#data source: transcripts

[valeriapryanikova]

ominous

(itsy-bitsy fanfic concept/idea/? under the cut)

[A page ripped out of a journal; the owner’s handwriting is messy and barely legible.] 

february, 29th

i'm surprised i'm not dead now.

yesterday, in the late evening, as i was painting, it started storming. suddenly and hard. one second the dark sky is clear from any clouds, and the next moment the droplets are pelting me with a surprising force. i rapidly abandoned my easel and canvas (not like there would be anything lost—the piece was dull and not working out the way i desired) in favor of seeking cover.

i was still near the village, on its outskirts, but just a bit too far from my house to reach it quickly before my whole being was drenched through and through. so i ducked into one of the huts, all of which stand empty, desolate… or so i thought, at least.

only once inside did i spot the dim, ominous, red glow of the overhead lamp; the sound of a muted conversation; the overwhelming sense of “wrong”, like i was not meant to be here. abruptly silence fell and two sets of bright eyes stared me down.

terror froze my body. i felt like a prey caught in between two predators, i could practically feel their jaws snapping around my neck.

the dredger slowly smirked at me, barring her sharp, sharp teeth. (since when are they sharp? i may not have crossed path with her often, but i swear i would’ve noticed if she had shark teeth before.) i did not stay to see if the fisherman would further react to my presence too. the control of my body returned, allowing me to let out a panicked apology for interruption and bolt out of the hut, running home at full speed.

it’s been hours since then. i couldn’t fall asleep. i’ve been up the whole night, haunted by fear. the scene of those two beasts in the darkness, ready to snap me like a twig for overhearing something (i don’t remember what exactly, all the horror of the situation evaporated all my thoughts), got stuck in my mind’s eyes. so i’ve been doing what i know how to do best—painting.

[Attached to the diary entry is a typewritten note.] 

That painter fellow is an impressionable and imaginative type. Needless to say, the actual interaction with the two fish merchants was likely a lot less… Dramatic.

The painter was reluctant to show me the painting mentioned in the last paragraph, but after some convincing I did manage to take a quick look on their recollection of the witnessed scene: it seems mostly useless for my research, but I noted down some details that might be of use in the future (refer to “AudioLog#143” transcript for more information).

Collecting data on “The Fisherman” continues to prove itself annoying. The subject is allusive: there’s not many sources mentioning him, and folk around here rarely witness him out and about. Currently the only lead I have is finding that one old newspaper article about the docks that, if I recall correctly, mentions him in an interview with workers. Perhaps, when I have time, I’ll try asking the collector from the other side of the river if he has a copy of that newspaper issue.

However, for now, I’m significantly more interested in “The Dredger” subject. There’s more than plenty info about her—I would actually say there’s too much info about her, all inconveniently inconsistent. In an attempt to get more reliable data I’m getting in contact with Mined since they have done scientific observation of this area and the people of interest. My request for access to their data has gone unanswered so far and, if shoving my anthropology degree in the faces of those bumbling idiots won’t work, I’m sure that that city nearby has enough hackers willing to do some dirty work for a pretty diamond.

I will get the data I want, one way or another.

[iwillstabyou]

TMAGP 31 - A Computer Nerd’s Breakdown Of The Error Logs

It’s round 3, bitches! (tumblr crashed twice when I was writing this so I’ve had to start again multiple times. I do in fact see the irony, considering the subject matter)

I was listening to TMAGP 31 and as a computer nerd, oh my god those error messages just HIT DIFFERENT. There are so many subtle details hiding in those lines that a typical non-computery person would probably miss, so I feel it is my duty to explain them and their possible implications. So that’s why I’ve decided to fully break down each part of the error report, complete with what they could potentially suggest — think of this as “the TMAGP theorist’s guide to deciphering Chester’s yapping”

So without further ado, let’s get this party started…

(NOTE: lines from the transcript are in red, ‘translations’ are in purple, jmj specific stuff is is green, explanations are in black)

Starting off with Category: fatal programmer error, notice it says programmer, not program. There is nothing wrong with the code - the user has truly fucked up. Uh oh, Colin has made a big mistake…

Also, clever double meaning here with the word fatal. Obviously we know it was fatal to Colin (RIP king 🥲), but error logs also typically have a criticality level describing if immediate action needs to be taken. There are 6 commonly used levels, with the most critical being, yep you guessed it, ‘fatal’ - this means that whatever Colin was doing was a critical threat to the system. In other words, Colin had figured out the problem and was dangerously close to fixing it so Freddie just went “oh shit, we need to deal with this guy quickly or we are in serious trouble.”

Then we’ve got the next line, attempted host compromise (the Errno611 isn’t significant - error codes vary from system to system). When it comes to network terminology, a host is basically just any device on the network, so in full this line basically means “somebody’s tried to damage part of the network.” Importantly, “host” seems to suggest that the computers aren’t the source of this evil but merely a vessel for it. Freddie is just the mouthpiece for these supernatural forces - a bit like a non-sentient (as far as we know…) avatar. Whatever these forces are, they didn’t come from within/they weren’t created by Freddie.

(NOTE: I will come back to jmj=null in a bit)

The program traceback, Traceback <module> by extension BECHER, is rather interesting. A network extension is a way of providing network access to remote users (think along the lines of a VPN) by creating a personal direct ‘route’ to the network. Therefore if it’s the subject of an error report, it means there’s been an issue with data transmission along that path. So this bit means “there’s a problem with this specific network route that’s allocated to Colin.” However, the darker implication here is that Colin is an extension of Freddie. Although he wasn’t initially a part of all of this, he’s become tangled in the web (no pun intended) to the point that he and Freddie are inseparably intertwined. The OIAR employees may be able to quit their jobs, but they’ll still be a part of Freddie…

There isn’t much to say about Host=self.host in this context. It’s just convention when it comes to object oriented programming. Not important here.

Extension BECHER compromised isn’t just saying “there’s an issue here.” It’s saying “there’s an issue here that is a serious threat to network operation.” In other words, Freddie’s going “uh oh. Colin needs to be dealt with.”

The next bit is pretty self explanatory. I really don’t think I need to explain what <hardware damage_crowbar> means for you guys to understand. This bit made me laugh so hard. One thing that’s interesting though is that it gave it a DPHW, so Freddie processed this like it was an incident… Perhaps this fully confirms that the ‘thing’ controlling Freddie is of the same origin as the cases - it’s not something else entirely?

And now onto Administrator privilege revoked. This was the moment when I fully realised “oh no. Colin is fucked,” because any control that Colin may have had over the situation is now gone for good. Freddie’s basically just said “fuck you Colin. You’re not in charge anymore. I am.”

As you can probably guess, Unexpected data isolated/resolved just means that the crowbar’s been dealt with and the program can run as usual. Similarly, the Colin threat is fixed now he’s not an administrator i.e. he can no longer control the system. However, it then gets weird with Independent operation permissions revoked… It’s not saying Colin can’t use the network independently, it’s saying that Colin can’t be used independently of the network. Remember what I was saying earlier about Colin being a part of Freddie? Yeah, well now he purely is a part of Freddie. They’re turning our boy into data!

