Pictures of chesapeake bay bridge tunnel

My husband and I recently bought a house and I am absolutely beside myself with regret. Please do not reply that we shouldn't have bought this house, I already know that and the regret I have is debilitating to the point that I feel I need to get psychological help and prescribed medication just to function as a human being and go to my job. The house has sloping floors which I barely noticed when we saw the house (had rosy colored glasses on because I was excited to buy and make something our own). It had been on the market for a while (initially had been priced super high) and was in the perfect location for what we wanted. Inspection went okay, he pointed out the sloping floors (which are literally everywhere) and that the crawl space was very low (8-10 inches) but that it was common. He recommended we have a contractor look at the floors to give an estimate to level the sloping and then factor that in to our decision to move forward, which came back at ~$5K (he said it would be ballpark $ just so we'd have something to show the sellers to try to negotiate). I had asked the inspector if we should hire a structural engineer but he said a general contractor could do it just fine. Now that we're in the house, the floor sloping is extreme. It basically feels like I'm taking a step down to go into the bathroom and the utility room in the back has a 2-3 inch gap between the floor and the wall because of the sloping. To add to it, there is no attic access so the inspector was not able to inspect that (huge red flag, I know now). It was an investor flip and I should have ran from the first time we saw it but the location was ideal and we liked certain aspects. The contractor who originally gave us the quote to fix the floors didn't know how small the crawl space was so now can't do that work and said we'd need to have tunnels dug up in the crawl space or pull up the floors to fix it from above. I'm including pictures from the inspection for reference. There's some cracks which I included too, inspector said it was cosmetic and wasn't concerned.
It appraised for the price we bought it at and with the inspector basically saying all houses have their issues, we felt comfortable moving forward. It is without a doubt the biggest mistake I've ever made and I have no idea why we bought it. It doesn't help that we don't have any prior experiencing buying. Something about the way I was feeling before we closed felt like regret/dread but I chalked it up to cold feet and was just was going off what I knew and thinking $5K wasn't worth it to walk away.
At this point, I have no idea what to do or who to talk to about attempting to salvage it. I'd be more than willing to take whatever loss on it to just sell it and get out, but know there's no way we'd be able to sell it given all these issues and the fact that we literally just bought it 3 months ago.
I'm willing to do whatever I have to do to fix it but I just don't even know where to start. I'm so beside myself with grief/regret and wish I could go back in time and not buy this house. Please please any advice on how to help us get through this is recommended. I also hope this serves as a warning to everyone out there to trust your gut and walk away if something doesn't feel right about a home purchase. I really wish I did but it's too late now.
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Captain Khan of the UNISG second task force leaned on a windowsill and sighed. In the building ahead, the large greyish white apartment block, their enemy laid low somewhere. The famed stalker Strelok, who had been assigned as Khan's bounty target by his employers. When UNISG, the original one led by Major Hernandez, was liquidated, to Khan's dismay they had uncovered very little actual information he needed. But Strelok? He had been an advisor for official Ukrainian state researchers, and if the stories were true, he knew more about it than anyone else. Capturing him would be a jackpot, and Khan desperately needed one. His unit was a mere shadow of its former self, the blasted Redeemed had killed so many of his men, even his second-in-command Clarke had died in those reed-covered swamps by the crimson-armoured bastards.
Not that Khan really cared. Only Clarke and Bauer had been long-time co-workers of his, pushing along the Belt and Road initiative in Central Asia and dealing with potential hiccups in a very subtle ways, or running heavy-handed security on the mines owned by their benefactors in Asia. But neither was someone he considered a friend, in this line of work such was rare, and Khan was here merely to make money. The rewards were astronomical, but trapped here in an empty city, their allies having abandoned them and no clear way out even if Strelok was caught, Khan was beginning to wonder if those rewards were worth all this.
His clients wanted to gather as much information of the Zone and possibly blackmail Ukrainian authorities into co-operation, but every passing day a successful mission seemed less likely. Still, Khan was not one to give in so easily, he would see the mission through out of sheer boneheaded determination. Growing up in the vast and harsh Mongol steppe had not made him a quitter, and he had earned the nickname Khan among his peers for a reason. Khan sighed as Sergeant Němec entered the room to inform him of the squad being ready. Nine men left alongside Khan. They would have to be enough, for he did not know if their mysterious allies would ever return. Taking his rifle, Khan followed his Czech sergeant downstairs to begin the mission of a lifetime.
Not far from the UNISG hideout, Redemption squad that had caused them so much harm was on the move. And while Khan was not aware of his survival, the greatest menace to UNISG so far marched on with them. Never in his, admittedly short life, had Dimka been anticipating a fight this much. All the feelings of being tricked, betrayed and used built up to a crescendo of wrath boiling inside him, and Dimka could feel himself bursting from seams. Finally, after all this hide and seek bullshit, Dimka would face Khan in battle and hopefully kill him, avenging his fallen comrades and perhaps allowing him to find some information that made him, Sevka and Maus free men once more. Yet now was not the time to get all giddy with excitement over it, getting to that point would require winning the battle rapidly drawing closer.
"Dimka, you alright? You look a bit, eh, anxious.", Sanyok asked, walking beside Dimka.
"Sorry, it's just... We are so close to getting some closure. It's been so long that I've held my breath, being sure I would never leave the Zone alive."
"Ah, makes sense. Reminds me of the battle against Sin at the Generators, so much at stake...", Sanyok reminisced.
"And I missed it because of some Sin fucker decided to smash my arm to pieces! Suka blyat!", Dimuha groaned.
"You did get to mastermind a jailbreak of a century afterwards. And shoot bandits, which is super fun.", Dima noted.
"Aye, giving Livid the good news was satisfying, but had I been there at War Lab, perhaps... Perhaps Micha would still be alive.", Dimuha sighed, and Dimka could feel a shift in the group's mood.
"No, you would not. None of us knew what would happen there, and we all knew Micha's fate could have been our own. Had you been in his stead, we would still be inside that spatial anomaly.", Boris explained, and Dimuha seemed to ponder on it for a second before hesitantly nodding.
"Past is not something to dwell on too much. Hindsight is a wonderful tool but also a trap of thoughts and hypotheticals.", Meeker chimed in, having marched in silence beforehand.
"Robot man is right. There's things I'd wish I had done differently, but ultimately there's little we can change. Sometimes the best we can do is take heed from those events.", Rogue remarked.
"Indeed. And make those responsible pay.", Boris muttered quietly.
They continued on in silence, the conversation having turned sour for many of the veterans of the northern campaign. Dimka took the chance a look around him more carefully now, given that this could be one his last days in the Zone. They were travelling down an overgrown road, building blocks reaching for the clouds around them. A couple vehicles had been abandoned by the roadwalks, including a bright yellow DU-47 paving machine. Weirdly enough, moss had began to grow on parts of it, even those seemingly completely metallic. The Zone's flora was a wonder in itself, and especially out here in the Pripyat it seemed to take bizarre forms. Dimka felt some sadness about leaving, this truly was the frontier he had always wanted to find. But he had duties elsewhere... Or at least, he thought he had. Perhaps they would turn him into a desk jockey after this epic of a failure, Dimka pondered.
The scenery changed to a small park. There was interesting, cacophonic statue standing on a yard of a tall and dilapidated building. It was made with the finest Soviet visual styles, meaning it was as blocky as a gopnik's Lada and almost as filled to the brim with depression and broken vodka bottles. Boris signaled for everyone to spread out, and Dimka joined Sevka and Meeker on the left flank. They moved quickly through the bushy area, passing by a couple blind dog corpses. The gunshot wounds on them indicated that either Strelok's entourage had finished them off or the uninvited guests had made their way here before Redemption. Thankfully the former turned out to be the case, as a man in Sunrise/exosuit hybrid waved his hand at them. Seeing Rogue and Stitch among the squad, the man breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank the Zone, we thought you were goners. Quickly, come inside, Strelok is on the second floor.", the man said.
"We're not that easy to kill. Ran into a few hiccups on the way, that's all.", Rogue replied.
"Like locking yourself into a metal closet.", Dima mocked.
"Alright Kamaz, let the others in but keep this one out. He is a threat to our sanity above all else.", Rogue ordered, and the stalker acting as welcoming committee scoffed.
After some back and forth insults and jokes, the entire group, Dima included, made it inside. Boris ordered Dimuha, Dimka and Dima with him to Strelok's hideout. On the way, Dimka noted that the legendary stalker seemed to only have two men with him, the Kamaz fellow at the door and Yakut, a man in a SEVA suit, guarding another entry into the building. Strelok was not a fan of security, or just confident in his abilities, then, Dimka wondered. On the second floor, Boris led them into a room where Strelok was sitting on an antique, ruined sofa. Dimka was quite surprised at seeing the legend himself, the man was nothing extraordinary by the looks. In fact, had Dimka ran into him in the Big Land, he would've probably taken the man for some lowlife, given his scrawny appearance.
"Boris! I am glad to see you again. I heard Rogue and Stitch got here alright, yet the international agent problem persists?", Strelok asked.
"Indeed. And on top of that, there is a Secret Service force looking for us and them here in the city. Led by Degtyarev of all people.", Boris answered, and Strelok's expressionless face contorted.
"I see. I'm fairly certain he isn't here only because of the interlopers. He's here to bring me back to the Institute.", Strelok sighed.
"Care to elaborate? What beef do you have?", Dima questioned.
"I deserted my post there. Too much oversight yet too little reaction to when I notified the higher ups of alarming development. The complacency of Ukrainian Ministry of the Zone of Alienation is incredible, I warned them years ago that the source of emissions could be utilized as a weapon and they repeatedly denied funding to an expedition to find it. So I took matters to my own hands. I am sure Alexander would have approved personally, but he also has to fulfill his duties. Now, it seems that those duties have brought him to capture me.", Strelok explained.
"If so, you can trust on us to keep your back. I respect the Colonel, but you and I are stalkers while he is a jarhead.", Boris said in a solemn tone, but Dimka did wonder that part of this declaration had to also be related to the two UNISG fugitives within the ranks of Redemption.
"I thank you, Boris, you are as steadfast ally as ever. I hope it does not come to violence, but if we must face him in battle, then so be it. But now, let us prepare for those... UNISG, was it?", Strelok said, and they quickly formed a plan based on Dimka's insight of Khan's character, Strelok's knowledge of the surrounding terrain and Dimuha's battle instinct.
Twenty minutes later orders were barked and battle stations mounted, but just as they were rushing towards the battlefield, an announcement on PDA network made all of the group's devices beep. Pulling out his PDA, Dimka looked at the message and a picture next to it. The SSU cross clearly visible on it, the message ordered Redemption and Strelok's group to stand down as the building was surrounded. Dimka shot a glance outside, seeing men in dark blue Berill and Skat suits mount up weapon's nests and sniping spots.
"Chyort, they got here faster than expected!", Boris shouted in anger and frustration.
"There's a launcher on them, get down!", came a shout from Yakut downstairs.
"This is your last chance. Surrender now and you will face no charges of treason.", Colonel Degtyarev's voice rang in the cold morning air.
"Do we resist? What do we do now?", Sanyok asked.
"Hold the line. Strelok, get the hell out of here, he wants you captured, but we may be able to bargain with him. Rogue, Stitch, Kamaz and Yakut, cover his ass.", Boris ordered.
"But the place is surrounded!", Kamaz protested.
"Not the tunnels below. I used them once before, and I checked this place before. There is an access hatch here. Stalkers, on me, we'll flee for now. Boris, I cannot thank you enough.", Strelok said, gratitude strong in his voice, and Boris only nodded.
"What now?", Dimka queried, looking anxiously at the outside.
"Now, we go out there and convince him that it's not worth his while to be fighting us.", Boris said, grinning, and Dimka gulped.
"That's in-...", he started, but the exoskeleton frame of Boris had already disappeared through the door.
Dimka watched Boris walk over the courtyard. The SSU agents pointed their guns at him, but lowered them once the familiar helmetless Skat-wearing man stepped between them. Degtyarev looked at Boris disapprovingly, as the hiss of his exoskeleton servos and powerpack faded between the husks of buildings. Boris raised his hand as nonchalantly as possible, stopping on his tracks a couple metres from the line of various special operative weapons.
"Good morning, Colonel.", Boris greeted.
"I presume you've come to surrender.", the secret service agent said, raising his eyebrow.
"Not really. You see, we were sitting here, on a picnic, and then you decided to pop in and ruin the fun. How very rude.", Boris replied in a mockinly paternalistic tone.
"Cut the crap, Boris. You disobeyed my orders, breaking the agreement we made in Zaton. And now you're actively helping a fugitive. I know you and Strelok have history, but me taking him back to the Institute is for the best of us all.", Degtyarev said, infuriated.
"I broke the agreement? Colonel, we agreed to be allies. Then you spat on that by telling me that my men were no longer welcome, after we had fought and bled for your cause. We have been nothing but loyal this entire time, yet we are discarded us the second we had done our task.", Boris retaliated.
"It was becoming harder and harder to keep it under wraps, especially when I had to bail your man out from Zhurov's custody. He lost a lot of good men in Cordon, I was in boiling hot water afterwards. But you are right, I should have been less blunt about it. And I apologize. But I also know you are stalling. As a sign of goodwill, hand over Strelok and your men can return to Meadow unharmed.", Degtyarev proclaimed.
"No deal. Strelok himself told us that he was merely shackled by the Institute, not allowed to combat threats to the Zone and Ukraine due to big shots withdrawing funding. Yet ever since coming to the Zone, he has led an effective raid against the resurgent Monolith, blocked Sin's grand plan and is now allowing us to finally cut down UNISG by voluntarily acting as bait.", Boris countered, adding the last point as a little white lie.
"That may be true, but I have my orders, orders which I have had to bend far too much already. I'm sorry, but it has to be this way.", Degtyarev sighed.
"Then it must. Cut me down then, for I will not abandon my allies. Unlike you.", Boris spat, and he could see even Degtyarev's facade of calm splinter slightly as he flinched at the insult.
Boris held his breath, knowing that death was staring at him from the rifle barrels of Degtyarev's men. The colonel hesitated, torn between duty to the government and personal feelings towards the inhabitants of the Zone. It was as if he was reconsidering the entire fabric of his being, and what he had actually been sent to the Zone to do. Boris would never learn what his decision had been, as the rightmost SSU agent was struck by a bullet cracking his helmet open. Two grenades landed on the feet of the group, and Boris lunged onward by instinct, kicking one of them further away. The blast from the other one tossed him to the side, his Absolver armour sheltering him and the special forces operators from worst of the blast. They were disoriented and stunned by the explosion, however, and gunfire rained on them. Two more SSU agents died, when Boris began pushing them towards the building, out of the fire.
"It's UNISG, they found us!", Boris shouted over the fire as the six survivors of the ambush darted across the yard towards the building.
