‘80s, ‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s, ‘20s.

I have been laying on the floor of my room for coupple days.

Thinking about pink soap. Mixed in vials.

There was three houseflies buzzing around my room. Two of them died. One is still alive. I can't remember the moment when a creature like that inspired me to write a song, inspired me to spark an emotion of rebel inside me. But this time it did. I got inspired by bandito Louis Tomlinson - Kill my mind melodically. Then I got inspired by this one little housefly.

The contrast is huge. I lay on the floor like a zombie, representing death. But now I thought that if I represent death, what this fly represents? It is alive. There is life and death in this room. And I have power to kill us both, myself and the fly. And I also have power to keep us both alive. It is my choice. So here it is, my first song I wrote for a fly ever.

I like contrasts in songs so I wanted this melody be something similar to kill my mind. Not slow piano song. And I kind of wanted to scream these words rather than sing them calmly. Hope you appreciate it and imagine it to be fast tempo and screaming like in kill my mind, rather than accept it as a slow song. This song means a lot for me. This is my escape song, this is my rebel song. Stay alive. Edit 2. : I just feel like fast tempo of this song is really important to me. It really is.

Never wrote a song for a fly. Edit: my favorite lyric is : "tissues all around, believe me, it was just a flu"

Together

A housefly

woke me up by

landing on my nose

it's all you could see

I am covered on tissues

from head to my wet shoes

I sit up as the fly woke me

tissues all around, believe me

it was just a flu

I'm not better than you

but I have option to kill you

and you don't

think about it (I could kill you)

I think about how the world spins (but you can't me)

You are an elephant in the room of my mind

You are an elephant in the room of my mind

Fell asleep again, you are distracting

you describe all I disgust

and all I desire, fuck it

I'm in between, I say even I know instead

you take me to high and down

because you are alive

I'm not better than you

but I have option to kill you

and you don't

think about it (I could kill you)

I think about how the world spins (but you can't me)

You are an elephant in the room of my mind

You are an elephant in the room of my mind

And tonight you change my mind

tonight taste of your dirt changes my mind

because I'm far more close to death than you

and in all your nat

TL;DR: Vote here: http://www.kuilin.net/evex

Welcome to our newest weekly rule addition vote. Hope you're all ready to go. Vote for one or more options. Anything you like and would be okay seeing win, go ahead and check it off. You also have the option to vote for no new rule changes.

Suggestion to everyone reading this: upvote the rule suggestion and voting threads for visibility - some people only see the subreddit through their front page so they miss the stickied posts.

###Top Rule Suggestions

Attention: The ranked choice ballot has a character limit. As a workaround, each rule suggestion has a shorthand version that appears on the ballot. See below table for details.

###Referendums

• Change the EVEX theme to Naut (Pushed to vote by the President)

###Rule Repeals We have a new process for removing rules per Referendum 41.

• No Rule Repeals this week.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a rule suggestion this week.

As with previous weeks, we're using our own EVEX voting app to handle your votes. I can assure you that no third parties will get any of your reddit account data and you can see what the app needs to function before you approve it. This process works like any 3rd party Android or iOS app.

TL;DR: Vote here: http://www.kuilin.net/evex

Imagine you had to change your identity completely. What would you do? Where would you move? What job would you start doing? What hobbies would you pick? Does the idea excite or scare you?

Post your essays as comments to this thread!

Length requirements:
Absolute beginner: ~50 words.
Bit further along: 150 words.
Intermediate: 150-300 words.
So you think you can write?: 300-800.
Masters of the Universe: over 800 words.

Remember that you can also read other people's essays in languages you know, and discussing the essays is greatly encouraged! However, try to refrain from pointing out mistakes if it's not explicitly asked for.

^(Topic modified from http://www.learnlangs.com/resources/topics)

Hey everyone. Your vote results are in. The winner is ...

It's a tie! Your tied suggestions are:

• Ban peas
• Ban posts about sports

Vote here to break the tie: http://www.kuilin.net/evex/

###Weekly Rule Results

* Tie for elimination broken by random selection

###Referendum: Change EVEX theme to naut

• Yes - 8 votes (44.44%)
  

• No - 10 votes (55.56%)  
  

Total: 18 votes among 18 voters

###Result: Referendum Fails

###Rule Repeals

We have a new process for removing rules per Referendum 41.

• No Rule Repeals this week.

TL;DR: We have tie, break the tie here: http://www.kuilin.net/evex/ Referendum fails. No rule repeals this week.

This is our weekly suggestion thread. This post will remain open until Friday when the voting thread goes up. The top 5 upvoted suggestions here by then will be taken and put into an official poll for voting on over the weekend. The winning rule goes into effect on Monday. Make sure to read the guidelines below and make sure your suggestion is as specific as possible. Suggestions are taken as written from here and interpreted literally.

Our next vote will be this weekend. Post your suggestions of what should be on the ballot here. Upvote the ones you think are a good idea. ###Guidelines - Your suggestion MUST follow these

1. No banning of anything required for smooth operation of the subreddit (e.g. modposts, voting threads, etc)
2. No bans that would stifle people's voice in how this sub should be run (e.g. no banning suggestion threads)
3. Ban suggestions may only be to ban types of posts or certain topics (e.g. you cannot ban moderators or stop us from enforcing rules)
4. Whether a ban/new rule suggestion is valid is ultimately up to the mods. No complaining.
5. Be specific about what you're really trying to ban (e.g. don't suggest banning all images instead consider banning cat images). "Exploitables" are different than generic "memes". Image Macros are what most people are actually thinking of when they say "meme".
6. You don't have to suggest a ban. Your suggestion can be a new rule (e.g. marking NSFW posts as such) but new rules must not interfere with the operation of this subreddit or go against reddit site-wide rules.
7. No suggestions that remove old rules will be considered (this can be done with a referendum).
8. Suggestions in this thread are only for content-related rules. Procedural rules are created via referendums. The wiki also gives examples of each type of vote if you need further clarification.