NOTE: I know in the audio it said everything was discarded but I’m going by the transcript. Idk why they’re different

You know it’s a bad sign when you hear Re config: self.host - Freddie’s evolving. The network is literally reconfiguring itself to now include Colin. And then Freddie goes through each of his alchemical elements one by one and fucking deletes them! How rude. You go and eat this man only to spit everything out!? I guess he’s feeling generous though, because he decides to keep the sulphur, which in alchemy, refers to the soul… If this isn’t just a coincidence, then that means Colin’s actual soul has been uploaded to Freddie. That could be really cool. And messed up. But mostly cool.

Starting with the final line, everyone knows what New administrator permissions assigned means, but we don’t know yet who they’ve been assigned to. Maybe it’s Gwen? Maybe it’s a new character? Maybe there is no system administrator anymore? It’s a mystery.

Now that’s out the way, let’s get on to the real juicy stuff…

The top few lines are pretty simple - it’s Freddie’s way of saying “Colin was a problem. We ate him. Now he’s not a problem anymore.” The next line, however, is a reminder that none of this is simple” - .jmj error not resolved. There it is again. The infamous jmj error. What does it mean? Jon? Martin? Jonah? Is that you???? Nobody knows. One thing we do know though is that jmj=null (from the start of the error log). Now when it comes to interpreting values, null is weird. It’s not zero, it’s not empty, it’s sort of nothing but it’s not nothing. It’s just null. It means no value, but it doesn’t mean that the variable doesn’t have a value (if that makes any sense to you guys???). Ooh I think I know how to explain it?? Imagine you’re Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute and you’re digitising some archived ID photos when you find one without a name. The recorded name in the database would be null - you can’t put anything in particular, but that doesn’t mean the person in the photo doesn’t have a name. I guess null means unknown or missing here. So basically, what jmj=null means is that the jmj is unknown and that is a problem because it can’t get ignored/it is important. So what it’s basically saying is that jmj is a mystery not only to us, but also to Freddie.

Take a look at Data integration cycle ongoing <0.02%> - Data integration is the process of combining data from multiple sources into a single source of truth. There are 4 stages: data ingestion, cleaning, transformation, and unification. Thanks to the whole Colin ordeal, I’m sure you are all quite familiar with these stages by now (and that, students, is what we call a case study!). The peculiar thing here though is that we’ve just witnessed most of the data integration cycle - surely it should be higher than 0.02%? Yes, that’s correct. It should be far higher than that. It makes no sense. UNLESS this isn’t about Colin. Most of Colin’s data has probably already integrated. This is something else entirely - something so much bigger and foreign than these computers were designed for (the only comparison I can think of is trying to run the sims 4 with all expansion packs on a 15 year old laptop. It really shouldn’t work, and it probably won’t, but it’s gonna try regardless). This seems to follow on nicely from the jmj=null comments above, because Freddie is clearly struggling to integrate something (hence System function margins down to 82%), and when you try to read data that hasn’t been fully integrated with the system, you end up with a lot of missing & unknown values. Sound familiar? Yep, that’s right - until more data is synchronised, many values will be null, like our good friend jmj. Why is it taking so long to integrate jmj? We don’t know. Perhaps its origins are so supernatural and otherworldly that it’s simply not tangible enough for Freddie to process it? That’s what I think at the moment, at least.

So yeah, that’s my line by line analysis done! Hope you found that helpful/interesting. This podcast is so well written I’m actually going insane! Jonny and Alex, you are the guys of all time! As I’ve already said, feel free to expand on any of this - I’d love to hear your theories

Signed, your friendly neighbourhood computer nerd who is very autistic about TMAGP :)

[sprinklecipher]

How much dialogue there is in the mainline Ace Attorney games

I made some graphs about how much dialogue there is across the "mainline" Ace Attorney games (AA1-AA6):

graphs split out by episode/character + data notes below the cut

Total Dialogue by Episode (game order)

Total Dialogue by Episode (length order)

Total Dialogue by Character

Overall, there's over 1.5 million words of dialogue across the mainline AA games (about 1,570,000 words, by my count)

Data source: I’m using a dataset that I put together pulling from the episode transcripts on the Ace Attorney wiki (which I did almost entirely via Python, but with a bit of manual cleanup). There’s bound to be some error resulting from that process, but the numbers should be pretty close.

[lakecountylibrary]

A behind-the-scenes look...

Music credit:

Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400022

Video description and audio transcript continue under the cut:

[Description: A get ready with me video narrated by a library employee, comprised of several short scenes.

Narration: Get ready with me to open a local library. My day typically starts at 8:30 and first I turn on the lights. Simple, but essential in banishing the dark spirits from the stacks.

The narrator walks into the library and turns on the lights. Several shadowy figures disappear behind the shelves as the lights come up.

Narration: Next I head down to book up the computers. Libraries require a lot of data, so we always hack into a few government databases to provide top-tier reference work.

He logs into his computer and begins typing furiously, then turns to the camera with his hand on his chin and an intent look on his face.

Narration: After that, I tend to our Guardian Tree that protects the library from evil spirits like censorship and sentence fragments.

A shot of a tree in a large planter in the middle of the library.

Narration: It's been really into cozy mysteries lately, so we do our best to provide. Thank you, Tree Spirit!

The librarian lays out three cozy mysteries on the planter's rim, then bows to the tree with his hands pressed together.

Narration: Today's a bit special, since it's the monthly taming of the library bookworm. So I grab my Library of Congress blessed sword and my favorite cardigan - plus two to my AC - and head down to the dungeon.

The librarian reaches down to grab a sword and cardigan from under his desk. He shrugs on the cardigan then takes the sword into an elevator and walks through a basement hall lined with book boxes.

Narration: Down in the dungeon we've got lots of damaged items and overstocked James Patterson books to keep the worm sated. But sometimes extra care is needed. A well scourged dragon is the key to any good collection development policy. Thanks for hanging out. Tell us how your bookstore or library gets ready. Bye!

He pulls out the sword and prepares to leap into battle in a darkened room with a flowery, cheerful sign on the door reading Sorting Room. The video ends mid leap. /description]

[threestarsaboveclouds]

An unusually small slugcat crawls out of the access shaft and clumsily falls to the floor as soon as the gravity is back on. It looks very tired…

After recovering, it nonchalantly tosses a pearl in TSAC’s direction, then immediately falls asleep.

The pearl reads:

[TRANSCRIPTION - FUCHSIA PEARL]

This message is intended for Three Stars Above Clouds.

Hello! This is Echoes of Chiming Winds.

Hope this finds you well. I am sending you this pearl because my broadcast failed, apparently… I’m sorry if it frightened you, I only tried to respond to your invitation. I suppose I hoped I wouldn't have to send my messenger to such a harsh environment. Hope they get to you in one piece. And sorry if they caused you any problems.

