#Marine Control Panels

[pandelta-com]

A Powerful Resource: An All-Inclusive Manual on Booster Pump Systems

Efficiency Enhancement through the Use of Booster Pump Systems

Booster Pump Systems are essential instruments for fluid dynamics and effective water management. It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of booster pump systems in various settings, including industrial applications, maritime environments, and leisure facilities such as swimming pools.

A Comprehensive Guide to Booster Pumps

Unheralded throughout its many uses, booster pump systems maintain a constant water pressure. The importance of the major components becomes clear when we examine them more closely:

Booster Pump: System Central

The booster pump is the engine that keeps the water flowing steadily through the pipes by pushing it against obstacles. The booster pump is the engine that drives water distribution systems, whether they are in tall buildings or in agricultural fields, to ensure effective irrigation.

A Lifeboat Battery Charger for Seafaring

The lifeboat battery charger is the show-stopper in underwater settings. In an emergency, this vital part keeps the lifeboat batteries charged to power the boat’s vital systems. The importance of the Lifeboat Battery Charger in ensuring the safety of mariners is highlighted by the fact that its dependability might have a fatal impact.

Control Panels for Marine Vessels: The Hub of Shipboard Operations

Shipboard Control Panels Revealed

Ships’ central nervous systems marine control panels oversee a wide range of operations critical to the ship’s navigation, security, and efficiency. These panels perfectly harmonize with Booster Pump Systems, coordinating a maritime symphony of activities.

Integrating Booster Pump Systems: A Seafaring Synergy

Marine Control Panels and Booster Pump Systems must work in perfect harmony for marine applications. Booster Pump System performance may be monitored and adjusted in real-time with the help of these panels, which optimizes efficiency and guarantees a pleasant sailing experience.

Marine Control Panels with a Lifeboat Battery Charger for Your Peace of Mind

The Marine Control Panel’s Lifeboat Battery Charger is crucial to keep life-saving machinery running. The readiness of lifeboats for deployment is ensured by a dependable charger, adding an essential safeguard for crew and passengers.

Creating a Havoc: Pool Control Panels

Immerse Yourself in Efficiency: Pool Control Panels

Regarding pools used for enjoyment, Swimming Pool Control Panels are the main attraction. Designed to make swimming fun and safe, these panels control the pool’s pumps, filtration, and other features.

Recreational Harmony: Optimizing Booster Pump Systems

Preserving pristine water quality and maximizing circulation efficiency may be achieved by optimizing booster pump systems using swimming pool control panels. Whether it’s a public or private pool, these panels are necessary for water temperature regulation and energy efficiency.

Conclusion

The most advanced devices for managing water resources are lifeboat battery chargers, control panels for ships, and panels for pools and spas. These systems guarantee uninterrupted water flow and are crucial in many areas of our lives, including industrial processes, marine safety, and recreational activities.

[aeliyamarineinsights]

The Kongsberg 603528 Alarm Control Panel is a very important component in marine automation, designed to monitor and alert operators to potential issues on board. This advanced panel provides real-time alerts for various ship systems, ensuring quick response to emergencies. Its user-friendly interface and robust design make it ideal for harsh marine environments. The Kongsberg 603528 enhances operational safety by offering reliable, accurate alarms, helping prevent costly damage and downtime. Easy to integrate with existing systems, it supports efficient vessel management. Choose the Kongsberg 603528 for dependable, top- quality alarm control in marine operations.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

"Luffy... help me..."

It's often been said about One Piece that you should "read it until Arlong Park," but it's one very specific MOMENT in Arlong Park that's important here. If this resonates with you, you're a One Piece fan, and if it doesn't, well, maybe it's not for you.

Let me tell you about it.

TRANSCRIPT:

Which are the best panels in One Piece?

It's often said in the One Piece community that you should stick with it until Arlong Park, and if you're not into One Piece by that point, THAT's when you know it's not a series for you.

I think this is true, and the reason why is this scene. This scene is how you know.

Nami has spent eight years working on her own, since she was a child of only ten, lying, deceiving, stealing, fighting and scamming, all to gather the money that Arlong wants so she can save her village. And now with the goal in sight, Arlong uses the Navy (all Marines are bastards) to steal her money so he can keep exploiting her.

The villagers she has been protecting have had enough, and are going to throw themselves at the fishmen and die, and the beloved friends she made on the Straw Hat Crew keep refusing to leave even though she KNOWS that Arlong will kill them. Her every ray of hope and all of her attempts at keeping control have failed and now, reduced to incoherent rage and sorrow, she sits in the dirt stabbing a dagger into the tattoo on her shoulder, because hurting herself is the only thing she can do to spite Arlong.

And then Luffy comes along and stops her.

She yells at him, throws dirt at him, rejects him, tells him to f*** off basically, and when he doesn't… because she has nothing else left, because there's no plan, because everything is falling down around her, she finally lets down her walls, and says what's in her heart. "Luffy… help me." (p 200, first panel)

And Luffy takes off his hat, his treasure, and gives it to her, and walks forward, and with his characteristic cartoony ridiculousness screams as loud he possibly can "OF COURSE I WILL."

Luffy doesn't know why she needs him. He doesn't know why she lied, why she stole the ship, he doesn't know about Belle-Mère or Nojiko or Nami's deal with Arlong. And he doesn't need to know, because she's his friend and she's his crew, and he loves her, she doesn't need a tragic backstory to deserve his help, she deserves it because she needs it, she deserves it because she asked.

Luffy knows that every time Nami tried to push him away, every time she told him to fuck off and leave her, her heart wasn't in it. Just like he'll know it with Robin, just like he'll know it with Sanji. And he knows that when she asks him for help, she has never meant anything more deeply in her life.

For that, he will move mountains. For that, he will level fortresses, he will smite gods and he will slay dragons. For love does Luffy do these things.

People hype up the moment when the crew get together and go to Arlong Park as the best moment of this chapter, and I'm not gonna say that it isn't awesome. Badass as hell, absolutely certified.

But… this chapter belongs to Nami, and her moment right here, because this is the moment that a girl who has fought so hard and so alone for so long finally finds the strength and the courage that it takes to trust someone else to lift your burdens.

[zeondraws]

Caz didn’t have time to think, he was covered in oil and had to get help, however he realises he wasn’t in his own body. Running to the bathroom he notices it’s Roper’s. He quickly makes his way up to Marine Control in utter panic.

"Argh...Where? There.."

He walks to his chair but falls down due to his vision distorting

"Shut up, please.. I'm checking"

Struggling to get up his chair he drags himself up, grabbing a cigarette

"....what, I... "

The readings on the panels are going crazy in front of him. He quickly realises how bad the situation is, trying to look around but his vision is extremely blurry. His stomach is starting to feel weird

"arghhh.. this is not good.. rrhhhhhggg. I'm gonna boke..."

Rennick bursts the door of the Control Room open, walking up to Roper. He's extremely confused what is up with the old man, he yells at him for answers.

"Do something you Ejit! Are ya ears no workin? I'M SPEAKIN TO YOU"

"SHUT IT, I CANNAE SEE ANYTHING"

Roper, being extremely irritated by Rennick, tries to snap back. But it gets harder with each breath he takes.

"Can. ye not... see the problem..? This. Thing-"

They argue back and forth, things get heated quickly. Rennick's ignorance doesn't stop, even after seeing his crew mutate on the deck.

"You gobshite shut it, do something before I kick ya USELSS ARSE into the ocean. Stap WHININ and concentrate!"

"YOU SHT IT....FF Ya LSI.TN TO MeE. WE..WLNT..BE..N TIS.. STU..ATN.."

It feels like his lungs are filling with blood, Roper can barely manage to speak at this point, his body starts to feel like he's on fire.

"What are ye on bout? Roper...? HEY, LOOK AT ME!"

The Installation Manager doesn't seem to notice what is happening, he walks closer to Roper who starts to cough up blood, grunting in agony.

"...Ro- Roper.. What is. Ey, look at me. What's goin on with yaa???"

He screams out in pain, grabbing his chest frantically, as if he's trying to remove something but is unable to. Roper can barely see Rennick at this point, who is starting to slowly back off but not leaving the room. It took a few seconds until Roper's torso explodes, the mass spreading around him, faces and arms start to form on his body.

He notices that Rennick was covered in blood. But he had so much adrenalin rushing through his body, that he couldn't utter a word at that moment. All he could hear was Rennick's voice taunting him inside his head.

Rennick tried to get the blood off his face, but decides to leave the room and heads over to the bathroom. Before heading over to his office again.

Moments later Caz‘s vision becomes blurry, before turning into black. Next time he opens his eyes, he finds himself surrounded by tall grass.

[liongoatsnake]

ESSAY: My Hearthome in ABZÛ

by Ocean Watcher from House of Chimeras (He/they) I was inspired to write this essay after attending the panel, "No Place Like Home: On Hearthomes" at Othercon 2024 Note: This won't be the official home of this essay. I'm planning on adding it to our system's website, The Chimeras Library sometime in the future either as a standalone essay or part of something bigger.

My Hearthome in ABZU

by Ocean Watcher from House of Chimeras Date Written: 15 August 2024 Approx. Word Count: ~2,180

Approx. Reading Time: ~17 minutes

“They say home is where the heart is, and for most people it consists of four walls and a welcome mat. For me, it’s the ocean.” ~ Bethany Hamilton, Soul Surfer. Directed by Sean McNamara. California: Sony Pictures Releasing, 2011.

Defining Hearthome

A hearthome is a location, whether real or otherwise, that an individual has a strong emotional connection toward to the point it feels like a “home,” typically despite never having lived or spent a significant amount of time there. The specifics on what qualifies as a hearthome within this general definition is largely up for personal interpretation.

The location in question can be as all-encompassing as a whole planet all the way down to something much, much smaller. The location could be a real place (whether that be one that still currently exists or a location that once existed but doesn’t anymore), a setting depicted in fictional media, or something else entirely. It can also be a specific easily named location or merely a general description of a place. Finally, the exact kind of emotional connection and feeling like “home” a location can elicit can range from a feeling of familiarity, of comfort and relaxation, safety, nostalgia, homesickness, and/or more. In short, within the definition of hearthome there are many possibilities on how the experience can exist.

The term used to describe someone who has a hearthome or the state of having a hearthome is sometimes called hearthic, though not everyone uses it. (So, for example someone might say “I have a hearthome in [insert place here]” rather than saying “I am [insert place here]hearthic.” Whether hearthic is used or not alongside the term hearthome is largely personal preference.

Describing ABZÛ

ABZÛ (also written as Abzû) is a video game initially released in 2016. The game fits within several genres including adventure, simulation, and art video game. It has no dialogue and so the story is told solely through visuals. The main draw of the game is the graphics put into the diverse ocean environments and the wide range of marine life that inhabits each area. Most of ABZÛ is home to animal species that can be found in today’s oceans; however, there are over a dozen or so species that appear in the game that went extinct a long time ago.

The gameplay itself consists of the player controlling an android diver exploring a large variety of ocean environments in a vast ocean and getting to see a myriad of marine life at every turn.

Knowing the backstory of what occurs isn’t needed, but for some context: Deep at the bottom of this ocean was a primordial source of infinite energy. Where the energy permeated from the ground life spontaneously came into being. An ancient civilization discovered they could collect and use it to create (marine) life whenever and wherever they wished. However, at some point, they created machines to automate the process. The creation of these machines caused a disruption of the natural flow of life as they took up so much energy they drained the vitality of the ocean away. The civilization disappeared, leaving their machines to continue to operate. The objective of the player-controlled robot diver, another creation of the ancient civilization, is to return the energy back to the ocean and put an end to the machines causing the destruction.

