#Open Source Monitoring Conference

[mp3monsterme]

Fluent Bit with Chat Ops

My friend Patrick Stephens and Fluent Bit committer will present at the Open Source Monitoring Conference in Germany later this year. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it, as my day job is closing in on its MVP product release. The idea behind the presentation is to improve the ability to detect and respond to Observability events, as the time between detection and action is the period…

[greenwitchfromthewoods]

a beautiful little lie. [chapter 2] l Harry Castillo

Summary:  you are the personal assistant of Harry Castillo, a wealthy entrepreneur who asks you to go with him to his friend's wedding. there you meet your ex-boyfriend and things get out of hand

Warnings: fluff, a little bit of angst, friends to lovers (maybe?), some wine, almost kiss, mentioning ex-boyfriend, Reader feels insecure

A/N: I'm giving you this chapter. Be gentle with me, please. I don't have much to say, except that I'd like to thank every single person who left a sign under the first chapter. I was afraid to write this, but with you it's somehow easier. Thank you,

your feedback is very important to me and I want to thank you for all the reblogs, comments and likes. I secretly hope you like this story.🖤 sorry for all the mistakes

[my masterlist] [Harry Castillo masterlist] [a beautiful little lie- series masterlist]

"Harry asked about you." Susan leaned out from behind the monitor and looked at you over her glasses. "You're fifteen minutes late."

"I know!" you groaned, throwing your bag on the desk. "The whole street was jammed. I was texting him."

"I know, he told me. But he asked anyway." she smiled, reaching for the cup of coffee you brought her. "Thank you, honey. You know, that guy would die without you. Me too."

“He'll be fine. He's Harry Castillo, he'll always be fine.” You replied, trying to calm your breathing and smoothing your skirt with your hand. “How do I look?”

“Like you ran three blocks to get here.”

“I did!” you laughed, glancing toward the glass doors leading to Harry’s office. “Okay, wish us luck.”

You entered Mr. Castillo's large office and immediately noticed him talking on the phone, leaning against one of the windows. He nodded to you in greeting without interrupting the conversation, then pointed to the folder lying on his desk. You quickly put it in your bag.

“I could send a car for you,” he said, pocketing his phone, frowning. “Did you run here?”

“A lot of people run in the morning. Are we ready? Mr. McCullen should be in his office in an hour.”

Harry took his jacket off the chair and put it on. You quickly walked over to him and straightened his tie. "I'm ready now."

The offer had landed on Castillo's desk out of the blue, but it was so good it piqued his interest. Mr. McCullen's company was about to be sold, and Harry was considering buying it. You didn't have much time to prepare, since your sources told you there were a lot of companies interested. 

However, everything was going to go your way that day. You had arrived at the company building early, so you quickly mumbled, "I have to go to the bathroom," and disappeared down one of the hallways leading from the conference room.

You were already washing your hands when you heard a quiet sob in one of the toilets. You anxiously wiped your hands on a paper towel and cleared your throat. "Excuse me? Is everything okay?"

The sobbing came from the last stall, where you noticed a pair of shapely legs in red heels. "Ummm... Do you need anything? A tampon or a tissue?"

The stall door opened and a young girl with swollen eyes stepped out. She sniffled and blew her nose into the toilet paper she was holding. “You can’t help me…” she said in a hoarse voice. “Until you find me a new job.”

"Oh! You know... You shouldn't worry so much about work, it's just..." you started, but the girl rolled her eyes. You clearly didn't understand her at all.

“I should care, because I’m about to lose my job!” she groaned. “I’m only working for this company until the boss closes this stupid deal, and then he’s moving to Los Angeles. That idiot got himself into so much debt…” she shook her head. A cold chill ran down your arms.

"What are you talking about?" you asked. "Not Mr. McCullen, right?"

She leaned against the counter and wiped her red nose, then crossed her arms over her chest. “His company is a bottomless pit. He’s desperate to sell it, and the guy buying it is a fucking idiot. He doesn’t even know what he’s signing up for.”

It was your second run of the day, your footsteps echoing through the empty hallway as you made your way to the conference room, but then your heart stopped. Harry was already sitting inside with two other men.

Everyone was chatting happily, or so it seemed to you, because the men were sitting with their backs to you, and all you could see was your boss's face.

"You can't go in there now." the female voice rang out as you grabbed the door handle.

“I’m Mr. Castillo’s assistant,” you said firmly, but the woman sitting behind the desk just tilted her head, unimpressed, looking you up and down appraisingly.

"I don't care. I said you can't go in there."

You huffed angrily and reached into your bag. You clenched your hand around your phone and a moment later you were dialing Harry's number. He must have felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket because he looked up and saw you behind the glass wall. He shook his head slightly.

“Shit!” you hissed. You had to think of something. You pulled out your folder and grabbed the first sheet of paper, then pulled out a pen.

Harry's brown eyes widened when he saw the piece of paper in your hands that said "BULLSHIT! DEBTS!"

one year earlier

You glanced around the hallway and took a deep breath, clutching your briefcase like it was a lifeline. The pretty brunette sitting across from you smiled, but you were so nervous you could barely lift the corners of your mouth.

How were you supposed to compete with them? Each of the five women waiting with you outside the glass doors to Mr. Castillo's office was simply beautiful and certainly had excellent references. And you? Your inner critic certainly had her hands full.

An hour passed, a very long hour. You were alone now, and the woman sitting behind the monitor glanced at you from time to time.

"He won't eat you alive, sweetie." she finally said.

"Huh?" you looked up, looking at her with fear. "You think so?"

"I've been working for him for a few years now. Just be yourself, girl."

You looked down at your nervously twisted fingers. It wasn't good advice.

Finally the girl came out of the office and you were invited in. The office was spacious and brightly lit by the rays of the setting sun. Behind the solid desk you saw a man, he was already over forty years old, broad shoulders, a prominent nose and a charming smile. He looked up from the paper and you saw beautiful brown eyes.

Your name flowed from his lips. "Please take a seat, it won't take long."

You sat on the edge of the chair feeling like your soul had already left your body. Mr. Castillo was looking at what must have been your job application.

"You don't have much experience." he said, there was no disapproval in it, more curiosity. "Why did you decide to apply?"

You barely recognized your voice when you spoke. "Can I be honest?"

Mr. Castillo made a gesture with his hand as if he was encouraging you to do so.

"I need a job. I know I don't have much experience as an assistant, not as much as previous candidates, I'm sure, but it's either that or going back to customer service."

"Mhm." he mumbled, rubbing his chin with his finger.

“Mr. Castillo.” Brown eyes focused on you again. “You’re looking for an assistant. I spent over an hour outside your office and saw other candidates. They’re beautiful women with references, and I understand that I can’t compete with them, but… I’m hardworking, loyal, and a quick learner. If you give me a chance, I assure you that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re not disappointed.”

“I like your energy,” Castillo murmured, leaning back in his leather chair.

“Yeah? It’s more like desperation.”

He chuckled, and you finally smiled back. You stared at each other for a few seconds until Castillo finally closed the folder in front of him and reached for his phone, signaling that the conversation was over.

"Thank you for giving me your time." he said politely. "We'll call you back."

You nodded, mumbling a quiet, “Thank you and goodbye,” before quickly leaving the office, your legs feeling like jelly. The walk to the elevator wasn’t memorable, nor was the entire ride down.

You knew you had fucked up this interview. Tears welled up in your eyes, but you wanted to wait until you were outside the building to cry. As you stood on the sidewalk, you took a deep breath and a sob tore itself from your throat. You felt pathetic, small, and weak. What were you even thinking, coming here, standing in front of this office? Fuck. You idiot.

The phone in your pocket vibrated and you rolled your eyes reaching for it, you couldn't even cry in peace anymore.

"Yes?" you said, not caring how you sounded.

“Hello, this is Harry Castillo. We spoke a few minutes ago.” A pleasant male voice spoke on the other end, and you felt your heart skip a beat. “Would you be interested in starting work on Monday?”

“Mrs. Diane Kruger-Waltz will be here next week. She would like to meet with you.”

Harry handed you a glass of wine and sat down on the couch next to you with a quiet sigh. “Okay, let me know when she’s available. We’ll work it out.”

You took a sip and set the glass down on the small coffee table, then quickly typed something on your computer. It was a pleasant, albeit rainy evening. After returning from Mr. McCullen's, Harry met with his accountants, who confirmed the information you had received in the ladies' room. 

You both breathed a sigh of relief, this deal would cost the company millions and you didn't even want to think about what the consequences would be.

To celebrate this small success, if you could call it that, Castillo made a call to one of the best restaurants and ordered a takeaway. They didn't do that, but they made an exception for their regular customer. And then both of you, avoiding the slowly intensifying rain, hid on the couch in his spacious living room.

"Done." You announced, closing your laptop and putting it aside. "You should get your suit from the cleaners tomorrow morning. The sponsors' party starts at six in the afternoon, so you should be able to make it."

"I'll pick you up twenty minutes early, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be ready."

You sighed quietly and rubbed your forehead with your hand. It had been a long and hectic day. No wonder Harry had changed into sweatpants in search of comfort in his own apartment. Your clothes suddenly seemed extremely uncomfortable to you.

"What's going on?" he asked, feeling and seeing you shift nervously.

"Nothing. It's just... I'm tired, you know, every seam in my clothes irritates me." You mumbled.

"I already told you to keep something more comfortable at my place." you rolled your eyes and Harry chuckled "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not keeping my clothes in the boss's apartment." you replied, taking a sip of cold wine "That's unprofessional."

"Now this," he pointed at himself and you sitting on his couch, "that's professional, right?"

"Oh, never mind." you snorted but couldn't hide your smile and after a moment Harry also chuckled.

He liked spending time with you. There was something about it that made him feel free, like he could take off his tie and just be himself. Yes, he was a mature man, he knew his worth, but with you, a lot of things just seemed easier. Like he didn't have to pretend to follow rules and regulations. He didn't have that with other employees, only with you.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You already did." you replied, and seeing his face you lightly nudged him in the shoulder "Sure, ask."

"What was between you and Daniel? Of course, if you don't want to, you don't have to answer, but I was wondering... You seemed really upset after you met him."

You were silent for a moment and Harry thought that he might have crossed some line. Maybe the question was too intimate, too personal. But finally he heard your voice.

"We met through mutual friends. He started as a lawyer, quickly climbing the career ladder. I did my own thing, you know, but I wasn't as flashy as he was. We were together for two years, I think..." you closed your eyes, wrinkling your nose slightly as if you wanted to remember something, Harry was silent, watching you

"I was really in love. I supported him in everything he did, I practiced what he was supposed to say with him, ironed his shirts and stuff like that. I totally gave myself to him... At one of the parties he met Beth. I wasn't there because I had to be at work, the boss wouldn't let me off. Beth is different from me, better than me, you saw it yourself."

You smiled, looking at Harry, but the corners of his mouth barely twitched. He was staring at you attentively, listening carefully to every word. You lowered your gaze. 

"Daniel started dating her. He didn't even tell Beth he was in a relationship... I found out by accident. It was like a slap in the face. We started arguing and he blamed everything on me... I believed him. I believed every word he said. I was in a bad place at the time." 

You fell silent again for a moment, those memories must still be hurting you. A little hesitantly, but Harry reached out and squeezed your forearm in a supportive gesture. You smiled slightly.

"Huh! We broke up, of course. Daniel got together with Beth, officially. She was and still is a beautiful woman by his side, now carrying their child. It took me longer to get myself together and now I'm here. I'm drinking wine with my boss and telling him the pathetic story of my relationship."

You wanted to laugh, but just like that time at the wedding, the laughter died in your throat. Harry leaned slightly towards you, his voice calm and soothing.

"Daniel told you that you were a lot to handle?"

You nodded and quickly put your hand to your cheek, trying to wipe away a tear unnoticed.

"I'm sorry." Harry said quickly, placing a hand on your shoulder and caressing you "I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's okay!" you replied quickly, although your voice trembled "I'm telling it for the first time in so long, huh, I thought I was over it. But it hurt a little when I saw him, with her, so happy."

"Yeah, I understand that."

You finally looked at him, smiling even though your eyes were slightly red from the tears that had gathered in them. Your hand found his, squeezing it lightly.

"It's okay, really. Don't worry. I'm even glad you asked. I haven't talked about it with anyone. It's good to get it off my chest."

"I still feel guilty." Harry mumbled.

"Unnecessarily, really." You drank the wine to the end and put the glass on the table. "It's a bit embarrassing, sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for anything. To be fair, Daniel should apologize to you. He shouldn't have done that, he should have been honest with you from the beginning."

You waved your hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter anymore, Harry. I'm in a different place now. I have a cool job, my boss is okay too. I manage somehow."

You both laughed quietly until silence reigned again. And then Harry decided to say what had been on his mind for some time. Maybe it wasn't the right time, but when would there ever be one? He was still holding your hand, you were sitting so close, and he felt like he had to get it out.

