I just read a little about the numbers stations and quite often there were clues to the origin and clues that some sources might have been moved. But why with all the hobby-numbers stations-hunters out there can't the sources be found?
Chapter One
Lieutenant Erdni Freyanna sat down at her gunnery station on the bridge of the picket ship camouflaged just outside the atmosphere of a planet called ‘Terra'. The Sergeant that she'd relieved had the cameras positioned on a developing situation in the east of a continent called 'Europe', but nearly as soon as she’d left, Erdni was hard at work repositioning the camera to the mountainous regions of the center of Asia.
Being a gunnery officer on a surveillance ship assigned to watch without interfering above a remote world felt like the most boring job on its best days. At its worst, it was utterly mind numbing.
When she’d signed on to the planetary reconnaissance unit, she'd hoped to make first contact with a previously unknown species - or at least meet a cute guy or two.
But of course she couldn’t be that lucky. Instead, her career had positioned her above a backwater world, watching the primitive people that lived there through her cameras. These primates displayed no sign of the technological advances the Galactic Accords required in order to make first contact.
Her one respite from the boring hours was watching the team of human fighters stationed at an outpost in a nation called ‘Tajikistan’. The antics the men got up to as a result of their boredom mirrored her own desires to let loose, but as the third officer on a small starship, she had to maintain decorum.
She couldn’t help but to grow attached to them after watching them win firefight after firefight without so much as scratches. She recalled how she could barely stifle her laughter when she saw their base attacked once upon a time ago.
One of the men burst out of his tent, clad in body armor, and a pair of highly indecent shorts, carrying a massive gun to the wall of the compound. The sight from her cameras was just too funny - how could a race of sexy space hunks like this be so violent!
Her attachment only grew when she witnessed their leader working out on a strange contraption; he repeatedly pushed a metal bar which held three metal disks on each end above his chest. Yet, Terran men were of utterly opposite physiques compared to the men of her own species. Men of her species kept an objectively fragile appearance.
Over the past few weeks since she found the unit, she became privy to the analyses the translators on her screen provided of their conversations over the radio. She was especially attentive to the fighters’ reactions to a small attack on their post and their
... keep reading on reddit ➡Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 1,379,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
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...................................
(Part 001)
...
Dozens of troopers rush to Cassiel's residence. They swarm around the exterior and sweep the perimeter, but nobody finds any indication of the Emperor of Chaos's presence. As if having stepped through time and space, he vanishes, never appearing on anyone's sensors.
Phoebe holds Cassiel in her arms while the angel quietly shakes and trembles, too petrified to move a muscle. Phoebe hastily cleans up the disgusting saliva left on her face, all while rage-filled thoughts boil in her mind.
"I won't leave you. Don't worry, I'm here for you, Cassiel. Just stay calm, take deep breaths..."
As Phoebe consoles the broken woman, Jason storms outside and grabs the nearest trooper.
"Well?! Where is he?! Don't give me that shit! You find that cocksucker! Shut down the portal and trap the motherfucker here! I'll kill him myself if I have to!"
The Wordsmith exhales so hard that his nostrils flare up and his eyes turn bloodshot. Even as the trooper stammers out several apologies, Jason continues ranting.
"How did he get here unseen, anyway?! I fully upgraded and reinforced the Core's security and scanning protocols to ensure this wouldn't happen! What, did he fall out of the fucking sky?!"
"I-I'm sorry, sir," The troopers says. "We don't know how Gressil made it past our barriers. Since he can use illusion magic, and he has some sort of teleporting ability, we think he might have-"
"I don't want you to goddamn think about what he did, I want you to make sure this doesn't
... keep reading on reddit ➡"We're just getting the footage now," Laura said.
"Tom Rears is covering this story as it is developing. We're going over to him," her partner, Kelly, added.
"Welcome back everyone, I'm currently at the Earth Orbit Station. There's been some interesting developments on Luna, as it turns out the rumors we've been getting whispers of may be more than such."
The camera changed over to footage from the station observing the entrance to a lava tube underneath the lunar surface. A diagram of Luna appeared, showing that the tube was a few miles away from the main access tunnels of Las Lunes. A few green lines showed speculated routes through the rock based off of tunnels that were guarded with military personnel.
