#Radak - The First Chapter

[electronickingdomfox]

"Corona" review

Novel from 1984, by Greg Bear. I had my doubts about this novel during the early chapters, but it grew on me, and by the end I was pretty enthralled. More slow-paced than the usual TOS adventure, it presents truly interesting ideas, and their ethical ramifications. The most scientific concepts may be hard to grasp for the uninitiated like me, but the language is never dry. In fact, many passages dealing with physics come off curiously poetic and beautiful.

It doesn't delve much into characters, save the new introduction (a journalist girl named Mason), and at times McCoy, who is revealed to be a much more tormented man than normally assumed. Though in the case of Mason, she's a mere observer for most of the novel, and doesn't have much to do until the end, when her true role in the story is revealed.

What the narrative does fine, however, is creating an increasingly disquieting mood, once the Enterprise crew comes face to face with the dead-eyed Vulcan researchers of a distant station. In particular, their creepy children. The titular "Corona" is easily one of the most alien (one could say, Lovecraftian) entities that have appeared so far in these books. At first only obliquely referenced, its true nature and purpose are revealed in a gradual, pretty effective way. The reader doesn't really know what's going on, and it's not like anything terrible is happening (there are no murders or monsters around, nobody is injured). Yet I appreciated the feeling of lingering horror behind it.

The technology presented is a bit baffling, and it tends to play loose with canon. For example, we have the Enterprise sustaining warp eleven for seventeen days! Kirk is said to have a brain implant to receive directly certain transmissions (a gadget that was introduced, I think, in the TMP novelization). And the Federation has developed a new device to implant a person's memory in a new body, should the worst happen in the transporter. In all aspects, it's a cloning machine, but is much better received than I'd expect (after all, cloning machines are usually the domain of villains). All these things, as well as the misleading cover, made me think the story was set some time after TMP. However, the stardate firmly places the events during the five-year mission.

Another point of interest, is the introduction of novel ideas in regards to Vulcan culture. In particular, a coming-of-age ritual that awakens dormant conditioning in Vulcan children, to help them become adults. There are also full sentences in Vulcan. I don't know if all this was invented by the author, or taken from some reference material (or even fandom ideas!), but it's certainly the first time I encounter it.

Overall, this was a solid story. I'm surprised the author didn't write any more Star Trek books.

Spoilers under the cut:

A remote scientific station in a nebula has been cut off from communication for ten years (funny how nobody cared to check on the poor losers during all that time). But now, Starfleet has received a distress call sent from the station a decade ago, through conventional radio. The scientists at the station were studying Ybakra radiation, and were all Vulcan: T'Prylla (a distant relative of Spock, and presumably the woman depicted in the cover), her husband Grake, their two children Radak and T'Raus, and two other scientists. Besides them, the other members of the scientific expedition had been put in hybernation chambers, until the radiation in the nebula subsided. The Enterprise is tasked with a rescue mission. Though, after ten years, I don't know why the mission is so urgent: either everyone's fine, or everyone's dead by now.

However, Kirk has his own problems aboard the ship. Starfleet wants him to test a new monitor system, for command and medical decisions, capable of overriding the Captain's orders if it considers them contrary to Federation policies (so imagine how well this sits with Kirk). The monitor computer is imbued with the personalities and memories of several renowned admirals, who supposedly would find together the best course of action. Also, sickbay has been equipped with that new "cloning machine" I mentioned above. On top of that, journalist Rowena Mason will travel in the Enterprise, to cover the results of the new monitor system. She's a true country bumpkin that has never left her home planet, has all sorts of prejudices about non-human races like Vulcans, and feels pretty anxious about being in a starship. Kirk is annoyed by Mason sticking her nose in his business. But wants to keep her around as objective observer, to have some proof to rub in, in case the monitors fail (as he secretly wishes).

Once they arrive at the station, it becomes apparent that something doesn't add up. A redshirt glimpses a young boy, that the tricorder doesn't register at all, and the station seems at first deserted. When they later encounter T'Prylla and the others, they're in good health and polite, but also pretty stonewalling against any rescue attempt. And the children, rather than the adults, seem to be in charge of the compound. McCoy wants to revive the frozen scientists with the new machine in sickbay, but T'Prylla also objects to this. There's a further complication when the medical monitor registers the sleepers as legally dead (nervous system destroyed by radiation), and thus not elligible for resucitation.

Meanwhile, Chekov starts feeling influenced by a conscience inside his head, that forces him to do things against his will. He sends detailed plans of the Enterprise to the station, and later sabotages the shuttlecraft; the only means of transport for the landing party, since Ybakra radiation seems to be messing with transporters.

