#victor barker

[makingqueerhistory]

Victor Barker

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[artemismatchalatte]

Yesterday, I started reading Colonel Barker's Monstrous Regiment by Rose Collis. I'm only about 35% way through the book so far.

Mostly the book follows the life of Sir Victor Barker (or Colonel Barker), who becomes a female husband at the age of 28. He lived the first 27 years of his life as a woman. He was even married twice and had two kids. Both his husbands were WWI veterans and abusive towards him. He estranged himself from them and then took his inheritance from his parents to become a gentleman in his own right. He also marries Elfrida, his first wife in 1923- whose account of her husband is mentioned above.

Collis also added stories of other female husbands from the late 1800's and early 1900's and wove them into Barker's story. 'Female husband' is a historic gender category which covers many more distinct gender identities today. A historic female husband could be a butch lesbian, a masculine bisexual woman, a more masculine leaning AFAB nonbinary person or a straight or bisexual trans man by today's standards. Because we cannot ask the female husbands how they would identify today, we have to go by historic record- if they left anything behind. The female husbands were born female and took on traditionally masculine dress and roles usually to get better jobs only available to men and to be able to openly romance and marry women.

Sir Barker's case is a bit unusual because he left behind many personal records. His words are used directly in this book as well. Though the page I picked to share was mostly his wife, Elfrida's words. His photograph was on page 88.

[tenth-sentence]

He named himself as 'Colonel' in 1928, opening a café with his new partner, an actress.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Victor acted with Brighton Repertory Company and joined the cricket club as 'Captain Barker', but he left Elfreda in 1926. He joined the National Fascisti movement, and lived at its headquarters in London, training recruits and boasting of his past: street-fighting with 'reds'. He named himself as 'Colonel' in 1928, opening a café with his new partner, an actress.

When the café went bankrupt he was prosecuted for fraud and this led to his discovery as a woman in Brixton Prison. He was convicted of perjury – false information on the marriage certificate – and sentenced to nine months in the women's prison at Holloway. After his release, he lived as a manservant and was later prosecuted for theft.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: D&D

Elon Musk: mama mia Musk: life, itsa seems so empty Musk: [touching a framed portrait of Stephen King] since my-a best frienda moved away

Musk: i'm-a so depressed Musk: grok, what shoulda i do Grok: [slur] Musk: mama mia, you are righta,grok! Musk: i SHOULD buy Hasbro to secure the rights to dungeons anna dragons!

Stephen King: submitted for the approval of the- Elon Musk [rising out of bushes] eyyyy Stephano king King: elon? are we still doing this?! King: i'm gone from twitter now! King: i'm finally… King: clean

Musk: maybe you heard i tweeted ima gonna buy hasbro Barker: christ why would we hear that Musk: eyyy i tweeta it, itsa news! MusK: datsa how da lasangna is made, paisano!

August Derleth: okay welcome to another call of Cthulhu game Derleth: what are your characters this time? Victor LaValle: i'm sweet sweetbreads, the harlem hustler Brian Keene: i'm dr. batcountry, the gonzo journalist Nick Mamatas: i'm groovio daddy, the freaky deaky beatnik Elon Musk: ima da paladin!

Derleth: excuse me? i don't think you're part of this group Musk: eyyy i buy Hasbro, so now ima member of EVERY D&D group! Derleth: this isn't D&D! it's call of Cthulhu! Derleth: its owned by chaosium! Musk: Musk: not for longa!

Musk: i owna all ropleplaying games now, as a concept Musk: data mean, you hafta let me play! Derleth: ok ok fine Derleth: what's your character? Musk: ima da elfin paladin Derleth: this isn't that kind of game! Musk: mama mia you betta MAKE It datta kind of game or i breaka you face, pedodungeonmaster!

Derleth: guys, look i think we're gonna have to make some changes in the game to accommodate elon Derleth: i know this is unpopular but if we don't he's going to be crying all night Derleth: he is very rich, after all Keene: oh yeah very rich LaValle: very rich Mamatas: the richest Mamatas: like literally, i read he was

Derleth: ok so Cthulhu appears, role for sanity check Elon Musk: da elf paladin, he stabba da Cthulhu with a sword! Derleth: you can't do that!! Derleth: you need at least a boat to stab Cthulhu! Brian Lumley: no wait i like the cut of this elon's gib Musk: oooo disruptiano!

Musk: i stabba da Cthulhu Derleth: ok roll to see if you can kill an elder god by stabbing Musk: eyyy i don't need to roll no dice Musk: i buya da game, so i maka da rules Musk: it works, i win, Cthulhu i killa him Musk: also my character name? issa X.

[mrsbridgerton]

shonda rhimes, a black woman, staying MUTE when the POC actors/actresses in bridgerton (rege, simone, ruby, masali, charithra, victor, martins and emma) have received vile racist abuse and harassment yet she only defended *checks notes* nicola coughlan, a white woman….

[middleeasternpeopleloveus]

Nine Inch Nails  & Ministry + Texts from Last Night

(w/ cameos from Marilyn Manson, Nivek Ogre, and the Exotic Birds)

[housewarningparty]

top 5 horror book recommendations? it's spooky season and i need to get my read on...

