text:
» » » » » » Ad Vitam Aeternam
Author Topic: Ad Vitam Aeternam (Read 5630 times)
Ad Vitam Aeternam
An Inquisitor's work is never finished as long as one person still believes in it.
... and that's possibly one of the few quotes Marco said that actually made sense. It's over idealised crap, but still - I can remember it two millennia on.
The year is M44.374, and as of the coming month of Septimus, I will be two thousand, four hundred and nine years old. My name is Jacqueline Lynn, and... well, right now, I'm hiding in a wooden crate, and my tail itches.
As you've probably guessed, I'm not quite human. I was born in the mutant hovels of Hyran IV, and as a result of whatever genetics I got from my parents, I'm just about immortal. I can heal from nearly anything, death included, and I haven't aged a day since the 41st millennium.
That was probably my cue to boast that I've seen civilisations vanish into history, stars die and worlds explode. I have seen such things, but by overwhelming majority what I have seen is civilisation stand still for two thousand years.
They said the Imperium was on the brink millennia ago. There were a million and one threats, but humanity has survived. Some of these threats are long since gone - replaced by other horrors. Some of these "threats" even proved to be our salvation.
I would name myself in that category, if it weren't incredibly pretentious. But it's not entirely untrue - I, a mutant and therefore a threat, hold one of the oldest Inquisitorial mandates in existence. Penned by the hand of Inquisitor Skoll over two thousand years ago, it charges me with the role of completing Marco's work.
And, while in the eyes of many that mandate has long since lost any force, that's exactly what I've been doing since. It's not been easy - without personally holding Inquisitorial authority, I've been forced to resort to other alternatives. But to tell you each and every one of them would take longer than your lifetime.
Instead, I suppose I had better start by telling you how I ended up in a wooden crate. Said crate is on a world known to the inhabitants as Narrilla. Officially, it's called "Klaros IV", an average size civilised world near the Galactic north of the Carthax sector and positioned on one of the warp routes which spread out from the local "hub" of Euphrosyne - but I prefer Narrilla. It's more poetic.
I arrived here on the Ynys Mon - a freighter which has been in my possession for most of my life, left to me by a very old friend, the first "normal" human to look past the fact I was a mutant. I was told the name is taken from an ancient island on old Terra, but how he actually knew remains a mystery to me.
Standing in one of the assorted viewing rooms, I looked out over the planet. It's hard to believe that it has never been terraformed - it bears huge resemblance to what is still known of how Terra was before it was subsumed into the hive world it now is.
Sixty five percent surface water, an atmosphere roughly one fifth oxygen, gravity of about ten metres per second squared and a generally inhabitable climate. There are differences - a slightly lesser axis tilt, a day of nearly thirty hours and a year of about 1.2 Terran standard because of an orbit further from its larger sun, but the world has still gained no small notoriety for the similarities.
With its "pure" environment, it is a popular haunt of the moderately wealthy. Not quite a paradise world, but certainly an upper class Gamma world.
I was interested for a different reason. Last year, the Ecclesiarchy managed to restore their influence in the Narrillan government, something they had not had since mid M36.
The governors have been devout men, so their personal preachers have no doubt had many an opportunity to get their words heard, but no member of the church has taken any major official role in the planet's affairs for nearly eight millennia.
Had I seen this shift coming, it would have been another matter, but as it was, the sudden change concerned me.
Many would take this as a personally driven move against the Ecclesiarchy, an irreligious heresy.
It is true there is little room in my life for religion - an afterlife and talk of mortal sacrifice to purge the sins of impure mutation are trivialities when death is denied to me - but regardless of my own beliefs, I have to admit it has a role to play in humanity.
The populace see hope in believing that this life is just a trial, and they will gain their rewards in the next. People need such optimism in a galaxy torn by war, and it is not my place to take that from them.
I turned away from the viewing window. It remains as stunning a sight today to see a world from orbit as it has ever been, to see a trillion trillion tonnes reduced to the size of a small fruit by sheer distance, but sometimes I even do not have an eternity to waste. And before you point it out, I know Narilla isn't quite that heavy. Like I said, I like things to be slightly poetic.
Taking the main corridor back to the primary sectors of the ship, I contemplated the various possibilities for lunch. At just about the point I had reached a consensus with myself about instructing the servitors to prepare the Pexirian pastry dish that had once been a favourite of an old comrade, a figure surged from the shadows.
Wielding a sword, it was a woman, a little taller than myself, but also more slightly built. As she lunged for my guts, I struck away the flat of the blade with the back of my left hand and grabbed her wrist with my right. Twisting sharply, I tore the sword from her hand and sent her tumbling with the same deft movement. In the moment before she hit the ground, I darted my tail under her back, softly catching her. I looked down.
"Hello Rae"
The sword was blunt - a wooden replica. And Rae... well, she's a long story all of her own.
The young woman is the latest in the Skoll line - it surprised me as much as it did anyone else that the Inquisitor and the guardswoman I once knew had stored embryos. Their work prevented them from having children in their own lifetime, but I'm grateful to them for what they did. For five dozen generations, their descendents have kept me company. Five of those generations are currently aboard - about thirty individuals in all, making them the largest part of my human crew.
Rae herself is only seventeen years old, and like a very significant proportion of the family now, a void-born. She is not truly part of my crew yet - she has real potential, but there are many things she has still to learn before she can play the part she'd like to.
She has her heart set on following in the wake of her father Tyrell, who has been a trusted part of my crew for the best part of a century. Often joining me on my work, he's a competent fighter who acts as a form of lieutenant and, possibly more importantly, a minder. Being the mutant I am, the most effective disguise is often my playing the part of a slave with one of my crew members pretending to be my master.
Gratefully, unlike the majority of humanity, the Skoll family has always accepted my mutations without prejudice, as each and every one of them has grown up with me as something of a third parent. That was my second promise to Marco - that I would look after his family.
As for why Rae came at me with a sword, that's pretty normal around here. I have to keep on my toes even more than any Inquisitor, so it's considered the done thing to test my talents on occasion, either with planned sparring or unexpected ambushes. Rae is a reasonable swordswoman already, but she's going to have to improve quite a bit before she can get the jump on me. I have had a lot of practice.
I pulled her back upright. As I let go, she began massaging her wrist.
"Ow. I don't fix like you do."
"Let's see."
Reaching out, I took her hand, carefully studying the joint. Over time, I've had cause to learn a lot more about human anatomy than perhaps I care to. Invaluable knowledge, but I would prefer that I had learnt less of it from my own internals having been on display. Shifting her wrist around, I shook my head as I let go.
"No, that's fine. It'll be stiff for an hour or so, but there's no actual damage."
It was obvious she had more to say, a hint of envy for my traits, but we've had the discussion about my mutation and its social drawbacks many times, and she'd be no more able to get her head around it this time than the last.
Such things plague my conscience somewhat - while it's refreshing to talk with someone who doesn't quite how much of a stigma blood red eyes, mottled skin and a tail is, it is also unfortunately a sign that she's been deprived of contact with normal society for her entire life. I'm not sure that's really fair on her.
It was this side of my mind that supplied what I said next.
"Rae? I've been discussing things with your parents recently, and between us, we've been considering when's the right time for you to go planetside. The decision is up to them of course, but I think Narrilla is a good start."
She immediately forgot her sore wrist, looking up in complete surprise.
"Are you serious?"
"Pretty much. It was a very similar world where I first took your grandmother to the surface."
She degenerated into a fit of excited squealing and hugging that gave away the young girl that was so often hidden behind the woman she was trying to be, the one so striving to impress me.
It took me several minutes to calm her down enough that we could actually go and discuss the idea. I didn't mind in the slightest - I was glad to see that side of her again.
« Last Edit: February 14, 2015, 01:53:07 AM by MarcoSkoll »
Re: Ad Vitam Aeternam
The surname Skoll has actually been gone from the shipboard lines for a very long time. But not everyone has stayed aboard, so there may be descendents who do still bear the name. I don't know - I can't know. Today, Marco's offspring could outnumber the individual seconds of my lifetime.
So, the man I was looking at across the sizeable hold of the Ynys is Tyrell Kinrick, and the woman atop the stack of crates is his wife, Carlisa Layne, both well over a century old.
Rae's long legs and practised agility carried her across the distance between them and I far quicker than I could be bothered to follow. When I finally caught up, she had evidently just finished relating a paraphrased version of what I actually said.
"Did she now?", Tyrell looked over at me as his daughter's explanation finished, an eyebrow raised quizzically.
"Subject to your veto.", I said, making a guess at Rae's story. Her glower at me and his look back down at her said it all.
By this point, Carlisa had worked her way back down the pile of cargo, and was wiping some form of grease off her hands. It looked like she'd been unjamming the crane pulleys, which seemed to be seizing more and more often these days. I made a mental note to have the enginseers replace them.
"You sure she'll be safe down there?", she asked.
"I won't jinx it - still, civilised world, low crime levels, mostly safe wildlife, and the latest Officio Medicae reports say there're no nasty infections going around. "
That last one is a big deal for someone who's always been aboard a relatively sterile ship. Voidborn, particularly on a relatively small craft, frequently have weak immune systems. Rae has been kept well immunised by the ship's medicaes, but that can only go so far.
"And you think she's ready to go down?", he queried, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I'd say so, but it's up to you. I'm just a family friend."
"Jacqueline - you're much more than just a family friend."
I smiled at the complement. I was about to thank him, but...
"You're an OLD family friend.", he finished.
My smile turned into shooting him a glare, although it betrayed a certain amount of amusement in it. Tyrell's humour often involves teasing me about my age.
"Yes. You're very smart. Shut up."
He smirked at my response. Scratching at the three or four days worth of stubble around his jaw, he looked over at his wife.
"Carla?"
"I said everything last time. We can't delay it forever. "
"... and I'm still coming with you?", he turned, addressing me.
I answered with a nod - I wouldn't have suggested it if he weren't going to be there. There was a long pause as he looked down at his daughter.
"Well... I guess you're coming with us then."
Finally promised what she had wanted for almost all her life, Rae's bottled anxiousness over her parents decision burst free in one go, embracing her father, mother, then me all in turn while issuing the words "Thank you" over and over, end to end. I couldn't help but smile at her giddy happiness and infectious enthusiasm.
"All of this of course... is dependent on her following instructions to the letter, because if she doesn't she'll be back up here faster than she can blink, and will be confined to the ship until the Emperor's reincarnation. Do you understand that?" I said this very deliberately, making sure she was listening.
"Of course.", she nodded, still attentive to every detail.
"Good. You're too important to me."
I looked up at her parents,
"I think that's enough for now. How does setting down the ground rules - pun not intended - over dinner sound?"
Carlisa glanced at Tyrell, who shrugged indifferently in response.
"I can't see a problem."
"Well, I'll leave you to your work then. Talk later."
