#thermal screening systems

[randofics]

Thermalis

🎶 Maroon5- she will be loved

Ultra Magnus x reader

18+

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Magnus was using his thermals to look over a malfunctioning piece of equipment when your entrance caught his attention. Your vibrant figure stood out against the cold blue of the concrete floor. Even the breath puffing through your nose and mouth had a fleeting heat.

It got colder inside during these winter desert nights. Cold enough for you to constantly wear your old high-school hoodie and leggings.

To his surprise, you weren't wearing the hoodie. Instead, it was tied around your waist, leaving your top half covered in a tank top. He observed your heat signature as you climbed the metal steps to the platform, curious at the way heat seemed to radiate from your belly, chest, and head. Your limbs were a bit cooler, and your fingers even cooler than them.

You noticed him staring and gave him a small smile. "What is it, Magnus?"

Shaking his helm slightly to clear it he hummed in question back at you. "I noticed you staring, so what's up?"

"Ah apologies y/n I noticed you weren't wearing your hoodie."

"Oh yeah, Rachet had me working on some of his equipment earlier. The cooling system was malfunctioning, so I had to wriggle inside where it was still hot to repair a few things. Made me sweat like a racehorse." He nods, remembering his own tech troubles. "I may have a similar problem with this equipment here."

"Really? Well, I can take a look if you want?"

"That would be much appreciated, thank you." He held out his servo for you to hop into and brought you over to the malfunctioning machine. Popping open a side panel, you lay on your back to slide inside all the way to your waist. Magnus observes your arms, moving about as you look over the wires and cables inside. The flashlight between your teeth slips in your concentration and smacks you in the forehead before rolling further inside the machine.

"OW... I sworney! Get back here, ya stupid flashlight!" Magnus quirks a browridge as you feel around for the familiar cylinder of your light. You shift your legs from their side laying position to propped up and spread as you reach further inside. Having forgotten his thermals were still on, the hot signature between your thighs drew in his optics.

He somewhat understood why your torso would be so hot but down there? Cybertronians were usually cold there. As you finally grabbed the light and continued your work, Magnus was staring off into space. His processor wandering. He couldn't help his curiosity in how that warmth would feel against him but remembered that organics were wet and squishy inside. At first, the thought kinda grossed him out, but the longer he thought about it, the stronger his curiosity became till he finally steered his thoughts towards you.

He hadn't been thinking of you specifically, at least not at first, but now he was thinking of how you would feel on his spike. The raunchy thoughts caught him off guard. He shook his helm to dispell them, clearing his vocalizer. A blue blush crossing his faceplate. He needed to distract himself with work. Walking over to his data pad, he turned it on, trying to busy himself with "paperwork."

He couldn't stop his thoughts about you. He wondered how much your temperature would change as he worked you up and how plush your body might be in his servos.

"Something wrong, big guy?" He gives you a strange look. You feel a bit shy under his gaze and trip over your words. "Magnus? Wh-what is it? Why are you... staring at me like that?" He kneals, and you take a step back.

"Your heat signature."

"What about it?" He clears his vocalizer standing straight again. "Nevermind, forget I said anything."

"Okaaay... I'm finished with the repair." He gives you a curt nod, turning back to the screens covered in cybertronian script. "Thank you for your assistance, y/n." Shaking your head, you walk away, not realizing the mech has his optics on you.

He silently watches you leave, finally switching his thermals off so he can see everything in normal color.

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The next hour or so was very unproductive for him. He just couldn't stop thinking about you no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, he gave up deciding that a night drive would calm his racing processor. But as fate would have it, he wouldn't be alone.

You jogged into the main room, calling to him as he got ready to transform. "Magnus! Magnus! Wait up!" He qwirked a brow ridge as you huffed from running. "Do you... mind dropping me off at my place?"

"Is Bumblebee unable to?"

"Yeah, he's busy helping Optimus." He nods, transforming in front of you. His driver side door pops open, and you step up inside. With your seatbelt secure around you, he drives through the tunnel.

Raindrops hit his windshield as he passed the giant hidden doors. Puddles had formed in the almost hydrophobic desert soil as an unusual hard rain poured from the heavens. He didn't need to use his wipers, but for the sake of blending in, he turned them on. Several cars passed in the opposite lane, almost backed up for some reason.

You looked farther ahead and spotted the flashing lights of police vehicles. You could see that the road ahead was blocked off by barricades and police cruisers. A large section of road had collapsed in the rushing floodwaters, and no one would be getting through anytime soon.

"Ugh, that's just great! Now, how will I get home?"

"You could accompany me for a drive while I find another way through?"

"Ok, if you're alright with it?" You watch the lights on the radio flash as he speaks. "I have nothing better to do at the moment." He makes a u-turn following the other vehicles through the translucent sheets of rain. A few minutes down the road, he turns onto a dirt one. You can feel his shocks taking the brunt of the worn potholes as he slowly drives through them.

Mud cakes his tires and undercarriage, making it hard to get a good grip on the road. The detour was proving more and more fruitless by the minute. He grunted as his tires spun in a particularly deep wallow. The mud had practically drained from under his tires, leaving him on top of a shelf of mud. His weight now off his tires put pressure on his undercarriage.

In cybertronian, he cursed his steering wheel, turning left and right as he tried to gain enough traction. With that not working, either he partially transforms using different parts to drag himself forward, eventually escaping the deep mud.

"That was deep! I was beginning to wonder if I should call for a wrecker."

"I doubt Bulkhead or Wheeljack would've been much help." You let out a chuckle at his misunderstanding. "No, I mean a wrecker like a vehicle recovery truck. They're mainly used for semi recovery." He grunts in recognition, continuing down the road.

The lights of a main road shine up ahead, and you breathe an unconscious sigh of relief when he rolls onto the asphalt. It's obvious, however, just how much mud is stuck to his tires as he unevenly drives down the road. As you continue looking forward, you spot an empty car wash.

"How about we stop at this car wash so I can spray you down?"

"Agreed, my tires aren't getting enough traction with this mud." He pulls into the semi sized wash bay and cuts his engine. The old car wash only has one working light in this bay, leaving it washed in a dim greenish-blue. Stepping out, you take the pressure washer in hand, immediately starting on his tires. The mud washes away relatively quickly, and before you know it, you're kneeling down, trying to spray his undercarriage clean.

The yellowish lights of an older pickup truck shine across you, and Magnus as a man pulls into the small lot. He parked next to the air pump, stepping out onto the glossy wet pavement. The rain had finally settled down quite a bit.

As you continued your spraying, the man was clearly watching you as he stood there a moment. He suddenly called out to you, gaining your attention. "Hey ma'am! Do you need some help?"

You wiped water from your face as you stood to face him. "No sir, I'm fine, thanks!" The man started walking over when you turned your back to him. Alarms rang in Magnus' processor, so he switched on his holoform. Opening the driver's side door, he stepped out, making eye contact with the approaching man. Immediately upon seeing Magnus, he turned on his heels and walked back to his truck to put air in his tires.

Boots hitting the concrete drew your attention. You were met with an older man, probably in his late forties, his hair just beginning to grey and dressed in battle fatigues. He was clean-shaven and standing with his hands behind his waist as a general would.

"That you Magnus?" He only nods, watching the man as he finally gets back in his truck, driving away. Magnus turns to you as you finish spraying his undercarriage clean. "That feel better?"

"Yes, thank you, y/n." Noticing your slight shivering, he turns on his thermals again. You're a tad colder than you were back at base, and clearly, the spray of the hose dampened your clothes. The cool breeze didn't help much either. After spraying a clean path to his passenger door and cleaning your shoes, you step up inside again.

Glancing at his surroundings, he steps up into the driver's seat. Pulling forward, he drives into the dark, secluded rear of the car wash to park. As you rub your arms in an attempt to get warm, you give him a confused look. His seat slides back as far as possible, and he pats his lap.

"You want me to get in your lap?"

"You're cold, aren't you? It's the least I can do for that wash down." You bite your lip as you think it over. Caving, you clamber over to him, straddling his legs with your hands on his chest. Gently and a bit unsure of yourself, you lean forward, wrapping your arms around his neck as you lay against him. His holoform is warm to your surprise but not as much as a human. You nuzzle into his neck, closing your eyes at the comforting feeling of his presence. Arms wrap around your back, and you let out a content sigh, relaxing your muscles.

He feels your body loosen as your breath tickles his holoform skin. He wraps his arms around you and lets himself relax as well.

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A few minutes pass, and you can't help but fidget a little with his uniform buttons. "What are you doing?" His deep voice close to your ear sends a shiver down your spine. And you can feel your body react to him. Gently, you press your lips against his neck, taking him by surprise.

He sucks in a synthetic breath as you place more tender kisses on his skin. "Would it be alright if I switched holoforms?" You pause, leaning back to look him in the eyes. "You have a different holoform?" Now you were curious, would it be this human with different clothes or something else? "I can project a holoform of my true body as well as this human form."

Perhaps he wanted to do this in his true form rather than some human version of himself. It was understandable. You wouldn't want to do something intimate in another body either. You smile and nod, letting him know you were ok with it and his holoform morphs before your eyes.

That familiar blue, red, and silver body sits under you as solid as ever. When you shift in his lap, you brush against his modesty panel, sending a small jolt of pleasure through your nerves. His servos land on your waist, and you press your forhead against his in a sign of affection.

"What would you like me to do next?" His question has you smiling, giving him a soft chuckle. "Just do what feels right, Magnus."

"Mmh, alright then." He takes your jaw in his servo, pulling you in for a kiss. It's gentle at first, both of you unsure about yourselves but slowly you get into a rhythm of sorts. His glossa ran over your teeth, asking for entry, which you obliged. His denta clashed against your teeth as the kiss grew frantic. Subconsciously, you scooted forward, sitting right on his modesty panel. His servo gripped your rear, lifting you slightly as you heard feint clicks. When you sat back down His modesty panel wasn't there anymore instead replaced by a spike of sorts. Rounded and pliable like some kind of silicone covered metal. It was dark charcoal grey with feint blue lights running along it.

A mad blush covers your face and ears as you look back up at him. He also looks nervous and can't keep eye contact with you. "I apologize y/n I didn't mean for that to happen." For once, you can hear nerves in his voice. He's normally so calm and collected much like Optimus.

Gaining confidence at his nervousness, you give him a peck on the lips, sliding off his lap. You strip in front of him all the way down to bare skin. His glowing eyes scan your body in awe as you gingerly slip back into his lap. "You're gorgeous. I don't know any femmies that even come close to your beauty." You almost tear up at his compliments.

He lets his servos roam your skin as he moves to kiss your neck. Small sounds escape your throat as he caresses your abdomen and deftly touches your spine. You position yourself on his spike, moving your hips back and forth to gain some pleasure. He groans in your ear as you rub yourself on him. Your slick leaks on him lubricating him for the next step.

When he breaks away from your neck, you kiss him again and sit up on your knees above him. "Are you certain you want to go through with this?" Your gaze is dark with arousal as you nod to him. You split yourself open, gently aligning him with your entrance as you finally sink down.

He hisses, cursing in cybertronian at the feeling of you around him. You let out a pitiful whine as he stretches you, filling you perfectly. You grip his shoulders to ground yourself as you both stay still for a moment. Relaxing your muscles, you slip just a bit further down to the base of him as he grips your hips tight.

When he attempts to move, you wrap your arms around his neck, gripping one of his ear finials. He moves his servos to your rear, lifting you up only to thrust back into you. Moans quickly flow from your lips as he gets into rhythm. A growl escapes him as he leans forward, getting out of the seat. With you he shimmys to his back cabin, laying you on the folding cot.

He gets on top of you and moves the pillow under your hips before slipping back inside you with a pleasured groan. You let out a gasp when he plunges back in, the different angle providing new pleasure. As he thrusts harder, you lock your legs around his waist and claw at his back plates. You can feel the coil inside you tightening as your muscles squeeze around his spike.

"Magnus... Harder!" Immediately, his hips snap harder into yours, and you feel your coil about to snap. It's only when he whispers to you something in cybertronian gripping the meat of your rear that it finally snaps. You call out his name as your body tenses, waves of white hot pleasure running through you.

He continues moving through your high, letting possesive synthetic growls slip through his vocalizer. An almost inaudible hiss of air meets your ears as your mind clears a bit, and you suddenly feel his girth increase inside you. It stretches you just a bit more, and you already feel another orgasm slowly creeping up on you.

Magnus isn't slowing down yet either as he lifts one of your legs to gain a better angle. His lips attacking your neck again as he chases his own release. His denta nip at your skin, and his glossa runs along your throat, making you shiver.

You feel his arms around you as he suddenly picks you back up, taking a standing position. He thrusts up into you, letting out what you can only guess is cybertronian dirty talk. Nonetheless, it works, and you know you're close to another release. Chanting his name like a mantra, you claw at his back and grip his finials.

"I'm close y/n!" You can't respond only letting moans flow from your lips. With a few more thrusts, he lets out a hiss cursing in cybertronian again as he releases inside you. Heat fills your womb as you squeeze him like a vice. Your legs tighten around him in an attempt to pull him further inside you. You can feel your walls pulse around him as he gently thrusts into you to ride out your high.

Breathing hard, you give him a sleepy smile touching forheads again in affection. He sits back in the driver's seat, letting you lay against him. "Can we stay here for a bit?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." Wrapping your arms around his neck, you close your eyes. "I love you, Magnus." His spark swells with joy at that. "I love you as well, y/n."

[jpitha]

Just a Little Further 32

Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

This time at least, I expect the tinkle of debris on the hull.

We come out around the same debris cloud as before. Oh, I bet Raaden might be interested in this. I call out on the PA “Raaden, please come up to the Command Deck, this might interest you.”

As we glide silently away from the Gate, Raaden pads up, still in her sweats. “Yes, Empress?” I gesture at the forward screen, showing the destroyed planet and debris field. “Welcome to the Wilds of Besmara. This is the other system we visited before we came to Reach of the Might of Vzzx.”

I will admit a certain small amount of satisfaction that I was able to render such a jaded expert in spaceflight speechless. She stared at the image, mouth agape for a few seconds before catching herself. “What happened here?” She turned to me “Did you do this?”

“No. This is how FarReach found it. We don’t know what happened, but when we got close to the Starbase in the system, some kind of field enveloped us. It was trying to pull us in.”

“How did you escape?”

“FarReach used juke charges to spin us around and we fired the Stardrive at 2gee to overload the field. We were able to escape.”

“I would have just found the source of the emitter and fired on it.”

“That was going to be what we did, but I received like… an impression or a feeling from the Starbase warning us not to do that. It was almost done in a commanding Voice like mine. Regardless, this time we’re going to let the field pull us in.”

Raaden looks at me and then back at the ruined starbase and planet and then back at me. “Why?”

“I want to go aboard the Starbase. I need to see who lives here and if they need help. Clearly this place used to have a planet, but it’s long gone. FarReach’s thermal scans showed that there were people aboard, but not too many. I don’t know how they’re eating or surviving. According to the Nanites I carry, the Wilds used to be a thriving planet and Starbase pair housing over a billion people.”

“Wait, ‘according to the Nanites?’” Raaden walks over to an empty station and sits down, spinning the chair around so she can see us. Ava looks up from a sensor station, she was trying to learn more about the Starbase. “Melody…”

I look over at Ava and shrug. It’s not like she can use the information against us. “The Nanites - the nanomachines that give the Builders their abilities - talk to me.”

“Bullshit.”

“How did you think I did it Raaden? Magic? The air all over here is thick with nanomachines. That's why your earplugs didn't do anything, it was long past that having any kind of affect. The memories and feeling are a part of the Empress package I have. They say that they contain the recorded memories and impressions of previous Empresses. That each Empress would upload them regularly-“ I don’t mention how exactly. I don’t need her escaping and touching a directory stone “-and if or when a new Empress needed to be made, they would get the memories. It’s supposed to be like… an incorruptible advisor I think. They help you rule.”

“So you have… an AI made out of nanomachines in your blood, giving you advice?” Raaden’s face says it all.

“I don’t think they’re intelligent, no. They’re more like… a database or a wiki. And they only know what the previous Empress knew up to the last upload. For example, I don’t know what happened to the Wilds, this happened after the last upload. The Nanites were the ones who told me how the Wilds were a large and thriving colony. They were as surprised as I was to see this.”

“Do any of the other Builder's Nanites… talk to them?”

“No. I get… feelings? Impressions? About things, but no voices.” Ava shakes her head. When I first told her about it, she thought it was kind of odd too. I mean, I guess it is kind of odd.

Raaden shakes her head. "What else do these Nanites do?"

"Well I have an amazing ability to read body language now. I wonder if it's a part of my language processing ability too. I can effectively understand any language spoke to me, but I can only reply in languages I know, and the original Builder tongue."

Raaden glances at Ava and then back at me. "So any language?"

"Yes?"

"It doesn't have to be a language you - or the Nanites - have heard before?"