Don't worry, I'm not in any kind of distress! Thank you for trying to help, but I'm afraid there is not much you can do. My communications equipment is unreliable by design. I never know when my messages get corrupted… On particularly bad cycles, I can't send them at all! I’d rather send data through pearls.

Curiously, I can receive broadcasts just fine, though. I guess my Architects thought me being able to overhear conversations was more important than actually being a part of them... I can tell you more about them if you'd like. I certainly want to hear more about you! For now, I suppose that's all. It's nice to meet you, Three Stars Above Clouds!

TSAC: ...what’s this? Another messenger?

I seem to be receiving an increasing amount of them these days...

TSAC: Ah, please don’t- my chamber is not a shelter...

...

It must be very tired... better to fall asleep here than send it flailing about inside my Cognitive Nexus... I suppose...

TSAC: ...

I see, Echoes of Chiming Winds sent you. You must have traveled very far, if my telemetry data is correct.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] PRIVATE - Three Stars Above Clouds, Echoes of Chiming Winds

SOURCE NODE TRACE: TSAC_ROOT, TSAC_COMM04, 201913_SPIRE01 || DESTINATION: EOCH_ROOT

TSAC: Hello Echoes of Chiming Winds! Your messenger arrived safely to my chamber earlier this cycle. I am quite impressed that they were able to travel such a distance... however yours is not the first messenger who has braved the harsh mountain climate to visit me. I was skeptical at first, but perhaps these messengers are a more viable communication method than I had initially thought.

TSAC: I am glad to hear you are well, despite your communications difficulties. I apologize for my reaction to your broadcast... I will admit that I have been a bit on edge lately due to some ...other concerning broadcasts I have received recently.

TSAC: Such communication issues appear to be increasing in frequency, I’m afraid. I fear that one day the larger iterator populace may become completely isolated from one another... thus my request for others to reach out and communicate. I am glad that my wide-range broadcast appears to have been received despite the decaying radio network.

TSAC: ...you wanted to know more about me. Well, I am an astronomical research facility first and foremost. My research focuses on changes within the Celestial Spheres, and aims to form an understanding of the material universe. My main directive is to catalogue the objects and occurrences in the night sky, and I maintain an extensive archive of astronomical data from across the cycles. I am happy to share any of my records with you if you wish!

TSAC: I will admit that I have had little interest in other fields of study until relatively recently... however after the departure of our creators, I was left with little to do in my free time other than pore over literature from other fields. I now believe that collaboration is key to locating the Solution, a strategy that is under threat due to the decaying communication network. I would like to learn as much as I can about my fellow iterators before I lose the chance.

TSAC: Thus, I would like to know more about you as well! What is your facility like? Do you have any preferred fields of study? Have your iterative strategies changed since the departure of our benefactors? Any findings you would like to share?

TSAC: ...I realize that you may not be able to send a reply to my broadcast until your messenger returns. I will send them on their way as soon as they are recovered enough to travel. In the meantime I will await your reply. May the Cycles be kind.

TSAC: As soon as it wakes up, I can direct the messenger to a more... suitable hibernation spot. Then I suppose it will be on its way.

... I will simply have to work around it in the interim.

[spr1ngpvrinbwunnie]

Another headcanon request: How would Harley do his interviews with the test subjects (children)? Is he gentle with them? What is he like? Like with the paper recording his and Quinn’s interactions, especially with y/n in the room

🧠 Harley Sawyer’s Interview Style With Test Subjects (Children) - Headcanon 👁️

📽️ Setting: Clinical but “friendly” façade

The interview rooms are always monitored with cameras and audio.

A child-friendly set design: warm lights, toys scattered subtly, maybe even posters.

On the surface, it’s meant to look like a safe space — to build trust. But it’s all fabricated. Every element in that room was calculated by Harley to manipulate response and compliance.

🧊 His Demeanor When Alone with a Subject

Unnaturally calm, with a slow and measured tone.

He smiles — but it’s too perfect. Too practiced. Like a predator learning the mask of a father.

Speaks in simplified language, almost as if reading off a script, but his eyes are too focused — not on the child, but on the results.

Often takes notes during their speech, but not in response to what they say emotionally — only in reaction to useful data: "vocal strain," "emotional resistance level," "immediate trust factor."

If the child seems nervous or shy, he’ll lean in and drop his voice to something soothing, almost fatherly. But it’s mimicry — he’s studied how empathy looks. He doesn't feel it.

🧪 When Testing Psychological Boundaries

Subtly introduces unsettling or leading questions:

“Do you ever feel lonely here?”

“Would you like it if you could stay like this forever?”

“Do you think people forget children who don’t do special things?”

He’s not just looking for answers — he’s measuring attachment styles, emotional vulnerabilities, and how far he can push loyalty.

🧍‍♀️ When You Are in the Room

And this is where things really change.

His tone becomes noticeably more performative.

He watches you more than the child — as if your perception of him is more important than anything the subject says.

If you disapprove or flinch, he’ll cover his more manipulative lines with sarcasm or dry humor:

“Don’t give me that look, I’m just asking questions. You’re the one who said I needed to work on my people skills.”

He’ll reign in his darker impulses if you’re visibly uncomfortable — for the moment.

You are the only person who’s ever made him question if he’s gone too far. And even then… he gets defensive.

“I’m not hurting them, Y/N. I’m understanding them. If you want to make something perfect, you have to take it apart first.”

🧒 Harley + Quinn (Yarnaby) Interactions on Paper

Quinn’s case file is thick, and most interviews with him were one-on-one, without oversight — except for a few where you insisted on being present.

In those earlier transcripts:

Harley’s questions with Quinn are oddly encouraging, even doting in a way: “You’re doing so well, Quinn. See? I knew you were special.”

Quinn often responds hesitantly at first, then more eagerly over time — Harley feeds him praise like candy, deliberately making himself the only source of validation in Quinn’s life.

Subtle red flags litter the files: isolating language, dependency conditioning, manipulation cloaked as mentorship.

If you’re in the room during those interactions:

Quinn often looks at you for reassurance, sensing something is off. Harley gets tense when that happens, his smile tightens.

“Eyes on me, Quinn. We’re working. Y/N’s just observing.”

If you challenge him after, he’ll deflect:

“You want me to stop now? After how far he’s come? Don’t act like this is cruel, Y/N. You’ve seen how happy he gets when he feels useful.”

💔 When Harley Is Feeling the Pressure

If his methods are questioned by higher-ups — or even by you — his interviews become sloppier, more emotionally volatile...

He might snap if a child doesn’t answer correctly. His voice sharpens. He might end the session abruptly.

He WON'T hurt them during interviews — but the psychological pressure rises fast.

If you confront him afterward, he’s either:

Coldly detached: “They’ll survive. The data’s clean.”

Or explosively defensive: “If you don’t like what you see, leave. But don’t stand there and pretend you understand what I’m doing.”

🧸 Personal Notes in His Files (Private)

Hidden between the formal recordings are pages of deeply personal, conflicting thoughts about certain subjects (especially Quinn).

