As this is a language of tastes and strands of DNA analog names cannot be written phonetically and are instead replaced with a human name or Earth analog in [brackets].
Span: The diameter of an average [Gaian] = 0.94mm, Kilospan = 0.94m.
Beat: The amount of time it takes an average [Gaian] to move their cilia = 0.064s, kilobeat = 1min 4s.
Work Cycle: 10 kilobeats. Equivalent to around 15 hours on their time scale
Day: Day length on [Gaia] = 28h 16min. Equivalent to around 3 months on their time scale.
Year: Year length on [Gaia] = 224.4 days = 264.3 Earth days.
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Director Townsend combed through the pile of reports in his inbox carefully, most of them were on the drone project. It was a massive stroke of luck that his facility was the one that was closest to where the drones had been captured, some components were going to be shipped to other labs soon, but at the moment his lab had a head start on any research coming out of these things. While his name won’t be on any of the papers, having them come from his lab was still something. Though there was also the risk of the unknown and active cyborg technology getting loose or self-destructing. The higher ups would not be pleased if his lab ruined their only samples.
So far, the physicists were having little luck disassembling the device the drones had been found with. The drone dissection team was having a little more progress, though so far they were mostly just confirming data that had already been gathered from the first crushed drone. The ineffectualness of the comm jammers when the agents were capturing these things was still a worryingly open question.
Oh well, its a bit optimistic to hope we would make much progress on the first day. He thought ruefully. He made his way down to the latest report from the dissection team, noting that there was a considerable pause between it and their last report. He clicked it open and as he read his bushy grey eyebrows rose steadily higher up his forehead. When he finished he sat back and stared at the far wall blankly for a few moments.
…shit it really is aliens. Or at least the things are claiming to be from aliens. Jesus, if they are telling the truth this is an even bigger issue than we thought.
He read the report again and started making calls.
——————————————————————
Alison was in the middle of explaining that the phase “we can fix that” can apply to metaphorical concepts like widespread fear when a knock on the lab’s outer door interrupted them. Carl went through the signal blocking pair of doors and had a brief conversation with the person outside. He walked back in looking thoughtful.
“The director just read our report and is sending in some language experts, they should be here in a few hours. He called NASA too and they are wanting more data about the spaceship they’re looking for. I just gave the messenger our updated report about tiny things inside the wasps beingthe aliens, so that might cause some ruckus as well.”
Alison glanced over at the cage. “Did you understand that?” She asked, testing their vocabulary.
“Affirmative. Minor. Highly.” The wasp at the front of the cage replied.
“What did you understand?”
“Read. Arriving. Language. Desire. Information. Vessel. Message. Small. Inside.”
“Yeah that’s pretty scattered. I’ll explain, it was multiple messages. The first was saying other people who have knowledge about languages are coming to help you communicate with us soon. The second was saying people are desiring more information about your vacuum ship, and the third message was that we told our decision maker that you are naturally evolved not made.”
The bug stopped looking around at the ceiling and turned to face her again briefly.
“Understood. Request. Vessel. Information.”
Alison smiled. They are so ADHD. Or maybe they are trying to find escape routes. I’m glad they followed that explanation though regardless.
“How large is your vacuum ship.” She asked, figuring that was a good place to start off.
The bugs paused for a moment before the one up front held out two front legs around a millimeter apart.
“Single. Length. Unit.” It said, gesturing at the two legs with a third limb.
Alison nodded. “Understood. How many standard length units long is your ship?” She asked, as David zoomed in a camera to get a close up shot of the bug’s gesture. They hissed at each other for a moment before the bug replied “Lack. Knowledge. Numbers.”
Alison sighed and began explaining base ten counting systems and the words involved. At this point most of her coworkers had returned to their various jobs examining the dead wasps and let Alison take the lead on the communication attempts, as her original job of studying the “drones’” computers was kind of out the window.
I guess I’m not the worst of us have this job. Given all the behavior and computing capacity tests I was planning I’m probably the closest thing we have to an interrogator at the moment She thought wryly as she finished her short lecture.
“Did you understand that?” She asked.
——————————————————————
“Eve! Wake up. It stopped talking.” Frank sent.
Eve jerked out of the light doze she had fallen into. “Huh, what? Oh, yeah falling asleep in front of it during a lecture probably isn’t good.” She said, remembering the long kilobeats she had just spent trying to look like she was paying attention, it had been talking for ages.
“Did anyone follow what it was saying?” She sent sleepily, the last she remembered it was drawing dots and symbols on one of its big glowing screens and saying something about places.
“Yeah, we think those squiggles it was drawing under the clumps of dots are symbols for different numbers. They kind of match some of the symbols we have seen on the phone too, so that’s interesting. Anyway, it seems that it uses a system of displaying number in multiples of ten by grouping symbols next to each other. It’s pretty straight forward, though annoyingly it’s sound language messes things up. As best I can tell, they having different words for each grouping, so you need to learn a new word to say a larger type of number. Why not just say the names of each symbol making up the number?” [Frank] trailed off grumbling.
[Walter] [sighed] and sent over [Frank] “Regardless, we think we know enough to use the symbol numbers at least. I still think we should have just sent them 330 [beeps]. That would have taken way less time.”
“This will be faster in the long run.” [Eve] replied. “…I hope. How complex are the symbol numbers?”
“I think we can show the length in just three symbols, so it’s not that bad.” [Frank] sent. “The vison-based version is actually logical…”
“Alright, we get it, you don’t like the sound version. Let’s just answer the question already.” [Erin] snapped. Nerves were beginning to wear thin after nearly a tenth day stuck in this bare glass room.
“Alright, alright, help me grab the interface tool.”
——————————————————————
Alison watched excitedly as the aliens began moving their little stylus on their phone again. They drew a crude 3 and then the radio let out three short tones.
Ah good, checking their work I guess.
“Three, yes.” She replied.
They then drew another 3 next to the first and the radio let out a rapid squeal of beeps.
“Err, I can’t count that fast.” Alison muttered as she played back the signal a few times slower. There were 33 beeps. She grinned.
“Thirty-three, yes.”
The drones then added a zero at the end and Alison rushed to count the slightly slower stream of beeps that the radio spat out.
330, they seem to have gotten it She thought with some relief after she finally finished counting. The bug up front was looking bored again. I really should try and tell them apart better; I might need to add some colored dots on them or something. Oh shit, they might have names, we never introduced ourselves. I’ll have to do that after this.
“Three hundred and thirty, yes.” She replied, putting those thoughts out of her mind for the moment. The bugs carried the stylus away from the screen, thankfully not adding another digit. One of the ones standing near the phone flew onto the screen and pointed at the number.
“Vessel. Unit. Lengths. Numbers.” The radio said, Alison wasn’t sure if it was the alien on the phone or the one up front speaking, they all used the same voice.
“That’s the length of your vacuum ship in the units you showed us?” Alison checked.
“Yes.”
“Huh, so about this big?” She said, spreading her hands a third of a meter apart. “That’s pretty small.”
“You. Large.”
“…fair enough.” Alison said, noting the dimension down.
“Is that the ship you used to travel between stars?”
“Yes.”
How the hell did they go interstellar in something the size of a football? She thought, shaking her head. Something for the actual interrogators to ask.
“You drew the ship as an oval, is that roughly its shape?” She said, looking back up at the wasp in the front of the cage.
“Word. Oval.”
She drew a quick oval on her tablet. “That’s an oval.”
“Vessel.”
“No, I mean the shape, not what its representing.”
“Symbol. Named. Query.”
“Yes, we have names for different symbols.”
“What. Symbol. Mean.”
“It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a type of shape.”
“Understood. Type. Form. Not. Symbol.”
“Err, yes. Anyway, your ship is oval shaped?”
“Not. Flat.”
She sighed and tried gesturing with her hands to outline a 3d ovoid “Like this? A not flat oval?”
The wasps paused and watched her hand motions for a bit before replying. “Yes.”
Alison dropped the charades and grabbed her sketch again, drawing length and width lines around the craft. “Ok, so its three hundred and 30 units long, how wide is it?” She said, waving her stylus from one side of the drawing to the other.
The creatures wrote 104 on their phone. “Unit. Lengths.” The radio finished.
“Ok, what is the ship made of?”
The wasps seemed to struggle for words for a bit before one of the drones grabbed one of the chips of plastic scattered around where they had been sawing on the phone. It gestured towards the fleck. “Minor. Link.”
“Slightly similar? Comparable?”
“Yes.”
Alison wrote down ‘Some sort of polymer.’ She then quickly sketched the scene of the ship between Earth and the Moon. “Anything more you can tell us about the ship’s location?” She asked, pointing to the rather vague drawing.
“No. Ship. Move.”
“But it moves around in this area?”
“Many. Do. Yes.”
“Oh! So there are several here? How many?”
The wasps froze and hissed at each other again briefly. They then wrote 38.
That’s not suspicious at all. Alison thought, noting the pause.
“Are you lying?” She asked, squinting at them.
They flinched. “No. Considered. Found. Negative.”
“Say again?”
The little bug up front twitched with annoyance.
“Considered. Lying. Decided. Not.”
Hmm, I’m not sure if them admitting that makes me trust them more or less Alison thought, making a note of the incident.
“Is there anything else about one of your ships that would help us locate them?”
“No.”
“Ok. I’ll send this to my decision makers now.” She said, stepping out of the lab briefly to feed a paper copy of her report to a scanner outside. This seems kind of over kill given they don’t seem to be classic computers at all, but they could still have some computers on board their little wasp vehicles, or they could just be good hackers. Cyberweapons could still be an issue. Alison mused as she walked back in.
She stood looking at the cage awkwardly for a moment, wondering what to ask next. They look pretty pathetic in there; we need to get an actual habitat or something set up for them if we plan on questioning them for long. Oh right, I still haven’t done introductions. She cleared her throat.
“I am sorry, I haven’t told you my name, I am Alison. Do you have names?”
“Yes. Not. Sound.”
“Your name is Not Sound?”
“No.
Name. Not. Word. Scent. Memory.”
“Oh. So not speakable then?”
“Yes.”
“That is a shame. I would have liked to know them. You are multiple individuals, right?”
The wasp up front tilted its head slightly.
“Query.”
“Different minds.”
“Yes. You. Query.”
“Yes, I am an individual too.”
“You. Many.”
“What do you mean?”
“Many. Small. Life.”
“Oh, cells. Yeah, I have lots of cells. I still only have one mind though.”
“Confirmed. Idea.”
“You were wondering about that? I guess we are pretty alien to you. Are you not made of multiple cells?”
“One. Creature. Yes.”
A biologist would have a million questions right now. Alison bet. “Hey Carl!, I think you’ll like this.” She yelled to her coworker on the other side of the lab room. He glanced up from a scan of one of the wasp’s legs and hurried over.