"Not that I know of, no."

"Okay, now I'm impressed." Raaden laughs lightly.

Ava frowns and looks at both of us. "Raaden, all Builders get that ability. I can understand your conversation."

"I had a hunch. Don't worry Ava, I was already Ordered to be good, and good I shall be. I might use this ability to brush up on my own language skills though. I was skeptical until I started speaking French and you both rolled with it without blinking."

"You know French?"

"I like French comics. The French have had an amazing history of comics for a long, long time. It takes forever for them to get translated into Colonic for off-Earth consumption and most of the old ones never get translated."

A railfan and likes French comics. Better be careful Melody, Raaden is starting to humanize herself. But why does she support such a barbaric and fascist government? Why is she so cruel when she's in command?

"Anyway, we're off track. So sometime between the last Empress upload and now that-" Raaden pointed at the ruined planet "-happened yes? And you want to go and try and find out how and why?"

"Yes. That's why were here."

She shrugs and turns back to the front display.

I look up at the ceiling. "How are we looking Omar?"

"We're cruising along Melody. We've exited the debris field near the Gate and are headed towards the Starbase. Scanners find no evidence of FarReach by their drive exhaust or any other telltales. I think they were telling the truth when they said they were just going straight home."

"I can't wait to get the chance to show FarReach all that we've accomplished here when we come back."

Raaden laughed. "You're going to go back? You can't go back Empress."

"What? Why can't I go back? I would like to open up a dialog with other worlds and colonies and independent Starbases. We have things to trade, we could take on volunteers. I don't see what's so strange about it."

Raaden is unbelieving. She thinks I'm joking. "You don't see what's so strange about a human who can order people to do something and they are forced to obey? Empress, you are being naive. The moment you Voice someone on that side of the Galaxy you are going to catch a long range bullet or a brace of long range missiles. It won't even be Venus that does it, it'll be K'lax."

"More propaganda from the Venusian." I say bitterly. That was probably unfair of me, but I'm upset. Why wouldn't I be able to go back?

Raaden puts her leg down and sits up straight in her chair and pivots to face me. "Empress. I am being one hundred percent honest with you when I say that if we believed the reports about your Voice the Emperor would have ordered me to destroy the Reach of the Might of Vzzx the moment we traversed the gate. No fanfare, no warning, no nothing. Pop out of the gate, missiles until you're destroyed, pop back in. You do not realize how dangerous you are over there."

"Dangerous? Why am I dangerous?"

"Oh. My. Gods. You really don't see it?" She looks at Ava with a pleading expression. "Is this a joke? Does she not see it?" Ava glares but says nothing. Raaden looks at Starlight. "You. Aviens. Starlight. You understand what I am referring to right?"

Starlight turns away and nods. "I think I know what you are referring to, yes, Archduke."

"Empress, after being subjected to your Voice, I understand your title it not some lofty, bombastic aspirational title set by a tinpot dictator. Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems means that if anyone gets close enough to you, they are your subject. No ifs, ands, or buts. You are literally the undeniable. If you use your Voice, someone cannot disobey. You already showed that by ordering Max to stop breathing. Thank you for allowing him to breathe again by the way. He didn't have anything to do with the bombs, nobody onboard did. They're a standard Venus practice." She looks at the screen showing the ruined Starbase and then back at us and continues.

"Do you know what the all of the governments back home will do when they learn that you not only have that power, but are coming back to leverage it? They will come together like never before. Venus will work with AIs, the K'laxi will work with the Xenni, the Independent Starbases will work with the Colonies."

"They will all work together to destroy you. Before you can destroy them."

"I wouldn't hurt any of them! I can't believe this!" This is really upsetting. Raaden thinks that the moment I go back over there I'm going to declare myself Empress of that side of the Galaxy too.

Raaden runs her hands through her close cropped blonde hair. "Melody. You're not getting it. If you want to survive you had better take over."

"What?"

"You had better go over there guns blazing and Voice screaming. The only way you'll survive is if you take up the mantle you've been given and actually rule the Galaxy. The only other alternative is death. Probably by assassination."

I'm struck speechless. Raaden of all people is practically ordering me to take over the Galaxy? Why?

Ava's voice is quiet. "I can't believe I'm saying this but... Raaden is right, Melody. If you don't go to take over, everyone will be so frightened that you could take over, they won't wait for you to try it. They'll just kill you on sight. There is probably quietly a kill on sight order or you among the AIs already."

Raaden nods. "Almost certainly."

Starlight looks awkward. Their feathers ruffle in waves. "Empress, er, I concur with Builder Ava and Archduke Raaden. You cannot leave anyone in question to your legitimacy. If you do not want to rule the entire galaxy, your only other solution is to systematically destroy the Gates on that side. Prevent them from getting here easily and they might not assassinate you."

I feel the ground slipping away from my feet. Can't go home? Will get killed? This can't be right. "Of course you'd say that, Raaden."

Raaden throws up her hands. "Remember, I'm just the prisoner here Empress. I can't even call you anything other than Empress. Why would I try and trick you? For one, you ordered me not to with your Voice. For two, if I did you'd just kill me. I have absolutely no reason to do anything other than be truthful. Empress, if you go back, you will be killed. Not only that, but Starjumpers and Dreadnoughts by the dozen will come to this side of the galaxy and obliterate every Starbase left here. Unless you plan on taking over, don't go home. Ever."

She's not lying. She can't lie. Not to me. I told her not to. She can't undermine the mission, I told her not to. I told her. I told her.

If I go home, I will cause the deaths of everyone over here.

Just then, there's a rumble and we feel the pull of acceleration.

"Melody, the field has just enveloped us, just like last time. We're being pulled towards the Wilds."

Finally, something to pull me back to the here and now. I can concentrate on this and worry about me accidentally killing everyone later. "Thanks Omar, for now, let's let it us pull us. Keep an eye out for weapons targeting and for other things that we should know about. Are we getting any radio signals?"

"No, nothin- wait. Yes, I think we're being pinged."

"Open a channel please."

As Omar activates the radio and it scans for the signal being sent to us, there's a squeal and a hiss of static. The noise calms down and there is... a voice. It's hard to make out in the static, but Omar tries to focus the receiver and it gets tinny, but clearer.

"Who is approaching? Identify yourself."

"This is High Line, operated by the Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Melody the First. We would like permission to dock and come aboard. We come from Reach of the Might of Vzzx and would like to open a dialog."

There is a long pause after I make my announcement. I wonder for a moment if we've lost radio contact when I hear a different voice.

"Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems Melody the First? How intriguing. Permission to board has been granted. We shall direct you to a working umbilical and will meet you."

The Radio connection is cut and Ava and look on her screen. "Yes, it looks like we're being steered. I wonder if we have such a field and it's just offline or unused. It might be useful to have. Also, why do you suppose the voice changed."

"I'm sure it was some radio operator who started, and then the real authority was put on to grand our landing." Raaden lounges in her chair, one leg over an armrest. "Smaller Starbases and Stations can sometimes require administrator approval, especially if the Administrator is somewhat of a Tyrant. She looks up at me, but her expression changes when she sees my face. "Empress, what's wrong?"

At that Ava's head shoots up and she looks worried. "What did you hear, Melody? You look like you saw a ghost."

"That other person? The one who gave us permission to dock?"

"That was Janais, the previous Empress."

Part 33

[eruden-writes]

The Unexpected Human Problem - Part 21 (Yautja x Human)

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Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5| Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 (coming soon)

CW: Violence, blood, death.

Tag list: @ajarofpickledtears, @boogeysmothth

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Early chapters available on Patreon for my patrons! ;)

(Yes, Part 22 is already available on there.)

Comments, tags, and reblogs are real motivators for me, too! ♥

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Summary: The night her abductors die, Rayelle finds herself running for her life. She doesn’t know where she is, what is following her, where to go. All she knows is she’s not on Earth any longer and the thing chasing her has the capacity to kill.

Tai'dqei never anticipated finding a human when he took the job of tracking and subduing a small contingent of smugglers. It was only when the human attacked and fled fled, Tai'dqei - hopped up on the euphoria of a successful hunt - gave chase, instinct burning at his center.

Will sense return to Tai'dqei before he catches Rayelle? Or will Rayelle be subjected to the yautja’s natural inclinations?

And what happens afterwards?

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It was always easier to covertly sneak into a place when chaos consumed it. Everyone else was too focused on solving the more dire problem, they didn't remain alert to new, unseen, issues that may creep up. Not that he wasn't proficient in sneaking. With the cloaking technology and the thermal netting - which made his exterior ambient while retaining heat on the inside - Tai'dqei already had a leg up on even the most observant watcher.

Luckily, that's how he found the resort on Rerli 3, after a long trek from where he landed his cloaked ship. It took no effort to sneak through the doors, as random aliens darted in and out, shouting orders and seemingly searching for something. Or someone.

Like a phantom, Tai'dqei scouted out the resort in silence, sidestepping rushing bodies and slinking into rooms with open doors.

It didn't take him long to find out Rayelle had been correct on a number of points.

The staff were androids, he found, after stumbling into a tech repair area. Replacement android parts, from face to limbs, lined the shelves. Apparently the staff had been recently hacked by the alien forces filling the halls. That, or the whole resort was a fucking front. That thought made a growl threaten to spill from his throat, but Tai'dqei clamped down on it.

However, the agitation swarming the resort wasn't an event planning sort of excitement. There was a sharper edge to the air, a sense of fright and chaos, of surprise and lividness. Which soothed Tai'dqei's concerns a little. Even if the resort was a front, whatever they had planned had gone awry. He faintly wondered if it was Rayelle, but shoved the thought away.

He'd find out, eventually. But barely contained himself as he silently trailed others until he located a security office.

When he finally did slip into security, Tai'dqei got some of the answers he sought.

Various parts of the resort reflected on various holo screens. However, two were enlarged and being watched by the two Canoid guards seated in front of the console.

"They seriously disconnected it from the systems?" One laughed, apparently having just sat down since the chair creaked beneath his muscular bulk.

"Yeah, apparently there's a mechanical override mechanism on the door." The other was smaller, lither. But still had muscles flex as they motioned to a particular video rectangle. "They can still open and close it themselves, but outsiders can't do shit."

Tai'dqei silently edged closer, steps silent. He peered at the indicated screen, seeing if he could spot Rayelle. All he saw were fuzzy images of presumed humans.

"Shit, these humans really planned, huh?" The first one chuckled, throwing an arm behind their chair as they settled and barely missing the invisible mass of Tai'dqei. "Thought they were clueless."

The other barked an uncharacteristically deep laugh for such a small frame. With a clawed finger, they pointed to another, smaller screen. 'Outside 1950s Bunker' blinked in the corner of the screen. "Yeah, well, y'see the angry mess of tentacles there?"

They pointed to a blob on the screen. A blob that the invisible Tai'dqei knew very well. He knew those writhing masses were vines with sprouting thorns and that, beneath all that, Zav seethed.

The other guard leaned forward with a mean sort of laugh. "Is that bossman?"

"Yeah," gossiped the other, their lips crooked in a smirk. "I heard he went full aggro mode after one of the tits carved his face up with a knife or some shit."

Tai'dqei's attention spun to the gossiper, his eyes widening. Was that something Rayelle would do? Her immediate response to meeting an intimidating yautja was to attack and run. The deduction wouldn't be too unwarranted.

The two guards laughed together for a moment, still unaware of Tai'dqei's presence. He was beginning to consider killing the two, in order to get further with his own investigation, when a disembodied voice hissed from the guards' own wrist gauntlets, "Hey, you two. You're needed out by the 1970s kitchen. We think someone's holed up in the vent there."

Both of them sighed, as if put-upon, and rose from their chairs. In reply, one of them issued back, "Right, right. Heading there now."

And just like that, the two left their post. Even leaving the security office unlocked.

Tai'dqei watched them go, mentally haranguing them for lacking awareness. But, if they hadnt' been so unaware of him, he'd never get the answers he sought. Turning back to the security footage, he crept closer to the screens.

One was indeed Zav, in full offensive mode, at the bottom of the screen. When the Florizian became utterly enraged, his form shifted. Tai'dqei hadn't seen it that often, but he recognized the spiky, flailing vines and massive growth of the body well enough. It appeared Zav was snarling at a door or wall.

Whatever or whoever on the other side likely wasn't opening up, any time soon.

On the other screen was the insides of what was labeled 'Interior 1950s Bunker' in the lower corner. It was tightly packed, filled with humans. None of them looked into the camera. Tai'dqei wasn't even sure they knew a camera was there.

He scanned frantically, seeking her. In the far edges of the screen, he saw other humans leaning over prone companions. Faintly, Tai'dqei wondered if Rayelle had been hurt. Was she lying prone, needing more medical help than what an aid kit could provide? Or worse?

Finally, his eyes found her - crouched in the corner of the room, nearest the door - and he involuntarily gave a relieved chuff. The quality of the vid didn't allow Tai'dqei to judge her expression. Her body language, on the other hand, appeared tired and strained. Of course, that was only to be expected, if she took part in - or orchestrated - this chaos.

His main concern assuaged a fraction, Tai'dqei turned to his wrist gauntlet. It took longer than he liked to find a satellite to ping his message off of, while also making sure no one became aware of his presence, but he eventually managed. As soon as his encrypted communique shot into space, calling in reinforcements with an explanation of the circumstances, Tai'dqei turned back to the security console.

A number of options spun about his head, but it didn't take long to choose one. He needed to ruin the system, make it impossible for the enemy to utilize security capabilities.

Removing a gadget from his belt, Tai'dqei slapped it to the side of the computer. Released from their container, the nanobots ate into the metal of the console, on their way to destroying the system from the inside out. Tai'dqei cast one more look at the screens, trying to make sense of the layout and locating the power grid and generators.

Once that was done, he was going to rain hell on anyone non-human.

Then, with the dangers taken care of, he'd find Rayelle.

Tai'dqei slid from the security office, purpose and plan in place.

A yautja's fury was something to behold. And these fuckers were about to beholden it.

—

At first, Rayelle thought they were trying to smoke out the AWOL humans. Lights dimmed, a cacophony of different alarms sounded before draining away, as if their batteries had died over the course of minutes. More frantic panic bled into the bunker from the halls. Screams and trotting feet, most of it drawing away from their shelter.

Then more shouts as bodies and feet rushed the other way, past the door to the bunker. Some of the hollering ended abruptly, but Rayelle couldn't determine if it was due to voluntary or involuntary means.

Looking out over the others sheltering with her, everyone seemed to wear a similar concerned expression.

Something was wrong.

Well, something else was wrong.

Nervousness skittered across her skin, forcing her to stand from her crouch. Fright jolted through her when the lights fully gave up, plunging everything into darkness. Although the slow blinking of emergency lights, charged from a generator or emergency supply somewhere, illuminated the world. The red hues, fading in and out of the dark, weren't helping the growing anxiety.

"What the fuck is going on?" Abe asked, his voice warbling between a concerned whisper and a bruque snarl.

"I think something else is happening," Rayelle answered, cutting through the hushed theories. "Beyond our little rebellion."

A hesitantly hopeful tone came from Lisa, "Do you think someone's alien-in-shining-armor answered the calls?"

As it turned out, Rayelle wasn't the only human who had been brought to the resort by an alien. Hell, some of the others had done more with their traveling companions than she even thought about with Tai'dqei. She didn't even understand why some had parted ways, if she was being honest.

Trying to shove the small envious whispers in her head aside, Rayelle shrugged and sighed. "Don't know. When I got here, I couldn't send a message out, so it would've had to be before everything happened."

Whatever anyone else was going to say in reply was interrupted as a scream rent through the air. It was very, very close.

Something slammed bodily against the door. More cries and shrieks tore through the air, making many of the people in the bunker wince or cover their ears. Good thing, Rayelle thought, as she thought she heard the schluck of metal slicing flesh and the spill of copious amounts of blood. Of course, she strained her ears to hear that much and it could have been paranoia playing tricks on her.

Carefully, she crept closer to the door again.

Zav, who apparently hadn't abandoned the viewport as others rushed by, dodged when a body thumped against the door. He swung around, his tendrils riled, flexing along his body like enraged worms. Rayelle pressed her face to the glass, straining her eyes to see what - or who - Zav addressed, but she saw nothing in the red-black darkness.

Something tickled at the back of her memories. Wanting attention, but for the life of her she couldn't grasp it. Her attention was too focused on what was happening in the hall.

She didn't have a chance to focus on anything as Zav, with ridiculous speed, threw himself at the invisible foe.

Behind her, Abe hovered, squinting into the darkness. "Was there a gas leak or something? He literally went off after nothing."

Rayelle narrowed her eyes, focusing on the vague shape of Zav, scrambling and flailing down the hall. She angled her vantage point to continue watching him. Judging from his movements, he was attempting to fight something. His tendrils shot out with intention, slapped in a direction. She thought she spotted huge thorns shot across the corridor, spraying across something that seemed to glitter in the shadows.

