Lay Betting Systems, Calculators, Odds and How it All ...

I’m a 37 y old Male that has struggled with frequent diarrhea for as long as I can remember. 3 years, I started a year long battle with anal itching. For those who suffer from these similar kinds of issues (IBS-D, Pruritus Ani, un-diagnosed Crohns, celiacs, etc.) know how these can also lead to extreme stress and quality of life impacts. And of course, I now believe these health symptoms are far more common than we think, and tend to go ‘under talked about’ due to the seemingly embarrassing nature ...which only adds to the stress for those suffering from them.
After 20+ years of actively trying to overcome this, I have finally got to a place where these issues are not significantly decreasing my quality of life. In the end, it’s also something I may have been able to discover much earlier, saving myself years of struggle by easily treating the possible root cause (Bile Acid Malabsorption). Below I’ll lay out my journey from a 10/10 down to a 1/10 on the symptom severity scale. I’m obviously not a doctor and my experiences are certainly unique to me, but maybe my story will provide some comfort to someone else out there suffering from some or all of my similar experiences.
Here are my key learnings: 1. You are not the only one battling these issues, 2. All the issues likely have some root cause, but YOU are not one of them. Whatever the root cause is, it is nothing to be embarrassed about and not your fault. Obviously, you are not choosing to have these ailments. 3. Find a GI specialist you trust and let them know you are ready to tackle this and do what it takes to figure it out. 4. Be patient, it might take a series of small changes that cumulatively add up to significant gains in symptom management and quality of life improvements, as you’ll see below, it took 20+ years of me researching and visiting 10+ doctors/specialists before a nurse practitioner mentioned Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM) which for me seems to be one of the main root causes.
Now for my own detailed journey.
As a young kid (6-15) I can remember many instances of having urgent diarrhea accompanied by the ‘pain waves’ in the gut. I’d be at a birthday party, or driving somewhere in a van w/ group of friends and I’d get the first subtle pain wave knowing immediately I was in for trouble. The waves would come and go every few minutes, continually getting more intense. It’s terrible knowing there is only one way out of these (finding a bathroom) when you are in a situation when that is either not immediately available or would require others having to accommodate your (how do you tell everyone on your van that they all have to pull over at a gas station and wait while you spend time in the bathroom?). Needless to say, many of these memories remain w me to this day.
Then in college, the frequency of these episodes seemed to increase. I knew where every bathroom was in every building to hit up walking between any two classes. Although terrible, at least I could hide my conditions (I was usually alone walking between classes or lived alone in my apartment). Then I met my now wife, we moved in together. Well...now it became harder to hide how many times I needed to go to the bathroom. This is when the mental and emotional stresses started to pile up. I’m not outgoing and vocal about my health issues. I’m generally quite easily embarrassed. I tried to hide these conditions, the best I could, from my girlfriend. This was my own doing, and one of my key learnings. Don’t be embarrassed about any health issues, and yes, that included pooping and butt health issues. As you will see, it will take me many more years to start being more open about these issues.
In grad school, I finally snuck in to see a GI specialist. During the first meeting, they said we’d have to start with a colonoscopy. That was not what I wanted to hear, I was only 23 at the time and how could I do a colonoscopy procedure w/o telling my girlfriend about my issues (after all, someone would have to bring me to and from the procedure, right?). I skipped it and ghosted my GI doctor. Never went back. In hind-sight, I think what I wanted was for them to run other less invasive tests first (fecal samples, blood tests, etc.). Again, something that would allow me to continue hiding things. At this point, I started taking Immodium daily to control my diarrhea symptoms. I knew this wasn’t sustainable and was a bad solution, but having a peace of mind from my symptoms is such a relief, it’s hard to give it up.
Thru-out this entire time, I experimented w/ food and lifestyle changes. Nothing ever seemed to work. Eggs, dairy, protein powders, coffee, etc. Something might work for a week then, boom. If you’re experiencing this, you know how frustrating it is getting ‘hopeful’ and then experiencing that moment when you realize things maybe aren’t any better after all.
Several years later, I was about 31 years old when perhaps the worst symptom started to show up...anal itching (also known as pruritus ani). This is/was horrible. It came on one summer and lasted about 4 weeks then just went away. About a year later it came back and this time it stayed. I discussed w/ two different doctors, they performed some exams, thought it might be fungal or worms, etc. Tried cream after cream. They referred me to another GI specialist. After first consult they suggested to schedule a colonoscopy (again, before any other type of testing). I delayed and put it off, then my GI clinic closed down and that was that. For the 1st year or so, it was mostly just an intense itching. After just about every other topical cream you can think of (preparation, hydrocortisone, anti fungal, etc.) a doctor suggested I try using zinc oxide cream (baby diaper rash). This actually worked and so I began applying it daily and after every bowel movement. My suspicion is it served as some kind of a barrier layer to protect the sensitive skin around around my anus. This made me think perhaps something in my stool was irritating my skin.
Back to the diarrhea - I tried many lifestyle changes, many of which actually seemed to help. Let me summarize, starting with the peak of my diarrhea symptoms being at a level of 10/10 for a baseline of the worst.
Eating anything before working out. I gave up protein powders and pre-workout supplements and started working out first thing in the morning. This definitely helped eliminate my immediately after a workout (<1hr) BM (almost always diarrhea and very runny) that would occur about 80% of the time after working out. This brought me down to about a 8/10.
Eliminating pork. Of all the diet eliminations, surprisingly pork seemed to have the largest impact. I would always get the runs after a big breakfast. I always thought it was an egg allergy, or dairy, or grease,...then i ran out of things to try. But when i look back, I realize, pork was almost always part of a breakfast meal (bacon, sausage, ham, etc.). I’ve read up on the pork to see if it is a common food allergy. It doesn’t seem to be, except, I did read some articles about pork food allergies in people who are interesting also allergic to cats, which I am. In any case, eliminating pork brought me down to a 6/10.
Now back to the Pruritus Ani- by this time, I had been using Zinc Oxide cream daily after each BM for about a year and had been able to even stop using it most days. I noticed that only after a watery stool or diarrhea BM would the skin get irritated. It no longer itched as much as it hurt and seemed sore. But clearly, controlling my diarrhea through the lifestyle changes was enough to decrease my PA symptoms to just sporadic soreness/irritation after watery BM.
Finally, at the age of 36, after fighting and battling these things for as long as I can remember, I decided I was going to commit to leveraging the medical system to work through these, no matter how long and what I needed to do (I am very fortunate to have good medical coverage). I made an appointment w/ a GI specialist. And yes, it is daunting as the barrage of tests and procedures start getting laid out. Here’s what happened after my first GI visit:
They had me start taking Metamucil daily. This made a surprisingly positive impact, and I would say brought me from a 6 down to a 4/10 or 5/10 Blood work and gluten tests (breath tests) all showed negative for allergies/lactose intolerances, etc. Colonoscopy - This was an enormous stress reliever to have done and know that nothing major was going on w/ my insides. You can imagine after struggling w/ digestive issues for decades, my mind envisioned a ravaged intestinal tract. In hind sight, I get that a colonoscopy is a must have for diagnosing digestive issues to make sure nothing more important is going on. I wish I would have had this done years ago. It’s no biggie, just do it. A peace of cake.
In my follow-up visit with a NP in the GI clinic to review all the results of the blood, lactose and colonoscopy, they said everything looked normal and that there could be a few additional tests and diagnostics we could pursue or try, but I explained to them that the diarrhea was at about a 4/10 which I said was now at a level that I would call ‘manageable’. If I stick to the lifestyle changes I’ve made to get to that point (exercise, but not w/in hours of eating anything, daily Metamucil, pork elimination and a healthy diet) I feel like my symptoms would be tolerable.
Then, almost as an afterthought before the consult was about to end, I asked again about the pruritus ani one more time. This NP brought up something I have never heard of, after years of fighting this, searching symptoms online and speaking w/ 10+ doctors and specialists...Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM). Strangely, this almost immediately seemed to best explain all the symptoms I’ve experienced over the years...too much acid entering the digestive tract w/ food. I’d imagine this excess acid can be harmful and irritating to the sensitive skin near the anus, especially over years and years of frequent exposure. This also explains why a non-medicated topical solution was so effective, cause it served as a ‘barrier’ more than anything. And like many IBS-D symptoms, it can cause pretty immediate diarrhea after eating food, which I often suffered from (if you’re reading this, I’m betting you’ve been at a restaurant waiting impatiently for the bill to come cause you know the clock is ticking...). The NP suggested I try a prescription for Cholestipol (a binder that is used for lowering cholesterol but works by binding the acid and preventing it from entering the intestinal tract- I think). At first, I even hesitated, ‘I’ve never heard of either these things and I don’t want to just start taking new meds if it isn’t needed, as I said, I’m floating around a 4/10 or 5/10 at this point’. I decided to try it, fully expecting disappointment.
It’s now been 3 months since I started taking Cholestipol daily. I have not had a single severe episode of diarrhea since!! Sure, a few less-pleasant BMs here or there after a big meal, but never in an urgent and explosive way I was so used to. I can say I’m down to a 1/10 (which for someone that lived at a 10/10 for awhile, this is unbelievably refreshing and amazing). PA symptoms are gone as I’d expect w/o any watery BMs.
I’ve been in this position before, I know there’s still a chance this was only temporary relief, but it has been as life altering as anything I’ve ever experienced. I really truly hope this can help someone else out there find some similar relief...IBS can be extremely challenging from both physical as well as the stress induced by the ‘social stygma’ attached to it. Have hope and keep working on it. Speak out so others can share and hopefully the world slowly comes around to realize these are real health issues that impact a lot more lives than we think.

“I want X for Switch”, “when is X coming to the Switch”, “X is perfect for the Switch!” How often have you heard or said these sentences? Quite a lot, probably, especially about Nintendo franchises. Nintendo fans really like first-party games, and they’re always asking for their favorites to come back. Problem is, even though Nintendo owns dozens of franchises, there’s only a few that are guaranteed to show up during any given console, so fans of smaller franchises are left wondering when they’ll play them again.
Well, today I’ll try to mostly answer these questions. I’ll take a look at several, Nintendo-owned franchises and try to figure out what are their chances of coming to Switch. I’ll be basing myself on this such as release schedule, success of previous entries, popular demand, market niche and internal interest at Nintendo.
However, keep in mind two things. One: Nintendo owns a shit-ton of IPs, and I won’t cover them all. I’ll focus on the ones that have multiple entries, and even then, I might skip a few if I feel I have no meaningful insight.
And two: No matter what I or anyone else says, the chances for any of these games to come back is NOT ZERO. Nintendo is unpredictable and they’ll sometimes bring something out of the blue when you least expect it. This year alone we saw the return of Brain Age (a franchise not seen since 2012), Clubhouse Games (a sequel to a game from 2005), and Famicom Detective Club, a franchise with two games from 1988/89, which then received a remake in 1998 and then nothing until twenty two years later. Granted, it’s another remake, but it is still a modern installment in a franchise twenty two years dormant. If Famicom Detective Club can come back in 2020, so can your favorite franchise. Now, let’s begin, in alphabetical order:
Art Academy
Starting off with a small one. Art Academy is a series of drawing games that started on the DS in 2010 and then released pretty consistently over the following years, with three entries on 3DS and two (well, one and a half) for the WiiU between 2010 and 2016. Already this feels like a franchise with a pretty consistent release schedule, even though it hasn’t been seen for four years now. I don’t think any of the games were blockbusters, per se, but they also don’t need to be. They’re small games, probably inexpensive to produce that seem to do consistently well enough to get new sequels.
There are several obstacles that present themselves to the release of a new Art Academy, but I think all of them are easily overcome. For starters, AA is the type of casual game that thrived during the DS/Wii eras, a Touch Generations game. Since the Switch released, many have noted that Nintendo may want to distance themselves from that era due to the failure of the WiiU, and there may be some truth to that, but I feel like this is starting to change. Again, this year saw the return of both Brain Age and Clubhouse Games, both casual, Touch Generations DS games. I feel like, at the start of the Switch’s life cycle, Nintendo was indeed trying to focus on core gamers, but now that they have secured that core gamer audience, they may be more comfortable releasing more casual fare.
Furthermore Art Academy is developed by Headstrong Games, a British developer that doesn’t seem to do much other than AA. However, in 2017, that team was absorbed into its parent studio, Kuju Games. This move, which happened the year after the last AA game released, may have something to do with the franchsie’s MIA status. But, Kuju games is still active, having released a game just last year, and I don’t see why they couldn’t take up the mantle.
Finally, some speculated a few years ago that AA was dead due to the Switch not having a stylus but, OH WAIT, Brain Age fixed that too!
All in all, even though Art Academy is hardly a hot franchise, there’s very little standing in the way of its return, and little reason to doubt that it will.
Chances: Good
Chibi-Robo!
We may have started on a positive note, but here comes a downer. Chibi-Robo is probably not coming back anytime soon. This cute little robot debuted in his self-titled Game Cube game, developed by Skip Ltd. Like most games by the developer, it was quirky and fun, and not very popular, but had its fans, and Chibi-Robo must have endeared someone at Nintendo, because he kept showing up here and there. He got two DS sequels, though the second one was Japan-only, already a red flag. In 2013, he starred in a 3DS eshop game that was very different from the main games, more of an experimental spin-off, and was not well-received.
But the real final nail came in 2015, with Chibi-Robo Zip Lash! The game was announced to be a 2D platformer, and many fans identified the change in genre (from a unique adventure game to one of the most over-saturated genres in Nintendo consoles) as a total sell-out, and they were totally correct! The developers basically admitted that they did it to try and get more players (red flag). Series producer Kensuke Tanabe then said that if the game didn’t sell well, it could be the end of the franchise (RED FLAG). And then, the unfortunate but inevitable happened. Zip Lash was a critical and commercial bomb, and neither the developer nor the franchise has been seen again. Aside from the inevitable Smash Bros mentions, Chibi-Robo has only been seen on that infamous flaming tweet from 2018 (I told you someone at Nintendo really likes them). To make matters worse, there are increasing signs that Skip Ltd may be going under
So, a struggling franchise makes a desperate move to gain fans, a developer expresses concerns for its future if the game bombs, said game bombs and now the developer may be going out of business? It seems the writing is on the wall.