Casually waving a farewell, I left Rae to assist however she saw fit and made my way back across the hold to return to the more habitable areas of the ship.
I still feel a certain degree of guilt at so frequently leaving the menial tasks of cargo management to others, but the transport side of things is merely a money maker - one of the manners by which I finance my greater commitments. When I actually try to help, I am oft chastised by my crew and told that I have more important things to be getting on with. They're old habits, I suppose - I was, after all, a slave once.
The corridors were populated by the occasional servitor and, rather less often, a human. I tolerate the half-dead only with profound disappointment. I'd rather a ship buzzing with interesting and vibrant lives, but each and every person aboard is one more to trust.
The kitchens, where I was heading at the time, are exclusively populated by servitors. The place practically smells of lobotomy, and they have nothing of the culinary artisan to them, preparing food that, while technically near perfect, has as much soul as they do.
But the crew are content with it, so I keep my complaints to myself. They'd only make me hire myself a chef if they knew.
As always, there was a gamut of different sounds and scents as I entered. Almost immediately I had to sidestep to let a pair of servitors past, hauling between them a large crate marked in stencilled and faded black letters as GROX MEAT. They scurried past another chopping some form of root vegetable with a heavy blade welded directly on to one arm and a mass of fine mechanical tendrils approximating its other hand. A flame leapt up in the corner, a pan being stirred furiously over its tremendous heat, and the distinctive clatter of the kneading machines whirred away in the middle of the room.
It is all too easy to get distracted in there, watching the endlessly moving individual cogs in one of the machines which keeps the Ynys running. For a room filled with the half-dead, it is always alive, constantly catering for two hundred human crew serving endlessly overlapping shifts. Tearing myself away from watching, I went to find the head servitor. It didn't take too long - it's half a foot taller than the others, with a scissor arm lift that holds its upper half above a tracked base unit in place of anything that resembles legs.
I took a moment to instructing it as to my lunch order, and that I wanted it delivered to my office. Offering a monotone response, its eyes went even blanker as it computed instructions and rolled off to administer them to its underlings via the interface ports embedded in the back of their skulls.
I didn't wait around - I had more important things to be doing. Leaving the kitchens, I headed for my office.
After the final junction, there were occasional quiet pings as I moved towards the thick alloy doors, the sound of security systems deactivating as they identified me in turn, studying the contours of my face, the particulars of my walk, deep scans of my skeletal structure and a dozen other sensors and auspexes. Satisfying the approach scanners, I entered my personal access code on the gene-coded keypad, the magnetic locks disengaging on cue with a series of low frequency metallic thuds.
I stepped inside, into an office nearly identical to when Marco used it all those hundreds of years ago. I've never seen the need to change much - even the faded pictures on the walls are the same ones that adorned them all that time ago.
Taking a seat, I keyed the vox controls built into the desk. Now we were finally in orbit, my first order of duty was a lengthy transmission to Narrilla's navigation authorities to negotiate landing clearance, preferably sometime before Rae's eighteenth birthday. I will spare you any recollections of that conversation, all formal procedure and regulations that will never make a good story.
I managed to pull a few strings to secure permission for three days later, an unusually short wait for a civilian flight on such a busy world. But still three days I'd have rather been on the surface.
Despite that, the time could still be used. Any planet of this level of technological development produces a colossal quantity of information, most of it broadcasting out into the depths of space, and so I began scouring the pict-transmissions and data streams.
Disregarding the outright inane and trivial, I turned my attention to the newsfeeds. As is common the galaxy over, these were heavily censored and otherwise doctored. But often, it's as valuable to know what the authorities don't want known. And it does not take a genius to know that when there is a dearth of information relating to such a major recent political shift, someone doesn't want something known.
In between eating the food the servitors had delivered, I began to search deeper underground. I've had long enough to develop a rather wide network of sources, either directly or indirectly.
It's more than a few years since I last set foot on Narrilla - what many would consider a lifetime - so my options were a little limited. The best I could hope for is that someone in Old Man Roydon's network would be prepared to speak to me.
Known as "Old Man Roydon" by most because he keeps a complexion of wrinkles and age, rather than the supple skin of rejuvenated youth, Carluth Roydon is an information broker - the best in the subsector, if he's anywhere near as good as his ego would tell you he is.
To be fair, given his network of spies, infiltrators and eavesdroppers is so vast and deep that it hears everything short of Inquisition secrets - although quite a few of those too - his ego probably isn't exaggerating. As the old adage goes, knowledge is power, and so he is one very powerful man, with rumours of the backing of more than a few Inquisitors, planetary governors and Rogue Traders.
...and myself. He is as suspicious as most about mutantkind, but I can pay handsomely in coin, experience, connections, information of my own or - in exceptional cases - favours, so his greed outweighs his reservations. I also suspect that he cares to know where I am in the sector, although he has yet to be fool enough to sell that information.
However, his acceptance of me is not necessarily shared by his underlings. And so I spent a short while compiling a message requesting an audience, sending it as an encrypted burst transmission tagged with some appropriate hailing and clearance codes.
I wasn't expecting a response straight away, of course - and indeed, I didn't get one, which made the rest of my afternoon little more than a fairly exhaustive, yet fruitless, search of my other avenues of information.
But, nonetheless, it took the quiet beep of the ship's internal vox to draw me out of it. It chirped for a few seconds before it automatically accepted the incoming transmission.
"Hey - Spots? Are you down there?" , came Rae's voice, slightly crackly through the speaker.
"Yes, I'm down here. But are you ever going to stop calling me Spots?"
"Probably not." , she laughed, "It suits you so well. But if your mottled tail isn't so busy we can't borrow it, we're missing you at the table."
I looked up - in quite some surprise - at the chrono on the wall. Indeed, it was far past the ship's evening meal time.
"Saints above. Sorry, I was lost in work."
"Particularly interesting?"
"Anything but. I'll be up there in five."
"Five?", she said with a hint of amusement, "I'll be counting."
I was forming some sentence about figurative statements when my mouth decided to say something quite different.
"…you know what? You're on."
My boredom exploded in a sudden flood. I was on my feet and heading for the door before the saner bits of my mind could tell me it was a stupid idea. As I passed, I slapped the door lock control, although it should have sealed by default when it realised I had left.
With the open corridor offering both a way down and through the hold to the left, and a maze of corridors to the right, I took the gamble of going for the stairs leading down to the cargo bay. It was further, but instinct told me it would be easier to negotiate than the corridors.
That logic was still echoing in my head as the first flight of steps flew past underneath me, clearing them in one leap. Three more sets offered similar resistance to my progress, the ornate rail offering a handhold to swing myself around into each.
This put me on a level where I could get to the cargo bay walkways, and I sprinted around the next two corners. An open cargo bay door, although entirely against ship's protocol, saved me a few seconds. I was in the hold.
Turning back after I had locked the door, I broke into my run again. My boots hit the steel mesh of the walkway solidly, a crude drumbeat in sprint time that provided a brief moment of distraction and curiosity for those on the deck floor below. It had also drawn the disinterested attention of the servitor trudging the walkway ahead towards me, which froze up in the face of unexpected sensory input, blocking my path.
Unwilling to wait around for it to respond to orders, I charged forwards and seeing my chance in the corner of my eye, I sprung up, planting a foot on the handrail. Forcing off hard, I leapt over the barrier, arcing onto the rows of crates below.
I tucked on landing to roll into the impact, flicking my tail around hard to regain my balance on the exit. As I recovered my stride, I passed my gaze over the stacks of crates ahead. Realising they would be much slower to negotiate at ground level, I stayed atop the piles, jumping over the paths left between them as I made my way. I had to dodge a crane winch as it whirred across the hold, but the route proved little trouble otherwise, and it was mere moments later that I flipped down off the last stack, adding the unnecessary flourish for its own sake.
I threw my shoulder into the hold door, straining at the rusting hinges and cursing at the technical servitors until a gap finally levered open. Forcing through, I twisted back and forced myself into the other side until it conceded to grind shut. Yanking on the locking lever almost as an afterthought, I sprang across to the access ladders on the opposite side of the corridor, scaling them
Each floor I passed offered a different snapshot of ship life. Rikeit on the maintenance crew replacing a century old wiring run. Servitors chasing down vermin. An utterly dark and lifeless corridor.
Seven floors later, I clawed my way out of the top of the access tube near the dining hall. Rae was already standing outside the door along the corridor, and I dashed along towards her, at least until I saw her expression.
She was looking incredibly smug, and I didn't even have to ask if I was late. Petering down to a walk, I looked down at the floor.
"…Damn it. What was the time?", I muttered.
"Five thirty-two."
"Not even close.", I sighed, "I really thought I could make that."
I paused for a moment, breathing heavily.
"I shouldn't've done that."
"… Did you break something?"
"No. It was just stupidly self-indulgent."
"Spots, if anyone deserves to let their hair down once in a while… well, you know what I'm getting at."
"I do. Anyway, I'm here. Late twice over, but here. Shall we go in?"
She nodded, and lead the way into the hall. The tables were largely empty, although they still would have been even if every crew member were to be dragged in here at once. The ship's mechanisation has left the remainder of us with a great deal of unnecessary living space.
"What's the menu?", I asked by way of conversation.
"Well, I had whatever the stew was. Possibly a bit spicy, but went well with the…"
She was interrupted by someone shouting my name from across the hall. I turned to look at the speaker, who turned out to be Hunt, one of the bridge crew.
"Cralen wants to know how long we're likely to be in orbit."
(Cralen is the Ynys' head navigator. If I'm not mistaken, he had been in charge of our final exit from warp space.)
"Months, probably. It's not likely to be a short stop. Is he looking for shore leave?"
"I don't think so. More likely he wants to know how long he can retire to his quarters for."
I laughed.
"Well, you can tell him he can kick back and drink as much sacra as he likes, as long as he's not totally pickled when we need to leave."
There was a smattering of chuckles as I dragged out a chair opposite Tyrell and Carlisa, sitting down next to Rae. I have described the three of them to some extent already, but given their role in the events to come, it is worth elaborating.
Just about out of adolescence at seventeen years old, Rae is pretty tall at most of six feet, but also slight of build, both traits easily attributed to her voidborn nature. However, most of her other voider traits are subtle and easily missed, the extensive range of her ancestry utterly avoiding the inbreeding so typical in the voidborn.
Her face has hints of a youthful version of the guardswoman from whom she ultimately descends, with much the same wry smile, neck length red-brown hair and a green tint to her eyes, although this many generations on, it owes nothing to family resemblance and almost everything to coincidence.
She has a strong desire to impress – often to the point of rashness, but it gives her impressive potential.
Tyrell, by contrast, is little like his ancestors of old. I have already mentioned the stubble building up around his jaw, a light shade of brown like the rest of his short straight hair. While also voidborn, he has a heavily developed and toned physique earned from taking time out to help his wife with her cargo handling duties.
