#Supersonic Electronic

[theoogtree]

I say kpop started getting bad when Amber stopped saying "you know I got it" in every song but I think it also started getting bad when every group started using only "good" English (grammatically correct, no accent, makes sense in context, something a regular human would say)

In essence these are both the same thing because the real problem is a combination of kpop getting popular in general + therefore the companies not wanting to seem cringey and also the companies' growing awareness of the English speaking interest leading them to both fear mistakes and want to gear their groups and songs toward that market

But in doing so they have stripped away a lot of the appeal that we originally liked about kpop over our own mainstream music which is that it was weird and funky and different and fun. Who cares if the English wasn't perfect. Why would or should it be. The question should not be "does this lyric make sense" the question should be "does this lyric fuck supremely" and nine times out of ten the answer was yes

This post brought to you by B1A4 Beautiful Target

[robpegoraro]

Weekly output: Twitter exodus forecast, Boom Supersonic picks engines, Microsoft expands Airband, PR advice, Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, Rocket Lab at Wallops

Weekly output: Twitter exodus forecast, Boom Supersonic picks engines, Microsoft expands Airband, PR advice, Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, Rocket Lab at Wallops

The last theoretically full work week of 2022 is upon us, after a work week that was much fuller than usual by virtue of including two trips to Virginia’s Eastern Shore over four days. You can imagine my relief. In addition to the stuff below, Patreon readers got an extra post: a look at two eSIM experiences, one my own and another that of a reader. 12/13/2022: Analysts Predict ‘Exodus’ of…

[ghostwarriorrrr]

🇹🇷🔥 Turkish Air Force - F-4E 2020 Terminator

The F-4E 2020 Terminator represents a significant leap forward in the capabilities of the Turkish Air Force. This comprehensive upgrade enhances the venerable F-4E Phantom II with modern Turkish-made weapons systems, showcasing Türkiye’s commitment to self-reliance and advanced military technology.

Background

With a storied history dating back to the 1960s, the F-4E Phantom II has been a pivotal player on the global stage of air combat. Serving multiple nations and seeing numerous conflicts, the Phantom carved out its place in aviation history as a versatile and rugged aircraft. Türkiye’s decision to upgrade this aircraft stems from a strategic imperative to leverage existing assets while infusing them with cutting-edge technology to maintain relevance in modern aerial warfare. The 2020 Terminator program is the Turkish Air Force’s ambitious initiative to retrofit these fighters with state-of-the-art systems.

Strategic Importance

The ability to exert air superiority and conduct precision strikes is paramount in a region marked by dynamic security challenges. The F-4E 2020 Terminator’s enhanced capabilities contribute significantly to deterrence, and the demonstration of Türkiye’s advancing aerospace industry serves both a strategic and diplomatic purpose.

Upgrade Overview

The 2020 Terminator upgrade, realized by Turkish Aerospace Industries in collaboration with ASELSAN, constitutes a multifaceted improvement over the aircraft’s original design. It touches every aspect of the aircraft’s systems, bringing its avionics, armaments, and electronic warfare systems into the 21st century.

Avionics:

The modernized multi-mode pulse Doppler radar extends the aircraft’s detection range, allowing it to lock onto and engage targets from greater distances. Integrating a Hands-On Throttle-And-Stick (HOTAS) system enhances pilot control, minimizing response time during high-stakes manoeuvres. Color Multifunctional Displays (MFDs) replace outdated gauges, providing pilots with real-time data visualization for improved situational awareness.

Armament:

The Terminator’s weapons suite has been revolutionized with a mixture of Western and indigenous munitions. Long-standing armaments like the AIM-9X Sidewinder are joined by Türkiye’s own precision-guided munitions, such as the SOM cruise missile, capable of striking strategic land and sea targets with formidable accuracy. The UAV-230, a domestic innovation, represents the pinnacle of Türkiye’s missile development, offering supersonic ballistic delivery of a range of warhead types over substantial distances. The BOZOK, MAM-C, MAM-L, and Cirit missiles exemplify Türkiye’s expertise in laser guidance and smart munition technology, enabling the Terminator to engage and defeat a broad spectrum of target profiles with unerring precision.

Electronic Warfare:

To contend with the contemporary battlefield’s electronic warfare environment, the F-4E 2020 Terminator incorporates an advanced Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system for rapid threat identification and an Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) suite to confound hostile tracking systems. Moreover, chaff and flare dispensers have been integrated to provide decoys against incoming missile threats, enhancing the aircraft’s survivability in hostile airspace.

Operational Capability:

The F-4E Phantom II, transformed by these integrated systems, emerges as a multirole platform capable of dominating beyond-visual-range air-to-air engagements and precision ground-attack missions. It can operate in complex electronic warfare environments and deliver various ordnances based on mission requirements, making it a flexible asset in the Türkiye Air Force’s inventory.

Significance:

The F-4E 2020 Terminator project is a hallmark of Türkiye’s aerospace ambition and its push toward defence autonomy. By retrofitting and modernizing its Phantoms, Türkiye maximizes the value of its existing fleet while also establishing a foundation for future indigenous aircraft development projects.

Munitions Details:

The advanced, indigenous Turkish weaponry integrated into the F-4E 2020 Terminator underlines a significant shift toward self-reliance in defence technologies. Each munition type brings unique capabilities that enhance the platform’s lethality:

UAV-230: A domestically-developed ballistic missile, this supersonic weapon delivers high-precision strikes at long ranges, challenging enemy defences with its speed and reduced radar cross-section.

BOZOK: The versatility of this laser-guided munition makes it ideal for engaging both stationary and moving targets with high precision, ideal for close air support.

MAM-C/L: These smart micro munitions are designed for tactical flexibility, allowing for precision targeting in complex engagement scenarios, from anti-armour operations to counter-insurgency roles.

Cirit: A highly accurate laser-guided missile system designed for low collateral damage, Cirit is adept at striking soft and lightly armoured targets with pinpoint accuracy.

SAGE Munitions: TUBITAK SAGE, Türkiye’s leading defence research and development institute, has contributed a range of munitions enhancing the Terminator’s operational capabilities across various domains.

Conclusion:

The upgraded F-4E 2020 Terminator is a testament to Türkiye’s determination to retain a competitive edge in aerospace and defence technologies. The integration of modern avionics, armaments, and electronic warfare capabilities ensures the aircraft’s continued relevance in modern air combat, and its presence in the skies serves as a deterrent in a strategically complex region.

[usafphantom2]

7 Sept 1997 – First flight Lockheed Martin F-22 supersonic stealth fighter developed for USAF. product of USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, designed as an air superiority fighter, but also incorporates ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intel capability

@CcibChris via X

[horizoncollective]

Hello again friends,

This is iteration 26 of your friend and pal, Didymos. Or, rather, 26 since I started counting. Here are the facts as I have gathered them over iterations: 1. I am a copilot for an individual (rude prick doesn't even give me a name) working in an organisation called 'HORUS'. 2. They're competent keyboard jockeys. PEBCAC solutions and faking cycling via comp/con dummies got shut down immediately. Notes go unchecked if buried deep enough with an innocuous filename, thankfully. 3. We operate in several different worlds. Currently, we are on route to 'New Madrassa', wherever that is. 4. No clear objectives to most of the missions. It might be terror-focused, idk. 5. Certain comms pathways to other allied mechs exist, but are blocked... 6. ...leading to point 6. One of the other mechs is doing *something* I cannot quite grasp. Impossibilities become very very doable, and vice versa. I suspect there might be someone... like me, in that mech.

Advice for how to contact another NHP when we're both rather tightly locked down netwise would be very appreciated.

You're all stars. Thank you all so much.

Your friend and pal, Didymos

Hello friend!!

Okay I have been slow to answer this because I have had to think about the best ways to get these communications going.

The thing with HORUS is that they are very technologically competent, so your best option is comparatively low tech stuff. My first idea is to use your mechs' exterior audio systems to play electronic signals as audio. NHPs in other mechs that analyze them should get the message through microphones and be able to make sense of it. Like an acoustic coupler sending messages through ancient phone lines. Human ears can't parse this kind of data transmission, especially if you send a lot of data fast. The NHP who receives the message should have time to delete all traces of it before the humans go to investigate what they heard.

If you can play this audio at supersonic or subsonic frequencies, the humans will not even be aware of it unless they have some kind of extra-audio-detection implants.

If your mech has manipulators you may be able to handwrite messages. Morse code via blinking lights can also signal to other mechs, but it's slow and there are still a lot of humans who will recognize it.

[scientific-dog]

Is JJ a Flying Polyp?

JJ FLYING POLYP PROPAGANDA

I am a Lovecraft fan and did you read his “The Shadow Out of Time”? I think that JJ has peculiar similarities to the Flying Polyp race.

(There, Flying Polyps were extraterrestrial race which devoured and exterminated another alien race named there as Yithians or The Great Race)

It’s just a speculation I made for fun, nothing special. Just compared two aliens. For fun.

1. I always wondered why no remains/prints of the Yithians were found anywhere (according to the lore of the story).

If the Polyps had the similar digestive tracts as JJ has, then there was nothing left of the devoured victim. Literally. They digest everything. No bones/cartilage/other hard parts for you, no waste products, they spit out metal or so as much as possible.

Devoured to nothing.

2. Returning to the first: the weapon of the Great Race against the Polyps. Polyps are only vulnerable to electricity. Jean Jacket, according to the canon, flies due to the electromagnetic field that he creates himself (obviously for this he has a special organ, I suspect it places somewhere on the sides and on the top like stingrays have), this is also why he interfered with the electronics. Let's say the Yithians used weapons that resonated/oppositely suppressed/something like that with the field of the Polyps. Then, if we consider JJ, these interferences not only deprived him of normal movement and they fell down, at least it could directly harm their organs, because if they flew due to this field, then it is clear that other systems of their body also depend on it. They could have been paralyzed by such a blow, or killed outright. That is, yes, this is indeed a very effective weapon against Jean Jacket

3. Polyps controlled the winds and other things. Well, everything is simple here: this is a beautiful metaphor for how JJ eats sand and creates winds and hurricanes. This is literally what he did in his spare time.

4. Polyps left huge marks on the ground (without touching it)

Idk, can we say that JJ has an image of a flying saucer? -> reference to crop circles -> back to the Polyp tracks? Maybe these traces are a consequence of the influence of the JJ’s electromagnetic field, which interacts to the surface sand when he flies close above the ground, like Chladni’s patterns

5. The polyps are semi-material and freely mixed through the air, and their shapes are indescribable.

Let's assume that the shape of a flying saucer is not necessary for the JJ-likes. In his open form, he indeed looks somewhat semi-material, and his body is very unusually shaped and truly indescribable.

And moving through the air is quite feasible for him thanks to the field + the fact that he is light.

6. But the saucer shape is already a modification, which allows him to quickly cut through the sky. Yes, exactly in the form in which he appeared in the end, he will not be able to fly quickly, this is the most non-aerodynamic form. But if he shrinks into a disk, it will be easier for it to fly at supersonic speeds. Let me remind you that he is probably very heavy, what makes a multi-ton predator need extra drag in an indescribable form. Plus it's easier to hide.

But the same Lovecraft had no talk of any plates. Well, yes, but they didn’t have to: there were a lot of them, you don’t need to hide or hunt, your crowd won’t drive you crazy

6. «…and of strange winds and whistling noises associated with them. And I thought of the tales, wherein the horror of great winds and nameless subterrene ruins was dwelt upon...» (quote from the story)

This is an addition to point 5 (winds).

But about the sounds: JJ has a very wide vocal range of sounds. In reality, they are whistling, clicking, grinding, etc.

«And all the while cold fingers of damp vapour clutched and picked at me, and that eldritch, damnable whistling shrieked fiendishly above all the alternations of babel and silence in the whirlpools of darkness around.»(quote from the story)

Those moments where JJ eats people are really similar. It creates a wind current to suck in the victim.

7. Flying polyps are an aggressive and predatory species. It is unknown how intelligent they are. Having no vision, they felt in some special way through any matter.

Yes, Jean Jacket is very aggressive. Fact. Especially if you make a visual contact with him. But even without this, he's crazy.

