Sorry if this is all vague and ill thought out, I'm in a weird place lately.
I've been having some health problems, and just generally having an existential crisis, so I've been comfort watching shows that were popular when I was in college- Community, New Girl, Happy Endings... and I remember that all of those shows are over a decade old. Hell, Community debuted in 2009. Jeff had a Blackberry in the first season, there's references to Bejeweled and President Obama during the show. Those are now out of date, old references. When the movie comes out (if), even the youngest characters will be in their mid-thirties, and Jeff and Shirley will both be over 50.
Last year, a documentary based on the book Meet Me In The Bathroom came out. The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, that whole New York scene is over two decades old now. If someone caught a Strokes show and had a drunken hookup that night, that baby is now old enough to have their own drunken hookups at... I dunno, some Doja Cat concert now.
This is a very personal thing maybe, because a few of my friends are now married parents, and I'm still living in apartments and wondering what I really want to do with my life. My therapist told me he used to overthink and worry like me, then he had kids and now doesn't have time to do that. My old college friends likewise probably don't have to worry about where their dreams went, because little Dany (short for Daenrys) and little Barry have pre-K registration tomorrow.
I'm sort of in a weird place in life. I have a decent job, one that pays enough to pay for rent and bills with some left over... but I'm one of the many who might not ever own property. I've luckily kept my hair, the grey is confined to some stubble and a few hairs on the sideburns, and a decade of hardship has eliminated any potential laugh-line wrinkles. I still wear t-shirts and jeans and my shoe collection is almost exclusively ADIDAS or Vans. I look young-ish... but I'm not young. It's weird going to doctors and hearing about lifestyle changes to avoid what killed your older relatives, whereas before you just shrugged off any illness or injury with "no health insurance, yolo."
I know it's a cliche to think about how our generation had some odd stop-and-start moments, but we really did. We came of age in a decade with terrorist attacks and simultaneous wars and global financial collapses... then aged into a decade that started off promisingly and peaked with the Summer of Pokemon only to watch that collapse into the presidency of a garish Bond villain from one of the crappy Roger Moore movies and a worldwide pandemic that basically cut two years out of our lives and gave generations trauma, cynicism, conspiracy theories, and setbacks still being felt today.
When's our Roaring Twenties? Can we at least get a '90s Redux as adults? I was in school then, but the grown-up world seemed pretty sweet.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Content Warning: Domestic Abuse
***
We pulled off I-51 a little after midnight, stopping at a truck stop which was couched between the highway and a large forest.
We waited in the van for ten minutes or so. Trent had increased the sonar radius to its maximum of 30 miles a little over an hour ago. Somehow the red pings had kept up with us, holding a steady distance of around 20 miles. Considering we were averaging around 80 mph, and a coyote's top speed is only around 40 mph, we figured they had been enhanced in some way. Either that, or they shape-shifted into something faster. Regardless, now that we had stopped, we waited to see if the demon spawn would try and close the distance. Luckily, or unluckily, they didn't. They kept their 20 mile buffer, but we noticed they were beginning to spread out along the circumference of that boundary.
"We're close. They know that, so they're trying to trap us in." Trent said.
"Trying to?—more like they have."
We considered whether we should stay in the van and keep watch, but we figured that would do us little good. At their speed, they could be on us in ten minutes, which means we would need to stay up all night and keep tabs on their positions. Trent offered to stay up, of course, but I shut him down.
"The demon doesn't want to kill us now. You said it yourself. Plus, we need our rest. If they come, they come."
Trent didn't like it, but he acquiesced.
The truck stop had all the essentials: a gas station and mini mart with showers and an attached McDonald's, a large parking lot for truckers to idle and sleep, and even a section with lodging for those who wanted a more comfortable night's rest. I told Trent that he should take advantage of the showers, and after a little convincing, he agreed. While he was cleaning himself up, I patrolled the dingy, half-stocked aisles of "Daisy's Quick Mart". I probably would have been appalled at the quality of the store had I actually been paying any attention to it whatsoever. But I wasn't. I was thinking hard about what awaited me tomorrow.
During the drive, I had asked Trent why the demon would want us to return to the crash site. What did he mean that I would be 'confronting a dark entity in a place he couldn't help me'? He seemed hesitant to answer, but my little stunt outside the storage facility seemed to have sufficiently motivated him.
"When I said I've never done this before, I meant it." Trent started. "I've never done this exact thing before—meaning I've never projected someone into the past."
"So, I'm time traveling?" I asked.
"No—don't think of it like that." Trent paused, trying to come up with a good explanation. "It's more like I'm opening a window for you to look through: not a door. You're going to see the past, but you can't interact with the physicalities there. But that doesn't mean you can't interact with anything."
There was a space of silence as Trent tried to let me work out his meaning for myself. "I don't get it. Are you saying there's something I can interact with? Like what?" And then it hit me. "The demon. The demon can interact with me? Meaning what? It can kill me?"
"Meaning… I'm not exactly sure. You're going to be in a kind of psychic space. If it does damage, it won't be to your body. It'll be to your mind—or spirit. But I don't know what the limits of that damage could be. I just don't have those answers."
"If you've never done this, how do you know any of it will work?"
"That's an easy one." Trent answered. "Because it's been done to me."
There was silence.
"Look, if I know anything, I know my tech. Don't doubt that this will work. It's my job to make sure it does. I just need you to be in the right mental for this. Just because it knows your coming doesn't mean it automatically has the upper hand. It won't be able to see you unless you make contact with it first. In other words, you have to initiate contact. As long as you remain a spectator, you should be okay. Trust me. Just don't make contact."
I started pacing faster—fast enough to catch the attention of the overnight shift worker, a young man whose name I can't quite remember. I know it started with a "J". Jake, maybe? Anyway, he asked if I was alright, to which I responded in the affirmative. He left me alone for another couple passes, but when I almost ran into one of the shelves, he stood up and said, "Uh—I'm going to have to ask you to stop running around. I don't want you to hurt yourself."
I must have stared daggers at him, because he recoiled from my gaze. What's gotten into me? I thought. Then, steadying myself, I apologized. I looked around and grabbed the nearest edible looking piece of merchandise: a bag of Swedish Fish, and placed it down on the counter. "Just this, please."
The cashier rang me up. It was surprisingly cheap.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the young man asked. He was tall with brown hair. He seemed tired—maybe even more tired than me. But he also seemed kind.
I smiled as best I could and said, "No, I'm not. But there's not really anything you can do. Hell, there might not be anything I can do." I furrowed my eyebrows at my own response, realizing that imminent death may have broken my verbal filter.
On the other hand, the cashier did not seem surprised at all. "Ah, I see. It's one of those problems." He responded. "Well, hey, for what it's worth, you seem like one of the resilient ones. I think you'll be alright."
I only smiled and nodded at his mildly cryptic comment. Looking back, the whole interaction was a bit strange, but I had way too much mental clutter to recognize that in the moment. I took my Swedish Fish and walked through the anteroom which led to McDonald's. I found an open yellow booth that wasn't littered with crumpled straw sleeves and sat down, chomping mindlessly on my little red fish until Trent returned. When he arrived, he took my place, and I went to shower. After we were both clean and fed, we returned to the van. The pings were still pushed safely out of harm's way. But that didn't mean we were out of harm's way. Trent asked me if I wanted to sleep in the van, saying that "it'd be the safest place."
I thought it over. He was right, obviously. The van was not only outfitted with weapons I couldn't even begin to understand, but it was also our escape, and it would be just as difficult, if not more difficult to break into than the studio-style motel rooms with their wood doors and big windows. Still, if this was going to be my last night on earth, I wanted to sleep in a bed. A real bed. Trent understood and said he'd stay parked right outside my room for the night.
After purchasing a key from the night attendant, I moseyed over to the cement walkways which connected the twenty or so rooms. Mine was room #56, which I thought was odd since, like I said, there were only 20 rooms. I lugged in my tomato plushie and dad's old book and placed them on the queen mattress.
"I'll be right outside." Trent said after I collapsed onto the bed.
"Trent," I called out, stopping him half-way through the door.
"Yeah?"
All the blood in my body rushed up to my face as I realized my unfiltered mouth almost reflexively said the word "stay". I stared at Trent, my heart beating, my face hot. I considered asking him to sleep on the floor like my dad, but that would be childish and impolite. The alternative was to share my bed… Or I could take the floor.
"I'll just be right outside." Trent said before my mind processed a solution. "Come by if you need anything. I'll be up most of the night anyway."
"Okay," I replied in a faint voice.
Trent shut the door.
I sat atop the bedsheets and acquainted myself with my new living space. A feeling of regret closed over me as I considered that even sleeping on a carseat would have been better if it meant I didn't have to be alone. With a sigh, I turned on the bedside lamp and grabbed the book and stuffed tomato, using the tomato as a backrest as I slipped my legs under the covers and situated the book upright on my thighs. I cracked it open and was immediately blasted with a puff of dusty, old book scent. It was ripe at first, and I turned my head away to sneeze, but as I perused through the pages, the scent grew on me. It reminded me of the days growing up when I'd step into dad's study and read through one of the many volumes on cryptic topics which were at least two college degrees above my Lexile range.
I was only a couple minutes into browsing the collection of different scientific and philosophical works when I came across a page which contained highlighted text. This was unusual, as my dad would never mark up his books. He was a purist on that point. I rubbed my thumb over the yellow lines, and sure enough, it was highlighter.
The highlighted text was part of a small book by Carl Jung called "Synchronicity". There were a total of three pages that were marked, and they advanced like this:
Page 5:
The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality*. But if the connection between cause and effect turns out to be only statistically valid and relatively true, then the causal principle is only of relative use for explaining natural processes… That is as much to say that the connection of events may in certain circumstances be other than causal, and require another principle of explanation.*
Page 19:
…there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully*, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the "transmission" exhibits none of the known properties of energy…a situation which does not yet exist and will only occur in the future could transmit itself as a phenomenon of energy to a receiver in the present…Therefore, it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity... "synchronicity"*
Page 22:
A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window pane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer… which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment.
I flipped through the rest of the pages of the book. There was no more highlighted text, but there was a message on the last page which read:
Matthew 7:7-8
I'll meet you in the darkest place.
He also included his typical smiley face which had an ovular shape and three sprouts of hair which I now realized kind of resembled my tomato plushie. It was my dad's writing, of course. But why? And how? What did this mean?
The motel had a Bible stashed away in the nighstand drawer. I got it out and looked up the verses which read the following:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I spent maybe an hour ruminating on all of this. The whole discourse on energy and causality and a "falling together in time" just seemed so right. It was clear that my dad definitely did know what I was going through, but for whatever reason, he made it seem like he was oblivious. Why had he hidden that from me? I felt like I was being pulled in two directions. On the one hand, my dad loved me enough to leave this note, maybe even knowing the exact moment I'd need it. But on the other hand, he had neglected my struggles throughout my entire childhood. He even lied at times. Was this really enough to make up for all of that?
And then there was the section about the future transmitting energy to the past. I read back through the whole paragraph and the original writer had meant it to say this as something that wasn't possible, but my dad's highlighting made it seem like he wanted to flip the meaning. The future does affect the past. I thought about where I was headed and wondered if I would soon discover that for myself.
Lastly, dad's message. The Bible verse reminded me of the first time I prayed; how I reached out to God and received peace as an answer to my prayer. Now I feel like I'm actively seeking… something, but I don't know yet what I'll find. And then there's knocking. At first that reminded me of the story with the beetle tapping on the window, but then I went back even deeper in my memory and dug out the monster tapping at my window, and the words my dad spoke to me in order to set my mind at ease: "you're a superhero. And you know what your greatest superpower is? Your greatest power is you get to tell the monsters what to do. Because the monsters are only as strong as the stories you tell about them…so if you're ever scared, honey, just dream up a better story."
I was crying into my stuffed tomato now. I felt like all the blinking pieces of my life had finally been pulled together into a completed puzzle. This was all by design. My entire life, filled with so much chaos and confusion, was actually preparing me for this moment. And my dad thought I had the tools and strength enough to get through it. I flipped through the book one more time, thinking maybe he had left some other hidden comment—some formula to defeat this demon and return home. But there was nothing. Only that one comment: "I'll meet you in the darkest place."
What's the darkest place, dad? Is that where I'm going? Are you saying you'll be there, too?
With those thoughts in mind, my eyes became heavy shutters which, with a slight pressure on the pulley, winded shut. My swimming thoughts and firework-like fears dissipated, and I returned to a precious childhood memory. It was after an evening soccer practice. Summer. Dad was driving me to Dairy Queen. I got a cherry-dipped twist cone. I was happy.
So, so happy.
***
I woke up to sunlight blaring through my windows. Shit, I overslept, was my immediate thought. I threw off my covers and opened the front door. A glance at the clock showed 1:13 PM. I shouldn't have even been allowed to stay checked in this long. Damn, am I gonna get double-billed for this?
I heard a rummaging sound around the corner of my motel room. It sounded like a squirrel was trying to find an afternoon snack in one of the garbage bins. I stepped outside. The sun was extremely bright, to the point where I had to squint and put my hand over my eyes to even see the ground in front of me. I was trying to walk toward the van, but somehow I ended up in front of the trash bins where the animal's tail was sticking out from a turned-over, silver garbage can. Its tail was wagging excitedly, and I remember thinking that it was much too large to be a squirrel.
The animal bent down as if biting onto something, and I heard the sound of its growl as it struggled to tug whatever it was free from the barrel. Inch by inch, the creature backed out of the canister, and more of its sharp, sticky hair was revealed. I heard something snap, then the creature leapt back and I saw what it was chomping on. My eyes widened in horror as the pink tube of a human intestine was pulled taut like the end of a tangled hose. Blood and entrails were spilling out of the human's opened gut. And then, behind the canine, I saw the person's face. His face was pale white, his eyes closed, and his hair was slicked back… It was Trent.
Before I could react, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. I whirled around and saw my dad. But—no, it wasn't him. It was someone wearing a paper-mache face mask that was painted to look like my dad. The forehead of the mask was already beginning to crack, white specks breaking off like sawdust. Through the cracks, I could see the figure's true form. I didn't know darkness had its own type of light, but that's the only way to describe it. It was as if malevolence itself was reified into a skin which was actually an amalgamation of millions of little, oozing parasites that leached into the nearby light. When it finally spoke, the demon's voice was a full octave lower than the old man's at the deli. And it had an earth-stilling gravitas.
"Today's the day!" He sang and reached into his pocket. His lips curled upward into a foxy smirk. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this day." He said and held up a razor blade. Half his facade had already fallen apart, and now I could see the bugs up close, writhing in what was either horror or ecstasy. And his scent… it was somehow more rank than the rabid coyote rummaging through the trash can with Trent's cut open body inside. The demon closed in on my position, and in one, decisive motion, he brought the blade close to his chin, then sliced it across my throat. "Wake up!" He screamed.
I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my throat, feeling the cold sting of its quick slice. Hyperventilating, I patted the area down, trying to hold the blood in, but when I removed my hands, I saw they were dry. It was only a dream, I thought. Gray light was only beginning to filter in through the drapes. I'm in my hotel room. I'm safe. I tried consoling, but the pragmatic mental massages weren't enough to hold the force of my knees buckling. I dropped onto the carpet and cried for a long while.
Outside, rain was beginning to fall.
***
By the time I met up with Trent, I had already composed myself and decided to keep my dad's message and the nightmare to myself. None of it seemed particularly productive from a logistical standpoint, anyway. And I wanted to focus on the mission.
We stopped by McDonald's and bought a couple cups of coffee. Trent asked if I wanted any food, and I declined. Black coffee seemed like the only thing my stomach could take at the present moment. I could tell Trent was hungry, but he tried playing it off (I guess to be respectful of me?) I told him to knock it off and get something to eat. I didn't need my Charon getting lightheaded and dropping the paddle before he finished rowing me to Hell. He didn't care much for my joke, but he ordered a couple Chicken McGriddles at the kiosk anyway.
There were maybe ten patrons spread throughout the restaurant. We sat down at the same booth from the prior night, this time across from one another. Trent spent the first ten minutes or so babbling about our fuel supply and the logistics of the trip from here on in. Practical stuff. I've come to realize that's how he deals with his stress. He talks it out in short, durable sentences. I mostly nodded and watched as what looked like a storm front closed in on the truck stop. The sky was overcast, and there were darker clouds in the distance. The rain was still only a patter, but a middle-aged man wearing a yellow bow tie on the wall-mounted TV confirmed that there would be heavier rain and thunderstorms very soon.
After the worker delivered Trent's food and he ate it in record time, I posed the one question that was still on my mind.
"How do I fight him?" I asked.
Trent finished a large gulp of his coffee, then looked at me. It was the first substantial thing I'd said all morning; Trent could tell something was off with me, but he figured there was no point in asking what it was. "By 'him', I assume you mean the demon?"
I nodded.
Trent licked his teeth clean. "You could try praying again."
"I'm serious," I responded.
"I'm serious, too. It worked before, didn't it?"
"You mean at my house?"
Trent nodded.
"I thought you weren't a religious man?"
"I'm not. Just a practical one. If praying worked before, maybe it'll work again."
"That's the best you've got? A maybe?"
"No, I've got a lot of shit better than a maybe." He answered. "It's just not accessible where you're going. Which is why I recommend not making contact on the first run."
"First run? So we're going to do this more than once?"
"At least," Trent answered. Then, seeing my expression, he continued. "What? You thought this was going to be a one-and-done? We have to conduct some research first. I did tell you this was new for me, right?"
Somehow Trent's response had set my mind at ease a little. I was going to have more than one chance. Of course, why wouldn't I be able to go back more than once?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? It would have gone a long way in easing my mind."
Trent lifted his hands in defense. "Sorry, I just thought that was a given. I mean, what we're doing is dangerous, just like I said, but it doesn't mean we aren't going to approach this as safely and scientifically as possible. However, there is a different problem with running multiple trials."
"The Organization?"
"That's right," Trent said like a proud parent. "Our little experiment will be like a giant spotlight, and the longer we wait around after it's on us, the greater the chance we'll have unwelcome company."
"So, safe but speedy."
"Safe but speedy. Exactly."
***
We fueled up and were back on the road a little after 8:00. From that point on, Trent and I were absolutely silent. I had the distinct feeling of being in the eye of a storm. The pings moved closer commensurate with our progress toward the crash site. The cloudfront continued its advance. And I noticed a haze beginning to descend onto the road ahead of us. It was fog.
We meandered further inland, the forest thickening around us until the rain almost stopped entirely—the leaves drinking it up before it fell onto our windshield. I kept my eyes on the radar. We were approaching the large yellow circle which indicated we had arrived. As we pulled closer, I began to feel things. Fear. Eeriness. Doubt. Then happiness. Hope. Love. Normally feelings like these had a clear source to picture, but these sensations came on in waves without any discernible reason. It was almost as if they were blinking into existence inside me.
"Here we go," Trent said like an airline pilot readying his crew for turbulence.
I still recall the exact moment we crossed the boundary into the area of higher energy. It was like something just "clicked" in my brain, and all of a sudden everything felt so much closer. The sound of the rain against the trees was almost right next to my ear. The trees in the distance would oscillate between their position a half-mile out, then suddenly seem five meters away. If I focused on something long enough, it began to radiate those same ethereal particles as when Trent released Ava's "phase lock". I checked to make sure the shifter wasn't set to "TD". Sure enough, it was still in drive.
"Can you see them?" Trent asked. "The shifts?"
"Yeah," I said in a dreamy voice. I felt like I was driving through a wonderland.
"It's the energy. I barely notice a difference. A bit of movement in the trees, but not much else. But I'm sure for you, it's a whole experience."
"What is this?" I raised my hand and caught some of the pixel dust dripping off the sun visor. It disappeared when it made contact with my hand.
"It's a kind of radiation. Everything emits it, just in different quantities. I'm still not exactly sure how it relates to the other realms, but I'm guessing it's a kind of primordial matter that helps connect our worlds."
"It's beautiful," I exclaimed. "I wish I could see the world like this all the time."
"Maybe you will," Trent whispered.
As we arrived at the crash site, I began to get glimpses of the past. My childhood dreams and memories were pushing their way out from my subconscious. I noticed an increased number of blinks, which were validated by Ava who reported the following: "Currently detecting 14,350 novel emergences and 2,777 controlled agents. Net anomalies: 2,777."
"That's a lot of blinks." I remarked. "Why doesn't Ava include them in the net anomalies?"
Trent turned his head so I could see his smirk. "Because blinks aren't anomalies."
I thought about it for a second. Blinks aren't anomalies. "I never thought about it that way."
"It's hard to think about it that way when 'normal' for most people means not picking up on a fundamental aspect of reality. But that doesn't make it any less real."
We continued past the epicenter of the yellow circle. "Are we not stopping?" I asked. "I think we already passed the crash site."
"It doesn't have to be exactly at the site," Trent said. "Plus, we don't want to stop on the side of the road and risk getting some civilian involved. There's a field about half a mile up ahead. I'm going to pull off the road and set up camp there.
The "field" that Trent was referring to was actually a large clearing that dipped down into several trench-like troughs which were filled to the brim with fog like witches cauldrons. Further on in the distance, I saw open fields, probably used for farming, and then a large hill where the trees once again reasserted themselves. We had pulled off the road and up a small incline where the trees had already been broken down, leaving a trail for us to drive through. When we surfaced at the edge of the clearing, Trent pulled us onto a flat bed of dried mud which was maybe thirty yards long.
"Here," he said with a sigh.
We both sat for a minute, looking around at the field. We had finally arrived. The rain was beginning to pick up, and the dark sky made it almost impossible to discern the time of day.
"You ready?" Trent asked.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. In his blue eyes. Was I ready? Did it even matter?
"Let's do this," I said.
***
This was the first time I was really able to inspect the back of Trent's van. He had talked up his gear a lot, and honestly, I was impressed. Not in the way that a scientist is impressed by another scientist's lab—I wasn't any kind of expert—but it still seemed remarkably well managed. Now that I was in a state where my vision had been enhanced, I could actually see the enigmatic particles circulating through the pneumatic tubes which were coiled like the pipes and valves of an elaborate wind instrument. The walls of the van, itself, were glistening white, making it easier to make out everything else inside. Along the floor were five overturned columns. Each column was dark and had a vibrating quality, as if they were charged with energy. Then atop the center three columns was a small altar which supported an apparatus with two skinny, metal arms holding a silver halo. At present, the arms were folded and the halo was suspended a few inches above the altar, faced-down. I thought maybe I'd see particles exuding from it, but instead it was emitting visible waves which bent and warped everything they touched.
"That thing is emitting a lot of energy." I remarked, gesturing toward the halo.
Trent stepped in between the columns and started pulling out the packages he had stuffed in there yesterday. "Just wait till' it's on."
Most of the packages contained only a single piece of equipment, and were otherwise packed with foam peanuts. We carefully removed each box and set them on the ground outside. I asked if the rain would damage any of the stuff inside, to which Trent only laughed and continued lugging out the boxes. When they were all out, Trent removed a box cutter from his pocket and went one-by-one opening them. There were eight pieces in total.
"What is it?" I asked as we fished the first item out.
"It's another apparatus, like the one inside. Except it'll mount on the ground out here."
I pulled out what looked like a metal tripod.
"Good, that'll go on the bottom."
"Where are we setting it up?"
"Over here," Trent said and stepped five paces away from the van. He coordinated himself up so he was centrally aligned with the inner ring, then stomped a few times. "This is the spot."
As we continued to work, I asked Trent about how the whole contraption works.
"Do you remember the first time we were in the van? When we had to escape from the semi-truck?" Trent asked and connected a secondary mounting apparatus on top of the tripod. It had four spider-like legs that made right angles and stuck into the ground.
"Of course," I said. "The 'phase lock'."
"Yeah," Trent said and gestured toward the metal stick that was in my hand. I handed it to him. "The phase lock is a seal on the level of energy that the van is allowed to release. It also controls its dispersion pattern so that it releases its energy in a steady wave. This allows Ava to scan for anomalies without causing us to become an anomaly." Trent stuck the plank into the neck of the tripod.
"So when you released the phase lock, we started emitting more energy."
"That's right." Trent confirmed. "Enough to create an alternate route through a different realm."
"So we blinked into a different realm, then back, just to avoid that truck?"
"That's right."
"But why couldn't we just move out of the way?"
"Because it had locked onto us. It was tracking our motion and adjusting its course based on the amount of energy we were emitting. So in order to escape, we had to radically skew our potential energy and then use it to shift."
"Couldn't he have just followed us?"
Trent connected four more pieces to the device which now looked like an elaborate teepee. He was fishing in the last box when he spoke again. "Yeah, he could have. But it was highly improbable that he would have found us." Trent returned from the bottom of the box with another silver ring in hand. "Think of it like this. Let's say you're trying to escape from some bad guy who's coming after you, and you enter a new room you've never seen before. Would you prefer this room to have three doors to go through, or ten?"
I thought about his riddle for a second, then responded, "It depends where they go."
Trent fastened the ring atop the teepee. "Let's say they all lead to random places, or let's say they're all closets that lead nowhere. The key is that more is better, because the more doors he has to check, the less likely he is to pick the correct one. Make sense?"
"So we opened up a bunch of doors and escaped through one at random?"
"Hence the gear 'TD', for 'Trap Door'."
I marveled at the insights, but not for long. Trent hopped back in the van and pulled a lever that I hadn't seen until now. The two metal arms raised the inner ring until it was perpendicular with the altar. Then Trent clicked one of three red buttons along the back wall, and I saw what looked like a large, glass eye suspended in a magnifying glass protruding from the wall, aligned with the center of both rings. A couple seconds later, the glass eye began to focus the energy which was being fed to it from the pneumatic tubes, and a blue pyramid of light projected from it into the first ring, then from the first ring into the second ring. All three pieces were aligned at slightly diminishing heights, so the cylinder of light beamed through the second ring, into the ground.
"Alright, time for the first trial."
I felt the nerves starting up in my stomach. Trent sensed this and hopped out of the truck. It was raining quite hard now, though it was still warm. Both Trent and I were soaked, but that hardly concerned us. He reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "I know you're feeling scared." He said. "But trust me on this. You're going to do fine. Just keep in mind what we talked about. Stay a spectator. Okay?"
I looked into his blue eyes, which seemed especially gray in the dark. Still, Trent's voice was reassuring. All I had to do was trust him. Trust myself. Trust my dad. And it was all going to turn out right.
"I'm ready," I said.
Trent was still for a second, holding my eyes in his. Then he guided me behind the outer ring and into the cylinder of light.
"I should step into it now?" I asked, afraid I'd be called away immediately.
"It's not on yet, so don't worry. I still have to press another button."
I followed Trent's instructions and stood in the blue light which was centered on my chest. Then I watched as Trent ran into the back of the van and posted up next to the glass eye. "Ready?" He yelled out. It was hard to hear him over the rain, but I yelled back. "Ready!"
The next thing I saw was a blinding blue light beam from the van. I heard what sounded like a laser, then saw the cylinder oscillate, expanding and compressing. When the energy reached the second ring, I saw everything around me light up—it looked brighter than noon on a cloudless day. Then the oscillations made their way to me, and I was swallowed up whole.
***
When I came to, I was in the backseat of a car. I felt my butt rumbling. Everything was dim and quiet. And then I heard a woman's voice from in front of me.
"Mark, please, not with Lauren in the back."
The man, who I now identified as my father, pulled the cigarette away from his lips and blew the smoke at my mom. He eyed the back seat where I was sitting, using one of five markers that hadn't rolled off my lap to color a rabbit in my animal color book.
"The kid's fine." he said and took another drag.
"Mark," my mom repeated.
I saw my dad raise his hand in a rapid motion. "I said she's fine, Cheryl. Now check the map and make sure we're going the right away. I can't see shit with all this fog."
I took a moment to make sure I was really in the back seat. I patted myself. I clearly had weight. Then I tried touching the car. At first, my fingertips met a solid surface, but when I tried to press through, my hand slipped into the car. I quickly pulled my hand away as if I had reached into a fire.
That's when I heard the little three year old next to me start crying. I turned and saw that little-me had dropped another couple markers onto the ground and was struggling to reach them.
"Hey!" my dad shouted. "What did I say about crying?"
"Quit it, Mark. She just dropped her markers." said my mom; she turned to help me pick them up.
"What did you say to me?" Mark spat with a voice full of guile. He reached out and pushed her back into her seat. "Don't," he commanded. "She has to learn how to deal with life."
"Deal…" My mom started in disbelief. "Deal with life? Do you hear yourself? What's gotten into you?"
"Sometimes shit happens. It doesn't give her the right to cry. You helping her is just going to reinforce her behavior."
"Her behavior? What about your behavior? You're acting like a total dick."
I didn't even have a moment to react before my dad's hand was across my mom's face. I felt the slap more than I heard it, my own face seeming to swell with the force of the blow. I saw my mom cover her mouth and lean away. Then little-me began to cry even louder, which only challenged my dad to step up his own volume.
"Everyone needs to get a fucking grip before I crash this car." My dad shouted and took another drag. The scariest part was I couldn't tell if he was warning us or threatening us. I felt the sudden urge to do something. There was no way this was real. I was definitely in some fantasy concocted by the demon. He wanted to turn me against my dad. That was the only explanation for something like this. My dad was a good man, not… this.
As I contemplated what to do, I saw a small, golden light appear behind little-me's window. Apparently she saw it, too, because her cries hushed as she traced the wisp with her eyes. After a second, the wisp transformed into a bunny rabbit, reminiscent of the one she was coloring. The rabbit hopped alongside the window, then did a couple circles in place. I watched little me let out a playful laugh and reach toward the window.
"What's going on back there?" my dad asked with a scowl. Apparently the only sound more disturbing than cries were laughs.
I looked back to the front and saw my mom wiping blood from her lip. Her expression was miserable. "Leave her alone, Mark."
"I'll do whatever I damn well want to do, Cheryl. It's my kid back there."
My mom was quiet.
When I looked back toward the rabbit, it was no longer a rabbit but a person. Or at least it looked like a person. The figure radiated pure gold, and atop his head was what appeared to be a King's crown. I recalled Allison's experience of seeing the sun-like figure in her moment of distress. Was that what was happening here? Was this really all true?
"Hey!" My dad shouted, eyeing little-me from the rear-view mirror. "What are you reaching at?"
I looked and saw the golden figure extending his hand toward the window, and little me's hand was reaching back. "Mom, dad, it bright." little-me said.
"What's bright, honey?" my mom asked.
"Don't encourage her, Cheryl."
"Someone there!" little me shouted happily and dropped the rest of the markers and the coloring book onto the ground.
"Who's there?" asked my mom.
"Cheryl, I swear to God. Sit the fuck down."
Everything from that moment on happened so quickly I barely had any time to process it. My mom lifted out of her seat to either get little me's attention or help me pick up my coloring book. My dad responded by grabbing onto her throat, letting go of the steering wheel entirely. He threw her back against the car door, and her head hit the window so hard, the glass cracked. My dad had dropped his cigarette, and I could smell smoke coming from under his seat, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. He turned toward little-me at the same moment my three-year-old hand reached out and grabbed onto the golden figure, whose hand diffused through the window. When my dad turned, I got a whiff of the most awful smell that I wouldn't have been able to place had I not had that nightmare last night. He grabbed onto little-me's shoulder and tugged her away from the golden figure that was trying to pull her the other way. My dad's facade began to crack, and I could see those dark bugs crawling out from the pores in his arms, marching down toward little-me.
I reacted.
I grabbed onto my dad's arm and pulled him off little-me. I heard the sound of my shirt ripping as she was torn from his grip and pulled out of the car, diffusing through it like a ghost. My brief victory was immediately overturned as I saw what was now clearly the demon smiling at me, his wretched fingers curled around my forearm.
"Caught you," He sneered.
Then the whole world once again diffused into countless numbers of particles, only this time, instead of riding through it, I felt like I was falling through an elevator shaft with each floor darker than the last. The further I fell, the less I became aware of my surroundings, and the more I felt a deep sense of loneliness. It was as if I was the only person in the whole world: and the whole world was a prison designed entirely for me. This went on for so long, I began to forget who I was. Where I was. What was.
And then I landed.
***
Source Used:
Jung, Carl. Synchronicity. Translated by Sonu Shamdasani, Princeton University Press, 2010.

