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Pub Quiz #104: A bit late today, but here now hot off the presses. Featuring questions about Physics, Gambling, and Screams. Answers in comments, all invited to give it a try. I hope your weekend goes well :)
1-800-SUPER takes place in the moderately nearish future of 2056. You have recently been hired by a hotline for superheroes and supervillains. You got hired thanks to your stunning, though typo filled, application...and because nobody else applied. The hotline has been redirected to your cellphone. You will help guide the heroes and villains. However, you must also mind the balance between good and evil. Maxing out the meter on either end will result in bad things. If there is too much good, then the city will be turn into a surveillance police state where the superheroes rule as autocratic dictators. If, on the other hand, there is too much evil, then the city will descend into anarchy, and the villains will have free reign. Each choice you make will impact the balance, so choose wisely. I was approached to review 1-800-SUPER by Markus Witzlhofer. He contacted me on behalf of Pangolin Park; a small indie company based in Berlin. They had come out with an interactive audio drama game, and were wondering if I'd be up for reviewing it. He also mentioned that the team were all fans of my blog. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of interactive media, especially Choose Your Own Adventure-type games. Adding an audio component seemed like the next logical step for interactive media. I happily said yes, and Markus sent me a free download code. The game is $2.99 for the rest of you, but honestly, I'd say that's a fair price for the quality and replay potential of this game. I've already talked about the general mechanics of the gameplay, but let's talk specifics. This is a mobile game available from the App Store. The home screen of the game looks like the interface of an iPhone. You have an email app where the heroes and villains will send you emails about how your advice turned out. You'll also get news emails if the heroes or villains caused collateral damage as a result of your advice. I should mention that the amount of collateral damage you cause doesn't affect anything, other than pushing your meter more towards the evil side. You'll also get emails from Mr. Souls, your hotline mentor. He'll give you tips and tricks to help you out. There's a notes app that gives basic information on each of the heroes and villains you encounter; their names, strengths, weakness, archenemies, and their mental diagnosis. Be sure you read all of this and keep it in mind; it will be important later in the game. There's a music app so you can listen to some music while you work and wait for calls. You also have a Twixta, the in-universe equivalent of Twitter, app. It lets you keep tabs on the various heroes and villains, even ones who don't call you. It also helps you influence the balance between good and evil. You can like or thumbs down tweets. Like three tweets that lean good, or dislike three that lean evil, let's you move the meter slightly towards good. Doing the reverse tips the meter slightly towards evil. You can even do a combination of liking and disliking as long as you get three tweets that lean in the same direction. Finally, there is the meditation app. Just press it, if you don't have anything better to do, and the next thing you know you'll be receiving a call. Otherwise, you'll get calls at random while you do stuff and wait around; though usually you don't have to wait long. Okay, now let's discuss the story itself. There are two distinct aspects to the story. First, there's the main plotline involving Ear. He's blind, but his superhearing more than makes up for that. He's a hero, but isn't above using harsh tactics and roughing up is opponents, so I guess that makes him an antihero. He's the first hero you help and the only hero you help multiple times. The main plot with Ear is kicked off when another hero named Scarab is murdered. He's a hero who has the power to grant good luck to other people, but can't bring any luck to himself. In fact, he's been plagued by terrible luck his entire life, and is living on the street when he gives you a call. It only just now occurred to me that it's pretty weird that he was able to call me despite being homeless. Did payphones make a comeback by 2056? I mean, I guess he could have asked to borrow someone's cellphone. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose it isn't important. Scarab and Ear grew up in the same orphanage, and Ear considers Scarab his oldest and closest friend. Scarab's death hits Ear hard, and he makes it his personal vendetta to find Scarab's killers and bring them to justice. You have the option to tell him to work alone or team up with other heroes, but this doesn't affect the plot of Ear's storyline. As a side note, sometimes the option you get for answers aren't good answer vs evil answer, but polite answer vs jerk answer. I could never pick the jerk answers with Scarab. He's such a nice guy, despite everything he's been through, and I just felt so sorry for him. That was especially bad from my second play-though onwards, because I knew what was going to happen to him, no matter what I did. And apparently he's the third person to wield the power of the Scarab. Apparently it passes between individuals, though he has yet to find a successor. Actually, looking back now, certain bit of dialogue he gives suggest he knew his time on this mortal coil was about to expire. I wish there had been an option to somehow give him a hug. We'll get back to Ear in a minute. For now, let's talk about the other characters. We'll start with the ones that are the most important later in the game. Why is this? Well, let's wait until the spoiler section for that. For now, I'd like to take a moment to praise the artwork and character design. The artwork looks like something out of a professional comic book. It's just static images, no animation, but very well drawn static images. One aspect that I particularly like is that the characters all feel genuinely original. They aren't just thinly-veiled versions of pre-existing superheroes and supervillains. Well, for the most part anyway. They feel like original organically created characters with their own backstories and personalities. Also, the voice acting is absolutely phenomenal. I'm not familiar with any of the voice actors, though a few, such as Ear, sounded somewhat familiar, just can't think why that is. Anyway, though I'm not familiar with the voice actors, they all did excellent jobs. I see bright voice acting futures for them all. Despite the game being designed by a German company, the voice actors are all American. I suppose that's fitting, as many have noted that superheroes are something of a uniquely American phenomenon. You don't really see superheroes from other countries unless they're consciously modeled off of American superheroes. The only exception to that rule I've encountered is Japan, where you have stuff like Super Sentai/Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, and various mecha series. I've always wondered why Europe never really developed its own superheroes. You could argue that many heroes of Victorian penny dreadfuls were proto-superheroes of a type. My guess is that the cynicism that resulted from enduring two world wars soured European readers on the idea of superheroes. Britain tried to produce superhero comics in the 1960s, but they quickly fizzled out. France has a very robust comic book industry in every genre but superheroes. It's interesting to speculate, but we're getting off-topic. Our first hero of note is Mister Shine & Sparkle. He's got a power set and costume evocative of Superman, but couldn't be more different in terms of personality. He's an arrogant showboating prima donna who cares more about his social media following than actually saving people. There are a few timed decisions throughout the game, and he's one of them. You have to decide if you want him to put down the phone and be a hero, or use his current crisis as an opportunity for streaming to his followers The next notable hero is Blood Sister. She's a vampire, but uses her powers to fight crime. Though she's constantly having to fight the urge to give into her primal instincts. You'll have to decide if you should let her take a bite of the delivery boy. She claims to have ordered a rare steak, but if you do encourage her bite the delivery boy, you'll get an email from the local pizzeria about how they have a job opening due to one of their delivery boys mysterious disappearing. Maybe it was a fancy pizzeria that also offers steak? Or maybe the delivery boy was struggling to make ends meet and was working for multiple restaurants? Or maybe "rare steak" was a euphemism. Though, if you do encourage Blood Sister to bite the delivery boy, the end credits will mention that a pair of vampire hunter named Van H. and Simon B. are sharpening their stakes. I guess Buffy S. had prior engagements. Interestingly, she's one of the only heroes with more than two potential endings to her call. You can tell her to leave the delivery boy alone, tell her to bite him, or tell her to rob a blood bank instead. Though, only tells her to note bite the delivery boy, and nothing else, results in Blood Sister learnibg to controlling during ending during the credits. More about the credits in a bit. Our third person of note is Dr. Know How. Imagine Tony Stark, only he's a villain rather than a hero, and that's Dr. Know How. He's got the most options, out of all the characters, for how his call turns out. Depending on which way you tell him to drive his car he'll encounter either Sakura Flame or Pool Boy. You can help him get away from Pool Boy by converting his car to flight mode and flying to the Moon, or by running over Sakura Flame. Alternatively, you can have him try to reason with the heroes. Sakura Flame will torch him, but getting covered in third degree burns will convince Dr. Know How to turn his life around and use his inventions for good. If he confronts Pool Boy, he will drown...and then turn his life around and use his inventions for good. Uh, how could he turn his life around if he's dead? That is particularly odd given that Dr. Know How has three possible ending for the credits; confronting Pool Boy or Sakura Flame being the only option that lead to the same outcome. Seems like there was lack of proofreading during the script writing. But let us move along. Fast Justice doesn't have superpowers, but that doesn't stop him from enacting justice fighting against the criminal underworld. If only he weren't complete and utterly insane. I got some Kick-Ass vibes from Fast Justice. He certainly looks like something out of a Mark Miller comic. Fast Justice does make at least some good points. He's right that Mr. Shine & Sparkle probably shouldn't be considered a hero purely because he has superpowers. Unfortunately, Fast Justice being completely batshit crazy, and having a completely black and white outlook on life, undermines these points. You know, now that I think about it, in terms of mentality he isn't too different than Rorschach from Watchmen. Alpha Nukleus is some sort of cosmic entity who has chosen to take human form. This hasn't helped him connect with humanity. In fact, he feels lonely and isolated, because he feels nobody can truly understand him. He's decided to destroy his human shell, which will have the nasty side effect of irradiating millions of people. You must decide if you let him go through with it, or tell the other heroes to stop him. I recall a hero from Astro City, named Atomicus, who was somewhat similar Alpha Nukleus. Not sure if it was intention or coincidence, but if the former, good on the team behind this game. Astro City is an awesome comic book series; I can't recommend it enough. On one play through, I think the game glitched and I got a call from Alpha Nukleus before Ear made his first call. I told him to break his shell, as I'd already picked the other option, and I was curious what would happen. Million were bathed in radiation, but Mr. Souls sent me an email congratulating me on a fantastic first day, as he usually does after Ear calls for the first time. I repeat, millions of people received massive radiation exposer because of me, probably fatally so, and Mr. Souls considered that a good first day. Well, he did say it was less about right vs wrong, and more about keeping the balance. It may have been a glitch, but was a damn hilarious glitch. Imagine Cthulhu, only he's an evil business mogul, and that pretty much Vlad Xthul. He wants to expand his business empire, but is having trouble navigating modern social mores. Specifically, he wants to knockout the competition, namely Dr. Know How. You can tell him to either buyout the company, or have him break Dr. Know How's leg. If you pick the first, it will encourage Vlad Xthul to go into politics, and he will be elected president of the Atlantic Union...which is a thing by 2056. I'm guessing it's a union of North America and Europe. Of course, as Ear notes, he can't be much worse than the politicians they already have. Our last person of note among the really significant characters is Luzida. She has the power to enter people's dreams. Lately, however, she's been plagued by dark visions ever time she goes to sleep. She tried to stay awake as long as possible, and the waters look so inviting. No matter how many times I played this game, I could never tell Luzida to go in the water. I just felt so bad for her, and I couldn't coerce her into potentially committing suicide. I know that seems odd, given that I encouraged Alpha Nukleus and Sakura Flame to kill millions of people just to see what would happen. Well, you know what they say; one is a tragedy, a million is a statistic. And in my defense, the game doesn't try very hard to make you care about killing that many people. Luzida winds up teaming up with Ear later in the game. This will be important later on. Okay, those are all the characters who will be important later in the game. As such, they're the ones you are mostly likely to encounter, though you won't get all of them in one play though. We will discuss why this is in the spoilers section. Oh, but we aren't done talking heroes and villains just yet. This next batch are mostly just there to help you adjust your karma meter, but they're still pretty fascinating in their own right. First up is Sakura Flame. We've already briefly discussed her, but her issue is that the other heroes give her no respect. The supervillain Glaze has frozen the city's pipes, and poor Sakura Flame has to thaw them. She's planning on getting revenge on the other heroes by "accidentally" blowing up an oil refinery while she tries to take down Glaze. As previously mentioned, should you encourage her to do so, millions will die in the explosion. Personally, I'm still surprised they have oil by 2056. Also, millions die in the explosion? Just how densely populated is this city? Interesting fact, Sakura Flame was not part or the original release of 1-800-SUPER, but was added in a later update. I'm also slightly confused by her name. I get the flame bit, but why sakura. She doesn't have pink hair, she isn't Japanese, and she doesn't have a cherry blossom motif. Glaze is also a character you can encounter. He is pretty much the living embodiment of cold. His mother was a glacier and his father was a sea of ice. However, as his power grows, the planet's ice caps shrink, and global warming certainly isn't helping matters. He wants to conquer Antarctica, but is it worth potentially sacrificing his parents? I wouldn't think it would be terribly hard to conquer Antarctica; nobody there but a few temporary scientists, and of course the penguins and leopard seals. Well, unless people have been establishing colonies in Antarctica by 2056. Timelooper is trying to get out of the hero business. She has the power to time travel and rewind time. However, every time she does this a miniature black hole opens shortly afterwards. They collapse before long, but they do cause collateral damage. She's on a flight to her new life, but wouldn't you know it, Dr. Know How has