ABZÛ is overall a short game, with most players seeming to complete it within an hour and thirty minutes to two hours, on average.

Home is Where the Heart Is Indeed

So, my hearthome is ABZÛ.

To start, I want to put some context between the game ABZÛ and my hearthome ABZÛ. The environments in the game are striking and hold an emotional importance to an extent that I have labeled it as a hearthome; however, the ABZÛ that I think of in my mind’s eye and thoughts is not just an exact mirror of the game. That is because the ABZÛ I have conceptualized in my own mind is laid out like a normal(ish) ocean thanks to some noemata I have.

The noemata I have reads that all the “game-y” elements necessary for it to function as, well, a game, aren’t present in the idea of ABZÛ that makes up my hearthome. So, all the things necessary to keep a player in a defined area and on a specific path are absent. Further, all the different locations shown in the game would exist in a much more natural way. Plus, even more biodiversity would exist than shown in the game itself (as it is only populated with a little more than a few hundred different species whereas a more realistic ocean would have tens of thousands). Basically, the concept of ABZÛ in my mind looks and functions a lot more like a natural ocean (if a much, much more vibrant and filled with even more aquatic life, one).

I also have noemata that reads that while the old structures of the civilization still exist in a way like how they appear in the game, the inverted pyramid machines have long broken down and been reclaimed by the ocean and there are no unnatural dead zones. (So, I guess, one could say my hearthome is based off how things look at the end of the game.)

So, there is all that.

That is all well and good, but now I want to cover why exactly I distinguish ABZÛ as a hearthome; why I feel it warrants a special label of significance to me at all.

Not to state the obvious, but games are meant to be emotionally and/or mentally moving. They are meant to make a player feel something. ABZÛ is no different. It is meant to be a “pretty ocean” game, if you will. The environments in ABZÛ certainly reflect a more idealized and concentrated concept of ocean life (the magnitude of marine life at any particular point in the game itself being far more than an ecosystem could sustain). So, of course, the game is meant to be visually stunning and calming (save for a section in the game roughly 3/5ths in) in relation to the ocean, but my feelings for the game go deeper than what would be normally expected.  

It is true that much of the allure I have toward ABZÛ could be dismissed as merely as a natural consequence of my alterhumanity being so immersed in the ocean if not for the fact there are aspects of ABZÛ that draw out emotions and noemata that can’t be easily waved off in that manner. There are plenty of ocean-themed games and whatnot, yet it’s this specific one I have this connection toward. I have no idea why exactly I have a hearthome in this game specifically. I couldn’t tell you why. For whatever reason, its ABZÛ that resonates with me so strongly.

The biggest thing that stands out for me is the fact the area in the game that holds the most profound feelings of familiarity and belonging is the underwater city. At one point in the game, some underwater caves open into a vast underground space where a half-submerged city exists. (My view of things through some more noemata looks a lot more like an ancient city proper because, again, ABZÛ is a game so what exists is a lot more simplified and limited.) It is a city abandoned and in ruins and yet every surface is still covered in tile and brick of beautiful blue hues. Plants like trees, flowers, and vines populate the space above the water, lily pads and other floating plants pepper the water’s surface, and below sea plants like kelp, sea grass, and so much more cover much of the floor. Sunlight shines down from high above; my noemata filling in with the idea the city resides within a long extinct volcano rising above the ocean’s surface. Animals are everywhere both above and below the water. It’s this place I gravitate towards the most.  

But what exactly do I feel?

Something about it resonates with me. It is a place that feels like home to a part of me. Something about it feels deeply right and missed despite never having lived there nor do I feel like it is a place I am “from,” in any specific way. The feelings my hearthome draw out of me can mostly be best described as comfort, relief, safety, and rightness. There is something familiar about it, even upon my first playthrough. There is maybe even a tinge of nostalgia even though I strongly feel like there isn’t anything past-life-like at play as to why I have this hearthome. It just feels so familiar and comforting to me.

Starting out, my feelings also included what I can best describe as a yearning or longing to want to be there, even if only to visit. There was a desire to know a place like it with my own eyes as much as I knew it already in my heart somehow. So, there was a bit of almost homesickness there too. All these feelings are described in the past tense because of something that happened a bit after first playing the game.

Sometime after first playing ABZÛ, a sunken city with strong similarities to the one in the game was discovered in the ocean in our system’s innerworld. It is not a perfect exact copy, but it has all the same elements and looks how my hearthome appears through the lens of the noemata I have. I know I didn’t consciously will the location in our innerworld to come into existence, no one here can make such blatant conscious changes to our innerworld; however, I’m far less certain if my discovery of the game and the emotions it elicited didn’t cause the sunken city to appear in our innerworld as an involuntary reaction. (Not long after its appearance, several other areas in the game also found their way into the ocean of our system’s innerworld.) Since its appearance and discovery, I spend much of my time in these impacted areas, especially the sunken abandoned city. Since its appearance, the location has become a much beloved place to be, not just for me but also for many other aquatics in the system. The area is aesthetically pleasing and interesting to move around in. There is a lot of wildlife so hunting instincts can be indulged and so on. When not focused on fronting it is a nice place to exist in.

I’ve been aware of my emotional connection to the setting depicted in ABZÛ since July 2018 after playing it for the first time. Since buying it on Steam, I’ve logged many hours on it and have played through its entirety several times. However, I had not labeled my feelings towards this game as a hearthome until recently. Back then, I never questioned or analyzed my feelings surrounding the environments in the game. I knew it soothed something in me to play the game, going out to the sunken city in the innerworld for a while, or even just imagine myself swimming in one of my favorite areas, but I didn’t think about why exactly that was the case.

I didn’t make the connection between my experiences with ABZÛ to the term, hearthome until August of 2024. The moment of realization came while listening to the panel, “No Place Like Home: On Hearthomes” at Othercon 2024. Upon Rani, the panel’s host, describing the meaning of the term, I realized my feelings towards ABZÛ fit perfectly within the word. It wasn’t even a particularly jarring realization, and I am not sure how I had never made the connection before. Since that realization, I’ve come to label my feelings around the game, ABZÛ as my hearthome.

On the topic of alterhuman terms, I don’t use the term hearthic to refer to my state of having a hearthome at this time, solely because the word just doesn’t feel right when I try to use it in context. That could change, but for now, that is that.

I do consider my hearthome to be a part of my alterhumanity. My hearthome certainly fits neatly into my wider alterhumanity; ocean life and all that. That being said, I don’t think my hearthome has as strong of an impact on my daily experiences as other aspects do. My feelings around my hearthome are most often closer to something in the background more than anything. It is still there, and it is still important, it is just not as blatant and impactful in my daily life compared to something like my phantom body from my theriotypes. The fact parts of the game now exist in the innerworld and are prime locations for me to go after fronting to alleviate species dysphoria is perhaps the most blatant way my hearthome impacts my greater alterhumanity.

Bibliography

505 Games, ABZÛ. 505 Games, 2015, Microsoft Windows.

“Glossary,” Alt+H, https://alt-h.net/educate/glossary.php . Archived on 19 Apr 2020: https://web.archive.org/web/20200419100422/https://alt-h.net/educate/glossary.php

Lepidoptera Choir. “Hearthic” astrophellian on Tumblr. 9 April 2022. https://astrophellian.tumblr.com/post/681107250894503936/hearthic . Archived on 30 September 2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220930143533/https://astrophellian.tumblr.com/post/681107250894503936/hearthic

Rani. “No Place Like Home: On Hearthomes,” Othercon 2024, 11 August 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVF_R6v50Q

[rotworld]

24: Unwelcome Rescue

art by @exorbitantsqueakingnoises

recently discovered as an unsanctioned psyker, your harrowing journey aboard a black ship comes to a sudden end when the vessel is attacked by opportunistic chaos space marines. you survive a crash landing only to find yourself face to face with a sorcerer whose kindness seems too good to be true.

->warhammer 40k. original chaos space marine/reader. contains graphic descriptions of violence, gore, implied kidnapping, murder, gun violence, dehumanization.

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.

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First comes the whisper. A soothing, windblown hiss. It says nothing. Carries no words. But it’s a whisper, the softest rasp that stirs you from deep sleep. You’re in pain of a dull, throbbing kind, aching and tender like a full body bruise. The rusted stench of carnage lingers but the tomb-like staleness of the air is gone. You feel a gentle breeze on your skin. You smell damp salt. 

Is it over? you wonder. It must be over. The screaming has stopped. Your vision is blurry and your eyes are sore. It’s bright, too bright. Everything is just smears of shadow except for a perfect square of brightness. You blink blearily. Brightness. Light. A window? A door that’s open. You’re not in the void anymore. And the whisper—that’s water. Liquid lapping at the edges of something. You turn yourself over, hissing in pain. You struggle to sit up. 

There’s something out there. Someone? People, you think, and heaps of debris between them. The details shift into focus as your eyes adjust. Figures, large and imposing. Thickly armored silhouettes clutching strange weapons, faceless in their helmets. And one not like the others—armored but not armed with his face visible, loose, flowing garments around his waist and blowing at his back. The wind gently flutters through a cloak and wavy brown locks. He turns, his stern, severe expression thawing into surprise when he sees you. 

“You’re alive,” he says in soft, disbelieving awe. The things behind him all turn towards you in perfect unison and only then does your vision fully clear. No. That’s not debris at their feet. Those are bodies. Corpses so mangled that you barely recognized them. Some of the wounds make sense—twisted limbs, missing torsos, red, runny paste where a head should be—and some are incomprehensible. You can’t fathom what makes all the bones in the body turn outward like sickly thorns, or how a person melts into a puddle of quivering flesh and sodden organs without charring everything to ash. 

You scramble back from the door. You can’t stand up. You try and your knees give out, landing hard on a shoulder that screams in hot, pulsating agony. 

“Don’t be afraid,” you hear the man say. “I won’t harm you. I’ve been searching for survivors.” You can hear him hiking through the gritty, yellow terrain, the march of the armored figures following close behind.

“Don’t come any closer!” Your desperate shout is nothing but a hoarse, winded noise, your throat ragged and stinging. It was those things. You remember, even with all the screaming and flashing light and the violent shuddering of the ship all around you, steel lurching and groaning. There had been monsters, looming and faceless. There had been so much blood and so much death. 

The dragging, heavy trudge of armor stops. You hear the man take several more steps. “You must be terrified,” he says gently, his voice much closer than before. “I’ll stay right here. But please, come back to the door. I need to see the severity of your injuries.” 

“Why?” you croak. 

“Because I came here to save you.” 

You don’t believe him, but it makes you nervous to hear his voice and not know what he’s doing. Slowly, you drag yourself back to the open doorway. The door controls are sparking beside it, the glass of a cogitator panel cracked and dim. The enormous figures are frozen in place, perfectly still like the statues you first mistook them to be. The man is much closer, close enough to reach out and put his hand on the side of the ship. He slowly lowers himself when he sees you, sinking to one knee, and even then you have to look up slightly to meet his gaze. 

You’ve never seen such finery. His armor is cerulean with patterns of intricate gold while his robes are wine red, embroidered with strange, squiggling symbols in shimmering thread. He’s beautiful in a way that very few things were on your homeworld and it catches you off guard. 

“There you are,” he says gently. He studies you intently, brows furrowing in concern as he examines scratches, swelling and the way your arms shake trying to keep you upright off the floor. There are marks on your skin from restraints that were too tight, chafing and irritation around your wrists, ankles and neck. “Are you in pain?” 

