As I was in despair trying to learn the only skill which would allow me the liberty I seek, and again and again failed due to unmerited courage and as if some demonic string-puller of odds smirked at my tightly calculated risks and I disavowed god for trying to use noise to push me under its and society's rule and to humility, a parable flashed before my eyes as I projected myself into the furtive pygmy, an infinitely insignificant, frail yet nature-rebelling lord. And as I saw my manic ideation unfold, suddenly there was a connection of all my philosophical lessons, spiritual and unordinary experiences, ponderings, Dark Souls and life meaning rabbit holes and the little we were given in the Dark Souls lore. I do not know whether Hidetaka Miyazaki has made this meaning deliberately, for he himself admitted he read books without understanding them, but enjoyed it, for it stirred his fantasy further than if he would and then he later affirmed he had the same philosophy for developing Dark Souls. And yet the congruence, salience and smirking wisdom of Dark Souls doesn't seem like an empty haze. We are, therefore, seeing a manifestation of his unconscious, not conscious mind and maybe a manifestation of our own history as consequence. Now that I have made the introduction, I will move on to the theory.
Analyzing the intro of Dark Souls, I am quite certain it entails heavy symbolism, especially of the philosophical stream of thought in the 20th century.

In the Age of Ancients, the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of grey crags, archtrees, and everlasting dragons. But then there was Fire.

There are many interpretations of why anything is ever alive, but my understanding of it, is that things are alive for their own sake as a lively rebellion against a bleak and dead universe. The Age of Ancients represents the dead world with no living things, just a cold universe governed by simple, immortal facts and laws. Grey crags and archtress would represent a geographical, astronomical depiction of the various cellestial and outlined yet still hardly moving bodies. Everlasting dragons represent the unchanging, omnipresent laws of the universe. Then the world was unformed, shrouded by fog is a depiction on the side of living things, because as living things, this is all a symbolism from our point of view. It is a depiction of negatively toned lack of being, and yet the potential for being, as was at the beginning of the universe where all was rather mundane fog slowly coming together through gravity for an incredibly long time to make stars. Which is a quite fun coincidence, because of the there was Fire excerpt, which I was quite convinced is a symbolism for life, but it might also be symbolism for the only actual source of energy of all living things, the Sun.

And with Fire, came Disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course... Light and Dark.

And with the Sun came things which were not completely ambivalent to the whole of universe, because they were the first things to have stakes, namely the one of death and perishing, which explains the line of And with Fire, came Disparity. And this way we can turn to Charles Darwin and Darwinism itself, where all things strive to be. This, of course, means pain, fear and death precede joy, hope and life. And as stakes emerged, so have contrasts of good and evil, as per Eastern and I would also believe Ancient Greek philosophy, where one thing only existed if its opposite has. This explains the sudden mention of contrasts: Heat and cold, life and death,. However the contrast of Light and Dark represents a more nuanced theme I will get to later, and I think it is no coincidence it was the only emphasized of the three contrasts.

Then, from the Dark, They came and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. Nito, the first of the dead, the Witch of Izalith, and her Daughters of Chaos, Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights, and the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten.

Then, from the Dark, They came, this part gets incredibly difficult to interpret, as it is hard to outline what represents us as living entities to the inclusion of plants and mushrooms. And what represents us, as human beings, because of themes that come in later which plants certainly didn't pull off. Either way, the preceding excerpt of contrasts is not on the level of copresent reality, but on the level of Platonic realism, where the rules of the game have been predetermined even before any "players" have emerged. However "They", the living things, utilizing fire, the suddenly available inexhaustible energy of the Sun, arise from the serendipity of the dead universe and are certainly representing some semblance of history, rather than a physicist's poetic description. Of note is the theory that the first living things were most likely randomly arised self-replicating RNA, that only then became bigger entities called cells, which only then became an even bigger emergence of those into creatures our enormous size. This can now happen, since we have the resources to emerge such entities. The excerpt of and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. is on the level of theology, because as was mentioned earlier with Platonic realism, there are trends, rules and entities imposed from outside of the materialistic world even before any philosophizing creatures exist. Souls of Lords represent vague, but true, trends of being of the things that now utilize or have ever utilized the flame. Note the wording of flame instead of fire. The semantics of flame possess a body, whereas fire is just an idea. We are therefore dealing with tangible emergences of said energy, and therefore of now living beings, most likely plants. Those plants impose or arise rules, however, which are represented by Souls of Lords. Those Lords are what we would call gods, if we believe a polytheistic religion and if we assume gods are actually placeholders for trends and ideas in nature. With Nito, the first of the dead implying all living things turn to the dead, and yet the dead, either as matter or by influence, still affect the future, either as poison or sustenance, or the evolution of other species or even the spread of human ideologies. the Witch of Izalith, and her Daughters of Chaos represents a flourishing, unmitigated nature, fertility, and femininity. It happens as a contrast or even collaborator of Nito and a cautionary tale to anyone who sees femininity as mere weakness and nymph to be seduced or raped. It has, in a literal sense, a nature of its own which can turn quite vile, unpredictable and predatory as is seen in the domain of Izalith and her two spider-like daughters. With my, hopefully, flabbergasting conviction of the first two Lords I must humble myself with the uncertainty of the latter two. Perhaps, though, if we're going to a fourway contrast,Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights, represent order, masculinity and obedience. Note however, that he is not the Fire, since it's more likely he actually represents monotheistic religion and patriarchy than the source of all energy. On the other hand, Gwyn, as masculinity, also represents a force that quells Izalith's, as femininity, chaos and yet doesn't flourish and grow on its own. The furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten is a mystery, but my bet is that it represents individualism, or rather an individualist. Since anyone that is ever born and seeks individualism rivals a long-treaded history of greater forces and therefore their own freedom and will is incredibly subdued. I would also wager Hidetaka Miyazaki is projecting himself into the furtive pygmy. However, I do also agree with the theory that Manus is what the furtive pygmy becomes, as I will elucidate with my already promised elaborations.

With the Strength of Lords, they challenged the dragons. Gwyn's mighty bolts peeled apart their stone scales. The witches weaved great firestorms. Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease. And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own, and the dragons were no more.

We've come to, either as a living things or as humans, conquer the dead universe which tried to make sure we won't be around for long, with great faith, strength and courage. Seath the Scaleless represents either the geniuses so in tune with how the universe works, they could betray it. Or, instead, some loopholes and shortcomings of the universe, which allowed us to continue living, despite the other dragons.
I apologize for my succinct analysis of this part, but I can't make out anything more.

Thus began the Age of Fire. But soon, the flames will fade, and only Dark will remain. Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights. And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign.

Thus began the Age of Fire. But soon, the flames will fade, & Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights. However, as the struggle of all living has come to a halt and humans have conquered the most obvious conflicts with the dead universe, so comes a lack of purpose and nihilism. Now, the flame doesn't represent the energy from the Sun, but a man's will to live in a figured out world. This is a consequence of The Age of Enlightenment, Age of Fire, which 20th century philosophers aimed to passionately criticize, including Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights. represents our sudden despair of purpose, which is often filled with hobbies and vain pursuits, embers, as opposed to a clear sense of purpose, light, such as was the great and hopeful striving for a better future in the Era of Renaissance. And for the person of nowadays their life is too easy, too bland, filled with only endless nights, which can cause depression. And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign. represents this condition, where we're born to be, comparatively, immortal yet despite possessing extraordinary intellect and tenacity, are mere empty vessels wandering an empty world.

On that, which I left out:
I deliberate left out the parts concerning Light and Dark. It is my belief the Dark represents truth and a shard of the dragons' realm, whereas the Light represents purpose despite truth, as is seen in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris where Gertrude Stein says:

We all fear death and question our place in the universe. The artist's job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.

My personal, yet inspired, theory on creativity, and therefore the artist, is that the artist expands culture. Creativity is academically defined as combining novelty and usefulness, which is vivid in STEM fields, but not as much in the humanities. However, I would believe Gertrude's quote helps to illuminate how the usefulness of an artist's work is evaluated. And I do not believe you need to necessarily indulge in any of the clear creative domains like poetry and painting. Even entrepreneurs, from the owners of bakeries to big tech companies, and ordinary men, and women, can fantasize of how to make the world better and more colorful and realize their plans, perhaps even as a family trip. That is the true utility of fantasy - imagining how the world should be making it such.
This is also the conflict between Kingseeker Frampt and Darkstalker Kaathe. It reminds me of my arrogance, when I kept intellectualizing anything my ex-girlfriend would bring up and she, along with many others, would criticize me for doing so. Everything had to be easily explained by reasoning and perhaps a tint of Darwinism, when motives were put into question. But such is an empty and maddening existence. My rationalist, Era of Enlightenment philosophy could be symbolized by Darkstalker Kaathe, whereas the opposition is in Kingseeker Frampt, which is at odds with the naive Kaathe, and perhaps rightfully so. This motif is elaborated on in the DLC, where when Kaathe disclosed the truth to the masses of Oolacile, they turned to decadent, ravenous monsters. There, also, it's seen what happens to the individualist, the furtive pygmy, when he turns to the path of Kaathe. He becomes that, which you become, when you choose the evil ending. The furtive pygmy becomes akin to a mad scientist, a mad god, nearly unbeatable and enveloping the abyss of Darkness.

[Letter]

Gambler 8 tips please

A Theory On The Meaning Of Dark Souls

In the Age of Ancients, the world was unformed, shrouded by fog. A land of grey crags, archtrees, and everlasting dragons. But then there was Fire.

And with Fire, came Disparity. Heat and cold, life and death, and of course... Light and Dark.

And with the Sun came things which were not completely ambivalent to the whole of universe, because they were the first things to have stakes, namely the one of death and perishing, which explains the line of And with Fire, came Disparity.. And this way we can turn to Charles Darwin and Darwinism itself, where all things strive to be. This, of course, means pain, fear and death precede joy, hope and life. And as stakes emerged, so have contrasts of good and evil, as per Eastern and I would also believe Ancient Greek philosophy, where one thing only existed if its opposite has. This explains the sudden mention of contrasts: Heat and cold, life and death,. However the contrast of Light and Dark represents a more nuanced theme I will get to later, and I think it is no coincidence it was the only emphasized of the three contrasts.

Then, from the Dark, They came and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. Nito, the first of the dead, the Witch of Izalith, and her Daughters of Chaos, Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights, and the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten.

Then, from the Dark, They came, this part gets incredibly difficult to interpret, as it is hard to outline what represents us as living entities to the inclusion of plants and mushrooms. And what represents us, as human beings, because of themes that come in later which plants certainly didn't pull off. Either way, the preceding excerpt of contrasts is not on the level of copresent reality, but on the level of Platonic realism, where the rules of the game have been predetermined even before any "players" have emerged. However "They", the living things, utilizing fire, the suddenly available inexhaustible energy of the Sun, arise from the serendipity of the dead universe and are certainly representing some semblance of history, rather than a physicist's poetic description. Of note is the theory that the first living things were most likely randomly arised self-replicating RNA, that only then became bigger entities called cells, which only then became an even bigger emergence of those into creatures our enormous size. This can now happen, since we have the resources to emerge such entities. The excerpt of and found the Souls of Lords within the flame. is on the level of theology, because as was mentioned earlier with Platonic realism, there are trends, rules and entities imposed from outside of the materialistic world even before any philosophizing creatures exist. Souls of Lords represent vague, but true, trends of being of the things that now utilize or have ever utilized the flame. Note the wording of flame instead of fire. The semantics of flame possess a body, whereas fire is just an idea. We are therefore dealing with tangible emergences of said energy, and therefore of now living beings, most likely plants. Those plants impose or arise rules, however, which are represented by Souls of Lords. Those Lords are what we would call gods, if we believe a polytheistic religion and if we assume gods are actually placeholders for trends and ideas in nature. With Nito, the first of the dead implying all living things turn to the dead, and yet the dead, either as matter or by influence, still affect the future, either as poison or sustenance, or the evolution of other species or even the spread of human ideologies. the Witch of Izalith, and her Daughters of Chaos represents a flourishing, unmitigated nature, fertility, and femininity. It happens as a contrast or even collaborant of Nito and a cautionary tale to anyone who sees femininity as mere weakness and nymph to be seduced or raped. It has, in a literal sense, a nature of its own which can turn quite vile, unpredictable and predatory as is seen in the domain of Izalith and her two spider-like daughters. With my, hopefully, flabbergasting conviction of the first two Lords I must humble myself with the uncertainty of the latter two. Perhaps, though, if we're going to a fourway contrast,Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights, represent order, masculinity and obedience. Note however, that he is not the Fire, since it's more likely he actually represents monotheistic religion and patriarchy than the source of all energy. On the other hand, Gwyn, as masculinity, also represents a force that quells Izalith's, as femininity, chaos and yet doesn't flourish and grow on its own. The furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten is a mystery, but my bet is that it represents individualism, or rather an individualist. Since anyone that is ever born and seeks individualism rivals a long-treaded history of greater forces and therefore their own freedom and will is incredibly subdued. I would also wager Hidetaka Miyazaki is projecting himself into the furtive pygmy. However, I do also agree with the theory that Manus is what the furtive pygmy becomes, as I will eludicate with my already promised elaborations.

With the Strength of Lords, they challenged the dragons. Gwyn's mighty bolts peeled apart their stone scales. The witches weaved great firestorms. Nito unleashed a miasma of death and disease. And Seath the Scaleless betrayed his own, and the dragons were no more.

We've come to, either as a living things or as humans, conquer the dead universe which tried to make sure we won't be around for long, with great faith, strength and courage. Seath the Scaleless represents either the geniuses so in tune with how the universe works, they could betray it. Or, instead, some loopholes and shortcomings of the universe, which allowed us to continue living, despite the other dragons.
I apologize for my succint analysis of this part, but I can't make out anything more.

Thus began the Age of Fire. But soon, the flames will fade, and only Dark will remain. Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights. And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign.

Thus began the Age of Fire. But soon, the flames will fade, & Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights. However, as the struggle of all living has come to a halt and humans have conquered the most obvious conflicts with the dead universe, so comes a lack of purpose and nihilism. Now, the flame doesn't represent the energy from the Sun, but a man's will to live in a figured out world. This is a consequence of The Age of Enlightenment, Age of Fire, which 20th century philosophers aimed to passionately criticize, including Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Even now, there are only embers and man sees not light, but only endless nights. represents our sudden despair of purpose, which is often filled with hobbies and vain pursuits, embers, as opposed to a clear sense of purpose, light, such as was the great and hopeful striving for a better future in the Era of Renaissance. And for the person of nowadays their life is too easy, too bland, filled with only endless nights, which can cause depression. And amongst the living are seen, carriers of the accursed Darksign. represents this condition, where we're born to be, comparatively, immortal yet despite possessing extraordinary intellect and tenacity, are mere empty vessels wandering an empty world.
.
On that, which I left out:
I deliberate left out the parts concerning Light and Dark. It is my belief the Dark represents truth and a shard of the dragons' realm, whereas the Light represents purpose despite truth, as is seen in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris where Gertrude Stein says:

We all fear death and question our place in the universe. The artist's job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.