It’s a long one so sorry.
The following book may be considered sensitive to readers as the book contains shootings and possibly death.
Anyway enjoy the book and I personally don’t think it’s very bad but some may so don’t say I didn’t warn ya
Operation B.O.Bs home The following is an audio transcript from a knock knocker’s helmet camera- captain 1st class “Ice-12”
Ice: so Yak..? How you doing on that engineer exam? Yak: Ain’t too bad, getting 3 distinctions overall. Ice: Not bad, not to flex but I’m getting 2 distinction stars and a bare pass. Yak: So, I’m a jack of all trades master of non? Ice: pretty much, feels like shit ey?... hey don’t be sad at least you can fly a plane. Yak: yeah there is that… say any new ops contracted? Ice: nah, you got gear nearby? Yak: always, it's hidden in the van… You? Ice: yeah, under those coats, I think my helmet camera is still on it doesn’t really matter. rapid footsteps can be heard down the hall Ice: The fuck is that about? Yak: no idea.
a random stranger runs into the room Stranger: hey guys there’s a shooting going on at [REDACTED] college
Ice: what the fuck… alright… Yak… be quick this is important to me under breath I’ll save ya box. Yak: I’ll get the van started while you get ya shit in a bag. Ice: understood
rustling can be heard as Ice packs his tactical gear into a bag, the helmet is placed last where the camera is polished off Ice can be heard running through halls until he stops at a room
Ice: shouting Jay, we got an asset in danger grab ya shit Yak is waiting. Jay: yes sir I’ll be ready in 5 waiting in the car park. Ice: great I’m running one lock picker in the pipe followed by seven standard… Can you also pack his gear? Jay: yeah I’ll bring some spare gear for him.
Ice can be heard climbing into a van several minutes later Jay can be heard climbing into the van
Ice: alright pulls blue coloured shotgun shells out of a bag and places them in right pocket in his cargo pants and then takes out a box of red shotgun shells and empties them into his left pocket… ok lock pickers in the right standard buck in the left. Jay: Mossberg 590? Ice: yeah it’s older but works. What are you running? Jay: standard short barrel rifle and an MP5, basic attachments. Ice: yeah I’ll be running the carbine as well as the shotgun. Can you carry a spare Plate carrier, radio and carbine? Jay: No problem. Ice: pulls his helmet out of his bag and turns the camera off
The knock knockers travel to [REDACTED] radioing for the doctor Rin-5 to meet them
Ice: turns the camera back on alright ain’t too far so welcome back camera. Yak: a few minutes later Alright, we’re here. Ice: ok Yak, you negotiate with the police, Jay you’re with me till we grab our guy. Also how long until the doctor gets here? Yak: yes sir, Rin gets here in about 10 minutes Jay: yes sir. Yak we’ll be on radio give the police our frequency Ice: ok here we go opens the van doors Police officer: who the hell are you guys? This whole place is on lockdown.
Ice: captain 1st class of the knock knockers, our guy is inside so we don’t have time. I'm gonna leave you guys with my corporal Yak who can hopefully smooth things out. If you need to know more ask the MOD and say captain Ice allowed access. Police officer: understood, there isn’t enough of us to stop you anyway. Ice: thanks, cmon Jay we have a friend to save Jay: yes sir
after about 5 minutes Ice and Jay are moving down college hallways walking over bodies checking for ID to see if any we’re box
Ice: still no survivor’s ey? Jay: …fucking ruthless
a shuffling noise is heard up ahead
Ice: hold on stack up behind me. Jay: yes sir readies carbine to a few inches to Ice’s right don’t move right sir Ice: grabs shotgun by the stock and readies it into position and chambers an already chambered round removing a blue shell ok ready Ice: shouting you around the corner come out with your hands up! We ain’t here to hurt ya Random girl: stumbling around the hallway corner ok ok please just don’t hurt me. I haven’t done anything wrong, I tried to help, but they were too close Ice: it’s ok, it's ok you tried, we can help you get out of here but can you tell us where someone named [REDACTED] would be? Random girl: oh yeah, I know him, he would be in engineering right now. Do you know how to get there? Ice: no, can you show us if we keep you safe? Random girl: yeah ok… Is there a reason? Ice: yeah he’s an old friend Random girl: ok, follow me. Ice’s note: the girl was clearly bothered, she hid it well, but we had no choice it was the only way the bring him home alive
Ice: ok what way now? Random girl: go forwards then take a left, that’s where he’ll be. Good luck and thanks but where do I go now? Ice: I’ll send Jay to escort you out. You’ve been helpful and hopefully we aren’t too late for him. Jay: yeah with me maam. Ice: oh Jay, before you go can you pass over your bag with box’s shit. Jay: yeah no problem takes off bag and slides it along the floor Random girl: thank you again. Jay: don’t mention it. Oh and sir… stay on radio. Ice: understood over radio Yak you have Jay and a civilian moving to you now. Yak: over radio understood, I’ve smoothed things over with police, once you have your guy police are moving in. Ice: over radio alright Yak stay safe and tell the police to mind the bang, Ice out. Yak: over radio yes sir. Ice: over radio I’m stacking up on the engineering room door now. loads a blue shell into his shotgun followed by red shells sigh one lock picker.
a loud bag can be heard followed by Ice’s heel landing firmly next to the handle causing the door to swing open
Ice’s note: as I moved down the hall I heard yelling, incoherent at first, but as I got closer is was a fucking shooter calling box’s name
Shooter: oh come on out [REDACTED] why not a game? Box: look you’re out of time, that gunshot you heard was police trying to save me. Shooter: no the police wouldn’t be so careless. It’s one of my boys. Ice: nah, we have a long history together so I wouldn’t try and hurt him if I were you… it may get… bloody vile. Shooter: wait, who are yo…
a gunshot rings out from Ice’s Colt 1911 followed by the wet thump of a lunatic’s corpse falling on the floor like a sack of wet sand
Box: FUCK, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!... Ice: 003… it’s me… 012 Box: Ice? Ice: yeah… it’s me box… while you got out of the game… out of the silly documents, you left without telling us… it hurt… I grew up… I stayed in the game… I became a professional… I started the knock knockers… we helped… we hurt… we did what was necessary… but now I ask, if you want to get back into this game… properly… take my hand. Box: … grabs Ice’s hand and gets pulled to his feet Ice: congrats LT… you’re a Knock Knocker now. Here’s ya shit, hands Jay’s bag to Box Box unzips the bag hey do you know what’s in it? Ice: pretty sure it’s a standard m4A1, suppressed with subsonic rounds, there’s also a helmet and body armour with a couple of mags as well as a radio I think. Frequency is set. Box: this means a lot Ice… you saved my life… Ice: no problem, it’s been a while but hey… you got me in this life so you don’t get to leave it quietly. Box: I guess so, got a bali? I know a lot of these people. Ice: oh right, will a bandanna work? Box: getting carrier on yeah as long as it hides most of my face. Ice: yeah no problem throws a multicam bandanna to box Box: slides bandana overhead and pulls it up before placing helmet on Ice over radio ok Yak we have our guy, LT is on the air. Box: over radio thanks Ice and thank you knock knockers. I’m sure this isn’t easy for you guys to hear someone who hasn’t known you guys before, join at a higher rank but I was the one who got Ice into this side of life so he says that we’re even now so… that’s that. Yak: over radio Are you sure about this Ice? Jay: over radio hang on, Box?! Box: over radio wait, Jay… As in pineapple?! Jay: over radio yeah it is, didn’t know you were the asset. Box: over radio well I’m safe now and making way to extraction. Yak: over radio understood sir I’ll alert police to enter now. Ice: alright box we may have some work ahead so saddle up and follow me. Yak: over radio scratch that police can’t enter Ice: over radio how so? Yak: over radio machine gun nest over the entrance, seems to be 2 hostiles. Ice: like I was saying… work. Ice: over radio understood. Jay, stand by I’ll meet ya at the main staircase we passed by near the entrance. Jay: over radio understood sir. Yak: over radio sir a bit of good news, Rin-5 is on site. Right now their administering first aid to wounded police and civilians. Ice: over radio understood, hopefully we won’t need em but it’s nice to have a doctor. Box: ready Ice? chambers his rifle Ice: hopefully. Let’s go. walks out of the room peaking the hallway
the following is from Ice’s diary
So as we moved down the hall I was so happy that I found box. It had been years since I last saw him but there was also a sense of dread… like something was going to go wrong in that gunners nest… but maybe I was wrong it was 2 practically special forces, and someone who is about to be special forces besides there were more of us outside if things went to shit. Jay: watching Ice and box jog towards him alright sirs I have the girl hidden nearby, she knows my voice and we have a code for when it’s safe. But other than that, it's good to actually meet ya box. Box: likewise… taller in real life. Jay: yeah, i get that. Box: yeah no shit. Jay: well Ice, box. Wanna get moving to allow for reinforcements? Ice: yeah let’s find them before they find us.
the footage following is cut out until they’re getting in position to breach the gunners nest
Ice: preparing a breaching charge in his hands ok so this is gonna be a little volatile since I don’t do this often, but hey at least I know the C2 in here is stable. Box: stacked up on the door and how do you know that? Ice: well box, as we used to joke… I made it myself. Box: well that’s… not very comforting. Jay: stacked up on the other side of the door look box, he makes most of our chemical explosive we only order it in large amounts… Anything else is his job. Box: that’s… that’s a lot of work… What did you get on your chemistry? Ice: hm oh a 6… I was busy making the knock knockers. Box: well… are you ready with that? Ice: yeah I’ll arm it on the door, light it and run Box: alright… Jay got a flash ready? Jay: taking a flashbang out of a pouch on his waist yeah… Ice: alright before we go in I’ll say the plan… we split the stack, check… C2, check… flash, check… and criss cross in. Box: alright, want me to light it? Ice: go ahead Box: leans towards the middle of the double door and pulls a string making a spark
the spark travels up the fuse leading to a loud bang followed by a ping then another loud bang
Jay: Flash! Flash! Flash! Ice: Box long clear! I’ll clear the hole! Jay: yes sir! Box: understood!
As the small engagement went on, Ice moved into the blinded shooter's hole. As shots rang out from inside the gunners nest a scream came from the smoke followed by a slump and cries for help
Shooter: NONONO! Wait I’m sorry please I have a family! Ice: a little late to pull a family card he looks down to see a rapidly bleeding hole in the side of his leg ah shit… every single body down those halls have families… had dreams and friends. Shooter: I’m sorry… I swear I didn’t mean it. Ice: you know anything? pulling out an antiseptic bandage from a pouch on his belt Shooter: I swear I don’t… just don’t kill me! Ice: then the cops don’t need you Shooter: wait… if you kill me… a surrendering enemy… you’re as bad as me Ice: I’ve seen the worst of society… killed the worst of society… I kill for money… I have very few morals… There are very few lines… I… no we… won’t cross… but we don’t… KILL… INNOCENT!... children… so never compare us to you… because while we are awful human beings… At least we can call ourselves human… while you’re a fucking monster!
as a gunshot rings out his pistol smokes and the shooter falls to the floor
Jay: running into the room through smoke Was that necessary?… sir? Ice: grimacing as he wraps the bandage around his leg wound he was useless to us… he would only get killed in prison anyway… It was a mercy killing. Box: I would’ve said let him rot… or at least torture him for a bit. Ice: I don’t have the time… I got shot in my right leg… arterial. Jay: How long? Box: a few minutes. Ice: over radio the nest is clear Yak… get the police in here and have Rin ready… I have a few minutes before I bleed out… Yak: over radio understood sir… please don’t die. Ice: alright Jay… I want you to debrief officers. Jay: yes sir! Box: and me…? Ice: I need you to carry me out. Box: alright Ice.
the following footage is cut however there is an extract from an interview from the MOD with box following the operation
MOD officer: so… Box? Box: yes… that’s me MOD officer: what happened after getting out the gunner's nest? Box: Well Ice just got me back… I didn’t want to lose him again… I didn’t want to lose him in the first place… we were brothers in documents after all… but in gear… I felt stronger… I felt stronger with Ice… my brother… but yeah as he was hopping while holding onto my shoulder, I felt bad… it was all my fault… I never got back in touch… made him make the PMC… made him go to the college… made him save me… MOD officer: I understand that but what happened? Box: Well as he hopped and I carried him as fast as we could, down stairs and down the hall we ran past the armed police… until about half way down the path Ice passed out but we met Rin with a stretcher just a few seconds later who placed him on…
from here the footage continues as normal
Rin: good god… ephemeral artery bleed… uh… ok he’s gonna a transfusion Box: what blood type…? Rin: AB+ it’s on his helmet. Box: so… anything Rin: yeah shouts at the paramedics and police get me some blood and a transfusion kit! Paramedic: what blood?! Rin: anything! Paramedic: understood! shouts at other paramedics and runs over to Rin with a medical kit filled with red bags Rin: setting up an IV thanks we’re gonna need an ambulance after we stabilise him… cmon Ice… you’ve saved my life before… I ain’t gonna let your life go now. Box: please… don’t let him die… I didn't get to say sorry Rin: stuffing Ice’s bullet hole with gauze I won’t but this blood isn’t enough to keep him alive so he’s gonna need some of our blood. Box: alright yeah Rin: ok come here… placing a needle into Box’s arm to draw blood this won’t be enough so can you call Yak over LT… you may also be a bit dizzy afterwards Box: looking away from his right arm and grabs his radio Yak I’m gonna need you with Ice… we need blood Yak: over radio alright I see you guys I’m on my way Rin: alright Yak I’m just gonna put this in here and he should have enough blood to keep him alive. Ice: ughh: Box…? Rin…? Yak…? Why are you all standing around me like that? The fuck is this metro exodus? Box: chuckles well at least you got the good ending imitating a Russian accent the dark ones have spared you hahaha Ice: yeah did I tell you I actually finished metro exodus… without slapping Anna Paramedic: placing an anaesthetic mask over Ice’s face while wheeling him into an ambulance cmon sir we have to get you to a hospital Ice: ok… jus… just keep the mask on… Paramedic: ok sir countdown from 10 for me Ice: 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… Ice passes out and the footage ends
Transcript End
Ice: alright box… I’ve got a meeting with the MOD now… a new op by the sounds of it Box: know anything about it? Ice: I heard something about Kazakhstan Box: you gonna need anything in the meantime? Ice: just prepare the guys in woodland gear. Box: will do