"You're not a lot to handle." You looked up at him, surprised. "To tell you the truth, I think it was my lucky day when you showed up in my office for the first time. Remember?"

"This is embarrassing too, Harry. Let's not go back to this." You said, the corners of your mouth twitching even though your eyes were still scared. You waited to hear what he was getting at and you felt fear welling up inside you.

"It wasn't your fault. And you're not a lot to handle. Don't even believe it. You're worth so much more..."

You stared at him as if enchanted. Harry had such wonderful eyes, you noticed it from the first day, and since then you reminded yourself of it every now and then. And in that moment you saw almost everything in them - care, sincerity, sympathy.

"Don't say that, or I'll fall in love with you." You joked, but he didn't laugh.

"Would that be so bad?"

Something tightened your throat when you saw him leaning closer to you. He was too close, your lips inches apart, his scent filling your nostrils. "I have to go." You blurted out quickly and jumped up, freeing your hand from his.

"I..." Harry began uncertainly, but you had already grabbed your laptop and quickly shoved it into your bag "Listen, I didn't want to..."

"It's totally okay!" you said a little too quickly and too nervously, throwing your bag over your shoulder and slipping your shoes on "I really have to go now."

Harry wanted to say something else, but his head was completely empty. So he just watched as you gathered your things, threw a quick "See you!" and headed for the exit, closing the door quietly behind you.

Harry fell onto the sofa and rubbed his face with his hands, letting out a quiet groan.

☆☆☆☆

Thank you for your time.

taglist: @nrschuster30 @maried01 @lunariantears @thatesqcrush @suzysface @youkeeno @legoemma @nuo0n @sarahhxx03 @hazzzy418 @pedrofan @peepawispunk @readingiskeepingmegoing @maryfanson @anoverwhelmingdin @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @axshadows @picketniffler @underneath-the-sky-again @kaysfanficcorner @noisynightmarepoetry @xmaykeca @orcasoul @sincerelywithheartt

[leaderpinhead]

Ortho - Hack Attack

Prompt: Doll

Ortho paused when he felt an uncomfortable nudge in the back of his conscience. He activated his firewall programs and analyzed the foreign presence. “I think someone is attempting to hack my systems.” 

The others paused to stare back at him. When Ortho had mentioned the tech expo a few weeks ago, he had been surprised by how the others naturally began planning the short weekend trip. Even Sebek loudly proclaimed how foolish it was for them to travel to a foreign place with no protection and included himself after receiving Lilia’s blessing. They were an odd group walking around the small convention center, but Ortho would have only been happier if Idia had tagged along with them. 

“You mean," Yuu slowly said, “someone is trying to attack you?” 

Ortho hummed. “I suppose in simple terms that would be accurate. They’re not being very hostile. I would say they were more testing my firewalls out of curiosity. Some of the other guys in the dorm ask to do the same for practice developing their own anti-malware programs.” 

No sooner had the words left him did the presence return with a much higher intensity. A piercing pain briefly raked through him. He huffed to cover a wince. “That’s just rude!” 

“They trying to hack you again?” Ace asked. He looked less concerned and more relaxed than Yuu, folding his hands behind his head. “Guess we shouldn't be too surprised. These nerds have been practically drooling over you since we got here.” 

“They thought you were some kind of… autonomous doll?” Jack added, only slightly stumbling over the phrase. His ears flicked back and forth from the constant echo of voices in the large room. “They even asked Deuce what AI software was installed in you” 

Ace snorted. “Like Dunce here looks smart enough to program a toaster.” 

While Deuce and Ace bantered with each other, Ortho focused on his attacker. It was easy enough to create a decoy to distract the hacker while Ortho followed the remote connection back to its source. They were clearly amateurs, neglecting to realize they left themselves completely open to a counterattack. Ortho made quick work of their systems. 

“All done!” Ortho said cheerfully when his consciousness returned to his frame. Deuce sputtered mid-word, and Jack jumped beside Ortho. “I won’t have to worry about them anymore.” 

From across the conference room came a distressed shout. “My computer’s smoking!” 

“What the heck? Mine’s playing outdated memes over and over again.” 

Grim snickered on Yuu’s shoulder. “That’ll teach ‘em to think twice about messing with us!” 

“I have to become more proficient with the technology they have here!” Sebek declared. “If Malleus was attacked in the same manner, then I would be completely useless. I will not allow that to happen!” 

“I don’t think you have to worry too much about that,” Ortho said. No longer concerned with his attackers, he moved to the next booth in their path. “But I would be happy to show you how to counter a cyber-attack!” 

Sebek agreed and started planning their “intense training sessions” as they walked together. The overall good mood they had been experiencing slowly returned, and Ortho was relieved the interruption didn’t completely ruin their day. He dealt with the other hacking attempts quietly, though he was sure Yuu caught on to what he was doing after the fourth monitor they passed started playing a loop of a cat flying on a rainbow. 

[silvernskye]

my god this post is massive

note: the conferences are going to be mostly uk ones based bc that where i am

feel free to ask questions, i want to talk to people about this!

Conference the first - The Oxford Real Farming Conference

[youtube]

a yearly uk conference of farmers that are farming in alternative ways (mostly organic & regen) since 2010

not to be mistaken with the Oxford Faming conference which is the usual industrial farming conference (but there seem to be increasing regen ag talk over the years)

both happen around the same time in january and have their archive on youtube for free

the orfc was created bc farmers were frustrated that they couldnt find a place to discuss more progressive ag ideas

not all sessions get recorded as video, some are audio only (you can find them on the website), only a couple dont get recorded at all

sessions ive watched

ive barely started watching/listening to the sessions this year but here are some that i have watched & i found interesting:

Doing Dairy Differently

a talk about doing dairy better like keeping the calf with the mothers, rotational grazing, ect & the benefits and challenges trying to do that

Farmers — Saving More Lives Than Pharma

a talk by Dr Jenny Goodman, a doctor who uses organic food (and other stuff) as a tool to cure various illness (bc almost everyone is deficient in micro nutrients and micro-dosing on pesticides really doesnt help)

she has some good books with very actionable advice for the individual and with a lot of peer reviewed citations

the books are 'Staying Alive in Toxic Times: A Seasonal Guide to Lifelong Health' (ive read this one, got it from the library) and 'Getting Healthy In Toxic Times'

Homegrown Fashion: The British Fibres Regenerating Landscaoes and Creativity

panel that covers the state of the native british fibres and their industry of wool, linen, hemp and leather:

Fantasy Fibre Mill - developing open source linen and hemp processing machinery for the mid-scale/farm-level (uk has lost all processing infrastructure)

British Pasture Leather - a company developing the supply chain for leather from pasture for life (uk grassfed label)

Fernhill Farm & Fernhill Fibre - mixed livestock farm that is part of the south west england fibreshed, processes and sells their own wool and clothing, holds traditional blade sheep shearing competitions, records and monitors their carbon & biodiversity and and is verified as regenerative

Contempory Hempery - grows hemp for fine fibre fabric and aims to process the hemp into fibre and fabric

Growing the Rainbow: LGBTQ+ Perspectives in Landwork

Indie Food Retail: Challenges, Learnings and Success Stories

sessions i havent yet watched

here are some havent watched/listened to yet and you might want to too (very roughly categorised):

socialish stuff

Roots of Resistance: Farming in Palestine

Smash Imperialism! For a New Trade Framework Based on Solidarity!

Rooting for Diversity: Cultivating Farms for Neurodiversity To Thrive

WORKSHOP: Cultivating Long-Term Solidarity with Farmers in Palestine

WORKSHOP: Reparations — Learning From Examples Existing Within Modernity

farming stuff

Making Public Farmland Work for the Public Interest

Creating New Crofts: A Pathway Towards Land Justice?

Is a Fossil Free Food System Possible?

WORKSHOP: Farms and Kitchens — Forging Connections Between Food Citizenship Hubs

WORKSHOP: Beyond the Tech Divide: Rethinking Innovation for Agroecology

What Might Insect Sentience Mean for Agroecology?

Better Meat, More Plants: Opportunities for Farmers?

FARM DEEP DIVE: Our Journey into Nature Friendly Livestock Farming

animals & meat

WORKSHOP: Deer Are Food for the Future (deer is a big problem in the uk bc of lack of natural predators)

Pigs, Environmental Engineers or Architects of Destruction?

Sustainable Meat: Minimise Transport, Slaughter Humanely, Stay Profitable (about small abattoirs, very important for animal welfare and sustainable meat production (both in the profitable and the ecology sense); we are are losing them so fast, tw: discussions of animal death & butchery)

Rise of the Planet of the Chicken

Ensuring a Just Transition from Intensive Livestock

grains

WORKSHOP: Next Steps in Building a New Cereal Seed System

Increasing Home-Grown Protein in an Organic Farming System (about growing native non-soya feed for animals)

other produce

WORKSHOP: Learning to Connect with the Ocean

WORKSHOP: Adding Flowers to Your Farm: Increasing Profits and Pollinators

Can Farmed Salmon Ever Be Sustainable

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Anna Stanley

If Hamas's associates organizing protests across Europe is not concerning enough, they also exert significant political influence. Al-Zeer is the CEO of European Palestinian Council for Political Relations (EUPAC), a political lobbying group in Brussels. EUPAC states it "works to achieve its goals through civil, political and diplomatic means." EUPAC claims thirteen members are "placed all around Europe, and they are in contact with members of state parliaments around the continent, not only the MEPs. This provides us with a very broad net of support that is convergent at all the levels."

EUPAC officials claim to use the "European system of law and human rights to our advantage" and works with the International Crime Court to focus on "Israeli military personnel who also have European passports...we want the EU to create a system of punishment for them."

In 2013, Israel designated EUPAC's deputy CEO, Mazen Kahel, because of his involvement with Hamas.

Al-Zeer's PRC, meanwhile, regularly organizes and has spoken at the European Palestinians Conference (EPC), held annually in Europe since 2003. Speakers have even reportedly included Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other senior leaders of the terror group.

A significant proportion of Hamas's activities are subsidized through funding and lobbying efforts provided by Western organizations. Government inaction and lawfare tactics by Hamas's proxies has allowed these organizations to flourish with impunity throughout Europe.

Al-Zeer has served as a crucial figure in the European Hamas industry for decades. Itai Reuveni, Director of Communications for NGO Monitor, argues this "demonstrates that European governments have failed to address the deadly nexus of terrorism, NGOs, and financial support. Numerous reports from both governments and civil society present open-source information that clearly exposes the connections between NGOs and designated terrorist organizations."

He warned: "However, when it comes to Palestinian terror groups, many European governments choose to turn a blind eye. These NGOs continue to operate in Europe, receiving funding, sometimes even from European governments themselves, which enables them to propagate hatred and incitement and in some cases to serve as a civilian facade for murderous terrorist organizations."

[digitalfootprinthider]

Expeditions

Not me waiting a more than a year to write something again lol

Its probably on the same shitty quality then the last one, but the motivation (Y/N and N/Y damm) got to me, hopefully i wont wait a year for the next one.

(I have no idea if I should make it Levi or Erwin focused, but I'm leaning towards Levi)

Hopefully u like it:)

Sitting on 3-5 hour long meetings with old rich man, is not considered to be anyone's desired past time activity, me included, but here I am. And I'm here for good reason, and I’ll be dammed if I go home empty handed now. That doesn't mean I wasn't considering breaking the painted rose glasses any second to bleed myself dry at the beginnings- Even though it as my idea.

Involving politics in the scouts fundamentally was a controversial idea, but you cant deny its success. Between the last 4 expeditions, and the latter ones that I’ve been in is an incredibly big difference, and they can thank Erwin and me for it. With the new funding we can now have an actually working and significant medical crew-on scene, a long needed upgrade for the gears - the ODM has never felt better to use, if only I could practice with them more often, and of course the money to implement Erwin's new formation.

It took as more than a year of non-stop extra work, but after laying the foundation of the new, 13th commander-ship things have been more or less smooth-sailing, I’ve had to pay a hefty price for it, but its rewards more than outweighs the cost.

And one of those costs is sacrificing squad leadership for 5 hour meetings.

The “38th expedition funding action” has been going on for 29 days- and if everything goes right, this is the closing act.

A series of endless meetings, and persuading, fighting and a whole lot of boredom and annoyment. I start with going straight to wall Sheena and putting together an “opening” conference where I explain our plans (meaning: what they want to hear) and ballpark the amount of funding we’re gonna need (and multiply it by 1.5, at least). They seem extremely content with just living our entire life within these walls, so one has to make it really appealing for them to give us their money- so far the commander change was interesting enough for them, but next time I have to come up with something extra.