Then it refocused back onto the tube again. A large mass emerged from the entrance. It was mostly black except for the letters 'UHF Grave Digger' which was clearly visible on its hull. Ten thick railguns were visible on the ship, along with hundreds of more traditional weapon systems. A single thruster out of nine burned at the back of the ship, slowly accelerating it away from the moon.
"That's definitely a ship," Tom said softly. He had the camera show a scale next to the ship. It took a few seconds to triangulate the distances, but then it appeared. The ship was 700 feet long, 160 feet wide, and about 150 feet deep in its thickest and longest parts. But it was smooth and angular, showcasing a brutal coldness that Tom understood immediately. This was a tool. A force projector.
The ship slowly floated out of Luna, turning with unseen methods. There seemed to be a twist around the ship, bending the light in impossible ways. Then it was gone.
"Well, folks, humanity's got some new defenses," Tom said.
"What would be the capabilities of this type of military vessel?"
"Well, guessing from its visible weaponry and current known military technology, I'd say that ship would be able to take on a few ships with some protection. It would depend on which ships are being fought. It is strange that it is alone, though. That looks like a carrier, or some similarly valuable military asset. Usually a force of destroyers and battleships would accompan
... keep reading on reddit ➡"We're detecting highly increased levels of neutrino readings," a woman said.
"What's that, Kate?" a man asked.
"Did you check the instruments?" his colleague added. "Maybe the atmosphere's messing with the equipment. When's the last time it was cleaned?" Vutra, another scientist, added.
"Yesterday. I reset all the instruments and checked the data again. At 24:10, there was an unexplained burst of neutrinos from the Asteroid Belt."
"Near midnight, then. Sure it's not an FTL drive of some kind then?"
"Those make photon and graviton waves, not neutrinos. This was something else. Do I have permission to contact the other stations to see if they got the same readings?"
The scientist's tablet pinged with a new message. "Open it," Vutra said.
She obliged. An audio file played out. "We're getting strange neutrino readings from the Asteroid Belt, have you guys also experienced this? If so, call me back as soon as possible so we can get other labs on board, triangulate these things, and prepare a report for the MDC science division."
Kate sighed. "Believe me now?"
Harry and Vutra nodded. "Let's see if they're getting this, too."
"We should contact the science division about this immediately," Henry said. "I'll go send the call."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Ynell'ser's mandibles were being brushed by his favorite Rank 2 engineer. The dust of Earth's air seemed to build up over time in the fine hair on them. Nyli'men smiled. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes, I'm just quite stressed. I'm beginning to think that the humans and Gaia weren't completely forward with their motives."
"Completely? Certainly not. Their movies are full of scheming politicians, and surely that idea didn't pop up out of the ground somewhere. But yes, I suspect there is more to them than we think."
A notification popped up and Ynell'ser swiped at it. "Rank 4, we have detected a speeding space beacon exiting the system."
Ynell'ser sat up and quickly brushed the excess dust off of his clothes. He cleaned his eyes and placed his forearms in a presentable position. Nyli'men moved out of the vision of the de
... keep reading on reddit ➡“Turning the radio-dishes 5.42 degrees north,” Gamma rumbled to herself, typing what she rumbled into her logbook on her computer.
Radio telescope scanning was in progress like clockwork. Every night when the airplanes had grounded, the night sky would be clear of electromagnetic pollution. Pollution of any sorts was quite common on this world, it seemed like second nature to Thetans to pollute. They certainly never gave any second thought to it. Activists would speak out on its effects on our world, especially the detrimental effects on the ecosystem. However, no one listened. No one cared.
“Found anything interesting?” Xi said from behind Gamma.
“Huh? Is that you Xi?” said Gamma, surprised.
“Did I spook ya?”
“Sorry, I was just lost in thoughts. I have been at this for hours at end. Nothing anomalous to report… as always,” she said.
“You know, you don’t have to be at your station the whole night. I certainly am not. The computer program works quite well on its own. I check on my computer just once every couple of hours, to check if the computer picked anything up.”
“That’s just not how I like to do it… There is just something about the repetitiveness of the job. It just makes me delve deep into my thoughts and fantasize about all these amazing worlds. I mean, I just love imagining alien worlds with all sorts of possible alien life… even intelligent alien life,” The last bit of what Gamma said, made Xi laugh loudly.