Gender theorie
Aangezien gender een verkiezingsthema is, zou het handig zijn om het beter te begrijpen. Disclaimer: Ik heb geen idee of dit klopt maar het is een tijdelijke theorie van mij om gender proberen te begrijpen. Als iemand suggesties heeft of het volledig oneens is, geef dan gerust commentaar. Ik schrijf dit alleen maar om het te proberen te begrijpen. Mijn verwoording is mss ook niet al te goed. Ik ben voor de duidelijkheid voorstander van LGTBQ.
Ik denk dat gender niet echt apart bestaat en het eigenlijk hetzelfde als sex is. Uit studies blijkt dat het gemiddelde van baby jongens meer geïnteresseerd zijn in mechanische concepten en het gemiddelde van baby meisjes meer in gezichten/mensen. Er is dus een biologisch en psycisch verschil tussen jongens en meisjes (wss door verschillende brein structuur en hormonen). Wat de maatschappij een man of vrouw (gender roles) vindt is dus niet uit het niks opgemaakt maar uit gemiddelde biologische psychische verschillen. Aangezien de meeste biologische mannen een bepaalde karaktereigenschap hebben wordt die eigenschap gezien als mannelijk. Al deze eigenschappen die gemiddeld meer voorkomen bij mannen maken dus het maatschappelijke beeld/gender van een man. Natuurlijk zijn er biologische mannen die deze karaktereigenschap niet hebben maar omdat de meeste mannen deze hebben wijken zij af van het mannelijke beeld. Alle biologische mannen worden gestuurd/gepusht naar dit mannelijk beeld. Mannen die verschillen van dit gemiddelde mannelijk beeld worden ook gepusht maar sommige van hun willen niet gepusht worden en voelen zich niet met het mannelijk beeld verwant terwijl ze nog steeds biologische man zijn. Ze voelen zich dus geen man meer omdat ze in een bepaalde graad afwijken van het mannelijk beeld. Dit terwijl biologisch man zijn helemaal niet afhangt van het maatschappelijke man beeld omdat het maatschappelijk beeld gewoon maar iets is wat in de meerderheid voorkomt en dus deels biologisch psychisch bepaald is. De biologische mannen die afwijken van het mannelijk beeld kunnen zich dan mss beter aansluiten aan het vrouwlijke beeld. Biologische mannen die zich niet kunnen vinden in beide beelden noemen zich dan non-binair of een andere naam. Dit zou ook het verhaal verklaren van het jongetje David Reimer dat vanaf geboorte als een meisje behandeld werd. Hij voelde zich geen meisje ookal werd hij richting meisje gepusht omdat hij zich meer bij het maatschappelijke man beeld aangesloten voelde (wat normaal is want het beeld is gevormd door het gemiddelde). Stel dat de jongen psychisch meer bij het maatschappelijke meisje beeld aangesloten voelde dan had die zich wel laten sturen (deze kans is wel kleiner want een geboren jongen zal zich meestal bij het jongens beeld aangesloten voelen aangezien het jongens beeld op het gemiddelde is gebaseerd) Conclusie: Ik denk dus niet dat gender iets biologisch is maar men er gewoon mee bedoelt met welk maatschappelijk beeld zich het meest verwant voelt. Er is meestal een overlapping tussen sex en beeld want het beeld is gebaseerd op karaktereigenschappen die door de biologie meer bij een bepaalde sex voorkomen.

Aangezien gender een verkiezingsthema is, zou het handig zijn om het beter te begrijpen. Disclaimer: Ik heb geen idee of dit klopt maar het is een tijdelijke theorie van mij om gender proberen te begrijpen. Als iemand suggesties heeft of het volledig oneens is, geef dan gerust commentaar. Ik schrijf dit alleen maar om het te proberen te begrijpen. Mijn verwoording is mss ook niet al te goed. Ik ben voor de duidelijkheid voorstander van LGTBQ.
Ik denk dat gender niet echt apart bestaat en het eigenlijk hetzelfde als sex is. Uit studies blijkt dat het gemiddelde van baby jongens meer geïnteresseerd zijn in mechanische concepten en het gemiddelde van baby meisjes meer in gezichten/mensen. Er is dus een biologisch en psycisch verschil tussen jongens en meisjes (wss door verschillende brein structuur en hormonen). Wat de maatschappij een man of vrouw (gender roles) vindt is dus niet uit het niks opgemaakt maar uit gemiddelde biologische psychische verschillen. Aangezien de meeste biologische mannen een bepaalde karaktereigenschap hebben wordt die eigenschap gezien als mannelijk. Al deze eigenschappen die gemiddeld meer voorkomen bij mannen maken dus het maatschappelijke beeld/gender van een man. Natuurlijk zijn er biologische mannen die deze karaktereigenschap niet hebben maar omdat de meeste mannen deze hebben wijken zij af van het mannelijke beeld. Alle biologische mannen worden gestuurd/gepusht naar dit mannelijk beeld. Mannen die verschillen van dit gemiddelde mannelijk beeld worden ook gepusht maar sommige van hun willen niet gepusht worden en voelen zich niet met het mannelijk beeld verwant terwijl ze nog steeds biologische man zijn. Ze voelen zich dus geen man meer omdat ze in een bepaalde graad afwijken van het mannelijk beeld. Dit terwijl biologisch man zijn helemaal niet afhangt van het maatschappelijke man beeld omdat het maatschappelijk beeld gewoon maar iets is wat in de meerderheid voorkomt en dus deels biologisch psychisch bepaald is. De biologische mannen die afwijken van het mannelijk beeld kunnen zich dan mss beter aansluiten aan het vrouwlijke beeld. Biologische mannen die zich niet kunnen vinden in beide beelden noemen zich dan non-binair of een andere naam. Dit zou ook het verhaal verklaren van het jongetje David Reimer dat vanaf geboorte als een meisje behandeld werd. Hij voelde zich geen meisje ookal werd hij richting meisje gepusht omdat hij zich meer bij het maatschappelijke man beeld aangesloten voelde (wat normaal is want het beeld is gevormd door het gemiddelde). Stel dat de jongen psychisch meer bij het maatschappelijke meisje beeld aangesloten voelde dan had die zich wel laten sturen (deze kans is wel kleiner want een geboren jongen zal zich meestal bij het jongens beeld aangesloten voelen aangezien het jongens beeld op het gemiddelde is gebaseerd) Ik denk dus niet dat gender iets biologisch is maar men er gewoon mee bedoelt met welk maatschappelijk beeld zich het meest verwant voelt. Er is meestal een overlapping tussen sex en beeld want het beeld is gebaseerd op karaktereigenschappen die door de biologie meer bij een bepaalde sex voorkomen.

Eso, como sería la startup soñada? En que creen que se podría innovar a esta altura de la industria? Recuerdo cuando laburar en Globant era lo mejor en innovación porque podías meter ping pong o play
La pregunta es desde un lado realista. Notese también que aclaro que es una startup porque si van a decir "Los beneficios de ML" primero no sería realista porque es una startup y no una empresa de 90B y segundo no sería innovador porque ya lo hacen ellos.
Me gustaría saber la mirada de otros devs.

Hoi, onderweg naar het ziekenhuis na een ongelooflijke kut week zagen mijn vrouw en ik vandaag een meisje op de fiets met neon (geel) gekleurd haar en gelijk gekleurde kleren. Wij hadden de eerste lach van de week en vonden je een geweldig vrolijke verschijning.
Dankjewel daarvoor.

First - Previous - Next
Joker glared at the blinking lights. 'Still ass backwards...' He thought, even as he looked down at his communicator. The moment he stepped into the 'garage' a lot of color vanished from his display as much of the red light spectrum was swallowed by the planets atmosphere.
When he looked up again, he blinked, for where he expected their vans to be waiting, there stood now a bulky boxy ship. Not a huge one, but certainly a chunk longer and wider than the Mi-26 that he "flew" in back on earth.
'I should really start reading those notes...'
He heard activity from the other side, so he made his way over. "Hey... since when do we have this thing?"
"This morning actually and before you ask... technically its a shuttle. So essentially its a [school bus]" Diesel answered as he handed a crate to Ra'Kine and Ra'Nora, who deposited inside the shuttle.
"And who paid for it?"
"It was designated to be scrapped, so Pirate was able to buy it at a heavy discount. Still more than twice what the scrapper would've made, but you know him... said something about 'Trust the rust' and whatnot."
"Rust? As far as I can see it's in an alright shape."
"Wait till you see the cockpit." Bambi yelled from somewhere deeper inside the shuttle. " 'Spartan' doesn't even begin to describe it. No autopilot, no flight assist, no atmospheric shielding... analogue throttle and thruster vectors. Basically two systems that are digital and even those, just barely... Comms and Cameras."
"Come on, you make it sound like a bad deal!" Pirate complained from out of sight.
"Because it is!"
"Yeah nah Pirate, I'm with Bambi on this one." Joker mumbled.
"Enough whining, get in." Diesel practically dragged Joker into the shuttle, not giving him any time to answer.
"Fine, fine heh." He surrendered mockingly as he took a look around the inside of the shuttle.
Lines of seats, all facing the middle, stretched to both sides of the passenger cabin. Each side holding enough space for roughly fifty people, if they squeezed shoulder to shoulder. He took note of the lack of any windows or even monitors for that matter. In the back he saw some of their wives helping with the loading procedure and securing their cargo. Before going to the front, he shuffled up next to Ecana, first giving her a warm embrace, then parting with a tender kiss. In the front, he first came upon a miniature kitchen area, opposite the restroom. Continuing further he finally reached the cockpit and leaned up against the backrest of the oversized chair, currently occupied by Pirate.
"You think you can fly this thing?"
"Think? I already flew it... despite the junkers insistence of 'showing me how its done' and wanting to fly me here. Engine's already hot, only thing we're waiting on was the cargo... and your lazy ass." Pirate chuckled, getting an equally amused snort in return.
"Sorry Cap'n had to watch my make up and put on the lacey underwear, you know the trouble I'm sure."
Several heads poked in through the middle corridor to look in his direction, but soon resumed to finish the preparations.
"Is it supposed to.... make that sound?" Ra'Kine shouted towards Pirate as she stared at the ceiling of the shuttle, roughly at the location the ominous rumbling was coming from.
"Mhhh yes and no? It's not meant to go this fast." Pirate laughed loudly.
"I should've asked why you had me reroute those cables..." Diesel shrunk a bit further into his seat, digging his grip harder into the seats cushion. "Not opposed to some speeding... just not used to being passenger in that scenario."
"Thats only half of the reason for the above average speed... the other would be the rather skeletal state the shuttle is in. Like putting a [500 horsepower] engine in a Toyota" came the cackling laughter of Pirate once more, just as the shuttle banked hard.
"Whats a Toyota?" Tsiera glanced over to Diesel.
"Uhhh a brand of vehicles from Earth." Something sounding suspiciously like hail started raining upon the roof and left side of the hull, shortly followed by another banking maneuver that swiftly brought them into the open again. "Uh what was that?"
"Minor landslide~ but don't worry our destination is already in view and I can't burn full throttle above Scavtown" Pirate answered as he decelerated slowly, unlocking the boarding doors to make up for the lack of windows.
This Scavtown as it's nickname suggested, was mainly comprised of hobby or full-time scavengers, but also junkers and miners, searching for usable material, washed up by the planets natural phenomenon. The 'town' aspect however was not as true anymore, as Scavtown was more or less an artificial landmass that had been elevated above the relatively fast decaying soil beneath, settling at the lip of 'The Maw'. Giving it the appearance of an alien version of Venice if it was built on loose gravel and earth instead. Even from this distance they could see giant bulky ships hovering just on the horizon, some descending beneath sightline and others coming back out and returning to Scavtown.
"How come the City we're at doesn't look like this?" Bambi yelled over the rushing wind.
"The researchers that have looked into this were able to determine, that not all of the continental plates shift in the same way that would bring them closer to the phenomenon. To keep it simple, there are continental plates that are too small to be dragged along, thus they kind of just surf on top of the heavier plates edges and are relatively safe to build on long term. Though... it's still unknown how it all started." Pirate narrated as he made the shuttle descend gradually ending with a soft thud as it touched down.
"Who brought this piece of junk into the air and decided to fucking land it here?!" A shrill scream came from an approaching woman, wearing something similar to an enforcer vest, yet the rest of the uniform was missing and instead comprised of casual clothing. Freezing as she catches a glimpse at Joker, then Diesel. "Wh...wh..... uhm... Welcome to Scavtown! How can I help you?" She quickly adjusts, sauntering over with a visibly forced relaxedness, leaning awkwardly against the shuttle. "Fine ship you got here~ Wouldn't mind giving you a tour in my ship"
Hushed snickers go through the group as Pirate finished up and walked back. "Greetings, we're here to meet... uhm." He glances at his communicator. "Raltir from J.J.L."
"J.J.L.? Wouldn't you prefer a more professional Junker shop?"
"To me they made quite the professional impression." He grins.
A few minutes later the group find themselves in a small garage shop with several projects suspended inside, vaguely similar to popular vehicles on Centris, except all of them show patchwork jobs done by combining various pieces from vastly different sources. Under one such unfinished vehicle stands a stocky mechanic lady currently shoulder deep with both arms inside the guts of the landspeeder, her volpir ears flopping about as she notices her guests.
"Gimme-a-sec..." She grumbled, grunting several times as she seems to be pulling on something, then finally she stumbles back catching herself and the large machine part she just ripped free. Dropping it on a nearby table she finally turns to the group. "Greetings, hello and whatever the fuck... my name is Raltir, how may i help yall?"
"You're Jeannas sister?" Pirate inquired.
"Das what I just said, didn-I. Waiiii~t you must be Thomas's friends then!"
"Thomas?!" Bambi, Diesel and Joker piped up simultaneously.
"Oh right, tehe. 'Officer Kennway' "Raltir snickered.
"That's quite right we're with Thomas." Pirate tried to steer the conversation back on track. "He told me, we could get a tour of the Maw with your help, get some samples, do a few small experiments and send all that data back to him."
"Ah sure thing! Bubby told me you'd be coming so I didn't start any big stuff~"
"When did he get himself some wives?" "Since when is his freaking name Thomas?!" "Guess even Kennway is getting out of his shell."
Pirate just rolled his eyes, ignoring the questions and statements that could be misunderstood as indirect insults to their direct superior, source of intel and only known contact back to the Undaunted. "Thank you very much Raltir. We'd rather get started before my crew and friends... dig themselves their own court marshal."
"Sure-sure right this way~" Raltir smiled a little strained, confusion plainly written on her face.
Kennway smiled to himself as he flipped the purple pancakes that mostly tasted like sweet air to him. His communicator pinged, followed shortly after by a buzzing. He opened the private message finding a group photo of Pirate and his crew, together with Raltir, all grinning into the camera, with the giant cliffs of the Maw in the background. He flicked over to the official messages and quickly confirmed the receival of reports and data, then switching back to the group image.
In that moment Jeanna came through the door to the kitchen with her own communicator already pointing his way. "Hey Raltir sent me this super cute photo!" And indeed it was the same he had just received from Pirate. With a second glance he spotted the text beneath it 'Had a great time at the Maw, thanks for your help Thomas.'
"Huh, guess we're on a first name basis now..." Kennway muttered to himself as he typed out a reply. 'Glad you had fun, now kick some ass at the tournament Ricardo.' Just when he went to send it, he stopped himself and pulled a caught off guard Jeanna into frame, snapping a quick picture to attach.
"Daddy! When are the masa patties done??" Trisks angelic voice called over from the living room.
"Almost don..." Kennway froze, jaw hanging loose as he glanced at his wife, whom was staring wide eyed back, till the shock finally wore off and she smiled. Kennway on the other hand blinked a few times, his heart threatening to explode from joy, so he did the only thing he could. Hopping excitedly as he fistpumped and punched the air like an excited teenager, grinning wild, hugging Jeanne and kissing her passionately. He glanced into the living room for a moment, just to confirm it was Trisk and not his imagination playing a trick on him and then quickly hurried back to finish cooking.
"Good morning to all of our wonderful viewers and welcome to~~ Feeding F-f-f-frenzy~~! The time has come to bring you all the professional viewing pleasure and commentary to go with this times tournament! As always, our thanks go out to the Academy for allowing us to view and stream the battles, though we've been told that we're going to be limited on a few matches, but we'd be compensated through the spectator feed and the judge feeds." An energetic Cannidor woman in an intricate suit presented. "Let's hope we can see some spectacular footage of the galactic newcomers. I know i wouldn't mind, from what I heard on the wide net and stories they're quite a force to be reckoned with."
Behind the woman a large screen lit up, first with plain grey steel looking eerily similar to a vault door, laser fire from off screen carved into the grey looking surface. 'Fight for glory! Fight for honor!' The carved text was backlit as the grey quickly turned to familiar red hot metal before a larger plasma burst punched through from behind, quickly followed by a very common frigate class ship plowing through. Blazing text written across its hull 'Maw Academy'.
"All that and MUCH more! Sign up, if you got the tits for it!" A voice-over spoke as the trailer faded into darkness, leaving the Cannidor grinning wide into the camera.
"You heard'em. See you all same time tomorrow and don't forget to use code 'Undaunted' for an ad-free experience thanks to this years major sponsor the Undaunted, special thanks go out to~~" She peeks down at something and cocks an eyebrow. "Uhm special thanks go out to all of our long time fans and supporters, may the tournament be one spoken about for centuries to come! Till next time~~.... Why are there no names-" The broadcast lasts just a few seconds too long, leaving Kennway chuckling to himself as he turns off the monitor.
Previous - Next

