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madstars-festival · 2 years

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Creative Spotlight : Andra Propovici

An independent illustrator and creative from Romania, Andra has been working to assist companies and brands in delivering meaningful digital experiences.

With a keen interest in behavioral sciences and the human brain, plus more than 10 years of experience as a creative, Andra built the haatch app, a digital discipline tool to help people reach their ambitions through a super streamlined digital experience and positive reinforcement techniques.

Hear her story and learn about the relationship between creativity and psychology.

Andra, thanks for joining us today. Could you tell us a bit about yourself, your background and the position/role you are in?

Thanks so much for having me! I was born in a small city in Romania, and spent a large part of my childhood, especially during summers, at my grandparents’ house in a very rural part of Romania. I think it was there where my interest in drawing first started to flourish. I spent a lot of time on my own or with a limited group of friends since I was a pretty introverted kid, and thus I had more time on my hands to play and experiment creatively.

It was later during the first years of school, that my interest in drawing really grew due to one of my classmates and friend whose drawings I was obsessed with and I started copying her drawings as a practice. I think this got me a boost to keep on drawing on my own and I did.

During high school, I decided to study psychology and psychotherapy, so after graduating from college I went to pursue a degree in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy. I was deeply immersed in all things psychology and how the human mind works and how certain behaviours form. I think this part of my life had and still has a huge influence on me and my work today.

After 6 years of studying psychology and psychotherapy, I was randomly introduced to Adobe Photoshop by my partner who I met then. Shortly after, I discovered the illustrations of Jason Brooks for Hed Kendi, and that was when my career took another turn. I started learning digital illustration on my own and after publishing some of my works online, I received my first commissions.

After a few years of freelance, based on an increased volume of work requests and the fact that I was getting introduced to larger clients, I co-founded Inque Studio together with my partner. It started as a basic framework, but surely evolved into a small creative studio capable of solving a series of more complex issues and requirements, incorporating new areas of expertise like UX, product development, and games design. As a part of Inque, I play an active role in helping brands and companies create and express a strong visual approach to their communication efforts.

Currently, I'm juggling between Inque and my personal illustration projects where I collaborate with brands on creating a different series of visual solutions, basically a playground where I can push the limits even more by creating an unrestrained artistic expression of concepts, beliefs, methodologies, and strategic objectives.

Another area of my daily work focus goes to our app Haatch, where I am responsible for the artistic direction, user experience development, copywriting, and project management, but I don't shy away from taking responsibilities over the strategic side as well.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I am living in the south of Spain, on the Costa del Sol, and honestly, no matter the volume of work I have on a particular day, it just feels like every day I’m on holiday and that keeps me away from stressing too much on full busy days.

I start my day usually around 7 AM, when I am going for my morning walk with my dog, either on the hills near the house or sometimes for a short walk on the beach. I have my breakfast afterward and at 9 AM, after already having my first cup of coffee, I close the door to my home studio and I start my working day. Because my focus needs to be divided between several projects, I can only manage that by having a very strict work schedule, with predetermined time frames to allocate for each of my tasks. According to the importance of the task or how much effort and focus it will require from my side, I usually schedule very important tasks for the first part of the day, as this is when I perform my best. For example, from 9 to 10:30 AM I can work on my tasks for Haatch including strategy, planning, and/or meetings with my partner if there is something important that needs to be addressed. From 11 AM to 3 PM I usually tend to schedule my creative tasks, which include my client projects or Inque projects that require me to create and illustrate. This is a time frame where I really want to stay focused, so I usually try to ignore any kind of disruption that might interfere with my flow, like emails, notifications, phone calls, and so on. It’s usually from 3 PM to 4:30 PM when I try to have a longer break and include some type of workout, like pilates, yoga, rope jumping, etc. Around 4:30 PM I pour myself my third cup of coffee and I do another work session until 6 PM usually focusing on personal illustrations. During this time, I tend to also schedule online calls to my clients from the United States. Ideally, my work day should end at 6 - 6:30 PM, and then is where I have dinner and sometimes go for long walks on the beach or throughout the harbour and historic centre of Málaga, with my partner and my dog. From 8 PM up until 10 PM, I usually address unresolved small tasks from the day like pending emails or sending documents to the accountant, or I am taking care of my social media, planning future posts, reading, etc. From 10 PM onwards I try to disconnect completely by watching either a documentary, a movie in Spanish, or some series on Netflix.

Of course, there would be days when my workload is lighter, and then is when I try to take advantage and include more sport, more reading, some short day trips at some nearby beaches, and generally I try to immerse myself as much as possible within the Spanish culture and people.

Where do you get your creative inspiration from ?

I get inspired by almost anything that sparks something in my mind, but most of all I think my inspiration comes from psychology, human emotions, experiences I had or am going through, or a certain kind of feeling that I try to pursue through illustration and also different artists that I come across and feel super inspired by.

Lately, I am trying to “speak” more through my work and send messages about matters that I care about such as animal suffering and abandonment, injustices delivered upon animals and our environment, connection with Mother Earth, the feminine energy, and more. I am also very inspired by the Andalusian paintings of the XIX century that bloom with color, nature, and life.

Another thing that inspires me is definitely music. Music drives a lot of my imagery and gets my mind going.

A lot of the work is at the convergence of art and technology. What are the latest trends you are most excited about?

I think we are lucky to live during these times and experience this digital (re)evolution we’re currently crossing. Technology has made a huge difference for art, just think about how artists of previous generations used to promote their work and how many of them stayed in a dark cone, just because their art was not able to reach a higher number of souls.