“Intelligent alien life,” Xi mimicked. “Hah! There’s no such thing, and you know that perfectly well!” Xi said amused. “I mean, we are clearly in the middle of our universe. There is nothing in our small galaxy, but us, and there is no other galaxy but ours. This small galaxy is all there is in our universe.” He explained.
“I know,” Gamma acknowledged. “I just wish there were. How wonderful that would be,” Gamma said with a sparkle in her eye.
“Well,” Xi said as he checked his clock, bored of the conversation already. “It’s been about an hour or so since I last checked my computer. I’ll be back in the office television room in,” he checked his clock again. “Five minutes,” he said, then laughed and left for his cubicle, which was only a couple cubicles away from Gamma’s.
Gamma looked back at her computer screen, which showed the output of the five out of thirty radio dishes in her area that she had control of. A steady stream of static was flowing across the screen, with the occasional spike whenever the dishes pointed at a star.
“
... keep reading on reddit ➡*Author's note: One-off-ff. Will be editing it as all the spelinge errors become easy to spot by the simple action of posting this.*
The message the beacons in the nebula repeatedly transmitted had warned Undriat. The message was transmitted over multiple frequencies and in many languages. It stated the huge field of dust and debris slowly circling the strangely pulsing star was not to be disturbed, for humanity considered it a resting place of their dead. Travelers and those who respected it were welcome, but any who plundered it, or desecrated it would bring upon themselves the full wrath of humanity.
Undriat was a scavenger. Scavengers did not fear the dead. Undriat most certainly did not fear any species that literally transmitted to the universe where its valuable artifacts could be found. Undriat silenced the repeating message as he piloted his ship, the Devious Child of Unknown Parentage toward the object his scanners had located in the slowly moving clouds of dust.
Besides, Undriat reasoned, he would be long gone from those vast clouds of erratically swirling dust lit by the strangely flickering star, and anything he might have found would be long-gone, too, before any human would know. The sensors on Undriat's ship had found little, but what they did find was intriguing. The scraps humanity left discarded in the universe were few and far between, but they were always in decent shape. The artifact he had found floating in the vast field of pulverized matter was not only in good shape, it still seemed to function.
Unlike other builders of the strange and curious, humanity always seemed to make plain where energy should enter their handiwork. Unfortunately they were a bit more opaque concerning the exits. It was as if all of humanity simply understood its creations by the simple fact of being human.
Fortunately humanity was also very helpful in that they let practically any species access their world's knowledge base. A quick search of it had proven useful. A document from their historical record had revealed the object to be an archaic and failed attempt to create a different form of ship propulsion. The article contained a few links to the section concerning astronomy but astronomy never interested Undriat. That stars existed was the most Undriat cared about the structure of the universe.
From the little bit of information Undriat found, along with decoding the symbols embossed into the metal surrounding the energy interfac
... keep reading on reddit ➡I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
I guess the concept didn't work
Hoping I can get some help tracking a signal.
On 11/4 I noticed an automated signal had popped up on a 2m simplex freq (147.455 MHz) and has been running since. It's been picked up from Greenville SC to Cheraw SC and Ashville NC to Columbia SC. For reference, it's about a 3 hour drive from Greenville to Cheraw.
I'm currently just north of Kershaw, SC, about an hour south of Charlotte, NC.
The signal sounds like Morse, but it has an aberrant cadence and includes dot/dash combos that are not found in American Morse code. It doesn't seem to have any discernably repeating pattern. After every seeming CW letter there's a kerchunk like a repeater tx closing. Online I find no 2m beacons above 144.xxx and no repeaters on this freq. The signal has a very wide bandwidth.
Here's a link to the audio file on google drive. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l88BO4wetOJz8nKgb7GbVS2H4krB9BE9/view?usp=sharing
I'm picking up the same signal elsewhere too. I've found it simultaneously broadcasting on other freq in 2m (146.005, 146.665, 147.565(?), 147.590, 148.865, 149.295, 149.720, 150.8825, 151.5575) and in mid Nov picked it up on 10m at 28.565, though I haven't found it there for a couple of weeks. I can't be sure if the 2m frequencies are additional tx or harmonics. The 10m signal was a big jump for harmonics spaced so close together.