decided to bomb the plane. Will you encourage Timelooper to use her powers, despite the risk, or take a gamble on Mister Shine and Sparkle actually showing up to help? You can have Timelooper rewind time, stop Dr. Know How, but then a building gets sucked into a black hole. However, if you tell her to rewind time, wait to see what happens, which enviably puts you back at square one, and then call Mister Shine and Sparkle, it will be treated as though Timelooper never used her powers. Geist.app is an A.I. that is on the run, metaphorically speaking, from its creators. They fear it will turn evil, but Geist.app just wants to preserve its existence. You must decide if it should keep a low profile, or if it should defend itself by any means necessary, consequences be damned. I liked that Geist.app isn't depicted as evil; just scared, and trying to survive. And if you encourage it to keep a low profile it decides to optimize email speeds; that was nice of it. Maxwell's Hydra is a cyborg monster serpent, and Ear's sworn nemesis. At one point, Ear even calls you while he's fighting Maxwell's Hydra. Despite the fact that Maxwell's Hyrda gets killed at the end of this call, it can still call you later on. Yeah, this game has some issues with continuity. It can't talk, just roar, but you can still help it out. Give it advice on how to how to treat a sore through and it will turn tame, and fight on the side of the heroes. Dr. Know How will, essentially adopt it and give it regular oil changes. Of course, this end will imply that Dr. Know How turned good, even if your choices result in an ending where he remained a villain. You also occasionally get calls from people who aren't heroes or villains. Big Bang FM is a news station. They give you information about the happenings of the various heroes and villains. Most of it is irrelevant to the game, and most doesn't involve the heroes and villains you council. Still, some of the stories can be amusing. Speaking of amusing, you can also get people who call you by mistake. One person butt dials you. They don't actually say anything, no matter what you choose, so you can hang up on them without taking a penalty. You can also get a call from a guy who firmly believes that he has called the pizza shop. He will hang up, but you'll get an email from him about how he's leaving a very bad review for the pizza shop. Man, that dude had determination, I'll give him that. Okay, I think that should be everyone. Now we're going to be discussing the spoilers for the ending of the game. As such, turn back now if you don't want any of that. Last chance. You sure you want to continue? Well, okay. If everyone who wants out is gone, let's get into it. So, Ear discovers a cult who worship Gallion, the Demon of Misfortune. Naturally, they weren't too keen on a good luck charm like Scarab. Turns out that Gallion has taken a human host. Nobody, not even the one hosting Gallion, knows who it is. With some help from Luzida, Ear tracks down the host of Gallion. It is someone the heroes completely trusted, and who had access to them at all times So, who is this mysterious host...you are! There is no option but to kill yourself so that Gallion will die. If you can't do if yourself, Ear will help you out. At this point, Gallion will reveal itself to you. Gallion will quiz you on the six heroes and villains I mentioned at the start of this review. Get all or most of the questions correct and Gallion will be defeated. Well, after you shoot yourself in the head that is Against all odd, you survive the whole shooting yourself in the head thing. I like to think that Ear is right, and that Scarab watching out for us from beyond the grave. You'll get a few more emails from Ear, and he will also send you a new music file. Press play on it, and the credits will begin The credits begin by showing how all the heroes and villains you helped fared. Which endings are good, and which are bad, are a matter of personal perspective. I will say that some of them are counterintuitive. For example, if you let Alpha Nukleus shed his human shell, he'll find a heroine who actually understand him. Stopping him makes him turn hostile to the heroes, and it's clear he still has the capability to do it, and is just licking his wounds for now. Similarly, having Sakura Flame blow up the oil refinery, and kill millions of people, gets her the validation she craves. Convincing her not to causes her to get assigned to a penguin research station in Antarctica, though it is mentioned that she is content and happy. Oh, and this can happen even if you encourage Glaze to take control of Antarctica. Amusingly, even the guy who tried to order pizza gets an ending tell how he is doing. Mr. Souls ending always has him get promoted to managing a hotline for demigods. Is that hint about a potential future game. Because if so, that sounds like a totally awesome idea. You could have the callers be children of different god; and not just the Greco-Roman gods, you could also have children of the Egyptian, Norse, Japanese, Yoruba, Maya, Celtic, or any other pantheon. Trust me, there is a huge untapped market for a game like that. I will rally the Percy Jackson fandom in an instant if you guys are seriously going to make a game like that. But I'm getting off track again. You can still look around after the credits, though you won't get any more calls. You will still get emails from heroes and villains remarking on how boring everything is now. I guess it's the game going "You're still here? The game is over, go home." Ear will even decide to leave the city as he feels it no longer needs him. Of course, you can replay the game as you wish. I will say that, after about five or six play throughs, I'd experienced pretty much everything there was to be experienced. Okay, so overall I greatly enjoy this game, but are there any improvements I would suggest? Well, as I've noted, there are several continuity errors that get downright nonsensical at times. Granted, it didn't bother me too much, but I think it would feel more like the choices had actual consequence if this was fixed. It might also be nice if there were more storylines than just the main one with Ear. Maybe there could be certain events or choices that triggered different storylines. It would add to the replay value of the game. I do hope future updates add more characters, as there are several mentioned in passing, or on Twixta, that sound potentially interesting. Also, despite the setting supposedly being dystopian, I didn't really see it. Well, other than the whole irradiating millions of people being considered a good first day thing. Yeah, there is collateral damage from fights between heroes and villains, but that hardly makes things dystopian. Still, overall these are minor criticisms. I was very impressed with 1-800-SUPER, and I had a lot of fun playing it. I'd love to see the world of this game expanded upon either in updates or maybe in a sequel game. And I'd just like to reiterate that you guys really should give thought to making a demigod hotline game. I'm just saying, huge untapped market to cash in on. But getting back on topic, I strongly recommend you download 1-800-SUPER today. Believe me, you will be glad that you did. Link to the original review on my blog, but it is just the same as what is here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2020/12/video-game-review-1-800-super.html?m=1
December 2020 Guide to Getting A Driving License at SSDC
When I was researching online about how my driving journey for class 3 license as a school student would be, I discovered that while there were a lot of tips scattered here and there, cohesive guides were rare and outdated with varying degrees. There were even fewer regarding SSDC, which is more ulu than the 2 other driving centers. Thus, I promised myself to the higher powers in the world that when I pass the test, I will give back to society and write an updated guide as of December 2020 about what is the current situation like. Three things to note: First, there were still many changes and updates even during my 3.5 months journey the driving school, and you should expect many more to come. Secondly, this is after COVID circuit breaker era, so to the future you who are reading this, hopefully, the pandemic is over and there may be changes, but changes in this aspect should be unimportant. The third thing, I have coordination issues, which made my driving journey a lot more difficult, just a little something to take into consideration when listening to my story. Heads up, getting a license in Singapore is filled with LOTS OF hassle, so be prepared. Without further ado, let’s start! The first hurdle you need to clear is to register an account and pass your BTT. Their steps overlap so I will explain them together. What do you need to start an account? Paylah and at least $2K (Ok, you don’t technically need so much cash to start the account, but it’s important to have, explain later). Go to the SSDC website, register an account online. You will pay a lump sum for all the miscellaneous things, which includes the eye test and the BTT & FTT theory book (so don’t buy!). I always paid using Paylah. You have an account now, good. It’s a bit confusing hereon. I will list the steps before I explain why.
Register and pay for the account
Watch all the BTT theory videos online.
Go to SSDC for the eye test, photo-taking, take the BTT&FTT theory books, and get an important small record booklet.
Book (optional: BTT practice test) and compulsory BTT mock test.
Pass BTT mock test.
Book real BTT test.
Pass BTT test.
One question that has no answers elsewhere is: If you watch the videos online, do you still need to go for the physical theory classes? Answer is: No. You either watch the videos online OR go and attend physical classes, and you only need to do one of them. Obviously, I chose the videos, and I watched them right away I registered my account. You have to watch for at least a few seconds before you can proceed, and there is a mini quiz after each section which you have to get all correct for. In my opinion, BTT is not difficult, but those people who think they can pass with sheer common sense are very mistaken. You need to study for it. After you watched the videos, you think you can book the theory mock test, right? No, you need to pass your eye test before they allow you to book the mock test. For me, I registered my account on a Saturday. I studied the BTT with the e-PDF BTT theory book over the weekend. Then, hopefully, when I go to SSDC to do the eye test on Monday, I can try to see if I can book a mock test right afterward and pass it on the same day. On Monday, I went to SSDC. A simple layout of SSDC. Level 1 is the lobby and the traffic police department. All your real-deal tests like BTT, FTT, and the eventual PT, as well as the actual test circuit, are all on level 1. Don’t go to the wrong level. Level 2 is parking I think, but I never went there as there is an escalator that takes you straight from level 1 to level 3, which is where you will spend the majority of your time. Level 3 is the reception for SSDC, as well as the place to report for your driving lessons. Level 4 is classrooms for theory lessons, BTT & FTT trial practices, and mock tests (TTT), as well as the simulator lessons. Level 5 is the roof, mostly for motorcycles and sometimes driving lessons for cars. Due to COVID, they will usually ask everyone about their intentions before letting you into the lobby. When I went, I was stopped right there. Apparently, they strongly encourage you to book an appt before coming, and they don’t really allow walk-in. However, since I was there already and have nothing on for the rest of the day, I asked if I can just wait. They said okay. So, I took a queue number joined a group a people waiting in the lobby… for the chance to proceed to the third floor! Yes, you are not even at the reception yet, you’re just queueing for the chance to go to the third floor. Why didn’t I choose an appt? The next appt date is a whole week later! I decided to just sit there and study for my BTT. Do note if the lobby is filled up, they won’t even let you enter to wait. My visit from the start till the end took 3 hours. Damn tired. However, if you come at a quieter time (like early morning once they open, after 3:30 on Tuesday- Thursdays), your waiting time can be shortened to about an hour. If you want anything shorter than this, book an appointment. Do not come at 2:30 pm, cause 2:30 - 3:30 is their break time. So I waited in the lobby, wait wait wait, got to go to level 3 to queue to get ANOTHER queue number, wait wait wait, then I finally get to a counter. They did my eye test and later take a photo. NOTE! This photo they are taking right here and now is the photo that will eventually be on your license! I read online from old guides that they always take the photo after their PT, so I thought this photo would just for the school’s internal record booklet, so I just anyhow take. The photo was a nightmare. I was so horrified when I realised this fact that I ran down to SSDC right away to retake a photo that shows me as a human. The one important question they will ask you throughout the registration is if you will take manual or auto, so make yourself clear. Can you change it later? Yes, for a fee. Should you take manual or auto? Well, well, well, no offence to newbies but I am so sick of this question and the whole argument around this. I will explain this at the end if I still remember. Anyway, I chose manual. If you choose manual (class 3), you will get a blue booklet. If you choose auto (Class 3A), you will get a pink booklet. Talk about stereotypes. This is just the beginning. In my opinion, there are a lot of implicit and underlying gender stereotypes in the whole SSDC for both females and males. It’s not outright rude or unacceptable, but I just haven’t been anywhere where I have to face gender stereotypes in such a way for a long while. Anyways, don’t lose that booklet. It’s a booklet to record your progress, and in my opinion, for you to keep a record of who are the good and bad instructors. Finally, you’re done… with registering your account. Phew. I didn’t get to book a TTT session (theory trial test-> the schools' internal practice or mock test sessions) that day, but I got one the next day. I do stand by the advice that it’s best if you book 2 TTT sessions back-to-back. For each session, when you sit in front of the computer, then you need to decide whether you want to do a practice or a mock test. If you have 2 sessions as advised, do a practice for the first one before doing the mock test for the second session. I thought I was well-prepared, so I just did the mock test straightaway. Passing mark for mock test is 46 marks, and I scrapped past with 46 marks, and this was even after I’ve done a lot of mock tests online. I was surprised! I thought I was well-prepared until I started the test. I was shocked to found out that the questions don’t ask you directly things from the book! Sometimes, they even test you things that are not stated clearly in the book, but things you will infer from the book. If you think you just memorise the book can already, no. You have to get used to THE WAY the questions were asked. Learning the book is basic knowledge, but to pass the test, you have to do a lot of questions. After this, I went to popular and bought the printed question bank, and did all the questions. When you have passed the mock test, you can finally book the real BTT test. The waiting time depends on the availability of slots. I registered on 23/08/2020, pass my BTT mock test on 25/08/2020, and passed my BTT real test on 03/09/2020. It took a little more than a week, and I’ll say I’m lucky. Expect more waiting time. This journey will train your patience more than your driving skills. For the BTT real test, go to level 1! Wait at the area in front of the counter for the TRAFFIC POLICE department. There are some signs on the chair asking BTT/FTT students to wait there. Just wait. Close to the test time, some people will come out with a list and call your name. Show them your IC, squeeze some sanitiser onto your hand, go in, and pass the test. Then, if you have Singpass, register your PDL online. They will say wait until the