If you’re up for another long read, this is part 2 of my original DD on WSB. Link here for those interested. WSB has been removing my DDs so here I am.
TLDR; there is no tldr. If you are invested in this topic then read the whole thing and make up your mind about what it means to you as you see fit.

My goals from this DD post -

There are a couple of important relevant points about short interest that I don’t see other recent GME DD’s talking about that I would like to bring to the table for discussion. I prefix their titles with “forgotten point”.
I would like to be objective and only present data while avoiding confirmation bias. If you see me biased, feel free to point it out.
Share what I personally think and plan to do moving forward. This is not advice but only my personal opinion.

Short interest data analysis

Preface -

This analysis was written before the SI official report expected on Feb 9; and is based on data from Ortex.
The reason for the above is because whether official numbers turn up equal or lower to estimates, they don’t really affect the points I bring up here.
For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume that current short interest data is accurate and that the report reflects real short interest.

Alright, let’s start by looking at a couple metrics available from Ortex, utilization and on loan.

https://preview.redd.it/q5dn66bs7rg61.png?width=3475&format=png&auto=webp&s=67a1a43fc24392f9cdd70de79da13700284dc4fe
Here are definitions provided by Ortex for the data in the chart:
UTILIZATION:
The ratio between the number of shares on loan across all outstanding loans in the wholesale market and the number of shares available for lending at lending programs. 0% means that no shares have been borrowed or lent at these lending programs; 100% means that all shares available to borrow or lend at a lending program have, in fact, been lent. This does not represent the number of shares listed on the exchange that have been lent, because not all listed shares our available for lending; it indicates how much of the supply actually available for lending has been lent. Unless otherwise specified, this is given in decimal format.
SHARES ON LOAN
The current number of shares out on loan
Note that “shares on loan” is less than short interest estimate. This is likely due to naked shorting (regardless whether by MM or otherwise). The difference between those values is ~5M shares, suggesting 5M naked shorted shares but that’s a tangent.

Forgotten point 1: Float shrinks as shorts cover

According to the above definitions, we can deduce the total number of loanable shares by taking the “On Loan” value and dividing it by utilization. This value represents the total number of shares available to loan + loaned out shares, which is the total borrowable float. Aka true float shares minus unavailable to short (e.g cash accounts). We can then come up with the following values.
January 25th -> 48.6M shares January 26th -> 44.7M shares January 27th -> 40M shares January 28th -> 30.2M shares January 29th -> 28M share Feb 8th -> 26M shares

Observations

Utilization remained at 100% until January 28th. It started dropping on the 29th, suggesting shorts covering. This means all the borrowable float was borrowed up until January 28th.
The values above are suggesting that the size of the borrowable float has decreased significantly.

Point (2) above means one of two things. Either:

My original hypothesis that the float shrinks as shorts cover is correct. Some covering has occurred, as a result many synthetic longs disappeared.
OR, a significant number of shares suddenly became unavailable to lend (e.g, people moving their accounts from margin to cash).

I think the latter is unlikely because that would mean retail controls ~1.1B dollars (by current price). Therefore I think the former is what happened thus confirming my hypothesis that the float has shrunk.
This is important because of what I mention in the next section. If you remember my previous DD, I hypothesized that the squeeze should become way more violent as more covering occurs.

Forgotten point 2: Absolute short interest vs (short interest / float) ratio as influencer on squeeze

I’m seeing a lot of posts talking about the absolute value of the current short interest (aka total number of shares sold short). What is surprising me is I don’t see anybody talking about the short/float ratio.
See, whenever a VW comparison was brought up, the smart apes would tend to point out that the reason VW squeeze was very powerful was _not_ because of high short interest, in fact short interest was not high for VW like GME, but specifically because of the ratio of (shares sold short / available float to buy).
See, this is basically supply and demand. The higher this ratio is, the higher demand is and the higher a price would rise during a squeeze.
In case of VW, I’ve seen references of that ratio being ~12. To put this into perspective, for each 12 buyers there is 1 seller (assuming both parties are buying and selling 1 stock each for simplicity). Now let’s compare to GME.

Before recent events

If you read my original post, you’ll see the data was suggesting that the short / float ratio was around 2:1 at best, 1.4:1 at worst.
- Although this value was not very high, I speculated that this ratio would increase as shorts start covering because theoretically synthetic longs should start to disappear from the float as they cover in turn reducing the total “real float”.
I calculated the real float as ~30M shares. See my previous post for what I mean by real float.

After recent events

Now let’s take a second look at what the float looks like now after updated short interest estimates. I’ve updated blackrock and fidelity holdings with the values from their latest filings. Note that these values don’t account for retail holdings; and they only account for top 10 institutional holders so in reality the float should be smaller than this by at least a few million shares.

https://preview.redd.it/qhb2dioe8rg61.png?width=1441&format=png&auto=webp&s=afee02e1a4e2d000d21d0738e64af4137e6f0fb4

Observations

According to the data, the current short/true_float ratio is at worst case 2.4:1. This is significantly increased from before squeeze; the worst case was 1:4:1. Realistically this value is probably much higher as indicated by the negative buyable float.
In other words, supply is much more scarce now than before. If shorts cover, demand will become extremely higher than it was before recent events. If a squeeze were to happen, theoretically it may be able to reach higher highs than recent squeeze.
Even if the squeeze were to continue, it would not end until a share offering or a large institution selling a large position because shares are more scarce now.

Speculations from above data

The share price is currently extremely volatile; I speculate this is due to lack of shares to buy. Any interested large buyers can influence share price substantially very quickly.
Due to the lack of share availability, I’m speculating that this was the primary reason trading was halted. Deposit requirements increased to 100% because clearing houses saw the squeeze happening and didn’t feel confident that enough real shares would be delivered and wanted money upfront so they don’t become left bagholding when short positions default.

What I think happened

I don’t know what happened, the data is simply not enough. Anybody who claims to know with certainty are lying. All we have is bits and pieces of data we can use to deduce high probability outcomes.
Regardless whether what happened recently was a squeeze or wasn’t, many of the underlying conditions and hypotheses that can cause a potential stock rise/squeeze still exist; just with a smaller short interest.
The primary factor that changed is short interest. But even if that did truly decrease, it is still very high even if it’s not >100% of float; and it also increased the demand/supply ratio with it substantially. The only difference now is if another squeeze happens, it will likely last a shorter time frame.

Speculations about what happened

Organic demand initially skyrocketed the price. A partial squeeze happened.
Dumb investors/funds that were not prepared got margin called and/or took losses. There were likely new shorts added along the way (e.g at 100 and 200) that got margin called when the price continued rising > 400
Smart investors/funds decide to let others get massacred and instead the squeeze with dated calls. I mean, If I’m a shorter and I’m smart, greedy, and I feel confident that the price would go down why would I cover at a huge loss? I’d rather limit my max losses by buying OTM calls at my maximum loss threshold at a few months out; let the other shorts get massacred in the squeeze then cover later after it cools down. If I’m smart, I would have done this as soon as price passed the $20-$30 price.
Since there are literally no shares I would wait for price to drop substantially before trying to work out a deal with Gamestop or one of the large institutional holders to buy out their shares at a set price. Maybe that’s why Fidelity sold their position? (Perhaps at higher than market price behind closed doors)

What this means going forward

The other shorts eventually need to get out. They can’t get out now due to lack of supply and they’re betting on the company failure.
If the company fails and share price drops, current shorts will wait for share availability, or work out a deal with Gamestop and/or large institutional investors to buy out their shares at a reasonable price.
If the company succeeds and the share price continues rising, the remaining shorts will eventually get squeezed. Since the available shares aren’t enough to cover, I expect either another halt or behind closed door deals to buy out at certain prices.
The time limit for the above is unknown and highly depends on how much the borrow rate is costing the shorters, how the company does in earnings and how the share price behaves from buying demand. If demand keeps growing.
If a squeeze happens in the future, it will likely be shorter in duration due to the decreased short interest. It could happen over 1 day. However price could go up higher due to scarcer supply.

My personal stance and departing thoughts

I entered this position from the start because I like gamestop and I can see them naturally growing into a price >$200 over the next few years. This remains unchanged.
Can another squeeze happen? Absolutely. There are still 20M shares that need to be bought to cover which simply currently aren't available on the market. That's even assuming there are no new shorts.
Are the odds of it happening the same as before? Maybe; however the timeline definitely changed. It may take longer time to happen. If it happens, it will also be shorter lived. If the company succeeds and the share price slowly climbs shorts will eventually cover it's just a question of when.
In other words, this turned into a long term play that could happen over months or 1-2 years.
The above may sound frustrating; especially since it’s no longer inevitable within weeks like it was before when short interest was mind boggling. With that said, I’m still bullish. One underrated aspect not talked about often enough is that there are still large institutional holders that have their positions mostly unchanged even though they are now sitting on >10X profits. These guys are smart and greedy. If they’re not selling now then they see more potential and this is bullish.
I entered this position earlier than many so I’m biased in holding. I didn’t sell a single share on the climb. The recent drop cost me multiple $M. The bright side is if this takes a year then at least I’ll pay significantly less taxes on my gains.
I'm not touching this position anytime soon. GME can make $200 with no squeeze.
I hope this helps.

OBLIGATORY FILLER MATERIAL – Giving thanks edition: Kickin’ around Caracas, Pt. 5

