• reinvest all cash and net profit • pay a dividend • do nothing
following the largest companies in the world, one of the common actions oiu is to reinvest all the net profit inside the company (R&D + personnel) and outside with important acquisitions. This move is brilliant because by the time you make $100 million in profit, a nice % would end up lost to paying taxes. They are lost cash, not recoverable. Instead, if netlist stimulated growth with an acquisition of a company with already launched products or services, even if it takes 3/4 years to recover the costs, in the end you will have diversification and greater value. Hiring engineers is also expensive, netlist could easily have 300 employees with a $100 million annual budget.
• pay a dividend
it is clearly the dream of someone who has a huge amount of shares. If they paid you 3/4% annually, you shareholder would be really happy to keep netlists. It is clear that it also attracts funds and banks that like to make easy money. Here we talk about a case where netlist has 3/4/500 million in profits from IP licenses and can give away 50/100 million $ to shareholders because it has no intention of making big changes. Does this make sense? I would say it depends on hong but honestly I would prefer an extraordinary dividend or buyback in case of large damages and the rest to be reinvested in serious projects. Remember, there is no guarantee of earning from the reinvestment of money, many projects fail but if a CEO has clear ideas and products or services on the springboard, this makes sense.
• do nothing. Sounds silly but it's not. Netlist was born in 2000, 23 years of experience with widely used products and patents. Netlist may decide not to do anything because by the time they pay you the IP licenses for 5 years, you have guaranteed a net profit. It doesn't make sense from my point of view because it's like accepting the fact of being the same company as in the past, I consider it essential to grow and enhance everything you have in hand. What does it mean? For me, it's the acquisitions that really matter. there are many small or medium-sized companies that have businesses already sighted. if you buy one of these companies, netlist would have the cash available to increase the budget and diversify revenue. your opinion ??

Just looking for opinions and ideas on different styles of parenting. I've always been of the opinion that you shouldn't interfere too much when it comes to kids playing (unless something dangerous or harmful is going on).
My almost four year old is generally bubbly and confident. She hasn't ever been tearful starting nursery or being left with family when she occasionally is. So shes not painfully shy or clingy in anyway really. One to one or in small groups she gets along pretty well with other kids. I'd say she was a very early talker and quite articulate from a small toddler so it was a little bit of an onstacle for her when she'd be trying to chat with other kids and they'd not be ready to speak at the same yet. At that age it didn't matter so much as they were playing alongside each other rather than actually interacting much. Now the kids her age are all pretty caught up in terms of speaking ofcourse as they all do at their own pace anyway.
However in large group environments shes not the most forward. She will be fine if another kid makes the move to her (which tends to be older kids) buy hangs back if other kids are already playing. I didn't think she minded but she just told me "when I was at #^£&% party no one was playing with me were they" (this is months later).
I'm always a little worried that I'm not doing enough to help her with making friends. Do you do more, step in and introduce to help start. She had a group of friends in her nursery class from what I'm told by the teachers. But In things where there is a short level of contact like her weekly ballet class she doesnt have any one to talk to. Once a kid approaches her she is beyond delighted but I'd love to help encourage her to be that kid that approaches others so she creates those opportunities for herself...
... maybe standing back passively has been a bad step on my part?