After I’m letting them sit on their asses for a bit- at the beginning we tried to speed things up, and it wasn't working. After around 2 weeks I came back and the final part of hell can start. the series of never ending meetings. They want to know what we do with every penny of their generous donations, and what happens every minute after we leave the walls. I quickly realized telling the full truth is the worse you can do here, but fully lying is also a bad option. It has to be promising enough- but you have to be careful not to sell it too much, I’m trying to push down my crazy, conspiracy part of my brain, but its hard to. They hate any kind of machinery upgrades (medical, gears, even just small improvements) so I downplay that, but also convince them that its gonna have a good impact on them, not on the general public, THEM specifically. Its basically hell. They are so out of touch with the reality, but at the same time the one controlling everything. The king is a little more sympathetic to out mission, but we all know the reach of his power.

Its hard to decide which is worse. the part upside, or the time I spend in those 2-ish weeks. Going home, as much as I would love to do, would be a waste of time, as traveling back, and to here again takes so long. To make myself useful, I go to the actual hell, the underground. Along with my involving politics idea, was to involve the “normal people”. It’s clear we have the most disadvantages in the military, so using every source of help should be a given, so I thought.

The passing to and from the underground is highly monitored, and it wouldn’t make the best impression on the people I’m trying to get funding from to find out I’m paying visits to the people they consider dirty pigs, so I had to find other means of entering. This, at the beginning may or may have required me to pretend to be dead.

That one year hard, extra work was partly spent here, establishing connections to possible intelligences. The underground is literally a pit of crime and shit. One of these is very useful to me. Getting extra info is incredibly useful to us, even if we mainly operate outside of the walls, the hope of a better tomorrow includes the insides of the walls too. Plus taking credit away from the MPs, and stopping some criminals is surprisingly helpful with recruitment numbers, and the general public opinion on us.

This sounds like an all high and mighty higher propose, and as much as it might be, its also the hardest most frustrating existence, not even mentioning what its like to be down there- I try to push that part down as much as possible though.

That is getting increasingly harder, listening to the mentioned rich men, the barley there king and nobleman question your very existence and every step of the expedition. Fortunately it is the second half, as we just crossed the 5 hour mark on the meeting, with Nobleman Wald shitting on us for a banging 30 minutes. some of the others has already signed off on their contributions, but Wald, being from one of the most influential family means that the rest of the money depends on convincing him- the others follow in his footsteps like good lapdogs.

‘Okay, I understand the expedition plan, and the budget needed’ it only took is in about 40 hours total to get here. ‘But dear, why in the hell's would I give it to you? You spoke of the fatality rate dropping, and the efficiency being better, but there was no great discovery.’ He stood up and theatrically spread his arms. ‘It was fun to watch Commander Erwin try new things, sure But what's the point? and even so, The walls are there for a reason, dear’ In reply his little doggies nodded their heads and started whispering among themselves. It’s so nice to have the same conversation for the hundreds of time.

Of course this wouldn't be an end meeting, if in the last moment one of the biggest piggy bank would decide to be a good one, and just donate. Even without their contribution we can put together a smaller expedition, but losing our streak of successes with a smaller one would just weaken us more.

Its time to put my non existent charisma abilities to use. I kept my face straight, and sitting straight - looking as professional as possible, I hope.

‘Mister Wald, and those who share his worries as it seems’ I look into their eyes. ‘This seems to be recurring worry every meeting’ I let a small smile go, instead of just banging their- then my skull against a hard surface. ‘These three walls are nothing sort of a blessing as we all know, but we just simply cannot allow our species to be stuck in these circle bounds forever. We need to go out every so often to explore this world, try to get some answers and..’ the the big boom, that never fails- ‘to keep the titans at bay. If we won’t consistently go out to eliminate as much as possible, who knows how long till they attack this blessing protecting us?’ To bring the point home, I looked into the eyes of the church members.

This seemed to have helped my case a little by the look in Wald eyes. He reached for the paper folder- they just have to write an amount and sign it off- and so he did.

‘I’m doing this for our protection, but my dear if You can’t deliver on your end with something new there wont be any more of these funding's form me’ He sent me a less then nice look, and of course as he passed the paper around the little monkeys followed in his lead. This may have been more upsetting to me If I would have had more than 2% of mental strength left in me.

I thanked them and took my leave.

---

They weren’t kidding. Reading the papers on the way home was an experience. We got around 25% less money, as I thought before, it won't stop the expedition from happening, but there will be some cuts for sure. That’s mostly for Erwin, and future me to worry about. Now, the time comes for my few and far between sleeping times. Carriages became nearly the only spot where I can sleep without worrying about randomly getting murdered.

Finally getting back to the HQ would have been a good feeling, but if its anything like in the past few visits, I'm not staying for long. Erwin has taken up a habit of thinking, that just because I co-created this notion of involving politics and every man in the scouts I am alone responsible for this whole "operation". One that he supported very much.

As I walk through the building to get to yet an other meeting, this time discussing the 38th expedition, - I cant help but feel at home. I've been here for nearly 8 years, 3 as a cadet, 5-ish as an absolute member, the best part of my life, and now this hybrid between soldier and motivational speaker.

I really miss just spending time together, like the group eatings, the meetings - here they actually always have a fucking point, and of course the trainings: both as a trainee now nearly a decade ago, and as a trainer. The worst to always leave behind is the people. As a scout, especially a good one, you have to be used to people leaving you- but when you’re the one leaving is different, even if its to help them. I'm desperate to have deep talks with Miche and Nanaba again, discussing the most pointless shit, and then some innovation with Hange, and sometimes I would even start to miss Levi. I’m pretty sure he hates me though.

I don’t think I’ve ever spoke to him for more than 5 minutes, You don't need to look at him twice to know he is not one for small talk, and he only joined about a year ago, that normally indicate at least eleven or twelve life altering traumas here at the scouts, but it has been a quiet year for him - other then his, I think siblings dying of course, but first-expedition-closest-friend-death shouldn't count, that happens to everyone. the most personal Information I know about him is his family name but its good to have an other skillful person around here.

But I miss Erwin the most. In Shadis’s time we were closer than ever. always planning, talking and brainstorming. When he became the 13th commander it was bittersweet. We both knew it was the end of our close friendship but a birth of a better leadership.

When I got to the planning room, I enter without knocking. '-point in talking without knowing the numbers!' I can hear Hange say as I enter. They are sitting like always. Its a bigger room then most, but the large wood table takes up most of the place, - Its so big we couldn't order it, I still remember making it. We could kill titans pretty easily, but it took us way too long to get one table together. The arrangement is the same as always: Erwin sitting at the front, Hange on his right, Miche on the other, Levi leaning on the side of the table and Nanaba on the other front. When I walked in they looked up, and judging by their previous discussion and their face expression were happy to see me, as the actual planning could be started.

'Its nice to have you back again' It came from Miche first, and he came to give me a good pat in the back with a chuckle, and he wouldn’t be Miche if I wouldn't hear some sniffing as well. 'Yeah, I've started to miss the smell of horseshit and despair, so sniff me while I still smell like old money.’ I gave him a hard pat on his back too. He was followed by Hange who hugged me, They whispered a 'Missed you' to me, witch made me hug them back tightly. Normally I would have been very embarrassed by this big welcome, but I guess going away made me soft. So might as well embrace it. I walked to Nanaba, who gave me smirk while still sitting and gave I her a side hug to witch she leaned her head to my waist.

We had a weird “relationship” I don't really know him enough to form a strong opinion on him, partly thanks to me never really being here, only when, like now, we’re doing an expedition. When he joined, we used to train together a lot. Along with Miche, we were the only ones really keeping up with him. When he realized my newer role here, it became pretty clear he thinks I’m escaping and running off from the hardships here to wine and dine with the top 1% or something. So weird though, when I offered him to take my place he didn't seem to accept it.

‘Wow, not even standing up to greet your dear friend, you’re a monster’ I looked at her and disappointingly shook my head- to witch she only pitched my sides.

When I got into my own place- leaning against the table too, across Levi, Erwin spoke up. 'You had a good journey I hope?' he asked, giving me a small smile. I was starting to really miss him.

'As well as it could have been, I guess, but we need to talk when you have time.' He nodded, and I sent him a small smile as well. I looked towards Levi, the only one I didn't greet yet, and I did so with a head nod, and he sent me one back. I don't really make connections on my own, most of my relationships came out of trauma bonding, and workplace talking, Both of witch I didn't had with him.

'So?' Asks Levi. ‘Are you going to share, or you just came in here for a meet and greet?’ Oh yes, I really did miss this. I shot him a quick smile.

‘Now that you mention it, maybe I should say hi to the others first, where are my manners? ’I said, and he gave a very kind look.

I put the folder containing all the checks on the table, but before pushing it to Erwin I suck on my lower lips and leaned on the table with both hands.

‘Its not that pretty’ Some of their brows furrowed. ‘Don't worry, its more than enough, but noticeably less’ I finally pushed it to Erwin when he nodded.

He read it thoroughly, and we passed it around for everybody to see. Based on their faces they were a bit surprised, but not sad or angry- that's a good sign. Erwin had his thinking face on. We’re getting the plan soon.

It's nice to know that's the first thought from his head, not that the famously anti-scouts nobleman's decided to give less money to support something they are clearly against. I really couldn't care less if he dislikes me, but suggesting I'm incompetent in something I've been doing for damm longer the he is is just annoying.

But first to not leave anything out, Levi had to give out his daily dose of assholery.

'You must have done something. Its nearly half of it. Aren’t you supposed to be good at this if you abandon your place for this?' He looks at me with an accusational look.

'Okay, first of all I don’t know what kind of math they teach down there’ Except I kind of do.’ But you have to do some impressive mental gymnastics to say this is the HALF of the usual, but Yes, I’ve spent the last few weeks sabotaging the operation I'VE came up with, because watching even more people die on an underfunded expedition is just priceless' I send him a judging glare. If eyes could kill, we both would have been 6 feet under. Not that he isn't used to that.

I turn to the others and speak up again.

'There has been some change though. Your distanced enemy scouting formation has been a big money booster for a while, but it seems to be dyeing out ' I look at Erwin.

'Some are still easy to convince, but they don't see the point of us going out for “no reason”' I do air quotes with my fingers. ‘I guess they wanna see some discovery, landmark or something.’ That's gonna be a hard one to do, but never impossible. There HAS to be something outside, and We’re gonna find it- the question is, is it gonna be soon enough for us to do it with extra funding or not.

‘As far as I know we don’t have any leads, but maybe I'm not all caught up.’

Everyone seems to be deep in thinking up some sort of idea for this.

‘Ookay, seems like an easy solve to me.’ Nanaba said. ‘We just make it up, right? Maybe we found a big titan nest and removed or something.’ I’ve thought about is as well, it may be a good last resort, but I wouldn’t want to lie to the whole population if it can be helped.

‘Or, just go ahead with the one we already have’ Hange jumped in, if they mean what I think, its gonna be good. ‘We capture one or two tit-’

‘NO Hange! I already said no!’ Miche broke them off. This plan of theirs was brewing for a while, but it seemed like maybe it can finally start. Personally, I’m not against it, especially now. It’s so out of pocket the rich may even support it-If its far enough form them.

Levi and me kept being quiet. I’ve had my own ideas, but I’m waiting for Erwin first, and by the looks of it him too.

Thankfully we never have to wait long for a plan from him.

[labyrinthofsphinx]

Statistical Outliers

Part 7 of drabble. I'm calling it. I'm just writing them long now. Also, this one has Valentino and Angel, just as a heads up. Nothing graphic but a warning. Also a little suggestive because, again, Valentino.

“Welcome to the show everybody! Hope everyone’s been having a marvelous week!”

Vox spun in his chair, greeted to the captive audience behind his televisions. The morning show was a fan favorite, always has been. Honestly, he takes a lot of pride in it. It’s just him for the most part, spouting off whatever relevant nonsense there was for the time. He gave a brief recap of what was going on in the world above, something he had to sneak in from sources that actually went up there. If he got a few details wrong, eh, no big deal. It’s not like anyone can fact check him down here anyways. For the newly introduced to Hell, it was a good way to grab their attention. And that only meant more viewers in the long run.

“Coffee’s done.”

The kid ran over into his monitor room, pulling his attention away from his cyber studio for a moment. The smell of warm coffee jumped up to greet him, and he gladly took it off the kid’s hands. Ah, as perfect as last time.

“Still a crap cup of coffee.” He said. The kid didn’t believe him anymore. He just swayed happily in place as Vox kept taking sips.

He kind of wanted to squeeze the ever loving hell of out him. He settled for roughing up the top of his fur.

“Hey, I just fixed that!” He tried to bat back the invading assault, but Vox had much bigger hands and a much longer reach. There was little he could do.

“Yeah? Complain to someone who cares.”

The programs went on, switching from news, to commercials, to the morning sitcoms. He noticed the kid paying attention to his spy drones’ footage, of his fellow hotel mates dragging themselves out to go look for him again. Alastor noticed the camera. He posed for it, the smiley freak. He flicked the footage away, switching it to the camera just outside.