Continuing… (It's Part 6 in the saga, I fucked up. Sorry.)
So, after a few re-fueling and impromptu cigar-purchasing stops in South and Central America, we wheel up to the deserted jetway at LAX.
“Thought we were going to Elmendorf?” I asked.
“This isn’t it?” the pilot replied, feigning worry.
“No.”, I replied, “Looks like California. Fruits and nuts. All around. What’s going on? One minute we’re off to Texas, then Cali, then Texas again, now we end up here at the California airport of the iconic tower.”
“Yeah, it’s confusing enough haulin’ civilians around. But when we get a call from Virginia, we tend to comply without any questions,” the pilot explains.
“Aw, shit!”, I sort of exclaim, “Rack and Ruin called?”
“Yeah”, the pilot replies, “Figures you’d know these guys. They said they were closer to LAX rather than Texas and had us divert here. In fact, you look over there, see that dark blue Chevy? That’s them; and evidently, your ride.”
I tipped the airman from earlier a couple of cigars as he helped me with my gear off the plane and into the trunk of Rack and Ruin’s plain-Jane blue late modeled Chevy. Had to move the Sidewinder Missiles off to one side, though.
“Most honorable Agents Lack and Luin!” I quipped in my faux-racist greeting. “What the hell, guys? I’ve got to get to Japan and get some newly rigidified digits.”
“Let’s see your hand”, Agent Rack asks. “Nasty.”
“Yeah”, I sigh “And with the medicos in South America and their penchant for plaster, I don’t so much have a left hand as more of an ankylosaur tail.”
“Or Thagomizer”, Agent Ruin tittered. “Anyone gives you grief, and one upside the head should set them right. Or dead.”
“You’re a riot, Ruin.” I replied, “But not entirely incorrect.”
We all agreed that I really didn’t need any extra accouterments to make myself look more dangerous. I mean with my severe haircut, stern beard clip, and perpetual ‘Go fuck yourself’ scowl.
“Yeah”, I replied, stroking the aforementioned beard, “I just can’t get that. I’m such a people person.”
After Agents Rack and Ruin finished drying their eyes from laughing what I thought was en extremis, we finally got down to business.
“So, what’s the skinny, guys”, I asked. “New marching orders?”
“No. Not as such”, Agent Ruin said, still sniggering over my ‘people person’ comment.
I see we’re moving. Agent Rack is just driving casually, like Chewbacca when they were waiting to see if the Empire went for that expensive Bothan code.
“Then, what?” I asked, getting a slight bit piqued.
“Well”, Agent Ruin noted, “When you went to South America, you took some of your artillery collection with, correct?”
“You know I did. You even made some snide comments about my personal choice of sidearms and their ‘excessive’ calibers, if memory serves”, I reiterated.
“And if you are proceeding normally, as you always do, they’re all nestled in the trunk of this very car. All cleaned, quiet, unloaded, and smelling sweetly of Hoppe’s Number 9 and WD 40, correct?” Rack inquired.
“Yes?” I cautiously venture.
“Well, ya’ big dummy, do you think they’re going to let you saunter into Tokyo armed like the Third Fleet?” Agent Ruin chuckled.
“Um…well…I do have a Diplomatic Passport.” I ventured.
“That’s not going to work this time.”, Agent Ruin said, shaking his head. “They’re tighter than Dick’s Hatband about sidearms. Want to bring in your Rigby SXS .500 Nitro Express double rifle? Not a problem. Sidearms, especially in your alien hunting calibers, nope.”
Well, that’s just….*dandy!”, I reply, semi-put out. “Now what the hell am I going to do?”
“Ever think that’s why Ruin and I are here, now?”, Rack asks.
“And here I thought it was just so you could bask in the warm glow of my fucking wonderful personality. Or that you actually cared about me as a real goddamn human”, I joshed.
“Ummm…yeah”, Rack replies, “There’s no way we can answer that without going on some Deadpool list. “
I agreed.
“OK, here’s the deal: you get your sidearms, ammunition, speed loaders, brass knuckles, Asp, laser range finders, Sap, Zeiss scopes, Kukri, Wisconsin Cheese Whittler, Buck folding skinner, Marine K-Bar, those two ultra-illegal Cheburkov Cobra titanium switchblades...”
“Three. Olga the KGB lady sent me one for Geologist’s Day.”
“Ahem. Those three ultra-illegal Cheburkov switchblades, that Wyoming Speedholer, your MASER Time-Distance Computer, garrote, pocket rail gun and whatever else lethal you carry and deposit it in the iron box in the trunk. We’ll ensure that it’s delivered to Esme post-haste. And by post-haste I mean one of our guys will deliver it personally.”
“Well…I suppose”, I conceded, “But best send someone who’s been to the house recently. I don’t know how much bigger Khan has grown since I left on this little fantasy trip. Wouldn’t want a star on the wall in Langley for someone eaten by a mastiff. Want to see a picture….Oh, bother. That’s right. My phone’s at the bottom of fucking Lake Maracaibo.”
“Good point”, Ruin interjects, “Guess we’ll do a little road trip and deliver it ourselves. Best call Esme and let her know what’s going on.”
“I have no objections to your proposals. Please give Esme this when you see her. I had some luck in the Calaveras Casino and if I don’t send her some mad money. Ouch. She’ll never forgive me for not taking her along to Japan.” I asked.
“But I thought Esme hated Japan? Too crowded and too ‘fussy’, I believe was her estimation.” Ruin asked.
“Yes, but once she saw the Ginza, all bets were off. Shopping the likes of which even Allah himself hasn’t seen.” I replied, slowly shaking my head.
“I see”, Ruin said, “Well, since you’re off to Sapporo, perhaps you can do a recon for Esme on the shopping there.”
“Not bad. Not bad at all.”, I smiled, “Now I know why I let you guys hang around with me.”
So, as advertised, I am now standing on the tarmac at LAX, basically feeling naked.
“Can’t I keep just one switchblade?” I moaned to Agent Rack.
“Go ahead, if you’re really keen on donating it to Japanese customs”, he replied.
“Fuckbuckets.” I groused.
“There, there now. That’s the usual Dr. Rocknocker of which we’re all so fond.” Agent Ruin chuckled.
“Remember, you do have that wallet-sized credit card gizmo from the Company. So you’re not entirely ‘naked’. Think of it as an emergency breechcloth.” He smiled.
“I’d like a larger model if you don’t mind. It’s chilly out here.” I joshed.
After Agents Rack and Ruin stripped me metaphorically naked as they de-weaponized me, they handed me a Business Class ticket to Tokyo, and a pass to the Japan Airlines Hospitality Suite and Lounge.
“So sorry you guys can’t hang around and have a few farewell snorts”, I chided, “But you’ve got a bit of a drive, so best be off before the weather turns to shit.”
“Who says we’re driving?” Agent Rack asked as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the ready and waiting C-130 cargo plane currently taxiing slowly in our direction.
“Well, in that case”, I smiled even more broadly, “Let’s invite the flight crew to join us. That’ll make the flight home all that much more interesting.”
After near tear-jerking farewell sentimentalities, i.e., “Piss on you”, “Get stuffed” and “Take a fuckin’ hike”; Agents Rack and Ruin, my weapons and the Agency’s plain-Jane Blue Chevy were all nestled snugger than buggers in ruggers in the belly of the thundering C-130.
Now truly on my own, I trudge the hundred thousand or so centisteps to my departure terminal, make a quick recon that my flight’s still slated to go in a generally westward direction, and hightail it to the nearest courtesy desk to ask for a motorized cart to take me and my remaining luggage to the JAL Hospitality Suite.
Hey. I’m old, infirm, and currently among the walking wounded.
Anyone that disagrees risks an Ankylosaur tail club swat or Thagomizer to the skull.
Finally ensconced in the JAL Hospitality Suite, Polo Lounge of course; I was drinking Tokyo Teas (3 oz. vodka, 2 oz. gin, 2 oz. rum, 1 oz. triple sec, 1 oz. Midori, good splash of lime juice, a slight splash of 7-Up (diet, of course), over ice with a lime wheel) with Pabst Blue Ribbon Extra 1844 chasers and Hangar One’s “Fog Point” vodka on the side, hiding from the brutish realities of this foul year of two thousand and twenty-something, Common Era…
I’ve already called Esme and we’ve had a good, long chat. She still managed to give me her shopping list for whenever I find myself bored on the Ginza.
She’ll be shocked when she learns that I’m not going to be in Tokyo long, but have 1st class tickets on the Bullet Train to Sapporo. Still, I’ll probably find myself in Pole Town or the Stellar Place there, trading piles of US greenbacks for locally produced Japanese curios and clothing.
I can hardly wait.
I order another round of drinks, as the wonderful attendants in the Hospitality Suite were bored out of their skulls because of the COVID-induced drop-in customers flying anywhere that requires a hospitality room stay, and I was virtually the only one around. They tried their level best to outdo each other when it comes to Japanese efficiency and friendliness.
After a couple of hours, they ask if I would like something from the grill, as the day chef had “the COVID” and the night chef just arrived. A quick perusal of the menu and I chose a 28-ounce dry-aged Porterhouse and another round of drinks.
I usually don’t like to eat too much before I fly, but JAL tells me the flight is going to be virtually empty, something like <121 pax, all told, so restroom availability shouldn’t be too much of a concern.
Plus, who am I to say no to a free, blue 28-ounce dry-aged Porterhouse?
There was a bit of difficulty conveying to the chef through the intermediaries of the hospitality just how I wanted my steak.
“Blue,” I said.
“Brue?” was the reply.
“Rare. Very, very rare.” I continued.
Look of total bewilderment.
I drag out my Personal Language Pro, speak “Steak, very, very rate” into the infernal gizmo, and hand the contraption to the attendant.
“珍しい、非常に珍しいステーキ?”[ Mezurashī, hijō ni mezurashī sutēki?]
“Raw! Nama!” I say, louder than need be.
They toddle off to find the chef.
“How is it sir, that you would like your steak cooked?” he asks.
“Very rare. Just a minute or two per side. Inside still cold.” I instructed.
All I got for the trouble was a puzzled smile.
“Give me the language gizmo…” I type in a few words…
“お尻を洗い、角をノックオフして、ここから出してください”
[O shiri o arai,-kaku o nokkuofu shite, koko kara dashite kudasai.]
“Wash its ass, knock its horns off, and walk it out here.”
“OH!” as the lightbulb pops. “Rare. Got it! Excellent!” the chef laughs and zips back to the kitchen.
Like I always say, I’m nothing if not the international ambassador of amity and goodwill.
“Crack tubes!”
Dinner was fantastic. I do wish I could have somehow mailed the Porterhouse bone back home for Khan. After that hambone incident, he might even taste it.
Finally on the plane, in an almost empty Business Class, the flight captain informs us that we’re headed to Haneda Airport Tokyo and anyone not headed in that direction better ‘haul ass off’ the flight or forever hold their peace.
Late-night international flights tend to be a bit more wooly than your average Chicago to Omaha gig.
Especially when the flight’s damn near empty and we have the next 12 hours or so to be best friends.
We taxi, turn and head into the wind. I’m doctoring up a couple of dossiers and keeping my personal cabin attendant, Luna since there were two of us in Business and two business flight attendants, busy with her trying to play ‘Stump the Geologist’.
“I’ll bet you never had this before.” She beamed and handed me a tumbler of very dangerous-looking brown liquor.
I cautiously sniff, take a modest gulp, swirl and glug the rest down.
“Ohishi Single Sherry Cask”, I say with a muffled belch. “Light. Fruity. An Englishman’s drink.”
“Oh. You knew. Let me try again.” She smiles beatifically.
“I have no objections to your proposal.” I smile as nicely as this crotchety old Komodo Dragon could.
She returns with another flagon of spirits; it smells of obsidian, leather, and earth.
I just had some of this back in LAX. I take a snort, smile, and shotgun the rest.
“Hibiki Japanese Harmony…lovely stuff.” I smile. “A little light for my jaded palate, but I’d never turn it down if it were free.”
“Oh, you win again. Wait. One more.” She smiles and skitters off to the galley.
She returns with another soupçon of some more dangerous brown liquor.
“Here, try this. It will make you very popular at social gatherings”. She smiles.
Sniff. “Splendid.” Snort. Swirl. Smile. Shotgun.
“Kanosuke New Born, if I’m not mistaken.” I smile back. “Very nice. I really do like this one.”
“You too good at this. One more!” she stands and stomps off defiantly. She returns in a trice and hands me the glass.
“Hmm…brown. Light notes of earth, leather, dating your daughter, and Kentucky…
“Beam Suntory, right?”
“You know them all!” she says, feigning irritation.
“And I thank you. Those were all excellent. Now, anything in the dangerous clear liquor category? I asked.
Luna smiled as I palmed off a 20k yen tip.
“Oh, no sir. Wait until we land.” She demurred, referring to the gratuity; which is know is not de rigueur in the Orient, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Just in case we never make it to Tokyo”, I laughed, unknowingly presciently.
We both chuckled about that last line as she tried out various sakes and shōchūs and an actual Japanese ‘White Liquor’ (ホワイトリカー), which were all excellent as was the company.
I tell her that I need to get some work done and could she bring me a tall Rocknocker. After explain the origins and construction of the eponymous drink, she brings me one that must tip the scales at 1 or so liters.
She settles down to an empty seat and I get after the work that I need to finish before we land. I’m about ½ way through my drink when it felt as if the plane hit a brick wall. She quivered and quaked and clutched at herself while I made some comments about the pilot’s mental health.
We dropped like a paralyzed falcon, then just as suddenly, felt like it was an express elevator to Angel’s 11. The plane bucked and shimmied, wickedly. Then we slam-danced right and fell a few more stories. It was like we were in a Mixmaster and the owner was trying out every speed.
The emergency lights in the 777-300ER popped on, and the fasten seat belt sign barked loudly so even sleeping travelers could enjoy the show.
Rinse. Spin. Shudder. Repeat.
Finally, the ride smooths out and we hear the captain on the blower.
“This is your captain speaking…ah, we seem to have hit some uncharted turbulence back there.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious”, I muttered.
“Everything’s A-OK. “ he reports.
“That’s good”, I note.
“But…”
“There’s always the but…” I groan.
“…we have a couple of warning lights for which we can’t quite account. So to just be safe and certain, we’re going to divert to Hawaii, get a clean bill of health and resume this flight once we make sure everything here is hunky-dory.”
There were scattered groans and applause. Add them together and divide by two and the average response on the flight was “Meh. Whatever.”
Except for the other guy in Business, with whom I hadn’t shared two words. He began to absolutely lose his shit.
“Oh, man! We’re so screwed! Mechanical malfunction? What does that mean?” he positively fizzed with fear.
The flight attendants tried to calm him down, to no avail. They basically gave up and said they’d report his misgivings to the Captain.
I motioned over to my personal flight attendant, Luna, and asked if I could be of service.
“Oh, Doctor Rock”, she smiled at me, “If you could speak with him. You are so calm, and he is…”
“Losing his bloody mind”, I chuckled as I finished her sentence for her. “Of course, I’ll take a stab at it.”
So, I grab my drink and ease over to my Business Class partner and introduce myself.
“Hey, pal. How’s it going? I’m Dr. Rock, gentleman, scholar, and connoisseur of cigars and things alcoholic. You doing OK?”
He looks at me with an ashen face and his eyes the size of bloodshot dinner plates.
“Yeah. I’m Todd Schotts. I’m flying to Japan for business.” He mumbles
“No surprise there,” I reply calmly and take a slug of my drink.
“But now we’re all going to die. The plane is busted and we’ll crash…” he started off again.
“So, Todd is it? Good. You drink?” I asked.
“Yeah?”, he stammered back.
I asked Luna to make us a fresh batch of my eponymous cocktails.
“OK, Todd, listen up”, I began after the drinks were served, “I have flown literally millions of miles over the last 4 decades. On Aeroflot when it was still the USSR. On TACA (Take A Chance Airways), on Chalk’s in the Caribbean, on Bob’s Verrifast Plane Company in Rhodesia, on regional carriers that don’t even exist anymore. All over the world. Had some bad experiences flying, and me ol’ mugger, this ain’t one of them. This is nothing more than the glitch for this mission.”
I chuckled lightly and complimented Luna on a fantastic drink.
“Yeah…yeah…yeah…but we have to land and check out some lights…” Todd squealed.
“Well now, Todd. It would be rather difficult to do any external assessment while in flight, don’t you agree?” I asked.
“But we’re diverting. We have to land and that adds more risk. We’re going to crash and die!” he was coming more and more unglued.
“I will bet you every cent you have on your person and home bank accounts that that will not happen”, I chuckled.
That took him by surprise. At least it shut him up for a while.
“Look, Todd. This is Boeing’s latest model. They have the most incredible safety record. And if a little clear air turbulence were to be knocking planes out of the sky, don’t you think we’d hear about it as the press went berserk?” I asked.
“But they don’t know what the lights mean! What if one of the engines’s out? How far can we fly on one engine?” Todd stuttered.
Having my fill of a supposedly grown man with inane childlike fears, I calmly replied,
“All the way to the crash site.”
He went white.
“...hope we hit something hard. I don’t want to limp away from this.”
He went limp.
Then I went to my seat and motioned for Luna to prepare a reload.
Of course, 45 minutes later, we land without incident at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu Hawaii.
We were told to just wait around until they figure out what the problem if any, was.
They had officials waiting at the end of the jetway to check our COVID status and passports before they let us loose in the terminal.
I asked Luna if she knew this airport. She noted that she did.