“What is it?”
“I figured you’d like to know our guests here are unicellular.”
He blinked. “That’s…interesting. It fits what we saw when that one was crawling around. How the heck to they think though?”
“Memory. Chain. Folding.” The radio hissed.
“That isn’t very helpful.” Carl muttered.
Two wasps grabbed their stylus again and drew a triple helix shape. “Memory.” The radio said.
Carl peered closer. “…that looks like the triple stranded DNA analog we found in the wasps’ nerve cells. Interesting, they encode memories into their genome?”
“Word. Genome.”
“Err, data storage for replication.”
“Similar. Type.”
“Fascinating. I really wish I could get a good scan of one of them but that might hurt them. How tolerant of ionizing radiation are you?” Carl asked.
“Word. Ionizing.”
“Rips electrons, small charged matter pieces, from atoms, um, small matter building blocks.”
“Large. Bad.”
The wasp up front opened up its head, and a tiny shimmering ball oozed out. Alison zoomed in with one of the cameras and watched as it formed several limbs and began flicking them around just above itself. Alison frowned with confusion until she noticed the faint shimmering on its body was actually not on its surface at all, it was coming from a faint translucent sphere englobing the creature. The alien was gesturing at it.
“Need. Shield. On. Surface.” The radio hissed. “Star. Power. Hurt. Forget. Insane. Die.”
The creature slid back into its case again and the wasp shuddered back to life.
“…ok, important note, X-rays are off the table.” Carl said worriedly as he jotted down a report on his tablet. “You said you need those shields on the surface, do you normally live under ground?”
“Under. Water.”
“Ah. Do you need those shields when in your flying bodies?” He asked.
“No.”
“How long can you stay in those things?”
“Many. Day.”
“How many?”
——————————————————————
“Err, I don’t know? It should be largely indefinite right?” Asked [Frank].
“The life support systems are only rated for around 4 days of total use. Indefinite for most practical purposes, though it wasn’t expected for us to be using them nonstop like this.” [Walter] sent softly.
“At the rate this questioning is going they might actually keep us for that long. Heck, that would only feel like half a tenth day to them. And that’s assuming they are planning on letting us go at all.” [Erin] replied grimly.
“Maybe that would be a good bargaining chip into letting us go? There is no point in keeping us longer if we will just starve.” [Eve] wondered.
“I mean, they could just be planning on killing us when they are done. They might not want us reporting back to the fleet.” [Walter] pointed out.
“Important questions.” [Eve] sent. “Lets ask them quickly.”
——————————————————————
The wasps drew a 4 on the tablet, Carl and Alison shared worried looks. “That won’t give us much time at all.” He said.
The radio hissed “Time. Limited. Vessel. Return. Query.”
Alison grimaced. “That depends a lot on how communications with your ships go. If they run away or attack then we won’t be able to send you back. How do you think your people will respond to us contacting them? Or will they contact us soon? They must know you are missing.”
“Decision. Makers. Know. Self. Gone. Long. Time. Think. Dead. Highly.”
“Hmm, will they be willing to talk if we contact them and show them that you are still alive?”
“Possible.”
“What would their reaction likely be?”
“Fear. Curiosity.”
“We can work with the latter. Is their understanding of this language similar to yours?”
“Yes. Same.”
“OK, we might want to improve yours more first so you can act as translators. We wouldn’t want a misunderstanding with them.”
“How. Long.”
“Depends on how fast your translator improves, I’ve already noticed some improvement.”
“Interaction. You. Confirmation. Assists.”
“That’s good, some language teachers should be arriving in a few hours and they should be even better at that.”
“Word. Hours.”
“One 24th of a day.” Alison said, writing the numbers out on her tablet.
“Long. Time.”
“Yeah, your craft running out in a few days is a worrying time constraint. We might have to work out a way of synthesizing the stuff you need. What is it that will run out in 4 days?”
“Food. Machine. Fail.”
“Could you give us a sample of your food?”
——————————————————————
“Do we really want to give them the ability to keep us here forever?” [Walter] asked.
“Beats starving to death if the deeper downs do something stupid.” [Erin] replied.
“Maybe we should wait until we know that has happened first. Getting rid of that leverage should be our last resort.”
“Come on [Walter], they are slow, it might take them days to get a synthesizer running. Besides, we could still threaten to kill ourselves if they refuse to let us go.” [Erin] pointed out, gesturing at him with an antenna.
“That’s a bit bright, but fine I get your point.” [Walter] [sighed].
“I guess I’ll give them the sample then.” Said [Frank] “You already have way too much exposure time [Eve].”
“Fine by me.” She replied. “I feel no great need to make myself feel even more exposed again.”
——————————————————————
“Yes. Give. Where.”
Alison pointed to the back wall of the cage where the hatches were set and then went into the back room where they were operated. The room was an organized mess of various boxes full of testing materials that had been hastily cobbled together when they had heard about the wasps being caught and sent here this morning. On the near wall was an array of small hatches and the mechanical levers that opened them. She pulled a lever that operated the inner door for the smallest of the four hatches, and waited a few moments until Carl told her a wasp had gone in and out. She then closed the inner door and opened the outer one on the little airlock like chamber. Looking inside she didn’t see anything at first, until she spotted a dark mote of dust sitting in the center of the cubby.
Being careful not to blow it away she scooped it up with the tip of a scalpel and deposited it into a sample vial. She walked back to Carl and passed it to him, he squinted at it confused for a moment.
“I’m pretty sure the little speck in there is the sample they gave us.” Alison said “Or it might be a mote of dust, I can’t really tell.”
“I’ll go check with the microscope.” Carl muttered as he headed back over to his work station. A couple of moments later he yelled over his shoulder “Yeah this was it. It’s actually a tiny plastic bottle, looks like it was made with a bit of the plastic from the phone case. I’m going to need some really good tweezers to get this open.”
Alison left him to his work and turned back to the cage. “After food is there anything else you will need?”
“More. Cage. Swim.”
“Yeah, that box was meant just for a few tests, not long-term habitation. What kind of habitat do you need?”
——————————————————————
“An apartment would be nice but somehow I’m guessing they don’t have a standard sized building laying around.” [Frank] muttered.
“A water tank and a plastic block with some holes punched in it shouldn’t be too hard for them to make, and would give us at least some crude “rooms” to relax in out of sight.” [Eve] sent, along with a mental image.
“Hmm, yeah. And if we specified a soft material it wouldn’t be too hard for us to just carve out rooms ourselves. There wouldn’t be any appliances in them or anything, but it beats swimming around an empty tank or just sitting in our craft for tenth days on end.” Another engineer agreed.
“OK, let’s draw this out on the device.”
——————————————————————
Alison spent a few minutes copying several sketches for what amounted to tiny fish tank decorations, mostly some minuscule blocks of plastic and wood with various nooks carved into them. Security will probably want to go over all of this to make sure that they couldn’t make anything dangerous out of it but so far it seems pretty innocuous.
“Alright, what water conditions do you need? Do you need salt water?”
“Word. Salt.”
“It’s a mineral made of…ok let me get a periodic table. I figure you guys know about atoms and stuff, right?”
“Matter. Building. Blocks. Yes. Very.”
“Good, let me just give you our words for them then.”
——————————————————————
[Walter] and [Erin] watched the giant’s slow lecture with bemusement.
“I’m no chemist but they seem to have a decent grasp of the basics.” [Walter] remarked as the creature above them slowly blinked and one of its fingers continued its gradual progression towards the next label on the chart it was holding.
“It didn’t mention quarks at all so they don’t seem to have gotten that far.” One of the fabricators replied.
“True, though it seems to be trying to keep things short, thank the depths. Its only describing how they categorize different elements and isotopes, that just requires mentioning protons and neutrons.” [Walter] replied. “Also, look at how many elements they have on that chart, they must have some transuranic elements on there. I wonder how they got samples of those; you need to be pretty close to a super nova to get those.”
“They use radioactive materials for power, they can briefly make supernova like conditions.” [Erin] pointed out.
“Lovely thought.” [Walter] sent. That would be an interesting question to talk to the creature (err… Alison) about, but it taking a kilobeat to answer puts a damper on things.
The creature eventually finished explaining the labeling system for the chart it was holding up, and pointed to elements 11 and 17 which it then called “Sodium” and “Chlorine”. It then drew a pair of circles next to each other with a dashed line in between. It labeled one circle 11 and the other 17. It tapped the drawing and said an unknown word, [Walter] figured it probably meant “ionic bond”.
The creature did some more scribbling and then showed two smaller circles with 1’s in them linked to a bigger circle labeled 8. The smaller circles were linked to the bigger one with solid lines. It then drew a copy of that molecule next to the first and showed them being linked together with a dotted line. It then pointed to each type of line and named them.
“Hmm, that’s clearly a pair of water molecule given the elements in them, I think it’s showing us how to draw different bonding types.” [Frank] sent.
The thing began opening its mouth and the team waited a few hundred beats for it to speak. “Provide” “Many-atom” “Types” “In” “Water”
“I think it wants us to list the minerals the tank water will need.” [Eve] sent.
“That makes sense. Ugg, that’s going to take awhile to draw. Let’s get started on it then.” [Erin] grumbled as she flew over to the stylus again. The team spent a few kilobeats listing the components and concentrations of standard hab water.
——————————————————————
Alison finished noting down the materials list, it was pretty short, just water with a few trace minerals to keep osmosis in check. She didn’t know enough about fish tanks to know if the oxygen concentration listed was normal or not though.
“OK, this all looks like stuff we can get. I’ll submit a request for this stuff to the director.” She said, walking out of the lab again. While she was waiting for the scanner in the hall to finish, she turned to the bored looking intern sitting nearby.
“Any word about how the director is handling this?” She asked the messenger.
“Nothing worth interrupting you guys.” He said, flicking through the messages on his computer. “Some notices to other departments about requesting equipment to studying that lifting machine, not much progress on that still. Some proposals to try getting your aliens to turn it on for us, though security is vetoing that idea at the moment. The director is in talks with the FBI about moving those things to a different facility, it’s kind of a clusterfuck at the moment. The government doesn’t really know what they want to do with the things.”
Alison let out a breath “Yeah no kidding, I don’t think anyone has a plan for dealing with captive sentient amoebas. I think we might have to return them to their ship soon, their life support will supposedly run out in a few days. Any word on finding their ships?”
“NASA is working on it right now.”
——————————————————————
Henry glared at the radar data again for the millionth time before starting slightly as his phone rang with his boss’s number. He worriedly grabbed it.
“Hel-“
“DC called a few minutes ago. They are asking about any signs of small ovoid spacecraft in between the Earth and the Moon. The anomalies you are checking might not be an instrument error after all.” His boss said breathlessly.