Banned Rule Suggestions

The following rule suggestions are banned by previous rules. Unlike the Guidelines, you can repeal these with a Repeal post if you don't like them.

30. Rules that have been repealed in the past three weeks
31. [Rule suggestions that swap a word or phrase with another](https://www.reddit.com/r/EVEX/comments/3hafco/thi

https://booknest.eu/reviews/charles/2352-whengravityfails

4.5/5

WHEN GRAVITY FAILS by George Alec Effinger is one of the seminal works of science fiction but, sadly, has fallen out of reading order for a lot of modern fans. Which is a sham because it does belong there with Neuromancer, Snow Crash, Hardwired, and Synners. It still has a lot of respect but is something that should probably come up more. It is dark, gritty, imaginative, and presents a vision of the future that not only remains internally consistent but socially relevant. Has it aged 100% well? Not entirely, no, but better than a lot of other fiction from the Eighties.

The premise is that in an undisclosed period of time both the United States and Soviet Union have fallen into competing states as the Cold War didn't turn hot but both economies collapsed. So, the book is half right. Instead, the Middle East rather than China or Japan has risen to become the dominant power in the world alongside a united Europe. None of this particularly matters, though, because the world for our protagonist begins and end with the Budayeen.

The Budayeen is the Red Light District in an unnamed city somewhere in the Levant. I'm going to guess it's in Syria, possibly Damascus, but it's a bit like trying to guess where Springfield is. The Budayeen is full of cybernetically modified sex workers, many of whom are trans, and caters to every possible impulse. Whether sex, drugs, or cybernetic modifications. George Alec Effinger supposedly incorporated many elements of the French Quarter into his book and I have to wonder whether it was different in the Seventies since it is like a much seedier Mos Eisley.

The protagonist is Marid Audran, a self-described small-time hustler who is quite content with his life of grifting and drug use. He has a part-time girlfriend names Yasmin, one of the trans sex workers, and generally has managed to stay on everyone's good side by acting as a neutral party during business deals. This goes out the window when another associate of his, Nikki, stiffs him on a deal he negotiated to buy out her contract. Right after his latest employer, a Russian politician, is killed right in front of him by a guy modded to be James Bond. Believe me, that's the least strange element of Marid's adventures. By the end, he'll have dealt with everything from international intrigue to alleged serial killers.

The Budayeen is one of those fiction

[first] [prev] [next]

According to my research, the most common cause of death for spies is due to direct kinetic action.

Having studied modern spycraft, I have come to the conclusion that to engage in direct kinetic action is taking the risk that your opponent is more highly skilled, through cybernetics, natural evolutionary gifts, bioware, or just plain willingness to drive through injury and pain.

This should be the reason that all options should be examined while engaged in espionage activities.

--Ba'ahn Ya'ahrd, Lanaktallan Unified Executor Council, Espionage Division, Senior Most High Agent

The office was comfortably lit by outside light. The smartglass windows were opaque to anyone on the outside, reflecting any known wavelengths back into the office, preventing the interior from being shown, while letting in warm sunlight from outside. The windows vibrated slightly at a high frequency to prevent laser microphones from listening in as an extra little bonus. The windows even enhanced incoming light so that the light of the two moons at night made the office nice and cozy.

The office was comfortably appointed. The massive desk that doubled as secure workstation, several flat 2.5D screens on the walls, artwork, three holotank projectors, and nearly a dozen comfortable chairs on the side. The carpet was thick and rich, comfortable to walk on in shoes or bare foot pads. The lights were cunningly hidden in case the occupant didn't want to use the ambient nanite light.

It was late, past working time for most people. A glance out the windows showed that the majority of the taller buildings, rarely over 15 stories, were dark or just running maintenance and standby lighting. The streets were largely empty, the vehicles from the rush home after work already safely parked in garages and recharging.

The office only held four people.

Two non-descript security agents stood against the wall on either side of the door, dressed in government standard suits, their hands folded and at their waists, mirrorshades hiding their eyes, and a visible earpiece as well as their datalink.

Another Telkan sat in a chair in front of the desk. He was the type of person that was easily overlooked, forgotten about e

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 1,356,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:

What is the Cryopod to Hell?

Join the Cryoverse Discord server!

Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!

Want to stay up to date on TCTH? Subscribe to Cryopodbot!

...................................

(Previous Part)

(Part 001)

...

Muuxunuu issues a declaration that silences the room.

"The First and Second Founders have arrived."

Immediately, all conversations stop. Every Volgrim present flicks their eyes or their psionic senses around, trying to be the first to catch a glimpse of the most revered Volgrim in their entire species' history.

The war hero who crushed the tyrant despots of the Old Volgrim Empire.

The genius who shut down the ancient Sentinels, saving his species from extinction.

The great leader who created the legendary tome known as Order to Chaos.

This single Volgrim, despite lacking the psionic power of the Second Founder, the scientific knowledge of the Third Founder, the technological mastery of the Fourth Founder, or the raw physical strength of the Fifth Founder, still holds more political sway and awe than all of them combined.