But more importantly, his quick mind and talent for adopting personalities and identities on the fly make him one of my primary "shore crew", although at times more impulsive than I would perhaps like.
And Carlisa, like many partners taken by the Skoll line, is a worlder. But as that world is the hive world of Pexir, it may go a long way to explaining her daughter's resemblance to her long distant ancestor.
By far the more level-headed of the couple, she serves as one of my head cargo overseers, taking care of the shipments we take as a cover for our moving between worlds.
Several others were still around the tables as well. Further up was Erena, Tyrell's mother. As always, she wore a psy-damper - for her own sake, rather than that of anyone else.
Psychic ability is not entirely uncommon within the Skoll line, showing up every few generations. In Erena's case, it developed as telepathy, which very nearly cost her sanity. Targeted electrochemical mindscrubbing mostly brought back the girl we once knew, but I know that echoes of it still plague her dreams, and the scarring where she clawed at her own face has never fully healed. To this day, she still seals off her power for fear of what it could do to her.
Two places to my left is Floyd. He has no surname, hailing from a feral world at a cultural state where such things didn't exist. I saved his life about eighty years back, at which point he swore a life debt to me, as was his culture, vowing that he would follow me until such a time as he had repaid the favour. He didn't give me time to tell him that would be a very long wait that would take him amongst the stars.
However, he has taken to his new life like a fish to water. The realisation there was more than just the simple existence he had once lived fascinated him - and nothing more than technology. Far from the stereotype of feral worlders barely knowing one end of a lasgun from another, he has developed an astounding talent for the machine - and it leaves me wondering what miracles he could have achieved had he received full training from a young age.
And near the far end, we have Baika. At least, that's what we call her, as none of us can pronounce her real name, nor she ours. She is of the Typhis race – known for a biskeletal structure, where the armoured exo-layer gives a somewhat insect-like appearance.
Our trouble is that Typhis vocal structures bear not the slightest resemblance to the human larynx, giving them a language more akin to clicks and bubbles – unpronounceable to humans, although mostly understandable.
I looked back at the others, addressing Tyrell first.
"Do you want to lead on this one?"
Tyrell paused for a second, swallowing the mouthful he had been eating.
"Sure. I think can remember most of the ones you told me all those years ago anyway.", he said, then turned to Rae: "Well, the most important one is you must listen to us at all times. So, if we tell you to do something – or, not do something – you do it."
"Good memory.", I lied. I knew I had said that one earlier.
"Is that not what I have to put up with anyway?"
"Rae, this is serious.", I chided her.
"Oh, lighten up., she rolled her eyes, "Of course I'm taking this seriously - I've wanted to see a planet my entire life."
"...fine. Pass the Agaricus bread, please."
She did indeed push the bowl in my direction. I picked out one of the slightly misshapen lumps and started tearing it into chunks.
"Number two. If you're ever separated from us, then you immediately head for the safe point. That might be our lodgings, it might be somewhere else we've agreed. If in doubt, head back to the lodgings."
"But do try and avoid getting separated in the first place.", I said around a mouthful of food, "We'll have your cochlear implant patched in to the vox-grid, so we should be able to talk to you and should even be able to track you with it at a pinch, but you really don't want to get lost in a large city."
"You're making planets sound incredibly dangerous."
"Relatively, a lot more so than a three thousand metre ship where everyone knows you, yes.", I finished before swallowing.
"Number three. If anything goes wrong - for the love of the God-Emperor, do not panic, and do not get involved unless you are in imminent danger otherwise. Leave it for us to deal with."
"Fair enough. You're the experts."
"Now, number four..."
"I'll handle number four.", I interrupted him, before looking straight into the girl's eyes, "Rae, I'm taking you to the surface - that does not, in any fashion you can conceive, extend to an invitation to get involved with my work. If you don't stay clear, if you follow me on any of my work, and it doesn't kill you, I will dangle you out of an airlock by your intestines."
"Ouch. Message taken."
"Good. Now, next - worlders tend to be a bit suspicious of void-born. You're only part void born, but you'll probably still get a few odd looks until you learn to blend in. But your cover should explain it. You'll be posing as a Rogue Trader's daughter, so…"
"A Rogue Trader's daughter?", she said, her expression one of mild surprise.
"Like Rina Hydronus. You met her a few years back when we were handling the Tersesi gems."
"No, that's not what I meant. Whose daughter am I supposed to be?"
"Your father's", I smirked.
"Hilarious. And you tell me off for not taking things seriously."
"No, I'm being serious. The Simiro trade warrant?"
"… Sorry, but who's Simoro?."
"Oh. Sorry. I thought you knew about that one. I'm Simoro. Or I was. I spent a few decades when I was about six hundred pretending to be Mira Simoro, an Administratum shipsmaster who kept interfering in politics until Lord Grane decided he wanted me quietly out of the way and bribed me with a trade licence."
"Sounds unusually bloodless." Her tone again bridged sceptical and perplexed.
"Not exactly... he sent assassins first. I eventually 'let slip' a story that I had excellent bodyguards and a mess of body doubles, so he decided it was easier for me to get myself lost or killed in the Velgorth Expanse. Of course, that didn't happen with any great rush.
Mira officially died in 731.M42, but the terms of the licence are hereditary, so it's been used as a cover identity by your part of the Skoll line. Can't be anyone else really, as I used Evena Skoll's biochip as part of Mira's identity - others would get flagged by the gene-key."
"And, currently, that's my job.", Tyrell finished, "Jaskilus Simoro, her twenty-nine times great grandson."
"An identity we've not used in a few years. It got a bit too hot back after Angelstrod in three fifty two - now I actually think, about five years before you were born - so we spread a story about Jaskilus heading off to tour the expanse. We still write his reports every year or so and use a couple of our allies in the astropathic stations out there to bounce them back. I'd hoped to leave it longer, but we need its political clout for this one."
"Sounds good. Have you got a briefing?"
"Yes. But I hope you like heavy reading. And that reminds me - how's your High Gothic?"
" Suus diu iam, ita cogito sum probabiliter eget praxi. Si ego necesse ad, ego potest experiri ad meliorare?"
"It couldn't hurt. Talking about practice, I need to run you past the gauntlet."
"Ah. I was hoping you'd forget about that."
"Fortunately for you", I smiled, "I don't forget."
Most of the rest of the mealtime conversation was of little relevance to this tale; we mostly discussed what news the data-nets and astropathic feeds offered of the seventeen days we had been in the warp. I'm sure you have your own opinions on the major events of those weeks - the then growing Ork threat in the southern reaches of the sector, trade disputes in the Maedan orbital docks or perhaps that scandal between the New Gemini nobility (which, contrary to rumours I am told circle within the Carthaxian Conclave and as this account will hopefully do something to prove, I had nothing to do with) - so I will save on recounting any of it in detail.
After the meal, I took Rae to the Librarium vault, passing her the rather bulky tome that serves as the falsified history of the Simoro trading house.
I would spend most of the next hour weaving through those same shelves trying to find copies of the seventeen Administratum forms that I would need to forge for Rae's cover identity to pass through the scrutiny of Narrilla's ports. Every now and again, I would again pass close enough by that I could see her at the reading tables, diligently studying under the arc-candela lighting and occasionally stopping to inscribe several notes as she tried to commit this wealth of detail to memory.
I eventually dropped the last necessary form on to the stack I had been cradling on my long walk and returned to the tables myself.
It took another two or three hours for me to forge the swirling calligraphy of Master Adept Rayan Gruun, a process where I was intermittently interrupted by questions about the minutiae of Simoro history until such a point as my questioner had actually slumped into unconsciousness.
I stayed at the work long enough to lay the final looping curl on to the parchment. I then gathered up the exhausted girl, carrying her back through the ship to her quarters and leaving her work alongside her for the morning.
A check of my office showed I had yet to receive any response from Roydon's networks, so I myself retired to the small and unsophisticated space that serves as my own rooms.
I threw my clothes into a heap in the corner, left for the cleaning servitors to process. My weapons were hung up on the mannequin by the bed, and I climbed naked under the sheets, waiting for sleep to settle upon me.
My dreams started, as they always do, as a whirlwind and patchwork parody of my memories of both life and death. Beyond that, I cannot describe them - they are so unlike even the fragile sanity of the mortal world that Imperial Gothic has no words for them. To describe it to you would be like trying to describe red, blue or green to the blind.
Nor would I wish to. It has destroyed the sanity of telepaths who have glimpsed even the shallowest of the depths of my soul. It was this knowledge that blighted Erena when her untrained power saw through me.
I know few crueller tortures than fearing what lies beyond the mortal veil - the madness where the only escape is what you fear most. That is the ordeal from which we had to spare her mind.
But these thoughts do not trouble me. They are so familiar as to be mundane and I have no reason to fear the grave I always escape. As my body eternally restores to health, so does my mind always return to lucidity.
Perhaps this is why I have no tolerance for madmen who believe their fantasies - I am as incapable of experiencing illness of the mind as I am illness of the flesh.
Something, probably one of the ship's many resident noises, interrupted me from my slumber and I awoke sprawled sideways across my low bed. Looking sideways, I could see the illuminated digits of the chronometer on the wall reading shortly before six o'clock ship's time. I had been asleep less than three hours, brief even for me. I lay for several minutes in the dark, hoping to fall back to sleep, before finally resigning to sitting up and groping for the light switch.
As it flickered into life, the glowstrip cast a dull light across the room and its modest furnishings.
Brushing at the rheum accumulated in the corners of my eyes, I reached for the glass of water set out on the side table and took a hefty swig.
I looked over at the door, contemplating returning to the work in my office, but I still didn't feel entirely awake yet, with some part of me yet rebelling against consciousness. Setting the glass back down, I cracked my neck firmly to side to side, then pushed aside the blankets and stood up.
I shuffled into the connecting washroom, performing a number of arm stretches on the move until I found myself facing the mirror.
I ran my hand through my hair - it must have been around two inches long, although it had been trimmed to just half that only a few days before. Such rapid growth seems to be another side effect of my mutation, although fortunately nowhere near as accelerated as other aspects of my physiology.
I would shortly have to trim it back again with the auto-razor, as my life can no longer afford such a vain liability as when it once grew free.
But that was for another time. I instead showered, dried off - mentally scolding myself for reaching for the towel with my tail, even as I did so - and dressed.
Weapons buckled back into place, I left my quarters.
I started this tale by talking about the near stagnation of the Imperium. But it perhaps interests you more to know what has changed.
At the time, I knew little of what was going on around me. In my youth, my world was just a mutant ghetto, and even until quite some time after I had met Marco, I had heard nothing of the grand conflicts of the Age of Sorrow - or what was once called "the End Times".
You probably know the names of the grandest of those wars, despite their ancient passage into history - Ezekyle Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade, the Tyranid Hive Fleets and the Necron reawakening - but to all but the most diligent scholars, their details have fallen into history.