Notes scribbled in a rush: “Why is he still scared of me?” / “Dependency reached. Don’t fuck this up.”

Mentions of you: “Y/N distracted subject. Too soft. Too… much.”

One margin note reads:

“If I’d had someone like them when I was his age... Would I have turned out the same?”

Harley is not gentle — but he knows how to act gentle. His interviews are manipulative, emotionally strategic, and designed to gain loyalty or extract data.

With you in the room, he modulates himself — sometimes even pretends to care — but it’s not fully altruistic; it’s because you see through him and that unnerves him more than he admits.

Despite himself, part of him wants you to believe he’s good. That he’s not a monster. But under that mask, it’s still Harley: desperate for recognition, control, and the illusion of love through obedience.

[nellywrisource]

A writer’s guide to the historical method: how historians work with sources

In this post, I provide a brief overview of how historians engage with different types of sources, with a focus on the mindset of a historian. This insight could be valuable for anyone crafting a character whose profession revolves around history research. It may also prove useful for authors conducting research for their book.

Concept of historical source

The concept of historical source evolves over time. 

Initially, the focus was mainly on written sources due to their obvious availability. However, as time has progressed, historians now consider a wide range of sources beyond just written records. These include material artifacts, intangible cultural elements, and even virtual data.

While "armchair historians" may rely on existing studies and secondary sources, true professional historians distinguish themselves by delving directly into primary sources. They engage in a nuanced examination of various sources, weaving together diverse perspectives. It's crucial to recognize the distinction between personal recollection or memory and the rigorous discipline of historical inquiry. A historical source provides information, but the truth must be carefully discerned through critical analysis and corroboration.

Here's a concise list of the types of sources historians utilize:

Notarial source

Epistolary source

Accountancy source

Epigraphic source

Chronicle source

Oratory and oral source

Iconographic source

Diary source

Electronic source

Example: a notarial source

These are documents drafted by a notary, a public official entrusted with providing legal certainty to facts and legal transactions. These documents can take various forms, such as deeds, lawsuits, wills, contracts, powers of attorney, inventories, and many others.

Here we are specifically discussing a lawsuit document from 1211 in Italy.

A medieval lawsuit document is highly valuable for understanding various aspects of daily life because in a dispute, one must argue a position. From lawsuits, we also understand how institutions truly operated.

Furthermore, in the Middle Ages, lawsuits mostly relied on witnesses as evidence, so we can access a direct and popular source of certain specific social situations.

Some insight into the methodology of analysis:

Formal examination: historians scrutinize the document's form, verifying its authenticity and integrity. Elements such as structure, writing style, language, signatures, and seals are analyzed. Indeed, a professional historian will rarely conduct research on a source published in a volume but will instead go directly to the archive to study its origin, to avoid transcription errors.

Content analysis: historians proceed to analyze the document's content, extracting useful information for their research. This may include data on individuals, places, events, economic activities, social relations, and much more. It's crucial to compile a list of witnesses in a case and identify them to understand why they speak or why they speak in a certain manner.

Cross-referencing with other sources: information derived from the notarial source is compared with that of other historical sources to obtain a more comprehensive and accurate view of the period under examination.

Documents of the episcopal archive of Ivrea

Let's take the example of a specific legal case, stemming from the documents of the episcopal archive of Ivrea. It's a case from 1211 in Italy involving the bishop of Ivrea in dispute with Bongiovanni d'Albiano over feudal obligations.

This case is significant because it allows us to understand how feudal society operated and how social status was determined.

The bishop's representative argues that Bongiovanni should provide a horse as a feudal service. Bongiovanni denies it, claiming to be a noble, not a serf. Both parties present witnesses and documents supporting their arguments.

Witnesses are asked whether the serf obligations had been endured for a long time. This helps us understand that in a society where "law" was based on customs, it was important to ascertain if an obligation had been endured for a long time because at that point it would no longer be contestable (it would have become customary).

The responses are confused and inconsistent, so witnesses are directly asked whether they consider Bongiovanni a serf or a noble. This is because (and it allows us to understand that) the division into "social classes" wasn't definable within concrete boundaries; it was more about the appearance of one's way of life. If a serf refused to fulfill his serf duties, he would easily be considered a noble by bystanders because he lived like one.

Ultimately, the analysis of the case leads us to determine that medieval justice wasn't conceived with the logic of our modern system, but was measured in oaths and witnesses as evidentiary means. And emerging from it with honor was much more important than fairly distributing blame and reason.

Other sources

Accounting source: it is very useful for measuring consumption and its variety in a particular historical period. To reconstruct past consumption, inventories post mortem are often used, which are lists of goods found in households, described and valued by notaries to facilitate distribution among heirs. Alternatively, the recording of daily expenses, which in modern times were often very detailed, can lead to insights into complex family histories and their internal inequalities - for example, more money might be spent on one child than another corresponding to their planned future role in society.

Oral source: in relation to the political sphere, it is useful for representing that part of politics composed of direct sources, that is, where politics speaks of itself and how it presents itself to the public, such as a politician's public speech. However, working with this type of source, a historian cannot avoid hermeneutic work, as through the speech, the politician aims to present himself to a certain audience, justify, persuade, construct his own image, and achieve results. This is the hidden agenda that also exists in the most obvious part of politics.

Iconographic source: it concerns art or other forms of "artistic" expression, such as in the case of an advertising poster. They become historical sources when it is the historian who, through analysis, confers upon them the status of a historical source. Essentially, the historian uses the source to understand aspects of the past otherwise inaccessible. The first step in this direction is to recontextualize the source, returning it to its original context. Examining the history of the source represents the fundamental first step for historical analysis.

Diary source: diaries are a "subjective" source, a representation of one's self, often influenced by the thoughts of "others," who can be close or distant readers, interested or distracted, visible or invisible, whom every diary author can imagine and hope to see, sooner or later, reflected on the pages of their writing. Furthermore, they are often subject to subsequent manipulations, and therefore should be treated by historians only in their critical edition; all other versions, whether old or new, foreign or not, are useful only as evidence of the changes and manipulations undergone over time by the original manuscripts.

Electronic source: historians use Wikipedia even if they often don't admit it out loud.

This blog is supported through tips here on Tumblr. If you’d like to support me, please consider giving a tip.

[mariacallous]

On Saturday, an Associated Press investigation revealed that OpenAI's Whisper transcription tool creates fabricated text in medical and business settings despite warnings against such use. The AP interviewed more than 12 software engineers, developers, and researchers who found the model regularly invents text that speakers never said, a phenomenon often called a “confabulation” or “hallucination” in the AI field.

Upon its release in 2022, OpenAI claimed that Whisper approached “human level robustness” in audio transcription accuracy. However, a University of Michigan researcher told the AP that Whisper created false text in 80 percent of public meeting transcripts examined. Another developer, unnamed in the AP report, claimed to have found invented content in almost all of his 26,000 test transcriptions.