So influential and renowned is Founder Unarin that even those who have spoken to him regularly still feel a sense of awe and deep respect in his presence.

As the crowd searches frantically for Unarin, two figures pop into existence without fanfare, directly in the middle of the Founder's Eye. Unarin and Dosena instantly appear without making a sound, yet Dosena's incredible psionic emanations cause the others of her kind to instantly suck in their stomachs in surprise.

Founder Dosena's 'silent transference' ability! The power to step through the void without creating even a micro-tear!

_Has her power grown since the last time I saw her? Is

PART FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-TWO

[Previous Chapter] [NEXT CHAPTER] [The Beginning] [Patreon+2]

Saturday

Leaving everyone to argue who was doing what chores, Robbie excused himself and withdrew to his bedroom, shutting the door. He retrieved his phone from his pocket as he crossed the room and sat on the padded frame of the bed.

Looking down at the latest entry in his contact list, his next question was whether to go video or audio. Audio would be safer, but video would let him see with his own eyes that Gerry was alright or give him time to fix the problem ahead of Sam finding out about it.

Video it is.

He flipped open the video app and tapped Gerry’s name.

Annnnnd, it rang out.

“This was so much easier before I became ringed,” he muttered to himself, not realising until now that no one had ever not answered his calls. Now, it seemed to be a regular occurrence.

He was in the middle of writing a text when Geraldine Facetimed him back. Her auburn hair sat in waves around her shoulders and apart from the thick make-up, a bronzer had been applied to give her skin extra tone along with an ombre effect with her eyeshadow ranging from buttercream through to golden brown. Her lips were deep, candy-apple red and glossy and her blush brought a sharp angle to her face. Mascara coated her lashes, making them longer with a forced curl at the end and a beauty spot had been added to her lower cheek.

After a week of seeing the real her, this was a porcelain doll.

Sam will lose his ever-loving mind!

“Hey, baby girl,” he said, drawing on a lifetime of being a crowd-pleaser to keep her engaged and ensure she didn’t panic at his reaction. “How’s everything going?”

Geraldine glanced to her left, and Robbie could see the gleam of tears building in her eyes. “They don’t think Alex is going to recover,” she said, probably bel

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 1,345,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:

What is the Cryopod to Hell?

Join the Cryoverse Discord server!

Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!

Want to stay up to date on TCTH? Subscribe to Cryopodbot!

...................................

(Previous Part)

(Part 001)

...

Sangin Kordonis, Invocator Miikil, and the other twenty members of the Hatoraxia's Bridge crew all sit, stand, or hover inside a large 'skybus,' one of the common machines used to travel across Volgarius's surface. The rather large vehicle boasts relatively comfortable accomodations for all different types of Volgrim, particularly Technopaths.

Unlike Psions, Changelings, or the other subspecies of Volgrim, Technopaths all boast wildly varied body and augmentation types. Some walk on bionic legs, some roll on treads, and some hover through the air. The older a Technopath, the more of their body they tend to convert to machinery over the years, gladly giving up their weak biological vessels for the comfort and utility of steel.

As for Sangin Kordonis, he walks on two exo-steel legs, each one capable of not only bearing incredible loads, but also stomping inferior biological skulls into meat paste. The rest of his wrinkled and withered body, however, still appears mostly biological. As a young Technopath, only 14,000 orbital cycles of age, he has not yet made any permanent choices regarding his 'upper augmentations.'

Kordonis takes a seat beside Invocator Miikil. Both of them relax as restraining beams wrap around their chests, ensuring that if any accidents happen to their vehicle, they won't go flying around inside the cabin and suffer any injuries. The other Technopaths sport different types of bodily augments, so some of them remain standing, since they

The First Stranger. The Second.

The final two strangers came in with the storm. It was early in the afternoon and I was drinking spiked coffee while Lee kicked my ass in game after game of chess. Hard pellets of rain began tapping at the windows loud enough to get my attention. I got up and went to look outside.

“Did the weather take a turn?” Furic asked.

It took me a moment to stammer out a reply. “Come and see.”

The sky was black. Not stormy dark but black. Green whips of lightning threaded between clouds and the ground. The rain was falling so hard that it was nearly a solid curtain. There was a sound like coins dropping; hail was pinging off buildings and cars. Thunder boomed and briefly covered the shrieking wind.

Through the darkness, I saw a green light. It was a woman walking down Main Street. Even with the storm, I could see her clearly; she was that bright. The woman was naked and so emaciated every knob of her spine stood out like a mountain. Her flesh was pale and stretched tight over a narrow ribcage. While her body was a withered ruin, the stranger’s face was so beautiful it made me want to weep. Or to throw open the door and run into her arms, even though just looking at her made me feel weak and hungry.

It was what followed the woman that kept me cowering inside the station, though. The figure was as tall as the telephone poles that lined the road. Where the thin woman was bright, the creature behind her was absolute darkness, a shadow that swallowed the light. It was shaped like a human though its form drifted like ink in water. Inside of the great shadow, there were stars, billions of them. They burned blue-white and floated and shifted in perfect constellations. I’d never seen anything that was so gorgeous while, at the same time, leaving me feeling broken and terrified.

“‘And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him,’” Lee whispered. “‘And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.’”