Trigger warning: I will discuss video/mobile games so if you feel or think that that can trigger your addiction and cravings, do not read any further.
Summary or TLDR: Mostly, I will discuss how some games actually waste your time and mental energy on other things then game itself or force you to spend more time than you want, which in itself takes you from enjoying a short session of gaming to slugging through a list of chores. A chore which is subtle and hard to notices. Mostly because of use of many different resources/currencies and many different daily tasks to get those resources/currencies in a specific time frame. So if you want to spend some quality time with your games, try to avoid games where you do everything else but the game or where you are forced to play even when you don't want to.
Background: I am from the "moderation" camp, since gaming isn't my biggest vice and I prefer to try to have control over my problematic behavior. Which means that I put emphasis on what I play and when I play it, more than just how much I play because that is very context dependent; simply quality over quantity and not to the point where my and my families lives are negatively effected. Which kinda leads me to want to check what it is that I actually play...
I mostly play Duolingo, Daily Puzzle, Sudoku/Kenken and chess puzzles. Recently added Scullgirls because I loved fighting games but now I mostly play occasionally with friends on our gaming nights. So I thought: what's the harm to try it again on my phone and I can hardly remember why I removed it couple of years ago (oh, do I remember it now). Do feel like I play it slightly more than others but can hardly say it is by a lot... so why not track it by screen time.
Which gave me an average for a whole week of: Sudoku/Kenken/Chess 30 min, Duolingo 1h 40 min, Daily Puzzle 2h 30min and Scullgirls 4h 30 min (and then my comics and novel reader is ~11h so...). That's almost same for one game as every other one combined and yet, I can't say I feel more satisfied by it. Or even that I played that much, I can much easily remember which puzzles I did over the week or which words I trained. So I analyzed what I mostly did in those games and since one can immediately notice difference in amount of currencies, I took a note of them too.
Sudoku, kenken, chess puzzles: Most have either a subscribe to premium or buy new puzzles with money. Some are free. Almost all have some kind of after game short ads. Most chess puzzles can be done in 2 - 5 min, kenken and sudoku in 5 - 20 min depending on difficulty and you can always paus and come back. So you at most you need to "manage" your daily allowed free puzzles and spend all your time on puzzles themselves.
Daily Puzzle: You can go ad free with premium (which also unlocks previous puzzles but I guess you have to pay for them with coins), you have coins to pay for using puzzles and you have streak where 5+ days streak will give you free access to todays puzzles. Which are 7 new every day. Everyone of them can be done in 5 - 30 min depending on difficulty. And you can use coins to get hints, which in my opinion both ruins the fun of a puzzle as well as the point of geting coins from finishing a puzzle. Same here, you do need to manage coins and streak but you get them by playing puzzles without any other musts beside daily doing at least one puzzle.
Duolingo: Now here we can see more and more gamification by resource management, but at least I can forgive it since it is "free" and more of edutainment. We have streak for your flair and some awards (double xp + crystals and 3 days of super) every 50/100? days, we have lives which is amount of misstakes you can make and then we have crystals to refill hearts, buy "boosters" and open up legendary lessons. (Also you have premium version with super which have some more functionality but since I have no plans of paying, I don't even try it when it's free.) And to get more crystals you have to either watch <30 s ads or do daily quests, which are still in line with your goals with the game but can be cumbersome because getting Y xp or spending 10 -15 min in app is reasonable but playing game of chance in finding some character X times or getting speaking or listening exercise can be a trial for your patiens. Each session is short, 1 - 5 min, but can be longer if you try to finish daily quests or get enough xp to higher on the leaderboard. Add to that xp booster which you get by doing exercise before and after specific time and you now have a schedule for the whole day. Which is okay but only because it is gamified language learning and learning a bit every day, every week is a good(-ish since it would be better to spend some of that time with actual book) habit.
Scullgirls: Welcome to resource management galore! Oh, and some fighting I guess. You have coins, crystals, energy/stamina for every fighter but also for different game modes, two different tickets to play specific modes per day, parts of different chest which will give you one whole when enough is collected... oh, and don't forget your characters which can be merged, upgrades etc. I love how obvious it can be when you can't by coins by money but you can buy crystals, which in turn are used to buy coins. Well, you do get coins in most other packs you can buy and I see that they do have subscription to daily coins so the usual obfuscation of what you pay for almost does a full lap and comes back clear and visible! And now you need to spend time in different modes both to fill up daily missions as well as trying to get the weekly rewards in them. Every single fight is max 3 min but since you will have to finish multiple fights to finish some modes or to collect enough points, it is easy to play maybe 5 - 10 fights a day just to get this done and without really feeling like you want to play. And would you look at that, 5 fights/day*3min/fight*7days/week = 115 min or 1h 55min while 10 fights is 3h 50min. Where probably only 1 fight would feel as something you actually want to do. Add to that all the time you spend arranging characters, going through menus, checking you score in different modes and what rewards you want... and I have my 4h 30min. But only ~30min of those I actually enjoy it.
But they all are similarly free and nobody is forcing me to play after all, so what's the harm, right?

Not sure if this is the right place to post.
I bought my son a Diablo IV ultimate edition only to find out that he only needed it for ingame items for another game warcraft?!!?!
He does not inted to play the game, is there a website where i can sell the key? I am stuck with the diablo 4 key, i think it can be used on PC? Anyone able to shed some light here.
Thanks in advance, i just want to get some of the cash back if possible.

Hello! I just opened my Ko-Fi page where you can leave a tip or buy pictures from my shop! It would mean a lot to me if you supported my work so I can make even more for you! I recently set my first goal for a new tripod so I can film better quality content and share it:) Thank you for reading!
https://ko-fi.com/sansiia

Hello,
Not sure if this is the right place to post.
I bought my son a Diablo IV ultimate edition only to find out that he only needed it for ingame items for another game warcraft?!!?!
He does not inted to play the game, is there a website where i can sell the key? I am stuck with the diablo 4 key, i think it can be used on PC? Anyone able to shed some light here.
Thanks in advance, i just want to get some of the cash back if possible.