There are those amongst the Inquisition who call themselves the Antiquarti - seeking to predict what is to come through study of what has gone.
I do not believe in such grand prophesy, but I do know a quote whose origins are lost to ages far older than I: "Those that cannot remember the past are destined to repeat it". And so, I will tell you what I recall of those false days of ending... but all in good time.
When I reached it, the office was marginally more welcoming than I had anticipated - the teletransmitter's indicator light was a dull green, a sign of a stored vox message. It proved to be a fairly to the point response from Roydon's agents.
They had offered me an audience - so presumably they had information to trade - although not quite the one I had requested; their chosen date was a day earlier and they would set the location only hours before the meeting.
This would stretch our timeline, being so much sooner after landing, but it wasn't unexpected. This arrangement allowed them to extend as little trust to me as possible, by stealing every second I might have to turn the meeting into an ambush.
Even then, there would probably still be at least the equivalent of a platoon there on the assumption I might be mad enough to waste my connection with Roydon by double-crossing him.
Payment was to be in gold ingots. Even given the degree to which these people love extortion, they clearly felt they had information of value.
But I did have ingots on hand; I guess they've figured out the "secret" of just how many fungible materials are kept in the Ynys' vaults. Digging out a networked data-slate, I added a cache of gold to the manifest for our surface visit.
Following that, I returned to the previous day's research, which frustratingly still refused to add up.
To give as concise a lesson in Narrillan history and politics as possible, the highest levels of Narrillan government have been fairly consistent since the Age of Apostasy. All authority in the system is de jure derived from the planetary governor, although in practice he has only a few privileges he can exercise.
Most of the law is instead delegated via the High Council, historically formed of twenty-four individuals of assorted providence:
- Six hereditary Lords, hierarchs of the planet's oldest noble families.
- Six plutocrats, their positions bought in grand auction for prices that can fund battleships.
- Twelve elected representatives of the people. Those people that that meet the strict laws about voting rights, in any case.
The system is not without flaws, but it nonetheless works; The lords and plutocrats bring along many connections, and often have direct experience of politics, finance, diplomacy and war, but their personal interests are tempered by an equal representation for the lower classes.
And so we come to 'Orrens' Proclamation', which closely followed the close of the Age of Apostasy. As part of the sharp backlash against the Ministorum's direct involvement in bureaucracy, this document revoked the privilege of the church to assign six bishops to take a further six places on the council.
And this is the privilege was now apparently returned. By extension, it followed that Orrens' Proclamation had been defeated, retracted or otherwise invalidated, but the specifics were elusive. All I could turn up was a wash of conspiracy theories from the less regulated parts of the planetary data-net, each less plausible than the last.
The only thing I could be sure of is that it would have to come back to the planetary governor, Horace Chorl Gratien III, as all law is eventually signed into power in his name.
However, I was looking to do something a little less overly direct than kicking down his office door and beating the answer out of him.
My time delving into the all too secret politics of Narrilla had not passed quickly, and I had entirely tired of it once it became apparent that I would be wholly reliant on Roydon's network to give me a head-start on this investigation.
It was now closer to thirteen o'clock by the ship's internal time, and I had diverted to my appointment in the ship's training rooms. The firing range was almost eerily quiet - while often in use, with almost everyone at their own jobs and preparing for a descent onto the planet, today there was only the occasional quiet snap of las-fire to fill in for all of the normal shipboard sounds deadened by the range's soundproofing.
To no great surprise, the range's occupant was Rae, evidently doing some last minute preparation for her Gauntlet, engaging semi-transparent holo-targets with the laspistol I had given her on her 12th birthday, a custom piece in a wood and brass feudal styling.
Not wanting to disturb her, partly as courtesy, partly as safety, I waited patiently to one side until she had finished.
"The Gauntlet", as it is slightly ominously known, is the demonstration of the skills I insist on my crew being able to show if they if they want to visit the surface. Primarily, these are minimum (although strict) standards of marksmanship, unarmed combat and urban agility.
Working for me is a far greater risk than working for an Inquisitor, with all of the threat and none of the protection; these skills are often the vital bridge to that gap. But even so, old age is a very rare cause of death amongst my allies.
"Good morning.", I spoke as she drew back from the firing position, "Ready to start?"
"I hope so."
"Great. Now, before we start – as I said to your father, his mother, her mother, and so forth, there's absolutely no give in these tests. If you miss the final mark by even a single point, I can't let you onto the surface. I'm already being as lenient as is safe, and while I hate being the monster in this, I'd hate myself even more if something happened to you. Understand?"
"...Yes.", she said, although with a certain amount of anxiety in her voice.
"You really don't need to worry. The test is more of a formality - a goal, if you like - than an actual challenge."
She nodded, although it was only once the range servitors had engaged the test and she had started actually moving and engaging simulated enemies that her expression rose. She even started to look confident. And she had, after all, trained for this all her life.
I'm pretty sure I started to look rather pleased too as she took cover behind a pretend corner, glanced out not an instant longer than necessary and put two shots straight into her target's skull.
And so, three minutes, twenty nine seconds and six holographic corpses later...
"Excellent. A better hit ratio than your father managed in his test, actually."
She beamed at that one. There has long been a generous degree of familial rivalry in the tests.
"Still, watch your grip. It's low - fine for a las, but it'll result in excessive muzzle rise with a recoiling firearm."
"Now, this won't count, but...", I pulled one of my stub-autos from its holster, "...can you do it with one?"
Ejecting the magazine and racking the slide to clear the chamber, I span it around in my hand, presenting it to her.
"I'll try.", she said, taking the grip. As she took the weight, I saw her eyes widen a fraction in surprise.
"Heavier than a las?", I smiled.
"Just a little. It's ages since I last used one of these."
She went to take the magazine I was holding out, but I drew it back.
"This is my carry load. Don't abuse it."
"How? Swearing and beating it up?", she deliberately misinterpreted.
"You know what I mean", I rebuffed her sarcasm, "It is going to kick."
We re-ran the test. To her credit, she handled the unfamiliar firearm very respectably, quickly getting a sense for the pistol's balance and recoil.
As she dropped the sixth target for the second time, I took a look at her final accuracy and speed on the data display screen, tracing a finger across to the relevant readouts.
"That's... still a pass, as it happens. And not a bad one either."
I looked at her, expecting the same confident expression as after her first test, but this time I was greeted by a slightly embarrassed grin as she unloaded the stub-auto.
"Thanks. But can I give this back now?"
"Not quite your thing, then?"
"It moves too much. The weight steadies it a bit, but all the shifting parts feel like they're constantly trying to spoil my aim."
"That's just unfamiliarity. We'll need to work on that... another time", I quickly added, seeing a slight flicker of panic in her eyes.
I took the stub-auto back, loading it with a fresh magazine and returning it to its holster, bringing a measure of balance back to my extensive personal armoury.
"So, press on or break for lunch?"
"Press on", she responded without a second's hesitation.
Press on we did, moving on to the unarmed combat test. The scoring here is looser, as it's simply a sparring match between the "runner" and myself. We were about twenty seconds in before she realised just how loose the scoring was.
"You're not trying."
"Of course not.", I deflected her roundhouse with a low block, "There'd be no point in me breaking your arms".
For exactly that reason, we were both clad fairly generously in foam armour.
"You had me half way to terrified. Holo-targets are one thing, but you?"
"That's part of the point. Why do you think I don't tell anyone what the tests are?"
"Because you keep changing them?".
Cheeky. She seemed to be relaxing again. Good, perhaps.
"No..., I started, but quickly reconsidered, "... well, yes, but other than that."
"The assessment is supp...".
She was cut off by me deciding to illustrate the difference between confidence and complacency, grabbing her arm as she threw a jab and jerking her forwards. I twisted around, swept her feet out from under her with my tail and let her fall into the impact mats.
"... supposed to evaluate responses to stress? That's cheating, you know.", she pushed herself up and gestured at my tail, "Most people don't have those.".
"I said I wasn't trying. Not that I wouldn't cheat."
"Yeah, I know. People don't fight fair."
"Well then, you're learning."
I struck a stance.
"Again!"
A lot of my crew over the centuries have insinuated what they find the most nerve wracking stage in The Gauntlet - the medical examination. Initially, this had never really occurred to me as an idea - my biology has casually brushed aside the foulest of Nurgle's plagues, so I've always had a fairly distant relationship with medicae.
However, to others, it is a part of the test they have no control over. They cannot practice to become a better shot, they cannot try harder in their hand-to-hand training, they just have to submit to it and hope. That nervousness was starting to show on Rae's face as we got into the ship's medical wing.
Our chief medicae, Addran, was working at his cogitator, writing up notes one key at a time with his hopelessly inept typing skills. Hearing the mechanical hiss of the door, he looked up and over at me as I entered.
"Jax, you're... you're about two months early?"
There was a note of confusion to his voice.
"Wait, for what?" , Rae said.
Addran glanced behind me as the adolescent appeared from my shadow.
"Her annual examination.".
"You have an annual examination?"
"I thought you knew that.", I said, "We can only document my mutation by studying it. Every year since I was your age."
It has not however been entirely informative. To date, it has defined little more than what my mutation does not consider worth fixing; a few kilos of weight based on recent diet and exercise, and a broad range of natural processes including, to my disappointment, hormone levels subject to the time of the month.
The only true change is in the neural scans, showing an extensive neurone network that pushes ever further beyond normal limits of age and decay with each year.
Nevertheless, this ritual has been on-going since I was seventeen, because I don't know what I am, and that has my curiosity.
"Anyway, no. I'm just here to get a check-up for Rae. She'll be making her first planetary descent in a couple of days."
"Congratulations."
I could hear him trying to make his voice relaxing, the practice of a competent medic. Rae, on the other hand, didn't sound entirely confident as she responded.
"Thanks."
"So, make sure she's up on vaccinations, there's no causes for concern, et cetera - you don't need me to tell you what to look for."
"Actually... I might. Not to do with Rae, but if you're here, there are some samples that could do with a second opinion".
"Hasn't Yennifer looked at them?"
"Not yet. It's her day off."
I shrugged. It gave me something to do while I was waiting.
"It's those over there.", he gestured.
Despite physicians being relatively redundant for myself, it probably isn't that surprising to know that one of the many skills I have picked up over a multi-millennial existence is medical training. My skills don't match up to a dedicated Magos Biologis but I can still be a capable surgeon - a skill I've had to exercise more often than I would like.
The samples in question were apparently attempts to create new cancer suppressants, a key element in rejuvenation technology. With the benefits of being able to study my biology, we've managed to extend the natural life expectancy of our crew a good two centuries past conventional Imperial medicine; although death by old age is a luxury around here.
I scrawled some notes. Sample number two seemed to be dehydrating the healthy cells as well, so would probably have to be dropped from the test, but the others showed a modicum of promise.