The fabrications pose particular risks in health care settings. Despite OpenAI’s warnings against using Whisper for “high-risk domains,” over 30,000 medical workers now use Whisper-based tools to transcribe patient visits, according to the AP report. The Mankato Clinic in Minnesota and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles are among 40 health systems using a Whisper-powered AI copilot service from medical tech company Nabla that is fine-tuned on medical terminology.

Nabla acknowledges that Whisper can confabulate, but it also reportedly erases original audio recordings “for data safety reasons.” This could cause additional issues, since doctors cannot verify accuracy against the source material. And deaf patients may be highly impacted by mistaken transcripts since they would have no way to know if medical transcript audio is accurate or not.

The potential problems with Whisper extend beyond health care. Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Virginia studied thousands of audio samples and found Whisper adding nonexistent violent content and racial commentary to neutral speech. They found that 1 percent of samples included “entire hallucinated phrases or sentences which did not exist in any form in the underlying audio” and that 38 percent of those included “explicit harms such as perpetuating violence, making up inaccurate associations, or implying false authority.”

In one case from the study cited by AP, when a speaker described “two other girls and one lady,” Whisper added fictional text specifying that they “were Black.” In another, the audio said, “He, the boy, was going to, I’m not sure exactly, take the umbrella.” Whisper transcribed it to, “He took a big piece of a cross, a teeny, small piece … I’m sure he didn’t have a terror knife so he killed a number of people.”

An OpenAI spokesperson told the AP that the company appreciates the researchers’ findings and that it actively studies how to reduce fabrications and incorporates feedback in updates to the model.

Why Whisper Confabulates

The key to Whisper’s unsuitability in high-risk domains comes from its propensity to sometimes confabulate, or plausibly make up, inaccurate outputs. The AP report says, "Researchers aren’t certain why Whisper and similar tools hallucinate," but that isn't true. We know exactly why Transformer-based AI models like Whisper behave this way.

Whisper is based on technology that is designed to predict the next most likely token (chunk of data) that should appear after a sequence of tokens provided by a user. In the case of ChatGPT, the input tokens come in the form of a text prompt. In the case of Whisper, the input is tokenized audio data.

The transcription output from Whisper is a prediction of what is most likely, not what is most accurate. Accuracy in Transformer-based outputs is typically proportional to the presence of relevant accurate data in the training dataset, but it is never guaranteed. If there is ever a case where there isn't enough contextual information in its neural network for Whisper to make an accurate prediction about how to transcribe a particular segment of audio, the model will fall back on what it “knows” about the relationships between sounds and words it has learned from its training data.

According to OpenAI in 2022, Whisper learned those statistical relationships from “680,000 hours of multilingual and multitask supervised data collected from the web.” But we now know a little more about the source. Given Whisper's well-known tendency to produce certain outputs like "thank you for watching," "like and subscribe," or "drop a comment in the section below" when provided silent or garbled inputs, it's likely that OpenAI trained Whisper on thousands of hours of captioned audio scraped from YouTube videos. (The researchers needed audio paired with existing captions to train the model.)

There's also a phenomenon called “overfitting” in AI models where information (in this case, text found in audio transcriptions) encountered more frequently in the training data is more likely to be reproduced in an output. In cases where Whisper encounters poor-quality audio in medical notes, the AI model will produce what its neural network predicts is the most likely output, even if it is incorrect. And the most likely output for any given YouTube video, since so many people say it, is “thanks for watching.”

In other cases, Whisper seems to draw on the context of the conversation to fill in what should come next, which can lead to problems because its training data could include racist commentary or inaccurate medical information. For example, if many examples of training data featured speakers saying the phrase “crimes by Black criminals,” when Whisper encounters a “crimes by [garbled audio] criminals” audio sample, it will be more likely to fill in the transcription with “Black."

In the original Whisper model card, OpenAI researchers wrote about this very phenomenon: "Because the models are trained in a weakly supervised manner using large-scale noisy data, the predictions may include texts that are not actually spoken in the audio input (i.e. hallucination). We hypothesize that this happens because, given their general knowledge of language, the models combine trying to predict the next word in audio with trying to transcribe the audio itself."

So in that sense, Whisper "knows" something about the content of what is being said and keeps track of the context of the conversation, which can lead to issues like the one where Whisper identified two women as being Black even though that information was not contained in the original audio. Theoretically, this erroneous scenario could be reduced by using a second AI model trained to pick out areas of confusing audio where the Whisper model is likely to confabulate and flag the transcript in that location, so a human could manually check those instances for accuracy later.

Clearly, OpenAI's advice not to use Whisper in high-risk domains, such as critical medical records, was a good one. But health care companies are constantly driven by a need to decrease costs by using seemingly "good enough" AI tools—as we've seen with Epic Systems using GPT-4 for medical records and UnitedHealth using a flawed AI model for insurance decisions. It's entirely possible that people are already suffering negative outcomes due to AI mistakes, and fixing them will likely involve some sort of regulation and certification of AI tools used in the medical field.

[resurgentclass-stardestroyer]

Soooo I've been obsessed with the image in this post since I first saw it, and decided to hunt down the source [Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded (2016 Edition)]. Here's Mitaka's page, and a close-up of that image; unfortunately it's tiny!

Feel free to use, edit etc.

Update: here's the best digital version of that image that I can find, slightly edited [maybe I'll clean it up someday..]:

Additional notes and transcript below:

[Google lists Mitaka's actor Sebastian Armesto at 5'8" and the fact that they added 3" to him makes me giggle. Let him be a little short!]

The fact that Mitaka's homeworld is listed as 'Uknown' is interesting to me. I wonder it's something thought out by the writers, or just hand-waving [guy didn't even have a name in the movie credits, iirc]. I've long hced that Mitaka was born on a starship to Imperial parents - but it's also possible that Mitaka was taken into the FO at a very young age and simply doesn't remember his home planet.

As most Mitaka enjoyers know, Mitaka graduated at the top of his class in the Academy. Despite being appearing terrified when facing Ren, he's evidently very, very good at his job. And, I know "Ren's unforgiving command style" is being tongue in cheek, but it does implicate a contrast to Hux's command style, which is apparently not-so unforgiving.

Something I see some get wrong — Mitaka is part of the FO Navy, not the Army. He's in charge of starships rather than ground forces, and he would make the ranks of Commander, Captain, and Admiral rather than Major, Colonel, and General.

So apparently Mitaka was indeed, under Hux, the one in command of not only recapturing Dameron and Finn, but also the retrieval missions on Jakku, and giving orders — which to me seems quite a step above the responsibilities of a mere Lieutenant and why I hc Mitaka as a Lieutenant Commander, but I digress. It makes sense then why it was specifically Mitaka who was designated to tell Ren about their failure to capture both the droid and the 'fugitives' — though it's also my hc [have lots of those] that Mitaka could have put this on an underling, but chose to face Ren and take the blame personally out of a sense of duty and honor, despite being terrified.