"I don't think so," Rayelle said as she focused further on Zav and his surrounding area.

His writhing vines whipped around faster. Seeking, striking something in the shadows. In the dark and in the throbbing red light, Rayelle had a hard time seeing anything. But she saw Zav's tentacles connect, a spray of that glittery reaction, and darkness again.

Finally, Zav seemed to feel assured of his opponent's location, charging their body across the corridor and...

Out of Rayelle's line of sight.

For a long breath, she stood at the door, struggling to see or hear anything. The shape of a shadow. The faint footfalls beyond. She closed her eyes, trying to pinpoint any sound outside the shelter. Every breath, every fidget, every shift inside the bunker irritated her as she strained.

There was nothing. Or she just couldn't hear anything.

Then, faintly, there was a shriek. Enraged, angry.

And another sound. Faint.

So faint, her mind could be playing tricks.

She willed herself to focus on it, to hear it. Through the heavy walls, she thought she heard a familiar clicking gnarl.

—

After arguing briefly with the others, Rayelle finally was allowed to poke her head outside and around the door. The silence in the corridor was even eerier after all the commotion. She took a tentative step out, armed with a fire extinguisher. Her nostrils flared, mingling scents of bitterness and copper tinged the air. Something wet and sticky slicked against her shoes and she forced herself not to look. Goosebumps lit across her flesh as she took another quiet step.

Slowly, she edged down the hall, in the direction Zav had gone. Tension wrought along her muscles, moving at a snail's pace in the alternating black-red world. Her mind twirled with a billion different explanations for what happened. An asteroid shower, an attack from another alien race, a natural disaster outside. Although, none of it really answered why Zav acted the way he had or the screams or the-

"I'll enjoy bending your little whore under me, Tai'dqei." Rayelle froze, hearing the Florizian's voice around the corner, perhaps fifty feet away. His tone wasn't the smooth, languid thing it was before. Like Zav, his voice became deep and thorny and filled with rage. Her grip tightened on the fire extinguisher as she peered slowly around the bend.

"I should have guessed she'd have a bit more bite, tagging along with you." It took Rayelle a moment to make sense of the forms in the lighting. Thankfully, Zav stood with his back to her. Briefly, she took a closer look at what the Florizian became. His lithe body was still there, but entangled in his mass of swollen, thorny tendrils. The vines whipped around, as if in a frenzy, seeking flesh and blood. She noticed there was some bright green liquid dripping from some of the appendages, but not enough for her to be concerned.

From the dark shadows near the ceiling, a warbling clicking growl was all the response Zav received. The sound sent a flash of electricity down her spine. Rayelle hazarded a glance to the dark, trying to make out the glint of armor or a telltale silhouette.

In her distraction, Zav inhaled deeply and spun toward her. "Speaking of your little slut..."

Tai'dqei hissed a curse to himself, his eyes darting to Rayelle's heat signature provided by his helmet. Why did she have to come out now? This made dispatching Zav harder, considering the Florizian had a faint ability to sense another's presence. It likely had something to do with breathing, but Tai'dqei wasn't entirely sure.

His stomach twisted, seeing how small the human was compared to Zav.

Rayelle's eyes widened as she took in the Florizian's large eyes, black as death and reflecting the fading red light. Dark ooze escaping between his serrated teeth. Was that blood? Or did he emit a vicious poison from his maw? She stumbled back a few steps, receiving an amused chortle from Zav.

"If you won't come out to play, Tai'dqei," Zav launched himself at Rayelle, hands and tendrils extended, "Maybe I'll play with her instead."

Tai'dqei let loose a snarl, heart thrumming as he launched himself down from the rafters of the corridor. Even in his mental calculations, he knew he couldn't reach either before they collided. He'd already used up so many of his projectile weapons, just from culling the others.

Frozen, Rayelle watched as the writhing mass of rage closed the distance in such a short amount of time. A wicked smile spread over his features, a delighted cruelty bright in his eyes. Rayelle didn't react until she could feel the balmy heat of the Florizian almost upon her. Her instincts blazed to the forefront as she registered a snarl from above.

Just as Zav was about to encapsulate her in vines and hands and teeth - Tai'dqei's stomach lurching at the image - she smashed the extinguisher against the side of his face, a primal scream falling from her lips. The extinguisher made a deep 'twung' on contact, metal slamming into flesh. Vibrations rolled up her arms, making her bones shudder.

Zav let loose a shrieky squawk, surprised by the sudden retaliation. His trajectory veered and slowed from instinct and a necessity to reconsider the situation.

Rayelle wasn't about to give him a chance to recover.

With another feral scream, she slammed the butt of the extinguisher into Zav's head, over and over. Until the metal became slick in her hands and she resorted to lengthwise bashing again. She ignored the vines that tried to wrap around her weapon, her arms, her body.

Tai'dqei had to force himself to focus, offering silent redirection to Zav's attacking tentacles, as she carried on her assault. Part of him watched her with admiration of her capability and savagery. Another part of him flaring with that familiar, aching need to have her be his.

Only partly, Rayelle realized something invisible was intercepting or slicing the entangled appendages from her, the vines writhing and falling to the floor. Otherwise, she was too incensed to notice the vines, as the sound of metal crunched soggily against cartilage or bone and flesh.

Zav crumpled lower and lower to the floor, her strikes followed him. Her thoughts swarmed with fury and resentment and ire. Over her own circumstances, over the muddied situations of others, over how many lives had been affected by this horny selfish asshole and others.

Warm blood splattered over her clothes, her arms, her face. Thankfully, none of it caustic and burning. She didn't stop until her arms ached and trembled and Zav was hunched over on the ground. Taking a step back, her breaths heaved as she took a look at her work.

Liquid pooled around her feet, more of that scent of cut grass filtering into her nose. Detached vines, some writhing and some still, covered the tiles. Rayelle had just lowered the extinguisher and stepped back when Zav jerked upright suddenly. He gave a strange tri-toned hissing shriek as he lunged.

She should have known he'd be as sturdy as a weed. Even with his face mangled and teeth chipped and bones or cartilage jutting his flesh into painful angles, his hatred fueled him.

Whatever he was intending to do, whatever her instincts braced Rayelle for, never came. Her eyes widened as Zav's face split in two, before she realized an invisible blade had cleaved the Florizian's head in twain. Invisible heft slammed into Zav, grappling the alien down to the floor.

She watched in wide-eyed horror as Zav's torso seemed to split open on its own, more dark blood spraying and oozing across the floor. He howled and gurgled and retched, body jerking and flexing, before suddenly seizing. The edges of his tendril-hair seemed to wither as Zav took one last, wheezy breath, and fell still.

There was another hiss of unseen metal on flesh and Zav's head fell lax from their neck.

Instinct, fear, adrenaline. It all pumped through Rayelle, wildly trying to register what had just happened. The air shifted in front of her. She didn't know how she knew. Maybe it was lighting or shadow, but it reared up her fight or flee instinct.

With a surprised half-yell, Rayelle slammed the extinguisher into the invisible force, despite her protesting muscles. There was a grunt on impact, before a cascade of flickering lights revealed who she had hit. As the slow blinking red lights illuminated his helmet, her eyes widened.

Something was wrong though. Rayelle got the sense Tai'dqei glowered at her behind his visor, his shoulders tensed. Her gaze flicked over his body, wondering if it wasn't him, if she had mistaken a different yautja for her former traveling companion. For the most part, his form felt familiar. If only the damned lights weren't red and she could tell for certain.

"Tai'dqei?" Rayelle gasped softly, hoping for a confirmation while her heart still pounded. Was this actuality? Or had she suffered from so much stress, she was imagining things? Though fluorescent green blood oozed from various points on his face and body. The amount of other, unidentified, liquid - presumably alien blood - far exceeded his own.

It took all of Tai'dqei's willpower to not pounce on the woman, especially as she said his name so breathlessly. Two streams of thought diverged on what they'd do to Rayelle though. One side just wanted to hold her close, check her over for injuries. The other wanted to tear her clothes off and feel her soft heat under him, as he plunged into her. He couldn't stop his low gurgling growl as it resonated in his chest.

Rayelle's eyes wheeled back to his face, watching how his mandibles flexed, opening and closing. The low snarl made something in her center dip. Not with fear or with disgust. Now, she was more than certain it was her companion. She took a wobbly stem toward him, fire extinguisher still gripped in hand. Her free hand rose, intending to touch his arm. "What's wrong?"

Rayelle froze in place as Tai'dqei snarled a singular word. "Run."

[mangoisms]

ok here are my current thoughts on ck and tim’s silly goose-ness and steph’s very low tolerance to it

aka an excuse to introspect on their past relationship and also my first ever attempt to write a canon character’s pov which might or might not be good so! You Have Been Warned

(also excuse any typos LOL)

“What do you think you’re doing?”

A slow blink. “Updating Redbird’s security protocols?”

The garage of Tim’s townhouse smells sharply of oil and rubber. But he isn’t elbow-deep in the engine today, just seated off to the side, laptop perched on his lap and hooked up to its system. ‘Updating’ it. God knows why. The Redbird’s security protocols are just as stringent as the Batmobile’s.

Jason once regaled them with his plan, way back when, to blow it up. Bruce included. And how he went about it.

“It’s got safeguards like crazy, right? Even when it’s idle or shut down. Come up to it, fire a gun, launch a missile—doesn’t matter. Not gonna touch it before the security protocols kick in. It can sense you on thermal, air currents, video recognition, all of it.”

“So, how’d you get past it?”

“SEAL-grade wetsuit. Invisible to thermal with reflection fibers that play hell with video. But the biggest thing? Going slow. And I mean slow. Like five seconds per inch slow.”

The insane attention to detail and paranoia runs in the family, obviously.

Tim had sat in for that. Stephanie remembers the look on his face. Begrudging respect, combined with a familiar twitchiness that told her he was absolutely dying to run out and start updating his stuff.

Question everything. That’s what Bruce says.

Tim tries to separate himself from it. He really does. It gets tiring, exhausting, to live like that. But old habits die hard and his big brain precedes him sometimes. Wondering at the possibilities, at the million-in-one scenarios.

Ordinarily, Stephanie has more sympathy for him. Really. But right now, after your phone call about his little visit to Circle K…

She’s pissed.

“Don’t play dumb,” she says, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

“What is it that I’m playing dumb about?” he asks, averting his attention back to his laptop, keys clacking quickly, pausing momentarily as he takes a swig of Red Bull.

She tells him.

At the sound of your name, he stops.

But now that she’s started, she can’t stop. “Visiting her? As Red Robin? What are you thinking, Tim?”

The clack of keys resumes. The set of his gaze on the laptop screen is very intentional now. Avoiding her.

“It’s nothing, Steph,” he says and she almost believes it. But she knows him, so she doesn’t. “It’s harmless.”

“So, why won’t you hang out with us? Her? Because I assume you’re also avoiding her individually.”

A little sigh. Impatient. “I’m not avoiding her. I really was busy. Have been busy. You know how the heat messes with the city.”

It’s the excuse that bothers Stephanie.

Tim is making some kind of choice here. Choosing to favor Red Robin over himself, over Tim Drake, and it makes no sense. Red Robin isn’t your best friend. He isn’t even your favorite vigilante. (Black Canary is. She agrees, though it would be nice for Spoiler to get some spotlight but that is neither here nor there.)

You know who is your best friend? (One of them, anyway.)

Tim freakin’ Drake.

Stephanie knows why he’s avoiding you all of a sudden. The connection will be too easy to make. It’s why she—as Spoiler—keeps her distance. Tucks away her hair, hides her face even more, when she and Cass visit Circle K.

Even though! They had talked about telling you. Stephanie wanted to tell you so badly. You know who her father is. Was. You know how her mom used to be like. You know everything and you never once judged. You were, to be sure, a bit wary of them—the vigilantes—but most were. You wouldn’t turn them away if you knew.

If there is anything Stephanie knows, it is that.

But then she went away to Metropolis for a week and a half and suddenly, he’s visiting you as Red Robin. And he’s not trying to ease you into it, not trying to help you latch onto some clues, to make it easier—because they’d discussed that, too!—he’s doing it because… Well, she doesn’t really know. But there is a reason. She knows that much. A big reason.

It makes no sense to her, considering his feelings. Complicates things unnecessarily. Especially with how he’s avoiding you because of it, because he apparently got cold feet on telling you the truth.

And it’s the excuse… it’s the excuse that pisses her off.

Their relationship, back when they were kids, had some questionable origins. It did. Stephanie did things she wasn’t proud of. He did things he wasn’t proud of. It was messy. She tries not to kick herself about it—about being a silly girl in love, awed at the attention of a boy like Robin, knowing he was dating a girl (Ariana Dzerchenko, her name was, she would later find on) and making moves on him despite that, moves that he always, always went along with. Like two magnets that couldn’t help but fall together.

Don’t get her wrong! The blame is not solely on her. It’s on him, too. She shouldn’t have pushed. He shouldn’t have went along with it, knowing he had a girlfriend, too. He shouldn’t have held his knowledge of her identity over her head the way he did. He isn’t mean-spirited at heart but he had an advantage over her. He knew she was Stephanie Brown. She knew him only as Robin and nothing else. Not until later on that would change and that… that was another mess entirely.

But they were dumb and young. Stephanie tries not to hold it against herself. They know better now. She knows better now. Knows what she deserves.

But this feels too close to him crossing that line.

No, he has crossed that line.

Given one persona up for another.

Approaching you as Red Robin, while you know nothing of him, and doing god knows what…

Someone is going to get hurt.

Last time, it was him. The circumstances, Bruce’s unceremonious reveal of his identity to her—a mistake, an egregious overstep—it all culminated in Tim feeling betrayed. Betrayed that Bruce would reveal that to her without Tim’s say so, without even asking him if he was okay with her knowing. Betrayed that Stephanie went along with it.

This time?

Stephanie feels it in her bones.

The person who is going to get hurt is you.

You, clueless about these lives they lead, clueless as Tim monopolizes your time as Red Robin, all the while you have no idea it’s him. You, her best friend. Stephanie loves you to the end of the universe.

She doesn’t want to see you hurt.

The mere thought of it, of the potential fallout, leaves a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Steph. Steph, it’s fine.”

She blinks, coming back to herself. Tim is standing in front of her now, dark brows knitted together, blue eyes intent on her face. Concerned.

“You’re lying to her.”

“We’ve been lying to her.”

“Not like this,” she says quietly. “Not this way. You’re… This is too much, Tim. I don’t understand why you’re doing this. What happened?”

“Nothing,” he says. For what it’s worth, to anyone else, it sounds believable. But like she said. Stephanie knows him. For better or for worse.

And on that end, she also knows he is not going to budge. No matter how much Stephanie wants to drill this into him, grab him by the shoulders and make her point. Once he’s made a decision, he commits.

Or more like he’s dug himself into this grave and he doesn’t (can’t?) want to get out.

“This is a mistake,” she says. “And you know it. I just hope you actually try to fix it sooner rather than later. Because if you break her heart, I’m going to break something of yours.”

Stephanie loves Tim. He’s a great friend. They’ve had their ups and downs—even discounting their relationship—but they’re solid. They are.

But she loves you, too. So much so it sometimes feels like she’s going to burst with it. She’s never had something like that, like this, and in the end, she doesn’t want to choose, but Tim knows better. And because he knows better, you are her first priority.

Even worse, he doesn’t seem bothered by the threat. Relieved, if anything.

“I’m counting on it, Steph.”

Which is so unfair in so many ways (fix it, she wants to yell, don’t rely on me to come clean up when shit hits the fan—do it yourself!) but she’s had enough of this conversation and all the ways this can go wrong.

Maybe he will turn around. Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But she doesn’t think so. He won’t. Not until the consequences of this, of his lies, of his excuses, come hit him in the face.

She wishes it weren’t like that—knowing what it will result in.

But some things you just can’t change.

She knows better with Tim.

She really, really does.

[pretty-princess-jeremy]

Let's transform a 0 point 0 1 square meter space into a functional house. Mannequin Mark lived frugally and worked diligently in a woodworking business for two years managing to save up half a million to buy a house in New York.

However, upon moving in, he was shocked by how small it was, tripping upon walking in but was saved by his childhood eagle. He couldn't even fit his grandma's coffin.

Poor Mark had to tie himself up to the doorframe to get a proper night's rest. He would lay on his eagle's and cry. Eventually, he got sick of it and decided for renovation.

Now, let's explore how we can help Mannequin Mark transform it into a functional home.

First, we'll construct a durable frame using galvanized square steel anchored firmly to the wall with expansion screws borrowed from his aunt filled with grid steel bars and concrete for lasting strength.

We'll also install thermally broken aluminum windows, expanding the living space by 2 square meters.

Next, we'll build a multifunctional sitting platform on the floor with hidden storage underneath for bulky items, saving precious space and providing a seating area for Mark and his husband, Wallter. This platform doubles as a comfortable bed that can fit two people, surrounded by cushion panels in blue and yellow for a better rest.