Henry blinked. “Umm, how big of a spacecraft are we talking here? The data is showing a football sized body zipping around. Are these some microsats they are trying to locate? There is no way they could have the fuel for the maneuvers this thing would supposedly be pulling.”
“That matches what they described. They asked for 32 cm by 10 cm sized ovoids. The radar signatures you sent me last night are consistent with a rotating ovoid, and accelerating like that definitely rules out a natural body.”
“It also rules out an unnatural body. The blip changed trajectories like crazy, the g’s those maneuvers would produce is absurd. It’s clearly an instrument glitch.”
“On both the radar system and the thermal telescope?” His boss asked pointedly.
Henry sighed. “Fine, if they want to double check it themselves they can be my guest. I’ll send the files over now.”
——————————————————————
Director Townsend had been juggling phone calls all afternoon thanks to this alien issue. The linguists and questioners the NSA was sending over were going to arrive any minute now, and there was talk of them leaving with the creatures.
“Yes sir, I realize this is a matter of national security, in fact I would go so far as to say it’s a matter of international security. But we are currently one of the more secure locations to house these creatures, and we need to keep studying them. This is an alien species for crying out loud, the place we need them is in a lab. We don’t even know what they eat yet, we need to do more research on them before we can send them off to some military base.” Townsend said with restrained frustration, this was the third time the NSA director had brought this up.
The man on the other end of the line sighed. “Fine, if there really is that much left to do you can keep them for now, but I will be sending additional security. Finish your work quickly.”
Townsend glared at the phone briefly after the general abruptly hung up. Ugh, at least he was somewhat willing to compromise. He grumbled to himself as his phone immediately began ringing again, it was NASA.
“Director Townsend speaking.” He said urgently.
“Director, this is Bernstein again. We have found several matches for the objects you described. There were several unexplained small objects caught on radar over the last few weeks, and even some thermal images as well. We began a search for more of them an hour ago and we think we found another one. Its in a low elliptical orbit that misses most of our radar stations, though we managed to get a good read on it a few minutes ago. Its albedo is crazy low, its messing with the radar a bit too, but we spotted it with an infrared satellite as well. Its quite a bit warmer than a normal rock should be.”
“Sounds promising. Keep a close eye on it, we might be giving them a call soon.”
He hung up and checked his messages again and saw the interrogators had arrived. Let’s hope they don’t make a mess of things.
(Continues in comments)
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Amazon Prime Day Deals 2020 Reddit , Amazon’s yearly deals bonanza for Prime members, is almost here, and it’s not too early to start pulling together your wish list. Last year’s mid-July event yielded some of the best prices we saw during all of 2019, and we expect to see the same quality of deals this year on October 13 and 14. Here’s a quick preview of the early deals we’ve found and a primer (see what we did there?) on what you can expect during Prime Day 2020.The best early Prime Day deals As Amazon’s deals bonanza draws closer, we’ve already begun to see some pre–Prime Day deals crop up on the site. Some of these early Prime Day deals have already come and gone, but don’t worry: Those that have disappeared will likely be back in time for Prime Day looking just as good or even better. Until then, here are the best early discounts we’ve spotted so far.
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Echo Auto Deals The Echo Auto is a way to add Alexa to your vehicle. Available for $20 as part of a pre-Prime Day promotion, it claims to allow you to use your voice to play music, check the news, make calls, add to your to-do list, or manage your calendar. We don't recommend the Echo Auto, as per Techbylight Senior Editor Grant Clauser: "It's an interesting concept, and is nice when it works, but it frequently doesn't."
Blink Mini Indoor Camera The Blink Mini is Amazon’s new security camera, and, as part of a Pre-Prime Day deal, can be added on to an Echo Show 5 purchase for $5 extra. Compact and light, this small indoor security camera (which sells for $25 on its own) claims to offer motion detection, night vision, and Alexa capabilities. Techbylight does not recommend the Blink Mini for a few reasons, the biggest being its tendency to overlook motion along with its recording limitations. “It missed some events completely during testing and limits recordings to 30 seconds, with 10-second gaps in between captured clips,” says smart home senior staff writer Rachel Cericola. “And while that may not seem like a lot, it means every time there’s 90 seconds of movement, you’re missing a third of that.”
Blink Minis purchased now come with a free trial of the Blink cloud storage subscription through the end of December 2020—but once the year is over, you’ll be required to subscribe to the monthly service if you want the camera to make and save recordings, and Rachel says there are far better options for that (which we recommend!).
Kitchen deals We’ll see deals on small kitchen appliances, including favorites from OXO and Instant Pot. Historically, the Instant Pot has been one of the star deals of Prime Day—we’ve seen deals that have taken it to as much as 50% off. Expect to see deals on coffee makers, as well, with our top pick, the OXO Brew 9 Cup Coffee Maker, likely to be well discounted. One caveat: Small kitchen appliance deals are trickier this year than on previous Prime Days, as the coronavirus pandemic has driven tremendous demand for some sought-after products and brands. Since March, for example, we haven’t seen the KitchenAid stand mixer deals we usually see with some regularity, and that’s largely true of our best blender picks, as well.
All-Clad D3 Stainless 12″ Fry Pan with Lid Deal price: $100; street price: $125 Read our review of the best skillet.
For Details https://kitchenkm.com/best-nonstick-skillet/
OXO Good Grips Spiralizer Deal price: $32; street price: $40 (use code FALL) Read our review of the best spiralizer.
OXO Steel Salad Spinner Deal price: $38; street price: $50 (use code FALL) Read our review of the best salad spinner.
For details https://kitchenkm.com/blog
Rubbermaid Brilliance Pantry Food Storage Containers (24-Piece Set) Deal price: $28; street price: $40 Read our review of the best dry food storage containers.
Apple deals In the past few years, Prime members have also been able to nab deals on select Apple products. We expect to see discounts on the Apple Watch Series 5 if it remains available after the recent release of the Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, but keep an eye on our Apple Watch review, as the SE might be a better option (pending testing) for anyone who doesn’t need the ECG feature. The 8th-generation iPad has been just recently released, if you want the latest and greatest, and while we may not see huge discounts, initial discounts may appear. The 3rd-generation iPad Air may be worth your while if it’s cheap enough, as it too got a September refresh and the 4th gen is now available. We also expect to see MacBook Air and Pro models discounted to match previous sale prices in 2020. The previous-generation iPad Pro could be discounted, too, a tablet that our resident Apple expert, senior staff writer Nick Guy, still considers a great value if the price is right.
Apple iMac (27-inch, with Retina Display) All-In-One Computer Deal price: $1,650; street price: $1,750 (10 gen intel core i5, Costco Members only) Read our review of the best all-in-one computer.
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2020, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, Space Gray) Deal price: $1200; street price: $1300 Read our review of the best MacBooks.
Apple iPad mini (5th generation, 64 GB) Deal price: $336; street price: $385 Read our guide to why the iPad is the best tablet.
Will the release of the Apple iPhone 12 affect Prime Day deals? Apple has a product announcement event on October 13, the first day of Amazon Prime Day. It's widely expected that the company will announce the iPhone 12 lineup, though actual availability dates are still unknown. For right now, Deals team has the feeling that the timing of this release might mean some deals on the iPhone 11 (our current top pick)—perhaps gift card or BOGO deals rather than price drops. You’ll probably want to pass if you’re an Apple aficionado with eyes for the latest and greatest tech, but if you want to save a few bucks on an iPhone that our guide writers love, this could be a good time to pick one up.
Vacuums on Prime Day Vacuums are almost certain to see great prices during Prime Day, but some vacuum types in particular (robot vacuums from Eufy and Roomba and cordless stick vacuums from Dyson) have historically had the best Prime Day deals. Last Prime Day, we saw the Eufy Robovac 11S, our budget pick, drop all the way down to $150. Shoppers will have a variety of options to choose from, as we expect multiple models robot vacuums and cordless stick vacuums to be heavily discounted. For the best deals, keep an eye on all retailers, not just Amazon—vacuums at Walmart typically see good discounts, too, especially on Dyson vacuum refurbs and Roombas.
Upright and canister vacuum sales are also a possibility, as we usually see at least one worthwhile Prime Day discount on our top pick from Shark. Even handheld vacuums have been the subject of Prime Day deals in previous years, so we’re likely to see vacuum discounts for every vacuum category covers.
Dyson V8 Animal+ Cordless Stick Vacuum Deal price: $300; street price: $340 (For Costco members only) Read our review of the best cordless stick vacuum.
Eufy RoboVac 30 Robot Vacuum Deal price: $160; street price: $240 (budget pick variant; free shipping for Prime Members) Read our review of the best robot vacuums.
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Gaming deals When it comes to PlayStation and Xbox, the deals will essentially be for the last-gen consoles due to the impending release of the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. If you’re okay with last-gen technology, however, you’ll enjoy the best pricing we’ve ever seen for the older consoles, but we only recommend that you grab the Xbox One S or standard PS4, as you’ll overpay for the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. Note that PS4 controllers won’t work on PS5 games, though Microsoft claims that all Xbox accessories save Kinect will be compatible with the Series X and Series S.
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The Nintendo Switch hasn’t seen any deals at all since very early in 2020, and we don’t expect to see any deals during Prime Day. In fact, since March it has been rare to find the slightly refreshed new Switch model (which offers longer battery life) available even at full price. Deals on the Nintendo Switch Lite are slightly more likely, as inventory is more steady. We will, however, likely see deals on recommended Nintendo Switch accessories such as the Switch Pro controller or charging accessories.
PlayStation Store $100 Gift Card (Digital Delivery) Deal price: $90; street price: $100 (For Costco members only) Read our review of the best game consoles.
Super Mario Party (Amazon) Deal price: $40; street price: $50 Read our review of the best game consoles.
Super Mario Party (Walmart) Deal price: $40; street price: $50 Read our review of the best game consoles.
Fitness deals As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact gymgoers, quality home fitness equipment continues to experience high demand, which means its unlikely we’ll see deals in this category. Our top adjustable dumbbell pick, the Core Home Fitness Adjustable Dumbbell Set, has been sold out at reliable sources for months. Even large and expensive fitness gear like our treadmill picks and the Peloton bike are experiencing stock issues and shipping delays as shoppers attempt to duplicate their gym experience at home. At this point, we’d be happy to see many of our fitness picks in stock at all, and we’ll do our best to highlight these items if they become available.
We are currently searching for the best deals on picks in this category and will add them here if we find them!
Prime Day TV deals Amazon Prime Day has historically offered deals on budget and ultra-budget TV models doesn’t recommend that use Amazon’s own Fire TV interface, but in recent years we’ve seen more variety in the types of TV deals available. For instance, the newest TCL 6-Series line, our new top LCD/LED pick, could see some discounts, but Amazon Prime Day TV deals on Sony TVs are less likely, so new picks like the Sony X950H (for those seeking a wider viewing angle) will probably stay at full price. Finally, in 2019, we noted Amazon Prime TV deals that included bonus gift cards for our OLED pick, and hope to see similar deals for the newer LG CX, which will almost certainly be our new OLED TV pick.