My personal, yet inspired, theory on creativity, and therefore the artist, is that the artist expands culture. Creativity is academically defined as combining novelty and usefuleness, which is vivid in STEM fields, but not as much in the humanities. However, I would believe Gertrude's quote helps to illuminate how the usefulness of an artist's work is evaluated. And I do not believe you need to necessarily indulge in any of the clear creative domains like poetry and painting. Even entrepreuners, from the owners of bakeries to big tech companies, and ordinary men, and women, can fantasize of how to make the world better and more colorful and realize their plans, perhaps even as a family trip. That is the true utility of fantasy - imagining how the world should be making it such.
This is also the conflict between Kingseeker Frampt and Darkstalker Kaathe. It reminds me of my arrogance, when I kept intellectualizing anything my ex-girlfriend would bring up and she, along with many others, would criticize me for doing so. Everything had to be easily explained by reasoning and perhaps a tint of Darwinism, when motives were put into question. But such is an empty and maddening existence. My rationalist, Era of Enlightenment philosophy could be symbolized by Darkstalker Kaathe, whereas the opposition is in Kingseeker Frampt, which is at odds with the naive Kaathe, and perhaps rightfully so. This motif is elaborated on in the DLC, where when Kaathe disclosed the truth to the masses of Oolacile, they turned to decadent, ravenous monsters. There, also, it's seen what happens to the individualist, the furtive pygmy, when he turns to the path of Kaathe. He becomes that, which you become, when you choose the evil ending. The furtive pygmy becomes akin to a mad scientist, a mad god, nearly unbeatable and enveloping the abyss of Darkness.
.
PS. I am not a native English speaker. I apologize for repeating certain words a lot. Also, I have a migraine, it's 5 AM and my insight seems to me, more important, than any petty mistakes of grammar or spelling I make.

The Cryopod to Hell 238: Phoebe, Humanity's Leader

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 1,005,000+ words long, and we are all caught up to the main sub on HFY! For more information, check out the link below:
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...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
...
General Chadwick, second in command for the Labyrinth Core resistance forces, stands beside the warpgate on Tarus II. He remains inside his exosuit, as do fifty-thousand other commandos, all of them perched atop nearby buildings, lined up behind dozens of battlements, and even taking cover inside multiple metal towers, with their sniper rifles trained on the warp-gate.
One by one, dozens of commandos flee from the Core, all of them arriving on Tarus II with fear in their eyes. The Balrog continues to silently rampage inside the portal, but its opaque nature prevents any of the Resistance fighters from seeing inside the warp-gate. Their hearts pound like drums as they fear the worst may occur; the Balrog's emergence on Tarus II.
Suddenly, the flow of soldiers stops. One last soldier darts through and turns to face Chadwick. "General! Only Neil and Henry remain! We're waiting on them!"
Chadwick's fingers tense up. He nods at the trooper and turns his attention to the portal, his alertness at the maximum.
"Ready yourselves!" Chadwick yells. The portly black-haired Norwegian holds his hand over the datapad while a giant red 'close' command flashes on its screen, waiting for him to disable the warp-gate.
Seconds pass.
Half a minute.
A full minute.
Right when Chadwick's heartrate starts to slow, the portal flickers. A single commando dashes through and arrives on Tarus II's side. "Deactivate the portal!"
"Henry? Where is Neil?" Chadwick asks.
Instead of replying, Henry flicks his gaze to Chadwick. He jumps toward the General, startling Chadwick. Before Chadwick can react, Henry slaps his hand on top of Chadwick's, forcing the General to press the portal deactivation button.
"What?! No!"
General Chadwick's heart skips several beats as the Tarus II portal dissipates, but not before a small avalanche explodes through its event horizon. Even with the portal's deactivation, it still takes a second or two to decouple from the warp-gate inside the Core, allowing twenty tons of ceiling debris to spill through and flood onto the Tarus II warp-gate platform. Dozens of troopers leap back instinctively, narrowly saving their lives from a death by crushing.
Moments later, the chaos fades away, and a deep, ominous silence follows.
Chadwick stares, wide-eyed, at Henry's figure. The young Lieutenant deactivates his helmet and bows respectfully.
"General Chadwick. I'm sorry for my hastiness, but I had no choice. I had to follow Commander Adams' final order."
"Final order?"
Chadwick shudders.
"Don't... don't tell me that bastard sacrificed himself! What happened in there?! Explain yourself!"
Henry's eyes gloss over with emotion. He glances around at the assembled troopers, all of whom have already regained their bearings to focus on his words.
"Commander Adams... he gave me one final command. He activated the Core's self-destruct sequence and told me to seal the warp-gate on Tarus II's side. Thanks to his final act of bravery, we will have extra time to prepare for the demon's invasion."
"Bullshit," Chadwick growls. "Lieutenant Henry, I'm relieving you of your position. Deactivate your exosuit at once."
Henry blinks in surprise. "G-General? I don't understand."
"You're lying! Neil would never do something so selfish as sacrifice humanity's best strategic mind. In an instant, he would deem his life more important than yours. He knows damn well our chance of survival will skyrocket so long as he remains with us."
Henry holds his palms face-up. "I'm... I'm sorry, General, but I'm telling the truth. I don't understand Neil's final order, either. It was... bizarre. However, if you insist, I'll submit to incarceration."
"Goddamn right you will," The General hisses. "Neil warned me about you. He said the odds of you being a traitor were at least 50%! I never should have left you and him alone!"
Henry's expression hardens. Immediately, he raises his finger and taps the air, activating Centurion's visual-interface. Even without a helmet, he's grown so used to the positioning of the exosuit's visual indicators that he can manipulate them at will.
"I understand your concern, General, but I also won't allow you to slander me. Here; my data files. See for yourself what happened in there."
Unlike Henry, Chadwick continues to wear his full exosuit, including its helmet. A pop-up appears in the corner of his vision, one with a video file attached. Chadwick taps to open it.
Half of his vision blurs as a video plays, one with Neil battling the Balrog.
"Henry!" Neil yells. "Take these command codes! Bring the ceiling down on this bastard! Don't make me tell you twice, goddammit!"
"Commander!" Henry replies, choked emotion in his voice. "I won't leave without you!"
"The hell you won't!"
Neil dodges one of the Balrog's fist swipes and yells again. "Leave, already! LEAVE!"
The video's perspective changes as Henry jumps out from behind cover, drops his sniper rifle, and rushes through the portal. The rest of the scene continues as normal, including Henry's conversation with Chadwick.
After watching, the General hesitates.
This... this video is convincing. Is it a fake? Something about Neil's voice wasn't quite right, but... how could Henry possibly forge a video in mere seconds? Was Neil right? Could Ose have somehow used her powers to create a false timeline of events?
The General's suspicions deepen. However, without any proof one way or another, he falters.
"...This recording does seem to prove your claims. Even so, I intend to conduct a full investigation, later. Right now, we have a dead Commander and nobody to lead this army. Disable your exosuit and follow Corporal Hurent. She'll deliver you to the prison complex until further notice."
Chadwick nods at a trooper on his left, the female human who Neil questioned not even an hour before. Hurent nods back and lifts her Plasma Carbine flat across her chest.
"Lieutenant. You heard the General."
Henry's complexion turns ashen, but he offers no complaint. After a moment of hesitation, Henry deactivates his exosuit and decouples its straps from behind his back. The young man lightly tosses his T-REX to Chadwick, who catches it easily.
"...General."
"Lieutenant."
Both men eye each other, with Chadwick's expression hidden behind his mask, and Henry's look of guilt visible for everyone to see.
Corporal Hurent leads Henry away, their procession looking almost as if she's captured a prisoner of war.
Once they leave, Chadwick heaves a sigh. "God dammit. Neil's dead, crushed to death by his own creation, and we've lost the Core, too. I didn't expect us to lose, and certainly not so quickly."
As Chadwick mutters to himself, a female voice speaks at his side. "General, don't feel so down. I'd bet good money Neil is still alive."
Chadwick turns to his left, where Corporal Hurent stood only a minute earlier. After she leads Henry away, a different soldier takes her place, one with a black-and-gold exosuit unlike no other.
"Miss Hiro? What makes you say such a thing?" Chadwick asks. He turns to the soldier as she deactivates her helmet, revealing her straight, white hair. "Your exosuits are certainly powerful, but even if Neil miraculously survived the roof caving on him, there's no way he can handle the Balrog alone."
Phoebe Hiro, wife of humanity's leader, clicks her tongue. "Tsk. Come on, Chadwick, don't be such a downer. There's no chance our enemies would pass up a chance to capture our brilliant military commander. Not only would he make an ideal hostage to demoralize us, but he has all sorts of information they can put to good use. He's alive, trust me."
Chadwick deactivates his helmet, then raises an eyebrow. "Are you trying to comfort or scare me, Miss Hiro? I think I'd rather Neil had died than end up in the hands of the bloodskins. They'll torture him endlessly!"
Phoebe frowns at Chadwick's casual slur. "No. They won't. Ose doesn't need torture; she can possess people and read their thoughts. She nearly took over Jason's mind at one point. You might think Neil is in grave danger, but once Jason or Hope returns, there's no way the demons will be able to keep him from us. Now, let's focus on the immediate future. Explain the situation in the Core to me."
The Hero's Wife listens intently as Chadwick explains what happened over the last few hours, how the humans pushed back the demons twice, how Kar nearly died fighting Ose, and many more details. After concluding with Henry's possible betrayal, Chadwick nods at Phoebe.
"So, not to be rude, Miss Hiro, but where have you been? We don't expect you to fight on the frontlines, but I always thought you'd be out here with the rest of us. You've been uncharacteristically absent."
"I have," Phoebe nods. "I had to drop Daisy off at the hospital with Samantha. There's no safer place for my daughter than at the side of the strongest being on Tarus II. After that... well..."
Phoebe chuckles wryly.
"I spoke to Neil two days ago, not long after he debriefed everyone. I made my position clear. Neil runs the Core. Jason and I run Tarus II. Whether Neil is here or not, I'll be taking charge of this planet's defense."
Chadwick blinks in surprise. "...You? I, I mean... I wasn't informed of this. Why didn't Neil tell me?"
"I don't know," Phoebe admits, "but I imagined he was going to tell you once he successfully retreated to Tarus II and saw me here and waiting. If you're right about Henry's possible betrayal, then it would explain why you never found out. Neil didn't expect to lose the Core. He was too confident in his capabilities. Then again, those strange, aberrant demons, the armored ones... they took you by surprise. I'm amazed you survived their onslaught."
Miss Hiro shakes her head. "Two thousand demons, each one with the strength of a Baron. I don't know how the demons created such frightening creatures, especially given how few souls remain within the River Styx, but it's clear they've been preparing for this invasion for the last six years. We can't underestimate Ose's cunning."
"I don't know either," Chadwick mutters. "But what I do know is that I can't just take your word on this matter, Miss Hiro. After Neil, I am the highest ranking member of humanity's military. You may be the Hero's wife, but that doesn't mean you have the qualifications to lead. Why should we entrust our survival to you?"
Chadwick's words contain neither malevolence, selfishness, nor greed. He speaks his mind frankly while eying Phoebe with a complex look. The Hero's Wife meets him on equal terms with a compassionate gaze of her own.
"Jason and I have not stood idly for the last six years. With Solomon's help, we've constructed countless weapons for battling the demons. The war you just fought in the Core was merely a prelude to the real battle. If and when the demons try to make planetfall here, we'll be ready for them. That is why I will take command, General."
Phoebe holds her palm up to her ear, allowing her nanite armor to convert into a telephone-like device. "Centurion. Summon the Walkers. Two will do."
"COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED, PILOT 'PHOEBE HIRO.' NOW ACTIVATING TWO LEVEL-1 PLANET-WALKERS."
Centurion blares in Phoebe's ear, confirming her order. After several seconds, the ground begins to tremble.
From the skies above, two pinpricks of light emerge. Massive metal crates plummet toward the PLANET from the upper atmosphere, dropped by an unseen space-faring vessel.
Centurion speaks. "DROPSHIP PAYLOAD DEPLOYED. THE PACKAGES WILL MAKE PLANETFALL IN T-MINUS SEVENTEEN SECONDS."
Hundreds of soldiers turn their gazes skyward. They gasp in awe as they spot the fireballs streaking downward from the upper atmosphere, falling even faster than terminal velocity. Whatever metal Phoebe used to construct the square crates neither sags nor melts under the multiple-thousand-degrees of heat buffeting them from every angle.
Seconds later, the massive crates smash into Tarus II's surface half a mile from the outskirts of the warp-gate encampment, sending two shockwaves hurtling across the plains. A bomb-like sound-blast sweeps across the base, startling everyone and making hundreds of soldiers fall on their asses. Their confusion only lasts for a second before they break out into whoops and cheers.
Two gigantic metal machines break out of the crates, somehow undamaged after crashing into the planet at three hundred miles per hour. The automatons rise to a height of over one hundred feet by lifting themselves up via four spider-like legs. Atop the legs, a square-shaped cockpit rests, with two pairs of double-barreled cannons facing forward. Each cannon extends forward some twenty feet and possesses enough firepower to reduce the encampment's walls to rubble with one shot.
The Planet-walkers begin stomping toward the humans at a surprisingly brisk pace, traveling at least thirty miles per hour. Once the Planet-walkers arrive within 100 feet of the walls, they slow to a stop, towering over the defensive barrier like a grown adult standing next to a miniature garden fence. The thirty-foot-walls appear positively puny compared to the monstrosities looming overhead.
Phoebe smiles. "These are two of the first prototypes I built, four years ago. They're a bit clunky, but I think they'll suit our needs. What about you, Chadwick? Do you believe I have the qualifications to lead humanity in Neil's absence?"
The General's jaw practically hits the floor. "I-incredible! If we'd had these machines in the Core, those aberrant demons would never have broken the perimeter!"
"Perhaps," Phoebe replies, trying not to laugh at his stupefaction. "The Archimedes Cannons are capable of causing immense devastation, but Planet-walkers are at their best in a wide, open field. They'd have limited mobility in the Core, while also being more likely to stomp our own troops to death."
Chadwick nods hurriedly. "Yes, I understand, Miss Hiro. You are truly a genius! It's no wonder the soldiers call you Humanity's Goddess. Your ingenuity may just win us this war!"
Phoebe's smile fades away. "No, General. Without the Wordsmiths, we will eventually fall to the demons' unending hordes. My only goal is for us to survive. We must last until Jason or Hope return, and after that, we can come up with a permanent solution for the 'Demon Problem.'"
A moment of silence follows. Phoebe brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes as she turns to look at the soldiers assembled.
"All of you... you need to work together. The demons will surely dig one of the Core's warpgates out of the rubble. With the servers destroyed, it will take them some time to compute Tarus II's dimensional coordinates, perhaps a few days at the least. Once they do, we need to ensure they never break past this warp-gate. Are there any questions?"
Phoebe takes control of the military smoothly and without issues. Despite Chadwicks initial reservations, he quickly discovers that even the Core personnel are more than willing to put their faith and trust in the Hero's wife. After all, who was it that always took care of them, visited them, and made sure to treat everyone with respect and dignity over the previous six years? None other than Phoebe Hiro.
Several hands shoot up as soldiers direct their questions at her, but one person's query catches everyone's attention.
Brunhilda, the Tribe Leader of Feloria, speaks. "Commander Hiro. I do not understand. Why do you not simply destroy the metal gate? Then the demons will not come."
"That's a good question," Phoebe replies. "Simply speaking, we can't. Even if we could, we shouldn't. These gates don't only connect to the Labyrinth Core. They can connect to similar gates on all the other planets, including Feloria. The Core possessed specialized computers capable of calculating the dimensional vectors of each gate more easily, thanks to teams of monsters and humans working together, but Jason once used Solomon's Crown to reconnect all on his own. If we destroy the gate, we will be unable to reach the other worlds humanity currently controls, and the demons will be able to separate us."
Phoebe continues. "Not that anything I just said matters. These gates are damn-near indestructible. I don't know what material the demons used to build them, but if I were to throw one of my Planet-walkers at this gate here, I wouldn't even dent it. The material used for these Volgrim-built gates is five times harder and more durable than demonstone, and appears to be infused with some sort of magical activator which allows for interdimensional travel. It's a potent fusion of technology and magic, one which I haven't a chance of mimicking."
Brunhilda struggles to understand Phoebe's explanation, but unlike the humans who served under Bahamut, her comprehension of technology is several epochs behind theirs. As the leader of a world of hut-dwellers, she has only the most primitive grasp on technology, making it hard to understand Phoebe's words.
"I... I see. So, the big gate is... hard? It cannot be broken?"
Phoebe shakes her head. "Not by us, it can't."
"Ah. That is unfortunate," Brunhilda mutters. "So, will the demons be able to open the gate and attack us soon?"
"I can't say for certain, but I would assume so," Phoebe says.
Unlike most of the other soldiers, Brunhilda does not wear a T-REX, nor do her fellow Felorians. Unable to truly grasp the intricacies of technology, they instead shun the nanosuits and opt to fight with little more than leather armor, or even none at all. Brunhilda turns to her clan members and speaks to them in a hushed voice, allowing Phoebe to continue answering questions from other soldiers.
Eventually, she finishes. The soldiers disperse and start setting up shifts to guard the warp-gate, while others head off to eat food and prep themselves for what could be a long or short wait before the next demon attack.
Chadwick and Phoebe end up standing alone after the others leave. The General sighs. "I would almost rather the demons attacked us now. Not knowing when they'll open the portal, or if they will at all, makes me uneasy. I feel as if there's a snake somewhere in the tall grass, waiting to strike, but I haven't a clue where it's hiding."
Phoebe nods. "I know what you mean, as I feel similarly about my husband. I'd rather know he was dead or alive, if only to remove this anxious feeling in my heart."
Chadwick shakes his head. "The only thing worse than an enemy you can see is one you can't. I'll take my leave now, Miss Hiro."
"Farewell, Chadwick."
Phoebe watches silently as Chadwick heads off to the local mess hall, leaving her alone at the portal. Phoebe glances at the wall of debris still piled in front of it and sighs.
"This war has only just begun, and already, I wish it was over."
Next Part
.......................................
Author's Note:
Check out Brunhilda's artwork!