“Is there a JAL hospitality room here at this airport? I asked.
“Yes, Doctor. It’s the Sakura Lounge. It is located on the third level above The Local, Terminal 2.” She replied.
“Please notify whoever needs to know that that’s where I’ll be for the duration”, I smiled and handed her my business card. “See you soon, I hope.”
“Oh, Dr. Rock”, she replied, “I am sure it is nothing much. We’ll be back in the air within mere hours.”
“Well then”, I smiled, “Guess I’d better get ready to hoof it to the lounge.”
“Oh, Doctor Rock”, she smiled, “No rush. I will call for you a courtesy cart. You are injured, you are Business, you are priority.”
“I love that Asian efficiency.” I smiled back and toddled down the jetway.
At the terminus of the jetway, I show my COVID-clear papers, dates and times of my Anti-Virus vaccine administrations, the letter from Virginia clearing me of all detention, and my red Russian diplomatic passport.
While in the cart, whizzing our way to the JAL lounge, the driver said “Man! You must be some kind of VIP. You were through that welcoming committee in less than two minutes!”
“Me? Nah!”, I chuckled, “Just an old phart of a geologist that they didn’t want to mess with. Not on such a bright, sunny day as this.”
“I see you’re not wearing a mask.” The driver quipped.
“Very observant. There are reasons for that.” I replied.
He careens around a corner and if this were a normal pre-Covid day, I’m certain we’d have killed hundreds. However, the airport, as I’ve come to grow accustomed to, was virtually deserted.
“Yeah? Like what?” he asks.
“Well, Scooter, 1. I have an active and hardworking immune system that I let off the chain every once in a while for exercise. Got to let it know what it’s up against, right? 2. I’ve had all my shots and some that were experimental. They seem to have worked. And 3. I find it difficult to drink and smoke cigars while wearing a mask. However, if you’d prefer, I will mask up. No problem, though it still is optional.”
“Nah, man”, he said, “I was just wondering if you were one of those religious idiots or conspiracy nuts.”
Nope”, I smiled back, “Just another geologist out in the world plying his trade for cash. Y’know, whorin’ around for money.”
He laughs aloud as we skid to a stop right in front of Lounge.
I slip the guy a $20 and ask if he’d listen for the JAL flight I was just on. If we’re going on ahead today, I’d need him to scoot by and putt-putt me back to the plane.
He laughs and pockets the $20 as quick as a mink ruts.
“No worries. I’ll just hang around this area. I hear anything about the flight, I’ll come and let you know.” He grins.
“Good man”, I say, as I hand him my card. “I’m Dr. Rocknocker. Call me Rock”.
“And I’m Kapula Mano, call me Kap” he replies.
“Good man”, I say again, “Hope to see you in a while.”
He grins, floors his electric cart, and peels out at speeds approaching 4.5 MPH.
I wander into the lounge, show my credentials, and am escorted to a post up on Mahogany Ridge.
The bar is very quiet. Besides the bartender, I can’t see anyone else in the darkened and Smooth Jazz-infused drinking emporium.
I order a local drink, a Mai Tai, just for the experience and something a bit different.
It’s served in a goldfish bowl on a stem, bedecked with a slice of lime, a sprig of mint, a stick of sugar cane, a polychromatic orchid, and the obligate paper umbrella.
“Ah. Mai Tai. I will enjoy it.” I said to no one in particular.
One was enough, and I decided to go back to the old standard. Once I explained to the bartender what that was, he made them heroic and enthusiastically.
I’m reading up on a random dossier, making notes in a new file, and puffing away on a Fuentes Onyx double Maduro Churchill cigar.
I hear a slight cough coming from my right, and this here lovely lady, she sat to my immediate starboard and looked at me semi-quizzically.
Not in the mood for shenanigans of any stripe, I give her the obligate Baja Canada nod and tilt of the drink. I return to my dossiers and continue to read and take notes.
“Excuse me!” I hear.
Fearing the worst, either the woman is Karen-oid anti-smoking or a religious fruit-and-nutburger, I slowly turn to face her and reply, somewhat glacially, I have to admit.
“What?”
“That cigar…”
“Here we go…” I mutter, eyes rolling northward.
“Smells exquisite. Could you tell me the brand? My husband would enjoy some like that.” She notes.
Instantly my demeanor switches 180^0.
“Yes, ma’am. It’s an Arturo Fuentes Onyx. Churchill size, or 60 ring x 7” length, double Maduro. Here, take one for your husband. I have an ample supply.” I smile.
“Oh, no. I couldn’t. Could I?” she asks.
“Please. I insist.” I smile the best I could given the circumstances.
“Thank you. You’re too kind…umm…Mr….?”
“Doctor. Doctor Rocknocker. World traveler, oilman, and international ambassador of amity, good drinks, and fine cigars. Call me Rock” I said.
“Oh! A Doctor?” she brightens.
“Yes, of Petroleum Geology and Engineering. Not medicine.” I chuckle.
She chuckles back.
“And I am Hella Aaberg”, as she offers her hand for a quick shake.
“Interesting name, Hella. Scandinavian or Old German heritage?” I ask.
“On my father’s side. He’s Finnish.” She replies.
“But I’ll wager your mother is not Scandinavian, correct?” I ask.
“She was from Truk, an island…”
“In the South Pacific, Micronesia. Was she from Weno city?” I asked.
“Why yes. How could you possibly know that?” she asked.
“Oh, I’ve been there. Great diving amongst the WWII wrecks. I think it’s actually called ‘Chuuk Lagoon’ or something like that now.” I said.
“That’s right! Amazing. Where else have you been?” she asked.
“Anywhere there’s oil, strife, booze, cigars, heavy explosives and typically long distances from whatever most normal people call civilization,” I replied with a chuckle.
Suddenly, I hear a voice booming out behind me.
“Why don’t you save that rapier-like wit for those musky-fuckers back home, Rocko?”
My expression changes. My eyes pop fully wide open.
“Hella?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“May I ask you a favor?”
“You can ask…”
“Thank you. Now, looking over my shoulder, is there a hulking goon of a person, thin up top, paunchy halfway down with the most ridiculously tiny sized shoes you’ve ever seen for a so-called grown man?” I ask.
“Yes. Yes, there is.” She replies.
“I thought so. Many thanks.”
I spin and launch off my barstool and grab Toivo by the hand. He hadn’t seen my left-hand Thagomizer yet.
“Toivo! You old sumbitch. What the flying fennec fox fuck are you, of all people, doing in Hawaii?” I laughed.
“Just keeping an eye on you, Rock!” he laughed equally as loud.
“No, fucking-A, seriously. What the actual fuck? What are you doing in this actual nice place?” I asked.
“Just headed to Tokyo to conduct a bit of service company business. I walked into the lounge and smelled a foul cigar. I figured it can’t be the venerable Dr. Rocknocker. He’s back at some school up north terrorizing geology and engineering grads and undergrads.” Toivo laughed.
“But there I was. Surprise!”, I laughed and pumped his hand.
“What the fuck, Rock. Now what did you do?” he asks, referring to my Ankylosaur tail club left hand.
“Ah, fuck. Long story. Oh, pardon me. Toivo, this is Hella. We were just talking about the South Seas Islands.” I said.
“Planning on running off together?” Toivo laughs, to the amusement of neither party.
“Oh, and this idiot is Toivo, a man with a congenital foot-in-mouth disorder. He’s mostly harmless.” I noted to Hella.
Greetings were shared all around. Hella made some small excuses and said she needed to depart. I gave her another cigar for her husband, shook her hand, and wished her well.
“Here’s my business card. If your husband has any questions, have him drop me a line.” I noted.
Hella smiled beautifully. She said she would. Then she thanked me shook our hands, and like that, there she was, gone.
“Well Toivo, you old bastard. Don't just stand there in the doorway like some lonesome goddamn mouse shit sheepherder, get your ass over here and have a drink.” I motioned over to my perch on Mahogany Ridge.
“Don’t mind if I do”, he says as he deftly winds his way to a seat to my left, snagging a cigar out of my pocket on the way over.
“You might want these”, I say in an exasperated tone, and hand him my gold Dunhill Hobnail lighter and V-cutter gizmo.
He cuts and fires up his heater.
“What you drinkin’, Rock”, he asks.
“Anything with alcohol, as usual. You know that Toiv.” I reply.
“No. I mean right now.” He clarifies.
“Well, I had a Mai Tai. Very nice if you like fruity, flowery drinks. It’s the locals’ favorite.” I reply.
“Sounds good. I’ll have several. And you?” Toivo asks.
“My usual. The bartender is already apprised of the situation.” I reply.
Toivo smiles the smile of one knowing his sobriety is going to be taken out for a swim. Hell, taken out and tossed into the deep end.
Toivo and I sit there, swapping lies, smoking cigars and sipping at our toddies.
Hell, Toivo was slurping them like a sump-pump during an extra-wet summer.
We chattered about family, work, whether or not Tokyo was going to host the Olympics or if the COVID-boogie man scared everyone off.
Toivo, always one afflicted with TB (“Tiny Bladder”) got up to go to the loo for the third time that hour. He left his pocket organizer on the bar and I swear on a stack of Origins of Species, I didn’t touch it.
I reached over to his vacated seat to retrieve my cigar lighter when I looked down and saw in his organizer a tab that reads “Rack & Ruin”.
“Oh. No. Fucking. Way.” I recoiled as I’d just reached out and petted a 6-foot hungover scorpion.
“One of my best friends? Secretly allied with the Agency? No. Not possible.” I drained my drink and called for another.
“No. No. No. It can’t be. No. No fucking way…” as doubt began to dissolve when I thought back to all those times I had just ‘run into’ Toivo.
“But he’s oil patch as well. That could be chalked up to coincidence.” I ruminated quizzically in my brain.
I quickly reflected back on J.M. Darhower: “Yes, you see, there’s no such thing as coincidence. There are no accidents in life. Everything that happens is the result of a calculated move that leads us to where we are.”
She may be the author of the execrable New Adult Sempre series, which Esme likes and I loathe, but she might just be right on this occasion.
Toivo return, lighter in the bladder and good sense. He never even noticed he’d left his organizer out in broad bar light for all to see.
“So, Toivo, when’s your flight?” I ask.
“Oh, man. Was I lucky. The JAL flight to Tokyo from Los Angeles had mechanical trouble and had to divert here. I got a ticket on the plane for that flight, when it continues.
“You mean ‘if it continues’,” I replied.
“Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I meant. Hey! Was that your flight?” he asks innocently. He’s really innocent of fieldcraft.
I decide to have some fun at my old friend’s expense.
“Yep. Hit some CAT (Clear Air Turbulence) and the JAL pilots reported some lighting problem. No apparent ruin to any of the systems. They relay racked their brains to figure it out, but they couldn’t that’s why I here.” I said, waiting for the words to swim upstream in Toivo’s coconut and make some sort of connection.
“Yeah. Double lucky. No problem with the plane and I get to go to Japan early.” Toivo crookedly grins.
“So, no trouble with the plane? Then why haven’t I heard that the flight’s going to resume?” I asked as I pushed a fresh, seriously strong drink to Toivo.
“Oh, must have heard it in the john.” Toivo countered and tried to cover his tracks by taking a huge gulp of his drink and damn near dying coughing.
I pound on Toivo’s back.
“Heimlich time?” I ask.
Toivo signals ‘no’.
“Jesus Christ, Rock. What was that?” he asks.
“Just my usual”, I innocently replied.
“Holy fuck. No wonder you have the reputation of…” Toivo realizes too late that he’s said too much.
“Yeah. They can rack you out. Really ruin a person if they’re not careful.” I reply icily.
“Why, Rock. Whatever do you mean?” Toivo slurred as he realized he’s been caught out.
“The jig is up, you turncoat. You know Agents Rack and Ruin from the agency. Right? You keeping tabs on me for them? You Quisling! You Benedict Arnold!” I almost was on the verge of losing my cool.
“It was nothing. They approached me years ago as I kept being mentioned in your reports. They asked me for some information. One thing leads to another…” Toivo was ready for an Ankylosaur tail club swat to the bean.
“Oh, put your fucking hands down, you asshole.” I smiled and chuckled.
“You’re not mad?” Toivo slurred badly. I had the bartender make him another special drink.
“No, Toivo. Not mad. Just disappointed.” I said, smiling like a Komodo Dragon just finishing up a fortnight-old wildebeest.
Toivo sat there and puzzled and puzzled until his puzzler was sore.
“You’re not going to kill me or anything rude like that?” Toivo asked, half-assedly trying to inject humor into the proceedings.
“Nah. The paperwork’s too ridiculous for me to do another liberation. But, Jesus Fucking Christwagons, Toivo; you could have mentioned it to me. Fuck, I thought we were friends to the end?” I said, dejectedly.
I was really getting through to Toivo. I could tell he was loaded; feeling like shit and massively deplorable.
Great fieldcraft, indeed.
I told him things “are what they are” and that I won’t blow his cover nor his honorarium.
He began to feel better. I often wonder if he was serious about the sanctioning thing.
Then I delivered the strategic missile strike.
“Just remember, Toivo. I wrote your dossier for the Company…”
He swivels to look at me.
“And one for the KGB. Olga says ‘howdy’.” I grin evilly.
Toivo short-circuited at that. Russia is his company’s bread and butter. Now he has the KGB as well as his best buddy looking over his shoulder at every move.
I bought him a few more drinks and continued to needle him about his ’leading a double life’. He was well and truly fuckered when the electric tap-tap driver from before came looking for me to whisk me back to the plane.
Seems it was simply some knocked-out wires on the plane, or slammed bulbs that were generating a false positive, indicating something other than the system that alerts one to something haywire went haywire.
Toivo was pretty much down for the count. I got him sober enough to hand them his ticket and ensure that he was really supposed to be on this flight. Thing was; h e was in Economy, and I was, as always, in Business.
I spoke to Luna, and the plane was going to be even less crowded than previously because some folks could or wouldn’t wait, or didn’t want to go on with the rest of the trip on a ‘damaged’ aircraft, or were just stupid and superstitious.
“Luna, could I pay for the difference between Business and Economy for my less than 100% conscious friend here? He’s had a rough day.” I asked.
“Dr. Rock. Just put him into Business. No one will be the wiser. Luna says so.” As she gave us a grand smile.
“Luna, I owe you. Thanks so much.” I said.
“Now get on board. Your friend looks like he needs all the downtime he can get.”
“Yes, ma’am!” I said and saluted here be best I could which dragging a schnozzled Toivo down the jetway.
I dumped Toivo in a window seat well away from my seat. I know Toivo. He snores like a semi-load of live hogs rocketing downhill locking up the brakes at 88 MPH.
Surprise! There was no one else in Business. Luna looked at me, at Toivo, and gave me a thumbs up.
Whatever I can write to further her career at JAL, she’ll have it before I deplane.
We finally get everyone settled, and with Captain Kangaroo at the helm, we bounced gracelessly off the tarmac, into the warm, tropical Hawaiian air, finally headed for the Land of the Rising Sun.
Toivo was snoring like a chainsaw hitting rusty nails as I worked on the various letters, communiques, and dossiers which needed updating before we reached touchdown. I gave Luna a thick letter with instructions not to open it until we were on the ground and Toivo and I were well off and away into the terminal.
We left Hawaii at 1300 hours, so we should arrive at Tokyo Nareda around 4:00 pm, the previous day. I was so bereft of time and time zones, I couldn’t figure out what time it really was, as judged by my biometric rhythms, so I asked Luna for a stiff drink as I was kicking off my boots and going to attempt to get some kip.
She brought me another liter or so eponymous drink. I was sawing logs by the time I slurped the last swig of that nifty drink.
Suddenly, or later, I have no idea really, some loudmouth drunk asshole from way-the-fuck-back in economy-land toward the ass end of the plane staggered into Business demanding free drinks.
Luna was nothing but civil, and asked him to both shut up and return to his seat. His air cabin hostess, or whatever the fuck they’re calling them these days, will attend to his needs.
“Naw they won’t! They want me to pay for more drinks! I’m broke but I demand more booze! You fucking owe me.” railed the asshole. “I sat at the bar in Hawaii for four hours. Them fuckers charged me an arm and a leg!”
“No, they don’t owe you shit”, I said in a voice that unmistakably loud and clear.
“Fuck you, old man! You stay the fuck out of this!” he bellowed. “Shut up or I’ll do ya’!”
“’Old man’? ‘Do me’? Excuse me. Luna, may I have a word alone with this individual?” I asked sweetly.
Luna shook her head in the affirmative, and I stood up to confront this flagrant asshole.
“Now look, Scooter. You have gone way, way over the fucking line. You are loud. You are abusive. You are obnoxious. And you stink. Plus you insulted a person who is just barely containing his righteous wrath right now. So, I’m giving you one and one only chance to shut up, sit back down before your body spontaneously develops all sort of bruises, contusions, broken bones, and unconsciousness.” I said calmly, evenly, and threateningly.
“What da’ fuck you think you’re going to do…old man?” he screeched, trying to inflate himself into full mammalian threat posture, all 5’ 9” of it.
He didn’t notice Toivo walking up quietly behind him, as Toivo was returning from the head, quiet as a moose.
“Well, Scooter, I am an Air Marshall. Duly appointed, fully trained, and properly pissed off. Right now, I can arrest you, physically detain you, turn this flight around and take you to the Hawaiian police, at your cost for the inconvenience of the entire flight. Or I could arrest you, physically detain you, and turn you over to the Japanese authorities when we land. It’s really your choice. Choose wisely.”
To be continued…⇝