Tired of the newcomers' interference, Grake decides it's about time to show them their scientific achievements. The Vulcans have developed a transformer to control subatomic particles around the nearby area, which allows them to pop up anywhere in a certain radius. And through this transformer, they can also reproduce the conditions at the universe's birth. So they plan to start their own Big Bang. They show them a miniature demonstration of it. And there's an interesting insight into the characters, when each of them interprets different things in those images. Kirk realizes this is all madness, and blames it on the effects of Ybakra radiation on the scientists. He manages to get Chekov and T'Prylla inside an isolation container, which frees them from the radiation effects. And T'Prylla, again herself, tells them about the alien influence inside their minds. It manifests as a corona around one of the suns in the nebula, and its control is greater in the Vulcan children.

With the shuttlecraft dead, the landing party has to risk using the transporters. Almost everyone comes aboard the Enterprise, but the transporter can't retrieve Spock and Mason, who are sent back to the station. Spock feels Corona is about to control him, so in a last, desperate attempt, he transfers part of his conscience to Mason, though in the process, some of Corona's comes into her too. The journalist must overcome her fear of Vulcans, and use Spock's knowledge to awaken T'Raus, by means of imparting a coming-of-age ritual on her. For his part, Radak has materialized inside the Enterprise, and tries to sabotage the engines. But his mother imparts on him the same ritual. Once "adults" per Vulcan custom, Corona's influence on the children diminishes. But the Big Bang machine is ready, and starts the countdown to restart the universe.

Since Mason has part of Corona's memories inside her, she tries to reason with the entity. Through T'Raus, Corona explains its motives. Its race had existed in the first moments of the universe's birth, when everything was just energy in flux. As the universe cooled down and matter appeared, its whole race died. Only Corona survived in certain radiations, such as those in the present nebula. And all this time, it's been trying to go back to these initial moments of the Big Bang. The universe in its present state, is a dead corpse for Corona, and living beings are like germs.

In the Enterprise, Kirk hesitates about destroying the station while Spock and Mason are still there. But the fabric of reality is already starting to disintegrate at subatomic levels. The monitors consider that Kirk has failed for not destroying the station yet, and they override his command. The ship starts firing, but Corona controls all energy in the area, and deactivates both phasers and torpedoes. This gives Mason a bit more time to convince the entity of the worth of living beings. At last, Corona has a glimpse of her memories. And in the recollections of her planet's clouds, and the feeling of freedom she associated with them, the entity finds a parallel with its own world and memories. Corona decides to give living things a chance, and spares the universe. At least until the final moment when entropy reduces everything to nothing. Then it should be restarted. And it may seem corny to have the poor country girl saving the day against such an entity. But I think it's somehow fitting that precisely the most humble character, communicating with the greatest, is the one who achieves this. Also because, as a writer, her most distinct skill is that of communication.

In the aftermath, Mason has overcome her narrow views of the world. And McCoy finds out that the monitors will now let him revive the sleepers. As a parting gift, Corona tampered with the system to redefine what counts as "legally dead". There's also a funny moment when McCoy contacts one of the personalities inside the monitors: his (now dead) teacher from Academy days, who almost flunked him. And the teacher reprimands him for slacking off, when he learns that McCoy is still just a Lt. Commander. The monitors, however, proved to be faulty, and Starfleet will discontinue their use. But Kirk ponders what would have happened if they hadn't overriden him, and whether he could have fired at the station himself.

Spirk Meter: 2/10*. A couple of brief moments. At one point, Kirk feels he's almost in telepathic communication with Spock, and doing what he just would do. Later, Kirk is certain that Spock is still alive in the station, as he can feel his reassuring presence.

There's a bit of Spones too. This novel makes McCoy and Spock very similar at their most intimate level. We're told that McCoy also suffers because he can't control his emotions, too extreme in his case. And he has adopted brusqueness to disguise them, just as Spock has adopted logic. McCoy seems also pleased whenever Spock agrees with him. And when everything starts coming undone, described as McCoy's most terrifying experience ever, his last thoughts are reserved for Spock, whom he feels sorry about. He recognizes that, behind all their bickering, he hides a deep respect for the Vulcan.

Apart from this, Kirk really wants to fuck the ship. Take this passage into consideration:

"At the touch of his fingers -resting on buttons set into his chair arms-and at the sound of his voice, he could make the Enterprise come alive. Stroking... He put such errant nonsense from his thoughts (and a good thing neither Spock nor McCoy could read minds at a distance)"

Funny that he's specially concerned by Spock and McCoy's reaction to this...