Editing note, because I'm a graphics nerd at heart: the half-tone dots in the close-up are predictably driving me bonkers, but from what I can tell, there's not much that can be done about it other than a time-consuming paint/smudge over, or messing with PS plug-ins [as far as I know -- I'm very new to scanning print]. I tried some descaling and blurring, but of course you can't do much of that without a loss of quality and clarity, and that's something I hate to sacrifice. I'll keep messing with it. Or, if someone has any idea of another source for this picture you would be my savior ! This is the only instance I can find of this image.

Transcript:

Lieutenant Mitaka First Order Officer

Data File Affiliation: First Order Homeworld: Unknown Species: Human Height: 1.8m (5ft 11in) Appearances: VII See Also: First Order TIE pilo; Finn; General Hux; Kylo Ren

Dopheld Mitaka is an attentive young officer serving aboard the First Order flagship Finalizer. A top graduate in his Academy class, Mitaka is not prepared for Kylo Ren's unforgiving command style.

The First Order naval uniform is descended from the sharp, authoritarian styles worn by officers of the Old Empire. The charcoal gray fabric signifies naval service, while the flared breeches and stiff boots help in maintaining a rigid posture. The command cap carries the starburst symbol of the First Order.

Tough Job After failing to recapture the escaped prisoner Poe Dameron and the deserter FN-2187, Mitaka continues to oversee the progress of search teams scouring the desert wastes of Jakku. Mitaka has the unenviable task of updating Kylo Ren on the search after the fugitives flee Jakku aboard the Millennium Falcon.

[Image Caption] Mitaka issues orders on behalf of General Hux to stop the escaping TIE fighter carrying Poe Dameron and FN-2187.

[pandemic-info]

Text from https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/910-24/transcript-mayor-adams-holds-in-person-media-availability

Dear Mayor Adams,

No.

The entire point of masks — especially fitted respirators, i.e. N95s, which do not leave gaps around the face — is to protect the wearer from harmful airborne pathogens.

Let's break that down:

If : someone who is

A. visibly sick and carelessly spreading it everywhere (as many do), or

B. is unknowingly, asymptomatically shedding viral particles (also, as many do, because most people erroneously think it's over and generally take no precautions) was in that vehicle,

Then: there's a high likelihood they've left viral particles in the air.

It's really fucking simple:

AIRBORNE viral particles can LINGER IN THE AIR for hours.

That means the masked person getting into a vehicle — who doesn't want to / can't afford to get sick(er), even despite regular harassment and threats that Mayor Adams doesn't give a shit about — will not be safe to remove it inside.

Neither is it a good idea to try to enforce this based on mask type, force medical permits, etc. Others have written about this extensively. Unlike (effective) mandates, these bans are not based on science or data. E.g.:

First, addressing the claim that mask bans are necessary for facial recognition and societal safety, growing data shows that face masks are less effective than sunglasses in masking face identity. Another study claims “Convolutional Neural Networks are highly capable of learning features and accurately identifying the image, even when the only fully visible part of the face is the eyes.”

—

Those statements betray how out of touch this mayor is with the average person who actually walks NYC streets and takes public transit.

"This person" he refers to, as we all know, was not attacking random individuals. "This person" went after one specific man who had millions of dollars worth of blood on his hands:

"For people who do not have money or social connections at hospitals or the ability to spend weeks at a time on the phone, a denied health-insurance claim can instantly bend the trajectory of a life toward bankruptcy and misery and death."

—

Adams et. al., driving their private cars on sidewalks, don't care if regular, vulnerable people are endangered daily by everyone who chooses entitlement, selfishness, or just plain willful ignorance.

—

New Yorkers, the next mayoral election is in 2025:

Until then, contact NY officials:

Even if they are already for / against an issue, it still makes a difference to tell them (source: they and volunteers for these offices say so themselves).

If you have the spoons, please help. If you're able to call, do that. People who are disabled, chronically ill, etc. have to do so much of this lifting alone while they're already exhausted.

[felassan]

Mass Effect: The Board Game - Priority Hagalaz (Official Trailer)

"Join Shepard, Garrus, Wrex, Liara, and Tali on one final, desperate mission. Set during the events of Mass Effect 3, the crew of the Normandy must uncover the sinister secrets of a downed Cerebrus cruiser before a deadly storm hits. However, hidden deep within the ship’s bowels is an even greater threat than they could have ever anticipated... Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game is a cooperative, story-driven game for 1-4 players designed by Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫. A branching narrative ensures a unique experience with each playthrough, evolving based on your actions. Early decisions in the heat of combat will have a lasting impact on your later missions. Renegade may be an efficient path to victory, but Paragon scores higher War Readiness. The choice is yours."

[source] [Pre-order link]

There is a trailer for the Mass Effect board game! ◕‿◕ It contains new voice lines by Mark Meer as Commander Shepard, concerning the story/mission of the game.

Transcript of Shepard’s lines:

“Admiral Hackett has a mission for us. Cerberus has outfitted a research cruiser to avoid our raids. It suffered a massive systems failure while hiding in the atmosphere over Hagalaz. The cruiser’s crashed on the planet. Normandy is the closest ship. There’s a deadly storm coming and we don’t have much time. Let’s get down there and find out what Cerberus is hiding. Several refugee ships have also gone off the grid. We think Cerberus might have them. Our orders are: keep the research data out of Cerberus’ hands. Retrieve it if possible. And rescue any captives we find along the way. Liara. Garrus. Tali. Wrex. You’re with me. We don’t know what we’re gonna find down there. Let’s get it done. Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz. I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite board game on the Citadel.”

[sprinklecipher]

How Much Dialogue the Protag Characters have in the Apollo Justice Trilogy

I was curious how accurately named the AJ trilogy actually is when you really get down to it, so I made some graphs about how much dialogue all of the protag characters have:

looks like Apollo does in fact have the most dialogue--but only when you leave out the DLC cases!

(More graphs breaking out the dialogue totals per game below the cut)

Data source: I’m using a dataset that I put together pulling from the episode transcripts on the Ace Attorney wiki (which I did almost entirely via Python, but with a bit of manual cleanup). There’s bound to be some error resulting from that process, but the numbers should be pretty close.

[danishphoner]

recalling that one time when i got obsessed with tlsp interviews and might have gathered (almost) all of them for further cataloguing on tumblr but wasn't quite sure if they'd still be somewhat relevant in the present day lmao:

[greelys-corner]

Greely Expedition Publications and Media

See anything missing from the list below? Let me know!