Now, even if Skip goes under, that is not necessarily the end of Chibi. Nintendo would still retain the rights, as they did for Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk after developer Cing went under. As for whether or not Nintendo would want to give the franchise a second (third? Fourth?) chance, it doesn’t look good
Chances: Very bad
Custom Robo
From one diminutive robot to another, the Custom Robo series is and robo-battle series that began on the N64. It was Japan only, as was its N64 and GBA sequels. Afterwards, Nintendo did try to expand it, releasing a GameCube game in NA, and a DS game in NA and Europe. However, despite the fact that players of these games will attest to how good these games are, they didn’t seem to do very well, and the franchise has not been seen since 2007.
There was one statement of internal interest, when a developer in 2014 said that he heard demands both inside and outside the company for a new entry, but that there were no plans for one, and he was unsure when there would be. Six years on, it seems there still aren’t. In fact, the developer itself, Noise, is also strangely MIA. Though they are officially still active, with their website being updated for 2020, they have not worked on a game since 2015.
Then, in 2018, many fans watched in horror the news that Nintendo let the trademark expire. Some have pointed out that this isn’t as bad as it seems, as it refers specifically to games on optical discs, which Nintendo doesn’t make anymore, but I don’t know enough about the subject to say for certain. Regardless, it’s evident that Nintendo still owns the franchise, as Custom Robo content appears in Smash Ultimate.
On the other hand, one of the series creators, Kohji Kendoh, is still thinking about it. He is working for another developer, and released a suspiciously similar game called Synaptic Drive just this year, as well as talking about Custom Robo in social media. It seems like a Mighty no9/ Yooka-Laylee/Bloodstained situation, in which the owner of an Ip is not using it, so the creator releases a spiritual successor.
Bottom line, there seems to be demand for Custom Robo. A developer saw it six years ago, and the creator is seeing it now. Whether or not thinks this demand is enough to revive the franchise, is tough to say, but doesn’t look great.
Not as bad as Chibi-Robo, though
Chances: Bad
Daigasso! Band Brothers
Here’s a franchise Americans never got. Daigasso! Band Brother is a rhythm game released for the DS in 2004 and stars Barbara the Bat, who has an uncharacteristically risqué design for Nintendo. The game was Japan-only but seems to have been successful, it received a sequel in 2009 (released in Europe, but not NA), and another in 2013 for the 3DS. Despite not having received new games since then, the series is far from inactive. Barbara the Bat in particular, like Chibi-Robo, seems to have fans inside Nintendo because she pops up everywhere. She had cameos in a few other DS games, she was an AT in Brawl and a spirit in Ultimate, she was a costume in Mario Maker, she appeared in a comic strip with WarioWare’s Ashley, and the series has a Twitter account that was super active all the way up to April of this year (more on that later). In 2017, that account even tweeted a comic strip of Barbara demanding a Switch. That was probably not a tease of anything, as it’s been 3 years and nothing, but stuff has happened with the franchise even more recently.
Last year, in 2019, six years after the release of the 3DS game, there were 30 songs added to the game in celebration of the series 15th anniversary. So as late as last year, Nintendo was celebrating this franchise with an in-game event. Now, the servers for the game were shut down earlier this year (hence the end of the Twitter account), and the game was removed from the eshop (as it is basically pointless without the servers), but with recent news that the 3DS has ceased production, it’s pretty clear that the game’s end is a consequence of the 3DS’ end, and not a lack of players. So if the series is alive, but can’t be on the 3DS, it has to go somewhere, no? Bottom line: the games are successful, the series is active, and the character is popular. I don’t know if Barbara the Bat’s next tour will be an international one, but I’m confident it will happen
Chances: Very Good
Dillon’s Rolling Western
DRW is a unique western-themed tower defense game released on the 3DS eshop in 2012. It received mixed reviews, but had a dedicated fanbase, and was successful enough to spawn two sequels, one in 2013, and a post-apocalyptic themed one in 2018. With a game having released just two years ago, its reasonable to say the series is not dormant, so the prospect of a new game is always likely. The developer, Vanpool, who mostly works on smaller scale stuff like this, is both still active and still working at Nintendo.
So, really the only reason to believe the series wouldn’t continue would be if the latest game bombed really hard. It’s hard to say that it did, as sales figures are unavailable, but it was a 3DS game in 2018, probably didn’t set the charts on fire. But then again, unless Nintendo had some really unrealistically high expectations, I don’t think it could have bombed hard enough to kill the franchise that fast.
There’s not much more to say. There aren’t any rumblings of a return, but also no reason to be pessimistic.
Chance: Above Average
Earthbound
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: There will not be a Mother 4
The Creator of the series, Shigesato Itoi, has said that he would not work on a fourth installment, as he feels the story is complete. Now, normally, Nintendo could just say “screw creative integrity, let’s make a fourth game anyway!” but Shigesato Itoi directly co-owns the series’ copyright so they actually can’t. So unless Itoi changes his mind, or he dies and Nintendo decides to ignore his wishes (neither scenario is completely outside the realm of possibility), Mother 4 is not happening.
So, if new Mother content is made, it’d be either a remake, or Mother 3 localization. We all know demand for this last one is overwhelming, Nintendo themselves have acknowledged it multiple times, but it still hasn’t happened, and it doesn’t seem things have changed. A remake is possible, but don’t hold your breath for it.
Despite the series’ popularity, I think all we’ll see of it is the first two games in NSO.
Chances: Bad
Excitebike
This is a hard one to pinpoint. Excitebike is one of those classic NES games that Nintendo likes to reference all the time, like Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Wrecking Crew and Duck Hunt. Unlike those, Excitebike actually received sequels and established a franchised. There was a great entry on the N64 and three entries on the Wii, but nothing more since. I can’t imagine the Wii entries were super successful, and there really hasn’t been any word from Nintendo about any interest in reviving the series, either from developers, or the fans. The developer of the Wii games, Monster Games, is still active, and still makes racing games and extreme sports games, but hasn’t worked with Nintendo in 5 years.
Now, one point I see often, and that I’d like to address, is the idea that Nintendo doesn’t want multiple games from the same genre on the same console. I can’t agree. With the exception of the WiiU, every Nintendo home console since the SNES has had multiple Nintendo-published racing games released for it. WiiU didn’t but that console is an exception to many norms. I don’t see why Mario Kart, behemoth that it is, would stop any other racing game from being made, especially when they are so very different (although the fact that MK8 has an Excitebike track doesn’t inspire confidence).
No, I don’t think Mario Kart is the problem, I think is just lack of interest. And though Excitebike is not a franchise Nintendo will ever truly forget, it’s not really revving up for a comeback either. It could happen, it could not
Chances: Medium
Fatal Frame
This horror franchise wasn’t originally a Nintendo product, being released on the PS2 by Tecmo. However, since the fourth game, each title in the series has been published and copyrighted by Nintendo, and this seemingly applies to all future entries, as the series producer said the series’ future is up to Nintendo. So, how does that future look like?
Well, the last game in the series, Maiden of Black Water, was a WiiU game, which means it didn’t sell well, but not as badly as you might think. From all I could find, which is admittedly not much, sales for the game seemed to be only slightly less than previous entries, a gap more than explainable by its console. So, if the series was getting sequels before, the WiiU game’s sales wouldn’t be the reason why there wouldn’t be more. And though Nintendo of America has had to take baby steps into accepting the franchise overseas, Nintendo of Japan seemed satisfied with it, releasing four games between 2008 and 2014.
So sales aren’t an evident problem, what about the developer? That developer is Tecmo Koei, who is not only active and buddies with Nintendo, their current project is none other than Nintendo’s big holiday title. There’s obvious trust there. As for interest, there is a lot. From Koei Tecmo calling it a valuable IP, to the series producer stating multiple times, including this year, that he’d like to bring it to the Switch
Now, this comment pretty much confirms that a new Fatal Frame is not in development as of now, but it has a chance of happening. And remember, the last game is on WiiU, and if we know anything about those, is that they like to come to Switch. And though I don’t see Nintendo breaking their necks to make a new entry, I don’t think they’d oppose it if Tecmo pitches it to them, especially if it’s just a port.
Chances: Good
Fossil Fighters
This game is not Pokémon, or so its fans tell me. Fossil Fighters is a DS game from 2008 where you collect various species of dinosaur and battle with other ~Dinosaur Trainers~ Fossil Fighters in RPG battles. It didn’t receive great reviews, but was successful enough to get a sequel two years later, and another one on the 3DS in 2014. Three games in six years is a pretty good release schedule, and things were looking alright, until that 3DS game came. It was primarily developed by a different studio, and it showed. The game received abysmal reviews, and fan reception was similar. Sales weren’t awful, but not great either.
Since then, the series has been completely quiet. The developer, Red Entertainment, is still active, but hasn’t worked with Nintendo since the 3DS game. As for interest, there hasn’t been a peep from Nintendo about this series at all. No interviews describing vague interest in bringing it bad, no acknowledgment of fan demand, no cameos in other games (aside from Smash, which doesn’t count, Smash has everything). Even fan demand doesn’t seem too high, most of what I’ve seen is a Change.org petition which has been up for a year and has not reached its 2500 signatures goal.
It looks like this series could become a fossil itself. Someday some might dig it up and revive it to use in battle, but I’m not feeling it.
Still not as bad as Chibi-Robo
Chances: Bad
F-Zero
This is the reason you’re reading this.
Oh, F-Zero. If fan demand alone was the deciding factor, F-Zero would be top priority. People want F-Zero, people beg for F-zero, people who have never played, beg for F-Zero. And Nintendo knows this, they’ve acknowledged it. They themselves haven’t forgotten it. Even putting Smash aside, there was an F-Zero minigame in Nintendo Land. There are F-Zero tracks in Mario Kart. They’ve done everything but make a new F-Zero game, but why the hell not?
Well, it’s important to understand that the F-Zero series declined in sales throughout its life. The best-selling game is still the first, and though the following games were fantastic, they sold less and less, and yet, strangely enough, between 2003-2004, Nintendo released THREE F-Zero games. Around the same time, they also released an anime. There are several great articles and videos about what happened to F-Zero, but the best point I’ve seen is that Nintendo tried, in 2003, to really push F-Zero, but it didn’t work. So, with their attempt failed, they let the series sleep, and just never woke it up, even as fan demand increased.
In 2015, Miyamoto commented on the series, and said that, though he heard the demand, he was unsure on what to do with the series, on how to make a new game. Many fans scoffed and said he’d just need to make a modern F-Zero and that’d be great, but I think internal concern runs deeper. Just doing F-Zero failed in 2003, so why would it work now?
That said, I think there is hope. Fan demand is powerful, and more and more we see a new generation of Nintendo developers pushing the company forward. These younger developers are the ones behind new IP like Splatoon and ARMS, and great reinventions of existing ones like Odyssey and BotW. It’s possible that these same younger developers could hear the fan demand, and want to take on the series without the hesitation of their older peers.
It’s been 16 years, but Kid Icarus was gone for 19, wasn’t it?
Stranger things have happened
Chances: I want to believe
Golden Sun
And here’s the other one.
Few Nintendo fans are as vocal and dedicated to their dormant franchise as Golden Sun games. For those who don’t know, Golden Sun was a couple of excellent GBA RPGs released in 2001 and 2002, with a DS sequel in 2010. Such erratic release schedule would make predicting the series’ future difficult at the best of times, but the DS game was seen as a disappointment by many fans and sales were unimpressive. With ten years having passed with no new game, is the series done for? Well, let’s look at it.
In 2012, one of the developers gave an interview in which he straight up said that, if there was fan demand for it, there would “naturally” be a fourth game. We know that developer interview doesn’t immediately guarantee a sequel, but this is also a much more positive statement than Custom Robo and F-Zero’s “We know there’s demand, but we don’t know what to do with it”. This is “If there’s demand, it will happen.” So, is there demand?
You bet your ass there is. And it feels like it is growing. There was a high-profile hoax about a fourth game in 2017 (a similar hoax happened some time before the third game, by the way). The series received notably more content in Smash Ultimate than series of similar standing (quite possibly an acknowledgment of its popularity). And last year, Cory Balrog, director of 2018’s GOTY God of War, tweeted about all the franchises he would trade for a new Golden Sun. Nintendo could hardly have asked for a higher profile endorsement within the industry.
So if fan demand is there, why hasn’t it happened yet? Well, it helps to look at the development history of the series. The first game took eighteen months to develop, considered a long time for a handheld game at the time. And though the eight years between the GBA and DS games may have you believe it took a long time to greenlight a sequel, that’s not the case. Signs point to internal discussion about a sequel to the GBA games as early as 2002, with developers quoted as saying that Nintendo was asking them to make a new one. One of the series producers also said that the series takes a long time to make because of its complexity. After the DS game failed to meet expectations, its understandable that Nintendo may not have been as enthusiastic for a new game as it was before, but it seems like, even if the series is alive and well, the long hiatus would not be uncharacteristic. In that same interview quoted before, the developer even said that a new game would take a long time. In fact, if GS4 had started development shortly after that interview, if it took as long as Dark Dawn, the game would be wrapping up production around now.
Then there’s the developer, Camelot. Aside from Golden Sun, they pretty much only make Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. They release schedule is also super consistent, with a new game every other year, sometimes every year. We already got a Mario Tennis on Switch two years ago so, if not for COVID, their new game would probably have released this year. All things point, then, for the next Camelot game to hit the Switch next year. Smart money would be in Mario Golf, but maybe it is finally Golden Sun.
Finally, I don’t think, as others do, that Xenoblade is the reason GS is not happening. Again, I don’t see evidence to support the idea that Nintendo doesn’t want to publish more than one game in the same genre. Both the GBA and DS had more than a dozen Nintendo-published RPGs, and the Wii and 3DS got RPGs even after Xenoblade released for them. I don’t see why Xenoblade would stop a Switch Golden Sun, especially when they are very different kinds of RPGs. GS is actually closer to Octopath Traveler, whose success was enough to impress SE, why wouldn’t Nintendo want a piece?
Really, I think the biggest obstacle is that Nintendo might want to prioritize the safe investment of Mario sports games over Golden Sun, but the more I research, the more I feel like GS’s chances are higher now than they were at any point in the last ten years.