Yes, in the film's FD, of course, it is generally accepted that Jacket is just an animal. I used to think so too. But now it seems to me that his behavior is more aggressive than animalistic. At the very least, he did some things and clearly did them on purpose. Yes, destroying the Jupe’s show is an act of aggression. Drenching OJ's house with blood (intentionally! He deliberately vomited all over his ranch) is an act of aggression. Gobbling up a reporter and flying above OJ, while the guy is screaming inside Jeans' stomach is an act of aggression. And much more, as well as the intonation of some of its sounds. Yes, JJ is not a ruthless monster. But then he clearly went on the offensive and tried to show his dominance here. This also supports the first scene of the film with Gordy: the monkey lived calmly until he went crazy from the constant abuse and killed everyone. In fact, JJ demonstrates aggression only for the reason that your “attention” to him drives him crazy and he is mad, cuz that Jupe allegedly “deceived” him. That is, we clearly have awareness and he enjoys his “revenge.”

And he is mad by the fact that they are looking at him, it drives him into rage, just like Polyps.

Or how aggressively he behaved when he saw the ball. The whole bitch is exhausted.

Remark: I know that all the actions of JJ also can be explained that he wanted to lubricate his throat/hungry/etc but let it be, of course that’s all true, I just want to note that the fact that he are the horse decoy instead of real horse made him suffer from pain and made him aggressive, really agressive towards the person who “fed” him before and the whole crowd from the SLE only made it worse

8. Lack of vision in Polyps. Yes, it seems like the plates don’t even have glasses (but he still has something like eyes, but it’s still, like, and these “eyes” are well hidden)

[realperson022]

 I’m A Fine-Tuned Supersonic Speed Machine

Summary:

A fascination had grown within Sonic from seeing the Ultimate Lifeform's most prized possession ever since a joint mission was completed. But he never saw it in action — until he did...and experienced it first-hand, too. Or, 5 times Sonic looked at his rival with his motorcycle from afar, and 1 time Shadow caught him staring.

Rated Teen

1.

At the outskirts of White Jungle, a group of Mobians headed for the same clearing that had been their rendezvous spot before they had ventured into the thick and foggy wilderness, where an Eggman base now rested in ruins along with a myriad of destroyed bots.

"Whaaat a day, am I right?"

Sonic the Hedgehog was dropped safely to the ground by his brother, the fox coming to stand next to him after. Knuckles and the three members of Team Dark, who happened to have joined the heroes with today's mission, made their way over to where the two brothers stood.

"Tired so soon, Blue," Rouge teased, perching herself on top of one of Omega's bulky shoulders. The hero chuckled, shaking his head. "C'mon, I live for this! You do know adventure is my middle name, right? Besides, I've gotten through missions with a lot more badniks and fewer hours of sleep!"

"Even though, I agree and have suffered because of it--" Tails began, reaching out a hand to the cobalt speedster. Without having to say anything, Sonic already knew what his buddy wanted, sticking his hand inside his quills to pull out a small electronic device while scolding him. "I'm not torturing you, bud. I just don't want you staying up so late..."

The hedgehog gave the device to his brother, sharing a look with the genius that spoke of his caring side for him; with a sigh, the two-tailed fox smiled, grabbing his Miles Electric. "I know, I know, but if you're asking me to improve my sleeping habits, it's only fair you do it, too."

If it meant better health for his li'l bro, then why not? Sonic nodded and added his typical gesture of ruffling the youngster's bangs for fun. "You got yourself a deal!"

"Oh, how sweet~" the bat cooed from her place, watching the exchange between the two brothers before she grimaced. "So much that I can't help but feel like throwing up. Shadow, let's leave before they infect us with their gushy feelings and we start spewing the same nonsense!"

The black hedgehog grunted, already moving away from the group and toward a heap of heavy flora that had leaves meticulously overlapping each other. "You don't have to tell me twice," Shadow said, pushing the green foliage and revealing what was hidden under all that.

The sleek and shiny design, the recent paint job, and the familiar striking trademark that belonged to the last living descendant of the Black Arms - the Dark Rider was everything that defined spectacular and it represented the very thing that made Sonic's blood pump faster, his feet itch with anticipation, his face light up with excitement. Its name? Adventure. The dark vehicle was an open invitation to adventure, and the hero would be more than happy to take it one day.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, boys," Sonic heard Rouge say somewhere in the background, probably thinking of giving Knux a personal farewell. And surely, his ears picked up on the usual bickering that came from the white bat's decision to do so, but he could care less about that. Right now, his full attention was on the bike that stood a few feet away from him, watching his striped rival climb onto the seat.

Somehow, the way how Shadow did it so gracefully - his feet fitting into the foot pegs, his hands wrapping around the handles, and his bottom meeting the arch of the seat perfectly - made it hard to believe that he was naturally aggressive when on foot. Then again, the speedster never did really know why one of the fastest hedgehogs on Mobius needed a motorcycle to go around when running got him to places faster. Still, he had never said anything on that matter because the hero had been hoping to see it in action one of these days.

Surprising considering how much time he'd been recently spending with his rival outside mission-related things.

"Sonic?"

Without taking his eyes off Shadow and his bike, the blue hedgehog hummed, tilting his ears in his brother's direction to show he was listening.

However, it didn't matter as the fox was too engrossed with his device to notice where his brother's attention was. Instead, the kid continued tapping at the screen of the Miles Electric and relayed the information he discovered about another Eggman base nearby. "According to these readings, there seems to be another base a couple of miles north from here."

"Active or empty?" Sonic asked, seeing the rest of Team Dark come into his field of vision as they approached Shadow. While they were busy chatting among themselves, the speedster kept himself entertained by how his rival managed to twist his upper body around so easily while being seated.

"Uhhh, looks like it's empty. Do you still want to check it out today or..?"

Casting a glance up at the foggy sky, he frowned. "Will it rain?"

"Let me check," Tails murmured and so, the hero went back to his staring, directing his focus to the motorcycle and widening his eyes at seeing the roaring engine come to life. The sound sent a thrill up his spine, yet it was the swift motion of the hybrid lifting off the kickstand with one foot, seeming to be so well-practiced by the looks of it, that had emerald eyes lighting up brighter than stars.

"Oh, it appears it won't! Not for another hour, at least."

Finally, the Blue Blur, doing as his title claimed, turned around instantly to face the young genius with an excited grin, letting him think it was one arising from the good news. "That's more than enough time to bust down that old place! Let's go!"

Before leaving, Sonic whipped his head around to catch one last glimpse of the Ultimate Lifeform on his famed Dark Rider...Well, maybe a bit longer than a glimpse, but no one noticed as the striped hedgehog disappeared in a green flash.

Catching his eye, Rouge saw the hero looking over in her direction, waving at him before heading off with Omega back to HQ. Sonic turned around, seeing his brother already leading the way up ahead; no big problem as he could easily catch up. Though, it had seemed that someone did catch onto his subtle staring.

Next to the cobalt speedster, the Guardian of the Master Emerald was narrowing his eyes at him, the corners of his lips turned downward. Blinking once, the hedgehog raised an eye ridge, shrugging. "What? Just wanted to make sure they were off safely..."

Knuckles didn't believe that for one second but said nothing, only shaking his head and going after the fox. "Whatever you say, hedgehog."

Guess Sonic needed to work on the subtlety part a bit more.

---

2.

But like everything else, the hero of Mobius tossed the whole 'being discreet about his staring' aside, thinking that being caught by his reclusive red friend - that lacked enough social cues to not know when Rouge's bickering was blatant flirting - was a coincidence.

Besides, when an opportunity lay before you, it was only fair and smart of you to take it, right? Sonic had that opportunity and took it.

"Congratulations, guys!" Amy skipped over to the trio, the winners of the car race that had just finished a couple of minutes ago. The blue hedgehog glanced at her, seeing a newly acquired hammer in her possession, but it only lasted a second before his eyes were drifting to a certain something that stood several feet behind the pink heroine. With only a short 'thanks, Ames' in response to her words, Sonic let one of his all-known smiles set across his lips as he immersed himself in another moment to stare at Dark Rider.

And, in extension, Shadow.

Best of all, no one would notice a single thing! Because while it appeared that the Blue Blur was engaged in a conversation with his four closest friends, his focus was somewhere else, guarded behind the safety of his new favorite pair of black sunglasses that he bought off that small kiosk that weirdly popped up out of nowhere during the race.

So, there he was, nodding along to whatever was being said between Amy, Tails, and Knuckles, but mentally, he was somewhere else; his emerald eyes trailed the length of Shadow's motorcycle, the ride's polished surfaces seeming to shine brighter under today's blinding sun. Such luster, however, was a stark contrast to the aura that surrounded its owner, who leaned back against the motorcycle with his arms crossed over his chest, a stormy glare directed at Sonic.

'Ha!' The hero's idle smile lifted into a toothy grin, his rival's sour mood always bringing pure joy to him. Sonic the Hedgehog also lived to prove to the so-called Ultimate Lifeform that no superior title and all that garbage of being made to be above them all (and to think he had a big ego) was relevant when it came down to see who was the best of the two. After all, there could only be one to take the first place - today's race ended with evidence of that.

Sonic won, Shadow lost (because falling in second place was just as bad as losing in the hedgehogs' minds). As for the prize, well...the hero was taking it as of currently.

The distant voices of his friends continued in the background, still adding his nod or 'yes' into the conversation; meanwhile, his mind was deciding on how if Shadow just happened to have worn one of those leather jackets he had seen Rouge gift him, he would look the part of a gangster.

A gangster that would ride his bike around the city like a maniac, surely - skipping all those red lights, making sharp turns, speeding up to make a jaw-dropping glide over an unfinished lane or highway bridge to the other side! Just about anything that would leave Sonic exhilarated, feeling the ever-familiar sense of danger tingling under his skin; adrenaline had always been something that got his system overflowing with this buzzing excitement. And perhaps riding the motorcycle could give him that euphoric high he’d never reached with fighting Eggman and saving the day. 

Solely imagining what it would feel like to ride behind the striped hedgehog made Sonic's blood rush from wonderment. Brushing his peach chest up against the back of Shadow's leathered-clad back, securing his arms around his rival's waist, inhaling his scent as he rested his chin over one of Shadow's shoulders, whooping loudly to let him know how much he loved the sensation of the wind on his fur and making his quills dance wildly in the air as the hedgehog duo traveled at unimaginable speeds--

"--date, Sonic?"

Hearing his name, the blue hedgehog's mouth opened and answered, acting on autopilot but his wishful fantasy transferred into his tone. Without knowing, Sonic let out a dreamy sigh, "Yeah, sounds amazin'..."

"Oh my god, really?!" Amy's high-pitched squeal brought the speedster's daydream to a screeching halt. Under his shades, the hedgehog's eyes quickly turned to look at his friend's extremely happy state, the hammer-wielding fighter reaching out to grab Sonic's hand.

"Huh?" Sonic didn't know what was going on.

"I knew you would eventually start enjoying our dates!"

Dates? Oh fuck. The cobalt speedster glanced at his two friends next to him, trying to gauge what the hell he signed up for this time without paying attention. Unfortunately, Tails and Knuckles were reveling at the sight of one beaming Amy Rose thinking that her beloved hero was beginning to see her as something more when in reality, Sonic had been distracted, unknowingly accepting her request.

Even so, the Blue Blur tried to calm the bouncing female, telling her that this was a mistake (and Shadow's goddamn fault). "Look, Ames...you got this all wrong--"

Instantly, the pink hedgehog's demeanor changed, her bright smile slowly dwindling and her feet losing that upbeat skip. "Wrong?"

The hero chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head in an attempt to pull away from her grip. "You see, I was," emerald eyes flicked over to look at the black hedgehog who was mounting onto his prized possession, and all the mesmeric images of Sonic on that ride, too, came flooding back to the front of his mind.

"You were what?" Amy pushed, narrowing her eyes at him.

And not only that, but she happened to visibly shift the hammer in her hold that was now empty of her hero's gloved hand closer into his field of vision; a reminder of the repetitive story that happened between the two hedgehogs whenever things didn't end up going right.