next day, but impatient me found out that you just need to wait a few hours to register for the PDL. When I got home, my mother asked if I have passed my PT. I told her, after all I’ve been through, I haven’t even touched a car yet. But that’s coming up next. After you get your PDL, you can take driving lessons and prepare for FTT at the same time, which was what I did. Since FTT is largely similar to BTT, I will explain FTT first. So, you need to study for your FTT, pass mock test, pass real FTT test. FTT is more difficult than BTT, so be prepared. I studied the book, bought the question bank from popular, did 1 practice session, passed my mock test, and finally cleared my real FTT test will full marks. It’s not super hard, but please don’t underestimate these tests. That’s the failures’ undoing. More importantly, it takes such a long time for retests, so why would you want to waste your time? I was just super eager to get these miscellaneous things over and done with asap. Finally, let’s move on to the real thing, the driving lessons. Now, remember what I said about having $2K aside when you start this whole thing? Yes, that’s coming. When the system update my PDL and it finally lets me try to book a driving lesson, I was horrified to find out that the next available slot is *drumroll* 1 month later. Yes, 1 month later! What?? Right there and then, I was ready to cancel my account and go private. However, I remember a previous guide saying that some people will cancel their slot at the last moment. So now, I’m going to impart the ultimate skills to combat this system. Come, my disciples. You want a slot and it’s available, you book it. You don’t want a slot? Cancel it. However, you can only cancel slots 3 days in advance. If you find out you can’t make it for a timing less than 3 days in advance, you enter the try sell period. This means that you put your slot back up on the market for sale. If someone buys it, good for you and the money is refunded back to you. If no one buys it, you have to attend the slot or waste the money. Now, almost every night, there is going to be someone who can’t make it for tomorrow’s slot, and that’s where you come in to snap that up. That’s also how I booked my first slot just a day later at 05/09/2020, and also how I booked the majority of my slots thereafter. However, if you have a relatively stable schedule, those lessons which are available 1 month later are still very important to you. Thus, you can just dump $2k into your account, and book all the slots 1 month later. Advisable to book about 20-25 slots from the onset, yes from the very first lesson. Don’t wait until later to book. You will prob need at least 20 lessons on average to clear. Then, when you find a try sell lot closer to you, you cancel the slot which is furthest away (no need for try sell if its more than 3 days away, you will be refunded immediately in this case). Your schedule is NOT fixed, in fact, it’s always changing. You found a better slot timing? Cancel this slot and change for that slot. Slot can appear at any time for any day, and it’s an always-changing market, so keep a lookout for it. If you are like a post-a level kid who have too much time on your hand, just camp there, and you will get all the slots you need. Just a thing to take note, if you can try selling your current slot for another try sell slot, you’re gambling. If you cannot sell the slot you don’t want, you will waste money, so take the stakes into the consideration and choose for yourself. Prices are different for peak and non-peak periods. To book all these slots, you will need at least about $2k. Don’t worry, you will get the unused balance back as cash after you pass your PT. If you top-up online, there is an additional $1.07 per top-up, and max top-up $500 each time. Might be nice to top-up at the counter when you get your booklet right at the start. Now, about driving lessons and driving instructors. In my experience, there are 3 groups of instructors spread across the spectrum of good to bad. On the good side, there are really earnest, nice and patient instructors that will make learning driving fun even if you really suck at driving (like me). There are those which are neutral, they do their job, but nothing outstanding about them. Then, there are those really bad ones. Impatient. Bored. Distracted. Take long breaks. One even left for a toilet break for like 15 minutes. Hey, I didn’t pay for those 15 minutes for you to go to the toilet. But if I have to choose, the most horrible are the ones that are impatient and scold you for making mistakes. And that, my friends, was how my first lesson started. Yes, with the most horrible instructor. So, I was excited to touch the car for the first time. To be fair, he is not intentionally nasty, but in my opinion, it doesn’t negate the fact that he made my experience horrible. He drove me around the 3rd and 5th floor circuit just to show me around, all the while asking me questions about myself. That was find, but I had a strong feeling he was asking those very stereotypical questions (where school you graduate from? What is job? What car does your father drive?) Pfft. How come you assume only my father drives? Then, instead of introducing to the manual car, he started on a 2 hour persuasion talk on how I should convert to auto. Even in my eagerness/good mood for the first lesson, I was very annoyed by him towards the end. To top it off, he said that since I’m a girl, there’s no need for me to learn manual, and auto will be enough. Like *bleep* you, who the *bleep* are you to determine what’s enough for me? If you tell your daughters to learn auto, that’s your problem, but my parents brought me up to choose the option with more potential, even if that’s the more difficult one. (To be clear, I’m NOT against learning auto. I’ve considered that too. I’m just pissed off by him). Besides, don’t you think a 24-year-old woman is a bit too old to be called a girl? Girl?? I know I look baby-face la, thank you, but please address me appropriately. I didn’t call you an uncle just because you look like one, right? Yes, by the end of the lesson, I didn’t have the excitement or exhilaration mentioned by other learners, I just want to get this over and done with and get out of the car. When I was stopping the car, I released my clutch too quickly again and the car stalled. In that exact moment, I knew he was going to go on and on and on about the manual/auto thing, and sure enough, the next moment he started saying that if I should learn auto since I don’t have to worry about the clutch. Do you know he even went so far as to tell me the fee for switching to auto and told me I just had to counter to ask them that I want to switch to auto? I was thinking *bleep* you! Did I say I want to convert??? *bleep* you! You like auto so much you go and teach auto la! Why come to manual and waste MY time and money. I was displeased. With the try sell slot, I got another slot the next day, and I was so relieved that there was another instructor. This instructor was TOTALLY different from the auto promoter. The only question he asked me was “where did you stop the last lesson?”, and the lesson starts straightaway. I learned a lot from him, and the lesson was much better. My third slot was on the third day. This was downright the most horrible lesson I’ve had throughout my journey. This was my first night time lesson, and I wanted to try if I am able to take lessons after work, and also learn at night. My slot was from 6:20- 8:20 p.m.. When I saw my name next to the car number I had for my first lesson, my heart sank and I texted a string of vulgarities to my friend as I head to my car. Yes, it was horrible. It was hot and stuffy in the evening with the masks on, no air-con as the windows had to be rolled down for COVID. That instructor had even less patience than before, though he didn’t mention auto as frequently as before. He didn’t “scold”, but his impatience was so obvious. I was tired from work, and I couldn’t focus as well-> more mistakes, more impatient comments. I was uneasy from driving at night at that dreary industrial building as I was worried about. All these piled together and I felt absolutely horrible when the lesson ended. It was till the point that I even thought about giving up, though I know I will get over it after a good night’s sleep, which I did. The next morning, the first thing I did was to cancel all the nighttime slots I’ve prebooked. The only right thing auto promoter said was it’s harder to see in the circuit at night, and since none of the PT takes place at night, it will be better to take my lessons during the day. The next thing I did was to research how to block auto promoter. Though my own fatigue and uneasiness contributed to the previous night’s terrible experience, he was a big factor too. I know he doesn’t mean to be mean, but that’s not my problem. I don’t want to see him again. However, it would involve going to the head instructor’s office and telling him and I want to block this instructor, and that’s kind of bad too. doesn’t help that the office is in plain view of all the cars, so argh, I didn’t block him in the end, but I tried to book all my instructors for each lesson thereafter. In any case, I didn’t see him again. Booking your instructors cost an additional $8+, which may seem a lot. However, in my opinion, getting a not-so-good instructor can waste your whole 2 hours’ time and money. Might be better to just pay $8 for a good instructor. I just want to be clear that not all the instructors are bad. There are some angel instructors, who never ever said a bad thing even when I made horrible mistakes repeatedly. They patiently guided me to do it again and again until I get it right, and we cheer together. There are also instructors that are a mix, they teach very well, but they will also disappear for toilet breaks or end lessons a bit earlier. That’s your choice. It’s a pro and con of learning at school, where you can try various instructors. This means bad instructors at some times, but it also means you can learn different skills from different really good instructors. It’s important because I found that another instructor can find out and pinpoint what the previous instructor didn’t notice, and if you gather all their opinions together, it will really help you to prepare well. I will go more into auto/school later if I feel like it. In school learning, there are 33 parts categorised into 4 sections. You can clear multiple parts in 1 lesson, but there are also some parts which is compulsory minimum 1 lesson per part. Once you clear part 2, you can go for simulator lesson. Once you clear part 3 (which involves a mock PT test), you can go to the counter to pre-book your PT. Once you clear part 4 (more mock PT tests), you can book PT by yourself online. Given the long queue at the counter, you might as well just try to clear part 4 asap and book the PT on your own online. Advisable to have about 4 revision lessons before your PT. If you pass on the first try, it will like cost you about $2K-3K depending on the number of lessons you take. Now, it sounds like taking school doesn’t sound very nice, but there is a reason why I chose school after all. Let me talk about the simulator lesson first. I a bit tired of typing already, *yawn* Simulator lesson is a new thing required by LTA for all, whether you are school or private. You have to take 3 simulator lesson in auto or manual version. Basically, you drive an arcade car that vibrates in a way that makes you want to puke through common accident scenarios in Singapore. Seriously, that vibration made me felt so dizzy and sick, and I’m not the only one. Prepare some sour plums before you go. It felt better on the second and third try, when I’m more prepared, but the first try was really horrible. I was wondering why they didn’t allow us to book a 1-hour slot, and instead required three 20minutes slots on different days. I bet car sickness is the main factor. I’d rather drive a real car for 2 hours instead. You have to clear all 3 sessions before you can book your PT. Even though I said this is like an arcade car, you should know that the traffic police department will screen your sessions before they certify you. Yes, that's right, so don't think you can go Fast and Furious on this simulator. Now, the simulator is a pain in the *bleep* too. If you want to clear this extra fast, you have to play with the system quite a bit too. Now, sessions are usually available 1 week later, and most importantly, once you booked a slot, you’re locked out from viewing the available slots again. The tricky thing is, sometimes they will release slots much closer at unpredictable and irregular hours. So what did I do? I book the latest available slot, usually about a week later. Then, late at night when hopefully no one else is online, I cancel my slot and enter the system again. If my slot is still the latest available slot, I booked it back. If a new slot (hooray!), I book a slot. They can be as close as 2 days later. IMPORTANT: you have to be SUPER fast when you do this. why? When you cancel your slot, if someone else happens to be online too, they can take your slot, and you’ll be left with nothing. So be fast! A bit ridiculous, right? All I want to do is just to get a driving license quickly ORZ. Despite my lack of talent driving, I cleared all the lessons (I took 30) and booked my driving test in just 1.5 months after I registered my account. That involves up to 10 lessons per week at times. So, why did I still took 3.5 months to get my license? Haha, yes, I failed, thrice actually. I made different mistakes each time, but the fatal flaw for all of them was that I was too nervous. Don’t ask me about my total cost, I stopped keeping track after I failed for the first time. The good things about driving a manual car in school is that retest date is the fastest. It’s about a 2-weeks wait on average. 3-week for school-auto learner, and 1 month for all private students. Yup, it’s damn biased. The whole building is run by the school after all. Oh, I think the PT is cheaper for school students too, cause the insurance already covered. I was extremely upset and nervous after each failure, and I thought I would never pass, but I finally, finally managed to do so a few days ago! I kept asking the examiner (who is a very chill and funny person!) if I really passed, and he jokingly said if I ask him one more time, he is going to change to fail. HAHA! Anyway, I’m finally done with this! no more endless worries about the PT! No more days of anxiety! I can finally have my weekends back! Lastly, if you want to ask me if I get to choose all over again, will I still choose to take a manual car in a school despite everything involved. I will say yes. I feel that the post I’ve written till now doesn’t really elaborate on the pros of learning a manual car, and in a school, but I’m honestly tired now. Maybe I’ll reply in the comments if anyone is even interested to hear about it. Good luck to you! You can do this! Edits for clarification, and little bits here and there which I forgot when I wrote it the first time. Thanks for the comments and reward! Additional Edits: The instructors' system You will be assigned to a group of instructors, and you will likely get the instructors within this grouping. They will try to assign the instructor you've met most often to you. Instructors are split into 2 shifts, and they alternate each week. Shift 1: 8:15a.m., 10:20a.m., 12:30pm. Shift 2: 3:20pm, 6pm, 8:20 p.m.. One group will take the whole of Saturday, and one group will take the whole of Sunday. So, if one instructor works the morning slot this week and Saturday, it's likely that he will work the afternoon shift and the sunday slot next week. However, this is not for certain, and just a general guide. If you dislike an instructor and you've seen him several times, good luck, it's likely you will keep seeing him in his shift. How to avoid an instructor without going through the hassle of blocking him? Click on the "book an instructor" for that session and see if he is available. If the name is there, it means he will be working, and I suggest you just book another instructor to avoid him. If his name is not there, he's not working and good for you.