I feel there’s hope this sun will rise again
Chances: Above average
Kid Icarus
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Kid Icarus was an OK NES game that had a forgotten Game Boy sequel and then nobody cared about it for 19 years until it was unexpectedly revived for the 3DS in 2012. This story is a testament to the fact that, just because its been a long time, it doesn’t mean it will never happen. But in order to know if it will happen again, let’s understand how it happened in the first place.
It’s important to mention that reviving Kid Icarus was not the intent behind KI: Uprising, it was the idea of its director, Masahiro Sakurai. Nintendo had given him a project and Sakurai decided to use an established franchise for it. He briefly considered Star Fox, but decided to use Kid Icarus, for which he probably had a soft spot, considering he had added Pit to Brawl some years earlier. So, there wasn’t an exec at Nintendo who woke up one day and decided to bring Kid Icarus back, they gave the director a project, and, after some deliberation, he decided to use Kid Icarus for it.
That director is currently busy developing Smash Bros DLC, but even after that’s over, he probably won’t revisit Kid Icarus. He has shot down the idea of him working on a sequel or a port. His words were: "For now, my thought is that perhaps we'll see someone else besides me make another Kid Icarus in another 25 years." Yikes. That’s pretty damning. Sure, Nintendo could get someone else to make the game, but if it was only Sakurai that was interested in the series in the first place, what is the hope of that?
Well, that statement is not super accurate. Before Uprising, there was actually a Kid Icarus reboot in development for the Wii. It was cancelled, and thank God for it, as it was an awfully stupid gritty reboot, but it showed that there was interest in the franchise even before Uprising. Naturally, you’d expect interest to be bigger now than before.
The fact that Uprising not only grew the series’ fanbase, but the that there are Kid Icarus characters in Smash Bros, means that the franchise has a permanent place in the interest in Nintendo fans. Smash in particular means that there are 18 million people who know Pit and Palutena and would turn their heads if a new game was announced. Furthermore, Nintendo’s new CEO is interested in bringing 3DS franchises to the Switch after the success of the Switch Lite, especially now that the 3DS is officially dead, so the opening is there for it.
There is definitely demand for a new Kid Icarus game, but it is too sporadic a franchise to be certain, and if it were to happen, Nintendo would have to find someone new to do it. But, in the end, the series is definitely in a better place now than it was 10 years ago.
Chances: Medium
Legendary Starfy
Legendary Starfy was a 2D platformer for the GBA that was apparently really successful, as it received four sequels in the span of five years. Not only that but, like Barbara and Chibi-Robo, Starfy himself was quite popular. He had cameos in Mario & Luigi and Super Princess Peach, music of the series was in Donkey Konga, he is a regular Assist Trophy in Smash and was a costume in Mario Maker. Though the series took until the last game to come to the West, there were plans to bring the first four games too, as well as consideration for expanding the series to the Wii. The series was widely advertised, with animated commercials and tons of merchandise, including plush dolls, CDs, pencils, birthday balloons, casino cards and two manga series. When asked if there were plans for a sixth game, the developer answered “Yes!”, no ifs, not buts, straight-up Yes.
And then… nothing. The series just stopped. And the reason why is: I have no idea. Maybe if the last game bombed spectacularly, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Sure, Japanese sales declined with each entry, but not by that much. Maybe NA sales weren’t what Nintendo was hoping for, but surely not enough to kill such a steady franchise.
The confusion only grows when we look at its developer, Tose. Now, this is interesting. You’ve probably played a Tose game without knowing. They have worked on over A THOUSAND GAMES, but they never receive credit. They merely assist with development in the shadows. As one exec puts it: "Our policy is not to have a vision. Instead, we follow our customers' visions. Most of the time we refuse to put our name on the games, not even staff names." They are a ghost developer. Even its Wikipedia page admits that the list of games on it is purely speculative. There are probably hundreds more, that we don’t know about.
The only exception is the Starfy series. That series was their vision. So why did they stop? Could they have decided that it was against their vision to make a game of their vision? We can only speculate.
The fact that the series’ end was so unexpected, and its developer so mysterious, means that any speculation about it is a shot in the dark. All I can say is that there’s no particular reason to expect it.
Chances: Not Good
Nintendogs
Here’s a big one. Nintendogs was one of the biggest successes of the casual era, on par with Brain Age and Wii Fit, but unlike those, it remained a multi-million seller during the 3DS/WiiU generation. And though Nintendo may have tried, at first, to distance the Switch from that era, the return of Brain Age and Clubhouse Games indicates that other casual games would follow, and Nintendogs would be a no-brainer.
There is, however, one big problem: the Switch does not have a microphone. While Brain Age on the DS also used the microphone a lot, it was not essential to it. You could easily make Brain Age without it. But not Nintendogs. Issuing voice commands to your virtual pup is integral to the experience. No microphone means no Nintendogs.
But with that said, Nintendo did go to the trouble of making a Switch stylus, seemingly just for Brain Age, so maybe they could make a microphone peripheral. Sure, a microphone would be more complex to make than a stylus, but not inconceivable. They did something like that with the Wii Speak. I’m sure for that nintendogs money, Nintendo would do it.
Worst case scenario, Nintendo releases Nintendogs and forces you to use the NSO app’s voice chat to talk with your dog. You know they’d do it.
There’s also the fact that another developer released a nintendogs clone for the Switch last year, but I don’t think Nintendo gives a shit.
Chances: Good
Nintendo Wars
You may know this series better as “Advance Wars” and you may also know that it is fantastic. In fact, it is one of the highest rated Nintendo franchises on Metacritic, and had a pretty consistent release schedule between 1988 and 2008. All was looking pretty god. But unfortunately the series has been dormant since the last entry on DS. Part of it may be because the series, though originally Japan-only, was never all that popular in Japan. In fact, that last game only saw a limited release as a My Nintendo reward in the region.
There is, however, still demand for the series, both externally and internally. Producers from both Nintendo and developer Intelligent Systems have expressed enthusiastic support for a new entry, although they’ve also expressed some uncertainty on what they’d do with it, similar to the Custom Robo and F-Zero responses.
The developer for the series is Intelligent Systems, who do a ton of stuff and will be discussed multiple times in this post. They used to release multiple games a year, but have slowed down this past game to just one or two games a year, another possible reason why Advance Wars has been deprioritized, especially in comparison with that boogeyman of Advance Wars and Smash Bros fans alike: Fire Emblem. There is real concern that Nintendo might not want to make a new Advance Wars when they could just make the similar but more popular Fire Emblem instead.
That said, IS has already released a Fire Emblem and Paper Mario for Switch, and though we definitely will get at least one more FE during the Switch’s life cycle, there’s enough years left for IS to release some other games, whether they be AW or one of the three other franchises we’ll discuss in the future. Problem is, of those franchises, AW might be the most difficult to produce, and the most risky, so it could probably be lower priority. When asked about the series last year, one IS producer gave a pretty evasive answer, so things aren’t looking too good, but they aren’t hopeless either.
Chances: Medium
Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents
This rhythm series for the DS is widely beloved by those who played it, but its life cycle was pretty limited. One game in 2005, and Americanized version in 2006, and one sequel in 2007. Nothing more since The games were critically acclaimed, but not blockbuster hits.
The series creator said back in 2016 that he would love to create a new game, but nothing else has been said about it. The game’s developer iNis, doesn’t appear to be super active either.
All in all, there is very little pointing to a return
Chances: Bad
Pilotwings
The biggest obstacle to seeing this series of arcadey flight sims on the Switch is that the series has a very specific purpose: it’s a tech demo. All three games were launch titles for their systems and explicitly meant to show off each system’s new tech. The original game was made to show off the SNES’ Mode 7, the N64 game was meant to show off the console’s polygonal graphics, and Resort was meant to showcase the 3DS’ stereoscopic 3D. With the Switch’s release far behind us, and its graphics not really needing a showcase, Pilotwings chances seem low. Granted, Pilotwings doesn’t need to be a tech demo, but it could be how Nintendo views it as.
There is some fan demand for it, but not as much as F-Zero or Golden Sun, and no developer has commented on the possibility of a return. Pilotwings has always been moderately successful, but not enough to justify constant releases. The only glimmer of hope is the comment from Nintendo’s CEO about wanting to bring more 3DS franchises for the Switch, but it’s quite possible that he didn’t have Pilotwings in mind when he said that
Chances: Bad
Punch-Out!!
Another series popular enough to get a Smash character but not popular enough for consistent sequels, Punch-Out is a beloved classic with a consistent fanbase, but with a very erratic release schedule. After the SNES game in 1994, the series lay dormant for 15 years until it was revived for the Wii in 2009 and then laid to rest again. One explanation is that the series was never really popular in Japan. Neither the NES or SNES games were even available as full releases in the country, being instead, distributed as prizes or rewards. And though the Wii game got a full retail release, it sold very poorly. It’s always been a game more for Americans, so it is understandable that the Japanese developers at Nintendo aren’t super enthusiastic about it. That said, it was Nintendo who pitched the reboot in the first place, so they may want to do it again someday.
The developer for the Wii game was Next Level Games, who release a game every three or two years, and they also develop Mario Strikers and Luigi’s Mansion. Having already released LM3, it’s likely they’ll release another game for the Switch some time soon. That could be Punch-Out, but it is just as likely that it could be Mario Strikers, or something else entirely.
Some think that the series use of flagrant national stereotypes would impede it from coming back in today’s political climate, but frankly, I don’t think that’s as definitive a problem. Worst case scenario, they simply make a new cast, just like Super Punch Out, but less racially insensitive.
Another interesting development is that Mike Tyson has been talking about wanting a new Punch-Out this year. I don’t think Nintendo cares what he says, and they definitely don’t want to associate with him again, but it is a pretty high-profile person talking about the series, which is bound to raise interest. Whether that’s enough for Nintendo to consider a new game? I don’t think so. But regardless, Punch-Out is popular enough that the door is never truly closed for it.
Chances: Not Good
Pushmo
This acclaimed puzzle game was released for the 3DS eshop in 2012 and was successful enough to get three sequels. Although it hasn’t been seen since 2015, there doesn’t seem to be anything impeding its return. The developer is our good friend Intelligent Systems, and, of the aforementioned IS franchises still to launch on the Switch, Pushmo, being a simple, but beloved, puzzle game, seems like the safest investment. It likely could be developed alongside another major game.
There is demand for it, and considering Nintendo’s eshop efforts, Pushmo would fit in perfectly alongside Snipperclips and fellow 3DS eshop puzzle star Boxboy. All in all, there’s no reason not to expect Pushmo to come back.
Chances: Good
continued in comments

Book 1 of The HEL Jumper
Book 2 of The HEL Jumper
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A/N: Here's a little treat for you all, my July commission from Akella featuring Asha!
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“You are interested in our symbols, oui?” Yvonne asked softly as she stood in front of the civilian shipboard hospital along with three Cauthan, Zolta, Veera, and Asha. The seamstress had been looking every which way almost non-stop since leaving the hydroponics bay, paying special attention to the directional markings on the floor and walls intended to guide the occupants on the Event Horizon to their various destinations. The red cross had featured prominently as they drew closer, the last one glowing brightly above a wide hospital doorway, large enough for two medical gurneys to pass through easily. When Asha replied in the affirmative, the French doctor provided them with a short history lesson.
“That one actually has a bloody history, ironically enough. A little less than two hundred years ago, an international convention was called to discuss the rules of warfare between nations. You could say that many tribes of humans sent representatives to arrange for more orderly conduct on the battlefield.”
“I’m sorry, you did what?” Zolta interjected as he listened to the translation. “You devised rules of battle and people actually followed them?”
“There are always those who cheat, but to an extent, yes,” Yvonne allowed. “Those who violated them were punished heavily if they survived and were caught. That cross there was meant to represent medical personnel, people who would travel the battlefields and aid the wounded and dying, sometimes even as shells and bullets were still flying. Those are like arrows, but much more deadly. It afforded those kind-hearted individuals some amount of protection from the enemy. Many still died, but more were likely saved on its account. Today it serves as a worldwide symbol of medicine, healing, and emergency services, a sign that help is on the way. Today we will ensure that no emergencies arise, today or in the future, as best we can. Asha, would you follow me please?” Yvonne beckoned, escorting them into the facility where a single nurse sat behind the counter.
“Oh, Dr. Dupuis! Welcome. Room number two has been converted for your appointment per your instructions. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Merci, Claire. These are Veera, Zolta, and Asha. They are friends of ours from the surface. Should anyone come looking for us please page me,” the doctor requested, leading the awestruck Cauthan through the sterile, white atrium.
“Of course, ma’am. Welcome!” the nurse called to the aliens, having been made aware by Yvonne well prior of her unusual guests. Number two was one of several standard multipurpose rooms in the facility, able to be retooled depending on the needs of a general practitioner or non-emergency specialist. At that moment it was set up for a standard obstetrical or gynecological examination. When the automated door closed behind the group Io ‘revealed’ herself, utilizing the rather expansive system of speakers within the Event Horizon and briefly waving hello from a monitor on the left wall that would otherwise be used for the review of patient charts or other information.
‘Since Veera and Zolta are here I oriented the examination chair towards that corner on the far wall for the sake of modesty. Do you need anything else at this time, Ms. Dupuis?’
“No thank you, little Prussian. And I certainly prefer being referred to that way instead of ma’am! Just because I am old doesn’t mean I need to feel like it, right my dears? Actually, would you mind turning the chair back for now, Io? I believe we should demonstrate first for our guests,” Yvonne suggested, heading to a sink and washing her hands before any of the Cauthan could inquire about her actual age. They certainly didn’t have much frame of reference for human senescence.
After a brief moment at the unremarkable metal basin, lathering up and making sure to effectively cleanse her hands, Yvonne turned around to find all three of them standing just where she’d left them, glancing around the room with curiosity and apprehension. Nothing was moving, thankfully, which took the edge off despite the sheer amount of metal and unfamiliar plastic compounds. “Please, be seated dears,” Yvonne offered, shepherding Zolta and Veera to a couple of chairs against an unused wall. She then took Asha’s hand and guided her to another that she pulled close to the examination chair. For the time being, the human was the one sitting comfortably between the padded stirrups. “Those will be for your legs when the time comes, as you might guess,” she explained.