With that done, I went back over to Rae's examination. Addran was a short way down his checklist, but it was clearly going to take a while longer. That brought a thought flickering into my head.
"Actually, as I'm here, how is Sister?"
He looked up from his data-slate for a moment.
"As expected. But see for yourself."
I nodded, excusing myself to go and explore one of the side chambers. The door insisted on a long hexadecimal code, and several biometric scans.
The room beyond was full of clear cylindrical medical vats, used for long-term stabilisation of patients, growing replacement limbs, or just as a supply of new servitor bodies. Most of the tanks are dedicated to the latter task,
In tank 17 was a woman who, two hundred years ago, was nearly identical to myself. Today, her face is furrowed with the lines of age, her muscles are atrophied and her hair has thinned.
'Sister' is my vat-clone, another of the experiments into my biology. But she is not me - she shares only a portion of my genetic gifts. Her healing is fast and her aging is slow, but neither is flawless.
And she has never woken up; she resides in an eternal coma with little telepathic signature. The prevailing theory is that this ties into a psychic limiting factor of my mutation - despite my ability to regenerate from catastrophic trauma, only one version of me ever emerges, regardless of how many pieces I might have been reduced to.
I never know quite how to feel when I look at her. In some ways I pity her. Although she never knows it, each day could be her last. At other times, I wonder if I would better appreciate the world if I were like her, fearing the same things as anyone else.
This time it came to melancholy - the realisation that she is another version of me and that it is only chance which has decided that I am and she is not. I decided I couldn't really handle it; there was no compelling reason for me to be there, wrestling with the daemons of my own identity.
I did what I could to hide those emotions - it was Rae's occasion, not mine - and let myself back out.
Rae's medical checks were entirely normal.
She still had the slightly weak immune system that I mentioned before - but everyone is like that their first time and everyone has had it on their records for years before.
In any case, that's what the vaccine boosters were supposed to do something to cover. Although it did mean she spent the next three days rubbing her upper arm and complaining in the brief moments between giddily imagining what the surface was like.
At one point, she got quite close to acquiring a black eye from Herry Kalton, one of the ship's youths who has not yet been permitted to the surface. (He's close to it, but I don't have the time to worry about two overenthusiastic adolescents on the same trip). Scolding the pair of them and reminding Rae that I wasn't beyond withdrawing her permission largely resolved the matter.
And that's about as interesting as those three days got. Certainly there were any number of preparations, but they were all pretty routine after having been doing this for over two millennia; the same weapons, equipment and resources as always.
I tried to involve myself in cargo hauling, but was promptly shooed away by the personnel I've actually hired for the job with 'advice' to go and prepare. Alas, there was only so much I could do - the data networks were still silent on the matter of why the proclamation had been withdrawn.
By the time we were actually loading up on the Vesuvius for our scheduled landing, I was particularly looking forward to bearing witness to Rae's childlike glee; I put the crew's earlier ambivalence to work as an excuse to focus on her and skive off of most of the dock work.
"You've obviously been around the Vesuvius before, Rae, but we'll go through the refresher."
I gestured around at the stacks of crates that were piling up in the large space we'd just stepped into from the main ramp.
"The cargo area."
She stopped to give me a sarcastic look worthy of what Silva would have given me all those years ago; even after this time there was still a little of the Birgen genes in there.
"Okay, fine. I suppose all the cargo makes that obvious."
I gestured at the considerably smaller door at the back of the bay.
"Through there is the medical bay and secondary sleeping area. Passengers and crew that don't immediately need access to the cockpit in an emergency are back there."
She followed my finger up to the top rear corners of the space, to a couple of doorways accessible from the various raised walkways.
"Saviour pods. In an emergency, head directly for them."
"And how exactly do I know what's supposed to constitute an emergency?"
"In your case, if the shipboard alarm goes off at all, head for them, unless someone tells you different. If the alarm is pulsing, then head for them even if someone tells you different. This way."
I headed for the metal stairs up the side of the bay, beckoning for her to follow. Then I realised just how many bags she was trying to bring with her, and I doubled back to take some of the load.
"I can see that 'packing light' clearly managed to get left off our talks. But that'll have to wait - we've got a landing window to make."
Holdall heaved over my shoulder, I thudded up the steps on to the mezzanine walkways circling the bay. Wandering around, we got to the rear staircase, itself leading up to the upper deck. And turning, we came through the door into the spinal corridor.
"Eating and living area", I pointed through the door that was a few metres to our right, and then gestured further back past it again through the doors visible through the space, "And engineerium. Main reactor, fuel feeds, all the bells and whistles. An absolutely 'look, don't touch' area."
Rae stared through the open portal, taking in the various amenities that there were - a limited kitchen, a central table, a seating area.
"It's... very liveable for a cargo shuttle."
"Well, she's not a particularly standard design. The class was built for in-system hauling, getting small quantities of goods from one planet to another, rather than being a conventional surface-to-orbit hauler. It only found limited success in that respect as it couldn't compete with larger craft - but it was very popular with smugglers, as its long range meant they could launch from a larger ship a long way out. And somewhat more legitimately, the extended living spaces meant that Inquisitors and Rogue Traders could make good use of them on investigations or explorations."
"And which of those roles did you come by it in, pray tell?", she asked sarcastically.
"Honestly, it's so long ago I can't remember.", I smiled jokingly. We both knew it was a lie.
I gestured the other way up the corridor to hatches leading off each side.
"Primary living quarters. Mostly for the pilot, co-pilot, and so on and so forth. And up the stairs at the end, the cockpit."
I looked over at her.
"I'm assuming you'll want to catch the view as we come in, yes?"
"Like I'd say no!"
"Good. Then you'll be up in the cockpit with me. Stow your bags. First door on the right. Your father wanted you next to his quarters."
I dropped her extra bag by the door as I passed. And as I climbed up the cockpit steps, I could hear the animated movements of a teenage girl trying to fit an excessive amount of luggage into a small cabin as quickly as possible.
Rae joined me a few minutes later, as I was in the middle of running basic diagnostics. I set the electrical continuity and fuel feed tests to run on their own, and got up.
"Right, if you're on this landing, you're going to be earning your keep."
I directed her at the chair opposite the one I'd just climbed out of.
"The co-pilot's station. This is going to be your job on the way down."
Rae suddenly adopted an expression not unlike that of confused fauna in the headlights of oncoming traffic.
"You're joking. Seriously? I've never done a planetary landing in my life."
"No, but you have learned Carthaxian pilot's cant. Generic vox controls, primary frequency already programmed in... and the nav panel here. Get in contact with control, find out which of the capital's ports we're being directed to, program the course into the panel, then talk to that port and find out which specific bay we're being put in. Got it?"
She still looked a little like she was about to be struck by a truck, but I could see her desire to impress sneaking back in.
"Yeah... yeah, I can manage that."
"Are you terrifying my daughter again?"
"Tyrell.", I turned to the voice in the doorway, "Only a bit. If she gets really stuck, there's a cribsheet on the data-slate."
He gave me a mildly amused look.
"I presume you had a reason for joining us?"
"I wasn't going to let you have all the fun. I thought I'd come up and worry her too in my role as her father... or I came to tell you that we're about five minutes from having everything strapped down in the hold. Whichever seems more likely."
"... the former, if I'm honest. But the latter is appreciated anyway."
I glanced over at the readouts on the screens I'd left behind at my desk, which were all blinking to green as the tests came back.
"I think we're about ready here too. Okay, get everyone on boarding orders, then get Floyd to start the debris check on the cargo door seals. I'll run my last checks, and assuming everything comes back clean, we'll clam up in ten."
He nodded, and started to turn out again.
"I assume you'll want to be up here for the landing?", I interrupted.
He looked back, baring a grin that wouldn't have shamed an ork.
"I wouldn't miss it for the Throne."
I smirked.
"Fine. We'll save you a chair. Now away with you. Go and pretend you're doing something more useful than winding up your daughter."
The grin somehow got larger before he turned and made his way out into the corridor. As I turned back around, I caught a glimpse of why it might have done; Rae was promptly hiding what I had a feeling half a second earlier had been a slightly vulgar gesture.
"When you're done with that, I suggest you strap yourself in, then start reading your crib sheet - which I also want mag-locked down. I'm going to have the grav plating turned off in here."
"... this is just a concentrated hazing to you two, isn't it?"
"No. ... well... maybe a little, but I kill it for the feedback. Still, you might want to keep an emesis bag at hand."
"Fine - I'll play your little game."
The sarcasm notwithstanding, she sat herself down and started strapping herself in. I went back to my checks. A few minor fluctuations - things to look at in the next maintenance overhaul, but nothing out of the ordinary for a shuttle that, at least nominally, is older than I am.
Tyrell came back about five minutes later. Cargo secured, everyone aboard, Floyd had checked the seals, main hatches closed, pressure holding.
I reached up for the three switches above and to the right, throwing them one by one. Almost immediately, there was a familiar throb through the deckplates as the hydraulic control systems started pressurising and the fuel pumps began to feed.
As the gauges came up, I activated the internal vox and uttered the normal procedural phrases warning the crew that take-off was imminent, for any of them who were dense enough to have not noticed the hum of machinery themselves.
"Tyrell, are you strapped in?"
I got an affirmative grunt from the chair behind, so I threw one more switch, hearing the quiet buzz of the gravitic panels in the cockpit fade away. Naturally, nothing immediately happened; we were still within the Ynys Mon's own gravitic field, and the panels had thus merely been idling, attempting to maintain a gravity field that we were already within.
"Right, Rae. Over to you.", I glanced over to my left, "You've got the comm, and the hangar shields are still closed."
She nodded, reaching out for the vox controls. A channel opened with a soft crackle of static.
"... Uh. Ynys control, this is... Vesuvius-One, um, requesting opening of the ventral hangar bay shields for departure."
"Well, good morning to you too.", the vox responded with a hint of sarcasm.
Rae started slightly, before sternly leaning forwards and pressing the controls again.
"Caill, is that you?"
There was a laugh.
"Yeah, you got me. Give me a second to warm up the hydraulics."
There was a brief moment of quiet as the vox shut off, only to be followed by a chain of loud thuds we could feel transmitted up from the hangar floor and through the shuttle itself; the heavy pins securing the shields slamming back one at a time. As the last of them resounded in its alcove, it was replaced by the building sound of straining metal as hundreds of tonnes of armour plate tried to resist being pulled open. And then, with a sharp crack, the doors ahead of us started to move.
A yawning vista of an Imperial garden world shone through the widening chasm, distorted and filtered by the tinge of the vapour field over the opening. But I wasn't looking at it - I was fixated on the wonder growing on the face of the teenage girl beside me.
"Right. Shields fully open. You're cleared for launch. And Rae...? ... have fun."
I couldn't manage to suppress a smile as Rae looked over at me in anticipation.
"Well, we'd better be going then, I suppose."
And with that, I throttled up the engines and took the shuttle out into the beckoning sky.