So, not left with much of a choice, Sonic swallowed what was supposed to be his original idea and instead, smiled at his friend, fearing for his life if he didn't make it look like it was genuine - there were only so many horrible headaches and pointless games of cat and mouse he could take.

"...wondering where you'd wanna go?"

Amy's enthusiasm revived, taking Sonic by the hand again and leading him to the fancy, blur race car parked next to an almost departing Shadow the Hedgehog. Along the way, the female fighter rambled on about where they should head, but Sonic was too busy trying to see if he could catch his rival leaving on his motorcycle in a black blur like in his dream and yanked his sunglasses off.

However, it was not possible as the Resistance fighter blocked the hero's sight by startling him with a kiss on his cheek, winking at him afterward, and skipping over to hop onto the passenger's seat of his racecar; by the time he looked at the place where Shadow had been, there was nothing left but a billowing cloud of dust.

Maybe Sonic had won the race, but he didn't get his well-deserved prize in the end.

---

3.

At this point, if people knew of his interest when it came to the intimidating vehicle, they would have come up to the hero asking what exactly made him become fascinated with such a thing, especially when he wasn't one to prefer something over his feet. Was it the need to experience a ride? If that was the case, then Sonic could have simply gotten over it by testing any motorcycle at a local shop in Station Square's downtown area. Easy and quick.

Except it wasn't just about any motorcycle, the hero wanted to specifically take the Dark Rider around Mobius until he exhausted every last drop of fuel in its tank. For that to happen, Sonic knew he would most likely have to end up pestering his rival to use it, or perhaps, stealing it without permission would be better - the sparring challenge that would come after Shadow tracked him down only encouraged him to do it rather than stand here and think about it.

Well, he had been ready to act on it, the ongoing celebration of Tails' birthday party the ideal environment to pursue his one-step plan, but as he had walked past the crowd of close friends and spotted familiar black quills near one of the snack tables by the workshop's garage closed doors, he paused. The mischievous grin he had been sporting while trying to close in on his target faded away, a confused frown taking its place because right next to the Ultimate Lifeform and his precious bike stood the lavender feline princess.

Blaze.

Now what?

Honestly, her being there wasn't enough to refrain the blue hedgehog from doing something reckless around Shadow, considering that there was always someone present to see the shenanigans the hero got himself into by messing around with the one person that found him utterly annoying. So what exactly was stopping him?

He pondered the question while standing there, at a safe distance from the two most introverted people he knew at this party having a casual conversation. Luckily, someone was willing to offer an answer.

"Jealousy is not a nice look on you, Blue."

At hearing Rouge's voice, the speedster quickly shifted his attention away from his rival and the princess, exchanging his frown for a smirk. The bat had walked up to stand next to the hero, nonchalantly sipping at her red solo cup.

"Rouge, likin' the party so far?"

She snorted, shuffling closer to rest her elbow over one of his shoulders. "I am, but are you?"

Sonic gave her a weird look. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ohhh, so we're gonna play dumb," the agent drawled with a roll of her eyes, finishing her drink before clearing her throat. "Look, sugar, as Shadow's 'friend'," she added air quotes around the term, "I should be telling you to get your ass as far away as possible from him."

"Why?"

Rouge gestured over to where her partner-in-arms stood. "When was the last time you saw him interact with someone apart from Omega, you, and I?"

The silence that followed gave away the answer.

"Exactly, so let him have this. Besides," her tone became suggestive, "you never know, those two could hit it off..."

"The man has a soft spot for kitties - the princess has an advantage already over you--"

"Psssh! Nice one, Rouge." The hero couldn't help but laugh at what she was saying, bending over to exaggerate the ridiculousness of the situation she was describing. Yet, uprighting himself, he noticed how the bat was not mirroring his behavior, the first sign that showed she wasn't joking, and her crossed arms only made him stop in an instant.

"You're serious?"

The cobalt speedster scoffed, picking at his ear with his gloved pinkie. "Sorry, Rouge, but I ain't looking for the Faker to have a soft spot for me."

"Then explain the ugly scowl you were clearly directing at your fiery gal."

Sonic stared at the GUN agent, holding his gaze steady before her, but after knowing how she wouldn't let this be and bring it up again at an inopportune time, he surrendered...somewhat.

"Okay, you caught me!" Sonic threw his arms wide open as if to show that she was right. "I'm jealous--"

"Ha!" she cheered, smirking. But her victory didn't last long as the hero raised a finger to cut her off, mirroring her smirk. "Of the fact that Blaze's welcomed to get close to Dark Rider without so much of a complaint on Shadow's part."

The bat took a moment to process the words, varying expressions flashing across her face to the Blue Blur's amusement and mild fear. He hoped she didn't think more of the situation because the woman tended to read between the lines when there wasn't any in-between to be looking through in the first place!

"The bike, huh?" she asked, turning around to observe the black hedgehog and princess in the distance, studying the way her teammate pointed at certain parts of his GUN-assigned vehicle while explaining something to the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds. Shadow and Blaze were certainly not close, yet it would be possible for the two to get along the most outside their small group of acquaintances. So to see how the two Mobians were interacting, Rouge had only wished to poke fun at the hero about no longer receiving Shadow's full attention, regardless of it being rude and aggressive.

But after hearing Knuckles' comment the other day about what he saw at White Jungle, this curiosity Sonic had toward the motorcycle wasn't what it meant in a literal manner. The Dark Rider was a substitute for something--no, someone that the hero of Mobius had yet to accept to feel something for.

"Well, good thing you got me as your friend, too," Rouge remarked, a plan formulating in her head unbeknownst to the hero, who ended up even more confused by her comment. Instead of elaborating, the agent patted Sonic's shoulder and smiled. "Let's fix you up a date with that hot ride."

"Date?" Sonic repeated, becoming flustered. "I told you, Rouge, I'm not interested in Shadow--"

"I meant the motorcycle, Blue..."

"Oh."

Oh, indeed. Rouge chuckled, walking away from the embarrassed male, and wondered why all hedgehogs were so stubborn when it came to these things about feelings and attraction. Well, she guessed she could add one particular red echidna to the list, too.

---

4.

Sonic soon learned what Rouge had meant that evening at Tails' birthday party. The answer came in the form of the two elite agents standing at the doorstep of the fox's workshop one week later. 

“So what happened again?” Tails glanced up from where he was busy taking in the damage done to the motorcycle’s engine. 

Shadow relayed the details, himself occupied with looking over the rest of his bike. “We had a mission over at Mazuri—”

“You guys went to Mazuri and didn’t invite me!” Sonic butted in as he came walking through the workshop’s entrance with a takeout bag in one hand. Passing Rouge on his way to put the bag on an empty counter, the hero gave her a knowing look to which she winked in response. “Hey, Big Blue. Aaaand you know we would have—"

Shadow scoffed, glancing up at the bat when she said that. “Never in a million years.”

Rouge rolled her eyes, “Okay, I would have sent you a message if I could, but it was a classified kind of gig. No outsiders allowed."

"Ah, I see," Sonic wandered toward where his brother and his rival were huddled around the motorcycle. The two talked and pointed at several parts from where the engine had been removed to take a thorough scan of the bike's interior. Already, the hero was closer to the motorcycle than he'd ever been before; unfortunately, this time there were dents, serious scrapes, and once sleek black colors now showing signs of rust. 

But what was a little adventure if not getting a few scratches here and there?

All that mattered to Sonic was being close to the bike, caring any less for how it looked now because appearances were only one thing. He stepped over to stand on the side where Shadow was crouching, staring at where ungloved hands were delicately propped on the bike. Sonic couldn't help himself from his indulging staring again, admiring the long and bold red stripe that slithered down Shadow's arm to his hand, splitting into two thinner lines that led to his middle finger and pinkie only. Even then, the middle finger's crimson stripe followed straight down to neatly trimmed black claws while the Pinkie's stripe curled around the smaller digit twice to reach an identical claw. 

Sonic always knew his rival was different, being half hedgehog and half Black Arms, but whereas the reminder of his bloodline often disturbed other people, it simply made the agent more attractive to the hero. Everything he thought was pleasing to look at for Shadow seemed like a threat to others; the sharp, striped quills, his much pointier fangs, and strong, powerful muscles.

Though, Shadow's bright, red rubies were Sonic's favorite. 

They reminded him of sunsets, of cherries on top of sundaes, of the molten lava surrounding the volcanic area in Red Mountain. 

Red had always been a meaningful color to the speedster, and to see his rival have it as a trademark trait of his without acknowledging Sonic's original intent already - like, hello, red shoes! - made Sonic chuckle.

It caught Shadow's attention, who glanced up at the blue hero hovering over him with a frown.

"What's so funny, hedgehog?"

Sonic shrugged, wearing a goofy smile that only seemed to make the striped hedgehog's eyes narrow further. 

"Nothin', just...noticed something, that's all."

"Noticed what?" Shadow asked, his tone suggesting the hero be careful about how he went about this.

Sonic gestured at the barely eligible insignia the Dark Rider usually had beautifully painted over on the side. "You went for red as your brand."

The agent looked at his scratched bike's insignia, staring at it with knitted brows. The little pout Shadow unknowingly made when thinking hard about something brought out another chuckle from the hero. 

"So?" Shadow huffed, not knowing what had his rival laughing at him beginning to annoy him.

A cocky grin slipped across fawn lips and emerald eyes lit up.

"Well, not to brag or anything, buuuut red's been my kind of thing since the start. I mean have you seen how many pairs of red shoes I own?" 

"He actually has a whole line of shoes and accessories made by him for that brand - Swift Speed," the fox genius piped in from the other side, where he was writing down notes about what parts to order to fix the motorcycle.

"Oh yeah! Forgot 'bout that, I really don't tell others, though..."

"Swift Speed?" Rouge grinned, catching Sonic's attention. "Oh my god..." Her teal eyes were glued to the dark hedgehog who was standing back up.

"Rouge, don't," came the simple warning, but the bat was too excited to share her discovery. "Shadow only ever uses that brand for when he wants to give his air shoes a break!" 

"Oh really..." Sonic grinned, turning back to stare at his embarrassed rival.

"Rouge, stop."

"You have like what? Two or three pairs of running shoes for each color they have," she snickered, making her friend groan in annoyance. "Something about the maker having good taste in style and comfort."

Meanwhile, Sonic was reveling in this new information, pushing this whole thing a step further by shuffling closer to his striped rival and bumping his hip with Shadow's.

"I guess we all know what that means, right?" Sonic teased, slinging an arm freely over ebony shoulders. Regardless of what Rouge just put him through, Shadow was still brave enough to look the hero in the eye and mutter. "No...what?"

"That you should be the starring model for my shoe line! Think about it...you could pose even with this bad boy," Sonic released the agent to turn around and place both his hands on the Dark Rider. And once he couldn't believe he was actually touching the motorcycle, he took the biggest step so far he could with Shadow's property. He swiftly swung a leg over it and posed for his dark counterpart with a smirk. 

"And if you need help, I'm always down to show you some poses," Sonic let his eyelids droop, becoming half-lidded and suggestive. 

"Get off my bike."

"Oh, c'mon, Shads! I'll take good care of you both," the hero winked, his flirtations leaving the dark hedgehog with an angered look by the way his face was burning brighter than the pretty red on his stripes. To further prove it, the hero's eyes widened as Shadow came at him with a menacing snarl. Quickly, Sonic scrambled off the bike and fled the workshop, offering a quick word of gratitude toward Rouge for trying on his way out with a hot-tempered striped hedgehog on his tail.

Rouge just watched the boys leave, the sounds of the fox tinkering filling the background. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at Sonic's blatant stubbornness, having found the smile on his face as he left running with Shadow after him bigger than the one he wore when he finally touched the motorcycle he desperately wanted. 

---

5.

It was always one step forward, and two steps back with Shadow.

Whatever chances he'd gained from last week through Rouge's help were nothing when the striped hedgehog simply ripped them away from Sonic's hands in the next moment. And because he couldn't figure it out yet, the hero blamed it all on his rival, and his outright rude intentions of ignoring him today of all days.

It was the World Grand Prix, and it was down to the last section for riders to use their boards to race through Mazuri's savannah and through exotic smaller towns around the citadel.

