As you read this series of extracts, try to visualize the proverbial series of contemporary evolution... something is amiss...

Large bones in stone graves in Williamson County and White County, Tennessee. Discovered in the early 1800s, the average stature of these giants was 7 feet tall.
Giant skeletons found in the mid-1800s in New York state near Rutland and Rodman.
In 1833, soldiers digging at Lompock Rancho, California, discovered a male skeleton 12 feet tall. The skeleton was surrounded by caved shells, stone axes, other artifacts. The skeleton had double rows of upper and lower teeth. Unfortunately, this body was secretly buried because the local Indians became upset about the remains.
A giant skull and vertebrae found in Wisconsin and Kansas City.
A giant found off the California Coast on Santa Rosa Island in the 1800s was distinguished by its double rows of teeth.
A 9-foot, 8-inch skeleton was excavated from a mount near Brewersville, Indiana, in 1879.
Skeletons of "enormous dimensions" were found in mounds near Zanesville, Ohio, and Warren, Minnesota, in the 1880s.
In Clearwater Minnesota, the skeletons of seven giants were found in mounds. These had receding foreheads and complete double dentition.
At LeCrescent, Minnesota, mounds were found to contain giant bones. Five miles north near Dresbach, the bones of people over 8 feet tall were found.
In 1888 seven skeletons ranging from seven to 8 feet tall were discovered.
Near Toledo, Ohio, 20 skeletons were discovered with jaws and teeth "twice as large as those of present day people." The account also noted that odd hieroglyphics were found with the bodies.
Miners in Lovelock Cave, California, discovered a very tall, red-haired mummy In 1911
This mummy eventually went to a fraternal lodge where it was used for "initiation purposes."
In 1931, skeletons from 8 1-2 to 10 feet long were found in the Humbolt lake bed in California.
In 1932, Ellis Wright found human tracks in the gypsum rock at White Sands, New Mexico. His discovery was later backed up by Fred Arthur, Supervisor of the Lincoln National Park and others who reported that each footprint was 22 inches long and from 8 to 10 inches wide. They were certain the prints were human in origin due to the outline of the perfect prints coupled with a readily apparent instep.
During World War II, author Ivan T. Sanderson tells of how his crew was bulldozing through sedimentary rock when it stumbled upon what appeared to be a graveyard. In it were crania that measured from 22 to 24 inches from base to crown nearly three times as large as an adult human skull. Had the creatures to whom these skulls belonged been properly proportioned, they undoubtedly would have been at least 12 feet tall or taller.
In 1947 a local newspaper reported the discovery of nine-foot-tall skeletons by amateur archeologists working in Death Valley.
The archeologists involved also claimed to have found what appeared to be the bones of tigers and dinosaurs with the human remains.
The Catalina Islands, off California, are the home of dwarf mammoth bones that were once roasted in ancient fire pits. These were roasted and eaten by human-like creatures who were giants with double rows of teeth.
One of the latest accounts of a race of giants that occupied Europe comes from the middle ages and involves a surprising figure: Saint Christopher. While modern stories of St. Christopher simply make him out as an ordinary man, or perhaps a somewhat homely man, those who actually saw him had a different story. According to his peers, he was a giant, belonging to a tribe of dog-headed, cannibalistic giants. Jacques de Voragine in The Golden Legend wrote of St. Christopher:"He was of gigantic stature, had a terrifying mien, was twelve coudees tall.”
A coudee is an antique measurement equal to or larger than the English linear measurement of a foot. According to this ancient account, St. Christopher stood from 12 to 18 feet tall (a fact that has become hidden in or even erased from church history).
While Western icons don't picture St. Christopher as contemporary accounts described him, those of the Eastern churches do. Often the suggestion is seen in historic accounts that St. Christopher was the product of a tryst between a human being and an Anubis (a demon-like creature based on the Greek Anoubis, which came from the Egyptians jackal-headed god who was believed to lead the dead to judgment)

John Haywood, The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, McCowat-Mercer, Jackson, TN, 1958

Cyrus Gordon, Before Columbus, Crown Publishers, NY, 1971

David Hatcher Childress, Lost Cities of North America, Adventures Unlimited Press, Stelle, IL, 1992, p.509. 4.Cyrus Godron, Before Columbus, Crown Publishers, NY, 1971. 5.David Hatcher Childress, Lost Cities of North America-M, Adventures Unlimited Press, Stelle, IL, 1992, p.509. 6.Indianapolis, News News, November 10, 1975. 7.Cyrus Godron, Before Columbus, Crown Publishers, NY, 1971.