I've been in a relationship with my boyfriend for 2 years, and there are a couple of concerns that have been bothering me.
Firstly, he spends a significant amount of time playing video games. After work during the weekdays, he would just play games till going to bed. I feel like it has become excessive and unbalanced. I think there are more important things in life like developing meaningful hobbies or professional skills or buying houses. ( I do think playing games is meaningless and just a waste of time. he plays it every single day for 3-5 hours)
Secondly, he lacks initiative when it comes to planning activities for us. Most of the time, it's either me or our friends who need to invite him to do something together.
Thirdly, he usually play games late and wake up around 10-11am on weekends. We can’t do anything together on weekend mornings because of his laziness.
I've brought up my concerns and discussed these issues with him, hoping for some positive changes. It worked for a while and then he became lazy and not making any effort to address these matters again.
I am the one constantly taking the lead and trying to keep things interesting. I crave a more balanced and active involvement from both sides, where we can plan and enjoy life together. I genuinely care about my boyfriend, but I'm unsure if this is a fundamental difference in our expectations and if he is capable of being a good husband.
Any good advice?

Looking to buy discord usernames specifically those with rare tags like @ tommy @ euphoria etc after this new discord update. If anyone knows where I can buy these or where people are selling let me know!

So I'm playing barb and really enjoying it so far - level 66. Story is good, world is good, side quests are great! I actually love the level scaling as it puts more time and thought into items not just power leveling and smashing through the game. I don't mind the gaps in mobs when roaming the world but maybe an increase in some dungeons would be nice, not by adding more small mobs but making larger mobs more spread out an area, so you pull them into each other. in the open world its fine as it makes me look at the world instead of the monsters.
Nightmare dungeons
Gets very boring after awhile but the challenge keeps you going back? Or is it just because its the only real option of its kind. Needs some work.
I think if you beat a tier of a dungeon you should be able to have that unlocked and the affixes available to choose from. Get a key of sorts. So the point of beating higher dungeon tiers remains the same (rewards etc) but you also have a dungeon you like with good affixes to "farm" - higher item drops, gold find etc that you can go back to. You will out scale it but its nice to farm if looking for items to increase your power. Maybe cap this at a certain tier, can cause problems at endgame leaderboards etc.
Maybe add a rouge like option? or game mode? You go down the dungeon and pick buffs and debuffs. Or add elemental type damage to certain skills etc as you progress and go deeper. Keeps changing every run and makes them feel unique.
Have a menu or list to see which nightmare tiers you have completed. good to see rewards I've missed you get when beating a new tier.
Helltides
Fun! great concept but not rewarding enough, these should have increasing drop chances and increasing difficulty. Eg. going for a specific ring - current cost is 75 as you farm and as you collect more shards you can invest the shards into the chest to change the tier. So 75 is tier 1 with "x" drop rate (sometimes you get garbage from the box)you can choose to increase the tier by "buying" and moving to tier 2 and so on. costs 85 shards now and increased drop chance and more items. Have limited time with the helltides so I think this will be more rewarding for the player and more focused on speed and the time of the event running out. Very much a risk reward here. Get to tier 4 and the time runs out as you just don't have enough shards and can't open the box. :(
World Bosses
More frequency of them - Very fun though
Towns
Great! - leave them alone (don't get why people are complaining about traveling between vendors etc)
Horse
Bit clunky - need to improve pathing (does feel good when you get it right though and are flying through the world)
Remove cooldown if you dismount on purpose.
Able to level up horse as you ride around to get another boost? Often you need just one more boost.
Reduce the speed at which the horse slows down after a boost ends, make it more gradual.
Skills
Happy but I think they should add a few more skills - not a new "branch" but maybe some longer improvements on each or a few more branches off each skill. More variety in choices and different gameplay options. Probably come with time.
Paragon Board
Can't quite put my finger on it but feels like its missing something. I like the concept. Maybe they need to add some unique runes or something that changes up a skill or something. Not just percentage gains and reductions but I'm not sure here tbh.
Items
Good, enjoying so far. Drop rate is very good! When you start to complete your build it feels very rewarding after grinding for hours but need to add more legendary's and tweak some that are terrible. I think the seasons will fix this though and as the game goes on.
Add a gem pocket! for the love of god. Increase the sale price of gems also?
Scale back the gold cost increase on rerolling enchants, should still increase but not so quickly. I think should also increase gold dropping in the world from mobs so you don't have to keep picking up everything to sell. Just tweak the world tiers percentage gain? Seen as you need to improve your gear consistently as the world scales you need to role better gear more often.
Barb class
Increase barb weapon mastery to 20 from 10 but scale back each level and buff 20 a bit more than 10. I finished them very quickly and they are very cool to see improve as you play. Not sure on other classes yet.
Chest or storage box
Search function
A tab you can create that's the layout of your equipment slots for your character - I can put in there for upgrades I'm wanting to do but don't have the right affix maybe - or need more of those shards to put sockets etc currently just make my own in the box. Quite useful.
Wardrobe/Transmog
Allow us to transmog uniques?
Add more colours to choose from?
allow us to change colours of weapons?
Tree of whispers
Good concept but should allow choice of all available gear boxes instead of three but make the legendary type box still random. Eg - there is a ring I'm hunting for, I can keep going for rings. Doing the challenges for the tree doesn't feel rewarding enough but if this was available i would be consistently running them if I need a certain type of gear.
PVP event thing - I haven't done it and probably won't so don't have an opinion on it, yet.
Gameplay
Option to adjust scaling of zoom on minimap. Just a bit too close sometimes. This might help with people complaining about no overlay. I don't care for the overlay - happy how it is - keeps me looking at the world and not a map.
Interactive map - allow us to select and search what we looking for.
8/10 lots of potential