Last Updated April 23, 2025

Narrative Histories:

Abandoned in the Arctic: Adolphus W. Greely and the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, 1881-1884 Geoffrey E. Clark ISBN: 978-0974089522

Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition Leonard F. Guttridge, 2000 Print ISBN: 0-425-17654-1

Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Expedition Buddy Levy, 2019 Print ISBN: 978-1-250-78206-9

Abandoned: The Story of the Greely Arctic Expedition 1881-1884 Alden Todd, 1961 Print ISBN: 1-889963-29-1

Memoirs and Biographies:

The Outpost of the Lost David L. Brainard, 1929 Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-3521-7 (An abridged version of Brainard's diary from August 1883 to June 1884)

Three Years of Arctic Service Adolphus W. Greely, 1886 Bib ID: 2344946 Free Digital Copy: https://archive.org/details/threeyearsofarct02gree/page/n5/mode/2up

Farthest North; or the Life and Explorations of Lieutenant James Booth Lockwood, of the Greely Arctic Expedition Charles Lanman, 1885 Gutenberg EBook #54019 Free Digital Copy: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54019/old/54019-h/54019-h.htm

Canada's Forgotten Arctic Hero: George Rice and the Lady Franklin Bay Expeditionm 1881-1884 Jim Lotz ISBN: 9781895415940

In the Lena Delta George W. Melville, 1885 Library of Congress #: 04016772 Free Digital Copy: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=O20SAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-O20SAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1

Six Came Back David Brainard, 1940 No free, digital, or mass-print copies available (An abridged version of Brainard's diaries from 1881 to 1883. Very few copies available for less than $100 US)

Expedition Member Diaries:

Adolphus Greely (abridged and published as Three Years of Arctic Service, see above): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/greely-journal/

David Brainard (abridged and published as The Outpost of the Lost, see above): https://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/brainard-diary/diplomatic/brainard-2-diary-diplomatic.html#?start=0&length=12&view=list&col=brainard-diary&oc_0=main-title&od_0=a

George Rice: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/greely-rice-journal/

Hampden Gardiner: a partial transcript and scans of Gardiner's journals was provided via US CECOM - hit me up to receive a copy

Documentaries and Video Essays:

Abandoned in the Arctic PBS, 2007 https://www.pbs.org/show/abandoned-arctic/

American Experience: The Greely Expedition PBS, 2011 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/greely/ Currently available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime, but follow the link for image galleries and primary sources.

Tragedy on the Ice: U-M Astronomy and the Ill-Fated Greely Polar Expedition University of Michigan, 2023 Available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqcmYerIKrA

Polar Survival: The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881-1884 The History Guy, 2021 Available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4abprNgpnU

Fiction:

Starvation Shore Laura Waterman, 2019 ISBN: 9780299323400

The Greely Expedition's Fatal Quest for Farthest North Golriz Golkar, 2023 ISBN: 9781666390629

Websites:

Science and Survival at Fort Conger Virtual Museum Canada https://fortconger.org/index

Articles and Blog Posts:

David L. Brainard and the Greely Expedition of 1881-1884 Cecilia Brainard https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2016/01/david-l-brainard-and-greely-expedition.html (A blog post about the author's spouse's ancestor: our own David Brainard! She's also recently published a book of short stories!)

In The Archives: Edward Israel's Polar Sky Laura Bien, 2011, The Ann Arbor Chronicle https://annarborchronicle.com/2011/01/21/in-the-archives-edward-israels-polar-sky/index.html

A Tale of Survival, Wrapped in a 19th-Century Reindeer-Skin Sleeping Bag Betsy Golden Kellem, 2020, Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/caribou-sleeping-bag

Ghosts of Discovery Harbor: Digging for Data Andreas Muenchow https://icyseas.org/2016/02/11/ghosts-of-discovery-harbor-digging-for-data/#comments

An Arctic Execution: Private Charles B. Henry of the United States Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Glenn M. Stein https://glennmstein.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/An-Arctic-Execution-Charles-B.-Henry-LFBE-2011.pdf

The Arctic Exploits of Dr. Octave Pavy Douglas Wamsley https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276748841_The_Arctic_Exploits_of_Dr_Octave_Pavy

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

The right-wing disinformation machine on Wednesday transformed the banal reality that the federal government purchases subscriptions for news outlets into what President Donald Trump described as potentially “THE BIGGEST SCANDAL OF THEM ALL, PERHAPS THE BIGGEST IN HISTORY.” Federal employees need accurate, up-to-date information relevant to their areas of expertise in order to do their jobs. The federal government pays for subscriptions to a variety of news sources in order to ensure that its workers have that information. One such news source is Politico, which took in more than $8 million from federal agencies last year, according to publicly available data published on the government website USAspending.gov.  Politico is best-known for the inside-the-Beltway political reporting it publishes for free on Politico.com and through its Playbook newsletter. But the outlet also produces a premium subscription product focused on policy called Politico Pro, which includes “an advanced technology platform that includes legislative and regulatory tracking tools, government directories, transcripts, outreach trackers and more,” as well as workflow tools, and E & E News, a subscription product that focuses on energy and environmental policy. Subscriptions to these products reportedly cost in the upper four to five figures for a limited number of users.  [...] But on Wednesday, the conspiracy-obsessed dregs of the MAGA influencer crowd seized on the publicly-available data showing the federal government paying Politico for subscriptions, slapped it together with a payroll error that temporarily delayed paychecks at the outlet and a Trump administration freeze on the disbursement of foreign aid funds at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and attempted to concoct a major government and media corruption scandal.

[...] Reporters at more credible outlets spent the day providing the context that the MAGA warriors withheld (including that the money to Politico for subscriptions from USAID constituted only $44,000 over two years). But the White House added more fuel to the lie bonfire when press secretary Karoline Leavitt falsely claimed that USAID had paid $8 million for Politico subscriptions and that the contracts would be canceled. 

Right-wing media disinfo artists such as Benny Johnson and Dana Loesch, along with Liar-in-Chief Donald Trump, pushed the BS nonstory about federal government funding Politico Pro subscriptions.

See Also:

The Guardian: Trump repeats rightwing claim that USAid subscriptions to Politico were ‘payoffs’

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: The Monster I’ve Become

( Don’t forget to come see my on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord )

Alfonso awoke to the sound of the doors to the interrogation cell slowly opening followed by two figures entering. Neither said anything to him as they entered and closed the door behind them. He eyed each carefully as they positioned themselves in the room but likewise said nothing. Both were Mendrari though by their clothing he could tell they were of different status.

The first wore a decorative robe of bright green with tiny red triangle patterns sewn into the fabric. This covered the majority of their body save for their hands and feet, both of which adorned with the finest off world shoes and gloves he had ever seen since coming to the planet. They sat down across from Alfonso at the table and set down the data pad they had been reading when they entered the room.

Unlike the first figure the second, who was lurking just outside of the cone of light provided by the lone light source of the room, was a far contrast in wardrobe. They wore a tight military uniform with Drenti metal fragments woven into the fabric essentially turning it into a sudo suit of armor.

Though he couldn’t make out much detail while they stood in the shadows, Alfonso saw a glint of crystal on the military figure’s shoulder indicating rank and wagered that they were at least a general in the Mendrari military; or whatever equaled to a general in the Terran Republic.

“Alfonso Muñoz,” the first figure at the table began, “do you know why you are here?”

Their native language was being translated by a linguistic unit attached to their throat. Even so, Alfonso found the experience unpleasant as it was like listening to two voices speaking at the same time.

“I will not answer questions until I am provided a Terran counsel.” Alfonso replied.

“This is not a human world,” the first figure replied dismissively, “you will not be provided a counsel for these proceedings.”