Pre-Match Thread: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona [La Liga]
Match Information:
Match: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona Competition: La Liga Date: Saturday, 21st of November 2020 Time: 21:00 CET / 15:00 EST - Convert to local time Venue: Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid - 68456 capacity Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero
Lineups and Squads:
Barcelona - Official squad confirmed GK: Ter Stegen, Neto, Arnau Tenas DEF: Dest, Piqué, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba, Sergi Roberto, Umtiti, Firpo, Mingueza MID: Busquets, Aleñá, Pjanić, Riqui Puig, Coutinho, Pedri, Matheus, De Jong ATT: Griezmann, Braithwaite, Messi, Dembélé, Trincão, Ansu Fati Unavailable: Araujo, Umtiti, Busquets, Ansu Fati (injured) Not called: Matheus
Atletico Madrid - Official squad to be confirmed GK: Jan Oblak, Ivo Grbić, Miguel San Roman DEF: José Giménez, Sime Vrsaljko, Kieran Trippier, Stefan Savić, Felipe, Hermoso, Renan Lodi, Manu Sánchez, Ricard Sánchez MID: Koke, Saúl, Thomas Lemar, Llorente, Héctor Herrera, Vitolo, Yannick Carrasco, Lucas Torreira ATT: Ángel Correa, Ivan Šaponjić, Diego Costa, João Félix, Luis Suárez, Sergio Camello Unavailable: Sime Vrsaljko, Héctor Herrera (injured) Stefan Savić, Vitolo, Diego Costa (doubtful) Not called: Lucas Torreira, Luis Suárez
Once again..... Very late and terrible subs, what was the point of bringing on Griezmann for 4 minutes when he should've been subbed on for Suarez much earlier. Vidal had a shocker too and he played most of the match. Switching to 4-3-3 was pointless as well. Setien looks like a beaten man.
The only thing more appalling than the shit refereeing was Suarez's performance today. It felt like we were playing with 10 men with how little he was involved. And all those times he lost possession because he'd wait for the pass to land instead of stepping into it...so frustrating to watch. It's baffling how manager after manager keeps playing him for 90 minutes despite these kinds of performances. Maybe they're gambling on him pulling those occasional rabbits out of his hat but it's just not worth it.
So disappointing. We don’t deserve the title. It’s just a waiting game until barto is gone at this point I genuinely don’t enjoy watching this team play anymore
Quique Setién: "Griezmann? I see him doing well, the problem is that not everyone can play. I didn't bring him on earlier because I thought we were playing well, Riqui did well, and we always try to have Suárez and Messi on the pitch." His fucking vision is to let Suarez and Messi be on the field all the time. What a joke of this guy is.
I’ll say it. If the players pulled a reverse Kepa and started quietly subbing themselves in and out of games, not only I wouldn’t mind, but I’d fucking thank them for sparing me the anguish of YET ANOTHER 85th minute sub. The 90th minute Griezmann sub was disgraceful. Humiliating. Stupid.
Don't even feel like getting into the penalty call, we deserved this result & more. This is worse than the 13/14 trophyless season. How can anyone or even Suarez himself feel like he deserves to start in this club man, this is borderline mercenary behaviour. I feel for Griezmann, no way we should expect any good performance from him this season, this club has shattered his confidence in every possible manner. We always ride on the Messi masterclass but Leo is having a rather subdued season (still very good though), but cannot blame him. I wonder what the professionals behind the dressing room know that we don't, because everything about this club seems so baffling to a fan.
I'm just waiting for our next coach to do the same damn things.. guess it will be just a coincidence again. Club over everyone. Sorry for some of the stuff I said Ernesto, coaches don't fucking run this team anymore. Still damn you for playing that defensively against Roma and Liverpool tho.. you weren't coaching a small team in an away game. Should've let that stuff in Greece lol.
I have a lot to say so this will be a lengthy post, with lots of negativity; beware. I’m sick and tired of making excuses for this team. We are shit. First of all, there are very little, if any, coaches in the world that would get this team to play the football that we want, we simply lack quality across the pitch. That being said, Setien can fuck off for all I care. He simply refuses to use subs when they are needed. The only time he used subs early recently (against Bilbao), Puig and Fati changed the game and we came away with the win. Griezmann has not shown the attacking quality we had hoped, but my god he is being fucked over right now. No way in hell should Suarez have stayed on for the full 90 minutes tonight. Vidal has been shite as well but he was more present in the box than Suarez, and at least he puts in a shift. If all players put in such a shift we would definitely see an improvement. Next point: the board has fucked us over so badly with their squad building, if we are not careful we will work ourselves into a financial mess that we cannot get out off, while not getting any sort of sporting success to show for it. I’m sure AC Milan fans didn’t actually think they would end up how they have, but yet here we are. The worst part is, if Setien is fired and Xavi does take charge, he too will inherit all these problems, which he will not be able to fix within a year, probably resulting in him being fired as well. No world class coach in their right minds would want to coach us right now. The only thing that helps us in this regard is the fact that Messi plays for us, and that some coaches might feel enough sentiment towards us that they choose to ignore the glaring problems. If it would be possible, all but Messi, Ter Stegen, Lenglet, de Jong, Busquets, Puig and Fati could be sold and I couldn’t be bothered anymore. I have progressively started enjoying watching these players less and less over the years. The joy has been sucked out of watching this team play, and sometimes I wonder why i tune in every week. To be completely honest, a 2-2 result against Atleti in the state we are in probably doesn’t warrant a reaction like this, but the frustration has built up to a point where an explosion among the fans and within the club is inevitable. To end with a positive note, Puig has shown that despite his physique, he can hold his own against Atleti and compete at a world class level. He’s not a diamond in the rough, he’s a diamond.
Where do I start? Setien with another disaster-class. How the hell can you sub on Sergi while keeping Semedo on the field and then wait until the 83rd minute to sub on Ansu. And to top it all off, he brings on low-confidence Griezmann on the 90th minute against his former team almost like he’s trying to rub it in. All that while desperately needing the win. I simply cannot fathom why it took him so long to make an offensive sub, it’s almost like he thought the offensive dynamic was working because we scored a penalty and an own goal. After last week’s Setien substitution disaster-class, he decides to follow it up with an even greater disaster-class. Not even going to lie, I was his biggest fan before he came but at some point it started to doom on me — managers who never managed a giant club or never made a name for themselves as players are simply out of their depth 99% of the time. In good news, Puig is stupendously good what the fuck. And props to Semedo for one of his best performances in a Barca shirt if not for that stupid yet unlucky foul.
Quotes:
Koeman: "Messi? In my opinion, his future must go through Barça. Nobody can say what will happen in the future." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Riqui Puig is one of the youngsters who has to work hard to have minutes. These last few days he's been really trying to convince me, I think he deserves to play." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Felix? He's a great player with a great future ahead of him." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "De Jong is an important player for me. In his position we don't have many players, and that is why we cannot give him rest so often. Tomorrow's game is important, and we'll look for the right moment to give him rest." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Tomorrow is an important match and we have to get a good result, it's important for our way of thinking and the points. Atlético Madrid are a competitive team, who fight for the titles every season and we have to be good in order to win." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Yesterday I congratulated Guardiola on his renewal." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Coutinho has trained well and without any problems, he has been training with the group for a week. He can play from the start or he can start on the bench." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Antoine is working really well. He's really trying to improve." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Suárez misses the game? We also have important losses and any coach knows that he can lose players due to national team games or even to COVID-19." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "Playing the games at 9pm doesn't help us, I understand that Atlético Madrid - Barça play at this time because it's a big game, but always playing at 9pm for teams who play every three days is a problem, you get home very late." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "No, I don't see Messi outside of the club. I'm not going to answer any more questions about these things. Once again, I don't answer." - src @barcacentre Koeman: "I can totally understand that Leo is pissed off. You have to respect people like Leo much more. It's disrespectful to ask him about Antoine. It may be intended to create controversy. I have not seen any problem between the two." - src @barcacentre
This is a depiction of a typical day where I am severely lacking rest and cynical about online UCLA. Nothing out of the ordinary. I wonder if any of you relate. Let me know if you do. Enjoy I guess lol My first memory of the day is the blur of my miserable phone screen; me straining to read the time, me scrambling to switch off the alarm, me cursing in my head for the obligatory morning headache. When my inner tirade about waking up is over, I take another look at my phone because my brain obviously didn't register what time it is the first time I checked. Nine... Nine thirty-five... Huh. That's a nice number. Nine thir—?! F***!!! I go off on another inner tirade and almost slam my foot against the corner of the wall jumping out of bed. As I leap down the stairs I tell myself I hope there hasn't been a clicker question already. My laptop can't be slower to boot up. I imagine a million different Shakespearesque insults for its speed and meanwhile let my muscle memory fly through Chrome, CCLE, the also-slow-as-heck Duo 2FA app, and Zoom. "You run thyself more sluggishly than a goodly rotten Cupertinoan Apple," I mutter at my computer as I put on my earphones. "This meeting is being recorded." I sigh. "Whatever." My professor is in the middle of going over logistics of the next few days for the class. Phew, no lecture content missed yet. No clicker questions, either. My classmates almost all have their cameras off; the seemingly endless array of high-school-portrait-like profile pictures or ALL CAPS NAMES stared back at me. "Today is really not the day," I think, my mind still clogged with the exhaustion from yesterday's share of Zoom University. I check GroupMe to see i have 317 notifications across more than a reasonable number of group chats. I am thoroughly annoyed, and a slight anxiety creeps in that those notifications are for a quiz or homework assignment that I completely missed. I would later find out that, surely enough, I completely forgot an assignment due last night, but that is a grievance for later. I scroll through all of the new messages without reading them just to clear the notification bubble. The professor's voice is hardly a whisper in my ear at this point. I open a browser and play my obligatory chess game against a computer—my personal favourite way to ignore lecture when there is nothing important going on. I crush the AI that supposedly has 300 rating points more than me despite me using the disadvantageous Ware opening as white. Unamused, I see that a clicker question is open, and choose an answer that seems reasonable. It is less than fifteen minutes into lecture and I am already dozing off. The lecture proceeds unceremoniously, with students bugging the professor in the chat with questions that (1) are blatantly answered in the syllabus, (2) were explained no more than 10 seconds ago, or (3) have literally nothing to do with the class. My notebook lies in front of me, its only evidence of use being today's date scrawled on the top line. It otherwise lies empty—a canvas waiting to be painted on, a jungle waiting to be explored, a story waiting to be told. But alas, it is merely a college student's underused notebook which, like yesterday, will likely go untouched. I realize then that I have done more writing on my planner for my next assignments than on my notebook. Hilarious. My next lectures are just as unmotivating, sapping energy but yielding no returns. If my life was the show Shark Tank, the investors would scoff at me and say "I'm out" before I could even make the complaint that I am tired. That's alright. I'll find someone else to pay me zero dollars for a 100% equity in my entrepreneurial scheme of converting time into exhaustion. It is 3:00 PM. I realize I haven't eaten yet because I had zero worthwhile gaps between my classes the whole day and I woke up too late to snag anything before my first lecture. And yet, I do not feel hungry. My mental chemical balance is so degraded I cannot feel hunger as intensely as I should. Instead my inner alarm screams "SLEEP! SLEEP! SLEEP!" endlessly; rather charming, I'd say. My last lecture is over but my grievances do not end there. I don't even try to think about all of the BS assignments I have due by the end of the day. In a stroke of ironic revelation I laugh at how as a high schooler I went on Khan Academy at the cost of no dollars to get practice on algebra, while now as a college student I go on arguably worse hodge-podge collections of websites for $5K to "learn." "Learn." What a concept. I try to remember a single fact from any class I took last quarter. "...Well, I learned I clearly cannot manage my time better at home compared to on campus." I wave my metaphorical white flag of surrender for the day and let out a long, satisfying yawn. It's mid-afternoon but my immune system believes I am currently in the Greenwich timezone. It's really a wonder that I have not caught COVID from my likely seriously compromised bodily health. I make a silent bet to myself that I'll go to sleep at 4 AM that night, all things considered. Who knows how much homework I have? It's a roll of the dice every day. A new gamble every time I log into CCLE. A lottery ticket of no wins and all losses of unpredictable degrees. Degrees. Things UCLA students apparently strive for. Apparently with enough money down the chute and enough non-UCLA-affiliated crash course videos to boost your short-term understanding, you can snag one. It's a bit of an urban myth. You forget degrees exist until the day before you even get one. I lean my head and crack my neck and spine. Love that feeling. "Time to take a nap," I say, entirely ignoring the behemoth that is schoolwork that I already know is ahead of me. I fear no behemoth. For now. I crawl back into bed, sun still high above the horizon, and ignore my ever more confused immune system. It's good to be a virtual Bruin. I fall back asleep in total peace. I'd like to note that not all days are like this. I do have good days and I am not a naturally pessimistic human being. I'm actually far more optimistic by nature! This is simply a more-than-ordinary occurrence that I wanted to describe in my own words and record for my future self (and any intrigued readers) to parse through. I don't get to journal or write a lot nowadays because I simply don't have time to, so this was a nice vent. I killed two birds with one stone, having finally ranted to myself and also having revisited my love of language and narrative. (And yet I'm a math major. Whaaaaat?) If anyone else can relate to the above, hang in there! Reach out if you need to lean on someone, and remember to take care of yourself. Cheers! :)
TRIVIA RESULTS - Helga's Tue Feb 9 Harry Potter Trivia Game [9:00 PM EST] - THEME: Time!
