur le lac de Tibériade, avec son frère André. Un jour, il a rencontré Jésus qui lui a dit : « Suis-Moi, Je te ferai pêcheur d’hommes. » Il décida alors de tout quitter pour le suivre. Jésus lui donnera le nom araméen de « Képha », mot qui signifie « rocher » qui deviendra « Petrus » en latin, puis « Pierre » en français. « Tu es Pierre et sur cette pierre, je bâtirai mon Église » (Matthieu, XVI, 17). 

Un article de l'Almanach international des éditions BiblioMonde

[bermudasnino]

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[raiinywish21]

Lurin x Damien (Fanart) xd

I thought it was a good idea to ship them because yes lol, I think they are very cute jsjs

Shippers: this is where the fun begins 😎

Credits: https://x.com/x___skycs___x

[maitre-gotta]

Quelques vertus et avantages spirituels de notre propre urine, recette de grand marabout

LES AVANTAGES SPIRITUELS DE NOTRE PROPRE URINE QUELQUES VERTUS ET AVANTAGES SPIRITUELS DE NOTRE PROPRE URINE Tout le monde devrait lire ça du début jusqu’à la fin . L’un des secrets cachés de l’univers  L’urine du matin très tôt à de nombreuses avantages spirituels que ça soit sur le plan financier, retour d’affection , déblocage spirituel , protection et autres  1- Pour nettoyer toutes…

[heylinhenchman]

“ I missing having a life. ”

[ednaeflowers]

❛  That would definitely happen,  ❜ she says wisely, as if imparting wisdom onto him. ❛  Grampveid is just like a homeless bum: he could be anywhere because his whole personality 'blows.' Could take you weeks or even months to find him.  ❜ Since they're both traveling, maybe Meebo might've crossed paths with the lousy bum enough to offer Ludger a merciful hint or two. Maybe. ❛  Yeah, it better be. It's not often you get to associate with high class ladies like us.  ❜ Well, Lailah looks the part, but her sense of humor is ... really something. Still, Edna supports female solidarity. 

Midway reading, she is unamused at the 'cute' remark. She definitely made up 'Meebo' out of spite and a desire to see just how much it would annoy him because it's her duty to annoy him—and while the name does roll off the tongue for her, it actually hadn't occured to Edna that others would think it sounds 'cute.' Ew. Gross. Hopefully, Ludger doesn't tell Meebo that same thing or else she would have to sacrifice her umbrella to maintain peace and order. 

❛  Well, obviously Meebo is Meebo; Zaveid is Grampveid, but I prefer Perveid. Only they have those kinds of names because they annoy me, but if you really want your own nickname...  ❜ She takes a palmier and eats it, chewing thoughtfully as she idly watches Ludger add more ingredients into the mixture. She isn't sure what the last addition was, but the other ingredients remind her of... ❛  Okay, you can be 'Lurin' then. Those ingredients you just threw in could also be used for pudding.  ❜ It's an attempt at originality. Can't blame her for trying. Maybe the key to good nicknames is just spite. 

Still wondering about the phenomenon of how he can cook and write simultaneously, she is quiet at the next written words. She doesn't know what to make of that, actually. How do 'Meebo' and 'Grampveid' and 'Perveid' even shape her relationships? She made those up to annoy Mikleo and Zaveid, but she made up 'Lurin' because Ludger seemed genuine about wanting a name of his own. How do relationships come into play here? Zaveid knew her brother and she considers him a pest while Mikleo... Of course, he's Sorey's best friend, but she doesn't know where they stand; the line's a constant blur between the bantering and whatnot, ambiguous and unknown. Edna still has much to learn about interpersonal relationships, it seems.

❛  ...For you?  ❜ she replies steadily, with only a tilt of her head to indicate curiosity. Well, his name is a mouthful, so of course he must have some nickname variations already. That makes sense to her. ❛  So you already have some nicknames? Share with the class then, Lurin.  ❜

First Lady Lailah, now Lady Edna. Ludger's more curious than ever what's earned Lord Zaveid such a reputation among his closest allies. 'I'll hope so. Risking Nii-san sending search parties again if journey takes too long (￣ω￣;;).' And his brother's lies to achieve this never fail to piss off Chief Milla. Sends shivers down his spine thinking about it... 'But doesn't mean my time with you or Lady Lailah is any less than amazing! Happiest I've been in a while!'

And he isn't just buttering Lady Edna up. Ludger hasn't talked this much to people outside the clan in his life. It... felt nice. Almost makes him forget why he doesn't have much of a social life-- outside his volunteer kitchen work at whatever Inn's closest to his target.

While Ludger adds water, extra vanilla, sugar, and a 'lil chef's secret to his pot, Lady Edna explains "Meebo's" origin... sorta. The words behind it made sense, yet what exclusively made Mikleo a boy when Shepherd Sorey has to be around his age, if not younger than him, went unexplained. Perhaps it'll make total sense once he hears Lord Mikleo's side...? Nonetheless, he at least got some answers!

'Will have to meet him first before I can say. Don't want to form bad habits. But do think it sounds cute!' He can but wish he gets a cute punny nickname from one of his friends one day. Although he'll need to actually make friends first... 'Would like to hear what other nicknames you've come up with! Hope I can earn one. Be my first one ever! (♡°▽°♡)'

Oh, but he's getting too excited-- his fervent stirring almost made the mixture overflow. Ludger takes a deep breath, letting his emotions flow out to bring about the empty calm after. Then, he writes, 'Just wanted to know more about you. Nii-san says nicknames symbolize a relationship only the nicknamer and nicknamed ever share. And relationships shape us most! Did for me at least. (˶ˆ꒳ˆ˵)'

[neopronouns]

flag id: a flag with 11 stripes, with the first, sixth, and eleventh being smaller than the rest. they are blue-black, dark purple, medium dark faded pink, faded red-orange, dark red-orange, very dark red-orange, dark red-orange, faded red-orange, medium dark faded pink, dark purple, and blue-black. end id.

banner id: a 1600x200 teal banner with the words ‘please read my dni before interacting. those on my / dni may still use my terms, so do not recoin them.’ in large white text in the center. the text takes up two lines, split at the slash. end id.

lurkepavren: a gender that is both lurkerian and homipavren

[pt: lurkepavren: a gender that is both lurkerian and homipavren. end pt]

for 🐕‍🦺🗞️ anon! the flag combines the lurkerian and homipavren flags and the term is 'lurke' from 'lurkerian' + 'pavren' from 'homipavren'!

tags: @radiomogai, @liom-archive, @macchiane, @genderstarbucks, @sugar-and-vice-mogai

tags cont: @freezingnarc, @skrimbliest, @seraphtrix

dni link

[littleivyart]

Lurin the Kobold girl and Furtr the sportle (spore turtle)

[whencyclopedia]

Pachacamac

Pachacamac, located on the coast of Peru and 32 km south of Lima, was an important sacred site, oracle, and place of burial, which was visited by pilgrims of many ancient Andean cultures, including the Incas. The site, active for over 2,000 years, was named after the god of the same name (Pacha Kamaq) who was worshipped there and considered the 'Maker of the Earth' by coastal peoples.