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[ilyricshub]

Bhabi Lyrics - Harvy Sandhu

#Bhabi #RadakTheFirstChapter #HarvySandhu #DeeCee

[axomlyrics]

Radak Lyrics - Harvy Sandhu | Gurlej Akhtar

Radak Lyrics – Harvy Sandhu | Gurlej Akhtar

Radak Lyrics by Harvy Sandhu ft Gurlej Akhtar is the latest Punjabi song from “Radak – The First Chapter”. The song music is given by Dee Cee while the lyrics were written by Tejinder Jheetekalan & Harvinder Maan. “Radak” Song Info: Song Radak Album Radak – The First Chapter Singer Harvy Sandhu ft Gurlej Akhtar Music Dee Cee Lyrics Tejinder Jheetekalan & Harvinder Maan Radak Lyrics Update…

[lyrics2world]

Raule Lyrics - Harvy Sandhu | Gurlez Akhtar

Raule Lyrics – Harvy Sandhu | Gurlez Akhtar

Raule Lyrics from Radak – The First Chapter is the latest Punjabi song sung by Harvy Sandhu, Gurlez Akhtar.Raule song lyrics written by Jeet Kamal Kuhliwala and the beautiful music has been given by Dee Cee.This song published by Harvy Sandhu. Raule Lyrics Dee cee music Aa baith kol tu mere ve Tere naa gall ik karni aa Cheti to cheti dass kude Main dhuan kise di fadni aa Ho paundi raffal…

[centeris2]

Chapter 10: Do You Wanna Catch a Mermaid?

When Kili returned from a stint at sea, he was pleased to hear the number of sightings of the mysterious red sea monster had dropped. He took that as a sign that she was being more careful, and it seemed that interest in the creature was finally dying out. He did not see any reporters or any of the scientists during his few days on shore, and he was grateful for that.

The first day after he had gotten back, Tauriel was nowhere to be found. He was both glad she was staying away, but also sad that she wasn’t around. The next day was the same, but the third day proved better. Fili claimed he was what had brought them luck, as he had joined his brother on the third trip out to find her.

Tauriel was happy to see them, and presented them with gifts as she always did: an odd lump of something completely covered in barnacles and other sea materials for Kili, and a smooth rock with markings scratched into it for Fili. When they cleaned off the lump later that night they found an old pocket watch, no doubt washed overboard or from a wreck.

This time they had a surprise for her though, and she was delighted to see things from their world. For hours they were entertained by throwing a Frisbee out over the water, Tauriel chasing and leaping from the waves to catch it with either her mouth or her hands, and when they tired of that they flew a kite. Based on the excited chirps from Tauriel they decided that she was enjoying herself immensely. As night fell they showed her one last thing before they headed back home: a candle. She didn’t squeak or flick her tail in excitement, instead she grew still, staring at the flame once they had lit the wick. She was fascinated, studying it, reaching for it carefully to feel the heat, but avoided touching it. With clouds overhead, there weren’t any stars to see, so she was content to watch the flame dance as the candle slowly burned down. Kili and Fili entertained themselves by studying her in turn, particularly the dots of light that were easier to see in the darkness of night. When the candle had burned itself out they bid her farewell and returned to shore.

“I wonder if it can be repaired,” Kili mused to himself a few days later, looking at the watch Tauriel had given him. Fili, in turn, had some of the rocks that Tauriel had given to them and was studying them. Dolly knew them well enough to not ask about why they had so much random stuff out on the table they were eating at, but she still raised an eyebrow when she brought them their food.

“Take it to a shop and see, maybe a pawn shop or a jeweler could do it? Have you noticed the scratches on these rocks?” Fili asked, comparing two rocks in his hands. Kili pocketed the watch for later, looking at Fili’s hand.

“Yeah, what about them?”

“Is she etching into the rocks? They look like letters or something,” Fili pondered, indicating to the two in his hand, “notice how some of the markings are the same?”

“I hadn’t until just now,” Kili admitted, now looking closely at the rocks Fili and brought along. He had looked at all of them before, but never compared them to one another. Seeing them side by side, he did notice repetitions in the markings.

“A written language?” Kili asked, not that his brother would be able to answer.

“’Lil Durinsons!” the booming voice startled them out of their conversation, and they looked up to see Greg Radake beaming down at them.

“Hey, Radake, heard you’ve been doing well this season,” Fili greeted the older fisher, wondering what had brought him over to their table but offered him a seat.

“I was, but now my little helper is gone!” he explained, taking the seat next to Kili.

“Your… little helper? You had a greenhorn on board?” Kili asked, not remembering hearing that. He knew a few of the captains had taken on new crewmen this season, but didn’t realize Radake had one as well. Radake shook his head and nudged Kili.

“Not after last season, I mean your mermaid!” Kili paled and Fili glanced between them quickly, nervous.

