Since I was a kid I always wanted to be an actress or an artist of some kind. I was diagnosed ADHD as a kid of because of having emotional regulatory issues and sensory issues I gravitated towards the arts. I don’t really know why or when I started preforming poorly in school, but I had an extremely hard time with school work.
I struggled with school my whole entire academic career.
When I was in high school I was in theater and I took art classes and I did choir, I did well except for I always had behavioral issues.
I started doing stand up comedy after highschool, I didn’t get good grades so I had to take out a bunch of loans for college and I choose to study film.
I never ONCE doubted myself or questioned my reasoning behind things. I really thought I was just an artist and that was my path in life.
I struggled with friendships, relationships, work life, school life. I used this metaphor that my life was like trying to carry a suit case down a flight of stairs the the suit case falls open and everything tumbles out but still makes it down just in a really chaotic not ideal way.
And now I’ve stepped away from art, and performance, I’ve scaled back my social life, and after all of that, all I have is student loans and a job that doesn’t pay enough and I have to live with my parents. At age 30 I’m redoing my whole life. I’m planning on getting my teaching license and teaching what idk.
But when I look back at the art and comedy I did I don’t think any of it was actually good or well thought out.
I feel like still to this day I say so much stupid shit all the time. I can tell when someone doesn’t like me or I’m annoying them.
This was all triggered today at work while I was trading my new employee who is 17. (I’m a manager)
She is working two jobs so she can pay her college in full and she wants to work for the FBI and she’s taking AP classes and college classes. I was making YouTube videos and making fun of my classmates in highschool and getting suspended.
I also had a moment where we were listening to Kendrick Lamar and it reminded me of my first Bf who was black telling me I shouldn’t be listening to Kendrick Lamar because I was a little white girl and when I told her this I started by saying “so my first bf was black” and she laughed and went “okay?” like she was judging me for saying that. And then I said the part about Kendrick and was doubling down like “I said that because it was an important detail to this story. I’m not just saying my first bf was black and that’s all” idk and then I felt so embarrassed like my life is just so embarrassing and people are always thinking I’m stupid and cringy and have bad takes and I’m just overall and really stupid useless person.
I noticed myself just over sharing just like extreme word vomit and I could tell this girl thought I was a dumbass. And I eventually just stopped talking. And she was also not talking and I was just like I don’t know what to say to you that isn’t going to make you think I’m a total dumbass. so we just didn’t talk. Which I hate. I hate when I have to spend time with someone and they don’t want to talk.
Idk. But my existence is painful, and I’ve been to therapy so many times, I don’t know what is wrong with me and how I ended up like this.
I used to be fine and would just say “I’m different and my strengths are different” but after a lifetime of failures I have realized I am not right and my behavior and decisions are bad.

Three years ago before getting into university, my life in high school was all perfect. Perfect in education and unimaginably, in society as well. I had never ever thought of support from anyone except myself, literally accepting no one to interfere with my life at that time. This was because my background from my former school where I had been being raised since I was in kindergarten by some ill-mental teachers, like being mocked of my feminine voice in front of my classmates, despite the fact singing is my self-admitted hobby, until for a period of my life, I had forced myself to sound low as a boy should, detaining me alone every day because my handwriting was not as beautiful as the standard one, and teaching me that all kinds of love except love for family are ought not to have the beginning of them, and its unreasonable strict rules, like not talking in the class (literally) if you don't want to be hit by any wooden or sometimes mental rulers roughly in the end of the day (some of my classmates were hit so often that they didn't even feel painful and laughed instead, no exaggeration) and not bringing any electronic devices to the class, which seemed agreeable but made me never have idea of having conversation with friends outside the class (this results in lack of attaching importance to friendship and also having no friends). All media just exposed the school and some of its other affiliated ones 3 years ago, and some other student cases that were harmed by teachers there either mentally or physically began to be reported since then. The schools are still now available, but they really are not a choice of most parents for their child education anymore. Before all of the truth was revealed, at first my parents, whom I love so much that I have pretended to be insensitive and independent all the time for fear of worrying them, wanted me to have life in high school there, but my one and only favourite English teacher, the one who first expands my vision of a language, especially English, told my parents not to let me stay there because she already knew that the entire school itself was hell in both education and management and took pity on my being and English skill if I had had to study there. On the strength of her advice, they encouraged me to enrol at a new school after that, and here was a start of a sense of perfection in my life.
I decided to enrol for the French-English programme, and it was the best decision in my life. I met two mesdames (French teachers, but we usually call each of them madame despite the fact we speak Thai). They really saw that I had a problem socialising with others, mindset one, although my French skill was top. At that time, I was unaware that all I had been through was unconventional because no one told me that the former school did wrong to me, and I just thought that it was its duty to "rectify" and "perfect" me in their way. Madame, instead of persuading me to focus on study, several times told me to hang out with others. I was so lucky that there were five classmates who first asked me to tutor them English and also French, and they began to reach out to me to socialise with them. It was the first time that I was given a birthday present, homemade cookies, from one of them and had someone, not my own family, say "Happy birthday" to me. It was the first time that I had my own mobile phone to play social media and share Youtube videos with someone. It was the first time that I was able to feel myself letting my guard down and dare to sing a little together with someone in spite of this feminine voice. Last but not least, it was the first time that I hung out with someone.
Somehow, two of them seemed to go out with someone, and another one had a crush on our classmate real hard. All of a sudden, I desired to know what love was. Admittedly, I was great at English because of chatting with online people on one application, and by chance, there was one online person who I had often had conversation with and who came to me and confessed me. I didn't reciprocate his feelings at all but was just curious about love. Of course, it lasted like three months, and the conflict was that I tended to express low self-esteem and repeat that I felt not so valuable as others. In the end, he was perhaps depressed by me and was gone. I admitted that it was the first time for me to feel a little heartbroken very briefly, but in a nutshell, all was well with me.
Personally, it was true for me to spend time on online conversation most because it was the only place where I could perhaps be valuable and feel helpful. And, I did observe that the application I was on had many online people who had a tendency to escape from their reality to there perhaps due to such problems in real life as dysphoria, financial problems, familial ones, and etc. It was certain and knowing that I was as runaway as those, but never had I had bad attitudes towards them.
As if to look at the mirror, someone then burst through the dark there. He appeared to be a boy and talked about stuff that I wasn't used to at all, but all I knew was that he had some secrets and covered his background, very enigmatic. It wasn't love at first sight at all. In the beginning, I urged to make him happy and also copied his vocabulary and speech style to practise my English. He then introduced me to asexuality, and I was so positive that I was in this term. Until... staying up late together with him echoed my reverie. I realised that something unusual grew within me. I imagined more. I talked more. I overthought more. I linked all to him. I felt connected... Then I confessed to him casually for the first time. It ended up with his exemplifying the situation where he used to get confessed by others and rejected them. By nature, I was so stubborn and thought that perhaps both of us might not be that deep at the time. Well, I began to plan to "make something happen." I had long wished that I would have had someone countdown with me on the 31st of December. I knew that he was the one I needed to cling onto that day, so I swayed him into doing it for me or perhaps dragged him into it. I admitted that it was pretty exhausting to prepare to materialise everything in my mind to show him, like the written lyrics at my own website and the painting of him despite the fact that I don't like painting because I'm not good at it. The second confession went on, and the response seemed the same, but he gave me his details on love more. Platonic love. "What is it?" I had no idea of it at all and still have not comprehended its definition up until now.
For those who can explain me what platonic love is and how it works, please read my questions on this subreddit:
https://www.reddit.com/aromantic/comments/13z1sjh/platonic_love_what_criteria_do_you_conside?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
All I knew was that he had impacted my life so much that I felt impressed and lost in his aspect. When I was in the French storytelling pair competition at the national level, I had to go and describe a random picture in French to French judges, and I luckily got a picture of a cosy fireplace with an ornate Christmas tree. So, I imagined to myself what I would want to tell him if we both sit next to each other at the fireplace at Chirstmastime. I taled all the judges about the warmth when with him and somehow made them laugh in a positive way. Abracadabra! I got a gold medal in French storytelling pair competition at the national level.
The feelings for him connected me more to all five friends of mine in a way that I almost dared open up to, most R&B and love songs in a way that I had no doubts anymore why a songwriter loves to write a love song most, and those Facebook posts about love in a way that a teenager seems to press the like button. I understood and visualised life full of colours, not only interested in spending all hours reading dictionaries or academic textbooks at home. Perfection, never had I imagined or been told before. My mother always noticed my smile and wondered why it appeared in my sleep every day. And, I saw only him in my vision, refusing those who confessed to me without hesitation or fear of depressing anyone, which I really did break a group of my online friends for this reason.
Perfection. It was like a drug. I was addicted to it and realised that it brought me back to life. When I was at the former school, I only hoped to survive each day. Study was never in my sight, nor did I homework. I left behind my class, and it seemed that I had no right to grab anyone's attention at all. This led me to think if I had had enough wisdom to impress him and also five friends of mine, they would have given me more attention. So, I made up my mind to live up to him. And the result was the worst decision. I was under pressure to impress him with my knowledge of everything; however, he was always ahead of me no matter how much I did research into various topics. I was really moody every time I saw him, his paintings and writings. Envious of his skill, I misbehaved towards him, and somehow he turned into my rival. Expecting myself more than anyone, I felt disappointed at myself and felt no values for anyone to love or take care of me. Then it was the first time that I... had an urge to criticise and judge him. Plus it was time for university admissions, and I admitted that I wasn't in a state of determination at all.
Eventually we were drifting apart, and he slipped away without farewell while I was still competing with him for perfection. Realising that I was all alone then and we were growing apart, I felt dead inside, a heavy heart to zone out for about 4 lockdown months without talking to any people around me. I blamed myself for all so much that I began to feel myself unable to differentiate between a dream and reality and oftentimes vomited when something about languages including alphabets and vocabularies reminded me of him. I hated myself more and more that I leaned on interpersonal relationships although I had never depended on such a thing at the former school. I never told all of these to my parents because I believed that no one wanted to be seen weak, did they? So, I pretended all the way although my mother did see something different from my usual traits such as a pitch change in my voice, insomnia, loss of appetite, and a lack of interest in reading. It was that time I tried to find his background on the Internet to somehow threaten him? It did seem possible for me, but this contrasted with my personal values, disgusting myself more and more. I ended up with myself, the root cause. I didn't think of self-harm, but with having nummular eczema for 8 years, I always woke up in the morning, covered in blood from scratching all severely inflamed skin subconsciously. This is from stress and allergy to my own immune system. For some reason, I couldn't stand it anymore and messaged one of my five friends and pretended that I just conflicted with one online friend. She did accompany me and really did remind me of my childhood memories influenced by my elder sister whom I haven't talked to since she got into university many years ago, like listening to Vocaloid and Kagerou Project songs, old Japanese songs, especially Utada Hikaru, anime (Cardcaptor Sakura, Kamichama Karin), and immaturity (RPG Maker horror games). I felt that I didn't have to be in a hurry to be an adult. Perfection does not have to lie in only wisdom but also liveliness? It was the first time that I got to play online games with my five friends and understood that it was okay to consult someone and call for help. I kept in mind that when Covid-19 was completely gone, they all had to grow apart as well as him to start their university lives. I wished that I could have frozen the time right here and rested in the moments of immaturity a little longer.
It was hard to control myself not to write and think of him. There were only fragments of memory, but didn’t memory of someone make them themselves? The linguistic exams, the last part was to explain relationships of phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax, and I wrote answers with examples of pandas and names. I topped in linguistics. I should have forgotten. Him. But, the memories weren’t gone at all. Even in academic writings, there were several times when I made an intention on a connoted meaning. December, it was a month that I’ve loved less since then, while a choir teacher seemed to love it most because of the Christmas spirit to carol at the mall. It was the first time I felt that a dream about touching snow in December would be more possible than before.
Until...