Velvette was there, pacing. She was deciding how she wanted to start this, Vox knew. Was she going to try for the innocent act? Was she going to storm in raging? She had a hundred different faces for her followers, but Vox fell for exactly zero of them.

Delighted, he took another sip of coffee.

“Don’t say a word.” He told the kid.

Bang! Bang!

“Vox! Open the fucking door, now!” Brattish it is then! Wonder how long she’ll keep it up. “And fix the fucking Wi-Fi! It’s been buggy all day!”

“Be there in a moment, Vel!” He lied. “Still running some new security features into the mainframe. The Wi-Fi will probably be a little spotty for a while!”

“Ugh!” She screamed. “Is my toy in there with you? I couldn’t do my morning post without him!”

Vox rolled his eyes playfully. The kid had to cover a laugh with a hand.

“Yeah, he’s here! Not to worry, I’m taking good care of him until your done with all those projects you’ve got!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Give him back right fucking now! He’s mine! You gave him to me!”

“And I’m just taking him off your hands until you’re less distracted, Vel! If you have more than enough time for pranks, surely you can finish those clothes for Val, draw up plans for the next season, and throw out a few more ads for our products.” Act like a child, don’t be surprised when you’re treated like one.

His sharks have taken a special interest in the kid, and not in the ‘I want to eat it’ way. It was rare that Vox let someone into his space for long. Even Vel and Val were only momentary intruders. Sure, they saw them in the conference room, but they tended to ignore them since nothing fun ever came from the conference room. The kid couldn’t have been more enchanted by his vicious friends. He didn’t touch the acrylic on Vox’s orders, but he was getting as close as he could and ogling.

“Vee, come on! That’s not fair!” She called out, a little more pained this time.

Ah, already switched from ‘Vox’ to ‘Vee’. The Wi-Fi thing must really be bothering her.

“Can’t be helped! Not to worry, the update is almost done.” He lied again.

He gazed out into the sea of his audience. Many of them had those headphones of his, quite a few of them had the eared version. Some odder cases seemed to be trying to make the standard one look like those special editions, but the ears were wrong and didn’t glow right. He noticed though another new fad popping up. Long shirts and oversized hoodies with homemade designs on them, especially running up the arms. In particular, different tread marks seemed to be of interest. Huh. One look at the kid explained that one.

It wasn’t widespread yet, but he could see the pattern before it emerged. Velvette would pick it up in no time, patent it, and let it sell like hotcakes. Well, best let her get started on it then.

“Darling,” Velvette’s voice was much softer this time. He did always like being called ‘darling’. Something about it just rubbed the right way. “please open the door? The prank was just a stupid-”

The doors opened themselves. The kid gave him a look, a joke hiding behind his lips. Vox quietly shushed him.

“My dear, I’m sorry about the wait. You know how absorbed I get into things.” He said, swinging his chair around as she walked up the catwalk. “The update should be done now. Let me know how it works.”

She checked her phone for a second, then brought herself back to look at him.

“You’re not still mad? Right?”

“I wasn’t mad to begin with! Only concerned. Can’t have my best girl stressing herself out and pulling herself too thin. Next time, if you have an issue, just bring it up. You know I’ve got a fix for everything. Especially ways to de-stress.”

With that, he snapped his fingers. His former technician that had been dangling above the shark tank, paralyzed by a complete excess of volts running his system, was unceremoniously dropped. The kid pulled back in silent horror as the man was quickly ripped to pieces. He looked like he was going to hurl. That’s what you get for mistaking his sharks as friendly dogs, he wanted to tease.

Velvette watched with half interest. Then, from the blue, she jumped up and kissed the side of his face. Her black lipstick left an obvious mark, but she didn’t wipe it away. Must be feeling slightly possessive then, he assumed. She pulled him in for a quick pic, being sure to get the kid in the background looking around the room. She didn’t post it though, instead made it her new screensaver.

She was still for just a moment, then she stole his coffee mug and took a sip.

“Ugh, Vee, you have the worst taste in coffee.”

Velvette was the type to go to a coffee store and make the barista regret ever getting up in the morning. If she was at the bar, she was just as bad to the bartender, especially if the drink didn’t look good enough for Voxtagram. His tastes were a lot more simple. Nothing he drank ever made her happy. She still insisted on trying it though, almost every time. Lipstick stains on his mug and his face, she was finally content enough to head out.

“Cutie pie, come on! We’ve got work to do. Val’s whores aren’t going to dress themselves.” She called the kid over with a flick of her finger. He didn’t immediately follow. Instead, a silent exchange happened between him and Vox.

Yeah, go with her. She’s fine.

And he bounded after her.

When the door closed again, Vox took to his chair. Vel’s lipstick added a sweetness to his drink that wasn’t there before. He always liked how it tasted, but maybe next time not in his coffee. Before him, Hell kept turning. The morning news gave way to the TV specials and his reality shows. ‘Yeah, I Fucked Your Sister, So What?’ was showcasing a double feature, two sisters and one guy. He’s not sure if they were going to kill each other first or their so-called man.

Whatever the case, he scrolled through some of his other work in the meantime. A few inventors tossed ideas up to him, hoping to gain favor and get their products endorsed by the biggest tech name in Hell. Most of them were scams, and not even well-hidden ones. He put a special tab on these ones and set them aside. He had a special show for those types, one where he, Velvette, and Valentino sit in hotseats, picking apart people’s designs and ideas. Vox already did all the work behind the scenes. He knew which ones were worth the investment. It made for good television whenever all three of them seemed to agree that an idea was great, and it also was just as good when an idea was so bad that they dropped the presenter into the tank below.

It made everyone feel like they had a shot at getting a contract with the big bosses, if you were willing to bet it all.

And, personally, he always loved watching them squirm, even when he knew he wanted the product.

It wasn’t too long later that he decided that he really ought to check on Alastor’s loser squad. Now that the kid was gone and he didn’t have to see the sad eyes, he brought it back up.

He nearly had a heart attack.

Alastor’s malicious sneer was dangerously close to one of his drones, too close for the camera to survive the onslaught of his dark magic.  Symbols and green wisps of evil started to strangle the life out of the little machine. Al’s yellow teeth contorted like a snake and goblin shark hybrid.

“Hello, old pal.”

Vox disconnected the drone. He just completely shut it down, dragged the code from the mainframe. If he even tried hacking in, the whole system would fight to push him out, considering it the same as a virus.

Everything is fine, Vox. You’re fine. Deep breaths.

The kid’s still here. He’s fine. He’s with Velvette.

…but just to be safe.

He found him right by Vel’s side, holding a bunch of clothes in his arms as they climbed down the levels in the elevator. See? He’s fine. Nothing bad’s going to-

Wait. Were they going to Val’s studio?

He spat out his coffee. Vel? What were you doing? You can’t take him in there with all those…well, Val’s people.

It got worse. It got so much worse. Because Angel Dust was there early, already on set and already ready to jump into that sultry little dress Vel made for the movie poster.

Oh, no. No, no! Bad! Very bad!

Vel, do something! Get him out of there! Wha-! No! Don’t just walk away! That dime store whore doesn’t not need your attention as much as the kid does right now!

Vel walked off to dress the girls, leaving the kid holding a great big pile of clothes, in the middle of Val’s set. Angel Dust looked like he had the wind dragged from his sails. Even the makeup could only do so much to cover up too many sleepless nights. He dragged his feet and sat down in his studio chair, a sigh ripping from him.

“You know, I really wish on days like these that I wasn’t trying to stay sober.”

Apparently, those big ears weren’t just for show. Despite everyone else in the room, and the smooth music, and the re-wind of Val and his director’s cut of the film, the kid lit up.

“Angel?”

The spider reacted like someone just shot something hard straight to his brain, like he might be concerned he was going crazy. All eight eyes sprung wide as the kid put the clothes down on a nearby loveseat.

“Drift! Oh my God! You’re alive! Holy shit!” He leapt up, arms open wide to grab him.

Panic leapt into his chest. He didn’t know the specifics of Val’s deal. Did it only apply if Vox handed him over? Did it only mean they had to ‘try’ to find the kid? What did he specifically mean about the return policy? There were too many ‘ifs’. Far too many for Vox to let this go any further.

He tore into the wires, moving as fast as possible. Lightning could move almost as fast as light could. Even following the current, Vox made it in more than enough time to rip right out of the nearby camera and directly in between the two of them.

All around, everything buzzed. The lights flickered. His rush left a small wake of rumbling sound, echoing with the acoustics of this place. He kept a smile plastered to his face, but anyone could tell it was more of a threat.

Angel, surprisingly, jumped straight from shock to rage.

“You motherfucker-!”

“Now, now.” Vox started. “Let’s not do or say anything you might regret.”

“Ah, Angelcakes! I see you’ve met our newest little pet project.” Val sauntered over from his director’s chair, stepping up behind Vox. His four arms dipped down. Two of them grabbed the kid by the shoulders, keeping him snugly in place. The other two played with his face, grabbing his muzzle much too hard and forcing him to look up at him. “He’s just adorable. The perfect little plaything.”

The kid was shaking. He couldn’t struggle from Val’s grasp, and he’s not even sure how much he could breath with Val holding his face like that. Worse, how Val had said that. Even to Vox, it sounded wrong.

Which is so weird, because he knew that Valentino had no interest in kids, ever. Not because he was bothered by it or something, but more so because kids weren’t ‘sexy’.

That didn’t change the fact that, that had creeped the fuck out of Vox.

And if it had creeped Vox out, he can only imagine what Angel’s mind jumped to. Soul contract be damned, Angel looked ready to tear Val’s face off.

“If you touched that kid, I swear to god-”

“Val.” Vox interjected. His new speakers drowned out any other sound in the place, including the rest of Angel’s little rant, just in the nick of time. “A word. Alone.”

Valentino was a little too pleased with himself. He put the kid down slowly before directing Angel back to the set. The whisp of smoke formed a chain for a second, tethered to the spider’s neck.

“Sit right there and don’t move. I’ll be back in a minute.”

While Val was doing that, Vox leaned down to the kid quickly.

“You okay?”

“He can’t do that to Angel.” He argued, coughing as he wrung his hands by the harsh lines now imprinted on his neck.

“He can do whatever he wants to Angel. He owns him.”

“That’s not fair-”

“Fair or not, Angel’s an adult. He made his own decision.” Did he really believe that? Sort of, consent was always questionable with addicts. “But if you don’t want to get him or yourself into worse trouble, don’t move. Don’t go to Angel. Just stay right here until I get back.”

It destroyed him on the inside, Vox could see that. All he wanted to do was run over and check on his friend. But, thankfully, it seemed like he trusted Vox’s judgement enough to heed his warning. He stayed still, tail pulling between his legs as the surrounding employees just seemed to notice what was going on.

Vox gestured for Val to follow him to Angel’s dressing room. It was mostly soundproof, for obvious reasons, which made it ideal for what Vox had in mind. Val strolled in, but not before giving one last look between the two hotel mates. It made Angel’s skin crawl again.

“What is it, Vox? Can’t you see I’ve got things handled?”

Handled? That was what he counted as ‘handled’?

He slammed the door shut behind him, shocking Valentino.

“Oh, Val. What do you think you’re doing?”

Reflexively, the moth backed up a bit. His antenna flicked in alarm. Vox could be scary when he was angry. And when he was truly pissed?

“I was…I was…” The words seemed to die on his tongue for a moment. “I was securing an asset. I want Angel back and you’re getting too attached to that brat and-”

“You want Angel back?” His voice warped as he stepped too close to Val, where he had no room left to back up. “Is that really what you want?”

“Um…yes?” He sounded uncertain now.

Vox’s teeth bared too wide to seem friendly.

“No, Val.” He said, his voice coming back down. “You don’t want that.”

“Yes, I-!”

He grabbed his collar, pulling him down to Vox’s height for the time being.

“No, you don’t. You don’t want to force him back like that. You want to prove him right? That the only reason he is here was because he had to be? No. He should want to come back to you.” His harsh grip turned softer, claws combing through and dancing towards the line of his neck. Val gulped.

“You want him on his hands and knees. You want him begging to be back in your arms.” While his one hand teased, and plucked the first button off Valentino’s shirt, his other hand wrapped around. He dug into the flesh of his back, just by the base of his spine. Val squeaked and dragged himself closer.

“But…but the kid-”

He chuckled.

“Were you worried I forgot about you? You?” Vee tower was his plaything. It was all an extension of him. Like an arm, he could twitch the nerves to pull as he pleased. Holographic screens played across the walls. The whole room beamed with light, before flicking to different scenes.

Valentino posing for a shoot. Valentino with blood on his hands and fresh gun smoke in the air. Valentino stretched out across his lounge, counting his money. Valentino laid out on Vox’s sheets, inviting him over with a lick of the lips.

“You’re a star, Val. My star. You think there’s ever a moment I’m not watching you? You think that there’s another soul in this decrepit place as intoxicating as you?”