Sacred Site of Pachacamac

Pachacamac, located in the Lurin Valley, may have been in use as a sacred oracle site from the 1st millennium BCE while its settlement began sometime in the early 1st millennium CE. The god Pachacamac, also known as the 'Maker of the Earth', was a creator god who was also associated with earthquakes. In coastal mythology, Pachacamac had defeated the rival creator god Con who had stopped all rainfall as punishment for humanity's wickedness. Pachacamac then changed the existing human race into animals and created a whole new race of men and women. In some versions of the myths the god sent four stars to earth, the two male stars became the kings and nobility while the two female stars became the commoners.

The god's sacred wooden statue was worshipped at the site, situated inside a large temple complex built on a stepped earthen platform. This structure is contemporary with the Moche and Nazca civilizations (200 BCE – 600 CE). Built overlooking a colonnaded plaza and sitting on an eight-level platform on a natural hill, the temple buildings must have dominated the site. Each level of the adobe brick platform is around one metre high, and they were painted in bright colours with plant and animal designs. The figures were made more striking by outlining them in black. A set of artist's brushes (of human hair and reeds) and a bag of pigments were found buried at the site in 1935 CE. The temple was well-maintained as some areas of decoration show as many as 16 re-coats. Buildings on the highest platform were arranged around a courtyard, and some were used as accommodation.

Continue reading...

[invisi-idol]

web / internet themed npts ! 💾

requested by : @mod-ais-icons

♬ ⋆⁺₊ – names :

Zell , Zira , Zero , Xero , Xio , Xiomara , Xamara , Xavi , Sunny , Sandy , Seraph , Seraphia , Seraphine , Sophia , Sync , Synth , Cynthia , Claire , Camryn , Cory / Corey / Cori , Carrie , Gwendolyn , Gail / Gale , Maru , Mari , Mandy , Molly , Maxus , Laxus , Lexus , Lurine , Lumine

♬ ⋆⁺₊ – pronouns :

xe / xir , zhe / zher , ze / zim , le / lim

stream / streams , search / searches , surf / surfs , scratch / scratches , disc / discs , doc / docs , dock / docks , digit / digits , digital / digitals , pixel / pixels , animate / animates , music / musics , web / webs , wasd / wasds , game / games , gif / gifs , visual / visuals , video / videos

.exe / .exes , .png / .pngs , 2D / 2Ds , 3D / 3Ds , XD / XDs , :D / :Ds , :3 / :3s , ^_^ / ^_^s

📱 / 📱s , 💻 / 💻s , 💾 / 💾s , 🌐 / 🌐s

♬ ⋆⁺₊ – titles :

( prn ) who lives on the internet , ( prns ) intelligence , the tech-y one , the web surfer , the coder , ( prn ) who hides behind a screen , the hacker

[scr-ppup]

Lurkerian — Reworked

[PT/Lurkerian — Reworked/end PT]

[ID/A dark red line with gold lining and a repeating star and half moon pattern./end ID]

Reworking and expanding on my Lurkerian gender umbrella I made a year or so ago as a system (decided to make it into an official umbrella, don't mind that.). Wasn't really that happy with it and I wanted to remake it. So, here, enjoy?

Lurkerian is an gender umbrella that consists of apocalyptic world and ferity themes related to being a lurking creature in short; however, it's also related to...

The primal fear one gets within the darkness, not knowing or seeing what's out there.

Lurking and hunting, being a predator, to adrenaline and danger.

Being a creature of some kind, maybe something not entirely human, to nonhuman concepts.

the concepts of night, darkness, and the twilight.

Solar & lunar eclipse symbolism; new beginnings and opportunities of renewal. Solar eclipses specifically also being treated as a sign of a doomsday and at the same time as the day of renewal and new beginning for humanity and general life on earth.

The animalistic concepts, ferality in both humans and creatures, and general ferity and animality.

And the concept of doing anything for survival, to adaptive behavior and forgotten morale and ethics because they don't apply to the world around you anymore.

To injustice and anarchism, chaos within the world as everything unfolds.

to rundown cities and dystopian societies, to apocalyptic settings and worlds where the world is rundown for different reasons, including but not limited to a plague or different types of wars.

The utter madness and paranoia one may succumb to after/during extreme stress situations.

To lure prey and possible hostiles around, being a runner or lurer.

To foraging and living off the land. To simple survival. To being resourceful.

The horror and gorey themes, grotesque aesthetics and macabre themes, the slaughter of innocence and hunting of survival whether that is creatures or humans (thus could have cannibalistic themes).

To cryptology and the aesthetics of cryptidcore, apocalypses, salvagepunk, biopunk, the concept of hopepunk, visuals of grime arts, and possibly to mythpunk.

Might have a connection to some whump media themes but does not specifically need to.

This is more or less made with alterhumans in mind, but can be used in any way the user wishes.

This is an neogender umbrella, it is not specifically related to any other gender umbrellas however it may overlap with themes and such, and it could be classified under the Dystrofare umbrella but a bit to the left in some way. However, this gender umbrella is somewhat horrorgender-adjacent, and may have in common things with the Feruvel umbrella.

You can find the Lurkerian flag & symbol from this link here!(link)

masterlist list of terms underneath & relevant to this umbrella(link to be added)

Terminology

Luren-/ Lurke-: prefixes

-lur- / Keri: infix

-lerin / -erian / -lurken; suffixes

LURIN; Lurkerian-in-nature

Lure(hood); (gender) neutral/non-gendered term

Lurix(hood); woman/girl

Lutor(hood); man/boy

Trans-lure(lurinite); transneutral

Trans luter(luterine); transman/-masculine

Trans lutrix(/lutrixine); transwoman/feminine

Lurenic; Lurkerian gender alignment term, (used in the same vein as xenic, kenic etc.)

@radiomogai

[raiinywish21]

My friend Fandi made this beautiful drawing of Lurin ^_^💫

Give her a lot of support, she is a first-class artist ✨

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Loop Back

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

More of the guys in IRIS, yay! :D Yay for us, I mean, obviously not them haha. Last time we mainly saw what IRIS had planned for JJ and Schneep, but what about the others? After all, they don't have any special powers, right? Why are they here? While those two recover from their own tests, Marvin takes an assessment. Then, when some guards appear to drag him off somewhere, he makes an escape attempt and finds something strange. Heheheh. Enjoy!

More of This AU | | First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Read on AO3 under CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Marvin spent most of the afternoon—or, what he assumed was the afternoon—trying to think of different ways to contact Jackie and Anti. After hearing those shouts outside his door, they must be nearby. He wasn’t sure where JJ or Schneep were, though. He was sure IRIS would have taken them too, but he didn’t know anything about this place outside the room he was stuck in. They could be on the other side of this compound, through thick metal walls or high up in the air. He needed to focus on Jackie and Anti first, and then the three of them could figure something else out.