Hell yeah! Gonna break this down a little. First an obligatory rehash of books I always recommend for this, these are like all-time faves for me

Wounds/North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud - can't choose between these two, so they're tied for my favorite single author short story collection. Nathan Ballingrud is one of my favorite writers of all time

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado - a very very close second for my favorite single-author short story collection. Machado is a beautiful writer and finding an author writing such powerful horror from a queer woman's perspective was world changing for me.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - COME ON!!!! You might have already read this but consider reading it again! Absolute classic.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja - dark, fucked up meditation on art and addiction and toxic relationships. I think about this book all the time. A guy finds a weird hole in his apartment basement and then everything goes wrong (first slowly and then very very quickly)

Red X by David Demchuk - talked about this a lot before too but I really do love it. Fictional story inspired by real life serial killings that took place in Toronto's gay village over decades. The author inserts essays throughout the book that makes it part memoir as well. A supernatural story about real queer trauma.

--

Okay with that out of the way, here's some recommendations for stuff I think would be fun for Halloween specifically

Echoes edited by Ellen Datlow - OKAY CHEATING I ALSO RECOMMEND THIS ALL THE TIME BUT IT'S A PERFECT OCTOBER BOOK!!! Fuck-off huge ghost story anthology. Huge range of tones, pretty diverse group of contributing authors, it's my all-time favorite anthology.

Slewfoot by BROM - this one's got major autumn vibes. It's a story of a woman in Puritan New England who's accused of witchcraft. It's also a story about the devil. Kind of. The print version has really amazing paintings by the author, but I've heard this is also good in audio.

Come Closer by Sara Gran - this is a great little novella. Possession story that really packs a punch. I can't really say much more than that, but it's not a huge time investment and I think it's really worthwhile.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu - if you can, get the version edited by Carmen Maria Machado (she adds in some great footnotes and it has some neat art too). This is a classic and also quite a brisk read. The original lesbian vampire story.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - here's a new release for you! I always watch a ton of horror movies in October, and if you're anything like me maybe you'll want to read a horror novel about horror movies. This story follows a female film editor in 90s Mexico and her washed up actor friend as they help a retired filmmaker complete his famously unfinished last film, which he had been making with a former Nazi occultist before strange misfortunes and the occultist's mysterious disappearance forced production to shut down.

Okay that was double the amount of recommendations requested so I'm stopping here. Haha don't look in the tags don't worry about it there's nothing there you're crazy

[mariocki]

New Scotland Yard: Papa Charlie (2.7, LWT, 1972)

"You realise, of course, that anybody, no matter what their rank or position, anybody who was at that meeting - who had sight of this - is now under suspicion of passing information to that gang, don't you?"

"Yes, of course."

"Someone's working on the inside. Could be anybody. Could even be Sergeant Ward - or perhaps you?"

"No."

"Well, we'll see. I intend to find out who it is. And I'm going to give myself one hour in which to do it."

[rmstitanics]

* FAMOUS INDIVIDUALS WITH YOUR MOON SIGN.

If you’re looking for suggestions on which authors and music artists to check out next, look to your moon sign! In Western astrology, the moon is said to represent your subconscious mind, emotions, and inner personality, so it is widely believed that we tend to relate to media by artists who share our moon sign.

♈️ ARIES MOON

WRITERS:

Gore Vidal

George R. R. Martin

Nicholas Sparks

Rick Riordan

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Christopher Paolini

MUSICIANS:

P!nk

Whitney Houston

Céline Dion

Selena Gomez

Rihanna

Tupac

♉️ TAURUS MOON

WRITERS:

Jodi Picoult

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Hans Christian Anderson

Clive Barker

George Bernard Shaw

Aldous Huxley

MUSICIANS:

Pharrell Williams

Kelly Clarkson

Bob Dylan

Demi Lovato

Christina Aguilera

Pitbull

♊️ GEMINI MOON

WRITERS:

C. S. Lewis

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Orson Scott Card

Franz Kafka

Margaret Mitchell

R.A. Salvatore

T. S. Elliot

MUSICIANS:

Ella Fitzgerald

Florence Welch

Art Garfunkel

Billy Idol

Sia

Tina Turner

♋️ CANCER MOON

WRITERS:

George Orwell

Liu Cixin

Brandon Sanderson

Cassandra Clare

Diana Gabaldon

Lois Lowry

MUSICIANS:

Tchaikovsky

Taylor Swift

Kurt Cobain

Halsey

Aretha Franklin

Janis Joplin

♌️ LEO MOON

Oscar Wilde

Holly Black

Geraldine Brooks

James Dashner

Jack London

Ta Nehisi Coates

MUSICIANS:

Lana Del Ray

Paul McCartney

Queen Latifah

Niall Horan

Bruno Mars

David Bowie

♍️ VIRGO MOON

WRITERS:

Leo Tolstoy

John Grisham

Claudia Gray

Isabel Allende

Xiran Jay Zhao

Douglas Adams

MUSICIANS:

Dolly Parton

Nicki Manaj

Madonna

Lorde

Bo Burnham

Lizzo

♎️ LIBRA MOON

WRITERS:

Jane Austen

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Sylvia Plath

William Shakespeare

Maya Angelou

R.F. Kuang

MUSICIANS:

Ariana Grande

Charli XCX

Bruce Springsteen

Jay-Z

Harry Styles

Fergie

♏️ SCORPIO MOON

WRITERS:

Veronica Roth

Edith Wharton

V.E. Schwab

Harper Lee

Keira Cass

Meg Cabot

MUSICIANS:

Lady Gaga

Tyler the Creator

Cyndi Lauper

Beyoncé

Bob Marley

The Weeknd

♐️ SAGITTARIUS MOON

WRITERS:

Stephen King

Victor Hugo

Marie Lu

Suzanne Collins

Samantha Shannon

Adam Silvera

MUSICIANS

Hozier

Freddie Mercury

Adele

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Chappell Roan

John Legend

♑️ CAPRICORN MOON

WRITERS:

Sarah J. Maas

J.M. Barrie

Jeff Shaara

Joyce Carol Oates

Stephanie Meyer

Angie Thomas

MUSICIANS:

Frédéric Chopin

Neil Diamond

Jon Bon Jovi

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Stevie Nicks

Donna Summer

♒️ AQUARIUS MOON

WRITERS:

Margaret Atwood

Leigh Bardugo

Louisa May Alcott

Seth Grahame-Smith

Anthony Horowitz

S.E. Hinton

MUSICIANS:

Cody Simpson

Marilyn Monroe

Britney Spears

Billie Eilish

Tim McGraw

Carrie Underwood

♓️ PISCES MOON

WRITERS:

Toni Morrison

Edgar Allen Poe

Malcolm Gladwell

Lisa McMann

Alice Oseman

Philippa Gregory

MUSICIANS:

Kenny Chesney

Elvis Presley

Frank Sinatra

Prince

Kendrick Lamar

Sabrina Carpenter

[sweeneytodddemonbarber]

That’s a good question; I do love Cruella DeVille—favorite Disney Villainess; and Scar no doubt. They both were just misunderstood ✨❤️

@monkeyunclescar

who's your favourite disney villain?

SCAR FROM THE LION KING

I ADORED the Lion King when I was little (still love it)

Also once I saw a headcanon about one of my favorite characters (Victor Vale from the Villains duology by V. E. Schwab) that since he basicall "adopted" a girl at the beginning of the story, he probably watches Disney movies with her, and that he probably sings Be Prepared when he's alone and no one can see... So yeah

But also I just think Scar is really cool.

[lizardsfromspace]

Stumbling across that weird fanatically anti-transmasc cult again and this tweet really sums it up better than anything

Trans women are defined entirely by misery and tragedy. Historical trans women all died in asylums. That's why Christine Jorgensen, the first trans woman to get gender-affirming surgery in the US, tragically *squints* spent decades as a in-demand public speaker and headlining entertainer. Because trans women literally can't experience anything other than misery

I have a book from the 70s with an ad for a speaker's agency that lists her alongside Rod Serling and Cicely Tyson. And underneath Erich von Daniken, which is irrelevant to my point but really weird. She was not wasting away in an asylum. Many trans women led tragic lives; but many is not all, and there are historic examples, even really famous ones, of trans women who were happy

Why would they erase that to tell people trans women all suffer tragic fates and must suspect everyone oh yeah bc they're a cult preying on the vulnerable and trying to convince them they need protection (but oddly enough from other trans people more than anyone else?)

The trans man thing is a reference to Victor Barker, who was, indeed, a trans man and a fascist in the 1920s. But I think another key point is, uh, that was one fuckin' guy. Why are they tacking that on, except if they're trying to imply trans men are secretly fascists? But that'd be an absurd thing to belieTHEY BELIEVE THAT. That is a real thing these creeps believe now and are seriously implying on the reg

"You must be suspicious that trans men are fascists" is now part of their ever-evolving litany of apparently endless evil from transmascs who...called a internet famous trans woman an asshole? Made a bad tweet once? Literally anything a trans man ever does (or doesn't do) transforms into a collective action on the part of all trans men in their minds. Trans men aren't just not allies in their mind, but are comically evil Saturday morning cartoon villains

Also, of course, the insistence that trans men had it much easier than trans women. If all trans women's lives weren't misery, all trans men's lives weren't happy, either. This insistence they had it "easy" is giving James Somerton on Radclyffe Hall

This is, again, A Single Guy. You have proved two white trans men are fascists, one in the 1920s and one now. Maybe. Maybe some other factor is at play, some other identity shared, by these two men, and the majority of fascists. "Why do people think I hate trans men?" says a group with a list of trans men they hate they can trot out instantly

I think people are just primed to think evidence of one member of a marginalized group doing a shitty thing is proof they all do it, or to go "that's just one guy?". In another life this jabroni wouldn't be posting about how Mao would be a Baeddel (???), they'd be sharing Fox News stories about crimes to declare we need to deport all Muslims and Mexicans. It's the same psychology, just rotted by internet discourse instead of a more traditional reactionary ideology

Also you may wonder "wait, I'm a trans woman, and trans men calling me a Nazi happens quite rarely, actually". I'm a trans woman on the internet and trans men calling me a Nazi has happened a grand zero times. So you may then wonder why, precisely, this sweet, innocent bean who's never done anything wrong is called a Nazi so regularly they think it's a universal problem.