“Mermaid?” Kili managed to ask, trying to think of when someone might have seen him and Tauriel together. Had he been followed and not noticed it somehow? Had someone taken a joy ride in a plane and flown over and seen them?

“That human barracuda you told me about. At first I thought it was going after my fish, but then I realized the thing was herding the fish closer to me! Like those dolphins around Mexico or somewhere down there,” Radake explained, nudging Kili again with a grin.

“Did you ever find that mermaid after I pointed to that old map?” he asked when Kili did not immediately respond.

“Ah, no, I didn’t actually,” Kili finally recovered enough to speak and Radake laughed, thumping him on the back.

“Guess the red devil took a shine to me! Wonder where that big eel got off too. I thought for sure you knew where it was, what with those brats claiming the mermaid that saved them had said your name or something darn close,” the veteran fisher wondered out loud and Kili glanced at Fili before looking back at the older man.

“Did they hear her say my name?” he remembered overhearing them talking, but he thought he heard them not remember what she had said properly.

“I heard ‘em talking and dropped your name, they said it sounded right,” Kili’s stomach tightened.

“Well they were also stupid enough to be caught out on the ocean in a speed boat before a storm, they probably got banged up and don’t have the sharpest memories anymore,” Kili pointed out, trying to figure a way out of this mess. Lucky for him, Collin and Bran walked over. Kili was happy to see them together again, the past few months had been awkward but whatever was going on between them had slowly been worked out.

“’Sup?” Bran said with a wide grin.

“I’ll leave you youngsters to your shenanigans,” Radake said, standing up and moving so that the two younger men could sit down.

“Alright, old man, don’t bust a hip!” Fili retorted, to which the older man gave a hearty chuckle and a final wave.

“You collect rocks now?” Collin asked once the four were seated and settled. Kili and Fili looked down at the rocks, forgetting that they had them out on the table still.

“Something like that,” Kili replied while Fili shoved them back into his bag. Bran gave them a perplexed look and Collin simply shrugged it off.

“I see you’ve taken up a new hair style,” Bran commented, touching the braids in Kili’s hair.

“Well if the Vikings wore braids, so can I,” Kili said in defense, Fili snorting a laugh into his hand before he changed the conversation.

“Haven’t seen you guys in a while, you’ve been working other ships?” Fili asked and the two nodded.

“Sally needed someone to replace their greenhorn from last season,” Collin explained, and Bran gave a more pointed look to Kili.

“Got something to ask you, Fili you’re invited too,” he added with a glance to Fili, “do you want to go out again?”

“Out where?” Kili asked after a moment of not understanding.

“With the marine biologists, Dr. Yandell told me Dr. Mazziotta thought they might be getting more funding, which means they can finish repairs on the sub and go back out,” Bran elaborated and Kili shook his head.

“No way. I’m not getting into one of those things again,” Kili shook his head, not only did he not want to be in a submarine again, he also didn’t want to be involved with trying to find Tauriel with them.

“Not even to try to find those things again? We’d be rich and famous if we brought back a live mermaid!” Bran tried to entice his friend, but Kili continued to shake his head.

“Well, when Collin and me are rich and famous we’ll get you a car or something,” Bran said with a shrug, respecting Kili’s refusal.

“What about you, Fili? Want to catch a mermaid and be on national tv?” Collin asked. Fili, like his brother, shook his head.

“I’m okay earning a living here, not chasing sea creatures,” Fili replied before moving the conversation in a different direction before Kili started shaking from nerves, “didn’t something exciting happen on Sal’s ship?”

“Oh shit!” Collin started with a laugh, “so first we get out there and turns out someone hadn’t refueled the ship, so Sal was livid-“ Collin recounted the tale of the last few weeks of his life, Kili giving his brother an appreciative glance. He tried to pay attention to his friends, but now he was second guessing himself. If he went out with them, he might be able to sabotage their efforts of finding Tauriel, or any other of her kind. But the thought of getting back into a submarine made him break out in a cold sweat. Whenever he thought about being in the submarine again, he just remembered the walls closing in, the banging and the pressure and the cold realization that he was going to die. Even though he had survived, he didn’t think he could ever get into a vessel like that again.

[gplusbfics]

I’m all settled again vacation and it’s time to get back to reviews, so kicking off with the sequel to the one I “informally” reviewed just before I left -- “Convergence.” It was actually reading the first couple chapters of reading this that made me aware the first one existed. (How did I miss it?) 