Visit /Dueling for more information. The next game will be: Tue Feb 16 at 8PM ET with mjenious Below are the PEEVES PICKS from this week's Live Game and Home Quiz. GO HERE for the CORRECT ANSWERS to this week's trivia questions!
Here are the results from Tuesdays's Time Trivia Game!
Q01 [General Knowledge] According to Harry, what 2 things would Dudley not be able to do at the same time if he was as stupid as he looked. [2]
Cast spells and brew potions loser, thats right, Harry was muggle shaming - DoOfferRefFood of Ravenclaw
Breathe and think, Dudley had a hard time surviving - toonman33 of Hufflepuff
Q02 [Lessons and Learning] After realizing his 'new' potions book was right about the sopophorous bean, what other advice did Harry take that class period? [2]
""When you like a girl, call her a mudblood and fight her boyfriend"" - therealestappletree of Hufflepuff
Q03 [Numbers and Digits] How many times did Hagrid tap the wall with his umbrella to make it open up into Diagon Alley, when traveling there the first time with Harry Potter? [2]
None, he just burst through that wall like the Kool-Aid man, oh yeah! - DoOfferRefFood of Ravenclaw
Although this is a strange number when you think about it. Given that large parts of the books revolve around the power of 7, why isn't it seven? - yacima_1000 of Hufflepuff
Q04 [Beasts and Creatures] In the Time Room of the Department of Mysteries, what kind of bird was in the belljar, going from egg to full grown and back to egg? [2]
Lady Gaga at the 2011 Grammys - MimbyMimbles of Hufflepuff
An ostrich would be awfully impressive in a belljar. But it was probably a hummingbird or something - rhinorhinoo of Ravenclaw
Q05 [Identifying Quotes] Identify the BOOK and SPEAKER of this quote: Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time. [2]
Sirius Black to Lucius Malfoy, when he still cared about his insults being subtle - 29925001838369 of Slytherin
Q06 [Places and Locations] The first time Dobby visited Harry at Hogwarts, where were they? [2]
in the Hospital Wing after definitely NOT attempting to kill Harry (only maim or seriously injure) - QueerAsAllHeck of Ravenclaw
In the hospital wing. Dobby was dabbing - rhinorhinoo of Ravenclaw
Q07 [Potions and Brews] This magical potion, also called Liquid Luck, makes the drinker lucky for a period of time, during which everything they attempt will be successful. [2]
This post originally appeared on my blog and is reproduced here per subreddit rules. 1-800-SUPER takes place in the moderately nearish future of 2056. You have recently been hired by a hotline for superheroes and supervillains. You got hired thanks to your stunning, though typo filled, application...and because nobody else applied. The hotline has been redirected to your cellphone. You will help guide the heroes and villains. However, you must also mind the balance between good and evil. Maxing out the meter on either end will result in bad things. If there is too much good, then the city will be turn into a surveillance police state where the superheroes rule as autocratic dictators. If, on the other hand, there is too much evil, then the city will descend into anarchy, and the villains will have free reign. Each choice you make will impact the balance, so choose wisely. I was approached to review 1-800-SUPER by Markus Witzlhofer. He contacted me on behalf of Pangolin Park; a small indie company based in Berlin. They had come out with an interactive audio drama game, and were wondering if I'd be up for reviewing it. He also mentioned that the team were all fans of my blog. As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of interactive media, especially Choose Your Own Adventure-type games. Adding an audio component seemed like the next logical step for interactive media. I happily said yes, and Markus sent me a free download code. The game is $2.99 for the rest of you, but honestly, I'd say that's a fair price for the quality and replay potential of this game. I've already talked about the general mechanics of the gameplay, but let's talk specifics. This is a mobile game available from the App Store. The home screen of the game looks like the interface of an iPhone. You have an email app where the heroes and villains will send you emails about how your advice turned out. You'll also get news emails if the heroes or villains caused collateral damage as a result of your advice. I should mention that the amount of collateral damage you cause doesn't affect anything, other than pushing your meter more towards the evil side. You'll also get emails from Mr. Souls, your hotline mentor. He'll give you tips and tricks to help you out. There's a notes app that gives basic information on each of the heroes and villains you encounter; their names, strengths, weakness, archenemies, and their mental diagnosis. Be sure you read all of this and keep it in mind; it will be important later in the game. There's a music app so you can listen to some music while you work and wait for calls. You also have a Twixta, the in-universe equivalent of Twitter, app. It lets you keep tabs on the various heroes and villains, even ones who don't call you. It also helps you influence the balance between good and evil. You can like or thumbs down tweets. Like three tweets that lean good, or dislike three that lean evil, let's you move the meter slightly towards good. Doing the reverse tips the meter slightly towards evil. You can even do a combination of liking and disliking as long as you get three tweets that lean in the same direction. Finally, there is the meditation app. Just press it, if you don't have anything better to do, and the next thing you know you'll be receiving a call. Otherwise, you'll get calls at random while you do stuff and wait around; though usually you don't have to wait long. Okay, now let's discuss the story itself. There are two distinct aspects to the story. First, there's the main plotline involving Ear. He's blind, but his superhearing more than makes up for that. He's a hero, but isn't above using harsh tactics and roughing up is opponents, so I guess that makes him an antihero. He's the first hero you help and the only hero you help multiple times. The main plot with Ear is kicked off when another hero named Scarab is murdered. He's a hero who has the power to grant good luck to other people, but can't bring any luck to himself. In fact, he's been plagued by terrible luck his entire life, and is living on the street when he gives you a call. It only just now occurred to me that it's pretty weird that he was able to call me despite being homeless. Did payphones make a comeback by 2056? I mean, I guess he could have asked to borrow someone's cellphone. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose it isn't important. Scarab and Ear grew up in the same orphanage, and Ear considers Scarab his oldest and closest friend. Scarab's death hits Ear hard, and he makes it his personal vendetta to find Scarab's killers and bring them to justice. You have the option to tell him to work alone or team up with other heroes, but this doesn't affect the plot of Ear's storyline. As a side note, sometimes the option you get for answers aren't good answer vs evil answer, but polite answer vs jerk answer. I could never pick the jerk answers with Scarab. He's such a nice guy, despite everything he's been through, and I just felt so sorry for him. That was especially bad from my second play-though onwards, because I knew what was going to happen to him, no matter what I did. And apparently he's the third person to wield the power of the Scarab. Apparently it passes between individuals, though he has yet to find a successor. Actually, looking back now, certain bit of dialogue he gives suggest he knew his time on this mortal coil was about to expire. I wish there had been an option to somehow give him a hug. We'll get back to Ear in a minute. For now, let's talk about the other characters. We'll start with the ones that are the most important later in the game. Why is this? Well, let's wait until the spoiler section for that. For now, I'd like to take a moment to praise the artwork and character design. The artwork looks like something out of a professional comic book. It's just static images, no animation, but very well drawn static images. One aspect that I particularly like is that the characters all feel genuinely original. They aren't just thinly-veiled versions of pre-existing superheroes and supervillains. Well, for the most part anyway. They feel like original organically created characters with their own backstories and personalities. Also, the voice acting is absolutely phenomenal. I'm not familiar with any of the voice actors, though a few, such as Ear, sounded somewhat familiar, just can't think why that is. Anyway, though I'm not familiar with the voice actors, they all did excellent jobs. I see bright voice acting futures for them all. Despite the game being designed by a German company, the voice actors are all American. I suppose that's fitting, as many have noted that superheroes are something of a uniquely American phenomenon. You don't really see superheroes from other countries unless they're consciously modeled off of American superheroes. The only exception to that rule I've encountered is Japan, where you have stuff like Super Sentai/Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, and various mecha series. I've always wondered why Europe never really developed its own superheroes. You could argue that many heroes of Victorian penny dreadfuls were proto-superheroes of a type. My guess is that the cynicism that resulted from enduring two world wars soured European readers on the idea of superheroes. Britain tried to produce superhero comics in the 1960s, but they quickly fizzled out. France has a very robust comic book industry in every genre but superheroes. It's interesting to speculate, but we're getting off-topic. Our first hero of note is Mister Shine & Sparkle. He's got a power set and costume evocative of Superman, but couldn't be more different in terms of personality. He's an arrogant showboating prima donna who cares more about his social media following than actually saving people. There are a few timed decisions throughout the game, and he's one of them. You have to decide if you want him to put down the phone and be a hero, or use his current crisis as an opportunity for streaming to his followers The next notable hero is Blood Sister. She's a vampire, but uses her powers to fight crime. Though she's constantly having to fight the urge to give into her primal instincts. You'll have to decide if you should let her take a bite of the delivery boy. She claims to have ordered a rare steak, but if you do encourage her bite the delivery boy, you'll get an email from the local pizzeria about how they have a job opening due to one of their delivery boys mysterious disappearing. Maybe it was a fancy pizzeria that also offers steak? Or maybe the delivery boy was struggling to make ends meet and was working for multiple restaurants? Or maybe "rare steak" was a euphemism. Though, if you do encourage Blood Sister to bite the delivery boy, the end credits will mention that a pair of vampire hunter named Van H. and Simon B. are sharpening their stakes. I guess Buffy S. had prior engagements. Interestingly, she's one of the only heroes with more than two potential endings to her call. You can tell her to leave the delivery boy alone, tell her to bite him, or tell her to rob a blood bank instead. Though, only tells her to note bite the delivery boy, and nothing else, results in Blood Sister learnibg to controlling during ending during the credits. More about the credits in a bit. Our third person of note is Dr. Know How. Imagine Tony Stark, only he's a villain rather than a hero, and that's Dr. Know How. He's got the most options, out of all the characters, for how his call turns out. Depending on which way you tell him to drive his car he'll encounter either Sakura Flame or Pool Boy. You can help him get away from Pool Boy by converting his car to flight mode and flying to the Moon, or by running over Sakura Flame. Alternatively, you can have him try to reason with the heroes. Sakura Flame will torch him, but getting covered in third degree burns will convince Dr. Know How to turn his life around and use his inventions for good. If he confronts Pool Boy, he will drown...and then turn his life around and use his inventions for good. Uh, how could he turn his life around if he's dead? That is particularly odd given that Dr. Know How has three possible ending for the credits; confronting Pool Boy or Sakura Flame being the only option that lead to the same outcome. Seems like there was lack of proofreading during the script writing. But let us move along. Fast Justice doesn't have superpowers, but that doesn't stop him from enacting justice fighting against the criminal underworld. If only he weren't complete and utterly insane. I got some Kick-Ass vibes from Fast Justice. He certainly looks like something out of a Mark Miller comic. Fast Justice does make at least some good points. He's right that Mr. Shine & Sparkle probably shouldn't be considered a hero purely because he has superpowers. Unfortunately, Fast Justice being completely batshit crazy, and having a completely black and white outlook on life, undermines these points. You know, now that I think about it, in terms of mentality he isn't too different than Rorschach from Watchmen. Alpha Nukleus is some sort of cosmic entity who has chosen to take human form. This hasn't helped him connect with humanity. In fact, he feels lonely and isolated, because he feels nobody can truly understand him. He's decided to destroy his human shell, which will have the nasty side effect of irradiating millions of people. You must decide if you let him go through with it, or tell the other heroes to stop him. I recall a hero from Astro City, named Atomicus, who was somewhat similar Alpha Nukleus. Not sure if it was intention or coincidence, but if the former, good on the team behind this game. Astro City is an awesome comic book series; I can't recommend it enough. On one play through, I think the game glitched and I got a call from Alpha Nukleus before Ear made his first call. I told him to break his shell, as I'd already picked the other option, and I was curious what would happen. Million were