It is obvious that the art landscape is undergoing a drastic transformation as it enmeshes with technology, and one of the recent developments that I am excited about, is the NFT market. I personally think that great times are coming, especially for digital art, as there will be a shift in the perception of art in both its artists and consumers. I joined the NFT market earlier last year and I’m happy I did. The NFT market is still young and we are still early. Many things need to improve, especially regarding copyright issues that many artists are facing in the NFT world and of course the environmental impact, but if it will continue to evolve more positively and address current issues, I think the NFTs are here to stay and they will change the lives of many artists (they already did for some).

Another trend that I am very excited about is immersive environments and worlds using VR technology. This could be used in so many ways to actually help and improve the quality of life for many people. I am currently part of an amazing project, called Parousia, a story-driven participatory world in the metaverse, a world designed by artists, storytellers, musicians, producers, researchers, psychologists, and experiential designers to cultivate meaningful interactions. Parousia empowers its guests to practice better relational skills and cultivate psycho-social traits, such as vulnerability, compassion, and play, through the interactions they have with different Parousia beings such as The Scriptor, MasQ, Magerois, and many more.

Overall, we’re living in exciting times and I am looking forward to seeing what’s next in terms of art and technology and also to have a better understanding of how these will affect the creative world as a whole.

You created “haatch” a Goal & Habit Tracker, could you tell us what creation journey you went through to make this popular smartphone app ?

Haatch was created together with my partner, to address the desire for self-improvement and mental health wellbeing by using the goal and habit pursuing process. We experienced ourselves the transformative effect that the goal and habit setting process can have on oneself just by using pen and paper and writing our goals down in a notebook. But eventually, we faced the limitations of the traditional pen and paper and we wanted to be able to have a tool that will make it easier for us to keep track of our ambitions, that will be smart enough to use complex algorithms to create predictions and offering insight about how I can adjust my pace to reach my goal and also to make it easier to have a friend keep you accountable, so you can make sure you’re working towards your ambition.

The idea for Haatch was born on a balcony of a co-working space in Bali, Indonesia at the end of 2018. At that time there was no app, that could guide and redirect the goal and habit setting process in the same way we intended to in order to support mental health and the transformative power of this process. So, we went on to create an app that we can use and continue to ride this transformative journey. At the same time, we thought that if this ambition pursuing process had such a great impact on our lives, we would love to be able to create a tool that might have the same impact (or even larger) on other people’s lives too.

With a team of three people (my partner Emil who is an experienced User Experience Consultant, our superstar dev, and I), we embarked on the journey of creating an app that could potentially transform and increase the quality of life by supporting self-improvement on one side and on the other side enhance mental health and wellbeing by using the goal setting process to address issues like depression, anxiety, compulsive behaviours, fobias, etc.

The app is still in ongoing development and building, as we learn and adapt to better support our users’ needs. We have a lot of planned features for the near future and some will include AI, so I am definitely super excited to unfold everything we have in store.

What advice would you give young creatives who are starting out in the industry?

Expose yourself constantly to any form of creativity and consume as much creative content as possible. Read novels, go to museums, go to contemporary art galleries, watch documentaries, expose yourself to the feeling of awe, travel, immerse yourself in different cultures, apply a creative thinking process to everything you touch and let yourself be inspired even by the most random things. All these can make you become an even more creative person and honestly, in today’s society, creativity is one of the greatest skills to master.

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soul-controller · 3 years

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Working Out Womanhood

As a professional bodybuilder, Jeff Nippard was extremely dedicated to a life of fitness and discipline. Looking around and seeing a world that lacked proper education on dieting and working out, the hunky blond decided that he needs to use his knowledge both from his degree in biochemistry and in the gym to create programs to help improve the lives and bodies of his followers. Although bodybuilding was a full-time job in terms of keeping his body as pristine as possible, the man was still eager to branch out and diversify his interests while still doing something he loved.

After months of hard work, Jeff had finally created his own website that provided nutrition plans and workout routines to help any individual wanting to improve their bodies. But while the man was able to create several programs that were a huge success, there was one category of plans that he wasn’t able to master: female-centric ones. No matter how many conversations he had with his long-term girlfriend Stephanie or talking to other female fitness gurus, he was unable to nail down the perfect plans for women.

While most people would give up and just focus on what they know, the degree-holding man was not willing to let this lack of knowledge slide. Not only would it help his own business, but it also would allow him to better understand his girlfriend and help her achieve her intended physique if he could finally understand what types of workouts females liked. For months, he scoured the internet in search of any potential information that could help at least point him in the right direction to no avail. In a mix of desperation, nighttime hysteria, and drunkenness from several beers, the man soon found himself shifting away from his firm belief in the power of science and falling into dark web Google rabbit holes that could offer magical solutions to his little problem. Upon stumbling on a listing by a certain SCassociate01, Jeff was enamored by a little bottle of liquid that apparently gave him the opportunity to swap bodies with a member of the opposite sex. Given that the price was only $150, Jeff bit the bullet and quickly purchased the enigmatic item before passing out for the night.

Waking up the next morning and looking at the tab he left open, Jeff couldn’t help but grow irritated at his spur of the moment purchase last night. There was absolutely no way that this item could truly swap their bodies right? So, in a huff, the man quickly grabbed his gym bag and left his apartment to work off his anger towards being bamboozled by his own altered mind the night previously. For the next hour and a half, Jeff worked out rigorously until his shirt was soaked in sweat and skin-tight against his incredible physique. After such an intense workout, he couldn’t help but feel better and suddenly eager to get home and spend the day with his girlfriend. So, after quickly showering and getting himself changed into some new clothes, Jeff made his way home to have lunch with his gorgeous partner.