I connected my radio into Fldigi and I got three simultaneous signals in the waterfall at 800hz (strongest), 1600hz, and 2400hz (weakest). They wander a bit, but stay pretty tight to those spots. The waterfall tracings for the three columns are simultaneous, but not uniform to each other.
Someone asked about the same signal at the same freq (147.455) on another reddit post. Has been picked up in Greenville SC, Cheraw SC, Columbia/Lexington SC, and Ashville NC. That's a 2m signal covering hundreds of square miles. That shouldn't be possible. https://www.reddit.com/r/signalidentification/comments/r856eb/i_found_this_centered_around_147450_and_147455/
He said he got a bearing of 60 degrees from Greenville. A station in Spartanburg, SC also picked up the signal weakly at 147.455 from a 9e yagi on a 100' tower bearing about 60 deg. Both lines point just NW of Charlotte, but as they're from the same direction that really doesn't
... keep reading on reddit ➡(This chapter has been edited from its original condition to better fit the rest of the narrative)
Alrighty, time to get into the meat and mushrooms of this story. From this point on its no holds barred, give me your feedback, it can only help me nail down my own writing style. This is however my first venture into this kind of field, so I hope I am doing it justice. If you have any questions, I will strive to answer them in the comments below. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this tale.
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CHAPTER 1
Damsel in Distress
"NEIRDITH!! GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT OF BED AND TO THE MONITORING STATION NOW!!"
Neirdith jolted awake and let out a groan as she rolled onto her side not wanting to get up but knowing the consequences for disobeying a direct order from Captain Filch. Sitting up tiredly and flicking her tail in annoyance, she pushed the intercom button by the head panel of her bunk and stated with more energy than she felt "I'm on my way Captain."
"You had better be quick!" Captain Filch says angrily over the grainy speaker, "You are late for your shift again and I am getting tired of your lack of motivation. How would you like to stay and cover the rest of Seth's shift to make up for the lost time?"
Neirdith didn't bother to answer him knowing full well that the 'question' was rhetorical. She got up fully out of her bunk grumbling to herself as she stepped to her small and somewhat limited bathroom. Little more than a cubby with a multispecies toilet, sink and mirror she looked at herself in the mirror and took in the slightly paler skin on her normally pink face and frowned in annoyance at her rather disheveled hair tangled around her swept back horns. Running some very cold water she splashed it on her face before standing straight, combing her hair quickly, she was careful to tease out any small knots. After settling her hair into a semblance of form she turned and got dressed in her drab gray work overalls and opened her door to head off to another day's work.
As she stepped down the plain metal hallway towards the monitoring room she again thought about what led her to this point, sure she hadn't paid the most attention in school as a young girl but she had done better than her
... keep reading on reddit ➡The trio of ships gets together and begins their deployment in earnest. But naturally several things come up.
So many chapters ago someone mentioned that frigates are smaller than destroyers. I could break the fourth wall and say the idiot author goofed, but I think I've got an in-universe explanation that works.
Next chapter is probably going to be out Thursday/Friday.
A Terran Space Story: Academy Days
Chapter 112: Wolfpack Kick-Ass
39 Hours Later. 02:00 Martian Slipstream Transit Point
Three corvettes sped through the void toward the traffic lanes between Mars and her designated slipstream transit location. It was a point two million kilometers from the Martian L2 Lagrange point. The corvettes then split and headed toward different ships.
The Memphis headed toward a pair of mining vessels. The Las Palmas and Winnipeg were heading toward freighters. The respective ships closed in, scanned the vessels, and either moved or flag them for inspection. When all nearby ships had been scanned they came back together and flew in formation.
All sorts of drills had been run to get three crews of cadets to work with one another. There was still a long list of items the crews had to go through before their wolfpack training had been completed. John was reviewing the list and was trying to determine the most efficient way of completing all of the items.
“That’s one more item completed sir,” Rich said.
“That it is, please send a message to our sister ships. I’m working on the remaining list of drills each shift has to run.”
“Will do sir, any change in course?”
John paused on his list and looked at the tactical map, “That’s a negative, keep us pointed in the same direction.”
John spent about five minutes working on the first shift’s list of drills to run over the next five days. The other two shifts were included in his final message to the sister ships but the commanders during those shifts could choose to run different drills if they wanted to.