Valentino eating his chocolates a little too slow. Valentino ruthlessly tearing apart a rival. Valentino dancing around the room in the morning wearing Vox’s robes.

“There’s no one like you, Val. And there’s no one that can take my gaze off you.”

He pulled down, dragging him into a dip. Instinctively, Val’s legs flew up to wrap around Vox. His whole body shuttered with delight as poison dripped hungerly down his face.

“Oh, you’ve ruined me.” Valentino said, almost groaning. Vox knew he’d be thinking about this and only this for the rest of the day. His arms interlocked around Vox’s neck.

“Not yet. Maybe tonight. But I don’t want to hear any more nonsense about me not keeping my eyes on you.” Vox teased.

The way Val was looking at him now, the minute they started making out no other work would be achievable today. And, if Vox had it his way, Val wouldn’t be able to walk afterwards.

“Now, we really have to do something about yours and Angel’s new deal.”

“Oh, screw that. He can come back when he begs for it.”

That’s exactly what Vox wanted to hear.

…

Composing himself to look somewhat professional was harder than he expected. Val had messed up his jacket in his pursuit for purchase on his back. He’d also messed up his bowtie, something he’d unfortunately neglected to notice until after the kid gave him a funny look.

“Angelcakes, back to shooting.” Val directed with a wave of his cigarette.

Angel’s face dropped in panic.

“Val, the deal. What about our deal? You’re supposed to give the kid back!”

“Correction.” Vox interrupted. “The deal was if I found the kid, and I gave him to Val to give to you, then you’d come back to work, fulltime.” He went over the specifics with Val right before walking back in. He was a stickler for wording. “And I don’t feel like handing him over to anyone.”

He walked up behind the kid and, purposefully, put his hands on his shoulders a little tight.

“I think I’ll keep him.”

The spider’s eyes all focused on Vox, fury rising in his throat.

“You think that I’d just let that happen? Oh, Smiles has been wantin’ an excuse to knock your head off. Just wait till I tell ‘em.”

“Nobody is telling anyone, anything.” Val mentioned.

“Oh yeah?” Angel challenge back.

“Oh, yeah.” Val confirmed. “If you try anything, there won’t be a kid left to rescue, Angelcakes.”

The kid was being so well behaved, mouth zipped tight. Angel could assume from what Val said that Vox had his contract, and the kid’s attitude only played into it. Was it worth the risk of the kid getting his soul ripped apart?

Angel’s face fell.

Yeah, didn’t think so.

Then, surprising Vox, the kid ran over and grabbed Angel in a hug.

“It’s okay.” He swore. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

A few tears slipped out Angel’s face, especially when they had to let go. Vox snapped his fingers, and the kid ran to his side again.

“We’re leaving.” He said. If Vel wanted him back, he could pick him up from Vox’s room again. Val blew him a kiss as they walked back into the lift.

When the doors closed, a weight pulled off his shoulders.

“Thank you.” The kid looked up at him, and odd truthfulness to his words that shook something in the core of Vox’s head.

“…for what?”

“For saving my friend. I’m not…it’s not worth the price he’d have to pay.” He pursed his lips. “And he never would’ve let me go unless you made him. So…thank you.”

Despite himself, a grin pressed to his face.

“I didn’t do it for him. Maybe I’m getting used to the annoying buzzing sound of your voice. It’d be a shame to get rid of it now.”

Oh, fuck me. The kid was happy now. Cuteness aggression was a bitch. He kinda felt like squeezing him until he popped.

“I like your voice too.”

He grabbed his muzzle and playfully closed it.

“Shut up, kid.”  

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 6/ Part 7/ Part 8/ Part 9/ Part 10

[mariacallous]

When Russian troops seized control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant last year, following the invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky called it “a declaration of war” against Europe. Others warned that Russia’s reckless seizure of the plant could trigger a nuclear disaster to rival Chernobyl’s 1986 radiological accident.

Their fears seemed well-founded when, on the night of the invasion, sensors began reporting sudden spikes in radiation levels in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ)—a 1,000-square-mile forested zone around the plant where radioactive soil from the 1986 disaster had settled.

Forty-two sensors recorded spikes that night and the next morning—some at levels hundreds of times higher than normal. The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) eased concerns that nuclear material had leaked from the plant, however, when it said the spikes were likely due to “resuspension” of radioactive soil stirred up by Russian military vehicles—an explanation widely accepted by many nuclear experts and the media.

But a group of environmental radiation experts disputes this conclusion. In a paper published in June by the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, they detail why there’s no way soil resuspension could have caused the spikes and speculate that interference from an electronic warfare weapon was behind the surge instead.

Now, in what is becoming a deepening mystery, noted cybersecurity researcher Ruben Santamarta says he believes something else was the cause—data manipulation, possibly through a cyberattack.

Based on patterns he found in the spikes—batches of sensors geographically distant from one another recorded spikes at the exact same moment, while sensors closer to them recorded no elevation—he thinks a remote hacker or someone with direct access to the server processing the data manipulated the numbers.

After an extensive review of the data and other materials, Santamarta says he finds it hard to believe the explanation about soil resuspension was ever considered plausible. And he is surprised that authorities never bothered to examine the data for patterns or, if they did, kept that information from the public. He thinks those patterns discount theories about interference from electronic weapons, and he plans to present his findings at the BlackHat security conference in Las Vegas next week.

“I have collected a significant amount of evidence by different means, including OSINT [open source intelligence], hardware and software reverse engineering, and data analysis of the radiation levels,” he says “I think it is enough to seriously consider the possibility that these radiation spikes were fabricated.”

If Santamarta is right, his finding could have far-reaching implications for radiation-monitoring systems around the world, says a former nuclear safety official who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely about the matter. If the data was manipulated, it could undermine trust in radiation-monitoring systems or change how data from them gets reported publicly. Data from radiation monitors is often distributed publicly in near real time so that governments and nuclear experts can actively monitor conditions in populated cities and around nuclear facilities. But this creates a risk that hackers or others could alter data to trigger public alarm before proper verification can occur.

Monitoring Networks

Russian troops entered the CEZ early on the morning of February 24 last year because it’s the shortest and most direct route from Russia-friendly Belarus to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital 80 miles south of the plant. But some feared Russia’s interest in Chernobyl was more than strategic. They worried the military could cause a disaster using radioactive waste at the plant or drum up false claims that Ukraine was building a dirty bomb there.

After a day-long battle with Ukrainian troops and three hours of negotiations to establish parameters for Russia’s occupation of the plant, Russia took control of Chernobyl’s facilities. At 8:40 pm local time, 10 minutes after the SNRIU indicated that Russia had formally taken control of the plant, seven monitoring stations in the CEZ suddenly began reporting elevated radiation levels. The readings ranged from two to five times the normal radiation rate each sensor had historically detected, but one station showed a level eight times higher than normal.

Ukraine has two networks of sensors to monitor radiation at Chernobyl. A set of 10 sensors inside the plant is operated by the state-owned nuclear energy company Energoatom. A second network, known as a radiation-monitoring and early-warning system (the Ukrainian acronym for it is ASKRS), consists of about 68 battery-powered GammaTracer detectors spread throughout the CEZ (with a few positioned outside it). This network is managed by the State Specialized Enterprise Ecocenter (Ecocenter, for short), under the State Agency for the Management of the Exclusion Zone.

These detectors continuously record ambient gamma radiation levels in the CEZ, process the readings to calculate an average, then transmit that figure once an hour (or every two minutes in an emergency) to a base station in the Ecocenter’s office in the town of Chernobyl, about 10 miles from the plant. The data is transmitted via radio over a dedicated channel using a SkyLink protocol.

The data then gets analyzed and processed with DataExpert software and a custom Ecocenter program before being posted to the Ecocenter’s website. It’s also distributed to the SNRIU, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—the UN body that monitors nuclear programs around the world—and other governments.

The data can be difficult to find on Ecocenter’s site, so a Ukrainian nonprofit called SaveEcoBot scrapes it and republishes the data on its own site for easier access. It’s these two sites that many people around the world were using to track radiological conditions at Chernobyl in real time on the day of the invasion, and that triggered alarm when people began posting screenshots of them on Twitter.

The Spikes

Radiation levels at Chernobyl are measured as “ambient dose equivalent” rates—essentially the amount of energy, due to ionizing radiation, that the human body would absorb if exposed to the level of radiation a sensor detects. Dose rates are reported as microSieverts per hour (aka μSv/h).

Following the first spikes at 8:40 pm on February 24, 2022, the next cluster of spike occurred at 9:50 pm, when 10 different sensors reported elevated radiation levels, as well as one that had been in the earlier cluster.

More cluster spikes occurred at 10:20 pm, 11:30 pm, and 11:50 pm, involving nine, six, and five sensors, respectively, and then the pattern switched. From 12:01 am to 12:20 am on February 25, there were several spikes involving just one or two sensors each time. Then at 9:20 am, 10 sensors spiked simultaneously, including one that increased nearly 600 times its normal radiation reading. At 10:40 am, nine sensors spiked. And at 10:50 am, the last spike occurred with a single sensor. This sensor spiked three times in all. Called Pozharne Depo, its baseline reading of 1.75 μSv/h spiked to 8.79 (at 8:40 pm), 9.46 (at 9:50 pm), and 32.2 (at 10:50 am the next morning). The sensors may have continued spiking, but the Ecocenter website stopped updating its data.

Like other European countries, Finland carefully tracks Ukraine’s radiation levels. According to Tero Karhunen, a senior inspector with STUK, Finland’s radiation and nuclear safety authority, if ambient dose rates rose above 100 μSv/h for more than 48 hours, it would generally trigger an evacuation of affected regions.

Two sensors nearly reached that threshold at 93 μSv/h, but then they and all the other sensors stopped reporting updates—or at least the Ecocenter stopped posting updated data to its website. It’s not clear why this stopped. The invasion caused internet disruptions in Ukraine, but this would not have prevented the sensors from transmitting their data to the base station; it would only have prevented the Ecocenter from publishing new data to its website.

Yet the Ecocenter did continue to publish new data for some sensors. Shortly after the sensors spiked, online updates of data from 30 of them stopped; but data for the remaining ones continued until they stopped updating at different times. Most of the sensor data was updating online again the following Monday, February 28—at which point all the sensors were reporting normal radiation levels. But by March 3, Ecocenter had stopped posting data altogether.

This may be because Russian troops began stealing and damaging equipment at Chernobyl—including the server and software Ecocenter used to receive and process sensor data. In a French TV news interview after Russian troops left Chernobyl at the end of March, Mykola Bespalyi, head of the Ecocenter’s central analytical lab, showed an empty cabinet that had housed the server, explaining that the center had lost its connection to the radiation sensors in the CEZ. Data transmissions only restarted in June when the IAEA and others helped Ukraine restore the radiation-monitoring system.

Official Response

The spikes were initially attributed to shelling. In a news story published about an hour after the spikes began, an unnamed Ukrainian official said Russian shelling had hit a “radioactive waste repository” and implied that radiation levels had risen as a result. Anton Herashenko, advisor to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, then warned that the attack could send radioactive dust into Belarus and the EU.

But the next morning, on February 25, the SNRIU said the cause of the spikes couldn’t be determined. Later it released a statement saying Ecocenter experts attributed the spikes to topsoil stirred up—or “resuspended”—by military equipment. At that point, media attention turned to ongoing battles elsewhere in Ukraine, and talk of the spikes dropped.

Not everyone bought the explanation, however. Karine Herviou, deputy director general in charge of nuclear safety at France’s Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety, told reporters there was no coherent explanation for the spikes, though her group later issued a statement saying they didn’t have any information “to confirm or refute” the SNRIU’s assertion about soil resuspension.

Bruno Chareyron, a nuclear physics engineer and laboratory director for France’s nongovernmental Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity, also scoffed at the soil explanation. Instead, he told reporters at the time that the spikes might be the result of interference—from a cyberattack.

If you look at a map showing the places where the results had been increasing, “there was no logic” to the soil suspension explanation, he now says. And given that Russia had been prolifically hacking Ukrainian systems at the time of the invasion, it was reasonable to wonder whether a cyberattack had resulted in false data.

Hours after the SNRIU’s statement, the IAEA released its own. Apparently accepting that the radiation spikes were real, the agency said the elevated radiation levels posed no threat to the public. Oddly, though, it referred to the spikes as topping out at 9.46 μSv/h—a figure it received from Ukraine’s nuclear regulator. But the agency only had to look at the Ecocenter’s website to see that some sensors were reporting levels magnitudes higher than this at 58 and 65 μSv/h.

Only some of the GammaTracers are considered “regulatory” sensors—meaning the SNRIU is required to submit data from them to the IAEA. At least three of these regulatory sensors were among those reporting exceptionally high data spikes. But it appears that the SNRIU didn’t provide data from those sensors to the IAEA. It’s not clear why; the SNRIU didn’t respond to inquiries from WIRED.