David Hatcher Childress, Lost Cities of North America, Adventures Unlimited Press, Stelle, IL, 1992, p.468.

Ibid.

St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 29, 1888.

Chicago Record, October 24, 1895.

Humboldt Star, May 13, 1928.

David Hatcher Childress, Lost Cities of North America, Adventures Unlimited Press, Stelle, IL, 1992, p 494.

Ibid., p.496.

Ibid., p.497.

David Hatcher Childress, Lost Cities and Ancient M, Mysteries of South America, Adventures Unlimited Press, Stelle. IL, 1985, p.199.

The Hot Citizen, Expedition Reports Nine-Foot Skeletons," August 5, 1947.

Ibid.

David Hatcher Childress, Lost Cities North America, Adventures Unlimited Press, Stelle, IL, 1992, p.526.

Malcolm South, Mythical and Fabulous Creatures, Peter Berick Books, NY, NY, 1987, p.303.

Ibid.

Ibid.

In other words, according to the contemporary accounts of his day, St. Christopher was the product of a spiritual being who mated with a human woman. And once again the result of this union was a creature that matches the descriptions of the Nephilim. GENESIS 6:4

There were GIANTS in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the SONS OF GOD (Fallen Angels) came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

1.One of the many races of giants.

...AND THEY BUILT STONEHENGE There is ample reasons to believe that the monoliths in Salisbury, England, were not built by either the Druids or normal human beings. When one consider the megaliths proportions, tonnage, and lack of resources in terms of both nature and human; and the lack of technology, the possibility that I am suggesting is not so far-fetched as it may seem. 1. Not a lot is known about the people who would become known as the Celts. It is known that they migrated across Asia Minor, through northern Europe and into what have become the Celtic countries of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Most accounts of them include references to the giants that were often found among them. The ancient Greek historian Pausanias called them "the world's tallest people."

"Modern historians now believe that, in fact, the giants among the Celts were a ruling class that held control over the indigenous population that formed the majority of the Celtic tribes.
As these 60-some tribes that comprised the Cimbri or Cimmerian peoples traveled across Europe, migrating and taking over areas and later being driven Eastward by other cultures, the name of the people changed. While they were in Asia Minor, they were known as the Gomarian Sacae; this was shortened and modified to become Celtae (meaning "potent and valiant men" similar to the "mighty men" on the Genesis 6 passage). The Greeks called them Galatai a corruption of Celtae; the Romans further changed this name to become Gauls.
Although the Romans 'would eventually devise methods of defeating these giant warriors, attacking long legs that couldn't be guarded by the massive shields these creatures carried, the blue-eyed, blond giants inspired terror among those facing them in battle for the first time.

The travels of the giants through the German region also most likely inspired the Teutonic legends of the Aryan race of superhumans (with the early name of "Cimmerian" having an obvious resemblance that is probably more than happenstance to Aryan). The Nazi ideal "superman" was a blue-eyed, blond giant; this is the exact historic description of the Celtae. DeLoach has also made a good argument that the giants ruling the Celtae may very well have been descendants of the Anakim, the giants the Israelites found in the Promised Land. His argument is based on the Roman poet Virgil's account of the Gauls which describes them:
“Golden is their hair and golden their garb. They are resplendent in their striped cloaks,and their milk-white necks are circled with gold.”
5.These distinctive gold necklaces have also been discovered in numerous archeological finds, bolstering Virgil's observations.