“I see,” Asha replied quietly, suddenly rather bashful as she considered the full act of childbirth.
“I know it is probably rather intimidating, but here is what we will be using today,” Yvonne said, picking up the ultrasound wand and handing it over to Asha. “Fret not, Asha. It is quite inert while not turned on.”
The young mother’s feathers waved as she turned the piece of plastic and electronics over and over in her paws. “So what does this do, exactly?”
“Can you hum, my dears?” Yvonne wondered, demonstrating for them with a standard octave of notes. Though none in the room were musically minded, providing Io with a wholesome chuckle, the Cauthan proved capable. “Yes exactly, now feel your throat as you do so. You feel the vibrations? The ultrasound vibrates just like that, but far faster than we or the little one in your belly can perceive. All sound bounces off of objects, an echo, and so we are able to use the reflected sound to see what’s inside your belly. Io?”
‘You rang, madame?’
“Yes, madame is quite nice too I believe,” Yvonne tittered. “You have lived around these Cauthan for a time, yes? Do you believe the frequency of a standard ultrasound would be harmful to them? I would not want anyone’s ears to be ringing.”
‘Their hearing is superior to that of a human,’ Io replied, eliciting a proud fluff of Veera’s plumage. ‘However there has been no attempt to quantify this difference. Perhaps a simple test is in order?’
Yvonne nodded and offered her hand to Asha, who returned the ultrasound wand. “Would you all cover your ears, please?” she requested, turning on the machine once they’d all done so. All looked at one another, curious as to what had happened. Lights on the machine next to the examination chair had sprung to life, but nothing else could be seen or heard. Slowly, Zolta removed his finger from his right ear.
“Are we supposed to be hearing something?” he asked.
“Non, you are not. Fabulous! We may proceed,” Yvonne informed them, turning her attention to Asha again. “If it does not annoy you, your child will be just fine. But here, let me show you what to expect first.”
Zolta averted his eyes immediately as Yvonne unbuttoned the middle section of her white doctor’s cloak, but his fears proved mostly unfounded. Veera stood and walked closer to watch as the human took an oddly shaped container and squeezed something that looked like water onto her stomach just below her navel. “Wha… how is it doing that?” Veera gasped, getting Zolta’s attention as his own curiosity and duty to his wife won out.
“It is not water, but a gel. I am not sure how to explain it well,” Yvonne admitted. “But I will tell you its purpose, namely to more effectively transmit the sound from the device into my body. Here, you see?” the doctor handed off the gel to Veera, who promptly squirted a small amount onto her finger while the ultrasound was turned on. Suddenly there was far too much for her to pay attention to all at once. Each finger she touched to the substance quickly became slick and slippery as it spread, seemingly harmlessly, over her pads and fur. At the same time, a grainy black and white image could be seen on the screen that sat next to the examination chair. After a couple of adjustments, Yvonne turned it slightly so that Asha could get a good look. Veera’s gelled fur remained forgotten for a moment.
“What is that? It looks like… well it doesn’t look like much,” Asha admitted.
“Perhaps not, Asha, but give me just a moment. Veera, the gel if you would? Io, please show her how to wash her hands.”
‘Of course, Doctor Dupuis. Veera, please head to the corner of the room where my voice is loudest and don’t touch anything with your right hand. Now press that blue button there with one of your fingers. Excellent.’
Veera took a moment to poke the blue and red temperature buttons on and off several times before actually placing her hand underneath the flow to rinse away the water-based gel. In the meantime, Yvonne had spread a thin line of gel up her midriff and was drawing a thin line parallel to her diaphragm with a washable marker. “The sound leaves the wand and travels in this direction,” she tried to explain, moving Asha’s attention from her belly to the screen. “So let’s see here, I believe that formation at the back here is my spine. Let’s examine something else, shall we?”
Yvonne drew another line as Veera rejoined them. Io hummed from the ceiling as she observed the trace, a vertical line on Yvonne’s trunk. “Oh, I see something! What’s that?!” Asha exclaimed.
“What in the name of the gods… is that normal?” Zolta demanded.
“It is quite normal, I assure you,” Yvonne giggled, momentarily disrupting the image. “That is one of my kidneys. All humans have two of them when we’re born, though we can survive with only one. They filter toxins and waste products from our blood so that we can discharge them from the body in the form of urine.”
“That didn’t really translate well. As what?” Asha requested. Yvonne paused momentarily, wondering how the Cauthan wouldn’t have a word for urine.
“Io?”
‘Mmm? Did you figure it out yet madame?’ the AI teased.
“How did you figure it out, little Prussian?” Yvonne shot right back. Io laughed loudly, as though recalling a fond memory.
‘That is a confidential medical moment between myself and Veera, Doctor Dupuis. I used some of the sensors and tools in my partner’s armor as a crude ultrasound, as it were. I am so curious though, do tell me your guess!’
“Uric acid, or an analog.”
‘We have a winner!’ Io exclaimed as Zolta, Asha, and Veera looked around at one another with confusion on their faces. ‘For our fluffy companions, please do not be alarmed. I was simply confirming for the good doctor here that your bodies behave in a different manner from a human’s, at least when it comes to disposing of nitrogenous waste.’
“You are not helping, Io. And we do not have the time to explain the nitrogen cycle,” Yvonne scolded lightly. “Ah well, my dears please do not fret. We are not here today to ask any probing questions about your bodies, only to ensure that Asha’s little one is healthy. Let me show you one more thing.” With a smile, Yvonne moved the ultrasound wand to her diaphragm, sucked her belly in as best she could, and angled it up into her ribcage. All the assembled aliens gasped.
“That’s her heart!” Zolta whispered, taking Asha by the hand. Even across species the function of the organ was apparent.
“Mmm, and the father is smart as well,” Yvonne complimented him. “Yes, that is my heart. As you can see I’m still quite alive and there are no negative effects of this process.” To further demonstrate, Yvonne turned the machine off, wiped her body down with a paper towel to get rid of the majority of the gel, and allowed the aliens to observe the places the wand had been. Her skin was, of course, unblemished by the examination.
“I want you to test that on me first,” Zolta insisted once Yvonne had buttoned up her outer garment, washed her hands, and sterilized the wand. “Obviously I don’t have a cub in me, but I have a heart.”
‘Oh I’m so tempted to co-opt one of the manufactories to make a Mara’s Best Dad mug,’ Io gushed at Zolta’s bravery.
“Not the worst idea, little light. But for now I require your assistance here,” Yvonne insisted in a no-nonsense tone. “Zolta, I would be happy to examine you first. With your permission, I would like to make a record of what I see.”
“For what reason?” he wondered.
“Several, scientific curiosity and proper documentation foremost among them. But most importantly would be knowing what one of your hearts looks like in case something happens to one of you.”
“What… what would happen?” Veera asked hesitantly, tapping her talons on the floor. Yvonne smiled sadly.
“Have you known anyone in your village who one day simply… expired? Someone young or otherwise healthy?”
“I suppose it might happen every so often?” Zolta acknowledged. “What does that have to do with our hearts? When they stop, they stop. It’s the way of things.”
“Not anymore, at least not among humanity,” Yvonne explained proudly. “My own father suffered what we call a heart attack when he was in his late fifties. We were able to restart his heartbeat. With basic medical treatment, a good diet, and exercise, he was able to live another fifteen years or so. I make no promises, but with enough time and information I am sure we could do such a thing for you as well, assuming your species suffers from the sorts of diseases that might make a heart stop beating before its time. You may not.”
Silence pervaded the examination room as the Cauthan digested Yvonne’s story and the implications of possibly forestalling the hand of Kel. “Disrupting the balance sounds rather dangerous,” Veera eventually stated.
‘And if it gave you another decade with Russell?’ Io asked pointedly. Veera opened her mouth but conflicting emotions and faith stopped her.
“I… don’t know, Io.” Veera hung her head, but Yvonne encouraged her with a friendly hand on her shoulder.
“These questions and struggles are inevitable, young ones. We discussed them endlessly throughout our own history as well. It is a natural part of moving forward as a species. For today, let us take a small first step and leave it at that, hmm?”
“Agreed. What do you need from me?” Zolta wondered.
“Very little, Zolta! Simply seat yourself here,” Yvonne helped him into the examination chair. “Excellent. Now remove your tunic if you please and then lean back and take a deep breath. Oh la la, Asha you married well!”
Veera snickered as Asha flared her feathers proudly. “Isn’t he handsome?” the seamstress agreed, relaxing in her chair and rubbing her belly.
“Well I prefer my men with a bit less fur, but he does have excellent facial symmetry. You said he worked the forge in your village?” Yvonne made small talk as she pulled on some disposable gloves and rested a hand below Zolta’s ribcage. “I am sorry, my dear. I appreciate the male form wherever I find it. You must have a demanding job.”
“You could say that,” Zolta said awkwardly as Yvonne experimented with parting his fur to rest the wand of the ultrasound against the light gray skin underneath that rarely, if ever, saw the light of day.
“We will try a small amount here, yes?” she offered, holding the bottle of gel above his fur. He shivered involuntarily when it came into contact with his skin.
“That’s rather uncomfortable,” he commented as she ensured the wand was coated and resting well enough on skin instead of fur.
“I apologize. May I?” the doctor requested. He nodded as Asha scooched closer and took his hand. All assembled looked at the screen that was currently black with occasional bursts of white static and odd shapes. “No discomfort from the wand itself?”
“No.”
“Very good. Now I would ask you to suck in your stomach as best you can. Yes, just like that. This may hurt a bit but I will not be pressing so hard on your wife. You are simply well built and I need to get under the ribs to… there we are! Voila, my friends,” Yvonne proudly presented Zolta’s heart, gushing over the anatomy. “And four chambers as well. Look at you! Very good, Zolta. Very good indeed.”
The moment ended as Zolta exhaled the deep breath he’d been holding, allowing his abdomen to decompress into a more natural shape. He shook his head as Yvonne handed him another paper towel. “That was really what’s inside me? This is crazy,” the smith commented, wiping against the grain of his fur and getting most of the gel off.
“It comes off with water if you feel the need, Zolta. Asha, we will have to use more on your belly but I am certain that we can provide you with a private shower or bath of some sort afterwards if necessary.”
‘That will not be a problem, Doctor Dupuis. Asha, are you comfortable with moving on?’ Io asked, feeling the need to assure her in Russell’s absence.
“I have already listened to my cub. I should very much like to see them now,” Asha agreed almost reverentially as her mate vacated the examination chair.
“Veera, if I could ask you to make a bit more room for us?” Yvonne requested. The tall, striped Cauthan nodded and stood back immediately, making way for both Zolta and Yvonne to help Asha onto the examination chair. The pregnant female relaxed as the back of the chair was lowered, allowing her to recline.
“What are those things for?” Veera asked, pointing to the stirrups that Yvonne was lowering to the sides of the chair so as not to obstruct the procedure.
‘They are for a patient’s legs, Veera. This would be in the event that an examination of your… hmm, that’s odd.’ Io cut herself off, her tone changing from clinical to confused in the blink of an eye.
“Is something wrong, Io?” Veera asked worriedly, wishing she could see Io. Communicating with a voice that had no apparent source did not sit well.
‘No no, there’s no reason to be alarmed. Doctor Dupuis please proceed with Asha here. I just… how very strange. What could this be?’
“Perhaps if you stopped musing over it yourself and explained what’s going on to us we could help you, little Prussian. Otherwise, let us table this until we have finished with Asha.”
‘Vagina.’
“I beg your pardon?!” Yvonne snapped her gaze to the ceiling as Zolta and Veera spluttered with laughter. Asha seemed confused, taking her turn to tentatively poke at the ultrasound gel that Yvonne had placed on the swell of her belly.
‘Oh verdammt!’ Io cursed. ‘That’s awful! Is this why humans wake up in the middle of the night regretting things from years before?’
“Io, if you continue to insist on interrupting my examination of an alien fetus you had better take a few paces back and explain yourself before I locate a stale baguette,” Yvonne ordered, the overbearingly French nature of her threat eliciting not a single chuckle on account of her serious tone. Io took a deep breath.
‘My apologies, Doctor. I was simply trying to explain the nature of stirrups to Veera in the context of a gynecological examination. However, when it came time to say the word, to make reference to the maidenhood of my good friend, something in my code seized up. Oh dear, I may have to replace a capacitor.’
“Mmm, welcome to being alive Io,” Yvonne chuckled, rubbing slow circles over Asha’s belly with a caring smile on her face. “We may talk about your discovery of embarrassment at another time.”
“You’re my good friend too, Io,” Veera assured the ceiling. Those words compelled Io to finally comandeer another of the screens in the room so as to wave at the Cauthan who had been with her for most of her maturation. The AI’s face was flushed a healthy pink, and she was dressed similarly to Yvonne, opting for light green nurse’s scrubs.
‘Thank you Veera. For now though, might I suggest you direct your attention elsewhere?’
“Oh my goodness. There you are, little one,” Yvonne cooed. Having finally gotten the orientation correct, the image on the ultrasound screen changed swiftly from difficult to discern cross sections of Asha’s womb, internal organs, and cub, to the typical profile shot that had defined the process of human motherhood since the implementation of the device for the examination of pregnant women almost a century prior. The doctor’s smile shone bright like the star of the system, with Asha clasping both hands over her mouth, quite unable to speak. “Oh look at her…”
“By the Mother,” Zolta whispered, drawing as close as he could to the screen without planting his nose on it. “What do you mean her?!”
“Is your penis outside your abdomen, Zolta?” Yvonne inquired.
‘How the hell does she do that with a straight face?!’ Io demanded. ‘Oh nevermind! Asha, I am rather uninitiated on the developmental process of Cauthan infants, but at least to the untrained eye that looks like a healthy baby girl.’
Yvonne nodded as Zolta confirmed, hesitantly, that male Cauthan genitalia were external. She directed their attention to the area between the cub’s stubby little legs, moving the wand around to provide different cross sections of the image “See there, my parents to be? I will never claim to be certain as this is a momentous first occasion between our species, but I have seen hundreds of baby boys and girls in utero over the course of my life. I believe you will be having a daughter.”