I glanced at the deputy but before I could ask him what he was talking about

1 First Death's Heralds - 2 Toxic and Unbreaking

______

Red lights flashed on and off along the corridor, telling sergeant Wilkes that it was time to load up for launch again. He walked through the halls of the Queen Anne marine's section with his squad, their heavy armor stomping on the metal floors. "Checkdown, now." The marines went over each other's gear, checking magazines and gas levels. By the time they were finished, the hatch to their boarding torpedo opened and they were ready to launch.

The mission was to take down a lone warship in orbit of a habitable world. The navy would normally batter it into dust, but the size of the ship and it's apparent armament was legendary in scale and would likely destroy half the fleet before it can be taken down. Noted as a starmaster in Hikor records, it was a mainstay of Hikor naval supremacy. The last system they went into briefly was hosting a war fleet far bigger than the British 2nd fleet, including reinforcing ships still en route. The admiral was not keep to face down twelve starmasters, but taking one would send a nice message and is useful for the engineers on Luna.

A swarm of torpedoes were launched, Wilkes' included. External cameras showed two much larger torpedoes going towards the middle of the ship. How they were able to maintain stealth was beyond him, but Wilkes expected their payload to be a frightening mix of steel and death.

Right before impact, external lights on the Hikor ship turned on, making the vessel very visible but also the torpedoes. It was too late to strike them down though as they made impact and burrowed into the starmaster.

The front of the torpedo blew open and the Death's Heralds flooded the area with gas, obscuring everything in toxic smoke. He heard other torpedoes still making their way in, and to the left he could hear thunderous bangs already, accompanied by small shockwaves through the air. "We go right, don't want to end up downfield from the business end of a hellshroud."

The halls were bigger on the starmaster, even more so along the main corridors, wide and tall enough to fit a tank comfortably. As they made their way down their hall, they could see abandoned carts, some still with warm handprints from recent use. "The crew is fleeing, probably waiting for the cavalry to get here to save their asses from u

Hello my fellow people, Time for the next grand installment from our intrepid heroes, just don't look to far into their backgrounds, I'm sure they aren't criminals or anything. Anyways, I have been toying with some titles, and seeing as I have more planned for this story than what I am currently writing, I Have put one of them up in the post's title. But if you have a better Title idea for this story than by all means tell it to me in the comments below. That being said I have another tidbit of lore to tell yall before we begin. Of all the member species of the SCU only five have the mental fortitude to Build and man dedicated warships. These races are the Human, Nerivith, Vinarfel, Slaaveth, and Yeown. as the Yeown have only been part of the SCU for about 50 years in this setting they have the smallest naval presence. The Vinarfel have the most ships, and the Humans operate the largest ships. The Nerivith warships favor the use of gargantuan Laser and Maser arrays to vaporize ships from extreme ranges while the Slaaveth like to field bombardment platforms covered in torpedo launchers and missile arrays. If you would like additional information don't hesitate to ask me, Anyways, Please Enjoy.

+ Prologue + Previous+ Next +

______________________________

Chapter 14

The End of the Line

“On the road again, I just can't wait…” Seth started to sing to himself before being cut off by an almost frantic Samantha.

“No! Please stop, I can't take any more of your screeching!” She wailed.

Seth looked mortified and turned to Neirdith for support but saw her similarly grim expression, grumbling to himself he sat back in his seat and crossed his arms grumpily. “Last time I try to do something nice for you.” He muttered under his breath.

Creesh sighed audibly and Neirdith smiled faintly, the journey to the refining settlement was not long, but tensions were high. They were not entirely sure of what would be facing them there and so were all wearing their armour as they prepared to exit warp. It wouldn't do to be caught unprepared after all. As the timer ticked down closer and closer to zero, She leaned forwards in her seat, not t

[first] [prev] [next]

&gt;>TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS<<

Sis, come out. Have some popcorn and some spiced and baked festive holiday gourd seeds.

Come on. Come out.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>MANTID FREE WORLDS<<

No.

I'm fine right here behind the couch in my blanket fort.

But hand me some popcorn and seeds.

Ooh, and a Fizzybrew.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS<<

I thought the Terrans announced themselves and offered an opportunity to surrender.

I know they sterilized systems that were Lanaktallan controlled during the war, but this is really different.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL<<

It's like these guys are completely silent.

It's eerie.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT<<

They're... not TDH.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS<<

Oof. The Theseus? They mean business.

Ooh, Quack is being fielded?

That flotilla is roughly a fifth of their known ships. That means that, if they follow their patterns over the last eight thousand years, they've got another 5th in for rearming and repairs, another fifth preparing for a mission, and the remaining 2/5ths guarding their systems as backup for the home guard.

If Quack was activated, that means their four or five other heavyweights are too.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>CONFEDMIL<<

We've spotted three of the others.

We haven't spotted Hell's Heart yet.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>MANTID FREE WORLDS<<

Thank the Digital Omnimessiah.

brrrrr

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS<<

OK, who are they if they aren't TDH?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS<<

Yeah.

I mean, their ship lines are all off, they make sure the ship's lit up like they want it targeted, and how did they come in? What was that? I've never seen anything like it!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>LANAKTALLAN FREE HERD<<

How did you get this, Telkan?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>TELKAN FORGE WORLDS<<

I'm not at liberty to say.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

&gt;>CONFEDMIL<<

I know, so does CONFEDINT and CONFEDMILINT.

---NOT

The Beginning | Wiki Page | Third Part | Fifth Part

Harsh, urgent knocking fell on my front door, rousing me from dreams of red and blue spartans battling across a gigantic ring in space. The last thing I saw was my poor controller, still encrusted with the greasy, colorful dust of cheesy puffs. Then my eyes opened and I was back in reality. I sat up suddenly, brushing back my hair as the knocking came again.