Anyway, I love this. The writer has done a great job, not only following up on the earlier work* but creating a post-Canon Cardassian tale that doesn’t feel like a retread. The situation is different -- Julian is put to work in a volunteer center with a bunch of misfits and he only meets up with Garak later, and even then he is kept guessing about exactly what is in their future (together?). Lots of good character development, including original characters 

* As far as whether you need to read the earlier story first, I would say that you don’t have to, as you can just assume there was a ridiculous amount of miscommunication and “almosts,” but I would certainly recommend the earlier and longer work, as it’s fantastic and covers their entire time together on DS9.

Excerpt

"You moved to the Doctor's homeworld. You followed him here," Julian pointed out. "One would think that unto itself, would be suggestive enough."

Radak closed his eyes and sagged back against the wall behind him. Julian smiled a bit wryly to himself. The Vulcan's body language was indeed expressive.

"One would think that," Radak replied somewhat dejectedly, "But not Arjun."

"Then wouldn't it be logical to tell him?" Julian asked, tamping down the sudden emergence of his own past hypocrisies.

"I surmise the reason you are here, Doctor, and not with your friend, is for likely the same reason I am here and not with mine," Radak shrewdly remarked.

Julian sighed. Caught red-handed. Feeling sympathetically defeated, he too leaned back against the wall.

"You're observant," he admitted. "But, it's not precisely the same situation. I'm trying to mend a vestige of a possibility that once existed during a different time and the fact is, I neither know quite where to start nor do I even know where he is. The latter of which, is clearly the exigent priority."

Radak scooted toward the edge of his cot, propped his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers under his chin. It was a very Cardassian-like affectation.

"I do not mention this to boast," Radak prefaced, "But, suffice it to say, I am both extremely skilled at sifting through large quantities of data to extract the information I require, and having lived in the Cardassian world for some time, I have a passing familiarity with its databasing systems. Thus, I would be willing to provide you some assistance in this pursuit of yours if you will decline any mention to anyone of mine."

"What makes you think I wouldn't respect your wishes regardless?"

"You are what I have heard referred to as a 'busybody'. I suspect if you thought you could help, you would interfere. I would prefer to prevent that potential," Radak replied with a thin, knowing smile.

Julian grinned to himself. He wasn't wrong.

"Alright," he conceded. "We have a deal."

Metadata

Title: Impact Author: sfumatosoup Year Posted: 2017 Approx. Word Count: 41,000 Chapters: 7 GB - Slash or Platonic: Slash My Rating (1-5): 5 Keywords: Post-Canon Cardassia, Communications Issues, Angst, Epistolary, Idiots in Love

[musicksu]

Student, Faculty, and Staff Accomplishments - February 2017

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS - February 2017

Tau Beta Sigma - Iota Psi Chapter

Debra Traficante wanted to share that our very own TBS chapter is one of 13 finalists for the National Chapter Award. This is a tremendous honor that chapters work for each biennium - to even be considered. The fact that our chapter is being considered for this in the first opportunity to even be thought of (we started these chapters when I arrived here during this biennium), is absolutely incredible and unthinkable. Most chapters go years and years and years, and never get selected for this! KSU will go against some very large, very prestigious, very historied programs at the national convention this year. This is a huge step in our efforts to continue making KSU bands a strong national presence.

Jazz Combo I

In late January, Jazz Combo I (Patrick Arthur, Michael Opitz, Brandon Radaker, Brandon Boone and Jonathan Pace) recorded seven original compositions at Murray Sound Lab for an upcoming release produced by Joseph Greenway and Trey Wright.

Samuel Boeger

Samuel Boeger has been named a finalist for the International Trombone Association's George Roberts Bass Trombone Competition. He will be competing in June against 2 Juilliard students for the grand prize of a brand-new M&W bass trombone!

Robert Boone – Alumni

Robert Boone has accepted a full-time position with the Count Basie Big Band as their drummer. This is a huge honor and speaks volumes for the talent that comes from our school of music and jazz studies program.

FACULTY AND STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS - February 2017

Stephanie Adrian

Stephanie Adrian’s review of Atlanta Opera's production of Kevin Puts opera, "Silent Night" was published in the February issue of Opera News Magazine.

Judith Beale

Judith Beale was one of the choral clinicians for the GMEA District XII Elementary School Large Group Performance Evaluation February 16 and 17.

Judy Cole

Accompanied duo trumpet recital with Dr. Doug Lindsey and Dr. Davey DeArmond here on campus.

Accompanied Atlanta Boy Choir at the State Capitol for MLK observance.

Accompanied The Temple Singers/Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir in MLK service at The Temple, including playing for Mrs. Mary Gurley, who sang the same hymn she sang at Dr. Martin Luther King's funeral.

Played two pieces in Collage Concerts, also played at reception in between concerts.

Judged two Shuler High School Musical shows.