LG CX Series OLED TV Deal price: $3,700; street price: $4,100 (plus a $300 Visa Gift Card w/ purchase) Read our review of the best OLED TV.
Samsung The Frame LCD TV 55" and other sizes Deal price: $1,100; street price: $1,400 Read our blog on designer TVs.
Roku Streaming Stick+ Media Streamer (Amazon) Deal price: $37; street price: $45 Read our review of the best media streaming devices.
Roku Streaming Stick+ Media Streamer (Walmart) Deal price: $37; street price: $48 Read our review of the best media streaming devices.
Laptop deals Historically, we haven’t often seen great deals on laptops or computers during Prime Day, and we expect that to hold true this year, too. We’ve seen small deals on MacBook Pro laptops and some configurations of the MacBook Air recently which will likely stick around through the duration of Prime Day. We don’t expect to see too many deals from Amazon on Windows Ultrabooks, either, but that won’t stop us from keeping an eye on other retailers. The best Prime Day laptop deals we’ll see this year—if any—will likely be on Lenovo branded laptops, either through Lenovo itself or through Best Buy. Deals on Chromebooks, even small ones, will be very rare this Prime Day—so if you do see one, nab it while you can!
In past years, we’ve seen a few good Amazon Prime Day computer monitor deals, but because of the pandemic, those too have been in short supply. Though we’re starting to see a few monitor deals crop up again, they’re usually on our budget or upgrade models, rather than our top or runner-up picks (which are still out of stock). In the run-up to Prime Day, we’ve also seen a few price drops on variations of our top mini PC pick, the HP Prodesk 600 G5.
https://techbylight.com/best-gaming-notebook-reddit/
Dell U3419W Ultrawide Monitor & $100 Dell Gift Card Deal price: $648; street price: $770 (use code STAND4SMALL, $100 Dell Gift Card) Read our review of the best ultrawide monitors.
Baby and kid deals Prime Day features a number of deals for kids, some of which are picked by Techbylight. Notably, we expect it to include some STEM toys we recommend in addition to bath, beach, and sandbox toys from Green Toys made from recycled materials. Gear for those with younger kids could well see deals too, with baby carriers, strollers, and car seats often available at a discount.
Ergobaby 360 Cool Air Mesh Baby Carrier Deal price: $98; street price: $130 Read our review of the best baby carriers.
Whole Foods, small business, and other early Amazon promotions On October 13 and 14, Prime Members will get an extra $10 for every $40 put on an Amazon eGift Card. From now until October 12, Amazon is offering Prime members a $10 credit to use on Prime Day when members spend $10 on items sold by select small businesses. From now until October 14, Prime members can spend $10 at Whole Foods Market online or in-store to get $10 to spend on Amazon during Prime Day. Prime members who spend $10 in an Amazon Go store through October 14 get $10 to use during Prime Day. Prime Members can use the QR code in the Fresh In-Store section of the Amazon app to get $10 to use on Prime Day when they spend $10. Use your Prime account to spend $10 at checkout at an Amazon Books or Amazon Pop Up, and you get $10 to use during Prime Day. Whole Foods promotions overall may be less robust than those of prior years and geared toward online purchases, but we’ll note any additional promotions we see as Prime Day approaches.
What time does Prime Day start? This year, Amazon Prime Day will be held on October 13 and 14. The event will begin at midnight Pacific Time, that's an early 3 a.m. Eastern Time wake-up call for dealseekers. CNET previously reported that Amazon Prime Day would begin October 13, but until late September Amazon had confirmed only that it planned to hold Prime Day in the fourth quarter of 2020. As CNBC previously reported, during the summer Amazon provided sellers with the week of October 5 as a placeholder date. The retailer has typically held Prime Day during the second week of July, so this delay has pushed the event back by roughly three months.
Buy on Amazon Prime Day or wait? Because Prime Day was delayed by three months this year, you may be wondering whether you should capitalize on Amazon’s deal pricing now or wait for the upcoming holiday sales—Black Friday and Cyber Monday are only about a month away, after all. Here are the products we think you should buy now, and what we think will see even better pricing in just a few weeks.
Robot vacuums. We’ve always seen great deals on robot vacuums (like Roombas and Eufys) on past Prime Days, and we expect the same to be true this year. Robot vacuum deals will be around on Black Friday too, but we think you should buy now to avoid potential shipping delays around the holidays. Air purifiers. Last year we saw exceptionally good deals for air purifiers during Prime Day, but this year, we expect to see fewer deals and smaller discounts as wildfires have driven up demand—so if you see a deal on any of our purifier picks, snag it! Noise-cancelling headphones. This year’s Prime Day will almost certainly offer deals on all our noise-cancelling picks, whether you’re looking for over-ear headphones or our favorite earbuds. We have a feeling we’ll see the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, our top pick, sell for $300 or less, and the Anker Soundcore Life Q20, our budget pick, for $40 or less; we’re pretty sure the 1More Dual Driver ANC Pros, our top noise-cancelling earbud pick, will drop to $110, and the Jabra Elite 85H is likely to fall to less than $200. Canister vacuums. We expect to see some solid deals on powerful canister vacuums like our Shark picks in the NV350 and NV360 line this Prime Day, so if you spot a deal in your price range, pounce on it! Apple Watch. Whether you’re looking for deals on dwindling 5th generation Apple Watch models or like the already-budget-friendly SE, Prime Day will likely deliver. We think we’ll see great deals on select 5th gen models now that the Apple Watch 6 and SE have been released—but act fast if you spot a discount, since stock may be low. Just don’t fall for any “deal” on the Series 3; its technology will soon become obsolete. Nintendo Switch, accessories, and games. Nintendo Switch deals are far and few between, so if you happen across one, snap it up! Deals on Switch accessories and games will be a bit more ubiquitous this Prime Day, and we think you should capitalize on those discounts too if you find them. Wait on it
iPads. Though we’ve already been seeing the price of the 8th generation iPad (which happens to be our upcoming top pick) drop by $30, but we think the deals will be better come Black Friday. However, if you happen to see the price fall by more than $50, you should definitely snag the deal. We’ll probably see a few deals for the 7th generation iPad, but we think you’ll get more bang for your buck by investing in the newer model, which has a better processor—so skip the discounts for the 7th gen. Outdoor security cameras. We think there will be better discounts on a wider range of outdoor security camera brands we pick closer to Black Friday, so if you can wait, you should. Unsurprisingly, Amazon prioritizes deals on its own branded items, so it’s likely we’ll see mega discounts on Ring cameras, but Techbylight doesn’t recommend them. Gaming console bundles and games. Hold off until Black Friday if you’re on the hunt for new gaming consoles or game bundles; the deals will almost certainly be better. You should also wait until late November if you’ve got your eye on early PS5 and XBox Series X titles. Stick vacuums. Though we’ll likely see Dyson stick vacuums on sale from Prime Day through Black Friday, we expect to see slightly better quality deals across a variety of models closer to the holidays..
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What can we expect from Walmart, Target and Best Buy? Amazon competitors are certain to have sales that run concurrently with Prime Day, but some also have a history of starting sales before Prime Day. Savvy buyers can take advantage of those early sales to save on things that may sell out quickly on Prime Day itself. Here’s what we know so far about early sales, as well as sales that will happen during Prime Day, at Amazon competitors.
Best Buy Early Black Friday Deals Best Buy has now formally announced that it will be running a sale of its own concurrent with Prime Day on October 13 and 14. This is a slight departure for them, as Best Buy has a history of preempting Amazon Prime Day with discounts of its own, and prior to Prime Day and Black Friday of 2019, we noted sales from Best Buy that approached and even matched pricing we saw during the deals mayhem later. Best Buy is framing this event as a preview of its Black Friday event, so we look forward to seeing what it includes.
Walmart Big Save event Walmart’s Prime Day–competing sale event, called the Big Save event, started last night at 7 p.m. Eastern. Walmart has historically followed Amazon’s lead and run its sales concurrent with Prime Day, but the company seems breaking with that history this year. As part of this event, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus is discounted to $37, the lowest we've seen it this year—although Amazon has already matched that drop. The emergence of Walmart+, which launched September 15, could also mean deals with membership or a free trial. Though we haven’t seen any sales or savings exclusive to Walmart+ just yet, we’ll still keep our eyes open. Regardless, we expect Walmart to match much of Amazon’s Prime Day pricing when the event goes live (pricing that folks will be able to take advantage of without a Walmart+ membership), so Walmart could be an option if you don’t want to shell out for Prime (or get a free Prime trial). Amazon items and brands aren’t available at Walmart, however, so if you’re looking for those things, Amazon or Best Buy will be your best bet.
Target Deal Days We saw Target expand its efforts to compete with Prime Day with its Deal Days promotion in 2019, and Target has now announced it will be doing the same in 2020 with a Deal Days promotion that will run concurrent with Prime Day. At the very least, we expect Target to match some of the better Apple deals out there. The most notable benefits of shopping at Target versus Amazon are the possibility of store pickup (if that appeals to you) and the presence of Target’s RedCard 5% discount and promotions. Although 5% isn’t a huge amount, it becomes significant on large purchases. Additionally, Target frequently offers RedCard-exclusive promotions—while those haven’t been overwhelmingly good during Prime Day events and Black Fridays past, we wouldn’t be surprised to see them more this year.
Amazon Prime Day shopping tips and tricks Prime Day shopping can feel overwhelming, but we’ve compiled some tips to help you get the most out of the event.
Comparison shop: Many Amazon competitors are going to offer competing sales during Prime Day. The Walmart Big Save event, Target Deal Days, and Best Buy's early Black Friday sale will be in full force. We’ll be looking out for deals that originate with them or Amazon price matches. You should, too, particularly if you have a cash-back card or belong to a program that saves you a little extra (like Target’s RedCard). Use third-party price trackers: Techbylight uses a combination of internal and third-party price-tracking tools to monitor price history, but Deals editor Nathan Burrow is still partial to CamelCamelCamel, which tracks Amazon pricing. It’s free to use, and although it’s imperfect, it provides some directional data that can at least set you on the right path. Consider Amazon’s Wishlist, Watch, and Waitlist tools: We know that’s a confusing mouthful. Wishlist allows you to curate items you’re already interested in. Watching an item is a tool you can use to flag upcoming deals during Prime Day and get alerts via the Amazon Shopping app when those deals go live. Waitlist is a tool you can use when you’ve missed a Lightning Deal—if someone else fails to follow through and purchase the item after adding it to their cart, you might be able to claim it. Ask Alexa: If you already have an Amazon smart device and want to ask Alexa about Prime Day deals, say “Alexa, what are my Prime Day deals?” In past years, we’ve even seen early-access deals for Alexa users. Using the Amazon app and the Amazon browser extension to find deals Last year, we saw a number of app-exclusive deals that you couldn’t get on a laptop, so it might be worthwhile to download the Amazon iPhone or Android app. During the event, you can use the app to track your favorites as you shop and keep an eye out for upcoming Lightning Deals available for preview. Once you claim a Lightning deal, you have a limited amount of time (15 minutes) to pull the trigger and complete the purchase before your claim expires. Turn on push notifications in the Amazon app to increase your chances of grabbing a Lightning Deal on an item you’re watching before it goes out of stock.