“Boss, emergency call!” Pokle yelled through my door.

“On m’way,” I tried to shout, not quite hitting the volume I wanted.

I threw on some underwear and hobbled over to the door, peeking through the cracks. It was her, judging by the bright yellow braids. I undid the lock, then the deadbolt, the chain, the anti-undead warding ribbons, and the spell-blocker. I yanked on the door, but it didn’t budge. With a sigh, I pulled out the wedge jammed under the door and then opened it.

It was early in the AM, judging by the lack of light and activity. Pokle held calling stones as she looked me up and down before cringing. “Oh, sorry to wake you, but a friend of yours is on the horn. He’s really shaken up.”

I quickly accepted the stones and gave her a dismissing nod. She skipped back off to the office. I pressed them to my ear as I bumped the door shut with my hip. “Hello? Dennis speaking.”

“DENNIS IT’S ME GEORGE!” crackled the stones which I involuntarily extended away from my ear.

“Jesus, calm down, George. What’s the fuck’s going on that you need to call me at this hour?”

“I NEED YOUR HELP, THERE’S TOO MANY OF THE FUCKS! I’M BARRICADED IN BUT THEY MIGHT FIND ME SOON!”

I shook my head. “AND THEY’LL ONLY FIND YOU FASTER IF YOU KEEP SHOUTING! Now, give me the rundown. Start from the beginning,” I ordered as I started to dress.

“OKAY, OKAY, okay… Iwaslikeummm,” he started to slur out. “Welltherewasthisguy andhetoldmeto, uhh… talktoajeweldealerand–”

“Not that far back, dingus!” I barked. “Start where the problem got bad!”

George paused for a long time. “Uhh, Iwazinthisdungeonand… therewasthismagic… circleontheground.”

“And you fucking stepped in it?” I asked as I tied the string on my long underpants one-handed.

He paused again. “

December 3, 1940

“Annette?! Annette?! Are you in here?” The woman ran from room to room, trying to ignore the blare of the air raid sirens or the subtle shake of the ground that said the German bombs were getting too close for comfort.

“Yes, yes, I’m in here!” Annette Valkyrie, the acting CEO of Valkyrie Motorworks, was seated at a drafting table reviewing proposals, seemingly unconcerned about the situation outside. “What is it, Caitlyn?”

“I know you’re not deaf!” she shouts. The ground shakes slightly. “We have to get to the shelter!” The Chief Engineer looks about ready to tear hair out… hers, or maybe Annette’s. Maybe both.

“Those bombs are falling near the harbor. They aren’t anywhere near us,” replies Annette, matter of factly.

“Near us yet. You ridiculous…” Caitlyn throws up her hands. “Bring those to the shelter with you.”

Annette sighs and looks up, the flicker of her single candle just barely illuminating her face. “If you insist, then…”

“I do! Come on!”

The CEO barely has a change to gather her documents loosely into her arms, and one floats out of her grasp as she’s grabbed by her chief engineer and spirited away. As they run through the darkness of the factory, the way forward illuminated only by a weak hand torch, they hear the blasts of falling bombs drawing closer and the repeating booms of the anti-aircraft batteries stationed near the Motorworks. As they exit through the front doors, Caitlyn turns off her torch.

“Alright,” concedes Annette. “They’re close, but that doesn’t mean…”

There’s a loud boom from somewhere behind them.

“Keep going, we’re almost there!”

The Stanton Shelter: \"Way more comfortable than getting blown up\"

As usual, Caitlyn was right, and a moment later Annette feels herself lifted off her feet and practically tackled into the shelter near the factory complex’s front gates. She lands on her back, her chief engineer atop her. She huffs indignantly and starts to squirm before she hears another series of blasts from outside. She goes still. Yet more blasts, and light flickering off the silhouette of the door. She takes a deep breath, and neither woman moves from where they had landed in the dirt.

“… maybe not just the harbor,” Annette admits, meekly.

“… at least you’re safe,” says Caitlyn, with a sigh. “That’s what’s important.” She figures she can lecture her old f

Here is the potential WBCQ team for New Zealand. Assuming the team receives all their players, you'll see plenty of current MLB players. When putting together these teams, I am putting a best case scenario. It's called potential/projected players who might join the team, not who will join the team. The tldr will be towards the bottom if you want a quick idea on if this team will make it or not as these post are detailed. Scroll down towards the Reasons Why They'll make it to get a short version.

Just some context:

Strong: The team is a favorite to qualify for the main tournament. Everything clicks and they win a spot to qualify.

Average: A competitive team. Can hold their own against the top baseball countries but certain things have to go their way to beat them. Third or fourth place finish with a chance to challenge for the second qualifier spot in the group.

Weak: Not strong enough to qualify. Fifth or last place finish

Rotation

* Heritage Player

Bullpen

So, our long-time General Manager has retired, leaving behind a curious collection of stuff in our dealership. Among them are a collection of roughly 300+ old shop manuals from ~1950 until the end of GM's publication of paper manuals. The office has requested that I "sell them so we can buy paint for the front office". (LOL)

Current ideas are:

• Sell by lot to online retailers or relevant Antique Shops for ~$20 per average manual.

• Set some of them on the counter to schmooze with old-timers.

• OR become ambitious, and get a booth at local car shows to sell the manuals for ~$35 per average manual.