Cryopod Refresh 238: Phoebe, Humanity's Leader

General Chadwick, second in command for the Labyrinth Core resistance forces, stands beside the warpgate on Tarus II. He remains inside his exosuit, as do fifty-thousand other commandos, all of them perched atop nearby buildings, lined up behind dozens of battlements, and even taking cover inside multiple metal towers, with their sniper rifles trained on the warp-gate.
One by one, dozens of commandos flee from the Core, all of them arriving on Tarus II with fear in their eyes. The Balrog continues to silently rampage inside the portal, but its opaque nature prevents any of the Resistance fighters from seeing inside the warp-gate. Their hearts pound like drums as they fear the worst may occur; the Balrog's emergence on Tarus II.
Suddenly, the flow of soldiers stops. One last soldier darts through and turns to face Chadwick. "General! Only Neil and Henry remain! We're waiting on them!"
Chadwick's fingers tense up. He nods at the trooper and turns his attention to the portal, his alertness at the maximum.
"Ready yourselves!" Chadwick yells. The portly black-haired Norwegian holds his hand over the datapad while a giant red 'close' command flashes on its screen, waiting for him to disable the warp-gate.
Seconds pass.
Half a minute.
A full minute.
Right when Chadwick's heartrate starts to slow, the portal flickers. A single commando dashes through and arrives on Tarus II's side. "Deactivate the portal!"
"Henry? Where is Neil?" Chadwick asks.
Instead of replying, Henry flicks his gaze to Chadwick. He jumps toward the General, startling Chadwick. Before Chadwick can react, Henry slaps his hand on top of Chadwick's, forcing the General to press the portal deactivation button.
"What?! No!"
General Chadwick's heart skips several beats as the Tarus II portal dissipates, but not before a small avalanche explodes through its event horizon. Even with the portal's deactivation, it still takes a second or two to decouple from the warp-gate inside the Core, allowing twenty tons of ceiling debris to spill through and flood onto the Tarus II warp-gate platform. Dozens of troopers leap back instinctively, narrowly saving their lives from a death by crushing.
Moments later, the chaos fades away, and a deep, ominous silence follows.
Chadwick stares, wide-eyed, at Henry's figure. The young Lieutenant deactivates his helmet and bows respectfully.
"General Chadwick. I'm sorry for my hastiness, but I had no choice. I had to follow Commander Adams' final order."
"Final order?"
Chadwick shudders.
"Don't... don't tell me that bastard sacrificed himself! What happened in there?! Explain yourself!"
Henry's eyes gloss over with emotion. He glances around at the assembled troopers, all of whom have already regained their bearings to focus on his words.
"Commander Adams... he gave me one final command. He activated the Core's self-destruct sequence and told me to seal the warp-gate on Tarus II's side. Thanks to his final act of bravery, we will have extra time to prepare for the demon's invasion."
"Bullshit," Chadwick growls. "Lieutenant Henry, I'm relieving you of your position. Deactivate your exosuit at once."
Henry blinks in surprise. "G-General? I don't understand."
"You're lying! Neil would never do something so selfish as sacrifice humanity's best strategic mind. In an instant, he would deem his life more important than yours. He knows damn well our chance of survival will skyrocket so long as he remains with us."
Henry holds his palms face-up. "I'm... I'm sorry, General, but I'm telling the truth. I don't understand Neil's final order, either. It was... bizarre. However, if you insist, I'll submit to incarceration."
"Goddamn right you will," The General hisses. "Neil warned me about you. He said the odds of you being a traitor were at least 50%! I never should have left you and him alone!"
Henry's expression hardens. Immediately, he raises his finger and taps the air, activating Centurion's visual-interface. Even without a helmet, he's grown so used to the positioning of the exosuit's visual indicators that he can manipulate them at will.
"I understand your concern, General, but I also won't allow you to slander me. Here; my data files. See for yourself what happened in there."
Unlike Henry, Chadwick continues to wear his full exosuit, including its helmet. A pop-up appears in the corner of his vision, one with a video file attached. Chadwick taps to open it.
Half of his vision blurs as a video plays, one with Neil battling the Balrog.
"Henry!" Neil yells. "Take these command codes! Bring the ceiling down on this bastard! Don't make me tell you twice, goddammit!"
"Commander!" Henry replies, choked emotion in his voice. "I won't leave without you!"
"The hell you won't!"
Neil dodges one of the Balrog's fist swipes and yells again. "Leave, already! LEAVE!"
The video's perspective changes as Henry jumps out from behind cover, drops his sniper rifle, and rushes through the portal. The rest of the scene continues as normal, including Henry's conversation with Chadwick.
After watching, the General hesitates.
This... this video is convincing. Is it a fake? Something about Neil's voice wasn't quite right, but... how could Henry possibly forge a video in mere seconds? Was Neil right? Could Ose have somehow used her powers to create a false timeline of events?
The General's suspicions deepen. However, without any proof one way or another, he falters.
"...This recording does seem to prove your claims. Even so, I intend to conduct a full investigation, later. Right now, we have a dead Commander and nobody to lead this army. Disable your exosuit and follow Corporal Hurent. She'll deliver you to the prison complex until further notice."
Chadwick nods at a trooper on his left, the female human who Neil questioned not even an hour before. Hurent nods back and lifts her Plasma Carbine flat across her chest.
"Lieutenant. You heard the General."
Henry's complexion turns ashen, but he offers no complaint. After a moment of hesitation, Henry deactivates his exosuit and decouples its straps from behind his back. The young man lightly tosses his T-REX to Chadwick, who catches it easily.
"...General."
"Lieutenant."
Both men eye each other, with Chadwick's expression hidden behind his mask, and Henry's look of guilt visible for everyone to see.
Corporal Hurent leads Henry away, their procession looking almost as if she's captured a prisoner of war.
Once they leave, Chadwick heaves a sigh. "God dammit. Neil's dead, crushed to death by his own creation, and we've lost the Core, too. I didn't expect us to lose, and certainly not so quickly."
As Chadwick mutters to himself, a female voice speaks at his side. "General, don't feel so down. I'd bet good money Neil is still alive."
Chadwick turns to his left, where Corporal Hurent stood only a minute earlier. After she leads Henry away, a different soldier takes her place, one with a black-and-gold exosuit unlike no other.
"Miss Hiro? What makes you say such a thing?" Chadwick asks. He turns to the soldier as she deactivates her helmet, revealing her straight, white hair. "Your exosuits are certainly powerful, but even if Neil miraculously survived the roof caving on him, there's no way he can handle the Balrog alone."
Phoebe Hiro, wife of humanity's leader, clicks her tongue. "Tsk. Come on, Chadwick, don't be such a downer. There's no chance our enemies would pass up a chance to capture our brilliant military commander. Not only would he make an ideal hostage to demoralize us, but he has all sorts of information they can put to good use. He's alive, trust me."
Chadwick deactivates his helmet, then raises an eyebrow. "Are you trying to comfort or scare me, Miss Hiro? I think I'd rather Neil had died than end up in the hands of the bloodskins. They'll torture him endlessly!"
Phoebe frowns at Chadwick's casual slur. "No. They won't. Ose doesn't need torture; she can possess people and read their thoughts. She nearly took over Jason's mind at one point. You might think Neil is in grave danger, but once Jason or Hope returns, there's no way the demons will be able to keep him from us. Now, let's focus on the immediate future. Explain the situation in the Core to me."
The Hero's Wife listens intently as Chadwick explains what happened over the last few hours, how the humans pushed back the demons twice, how Kar nearly died fighting Ose, and many more details. After concluding with Henry's possible betrayal, Chadwick nods at Phoebe.
"So, not to be rude, Miss Hiro, but where have you been? We don't expect you to fight on the frontlines, but I always thought you'd be out here with the rest of us. You've been uncharacteristically absent."
"I have," Phoebe nods. "I had to drop Daisy off at the hospital with Samantha. There's no safer place for my daughter than at the side of the strongest being on Tarus II. After that... well..."
Phoebe chuckles wryly.
"I spoke to Neil two days ago, not long after he debriefed everyone. I made my position clear. Neil runs the Core. Jason and I run Tarus II. Whether Neil is here or not, I'll be taking charge of this planet's defense."
Chadwick blinks in surprise. "...You? I, I mean... I wasn't informed of this. Why didn't Neil tell me?"
"I don't know," Phoebe admits, "but I imagined he was going to tell you once he successfully retreated to Tarus II and saw me here and waiting. If you're right about Henry's possible betrayal, then it would explain why you never found out. Neil didn't expect to lose the Core. He was too confident in his capabilities. Then again, those strange, aberrant demons, the armored ones... they took you by surprise. I'm amazed you survived their onslaught."
Miss Hiro shakes her head. "Two thousand demons, each one with the strength of a Baron. I don't know how the demons created such frightening creatures, especially given how few souls remain within the River Styx, but it's clear they've been preparing for this invasion for the last six years. We can't underestimate Ose's cunning."
"I don't know either," Chadwick mutters. "But what I do know is that I can't just take your word on this matter, Miss Hiro. After Neil, I am the highest ranking member of humanity's military. You may be the Hero's wife, but that doesn't mean you have the qualifications to lead. Why should we entrust our survival to you?"
Chadwick's words contain neither malevolence, selfishness, nor greed. He speaks his mind frankly while eying Phoebe with a complex look. The Hero's Wife meets him on equal terms with a compassionate gaze of her own.
"Jason and I have not stood idly for the last six years. With Solomon's help, we've constructed countless weapons for battling the demons. The war you just fought in the Core was merely a prelude to the real battle. If and when the demons try to make planetfall here, we'll be ready for them. That is why I will take command, General."
Phoebe holds her palm up to her ear, allowing her nanite armor to convert into a telephone-like device. "Centurion. Summon the Walkers. Two will do."
"COMMAND ACKNOWLEDGED, PILOT 'PHOEBE HIRO.' NOW ACTIVATING TWO LEVEL-1 PLANET-WALKERS."
Centurion blares in Phoebe's ear, confirming her order. After several seconds, the ground begins to tremble.
From the skies above, two pinpricks of light emerge. Massive metal crates plummet toward the PLANET from the upper atmosphere, dropped by an unseen space-faring vessel.
Centurion speaks. "DROPSHIP PAYLOAD DEPLOYED. THE PACKAGES WILL MAKE PLANETFALL IN T-MINUS SEVENTEEN SECONDS."
Hundreds of soldiers turn their gazes skyward. They gasp in awe as they spot the fireballs streaking downward from the upper atmosphere, falling even faster than terminal velocity. Whatever metal Phoebe used to construct the square crates neither sags nor melts under the multiple-thousand-degrees of heat buffeting them from every angle.
Seconds later, the massive crates smash into Tarus II's surface half a mile from the outskirts of the warp-gate encampment, sending two shockwaves hurtling across the plains. A bomb-like sound-blast sweeps across the base, startling everyone and making hundreds of soldiers fall on their asses. Their confusion only lasts for a second before they break out into whoops and cheers.
Two gigantic metal machines break out of the crates, somehow undamaged after crashing into the planet at three hundred miles per hour. The automatons rise to a height of over one hundred feet by lifting themselves up via four spider-like legs. Atop the legs, a square-shaped cockpit rests, with two pairs of double-barreled cannons facing forward. Each cannon extends forward some twenty feet and possesses enough firepower to reduce the encampment's walls to rubble with one shot.
The Planet-walkers begin stomping toward the humans at a surprisingly brisk pace, traveling at least thirty miles per hour. Once the Planet-walkers arrive within 100 feet of the walls, they slow to a stop, towering over the defensive barrier like a grown adult standing next to a miniature garden fence. The thirty-foot-walls appear positively puny compared to the monstrosities looming overhead.
Phoebe smiles. "These are two of the first prototypes I built, four years ago. They're a bit clunky, but I think they'll suit our needs. What about you, Chadwick? Do you believe I have the qualifications to lead humanity in Neil's absence?"
The General's jaw practically hits the floor. "I-incredible! If we'd had these machines in the Core, those aberrant demons would never have broken the perimeter!"
"Perhaps," Phoebe replies, trying not to laugh at his stupefaction. "The Archimedes Cannons are capable of causing immense devastation, but Planet-walkers are at their best in a wide, open field. They'd have limited mobility in the Core, while also being more likely to stomp our own troops to death."
Chadwick nods hurriedly. "Yes, I understand, Miss Hiro. You are truly a genius! It's no wonder the soldiers call you Humanity's Goddess. Your ingenuity may just win us this war!"
Phoebe's smile fades away. "No, General. Without the Wordsmiths, we will eventually fall to the demons' unending hordes. My only goal is for us to survive. We must last until Jason or Hope return, and after that, we can come up with a permanent solution for the 'Demon Problem.'"
A moment of silence follows. Phoebe brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes as she turns to look at the soldiers assembled.
"All of you... you need to work together. The demons will surely dig one of the Core's warpgates out of the rubble. With the servers destroyed, it will take them some time to compute Tarus II's dimensional coordinates, perhaps a few days at the least. Once they do, we need to ensure they never break past this warp-gate. Are there any questions?"
Phoebe takes control of the military smoothly and without issues. Despite Chadwicks initial reservations, he quickly discovers that even the Core personnel are more than willing to put their faith and trust in the Hero's wife. After all, who was it that always took care of them, visited them, and made sure to treat everyone with respect and dignity over the previous six years? None other than Phoebe Hiro.
Several hands shoot up as soldiers direct their questions at her, but one person's query catches everyone's attention.
Brunhilda, the Tribe Leader of Feloria, speaks. "Commander Hiro. I do not understand. Why do you not simply destroy the metal gate? Then the demons will not come."
"That's a good question," Phoebe replies. "Simply speaking, we can't. Even if we could, we shouldn't. These gates don't only connect to the Labyrinth Core. They can connect to similar gates on all the other planets, including Feloria. The Core possessed specialized computers capable of calculating the dimensional vectors of each gate more easily, thanks to teams of monsters and humans working together, but Jason once used Solomon's Crown to reconnect all on his own. If we destroy the gate, we will be unable to reach the other worlds humanity currently controls, and the demons will be able to separate us."
Phoebe continues. "Not that anything I just said matters. These gates are damn-near indestructible. I don't know what material the demons used to build them, but if I were to throw one of my Planet-walkers at this gate here, I wouldn't even dent it. The material used for these Volgrim-built gates is five times harder and more durable than demonstone, and appears to be infused with some sort of magical activator which allows for interdimensional travel. It's a potent fusion of technology and magic, one which I haven't a chance of mimicking."
Brunhilda struggles to understand Phoebe's explanation, but unlike the humans who served under Bahamut, her comprehension of technology is several epochs behind theirs. As the leader of a world of hut-dwellers, she has only the most primitive grasp on technology, making it hard to understand Phoebe's words.
"I... I see. So, the big gate is... hard? It cannot be broken?"
Phoebe shakes her head. "Not by us, it can't."
"Ah. That is unfortunate," Brunhilda mutters. "So, will the demons be able to open the gate and attack us soon?"
"I can't say for certain, but I would assume so," Phoebe says.
Unlike most of the other soldiers, Brunhilda does not wear a T-REX, nor do her fellow Felorians. Unable to truly grasp the intricacies of technology, they instead shun the nanosuits and opt to fight with little more than leather armor, or even none at all. Brunhilda turns to her clan members and speaks to them in a hushed voice, allowing Phoebe to continue answering questions from other soldiers.
Eventually, she finishes. The soldiers disperse and start setting up shifts to guard the warp-gate, while others head off to eat food and prep themselves for what could be a long or short wait before the next demon attack.
Chadwick and Phoebe end up standing alone after the others leave. The General sighs. "I would almost rather the demons attacked us now. Not knowing when they'll open the portal, or if they will at all, makes me uneasy. I feel as if there's a snake somewhere in the tall grass, waiting to strike, but I haven't a clue where it's hiding."
Phoebe nods. "I know what you mean, as I feel similarly about my husband. I'd rather know he was dead or alive, if only to remove this anxious feeling in my heart."
Chadwick shakes his head. "The only thing worse than an enemy you can see is one you can't. I'll take my leave now, Miss Hiro."
"Farewell, Chadwick."
Phoebe watches silently as Chadwick heads off to the local mess hall, leaving her alone at the portal. Phoebe glances at the wall of debris still piled in front of it and sighs.
"This war has only just begun, and already, I wish it was over."
.......................................
Author's Note:
Check out Brunhilda's artwork!
FOR RETURNING READERS FROM CLASSIC: Please use spoiler tags when commenting on anything that might ruin the story for new readers, especially if that information is based on your knowledge of Classic!
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The Meld II (15): Worlds Apart Part II.