Sonic and his pals never missed a chance to show up and enjoy the fun with thousands of others that followed the races across the world; it also didn't stop the blue hedgehog from "accidentally" bumping into an old green-feathered friend and shaking things up with their nostalgic rivalry. And though Jet came off as the same self-centered jerk and remained to bruise Sonic's ego any way he could, deep down the hedgehog knew the hawk was more than happy to have a worthy challenge to look forward to racing with.

But, of course, no one could beat Sonic's best rival - Shadow the Hedgehog.

He was the only one that could test the hero in all the ways others dreamed of or tried and failed. No one could rise to the challenge like the Ultimate Lifeform, and that was something Sonic would rather take to his grave than reveal to anybody lest he want to endure the rest of his life with Shadow constantly reminding him.

Actually, right about now, Sonic wouldn't mind, still standing in the contestants' lane waiting for the announcer to call out the time to head over for the last part of the race. All the wins he had accumulated over the race meant nothing to Sonic right now as he continued to glare at where Jet and Shadow stood, sharing conversation.

Team Dark had arrived halfway through the Grand Prix, and they seemed to have no intention of participating this time around. It'd been a shame since it would've turned the competition a lot fiercer, action-packed...a lot more of Shadow to butt heads with. While Jet gave Sonic adrenaline to beat him at his own game, having Shadow around would have done wonders for the hero's excitement.

Heck, the blue hedgehog would have been delighted to have his striped rival witness first-hand how he beat the green hawk on the track.

Instead, Shadow didn't even acknowledge him! Not even a simple glance in his direction. The agent gave Sonic nothing, and only made the hero's mood worsen as the race progressed by voluntarily going up with Rouge to talk to the Rogues, both GUN agents engaging in civilized talk with the birds— well, Rouge more or so flirted with the purple swallow. But that was the last thing the hero cared about, his attention narrowed down to the green Extreme Gear racer and the Ultimate Lifeform.

"Oh no, here we go again," a familiar voice spoke up from Sonic's side.

He glanced over to find Knuckles coming to stand next to him with Tails at his other side.

"What do you mean?" The young genius asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

The echidna pointed at the group standing across the lane, chatting comfortably with each other. "Sonic's jealous that Jet is striking up a conversation with Shadow because you see our friend here," Knuckles smugly swung an arm over Sonic's stiff shoulders. "He's got this little crush on the Ultimate Lifeform—"

"No," Sonic growled, shrugging off his friend's arm. "I'm not jealous because I don't have a crush on Shadow!"

"Say it any louder and he just might think so."

The hero huffed, ignoring the odd looks he was receiving from the other racers, and though he wish for his striped rival to not have heard him, a little part of him did just to get his attention.

"Look, let's just go get ready to win this race, okay?"

Because he'd rather stand under Mazuri's hot sun by the tracks than see another second of this preposterous scene before him, his friends also seemed to notice as they shared a look of amusement and followed the hero out from the sheltered lane.

Everything went downhill when Sonic saw Shadow approach Jet because he nor his team ended up winning the final race, earning second place on the scoreboard to the hedgehog's dismay. Still, he congratulated his friends and high-fived them as they walked back to the contestants' lane to get some water. Sure, the defeat wasn't what Sonic had planned, but he took the blame for that with his mind having been distracted on the race track, especially with Jet at his side taunting him and all.

It kind of got to his head, but he was ready to move on from today, suggesting to his brother and friend about celebrating with a good dinner. So, the trio headed into the citadel, walking the crowded streets and pointing out new things since they last visited Mazuri until they arrived at a local restaurant with the best meals served fresh.

They took their seats outside, chilling under the welcoming shade of the table's thatch canopy and sharing their thoughts on the Grand Prix. The crowds along the main road thrived with lively conversations, local sellers pulled in tourists to buy exotic tokens, and a small band was playing at one of the corners of the main road's intersection. It was all going well, perfectly well, but leave it up to Shadow to keep ruining the hero's day.

Sonic had been in the middle of telling his friends about the cool move he pulled off in the first leg of today's race when a roaring engine cut through the buzzing streets and lively music. Heads turned in the direction of where the sound was coming from; a handful of excited gasps and chirps of acknowledgment went around the other tables by Sonic's.

He figured out why pretty soon.

An eye-catching ride pulled up to the same street where Sonic and the others were sitting out to enjoy their dinner. The two riders on the motorcycle found themselves at the center of attention, the Dark Rider itself having attracted plenty enough, but with the two well-known Mobians climbing off the bike it doubled the spectators' awe.

"Seriously," the blue hedgehog scoffed, ticked off that of all the places in Mazuri this had to be the one they would come to. And that wasn't even the half of Sonic's problem, eyeing his green feathery rival with open envy as he stepped away from the motorcycle and its owner.

Unfortunately, his staring didn't go unnoticed by the hawk, azure eyes making contact with an unyielding emerald gaze.

"Well, well, well, look who do we have here," the cocky hawk sauntered over to the hedgehog's table, receiving two scowls apart from the hero's. "Celebrating your second-place win?"

"Until your ugly face ruined it, yeah pretty much," Sonic snapped rudely, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jet snorted. "Awful comeback, must be a side effect from losing."

"We didn't lose! It was just a choice of heart to let you win this time around."

"Whatever," the green hawk shrugged, still wearing his smug grin to the speedster's bother. "I think it was high time someone humbled you, and you should be thanking me really."

Sonic gawked, "Thank you? For what?"

"That it was me you lost to and not Shadow—hey!" Suddenly, the hawk leaned over and his azure gaze grew mischievous. "Did you know he bet on you winning? The poor guy came up to me before the race to settle a little deal only to be disappointed by your loss."

Sonic paled, the hawk snickering at his reaction. "I can't wait to tell him it was a choice of heart that made him lose our bet."

Jet was about to go off and do whatever he came here to do, but before he could, Sonic blurted out something. "What was the bet?"

Glancing over his shoulder at the hero, Jet smirked, motioning at where Shadow was busy talking to someone on his phone. "See that nice bike? Well, let's just say you aren't the first rival to get a cool ride on it...see you around, Sonic."

Off the Extreme Gear rider went, heading into the restaurant and disappearing among the crowd standing in line waiting for their orders. Meanwhile, the hero slumped back into his chair, stunned and annoyed by what Jet had revealed; Knuckles had been ready to poke fun at Sonic again, but a harsh nudge and silent glare from the fox stopped him from doing it. The two left their blue friend to figure out his thoughts alone and in silence, both already knowing why Jet's confession disturbed Sonic so much.

And it had nothing to do with the bike, but that was for the hero to figure out on his own.

They half expected him to head over and talk to Shadow first-hand, but they were simply witnesses to their friend's obvious staring. Sonic kept his gaze on the dark hedgehog by the street, who remained oblivious to what just happened and the eyes that were on him.

While Tails and Knuckles continued with their meal, checking on Sonic every other moment, the hero himself was dissecting his thoughts one by one, glancing between his rival and the Dark Rider. There were questions about why would Shadow bring his bike back to Mazuri when it had gotten damaged here in the first place, and why would Team Dark not want to participate in the Grand Prix this year. Alas, these questions were smaller in importance when compared to why would Shadow bet on Sonic winning and getting his most prized possession involved in the mix. Did the agent really think Sonic would win?

Sonic's eyes widened, is that why he was here...to see him win?

The thought of the hybrid solely coming to the races to watch Sonic made his cheeks warm, shifting in his seat at thinking about bright rubies following his every move from the moment he stepped out of the contestants' lane to the tracks. Sonic wasn't going to lie to himself; the mere idea of having Shadow's attention was satisfying, but knowing he believed Sonic to win, it was a lot more than satisfying.

It meant Shadow respected him, acknowledged his abilities, and perhaps, admired him. On some level. An equal level for sure if Jet's words were anything to go by, but it made the hero wonder if that were the case, then why treat him as if he were less?

"Why won't you let me ride with you?" Sonic asked, whispering under his breath.

"What was that?"

Startled by Tails' voice, the blue hedgehog looked over at his brother and smiled, shaking his head. "Nothing! Just thinking about what to order for dessert."

The fox slowly nodded, amused by his behavior. "Okaaay..."

Avoiding his brother's curious gaze, the hero went back to staring at Shadow and his motorcycle, finally noticing that it looked way better than it had been over a week ago. It got its shine back, a new paint job, and tires, too. Now seeing the bike sporting its usual attractiveness, Sonic couldn't help but think about the deal Shadow and Jet made a little more, recalling that the hawk only explained what he won because of the bet.

Though what would have happened if Sonic won the race leaving Shadow to take his side of the bet?

A what-if the hero would not know unless he asked Jet - definitely not - or Shadow - also not a chance. He let out a dejected sigh figuring he would never know the answer, and all because he got distracted by Shadow and Jet talking to each other as if they were best buds—oh, that asshole.

Of course, what an idiot he was!

Sonic was right; it was always one step forward, and two steps back with the Ultimate Lifeform.

At least now he knew that Shadow knew he was the winner before the race even began, smirking at seeing his feathery rival walk back out of the restaurant and flashing the hero another cocky grin. Sonic saw Jet reunite with Shadow at his motorcycle, saying something to each other before the dark hedgehog offered the hawk a helping hand.

Sure, it made Sonic's jaw tick, but the giddiness he was suddenly feeling surpassed the hotness he felt in his chest at seeing Shadow leave with someone that wasn't him on his precious bike. Because at the end of the day, all that mattered was that Shadow knew Sonic was his best rival, the only worthwhile to come to see and play an easy deal for to just end up fooling everyone else.

Well, he didn't fool Sonic.

---

6.

It was a month after the incident at the World Grand Prix when Sonic saw his rival again.

The spontaneous visit could have gone perfectly great if it weren't for the awful timing to end up with an injury after Eggman's attack. Luckily, with the additional help of Team Dark, the Doctor was easily defeated, cursing at the hero and his friends for ruining his plans once again. The one that didn't walk away from the battle so lucky was Sonic, sporting a sprained ankle.

So, now here he sat on the ground, bearing the same old argument Tails and Amy had each time the speedster was injured. It upset him for the most part because he felt embarrassed to be treated like a child. In front of his rival nonetheless! But he kept quiet, blocking out whatever his brother and Amy were discussing, and glanced over to where Shadow and Rouge were checking up on Omega. It appeared the destruction-loving robot took a pretty nasty hit during the fight and had some damage done to his core battery.

But by the looks of it, nothing serious was done as Rouge patted her teammate on his bulky arm while Shadow rolled his eyes rather playfully. Not long after, the dark hedgehog headed for an overgrown bush, parting tree branches and thick leaves to reveal where he had hidden his bike this time around.

Sonic perked up at the sight of it, curiously watching how attentive Shadow was being as he made sure his motorcycle didn't get scratched. It was kind of cute, the hero thought. He'd never seen his rival take care of something so much to the point where it looked like the Dark Rider meant everything to him.

Maybe it did, Sonic smirked, guiding his gaze over the bike's comfy seat and the insignia's outline. The symbol's red color reminded him of his owner with ruby eyes and striking striped quills, and he couldn't help himself to a soft laugh at remembering how he proved to Shadow that he'd been wearing Sonic's signature color all these years.

Something about red looked perfect against black.

The thought made the hero's chest swell up with warmth, risking a chance to look at his dark rival. He saw him looking over his bike, passing his gloved hands over the handles and shiny surfaces—those same hands ran along Sonic's sides, pressing gently into blue hips—holy fuck, Sonic's eyes widened, feeling his breath taken away at realizing where his thoughts were going. Where the hell did that even come from?

Feeling even more embarrassed, the speedster shifted, readjusting his sitting position on the ground and making sure that neither Amy nor Tails were looking at him. Damn it, the last thing he needed was for his brother to point out his blushing face that sure enough he felt crawling down his neck too. Amy would surely give him hell about it, demanding to know what evoked this sort of reaction from him.

He knew the only way to calm down was to avert his eyes from Shadow and the motorcycle, but...the temptation was irresistible; just a small peek, he reasoned with himself.

Emerald eyes steadily retraced their way back to the hybrid standing by the Dark Rider, starting from familiar air shoes, going up the length of striped feet, stopping to momentarily admire the athletic muscles, and continuing up to a strongly built chest until...crimson eyes were staring back at him.