Relative value seems to be googleable, but there's a couple of semi-priceless manuals in here. (~1970 Motorhome Wiring Diagrams, etc.) I'd love to buy a document scanner and turn them into pirate PDF's, but I'm a bit leery of dropping $100 - $600 for a quality document scanner. Seems like the kind of tool that might have interesting applications tho...

So I ask the crowd: What the hecc do I do with this stack of Mechanical History?

Partial List

• 1952 BUICK SHOP MANUAL
• BUICK MASTER BODY PARTS BOOK MODELS 1930 TO 1956 INCLUSIVE, EFFECTIVE DECEMBER 1, 1956
• OPEL SHOP MANUAL – OLYMPIA REKORD, OLYMPIA, CARAVAN, DELIVERY VAN
• 1959 CHEVROLET TRUCK SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1961 CHASSIS AND BODY PARTS BOOK BUICK
• 1961 BUICK LESABRE INVICTA ELECTRA CHASSIS SERVICE MANUAL
• 1962 CHEVROLET CORVAIR AND CORVAIR 95 SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1962 CHEVROLET PASSENGER CAR SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• CHEVY VAN SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1963 PASSENGER, CHEVY II, CORVAIR AND TRUCK ACCESSORIES INSTALLATION REFERENCE MANUAL
• 1964 BUICK CHASSIS SERVICE MANUAL LESABRE WILDCAT ELECTRA 225 RIVIERA
• 1964 BUICK BODY SERVICE MANUAL
• 1964 BUICK CHASSIS SERVICE MANUAL – SPECIAL SPECIAL DELUXE SKYLARK
• 1964 CHEVROLET SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT – PASSENGER CARS
• 1965 CHEVROLET TRUCK SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1965 CHEVROLET TRUCK SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1965 CHEVROLET TRUCK SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1965 CHEVROLET TRUCK SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• 1966 OPEL KADETT SERVICE MANUAL
• 1967 CORVAIR CHASSIS SHOP MANUAL SUPPLEMENT
• TURBO HYDRA-MATIC 3-SPEED AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION – TRAINING PROGRAM BOOKLET – 1967
• 1968 CHEVROLET TRUCK CHASSIS SERVICE MANUAL SERIES 10-60
• 1968 CHEVROLET TRUCK CHASSIS OVERHAUL MANUAL SERIES 10-60
• 1968 CHEVROLET TRUCK CHASSIS OVERHAUL MANUAL SERIES 10-60
• 1968 OPEL KADETT SERVICE MANUAL
• FISHER BODY SERVICE MANUAL ‘68
• 1969 CHEVROLET T

Do your worst!

I had never been more fascinated with a creature in my entire life. Rok-see was beyond anything I could have imagined. After the space ship we decided to bring the newest species into the council rooms, for space, a little bit of privacy (because news of the newest species spread like wild fire and everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of our visitor), and comfort so we could ask all the questions we could.

Ambassador Lorilyee'ei had brought in some tech experts and a few scientists to get a functional, wearable translator for human Rok-see so we wouldn't have to speak into the rather limited translator for all the questions. Of course the rest of us and Rok-see hastily agreed. Once that was all done and the translator was equipped and then translations uploaded to our own translators, we began.

I never would have expected the story that unfolded as it came out of our guest's mouth.

Never.

...

"I do believe formal introductions are in order." A'tkat'vo said it as we got settled in the confrence room. Rok-see the human had chosen a seat built for the Grog although it looked decidedly tiny in comparison.

"I agree!" The human said it quickly and I straightened my back, the tips of my ears twitching with nervous excitement. There was so much to learn about this human and their culture and their technology. They were clearly vastly more advanced than we were.

Gal'rug shifted in his seat, tugging at his formal ambassador sash as if uncomfortable with it. Then again the Grog were very uncomfortable in the more formal clothing. "I am Gal'rug the Council's Man, of the blooded Bar'ugg tribe. I have lived fourty three winters and have been Ambassador for the Grog for eight years." He said it almost stiffly and I felt a little bad for him but then again first impressions were everything.

"I am A'tkat'vo-tKa'vitka'etge'a'kech'ka of the fourty fifth pod in the Ga'ter sector on my home planet of kG'rakt. I am thirty revolutions and have been Ambassador of the K'gtar for a single revolution." The ambassador clicked his mandibles nervously and gave a few hard clicks in his throat that betrayed his slight bit of nerves. Again, I didn't blame him. I didn't blame any one of us who were nervous. This was a recorded session for first contact. It was monumental!

"I am Lorilyee'ei Aeeelieyenal of her Majesty's Seventieth Brood. I am fifty three solars and have been representing the Antwyn as Ambassador on Torin for the last five years." The Antwyn was practically on th

Continued from part 1

Chapter 4: The Chaos

Very well, after this brief introduction let us begin with the actual narration of what happened during the sessions. Since the preamble is more than 5.000 words, I’ll try to be a bit hasty from now on, but worry not because, as you can easily image, we’re not out of raw material.

Party composition: Human Slayer of Russian origin, the fighter/tank of the group; Female Human Druid with a talking cat as an animal companion; Human Cleric of Indian origin, the healbot; Kitsune Gunslinger, my character.

First session, first adventure. Our group travels through England with a zeppelin, driven by the “Ferryman”: a skeletal mysterious guy permanently covered by a cowl. Basically the Uber version of the Grim Reaper. He’s also the one who fetch us the assignment as well as the pay, and our very first quest is to enter in the dream world of Toby, who has been in coma for weeks now.