But as time passed, he found he couldn’t focus on planning. His stomach was rumbling too loud, and his thoughts devolved into repeated cycles of how hungry he was.

After what must have been a few hours, that woman from before walked in. The one in the white coat, with the curly blonde hair. She must be some sort of doctor, right? “Hello again, Mr. Moore,” she said, sitting down at the table.

Marvin, previously lying on the bed, sat up straight. “You again,” he muttered, glaring. “What do you want?”

“We are doing an assessment,” the doctor said calmly. “And I’ve also brought something for you.” She sets down a small box on the table. A fabric box... a lunch box? “Please come over to the table. So you can be in view of the interview camera.”

“...you’re lurin’ me with food?” Marvin asked, eyes narrowing.

The doctor just smiled. “Please come into view of the camera.”

Marvin sighed. He stood up, testing his legs. Luckily, after resting for so long, the fatigue had faded and he was easily able to walk over to the table and chair. “Don’ expect it t’be t’is easy all the time,” he said. “My body comes and goes. I’ll only be able to walk wit’out aid sometimes. Not all the time.”

“The date is March 1st, 2020, and we are interviewing Mr. Marvin Moore,” the doctor said, not acknowledging what Marvin just said. He threw his hands up in frustration. “Use of the Dr. Hopkins Assessment has been permitted. Mr. Moore, please eat before we proceed.”

Marvin sighed. He was annoyed, but he was also hungry. His stomach was twisting just at the thought of eating. So he grabbed the lunch box and opened it up. Inside was a sandwich made of ham and brown bread, a peeled orange, some crackers, and a small water bottle. He ate quickly, not looking directly at the doctor while she sat across from him... watching him. As soon as he was done he slid the lunch box over to her. Going through some sort of test would be preferable to this silence.

“Thank you!” the doctor said in a chipper tone, pushing the lunch box to the side. She then took out a clipboard and began writing things down. “Now we will start the Assessment. We’re going to ask you a series of questions to determine your state of mind. Keep in mind we can detect if you’re lying, so please try to answer truthfully. Are you okay with this, Mr. Moore?”

“Well I s’pose I have to be, don’ I?” Marvin muttered. “You’re not goin’ to listen t’me. Or give me my fuckin’ cards back.”

“Great!” The doctor smiled.  “Now. Is your name Marvin Moore?”

“Yes.”

“Are you 29 years old?”

“How d’you know about t’at?!” Marvin gasped.

“We have done some research since we last spoke,” the doctor explained. “So please answer the question.”

“Y-yes... t’at’s my age,” Marvin said shakily. Maybe he shouldn’t answer these questions... but clearly these guys won’t listen to him. They would probably just continuously ask the questions until he caved.

“Are you taking the Dr. Hopkins Assessment right now?” the doctor asked.

“If t’at’s what t’is is.”

“On a scale of one to ten, one being the lowest and ten being the highest, how would you describe your current mental state?”

“Ah... low?” Marvin guessed.

“If you had to put a number to it?” she persisted.

“I don’ know. A... a t’ree? A three,” he repeated, making an effort to emphasize the TH sound, just so there wasn’t any confusion.

“Have you ever felt an attack of fear or anxiety?”

“A-ah, um—” Marvin really didn’t want to tell these IRIS guys about his mental problems.

The doctor stared at him more intensely. “Have you ever felt an attack of fear or anxiety?”

“C-can I choose not to answer?”

“Have you ever felt an attack of fear or anxiety?”

“I... w-well, hasn’ ev’ryone?” Marvin said.

The doctor nodded slowly and wrote something down. Was she agreeing with him? Or just acknowledging what he said? “Do you feel safe?”

“After bein’ kidnapped and torn away from my friends? Not t’mention bein’ kidnapped by people wh-who I know do terrible t’ings to others?” Marvin leaned close. “I don’ know what you want wit’ me and I don’ know what you’ve done wit’ my friends. I know you want to hurt us, though.”

“We do not want to hurt you, Mr. Moore,” the doctor insisted.

“No, but you’ll do stuff to hurt us anyway.” Marvin glared. “D’you really t’ink you deserve a ‘yes’ answer to that question?”

The doctor blinked. Then she looked down at the clipboard and continued. “Do you regret your decisions?”

“Uh...” Marvin leaned back again, confused. “I don’ understan’ the question. T’ere are a lot of decisions out t’ere. T’at I’ve made. I would regret some and not regret others, righ’?”

“Hmm.” The doctor wrote something down. “Do you know where you are?” 

“In IRIS?” Marvin guessed.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

“F-for... experiments?” Marvin whispered, scanning the doctor’s expression for a reaction. Maybe he could learn something? But, unfortunately, he was never that good with emotions. If the doctor felt any way about his guess, she didn't show it.

“Have you ever heard of ALTR 53815?” the doctor asked.

“No, I haven’,” Marvin insisted.

“What was the first time you came in contact with ALTR 53815?”

“Don’ fuckin’ ignore me!” Marvin shouted, his temper suddenly bursting. “I can’ tell you any’ting if you don’ tell me stuff first! What the fuck is an alter?! Is t’at what you call the people you do tests on?! Huh?!”

“How many pictures have been shown to you so far?” The doctor asked calmly.

“I jus’ said—” Marvin growled. But then he gave up, the anger suddenly draining out of him. They weren’t going to tell him anything. He had to stop trying. Any energy he put into resisting these guys would be diverted away from his efforts to escape. And it might be good for them to think he was cooperating. “I haven’ seen anyt’ing,” he sighed.

“How many sounds have been played for you?” the doctor asked.

“Haven’ heard anyt’ing, either.”

“Are you easily startled?”

“Ah... well... it depends?” Marvin said slowly, suddenly on guard. His eyes darted around the room. Were they going to throw something at his face?

“What’s the worst pain you’ve ever felt?”

Marvin couldn’t help but laugh. “You t’ink I’m jus’ gonna tell you t’at?” He shivered. “I-I don’ even know it off the top of my head.” Probably something Distorter did to him... something that he might not even remember.

That seemed to be a sufficient answer for the doctor. “Do you believe in God?” she asked.

Marvin raised an eyebrow. “Feel like t’at’s a bit of a departure from the rest of t’ese questions.”

“Please just answer it promptly,” the doctor said.

“Ah... I... guess?” Marvin said slowly. “But not... as in t’ere’s someone up t’ere who t’inks like a human... It might be closer to a force of nature. It’d probably be... very diff’rent. But t’ere has to be somet’ing.” He was speaking more to himself than to the doctor, sorting out his own feelings on the way. Yes, there had to be something, didn’t there? There had to be something... maybe...

“Do you believe in life after death?” the doctor asked, not noticing his introspection.

Marvin jumped slightly, snapping back to reality. “Um... sure?”