To both his surprise and horror, when Jeff got home and walked into his living room, he immediately caught sight of Stephanie inspecting the very same bottle he had ordered the night previously. Although it was certainly unbelievable that the package had arrived overnight, Jeff’s mind didn’t even question this factor as he instead grew embarrassed about his girlfriend finding out about his moment of weakness the night prior. “Hey, what are you doing? That’s mine!” Jeff cried out, jogging over to the couch to try and grab the bottle out of Stephanie’s hand.

“Whoa babe, why are you freaking out? You just got a package in the mail and I was making sure it wasn’t damaged…” Stephanie coldly said, crossing her arms in annoyance at Jeff’s childish behavior as he grabbed onto the bottle and tried to hide it from sight. “What is that bottle anyway? I saw something written on the side talking about swapping bodies with the opposite sex…” she continued, her face shifting into an inquisitive glare at Jeff as she left her sentence open for her boyfriend to tie up the loose end.

Standing there with his cheeks flush underneath his blond beard, Jeff gave a deep sigh before telling his girlfriend about the events leading up to the purchase of said bottle. As he finished telling his story, he couldn’t help but grow annoyed as Stephanie wasted no time laughing in his face and taunting him for believing that magic could really exist. “Babe, I know that you want to create the perfect woman’s gym and nutrition plans, but I think you’re taking it a bit too far now…” she said, her voice going into an even higher tone as she attempted to conceal her laughter (although she was clearly failing).

“I was wasted last night and was desperate to get the plan figured out ok?” Jeff said under his breath, a newfound raspiness appearing in his voice due to his sheer annoyance. Despite his girlfriend’s best attempts to calm him down and say that she’s just joking with him, Jeff was still quite annoyed at the situation.

Seeing this, Stephanie tried her best to be supportive and cheer him up. “Hey, what do you say we pop this bottle and give it a try huh? Sure, it may not be a gender swapping potion, but at least it seems to be an aphrodisiac since you’re supposed to have sex after drinking it. What do you say babe?” she said, leaning in and resting her well-manicured hand on Jeff’s own callused and wide one to try and cheer him up.

Thinking it over for a second, Jeff started to lighten up upon seeing that his girlfriend was willing to go along with his little impulse buy. Sure, it may not be really magic, but the concept of having some kinky sex with his girlfriend was an opportunity too great to pass up so Jeff quickly nodded his head before uncorking the bottle. Upon inspecting it, Jeff tipped the potion back and downed half of it before handing the second half to his girlfriend to finish off. As it went down, the man was shocked and delighted to find that the taste was rather appealing. It tasted like a mix of candy and fruit, something that left both partners with a slight grin on their face as they tossed the bottle aside.

While it could have been some sort of placebo effect of the potion, both individuals soon found themselves incredibly turned on and desperate to tear off each others’ clothes and head into their bedroom for a passionate bout of intercourse.

Upon lifting his girlfriend up as she wrapped her legs around his bulky waist, the couple quickly made their way into the bedroom as they passionately made out and Stephanie took the opportunity to multitask and take off her shirt and bra. Looking down, Jeff’s cock couldn’t help but grow rock solid at the sight of his girlfriend’s gorgeous tits that wobbled with every thunderous step he took on the way into the bedroom. As soon as they stepped foot into the doorway, Stephanie quickly hopped back onto the ground and started to undress her boyfriend. It was always like unwrapping a present the way she would meticulously save the best for last.

Looking up with a pure lustful stare, Stephanie was able to peel Jeff out of his form-fitting tank top and reveal his impressive physique to her. With envy, she ran her dainty fingers along the ridges of his abdominals and smirked at him as he looked down in awe. Not one to waste time, the woman continued to undress her boyfriend, pulling down his workout shorts and running her hands along his well-sculpted ass and meaty thighs. Despite his smaller stature of 5’5”, the sheer width and bulk of his muscles would be able to intimidate even the tallest of adversaries. Stephanie wasted no time admiring her boyfriend’s body as he squeezed her perfect tits, running her fingers along the ridges of his cut abdominals. Then, in an effort to make sure Jeff felt the same form of objectification, she gave his chest a squeeze in return as she clutched onto an impressive pectoral shelf that could rival the bosom of a college cheerleader.

Just as Jeff got his girlfriend out of her underwear to stare at her fully nude body, Stephanie finally returned the favor by pulling down the tight underwear and watching as his thick shaft fell forth from the fabric and revealed itself to her. “Well looks like someone’s horny huh?” Stephanie said as she goaded her boyfriend, dropping down to her knees and taking his impressive shaft into her mouth.

“Aw fuck!” Jeff groaned, his dick throbbing as his girlfriend took in his manhood with impeccable ease and began building up a perfect rhythm over the next several minutes. While he certainly was turned on by his girlfriend, he was desperate to not ejaculate early before the main event occurred. So, just as he began to feel his dick tense up and his head grow light-headed, he quickly pulled his girlfriend off of his cock and into bed with him. With their bodies tangled up in sheets, Jeff was enough of a conscientious lover to dive under the sheets and give his girlfriend’s pussy some well-deserved attention. Hearing his girlfriend’s moans were always a constant turn-on, so it wasn’t surprising that Jeff soon found himself pulling his mouth away from her genitalia as he was eager to finish up and shoot his load into her.