Heya, hopefully I haven’t been asking too many questions here.. I do sit down and think but I also don’t really know anyone else with knowledge on this stuff..
I’m 16, and for the past year I’ve been really excited about the idea of selling my art. Not too long ago I started making stickers for fun, and now I have the resources to open a possible sticker, print and bookmark shop. I really thought I had most of it down, but I guess you’re always still learning, especially at my age, don’t even think I have half of it down.
I have the materials, and ways to accept payment, a small brand package, etc. Everything is still in progress. Though, I haven’t really figured out where to sell. In the beginning, etsy seemed to be the obvious choice, but I’m now realising that people locally have a kind of bad view of Etsy.. along with the fact that I am a minor and though everything being under my parent’s name should be okay, it will be a hassle to set it up again when I am 18,,
So I thought, why not make my own store website, and it’s out of my budget, at least for now.. I don’t want to spend too much because I don’t even know if it’s going to go well :’) At that point I thought of making a landing page through carrd which I have a premium subscription for, and linking items from my etsy.. dunno if that’d work?
My other option is selling in person at local art fairs, which I’ll admit I’m not sure about. It’s really time consuming and I’m pretty tight on time anyway as a highschool student. It would be on weekends, since that’s when they all take place.
I might just try and save up in the meanwhile to get my own store but I’d love some advice ^{^}

Education is crucial to making money in the cryptocurrency world. You risk being an easy target for someone who wants to take advantage of you without that opportunity. Luckily, the cryptoverse has grown, and more and more free educational materials are appearing every day.
Thanks to books and videos, learning about cryptocurrencies has never been easier. Webinars are one such technique. Accordingly, today's webinar focuses on intelligent cryptocurrencies and is suitable for beginners.
What is a smart cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency expert Dirk de Bruin has created a free webinar called Smart Cryptocurrency. As an experienced professional, Dirk De Bruin has been working full-time in the cryptocurrency sector since 2015.
The 75-minute webinar serves as an introduction to cryptocurrency investing for beginners. Therefore, no technical or business knowledge is required. Furthermore, Dirk falsely claims that a trader with a $1,000 investment can make a profit of $271,244 just by timing his buys and sells. The focus is also on the "great bitcoin and cryptocurrency opportunities that are currently available." Of course, the free webinar cannot cover everything you need to know to be successful with cryptocurrencies.
It serves Durk as a selling point for his sky-high masterclass. It's safe to say that the main goal is not to teach you about cryptocurrencies, but to sell you other items. In order to access the webinar, you must also register with your email address. If you do this, you can expect to receive a lot of email promotions.
What will you learn during the Smart Cryptocurrency Masterclass?
Over the course of 75 minutes, Dirk will explain the basics of trading and his credentials as an authority on the cryptocurrency market. However, one cannot learn much in a short time and will be tempted to buy other products.
Although the webinar is also aimed at advanced investors, it is perfect for beginners.
Who is Dirk de Bruin?
He gained notoriety as a cryptanalyst after entering the cryptoverse in 2015.
He shares his information on his YouTube channel Intelligent Cryptocurrency – Dirk Crypto Diggy and on social media.
After that, he founded the company that provides free webinars, Discord channels, buy and sell signals, and many more things that we will discuss later.
Additionally, he participates in many crypto events around the world and occasionally donates bitcoin.
main topics covered
Dirk makes it clear that what he is saying is not intended to be financial advice. The goal of the free master class is to introduce you to the basics of investing in cryptocurrencies and to convince you to learn more and buy more of their products.
The following topics are covered within 75 minutes.
how bitcoin works
The king of all cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin is a prerequisite for any crypto beginner course. Dirk begins by describing the main characteristics of Bitcoin and why it is so valuable. He then describes how bitcoin issuance works, how bitcoin solves the double-spending problem, and why bitcoin is so special.
#btc #bitcoin #eth #business #money