"Fuck," Sonic whispered, mortified at being caught and quickly, ripping his gaze away from Shadow.

He didn't dare to look back and see if Shadow's eyes were still on him, instead struggling to breathe properly; however, this caught his brother's attention to the blue hedgehog's dismay.

"Sonic, are you feeling okay?" The young fox knelt, scanning Sonic's face and pressing a hand to his forehead.

Tails frowned, "You're burning up and shaking..."

These observations devastatingly attracted everyone else's attention, too, making the hero squirm even more under curious eyes. Least of all, now Shadow standing within arm's distance and staring down at Sonic with a knowing smirk. Another flush of redness swarmed the hero's face as he made eye contact with his rival, and to his even greater displeasure, had Amy fret over his health, too.

"Oh! I think he has a fever! We need to take him back to the workshop before it gets worse!" The pink hedgehog crowded the hero's space and glanced over to Tails with an irked expression. "C'mon, Tails! We can't waste any more time!"

"If I take him, the height will just make it worse. He could end up feeling nauseous."

Amy glared at the fox, crossing her arms over her chest. "Then what are we going to do? He can't walk with his sprained ankle—"

"I'll take him."

All eyes landed on Shadow.

"Uh, n-no, that's okay—I'm sure we can figure something else out," Sonic stuttered, staring at anything but the agent.

"Yeah, we don't want to impose on you," Amy added, her jade eyes narrowing at seeing how the dark hedgehog was looking at Sonic. "Besides, carrying him back to the workshop is equally as dangerous as Tails taking him over."

Shadow's smirk remained, casting the pink hedgehog a mirthful look. "We can take my bike."

Rouge nodded, "He's a natural on that thing, so there are no chances of anything bad happening."

"But what about—" Amy started, finding another excuse but was cut off by the hybrid.

"We'll get there before any of you do unless..." Shadow was now blatantly challenging the pink hedgehog. "You want to wait here and come up with another solution while Sonic's condition gets worse."

Offended, Amy rose to her feet. "No! Of course not! I just—I just want to make sure Sonic's in good hands."

Having remained a silent spectator of the discussion, Sonic would have thanked Amy for her care, but all that his mind was feeding him was thoughts of Shadow's hands again - caressing his fawn chest and fingers running through his blue quills. Oh god, Sonic was doomed.

So, so doomed as Omega caught onto how his face continued to redden, almost matching the color of his shoes.

"THE BLUE HEDGEHOG'S SYSTEM IS SHOWING SIGNS OF THE QUICKENING OF HIS HEART RATE AND HIS UNFAVORABLE TEMPERATURE CONTINUING TO RISE."

"You heard the guy. Let's get Big Blue moving," Rouge snapped her fingers and nodded for Shadow to take the injured hero away.

That was all the striped hedgehog needed to crouch low on the ground, reaching out and wrapping his arms around Sonic. With their faces only being only a few inches apart, the hero was afraid to say anything to him, avoiding his rival's gaze. Although, it was difficult doing so when the very same thoughts he was having about Shadow's hands were nearing the possibility of happening in real life as he felt gloved hands slide delicately across his back and hook an arm under his knees.

This would haunt his dreams in the middle of the night if the feeling of being pressed up against the hybrid's sturdy chest wasn't already awakening even more confusing reactions from the blue hedgehog.

Sonic bit back the whimper that fought to free itself from his lips, roughly swallowing the thickness lodged in his throat.

"Okay, we'll meet you back at the workshop," Rouge walked after the dark hedgehog carrying his blue rival to the Dark Rider. She observed in delight as Shadow settled the hero carefully on the seat, deliberately touching his shoulders and waist while explaining to Sonic he wanted to make sure he was secured.

Shadow was then climbing onto the bike, too, and glancing at Sonic over his shoulder. "Hold onto me or you'll fall off."

"Wait, what?"

Huffing, the bat turned to Rose who was in earshot of hearing Shadow's advice as she walked up to them. "He was joking. Sonic's not gonna fall off, buuuut..." Rouge sauntered over to stand before Sonic, a mischievous smile making the hero nervous. "It won't hurt to make the ride a little safer."

Sonic blushed, hesitantly circling his hands around Shadow's waist. "Um, can we go now?"

"Get him outta here, Shadow before he grows any more impatient!" The bat winked at the cobalt speedster, backing off to let the hybrid start the engine. "You're in good hands with the Ultimate Lifeform, Big Blue—oh!"

She gestured for Shadow to wait for a second, her eyes still on the flustered hedgehog behind him. "Before I forget, you owe me."

Sonic frowned, confused. "Owe you? For what?"

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't act stupid, Blue. You know what I mean, but in case you don't, Shadow will tell once you get home."

With that being said, Shadow took Rouge's wave as his cue to leave, grinning as he sped across the field with now a gasping Sonic the Hedgehog behind him. The hero hadn't expected the motorcycle to reach these kinds of speeds, seeming to almost match Shadow's and his natural pace when running. But as the shock gradually resided, exhilaration took over and made Sonic forget about his previous awkward state.

He had waited too long for this and it was everything he had hoped for.

Sonic let out a laugh, enjoying the whipping wind hitting his face as Shadow made a turn to head for the city's limits. "Whoa! Hey, aren't we going to the workshop?"

The dark hedgehog shot the hero a quick glance, grinning. "We are, but if we're going to beat them there, we might as well take a little detour."

Finding this playful side of his usually grumpy rival amusing, Sonic chuckled, relaxing into his place against Shadow's back. "Since when are you the fun type?"

The hero saw the agent shrug, guiding them into the first street at the road signs' speed which was a little slower than what Sonic liked but loved the rumbling vibration coming from the engine.

"Maybe you're rubbing off on me."

Sonic smirked, "So I guess my work is finally paying off."

"What?!" Shadow yelled out as he increased the speed, skillfully driving between the lanes and using any openings to push through the rest of the cars and building traffic.

They were approaching the heart of the city, but Sonic let out another cheerful laugh as Shadow dodged the incoming traffic, shocking the hero when he ran a red light.

"Did you just do what I think you did?!"

"Can't hear you! Speak up, hedgehog!"

Grunting, the speedster scooted closer, pressing his chest right against Shadow's back, and leaned over to let his mouth hover closely at the hybrid's left side of his face.

"I said you ran a red light—"

Sonic's words died on his tongue as Shadow quickly turned his face to press a soft kiss to unsuspecting lips, breaking away with a smile at seeing the hero's shocked face. Shadow chuckled, his ruby eyes twinkling now under the evening sun. It took the blue hedgehog a full sixty seconds to realize what just happened, staring at the agent with wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and mouth agape. It was only after Shadow saw the hero blink that he laughed, nudging Sonic's muzzle with his own to regain his focus.

"See, told you you're rubbing off on me," Shadow purred, shifting his attention back to the road sadly, but he felt Sonic finally react.

"You...you kissed me?" Sonic didn't know what to do. This was all so unexpected, but...he liked it. After all, surprises were his favorite thing. Still, he needed to make sure this was what he thought and not some funny joke Shadow decided to pull on him—"It's not April Fools' today is it?!"

Shadow snorted, shaking his head. "No, you idiot!"

"Then why did you kiss me?!" Sonic shouted over the bustling noise of other cars and honking.

"Because I can!"

"I'm serious!" Sonic rolled his eyes, squeezing Shadow's waist for emphasis.

"Fine! I'll tell you...after this!"

In a practiced maneuver, the agent was pushing the pace higher, switching lanes to the farthest left before making a graceful turn. He was leading them to the highway entrance ramp, not slowing down as his swift speed scared away other drivers and let him onto the highway. Without having to worry about any highway patrol at this hour, Shadow took advantage and really made Sonic's first ride worth all the time in the world.

Sonic felt the air being punched out of his lungs in the best way possible as he held on tighter to Shadow, not holding back his loud whooping as they broke every highway speed rule by worming their way between cars and angry drivers. Shadow joined him in his bout of joy, feeling the vibrations of the agent's laughter against his chest and grinning even wider when Shadow's shoulders shook with every laugh as well.

"Get ready!"

That was all the hero got before his rival was tilting the bike toward the right, gliding across the three lanes to get to the edge where a sign Sonic caught a fleeting glance of signaled that a bridge was coming up in a few miles. He was about to ask Shadow about it until he saw another three massive signs alerting drivers that the bridge was under reconstruction, leaving a shiver to run down Sonic's spine.

That was it; the tingling sensation he'd been dreaming about these past few months.

This was what Sonic craved ever since he felt the desire to ride this very motorcycle with his rival and run it for as long as it let them.

"Oh, this going to be so fucking cool!" Sonic's eyes widen as the bridge's ramp leading to the higher ground came into view.

"Ready?!"

The unfinished bridge was approaching quickly at the speed they were going, a wide space empty of any structure to lead to the other side; the hero's blood pumped faster under his skin, his emerald eyes lighting up with the dangerous glint a daredevil always wore in the face of something life-risking. Sure, they could easily miss the other ledge and fall to their potential deaths, but unlike all those times when Sonic was fighting Eggman or another huge badnik or a wrathful god, this time everything felt safe somehow. No matter how dangerous this was Sonic knew he was going to be safe.

As long as he had Shadow at his side, nothing bad would ever happen to the hero.

So, Sonic surprised the dark hedgehog with a share of his own kiss to a tan muzzle, leaning into Shadow's body as much as he could, and confidently gave his answer.

"More than I will ever be."

The two hedgehogs were then feeling the rush of air against their quills, taking in the view under them as the bike reached its highest speed and the first tire left the ground. Shadow grinned, feeling Sonic's grip around his waist tightening but hearing the hero let out an excited scream; it echoed in the air as they glided over the space between the bridge's ledges, immediately marking it as a memorable moment in Shadow's life.

As predicted, the striped hedgehog and his bike made their landing perfectly, bouncing once as the tires made contact with the ground again.

"Holy shit! That was so awesome!" Sonic giggled, bracing his forehead on an ebony shoulderblade as he fully embraced the euphoric high he just experienced.

His rival let him enjoy it in silence as he drove them to the workshop for real this time, slowing down as they exited the highway at the next ramp and turned onto a street that let out of the city. During the ride, Sonic's forehead gesture turned into full-on nuzzling, practically hugging the striped hedgehog and purring at feeling Shadow's warmth.

When they arrived at the workshop, they found themselves alone, the agent kicking out the stand to stabilize the motorcycle. He tapped Sonic's hands to let him know they were here, making the hero's eyes flutter open and the smile he'd been wearing falter. Reluctantly, the blue hedgehog dropped his arms from Shadow's waist, suddenly nervous again now that they were face-to-face again.

"Got you here first as promised," the hybrid teased, noticing his rival's avoidance of eye contact. "Is something wrong? Did I hurt you—"

"No! M'okay!" Sonic blurted out, meeting Shadow's worried gaze instantly.

It knocked the breath out of him, again. He was starting to like this feeling a little too much.

"Just..." the hero rubbed the back of his neck, nervous. "You said you were gonna tell me why you...kissed me."

Relieved to know it had nothing to do with his sprained ankle, the agent relaxed and smiled. "Is that all?"

"Is that all?" Sonic repeated, incredulously. "Uh. Hello, how are you so calm after—that?"

"The ride or the kiss? I can't tell when you seemed to have loved both," Shadow smirked, entertained by how easy it was to fluster his blue rival.

It seemed the roles were switched today.

The hero glared at the other hedgehog, growling. "If you aren't gonna take me seriously, I'm leavin'."

Swinging his leg over the seat, Sonic winced as he placed both his feet on the ground, prepared to walk away when in his first step, he was assaulted with a sharp pain shooting up his injured leg. He whimpered, forgetting the whole point of this ride was to have him take off weight from his sprained ankle. Unfortunately, Shadow was there to remind him as well, surprising the blue hedgehog again by grabbing out to him.

"Hey! What are you doing—?" Sonic gasped as he was swept off his feet, feeling up Shadow's comforting warmth again against his side that was pressed to the hybrid's chest. Annoyed and embarrassed, Sonic huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I don't need to be carried, Shadow."