Played two different recitals with Dr. Doug Lindsey in Baltimore and Annapolis, at Washington College and the Catholic University.

Served on Piano search committee.

Played with Allatoona High School Orchestra for LPGE and in concert at KSU.

Accompanied North Paulding Honor Choir with Dr. Leslie Blackwell directing.

Accompanied Liederabend Faculty Voice recital February 21.

Adjudicated for Governor's Honors auditions and for Georgia Independent School Association Regional Competition.

David Daly

David Daly is a panelist for a session at the 2017 Performing Arts Managers Conference titled "Future Industry Leaders," a panel discussion on career growth, supervising and developing talent, organizational dynamics, and leadership in the performing arts. The conference, presented by the International Association of Venue Managers, will be held in Chicago, IL on February 26 - March 1.

Edward Eanes

Edward Eanes was selected by the COTA awards committee to represent the college at the “Perspectives on Global Issues Workshop - Sustainability” in May 2017 at the European Academy of Otzenhausen, Germany.

Alison Mann

LGPE Clinic with the choirs of Walton High School, Marietta.

Two LGPE Clinics with the choirs of Johns Creek High School, Johns Creek.

Hosted/organized a workshop for Lake Nona Middle School Choir, Orlando, Florida, with outreach opportunities for the choral music education majors.

Performance adjudicator for District 12 Elementary LGPE.

Angee McKee

Angee McKee served as accompanist for Acworth Elementary, Pickett's Mill Elementary, and Vaughan Elementary School choruses at the GMEA District XII Large Group Performance Evaluations on February 16th & 17th.

Christopher Thibdeau

Christopher Thibdeau was invited to be an orchestra conducting judge for the GMEA LGPE. He also led the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra in the second concert of their season titled "Music in Motion" featuring a collaboration with Full Radius Dance, a group consisting of fully abled and disabled members.

Ben Wadsworth

South-Central Society of Music Theory program now set for March 17–18 at University of Memphis. Two theory majors (Simon Needle and Madison Coffey) have funding to attend conference and graduate student workshop on Schubert.

Paper accepted on Schenker undergraduate pedagogy at Pedagogy into Practice conference (Lee University, TN, June 1–4, 2017).

Trey Wright

In late January, Jazz Combo I (Patrick Arthur, Michael Opitz, Brandon Radaker, Brandon Boone and Jonathan Pace) recorded seven original compositions at Murray Sound Lab for an upcoming release produced by Joseph Greenway and Trey Wright.

[lyrics2world]

Radak Lyrics - Harvy Sandhu | Gurlez Akhtar

Radak Lyrics – Harvy Sandhu | Gurlez Akhtar

Radak Lyrics from Radak – The First Chapter is the latest Punjabi song sung by Harvy Sandhu, Gurlez Akhtar.Radak song lyrics written by Tejinder Jheetekalan, Harvinder Maan and the beautiful music also given by Dee Cee.This song published by Harvy Sandhu. Radak Lyrics Hun na vajjange lalkaare Sunn ho gayi paase chaare Ve vich chownk de paye khilaare Dasde kinnya de sirr phaade Tu ta kehnda si…

[centeris2]

Chapter 2: That Time Kili Was Pretty Sure He Didn't Hallucinate A Mermaid

“Kili!” he blinked, his eyes were crusted with salt and grit, and tried to sit up. It was still dark, wet, and cold, but something had called his name. The sound was familiar.

“You’re alive!” a bright light shone on him, momentarily blinding him and making him squint. Something splashed in the water toward him and grabbed him.

“Collin?” Kili’s muddled mind finally processed the voice he was hearing, and he didn’t fight as his friend hauled him up and into something.

“Holy shit we found him!” Wherever they were it was warm and bright and Kili couldn’t see anything. He guessed this was the small, deep sea-exploring vessel that had come with the submarine. The Hobbit or something like that. He didn’t realize it had gotten away in the attack; they had lost contact with it when they lost power. The voices around him stopped making sense as they mixed together and Kili fell into a daze once more.

“Heyyy wakey wakey, look who finally woke up.” Kili rolled over and rubbed his eyes. That sounded like Collin again.

“Where are we?” Kili asked as he sat up and looked at his friend.

“Back on the sub and heading toward the surface,” at that Kili stared at the red head, not believing what his friend had said.

“How is that possible? We were hundreds… thousands of feet below the surface!” he didn’t know how he was still alive in the cave, but the pressure in the water should have crushed the submarine and them if they tried to return to it.

“That guy, Baggins, he figured out how to slip past those monsters! That mini sub that the scientists had with them was able to get away and stun them with light. He rescued us!”

“But the submarine wasn’t working…” a lot of things didn’t make sense but Kili didn’t think he was ever going to find out what really happened.