Yes I Want To Join Intelligent Cryptocurrency Now!

English is not my native language so bear with me please.
I (30F) never had an ordinary m-d relationship with my mom (53F).while my brother and I was children she didnt prepare us food, we scared to wake her up so my dad (60M) came work to prepare food. After they divorce, everything got much worse. Every time where me and mom were together more than 48 hours resulted in us argue.
She decided to move to another city with her bf. My brother told me about this decision, my mother didn't even need to tell me this on person. my g-mother's requested, I spoke to my mother, along with my aunt and my mother's bff (who is a really mom to me).
My mother is a teacher so she has salary, her own house. her bf on the other hand has nothing. they opened a store together, then move the store few times in the city, open another one, close it then open another one in different city…. I honestly dont know how many stores they open, close and move. they bought a car for business, but only my mom paid. but she never uses, her bf used it. then they sold the car to open a cafe in another city. like i said the man has no income so everything made with my mother's money and salary. now she is and a lot of debt. I am afraid that in the end she is gonna lost her retirement bonus and her house. but she was always like that, preferring to do something for other people instead of doing something for her children. She doesn't have a problem buying a car and giving it to her bf, but she avoids buying a car now just because my brother can drives it. I told her about my concerns. I said "I dont want anything from u, I want u to live your life, travel, spend your money on yourselves but rn the life that u live is not yours, its your bf's life”. this is not the first time that find a man like this, her ex-husband similar to her new bf and the time that she married with the man was the hell for me and my brother. I told her that u he accepted that your second marriage was a mistake why do u make another one? its the same pattern.. Her answer to this was yes, it was a mistake, but I told u not to talk with him, I’ll solve it. I said how was it possible for me to not the talk with the man you put me in the same house with? then she said that she was protecting me and that I was making it difficult. I said no, u didn't, you should’ve protected me, but u didn't.
then she told "If you hadn't come and told me that your dad got married with great pleasure, I wouldn't have married either." this was the last straw for me and I yelled "f... u, f... my dad's second wife, f.. your motherhood". and started to cry, my aunt calmed me down. I was 13 when both of my parent got their second marriages. I told about my dad’s marriage normal way, not enjoy it because it was new information for me as well. She knew her second husband before and they broke up when I was 10 because of his actions.

Looking to go to a Saturday game at Allen Fieldhouse, Typically, when is the best time to buy tickets and from where? I know some games will cost more than others, i.e. Mizzou..

it a heated discussion with my friends. when is it justifiable or which options has the most value, to buy a whole display box or buy singles from cardmarket.
example for the upcoming EX4. i'm looking the ravenmon package to build the Ravemon deck, 4 copy of shadow seraphimon and 4 shinegreymon ruin mode. thats
thats in total 40 card and probably shine wil be the most expensive one, maybe shadowseraphimon second.
there's only two digimon players where i live, but there's alot more players in the capital in my country. for the past few set i've only needed a few cards so buying a whole display wasn't really necessary but now not sure. trading is hard since no one wants to pay for shipping :/