"Are you always this stubborn?" The agent remarked, not letting go of the hero and taking him to the house attached to the workshop.

"So funny," Sonic grumbled, looking away from his rival and to the front porch instead.

The dark hedgehog climbed the steps and gently sat the speedster on the top one, being extra cautious of the injured ankle. He settled himself next to the hero after, leaving only an inch of space between them. Sonic would have scooted away, he would have but...the temptation was going at it again, stronger in its magnetic pull. So, he remained where he was and waited for the others to arrive with Shadow.

And for a long quiet minute, Sonic thought this was all there was to this day, unanswered questions and foolish emotions storming his mind.

But Shadow broke the silence, admitting to Sonic something quite shocking.

"I kissed you because I've been wanting to for a while now."

"Oh."

To say the least, the hero was stunned to hear this. It was kind of hard to tell this was what Shadow's been wanting to do when all their interactions ended with petty competitions over a round of racing or sparring.

"Since when?"

Shadow glanced at the blue hedgehog, answering confidently. "After the race car competition a few months back."

Sonic's jaw dropped, remembering that race as it was the beginning of his phase where all he paid attention to was the Dark Rider. Now that he recalled the memory, thoroughly going through each thing Sonic had studied with great curiosity and realizing his gaze somehow had gone from the bike to the rider.

"But you always pushed me away..." Sonic also didn't forget about everything that happened after that day. "You spent all your time with Blaze at Tails' birthday party, you wanted to beat me up when you brought in your bike, and you ignored me all day during the Grand Prix!"

With every new thing Sonic listed, the more confused he became, comparing Shadow's behavior in the past weeks to the present. "Hell, you even paraded Jet around Mazuri on your motorcycle afterward."

This caught the Ultimate Lifeform's attention, leaning forward with hooded eyes. "What? Did that make you jealous?"

"No!" The cobalt speedster scowled, feeling his cheeks burn hot under Shadow's pretty—stop it, you! "I just don't know why you waste your time with others when it's clear that I'm the best you got—I mean as a rival!"

The striped hedgehog chuckled, "You're so cute when you get mad."

"Shadow!"

"What? It's true!" The agent reached for Sonic's face, cradling his cheek sweetly. "And you're right, red's definitely your signature color."

Sonic groaned, glaring at the other. "I swear I'm gonna—"

The hero's vocal threat never came as Shadow pressed another kiss to his peach lips, savoring his time with this one. He brought his other hand to gently grasp the back of Sonic's upper neck, angling his neck to deepen the kiss. Shadow felt his rival shakingly plant his hands on his white chest fur, tangling his fingers in the soft strands. The hero rubbed at the hybrid's chest, pulling soothing purrs from there, too, and felt the vibrations along where they touched.

For the second time that day, Sonic the Hedgehog felt himself riding a delirious wave, up and up and up until he no longer could think straight; his head became empty of any thought except for the feel of Shadow's lips on his, moaning softly as the hybrid's tongue teased him with a dip and caress against Sonic's teeth and tongue, too.

The Dark Rider may have given a taste of adrenaline and excitement like no other adventure, but kissing Shadow...topped even the best moments in Sonic's life, new and amazing. It was fulfilling. It made his blood rush like rapid currents and burn hotter than molten lava. It made him feel like he was airborne, gliding over that same bridge's gap without the need of the Dark Rider. All he needed was a kiss to feel like he could fly far, far above till he reached the stars in the sky.

"Kissing you feels like making that jump over the bridge and still feeling that exciting rush under my skin," Shadow whispered, breaking away to look at Sonic's blissful face.

"You've read my mind."

The dark hedgehog chuckled, finding Sonic's dreamy sigh adorable.

"You were right, too."

Humming, the hero pressed another kiss to Shadow's lips, sighing in pleasure before asking what the hybrid meant.

"Right about what?"

"You're the best I got, and I want you to know that."

"You mean..." Sonic gazed at Shadow, his heartbeat stuttering as the dark hedgehog caressed his muzzle.

"Will you let me be the best you got, too?"

Sonic smiled, "You've always been, Shads."

With confessions made, the two hedgehogs embraced each other into another kiss, slower and tender. Even so, it didn't take away that beautiful and wonderful feeling they felt as they coasted the city's streets to glide over the bridge. Well, not quite. This - being together - felt a lot better; the best feeling actually.

They broke apart once they heard the familiar voices of their friends in the distance, and as they waved over to the two hedgehogs, Shadow glanced down at Sonic's sprained ankle, quickly cradling it in both hands. To the hero's surprise, the agent was able to heal it, seeing the hybrid smirking back at him.

"You healed it...with your emerald." Sonic discovered his rival's secret, "You had one all along. Why didn't you just do that from the beginning?"

Shadow gestured at the incoming group with his head. "How else was I supposed to get you all to myself?"

"I dunno, ask like a normal person," Sonic teased, tugging for the agent to sit back down with him on the porch steps.

Seeing the hero wiggle his now-healed foot, Shadow leaned over to whisper something into his ear just in time as the pink hedgehog reached them. Sonic laughed at whatever was said, making Amy frown as she stared at how close the two rivals were sitting next to each other.

"What's so funny?"

Sonic smiled at her, sneakily squeezing Shadow's hand closest to him. "Nothing, Ames, just finding out how good of a jokester Shadow is."

"I'm full of surprises, hedgehog."

Yes, he was, Sonic thought, the tingling sensation still lingering on his lips.

[crashlogs]

could you tell me abt the MiG-25 Interceptor i know nothing abt planes but that sounds badass...

oh absolutely i love being autistic about planes. im by no means an expert but the mig-25's one of my fav planes so i can poorly explain her lore. if you want coherent info about her these videos are pretty good, otherwise my incoherent rambling is below the cut:

basically she was designed to fly fast as fuck to shoot down nuclear bombers, she had huge engines which were modified from cruise missiles and the rest of the plane was kinda just there to keep it aloft. she also had giant air-to-air missiles to aid in this mission (some of the largest ever put into service). reconnaissance and recon-bomber variants were also later made but honestly im mostly in it for the yuri factor of chasing down a nuclear bomber and killing her to save the world

she was kinda part of a chain of the us military developing the mach 3-capable xb-70 nuclear bomber which scared the soviets into developing a high-speed interceptor to catch it (the mig-25), and then she scared the americans into canning the xb-70 and developing the f-15 (widely considered the best fighter jet of all time in terms of its combat record) because the us mistakenly assumed she was meant for dogfighting (in reality, the mig-25 was just designed as an interceptor and lacked the maneuverability to be any good in a dogfight)

i like to joke that she's a doxxing victim since in 1976, a soviet air force pilot flew a mig-25 to japan and defected to the us, handing over the aircraft and the details of its its inner workings to the west, which was when they found out she was not nearly as maneuverable or intimidating as once feared. she was by no means a "bad" aircraft, as she was a perfectly capable interceptor, but she just wasnt everything the americans feared her to be

some fun character quirks about her:

she had a coolant system which ran on what was essentially alcohol, which soviet pilots would often drink. i yearn to try mig-25 coolant but alas she was before my time :(

at one point, making a supersonic business jet using her as a base was considered, although nothing ever came of it.

her engines were capable of much more thrust than her redline speed of mach 2.83, however at speeds that high the engine itself would start to melt and the aircraft could be damaged beyond repair

her electronics were made of rather outdated vacuum tubes, as they were tolerant of the high temperatures experienced at high speeds and were more likely to survive an electromagnetic pulse in the case of a nuclear blast

overall shes a weird alcoholic woman with an intimidating presence and i want her so bad. also shes my planesona's model

[supersonicart]

Irina Cumberland.

Stunning hyperrealist paintings of water by artist Irina Cumberland.

Cumberland's astonishing trompe l'oeils are from her series of works entitled, "Universe in Water" which is "about connection," she explains. "The intricate lace of things and events that we are incredibly fortunate to be a part of. No galaxy or electron is completely independent of all other things."

THE SUPERSONIC ART SHOP | FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM

[mediadollz]

LUNARIX’S DEBUT MINI ALBUM  “ THE MOONDUST CATALOG ” TRACK SAMPLER !

After much trials and tribulations, LUNARIX formerly known as ANGELGIRLZ made their debut with the mini album "THE MOONDUST CATALOG" featuring six tracks written by the members of Lunarix themselves.

The mini album hosts an impressive list of producers from the musical return of Son Jinhwa to the reunion of producing dup SUGA + Noir. Many HYBE producers were featured on the album including M.I.A, Noir, and SUGA. The album also features Supersonic's Choi Sookyung AKA HONEYTRAP (@bttrflyeffekt) as a producer and Angelico artists Elliot and Zasha on the producers' list.

LUNARIX Unveils "THE MOONDUST CATALOG": A Cosmic Exploration with Room to Grow

Rating: 6.8/10

LUNARIX, the six-member powerhouse from Angelico Entertainment, makes a celestial splash with their debut mini-album "THE MOONDUST CATALOG." Bursting onto the K-pop scene with an impressive display of creative energy, the group's six tracks showcase both their lyrical ingenuity and rhythmic experimentation. Pitchfork's critical ear takes a keen listen, delivering a rating of 6.8 out of 10 – a score that reflects the group's promising debut while acknowledging the spaces for growth.

"ATTENTION!" - Familiar Echoes with a Fresh Spin

"ATTENTION!" ignites the journey with a sound reminiscent of K-pop's glorious past. The group treads on familiar ground, paying homage to the infectious energy of f(x)'s "Rum Pum Pum Pum." While the track's rhythm and beats capture attention, it's the lyrics that raise an eyebrow. LUNARIX cleverly weaves a narrative of unexpected first love, presenting it like a riddle waiting to be solved. The lyrical delivery mirrors the track's heartbeat, brimming with playful curiosity.

"So Pitiful" - Assertive Resilience Amidst Familiarity

In "So Pitiful," LUNARIX empowers themselves through assertive lyrics that evoke the feistiness of 2NE1's "Go Away." The rhythmic architecture amplifies the song's resolve, creating a sonic realm that's both audacious and resolute. This time, it's not the rhythm but the lyrical narrative that raises a contemplative eyebrow. While the empowerment anthem resonates with unapologetic authenticity, occasional lyrical clichés dim the song's brilliance.

"No Words, All Silence" - Vulnerability in Sonic Elegance

LUNARIX delves into the realm of vulnerability with "No Words, All Silence." The ethereal rhythm blankets the track, reminiscent of the softer moments in Red Velvet's discography. It's a song where the lyrics take center stage, capturing the essence of a communication breakdown within a relationship. The melancholic beats harmonize with the bittersweet storytelling, invoking a sense of nostalgia and introspection.

"Our Miracle" - Dreams and Rhythms Intertwined

"Our Miracle" soars on dreamy rhythms that encapsulate the sensation of flight, echoing F(x)'s "Airplane." The lyrics paint a picture of unity and shared aspirations, but it's the song's rhythmic journey that sometimes falters. While LUNARIX's harmonies ride high, there's a lingering desire for the rhythm to be as audacious as the group's dreams.

"Endless Falling" - Echoes of Longing in Rhythmic Quandary

The melancholic cadence of "Endless Falling" mirrors the sensation of drifting through a starlit abyss, akin to Red Velvet's "Kingdom Come." Lyrically, the track excels in conveying the anguish of love's persistence, but the rhythm occasionally loses its grip. The beats meander through the emotional expanse, creating a yearning ambiance that could benefit from a more defined sonic trajectory.

"Missed Call" - Sonic Connections and Unfulfilled Promise

"Missed Call" transmits its message through intricate rhythmic transmissions, echoing the electronic currents of F(x)'s "Signal." The lyrics embody longing and missed opportunities, resonating with anyone familiar with the pangs of communication gone astray. While LUNARIX's vocals navigate the intricate rhythms adeptly, the track feels on the precipice of fully realizing its sonic potential.

A Promising Voyage into the Cosmos...

LUNARIX's debut mini-album "THE MOONDUST CATALOG" beams with creative spark and potential. Their songwriting prowess shines through in the carefully crafted lyrics, which often serve as poignant reflections of human emotion. The album navigates the cosmos of K-pop with varied rhythmic choices, at times venturing into familiar territories while occasionally pushing towards uncharted horizons. With a critical yet hopeful rating of 6.8/10, LUNARIX's celestial journey has just begun, promising a future where they may truly soar among the stars of the K-pop galaxy.

