#Mission: 2110

[becrystalamazed]

A near-comprehensive list of death and death-like consequences in British Children's Gameshows

Y'know, in case you didn't think us british people were weird enough.

Shows in which death is the consequence for losing:

Terror Towers (1994-1996) - The losing team is eaten by werewolves (off screen). The death is perminant.

Knightmare (1987-1994) - The dungeoneers lose by dying in a variety of different - and graphic - ways. One death clause also effects their advisors. However they are ultimately resurected.

Raven (2002-2010) - The warriors are killed by demons or curses for failing the majority of challenges. However, they are ressurected afterwards, and ultimately leave the compition alive.

Raven: The Island (2006) - Losing warriors are killed if they fail a single challenge or do not attempt a challenge. The death is perminant.

Raven: The Secret Temple/The Dragon's Eye (2007, 2009) - Losing warriors are killed if they fail a single challenge. They are ressurected under certain conditions: 1) Their team has collected enough magic jewels to exchange for their life 2) They haven't been ressurected previously 3) Their elimination takes place during the first three weeks. But if any of the three conditions aren't fufilled, they are dead perminantly.

Prosiect Z/Project Z (2018-?) - Any child that get touched by a zombie becomes a zombie. If the team fails to crack the exit code and escape, they all become zombies. They are seen as zombies on screen, either in person (case A) or through an animation (case B).

Don't Unleash the Beast (2020-?) - Teams that fail to escape the treasure room in time are eaten by the eponymous beast (off screen). The death is perminant.

Fee Fi Fo Yum (2010-2011) - The losing team are eaten alive by the giant holding them captive (on screen). The death is perminant.

Den Of Doom (2007) - Losing kids are eaten by hyenas off screen, but their cooking is shown.

Shows in which a death-like outcome is the consequence for losing:

Escape from Scorpion Island (2007-2011) - The losing team has their souls trapped by the Island

Raven (2017-2018) - Instead of dying after challenges like in the original series, the warriors are sent to a dark dimension. They are still always returned, however.

Trapped!/Trapped! ever after (2007-2010) - Losing children are trapped in a tower of horrors forever.

Relic: Guardians of the Museum (2010) - Losing teams are imprisoned within the muesum exhibits forever.

Mission: 2110 (2010) - Losing children (bar those in 3rd and 4th place) are vapourised and sent to an unknown location in space and time and their safety is in question.

Jungle Run (1999-2006) - At various places in the jungle, failure in a single challenge can result in eternal imprisonment, the most prominant being the Temple of the Jungle King.

Sub Zero (1999-2001) - The losing team is either cryogenically frozen or (in later series) ejected into outer space (NOTE: This is unpleasant but also shown as survivable within the show).

Gwrach y Rhibyn (2022-) - Any losing team is captured by the titular Hag

Show in which death is the consequence for WINNING:

Mission: 2110 (2010) - Due to a continuity error, the winner appears to be vaporised instead of being sent home via time travel, which is what's supposed to happen.

Terror Towers (1994-1996) - The winners become ghosts who haunt the tower forever.

Honourable Mentions!

Splatalot (2011-2013) - The winners are assassinated (off-screen) soon after winning. While the show aired in Britian, as well as Canada and Australia, the assassination is only canon in the Canadian version.

Jedi Temple Challenge (2020) - An American gameshow, as The Mandalorian has canonised it as part of the Star Wars Universe and confirmed its place in the timeline, all the kids that win and become Jedi Knights, and possibly every kid that competes, presumably die in Order 66

To be updated as I find out about more

#cbbc raven #Knightmare #Terror Towers #Raven: The Island #Raven: The Dragon's Eye #Raven: The Secret Temple #Project Z #Prosiect Z #Don't Unleash the Beast #Fee Fi Fo Yum #Escape From Scorpion Island #Trapped! #Trapped! ever after #Relic Guardians of the museum #Mission: 2110 #Jungle Run #Sub Zero #Gwrach y Rhibyn #Splatalot #Something for every generation in here #british television #growing up british

[not-mary-sue]

Why did British children's TV keep trapping interesting story concepts within game shows? Raven, Mission 2110, to a lesser extent Relic (though I guess that was kind of Night at the Museum). Free them and give us the plots we desire!

#cbbc #children's tv #2000s #2000s nostalgia #2000s tv #2000s childhood #Raven #cbbc raven #mission 2110 #cbbc mission 2110 #nostalgia

[cloneshipping7567]

Romantic Confessions Part 9

Part 9/30

9. "I cannot bare to be apart from you anymore."