This tight gold band around the necks of theCeltae is what ties them to the biblical accounts of the Nephilim. Remembering that the Anakim were one of the tribes that were listed as being giants in the Bible, the clue that links the Celtae to the Nephilim is the Hebrew word which is translated as "Anakim" in English: The actual word is Anaqiy, meaning "a descendent of Anak."
Now the word translated as "Anak" in the English version of the Bible is Anaq and was employed as another term for"Canaanite."
As noted earlier, this suggests that the culture that ruled much of the Promised Land when the Israelites invaded it was comprised of two classes with the Anakim acting as a ruling elite within a larger human population.

But there's more. Hebrew names are often based on common words, giving the names special meanings that relate it back to characteristics of the individual or thing being named. The word, Anaq, which was employed to name the Anak, used in other contexts means "a necklace so tight as to appear to be strangling." Use of this word suggests that the most noticeable feature of the descendants of Anak was a tight chain about the neck.
That same feature was the distinguishing characteristic that Virgil chose to remark on when describing the Gauls.
This leads to an important possibility. The Anakim, or giants that adopted their practices, were pushed out of Canaan by the Israelites, going northward and eventually traveling westward over Europe and, with the passage of several millennia, finally settled in the Celtic nations.
Their Religious Practices

If the Anakim and the giants among the Celtae were one and the same people, then it's possible to gain an insight into the religious practices of the Nephilim. While the Bible doesn't reveal much about the religious practices of the Anakim, it does hint at human and infant sacrifices and similar horrors. God ordered the Israelites to kill all the men,women and children in many of the cities taken during the invasion of the land by the Jews.

10.However, more Is known historically from non-Biblical sources about the religion that the Celtae practiced. Ancient historians had a variety of horrors to tell about the Celtae giants, including the fact that they were homosexuals (another crime which dictated the death penalty under Mosaic law). Athenaeus states that the giants were accustomed to sleeping with not one but two boys. The historian Diodorus also suggested that homosexuality was rampant among the giants when he wrote:
“Although their wives are comely, they have very little to do with them, but rage with lust in outlandish fashion for the embraces of males. And the most astonishing thing of all is that they feel no concern for their proper dignity but prostitute to others without a qualm the flower of their bodies; nor do they consider this a disgraceful thing to do, but rather when anyone of them is thus approached and refuses the favor offered him, this they consider an act of dishonor.”
These passages also provide important links that help prove the Celtae are Nephilim.

Not surprisingly, the religion that the Celtae practiced was also savage and brutal. This religion has come to be known best for the blood-thirsty priests who led its unspeakable acts, the "Druids." The actual practices of this religion have mercifully been lost to our modern age. This came about through the number of conquests of the areas ruled by the Celtae giants by the Romans and later the Norsemen, Normans and Saxons. The spread of Christianity through the region spelled the final death blow for the bloody practices of the Druids, leaving behind only altars designed for human sacrifices and the placement of "magic" stone monuments that have recently been discovered to have been carefully aligned with the stars, planets, sun and moon. The Druid religion is currently being revived by New Age and neo-pagan groups worldwide another horrifying fact that suggests another assault against the human race might be in place even as we speak.

Because Ireland was never successfully invaded by the Romans, it remained the last holdout of the human beings who practiced the religion of the Druids after the last of the Celtae giants had apparently died off. St. Patrick and St. Columcille are generally credited with bringing an end to the pagan practices. (St. Patrick was also credited with driving the snakes from Ireland; one might speculate that these "snakes" might have been serpents similar to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. If so, these might have been some sort of fallen angels in the form of reptiles.) There are a few horrific details that have filtered down to us about the Druids' practices, however. One is that these priests not only placed their blessings on human sacrifice, they often performed the rites themselves.
Julius Caesar wrote:

“The Gauls believe the power of the immortal gods can be appeased only if one human life is exchanged for another and they have sacrifices of this kind regularly established by the community. Some of them have enormous images made of wickerwork, the limbs of which they fill with living men; these are set on fire and the men perish, enveloped in the flames. They believe that the gods prefer it if the executed have been caught in the act of theft or armed robbery or some other crime. But when the supply of such victims runs out, they even go to the extent of sacrificing innocent men.”