We'll add a movable table on the bed to serve as both a workspace and dining area, with an outlet switch nearby for charging devices, making it perfect for work and meals.

After use, the table can be stored beside the bed, keeping the space organized. Add a projector and projector screen so he can watch his Korean Dramas.

We'll then construct a bedframe from galvanized square steel, enhancing its appearance with eco-friendly wood veneers.

Incorporate a pre-buried drainage system for convenience. Build a set of wall cabinets with a countertop drilled to embed a sink. Underneath, install a build in washing-machine to keep dirty laundry at bay.

Convert the countertop for dual use by placing an induction cooker for cooking, and install a mirror cabinet above. Next to the mirror, add a cabinet for spices and toiletries. Install a showerhead on the wall and an enlarged stand, allowing even space to ride a horse while showering.

Now his tiny space has everything he needs

"Did tou just send me an entire fucking home decor story or whatever. For MANNEQUIN_MARK.?"

[rifleseye]

Anatomy of a Microscope

I. Scope —

Perceptor’s scope has many different functions aside from the simple functionality of magnification. It functions as an Electron Microscope, laser imaging, and thermal imaging. His scope is directly connected to his nerve and optical net, functioning, essentially, as a third eye. He is able to disconnect it via connectors attached to his sensory net, however the process is arduous and requires nerve suppressants.

His scope is incredibly sensitive, similar to how an eyelid is, and is a No Touch Zone, no matter who you are.

II. Stabilizers —

The stabilizers on his forearms originally functioned as stabilizers for his scope. However after his near death experience he modified them so they could stabilize his entire arms. Functionally, his alt mode is useless for anyone else to use because of this. (Something he much prefers.)

Now, however, he completely removed their external component and they're stored entirely under his armor for internal manual control.

III. Tactile Sensors —

Perceptor has highly specialized tactile sensors in his fingers, meant for deconstructing the composition of any object on an atomic level. This was useful for when he was a metallurgist. Aside from his fingers, his crest is similarly sensitive. He can detect atmospheric changes, meant to circumvent any changes that might tamper with his scans due the atmosphere he’s in (or without.)

IV. Specialized Needles

—

The tips of Perceptor’s fingers can fold back revealing needles that also function as clippers. These were personal modifications he made when he acted as something of a medic for the Wreckers. He's kept these, and still uses them for particularly small specimens, though not as often.

V. Universal Emulator —

Perceptor has a universal emulator: what this means is that he has the unique ability of interfacing with any technology and acting as the admin of said tech. Hacking is very easy for him because of this, but he doesn't give it much use outside of situations that call for it. If removed his consciousness is transferred to it while his body remains dormant. As long as he isn't separated from his body for long he'll stay alive. After a certain point he’ll deteriorate and his body will slip into an irreversible coma. It acts as something of a secondary brain module, which is why he's able to consume so much information at once.

His emulator is located next to his fuel tank in his torso, think where the spleen would be in a human.

VI. Data Cables —

Modern microscopes, especially electron microscopes can connect to screens, and the data is often transferred to databases so other scientists can parse the information. I think it'd make sense that he'd have data cables. Before the war, microscopes were often paired up with computers because of this. There is often symbiotic relationships between microscopes and computers.

Like all Microscopes, Perceptor has data cables of his own. They're located under his backplates. He doesn't tend to use them much, however, as they have a strange interaction with his Universal Emulator.

Since his Emulator basically functions as a self preservation mechanic, when he hooks up to something with his cables an EMP is set off in. He has to go through a Process to sidestep the natural reaction and he doesn't like bothering with it. It wouldn't be that way if not for the early experiments Airies did when he was like Just Born, so it's more a result of The Horrors than his emulator.

Simultaneously, he cannot help but act as a sort of... trojan malware with them, uploading much of his own subroutines into whatever system he's connected to. This one is a direct result of his emulator.

VII. Weight Distribution System —

In order to counteract the weight of his scope and all that goes with it, he's got a complex system of weights and pullies throughout his body that, when in root mode, make his left side heavier (since his scope is on the right side) so he stays balanced, and when he transforms those weights even out.

[lensman-arms-race]

I thought I was the only one with TV People seeing infrared! I like that the hardware senses are inherently different and how they act are depending on that.

The problem though is that they might not be able to see each other's emoticons, can they?

Maybe not! I think a TV display in infrared would just look like plain glass, because the displayed images would have no effect on the screen temperature. (Unless it's a special thermal display, maybe?)

I think the emoticons are for the benefit of the camera-heads and the TV-heads don't need to see each others' displays. (Maybe they beam the emoticons to each other using something like the old Teletext system.)

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Read more on Govindhtech.com

[shaevilux]

hi this is probably my best short story i wrote it on my phone in one afternoon pls enjoy thank also ignore the bad formatting ok thank for real this time

Planetbound

A tale of the unplanned trajectory of one, Ijva’Yut Brie towards the planet Blivenn. Also the tale of one, Uribb Fliss and their slight incompetence in the face of grave emergency.

The planet was made for life to excel in. But these days there was not much there. A million inhabitants distributed and clustered across the three main continents. The lush greens of forests and the dark navy of the vast oceans and the intermittent spirals of white clouds that one would see out of the spacecraft window would remind one of the brochures about zoological preservatories or exotic vacational destinations. It was a beautiful planet that was smaller than most moons, with a naturally enriching atmosphere.

But as a small, malfunctioning spacecraft strafed through the void towards the planet, all it's pilot could think off was how the planet would tear all the plating off of the spacecraft and burn everything inside for even attempting to enter into its atmosphere.

\---

***

Uribb watched from the center console, straining to take their eyes off of the holofeed soap they were so engrossed in. None of the equipment and monitors were saying much. It was a Tuesday. No ships were scheduled to arrive or depart from this isolated planet. It was meant to be a slow day. Slower than usual, at least.

The equipment they were surrounded by was ancient, humming loudly as they operated on a system older than some civilizations. But away from all of this old junk of outdated tech, on a newly installed terminal on the far side of the room, was a flashing red light and a persistent chirp begging for attention.

Uribb slid their chair towards the terminal, a little worried. They never paid much attention to how this terminal worked, only that their supervisor scoffed at the notion that it would see much use.

And this supervisor had taken the day off, leaving little old Uribb to run the space traffic control tower alone.

Uribb saw the planet on the new terminal, more detailed and with more strange numbers and features than the center console would show. And above this highly defined planet, entering a pale line demarcated with what was obviously the altitude number, was a spacecraft.

Uribb turned to the old consoles they were more familiar with, but the machines were silent, oblivious. They had not detected any ship. Of course they had not. The planet was centuries behind on anything the main planetary systems used. And the new terminal was a mandated endeavour by some bereaucratic agency so far removed from the happenings of this planet that did not even register the usual ships that made their landings and takeoffs.

Which meant that the ship about to enter the atmosphere was a newly designed ship, possibly not even meant to enter a planet with atmosphere.

Uribb's eyes widened. The red text that flashed on the corner of the screen was a series of numbers alien to them. They touched the text, grimacing, hoping it would reveal what it meant.

And it did.

Touching the text zoomed the simulated feed in to what the emergency was.

The craft was highlighted as moving in at high speed, and it was ever so slowly on free rotation. And based on the rotation, it would enter the planet facing away from it.

That was bad. Uribb wondered where the thermal shielding was on the ship. Possibly on the nose, right? Maybe it was not meant to enter the planet's atmosphere the conventional way. Maybe it was meant to face away, so that it's thrusters would counter it burning up.

But obviously this ship was not meant do that. Uribb wondered if it even had enough rocketpower to counter the speed of which it would descend.

That is, if it actually managed to come through the atmosphere.

No. Right now Uribb knew nothing about the ship except that it was new, and only interfaced with a terminal they were not too familiar with.

Why had their supervisor taken that leave? Only two souls operated the tower, and now the more experienced one was not here to handle this emergency.

\_\_

***

Ijva knew her message had reached the tower in the planet below, but for a solid minute of her craft hurtling closer and closer to the planet, there was no reply.

And then there was a voice on her headset, panicked and frantic.

"Er, this is Drosta Control Tower. You're coming in too fast and you're craft's angle is off course. By that I mean you're rotating. Is there a problem? I mean, what's the problem?"

Ijva took a deep breath.

"Drosta Control. I am pilot trainee Ijva'Yut Brie, flying solo as per my final test cruise around the solar system. I am experiencing engine trouble. Ah, full engine failure. Auxiliary power keeps rebooting. Error code five niner niner niner three alpha. I am being pulled into the planet by gravity and nothing else. Requesting tractor team."

There was a pause, but Ijva could hear the breathing.

"There is no tractor team." The reply was almost a whisper.

"Come again, Drosta Control?"

"Is your ship capable of traversing through atmospheres about 90% in the Brilder scale?"

"No. The rating is 60% atmosphere."

"Fuck."

"Hey, er. Drosta Control. Is there any tractor team dispatch I can link up with?"

"There is no ground nor orbital based tractor system on this planet. Ok. Ok. Umm. The auxiliary power. What did you say about it? It keeps rebooting?"

This time Ijva was the one who paused, and though panic was not something she felt when the engines first gave up on her, it was definitely setting in now that she learned there was not going to be a tractor rescue.

She was going to slowly get pulled into the planet and burn up and crash and there was nothing she could do about it.

\_\_\_\_\_

***

Uribb scanned the pages on the manual about the making of the ship that was inside the planet's orbit now. There had to be something. Something that could reveal why the auxiliary system kept rebooting.

They still had time. A few hours, at least, before the ship would irreversibly be in the clutches of the planet, it's fate to crash set in stone.

Uribb found the page on the auxiliary system, but came no close to finding out why it did not kick in without issue. Uribb also tried to calm both themself and the pilot Ijva by constantly updating and talking on the comms, knowing how unprofessional they were being. Professionalism all but flew out the window the first time they used an expletive.

&#x20;"Are you new?" Ijva asked when there was a lull in the chatter.

"New? No. I mean, kind of. My supervisor isn't here and I'm the only one who is. Here."

"I doubt your supervisor could help. I'm not going to lie. Without a tractor hook, I don't think this ship can be saved. I… I should've known. This planet is called Brivenn, right? The planet that used to be like a hotspot a millennia ago but is just another ghost planet now with no current gen apparel? Sorry, that didn't come out right."

"I'm sorry, Ijva. I can't find anything about a auxiliary power being stuck on reboot."

"It's not stuck on reboot, it's rebooting constantly."

"Sorry, that's what I meant."

"What's your name?"

"Ah, Uribb."

"Ok, Uribb. Just calm down. We still have time before, you know. We can figure this out."

Uribb did not understand the gentleness in her voice. Moments ago she had not taken the news about the nonexistent tractor team well, and now she was back to being calm.

Uribb kept looking at the terminal, pushing buttons, hoping to find an answer to this harrowing problem.

"Are you local?" They could hear Ijva ask.

How did that even matter at a time like this.

"Yes. I was born offworld, but my parents And everyone before them all hailed from here. Are hailing from here, I mean. Ok. There should be a bypass switch below the left throttle arrangement—" Uribb's hope went up as they realised a new avenue the pilot could explore to take control of her ship again, but the hope was immediately extinguished when ijva cut them off.

"I tried the bypass switch just now. Nothing happened. I don't think the problem is bad sequencing or the computer. It's something else. So, why'd you become a space traffic controller?"

The nonchalance in her voice as she asked the question was worrying.

"Look. We can figure this out. I know you said we have time. But you're in an emergency situation up there." Uribb tried to change the urgency in their voice to a more stately and controlled tone.

\_\_\_

***

The panic in the controller's voice was gone, replaced with a sort of stoic determination. For the past few minutes Ijva was numb to the urgency and futile efforts to address technical nonissues Uribb kept bringing up hopefully. Hoping they could fix the problem from down there. Or at least help guide Ijva to the solution.

But the truth of the matter was the auxiliary power was not meant to replace the engine power. Which meant even if they got the power back on, the chances of her managing to escape the planet's gravity by solely relying on the weaker back up thrusters were, if she dared to be optimistic, frighteningly low.

She did not have the heart to disclose this to Uribb. Maybe she should.

But the part of her more intent on survival and hope kept the words out of her mouth. If Uribb, in their manic searching, found something she overlooked, well. She might have a chance.

"I became a space traffic controller because it seemed like a high paying side gig." Came a soft reply.

Ijva smiled.

"Side gig?"

"Yeah. My uncle got me this job. Usually I'm in charge of import and export cargos following a fixed schedule. And sometimes I'll be guiding passenger cruisers. But those ships were all built for planets like this. Planets with atmosphere and stuff. It's a pretty straightforward job, especially in a quiet world like this. So the situation we're in right now? I am sorry to say this but I am not prepared for this at all. But I am going to find a way to help you. So please just hang in there."

"If this is your side gig, what's your real job?"

There was a pause, and Ijva was left to wonder if it meant Uribb found something else she could try or if her question was more probing than she intended.

"Ok, I lied. When I first took up the job I thought I was just going to do it temporarily. Get some quick income so I can move on to something else. Find my calling. But the money, it's good. And I got scared. What if there was nothing else out there for me? I was good at doing this space traffic stuff. And it pays well. I should just stick to it, right?"

Ijva sat, staring at her console as her ship ever so slowly rotated freely as it went on its way planet bound.

"What's your calling?" She asked.

***

The question and all it entailed was not something Uribb wanted to think about at a time like this. But the question and the blunt frankness and innocent curiosity of it still cut through into Uribb.

"Not this. Fuck it. I'm calling my supervisor in. He can get here in an hour. In the meantime can you try manually controlling your pneumatics? Stop your spin and hell, even slow your speed?" Uribb asked.

It was a dumb instruction. The pressurised air in a ship was to be used sparingly as a means to make minute corrections. To attempt what Uribb suggested was to waste that precious air doing silly maneuvers. Air that could be used for the corrections on the trip back to wherever Ijva was headed.

But even if she ran out of air before she reached her destination, even if she could no longer perform her little adjustments, it did not matter. The worst outcome would be getting tractor hooked back into course as she reached her planet.

Which would be the best outcome for her now if this planet had any tractor systems.

Uribb was suddenly pissed that there was no tractor system on Blivenn. Even for a planet millennia behind on technology, that was an oversight too large and glaring. The mandate could send new terminals to the control tower but not planetary tractor systems?

They shook the thought away as they called their understandably weary supervisor and updated him on what was happening. There was a shocked grunt and a promise to be in the control room within the hour, and the line went dead.

"Hey, er. If you don't mind I don't think I'll mess with the pneumatics. I don't think it'll do too much good." Ijva stated.

"We still need to find a way to slow you down."

"Yeah, and the only way to do that is with the main engines."

"Fuck."

"You're right," Ijva said, and Uribb swore they could hear the smile in her voice, "This isn't your calling."

***

The light from the sun stopped playing on the inside of her ship as the craft finally pirouetted away from its view. Ijva saw as the solar readout spike in power as the arrays lining the outside got a fresh gleam of starlight.

The planet below came into view again, it's cloud formations so erratic and beautiful.

"What do like to do down there?" She asked.

"What? Like, for fun?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know. It's spring where I am now so we're going to have a festival to mark the passage of winter. It's called Frosta Ku Jiewei"

"Seasonal festivals, huh?"

"Yeah. This one's the important one. What about you? Where are you from?"

"No planet as pretty like this one."

"I'm guessing one of the city dome planets."

"Yeah. That's why I'm not flying on a hardier ship. My planet has like 26% atmosphere compared to yours."

"What colour is it?"

"My planet?"

"Yeah. I've… Never actually been to space. But everyone who comes in or goes out, well I speak to them over the chatter. Little conversations. They always describe Blivenn as a small, moldy, trystberry. All green and blue and white. And the city dome planets they visit are all monochrome. Greys or purples or dull oranges. What colour is yours?"

"White. Whiteish blue. It's a frozen over planet."

"That's so cool."

Ijva wanted to point out there was nothing cool about a desolate, barren world where the only signs of life were either on the subterranean underwater city domes or the bacteria and microbes that floated through the deuterium water surrounding the domes.

Because the planet below not only had humanity, it had animals. Fauna, flora, all natural and living together with people. A rarity nowadays where there were new laws about colonising preinhabited worlds.

"That's not all. Our city dome is under water."

"I swear, you guys are living in the future."

"We are. But sometimes the progress handicaps us. Makes us rely on new concepts and theories and ideas that we just all unanimously agree on."

"But it's not really unanimous, is it? Unanimous among the first worlds maybe."

"Yeah, exactly. Unless we find a way to actually educate, enforce and implement whatever new shit that we want to normalise in all the worlds, there's no unanimous anything. I mean, your planet doesn't even have tractor teams. That's, like, standard where I am. I wouldn't be in this situation right now."

Ijva wondered if she was being offensive. It was not nice to talk about first worlds or second worlds or third worlds like this. But she was so frustrated. Because of some logistical issue she was going to die.