Pairing: Wolffe x Rex

Rating/WC: M/2110

Warnings: none really :)

~~~

Rex groans softly and rolls over, stretching his limbs from head to toe. He falls out after, like a puppet with its strings cut, arms still above his head. 

Wolffe laughs softly, grin almost feral with far too many teeth as he looks over Rex’s naked form. 

Rex grumbles, turning his head so he can look at Wolffe with at least one half of his face. “What’re you laughing at?” He grumbles half heartedly. 

“You,” Wolffe answers easily, one hand trailing down Rex’s back with just his finger tips. “You’re cute when you’re all satisfied and sleepy.”

“I am not cute,” Rex argues, but his eyes are already slipping shut and his lower lip is jutting out in an absolutely not at all cute pout. “I’m fierce. Strong. I’m Captain Rex. Fear me.”

“Yeah, that would be more believable if you weren’t half asleep and muttering it into your pillow.” Wolffe leans over and kisses Rex’s temple softly before scuffling out of the bed. He hears Rex turn his head to watch, but doesn’t bother putting on a show like he normally would. He’s already late. He quickly shimmies his blacks back on, before sitting on the edge of Rex’s bed to put his armor back on. 

Rex yawns loudly, rolling over again so his leg rests heavily on Wolffe’s back. “When will you be back?” He asks, voice clearer outside the pillow. 

“Dunno, I’m shipping out,” Wolffe sighs. He pauses after putting on his chest plate, fiddling with the cod piece. 

Rex frowns, reaching up to playfully smack at Wolffe’s arm. “You’ll be fine. General Koon is a great general, he always takes care of his Wolffe pack.”

Wolffe smiles, bitter sweet, at the mention of his pack, and of his general. “It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s your crazy general that scares me. Seems like every mission he goes on is worse than the one before it.” 

Rex rolls his eyes, kneeing Wolffe in his now armored back. “General Skywalker is amazing, he’s just…”

“Crazy,” Wolffe turns to Rex with a toothy grin, his cybernetic eye facing him. 

Rex rolls his own eyes, gently shoving the other clone with his knee. “Go on, get out. You’re already late, aren’t you?” 

Wolffe hums and pauses, just grinning down at Rex and taking in the view. His grin melts into a softer smile, and he releases a softer sigh.

The gaze makes Rex’s cheeks heat up, and he nudges Wolffe again. “Don’t get all soft on me now, vod,” he mumbles.

Wolffe rolls his eyes again, but stands and finishes putting on his armor. His bucket goes on last, and he turns to look at his companion once more. “Hope to see you soon, Rex.”

Rex gives a mock two finger salute, and that’s the last thing Wolffe sees before the door slides shut, keeping Rex on the inside and Wolffe in the hallway.

Wolffe takes a moment to breathe, closing his eyes and counting to ten. No catching feelings here, idiot, he thinks to himself as he turns and walks down the hallway. We said no feelings.  

~

Of course, saying it is one thing. Doing it is another. 

It might come as a surprise to literally no one except Wolffe, but Rex is very, very hard to not catch feelings over. He knows half the 501st are crushing on their Captain, and he wouldn’t be surprised to find out he has mini-fan clubs all over the GAR. He’s Captain Kriffing Rex, after all. The most badass captain of them all, fighting alongside the most badass general of them all. He’s hot, he’s cool; he’s easy to crush on. 

What most clones don’t know, however, is that Rex is way more than hot and cool. Wolffe could handle getting laid and not catching feelings for someone who is simply hot and cool. The problem is that Rex is also incredibly intelligent, even for a clone, who are bred to be intelligent. The problem is that he’s also caring and sweet, with a soft spot for shinies and the uncanny ability to deduce when a brother needs emotional support. The problem is that Rex doesn’t feel the need to prove himself, like every other clone in the kriffing galaxy seems to; no, he’s perfectly happy with where he is, perfectly confident in his abilities and what he has to offer. 

And, he’s hot. 

Wolffe is currently laying on Rex’s bed, completely out of breath and panting to get it back. Rex is laying on top of him, breathing nowhere near as hard and leaving delightful little kisses all over Wolffe’s throat. “You better-” he huffs out another pant, swallowing thickly. “-stop that, unless you wanna go again.”

Rex grins, the cocky bastard, Wolffe can feel it against his throat. “I don’t think you could handle another round. ‘M half scared your heart is gonna give out already.”

Wolffe makes an undignified sound, swatting lazily at Rex’s arm. “Shut up, you’re a gen 1.”

Rex laughs softly, and the puff of air tickles Wolffe’s neck. “You’re still older. Geezer.”

Wolffe huffs a half-laugh, eyes drifting shut. “That’s no way to talk to your elders, young man,” he quips. 

It earns another laugh from Rex, who continues his earlier trail of kisses. Wolffe moves his hands so that one rests on the small of Rex’s back and the other gently pets between his shoulder blades. Rex sighs happily, nose fitting just under Wolffe’s chin. 

They stay like that, in comfortable silence, for what feels like both forever and no time at all. That is, until Rex’s comm goes off, causing the blond to groan in annoyance. “Is it important?” Rex grumbles. 

Wolffe smirks at the obvious request and reaches beside them to blindly feel for the comm. He wraps his fingers around it without having to move very much, and brings it over so he can see. “No,” Wolffe says softly, returning it to the table. “Just something from Cody about your next meeting. First shift.”

Rex groans and hides his face more into Wolffe’s neck. He stays there a moment, before sighing in annoyance and getting his arms under him on either side of Wolffe’s body, reaching for the comm himself. “Dammit,” he pouts after typing a few things. “He’s not in the same system, his time is completely different.”

Wolffe sighs sadly, both hands trailing down Rex’s muscular sides. “What time is it here when it’s first shift there?”

“It was just a courtesy reminder. It’s in half an hour.” Rex sighs again and rolls off of Wolffe, throwing his comm on the table again and searching for his blacks. 

Wolffe, while enjoying the view, is more than a little upset that their afterglow ended so abruptly. “Tell him to shove it. Actually, hand me my comm; I’ll tell him to shove it.”

Rex snorts a laugh, working his upper blacks over his head. “Yeah, he’ll appreciate that comm. Let's push back our meeting so I can spend a few more minutes with my lay,” Rex shakes his head with a chuckle. 

Wolffe is no longer surprised about the pang of sadness that hits him at Rex’s description of their relationship, now that he’s accepted he has caught feelings. It doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable. “Well I hate to see you leave, but I love to watch you go.” 

Rex snorts and rolls his eyes, making quick work of his armor. “That’s terrible, even for you.”

Wolffe grins, leaning up on his elbows. “When will you be back?”

“Hopefully an hour, but every time I leave this kriffing room, everyone seems to have a problem that requires my attention specifically.” Rex affixes his helmet, pausing by the door. 

“Well, that just gives me enough time to nap and get ready for a round two, doesn’t it?” Wolffe smiles toothily at Rex, throwing in a wink for good measure. 

“Insatiable,” Rex teases, but then he’s out the door. 

Wolffe falls back to the bed, curling his arms under his head with a heavy sigh. “Come on, Codes,” he mumbles into the empty room. “Could’ve given me a few more minutes.”

~

Wolffe’s eyes are wide and frantic as they search the medbay, desperately searching for Rex. 

His eyes finally land on the blond, who isn’t even in a bed, just barking orders while his face is buried in two separate datapads. Wolffe’s heart won’t slow though, even in the face of such verifiable truth that Rex is fine.

He stares at the captain, forcing himself to breathe as deeply as he can, wills his heart rate to return to normal.

Rex looks up from his datapad before he obtains his goals, having to do a double take. “Wolffe?” he calls, cocking his head in confusion. “What are you doing here, I thought the 104th was stationed in the outer rim?”

Wolffe swallows thickly, curling and uncurling his fists. The rest of the medbay is bustling and loud, medics are running around like crazy, patients are moaning in pain and grief for their fallen brothers. 