Diodorus had an even more horrifying story about how the Celtae giants attempted to read the future:

“They devote to death a human being and plunge a dagger into him in the region above the diaphragm, and when the stricken victim has fallen, they read the future from the manner of his fall and from the twitching of his limbs, as well as from the gushing of the blood, having learned to place confidence in an ancient and long-continued practice of observing such matters."

The exact religious practices of the Anakim are unknown But suffice it to say that the little that has filtered down to us reflects the extreme wickedness and savagery of the Old Testament accounts of these creatures. That groups around the world are now in the process of reviving the Druid and Egyptian practices also speaks volumes about where many in our own times are headed, and what they are really trying to accomplish by reviving this depraved religion.... things are just not always what they appear to be.

Pausanias, 1.35.

Charles DeLoach, Giants. A Reference Guide From History, the Bible, and Recorded Legend. Scarecrow Press, Meuchen, NJ, 1995, p.54.

Ibid.

Virgil, Aeneid, 8.658-660.

Charles DeLoach, Giants: A Reference Guide from History, the Bible, and Recorded Legend, Scarecrow Press, Meuchen, NJ, 1995, p.57.

James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Abingdon Press, NY, 1894/1970, 6062.

Ibid, 6061.

Ibid., 6060.

Deuteronomy 13:15, Deuteronomy 20:13, Joshua 6:21, Joshua 8:24, Joshua 10:28-39, Joshua 11:11, etc. 10.Diodorus, 5.32.

Julius Caesar, Commentary, 6.16.

Diodorus, 5.31.

Compiled By, D.M.IV

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? “There were GIANTS in the earth in those days....”
[Revelation 9:1] And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
[Revelation 9:2] And he opened the bottomless pit; ...”

The assertions starts with the burden of proof listed in, “GIANTS I”, based on the following statement, and further proved beyond doubt that there were indeed a number of civilizations that were giants:

GENESIS 6:2
That the SONS OF GOD saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose....
GENESIS 6:4
There were GIANTS in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the SONS OF GOD (Fallen Angels) came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
The standard contention is: is this biblical myth, or is this a historical reality of the past... and today?
The new challenging assertion set before you is this: where are they now, if they ever really did exist? The answer?....“the inner earth”. And the entrances to this new homeland: one at the extreme northern axis of the earth, the other at the extreme southern axis.
Throughout history and various cultures, this new homeland has taken on various appellations:

The Ultimate Thule Aggartha Shamballa Shangri-La Elusian Fields Asgard Atlantis Valhalla Realm of Jason & the Argonauts, etc.

As fantastic as the assertion sounds, the burden of proof resides in this brief documentation. But to save space, and not to try your patience, I have only chosen select passages from each publications included therein. Nevertheless, let us start from the most ancient documentation, progressing to the more contemporary -
Your intellectual foundations are about to be challenged... For truth is sometimes much stranger than fiction
From the “SECRETS OF ENOCH” 2. “The men (literally, angels) took me on to the fifth heaven and placed me, and there I saw many and countless soldiers, called Grigori (rebellious angels), of human appearance, and their size was greater than that of great giants...”

“And I said to the Grigori: ‘I saw your brethren and their works, and their great torments, and I prayed for them, but the Lord has condemned them to be under earth till heaven and earth shall end forever’. ....”
THE BOOK OF ENOCH (The Watchers)
“Then they (the angels) took wives, each choosing for himself, whom they began to approach, and with whom they cohabited; teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the divining of roots and trees. And the women conceiving brought forth giants, whom stature was each three hundreth cubits. ....
”To Michael likewise the Lord said,... bind them for seventy generations underneaththe earth,...”
“From there I went on towards the extremities of the earth; where I saw large beasts different from each other, and birds various in countenances and forms, as well as with notes of different sounds. ... ”
“From there I advanced on towards the north, to the extremities of the earth. And there I saw a great and glorious wonder at the extremities of the whole earth.I saw there heavenly gates opening into heavens; three of them distinctly separated. The northern winds proceeded from them, blowing cold, hail, frost, snow, dew, and rain....”