Fearful, you don’t answer. You’re studying him, too, trying to make sense of him. He looks human but he’s so much bigger than you are. He could grab you if he wanted to, could drag you out of the ship and there wouldn’t be much you could do to stop him. So why doesn’t he?

“It’s alright,” he assures you. Your gaze keeps wandering to the line of figures standing guard behind him. “Do they frighten you? I can send them away if it would make you feel safer. But they won’t hurt you either. I’ve instructed them to protect you.” 

“But it was them. On the ship, it was…” You’re unsure even as you speak the words. You couldn’t see very well through the gloom and the sedative haze. Maybe it wasn’t them—the armor you remember was black, not blue. But they were the same hulking, faceless things, killing machines that did not flinch or falter.

The man shakes his head. “As much as I would’ve liked to be there, I’m of little use aboard a Black Ship. Those were my allies of circumstance. They had their own objectives, but we were in agreement that the vessel must be seized as quickly as possible and no harm should come to the psykers trapped aboard.” He frowns tightly, eyeing the dented and warped metal all around you. “Something clearly went wrong. I have yet to discern exactly what, but crashing the ship was not part of the plan.” He sees you shrinking back nervously and softens his expression, leaning back slightly to make you feel less cornered. “What’s your name?” He’s undeterred by your silence and nervous stare. “I’m Bataivah. You and I are alike, you know. We share special gifts.” 

He lifts his large, armored hand and light crackles around it, plasmic threads dancing through his fingers. Your pulse quickens and you look around nervously. It doesn’t matter that there’s no one here to see him do it, to report him or drag him away in chains. Your caution is a deeply-ingrained instinct and the only reason you grew to adulthood without anyone suspecting what you were capable of.

He looks wounded by your wariness. “Did anyone else survive the crash?” he asks. 

You look back, down the hallway and into darkness. There is a fire somewhere. You can faintly smell smoke. “I don’t know,” you say. “I don’t think so. In my cell block, at least, everyone else was already dead.” 

“How did they die?” 

You remember. You’ll remember for the rest of your life. The Black Ship quaked with another distant explosion. There were screams in the next hall. A naval officer’s boots stomped briskly down the narrow path between rows of cramped cells. There was a green glow in the dark; the hiss of a laspistol firing and the heavy thud of a body hitting the metal floor. He was praying. Whispering frantically to the Emperor, his angels and all of his saints. Deliver us from evil and preserve in us faith everlasting, came the trembling mutters under his breath. He took three steps and the laspistol fired again, another body slumping against the back wall of a cell. Three more steps and he did it again, and again, and again, and again…

“They knew you wanted us and they knew they couldn’t win,” you say. “So they tried to make sure you wouldn't get what you came for.”

Sorrow grips Bataivah. He squeezes his eyes shut and bows his head, whispering what might be a prayer of his own. When he looks at you again, it’s with even more awe and tenderness, like you’re something precious and treasured. “But you survived,” he says. “Of course you did. I can sense you, even now. You’re powerful. This ship could barely contain you.”

You shake your head. You don’t know what happened and you don’t want to talk about it. You were all so afraid and the wards were failing. There was a strange miasma that the monsters brought with them, something unseen that made your skin prickle with goosebumps and the air feel chilled. You don’t know which one of you ruptured first, terrified and overwhelmed by their own power, but it was like a chain reaction trickling through the cells. Raw, destructive energies surged. Reality chafed and buckled, pressed between the oppressive stability of the cell’s shielding wards and unfettered chaos. Something had to give.

You remember the telltale thrum in your bones of the warp drive engaging, someone’s final desperate maneuver to shake off the Black Ship’s pursuers, and then nothing but screams.

“Would you like to come out of there?” Bataivah asks. He offers his hand but pulls it back slightly when you flinch. “Those ships are built to disorient us and steal our strength. You might feel better out here.”

You look down at the ground he kneels on. It looks soft. It gives beneath his weight, shifting and moving around. “What is that?” you ask. 

He chuckles. “It’s sand. It won’t hurt you, either, I promise. And you won’t have to walk on it. I’d like to carry you, if you’ll let me. I think you should stay off your feet for a while.” 

“What do you want with me?” 

Bataivah’s smile wanes. You expect to see anger or frustration but instead there’s sadness in his eyes. “I want to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you won’t be hunted for your gifts but allowed to embrace them.” He gestures to the intricate stitching on his robes. Some of the symbols are like eyes or feathers. Some are too abstract to identify. “I come from a legion of scholars. Once, I was a mentor. My student was a mortal, so fearful and ashamed of her own gifts that she struggled to meet my eye. I would love nothing more than to do such things again. To guide and to shepherd.” His tone lightens into wistful reminiscence and his gaze becomes distant as he says this. 

“What happened to her?” you ask. 

“She was killed,” Bataivah says quietly. “Murdered in the witch hunt that destroyed my home.”

Neither of you speaks for a time. You hear the water again. You tufts of clouds pass slowly across the sky. Blue, you marvel. How strange for a sky to be blue and not charred, smoggy orange where it peeks through the black metal lattice of the hive. 

You push yourself upright, sitting instead of half-laying in front of him. Bataivah watches you patiently. You wonder how long he’s willing to sit there trying to coax you out. “What are you going to make me do?” you ask. 

“I won’t make you do anything,” he insists.

“I’m not naive. You said you want to teach me. You’re going to make me use my powers. For what?” 

He looks at you carefully, taking in your weariness and resignation. “That depends on you,” he says carefully. 

“On what I’m good at?” you press. “Or on how well I meet your expectations? And if I fail, what happens then?” 

“You won’t fail. You’ll make mistakes and I will correct you.”

“Will I have to fight?” 

He hesitates. You see him thinking. Deciding whether or not you would be better soothed by the truth or a lie, and how much he should say. If you would even believe what he tells you. “If you ever do,” he says, “you would fight beside me.” 

You look past him at the gentle golden slope of sand and the motionless figures. They haven’t moved once. They haven’t swayed or turned their heads or lowered their weapons. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?” you say. 

Bataivah smiles sadly. He offers his hand again. 

He’s gentle with you. You could be made of glass with how delicately he lifts you into his arms. It’s startling to be picked up so easily but there’s something reassuring about it, too. He’s warm, radiating body heat. The Black Ship stretches across the sand like a dying beast with smaller carrion scattered around it. And beyond it—

Your eyes widen. It’s the water you’ve been hearing. It stretches all the way to the horizon without stopping, spread as far as the eye can see. You’ve never seen so much at once, and never so blue. It’s like the sky’s twin. The wind churns ripples over the gentle waves that rush up and down the sand, swishing with bubbling foam as wisping and soft as the clouds. Bataivah follows your wide-eyed, awestruck gaze and rubs a hand between your shoulders. 

“What is that?” you ask.

He holds you tightly against his chest. “That’s an ocean,” he says. You feel like you could stare at it for hours. It sparkles. It rises up and curls and crashes back down again. It slides up into the sand with a hiss and and a spray of glimmering droplets and then swoops back down again. 

Bataivah walks up to the very edge of the bright sand where it turns warm gray and wet. He kneels down. When the water comes, it lifts his robes all around him. He lets you feel it. He watches silently as you work up the courage to stick your hand in, shoulders shaking with soft amusement when you cry out in surprise at how cold it is. He stays there much longer than he really has to, until your fingers have pruned and gone prickling-numb and his robes are heavy and dripping. He stays until you sag against him, finally succumbing to exhaustion. 

The next time you wake is aboard an unfamiliar ship. Not in a cramped cell and not in shackles, not beneath the unceasing glare of holy wards, but in a bed. In endless soft sheets with your head on a pillow far too big for you. You’re too tired to be afraid. There are voices muttering somewhere nearby. In a hallway? In an adjoined room? You turn over and find a strange object perched on the bedside table. It’s a striped, spike-covered thing, hard like bone and twisted into a spiral. There’s a large opening in the bottom yet nothing inside. 

But when you lift it to your ear, there it is—the whisper of the ocean.

[stevebattle]

S.A.M by "Bill" (1978). "S.A.M (Short for "Sentient, Autonomous Mechanism" or "Smart Ass Machine", depending on his (and my) mood on a given day, was one of my first real robot projects, started in 1978 when I was around 15. His "brain" was a single-board Z-80 computer (the big square object in the middle of his "back" in this picture), with many bits of TTL I/O, a couple of serial ports, a bunch of counter-timers, and several D/A & A/D channels. The base was taken from the book "How to Build a Computer Controlled Robot" by Todd Loofbourrow - I had built the robot in the book, and had used my KIM-1 to control it. Later, I decided that just a little platform was kind of boring, so I added the upper torso shown here. The torso (mounted on a "lazy-susan" turntable bearing) is rotated by a heavy-duty gear motor driving a chain and sprocket assembly from a bicycle. The base is powered by two of the (apparently no longer available, which is sad) all-metal rubber-tired "motorized wheel" assemblies that Herbach & Rademan used to sell, with a large rubber-tired caster in front. The head platform (mounted on a small "lazy-susan" bearing) was originally rotated by a surplus gearbox from a Mattel "Big Trak" with some rubber-tired wheels mounted on the output shafts. This arrangement was later replaced by a small gear-head motor driving a large gear mounted to the center of the turntable. The device in the head with the tubes sticking out the front is a directional light tracking device. Each tube has a CDS photocell at the bottom, and is painted flat black inside. A comparator circuit tells the computer which direction the brightest light is coming from. This device could also tilt up and down with a small gear-head motor, to track light sources vertically. Most of the circuitry was installed on small plug-boards from Radio Shack, mounted in a card rack below the CPU card. This rack could be tipped back 90 degrees to facilitate easier access for testing. In addition to motor driver circuits, there was a "Sweet Talker" speech synthesizer board so he could talk. Power came from a large "gel-cell" marine battery (for powering trolling motors on boats), which was slung near the ground in the center of the base. Two 6V lantern batteries (later replaced by a 12V motorcycle battery) provided separate power for the electronics. All motors were isolated from the electronics via relays and/or opto-isolators. After these pictures were taken, a set of metal panels was installed on the "facets" of the base, with lever switches behind them for collision sensing. A Polaroid sonar range-finder was also added later. If you check out the other photos of S.A.M., you will notice an "arm" sticking out the front. This was a prototype made from an old swing-arm desk lamp and some "fingers" from a robot hand design using brass tubing, bicycle chain, and 1/16" steel cable to allow natural bending of each finger. It was later replaced with a much heavier duty aluminum framework arm operated by two 12VDC linear actuators." – My Home Robot Projects, by Bill.

[mariacallous]

Four days, 10 witnesses, and dozens of exhibits in the US Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation hearing on the Titan submersible implosion have made public a flood of information about the doomed vessel’s design and operation. But one thing the hearings have not yet explained is why the submersible suddenly failed on a sightseeing trip to the Titanic in June 2023, nor who might shoulder the blame for the deaths of its five crew.

Here’s what we know going into the second and final week of hearings, and some key unanswered questions.

The Two Sides of Stockton Rush

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who died piloting the Titan, took the bulk of the blame during the hearing’s first two days. Tony Nissen, former director of engineering, characterized Rush as someone who made critical decisions based on speed and cost, changing his mind on a daily basis. Nissen said that Rush eventually fired him over his insistence on scrapping the Titan’s first carbon fiber hull on safety grounds.

David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations for OceanGate, then testified that Rush had once made piloting errors on the company’s first submersible during a dive to the wreck of the Andrea Doria, panicked, and threw its controller at Lochridge’s head. “He would blame everything on everyone else,” said Lochridge. “It was bullying.”