Ok, up until now is what we expected. Of course, it would be interesting to know how someone can survive a multiple weeks long coma in the 1850, but we postpone any question and off we go to our comatose client. We get to the house, talk to the family, and then let’s jump in our first nightmare!

Toby’s dream world appear like the village he lived in as a youngster, it got houses, a church, stores and a big mansion on top of the hill. As I already said, none of us has any idea on what trauma caused Toby’s coma, or what the heck we’re supposed to do to solve it, so we essentially begin to wander aimlessly.

The amount of insanities and nonsense encountered was so high that if I had to describe even half of it, I could fill an entire book [and technically speaking, I did, in my journal]. So, here’s the hit parade:

• - The church it’s packed with corpses. Entering in the church awakens all the dead, who immediately start to chase you like in 28 Days Later, however exiting the church and reentering reset the scenario. It actually resetted twice, then the DM got pissed and scold us to proceed.
• - Inside a stable we find a child version of Toby, mistreated by the stable master. Remember when I said those NPCs’ traumas are filtered by their psyche and then interpreted by the DM? Here’s one of them: we puzzled for several sessions on any possible meaning of this vision. At the end of the adventure, it turned out it meant jack sh!t.

It really does, I swear!

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article. I.

Section. 1.

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2.

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall

So I was inspired to write a wee post on this, after reading a post the other day which stated the oft-repeated fact that Connemara is Ireland’s only peated whiskey. Of course this was actually the case for a long long time, and is unsurprising given Irish whiskey’s doldrums throughout most of the 20th century.

Nowadays we are increasingly seeing more and more peated Irish whiskeys. Naturally I was aware that peat was obviously once used in the distillation of Irish whiskey in the past too. I am sure this is hardly an earth shattering revelation to anyone on here either. After all, just under 20% of Ireland is covered in peatland! It stands to reason that peat would have obviously been used. Islay, or Scotch in general, doesn’t hold any kind of monopoly on the use of peat.

But why did this come to be the case? After reading that post it got me curious to do a little bit of digging...and I thought I may as well share some random tidbits that I found here. Other whiskey fans who are into their history may also be interested, even if - as I say - it’s nothing new. Just some intriguing examples anyway...

For instance, I found a fascinating little ad in the Belfast Commercial Chronicle - Wednesday 28 May 1828, selling some “Peat-flavoured pure malt whiskey from Bushmills Distillery”.

A decade later, the Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser was also advertising “that very superior PEAT-FLAVOURED MALT WHISKEY, from the Bush Mills Distillery”

Once upon a time, even Bushmills was peated!

Despite all the good that Irish Distillers (Pernod Ricard) did in keeping Irish whiskey alive in the 60s through the 80s, they also played a key role in forever confirming the connection between Irish whiskey and a kind of bland ‘smoothness’. Irish whiskey was marketed heavily, particularly in the US, as being “clean and delicate”. One Jameson ad from the ‘70s literally claimed that it was “Scotch without smoke”. Perhaps it was a necessary evil in those dark days, I’m not criticising Irish Distillers for it (and of course it’s not solely responsible for these stereotypes). However, even if us malt mates know better, these kinds of associations have stuck.

Your average joe thinks that Irish whiskey is ‘light and smooth’ (read: bland and inoffensive) in contrast to the more flavourful Scotch, and part of this is surely the association - Ron Swanson style - of Scotch with smokiness. Of cou

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 1,350,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:

What is the Cryopod to Hell?

Join the Cryoverse Discord server!

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...................................

(Previous Part)

(Part 001)

...

Founder Unarin's head administrator, Muuxunuu, spreads her arms out and holds her palms face-up.

"The Kolvaxians are a threat the likes of which our people might not survive. However, if we pool our resources together and follow Founder Unarin's direction, I believe that eventually, we will purge the galaxy of this alien threat."

She lowers her arms and falls silent for a moment before continuing.

"In the eighty-five thousand cycles since the Kolvaxians have appeared, we have lost tens of trillions of fellow Volgrim. Thousands of worlds have fallen. Mighty warriors and elites have perished, never to return. We have increased the speed at which we replicate new Volgrim spawn, and yet, I feel that we have lost something important. Today, countless younger members of our species do not know the glory that once was our empire. They know only the creeping dread of our seemingly unstoppable enemy. Before I discuss the Kolvaxians in greater detail, let me tell you about our people and our rich, storied history."

"Our people evolved on a single backwater world." Muuxunuu states. "Volgarius Prime, the previous homeworld. Over the course of just one hundred thousand short cycles, we became a galaxy-faring species capable of traversing the stars. However, the Seven Great Wars nearly rendered our entire species extinct. It was only due to the guidance of a small group of rebels, those who hated the order of the Old Empire and who sought to reshape it into a unified one, tha

Muuxunuu issues a declaration that silences the room.

"The First and Second Founders have arrived."

Immediately, all conversations stop. Every Volgrim present flicks their eyes or their psionic senses around, trying to be the first to catch a glimpse of the most revered Volgrim in their entire species' history.

The war hero who crushed the tyrant despots of the Old Volgrim Empire.

The genius who shut down the ancient Sentinels, saving his species from extinction.

The great leader who created the legendary tome known as Order to Chaos.

This single Volgrim, despite lacking the psionic power of the Second Founder, the scientific knowledge of the Third Founder, the technological mastery of the Fourth Founder, or the raw physical strength of the Fifth Founder, still holds more political sway and awe than all of them combined.

So influential and renowned is Founder Unarin that even those who have spoken to him regularly still feel a sense of awe and deep respect in his presence.