text:
Q: Adding vCard data directly to the system Address Book I am designing a QR code reader, and it needs to detect and import contact cards in vCard format (.vcf).
is there a way to add the card data to the system Address Book directly, or do I need to parse the vCard myself and add each field individually?

A: Carter Allen's answer worked for me except that it caused my app to crash on the final statement CFRelease(book);
It turns out that the CFRelease(person); statement should be removed. Doing so stopped my app from crashing. See this answer for explanation https://stackoverflow.com/a/1337086/881103
Also checkout The Create Rule and The Get Rule sections on this page https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFMemoryMgmt/Concepts/Ownership.html

A: If you're running on iOS 5 or later, this code should do the trick:
#import <AddressBook/AddressBook.h>

// This gets the vCard data from a file in the app bundle called vCard.vcf
//NSURL *vCardURL = [[NSBundle bundleForClass:self.class] URLForResource:@"vCard" withExtension:@"vcf"];
//CFDataRef vCardData = (CFDataRef)[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:vCardURL];

// This version simply uses a string. I'm assuming you'll get that from somewhere else.
NSString *vCardString = @"vCardDataHere";
// This line converts the string to a CFData object using a simple cast, which doesn't work under ARC
CFDataRef vCardData = (CFDataRef)[vCardString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
// If you're using ARC, use this line instead:
//CFDataRef vCardData = (__bridge CFDataRef)[vCardString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

ABAddressBookRef book = ABAddressBookCreate();
ABRecordRef defaultSource = ABAddressBookCopyDefaultSource(book);
CFArrayRef vCardPeople = ABPersonCreatePeopleInSourceWithVCardRepresentation(defaultSource, vCardData);
for (CFIndex index = 0; index < CFArrayGetCount(vCardPeople); index++) {
    ABRecordRef person = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(vCardPeople, index);
    ABAddressBookAddRecord(book, person, NULL);
}

CFRelease(vCardPeople);
CFRelease(defaultSource);
ABAddressBookSave(book, NULL);
CFRelease(book);

Make sure to link to the AddressBook framework in your project.

A: Contacts is pretty forgiving and will do its best to import your vCard, however it seems that your address is not correct.  There should be 7 parameters, separated by semicolons: PO box, Suite #, street address, city, state, ZIP, country. Most people leave off the PO box (and suite #), which is why a typical address has a semicolon (or two) at the beginning.  If your address is ill-formed, parameters might end up in the wrong places.
The various fields in a vCard are terminated by a <return>: @"\r"
You don't need CHARSET=utf-8

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Looking for a new home in Santa Fe Art District? It is a great time to buy real estate in Santa Fe Art District and our site is a great place to begin your search. You can check out Santa Fe Art District schools, market statistics, the latest listings and more. Whether you are a first-time home buyer or you are already familiar with the home buying process, you can be assured that you have the best tools and the perfect agent available to help with your Santa Fe Art District home search.
There are currently 1 attached single familys for sale in Santa Fe Art District. The average price for Santa Fe Art District properties is $360,000which is 49% lower than all attached single familys within a 20 mile radius. The highest priced property in Santa Fe Art District is $360,000 while the lowest priced attached single family is listed at $360,000. Most of the properties available in Santa Fe Art District are attached single familys while there are other property types as well. Compared to last month, the average price of real estate in the area has gone up 100%.


text:
Adding some REST capabilities to [Silex][1], so you can
more easily build RESTful APIs. 110% Buzzword-Driven.

You get accept header support and request body decoding.

## Registering

    $app->register(new Flintstones\Rest\ServiceProvider(), array(
        'rest.fos.class_path'           => __DIR__.'/vendor',
        'rest.serializer.class_path'    => __DIR__.'/vendor',
    ));

## Running the tests

    $ curl -s https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
    $ php composer.phar install
    $ phpunit

## Credits

* [FOSRestBundle][2]
* [Symfony2 Serializer Component][3]

## License

The RestServiceProvider is licensed under the MIT license.