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Hello, spacers!
On this episode, the group takes a stab at historical reenactments, the author takes some… “subtle” comedic jabs at certain contemporary events, and we find out where they’ve been hoarding the post-apocalyptic Twinkies.™
As always, I hope you enjoy. :)
——
As the group exited the Air Force base and began heading towards their destination, Kate looked at the surroundings as they walked. The area looked relatively untouched by the chaos of the past few weeks. The only evidence of it was an enormous pillar of smoke in the distance.
As Jack noticed Kate and a few others in the group staring at it, he nodded in understanding.
“That’s downtown Saint Paul, or at least the remains of it. From what we’ve been able to gather, the nuke we couldn’t stop in time exploded almost directly above the Capitol building. We only managed to put out the last of the fires in what little remains of downtown earlier today.”
“…How many people-“
Anticipating the question, Jack cut her off.
“We don’t know. …We may never know. We can only speculate.”
Kate’s face fell.
“Yeah, I figured that’d be the answer…”
Kate remained morosely silent as they approached the fort. Jack turned to address the crowd.
“Welcome to historic Fort Snelling. …Well, historic to us humans, anyway. Having a fort two centuries old is probably chump change to all of you from a time perspective, eh?”
Kate’s brow furrowed in confusion as she looked up at the stone walls of the fort, its stone tower chock-full of early-1800’s firearm loopholes meant for muskets.
“Wait, what?! …When they said we were going to “Fort Snelling,” I figured it’d be an active military base. Why’re we using a historic site…?”
Jack chuckled.
“It wasn’t actually the military’s decision to do that. A couple days after the bombs fell, a group of survivors moved into the fort. When questioned, I believe the leader of the initial group was quoted as saying “EMPs can’t knock out a big damn wall.” She was right; the stone walls of the fort are a great deterrent to looters and other kinds of people looking for trouble, and it’s easily defensible. Given that we obviously had way bigger things to worry about at the time, we just let them be.
Then, as more and more people showed up to our Air Force base looking for help, we decided the fort would make a good site for a refugee camp. The original group didn’t object; they actually welcomed the security having others around brought, especially once we started the organized armed patrols a few days ago.”
Y’ggdrasog piped up from beside Kate, a bit of indignation in his tone.
<“That’s all well and good, but what about respecting its historic significance? …Preserving the past, and all that?”>
“Relax. The only truly historic things here are a few of the buildings. The vast majority of what was on display inside said buildings- antique-looking tin cups, butter churns, muskets, that sort of thing- were just modern-made replicas, to give visitors an idea of what the fort used to look like back when it was still in use.
…We’ve actually thrown the vast majority of that junk into those “assimilator” thingies you Collective types brought along with you. It was either that, or burn them to keep warm. …Way I figure it, we can always just make more fake “historic” tchotchkes when we’re not fighting for the survival of our species, eh?”
Y’ggdrasog crossed his arms, and while he was clearly still unhappy about it, relented.
<“…Alright, fair enough...”>
As the group finally passed through the fort’s front gate, Kate could see a veritable sea of tents in the center of the area. They had passed plenty of tents on the way there in parking lots, boulevards and so on, but not nearly to this level of density.
Kate marveled at the sight, leaning toward Y’ggdrasog to murmur.
“People must have fought to get placed in here until there was literally no room left, and the tents were packed in like sardines.”
Y’ggdrasog gave her a quizzical look.
<“…What’s a “sardine?””>
“It's just a- …nevermind, it’s not important…”
Migtryl began to speak as the rest of the group filed through the gate.
<“Here and a few spots outside the fort are where you’ll be working for the most part. We reserved several tents for you to use both in and outside the fort, customized with your biologies in mind. I’ll start by giving you all a tour of the premises, so you can familiarize yourself with the different areas you might be needed.
…Starting off, over there you’ll see the impromptu medical center we’ve constructed. If you have any prior medical experience in your work history, you will be placed there. Next, we’ll be moving to…”>
Migtryl began walking off, talking and occasionally pointing with a wing or leg as they went and the group trailed behind them. As Kate tried her best to keep pace with Y’ggdrasog’s long strides, she could see that the crowds of humans inside the fort were parting like a sea around them, just like they behaved at the runway. Many looked at them with fear in their eyes, others with disgusted sneers.
Kate’s shoulders slumped as she finally realized:
Almost no one trusts them yet.
She was so lost in thought over the implications of this that she bumped into Y’ggdrasog, who had abruptly stopped walking. She glanced up at him to see him staring toward a group of humans near the edge of the medical center. His glow was crimson, his eyes haunted. She followed his gaze to see-
Her eyes widened.
Oh no…
The man he was staring at lay on a cot under an improvised tarp-tent. They were being tended to by several medical personnel, both human and alien, that were changing the bandages covering their body, and little wonder; they were absolutely covered in burns.