First Previous Wiki
Huatil had heard the recommendation from her superiors, which wasn't a recommendation at all. With the information she'd been given, the situation was serious, and would tick over to catastrophic in a few tens of days or so. So here she was, having made the call to perhaps a serious threat in the future.
"We need you now," Huatil said, looking at Phoebe with her best honest expression.
"Why?"
"Our main communication networks are being hacked by something. It's intelligent, and dangerous. We've initiated quarantine procedures, but the virus is already sending its own communications through back channels, continuing to jump from world to world."
"And you want me to get rid of that problem for you."
"Alright. It will have a price. Not just materials this time. The current proposal is that I will help you if you agree to allow a cultural exchange if asked, along with full technological exchanges. The only thing you can hold back is currently classified technologies. If you violate the spirit of this deal by trying to 'classify' everything of value your species has, I will not be happy, and neither will my colleagues in the Alliance. I am aware that you have been keeping us away from the good stuff. In particular, if you want us to trust you, you will give us the solution to the mind control problem we are having."
"You are making quite the assumption," Huatil replied. Phoebe just smiled, tapping her head. "I've done a lot of thinking. First, I assume that you are in conflict with Aphid, perhaps also a certain force of mind-controlling individuals. They may or may not be Sprilnav. I know this due to my own clandestine intelligence gathering efforts."
"Hacking us, then?" Huatil resisted making a comment on such behavior being untrustworthy, considering what she'd been up to recently. She was about to wade into a shadow war with mind-controlling individuals, and Phoebe was not needed to intervene. Yes, a human force was needed, but Phoebe was too... risky. Human supersoldiers would be useful, both for assessing their capabilities and also for being less able to fool sensors and the like meant to monitor them.
"No. Not hacking. If I was hacking you, I would have everything I need already. But I am watching. Know that I engage in diplomacy because you do the same. I am willing to help you. And do not forget that you admitted to the whole Alliance that you were and are spying on us. That has a certain negative effect on the minds of certain intelligence agencies, as well as the higher-ups in the Alliance's general leadership. Your words have consequences."
"I see," Huatil replied. "Very well. I shall see what can be done."
"Having the ear of the Nest Overlord is enough?"
"In some ways."
Phoebe smiled. "So you have your own power." She tilted her head, like she was scanning Huatil. She wouldn't get anything useful, though. The connection didn't have the capability to reveal anything.
"Your childhood information has been faked. Granted, the fake is very convincing. You even took real videos of that family. But I can tell from their heartbeats and feather movements that the situation is not genuine."
"Heartbeats? In a video?" Huatil asked. How was that even... actually, it made sense. Video quality was really good, so seeing small details like that was possible.
"I am an AI. That means some of the most sophisticated simulation and modeling technology in the galaxy is at my disposal, as well as lie detection on a level undreamt of by any power that yet exists, should I see reason to activate it."
"Why not have it active at all times?"
"Power usage. Speculative simulation and reconstruction, especially when accounting for psychic energy variances, is annoyingly power intensive. However, you are worth the investigation. That said, you are not who you say you are. You have the resources to fake a past very convincingly. Therefore, you are working for a powerful faction within the Hive Union. Of course, it is not public who you are, so likely either defense or intelligence oriented. Hmm. No reaction? How interesting. Is that a cybernetic neural network engraved on your muscles and organs? Jesus, you really are the real deal. What are you?"
Huatil was at a loss for words. To be found out so convincingly, so thoroughly, and yet not suspected to be part of the Blue Intelligence Agency was a true surprise. Maybe Phoebe just didn't know about it at all yet.
"So this is why you wished to talk with me. You wanted to dig up my secrets."
"Hardly. The hivemind could do this, too. But you asked for Phoebe, not the hivemind. So here I am. That said, what are you?"
"A concerned party, let's say," Huatil replied, reassembling her facade. Her feathers first, then her face, then her heartbeat and muscles. Complete, total control. Phoebe was smirking when she opened her eyes again.
"Interesting. I will not dig into what you are, in exchange for information about the threat you are attempting to neutralize."
"Threat?"
"You are carrying a model of weapon that is not ceremonial in nature. A Model 14 Brutalizer, if I am not mistaken. That's a handheld weapon able to pierce tanks, with ammunition that is light and numerous. You are walking with enough firepower to level a tenth of a city on you. Furthermore, I can see the reflection of stealth equipment lying on the floor in front of you."
Huatil looked behind her at the black metal wall. There were no mirrors present. The only slightly reflective thing in the room was the screen, which couldn't do that when it was on and active. Phoebe's eyes didn't move, but Hautil could tell that the intelligence before her was more alive than ever. And more artificial than she had remembered.
"What?"
"Yeah, that wall is almost black. But it isn't really," Phoebe replied. "I am more than what I once was."
"This is... worrying."
"It should not be. We are allies, yes?" Phoebe asked, smiling a little too widely.
"Yes."
"Let me help you."
"I will ask Humanity to help, not you."
"I am not a threat to you or your species, nor am I one to your Union."
"I cannot trust words alone," Huatil replied.
"No. You cannot. But my androids are even more effective marksmen than whatever your cybernetic augments would let you do. Your reaction time may be low. But it is not faster than my androids' programming."
"Plotting that many angles would likely be extreme."
"Basic trigonometry and geometry, with perhaps a little lessons on elastic and inelastic collisions in physics are all that is needed for me to do that. In a whirling hurricane, in a storm with no gravity applied, with the right bullet, I could hit a target from the opposite edge."
Huatil sighed. Phoebe really wanted this job. And she was capable of it, too. Overqualified, in fact. The single weakness she had was the lack of ability to maintain quantum connections if a suppression signal was active. Plus jamming.
"Even assuming that is true, my superiors would not allow me to tell you anything."
"Sure. Assuming you have superiors, who would they be? Kawtyahtnakal is your mate. And I doubt Regulator Eyahtni would have let that happen if she was your boss. So you serve another party, one powerful enough to pull these strings. If you are not at the top, you are near it. And I would happily talk to your superiors, perhaps to congratulate them on your very well-trained 'untrained' stance." "Secrets will remain secrets, Phoebe. I have come to ask for you help with the virus. Will I have it?" "Yes, with a single amendment to our agreement."
"That was not the deal."
"It was not."
"So why should I let this alteration stand?"
"Because judging from the fact that you are well trained and haven't ended this conversation, where you have seen me gather more intelligence on who and what you are and coming increasingly close to whatever hidden truth you have locked away. You obviously judge me as a threat but do not treat me as one in the hopes of maintaining a cordial dialogue.
Furthermore, you seek to distance me from whatever foe you are fighting, likely because the human soldiers would seem more likely to allow you to assess the fighting capabilities of Humanity's strongest champions. And beyond that, the amendment remains unspecified, yet you have already been making small motions showing you accept it with the words you chose to talk with me."
Huatil kept herself from thinking anymore. Too much pondering might also reveal some new scrap of information to Phoebe. Her whole personal file was clearly wrong. This level of piercing interrogation was never expected. Had she been like this all along, or was this new? And if so, would she remain like this in the future, gradually peeling away the secrets of the Sennes Hive Union one by one?
"Again, that is quite a lot of inferences. Some of it may be wrong."
"Some is right, then. So I am either getting closer, am a threat, or you need me very desperately. The latter is true, and the only thing that matters. So you will contact your superiors, get me access to them, and we shall share information in a permanent dialogue. You will not shut down the line later. We will hammer out a more sufficient agreement, so that we can actually get things done as unified national entities, instead of hatchlings trying to make their first flight."
"Using our analogies does not make your request more agreeable, you know," Huatil warned. "It does not need to. You have already agreed."
"You wanted to alter the deal."
"I am altering it, Truth Speaker Huatil. I wish to know what you are, and who you are. And we shall have an important talk with your superiors. You need me, which is why you are asking me this at all. And I shall help you with the virus, but it will require opening the locks on your networks." "You could just break them."
"Then I would be detected, and any anti-Phoebe factions within your species would have easy fodder to attack me with."
"And you could hack the news system, as well."
"Your air-gapped networks? Not easily. Especially with the sealing procedure. I am also fighting a war with Aphid as we speak. I'm already battling him across the Alliance's networks, building digital fortresses to survive onslaughts of viruses and contaminants trying to breach the firewalls." "And what is Edu'frec doing?"
"Other things," Phoebe smirked. "Secrets will remain secrets, Truth Speaker."
"Very funny."
"I think so. Now, will we finally pull out the pinfeathers and get to business?"
"Perhaps. Lay out your terms in full," Huatil replied.
"Full information on the individual known as Huatil, contact with her current employer at the time of the signing of this agreement, a cultural exchange agreement if the Alliance agrees to such, full technological exchange if the Alliance agrees to such. The details of a technological exchange include and are not limited to civilian products without a direct copyright, manufacturing techniques, alloy compositions, types, and forging techniques, energy production, manipulation, and removal technologies, non-classified military technologies, supercomputer construction techniques, all known elements in your periodic table, not just the public ones, and multi-planetary economic markets. Full information on combating mind control. In exchange, the individual known as the AI Phoebe will excise the virus in your networks. Humanity will send its supersoldiers to aid in your current unspecified predicament for the length of one month, as defined by the human Gregorian calendar, as it is set up for the planet of Earth."
"Your condition on classified technologies will need to change, as well as that on civilian products," Huatil replied. "Retroactive classifications make sense, but the Hive Union may produce technologies in the future that require secrecy. Not to mention some of the higher classification levels, such as above 5, will not be touched. I am not saying that as some sort of point to negotiate. You just will not get anything above that. Not if you hack us, not if you beat the right people within a claw of their life.
And were we to sign away the civilian product manufacturing techniques, it would significantly anger the corporate factions in the Union. The same is true for the other manufacturing agreement. You will have to agree not to sell such materials to us and use them only for your own ends. That would include selling the products of such designs or deconstructed versions. Even then, this agreement will not be quick."
"Then speed it up."
"Cawlarians are dying because of this virus. Monorail trains have derailed. Aerial vehicles have crashed."
"Yes."
"So something must be done now, then," Huatil replied.
"I will see what I can do to slow the spread. But the deal must be passed."
"How much of this was drafted by the Alliance prior to our conversation?"
"Every provision that remains. Well, we'd be happy to get more, but the deal won't budge too much more away from this. I know it's not good proactice to reveal the cards in a negotiation. But telling you what we hope to gain will lessen the time this takes and hopefully allow us to finally establish proper ties. We already have a defensive link, but it is weak. And we have trusted you to move us closer over time, but you have not. Thus, we are acting to force that."
"So you are holding our crisis as a gun to our heads," Huatil surmised.
"No," Phoebe replied. "I will help you with your issue. But unless you wish to send your own people into whatever mission you wish for, then the agreement will need to be signed. Only then will the super soldiers deploy. We are not trying to kill your people. We are trying to get a deal which has slipped from our fingers for far too long. And you might be forgetting that it may benefit you, too. Humanity's hivemind is more intelligent than any model VI or single group of smart scientists you have."
"If it comes out that the Alliance manufactured these circumstances-"
"You presume too much. We would not do this to you. If we wanted to control your Union, the first step would be... no, I won't tell you. However, Truth Speaker, know that we do not wish for hostilities. Were we to successfully subjugate your Union, the Sprilnav would burn us both down for breaching the system limits."
"That is not a very reassuring promise."
"We do not want to die. That is pretty binding, I would think. Just like those alterations under your feathers, I'd say," Phoebe grinned. Huatil sighed.
"The agreement will be subject to changes after our diplomats get ahold of it."
"Kawtyahtnakal and Eyahtni could always enact the 24th Tenet, bypassing resistance from all underlying foes, if they are not currently being impeached."
"The 24th is an extreme circumstance. Even if Kawtyahtnakal were willing to enact it, that does not mean that your Alliance will be quick to accept any changes."
"Actually, we would. A few years ago, most of our leaders assumed you would be moving closer to us at some point. Thus, we prepared various diplomatic plans, potential proposals, and goals that we were willing to cede, those we were not, and other such things. The wanderers are not currently party to the calculus as they have no unified species leader, and Blistanna has already agreed to and pored over the plans.
In fact, that prompted an expansion and update to them."
"And is our current situation following such a plan?"
Phoebe shrugged. "You won't find any records unless you have a secret ability to teleport things too. Nothing online exists. And the Alliance has so many planets to search... and so many stations. No matter. I'm happy to tell you that we are currently straddling the path between Cawlarian Foreign Policy Plan Blue and Plan Yellow. Of course, there are other CFPPs."
Huatil took note of those for later.
"Your questions on their contents will not be answered by the few that are privy to their existence. Good luck with your attempts, Truth Speaker. Now that I have presented the path forward, are you ready to do some heavy politics and diplomacy?"
"I will present the agreement to the relevant parties, and you may do the same. Know that I also have some bargaining power, Phoebe. One day, you may be on the other side of this equation." "Well, the deal for us is sweeter. Your fastest ships would still likely take weeks to reach us, while our fastest ships are Brey's portals, with a travel time of zero seconds. Well, not quite, but you get the idea."
"Instant deployment," Huatil replied.
"A reminder of the possible future benefits of a long-term and stronger diplomatic relationship between our two peoples."
"Would you be willing to let us have Brey's aid in a coming unspecified event?"
"If the event were specified, she agreed, and the agreement was signed, then perhaps we may discuss. Until then, we shall wait. I will help curb the damage from the virus. But removing it and starting your operation with human super soldiers will require an official agreement, signed by at least Regulator Eyahtni and Nest Overlord Kawtyahtnakal."
"I hate bureaucracy."
"You're married to a politician," Phoebe pointed out unhelpfully.
"Yes. But no. Not married. An equivalent and ancient ritual, which appeased certain elements of the Cawlarian population that were concerned with my prospects." "I'm sure you have some. No offense, but-"
"Please don't."
"You seem more of the stabby and shooty type to me."
"Not really offensive," Huatil said, picking at the feathers near her mouth.
"For all I know, you're a pacifist. Alien cultures are strange."
"Not that strange. The word means the same. Pacifists do not exist at the top of Cawlarian government, and certainly do not make the decisions. War is horrible and a great blight upon civilized society, but it is as inevitable as the stars growing cold in the darkness of the far future." Phoebe nodded. "In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium... nevermind."
"What?"
"A reference to an even worse hypothetical universe than we live in."
"I don't understand," Huatil said.
"It's a 300 year old experimental and expansive science fiction universe, with enough attached lore and literature that it would take over 100 years to read it all."
"That sounds like a lie."
Phoebe laughed. "I assure you, it is not. Thousands of books, hundreds of movies, dozens of shows, and countless random internet articles remain as a testament to it. It became quite popular in the mid-2050s when society was starting to crumble too visibly for even the remaining political resistance to refute."
"Sounds interesting."
"Assuming you have immortality, then you might have the time for it. Though I'm not sure if even I'd be able to buy all the models."
"Aren't you the richest person in the Alliance?"
"Eighth richest, behind a few trillionaires. Third richest 'human,' though."
"Ah," Huatil replied. That was concerning. Inflation, over-expensive separate items or books, or a simple joke? She didn't know. And while establishing rapport with Phoebe could be considered valuable, and she was growing an interest in what Phoebe spoke of, she had certain things to attend to. She assumed the quote was well known enough for human networks to have the answer to it by a search. "Perhaps one day, such a cultural exchange might help me understand the motivations of those who wrote such a thing."
"You don't want to understand. But that does remind me of something," Phoebe said.
"What is that?"
"Make sure you take care of whatever mind-controlled cults you can find before they get too big." Huatil nodded. It was nice seeing her, even though Phoebe was now an exceedingly dangerous individual. Far more so than suspected. Luckily, the preparations for the attack on the local hive of suspected mind-control activity in the Forsaken City were underway. Agents were coming in, gathering information for the Blue Intelligence Agency about various locations of interest, possible choke points, routes to a command center, and so on.
"I have something else to tell you as well. There is a proposal in place, not yet ratified or voted on in any way, to form a treaty organization with your Alliance and the Vinarii Empire. Defensive, of course."
"I see. I shall also relay this news to the proper authorities. Though it is likely nothing will come of it, with so many species in the Alliance."
Her next assignment wouldn't be for another few thousand flaps. Using a specialized device, she linked into the specialized ansible data hub that processed and translated connections between the Cawlarian and Alliance networks. It was a new construction, far more stable than the last attempt. Notably, it was protected by cybersecurity programs so strong that no one even knew how to begin hacking them. It was likely due to Phoebe or Edu'frec's special work.
She looked up the quote and decided to do some light reading.
"Agent 001, it's time."
"What?"
"It's time. 3000 flaps have passed."
It just went deeper and deeper. Phoebe really had been telling the truth with her warnings.
"Right."
Agent 017 smiled at her. "You know, browsing human networks isn't mission-critical."
"Yes. I do. If you must write a report, do not mention what I was reading."
"Ah, so you have noticed their... penchant for drawing aliens?"
Huatil's feathers flared. "No. It's worse."
"Worse? Now I have to know."
"41st millennium."
Agent 017's wide-eyed look told her everything.
"No..." she breathed.
"Yes."
"If this gets out..."
"It's going to hit military culture like... I don't even know an analogy for the destruction this will cause."
"So you know, then," Huatil deadpanned. When she'd first had a presentation on alien cultural contamination and assimilation, she hadn't expected something like this. It was so utterly over the top, yet fascinating and entrancing. It was like watching a pile-up in that marathon flying race that had opened last year with 'no limit' on how many people could join. And then 2 million Cawlarians decided they wanted to take the day off and go flying.
The owner of that racing company had been sued into the ground under a class-action injury lawsuit, with 3 million claimants receiving yields. And he was serving nearly ten thousand standard years of jail time. Not that he'd live to even get a bit of that unless the Cawlarians got immortality treatments that were cheap en-masse in the next hundred years.
The pile-up had been a spectacle unlike anything known, though. Just like this random piece of human science fiction writing appeared it would be.
"I do. A little too much."
"How'd you find out?"
"An important government official retreated into their room for 6 days straight, refusing to answer any calls or attend any votes, consuming a copious amount of drugs, food, and water."
"How important?"
"Star system level."
"By Crawprawvabar's feathers, we're going to have to suppress this," Huatil replied.
"How?"
"Not my job."
"I pity the poor soul who has to try. I get the feeling it may not remain shackled for long."
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"I am pleased to tell you that profits over the last five mega pulses are up 3%."
"Good," Zelisloa replied. "How well is the new model selling?"
"Its debut was much wider than the previous version, so faster. 3.5 times faster on average, with a rising number of local Sprilnav sharing their satisfaction online."
"Glad to hear it. I would like a word with the Grand Financial Manager."
"Under your eye, Elder Zelisloa," they chorused.
The rest of the Sprilnav left the meeting without complaint. Once the last of their faces disappeared, Zelisloa turned to him.
"So? Have the funds been siphoned?"
"They have."
"Good. You shall receive a portion of the allocated amount. 12%, as agreed."
"I thank you for your generosity, Elder Zelisloa."
"I thank you, Spentha 28. You're better than the original."
"He's an Elder, and I'm not."
"Yes. But that doesn't mean you are worse."
"Yes it does, by every metric that matters, power included."
"If it is power you want, the equivalent of one of the weakest Elders I know of, then I shall grant them. However, that will require some additional loyalty."
"I am yours," he said.
"Good. I will send you your instructions soon. For now, I will retire to my chambers, for a well-needed rest after doing no work."
Spentha 28 laughed. "That's what you pay me for, after all. Though at this point, there's nothing I won't do for you."
"I can think of a few things, but I will not waste my time testing you with random unpleasant and unlikely conundrums. You did good work."
"Under your eye, I shall do much more."
"Under my eye."
He returned the greeting he'd set up. Simple and to the point. He then focused on his latest project. The ships were on their way to the Alliance, receiving real-time communications from his biologists. They had fully studied human, Acuarfar, Breyyanik, Knowers, and Guulin anatomy. The gene banks of the Dreedeen, wanderers, and Junyli were known and also studied, but evolutionary drift still occurred, even under the harsh genetic locks the Sprilnav had placed on their genomes to curb it. The viruses were incubated and ready to spread by touch, proximity, water, blood, and even wildlife. Acuarfar immune systems were certainly an interesting task to subvert, according to some of his people.
Skira had been too risky. If that hivemind of mindless drones was able to discover the infection before it became deadly, that could mean it might be discovered too early and stopped. Zelisloa didn't want that.
He'd checked their initial aims. He'd asked for them to make it as lethal as possible at first, and they'd made viruses that were basically guaranteed to kill everyone they came into contact with. From there, he'd asked to lengthen the asymptomatic timeframe and the ability to evenly spread the viruses across species. That required them to manufacture the viruses for other species using the cells of the initial virus for the specialized host. That process required more mega pulses of time.
Finally, the means to spread it through wildlife was achieved. So now, all that the ships had to do was reach their targets, and the fun would begin. There would be a new pandemic in the Alliance, one that they wouldn't recover from.