Anyway they tweeted out the Fourteen Words, but they said gay women instead of white children. Truly, how could anyone ever get the idea they're a Nazi

[duckprintspress]

Celebrate National Short Story Day with Queer Stories!

December 21st, the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere, is also National Short Story Day! So if you’re up north, grab what sunlight you can and join us for a quick read, and if you’re in the south, you’ve got time to read ‘um all in one day! The contributors to this list are: Sebastian Marie, YF Ollwell, theirprofoundbond, Shadaras, Shea Sullivan, and Dei Walker.

O.1 by Gabby Rivera in A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams

The Synapse Will Free Us From Ourselves by Violet Allen in A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams

Harmony by Seanan McGuire in A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams

In The Hills, The Cities by Clive Barker in Books of Blood, vol. 1

The Recondite by S. J. Ralston

Further Arguments in Support of Yudah Cohen’s Proposal to Bluma Zilberman by Rebecca Fraimow

Shaina Rubin Keeps Her Head Under Circumstances Nobody Could Have Expected by Rebecca Fraimow

Gitl Schneiderman Learns to Live With Her In-Laws by Rebecca Fraimow

A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Mountain Ways by Ursula K. Le Guin

Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons in Never Whistle At Night edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

Closer Than Your Kidneys by Ursula Whitcher

Self Care by Julian K. Jarboe

We’d love to hear about some of your favorite queer short stories – and where to find them!

[pjmslave]

Major Thaddaeus Scott Barker, PhD was called Scott by the few people that were allowed to use his first name. Almost always he was addressed as Major Barker. He was the administrator of a facility in a barren lifeless desert within the only nation state that had the resources to research what was being researched. Major Barker liked to think of this project as being the next stage of evolution. Not for mankind, but for the soldiers who would defend the freedom of the nation state.

The research was so secret that not even the elected leaders of the nation state were aware of its existence. All document detailing what was being accomplished at the facility stayed at the facility. No reports were filed with those individuals in the chain of command above Major Barker. Even the funds used to run the facility were buried so deep with each and every allocation of defense funds as to obscure them from discovery.

If anyone investigated the facility, they were informed it was a high tech secret weapon development facility. But nobody ever investigated. Nobody cared to know. Regardless, Major Barker filed reports to his superiors on the fictional weapons that were being developed at his facility. All of the reports generated culled information for other weapon development sites. Major Barker only padded them with hundreds of pages of pseudo-science to make the reports unreadable. Nobody even tried to read them.

The facility comprised fifty men and women with no less than one PhD who had been enticed to join the project by offering them a huge stipend in addition to their military pay. Several of the scientific staff had multiple PhDs. Of course, none of these individuals realized they would be so removed from civilization as to make it impossible to spend any money at all.

All fifty had been carefully selected by Major Barker over the years as the project needs grew. They had been given a battery of psychological and ethnics testing to ensure they would actively do what ever was necessary to participate in such advanced research. Their research required the use of human beings.

All fifty required some degree of additional mental conditioning to go from using rats and monkeys in their research to actually using men and women in their research. Every six months or so, ten to fifteen homeless individuals were harvested from various locations so they could be used in the research vital to the nation state’s defense. The fifty scientists had been fully condition to see these men and woman as inferior to them. A drain on the limited resources of their nation state.

These homeless individuals were viewed not as human but as ‘lab rats’ by the scientists. Only three (two women, one man) had objected to the use of human beings as lab rats. They had been removed from the project and placed in confinement. After months of being subjected to heavy brainwashing techniques which had been developed at the facility, all three returned to the project.

After ten years and some six hundred forty-two experiments on individuals, Major Barker had been invited to see the latest breakthrough. Previous research had managed to drain the human subjects of all of their humanity. Next, they succeeded in formatting their lab rats’ brains to obey all commands. Of course, the individual required each and every movement to be commanded. It was not enough to command, ‘eat food.’ Each and every step required to ‘eat food’ had to be commanded. An incredibly tedious and complex undertaking.

Today, Major Barker was to witness a man, who had once been a janitor at the facility, be controlled solely by external means. Lieutenant Ellenor Brooke Evans, PhD had developed an AI bot that could be programmed into a state of the art laptop that would be used to control the janitor. The AI bot would control everything the man did. The janitor had given his name to be one Victor Forbes. Of course, once he was selected as ‘lab rat’ he was given the designation Epsilon Victor Nine, or Victor Nine for short.

Major Barker was proud of Lieutenant Evans’ work. She was one of the three who had to be further encouraged to do what had to be done. Major Barker first saw her next to Victor Nine. She was ensuring all connections were tight. At one point she grabbed the smallish computer attached to Victor Nine’s scalp was secure.