"Are there seriously not any dense atmosphere planets among the first worlds?"

"Not really. Unless you count those cattleplanets. You know, where the planet's sole purpose is to grow our food. My dad brought me to one once. Just the stench that entered the ship when the ramp lowered was enough for me to swear off meat. But it was a cool experience. To be able to just land our ship and open our ramp to the elements without wearing any spacesuits."

"That's what you can expect when you land here." Uribb said confidently.

And just like that the happy memory of that trip her father brought her on dissipated, the reality of her predicament hit her like plunging into icy water. And suddenly the planet below lost its beauty. It looked very alien and threatening as it pulled her and her ship into it.

"The stench?" She asked jokingly, hoping her voice did not betray the sudden bout of fear in her heart.

There was laughter on the other end, and it put her slightly at ease. Only slightly.

She hesitated, then asked, "Can... Can I send you a message? To pass on to my father?"

\_\_\_

***

"What? No. Listen. My supervisor will be here soon."

"And what can they do?"

"I… I can't. This is too much." Uribb was hyperventilating.

"Look, I'm sorry if me going to burn up in your atmosphere is too much for you to handle, but I need to get my affairs in order." Came a tired, sarcastic voice over the comms.

"Sorry. Of course. Uh, send the message through."

There was a long pause. Minutes maybe. Uribb continued pouring over multiple tablets and the terminal. They knew more about this spacecraft now more than anyone else on the planet. But they still did not know what could trigger the auxiliary systems to enter a bootloop.

Meanwhile she was still up there, writing her message to her loved ones as she flew 19.93 meters per second in a catastrophic arc into the planet. A trainee pilot. Uribb wondered what kind of ship she wanted to fly after she got certified. What kind of jobs she wanted to take.

They almost asked the question, as well, but thought against it. What was the point? The woman had accepted her fate. And that fact was scary to Uribb. They had failed this person.

Where was Werfig? Where was their supervisor?

But Ijva's words echoed in their mind. What could their supervisor do? It was an unfair question. Werfig actually attended many courses for space traffic control, unlike Werfig, who learned on the job.

If anyone could offer a different perspective, if anyone could take a step back and look at the problem and decode the root of it it was Werfig.

"I'm sorry. About being curt earlier." Ijva said after a while.

"You have every right to be. I was being tactless and selfish."

"Yeah, but. We're in a shitty situation."

"But the only person in any danger is you."

"That's true. But whatever the outcome of this is it'll stick with you forever. You know that, right? You're not exactly in the safe zone from that."

"God, we need to find a way to rescue you."

"No shit."

"Hey, uh. How is it? Flying a spacecraft?"

"I thought you talk about this stuff all the time with other pilots in the chatter."

"Well, people are different. Their experiences are different. I want to know why you want to take up a pilot license."

"I don't know. I never gave it much thought. I'm from a family of pilots. It's more or less expected of me to at least get a pilot's license even if I don't plan on making a career out of flying. And I don't know how to describe it. When you escape a planet's gravity and are just floating through a vacuum untethered, it's like... Comforting. Freeing. Literally. There are no forces acting on you unless you push that throttle or pull that lever. You're in control of your own trajectory, your own path. It's a euphoric feeling. I don't know. Is that what the other pilots say?"

"Hey, ah. I can see your ship's monitor from my terminal here. And right now I can see a temperature discrepancy in your systems." Uribb stared wide-eyed at the terminal.

"Switching to thermal view now and... Yeah. It's just in this region. The conduit manifold—"

"That's delivering power to the auxiliary systems. Ok. You got ice in your wirings. That's fine. We can figure something out."

"Holy shit how did I miss that?"

"It's ok. It's ok. Err.. Do you have your tool kit?"

"Yeah way ahead of you. How much pressure should I use to flush the systems?"

"Ok, just to confirm, you're going to use the demineralised gas cylinder to—"

"Pump the ice into the exhaust, yes." Ijva's voice was impatient.

"400 psi should be enough."

"Are you sure?"

"That's what the schematics rate your ship internals' maximum pressure to be."

"Pray for me, Uribb."

There was a static hiss over the comms.

And then Uribb saw the ship's display disappear from the terminal.

\---

***

Ijva plugged the hose from the cylinder to the opening under her seat and locked the valve into place. She took a deep breath and opened the the valve on the cylinder.

The ship shuddered beneath her seat and the screens went dark. The everpresent hum of the air supply disappeared, along with the periodic clicks and ticks of whatever instruments made those sounds.

The ship was fully, completely turned off.

Ijva took a deep breath and turned the power on.

The screen in front of her went through the boot sequence, trying to turn on the main engines but upon failing, opting to cycle power through the auxiliaries.

She held her breath as the screen showed her all the checks being performed on the auxiliariy power and... The hum returned, the ticks and clicks resumed, the rest of the screens turned themselves on.

And most importantly, the auxiliary engines rumbled to life.

"Uribb! It worked! I have auxiliary power." She shouted over the comms, her hands shaking.

There was a jovial exclamation from the other end.

"Ok, full speed away from the planet! Go!" She heard Uribb say.

"What?"

"Seriously. Do it now. Before it's too late! Once you're fully out of the gravity well you can conserve your engines and get to a planet you can actually land on."

"You're asking me to make lightspeed hop to a different system on auxiliary power? Out of the question."

"It's not as risky as entering Blivenn's atmosphere. Your thermal shields aren't meant for 90% atmosphere."

"I won't come be coming in headfirst. I'll be facing away, use my thrusters to counter the gravity. Are there any large bodies of water at a high elevation?"

"Ok, you need to listen to me. That is a bad idea."

"Where's your supervisor?"

"I don't know. He'll be here soon. But—"

"I'm sorry, Uribb. I think this is the only way. If you won't help me—"

"I never said that. Ok. Ok. Body of water at high elevation. I'll send you a heading in a moment. But seriously. Even at this high elevation you're aiming for you're still looking at like 80% atmosphere. Are you seriously hoping to crash land on water and take your chances?"

"Yes."

"Why? The chances of safely going to lightspeed on auxiliary power is still higher than this."

She had considered the possibility, but she was afraid something else on her ship would fail her. Continuing the rest of her journey towards safety on a ship running just on back up power did not instill any sort of comfort in her.

No, she needed to land.

"I'm entering the atmosphere now. Those coordinates would be great so I can make my adjustments before it's too late. Body of water. High elevation. Go. Now, please."

There were some deep breaths over the comms.

"I can't believe Werfig isn't here already. He's missing some of the biggest mistakes we're making. There. The coordinates. That's the tallest volcano on the planet. A little bit aways from the equator. From where you are."

"Volcano?"

"It's when tectonic plates in a region—"

"I know what a volcano is, smartass. Why are you leading me into one. Is it dormant?"

"I mean, obviously it's dormant. It has a lake up top. The volcano is called Putkinni. A tourist hotspot. You'll love it."

"Ok. Plotting the course there."

"I'll inform the authorities there to pick you up."

"Holy shit. Holy shit I can feel the air already. The ship's beginning to shake."

"It's only going to get more violent for the next few minutes."

"Please. Keep the line open. No matter what."

"I won't close it. Why would you even think I would close it?"

"I don't know. Maybe your nerves will get the better of you and you don't want to hear me scream."

"Ijva. Ijva you're doing something so crazy and brave. I won't even think of cutting off."

"I don't know. Fuck. This was a bad idea. I should have went to lightpseed like you said. Send out a distress call and shut everything off and waited for a tractor team near the main planetary systems."

"Well, don't think about that."

"If I don't think about that I'll have to think about what I'm doing now. Fuck. I've never felt the ship shake this much. It's not built for this."

"Ok, listen to me. No. Repeat the plan back to me."

"Ok. Steady thrusters for now as the ship makes its angled descent to the volcano. Once we're nearing the complete breakage of the ship's structural integrity you'll let me know and I'll max out the thrusters. Hopefully this doesn't just violently tear the ship apart but instead gives me a wider room to really slow down and land safely on the water."

"You sound kind of funny like that."

"Like what? Like someone is violently shaking me as I'm trying to speak? I swear I'm going to bite my tongue off if I keep talking. God, I'm really scared."

"Everything is sound. Your ship is fine. And once you land and they rescue you, why don't you come find me. Alright? It's good that you didn't jump to lightspeed. In a few days we can observe Frosta Ku Jiewei together. See the local tradition."

"What?"

"The festival for the passing of winter?"

"Fuck. Right. Sorry. You mentioned that."

"Can't wonder why that slipped your mind."

"AH! Did you hear that? I felt that! I felt something break off."

"Relax. I can see your ship from my terminal. You're doing great. Your angle is alright. Your heading is good. You'll need to turn up the thrusters in a few, but that's fine. I'll tell you when."

"Fuck. Fuck. Hey. We forgot something really important."

"I really don't want to know."

"I don't think I'll be conscious to turn up the thrusters. You know, because of the g-forces' effect on the human body we forgot to factor in."

\--

***

Uribb's breath caught on their throat.

"You're right. Damnit."

Uribb did some mental math. If she pulled the thrusters now it would mean she would veer off course. And off the cuff course corrections were dangerous, especially if she were to lose consciousness while making them.

And if she passed out before it was time to pull the thrusters as per planned, than she would not survive the crash for sure.

Uribb felt the door to the room open and the familiar strikingly thin visage of Werfig rushing in.

"She's coming in hot. But she might not be conscious to pull her thrusters." Uribb said, stumbling over their words.

"Who are you talking to? Is your supervisor there? Ok. Uribb. It's happening. I'm losing colour vision." Ijva said over the comms.

"Is there a way to automate that? The thrusters?" Werfig asked, panting.

"Not in this ship."

"Ok, you'll need to do short bursts of the thruster. Starting with a 3 second prolonged burst. Do it now."

Uribb watched as the ship slowed, causing it to, as expected, go off the plotted course.

Werfig watched the terminal, too, eyes wide.

"By God. You're planning to land there? Have you told anyone? It's a public area." Werfig scrambled to the other consoles.

"Yeah, yeah I did, Werfig. I did. But using the thrusters like that means she won't be able to land there."

"Pilot, what's your vision like, now? How are you feeling?" Werfig asked.

"I, ah. It's the same. Better. I don't know." Ijva's voice was slow.

"Ok, you have to adjust your seat angle. About 30 degrees upwards should ease the blood flow." Werfig advised.

"Copy that."

"We can't use the thrusters like that. She's already strayed too far off course." Uribb said, looking at the new projected path of the ship.

"Are you an experienced pilot, ah..."

"Ijva. And no. I'm a trainee."

Werfig swore.

"Sorry. Ok. Did the seat angle help?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it did."

"Ok. Pay close attention, Ijva. For the next thruster burst, you're going to angle your ship back into trajectory. I am not going to lie, it'll require a lot of precise control of your pneumatics. Now, those pneumatics aren't meant to be used in an atmosphere, so we'll be have to use most of not all the air in the reserve to do this. But that's fine. Are you ready?" Werfig asked, and Uribb automatically pulled a visual on the angle to thrust from.

"I'm ready. And the funny thing about this is even if I overshoot the angle, I can readjust the other way when it's time to thrust again, right?" Ijva asked, and Uribb saw on the terminal as her ship began to rotate as the pneumatics nudged it to be thrusted back into course.

"I wouldn't call that funny, but that's exactly right. You'll have about 4 tries to get the angle right."

"Ok. Ok. This can work."

"Don't worry. We'll have someone to come collect you."

"Yeah. Yeah. Do I engage the thrusters?" Ijva asked.

Werfig turned to Uribb as they watched the screen intently.

"Engage now." Uribb instructed, and saw as the ship slowed it's decent again as it went back in course, before dipping out of course again the other way.

That was fine. 3 more tries. And they would only get more accurate from here on out.

\_\_

***

The ship jolted again as she pulled the thrusters. She was following the angle corrections the control tower was sending her, hoping her estimation of how much air propulsion she needed to align to the correct angle was close enough.

She kept getting encouraging replies from Uribb and the supervisor.

Another angle correction came in, another burst of pneumatic control to angle her was issued, and another shudder as the she pulled the throttle to slow herself down.

She could not see the mountains or the volcano she was to land on. The cameras were all but fried minutes ago. She was flying in relatively blind, unable to see out of the cockpit into where she was supposed to land.

It was a frightening. Everything about what she was doing was frightening. But at least her display showed the visual topographical readout of the rapidly approaching landing site.

Another course correction, another burst of thrusters.

She was close now. She was going to land, and her speed was lower than the calculations, so that was good.

Another course correction, another burst of air propulsion. She saw the flashing light that warned her she was dangerously low on the air reserve for the pneumatic systems. That was fine.

"Any second now." Uribb whispered over the comms, echoing her own thoughts.

Without warning the ship plunged into the lake, and the blue sky she saw was instead replaced by bubbles and foam and clear, darker blue water.

The impact knocked the wind out of her, and she gasped, undoing her straps.

"Landed. I'm ok." She breathed, and she could hear the elated shouts over the comms.

"Ok. I'm guessing you're underwater. Are there any leaks? Is water coming in? Werfig is on call with the rescue team. Their yachts should be pulling you out soon." Uribb said, their voice high as they spoke quickly over their own words.

"No leaks. Dangerously low on air, but that's fine. Holy fuck. We actually did it. Uribb, can you believe this?"

"I'm, ah. I'm having a hard time processing this."

"God. We have to meet. I'll take you up on it. Your offer to see the festival?"

"Yeah, of course. For sure. Ijva, you did it. Holy shit, you did it!"

Ijva had tears in her eyes as she grinned ear to ear.

"Thank you, Uribb. We're both colossal idiots to even attempt this landing, but by God."

Ijva could hear the relieved gushing as Uribb spoke to her, and could hear them crying as well.

She had landed. They were alright

[m1dnyt3-w0lf]

The Day They Met

Turquoise Team Origins

Jade carefully removed the vent cover and placed it beside him. He looked down at the room he was about to enter. It was a wide room with multiple artifacts in glass cases. His eyes went from one to another until he found his prize, a bracelet made in complete black material save for green knobs and a green line going around the bracelet. He quickly grabbed a spray can from a bag next to him and shook it. He pointed it outside the vent and sprayed, doing as wide a sweep as he could. He watched carefully for some time. When nothing happened, he breathed in relief. He didn't have to worry about lasers, just as the Buyer said. He pulled out some rope and a pulley system attached to a large suction cup. His hands moved quickly as he attached the rope to himself and the pulley system. Then, he stuck the suction cup against the vent wall, an echo sounding down the vent shaft. He huffed, knowing he'll have to move quickly. Without a moment of hesitation, he fell out of the vent shaft and began to lower himself down to the floor below. Once firmly on the floor, he detached the rope and hurried to the bracelet, double tapping a glass panel that sat below the glass case. A holographic screen projected from the glass panel asking for a code. Jade pinched the bottom of the screen and pulled toward himself, effectively pulling out a hidden keyboard. He typed the password the Buyer gave him and hit enter. The screen flashed red.

"Fucking prick!" He shouted under his breath as alarms sounded around him. Jade didn't have time to react as the doors to the room broke open and many armed guards rushed in, followed behind by several scientists and the Buyer. Jade glared at them all, his green eyes boring into the deep brown of the Buyer's.

"Excellent job, Neo, if that even is your real name. You truly have made a breakthrough in the name of science." The Buyer said. Jade frowned deeply.

"Whatever. Just give me my money and I'll be out of here." He said coolly, keeping himself on guard. The Buyer smirked.

"And let you have another chance to steal from us? I've read your file, Neo. You're the most skilled thief in this city, and from what I see, there's a hefty bounty over your head." Jade's calm expression turned to one of anger as his brows knit closer together, and a snarl turned his lips down. The Buyer, however, wore a shit eating grin. Jade knew the Buyer thought he won, and, for a moment, so did he. He looked between every armed guard and scientist, attempting to plot his escape. He thought of every bit of information he was given and researched about the place and the bracelet.

"What's so special about a bracelet?" Jade asked.

"It's not just a bracelet. It's a highly powered piece of tech." The Buyer responded.

"Isn't everything else in that facility?" Jade had already decided to fluke out on the mission.

"This one is different. It's practically an entire army against your wrist! It has the latest in impenetrable armor and claws sharper than razors. Night vision, thermal, trackers, you name it!"

"Whoop-de-do-da. What are you paying me?" Jade didn't bother to look at the Buyer. He seemed too occupied by the throwing knife he was twirling around.

"Five million." Jade's movements stopped immediately, giving the Buyer a side glance.

"Five million? Must be an important anniversary with the missus." He dryly jokes. The Buyer simply kept that professionally strained smile. Jade looked back to his knife, twirling it again.

"I'll do it."

"Good. Now, before we get into details, I have to warn you about it."

"And that is?" He found it annoying when his clients would dramatically pause.

"You can not let this bracelet touch your bare wrist."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"It'll latch onto you and won't come off. Scientists there haven't created an off button in your terms."