Sniper fire struck the ground around them, and finally the foes showed themselves. Two UNISG troopers from Khan's squad, clad in looted Monolith Nosorog armour, jerked upwards from a nearby basement and began advancing. Their movements betrayed inexperience with exoskeletons, moving too quick and risking injuries to themselves or others around them, but the venerable armours would still protect them greatly. Dimuha led a charge out of the building block to buy some time for the retreating SSU, Sanyok and Sevka blasting at the UNISG stormtroopers while Dimka, Dima and Meeker kept the heads of the snipers down. The Nosorog battleplates took a beating, but given that their armour was thicker than a renegade with brain damage, they continued on unhampered. One flicked the launcher sight on his rifle and took aim, Dimka realizing a second too late what he was attempting to do.
"Grenade, spread out!", he screamed, but just that second he saw one of the SSU agent's Skat armour take a direct hit.
Dustcloud settled over the entire yard, and gunfire continued. Through it, Boris emerged to the half-circle formed by Dimuha's trio, dragging Degtyarev behind him. Another SSU agent limped out of the blast zone as well, holding a butchered but alive operator alift. Rest of the UNISG force had appeared, and they now pushed over the yard. Dimuha's armour took a hit, yet he soldiered on despite a broken rib and kept shooting at the advancing Nosorog pair. One of his shots lodged itself between the ceramic plates, keeping enough momentum to break through and strike the man's heart. Sergeant Němec breathed his last sigh and fell down.
"Fall back inside, we can't fight them in the open at this state!", Boris ordered as Degtyarev started to come back to his senses.
"We were fools, letting ourselves get ambushed like this.", the colonel muttered.
"Well you are special forces, alright.", Dimuha growled and shot his last burst as the machine gun ran dry.
They stumbled inside, where Meeker took the wounded SSU trooper further in for emergency treatment. Seeing the ex-Monolithian after such a long time, Degtyarev gave him a slight nod and Meeker smiled faintly. The others took positions on the windows, trying to remain in cover while the building was peppered by bullets. Dimka tried to spot Khan among the attackers, but the swarm of angry lead mosquitoes made it difficult. The lone Nosorog trooper lumbered on, struggling to control the suit. Boris told Dimka to focus on him with the Vykhlop, given that it had the best chance of punching through, while the others kept pressure on the other infiltrators zigzagging between cover towards the defences.
Dimka did as ordered, waiting for the agent to make a mistake. He was clever about using cover, only exposing himself for a brief second, but his inexperience with the large machine wrapped around him showed. When darting between a broken car and the corner of commieblock, his exoskeleton shot upwards with too much force. Shocked momentarily by the strength of the machine, this second of confusion gave Dimka enough time to center the scope. Aiming between the breastplate and Spartan helmet, Dimka squeezed the trigger and felt the kick of his rifle. Blood spurted from the wound, and the man slouched down like a powerless automaton. Yelling triumphantly, Dimka cycled the bolt of his rifle and took another target. With the armoured spearhead of UNISG broken, their attack slowed down, giving the initiative to Redemption.
"Target left, Dima and Sanyok, hose it down. Dimuha, Sevka and Degtyarev, on me, let's counter-attack!", Boris shouted.
"Since when are you ordering SSU officers around, stalker?", the lone surviving SSU trooper asked angrily.
"Since when my men did not run into an ambush and require the assistance of the men they were supposed to arrest.", Boris retorted and Degtyarev groaned.
"We wouldn't be in this situation if you had surrendered.", Degtyarev commented.
"Or if you had allowed us to ambush the UNISG.", Dima replied.
"Shut the hell up, all of you, and let's drive the fuckers back.", Dimuha ordered in turn, and this time everyone shot back into attention, realizing the folly of bickering in the middle of a battle.
Boris' Absolver ran through the dust and smoke, followed by Degtyarev, Sevka and Dimuha coming out of the building guns blazing. Dimka managed to squeeze a shot between car windows into the shoulder of a UNISG rifleman, killing him on the spot. The shoe was in the other foot now, with three heavily armoured stalkers bearing down on the internationals' force, Sevka giving fire support behind the spearhead. Three UN troopers keeled over after a sustained barrage of sniper and shotgun fire, all the while Boris and Dimuha suppressed the others with their machine guns. Degtyarev was not idle either, having used the suppression to flank around using the dense bushes. He was now at the same monument Dimka had admired earlier, and his Abakan racked up a tally of two more spies when he sprung the trap. These two had been hiding behind a rusting hulk of a ZAZ car, when two bursts from the odd rifle struck them down. That was when a pack of blind dogs and pseudodogs burst from the foliage, attacking Boris' group. They had to redirect their fire towards the mutants, with Dima and Sanyok opening up on the last hideout of the remnants of UNISG.
Now, the last two UNISG troopers were visibly panicking. Having expected to smash the defenders in a calculated ambush, they had missed the Redemption squad in the building and paid for it. They took off in a desperate last ditch attempt to escape. Dimka was watching them through his scope, angling for a shot yet failing to get a proper view of them through all the junk and flora dotting the field ahead. He was sure Khan wasn't dead yet, and seeing the battle draw to a close, the hotheaded part of him let loose. Anger gripping him, he left the Vykhlop on the windowsill, grabbed his handguns and stormed out with vengeance on his mind. Dima yelled after him but Dimka was already far ahead, racing across the asphalt to be the one to strike the final blow. Memories of the betrayal, his dead comrades, the framing of his allies as traitors and the attack on the checkpoint in Jupiter flooded to his mind and quickened his pace. Gripping the guns, he made it past Boris, Dimuha and Degtyarev who were still fighting the mutants.
"What the hell are you doing?", Boris shouted to him.
"Getting my payback.", Dimka replied quickly and continued.
He heard Boris shout something more, but more gunshots masked the order. Dimka continued, unwilling to let his most hated adversary escape. The two survivors were running ahead, towards the grocery store, when Dimka opened fire. He was using both guns simultaneously, so the fire was as accurate as that of a drunk bandit, but using the time old classic tactic of "throw enough shit at the wall and some of it will stick", he managed to cut down one of the UNISG troopers. Bullet hole in his back, the man fell down face first like a ragdoll. The last survivor made it inside, jumping over the makeshift barricade and forcing the wooden doors open.
Dimka was hot on the man's heels, and soon stepped inside as well. Turning on his night-vision in the dark corridor, he found the store to be a mess of doors and small rooms. A proper labyrinth. He continued down the corridor, guns trained on any possible ambush location. But the further he went, the more nerve-wracking the experience became. He saw no sign of his enemy, yet every shadow, every dark corner, seemed to hide him. Then, crossing one corridor, three shots rang out and Dimka felt sharp pain surge into his brain like a sledgehammer striking it from the inside. Dimka dropped to his knees, blood flowing down his leg. Khan stepped through the door, where three bullet holes had now appeared on the old wood.
"Torodov? You traitorous bastard, you're helping the enemy?", Khan said in an astonished tone.
"You would know traitors, you lapdog. The blood of my comrades is in your hands.", Dimka growled.
"So? You're soldiers, we're soldiers, our task is to kill one another by any means necessary. You got bested, and now the last of your company of idiots will die.", Khan replied calmly.
"Wrong.", someone else said, and a shotgun blast struck Khan in the centre of his torso, tossing him against the wall.
Sevka stepped out into the corridor and saw Khan attempt to reach for a sidearm despite his grievous wounds. Dimka, wounded and bleeding yet still sound of mind, fired him in the limb. Khan screamed in pain and let go of the pistol.
"It's your company that meets its end here.", Sevka said, and raised the shotgun.
"Perhaps... But... We are not the only ones after Strelok. You'll... see.", Khan replied, barely able to speak due to the agony of his wounds.
Dimka had had enough, and his revolver fired once more. The last of UNISG infiltrators died with a simple sigh and .45 ACP bullet in his skull. Major Hernandez's men, the original unit of Dimka and Sevka, had been avenged. Sevka stepped next to his friend, stuck a stimpack into his arm and bandaged his wound. Once colour began returning to the Bulgarian stalker's cheeks, Sevka sighed and reprimanded his comrade.
"I thought you learned from that scuffle with Skull that rushing off alone gets you killed."
"I'm a slow learner, alright?", Dimka argued, grinning.
"That much is clear. Now, let's check his pockets for our "get out of jail free" card.", Sevka proposed, and Dimka nodded.
They went through Khan's belongings, checking through the various pockets of his Mk. II suit. There was little to find there, but in his backbag, there was a document detailing some of the mission parametres set by Khan's employers. The liquidation of original UNISG was mentioned among them, and Dimka also pocketed the encrypted PDA of the traitor, hoping that Maus could decrypt it.
"That alone should help, but this here might be a jackpot. Alright, Mr. De Luca, seems like we're off the hook now.", Dimka commented, shaking the PDA.
"Let's hope so. But what do you think Khan meant when he said there are others looking for Strelok?", Sevka asked.
"Those men in black suits perhaps? I wouldn't worry, they ran with their tails between their legs when we stormed the hideout yesterday.", Dimka scoffed.
Sevka nodded hesitantly, looking at the dead captain laying on the floor. Yet Dimka's comment was quickly revealed to be dead wrong, when the sound of a helicopter engine echoed through out the city. Outside, Boris and Degtyarev raised their eyes towards the sky, and the black helicopter they had seen leave before now approached yet again.

so I bought one of those 300 keys spare fuse replacement kits from eBay for about 10 bucks just to have and now I want to see about using it.
this the type of fuse my car uses: https://i.imgur.com/qZwqqk2.jpg
these are some of the fuses that came: https://i.imgur.com/VQNvaXa.jpg
this is the tester: https://i.imgur.com/M52yaIN.jpg
my first question is are these fuses safe to use? when i bought them i thought they were just fuses and if anything happens theyll blow but now im a little concerned about their quality since they arent painted with their amperage (like my 20 year old fuses in the car) and instead has a little diagram.
second even though i pulled a 20amp spare fuse and compared it against the new 20 amp the one i need right now is the red 10amp. the one in the car, like the yellows here, have "n" shapes but the new red ones have the swiggle like in the picture. surely its just a design thing but i wanna make sure theyre the same before i cause any damage.
third, and this might be a stupid one, but what are the shorter fuses for? i put 2 yellows in the picture to show you what i mean. the box has bigger fuses too but the shorter ones and the "normal" ones are in the same "square" so are they interchangeable?
and finally is the tester safe to use? i saw a video on youtube that said all i need to do is connect the alligator clip to metal and then use the tester end on the opening of the top of the fuses. just wanna make sure that using a cheap tester is safe.
thanks for all the help

Recently was gifted a Mitsubishi DP 420 turntable. I can’t find a single picture of one online, let alone a service manual / videos on how to repair it.
Turntable shows no signs of life. I have experience repairing turntables but a service manual would be greatly appreciated.
Also is this a nice turntable or kinda meh? Again, I can’t even find one for sale on eBay

I (29f) am going to be solo traveling for work for a few weeks in July and will be stopping in 7 countries and spending 1-2 days in each place. Looking for some help on my itinerary. Please note that I cannot change the days/times I'll be working each of my work events, so I'm trying to plan around them the best I can where I can see some cool things in each country without getting too fatigued/burnt out. If it's helpful to know, I'll be traveling from east coast, USA. Currently, I've tried to plan one "event"/tourist attraction to see each day, and whatever other free time I have in that country, I figured I'll casually explore the city, find some good food, stay at the hotel pool, etc. But I have a 5 day gap between HCMC and Tokyo and am trying to decide between a few options listed below. Also looking to see if my itinerary seems doable in the time I have. Additional info: I enjoy nature/scenery, beaches, cultural stuff, art/architecture, honestly just wanna see some beautiful places. I'm not into drinking so don't care for nightlife kind of things. Not super concerned with travel & transportation budget as my job is paying for most of it, but would like to keep activities to $100ish USD max a day.
July 19 - arrive in Jakarta
July 20 - walk and explore city during the day
July 20 - 6-10pm work event
July 21 - fly into Singapore, walk around/explore city
July 22 - 11am - 3pm work event/relax rest of day
July 23 - Gardens by the Bay (all day)
July 24 - fly into Kuala Lumpur midday, relax for the evening
July 25 - Batu Caves/waterfall 9-3pm; 6-10pm work event
July 26 - fly into Bangkok (land 8am), check into hotel 11am, take cab at noon to ethical elephant sanctuary in Pattaya for a tour from 2-5pm
July 27 - work event 6-10pm
July 28 - fly into HCMC Vietnam, explore city
July 29 - work event 11am-3pm
\July 30-Aug 2 - SEE OPTIONS BELOW**
Aug 3 - work event in Tokyo 6-10pm
Aug 4 - Fly into Seoul (I've lived in Korea so I will end the itinerary here as I don't need any further insight into this country).
Option 1:
- July 29 fly to Northern Vietnam in the evening, and spend July 30 & 31 seeing one or two of the following places: seeing Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh, or Sa Pa. From my research, these sound more interesting to me than the options I'm finding in HCMC (not really interested in the war museum or Cu Chi tunnels)
-Aug 1 fly into Tokyo, spend Aug 1-3 exploring Tokyo
Option 2:
-July 30 fly into Okinawa, spend Jul. 30 & 31, and head into Tokyo July 31 night. Aug 1-3 explore Tokyo
Option 3:
- July 30 head straight to Tokyo and spend 5 days exploring Tokyo
I love the idea of seeing more of Vietnam because I've heard how amazing it is, but if it's a hassle to get to the places listed from HCMC, then maybe it's worth heading straight to Japan. If I head straight to Japan, is it too much to try and do Okinawa and Tokyo in the time allotted? Is 3 days enough to get a good feel of Tokyo? Would also be open to hearing suggestions of other good beaches within an hour or so from Tokyo if there are any.
Also, does my itinerary as a whole sound doable? I know I have extremely limited time in each country and ideally wouldn't want to move around so much, but can't change the work schedule unfortunately. Thanks in advance!!

[Previous] Part 021 [Next]
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 Like Rats 

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Part Twenty-Two
Trains and Tails... In Space!
>>> Outer Colony - Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser <<<
>>> Starport - Diwrnod heulog, Bob dydd <<<
>>> Frontier Standard Date: 21-03-104 <<<
Shore leave for the group finally rolled around and so the little gathering rode a shuttle down planetside. Seren, Eira, Scanner, Zana and the seven Bridge Bunny brothers. Claiomh fada, Sciath bhabhta, Casur cogaidh. Saighead direach, Miodog gearr, Dhorn tapaidh, and Blath dearg. Most just referred to them as the Bridge Bunnies as a running gag with the crew and because they tended to do everything together. They were one of the few survivors of a raid and had been forced to fend for themselves for a month before aid would arrive. Ever since they had been practically inseparable. For Conin they were unusually quiet and reserved, except when on the bridge or playing games. When they had learned that Seren was a raid survivor as well they had opened up to him greatly. Of all the crew it was the Bridge Bunnies that empathized the most with the Dynol's struggles to cope with the aftermath of surviving.