Lochridge said that several critical components had even been assembled using parts from a home improvement store at Rush’s direction. When Lochridge made a whistleblower complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration after being fired for raising multiple safety concerns, Rush retaliated by suing him and his wife for breach of contract and fraud.

Rush did have his defenders. Renata Rojas, who traveled on several OceanGate expeditions, called Rush “very fair” and flatly denied Lochridge’s account of the Andrea Doria confrontation. Fred Hagen, another paying passenger, lauded Rush as a brilliant man who made a conscious effort to maintain a culture of safety in a high-risk environment.

“It wasn’t supposed to be safe,” he told the panel. “It was supposed to be a thrilling adventure.”

Titan’s Unusual Design and Development

Nissen made a credible defense of his initial design for the Titan, but several witnesses testified that it skirted, or simply ignored, accepted construction practices for submersibles. OceanGate tested only one scale model of the innovative carbon fiber hull and, despite it failing early under high pressures, proceeded straight to building a full-scale hull. Dave Dyer, an engineer at the University of Washington, testified that his lab stopped providing engineering support to OceanGate in 2016 after disagreements that included the company’s insistence on using glass control spheres that Dyer feared could explode at depth “as though a bomb had gone off.” Those spheres housed control electronics for the Titan’s thrusters.

Instead of scanning the first hull to look for defects or specifying a finite lifetime of dives, OceanGate relied on an unproven acoustic monitoring system to provide an early warning of failure. Lochridge called the Titan “an abomination” and its carbon fiber hull “disgusting.” Both he and Nissen said that they would not have dived in it.

After they left, the Titan was rebuilt with a new hull that was never tested to industry norms nor certified by an independent third-party agency. Patrick Lahey, CEO of submersible maker Triton Submarines, said that certifying a novel hull was not only possible but essential for safety.

“We were developing and certifying the deepest diving sub in the world at the same time they were developing this amateurish contraption,” he testified. “There was absolutely no reason they couldn’t have got it certified.”

A History of Troubled Titanic Missions

OceanGate’s first missions to the Titanic in 2021 were beset with problems, including the Titan’s forward titanium dome falling off after a dive, worrying readings on the acoustic monitoring system, and a thruster failing at 3,500 meters’ depth. One Coast Guard evidence slide showed 70 equipment issues requiring correction from the season’s dives. Things improved slightly the following year, with only 48 recorded issues. But these included dead batteries extending a mission from around seven to 27 hours, and the sub itself being damaged on recovery.

One dive in 2022 ended with a mysterious loud bang and cracking noise upon surfacing. Antonella Wilby, an OceanGate engineering contractor, was so worried about this bang she considered alerting OceanGate’s board of directors. She testified that another employee warned her that she risked being sued if she did so. “Anyone should feel free to speak up about safety without fear of retribution, and that is not at all what I saw,” she said. “I was entirely dismissed.”

On the Titan’s penultimate dive in 2023, contractor Tym Catterson admitted to failing to carry out a safety check; the Titan was left listing at a 45-degree angle for an hour, piling up those on board.

Conflicting Views on the Carbon Fiber Hull

There was conflicting testimony on the safety of the Titan’s unique carbon fiber hull. Dyer pointed out that carbon fiber could be a good fit for deep submersibles, and Nissen was adamant that computer modeling and the acoustic monitoring warning system meant that it could be used indefinitely. Lochridge, Catterson, and former HR director Bonnie Carl were all far more skeptical about the hull’s design and implementation. But all three acknowledged that they were not engineers.

Next week’s appearances by Nissen’s successor, Phil Brooks, more submersible engineers, and a carbon fiber expert from Boeing should address many of these questions. In particular, testimony next Wednesday from an engineer at the National Transportation Safety Board’s Materials Laboratory about the Titan’s wreckage may identify the physical cause of the implosion.

Where Was the Coast Guard?

At several points, investigators pointed out that the Titan should have been inspected by the US Coast Guard before carrying paying passengers. None of those questioned could say why it was not, despite OceanGate apparently contacting the Coast Guard on multiple occasions to provide notice of its underwater operations.

Lochridge also testified that OSHA had told him in 2018 that it had communicated his safety complaints to the Coast Guard. At least one of the five US Coast Guard witnesses being called next week is based in the Puget Sound, near OceanGate’s headquarters, and may be able to speak to this.

US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Lockwood, who joined OceanGate’s board in 2013, is not on the witness list. Lochridge and Carl testified that Lockwood’s role was to provide oversight and smooth interactions with the Coast Guard.

Missing Witnesses

Nor is Lockwood the only notable absentee from the witness box. Multiple witnesses this week testified to the key roles of OceanGate employees, including Wendy Rush, Scott Griffith, and Neil McCurdy, in making crucial business, regulatory, and operational decisions throughout OceanGate’s history and on the day of the accident. None are being called to testify. Nor have any of the hulls’ manufacturers been called. The Coast Guard has not provided a reason for this other than to deny that it is because those witnesses would have asserted their Fifth Amendment rights to refuse to answer questions.

[faytelumos]

Into the Black With a Matchstick, pt 3

I'm keeping this as the taglist, but feel free to DM/comment/Ask if you want to be added/removed.

Please, if you haven't read the first parts in awhile, check out the recap I have linked for your convenience. :3

@c00kieknight, @jxm-1up, @midnight--architect, @robinparravel, @thepotatoofnopes, @those-damn-snippets; @thelazywitchphotographer, @tildeathiwillwrite

first previous recap

cw: bad math

---

Whatever the fuck the newcomer with Admiral Paxie was, it was not helping Adina's already overtaxed brain.

It had been bad enough seeing that Paxie was so huge they could barely even fit into the ship. It was bad enough that Adina was in charge of probably all that was left of the human race, that she had no way of figuring out if these aliens were truly friendly or just acting like it, bad enough that she was starving and dehydrated and high and had the worst God-damned headache she had ever had in her life.

And now she had to let some six foot tall cave-dwelling-mantis-snake-vampire walk around in the ship. It was like this thing was specifically made to be as creepy as possible, and when it got down on all eights—

She had dropped the ship's remote helm tablet, almost on her foot, and she was still shaking from the heart attack the sudden noise had caused her.

When they got to the bridge, which was thankfully open enough to allow Adina and John to put some space between themselves and the aliens, Paxie pulled the nightmare fuel aside. Adina subtly let out a sigh of relief and busied herself at the control panel.

Frankly, she didn't know what she was looking at. This was John's job. But the drugs in her brain were starting to prove themselves a bad idea as her body's discomfort reared its ugly head, and she couldn't stop thinking. Four times during the walk from the dock she had considered waking up a Marine to protect her and John from these monsters. And that wasn't the mind of a diplomat. That wasn't the thought of a leader she could trust.

Just get through this. Get through this meeting, and then food, water, and real sleep.

The smaller Xoixe stepped up to the LCD screen with most of the interactive display on it. John sidled up, too, probably to make sure Adina didn't hurt anything. Good.

"I heard this ship carries its life-forms cryogenically?" the smaller Xoixe asked. Adina looked up, and as soon as she did, John gently moved her hands and started clicking away at the panel's keyboard.

"Uh, yes," Adina replied. Looking up into the suit made it slightly easier than looking into four eyes and a big, sharp-toothed mouth. Maybe they wouldn't have looked so intimidating if her head wasn't throbbing. "Yes, our crew was specifically picked for the task of determining the viability of another planet for colonization. But the human lifespan isn't long enough to make the trip at our curr — with the technology we had." Adina put a hand to her face, pretending to wipe the sweat on her forehead, seeking the cold relief of her own touch. 26 million years…. "We were only supposed to be space-borne for 150 years…."

"If you don't mind my inquiry," the smaller Xoixe said as John kept typing. Adina looked up. The large alien had sat back on their haunches and was carrying their own tablet, made of a sleek plastic-looking material. "Is it possible for me to acquire standard medical parameters for your species? I'm a xenomedic, but since this is our first encounter, I have nothing to go on."

Adina stared for a moment. A xenomedic. So they'd brought a doctor aboard on their landing party. A group of three, and they'd saved a seat for a doctor. Adina didn't even know what the nightmare's job was, but when she glanced over, she realized there were no weapons on anyone. The nightmare perhaps could have used their claws, but looking again, their limbs didn't seem strong enough to hold Adina or John down if they started throwing punches. Both Xoixes had their claws entirely covered in their suits, and there was no attempt to make the suits sharp on the outside.

So maybe they really were friendly. Or maybe they did a really good job at acting like it. There weren't many ways to tell. Did this species even lie? How inherit was lying for intelligent species? Did Earth animals lie? Yes, Koko the Gorilla had told a lie. Had she learned that from humans?

The Xoixe was staring at her.

"Okay," Adina rasped. "Follow me."

---

"Lieutenant Harrison?" Paxie asked once Captain Ramirez and Ensign Kime were gone. Sergeant Klte shifted behind them, out of view of the little alien. Harrison turned away from the console after a lengthy delay.

These creatures looked more and more like prey the longer Paxie studied them. All except for their forward eyes. It was uncanny. Harrison's eyes were bright and round outside of their black, circular pupil, and it made it all too clear that they were looking directly at Paxie.

"Yes… Admiral?" Harrison said. Paxie shook their head slightly to focus their thoughts.

"Would it be acceptable for Sergeant Klte to take a look around your ship? We're curious as to how your vessel has lasted for so long in open space."

Harrison… laughed again. It was loud and sharp, and they opened their mouth and bared their teeth to do it.

"If you figure that out, I'd like to know, too," Harrison said. Paxie quirked their jaw.

"How do you mean?" Klte moved behind them, too.

"Our ship was meant for a 150 year journey," Harrison explained, still baring their blunt teeth. "Even that was ambitious for our level of engineering." They turned to the console and began hitting buttons. They were small buttons compared to the Xoixe's controls, and they clicked and snapped as they pressed and navigated. "We've made unmanned — that is, autonomous and without organic passengers — bodies before. To go into space. But even those tend to give out after a few decades. A-a group of ten years."

Paxie stepped closer and looked down to the readout. It wasn't intelligible; their suit was only equipped with an audio and radiation translator. Harrison gestured to something with their flat, soft digits.

"The requirements on the system for self maintenance, self regulation, and self repair on top of the requirements for life support and cryogenic maintenance are, to put it lightly, a-fucking-lot." Paxie blinked at the unexpected candor. Klte shifted, too. "Compare that against the life expectancy of our alloys in open radiation, extreme heat and cold shifts, and micro-meteorites, and this thing would have been lucky to land us safely if our trip got extended to 300 years." They looked up again. Paxie tilted their head, mind reeling.

Surely they were misinterpreting what Harrison had said.

Surely there was no way that a species would strike out into the open universe without both FTL drives and shielding dampeners.

"You don't have a significant issue with micro-meteorites…?" Paxie asked, and even as they said it, they were afraid of the answer. "…Do you?"

Harrison was bearing their teeth again.

"Oh, it's one of our biggest engineering challenges."

Paxie stared. They couldn't help it. They didn't know what to say. They weren't even breathing for a moment.

"You must have left in a hurry," they rasped. Harrison laughed again.

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" they laughed, turning back to the console.

What did that even mean?!

Paxie was starting to feel light-headed. They wished they could take off their environment suit. Klte must have noticed their distress.