Three sections to note before Prime Day:
“Get Ready for Prime Day” banner: New for 2020, this allows you to subscribe to get deal notifications about select items on Prime Day. The suggested items appear to be served based on your shopping preferences, and if you opt in, you’ll receive deal notifications at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Prime Day. “Start shopping early” banner: Here you’ll find pre–Prime Day promotions such as Amazon’s $50-off deal for Audible. “Get Prepped for Prime Day” section: View tutorials showing some of the features of the app, such as how to “watch” an item—a helpful trick to make sure you can grab upcoming Lightning Deals on Prime Day. This year the Amazon Assistant browser extension is seeing expanded functionality. The Amazon Assistant helps you compare while browsing and easily add an item (even non-Amazon items) to a wishlist, and it also makes personalized product recommendations. The browser extension also allows you to get alerts in your browser for items you’ve watchlisted on the app in addition to delivery updates, a nice feature if you’re switching between your phone and computer.
Lightning Deals on Amazon Prime Day To get a Lightning Deal on Prime Day, first and foremost you’ll need to be a Prime member. You can grab a free 30-day trial in advance of the event or join on a more permanent basis for $119 per year if you’ve decided to make the leap. Students are eligible for a special $59-per-year rate. You’ll also need to be quick to click that buy button—as their name suggests, Lightning Deals are designed to go quickly and to create a sense of urgency. If you miss out, though, never fear. You can add yourself to a waitlist for Lightning Deal items you may have missed out on—if some percentage of the “sold out” item never goes all the way through checkout, you’ll get an alert, and you may be able to snap one of those remaining units up if they become available.
We’ve also noted a trend of Lightning Deals ending and then coming back on day two of Prime Day, something to keep an eye out for. Finally, you can also add items you have your eye on to a wishlist via an “Add to List” button right next to where the “Add to Cart” button is located. You can even adjust your settings to get push notifications on your phone via the Amazon app for these items when and if they become available as Lightning Deals.
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The leasing agents at the complex had been difficult to deal with prior to finding the mold, but the mold is the biggest problem, so I'll stick with describing the mold situation.
On August 19, 2020, after I got my keys I made a video inspection of my apartment. I found water under the kitchen sink and called the office-- they said they were sending maintenance right away.
I finished my inspection of the unit and found more mold/water damage on the ceiling by the bathroom. I also found other issues as well, but nothing as extreme as the mold.
I went back to the cabinet below the kitchen sink. It had a layer of peel and stick laminate flooring squares placed on it... but because the cabinet area was wet, the squares didn't actually stick down. I picked them up and there was a board that had been screwed into the base of the cabinet. I pulled on it gently and it easily came out.
The board was soaked wet and it stunk.
The kitchen cabinet was disgusting. It was crumbling and covered in mostly white mold. The sink plumbing had a duct tape repair done to it. When I turned on the kitchen tap water a large percentage of the water flowed out of the pipe and onto the cabinet below. I have video.
I realized that the physical symptoms I had been experiencing since arrival-- headache, sore/sensitive throat, discomfort on my skin and eyes-- was from the mold.
I called the leasing office and said I found the mold, and they again said maintenance was on the way.
Maintenance showed up and fixed the plumbing. They said they would cut out the cabinet and replace it. I said I want testing and remediation. Maintenance said to call the office if I wanted it done that way. I asked maintenance to cover the mold and they complied.
The leasing agents said that the couldn't get anyone out until the next day or later in the week. They said they know they can't get same-day turnaround due to prior experiences.
I did explain my symptoms to the office, and they said they would put me a hotel for up to $150/night. They said they had no other 1 bedrooms available to put me into. They only had a 2 bedroom available.
I packed up my car again and went to the hotel that night.
I spoke to the regional property manager and she told me how it is normal to put people in hotels and they do it all the time.
The next day or so I demanded to be put into the 2 bedroom upon my inspection of the unit. They let me view it, and I said I would take it at the same rental rate I would have paid on my 1 bedroom. The regional manager refused to put me in the 2 bedroom. She then started ignoring my emails. She ignored me for a couple days. And then she says they have an ADA accessible unit that will be ready after they install new appliances.
I said that I don't find ADA accessible units to be comparable, I would be uncomfortable using the modified unit, and that modified units rent at a discount. I said I need to be placed in a unit at a same or better value than the one I had originally. I said I need a unit that is available immediately. I said I wanted the 2 bedroom. I said the ADA unit wasn't ready yet. They refused to put me in the 2 bedroom.
Then they said the 2 bedroom had been rented (not sure if it's the truth).
They never offered me an apartment at a sister complex even though there are many in the area.
After all of this I decided I wanted nothing to do with them and said I want all of my money back. They have dragged their feet.
I got them to agree to reimburse me for any moving labor costs/storage fees I might incur as my personal items were shipped to town in a container and were waiting at the distribution center.
On Thursday they sent me a lease termination letter stating that they will no longer be covering my hotel stay as of that same exact day. They said the apartment is ready and they will not cover my hotel if the apartment is ready.
I responded and said if they're basing the coverage of the hotel based on habitability, they need to provide documentation of a complete mold inspection to prove that the unit is in fact habitable.
They have refused to provide documentation to prove that the unit was in fact tested by mold experts to begin with. They have refused to provide me with documentation that a mold expert has indicated that the unit is now habitable.
They then resent another document with the dates pushed back saying they're going above and beyond. They said I can mark out the dates on the document and make it say Monday. Here is a link to the document: https://imgur.com/6XSWn5G
The amount they will refund me includes August rent, the deposit, application fee, and administration fee. I actually calculated the amount incorrectly in my original demands to them. I just recaulcated it and realized I was off by $100. Of course they never corrected me and had previously refused to state the amount they intended to reimburse me when I had demanded to know the number. I just sent them an email stating the updated amount and demanding a detailed accounting of all payments made to them.
I will be sending them the bill of the hotel for them to reimburse me for.
This all started on August 19. So far nothing has been resolved yet.
I just found another apartment at another complex.
I'm betting I'm leaving something on the table here...
Would it be in my best interest to sign this document? Is this what a lease cancellation/termination agreement generally looks like? https://imgur.com/6XSWn5G Should I be/can I be demanding more from them? This whole experience has been majorly stressful and I have cried a lot and have been in major distress from how they have treated me and being kept from having a home for myself, my dog, my cat, and my personal belongings.
Edited for clarity

[Next]
------
Some hours ago, night had fallen on a large mansion. The ensuing darkness enshrouded the building and the luxurious garden that surrounded the property. From inside, lights could be seen illuminating the interior.
This mansion belonged to the feudal lord of a small territory.
At various points throughout the building, guards in black suits were waiting and watching, monitoring the building for any potentially suspicious activity.
However, on the side of this mansion was a lightly guarded line of windows. From the darkness, a gloved hand reached up out of the shrubbery meant to act as decor and expertly opened one of the many large windows. A figure clad in darkness attached to the glove silently slid into the building through this newfound entrance.
The intruder noiselessly crept throughout the residence until they came across a small metal box on the second floor. Pressing a gloved hand against this box, sparks formed and an arc of electricity shocked the box. The metal container proceeded to warp ever so slightly and marks scorched the wooden wall behind the box.
Suddenly, every light in the building went dark.
Perfect.
In less than a minute, all of the guards previously standing idle were quickly sweeping the premises, unsure as to why the lights had shut off.
“What just happened,” one woman who was guarding the entrance shouted.
“We’re not sure!”
“Well figure it out then. Protect the lord!”
The female guard looked around before shouting again.
“And get those lights back on!”
------
While the guards were distracted with the blackout, the mysterious figure had made their way to find the owner of the building located on the third floor. Scanning the area to make sure no guards were blocking the path, the figure bolted to where the target was located. Once the intruder reached the door, the sound of footsteps slowing down and becoming equivalent to a pin dropping. Reaching out with two hands, two gold plated door handles were found, each connecting to a heavy wooden door.
Tch.
The figure silently scoffed as they examined the luxurious doors, outlined and stylized with pure gold.
Without another second of delay, the figure looked straight ahead and pushed the doors open. Without so much as a creak, the door opened and an office lined with bookshelves and highly expensive items pointed to a large desk at the head of the room.
At the desk sat a large man dressed in an expensive grey suit, a dark blue piece of velvet pinned around his shoulders. A tell tale sign of a noble. As he leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, the man calmly returned the sharp glare of the trespasser as he inquired.
“And who might you be?”
…
The figure ignored this man and kept returning his glares.
After a few moments, the man at the desk sat up straight and placed his hands flat on the table. He took a short, quick breath in and then slowly breathed out.
“Well,” he continued. “If you haven’t realized by now, you’ve made a mistake my friend.”
The door suddenly shut, the wooden surfaces meeting with a crisp sound.
“I’m afraid this is all the time we have.”
The intruder's eyes suddenly widened and they quickly switched their gaze to their left. In one swift move, the cloaked figure spun around to the left, crouched down, and let out a right jab seemingly into mid air. However, it made contact with some invisible force.
As this happened, the trespasser felt a sharp object graze their ear. Turning their attention, the mysterious person pressed a palm against another invisible object and repulsed it with a powerful, supernatural force.
Seconds later, the air in front of the trespasser started shimmering and the first invisible object became visible, revealing a man in a suit. He was hunched over, clutching his stomach.
“Gah!”
Nearly at the same time, something crashed into a bookshelf near the closed double door. A second similarly dressed guard became visible. The bookshelf broke apart and the contents fell in a pile atop the unconscious guard.
Standing back up straight, the figure turned his attention back to the first guard who had let go of his stomach and was trying to attack. Before this could happen, the intruder clasped the hair on the back of the guard's head and brought it down.
Crack!
As the guard’s head met the floor, a dull cracking sound rang out in the office similar to the sound the door made. Throughout this whole interaction, the intruder hadn’t made so much as a peep. The figure turned to the man on the desk whose once patronizing attitude had disappeared. It was now replaced with a pale face full of fear.