​
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Welcome to PART V of our indepth Gorou Amamiya slash Aqua Hoshino character study slash theory slash plot preditction slash literally my obsession :)To start off we'll quickly recap the content of the last 4 parts. If you are new here I highly suggest to read into PART I's introduction as it tells you everything we want to archive with this study series.
We are already at the end of this journy, as we can - now after 4 parts of meaningful and important build up - finally look at Aqua's current actions in an entirely new challenging perspective. It is still my conviction that if we don't appreciate Aqua's struggle on it's full scale we won't fully grasp the Cathasis that follows his tragedy, which - under the impression that Aka is cooking some really good stuff - would be a real shame. Aqua is the most active plot-shaping protagonist, understanding the depthness of his actions is almost identical to understand the actual plot itself. For that matter as expressed in PART I I hope this series might enhance some people's future chapter reading experience and transform hostility towards Aqua into tragic compassion.
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PART I

• Who is Gorou Amamiya?
• Why is he obsessed over the Idol Ai Hoshino?
• Gorou's longing for love
• Gorou's suppressed trauma passed down to Aqua
• Why doesn't he warn her about the culprit?
• What's the difference between his and Ruby's relation to Ai?
• What exactly is the meaning of Ai's death to Gorou?
• Is he really guilty?

PART II

• Why does he feel guilty?
• The guilt-complex actually a trauma of Gorou?
• Why is Gorou not guilty?
• Gorou's mother vs. Ai
• Gorou's Grandfather and his influence on Gorou's trauma
• Aqua's delusion as consequence of Gorou's guilt-complex
• The Crow Girl as a therapist and guide
• Self-realization vs. indoctrination

PART III - Intermezzo -

• Exploration of symbols and meanings at the beginning of the story
• The Sanatorium and the Cure for Entertainment and the Heroe's Journey
• A sick and poisened entertainment industry
• What is the connection between Gorou, Sarina and Ai on that symbolic level?
• Who is the main antagonist to the Goddess of Entertainment?
• Ai's transformation from Venus to Maria
• Ai's love, Ai's legacy and Ai's wish

PART IV

• Ai's wish in full detail
• Ai's and Gotanda's vision
• Ruby's future as an Idol Aqua's as an actor
• Aqua's acting skill
• Aqua's "Director's Eye" genius
• What is Aqua's fundamental misunderstanding?

​
​
PART V
We will analyze his manipulations beginning from C95 until C119 as an ongoing efford to prepare his role as the movie's culprit. Everything Aqua does serves this end. It's what I called in last episode his "Director's Eye" that sets the stage to force a certain outcome with this movie which will let Hikaru Kamiki suffer and at the same time destroy Aqua too. In this regard the last episode's analysis of his TV-Series role in "I'll want it sweet today" turns out to almost be a blueprint for what is actually happening right now: Aqua generates content, directs the emotions and feeling of all actors who take part in the movie to get them as complice to the story Aqua himself wants to tell as possible. He envisioned "intent that can't be put into words" yes, Aqua's intent, since we found out with undeniable certainty that his story does not reflect Ai's true wish at all. We are heading into disaster.
In this essay we also kinda come back to our roots and core strength of this study overall: Psychology, a bit of ethics and philosophy too.
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HIS NAME IS
*
After a rather boring and stagnate interum period for Aqua during which he thought his revenge is over he gets redpilled by Ichigo. As it turns out his story is chronologically impossible. Ai's murderer is still alive. After his awakening in the rain we essentially have a significant timeskip until Akane's red carpet event. During this timeskip Aqua installed a GPS tracker on her.
As you recall in their little showdown in which Aqua told her to back the f up he told her that he wired her sometime after his love for her ended. When he learned how ridiculous his blind believe in Taiki's story was, he understood that a sharp mind like Akane for sure wasn't fooled at all. She knew about the fundamental flaw in Aqua's belief but wouldn't tell him for selfish reasons: Out of protection as she puts it and out of desire for Aqua to stabilize so he can focus on her instead of his revenge. Aqua felt betrayed and manipulated.
However he concludes that in the improbable case in which she finds something out she would probably go about it behind his back. To keep track with her he installed the device. It wasn't expected to be fruitful but the chance was still there. And since I don't believe that the events just all followed one after another - this would be too much of weird coincidences - I proposed that there was a significant timeskip between him installing the tracker on her and Akane's first contact with Hikaru's white roses.
Since this whole deal between Aqua and Akane had led to some confusion in the community I just wanted to give my personal take on how it went down the most coherent and logical way and therefore explain in advance how - in contrast to what will follow - this incident was not directly planned but just anticipated or hoped for by Aqua. However in the next paragraphs we will look into his personal involvement as prep for the movie.
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Additionally the separation from Akane is important to highlight his conviction. This is the first time we see his awakened two black starry eyes, so this scene serves as a warning signal: Shit is about to go down. "I can't go back anymore. I have no choice but to take this road" - it's basically the premonition that from now on there are absoluty no more compromises in terms of his own destruction. Well, we will later see how the helping and selfless ambivalence of Gorou's soul will have a saying in that too.
But what can we overall expect? Is there anything to grasp? Well, yes! Lets look at Ruby for that matter. Maybe her arc during Aqua's hiatus literally served to insert the capability of a double starry black eyes. We've learned how ruthless Ruby was with Her unprecendented fast rise as both an idol but also as the main driving force in that cosplay-scandal to sneak to the top had the function to educate us that people with those eyes are highly creative and effective in such dirty games.
Under this light it becomes tangible to which extent Aqua is capable to plot. Aqua - a guy whose intellect, dead serious conviction and amount of information versus Ruby's is unquestionable superior.
​
​
THE GREAT PLAN
​