Notably, there was chatter on Twitter at the time, among nuclear and radiation experts, that the spike data might be erroneous. But if the sensor readings being reported by Ecocenter on its website were accurate, then contrary to the IAEA’s statement that the spikes posed no threat to the public, “this would have been a very dangerous situation for the people in the area,” Chareyron says.

Why did the IAEA only reference the lower radiation spikes in its statement and not the higher ones? The IAEA, after asking WIRED to submit questions in writing, didn’t respond to this or any of the other detailed questions submitted to it, including whether it attempted to investigate the veracity and cause of the spikes.

In the US, the National Security Council followed events in Chernobyl closely but did not respond to repeated requests to discuss the mystery around the radiation spikes.

Soil Suspension, Debunked

As noted, Mike Wood, a professor of applied ecology at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom who studies environmental radiation, including in the CEZ, examined the spike data with four colleagues and ruled out soil resuspension as the cause.

Wood says there isn’t enough radiation in the CEZ soil to cause the level of spikes that occurred—not to mention that military vehicles traveled primarily on asphalt and hardened dirt roads, not in places where loose soil would have been stirred up.

“Even with conservative assumptions, you cannot get anything like the rises that we’ve seen in those dose rate spikes,” he says.

What’s more, experts told WIRED that if soil resuspension were the cause, the radiation levels should have dropped gradually over days as the soil and dust resettled. Instead, many of the sensors were back to reporting normal levels within 30 minutes to a couple of hours after reporting a spike, despite heavy military traffic continuing in the region.

There was also no uniformity or expected patterns to the spikes. Instead of sensors spiking at different times as radiation levels near them rose, multiple sensors in different locations spiked at exactly the same time. Some sensors reported spikes 12 to 38 times their baseline level, others 300 times above baseline. The sensor that spiked nearly 600 times its base level was 18 miles southeast of the plant, located along what Wood calls a “minor” road where “there is no logical explanation as to why there would be significant military activity.”

Olegh Bondarenko, director of the Ecocenter until 2011, agrees with Wood’s conclusions and calls the air suspension explanation “fantastical.” But he doesn’t think Wood’s alternate theory—that the spikes were caused by interference from electronic warfare weapons—was the cause either.

Electronic Warfare

Electronic warfare weapons are used as jamming devices to hinder or block an enemy’s communications and signals.

But Karhunen says Finnish researchers conducted limited tests on the effects of electronic warfare weapons on radiation sensors and found that they could also cause sensors to report false readings up to 30 μSv/h—300 times the base levels for the test systems.

William Radasky, former chair of an International Electrotechnical Commission subcommittee on electromagnetic weapons and their effects, says interference can cause data spikes and, depending on a weapon’s strength, permanently damage sensors. If a weapon were close to a radiation detector when it was fired, “they would probably kill the electronics used with the sensor,” says Radasky, who has conducted research for the US government and military on effects of electromagnetic pulses on defense systems and the electric grid. The pulses wouldn’t interfere with the sensors’ ability to detect radiation, but they would affect the electronics that are used to translate the radiation signals from the sensor into saved data and then transmit that data to the Ecocenter. It’s worth noting that the IAEA visited Chernobyl after Russian soldiers left and reported that many radiation-monitoring stations were damaged and out of service. The agency never identified which sensors or explained the nature of the damage, however.

But if such weapons can produce spikes in the sensor data, that still doesn’t explain the anomalous nature of the spikes, Radasky and Bondarenko say. There were no reports of other equipment in the CEZ being affected by electromagnetic weapons. And radiation sensors in other parts of Ukraine where fighting occurred—and presumably where electromagnetic weapons would likely have been used—did not experience spikes.

Most significantly, sensors that showed spikes in their data were near sensors that didn’t record spikes, and the geographical distance between sensors that spiked defied logic. Many of the sensors that showed simultaneous spikes in the CEZ were more than 30 kilometers apart. Radasky says it would be possible to have a single weapon affect sensors geographically apart, but only at limited distances.

“The most powerful [electromagnetic weapon] I know about could create a high field over [only] a kilometer,” he says. “There is no way to simultaneously affect widely dispersed sensors … from a single weapon.”

If troops dispersed throughout the CEZ carried portable electromagnetic weapons and fired them at the same time, it would be possible to affect sensors far apart, Radasky says. “But … the likelihood that they would have set off those weapons at the exact same moment, causing simultaneous spikes, seems highly unlikely,” he says, noting that a pulse generally lasts for one microsecond.

This, plus patterns that Santamarta found in the spikes, “really does sound like … this is a hacking attempt and not an electromagnetic weapon attack,” Radasky says.

Bondarenko agrees. Every other explanation is “practically implausible or impossible.” It would have been easy, he says, to “write a script that causes certain sensors to elevate at a certain time and then to go back to normal at a certain time.”

Jan Vande Putte, a lead radiation specialist at Greenpeace Belgium, led a team that visited Ukraine last July to measure radiation levels in one part of the CEZ. He agrees that none of the other given explanations are plausible. But he cautions that Santamarta’s theory of data manipulation, while convincing, is still speculation without a forensic investigation to support it.

“I have seen so many examples of coming to wrong conclusions,” he says.

Data Manipulation

Santamarta began looking at the issue last year, after a non-Ukrainian nuclear engineer who has done research in the CEZ asked him to consider whether the sensors could have been hacked. Santamarta specializes in critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and in 2017 found unpatched flaws in radiation-monitoring systems that would let someone falsify data with the aim of simulating a dangerous radiation leak.

He studied the type of sensors used in Chernobyl—a model made by the France-based company Saphymo (later purchased by Bertin Technologies)—and obtained raw sensor data Ecocenter posted to its website, which contained time stamps identifying when each sensor spiked.

He identified 42 radiation sensors that reported spikes in four different patterns—patterns that he says support his assertion that the radiation spikes were fabricated. In the first pattern, 18 sensors reported spikes before going offline. In the second pattern, 17 sensors each reported spikes two times. The second spike was always incrementally higher than the first. For example, a monitoring station called Buryakovka showed a moderate spike on the night of February 24, from 2.19 to 3.54 μSv/h. But at 9:20 am the next morning, it shot up to 52.7 μSv/h.

The third pattern involved two sensors that each spiked three times. The fourth pattern involved five sensors that experienced two spikes—the first spike occurred at 8:40 pm and the second at 11:30 pm the night of the invasion. In each case, the second spike involved a lower value than the first spike—in other words, the second reading was still higher than the baseline level, but lower than the earlier spike. For example, a sensor station called Gornostaypol normally reported a baseline of .092 μSv/h, but during the first spike at 8:40 pm it shot up to .308 μSv/h and at 11:30 pm it reported a level of .120 μSv/h—about midway between the two.

Santamarta believes the patterns strongly suggest that someone wrote code to inject false data into the Ecocenter’s DataExpert database at intervals. The code then posted the false data to the Ecocenter’s website while suppressing legitimate data that came in from the sensors.

“After characterizing the spikes, which are clearly structured, it’s difficult not to assume some kind of human intervention behind them,” he says.

WIRED sent the State Agency for the Management of the Exclusion Zone a list of detailed questions about the patterns Santamarta found and asked whether it had conducted any investigation to determine the cause of the spikes. The agency declined to answer most of the questions and said it was unable to answer others because the events occurred when Russian forces controlled the CEZ and Ecocenter personnel weren’t in a position to know what occurred or to carry out “any corrective actions on the systems.”

Because Ecocenter staff weren’t present, “there is almost no information about the situation around the sensors and servers of Ecocenter in the described period,” Maksym Shevchuk, deputy head of the state agency, said in an emailed statement that his agency translated into English. He noted that any data transmitted by the sensors during that time was automatically received and “automatically transmitted in ‘as-is’ mode” to “various departments outside the exclusion zone,” suggesting that any data posted to the Ecocenter website and transmitted to the IAEA was automatically processed and sent without involvement from Ecocenter staff.

With regard to Santamarta’s findings, Shevchuk said his agency’s “competence does not include the assessment of hypotheses and assumptions on this topic coming from third parties,” and he therefore can’t comment on them.

Who and Why

Santamarta doesn’t speculate in his presentation about who was behind the manipulation if it occurred—he wanted to focus on finding a sound technical and plausible explanation of the cause. But there are two obvious suspects—Russia and Ukraine—both of which have means and motive.

Russia has repeatedly threatened a nuclear event to assert dominion in the conflict and, some argue, to warn NATO against getting involved. And Russian authorities have made numerous claims before and after the invasion that Ukraine was developing a radioactive dirty bomb. A Russian scientist told state media that Russian troops seized Chernobyl to prevent Ukraine from creating a dirty bomb, and the radiation spikes could have been used as “evidence” of illicit nuclear activity on the part of Ukraine.

What’s more, in an April 2022 report about the war, Microsoft revealed that Russian hackers affiliated with the FSB intelligence service had breached a Ukrainian “nuclear safety organization” in December 2021 and stolen data for three months with the aim of obtaining data that would support Russia’s disinformation claims about Ukraine, including claims that it was building a dirty bomb. The report didn’t identify the organization, but the breach shows that Russia had a particular interest in hacking nuclear organizations in Ukraine with the aim of supporting its disinformation campaign.

These suggest a potential method and motive for Russia. But there’s a hitch in this theory. After Ukrainian officials cited the spikes in their denunciation of Russia’s “reckless” seizure of the plant, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov denied that any spikes had occurred. He didn’t say how he knew this, but Bondarenko believes Russian troops likely carried handheld radiation meters with them into the CEZ, where they may have gotten very different readings from those the Ukrainian sensors were reporting. A Russian scientist also told Russian media that once data from the CEZ sensors started being posted online again “it would be clear that the radiation situation at Chernobyl was under control.”

If Russia planned to use the spikes to bolster claims that Ukraine was building a dirty bomb at Chernobyl, why didn’t it seize the opportunity to further that claim, instead of disputing that the spikes were real.

As for Ukraine’s potential motives, on the day of the invasion and for days after, Ukraine was struggling to secure timely financial and military aid from Europe. Radiation spikes could have helped underscore the potential nuclear threat to EU leaders if they didn’t act quickly to help Ukraine expel Russian troops.

But there’s another possible motive as well. A Chernobyl worker may have inadvertently revealed it in an interview with the Economist after Russian troops left Chernobyl at the end of March.

He told the publication that during the occupation of the plant, Chernobyl staff had “exaggerated the threat of radiation” to Russian troops, identifying “problematic areas” that they should avoid—all as part of a “cheeky plan” to control where the soldiers went. He didn’t mention the radiation spikes, but they could conceivably have been part of this plan.

After Russian troops left Chernobyl, workers also told reporters that some of the troops had exhibited signs of radiation poisoning—they “developed huge blisters and were vomiting after ignoring warnings about digging trenches in radioactive soil.” Reporters have not been able to independently verify the claims. The IAEA conducted tests after the soldiers left and determined that the digging would not have posed a radiation threat to the soldiers, raising questions about whether the reports of radiation sickness were falsified to instill fear in Russian soldiers.

It may be noteworthy that, in June of this year, as tensions around the Zaporizhzhia plant heated up during Russia’s occupation of that facility, Moscow ordered its troops to halt the automatic transmission of data from the plant’s radiation sensors. The sensors continued to monitor radiation levels, but the data was manually collected from the sensors by IAEA staff.

Verifying Spikes

There were a number of ways to verify the veracity of the spikes when they occurred last year, but there’s no sign anyone in Ukraine questioned the integrity of the data or ordered an investigation. Vande Putte says this was never discussed when his Greenpeace group traveled to Ukraine.

More than two dozen wireless sensors in the CEZ have aerosol filters attached to them that detect radiation levels in the air. Karhunen says the filters are “a hundred million times more sensitive” to small changes in radiation than the digital sensors. Before the invasion, Chernobyl workers collected the filters once a week to test them in a lab. These could have been tested to see if they detected the same radiation levels as the digital sensors. But it seems this didn’t happen during the Russian occupation of the plant when the activities of Chernobyl workers were strictly curtailed, and it’s not clear if the filters were collected and tested afterward. Vande Putte says the Russians left land mines behind in the CEZ, and this may have made it too dangerous for workers to collect the filters after they left.

Once the occupation ended, it would also have been possible to conduct a forensic investigation. Even though the Ecocenter data server, and any digital evidence of manipulation it contained, was no longer available because the Russians stole the server, investigators could have extracted data from the memory of the digital sensors in the CEZ—land mines permitting—to see if data stored in the devices matched what was posted to the Ecocenter website. If it didn’t, this could have bolstered the theory that the data was manipulated on the Ecocenter server. It’s not clear anyone did this, however. Ukraine’s computer emergency response team would likely have been involved in such an investigation, but a source with knowledge of the CERT’s activities says the organization never received a request to investigate the Ecocenter’s systems, and the Ecocenter didn’t respond to WIRED’s inquiries.