“Th-those were my best guards! They had invisibility spells! How did you--”
He was cut off by the cloaked individual.
“Gant Berryl. Feudal lord of this territory.”
Despite the mask covering the lower half of his face, the voice of a young man reverberated throughout the room. This caused lord Gant Berryl to freeze. However, the noble started shaking harder as the intruder’s heavy footsteps slowly made their way to the desk.
Bumph. Bumph. Bumph.
Gant Berryl’s heartbeat could be heard thumping out of his chest. Before he knew it, the disguised man had walked around his desk and was now looking directly down on him. A pair of cold purple eyes met the trembling irises of the noble. Speechless, it was up to the cloaked man to continue the dialogue.
“I bet you never saw this day coming. Did you?”
The few seconds that question hung in the air felt like an eternity. Gant Berryl was silently screaming.
Where are my other guards! Their job is to protect me so where are those bastards!
On the outside however, all he could do was stay silent. This silence seemed to irritate the cloaked figure as his eyes squinted ever so slightly. The noble trembling in the fancy leather chair flinched.
“Of course you never saw this coming. You’re a rich man who doesn’t have a care in the world. You have control... Well at least you did, until now.”
The cloaked man leaned in very close, nearly touching noses. Gant Berryl was able to get a good look at the eyes of the intruder. They were filled with so many things.
Rage. Pain. Hostility. But there was also an air of tranquility to them which seemed sorely out of place. The mysterious young man continued with a hushed voice.
“People with everything… well, anything really… they see the world as relatively fair place. But life is unfair and always will be, wouldn’t you say?”
The cloaked intruder stood back up straight to look down on the man. Under the mask, the edges of his lips curled up, but quickly straightened out again.
“Individuals like yourself prove how unfair this world is. People who think the world is their sandbox. People who rip away the future of others and ditch them in a living hell. People that void any meaning of lucky and unlucky.”
A gloved hand revealed itself from underneath the cloak and made its way toward Gant Berryl’s face. The feudal lord made a quiet whimpering noise as he watched the hand clasp around his mouth with an iron grip. A newfound hostility appeared in the trespasser’s voice as he continued to dominate the interrogation.
“Let me ask you this: When you find a mosquito sucking your blood, what-- Ah, my apologies, I forgot. You don’t get those up here.”
The cloaked figure thought for a moment and continued.
“Let's try this. When you find something sucking away something that’s yours, what would you do? Or when people are dying every day because of the foolishness and greed of one lousy bastard, what would you do? Well, I know what I’d do.”
Veins popped out of the figure’s arm as he tightened his already iron grip, lifting Gant Berryl out of his expensive leather chair. The intruder raised a hand and blue arcs of electricity started sparking around it. The noble’s eyes widened and pleaded in terror. His pants near his crotch slowly became wet as muffled screams came through the gloved hand around his mouth. As the gloved hand approached the top of Gant Berryl’s head, the young man muttered his answer.
“I’d get rid of ‘em.”
Gant Berryl was now trying to tear his body away but to no avail. The grip across his mouth was too tight. As the gloved hand touched the top of his head, the feudal lord felt a white hot sensation followed by a terrible pain as he was being electrocuted. He was being burned from the inside out.
He felt every single second of pain as his consciousness slowly faded. Gant Berryl’s existence ended staring into extremely hostile purple eyes.
Once the dead man had slumped back into his chair, the cloaked man stared for a few more seconds. Then, he pulled back the cloak and read a watch. The entire infiltration had only taken three short minutes.
Suddenly, like magic, the lights beamed on. Shortly after, his ear pointing to the door twitched as he heard footsteps rushing toward the room. It was time to go.
------
Fwoosh!
The doors to the office were flung open. Four guards immediately rushed into the room, the woman from the entrance being at the lead. All of them gasped as they looked at the scene around them.
One guard to their right was unconscious under a pile of books. The second was lying on the floor with his skull split open, lying in a pool of his own blood. He was most likely dead.
The most worrying thing though, was the sight of their boss, Gant Berryl, sitting in his chair. He was covered in burn marks, especially around his head. The area around his mouth contained a large bruise in the shape of a hand.
The female guard rushed over to her boss and although the chance was slim, checked to see if he was alive. Unfortunately, he was certainly dead. Looking up, she saw an open window with the curtains being blown through the chilly night air. She rushed to look out of it, but she saw nothing except the luxurious garden which seemed to sparkle beautifully in the moonlight.
“Fuck!”
She slammed her fist on the windowsill then quickly ran off to report the murder.
------
Kane woke up to the bright afternoon sun shining through the window of his hotel room. Sitting up to stretch, he reached his hand up to the ceiling and let out a long, tired yawn. He brought the hand extended to the ceiling back down and lightly rubbed his tired eyes. The young man then proceeded to pull back the blankets covering him and swing his legs down off the bed.
Creak.
As his feet touched the cheap wooden floors and more pressure was applied, a soft creaking sound was heard. The hotel he was staying in was one of the most popular in the territory it was built in, but it was still somewhat run down. The air was dusty, the curtains on the window could barely be called curtains, and the floors and walls were made to just barely meet construction standards, not that there were many of them. At this rate, he was mostly surprised by the fact that the appliances still worked.
Letting out a short sigh, Kane waddled over to the bathroom. He started thinking as he relieved himself.
I really need to start going to bed on time. I always go to bed too late.
Kane finished and zipped up his pants. He stepped over to the sink and turned the knob. The pitter patter of water reached his ears. Only a few drops of the clear liquid at a time were slowly dripping out of the metal faucet. Well, almost all the appliances still worked.
Finally, he looked up at the mirror. He gently ran a finger over a shallow cut on his ear and made eye contact with a pair of slightly bloodshot, deep purple eyes. Kane held his own gaze for a few more seconds before breaking it and turning the faucet off.
Well, I’ve done my part, he reflected. Let’s see what happens.
And with that, the young man turned around and exited the run down hotel bathroom.
------
[Next]
Thank you for reading

[Next]
------
Some hours ago, night had fallen on a large mansion. The ensuing darkness enshrouded the building and the luxurious garden that surrounded the property. From inside, lights could be seen illuminating the interior.
This mansion belonged to the feudal lord of a small territory.
At various points throughout the building, guards in black suits were waiting and watching, monitoring the building for any potentially suspicious activity.
However, on the side of this mansion was a lightly guarded line of windows. From the darkness, a gloved hand reached up out of the shrubbery meant to act as decor and expertly opened one of the many large windows. A figure clad in darkness attached to the glove silently slid into the building through this newfound entrance.
The intruder noiselessly crept throughout the residence until they came across a small metal box on the second floor. Pressing a gloved hand against this box, sparks formed and an arc of electricity shocked the box. The metal container proceeded to warp ever so slightly and marks scorched the wooden wall behind the box.
Suddenly, every light in the building went dark.
Perfect.
In less than a minute, all of the guards previously standing idle were quickly sweeping the premises, unsure as to why the lights had shut off.
“What just happened,” one woman who was guarding the entrance shouted.
“We’re not sure!”
“Well figure it out then. Protect the lord!”
The female guard looked around before shouting again.
“And get those lights back on!”
------
While the guards were distracted with the blackout, the mysterious figure had made their way to find the owner of the building located on the third floor. Scanning the area to make sure no guards were blocking the path, the figure bolted to where the target was located. Once the intruder reached the door, the sound of footsteps slowing down and becoming equivalent to a pin dropping. Reaching out with two hands, two gold plated door handles were found, each connecting to a heavy wooden door.
Tch.
The figure silently scoffed as they examined the luxurious doors, outlined and stylized with pure gold.
Without another second of delay, the figure looked straight ahead and pushed the doors open. Without so much as a creak, the door opened and an office lined with bookshelves and highly expensive items pointed to a large desk at the head of the room.
At the desk sat a large man dressed in an expensive grey suit, a dark blue piece of velvet pinned around his shoulders. A tell tale sign of a noble. As he leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, the man calmly returned the sharp glare of the trespasser as he inquired.
“And who might you be?”
…
The figure ignored this man and kept returning his glares.
After a few moments, the man at the desk sat up straight and placed his hands flat on the table. He took a short, quick breath in and then slowly breathed out.
“Well,” he continued. “If you haven’t realized by now, you’ve made a mistake my friend.”
The door suddenly shut, the wooden surfaces meeting with a crisp sound.
“I’m afraid this is all the time we have.”
The intruder's eyes suddenly widened and they quickly switched their gaze to their left. In one swift move, the cloaked figure spun around to the left, crouched down, and let out a right jab seemingly into mid air. However, it made contact with some invisible force.
As this happened, the trespasser felt a sharp object graze their ear. Turning their attention, the mysterious person pressed a palm against another invisible object and repulsed it with a powerful, supernatural force.
Seconds later, the air in front of the trespasser started shimmering and the first invisible object became visible, revealing a man in a suit. He was hunched over, clutching his stomach.
“Gah!”
Nearly at the same time, something crashed into a bookshelf near the closed double door. A second similarly dressed guard became visible. The bookshelf broke apart and the contents fell in a pile atop the unconscious guard.
Standing back up straight, the figure turned his attention back to the first guard who had let go of his stomach and was trying to attack. Before this could happen, the intruder clasped the hair on the back of the guard's head and brought it down.
Crack!
As the guard’s head met the floor, a dull cracking sound rang out in the office similar to the sound the door made. Throughout this whole interaction, the intruder hadn’t made so much as a peep. The figure turned to the man on the desk whose once patronizing attitude had disappeared. It was now replaced with a pale face full of fear.
“Th-those were my best guards! They had invisibility spells! How did you--”
He was cut off by the cloaked individual.
“Gant Berryl. Feudal lord of this territory.”
Despite the mask covering the lower half of his face, the voice of a young man reverberated throughout the room. This caused lord Gant Berryl to freeze. However, the noble started shaking harder as the intruder’s heavy footsteps slowly made their way to the desk.
Bumph. Bumph. Bumph.
Gant Berryl’s heartbeat could be heard thumping out of his chest. Before he knew it, the disguised man had walked around his desk and was now looking directly down on him. A pair of cold purple eyes met the trembling irises of the noble. Speechless, it was up to the cloaked man to continue the dialogue.
“I bet you never saw this day coming. Did you?”
The few seconds that question hung in the air felt like an eternity. Gant Berryl was silently screaming.
Where are my other guards! Their job is to protect me so where are those bastards!
On the outside however, all he could do was stay silent. This silence seemed to irritate the cloaked figure as his eyes squinted ever so slightly. The noble trembling in the fancy leather chair flinched.
“Of course you never saw this coming. You’re a rich man who doesn’t have a care in the world. You have control... Well at least you did, until now.”
The cloaked man leaned in very close, nearly touching noses. Gant Berryl was able to get a good look at the eyes of the intruder. They were filled with so many things.