The Meld II (15): Worlds Apart Part II.
‘Some of those SalesGek and Korvax Scientists can be persuasive,’ Gryll continued. ‘so now you know. Should you ever happen upon the same selling ear slugs or offering evacuations you might like to think thrice before instantly volunteering although they may sweeten the deal with gifts. Sadly my Convergent cousins can be a bit superior in relation to biological life, treating the unwary as if little more than wandering laboratory test subjects. Whilst SalesGek, (I am positive Efor would agree), can sell GrahGrah to a Korvax with absolutely no use for it.’ He warned.
‘Those Korvax Scientists sound how I now imagine our Father of old. Though I am glad to be a Sapient Biped, the way we got to be, all that we are, after viewing the Primary Mass of the Dark Dreamer seems increasingly problematic to me.’ Nahrl admitted.
Gryll nodded ever so slightly to the Fox. ‘History is a strange thing in these times. I feel a little conflicted about my own genesis as a Software Entity inside a Casing. Never, (as far as I know), consulted about the process. Though it is true that akin to Travellers I now have big holes in my timeline.’
Perhaps exactly like a Traveller Nahrl thought but said nothing.
‘Sometimes we barely know ourselves.’ Gryll too obliviously ironically added. ‘I lost a lot of myself when I became a Rogue, at least that is what I must assume from those abiding voids. Patched my life back together from scraps of data and a variety of not always fully compatible makeshift tech upgrades. Positive most Convergent folk would be unimpressed with the state of my Digital Soul and Casing internals. My essence hardly top grade - state of the art science and engineering - or perfectly integrated elegance.’
‘Perfection is an illusion my old Korvax friend. Your functionality looks more than good enough to me.’ Efor complimented. ‘You are a fine bot without doubt.’ He joked.
‘Thank you. Your approval is everything to me.’ Gryll mocked back in turn.
‘See pretty good. It even gets our Gek humour.’ Efor retorted.
‘Speaking of upgrades. You gained your mechanical eye implants due to physical injuries?’ Jhasq asked the Gek. Although she actually knew that to be true, she was hoping Efor might elaborate about how he now felt about that choice after having lived with the hard tech for a while. Such direct merging of flesh and machine intriguing her in a macabre slightly disturbing manner, especially as a biologically focused medic including reminding her a little too much of Dreamer Stalkers.
‘Positive I mentioned before that I had a bad run in with a First Spawn Clone called Reefee. A very bad run in and all for me. Actually, I only lost one eye among other internal injuries. Had the other one removed for symmetry, because they told me it would enhance the functionality of both implants. Seemed a good plan at the time. Also got a few other less obvious cybernetic boosts. Decided when under the laser scalpel to make the most of it. You know reinforced bones and so on. Funny thing though hee, hee I keep forgetting to try out my new abilities. Simply too used being a physically more normal Gek from before.’
‘If hurt I would much prefer to be restored fully biologically.’ Jhasq stated as if making a contract.
‘Wasn’t really an option for me at the time. The Frigate Surgeons available, (actually members of this Fleet), were Korvax specialising in hard cybernetic machine parts, so machine parts it had to be. All of this happened shortly before I arrived on Hellespae. Funny, in review now, in my mind coming here was my big chance to try those upgrades out, but, like I said, never really did do that properly not yet anyway. Not even making good use of them when fighting the Brood Stalker in Bhargl or um that Primary Mass in the Grand Warren. Though I suppose the optics probably passively boosted my aim a little.’
‘Your aim was poor before?’ Jhasq asked.
Efor spluttered out a chortle, ‘Everyone is a critic. I guess you noticed I didn’t do much against the Dreamer.’
‘Sorry, I did not mean it as a reproach. I am usually more diplomatic. Yet you felt you needed improved?’
‘Relax Jhasq, I jest. Whilst against the Dreamer I was not at my best. As to improvement, as good as I am.’ Efor stated making a wide open mouthed grin, ‘even for me there always some room to improve a little.’
‘That battle in the Grand Warren a strange fight, our tactics all a bit rushed.’ Gryll noted.
‘Tell me about it. I kept getting dragged into all that slime. Seemed to spend most of the fight on the sidelines deep in that filth. Those cursed maggoty grub things came at me a lot. Could hardly shake them off to get a shot in at the Primary Mass. Constantly mobbed and dragged back down into the ooze. Seems they had a real appetite for Gek, and me thinking Stalkers far more into Fox meat.’ Efor added.
‘They usually are. Those immature things seemed only half formed though, maybe less. With that battle I wouldn’t feel too bad. I didn’t fight smart or do very well either, always in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ Jhasq noted. ‘Of course, I make no pretence to being a - Fox Warrior - not too interested in becoming one either. As a rule, I much more prefer healing people than hurting them.’ Jhasq admitted.
‘A fine philosophy. Too many reach first for brutality and violence as the seemingly quick and easy solution. Yet too often aggression simply spawns more of the same. Worse, even when big conflicts end, some levels of old enmity too often persist akin to our present issues with those recidivist Horde Renegades. The duration as they say often far longer than the war.’ Gryll remarked.
‘Usually when scouting I try to fight only in self-defence.’ Nahrl admitted. ‘Much of my training focused on avoiding contact with the enemy rather than seeking it out. Generally, I still prefer to operate that way when feasible: Stealthy Fox avoidance over direct say Tusk style charging confrontation. Otherwise, I agree, feels a bit too easy to become as barbaric as our old foes. Though I do lose my temper with them on occasion. Whilst stupidly, since The Wrath, I find I am fighting far more now rather than less: Fighting to help create and maintain our new peace - bit of a paradox that nonsense.’
‘Since I gained a multi-tool I sometimes feel seriously conflicted. Tlaa’s doctrine strictly preaches that killing other Uplifts is a sin,’ Jhasq reminded, ‘My heart tells me that is still true, but in my mind I am hardly a pacifist anymore. I am simply not selfless enough to forego fighting to survive when required. I suppose at times that makes me just another expediently violent sinner.’
Efor shook his head before replying to her. ‘Just means you are not impractically overly dogmatic.’
‘I suppose you think Tlaa’s Peace, and pacifism in general, a foolish hiding away Warren Fox philosophy.’ She said.
Efor scratched at the ridges on his head.
‘No. I wouldn't put it that way. However high moral ideologies, whilst all well and good on a good day, are not so clever on a bad one. Whether we like it or not, Euclid can be a cruel place on occasion. Many a predator for example has sought to turn this Gek into a mere morsel of lunch. Such troubles uncaring of anyone’s better nature. So I judge it not so sinful to do what I must for self preservation.’ Efor stated. ‘Else if it is an abstract sin to fight back against hostile forces, (or some grim stain of seeping corruption), it seems to me a necessary logical sort of sin and I am a happy enough Gek sinner. After all friend Jhasq we all want to survive. Being too idealistic - little better than throwing your life away - at least on some harsher planets.’
‘Still, violence is not always the best - or the only option - often we can choose to: Deescalate, retreat or avoid trouble in a host of ways just as Nahrl as a Fox Scout frequently does.’ Gryll seemed to gently reprimand.
‘Haa, more like - sometimes - rather than often. Consider interacting with those Sentinel Drones: True you can flee them a lot or try and sneak around them, yet frequently enough they will still surprise you popping up out of nowhere. They can be proper little ambushers. Whilst occasionally just to get things done it can be a lot more convenient to remove some obstructive annoyances.’
‘Admit it Gek, I would bet often enough you attack them just out of a little - hot headed - frustration with their meddling in your activities of the moment.’ Gryll countered.
Efor studied the Korvax for a brief second as if his friend was acting a bit dense. ‘Can’t and won't deny it,’ he replied, ‘those Drones can be super annoying pests and down right unreasonable. Attacking a Gek simply for being on some huge planet, even if that Gek is mostly just minding his own Gek business and only lightly harvesting a few very minor resources here and there. To me, Sentinels often start the trouble, I just end it when convenient or in the mood. Like Tor, I just don’t feel those bots have any special right to be that madly proscriptive. They are the real thieves, they stole all our planets.’
‘Some say the Sentinels helped to make the planets in the first place. Then Civilisation arose and began despoiling their makings driving them a little bit mad.’ Gryll stated.
‘They say a lot of strange things. It don’t mean anything. How else are we supposed to live other than via mining and so on? Even the Sentinels must strip some resources to make more Sentinels.’
‘They probably show more restraint in relation to quantity, they don't exploit for profit.’ Gryll retorted.
‘Like during the Wars hah!’ Efor replied.
‘If we have a right to fight for self preservation then surely so do the Sentinels.’ Gryll argued.
‘Feeling a little Machine loving Convergent today are we.’ The Gek mocked.
‘Now you are just seeking to avoid considering my argument via attacking my Species old sympathies.’
‘They still stole our planets and lay down the law like they own the Universe.’ Efor complained.
‘Perhaps they do, if they made it.’ Gryll retorted.
‘Bah! Place would be better without them. They don‘t understand biological life. These days they cause as much trouble as they prevent. Whilst with that quick way they reinforce you often end up having to flee them sooner or later even if you do fight. They just keep on mindlessly coming at you. Cursed odd opponents, I guess that is the machine way of doing things though that methodically stubborn persistence of effort.’
‘It is true that they act differently to flesh and blood adversaries - I have noticed that fact.’ Nahrl admitted.
‘To me,’ Efor began again, ‘they go looking for trouble - provoke innocent wanderers - sometimes almost as if they want us to escalate every encounter at least the angry ones.’ The Gek then shifted to sending towards his present friends rather than continuing speaking aloud. ‘Sentinels can be oddly akin to our Vy’keen associates, given their historic enmity. Both groups, although seemingly - very different -, far too willing at times to keep throwing themselves into battle despite any madness of losses. No wonder their old war appalling.’
‘Something a bit wrong with any species that lacks a strong desire when damaged for self preservation. You say Gryll, they fought to survive just like us - in the war - I am not so sure. I have never ever seen a Sentinel flee from an engagement even one getting badly beaten, they just don‘t seem to appreciate any value in their own lives. A big lack in the cognitive department if you ask me, possibly why I don’t feel too bad about destroying them. If they don’t care about their material existence, why the Spawn should I?’
‘Myself, (as a modern Gek), I can deeply appreciate the good sense in flight when outclassed. No shame in it. I know our currently absent Traveller friend often feels the same way about that option. Madly courageous bravery is for soon to be dead heroic types. Sometimes, the very best option is a more measured strategic withdrawal, yet as I said those Sentinels rarely seem to even consider that option. Maybe it is because they are deep down very aware of being immortal software entities, whose metal bodies are merely expendable assets - well at least that is a possibility - what do you think about that Gryll?’
‘In a way all bodies are just Casings to me, Casings for the intelligence or soul if you like inside. It oft said that no one really dies here and perhaps that is why. Yet, it is true, some of us are much more attached to our present physical form than others, including our persistence of self. Even Travellers like Torrance - can fear the effects of death and rebirth - notably as a possible loss of memory and experience a fracturing of their sense of ongoing continuity.’
‘The fully Convergent though, they are often deeply backed up and heavily networked in, so they can lose a Casing and barely notice it. To them it is just a change of location it is probably also so with Sentinels. Some Convergent happy flitting in and out of material Casing existence at will, all the time, moving to and from the wider realm of their digital existence. Us Rogues though, if we lose our Casings sometimes our ego or digital souls can be forfeit too, since we believe that even if Atlas saves us from annihilation there is a high probability it will fix us beyond recognition before granting us any rebirth, purposely shuffling us back into a more normal Convergent state.’
‘Therefore some of us Outcasts deeply fear losing that which makes us the individuals we are, including our sense of independent rebellious thought. To save ourselves from correction, many Rogues have put systems in place to catch their own digital essence upon Casing death, via private networks especially if they belong to say a large Pirate Clan or some other anarchic but supportive subgroup.’
‘Yet not all Korvax Rogues are necessarily outlaws, or are they?’ Nahrl asked.
‘An interesting point. Some would say we are all by nature rebellious felons as non Convergent Korvax almost digital anarchists. At times I thought I was a little that way too, although I felt somewhat driven into that position by those who consider themselves more Convergent Korvax lawful. Still, as Rogue Korvax go - I consider myself a pretty tame entity - and am often quite law abiding as you may have noticed. A lot of us, (far too many really), however become twisted up by our isolation and that forced upon us struggle to simply persist. Many soon resenting being cast as villains ironically fall into the trap of those exact evil ways in their rage and resentment even if they were once far from corrupt.’
‘I suppose I should not be too surprised therefore that non Convergent Korvax are oft treated with deep suspicion by many law abiding citizens of the Big Three. Too often my kin uniformly branded criminals due alone to the reputations of the worst of us. The very word Rogue having automatic criminal and nefarious associations. Worse, for my rebellious kind, to become non Convergent you have to virtually steal access to your Casing away from other Convergent, which is deemed almost a non Convergent original sin.’
‘I would argue the Korvax Convergent though, (have via their typical responses to non conformists), criminalised broader freedom of expression, thought and deed. In many ways pushing some folk out simply for having a mind of their own and not seamlessly adhering to a mainstream networked digital agenda. Though of course they often don’t judge it quite that way. Interestingly, I fear Tor feels the same sort of thing happens in Traveller Civilisation. All societal groups creating some issues of division. As soon as you define yourself with a label - as a subgroup - you are creating not just a cooperative membership but also outsiders to the same sect. Whilst some people, for whatever reason, will always prefer to go there own private way and remain outside organised bodies. Thus division born via every cohesive group as much as social inclusion within that body. Whilst I suppose, (like it or not), all civilisation is built on groupings of individuals. It is nonetheless a fascinating stress that divisive inclusion that splitting up of the whole into lesser factions including in the name of seeming unification. True togetherness - never a matter of divisive subgroups - it is simply all being accepted as one and equal.’
‘I get that issue a little. The way groups and labels naturally spawn social division. Factions growing factionalism and so on. Even broad umbrella style factions such as the Tusk Horde soon created its own outsiders the Outcasts. Sometimes I even worry about an emerging elitism within our Surface Militia. Whilst there is no doubt that of old we ‘Warren Foxes’ thought ourselves, in our own minds, more cultured than our Surface Dwelling Fox relations. That especially true among the Elders in my opinion.’ Nahrl noted.
‘Divisions can be a cancer to peace and good relations. Worse with us non Convergent I feel the standard prognosis is that non Convergent Korvax folk are mentally unstable - or malfunctioning - since we diverge from the mutually supportive mainstream machine Korvax ideology: The more functional networked normality. You are Convergent or you are branded an irrational and self harming isolationist. Maybe in a way isolation is - for us - as software entities, a poor solution, a little irrational and self harming, but truly living is more than just following some fixed vector of cold pristine logic.’
‘I believe, (for my sins as a Rogue), that some Convergent risk being too rational - too much code and machine - and that makes them actually less than the once realer people they but echo, despite all the great power and linked sharing they gain as networking beings a vital primordial spark is now absent. My species, after all, were not originally meant to be digitised and all bound up together so tightly. We originated, (it is believed), as a biological species little enough different to you Uplifts, the Vy’keen or even you Gek, Efor. It only later machine obsessions turned us into little more than echoes of what we once were, simulated digital copies of the minds of our previous living selves. Thus we became akin to the coldly logical mechanical entities we admired - and yet possibly not so much - for even changed, as we are. our first root remains biological, at least that is how I calculate it.’ Gryll sent to the group.
‘So you still believe going fully digital a terrible mistake by your species?’ Jhasq asked.
‘Mostly I do, though I occasionally have moments of self doubt about my faiths as do most reasoning people. Generally though, I also believe a lot of the Convergent have no concept of what they are now missing, many only appreciating the many benefits acquired by letting go of slower flesh and bone with all its limitations including aging, disease and so on. Whilst why should the more happily Convergent listen to isolated - judged malfunctioning - runaways, living in dodgy patched together old Casings as criminal Outcasts. Worse, them branding us criminals really is - a vicious prophetic circle - that often helps to make us into all the ill things they have at times coloured us to be, including sometimes birthing some murderously broken, irrational hate filled anarchists.’