"Allow the Admiral and I a moment to converse," it hissed. Harrison flinched, then nodded, watching Klte. It gently pushed Paxie back towards the shuttle, turning off both of their translation protocols. "I'm concerned at this species' sense of self preservation," it said in the Xoixe language.

Paxie laughed, hissing the air sharply through their scaled lips. "Eme is concerned at how well they'd treat other kinds if they treat themselves so haphazardly."

"Exceptionally poorly."

Both of them laughed as they reached the pod. Paxie stepped inside where they could turn around back towards the ship.

"Take a breather, Admiral," Klte said. "I'll see what I can find out."

---

"Adina?" John called. Adina looked up; she was just coming back to the main control room now. The nightmare was still there, but it was down the hall, examining wiring bundles and the hull. How large was its forebrain? Was there a chance it could be tampering? "Adina."

Adina blinked and looked to John. He waved her over. She left the Xoixe's, Kime's, side to see him. He pointed to the numbers on the LCD screen.

"Can you double check me?" he whispered. She highly doubted it. She was a biologist; she knew how to clear her browser cookies and turn her phone off and on again. Anything technical on the ship was John's job now.

She looked, anyway. He was pointing at the ping count from Earth's homing beacon. It was around 800. She sagged to see that. The ping was supposed to communicate with The Solstice quarterly. So it must have stopped working after 200 years.

He pointed to the Most Recent Ping section.

19,406,771 years, 18 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes ago

Wait… what?

It should have been right around 26 million years ago.

"What?" she uttered, leaning in.

"That's wrong, right?"

"It should be…."

What could have done that? The ping system went off every three months. If it had run for… what, 5 million years? Then there should have been 20 million pings.

Why would Mission Control reduce the ping rate?

They wouldn't. Especially not after The Solstice failed to report a landing. Had something happened on Earth?

But, no, just like this ship couldn't last 26 million years, that pinger couldn't last 5 million. So what was happening?

"Wh…" Adina uttered, blinking. What was going on? What was causing this? Were both times just wrong? Was there a way to check? "Wha-what's the mission runtime?"

John stared at her for a moment before turning and hurriedly clicking away at the keyboard. She watched, and then she felt the nightmare get closer to watch, too. She stiffened her shoulders, but tried not to be too nervous-looking.

Hopefully, they couldn't tell. But she had just given Kime normal human biometric parameters….

"Holy shit, what," John whispered. Adina leaned forward.

Mission Elapsed Time:

60 years, 57 days, 1 hour, 43 minutes

"What?"

"One of these is wrong," John whispered. Adina looked up for Paxie and saw the nightmare watching her from the dark corridor. She flinched and gasped, slapping a hand over her heart, then turned to Kime.

"What are our coordinates?" she asked. "Do you have a star map we can see?"

Adina tried to calm down as Kime typed away on her tablet. One of these time ranges was wrong. But if it was the 26 million years (she desperately hoped 26 million years was wrong) then why had they gotten 200 years worth of pings? Maybe Mission Control was desperately trying to reestablish a connection? But 800 pings? That was a bit much.

Kime offered the tablet. Adina took it, and as soon as she did, the display somehow gave her an even worse headache. She blinked hard and moved the tablet away.

"Woah," she grunted, squeezing her eyes shut. John took it from her and grunted like he was straining to lift something.

"Shit," he swore, squinting at the tablet.

"Oh, no," Kime said, "you only have two eyes."

John huffed and offered the tablet back, then rubbed his eyes. Adina had her hands on her temples, trying not to squeeze her head too hard. The dizziness was back with reinforcements.

"How are we gonna do this?" she grunted.

"Do you have universal file translators?" John groaned. "Like the language? The audio?"

"We might, in a sense," Kime said slowly. "Let me make a call."

Adina nodded delicately so as not to jar her brain too hard. That seemed like a strangely cryptic response, but she couldn't think too hard right now.

As soon as they figured all of this out, she was going to sleep like the dead.

---

next

[partisan-by-default]

Every passing hour seems to bring a new poll showing former President Donald Trump ahead of incumbent Joe Biden, or Biden ahead of Trump. And with it, another round of BREAKING NEWS SCOOPING SCOOP alerts about the polls, plus a round of discussion on the news about whether those polls matter. 

For the audience, this constant barrage of non-news not only foments anxiety but disseminates misinformation. At a time when journalism claims to be locked in a vital fight against bad info from bad actors, the industry is reserving its greatest resources for a kind of story designed to  confuse us and tell us less, not more. 

Let’s take a recent CNN poll story, touting its own numbers that pit Trump and Biden against each other: 

Trump’s support in the poll among registered voters holds steady at 49% in a head-to-head matchup against Biden, the same as in CNN’s last national poll on the race in January, while Biden’s stands at 43%, not significantly different from January’s 45%. Looking back, 55% of all Americans now say they see Trump’s presidency as a success, while 44% see it as a failure. In a January 2021 poll taken just before Trump left office and days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, 55% considered his time as president a failure.

Panic-inducing! Maddening! Terrifying! More than half of Americans want to return to office a belligerent bigot who encouraged an armed uprising of fascists attacking the U.S. Capitol to overturn a legal election. More than half of Americans think banning Muslims from immigrating and militarizing the southern border and letting another pandemic rage is a-OK. Half the country is so thoroughly marinated in right-wing propaganda that they’d let an incompetent criminal sex predator run the country and control their children’s futures. 

But it’s irrelevant. Despite its angina-inducing headlines and the reams of reactions and reflections it induced when it was first published, the poll doesn’t matter, in part due to the fact that it was a national head-to-head Biden vs. Trump poll that drew from “a random national sample of 1,212 adults drawn from a probability-based panel, including 967 registered voters.” 

[fictionalafvsmybeloved]

The Better Scorpion

I haven't touched a CAD program in years, and it shows in my work. I'm not happy with the results, but short of spending weeks working on this, it's the best I'll get.

Here it is @frogblast-the-ventcore, my redesigned Scorpion.

The scale is off, the lines are jank, and I only have the side view; but it's here. Let me tell you what I changed.

It's now a Light Tank, not an MBT. Thew UNSC Marines seem to favor mobility over protection in all there other vehicles, so a lot was done to enhance that.

Size, she's much smaller now; 13 feet wide (less than half of the original), 10 feet tall, 25 feet long. Much easier to transport, via pelican or starship.

Crew (green zone), now 2 a driver and a gunner, both fully enclosed in the middle of the tank. Provided with thicker hatches (with an emergency backup release), advanced optics and sensors, and climate control.

Engine (Purple zone), 1000 hp unit in a slide out power pack design.

Weight, lowered to under 20 tons

Armor, similar to the M820 (they were able to shave off HALF the weight from the M808 to the M820 with out compromising on armor, they reduce it by 15 tons on a vehicle less the half the size here)

Main Gun (orange Zone), a 100mm Combustion Light Gas (CLG) gun, gasses in multiple self-sealing canisters with redundant blowout panels. Allows Sabot, Programmable Multi-Purpose (think XM 1147 AMP) and Rocket-propelled Guided rounds to be fired at vastly different velocities for increased effectiveness.

Ammo racks, Sabot held in internal carousel rack, RPG and PMP in rear turret racks with blowout panels

[theoperativeif]

A few of the newer marines retreated cautiously, while the rest aimed their rifles.

Scattered within the elevator were body parts; judging by the armor, they seemed to belong to some sort of commando team. Rather than the standard Imperial or Commonwealth hues, these figures were clad in a mix of black uniforms and armor, notably devoid of any insignia.

Entering the elevator, you led the way with the marines in tow. Another squad stayed with the shuttle, establishing a defensive ring.

Your eyes scanned the elevator's panel, noting its nearly one hundred buttons.

In breach events, personnel were trained to gather in fortified safe rooms. As your finger hovered over a button, the doors shut abruptly, and the elevator started its slow descent.

"What the—," a marine muttered, edging toward the door, but you restrained them.

Clearly, someone in the control room was orchestrating this descent. You observed intently as the elevator reached the lowest level.

The doors slid open to reveal an enveloping darkness, punctuated by distant, stirring sounds.

[anakliro]

— You never told me about your scars. Where did you get this one? And the one on the other palm… And on your chin. Are they related?

— Those are from the mess me and my brother got into back in the Milky Way. We were both Alliance then, young and green, not long since enlisted. There was a combat VI on Luna that supposedly went rogue. It was not responding to commands properly, the systems started activating and deactivating randomly, and all the communications with scientists were cut. We were close, so they sent us and three more experienced marines to investigate. And at that time, we didn't know the VI had already started killing people. We arrived at a nasty scene. Found corpses of several scientists listed at the facility. Some of them did survive, we made sure they were safe, but we had to press forward. We moved carefully, Toly and I were in the back. There was this dead silence, and the next second the senior marines took all the incoming damage. It was quick, brutal. The two marines were killed on the spot, and the third one managed to grab cover in time, but she was cornered by the combat bots. As a rookie I didn't know any better, so I rushed to a control panel to neutralize the bots from there, and when I did, I found myself with a force field against my back. Now I was trapped, and disabling the force field from a console somewhere wasn't an option. The VI knew we were here, and more enemies were inbound. We barely had time to think. So me and Toly came up with a plan to use our biotics on the force field while the lieutenant covered our backs. It all happened in milliseconds. The plan did work, if only it was bit too costly. We pushed ourselves to our limits, and biotics combined with thermal made the armor on our hands melt; metal and plastic mixed with burning flesh into an oozing, stinking mess. But we were so high on adrenaline that we didn't feel the stench or pain. And when the force field finally gave in, we were hit by a thermal shockwave. The helmets cracked, and we got one final pair of energy slaps on our faces. But we did made it out.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

The makeshift town of Slab City in the brutal Sonoran Desert might not be glamorous, but over 1,000 nomads call it home and live off-the-grid. 

Slab City, aka The Slabs, was born when the U.S. Marines abandoned Fort Dunlap, near the town of Niland. They dismantled the buildings but left the concrete slabs. Though California officially has control over the land, it’s too remote and inhospitable for it to care.

When employees from a chemical company near Niland found the slabs, they decided it was the perfect spot to make a temporary settlement close to their job.  The small trailers they brought were the beginning of the new community of Slab City.

Over the next few decades, people were drawn to the improvised city, too. To this day, the residents remain a motley collection of those with little income and people looking for a way to live off the grid.

In this forgotten place, there are no property taxes or utility bills, which makes it ideal for people trying to stretch their pensions or Social Security.

Slab City's population swells to over 4,000 during the winter months as people come down as far away as Canada to take advantage of the warmer weather and cheap living.

I’m impressed- they have a library.

When the summer heat rises to 120 degrees, most return home, leaving a smaller permanent population of about 150.

Becoming a resident of Slab City is an informal process. You simply show up, find a spot that no one else has claimed, and set up a trailer, shack, yurt, or truck.

The nearest public amenities – including drinkable water – are in Niland, a few miles away. Residents share a single communal shower fed by a nearby hot spring.

If you want electricity, you have to set up a collection of solar panels, generators, and batteries. Or you can hire "Solar Mike," who sells and installs solar panels out of his trailer

The community center, known as The Range, occasionally screens movie and TV. There's also an internet café that basically amounts to a tent with a wireless router inside. Some people are bored and some embrace the simple life.

Though police from Niland occasionally patrol the area and will respond to emergency calls, the community largely polices itself.

While drug use is common, residents say that it's usually confined to certain, well-known areas of the camp. The most common type of crime is theft but the community will shun people who are suspect. 

The entrance to East Jesus, an art installation, in Slab City.