This is a slower chapter and it was a bit harder to get out because of it, but I hope you enjoy regardless! Let's check in on how Krekos is handling aftermath of his meeting with Ristal and what new things he can learn today, or others can learn of him!
Big thank you to NoP community for being great and supportive of my endeavors!
And as always, big thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating this universe and allowing fanfiction well to flow free!
[First] - [Prev] - [Next]
Memory transcription subject: Krekos, Krakotl Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: May 10th, 2137
I stared down at my pad, Ristal’s contact open and ready to call. But rather than actually press the button and call her, I kept staring, as I have for the last 10 minutes. I managed to talk to her just fine yesterday, why am I so scared now? It’s just a call, not like she can snap her jaws at me or anything. It just seems in time between yesterday and today a lot of bravery I gathered happened to mostly evaporate. I didn’t regret approaching Ristal, though I did kinda question my own sanity in doing so in the first place.
The droning noise of avian clucking surrounding me was also getting on my nerves as I tried to actively calm them down.
“Will you all just shut up?!”
Of course, that seemed to only agitate the stupid creatures into being noisier, but it did cause them to scatter, which did slowly disperse the noise to a more manageable degree.
“Thank you.”
I look back down on the pad. Then up at the sky. Are arxur nocturnal or diurnal? Or are they like venlil and don’t comprehend the idea of a sunlight-based schedule? Maybe it’s a bad idea to call without finding out.
No... No, no more excuses. It’s not even just a friend thing, it’s partners on an assignment thing. I have to do this. I slowly took a long breath, just like Dr. Cathaway taught me, before pressing the call button. Still just the audio call though, I think it’s better to start slow and easy.
To my surprise, she picked up almost immediately, her ominous voice translating through the pad.
“Krekos! Good morning!”
“Uh, good morning, Ristal. I’m not interrupting anything, I hope?”
“Nope! I’m glad you called, I wasn’t sure if you were still asleep or busy yourself.”
Alright, so far it’s going well, I’m talking to an arxur on the phone and my panic isn’t rising in any way. I guess I was worried about nothing after all.
“I just got done with my usual morning chores. Anyway, I wanted to ask about the assignment...”
The assignment we were all given was simple enough. As a way to both introduce us to basics of human approaches to medicine, as well as for us to demonstrate extent of our understanding of it to Dr. Mills, we were to write a report on a specialized medical branch, using exclusively human resources for our research. Report doesn’t need to be too technical or in-depth, but must cover all basics of the medical branch we choose to cover, as well as include our own opinion of what we learned.
“Yeah. I do have an idea for our subject, but I wanted to know what you’re thinking.”
Well... I never actually considered what kind of medical field I’d like to specialize in back when I was interning. I always thought that once I started working towards a degree properly I’d be more decided and certain, but a lot happened since then and I never settled on anything. Plus, it’s a report that is supposed to familiarize us with general approaches rather than specifics, right? So I had something in mind that would be simple.
“Yeah... I was thinking choosing veterinary medicine as our subject.”
There was a pause before Ristal responded.
“You... aren’t just picking that to appease me, are you...?”
Oh... Right. She wanted to be a veterinarian before... everything. That actually slipped my mind.
“No! No, it’s not that, I just... Well, I thought it’s a topic that’s naturally closest to xenomedicine with the whole ‘treating drastically varying creatures’. And... It’s a somewhat practical one for me specifically, as I work at the cattle farm.”
I don’t need to be scared of telling her. Primitive arxur had cattle farms with nonsapient cattle just like humans do. For her it’ll be normal.
“Y-You are?! Are you really... okay with that?”
“Well... I can’t say I enjoy those creatures, bred for weakness and slaughter... But these specific ones I watch over are not kept for meat, and, well. My job is just making sure they are safe and happy.”
There was a pause from Ristal before her next response.
“Ah... so regular human cattle stuff. Right, I heard they mostly keep animals for things that aren’t meat nowadays. Well, I did want to be a veterinarian before... everything. Now it seems like it won’t be in much demand, and becoming a xenomedicine doctor is closest next thing, and I liked the idea of that. So for the topic, let’s go with veterinary medicine.”
My feathers fluffed up with satisfaction.
“Alright. Now, I am not too used to whole ‘working in group for group project’... Do you know where to begin?”
“I am used to studying everything on my own too...”
This was a bit problematic. Neither of us knew where to even start when doing a group project like that. Well, we should start somewhere...
“How about we just try to gather information on our own first? Just books and articles on human veterinary science and then we come together and figure out how to write a report on it all?”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s talk again once we both have something.”
“Sure. Have a good day, Ristal.”
“Goodbye!”
And with that the call was over. I looked around to see the birds half-surrounding me, observing in a surprising moment of silent curiosity. I guess Ristal’s voice was something new for them? Still, I can’t say I appreciated their attention.
“What? What are you all staring at? Go on, hunt the insects, you little monsters.”
I highlighted my words by giving my wings a few strong flaps, causing them to restart their noisy clucking and scatter, everything returning to normal. With a sigh I decided to take my usual spot on top of the coop. Main reason I was on the ground in the first place was because solid and flat ground made a better spot to hold the pad and chat. And for anxious pacing as I hyped myself up to call Ristal.
Back in my spot I took a look over the yard. All fourteen, including the outcast who tried to sit on its hollow egg yet again in the morning, accounted for. Predator did not make another repeat appearance either, thankfully, so I wasn’t too concerned for any of the cattle getting snatched away by the sky hunter.
Well... I guess I should start since I have time. Adjusting myself, I take the pad out and open up the internet browser. First search query of ‘veterinary’ resulted in me instantly getting bombarded by multiple warnings of attempting to access ‘alien-unsafe content’. It took quite a long period of finding right settings to disable the filters. Seems like while rules on restricting humans from showing their more predatory side to us have been officially eased, the software they provide to us still comes with precautions.
Then came the hurdle of pretty much everything being an advertisement of veterinary clinics ‘in my area’. Half of them didn’t even exist anymore since human city of New York got destroyed, but seems like the websites and ads were paid for in advance, as they were still up over half a year later. Although maybe some of those were new ones set up in the rebuilding city? Hard to say. Regardless, I wasn’t looking to get a predator pet ‘fixed’, which is weird way to say they need medical help. So I tried different search queries.
‘Veterinary medicine’ and ‘veterinary help’ yielded same results, to my annoyance. Finally searching ‘veterinary learning’ I managed to find references to various universities that offer that as major course. That was also surprising. I’d assume treating animals would be a minor field that is just an extra few weeks of training after you already have basic medical degree. Well, those were a thing too, but they were mostly for human farmers to learn about specifics of taking care of specific animals. And while some courses on that could be practical for me, it wasn’t what I was actually looking for.
Continuing on, I tried to search specifically for books on the subject. That helped more, although pretty much all links were about buying physical books. And while automated translations to Federation languages were available, the two-week wait for shipping was a bit of a dealbreaker. Surely there is an online library with these books in them.
Turns out, for humans online libraries are a thing, except it seems they all require extensive registration with documentation. And most of them even have banners on their websites saying they are not processing online applications from non-citizens of Earth. I am a refugee, so I’m pretty sure I don’t count as one... Which is frustrating. I imagine it would be rather annoying if people from all over the galaxy suddenly started applying to read human media, so it’s understandable that they aren’t ready to process all that, but I do live on Earth.
Some more searching and I managed to find local, physical libraries. There is one in town and it even has a website with scans of books available. Best part is that it does have processing specifically for local refugees. I guess the refugee camp I’m from being nearby helped drive the demand. Still, apparently applying still required me being there in person, which was less than ideal. Why couldn’t I just fill my information out online? There was even option for online sign ups!
Exploring that option was... disappointing. It required a whole bunch of human-specific documents I don’t have. Still, just in case, I did try filling it all out. Country of birth... would name of planet or nation go there? There are fields for country and for city, but not planet. Don’t humans have colonies on other planets already? How do they handle that? Well, I put down Krakotl Alliance as country and Nishtal as city.
Not that anyone can tell apart rubble of one city from another there anymore.
With form filled out, even if a lot of fields had to be left as ‘N/A’, I sent it for processing. I doubted it would work but it’s worth a shot. If it works, I won’t have to fly to town or ask for a ride an extra time. I shuddered as I remembered a sternly worded message Apollo sent me yesterday evening about mass reports of ‘potential Federation straggler’ due to me flying in and out. Seems like he is still rather unhappy dealing with all the people that complain about my presence...
Can’t blame them after how I reacted to Ristal at first.
And with that done, I was left with no other ideas. If all books and articles are in libraries that require registration, Ristal might have better luck there. She would technically be a citizen of UN, I imagine. I could just ask Reginald or Kenneth... But it’s supposed to be our assignment with Ristal, so I’m not sure it’d be fair that way.
Speaking of Kenneth... I can see him jogging up to the cattle house and me, waving at me.
“Hey! Krekos! You got a visitor at the gate!”
What? I fluttered down off the roof and down to the ground in front of Kenneth who was now close.
“Is it the neighboring child again?”
“Child? No, it’s uh... some bald guy? Asked for you by name though, not just ‘krakotl’ or ‘bird alien’, so I assume you know each other?”
Hm... Rosie and Apollo are the only humans I can think of that would know my name, would know where I live and would have a cause to visit me. Rosie is neither a guy nor bald, and Apollo is also not bald, unless yesterday’s complaints were harder on him than I anticipated.
“Alright, I’ll get it. Just watch the cattle in meantime please?”
“They aren’t going to disappear just because you stopped watching them for five minutes, dude.”
My feathers tensed up in exasperation at Kenneth’s dismissiveness, which was thankfully enough to get the point across.
“Alright, alright, I’ll watch the chickens for you. Just, uh, yell if it’s a dangerous kind of bald weirdo, alright?”
“Right.”
With Kenneth’s assistance in watching the animals secured, I took a flight over the house and towards the front gate. And on approach I was already recognizing who this ‘bald guy’ was...
None other than Bob. Bob the bird feeder. Bob the brioche bread provider. Bob the poisoner. He was standing there, twiddling his thumbs as I lowered myself down on the ground in front of him. I can’t say his large stature was that intimidating, especially with me having some leftover resentment over the way he basically nearly killed me.
“Oh... Hello, Krekos. Glad to see you are up and running—Or I guess flying, heh?”
Frustration started building up further at this attempt at casual chatter.
“Do you even know what happened to me because of you?!” I squawked, my voice rising. I didn’t like idea of being this angry but something about this man really ticked me off.
“Uh... I do actually... Let me tell you, being dragged out of bed by a bunch of guys in black suits and stuffed into an unmarked van was like, third most harrowing experience of my life.” He rubbed the back of his hairless head, his chuckle being subtitled with ‘awkward’ by my translator. “That’s how I know and why I’m here, really. I wanted to apologize.”
Oh... apologize. He knows and he’s here to make amends. That... Is better than him trying to be cluelessly friendly like I expected. Well...
“Alright. I’m listening.”
I fluffed my plumage up, showing a bit of indignation. I wasn’t about to act like I am completely giving him a pass just because he said sorry. The man in question just rubbed at his head more before letting his shoulders slump.
“Look, I genuinely didn’t realize that it’d be harmful for you. I didn’t even know you got hurt until the spooks told me. Frankly I think the only reason I wasn’t erased from living memory is because it was just an accident, but... I really should have taken better care. Guess that’s why I didn’t qualify for any exchange programs...” He let out a sigh and lowered himself down onto his knees. Still taller than me but I didn’t have to crane my head as high to look back anymore at least. “I swear, I’m really sorry.”
While his apology did read genuine to me, something crossed my mind and I realized that I had to ask that question before deciding further.
“Wait... How did you even find out where I live?”
That stunned the man and suddenly he wasn’t looking at me directly, rather trying to avoid eye contact. Normally I’d see that as polite, but with humans, I knew better. Something was up.
“Well...” he started, in tone that already made me concerned, “Uh... I wasn’t told by the G-men if that’s what you’re asking... Ideally I should probably not even be here, after what they said, but I wanted to make sure I apologized in person. As for finding you, well... Internet?”
That caused some alarm bells to start ringing in my head.
“But... I never engage with human internet...?”
“Uh... You do realize you’re all over local social media, right? You can—actually you probably shouldn’t look it up, there’s a lot of less than nice things there. Just... Well, I looked you up and uh... You’re kind of doxxed...?” He made a weirdly tense expression for a moment. “I know it sounds bad, but, I just found the info! I even reported it to the suits, maybe it’ll get taken down soon!”
Oh. On one hand, it almost made sense. Perfectly sensible that humans aren’t yet used to aliens, so their social media would be buzzing about sightings. Memory flashed back to people taking pictures of me as I passed by. And I didn’t exactly make my place of residence subtle, having flown in and out just yesterday. So it probably wouldn’t take too much sleuthing to figure out. All that in mind...
“All the humans... The ones sneering... and hating... can just... look up where I live...?”
You are always surrounded by predators. This is the life you deserve.
...I need to contact the government, change place of residence... What if one of them just comes here? I can’t have that happen! They might hurt others in process too... By Inatala, how did I not realize?
“Hey, hey, relax... Listen, uh, I reported it already so it’ll be gone soon, and with how those guys got me within less than a day of me accidentally giving you that brioche? Yeah, I’d say you’re safe. Relax, no need for, uh... all that.”
Bob’s speaking brought me back to reality. Right. I’ve been living with Vince family for a while and the weirdest visitor they’ve had so far has been Rosie. Or Bob. One of the two. And I do know there’s some extent of security out there for me specifically. Someone’s redirecting all those calls trying to report me as a straggler of the fleet to Apollo after all...
Just like Dr. Cathaway said... Breathe in. Breathe out.
“A-Alright... I think... I’m better. I do not like that this information exists, but... I accept your apology. Just... never feed birds that stuff again. The idea that birds would be eating eggs is...”
A violent shudder ran through me at the memory. Bob in meantime seemed to visibly relax at me accepting his apology.
“Whew. Okay, good. That’s a stone off my conscience. And don’t worry, I won’t even be eating brioche myself anymore. Already switched to challah! It’s just as good. I mean, I myself had no clue brioche had eggs and butter in it.”
“Butter?” I tilted my head. Sounded familiar, something humans eat, but I can’t put a claw on it.
In response, Bob raised his finger and opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then tapped his chin and opened his mouth again. Then closed it again. Then finally spoke.
“I am not getting kidnapped by the glowies again. Glad you are safe, stay safe, I will do my best to not poison anyone else, goodbye.”
Then he just stood up, dusted himself off and started walking away.
“Wait! You haven’t answered!”
Instead of responding, he half-turned, gave me a wave and walked away even faster.
Well... That happened I suppose. I can’t say my concerns over my location being known on human internet are entirely gone, but it was nice to get this bit of closure in the apology from the bird feeding guy. I can’t say I was completely over that situation, but knowing it was an accident and that he’s sorry somehow... Made it feel easier to think about. Even if that conversation ended weirdly. Humans are weird. I should look up butter later.
What was I doing again? Right, birds! A quick flight over reveals that Kenneth is just browsing through his pad as he is sitting on a small bench beside the cattle house. All birds are accounted for at least.
I landed beside Kenneth, who looked back at me as he spoke.
“So... What’s the deal with that guy?”
I gave him a short recap of the story with the poisoning and the apology I just got. The part about my residence being a public knowledge did get him frowning rather intensely though.
“That’s... I’ll look it up, but that’s really concerning. Uh, no offense, but krakotl aren’t really the most welcomed species lately. So while I did hear of those ‘alien watch’ groups, they usually are just people online fawning over aliens seen around. With you, I’m a bit worried. Yesterday was fine in town, right?” he asked.
I recalled my flight yesterday. Sure, when I was landing humans were staring, but if anything, taking the aerial path reduced the amount of attention I was getting, not increased. Or at least that’s how it felt to me.
“No... I think it was fine...?” I offered, though with the knowledge that people were spreading around sightings of aliens and I didn’t even realize, I couldn’t be sure.
“I’ll ask dad once he’s free if there’s some legal things we can do... You don’t worry your feathery head about it. We won’t let any weird stalkers hang around the house. Uh... Change of topic, how’s that study thing going?”
Something tells me that the topic will linger in my mind as I try to calm myself and sleep tonight, but for now I’m glad to get my mind off the idea of humans that actually do act like predators, stalking me to my home and trying to snatch me in my sleep.
“Well... It went okay. I did make a friend, and we got a group project. I probably should have prepared for it better though, libraries are surprisingly hard to register for online, apparently.”
Kenneth visibly gagged at the mention.
“You’re telling me... I dropped out to go defend my home, sure, but one thing I won’t miss about college is stupid essays on topics that aren’t in provided textbooks.” He visibly shuddered, grasping at his own shoulders. “So... many... essays...”
“You dropped out? To go fight in a war?” That actually surprised me. Kenneth was a UN Peacekeeper, but he never struck me as a guy who would willingly go to a conflict. I assumed he was just conscripted, but knowing he went willingly...
“Well... Social sciences weren’t all they were hyped up to be, and when your home is under threat of destruction, there isn’t much choice. I enlisted mostly to defend Earth. Thought we would all go down in flame of glory.” His gaze lowered as he let out a melancholic sigh. “A billion did... Like uncle. But, well... When that battle was over, war wasn’t. And I was still enlisted. I can’t say I enjoyed the idea of going out to occupy those that attacked us, but I understood. Not much choice, is there? Plus, Fahl posting was probably the chillest place in the entire war. In every meaning except literal.”
That explained things... He...
“You’re kind of like me then...” I mumbled, noticing just a moment too late that I slipped into voicing my thoughts out loud. Kenneth did notice it though, smirking and crossing his arms.
“Oh? Someone’s got a story to tell?”
I didn’t like the idea of sharing the original reason I ended up stuck with the extermination fleet. But at the same time, Kenneth told me his story. It would be wrong not to share in return. I mulled it over before letting out a sigh. Might as well tell him, I doubt as a dropout he’d think worse of me.
And if he does, then at least you aren’t deceiving him anymore.
“Well... It started when I first decided that I want to pursue higher education in medicine. I thought I could skip a few steps though, and wanted to get ahead of things. Becoming a doctor earlier. And best way to do that was to get an apprenticeship with a well-respected doctor and provide a university with a letter of their endorsement. After some searching I finally found a doctor of sufficient renown and approached them...”
Memory transcription subject: Krekos, Krakotl Youth
Date [standardized human time]: August 27th, 2135
This is insanely foolish thing I am engaging in... But the risks are negligible compared to what I could get out of it. Flying into Defense Fleet’s landing zone and trying to find a specific ship was risky. I could get a disciplinary write-up for it. Maybe even get screened for Predator Disease. But... That was also the only way for a civilian to feasibly get in contact with Dr. Harla in person.
I can’t believe I am actually doing this... I know this is daring and risky, way beyond risks I’m normally willing to take. And yet, an internship with Dr. Harla and her recommendation would be worth it. She is a distinguished fleet doctor, and she was there to assist in medical recovery after multiple repelled arxur attacks. While going out in midst of danger like that was not quite what I envisioned for my future, the way she was known to always be there when help was needed was definitely very inspiring. And she wasn’t known to have put out an apprentice or intern before, so I had the chance to be the first!
Sneaking into the landing zone was surprisingly easy too. I guess it makes sense, not much to defend against on the ground. If Arxur attack, it will be from space, not from earth. And since everyone’s busy resupplying and refueling, which is precise purpose of the Defense Fleet’s landing, nobody has time to take note of a single young krakotl. That also made sneaking onto the capital ship much easier. And once inside, mostly empty hallways were easy to navigate thanks to convenient direction markers to locations such as Bridge or, in my case, Medbay.
And there she was... Examining contents of some medicine bottles as she wasn’t noticing me behind her. Alright. Introductions!
“Hello, Dr. Harla! My name is Krekos and I would like to become your apprentice!”
That came out a bit louder than I planned, and she seems to agree by the way the bottle held in her wing is nearly dropped from surprise, Dr. Harla turning her head to look at me.
“What?! Who—When—What idiot brought their child on board?!”
“I am not child of anyone on board, I came here just to request an apprenticeship!” Okay, so, I think I’m a bit too excited and slightly panicked over this, I should get better at lowering my volume.
The doctor did not seem to understand the things I was saying though, as she put away the bottle in her hands, took a moment to droop her tail in disappointment and then marched towards me, grabbing me by the claw.
“Okay, chick, I get it, let’s go get you Kalsim’s autograph, you can sell it to afford your tuition and there’s no need for any stupid apprenticeship requests.” She said, ignoring me entirely.
That actually got me fluffed up in indignation as I yanked my claw out of hers and stepped back.
“Dr. Harla, I mean what I say. I want to study under you specifically. You are a doctor of great renown and—”
“Oh, seriously?!” That got her fluffed up, to my surprise, making me take another step back. “Listen, I heard the kind of stories they tell about me and let me tell you, chick, I am not some super great doctor of legend. I give an interview in aftermath of a raid one time, then they make up like twenty feats I never did and suddenly I am the paragon of medicine!” She stomped closer to me, closing the distance and making my feathers droop. “I am just a ship doctor who happens to help with relief efforts when possible, as doctors do. Nothing more. Now, let’s go, before someone willing to deal with paperwork of getting you in trouble shows up.”
She tried to reach out for me, but I ducked away and deeper into the medbay.
“No! I... Even if it all was false, what you just said means you were part of relief efforts before. I still want to apprentice under you! Please!”
“Chick, you’re what, fourteen?” She actually bristled at me, but I couldn’t back down now.
“Fifteen actually. Old enough to sign up for exterminators, so old enough to be a medical intern in space corps, right?”
That was a bit of a stretch in logic, but the way she paused at this made me feel like I was on the right track. The old krakotl took a few moments, looking over me before her plumage rose with amusement.
“Fine. Let’s see how ready you are then, chick. I’ll give you a test. You pass, I’ll accept you as an intern for as long as you can endure my standards. You don’t, you don’t even get an autograph on the way out. Deal?”
I probably should ask what the test is first, but... That might make me seem too hesitant. I can’t show weakness now!
“Deal.” I respond firmly, moving my tail in affirmation.
Dr. Harla, in turn, seems to be even more amused as she moves over to her work computer, setting something up, before motioning for me to sit on the perch in front of it.
“Go on. Sit down. You will have to watch a video. Then answer questions after that. Simple, right?”
Deceptively simple... There will probably be some trick. I should be ready for it, but it doesn’t sound that bad at least.
“Right... I am ready.”
There is a glint in doctor’s eyes as she presses the play button. The darkened screen lights up and...
Bodies. Bodies scattered everywhere. Blood, mostly purple, but other colors here and there, fills my vision. It’s indoor area, but somehow it feels like open filed littered with blood. Bile rises up my throat, I can taste it... But the sheer horror keeps my beak firmly shut as I swallow it back down.
Worst is yet to come. The camera moves around the area. Some bodies are still moving, with every step the camera person takes, there is a wet squelch. Groans and gurgling choking noises are heard from various directions. But the camera just keeps moving, slowly taking in the scenery.
Eventually it focuses on one single krakotl. One would think their feathers are purple from distance, but as the view approaches them, it becomes clear that they’re a light shade of cyan, just covered in so much blood that their natural color is only visible on small splotches. The krakotl is missing both legs, and reaches out towards the camera, despite bleeding. And... the camera just moves on, turning around and continuing it’s walk through the building. There were more situations where horribly maimed and injured people tried reaching towards the camera for help, but it kept moving like it’s a machine, ignoring them all and continuing recording the scene.
Whole video lasts a few minutes at most. But it feels like an eternity, and even after it abruptly ends, I find myself staring at the dark screen in shock at what I just witnessed... Why...
“So? What did you think?” Harla asked. I could sense almost predatory glee in the tone of her voice. Part of me considered possibility of her being predator diseased for a moment, but the question she asked was at the forefront of my mind.
“It’s... horrible! Why...?”
“See, chick, this is why medicine isn’t for everyone. Not everyone can handle--”
“It’s not that!” I interrupted her with a squawk to my voice. “I mean, the sight is mortifying, but... It’s the people! They’re suffering, near death and whoever’s filming it isn’t doing anything! Why aren’t they helping?!”
I finally tore my eyes off the screen and looked over at Dr. Harla, who seemed to be taken aback, her face expressing contemplation.
“You’re right. The person that made this footage was diagnosed and interned into predator disease facility. That said... I didn’t expect you to answer that way.” She let out a sigh as she headed for a cabinet and started digging through a drawer. “I have given this test to prospective interns before. Ones that didn’t fly out of the room before video was even over were all disgusted by the sight too much to realize the true horror of that footage. Someone was there and could have helped but didn’t. That goes against everything we doctors stand for.”
She pulled out a blank sheet of paper and put it down in front of me. I looked over her in confusion while she just tapped the paper.
“Write down your contact info. It’ll take a few days to get the spot open on the ship for an intern, I’ll call you once it’s ready officially.” I found myself beaming, all of my feathers fluffing up with pride at her words, though she was quick to stop that. “Don’t think it will be easy, chick! I will kick you off the ship personally if you fail to keep up. I run my medbay strict, and all the crew are afraid of me for a reason. The next two years, should you spend them here, are going to be a nightmare. Still think yourself brave enough to try being my intern, chick?”
I suppressed the urge to just shout ‘yes’ and considered it for a moment. The things I might have to deal with, becoming part of defense fleet. I hated the idea of being part of active combat, but at the same time... If arxur attack, I’d be in danger either way. And if defense fleet falls, then so does my home. This... isn’t that much more risky than just staying back. Plus, there’s a reason krakotl are known as the Federation’s strongest military force. Arxur rarely dare strike us, so I feel confident that despite how it may seem... I won’t be in any more danger than I would be otherwise.
I raise my plume proud, puff up my chest, and look back at Dr. Harla, responding confidently.
“I’m ready for anything.”
Memory transcription subject: Krekos, Krakotl Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: May 10th, 2137
“And that’s why I felt it was safe to join the Defense Fleet. I thought that, should it come to fighting, it would be me fighting for my home’s defense and nothing else, a case where losing meant death either way, so you might as well fight...”
But just like he was sent to Fahl... I was sent to Earth. And my continued existence here is my repentance for making the mistake of assuming it will just be fighting for my home.
I finished the story of how I got myself aboard that cursed vessel. Kenneth blinked slowly, after staying silent the whole time I was telling the story, only having occasionally hummed or nodded. He kept quiet before letting out a single long whistle.
“Well, that’s definitely something. That doctor lady didn’t pull punches with you on the first impression. I’d, uh, definitely not take it. Surprised you were gutsy enough to do it.” He tapped his foot on the ground as he thought a bit. “So, did you learn a lot under her?”
I considered the question before returning a nod.
“Yes. A lot of essential rules to being in medical field I know came from her. I didn’t learn much in terms of theory... But I did practice a lot in actual first aid and treatment. Not that it helps me much on this assignment...”
“You mentioned struggling to find material? Maybe one of mom’s books can help. She did have to get quite a few now that nurses have to learn interspecies treatment too.” He offered.
I flicked my tail in negative response.
“I doubt that a human hospital nurse would have books on veterinary medicine. That’s the subject we chose... Before I thought about difficulty of finding information.”
Kenneth hummed for a few moments, and then his eyes widened as he suddenly slapped his fist into a hand, startling me and causing me to step back.
“Oh! I know! Uncle’s old books! He had a ton of books on taking care of various animals, and they always had chapters on the general gist of veterinary care for them.” He turned and started heading towards the house, beckoning me with wave of his arm to join me. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
I turn my head and scan the field. All birds accounted for. Still, Kenneth noticed, and I saw him rolling his own eyes in that creepy human expression of what I learned is exasperation.
“Okay, fine, watch the birds. I’ll look around and if books are still there I’ll leave them in your room. That good?” He offered.
“Yeah. Sounds nice. Thank you, Kenneth.”
The human just chuckled for some reason, before giving me a farewell wave and returning towards the house. I swayed my tail back to return the gesture, but with his back turned, I doubted he saw.
And so I was left alone to my cattle watching duty. A small flight up to the usual spot at the roof of the cattle house and I could allow myself to relax a little. I doubted I’d be able to focus on doing more research for the project right now, so I just let myself bask in the warmth of the sun.
Sharing story of how I became an intern on that ship with Kenneth felt... nice. I know Dr. Cathaway asked me to talk about it before, but I can’t say I felt like I could tell her of everything that led up to me ending up here. In part because I couldn’t be certain some of those things weren’t UN government secrets. But revealing just part of it to Kenneth does help me realize just how in over my beak I was.
I wondered. What if I did pursue higher education traditional way, taking extra courses, before getting admission into a university? Sure, I wouldn’t be fast-tracking my career or have a well-known mentor. But it’s not like I was shooting for Colia-level college either.
...though if that happened, I’d be either dead or in rehab for the rescued cattle now.
Compared to my father, I got off easy...
I had to force my eyes shut to not start crying. I had accepted that he is gone and moved on. I shouldn’t... I shouldn’t dwell.
And thankfully something to distract me came in the form of a ping from my holopad. I took it out and got to reading what turned out to be a direct message on the messaging app from... Kirlt?
Yeah, it made sense he had my contact. Mevik added us all, including even Ristal, himself and Dr. Mills, into a group chat for communicating important announcements. Although after peeking in there and seeing that it’s mostly Bakir, Tikni, Tansi and Kirlt chatting about random nothing, I muted it. Didn’t feel right to speak where I clearly wasn’t welcome.
That brought me back to the message. I opened and read the surprisingly lengthy text.
‘Hello, Krekos
Sorry about yesterday. I was so scared of the arxur, I kind of just went along with Tansi and didn’t even think of you. I get why she doesn’t like you and I don’t blame her, but I talked to her and convinced her that we shouldn’t leave you hang alone without any partners. We can still make our pair into a trio and we plan on doing our project on the maternal care pre-birth, including genetic manipulation of embryos. We’d (or me at least) be glad to have you! Wouldn’t want to leave you alone, especially with an arxur that could try and take advantage of you out there.
Again, sorry about not speaking up earlier. Hope you accept the apology!’
I stared at the message, re-reading it a few times. They were inviting me... Or Kirlt was at least. That sounded nice, but... It’s clear Tansi doesn’t like it. And I... I wasn’t going to be the one to leave Ristal hanging alone without a partner either. I couldn’t well admit to the only other nice classmate that I directly partnered with the arxur he was so scared of though, so I had a better idea for a perfectly honest reply that doesn’t make him hate me too.
‘Hello, Kirlt
Thank you for your apology. I accept it. I understand what it’s like when panic grips you and don’t blame you. That said, I already started work on the project and would rather not abandon it. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be alright. I’m used to it, and wouldn’t want to inconvenience Tansi. Good luck with your pair.’
I sent the message and was just about to put the pad away when Kirlt replied. He types fast...
‘Oh, okay! I’m glad there’s no hard feelings. Still, we should meet up at some point! I’ve not seen you around this camp yet, and it’d be good to get to know each other better. There are nice people in this camp, the gojid are welcoming and there’s even another tilfish here, but I don’t want to let you be left in company of only predators. can’t be good for our herd instincts! message me when you’re in town next!’
‘I will if I have time. Thanks for the offer.’
‘no problem! see you!’
For someone so skittish he... was sure a lot more talkative over text. But that’s what I wanted, isn’t it? A company that isn’t an incomprehensible human like one of Vinces, that actually tolerates me. Except I already found it in Ristal... But she was still a predator, right? Even if we’re both outcasts, she definitely has more in common with humans than with me. I should definitely try to meet up with Kirlt. Last time I had a proper time dedicated to just socializing with someone was... Was before the extermination fleet.
I wonder how I will screw this one up.
[First] - [Prev] - [Next]