Jade's eyes shifted to the bracelet. If what anything the Buyer said was true, it had to be that. His eyes met the Buyer's. Time to play a little game.

"Alright, you've caught me." He said in a bored tone. Jade took off one glove and tossed it on the floor.

"The greatest thief of all time bested by a scientist. Whaddaya know, logic does beat stealth." The Buyer chuckled, the joke making no sense to Jade. He decided to play it up.

"You're right. I was such a fool to think I'd ever outsmart such a smart man." He tossed his other glove and slowly started to roll up his sleeve. The Buyer gloated in the praise.

"And here I thought it would be harder from everything I heard about you. I suppose everyone else was simply incompetent." Jade blew some of his hair out of his face, completely failing as the hair barely moved.

"Right, you are." Once his wrist was completely exposed, he smirked. "Although you forget one thing."

"And what's that?" Jade met the eyes of the Buyer again, his gaze no longer showing anger but determination. The Buyer's eyes widened.

"You never see stealth coming." Jade stiffened his arm and swung it hard against the glass. Surprisingly, it shattered upon impact, but Jade was sure he broke his wrist when he hissed upon impact.

"Fire! Kill him!" The Buyer shouted, moving the guards into action and letting loose a deadly rain of lead. Jade hit his wrist against the bracelet, unfortunately taking a few shots into his legs and lower back as the bracelet began to expand and crawl against his body. The bullets began to clang and ricochet against the expanding material until it completely coated Jade, temporarily locking him in darkness.

"Hold your fire!" The Buyer yelled, muffled by the suit. Jade's breathing was quick and shallow, hissing at the pain of his shot wounds.

"Beginning healing protocol." A robotic female voice spoke clearly in his ears. Jade didn't even have the chance to react when a cooling sensation filled the areas where he had been shot. They became numb before a sudden, heated pressure dug into the wounds, making Jade cry out. Just as fast as the heating sensation came, it left, leaving Jade feeling as he did before the wounds.

"What the-"

"Voice recognition applied. Host found."

"What?" His question was left unanswered as a screen in front of his eyes brightened up and showed him the outside world. There stood the scientists and guards in front of him, staring in awe and uneasiness. Jade slowly stood, the metal somehow feeling lightweight. The surrounding people stumbled backward, making them even more uneasy.

"Eighteen hostiles counted. How do you wish to proceed?" The woman's voice spoke into his ears. There was only one thing he wished to do at this time.

"Escape."

"Flee protocol activated. Finding the best route." Next thing Jade knew the suit was moving for him. He couldn't resist even if he tried. He was forced to run full force towards the exit.

"Fire! Fire at him!" The Buyer yelled as him, the rest of the scientists, and some of the guards dove out of the way. The remaining guards rained fire on Jade as he ran, the bullets ricocheted with ease, shooting off into the floor, other cased items, the walls, and the remaining standing guards. Most were shot, and some stopped shooting and dropped to the ground. Jade managed to escape into the hall. The suit didn't stop. It kept forcing Jade to run.

"Approximately five floors to the nearest exit. Calculating the best possible route." The woman's voice said calmly as the alarm in the building rang.

"Search faster!" He cried out as guards began to fill the end of the hall.

"Calculation complete." Suddenly, the suit skidded to a stop and jumped with enough force to destroy the ceiling above, landing Jade into a vent. A map appeared in front of his eyes.

"In five feet, take a right." The woman said calmly as the vent was suddenly showered in bullets. Jade did his best to crawl as fast as he could out of harm's way, despite knowing the suit was impenetrable.

"No need to tell me twice." He muttered. He continued through the vent, following the woman's instructions and eventually escaping the line of fire. It was then that his thoughts finally caught up to him. There wasn't an off switch to this thing. That's what the Buyer said. How was he going to get it off? Was it like a parasite of some sort? He was going to have to worry about that later.

"Drop from the vent in three feet." She said calmly. Jade approached the vent and peered through the slats, only seeing glimpses of lab equipment.

"I think that GPS of yours is wonky." He muttered.

"Nonsense." She replied. Suddenly, the suit forced him to punch the vent cover out and drop in. He gasped, bracing for impact. He felt himself land but not the shock of impact he should have felt. He looked up, seeing the vent twenty feet in the air. He should have felt the shock, or at least some pain. What the hell is this suit? No time to think about that now. Later. Jade tore his gaze from the vent and looked around the room. He was right about all the lab equipment, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw the glass chamber in the middle of the room. Inside the chamber was a wash bin, a toilet of some sort, a bed, and a girl. Jade couldn't help but freeze, staring right into her terrified eyes. When his gaze finally broke away from hers, he noticed the animal ears where human ears should've been. What the hell is this place?!

"Take the exit on your left." The woman said calmly. Jade looked to the left, seeing double doors. He looked back to the girl, she seemed almost feral but he was sure it was the fear. He's seen the same look many times. He sighed and walked closer to the glass. The girl quickly scuttled backward, pressing herself against the opposite end of the chamber. Jade took in the glass, giving a small knock. The glass sounded with a dull thud, a clear sign it was thick. Jade recalled how the suit broke through the ceiling and vent with ease and figured thick glass shouldn't be a problem. He pulled his fist back and punched as hard as he could. His fist punched through like he was punching paper. The entire glass chamber started to shatter but didn't break apart. Jade withdrew his fist, seeing pieces from the edges of the break fall out. Experimentally, he pushed the edges and watched as they broke apart with ease.

Fascinating. He thought. He then dug out a doorway through the glass and entered the chamber, the fallen glass making a satisfying crunch under his feet. He approached the girl slowly, lending out a hand to her as he crouched.

"Let's get you out of here." He told her, hoping he sounded as kind as he meant. Fear still showed on her face before her head suddenly tilted to the side. Jade waited patiently, knowing he was equipped with the most powerful piece of armor in the lab. He was worried for the girl who now placed her hand on his own. He had never put someone else's life under his care. He had always worked alone. He didn't even make friends within the Clan of Thieves, but something told him he couldn't leave this girl behind even if she wasn't human. So with one swift movement, he had her in his arms bridal style and ran out of the chamber and towards the doors. He burst through them and came upon an office of sorts. The alarm was blaring, and the desks that filled the large room were empty. He felt the girl shivering and looked around before he spotted a blue pull-over jacket laying over one of the chairs. He set the girl down and handed her the jacket.

"Put this on." She nodded and did so with no resistance.

"Okay, where to next?"

"Huh?" She asked, confused. Her voice was soft and hesitant, as if she was afraid to even speak. What the hell did these scientists do to her?

"Take the stairs down Hall B." The woman said.

"Which way is Hall B?" He asked, the girl still looking at him in confusion. Jade's vision was filled with a bright red and flashing arrow pointing to his right. He turned his head as the arrow vanished, a sign reading "Hall B" above a hallway that led out of the office area.

"Oh." Then he scooped the girl back into his arms and ran, glad the suit was no longer directing his movements. He shifted his hold on the girl to ensure she stayed in his arms and had no danger of falling. He followed the instructions the computer lady in his suit told him, taking detour after detour when guards would appear until he was finally cornered in another large office area, windows spanning from floor to ceiling. He held the girl close as the Buyer suddenly pushed his way to the front of the army of guards.

"You've got nowhere to run now, Neo! Give us the bracelet and the girl, and you'll be on your merry way with your money. No need for this to get bloody." He called out. But Jade spent ages learning people's body language. He learned to notice weak points and when the perfect time to steal would be. This was one of those times.

"How high are we from the ground?" Jade muttered quietly. He noticed the girl's ear twitch but didn't respond.

"Approximately forty-three feet." The woman replied.

"Chances of survival from that fall?"

"There is a one-hundred percent chance of survival."

"The girl included?" Her ear twitched once more.

"Come on, Neo, do the right thing." The Buyer said as the guards moved closer.

"Affirmative." The woman said, making Jade smile.

"Okay, you've caught me. Again. I'll do the right thing." His grip tightened on the girl, then he shoved himself backward into the window with all his might, enhanced by the suit. The window shattered, and the girl in his arms let out a loud scream as she clung to him tighter.

"Initiating height protocol." Jade felt things shifting behind his back and hoped the protocol was a giant bouncy castle.

What he didn't expect was to hover.

Several inches away from the ground, their fall had stopped completely. Jade wasn't sure how it was possible, but he was able to safely get on his two feet. He looked up to see the Buyer and several guards at the window. Jade immediately started to run, the suit forcing him to change course when he ran the wrong way. Bullets began to whiz around him, striking his back or the ground around him. The girl jumped at each impact and tried her best to minimize the small screams that tore out of her throat. Jade swiftly made it past the gates enclosing the facility of Florset and kept running until he found a safe spot within the town a couple miles away. It was in one of the back alleys that he finally set the girl down and leaned against a nearby wall to catch his breath. Never in his life had he ever run so much, the stitch in his side that stabbed straight into his heart a clear indication he pushed himself too much. The girl simply watched him, eyes wide with curiosity.

"You have successfully escaped. Mission accomplished." And just as quickly as the suit had enveloped him, it had undone itself back into the bracelet that now sat snug on his wrist. This was the first time the girl was able to see the boy in front of her. She had never seen such a person before. The scientists were always well groomed and stoic, while the mysterious boy who had saved her seemed a mess. It took Jade several minutes before he had properly caught his breath and was able to speak again. He looked at the girl, sizing her up and furrowing his brows.

"What's your name?" He wasn't sure if the scientists even gave her one. She stood silent for a few moments, eyes seeming to go unfocused and focused again on him.

"Midnyte."

"Midnight?"

"M-I-D-N-Y-T-E. Midnyte." He had to admit, he was surprised.

"Huh." The girl hesitated before asking.

"A-and yours?" She asked. Jade gave her another once over, the visible eye narrowing slightly.

"Neo." She nodded.

"Thank you for saving me."

"No problem." He looked around for any passerby who may be going down the alley. When the coast was clear, he looked at her again.

"I'm going to find you some clothes, stay here until I return, got it?" She nodded. He nodded back and pulled up his hood before walking out into the street. He'd never needed to take care of anyone but himself, so the fact he was now walking about, stealing a pair of pants here, some shoes there, for someone else was insane. He looked down at the bracelet, watching as one of the green knobs gently glowed the lime green color it was adorned in. He might have bit off more than he could chew this time.

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged/untagged for future OC works!

@symmetricalkazekage @post-apocalyptic-daydream @raphsmuneca @thelaundrybitch @eveandtheturtles @scholastic-dragon @tinkabelle19 @miss-andromeda @leosgirl82

[medfetabdl]

An overview of the Philips MP5 from the outside from an engineer’s perspective

I’ll explain everything in the most basic and interesting way as I can I’ll go over everything on all 4 sides of the monitor, if people like this then we’ll take a look at the insides of the monitor as well

Front View:

1: Mount release button. Pushing this button unlocks the internal mechanism that locks onto the quick release mount.

2: Speaker. I have tape over it to try to make it not as loud, I think it goes without saying that all the sound the monitor produces comes through here

3: Mains AC indicator light. Just an LED to tell you if the the monitor is plugged into mains power

4: Battery indicator light. Lights up green when the monitor is running on battery or when there is mains power and the battery is fully charged. Lights up red when the battery is charging

5: Power indictor light. Lights up when the monitor is turned on

6: Power button. White rubbery plastic button that turns the monitor on or off

7: Alarms Off/ Paused indicator light. A red led that lights up if alarms are paused or off to remind hospital personnel that they are off/ paused.

8: Alarm indictor LEDs. Flash red or yellow or stay solid red, yellow, or blue depending on the severity of the alarm. Blue is low priority things like no pulse oximeter connected, no ecg leads connected, low battery, or can’t analyze. Yellow is medium priority alarms, things like HR, SPO2, RR, Temp, BP going out of the set alarm minimum or maximum, minor arrhythmias (skipped beats, Afib, tachycardia, bradycardia, etc…) Red is high priority (the sound that turns on most people who are into resus) things like: SVT, Extreme tachycardia, extreme bradycardia, VFIB, V-Tach, Asystole

And then there’s obviously the large 8 inch touch screen LCD. This one is a resistive touch screen as opposed to the capacitive touch screens in most phones, tablets and other devices. There’s 2 reasons for using a resistive touch screen: 1 is that they are far more reliable and durable compared to capacitive touch screens, capacitive touch screens usually always use glass where as resistive screens use plastic. The second reason is that resistive touch screens can be pressed with anything so it makes it really easy to use with thick gloves, isolation suits, the back of pen, or anything else, as opposed to capacitive touch screens which require the thing pushing it to have natural capacitance like human flesh.

Right side view

1: IEC mains input. This is where the power goes into the monitor, I’ve read the whole service manual and it says that in order to comply with regulations you must use a hospital grade power cord. I was lucky the monitor came with a hospital rated power cable but to be honest it makes no difference what type of cable you use for home use the regulations are just there because they are required in hospitals. There isn’t much of a difference between hospital grade and regular service rated power cables. A hospital grade power cable is usually 16AWG-3 SJTW (16 American wire gauge, 3 conductors, Service Junior Thermoplastic Weather resistant insulation) whereas standard household rated IEC cables are 18AWG-3 SJT (18 American wire gauge, 3 conductors, Service Junior Thermoplastic insulation (not rated for wet locations)). This monitor has a universal switch mode power supply in it, which means it can take any voltage from 100 volts AC to 240 volts AC at 50 to 60 Hz frequency, which is the range of all electrical systems worldwide. I’m surprised it has a switch mode supply in it, they tend to be very noisy (produce a lot of electromagnetic interference that interferes with the sensitive components in the rest of the device) and they generally aren’t used because they don’t always provide full isolation from mains or they don’t provide as much isolation as a standard medical rated transformer-rectifier supply.

2: On board recorder. This is a 50mm monochrome thermal printer. It can print status reports, ECG recordings, and a few other things. I haven’t tested it because the paper is hard to find for a decent price.

3. Battery compartment. This compartment holds an M4605A Lithium-ion 10.8 volt battery. (That part number is probably a roll over from the HP Viridia line of patient monitors because Phillips bought the rights to all of HPs patents for the Viridia line so a lot of the stuff for intellivue and Viridia are backwards compatible. The only reason I say that is an HP part number is because they really liked to put an A at the end of almost every model number of something they made) The monitor didn’t come with a battery so I bought a used one for $20, a new one directly from Philips is $700. The 6th pic is the battery itself, it has a built in state of charge display. It’s a 65 watt hour (6000mAh) capacity battery using 18650 cells. The capacity of mine has dropped to 5700mAh. The monitor uses about 1.1 amps from the battery during normal operation so I can get about 5 and half hours of battery life.

Left side view

1: Output for Non invasive blood pressure (blood pressure cuff) pretty simple, but interestingly after reading the service manual, you can stick a hex key in the slot and actually replace just that connector

2: SPO2 input (pulse oximeter) input for a pulse oximeter, fast SPO2 is a trademark of Masimo referring to some kind of “special” technology they use. (I put that in quotes because I’m pretty sure it’s the same as all other pulse oximeters) you can get a few different types of pulse oximeters for Philips monitors. There’s 2 types of finger pulse oximeters, clip on, or adhesive/ Velcro (the Velcro and adhesive ones tend to be disposable and more often used for long term monitoring or for pediatric patients, they can also go on a toe) There are also ones that clip onto the lobe of the ear, but they aren’t used very much, probably due to not as good accuracy.

3: ECG input. This connector is the input for ECG electrodes. It’s a 12 pin connector (service manual actually gives a pinout) the reason it’s 12 pins is because this connector can support 3, 5, 6, 10, and 12 lead cables. This connector is used on all Philips monitors, and it’s actually backwards compatible with Hewlett-Packard/ Agilent technologies Viridia line of patient monitors (something of which my grandfather who recently passed away built prototype parts for when they were being developed) I think Philips bought the right to use all of HP’s patented connectors and hardware for patient monitors that also includes the classic alarm sounds I much prefer over the standard ISO alarm sounds. The modern intellivue line of Philips monitors evolved from the HP/ Agilent Viridia line of patient monitors.

Rear side view

This is where things get interesting because this is different on a lot of MP5 monitors, that’s due to this rear I/O being a card inside the monitor that can be swapped out. This card happens to be the full configuration card with every I/O option available for this monitor.

1. USB port. Used to connect a mouse and keyboard, or a barcode reader. The barcode reader can be used to quickly scan barcodes on medications so they can be input into the huge amount of info the monitor can collect. It can also be used to scan patient wrist bands or staff ID cards

2. Nurse call relay output. This is where things get a little more technical. This 3.5mm jack is connected to a relay that turns on every time an alarm goes off. What’s a relay? It’s basically a switch that can be turned on and off with an electromagnet, this allows me to wire up just about anything so that when an alarm goes off it turns on too. This was a really interesting part in the service manual because it said to change the relays configuration from normally open to normally closed you literally have to desolder a surface mount resistor from the PCB. I’ve never seen a service manual say to desolder something to change its configuration.