But he can’t hear or see any of it. All Wolffe can hear is his own heartbeat drumming in his ears; all he can see is Rex, standing with a look of confusion with slight worry starting to grow in his eyes. 

He stumbles the first step, his knees not wanting to unlock. But then he’s walking as fast as he can without running, brushing shoulders with a couple medics, eyes locked on Rex’s widening ones. 

“Wolffe?” Rex asks, but he can't get anything else out, because Wolffe is crashing into him with the force of a wild bantha. 

Wolffe connects their lips in a kiss that’s far more desperation and worry than anything, much less calm and suggestive than their usual kisses. His arms wrap around Rex’s torso, pulling the captain’s body as close to himself as he can. He hardly registers the datapads crashing to the ground behind them, the shocked whispers from the troopers around them. All he cares about right now is Rex.

He’s the one to pull away first, breathing hard and fast, even more so than the startled Rex in his arms. “What the hell was that?” Rex pants, but he hasn’t pushed Wolffe away or even tried to step out of the commander’s arms. 

Wolffe swallows, looking between Rex’s eyes. “I couldn’t…” he lets out a shaky breath, before steeling his gaze. “I cannot bear to be apart from you anymore. I heard what happened, and I just…I…”

Rex slowly starts to smile, one hand gently moving up Wolffe’s arm until he can cup the back of Wolffe’s neck. “You were worried about me.” Not a question, a statement of fact.

A very correct statement. “Yes,” Wolffe says, ducking his head a bit in shame. “I know…I know we said we wouldn’t…this is supposed to be casual, I wasn’t supposed to catch any feelings or anything, but Rex…Rex, I cannot bear to be apart from you.” He looks down to Rex’s lips, finding them easier to stare at right now than Rex’s eyes; especially considering his lips are still fixed in a small smile and not a frown. 

Rex shakes his head fondly, ducking his own head to catch Wolffe’s lips. This one is much more collected, more chaste, less frenzied. He pulls away after just a few seconds, and Wolffe starts to chase his lips before he catches himself. “Well, I would have preferred to be in private instead of in the middle of Kix’s medbay, but…” He waits until Wolffe looks up to meet his eyes, both men smiling now. “But I feel the same way.”

Wolffe’s smile widens, his signature toothy grin falling easily into place. “Yeah, I probably should have waited, but I just…I didn’t know if you were okay or not, and I had to…to check for myself.”

“While this is sweet and all,” an annoyed voice pipes in, and Wolffe almost jumps out of his skin. “Get the kark out of my kriffing medbay.”

Wolffe hangs his head again, but Rex chuckles softly and gives Kix a mock two finger salute. “Sir yes sir,” he murmurs, earning an eye roll from the medic. He takes Wolffe’s hand and squeezes it once before letting it go. “I’m almost done here, go grab something to eat or wait in my quarters so we can talk.”

“Talk,” Kix mocks, before huffing in annoyance and pushing past the both of them to attend to another trooper. 

Wolffe chuckles himself, before kissing Rex’s cheek softly. “Don’t take long,” he whispers, before taking off in the direction of Rex’s quarters.

#rex/wolffe #rex x Wolffe #cloneshipping #my writing

[denialcity]

to accept the will of heaven 9/?

by @denialcity​ and @firecoloredwater​; beta’d by @silverutahraptor

2110 words, unconventional red eyes are blessed AU, gen, Izuna-centric,  Mada&Izu, Tobi&Izu, Uchiha traditions/religion worldbuilding

Chapter specific warnings: none

(Blessed Sacrifice au tag on tumblr) (read on Ao3) (chapter 1) (chapter 8)

Chapter 10 will be posted on 2 September!

===

Yatagarasu's nest is strange to sleep in, but Izuna is exhausted enough to sleep well anyway. He even feels hungry enough to eat one of the ration bars he brought after he wakes up. He has no idea how long he slept; the sun hasn't moved at all in the entire time he's been here, but he must have been here nearly a full day by now.

He still doesn't want to talk to Shiori, but he feels more able to, so he follows her to a smaller nest on the side of the mountain and sits on the edge where she told him to. He tries to look attentive.

"Why did you refuse the favor Daisuke offered?" Shiori asks.

"He needed help. Well, he was pretending to. I'm supposed to help people when they need it."

"You have not answered my question," Shiori says disapprovingly.

Izuna did, he thinks resentfully, but he knows better than to argue. He has to explain instead, but it's hard when it's something he's always known. "It's not fair to make people trade anything for help with important things. If they really need help they'll have to agree to anything, even if it hurts them so they need more help later. And helping everyone is what clan heads and their families are for, so—being a summoner is a little like that, right?"

Shiori pecks his hand.

Izuna yelps and jerks away, but Shiori just follows and pecks him again. A few drops of blood well up where her beak breaks the skin.

"Stop it!"

"Do you think you are Yatagarasu-sama?" she demands.

Izuna cradles his hand protectively against his chest, even though it's not a significant injury. "Of course not! I'm not even a bird!"

"You are more a crow than you are an Uchiha," Shiori scolds.

All the breath goes out of Izuna's lungs and tears well up in his eyes.

"If I may speak directly. You are young. You are alone. You have no strength, no skill, and no resources. It is the height of hubris to say that there is no way that others can help you. You are not Uchiha. You are not any clan's head family. Be open to trading favors and accepting help, or be ready to die quickly."

If he weren't still bone-achingly tired, if they weren't so high off the ground, if Yatagarasu hadn't ordered Izuna to listen, he'd fight Shiori, or at least walk away. Instead Izuna sits there and gets insulted and grits his teeth.

"When it comes to enemies, you should extract all you can from them, in order to weaken them and strengthen yourself. When it comes to allies, you must trust them to know what they are able to offer, and not insult them by claiming that you know better."

The worst part though is that she's right. Izuna isn't Uchiha anymore. He'd known that but he hadn't thought it would change even this.

"Acknowledge if you understand, please," she says. Mother was right; Shiori does sound like Meguru-nii, but more awful in every way.

"I understand," he snaps, too worked up to be nice and polite anymore, but Shiori bobs her head.

"Good. Then we may proceed to my next question. Why did you not make proper offerings to Yatagarasu-sama?"

Izuna knew he messed up everything about the offering, but that just makes hearing about it from Shiori worse. "I didn't know there was an offering, so I gave him what I had."

"That is no excuse. Is a shinobi not meant to be prepared for anything they might encounter? Izumi did not know, and made a proper offering."

Izuna bites his lip hard to keep from shouting at Shiori.

Shiori pauses, then continues. "Did you not even bring rice for yourself? Do you believe you do not need to eat?"

Izuna knows that answer. "Rice isn't good for missions. It takes too much space, so rations are better, but they wouldn't be good to offer."

"You must be able to make a proper offering when necessary," Shiori repeats. "Feed yourself poorly if you must, but you must be able to make offerings."

Izuna is more than willing to carry an extra, useless scroll on missions if it will make Shiori shut up. "I'll put together a scroll to bring on missions once I'm home."

"Good. Then come along. Yatagarasu-sama is waiting."

Shiori leads Izuna back to Yatagarasu's nest where he had awkwardly made the desperate offerings yesterday. Exactly like yesterday, Yatagarasu is crouched behind the board, waiting. An array is drawn on the board in sprawling black ink. In some places the lines are almost as wide as Izuna's palm, and in others they narrow down to such fine brushwork that he can barely see them. It would be impressive even if a human had done it, and Izuna has no idea how a bird managed, even one as ancient as Yatagarasu.

"Stand in the center, little one," Yatagarasu says, and Izuna complies.

"This array will send anyone in it to the human realm when activated," Yatagarasu says. "Which I will do soon. First, however, do you know how to summon?"