There are several terrific museums in Queens: MoMI, Noguchi and all the Diorama.
Knockdown Center is technically also in Queens so go see a show or DJ there.
Bowling (Astoria Bowl has a great early bird special). Bowlero is convenient but expensive. Basketball games (Knicks, Nets, St. John's, Fordham, lots of HS games).
Museums (do you need a list?)
Pingpong apparently is popular and there are a bunch of places you can reserve a table online.
Pool.
Gyms/indoor sports.
Concerts.
Kew Gardens borders one of the biggest parks in NYC - hiking, biking, even horseback riding are options.
When summer fades, city dwellers start turning to fun indoor activities in NYC. As the long, hot days of barbeques, strolls in parks and visits to the beach come to an end, it’s time to don a sweater and find something to do inside. But how do you choose? How to spend time indoors depends on your interests.
New York City offers a rich variety of things to do indoors when the weather turns rainy and cold. Head to a museum, bookstore or café. Sign up for a cooking class and explore new dishes. Play a round of virtual golf. Explore some of the world’s most treasured artworks in an online tour of the Louvre. Visit one of the many local tourist attractions that you’ve always meant to see. The list goes on!
Below you will find lots of ideas for indoor activities to do in NYC.

1. Take a Cooking Class

When the temperatures drop, the kitchen beckons. What better way to spend a chilly, rainy day in New York City than taking a cooking class? There are plenty of choices for cooking classes in NYC, from sushi rolling to artisan pizza, to warm up your autumn. Learn about a new cuisine or brush up on culinary techniques with a world-class chef when you sign up for cooking classes near you. If you prefer to stick close to home, you can also take online cooking classes from your own kitchen. Spending time in the kitchen together can be one of the best indoor activities for adults as the weather turns damp and chilly.

1. Have Dinner In

Hiring a private chef is the perfect way to elevate dinner at home on a romantic night in. For a truly special indoor activity in NYC, look up private chefs near you and hire one for an evening. Choose your date, time and menu, and the chef will arrive with ingredients and tools to cook and serve you a restaurant-quality meal. With private chefs in NYC, you don’t even need to clean up after the meal!

1. Try a Virtual Tasting

When you don’t feel like slogging through the rain, why not fix yourself a drink and put your feet up? Try an online mixology class to explore new flavors and concoctions, or explore delicious wines of the world in virtual wine tastings.

1. Go Out to Dinner

One of the most romantic indoor activities in NYC is an intimate dinner, and there are so many places to eat in NYC that are as unique as they are delicious. From the three-starred Masa, one of the only sushi restaurants to earn Michelin stars, or fine dining at Per Se in the Time Warner Center, to Frenchette contemporary bistro or seasonal American cuisine at the Gramercy Tavern, you can find whatever you're in the mood for to have the perfect indoor date night in NYC.

1. Head to a Food Market

The Dekalb Market Hall in Brooklyn offers international culinary delights from more than 30 different local and regional purveyors making this a fun indoor activity in NY. It is the largest indoor market in the city and offers daily entertainment and a demonstration kitchen. The Dekalb Market is a great place for street food enthusiasts who enjoy offerings like kebabs, tacos and crêpes. This is one of the most popular fun indoor activities for adults who love food, and one of the best food halls in NYC.

1. Check out a Former Factory

The Chelsea Market in the Meatpacking District is one of the best-known indoor food markets in the world. Located in the former Nabisco factory, this is another fun indoor activity in NY on a rainy afternoon. Start with coffee at Ninth Street Espresso and stroll among the vendors, from fresh seafood at the Lobster Place, to Italian specialties at Buon Italia. Don’t forget to pick up a bottle of wine at the Chelsea Wine Vault.

1. Enjoy a Classic Afternoon Tea

When you are facing a gray, rainy day, afternoon tea can be just the ticket. There are many options for tea, but a few of them are classics. The Plaza Hotel, the Russian Tea Room and the Ritz Carlton Central Park all offer the perfect setting for a sophisticated indoor activity in New York City.

1. Grab a Cuppa

New York is home to many coffee shops, some quirky and some classics, and meeting friends for coffee is one of those traditional indoor activities in New York City on a rainy day.

1. Treat Yourself to Dessert

Whether it’s the matcha white chocolate cream puff at Bibble & Sip, The Harvest — a grown-up twist on worms in dirt — at Spot Dessert Bar or bubble waffles at Eggloo, New York offers all kinds of sweet treats to enjoy on a rainy afternoon.

1. Support Housing Services

This is an indoor activity in NYC you can feel good about. Stocked with donated titles and staffed by volunteers, 100% of profits from the Housing Works Bookstore and Café go to fund Housing Works services.

1. Browse Miles of Books

This famous bookstore on Broadway offers 18 miles of new and used books, including rare novels and music LPs. A trip to Strand Bookstore is definitely a fun indoor activity for adults in NYC.

1. Go Back in Time

Enter an enchanted library at the Argosy Bookstore. From the elegant wooden shelving to the rare books and ornate maps, at stop at this store is like going back in time and is a great indoor activity in NYC on a rainy afternoon.

1. Take a Trip to the Library

A trip to the New York Public Library is one of the best indoor activities in NYC if you love reading. Plus, it’s free! Relax with a book in the Rose Reading Room. Check out the ornate art and architecture, especially in the Map Room.

1. Visit a Garden Under Glass

There are public gardens with conservatories throughout the city, so if you love plants this is a perfect indoor activity to do in NYC. The New York Botanical Garden is a Victorian-style conservatory housing 11 different microclimates.

1. Take a Trip to Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Botanical Garden encompasses 52 acres with a beautiful conservatory. It is right next door to the Brooklyn Museum, so this is a convenient indoor activity in NYC.

1. Visit the Tropics

The Tropic Zone at the Central Park Zoo is one of the most intriguing indoor attractions in New York City. Enjoy tropical temperatures, vegetation and animals on a chilly or snowy day, a perfect activity for winter in NYC.

1. Enjoy American Art

The Whitney Museum of American Art features more than 350 works by modern American artists including Andy Warhol for a fascinating indoor activity in NYC.

1. View Modern Architecture

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has exhibits of modern and contemporary art in an iconic building. This is an indoor activity in NYC for fans of modern architecture.

1. Travel the World

With two locations, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a great indoor activity in NYC. The Met offers exhibitions of works from all over the world and through many periods of history. One of the most popular is the Temple of Dendur, which is lit from above.