It’s possible Ukraine and the IAEA didn’t investigate the spikes because they simply had other more pressing things to address—for example, an ongoing crisis at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety told WIRED that it did do a radiological survey after Russian troops left Chernobyl, but this was to determine if Russian forces had absconded with any nuclear materials or planted them in occupied regions to leave behind a nuclear hazard, according to Yuliya Balashevska, who headed the survey. The survey focused only on Kyiv and southeast border regions, and Balashevska said her organization has no access to the Chernobyl sensors and could not have examined them if it wanted to do so.

It may be the case that authorities simply never questioned the authenticity of the spikes and therefore saw no reason to investigate.

Santamarta, however, believes the IAEA and Ecocenter didn’t investigate because of the potential geopolitical implications if such an investigation reached “an inconvenient conclusion” that risked adding “more complexity to an already extremely complicated situation.”

Either way, he, like everyone else WIRED interviewed, says the truth about what occurred is more important than whatever the findings might reveal about who was involved.

Although it’s not clear whether, 18 months after the invasion, evidence still exists that could resolve the mystery of the radiation spikes. Greenpeace’s Vande Putte says an investigation is merited, and that Santamarta’s research is high-quality and “very valuable” as a starting point.

The implications, if the cause was intentional data manipulation, are global, given the potential precedent for manipulating sensors in other regions.

“The truth in these matters is really important. Where did it go wrong? Was it purely technical? Was it deliberate?” he says. “We need to get to the bottom.”

[signiance]

Journey to Devops

The concept of “DevOps” has been gaining traction in the IT sector for a couple of years. It involves promoting teamwork and interaction, between software developers and IT operations groups to enhance the speed and reliability of software delivery. This strategy has become widely accepted as companies strive to provide software to meet customer needs and maintain an edge, in the industry. In this article we will explore the elements of becoming a DevOps Engineer.

Step 1: Get familiar with the basics of Software Development and IT Operations:

In order to pursue a career as a DevOps Engineer it is crucial to possess a grasp of software development and IT operations. Familiarity with programming languages like Python, Java, Ruby or PHP is essential. Additionally, having knowledge about operating systems, databases and networking is vital.

Step 2: Learn the principles of DevOps:

It is crucial to comprehend and apply the principles of DevOps. Automation, continuous integration, continuous deployment and continuous monitoring are aspects that need to be understood and implemented. It is vital to learn how these principles function and how to carry them out efficiently.

Step 3: Familiarize yourself with the DevOps toolchain:

Git: Git, a distributed version control system is extensively utilized by DevOps teams, for code repository management. It aids in monitoring code alterations facilitating collaboration, among team members and preserving a record of modifications made to the codebase.

Ansible: Ansible is an open source tool used for managing configurations deploying applications and automating tasks. It simplifies infrastructure management. Saves time when performing tasks.

Docker: Docker, on the other hand is a platform for containerization that allows DevOps engineers to bundle applications and dependencies into containers. This ensures consistency and compatibility across environments from development, to production.

Kubernetes: Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that helps manage and scale containers. It helps automate the deployment, scaling, and management of applications and micro-services.

Jenkins: Jenkins is an open-source automation server that helps automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software. It helps to automate repetitive tasks and improve the speed and efficiency of the software delivery process.

Nagios: Nagios is an open-source monitoring tool that helps us monitor the health and performance of our IT infrastructure. It also helps us to identify and resolve issues in real-time and ensure the high availability and reliability of IT systems as well.

Terraform: Terraform is an infrastructure as code (IAC) tool that helps manage and provision IT infrastructure. It helps us automate the process of provisioning and configuring IT resources and ensures consistency between development and production environments.

Step 4: Gain practical experience:

The best way to gain practical experience is by working on real projects and bootcamps. You can start by contributing to open-source projects or participating in coding challenges and hackathons. You can also attend workshops and online courses to improve your skills.

Step 5: Get certified:

Getting certified in DevOps can help you stand out from the crowd and showcase your expertise to various people. Some of the most popular certifications are:

Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)

AWS Certified DevOps Engineer

Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Step 6: Build a strong professional network:

Networking is one of the most important parts of becoming a DevOps Engineer. You can join online communities, attend conferences, join webinars and connect with other professionals in the field. This will help you stay up-to-date with the latest developments and also help you find job opportunities and success.

Conclusion:

You can start your journey towards a successful career in DevOps. The most important thing is to be passionate about your work and continuously learn and improve your skills. With the right skills, experience, and network, you can achieve great success in this field and earn valuable experience.

[jeanwong]

A new era of on-chain finance: How the XBIT platform reshapes the BNB perpetual contract trading experience

International News from CoinWorld.com - The news that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) raided three unregistered cryptocurrency derivatives platforms recently shocked the market. At the same time, Binance officially announced that it would suspend BNB perpetual contract trading for two hours due to system upgrades, which aroused investors' concerns about trading stability. During this turbulent time, XBIT (DEX Exchange) has become the focus of international investors with its anti-censorship characteristics and zero-failure record, and its daily BNB perpetual contract trading volume has surged by 47%, becoming a hot topic among international investors.

1. Safe haven demand under the regulatory storm

According to the data from Bijie.com, the CFTC action caused the open positions of BNB perpetual contracts on the centralized platform to drop by 12%. "Censorship risk is the nightmare of perpetual contract players," said Chen Allen, a derivatives trader in Singapore, on social media. "This morning I transferred 80% of my positions to XBIT (DEX Exchange), where there is no single point of failure risk." This statement echoes the core advantage revealed by the Bitcoin market document: when traditional platforms face government intervention, the platform's anti-censorship architecture ensures continuous service. It is worth noting that the platform adopts a non-custodial design, and users have full control of their assets through private keys, completely avoiding the risk of exchange misappropriation.

2. Technological innovation drives cost revolution

In solving the "BNB perpetual contract high fee pain point", XBIT has shown a disruptive breakthrough. Its open source smart contract automatically performs clearing and funding rate calculations, eliminating the cost of middlemen. According to the data from Bijie.com, the BNB contract transaction fee rate of XBIT (DEX Exchange) is only 1/3 of the industry average, and it supports anonymous transactions - the user address is completely decoupled from the identity, meeting the privacy needs of institutional clients. Arcadia, a US quantitative fund, disclosed today that it has established a BNB hedging position worth US$120 million through the platform.

3. Dual evolution of security and efficiency

Curve founder Michael Egorov’s warning yesterday about the increased risks of DeFi is still fresh in our minds, and XBIT (DEX Exchange) has responded to market concerns with multiple defense mechanisms. Its newly launched real-time audit system can monitor the collateralization rate of each BNB perpetual contract, and once it is lower than 105%, it will immediately trigger automatic margin replenishment. In contrast, traditional platforms suffered losses of more than $80 million in March last year due to manual intervention.

More noteworthy is that the platform announced today that it has completed a strategic financing of $28 million, led by Swiss crypto bank Sygnum. The funds will be used to optimize the cross-chain settlement network of BNB contracts and realize the interoperability of multi-chain margins such as Ethereum and Solana. Technical Director Victor Lee demonstrated the revolutionary function in a Zurich online conference: "Users can now use Bitcoin as collateral to open BNB perpetual contract positions, which requires triple compliance review on centralized platforms."

4. Future Battle: The Era of Asset Autonomy is Coming

With the US SEC proposing today to include perpetual contracts in the scope of securities regulation, traditional platforms may face higher compliance costs. XBIT, with its user-autonomous governance model, is attracting more BNB large holders to migrate. Analysts at London hedge fund ORION pointed out: "When the daily trading volume of BNB perpetual contracts exceeds 5 billion, XBIT's on-chain transparency will become the new standard."

Although Binance has resumed services, this morning's incident has exposed the fragility of the centralized architecture. As revealed by the Bitcoin market document: the return of asset control to users has become an irreversible trend. XBIT realizes the automatic matching and settlement of BNB contracts through smart contracts, while eliminating the risk of third-party trust, it is writing a new chapter in derivatives trading-all this happened within 24 hours of the most violent regulatory storm.

[temporalecology]

Day 2 of the Open Source Hardware Summit 2025

Day 2 of the Open Source Hardware Summit featured multiple panels. Of which, I attended one on Environmental Monitoring and another on Medical Devices.

Notably, I learned about the Mayfly data logging board designed by Shannon Hicks of Stroud Water Research Center in Pennsylvania. Stroud currently has a network of a few hundred of these devices monitoring a large watershed. I've yet to see such a customizable and open source data logging board at a relatively accessible price. Not only can you connect almost any environmental sensor, but they have also included methods to remotely upload data to remote databases using affordable monthly cellular plans. Despite making data logging more accessible, Shannon made it clear that these tools are still inherently left to exist in the elements. A routine maintenance schedule should be followed to make sure that loggers and sensors are in working order and not being left to rot.

Incorporating open source ideals into a field as regulated as the medical device industry was something I had never heard of. But the panelists, such as Dr. Lukas Winter, showed that even medical imaging technology can be open-sourced. Along with other collaborators at the Open Source Imaging Initiative, Lukas has developed a fully open source MRI scanner. While regulations still complicate the role of devices like these to be used outside of a research context, it's still a remarkable resource to learn from.

Beyond the conference, it was great to explore bits of Edinburgh and take in its beautiful architecture. The long summer days and the general consensus to thank the drivers while hopping off the bus reminded me fondly of Vancouver. There's nothing like a bit of travel to make you appreciate home a little more.

-Adam

[maettenspd]

Lessons Learned From Major Pipe Projects

Lessons Learned From Significant Pipe Projects

When you think about significant pipeline jobs, it's clear that the stakes are high, and the lessons learned are vital. You may question how extensive preparation and reliable stakeholder engagement can shape outcomes, or just how danger monitoring methods can prevent costly obstacles. Consider the function of community participation and innovation in guaranteeing not simply project stability but also lasting success. These elements can redefine market criteria, however what are the specifics behind these techniques? Allow's explore these crucial elements further.

Secret understandings Early stakeholder engagement cultivates a typical vision, boosting job alignment and decreasing disputes throughout the pipe's lifecycle. Thorough threat evaluation and backup preparation are crucial to deal with prospective threats and decrease task disruptions. Constant neighborhood outreach and transparent interaction develop depend on, guaranteeing local problems are resolved properly. Routine tracking of environmental influences helps keep conformity and adapt approaches for sustainability throughout the job. Effective budget management and price control steps are important for keeping monetary oversight and functional performance. Job Preparation and Prep Work

Efficient task planning and prep work are vital for the success of major pipe tasks. As you initiate this trip, you should prioritize stakeholder positioning to assure that all events entailed share a typical vision and understanding. Engage with stakeholders beforehand, assisting in open communication to address concerns and expectations. This aggressive website method prepares for smoother decision-making and enhances partnership throughout the project lifecycle.

Concurrently, concentrate on source allowance. Examine your offered sources, including workforce, modern technology, and monetary assets, to develop a durable job plan. By identifying possible bottlenecks and source constraints, you can plan properly to mitigate risks. Produce a comprehensive timeline that details important milestones and deliverables, enabling you to check development and readjust plans as necessary.

Furthermore, routinely evaluation and Commercial Heat Pump Installation refine your project strategy, integrating responses from stakeholders to preserve alignment and adapt to developing situations. By prioritizing stakeholder alignment and enhancing resource allowance, you're not just improving the probabilities of success for your pipe task but likewise promoting a culture of partnership and liability. This tactical method ultimately results in a much more efficient, effective, and sustainable project outcome.

Environmental Influence Factors To Consider

When intending significant pipe tasks, it is vital to take into consideration the ecological effects that such undertakings can have. You have to focus on sustainability analyses to recognize possible risks and advantages. Performing comprehensive analyses isn't practically conference regulatory compliance; it prepares for reliable environment preservation and biodiversity co

[meiiaiinc]

Future-Proofing Your AI Strategy in the Era of Evolving LLMs

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace, with Large Language Models (LLMs) leading the charge. From automating content creation to enhancing customer experiences, businesses are rapidly integrating AI-driven solutions. However, the rapid evolution of LLMs presents both opportunities and challenges. Companies must ensure their AI strategies are adaptable, scalable, and resilient to remain competitive. This article explores key approaches to future-proofing your AI strategy in the ever-evolving landscape of LLMs.

Understanding the Evolution of LLMs

Large Language Models have evolved significantly over the past few years, improving in areas such as:

Accuracy: Enhanced contextual understanding and better responses.

Efficiency: Optimized computational power, reducing costs.

Ethical AI: Improvements in bias mitigation and responsible AI practices.

Customization: Tailored models for specific industries and applications.

This constant evolution means businesses must be proactive in adapting their AI strategies to avoid obsolescence and inefficiencies.