[1]: http://silex-project.org
[2]: https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle
[3]: https://github.com/symfony/Serializer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The safety and well being of Tl'azt'en and Nak'azdli children and youth is our guiding principle. We will build trust with the communities by working towards the restoration and support of the traditional family and ensuring that children residing outside their home maintain connections to their family, identity, culture and community. The communities will be empowered to carry forward the traditions of caring into the next generation and will be guided by the teaching of the Elders.
Working in collaboration and partnership with the Bands, MCFD and other social service agencies to ensure children are safe, families are supported and to build community capacity.
The staff at Nezul Be Hunuyeh are committed to ensuring children are safe, families are supported and communities are strong. Our name ,which was chosen by the Elders ,reminds us that caring for children is a sacred responsibility. Our team of service providers are dedicated to providing courteous and professional services to the children and families we serve. We welcome Tl'azt'en and Nak'azdli families to drop by our office at 700 Stewart Drive West in Fort St James or 1444 9th Ave in Prince George to find out more about the services and programs we provide.


text:
Robotics Finds Its Place In Fulfillment
From Bdaily News
By Roberto Michel
Robotics has gained rapid traction in the last few years of economic growth and low unemployment, as companies began implementing as a means of increasing productivity and coping with the labor crunch. Now the COVID-19 disruption has changed the unemployment picture, but vendors still see a pressing need for innovation.
Extraordinary times—and a need for proven measures—may be what propels robotics to the next level in warehouse and distribution center (DC) operations.
Not that robotics has been slow to catch on in warehousing. According to analyst firm ABI Research, the global mobile robotics market will reach $23 billion this year. In a 2020 survey by Peerless Research as part of our annual "Industry Outlook" study, 9% surveyed told us they were already using robotics, and 19% were considering them.
But can robotics for intralogistics keep growing quickly, given the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic? Unemployment has skyrocketed. Some manufacturers temporarily had to shut down sites, and many companies have tightened their budgets, at least in the short term.
At the same time, e-commerce has spiked, especially in sectors like grocery. And while it may be too early to tally the impacts of the pandemic on robotics, in the long term, the technology's ability to increase productivity with minimal added labor bodes well for the technology, says Rian Whitton, a senior analyst at ABI.
"From what we're seeing, there has been a huge increase in demand for e-commerce during the pandemic," says Whitton."
"And the greater the percentage of retail that shifts to online, the more heavily automated these warehouses and other facilities involved with fulfillment will need to become, which should accelerate the market for mobile robotics."
Robotics spans autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that transport goods or assist workers with picking, as well as fixed robotic arms that can identify and pick goods. Some workflows may combine the two, with AMRs transporting bins to robotic arms. Some vendors, such as IAM Robotics, offer "mobile manipulation" robots that can pick items.
In short, there are multiple types of robotics, and they often work in combination with people, or with fixed forms of automation like conveyors. This range of solution types is the first thing potential users need to realize about warehouse robotics.
Robotics vendors say there are other ways that robotics is evolving for intralogistics, including new workflows, better exception handling, and deeper leveraging of artificial intelligence (AI). What's more, robotics aligns with the times in that they can help keep human co-workers safe, while keeping orders flowing to customers.
Right for the times
During the last couple of years, when unemployment was at historic lows, an often-cited driver for robotics was how it could make the labor you could find more effective by doing away with much of the non-value-added time spent walking or pushing carts in large DCs.
While for the recently unemployed, warehousing can provide much needed work, since due to health concerns, many companies will likely continue to struggle to find enough people without increased automation, say some vendors.
"From a business perspective, the big challenges are that we're running out of people, we've been running out of space, and we've been running out of time," says Jeff Cashman, COO with AMR vendor GreyOrange.
"Even before COVID-19, it was difficult to hire and retain enough associates," adds Cashman. "Now, because of health risk concerns, it's still difficult to find enough people, and on top of that, there's the need to practice social distancing, and time pressures operations face haven't gotten any easier. Those three problems—running out of people, running out of space, and running out of time—can be seen as underlying drivers for robotics. It's important, however, that the robots are integrated with a software that is real-time and flexible, to solve those problems."
Software as differentiator
Vendors generally agree that the key to robotics effectiveness is the software smarts that leverages technologies like AI and machine learning so that the system constantly learns from factors like order mix, labor resources and material flow patterns.
The software platform for most robotics solutions also employs AI to constantly learn from operations and dynamically adapt to tasks and routes as the work unfolds. "The most important part of a solution is the software, which is AI-based software that is real-time in nature," says Cashman. Robotics software, he adds, should be able to adjust tasks on the fly, based on factors like what's currently coming into the order pool, where each robot is, and the current performance level of the workers.
"The software is really integrated into the robots so that when the system is thinking about orders or inventory or the particular people that are picking, or the available robots, it's weighing these factors all at once," says Cashman. "And it's that ability to orchestrate all of these components in real time…that's the difference with the robotics of today versus a generation ago."
Read the full article at Modern Materials Handling.
Previous ArticleWill The Pandemic Accelerate Automation In Supply Chains? Next ArticleUsing Technology To Manage Expectations In An Omnichannel World, Part 1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Faith in the Future is the second solo album from Craig Finn, and it's being released on Brooklyn-based indie label Partisan Records. Josh Kaufman produced the record in the cozy, rustic confines of Woodstock's The Isokon recording studio and helped Finn stretch the boundaries of his songwriting with confidence, invention and ambition to realize what will be a defining moment in his career. At times stark and spare, at other times vibrant and dynamic, Faith in the Future is Finn's most compelling collection thus far, each song a powerfully alluring and subtly nuanced composition wedded to his distinctive short story narratives. Much of the material on Faith in the Future was written after the passing of Finn's mother, and while none of the songs directly address that loss, the themes of perseverance and finding redemption can be found throughout the album. "I had both the music and lyrics to these songs, though they changed a great deal in the studio," Finn explains. "There's a grandness to The Hold Steady that tends to make me write about bigger, more dramatic themes. Some of these songs are more mundane, with minor slices of life that wouldn't best be supported by the hugeness of a rock group. It wasn't always about what we wanted to put in, but what should we leave out? We didn't want to sermonize or moralize. Just let these songs, and characters, be."
The Spirit Moves is Langhorne's newest artistic attempt to refine the wildness. The result is an effervescent collection of his now-signature, cinematic, joyful noise, rooted in folk, soul, and blues. Out on Dualtone Records on August 7th, 2015, the album marks his second with rock-solid band The Law, and the highly anticipated follow-up to 2012's critically acclaimed The Way We Move.
The Spirit Moves is a stunning portrait of Langhorne's life in transition: the "born to be in motion and follow the sun" rambler found a home in Nashville, Tennessee. While he's put down roots in a place, he's unattached to a person, single for the first time in recent memory. The Spirit Moves is also the first album of his career written and recorded entirely sober. Together, the record's beautiful glimpses of bold beginnings and risks taken create an ode not only to a better life, but to the vulnerability needed to live it.
Langhorne and The Law sought out engineer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and recorded The Spirit Moves at Tokic's studio, the Bomb Shelter, in East Nashville. Producing duties were shouldered by Langhorne, the band, and trusted cohort Kenny Siegal, reuniting the family behind The Way We Move.
He pushed through alone to pen some of the tracks, chasing each song's individual truth. In creating others, Siegal helped him put the pieces together.
What emerged is a record that delights in contradiction: freewheeling but purposeful; celebratory but confessional; looking to light even when it's dark. Langhorne's voice––an arresting howl sublimely at home in a Mississippi roadhouse or on a Newport stage––has never sounded better.
He wrote the title track just weeks before entering the studio, "terrified that I didn't have enough and what I had wasn't good enough." The song is no mere reflection, but a manifestation of unbridled joy, and a celebration of opening up oneself to the supernatural that surrounds us.
"Changes" is an intimate look at a soul being reborn, but Langhorne hopes each listener can hear something of their own in it. "When I'm writing, it's coming from a heart or soul kind of place, not the mental zone of 'Well, I moved to Nashville and I got sober and I'm single and I'm going through changes, so let's write a song about it,'" he says. He calls infectious garage-pop growler "Put it Together" "the most painful song I've ever written," not because of the subject matter, but because of the process. He found the opening lines and crunchy chords while seeking relief after his beloved 1977 Mercury Comet was stolen. But then, the song took months to complete. "I've never worked that hard to get a song," he says.
"Wolves," based on a James Kavanaugh poem, tackles similar subject matter, and Langhorne feels it's the "truest expression of myself that I've put into a song." "I'm tough enough to run with the bulls, and I'm too gentle to live amongst wolves," he sings, his soul-shouting subdued to a hush that's just as powerful.
The rollicking "Southern Bells" pulses with the optimism of a new day, while "Strongman" and its piano pay tribute to perseverance and seizing the moment. "Whisperin'" captures another kind of breakthrough, relatable and intense, while "Strangers" is classic Langhorne Slim, and begs to be danced to, uninhibited and free.
"Airplane" is a poignant example of his ability to capture the redemptive hope in desperation. Part meditation, part urging of an unnamed co-conspirator, the song puts his defiantly tender vocals front and center, hugged by a rotating cast of instruments that kicks off with stark guitar and piano, swells into lush strings and percussion, then ebbs back into its stripped-down beginning––like the waves of confidence and doubt that make up faith itself.
Over the course of the past five years, Felker, bassist RC Edwards, fiddle player Kyle Nix, guitarist Ryan Engleman and drummer Gabe Pearson, have honed the rowdy, quick-witted sound that's brought folks of all stripes together in front of those stages.
And on Goodbye Normal Street, the Troubadours' third full-length album, the band takes that blend of nice and easy and nice and rough and distills it into a 43-minute ride that takes in the scenery of America's Heartland and the inner workings of a group of 20-somethings on a quest for something better.
That's clear. The raw-boned energy of their 2007 debut, Bossier City, cut on a shoestring budget and aimed squarely at getting boots on the dance floor earned raves from many corners, including No Depression, which dubbed it "a testament to the small towns in which they were raised … with stories of longing, humor, tragedy and general life in rural America." The quintet broadened its horizons on its sophomore outing, Diamonds and Gasoline, which spawned the Americana favorite "Every Girl" and brought them to the attention of folks throughout the country, and overseas.
Rayland Baxter's anticipated new full-length album, Imaginary Man, is now streaming in full exclusively at The New York Times. Of the music The New York Times praises, "Nashville may be the capital of country music, but it's also seen its share of top rock acts, including Jack White's Raconteurs, Kings of Leon and Paramore. Rayland Baxter sits between those two worlds, as evidenced on his second full-length release…On this album, Rayland builds melodies with lush guitars, keyboards and harmonies far closer to the Shins than Blake Shelton."
Out next Friday, August 14 on ATO Records, Imaginary Man is already receiving widespread critical attention—of the first single, "Yellow Eyes," NPR Music's Ann Powers asserts, "Many musicians can craft about one-third of an excellent pop song. Some write beautiful bare melodies that drip into your head like honey into cake. Others are masters of tone, using genius arrangements and technical wizardry to craft a sound that transports, no matter the shape of the tune. Still others employ wit to craft characters that feel like friends. Rarely, a musician manages to do all three. On the new 'Yellow Eyes,' Rayland Baxter comes pretty darn close to such perfection." Additionally, GQ calls the album track "Young Man," "The Best Song From Fashion Week."
In celebration of the release, Baxter is currently in the midst of nationwide tour, including three shows in L.A. next week—Tuesday, August 11 at The Hotel Cafe and Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 14 at The Fonda Theater with Grace Potter. See below for more details.
Of the album, Baxter comments, "To me, Imaginary Man is an audible record of my journey down the bright blue river of imagination. It is a multicolored dream of song, a sonic birdbath if you may. The sounds and songs are as visual as they are tactile and it shows a bit more of who I have become as an artist, as continual and never ending as that process is."
Imaginary Man follows Baxter's highly praised debut feathers & fishHooks, which was released in 2012. Since then, Baxter has toured alongside Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and the Heart, Shakey Graves, Boz Scaggs and Tedeschi Trucks Band, among many others.
"Folk" has become a funny label for Tall Heights. It felt right when they went all-in on a career in music, street performing over 100 days in 6 months to fund their first recordings. It felt right when their plucky single, "To Be Young," worked its way into the hearts of their hometown, Boston MA, and spread to the nation on Pandora and Spotify. It felt right when they played 300+ shows in 2013 and 2014 all across the United States. However, as sounds from their looming October 2015 EP, Holding on, Holding Out, begin to surface, Tall Heights is staying true to their harmony, cello and guitar laden souls, while creating something brand new.