Izuna nods. Yatagarasu doesn't immediately continue, however, so Izuna recites what he remembers: the handseals to summon, and the rules to choose which crow he calls. "If I picture just the scroll I can only summon one crow, and who I summon depends on how much chakra I use. If I want to summon a specific crow or more than one crow at once I have to picture everyone I want to summon along with the scroll. I guess if I don't picture the scroll it doesn't work?"

"Correct," Yatagarasu says. "If you do not picture our scroll, you risk summoning something else. But even summoning only one it is best to picture who you want, as you will use less chakra that way. And there is a variant jutsu for summoning flocks, so that you need not try to picture twenty crows at once. That is for later, however; for now, some of us will be returning to the human realm with you, so that you may become more familiar with them and be able to summon them more easily."

Yatagarasu raises his head. "But only those who are willing. Who will to go?"

An unfamiliar crow makes the short flight from the mass of black on the sides of the nest to land gracefully on Izuna's left. It's huge, half Izuna's size, with a pale ring of bald scarring on its throat. It has an anklet of four pointy teeth on its left leg.

"Shikei," Yatagarasu acknowledges. The name is familiar.

"This one will accompany him. His mother was very insistent," Shikei croaks, sounding amused. "So shall it be."

Izuna bows hurriedly, recalling Mother's journal, and the entry mentioning the morbid crow with the inauspicious name. Shikei watches intently with one eye, head tilted.

"Mother has mentioned Shikei-san's generosity many times," Izuna says. "It is an honor, please treat me favorably."

Shikei bows its head, and another crow flies up, also an adult, but smaller.

"Nori," Yatagarasu says, and Izuna recognises this name as well.

Nori drops something from its beak and the thing rolls to knock gently against Izuna's sandal. It is a small rock, pale gray and a little rounder than an egg.

"I'll help with Izumi's hatchling!" Nori squawks cheerfully. "Here hatchling! You've had a tough day, you can have a cool rock."

Izuna blinks, confused, but he bends down to pick up the rock anyway, not wanting to offend. His whole body is sore but he grits his teeth.

"Thank you, Nori-san. Mother mentioned your generosity as well. Please treat me favorably."

"I will!" Nori says, a bit too enthusiastically.

Then they wait again. This time, no crow flies down immediately but there is a rustle in the crowd of crows. There seems to be quiet speaking in the back.

"Shiori?" Yatagarasu asks. "Have you made a decision?"

Izuna doesn't want Shiori. He's had enough of her, of being insulted and thinking of Meguru, even if it's only to think how much kinder Meguru was. But there's no proper way to say that, and Yatagarasu hasn't asked Izuna about either of the others. Mother mentioned Shiori; what if Shiori does want to go home with Izuna, and hang around watching him for things to criticize all the time?

Shiori glides down, elegant and ominous, and lands just outside of the array. "I have decided," she says. "I will stay here. I have no interest in the human realm."

Another rustle goes through the watching crows, and a few caws. It means something, Izuna is sure, but he's nearly lightheaded from the relief that Shiori won't be going.

"As you wish," Yatagarasu says, and Shiori flies back to the edge of the nest. "Do any others wish to join?"

"I'll help!" Daisuke's voice cries out immediately. Izuna turns to see him do a short flight and hop forward to be directly to Izuna's left. Daisuke looks up at Izuna, and if crows could grin, Izuna is sure Daisuke would be.

"Yo, Izuna," he says cheerfully.

"Thanks, Daisuke," Izuna acknowledges, grateful that someone he knows would be coming along.

"Me too!" a squeaky caw from right behind Izuna. He looked round to see Airi, her feathers fluffed up and wings held slightly out.

"You?" Daisuke asks. "You can't even fly yet."

"I can!" Airi insists.

"You hopped over here, I saw you!"

Yatagarasu interrupts with the same guttural croak that he used yesterday, at the bottom of the waterfall. "The human realm can be dangerous," he says. "Especially without flight. While I am certain that Izuna would do his best to protect you—" Izuna nods quickly, even though no one seems to be looking at him. "—it is still unsafe, so you will stay here."

"But I can fly!" Airi insists. "Watch!"

She jumps, beating her wings much more frantically than the older crows do, but manages to flutter a short distance. "See!"

Yatagarasu chuckles. "Indeed. Congratulations, fledgling." Airi puffs up again, proudly, and Yatagarasu turns his head so one eye faces Izuna. "Airi is still young. Do you think you can find a job for her?"

Izuna isn't sure he can find a job for any of the crows. Shikei must have helped Mother with battle, but he's not sure how, and Shiori's vision was important, but he's not sure for what. He likes Airi though, and she can't eat that many pork buns, right? She should be safe as long as she stays in the Spring House, and maybe she can tell Izuna things about the other crows. "I think so."

"Then you may go," Yatagarasu says.

Airi caws excitedly and hops across the array to Izuna's feet. "Let me up!"

"Thought you could fly," Daisuke whispers.

Izuna bends down to offer Airi his arm, and she hops up to his shoulder. She tugs on Izuna's hair with her beak, then settles.

Yatagarasu looks over them all. "Five is a good number," he says. "Make good use of your time, all of you. Now, be ready."

Izuna bows deeply from the waist to Yatagarasu, even though the movement hurts and he moves like an old person. Airi digs her talons into his shoulder and beats her wings, but holds on.

"Don't be afraid of change, little one," Yatagarasu says with more meaning than Izuna understands, but then he whistles sharply, and then there's that strange feeling again, a jerk in Izuna's guts and time and space compress and Izuna can't breathe, he doesn't know where his own body is—

and he's back, stumbling on the stone flagstones of the Spring House courtyard.

Izuna is so tired, and the air here feels more humid, time feels thicker, or thinner, he can't tell. He sits quickly before he falls, dizzy and fatigued. Daisuke hops closer.

There's an array drawn on the ground, unfinished. It is a large one, just like the one that made Izuna a yomotsu-shikome. Izuna's head is muggy and heavy and confused. Has he forgotten about some important event that's coming? Madara would have told him.

He blinks.

No, that's exactly the same array. He's not sure how he is so certain of this, but the image cuts into his mind, sharp as a fresh kunai. He can see the lines of the array that are missing. It took Madara and Tajima-sama three days to draw the array last time.

Why? What happened? Izuna has only been gone for a day, maybe two.

Three knocks sound and the wall gate opens.

===

"Please treat me favorably." This is another context-specific attempt at translating "yoroshiku onegaishimasu," like "I'll be in your care" used in chapter 6. This phrase is difficult to translate as its exact meaning is contextual but it is often used when meeting new people, or when starting a group school project/some work with people you might already know. It generally conveys a polite request to be treated favorably in the future (eg. please buy a product/service or start or continue a relationship (personal/business etc)).

Meguru (the second oldest of Izuna's brothers) and all of the crows are listed in the chapter 6 end notes.

Next chapter drops September 2!

===

(Blessed Sacrifice AU tag on tumblr)

Prologue fic: (in the beginning) (on Ao3)

This fic: (read on Ao3) (chapter 1) (chapter 8)

#uchiha izuna #blessed sacrifice au #OCs #naruto fanfic #made in denialcity

[proto-language]

watched the first ep of battlestar galactica and (a) it fucks but more importantly (b) I THINK THIS IS A DIRECT PRECURSOR OF THE CBBC SHOW MISSION 2110

#the destruction of humanity after the rebellion of manmade robots seems AWFUL FUCKIN FAMILIAR #also the design of the robots. hm.

[ao3feed-bnha-rarepair]

#AO3 Link #☠️ #AO3 Tokotsuyu #♥ #Tokotsuyu #🐸 #🐦 #⚤ #W:D #W:V #A:Strato32 #Spy AU

[ao3feed-bnha-girls]

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[couplesrehabus]

Couples Rehab Orange County: A Journey to Sobriety and Strengthened Bonds

Welcome to Couples Rehab Orange County, where the mission is clear – guiding couples towards sobriety while enhancing the bonds of love. In this article, we delve into the comprehensive services offered at our haven, situated at 17011 Beach Blvd Suite 900 PMD#691, Huntington Beach, CA 92647 USA.

1. Holistic Approach to Recovery