Oddly, the remote community didn’t escape COVID and it was a hard sell for the state to try to vaccinate them.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/slab-city#24

[propenseverbosity]

"A Helping Hand" - WIP (Gale x Tav)

Another snippet from the longfic marinating in my drafts. This is how SJ and Gale met (Again)

[Gale's POV]

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The rune carved into the cliff face wasn't unlike the one they had already passed near the ruined temple, save for the dangerous-looking purple vortex threatening to suck in anyone who approached. Despite the warnings from her companions, Shoras decided to investigate. The others ventured on towards the dead goblins in the middle of the path in search of supplies, leaving Shoras to the mercy of her curiosity.

She reached out towards the vortex, feeling a sharp pain shoot through her fingertips as the malfunctioning magic retaliated with an electric shock. Anyone else might have left it alone, realizing that perhaps the sigil didn't want to be disturbed, but in their brief moment of connection, Shoras sensed the presence of a different kind of magic from within. Dangerous, volatile magic that didn't match the rune, or even the control panel on the Nautiloid.

Before she could determine where she'd sensed such magic before, an arm shot out from the center of the vortex. It couldn't have been a conjuration, not with a faded purple sleeve and a pale human hand, waving erratically as if reaching for something.

Someone was trapped inside the stone.

"A hand?" asked a disembodied voice, presumably the one attached to the rest of the arm.

"Who are you?" Shoras asked, taking a cautious step back.

"Just your average traveler, stuck between realms." The voice replied, as the hand continued to grasp for purchase. 

After a quick examination of the rune, Shoras took a moment to attune her magic to it, pleading with it to calm down. The portal began to expand, allowing the hand to reach further towards her.

"Yes! That's it! Whatever you're doing is working wonders! Now, a quick little pull should do the trick." His voice almost sounded... familiar. Where had she heard it before?

Taking the hand in both of hers, Shoras dug her heels into the dirt as she pulled with all her might, hoping it would be enough to free the stranger. To her surprise, her limited strength was enough.

The rest of the human (thankfully, still attached to the arm) flew out through the portal, landing ungracefully in the dirt. Shoras stumbled backwards to land beside him, watching as the vortex shrank into obscurity, leaving behind a simple teleportation rune.

Once they managed to pick themselves up and dust themselves off, Shoras got a better look at the human she’d saved. Shoulder-length brown hair with eyes to match, a short beard, and purple wizard robes.

The beard was new, but Shoras couldn’t shake the feeling she’d seen him somewhere before.

The wizard grabbed her hand for a firm handshake, catching her even further off guard.

“Hello, I’m Gale, of Waterdeep. Apologies, I’m usually better at this.”

Of course. It had to be him.

The infamous ‘Wizard of Waterdeep’ was well-known within the arcane community of Baldur's Gate. Back when Shoras worked in Sorcerer's Sundries, she occasionally made small talk while he waited for appointments with other mages, and even sold him a scroll or two. She often heard grapevine rumors about the accolades of Mystra’s former chosen, but she never heard what became of him after he was banished from Elysium.

“No need to apologize.” She instinctively replied. “Are you alright?”

“A bit shocked. But, friend, it’s a relief and a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He grinned. “Say, but I know you… don’t I?”

Shoras blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected the wizard would remember their limited interactions in the magic shop.

“I suppose you do. It's good to see you again.”

“Well, in a manner of speaking. You were on the Nautiloid as well.”

Or perhaps he didn’t.

“Oh… Uh, yes. I was.” she replied. “I take it that means you also ended up with a worm in your eye?”

It was more of a rhetorical question as her tadpole began to writhe. Somehow she knew he’d been infected as well.

“Indeed. You don’t happen to be a cleric by any chance, do you?" he asked. "We are going to need a healer, and soon. If my math is correct, we have approximately 7 days to find a cure.”

How far they’d fallen. Respected members of the arcane community, reduced to nothing more than hosts for mind flayer tadpoles.

“Unfortunately, I’m not a cleric. But I’m also not alone. There are other survivors from the crash, just up ahead. You’re welcome to join us."

“Ah, wonderful!” he exclaimed. “A parasite shared is a parasite... halved. Or... something to that effect.” he trailed off. “Shall we?”

“Sure.” Shoras chuckled quietly at his rather amusing turn of phrase. “The others are this way.”

The wizard fell into step alongside her as she guided him towards their growing company of adventurers.

“I didn’t catch your name.” he said, almost in the form of a question.

She hoped he wouldn’t catch the hesitation before her reply. Their reputations in Baldur’s Gate were nowhere near the same level of renown, but there was a chance he’d learned of her recent exploits, and subsequent banishment from the community.

“SJ.” she lied, refusing to make eye contact as she made a mental note once again.

“Well met.” he nodded, cordially.

“And you, Gale of Waterdeep.”

“Please, just ‘Gale’ will suffice.” he smiled.

“Gale it is, then.”

“I don’t suppose you know of any wizards in this troupe?” he asked. “There is a matter I’d like to seek advice on.”

“Couple of bards, a cleric, and a druid from a grove nearby. I’m the closest thing we have to a wizard so far, but if we all survived, there have to be others. Why? What do you need?”

“Oh, nothing you need concern yourself with. You’re right, there must be other survivors versed in magic…” he said, casually.

“What exactly is it that you need advice on? I am a sorcerer. There’s as much magic in me as there is in you.”

The wizard didn’t seem inclined to agree. “One might as well compare apples to oranges where the Weave is concerned.” he chuckled, lightly. “You’ve an innate connection to it, of course, but where you merely call upon the Weave, I’ve spent decades learning to compose it.” he added, with a flick of his wrist. 

“That’s a bit of an unfair assumption, don’t you think?” She replied, in a more defensive tone than she intended.

“Oh, I do apologize.” 

Somehow, she doubted the sincerity of his apology.

“Are you studied in magic?” he asked.

“I mean… a little?” Shame burned in her cheeks as he called her bluff. “I’ve been trying to study more, I’ve just been… preoccupied, as of late. You of all people should know what that’s like.”

[onim5]

Portgas D. Ace x crazy scientist reader

I fixed the text a little, so know it's better👍

The gender of the reader is never mentioned and it's written with them/they.             .:.:.

(English isn't my first language so if the text is super weird, blame that!!!)

Honestly, Y/n isn't that crazy, just a little bit weird. 

Warnings: Kiss, dead Ace, Alive Ace?, a little angst, reader being a real creep (but only under some sentences), this is long! 

N/n = Nickname, but now it's the villain name you come up with, for yourself. 

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To begin with, who are you?

_____________________

During the battle of Marineford, prisoners from Impel Down escaped from level six, after Blackbeard had paid a visit. One of the prisoners was the infamous N/n. No one knew much about them except they ended up there for attacking Admiral Akainu. Akainu had personally requested that they end up in level 6 even though they didn't have a bounty. The only thing that made them so famous was the fact the navy had failed to kill them.

_____________________

You walked out of Impel Down without a problem, and when you came out on the bridge, a submarine rose from the water. Smiling, you walked onboard.  Holding two little bottles filled with Magellan's red and purple poison that you had gotten from the floor. A prisoner tried sneaking onboard only for a gun to shoot him, that sat at the entrance. The submarine went down under the sea and when it was at the very bottom small legs that were inbuilt came out and grabbed the sea floor crawling out of the world government's territory avoiding all the dangerous waves and gates. It also let out sounds that kept sea beasts away.

"Virus! Pull up the cameras at Marineford. I heard it be a war there." You ordered the AI you programmed named Virus. A code lock was hidden behind a panel, pressing the code a refrigerator with various substances showed. Leaving Magellan's poison, you closed it and walked to the control room. A huge screen showed different locations of Marineford. You settled down in your royal-like chair. "Virus, give me popcorn and send the 0.6.78 out in the mini-sub. "Of course, N/n." Answer Virus, after a minute, a tiny submarine set out traveling at extreme speed.

"Virus document all the information you find out." You order while munching on popcorn. Why is everyone risking their lives for him?

"N/n, the 0.6.78 has arrived at Marineford." "Good, release them." The 0.6.78 are small drones that scan stuff. They're designed like black balls with a camera in the middle. The 0.6.78 started scanning and measuring energy waves, people's bodies, and of course marine fords locks and mechanics.

You put a finger in the eye to get out your contact lens It was a little computer so you could work from your cell in impel down. "Virus, can you charge my contact it has lost so much battery that it could only last four months more." A little robot arm stretched out of the wall and took your contact.

"Wait . . . . . Akainu shit is there! Damn, moron!" "May I ask why your opinion of him is so low when you attacked him?" Virus asked in her robotic voice. She asked questions often to update her programming. "I indeed attacked him to get into impel down, but he's annoying as f#ck! He's so-called justice is so wrong, I wanna puke!" "I see, N/n how was it in impel down?" Virus asked.

"Well, thanks to my modified body, I didn't get hungry, and the torture was worth it for the poison samples. Oh, you see the guy on the execution platform?" You asked Virus. "Yes, what about him?" "I could see him from my cell. And it's thanks to his brother Magellan used his forbidden red poison. Isn't it great? I waited for two years for him to use it."

"Yay, go . . . . Virus, what's his name?" "The spy cameras have caught his name to be Monkey D. Luffy. Here's all the information I could find about him." A document with facts about Luffy showed up. There was stuff like Age, places he's been, bounty, crew members, and family. The document loaded up, and a scan of his body came, so knew information about his structure, temperature, devil fruit, blood, size of organs, and just useful information.

"I forgot how much information I get from my information devices. I'm such a stalker." You mumbled sucking on a popcorn. "Oi, Virus, I'm not gonna memorize this. I can barely remember what I eat for dinner."

Time skip

"Virus, send five of the 0.6.78 after Red hair Shanks and the Whitebeard pirates." "Of course, N/n. Why, though? You already have the power measurements of people like Mihawk." Virus asked. "Oh, I have gotten a theory that might work! And if I manage, not even Doctor Vegapunk will be able to compete with me." You laughed a little and stood up, walking to your desk. "But, I need a dead body. And whose body is going to piss off Akainu the most?"

"It depends on what you're planning on doing. If it is something good in Akainu's eyes, then it might be best to try and take another admiral. But if it's something bad, then I believe Portgas D. Ace's body would fit perfectly."

"Portgas D. Ace will do. Virus, make sure you know where they bury him so we can pick him up!" You yell in an excited tone. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Show Ace's body files on my desk computer." The screen immediately showed all the information about him on the screen. Mumbling, you began working on a design for a tank.

"Virus, the pink virus-like creatures we found deep down in the ocean. I need you to send out a submarine and collect as many as possible from the deep sea grave near water seven. Collect them in a fish tank filled with 3.2.35, in theory, should they be able to live in that liquid.

Two weeks later

"Why in actual hell did it take so long for everyone to leave Whitebeard's and Ace's graves alone?!" You yell as you keep munching on a piece of bread. The pirates had left the island, and once it was completely safe, your submarine rose from the water. Walking out, you had two robots behind you that were equipped for digging.

Once you got there, you scanned the ground and then let the robots work. First, they sawed a perfect rectangle, both some decimeters deep and were hit, had been connected. Then they slowly lifted the first lair of ground. They dug more and reached after a while the coffin.

They lifted the coffin in the same way and then returned with it to the submarine. After a while, the robots came back with huge sacks of dirt to replace the area where the coffin was.

You observed their work until the end as they had refilled the grave and covered it up. Looking at the scan and then the grave were the traces none. You went up to Ace knife and hat and scanned them, so you could recreate them later. "Alright, we're leaving." You ordered as you and the robots walked back to your sub.