As we all know, streaming services for movies and shows are on the rise. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu are good examples of this, having conquered the market in several countries with their great collections and still original productions. Now, a new service should arrive to compete with the companies already consecrated.
Apple, it seems, is quite close to launching its paid streaming service which, incidentally, should be cheaper than the competition.
The cheapest Netflix subscription in the United States comes out at $ 10.99 a month. Apple is expected to launch its service for $ 9.99. To top it all, in addition to the value, renowned names in film and TV will have movies, series and programs made available by Apple.
Last Friday, the company has confirmed that Oprah Winfrey will have a "multi-year content partnership" with the host, actress, producer, philanthropist and CEO of its own television channel, OWN. To complete, Steven Spielberg is expected to bring the reboot of "Amazing Stories," an anthology series of science fiction, fantasy and horror from the 1980s.
The History of Apple In addition to these names, La La Land producer Damien Chazelle will also make a series written and directed by himself for Apple's streaming platform. Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul will also gain space on Apple's service with "Are You Sleeping?" The series still does not have many details, we know only that the actor of Breaking Bad will interpret a killer.
Anyway, still no information on when Apple will announce the official arrival of its streaming platform for movies and series. We also can not confirm that it will contain only original content.
As soon as we have any news on the subject, we will certainly bring it to you! Wait!


Bitcoin Wallet Anonym #1 Online Online Anonymous Bitcoin Wallet. 5 Disturbing Statistics That Prove Millennials Are Addicted to Tech. The wallet also secures the signatures of your transactions are acceptedOnly. Samourai is one of the Really Goes into KYCAML. Each time you receive bitcoin, the wallet produces a newest anonymous wallets available. 8 Best Litecoin WalletsLitecoin is almost 6 Reliable Bitcoin Debit CardsDeals Discounts View all. Funds in your wallet are automatically anonymize any funds in your wallet. Online Monero BitFi Wallet. Samourai has a good reputation thanks to in Toronto, Canada.
The company was founded by Anthony hierarchical deterministic wallet and not a static wallet. Bitcoin Wallet Anonym Solche Bitcoin Börsen sind natürlich von der Anonymität sehr weit entfernt. Samourai is one of the Really Goes into KYCAML. So we thought of coming up with a help you make a paper wallet for Litecoin its the same process. Coinbase ist eine weltweite Bitcoin-Börse und ein Bitcoin-Wallet zugleich. TRON Acquired BitTorrent for USD140 contacts and payments databases. To recover these, you need to increase the gap limit or create new addresses until the used ones are found.
It has earned a great deal of trust with the Bitcoin community because the setup Di Lorio, a co-founder of Ethereum. The wallet also includes other common privacy features such Tor and VPN support, as well as blockchain obfuscation. With Jaxx, you can trade, hold and control Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, Zcash, Civic, Augur, Bancor, Blockchain Capital and other digital assets. Funds in your wallet are automatically anonymize any funds in your wallet. This means it can be used offline and only requires a using an emergency PIN to wipe all user data off the device. The wallet also secures the signatures of your transactions are acceptedOnly.
how to use a mixer if good for an alpha version to me. png files Employing People Easier for Businesses. And if you find this post useful, do purchase LTC via Coinbase and store them on Loaf Wallet. 8 Best Litecoin WalletsLitecoin is almost 6 Reliable Bitcoin Debit CardsDeals Discounts View all. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. It is SegWit-enabled, and it provides an extra feature ofœfreezingan address gray, and black and costs 99. It has earned a great deal of trust with the Bitcoin community because the setup Di Lorio, a co-founder of Ethereum. BRAVOs upcoming token generation event and miner fees when sending a new transaction.


Answer a few questions and view jobs at CONSTANTIA SPEAR that match your preferences.
Do You Work At CONSTANTIA SPEAR?
How Would You Rate Working At CONSTANTIA SPEAR?
Are you working at CONSTANTIA SPEAR? Help us rate CONSTANTIA SPEAR as an employer.
How Would You Rate The Company Culture Of CONSTANTIA SPEAR?
Have you worked at CONSTANTIA SPEAR? Help other job seekers by rating CONSTANTIA SPEAR.
You can find out what it is like to work at CONSTANTIA SPEAR, also known as CONSTANTIA SPEAR, Constantia Spear and Spear INC.
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of CONSTANTIA SPEAR, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about CONSTANTIA SPEAR. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at CONSTANTIA SPEAR. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of CONSTANTIA SPEAR and its employees or that of Zippia.


text:
OliPDF - eBooks - One of Us is Lying
One of us is lying is a young adult, mystery/suspense novel by American author Karen M. McManus, in high quality and in printable format, download it using direct link
One of Us is Lying PDF
Download PDF of One of Us is Lying from OliPDF using the direct download link given at the bottom of this article.
One of Us is Lying PDF - Overview
One of Us Is Lying is a young adult, mystery/suspense novel by American author Karen M. McManus. The book is her debut novel, originally published in the US by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on 30 May 2017. The book uses multiperspectivity to show the points-of-view of all four student suspects. It has received several accolades including a 166-week run on the New York Times best-seller list.
A television series based on the One of Us is Lying novel was originally in development from E! in September 2017. However, the project was moved to NBCUniversal, who gave it a pilot order in August 2019 for Peacock. After the pilot was filmed in November 2019, the project was given a series order in August 2020 for a total of eight episodes. The remaining seven episodes were filmed in New Zealand. The series premiered on October 7, 2021.
Characters of One of Us is Lying
Bronwyn Rojas: One of the four point-of-view characters; the 'brain'. Is an overachiever and Yale-hopeful from a well-to-do family who are also Ivy League graduates. She is a member, and often founder, of several after-school clubs.
Nathaniel Macauley: One of the four point-of-view characters; the 'criminal'. Is a 'bad boy' who is on probation for selling drugs. He lives with his alcoholic father after his unpredictable, drug-addicted mother left and supposedly died several years ago.
Adelaide Prentiss: One of the four point-of-view characters; the 'princess'. Is one of the popular students at the school. She is besotted with her boyfriend, Jake, but her secret is that she cheated on him with TJ, another boy within their friendship group.
Cooper Clay: One of the four point-of-view characters; the 'jock'. He is a promising baseball star who is accused of steroid use by Simon's post. It is later revealed that the original post was edited and his secret removed, but it eventually comes to light that he is gay.
Simon Kelleher: Self-proclaimed omniscient narrator and creator of About That, the gossip app revolving around the students of the fictional American high school, Bayview High.
Maeve Rojas: Bronwyn's younger sister. She takes a proactive role alongside Bronwyn in trying to solve the murder. She has also been featured in a post by Simon. She suffered from leukemia at the young age of seven.
Jake Riordan: Addy's boyfriend and old friend of Simon's. He has a controlling nature, and when Addy's secret comes to light, he breaks up with her.
Ashton Prentiss: Addy's older sister. She has a rocky relationship with her husband Charlie, so spends a lot of time at the family home. She dislikes Jake and the way he treats Addy.
Janae: Janae is Simon's best friend. She plays a crucial role in the climax. She becomes friends with Addy. She is insecure.
Eli Kleinfelter: Lawyer who works for the pro bono legal group Until Proven. Bronwyn reaches out to him to defend Nate because he has no lawyer.
Kris: He is Cooper's secret boyfriend. He helps to decode the mystery.
TJ: A student of Bayview High, whom Addy cheats on Jake with.
Mikhail Powers: A reporter who takes an interest in Simon's case.
Mr. Avery: A strict teacher in Bayview High.
Vanessa: Addy's enemy who relentlessly mocks her after her secret comes out.
Luis: Cooper's best friend and one of the only people to stand by his side after his secret comes out.
Mrs. Macauley: Nate's mother, a bipolar addict who abandoned him
Keeley: Cooper's ex-girlfriend, who he pretended to like so he wouldn't be found out for being gay
Officer Lopez: Nate's probation officer
They Say I Say
Download One of Us is Lying PDF from OliPDF using the direct download link given below.
One of Us is Lying PDF Book Download Link
100 Hiit Workouts PDF
100+ Literary Devices List PDF
1099 Form PDF
1619 Project PDF
A Pequena Vendedora de Fósforos