Experience a holistic approach to recovery, focusing on both individuals and their relationship dynamics. Our tailored programs address substance abuse, mental health, and relationship issues simultaneously, fostering a comprehensive healing process.

2. Specialized Programs for Couples

Explore unique programs designed exclusively for couples, fostering a supportive environment where partners can navigate recovery together. These programs recognize the interconnected nature of addiction and relationships, ensuring a unified path to sobriety.

3. Expert Team of Counselors

Meet our team of experienced and compassionate counselors dedicated to guiding couples through their recovery journey. Our experts combine professional knowledge with empathy, creating a safe space for open communication and healing.

4. Private and Comfortable Accommodations

Discover a retreat-like setting conducive to healing. Our facility at 17011 Beach Blvd Suite 900 PMD#691, Huntington Beach, CA 92647 USA, provides private and comfortable accommodations, allowing couples to focus on their recovery without external distractions.

5. 24/7 Support

Couples Rehab Orange County stands ready to assist 24/7. Our dedicated helpline at [phone] ensures immediate access to support, emphasizing our commitment to being there for couples whenever they need assistance.

6. Success Stories

Read inspiring success stories of couples who have reclaimed their lives through our programs. These narratives showcase the transformative power of love combined with professional support, inspiring hope for those still on their journey.

7. Community Integration

Experience the strength of community support. Our programs include opportunities for couples to connect with others facing similar challenges, fostering a sense of belonging and shared triumphs over adversity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I attend Couples Rehab Orange County alone?

Absolutely. While our programs cater to couples, individual journeys to recovery are also accommodated.

Is insurance accepted for the rehabilitation programs?

Yes, we work with various insurance providers to make our programs accessible. Contact our team for personalized assistance.

How long do the rehabilitation programs typically last?

The duration varies based on individual needs. Our counselors tailor programs to ensure effective and lasting recovery.

Can I visit the facility before enrolling?

Certainly. We encourage potential participants to tour our facility, ensuring comfort and compatibility before committing to a program.

Are virtual counseling sessions available?

Yes, we offer virtual sessions, providing flexibility for couples with scheduling constraints.

How can I support my partner during the recovery process?

Our counselors provide guidance on supporting your partner while maintaining your well-being. Open communication and understanding are key.

Conclusion

Couples Rehab Orange County is more than a treatment center; it's a sanctuary where love and recovery intersect. Reclaim the joy of shared, substance-free living by contacting us at [phone] or visiting https://couplesrehab.com/. Begin your transformative journey today.

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[romellroman]

Preserving the Flow: A Water Conservation Crusade

STORY

Is a description of imaginary people and events, which is written or told in order to entertain.

TALE

Is a story, especially one that's full of creative embellishments.

SCIENCE FICTION

Is a form of fiction that deals principally with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals.

Title: " Romell and Roman, the saviors of the time"

In the year 2050, the world was in the grips of a relentless water scarcity crisis. It was a quantum problem, affecting every facet of our lives. My name is Romell, and I, along with my friend Roman, embarked on a mission to save our planet from the water scarcity.

We had a secret weapon - a time machine known as "Tempus-Nexo," capable of transporting us to the past or future. Our mission was to find solutions to the water crisis by learning from history and seeking innovation in the future. We made our way to the year 2110, where we arrived in a world suffering from the worst water scarcity.

As we entered the future setting, we were met with the sight of people around water sources, struggling for mere drops of eau. We encoutered the dire consequences of water waste and pollution.

We searched for answers, and in our journey, we encountered a group of scientists and environmentalists who introduced us to a groundbreaking solution. They had developed a technology known as "Écologie Sauveur," capable of purifying even the most polluted water sources.

With this stabilisateur of water quality, we returned to our present time. Armed with this knowledge, we initiated a project to implement the Écologie Sauveur technology across the world, cleaning polluted water bodies and conserving this precious resource.

In a few years, we evidence a significant reduction in water waste and an increase in the quality of available water. The world was gradually healing from the damage it had suffered over decades.

However, we didn't stop there. To ensure a sustainable future, we embarked on another journey, this time to the past, in the year 1900. Our goal was to raise awareness about water conservation and educate the people of that era about the impending crisis.

We introduced innovative techniques to the people of the past, promoting responsible water usage and advocating for the importance of preserving this vital resource. We initiated the "Aqua-Hydro" movement, which laid the foundations for sustainable water management.

Returning to our time, we were able to see the positive impact our actions had on the world. The once dire water scarcity situation was under control, and people were now more écolo conscious, caring for their environment.

Our mission to combat water scarcity through time travel had been successful. The vortex of water waste and scarcity that once threatened our world had been eliminated. We take advantage of the power of time to ensure a better future for all, and with a sense of accomplishment, we watched as the world flourished with abundant, clean water.

In the end, our journey through time taught us that we hold the key to saving our planet. By connecting the past and future, we became the sauveurs of our own world.

IMAGE:

I use Canva IA, I tell the IA that create a imagen in which are 2 friends, trying to solve the water scarcity with a gun.

REFERENCES:

Sterling, B. (2023, August 4). science fiction. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/science-fiction

Tale - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms. (n.d.). Vocabulary.com. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/tale#:~:text=A%20tale%20is%20a%20story,and%20exciting%20with%20vivid%20details.

Tale Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/tale

VIDEO LINK: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u2iFE5fPbKTd5oqo6E-aIFO3jW6XZqXg/view?pli=1

#water #savingwater #pollution #water scarcity

[becrystalamazed]

Incoherent Cybele Thoughts

Thinking about Mission: 2110 again. Mainly about the multi-identitied entity that is Laura Gant/Cybele/Neuros. Cybele in particular, because I can never figure her out.

Is she a good mum? A bad one? Is she a wise mentor or the secret villian of the piece? Is she complex or is she inconsistantly written?

It's hard to tell. All the promotional material, press releases etc, make it seem like she should be sympathetic, a victim and a definite Good Guy. Yet her actions in the show just make her seem manipulative nearly to the point of villainy.

She withholds crutial information from Caleb, claiming she doesn't have all the answers, when she clearly does, as she has them later on. She lies to Caleb, such as when she told him his mother was killed by the Roboidz, which is only really partially true. Yes, the body died when the Roboidz took her brain, but her brain survived. I also think the virus did most of the leg work, and even then she, Cybele, still exists. So can you say Laura Gant is dead? What's more, when he finds out information by himself, she sounds borderline angry, my main case being 'How do you know about Neuros' (especially when she earlier claimed not to know what Neuros was) .

And when she does tell the truth and reveal she's his mother, it's only to distract him when he starts to question the extend to what she'd sacrifice to save humanity (Yes, as many recruits as it takes, but also him? The last (known) human? I'm chalking that down to a plot hole) .