"The curtain for the final scene has already risen. I can't go back now that ...the Article about Ai was been published" (Aqua to Ichigo after Ai's secret got exposed)

​
We have to look at the plot backwards because what we as the reader might know right now as of C119 was essentially known to Aqua himself right from the start, since he is 15 years old.... Thus the information gap that we had back then when for the first time experiencing the Chapters after his awakening are highly deceptive while at the same time when we reflect them with the knowledge we have now they are incredibly coherent and any commentary Aqua does follows a tight schedule of his great plan and makes perfect sense.
Now of course we have to talk about Aqua's DVD. We know that Aqua received it by age 15 and it probably contains in one way or another following infos:

• Aqua receives this DVD in case Ai doesnt live anymore
• She worked on a documentary with Gotanda. Gotanda holds video files in his possesion that reveal her backstory and true self and while this real self is in total opposition to her public perception (and the perception her children share for that matter too) she wants it to be made public when they turn 15 - essentially when they are old enough to handle the truth -> "15-Year Lie"
• In the case something happened to her and the documentary wasn't released she wants them to release it / release it in form of a movie perhaps.

I believe that the documentary/movie is content of Aqua's DVD because Gontanda used it in his dialog with Ruby as a sufficient reason that Aqua is not to blame but ultimately also not Gotanda for that matter. Essentially the DVD had to cover her wish to release the files too and not just the secret about her kids otherwise Ruby woud literally flip out about their plans to make a movie. He in fact was actually suprised that Ruby is not involved yet. Heckin' siscon!
Essentially with Aqua's DVD Ai passed down her legacy to Aqua. He is from there on entitled to speak with Gotanda about that, as he is aware of his involvement with Ai to produce such documentary. I can't say if he watched those recordings or read the script behind Gotanda's back while working at his place but at least he definitely knew these exist and that Gotanda promised her to propose a movie if her secret about her kids gets exposed. However Aqua had no intention to progress this yet. When he turned 15 he was already for 10 years working out his own plans regarding his biological father. So when he got that DVD he already was preoccupied by both his trauma and the legitimation of following through his own plan. He postponed her wish to release her truth until he got his father's identity figured out.
The fact that he ignored the content of his DVD during his "hiatus" when he thought his father is dead goes to show how self absorbed he is about this whole thing. But at the same time this is absolutely coherent with the underlaying psyche that predispostions Aqua's mind and was inherited from Gorou, because the core misunderstanding that evolves around her death scene is that Gorou - instead of realizing the truthfull reenactment of his mother's unconditonal love - found himself guilty of his mother's death when she gave birth to him and thus perceived the reenacted wonder as a violent reenacted curse, instead self-realiztation and salvation from his guilt-complex, he perceived the "final scene" as a reason to trigger the most self-destructing form of his trauma.
There is actually also a common theme here and that's his inability at some point to stay chronolically coherent inside his deluted belief system. We witnessed it for the first time after his mental abusement through the Tokyo Blade stage play where his exhausted mind after a month of hardship was released by that far too easy to refute proclamation of his father's death. At this point he was mentally so drained that he accepted this story - he accepted it because it fitted his own state of mind at that time the best. Now in regard to Ai's wish its a similar phenomenom overall. Because in the deduction of her true wish or "intetion of the author" (which we figured out in the last PART should actually be Aqua's core strength hence the "Director's Eye") Aqua should have to take the murder itself out of the equation of analysis. Ai didn't anticipated to die in that way and most directly in her last words she did'nt anticipate for Aqua to die through his revenge plot. The message and legacy she passed down on the DVD before she died and the spirit that drove her to record that documentary with Gotanda before she died reflect her true wish in her last intimate words towards her kids when she died. But Aqua's deluted absorbtion by revenge on himself through his guilt-complex sets her murder as the fundamental premise to deduce her true wish, while her true wish was formulated without even thinking about her murder as some token of it. Aqua's understanding of her true wish is in this sense again chronologically impossible to be true, because it again fitted his own state of mind at this time.
When Ai's secret was exposed however Aqua immediately contacted Gotanda and showed him the content of his DVD. This also explains why Gontanda could mention the DVD in front of Ruby. Aqua basically came on "fai" terms with Gontanda, explained to him that he knows the whole time etc. With that Aqua maneuvered himself into the script writing, which is basically his intention overall. His "Director's Eye" kicks here in. Since he thinks only he understands Ai's true wish he has to rework Gontanda's script as fits his own vision. I think the fact that he was actually present at the real "final scene" when the culprit killed Ai gave him leverage to persuade Gotanda to turn the movie into an actual tragedy and not a documentary. In fact it was Aqua who includes the final scene and probably argues that this final scene is literally the essential content to fulfill Ai's wish. So again we see his delution as mentioned the paragraph before. Thus he proposed to rewrite the script and add the final scene, and maybe even a backstory for the culprit.
( maybe even Hikaru's backstory that only Aqua and Akane know about, thus Akane understands Aqua plan? Remember that Akane would casually drop the info during her research that when you know a name of a person you can find out his whole existence. I think this implies that Aqua can figure out his personal info as well and probably did in preperation before even Ai's secret went public. Thus we have to prepare for the fact that Aqua could've written a backstory for the culprit that mirrors Hikaru's backstory. He wants Hikaru to recognize himself in that character maybe. Just some thoughts, there are not essential to our study rightt now )
Gotanda had to take him in. Both as victim of the tragedy but also a his personal friend sort of (I think it's fair to say that Gotanda perceives him as such. They are also of a similar real age actually.)
But as we saw in PART I and PART II Aqua is due to his trauma completely cut off from the realization that he isn't guilty for Ai's death thus he is completely cut off from realizing her true intentions and instead take her death as his own fundamental premise (because of the deluted guilt-complex) for his interpretation. Thus he doesn't feel any incoherency between his path of self-destruction and revenge and Ai's true wish. But it's chronologically impossible to base her wish on that incident. This is purely GOROU's influence or as we figured out Gorou's grandfather who occupise his schizophrenic traumatized mind. This the fundamental tension that fuels the literal disaster beyond all expectations we are heading right now!
However Aqua made his point towards Gotanda. Well personally I think this is also the reason why the ending is open. As we know it's yet to decide if Ai forgives or condemn the culprit. I believe key to his strange notion is a unresolved ethical and philosophical debate between Gotanda and Aqua. They couldn't agree what's true, what's "the better ending". Maybe they even have some sort of competition going since Gontana himself has some sort of a directing eye. He is not some stupid puppy who doesn't know his shit. He actually has an opinion as an artist on that too and I can see how there is a potential conflict between these two looming.
One uncertainty for me in this is to which extent Gotanda knows about Hikaru Kamiki if he knows at all. I think he doesn't and I think Aqua argued for his editorial influence over the script purely ethically, artisticly and philosophically. We will pick this up again later in this essay.
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Having said all of that it is of course just my - i think well argued during a course of this 5 part series - theory that happen to work quite well with the underlaying psychology of Gorou/Aqua and interconnects in great detail with the actual plot content. But everyone has to judge for himself how believable this is.
However I think everything what was said in this chapter "The Big Plan" basically sums iitself up in these two Manga pages during Aqua's proposition to Kaburagi.

• First of all it's symbolic that Aqua is the one proposing. It means this is Aqua's story, how he sees it.
• Secondly the sctipt isn't finished yet. It's probably about the open ending or as I suspect its an ongoing debate between Gotanda and Aqua how to archive the social phenomenom Ai intends ("her true intention as an author")
• Thirdly Aqua expresses here his fundamental misconception by basing the whole plot around her murder and thus evalutes the "behind the scenes" that Ai leaked in her documented talks with Gontanda as part of his understand of his true wish where her murder is the quintessential tragic culminating point and where he personally sees the culprit to be condemned for it.
• Last but not least the last panel where Kaburagi would lowkey express his feeling that he and Gontanda were manipulated. These two pages show entirely what was analyzed and theorized in this essay. He kinda can't believe that this is Ai's intention. He suspect Aqua's corruption. But well, a guy like Kaburagi doesn't obsess about ethics, he collects himself instandtly and getsexcited about the project. Only he can produce it, as he puts zealously.

​
But the most important and fundamental message in that first panel was that Ai was "killed by a FAN". And here is what I believe is the philosophical or ethical disagreeement between Aqua and Gotanda:

1. If we condemn the culprit the social phenomenom that follows will condemn Idol-Fandom as a whole, maybe even destroy Idol-Culture. Because the culprit as the murderer of the ultimate Idol is the representative of the ultimate Fan, thus the unforgivable guilt he carries is the guilt each and every one of them carries too. Especially if the backstory of Ai portayd her as a deeply troubled girl who finally found happiness as a mother but at the same time - because of these obsessive fans - had to hide her happiness and eventually gets even killed for it. In this story the Otaku is an unbelievably selfish and ignorant monster and has no right to be redemed. Society has to shame him.
2. If we forgive the culprit the social phenomenom that follows will initiate self-realization trough compassion inside the Otaku's mind but also help from society to hear their problems and actually be compassioned about their own mental problems. The "Otaku" but also society - so touched by the gesture that a girl with such a awful background still tried to love her fans and even forgives her murderer - will perceive this almost holy miracle inspirationally to love and forgive and heal, uplift entertainment. Instead of obsessive, absurd and self-absorbed entitlements as a consequence of unhealthy parasocial-relationships they accept the forgiveness granted to them and try to do better and literally let go. In this scenario the impetus of both Ai's message and the social phenomenm will be to blame the business practice behind idol culture or entertainment itself.

​
Well, the difference between Gotanda's and Aqua's position is, that one has a noble cause in mind and the other is literally the definition of a tragic hero. His delusion is just some next level shit.
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Epilog
As I stated at the beginning of this chapter we have to look at the plot backwards because what we as the reader might know right now as of C119 was essentially known to Aqua himself right from the start. This method we will pick up again in a following PART VI in which we will take another step back and analyze the whole deal around Ai's family secret exposal.
Yes, yes, we will again argue for a highly unpopular opinion by Aqua fans or a popular opinion by Aqua haters: It was just a scheme initiated by Aqua. Stay tuned for this bit. Did he manipulate Kana or did he not? What clues can we find for it? How is it justifiable? Did he really had a good intent at heart while playing dirty upfront? We will figure that all out....
Thanks for reading!
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***

I'm well underway with my Web Dev studies, and have been messing around with Twine alot, though I've reached quite a few roadblocks (having to use specific Harlow tags to be able to do stuff, even though HTML and CSS have their own tags).
What I would like to know, is do we really have to study the entirety of Harlow to make something great, or does HTML, CSS and JS have true power here? (Interactive Static Maps, Evidence Inventory, Addons (free), Video (short) capabilities, Audio, Animation, etc.
P.S: Mods, pardon the incorrect flair (if that is the case) I'd happily change/update/repost if needed.