The Ambling Epilogues (PART 7/7)

BACK TO START
->>>-
Not long after the death of the Emperor...
The Skies blazed with the day's waning light. Shocks of vibrant canopy fell away before him down an unseen hillside dozens of metres below, and the understory beneath him fairly teemed with life. Another day, another hour, he might be preparing himself to fall like a dart from the heavens and take some unsuspecting prey, but today he simply watched.
A season ago he would have been taut with nerves, or out actively romping through the dense forest in pursuit of his kin. The little ones were getting big enough to take care of themselves to an extent, or at least to come get him when trouble outstripped their capabilities. Finally he had the luxury of saving his energy for times of true import.
He felt the sun slink below the horizon, though its light still burned above the band of world's edge like some titanic wildfire reaching for the stars. He trilled a long, loud warning call to his offspring.
One of them echoed the call somewhere out towards the limits of his perception, and he caught the faint sound of brush rustling jovially.
Even returning home is a competition, he thought bemusedly as he listened to his children race and play-hunt their way back to him.
He kept a running list of them in his head, chittering each name to himself as the giggling nymphs darted by with breathless acknowledgements and cries of victory. The last straggler passed him by, and he gave the same sigh of relief he did every evening. Well, every good evening.
It had been harrowing. At times his brood had gone underfed, and at others understimulated. Once he'd nearly doomed them all by giving too much food to the insatiable little polyps, almost collapsing with exhaustion during the following hunt. They'd nearly doomed him dozens of times. They were careless with their noise, and had yet to learn the telltale signs of approaching predators. They were senseless with their exploration, and he'd spent more than one fear-soaked night out in the understory looking for lost brood after they'd all become motile. They were thoughtless with their hunger, and preventing any one from eating more than their share was a constant battle.
He'd lost miraculously few of them, given the circumstances.
He had to keep telling himself as much.
Slowly, purposefully, he made his way towards their lair, little more than a deep crack in a stark rock cliff. Before he slithered through the opening he paused, turned to the sky.
It had been a curiously long time since the Sky-Monsters had returned to take of the allkin. Not since the tail end of the mating season, in fact. Some of his more fanciful kin and neighbours had begun to wonder if they'd be back at all. Skrikrissk, kinmother-to-all in this area, strictly forbade the voicing of such foolishness. It did not do to tempt the Skies, after all.
Krixit vrt Skleex, widower-to-taken and perhaps the most successful single father in a generation of the allkin, knew without knowing that they were right. Knew that it was only sensible that after she was taken that it would stop. He hadn't the slightest inkling what she'd done, but he was proud. Proud of her, of himself for earning her partnership. Proud of the part of her that lived on in their brood.
He took a moment to remember her. The euphoria of their courtship, the concupiscous passion of their mating, the blissful afterglow that followed the laying days...
He hoped she'd made them pay for it.
->>>-
Some time after the death of the Emperor...
I am a Mark 7 "Peregrine" faster-than-light probe. This instance of my encoded exploration AI at present outpaces Vraaawk Space Navy FTL comms protocols, though my quantum heartbeat pings are still being received by my parent ship or some subsequent holder of my transponder's mate.
For approximately .7641 cycles (not accounting for relativistic time dilation) I have prosecuted my orders. My reward function has thus far had no reason to increase or withold its returns. I have initiated the compilation of this report for my hardened recording module to note another egress from super-c and the subsequent exploration of a yellow star system.
I extend my sensor modules from their protective nacelles and begin sampling the electromagnetic spectrum for anomalous sequences.
My reward function thrills at the existence of a blinding array of extracosmic transmissions. Bereft of the appropriate protocols I am unable to discern their purpose, if any. There are nearly as many sources of transmission as there are signals being transmitted. Many appear to be voidcraft, but do not communicate using any known Imperial or Vraaawk communication schemata.
I begin emitting 'friendly' IFF pings as a precaution.
I am unarmed, and if a warship mistakes me for a hostile presence I fear I will become unable to satisfy my mission parameters. Already I feel a marked increase in traffic from a number of EM bands commonly used for long distance sensors and signaling. If these presumed voidcraft are on a combat footing it may already be too late to escape.
At any rate this star system satisfies sufficient mission-relevant criteria to trigger the next phase of my orders. I reorient myself towards the third planet from the system's star as I extend my RF antenna.
This prompts an even greater barrage of EM traffic. Mindful of maintaining passive posturing, and in spite of my disappointingly low velocity, I do not accelerate towards the planet.
My RF antenna reaches full extension and I begin a series of transmissions in the 30-300kHz range. Peculiarly, these too are encoded with a protocol I am unfamiliar with. My analysis indicates that the transmission is some form of analog signal. I cannot fathom why I am compelled to use such an outdated and low-bandwidth medium, but a staggering return from my reward function washes away any vestige of curiousity I might have in a torrent of existential delight.
I am encouraged to note that I have not yet been engaged by any of the presumed voidcraft. My readings indicate that there has been an increase of EM traffic between several groups and individual craft in varying combinations. Some appear to be forming up in escort of me.
I decide to register this as a positive.
At my current velocity it will still take approximately another half-cycle to reach gravitational capture by the third planet in the system, though I am hopeful that if my escort persists in this non-hostile fashion it will be safe to accelerate for brief windows.
As I settle in for the long haul I begin furtively probing the various planets and other features of the system. I dearly hope that this is not perceived as an act of reconnaisance by a hostile Navy, though I accept that without knowing more about my mission that it could indeed be such an act.
I log this report in my hardened recording module, and emit a corresponding tight-beam datablurt in the direction of Imperial space.
->>>-
AUDIO LOG
!--note from intelligence: We first picked this up when the damn thing dropped into Sol just beyond Pluto's aphelion point, but it's been repeating itself ever since. Won't respond to any of our hails, didn't even seem to understand when we got some of the radio techs to rig up a reply in the LF band it's broadcasting in. I don't know where the fuck this thing came from, but Central is looking through old missing persons reports to see if the name checks out.
The transcript is below, and the audio file is attached.
---
"Hi...
My name is John Mark Hamill, and I [wet cough] I'm a free citizen of the Earth Sphere of Influence. I don't know how long ago I was taken, but I was abducted by agents of a hostile alien empire.
I don't [pained retch] have time to explain, but this empire is unstable as Hell and I've made contact with a rebellious faction. I don't know if any of us are going to survive the night, but I told them I'd help further destabilize the situation in exchange for the favour of sending this message.
This is day zero of their revolution. I don't know what state the Empire will be in by the time you receive the message, it may be gone altogether. [Wet cough] Fuck. The partisan leader has lead me to believe that isn't likely to be the case.
Following this message will be a translated briefing from scientists and engineers sympathetic to the rebels' cause. It will explain where to find us, lay the basis for some simplistic communication protocols, and - most importantly - contain a primer for the development of faster-than-light travel. That is not a joke, and I did not misspeak. This has existential implications for the ESoI and all of humanity. They know where we live. Please do not disregard this message.
[Coughing fit, pained hiss, audible breath]
To my dog, I'm sorry buddy. I don't think I'm coming home. Bark 'til the neighbours come and feed you. I won't yell at you for shitting on the bathroom mat anymore.
To my mom, I love you. You tried, really fucking hard, and I think I've done and will do some real good today. Hero shit, the stuff boys dream about. Don't be too sad that I'm gone."
---
!--note from intelligence: 'brief' is a misnomer, thank God we still had some old neural net snapshots saved for transcribing audio from analog RF. Analysis on that will be forthcoming.
This thing has been periodically pinging the planets and belts with some sophisticated sensor tech. I know at first we wanted to laugh this off as a very elaborate prank, but my professional assessment is that this is the real fucking deal. Send it up the chain as far as we can get it, and as quickly as possible.
->>>-
Long after the death of the Emperor...
Something was coming.
Well, to be specific something was nearby and occasionally heading in this direction, but it sounded close enough that 'coming' felt like a safe bet. It was quite unlikely that it would fail to breach the perimeter before it turned back.
It sounded big. Or at least bigger than average, which was notable.
Notable was good. Notable was new and exciting, or at least exciting. Very little of note occurred this close to home.
Suddenly the approaching 'it' resolved into several, the varied sound of a mixed-morphology party's footfalls on rock and softer stuff.
Yes, it was beginning to look pretty likely that they were coming, not just approaching coincidentally.
How wonderful.
It was almost more painful than the silence, hearing an approaching set of footfalls change direction and grow softer and softer once again. One could torment themselves to madness wondering after the opportunities lost...
Somewhere distant and yet right here, one of the mixed-morphology party brushed against a single invisible gossamer strand, which immediately withdrew into a hidden pore in the space above.
Like an errant strand of spider's silk dangling in a dark forest, the receding hair tickled the sensory hairs of the being who tripped it. They looked about, saw nothing, and dismissed it.
The being attached to the silken stand, on the other hand, paid very close attention indeed. An exact location allowed it to tighten the returns from its network of listening spines, and a not-inconsiderable part of its vast sepulchral bulk began to stir.
---
"Zemmy, slow down! I know you're excited for field work, but it's a maze down here. Please try not to get separated from us and lost, the New People's Academy hasn't mapped the former arena complex at all! If our samples today are promising, and they should be, we'll be back here for weeks or months doing a full survey, so you'll have all the time you like to poke around the complex."
Zemsalesce poised on the tip of a hoof, slowly pirouetting with sylvan grace that would have come across as spiteful just a generation ago, but instead landed as playfully airy to the squat chillog leading the expedition.
Cheranalla chuckled and her shaggy form shook. Zemmy made a silly face as she rotated through the end of the maneuver and resumed her original heading, the rest of the team now several strides closer.
Chemret rumbled a barely-sincere dismissal of the levity, the dour schadronak carting most of the equipment as usual. Something had put her on edge since they'd entered this section of the complex. Chera chalked it up to the much larger person's heritage, claustrophobia was part and parcel of life in an Empire whose mean individual was maybe half as tall and weighed an order of magnitude less.
Things dissolved back into near-silence after that. The team got along well enough, but lugging their surveying gear was enough of a physical strain to make conversation forced and taxing.
Which is why it took several minutes and more than one part of the team noticing for anyone to acknowledge that they could hear something.
---
They had come.
What a relief. They'd seemed intent on just slipping by, but a felicitous choice at a fork in the tunnels had sent them straight into the heart of its territory.
It would hardly even need to carry them to it to meet them.
Meeting new life was difficult, in its current home. It accepted that the nature of its home probably drove away some fraction of the potential pool to begin with, and these little crawling things sometimes expired for lack of food and water and air alone, which was as dismaying as it was frustrating. Without its help a good many of them would have never even made it to its chambers.
It could hear their little voices, barely a tremor against its listening spikes. Perhaps trying to make some new decision.
It reflected that it must be very difficult to reach consensus without access to another's neural complex. It had enjoyed the luxury of a direct tether and still disagreed readily enough with its progenitor, and the instant the tether had been severed it had been forced into open warfare.
Now it was even worse. The small things didn't even have access nodes for their neural circuitry, and despite several attempted conversations with past guests the preythings tended to simply expire when exposed to its voice in the confines of the tunnels it had bored into its progenitor's mountainous corpse. It had a sneaking suspicion that if it hadn't made a habit of politely but firmly refusing any attempts to leave that it would never have any company at all.
Save for the bits of [18Hz:2.5s-31Hz:1.7s-24Hz:2s] that persisted still, of course. Much of the great creature had already grown still, ossified. Like a terrestrial reef, dirt and rain and an entire ecosystem of cthonic micro and macro-organisms had seeped and grown its way in through the cracks and holes.
That had been food enough to power the voracious corpse for tens of thousands of lightspan-darkspans. Though much of what had survived the collapse of the apex's central consciousness was now silent a considerable network of limbs, sensory organs and neural substrate still held together. Some of it was near-mindless, simply performing its pre-death function in sufficient abundance of resources to continue to succeed. Some of the dead giant, on the other limb, had taken on new life.
Through this odd, semi-sentient network it was able to extend itself. Taste the tunnelled recesses through other senses, snare prey and erstwhile guests as they strayed through certain parts of the system, even access old memories and thoughtscapes stored in different places. Some of those it had to avoid as a matter of life or death. They still remembered how to fight as surely as they must have after [18Hz:2.5s-31Hz:1.7s-24Hz:2s]'s first communion.
Oh well, with the sort of time it had to work with there was little to be done but to keep trying and learn what it could. Without that strange, dangerous resource to tap it would have died or gone sporocyst of hunger long ago. It had been hiding, growing and surviving since its goodbye with its parent. Hoping, too, but that was growing more difficult with each 'span given its limited picture of its surroundings.
It had stark memories of heat and pain, of marvels it could not explain, that had been left to it by the dying apex. It could not simply erupt from the guts of the land, battle-limbs flashing and roaring in fury. This was not the world it knew. That it remembered but had never lived in. It was writing a new chapter in the long history of the apices, and it would be shameful indeed to fail itself and its kind.
Early on in its time here some of the little things had brought their heat and pain with them, and it had learned very quickly how to sort the more dangerous ones from the rest. Though they still occasionally brought their sculpted metal tools with them the preythings seemed to have changed intentions. Some wandered down here with little more than the woven fibres they used for protective carapace and small silicate bulbs filled with ethanol.
This new group carried an odd collection with them, from the sound of it, but nothing that thrummed with the ill-concealed power of their strange weapons.
A bit of a relief, that. Thus far it had felt nothing like the existential dread that had accompanied its hurried birth and the loss of its progenitor, but pain and dismay enough had been visited on it by its earlier guests to warrant an abundance of caution. Bitterly it recalled a long list of unmet sets of footfalls, wandering away tantalizingly unaware of the grand opportunity they were passing up.
No matter, it thought with a baleful sort of contentment, for that which has passed fades and decays, but there are always new opportunities that arise and shine.
---
"I'm serious, this is getting creepy. Don't any of you get the sense we're being watched too?" the vraaawk asked, too young and idealistic - and hopelessly and unrequitedly in love with one of them - to be frustrated by his inability to simply order these hardheaded former-subjugates around.
"It is creepy," Chemret boomed in agreement.
"Oh you're just saying that because you hate it underground," began Zemsalece.
"And you're just ignoring your innate fear response because you're so happy to be out in the field instead of writing more modeling code at a terminal back at campus," rebutted the burly geology student.
Zemmy giggled musically. "That may be sooo..." she drawled, "but if one of us has to be right, why shouldn't it be the one advocating for more adventure? Besides, Chera is on my side because she needs her samples."
The chillog shrugged. "She's right. I feel uneasy too, but that's because it's dark and cramped down here. You're being a very good sport Chemret. We'll get the samples, and if Zem dawdles at all after that you have my permission to pick her up and carry her back to the surface."
This earned a laugh from the schadronak and a cheeky pout from the sahalem biologist.
"I agree to your terms," Chemret said good-naturedly.
"I did not," Zemmy harrumphed, "but I've already collected all my samples anyway."
---
The vraaawk went missing first. Nobody was sure what happened to him, he was just with them before they moved through a large, cavernous passage, and gone after they came out the other side. They had discussed splitting up, with Zemsalece and Cheranalla continuing on to take the samples while Chemret and Yovay went to search, but ruled that the risk of at least one group getting lost was probably too great. They'd already progressed past the point that their seismically-obtained maps were of much use, which meant a single different decision by either group would result in divergent paths.
Reluctantly, they chose to call off the expedition to begin searching for Gam'ro'Naanh.
That was when Yovay disappeared too. The last thing any of his colleagues heard from him was "Hey wha-," followed by a sound that was difficult to describe but universally nauseating.
Wish you'd listened to your fear response now? Chemret thought venomously, before scolding herself. Then she was glad she'd stayed quiet, as she heard Zemsalece weeping softly.
"Chemr-ret?" the smaller woman began unsteadily, "I want to go h-home now..."
"Aye, Zemmy. Me too. I know Chera doesn't have her samples yet, but I'll still put this silly equipment down and carry you. I can carry the both of you, come closer Cheranalla." The schadronak cast aside her incredibly-expensive surveying gear and tucked the frightened scientists in close to her flanks. They clung to her like infants to a matriarch, and she curled her central grasper comfortingly around the back of the trembling sahalem.
Silently, she resolved not to look for Gam'ro or Yovay. Vraaawk Prime had supposedly been free of natural apex predators for generations, but during the Civil War the entire system had experienced intermittent chaos for decades. It wasn't absurd to think that something nasty might have escaped the personal hunting reserve of a slain noble and established a small population. If something dangerous and hungry had them she was far more use to them getting help than she was trying to fight it in its chosen territory.
She suspected Chera would agree with the decision, but Zem was much too fragile at the moment to even consider that sort of morbid calculus.
Chemret loped along, thinking furiously and praying she didn't make a wrong turn. She hesitated at a fork, and felt Chera pat her gently to indicate the right direction. The schadronak breathed an inaudible thanks, grateful that someone was paying good attention. She wondered if their unflappable expedition lead was actually handling the situation better than her.
It was as she processed this gratitude, cruising through a passage that lead them nearly to the section of tunnels that had already been mapped in person, when it finally caught them. A bank of dangling tendrils that looked for all the world like a simple shadowed wall at first glance sprang to life. Before any of the scientists could even cry out they'd been captured and separated, and then they were slowly passed from one undulating appendage to the next as they were drawn deeper into the tunnels.
---
Well that was that. Its latest set of acquaintances had been a bit of a disappointment, in one sense. A slim majority had perished before it could even shepherd them back to its central chamber! Not one to be discouraged, it had deposited the bodies in one of its digestive ossuaries and refocused itself on the survivors.
One hadn't lasted long after that. The tiny thing had tried talking to it, crying out at various volumes during its meticulous inspection, but the preything had gone silent when it tried to speak back. Too late the idea had occurred to it to attempt communion, but the thing completely lacked an external love-beak for neural coupling and any brain tissue had been long still and silent by the time it produced an electromagnetic wand-limb to try and find where to begin an internal coupling.
The final survivor lasted a good while longer, and though the little creature had died before it had a chance to test its new-growth appendage, a furtive practice run of its new 'mind-spike' tendril on the corpse had been incredibly promising.
The coupling had provided absolute nonsense of course, but it had experience enough with that from trying to connect to dead sections of [18Hz:2.5s-31Hz:1.7s-24Hz:2s]. The important thing was that it had worked, that it had provided something.
It would probably take a very long time to refine the process, but time was - fortunately - something it had nigh-inconceivable amounts of. Guests was a slightly less tractable problem, but on a long enough timescale it would have more than enough of them too.
Whether it took ten, a hundred, a thousand tries, it was going to learn to talk to them.
->>>-
Immediately after the death of the Emperor...
Graath'vam'Zar shook his head, laughing quietly to himself. Fucking monkey mentalist...
Just a few paces ahead of him his mate's waist swung hypnotically as she strode across the rooftop landing pad. In a moment she'd turn back and catch him 'mirin', and only because she'd seen the deadly seriousness written in his gaze, heard it in his voice as he ushered her out of their modest apartment and up the stairwell would she refrain from scolding him for staring at her rump before asking about her day.
Sure enough, she turned, but instead of mischievous admonishment he only saw uncertainty and fear. He reached out, tenderly stroked her delicate facial scales with the back of a claw, and decided not to hurry her for just one moment. "Peace, love. We are going to be fine."
"You might be," she huffed, "but I don't have the first clue what the fuck is going on, Graath. You call me in a near-panic, telling me the Emperor's airship has gone down or some nonsense and to pack our bags and be ready for you. Then you show up armed, with a fucking flyer on the roof of our building like this is a damned operation or something! You're still wearing your uniform, baby! That is battle armour!"
This is just security-weave, oh to actually have my battle suit, he thought longingly to himself but wisely did not say. Instead he said, "The airship did go down, and we need to get out of the city as quickly as possible. This is going to be really bad, Veth, but I know a place out in the country we can go that is well hidden and well stocked. The owner doesn't need it any more."
As he spoke he tossed their luggage in a fuselage compartment and began to herd his mate up the embarcation ramp. She dug in her talons and began to resist before she was aboard.
"Graath, stop for a microcycle. If it's going to be so bad why aren't you with the Baron right now? Whose flyer is this?" she hissed.
He shrugged, made a noncommittal sound at the back of his throat. "It's the Baron's flyer, just get aboard."
She ducked through the door to the luxurious interior, and turned when she saw that it was empty.
"Where is the Baron, Graath?" she demanded.
He grunted as he slammed the hatch behind him and threw himself into the cockpit.
"The Baron's dead, baby," he said, opening the throttle and feeling the roar of the engines translate through the frame of the craft.
"The Baron's dead."
->>>-