THE BOOK OF JUBILEES 9. “...that the angels of God saw them (earthly women) on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare to them sons and they were giants. ...”
10.“And against the angels whom He (God) had sent upon earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold they bound in the midst of them...”

1.From, THE THE LOST BOOK OF... . Enoch was a distance grandson of Seth; Seth was the 3rd son of Adam. The book in it’s entirety contains 45 rare manuscripts. First published in 1926 by Alpha House, Inc.; this reprint is by World Bible Publisher, Inc., and the compiler is Dr. Frank Crane. 2.Ch. XVIII: 1, pg. 87 3.Ch. XVIII: 5, pg 87 4.From, THE BOOKS OF ENOCH, THE WATCHERS, TGS Publishing, Yoakum, TX. 77995. Translated by, Richard Laurence, L.L.D. The Watchers were angels whom were sent by God to instruct man. Note also that this is an entirely separate publication. 5.Ch.7:10-12, pg. 3. 6.Ch.10:15, pg. 5. 7.Ch.32:1-2, pg. 13. 8.Ch.33:1-3, pg. 13. 9.Another separate publication from THE BOOK OF JUBILEES, pg. 23, Ch. 5:1-2, TGS Publishing, Yoakum, TX. 77995, Translated by R.H. Charles, 1913. This is an ancient Pharisee text of about 153 BC. 10. Ch. 5:5-7, pg. 23.

ADMIRAL RICHARD B. BYRD'S DIARY (FEB - MAR.1947)
(“The Inner Earth : My Secret Diary”) THE LAND BEYOND THE POLES - THE EXPLORATION FLIGHT OVER THE NORTH POLE.
I must write this diary in secrecy and obscurity. It concerns my Arctic flight of the nineteenth day of February in the year of Nineteen and Forty Seven.
There comes a time when the rationality of men must fade into insignificance and one must accept the inevitability of the Truth! am not at liberty to disclose the following documentation at this writing... perhaps it shall never see the light of public scrutiny, but I must do my duty and record here for all to read one day. In a world of greed and exploitation of certain of mankind, one can no longer suppress that which is truth.
1. FLIGHT LOG: BASE CAMP ARCTIC, 2119/1947 0600 HOURS - All preparations are complete for our flight north ward and we are airborne with full fuel tanks at 0610 Hours.....
0910 HOURS - Vast Ice and snow below, note coloration of yellowish nature, and dispersed in a linear pattern. Altering course for a better examination of this color pattern below, note reddish or purple color also. Circle this area two full turns and return to assigned compass heading. Position check made again to base camp, and relay information concerning colorations in the Ice and snow below.
0910 HOURS - Both Magnetic and Gyro compasses beginning to gyrate and wobble, we are unable to hold our heading by instrumentation. Take bearing with Sun compass, yet all seems well. The controls are seemingly slow to respond and have sluggish quality, but there is no indication of Icing!
0915 HOURS - In the distance is what appears to be mountains.
0949 HOURS -29 minutes elapsed flight time from the first sighting of the mountains, it is no illusion. They are mountains and consisting of a small range that I have never seen before!
0955 HOURS - Altitude change to 2950 feet, encountering strong turbulence again.
2. 1000 HOURS
We are crossing over the small mountain range and still proceeding northward as best as can be ascertained. Beyond the mountain range is what appears to be a valley with a small river or stream running through the center portion. There should be no green valley below! Something is definitely wrong and abnormal here! We should be over Ice and Snow! To the portside are great forests growing on the mountain slopes. ...

1.To this point, Ch.7, pg. 80. 2.To this point, Ch.7, pg. 81.