Seren had packed some sunscreen and a complete survival kit, much to Eira's chagrin and amusement. "I keep forgetting you Dynol burn so easy." She herself had packed a few things but was keeping them secret. "Five bottles though?"
"Right. Yn Gyntaf Ymhlith y Ser is a hotter world due to a slightly closer orbit to its star. Higher UV index than even my skin can likely handle. So does not hurt to be prepared." he explained as they prepared to disembark.
"The forests provide alot of shade though so you should be fine. Now get ready!" Eira churred in anticipation.
The disembarkation ramp lowered and the shore leave team stepped down into a very bright world.
Seren got to the bottom and nearly got run over by the others as he stood there gawking. "...the screw?" The port itself was enough to cause him to pause. The style was reminiscent of Ancient Earth and the American Wild West with a heavy dose of Victorian England. A mixture of stone, brick and wooden structures. The usually angular straight Llygoden Fawr font adorning shops and signs was more curly, almost like question marks rather than straight or angled lines.
"...the screw?" The mode of dress though was more like the styles of Sixteen-Hundred era Age of Sail. Elaborate dresses and vests, broad collars and adorned hats. Sweeping gowns, snug bodices, and even boots which were a rarity amongst any of the starfaring species other than the Dynol and Rana/Salamandra.
But the real "... the screw?" were the people. At first glance they were your average Llygoden Fawr. That is until it settled in that something was wrong with this picture. The most striking was the tail. It was a fluffy bush to put any Vulpes-Vulpes to shame in its luxurious fullness. The faces were not as long and the eyes were a bit larger than average. The ears too were different, standing up and pointed. "Giant space squirrels... the screw???"
Eira was enjoying Seren's reaction and the others were getting a chuckle from it as well. "ahhhhh! Worth keeping it a secret just to see you phased by something."
"That is an understatement." he admitted as he continued to gawk.
Eira led her companion out of the way of the other visitors and explained. "Mutation. Similar to the splits in the Vulpes. Happened about a hundred years ago and with each generation instances increased ten percent. Some radiation from the sun was the cause, again much like with the Vulpes. There were some other less pleasant birth defects, some lethal, that we had to do extensive genetic screening to cull from the populace. The people now are a stable mutation and have been designated Wiwer Fawr."
"Do not stand outside unprotected long. Got it." He took in the sight and then a huge grin spread as he saw something pulling into a station off in the distance. A train. Or more to the point. A Llygoden Fawr style mono-wheel steam train. And after a bit he saw some of the squirrel folk ride past mounted on what looked nothing so much as a four-legged sparrow head... "Ok. That is something you do not see every day either." A carriage pulled by one of these beasts passed as well not long after that.
"Coesau plu? Yeah. They are native to the homeden and we exported the hardier ones here. We used to ride them in our early civilization stages. The electromagnetic field of the planet during stormy season messes with electronics to the point it was more cost efficient to just transplant the coesau plu and use them as mounts and drays like in olden times." She pointed at the mono-wheel train pulling to the distant station. "And same for the trains. It's like stepping back in time a thousand years."
"I take it the archaic mode of dress is protective?"
"Got it in one. All of a sudden the hat business saw a boom."
Seren glanced around thoughtfully. "If the planet is that troublesome then why colonize it?"
"It is one of the few we have come across with a breathable atmosphere, tolerable environment, and isn't bathed in lethal radiation. And the asteroid belt is big and mineral rich. The land itself does wonders for plant life as you can see." Eira pointed at the tremendous looking forest off to the east from the starport. "Colonists have adapted to an arboreal city structure away from the starport. The giant trees afford extensive protection from the sun." Here the white furred rat woman gave a little shudder. "Wouldn't catch me living way up there!"
"Says the rat girl who lives in a home that is hanging from the ceiling of a cave." So teased the Dynol.
"Hey now. Stone is very safe!"
Seren noted though that the common tricorn-like hats many males wore made sense from a protective design standpoint. The forward point shaded the snout and the back points shaded the ears. He got an explanation from Eira that the clothes also served to bleed off excess heat and had a passive cooling system built into every garment. "So why the archaic dress style?" he questioned.
Eira grinned. "A chunk of the early colonists turned out to be historical re-enactment buffs and since the buildings were less high tech why not have fun with it? The idea caught on and now it's their cultural thing. There is even a recreation of a thousand year old town and surrounding farmsteads further north in the cooler zone."
The Dynol took all this in and smiled more and more. "So what is the plan then?" he asked wile pulling out his silver reflective rat mask and donning it. The mask was treated against UV so was a better choice than his usual blister goggles. "I think we are all going to need at least hats pronto, yes?" Said with a worried glance at Scanner, Zana and the Bridge Bunnies who were all shielding their eyes with a paw as the looked around. "I doubt any of us wants to be holed up in a hotel all week right?"
"Right. There's a hat shop nearby for exactly that and right next door a visor shop. Both accommodate large folk." the Security Tech informed them. But I have something for you first." Here she pulled out a hat that was like a tall sloping hill with the long point in front and just a single short back facing point. Set in it was a white feather. "One of my distant cousins gave me this last visit. Never quite suited my style. But the blue happens to match your usual taste in off duty colors."
Seren accepted the gift and tried it on. "How do I look?"
Eira churrred with pleasure. "mmmmm! With the mask on you look like the Phantom Rider!" We need to get you fully dressed up now!"
"uh-oh!"
Scanner and the others of the party were still busy gawking as they had never actually made planetfall in all the years of being on Patrol. "Well this is different." the grey Backeneko drawled in amusement at the sight of the fluffy tailed Wiwer Fawr and the peculiar architecture.
Zana was looking wide eyed in delight at everything and her fluffy tail was practically vibrating with excitement. "They are so adorable!"
"Miss Zana. Please refrain from terrorizing the countryside hugging everything." Seren deadpanned. Vulpes-Canis were a very touchy-feely people and the large curly haired dog girl was like the poster pup for her species. She liked to just pick up the Dynol and hug him to death, or on coinciding lunch breaks she would sit him in her lap and idly pet him. The other Vulpes-Canis on the Patrol Carrier would do the same. Just not as grabby as the Wraith Pilot. She at least did not handle him while he was working. But she would sit and just raptly watch him work. The big dog folk's fascination with Dynol was well documented.
"Oh come on! I let you go... eventually." was accompanied by Zana's merry barking laughter and wagging tail.
Seren had to admit that the starfighter pilot had the reflexes to back up her rampant people pouncing. She could also beat him eight times out of ten at go-cart racing. "So what's the plan then Eira? You -did- have a plan? Riiiiight?" he nudged the rat alien.
"Sure do. I pre-ordered some steam train tickets to the great northern city of Gaer Garreg Werdd yn y Goedwig. It is a recreation of a fortress city from the homeden that was a major steam hub back in the day. It's now a sort of historical re-enactment with people acting out living the way folk used to." She displayed for all a paper map and traced a claw from the starport to their intended destination. "Big tourist attraction and there's a regular re-enactment of a raid by the Crwydriaid y Mor yn Dwyn Gwaywffyn, sea going aboriginals who raided inland every few years well into our early steam age. Quite a nuisance."
"Australia gets invaded by Hawaii." quipped the Dynol.
"I have no idea what you are referencing. But I know it is something embarrassing!"
They all made haste to the hat shop and it was Seren's turn to be embarrassed at being complimented for his Phantom Rider cosplay. Eira had her own hat as well. A white tricorn with a badge pinned to one side and several short square-ish red feathers sticking out back of it. "This is my dad's hat. He used to live here for a few years before getting his hauler gig."
"What is the badge for?" Asked one of the Bridge Bunnies.
"Ah that was for rescuing some folk who got lost in the deep forests. Dad was a pretty good tracker." Eira explained while tracing a finger round the brass badge. "The feathers represent how many people he saved. Six total."
The Bridge Bunnies each purchased high topped broad rimmed black hats with a green band around the base. They looked a bit like triangular witch hats with the point removed. Zana selected bonnet and Scanner donned her own green wild west style hat with one side pinned up. All the head-ware had built in heat dissipation materials to help disperse built up UV warming.
Next they ambled over to the clothes shop and here Eira helped Seren pick out a long coat in blue that went with his hat. "Yeah! Very Phantom Rider now! Just need to get you a silver steam pistol and a white coesau plu."
"Eira... Is this a vacation? Or dress up doll?"
"Why not both?"
Scanner picked out a woman's riding outfit in green while the seven lapine brothers all selected elegant coats and pants with buckled shoes. They looked reminiscent of Spanish aristocrats dressed so. Especially with the frilly lace. Zana dressed in a gown that spread out in all directions. She blushed so much it was visible through her cheek fur when Seren teased that she could hide all of the Bridge Bunnies under her petticoats.
All done with basic shopping they stopped by to say hello to Eira's distant cousin. This fellow was a Wiwer Fawr of a light brown fur pattern and blue eyes. "Eira ar y Blodau! Been three years since saw you last! Welcome Welcome!" He looked over the masked Dynol curiously. "Why are you so cute with that mask on? I am Gwynt Drwy'r Canghennau. You must be Llygaid Llawn o Ser my cousin has written about?"
"Probably unless she has more than one Dynol wrapped up in her tail." grinned the Systems Tech.
Gwynt grinned at that. "If the rumors are true then just one of you is more than enough." The squirrel-like alien and the human exchanged the double paw clasp greeting and then everyone padded over to an shaded eatery sized for small and large folk. "You hit a good time to visit. This is the cool season. Temperature will spike for three months during the hot storm season. Warm rain and high winds. Great for the plant life. But whooo! Don't plan on traveling!"
They got to try out the local quinine including bara haen fewnol, which was akin to a calzone stuffed with cheeses, a white cream sauce, ground nuts, lettuce and carrot equivalents, and strips of coesau plu meat for the omnivores in the group. Scanner and Zana had roast coesau plu with a selection of greens the two carnivores could ingest. From the store owner Seren learned that the Cozi Mari was picking up a shipment of meat to supplement the more carnivore sided crew's diets.
Gwynt would be joining the group as their guide while planet-side. Mostly just an excuse to catch up with Eira and socialize with aliens. "Not many offworlders stay long for obvious reasons. Too bad you Dynol can not improve the conditions here like are on the other colony."
"I am no terraforming expert, but the problem here is a bit more involved. Fixing it would require moving the planet's orbit or thickening the atmosphere to increase UV shielding. Any of which might disrupt the ecology established here." suggested Seren. "That is even assuming we could alter the orbit without wrecking the planet."
"Tis what I heard last time it was discussed. The trees here are dependent on the increased solar intake and adding more cloud cover might well cause them to weaken or outright die. There's also worry that thickening the atmosphere could increase the intensity and duration of the storms we get." A flick of the squirrel's bushy tail fore-back-fore showing his reluctant acceptance of that.
"It is a planet we Dynol would have passed on during survey simply because it would be more likely to make things worse trying to make it more agreeable for habitation. As is you need alot of tech solutions to stay here right?"
"Correct. But it is not bad once you get used to it and we have adapted to the environment slowly."
"At a cost." Seren pointed out.
Gwynt nodded. "At a cost yeah."
Seren shrugged. "Maybe in time a better solution can be had. Right now the tech just has not caught up to being able to handle a situation like this. So you are to be commended for sticking it out and finding solutions outside the box."
That perked up the tan furred squirrel and after everyone had eaten and gotten a drink they set about picking up another local to join on the trip. That being Gwynt's fiance Erlid Awyr y Nos. Erlid was a solid pitch black of fur and had bright red eyes. She was a shipping clerk for the starport. She also complimented Seren on his Phantom Rider cosplay. Much to Eira's continued entertainment at the Dynol's expense.
Finally it came time to board the train and Seren got to see first hand a functional and fully restored mono-wheel steam train. The engine and tender were were Thirty meters long and the main engine consisted of four interlinked mono-wheels. The series engine was surprisingly powerful and the train could pull eight-hundred unit-tons. Eira explained a little of the history as everyone boarded. "Very early on we developed parallel wheel designs. But one experimental company pushed for the mono-wheel design and it gained popularity and quickly muscled out other designs."
Gwynt added to this. Mono-wheels have always been a design aspect of transportation and no one is exactly sure when it supplanted other styles of wheels. Part of the success was very early gear and stabilizing breakthroughs."
"Due to the stopping problems when not used in series?" guessed Seren.
"Exactly. Early mono-bikes were more than a little harrowing to stop at speed." Gwynt grinned. "But were too fun to drop for safer designs. The basis worked fine. It was the sudden stops that kept leading to accidents. Speed laws were for a good while very strict. But people were always pushing it when out away from the dencities. Eventually someone hit on a pivoting gyro system to counter the rotation problem. The trains did not suffer that problem and just needed stationary bracing legs when at a stop."
The passenger cars were luxurious with padded seats and even a dining and lounge car. The sleeping cars were just as finely crafted of metal and wood. Each car of the mono-train was accessible via two doors, one on either side of each car's center-line wheel. Some luggage and cargo was packed into the lower parts of each sphere that comprised a car. The ride was scheduled to take a twenty-two hour day to cover some one-thousand kilo-units distance.
And so plans were made as to what to do during the shore leave at the re-enactment site and surrounding tree-city.
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The maw of the moss-wolf chomped down on the treat, its partner patiently waiting its turn, an eye trained on the Human providing the sustenance. Joseph reached into the pouch, counting out what he had left and mentally setting a few aside for the raven-like birds that Scarlet had trained to bother him.
Well, ‘bother’ might be a strong word. They would whistle at him and wait for food. Upon getting their hard sought quarry, they would return to share it with the rest. Surprisingly cooperative, all things considered. Scarlet had apparently been getting them to associate certain short melodies with members of the pack, allowing her to send the avians after whoever she wanted for more snacks.
If they didn’t get any, then they would yell something not dissimilar to a caw until either food was procured, or they grew bored. Given that they had taken to humouring Violet in her attempts to be a mobile perch, that usually took a while.
It drove Nalah nuts, which seemed to be part of the reason the blond-furred female was included in the ritual at all. Harrow was apparently the favourite target of the nuisance when she was outside the base, but he couldn’t say why.
The tell-tale scratching had been somewhat muted since the shift in medium, but Violet’s writing was always something he kept an ear out for, his daughter presenting her tablet excitedly. [It blinked!]
He turned his head to the cow-looking thing, the unwavering stare held until he gave up. “I swear you guys are just messing with me.”
“Or we merely enjoy your suffering,” Sahari suggested with a smirk, the black-furred female standing taller than him for a moment as she stretched her legs out. Settling into a height that was level with him, she attempted to offer the wolves food. Receiving a fearful retreat instead, the black-furred female frowned, the two canines shifting in their enclosure to be closer to Joseph and Violet. “They still seem to distrust any but yourselves.”