3. RJ45 LAN Ethernet Jack: this is used to connect the monitor to the hospitals network infrastructure including data storage servers, patient data servers, others monitors on the network, telemetry consoles, and much more. I’ve done a little playing around with this but unfortunately haven’t gotten very far because I’m currently taking care of my grandmother at her house and my servers that I have to mess around with things like this are at my house so I can’t play around with any of the software options currently.

4: Video Output: Just a standard VGA video output to connect it to a larger external monitor. My old monitor had this but it wasn’t setup on the stock configuration and I had to tap into it with a molex connector on the motherboard.

5: Ground connection for ECG: This is used for testing and calibration but if I had to guess it’s on the outside of the monitor and not hidden away inside for compliance reasons.

6: Mains earth connection. This is also here for testing purposes. The inside of the monitor has a metal frame that serves 2 purposes. 1 is added rigidity to help it stand up to being dropped and abused (which happens a lot in hospitals because things are so high stress all the time). And 2 is EMI shielding. EMI is electromagnetic interference, basically all the different frequencies of radio waves that are constantly surrounding us. The amplification circuitry responsible for amplifying the tiny electrical signals put out by the heart that are tiny fractions of a single volt is quite venerable to any interference because the electromagnetic waves can have higher power than the signal you’re trying to amplify thus making the signal appear noisy (when it looks like it has a bunch of fuzz or something instead of a thin line). To counter EMI we can use the idea of a faraday cage. A faraday cage is a simple concept, you surround whatever you are trying to protect from EMI in an electrically conducive material (usually some kind of metal) and you connect that thing to the ground (quite literally shoving a wire in the ground). This works because all electromagnetic waves want to find their way back to the earth somehow, so by putting our sensitive circuits inside a grounded metal box all the electromagnetic waves that hit the metal will immediately be absorbed and led to the earth where they want to go completely bypassing our sensitive circuitry. According to the electrical code of pretty much any country, any electric device with metal exposed to touch must have a connection to mains earth. That’s why most cords have 3 wires instead of just the 2 you normally need to complete a circuit. This connection to mains earth is because in almost all mains electrical systems the neutral wire (the wire that the electrons return to the source from) is the earth or is at least bonded to the earth. That means that if you touch a live wire and you are standing on the ground the electricity can travel through you and electrocute you. Sometimes you don’t even have to be touching the ground to still get a shock and that’s due to the natural capacitance your body has. You are capacitively coupled to the electrical grid at all times and that means you can draw tiny amounts of current from your body, not anywhere near enough to do any damage to your organs as it’s only a few micro amps, but this is the reason for an ECG signal appearing noisy if the filters aren’t set correctly. If the live wire connected to the device accidentally makes contact with the metal housing then there’s a possibility you could be electrocuted because you are touching ground or at least capacitively coupled to it. To counter this is that green ground/ protective earth wire that is connected to the devices metal housing will carry the current back to earth because it is much less resistive than you and electrons always take the path or least resistance. This will result in a short circuit and will trip a circuit breaker but it’s much better than being electrocuted.

That was a long one but I hope you learned something. I think I’ll do a walkthrough of the software side of things and a look at the parts inside. Throughout this whole thing I referenced the service manual several times. A service manual is a manual provided to a repair technician that explains how to, setup, test, calibrate, and take apart the device, and sometimes they go as deep as including the schematics of all the circuits in the device. These days they are pretty hard to get your hands on because companies don’t want you to fix your stuff and would rather you just buy a new one. However I found the service manual for the MP5 very easily with 1 Google search. It’s about 300 pages long and is filled with information about these monitors that not even most health care professionals know. It lists the passwords for all different operating modes in the software, how to connect the thing to a network, pinouts of all connectors, info on how to test it, a whole section dedicated to how to take the thing apart, a list of the part number of each component in case you need to order a new one, the layout of the channels for the short range radio module inside, and so much more.

[cubeghost]

While Palestine Action US is targeting Elbit systems to protest the ongoing genocide in Palestine, Elbit’s tools of occupation are also being deployed in the US. As Antony Loewenstein documents in his book, The Palestine Laboratory, Israeli defense contractors test their wares on Palestinians and then export their tools of surveillance and warfare around the world. Loewenstein highlights the connection between so-called border security in the US and the oppression of Palestinians, writing, “Israeli technology was sold as the solution to unwanted populations at the US–Mexico border where the Israeli company Elbit was a major player in repelling migrants.” In her book Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism, Harsha Walia describes how US Customs Enforcement officials impose the violence of bordering on Tohono O’odham lands, along the US Southern border. Walia wrote, “US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has contracted Israel’s largest private arms company, Elbit Systems, to construct ten surveillance towers, making Tohono O’odham one of the most militarized communities in the US.”  In 2017, members of the Tohono O’odham Hemajkam Rights Network (TOHRN), went to Palestine on a visit organized by the Palestinian group Stop the Wall. TOHRN member Amy Jaun told Antony Loewenstein that it was a relief to talk “with people who understand our fears … who are dealing with militarization and technology.” In 2022, after years of resistance from Tohono O’odham organizers, the construction of the contested surveillance towers was completed. As Will Parrish reported in The Intercept in 2019, each tower is outfitted with thermal sensors, high-definition cameras with night vision, and ground-sweeping radar. As Parrish noted, “The system will store an archive with the ability to rewind and track individuals’ movements across time — an ability known as ‘wide-area persistent surveillance.’” The  Tohono O’odham’s struggle against the construction of Elbit’s towers is just one example of how the company is exporting Israel’s tools of bordering and occupation. In The Palestine Laboratory, Loewenstein describes an event at the Paris Air Show in 2009, where Elbit screened drone footage for “an elite audience of global buyers.” The footage showcased the assassination of a Palestinian. A subsequent investigation by Andrew Feinstein, a global expert on the arms industry, who observed the sales video pitch in Paris, revealed that innocent Palestinians, including women and children, were killed during the drone attack that Elbit showcased at the Paris Air Show. Feinstein told Loewenstein, “This was my introduction to the Israeli arms industry and the way it markets itself. No other arms-producing country would dare show actual footage like that.” As evidenced by the construction of surveillance towers in Tohono O’odham lands, Elbit’s work extends beyond the bounds of war, but the lines between war-making, surveillance and what governments call “security” are murky, at best. When tools of war and subjugation are tested on a captive population, and marketed on the basis of how effectively those people are killed, how do we expect those tools to be deployed globally? 

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Controlling thermal conductivity in liquid crystals

Doping a liquid crystal with azobenzene molecules can induce reversible changes in its thermal conductivity under light irradiation. These findings have been reported in a new collaboration between the Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS) groups and is now featured on the cover of the Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

Current challenges in this topic such as thermal dissipation in microelectronics, necessary to prevent devices from overheating, can be addressed by designing new functional materials with tunable thermal conductivity. Liquid crystals are a very interesting family of materials, with appealing applications such as LCD screens.

The new study shows that azobenzene molecules can be used to control the thermal conductivity of liquid crystals using ultraviolet light.

"Azobenzenes are a class of molecules whose structure changes with light, so that when added into a liquid crystal, the transport of heat through the whole system can be modified by irradiating it with ultraviolet light," says Noa Varela, Ph.D. student at CiQUS and first author of the study. "Depending on the molecular arrangement of the liquid crystal, either a increase or decrease of the thermal conductivity can be achieved upon illumination, at room temperature."

Read more.

[rocksandrobots]

Phantoms of the Past Ch. 44 - Mission Possible: Part 3

"Eep! I can't believe I'm inside Big Hero Six's Headquarters!" Mole squeed. "Oh, oh, what does this do?"

He ran to pick up a probe-looking tool off a work desk. He pressed a button and electricity fizzled between the four electrodes at the end.

"Aah, it's a stun weapon prototype," Hiro warned as he snatched the staff out of Mole's hands. Then to the rest of the newcomers, he added, "Be careful of some of the equipment laid out, a lot of it is still in the experimental stage."

"It's a pretty impressive setup you got here." Ron complimented as he viewed the super suits lined along the wall.

"I'll say," Kim agreed, "You made all of this yourself?"

"Most of it," Hiro replied. "Including our main computer system." He walked over to the controls and turned the screen on. "You said you can track this Drakken guy using a computer?"

Kim shook her head. "I can't, but I know someone who can."

She pulled out a green handheld device and pressed a button; out popped a USB connector.

"May I?"

"Be my guest." Hiro agreed and stepped aside.

Kim plugged in the device and pressed a button. The view screen lit up and on the other side was another young man, close to their age. He was husky, dressed in jeans and tee-shirt with a the model of an atom printed on it, and he was sporting a recently grown mustache. He appeared to be sitting in some sort of lab and behind him was a hadron collider.

He gave a wide smile upon seeing who had called him. "Hey, Kim. What's the sitch?"

"Hey Wade-"

"Wade!? Wade Load!?" Wasabi interrupted. "You know the Wade Load? The inventor of Thermal Imaging Spectrometer Goggles!"

Wade seemed surprised by such enthusiasm but quickly shrugged it off and gave another affable smile. "Hey you're Gari, right? I read your paper on laser optics. It was really interesting. I think you might be onto something regarding newer surgery equipment."

Wasabi stood there dumbstruck for half a second before whispering. "Wade Load knows who I am? Wade Load knows who I am."

Baymax was quickly on hand with a paper bag for Wasabi to blow into.

"You'll have to forgive Wasabi." Hiro apologized. "It's not everyday you get to meet one of the leading scientists in optical engineering."

"You should talk." Wade laughed heartily. "You're Hiro Hamada aren't you? I saw your presentation on microbots. It's a shame that that supervillain got ahold of them."

"Uh.. yeah." Hiro awkwardly agreed.

Wade didn't seem to notice that he had hit upon a sore topic. Instead he leant forward and eagerly asked. "Hey, is it true that you and your brother are working on time travel?"

Varian shook his head from the back. "Nah, we're done with the time travel stuff. I'm back to building an interdimensional portal instead."

"Even cooler!" Wade exclaimed enthusiastically. "I can't wait till you're ready to present it."

Hiro softly chuckled. "Yeah, we'll be sure to save you a ticket."

"As... interesting as all this nerd stuff is." Kim interceded. "Can we get back to the ... you know... the whole tracking Drakken down."

"He crashed the convention, didn't he?" Wade stated calmly. "What's he up to this time?"

"No idea." Ron said as he pulled out a bag of chips to share with his pet. "But he mentioned something about 'collecting the older superheroes'..."

He went to take a bite of the chip when suddenly something furry and covered in stripes dropped down from the ceiling and swiped the food right out of his and Rufus's hands.

"Hey!"

"Ruddiger!" Varian got onto his own pet and gave chase after the raccoon around the meeting room.

Everyone groaned.

"What's the raccoon doing here, Varian?" Gogo bemoaned.

"Aunt Cass has a catering job coming up. I had to keep him away from the Lucky Cat till it's over with, and I knew Wasabi wouldn't want him in the back dorm."

"You got that right!"

As Varian finished giving this explanation Ruffus caught up with Ruddiger and the two pets started to engage in a tug-a-war for the bag of chips.

As Varian and Ron rushed to separate their waring pets, Wade pulled up a computer readout on his end.

"Hmmm… according to the spy satellite I just hacked, it looks like there are large energy spikes coming from the docks of San Francisco, and some low level radiation. I'd bet you anything that's Drakken's work alright."

"You… you just casually broke into a high security military satellite?" Hiro squeaked.

Wade shrugged. "Oh sure, I do it all the time. The government pays me to test their defense systems and it comes in handy when superheroing."

"We're not superheroes." Kim insisted.

"If you say so, Kim." Wade smiled.

"Can you get a fix on where the energy reading is coming from?" Hiro asked.

Wade shook his head. "Not from this far out. The energy spikes seem to be random surges from various locations in the area. It'd take some time to triangulate them."

"Then can you send us a copy of those readings? Baymax and I can fly over there and get closer reading-"

"Or you could just head over to 1375 Fairview Ave, and save yourself a trip."

Everyone turned to look at Mole.

The pre-teen didn't pay attention to thier surprised expressions as he scrolled through his phone.

"It went off the market on Lairs4Rent last week, last comments were an enquiry by a Dr. D, and it's down by the docks where all those energy spikes are." Mole continued as he spun around in circles on the swivel chair.

"See!?" Fred yelled. "I told you we weren't utilizing all of our sources!"

"Lairs4Rent…huh?" Kim echoed.

"You know, we're going to have to remember that site for later." Ron added, as he finished rescuing both Rufus and the chips from the ravenous raccoon.  

"Uh, Mole, how did you even know about this Lairs4Rent?" Hiro asked.

"Oh, I have a few spare warehouses I rent out from time to time." Mole explained.

"You do business with supervillains!?" Fred screeched.

"Hey, money is money. Besides it's not my business what my clientele choose to use the space for. So long as they pay the deposit then it's against my ethics to discriminate."

"Yeah, that's exactly what a Mole would say." Fred seethed.

"Oh and like taking the moral high ground has gotten you anywhere. You'd all be wasting hours trying to calculate the bad guys' whereabouts without me." Mole huffed.

"Fine." Hiro sighed, stepping in between them. "Thank you, Mole. Your assistance was invaluable."

Mole beamed at the complement before blowing a raspberry at Fred. Both Hiro and Varian had to hold him back from tackling the younger teen.

"Alright, so we know where he is." Gogo said. "But what's the game plan for when we get there? The guy has freaky plant powers."

"He does, but he has limited control over them." Kim explained.

"Though he is getting better." Ron interjected. "You know what they say, practice makes perfect."

"Still, we need a way to neutralize it…" Varian thought out loud and then he snapped his fingers. "Got it! Carotenoids!"

"We break down the chlorophyll and cause his plant monsters to wilt." Honey Lemon jumped in, knowing precisely what he was talking about.

"Exactly!"

"That's brilliant!" Wade said. "You can speed up the process using natural weed killer agents."

"Yeah, and we have my portals." Varian turned to Honey Lemon. "Remember how I made the vinegar? We can do the same thing to the plants."

"Is it safe?" Honey Lemon questioned. "I mean it's still in the experimental stage and-"

"And it'll be fine. It's not like you have to be precise with it."

"You wanna explain to the rest of class what you're planning?" Wasabi asked.

"I can turn the portable portals into localized time vortexes."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous and I don't like it." Wasabi huffed.

"Leeeet's go with the weed killer idea for now and save the time vortex as a backup." Hiro cautiously suggested.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron said as he started heading for the door. "Let's go kick some man-eating plant butt!"

"Alright, everyone, suit up." Hiro said.

As everyone gathered the last of their needed equipment, Hiro and Kim said goodbye to Wade.

"I'll stay online if you need me," Wade said, "and relay anything else the satellites pick up."

"What about me?" Mole whined. "Don't I get a super suit?"

"Umm, no." Hiro replied.

"B-but.. but.."

"You can't be trusted with one. You're staying here." Gogo ordered.

"But I'm the one who found him!" Mole huffed.

"And that's great, but you're not ready to go on field missions." Hiro explained.

Mole gasped. "You mean I might be ready some day?"

"Uhhhh…"

"You mean if I train really, really hard I might get to be a part of the team?"

"Uhhh…."

"And I'll get my very own super suit!?"

"Uhhhh…"

"No!" Shouted Fred from across the room.

"No one asked you, Fred!"

"And what happens if the rest of us say no?" Wasabi asked.

"Then I shall proceed to use every trick in the book until I get what I want. Starting with the puppy-eyed stare."

And with that, Mole gave Wasabi a pitiful, wide-eyed pout.

"Gah, no, not the pouty face!" Wasabi yelled as he threw his hands up in front of his own face. "How can I say no to those big hazel eyes!?"

"Oh, I know how to solve this." Honey Lemon. "We'll just do the same thing as last time. One Amnesia-tino coming up!"

She scurried back towards the lab with a wide smile. Varian chased after her, Ruddiger still in his arms.  

"Uh.. umm….Honey? Honey!? No!"

Kim watched them leave, not entirely sure what an 'amnesia-tino' was, before bending down to talk to the kid herself.

"Listen, every team needs a man on the outside. You know, someone who provides intel and backup from homebase. Like Wade, here. He hardly ever goes on missions, but we'd be lost without him. Why don't you start your training with him? If you stay here, he can give you a few pointers."

"Yeah sure." Wade nodded. "Stick with me, little buddy, and I'll show you the ropes. The heroes can't do anything without support."

"Well… okay…" Mole reluctantly agreed. "But. This is just temporary! I still expect to get my own super suit… eventually."

Hiro silently mouthed her a 'thank you' over the boy's head.

                                                  -------------------

"Spotted anything yet?" The Fearless Ferret said over a walkie-talkie as he hunched over a gargoyle.

"Nothing my old friend," came Captain Fancy's irritating voice. ",but evil can not hide from the light of truth forever."

Miracle Maiden snorted behind him at that.

"Really, Hank, can't we for once drop the hokie speeches?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Hank replied.