1140 HOURS - Another radio message received. We begin the landing process now, and in moments the plane shudders slightly, and begins a descent as though caught in some great unseen elevator! The downward motion is negligible, and we touch down with only a slight jolt!
1.1145 HOURS - I am making a hasty last entry in the flight log. Several men are approaching on foot toward our aircraft. They are tall with blond hair.
2.In the distance is a large shimmering city pulsating with rainbow hues of color. I do not know what is going to happen now, but I see no signs of weapons on those approaching. I hear now a voice ordering me by name to open the cargo door. I comply.
END LOG
3. MARCH 11, 1947 I have just attended a staff meeting at the Pentagon. I have stated fully my discovery and the message from the Master. All is duly recorded. The President has been advised. I am now detained for several hours (six hours, thirty-nine minutes, to be exact.) I am interviewed intently by Top Security Forces and a medical team. It was an ordeal! I am placed under strict control via the national security provisions of this United States of America. I am ORDERED TO REMAIN SILENT IN REGARD TO ALL THAT I HAVE LEARNED, ON THE BEHALF OF HUMANITY! Incredible! I am reminded that I am a military man I must obey orders....
In further confirmation of Admiral Byrd's discovery are reports of individuals who claimed they had entered the north polar opening, as many Arctic explorers did without knowing they did, and penetrated far enough into it to reach the Subterranean World in the hollow interior of the Earth. Dr. Nephi Cottom of Los Angeles reported that one of his patients, a man of Nordic descent, told him the following story:
"I lived near the Arctic Circle in Norway. One summer my friend and I made up our minds to take a boat trip together, and go as far as we could into the north country. So we put one month's food provisions in a small fishing boat, and with sail and also a good engine in our boat, we set to sea.

At the end of one month we had travelled far into the north, beyond the Pole and into a strange new country. We were much astonished at the weather there. Warm, and at times at night it was almost too warm to sleep. Then we saw something so strange that we both were astonished. Ahead of the warm open sea we were on what looked like a great mountain. Into that mountain at a certain point the ocean seemed to be emptying. Mystified, we continued in that direction and found ourselves sailing into a vast canyon leading into the interior of the earth. We kept sailing and then we saw what surprised us - a sun shining inside the earth!”
Several of the inner earth inhabitants - huge giants - detected our boat on the river, and were quite amazed...

1.See “GIANTS 1”, for more details on this description. 2.To this point, Ch.7, pg. 82. 3.Ch.7, pg. 85. 4.Ch.1, pg. 12-13. 5.Ch.1, pg. 13.

The presence of the open sea in the Northland is also explained. Olaf Jansen claims that the northern aperture, intake or hole, so to speak, is about fourteen hundred miles across. In connection with this, let us read what Explorer Jansen 'writes, on page 288 of his book: “I have never had such a splendid sail. On to the north steadily north, with a good wind, as fast as stream and sail can take us, an open sea mile after mile, watch after watch, through these unknown regions, always clearer and clearer of ice, one might almost say: 'How long will it last?' The eye always turns to the northward as one paces the bridge. It is gazing into the future. But them is always the same dark sky ahead which means open sea.” Again, the Norwood Review of England, in its issue of May 10, 1884, says: “We do not admit that there is ice up to the Pole - once inside the great ice barrier, a new world breaks upon the Explorer, the climate is mild like that of England, and, afterward, balmy as the Greek Isles.”.....
My name is Olaf Jansen. I am a Norwegian, although I was born in the little seafaring Russian town of Uleaborg, on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern arm of the Baltic Sea.

I was in my nineteenth year when we started on what proved to be our last trip as fishermen, and which resulted in the strange story that shall be given to the world, - but not until I have finished my earthly pilgrimage...
There was a tradition my father explained, that still farther northward was a land more beautiful than any that mortal man had ever known, and that it was inhabited by the Chosen.

My youthful imagination was fired by the ardor, zeal and religious fervor of my good father, and I exclaimed: 'why not sail to this goodly land? The sky is fair, the wind favorable and the sea open."....

The compass, which we had fastened back in its place, in fear of another storm, was still pointing due north, and moving on its pivot just as it had in Stockholm. The dipping of the needle had ceased. What could this mean? Then, too, our many days of sailing had certainly carried us far past the North Pole. And yet the needle continued to point north. We were sorely perplexed, for surely our direction was now south.....

Along the banks great forests miles in extent could be seen stretching away on the shoreline. The trees were of enormous size. We landed after anchoring near a sandy beach, and waded ashore, and were rewarded by finding a quantity of nuts that were very palatable and satisfying to hunger, and a welcome change from the monotony of our stock of provisions....