“Have you ever experienced a terrible occurrence that has impacted you significantly?”

“If you truly did research on me, wouldn’ you know?” Marvin asked.

“We may know facts, but we don’t know how you feel about all this,” the doctor explained. “I’ll ask again. Have you ever experienced a terrible occurrence that has impacted you significantly?”

Marvin nodded slowly.

“Please answer audibly for the record.”

“Y-yes,” Marvin whispered.

The doctor wrote something down, taking a long time. “Have you ever lost someone close to you?”

Marvin flinched. He didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to answer at all. But he knew she would keep asking. She—IRIS—wouldn’t let him have the smallest bit of privacy while he was in here. “...yes,” he whispered.

More writing. Then the doctor looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Moore, that concludes our assessment.”

“Great... now what?” Marvin asked. “No wait, let me guess. You’re not goin’ t’tell me.”

“We will see you again, Mr. Moore,” the doctor said, tucking the clipboard under her arm and grabbing the lunch box.

“Oh I wasn’ worried abou’ t’at,” Marvin grumbled, slumping in the chair.

“Get some rest!” the doctor said cheerfully, and walked over towards the door.

Marvin started to get up from the chair, wanting to run for the door as she started to open it. But he hesitated for too long. The door was already closing. “Damn it,” he muttered. Sighing, he continued to stand up, and walked over to the bed, sitting down again.

... what if that was the only opportunity he had? What if they weren’t going to open the door again? What if he was going to be stuck in here?

No, no, that was going too far. They had to open the door to feed him. There wasn’t any other way into the room. He could wait until then. He had to.

Sighing, Marvin lied down and tried to think of a plan.

———————

Every muscle in Schneep’s body ached. After the tests—hours and hours of fighting robots with different abilities—he was too tired to even think about resisting as they dragged him back to the cell. He fell asleep for a brief moment, but he could tell that it wasn’t that long. Maybe only a few minutes. All he really knew was that they dropped him on the floor and the next thing he knew, he was opening his eyes, the guards were gone, and the manacle was around his ankle again.

He was able to drag himself onto the bed, but wasn’t able to move much after that. He laid there for a while, then lifted his head and glared at the camera. “I hope you are not going to wear me out all the time,” he said. “I cannot be a good...” His throat closed up. He couldn’t say the word that was on his mind. Weapon. “I-I cannot be good at tests if I am pushed to exhaustion.”

There was no answer, of course.

Schneep put his head down again, groaning. With all the advanced technology they’d stuck into his body, you would think IRIS would be able to keep him from feeling exhaustion. Though, to be honest, it felt like he’d been able to keep fighting for longer than usual... so maybe the technology could delay it, but not get rid of it. That made sense.

He could only hope that it also reduced his recovery time. He didn’t want to lay in bed whenever he wasn’t being forced to go through one of IRIS’s tests. Not when he could be using that time to try and escape.

There had to be a way out of here... sure, they’d learned from his last escape and added the manacle to tie him down, but there had to be a way. He refused to just give up and let them use him.

But for now... he had to rest.

———————

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

JJ pressed up against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. His eyes kept flicking to the cameras in the corners. They were always watching him. There was never going to be anywhere to hide, never, never, never—

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Everything was fine right now. They weren’t going to do anything to him.

But they were still watching.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

He rubbed his eyes, brushing away the tears in the corners. The moment his vision was clear again, his eyes glanced at the cameras again. He shuddered. Twisting around, he reached over to the bed and grabbed the pillow, throwing it at the nearest camera. It hit the wall nearby and fell to the ground. With that having failed, he grabbed the blanket of the bed and pulled it off.

The bedframe was fairly low; there wasn’t room enough for a person to squeeze underneath. But by draping the blanket off the side, he made a small tent to hide behind. JJ curled up beneath it. He felt ridiculous, like a child hiding from a monster in the closet. But it was the only way to block out the camera.

Deep breaths.

Deep breaths.

Everything is okay right now.

It won’t be okay in the future. But it’s okay right now.

Deep breaths.

Deep breaths.

———————

The moment the door to the cell opened, Anti lunged at the gap, pushing his way out. He made it out into the hallway but was immediately grabbed from behind by one of these guards in black uniforms. “Fucking let me go!” he growled. He tried kicking at their legs, tried wriggling against their grasp, but the two guards held tight to each of his arms. There were two more as well, pointing some sort of gun towards him. Not the type that fired bullets—dart guns, maybe?

They started dragging him down the hallway. “Fuck you! Fuck off!” Anti shouted, voice trembling slightly. His eyes darted around wildly, taking in the plaster walls and linoleum tiles, looking for anything that could help. But there was nothing.

What was happening? The other times he’d been taken out of the room, that scientist-looking guy had been there to supervise him. This time, it was just the guards. Why? Did the scientist not want to risk getting hurt in some freaky fucking experiment? Were they going to fuck with his body as well as his head this time?! The thought sent panic shooting through his heart, and he didn’t stop struggling even as the guards took him down the hallways. Keep track of the turns! Right, left, right—the walls shifted to a pale blue, bordering on white, instead of the beige they were right outside the cells.

The guards reached a set of double-doors on the left side of the hallway. One of them took a keycard off their belt and pressed it to a reader at the side of the door. There was a slight click and the doors slid open. As the guards started pulling Anti inside, he tried to hook his foot around the doorframe, but they yanked him hard and easily broke his grip.

The room beyond was a nearly empty space, with the same linoleum tiles and plaster walls that are now painted pure white. The high ceiling was made of tiles, too, but not linoleum. Instead, the office vibes continued, with the ceiling looking like ones that would be found in office buildings, or maybe schools. There was a simple card table set up in the middle—the type that folds—with some sort of sheet-covered shape on it. Some more sturdy-looking tables were set up around it in a U shape, full of strange metal boxes with lights, buttons, and dials, some with attached antenna, all with wires leading from them over to the edge of the room. Anti glanced around at all this, taking it in, but his focus was turned to the last thing in the room. A chair with leather straps attached, looking like it was pulled out of a horror game taking place in some creepy hospital

 “You are not putting me in that fucking thing!” Anti shouted, voice cracking slightly. He intensified his struggles—

Smak! One of the guards hit him in the side of the head. He slumped, instantly dazed. The guards didn’t waste any time, dragging him across the ground to the chair and shoving him in. He squirmed weakly, but was still dazed. The guards easily pulled the straps over his wrists, ankles, and chest. One even went over his forehead, pulling his head into place against a headrest. Then the guards backed up, continuing to point their dart guns at him, just in case.

“Wh-what is this?” Anti demanded. “The fuck are you going to do?!” He twisted his hands back and forth, trying to worm his way beneath the leather straps, but they were extremely tight.

The guards didn’t say anything. Nothing was moving in the room beside him. He couldn’t help but think that they were all... waiting for something.

He swallowed a lump in his throat. If he could escape from this room, he could find the others and they could get out of here. He couldn’t let this opportunity get away from him! He took a deep breath, then kept struggling.