"Virus, set the submarine's coordinates for my HQ." You said as you settled down in your chair.

The sub traveled deep down at an incredible speed and after four hours you saw the beautiful mountain wall. It opened, and your sub drove in. After going in a tunnel for 3 minutes it rose at a port.

The two robots carried Ace's coffin, and you walked before them like the boss you are. "Welcome back N/n, to the N/n headquarters." Virus said as the cave lit up. "Virus, I appreciate your welcome. After all, I haven't been here for two years." You answered as you walked into the glass elevator. "Take me to my lab." You ordered. The elevator started to go down, and through the glass, you saw robots controlled by Virus work.

They constructed big and small cylinder-shaped objects that later on would be placed on the ocean floor. Smiling, you watched them put 2.6.56 in a box that would soon travel in one of your submarines that also were controlled by Virus, and later on build up a little more of your sea map.

Sector 1

Sector 2

Sector 3

Sector 4

Sector 5

The elevator stopped, and you and the robots walked out into your lab. They placed the coffin on a counter and opened it. Putting on gloves, you started to touch him a little. "Virus, send one of the robots back to my sub to get my poison samples." You said as you felt your body growing warm, especially your cheeks.

"Virus the tank I designed for him. I want you to prepare it and fill it up with 3.2.35 and make sure the pink virus, like things, ends up in it." You ordered. "Take Ace's body and clean it up it be bad for the pink virus-like things that I know name, Pixie 3, to come in contact with all this dirt and trash."

Another robot that wasn't equipped for digging came down together with the digging robot holding the poison samples. "Put them in the fridge together with all the other poisons I collected, and then you and the other one can return to your bunkers." The robot took Ace's body and carried it to a washroom that was specially designed for cleaning.

You settled down in your chair and watched the tank you designed for Ace fill up. Picking up your iPad, you looked at the scan of Ace's wound and another file of an energy source you were tracking. The elevator door opened, and as you turned around you saw . . . . .

"Give him clothes!!! I don't wanna be in the same room as a naked man!!!" You yelled as you ran into a corner and crouched down, holding your face.

"I understand. But the only clothes available are yours. But if it makes you more comfortable I can make new clothes for him in your clothes factory. " Virus asked. "Make new clothes for him." You practically yelled. Ah, I saw it, I saw it . . . . The thought and image stayed placed in your head. After like a minute, you calmed down and turned around only to see him lying on the counter!!!

You quickly turned around and then got hit by the realization. "Don't let his body be too much in oxygen, it could mold!!!" Running to his body, you quickly pushed him into the coffin and closed it, then returned to your state at the corner.

Time skip

You watched as the robot arms placed Ace in the green liquid you created, called 3.2.35, and connected his body to various hoses and threads.

"It's gonna take long for the Pixie 3 to duplicate all his cells and fix his wounds." You mumbled as you looked at the man. He was pale and didn't look very well at all. "Virus, give vitamin D to the Pixie threes and then let them give his body the nutrients it needs.

Days passed, and Ace's body started to heal and look better. You told yourself that the reason you chose not to use metallic parts was to not do a half-assed job. Which is why you decided to make him stronger. . .

Time skip again

It had been two months since the project of fixing Ace had begun. His wounds were completely fixed without any ugly stitches, and his condition looked great. The body had begun working on its own, eight days ago, but had still needed some help from the Pixie threes.

Ace

Slowly blurred light shined as he regained his sight. He felt weird as his brain began to process his surroundings, it seemed to be different kinds of inventions and mechanics that surrounded him. He slowly moved his hand before him and saw a metal glove connected to various threads.

What's going on!? Where am I?! Where's Luffy and Pops and the rest!? What is this!? In his panic attack, he began punching the glass that trapped him.

You sat in your dining hall eating lunch in sector 4 and were just enjoying yourself when . . . . . An alarm sounded through your base. Leaving everything you began running to the elevator to get to Sector 5. "Ace tank has taken damage!!! Virus, tell me how it's happening?!!" You yelled as the elevator went down a floor.

"Ace has woken up and is trying to destroy the tank to get out." Virus answered in her calm robotic voice. "WHAT, I THOUGHT HE WOULD WAKE UP AROUND NEXT WEEK!!!!!" You screamed as you ran into the lab.

You slowed down as you neared Ace. Holding up your hands, you tried to show you meant no harm.

Ace looked at you and calmed down just a little. "Virus, empty the tank and transport the Pixie threes to another one in sector 3." You said. Immediately, the 3.2.35, started to flow away together with the Pixie 3 at the bottom of the tank.

Realizing the green liquid started to disappear, Ace calmed down more. But what is going on? A pipe-like thing connected to the top and opened the tank, leaving Ace standing.

"I'm going to remove your air mask, alright." You said as you stepped closer, putting your hands on the mask and pulling off the metal gloves.

"Where, where am I?" Pressed Ace out. His voice was weak, it's like he hadn't used it for years or something. Backing away a little, you fiddled with your fingers. "Well, you're in my lab, and I'm N/n." You answered, then you went up to him again, grabbed him, and began to examine his body.

Ace was just about to ask what you were doing when you hugged him. "I AM AT THE TOP. THE BEST. IT'S ME N/n!!!" You cheered as you began jumping around. You smiled and looked Ace over again.

Mumbling a little, you asked, "Do you remember anything?" Ace's face wrinkled a little, but then his eyes widened, and a heavy feeling came to him like a cannonball he hadn't dodged. "Why am I alive?" He asked as he held up his hands, staring at them.

"Yes! You remember, if you didn't, I would have failed. What luck, right!" You cheered. Ace looked at you, then his hands, and then at you again. "What. . did you do to me?" He tried screaming, but his voice cracked. He launched to attack, but two robot arms took hold of him.

Yelping, you jumped back and watched as Virus added four more arms to hold him. He didn't look mad more desperate. "Eh, he, he, he." You began as you stood up again, brushing off your clothes. "Sorry, if it's not what you wanted, but it's not like I could ask you about your opinion." You commented, still smiling. I wouldn't have asked though.

"If you calm down, we can go eat. You must be starving for some taste." You said trying your best to sound reassuring. "Oh, Virus get Ace some tablets for his voice." After a while, Ace began to listen to his belly and calmed down. "I calmed down now." He mumbled, feeling the metallic hands leave his body. He was just gonna follow you when another robot hand came down before him, tensing up he was just getting ready for self-protection when the fist opened showing tablets. "Oh, thanks." He mumbled taking it and then swallowing them.

He felt how they melted a bit and it was like he got poisoned as his throat began burning. Then it stopped, just like that. "Uh, hi." He said seeing as the pills worked. He kept on following you and walked into the glass thing you stood in. Then the elevator rose to sector 4. "Do you have, any other clothes?" He asked looking down on the ones he was wearing. "Right, Virus, get Ace his old clothes and a shirt." You ordered.

The elevator stopped and Ace followed you into a dining hall with two chairs one having an ugly sack with a drawn smile on it. "Ehhhhhhh, you can just move him." You said putting a hand on your neck feeling embarrassed. Ace picked it up and threw it away to the wall. "Are we in a castle?" He asked as he looked at the beautiful decorations a crystal lamps hanging from the ceiling.

"Nope, I just wanted my dining hall this way." You said as you began to poke your food with the fork. "A robot came in holding food for Ace and placed it down before him. He felt his stomach rumbling and began eating the food like a pig. "So do you know who I am?" You asked taking a bite of your food. Ace looked at you while munching on meat. "Were you perhaps in impel down?" He answered with another question. "yeah, we could see each other from our cells."

"Could you, explain." He asks looking at you in the eyes. You began telling him how you had watched the war through a screen and how you wanted to try to bring someone back to life with help from the new virus-like creatures you discovered. And how they had duplicated his cells to fix his body.

"It sounds logical until the fact I'm alive comes. You can't just fix a body and then it wakes up again. It's impossible." Ace's comment, looking at you. "I was measuring energy attacks at the war with a thing called 0.6.78, whenever someone dies a small energy wave is released. Due to past experiences, I was already aware it was the person's soul leaving because of dying." You said feeling way more comfortable than before. "And during the war, I decided that to piss off Akainu the most, you be the best to revive back. So I tracked your soul and managed to capture it in a box-like thing called 0.7.41." You explained, being slightly annoyed he fell asleep two times during your explanation.

Ace wasn't thrilled with the explanation of him being alive. He held up his finger and tried using his fire. Because I died I don't have any devil fruit powers. And how does Luffy feel, I died in his arms. A robot walked in holding a pair of clothes. "Sir Ace, here's your clothes." Ace stood up and took his shorts, belt, hat, and ?" Do I need to wear a shirt?" Ace asked looking at the good-looking shirt. "Yes, I don't need a shirtless man to walk around here!" You answered fast, in a panic. "Right," Ace said frowning.

"N/n I have a question?" Virus said. "Yes, go on?" You said giving her permission. "Why are you uncomfortable having Sir Ace going around shirtless when you seen him naked?" Blushing you fell off your chair. And then rose and ran to a corner out of habit, hiding your face. "THAT WAS YOUR FAULT VIRUS!!!" You yelled in embarrassment. "I still don't see the problem, I have tried to find the answer on my own but, failed so could you explain?" Asked Virus.

"It's just a stupid nature thing humans have when it comes to this stuff." You mumbled, knowing Virus could hear and hopefully not Ace. "Do you mean you want a kid with him?" Asked Virus, that's when you froze in shock and fell from your crouched position in the corner. "Virus! I tell you later." You mumbled while crying with embarrassment.

"Is the idea of having a kid with me that bad?" Ace thought out loud, thinking of the blood in his veins. "You're considering it!!!" You yelled standing up and looking at him with a red face. Ace had been blushing due to you seeing him naked but now he realized what he said. His face turned beat red and you two looked at each other. "I put on the shirt. Mumbles Ace as he opens and then closes the door, walking in to change.

"Can you tell me know?" Asked Virus. "NO!!! another time." You said as you fell in the corner again.

Ace put on his clothes and felt like his old self, kinda at least. Then he put on the shirt. "Still me, just with a shirt." He mumbled. As he opened the door he found himself alone in the dining hall with the Virus robot. Oh, good. I don't know how I would have acted after that. Ace thought. "Sir Ace, I will show you to your room. N/n said they wouldn't be able to see you." The Virus thing said. "Yeah, that's understandable, and stop calling me Sir Ace. It's weird." Answered Ace "Sure thing Mr. Ace, now please follow me." responded Virus beginning to walk. Ace frowned at the Mr thing.

Virus took Ace to a room that you had designed for him. "Wow . . . . ." Was all Ace could say as he looked around. He lay down on the bed and began to think of his situation. "What am I supposed to do?" Asked Ace as he looked at his hands again. Is this fate? Do I deserve to live so much that god gave me another chance? Or is it simply by luck, or maybe I'm unlucky? Wait, this means the war was for nothing. . . . . What should I do know? Ace decided to spend the rest of the time thinking. After an hour of thinking, he stood up and walked to the mirror, taking off his shirt.

There were no signs of any injury, not even old ones. He looked around his body, wanting to find something that was just wrong, to prove to himself you were just a crazy scientist who managed to save him. Who sees him as nothing more than an experiment. When he saw his back, his eyes widened. Parts of his tattoo were gone his pride. A memory of Akainu flashed, and Ace began to mutter about the hateable admiral.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ace, but may I ask a question?" Virus asked. Ace flinched and looked around for any robots, but couldn't find any. "Where are you?" Ace asked still tense, he glared around and tried to see her but, failed. "I'm an AI, N/n has programmed me into every technical thing in their base. I'm in other words able to speak to you wherever and whenever." Virus answered. "Okay . . . . . What do you want?" Ace asked as he looked back in the mirror, not liking how almost everything from his whitebeard tattoo was gone. "Where you muttering about admiral Akainu?" Ace's expression changed. "What if I did?" He asked, going to one of the drawers in the room.