1. Get Modern at MOMA

Another interesting indoor activity in New York City is a visit to the Museum of Modern Art. MOMA focuses on exhibits of modern and contemporary art. Start at the top of the six-floor building to take in the many exhibits that include Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.

1. Take a Virtual Tour of the Louvre

Enjoy a virtual tour of one of the world’s best-known art collections without leaving your home. Go to the Louvre — virtually — and experience more than 500,000 items in the collection in this fascinating indoor activity in NYC.

1. Watch a Movie in a Museum

The Museum of the Moving Image follows the history of cinema and includes gallery space, film-making exhibits and vintage video games. The museum screens more than 400 films a year, and film fans will find this a fun indoor activity in NYC.

1. Study the Power of Images

The International Center of Photography focuses on photography, how it has changed through time and how it has changed the world. From sepia to selfies, this is an educational indoor activity in NYC for amateur and professional photographers alike.

1. Check Out the History of Television

The Paley Center for Media offers over 150,000 TV and radio programs, as well as internet content. The center is dedicated to preserving broadcast media and making it accessible to the public. This is a perfect indoor activity in NYC for fans of old-time television.

1. Go to the Dogs

The American Kennel Club’s Museum of the Dog celebrates the human-canine connection through artwork and exhibits. Dog lovers will enjoy this fun indoor activity in NYC.

1. Cuddle With Some Cats

For a fun thing to do in NYC, check out one of New York’s cat cafés for an afternoon of feline fun. Whether you are there just to visit or would like to meet a cat who is looking for a home, this is a fun indoor activity in NYC. Two of the city’s most popular cat cafés are in the Lower East Side: Koneko, a Japanese cat café featuring sake and Japanese food, and the Meow Parlor. The Brooklyn Cat Café is in Brooklyn Heights.

1. Play Games in a Bar

New York has some great places to get a drink or listen to music, but why not tweak the experience and go to a bar that offers games? You can play Skee-Ball at Full Circle Bar in Williamsburg. This establishment is full of kitschy nostalgia, offers 40 types of canned beer and the bar is made of parts from old Skee-Ball machines. If you are in the mood for music, try Fat Cat for jazz and games like pool, ping pong, shuffleboard, foosball and chess. This is a combination of some of the best indoor activities in NYC.

1. Get Moving

New York offers loads of places where you can play sports indoors. Play indoor golf at Chelsea Piers on more than 55 virtual courses with no membership necessary. Then take a break for pizza and beer at the Chelsea Brewing Company downstairs. Give bowling a try or go rock climbing at Brooklyn Boulders, which features a 30-foot replica of the Brooklyn bridge. Try out one of New York’s many skating rinks, some of which are indoors. For the more adventurous, try indoor skydiving at iFly New York for an exhilarating indoor activity in NYC.

1. Take a Class

A great indoor activity in NYC when the weather turns cold is to take a class. There are many different craft classes to choose from, including shoemaking, knitting, weaving, bookbinding and more. If a fitness class is more your style, there are plenty of spinning and yoga classes to choose from, but what about something like sword fighting, jumping rope or juggling?

1. Take a Tour

New York offers many attractions that draw tourists from around the world. Tour the historic Grand Central Station for an experience out of the golden age of railroad travel. The Oculus at the World Trade Center is a white building that Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed to suggest a dove flying from a child’s outstretched hands. This transportation hub is part of the rebuilding of the area after 9/11 and was designed to bring people back to the area to reclaim it. Another great indoor attraction is the Federal Reserve Bank. The tour includes a visit to the underground vault where $200 billion in gold is stored. Take the Stage Door tour of Radio City Music Hall and learn the history of this city landmark. Even if you live here, play tourist for a day when the weather turns bad with some of these indoor attractions in NYC.

1. Hop on the Subway

To New Yorkers, the subway is an everyday experience, and it can sometimes be annoying; but if you look, you can find some real gems. Stéphane Tonnelat and William Kornblum wrote a book called International Express, New Yorkers on The 7 Train. The 7 line runs from Time Square to Flushing, Queens, and travels through many neighborhoods that represent different cultures from all over the world. Another fun thing to do on the subway is to check out Life Underground. This is a collection of tiny bronze statuary in the 14th and 8th streets station that depicts a fairytale version of life in New York. This is one of the most fascinating indoor activities to do in NYC.

Tom van Grieken bevestigde het onlangs: in ons land voltrekt zich een omvolking:
De theorie of overtuiging dat een land door ongecontroleerde migratie een demografische kanteling doormaakt, waardoor het beeld en de cultuur van het land blijvend verandert.
Maar wat karakteriseert deze omvolking juist? En welke gevolgen draagt deze met zich mee?
Waar moet u als modale Vlaming nu juist van wakker liggen?
Hieronder een niet-exhaustieve lijst van de belangrijke aspecten en wat u kan verwachten:

1. De omvolking is exponentieel: de kans dat u het Vlaanderen dat u nu kent, nog gaat herkennen binnen 30 jaar is uitgesloten: maar liefst 75% procent van de 0-9 jarigen in Antwerpen is van een allochtone herkomst. Qua herkomst zijn de meest voorkomende werelddelen Noord-Afrika, gevolgd door West-Azië en Oost-Europa. Onze buurlanden staan pas op een 4de plaats. Alleen het aantal allochtonen uit Noord-Afrika is reeds dubbel zo groot dan het aantal allochtonen uit West-Europa. Aangezien het geboortecijfer bij dergelijke allochtonen hoger ligt dan bij autochtonen is de omvolking een mathematische zekerheid. Daarover kan zelfs niet meer gediscussieerd worden.
2. De omvolking is van een islamitische aard: bijna de helft van de 75% allochtone 0-9 jarigen heeft een islamitische achtergrond. De geschiedenis leert ons dat dit geloof van nature imperialistisch en kolonialistisch is. In de eerste bladzijden van de Koran wordt duidelijk gemaakt dat ongelovigen een verschrikkelijke bestraffing wachten. De toon is meteen gezet. De islam is niet vredelievend. Ongelovigen dienen desnoods met geweld bekeerd te worden. Dit is wat men Jihad noemt. Moslims die dit ontkennen beoefenen Taqiyya: het recht om ongelovigen te beliegen als ze daardoor de islam kunnen verspreiden.
3. De omvolking is negatief: dit is het meest tastbare element voor de modale Vlaming. De (zware) criminaliteitscijfers in West-Europa stijgen overal. Voorbeelden zijn bendegeweld in Zweden en Duitse scholen waar de Sharia opgelegd wordt, maar dichter bij huis stellen we ook het massale druggebruik in Brussel vast; de rellen op Oudejaar; de mocromaffia die granaten doet ontploffen in vredige Vlaamse wijken; Shariah4Belgium; terreur in Zaventem en de Brusselse Metro en ga zo maar door. Los van de criminaliteit merken we ook andere maatschappelijke impact: de onderwijscijfers zijn de slechtste ooit, borden met "Stop Islamisering" worden verboden en zelfs Zwarte Piet wordt gecensureerd om de nieuwkomers te behagen. Merk op dat men vaak zegt dat de lichte criminaliteitscijfers gedaald zijn: dit is door onderrapportering, in Brussel komt de politie enkel nog in actie bij zwaar geweld of moord. Diefstallen of druggebruik worden genegeerd.
4. De omvolking is systematisch: iedere dag worden mannelijke jongeren door nietsontzienende mensenhandelaren op bootjes gezet richting Europa in ruil voor hun laatste spaarcenten. Op Instagram wordt hun een toekomst vol geld, mooie vrouwen en macht beloofd. Hun doel is hun derdewereldland verlaten om zo snel mogelijk rijk te worden. Het zijn vaak economische vluchtelingen. Ze dromen van leeflonen en BMWs. Wanneer hun droom moeilijk te realiseren blijkt, vallen ze terug op wat ze kennen: hun geloof. Zowel mensenhandelaars als NGOs spelen hier handig op. De ene uit puur winstbejag, de andere om hun bestaansredenen te rechtvaardigen. Politieke partijnen zoals de PVDA voeren dit kiesvee liefst zo snel mogelijk in. Via deze armoezaaiers kunnen zij immers zo snel mogelijk hun communistische klassenstrijd in de praktijk brengen.
5. De omvolking is imperialistisch: naast de mensenhandelaren en de NGOs speelt er nog een derde partij mee: de politieke islam en zijn vazalstaten. Het streefdoel van deze met oliegeld gesponsorde entiteiten is om de islam zo wijd verspreid mogelijk te maken met de bedoeling de wereld te domineren. Landen zoals Turkije, Qatar en Saudi-Arabië sponsoren maar al te graag de bouw van moskees in het Westen, en installeren hier radicale imams die het volk opjutten tegen de ongelovige autochtonen. In deze haatbarakken wordt de kiem gelegd van de aankomende burgeroorlog die West-Europa zal raken.

Hierboven vindt u dus de belangrijkste elementen van de omvolking. Deze lijst is zeker niet exhaustief, en per element kan telkens een karrenvracht aan bewijs aangeleverd worden.
De vraag die u zich dit weekend dient te stellen is dus eenvoudig: wenst u dat uw kinderen in een islamitische samenleving onder het juk van de Sharia zullen leven; of in een verlichte, Westerse samenleving waar vrije meningsuiting en seculariteit hoog in het vaandel gedragen wordt?
De keuze is aan u. Denk goed na.

Waar zijn de normen en waarden gebleven waarmee kinderen opgevoed zouden moeten worden? *Waargebeurd verhaal, namen zijn fictief de leeftijd van de meisjes is 9-10 jaar oud.
Onze dochter had afgelopen vrijdag twee vriendinnetjes te spelen. Het leek allemaal gezellig tot we erachter kwamen dat er flink wat beauty spulletjes uit haar kamer meegenomen is (met voor een tien jarig meisje een enorme waarde)
Wat blijkt één van haar vriendinnen heeft zichzelf niet kunnen beheersen en heeft gesloten wat zij wilde.
Toen onze dochter ontdekte dat haar spulletjes weg waren en zij bijna gelijk wist dat Evelien het gedaan had, hebben we samen met haar eerst gezocht in huis omdat we ook niet zomaar iemand willen beschuldigen. Uiteraard niets gevonden.
Vervolgens heeft Evelien met de spulletjes gepronkt bij andere vriendinnen, deze eerlijke vriendinnetjes hebben onze dochter ingelicht.
Onze dochter heeft gelijk contact gezocht via beeldbellen met Evelien zodat zij eerlijk kon vertellen wat ze gedaan had en zodat onze dochter haar spulletjes terug zou kunnen krijgen. Evelien heeft vervolgens keihard zitten liegen en gezegd dat zij het niet heeft.
De volgende dag hebben wij onze dochter naar het huis van Evelien gestuurd met de instructie dat zij aan de moeder van Evelien moest vragen of zij deze spullen in huis heeft en het gesprek aan te gaan met Evelien.
Dezelfde avond werd ik, gebeld door de moeder van Evelien. Zij had inderdaad de spullen van onze dochter heeft maar dat ze niet heeft gestolen. Onze dochter heeft deze spullen niet weggeven en dan toch magisch in het bezit gekomen van Evelien. Aan de moeder van Evelien heb ik uitgelegd dat wij het enorm zouden waarden als zij samen met Evelien de volgende dag na school de spulletjes komt terug geven en haar excuses komt maken.
Dinsdagmiddag 15.00 uur staan ze voor onze deur. Er komt niet eens gelijk een excuses maar een hier, waarbij ze een tasje met spullen overhandigd. Gelijk heb ik gezegd dat wij deze spullen eerst willen controleren. En wat blijkt alles is gebruikt waarschijnlijk nagenoeg opgemaakt en vervangen voor iets totaal anders. Evelien wilde niet uitleggen wat ze ermee gedaan had en probeerde wederom de schuld op andere kinderen te schuiven. Alle duurdere producten zijn gewoon vervangen voor troep. Ik heb direct geeist dat daar vergoeding voor komt (is inmiddels betaald). Evelien heeft op dat moment nog steeds geen excuses gemaakt en haar moeder lijkt zich voor de domme te houden. Ik heb moeder uitgelegd dat het liegen en stelen niet kan, zelfs de moeder liegt ook over haar wetenschap van het stelen. Zij wist dit namelijk al op het moment dat onze dochter bij haar voor de deur stond en tegen haar loog dat Evelien niet thuis was. Dat bevestigde ze ook aan onze deur omdat zij volgens haar geen ruzie aan de deur wilde. Op dit moment begint mijn bloed dusdanig te koken en zeg ik “je hebt gefaald als ouder en zal dit op moeten lossen”. Dit meisje toont geen berouw, afgezien van het feit dat ze betrapt is. Het koste haar ontzettend veel moeite excuses te maken naar onze dochter en het was echt een laf excuus. Moeder van Evelien doet dat ook niet. Ik heb moeder aangeraden hulp te gaan zoeken voor Evelien, via via horen wij nu veel verhalen dat zij gewoon neemt wat ze wil, al hadden wij dat liever eerder geweten. Onze dochter is overstuur door dit alles, ze heeft een harde les gekregen over dat dus niet iedereen te vertrouwen is en dat vriendinnen niet altijd goede vriendinnen zijn. Evelien komt er uiteraard bij ons niet meer in.
Nu ben ik benieuwd wat jullie mening hierover is. Ben ik nu zo anders dat ik dit alle grenzen voorbij vind? Is dit de maatschappij van tegenwoordig dat kinderen gewoon maar kunnen stelen en de ouders ze nog beschermen ook? Ik snap het even niet meer.

[see edit below]
I installed my gen3 dish flat on top of my van the other day. I understand this is not optimal and experience will vary. It seemed to be working with a few outages here and there using the SL router. But webpages with media were browsable. I was even parked in the city between row homes which is very sub optimal and blocks a lot of the sky. But it worked enough to the point I was satisfied as initial test.
I have since replaced the router with my peplink max br1 and using a passive PoE injector + DC step-up converter (the one commonly referenced in here from Amazon, 56v, 168w, $25) to power the dish using my 12v house battery system.
My connection in this configuration is basically unusable despite good stats in the starlink app and zero obstructions. I'm within the service area on a Mobile Regional plan. I can maybe load a simple page like google.com 10% of the time. Forget media. I can consistently ICMP ping to Internet with maybe 10-20% loss. DNS resolves well enough that my laptop and phone seem th think the connection has internet.
The same PoE injector, peplink router, and cat6 cable between the injector and router worked with my gen2 dish setup and worked with the gen3 dish and SL router mentioned above. I even tried connecting my laptop directly to the PoE injector data port and same result.
I took the dish off the roof and oriented it correctly on the ground and still same result. Unusable deslite perfect stats in the app.Tried a dfferent cable between injector and dish that time too. Still using the custom DC PoE setup.
The only thing I have not tried is re-connecting the SL router as a power source. I stupidly forgot it at home while leaving for the weekend to install and test the new DC/PoE setup away from the city. I am going to try using the SL router later today but cannot understand how this could affect the connection. If the power was bad quality I would imagine it just wouldn't boot.
Whether it works with the SL router later on or not, it's still a very odd situation. I know I can DC power the SL router but would like to avoid using completely if possible. Very curious if it will work again using the SL router with proper orientation.
Any ideas or recommendations would be very much appreciated! Will report back in a few hours when I get a chance to test using the SL router.
Edit: it worked fine with the SL router. Either my passive PoE injector, 12v > 56v DC step-up converter, or electrical cabling. Data cables all worked fine.
And to the guy who downvoted everything I commented and this post, sorry I ruined your Sunday? I was being as detailed as possible to avoid redundant thought work and answers.
Final edit: it was the PoE injector. Tycon brand. Worked perfectly with my gen2 dish.

Le pone la tia a la otra vieja... feas... como su purísima ni se parecen a mi ni a mi mama...
Tiene toda la cara pinta...
Pone la vieja... "Ni tan niña..." le pone una a la otra... Como me enoje... Estos putos eran los que venían haciendo el problema...
Como o porque... "Que no había yo leído nada..."
Desde Tijuana, se subio a mi carro un tal "Antonio" asi era su nombre en el InDriver... me pidió lo llevara aqui y alla... hasta que se le sale... que creo era hijo, pariente de alguien ahi... ...era puto... se le notaba...
"Ya nos llegaron las vacunas... Johnson & Johnson..." No pues, que bueno... que estén trabajando...
Eran frases para decirme, o para armarla de a pedo... Luego sale en la tele en la noche... con la periodista esa... Denise Maerker... seguía esto haciendo ping ping ping... "Las Vacantes..."
Las vacantes, son las mamadas que se van a Suecia, o tenian el contacto de la vieja loca esa...
"El tal Antonio trabajaba en la función, en que te violaran a tus amigas... porque la Señora Erin... esta muy enojada..." no era ni Erin... eran los créditos que venían pidiendo estos pendejos...
Mientras siga aqui los Concatanated... ahi sale todo... hasta las horas... fechas... todas las mamadas hablaban...
Llego una mañana... a casa del tal Arturo... saludo, me conecto al Wifi de su casa... nunca me imaginaria, que eran personas que venían queriendo construir un arma... un tiro de gracia...
Veo la pagina en aquel entonces... "Half Market" "Runned by a girl..." algo asi... pues ya "Tenemos ahi ya solo porque me conecte... eran los dueños, de todo eso... y unos transexuales..." cuales niñas...
Yo no creo nada... todo es pura cochinada...
De entrada ahi no voy... y con eso es la primera piedra y suficiente... ni tengo que hablar con esa gente nunca en mi vida...
Me hablaba en Astorp la vieja... esa... "Nombre... tu crees que yo estoy loco...." "Richard Feynman" ningun premio de nada...
Aparte viejas esas están muy extrañas..., tienen cara como de gatito... como amigas, son buenas amigas... pero yo no quiero queso... sino salir de la ratonera... tengo mis propios gustos personales....

Usually around the first of the month we have a batch of price changes. According to the "How to Become a Contract Liquor Agent" document, "The Agent must also complete price changes that occur at the first of the month..."
I plan to use this post to capture other smaller changes that happen during the rest of the month before the big change next month. Be sure to go back and check out what changed last month after the 1st.
Counts for 6/1/24:

• Number of Price Decreases: 486
• Number of New Products: 29
• Number of Price Increases: 20
• Number of Status Changes: 7 (3 are to De-Listed)

For each category I've sorted by the amount of the price increase or decrease. New products are shown first, then price decreases are shown in decreasing order followed by price increases in increasing order. At the end are products with other changes unrelated to price.
Here's a link to what changed last month in May, 2024.
Current product status is indicated on each line as follows. OHLQ hasn't publicly explained what these things mean but I've included my best guess below.