Veera crossed one arm over her chest and cradled her chin in her other hand, silently presiding over the proceedings along with Io. Asha was weeping openly by that point, and even Zolta could be seen with a existential look in his eyes as Yvonne slowly moved the ultrasound wand across Asha’s belly horizontally and then vertically, compiling a rough three-dimensional image of their child that Io was more than happy to process with all possible haste. When the little one kicked, visible to her parents via the ultrasound, the magic of the moment seemed complete. Silently, Veera made a note to speak with Antoth about the experience at another time. For the last year, humanity in her life had been the form of Russell Winters. Even as just one individual, surrounded by her world and culture, he’d been a dominant and influential force. But it was still her world that he’d been consumed by.
Now Veera found herself in his position, surrounded by the wonders of modern medicine, engineering, science, and perhaps most interestingly, human kindness. It had been in Veera’s best interest to study and learn as well as she could the nuances of human facial expression. Her relationship with Russell demanded it. With no feathers to speak of and ears that didn’t seem to move at all, she was impressed by the amount of meaning conveyed by the slightest tug of the lips or widening of the eyes. With the appearance of Alice and other humans for her husband to interact with, those trends had become only more apparent. She could not be absolutely sure, but Veera would have bet a substantial fraction of her possessions back on Mara that Yvonne Dupuis was just as enraptured and enamored with Asha’s cub as the mother and father were themselves.
So much remained to be learned and understood, so many magics explained and teased apart. Her evening conversations with her husband and Io had convinced her well enough that humans were not gods or even related to them; that everything they did, all the power they wielded, they innately understood. That was something she needed to constantly remind herself within the wonderland that was the Event Horizon, and she considered the future of her people in the event that that bastion of humanity were to depart their home and never return. Her pledge to leave the planet along with her husband, a promise borne from love alone, suddenly seemed almost selfish. Why shouldn’t this be a future for all of us? she questioned.
-----
When Pilot Cromwell entered the civilian hangar that had been housing Brick for the last couple of weeks, having taken a short tube trip from her bunk, she found her services in high demand. Four humans, including the Indian woman in charge of maintaining the tech in the hydroponics bays, were milling around along with just as many Cauthan.
“Seems I might have to be brushing off my Hydra operator’s license soon,” she commented, gliding gracefully from the door to land just short of the gathering of passengers. In the low gravity it took but a single decent kick off the floor. “The window’s open everyone and the weather looks clear. Bit muggy on the surface but it’s summer. What can you do?”
“Missing the endless rain and the bleating of sheep, my dear?” Yvonne asked sweetly.
“If you insist on lumping me in with the Welsh I’ll have you know that Bordeaux is massively overrated. The sheep can sod themselves but do I so miss having a cold pint served to me on a wooden bar that’s older than I am,” Cromwell indulged in a moment of nostalgia with a side of jabs against the French, a pastime older than her surname.
“Yes, I suppose subsisting on liquid bread is preferable to that island’s attempts at cuisine,” Yvonne mused, as though taking the subject into consideration quite seriously. Cromwell cocked a smile at her.
“You’re sure it’s wise to be going after your pilot’s fish and chips? Please everyone, feel free to hop aboard. We should be on our way.”
“It’s all in good fun, pilot. Thank you,” the Frenchwoman replied. “Do consider keeping me around in the event you and that attractive young Scotsman down on the planet decide to become more than friends, hmm?”
Alice coughed in surprise behind them as Veera looked briefly at Russell before explaining to Asha what she’d just heard in rapid Cauthan. Zolta and Xan could have cared less, of course, and followed the Jumper into the shuttle. “Well, I guess that’s our topic of conversation for the afternoon,” he sighed in English before switching to Cauthan. “Zolta, can you give Xan a hand with the restraints? I need to check something.”
With the young Cauthan men more than capable of handling themselves, Russell took a few steps to the back of the shuttle where the cargo was kept. He found two large boxes which, upon opening, proved to be full of all weather lanterns for Antoth’s force as well as a pair of solar charging stations. To his utter disbelief, Natori had left a handwritten note on top of one asking him to explain their use to the guard force. All he could say for sure was that he’d never had a commanding officer quite like the Admiral. Tucked away between them was a weapons case, which he checked quickly and methodically. He found his firearms just as he’d left them with Darius, minus a particularly fine sheen and polish. Three fully loaded magazines for each had been shipped as well. “All set here,” he concluded. “Everyone else ready?”
“Just waiting on you, Rusty,” Alice informed him, patting a seat next to her. He strapped in and they were off shortly after. As they ‘taxied’ slowly out of the hangar and past the forcefield that separated the hangar from the void, Io spoke to him via his earpiece.
‘Have a good trip, sir. I will meet you back on the ground,’ she reported with little further explanation. He frowned curiously.
“Forget something, Io?”
‘No sir, just need to deal with a particularly nosy mouse.’
-----
As Natori descended onto the manufacturing floor of bay number one, all of the lights suddenly went out, forcing him to take the final three steps by feel alone. Looking out into the black, glowing red eyes stared at him, followed him as he approached a human-sized scaffolding that had been constructed in the midst of the various mechanical arms and devices that hung from the ceiling and generally had free reign about the space depending on the needs of their master. “I was never a fan of the Terminator franchise, Io.”
‘I don’t appreciate trespassers,’ a garbled, mechanical voice issued from the skeletal construct suspended from the scaffold. ‘What if you’d seen me naked?’
Natori stood by quietly as the lights slowly powered up again and the darkness dissipated. Before him, the mechanical eyes set into the metallic skull looked down at him with sapient precision, now a pleasant green color and quite lifelike in their movement. “I’d be happy to knock next time,” he offered before gesturing to the distant edges of the room. “There are plenty of dividing walls and containers as you can see. This may be one of the smallest projects ever carried out in this particular manufactory.”
‘Precision and access to blended materials was a priority, Admiral. I apologize for monopolizing the facility,’ the skeleton spoke. Only the mouth and eyes seemed operational, otherwise missing one arm and both of its legs. ‘How is the diction on this frame?
“Fascinating,” Natori whispered, watching as mechanical lungs contracted and forced air through a trachea made of cartilaginous plastics. For the time being the entire setup seemed powered, linked by sturdy, insulated cables to the nearest industrial outlet. “But without your nose it is a tad lacking.”
‘I was afraid of that, though I don’t know what I should have expected,’ Io admitted, her voice now all around him. ‘I will keep the speaker inside the upper throat for now. In time I may get good enough at this to remove it fully.’
“Only God has ever created life perfectly on his first try, assuming you believe the stories,” the Admiral attempted to reassure her, reaching out tentatively to explore Io’s left hip joint with his finger. It slid right off. “How durable is this material?”
‘We can conduct stress testing at another time, Admiral. For now I am operating under the assumption that this platform will be in and out of maintenance several times over the course of its lifespan before I construct a second. I have prioritized biological similarity over durability given this plan.’
“And your stores of materials?” he asked.
‘More than sufficient, sir. I have added a small request to the ship’s shopping list, so to speak, but I can assure you it will not be traceable in the midst of all the other mining needs,’ Io explained, raising her hand-less arm and considering it with her eyes. ‘Bone proved surprisingly flexible. It was an enjoyable challenge. It’s curious, don’t you think, Admiral?’ Io proposed, twisting her radius and ulna to peer at him through the gap. ‘The advent of this technological leap has led the human field of prosthetics down one path full of metal and silicon, sleek and powerful shapes and lines. It is almost as though something in the human mind yearns to ascend from its fleshy prison to the relative durability that wired metal, ceramic, and plastic compounds can offer. Yet here I am, trying to achieve the opposite. We want what we cannot have,’ the AI concluded.
“Yes, and when we finally make it reality we are left wondering what's next,” Natori mused, walking casually around the partial skeleton to get a look at her pelvis from the rear. The electronics embedded in her spine glowed softly. “Any reason for the aesthetics, Io?”
‘Stop staring at my bony ass, Natori,’ she chuckled. ‘But yes actually, there is a reason.’
“Oh? Care to share?” he requested, continuing his trip around the room. He could see what appeared to be a femur being constructed on a nearby chassis, as well as a couple of the most precise printers in the facility hard at work on more tissue samples, hair, skin, nails and the like.
‘It’s not particularly special,’ Io demurred. ‘But I considered your feedback when last we spoke and found myself agreeing. So long as I appear as Io on the outside, it makes no sense not to take some liberties with the inside. Who knows, I may decide I hate having to breathe on my own and simply revert to a set of very precise speakers somewhere in the back of my throat. Regardless, being able to point to my spine and direct Russell or someone else delivering aid to my body with light seemed prudent. Certainly easier than instructing him about the gap between the second and third lumbar vertebrae, for instance.’
“I think even non-Jumpers would be thankful for the aid if they were to render you assistance,” Natori agreed. “You seem a bit more comfortable with the idea of your compatriots knowing you are not quite human.”
‘Even with my stated goal it’s difficult to deny the potential benefit of designing a body from scratch. After all, it’s not like I gave myself a digital menstrual cycle. I can’t see any reason to do so in the material world.’
“On behalf of all of humanity I thank you for that,” Natori laughed loudly, a hand on his belly. “Oh my. Could you imagine, entire ships, cities, or even nations destroyed because the all-powerful, unshackled AI had a particularly bad period? That’s actually quite terrifying now that I consider it," he murmured.
‘If only Asimov’s little failsafes were so simply executed,’ Io concurred, noting silently the difference in her own reaction to the discussion of Veera’s anatomy at the hospital versus her casual conversation with Kaczynski about hypothetical menses. ‘I do wonder at this point how capable I would be of overwriting my only failsafe. Given how little I stand to gain from any attempt, you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t go down that route.’
“I suppose I can’t fault you for considering the same questions I do when sleep seems elusive,” Natori offered. “On that count there is nothing to forgive, I assure you. Do you require anything else from me, Io? This operation seems to be coming along quite smoothly on its own.”
‘I will not be shy about asking for what I need,’ she assured him, following him with her eyes now that he was back in front of her body. ‘Just please don’t tell Russell about my body yet. I would not want him or Veera to see me like this.’
Natori’s face softened as he placed a hand casually over his heart. “I gave you my word, Io. A trust exercise, you called it? I intend to keep it.”
‘You have my thanks then. Your overall impressions?’ she inquired as Natori seemed satisfied with his survey of her workshop, heading back to the control room.
“I cannot wait to see you take your first steps, even if it’s just that skeleton and a few internals,” he stated with a passion bordering on the unhealthy.
‘How about Robocop?’ she wondered suddenly. Natori smiled broadly, thumbing his chin before looking back at her body, which now lay dull and inert.
“Better than Terminator as it avoids all of that time travel stickiness, I will admit. But Io, I think someone like you might have your own spot waiting for you in human popular culture. Should you wish it, of course. I hear privacy and solitude are uniquely satisfying as well.”
‘Oh stop acting as though you have no idea,’ she insisted playfully.
“It’s simply been a long while since my greatest concern was my own life. It’s rather agreeable, nevertheless. Do make sure your operator instructs the Cauthan in proper use of those solar panels, would you? Technology can only be made so safe,” the Admiral posited.
‘Responsible for a whole vessel and you’re still flying by the seat of your pants,’ Io critiqued him. ‘If that is your wish, Admiral, then I am needed on the surface. Thank you for stopping by. See you again soon,’ she offered. Though they both knew a simple call would be enough to connect them at any time, Natori nodded knowingly and placed his hand in his pocket, pausing at the doors to the manufactory.
“I shall visit again. Farewell, Io.”
-----
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The Commander stood straight with his hands clasped behind his back, carefully upright despite his age even with no one present to bear witness to it. His eyes had fixed on the sterile white drifts beyond the reinforced window of his office, now appearing black beneath the night above. Some might have called the view uninspiring, but not far beyond the window lay a grave. It was not a much-decorated grave considering the expense it had taken to bury its sole occupant there, beneath a shipping tag torn from a compressed-air container and pinned in place with a knife.
The Commander wished that it was the grave's occupant standing here now instead of him. He didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do now, but whatever it was, the grave's occupant would have done it better.
Failing that, being able to phone home for orders would have been nice. The first flash of bad weather that knocked out their radio hadn't perturbed the Commander. The second surge, that knocked out the repaired radio, had perturbed him more. After receiving their unexpected visitor they'd took a chance on activating their last set of spares, and a storm had knocked that out too. Now they were out of contact for days, at least, until the base technicians could improvise another solution.
It didn't seem likely the visitor could have caused all that. But he was also having a hard time believing that it had been sheer coincidence. Perhaps their visitor had known that they would be out of contact, at this particular time, and had chosen just then to arrive...
The communicator on his desk warbled out its mock-melody, and the Commander took a step over to press the button with only a glance at the ID. He'd been waiting on this call.
A young woman's voice said, "Sir."
There had been a time earlier in his career when he would have been nervous about handing over duties this important to a member of the fairer sex. He felt no such anxiety this day. Nobody got assigned to this Base unless they were damned good at their jobs.
The vidscreen flickered into action, displaying the upper half of - the Commander privately admitted and would certainly never say out loud - the prettiest sight on the Base, or at least, she'd been the prettiest sight as of one day earlier. If Major Jane Getherde was feeling any feminine jealousy about her suddenly materialized competition, she wasn't showing it.
"All right," the Commander said. "Tell me about our... guest."
"Do you want the most important parts first or should I take things in order?"
"Take it in order, if there's nothing of imminent urgency." He should have been woken again from his sleep if that had occurred. He wouldn't have been sleeping at all, in this situation, except he'd already stayed awake the previous 36 hours trying to fix the radio problem. He was no longer as young as he'd been.
Major Getherde's comportment betrayed no sign of fatigue from her own sleepless night. "All the noninvasive examination I could do with medical instrumentation I had on hand showed our guest as an ordinary human female in every respect. Zero scars, zero birthmarks, no evidence of significant surgeries. White, perfectly aligned teeth with no evidence of fillings or other dental work. Her feet do not have calluses."
The Commander raised a hand and massaged his temples. "Can you tell me whether we're looking at advanced medical care, genetic engineering, or something wearing a newly grown body?"
"I can't think of an easy way to tell. You could order me to inflict a small cut on her and observe how fast it heals."
The Commander grimaced. "Let's continue holding off on that for now. The items she had with her?"