“When we got back to the sub the propellers were fine, whatever had gotten tangled in them had been removed,” Collin tried to explain as Kili stood up.

“Where is Bran?” At that question Collin glanced away and looked embarrassed.

“He’s with the others,” the panic that had seized his heart subsided though Kili didn’t understand why Collin looked so ashamed.

“Durinson! Tellez! We’ll be reaching the harbor soon!” one of the scientists called from down the hall.

Getting back on shore was akin to a religious experience, but when a person thought they were going to drown and die on the bottom of the ocean it’s a surreal and overwhelmingly happy experience to step back onto the dock they have walked since they were a small child. Collin and Bran both left as soon as they got onshore which confused Kili because he would have guessed that they would stick around and they’d all go get drinks after their near death experience. Once safe on land he could hear the team of scientists eagerly talking about their data and all their new discoveries. He assumed that they meant the sea creatures that had taken them but who would believe that they were attacked by deep-sea mermaids? Or plain mermaids for that matter.

Either way he had texted his brother and sat at their favorite local bar. He was in the middle of scarfing down a sandwich when a hand clapped down on his shoulder.

“Can’t get enough subs?” Fili joked and sat down next to him. Kili put down the sandwich to take a drink of beer.

“Talk on the dock is that the sub got pretty beat up. Something about a sea monster or something dumb. The usual, Dolly, thank you,” Fili said to the woman who owned the bar. She gave her regulars a wave but didn’t try to strike up conversation with them.

“So?” Fili asked, looking at Kili who had remained silent. Kili gave him a long look before returning to his food.

“Oh shit, did you find something down there?”

“They found us. Dragged the sub down and then-” he couldn’t tell his brother that he had met a mermaid and somehow ended up in a cave. It must have been in his head. Somehow.

“They? Then? What?” Fili prodded, trying to get more out of him.

“I thought I was going to die trapped in that fucking thing. It’s crazy.”

“How is that crazy?” Fili nodded to Dolly and took his beer, not looking at Kili as he asked the question.

“I met a mermaid.” That made Fili stop and look at Kili. Kili was looking straight at him. He could tell his brother wasn’t lying.

“You met a mermaid,” Fili said slowly.

“I met a mermaid,” Kili said again, taking another bite of his sandwich.

“That’s crazy,” Fili took a long drink before he made that comment. There was no way his brother had met a mermaid. Mermaids weren’t real.

“Told you,” Kili scoffed after finishing his food. Fili was silent and took another long drink.

“Well,” Fili slapped Kili on the back, “I’m glad you didn’t drown.”

“Heh, yeah. Same,” Kili muttered. Fili lifted his beer mug and Kili did the same.

“Here’s to not dying!” Fili declared.

“And to never going in a sub again,” Kili added when they hit mugs and drank the contents of the containers.

“Didn’t Bran and Collin go with? Where are they?” Fili asked after putting his mug down.

“Yeah, but they both left as soon as we got to shore. They were acting weird when we were coming back to the surface…” Kili muttered and wondered what had happened to his two best friends. They should have joined him for a drink but he couldn’t get a hold of them.

“Well, nearly dying makes a person think. Maybe they just need to think on their own?” Fili suggested. Kili shrugged and thanked Dolly for giving them refills. He wondered what they had talked about when he had been looking out the window and seen Tauriel for the first time. He’d have to ask later.

---

  Kili felt it was appropriate to go home to see his mother after everything that had happened. When he got home he just hugged his mother for a few long minutes, much to her surprise. He could only be home for a few days because it would soon be time to fish in the bays and out in the ocean with his brother and uncle but his mother was glad to have him home. She told him that the talisman she had made for him had brought him back, and that she had faith that it would bring him home again. But he should still be careful and not do dangerous things for no good reason. And maybe he should settle down and start looking for a nice girl, Julee Kemp was a nice young woman who had moved into the area and was single and very pretty. He promised his mother that he would be careful, but couldn’t make any promises about finding a nice girl to settle down with.

What he hadn’t expected was that the expedition he had been on would hit the news.

But when there are multiple pictures of what appears to be mermaids attacking a submarine that gets some attention. Of course people were putting the images through all kinds of tests to prove their authenticity but Kili didn’t pay much mind to it. He had done his job on the sub and gotten back to shore, he had no further reason to involve himself in what the scientists were up to.

But he was curious about seeing Tauriel again. If only the thought of going underwater didn’t cause his chest to tighten in fear. But he wanted to know if Tauriel was real or if he had imagined it.

A week after his return to shore he was once more on the docks, heading toward the bar to kill some time before his uncle would arrive to the town so they could go out fishing together.