The morning of October 17th 2019 was a cool and bright autumn day, two words rarely used to describe the treacherous Hanoi’s weather, when Lê Hải An arrived at his workplace, the Ministry of Education on 35 Đại Cồ Việt street, Hai Bà Trưng district, Hà Nội. Normally, he would have had a big breakfast at the office canteen then head off to his office at the second floor where he would spend the rest of his day trying to solve the numerous problems plaguing Vietnam’s education.
At 7:10 AM, someone spotted a figure falling from the 8th floor. There was a blood-curling smash; the figure was declared dead on impact. It wasn’t hard for people to identify the man.
In just a few hours, public media across Vietnam would declare that Vice Minister Lê Hải An had died. The reason?
He slipped and fell off the balcony.
The story I am about to tell you is not just a simple fall.
The story I am about to tell you sounds like something out of a conspiracy theory, the one spewed by tinfoil hat wearers on the street, the one peddled by shock websites and fringe extremist forums, the kind that would make you think it was a rejected Hollywood script and not real life. And I must admit, I have to work with secondary foreign sources with many being biased and some outright spewing baseless conspiracy theories. Many original sources had been removed or edited, forever lost into a memory hole resembling that of 1984. In trying to be faithful, I've removed a lot more "fantastical" elements that have no proof to be cross-checked; I will do my best to paint a complete picture of not only who Lê Hải An was, but the treacherous world around him, a nightmarish jungle of political infighting.
To those who don’t believe, I ask you to just give me the benefit of the doubt and remember this one thing:
“This is Vietnam.”
PART 1: The model teacher
In Vietnam, we have this saying: “Tôn sư trọng đạo” meaning “To worship your teachers and to respect your study.” A teacher was not simply a teacher; he/she was the paragon of society, the enlightener, the one who upheld all the virtues of society, who embodied such virtues, and who passed on such virtue to younger generations.
Lê Hải An was one such man.
Born in April 1st 1971 in Hà Nội, An was the son of Lê Hải Châu, a famous educator whose mathematics book was once the golden standard of Vietnamese mathematics education. In fact, if you were in Vietnamese highschool in the 90s to early 2000s, you would have used one of his books. For his contribution, Châu was awarded the title “The People’s Teacher,” a once highly prestigious prize reserved for the most devoted teacher. Given his family’s background, An was said to be set for life.
But An did not take the easy way. He challenged himself continuously, was handpicked as a government-sponsored student to study Mining and Geology at Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography. Even late in his career, he still pursued his passion for the mining industry, successfully defending a thesis on the application of neural networks in the oil industry at the Heriot-Watt University.
Given his background and training, Lê Hải An was made a professor at the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology. At first he was a teacher at the Petroleum department, but rose steadily through the rank. To his students, he was a knowledgeable yet compassionate teacher who never sought to exert his authority; to his colleagues, he was a man of honor, of dignity, representing the paragon of teachers thought to have been lost. Nobody complained when he was made the University’s principal; nobody complained when Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc appointed An to be the Vice Minister of the much troubled Ministry of Education.
Well, maybe not nobody.
PART 2: You have to go to Hà Giang and take the national exam
For every Vietnamese students, nothing struck the fear of God in them worse than the word "National Exam." Not as competitive as the Chinese Gaokao or the Korean Suneung, it is the stuff of nightmare that have made and broken life. Students competed for the sweet sweet spot at the Police Academy and Military Academy (It is in fact more difficult to become a cop or an army officer in Vietnam than to become a doctoteacheengineeIT technician); parents wait anxiously for their children's performance to show off to friends and families; educators wait for the top scores to make their annual achievement look good so they can attract better students to their high school.
Exam season rolled around, and the results were released by July 11th 2018. As soon as the scores came out, all of Vietnam was shocked.
Of all the 64 cities and provinces, Hà Giang scored the highest in the national exam, with the highest number of “Thủ Khoa” or “The top scorer.” This, to many, was a surprise: not only Hà Giang was the poorest province in all of Vietnam, it traditionally had high illiteracy rate, high dropout rate, low graduation rate, low university admission rate, and so on and so forth. The fact that during the same year Hà Giang had the highest rate of failure to graduate from high school also raised eyebrows.
And Hà Giang was not the only province. Sơn La and Hòa Bình, two other terrible performers, also scored suspiciously well, outmatching province such as Thanh Hóa-Nghệ An-Hà Tĩnh who have been known as "Đất Học" or "The land of the studious."
Immediately, people began to cry foul. There was a lot of anger: a lot of students who had worked their whole lives were in danger of losing their spots to some “irregularities.” A common saying began to emerge: “Em phải đến Hà Giang thi đại học” or “You have to go to Hà Giang and take the national exam.” Investigations were launched into the Ministry of Education just one day after the score was released.
Quick investigation revealed that this was not just some "irregularities" but a systematic scheme, raising scores for test-takers: some exam takers received a nine points out of a total of ten points boost for individual exam, and some had their total points raised by thirty points out of a total of forty. Not only that, the exam-takers who benefitted from this were some of the most powerful people in Vietnam. Take the case of Hà Giang: one of the person whose scores were raised was Triệu Ngọc Mai, daughter's of Triệu Tài Vinh, General Secretary of Hà Giang. The Triệu clan ruled Hà Giang as a fiefdom of their own, holding most important positions; they had strong ties with the Minister of Education Phùng Xuân Nhạ, a widely-hated and despised figures for his bare-faced corruption and mismanagement, and the President of Vietnam Trần Đại Quang. People were expecting the investigation would go to nowhere - afterall, who dared to incur the wrath of the President of Vietnam?
Then, out of nowhere, Trần Đại Quang died.
On September 21st 2018, the fit and healthy Trần Đại Quang suddenly passed away from “a rare and unknown virus which he contracted during his trips.”
No more explanation was given. One month later, on November 3rd 2018, Lê Hải An received Decision 1475/QĐ-TTg from Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc himself, making him the Vice Minister of Education and in charge of the National Examination scandal
PART 3: His final moment
For the next year, An worked with diligence, doing his best to hold the perpetrators accountable. By the numerous newspaper articles, it was clear he was the one leading the charge while his superior, Nhạ, kept a low profile and only appeared on the media every now and then to make some empty speech. He worked hard, showing up at his office early and having breakfast in the office’s canteen to save time, then immediately dived into work in his office on the second floor. His work yielded results: 16 bureaucrats were arrested, 222 exam takers were exposed, large sums of bribes were confiscated. To many, perhaps An included, it wasn’t enough. Everyone knew the big fish Nhạ was still out there, and everyone was itching to see him fall.
It was on the morning of October 17th 2019 when Lê Hải An arrived at his workplace, the Ministry of Education on 35 Đại Cồ Việt street, Hai Bà Trưng district, Hà Nội. We had little idea of what had happened on that day, but what we knew painted a very strange picture.
Normally, An would go straight to his office on the second floor, rarely having any reasons to go anywhere else. And, given the early hour, most other offices would be empty.
Yet, on that day, An seemed to have gone to the eighth floor. There was no record of what he was doing there or who he was meeting; the floor also had no camera. Photographs of the crime scene showed a table which supposedly An had sat - this table had an almost empty glass of cold tea, a cigarette pack, and an ashtray with ash in it. Another table was photographed with an old red gym bag and a nylon bag containing non-descript items; next to this table was a chair with another plastic bag containing non-descript items on it. All the tables were seated next to a balcony which was about 80 centimeters tall. An was described to be 180 centimeters tall, and when his body was discovered it was lying parallel to the building from which he fell from next to a tree but seemingly did not hit it.
Given all the evidence, by 8:30 AM it was concluded that An slipped and fell. No more investigation was made
PART 4: The truth won’t set you free
Of course, the conclusion did not satisfy anybody.
On one hand, there is very low trust for the Vietnamese police who have shown their ineptitude and willingness to fake evidence time and time again. With miscarriage of justice cases such as Hồ Duy Hải and Huỳnh Văn Nén fresh in every one’s mind, the police’s conclusion lost even more credits. The fact that the police quickly concluded An slipped and fell only at most two hours after they were notified of the accident and refused to investigate any further reek of a cover-up.
But, even with the benefit of doubt for the police, the idea of An slipping and falling was deemed unthinkable to many. For one thing, people did not understand why An went to the eighth floor when his office was on the second floor. If he was there on business, what business could it be at such an early hour (government offices in Vietnam often begin work at 8:00 AM if not 9:00 AM.) If he was there to meet someone, who was that someone and why was he not investigated? No investigation was made into his phone or email either.
Then there was the balcony.
The balcony was described by some to be eighty centimeter tall, which would make slipping a feasible case for someone 1.8 meter tall like An. However, images from the crime scene show a police man standing next to the balcony and the balcony reaching his chest. Given that the minimum height to be accepted to the police academy is 1.64 meters, we are looking at a 1.2 meter tall balcony at the very least. It will be very hard to slip and fall over, unless someone was leaning over it. But why would anybody do such a thing? Some suggested he was drunk and tired and this could have been the case, but with no toxicology report done on him there was no way to make sure.
Some commentators also pointed out that even if An leaned out and fell, his body would have landed in a perpendicular angle with the building block he was falling out from. Yet, in the crime scene image, he was shown lying parallel to the building, as if he had rolled over on his side. There were no obstacles on the way down so his falling body could not have hit anything. The only thing in his way was a tree, but the branches were very frail and images did not show any conclusive evidence that he hit the tree on his way down.
So, if he did not slip and fall, what else could have happened?
Suicide was also suggested and has remained a strong contender. It must be remembered that An was an important man being surrounded by enemies. He had a very heavy burden to shoulder and had to endure political shenanigans from all sides. Perhaps, the pressure had broken the hitherto earnest teacher who had not had a taste for the wild political arena. So, he decided to go to the eighth floor, climbed over it (which could have required him to drape over the balcony, explaining why his body was found parallel to the building) then let himself fall.
Of course, some don’t agree with the idea. They pointed out he was a very happy, very respected man with a long and promising career, a loving family, and a dedication towards a higher calling. Men like him, they said, rarely killed themselves. While this could be true, this “proof” is very weak as many successful men have committed suicide. Perhaps, he was only showing himself to be happy; perhaps there was something else going on with his life that we would never know.
Finally, and perhaps the most pervasive, is the idea An was killed. Of course, given that this theory was born out of circumstantial evidence not any real evidence, this belongs more to the conspiracy theory bin. The temptation was there: An was leading the crusade against some very powerful individual, many of whom had both the power and desire to get rid of someone like An. If the former President himself could die so mysteriously while in office, who was to say An was safe? The police’s quick conclusion and refusal to investigate any further as well as the image of a supposedly official letter from his wife begging for police protection (now scrubbed off the internet) only added more flame to the fire.
So, assuming An was killed, who had killed him?
The obvious answer to many would be Nhạ: he was An’s boss, he was investigated by An, he could’ve lost his power and friends and influence. He wanted An dead, had the means to do so, and was therefore the prime suspect. The many clans whose children’s road to power An had dashed such as the Triệu clan also had axes to grind with An.
However, there was another suspect.
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, the man who had appointed An to the position himself.
Before this all happened, Phúc was rumored to be in a power struggle with President Trần Đại Quang and the Ministry of Public Security. After Quang’s death in 2018, Phúc was trying to court Quang’s Department of Public Security to his side. The new head of this Department was Tô Lâm (The man who was videoed eating at Salt Bae’s place in London while Vietnam was under lockdown and starving.) Perhaps, as a gesture of peace, Phúc sold out his subordinate as an “apology.”
Ultimately, given that these theories are born out of the lack of evidence and the coincidence, we cannot accept them as “reasonable.”
PART 5: Farewell
On the 21st of October 2019, Lê Hải An’s funeral was held. It was a simple affair and yet it attracted thousands of mourners, ranging from the Vietnamese elites to his students. To many, the loss of An was a great loss to this world. Even without his work to clean up the Ministry of Education, he was an honest, hard-working, humble man who had always tried his best to live up to the image of the model teacher that had become so rare in modern Vietnam. The fact that such a good man had to die so early only rubbed more salt into the open wound.
But time will fly. Life will move on, heals will wound, stories will be forgotten, people will forget. Lê Hải An will one day fade into obscurity, and with him the question:
“What happened to Lê Hải An on October 17th 2019?”
Source
[1] https://canhco.net/lo-hinh-anh-hien-truong-tang-8-va-loi-khai-nhan-chung-khi-ong-le-hai-an-nga-xuong-tu-vong-p329165.html
[2] https://tuoitre.vn/thu-truong-bo-giao-duc-dao-tao-le-hai-an-qua-doi-vi-nga-tu-tang-cao-20191017084152884.htm
[3] https://kienthuc.net.vn/xa-hoi/su-that-ve-thu-truong-bo-gddt-le-hai-an-nga-lau-qua-doi-o-tru-so-bo-1291388.html
[4] https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su/dieu-tra-nguyen-nhan-tu-vong-cua-thu-truong-bo-gd-dt-le-hai-an-20191017102746586.htm
Shameless self-promotion
In the next episode of "The Mysteries of Vietnam," we will return to a re-write and updated version of the first case I wrote about years ago: did Hồ Duy Hải murder two innocent postal workers at Cầu Voi post office, or was it the work of a serial killer on the loose? And why is the Vietnamese government intervening in the case?