“I am a sovereign citizen of the Terran Republic and demand a-“

Alfonso never finished his sentence as the second military figure paced around the table and back handed him across the face. The blow wasn’t enough to break his jaw, yet a glob of blood fell from his mouth all the same. Mendrari skin having the same texture as sandpaper didn’t help the matter. Alfonso recovered from the blow feeling like his right check had been scraped clean off.

If the sudden violence was upsetting to the first figure they gave no sign of it. They merely waited for their military compatriot to finish before continuing.

“Given the severity of your crimes and the threat to our own security you present your government has not been informed of your detention.”

The words slowly sank into Alfonso as he straightened up and spat a thick glob of blood at the military figure’s feet.

“And here I thought your kind were above such crude tactics as kidnapping.” Alfonso chuckled. “And what sort of threat could I be if you already have me locked up in a cell?”

“A question I wish to have answered.” The first figure replied.

Entering several keys on their data pad a holographic panel appeared in the center of the table. Several images and transcripts began scrolling through the display while the first figure watched for any reaction from Alfonso.

“You have been identified as a leader of the terrorist organization D.A.A.I.F, or “Defense Against Alien Influence Front”.”

Alfonso shrugged. “It’s not a name I personally would have gone with, but you know about changing horses mid race and all.”

“We also know that the group has been planning a large attack scheduled to take place in the coming rotations; you will tell us the target and the method in which your compatriots will use.”

Alfonso leaned back in his chair and looked at the alien opposite him. “And why would I turn in my comrades, Mr… ?”

“Chu’ll,” The first figure replied before pointing to the second alien, “and this is Merg’ell.”

“And we both know they were not true comrades.” Chu’ll finished.

Alfonso said nothing as the holographic feeds changed and brought up only data regarding him. “We know that you only joined D.A.A.I.F five months ago and have never fully embraced their co leaders or values as an organization.”

“They hate your species, that’s enough for me.” Alfonso replied coldly, but Chu’ll shook his head.

“We know that their hate and your hate are not the same.” Chu’ll countered. “You were not at home with a group whose most dangerous attack to date has been a series robberies against banking institutions. You wanted more.”

“What are you expecting me to say?” Alfonso asked. “Do you think I’ll suddenly spill my guts and detail all my plans? Give out all the sources the group had? Beg for your forgiveness and plead for my life?”

“We are wasting our time with these games.” Merg’ell spoke for the first time.  Their hand shot out and latched around Alfonso’s throat and tightened. “Tell us what we want and you may spend your remaining days without constant pain.”

Alfonso felt the grip tighten more and more around his throat; the sandpaper like texture of Merg’ell’s skin adding even more discomfort and pain as he started gasping for breath.

Just as he was started to see shadows creeping from the corners of his eyesight his would be killer relented and released him.

Gasping for breath he could barely hear Chu’ll speaking to him once more.

“We know you were part of the first contact incident with our people. We understand that your feelings towards are kind must be-“

“You….understand…nothing.” Alfonso spoke between gasps. He would be damned if this alien piss sack would preach to him that they understood his feelings.

“You took my wife and child from me, burned my home to the ground, slaughtered my friends and family and left my world to burn.” Alfonso replied. His anger swelled within him like a raging fire as he remembered the day the Mendrari invaded. He could still see the lifeless eyes of his pregnant wife looking up at him as he sifted through the rubble of his home. He could smell the scent of her burning hair, and feel the warmth drain from her skin.

“If your wife was here with you now, would she still love the man you have become?”

As if ripped from his memories by Chu’ll’s words Alfonso looked up at the alien and watched as they recoiled slightly in their chair. His gaze was that of death itself as he teetered on the idea of lunging forward and ripping the throat out of the alien.

It took a moment but Alfonso finally calmed himself down and decided on another tact.

“Do you know how your sphere drives work?”

Whatever Chu’ll or Merg’ell had been expecting the human to reply this was not it.

“Excuse me?” Chu’ll asked for clarification.

“Your sphere drives.” Alfonso repeated. “Do you know how they work?”

Merg’ell slammed his fist into the table. “I said en-“

Chu’ll held up a hand and the military lackey ceased his outrage. He huffed and retreated back into the surrounding shadows while Chu’ll answered.

“Engineering was never my strong suit.” The alien admitted.

“Whereas it was mine during my previous life.” Alfonso answered with a grin. “I loved technology and observing all of the tiny intricacies of how a device works.”

Now invested in the discussion he leaned forward against the table. “You see unlike jump drives my people use which only sends the ship it is attached to, your sphere drives essentially make a bubble around the entire ship easily a few kilometers in size and launch it as a whole. This makes it safer for travel.”

“I fail to see what this has to do with the topic at hand.” Chu’ll spoke, but this only made Alfonso nod as if he had just been asked the correct question from a favorite student.

“It all ties in but since you’ve been patient I can explain.”

“You are right that D.A.A.I.F was incompetent, but what they did have was a well-established network of sympathizers and suppliers able to get whatever you needed if you could provide enough funds.”

Wheels began turning for Chu’ll and Alfonso saw a glint in the alien’s eye as he started putting the pieces together.

“The bank robberies…” he began as Alfonso nodded.

“A means to get enough funds to purchase several dozen of your sphere drives.”

“To supply an attack fleet?” Merg’ell spoke up, but Alfonso shook his head.

“You’d have seen that many ships coming several systems away; no, I had a much better idea for them.” He looked at Chu’ll and smiled as the threat of the unknown began to plague the alien’s mind.

“What did you do?”

“Have you ever wondered what would happen if a sphere drive was activated in atmosphere?” Alfonso asked.

“They would….” Chu’ll began as the final piece fit into place. “Oh my gods.”

“Exactly.” Alfonso finished. “They’d rip apart everything that was within their sphere and launch it hurtling into space leaving a gaping void in its wake!”

Merg’ell pulled out a communicator of his own. “This is Merg’ell to command; begin immediate orbital scans of major population centers for sphere drive energies.”

“Still so small.”

Merg’ell cut off the link to look down at the human who was now looking up at him.

“What did you say?” Merg’ell demanded as he hoisted the human up again; only this time Alfonso was far less afraid.

“You think I would settle my revenge with just a few cities?” the human mocked. “No; just as you took my world from me I shall take yours.”

“You speak of madness!” Merg’ell shouted as he shook the tiny human. “You could not destroy a planet with sphere drives.”

“That depends on your definition of destruction.” Alfonso remarked with a grin.

Merg’ell was going to demand the human to elaborate but they did so without provocation.

“When you punch enough holes in a ship it will eventually sink; so what do you think will happen when those sphere drives detonate in the atmosphere across this entire world at the same time?”

The horrific picture finally came into focus for both aliens as they were no longer dealing with a terrorist threat, but a global extinction level event.

“How do we stop it!”

Both aliens demanded, but Alfonso just grinned and closed his eyes as he heard a low rumbling far down the corridor of the complex he was held in.

“I activated their countdown sequence the moment you capture me. It’s already too late.”