Before Kate could think of what to do to help her friend, she saw J’Ffrane almost literally materialize between Y’ggdrasog and the bandaged burn victim. Their voice was warm and soothing as they spoke.
<“Feel this moment, accept it, then let it pass. Remember? …Don’t let yourself drown in it.”>
It was like Y’ggdrasog was awakened from a dream as he blinked a few times and glanced at J’Ffrane.
<“Y-yes, I- …I remember...”>
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out in a shaky exhale as he turned to Kate, opening his eyes once more to meet her concerned gaze.
<“Come on, let’s not fall too far behind.”>
“…Are you alright?”
Y’ggdrasog gave her a weak smile, though the crimson of his stressful glow remained.
<“Of course I’m not. …But that’s not going to stop me from helping your people.”>
He took one last glance at the burn victim before turning and setting off once more towards the tour group.
J’Ffrane gave an approving nod as he walked away, leaning towards Kate and whispering.
<“He’s come so far... Half a cycle ago, he likely would have been nearly catatonic for the rest of the day.”>
Despite the encouraging words, Kate’s shoulders fell as she started walking after Y’ggdrasog.
“I should have thought of this... There have to be thousands- no, tens of thousands, maybe even six figures worth of burn victims from the bombs, in these two cities alone!”
<“And we will be with him to hold out a limb to grasp when he needs it. Just as he and I will be there for you, and you two for I, should the need arise.”>
Kate looked up at J’Ffrane, surprised.
“How would we help you?”
J’Ffrane smiled down at her.
<“You already have. Every person who asks for my assistance helps me immensely just by doing so. It helps me remember that I have a place in the world, and that place is giving the help they so desperately need. …Now then, let’s catch back up to the crowd and find out how we can best do that here, hm?”>
And with that, J’Ffrane’s dissipated as they flew forward towards Y’ggdrasog and the rest of the group trailing along behind Migtryl.
“Hey, wait up!”
——
Despite the brief interruption, Kate hadn’t missed much by the time she caught back up, and she was soon learning more and more of the facilities and service centers the Collective had constructed around the fort.
While the local military stationed in the fort were (rather fittingly) occupying the fort’s centuries-old barracks, they were actually the main supplier of the vast majority of the tents around the compound.
“More tents are being constructed every day for use in the surrounding area,” said Jack. “We ran our own supply of military-grade tents dry a few days ago, but we’ve been able to scavenge more from places like camping supply stores, alongside manufacturing our own from tarps and the like. Not exactly comfortable to live in, but we have to take what we can get.”
Kate put her good hand up to ask a question, shivering a bit as she did so in the crisp, late-autumn air.
“How well do they retain heat in all this cold?”
“A very good question. Normally it would be quite the problem, doubly so given just how damned cold Minnesota can get in fall weather alone. Luckily, however, the Collective came up with a solution. …Migtryl?”
<“We used a few of the fabricators we have at our disposal to create solar-powered heating units. …It’s a bit inefficient given the cloud cover, but on even the cloudiest of days they’re able to achieve over 150% of the solar exposure needed to get a full, week-long charge in a matter of hours.”>
Jack chimed in with a smile.
“It certainly beats the bonfires we filled with whatever we could lay our hands on to burn before you all got here, that’s for sure!”
From there, they moved on to the camp’s utilities.
As the water purification plants of the area had been rendered mostly inoperable by the EMPs and cyberwarfare attacks, the Collective had repurposed a few industrial sump pumps to direct water from the Mississippi River into an assimilator system. The assimilator broke it down and removed all the pollutants in the river water until all that remained was potable water, and distributed to locals to drink-
<“…or at least, to those who don’t refuse to drink it, that is.”> Migtryl said.
An alien of a species Kate didn’t recognize (one that almost resembled a snake if not for their arms and upright stature, who was strapped to a mechanical walker to get around the terrain) piped up, beating her to the punch.
<“Why wouldn’t they drink it?”>
Migtryl paused, glancing at Jack and weighing their words carefully before speaking.
<“…A small, but nonetheless very vocal portion of the local population seem to be under the mistaken impression we’re putting chemicals, nanites and so on in the water to do things such as influence their actions, up to and including controlling their sexuality, for some reason. …Anyway, such people often choose to simply boil and drink water taken directly from the river itself, instead of taking the purified water rations we offer.”>
In contrast to the shocked and horrified reactions of the aliens around her, Kate merely sighed and rolled her eyes.
Yeah, that sounds about right…
Another alien, this time a kentzaré, timidly raised one of their manipulation tendrils.
<“...Have many people gotten sick from doing that?”>
<“Unfortunately, yes. Even boiling the water sometimes wasn’t enough to prevent many such individuals from developing symptoms of several waterborne-based diseases, and that’s not even going into the possible long-term effects of the various pollutants in the water.
We also have individuals here and there who even refuse the fallout-proof masks we offer. …Something about “not using them before, not using them now” and “not living in fear”…?”>