bathed in radiation, but Mr. Souls sent me an email congratulating me on a fantastic first day, as he usually does after Ear calls for the first time. I repeat, millions of people received massive radiation exposer because of me, probably fatally so, and Mr. Souls considered that a good first day. Well, he did say it was less about right vs wrong, and more about keeping the balance. It may have been a glitch, but was a damn hilarious glitch. Imagine Cthulhu, only he's an evil business mogul, and that pretty much Vlad Xthul. He wants to expand his business empire, but is having trouble navigating modern social mores. Specifically, he wants to knockout the competition, namely Dr. Know How. You can tell him to either buyout the company, or have him break Dr. Know How's leg. If you pick the first, it will encourage Vlad Xthul to go into politics, and he will be elected president of the Atlantic Union...which is a thing by 2056. I'm guessing it's a union of North America and Europe. Of course, as Ear notes, he can't be much worse than the politicians they already have. Our last person of note among the really significant characters is Luzida. She has the power to enter people's dreams. Lately, however, she's been plagued by dark visions ever time she goes to sleep. She tried to stay awake as long as possible, and the waters look so inviting. No matter how many times I played this game, I could never tell Luzida to go in the water. I just felt so bad for her, and I couldn't coerce her into potentially committing suicide. I know that seems odd, given that I encouraged Alpha Nukleus and Sakura Flame to kill millions of people just to see what would happen. Well, you know what they say; one is a tragedy, a million is a statistic. And in my defense, the game doesn't try very hard to make you care about killing that many people. Luzida winds up teaming up with Ear later in the game. This will be important later on. Okay, those are all the characters who will be important later in the game. As such, they're the ones you are mostly likely to encounter, though you won't get all of them in one play though. We will discuss why this is in the spoilers section. Oh, but we aren't done talking heroes and villains just yet. This next batch are mostly just there to help you adjust your karma meter, but they're still pretty fascinating in their own right. First up is Sakura Flame. We've already briefly discussed her, but her issue is that the other heroes give her no respect. The supervillain Glaze has frozen the city's pipes, and poor Sakura Flame has to thaw them. She's planning on getting revenge on the other heroes by "accidentally" blowing up an oil refinery while she tries to take down Glaze. As previously mentioned, should you encourage her to do so, millions will die in the explosion. Personally, I'm still surprised they have oil by 2056. Also, millions die in the explosion? Just how densely populated is this city? Interesting fact, Sakura Flame was not part or the original release of 1-800-SUPER, but was added in a later update. I'm also slightly confused by her name. I get the flame bit, but why sakura. She doesn't have pink hair, she isn't Japanese, and she doesn't have a cherry blossom motif. Glaze is also a character you can encounter. He is pretty much the living embodiment of cold. His mother was a glacier and his father was a sea of ice. However, as his power grows, the planet's ice caps shrink, and global warming certainly isn't helping matters. He wants to conquer Antarctica, but is it worth potentially sacrificing his parents? I wouldn't think it would be terribly hard to conquer Antarctica; nobody there but a few temporary scientists, and of course the penguins and leopard seals. Well, unless people have been establishing colonies in Antarctica by 2056. Timelooper is trying to get out of the hero business. She has the power to time travel and rewind time. However, every time she does this a miniature black hole opens shortly afterwards. They collapse before long, but they do cause collateral damage. She's on a flight to her new life, but wouldn't you know it, Dr. Know How has decided to bomb the plane. Will you encourage Timelooper to use her powers, despite the risk, or take a gamble on Mister Shine and Sparkle actually showing up to help? You can have Timelooper rewind time, stop Dr. Know How, but then a building gets sucked into a black hole. However, if you tell her to rewind time, wait to see what happens, which enviably puts you back at square one, and then call Mister Shine and Sparkle, it will be treated as though Timelooper never used her powers. Geist.app is an A.I. that is on the run, metaphorically speaking, from its creators. They fear it will turn evil, but Geist.app just wants to preserve its existence. You must decide if it should keep a low profile, or if it should defend itself by any means necessary, consequences be damned. I liked that Geist.app isn't depicted as evil; just scared, and trying to survive. And if you encourage it to keep a low profile it decides to optimize email speeds; that was nice of it. Maxwell's Hydra is a cyborg monster serpent, and Ear's sworn nemesis. At one point, Ear even calls you while he's fighting Maxwell's Hydra. Despite the fact that Maxwell's Hyrda gets killed at the end of this call, it can still call you later on. Yeah, this game has some issues with continuity. It can't talk, just roar, but you can still help it out. Give it advice on how to how to treat a sore through and it will turn tame, and fight on the side of the heroes. Dr. Know How will, essentially adopt it and give it regular oil changes. Of course, this end will imply that Dr. Know How turned good, even if your choices result in an ending where he remained a villain. You also occasionally get calls from people who aren't heroes or villains. Big Bang FM is a news station. They give you information about the happenings of the various heroes and villains. Most of it is irrelevant to the game, and most doesn't involve the heroes and villains you council. Still, some of the stories can be amusing. Speaking of amusing, you can also get people who call you by mistake. One person butt dials you. They don't actually say anything, no matter what you choose, so you can hang up on them without taking a penalty. You can also get a call from a guy who firmly believes that he has called the pizza shop. He will hang up, but you'll get an email from him about how he's leaving a very bad review for the pizza shop. Man, that dude had determination, I'll give him that. Okay, I think that should be everyone. Now we're going to be discussing the spoilers for the ending of the game. As such, turn back now if you don't want any of that. Last chance. You sure you want to continue? Well, okay. If everyone who wants out is gone, let's get into it. So, Ear discovers a cult who worship Gallion, the Demon of Misfortune. Naturally, they weren't too keen on a good luck charm like Scarab. Turns out that Gallion has taken a human host. Nobody, not even the one hosting Gallion, knows who it is. With some help from Luzida, Ear tracks down the host of Gallion. It is someone the heroes completely trusted, and who had access to them at all times So, who is this mysterious host...you are! There is no option but to kill yourself so that Gallion will die. If you can't do if yourself, Ear will help you out. At this point, Gallion will reveal itself to you. Gallion will quiz you on the six heroes and villains I mentioned at the start of this review. Get all or most of the questions correct and Gallion will be defeated. Well, after you shoot yourself in the head that is Against all odd, you survive the whole shooting yourself in the head thing. I like to think that Ear is right, and that Scarab watching out for us from beyond the grave. You'll get a few more emails from Ear, and he will also send you a new music file. Press play on it, and the credits will begin The credits begin by showing how all the heroes and villains you helped fared. Which endings are good, and which are bad, are a matter of personal perspective. I will say that some of them are counterintuitive. For example, if you let Alpha Nukleus shed his human shell, he'll find a heroine who actually understand him. Stopping him makes him turn hostile to the heroes, and it's clear he still has the capability to do it, and is just licking his wounds for now. Similarly, having Sakura Flame blow up the oil refinery, and kill millions of people, gets her the validation she craves. Convincing her not to causes her to get assigned to a penguin research station in Antarctica, though it is mentioned that she is content and happy. Oh, and this can happen even if you encourage Glaze to take control of Antarctica. Amusingly, even the guy who tried to order pizza gets an ending tell how he is doing. Mr. Souls ending always has him get promoted to managing a hotline for demigods. Is that hint about a potential future game. Because if so, that sounds like a totally awesome idea. You could have the callers be children of different god; and not just the Greco-Roman gods, you could also have children of the Egyptian, Norse, Japanese, Yoruba, Maya, Celtic, or any other pantheon. Trust me, there is a huge untapped market for a game like that. I will rally the Percy Jackson fandom in an instant if you guys are seriously going to make a game like that. But I'm getting off track again. You can still look around after the credits, though you won't get any more calls. You will still get emails from heroes and villains remarking on how boring everything is now. I guess it's the game going "You're still here? The game is over, go home." Ear will even decide to leave the city as he feels it no longer needs him. Of course, you can replay the game as you wish. I will say that, after about five or six play throughs, I'd experienced pretty much everything there was to be experienced. Okay, so overall I greatly enjoy this game, but are there any improvements I would suggest? Well, as I've noted, there are several continuity errors that get downright nonsensical at times. Granted, it didn't bother me too much, but I think it would feel more like the choices had actual consequence if this was fixed. It might also be nice if there were more storylines than just the main one with Ear. Maybe there could be certain events or choices that triggered different storylines. It would add to the replay value of the game. I do hope future updates add more characters, as there are several mentioned in passing, or on Twixta, that sound potentially interesting. Also, despite the setting supposedly being dystopian, I didn't really see it. Well, other than the whole irradiating millions of people being considered a good first day thing. Yeah, there is collateral damage from fights between heroes and villains, but that hardly makes things dystopian. Still, overall these are minor criticisms. I was very impressed with 1-800-SUPER, and I had a lot of fun playing it. I'd love to see the world of this game expanded upon either in updates or maybe in a sequel game. And I'd just like to reiterate that you guys really should give thought to making a demigod hotline game. I'm just saying, huge untapped market to cash in on. But getting back on topic, I strongly recommend you download 1-800-SUPER today. Believe me, you will be glad that you did. Link to the original review on my blog, but it is just the same as what is here: http://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2020/12/video-game-review-1-800-super.html?m=1
List of free to play casino & sport games with real money winnings in the UK
Hi All, I thought of putting together a list of all the current free to play games that are currently available to UK players. There is a blend of daily and weekly games that can tally up over time. Most require you to have made a deposit at the site in the past but there is usually a worthwhile welcome offer to use up if you're new to each gambling site. I usually take away £25-£50 from these games each month and combined with all the free bets it can add up to a nice little amount over time. Ladbrokes - The daily game is called "Instant Spins" under the "Gaming" section along the top and the majority of the time you will get some sort of winnings out of it - either free spins on slots in the casino or even cash winnings. The weekly game is called "1-2-Free" in the "Sports" sports section and requires you to submit 3 guesses on the outcome of football games before a Saturday deadline - you'll either receive a £1, £2 or £5 free bet depending on the amount of correct answers. Coral - This has a similar gaming offer to the above. You'll find a game called "Reward Grabber" under the "Gaming" section, look under the More link along the top navigation bar to find it. Again it has a nice selection of prizes and I have found it to regularly give out prizes. You should also play the weekly "Correct 4" game on the Sport tab, take 4 guesses for a chance to win up to £50 in cash or free bets. WilliamHill currently has two games on offer. The daily play is called "Bonus Drop" and you will find it within the Vegas section of the site. It does not win as much as the above two daily plays, but I've won on it a couple times. They also offer a game called "Scratch of the day" that will always unlock a special deal of the day for you, however it usually involves a small amount if it is worth using at all. The weekly game involves picking 6 football games that which will have 3 or 4 goals. SkyBet - Check out the "SkyVegas" section and look out for the "Free Prize Machine" for a daily game which you can play after 12 o'clock midday. I have won some nice amounts from this, however a lot of the time it can just unlock 10p bets so you can check out the gambling arcade games. VirginBet - A pretty good offering here with three different games active at the moment. "Virgin Bet Fives" is a rather unique offering, if you go to the site each day and unlock a player. For each goal that player scores in the upcoming game you will get a randomly selected amount (usually £1). They also offer a weekly quiz, that you can use to unlock free bets if you know your sports history. I've found it fairly easy to answer 5 questions for a £5 free bet. Last of all is a free game within the casino called "Secrets of the phoenix" which can sometimes score you free games.