The Ferret rolled his eyes. "Now don't start, you two. We got a job to do, and those kids are counting on us, remember?"

"Oh come on Tim, don't pretend like you're not enjoying this too." Hank yelled as he flew by. The super did a somersault in the air in front of them before flying on.

"Show-off." Tim huffed under his breath.

Miracle Maiden smiled and gave him a gentle nudge.

"Oh, don't be such a resmungão. This really is just like old times, you know. How often do we get to come out of retirement?"

Tim tried to hold back a chuckle and failed. "Since when did you ever retire to begin with Lima?"

Lima shrugged. "Never, but supervillains these days just aren't as common anymore. Looks like we did our jobs too good." She winked.

Just as she finished saying this, Hardlight flew by on his hover disk.

"What were you saying about supervillains not being common anymore?"

"So there's some young startups now trying to make a name for themselves," Lima said as she pulled her spear out of its sheath, "he hasn't fought any real superheroes yet. Once we're through with him, he'll be the one retiring."

She let out a battle cry and jumped across to the next rooftop.

Tim sighed and pulled out his grappling gun. "Hey, Hank. That new hotshot, Hardlight, just started heading towards the docks."

"On it!" Hank responded before Tim put the walkie-talkie away and swung him himself over to the next building using the grappling gun.

                                                 -------------------

The supers caught up with Hardlight at a warehouse down by the docks.

"Hahaha! Let's see if you old timers can keep up." He laughed before flying through the window of the uppermost story.

Captain Fancy followed after him, only to suddenly hit an invisible wall. It glowed neon pink from where he had smacked into it.

"Nuh-uh-nuh." Hardlight wagged his finger at them."You don't get to speedrun this. You got to start on the first level."

He then pressed a button on his glove and the entire building was bathed in purple light. All save for the front door.

"My game, my rules. If you wanna make it to the boss, you have to beat my maze fair and square. No shortcuts, no cheats, and no complaining."

"And if we refuse to play along?" The Ferret asked from below.

"Then I guess you won't win your prize, now will you? See ya at the finish line." He gave them a salute and then disappeared from view.

Fancy rejoined his friends upon the ground, rubbing his sore forehead. "Sooo... this is a trap right?"

"Oh, totally a trap." Lima agreed, never taking her eyes off the light fortress.

The Ferret straightened up to his full height and marched forward. "Then let's spring it."

"Ummm... Tim?" Fancy flew after him. "You know, I've been thinking. Maybe we should ask for backup?"

"Backup!?" Tim whirled around to face his friend.

"Well, yeah. I mean we've never faced this guy before, and he seems to have some pretty unique powers."

Lima rolled her eyes. "So he has some fancy tech. It's nothing we haven't faced before."

"All I'm saying is, maybe we should ask those new kids what they know about him. They might have some useful knowledge about how his tech works and what weakness it might have."

Tim raised an eyebrow at him. "And you're not just saying that, because you won't be able to fly around in there?"

Hank stiffened. "Well, at least I have superpowers."

"I have a superpower, my stunning intellect."

Fancy doubled over with laughter. "You mean you're good at guessing multiple choice during trivia night."

The Ferret stepped forward and stood up on tiptoe till he was nose to nose with the pompous Captain. "I swear, one of these days Hank..."

"Why not today?" Fancy smugly smiled back. "You and me, one on one."

"Brain vs Brawn. The first man to capture the villain wins."

"You're on."

"Ugh! Just kiss already and move out of the way," Lima said as she pushed past the two men. She marched up to the door and ripped it off its hinges with her super strength.

Her colleagues followed after into the dark hall, eyeing each other challengingly.

                                                 -------------------

Kim looked out the window of the moving car to see the other superheroes flying, jumping, and skating around them. Meanwhile, She, Ron, and Rufus rode with Wasabi and Varian.

"So how do you know Wade?" Wasabi asked, making small talk. "Do you both go to MIT too?"

Ron shook his head. "Oh no. I actually graduated four years ago, and Kim here attends Yale."

"I'm getting a doctorate in political science." Kim explained, almost sheepishly.

"Impressive. "Wasabi nodded.

"Oh, it's no big."

"And you said you already graduated. What do you do now? Full-time superheroing?"

"More like full-time job hunting." Ron groaned. "I do marketing and sales. It pays well, but it's all gig-based. So you're constantly networking trying to land the next job."

"Oh, but you have gotten a lot of work from those restaurants, recently." Kim pointed out.

"That's true. It pays the bills anyways." Ron laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I guess we're not doing too bad."

Kim smiled back at him before continuing the conversation. "So what about you two? Are you still in school as well?"

"We both go to SFIT," Varian explained. "We're both physics majors, technically."

"Technically?"

"I prefer alchemy, but the dean said that wasn't a viable degree."

Kim tilted her head at that but decided not to press the matter further. "Oh, well, are you going for your Bachelor's degree?"

Varian shrugged. "I don't know if I'll even graduate, yet."

"Don't say that." Wasabi snapped. "You're graduating even if I have to drag you to class myself."

"Now you just sound like Honey Lemon."

"Then we'll both drag you to class. What makes you think we're just going to let you flunk out?"

"I'm not talking about failing. I'm only going to SFIT for my dad. It's not a priority or anything."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Varian shrugged. "I don't know. As in I literally don't know what I'll do; maybe I'll graduate, maybe I'll switch majors, or maybe I'll quit and get a job. I could sell an award-winning novel. There are lots of things I can do. I'm not locked into anything."

Wasabi rolled his eyes. "You can't just drift aimlessly like that. You need a plan."

"Oh, and what's your plan?" Varian folded his arms.

"Step one. Get my Undergrad. Step two. Apply for my Masters. Step three. Graduate with my Masters."

"Then what?"

"Then what?" Wasabi echoed hoarsely.

"Yeah, so far all you've listed is school. You can't stay in school forever. What do you wanna do afterward?"

"Ummmm..."

"You've no idea."

"Uhhhh..."

Kim reached out from the backseat and patted Wasabi on the shoulder.

"It's okay. Finally graduating can be stressful. I don't know what I'm going to do after the next semester either."

"Are you freaking out over finals too?" Wasabi asked.

"Totally."

"And job applications?"

"And interviews."

"And thesis papers."

"Not to mention... presentations of those papers."

Both she and Wasabi shuddered simultaneously at the thought.

"Oh, you worry too much KP." Ron chided. "You can literally do anything. I'm with Varian on this one. It'll all work out."

He pulled out his last bag of taco-flavored chips from his pocket as he said this, but no sooner did he open the bag then did a certain troublesome raccoon sneak out of the trunk of the car, snatch the bag out of his hands, and ran dashed towards the front seat.

"Hey!"

"What's he doing here?"

"Ruddigger!"

"Get back here you chip thief!"

 hiss

"Varian!"

                                                 -------------------

From above Hiro wondered what could possibly be happening inside Wasabi's car as it began to swerve all over the road. He was about to ask over the intercom if everything was alright when Baymax pointed ahead.

"I have pen-pointed the energy fluctuations."

Hiro followed the robot's finger and that's when he saw it; a giant purple-glowing tower looming over the docks. Hiro pressed his finger to his helmet's intercom.

"Uh, guys... I think we've found Drakken.... and I think he's working with Hardlight."

                                                 -------------------

Lima finished punching the last of the light bats.

"Ha! This is most amusing! Wouldn't you agree, amigos?"

Tim grumbled something in response as he pulled the end of his cape out of the jaws of a giant pink bear trap. He was ignored, as his friends ran on ahead as the barrier to the next room disappeared.

"Come on slowpoke, or I'm going to win the bet," Hank called back to him.

"How many more of these rooms are there?" Tim complained as he entered what looked like a large arena. That was when the door behind them closed and Hardlight's voice sounded out over a speaker system.

"Congratulations. You're almost there, but first, it's mini-boss time!"

Grating electronic music blasted out of the speakers and fog filled the room.

The three supers tightened around each other to create a defensive circle.

Then they heard a buzzing noise overhead. They looked up to see a gigantic fly made of blue light swooping down at them!

All three heroes dodged out of the way quickly as it landed. Tim however was not fast enough.

The fly lowered its bulbous head and snatched the Ferret up between its saw-like jaws, catching his cape once more.

"Put me down you overgrown pest," Tim yelled as he swung in midair.

Lima came to his rescue. She ran up and punched the legs right out from under the insect. It opened its mouth and released the Ferret who landed on the ground with a hard "oof!".

The creature then tried to fly away from the aggressive woman, only for Captain Fancy to pursue it. He mounted the overly large housefly like you would a steer-bull and grabbed it by its wings, pulling back on them hard. The fly crashed to the floor with a heavy thud and a now recovered Ferret used his grappling hook to entrap the monster.

It let out a feeble buzz before exploding into a harmless puff of smoke.

"Well done!" Hardlight clapped over the intercom. "Now for your final challenge. Get ready to meet the Boss."

An open door appeared on the other end of the hall. The trio exchanged meaningful looks before entering the darkened room together.

Try as they might, the trio attempted to pierce the darkness but nothing could be seen. Suddenly a spotlight flared up at one end of the opposite end of the room. They took up defensive positions, ready for anything.

Almost ready for anything that is. They were expecting more light monsters, or Hardlight himself, they did not expect a familiar blue figure to slowly and calmly walk into the spotlight.

"Hello, I'm the Boss." Drakken smiled.

Before the supers could react, vines had snaked around their ankles and they were suddenly lifted off the ground. All the lights turned on and they were each thrown into glass tubes that stood beside complicated machinery.

Lima got one good punch in and managed to crack the glass case before electronic neuro-rings were placed upon each of their heads.

The rings lit up and the supers' eyes glazed over. They stood inside the tubes stiff and erect, unconscious to the world.

"Thanks for playing." Hardlight cheerfully mocked as he hovered above the scene.

                                                 -------------------

                     Notes:        

We're hosting a Secret Santa on the Discord. Sign ups will still be open though the weekend and gift will be presented on Jan. 6th. The 12th day of Christmas.

https://discord.gg/6GNMTTe49r

[annie-tjc]

What is an environmental test chamber and what products does it include

#Environmental test chamber#Climatic test chamber#Temperature test chamber#Humidity test chamber

An environmental test chamber is a device or system used to simulate and control specific environmental conditions. It is widely used in scientific research, engineering testing, product development and quality control.

The environmental test chamber can simulate various environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, light, vibration, vibration, climate, etc. They usually consist of a closed box, and the environmental conditions inside the box can be precisely regulated and monitored by a control system. The environmental test chamber usually has functions and equipment such as temperature controller, humidity controller, sensor, data logger, etc.

By using environmental test chambers, researchers, engineers, and manufacturers can test and evaluate materials, products, or systems under controlled conditions. For example, they can use test chambers to simulate material properties under extreme temperature conditions, product stability under high humidity, and the reliability of electronic devices under different climatic conditions. These tests can help them understand how the material or product will behave in the context of actual use and make necessary improvements and optimizations.

Environmental test chambers have a wide range of applications, covering many industries, including aerospace, automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, environmental science, etc. They play an important role in product development, quality control and compliance testing to improve product reliability, stability and adaptability.

There are many different types of products on the market to meet the needs of different fields and applications. Here are some common environmental test chamber products:

Temperature test chamber: used to simulate the test environment under different temperature conditions, can provide low temperature, high temperature or temperature cycle functions.

Humidity test chamber: used to simulate the test environment under different humidity conditions, can achieve high humidity, low humidity or humidity cycle.

Thermal shock test chamber: A combination of temperature and humidity functions is used to simulate the environment of rapid temperature and humidity changes to test the heat and cold resistance of the product.

Vibration test chamber: used to simulate the test environment under different vibration conditions, which can realize sinusoidal vibration, random vibration or shock vibration.

Salt spray chamber: used to simulate the salt spray corrosion environment, often used to test the corrosion resistance of materials and coatings.

Dust test chamber: Used to simulate dust and particulate environments, often used to test the sealing performance of electronic devices and packages.

Climate test chamber: combined with temperature, humidity, light and other environmental factors, used to simulate the test environment under real climate conditions.

ESS Chamber：ESS Chamber can simulate the operation of the product under various environmental stress conditions such as temperature, humidity, vibration and shock. It provides a fast and efficient method for screening products for possible failures and reliability issues during actual use

Uv Testing Chamber：UV testing chamber is a device used to simulate the UV radiation environment and test the weather resistance of materials. It is usually composed of ultraviolet light source, temperature control system, humidity control system, transparent sample rack, etc., which can simulate ultraviolet light exposure in the natural environment, high temperature and high humidity and other conditions for evaluating the weather resistance and durability of materials.

If you want to know more about the relevant products of environmental reliability testing equipment, you can visit Environmental test chamber manufacturer,JOEO ALI testing. They are a professional manufacturer and sales of environmental test chamber and vibration test system in China. Guangdong ALI Testing Equipment Co,. Ltd. specializes in temperature and humidity testing and mechanical vibration testing systems, and is a leader in the field of environmental and reliability testing.

[green-ann]

Hello, comrades.

It is with great pleasure that I want to tell you about my visit to the city of Balakovo, which is known for the fact that one of the 11 nuclear power plants of the Russian Federation - the Balakovo NPP - is based there.

The city of Balakovo is located in the Saratov region, 170 km from one of the major cities of the Volga region – Saratov. Balakovo NPP is located 8 kilometers from the city.

In fact, Balakovo is a unique city in Russia – no other city has three energy producing enterprises at the same time – nuclear power plant, hydroelectric power plant and thermal power plant. It was thanks to the active construction of hydroelectric power plant during the Soviet Union that the city received a powerful industrial, cultural and demographic development. The city became a grandiose All-Union Komsomol construction site, attracting a huge number of students from all over the country.

The city itself is very cozy and green.

So, in 1977, the construction of a nuclear power plant begins near the city…

Initially, it was supposed to be called Privolzhskaya and consist of 6 power units, almost exactly repeating the Zaporozhye NPP in the Ukrainian SSR. The first power unit was supposed to be commissioned in 1984, but due to a number of circumstances, it happened only in 1985. The next 3 blocks were commissioned in 1987, 1988, 1993, respectively, and the construction of the fifth and sixth blocks was frozen in 1992 (no further construction is planned).

So, Balakovo NPP is the acknowledged leader in the Russian nuclear industry by many indicators. At present, the enterprise generates about 30 billion kWh of electricity annually and is the top performer among all nuclear power plants of Russia. The electricity is supplied to consumers in the Volga region, Central Russia, Ural and Siberia.

The plant has been awarded the title of Russia’s Best NPP 17 times and has become a pilot platform where new advanced fuel for VVER-1000 reactors was used on an industrial scale for the first time.

VVER-1000 type reactors with the capacity of 1000 MW are the «heart» of Balakovo NPP.

One of the priority activities of Balakovo NPP is the life extension of the power units. In 2015 the plant obtained a license for the life extension of power unit № 1 for more 30 years, in 2017 – a license for power unit № 2 for 26 years, in 2018 – for power unit №3 for further 30 years of operation. This was preceded by a large-scale upgrade of systems and equipment, including safety systems.

The Information center at the nuclear power plant in the city of Balakovo was created in order to inform plant workers, builders and the public about what is happening at the facility, as well as to form a positive attitude towards nuclear energy (which was especially shaken against the background of the Chernobyl accident). The Center was also engaged in the production of a special newspaper of the NPP called "Energiya" («Energy»), which is still being published (and I am now the owner of a couple of recent issues).

At the entrance to the center, there is a life-size heat-generating assembly - very impressive.

So, there are two museums in the center: on the ground floor there is a newly opened museum dedicated specifically to the Balakovo NPP, its history from the first peg driven into the ground to the present day.

On the second floor there is an older, but no less interesting exposition with many exhibits, including interactive stands, multimedia screens and information stands.

One can find various information about nuclear power plants. There is a stand dedicated to various types of electricity generation.

Mockups dedicated to the fission reaction of uranium nuclei, as well as the entire cycle that uranium goes through, starting with the extraction of uranium ore and ending with the storage of spent nuclear fuel or its further processing.

A visual layout of one of the power units with a reactor and a hall with turbines and generators that generate electricity.

The lights are flashing, you can see the movement of heated steam along the contours to the turbines and back.

A lot of attention is paid to environmental and radiation safety. You can notice the background radiation indicator (by the way, do you remember this one on the building of the Kurchatov Institute?).

In the center both the points of measurement of radioactive contamination of the human body, familiar to us from old photos of the same Chernobyl, and more modern installations are presented:

Your humble narrator had the honor to go through the measurement in the modern one :)

At the end of our tour, we were shown a wonderful film (in 3D!!) on the detailed design of the VVER-1000 reactor.

Well, after that, we went to look for a way to get as close to the plant as possible, and also to find a place from which the most beautiful view of all 4 power units would open…

We got very close to the plant, and then drove around a huge cooling pond, from the opposite bank of which I took these pictures :)

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