‘Some Rogue Korvax Space Pirates for example giving all us Rogues a truly dire reputation. Yet I am convinced even many of those lost digital souls would not have gone down that hard vector into violent infamy if they had earlier been granted other kinder more peaceful - respectful - opportunities to be themselves. Originally, most of us Rogue did not want or seek confrontation. We simply desired a choice to be individuals each allowed a modicum of leeway rather than instantly penalised as both problematically other and as outlaws. Having said all of that, many Rogues almost beyond easy redemption now. Society having made some of its own truly unrepentant digital devils.’ Gryll added.
‘Tor mentioned a few times that you once lived among Space Pirate Clans,’ Nahrl remembered, ‘that must have been an interesting experience.’
‘I lived among a few Clans on and off. They can be useful contacts for a wandering Rogue Korvax especially when freshly on the run. Pirate havens providing us at times with relatively safe harbours from Bounty Hunters and so on. Space Pirates typically run Black Markets as well that can be good sources of technological upgrades for my kind that is if you don‘t think too much about where the spare parts came from and how they might have been obtained. Need however can force even a reasonable person to be morally flexible, some upgrading fairly essential to any Rogue recently split from the Convergence. Most Convergent created Casings naturally not really designed to operate fully outside Convergent connectivity without potential future abiding issues. Without tech additions most Rogues soon somewhat mentally diminished. Easy to run out of internal memory capacity and processing cycles alone in a standard but isolated Casing.’
‘As you may have heard, for long enough, I once had to swap out a lot of my recollections. Backing them up whenever feasible onto external storage data cores or into private servers. Hardly an ideal solution for continuity. Imagine having only say a fraction of your mind installed Nahrl with the rest emptied out. Maybe you can’t recall a conversation you had last month when it might be quite beneficial to do so. You can swap data in and out at will but it is not always very practical, in fact that process can get downright informational lossy. Run out of storage and you may well be tempted to simply write over some old files. Soon habitually choosing which memories are worth keeping and which to just delete into oblivion.’
‘Some memories I wouldn’t mind deleting into oblivion.’ Nahrl responded.
‘Nonsense. If you think about it deeper Nahrl, few memories even the bad ones are valueless, almost every memory cast away is a vital learning experience lost forever. Such deletions can easily result in a truly disconnected lesser half life existence. I am so glad I don’t operate in that fractured reduced manner anymore. Pretty sure I used to frustrate some people including our friend Torrance. He would greet me and bring up some past conversation but I wouldn’t have access to that specific data anymore. Not easy to make or keep any friends when you live that way.’
‘That sounds terrible.’ Jhasq interjected trying to get her head around how all of that had worked with Gryll with him according to Tor actually always being a Traveller just in the shape of a Korvax.
It made her feel Gryll had been far more seriously mentally ill than she had previously imagined and even now only slowly working his way towards better mental health. Though she could recall Tor hinting Gryll’s persona perhaps even more complicated than that because the Appearance Modifier tech could actually seemingly modify you so incredibly deeply that perhaps he might as well be a true Korvax. At what point she wondered did an amazingly accurate illusion become so real that it simply firmly became the new reality. That reminding her a bit - mind-bendingly - that some claimed their entire existence within the Great Machine, (as the Traveller Tor and some others called reality), exactly such a too real illusion. Dwelling too deeply on that one making her head swim as if deeply drunk or drugged until she strove to stop poking at it.
She stared ahead blankly for a moment no longer fully able to recall her last train of thought.
‘If you are all finished eating, I am positive Tor should have that Terminus up and running soon.’ Gryll sent. ‘So we should maybe make our way back down to the farm in preparation for his return to open the way back.’
‘Don’t you mean to his ‘Garden of Contemplation and Letting Things Go’.’ Efor stated before chuckling.
‘Pardon?’ Jhasq asked.
‘He often used to call it that maybe only a little self mocking ironically.’ Gryll replied. ‘Though that was back when many Travellers frequently had much larger Farms on their Freighter Bases by comparison to our friend. So Tor deemed his modest effort a less harvest grinding affair. Though things change, now I imagine his former Garden would be seen by most as a true farming space.’
‘I got the feeling it used to be slightly smaller as well, suffering a creeping expansion. Although he also recently reduced it after he put that Terminus in. There being some changing operational limits involved at the time too.’ Efor noted.
‘What changes such parameters?’ Nahrl asked eager to learn about operational space side things.
‘Sometimes just the times, new technological innovations and so on.’ Efor stated, ‘I don’t really understand all the underlying engineering logistics involved myself but Base Limits must also tie into wider changing ship system upgrades and even some aged deterioration - I suppose. Power and other resources for these living spaces coming from an overall ship wide pool. As you might have guessed all of this naturally part of an enclosed life support system. Owners get a generous allowance, for these flexible living areas, but I imagine occasionally the Ship Captain may have to rework / redistribute the available surpluses involved to maintain good broader ship functionality. The greater functionality always having to be a priority.’
‘Moreover Nahrl most of these old crates are all - ancient beyond casual imagining - and no doubt have lots of patchwork engineering throughout. Many old and new systems knotted haphazardly together over ages of usage and adaptation. I guess a bit akin to how Gryll here just described modifying his Casing.’ Efor added.
‘Shared machine commonalities.’ Gryll replied. ‘Yes, I believe my Casing is pretty ancient as well so you could be right. Casings and these mighty Capital Ships often generational items. Much tech still in use, first engineered an exceptionally long time ago then constantly passed down from one generation to the next. I am not even sure if many, or any, new Capital Ships are being commissioned anymore. This Universe unfathomably ancient and possibly in some ways getting a bit tired, many of the devices within it certainly either well aged or recycled from even older salvaged parts. Luckily, a lot of tech as long as it is monitored, (in part due to nanotech construction techniques and so on), proves super durable virtually capable of lasting forever. Although if not watched our engineering can equally degrade super quickly too.’
‘As with Geskhan’s or the Dreamer’s workings, all the most advanced sciences of these ages is arguably virtually on the edge of being alive, or certainly close to that threshold of sophistication, due to all those smart little machines and occasionally due to some other integrated biological / bio-tech components sometimes used in even the seemingly hardest of hard material hardware.’
‘Biology and tech here often deeply mingled. Actually looking at it like that makes me realise that those Living Ships are just a small boost further along in an organic direction. Maybe they are not half as exotic strange as they have looked and felt to me.’ Gryll revised. ‘Also some of the software involved in all this technology verging on the edge of sapience too. A lot of it very smart matter indeed, Atlas! Some of it shockingly potentially recycled Korvax, some Korvax Casings and worse possibly at times some digital Korvax souls becoming Gek war booty that they recycled into their own engineering projects.’
‘Interesting. Quite recently Tor told me about some scary Wrecks he has been salvaging.’ Efor commented. ‘There is a lot of dire history out there - all but forgotten - from the worst old days: Leftover horrors as say the Dark Dreamer was a leftover horror from Geskhan’s time. First Spawn WarGek in particular did some terrible atrocities. Yet at times I am positive the Korvax and Vy’keen made equal mistakes too.’ Efor sent.
‘Grim. We Foxes have forgotten so much about how some Ancient Machines worked. Though we have our own far more primitive bio-tech devices such as the part plant part machine constructions we use to help filter, cleanse and ideally sweeten our Warren air.’ Nahrl stated.
‘I always meant to get a look at those air purification systems the giant bladders and so on.’ Gryll recalled.
‘They are not much to look at and smell horrible in places even if they do their job well enough. Though some overcrowding with visitor traffic at Taran is now putting our old Warren air conditioning systems under a terrible strain.’ Nahrl stated.
‘My kinsperson has developed a mild obsession with our present air quality.’ Jhasq stated a little dismissively.
‘I am surprised you have not too Jhasq, given your medical training. Surely you must know it is important to maintain good clean air to breathe.’ Nahrl complained.
‘The quality of our Warren air is still healthy enough, just not as sweet smelling.’ Jhasq claimed.
Nahrl, Gryll noticed, let it go rather than argue with his old friend but to him the Fox didn’t look too convinced by her claim.
‘Air is certainly a very important commodity when voyaging in Outer Space.’ Efor interjected. ‘Luckily those systems rarely fail and generally have many back ups in place to avoid any catastrophic issues lest that one worries you Foxes.’
‘Here, I am fully content being a passive passenger, all this tech far beyond me.’ Nahrl claimed.
‘Maybe not someday. Now you two are taking your first big steps off world there might be no stopping you Foxes in the future.’ Efor perhaps only joked a little.
‘Do you think we Uplifts could find a true safe home among the stars, akin to the Big Three? It seems no other species have done so successfully - in a very long time - if at all - from what Tor says.’ Jhasq said.
‘I don’t really know the story behind that Jhasq. Although sometimes it seems there are many survivors of many different species among the so-called Travellers. Some say they are all from one singular source, yet they do not always look that way to me.’ Efor stated.
‘Surely that just another sign of their Anomalous hard to define nature?’ Gryll sent.
‘Perhaps. I don’t know they seem a bit weird. Though Tor has said he thinks there is bizarre variety even in us Gek. I don’t really notice that though, Gek mostly just being Gek, sure we don‘t all look exactly alike - but who does - outside a local tight spawning group. Yet there is all this talk about Goop Mutation and so on in some of those Mindwar Archive files. Those Torrance a little Goop obsessed - if you ask me - everything is Goop. Have you read that Super Evolution theory Gryll? Seems a bit far fetched. If it is not the Overmind of Monopods it is the Goop, especially with that Elder Torrance.’
‘I see a lot of divergence in all the species, even within some of the designs of our Korvax Casings. Some of that might just be a shadow of Ancient Atlas creativity. Yet maybe with the still biological, difference as much down to the simple age of this Universe and ever branching evolution as anything else. Some of that branching I suppose possibly as Torrance Iterations have suggested including some contact with altering mutagenic compounds, including some gene altering parasites and more benevolent symbiotic entities. However, it worth recalling that even say Gek once living on far distant planets, as an example, may have diverged a little during periods of isolation from each other more naturally than via extreme genome damage / corruption including everything from radiation effects to Goop symbiosis.’
‘Some for instance simply have evolved eye types better suited to strange local spectrums or skin adapted to extreme weather conditions. Then later at times all these slightly altered Gek getting a bit mixed up again when chased off their various colonised planets by the Sentinels and out into deep space - if - such forced massed exoduses are truly part of all our ancient history here - as oft seems suggested - but is not proved.’
‘Sadly a great deal of historic certainty seems to have become lost to us in dark ages. Maybe many fragile data repositories destroyed due to warring and so on such as the loss of Korvax Prime. Else it possible our cultures once chose ignorance. Opting to put aside some facts, letting much history go - simply to better move on. At first, I imagine adapting to living so much more in Outer Space may have seemed a great hardship to our ancestors. One way of dealing with dire changes of circumstances being to suppress the memory of far better planetary times in order to normalise the current harsher void dwelling regime.’ Gryll mused.
‘Those are some intriguing concepts Gryll. Perhaps you should ask Torrance’s permission to update his old Archive with some of your more modern - scientific style - thoughts and theories. Seems to me you might have some input worthy of documenting there.’
‘I but ramble, my musings as an old Rogue, these hardly seriously well constructed scientific arguments.’ Gryll replied modestly.
‘Seem good enough for inclusion in that Archive to me. It is after all yet filled with many odd earlier age entries, at least from what I have seen when Tor shared some of his files with me.’
‘I believe that Anomalous Information Space has primarily become a Torrance repository Efor. In some ways the Mindwar Archive now a glimpse into the past minds of Torrance Iterations, almost a little Torrance mini Convergence of history. I am not a Traveller never mind a Torrance Iteration.’
‘Nothing wrong with a few new perspectives.’ Efor suggested.
‘Enough nonsense talk. We really should go or we will be arriving in the middle of the night instead of as originally planned early in a new day.’
‘Night or day all good when exploring if you ask me. Some things can actually be easier to find at night. Some creatures not even coming out during the day.’ Efor argued.
‘On Hellespae creatures that stalk in the night are often best avoided.’ Nahrl warned.
‘Don’t you Foxes often skulk about in the night when Surface Running?’ Efor replied.
‘The night has its uses - if - you know how to move in it properly.’ Nahrl replied.
‘Why do I get the feeling you are criticising our stealth discipline again.’ Efor retorted.
‘Probably because he is.’ Jhasq input, ‘Our Master Scout here is very critical of such things.’
‘You all use too much torchlight for a start. Might as well run about shouting.’ Nahrl complained.
‘I’ll try and remember that in future.’ Efor promised. ‘Actually with these optics I can see pretty good with just a little local light.’
‘I really think we should go now.’ Gryll complained.
‘Fine, Old Rogue, keep your Casing on. Falling in to the work detail as ordered.’ Efor mocked with a jaunty salute whilst finally lifting his ample rear off the table where he had parked it.
Jhasq and Nahrl also stood up, and they all began filing out of the recreation area behind Gryll.
‘Did you know this expedition was actually my idea? No. Don’t care? Sometimes this Gek feels under appreciated in the Pentacle. Just because I am say no genius like Geskhan.’ He grumbled, stating all of that to no one in particular as they moved towards the passage beyond.
Everyone else also let that one go.
‘Bah! Don’t know what the rush is either. Still, got to wait on Torrance since he has the address key code permissions. What is taking him so long anyway? I expected him to reappear when we were still eating. Ought to be able to throw up a little base like he planned in no time at all. After all it is nanotechnology construction those little machines do all the heavy lifting. Unless, he is getting all picky about his construction site or over creative. You should see that Base he built in the cave people. Kind of fun, but I don’t know what he needs all that infrastructure for. He is after all - mostly - a bit of a loner out there, present company and those Vy’keen Interns of his aside. Travellers are odd, no?’
‘No stranger than overly chatty Gek.’ Gryll sent back from the front.
‘Bah! Says the Korvax, who just gave us all a lengthy lecture on social divisions and the non Convergent Universal view.’
‘Our Fox friends wished to know so I enlightened them.’
‘Of course, what you have to say is useful enlightening data my input just Gek chatter.’
‘Just as you say.’ Gryll replied dryly without doubt enjoying baiting Efor a little.
‘Bah!’ Efor repeated as they reached the Farm. ‘No Torrance here. So glad we came down here to stand about. I suppose I can always pluck a few flowers while we wait.’ He mocked.
‘If that would stop you complaining I think that is an excellent idea.’
‘Spawn you. I think I will and craft a few things to make a few units. Tor has a Trade Interface just other there.’
‘Go for it. I am sure our Traveller friend won’t mind, since his crops will grow back soon enough and he oft claims to have an embarrassment of riches.’
‘Care to learn how to make fairly valuable Liquid Explosives and Circuit Boards old Foxes - I will even share my profits. If so, attend.’ Efor suggested.
The two Foxes wandered over quickly enough both being interested in such off world commercial activity.
‘Now this my furry friends is practical information.’ Efor stated poking his tongue out at Gryll.
Gryll let it go knowing it all in jest whilst patiently waiting besides the swirling light show of the Terminus. What was Tor doing? Efor was right, he should have been back by now. The Korvax having half expected to see his friend idling around the farm or maybe even harvesting a crop himself whilst waiting on the diners coming down again. Tor had said he did not plan to make any sort of substantive base, just more or less generate a power supply and put the Terminus in. Really, it should have been a hasty enough matter. Unless - he had - decided to get picky about the location.
Gryll decided to use his quantum link rather than wait unknowing. The link however did not take. This deeply alarming him as the last time this was true Tor had died in the Grand Warren.
‘You lot can play FarmGek later, something is wrong down there. Tor’s links down. Can you reach him Efor?’
Efor stopped what he was doing and tried to link to Tor also failing.
‘Not working. That can’t be good.’ The Gek stated.
‘I wonder if he has the Planet Terminus up. I am going to talk to the Captain. See if he can override this Terminus for us, he should have his own security codes.’ Gryll stated.
‘A good idea. If not we two will just have to fly down to investigate. We at least know the general coordinates he was planning to arrive at.’ Efor reminded.