Wasting no time, both partners began to moan and shiver in pleasure as Jeff slid his thick rod into his girlfriend’s pussy. As a motion gradually built up, both partners had looks of pure lust on their faces as they both reached the point of cumming. In a surprising moan of unison, they both cried out “Oh fuck!” as they soon began to ejaculate. But just as the two individuals started to reach the end of their shared climax, a sudden dizziness began to manifest as they grew lightheaded. “What’s… happening…” Jeff quietly uttered before passing out.

Just as quickly as he had fallen unconscious, Jeff soon found his eyes jolting awake as he found himself completely disoriented by what happened. Why was he suddenly laying with his back on his sheets and why was he… staring at himself!?! “Holy fuck,” Jeff cried out, gasping as he heard a different yet familiar voice coming out of his throat. Looking down, Jeff was completely disarmed by the sudden sight of modest breasts. The potion… it was real! “Babe, are you ok?” Jeff said, looking up at his hunky body as he saw his former eyes shifting beneath the eyelids before they began to slowly open.

As Stephanie began to wake up once again, she was even more disoriented as she found herself looking down as gravity pulled against her body. But despite that, nothing was more disorienting for the woman than to see her former body underneath her with a shocked expression on her face. “Wha- what the fuck?” Stephanie screamed, her body beginning to flail about as she tried to understand what was going on. There’s no way, absolutely no way that the potion really did this…

However, the sudden girlish cries from Jeff causes Stephanie to stop what she was doing and look down. Holy fuck, his dick was still inside her body! “Oh fuck, I’m sorry babe!” Stephanie said, moving a bulky and rugged hand against her throat due to the shock of hearing Jeff’s voice coming out of her mouth. Given that she used to be the owner of a vagina, she sympathized with Jeff due to all of the thrashing she had just done. She was sure that it was an intense mix of pleasure and pain, but as she quickly pulled out of her former genitalia, the former man breathed a sigh of relief to show that he’s feeling somewhat better now.

With both of them now free to explore their bodies, both individuals quickly hopped off of the bed and rushed into their shared master bathroom. Flicking on the light only confirmed what they had already known, but it was still quite the monumental shock for both individuals to realize. Stephanie awkwardly struggled to deal with the intense muscles she now possessed while Jeff was in shock as he grabbed onto his girlfriend’s tits and ran a finger along his new vagina out of curiosity. When a ripple of pleasure rushed through his body though, the man quickly stopped his experimentation to avoid being completely overwhelmed in a horny daze. It was certainly clear that the potion had done its intended job for the couple. Their bodies had been completely swapped and now Jeff was certainly going to get a first hand experience at figuring out the best routines and nutrition plans for women looking to have their bodies in peak health. He was unsure how Stephanie would deal with being in his bulky body, but he was sure that she would be able to adapt. She agreed to drink the potion right? Even if there was a 99% chance that the potion was fake, she still was willing to take that 1% risk that it was actually a real body swapping potion!

However, despite the clear shock that they were both experiencing, the hormones belonging to their new bodies were working hard to get them to forget about the worries. Each partner soon found themselves slyly taking peeks at their transformed partners and being turned on by the bodies they now had. Jeff found himself staring at Stephanie’s new hairy chest and the thick cock that was dangling from his crotch while Stephanie couldn’t help but stare at Jeff’s new pair of tits and the well-trimmed bush and pussy that he had. No words needed to be said as the two partners slowly turned towards each other and took in each other’s body. To add to Jeff’s shock and horniness, he gasped as Stephanie easily pulled him up with her new muscles and carried him back into the bedroom for round two.

Just like nothing had changed, the same foreplay occurred for the couple even though they were experiencing different roles and positions throughout. Stephanie found herself happy to give her mouth a break as Jeff couldn’t resist going down to run his new tongue against his former shaft. He was already a kinky fucker, but the concept of getting his former body off was too much for his ego to handle. He desperately wanted to hear his husky voice moaning as he continued to suck Stephanie off, so his intensity increased as he used his girlfriend’s practically non-existent gag reflex to take in every single inch of his (former) manhood and get his girlfriend close to experiencing her first ejaculation as a man. In nearly record time, Stephanie found her hips buckling as she grabbed onto Jeff’s head and held him as she forced him to swallow every inch of her new seed.

“Oh fuck!” Stephanie moaned, shivering as she heard Jeff’s masculine voice coming from her mouth. Obviously, she hadn’t expected the body swapping potion to work, but as the waves of pleasure rippled through her body as she learned how a male’s orgasm felt, she couldn’t deny that she was too upset about what was going on. Maybe this will actually be an interesting opportunity for both of us, she thought to herself as she continued holding Jeff’s head in place as she finished cumming. Jeff was the top guy of their favorite gym, so the concept of becoming an important figure in the gym rather than the arm candy of Jeff’s was incredibly alluring to think about.

As Jeff swallowed every drop of sperm, he was absolutely turned on by how kinky it felt to be dominated (by his own body no less!!). No wonder Stephanie was always eager to fuck when it feels this damn good 24/7! Although there was an aspect of himself that was alarmed by swallowing cum, Jeff quickly shook those thoughts away as he reminded himself that he was swallowing his own cum. It’s not gay when it’s your own body, even if you’re not in your right body! Just as he took a breath after finally getting it all down his throat, Stephanie wasted no time pulling her former body back into the bed as she slid down across his new petite frame and began to work on Jeff’s new pussy. Gripping onto the bed sheets, the bedroom turned into a symphony of moans and groans from both partners as Jeff experienced having his pussy eaten out and fingered for the first time. With such intense pleasure obliterating his body, he was honestly shocked that Stephanie didn’t demand him to eat her out more often!