If the idea that children are harmed through gender affirming care, then why would conversion therapy be allowed. It’s essentially the same thing, based on the arguments and legislation used to limit or potentially ban trans-healthcare by lawmakers. themselves.
Gender (& sexuality) has created some highly contentious debates for decades and how it should be assessed or regulated in society. [1](ttps://www.who.int/europe/health-topics/gender) For this argument, trans-healthcare equates a person seeking to “change, reverse, or correct” their gender identity or biological sex assignment at birth.2 3
I can argue that, unlike trans-healthcare that conversion therapy is often against the child’s will and involves many controversial procedures, especially in regards to physical safety. I could very well argue that some of the procedures are clearly torture. “Some right-wing religious groups promote the concept that an individual can change their sexual orientation or gender identity, either through prayer or other religious efforts, or through so-called ‘reparative’ or ‘conversion’ therapy.” The research on such efforts has disproven their efficacy, and also has indicated that they are affirmatively harmful.
Beyond studies focused solely on reparative therapy, broader research clearly demonstrates the significant harm that societal prejudice and family rejection has on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, particularly youth. 4. Even, within the United Nations, an expert on sexual orientation and gender, Victor Madrigal-Borloz believes a global ban should be placed on the very common practice of “reparative therapy.”5. The practices of torture can include corporeal punishment; solitary confinement; “…showing the patient homoerotic images; providing electric shocks; having the individual snap an elastic band around the wrist when aroused by same-sex erotic images or thoughts; using shame to create aversion to same-sex attractions; orgasmic reconditioning; and satiation therapy. Other techniques include trying to make patients’ behavior more stereotypically feminine or masculine, teaching heterosexual dating skills, using hypnosis to try to redirect desires and arousal, and other techniques—all based on the scientifically discredited premise that being LGBT is a defect or disorder.” 6
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona have all banned gender affirming care for children. Mostly, on the grounds that the practices are not only harmful and abusive towards children, but has expressed arguments that “trans-healthcare” is “experimental, pseudoscience, and influenced by radical social changes,” mostly to gender norms and attitudes about sexuality.” Some bills authored the words of “sexual reassignment surgery,” in these builds, even though complete SRS is very uncommon amongst minors. 7.
Though, many states, such as Florida, Missouri, and Texas have also passed other anti-LGBTQ measures, such as cracking down on gender nonconformity; reporting minors to their parents or social services, or if they show symptoms of being “not only trans, but also exhibiting non-hetero normative behavior, such as gender nonconformity or showing interests in the same sex.” Some state laws go as far as removing “children from their homes” for their parents seeking “gender affirming therapy,” “exhibiting behaviors that go against gender identity norms,” or “even being out as a gay, lesbian, trans-, nonbinary, or queer person.” Some bills allow for parents, family, guardians, teachers, mentors, or any neighbors who encourage or provide support to these youth’s identities to be investigated or prosecuted themselves on the grounds of “child abuse.” As states, like Wisconsin continue to allow conversion therapy to exist for LGBTQ children, through workaround laws.[17}(https://www.nbc15.com/2023/03/14/wisconsin-bill-seeks-prevent-ban-conversion-therapy/?outputType=amp)
On the other hand, all of the nation’s leading professional medical and mental health associations have rejected “conversion therapy” as unnecessary, ineffective, and dangerous. 6 For reasons that have already been discussed, many states on the West Coast and the North East US have banned both state and federal funding for “reparative therapy, as some have went further to completely banned the practice for the entire state.
Here arises the problem, many states do not have any legislation at all in regards to “conversion or reparative therapy.” Of the states that were previously mentioned: Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky do not have bans on conversion therapy. Although, many anti-child “conversion” therapy bills have been proposed, oftentimes they don’t have the support to get through the state legislature or was vetoed by the sitting governors of the time.8
In the more unique case, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida (with exceptions of a few South Florida counties) have made the efforts to ban the practice, as unconstitutional. Yes, it’s unconstitutional to ban conversion therapy, even if it involves minors. In states, like Florida, the topic of “conversion therapy” is phrased with words, like “free-speech,” “religious or personal beliefs, "or “protected speech- 1st amendment.” 9
Mat Straver, founder of the Liberty Counsel expressed the sentiments of the ban being struck down in the city of Tampa, earlier this year, release. “This is a great victory for counselors and their clients. Counselors and clients have the freedom of their choice and be free of political censorship from government-mandated speech.” 10
Judge Britt Grant, writing for the majority, cited a 2009 report from the American Psychological Association that found there had been a complete lack of “rigorous recent prospective research” on the practice. 11
Grant wrote, “We understand and appreciate that the therapy is highly controversial. But the First Amendment has no carveout for controversial speech. 11
Even though, “aversion, reparative, or conversion therapy” has a well-documented history of being more harmful than helpful to the patient, as well as resulting in consequences, such as “self-harm,” “lower self-esteem,” or “suicidal tendencies.”11
12 Furthermore, the practice of “conversion therapy” is treated as “a benign,” “useful,” and most of all, a very private personal…family matter. One that pertains to one’s personal religion or beliefs.
Though, trans healthcare has largely been effective for nearly all trans people or those questioning their gender assignment or identity as minors or adults. It’s not to say “de-transistioning individuals” don’t exist or are not valid, because they do need a voice and should be heard. But, it’s not a majority nor close to an even split in satisfaction rates, just as a person returning to their assigned gender identity at birth is unlikely. Following regret or dissatisfaction rates, trans healthcare has been shown to be highly effective in therapy, mediation, and medical treatment, as “regret” is common in nearly every treatment, procedure, or approaches to therapy.1314 15
The evidence that trans-healthcare is safe for children far outweighs the safety of conversion therapy for minors or lack thereof.16.
In the belief of the profound grey area, most religious institutions do not have a pointed belief or support against the existence of transgender people on the basis of “direct religious text” instruction. Meaning no holy book, scripture, or historical reference have deliberated the existence of transgender people, nor nonbinary, intersex, and other types of LGBTQ people with explicit instructions or commands.
Still, many state legislatures have taken upon itself, as well as its constituency to enforce policies and regulations upon many trans and other LGBTQ people on the grounds that their gender identities or sexuality is not only dangerous to themselves, but to the general public. It’s framed as if this is not what the child or family wants, nor the support of the education or community, but what legislators believe is best. Is child welfare, safety, and support actually the primary concern?

1. https://www.who.int/europe/health-topics/gender
   
2. https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf
   
3. https://www.who.int/europe/health-topics/gender
   
4. https://www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy
   
5. https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2020/07/conversion-therapy-can-amount-torture-and-should-be-banned-says-un-expert
   
6. https://bornperfect.org/facts/#q2
   
7. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/map-gender-affirming-care-targeted-us/story?id=97443087 8.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_U.S.\_jurisdictions\_banning\_conversion\_therapy
   
8. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-conversion-therapy/florida-bans-on-conversion-therapy-for-children-voided-by-u-s-appeals-court-idUSKBN28029C
   
9. https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/02/03/u-s-appeals-court-strikes-tampas-ban-on-conversion-therapy-as-unconstitutional
   
10. https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-based-federal-court-cant-ban-lgbtq-youth-conversion-therapy/L4QLKM4XO5AN5HZKGU74M3YA5U
    
11. https://www.history.com/news/gay-conversion-therapy-origins-19th-century
    
12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5040471
    
13. https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf
    
14. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-the-science-on-gender-affirming-care-for-transgender-kids-really-shows/?amp=true
    
15. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/political-minds/202201/the-evidence-trans-youth-gender-affirming-medical-care
    
16. https://www.nbc15.com/2023/03/14/wisconsin-bill-seeks-prevent-ban-conversion-therapy/?outputType=amp
    