He shrugged, taking the scrap from her and giving it to the young Atmo to pass along, her chittering laugh when the wolves accepted the morsel breaking the soft sound of trickling rain outside the barn. “Faye was the one who started this. I guess they treat her like an alpha of sorts, and seeing her bow to the two of us so often told them that she’s lower on the pole. That’s my guess, anyway.”
“That is….rather intelligent of them, if so,” Sahari commented pensively.
The Grand Hunter tipped his head in agreement. If anything, it was an understatement. The six-legged canines were remarkably receptive to taming, though he couldn’t say how much of that was due to Faye taking to his suggestion so seriously. He had only offered it as a passing thought, but she had set to it like their god had mandated it.
He fought back a sigh at the reminder of his placement in the whole thing, his foot kicking the ground to adjust the new sandals he was wearing until Pan finished proper shoes.
One day, he was a divorcee flirting with random women on a cruise ship so that the rejection validated his own self-esteem issues. The next, he was a guy in charge of a settlement nearing one hundred people and had become a manifestation of religion condensed into the form of some random moron.
He snorted at a morbid thought. How would Emma react to his ‘rise to fame?’ His acquisition of more than they had ever thought for themselves back on Earth?
Owning a territory? They could only manage a nice apartment that could fit several times over inside the base. Friends? Hell, he had a group of people who have helped him through some of the worst the planet had to offer. Kids...well, nothing could replace Violet. He doubted Emma would see it the same way, though.
A paw enclosed his shoulder, dragging his mind from more sombre thoughts. It had been quite a while since everything fell through and he had moved on, but it still stung every now and again.
“What ails your mind, Joseph?” Sahari asked with a concerned inflection. He looked over at her, a smile becoming easier after a moment.
“Just wondering how my ex-wife would react to seeing what I’ve turned into. What she’d say to all of this,” he admitted honestly with a wide gesture to everything. She patted his back, a small pride in her gaze.
“You continue to heal, Grand Hunter, but you are still scarred. Your previous mate would curse her decisions were she to see what you have accomplished.”
He snorted, a wide dry grin breaking out. “I’d love to see her face going back with two alien wives and this sweetheart as a daughter,” he teased, giving Violet a thorough rub on the head. She purred, chittering between breaths as she fought off the rough affection playfully while keeping her blades tucked for safety.
The black-furred female tilted her head and shifted her weight to her other foot. “You’ve mentioned that there is a specific procedure for binding the lives of your people, no?”
He blinked, his mind flickering to the two rings he had prepared, yet held some modicum of expectation around before he whipped them out. Not least of all was the foreign sensation of doing it again twice, nor finding an appropriate time to do it. It was hard to pick a picturesque moment when each day was paperwork, punching people in the face during spars, and orchestrating the well-being of such a large group. Given that the closest thing he could get to a romantic occasion was laying down on the grass while Nalah barked orders at the construction crews in the distance, he didn’t feel like it was ever a good time to ask. It was even harder picturing himself doing it to the two of them, as if it cheapened the gesture in some way.
Then there was the part of himself that feared rejection—as stupid as it sounded. They could deny the alien practice, not share the same sentiment, or any number of disagreements that would render him kneeling like an idiot. As unlikely as it was, it could even be too great a commitment for them, the implication of their entire lives being pledged solely to him being a crushing weight, rather than a promise of mutual loving dedication.
Sure, now they were speaking as if it was the case, but the circumstances as they were lent themselves to it being a product of necessity. Who was to say that it would remain the same once they got off this rock and—hopefully—in touch with their own people again. Would they still feel the same way with an entire species back on the table as possible romantic partners? Would he still be enough?
“Joseph,” Sahari called out with worry and irritation in equal parts. “You are making me anxious.”
“Hm? Oh, sorry,” he apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he was reminded that more than one person could be afflicted by his emotional state. She placed a paw to her hip.
“Are the proceedings really such a means for strife?”
“Ah, no, it’s just…” He averted his eyes, offering Violet a token smile when she seemed to be concerned about him. He inhaled deeply. “It’s just…I have reservations about it.”
She raised a brow. “I need not a bond to know you care for them deeply enough to toss your life to the Void for them.”
His weak smile faltered further. “Well, yeah. They mean everything to me, but I cant help but remember how things went last time, I guess. There’s a million and one ways it could go up in smoke, and I…” He fell quiet for a moment, Violet pressing herself into his side in an attempt to cheer him up. He rested a hand against her back, the texture comforting in a way. “I want it to be an important moment in our lives, rather than some disposable token that they accept without thinking much. It’s not like they’re swimming in potential romantic partners here, so it feels like they’d be agreeing for lack of options.”
She stared at him with a hesitant expression, her cheek pinched between her teeth and eyes narrowed in thought. “Pan would sooner end her own life than be separated from you, and Tel would end any who so much as suggested such,” she stated finally. “To you, the mark upon your flesh is but a sting that fades. To them, it is their declaration that they have found their reason to live. A declaration that is shown to all others of our people the moment they draw near. Though Pan lacks the means to impart her own, she is rather pleased that another is able to in her stead and treats it as her own for all intents.”
She grabbed him roughly by the arm, pulling him into her breast as she stood to her full height, a surprised yelp stifled by soft clothing and fur.
“Unfortunately for you, openly voiced or not, we all feel as such. Though you bear not the mark of everyone in the den, I assure you that to be removed from you would leave us lesser, regardless of bond.”
He shut his mouth at the last addition. There was a weight behind knowing that people were likely to simply give up on living if you were away for too long. It put the relationship in front of a loaded gun for both parties. They couldn’t afford to break it off from him because existing would become a living hell, and he couldn’t change his mind for any reason because it would be the same as killing them.
What kind of marriage was one built upon such fragile pillars? How could they be happy when every fight was tempered by the threat of the end of everything? What about Sahari? Could she ever pursue her own life with Nalah when she had the bond shackling her to him? How long until that became a stinging poison, rotting away the veins and arteries of her psyche? How long until death became preferable to being around him?
A strong impact to his stomach winded him, though the unnoticed hyperventilating left him little to eject as he fell to his knees. Violet clicked in surprise, the wolves backing away at the unexpected violence.
He coughed, sputtering spittle as he fought the urge to evacuate his breakfast. A pained glance up revealed Sahari still clutching a fist, her expression just as hurt.
“You hear my words and twist them, Joseph,” she chastised softly, crouching to look at him better. “We pledged our lives to you. Not because we had no choice, but because we believed you to be our future. From that moment on, our desire was to remain with you.” Her voice grew weak, almost pleading. She placed her forehead to his, the contact an intimate touch. “Your experiences may suggest our bond a prison, but for us, it is an ambrosia for our soul. It completes us like no equal. Jax and Harrow care for you immensely, Nalah and myself owe you everything that we are, and your mates will fight the Hunt Mother herself if it would mean even one more sun with you.”
He found himself speechless, wading through the emotions behind her words a syllable at a time. The feeling of Violet pressing into his back in an embrace stung as much as soothed, his mind rejecting the idea, yet so desperate to accept it.
“Do not desecrate our affections because you had been scorned by one who did not see within you that which we covet,” she implored sombrely, raw emotion oozing through the confines of speech. “Though you doubt it, none would know how much value you place in the ‘mark’ of your people more than your mates. If merely thinking about the unlikely event that they refuse tortures you so deeply, than the elation they would share with you when they agree would likely see Pan unable to contain herself for many suns after.”
He stayed on his knees, the warmth surrounding him from both sides seeping within and thawing the frozen excuses he held onto to prevent exposing himself to potential rejection. Every step of the way since he had met them, it had made him fearful of losing their company. At first, the thought of being left alone to brave the planet was too much to bear, but he would try. Now? Now he felt like he understood where the minds of those bonded Lilhuns had been. Even considering being away from his new loved ones pulled at a primal part of himself, each tug stronger than the last, each suggestion fanning the flames barricaded behind morals—the depths he would trudge to see it never come to pass.
Sahari nuzzled into his neck for a moment before parting, a somewhat satisfied smile given towards the emotionally fragile Human they had taken to depending on. He returned his own, though it was tinted with a bit of embarrassment.
Violet stepped back to allow him room to stand, the extended joint of her blade asking to be held like he did with her adoptive mother. His expression softening, he did as requested, lightly rubbing the smooth surface with his thumb. It soothed a part of him to be holding his daughter’s ‘hand’ while they watched the wolves slowly approach the front of their enclosure again, now that the momentary intensity had faded.
With a self-deprecating roll of his eyes, he nodded, promising himself to follow through with his small wish the next time the chance revealed itself. It didn’t need to be perfect, but it would be nice if it was at least private. The dull ache in his stomach would be a reminder not to second guess himself anyway.
The wolves yipped, ignoring Sahari as they moved towards the other corner. Joseph glanced at where they were focused, his curious gaze replaced by surprise, then shock.
Raine supported Faye over her shoulder, the deep gold-furred female’s breath short as she rested her weight over her brown-furred counterpart, their black leather coats dripping water onto the floor as it wrapped tightly around them, concealing their armour. A steady trickle of blood flowed from a long gash on Faye’s leg, her free arm clutching across her breast to keep her coat closed.
Without waiting for either to speak, he ran to pick up the Wraith, slinging her across his shoulders and tearing off to the base. He could barely hear Sahari over the rain and his own blood pounding through his ears, his heart hammering in his chest. Though they had established something of a clinic for minor injuries that were sustained constantly, his singular focus was getting Faye into the medbay.
Pack members cleared the way, some jumping to the side as he barrelled through the sparely populated routes between home and workplace. More than one tripped over themselves in shock, the Human never having a reason to go at a full sprint before. He was slower than a Lilhun like this, but he could make it the full distance before them. He didn’t need to slow down.
Harrow pushed open the doors to the hub, her distant expression as she examined thin ironwood tablets perking, his rapid heavy footfalls telling of his arrival before she had the chance to see him. Her eyes lit up, her brows furrowed, and a hurried pull of the door kept it open for him, all in sequence. He didn’t have the spare breath to explain or thank her.
The orange-furred female bolted across the hub, slamming into the crash-bar installed into the facilities wing entrance to force it open, only barely outpacing the Grand Hunter in his rush. She staggered to her feet behind him, rushing to collect herself and assisting in tearing the pants off of the injured female when Joseph laid her on the bed.
Modesty being the least of his concerns, he braced an arm across her pelvis to stop her hips from bucking as Harrow wiped off any dried blood to see the extent of the damage on her thigh.
“What happened?”
He tightened his hold on Faye as his friend tentatively spread the wound to check for debris. “Don’t know. Didn’t ask. Saw her bleeding, rushed her here,” he answered through deep breaths, each strike of his adrenaline-fuelled heart pressing against his lung capacity.
Harrow frowned, grabbing some sterile water to pour over the wound and picking out a stray splinter of wood that looked to be from her missing leg armour. Faye let out a small whine, but didn’t have it in her to talk yet, signs of exhaustion and pain unfocusing her eyes.
The Head of Technology—and current medical expert in the room—pursed her lips against her muzzle. “We need to stitch it. It’s too big for just healroot.”
Joseph nodded, easing his weight off the Wraith and wiping his sweat from his brow. “Pan!”
Noticing the urgency in his voice, he could hear her throw the door to the sewing room wide open and jog to the medbay, her wide eyes steeling as she assessed the situation.
“Idee with you?”
She nodded, ears turned perfectly towards him.
“One of you boil off some palm string, the other sterilize the thinnest quill you can get away stitching a wound closed with. I don’t care who, but we need one of you to close this up.” He glanced at Harrow. “Grab some alcohol. I keep a bit in the closet in my room, next to the old crossbow prototypes. We need to flush this out and kill off anything that might have gotten in.”
The orange-furred female tipped an ear in confusion as Pan took off to do as he asked. “I thought you didn’t have medical-”
“I’ve been around enough workplace injuries, okay? Go!”
His shout jolted her into action, a few steps required to gain traction as she ran out the door. Applying solid pressure to the wound with one hand, he used the other to lightly tap Faye’s cheek.
“Faye? Faye, you with me?”
Her eyes languidly turned to him, slow blinks and meaningless mouthing ceased, a soft smile forming under her pained expression. “Hello, sir.”
He exhaled a relieved huff. “Welcome home, Faye. What happened?”
She seemed confused by his question, glancing down to her leg after a few seconds. With widened eyes, she struggled to sit up, Joseph forcibly pressing her to the bed.
“Stay.”
All resistance disappeared in an instant, her body complying despite the obvious urgency. He hardened his expression.
“What happened?”
She breathed deeper a few times before speaking. Each word was hesitant, as if the memory was hazy and diluted, though he couldn’t tell if it was due to blood loss or exhaustion. “A large grey beast…teeth, large mouth...attacked wolves...”
His brow knitted, Faye’s coat moving. A small whine came from her again…no. Not her.
A small yellow canine head freed itself from the confines of black leather, a weak keening produced from a tiny moss-wolf. Faye looked at him guiltily, a pleading look in her eyes given as she composed herself.
“It lost its parents…”
His protest died in his voice, a distant memory of a wolf being torn in two came to mind. The time before they had even moved to the pod, let alone met the Lilhuns, him and Violet checking snares shortly after his ankle had healed. A time so long ago, yet remained with him under the surface.
“You saved this little guy, huh?” he asked gently, wincing in tandem with her own when he leaned heavier on the massive gash in her thigh. She nodded, averting her eyes. “Did you get the ‘beast?’”
Faye shook her head. “Raine lured it away, but it still remains.”
“That’s fine. You’re back, that’s all that matters right now.”
Harrow bumped into the doorway, failing to shed all of her speed as she returned from fetching a smaller container that Joseph kept in case the rest of the pack burned through their stores of alcohol. Her eyes flicked to the wolf pup before disregarding it to hand him the ethanol. He lifted his hand, Harrow pouring some water to wash off the blood. Volta would be busy later, it seemed.
Gesturing for the orange-furred female to hold the leg down, he poured the alcohol into the wound, grimacing at Faye’s pained gasp. They didn’t have anything for her to bite into, but that would be a future consideration.
Pan and Idee entered the medbay, the former moving like a machine with purpose while the visiting seamstress took a moment to size up the situation. The Paw fetched a tray from the shelf, laying out several strings of softened palm and a few thin quills, threading one and passing it to Idee. The light brown-furred female accepted it, Harrow making room as she stood next to Joseph.
Pan handed him a tough leather strip as wide as his palm. Seems like she saw the problem before he did.
“Open up,” he prodded, placing the leather between Faye’s teeth. “This is going to fucking suck. We don’t have anything to numb you, so you need to stay as still as possible, okay? I’ll be here the whole time.”
The Wraith nodded, staring at him for a moment before closing her eyes in acceptance, her grip on the pup firming.