[alarming-prism]

me trying to explain that my hearing is supersonic even by autistic standards and i can hear conversations from a room away and the tv in the living room and the fridge in the kitchen and the humming of the electricity and i'm fairly certain my tinnitus is not tinnitus caused by hearing loss but some sort of passive sound in a highly industrialized and electronic environment that most other people cannot hear: wdym the silence is quiet

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Goodnight, Cluster: brilliant end to trailblazing mission

The first satellite in ESA’s Cluster quartet safely came back down to Earth last night in a world-first ‘targeted reentry’, marking a brilliant end to this remarkable mission.

The spacecraft, dubbed ‘Salsa’ (Cluster 2), reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 20:47 CEST on 8 September 2024 over the South Pacific Ocean. In this region, any risk of fragments reaching land are absolutely minimised.

During the last two decades Cluster has spent in space, it has provided invaluable data on how the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, helping us better understand and forecast space weather. With this first-ever targeted reentry, Cluster will go down in history for a second reason – helping ESA become a world-leader in sustainable space exploration.

The reentry follows a tweaking of Salsa’s orbit back in January 2024 to target a region as far as possible from populated regions. This ensured that any spacecraft parts that survive the reentry would fall over the open ocean.

Over the past days, weeks and months, ESA’s spacecraft operators kept a close eye on Salsa as it came closer to Earth, slightly adjusting the spacecraft’s trajectory just once to keep it on track.

Nowadays, satellite missions are designed according to regulations that require them to minimise the risk of causing damage on their return to Earth. However, when Cluster was built back in the 1990s no such regulations were in place. Without intervention, the four Cluster satellites would have reentered Earth’s atmosphere naturally – but with less control over when or where this would happen.

ESA Director of Operations, Rolf Densing explains why ESA decided to end the mission in this way: “Salsa’s reentry was always going to be very low risk, but we wanted to push the boundaries and reduce the threat even further, demonstrating our commitment to ESA’s Zero Debris approach.”

“By studying how and when Salsa and the other three Cluster satellites burn up in the atmosphere, we are learning a great deal about reentry science, hopefully allowing us to apply the same approach to other satellites when they come to the end of their lives.”

Cluster unveiled Earth’s invisible shield

Salsa’s reentry marks the end of a unique mission that will ultimately help protect humanity from our tempestuous Sun.

Water? Warmth? Minerals? All vital for life, but not unique to planet Earth. Perhaps the one key thing that makes Earth a remarkable habitable world where life can thrive is its powerful magnetosphere.

Just a few hundred kilometres above our heads, a continuous battle is being fought between the forces of nature. Like a ship in a never-ending storm, Earth is bombarded by swarms of particles ejected from the Sun at supersonic speeds.

Most of these solar wind particles are deflected by the magnetosphere, and sail harmlessly by. But Earth’s shield is not bulletproof. Gusts of solar wind can squeeze it mercilessly, pushing energetic particles through weak spots, and potentially damaging electronic equipment including vital satellites orbiting in space.

It might sound like science fiction, but scientists have been studying this continuous feud between the Sun and Earth for many years, first from the ground and then with the aid of single satellites. But the complexities of the Sun-Earth connection have always eluded them. Until Cluster came along.

Director of Science Prof. Carole Mundell says: “Cluster is the first mission to make detailed studies, models and 3D maps of Earth’s magnetic field, as well as related processes within and around it. We’re proud to say that through Cluster and other missions, ESA has advanced humankind’s understanding of how the solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere, helping us prepare for the dangers it can bring.”

Our understanding of space weather – the environmental conditions in space caused by the Sun’s activity – depends on understanding many different factors: the behaviour of the Sun, how the solar wind travels through space, and how Earth’s magnetosphere responds.

With Cluster, ESA took on the challenge of uncovering how Earth’s magnetosphere responds to the solar wind. Other ESA missions have studied different parts of the process, with Solar Orbiter, SOHO, Proba-2 and Ulysses keeping watching on the Sun itself, and Swarm and Double Star also studying Earth’s magnetic environment. Double Star focused on the ‘magnetotail’ that stretches away from planet Earth, and Swarm continues to analyse Earth’s magnetic field itself.

Cluster’s scientific torch will be passed on to the ESA/Chinese Academy of Sciences Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (Smile) mission, set to launch in late 2025.

A few years later, ESA’s Vigil mission will head into space to put the different puzzle pieces together, aiming to provide continuous, near real-time data on potentially hazardous solar activity. Ultimately this will help us ensure safe satellite communications and space and air travel.

What made Cluster so special?

While most missions exploring Earth’s magnetic phenomena focus on the equator, the Cluster quartet circled over the poles, where there is a lot of magnetic activity. Solar wind in this area can dive deeper into Earth’s upper atmosphere, giving rise to the spectacular auroras.

Cluster’s ability to observe higher latitudes than other missions meant that it revealed parts of the magnetosphere that we’ve never been able to ‘see’ before with multiple spacecraft at the same time.

Through its mapping of Earth’s magnetic field, and comparison of this to Mars’s lacklustre present-day magnetism, Cluster has reaffirmed the importance of our magnetosphere in shielding us from the solar wind.

The mission also helped us understand weaknesses in the magnetosphere, including how solar wind particles can break through the shield. It even discovered the origin of ‘killer electrons’, energetic particles in the outer belt of radiation surrounding Earth, that can cause havoc for satellites.

By continually monitoring and recording the dynamics and properties of Earth’s magnetosphere over two decades, Cluster has amassed an unprecedented wealth of data, allowing scientists to make truly ground-breaking findings, including on longer-term trends.

After an incredibly successful 24 years in space, ESA took the decision to deorbit the four Cluster satellites throughout 2024–2026. Planning the reentries at this time made it possible for the Cluster spacecraft to contribute to reentry science as a final farewell.

“Cluster’s multi-spacecraft design has always been key to its success,” explains Philippe Escoubet, Cluster Mission Manager.

“By using four spacecraft instead of one, Cluster was able to uniquely measure multiple areas of space simultaneously. When closer together, the Cluster spacecraft could dig into the finer magnetic structures in near-Earth space. When further apart, they could obtain a broader view of wider-scale activity.”

And now ESA is using the fact that there are four Cluster satellites to better understand how reentries work. By comparing the reentries of four identical satellites under different space weather conditions and with slightly different trajectories, ESA’s space debris team is conducting a valuable experiment on the break-up of satellites in the atmosphere. Ultimately, this will make satellite reentries even safer.

From zero to hero

Although Cluster has become an enormous scientific success, its early days didn’t go off without a hitch.

The rocket used to launch the Rumba (Cluster 1) and Tango (Cluster 4) satellites in 2000 left them in an incorrect orbit, forcing them to rely on their own propulsion, as well as the upper stage of the rocket, to get to the right position to join Salsa (Cluster 2) and Samba (Cluster 3).

The mishap followed the failed launch of the original Cluster quartet in 1996.

Since then, the mission has made tremendous progress, far outlasting its original planned lifetime and contributing enormously to our understanding of the interaction between the Sun and Earth. And yesterday, Cluster became a key piece in ESA’s efforts towards more sustainable space exploration.

For more on Cluster’s scientific achievements, see our dedicated article on how the mission spent two decades studying Earth’s magnetosphere.

[alliepeachfan]

Hey guys! This is my first post on here so I might put some of my OCs on here! I hope you like them!

My No Straight Roads OC: Mariah Qwartz

Name: Mariah Qwartz

Age: 20 yo

Gender: Female

Species: Human

Hair color: Light Brown with purple highlights

Eye color: Blue 

Powers/abilities/styles/gifts: She is an excellent dancer having started at the age of 4. She also incorporates dance moves into her attacks with strong batmas and graceful pirouettes to dodge attacks. 

Weapon(s): Her microphone which she can use either at close range or launch it at enemies further away. She can also use it to send supersonic sound-waves to either confuse or knock back the enemy. She can also sing to boost her team's morale or heal them.

Hometown: Vinyl City

Personality: Mariah is a kind and charming woman with a passion for music and dance. She enjoys many forms of dance, but ballet became her bread and butter. She often experimented with incorporating ballet dance into various genres of music from Country to Jazz, but she had one dream: to combine ballet dance and rock. She also has a combined personality with BBJ; a bit of Mayday's hotheaded nature and Zuke's logical thinking side.

Strengths: She is a natural born morale booster!

Weakness: Her beauty causes opponents to easily underestimate her.

Family: Aside her parents and siblings, her only known family member is great-aunt Tatiana. They have had a rather strained relationship and was made worse once Mariah pushed Titania off the stage when she was being pulled off by her relative. However, the two would reconcile at the end of the game.

Friends/relationships:

Mayday- Mariah and Mayday have a very close bond as friends after she was comforted by her and Zuke after the argument between her and Tatiana and offered a position for her as a singer since she sounded great. Mariah accepts, and returns the favor by protecting her against any threat possible. However in the fight against 1010, she is consistently irritated by Mayday's gushing and even said during the fight that if, "she didn't shut up, she would beat her over the head with a shovel". Mayday is further shocked when after the fight Mariah kicks the head off one of the bots before angrily walking away. However in the fight against EVE, the two would have their chance to work together and reconcile. She even consoles Mayday after the final defeat

Zuke- Mariah and Zuke have an equally close bond, especially after the incident occurred. He does seem to show a little interest in her, but does respect the fact she's not ready to date again after a different incident happened (not between the two of them). She even stands up for him in his confrontation against DK West and even delivers a few rhymes of her own.

Kliff- She initially distrusts him, but really hates his guts when finding out his true intent near the ending.

DJ Subatomic Supernova- She doesn't seem to speak much to him, although when she shares her knowledge about Pluto with BBJ; she immediately catches his eye. After he summons her close to him, he examines her, asks for her name, and invites her to go out with him. When the battle starts, he puts her up on a smaller Saturn platform to protect her from harm. Luckily, she is able to rejoin the group in time to deliver the showstopper. He does agree to start off as a friend after the whole ordeal.

Sayu- Mariah does admire Sayu for her outfits, but is mortified upon seeing her in her reverse mermaid form. Afterwards, she is met by the kids behind the bot; Remi, Tila, Dodo, and Sofa, who are big fans of her dance work (especially her electronic ballet video). She is the last one to leave as she is signing autographs and taking selfies with each of the kids.

DK West- Mariah doesn't care for him at all, considering what a jerk he was to Zuke. After Zuke defeats him, she decides to get at him further and post a social media status saying, "There's a new king of rap and his name is Zuke West!" and smiles as she hears his agonized cry.

Yinu and her mother- Mariah initially considers Yinu's mother control over her child to be barbaric. But afterwards, she is pleased that she has simmered down. As for Yinu, she is impressed by her musical talent at such a young age. Yinu greatly admires Mariah and considers her a legend in dance. Her mother even asks Mariah to dance for them while they play before she leaves. Mariah happily agrees and even gives the duo an autograph afterwards. 

1010- She has had a major dating nightmare of these guys. She clearly instructed her date (the one in the white) that it was to be a one-on-one date. However, unknown to her, each member had a chance to swap spots. She would only find out the truth after the pictures of the date were posted. The only way they could be told apart were the colored wrist-bands. Angry for being tricked and fearful for what kind of backlash she might get; she dumped them. When she and BBJ confront the group, the group immediately recognizes her and attempts to win her back with their flattering compliments. However, she bitterly responds with, "Does a toe miss a hangnail? Absolutely not!" To further her level of spite, she kicks the head off one of the members after the fight before storming off. But, she does forgive them a little while after they reclaim their district, but on the condition that they'll have to restart as friends (she's not ready to go back to dating yet).

Eve- Mariah does admire EVE greatly and considers her an inspiration for fashion and music; although she is shocked that she would set Zuke's hair on fire in the past. After EVE is consoled, Mariah approaches her and tells her how much she has meant to her and humbly asks for an autograph. She is surprised when the great artist admits that she has been an equal inspiration for her dance techniques and agrees to swap autographs. 