Key Strategies for Future-Proofing Your AI Investments

1. Adopt a Flexible AI Infrastructure

Rigid AI implementations can quickly become outdated. Instead, businesses should focus on:

Cloud based AI solutions that offer scalability and adaptability.

Modular AI architecture that allows easy integration of new advancements.

Hybrid models that combine proprietary and third-party AI tools for a competitive edge.

A flexible infrastructure ensures that businesses can quickly adopt new technologies without overhauling their entire system.

2. Prioritize Continuous Learning and Model Updates

LLMs improve with continuous training and fine-tuning. Businesses must:

Regularly update AI models to leverage the latest advancements.

Invest in human-in-the-loop (HITL) AI to refine outputs with expert insights.

Utilize transfer learning to build on pre-existing models rather than starting from scratch.

These steps help ensure that AI systems remain relevant and effective over time.

3. Implement Ethical and Transparent AI Practices

AI governance is becoming increasingly critical. To build trust and avoid regulatory pitfalls, organizations should:

Establish AI ethics guidelines aligned with global best practices.

Ensure explainability and transparency in AI decision-making.

Conduct regular audits to identify and mitigate biases in AI models.

By prioritizing ethical AI, businesses can enhance credibility and mitigate legal risks.

4. Optimize for Cost Efficiency

AI adoption should be cost-effective. Strategies to optimize costs include:

Using open-source AI models to reduce licensing fees.

Leveraging AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) platforms to minimize infrastructure investments.

Right-sizing computational resources to avoid unnecessary expenses.

A well-planned cost strategy prevents AI adoption from becoming a financial burden.

5. Foster a Culture of AI Literacy

A successful AI strategy extends beyond technology—it requires an informed workforce. Organizations should:

Provide AI training programs for employees across all departments.

Encourage cross-functional collaboration between AI teams and business units.

Promote an experimental mindset, allowing teams to explore AI-driven innovations.

When employees understand AI’s capabilities and limitations, they can effectively leverage its potential.

6. Monitor Emerging Trends and Technologies

AI is an ever-changing field. Staying ahead requires:

Tracking breakthroughs in LLM architectures such as GPT, BERT, and proprietary models.

Following AI policy changes and compliance requirements.

Engaging with AI communities, research papers, and industry conferences to stay updated.

Proactive monitoring helps businesses anticipate shifts and adjust strategies accordingly.

7. Prepare for Multimodal and Multilingual AI

The future of AI is moving beyond text-based models. Companies should prepare for:

Multimodal AI, which integrates text, images, video, and voice data.

Multilingual AI capabilities, enabling global reach and diverse audience engagement.

Personalized AI experiences that adapt based on user preferences and behavior.

Incorporating these elements can enhance customer interactions and drive innovation.

Conclusion

Future-proofing your AI strategy requires a forward-thinking approach that embraces flexibility, continuous learning, ethical AI, and cost optimization. As LLMs continue to evolve, businesses that proactively adapt their AI infrastructure and workforce will remain competitive and innovative. By implementing these strategies, organizations can harness the full potential of AI while minimizing risks and maximizing long-term success.

[skytechme]

How do architectural acoustic services deliver precision engineering for enhanced sound environments?

Acoustics are a crucial element in the design of even the most basic modern architecture, influencing both the experiential and practical design of space. Applies to commercial buildings, residential homes, or public venues, effective acoustic design ensures optimal sound quality, block unwanted noise, and greater comfort. Using cutting-edge technology combined with advanced engineering principles, our architectural acoustic services are designed to easily create the best sound environment for you. Whether you need one acoustic treatment or one, we provide comprehensive solutions customized for your project.

All-round Acoustic Solutions for Architectural Projects

Integration of Acoustic System for Collaborative Performance Acoustic system integration is essential for high-performance sound management in such spaces. Our solutions include: Integrated acoustic systems design and installation in commercial and residential environments Confirming immaculate integration with audio video system Improving audio experience in auditoriums, theaters, and conference rooms Conducting automated noise control with smart acoustic technologies

Acoustic Analysis for Enhanced Sound Perception

We analyze and simulate sound propagation using advanced acoustic analysis and modeling tools to create solutions for improving the auditory environment. Our analysis includes: Evaluating reverb times and echo patterns Pinpointing sources of potential noise and the respective impact Monitor and simulate sound levels in real time Recommending noise control prevention solutions based on the given data

Audio Design for Enhanced Sound Quality

We create spaces that are acoustically balanced to achieve the most optimized clarity and minimize sound distortion. Specializing in design for performance halls and home theaters, our team brings: The best placement of the speakers and distribution of sound Acoustic tuning across the frequency spectrum Improved sound quality through advanced engineering Incorporation of noise absorbing materials for precise articulation Noise and Echo Discounting Acoustic Treatment

We provide sound reflection control, sound diffusion and sound absorption acoustic treatment services. We provide: Custom wall and ceiling panels for echos reduction Baffles and diffusers that optimize sound dispersion Absorptive materials for enhanced speech intelligibility in office and meeting spaces Developments designed specifically for music studios, classrooms and open-plan offices Best Noise Control in Soundproofing Service

If you want complete sound isolation from outside noise or sound leaking out of your space, our soundproofing service offers high-performance sound barriers that prevent sound leakage or outside disturbances. Our approach includes:

Installing high-tech soundproofing on the walls, floors, and ceilings Mass-loaded vinyl, acoustic barriers, and resilient channel Sealing gaps and air leaks for improved isolation effectiveness Environments without noise for recording studios, medical facilities and residential properties

How to Reduce Noise in Different Types of Environment

Noise pollution inside the household can affect productivity, health and comfort significantly. We have developed noise strategies to reduce external and internal noise disruptions by: Changes to absorb and block noise Sound barriers or acoustic enclosures installation Vibrational isolation products for industrial and mechanical applications Noise control regulations, both local and international Structural Damping for Improved Performance excess vibrations can cause structural damage and sound transmission to affect. Our vibration control services provide stability and sound integrity through

Transmitting up cuts from HVAC, mechanical, and industrial devices

Floating floors and decoupled wall systems for better noise insulation Controlling low frequency vibrations in sensitive environments like labs and theatres Noise Barriers for Specific Contexts A single solution does not solve all acoustic problems. We provide soundproofing products that cater to various industries and different building types: Home soundproofing for quiet living spaces Solutions for commercial offices to be focused and productive Reduction in industrial noise to comply with safety regulations ‘Hospitality’ acoustic solutions for calm and composed guest experiences

Expert Advice on Acoustic Consultancy Services

We are acoustic consultants your trusted partner for advice and solutions on acoustic compliance and improvement. We collaborate with architects, engineers and developers to: Pre-construction acoustic assessment Strike a balance between economical and high-performance acoustic materials Comply with acoustic design standards and regulations Design acoustic objectives, backed by parameters, for sustainable building performance Engineering the Acoustic for Measurement and Efficiency We use our sonic engineering know-how to ensure spaces are designed to manifest predetermined acoustic performance.

Generate custom audio funnels for specific implementations Choose materials and architectural elements for optimized acoustics To apply advanced methods of noise reduction Improve sound environment spatialization and comfort Design to Reduce Environmental Noise in Urban Areas Noise control is an indispensable must-have in high noise pollution areas for comfortable living and functionality. Our solutions include: Mitigating noise pollution in cities by design Soundproofing of an industrial facility to meet regulatory obligations Outdoor noise barriers for highways, railways, and commercial zones Some of these are: fully soundproofing measures for high-density residential buildings Install Sounds with Profession and Care

Why You Should Pick Our Architectural Acoustic Services?

We combine unique expertise, innovation and dedication to perfection in optimizing sound environments. Clients trust us because: All-in-one solutions: We handle every detail along the way, from auditing through to fit-out.

Leading-Edge Technology: Our precision acoustics make use of the most advanced tools and modeling techniques.

Industry Experts: A team of seasoned acoustic engineers and consultants.

Bespoke Renderings: Solutions are tailored for the unique acoustic BSCS of a project.

Legal Compliance: Ensure all solutions meet regulatory and environmental standards.

Architectural Acoustic Company in UAE

SkyTech LLC is one of the best architectural acoustic consultants in UAE that offers specialized services to client for sound quality optimization on different spaces. Every space requires attention to its unique acoustics, and that is why we have a team of expert architectural acoustic engineers to design the solutions uniquely tailored to each environment. From Residential properties to Commercial Complexes we provide hands-on Services to cater your unique needs in unique places. With a work experience of more than 10+ years in engineering field, we have expert plan and Professional Team to Determine and take care of your whole project in industrial acoustic services.

Conclusion

Most sound environments must be designed, from commercial or office buildings to specialized facilities (like concert halls) and architectural acoustics serve that purpose. From acoustic system integration to acoustic design, from soundproofing solutions to vibration control, we deliver superior acoustic performance to every quarter. Whatever you need, from soundproofing installation to noise control solutions as well as acoustic consultancy services, we will offer you new and efficient solutions. This information may also be recycled with your permission.

[m3mjewelscommercial]

M3M Jewel Sector 25: Gurgaon’s Top Commercial Property in 2025

Gurgaon’s commercial real estate market is booming, and M3M Jewel in Sector 25 stands tall as the go-to choice for businesses and investors. With its unbeatable MG Road location, tech-driven offices, and proven ROI, this property is redefining workspaces in 2025. Let’s break down why M3M Jewel is dominating Google searches—and why it should be your next investment.

1. Location Wins: Why Sector 25 Beats Cyber Hub & Golf Course Road

Connectivity That Saves Time (and Money)

M3M Jewel sits on MG Road, putting it minutes away from Gurgaon’s busiest hubs:

Cyber City: 7-minute drive (2 km).

IGI Airport: 18 minutes via NH48 (10 km).

Gurgaon Metro Blue Line: Sector 25 station is a 3-minute walk.

The Metro’s 2025 expansion has slashed commute times, making M3M Jewel a hotspot for companies tired of Delhi-Gurgaon traffic.

Infrastructure Driving Growth

Sector 25’s 2025 upgrades are a game-changer:

Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) now connects to Dwarka Expressway.

Udyog Vihar Phase 6 is fully operational, adding 50+ businesses nearby.

Property values here grew 14% last year—outpacing Sector 26 and Cyber City.

2. M3M Jewel Office Spaces: Smarter, Greener, Better

Tech That Works for You

M3M Jewel’s offices are built for 2025 needs:

App-controlled parking: Assign slots via the M3M Connect app.

AI energy systems: Cut AC/lighting costs by 35%.

24/7 security: Facial recognition and panic buttons.

No more outdated buildings. This is why tech giants and startups are flocking here.

Sustainability = Savings

As a LEED Gold-certified tower, M3M Jewel helps businesses:

Save ₹8–10/sq.ft monthly with solar power and rainwater reuse.

Boost employee health with air quality monitors and green terraces.

Earn CSR credits through zero-waste policies.

A 2025 IGBC report shows green offices in Gurgaon have 21% lower staff turnover.

3. M3M Jewel Price Trends: 2025’s Best Bet for Investors

Rentals That Outperform

Avg. Rent: ₹105–₹135/sq.ft/month (still 15% cheaper than Cyber Hub).

Price Growth: 18% CAGR since 2022 (Magicbricks 2025 Data).

With Sector 25’s occupancy at 94% (vs. 82% in Golf Course Road), vacancies here are rare.

Flexibility for SMEs & Startups

M3M Jewel gets small businesses:

Short-term leases: 6–12 months.

Shared conference rooms: Pay hourly, not monthly.

Scalable spaces: Start with 300 sq.ft, expand to 5,000 sq.ft.

4. Retail at M3M Jewel: High Traffic, High Returns

The retail wing is a goldmine:

Food chains: Serve 12,000+ office workers daily.

Luxury stores: Tap into nearby high-income apartments.

Wellness hubs: Gyms, clinics, and spas see 30% repeat customers.

Retail rentals here jumped 25% since 2023—faster than most MG Road properties (Anarock 2025 Report).

5. M3M Jewel vs Competitors: 2025’s Clear Winner

Source: PropTiger Commercial Report (Q1 2025)

6. Investor Perks: Tax Breaks & Hassle-Free Deals

Haryana’s 2025 Commercial Policy sweetens the deal:

12% tax rebate for green buildings like M3M Jewel.

Fast-track approvals: Fire NOCs in 7 days.

EV charging subsidies: Save ₹50,000 per station.

7. What’s New in 2025? Phase 2 & Beyond

Phase 2 Launch: A 12-floor co-working hub (open since Jan 2025).

Rental Forecast: Analysts predict 20% growth by 2026 as Metro traffic rises.

Why M3M Jewel Sector 25 Tops Every List

No fluff. Just facts:

✅ Prime MG Road location with Metro access.

✅ 2025’s lowest vacancy rates in Gurgaon.

✅ Tech + sustainability = happier employees, lower costs.

Whether you’re leasing an office or buying retail space, M3M Jewel delivers.

Ready to Invest? Talk to M3M’s Team for a free site tour and ROI plan.