“Want me to take the wolf?”
She lightly shook her head, him exhaling hesitantly in response. Idee readied herself, looking to him for confirmation, Pan holding Faye’s ankle flat to the bed.
“You’re good,” he responded, pressing an arm to Faye’s chest and hips to hold her down.
The deep gold-furred female managed a quiet muffled groan of pain as the quill pierced her flesh.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
He entered the hub, dropping himself on the couch and ignoring the sweat on his brow. He had only just managed to get the blood off of his hands after Idee finished, but it was still staining his clothing. Pan was off to rinse it out of her fur while Faye slept off her exhaustion. As far as they could tell, she had avoided any infection thanks to Raine half-dragging the female back to them as quickly as she did. The wolf pup was staying with her for now, since—even in her sleep—she refused to let it go. The little guy didn’t seem to be complaining, so they just left it where it was comfortable. Ferra would be by later to check it out, apparently, and he didn’t see a reason to complain; she was their animal expert.
Scarlet offered him some tea, the warm liquid whetting his pallet that had since dried. Sahari had checked on them during the process, leaving to keep anyone who had questions in the loop. Given that half the damn pack either saw or heard about the Grand Hunter running like a bat out of hell, pretty much everyone was worried. Either about some urgent threat that might befall them, or about one of the quiet servants they had grown used to seeing around.
Looked like the Wraiths had taken to offering small services and assistance to people who needed it when they didn’t have anything better to do, so the pack was curious about what had happened. It was a small blessing that the usual armour they wore when ‘on duty’ was covered by the cloaks, otherwise he would have more questions coming that he didn’t want answered.
Raine stood a few paces in front of him, her bowed posture holding a hint of fear under his unwavering stare. He waited for whoever else was going to show up for the report, Tel and Pan insisting that they be involved. Harrow followed behind the two entering from the facilities wing, either because she had gotten wrapped up in the whole thing, or because she wanted to be included.
Pan sat to his left, Tel taking a place behind him to remain standing. Harrow surprised him, her recently elusive presence firmly displaced as she dropped onto the couch to his right, her tail curling around his calf—not that she seemed to notice.
Given that both Tel and Pan trapped a limb or two with their tails regularly, he didn’t stop to put thought into it, the encapsulating appendage crossing him as a common occurrence.
“I don’t know how accurate it was, since she’s still pretty out of it, but Faye said one of those grey bear-deathtraps attacked some wolves before she stepped in to save the pup,” he opened, glancing at Scarlet. The almost black red-furred female was maintaining a surprisingly commanding presence, her attention laser-focused on Raine. The brown-furred Wraith kept her gaze fixed to the floor, too ashamed or nervous to move it.
“I apologize for her error in her stead,” she announced, the slightest of grip in her folded paws digging her claws into her skin. “The fault is also mine for not preventing her misstep. I will accept any punishment for our mistake.”
He exhaled heavily. “I’m not mad that you guys had an original thought, Raine. I’m worried about those iron-maiden-looking fucks being around again, and I’m concerned about you getting hurt.”
“Of course, sir. Forgive me for the arrogance of assuming your priorities.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, Pan squeezing his thigh in support. Tel rested her head on his, the weight somehow comforting despite the grin at his annoyance. “We can talk about not getting yourselves killed later. Are you injured at all?”
Raine’s ear twitched. “No, sir. I am whole.”
“Good,” he sighed, nodding lightly. “That’s good. Faye’s patched up for now, but she’ll be under observation to keep on top of any possible infection. How did the ‘mission’ go?”
The Wraith perked up a bit, the conversation moving away from her perceived failure. She produced a satchel, pulling a rather thick stack of tablets from it and passing them to Scarlet, the latter ferrying them to Harrow. He thought it was an odd choice, but the orange-furred female started giving him an abbreviated translation of the text.
Line after line of transactions. What was offered and received, any debts and who owed them, as well as small notes about what should be brought next time. It was a comprehensive copy of the ledger that the trading caravan kept. His brows raised at the sheer density of information, and for them getting it from something he was only partially sure existed.
“You managed to get this much?” he asked in disbelief. “Jesus. Were you caught?”
Raine shook her head. “If we were to be seen by them, we would be nothing more than a stain against our Blademaster.”
Compliment or boasting, doing this much was damn impressive. Especially with just the two of them.
“Shit. Well, good fucking job, I guess,” he managed, still reeling a bit from the unintended scope of the task. Harrow continued to dig through the report, though stopped voicing it aloud. Joseph turned his attention back to the Wraith. “Anything else of note? Rumours?”
The Wraith grew pensive. “Though we returned partially through their return trip to Grand Hunter Pernel, we did overhear some conversations. There were discussions of other packs simply no longer occupying their settlements.”
He leaned forward in his seat, dislodging Tel as his elbows rested against his knees. “What do you mean?”
“Some of their usual trade locations were purportedly burned down, others merely abandoned. A few were apparently littered with corpses,” she explained more steadily. “From what we could gather, the reason they came to trade with our settlement at all is that the others along the way were in such states. It seems they intended to restock and head back out immediately to accommodate the loss in trading partners.”
He bit his lip as he thought about it, letting himself fall back against the couch.
“What do you guys think of it?” he asked with a glance to his mates. Pan seemed to be mirroring his own apprehension openly, while Tel kept a more serious expression.
“I believe there is something larger happening,” Tel concluded, taking a few seconds before returning to using him as a headrest. Pan nodded her agreement, but didn’t have much to add to it otherwise.
“It would explain how desperate they were for food,” he mused aloud, raising a brow when Harrow shifted to lean against him, one foot placed on the edge of the seat forcing the posture. “Any details of interest, Harrow?”
The orange-furred female jolted, only just stopping from moving her foot back to the floor before committing to using him as a backrest. She turned back-on fully, stretching her legs over the remainder of the seat and placing tablets she had finished with on her lap.
“It didn’t take very long for the methods you sold to propagate,” she responded, holding up a few of the tablets before laying them in their own pile. “Looks like Pernel has been spreading it around by buying some from places that have bows and snares to sell where they don’t.”
“Supply and demand, or arming people with the tools that would help them survive?”
“Hard to trade with the dead,” Harrow commented dryly, starting a new pile. He nodded in exaggerated fashion.
“What about the Atmo?”
She tapped the small stack she just started. “I’m trying to separate these by inventory type. Give me a bit.”
Deciding to trust the woman in charge of managing this kind of thing while she was on the ship, he glanced back to Raine, the female easily mistaken for a statue if not for the subtle sway of her breathing. “The grey-bear-thing. How far away is it?”
“Too close,” she responded firmly. “We did not get a chance to verify their numbers, but there was evidence of at least that singular beast making our territory its hunting ground.”
“Fuck,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “We’re going to need to hunt that thing down.”
Pan looked worried at the prospect, Harrow stiffened in her sorting. The Wraiths were the only ones who seemed completely at ease with the suggestion, Tel not so much as twitching. Harrow laid down the tablets she had yet to categorize, her gaze aimed at her lap.
“Joe, don’t think that taking one out is easy.”
“We have ranged weapons and more than a few people who can use them,” he pointed out with a breath. “Ideally, we go as a larger hunting party and take the damn thing down through sheer volume of fire.”
“Their skin is tough,” Harrow replied with a shake of her head, her ears pivoting back towards him. “I don’t know if our bows could pierce it as easily as we might like.”
He furrowed his brow. “So, what? Let it close in until it eats everything and starves us out? Until it thinks we look tasty?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying that this won’t be as simple as firing a few arrows and patting ourselves on the back for a job well done.”
Joseph felt the stiffness of his brow start to hurt from how tight they were knitted. A deep breath centred his thoughts. “We’ll arrange an armoured hunting party soon. Better to take it down before it becomes an issue.”
The orange-furred female nodded, quickly leafing through the remaining tablets and only pulling two more out for the pile she indicated earlier.
“Here,” she said, tapping the stack. “These are records for trading Atmo.”
He suppressed the sigh when he genuinely tried to read the mess they called a language. “How many? Who bought them?”
She hesitated, reforming the copy of the ledger—sans the relevant tablets—and placing it on the floor. The remainder in paw, she held them up over her shoulder, Tel accepting it and going over the contents with an interested tilt of her head.
“From what I can see here, Pernel traded two hundred.”
“Two…” he squeaked, his eyes wide. “Two hundred?”
She nodded, pacing around the couch to stop in front of Pan. “It seems others heard of his willingness to barter for them. He accepted quite a few deals before selling them off again.”
“To who?”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The door to the ship closed with a hiss, Willin shaking his head at Nav’s questioning gaze. “Nothing.”
Tech removed her CARDs, storing them in the weapons locker before shrugging off her AMR to place in its own unit. “Nothing living, anyway.”
“That bad?” Nav asked, deflating after yet another failed attempt to contact a settlement. The dark green-furred male stored his rifle, seating it into its receptacle with a click.
“Tell Comms to add another eighty to the count.”
“Four hundred eighty-two,” the purple-furred female supplied as she walked past Nav to enter the ship proper. Willin followed after, hanging his pistol holster on the side of his chair as he dropped into it.
“Thirty were covered in wounds, twenty or so were executed, twenty-five looked to have died of accumulated trauma, and the rest were found with singular cuts to the throat.”
“Not quite,” Tech remarked, interfacing with the systems. “Only eight of the ‘executed’ seem to have been done up close.”
“Sniper?” Comms asked as he entered the room, nodding his greetings and taking a seat at his station. Nav crossed their arms and leaned against the doorway as Tech Ops ran some numbers on her screen.
“Wounds are consistent with Anti Material Rifles, and debris suggest they took the ‘material’ part into consideration with their shots. There were a few holes in the buildings that didn’t quite get removed by the fires.”
“Covering evidence?” Willin mused aloud, receiving a thoughtful shake of her head.
“No, I don’t think so. My guess is that the buildings were already on fire when they did it, based on the splinters around the exit holes.”
Comms’ eyes widened in surprise. “Shooting through a burning building? That is rather impressive.”
“Blades?” Nav suggested. “Avalon is required to act against those who break the treaty, no?”
“Maybe,” Tech allowed tentatively. “If it was them, then that would explain the lack of targets.”
Willin scratched at his ear, furrowing his brow as Comms ran another scan for any communications being made. Though a few suns had passed since they had unwittingly agreed to involve themselves in what was likely the first case of war that this planet had ever seen, nothing was being sent anywhere. Regardless, the male kept the scans regular, just in case.
Nav switched the foot they were resting on. “Why not just dispose of everyone breaking the treaty?”
“Maybe they did,” Comms commented, turning back to the conversation as the program ran in the background. “Blades typically function under strict conditions. If they removed anyone who was commanding the hostile action, then they did as required of them. The moment the attack stopped, they completed the terms of the treaty.”
“Or if the Grand Hunter here surrendered and allowed their pack to be subsumed,” Willin proposed, the others glancing at him in curiosity. He waved a paw dismissively. “If everyone in the conflict becomes a single pack, then any fighting from those who still disagree with it is now an internal dispute, thus outside of the purview of the Blades. Check the notes on Grand Hunter Toril and High Hunter Bratik.”
Tech’s eyes unfocused for a moment as she accessed the system. “Avalon is forbidden from interfering with internal politics. Toril was sheltered by Bratik. Since Bratik was from outside of Toril’s pack, it counted as acting against their right to manage their own affairs. Hasen was given a perfect reason to take over, and it forced Grand Hunter Trill to exile the both of them to adhere.” She looked around the room aimlessly as she thought, her eyes snapping to Willin when he spoke.
“And a perfect loop-hole to exploit. Toril loses his supporters, Trill loses a member of his command structure, and Hasen rises in power while leaving Avalon to grit their teeth.” He shook his head, both impressed and disgusted. “Once he attacks another pack, he just forces a vassalage and subsequently executes the new High Hunter for whatever reason he wants. The Blades can’t act on a technicality.”
“So Grand Hunter Pernel….”
Willin nodded at Comms' unfinished question. “In the count.”
“There was a bit of a weird holding area,” Tech added after a moment. “Seemed like somewhere to hold livestock, but even then, it was a bit big. I’m not sure what used to be there, but tracks suggest carts left with whatever it was not long before everything went down, so probably a trade caravan.”
“Well, at least someone made it out,” Nav sighed, pushing off the wall to resume their station. “Where are we going next?”
Willin toyed with the odd silver tablet in his paw, the two unrecognizable scripts curious and alien. “The only pack left before we see what all the fuss is about. Let’s pay a visit to Grand Huntress Sunundra. Hopefully she knows something we don’t.”
Next
A/N: Been a while since we’ve had a proper A/N, huh. Welp, here’s this one. Patreon is currently set to ‘per post’ because i made the account ages ago. Waiting on support to help me switch it to monthly, then I’ll post the Silva render i have. RR is at 30k views and 100 followers.
Figured I’d ask how you guys are liking this arc, hows Willin’s team coming across, etc.
Final note: I’m thinking about rewriting the first ‘book’ so i can get it edited and published! Problem: i have no fucking clue where to cut book 1, and editors are expensive. Where should book 1 end? All i know is that I’d prob end up adding extra chapters to it, as well as lengthening the OG chaps. RR is a ‘touch-up’, not a final product, so those don’t count!

I never met my birth parents. They both died on a job when I was a baby, and I went into foster care. I didn’t have any interest in knowing anything about them; my adoptive parents are the ones who raised me.
However, everything changed a week ago when a group of men came knocking at my door. They wore what looked like military uniforms, but instead of the usual green, they wore a distinct red color instead. They loaded me, along with my foster parents into an unmarked matching red van. We were rushed to a farmhouse on the opposite side of Washington where the facility was heavily guarded with intimidating men and unfamiliar machines that appeared like they required several men to operate.
Being an IT major, I had no knowledge nor interest in these things. I’m not a runner, fighter or a strategist, so I couldn’t fathom what they wanted from me.
They relentlessly interrogated me for three days, bombarding me with questions and then, when they concluded that I was blissfully unaware, intimidated me with frightening information. Dumbfounded, I soaked in every ounce of knowledge they offered me. The new knowledge I gained made me see my parents in a new terrifying light. I couldn’t help but feel more resentment, adding on to the existing resentment I harboured. My parents not only betrayed themselves, but me as well and part of me feared that I would never be safe again. I couldn’t help but feel manipulated. They were long gone, but their past still controlled my fate.
I was eventually uprooted to a secondary protective facility, one in which I was not permitted to know the location of. For my own safety, they assured me. Once settled, they supplied me with new electronics and destroyed my old ones. They warned me that I was to stay under the radar, completely untraceable. Again, for my own protection. I was confident that given my knowledge of IT, software engineering and cyber security, I would remain unseen and untraceable to anyone who might be hunting me.
Now that I am sure I am safe, I can finally write this message and warn anyone connected to the initial bloodlines involved. It is crucial for my message to reach you.