As Kate facepalmed hard enough to leave a handprint mark on her forehead for a minute or two, Migtryl shook his head in frustration.
<“…We must make an effort to always remember that the majority of these people are hurt, scared, and in all likelihood grieving the death of at least one loved one, friend, or what have you. Most do not trust us. We must simply be patient with them, help those willing to receive it, and not give those who are unwilling any further cause for suspicion or hostility. …Now, come along; we have much more to look at.”>
With that, they both turned and began walking towards a long but narrow stone building. As they reached it, Jack turned to the group.
“This is the commissary. It’s where we keep the supplies we distribute to the civilians. It may look small, but looks can be deceiving. …C’mon, let’s step inside. Just remember to dust yourself off first!”
Y’ggdrasog glanced at the door clearly made for human proportions and shook his head, sighing as he turned to Kate.
<“You two go on ahead. I have no desire to work out the kink in my back later from having to be hunched over inside.”>
Kate smiled in amusement as several other taller species of aliens nodded, muttered their agreement and so on.
“Well, sorry on behalf of humanity for us being so short. …Anyway, see you in a bit, Yiggy!”
He winced.
<“…Kate, please, not in front of others…”>
Kate’s smile only widened as she turned and followed J’Ffrane with the rest of the group as they entered the building.
As they descended a set of stairs, Kate was surprised to see that despite its outer appearances, the building went several stories underground. As she descended down the first flight of stairs, a feeling of unease began to eat away at her. Her hairs began to stand on end, goosebumps rising despite the heaters inside the building.
Jack continued his explanation as they continued descending.
“The ground where this building stands was where they initially quarried out a lot of the stone necessary for building the majority of the fort’s walls and buildings back in the 1800’s. When they finished, the line of thinking was “well, we’ve made a really big hole, may as well use it for something.” So they built this commissary to act as a mega-cellar of sorts; it could store enough food to last the initial inhabitants of the fort an entire year.”
As they descended to the final level, Kate looked out across a sizable collection of boxes of various shapes and sizes stacked upon pallets. As she gazed at them, an eerie feeling of familiarity and something being inexplicably, terribly wrong settled onto her, and she only barely heard Jack continuing to speak.
“Most of the supplies that don’t belong to anyone in particular are either stored here, or wherever we can stuff them in what little free space there is left in the other buildings of the fort. Groups go out every day to scavenge for more food, general supplies, raw materials to put into your “assimilators” to make things like our filtered masks-“
150 spare air filters-
<“-as the assimilators and fabricators can only do so much at one time, we scavenge as much food as possible due to most of their time being taken up purifying the polluted water-“>
75 spare half-year water filters-
“It’s important to keep track of everything else we store here, so a lot of the work is just tallying everything up. It’s tedious, but very important; we need to know what we have to give those with very specific dietary needs-“
500 cans of spinach, 300 cans of olives, 700 cans of baked beans-
“Members of our species still have occasional issues with allergies, diabetes, that sort of thing. I’m told we likely will continue to have those for at least a decade or so before you Collective folks can develop those “immunity implants” necessary to sort them out. …Assuming the average Joe is willing to work with them, when the most advanced tech they had before was-“
3 spare radios, 50 packs of AAA batteries-
Kate only just barely managed to drag herself back to the present as she felt J’Ffrane metallic hand gently tugging at her sleeve. She turned to see them wordlessly gazing at her, a concerned expression on their face. Only after their intervention did she notice she had begun to start breathing erratically as Migtryl kept talking.
<“…Beyond moving the supplies where they need to go, the job’s not very physical. For the most part, it’s just counting how much of any one item we have and writing down the results. We usually give the job to people who are injured or otherwise not at their best, but still want to contribute.”>
Migtryl glanced over at Kate, who unbeknownst to him was having a desperate internal struggle to try and keep herself calm.
<“You’d be a perfect fit here, heh!”>
Kate sunk into herself a bit at his words, and found herself wishing she could turn invisible as the group turned to stare at her. Her voice was barely audible as she felt obligated to murmur out a response.
“…I, uh- pant …d-don’t think that- pant …would be a good idea…”
Not again, not again… Just stay cool, don’t keep hyperventilating, just move on, just- stop it. Stop stop STOP oh god why can’t I just breathe normally?! Just k-keep cool, just- …OH DON’T YOU START CRYING YOU WORTHLESS BI-
She felt the touch of J’Ffrane’s metallic hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to herself.
<“Come on, Stardust; let’s take a walk.”>
Kate hesitantly nodded and let herself be walked away from the group by J’Ffrane’s gentle leading hand, wiping her tears away as she went. Migtryl glanced at Jack, who was staring after the pair, his expression worried.
<“…Was it something I said?”>