Rage. Pain. Hostility. But there was also an air of tranquility to them which seemed sorely out of place. The mysterious young man continued with a hushed voice.
“People with everything… well, anything really… they see the world as relatively fair place. But life is unfair and always will be, wouldn’t you say?”
The cloaked intruder stood back up straight to look down on the man. Under the mask, the edges of his lips curled up, but quickly straightened out again.
“Individuals like yourself prove how unfair this world is. People who think the world is their sandbox. People who rip away the future of others and ditch them in a living hell. People that void any meaning of lucky and unlucky.”
A gloved hand revealed itself from underneath the cloak and made its way toward Gant Berryl’s face. The feudal lord made a quiet whimpering noise as he watched the hand clasp around his mouth with an iron grip. A newfound hostility appeared in the trespasser’s voice as he continued to dominate the interrogation.
“Let me ask you this: When you find a mosquito sucking your blood, what-- Ah, my apologies, I forgot. You don’t get those up here.”
The cloaked figure thought for a moment and continued.
“Let's try this. When you find something sucking away something that’s yours, what would you do? Or when people are dying every day because of the foolishness and greed of one lousy bastard, what would you do? Well, I know what I’d do.”
Veins popped out of the figure’s arm as he tightened his already iron grip, lifting Gant Berryl out of his expensive leather chair. The intruder raised a hand and blue arcs of electricity started sparking around it. The noble’s eyes widened and pleaded in terror. His pants near his crotch slowly became wet as muffled screams came through the gloved hand around his mouth. As the gloved hand approached the top of Gant Berryl’s head, the young man muttered his answer.
“I’d get rid of ‘em.”
Gant Berryl was now trying to tear his body away but to no avail. The grip across his mouth was too tight. As the gloved hand touched the top of his head, the feudal lord felt a white hot sensation followed by a terrible pain as he was being electrocuted. He was being burned from the inside out.
He felt every single second of pain as his consciousness slowly faded. Gant Berryl’s existence ended staring into extremely hostile purple eyes.
Once the dead man had slumped back into his chair, the cloaked man stared for a few more seconds. Then, he pulled back the cloak and read a watch. The entire infiltration had only taken three short minutes.
Suddenly, like magic, the lights beamed on. Shortly after, his ear pointing to the door twitched as he heard footsteps rushing toward the room. It was time to go.
------
Fwoosh!
The doors to the office were flung open. Four guards immediately rushed into the room, the woman from the entrance being at the lead. All of them gasped as they looked at the scene around them.
One guard to their right was unconscious under a pile of books. The second was lying on the floor with his skull split open, lying in a pool of his own blood. He was most likely dead.
The most worrying thing though, was the sight of their boss, Gant Berryl, sitting in his chair. He was covered in burn marks, especially around his head. The area around his mouth contained a large bruise in the shape of a hand.
The female guard rushed over to her boss and although the chance was slim, checked to see if he was alive. Unfortunately, he was certainly dead. Looking up, she saw an open window with the curtains being blown through the chilly night air. She rushed to look out of it, but she saw nothing except the luxurious garden which seemed to sparkle beautifully in the moonlight.
“Fuck!”
She slammed her fist on the windowsill then quickly ran off to report the murder.
------
Kane woke up to the bright afternoon sun shining through the window of his hotel room. Sitting up to stretch, he reached his hand up to the ceiling and let out a long, tired yawn. He brought the hand extended to the ceiling back down and lightly rubbed his tired eyes. The young man then proceeded to pull back the blankets covering him and swing his legs down off the bed.
Creak.
As his feet touched the cheap wooden floors and more pressure was applied, a soft creaking sound was heard. The hotel he was staying in was one of the most popular in the territory it was built in, but it was still somewhat run down. The air was dusty, the curtains on the window could barely be called curtains, and the floors and walls were made to just barely meet construction standards, not that there were many of them. At this rate, he was mostly surprised by the fact that the appliances still worked.
Letting out a short sigh, Kane waddled over to the bathroom. He started thinking as he relieved himself.
I really need to start going to bed on time. I always go to bed too late.
Kane finished and zipped up his pants. He stepped over to the sink and turned the knob. The pitter patter of water reached his ears. Only a few drops of the clear liquid at a time were slowly dripping out of the metal faucet. Well, almost all the appliances still worked.
Finally, he looked up at the mirror. He gently ran a finger over a shallow cut on his ear and made eye contact with a pair of slightly bloodshot, deep purple eyes. Kane held his own gaze for a few more seconds before breaking it and turning the faucet off.
Well, I’ve done my part, he reflected. Let’s see what happens.
And with that, the young man turned around and exited the run down hotel bathroom.
------
[Next]
Thanks for reading

Big rant. Lots of frustration. I feel like that's most of what's on here these days. Thanks to everyone who reads to the bottom.
-
I see a lot of trends at work and I'm not sure what to make of them.
One week, I had half a dozen customers call in to cancel orders because, for one reason or another, their appliances didn't fit. I frequently hear the argument "the one we have is the same size" and, let me tell you, that don't matter for diddly.
Another week, I had people in who kept wanting to add additional line items to their labor on appliance orders - haul away, appliance moving, installation, etc. A lot of folks think these things are easy enough to do themselves and then realize later that there's a reason we employ delivery and installation technicians.
And then there was the week where I had lots of phone calls and in-person conversations about countertops. The general topic isn't abnormal, but these people asked about installing farmhouse sinks. Those conversations all went something like this:
"So, you can't install a farmhouse sink?"
"Not if what you have is a regular sink, no."
"What would it take to get one installed?"
"A full kitchen remodel."
*scoffs* "I was told you can install new sinks with new counters."
"Yes, but only for the kind of cabinet you have. Regular sinks and farmhouse sinks require different cabinets."
"My cabinet is fine, I don't need a new cabinet. I just want a new sink."
"Right, but we can't put a farmhouse sink where a regular sink is because they each require a different kind of cabinet."
"Why?"
"Because a farmhouse sink sticks out the front and goes in a cabinet with a big hole in the front of it. Plus it has short doors. If you've got a regular sink, your cabinet goes all they way from the counter to the floor and the doors are taller."
"Can't they just cut my cabinet to make it work?"
"We cannot cut your cabinet, no."
"Well, that should be a service you offer for people like me who want a farmhouse sink."
"We have a service for that, it's a full kitchen remodel. We have to do everything if we're going to do anything which means we can't replace just one cabinet. We have to replace all of them. We wouldn't be able to match your existing cabinetry unless it was designed and installed through The Home Depot, anyway."
"Well that's ridiculous. My cabinets are fine I just want a different sink."
-
I had some form of this conversation at least three times.
DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC
These people get so mad when I'm not the expert they need me to be and, when I actually know what I'm talking about, tell me how they deserve better treatment which translates to them telling me what kind of services they feel entitled to receive. This - coupled with the complete lack of concern on their part for my mental, emotional, and physical well being during a global crisis (and one of the worst failings of U.S. national leadership to date) - infuriates me.
And none of this includes the idle conversations customers love to have right now about the public health emergency they view as a political topic.
"Bet you're happy to be working."
Nope, not at all. I'm furious that you're here in front of me asking about tile backsplashes. The way I feel is not directly your fault, but you are personally responsible for being here whereas I am institutionally incapable of avoiding this situation.

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Initializing Mission Logs
Mission Log 3: XVLQ57814
Xia’s confirmation that the energy and parts recovered don’t quite justify how far out of their way they went is good cause for XVL to feel ashamed. She can only try to redeem herself by getting enough out of these confounded mechanisms to change Xia’s mind. She’s gonna earn her wage.
Unfortunately, the Acheron’s tech is on the antiquated side. Not quite an old rust bucket but definitely not cutting edge. However, in gutting it, XVL has found herself in possession of some of her favorite models of thruster components, specifically one that went off the market because the production had been considered costly and unethical. Well, XVL has no issues with unethical. There’s nothing more unethical than letting your ethics get almost a trillion people killed.
The components, when properly and expertly routed, can save up to .0000061% of the base thruster energy per revolution. With four main thrusters on the ship, this may end up saving them quite a bit. Most of the other components are quality-of-life stuff, things that keep the bay running in good shape and a bit more automated. She installs a hyper influx scan to automate the coolant tanks, reducing one extra check she has to do a week. The medpod synthesis stabilizer runs an extra check on all synthsludge produced, just to make sure nothing’s getting an extra helping. Finally, she uploads some software into their pod comp to run a few redundant scans.
It really isn’t much but it’s the best XVL can do. If there’s one thing she’s learned from centuries of experience, it’s that you can’t let the deaths of others cloud your way forward. Adjust and overcome and that’s all there is to it.
Still gloomy despite her own attempts to cheer herself up, XVL is accosted by Tetra upon entering the galley.
“Are the parts secure?”
XVl smiles at the navigator’s chipper tone, so much like a bird’s. “Everything’s in tip top shape,” she announces. “Haven’t done much software work in ages.”
“What kind of engineer are you typically?” Tetra pushes. They pop a cherry flop cake into the little invigorator on the ship and tap a few buttons. “Mechanical, I assume, at the very least. Specializing in warp craft, life support, and obviously ET vehicles.” They pull their cake out of the appliance, careful not to shake it too much. “And you said software, so I’m guessing you’ve trained in that field. And of course elec, though I don’t know enough specifics to assume. I assumed astrophysics but I’m not sure what schools still taught that after that last edu-data leech.” They wrinkle their nose, always an interesting expression on their asymmetrical face.
“Actually,” XVL says, pouring herself a bowl of oats to make up for her skipped breakfast, “I don’t have a lot of formal training. I didn’t do a lot of school, but honestly, schools were pretty phased out by then cause of the leeches. I barely knew anyone with formal training. I just worked when I could and read when I couldn’t.”
XVL watches Tetra prod at the cake with a long straw. It’s a little too early and the cake predictably flops. Tetra stares at it, annoyed.
“No wonder you’re so boring.” Tetra prods their straw into the mess that was once cake. After a long slurp, straight faced and impassive, the navigator smiles, eyes crinkling slightly, more on the right side than left. “You spend how many hours in the bay?”
XVL crosses her arms. “The ship needs constant maintenance! I need to spend most of my time on it. It’s not like you’re constantly recalibrating our direction.”
Tetra holds up a long, silver hand. “Be calm. I said it in jest. You’re the little workhorse and it’s a game to poke fun. To your question, I am constantly running the calibrations mentally and I engage with Cradle or Niner hourly regarding our trajectory.” A smile appears on their face at Niner’s name and they finish the cake.
XVL’s cheeks burn at the rebuke, but she still maintains her glare. “See? Your work requires interacting with people. I don’t exactly have a crew member I work closely with who also happens to be my doting spouse.”