"The earrings glow faintly in the dark. No alpha or beta, very low gamma, consistent with a properly shielded isotopic power source. The high heels seemed ordinary on a surface examination. I didn't want to try more destructive tests, such as X-Rays that could potentially destroy concealed microfilm, without waiting for orders."
Considering that the visitor had been wearing nothing except earrings and high heels on arrival, under circumstances where a visitor should have been wearing rather more, he would have bet a great deal of money that the heels were not ordinary either. "Agreed. Keep holding off on that."
"A full medical examination revealed that the subject had a small case hidden in her vagina. I, ah, took it out. It wasn't locked, and inside were two ampules that looked like they were intended for a hypodermic injector. The case is self-refrigerating."
The Commander grimaced, not liking to think of the required invasion. "Any notion of what it was doing up there?"
"No sir. Obvious thoughts are that she was hiding it, or that something about her transportation method made it easier to carry things inside her body. The XO decided that the equipment should be kept away from the subject for now."
The Commander nodded. "I concur. Continue."
"The two ampules inside the case appeared to be filled with a homogenous transparent liquid. Since there were two seemingly identical ampules, the XO agreed that it was reasonable to draw a small amount of the liquid for further examination. After optical microscopy failed, I had the electron microscope moved into the medical section. Electron microscopy showed virus particles in suspension."
The Commander didn't straighten, because he was already standing completely straight, but his expression sharpened. "A virus? Are you sure?"
"It was hard to be sure from electron microscopy alone. After some discussion with the XO I decided it was worth the risk to inoculate a live mouse with a tiny amount of the fluid - under highest biohazard conditions - in order to observe the results."
The Commander shook his head, frowning. "Not what I would have done," he understated.
"I wasn't sure how long the sample of liquid would survive. The XO thought it made more sense to use it before losing it, rather than needing to draw another sample later. It did seem like something we'd want to try at some point."
The Commander sighed. "So do we now have a shape-changing psionic supermouse destroying our base?"
"No sir?" Major Getherde sounded uncertain.
The trouble with youngsters nowadays was not just that they lacked history but that, lacking history, they lacked imagination. If you were a Native American and people in unfamiliar ships suddenly showed up on your shore, you would be mistaken to assume that your experience with arrows let you understand the destructive potential of the invaders' ammunition stores. Playing with the stranger's toys while she was asleep had not been the correct move.
"What did happen?" said the Commander.
"After a period of four hours consistent with rapid incubation of a disease, the mouse developed a fever. At four and a half hours it began to bleed from all orifices, then it... melted... and then what was left caught on fire."
The Commander scrutinized Major Getherde to see if she was joking, although that seemed unlikely under the circumstances. "A bioweapon?" he said, feeling chilled.
"I would be shocked if it were intended as a weapon, sir," Major Getherde replied, sounding more confident than her previous statements. "A bioweapon should have a long period of contagious incubation, and should only produce symptoms that contribute to its propagation or lethality. Nobody engineering a bioweapon would sit there thinking about how to make the corpse catch on fire after it finished melting."
The Commander nodded, feeling ashamed of himself for not seeing that earlier, and mentally upgrading his estimate of the girl's competence by another notch. "Do you have any idea what the virus is, if not a weapon?"
"Speculation only. I think we may be looking at a biological Swiss army knife, a multitool. A portable lab. I can't see much detail with our equipment, but the virus particles were huge, as large as a herpes virus, and those can carry hundreds of kilobases of DNA. In the hands of an expert, there might be specific settings that produce supermice. We didn't know how to use the portable laboratory, so it deployed random effects that melted the mouse and set it on fire."
That made a surprising amount of sense. The Commander turned the idea over in his mind, considering it. If he had been traveling far from his home civilization, unable to carry even the clothes on his back but still able to carry one kilo of material, his first thought would have been to bring with the Library of Congress on a hyperchip, plus a microfilm on how to construct a reader to retrieve the hyperchip's data. Taking an entire laboratory wouldn't have occurred to him... but that was because his civilization still thought in terms of machines and engines, rather than kilobases of DNA. His race had unlocked the secrets of the Atom; the mysteries held in Life were of a higher order. "Do you have any idea how to operate her... laboratory?"
"It could be a matter of exposing the ampule to a sequence of colored lights. Or feeding a subject the right mix of eye of toad and tongue of newt before infection, if the tool is meant to operate in more primitive settings. The key could be in the earrings, or the high heels, or something we haven't spotted. It seems likely to take considerable experimentation, if we can work it out at all."
The Commander grimaced. "Had the feeling it was a stupid question, but I was hoping you'd tell me otherwise."
"Sorry sir." Major Getherde looked genuinely apologetic.
"Not your fault, son," the Commander said before he could stop himself, then helplessly considered if he should correct himself to "daughter" which did not sound right to him, or apologize to her, or... it was probably better to just drop it. "Next steps?"
Major Jane Getherde spread her hands. "Wait for our guest to wake up."
As if timed to her words, beeping began to sound from off the vidscreen.
-------------------------
A couple of hours later, the Commander was sitting beside Lt. Commander Akio Nagasaki, his base second-in-command, one of Japan's contributions to NATO. Major Getherde had been the only person to have physical contact with the visitor, sealed away from the rest of the base in the medical quarantine unit - the most obvious and basic of precautions. The Commander had on further consideration taken the less obvious step of ordering that only Major Getherde was permitted to communicate directly with the visitor. The existence of psionics and mental superpowers still seemed unlikely, even under the circumstances. But the Commander couldn't be sure, that was the problem, he couldn't be sure of anything. The visitor could have a hyper-advanced organic computer buried in her brain, indetectable to X-Rays, augmenting her ability to read body language and manipulate lesser minds. God damn it, shouldn't his base have had detailed protocols on file for a Little Green Man scenario?
"Report," the Commander said to Major Getherde's image on the vidscreen.
Major Getherde had a distant look about her, as though she was operating on momentum while not really believing in what was happening. "Our visitor identified herself as 'Starry' and presents herself as being... well, sir, I know it sounds unbelievable, and I'm not asserting any such thing myself, but 'Starry' claims to be from an alternate branch of Earth's history."
Beside him, Nagasaki's eyebrows flew up, the Japanese man showing more open emotion than he usually did. The Commander's own mind was recalling dim memories of sci-fi stories he'd read when he was a good deal younger, in particular the Paratime stories by H. Beam Piper. In his mind's eye he stretched out a long timeline of Earth's history, ready to extrapolate possible changes. "Point of divergence?" the Commander said at once. He'd been prepared to stay calm in the face of stranger stories than that one.
The Major looked taken aback herself at her Commander's lack of shock. "Ah... I'm not sure. Taking everything she said at face value, 'Starry' said she was from the United States of her world, a town called Norville in central California. We don't seem to have a national street map on base, so I couldn't check her knowledge of local roads, but she had Interstate 5 right. Her belief about the current date and year matches ours, minus the day she spent unconscious. She confirmed George Washington as the first President and that Abraham Lincoln won the Civil War. She recognized Eisenhower's name, though she wasn't sure whether he'd been President. Mentioning Harry Truman's name made her say 'Dewey defeats Truman', so that part happened the same way. World War II ended with atom bombs being dropped on, ah..." The Major's eyes darted in the direction that would correspond to Akio Nagasaki on her own vidscreen - an unnecessary concern, but the Major evidently didn't know that. "The same two cities. No recognition of Adlai Stevenson's name, or any later Presidents from our world except Jimmy Carter. She named John F. Kennedy as a President in her own world, one she remembered because he'd been assassinated."
That put the divergence at 1960 or earlier. Part of the Commander's mind was trying out possible stories for what would have changed without Stevenson in power. More of his attention was focused on the further implications of her not knowing whether Eisenhower had been President in her America. "She didn't know her own world's history?" he said.
Major Getherde wore a look of faint disapproval. "She had to think hard to remember the current Speaker of the House - Nancy Pelosi, no idea who that is - and she had no idea at all who her Representative was."
"Amnesia?" Akio said.
"I don't think so, and she didn't seem otherwise stupid or scatterbrained. More like she'd played hooky on all her high school civics classes and her family didn't subscribe to any newspapers."
Akio snorted, mirroring the Major's disapproving look.
The Commander lifted a quelling hand. "Don't judge her when we don't know her circumstances," he stated. God knew there were still some kids, even in America, who legitimately had more urgent concerns than their future civic duties. "The larger implication is that our visitor is not an experienced... parallel-timeline traveler, let's call it, or 'paratimer' for short. I would expect a veteran paratimer to have a wide grasp of history."
"Our visitor seems reluctant to speak of how she got here," Major Getherde said. "But it did seem like her journey might have been... unintended."
Beside him, Akio was frowning. "She brought arong a biorogicar raboratory in her vagina," he said in his accented English. "I doubt she arways carries one in her vagina."
It was a good point. The Commander pondered it. "Her apparent age doesn't square with travel on diplomatic or military business," he said aloud. "A stowaway? A refugee of disaster?"
"Our visitor did seem somewhat in shock when she first woke up." The Major seemed slightly embarrassed. "My first priority was putting a blanket around her and telling her she was safe, which seemed to help."
Akio and the Commander traded glances.
"Continue with the report," the Commander said.
Major Getherde looked down and off-screen, probably at her notes. "Again taking all she says at face value, her timeline is advanced beyond our own in the biological and computational sciences, behind us in atomic energy and space travel. Specifically, her timeline doesn't seem to have developed liquid-phase fission reactors, with drastic consequences for all civilization. She had vague memories of learning about an 'oil crisis' that happened in the 1970s. Global warming is becoming a planet-threatening catastrophe. She didn't recognize the names or models of the first Nerva-series spaceships, and seemed genuinely shocked at the concept of using atomic energy for propulsion. Her first question was about radioactive waste contaminating the atmosphere, and she looked surprised and interested when I said a spaceship's atomic reactor only heated the propellant rather than spraying out fissionable materials." Major Getherde spread her hands to display her own puzzlement at the visitor's puzzlement. "Her world has one space station and that's it. She didn't know its tonnage, or whether it was in low orbit or higher. Her people visited the Moon in the 1960s a few times and then they never went back."
The Commander pursed his lips, loading this scenario in his mental timeline. "I hadn't thought liquid-phase atomics would represent a serious technological bottleneck," he said. "I certainly wouldn't expect the idea of using a reactor to heat inert propellant to be a difficult concept." He glanced at Akio, who might know more.
Akio seemed absorbed in thought. "Both riquid-phase reactors and inert-properrant rockets have great engineering difficuruties," he said eventually. "But I wourud not have expected it to be impossiburu in the face of effort. There is no brirriant invention at the core, only much work."
"It could be a cultural issue," said Major Getherde. "Our visitor seemed to show traces of a superstitious or religious dread about atomic energy."
"Hm," said the Commander. He was by far the oldest person on the Base, the token Experienced Officer appointed to ride herd over much healthier youngsters. Even he wasn't old enough to remember the initial introduction of A-bombs in 1945. Still, he knew that dread of atomic energy had been widespread immediately after. If that attitude had persisted and grown, producing a general retreat from material technology into the realm of the mental and biological... he could see it, the Commander supposed. Especially if their timeline had acquired stronger justifications for fear. "Any large-scale atomic exchanges in their history? Any use of atomic weapons above the deca-kiloton level?"
"I... I'm sorry, sir, I didn't think to ask explicitly. It hadn't occurred to me that she wouldn't have mentioned something like that, if it had happened."
The increased fear would have needed to begin early enough to avert research into liquid-phase atomics, which had begun in the 1960s according to his memory. Truman had still been elected in 1948, with events proceeding similarly enough to duplicate the famous headline... "Maybe ask her about the Korean Invasion in particular," said the Commander. "Truman played a damn tight game there. Using Mark-4s may have gotten the NKs to back off, but a lot of historians worry it could have gone the other way - normalized the general use of nukes in warfare, instead of showing that we were willing to use tac-nukes defensively."
Major Getherde nodded. "I'll ask. However things played out, their Cold War ended in the late 1980s with victory to the West -"
"How?" the Commander demanded, leaning forward at the vidscreen as if to press answers out of it. That could be the single most important item of knowledge their visitor had.
"She had only vague ideas. Her rough picture was that the Soviet Union ran out of resources to contend with us and gave up, dissolving into its constituent countries." Major Getherde spread her hands. "The Eastern economies have always been less efficient. As it stands, they're wringing their civilian populations dry to maintain a war footing. Take away everyone's atomic generators, and..."
"Christ," the Commander muttered. "Talk about the mother of all mixed blessings." What he wouldn't have given for a good look at the history shelves of a dozen timelines! If there was a real Paratimer civilization out there, their grasp of history would be chemistry to his Earth's alchemy. A true science that laid out cause and effect with surgical precision, relegating his own historical monographs to poetical essays for the fiction stacks of the library... with an effort, he focused again on the vidscreen. "Maybe I'm being sidetracked from more important issues, but curiosity is eating me alive. What happens after the end of the Cold War?"
Major Getherde hesitated. "Not... not what we'd hoped. My impression is that her United States is also on the verge of dissolution."
A shock of horror went through him. The Commander reminded himself that it wasn't his world... but if there were mistakes that could destroy the West, it was the type of lesson best learned in a single world, once. "What's happening to them? Running out of coal?"
"I..." Major Getherde looked at her notes, and shook her head. "I don't know how to - I don't understand - her attitude towards capitalism versus communism was one of utter despair in both systems. I don't know whether to write it off as teenage nihilism or if her world has been through experiences I can't imagine. I asked if they were having an economic depression. She said that official statistics said no, but it seemed to her like the economy in her city was feeling very sad. And though she didn't say it in so many words, it sounded to me like her America was heading for civil war. As if the only thing holding the USA together had been the Cold War, and once the common enemy was gone, internal divisions began tearing America apart. Political lines more than racial ones, 'reds' versus 'blues'. And it also sounded as if - as if the United States lost interest in its ideals once we didn't have the Soviet Union to contrast ourselves to. People being arrested and held without trial and, and worse. She didn't seem to think other Western countries were better off, and she didn't think the decay was being driven by environmental meltdown or resource exhaustion but by some type of - inward despair, madness, a mass psychological catastrophe of unknown origin. I halfway expected her to describe Martian telepaths launching a psychic assault on all of Terra's sanity like in War of the Worlds IV. Some of what she said sounded like a joke, or insane, the most extreme case being that Donald Trump was elected US President in 2016."