• A = Active
  • Regularly supplied and available for purchase
• D = De-Listed
  • No longer carried by OHLQ, may still be available in some stores or the warehouse. Sometimes considered a Last Call product
• I = Inactive
  • Discontinued by the supplier or otherwise unavailable to OHLQ
• S = Special Order
  • Regularly available but in limited supply. Not available in very many stores
• V = Value-Added-Pack
  • Bottle comes with some kind of extra gift like a glass/mug/etc

American Whiskey

• New Products
• [A] CINCINNATI DISTILLING PEACH WHISKEY - 3140B ($24.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] EAGLE RARE 25 - 1839B ($9,999.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] EZRA BROOKS FULL PROOF SINGLE BARREL - 3132B ($54.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] EZRA BROOKS STAVE DARK CHOCOLATE SINGLE BARREL - 3133B ($64.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] EZRA BROOKS STAVE SWEET CINNAMON SINGLE BARREL - 3134B ($64.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] FINDLAY MARKET RESERVE BOURBON WHISKEY - 4227B ($44.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] FOUR DOGS DISTILLING BLACK DOG BOURBON WHEAT - 4484B ($58.95 / 750 ML)
• [A] FOUR DOGS DISTILLLING LEPRECHAUN P MOONSHINE - 4485B ($34.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] HAYNER BARREL PROOF BOURBON - 0751B ($89.95 / 750 ML)
• [A] HAYNER BLACKBERRY BOURBON - 0752B ($64.95 / 750 ML)
• [A] IRON VAULT DOUBLE OAKED BOTTLED IN BOND BOURBON - 4890B ($69.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] MIDDLE WEST DOUBLE CASK NAPOLEON CALVADOS - 6536B ($129.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] MIDDLE WEST DOUBLE CASK NAPOLEON VINO DE NARANJA - 6537B ($129.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] MINGLEWOOD BLACKBERRY BOURBON WHISKEY - 6538B ($44.95 / 750 ML)
• [S] REBEL FULL PROOF SINGLE BARREL - 2219B ($54.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] REBEL STAVE FINISH CARAMEL HONEY SINGLE BARREL - 2223B ($64.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] REBEL STAVE FINISH RICH MOCHA SINGLE BARREL - 2224B ($64.99 / 750 ML)
• [A] REMUS BABE RUTH RESERVE - 5575B ($199.99 / 750 ML)
• [S] WELLER MILLENIUM - 2266B ($7,500.00 / 750 ML)
• [S] WHISKEY WAR DOUBLE DOUBLE OAKED SINGLE BARREL - 4286B ($104.99 / 750 ML)
• Price decreases
• [D] GUERO RESERVE BOURBON WHISKEY - 3877B ($116.99 / 750 ML) - $78.00↓
• [D] WILDERNESS TRAIL CASK STRENGTH RYE WHISKEY - 9708B ($38.99 / 750 ML) - $26.00↓
• [D] CLYDE MAYS SPECIAL RESERVE WHISKEY - 2118B ($35.99 / 750 ML) - $24.00↓
• [A] HAYNER PATH OF TOTALITY BOURBON - 0722B ($69.95 / 750 ML) - $20.00↓
• [D] Jim Beam Apple Traveler - 0315D ($22.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $14.50↓
• [D] JIM BEAM PEACH PET - 0317D ($22.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $14.50↓
• [D] RED STAG PET - 8443D ($22.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $14.50↓
• [D] EZRA BROOKS - 2949D ($17.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $11.50↓
• [A] MIDDLE WEST SPIRITS RYE WHISKEY - 6557B ($69.99 / 750 ML) - $10.00↓
• [A] WHISTLEPIG RYE 10 YEAR - 9704B ($79.99 / 750 ML) - $10.00↓
• [D] FISTFUL OF BOURBON - 3044B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $10.00↓
• [D] REBEL STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY - 8360B ($13.99 / 750 ML) - $9.00↓
• [D] SQRRL WHISKEY PEANUT BUTTER - 9423B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $8.50↓
• [D] EZRA BROOKS - 2949B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $6.00↓
• [D] JIM BEAM WHISKEY OF THE SEASON - 5141E ($8.99 / 600 ML) - $6.00↓
• [D] RY3 WHISKEY - 7325B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] THE WISEMAN RYE - 7383B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] WATERSHED BOURBON - 9502L ($29.99 / 1 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [A] MAKER'S MARK - 6060L ($34.99 / 1 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [A] WATERSHED DISTILLERY BOURBON 4 YEAR - 9514B ($34.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] WATERSHED DISTILLERY BOURBON 4 YEAR - 9514L ($44.99 / 1 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [A] WHISTLEPIG PIGGYBACK 6 YEAR RYE - 9591B ($44.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] WHISTLEPIG PIGGYBACK BOURBON - 9415B ($44.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] KILLBUCK CREEK WHITE - 5399B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] BARRICA OLO - 0242B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] FEW SPIRITS BOURBON WHISKEY - 3573B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] OLD SOUL BOURBON - 2198B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] STRAIGHT EDGE BURBON - 8839B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] WHIP SAW RYE WHISKEY - 9524B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] AMERICAN BORN WHISKEY - 0342B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] APPARITION CORN WHISKEY - 0138B ($14.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] OLE SMOKY PEPPERMINT MOONSHINE - 7664B ($13.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] WHISKEYSMITH CHOCOLATE FLAVORED WHISKEY - 5785B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] WHISKEYSMITH SALTED CARMEL WHISKEY - 5786B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] YELLOW SPRINGS APPLE PIE - 9713B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] CLEVELAND UNDERGROUND HONEY LOCUST - 2085M ($11.99 / 375 ML) - $4.13↓
• [D] 2BAR SPIRITS - 1200B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] BARRICA PX - 0243B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] BEACH BONFIRE CINNAMON WHISKEY - 8680B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] BEACH ISLAND COCONUT - 0267B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] BELLE MEADE CLASSIC BOURBON - 0812B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] BOONE COUNTY SMALL BATCH RYE WHISKEY - 1397B ($25.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] COPPERCRAFT STRAIGHT RYE WHISKEY - 2300B ($22.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] DAVIESS COUNTY KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY - 4151B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] DAVIESS COUNTY KSBW FRENCH OAK FINISHED - 4153B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] ELIJAH CRAIG RYE WHISKEY - 2838M ($11.49 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HIGH WEST 375ML MULTIPACK RTD RTD - 4266M ($23.99 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HIGH WEST MANHATTAN BARREL FINISHED COCKTAIL RTD - 4277B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HIGH WEST MANHATTAN RTD - 4273B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HUDSON BABY BOURBON - 4797B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HUDSON BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG BOURBON - 1417B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HUDSON DO THE RYE THING - 1124B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] JIM BEAM GIFT - 5114B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] LIMOUSIN RYE 6 YEAR - 4230B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] MIDNIGHT MOON STRAWBERRY - 5266B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] ROSSVILLE UNION MASTER CRAFTED RYE WHISKEY - 5333B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] THE MANHATTAN PROJECT RTD - 7048B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] WATERSHED BOURBON - 9502B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] WHISTLEPIG RYE 10 YEAR - 9704M ($23.99 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] YELLOW ROSE RYE WHISKEY - 3054B ($23.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] JIM BEAM HONEY PET - 0316D ($22.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] JIM BEAM ORANGE - 4133D ($22.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] KESSLER - 0113B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] NELSON BROTHERS CLASSIC BOURBON - 1143B ($22.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] PB&W PEANUT BUTTER FLAVORED WHISKEY - 8019B ($10.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] ROBERSON'S TENNESSEE MELLOMOON - 8450B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] SLAUGHTER HOUSE WHISKEY - 8838B ($20.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] TRAVERSE CITY WHISKEY CO. NORTH COAST RYE WHISKEY - 1229B ($21.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [A] JIM BEAM - 4116D ($31.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [A] JIM BEAM APPLE - 5120D ($31.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [A] JIM BEAM HONEY - 5118D ($31.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [A] JIM BEAM PEACH - 4122D ($31.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [A] JIM BEAM PET - 0306D ($31.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [A] JIM BEAM RED STAG BLACK CHERRY - 8375D ($31.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] APPARITION APPLE PIE - 0217B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] APPARITION BLACKBERRY - 0148B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] APPARITION BLUEBERRY - 0147B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] APPARITION PUMPKIN SPICE - 0264B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BSB 103 - 1592B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY WHITE DOG RYE MASH - 1547M ($8.99 / 375 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BUFFALO TRACE DISTILLERY WHITE DOG WHEATED MASH - 2028M ($8.99 / 375 ML) - $3.00↓
• [A] BULLEIT - 1497D ($54.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [A] CLYDE MAYS SPECIAL RESERVE BOURBON - 2121B ($56.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] DEVILS RIVER BOURBON - 2461B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] EZRA BROOKS - 2949M ($4.49 / 375 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] FIREFLY APPLE PIE MOONSHINE - 3032B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [A] JEFFERSONS MANHATTAN RTD - 5094B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] NELSON'S GREEN BRIER TENNESSEE WHISKEY - 4350B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] SENATORS CLUB - 0199D ($8.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] TRAVERSE CITY WHISKEY CO MICHIGAN APPLE - 6282B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] TRAVERSE CITY WHISKEY CO. LAKESIDE PEACH BBN WSKY - 6281B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [A] WILD TURKEY LONGBRANCH - 9619B ($36.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] ECHO SPRING - 0075L ($7.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] ON THE ROCKS BASIL HAYDEN DARK RYE MANHATTAN RTD - 9513M ($7.99 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] QUALITY HOUSE - 4065L ($7.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] T SMITH WOOD FIR - 9323B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [A] WOODSHED SPIRITS APPLE PIE - 9575B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.29↓
• [A] WOODSHED SPIRITS APRICOT - 9577B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.29↓
• [A] WOODSHED SPIRITS CANDY APPLE - 9580B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.29↓
• [A] WOODSHED SPIRITS LEMON DROP - 9578B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.29↓
• [A] WOODSHED SPIRITS ORANGE DREAMSICLE - 9576B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.29↓
• [A] WOODSHED SPIRITS TANGERINE - 9579B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.29↓
• [D] KESSLER - 0113M ($3.49 / 375 ML) - $2.10↓
• [D] BOURBON SUPREME RARE BLEND - 2089L ($6.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [A] ELIJAH CRAIG RYE WHISKEY - 2838B ($32.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] ELIJAH CRAIG SMALL BATCH - 2919B ($32.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] HIGH WEST BOURBON - 4269B ($34.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] HIGH WEST DOUBLE RYE - 4271B ($34.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] MINGLEWOOD APPLE WHISKY - 6608B ($22.95 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] OLD GRAND DAD KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY - 0073D ($29.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [A] REDNECK RIVIERA - 8399B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] WILD TURKEY 101 - 1816D ($47.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] BOURBON SUPREME RARE BLEND - 2089M ($2.99 / 375 ML) - $1.50↓
• [D] SOUTHERN COMFORT 80 PROOF - 8859B ($8.49 / 750 ML) - $1.50↓
• [D] SOUTHERN COMFORT 80 PROOF 4 PACK - 3127E ($1.99 / 600 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] ELIJAH CRAIG SMALL BATCH - 2919M ($17.99 / 375 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] WILD TURKEY 101 - 1816B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] WILD TURKEY 101 TRAVELER - 9635B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [D] REBEL 100 PROOF - 8353F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.51↓
• [D] CLYDE MAYS ALABAMA STYLE WHISKEY 85P - 2079B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $0.50↓
• [D] SOUTHERN COMFORT 80 PROOF - 8859F ($0.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↓
• [D] SQRRL WHISKEY PEANUT BUTTER - 9423F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• Price increases
• [D] MIDNIGHT MOON WATERMELON - 6612F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↑
• [D] MIDNIGHT MOON PEPPERMINT 50MLS - 6613F ($1.99 / 50 ML) - $1.00↑
• [D] MILL ST MOONSHINE - 6589B ($15.99 / 750 ML) - $7.00↑
• [D] MILL STREET - 6593B ($21.99 / 750 ML) - $9.50↑
• [S] DOUBLE EAGLE VERY RARE - 2779B ($3,000.00 / 750 ML) - $1,000.00↑
• Changed products
• [A] ELIJAH CRAIG TOASTED BARREL - 2843B ($54.99 / 750 ML) - Status changed from Special Order to Active
• [S] LITTLE BOOK 7 renamed to LITTLE BOOK 8 - 5972B ($124.99 / 750 ML) -
• [A] MAKER'S MARK WOOD FINISHING SERIES BRT-01 renamed to MAKER'S MARK WOOD FINISHING SERIES - 6165B ($59.99 / 750 ML) -
• [S] RABBIT HOLE FOUNDERS COLLECTION MIZUNARA - 5355B ($1,499.99 / 750 ML) - Status changed from Active to Special Order

Brandy

• Price decreases
• [A] HENNESSY XO - 4103B ($214.99 / 750 ML) - $34.00↓
• [A] HENNESSY XO - 4103M ($109.99 / 375 ML) - $21.00↓
• [D] HENNESSY BLACK - 4074B ($27.99 / 750 ML) - $18.00↓
• [D] R JELINEK SLIVOVITZ 10 YEAR - 7802B ($20.49 / 750 ML) - $13.50↓
• [D] MASION GAUTIER COGNAC VS - 6204B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $13.00↓
• [D] R JELINEK WILLIAMS PEAR BRANDY - 7804B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $12.56↓
• [D] R JELINEK SLIVOVITZ 5 YEAR - 7803B ($14.49 / 750 ML) - $9.50↓
• [A] HENNESSY VSOP COGNAC - 4092M ($29.99 / 375 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] HINE RARE VSOP COGNAC - 4900B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] COURVOISIER VSOP - 0456M ($14.99 / 375 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] GAZDINA RAKIJA PLUM - 3506B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] KORBEL CALIFORNIA BRANDY - 5486B ($7.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] GRAN GALA VS COGNAC - 3813B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] ANSAC BLACK KNIGHT COGNAC - 0360B ($20.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] COPPER & KINGS CRAFT BRANDY - 2270B ($20.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] ANSAC VS - 0084B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] FLORES ZUTA OSA - 9736B ($18.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [A] HENNESSY VS - 0461D ($79.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] MARTELL BLUE SWIFT - 6244M ($17.99 / 375 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] ST REMY SIGNATURE - 0475B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] CHRISTIAN BROS APPLE - 2015B ($7.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] PARAMOUNT APRICOT - 0488B ($6.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] CORONET VSQ - 0481B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] E & J APPLE BRANDY - 2870M ($2.99 / 375 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PARAMOUNT BLACKBERRY - 0482B ($6.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PAUL MASSON PINEAPPLE - 7960B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] CHRISTIAN BROTHERS APPLE - 2015M ($3.49 / 375 ML) - $1.80↓
• [D] CORONET VSQ - 0481M ($3.49 / 375 ML) - $1.80↓
• [A] E & J VS - 2873B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [D] E & J APPLE BRANDY - 2870F ($0.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↓

Canadian Whiskey

• New Products
• [A] CROWN ROYAL PEACH AND APPLE VARIETY PACK - 2434E ($19.99 / 600 ML)
• Price decreases
• [D] FIREBALL CINNAMON WHISKY 4 PACK 375ML - 3124M ($16.99 / 375 ML) - $11.00↓
• [D] ALBERTA PREMIUM RYE WHISKY - 0224B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $6.50↓
• [D] WINDSOR CANADIAN BLACK CHERRY - 9651D ($10.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $6.50↓
• [D] FIREBALL CINNAMON WHISKY 4 PACK 200ML - 3124H ($8.49 / 200 ML) - $5.50↓
• [D] FIREBALL FIREBOX - 3039D ($29.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [D] CROWN ROYAL REGAL APPLE - 2383E ($7.49 / 600 ML) - $4.70↓
• [D] BENJAMIN CHAPMAN 7 YEAR WHISKEY - 0251B ($25.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] FIREBALL TREE ORNAMENT 50MLS - 1634E ($5.99 / 600 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] J.P. WISER'S OLD FASHIONED RTD - 3435B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] CANADIAN GOLD - 1730L ($5.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] CANADIAN MIST - 0174B ($4.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] HARWOOD - 4041D ($9.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] MCMASTERS CANADIAN - 0170B ($4.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] RICH & RARE - 8431B ($3.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] MCMASTERS CANADIAN - 0170M ($2.99 / 375 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] RICH & RARE - 8431M ($2.49 / 375 ML) - $1.50↓
• [D] CANADIAN MIST - 0174F ($0.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↓

Cordial

• New Products
• [S] COMBIER BANANE - 1794B ($29.99 / 750 ML)
• Price decreases
• [D] CLEMENT CREOLE SHRUBB - 2067B ($20.99 / 750 ML) - $16.00↓
• [D] COMBIER DORANGE - 2235B ($14.49 / 750 ML) - $12.50↓
• [D] R JELINEK BOHEMIA HONEY - 7800B ($18.49 / 750 ML) - $11.62↓
• [D] DEKUYPER 03 - 2644B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $8.50↓
• [D] CELTIC CROSSING HONEY - 1853B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $8.00↓
• [D] R JELINEK FERNET - 7801B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $7.50↓
• [A] CLEMENT CREOLE SHRUBB - 2067C ($29.99 / 700 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] PATRON CITRONGE LIME - 7969B ($14.49 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] PATRON CITRONGE MANGO - 7965B ($14.49 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] PATRON CITRONGE PINEAPPLE - 1593B ($14.49 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] THE GLENLIVET TWIST & MIX NEW MANHATTAN RTD - 4636M ($14.99 / 375 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] THE GLENLIVET TWIST & MIX OLD FASHIONED RTD - 4637M ($14.99 / 375 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] GRAND MURIEL ORANGE LIQUER - 3860L ($14.49 / 1 Liter) - $4.50↓
• [D] BAYOU SATSUMA - 0571B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] CAMPARI NEGRONI RTD - 6160M ($11.99 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] DRAMBUIE - 0608M ($11.49 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] HOTEL TANGO LIMONCELLO - 4750B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] WEST 32 RESERVE SOJU - 9556B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] AMARO ALTA VERDE - 1149B ($12.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] THE BITTER TRUTH PEACH BITTERS - 6303H ($12.99 / 200 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] CINPATRAZZO - 1971B ($22.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] COCKTAILS BY HEUBLEIN 1792 MANHATTAN RTD - 1956M ($5.49 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] COCKTAILS BY HEUBLEIN 1792 OLD FASHIONED RTD - 1957M ($5.49 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] COCKTAILS BY HEUBLEIN WHEATLEY DIRTY MARTINI RTD - 1958M ($5.49 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] DARNA DOMACI - 2511B ($10.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] MARIE BRIZARD POIRE WILLIAM LIQUEUR - 8560B ($10.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] PARAMOUNT PEPPERMINT - 0697D ($10.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] BOLS BLUE CURACAO - 1188B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.16↓
• [D] GIFFARD PIMENT DESPELETTE - 3540B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] RIGA BLACK BALSAM - 8806B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BAUCHANT LIQUEUR - 6126L ($16.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] GLAROS OUZO - 3602B ($6.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] JAGERMEISTER COOLPACK - 5057M ($7.99 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] PARAMOUNT SLOE GIN - 0580L ($6.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] SAO PAULO CACHACA - 8688L ($7.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] MELETTI SAMBUCA - 6445B ($15.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] CONCIERE COFFEE LIQUEUR - 2190L ($6.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.00↓
• Price increases
• [D] COINTREAU LIQUEUR - 2690F ($1.99 / 50 ML) - $1.00↑

Gin

• New Products
• [S] STILL G.I.N - 5702B ($31.99 / 750 ML)
• Price decreases
• [D] BOMBAY SAPPHIRE EAST - 1323B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $8.50↓
• [A] AVIATION AMERICAN GIN - 0380D ($39.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [D] HOTEL TANGO GOLF GIN - 4747B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] HENDRICKS GIN - 4073M ($11.99 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] MOLETTO GIN - 6602B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] LANGLEYS 8 GIN - 5534B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] NEW RIFF KENTUCKY WILD BOURBON BARREL AGED GIN - 2152B ($20.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] OLD FOURTH GIN - 7565B ($20.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] RIVES 1880 - 8455B ($10.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] SEAGRAMS LIME TWISTED GIN - 8905M ($2.49 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] 135 EAST HYOGO JAPANESE DRY GIN - 1135B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BENHAMS DRY GIN - 2482B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BLUECOAT - 0962B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] GREEN HAT ORIGINAL BATCH GIN - 3890B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] HA PENNY DUBLIN DRY GIN - 3796B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] Malfy Gin Con Limone With 2 Glasses - 5168B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] RIGHT GIN - 8436B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BOMBAY SAPPHIRE - 1327H ($3.99 / 200 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] BOOTH'S FINEST OLD DRY GIN - 0332B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] GILBEYS GIN - 0339L ($6.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] HENDRICKS GIN MARTINI RTD - 4130M ($7.99 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] PRINCIPE DE LOS APOSTOLES GIN - 7930B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] MR BOSTON GIN - 6690L ($4.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.30↓
• [D] MILES GIN - 6555L ($5.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] BURNETTS GIN - 8995M ($2.99 / 375 ML) - $1.50↓
• [A] NOLETS - 3728B ($34.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] SEAGRAMS EXTRA DRY GIN - 0305B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] SEAGRAMS EXTRA DRY GIN TRV - 8900B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [D] SEAGRAMS EXTRA DRY GIN - 0305F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• Price increases
• [D] BARTON GIN - 0563D ($7.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $1.21↑
• [D] AVIATION AMERICAN GIN - 0380F ($2.49 / 50 ML) - $1.50↑
• [D] HENDRICKS GIN - 4073F ($2.99 / 50 ML) - $2.00↑

Irish Whisky

• New Products
• [A] DUBLINER STEELERS SELECT IRISH WHISKEY - 2817B ($59.99 / 750 ML)
• Price decreases
• [D] CLONTARF - 2074B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $7.00↓
• [D] LIMAVADY SINGLE BARREL IRISH WHISKEY - 3872C ($29.99 / 700 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] BUSHMILLS 375ML VARIETY PACK - 1564M ($26.99 / 375 ML) - $4.50↓
• [A] JAMESON - 0281B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [A] JAMESON COLD BREW - 5065B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [A] JAMESON ORANGE - 5154B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] CONCIERE WHISKEY - 2189L ($6.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• Price increases
• [D] JAMESON COLD BREW - 5065F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↑
• [D] TULLAMORE DEW - IRELAND - 9317F ($1.99 / 50 ML) - $1.00↑
• [D] IRISHMAN ORIGINAL CLAN WHISKEY - 4895B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↑
• Changed products
• [D] JAMESON ORANGE - 5154F ($1.00 / 50 ML) - Status changed from Active to De-Listed