With the woman’s now meaty fingers sliding in and out of Jeff’s tight slit, the couple had a lustful grin on their faces as Jeff’s clitoris was finally stimulated to the point where he soon found himself experiencing his first ever female orgasm. After finishing up and cleaning themselves off, the couple soon fell back into bed as a wave of drowsiness hit them. It was a fairly intense day for both of their bodies, not only had they swapped bodies but they had also gotten off twice in the span of an hour. Realizing this factoid, the couple soon found themselves quickly planning out what lay ahead for them. While Stephanie was just eager to be a hunky man who was relied on as a leader and ran a full fitness business, Jeff was eager to head into the gym and learn more about what needed to be done to create the perfect programs for women. Although as both of them began to pass out, they couldn’t deny that they were planning many more sexual encounters for them to experience with each other…

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#male transformation #Working Out Womanhood #gender swap #male to female #body swap

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theoriginalkidwithapen · 4 years

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Principia – De Motu Corporum II

CW: Violence, foul language, gore, amputation, terrorist attack, disaster

“Every body perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed thereon.”

– Sir Isaac Newton, “Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica”

Ewan Finchley fidgeted with his wedding ring as he waited in the lobby. While as a public servant of thirty years in the United Earth Ministry of Inquiry, he was no stranger to briefing the Director of his section on the goings-on in the world of organized crime and terrorism, this was the first time he was summoned to a joint briefing with the Minister for Inquiry herself. He had to give the best presentation in the room – his section, and quite possibly his career, depended on it. Rumor had it that, ever since his section apprehended the leadership of the Lunar crime syndicate simply called “The Organization” and ended a 50-year regime of corruption, murder, and narcotics dealing, there was little demand for organized crime policing in the august eyes of the Global Parliament, and his section was up for consideration for budget cuts.

A rather short-sighted decision, Finchley thought, especially given the new evidence he was about to present that would conclusively demonstrate that the power vacuum left in The Organization had recently been filled, meaning that all their hard-won victory had bought them was a brief reprieve instead of a permanent change in the status quo.

“You may go in now, Mr. Finchley,” the Minister’s Public Secretary said. Time to make Section 5 proud.

Finchley slipped his ring back onto his finger, stood up, and entered the Minister’s office. It was an ostentatious wood-paneled affair, a 22nd century reproduction of 1960s boardroom finishing – it reminded him of the lair of a supervillain from period spy movies.

Including the Minister, her Private Secretary, and Private Undersecretary, there were 12 people in the room, seated around a wooden conference table with decor matching the rest of the room. Finchley immediately noted the presence of the Director of Section 1 – Foreign Investigations – as well as the Parliamentary Observer and his stenographer. Despite the perfection of dictation software more than 200 years ago, tradition – as well as the law – required that a human being take the official minutes, especially if they were for a report to Parliament.

Finchley took the empty seat next to his superior, Director Salazar Amaro, at the table. The door closed, and panels in the walls slid back, revealing monitors concealed behind them, which immediately activated and displayed the Seal of the Ministry of Inquiry.

“I’d like to begin by thanking you all for appearing at this hour on a Friday,” the Minister stated in what Finchley suspected was a not-so-subtle reference to her hijab, “I would also like to remind you all that this meeting is classified Ultraviolet, and that apart from official documentation to be shared only with persons of the appropriate security access, nothing said or presented during this meeting is to be discussed beyond these walls. I would like to call upon the Director of Section 1, Mr. Yen, to make the opening statement.” Yen Shang, a diminutive Cantonese man who unironically wore a suit with a Mandarin collar, stood up to speak. He drew a pair of corrective lenses – an affectation in an era of advanced corrective surgery – perched them on the bridge of his nose, and summoned a holographic document in front of him with an almost casual gesture.

“This meeting of the Ministry of Inquiry Directors has been called to determine whether the services of certain sections as complete divisions are required any further,” he read from the azure spectral brief hovering as if he were holding it in his hand, “Section 1 Undersecretary Alin Vasilescu will present our argument in summary.”

Do your worst, Finchley dared silently, I insist.

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Darkness gradually turned to light as Sara regained consciousness. She could make out four light sources in front of her, arranged in an all-too-familiar pattern. I’m sick of that goddamned ceiling, Sara thought as she recognized it as belonging to her cell. The ventilation grille still had that dent from the last time she went berserk. Clearly they’d sedated her this time. Sara sat up, stiff and sore. “Fuck…” she muttered. Out of the corner of her eye, Sara saw motion in the cell across from hers. Turning her head, she saw no fewer than four security guards escorting an elegantly-dressed woman inside.

“Hey, guard!” Sara called, “What the fuck happened to me at my therapy session!?”

“Oh look,” one of the guards said, “La Puta is finally awake!”

“Yeah, looks like you got triggered bad back there,” the guard continued as he swaggered over towards Sara, “You got crazy loco, and tried to tear that shrink apart with your bare hands! It took a flashbang to the face to put you down!”

“Sounds pretty nasty,” Sara commented.

“You fucked him up so hard, he’s gonna be in a body cast for months,” the guard leered. He stopped at the door and conspicuously checked her out. “You know…” he said as he made a profoundly indiscreet advance at her, “I could get you a day off pickin’ soybeans if you showed me some of that spirit. I like me a rough rider…”

Before Sara had a chance to refuse his offer with a few cutting remarks about his questionable parentage and insufficiently-sized sexual anatomy, the entire cell block shook violently as a rambunctious rumble reverberated through the room.