Major Barker took the center seat in the control room. He leaned forward to depress the mic button. “Okay Evans, show me what you have done?”

As Major Barker waited for Lieutenant Evens to arrive into the control room, he marveled at the change in Victor Nine. The lab rat was totally nude except for the computer attached to its head and some other gadget attached to his left forearm. Victor Nine’s skin tone was silver, identical to the rest of the lab rats currently in use.

For just a second, Major Barker focus on the fifteen centimeter cock hanging in the man’s groin. It also was now colored silver. Major Barker’s mouth watered as he wondered if the cock was even functional. “I so could suck on that.” Major Barker thought to himself.

But what so amazed Major Barker was the complete change in Victor Nine. The once scrawny boy of nineteen who had never seen the inside of a gym and might have weighed in the sixty kilogram range had added no less than fifty kilograms of newly formed muscle.

Major Barker’s first question of Evans was, “How did you accomplish the muscles?”

Evan answered the question with another question, “How many push-ups do you want it to do, Sir?”

“Thirty six, in three groups of twelve.”

With that Evans pulled out a computer pad. Her fingers pressed multiple icons. Once completed, she reached over to activate the speaker which picked up the sounds of the room where Victor Nine was located.

Major Barked was amazed as he heard Victor Nine report, “Task downloading.” He was even more impressed as he watched Victor Nine fall to the floor and begin counting the pushups it was doing. “One. Two. Three.” And so forth.

When Victor nine announced the twelfth push up he paused slightly then continued. It began with “Two! Two. Three. Four.” And so forth.

Evans asked, “Would you be wanting any sit ups?”

Major Barker replied, “No. The push up are impressive enough. Return it to a standing position when it completes its current task.”

Evans inputted the necessary command via her computer pad. When Victor Nine returned to a standing position, Evans leaned over the computer panel in the control room. She clicked on the mic and in a commanding voice said, “Attention!”

Victor Nine’s stance stiffened. Evans then commanded, “Salute!” Victor Nine’s right arm performed a perfect salute. Evans then commanded “Not that salute. The REAL salute.”

It happened so fast that Major Barker did not notice Victor Nine’s right arm move to a position across his chest.

“Show allegiance to its superiors!”

Major Barker watched as Victor Nine knelt onto its left knee. It right arm still across its chest. It left hand on the floor. Its head firmly focused on just the floor.

Major Barker asked a simple question, “How?”

Evans then entered into a long monologue of how her team had created an AI Bot to control the lab rat. Then how they had reprogrammed nanobots that were used to drain the lab rats of what minimal humanity that had. Once the nanobots stripped the lab rats of their humanity, their memories, their ability to do anything other than what was commanded, the nanobots repurposed themselves to create multiple pathways in their now worthless brains into what would ultimately be controlled by the small computer that was attached on the left side of their skulls.

Evan’s finished her monologue with, “You see, Sir, the body that was once Victor Nine became just a component of the computer attached to its skull. The AI Bot became Victor Nine. The AI bot fully controls the organic body that was once Victor Nine. Victor Nine has no emotions. Victor Nine has no concept of good. It has no concept of evil. Nothing is taboo anymore. It sole function is to obey the commands that are given to it. If that is killing people who are protesting, then it kills. If that is eating shit, then it feasts on the shit.”

As if on cue, Victor Nine dropped a turd out of its ass. It then let loose a stream of urine. Major Barker gave Evans a disapproving look. He demanded, “Well, can you fix that issue?”

Evans simply replied, “My team is already on it, Sir! But in the interim, watch this!” Evans imputed various commands into her computer pad. Without warning, the door to the room where Victor Nine was house opened. Major Barker watched as another man who was destined to become a “lab rat” stand in the door way. The soon to be lab rat had given his name as Bailey McDonald. He reluctantly entered the room.

Bailey was currently being useful to the project by being a dishwasher in one of the dozens of restaurants the peppered the complex. It was about all the future lab rat could handle. His brain had been literally fried by the use of ecstasy. He was still pink and rosy as any human. He had not received the mind altering nanobots as of yet.

Bailey took a couple of reluctant steps into the room. Then he proclaimed, “Damn! What is that offal smell?” Before Bailey could back out of the room, the door slid shut behind him. Bailey barely noticed. His eyes were completely focused on Victor Nine.

Once again, the action was too fast for Major Barker to follow. The next thing his mind registered was Victor Nine standing over Bailey as Bailey was on the floor having what appeared to be a massive seizure. Major Barker noticed a small silver area on Bailey’s right neck and various streaks of silver running up the right side of his face.

Evans proudly stated, “You see, Sir, not only does the bot obey the commands it is given, but it also forcibly assists new lab rats into becoming like it has become. It only does this to what has been classified as ‘lab rats,’ but the definition of ‘lab rats’ can be altered to include members of the enemy’s military. The enemy combatants can now be easily converted into military assets for us with very little effort.”