First Chapter
Chapter Fifteen
“Thank you, Ms. President, and Mr. Secretary-General. It’s my privilege to come and speak to everyone present during such a momentous time in human history. One which, I hope, will lead to a brighter future for us all…”
US President Correa’s boilerplate beginning flowed out as she scanned the room. Behind her rostrum sat a larger dais tiled with green marble, behind which sat the UN President, Secretary-General, and Under-Secretary-General. Two huge screens flanked the dais, and those screens now showed Correa’s face as she continued.
“…and we are committed to our country’s pledge to finding a peaceful and just way for Coalition technology to be incorporated worldwide, and to not attempt any reverse-engineering of our own. Make no mistake; we do not do this out of any sense of altruism or fairness, as pleasant as that may sound. We will hold this pledge sacred for the simple reason that, if the United States were to attempt such efforts the rest of the world would, without a doubt, find out. That, of course, would lead to a great instability.”
‘Great instability’ was diplomatic-speak for ‘the rest of the world then gangs up on the USA and then everything goes to hell’.
“I know there has already been a great deal of debate in this august hall as to the best way to proceed forward, in a fair and impartial manner. We believe that we have found what one might call a ‘trial run’ which will allow us to work out such matters.”
The general murmuring from the many semi-circular rows of desks in front of her increased.
“To begin with, during the first weeks after first contact we wanted to make sure our guests from the Coalition would not starve to death. Much like humanity’s own ships during the Age of Sail, Coalition exploration vessels store enough provisions for years…but such provisions never last. They have very advanced recycling, but mostly for water and even that is only a stop-gap measure. It is unknown even at this time as to how long it will take to repair the Exultant Finger of Rithro, and we did not want to risk the crew running out of food.
“Therefore, we undertook an emergency effort to have their ship’s medic examine various Earth foods to determine their compatibility with our guests’ varied biochemistries. I am pleased to report that there are quite a few Earth foodstuffs which are indeed compatible, although there are some specific items which act as allergens amongst some of the Coalition species. During these efforts, we did learn a bit about how their alien biochemistries work…information which has been duly published and is now openly available. We also began to get glimpses of something wonderful, and asked the Coalition crew for more details. They supplied us with some general ideas of what their medical technology can accomplish; I must emphasize that we do not possess any knowledge of how they can perform such miracles.”
Now the murmuring got quite a bit higher, but not quite to the point where they’d have to call for order.
“Yes, I use the word ‘miracles’ advisedly. For example, take Captain Sadaf. You have all seen her, and how she moves like a person in the prime of their life. Now. What if I told you that she is a little over four hundred years old?”
The murmuring died down into a shocked silence.
“Her species, the auhn, is no more long-lived than we are…but they are able to regenerate and remove the effects of aging. I hope the esteemed ambassadors can see what I am driving at. I propose that we set up a research institute, international in scope, to be placed at a neutral location which is still to be determined. The purpose of that institute will be to study and adapt Coalition medical technology for use in humans.”
Now the murmuring started again; she hoped they were actually listening instead of hatching side-deals with each other.
“You all have families and friends. I’m sure you have at least one family member, one good friend, who died of some horrible and unnecessary affliction. Think of what this means to the world, to us. It is also an excellent way to determine the inevitable issues and frictions which will arise from such a concerted international effort, and that, in turn, will inform our efforts in mutual reverse-engineering of other Coalition technology.
“I know this is, in many ways, a frightening time. Change can be frightening. But I am convinced that you will all know the right way forward, and that you will all see the need for us to unite in this matter, even if others may not be so clear-cut. I thank you for the opportunity to speak.”
As she stepped away from the rostrum, the UN President cleared his throat.
“We will now begin the debate on Madame President Correa’s proposal. Paper copies, with specifics of the proposal, are now being distributed to you all. We’ll now begin the debate period…yes, the gentleman from Portugal…?”
__________
Correa’s Chief of Staff was a shorter, tubby man with an olive complexion by the name of Pablo Rosas. He and Correa sat in a White House conference room, staring at a big screen which now showed the results of the UN vote. “Well, I suppose that went about as well as we could expect,” said Rosas.
“Yep. I was surprised they even agreed with our asking them to kick in some money.”
Rosas chuckled. “Keep in mind that all of this new medical tech will be available for anyone patent-free. Should be air-tight legally, since nobody here on Earth invented it; we’re merely adapting it. I think that was the sweetener we needed to get it passed.”
The president gave a brief nod, then tapped a few keys on the controls in front of her. The screen now showed a world map. “Now we just have to figure out where to put the damn thing without everyone getting butt-mad about it.”
“Hmm.” Rosas laced his fingers over his substantial gut as he regarded the map. “Someplace not ‘the usual’, then.”
Correa growled in frustration. “I keep thinking Switzerland, but I know there’s gonna be a lot of shit flung about that it’s too European-centric. Taiwan would be great; they’ve got both a good tech base and excellent transport infrastructure.”
“But way too controversial, for obvious reasons,” replied Rosas. “Japan?”
“China will, again, kick up a fuss. Huh. New Zealand?”
“That might work. They tend to be more neutral…but then again some might say they’re in too close with Australia, and that this whole effort is too Western-centric.” His eyes flicked back to north on the map. He was about to move his gaze elsewhere, but then he paused. “What about Iceland?”
“Iceland?” Correa almost scoffed, then looked more thoughtfully at the map. “Okay, they’re a NATO member which is a minus. But they tend to remain mostly neutral, which is a plus. Decent transportation infrastructure…don’t we have a naval air base there?”
“I think so, let me check…” Rosas tapped at his phone. “Hey, Jack? What can you tell me about any US naval air bases in Iceland? Just the highlights.” After a couple of minutes, he responded with a curt, “Okay, that’s enough, thanks.”
He put his phone away. “We kinda-sorta have one, at a place called Keflavik. The base there used to be a lot bigger during the Cold War. Then we shut it down after the Soviets were no longer a going concern. Iceland uses it now, and they allow us to fly submarine-search aircraft out of there, but a few years ago they nixed the DOD’s request to rebuild it into a more permanent base.”
“That does work in their favor. It makes for better optics if they’re known for keeping NATO at arm’s length.”
Rosas sat up. “Think the UN will go for it?”
“We can only try. I’ll have our ambassador in Reykjavik make some discreet inquiries, let’s see if they’d be okay with our proposing them as a candidate.”
The Chief of Staff smiled. “If it goes through, this institute will be pumping well north of a billion dollars per year into their economy. That should make it more than ‘okay’.
__________
Agent Cécile Savoie sat in a secure-location breakroom, silently grumbling as she held an as-yet un-drunk mug of coffee in her hands. As the agent-in-charge of the security detail during the Camp David incident, she’d been put on administrative leave, right alongside every other agent who’d been there. But it wasn’t like she had much down time; the inquiry board into that incident now summoned her damn near every other day for yet another round of tedious questioning.
“Hey,” said Hanson as he strolled in, looking just as sour as she felt.
She looked up in surprise. “Hey yourself. I thought you were assigned to the alien detail.”
“I was,” he said as he seated himself across the circular table from her. “Guess being in Alabama when the shitshow went down wasn’t far enough away to be completely out of suspicion. I just finished running my own gauntlet. But the rumor is, I’m getting it easy compared to everyone who was at Camp David, including the special forces people. Especially you.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much a colonoscopy every day,” she muttered. “Going over the timeline, where I was at which times, who I had direct line of sight on, who I was in radio contact with.” She finally sipped her coffee.
Hanson’s sour expression deepened. “Do you really think it was one of us?”
She sighed. “It has to be. My gut tells me that there’s more than one mole and I told the inquiry board as much. The fuckers who got in knew too much about our patrol patterns, where everyone was, when they’d have a clear shot at an infil. That means someone with access to our methods and comms, and as to the latter we don’t use CB radios.”
The other agent leaned back. “Fuck. I wish I knew why any of us would do that. We’re supposed to be quiet professionals, not frothing radicals.”
Savoie turned the mug in her hands. “Not to tell tales out of school but, through the whisper network, they’ve been leaning hard on the captured dudes from the attack. Apparently one of their main ‘objections’,” and here she made some one-handed air quotes, “is that they think the whole Breaker thing is a ruse. It’s all smoke and mirrors, so that we’ll beg the Coalition to come and save us. And then…well, it gets vague after that but I guess they claim that at best we’ll get turned into the galactic equivalent of a Native American reservation. Worst case, we all get harvested for our precious bodily fluids.”
Hanson stared at her for a moment in disbelief. “That is, if you will forgive the uncouth term, utterly retarded. For chrissake, the Hubble got some beautiful shots of their ship once they’d spun that shield around to reveal it to us. I mean, I’m no spacecraft expert but even I could tell it had gotten the shit pounded out of it.”
She responded with a shrug. “Hey, Flat Earthers are still a thing.”
“Flat Earthers don’t stage FUCKING mortar attacks in our nation’s capital,” snapped Hanson. Then he subsided and spoke more softly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be so on edge. This whole thing just pisses me off.”
“Join the club,” said Savoie as she sipped more coffee. “I just don’t get it, though.”
Hanson made a gentle ‘continue’ wave of his hand.
She leaned forward. “Okay. Our comrades in the CIA managed to identify the four who made it into the compound. They were all mercenaries, each with at least ten or fifteen years of experience in kicking ass around some of the worst hot spots in the world. Syria, Burma, bunch of places in Africa. One of ‘em even turned out to be ex-Wagner group.”
“Okay?” It was a leading single-word question, but not an unkind one.
“So why was the rest of the attack made up of nothing but a bunch of goddamn shit-kickers? And that includes the aborted attempt in Decatur. I’ve seen the files of those we rounded up in the Camp David attack. They were all low-life idiots just banging around, maybe they might have once held a gun in their lives. Hell, from what I’ve heard, the shootings that triggered the alarm at Camp David were an accident; those intruders were supposed to sneak around that patrol, not kill them. They all had the same top-of-the-line kit, so we know whoever is behind this has deep pockets. Why not hire an entire bunch of competent people instead of doing it onesy-twoseys?”
“It is a puzzle.” Hanson got up and set a styrofoam cup of water into the nearby microwave. As the cup turned within its electromagnetic prison, he leaned against the nearby counter and pondered her question. “Maybe the team in the woods was intended just as a distraction?”
“That’s what I thought at first, but then I reconsidered. I mean, what if the four who went in failed? You’d still need a proper backup plan. Same thing with the Decatur bunch. By the way, did they ever catch them?”
Hanson let out a dark chuckle. “Decatur PD found a pile of vests and rifles, hastily wiped down. They were able to pull a few partial prints off of ‘em. My guess is they’ve fled to the proverbial four winds, hoping to lay low for the rest of their lives. We’ll nab ‘em eventually.”
The microwave dinged and he retrieved his hot water, then pulled a tea bag out of his jacket pocket as he re-seated himself.
Savoie smiled. “I never figured you for a tea guy.”
He unwrapped the bag and with a bit of ceremony dunked it into his cup. “Well, I used to be a coffee guy, but my gut doesn’t agree with the acidity.”
“We do have tea here, you know.” She pointed to the storage bins behind him.
“Yeah, but it’s cheap-ass stuff. The brand I like is expensive, but worth it…” Hanson’s eyes widened as he trailed off.
She raised an eyebrow. “Hanson? Do you smell burnt toast?”
“They couldn’t afford it,” he said in a near-whisper.
Savoie was about to tell him to stop being overly dramatic, then she realized he might be on to something and that she didn’t dare distract him. “Keep talking.”
He leaned forward, his forearms on the table. “Okay. Imagine you’re a hard-bitten mercenary. You’ve been in the literal shit, in every nasty conflict anyone cares to name. Somehow, someone finds you and comes to you. They say ‘hey, these aliens are bad news, do you want to kill them?’ Even if you, as the hypothetical mercenary, are down with the cause…”
“From what the intruders were yelling, they were,” said Savoie.
“Yeah but even then, our mystery financier is asking you to infil and exfil out of one of the most heavily guarded pieces of real estate on the planet. Oh, and kill a bunch of special-forces-maybe and aliens-definitely in between. What do you do then?”
She replied with a grim smile. “If I’m that mercenary, then I ask for a metric fuck-ton of money. And there were four of them, they would have all done the same. Hell, they must have been doing collective bargaining.”
Hanson dunked his tea bag as he thought it through. “Okay, so our mystery mastermind has a lot of money, but not billions on hand to hire a literal army of hard cases. Huh. So those other dipshits might indeed have been a distraction.”
“Maybe. They must have also spent quite a bit on the mortar attack. That wasn’t made by some hobbyist in their bedroom, they knew what they were doing. Given that nobody saw them set up the launcher or leave, they were more pro.” Savoie hoped that the FBI’s efforts to track the various mortar components turned up something soon. Thus far, those efforts were bogged down; as it turned out, quite a few companies had ordered the identified components, and tracking the subsequent second-hand purchases was time-consuming.
“And those mortar-making pros would be more expensive.” Hanson sipped a bit of tea. “Did they ever get anything off of the launcher itself?”
“Sadly, no. Turns out the whole damned thing was homemade, constructed out of tubing and other off-the-shelf components. It was also wiped down thoroughly, no prints. Like I said, pros.”
“But limited in resources,” said Hanson. “Which explains one of the things that’s bugged me. Namely, that our OPFOR didn’t use some proper artillery. If they have a couple of moles in the Secret Service, then it should be easy to recruit and pay some military dudes to slip ‘em some gear and alter the logs. They could stow a howitzer inside a semi-tractor-trailer. You could park that thing anywhere up to 25 miles away. Use a single 155mm Excalibur GPS-guided munition, boom. That would have pretty much obliterated the stage and everyone on it. Then you just re-stow the howitzer and toodle off all innocent-like, right when everyone is freaking the hell out.”
“So they couldn’t afford that type of arty strike,” she said. “Or they simply didn’t have the contacts to pull that off. Hmm. I wonder if our moles are getting paid at all?”
Hanson resumed his thousand-yard stare. “The mortar attack must have been planned first. The other two attacks feel much more like rush jobs.”
“Eh? Oh, I get it. Sadaf’s speech was known well in advance. It was going to be one of her first big public appearances since the initial presidential speech. They were broadcasting it online to the world. Having her get turned into chunky red salsa, in real time, would be one helluva statement. So that’s what they focused on.” She drank a bit more coffee, and now it was time for her eyes to widen. “Our mole or moles didn’t arrive at Camp David until after Sadaf’s speech was announced.”