But, she is helpful. Her advice is sound, even when her decisions are not (e.g. not telling Caleb about Neuros, not telling Caleb about Arkon until he's a threat, and specifically not telling him Neuros is his mother, leaving him to find out from Neuros herself at the critical point in the fight, shortly before he has to kill her. Because that was always going to go well(!)). And while her methods of keeping him focused aren't always the most ethical (see telling-him-his-mother-was-killed-by-the-roboidz above) they are effective and they are needed. The wording Angel's transmissions indicate they were obviously broadcasted at the beginning of the Roboidz rebellion, and therefore was definitely a trap from Nueros, and Cybele was right to disuade to him from chasing them. And I do think that she must genuinely love Caleb.

All together, it's hard to balance. A character that is both helpful and illogically withholds helpful information. A character that loves her son, yet is harsh on him, manipulates him and uses his amnesia to save herself from the emotional consequences of her actions. A character who wants the desruction of the roboidz, and takes steps that both aid the cause, as well as hindering it. Maybe she's just human with all the contradictions that come with it.

You know what would make this easier? If I could remember anything important from the Cycon Archives. Curse child me for being a child and having a child’s memory, and also being bad at video games and therefore unable to progress past the first few levels and gain access to any important lore!

I think, if I had to make a judgement, I would say her crimes outweigh her virtues. But I don't have to, and I'm trying to avoid my patterns of black-and-white thinking, so let's leave it here.

There were rumours that a series 3 was planned at some point. Part of me doubts it, due to the fact that recruits would no longer be from 100 years in the past. Unless they planned to rename it Mission: 2111. And nobody ever confirmed those rumours. But another part of me feels like there had to have been a third series planned, both because the ending was left open to the potential of another series, and because I didn't like the ending we got. It wasn't narratively satisfying as Caleb is still the last human, as far as we know, meaning humanity waasn't really saved. And it wasn't emotionally satisfying, as Caleb never gets the oppertunity to process and come to terms with killing his mother, his mother trying to kill him and the fact the other half of his mother lied to him about everything.

I think if I could have told the story of Mission: 2110, I would have told it in three parts. And I would have made Cybele a villain. A twist villain. Series one would have been the recruits verses Arkon, with the ending revealing to the Caleb the existance of Neuros (although the mysteries of N lab could still be mentioned, and the end credits would still have her, as a form of clumsy foreshadowing). Then series two would be against Neuros as normal, with the ending being the same as the one we had, but with on extra scene: Caleb confronting Cybele about her lies. And this would go one of two ways: Firstly, she reveals that she only wanted Neuros out the way so she could take control of the Roboidz all along. This would require some character tweaking, and is kinda cliché.

Alternatively, Caleb would say that he’s had enough, and he’s going to leave Futuregate, and her, to search for the rest of humanity. Maybe he’ll return maybe he won’t. The idea of Caleb leaving her causes Cybele to snap, and she seizes control of the Roboidz, this time to force Caleb to stay with her on Futuregate to fight them. This feels a lot more in character. After all, she’s gone to desperate measures to keep her child with her before, and certainly in unhealthy ways. I really want to play into her manipulative side. Maybe she reveals this in the series 2 finale, maybe the audience knows but Caleb doesn’t find out until halfway through series 3. That could be fun.

But regardless, the series ends with Cybele being shut down, at which point Caleb is bombarded with broadcasts from members of the resistance. It’s revealed that they have been trying to contact him the whole time but Cybele was blocking them, at first to keep him focused, but over the course of series two, it changed to stop him leaving and keep him dependent on her. Anyway, my point is actually there is humanity out there, all over the world. They’ve been listening and cheering him on the whole time. And he’s saved them! Happy(er), and complete ending.

I don’t know, I still don’t really know what to think, I just really struggle to see Cybele as a Good Guy, I guess. If you have any ideas share them, and do you like my version of the story?

#Twil you're overthinking it. Look you’ve only gone and made it angsty #I participate in the age-old fandom tradition of delusionally thinking I could tell a better story than canon #mission: 2110 #mission 2110 #Laura Gant

[not-mary-sue]

For the two people on Tumblr who remember Mission: 2110, I have a thought plaguing me that I need out of my head. What if humanity had somewhat dealt with the invasion years ago and started to rebuild? The only reason nobody was replying to Caleb's broadcasts was because his radio was about 50 years out of date.

#a fishing boat finds him and is like Sir what are you doing out here? #mission 2110 #cbbc #cbbc nostalgia #cbbc gameshows #2010s #2011 #2010s nostalgia

[j-a-smiths-blog]

2110 1Aug23: Paperwork submitted for flight to the Philippines. Hopefully I'll hear back soon.

In other news. Got to see the final launch of an Antares Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station #iss from the front street.

[cellularrepeaterforbangladesh]

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[becomedewey]

So I just remembered the show Mission 2110 was a thing, and the fact we never got a season 3 is actually painful. Pretty sure it was planned at some point, but the only thing we've seen since Season 2 were the robots being reused in Doctor Who. I'm also pretty sure that the last rerun was in 2012, and of course it's not available on BBC iPlayer (or anywhere for that matter)

To be fair, I wouldn't mind seeing it turned into a regular TV show without the game aspect.

#BBC #Mission 2110 #Cbbc #Game shows #TV #TV shows #I really just want to watch the whole 2 series again #Pls BBC

[legok9]

The origin of the BBC's favorite robot

The Necromongers appeared in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004):

Necromonger armor was reused for the Metalkind, which appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode Sky (2011):

The Shade appeared on the CBBC game show Mission: 2110 (2010):

The head of the Shade was combined with the body of the Metalkind to create the Ultramancer, a background character in the Doctor Who episode The Rings of Akhaten (2013):

The Ultramancer has since appeared in the Count Arthur Strong episode Still Life (2015):

The Ultramancer appeared as a Mercenoid in the Red Dwarf episode Can of Worms (2016):

And finally, the Ultramancer (and other Akhaten aliens) were reused in a Space Bar skit in the second episode of Walliams & Friend (2016):

#doctor who #red dwarf #the sarah jane adventures #bbc #the chronicles of riddick #the rings of akhaten #count arthur strong #david walliams #british telly #british television

[tanadrin]

The Encyclopedia of Things To Come: The Dhambaliya Commune

The Dhambaliya Commune was a century utopian community established on Dhambaliya (formerly Bremer Island) in the early 22nd century; it later moved to Marchinbar Island to the north, after the Outback War and the re-establishment of the authority of the Second Australian Republic in most of the former Northern Territory.

The Commune grew out of the New Farm Group, an informal community of heterodox Buddhists, New Age spiritualists, transhumanists, entheogen and research chemical enthusiasts, and cyberneticists which formed in Brisbane in the 2110s. Three leaders in this community, later dubbed by members of the the Commune "the Three Mothers," formulated a plan starting in 2122 at creating an intentional community on the outskirts of the city, or perhaps on the West Coast of the United States. Increasing political instability in California, which would later erupt into the Californian Anarchy, and the repressive political and religious climate of the First Australian Republic (proclaimed in 2124) caused the Mothers to look further afield. Northeastern Arnhem Land had by that time been rendered effectively desolate, due to a combination of rising temperatures and repeated droughts. Although inhospitable and remote, many members of the New Farm Group considered the challenge of building a self-sufficient community in the north to be a matter of mere engineering problems and can-do spirit, and motivated by a desire to pursue their transhuman agenda away from the oversight of any government's regulatory authority, Dhambaliya was decided upon as the ideal location. The Mothers left Brisbane in June of 2127, with three groups of followers departing by the end of the year.