“What the fuck was that!?” one of the other guards yelled as the lights turned red and klaxons sounded.

“Decompression alarm!” the first guard shouted as the room broke out into chaos and confusion.

All of a sudden, everything but the alarms went silent. Sara could almost hear the creaking of steel and polymers – she certainly felt the deck pitch and heave beneath her feet, and from everyone else’s expressions it was clear that she wasn’t the only one who was afraid.

“Espinosa, Kwan, Akash!” the second guard barked, “Go to the equipment locker and get decompression gear for all of us! I’m gonna keep trying to contact dispatch!”

There was a loud rumbling, which quickly grew to a roar as the room shook as if it were in an earthquake. A mighty gust of wind blew the guards off their feet and out the door. The second guard desperately grabbed onto the threshold, but this last-ditch effort at self-preservation ended in a bone-crunching snap and a spray of blood as the blast doors slammed shut, severing his arm at the elbow.

The gale died down the second the doors sealed.

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“This concludes my report,” the deputy director of Section 3 wrapped up. As she returned to her seat, Director Salazar Amaro rose. “To deliver Section 5’s rebuttal, I would like to present Inspector Ewan Finchley, of the same section,” he announced, “Inspector Finchley was instrumental in Section 5’s recent arrests of the leadership of the criminal cartel known as ‘The Organization.’” Finchley rose. “Minister, directors, observers for Parliament,” he began, “We have seen many fantastic studies, projections, spreadsheets, cost-benefit analyses, and other data and insights on how the Ministry’s resources can be most efficiently allocated, and all of it – all of it – leads to a recommendation to restructure Ministry expenditures.

“It is the observation of Director Amaro and myself that the sole purpose of this joint briefing is to justify the elimination of Section 5 from the Ministry’s budget and dividing its organised crime investigation and counterterrorism functions among the Ministry’s other sections.” Finchley got a small amount of satisfaction at the look of indignation on the faces of the Parliamentary Observer and the other section directors.

“I bring to Section 5’s defence not bureaucratic figures and craven rationalisations,” Finchley continued, “but evidence that Section 5’s services are still required, as is.”

“I would have expected Section 5 to conjure up all kinds of fascinating evidence to preserve its lavish misappropriation of Ministry resources,” Mr. Yen commented, “but the simple truth is that Section 5 has outlived its usefulness.”

“With all due respect to the director of Section 1,” Finchley countered, “that would be a premature assessment, as I will demonstrate.”

Mr. Yen sat down disgruntledly. Finchley’s face may have betrayed a smirk.

“Computer, access presentation file hotkeyed Finchley-036 and display,” Finchley ordered. The room obeyed, and a holographic slideshow materialized behind him. “On the 14th of June, 2292 at precisely 07:18 and 31 seconds East Africa Time, agents of the Ministry of Inquiry, Section 5 raided 47 facilities – 15 compounds throughout South America, Australasia, Eurasia, and Antarctica; 8 space stations in Low Earth Orbit; compartments on 9 orbital colonies in the Earth Sphere; an illegal mining base on Cruithne; an unlicensed gambling den on Eros; narcotics laboratories on Pallas and Vesta; an annex in the Discretion Compartment of Spoke Three on Ceres–”

Finchley’s presentation disappeared as the monitors in the room turned a threatening hue of red and displayed the words “DANGER – TERROR ATTACK IN PROGRESS” in 12 different languages – French, Igbo, Yoruba, Amharic, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, English, Japanese, and Russian. The Parliamentary Observer and the Minister for Inquiry appeared briefly distracted – behavior typical of people listening to a message over an implanted inner earphone – before the Minister addressed the room. “I have just been informed that a terrorist attack in Earth territory has just begun,” she announced, “The Ministry of Security have issued a Code Red lockdown alert. No one is permitted to enter or leave this room for the duration.”

“Where did they strike?” a shocked Mr. Yen nervously inquired, “Venus? Hygiea?”

“An orbital colony at Earth-Moon Lagrange-One.”

A terrorist attack in the Earth Sphere, 384,400 kilometres away. That’s far too close, Finchley thought to himself.

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Words cannot adequately describe the cataclysmic scope of the destruction of a space colony. Despite being immense structures half a kilometer across and five kilometers long, they were incredibly fragile constructs held together by the tensile strength of their structural members, and structural failure could easily cause the force of the station’s rotation to tear itself apart.

This is because in order for a structure 500 meters across to simulate one Earth gravity at its extremities, it must rotate more than 1.33 times per minute, granting objects there a velocity of 70 meters per second in the direction of rotation, or more than seven times the force of Earth’s gravity. A structural failure at that speed could cause the entire colony to explosively delaminate, casting millions of tons of scrap metal in all directions at a rate of 252 kilometers per hour – more than enough to destroy any spacecraft unfortunate enough to collide with it.

Fortunately for the people of Earth, this was not how EML-1 #7 “Fasal” died. An immense jet of white-hot flame exploded from the docking area at an angle against the station’s direction of rotation. The jet only blew for a moment before it faded, replaced with a spiraling shower of incandescent metal fragments. The mighty station shuddered for a second, and then what remained of the dock burst open, evacuating the station’s atmosphere and everything not tightly secured out into space.

Over a million people lived on Fasal. None could yet say how many survived the disaster.