As the crowd searches frantically for Unarin, two figures pop into existence without fanfare, directly in the middle of the Founder's Eye. Unarin and Dosena instantly appear without making a sound, yet Dosena's incredible psionic emanations cause the others of her kind to instantly suck in their stomachs in surprise.

Founder Dosena's 'silent transference' ability! The power to step through the void without creating even a micro-tear!

Has her power grown since the last time I saw her? Is it even possible for a ninth-rank Psion to advance any further?

The First and Second Founders! I've never seen them in person before! What a great privilege! Ahh, if only I didn't have to view the Grand Assembly remotely, I could die of satisfaction right this instant!

As the crowd goes wild in their thoughts, the two newly appeared Founders levitate near the Founders' platform, not far from Muuxunuu, Treyza, and Cuanali. They don't join the other two immediately, but instead silently remain in place, allowing the hearts of their most elite warriors, scientists, and engineers to surge with emotion.

Unarin does not levitate on his own power, but rather, Dosena uses her psionics to hold both of them aloft. The fact that Unarin is not doing the levitating himself doesn't matter to anyone, as every Volgrim knows well that Founder Unarin is the brains behind every major movement the Volgrim make, while Dosena is his right-hand woman, the brawn of their empire. She follows his orders, and so,

Founder Unarin's head administrator, Muuxunuu, spreads her arms out and holds her palms face-up.

"The Kolvaxians are a threat the likes of which our people might not survive. However, if we pool our resources together and follow Founder Unarin's direction, I believe that eventually, we will purge the galaxy of this alien threat."

She lowers her arms and falls silent for a moment before continuing.

"In the eighty-five thousand cycles since the Kolvaxians have appeared, we have lost tens of trillions of fellow Volgrim. Thousands of worlds have fallen. Mighty warriors and elites have perished, never to return. We have increased the speed at which we replicate new Volgrim spawn, and yet, I feel that we have lost something important. Today, countless younger members of our species do not know the glory that once was our empire. They know only the creeping dread of our seemingly unstoppable enemy. Before I discuss the Kolvaxians in greater detail, let me tell you about our people and our rich, storied history."

"Our people evolved on a single backwater world." Muuxunuu states. "Volgarius Prime, the previous homeworld. Over the course of just one hundred thousand short cycles, we became a galaxy-faring species capable of traversing the stars. However, the Seven Great Wars nearly rendered our entire species extinct. It was only due to the guidance of a small group of rebels, those who hated the order of the Old Empire and who sought to reshape it into a unified one, that our people eventually ascended to a new plane of existence. Those rebels were our Five Great Founders."

"The Seven Great wars were, in many ways, not exceptionally different from the War we fight now. Brutal. Unending. Seemingly no chance of victory for any side. In the days before Founder Unarin's Enlightenment, when he divined the cause and effect of Order to Chaos, our brothers and sisters ripped each other apart without mercy. So brutal were our tactics that even the species we now refer to as 'mud-dwellers' would look upon us with dismay."

As Muuxunuu talks, Founders Treyza and Cuanali remain silent. However, distinct emotions appear in their eyes as they recall the Founding Eras which eventually led to their complete and total control of Volgrimkind.

"In the First Great War," Muuxunuu says, "The five species warred among themselves. Technopaths fought Technopaths. Psions fought Psions. This was known as the War of Brothers."

"In the Second Great War, the five species began to battle

Sangin Kordonis, Invocator Miikil, and the other twenty members of the Hatoraxia's Bridge crew all sit, stand, or hover inside a large 'skybus,' one of the common machines used to travel across Volgarius's surface. The rather large vehicle boasts relatively comfortable accomodations for all different types of Volgrim, particularly Technopaths.

Unlike Psions, Changelings, or the other subspecies of Volgrim, Technopaths all boast wildly varied body and augmentation types. Some walk on bionic legs, some roll on treads, and some hover through the air. The older a Technopath, the more of their body they tend to convert to machinery over the years, gladly giving up their weak biological vessels for the comfort and utility of steel.

As for Sangin Kordonis, he walks on two exo-steel legs, each one capable of not only bearing incredible loads, but also stomping inferior biological skulls into meat paste. The rest of his wrinkled and withered body, however, still appears mostly biological. As a young Technopath, only 14,000 orbital cycles of age, he has not yet made any permanent choices regarding his 'upper augmentations.'

Kordonis takes a seat beside Invocator Miikil. Both of them relax as restraining beams wrap around their chests, ensuring that if any accidents happen to their vehicle, they won't go flying around inside the cabin and suffer any injuries. The other Technopaths sport different types of bodily augments, so some of them remain standing, since they won't be able to easily accommodate sitting down.

The lightly armored skybus takes off after a few minutes and climbs to a mid-level elevation, just a mile or so above the planet's surface. This height, suitable for travel across continents, allows it to avoid the much busier low-elevation vehicles, which operate on a sub-continental and local-grid-based travel system.

Invocator Miikil gazes out the window beside herself. She watches the world below her zip past, occasionally scanning it with her psionic abilities.

[Look over there. A three-thousand-unit grid of hydroponic farms. I hear that in recent cycles, the Founders have pushed to increase the amount of nutrient production facilities on Volgarius. At present, only twenty percent of the homeworld's food supply originates from on-planet. They recently decided to increase that number to one hundred percent, or more.]

Kordonis nods. "Naturally. If the War is going as poorly as Master Lidra hinted, it makes sense they would want to make the homewor

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.