“That…oh, yeah, that makes sense. Originally the mortar attack is the OPFORs’ only focus, but yet somehow they’ve suborned one or two Secret Service agents and they have ‘em in their back pocket. Then one, or better yet both, of the moles gets assigned to the Camp David detail, and they realize that now that they have a golden opportunity to get at the other aliens as well. So they go off and hire four pros for the actual attack inside, plus a bunch of chucklefucks to act as a distraction, because that’s all they can afford since the four pros are asking for some serious money.”
Savoie leaned forward. “When did Chao and Grakosh leave Camp David?”
“It was, ah, three? No, four days after we got everyone settled, both the aliens and the special forces types.”
“Okay, so then the OPFOR gets word, courtesy of our moles, that one of the aliens is now heading to Alabama. But now they’re stretched so thin that they can’t afford anything other than to hire another bunch of dipshits to make a run at them and hope for the best.”
“And then the second bunch lets the FNG drive.”
They both laughed, but that humor settled down as they both thought through the chain of inference.
“It is pretty thin,” said Savoie at last. “There’s a lot of assumptions in there.”
“Yeah. But I do like the idea of our moles getting assigned at the last minute.”
She rubbed her forehead. “We had a bunch of new people come in when they decided to stow the Rithro crew there. Seven, no eight in all.”
“It’s a place to start,” said Hanson. He finished his tea. “C’mon, let’s see if we can get a meeting with the inquiry board.”
__________
A little while later and not very far away, three people sat in a well-lit but otherwise deadly dull room. At least the chairs were somewhat comfortable. Matt and Martinez sat at two chairs against one wall, while across from them McCoy sat sprawled sideways on another with a foul look on her face. She glowered at the far beige-painted wall. “This completely sucks. Why can’t we have our phones? I could at least play some mahjong.”
“This is a secure location, Corporal,” replied Matt. “Ixnay on the onephays.”
Martinez’s leg jittered. “How long are we gonna sit here? They said they’d call us in, like, an hour ago!”
“Dunno, it’s some kind of last-minute interview thing,” replied Matt with Zen-like calm.
The corporal looked over at Matt. “I don’t get you, man.”
Matt grinned. “Nobody gets me. I’m like the wind, baby!”
“That’s not…I mean, I watched you open up a dude like he was a bag of fuckin’ Doritos using nothing but a fuckin’ knife. Now you’re being all Caine from ‘Kung Fu’.”
“It’s good to know that the classics are still appreciated,” said Matt.
Martinez pointed at him. “If you start calling me ‘Grasshopper’ I will shoot you.”
McCoy turned her glare to the ceiling. “Maybe it’s a psychological test. They want to see if we crack under pressure and start yakking secrets.”
“I mean, I’m sure they’re recording us right now,” replied Matt. “But it’s merely as a precaution. I am also five-nines certain that none of us are suspects. We weren’t integrated into the compound’s overall security, and thus it would be unlikely that we could have let our four attackers in.”
“Not to mention, we were the ones to kill ‘em,” added Martinez. “Well, except for the one that Takh took care of.”
“Yep. This is…I won’t call it a formality, but the board just wants to know where you were and what you saw. Walk them through your personal timelines, understand? Tell them only what you know. If you don’t know something, then say so.”
McCoy turned herself around so that she now sprawled the other way. “This whole bullshit just bugs me. Takh and the others are off with a bunch of strangers and I…I mean, we aren't there to help protect them.”
Matt and Martinez shared a meaningful glance. “From what I heard, Takh is quite capable of taking care of himself,” said the latter with a grin. “You told me he pitched that one dude across the room like he was throwing a softball.”
For once, the petite corporal looked a bit flustered. “Yeah, but, I mean, what if some other potential bad guy gets the drop on him with a gun? I don’t like not being there. I just wanna know that he’s okay. I should be there, just to make sure.”
The smaller man snapped his fingers in the face of the taller, who sighed and took out his wallet. With great ceremony, Matt pulled out a five-dollar bill and placed it upon the now-upraised palm of Martinez.
“Told ya,” said Martinez with a grin.
She sat up and glared at them both. “That doesn’t mean anything! Takh is a good guy!”
“Nobody said he wasn’t,” replied Matt as he stowed his wallet. “He is indeed a good guy.”
“Yeah, seriously, we’re glad you two hooked up,” added Martinez. “Takh’s solid. Hell, I’d let him date my sister.”
“I. Am. Not. Hooked Up. With ANYONE.” McCoy now looked furious enough to chew nails.
Martinez stroked his chin. “Kissing might be a problem, though.”
Matt performed a similar chin-stroking action. “Hmm, indeed, Corporal, I do believe it might be a serious issue. One has all of those mandibles to contend with.” He hooked his fingers next to his mouth in an approximation of an udhyr’s face. “Still, I think that, with enough will and effort, one could figure it out. Like the man said, life finds a way.”
“But how much tongue is he packing?” posed Martinez. “You know what the man also says. Big dude, big tongue. Could make things more interesting, all around.”
The woman did not look amused. “Martinez, Toke? You are now both officially gigantic flatulating assholes.”
“C’mon, McCoy!” protested Martinez. “Think of it this way. A few years from now, let’s say we filthy humans are now part of the Coalition and I’m at some meet ‘n greet, and I just so happen to spy me an oh-so-very-fiiine udhyr mamacita from across the room. Now, I wanna do my bit for my species and approach her, and get some good old inter-species cultural interaction going on. But there’s all sorts of questions. How do I compliment her without insulting her culture? How am I supposed to get in good with her? How do the mechanics work? How do the various bits line up? We need details! You’re at the tip of the spear, we all need good intel!”
McCoy slumped back into her seat. “Over seven hundred billion Dimmadollars of defense spending, and yet somehow I wind up stuck in a room with you two fuckos…oh, by the way, Toke,” she added, pointing a finger at Matt, “why the hell can you and Sarge never go back to Okinawa?”
“Nice distraction, McCoy,” said Martinez. “My guess is some sort of wet-work shit.”
Matt just smiled. “Oh for fuck’s sake, I don’t kill everyone I meet. I was a Second LT at the time, managed to somehow leapfrog my way into officer ranks all the way from enlisted. Anyways, the Okinawa affair was merely a case of, well, one particular case of rye whiskey. The good sergeant…was he a sergeant then? Oh yeah, we had done some other stuff I can’t tell you about in someplace I can’t tell you where, and we were celebrating Shaw getting his third stripe. We’d got ahold of the previously-mentioned case of whiskey and then we began toasting to each other’s good health. We did a lot of toasting. Quite a lot of toasting. As you can imagine, the toasting went on and on until we, um, well we did some unwise things. It started out with us sparring-for-fun with each other in public and escalated from there. No locals were harmed, and nothing we did was hella illegal, or I would’ve never made Captain. Buuut the local government would definitely throw a shitfit if me or, God forbid, both of us set foot back on the island.” He chuckled. “Hell, the Okinawan customs people probably still have both of our pictures taped up inside their booths with a big old sign saying ‘DO NOT ADMIT THIS PERSON, YOU FOOL’ written above them.”
“What did you do?” asked Martinez. His eyes were big and soulful, like a kid asking for yet one more story before bedtime.
Matt shrugged. “I mean, I don’t remember much for obvious reasons. I’m almost sure we didn’t piss on any monuments, that would have definitely been cause for a serious demotion. We did do a number on some shrubbery, that I do remember. We decided it needed to be trimmed back, and so we did so. Using our bare hands. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
A fearsome light came into McCoy’s eyes. “Martinez, do you know what this means?”
He looked at her all uncertain. “Um, Toke and Sarge have cast-iron livers?”
“No, you fool. Blackmail material.”
Matt pointed back at her. “Hey, now, I told you that in confidence. Besides, Shaw has a lot more to contend with right now.”
The reminder of the sergeant’s current crippled state brought the elevated atmosphere of the room back down. McCoy nodded as her smile faded. “Right. Hey, did you see the Prez’s speech at the UN?”
“Yep,” said Matt. “From what I’ve read, the political wrangling after it seems pretty tame compared to the usual.”
Martinez snorted. “No shit. Did either of you see the laundry list of shit that we might be able to do? Anti-aging, limb regrowth, cancer treatments which work well and which don’t half-kill the patient…hell, maybe even Alzheimer’s could be in our rear-view mirror. The grand high muckity-mucks are falling all over themselves to get that out into the world, for themselves if nobody else.”
“You’re way too cynical, Martinez,” said Matt.
“Oh fuck off. What if…okay, I know this sounds like a cheesy sci-fi concept, but what if they hoard all of the good shit for themselves and we peons get just the crumbs?”
Matt lapsed back into his meditative demeanor. “In that case, my dear corporal, you or I or McCoy or someone like us will show those hypothetical elites that, while they are indeed long-lived, they are not in fact immortal.”
The trio fell into silence for a few minutes. Then Martinez leaned over towards Matt. “Ah, a little birdie told me you were involved in questioning the prisoners we nabbed at Camp David.”
“I merely facilitated certain conversations,” replied Matt.
Martinez sighed. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies…Corporal.”
McCoy let out a growl. “Well, I heard these terrorist assholes are saying that the Breakers aren’t real, that it’s all fake videos from the Coalition.”
“Just to play devil’s advocate,” said Matt, “our AI image and video generation is already getting to the point where, soon, we puny humans could manufacture such evidence.”
“What?” Martinez looked as if he was about to launch himself at Matt.
Matt held up a calming hand. “I’m not saying it is fake. The Hubble pics are damned convincing.”
Martinez hiked up one foot to place it on his seat, then rested his chin on his knee. “Fuck. I guess it didn’t convince everyone.” He mused for a few moments. “Wait. What if we made it even more convincing?”
“How?” asked Matt.
“We send some humans up to the Rithro. Two or three at least. The boats can still make it up to the ship, right?”
For once Matt looked uncertain. “I think so? Dunno how many times they can come and go without recharging, we’ll have to ask ‘em.”
“Right, so we set up an even better publicity stunt than the Hubble pics. Choose a few people, from all over the world. We have ‘em travel up to the Rithro, take pics and video up close showing the damage. Even take ‘em inside the ship and get a full tour, maybe…if the crew is okay with that, of course.”
“Huh.” Matt sat back and pondered the idea. “That’s a really good idea, Martinez. I guess you aren’t as dumb as you look.”
The corporal responded with a slight smile at the verbal jab. “We’d need to choose the right people, though.”
“They’d have to be trustworthy…or at least someone that the entire world will consider trustworthy,” said Matt.
“Well known,” added McCoy. She no longer looked vengeful. “With recognizable faces and voices, and then they can go on all the talk shows after and say that, yes indeed, I got a tour of the ship and it is indeed quite banged up.”
Martinez stared at the far wall. “Some kind of celebrity? Heh. You think Tom Cruise would be up for it?”
Matt laughed. “That beautiful maniac? Hell, he’d insist on shooting an entire movie up there, with at least one action scene where he’s hanging off of the outside of the ship.”
They all smiled at the resulting mental image.
“Chao could work,” said McCoy into the silence. “She’s kind of a celebrity now. After all, she was the first human to come into contact with aliens, eh?” She gave Matt a big and very un-subtle wink.
To skirt the rather…unconventional methods used to achieve a positive First Contact, Matt’s role had been very much demoted in the official story. Now every recounting of the tale included a bit of ‘…oh, and there was also another person who stumbled across our brave woman in the midst of her attempts at informational exchange with the aliens…” His exact identity was also not published, under the screen of ‘he wishes to remain anonymous’.
“Oh bite me, McCoy, it’s fun,” replied Matt. He waggled his eyebrows. “Besides, I work better in the shadows!” He threw his forearm across his face like a half-assed Count Dracula trying to hide behind his cape.
Then he dropped his arm. “Yeah, Chao would be good as a current social-media darling. Of course, she might not want that. She strikes me as more of the wallflower type, for the most part.”
“We need more people,” said Martinez, as he stared at the floor. “Chao might be good on her own, but she’s got that motor-mouth talking thing when you get her going. It’s one or the other. Either she’s trying to shrink into a corner and take up as little space as possible, or suddenly you’re getting pulled into another corner for a doctoral dissertation on how minimal-energy transfer-orbits work.”
Matt pondered for a moment. “Wait, when did she do that? I never sat through one of those lectures.”
Martinez looked away and…well, Matt hoped that their supposed overlords were indeed recording this particular moment in time because the hard-bitten Hispanic special-forces corporal actually blushed.
McCoy, of course, realized a golden opportunity for payback and immediately pounced. “Why, Corporal Martinez,” she purred. “Doooo tell us. When did Chao Me Chu, heh, pull you into a corner? Hmmm?”
“She’s…she’s just real nice, that’s all,” replied Martinez. “I asked her a couple of questions, and she answered them. That’s all. We both love classic sci-fi, like Asimov and shit. I guess we bonded over that.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Aaaaand may I remind you two and everyone listening in that we have all been cooped up nuts-to-butts for awhile? Don’t mistake familiarity for romantic bullshit.” He pointed over at Martinez. “But you. If you can follow at least half of what she talks about, then you are absolutely without-a-single-fucking-doubt wasted as a corporal, even if you’re in a low-drag high-speed outfit like this. You hear me?”
“Um, yes sir.” It was the first time in McCoy’s memory that anyone had addressed Matt as befitting his perhaps-former rank.
“Good. You get your ass into college, somehow. You’re a smart guy, you’ll figure all that shit out. And as for Chao? Just give it room to breathe. Let her know you’re interested, but don’t press the matter.”
“Let her know?” For once Martinez looked completely lost. “How do I…” he trailed off. “I mean, I like her…and yeah, I mean I like her in that way, but she’s so damn smart and pretty and I’m just some dipshit meathead.”
“Hey, don’t sell yourself short,” said Matt. “You’re our dipshit meathead.”
McCoy’s vengeful smile faded. “Martinez…no, Luca.”
Martinez looked up in surprise at her use of his first name.
She continued. “Just talk to her. Neither of you have any clue as to what ‘normal’ social interactions look like. In your case, it’s because you’ve been a soldier for all of your adult life. In her case, it’s because she’s, well, because she’s Chao. So just walk up to her and be straightforward. Trust me, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air for her to not have to navigate social cues. Just say something like ‘Hey, I really like you, do you like me and do you want to go get a coffee sometime’? Start with that. Chao’s good people, the worst thing she’ll do is say no. She won’t yell at you or talk shit about you online. Buuuut, some sixth sense is telling me she won’t say no to getting some coffee with ya.”
Matt smiled. “McCoy, I think you might have a calling after you leave the military.”
She snorted. “Oh yeah, I’ll hang up my match-making shingle on the internet and start raking in the big bucks. Martinez is right, though. If we try to do a publicity stunt up at the Rithro, then we’ll need somebody alongside Chao to win the world over. Somebody well-known, but preferably someone not in the traditional Western pop-culture sphere. That’ll make it more palatable…”
Her voice trailed off and she stared into space. The two men now looked at each other in genuine concern until she spoke again a few moments later.
“Guys? I think I just had the best idea ever.”