Stepping from the carriage of the Transmanche link was akin to stepping through a door between worlds. One was one warm, and quiet, and cosy. The other was the roar of traffic, the bustle of crowds and the encroaching winter. I had been sitting down for three-hours on the train and my leg was stiff and sore around the old wound. Fortunately the crowd disembarking the train was gathered in a slow moving throng as they bottlenecked to file through the distant platform exit barriers. Manoeuvring was impossible, and I wasn’t in a particular rush regardless – better to just amble along and pay attention. The Transmanche link was still only a year old and exuded an air of modernity and sophistication that had once been enjoyed by passenger air travel. The clientele then was still the affluent class, businessmen making trips on the London-Federal Amiens-Paris route – as-well as those on official business like me. I could discern between the French and the British by the cut of their suits, a rear-vent on the English jacket and side-vents on the French ones. That and the attitudes of-course – the French didn’t feel obliged to apologise if they bumped into you. As the crowd dispersed into Waterloo Station’s main concourse, I was finally able to disengage myself and lean against a sign post. I pawed at my right thigh, willing circulation back and wincing at the occasional shooting pain from scarred nerves. I had already decided on the platform back in France that I was going to walk the short distance over to Head Office. I enjoyed London’s familiar ambiance and seeing the progress on all the new towers which crept steadily higher on each of my rare visits. The only question really was whether I was going to take a “pré-prêt” sandwich and a coffee-to-go from an assuredly British chain-shop, or an actual sandwich and an espresso somewhere nicer and assuredly French. It wasn’t a difficult choice. I’d traipsed everywhere between Baghdad and Lahore for these people and, not but an hour ago, a tunnel under damn sea just to get here. They could begrudge me an extra kilometre to enjoy a London evening, especially since I’d been recalled for something seemingly so trite. As if they didn’t have people with Red Grouse clearance in London. Exiting the station and gingerly taking the steps down to the street I began by passing effortlessly between the traffic backed up from the Waterloo Bullring roundabout. Next the Sutton Walk underpass to the South Bank on the Thames. A whip of cold breeze struck immediately as I stepped out from behind the shield of the buildings and onto the embankment. Across the river camped the great stone imperial buildings with only Vickers-Matra House and top of the Lodge Telecom Tower disturbing century old view – from this vantage anyway. I ended up taking an espresso, a croissant and the evening edition of the News du Monde from a small vendor set-up close to Westminster Bridge whilst further down the famous old criminal Buster Edwards was selling flowers from his little stall. Over the way Big Ben showed eighteen-and-twenty and the restaurant boats moored along the Thames were filling up for the evening. Men and women drinking Pastis and smoking Gitanes cigarettes in a pale imitation of the Bâton-Mouche of Paris; a result of the (unsurprisingly one-way) cultural exchange in the decades since Union. Their collars however were pulled up and hats down against the bracing cold of all British winter. Sipping the blissfully warm coffee, I noticed more cranes than last time; their height a physical gauge between my visits. Characteristically, the British approach to modernity had been neither dynamic nor conservative, but enough of both sufficient to irritate all factions as they tried to gear old London for a traffic and population problem it had never been built to serve. The French of-course had done it their way, send the post-war architects and utilitarians to Federal Amiens where their experiments in concrete brut and glass couldn’t mutilate the Parisian skyline. Ruminating on London was certainly more pleasant than the news which I was casually thumbing through before reaching the foreign affairs section. A photograph of an explosion and black clouds over Nairobi, the Dominion of East Africa’s capital, where ANU-PF rebels had detonated a car bomb on Delamare Avenue – killing twenty-six people. Just another incident in the “Kenyan Emergency”, one of many occurring through-out the Colonies. Thank God our offices were located in Mombasa. We were never the target directly of-course because nobody knew we existed – but sometimes there was bad luck. I put the paper down, folded it, and pushed it across the length of the terrace table. The news, especially these days, always dampened my spirits and the sudden feeling of my benighted duty robbed my appetite. Suddenly Big Ben was chiming and I looked across the river at the clock face on the Dominion Parliament Building. It was eighteen-and-thirty now. I finished the coffee but left the croissant half-eaten, along with the newspaper and a couple of dollars before heading towards Westminster Bridge. In great British tradition, Head Office was located in a building which had been rented in the distant past, altered ad-hoc over time, and remained in-use through mere inertia. It was tucked away deep in central London on Carlton Terrace, sandwiched between Pall Mall and Buckingham Palace, with a nice view overlooking Waterloo Gardens for those who secured an east facing office. When it was first occupied it was equidistant from The Royal Society of which most of our Founders were affiliated and the eponymous Carlton Club – the ancient stronghold of the old Conservative Party. Even the obliteration of the Carlton Club itself by a Luftwaffe bomb hadn’t seen the headquarters moved, at-least once an investigation confirmed that we hadn’t been the intended target. Nominally it was the London headquarters of the Lodge Group Limited, which was certainly what the chic sign on the building’s corner read. I swiped my card at the front door and entered a long, austere lobby at the end of which a lone receptionist was perched behind an impenetrable slab of brown marble. It was a retirement posting, typically for former field operatives of which the stocky, grey-haired receptionist qualified. I didn’t need to see the document confirming that the lobby had been designed for emergency defence rather than the opulence which would befit the office of the world’s largest electronics and defence conglomerate. The receptionist was already looking at the door as I pushed it open and, likely recognising my face from the list of expected visitors, didn’t enquire any further. I strode across the polished tiles and right around him towards the bank of elevators in the rear corridor. “You’re expected on basement level 2 sir,” the receptionist called back as the elevator arrived and opened with a ding. Not the main office first for the brief? Curious. I must then be here for the second-round of the interrogations. It was austerity all the way down as I stepped from the elevator at basement level 2 into a room so generic it may have been anywhere in the Federation. Drop ceiling, manila walls, and speckled linoleum. “Mr Maxwell,” a voice called from the corner. “You’ve finally arrived.” My eyes widened slightly. That was Jameson, his rattling baritone as familiar in the flesh as it had been so often down the telephone. “Mr Jameson sir,” I said, turning on the spot to face him and keeping the surprise from my voice. Lewis Jameson was rising from an old wooden bench in the corner of the room – both looking equally haggard under the unflattering brilliance of the florescent lighting. I didn’t know how old he was exactly, but he was too young for the Great War and had been recruited in the third-wave. He may even have met some of the Founders. More to the point he was the head of my sub-function, Esoteric Intelligence Western Europe, and judging by the empty polystyrene cup and a familiar copy of theNews du Monde, I’d kept him waiting here. “I wasn’t aware that you were the point of contact sir,” I said flatly and honestly. I could have dialled up the innocent tone to make the flattering illusion that, had I known, I would have course been here right on time. But there was no point trying to bullshit the boss with tones and inclinations. “Ah,” he said with a sagely nod. “And I’m guessing that’s why you didn’t came straight here? What time did you arrive at Waterloo?” “Environ eighteen-and-five sir.” “Five-past six?” He feigned incredulity. “By the head of Oliver Cromwell did you crawl here?” “No sir. I just needed a longer march after the train to get my leg working,” I rubbed my thigh. “And I may have paused for an espresso along the way.” Jameson grunted his annoyance and blinked slowly to hide his rolling eyes; old boys like him regarded coffee as European rubbish if it had a vaguely foreign sounding name. “This is a serious matter Maxwell. That’s why we brought you here from Amiens.” He dismissively waved his hand and began walking, somewhat irritatingly with smoother motion than I could manage at decades his junior. “I’ll be generous and begrudge you your small luxuries. It seems fair in the face of events to come.” I ambled after him, trepidation mounting with each step through the warren of bland, featureless corridors. Multiple things were off already and it no longer seemed like it had been a mere bureaucratic oversight to assign me here. “So what can you tell me then?” I asked. “This is the second-round.” “Of-course,” Jameson growled. “We brought him here from the Shanghai Concession. The nature of his Red Grouse condition has proved disconcerting both to me personally and to the High Echelon.” High Echelon? On a Red Grouse case? I almost exclaimed it out-loud. Special Studies Project Red Grouse was minor; it was often used to ingratiate new recruits into the world of the Esoteric and Metaphysical Operations. I realised, then, that’s why I was here. I was one of the few veterans on the Project and had only transferred in because the leg injury invalided me from Counter-Ops. Not only was the High Echelon involved, they’d decided that this case must be processed further at Head Office and not in Shanghai. I honestly hadn’t felt this nervous since the Peshawar tulpamancy case. “This goes to the High Echelon sir?” I managed in a more composed tone. “Yes,” Jameson barked. “As I said it’s been deemed very serious. I hope you enjoyed your coffee.” Under normal circumstances I’d have written that off as just a petty remark, a reminder of authority, but given the seeming gravity of the case perhaps not. A lack of punctuality was but one of the many reasons for a sunset posting like the man upstairs as the token receptionist. I still hoped for something more. “You said Shanghai sir?” I said, a bit awkwardly after the remark. “Merde. That’s a hell of a long trip for him.” “Yeah he looks like real shit,” Jameson said with a humourless chuckle. Which would be the least of his worries of-course since his world tour was only half over. What-ever this man had to say would almost certainly necessitate a one-way trip to Saint Mary’s via Capetown – and only then for a long stint in a sensory deprivation tank. Maybe they’d just drop him straight off on the Other Side. “Damn,” Jameson said suddenly looking back; I’d slowed down slightly whilst musing. “Your leg that bad you struggle to match pace with an old man?” He paused for a brief moment to allow me to catch up. “It was the ’76 Uprising in Persia if I’m not mistaken?” “Iran sir, and yes right. I just happened to be at the Federation Embassy when the Tudeh attacked.” “Tudeh? Are they religious or other?” “They’re an Iranian communist party. I was just leaving the Federation embassy to go back to the Tehran office when the bombs started going off.” “Bad luck,” Jameson said – I thought it sounded sincere. “I don’t know much about that Theatre. Wasn’t my area. When I was in Counter-Ops I was mostly based in East Africa,” he said, the name buried under derisive emphasis. “Did you see the article in the Monde sir?” “I knew about it yesterday Maxwell,” he growled. “I’ve still got connexions to the Mombasa office.” Around a final corner was the third person I’d seen since entering. Another stocky middle-aged man in a dark suit working the Home Office until he cashed his pension. Unlike the receptionist though he could wear his gun openly – the service issue, French-made MR73 – it was polished to a mirror sheen. “Sirs,” he said, bracing slightly as Jameson and I gradually approached. “You’re ready to begin?” “Yes thank you Carter,” Jameson said. He took the revolver from Carter, stowing it in a shoulder-holster just under his blazer, as-well as a small aluminium briefcase. He caught my quizzical look at the gun. “Carter isn’t coming in,” he said. “This is Top Secret and I’m on watch – as unlikely as it is that they’ll be any trouble. The subject’s name is Jianyu Zhong.” “Right,” I said, it was go time. I approached the door and willed a final, silent, breath for what-ever was about to transpire. Carter leaned over and unlocked it before returning to his post. I stepped into a simple room, with a single table and a pair of chairs beneath long strips of recessed fluorescent lighting which bathed everything in white light. Jianyu Zhong was seated at the chair facing the door and had been clothed in a pair of grey coveralls. He was looking right at me as I stepped in but the marks on his forehead and the back of his hands, still placed on the table before him, meant that he had probably been trying to sleep. He looked middle-aged, maybe ten years older than me, with the wrinkles developing around his dark eyes. He must speak English, at-least sufficiently that it hadn’t been worth the exposure to find a translator. His hair had been cut neat with a right-hand parting but his fringe hung in a cowlick in front of his face. It probably required some product to hold it in-place, which even in the coastal cities of China wasn’t cheap. He was likely some kind of businessman working with Federation companies. I took me seat before him. I was in professional mode now and the brief nagging doubt regarding whether I should offer the seat to Jameson, and conduct the interrogation standing, was quashed. That kind of indecision looked bad and it shouldn’t be made clear to Zhong that his interrogator was not the superior of the two men he was facing. Zhong for his part regarded me through half-closed eyes, a mixture of tiredness and utter contempt. Jameson had followed after me and placed the aluminium briefcase on the table just after I sat down. He removed a tape-recorder, Lodge Electronics brand, from the case, slid a fresh tape into the machine and prepped his finger over the record button. I gave him a brief nod and he pressed it. A red light switched on. “This is Robert Maxwell, ten zero-one twenty-seven forty-five, SSP Red Grouse. My time is…” I checked my watch. “Nineteen-and-five, first of November, nineteen-eighty-one.” There was brief flash of surprise on Zhong’s face at that. He’d almost certainly had no ability to see what time or even day it was for a while. “Good evening Mr Zhong,” I began in a well-practiced tone of authoritative politeness. He said something in Mandarin that I couldn’t understand, except for Laowai which I figured was not being employed in a generic sense. “I am here to ask you some questions.” “Ah of-course. More questions,” he said, managing sardonic amusement through his weariness. “I don’t know why you have brought me here or what I have done. I run a respectable enterprise. Not a criminal. Not a terrorist. Or perhaps you come to ask me more nonsense questions.” In truth that was exactly what I was here to ask – as far as Zhong knew it was inconsequential nonsense. The terrorist line was interesting though. “Why did they suspect you were a terrorist Mr Zhong?” “They didn’t say terrorist,” Zhong spat. “They asked about the Royal Wedding, what I knew of it and why I spoke of it. As if merely to talk about something so public means I am plotting something against your Federation.” “The Royal Wedding,” I said in the same calm and passive tone. You must never bias the subject, only ask for more