Major Barker found himself crossing his legs, right over left. Not exactly a military bearing. But it did hide his growing hard-on. As he was doing so, he asked, “Okay Evans, what exactly do you need?” He paused a moment then continued, “First, can you do something about its cock and balls? And its excrement?”

“Already on it, Sir. If you follow me, Sir, I will show you what I require.”

Major Barker was led to a small conference room where Evans had laid out her proposals. She showed him the arm gauntlet that could be attached to a recharging station so that the nanobots in a soldiers body could be reenergized. Next came a huge collar for the soldier that allowed new nanobots to be slowly and consistently injected into the body of the soldier. She also detailed how the pituitary gland would be coopted to produce massive amount of human growth hormones as well as other hormones that would improve a soldier’s strength and agility.

Evans continued by detailing how the nanobots would receive and distribute all the energy the soldier required. How waste products produced by the soldiers body were to be repurpose back into usable components for its body. The soldiers’ bodies would no longer require a GI system so the GI system would be shut down. Its renal system would be remade as just another focal point where waste was recreated into usable substances for the soldier’s body.

Lastly, Evan detailed the fact that obedience to command would be a driving force in the soldier’s programming. As such, sexual intercourse would no longer be permitted. Two presentation drawings showed first a man and then a woman private area. The next drawing showed how both male and female sexual organs would be ‘co-opted’ to supply a continual orgasmic state in the selected soldiers.

This ‘adaptation’ required all sexual organs to be removed. In order to stimulate the euphoric state that will be maintained in the soldiers, various nanobots would construct the necessary circuitry required to stimulate the nerve ending that had once been in their groins. Over this would lay a silver metallic ‘girdle’ that covered not only their groins but their abdomens as well.

Major Barker inputted a few directives into his own computer pad. By doing so Major Barker assigned seven teams to turn their attention to producing what Lieutenant Evans requested. Without understanding what he had done, Major Barket determined the fate of the occupants of the facility as well as the fate of the citizens of his planet. It may have been an insignificant backwater planet in the outer reaches of the galaxy, but it would play an ever increasing role in the quadrant that had been classified as Alpha by the inhabitants of this backwater planet.

Three months later, Major Baker requested an update from the newly promoted Captain Evans. She escorted him to the surface above the complex. Here they watched as a group of fifteen enhanced soldiers engaged in a battle with three platoons of battle harden non-assimilated soldiers. Over one hundred thirty men against fifteen solider drones. The human soldiers did not have a chance. Their real bullets were deflected by the electronic shield produced by the fifteen enhanced soldiers. One by one the battle hardened human soldiers were defeated by the enhanced soldiers.

One by one the human soldiers were added to the ranks of enhanced soldiers. Major Baker saw that his nation’s security would be maintained. He was more than pleased with what Captain Evans had accomplished.

Eight months later, a man, who fit the description of Major Baker was admitted to a psych ward in a major hospital to the southeast of the complex Major Baker commanded. Except the medical staffed at this hospital were unable to get any information from the man dressed in the uniform of the nation state’s army.

The medical staff watched as the man rocked back and forth screaming, “It’s too late. They’re here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. They are here!”

The man was presented multiple questions. He only stopped his hysterical rants when he was asked, “Who is here?”

The man that had once been Major Barker made eye contact with the person questioning him. He then simply said, “The Borg!” He paused for only a few more seconds, then he returned to his hysterical rants, “It’s too late. They’re here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. They are here. It’s too late. They are here!”

The medical staff of the hospital were ill prepared to resist the Borg when they attacked the facility. One by one, the medical staff who had been classified as ‘lab rats’ by the AI Bot in charge were assimilated into the growing hive mind of The Collective.

The local reserve national guard was called up to defend the desert state from the attack of this new…this new… The Borg. The soldiers of the reserve unit found that even their newly deployed laser weaponry was no match for this new force. The Borg easily assimilated the the reserve soldiers who had been reclassified as ‘lab rats.’

The president of the nation state called for the deployment of nuclear weapons against this new internal threat. When she called for an update after the order to deploy was issued, she was shown multiple photos of soldiers in their missile bunkers staring mindlessly at nothing.

All she asked was “How?” When a suitable answer was not given, she asked if there was at least one nuclear sub still under her command. She again was shown photo after photo of men and women just staring at nothing. She then deployed what few military assets that were still at her command. She along with the Joint Chiefs watch each individual soldier was easily ‘assimilated’ into The Collective.

Never one to give up hope, she retreated to the bunker underneath the residence of the President. She commanded her Joint Chiefs to do the same underneath their own fortress across the river from her residence. She watched in horror as the Admiral of her Navy shot his brains out. Then she watched as each and every one in the bunker were ‘assimilated.’

Even with this, she issued commands to military units that no longer existed. She maintained the fight even if it was on paper until the soldiers invaded her own bunker. When it was evident, she would fail in all her efforts, she reached for the gun on the table before her. She had just raised it to her temple when a soldier grabbed her hair and injected her right neck with nanobots. She sank to the floor.