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Out of the estimated 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, approximately 9,100 of them are visible to the human eye from Earth. Naturally, when a new light appears in the sky, astronomers take notice, no matter how briefly it shines.

Neither Jon nor Misty were astronomers or astrophysicists, but as spacecraft crew they were familiar with the location and appearance of most celestial objects. A brief flash brighter than any planet or star as seen from Earth apart from the sun, in the direction of the first Earth-Moon Lagrange Point drew their attention away from their stargazing.

“Jon! Misty!” Tallen barked over their suit radios, “We have a situation!”

“What kind of situation?” Misty asked with concern.

“Just get back in here!”

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“Minutes ago, the agricultural orbital colony EML-1 #7, ‘Fasal,’ suddenly exploded in what early reports are calling a controlled thermonuclear detonation…” the news anchor began to the backdrop of a clip of the ill-fated space station exploding, repeated ad nauseam.

“Holy shit…” Tallen exclaimed in a whisper as he watched the spectacle of repetitive cataclysm unfold on one of Peregrine’s monitors. Jon, followed by Misty, climbed through the hatch to the control deck, still in their spacesuits. “Report!” Jon barked.

“An orbital colony at EML-1 just exploded,” Peregrine’s soprano voice lyricized over the speakers, “Micronesia T.C. is hailing.”

“Put ‘em on, Peri!” Jon ordered as he leapt into the pilot’s seat. He began to strap himself in, a habit acquired from years of experience.

“Micronesia T.C., this is Manju Ray,” Jon replied as he answered the hail, “Please advise, over.”

“Manju Ray, be advised – one of our space colonies has exploded,” the traffic controller responded, “The entire EML-1 traffic control area has been declared a no-fly zone under the jurisdiction of United Earth Space Peacekeeping Operations. Reorient to point retrograde and burn 34 meters-per-second to avoid entering the restricted area, over.”

“Negative, T.C.,” Jon replied with irritation. A course change away from EML-1 meant that instead of delivering their cargo directly to Surveyor City by way of the Grimaldi Space Elevator, they would have to hire a lander to do the job, which would be costly and time consuming. After the long haul from Saturn, they didn’t have enough food, water, or air to wait around for a berth at another station. “We intend to render aid in search and rescue efforts, over.”

They’d also miss their rendezvous with Sharqi’s associate. Even though it was unlikely that she survived, they could still try to make the pickup while doing the good works.

“All right, people!” Jon called out, “Strap in! Peregrine, I need a minimum duration maneuver plot to that space colony now!”

“Coming up now,” Peregrine responded as Tallen and Misty followed Jon’s order and took their seats.

The plot appeared on the flight control monitor. It was a map of the Earth Sphere, denoting traffic control zones, the locations and orbits of other spacecraft, markers for Peregrine and her destination, and the projected course and relevant data. The proposed trajectory was unlike any of the orbits on the chart – in a world of ellipses, conics, paraboloids, and the occasional hyperboloid, this one was a straight line, its path neatly divided in half by an arrow rounded back on itself like an ouroboros – an icon that represented a maneuver called a skew-flip, where the spacecraft cuts all thrust and rotates to face the reverse of its previous heading. It was a maneuver rarely necessary except for a course change like this one – a brachistochrone trajectory. While horribly inefficient, it was also the quickest way to one’s destination.

“Your assistance is not required,” the traffic controller replied, “Alter course immediately.”

“Negative, T.C.,” Jon argued, “we have limited life support aboard. Waiting in orbit indefinitely is not an option, we must proceed to EML-1. We can rendezvous with the relief effort to resupply.”

“This is wrong…” Misty commented to herself with concern as Jon continued to argue with the traffic controller.

“Negative, Manju Ray,” the traffic controller countered, “Do not proceed to EML-1. Reorient to your radial vector and burn for EML-2. You will be able to resupply there.”

“Enough of this bullshit,” Jon muttered, “Peri, release hands-on control to me.”

“Kinky,” Peregrine replied playfully, “This is handoff to you.”

“Micronesia, Manju Ray,” Jon announced, determined, “Under the Rescue Agreement of 1968, this ship is obligated to render aid and assistance to any spacecraft in distress. We are therefore proceeding to EML-1 under our responsibility to detect and avoid. Be advised, our flight plan is being amended to include a brachistochrone approach maneuver in T-minus three-one seconds, over.”

Jon had just invoked a seldom-used navigational rule that dated back to the age of sail – when a ship was a de facto city-state with her captain as absolute ruler. Under this rule, the captain could take responsibility for navigation without regard for the wishes of an external authority. This had the side effect of ending any traffic control aid and was generally inadvisable, especially at spacecraft maneuvering speeds. This ancient tradition – nearly 800 years old – carried over to aviation and later, aerospace navigation, and remained a crucial part of a captain’s authority.

Now, all that remained was to see if Traffic Control would honor his decision. Everyone in the room waited with bated breath.

“Uh, Manju Ray?” the traffic controller responded after a long, awkward pause, “Micronesia. Roger, service is terminated. Proceed on your own responsibility, and retain your current beacon code. Micronesia out.”

“Roger, Manju Ray out,” Jon replied, and closed the channel, “All right, everyone! Brace yourselves for 7.3gs! We’ll accelerate for 32 minutes, 57 seconds, then skew-flip and brake for another 32 and 57. Peregrine, send a tightbeam to Union Hall explaining our situation and attach all relevant flight recorder logs.” Jon opened the throttle, and Peregrine’s main engine roared to life with incandescent fury. The seats in the control compartment tilted back to a reclining position to ease the effects of extreme acceleration on the crew.