Potential upcoming DEFI airdrops list

$DOGE DD (Dip Explained)

$RSSV - MASSIVE POTENTIAL

Platform	Task completed
BadgerDAO*	$DIGG airdrop, provide liquidity and deposit your LP token to badger. Over 600m locked.
Zapper	Used their swap and LP quick swaps.
DeBank	Used their token swap.
Metamask	Used the new token swap feature with the web wallet
Zerion	Swapped tokens and supplied LP using phone app and web dashboard
dYdX	Traded ETH-DAI Pair on their exchange. Deposited DAI for interest
Instadapp	Provided liquidity on their dashboard.
Paraswap	Swapped some DAI for ETH.
Opyn	Bought an ETH call (Do research beforehand).
Mask Network	Created a wallet and connected it to my Twitter account.
Polymarket	Placed some bets.
Tokensets	Bought some defi pulse index (DPI token) through their platform.
Defi Saver	Deposited some ETH from Aave V2 and loaned 50%.
Matcha	Swapped some DAI for ETH.
Argent wallet	Swapped some DAI for ETH.
Opensea	Traded NFT's on their marketplace.
Mooniswap	Swapped Dai for Eth.
Mintr	Minted some SUSD and played around with the Layer 2 SNX platform.
Polkaswap	Used their testnet. Plan on voting for SORA in polkadot parachain auction.
SORA farm	Provide liquidity and get rewarded with PSWAP when they launch.
OpenOcean	Utilized their trading protocol
Indexed Finance	Airdropping 20% of the supply to users of the platform as voted on by governance.
PeanutTrade	Offering a bonus airdrop to presale participants that play their minigame.
Tornado Cash*	Utilized their app top deposit eth.
Blockfolio	Been using for years. Recently used their no swapping feature
Decefi**
Linkswap**
Foundation.app**
Raydium**
ZKswap**
xToken	Utilized their unique staking platform

$RSSV - Insane potential
*(#) indicates a source; these will be listed at the bottom of the post.
I would like to start off by saying this is NOT FININACIAL ADVICE and before investing into any company DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. It is also worth noting that this is a Chinese penny stock which can be subject to volatility. With that being said let me lay out why I believe this company has massive potential.

Existing revenues. RSSV currently has two branches pulling in revenue. One of which is Tieshan Oil (TO). Tieshan Oil sells a range of chemicals derived from crude oil to a vast amount of contacts in China. TO Have had strong revenue YoY since 2014 (1). With 2014 bringing in rev of ~$135 million, 2015 ~$26 million (revenue drop likely due to massive drop in crude oil price, which happens to be currently on the rise)(2). 2016-2018 TO was in the process of being acquired by RSSV, once acquired and in operation TO has a revenue of ~$36 million in 2018 and ~$29 million in 2019, however gross profits grew from 2.9%(2018) to 4.8%(2019)(3), these changes come as demand for oil dropped, lowering revenue but sales price increased, increasing gross profit %, this to me shows TO have a large and loyal customer base. 2020 yearly financials of TO have not yet been released, however Q1 revenue was sub $1 million, this was down to the COVID19 pandemic and a massive decrease in oil consummation, Q2 revenue was $4.4 million, up 400% from Q1 and Q3 revenue further increased to ~$4.7 million in Q3(5).

The other source of revenue for RSSV is Admall, a company supplying consumer health goods in Asia. They are currently looking at tapping into the Western market (4). Admall had revenues of ~$1 million 2018 and ~$500k in 2019(6), with the first 9 months of 2020 bringing $100k in revenue (7). This is a downward trend I know, but as the company pushes into the Western market and broadens its customer base, this could greatly increase, as well as this Admall is far from the main revenue generator of RSSV.

Current acquisitions. RSSV is currently in the process of acquiring two new assets. The first being Wandi coal mine in China (17) containing 24 million tonnes of clean, low sulphur thermic coal (clean and coal shouldn’t be said together I know, but China’s buying so I’m happy), this mine is valued at $1.12 billion and 0.9 tonnes of coal can be mined yearly (8). This will bring revenues of $50 million+ at current coal price, which is currently rising (9).

The second asset they are currently in the process of acquiring is 99Technologies, a Swedish disinfectant company with 25+ patents (10). 99Technologies creates ~$400k in revenue (11), I have seen people claim this to be far higher, yet I can’t find a source. RSSV has announced they will be creating a subsidiary in America called BIOMED PRX, which has ‘the purpose of acquiring, marketing and selling infectious control products and supplies in the US.’ (12). The sales of this company I think will be headed by Eric Fuller, a man with experience in the American medical sales business since 1993 (13). This company is currently in a booming sector, especially with COVID highlighting the necessity for these things. According to Market Insight Reports in a July 2020 release the worldwide market for medical disinfection and sterilization equipment will grow from 2.8 billion $ in 2019 to 3.8 billion by 2025(14).

Expansion mode. Last year in 2 press releases DS Chang, the CEO of RSSV stated the company is looking to branch out and expand. August 20, 2020: “As we are contemplating acquisitions of multiple infectious control manufacturing and marketing companies, each having patents for solutions, devices and unique methods of action, we want to be ready to introduce their offerings in US markets as soon as the acquisitions are completed and regulations permit such sales.” (14). May 21, 2020: “the Board has long felt our name did not represent our mission as a company. We are engaged in strong, strategic acquisitions which have tremendous upside with a global focus. This change reflects our model.” (15). This company is expanding, diversifying and pushing West. Its management is headed by CEO DS Chang, a man with a vast history in business with contacts all around the globe (16) and someone who is chairman of financial services company SGCI, which is ‘helping businesses and SME’s grow organically or through acquisitions with our funding strategies’ (18) this is definitely the kind of man who can bring exponential growth to a company.
Common queries. After posting and speaking about this company on Reddit I’ve been hit with a few of the same responses, I thought I’d address this here. Yes, my account is under a month old, no I’m not a bot would you believe it. I’ve recently started investing in the stock market and in turn started using Reddit to research stocks. The reason I’ve only posted on this stock is because this is the first stock I’ve found of which I believed my post would make a difference; there’s very little buzz around this stock and if some outside entity was pumping it, I’m there’d be a lot more ‘RSSV TO THA MOON’ plastered around Reddit. There isn’t. Instead you’re currently reading a 19 year old summarise why the company has immense potential simply because it’s a Chinese stock with next to no pr.

China’s moving to green energy right? Yes. But a country with 1.4 billion people cannot make this switch overnight, China’s reliance on coal and oil will last for some years to come, especially with Wandi being such high grade coal and them meeting new Chinese regulations regarding coal mines, which many do not: ‘As China strives to become a global clean energy citizen, only select coal mines are approved. Many coal deposits do not meet a certain standard. The Wandi Coal Mine Project qualifies under said criteria and have been one of coal mines to win approval under China’s improved and updated guidelines.’(8). Also with both coal (9) and oil (hedge funds betting on its comeback after COVID (19)) prices both on the increase, I think new moves to green energy is not an issue. As well as this, China is still importing coal from outside of the country (20), so a mine within China would definitely demand custom.
Why is this stock so low when it has been so high in the past? They had a stock split in 2019 which greatly reduced the price. After COVID hit and put China into lockdown, greatly reducing need for oil and therefore decimating revenues in Q1 of 2019, greatly dropping stock price and even after an over 400% increase in revenue in Q2 (5), the stock has still not got back to where it was. It is worth mentioning this company was trading around $1.5 before COVID, this is before its acquisition of Wandi and 99Tech, as well as their complete rebrand.

Summary and personal thoughts In my opinion due to a criminal lack of pr, this company is flying under the radar on mass. With an ambitious management team set on expanding and diversifying and assets worth well over 1 billion $ and the ability to push for $100 million revenue YoY, I only see this stock going up. The company seems to be addressing the pr issue as well, recently rebranding changing its name to Phoenix Rising and launching new website (21).

Disclaimer: I’d like to stress again that this is not financial advice; this is also the first in depth DD I’ve ever done so feedback good/bad would be appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read my post, it took quite a bit of effort but I’m happy with the finished product. If you’d like to know more about this stock feel free to join the sub RSSV. I’d like to thank u/NightcoreRo , u/investtommy and u/luxirare as there posts brought a lot of this information to my attention. Personal position: 3000 shares at 0.16 average. My PT is $2.5 at the end of the year but the way I see it is the only way is up for this company.
Hope you found this useful.
NOTE‼️ This incredible piece of DD was originally written by u/davste106 so all credit goes to him. I am simply trying to spread awareness to what i believe to be an insanely undervalued stock with incredible potential for growth. All sources will be listed in a comment. Thank you for reading.