The story begins with my biological grandfather. He worked for a branch of the government closely related to NASA. Following the moon landing there was a great deal of classified developments that the population was oblivious to. The department my grandfather worked for protecting the world against extra-terrestrial threats or extra-terrestrial terrorism as they described it.
Paranoia gripped them after the moon landing and they took drastic measures to prepare. Five years later, they deciphered the first communications and signals from frequencies previously unknown to them. These signals were so powerful that they destroyed entire systems, disrupted the power grid and took down entire radio stations. This special branch of government discovered they could tap into these signals which revealed that our galaxy has been under constant surveillance. This was ironically discovered by extra-terrestrials working within this branch, tasked to monitor and prevent extra-terrestrial terrorism on a much larger scale.
At this point in their story, the soldiers were reluctant to divulge more. Insisting that they already revealed too much. But I demanded full transparency, refusing to cooperate with their equivocation. It was essential that I know my involvement in these matters. So, they continued, placing a huge box in front of me, overflowing with papers. They swiftly unveiled its contents to me, Stacks of documents and old tapes they tossed onto the table, one after the another.
The documents contained, amongst others, details of weapons the organisation, known as ESA were crafting and testing along with formulas to create immensely powerful weapons. They used advanced calculations to try and manufacture better equipment that could be sent up to space. They were doing this undisclosed, to monitor and learn as much as they could.
The ESA spent millions designing and building a spacecraft to contain their equipment, if the situation ever called for it. It is still a work in progress. All of this is actively happening, the documents and footage stamped up until a week ago.
I opened a document with a list of classified individuals who had this information. Presidents, EU members, a handful of the rich and powerful, who used this information to design and construct underground bunkers, granting that, if anything were to ever happen, they’d be prepared. These aren’t a new concept though, the extremely rich and powerful have been known to publicly sponsor new technological advancements. Well some may think this gave them the upper hand, it eventually proved their foolishness.
The following is what I saw in the most crucial videos:
Video 1: dated 1975 The video opens in an empty cell, appearing to be a reinforced holding chamber. At first, the room is dark, then the spotlights switch on, illuminating the centre of the room. Now in the light, I could clearly make out what looked like a reinforced metal wall with chains protruding from it. The focus shifts to the back of the room where a large door opens and something is dragged in a sheet, concealing its identity, and tied down with thick chains. The video ends.
Video 2: June 1975 I saw about 20 armed men entered the room and start to unwrap the sheet from what they hauled in. After several minutes of unwrapping, the identity of the thing they brought in is revealed.
There seemed to be a glitch in the recording, at different points in the video the screen was covered in static. The sound was muted, and the figure was hard to make out. It appeared that the creature was attempting to change shape, vibrating as if to phase into a different shape. Despite its best attempts, it remained unsuccessful and reverted back to its original form. .
Video 3: the very next day wnd June 1975
The video opens with the creature fully in focus. Within the 18 hours of footage, the creature is constantly seen attempting to change form. It fails every time, but that doesn’t prevent it from trying again. It looks like a blur, occasionally a second head or what appears to be a human hand. It’s apparent the creature has shapeshifting abilities.
The next 200 videos are identical. To the naked eye, it seemed like a loop. But it wasn’t. The creature was, however, relentless in its attempt to free itself or escape.
Video 204: October 1975
This time the alien appeared to be asleep, head limp and no movement. This video had sound, but it was accompanied by a high pitch buzz that made my ears hurt. At the six-hour mark, the faint cry of a baby can be heard before gradually escalating into full-blown screaming.
At first I suspected that one of the scientists had brought their child along, but the agents assured me the crying was coming from the creature. As the video progresses, the cries grow louder and more demanding, eventually accompanied by a deep voice. Close to the end of the video, 22 hours in, multiple voices begin to scream simultaneously, causing everything to shake.
The documents show that, after this incident, the cage was reinforced. The next few videos are static, proving that the creature has the uncanny ability to manipulate video and disrupt frequencies.
Video 340 February 1982
The creature, with its brown discoloration, possessed crocodile like scales and an eagle like head, but it was entirely reptilian in nature. It stood at a whopping 12 feet tall and was covered in an unknown slime like substance.
The chains were substantially thicker than they were years earlier, and the cage has been fortified. It looked like a different room altogether.
The agents explained that the creature got loose and attacked 12 soldiers, absorbing them into itself instead of merely killing or eating them.
The creature was taken to Nevada, close to the desert, where a strong armoured underground structure had been constructed, far from civilization. The facility has been equipped with high level security precautions which allowed sections of the building to be sealed off and rigged to explode, guaranteeing that, if necessary, the building would collapse in on itself, trapping the creature within its cage, underneath the rubble.
The creature mirrored the image I conjured up in my head when I pictured the devil; brown, scaly, a demonic voice. The eyes were its most terrifying feature, shaped like that of a reptilian, but blood red. I counted 4 horns on its head, and it bore a pair of nasty fangs. Its feet bore the resemblance of a dinosaur, but it lacked a tale. Once the creature was no longer phasing in and out, it settled on a more consistent appearance, one that was easier to recognize.
Video 341 February 1982
This video marked the first appearance of my grandfather. He entered, along with four other men in lab coats, carrying a large syringe, approximately the size of my arm. He stuck it into the beast’s heart, causing it to instantly fall into a deep sleep. He proceeded to connect various machines onto the slumbering creature, attaching electrodes to its head and chest which were linked to a sizeable computer or something that resembled a computer. The video cuts off after this, leaving us to guess what occurred next.
Video 343 February 1982 The lights in the room were far brighter than before, and it once again lacked the presence of sound. The reason for this remained unknown.
Within the room stood a table filled with an assortment of equipment that appeared to be severely damaged. The lights flickered at intervals, and the creature began to phase in and out once more. This made it difficult to distinguish its appearance amid the static moments and blurred movements. The scientists observed the creature a safe distance away.
The scientists were relying on a certain frequency they discovered to keep the creature at bay. It seemed to produce positive results for the next few videos.
The videos that followed held a similar pattern. The creature remained silent, wired to machines while people came in and out taking notes or the occasional blood or slime sample. The creature remained composed, not once attempting to shift or escape again.
According to the agents’ records, everything proceeded as planned. My grandfather welcomed his first son, my father in 1975, he subsequently resumed his project until his resignation in 2008 when he was 55. A year later, he had a fatal heart attack, my grandmother following soot. My father was 34.
My father and his younger brother began working for ESA in 2004, when they were 28 and 24. New technological advancements introduced better cameras and electronic equipment for testing purposes. Since the technology became so advanced, their visits to the cage became as infrequent as once a week, or even less often. With new needles, enhanced equipment and upgraded data collection, the project transferred to electronic records ushering changes in the filing system.
While we waited for my transportation, they shared more classified documents. According to the notes, the once wild and violent creature was now unrecognisably tame and responsive, even answering questions. It remained unclear whether they had intentionally provoked it or stumbled upon a means to subdue it.
The circumstances surrounding my birth were strange. My dad impregnated a college classmate, and they made the mutual decision to put me up for adoption since neither of them had the desire to raise a child. My mother was studying biology and my father, a young genius physicist that found it hard to understand basic human interaction as it was. According to my foster parents, I was born in 2000, but the data I was presented proved I was born two years prior. This revelation had a more profound effect on me than anything else I’d seen.
Regardless, I was immediately given up for adoption and my existence was all but forgotten about. My adoptive parents moved to Iowa, and that’s where I lived up until 2018 when I left for Harvard. I always wondered what my birth parents were like. My adoptive parents told me I was a genius and speculated that I inherited my brain from somewhere. It’s an uncanny feeling; the knowledge that every aspect of my life was monitored.
The videos documenting the creature continued for the next 6 years. It became routine, apart from the indistinct chatter from the observing scientists and other government employees. There were no other sounds, incidents or noteworthy occurrences.
The tests revealed that the creature’s biology was predominantly alien, with no genetic material in common with humans. The scientists highlighted the alarming fact that the creature’s DNA was ever changing, resulting in frequent sample collection and analysis.
They concluded that, the creature was still a baby at the time of capture, which made it easier to contain. They did, however, underestimate its shocking growth rate which resulted in the deaths of the 12 soldiers’ years prior. At the time, it was still in its adolescent phase. Further research uncovered that the creature had the unique ability to absorb the genetic material of the men it came into contact with. The more humans it absorbed, the more diverse its gene pool became. A portion of the genes obtained gradually became more similar to those observed in humans. It’s as if the creature dove into an immense pool of genes and, as it absorbed more humans, its genetic makeup gradually began to adopt more human like qualities. Although difficult to comprehend at first, the basic explanation is that with every absorption of genetic information, the creature’s genetic composition seemed to evolve, storing human qualities within its own gene and gradually becoming more human-like That is my understanding of it.
Which brings me to the final video they have. Prepare yourselves.
Video: mov5078436b The creature behaved normally before viewing was disrupted by static. Among the sudden legion of voices, it echoed my father’s name, simultaneously expanding in size which causes the surroundings to convulse. Alarms resounded, piercing the silence as the creature tugged at its chains, cracking the floor ceiling in its attempt to break free. An ear splitting roar escaped its mouth as hordes of armoured soldiers rushed the cage, massive tasers in hand. They zapped the creature at maximum voltage as it continued to roar, lights flickering excessively. The camera feed is interrupted again by bouts of static.
A second group arrived, armed heavily with guns, increasing the crowd to a total of 30. The gunfire was so severe that it affected the video’s audio. One of the chains bound to the roof of the cage had already broken loose by the time the third group of soldiers arrived. This group carried a machine emitting bursts of fire, which had no effect on the creature aside from antagonizing it. It releases a powerful blast from its hand, causing the room to tremble which shattered the bulletproof glass into millions of pieces and sent the men flying across the room. Both of the creature’s hands were now free, and it began to morph.
Finally, a fourth group arrived in heavily armoured suits, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They wielded lasers and what appeared to be a concentrated lightning gun. I was grateful they hadn’t made use of nuclear weapons which would have wiped everyone out. After every attempt, the creature remained standing. Now it was his turn.
The creature freed itself from the remaining shackles and unleashed a blast with both its hands. All that was left of the solders was a gruesome mess of blood where they stood. The air filled with a haunting scream that echoed throughout the halls. The creature released a menacing growl in the form of words that sent chills down my spine, “Dennis McCarthy”, my father’s name.
Right before the camera blacked out, I could have sworn he was in the brink of morphing into a human form, but the recording was cut short by the thunderous detonation of explosions that sent the building into destruction, burying the truth within its rubble.
The scientists, including my dad, were taken by the ESA (extra-terrestrial security agency) and hidden in a heavily guarded underground haven. They were issued new identities and relocated, which isn’t a new concept for the government.
As far as the drones’ visual feed could capture, the entire operation was terminated, leaving behind the collapsed and buried ruins of a facility that was once fully functional. It was under strict surveillance for any signs of life, but as the years rolled by, complacency set in, compromising their once strict security measures.
My father, uncle and the rest of the scientists assumed new lives and identities. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, they were dead.
In 2010, an unexpected interruption occurred. Reports indicated that the drones simultaneously malfunctioned, and the video feed erupted into static. A team arrived at the site to find it disrupted, all the drones lay in scattered heaps across the landscape.
Before anyone could investigate or react, all communication with the agents safeguarding the scientists was abruptly terminated. One be one, the connections were severed, leaving them permanently unreachable. When they reached my father’s safe house, they were greeted with his spine-chilling absence. He had vanished without so much as a trace that he had ever been there to begin with—no signs of struggle or any shred of evidence left behind. He was lost in an infinite void of mystery. The only indication that something was amiss was the eerie blue glow invading the monitors moments before blackout. The only accurate word for it would be ‘suction’, leading the team to believe that they had been absorbed. It remained a speculation, though plausible enough to send waves of panic up their spines.
As we speak governments around the world have been swept up into the desperate search to locate the alien as well as training an elite group of drone pilots and soldiers in an attempt to confront and defeat the elusive entity. Furthermore, every effort at locating surviving relatives of the missing scientists, including my father, had fallen short. They too had vanished into an infinite cloud of mystery, not one left unscathed to provide answers.
Considering the site’s altered state, the complete destruction of the drones and the fact that the creature they had held captive was constantly evolving, they were profoundly aware of the unravelling truth.
I am the sole living descendent of the scientists that worked for ESA. The creature has made it his mission to eliminate any and all traces of their existence. This is the sole reason I was upended from my life and relocated to a heavily guarded facility, and this is the reason I feel compelled to share their stories.
I couldn’t comprehend why the creature would hunt me since I didn’t share the sins of my father, but I felt paranoid and vigilant regardless. I couldn’t help but feel compelled to look into the disappearances myself, perhaps due to some lingering hopes that the information was wrong. My pursuit for answers turned up nothing, not even social media accounts. It was as if any trace of their existence was utterly obliterated, there was no digital footprint left.
The reason I am now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life is in danger is because I have started catching glimpses of subtle movements in my peripheral, a shadowy figure lurking around the premises, disruptions in the signal of my appliances, even the phone I am using right now.
Call me foolish for even relying on the very technology that might lead to my demise, but I felt compelled to warn anyone else who might be a descendent of the team that worked for ESA: project corrosion.
If you’re aware then heed my words and flee. If you are unaware, observe the news for any sudden or unexplained disappearances, and I regret to inform you but, if you come across the creature then it’s too late.
Stay safe my friends

I never met my birth parents. They both died on a job when I was a baby, and I went into foster care. I didn’t have any interest in knowing anything about them; my adoptive parents are the ones who raised me.
However, everything changed a week ago when a group of men came knocking at my door. They wore what looked like military uniforms, but instead of the usual green, they wore a distinct red color instead. They loaded me, along with my foster parents into an unmarked matching red van. We were rushed to a farmhouse on the opposite side of Washington where the facility was heavily guarded with intimidating men and unfamiliar machines that appeared like they required several men to operate.
Being an IT major, I had no knowledge nor interest in these things. I’m not a runner, fighter or a strategist, so I couldn’t fathom what they wanted from me.
They relentlessly interrogated me for three days, bombarding me with questions and then, when they concluded that I was blissfully unaware, intimidated me with frightening information. Dumbfounded, I soaked in every ounce of knowledge they offered me. The new knowledge I gained made me see my parents in a new terrifying light. I couldn’t help but feel more resentment, adding on to the existing resentment I harboured. My parents not only betrayed themselves, but me as well and part of me feared that I would never be safe again. I couldn’t help but feel manipulated. They were long gone, but their past still controlled my fate.
I was eventually uprooted to a secondary protective facility, one in which I was not permitted to know the location of. For my own safety, they assured me. Once settled, they supplied me with new electronics and destroyed my old ones. They warned me that I was to stay under the radar, completely untraceable. Again, for my own protection. I was confident that given my knowledge of IT, software engineering and cyber security, I would remain unseen and untraceable to anyone who might be hunting me.