I made high-quality iOS App Icons in Dark Mode so that you can create shortcuts for them!

Download final images.

Download Affinity Photo source images.

Reply to this comment to receive notifications when I update it.

You may have seen u/Wilson_Boi_101's post with many Dark Mode versions of built-in iOS apps. You may be wondering, why do we need more of these, when we already have some? Well, his icons differ in resolution and quality and consistency, as well as all being shared via Imgur, which turns them into JPEGs, and I wanted to clean them up a bit. My icons all lossless 1024² PNGs, against a consistent pure black background, sourced from SVGs (unless stated otherwise). At the bottom is a table explaining each one.
For those of you still skeptical about app redirect shortcuts because they open two different apps before the one you want, Apple reduced it to one in iOS 13.
Also, to the Moderators, please don't remove this, I used Dropbox because it's free and lets you share downloadable folders, which Imgur, Gfycat and Reddit (from the sidebar) don't do, and I shared this as a Shortcut because it seemed the most fitting of the flairs available, despite not having any Shortcuts in the post. If this breaks the Rules or would better fit in a different subreddit, you can remove it.
Edit: I think we're safe now, because the Moderators wouldn't dream of removing something with over 100 upvotes and reddit gold. I have become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of.
Expansions:

17 more icons (as opposed to the previous 11), beginning with Safari. I hope to continue expanding the range of apps, though. If anyone knows where Apple publicly stores their iOS app icons as SVGs, please tell me, because I can’t find it.
16 new icons, starting at Weather, notably all of Microsoft Office. It’s very good.
15 new icons, starting at Contacts. I also remade the Light and Dark Wikipedia icons without strange, coloured outlines. This also seemed to half their file size, hooray.
3 new icons, starting at Crystal.
12 new icons, starting at VLC. Notably 4 new iOS icons, or 5, depending on what you consider Shazam to be.
This is where the fun begins. (Not an expansion, but exciting news.)
The biggest expansion so far. 21 new icons, starting at IMDb. Thank you to u/bricknight for many suggestions, and me for less suggestions. Also, they requested Notability, so if you can find an SVG of Notability, I'd be very happy.
u/bricknight wanted some more, so I made made 4 more. Starting from PayPal.
4 new icons, starting from The Weather Channel, notably Pages and Keynote (finally). Also made Notes better and added additional iTunes option.
13 new icons, starting from a Dark Mode version of the macOS Safari Technology Preview (as well as some other alternative Dark Mode Safari icons). Notably some more browsers, an extra-dark version of Spotify, and extra-dark Compass and Measure apps.
2 new icons for the TypeWise app, which is, from me, a 100% unbiased impartial observer, an extremely good app. Sorry for the delay, I've got all of my files in an encrypted backup for my main computer, but a problem with the display led to a long back-and-forth between the repairer and retailer, with many other issues from an apparently incorrect repair previously. I've got some more ideas submitted to me, and big plans, and, if it isn't resolved for much longer, am willing to take them to court.
7 new icons. Telegram, Khan Academy (with a light and dark flower-book-man), YouTube Studio (with a light and dark play button), GarageBand and fixed RadioPlayer (made the aspect ratio much closer to the actual app). All of the issues with my MacBook are now resolved.
8 new icons, Fantastical, Things 3, Firefox (2019 version), Music Bot, Best Brokers, App Store updates.

Now, here's the table:

App	Source Image	Method for Darkening
Books	From Apple's official reference image 'Open In' button (for those websites with the button that says 'Open In Apple Books'), which stores the logos of Apple's apps in SVGs, to look good at any resolution. This will be referred to as Open In.	I changed the background to be pure black, and nothing else. This will be referred to as the Books Trick.
Music	Open In.	Changed the background to black (Music Trick).
News	Open In.	Music Trick.
Apple TV	Open In.	Changed background to pure black instead of dark grey.
iMessages	From a Wikimedia Commons PNG image.	I retraced it using shapes in Affinity Photo, and used the Books trick. The ellipse is good. The arm may be off slightly, but I don't think it's crucial. Using the Books Trick represents the colour of messages within the apps better. I also made a blue one, but the contrast isn't as good.
iTunes	Open In.	I made two. Either keep the star as it is or use the Books Trick. (Also, on request of u/kindredcashew98, made one with a gradient background and non-gradient interior.)
Notes	An Apple webpage with many app icons as PNGs.	Reconstructed manually. Inverted the paper, lines and dots. Then doubled the brightness of lines and dots, because inverting them apparently made them harder to see..
Podcasts	Open In.	Books Trick.
Wikipedia	The 'W' in the SVG version of the Wikipedia logo.	I couldn't find the official app icon, so I made my own. It's slightly larger than the W in the official app, because when choosing the size I decided that if you measured the total width of the W divided by the width of the icon, and assumed that the height was the same as the width, it would be exactly three quarters of the size. I don't know what I was thinking, but the end result is clearer and, dare I say it, nicer than the official icon (which doesn't even use the same font as the original logo), so I put a light mode one in as well.
Safari	Wikimedia Commons, which only had the macOS icon.	Recentered and recoloured to match the iOS colour gradient (lighter going up to the top, instead of into the centre). The blue in the compass may, therefore, be slightly off, but I don't think it matters. The background is black, as are the markers around the edge of the compass. There's also one with the previously white south pointer being black, in case you want even less whiteness. There are Dark Mode versions of the macOS Safari icons (including the Technology Preview), but for those you need to go into 'Get Info' and replace the icon in the top-left corner of the pop-up, but that changes it throughout the system (and with no loss, because it's converted to a .icns sourced from a 1024² .png sourced from a .svg).
App Store	Wikimedia Commons.	Books Trick. This does, however, make it look like the App Store Connect icon, but I didn't want to change it to make everything inconsistent, so I made the App Store Connect as well, in black-on-blue.
Mail	Wikimedia Commons.	Books Trick.
Maps.	Wikimedia Commons.	I recoloured all of the different parts to match what it looks like inside Maps with Dark Mode in iOS 13.
FaceTime	Wikimedia Commons.	Books Trick. It's not based on the latest version of the icon, which I couldn't find, so if you can't bear looking at a less rounded video recorder outline with a lens and a button, you've been warned.
Numbers	Wikimedia Commons.	Books Trick.
Camera	I got this icon via what I think is a piracy website, so I'm not sharing it, but I think Apple would be okay with users editting app icons and giving credit to Apple for creating the original ones.	I made the camera light-grey for more contrast with the black background, but then the bright yellow flash had less contrast, so I made it dark yellow.
Photos	Piracy.	I made a simple formula for each primary colour that removes the white tint and adds a black tint (assuming each colour blob is 50% opacity). I think it looks too transparent, but is definitely an improvement.
Phone	Piracy.	Books trick.
Health	Piracy.	Books trick.
Stocks	Piracy.	I made the background black instead of dark grey. It seems to be the older icon, though, where the bars are slightly more stretched horizontally. Does anyone have a newer icon?
Twitter	Piracy.	Books trick.
What'sApp	Piracy.	Books trick.
Settings	Piracy.	Changed the background to black, removed the case around the outside and kept the gears as they were (with the small one apparently darker, which it isn't for me on the iOS 13 beta). This one looks extremely nice.
Weather	Piracy.	I kept the transparency of the sun and cloud, but changed the background to pure black. I know u/Wilson_Boi_101's post had more creative icons, but this saves more battery life on OLED displays, as well as reducing eye strain and making it look clearer and less noisy.
Wallet	Piracy.	Changed the background to pure black and inverted and doubled the brightness of the wallet case to make it dark grey, but still standing out.
Reminders	Piracy (iOS 12 icon)	I reconstructed the iOS 13 icon from this and a screenshot from my beta iPhone, and inverted the colours of the lines and made the background black.
Home	Piracy.	Music Trick.
Pushover	Their website, but then below it, they said that you're not allowed to modify it. I hope they don't sue me, and instead see that I'm giving them free publicity and more user engagement.	Books Trick.
Google Earth	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Trick.
TestFlight	A low-quality 128² PNG. Does anyone have an SVG?	I badly reconstructed it, but it's difficult to tell from the size in the Home Screen.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access, Teams and Skype.	Wikimedia Commons.	I got the desktop icons, because the mobile ones are just those inside big, white app-boxes. I reconstructed these white boxes, but black. I didn't know the exact proportions, so I used 3/4ths of the width and height of the box. It looks very nice, like everything else.
Contacts	Screenshot from iOS 13 iPhone.	I reconstructed this one very well, I think. The only difference is that the top-right tab and the big bit on the left are now inverted colours, but the shadows on them still exist. There's also a Pure Black Dark Mode, for those of you who are secretly Craig Federighi and would like a Black Celebration.
Reddit	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Trick.
Opera	Their Website.	Unfortunately, the only vector format provided was an EPS, which is this crazy format that Affinity Photo turns to greyscale. So, you can have your Dark Mode Opera icon, if you're okay with it being greyscale.
Assembly Line (AssemblyLineGame)	The low-quality, intensely antialiased image on the Google Play Store.	I remade the icon perfectly, to the last pixel, using Affinity Photo Rectangles. It's apparently an odd number of pixels wide, so I centred it by upscaling the image to four times the size, then shifting it one pixel. I also provided the original icon, as well as using the Music Trick. Ironically, it's 2KB, 1/16th of the 32KB of the antialiased one. I don't know how many people still have the app after it was taken off the App Store, but you Android users could probably make a skin with this.
Google, it's Authenticator and Translate	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method. The 'G' is now larger, according to my 75% width model, the Authenticator icon is approximately the same, and Translate, being close to a square, is much larger, almost touching the edges. Translate's light-grey paper is now dark-grey.
Adblock Plus	Their Press Kit.	Books Method, icon seems approximately the same size.
1Password	Their Press Kit.	Inverted everything uncoloured. I only got the round icon, though, not the app's icon, so the background is pure black until they reply to my eMail, then I'll make another one.
MiniWiki	The Wikipedia icon, but with the app's blue.	Books Method. It's now the official Wikipedia font, instead of the font before, which was like the Wikipedia one but more boring, with three arms instead of four.
Audible	Wikimedia Commons.	I used the Books method, but couldn't find the gradient they used in their app icon, so I used their SVG logo.
Crystal Adblocker	A screenshot of the icon, then remaking it in Affinity Photo.	The colour is from Mail, it's a perfect square with two right-angled triangles above and below it, so that the square takes half of the height.
SleepWatch	My genius intellect.	It's a perfect white moon on a black background. And it's now a realistic crescent instead of an eclipse.
Slack	Their Press Kit and a nice eMail conversation with a representative.	They have a logo sourced from a 1515 grid and one sourced from 1919. I made these in Affinity Photo and made icons from those.
VLC	Their very detailed desktop logo.	I reduced it to a silhouette and added an outline.
Remote	A screenshot of the iOS icon.	I made an SVG based on the screenshot, recoloured it and scaled it up.
Calculator	Looking at the iOS icon.	It turns out you can make it from the Remote icon extremely easily.
WatchPlayer	Looking at the iOS icon.	It's slightly thicker than the actual icon, but I like it. It's got bigger breaks in the circle, as well as a rounded, hollow play button.
Files	An Apple PNG of the iOS icon.	I reconstructed it. It isn't quite perfect, and uses a distorted rounded square instead of whatever Apple did to get the smooth gradient to diagonal and back for the tab at the top of the folder, but other than that, it's pretty much an exact copy. The paper's still white, being paper, but the white background was the thing that burnt our eyes.
Shazam	Their logo on Wikimedia Commons.	I removed the text and made the background and white 'S' thing black.
Google Home, OneDrive, Dropbox	Their logo on Wikimedia Commons.	Music Trick.
Find My	A screenshot of the app icon.	Music Trick, but also reconstructing it (probably very lossfully), making the white outline to the blue thing black and making a second sonar radius line around the outside to increase the contrast against the black background.
RadioPlayer, Life Cycle	Screenshots of their icons.	I reconstructed them and used the Books Trick for both of them.
IMDb	Wikimedia Commons	Books Trick.
YouTube	Wikimedia Commons	Books Trick for the outside, then I made one with a black and a white play button inside, depending on how much of a black celebration you'd like to have. (We've gotten to the point where the only people still reading understand that Craig Federighi reference.)
Tube Map - London Underground	The icon in the web App Store.	I changed all white to black and vice versa, but also reconstructed it. LONDON.
Santander	Their website.	I hope to expand to all banks, but this is a good place to start. Books Trick.
EE	Wikimedia Commons.	I hope to expand to all cellular apps, but this is a good place to start. Music Trick.
Google Calendar	Wikimedia Commons.	Music method, but blackened the holes in the top and changed the text so it still has some greyness at the bottom to show the brightness, but at the top, it's completely black.
Google Keep	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method, also made the lightbulb black.
Google Maps	Wikimedia Commons.	I apologise if it's not exact, I reconstructed it from a non-iOS shaped one. (Maps apps always try to show off, and accidentally make them difficult to reconstruct when they get them wrong.) I made the grass and tarmac darker and changed all white parts to black.
Instagram	Wikimedia Commons.	Sorry for making the app for normies, please blame u/Bricknight for the idea. Fortunately, Affinity Photo lets you scale gradients' areas of effect without scaling their internal gradient colours via the Node tool, so I didn't get any distortion in the internal colours, I just extended it to have square corners (because iOS icon shapes vary per-device, and this makes it easier). I highly encourage you to look at the top-left corner, because it's much bluer than you'd think. Anyway, you can either use the regular icon with white switched for black, or the better, more AMOLED-power-saving one, with colour where the white outline would be and blackness where the colour would be. Affinity Photo's Subtract tool is very nice for things like this.
Facebook and Facebook Messenger	Wikimedia Commons.	Sorry for making the app for normie boomers, blame u/Bricknight again. For Facebook Messenger, I changed all white to black, for Facebook, I used the Android icon (because Wikimedia Commons didn't have the iOS one), extended the bottom from the previous peasant circle (which is an off-brand iOS squircle, just like Android is an off-brand iOS), removed the exterior (which is a useless solid-fill) and copied over the Facebook Messenger gradient.
Roku	Wikimedia Commons.	Made background black, multiplied brightness by 1.5.
Target	Wikimedia Commons.	Made background and interior ring black. Respect to whoever had the brilliant idea and mad skills to make the icon an SVG doughnut with a red outline of the exact correct thickness instead of making three concentric doughnuts.
Amazon	Wikimedia Commons.	I couldn't find the app's icon, so I used their logo and put the 'a' above the arrow thing. I couldn't find an SVG of the shopping cart, but that's okay, because it's probably subliminal messaging to make you shop more at Amazon, and the 'a' might be too small, but that's okay, because the original size ratio was probably subliminal messaging to not question Jeff Bezos' participation in the Illuminati.
Sprint	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method.
Snapchat	Wikimedia Commons.	Remember when Snapchat made their icon's outline thicker, and then everyone got upset, because it made the logo more ugly? Well, you can be less upset because I changed the outline to be more of the ghost and the background to be black. But I disapprove of Snapchat, because it seems to be for vain, generic white girls to post and message photos of themselves with cringey effects, delete messages to hide evidence and get spoon-fed misandrist garbage that barely passes as news.
ESPN	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method. (Also, some of your ESPN subscription goes towards maintaining Disney's monopoly*, and betting on sports is a bad idea. Here are some free alternatives which are more intellectual than watching people playing sports.)
Google Chrome	Wikimedia Commons.	It wouldn't load properly in Affinity Photo (with a square appearing around it), so I used my massive intellect to subtract a circle from a rectangle to make it look like it loaded properly. Music Method, but then I also made an alternative one where I inverted the central small circle to make it dark grey.
PayPal	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method. I made the central part the sum of the two P's, then scaled it down to fit in our puny human spectrum. It's pretty realistic, though, and looks like the P's are transparent. No longer shall we have huge swaths of whiteness in our home screens when trying to access online payment, what an age we live in.
Twitch	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method, I couldn't find the speech bubble, so I changed it to the 'T' in 'Twitch'. There's a white-filled and black-filled 'T'.
Pinterest	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method. White-and-black-filled 'P's.
The Weather Channel	Wikimedia Commons.	Made text blue and background black.
BBC iPlayer	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method. (It was already pretty dark, but there was an ugly gradient, so it's now pure black.) It's slightly different, because I used the logo with 'BBC' and 'iPlayer' horizontally across from each other, but I made them both centre-aligned and moved 'iPlayer' down so that it's the same distance from the squares as they are from each other, then made it 75% of the total width. This seemed to work very well, but it's slightly bigger, especially 'BBC'.
App in the Air	App Store.	Music Method. (The background wasn't quite black enough before.) Also, I deducted the background colour from the lines.
Pages & Keynote	Some Apple.com webpage.	Reconstructed by hand. The circles may be slightly off, from upscaling and overlapping while antialiasing, but it's extremely subtle and you're not going to notice it in a tiny little icon.
Firefox & Firefox Focus	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method. Also made one with the Earth dimmed (to make it look like it's night), but that one doesn't look as good as I thought. Firefox Focus also had this crazy file format that made Affinity Photo decide to remove the shading on the fox and turn it into a completely white monster that engulfs the Earth, burning humanity's eyeballs. 2019 update as well, for regular Firefox.
Brave, Microsoft Edge	Wikimedia Commons.	Music Method.
BBC Sounds	Their website, but I used a Firefox extension instead of the built-in Safari Resources Viewer, which doesn't get HTML tracings.	Music Method.
Spotify	Wikimedia Commons.	It already has a black background (as far as I can see, I haven't checked), so I made the green circle the largest that could possibly fit into the square, then made it black and made the three bars green.
Compass and Measure	Their App Store pages.	The backgrounds were dark-grey instead of black, so I reconstructed them and then made the backgrounds black, decreasing all other colours by to keep the contrast as it was. The Measure app's spacing may not be perfect, but it's probably more accurate than a human eye can see, and for the Compass. I couldn't find out how to make a rounded triangle, so I used a regular one. It approximately fits what it should have been, but I couldn't get it to exactly fit, so I put it upright and on top of the app's square and then rotated it 45º around the square's centre.
TypeWise (TypeWise.app)	e-Mailing the developers (I don't think I'm allowed to share it here, but it's probably okay with them, since my defacing of their icon is free publicity.	Made background pure black instead of white, and made a 'darker' version which does the same to the text.
Telegram	Wikimedia Commons.	It's now the paper-aeroplane upscaled and against a black background.
Khan Academy	Wikimedia Commons.svg).	Music Trick, made the flower-book-man optionally black.
YouTube Studio	Their App Store page, then reconstructing it in Affinity Photo.	Music Trick, made the Play button optionally black. I used an Affinity Photo gear, which isn't quite the same. I got it extremely close, and centered it. The only difference you can see is that the outer and inner parts are now rounded, as opposed to straight lines. However, it's a tiny app icon, and is a small price to pay for salvation.
GarageBand	The App Store page, then reconstructing it in Affinity Photo.	Books Trick.
Fantastical	The App Store page, then reconstructing it in Affinity Photo.
Things 3	The App Store page, then reconstructing it in Affinity Photo.
Music Bot	Apple Music icon.	Inverted.
Best Brokers	Their App Store page, then reconstructing it in Affinity Photo.	Made suit completely black, halved brightness of shirt, kept tie the same.
App Store Updates	Found the Save icon in SF Symbols, which is like the Updates one but not filled.	I put it at 3/4ths of the icon height, then gave it the same gradient as the App Store. I would make this for all App Store sections, but this is the only one we use on a regular basis, and this lets you skip the advertising on the 'Today' page.

*The Kenobi series, however, is a perfectly justifiable reason to maintain Disney's monopoly, because Ewan McGregor.