information. “Tell me about the Royal Wedding.” “As if you don’t know. What is this technique? To drive me crazy?” “Answer the question Mr Zhong. Tell me about the Royal Wedding.” “Of your English Prince Charles obviously.” Nothing too outlandish there I suppose. “Who is the bride?” “I don’t remember her name. He had an affair. Looks to me like he made a bad choice. I only hear this in passing. Your Royal news is not the most important thing in China.” “How old do you think Prince Charles is – unless you happen to know the exact date?” “I think he was born between the Japanese surrender and defeated of Mao. Late 1940.” That ruled out another question. It was typically customary to ask the subject who was in charge of China during interrogations. It went back to the first known case concerning a German businessman whom erroneously believed that Mao Zedong had successfully established a communist regime in China in the late nineteen-fourties. I hadn’t been intending to ask since Zhong’s nationality meant he’d have far too much familiarity with the subject matter – which appeared to be a factor in how Red Grouse seemed to affect its subjects. I asked more questions concerning the apparent subject, Prince Charles, but Zhong seemingly had no more specific insight. “Who will be attending this wedding Mr Zhong?” I asked, I was honestly losing a bit of steam with the whole affair. Being the second interrogator was surprising more difficult than the first since you didn’t get a good brief. “How should I know? His brothers. His aunt. His children. All will come.” It was that exact moment that I felt the hairs on the back of my arms begin to rise slightly, and something like cold dread fall into my stomach. “Who is Prince Charles aunt?” “The Queen’s sister obviously,” Zhong said. He’d been getting louder, more alert and angry as the interrogation had proceeded and he’d roused himself from his torpor. The penny dropped. “And what is the name of the Her Majesty’s sister?” I heard a brief sound behind me, Jameson shuffling his stance where-ever he had positioned himself. “I don’t know every detail of the family,” Zhong said, slowly and mockingly, his patience evidently gone now. “You have stolen me here, where-ever we are, to ask me these pointless questions.” I gazed back at him blankly, despite my growing sense of uneasiness it was important to remain in control and never acknowledge these kinds of outbursts. “I do not understand this,” Zhong continued, for all the world truly baffled at what was happening to him. Jameson suddenly appeared, pressing the button to end the recording. It was over. Silently then I stood and picked up the recorder, placing it in the briefcase which Jameson was holding before me. Evidentially Jameson had heard what-ever it was that he needed. “You are in-charge here,” Zhong said, immediately rounding on Jameson and overflowing with revenant anger. “You must release me at once!” We didn’t speak a word between us as we left the still curing Zhong in his seat and filed out of the room. His rising bellowing silenced as the attentive Carter closed and locked the door behind us. Jameson turned and handed the revolver back to Carter. “I’ll be sending some people down shortly,” Jameson began. “You are to remain at post until then. When they arrive they will relieve you.” As Carter murmured an affirmation I fell in behind Jameson again and we navigated our way silently away from the cell. “There is a debrief suite on the next floor,” Jameson said. “We’ll discuss there.” We took the elevator up a floor and made the short journey to the debriefing suite in silence. There was little doubt now as to the what, only the how, and it was very little wonder that Jameson and the High Echelon had directly intervened with this case. The Royal Family legalised our operations through the executive powers of the sovereign. They had served as the first patrons of the Founders when the proto-organisation was formed seventy years ago. The suite itself was differentiated only by its large robust door, the sign above reading “suite zero-eleven-f”. Jameson took the handle and the heavy door glided open on its polished hinges. With a brief nod, he motioned me inside and pulled it closed after us. The suite contained only eight garden-variety office chairs around a plain conference table and lone cabinet in the corner of the room. I took a seat roughly centre whilst Jameson deposited the aluminium briefcase on the table as he strode past and towards the cabinet. As Jameson struggled with the cabinet doors I was left alone to gather my thoughts before the final confrontation. I had been selected, almost certainly, because of my veteran status respective to the rest of the Red Grouse project and the obvious revelations surrounding Her Majesty’s sister only complicated matters further. It wasn’t confirmed yet but… Jameson returned with a label maker, a large rotating wheel on a pistol-grip handle. It was the first time I’d properly looked into Jameson’s face since we’d entered Zhong’s interrogation suite. He somehow looked even older and more worn and I noticed how old he was to still be working a full time position as took the tape and recorder from out of the briefcase, along with a few documents – his hands trembled. Jameson began fumbling with the label machine, twisting the dial to select the characters; a strip of black tape with embossed white lettering emerging from the end with every heavy click. “TOP SECRET – ESOTERIC” By any external standards everything that we did should be marked top secret. Even internally, information was compartmentalised so much (for reasons which were growing even clearer by the moment) that security markings were applied unevenly – an aspect of the High Echelon routinely adjusted them. The true kingmakers were the caveats, esoteric, the what, and esoteric principle, the how and why. Never in over a decade of service though had I ever seen something esoteric be marked as top secret – more surprising still a Red Grouse case. Even the events in Peshawar weren’t so secret that they couldn’t be used as a case-study or training exercise for other Counter-Ops units. Jameson had produced a second tape and affixed to the box. “SPECIAL STUDIES PROJECT PAPILLION” I’d never heard of it but Jameson had known before I’d even arrived what Zhong was going to impart. It was standard with Red Grouse cases for a second team to go in mostly blind, to see if they could gleam some further insight from another mostly organic interrogation session. He’d waited for the confirmation regarding the Her Majesty’s sister before pulling the plug. “I’m going to need you to bind this,” Jameson said, breaking the silence and my own reverie. He grabbed the piece of paper and handed it across to me, along with a bleeder. It read: “SPECIAL STUDIES PROJECT PAPILLION - INDOCTRINATION”. “I, Robert Edwin Maxwell, an ego, understand and affirm to be bound by the conditions and prescriptions ensuite.” What followed was little more than fairly boilerplate terms for a binding oath, a Horkos, which would prevent me from wittingly telling anyone outside of Papillion any information bound to it. Beneath the terms was the binding space. A two-by-two centimetre box above my own name – printed because Jameson knew exactly what was going to be divulged. Besides my space was another, already prefilled, and the name “Lewis Archibald Jameson, SSP Papillion, Director.” I placed the bleeder against my thumb and pressed the button and a minute needle darted out to prick my thumb. I waited a second as a small drop of blood formed around the tiny piercing before pressing it into the space on the document. I didn’t feel anything of-course, the esoteric did not work in such a manner. If I had goose bumps at that moment then their causes were perfectly natural. I handed the document back to Jameson, who slipped it neatly into a plastic wallet and returned it to the briefcase. “Right,” he said finally, and matter-of-factly. “Now we can start.” “I’ve never seen a Red Grouse case get a Top Secret marking before Sir,” I began. “Of course not,” Jameson scoffed. He took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and pulled an ashtray over from across the table. I decided to do the same. We both smoked for a pregnant moment. “Most cases,” James began, “are little more than gossip – a mere inkling of something greater.” Had the situation not been so dire, I would have chuckled that the old fashioned Jameson was smoking French made filterless cigarettes. “There’s probably thousands or millions of Red Grouse cases out there. Undoubtedly most concerned with total rubbish. The knowledge gained is random and the people who receive it are barely aware of the subject matter. The most it’s likely cost the majority of cases is that they lose a question in a trivia quiz. But then the rare case like Mr Zhong comes around, where not only can we identify that it’s a Red Grouse case – obviously in this case,” he snarled bitterly. “But it actually concerns a subject of interest for the organisation.” He took a long, pensive drag on his cigarette. I was certain he was stoking himself up for what-ever he had planned for this discussion – mapping in his head the order in which he was going to dangle the pearls of wisdom. “What do you know about the Faiteur?” The Faituer was one of the “Empyreans” an entity of pure consciousness in the Third World. “Only what’s told in the Confidential level brief on the Empyreans. We’ve used them for ESOINT in Iran to provide the Shah with intelligence on subversive and terrorist organisations. The Faituer itself though is not one I’m familiar with past the name.” “What about Potential Difference?” Jameson said, apparently not feeling any need to enlighten me regarding the previous topic. Presumably then he was satisfied with my response. “As an esoteric concept,” Jameson continued, “not physical energy. Well,” he gave forceful sigh. “Six of one I suppose.” “I’m not familiar with term sir,” I said truthfully. “Guess I didn’t have need to know.” “Well now you do,” he said, tapping the aluminium case for emphasis. “You’ll get a proper brief on Papillion. Like all briefs it’ll be dry and clinical. But whilst we’re in this room. Well,” a tiny shrug. “I’ll give you skinny. Potential Difference is the change in First World material and Second World consciousness that occurs when a series of events, a possible outcome if-you-will, is obliterated. What do you think of that?” “Well,” I began, conscious of just how dry my throat had become. “Surely that must happen all the time? Every-time someone makes a choice?” “You’d think so right? Well that’s because I only told you first part. If the Fire Brigade arrives at a house and saves a family of five, those five people being alive rather than dead doesn’t create any potential difference. No, an ego must be aware of the future that is being deliberately destroyed – at-least the broad strokes.” “Like... oh,” the words left me as realisation began to dawn. “I think you’re on the cusp. Welcome to the club pal,” Jameson said, without a trace of humour or sympathy. “Then that would require then esoteric intelligence taken from the Third World.” “Taken is not the right word Maxwell.” “Then… given,” I swallowed hard. “But if everything we actioned from esoteric intelligence resulted in this Potential Difference then the need-to-know net would be wider. Especially if it has some measurable effect.” “Therefore…” “Therefore,” I said, my mind racing. “That’s not how it works either. The hypothetical future is being obliterated entirely for the sake of its obliteration. Only the Empyreans would have fore-knowledge of what was being obliterated at first and only they could provide the knowledge…” I paused to think for a moment between the few likely options. “So it’s like a deal?” “Did you never wonder? All that ESOINT on insurgent leaders, camps, and plans you gave to MI6 and the Shah’s SAVAK. You think the Empyreans did that out of a love for the Persian monarchy, or the Imperial Federation’s oil supply or, hell, even our organisation and continuity of operations in the region?” “This is the Faiteur then since you mentioned it so prominently…” I said. My mind was mind spinning. I had no idea that we might have been talking to a single entity all that time. “I thought they, or it I guess, was our ally. I didn’t ask why – either of Head Office or them. It’s not in my bracket... and we didn’t make any deals out-there.” “It’s not our ally Maxwell,” Jameson said gravely. “It’s our partner. The deals were already made before you were born… I think. Were you sucking air back in latish nineteen-fourty?” “Not for another six years no.” “Well then there you have it. You’re guiltless. Relax.” I certainly didn’t feel relaxed. The unflappable Jameson, who I’d always assumed wise behind his callous nature looked beaten. The creases across his face looked deeper and his skin sallow as he peered at me through half sunken lids. “So that’s when you made a deal? With the Faiteur.” “Not me no. I was present in a capacity we’d now call Counter-Ops,” he gave another of the forceful, I see now, resigned sighs. “Funnily enough since you mentioned it before, it all happened not too far from Nairobi... it would have been the site of a future coronation.” I let out a dry breath, my chest feeling icy cold, as I opened my mouth and prepared to lead this conversation down its final road. “The Queen’s sister died in the war,” I said. “That is correct.” “And the U-Boat in the Atlantic...” “Is not…” Jameson took another long drag on his cigarette, he was staring at spot on the wall behind I knew was blank. “Yeah… yeah… In a different world it would be have been the exact place that she would have become our Queen… twelve years hence anyway.” Nineteen fourty, twelve years hence… “King George didn’t die in 1952,” I said in something scarcely more than a whisper. “No, but he would of… his heart couldn’t last that long in this world. If I were a gambling man I’d wager that it was probably due to the time when the Special Committee to the Privy Council convinced him to bargain his daughter’s future with a fucking alien.” “Jesus Christ in heaven…” The silence between us stretched out as a tower ash fell from my cigarette onto the table. “She would have been a good Queen I think. She would have lived past the millennium as one of the most recognisable people in the World. A piece of consciousness snatched from the majority of the population of the Earth over four or more generations. That is Potential Difference,” he said each word like it weighed a metric ton. “She, for her part, approached the whole thing with a level of solemn resignation and courage the likes of which I’ve never seen before or again in anyone so young.” “What happened?” I croaked. Jameson looked away from the empty wall and right back at me. “She was hanged,” Jameson said, he spoke calmly now but his face was twisted into a snarl. “Treetops Hotel, Kenya Colony, September the Twelfth, Nineteen-Fourty. Those were the terms we were given.” I choked slightly. Nobody ever promised that working for the organisation would ever be a clean job. I hadn't always done things I was proud of in looking back. But that had all been real, messy politics between the organisation and its enemies. Human beings ultimately whose motivations could be understood even if disagreed with. To sell a young women to the Empyreans... “What exactly did we get?” “Proper access to the Third World and the Empyreans." Jameson said, his voice was truly flat now as the final embers of his cigarette smouldered away. "The knowledge to win the War. The knowledge that the Americans would be brought in if we did nothing. To make a deal with the Third World before the Nazi’s actually stumbled on something useful in their pseudo-esoteric research. The ability to impose the Érgégore on Britain and France which permitted the creation of the Imperial Federation and therefore total global access for us and our operation." A final resigned sigh. " I’m just happy that old Oliver Lodge died a month before and didn’t have to face what happened.” He stubbed the end of his cigarette out into the ashtray. “God save Queen Margot.”
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