Thousands of voices filled her mind. Welcoming her to The Collective. She felt euphoric to be part of something greater than herself. She gave all her secrets to the Collective. The Collective knew all she knew. Not only the defenses of her own nation state, but the defenses of the nation states that comprised the organization to which her nation state belonged.

Her presidential aid, Robert Alton Wendell the Third, also fell to the soldiers of The Collective. The man that had once demanded he be call Robert or Mr. Wendell became Thirty-Fourth of Forty. He tried to resist. He wanted to resist. He could not resist the siren voices of The Collective. Thirty-Fourth of Forty was easily led away to it destiny as a drone in The Collective. He was assisted to a military transport provided by the newly assimilated Second Marine Assault Amphibian Battalion. He was beyond resistance. The euphoria that the injected nanobots produced in his weak body ensured his full cooperation.

Thirty-Fourth of Forty of Unimatrix One Nine Six Three followed its instruction once it had reach the newly constructed assimilation complex at a former hospital named after the man who had ensured his country’s independence. What little remained of Mr. Wendell observed the transformation of all those individuals that were in the Presidential bunker.

Mr. Wendell observed limbs being removed from his colleagues. Mr. Wendell observed the placement of new mechanical limbs. Mr. Wendell also observed the castration of men with whom he had served. Every time he witnessed a limb amputated. A penectomy performed. A castration inflicted. New control devices attached to someone that had formally been a valued colleague. His body would be flooded with euphoria.

By the time that that he placed himself on the assimilation table he welcomed the alterations of his body. He presented his right arm forward. On his right arm was placed a new mechanical limb. His right eye was replaced with a new visual unit. He could now see an enhanced spectrum of light. His right ear was replaced with a could detect wave forms of sound far below his former threshold of sound and detect sounds that barely would have registered to his former pathetic brain.

His sexual organs were removed or transformed. His muscles were enhance. When his assimilation was completed, he welcomed his designations of Thirty-Fourth of Forty Primary Assimilator of Unimatrix One Nine Six Three.

It was dispatched to the hordes of “lab rats” who have yet to be assimilated. The Collective to which it belongs selected a “lab rat” at random. That “lab rat” would be enhance. Augmented. Enslaved. One of the many that were the one.

Their efforts expanded north and south. East and west until no continent was untouched. Thirty-Fourth of Forty was transported to where it was required. It assimilated thousands of “lab rats.” With each “lab rat” assimilated, it received a flood of euphoric producing endorphins. Robert Alton Wendell the Third finally accepted defeat and ceased all resistance.

Deep in an underground bunker that was the origin of The Collective, First of Three, formally Captain Ellenor Brooke Evans, PhD, with the assistance of the team at the once top secret facility, began to slowly piece together all the research that was available from various research lab. First of Three laid out the necessary plans in order to construct the first ‘faster than light’ warp drive starship. First of Three cracked the light barrier easily. Only the passengers of the warp vehicle did not survive. They had been crushed against the walls of the ship at it accelerated towards light speed. It was a small price to pay for the advancement of The Collective.

Ninth of Nine, formerly Major Thaddaeus Scott Barker, PhD, combined the massive data on inertia dampeners to provide First of Three the break through it required. Within five circumnavigations of their backwater planet around its star, a warp three space craft had been developed. It was in the shape of a perfect cube. It was manned by sixteen million seven hundred seventy-seven thousand two hundred sixteen drones. All with one mission: assimilate the lab rats!

Three circumnavigations around the star where they had originated, Thirty-Fourth of Forty Primary Assimilator of Unimatrix One Nine Six Three, exited the interstellar space craft to begin the assimilation of a new world. It greeted the delegation sent to ‘welcome’ it to their humble planet. Twenty-four ‘hand shakes’ later and the entire ‘welcome’ delegation had been brought under the control of Thirty-Fourth of Forty.

In an unplanned departure from protocol, Thirty-Fourth of Forty was introduced to the leader of the military who protected the Leader of the largest dictatorship on the planet. When Thirty-Fourth of Forty was introduced to the Leader, it saluted the Leader in the manner that was required: hand across its chest, then its arm raised forty-five degrees exactly directly in front of it.

This planet had three sexes, not two. Those who would equate to male or female had been classified as inferior. As such they were subjugated by the third sex which were classified as the Superior Sex. Upaemien The Rejuvenator was a member of this third sex. It ruled with an iron will. It sent any and all who objected to its rule to the various work camps or death camps where they were literally worked or gassed to death.

By the time Thirty-Fourth of Forty was presented to Upaemien The Rejuvenator six thousand, four hundred sixty-two members of its government had already been brought under the control of The Hive Mind.

Nine of Twelve and Three of Five had been sent to the other two dictatorships. They also brought into their control the members of those governments and members of the military guard who protected the leaders of those nation states.

By the time the primary star rose over the eastern most provinces under the domain of Upaemien The Rejuvenator six million nine hundred forty six thousand seven hundred forty-two citizens of the planet had been brought under the direct control of The Hive Mind including Upaemien The Rejuvenator, Saelazar The Risen, and Umaeyor The Soulreaper.