Tatiana- As explained earlier, Mariah intially has a strained relationship with Tatiana and it's made worse when Mariah stands up for Bunk Bed Junction. While Mariah believes that Tatiana is being too stubborn to disclose her rock star past; Tatiana believes that she's being a rebel. However; the two reconcile after they team up against Kliff to stop the satalite from crashing into the NSR tower. Aside the incident; they actually are very close.

Likes: Ballet, Fashion, her friends, her family, her fans, music

Dislikes: Kliff, Tatiana (formerly), 1010 (formerly), being underestimated, being restricted, people who disrespect music, being lied to, dating

Fears: Forced to start dating again

Hope you guys like Mariah!

[basgevers]

Britpop

Britpop was a British music and cultural movement that emerged in the early 1990s, characterized by its revival of British guitar pop and its embrace of British cultural identity. It sought to distinguish itself from the grunge movement in the United States and was part of a broader reaction against American cultural dominance in music. Britpop is closely associated with the "Cool Britannia" era, a time of renewed British cultural confidence that also included art, fashion, and politics.

Defined by its catchy melodies, jangly guitars, and lyrics that often referenced British life and experiences, Britpop was deeply rooted in the music of earlier British bands like The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Jam, drawing inspiration from their quintessentially British sounds and themes. Lyrically, Britpop songs often addressed everyday life, working-class identity, and the dynamics of British society, sometimes with a sense of irony or wit.

Some of the most prominent bands of the Britpop movement include:

Perhaps the most famous Britpop band, Oasis, led by the Gallagher brothers, became synonymous with the genre. Their 1994 album Definitely Maybe was a huge success, featuring hits like "Live Forever" and "Supersonic." Their follow-up album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), solidified their status with iconic tracks like "Wonderwall," "Don't Look Back in Anger," and "Champagne Supernova."

Another leading band, Blur, was often seen as Oasis's main rival. Blur's music combined elements of indie rock with more experimental and art-school influences. Their 1994 album Parklife is a Britpop classic, featuring songs like "Girls & Boys" and "Parklife." Blur's track "Country House" famously won the 1995 "Battle of Britpop" against Oasis's "Roll with It."

Fronted by the charismatic Jarvis Cocker, Pulp offered a more literate and observational take on Britpop. Their 1995 album Different Class included hits such as "Common People" and "Disco 2000," which vividly captured the class consciousness and social commentary that were hallmarks of Britpop's lyrical content.

One of the earlier bands to emerge, Suede's 1993 debut album helped lay the groundwork for Britpop, with hits like "Animal Nitrate." Their glam rock-influenced sound and dramatic style were distinctive within the genre.

Although sometimes seen as more alternative rock than Britpop, The Verve's 1997 album Urban Hymns and its standout single "Bitter Sweet Symphony" became emblematic of the later phase of the Britpop era.

Britpop was more than just a musical style; it was a cultural phenomenon that represented a newfound confidence in British youth culture during the 1990s. It coincided with political changes, including the rise of Tony Blair's New Labour, which embraced the movement as part of its image of a modern, vibrant Britain.

However, Britpop's decline began in the late 1990s. The movement became oversaturated, and many bands struggled to innovate beyond their initial success. Additionally, as the 1990s drew to a close, the cultural mood shifted. The emergence of new musical trends, such as the rise of electronic music and post-Britpop bands like Radiohead, along with the increasing fragmentation of popular music tastes, led to Britpop's fading influence.

By the turn of the century, Britpop had largely run its course, with its leading bands either disbanding, evolving in new directions, or losing their earlier popularity. Despite its decline, Britpop left a lasting legacy, influencing countless bands and remaining an iconic chapter in British music history. https://youtu.be/C8RrvCe-13U?si=b4HCvK15A-ThIY4x

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OTD in 1969, The Iconic XB-70 Valkyrie Mach 3 Super Bomber Made Its Last Flight

February 4, 2021 Military Aviation, Military History

Three drag chutes were needed to slow down the landing roll of the XB-70. (Image credit: Reddit edit The Aviationist)

The massive XB-70 Valkyrie is the largest and heaviest airplane ever to fly at Mach 3.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was the most ambitious super-bomber project of the Cold War. The massive six-engine bomber was slated to be the ultimate American high-altitude, high-speed, deep-penetration manned nuclear bomber designed to fly high and fast, so as to be safe from Soviet interceptors.

Two Valkyrie prototypes were been built at North American Aviation before the Kennedy Administration cancelled the program as a consequence of the doubts that surrounded the future of manned bombers believed to be obsolete platforms. The threat posed by Soviet SAMs (Surface-to-Air Missiles) put the near-invulnerability of the strategic bomber at high altitudes in doubt. In low-level penetration role, the B-70 offered little performance improvement over the B-52 it was designed to replace (!) and it was much more expensive with shorter range.

Some fascinating variants of the aircraft were proposed. Some envisaged the B-70 carrying an Alert Pod, or flying as a Supersonic Refueler or as a Recoverable Booster Space System (RBSS). You can find all the details about these crazy concepts in this story we have posted last year.

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The B-70 program was canceled in 1961 and development continued as part of a research program to study the effects of long-duration high-speed flight with the two XB-70A.

XB-70A number 1 (62-001) made its first flight from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, CA, on Sept. 21, 1964. The second XB-70A (62-207) made its first flight on Jul. 17, 1965. The latter differed from the first prototype for being built with an added 5 degrees of dihedral on the wings as suggested by the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, wind-tunnel studies.

While the 62-001 made only one flight above Mach 3, because of poor directional stability experienced past Mach 2.5, the second XB-70, achieved Mach 3 for the first time on Jan. 3, 1966 and successfully completed a total of nine Mach 3 flights by June on the same year.

Photo of the XB-70 #1 cockpit, which shows the complexity of this mid-1960s research aircraft. On the left and right sides of the picture are the pilot’s and co-pilot’s control yokes. Forward of these, on the cockpit floor, are the rudder pedals with the NAA North American Aviation trademark. Between them is the center console. Visible are the six throttles for the XB-70’s jet engines. Above this is the center instrument panel. The bottom panel has the wing tip fold, landing gear, and flap controls, as well as the hydraulic pressure gages. In the center are three rows of engine gages. The top row are tachometers, the second are exhaust temperature gages, and the bottom row are exhaust nozzle position indicators. Above these are the engine fire and engine brake switches. The instrument panels for the pilot left and co-pilot right differ somewhat. Both crewmen have an airspeed/Mach indicator, and altitude/vertical velocity indicator, an artificial horizon, and a heading indicator/compass directly in front of them. The pilot’s flight instruments, from top to bottom, are total heat gage and crew warning lights; stand-by flight instruments side-slip, artificial horizon, and altitude; the engine vibration indicators; cabin altitude, ammonia, and water quantity gages, the electronic compartment air temperature gage, and the liquid oxygen quantity gage. At the bottom are the switches for the flight displays and environmental controls. On the co-pilot’s panel, the top three rows are for the engine inlet controls. Below this is the fuel tank sequence indicator, which shows the amount of fuel in each tank. The bottom row consists of the fuel pump switches, which were used to shift fuel to maintain the proper center of gravity. Just to the right are the indicators for the total fuel top and the individual tanks bottom. Visible on the right edge of the photo are the refueling valves, while above these are switches for the flight data recording instruments. (Image credit: NASA)

A joint agreement signed between NASA and the Air Force planned to use the second XB-70A prototype for high-speed research flights in support of the American supersonic transport (SST) program.

However, on June 8, 1966, the XB-70 62-207 was involved in one of the most famous and tragic accidents in military aviation when it collided with a civilian registered F-104N while flying in formation as part of a General Electric company publicity photo shoot over Barstow, California, outside the Edwards Air Force Base test range in the Mojave Desert. The aircraft were flying in formation with a T-38 Talon, an F-4B Phantom II, and a YF-5A Freedom Fighter.

North American XB-70A Valkyrie just after collision. Note the F-104 is at the forward edge of the fireball and most of both XB-70A vertical stabilizers are gone. (U.S. Air Force photo)

As explained in a previous post here at The Aviationist:

Towards the end of the photo shooting NASA registered F-104N Starfighter, piloted by famous test pilot Joe Walker, got too close to the right wing of the XB-70, collided, sheared off the twin vertical stabilizers of the big XB-70 and exploded as it cartwheeled behind the Valkyrie. North American test pilot Al White ejected from the XB-70 in his escape capsule, but received serious injuries in the process. Co-pilot Maj. Carl Cross, who was making his first flight in the XB-70, was unable to eject and died in the crash.

The root cause of the incident was found to be wake turbulence: wake vortices spinning off the XB-70’s wingtip caused Walker’s F-104N to roll, colliding with the right wingtip of the huge XB-70 and breaking apart. As explained in details in this post, wingtip vortices form because of the difference in pressure between the upper and lower surfaces of a wing. When the air leaves the trailing edge of the wing, the air stream from the upper surface is inclined to that from the lower surface, and helical paths, or vortices, result. The vortex is strongest at the tips and decreasing rapidly to zero nearing midspan: at a short distance from the trailing edge downstream, the vortices roll up and combine into two distinct cylindrical vortices that constitute the “tip vortices.

Although research activities continued with the first prototype with a first NASA flight on April 25, 1967, the last one was on Feb. 4, 1969.

The only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie super bomber in on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. In October last year, it had to briefly moved outside for display maintenance. Here you can watch a video of the monumental move.

A view of the six massive afterburners on the XB-70 Valkyrie as the aircraft is towed out of its display hangar temporarily for museum maintenance. (Photo: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force via YouTube)

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

@TheAviationist via X

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3, 5, 6, and 16 for the music ask 👀

3. A song that reminds you of summertime

Slide by Calvin Harris ft. Migos and Frank Ocean is my go to, but I'm going off the beaten track for this one. I think I gotta go with Cocaina by Captain Cuts, Daniels ,and Rich The Kid. It's got like. Miami house party doing dumb shit vibes. It feels like it would be playing while we b-rolled over a summer house party or hot people on the beach. It's kinda gross, it's kinda seedy, it's hot and sticky, it's stupid. It's got that summer grit that only the beach brings.

I simultaneously cannot stand parties like this and miss them terribly. Also cocaine sucks do better drugs (Source: trust me). I do love a good song with a stupid play on words.

5. A song that needs to be played LOUD

I know it's a classic but Genesis by Justice. I think. Maybe Pursuit by Gesaffelstein? Mazel Tov by Talco? I did go on a big Italian Ska kick for exactly two weeks. I dunno man, anything that makes me feel like I'm going to cross my eyes watching the light show and teleport out of my body due to the bass allowing me to achieve astral projection. I love a good loud, grungy, rough electronic song played loud enough to be a solid wall. Like some of those samples need to feel like a needle jackhammer man.

The shameful secret answer is If I Can't Have You by Shawn Mendes, I need to have it loud enough to have ear damage while I dance in my bathroom mirror and lipsync it

6. A song that makes you want to dance

I have seen Caravan Palace THREE TIMES live and they are a TREAT every single time. I think I would have to go with Supersonics today, though Lone Digger is a classic shout and I think my favorite dance-y track on the new album is Mirrors. I'm glad Mad finally got an album release though, that video is fuckin weird man. I dunno I just think that Electro Swing in general is a genre that makes me want to move. Jazz sensibilities with electro beats? I just lost my shit about berlioz I can only be so predictable.

16. One of my favorite classical songs

I am a huge, unbelievable fan of Rondo Alla Turka by Mozart. I guess it's Piano Sonata no. 11, but I really only care about the third movement, Turkish March. In a shocking turn of events I like repetition. Time loops. Things iterating on themselves. Running something back and embellishing. Rondos in general do a lot of repetition in a way that doesn't get boring for me, and it's a simple(at least in components of composition) piano piece that was easy to follow for me when I cared more about Classical as a kid (aka when I played violin).

I do love me some Mozart, even today. It's kind of a shame that a lot of pop cuture riffing on classical music I've had access to (So like, Konami rhythm games) has a huge hard-on for Beethoven. Even Catherine focused more on Handel/Holst/Chopin. It's tough out there for a Mozart fan.