Now that I am sure I am safe, I can finally write this message and warn anyone connected to the initial bloodlines involved. It is crucial for my message to reach you.
The story begins with my biological grandfather. He worked for a branch of the government closely related to NASA. Following the moon landing there was a great deal of classified developments that the population was oblivious to. The department my grandfather worked for protecting the world against extra-terrestrial threats or extra-terrestrial terrorism as they described it.
Paranoia gripped them after the moon landing and they took drastic measures to prepare. Five years later, they deciphered the first communications and signals from frequencies previously unknown to them. These signals were so powerful that they destroyed entire systems, disrupted the power grid and took down entire radio stations. This special branch of government discovered they could tap into these signals which revealed that our galaxy has been under constant surveillance. This was ironically discovered by extra-terrestrials working within this branch, tasked to monitor and prevent extra-terrestrial terrorism on a much larger scale.
At this point in their story, the soldiers were reluctant to divulge more. Insisting that they already revealed too much. But I demanded full transparency, refusing to cooperate with their equivocation. It was essential that I know my involvement in these matters. So, they continued, placing a huge box in front of me, overflowing with papers. They swiftly unveiled its contents to me, Stacks of documents and old tapes they tossed onto the table, one after the another.
The documents contained, amongst others, details of weapons the organisation, known as ESA were crafting and testing along with formulas to create immensely powerful weapons. They used advanced calculations to try and manufacture better equipment that could be sent up to space. They were doing this undisclosed, to monitor and learn as much as they could.
The ESA spent millions designing and building a spacecraft to contain their equipment, if the situation ever called for it. It is still a work in progress. All of this is actively happening, the documents and footage stamped up until a week ago.
I opened a document with a list of classified individuals who had this information. Presidents, EU members, a handful of the rich and powerful, who used this information to design and construct underground bunkers, granting that, if anything were to ever happen, they’d be prepared. These aren’t a new concept though, the extremely rich and powerful have been known to publicly sponsor new technological advancements. Well some may think this gave them the upper hand, it eventually proved their foolishness.
The following is what I saw in the most crucial videos:
Video 1: dated 1975 The video opens in an empty cell, appearing to be a reinforced holding chamber. At first, the room is dark, then the spotlights switch on, illuminating the centre of the room. Now in the light, I could clearly make out what looked like a reinforced metal wall with chains protruding from it. The focus shifts to the back of the room where a large door opens and something is dragged in a sheet, concealing its identity, and tied down with thick chains. The video ends.
Video 2: June 1975 I saw about 20 armed men entered the room and start to unwrap the sheet from what they hauled in. After several minutes of unwrapping, the identity of the thing they brought in is revealed.
There seemed to be a glitch in the recording, at different points in the video the screen was covered in static. The sound was muted, and the figure was hard to make out. It appeared that the creature was attempting to change shape, vibrating as if to phase into a different shape. Despite its best attempts, it remained unsuccessful and reverted back to its original form. .
Video 3: the very next day wnd June 1975
The video opens with the creature fully in focus. Within the 18 hours of footage, the creature is constantly seen attempting to change form. It fails every time, but that doesn’t prevent it from trying again. It looks like a blur, occasionally a second head or what appears to be a human hand. It’s apparent the creature has shapeshifting abilities.
The next 200 videos are identical. To the naked eye, it seemed like a loop. But it wasn’t. The creature was, however, relentless in its attempt to free itself or escape.
Video 204: October 1975
This time the alien appeared to be asleep, head limp and no movement. This video had sound, but it was accompanied by a high pitch buzz that made my ears hurt. At the six-hour mark, the faint cry of a baby can be heard before gradually escalating into full-blown screaming.
At first I suspected that one of the scientists had brought their child along, but the agents assured me the crying was coming from the creature. As the video progresses, the cries grow louder and more demanding, eventually accompanied by a deep voice. Close to the end of the video, 22 hours in, multiple voices begin to scream simultaneously, causing everything to shake.
The documents show that, after this incident, the cage was reinforced. The next few videos are static, proving that the creature has the uncanny ability to manipulate video and disrupt frequencies.
Video 340 February 1982
The creature, with its brown discoloration, possessed crocodile like scales and an eagle like head, but it was entirely reptilian in nature. It stood at a whopping 12 feet tall and was covered in an unknown slime like substance.
The chains were substantially thicker than they were years earlier, and the cage has been fortified. It looked like a different room altogether.
The agents explained that the creature got loose and attacked 12 soldiers, absorbing them into itself instead of merely killing or eating them.
The creature was taken to Nevada, close to the desert, where a strong armoured underground structure had been constructed, far from civilization. The facility has been equipped with high level security precautions which allowed sections of the building to be sealed off and rigged to explode, guaranteeing that, if necessary, the building would collapse in on itself, trapping the creature within its cage, underneath the rubble.
The creature mirrored the image I conjured up in my head when I pictured the devil; brown, scaly, a demonic voice. The eyes were its most terrifying feature, shaped like that of a reptilian, but blood red. I counted 4 horns on its head, and it bore a pair of nasty fangs. Its feet bore the resemblance of a dinosaur, but it lacked a tale. Once the creature was no longer phasing in and out, it settled on a more consistent appearance, one that was easier to recognize.
Video 341 February 1982
This video marked the first appearance of my grandfather. He entered, along with four other men in lab coats, carrying a large syringe, approximately the size of my arm. He stuck it into the beast’s heart, causing it to instantly fall into a deep sleep. He proceeded to connect various machines onto the slumbering creature, attaching electrodes to its head and chest which were linked to a sizeable computer or something that resembled a computer. The video cuts off after this, leaving us to guess what occurred next.
Video 343 February 1982 The lights in the room were far brighter than before, and it once again lacked the presence of sound. The reason for this remained unknown.
Within the room stood a table filled with an assortment of equipment that appeared to be severely damaged. The lights flickered at intervals, and the creature began to phase in and out once more. This made it difficult to distinguish its appearance amid the static moments and blurred movements. The scientists observed the creature a safe distance away.
The scientists were relying on a certain frequency they discovered to keep the creature at bay. It seemed to produce positive results for the next few videos.
The videos that followed held a similar pattern. The creature remained silent, wired to machines while people came in and out taking notes or the occasional blood or slime sample. The creature remained composed, not once attempting to shift or escape again.
According to the agents’ records, everything proceeded as planned. My grandfather welcomed his first son, my father in 1975, he subsequently resumed his project until his resignation in 2008 when he was 55. A year later, he had a fatal heart attack, my grandmother following soot. My father was 34.
My father and his younger brother began working for ESA in 2004, when they were 28 and 24. New technological advancements introduced better cameras and electronic equipment for testing purposes. Since the technology became so advanced, their visits to the cage became as infrequent as once a week, or even less often. With new needles, enhanced equipment and upgraded data collection, the project transferred to electronic records ushering changes in the filing system.
While we waited for my transportation, they shared more classified documents. According to the notes, the once wild and violent creature was now unrecognisably tame and responsive, even answering questions. It remained unclear whether they had intentionally provoked it or stumbled upon a means to subdue it.
The circumstances surrounding my birth were strange. My dad impregnated a college classmate, and they made the mutual decision to put me up for adoption since neither of them had the desire to raise a child. My mother was studying biology and my father, a young genius physicist that found it hard to understand basic human interaction as it was. According to my foster parents, I was born in 2000, but the data I was presented proved I was born two years prior. This revelation had a more profound effect on me than anything else I’d seen.
Regardless, I was immediately given up for adoption and my existence was all but forgotten about. My adoptive parents moved to Iowa, and that’s where I lived up until 2018 when I left for Harvard. I always wondered what my birth parents were like. My adoptive parents told me I was a genius and speculated that I inherited my brain from somewhere. It’s an uncanny feeling; the knowledge that every aspect of my life was monitored.
The videos documenting the creature continued for the next 6 years. It became routine, apart from the indistinct chatter from the observing scientists and other government employees. There were no other sounds, incidents or noteworthy occurrences.
The tests revealed that the creature’s biology was predominantly alien, with no genetic material in common with humans. The scientists highlighted the alarming fact that the creature’s DNA was ever changing, resulting in frequent sample collection and analysis.
They concluded that, the creature was still a baby at the time of capture, which made it easier to contain. They did, however, underestimate its shocking growth rate which resulted in the deaths of the 12 soldiers’ years prior. At the time, it was still in its adolescent phase. Further research uncovered that the creature had the unique ability to absorb the genetic material of the men it came into contact with. The more humans it absorbed, the more diverse its gene pool became. A portion of the genes obtained gradually became more similar to those observed in humans. It’s as if the creature dove into an immense pool of genes and, as it absorbed more humans, its genetic makeup gradually began to adopt more human like qualities. Although difficult to comprehend at first, the basic explanation is that with every absorption of genetic information, the creature’s genetic composition seemed to evolve, storing human qualities within its own gene and gradually becoming more human-like That is my understanding of it.
Which brings me to the final video they have. Prepare yourselves.
Video: mov5078436b The creature behaved normally before viewing was disrupted by static. Among the sudden legion of voices, it echoed my father’s name, simultaneously expanding in size which causes the surroundings to convulse. Alarms resounded, piercing the silence as the creature tugged at its chains, cracking the floor ceiling in its attempt to break free. An ear splitting roar escaped its mouth as hordes of armoured soldiers rushed the cage, massive tasers in hand. They zapped the creature at maximum voltage as it continued to roar, lights flickering excessively. The camera feed is interrupted again by bouts of static.
A second group arrived, armed heavily with guns, increasing the crowd to a total of 30. The gunfire was so severe that it affected the video’s audio. One of the chains bound to the roof of the cage had already broken loose by the time the third group of soldiers arrived. This group carried a machine emitting bursts of fire, which had no effect on the creature aside from antagonizing it. It releases a powerful blast from its hand, causing the room to tremble which shattered the bulletproof glass into millions of pieces and sent the men flying across the room. Both of the creature’s hands were now free, and it began to morph.
Finally, a fourth group arrived in heavily armoured suits, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They wielded lasers and what appeared to be a concentrated lightning gun. I was grateful they hadn’t made use of nuclear weapons which would have wiped everyone out. After every attempt, the creature remained standing. Now it was his turn.
The creature freed itself from the remaining shackles and unleashed a blast with both its hands. All that was left of the solders was a gruesome mess of blood where they stood. The air filled with a haunting scream that echoed throughout the halls. The creature released a menacing growl in the form of words that sent chills down my spine, “Dennis McCarthy”, my father’s name.
Right before the camera blacked out, I could have sworn he was in the brink of morphing into a human form, but the recording was cut short by the thunderous detonation of explosions that sent the building into destruction, burying the truth within its rubble.
The scientists, including my dad, were taken by the ESA (extra-terrestrial security agency) and hidden in a heavily guarded underground haven. They were issued new identities and relocated, which isn’t a new concept for the government.
As far as the drones’ visual feed could capture, the entire operation was terminated, leaving behind the collapsed and buried ruins of a facility that was once fully functional. It was under strict surveillance for any signs of life, but as the years rolled by, complacency set in, compromising their once strict security measures.
My father, uncle and the rest of the scientists assumed new lives and identities. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, they were dead.
In 2010, an unexpected interruption occurred. Reports indicated that the drones simultaneously malfunctioned, and the video feed erupted into static. A team arrived at the site to find it disrupted, all the drones lay in scattered heaps across the landscape.
Before anyone could investigate or react, all communication with the agents safeguarding the scientists was abruptly terminated. One be one, the connections were severed, leaving them permanently unreachable. When they reached my father’s safe house, they were greeted with his spine-chilling absence. He had vanished without so much as a trace that he had ever been there to begin with—no signs of struggle or any shred of evidence left behind. He was lost in an infinite void of mystery. The only indication that something was amiss was the eerie blue glow invading the monitors moments before blackout. The only accurate word for it would be ‘suction’, leading the team to believe that they had been absorbed. It remained a speculation, though plausible enough to send waves of panic up their spines.
As we speak governments around the world have been swept up into the desperate search to locate the alien as well as training an elite group of drone pilots and soldiers in an attempt to confront and defeat the elusive entity. Furthermore, every effort at locating surviving relatives of the missing scientists, including my father, had fallen short. They too had vanished into an infinite cloud of mystery, not one left unscathed to provide answers.
Considering the site’s altered state, the complete destruction of the drones and the fact that the creature they had held captive was constantly evolving, they were profoundly aware of the unravelling truth.
I am the sole living descendent of the scientists that worked for ESA. The creature has made it his mission to eliminate any and all traces of their existence. This is the sole reason I was upended from my life and relocated to a heavily guarded facility, and this is the reason I feel compelled to share their stories.
I couldn’t comprehend why the creature would hunt me since I didn’t share the sins of my father, but I felt paranoid and vigilant regardless. I couldn’t help but feel compelled to look into the disappearances myself, perhaps due to some lingering hopes that the information was wrong. My pursuit for answers turned up nothing, not even social media accounts. It was as if any trace of their existence was utterly obliterated, there was no digital footprint left.
The reason I am now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life is in danger is because I have started catching glimpses of subtle movements in my peripheral, a shadowy figure lurking around the premises, disruptions in the signal of my appliances, even the phone I am using right now.
Call me foolish for even relying on the very technology that might lead to my demise, but I felt compelled to warn anyone else who might be a descendent of the team that worked for ESA: project corrosion.
If you’re aware then heed my words and flee. If you are unaware, observe the news for any sudden or unexplained disappearances, and I regret to inform you but, if you come across the creature then it’s too late.
Stay safe my friends

I never met my birth parents. They both died on a job when I was a baby, and I went into foster care. I didn’t have any interest in knowing anything about them; my adoptive parents are the ones who raised me.
However, everything changed a week ago when a group of men came knocking at my door. They wore what looked like military uniforms, but instead of the usual green, they wore a distinct red color instead. They loaded me, along with my foster parents into an unmarked matching red van. We were rushed to a farmhouse on the opposite side of Washington where the facility was heavily guarded with intimidating men and unfamiliar machines that appeared like they required several men to operate.
Being an IT major, I had no knowledge nor interest in these things. I’m not a runner, fighter or a strategist, so I couldn’t fathom what they wanted from me.
They relentlessly interrogated me for three days, bombarding me with questions and then, when they concluded that I was blissfully unaware, intimidated me with frightening information. Dumbfounded, I soaked in every ounce of knowledge they offered me. The new knowledge I gained made me see my parents in a new terrifying light. I couldn’t help but feel more resentment, adding on to the existing resentment I harboured. My parents not only betrayed themselves, but me as well and part of me feared that I would never be safe again. I couldn’t help but feel manipulated. They were long gone, but their past still controlled my fate.