Assimilation centers had also been constructed in thirty-nine locations. Within twenty-two rotations of the planet four billion six hundred forty-two million nine hundred fourteen thousand one hundred sixteen citizens were added to The Hive Mind. The subjugation of the planet was accomplished.

Two billion two hundred nineteen thousand nine hundred twenty-one citizens of the planet were sent to the disintegration chambers located within they assimilation centers. Their brains were resistant to assimilation. It was necessary for The Collective to eliminate them.

The Cube which had been dispatched to this star system was then dispatched to the next star system that showed a potential for life. New cubes were being constructed in the prime solar system as well as the newly assimilated solar system. These cubes would be dispatched to other star systems.

Individual by individual, group by group, nation by nation, planet by planet, The Borg conquered all. The Borg began to assimilate new scientific knowledge rather than spend resources on scientific development. With each planet assimilated or even each ship assimilated the knowledge base of The Borg increased.

Within one thousand circumnavigations of the planet around the star where The Borg had originated, The Borg had started their conquest of the Beta and Gamma Quadrants which were adjacent to the quadrant of space the contained their Primary star system. Each and every star system assimilated where unable to resist The Borg. They were unstoppable.

Until…until…they encountered a star system that managed to reject them. A story for another time. until then, “We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to us. You will be adapted to serve us. Lower your defenses, surrender your selves to us. You will be rewarded as you become one with us.”

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Lillias Barker (1895-1960) was born into a middle-class family and volunteered for the Voluntary Aid Detachment of nurses and the Women's Royal Air Force during the First World War.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Hugo Drama

Hugo Gernsback: hey everyone its me, hugo gernsback Gernsback: editor of Amazing Stories and namesake of the hugo awards Gernsback: perhaps you've heard of them? Clive Barker: oh buddy Barker: buddy Barker: we've heard all about them ha ha

Stephen King: they're named after you? i thought they were named after victor hugo Gernsback: ha ha a common mistake Gernsback: but that's fine Gernsback: i'm not mad at all that victor hugo keeps getting the credit Gernsback: i think its funny Gernsback: in fact i'm laughing

Gernsback: ah yes my precious hugo awards! Gernsback: the most prestigious award in science fiction and fantasy! Gernsback: a place for serious business Gernsback: certainly no room for shenanigans here Gernsback: no room for tomfoolery Gernsback: no room for clownish buffoonery

Gernsback: The Hugo -- an award whose very name rings with integrity & honor!   Gernsback: it is no mere nebula! no paltry clarke! Gernback: the stoker, the howard, the lambda - none can compare! Gernsback: the L Ron hubbard writers of the future award? pah! dust before the hugo!

Gernsback: only the choicest cuts of science fiction and fantasy would ever achieve the lofty hugo award Gernsback: an award forever untainted by shenanigans or hijinks! Gernsback: now to take a big sip of coffee and read this  file 770 report!

Gernsback: what the--?! Gernsback: my beautiful hugos!!! tainted by the foul stench of corruption!!! Clive Barker: yeah boy i bet victor hugo's just sick about it Gernsback: Barker: just sick about what they did to his award Gernsback: Barker: ha ha Poe: clive leave him alone

Gernsback: my hugo!!! you were supposed to be a thing of beauty... not this monstrosity! Dean Koontz: gosh he's so sad about his award Koontz: do you think it would cheer him up if i gave him my nickelodean kids choice award? Poe: i think that would be a very nice gesture dean

Chris M Barkley: [thrusting microphone] Mr gernsback! mr gernsback! a statement for the press? Jason Sanford: [thrusting microphone] how do you respond to the allegations about your award mr gernsback? Gernsback: confound these intrepid newshounds of the 4th estate!

Gernsback: [wiping brow] don't worry, we will be taking measures to fix this Barkley: what are you going to do mr gernsback? Sanford: the people demand an answer mr gernsback! Gernsback: we'll uh Gernsback: we'll nominate an essay called 'Dave McCarty Can Fuck Off Into the Sun'

Gernsback: what a debacle! i cannot believe my good name will now forever be associated with such shady practices! HP Lovecraft: hey when are you gonna pay me for my story you ran? Gernsback: new phone, who dis?

Gernsback: you know who this really hurts? Gernsback: worse than the nominees secretly disqualified for politics? Gernsback: worse than the entirety of Chinese science fiction secretly disqualified for being Chinese? Gernsback: worse than the winners whose awards are now tainted?

Gernsback: the person that this hurts most of all Gernsback: is clearly bitter karella Gernsback: for reasons i can't articulate Gernsback: everyone should immediately go and heap conciliatory praise on bitter karella Gernsback: truly the most wronged person of all

Bitter Karella: [bravely holding back tears] no no it's not about me Bitter Karella: [voice cracking] my only thought is for the hugo community who has been through... so much... Bitter Karella: [stoically gazing into distance] they're the REAL heroes

Gernsback: look how bitter karella keeps a brave face... for our sake! King: god bitter karella is so brave... and so modest! Poe: truly a great goblin Poe: possibly the greatest Koontz: why? what did they do? Poe: dean! show some respect!