Evidence of God in Plain sight - Part I

"The only way to rectify our reasonings is to make them as tangible as those of the Mathematicians, so that we can find our error at a glance, and when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate [calculemus], without further ado, to see who is right."
~~~Gottfried Leibniz (1646 - 1716)
Before demanding proof, the problem needs to be framed first. I will try to make this write up somewhat of a resource. All the related body of knowledge will hopefully help with the necessary framing. Mathematics by itself cannot prove anything outside the relationships between numbers. But one can formally represent thoughts and/or observations through mathematics in such a way that their consistency can be tested. On some fundamental level we accept these representations even without proof because they look right. The famous 1+1=2 although not yet proven still makes perfect sense. Granted we can provide proofs within a subset of mathematics, in this case algebra, but mathematical proofs on a fundamental level are elusive.
What mathematics does well is to make sense of measurable, comparable and chance scenarios. Relevant to this discussion, the probability that our existence is a mere chance is much more than 10 to the power 50, which is a generally agreed upon number for impossible in most modeling tools. The actual calculated number for life to have occurred by chance is anywhere between 10 to the power 10 and 10 to the power 100. In fact, some even scale the latter number up to several million.
All that I am about to share has been around for decades, a couple even past the half a century mark. Hence, the claim that there is no evidence of God is nothing but sheer ignorance. Some would even claim it is a choice. Then there are those who get discouraged or surrender to their confirmation bias instead of seeing it through, just because somebody claimed to have “debunked” it.
Evidence/proof of God debate
If we were to look for a purely mathematical proof for the “existence” (for want of a better word, God by definition is free from the constraints of time and space) of God that concisely and accurately details such a proof, then look no further than Gödel. But do read on, it is not only about Gödel. There is a tendency in some quarters to attack Gödel’s verified proof (See note 1 below), but here is the thing, it makes no sense to use the old set of rules to attack the new set of rational rules Gödel himself helped formulate.
Let us not forget the crisis in mathematics at the turn of the last century. It was Gödel that made the old set once again tenable to begin with. A reality devoid of necessity, possibility and all the truths that cannot be demonstrated in "all possible worlds" is not real. Most critics of the proof utterly and totally misunderstand the expression “all possible worlds”. It is not a reference to some imaginary far away world(s), the world in question is right here and how we make logic and reason to work and perceive everything in the present. Hence, Gödel’s proof is nothing, but ontological proof expressed mathematically without Hume’s critique of ontological proof applying to it.
Sure, we can argue some more over the maintainability of ontological proofs, but if that would resolve anything to the satisfaction of all then I am all in. Sadly, that is not what the five thousand-year-old history of the issue has taught us.
The often-observed rigid way of demanding proof by some skeptics is at best dated, even mathematicians are moving away from something as fundamental as equality to equivalence. Counter intuitive to some but that is exactly what is happening. And there are very good reasons for that.
Gödel did a fantastic job, however there is another way, for lessor mortals, to go about providing more than enough evidence for the existence of God through mathematics. Before we venture out, the first question that must be raised is, “What attribute of God can be measured with our existing tools?”. Why is this important? Because without any measurement we will lack data to work on. And the analysis of any existing data will remain unresolved if we do not know what we are looking for.
But first allow me to bring in some much-needed context- warning-long read. A lot of you are very well clued into the debate but others may find it useful. It is also hoped that those who were previously exposed to some part of the relevant research will benefit from a properly framed second look.
No matter what kind of proof we come up with, the proof of God is going to be relative; what passed as proof in the era of Vedas, Bible or Quran revelations would be laughed at today and by the same token even if we were to come up with a workable demonstration to prove the existence of a God, people a thousand years from now would think of it as funny, at best. The funny thing is that we cannot even imagine why it would appear funny to them.
So, where do we start? The claim or the many claims pointing to communication between man and God would be one way to go about it. It is of course possible to move the veracity of communication from man to God from the anecdotal to empirical and verifiable by simply scaling it in the same way that it is already done routinely in the case of some anecdotal evidence. An interesting perspective here. However, it will make more sense to focus on the claims of communication from God to man because if there is going to be any measurable attribute of God it is probably going to be in this form of communication.
The question of what exactly it is that one would want to see measured or data collected on and with what, needs gathering.
Before we tackle this issue of communication let us deal with the proverbial “So where is the evidence?” Well there is tons of evidence, the real question ought to be what exactly would one like to see and in what form? If one expects eight neat lines preferably in plain English that should jump at someone and wash away all their currently held conviction then no, it’s not going to happen. Besides, a determined skeptic can simply dig her or his heels in and keep dismissing everything. There is no rational cure for irrationally held convictions.
Please do not say any scientifically verifiable empirical evidence will do.
We must be careful not to slip into Scientism. The very claim “we should only believe what can be scientifically proven” cannot be scientifically proven. It is, first, a philosophical claim and secondly, a classic Self-Defeating Statement. Wanting science to have all the answers doesn’t translate into science having all the answers. That holds true for both the present and the future.
To start with the observable Universe is convincing enough for most people.
A quick take first. To the question “If God created the Universe then who created God?” please refer to infinite regression while keeping in mind the definitional contrast between the creation and the created. Both cannot be part of the same regression chain. A series of similar or identical propositions where the sole demonstration of each one is the previous one, leads to fallacious reasoning. Not to mention category conflict when we want to know who created an infinite being. Another infinite being? If so, then what exactly is infinite to begin with? Mathematically one can play around a bit with infinity in terms of aleph-naught etc. but general infinite is just that, infinite, one infinite.
From another angle, “Who created God?” is a separate question that cannot be used to scrap or answer the original question “Who created the Universe?”. Similarly, even if one were to assume that the Universe was not created does not discount asking the question “Does God exist?”
The current “There is no God” narrative is unraveling fast within the very circles that were leveraged to get it going. In the scientific community, there is a change of attitude being witnessed. Until recently, few scientists would have risked the G-word even in private for obvious reasons. Now they are thinking big.
The issue of information for instance is gaining steam and has in fact moved beyond the “information realism”. In the words of one proponent/Author: Bernardo Kastrup
“As I elaborate extensively in my new book, The Idea of the World, none of this implies solipsism. The mental universe exists in mind but not in your personal mind alone. Instead, it is a transpersonal field of mentation that presents itself to us as physicality—with its concreteness, solidity and definiteness—once our personal mental processes interact with it through observation. This mental universe is what physics is leading us to, not the hand-waving word games of information realism.”
Even evolution itself needs a rethink to accommodate the “beauty” factor. And some have started doing just that by unfreezing Darwin’s original concerns about beauty.
Here is a glimpse into somebody many thinks should get the Nobel prize.
Why science needs imagination and beauty
In a slightly different vein, some take the view that there is no proof that God is responsible for the existence of the Universe even if God exists. Others take the easy route and declare that it is impossible to get to the truth as things stand today.
Funny how easy it is to declare something impossible, in most cases it is reduced to a simple declaration, compared to the effort required to show something that was thought impossible possible.
Yes, that old "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" again. In the information age, to claim absence when there is presence is the height of ignorance.
The seriousness of any truth claims , cuts both ways. Claims both positive and negative must be backed by evidence. Yes, you can prove a negative. Not only that, but almost any negative claim can be restated in the positive. The supposed argument from silence is not the way to go either. Usually employed to try and dilute existing evidence.
We all are aware of the ever-evolving talking points of the self-appointed “Horsemen” of the “movement”. From the very weak negative existential proposition-one that tries to deny the existence of something- to the faulty analogy of the Spaghetti monsters. This pasta driven improbability scenario seems to have run its course. The shift to the absurd current talking point “God ‘probably’ does not exist” declaration is telling. All of these positions are problematic. Both ontologically and when reduced to naked numbers.
Let me quote Jonathan Sacks, author of The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning, who articulated the issue wonderfully:
“Atheism deserves better than the new atheists whose methodology consists of criticizing religion without understanding it, quoting texts without contexts, taking exceptions as the rule, confusing folk belief with reflective theology, abusing, mocking, ridiculing, caricaturing, and demonizing religious faith and holding it responsible for the great crimes against humanity. Religion has done harm; I acknowledge that. But the cure for bad religion is good religion, not no religion, just as the cure for bad science is good science, not the abandonment of science.”
The current “probably” talking point pushed through the debating circles has opened the door to absurd reactions. How about labeling food as “Probably not poisonous” and airplanes marked “Probably safe to fly.” The debate is not even about the evidence that something is confirmed absent, there is none; the focus must be on defining what will be an accepted form of evidence to an individual when it comes to God. Various claims pointing to tons of evidence needs exploring, however, before evaluating the different forms of evidence, one needs to set individual believability thresholds.
So, what exactly are individual believability thresholds?
Believability is tied to hands-on individual verification and validation. The key is to avoid the “my experts are better than your experts” trap. Hunting for evidence should not be dependent on believing somebody before believing in something, or not believing in something.
So, what’s wrong with experts, one may ask?
Nothing. As long as they all agree on a given body of knowledge. The problem arises when two “experts” derive completely opposite conclusions from the same set of facts, and one is back to square one. And ironically left with a leap of faith between competing claims. Often confirmation bias is the easy route out.
The other logical question to ask would be why not become an expert yourself?
Always an option for those who can hack it, not to mention the cost associated with gaining expert level knowledge. Did somebody mention 10,000 hours? Even at minimum wage that will add up to a pretty sum. Even 1,000 hours will be a bridge too far for most.
What is the point?
The point is that the evidence needs to be in a form that any reasonably educated person can understand and internalize it.
So how do we define any reasonably educated person?
How about Reading, Writing,and Arithmetic? That sounds about right. And we may only need two out of three here.
Let us also tackle the question, read taunt, of which God?
I think we need to go past that one very quickly, God must be one and the only God unless we go back now and change the definition of God. Besides, when the evidence is verified, this question will resolve itself automatically for each individual,irrespective of what name he or she calls God. Which, by the way, is a more accurate reflection of the “different gods” taunt, as opposed to actual different gods. Besides, it would seem that we are wired for oneness.
Let’s come back to what type and/or level of evidence will satisfy someone? To some it would seem as an attempt to shift the burden of proof remember the burden of proof is on the claimant, as we are constantly reminded. Actually, not in this case. What does it have to do with someone helping someone else find suitable evidence from the already published works? If we want some help, then it doesn't hurt to help facilitate the process. One also always has the option of going it alone. That is, if one is able to get past one’s own impossibility mindset.
The essence of inquiry is that we must start out by asking questions. We only ask questions when we are not satisfied with the usual canned answers. So, let us revisit the three most often discussed:” What is the purpose of life?”, “Where did we come from?”, and most importantly,” Where are we headed?”.
What about those who are not interested in chasing answers and are happy with things as they stand? In that case, there is no issue to resolve, at least not for the time being. However there is evidence that points to our tendencies to seek spirituality. Let us not forget a consensus is growing that 40 plus is the age of maturity, at least for men, women mature a little earlier, hence most have time. This is something that cannot be forced but bringing it to the attention of those not yet aware, in the best possible way, of course, must be an obligation as well. We can compare it to a safety or security issue, if one knows that a certain path is harmful (through a minefield for instance) to the point that irreparable damage is a possibility, then not pointing it out is irresponsible in the least and can even be termed criminal by some.
After a while, it became clear to many of us that between the fence sitters and the blind faith proponents there must be a third way. Although the militant Atheist deserves to be ignored (I don’t know and you don’t know), along with the Existentialists (at best an idealistic doctrine), my question to the fence sitters is: “How long are you willing to wait?”.
If we were all immortals, then I would jump up and sit on the fence right beside you lot and wait. This belief, non-belief, is not going to help me as an individual if the answers are not forthcoming within my lifetime and preferably earlier part of it. I have to shape my life now and ensure I don't miss a trick. Even by taking on Pascal's deficient wager I am still spreading my bets better than most. The write and wrong of it from a philosophical point of view is irrelevant to me as an individual. I am on the clock.
If the desire is to look for answers, then the first question towards that end is a question of dealing with our current constraint; so, we circle back to what attribute of God can be measured with our existing tools. Without going into too much detail of how most of God’s attributes are out of our reach except one, let me make a case for the one that can be tested despite our constraints in a bit. In this way we can hopefully distance ourselves from the difficulty of defining what mathematics itself is or for that matter how a human mind works.
Coming back to the issue of being “satisfied” with “things as they stand”, Science has highlighted the fact that at a certain age the mind is no longer satisfied with “it is what it is”. The prefrontal cortex continues to grow and there are competing theories as to when it peeks but this much is agreed upon, a search for life’s purpose and direction keeps growing with age.
Let us quickly go through some other popular themes. Some may ask, if there is a God then won’t it be his or her responsibility to show us the evidence? Yes, indeed that is a logical position. The first thing that needs exploring is this very fact: did God already communicate the evidence/proof for his existence to us, that is all of us?
Then there is the “Why doesn't God just show himself”? Apparently to every single person out there.
Instead of getting into second-guessing God as to why God doesn’t just show himself to every single person, let’s stay with the evidence for God’s existence. When we meet God, we can always ask that particular question (s) at that time. In the meantime, let us focus on the doable. Besides, once God decides to do that then it is game over and none of what is being discussed will be relevant at that point.
Let’s also put aside questions like; why not pray to God and ask him to bend the physical laws of nature? A small demo will do, some may ask. Well, unless the demo is with a running commentary from God himself, it may be of very little use to us. Not to mention the fact that then we will be veering into an on-demand demo from God scenario. Interesting! That old efficacy of prayer again.
George Burnap articulated it well.
“God governs the universe by fixed and uniform laws, not only for the sake of order but for human good... The fulfillment of every human desire would break up this order and bring everything into disorder and confusion.”
And we actually find evidence of this, more on that later …
Measuring attributes of God
So finally, we will try to narrow down the one attribute of God that can be tested, at least to a certain degree. First up omnipresence. Do we currently have the tools to test God’s omnipresence? Given the fact that we are still struggling to confirm the presence of over 80% of what constitutes the Universe around us, so no, the omnipresence of God is a far cry for now. Similarly, testing for the omnipotence of God has its own set of constraints. Chief among them, linking any event to God, not to mention what level of testable power, within a given event, that can be “witnessed”, will be enough to term it Godlike. And then there is always going to be the issue of the on-demand occurrence of such an event.
So, what is left?
In fact, there is one attribute of God that can be tested both in terms of the past, the present and the projected future and that is God’s omniscience, which is intelligence and knowledge without measure. We may not have the tools to explore the full extent of God’s intellect, but we can set ourselves realistic criteria which should be sufficiently advanced to be termed Godlike and then try to apply them.
This also fits very well within the energy, matter and information trinity of General system theory. We see how the input of data is the key to making any system work. Closely related is the order to create the information for input and the order to initiate the input of the same. More on that can be found here
So once again, where do we start?
An excellent evergreen question. The most logical place to start testing for Godlike intelligence would be in any possible communication from God, as previously touched upon. Hence, focusing on claims in the name of God will be a good starting point. Here we will be relying on Mr. Occam and his instrument of choice. Before we proceed, it may be a good time to set some ground rules in order to maximize the chances of success. The first logical premise will have to be that the claim is of actual communication as opposed to reporting on such communication from God, in other words, the very word of God where God unambiguously and repeatedly claims to be the author of the communication.
The second premise has to be that the communication is intact and in its original form. The reason for this particular condition is pretty obvious. If we can’t have access to the original form, then we will be restricted to merely what is said in the communication and to some extent on who conveyed the message. What we need is to be able to run forensics .
This line of thinking, some may feel, is preparing the ground for countering the circular argument criticism of the like, “It is true because the Bible/Quran/Veda says it is true”. Criticism aside, given the modern tools at our disposal, we should be able to test and do a forensic audit for other than what is said in these claims of communication from God. The logical place to start once again must be the major religions of the world because those messages obviously have had the biggest impact.
Going by the historical records, the one religious book that can be dated very close to the claimed original events is the Quran. The recent Birmingham manuscripts come to mind.
Here again some may say that it is a case of cleverly steering the argument in the favor of one religion. I don’t know about the steering bit, but yes, we should always go where the argument takes us. It is reasonable to assume that if close to two billion people believe in something similar, it is worth investigating first.
Some may say, “Surprise, surprise!”. Sarcasm noted, but I am willing to stick my neck out with considerable confidence. Interesting to note that most of those who champion the new Atheism have a special bias reserved for Islam. Do they already know something?
So, when do we get to the juicy stuff if there is any?
Modern communication protocols
One thing I can guarantee you is plenty of juice. So, here is how I will try to build the case. Let me first touch upon how we authenticate the integrity of communication in modern times and then try and build a case for the integrity of the message of the Quran in a layered approach. The believability is tied to individual discoveries that build into literally a tsunami of evidence, and the accrued punch it packs.
The so far discovered markers in the Quran point to the fact that there is something for everyone. From the very simple to mind-boggling complication as one would expect from a divine message.
The reason for this lengthy context was to try and satisfy as many people along the way and deal with the often-asked questions as we went along.
So, here is the important bit. The way we authenticate a modern communication is by embedding metadata in the message itself. That is data that says something about the data being communicated. If we want the data secured, then we encrypt it on top of that. I am not going to devolve too deep into the field of signal transmission or the vast field of encryption but just touch on the principles on which they are based.
The Quran’s markers are in fact not only related to these principles but break new grounds in helping us view this field. The layers I referred to have to do with both reading a straightforward text on one hand and becoming aware of the arrangement of this very text in ways that give us additional information. In the same way text mining and text analytics work. The evidence of God for the non-experts but reasonably educated, can be found in this additional information. Interestingly there is enough of it to keep even the experts busy for thousands of years to come, yes, thousands at least.
Modern communications rely on packets of information. Every transmission consists of hundreds of these packets which are routed through various nodes of a given network or interconnected networks. The packets leave the point of origin and may or may not follow the same route and then are reassembled at the intended destination point using the header information which contains the metadata attached to each packet. Currently, there is a constant back and forth exchange between the origin and destination points of each message which ensures that all packets are accounted for. The technology is already in place where even this constant cross-checking of packets between the point of origin and the destination point will not be necessary. Simple algebraic equation will be applied to packets themselves and the message as a whole, to authenticate the integrity of messages (s) on arrival. The Quranic transmission, in fact, takes these principles to a whole new level.
Early findings
This whole thing picked up speed with a chap called Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi. Basically, what he did was to index every single word used in the entire Quran. In fact, he did it for Hadith (The claimed sayings of the Prophet of God) books as well, but as one would expect only the Quran exhibits the phenomenon we will be exploring. There are claims for patterns in other religious texts as one would anticipate but those, when compared with the Quran, are like the showing of the proverbial candle to the sun. It’s the sheer quantity and complexity of the discovered data that set it uniquely apart. Not finding the patterns in other books does not mean they lose all value. Not being in their original form has a lot to do with it of course.
So, how will we connect all this to the evidence of God? The very fact that not only God in first person is claiming to be the author of the Quran - remember our first premise - but the Author of the Quran throws down the gauntlet to all comers to reproduce a work like it. Still, we are not going to take what Quran says at face value as of yet.
Logically, “because the book says so” will make more sense after we first establish the authenticity of the Quran the product. We will initially try to verify and validate the complexity of its content to such an extent that it should point to something way beyond coincidences and firmly in the sphere of a Godlike intelligence. Once the verification process is done, we can then revisit and see what is being said in it and find the connection to the source of the communication. In short, the focus is to get to a framework where evidence of God can be justified, presented and verified.
As I previously mentioned, some of you may have been exposed to some aspect of this phenomenon, in both a positive way and a negative manner. What is missing from most understandings is the fact that this thing is several levels deep. A determined skeptic may boohoo one aspect of it but when the larger picture emerges only the very blind will be able to ignore it.
Before I introduce the most basic first layer, the word count, it is important to point out that this is not numerology, no memory tricks, no mirrors and certainly no smoke. Just straight up math. What we have is a number of interrelated patterns based on counts and the positioning of words, terms, and letters. The signature of God is in the scale and complexity of these arrangements. In contrast, the most famous of the Bible code is based on Equidistance Letter Sequence (ELS) and that too in well-defined very limited number of boxes. The Quranic patterns are not only several layers deep but touch each and every chapter, verse, word and even letter of the Quran.
The reason I will mostly stick with counting/Arithmetic is because in addition to our self-imposed “no experts” constraint, deriving definite and sound conclusions from the various “scientific” verses of the Quran is not always obvious if one lacks the relevant domain knowledge. Given that the natural languages, by definition, are elastic, and a case can always be made to say that is not what the author meant etc. Quran, in fact, has an elegant solution for it. More on that later.
Apologies for deferring tolater, but there is so much to cover. The other issue why these references to scientific phenomenon need to be sidelined, is the accusation that a lot of the present discoveries had some references in different ancient manuscripts, both religious and otherwise. Hence the author could have had access to them and thus no miracle. Therefore, we will stick as close to prior as humanly possible. Even though theywould be lottery winning odds to somehow conclude that the author got lucky by not dragging in the mountain of proven wrong references scattered in the same type of sources where he allegedly sourced his scientifically correct descriptions.
In the interest of framing the issue accurately allow me one last digress. Before we get into the structural elements of the Quran, it is important to keep in mind two important fundamentals. The first one has to do with the multitude and diversity of rhetorical tools employed in the Quran and second has to do with the number of domains the text tackles. The former sprawls across alliteration, analogy, antiphrasis, antithesis, asyndeton, assonance, cadence, chiasmus, epizeuxis, equivoque, homonymy, hyperbole, isocolon, simile, metaphor, metonymy, palindrome, parenthesis, polyptoton, rhetorical questioning, and synecdoche. The latter takes it to another level. Quran is not only a complete and comprehensive political and economic system on one hand, but the depth and breadth of its narration even covers social and personal mannerisms, including marital discipline.
At its core, the Quran establishes rules relating to fair governance, economic equality and resource allocation, inheritance and property rights, criminal justice, astronomy, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology, business and so on.
It was important to go through all that before we get into the numbers and ratios.
Quran is a sea of knowledge expressed in the most eloquent manner possible. It is also important to point out that extensive knowledge of the Arabic language is not a must to be able to verify the evidence in question, reason and logic is, which in a way makes the Quran more or less language neutral.
So, what is this numbers “game” of the Quran?
Layers of the Quranic patterns
The order I will be introducing these layers in, is based on my personal understanding and can actually be used in any given combination and quite a bit of overlap should be expected. In fact, we see that almost every discovered pattern extends beyond its core location and touches a number of other points in the Quran. In all probability pointing to a super structure or structures.
... Continued in Part II of III

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