“-saw something out in the waves! I’m tellin’ ya!” Kili overheard one of the older fishers. He recognized the man, he was a seasoned fisher in his 50s that worked on other boats that went by Hotrod because he spent all his spare time and cash on an old vintage mustang that over the years had acquired many accessories and paint decals.

“You saw a whale or shark, nothin’ more,” Hotrod’s companion waved away the declarations. The one who had spoken was Greg Radake, another seasoned veteran of the Alaskan fishing grounds that had a scar on the left side of his forehead from what he claimed was a “beast of a swordfish.” The common theory behind the scar outside of his claim was a bar fight. The third man at the table with them was Ed Ornberg, as blond and blue eyed and Scandinavian as he was 40 years ago when he started fishing on the Pacific.

“Rod’s ain’t the only one who saw something. Ever since those marine bio folks came back there’s been something out there,” Ornberg said as he swirled his whiskey. Radake looked at Ornberg like he was insane.

“Like what?” Radake demanded to know.

“Sally’s crew saw something, they’d swear on the Holy Book that it was a person with red hair in the water,” Hotrod said, mentioning Captain Solomon’s crew.

“And what was it?” Ornberg said smartly, as though waiting for them to admit their foolishness.

“Dunno. It disappeared under the waves. I’ll tell ya, no fish that big have red coloring like that.”

“Was it long? Looked like an eel or thin shark? Maybe twelve feet?” Kili interrupted, too curious to stay out of the conversation. The three older men looked at him but Hotrod’s face lit up.

“Yeah! Twelve or fifteen feet long! Like a sea snake fucked a shark and slapped a wig on the devil it popped out!” Hotrod exclaimed. He stood and grabbed Kili, bringing him down to the table with them.

“Ya’ve seen it?” They all asked, curious. Kili glanced around, suddenly very nervous.

“Lil’ Durinson, you were with them in the sub,” Radake said slowly when he remembered that tidbit of information.

“The ones saying there were sea monsters?” Ornberg asked. Kili nodded his head.

“There were…” Don’t say mermaids. That’s crazy.

“You know those angler fish? The ones with the lights?” Kili began, much to their confusion.

“That live down in the hell depths? Yeah…” Ornberg answered with a raised eyebrow.

“They had lights like that, except it was lights all over their bodies. They were like a cross between a barracuda and a human, long and skinny and wicked fast but about as big around as us.” He left out the part where they looked like they were human from the hips up.

“They said they had human faces and hands,” Ornberg pointed out.

“Well…” yes they did, “their faces were flat instead of pointed like a fish would be, and they had fins, or maybe hands, they looked like hands, claws trying to grab you.” The three fishermen were silent for a moment, staring at him. Hotrod seemed to take this as proof that he was right, Ornberg seemed to be seriously considering it, but Radake didn’t seem convinced.

“Where are people seeing this?” Kili asked before any of them could say anything. Hotrod looked down at the table, inspecting the nautical map that made up the tablecloth.

“I saw it round here, ‘bout an hour or two after sunrise,” he told Kili, who thanked him and quickly left. He didn’t pay attention to the three old sailors break out into more talk and argument, he wanted to get out there and check out the area for himself.

With a text cancelling his afternoon with his uncle claiming that Collin and Bran had wanted to get a day of speed boating in before the seasons got serious, he got into the speed boat he shared with his uncle and brother down on the docks. He knew it was not a good idea to go out on the open ocean in a speedboat, and alone no less, but he had to know.

His phone was off and put away, the waves raced beneath the boat as he headed out into the open ocean on the cloudy day, and his heart was pounding. It didn’t take long to get out to the area that Hotrod had shown him. He cut the engine’s power, let the ship roll in the waves, and looked all around.

Well this was stupid.

He grabbed a pair of binoculars from the cabinet and spent many long minutes looking in all directions, scanning the waves near and far for any sign of something… mermaidish.

“Maybe I should have brought food,” he muttered after an hour of being out on the water. This boat didn’t have any bait in it and he wasn’t sure it would attract the right type of fish. He decided he would stay out here until he was starving or until he saw something, and if he had to he would come back another day.

“Tauriel!” he shouted as loudly as he could. The water answered him and as the time ticked on and his shouts went unanswered he began to think this was a bad idea. His uncle and brother would no doubt be disappointed that he had ditched on such short notice, and he didn’t even have a good alibi to tell them to explain what he had been doing.

“TAURIEL!” he gave one last call, his throat pained from the screaming and salty air. He sighed, sat down and mentally kicked himself for how stupid he had been thinking he’d be able to find a stupid hallucination. He took hold of the keys, put them into the ignition, and started the boat up to head back.

“Keelee?”