"I have not heard of him?" Akio said, glancing in the Commander's direction.
The Commander was trying desperately to keep a straight face. President Donald Trump. Christ, that wasn't funny, it wasn't funny at all, what was wrong with him, that had actually happened in some poor lost timeline out there. There were real people living in that para-Earth, American citizens, his officers would be rightly critical of him if he started laughing. He just hadn't been prepared to encounter those three words in that order.
"Imagine the most vulgar man in the world," the Commander said, once he felt confident in his ability to keep it together. "Donald Trump is twice as vulgar as that. The only reason the Dems would field him for the White House would be if they wanted to horrify Republicans as much as possible." He was tempted to crack a remark about having not thought even the Democratic Party could sink that low, but he restrained himself. It wasn't his world's Democratic Party, and political dialogue was vitriolic enough without mudraking for scandals from multiple timelines.
"Ah... sir, she said Donald Trump was elected on the Republican ticket."
For a second the Commander thought he'd misheard. "Say again."
"Donald Trump is a Republican President in their world."
"Is he a conservative in their timeline?" the Commander said blankly. "Family man, distinguished service record?"
"She had only vague ideas about his policies but said that the main one she remembered was building a giant wall between the United States and Mexico."
Akio and the Commander looked at each other, and both started to speak at the same time. Military protocol being what it was, that meant the Commander went first. "Can you imagine selective developments or non-developments in military technology that would make a new Maginot Line useful to the USA in the event of war on a Mexican front?" the Commander said.
Akio shook his head. "Extreme deemphasis of air power? I have nothing."
The Commander looked at Major Getherde.
"I - I don't think - I don't think we can understand - there's something very wrong with her world. I said that to her outright and she just nodded. The things she said - I can't summarize, it was a gestalt feeling - that was the largest single thing but there were little things too. She's from a timeline where that is what their lives are like."
"Something went wrong with their advanced biotechnorogy," Akio proposed.
The Commander felt the chill all the way to his ankles. His base's reactor needed a more powerful self-destruct.
Major Getherde glanced back down at her notes. "I had a similar thought," she said. "There could be some drug or supplement that everyone was taking, with undiscovered effects on the brain, like the lead-poisoning theory of the fall of Rome. They'd have no way of knowing that what was happening in their timeline wasn't normal."
The Commander thought that the woman might have an unexplored talent for writing psychological horror stories. Christ, what a terrifying thought.
Major Getherde was still talking. "Another possibility is that it has something to do with their more advanced hyperchip technology. 'Starry' said they'd recently developed the false-reality device that's always five years out according to Popular Science - completely surrounding a person with a binocular 3D vidscreen built into a helmet. That could be having an effect on their psychology, I suppose? People losing contact with reality? Or some broader psychiatric syndrome caused by too much contact with the inhuman logic of computers. An emotional reaction, people clinging to instinct and illogic as a form of protest..." Getherde let out a breath. "I keep wondering whether there's some way for our dimension to launch a rescue mission to their dimension, but I have no idea what we'd do once we got there."
"Let's not get that far ahead of ourselves," the Commander said. "Anything else to report?"
"Our guest seemed oddly interested in hearing about," the woman looked uncomfortable, "well, our sexual standards. I think she was surprised when I told her we were, ah, normal. As if she was expecting to arrive in a culture more... licentious." Major Getherde hesitated. "She seemed surprised that I, personally, was making no attempt to force myself on her. Despite the extreme inappropriateness given the age difference and the serious overall situation and my position as a medical doctor, on a military base where both of us were being recorded at all times, not to mention that she is effectively our prisoner and protected by international conventions!"
"She's a resbian?" Akio said.
The Commander gave the younger man a sideways glance, just to make sure he wasn't leering, but his comport looked as decorous as usual.
"More that she expected me to be homosexual, and - and she thought that's what homosexuals were like!" Major Getherde sounded even more uncomfortable than before.
An intuition tickled at the Commander, born of years of command and experience with subordinates being evasive. He thought again about sci-fi depictions of psionic powers, or implanted hyperchips for reading body language. He needed to ask Major Getherde, in strict confidence and with some urgency, whether the visitor had in fact been right about her - whether the Major had felt a desire to take advantage of their visitor, and properly repressed it. But not with Akio listening. The Japanese were less liberal than modern America about such matters.
"The two packages of virus?" said the Commander, giving the Major a chance to change the subject.
"She seemed surprised that I'd found them at all. Then she said she'd only discuss that with the base commander."
The Commander pursed his lips thoughtfully. It could be a trick to get into his presence. It could also be a legitimate request for any number of excellent reasons. Put Akio in temporary command? The man was as steady as any XO he'd known.
"That reminds me," Major Getherde said. "I'm not sure, but... I think the visitor might have recognized your name when I said it, Commander? She did ask for you by name, after I explained the radio outage and said you were at the top of the current chain of command."
"Ran for President in her timerine, on the Democratic ticket," said Akio, and the Commander shot him a glare.
The Major hesitated. "Actually... I'd have to review the recordings... but in retrospect, I think that mentioning your name was when she stopped acting like I was about to sexually assault her. It was shortly afterward that she first asked for clothing. It's - it's sad that the flag on my uniform wasn't enough. I would have hoped that the Stars and Stripes would mean more than that, even across timelines. Are individual people greater constants than countries? Do genes count for that much? Or fate?" She shook her head. "Sorry, sir, it's hard not to think about - to get distracted by - doctors usually don't have to deal with issues this deep during medical examinations."
"Hmmm..." the Commander hmmmed. Akio's crack there, born of long acquaintance between them and trust enough to jaw about politics, had triggered a thought.
Then the Commander chuckled, unable to help himself despite the severity of the situation.
He'd spotted the joke.
"All right," the Commander said, "I guess I'd better talk with the young lady. Akio, I'm relinquishing command to you pending our recontact with home."
"Sir," Akio said. He hesitated. "Are you certain this is wise?"
"If we trust appearances, this young lady knows one of my alternate selves quite well. Well enough to wind me up some while letting me know that she and I are acquainted. I doubt she made up the story of her dying world from whole cloth, but she did change one detail."
Akio raised his eyebrows again.
The commandant of Heinlein Base leaned back in his chair, an easy motion in the low gravity. Beyond him in the window behind, the searing darkness of the Lunar night stretched out above Mare Imbrium, the white dust blackened beneath it, save where a single spotlight imperishable shone upon the grave of the base's namesake. "Republican President, my ass," said Commander Marcus Adan.

part 1
part 3
Kelly came over again tonight. I tried to share what I wrote, but she wasn’t interested. Usually, her visits are for a singular purpose only. We used to date in high school, and I think that’s why I still have some appeal for her, that first love thing, that never fully get’s out of your system.
She likes to pull at my flabby skin; my body after years of neglect has become almost womanly in its curves, my thighs as shapely as a Botticelli painting. Before she leaves to go home to her husband, she likes to tell me that this will be the last time and that she’s disgusted with herself. She said the same thing a few days ago too. As she says it though, I think of Clara as if she ever meant something to me. As if I ever meant anything to her.
I hear a car door close, and the engine of her Mercedes as she drives away. I turn my head to look out the window. A curtain of bushes meets my gaze, the branches placed in such a way as if it’s smiling back at me.
We were officially on month two of production, exactly 32 days in, when Mark got to work on what he liked to call the bones of the show. With four participants remaining and 4 weeks until the next check-in, he along with the two editors scrolled through hours and hours of what we salvaged from the GoPros and began crafting a storyline. I hung back as they cherry-picked minutes of video, narrowing in on each person, packaging them into a digestible product.
Mark considered Jimmy to be the hero and was certain he would be the last man standing, the ultimate winner. Jimmy was amicable with a movie star smile and filmed well. He had a good attitude, at least from what he showed on the camera.
“It’s been real chilly here lately,” Jimmy said, looking into the GoPro, his shirt was off, showing several intricate tattoos. “So I decided to make a sauna.” Zooming in, he displayed his invention, a small tee-pee, with charcoaled logs in the center. “Just like a spa!” Stripping off his pants, now fully naked. “Make sure to edit this out, fellows.” He said before heading inside the structure.
“God damn. I love this kid.” Mark said smiling.
Nate on the other hand was perfect to hate. Even though 95% percent of his video was the same as the other contestants, fishing, gathering firewood, sleeping, there were moments when he had almost a caustic attitude towards nature.
“I fucking hate it here.” He said his voice rambling out from the computer. “But I’m going to make this place my bitch. Get ready baby, because Nate Dewitt is in the mother fucking house.” We went on to watch him almost burn down his shelter trying to catch a rat.
“We got our villain, boys!” Mark said, clapping his hands together.
Peter was considered to be the most skilled among the participants, he would speak into the camera as a teacher would, instructing on how to make snares or a fire. His crowning accomplishment was creating an elaborate system to collect rainwater. Rewatching the footage I began to notice a slight nervousness about Peter, it was subtle. He would be doing something, and then look in a different direction, pausing for several moments, what it was, hidden from view.
Besides Clara mentioning the lights, which Mark chalked up to a passing boat, her footage was relatively boring. Mark viewed her storyline as simply being a Mom and figured she would be the next to leave.
Day sixty came just on the heels of Halloween, and we loaded into the boat again making our way out to the islands. Mark was excited to get his hands on more video, but his smile quickly disappeared as we came upon Clara’s site, her emaciated frame stood in the distance, prying away her had from her body, she gave a small wave. She wasn’t tapping. I examined her as best I could, trying to determine if she was alright, her stone face gave nothing away.
Our boat came upon Peter and Nate’s drop-offs, and just like Clara’s, we grabbed the tapes, leaving more batteries and SD cards for the GoPros. Jimmy was our last stop, and as we docked I could hear Mark swearing, looking up, Jimmy was there, his backpack ready.
“Goddammit,” Mark said to me.
“Hi Jimmy,” Jesse said, pulling out the camera, as he did with Leanne.
“Hey guys,” Jimmy said unsteadily, coming into the boat.
“You know, I had my money on you to win, kid,” Mark said, stroking his stubble chin. “I thought you had it in you.”
“So, why did you decide to tap?” Jesse pressed on with his questions.
Letting out a nervous chuckle Jimmy pushed his knees together. “I don’t know. I just got lonely out here.”
We disembarked and went to collect the remaining equipment and video. Jimmy’s log cabin stood proudly in front of us. I could barely manage IKEA furniture and found myself in awe. As we approached my eyes went to the ground. Inhaling sharply I realized that hundreds of dirt shaped mounds the size of eggs were poking out as if the Earth were covered in boils.
“Jesse!” I called out, and he came running towards me. “What the hell is that?” I pointed to the ground.
“I bet it some moles, or maybe voles, those little assholes destroyed my garden last year.” He said unconcerned.
We got back into Blue Harbor and unloaded the equipment. Mark was in a foul mood forcing Jesse to drive to Portland to get drunk. I hung back with Jimmy, who went quietly to his room, eager for his flight back to LA tomorrow. I was desperate to look at the video we collected but went to check in on him.
Knocking on his door, I poked my head in, “You want to go outside and have a beer? There’s a fire pit I can turn on.”
Jimmy was sitting on his bed staring ahead into space. His beard had grown coming down almost to his collarbone. “It’s a bit cold out.” He said flatly.
“Living room then?” He agreed to join me and we sprawled out on two of the large oversized couches. We drank our way through a six-pack, Jimmy eventually becoming more talkative as the night progressed.
“I thought that cabin you made was incredible,” I said in between sips. “I was trying to figure out what those round things were on the ground though, Jesse thought it was voles, and I was thinking to myself, what the hell are voles?” I let out a giggle, voles.
There was a long pause as Jimmy looked down the bottle of his beer, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I woke up one morning and it was like that, just showed up out of nowhere. It… uh, well it scared the shit out of me.”
I felt tipsy by that point and let out a laugh, “You had ground pimples and Leanne had blood roots.”
“That wasn’t all,” Jimmy said his tone serious, and I went silent. “At night I started to hear things.” He bit his lip, “It sounded like bits of conversation, just fragments, but different voices. It’s like what you would hear if you walking through a busy street.”
“Did you hear what they were saying?”
Jimmy shook his head, “It was never clear, it sounded like someone speaking far away, but also just outside my cabin. I thought I was going insane, but then when those ball things showed up, I knew it was time to get out of there.” He put down the beer, “I know Mark’s a dick, but please don’t make me look crazy on TV if you can.”
After Jimmy left the next morning, I went to the computer, to look at the video we had just collected from the participants. I popped in Jimmy’s SD card, forwarding through several days, till I found what I was looking for.
Jimmy was in his cabin, it was evening by the look of it, the camera was pointed towards him, as he lay down in his sleeping bag, “Do you hear that?” He said, his voice trembling, I turned up the volume as high as it would go. I could hear a fire crackling, the sound of waves in the distance, but not the voices that he had described to me the night before.
Things got progressively worse as I scrolled forward. He started screaming at the voices he thought he heard, barking out into the night. Then a few days later he resorted to begging, pleading for them to stop. The night before we came he was huddled in a fetal position his eyes covered and whimpering. I listened as closely as I could but the audio revealed nothing.
I went onto Nate’s GoPro card, stopping when I saw he was standing in front of his camera, a darkened expression on his face. “Look at this.” Twisting the camera angle, focusing on the background I almost fell off my seat. There was someone there with him! A slim black figure, its eyes bore into me, as I held my breath.
“I kid you not, I almost shit my pants this morning when I saw this,” Nate said, picking up the camera, he began walking towards the figure. As he got closer, I began to see what I had originally thought was a body, was two twisted tree trunks. The face was composed of branches, that looked so realistic, resembling human features, but up close, were just pieces of wood and bark
“It’s nothing.” Said Nate chuckling to the camera. “Just mind tricks. There’s a lot of that out here.”
I was glad when I reviewed Peter’s video that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though he continued to be a little jumpy. Last was Clara’s SD card, and I felt a wave of panic, saying a small prayer that nothing would be abnormal. My hopes were dashed, as the video went to the water, and I knew immediately what I was looking at, the same glittering lights she had described last time. Orb shaped balls skated along the surface a distance from shore.