"N/n does not like him. Is it the same with you?" Virus asked. "Oh, well, he is the one who killed me," Ace answered. "If we went on with that logic, wouldn't that mean you're in love with N/n?" Virus commented on his logic. Ace started to blush and shoved his hands in his pockets. How do I answer that without making my point wrong?

"Maybe you should talk shit about Akainu with N/n.  It could be a great way to bond with them." Virus suggested. "Why, should I bond with them, like don't they see me as just another science project?" Ace asked while going through the drawers, finding a little fidget toy. "I can assure you N/n does not see you as just a science project. They are well aware you are another human being unlike me. I understand why you would assume that considering how bad they are at expressing themselves, but that is most likely because of how often they see other humans." Virus explained. "How often is N/n speaking with other people?" Ace asked as he slumped down in the bed holding the fidget toy."

"I hope N/n talked to someone while being in impel down, but if not I believe N/n hasn't spoken with anyone for seven years." Virus answered. If Ace had drunk something he would have spitted it out in less than milliseconds. "What?" Ace looked up to where Virus's voice came from. "Seven years . . . . ." Ace thought back to impel down. Had he seen you talking to someone? Thinking back he remembered you trying to talk to your prison mate, but he just said, 'Shut it or I kill you.'  

"I guess I can go and speak to them. Can you show me the way?" Ace asked. "Of course." Answered Virus and after a lot of directions Ace was taken to a garden. It was beautiful, decorated with all kinds of flowers and nature. As he followed the stone-patterned road he found you. You sat at a glass table building a puzzle. Your expression was boring.

"Uh, hi?" He called out to you. Looking up you saw Ace standing there. "Hey, do you need something?" You asked looking back at the puzzle. Picking up a piece. "Well, I was just bored and thought maybe I should talk to you. "Alright, I guess I need to tell you some stuff anyway." A robot came from the other side of the garden, carrying a chair for Ace. "Have you been communicating with Virus?" You asked as the chair was placed down for him. "Yeah, she suggested I speak to you, we have something in common." He said with a grin. "Oh yeah and what would that be?" You asked placing down the puzzle piece. "We both hate Akainu," Ace said happily taking a piece to help you. The conversation started quite slow but, got more comfortable after a while. It turned out that both of you had opinions on his battle tactics. 

"Oh, by the way, you said you had something to tell me?" Ace asked after like two hours of speaking ups and downs about the Navy. "Right . . . . . Um, when I revived you I modified your body." You said nervously. "Oh, that's cool," Ace answered still smiling well until the words you said clicked. "Wait what?" His expression changed to concern. "What, what did you do?" He asked as a feeling inside him grew heavy. "I gave you a modified cell, that I call Impo and another thing called Pixie threes. Impo should be in all of your cells, while Pixie threes just roam around your body." You mumbled fidgeting with a puzzle piece. "What does this pixie threes do?" Ace asked nervous starting to regret feeling bad about you not having any to socialize with. 

"Well, it makes it possible for you to regenerate. For example, observe." Holding up your finger you took a knife and cut it off. Ace's eyes widened as your finger grew back. It didn't take fast but it didn't do it slow either. "Wait, I can also do that?" Ace asked looking at the cut-off a finger on the table. "Yeah, but. . . ." Not being able to finish the sentence, Ace took the knife cutting his finger off.  He felt panic grow in him as his brain progressed you had tried to say something.

He watched as his finger grew back, it took like a second. "Wow, what was it you were going to say?" He asked confused since his finger came back. 

"I was just gonna say it should be better than mine." You answered his question. "Okay I guess this is cool and useful, oh, wait is it because of this you got known for being impossible to execute?" Ace asked as he kept staring at his newly grown finger. "Yup, it's thanks to virus-like creatures called Pixie threes. They duplicate cells. I have modified them to know the structure of their respective body, so in other words as long as you have at least one pixie 3 you be able to survive." You explained hoping Ace understood. "Alright, what about the Impo bacteria?" Ace asked. 

"The Impo bacteria store energy. I don't have it modified in my body so---- let's go to my training hall and see if it works like I hope." You said smiling. Grabbing Ace's hand you began to run with him out of the garden. As much as Ace did not like the fact you had played with his body, he disliked even more, the fact that your hand felt kinda nice in his. 

Going up with the elevator Ace stood there hiding his blush with his other hand covering the tint blush that grew the more he let his mind roll. You started talking about what he should be able to do in theory, but he didn't listen he was too distracted by you and his hand still holding. Oh, common, don't get a crush on someone who's so . . . . pretty. No weird! Shut up mind! They have invaded my privacy and, and, and done weird stuff with my body. There's no reason to forgive them. Even though I want to live now . . . . Ugh, think about your cursed blood! They don't want you as a partner!!! No one wants you like that!     

Ace felt that lump in his stomach, that had grown over the years. 'No one wants you like that.' Even though Ace had an amazing family and friends, he always had it hard when it came to the thought of a partner. Sure, many had wanted to date him. But they had no idea who his father was. 

"Oi! Are you even listening!!" You asked, you had dragged him to the training hall, that were more designed as an arena. Shaking his head he looked at you. "No, what did you say?" After muttering a little you began to explain, again, that he should be able to absorb energy and use it for himself in different kinds of ways, and how the Impo should be able to also change the type of energy. 

Time skip

Ace had spent some weeks with you. He had trained to use his new abilities. And got information about the Marineford war, after he died. He wanted to become stronger so that he could beat Blackbeard and avenge his father and fallen brothers. He had asked why you didn't revive Pops, and you simply explained he was old and planned on dying there and go out like the boss he was. You also explained that he went out like a man too soon, and should be grateful for his second chance. 

Ace had a problem though, a huge one. The problem is called N/n. Well, it was most likely the AI Virus fault. So what, was his problem? Well, it was extremely hard to see you as just another friend. In the beginning, also his first meal with you, Virus had asked a question that had led to an embarrassing moment. But that moment had made it hard for Ace to see you as a friend and not a lover. And the more time I spend with them I fall harder, dammit N/n! Maybe I should . . . .  maybe I shouldn't  . . . . I'm gonna do it!

Ace walked into sector 4 that was specially made to look like just another home. "Morning N/n." He said as he walked into the kitchen. You stood at the stove making some kind of breakfast. "Morning Ace." You answered smiling. Something that amused Ace was how much you had. Like your HQ had, just in sector 4 an inside garden, a castle section, a normal house (aka where you two were now.), and of course all the places you built to just have fun like a pool and a dance club. You had said it was for your free time and that Virus was technically the one who built it while you just designed it. 

Then, of course, sector 1 was more like a parking place for all the awesome traveling stuff you had built, different kinds of ships, submarines, and stuff you called cars and planes! Then sector 2 was a construction place, where you could easily produce clothes, machines, robots, and stuff for fun and probably had like endless possibilities. Sector 3 had fields powered by solar lamps and all the vegetables, berries, and fruits that tasted amazing. Sector 3 also had a farm with all kinds of animals for meat, but surprisingly a lot were endangered species you protected. Then there were of course the arena he had trained on. You built it for testing soldier robots and different kinds of weapons. 

When he had asked if you planned on taking over the world you said you just felt like trying to build it seeing how far you could go. Sector 5 had your incredible lab, the same place he had first woken up in. Though he wasn't allowed to be there. 

"Um, Ace you there?" You asked, finding it a little creepy how he got trapped in a thought while staring at you. Ace shook his head and then noticed all the food you placed on the table for him. One second later Ace was digging in the food, as if Luffy was there. And after a minute he fell in the food sleeping. 

Giggling, you went up to his sleeping form. "Virus, never tell Ace about this."  You said in a strict tone. Then you reached out and started to pet his soft hair. Then you couldn't help but go near him with your nose sniffing on him a little. He smelled so good like some sweet fruit or berry. Ace jerked up and found it a little creepy how close you had been the past times he'd woken up after falling asleep like this.

Ace was training, thinking about new attacks, you looked now and then, but for the most part, you drew on your tablet creating one of your new ideas. It's now or never Ace! Maybe I should do it tomorrow. No! You said that yesterday too! "Uh, N/n?" He called out, wandering up to you. "Yeah?" You looked at him and he got nervous. "So, um, uh, well I, eh, Maybe we could, like maybe I could, uh-um, what if we could go to this place, together?" Ace stuttered out. Stop sounding so stupid!!!

"Where do you wanna go?" You asked confused. "No, I wanna take you- to a place." He answered quickly though he still wanted to slap himself in the face. You just looked at him in confusion. "Ugh, Virus help me explain." Ace grumbled, covering his face with his hands, hiding his beat-red face. "N/n I believe what Ace is trying to say is that he wants to go back to his brothers and leave you." Virus explained. "Yeah . . ." said Ace, then his eyes widened, realizing Virus did not explain it right, at all!!! 

"Oh . . . I understand. . . !" "NO! I'm trying to ask you out not leave you!!!" Ace yelled interrupting you. "Like a, a, a date?" You asked feeling how your whole body got warm of happiness. "Maybe-" Ace answered dragging out the e. "Oh, sure." You answered blushing lightly. "Wait, really?" Ace asked. "Yeah, let me just go to my wardrobe and change into something more fitting. What's fitting? And I also wanna shower." You smiled. "I also shower and change and then we meet in sector 1 and then we go," Ace answered. 

You and Ace hurried to sector 4. Showering and changing into casual clothes. (You decide) Ace and you meet in sector 1. Damn was he handsome, he was wearing some clothes you designed for him and he looked stunning. You two entered your main submarine. 

Time skip

The submarine rose above water and you and Ace walked out. Ace held a huge basket and in his other was your hand. The submarine dived down into the sea again, you had told Virus to wait for you and Ace undersea. After minutes of walking you and Ace came to a cliff with a beautiful view. But what made the island even more unique was the cherry blossom trees growing all around. Ace lifted out a picnic blanket and fixed it, letting you sit on the blanket while he shoveled out a lot of food. 

"Did, did you make this?" You asked fidgeting a bit on your clothes, blushing. So far have you or Virus done all the food? "Yes, and before you get scared, Virus helped me," Ace said quickly. "Why, are you normally bad at cooking?" You asked giggling. "Yes, well I can grill meat." He answered. 

The food tasted delicious, you and Ace spoke and had fun for hours. And deep into the night . . . . You and Ace stood at the cliff looking at the stars, his arm around your waist and yours around his. "Ace please call me Y/n." You said after a while of comfortable silence. "Why?" He asked confused. "It's my real name." You said softly hugging Ace with both arms. "Y/n is the most beautiful name I ever heard," Ace said returning the hug. He took your hands and leaned in close to your lips. "may I kiss you?" He asked as a fluttering feeling in his stomach grew. "Only if I can kiss you back." You answered. 

Smirking Ace connected his lips with yours. It felt passionate and wonderful. He pressed his body closer to yours and hugged you tightly. Your lips separated for air and then went right at it. When you disconnected again for air he asked. "Will you be mine, and will you let me be yours?"

"Yes." 

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The end.

This is around 6300 words.   

Please comment and give me one of those small hearts if you liked it. They make me happy.

I'm planning on making a part two so please comment, it one helps me get to writing and two it helps me know people are intressted.