I was eventually uprooted to a secondary protective facility, one in which I was not permitted to know the location of. For my own safety, they assured me. Once settled, they supplied me with new electronics and destroyed my old ones. They warned me that I was to stay under the radar, completely untraceable. Again, for my own protection. I was confident that given my knowledge of IT, software engineering and cyber security, I would remain unseen and untraceable to anyone who might be hunting me.
Now that I am sure I am safe, I can finally write this message and warn anyone connected to the initial bloodlines involved. It is crucial for my message to reach you.
The story begins with my biological grandfather. He worked for a branch of the government closely related to NASA. Following the moon landing there was a great deal of classified developments that the population was oblivious to. The department my grandfather worked for protecting the world against extra-terrestrial threats or extra-terrestrial terrorism as they described it.
Paranoia gripped them after the moon landing and they took drastic measures to prepare. Five years later, they deciphered the first communications and signals from frequencies previously unknown to them. These signals were so powerful that they destroyed entire systems, disrupted the power grid and took down entire radio stations. This special branch of government discovered they could tap into these signals which revealed that our galaxy has been under constant surveillance. This was ironically discovered by extra-terrestrials working within this branch, tasked to monitor and prevent extra-terrestrial terrorism on a much larger scale.
At this point in their story, the soldiers were reluctant to divulge more. Insisting that they already revealed too much. But I demanded full transparency, refusing to cooperate with their equivocation. It was essential that I know my involvement in these matters. So, they continued, placing a huge box in front of me, overflowing with papers. They swiftly unveiled its contents to me, Stacks of documents and old tapes they tossed onto the table, one after the another.
The documents contained, amongst others, details of weapons the organisation, known as ESA were crafting and testing along with formulas to create immensely powerful weapons. They used advanced calculations to try and manufacture better equipment that could be sent up to space. They were doing this undisclosed, to monitor and learn as much as they could.
The ESA spent millions designing and building a spacecraft to contain their equipment, if the situation ever called for it. It is still a work in progress. All of this is actively happening, the documents and footage stamped up until a week ago.
I opened a document with a list of classified individuals who had this information. Presidents, EU members, a handful of the rich and powerful, who used this information to design and construct underground bunkers, granting that, if anything were to ever happen, they’d be prepared. These aren’t a new concept though, the extremely rich and powerful have been known to publicly sponsor new technological advancements. Well some may think this gave them the upper hand, it eventually proved their foolishness.
The following is what I saw in the most crucial videos:
Video 1: dated 1975 The video opens in an empty cell, appearing to be a reinforced holding chamber. At first, the room is dark, then the spotlights switch on, illuminating the centre of the room. Now in the light, I could clearly make out what looked like a reinforced metal wall with chains protruding from it. The focus shifts to the back of the room where a large door opens and something is dragged in a sheet, concealing its identity, and tied down with thick chains. The video ends.
Video 2: June 1975 I saw about 20 armed men entered the room and start to unwrap the sheet from what they hauled in. After several minutes of unwrapping, the identity of the thing they brought in is revealed.
There seemed to be a glitch in the recording, at different points in the video the screen was covered in static. The sound was muted, and the figure was hard to make out. It appeared that the creature was attempting to change shape, vibrating as if to phase into a different shape. Despite its best attempts, it remained unsuccessful and reverted back to its original form. .
Video 3: the very next day wnd June 1975
The video opens with the creature fully in focus. Within the 18 hours of footage, the creature is constantly seen attempting to change form. It fails every time, but that doesn’t prevent it from trying again. It looks like a blur, occasionally a second head or what appears to be a human hand. It’s apparent the creature has shapeshifting abilities.
The next 200 videos are identical. To the naked eye, it seemed like a loop. But it wasn’t. The creature was, however, relentless in its attempt to free itself or escape.
Video 204: October 1975
This time the alien appeared to be asleep, head limp and no movement. This video had sound, but it was accompanied by a high pitch buzz that made my ears hurt. At the six-hour mark, the faint cry of a baby can be heard before gradually escalating into full-blown screaming.
At first I suspected that one of the scientists had brought their child along, but the agents assured me the crying was coming from the creature. As the video progresses, the cries grow louder and more demanding, eventually accompanied by a deep voice. Close to the end of the video, 22 hours in, multiple voices begin to scream simultaneously, causing everything to shake.
The documents show that, after this incident, the cage was reinforced. The next few videos are static, proving that the creature has the uncanny ability to manipulate video and disrupt frequencies.
Video 340 February 1982
The creature, with its brown discoloration, possessed crocodile like scales and an eagle like head, but it was entirely reptilian in nature. It stood at a whopping 12 feet tall and was covered in an unknown slime like substance.
The chains were substantially thicker than they were years earlier, and the cage has been fortified. It looked like a different room altogether.
The agents explained that the creature got loose and attacked 12 soldiers, absorbing them into itself instead of merely killing or eating them.
The creature was taken to Nevada, close to the desert, where a strong armoured underground structure had been constructed, far from civilization. The facility has been equipped with high level security precautions which allowed sections of the building to be sealed off and rigged to explode, guaranteeing that, if necessary, the building would collapse in on itself, trapping the creature within its cage, underneath the rubble.
The creature mirrored the image I conjured up in my head when I pictured the devil; brown, scaly, a demonic voice. The eyes were its most terrifying feature, shaped like that of a reptilian, but blood red. I counted 4 horns on its head, and it bore a pair of nasty fangs. Its feet bore the resemblance of a dinosaur, but it lacked a tale. Once the creature was no longer phasing in and out, it settled on a more consistent appearance, one that was easier to recognize.
Video 341 February 1982
This video marked the first appearance of my grandfather. He entered, along with four other men in lab coats, carrying a large syringe, approximately the size of my arm. He stuck it into the beast’s heart, causing it to instantly fall into a deep sleep. He proceeded to connect various machines onto the slumbering creature, attaching electrodes to its head and chest which were linked to a sizeable computer or something that resembled a computer. The video cuts off after this, leaving us to guess what occurred next.
Video 343 February 1982 The lights in the room were far brighter than before, and it once again lacked the presence of sound. The reason for this remained unknown.
Within the room stood a table filled with an assortment of equipment that appeared to be severely damaged. The lights flickered at intervals, and the creature began to phase in and out once more. This made it difficult to distinguish its appearance amid the static moments and blurred movements. The scientists observed the creature a safe distance away.
The scientists were relying on a certain frequency they discovered to keep the creature at bay. It seemed to produce positive results for the next few videos.
The videos that followed held a similar pattern. The creature remained silent, wired to machines while people came in and out taking notes or the occasional blood or slime sample. The creature remained composed, not once attempting to shift or escape again.
According to the agents’ records, everything proceeded as planned. My grandfather welcomed his first son, my father in 1975, he subsequently resumed his project until his resignation in 2008 when he was 55. A year later, he had a fatal heart attack, my grandmother following soot. My father was 34.
My father and his younger brother began working for ESA in 2004, when they were 28 and 24. New technological advancements introduced better cameras and electronic equipment for testing purposes. Since the technology became so advanced, their visits to the cage became as infrequent as once a week, or even less often. With new needles, enhanced equipment and upgraded data collection, the project transferred to electronic records ushering changes in the filing system.
While we waited for my transportation, they shared more classified documents. According to the notes, the once wild and violent creature was now unrecognisably tame and responsive, even answering questions. It remained unclear whether they had intentionally provoked it or stumbled upon a means to subdue it.
The circumstances surrounding my birth were strange. My dad impregnated a college classmate, and they made the mutual decision to put me up for adoption since neither of them had the desire to raise a child. My mother was studying biology and my father, a young genius physicist that found it hard to understand basic human interaction as it was. According to my foster parents, I was born in 2000, but the data I was presented proved I was born two years prior. This revelation had a more profound effect on me than anything else I’d seen.
Regardless, I was immediately given up for adoption and my existence was all but forgotten about. My adoptive parents moved to Iowa, and that’s where I lived up until 2018 when I left for Harvard. I always wondered what my birth parents were like. My adoptive parents told me I was a genius and speculated that I inherited my brain from somewhere. It’s an uncanny feeling; the knowledge that every aspect of my life was monitored.
The videos documenting the creature continued for the next 6 years. It became routine, apart from the indistinct chatter from the observing scientists and other government employees. There were no other sounds, incidents or noteworthy occurrences.
The tests revealed that the creature’s biology was predominantly alien, with no genetic material in common with humans. The scientists highlighted the alarming fact that the creature’s DNA was ever changing, resulting in frequent sample collection and analysis.
They concluded that, the creature was still a baby at the time of capture, which made it easier to contain. They did, however, underestimate its shocking growth rate which resulted in the deaths of the 12 soldiers’ years prior. At the time, it was still in its adolescent phase. Further research uncovered that the creature had the unique ability to absorb the genetic material of the men it came into contact with. The more humans it absorbed, the more diverse its gene pool became. A portion of the genes obtained gradually became more similar to those observed in humans. It’s as if the creature dove into an immense pool of genes and, as it absorbed more humans, its genetic makeup gradually began to adopt more human like qualities. Although difficult to comprehend at first, the basic explanation is that with every absorption of genetic information, the creature’s genetic composition seemed to evolve, storing human qualities within its own gene and gradually becoming more human-like That is my understanding of it.
Which brings me to the final video they have. Prepare yourselves.
Video: mov5078436b The creature behaved normally before viewing was disrupted by static. Among the sudden legion of voices, it echoed my father’s name, simultaneously expanding in size which causes the surroundings to convulse. Alarms resounded, piercing the silence as the creature tugged at its chains, cracking the floor ceiling in its attempt to break free. An ear splitting roar escaped its mouth as hordes of armoured soldiers rushed the cage, massive tasers in hand. They zapped the creature at maximum voltage as it continued to roar, lights flickering excessively. The camera feed is interrupted again by bouts of static.
A second group arrived, armed heavily with guns, increasing the crowd to a total of 30. The gunfire was so severe that it affected the video’s audio. One of the chains bound to the roof of the cage had already broken loose by the time the third group of soldiers arrived. This group carried a machine emitting bursts of fire, which had no effect on the creature aside from antagonizing it. It releases a powerful blast from its hand, causing the room to tremble which shattered the bulletproof glass into millions of pieces and sent the men flying across the room. Both of the creature’s hands were now free, and it began to morph.
Finally, a third group arrived in heavily armoured suits, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They wielded lasers and what appeared to be a concentrated lightning gun. I was grateful they hadn’t made use of nuclear weapons which would have wiped everyone out. After every attempt, the creature remained standing. Now it was his turn.
The creature freed itself from the remaining shackles and unleashed a blast with both its hands. All that was left of the solders was a gruesome mess of blood where they stood. The air filled with a haunting scream that echoed throughout the halls. The creature released a menacing growl in the form of words that sent chills down my spine, “Dennis McCarthy”, my father’s name.
Right before the camera blacked out, I could have sworn he was in the brink of morphing into a human form, but the recording was cut short by the thunderous detonation of explosions that sent the building into destruction, burying the truth within its rubble.
The scientists, including my dad, were taken by the ESA (extra-terrestrial security agency) and hidden in a heavily guarded underground haven. They were issued new identities and relocated, which isn’t a new concept for the government.
As far as the drones’ visual feed could capture, the entire operation was terminated, leaving behind the collapsed and buried ruins of a facility that was once fully functional. It was under strict surveillance for any signs of life, but as the years rolled by, complacency set in, compromising their once strict security measures.
My father, uncle and the rest of the scientists assumed new lives and identities. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, they were dead.
In 2010, an unexpected interruption occurred. Reports indicated that the drones simultaneously malfunctioned, and the video feed erupted into static. A team arrived at the site to find it disrupted, all the drones lay in scattered heaps across the landscape.
Before anyone could investigate or react, all communication with the agents safeguarding the scientists was abruptly terminated. One be one, the connections were severed, leaving them permanently unreachable. When they reached my father’s safe house, they were greeted with his spine-chilling absence. He had vanished without so much as a trace that he had ever been there to begin with—no signs of struggle or any shred of evidence left behind. He was lost in an infinite void of mystery. The only indication that something was amiss was the eerie blue glow invading the monitors moments before blackout. The only accurate word for it would be ‘suction’, leading the team to believe that they had been absorbed. It remained a speculation, though plausible enough to send waves of panic up their spines.
As we speak governments around the world have been swept up into the desperate search to locate the alien as well as training an elite group of drone pilots and soldiers in an attempt to confront and defeat the elusive entity. Furthermore, every effort at locating surviving relatives of the missing scientists, including my father, had fallen short. They too had vanished into an infinite cloud of mystery, not one left unscathed to provide answers.
Considering the site’s altered state, the complete destruction of the drones and the fact that the creature they had held captive was constantly evolving, they were profoundly aware of the unravelling truth.
I am the sole living descendent of the scientists that worked for ESA. The creature has made it his mission to eliminate any and all traces of their existence. This is the sole reason I was upended from my life and relocated to a heavily guarded facility, and this is the reason I feel compelled to share their stories.
I couldn’t comprehend why the creature would hunt me since I didn’t share the sins of my father, but I felt paranoid and vigilant regardless. I couldn’t help but feel compelled to look into the disappearances myself, perhaps due to some lingering hopes that the information was wrong. My pursuit for answers turned up nothing, not even social media accounts. It was as if any trace of their existence was utterly obliterated, there was no digital footprint left.
The reason I am now convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that my life is in danger is because I have started catching glimpses of subtle movements in my peripheral, a shadowy figure lurking around the premises, disruptions in the signal of my appliances, even the phone I am using right now.
Call me foolish for even relying on the very technology that might lead to my demise, but I felt compelled to warn anyone else who might be a descendent of the team that worked for ESA: project corrosion.
If you’re aware then heed my words and flee. If you are unaware, observe the news for any sudden or unexplained disappearances, and I regret to inform you but, if you come across the creature then it’s too late.
Stay safe my friends

Local to 94587
East bay California, prices are without shipping
I prefer local but will ship if buyer agrees to pay shipping (will send screenshot)
Buy it all together (discount): $130 (yes, I really hope you to buy everything together pls)
Feker Alice80 Black - $90, like new on the outside, very good on the inside, tape mod and stabilizers are lubed. Will come with original packaging and cable.
Gateron G. Pro Red x68 - $20, factory lubed
Keychron OSA Navy Blue Keycaps - $25, like new - the ones that came with Keychron q8, they WILL fit alice80
Wooden wristrest for Alice80 - $30, like new
Timestamp
The keycaps are on another PCB just to show off what they look like, I am not selling that specific PCB in the last photo, picture as example of what is included (+2 alt and 1 windows key)
Looking to offload my Feker Alice80 as I've been using my Monsgeek M1 and just bought a Keychron Q8 off MechMarket. No major scratches or gouges, it looks pretty darn good imo, can send extra pictures. I'm selling it unbuilt but with keycaps, switches, and a wristrest.

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