“Rich, please send out that list for me,”
“Will do,” Rich said as he keyed in some things at his terminal to send the message to the other ships, “Sir, mind if I ask you a question.”
“Hit me,” John
... keep reading on reddit ➡---------------------------------------------------------------
They ate in silence. Gabriel tried his best to understand why she was so impacted by what he had said but failed and accepted that their evening had just become a lot quieter. Eventually they finished looking for a place to sleep, he asked for a room to stay the night.
They were led into the basement, which revealed itself to be a series of rooms connected by tunnels that dwarved the upper side of the inn. The waitress showed them the way to a modest room with two beds and a bathroom. He got a weird feeling about the whole place after they were neither asked to pay for their food nor got to decide their room. His suspicion was dissolved once he checked the hallway and a bodyguard smiled at him. They must’ve payed their tab and chosen a room for them.
He offered Zuski to play terret with him and tried to get a conversation going but she blocked his attempts to soften the mood, leaving him no option but to call it a day.
The next morning was more of the same but less intense. Gabriel got a good morning, followed by sparse commentary about the city on their way back. Walking through the busy streets with more time to focus on the individual experiences was quite nice in it’s own way.
When they arrived back in the control room Tac was already hard at work shouting orders around the room, while seeming to have endless conversations at the same time. He walked up to her happy that she had come out of her shell.
“I see you’re in your element.”
She answered as he was in the middle of his last word: “Before you commit to this chitchat ask yourself if it’s worth breaking my workflow.”
He might’ve been offended by a reaction like that out of context but she received some leeway with him: “I wanna know how you’re doing.”
She stopped in her tracks and waved the personnel around her away to give them some personal space: “I don’t know where to start but how in the hell did a glorified gas station develop such a bad case of bureaucratic paralysis. You’ll need to sign off on a bunch of changes once I’m done dealing with the essentials. Speaking of, did you ever even consider that the militia served an integral part in the safety of the city as a police force. Killing them without a
... keep reading on reddit ➡Dozens of troopers rush to Cassiel's residence. They swarm around the exterior and sweep the perimeter, but nobody finds any indication of the Emperor of Chaos's presence. As if having stepped through time and space, he vanishes, never appearing on anyone's sensors.
Phoebe holds Cassiel in her arms while the angel quietly shakes and trembles, too petrified to move a muscle. Phoebe hastily cleans up the disgusting saliva left on her face, all while rage-filled thoughts boil in her mind.
"I won't leave you. Don't worry, I'm here for you, Cassiel. Just stay calm, take deep breaths..."
As Phoebe consoles the broken woman, Jason storms outside and grabs the nearest trooper.
"Well?! Where is he?! Don't give me that shit! You find that cocksucker! Shut down the portal and trap the motherfucker here! I'll kill him myself if I have to!"
The Wordsmith exhales so hard that his nostrils flare up and his eyes turn bloodshot. Even as the trooper stammers out several apologies, Jason continues ranting.
"How did he get here unseen, anyway?! I fully upgraded and reinforced the Core's security and scanning protocols to ensure this wouldn't happen! What, did he fall out of the fucking sky?!"
"I-I'm sorry, sir," The troopers says. "We don't know how Gressil made it past our barriers. Since he can use illusion magic, and he has some sort of teleporting ability, we think he might have-"
"I don't want you to goddamn think about what he did, I want you to make sure this doesn't happen again!" Jason roars. "What if he'd gone after Phoebe, or Hope, or even me?! Hell, if he can get past the Core, he could go anywhere in our defensive line! We can't just sit here and-"
Before Jason can continue any longer, a hand grabs onto his shoulder and forcefully spins him around. Jason scowls when he finds himself face-to-face with Belial.
"Alright, Jason. Simmer down. Stop blowing your top at this poor guy." Belial says, frowning at him. "It's not his fault."
Jason inhales and exhales several times before pushing Belial's hand away. He shoots a glare at the trooper, but then softens his expression.
"You're right. Sorry! Never mind. Keep looking for him, and let me know if you find anything."
The trooper nods hastily. "Y-yes, sir!"
He leaves Jason alone to rant at Belial.
"I didn't realize- I didn't think he could just wander in through the front fucking door." Jason growls. "This is absurd, absolutely god-damned absurd! How the hell are we supposed to deal with an illusory, te
... keep reading on reddit ➡