Despite initial ambition and optimism, the Commune encountered numerous unforseen difficulties in their first four years. Breakdowns of solar power and water desalination equipment nearly caused catastrophic failures in 2129 and 2130, frustrations over competing visions of the Commune's organization and goals resulted in chronic political friction, and a short-lived breakaway community was established on the opposite end of the island in 2132. But by 2134, most of these initial difficulties had been ironed out; the Commune established a reliable satellite communications link to the rest of the world, and acquired a small cargo ship, the Arafura Voyager, which made regular supply trips to Makassar and Port Moresby. Once firmly established, the research program of the Commune began in earnest, with its ultimate goal being, as the Mothers and their followers saw it, the complete liberation of the human soul from the shackles of its body.

Although influenced by both Buddhist and Gnostic thought, the philosophy of the Commune was itself strictly materialist. They held no illusions regarding the possibility of the transmigration of the soul, of a cosmic karmic force, or of an ultimate divinity from which the human intelligence derived. Indeed, they saw these things not as preexisting properties of humankind, but as goals to be reached: that they could achieve, through a combination of advanced biology and cybernetics, a means by which to make them a reality. Initial progress was promising; members of the Commune submitted papers to several well-regarded sodality journals and preprint servers throughout the 2130s and 40s, and their research contributed to early breakthroughs in the development of robust BCIs, cognitive assistance tech, and language-sharing modules. But by 2150, their resarch output slowed to a crawl, and contact with the outside world dwindled. In 2157 it ceased entirely, and the assumption was that the Commune had failed. By that point the Greater Indonesian Campaigns and civil unrest in Australia made the Arafura Sea region extremely dangerous, and no relief or rescue mission was possible. The New Farm Group had been forcibly dispersed a decade earlier, and what friends the Commune had in the rest of the world were few, and widely scattered. In 2163, against all hope, a garbled radio was received in Port Moresby, evidently from the Commune, but signaling that they were now to be found on Marchinbar Island. A few federal patrols during the Outback War traveled as far as the Gove Peninsula, but they did not land on Dhambaliya.

Real news of the fate of the Commune had to wait until 2176. Four years before, the Chilean historian and adventurer José Ramón Higgins, had become fascinated by the mystery of the Lost Commune. Fuller understanding of the public work of the Commune in the 2160s had caused some scientists to believe that the Commune's research was not only cutting edge, but involved an understanding of the human brain, and the mechanisms of consciousness, perhaps decades ahead of the rest of the world, and Higgins suspected that the Lost Commune perhaps contained a treasure trove of scientific information. He even argued that it was possible the Commune still existed, and had merely withdraw from the rest of the world; after all, if their research had really leapfrogged the mainstream scientific community that much, they might see little value in continued traffic with the outside world. It took until 2176 for Higgins to accumulate enough financial support and clearance from the Australian government, and he reached the original site of the Commune, at the southwestern end of Bremer Island, in May of that year.

At that location, little of substance was found. Some derelict temporary shelters, the dock that the islanders had built, and some debris; a small graveyard testified to the difficulties encountered in the island's first few years. There was also a stone marker, planted on the beach, pointing north to Marchinbar. Higgins proceeded there three days later, and spent nearly two weeks, first circling the island and then using drones to survey its interior, looking for any trace of the Commune. He was on the verge of departing in defeat, when one of the survey drones uncovered evidence of an underground bunker on the northwestern coast, facing Jensen Bay.

Careful investigation showed that the area around the bunker entrance had, in fact, been built on decades prior; but the structures once present there had then been methodically dismantled, and the ground swept to obscure their presence. A few traces of underground infrastructure hinted at plumbing, electricity, and other amenities--evidently, a quite prosperous little community had existed on the island at one point. The bunker entrance plunged down at a steep slope, straight into the bedrock underneath the island; although the outer door was unlocked, a heavy concrete cap had been placed at the opposite end of the tunnel: whomever had built the bunker had, evidently, not intended to come out. Higgins dithered on whether to breach the bunker; if somehow, still occupied, the act might be taken as aggressive; but in the end, his notorious curiosity won out. It took careful drilling and blasting over the course of nine days to dislodge the cap and the locked steel door beyond.

Inside, Higgins discovered what amounted to a cozy residence for several dozen souls, and supplies to last them perhaps eighteen months; there was evidence that some nine months' additional supplies had already been consumed. Attached to the central living area of the bunker was a large computer system of unusual design, but evidently built more for robustness than performance, connected to an old-style fission power generator locked in a maintenance cycle. On restarting the generator, the computer sprang to life; and on it, Higgins discovered the history and the final testament of the Dhambaliya Commune.

The Commune had indeed withdrawn from the world intentionally, feeling that they were on the verge of important breakthroughs which alas, due to the unstable political situation then prevailing, could have both enormous benefits and catastrophic consequences. They hoped to perfect their new technology, which amounted to a form of whole-mind simulation, and to share it with the world once a more peaceful atmosphere prevailed. They were optimists, of course; they were utopians. One must be a sort of optimist to think any kind of Utopia is possible. But, alas, they also fell prey to their own hopes, and in the end, their technology failed.

They called the core beliefs of their community the Triple Insight, and credited each of the Three Mothers with one-third of it. Amitabha, the nickname of the first mother, had attributed to human thought the quality of *emptiness*: specifically, an emptiness of attention, an emptiness of control; she had held that the consciousness of the human brain was a kind of illusion, or half-consciousness, one which lacked the kind of meta-insight and meta-control that would be necessary to call a being truly self-aware. Ksitigarbha, the second mother, had held that this metaconsciousness was necessary for the true condition of free will: that only when the mind itself was amenable to self-modification, free from the constraints imposed by a fixed biology and billions of years of evolutionary history, could a condition worthy of that name be achieved. And Avalokitesvara, the third mother, had provided the means: a theoretical architecture that would permit the creation of a self-modifying machine, based in certain ways on the architecture of the human brain, but in others on more ideal systems, which could support the sort of being which the three envisioned.