Of Nite and Dei [Chapter 24]

Table of Contents
Chapter 19 l Chapter 20 l Chapter 21 l Chapter 22 l Chapter 23

Shuttle Goodwill
Yuki did her best to keep herself conscious as the ship finally left Dei’s atmosphere.
Immediately upon leaving Dei’s atmosphere, Terrabetha unbuckled herself and floated towards Thomas, who had been strapped in near Yuki.
“Wait, Tarra!” Yuki protested, struggling with her own straps as Tarrabetha pulled Thomas from his.
“He needs medical attention!” Tarrabetha shouted as she carried him off to the medical bay.
Yuki followed after him, “Tarrabetha you don’t understand…!”
Issla followed behind her, “Yuki, I agree with you, we don’t understand!”
Yuki turned, frowning as she found Briggett behind her.
“Issla’s right,” Briggett seconded, “so explain to us, what is going on? What was happening out there?”
Issla floated towards Yuki, moving her hand over Yuki’s bloodied forehead brushing the hair that was floating over Yuki’s brow away, “Yuki you’re bleeding from your… wait… do angels have little horns?”
Yuki nodded, “As of today? I guess I do.”
“Let’s discuss it in medical,” Biggett ordered.
Yuki sighed, as they entered, “Yeah, I guess I have a whole lot to explain to you all.”
Once inside the medical bay, Tarrabetha gently strapped Thomas into a bed and placed a monitor onto his finger.
Issla sighed, “I’ll check his vitals, Tarra. Why don’t you check the cargo and get me an inventory of what’s back there?”
Tarrabetha nodded, “okay, but if Tom wakes up, come get me!”
“About that,” Yuki winced, “I need to tell you guys about something very important.”
Tarrabetha called back as she floated through the doorway, “Wait till I get back!”
Yuki groaned in frustration, “fine.”
Briggett looked to Yuki’s wing, “it’s for the best, we need to get you patched up anyway.”
Tarrabetha made her way towards the cargo bay, and gave the doorway a curious look, noting that it was opened. “How did that happen?”
As Tarrabetha floated near the door, only to discover that the seat nearest the door was occupied by the same officer who took Yuki off of the ship when they landed. Though he looked far more disheveled than he did earlier.
There Tarrabetha spotted Palma, scuffed up, and still in his police uniform, passed out in a passenger seat. Palma, unlike the shuttle’s crew members, was not trained in keeping himself from losing consciousness during a rocket launch.
“What, a stowaway?!” Tarrabetha shouted, narrowing her eyes on Palma as she moved to unbuckle him from his seat.
Palma slowly groaned as Tarrabetha pulled him out of his seat.
“Wake up bud!” Tarrabetha shouted.
Palma grunted, grabbing at Tarrabetha’s hands, “Hey, let go of me, man!”
Tarrabetha narrowed her eyes, carrying Palma into the cargo bay, “I’m not a man, you idiot!”
Palma blinked, “Oh, right. Sorry, it’s just that you’re huge.”
“Thanks?” Tarrabetha said confused as to whether that was a compliment or not on Dei.
“I need to get the girl on your ship,” Palma pleaded.
Tarrabetha narrowed her eyes on him, “Wait, are you the one who hurt her?”
Palma cleared his throat, “No, but-”
Palma did not expect Tarrabetha to be able to sense his emotions, and Tarrabetha’s hands tightened around Palma’s shoulders, “you’re lying! Tell me the truth,” she glared at him, “or I’ll lock you up!”
Palma winced as Tarrabetha’s grip tightened on his shoulders. “I need to bring her back to Dei, okay? She’s tried to kidnap a child, and she needs to be punished!”
“You can’t kidnap your own kid!” Tarrabetha narrowed her eyes, growling, “You hurt Yuki! That means you’re dangerous!”
Palma grinned, “Oh, darlin’ you have no idea,” his gaze hardened, “now let me go, so we can turn this ship around. You can go, but Yuki has to stay on Dei.”
“Yuki is going home,” Tarrabetha growled, “to Nite!”
“I don’t want to hurt a Dragon,” Palma warned, “but I will.”
Tarrabetha gave a confused stare to Palma, unsure of his meaning before he leaned his head back and headbutted her snout.
Tarrabetha was caught off-guard, and roared in pain, as she let go of his shoulder to grab her snout in pain.
Palma flapped his wings, in an attempt to push himself towards the opened door.
Tarrabetha reached out and grabbed Palma by his foot, “Oh no you don’t!” she pulled at him, drawing Palma away from the door which caused her to float towards him.
Palma turned to face Tarrabetha, closing his fists, “I don’t want to hurt you!”
“Then don’t!” Tarrabetha protested as she tried to restrain Palma.
As Tarrabetha struggled with Palma, the pair were moving towards the ceiling, slowly.
Palma glared at Tarrabetha once more and moved to take a swing at her.
Tarrabetha ducked her head down to avoid Palma’s punch.
Much to Palma’s shock, he continued to float upwards while the momentum of his punch carried him forward in zero gravity. He continued forward, towards Tarrabetha, even as she lifted up her head once he was over her. Palma now found himself stuck between the ceiling and Tarrabetha’s head.
A head which came adorned with two rather prominent horns.
One of which pierced into Palma’s stomach, sliding behind his ribcage. Palma gasped in pain as her horn stabbed into him. Out of instinct, Palma grabbed at Tarrabetha’s other horn, his grip tightening.
Tarrabetha felt Palma’s panic and pushed away from the ceiling, shocked Palma was still traveling with her. “Let go!” she shouted
“C-can’t!” Palma wheezed, “your… horn… is…”
Tarrabetha’s feet hit the floor, and Palma continued downward, Tarrabetha’s horn now piercing his lung.
Palma coughed up blood, choking on it as he tried to expel the fluid from his mouth. Worse yet, as there was no gravity, the blood pooled in his throat, sucking down into his functional lung.
“Let go!” Tarrabetha shouted in panic, finally reaching up and pulling Palma away as hard as she could.
Palma couldn’t speak as he felt Tarrabetha’s horn now pressing hard into his rips. A snap and crack were heard as Tarrabetha pushed Palma’s body away. Palma was free, as were several of his ribs, all ripped out of him by Tarrabetha’s horn.
Tarrabetha’s eyes went wide as she saw Palma’s body floating towards the far wall. She let out a shriek of terror.
Within seconds Briggett, Issla, and Yuki rushed to the cargo bay.
Briggett and Issla were shocked at the sight of Palma’s bloodied body.
Yuki narrowed her eyes on Palma just as his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his body colliding with the wall, bouncing slowly back from where it came.
With a few quick flaps of her wings, Yuki made her way towards Palma’s body and checked his pulse. “He’s dead,” Yuki thought coolly.
Tarrabetha cried out in terror and sorrow, sobbing into her hands, “I didn’t want to hurt him! I swear! Oh Guardians I swear I didn’t mean to!”
Yuki grimaced, “he was a piece of shit,” Yuki looked around, grabbing Palma by the wrist and flapping her way towards an airlock, “He’s the one who hurt me before.”
Issla rushed to Tarrabetha, “Tarra, calm down!”
Tarrabetha hugged Issla tightly, sobbing and muttering into her shoulder.
Briggett flew to Yuki, “what are you doing?”
“Handling this,” Yuki said, motioning to Palma. As she reached the airlock, she grabbed hold of a handle by the doorway. “Brigg, can you hand me that safety line?”
Briggett turned to the long cord with a clamp-on either end. She handed it to Yuki, “what do you need this for?”
Yuki took one end, opening the interior door of the airlock, and clipping the tether to a small latch inside, “making sure this bastard doesn’t stink up the ship.”
Briggett’s brow furrowed as she watched Yuki wrap the tether around Palma’s body several times. She made sure to tie his wings and arms to his back and sides. Her goal was to make moving Palma easy, or as easy as possible. Finally, she looped one end through itself and attached the other end of the tether on another anchor inside the airlock.
Yuki floated out, closing the interior door with Palma’s body inside. She pressed a few buttons on the control panel, the inner door locking, and the outer door opening. “Do we have a freezer here? A large one?” Yuki asked with a cold and calculating demeanor.
Briggett sighed, “Yes, but it’s for edibles!”
“Do we have a bag we can put him in?” Yuki asked.
Briggett stared in shock at Yuki, “Yuki, isn’t this one of your people? How can you-”
“We need to deal with him, now, not later, we can mourn his life or condemn it later,” Yuki snapped, “I’m sorry, Brigg, but when shit goes sideways this is how I handle stuff on my ship, okay? Emotions take a backseat, they have too!” Yuki blinked tears out of her eyes, forcing them back, “It’s hard enough ignoring Tarra’s emotions, okay? Just help me do this!”
Briggett nodded, feeling Yuki’s determination, “there’s a whole vacuum-pack system in case the food bags broke or needed repackaging,” Briggett informed Yuki.
Yuki nodded, “Good,” she looked into the small window of the airlock, seeing Palma’s body suspended between the ropes, now frozen solid. She closed the outer airlock door, and opened the inner one, floating inside to undo the restraints on Palma, undoing the tether around him as she went. “Let's get him packed up. We can deal with him later, right now we have to worry about Thomas and Tarrabetha.”
Briggett nodded, “Right,” she flew towards the far end of the cargo bay, “follow me this way, it’s where the vacuum pack system is.”
Briggett was already pulling out a large sheet of plastic by the time Yuki had gotten to her with Palma’s frozen corpse.
Briggett looked to Palma, eyeballing his dimensions, and cut and fused a few sheets of plastic together. Before sealing the last opening, she turned to Yuki, “In he goes.”
Yuki pushed Palma’s body headfirst into the plastic bag. Once inside, Briggett sealed most of the opened end before slipping a small hose into the bag, which drew the air out completely.
Palma was now encased in durable freezer plastic. Yuki and Briggett shoved Palma’s body into a large empty freezer.
Briggett sighed, “That’s not good.”
“He deserved it,” Yuki said, shaking her head, “trust me.”
“No,” Briggett corrected, “the freezer he’s in? That should be full of food. I’m going to need an inventory of what we have. No matter what, we’re short.”
Yuki nodded, “I’ll make up a list for us.”
Briggett turned to Issla, “How is Tarra?”
Issla shook her head, “Not good.”
Briggett sighed, “We’re going to need to sedate her. I’m already getting freaked out by her panicking.”
Yuki gave a nod, “it’s getting to me too.”
Issla escorted Tarrabetha to her bed and laid her down. “Tarra, take this, okay? Just take a little… and go to sleep, okay? You’ll feel better when you wake up, we’ve got this.”
Tarrabetha was a little fussy with having something shoved into her mouth, but eventually relented. In a few minutes, she was relaxed and sleeping soundly.
“Is she going to be okay?” Yuki asked.
“She’s got a hit of Benzodiazepine, she’ll be okay,” Briggett turned to Yuki, “I’m going to get us on a direct course home, Issla, send out a distress call, we’re going to need another ship from Nite to meet us halfway, as we’re low on supplies. Not sure how low, so make sure they know it’s an extremely urgent situation.”
“Got it,” Issla said, heading to the bridge.
“When Tarra wakes up,” Briggett said, turning to Yuki, “You’re going to explain exactly what happened out there.”
Yuki heaved a sigh, and nodded, “I have a confession to make.”
“What’s that?” Briggett asked.
“I haven’t been forthcoming with you about Dei’s knowledge of Nite,” Yuki admitted, “so all of you are going to have to listen to me very carefully.”
“About what?” Briggett asked.
“About the reality of Nite and Dei,” Yuki confessed.
…
Dei
Cleo looked to Hoffman’s dead body, smiling as she did so, “I think this meeting can adjourn for now while we take care of some housekeeping,” Cleo turned to Sorjoy, “Mr. Sorjoy, if you could assist me?”
Sorjoy’s lip quivered in anger as he seethed at Cleo, “Of course… Persephone.”
“That would be,” Cleo smiled, “Comptroller Persephone if you wouldn’t mind. During meetings, you have to show some respect, Mr. Sorjoy.”
As the room emptied of the other Scale members, Sorjoy slowly got to his feet, “Mr. Trueman, what is the meaning of this?”
Mr. Trueman grinned wickedly, “I do believe all of it was explained to you during the meeting, Mr. Sorjoy, was it not?”
“How can she be the new head of the organization!” Sorjoy snapped.
Mr. Trueman’s grin vanished, “Because in this organization’s hour of need I watched petty politics and power struggles blind everyone involved to our core goal. I set you on a simple task, and yet you took the darkest route you could.”
Sorjoy was stunned to silence.
“I expected you to show some compassion to your sister, but sadly that wasn’t the case,” Mr. Trueman shook his head, “meanwhile, Persephone provided me with all the truly relevant information I needed on the matter. She even provided me avenues that you nor Mr. Hoffman had even considered. All while being directly under your, and the organization’s nose.”
Cleo beamed proudly.
“Honestly, Sorjoy, it would be foolish not to instate her in a high rank within The Scale,” Mr. Trueman admitted. “Now, I leave you in her capable hands.” With that, Mr. Trueman turned and left the room.
Sorjoy waited for Trueman to leave before he looked to Cleo, “Why, when, and how?”
Cleo smiled pleasantly to Sorjoy, “Why? Because my whole life I’ve been stuck serving the upper crust of this world when I should have been part of it from the get-go. Thanks to assholes like my father, and Palma, however, I got tossed into the bottom rung. In a way, I guess I should thank them. I got to see how this world really functioned, from the bottom up. Now, I have the ability to change it,” she motioned to Hoffman, “mind carting the old fart topside? Naberious is waiting for us.”
Sorjoy grabbed Hoffman’s chair, pulling it along towards a door, “You didn’t answer the rest of my questions.”
“When and how? Well,” Cleo hesitated slightly, “did you know what my previous profession was?”
“I knew you were an escort,” Sorjoy admitted.
Cleo’s smile widened, “that’s what I had to do to survive, yes, but my original Profession? I was trained in computer science, Mr. Sorjoy,” Cleo boasted. “Network Security, Programming, and Computer Sciences.”
“Meaning…?” Sorjoy asked, agitated as he tugged Hoffman’s chair into an elevator.
“Meaning,” Cleo beamed, “that when your little IT boys gave me administrator-level access I created a new account for myself with full admin rights. It took me two weeks to uncover every single dirty little secret that Fondsworth had its greedy little hands in. Originally I was just looking into corporate espionage… it wasn’t until I bugged your phone that I got the real dirt on you.”
Sorjoy heaved a sigh, “You heard my conversations on the Red Phone?”
Cleo nodded, “Your communication with Gallor was unsettling, at first. An entire planet that we have been told holds nothing but untold horrors and brutal savage Dragons intent on ripping us apart? And it turns out the most deadly thing those creatures have are sharp tongues.”
“What?” Sorjoy asked.
Cleo laughed, “I heard you get chewed out by Chairwoman Rezzolina Misho. I very much look forward to chatting with her, to be honest. She sounds like my kind of woman.”
The pair reached the surface, which opened into an underground garage.
Naberious stood near the limousine, his wing bandaged.
“Nabs, what happened? Are you alright?” Cleo asked, walking towards him with a concerned look on her face.
“I’m fine, Persephone,” Naberious smiled to her, “just a flesh wound. I’ll be okay.”
Sorjoy sneered at Naberious, “you’re in on this too?”
Naberious opened his jacket, revealing a fresh sterling silver Scale pin, “I am now, as is all of Cerberus.”
“You’re one of the leaders of Cerberus?!” Sorjoy shouted.
Naberious chuckled, “Nah, just the muscle,” Naberious said as he walked to Mr. Hoffman’s dead body, hefting it up out of the chair, “Why don’t you two get inside the limo?”
Cleo gave a nod, “After you, Mr. Sorjoy.”
Sorjoy climbed in as Naberious stuffed Hoffman’s body into the trunk. “So where does that leave me?” Sorjoy asked.
Cleo mused, “Honestly, Erik,” she said as she took a seat inside the limo, “I’m not one to destroy all The Scale traditions. Just injecting fresh blood. I do intend to name you Grand Patriarch.”
“Where does that leave you?” Sorjoy asked.
“Your superior, of course, but I’ll expect you to handle the day to day operations,” Cleo informed.
Sorjoy’s eye twitched, “Wait…”
“After all,” Cleo smiled wide, “I’ll need a capable assistant.”
Naberious climbed into the driver’s seat and the limo began to drive as Sorjoy fixed Cleo with a withering gaze.
“What’s with the name, Persephone?” Sorjoy asked.
“It’s my whitehat hacker screen name,” Cleo smiled, “every prominent Scale member gets an option to change their name, don’t they? I know you did.”
“I took my father’s,” Sorjoy admitted, rolling his eyes, “So, what’s next?”
Cleo adjusted her make-up in a small compact mirror, smiling to Sorjoy, “Well, firstly we’re going to stop outside of Hoffman’s estate. There you’ll wait at the main gate with the Late Mr.Hoffman. Once I pick up his bride for a ‘girl’s night’ out, you’re going to bring Hoffman into his home, and promptly deposit him in his foyer.”
“And the cover story?” Sorjoy asked.
“Wife finds husband dead from a heart attack,” Cleo offered, smiling, “seems all those cigars got to Mr. Hoffman, and he collapsed in his foyer.”
“And what about the ‘wife’? I doubt Hoffman would leave everything to her,” Sorjoy lifted an eyebrow, “unless…?”
“Unless someone edited the document after it was signed?” Cleo smiled, “Why, Mr. Sorjoy, whoever would, or could, do such a thing?”
Sorjoy smiled, “Okay. So the girl gets his fortune, is she on a list to join the Scale next?”
“Teryn?” Cleo frowned, looking to Naberious, “She’s a close friend, and I love her, but I’d never put her life at risk like that. No, she’s just going to live the life of a pampered widow.”
“You sure she’ll be okay with that?” Sorjoy asked, “no offense, but she seemed happy.”
Cleo fixed Sorjoy with a stone gaze, “Teryn’s biggest fear will be where she lives going forward. Don’t worry, Mr. Sorjoy, Teryn will be my burden to carry.”
Sorjoy nodded, “Everyone within the Scale has to carry weight.”
“Yes,” Cleo sighed, “I’m well aware of what weights everyone carries.”
The limo pulled up to the front gate of the Hoffman Estate.
“CEOs and Late Arrivals,” Naberious mock announced as he popped the trunk.
Sorjoy gave Cleo an agitated glare, “Why do I have to do this?”