1.Excerpt from the author’s Forward, pg. 5. 2.From this point on, all quotes are from Olaf Jansen, whom is dictating the story to W.G. Emerson. Pg. 7. 3.Ch.2, pg. 10. 4.Ch.3, pg. 15.

It was about the first of September, over five months we calculated, since our leave taking from Stockholm Suddenly we were frightened almost out of our wits by hearing in the far distance the singing of people. Very soon thereafter we discovered a huge ship gliding down the river directly toward us. Those aboard were singing in one mighty chorus that, echoing from bank to bank, sounded like a thousand voices, filling the whole universe with quivering melody. The accompaniment was played on stringed instruments not unlike our harps.
It was a larger ship than any we had ever seen, and was differently constructed....
The immense craft paused, and almost immediately a boat was lowered and six men of gigantic stature rowed to our little fishing-sloop. They spoke to us in a strange language. We knew from their manner, however, that they were not unfriendly. They talked a great deal among themselves, and one of them laughed immoderately, as though in finding us a queer discovery had been made. One of them spied our compass, and it seemed to interest them more than any other part of our sloop.....

"They seem to be kindly disposed," I replied, "although what terrible giants! They must be the select six of the kingdom's crack regiment. Just look at their great size...."
The surprise of my father and myself was indescribable when, amid the regal magnificence of a spacious hall, we were finally brought before the Great High Priest, ruler over all the land. He was richly robed, and much taller than those about him, and could not have been less than fourteen or fifteen feet in height. The immense room in which we were received seemed finished in solid slabs of gold thickly studded with jewels of amazing brilliancy....
I remember hearing my father remark that the giant race of people in the land of 'The Smoky God had almost as accurate an idea of the geography of the "outside" surface of the earth as had the average college professor in Stockholm.......

“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;” Phillipian 2:10
“And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.” Revelations 5:3
“Seven rivers I beheld upon earth, greater than all rivers, one of which takes its course from the west; it to a great sea its water flows. Two comes from the north to the sea, there waters flowing into the Erythraean sea, on the east. And with respect to the remaining four, they take their course in the cavity of the north” Book Of Enoch 76:6-7

1.Ch.3, pg. 16. 2.Ch.3, pg. 19. 3.Ch.4, pg. 21.

PROLOGUE:
IN THE FIRST PLACE PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT I do not expect you to believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London....
1.The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half through! It is all that saved him from exploding--and my dreams of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere....
As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural - THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As far as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, until the impression became quite real that one was LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes could fathom -distance was lost in the distance. That was all - here was no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the line of vision". A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the riddle It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"

I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction that one might almost reach up and touch it.....

When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we saw a caravan of men and women - human beings like ourselves-and for the first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that they were a half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at least were fashioned along the same lines as ourselves - there was nothing grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures in this strange, weird world.

But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line,... With little ceremony Perry and I were chained at the end of the line, and without further ado the interrupted march was resumed....
On we stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. The features of both sexes were well proportioned..........

1 .As stated in the title, this is an excerpt from the author’s Prologue, E.R. Burroughs; it ends here. 2. Ch.1, pg. 7. From this point forward, the quotes are quoted by David Innes to Burroughs. 3. Ch.3. pg. 13. 4. Ch.3. pg. 14.

MY EPILOGUE: There are some additional notes I wish to point out before closing. According to the ancient manuscripts, the Watchers not only provoked God by going into earthly women but, they also provoked Him by going into different animals - bestiality. And they taught man these depraved acts as well. And the results of their offspring, as you would probably surmise: terrible giants, unheard of abominations, horrible to look upon. Even the ancient historian Herodotus (circa 500 BC) made minute quotes of some of these atrocities (sic) of nature. But let us quote from another ancient manuscripts that was mentioned by the chroniclers of Joshua 10:13, and 2 Samuel 1:18 :
From THE BOOK OF JASHER 1.“And their judges and rulers (which were the giants at this time) went to the daughters of men and took their wives by force from their husbands according to their choice, and son of men of those days took from the cattle of the earth, the beasts of field, and fowls of the air, and taught the mixture of animals of one species with the other, in order therewith to provoke the Lord; and God saw that the whole earth and it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon earth, all men and all animals.”
From THE BOOK OF JUBILEES
2.“And lawlessness increased on the earth and all flesh corrupted its way, alike men and cattle and beasts and birds and everything that walks on the earth - all of them corrupted their ways and their orders, and they began to devour each other,...”