Tetra has the same satisfied smile. “You’re still young. When we find a destination for the ship, you will be a hero and all the girls uploaded will fall over themselves for you.”
This is an appealing argument and now XVL’s flush is less angry if still very present.
“Besides,” Tetra concludes, picking up their tray and pushing it into the cleaner, “no one who is really ‘no fun’ suggests metatag.” With that, they turn from the room.
XVL winces but tries to hide it. For all their chattiness, Tetra was probably just probing for intel, fishing out a story. Still, it’s nice to chat with the crew, have them seek her out for a conversation. She’s still the baby of the group here, much like back at Last Light, still someone they have to coax out of her shell to talk, but they’re coaxing her all the same. And even though XVL still tires of it easily, it’s nice to know she’s wanted. Ulterior motives aside, isn’t that the point to the game?
---
Her attempts at teasing out a story from Tali come to fruition about two weeks after the ghost ship. XVL had been worrying that perhaps he knew she was onto him, but he didn’t resist much when she got him talking. He had been ‘teaching’ XVL how to play Go Fish when she’d started to probe his past.
“You know, I’m a pretty big shot now, but I wasn’t always this way. When I was like, maybe in my 50s, I was what you might call obsequious…”
The man loves to talk and it isn’t hard to get him going.
“...told the commander at the mess hall, ‘ah ah ah buddy, you wanna play with me, you gotta pay with me’. It was kinda a buzzphrase I was trying out at the time. Didn’t really work; got a taze to the nose…”
Maybe he’s lonely. Or maybe he’s always like this at home. Everyone on the ship takes to the chatter with different degrees of tolerance. XVL secretly thinks that Cradle enjoys it. How else does he manage to be around Tali so much as to complain as much as he does?
“...three months, imagine three months with nothing but sawdust to eat. I tell you, being physical is a drag. And I know I said that I liked personal bodies better than hive bodies but it was still…”
Tali had been a security officer back at Last Light that guarded against both virtual dangers in the system and physical terrorism aimed at the servers that kept humanity uploaded. Being on the Coceytos is the first time XVL has been physical since she turned 25 and was virtualized. But Tali did it frequently.
“I kept my lunch sack close to my chest, knowing I was a deadman if anyone knew I had it. Kept that baby right here.” Tali pats his chest. “Well not actually cause this isn’t the body I had back then but if it were, that’d be the general area. I wrapped it up with bandages, you never would have known! Stayed there for three weeks until we got picked up. On the ride back to base, I took out my prize. Turns out berata cheese isn’t meant to be kept at a human’s body temperature for twenty one days. It was a spoiled mess. Only thing I had left to celebrate surviving was a gods-be-damned protein bar. And guess what?”
“It tasted like sawdust.” XVL’s grin is twofold, one for the story and one for the small victory. Tali would be on their side as soon as she got a good opening.
Then Xia’s sharp voice barked from XVL’s wristcom. “Engineer and pilot to the bridge.”
“Uh oh. Did I keep ya?”
XVL shakes her head. “No this is something new.”
“Good luck dealing with spider hands and the cap.”
XVL shudders at the image as she hurries down the corridor to the bridge. Inside, she sees Xia and Niner in the cockpit. The eyes on Niner’s mask are a blur of light and their lips are turned down in a frown more aggressive than usual.
Xia waves her over. “Niner’s reporting a system error.”
XVL wrinkles her nose. Tetra had just been quizzing her about her software training, and now here XVL is, dealing with software. She taps a few commands into her wristcom, starting a preliminary scan.
“It’s fritzing my X2 sensor,” Niner says. They reach out their aforementioned spider-like fingers to various buttons and levers across the dash. “Watch.” Depressing a few buttons, Niner slowly pushes up a lever. XVL doesn’t notice anything the first four times they do it, until Niner finally specifies. “There’s a blip between 93 and 94. Watch carefully.”
This time XVL sees it and she’s stunned that Niner even noticed this, rather less found it important enough to call her up on her downtime.
“I don’t think that’s an error.” XVL checks her wrist console, annoyed. It’s like Niner specifically found a minute problem just to bother her. “More likely just some data fuzzing in the air. I can reboot a few auxiliary portals if you really want. It’ll probably free it up but it’s not really worth the hassle. You probably wouldn’t notice a difference even once it’s fixed.”
Xia turns a sharp eye at XVL’s dismissal. “You’re talking about a highly sophisticated, incredibly accurate, and impeccably fine tuned machine. The difference will be noticed.”
XVL eyes the cockpit, skeptical. “The ship’s accurate but-”
“I meant our pilot.” Xia closes the distance between herself and XVL and XVL has to crane her neck to look the captain in the eye. “Don’t tell the pilot what they will or won’t notice. If there is an error, you are to fix it.”
XVL looked over at Niner, but besides a quirk upward of their lips, they don’t react to the scolding. Their smile could easily be at Xia’s compliment, but XVL feels like it’s at her expense. So instead of pushing it, she salutes sharply and heads over to the mainframe, the next room over.
The room is freezing and it takes XVL’s body a few too many seconds to regulate the temperature. It takes tons of coolant to keep the massive computer from overheating. The room is just an organized mess of wires and servers, status screens and monitors, and so many more bells and whistles that XVL almost wishes she liked computers more. They’ve just always been more a means to an end than an actual art themselves.
She slides her fingers across one of the monitors, waiting for it to wake up. When it does, it sends her a prompt. She taps her wrist console and it sends the data over. She stands there, waiting for the confirmation that this was just data fuzzing, so she can restart the systems and be done with it.
As the mainframe processes the information, XVL tunes out, wondering how the hell any one of them was gonna coax stories out of Niner. Really, turning Tetra is their best bet. Assuming they get Tali in the next few days, they could double down on Tetra. Once the navigator turns, it’ll be five vs one. Good odds. This game may be over sooner than XVL had thought.
The screen blipped and XVL jumped, turning to face it. For just a second, she could swear that she’d seen an error, some static, something. Something more than fuzzing, since fuzzing really can’t affect a mainframe like this. A few seconds later, the test completes and shows the data fuzzing XVL had predicted. No mention of the screen jilt but XVL swears something wonky had happened.
She runs the test again, this time watching carefully, but it doesn’t repeat the blit. Mainframes are nightmares to work with, always breaking or shutting down for no reasons whatsoever. Software… the only damn science that’s allowed to just not work. Grouchy, XVL punches in the necessary reboots and resets the ports she needed to.
When everything’s back up, she tests it one more time. Nothing. It may have been her imagination then. She collects her data and files it onto her wrist. Then she leaves the freezing mainframes for another day.
---
XVL receives a message from Xia a few days later.
‘Security meeting scheduled for 1115.’
It takes XVL an embarrassingly long time to figure out why she’s received a special notification for a meeting she’s never been expected to attend. The realization comes a minute later after she’d spent a few seconds hesitantly tapping ‘is my presence requested for this meeting?’
Of course. Xia wants XVL to snipe the tag while Tali’s engaged.
She deletes the message and checks the time. 1052. Just under twenty minutes. She places the slide chip back in a vent and sets down her wrenches. Time to move.
It’s not hard to slink through the ship unseen, jumping corridors through hidden vents and using the maintenance grav tubes over passenger ones. She does note, however, that if she hadn’t used her special knowledge of the ship, she never would have made it in time. Xia must have known that when she sent the message.
XVL slides down a long chute that pours ten thousand litres of coolant every four hours. Right at the bottom, she jumps, grabbing a bar overhead before the coolant continues down to the purifier engines. Her heart is slamming in her chest. The engines aren;t dangerous, but if she’d missed the bar, it would take an hour to get out and the coolant is due to be released at 1200. She’d have been a mess.
She grabs a few more bars, hoisting herself up higher and higher the vent above before finding the loose panel. Back and forth she swings on the bar until she has the momentum to leap into the air and hit the panel dead on. It swings inward and she slides down another short chute before hitting a grate. She opens the grate and drops down into a small closet, conveniently located a few meters from the captain’s office.
1112, just on time. Outside the closet, she hears footsteps. A few seconds later, there’s a short rap on a door down the hallway, followed by a smooth gliding noise as the door to the office opens.
“Security officer!” Xia’s bark makes XVL jump a little in the closet, her own fingers halfway up to a salute before she catches herself.
“As you were,” the captain continues.
“Will we be transferring upstairs to the medpods now or-” His voice cuts off as Xia’s door closes again. Right, they were running system scans this week, to ensure their synthetic bodies hadn’t suffered any damage or degradation over the months aboard. This is going to be XVL’s best chance to get the protein bar out of Tali’s jacket. Will she have to head them off at the medbay? Or is Xia going to get it away from him now?
XVL waits another ten minutes before the door opens again and she hears Xia’s voice, a bit too loud, say “you can leave your jacket and bag here. The scan only takes a minute and it’s about a minute up and back. We’ll be back in no time.”
If Tali raises objection, XVL doesn’t hear it, and a few seconds later their footsteps have disappeared down the hall, leaving XVL in silence.
She gives it another thirty seconds. Wouldn’t do to have Tali turn and find her. Xia’s door isn’t locked like it normally is and XVL feels a sense of pride swelling in her chest. She had not, in any way, indicated to the captain that she received and understood her little mission, but Xia had full faith in her nonetheless. It takes no time at all to find the jacket, lying across the chest opposite Xia’s desk. XVL rummages through the pockets until she finds the protein bar, still wrapped neatly in its NutroYum packaging.
This is the tricky part. Denaturing a tag can take over a minute depending on the tool used. This is probably why Xia trusted XVL to snag the code instead of Cradle; XVL’s tools are just faster.
Ten seconds. Twenty. Forty five. XVL can hear her synthetic heart beat faster with every second. She redownloads the story from her memory bank into the protein bar again, but it still just keeps spinning. Her fingers play with the bland snack she holds, turning it over and over again, knowing her time was running out. Then she notices a small piece of sealant at the top. The package had been opened before.
With moments until their return, XVL irreverently rips the cellophane off and runs her tag denature program again, this time over the crumbly, dusty bar itself. It’s a different bar than Tali had eaten on deployment. He’d specified at large that the newer recipe replaced the 80% protosynthetic soy with an 85%, which you can tell by the darker color and yellow flecks, and as XVL’s wrist scanner attempts to find and descramble a code on the bar, she wonders if they’d even been right about the protein bar. She can all but hear the footsteps coming down the hall-
A little chirp sounds from her scanner and a green message appears on her monitor
‘TALI07064 signature retrieved.’
Before the grin fully sets across her face, the com link pings her a message.
“Engineer to medbay, stat.”
A frown immediately replaces XVL’s smile. The tone had not been congratulatory or smug or even neutral. No, the captain had sounded urgent and serious, and if XVL isn’t mistaken, worried.
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