———————

Marvin looked up as the door opened again. Huh, it hadn’t been that long since the doctor came in to do the assessment thing. But that was fine, he could try to implement his plan.

Two people in all-black gear walked into the room, their features partially hidden with cloth masks that covered the lower half of their faces. They stared at him expectantly. But he didn’t get up from the bed. The two guards glanced at each other. “Stand up,” one said.

“I can’ do t’at,” Marvin said. “Not t’at I don’ want to, I can’t.” He made sure to emphasize it.

“Try,” the second guard said.

Marvin glared at them, but did as asked, and tried to stand up. He pushed himself up, then fell down again. “T’is shoul’ be in your files abou’ me,” he said. “T’at doctor lady said it the first time she was here. ‘Muscle weakness.’ Don’ be surprised when I’m weak.”

The two guards looked at each other, unsure. They stepped away, murmuring to each other, pressing their hands to small devices in their ears. Marvin watched them, straining to hear what was going on. He couldn’t quite make it out, but it didn’t make a difference, as the guards soon stopped talking and walked over to the bed. “Try standing up again,” the first one said.

Marvin nodded. He pushed against the bed, managing to sit up, but couldn’t get any higher. 

“This isn’t some sort of trick, is it?” the second guard said, narrowing their eyes. “We can tell if you’re lying.”

“I wouldn’ lie abou’ my condition,” Marvin said. “You all shoul’ know abou’ it and how it works. I just told t’at doctor lady t’at you can’ make a schedule for t’is fatigue.”

The guards glanced at the cameras in the room. They stared at them for a while, and Marvin stared too. He wasn’t nervous. Why would he be nervous? He had nothing to be afraid of. Other than the possibility of horrible experiments happening to him.

After what felt like forever, but which was actually less than a minute, the guards turned back to Marvin. “We’ll be taking you regardless of if you can stand or not,” the first guard said.

“Fine,” Marvin snapped, folding his arms. “Do t’at.”

And they did, reaching out and grabbing him by his arms. Marvin tried to stand up straight as they pulled him upright, but the moment they lessened the pressure, he started to collapse again. The two guards gave up on keeping him up and just started dragging him across the floor and out into the hallway.

Marvin looked around. This place appeared surprisingly normal. The strangest things were the cell doors, which looked like thick metal. The hallway continued on to the left, eventually ending in a set of double doors. The guards were dragging him to the right, which eventually turned a corner. Hmm... he definitely didn’t want to go where they were taking him, but that set of double-doors looked ominous. But they didn’t seem to be locked.

As the guards approached the corner, Marvin lifted his legs into the air and slammed them down onto the ground, planting his feet firmly. The guards jolted suddenly, looking at him in surprise, and he managed to wrench an arm free, lunging and grabbing something from the first guard’s belt. Some sort of gun? But he didn’t fire it, instead slamming the end of it into the second guard’s head, causing them to let go. Then Marvin dropped it and bolted.

“Hey!” The first guard shouted. The second one shook their head in surprise and they both ran after Marvin.

He couldn’t believe he’d gotten away with that! Surely people like this would realize when he was faking being more tired than he actually was! Didn’t these WTCHR cameras have the ability to detect emotions and lies? Maybe he just got lucky and these two guards were a bit less competent than the other IRIS staff members. But even if that was true, they were almost definitely faster than him. He glanced over his shoulder—yep, they were gaining on him!

He turned back around and pushed himself to run faster, slamming through the double doors. As soon as he was through he spun around and examined them from this side. They were equipped with a deadbolt. Perfect! He slid it closed just in time for the two guards to slam into it. That should buy him some time.

This area was pretty different from the cell block he was just in. The walls and floor were made out of some sort of smooth white material. The doors were still metal, but they looked slightly different, with plaques on the front that had seemingly random numbers and letters engraved on them. The hallway continued for a short distance before ending in a pair of elevator doors.

Marvin’s eyes darted around. What could he do in here?! He needed to find where his friends were. Anti and Jackie were probably in that same cell block he was just in. He couldn’t go back now that he’d locked the door; there would probably be more guards coming from that direction. No, he had to find where JJ and Schneep were. He’d been thinking about it, and they had to be somewhere else. Schneep was one of IRIS’s experiments and JJ could be considered an anomaly, they would want both of them under tighter security than the normal humans. Maybe they were on a different floor?

He hurried down the hallway towards the elevator, trying to press the call button. But there was no sign that it was activated. It didn’t light up or ding or anything. He pressed it a couple more times, just in case, but nothing. Maybe it needed some sort of key?

Bang bang bang! Marvin spun around and saw the double doors shaking as something heavy hit it from the other side. His eyes widened. He couldn’t wait for the elevator! He had to—

What was that?

One of the doors lining the hallway opened up, and someone walked out. But... it was hard to describe it. He couldn’t quite make out the features of who opened the door. It was almost like... they were made of glass, the faintest warp in the air in the vaguest shape of a person. Marvin stared at it for a few seconds, but the strange almost-person vanished as soon as they went into the hallway. So Marvin instead rushed towards it, peering into the room beyond.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of the same smooth white material. But unlike the hallway outside, which was brightly lit by fluorescent lights, the room was dim. There was a circular ring light embedded in the center of the ceiling, giving off a faint blue glow, but that still left the corners in shadow. Beneath the ring light was a circular platform, and on top of that circular platform... was something strange indeed. Two small objects hovered in midair, about a foot above the surface of the platform, blue and orange light swirling around them, creating a spiral that... hurt Marvin’s head to look at. He knew it was familiar... but he didn’t know where he’d seen it before.

He closed the door of the room behind him and walked towards the platform. The running was starting to catch up to him, and he could feel the fatigue pulling at him, but it wasn’t enough to slow him down quite yet. The two hovering objects were floating at chest-height for him, rotating around each other in a lazy orbit. The strange, spiraling light was coming from both of them at the same time, strands that tie together into a larger pattern. It’s mesmerizing to look at. And maddening. Where has he seen this?!

It only took him a few seconds to walk right up to the platform. He squinted through the light, looking at the two hovering objects. They’re awfully... flat? Wait a second...

“What the fuck?!” Marvin’s eyes widened. These were his cards!

Or, not all of them. Only two. The two jokers in the deck, the cards with the strange rune on the back that he hadn’t been able to identify yet. They were floating in midair, going around and around in an endless circle, emitting this strange, spiraling light. Huh. The rune on their backs... They were an angled spiral, with an X on top. Could that be... related?

Had IRIS used these to cast some sort of spell?

No, there was no way. Marvin didn’t even know all the possible combinations for his cards. IRIS couldn’t know them when he didn’t. Maybe they... stumbled across one? While messing around with them? But what could this spell be doing? The cards had never started hovering or emitting light before! And these two were the only cards in the room, where were the rest of them? What possible spell could be cast with just these two runes?