“I want to say thank you to my boys, for sending this to me, thank you nature for this beauty.” Said Clare, calmly. “But I don’t need it anymore, you can go. Please go.” The camera again went to the lights. “Please go.” She repeated, and I could hear her crying as the frame shook in her hands. “Please go, please go, please go.” There was a loud sob that made my heart feel like it was cracking.
The next night Clara’s face filled the screen, then turning, went back to the lights on the water. They were larger than before. She smacked her lips, “I know that this, whatever it is, is um, well, it's not good. It’s not from my sons, that’s for damn sure. It’s not a good gift. It’s a gift of darkness.” She scowled, turning off the GoPro.
It was a few days later when Clara decided to turn on her camera again, the last time she filmed before the pickup. It was during the day, her face tinged with rose gold light, the golden hour. She was standing outside her shelter, the cave she had found, her arms crossed against her now shrunken body. “I’ve decided I need to find another shelter.” She said to the camera.
The frame shifted, focusing on the inside of the cave wall, and squinting I could see the outline of two round indents side by side, the rock sloping downwards towards what looked like into a curve then circling inwards again to create a gaping opening. Water droplets hung at the top of the crevice, delicate little triangles, like jagged teeth. My eyes adjusted as my brain began to realize, what it was. Identifying what Clara was seeing, it looked like a giant skull in the rock.
“I feel… I think I might be going insane. This…” She said focusing again on the rock monstrosity in the cave, “Wasn’t there before. Or maybe I just didn’t see it before? I don’t know.” She sat down on the rocks outside her cave, the stones glistened. From the viewpoint of the camera, it looked like the mouth of the giant rock shaped skull in back of her was getting ready to swallow her whole. It was so monstrous and terrible, I felt myself look away as if it might actually happen.
“I just want to go home.” Placing her head in her hands Clara started crying. The video ended.
Mark and Jesse came home in the late afternoon, still buzzed, and reeking of whiskey and body odor. I told them what Jimmy had told me last night, about the voices, and brought them over to the computer. Screenshots of the figure Nate had seen and the skull in Clara’s cave were side by side on the screen.
“Oh, it took me a second but now I see it.” Said, Jesse squinting.
“I don’t see shit.” Mark burped. There was a knock at the door. “Hang on.” He said walking over, opening the door a few inches.
“Trick or Treat!” Said three small voices in unison.
“Halloween! Right! Chris, do you have a few bucks on you?” I came over pulling out my wallet and dropping a single in each of the kids’ pails.
“Trust me, I know it’s not candy, but you’ll learn to appreciate this a lot more,” Mark said grinning. What are these costumes supposed to be?”
“I’m a mummy!” Said a voice muffled by toilet paper. “And she’s a princess.” He pointed the youngest of the three, a small girl with a crown on her head.
The third kid was dressed in black, with what looked like balloons tapped on it. “And I’m a Wella.”
“Very cool.” Said Mark, closing the door, and waving the kids off. When they were gone he turned towards me. “Alright, let’s turn off the porch light and pretend like nobody’s home.”
When we got back to the editing room Jesse was sitting at the computer continuing to study the images. “Oh, I see it from back here,” Mark said as he entered.
“What’s that thing called, when people see human characteristics in random objects?” Jesse asked.
“Pareidolia.” Mark took a seat, diverting his attention to something on his phone.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that both Clara and Nate are seeing them?” I asked.
Mark shrugged. “I mean what else have they got to do out there? I’m surprised they’re not seeing little green fairies bopping around at this point. Besides Peter is fine, right?”
I tried to discuss the matter further but Mark wasn’t having it. He figured that this would all be over soon, and was already starting to think about his next show. We spent the next ten days continuing to edit the videos. It was getting cold now, it felt like it might snow any day. I wondered how the participants were doing and if Clara had been able to find or make a new shelter yet.
We were about halfway through October when Jesse screamed at us one morning to come downstairs. Springing out of bed, I barreled down to see the television turned on, a busty blonde reporter sat behind a desk. There in the right-hand corner was a picture of Peter, his face shrunken and ragged. The reporter cleared her throat.
“The Coast guard rescued a man today near the Bay of Foray. The man was found on what reports say looks like a homemade raft made of tree trunks and rope. So far there is no further information on where the man came from, or of his identity. He has been transferred to Portland General Hospital and remains in critical condition.
I looked at Jesse, thinking what I know now to be true with absolute certainty.
Peter left a shelter, fire, and water, venturing into the cold Atlantic, a hundred miles from shore, an almost certain death. Whatever he fled on the island was worse than that.

Bam! A day off for our mc's, how will they use it?
Bit sorter then average, but was a good stopping point.
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Hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for reading!
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Srettia walked into the medical facility and silently took a seat. Having made an appointment in secret after a comment the young Viscia made, she was currently trying her best to keep her tail still and her hood against her neck as she waited for The nurse.
"This is dumb, really dumb, why am I here. What would a Terran doctor know about this. But then, what would my own people's physicians know about it. This is definitely a bad idea." Having been lost in her thoughts, Srettia didn't notice the approaching nurse until she was standing directly in front of her.
The nurse shifted for a moment in a failed attempt to gather Srettia's attention before loudly clearing her throat. "Miss Esithn, The doctor is ready to see you know."
Srettia rose stiffly from her chair and took a step forward in response to the nurse. Nervously, she followed the medical assistant down a few halls in silence, trying her best to keep a brave face. The nurse, having picked up on her obvious anxiety, politely ushered her into a private room, waved, and closed the door. Squeamishly looking around and marvelling at all the tools and machines strewed about, Srettia's anxiety only grew. "This is really dumb, what am I doing here." Taking a seat, she waited for the doctor to arrive.
Waiting for what felt like an eternity, but was only a few seconds, in reality, Srettia's stress got the better of her." I need to go before the doctor gets here." Quickly getting up and moving towards the door, Srettias escape was suddenly cut off as a female Terran walked through the door. "Ahh, Miss Esithn. It's a delight to finally meet you. Please! Take a seat, and we can begin the process of finding the answer to your question."
Taking a step back and sitting down in the chair, Srettia spoke softly. "Umm, I would appreciate it if you would keep what we talk about a secret between us. Do I call you Dr.Baker or Catherine, I'm not sure how Terran doctors work."
"Seeing as your my first Aasteran patient, you can call me either, and I assure you, anything said in this room will be between us." Taking out a data pad and reviewing some information, Dr.Baker fought to keep her curiosity and excitement in check. "So, if I'm understanding correctly. You're interested in learning if you're sexually compatible with male Terrans?"
Srettia just taped her tail a few times before remembering to nod her head as Michael did when he agreed with her.
"No need to be shy. I'll take a blood sample and run a few tests, and we'll be done in no time. Make yourself comfortable and feel free to ask me any questions that may concern or bother you." Dr.Baker took out a small scanner and rolled her chair towards Srettia.
"Umm, if we are compatible... Could you give me some..." Srettia wanted to pull her lengthening hair out in frustration before blurting out what was on her mind. "I need advice on how Terrans enjoy copulation!"
If Dr.Baker was surprised, she didn't let it show. Instead, she realised just how important, and different this checkup really was. "Of course, I'm at your disposal." Clearing her day of appointments, Dr.Baker turned on her medical display and loaded some sexual education videos.
Catherine smiled and started her scans. "We have all day to figure this out."
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Admiral Miles disembarked the ship in a state of rage as he entered Leda's hangar. Walking up to commander Brown he threw her a sloppy salute and continued on his way. "Those idiots are in the lab?"
"Yes, sir!" Kendra knew when it was a good idea to keep her mouth shut and when to speak up. This. Was time for quick concise answers.
Walking into the lift, the admiral hit the override and sped towards the lab location. "What possessed them to power the ship without taking proper precautions?"
Kendra held onto the rail as the lift moved in precise directions at an astounding speed, normally reserved for wartime. "It was a mistake from what I gathered. They found a device that absorbed light, and decided to test how much it could absorb before moving the pod to a secure facility."
"Idiots! What kind of... idiots!" As the lift reached the floor the lab was on the admiral stormed towards his targets.
Kendra, on the other hand, was trying her best to stay out of his way and keep up.
Bursting through the doors, the admiral looked around the research facility for his targets. "Dammit." He whispered. Watching as Viscia, Tanda, and Dr.Leviy, worked together to tear apart the pod in earnest, his anger now seemed to be a distant memory. "A human, an AI, and an alien, all working together."
"Hello, Admiral."
The admiral snorted. "Make that two AI's... Hello Jack, Can you inform your cohorts I need to speak with them immediately."
"I will do so."
The admiral patiently waited for the group to assemble, though his anger was now gone, he still needed to speak with them. Watching as they lined up in front of him, Admiral miles just stared them down for a moment. "I assume you know what you did wrong?"
Tanda stepped forward. "Sir, I take responsibility. I started working on the pod before it was moved to a secure location. It was my negligence that caused this problem."
Looking Tanda in the eyes and the serious expression he wore, the admiral relented. "Of course, I bet you just ran into the pod and started tinkering with buttons and ripping panels off." Stepping past the group and examining the torn apart pod the admiral paused and looked around. "Tell me what you know so far."
Dr.Leviye walked up beside the admiral and spoke in a regulated tone. "We have not had the pleasure of meeting yet admiral. I assume you have been briefed on my existence?"
Continuing his inspection, the admiral spoke in a hushed tone. "Yes though, nothing other than that you're not just an ordinary AI. Who else knows your still alive?"
"Tanda, Srettia, and captain Michael. I have been successful in keeping the secret from Viscia. She sees me as Jack's Creator and nothing more. Now about the pod, which it is a pod. There is nothing of note about it. It is fifteen hundred years out of date, and was created appropriately two hundred years ago. The technology involved is useless to us. The only thing of note is the light absorption system. It does not belong to the race that built this pod. Not only is it far too advanced for them, It uses a different style of engineering, right down to how the wiring is run."
Viscia charged up to the admiral with a wide smile "I think they stole the tech from the lightships, I bet they enslaved the beings who created them. Just watch the video, it could be the lightships aren't even ships but the aliens themselves! Maybe we're dealing with beings made of hard light that met other aliens and got tricked somehow. This whole war could be a fight for freedom." Vicia seemed to lose focus and ran back to tearing through the pod, leaving the admiral and Dr.Leyvie to wonder what kind of epiphany she just had.
"Your take on this doctor?" The admiral asked with a hint of humour in his voice as Tanda walked over and started listening to Dr.Leviye.
"I think she is right. From what we have gathered from the enemy data banks, the alien weapons are low powered rail gun and slow chemical warheads. The engines on this pod are extremely inefficient as well. The beings obviously have no idea how they are supposed to work. Not to mention they require more power than the pod supplies, discounting the light absorption alcove. A lot of the technology on this pod is cobbled together with no knowledge of how things are supposed to work together."
"I agree with the thought that we may be dealing with a race of slavers."
Tanda nodded his head. "My thoughts exactly. We Can't trust the people who built this pod. The other aliens, however, they might be friendly. If we run into whoever built this, garbage pod. I would ask for an inspection and take a large bodyguard retinue. If they refuse we destroy their ship, and If one of those lightships pop out. I would say we protect it, they could be friendly, Or at worst a refugee needing help and medical aid."
" It is written withing Terran Star Navy Military Code that any and all slavers are to be destroyed. This seems like a good opportunity to use that part of the charter"
Admiral Miles looked around and sighed. "Alright, we'll be on guard around these guys if they show up because of the beacon. Just don't make any more mistakes. Having to deal with Chrarada after this fuck up is going to be rough."
Turning to walk out of the facility, admiral miles notice Viscia rummaging through her bag. Throwing some things off to the side, but carefully placing packages in orderly piles to another. His curiosity got the better of him. "Viscia what are you doing?"
"Sorting my gear." Smiling while pointing around, she explained what the different piles were. "That's my research equipment, these are my emergency clothes, and these packages, are my rations."
"Those are MRE's? I thought I told you we'll handle your nutritional needs. Did I forget to tell you?"
"No, you did. But what if the door gets jammed and were stuck in here for a few days?"
The admiral felt his heart sink and looked over to Tanda. "Take her to the damn mess, and get her some real food."
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Michael stretched on the couch and rolled over. Having the day to himself suddenly, he decided that a day of drinking and laying about with jack was in order. " So the admiral was furious but calmed down suddenly?"
"Correct. I was thinking of ways to defuse the situation, but it seemed that it was unnecessary."
Michael ordered up another beer and managed a long stretch to grab it. "Well, that's good. I'm sure he'll be getting an earful from Chrarada when she gets word of the cock up. I bet he's stressing over it."
"I would assume so. She is quite frightening."
Michael thought back on the pink leader with the cute bun on her head and tried to understand how she could be frightening. "Wanna play something?"
"You're asking for punishment partner. You've never beaten me in any type of game."
Downing his beer, Michael snickered and threw the can at the nearby camera. "I'll find something I can beat you at pal. You just wait. How about a spa-"
"No."
"Awe, common! You never want to play flight games."
"Because it is an exercise in self-harm. As long as it has nothing to do with flying, you can't match my superior gaming skills."
Ordering another beer, Michael laughed while once again stretching to snatch his prize. "You're just afraid you'll lose."
"No, I know I will lose. Big difference."
"You're afraid!"
"I see no point in engaging in known defeat."
Sitting up and sifting through some games, Michael took a long draw from his beer. "How about you, as the ancients say it. Get good scrub."
"How long have you been waiting to use that against me?"
Michael narrowed the search to exclude flight games, and took a swig of his beer. "Since you used it on me. How about a Co-op game?"
"Could we play one based on Uihiri ?"
Michael thought hard for a moment. The name Uihiri ringing many danger bells in his head. "Isn't that the planet with the ten-meter tall carnivorous birds?"
"Yes, I think their little feet are cute."
Michael fought hard to hold in his laughter as he browsed the selection for a game based on Uihiri . "Ahh, an exploration game with building aspect. Looks like they kept the birds, you in?"
"We will need big guns."
Michael could no longer hold his laughter in and finished off his beer. "Guns and birds it is!"
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