For a Martian like Jon, one Earth gravity was difficult to endure, and for a Spaceborn like Misty, it was punitive. Seven gravities, the equivalent of 68.6 meters per second of acceleration, was a crushing, immobilizing, oppressive, sadistic, flattening, choking, heart-stopping, smothering, compressing, callous, forbidding, conquering force which the human body was never built to endure for long. While the acceleration chairs and reclined position helped, it was still a strenuous, grueling ordeal, and while Peregrine was equipped with acceleration suits, there wasn’t enough time to don them.

“Sorry about this, Misty,” Jon said regretfully. This wasn’t going to be easy for her.

“Don’t blame yourself, anata… This has to be done…” Misty panted breathily as she began to fade from consciousness. The abyssal strain of acceleration was rapidly overwhelming her fragile spaceborn body.

“Peri…” Jon groaned as his lungs stubbornly resisted his will to do more than breathe shallowly, “I need you to be ready to take over in case I black out…” “You got it, commander,” Peregrine replied, unaffected by the forces her astral heart inflicted on the crew.

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It had been nearly 15 minutes since Finchley’s abortive presentation had been interrupted by the destruction of an orbital colony and the projected deaths of over a million people. It would be over an hour before the first CETU patrol destroyer would arrive to secure the area, and another day before the first relief effort could get underway – in that time, many of the survivors could die. It was infuriating to watch this tragedy unfold and be unable to do anything about it.

He may not be able to do anything about this catastrophe, but he might be able to prevent the next one.

“This tragedy could have been prevented,” he said to the preoccupied room, “if Section 5 had been granted the resources we requested last year.”

“I beg your pardon?” the Parliamentary Observer asked with rehearsed indignance.

“Minister,” Finchley addressed her formally, “I have reason to believe that the destruction of the colony at EML-1 was a terrorist action ordered by Mars. My presentation today was meant to establish the connection between The Organisation and Martian Covert Operations. With your permission, I would like to resume.” The Minister nodded in approval. “Computer,” Finchley ordered, “resume presentation.” Finchley’s slideshow failed to appear.

“Computer,” Finchley dictated impatiently, one syllable at a time, “resume presentation.” The slideshow was conspicuous by its absence.

“What the hell is wrong with this bloody thing?” he asked rhetorically.

“We are in a Level Red lockdown, Inspector Finchley,” Mr. Yen patronized, “All computer functions except for essential operations are suspended to devote as many resources as possible to Intelligence system processing.”

“Fine,” Finchley sniffed, “You may examine my evidence once this crisis is over.”

Finchley straightened his posture, and continued with the air of the expert he was. “In the months leading up to the recent arrests of The Organisation’s leadership, we were able to identify a large number of transactions between shell corporations known to front for The Organisation and the Mars Colonial Militia. From what we have been able to determine, The Organisation smuggles materiel and personnel in and out of areas under Earth jurisdiction, as well as supply and maintain safehouses for Martian covert operatives in exchange for funding and use of some of their advanced technology.”

“Inspector,” the Minister inquired, “are you saying that these people are aiding and abetting a foreign adversary?”

“Yes, Minister,” Finchley answered, “We are confident that this is the case.”

“However,” Mr. Yen interjected, “wasn’t The Organization’s leadership crippled by Ministry raids? Surely they cannot be in any position to aid anyone.”

“That was the conclusion we came to in the months following the raids,” Finchley clarified, “but that preliminary assessment has since proven to be inaccurate. Seven months ago, we began to receive reports from our undercover informants in The Organisation that indicated that someone had begun to fill that power vacuum.”

“Internal politics?”

“Yes, Mr. Yen. The person of interest is named Juda Sharqi – a 51-year-old Selenite, male, born in Surveyor City, clawed his way up the ranks from a common grunt to an influential information broker, although not enough to attract our attention at the time. He was able to leverage the information at his disposal to blackmail his enemies and consolidate power. It is our determination that he could not have accomplished this in so short a time without outside help.”

“The Martians, you mean,” the Parliamentary Observer concluded.

“Yes, sir.” Finchley confirmed.

“And if Section 5 had been allocated the Intelligence processing time requested,” the Parliamentary Observer continued with interest, “this catastrophe could have been avoided?”

“In all likelihood, yes sir.” Finchley answered, “The indications were all there, it would just be a matter of collating and processing the information.”

“Director Amaro,” the Observer addressed Finchley’s superior, “do you concur with your subordinate’s assessment?”

“I would not have asked him here if I were not confident in Inspector Finchley’s conclusion,” Amaro replied.

“Well then, Minister,” the Observer declared, “with your recommendation, I will draught a proposal to Parliament requesting additional resources allocated to Section 5, for countering the threat of Martian covert operatives and their co-conspirators.”

“That is outrageous!” Mr. Yen roared as he abruptly stood up, “Foreign counterintelligence clearly falls under the exclusive purview of Section 1!”

“Zimi Beli!” the Minister shouted at Mr. Yen, who sheepishly sat down and shut up as she had ordered.

At that moment, the monitors all changed color from red to white. “All clear,” announced a synthetic voice over the public address system, “All personnel, please return to your scheduled routine.”

“Well, I suppose that’s enough for today,” the Minister declared, “Meeting adjourned.”

As they began to file out of the room, Amaro discreetly stopped Finchley. “Well done, Ewan,” he conspired, “You may have just secured Section 5’s place as the dominant intelligence agency on the planet.”

“Yes, sir,” Finchley answered.

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