After a moment’s hesitation, Marvin reached out to the cards, stopping just before he put his hands into the light. It wasn’t emitting any heat. Nor any cold. He couldn’t feel any strange vibrations or anything. He pulled his hand back and patted himself down. There wasn’t anything on him that he could toss into the spiral of light to test if it was safe. IRIS had apparently left his jacket and hat in the hospital after they’d abducted him. But he still had his vest.

He glanced back at the door, listening. Nobody was coming. Or at least, nobody that he could hear. He quickly unbuttoned his vest and pulled it off. He held it by the collar and dangled it over the spiraling light. Slowly, he lowered it into the swirling glow caused by the cards. Lower... lower... lower... The cloth of the vest hit one of the cards, but the card’s orbit was unaffected. It just pushed past the vest. And when the other one followed, it pushed past too, knocking the vest to the side. Marvin pulled the vest out again, looking it over. Seemed no worse for wear.

That probably meant he could touch the cards himself, right? He still wasn’t sure, but he was running out of time. The guards would be coming at any moment. And these were his cards! He had to get them back!

He hesitated for one moment more, then reached out, intending to grab one—

The spiral of light flared, and he stumbled back. Suddenly, it was all he could see, taking up the entirety of his vision no matter where he turned his head. It was even there when he closed his eyes! “H-hey!” he shouted, reaching forward again to try and disrupt the card formation—maybe if he did that, this would stop—

And then the spiral was gone.

Marvin gasped, suddenly breathing heavily, eyes darting around the room. Nothing had changed in here. The room was empty except for the platform, and the cards continued to orbit around each other, that same pattern of light coming from them, completely undisturbed by Marvin’s interference.

...but that didn’t mean that everything was the same. He patted himself down, checking for any differences, but he felt alright. He listened for noise coming from elsewhere in the facility, but couldn’t hear anything. Well... even so, he probably shouldn’t risk touching the cards again. He would need to come back with something that could knock them out of their orbit. Why did he drop that gun he grabbed from the guard?! That could have come in handy! If not for this, then for eventually fending off the guards!

Well it was too late now. There wasn’t anything helpful in this room besides the cards. He had to leave and figure out something else before the guards cornered him in here. He turned and headed back to the door, starting to push it open—

It was locked.

Frowning, Marvin looked down at the door. There was a little switch under the handle. Next to it was a tiny LED screen with “Lock” displayed on it in red letters. He flipped the switch and the screen switched to reading “Open” in green. Then he tested the door again. It opened easily this time, and he poked his head out into the hallway—

Someone was there.

Marvin ducked his head back, but—the person wasn’t a guard. And they weren’t wearing a white coat. He quickly leaned back out to get a better look at them...

...

...what?

This is... impossible.

That figure... that’s him.

Marvin walked out into a hallway, but after only a few steps, the other version of him faded away, the color draining from his body as he became a mere warping in the air and then disappeared. That same warping effect that he’d seen from the person who stepped out of the room in the first place—

Then, suddenly, a handful of black-wearing guards appeared around him. They didn’t teleport over here in a flash or puff of smoke, he didn’t blink and hear a snap or other sound, they were just there. Not even looking at him! They were heading for the elevator. He gasped, and immediately all the guards swiveled towards him, unmistakable surprise on their faces. And then there was a yell from behind him. Marvin spun around, just in time to get tackled by another one of the guards—from inside the room! He cried out in surprise, which quickly turned to a cry of pain as the back of his head hit the floor.

“Clever, getting into there while it was locked,” one of the guards said. “But not as clever coming out while we were here. Did you think you could sneak past?”

“Sir, he wasn’t in the room at all!” said the guard pinning him.

“He wasn’t? Then where did he come from?”

“I don’t know sir! He just appeared!”

Marvin blinked away the pain and started to struggle, but two other guards rushed over and stopped him, holding his arms securely as they lifted him up, sandwiching him between their tight grips. The one who the other called ‘sir’ rushed over to stand directly in front of him. “How did you appear?” They demanded. “And how did you get into the room in the first place? You don’t have the card for the lock!”

“I-I don’—I don’ know, someone—someone walked out—” Marvin stammered.

“Who?!”

“I don’ know! It—It wasn’ really a person, it was—I don’ know.”

The guard’s eyes narrowed. “And how did you suddenly appear?”

“I don’ know!” Marvin repeated insistently. “T’me it looked like you all appeared out of thin air!”

The guards all exchanged glances. “Should we report this?” one of them asked.

“We’ll take him to the test room first,” the guard in charge said. “Tell the coats who come there.”

Test room?! Oh no. Oh no no no. He knew that nothing good would come of them showing up so soon after the assessment. Marvin tried to push the guards away, but they weren’t phased at all. They quickly began walking, and he soon lost his footing, ending up being dragged along the halls. 

They went through the double-doors back into the cell block area, and from there continued down a twisting pattern. Right, left, right, right—until they reached a section with pale blue walls. They then opened up another set of double doors, these ones on the side of the hall instead of at the end, and pulled him inside—

“Marvin!”

“Anti?!” Marvin’s eyes widened as he took in the room. The tables full of strange equipment—the mysterious item beneath a sheet—and Anti, strapped down to a chair. “Wh-what did they do to you?!”

“Nothing—yet. I think they were waiting for you.” Anti struggled against the leather straps. As the guards dragged Marvin closer, he could see red marks on Anti’s wrists where he’d been pulling at the restraints. He must have been doing that for a while.

“Are you okay?” Marvin asked.

“Yeah. As much as I fucking can be. You?”

“The same. But I t’ink somet’ing very strange jus’ happened to me...”

“What?!” Anti’s eyes narrowed. “What did they do to you?!”

“I don’ t’ink it was them, actually... or, uh... not... intentionally? It might’ve been a side effect of somet’ing else they were doin’.”

While they talked, one of the guards walked over to the corner of the room, and a section of the wall slid open. They reached inside and grabbed another chair with restraints, carrying it across the ground and putting it next to the one Anti was tied to. Marvin immediately knew that was meant for him. He tried to fight against the guards, but they were much stronger than him now that he didn’t have the element of surprise on his side. They easily forced him into the chair and strapped him down. 

Anti paused in his struggles, breathing heavily. Marvin couldn’t look at him directly, with his head restrained, but he could see him out of the corner of his eyes, slumping in the restraints. “Okay, we might not have much time,” Anti said. “Look, Jackie is here. He said that we’re probably on the surface level of one of their compounds, maybe a higher floor, but he’s not sure which compound.”

“I t’ink I heard you guys shoutin’ near my cell not too long ago,” Marvin said.

“Yes! W-we were moved there!” Anti tried to nod, but couldn’t quite manage it. “So we’re all in the same area. JJ and Schneep are somewhere else. H-have these guys done anything to you? Besides whatever just happened to you?”

“Um—one of them asked me some questions,” Marvin said. Another bit of the wall had slid open, and some people in white coats were coming out, starting to use the equipment on the tables. “Some sort of assessment t’ing.”