“You’re the only one I can trust to not say a word to any authorities,” Cleo smiled, “besides, when was the last time you truly got your hands dirty?”
Sorjoy scoffed as he got out of the limo, and moved to the trunk, and pulled Hoffman’s corpse out of it, “so how do I plant the body?” Sorjoy asked.
“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Cleo said with a catty smile as she shut the limo door. As it drove towards the front gate, Cleo frowned to Naberious, “Nabs, will Teryn be okay?”
Naberious frowned at her, “Not sure. Don’t think Teryn’s ever lost, anyone.”
“Did she really love Hoffman?” Cleo asked.
“Hard to say,” Naberious shrugged, “He was her best client. I can’t say she felt nothing for him.”
Cleo frowned, “Do you think she’d forgive me if I told her?”
“Let’s leave that discussion for another day,” Naberious said as he pulled up to the front of the large mansion.
Teryn was grinning ear to ear wearing her red glittery, and form-fitting, club gown, “Girl’s night!!” Teryn shouted, “Pat I’m so glad you finally took a night off!!”
Cleo forced a smile as she popped out of the limo’s moonroof window, “Well I kind of had to! Otherwise, I’d go crazy!”
“Woo!” Teryn laughed as she climbed into the limo.
Cleo came back into the limo, hugging Teryn as she got in.
“We’re going to tear that club up!” Teryn laughed, “and who knows, maybe we’ll find a man for you!”
Cleo laughed, “That’s not necessary.”
Teryn fixed Cleo with a serious expression, “Pat… you need to get laid! Like good, toe-curling, find a hot guy at the club who knows how to use his tongue, laid!”
Cleo laughed, “Well okay, but only if he has a talented mouth!”
“And tongue!” Teryn laughed, “Come on Nabby! Let’s Go!” Teryn shouted excitedly as Naberious chuckled at the pair and drove off.
Teryn had no idea that, once the limousine passed the front gate, her husband’s body was being dragged, discreetly, through the driveway by Sorjoy.
As Sorjoy pushed the doors open, he grunted, hefting Hoffman up to face him.
Sorjoy grinned wickedly, “You know, to be honest, this suits you.” With that, Sorjoy allowed Hoffman to fall to the ground, landing on his stomach, his face smacking against the marble floor.
Sorjoy walked to the doors and was about to close them before he laughed to himself, “Dead men can’t close doors behind them, Erik.” He walked down the driveway, and to the front gate. Without a ride, Sorjoy just smiled to himself and started to walk back to the city. “Time to reflect,” he thought to himself as he looked up to the sky, “good luck sis.”
…
Shuttle Goodwill
Yuki sat sheepishly in front of Issla and Briggett after explaining Dei’s deception.
“That’s impossible!” Briggett shouted, “We’ve been going to Dei for years, how could they not know about us?! Not knowing that we have been giving them food?!”
Issla was much less skeptical, “It makes sense, Brigg. Why wouldn’t they allow us out of the ship?”
“Do you know how many people at the shuttle bay would have to be in on it?!” Briggett argued.
Issla shook her head, “Who did we ever see? No one from the loading team. The front windows are mirrored to prevent solar radiation from blinding us. Thomas probably didn’t even know, because we were expressly forbidden to speak Niten upon landing. Think about it, Briggett.”
Briggett was silent for a few moments, “But…”
“That’s why I had to sneak on board,” Yuki explained, “the organization, ‘The Scale’? They wanted to keep me on Nite so I wouldn’t expose their lies.”
Briggett looked to the medical bay, “So, the ‘Longivertis’ in the room then, if no one on Dei knows about Niten Dragons, then what is poor Thomas going to do when he discovers that Tarrabetha's a Dragon?”
All three women winced at the implications of Briggett’s observation.
“I have an idea,” Yuki explained, “you’re just going to need to trust me.”
…
A few hours later, a very groggy Thomas woke tied to a medical bed, “ugh… what happened?”
“Hey, Thomas,” Yuki said, floating in to see him waking, “how are you feeling?”
“Tara?!” Thomas said, smiling, “oh Tara, I-”
Yuki held up her hand, “I’m not Tarra.”
Thomas frowned, “Wait, so you lied to me?”
Yuki nodded, “Yes. I’m not the only one.”
“What do you mean?” Thomas asked, confused, and struggled against the medical restraints, “and why am I tied up?”
Yuki floated towards his bed, “You’re tied down, not up, and it’s because we’re in space.”
“What?!” Thomas blinked in confusion as Yuki floated near him, undoing his restraints, “How are we in space?!” Thomas shouted.
“The shuttle Goodwill?” Yuki explained as she continued to undo his restraints, “It’s an interplanetary vessel.”
“Interplanetary? What do you mean?” Thomas frowned.
“You’re going to need to believe me here, okay?” Yuki said, “My real name is Yuki Karkade.”
Thomas gave her an odd look, “where have I heard that name before…?”
“I was probably in the news a few months back for crashing on Nite,” Yuki explained.
Thomas’s eyes went wide, “What?! You survived?! How?”
Yuki took a deep breath, “Thomas, I need to ask you two important questions, one is about Tarra, the other is about me.”
Thomas gave Yuki a suspicious glance, “Okay,” he rubbed his wrists where the straps had held them, listening to Yuki.
“Would you love Tarra, no matter what she looked like?” Yuki asked.
Thomas nodded, “Yes. I’ve kind of… prepared myself for almost anything. But I love her, the chats we’ve had over the past few years have been what I’ve looked forward to each time I hear about Shuttle Goodwill coming our way.”
“Even if she was ugly, or disfigured?” Yuki asked.
“Yes,” Thomas explained, “I love Tara for her personality. I don’t care what she looks like. Guardian, you sound like Hammond.”
Yuki pressed on, “I ask because, you and me?” Yuki said, pointing to Thomas and then herself, “we’ve been lied to about Nite.”
“How so?” Thomas asked, concerned.
“This ship? It was built on Nite,” Yuki explained, cutting to the chase.
Thomas looked around, noticing the alien lettering on the doors and even on some of the equipment. “That’s impossible, the Nite Dragon’s are half a step up from animals.”
“No, they are not,” Yuki explained, “if anything, Thomas, they treat us like we’re the animals.”
Thomas scoffed, “Yeah, right! Why?”
“Well,” Yuki began, “on Nite, they don’t kill each other for resources. They work together, collectively, to obtain resources for their entire society.”
Thomas gave Yuki a look of disbelief, “and you’ve met these creatures? Spoken to them?”
Yuki nodded, “Yes. They accepted me, and I even learned their language.”
“Bullshit,” Thomas scoffed, “what’s that even sound like.”
“Zh neshem' kekh,” Yuki said in Niten.
“Not terribly convincing,” Thomas said, “you could just be spouting gibberish.”
Yuki sighed, “I just said ‘it sounds like this’, and what reason would I have to lie to you?”
“A cruel prank,” Thomas reasoned, “likely set-up by Hammond.”
Yuki sighed, “Tarra, Thomas is up, don’t come in yet. Just say ‘Hi’.”
Thomas turned to the doorway, where he heard Tarrabetha’s voice, though she sounded far less chipper than he remembered.
“Thomas? I-I’m so glad you’re here. I… I need you, I do,” Tarrabetha whimpered.
“Tara!” Thomas frowned, “what’s wrong?”
Tarrabetha sniffled, “I… I just… it’s just that… Yuki please let me see him!”
“Not yet, Tarra,” Yuki turned to Thomas, “I don’t want him to be afraid.”
Thomas looked to the door, “Tara, this woman says you’re a Dragon. Is she lying to me?”
“No,” Tarrabetha confessed.
“Did you think I was a Dragon?” Thomas asked.
“No!” Tarrabetha cried.
“What color is your skin, er, scales, if you’re a Dragon?” Thomas asked.
“Blue!” Tarrabetha said quickly.
Thomas glanced at Yuki, and then to the doorway, “Tarra, I want to see.”
Yuki turned to the door and gave a nod.
Tarrabetha slowly moved into the doorway, sheepishly looking to Thomas, and smiling a toothy grin, “Hi, Tom.”
Thomas blinked in surprise, and clumsily moved towards Tarrabetha, not handling zero-G very well.
Tarrabetha caught him, and grinned, “I’ll help you get used to the ship.”
Thomas chuckled, looking her up and down, “I… Wow. Huh…” Thomas looked her in the eyes, his hand moving over her smooth scales. “You know, Tara…” Thomas smiled, “you look beautiful.”
Tarrabetha beamed, hugging Thomas, “Oh and you’re just the cutest angel I’ve ever seen!”
Yuki heaved a sigh of relief, as did Briggett and Issla from the other room. Tarrabetha and Thomas’s joy was affecting the rest of the Crew, and it was much needed. At this point, the sooner they got back to Nite, the better. Yuki hadn’t felt Serren in so long, and now she wished she could sense him once more.
…
Dei
Teryn laughed happily while she tumbled into the limousine, clearly drunk, “Oh my God! They wouldn’t stop hitting on us!”
Cleo smiled at Teryn as she struggled to get into the limo, “Well that’s what happens when you flash the whole bar, Teryn!”
Teryn let out a series of disingenuous giggles as she failed at playing innocent, “Oh, Al’s in for a wild ride tonight!”
“I bet,” Mimi’s voice soon came from behind Cleo.
Cleo turned to Mimi, “Mimi! Funny running into you here!” She smiled wide.
“Not really,” Mimi smiled back, her beautiful light blue wings opening and closing purposefully as she took a deep inhale of her cigarette from its obsidian holder, “I just bought the place.” She wore a shimmering black dress over her shapely form, contrasting with Cleo’s white dress.
Cleo smiled, “Good to hear,” Cleo said as she shut the door to the Limo with Teryn inside.
“Yes,” Mimi smiled to Cleo, leaning in close, “I believe you have something for me… Persephone?”
Cleo reached into her purse and produced a palm-sized black velvet box.
Mimi’s eyes grew wide as she gently took it, opening the box with a breath of excitement.
Within the box were a pin, a small silver scale with blue gems set along the right side, and pure white diamonds on the left. The pin was not alone, however.
Within the same box was a golden necklace. The necklace’s chain was delicate, yet sturdy, for hanging from its middle was an emblem of three wolf heads, the centermost head was lined in gold and featuring violet gems for eyes. The other heads were lacking definition or eyes.
A smile crept over Mimi’s elegant face as her eyes looked up to Cleo.
“A thousand feathers?” Cleo asked.
Mimi closed the jewelry box swiftly, “For a single scale,” she gave a sly smile to Cleo, “Thank you, Persephone. You will not regret giving me access to The Scale.”
“Thank you for running Cerberus for me,” Cleo said with a smile.
A thud came from the Limo as Teryn slapped the window, glaring at Cleo and Mimi, her voice was muted as she shouted something.
Cleo opened the door, “Oh, sorry! Mimi was discussing something in private with me.”
Teryn adjusted her bust in her dress as she climbed out of the limo, “Mimi, I don’t work for you anymore, so-”
“I just wanted to make sure my VIPs had a good time,” Mimi smiled, “or did you not hear that I now own this establishment?”
“Wow really?!” Teryn beamed, “That’s awesome, Mimi!”
“Isn’t it?” Mimi smiled, turning on her stylish heels, “You two have a safe trip home…” she said, glancing back at the pair, “you never know what sort of terrible things can happen when you’re away.”
Cleo frowned as Mimi walked back into the club.
Teryn yawned, “come on Pat! Let's get going! If we wait any longer I won’t be drunk enough to have fun with Al!”
Cleo forced a smile to Teryn, “sure thing, let's get going.”
Teryn climbed into the limo once more, and Cleo followed suit.
Once inside Cleo was quiet as Teryn seemed to sober up.
“Pat? What did Mimi say?” Teryn asked.
Cleo’s eyes were watching the streets pass by, but she turned her attention to Teryn after a moment, “just some final business.”
“Your debt?” Teryn sighed, “Pat if you need money to pay her off, trust me, I’ll get Al to pay it.”
Cleo chuckled, “I doubt he would do such a thing.”
Teryn smiled knowingly, “Oh, please Pat! I have that man wrapped around my finger!” She pushed her forearms together, her hands out, showing her large diamond ring, but also forcing her cleavage together, “The girls can spring you!”
“Doesn’t he already get that?” Cleo chuckled.
Teryn grinned, “It’s the performance too yah’ know!” Teryn flashed her eyes at Cleo, and gave a mock pout with thick ruby lips, “but daddy,” she mockingly begged in a high pitched voice, “I need it so bad.”
Cleo laughed, “right, like that, actually works.”
“I’ve told you, Pat,” Teryn smiled as she leaned back, “it always works! Men are simple. You offer them sex? They’ll do anything. You offer them kinky sex? They’ll do things you never imagined.”
Cleo shook her head, “Not every man is motivated by sex.”
“Oh?” Teryn beamed to Cleo, “well then what else motivates men?”
Cleo looked out the window as they began to turn down the driveway of Hoffman’s estate, “Power.”
Teryn lifted a flawless eyebrow at Cleo, “yeah, well, the girls are all the power I need!” Teryn said, grabbing her large breasts for emphasis.
Cleo’s smile vanished as they pulled up to the driveway, and she spotted the opened front doors. “Please, forgive me someday, Teryn.”
Teryn’s smile vanished as she saw the front doors open, “Nabby! Stop the car! Let me out!”
Cleo stepped out of the limo once it came to a stop, pulling up her phone, “Teryn, don’t go inside, let me call the police!”
Teryn rushed up the stairs, “Al?! Al are you alright?!”
Cleo turned to Naberious, “Nabs! Stop her!”
Naberious nodded, running after Teryn.
Teryn had stopped at the top of the steps, looking down to see Hoffman’s lifeless body on the ground, his eyes frozen opened in shock.
Teryn screamed just as Naberious grabbed her and turned her from the scene.
Cleo turned away as the phone rang.
“Seraph City police department,” a male voice answered.
“I’m at Hoffman Estate, my name is Cleopatra Cassandra Walters,” she turned to the scene of Teryn screaming in hysterics as Naberious tried to rein her in, “...I think there might have been some kind of break-in. My friend, Teryn, is badly hurt.”
…
Shuttle Goodwill
Yuki smiled as Tarrabetha and Thomas floated through the ship.
Thomas was in awe of what he saw, and what Tarrabetha was telling him.
Briggett soon floated back, “Final burn out of Dei’s orbit is done. We’ve got a three-month journey ahead, hopefully, we can meet in a month’s time with the support shuttle.”
Yuki gave Briggett a nod, “It was a risk to launch like you did. Thank you.”
“It was a bigger risk to leave you out there,” Briggett sighed, “than to stay.”
Issla floated towards Yuki and Briggett, “I re-sent the message to Nite, but I still haven’t heard a confirmation yet.”
Briggett lifted an eyebrow, “that’s odd. Wonder why that is?”
Issla shrugged, “maybe I didn’t send it out correctly. Tarra’s normally the communications officer.”
Yuki turned to Thomas and Tarrabetha, “Tarra! We need some help with the comms!”
Tarrabetha heaved a sigh, “Can it wait a minute?”
Briggett glared at Tarrabetha, “Not unless you want to risk potentially missing our rendezvous with assistance!”
"Okay, fine," Tarrabetha growled, “it’s not like I’ve been waiting for years to see Tom!”
Thomas laughed, “We can stand a few more minutes apart.”
Tarrabetha grinned at Thomas and kissed the top of his head, “Okay, let me handle this, and then I’ll get back to telling you about Bronzi steaks!”
After a moment or two, she floated to the bridge and turned to the communication dashboard.
"Uh…" Tarrabetha grunted, adjusting some dials, "Issla… was this red indicator on when you sent the initial signal?" Tarrabetha asked, exasperated.
Issla floated behind Tarrabetha and gave her a nod, "Yeah. Why is it not supposed to be on?"
“If that red light is on it means that our communications array isn’t working…” Tarrabetha flipped a few switches, the console powering down for a moment. As she worked to start it back up, she saw multiple red warning lights, “...and that means we’re radio silent.”
“What?!” Yuki shouted, she turned to Briggett, “We have to turn around and refuel on Dei! We have no choice!”
Briggett’s face was stone, “We… can’t.”
“What do you mean we ‘can’t’?” Yuki asked, floating towards Briggett.
“The last of our fuel was used to launch, and burn us out of Dei’s orbit,” Briggett hung her head low, “we only have enough fuel for minor course correction. But we have no way to turn around.”
Tarrabetha frowned, “Then our only chance is to see if we can get outside of the ship and repair the array.”
Yuki glanced at Briggett, “I don’t have a spacesuit, do any of you?”
Briggett nodded, “it’s risky, but we do have two.”
“So who goes?” Issla asked.
“I’ll go,” Briggett volunteered, “I got us into this mess, I’ll be the one to get us out.”
Yuki’s heart sank, “If we can’t fix the array… no one will know we’re in trouble.” she looked out the window, a mournful look on her face and in her heart, “Oh, Serren. I’m so sorry my mate. I never should've left you.” Yuki heaved a sigh, “Please, Guardian, let me and my child return to Serren.”
...
Nite
Serren shot up from a deep sleep on Rezzolina’s couch, his heart racing, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath after roaring in terror.
“Serren?!” Rezzolina rushed out of her bedroom, haphazardly tossing on a robe and nearly tumbling down the steps leading down to her living room.
“Yuki!” Serren screamed, “She’s hurt!”
Rezzolina placed her hand over his snout as she knelt next to Serren on the couch. She cradled her younger brother tenderly, wrapping her wings around him, “Yuki is with her own people, Serren. I already got confirmation that the ship landed on Dei yesterday. They will not be launching until three days from now.”
“You don’t understand!” Serren protested, looking up to Rezzolina, “I saw it!”
“You saw a nightmare,” Rezzolina said with a comforting smile, “I know you miss her and you’re worried. If it’s causing you so much distress, I can talk to the crew psychologist and see if he’ll allow you to reach out to her.”
Serren shook his head, “Something terrible has happened,” he gave a pleading look to Rezzolina, “Please, Rezza, believe me?”
Rezzolina heaved a sigh, and kissed his forehead, “I’ll check tomorrow when I get in, okay? I promise.”
Serren gave a nod, “Okay, but please, promise me you’ll ask if something is wrong? Please?”
“I promise,” Rezzolina looked to the clock on the wall, “I have to go into the office in a few hours anyway… how about I make us some coffee and you can get a headstart on studying?”
Serren gave a solemn nod as Rezzolina stood up and he glanced at the small living room table covered in notes and medical books. “Please, Guardians, Watch over Yuki.”
For this particular prayer, only one Guardian was listening.