Japanese Whiskey

• Price decreases
• [A] KAMIKI JAPANESE WHISKY - 5341B ($64.96 / 750 ML) - $10.03↓

Rum

• New Products
• [S] ROLLING FORK 6 YEAR SINGLE CASK JAMAICAN RUM - 8812B ($49.86 / 750 ML)
• [S] ROLLING FORK 6 YR JAMAICAN SINGLE CASK - 8813B ($49.58 / 750 ML)
• Price decreases
• [D] BACARDI 8 RYE CASK FINISH - 1905B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $13.00↓
• [D] STILLWRIGHTS BOURBON BARREL AGED RUM - 8969B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $12.70↓
• [D] HIGH BANK PROFESSOR RUM - 8118B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $12.00↓
• [A] RHUM JM VSOP - 8419C ($49.99 / 700 ML) - $8.00↓
• [D] CAPTAIN MORGAN BLACK SPICED RUM - 1761B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $8.00↓
• [A] RHUM JM GOLD - 8416C ($32.99 / 700 ML) - $7.00↓
• [D] CRUZAN ESTATE DIAMOND BLACK STRAP RUM - 2403L ($10.49 / 1 Liter) - $6.50↓
• [D] KRAKEN BLACK 70 - 5481B ($9.99 / 750 ML) - $6.00↓
• [D] BACARDI MANGO - 0415B ($8.49 / 750 ML) - $5.50↓
• [A] CLEMENT SELECT BARREL - 2064C ($29.99 / 700 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] CHAIRMANS RESERVE - 1867B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] CHAIRMANS RESERVE FORGOTTEN CASKS - 1871C ($44.99 / 700 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] CHAIRMANS RESERVE SPICED - 1869B ($24.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] CLEMENT VSOP - 2069B ($39.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] RHUM JM WHITE - 8417C ($32.99 / 700 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] TIKI LOVERS DARK RUM - 6855B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] CAPTAIN MORGAN SPICED 100 - 1757M ($7.49 / 375 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] CLAIRIN LE ROCHER - 2177B ($25.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] PLANTATION XAYMACA SPECIAL DRY - 8107B ($13.49 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] PORTAGE RIVER - 8290M ($14.49 / 375 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] BAYOU RUM SILVER - 0572B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] BLUE CHAIR BAY SPICED RUM - 0957B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] FARADAY WEST INDIES RUM - 3254B ($25.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] JUNG & WULFF BARBADOS RUM NO 3 - 3266B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] JUNG & WULFF GUYANA RUM NO 2 - 3267B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] JUNG & WULFF TRINIDAD RUM NO 1 - 3268B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] RHUM J.M. GOLD - 8416B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] SPIRITS OF YELLOW SPRINGS - 9080B ($11.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] KILLBUCK CREEK RUM - 5397B ($12.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] KRAKEN BLACK ROAST COFFEE RUM - 5468B ($12.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] ADMIRAL NELSON SILVER - 0226D ($10.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] BACARDI RESERVA OCHO SHERRY CASK FINISH - 0409B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] CALICO JACK - 1550L ($5.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] SALTWATER WOODY REAL GRAPEFRUIT - 8170B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] SUGAR ISLAND SPICED - 9086B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] CONCIERE GOLD RUM - 2188L ($5.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.20↓
• [D] DRAKES ORGANIC SPICED RUM - 2554B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.08↓
• [D] DRAKE'S ORGANIC WHITE RUM - 2553B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.08↓
• [D] ANGOSTURA WHITE OAK RUM - 1156B ($9.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BACARDI 8 GIFT - 0391B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BRITISH NAVY PUSSERS - 1496L ($16.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] CASTILLO SILVER RUM - 0586B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [A] CLEMENT RHUM BLANC - 2063B ($21.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] MEIERS WHITE - 6442L ($5.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] LADY BLIGH - 5499B ($4.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] LADY BLIGH - 5499M ($4.49 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] FLOR DE CANA GRAND RSV 7 - 3052B ($15.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] ADMIRAL NELSON - 0065L ($5.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [A] APPLETON 8 YEAR OLD RESERVE - 0166B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] APPLETON ESTATE SIGNATURE BLEND - 0099B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] BLACK MAGIC BLACK SPICED RUM - 0532B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] CAPTAIN MORGAN - 1755H ($2.99 / 200 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] KRAKEN BLACK SPICED RUM - 5488D ($29.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] KRAKEN BLACK SPICED RUM - 5488M ($6.49 / 375 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PARROT BAY SPICED RUM - 2596B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] ADMIRAL NELSON - 0065D ($14.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] CAPTAIN MORGAN SLICED APPLE RUM - 9557F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• Price increases
• [D] LIBERTY SPIRITS RUM - 5911B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $2.14↑
• [D] SELVAREY OWNER'S RESERVE - 7070B ($113.99 / 750 ML) - $19.00↑

Scotch

• Price decreases
• [D] HIGHLAND PARK SINGLE CASK SERIES HEART OF IT ALL BARREL - 4297B ($119.99 / 750 ML) - $80.00↓
• [D] CRAIGELLACHIE 13 ARMAGNAC CASK FINISH - 2364B ($38.99 / 750 ML) - $26.00↓
• [A] ARDBEG CORRYVRECKAN - 0106B ($109.99 / 750 ML) - $20.00↓
• [A] ARDBEG UIGEADAIL - 0114B ($74.99 / 750 ML) - $20.00↓
• [A] GLENMORANGIE SIGNET - 3659B ($249.99 / 750 ML) - $16.00↓
• [A] GLENMORANGIE 18 - 3653B ($129.99 / 750 ML) - $10.00↓
• [D] DEWARS 8 FRENCH SMOOTH - 3289B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $10.00↓
• [D] PASSPORT SCOTCH - 7980D ($11.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $7.50↓
• [A] ARDBEG AN OA - 0149B ($59.99 / 750 ML) - $7.00↓
• [D] AUCHENTOSHAN AMERICAN OAK - 0376B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [A] ARDBEG 10 - 0107B ($59.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] SPEYBURN ARRANTA CASK - 8842B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] SPEYBURN COMPANION CASK - 8653B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] IMPERIAL 12 YEAR BLENDED SCOTCH - 2138B ($13.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] SPEYBURN BRADAN ORACH - 9064B ($13.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] BUCHANANS 12 - 1490M ($11.99 / 375 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] GLENMORANGIE SAMPLER - 3650E ($11.99 / 600 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] SIA - 0713B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] JOHN BARR RESERVE BLACK - 5146L ($20.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] X BY GLENMORANGIE - 3700B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] COPPER DOG - 1976B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] CUTTY SARK 12YR BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY - 2471C ($16.49 / 700 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] GLENFIDDICH MANHATTAN RTD - 3588M ($7.99 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] MACALLAN 12 - 6013F ($4.49 / 50 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] MONKEY SHOULDER LAZY OLD FASHION RTD - 6623M ($7.99 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] USHERS GREEN STRIPE - 0206D ($16.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.50↓
• Price increases
• [D] CHIVAS REGAL 12 YEAR OLD - 0215F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↑
• [D] GLENFIDDICH 12 - 3606F ($2.99 / 50 ML) - $2.00↑

Tequila

• New Products
• [A] 21 SEEDS VARIETY PACK - 9897E ($9.99 / 600 ML)
• [S] EL MAYOR CRISTALINO MASTERS COLLECTION - 3271B ($59.99 / 750 ML)
• Price decreases
• [A] CODIGO 1530 ORIGEN EXTRA ANEJO - 1909B ($299.99 / 750 ML) - $50.00↓
• [D] CAZADORES 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY - 1842B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $16.00↓
• [D] ROCA PATRON REPOSADO - 8458M ($22.99 / 375 ML) - $15.00↓
• [D] ROCA PATRON SILVER - 8459M ($19.99 / 375 ML) - $13.00↓
• [D] AGAVALES GOLD - 0038L ($17.99 / 1 Liter) - $11.58↓
• [D] PATRON VARIETY PACK - 7961F ($12.49 / 50 ML) - $8.00↓
• [D] AVION ANEJO - 0372B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] MEZCAL VAGO ESPADIN - 6549B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] NUESTRA SOLEDAD SAN LUIS - 7710B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] VILLA ONE REPOSADO - 8127B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] EL COBRE - 3494B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] LA ADELITA BLANCO - 3460B ($26.99 / 750 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] ROCA PATRON ANEJO 375ML - 8457M ($25.99 / 375 ML) - $4.50↓
• [D] GRAND LEYENDA ORGANIC TEQUILA SILVER - 2791B ($25.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] IXA SILVER - 4929L ($26.49 / 1 Liter) - $4.00↓
• [D] JAJA REPOSADO TEQUILA - 5061B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] SAN DIMAS MEZCAL - 8185B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] TEQUILA TROMBA REPOSADO - 7918B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] TERRALTA BLANCO TEQUILA - 4878B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] CORRALEJO TRIO SAMPLER PACK - 2308E ($10.99 / 600 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] PEPE LOPEZ GOLD - 8063L ($10.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] PEPE LOPEZ SILVER - 8064L ($10.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] PIZCADORES SOTOL SILVER - 8094B ($22.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] SAUZA GOLD - 8723D ($19.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] TALERO TEQUILA SILVER - 7108B ($20.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] TEQUILA TROMBA BLANCO - 7917B ($20.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] CAMARENA TEQUILA ANEJO - 3105B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] CONCIERE GOLD TEQUILA - 2184L ($7.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [A] CANTERA NEGRA ANEJO - 2706M ($29.99 / 375 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] LUNAZUL BLANCO - 6004B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] LUNAZUL BLANCO - 6004D ($38.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $1.00↓
• [A] LUNAZUL REPOSADO - 6005B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] LUNAZUL REPOSADO - 6005D ($38.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $1.00↓
• [D] AVION SILVER - 0374F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.51↓
• Changed products
• [A] ASTRAL ANEJO - 0338B ($29.99 / 750 ML) - Status changed from Special Order to Active
• [A] VOLCAN REPOSADO - 9757B ($63.99 / 750 ML) - Status changed from Special Order to Active

Vodka

• New Products
• [S] GOOD BOY VODKA - 4507L ($21.99 / 1 Liter)
• Price decreases
• [D] EFFEN LIMITED EDITION PRIDE VODKA - 2869L ($14.49 / 1 Liter) - $9.50↓
• [D] EFFEN RASPBERRY - 2898B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $8.00↓
• [D] BORU - 1426D ($11.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $7.99↓
• [D] GREY GOOSE ESSENCES WATERMELON & BASIL - 3928B ($15.99 / 750 ML) - $7.00↓
• [D] ARISTOCRAT VODKA - 0194D ($7.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [D] NIKKA COFFEY VODKA - 7628B ($21.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] BEDLAM VODKA - 0743L ($14.99 / 1 Liter) - $5.00↓
• [D] CHOPIN RYE - 2012B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $5.00↓
• [D] SMIRNOFF PINK LEMONADE - 1679D ($13.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $4.50↓
• [D] CROP MEYER LEMON - 2361B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] EFFEN GREEN APPLE - 2868B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] EFFEN LIMITED EDITION PRIDE VODKA - 2869B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] EFFEN YUZU - 2878B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] PHOENIX PHOENACOLADA - 8095B ($22.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] SOBIESKI ESTATE - 9490B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] STOLICHNAYA CITROS VODKA - 9130B ($10.49 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] KILLBUCK CREEK VODKA - 5398B ($12.99 / 750 ML) - $4.00↓
• [D] ABSOLUT GRAPEFRUIT - 0004D ($20.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] ABSOLUT JUICE PEAR ELDERFLOWER - 0260B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] ABSOLUT JUICE STRAWBERRY - 0258M ($5.49 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] ABSOLUT WATERMELON - 0250D ($20.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] BELVEDERE HERITAGE 176 - 0858B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] CIROC COCONUT - 2050M ($10.99 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] EPIC - 2930B ($3.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] FLOH - 3048B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] GORDONS VODKA TRV - 3783B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] HANSON OF SONOMA MANDARIN VODKA - 3338B ($20.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] KETEL ONE ORANJE - 5385D ($20.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] SEAGRAMS PEACH - 8917B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] SKYY INFUSIONS CHERRY - 9016L ($10.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] SKYY INFUSIONS CIRTUS - 9014L ($10.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] SKYY INFUSIONS PINEAPPLE - 9009L ($10.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] SKYY INFUSIONS WATERMELON - 8925L ($10.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] SMIRNOFF 90 - 9032L ($10.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] STOLI LIME - 6288B ($10.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] STOLICHNAYA - 9135M ($5.49 / 375 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] THREE OLIVES ROSE - 9306B ($8.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] U V BLUE RASPBERRY VODKA - 9371D ($10.49 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.50↓
• [D] U V CHERRY VODKA - 9375B ($5.49 / 750 ML) - $3.50↓
• [D] KAMCHATKA 90 - 5309B ($4.99 / 750 ML) - $3.30↓
• [D] STOLICHNAYA VARIETY PACK - 8974E ($4.99 / 600 ML) - $3.11↓
• [A] DEEP EDDY STRAIGHT VODKA - 2517D ($29.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] ABSOLUT ELYX ICY MARTINI VAP - 1603B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] BASIC VODKA - 0589L ($8.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] BELVEDERE SMOGORY FOREST - 0857B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] CRYSTAL PALACE VODKA - 5004L ($4.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] FINLANDIA BOTANICAL CUCUMBER & MINT - 3010B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] FINLANDIA BOTANICAL WILDBERRY & ROSE - 3045B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] GILBEYS VODKA TRV - 3579B ($4.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] GRAINGERS DELUXE ORGANIC VODKA - 3827L ($8.49 / 1 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] GREY GOOSE CHRRY NOIR - 3906B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] HOTEL TANGO VODKA - 4751B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] MUSCLE VODKA - 6695B ($16.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] NATURAL LIGHT STRAWBERRY LEMONADE VODKA - 5632B ($4.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] NEW AMSTERDAM GLUTEN FREE - 6766B ($8.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] ONE ROQ VODKA - 5852B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] PLATINUM 10X VODKA - 8824B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] SMIRNOFF 90 - 9032M ($4.99 / 375 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] SQUARE ONE - 9070B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] SQUARE ONE CUCUMBER - 9069B ($19.49 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] SVEDKA CITRON - 9163L ($8.99 / 1 Liter) - $3.00↓
• [D] THREE OLIVES PINEAPPLE - 9285B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] THREE OLIVES PINK GRAPEFRUIT - 9286B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] TRULY PINEAPPLE MANGO - 4330B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] TRULY STRAWBERRY LEMONADE FLAVORED VODKA - 4332B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] TRULY WILD BERRY FLAVORD VODKA - 4334B ($8.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] V ONE VODKA - 9477B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] WESTERN SON RASPBERRY VODKA - 8783B ($9.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [A] ABSOLUT COLORS - 0079B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $3.00↓
• [D] GEORGI GREEN APPLE VODKA - 8594L ($4.99 / 1 Liter) - $2.98↓
• [D] BASIC VODKA - 0589B ($7.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] BELVEDERE ORGANICS PEAR AND GINGER - 0821B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] HANGAR ONE - 3971B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] HANGAR ONE ROSE VODKA - 3970B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] PARAMOUNT ORANGE - 7728L ($7.49 / 1 Liter) - $2.50↓
• [D] PINNACLE 100 - 8252B ($8.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] REYKA RHUBARB COSMOPOLITAN RTD - 8465M ($7.99 / 375 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SMIRNOFF CRANBERRY - 9025B ($7.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SMIRNOFF SOURS GREEN APPLE - 8946B ($7.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SMITHWORKS VODKA - 8874B ($7.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SVEDKA CITRON VODKA - 9163B ($7.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SVEDKA CLEMENTINE - 9165B ($7.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SVEDKA PURE INFUSION DRAGONFRUIT MELON - 6284B ($7.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SVEDKA PURE INFUSION GINGER LIME - 6285B ($7.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] SVEDKA RASPBERRY VODKA - 9161B ($7.99 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [D] WHITE DIAMOND VODKA - 9565B ($8.49 / 750 ML) - $2.50↓
• [A] BROKEN SHED VODKA - 1584B ($19.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] BURNETTS RASPBERRY - 1527B ($4.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] NEW AMSTERDAM - 6718D ($19.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] NEW AMSTERDAM GRAPEFRUIT - 6701B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] NEW AMSTERDAM ORANGE - 6721B ($6.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] NEW AMSTERDAM PEACH - 6719D ($19.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [A] NEW AMSTERDAM PINEAPPLE - 6722D ($19.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] NEW AMSTERDAM PINEAPPLE - 6722M ($3.49 / 375 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] OCEAN ORGANIC VODKA - 6741F ($2.99 / 50 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] PINNACLE CHERRY - 8244D ($17.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] PINNACLE CITRUS - 8238B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PINNACLE LEMONADE LTO - 8101B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PINNACLE PEACH - 8259B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PINNACLE RASPBERRY - 8245B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] PINNACLE TROPICAL PUNCH - 8251B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] PINNACLE VODKA - 8243D ($17.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [A] PINNACLE WHIPPED - 8253D ($17.99 / 1.75 Liter) - $2.00↓
• [D] U V BLUE RASPBERRY VODKA - 9371B ($5.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [A] VOLTAGE PINK LEMONADE VODKA - 9427B ($17.99 / 750 ML) - $2.00↓
• [D] KAMCHATKA 90 - 5309M ($2.99 / 375 ML) - $1.50↓
• [D] SOBIESKI - 9046H ($2.49 / 200 ML) - $1.50↓
• [D] PRAIRIE CUCUMBER - 8310B ($10.99 / 750 ML) - $1.17↓
• [D] KORSKI - 5490B ($4.49 / 750 ML) - $1.02↓
• [D] NEW AMSTERDAM RED BERRY - 6715H ($1.99 / 200 ML) - $1.00↓
• [D] GORDONS VODKA - 5018L ($6.99 / 1 Liter) - $1.00↓
• [A] NEW AMSTERDAM - 6718B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] NEW AMSTERDAM PEACH - 6719B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [A] NEW AMSTERDAM PINK WHITNEY - 6765B ($11.99 / 750 ML) - $1.00↓
• [D] KETEL ONE BOTANICAL CUCUMBER & MINT - 5376F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.51↓
• [D] KETEL ONE BOTANICAL GRAPEFRUIT & ROSE - 5375F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.51↓
• [D] DEEP EDDY STRAIGHT VODKA - 2517F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.50↓
• [D] DEEP EDDY RUBY RED VODKA - 2526F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.50↓
• [D] VAN GOGH DESSERT EXPRESSIONS SAMPLER 4 PACK 50ML - 9459E ($2.49 / 600 ML) - $0.50↓
• [D] VAN GOGH FRUIT EXPRESSIONS SAMPLER 4 PACK 50ML - 9456E ($2.49 / 600 ML) - $0.50↓
• [D] ABSOLUT JUICE PEAR ELDERFLOWER - 0260F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• [D] ABSOLUT JUICE STRAWBERRY - 0258F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• [D] SVEDKA BLUE RASPBERRY 50ML - 8867F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• [D] TRULY PINEAPPLE MANGO VODKA - 4330F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• [D] TRULY STRAWBERRY LEMONADE VODKA - 4332F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• [D] TRULY WILD BERRY VODKA - 4334F ($0.99 / 50 ML) - $0.01↓
• Price increases
• [D] BURNETTS WHIPPED - 1540B ($4.99 / 750 ML) - $0.50↑
• [D] STOLICHNAYA - 9135F ($1.49 / 50 ML) - $0.50↑
• [D] HANGAR ONE KAFFIR LIME - 3975B ($16.49 / 750 ML) - $5.12↑
• [D] LIBERTY SPIRITS POTATO VODKA - 6155B ($14.99 / 750 ML) - $6.00↑
• Changed products
• [D] HIGH ROCK VODKA - 3325B ($23.99 / 750 ML) - Status changed from Special Order to De-Listed
• [D] TITOS HANDMADE VODKA SLIM BOTTLE - 1683D ($45.61 / 1.75 Liter) - Status changed from Active to De-Listed