“The Dr. Hopkins Assessment?” Anti asked.

“Yes. They did t’at to you, too?”

“The last time I was here, yes. They did it twice, th-the second one fucked with my head s-somehow—” Anti took a deep, shuddering breath. “And what was the strange shit that just happened to you?”

“W-well, I tried to get away—”

“How far did you get?!” Anti asked urgently.

“Not too far. I went t’rough some doors at the end of the hall and found a white area with a lift and a bunch of metal doors. Then—I-I don’ know what happened, but one of the doors linin’ the hall opened up, and I went inside, and t’ere were two of my cards t’ere, floatin’ and glowing wit’ t’is strange spiral light t’at—I know I’ve seen before—a-and then I touched them and the spiral was in my eyes for a few seconds, a-and t’en I left the room and—and t’ere was myself out in the hall, but the other me disappeared and... and t’ese guards... appeared...” Marvin trailed off as he noticed something. Most of the people in white coats had stopped messing with the equipment and were now staring at him. Listening.

“That’s fucking weird,” Anti muttered. “I... I-I don’t know what that could’ve been. Sorry.”

“It’s alrigh’,” Marvin said softly. “I wouldn’ expect you to know.”

The people in white coats—scientists, or whatever—slowly returned their attention to their equipment.

“You think it could help us get out of here?” Anti whispered. “If you had your cards?”

“Def’nitely,” Marvin agreed.

Anti pulled at the restraints some more, wincing slightly. “I’m guessing that whatever you just saw isn’t a normal thing they do?”

“I don’ know. I’ve forgotten so much abou’ them. But... I know I’ve seen t’at spiral. And not jus’ in Jems’ crystal ball. I saw it before then. And I know it’s important.” Marvin sighed. “I jus’ don’ remember why.”

The machines on the tables began to hum. The scientists had tablets and clipboards with them, a variety of note-taking utensils. One of them gestured at a guard, who then walked over to the strange item on the central table and quickly pulled the sheet off before retreating. The scientists and other guards quickly backed away as well, all of them staying on the other side of the U made of tables.

The item on the table was a stone tablet, like something early civilizations used to keep records. It was propped up on some sort of plastic display thing, keeping it at a diagonal. There were some sort of carvings on its surface, but even when Marvin squinted at it, he couldn’t make out what they were. They weren’t sitting that far away... why couldn’t he understand what the carvings were?

“In five,” one of the scientists said. “Four...”

“Don’t worry, Marvin,” Anti whispered. 

“Three...”

“I’m right next to you.”

“Two...”

Marvin swallowed a lump in his throat. “T’ank you.”

“One... and go.”

The humming increased. Marvin tensed up, waiting for something to happen. He noticed Anti similarly tensing next to him. But... there was nothing. Nothing visible, at least. Marvin’s eyes darted around, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He didn’t like all the scientists looking at them. But he was more worried about whatever the fuck was going to happen to him.

When his head started to swim, he didn’t immediately think it was because of all this. He thought it was from the stress. But as the dizzy feeling increased, quickly growing, he realized that it wasn’t normal. “A-Anti...?” he whispered. “Are you... feelin’ strange?”

“Hmm? A bit, I guess.” Anti instinctively tried to shake his head before the motion was stopped by the restraint.

“A bit?” Marvin was feeling more than ‘a bit’ strange. The heavy, blurry feeling in his head was so intense that it was hard for his eyes to focus on anything. And it was beginning to spread. There was weakness in his limbs already, but the strange feeling was making it worse. He wanted to struggle against the bonds, but all he could do was sit there limply. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw movement in Anti’s direction. So this wasn’t hitting him as bad as it was his.

“Wh-what do you fucks want to get out of this?” Anti demanded, the tremble in his voice giving away his nervousness. “Is this fun for you? You sick fucking bastards?!”

The scientists didn’t respond, and Marvin couldn’t read their faces with his vision going all wonky. He didn’t know if they were phased by Anti’s shouting.

The dizziness was starting to bring tears to his eyes. It felt like there was a heavy metal ball rolling around his head, putting pressure on the inside. His throat was clogging up with something. Some sort of... mucus, maybe? It was affecting his breathing, making it sound wet.

“M-Marvin, talk to me, h-how are you doing?” Anti asked.

Marvin didn’t answer. He tried, but all that came out were disconnected, slurred sounds. He couldn’t concentrate enough to form something coherent.

“Marvin?! Marvin!” Anti tried to turn to look at him, fighting against the leather strap. He could see tears falling down Marvin’s face, but it was hard to concentrate on that sight. That is... until the tears turned red. “M-Marvin! You’re bleeding!”

“Blndnwhhh?” Marvin mumbled, eyelids half-closed.

Anti tugged at the restraints some more. He didn’t even care that he’d already rubbed his wrists raw trying to get away before Marvin showed up. If he could just get free—If he could just get Marvin free—If he could just cause enough of a scene to maybe knock that stupid tablet away from them—Because that tablet had to be what was doing this. It and its weird fucking carvings that kept slipping out of his mind. It had to be what was messing with his head, making everything dizzy.

And that feeling, combined with the blood coming from Marvin’s eyes... It’s not identical to what Distorter did, but it was similar enough to be worrying.

“What the fuck are you guys doing to us?!” Anti blinked, fighting the dizziness that was slowly filling his mind. He had to keep concentrating! He wouldn’t be dragged down ever again!

The scientists might as well have been statues for all the response they gave.

He wasn’t sure how long they sat there, tied down, feeling the effects of whatever this stone was. It was hard to keep track of time. His awareness kept fading in and out, but even when he wasn’t fully there he fought against the water drowning his thoughts. Marvin stopped responding after a while. Even though Anti kept calling to him. He wasn’t sure if Marvin was still awake... But he had to be okay. He had to be okay. If he wasn’t... if he wasn’t...

After what felt like forever, the humming of the instruments stopped, and the guards approached, unstrapping them from the chairs. Anti turned to look at Marvin fully. He wasn’t unconscious, but he was completely limp, eyes mostly-closed. One guard lifted him up and carried him out of the room. Two more grabbed Anti, pulling him along. He tried to struggle the whole time they dragged him down the hallway, but whatever that thing was really did a number on him.

But at least he noticed which cell they carried Marvin into. It was two doors down from his own. And Jackie was across from him. This was good to know.

They dumped him on the floor and locked the door behind him. He curled up, breathing slowly. Now that he was alone again, and probably would be alone for a while, he gave up on the fight and decided to just lie there for a while. Rest. Recover a bit.

They had to get out of here soon. If this was the sort of shit IRIS had planned for them, they had to escape before it wore them down.

[randomisocahedron]

Accident Investigation Report

(I originally posted this on Reddit.)

This is a translation of the original incident report from the Space Travel Safety Commission of the United Syndicate. Units, star names, and nomenclature have been localised. For a direct translation, see Addendum 1.