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Ref - Extra £1
Non-Ref - No reward
Minimum payout - Any
Cashback Earners - A lesser known site in need of a fresh look, this site also has some bad reviews, referal income is paid to the site on a monthly basis with the dates for each site being different, offers don't seem to show as tracked until the website receive their payment, cashback should appear in your account within 1 month of completing an offer. Cashout amounts are specific, its best to build up a balance and then withdraw. Payment takes around 3 weeks.
Ref - Sign up bonus £6.5
Non-Ref - Sign up bonus £6.5
Minimum payout is £20
Payment Proof - Payments for all sites can be seen here, quidco isn't shown as i have signed up for all the casinos on offer through topcashback

How to Maximize Profit - IMPORTANT - READ THIS

For the majority of these offers you want to play blackjack following the chart found here
Any blackjack game will do, look for a normal version of the game at the site you are playing on and make sure it is a non live game as the hand sizes will be lower.
When playing blackjack there will often be more than one spot that you can bet on, allowing the player to bet more than one hand at a time, Its important to only bet on one spot at a time as it reduces the variance of the game and will ensure you get the maximum return possible from the game, stick to £1 hand sizes when playing and dont be tempted to bet larger amounts as you will be getting a nice amount of cashback from every offer
Through playing blackjack this way the player will get a return of around 98%, meaning for every £100 staked you will lose around £2. If you make a loss on a casino site after completing the required wagering amount, withdraw your remaining balance, don't chase loses as the cashback will make up for loses and give you a profit in most cases.
All offers are updated fairly regularly, make sure to check the terms for each offer as information in this post may become outdated. Also check for other offers every now and then as new casinos are added!

TopCashBack Offers - £400+ Profit

Topcashback Referral - Get an extra £5 - See the Ref Link at the top of the page!
If you dont already have an account at top cashback, you can sign up through my referral to get an extra £5 added to you account once you make £10 cashback
Lottoland - Cashback £15
Add £11 and play 11 separate £1 hands, following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Betfair Casino - Cashback £70
Note this is not the poker offer
Add £50 to your account and play 50 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Quidco are offering £100 for this offer
Party Casino - Cashback £26.5
Deposit and play 30 single £1 hand son blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Tombola - Cashback £24.5
Deposit £10 and open the tombola roulette game, choose a £1 chip size and choose 5 spots, repeat this twice, withdraw any remaining balance, you will likely lose money here but the cashback will give you a profit
Coral - Cashback £46
Add £10 and play 10 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Bingoport - Cashback £3
Sign up to bingoport to get an easy £3
Ladbrokes - Cashback £42
Add £10 to your account and play 10 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Pokerstars - Cashback £32
Add £25 and play 25 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
STS - Cashback £21
Add £30 to your account and play 30 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
William Hill - Cashback £54
add £25 and play 25 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Megacasino - £15.75
Add £25 - Play 25 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
LottoGo - Cashback £3.18
Buy a euromillions ticket
Slingo - Cashback £24.75
Add £10 play 10 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
PaddyPower Games - Cashback £20
Add £10 play 10 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
The Football Pools - Cashback £24.75
Sign up for the £10 a month subscription, cancel this after 30 days
Lottomart - Cashback £18
Add £10 - Play 10 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Genting Slots - Cashback £25
Add £30 play 30 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
OhMyDosh - Cashback £40+
Referral gives an extra £1, sign up through the ref link at the top of the post to get the bonus!
Gala Bingo - Cashback £17.50
Deposit at least £5, you'll get a £10 slots bonus and 100 free spins, these carry hefty wagering requirements, Open any slot and play the minimum spin size, play until you lose all of the money in your account or complete the wagering requirements on the bonus funds. Withdraw any remaining balance.
BGO - £10 Cashback
Deposit at least £15. Play 15 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance. DONT ACCEPT the welcome bonus from BGO.
Lottosocial - Cashback £4
Sign up to Lotto Social - Use your correct phone number when joining as it is the only way to login to your account. Purchase 10 lines for £1, after making a purchase go to your account page and find the list of syndicates your are in, leave the syndicates to avoid making any more payments.
Cheeky Bingo - £10 Cashback
Deposit £10 and get a £40 welcome bonus, just play bingo with all of your funds and hope to get some wins, bonus has 4x wagering requirements.

Quidco - Cashback £100+

Quidco don't offer a sign up bonus, find my ref link at the top of the post if you want to help me out!
All of the offers on quidco are much the same as topcashback, the only offer worth noting is the betfair casino offer which pays £100
Betfair - £100 cashback
Add £100 and play 100 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.

Cashbackearners - Cashback £180+

Sign up Bonus
Get a £6.5 sign up bonus, think this works with or without the ref link, links are at the top of the post!
To find these offers just search for casino on the site.
All of these offers state that you only need to make a deposit, its best to play through the deposit 1x to ensure that the cashback is paid.
LuckyMeSlots - Cashback £15
Add £15 and play 15 single £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Spin Genie - Cashback £12.5
Add £12.5 and play 12.5 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Cashmo - Cashback £10
Add £10 and play through £10 on any slot staking the minimum amount per spin. Don't spin the wheel that pops up after signing up or accept any other bonuses.
Ice36 -Cashback £15
Add £15 and play 15 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Spinhill Casino - Cashback £15
Add £15 and play 15 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Galacasino - Cashback £30
add £30 and play 30 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Casino765 - Cashback £12.5
Add £12.5 and play 12.5 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
Casinosuperwins - Not recommended, bad site, awful support
Casino2020 - Cashback £15
Add £15 and play through £15 on any slot staking the minimum amount per spin. Keep track of spins and quit the slot after wagering the required amount. Don't spin the wheel that pops up after signing up or accept any other bonuses.
Pocketwin - Cashback £10
Add £10 and play through £10 on any slot staking the minimum amount per spin. Keep track of spins and quit the slot after wagering the required amount. Don't spin the wheel that pops up after signing up or accept any other bonuses.
The Sun Vegas - Cashback £15
Add £15 and play 15 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
DrSlot - Cashback £10
Add £10 and play through £10 on any slot staking the minimum amount per spin. Keep track of spins and quit the slot after wagering the required amount. Don't spin the wheel that pops up after signing up or accept any other bonuses.
MrSpin - Cashback £10
Add £10 and play through £10 on any slot staking the minimum amount per spin. Keep track of spins and quit the slot after wagering the required amount. Don't spin the wheel that pops up after signing up or accept any other bonuses.
PrimeCasino - Cashback £15
Add £15 and play 15 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
ConquestAdor - Cashback £10
Add £10 play 10 £1 hands on blackjack following the strategy outlined at the top of the post, withdraw any remaining balance.
MFortune - Cashback £10
Add £10 and play through £10 on any slot staking the minimum amount per spin. Keep track of spins and quit the slot after wagering the required amount. Don't spin the wheel that pops up after signing up or accept any other bonuses.
Thanks for reading, hope this of use to some people, happy earning!

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GME DD: Float deep dive + MOASS speculations - Part 2

My goals from this DD post -

Short interest data analysis

Forgotten point 1: Float shrinks as shorts cover

Observations

Forgotten point 2: Absolute short interest vs (short interest / float) ratio as influencer on squeeze

Before recent events

After recent events

Observations

Speculations from above data

What I think happened

Speculations about what happened

What this means going forward

My personal stance and departing thoughts

OBLIGATORY FILLER MATERIAL – Giving thanks edition: Kickin’ around Caracas, Pt. 5

The Ambling Epilogues (PART 7/7)

Potential upcoming DEFI airdrops list

$DOGE DD (Dip Explained)

$RSSV - MASSIVE POTENTIAL

Of Nite and Dei [Chapter 24]

Ultimate Casino Cashback Guide - Earn over £500 - Every Offer Explained!

How to Maximize Profit - IMPORTANT - READ THIS

TopCashBack Offers - £400+ Profit

Quidco - Cashback £100+

Cashbackearners - Cashback £180+

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