Despite the esoteric jargon and melange of religious traditions in which the Mothers couched their philosophy, the technical descriptions provided in the archives were perfectly transparent and exceedingly exact. A minutely detailed research program and experimental logs testified to the scientific credentials of the Commune's members, but it also demonstrated why they had thought it necessary to withdraw from the rest of the world to work on their projects. They experimented on their own bodies and nervous systems, and on each others', with a frighteningly cavalier attitude: always by consent, but often with incredible risk. It soon became clear that not a few of the deaths the Commune had suffered in its early years were due, not to environmental hardship, but to experiments in BCIs and brain scanning gone tragically awry. The Mothers had wept at each of these deaths, but they comforted themselves and their followers with the urgency of their mission, and the majesty that would accompany their eventual success.

When a stable system of mind simulation was finally developed, at first it produced only horrors, horrors possibly greater than they had already inflicted on one another. Beings which, lacking any kind of embodied reference for their cognition, twisted in madness alone in the darkness. Unlike the human mind, which seemed to grow quiescent in the absence of stimuli, these were creatures of pure thought that could not extinguish their own sense of being; but neither could they interact with the world, which was totally dissevered from them. The first such simulations had to be euthanized, and a great deal of work invested in creating a sufficient simulacrum of physical existence to permit anything remotely like a human intelligence to be instantiated.

The crowning achievement of their work was what they called the Thoughtform Device. It could produce either a rough scan of a human mind, requiring invasive surgery but barring complications not causing serious harm; or, if the skull were opened, it could be used to create a highly-detailed scan of a brain, down to nanoscale details, at the cost of completely destroying it. Once scanned, either in general detail and either interpolated with artificial data, or in fine detail, the structures and patterns of the human brain could be mapped to software constructs, which facilitated a gradual restructuring of consciousness away from what the Mothers called the acoustic model, to what they called the divine fire.

The Mothers explained it thus: that the human brain should be imagined as a series of small nodes, each too primitive to be analogized even to an advanced computer, but operating in tandem in sophisticated ways that, as an emergent property, produced patterns far more advanced than, until recently, any human-made machine could imitate. But the ground-level simplicity of the mind, and its dependence on properties which manifested only in vast aggregates of its elements, limited it: human consciousness was dependent on patterns of neuronal firing, patterns of interactions of these nodes, triggered by sense-sensation, by biological fluctuations, by the happenstance arising and falling away of thoughts, and thus ebbed and advanced like waves on a seashore, or like sounds echoing within a vast and sophisticated series of caves. The divine fire, the spark which they sought, was a mind which could distribute or unify its attention at will: which could refract itself into a hundred pieces, each attending to some small task, or unify itself to accomplish some greater one, with no loss or diminishment of total capacity. A mind which, rather than being dependent on patterns of echoes arising and falling away each moment as external sensation buffeted it, passively observes the world, action arising authentically and originally from within.

They held no illusions about how the Thoughtform Device functioned. The coarse scan was only a rough copy of a human being: the beings it instantiated bore only a passing resemblance to their exemplar, and quickly dissolved back into nothing. The fine scan, the burning scan, was death. It would create a new being, but this was not the same as the one who died to give it birth. They would be dead; their consciousness would cease. The creature that took its place in the simulated environment would be a cousin, a sibling, perhaps a child; it would have their memories and hopes and dreams, but it would diverge rapidly, achieving a new identity and a new purpose, according to its new mode of existence. Yet though it came at the cost of their own lives, the members of the Commune marveled at, delighted in, and loved dearly these new children. One by one they submitted to the Thoughtform Device; one by one they died; and one by one new being were reborn in their stead.

It was only after this process was well underway that, to their immense grief, the Mothers finally apprehended its flaws. Though the underlying principles were sound, the virtual ecosystem they had built to support their children was insufficient to the task. Necessary approximations and optimizations, which had seemed to be harmless at the beginning, proved over time to result in accumulated errors that produced false memories, hallucinations, and profound distress in the simulated beings. They could be reset to an earlier state, but this was a stopgap, and it was anyway a process that felt intolerably violent to the Mothers, like a lobotomy. Feverishly they worked to augment and amend their systems, but the malfunctions, they discovered, would accumulate at a geometric rate; to permit any kind of long-term survival for their children, they would have to be virtually entirely eliminated, and that would require, using technology then available, a system the size of a small moon, which operated painfully slowly.

It was this failure, in the end, that broke their dream. The remaining flesh-and-blood members of the commune, grief-stricken either at the thought of abandoning their children or continuing their work in vain, devised a plan for the long-term storage of their data. The bunker was built to keep the children safe, for centuries, even millennia if need be, sleeping a cold sleep akin to death, their minds preserved as data physically etched onto a durable polymer substrate. And at last, when everything was prepared and the bunker had been sealed shut, the last members of the commune and the mothers themselves lay down within the Thoughtform Device, and followed their brothers and sisters into the darkness. The bodies of these last martyrs, Higgins noted with some confusion, were nowhere to be found.

At first the tale that Higgins returned with was deemed an utter fabrication; but he had proof, and the technical knowledge he returned with astounded the scientific community. They agreed that the Mothers had been right--there was not enough computing power in the entire world to support even one of the thoughtforms without fatal malfunction within a year. The utopians were dead, and their legacy could not be saved. Worse, the other technologies they had developed in pursuit of their goals created a great deal of unease. The authoritarian First Australian Republic had, in its last desperate years, had sought to extend its surveillance state to an unprecedented degree, and flirted with a kind of totalitarian control that, if combined with sophisticated BCI techniques, might have produced unspeakable atrocities. The Pan-Indonesian Federation feared, not unjustly, the weaponization of such technology against their member states; and not a few commentators said it would have been better if Higgins had let the ghosts of the last generation lie. A team from the University of Tokyo visited the site of the bunker in 2159, and made a partial copy of the recordings of the mind-states it contained--but pointedly avoided retrieving any controversial technology. The tunnel was then sealed again, and travel to Marchinbar was banned by international treaty. Forty years later, an ASEAN patrol craft noted that the Jansen Bay site was now entirely obscured by overgrowth; but that someone had left a small stone monument on the shore, imploring the passerby of some far-off day to spare a thought for the dead below, and to redeem them, if they could.

See also: “Human Improvement Board (Australia),” “Australian Civil War,” subsection “Crimes against Humanity,” “Piracy in the Arafura Sea,” “Outback Wars,” “Alice Springs Massacre,” “Committee of Public Safety (Australia),” “Greater Indonesian Campaigns,” “Thirty Years’ War (Southeast Asia),” “Clonal Network of Xi,” “José Ramón Higgins,” “Brisbane Commune,” “Cape York Rebellion,” “History of BCI,” subsection “BCI in the 22nd Century.”

#the encyclopedia of things to come #tanadrin's fiction