The Orolda was a hyperspace-capable passenger liner 205 metres from nose to bell with a cylindrical cross-section. The main body was 10 metres in diameter, with a gravity ring in the fore section with a diameter of 80 metres. She had a crew of 26, and carried 80 passengers. On October 18th, 12 A.C. at 0632 (Vienna time), she departed a station at 40 Eridani without incident. Her intended final destination was Delta Pavonis.

When traveling through the Gliese 1061 system, Junior Engineer Lurin, who had been kept on duty for nineteen hours due to his junior status, was ordered to refill the radiator coolant because of an earlier leak. The proper procedure was to open the valve separating the primary and auxiliary coolant reservoirs, and then actuate a series of valves to push coolant out of the backup reservoir and into the primary reservoir. Junior Engineer Lurin actuated the wrong set of valves, pushing coolant out of the primary reservoir and into the backup reservoir.

A sensor existed to monitor the pressure level of the primary reservoir, but the alarms were disabled when fluids were being transferred to avoid alarms triggering during nominal and routine activities.

As the coolant drained, the remaining coolant in the system increased in temperature. This caused damage to the cooling pipes and radiators. Roughly three minutes after the coolant began draining, a partially melted pipe began leaking superheated coolant inside the Orolda's fission reactor. The coolant pressure dropped sharply, and without coolant the reactor rapidly overheated. Three minutes and forty-one seconds after the coolant began draining, a rapid increase in temperature caused the reactor to automatically SCRAM. This prompted the ship to move to Alert Status Two. The computer roused Captain Uliz.

The SCRAM was not successfully completed. Why it failed is unknown, but the reactor's automatic SCRAM had not been tested in several years. Twenty seconds after the attempt, radiation detectors indicated an ongoing meltdown. This prompted Alert Status One, waking all crew and sending them to emergency stations. Due to the radiation hazard, the aft engineering spaces were evacuated, which included Junior Engineer Lurin, who did not close the valve as he left (and was not aware that he had done anything wrong).

Two minutes later, radiation detectors indicated that the core had collapsed and penetrated the interior reactor wall. The temperature was increasing rapidly, and the cooling system was operating well below its typical efficiency. Radiation sensors in the fore section indicated that radiation was still within acceptable levels, so Captain Uliz did not order a retreat to the radiation storm shelter, for fear this would hamper repair efforts and panic the passengers.

All crew were accounted for in the shielded fore section. Of the five in the aft section at the time of the incident, all were exposed to radiation exceeding the allowable yearly dose, one suffered light radiation sickness, and two suffered acute radiation sickness: Engineer Iraz was only two metres away from the reactor and began vomiting almost immediately. Chief Engineer Aralt, who was watching him from twelve metres away, carried him to safety but was exposed to a much larger dose in the process. Both were immediately placed in medical cryostasis and are currently undergoing nanotherapy; they are expected to recover.

Once all crew were accounted for, Captain Uliz instructed Engineer Yrenzl (The highest-ranking engineer with Chief Engineer Aralt in medical cryostasis) to send a drone to examine the reactor. Although the video signal was degraded by radiation, the drone 's cameras revealed that the outer casing was melting.

Upon confirmation of the reactor being effectively unrecoverable, First Officer Intri deployed the automated hyperspace distress buoy, as there were no United Syndicate ships in the system. It would reach the next system in thirty-eight days.

Twenty minutes after the meltdown, radiator efficiency had fallen to 60%, and damage alarms were continuing. Captain Uliz ordered a visual inspection of the radiators. Instead of their usual cherry-red, they were not glowing at all, indicating a complete system failure. Captain Uliz was unresponsive and emotional for several minutes, so First Officer Intri ordered a full diagnostic on the heat management systems.

Twenty-three minutes after the meltdown, with the diagnostic still ongoing, the Orolda received a message from the Sixteen Kilotons, a Terran mining ship 25 metres from nose to bell and 15 metres in diameter at the widest point, with a crew of six. She was eleven light-minutes away (and moving away from the Orolda quickly) and the only other vessel in the system: "We see radiation from your reactor consistent with an uncontrolled meltdown. We are now moving towards you at half a gee. How many souls are on board? Are there any other issues?"

Because of the tense relationship between Earth and the United Syndicate, the crew of the Orolda assumed that the Sixteen Kilotons was a pirate or privateer taking advantage of their situation. They grimly discussed whether to resist until Engineer Yrenzl announced that the diagnostics were completed. All of the coolant was gone from the system, and high heat had melted the valves in their current position. The figure of 60% was inflated, since the pipes themselves were acting as heatsinks. The radiators were effectively turned off, but more heat than ususal was coming from the reactor. The cabin temperature would begin increasing in 6 hours, and become incompatible with life in 8.

On hearing this, Captain Uliz, previously silent, ordered the crew to cooperate fully with the humans, and stated that he would accept all responsibility for the capture of the ship. "They are likely to hold us for ransom", he said, "but they are unlikely to kill us. The same is not true for the heat."

First Officer Intri responded to the Sixteen Kilotons as follows: "Our reactor has melted down and our radiators are shot. We have 8 hours before we all bake. We have 106 souls on board. We will cooperate fully and follow all instructions."

Fifty seconds after this message was received, the Sixteen Kilotons jettisoned her load of ice. Lightened, her acceleration increased to six gees. She thereby arrived at the Orolda in five hours, thirty minutes.

An hour before the Sixteen Kilotons arrived, the crew of the Orolda, following instructions from the Sixteen Kilotons, brought all passengers into the radiation storm shelter, sealed every hatch and bulkhead, and depressurized the mid-section. Once all this was confirmed to be done, the crew of the Sixteen Kilotons used their mining laser to cut the Orolda in half at the thinnest point of her midsection. Although the two ships' docking systems were not compatible, the crew of the Sixteen Kilotons was able to attach the ports to form an airtight seal using three hundred and fifty metres of fibre-reinforced plastic adhesive strips.

Once this connection was established, three crew-members from the Sixteen Kilotons entered with a large cooling device connected by flexible tubes to their ship's cooling system. Captain Uliz presented the ship's rifle to the Terran captain, and offered surrender. The translator records the Terran Captain's reply as "What the hell are you talking about?".

Once the cooling systems were established, the Sixteen Kilotons' reactor and radiators, which because of her duties were more powerful than the Orolda's own, were able to keep the crew at a comfortable temperature until the United Syndicate patrol ship Arteyna arrived and began ferrying passengers and crew to safety.

Recommendations

The common practice on merchant ships of severely overworking new crewmembers as a rite of passage must be curtailed.

It is advised that it be regulated that two crewmembers be present whenever liquids are being manually transferred within a ship.

Regulation should be enacted to require regular testing of a reactor's SCRAM functions, including in suboptimal conditions.

The feasibility of equipping all ships with military-style reactor jettison systems should be examined.

The uniquely human concept of a "Mayday" or "Distress call" in maritime, aviation, and orbital culture should be examined in detail.

Duct tape should be made mandatory on all ships.