...and the earth was filled with inquity (sic). And after this they sinned against the beasts and the birds, and all that moves and walks on the earth...”

I think it may be high time that we all had a little private conference with our teachers of Archaeology, Paleontology, Anthropology, Geology, and as well as Geography and Cartography.
“And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Job 1:7
“The devil is the evil spirit of the lower places...” Secrets of Enoch 31:4 Compiled By, D.M.IV

From, THE BOOK OF JASHER (The Upright Record), TGS Publishing, Yoakum, TX. 77995, Ch. 4:18, pg. 8.

THE BOOK OF JUBILEES, Ch. 5:2, pg. 23.

Ch. 7:24, pg. 28.

Some interesting profiles from the first prototype Prima strategy guide

So before going through the files an explanation. The prima guide has a section that is referred to as ANOMALIES AND THE OBSCURED: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, that is styled as if they were Blackwatch files. 99% of the info here is easily surmisable from the plot of prototype, but there are a few interesting notes that well... prototype 2 didn't touch at all in most cases. So I copied the most juicy/interesting ones for anyone who wants to read them.
PD: Now you can add them to the wiki!

COLONEL
IAN TAGGART
Height: 6’
Weight: 195 lbs.
Age: 45
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde going to Gray
Profession: Colonel, U.S.
Army Project BLACKWATCH, Commander of Ground Forces New York
Taggart is a self-serving climber interested only in getting the highest command possible. He’s managed to avoid being on the front-lines for any of BLACKWATCH’s ops, instead working behind the scenes.
However, brought into New York early, he managed to finagle his way into command position for ground troops. Taggart was certain that BLACKWATCH protocols could solve the problem of the outbreak in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs; unfortunately, this proved not to be the case. As the situation spiraled out of control, and the General demanded more and more answers, Taggart called for an evacuation of BLACKWATCH forces; causing a mass disintegration of control in New York.
Finally, looking out only for himself, Taggart does his best to escape the quarantine of New York; viral outbreak be damned.
Taggart is a model of someone who can’t “hack it”. He represents the inadequacy of the BLACKWATCH conspiracy in dealing with the virus.
Early, he projects an air of false confidence, later; he’s a wild-eyed fugitive on the run from every force active in the city.

THE SPECIALIST:
ROBERT CROSS
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 220 lbs.
Age: 38
Eyes: Green
Hair: Gray
Profession: Captain,
U.S. Army Project
BLACKWATCH
Resilient, resourceful, and deadly, the Specialist is sent in when things fail to go according to plan—BLACKWATCH’s last line of insurance. His world is a world of absolutes; like mathematics, only one answer can be gained out of any equation. To him the world is easy to understand. He believes BLACKWATCH is all that stands between the average American and a biological apocalypse. His knowledge of BLACKWATCH been highly edited by his superior, the General, to fi t his world-view.
Confronted with proof that his cause is deceptive, he reorients his mindset instantly to keep in line
with his religious beliefs. Shown absolute proof that his employers are on the wrong side of the moral divide, he will go after them with the same verve he showed as their lapdog—but even worse, he’ll do so as a zealot of the highest order. This trait is further exacerbated as Cross begins to realize he too has succumbed to the infection that is rampaging through the city.
Unlike the majority of the poor souls who lose higher functions, Cross’s training allows him to seek
the Hive Mind, and learn the threat the Prototype poses not only to
BLACKWATCH, but to his new masters....
GENERAL PETER
RANDALL
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 225 lbs.
Age: 70
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Gray
Profession:
General, commander;
Project BLACKWATCH
The General was a 1st lieutenant when he entered Hope, Idaho, in 1969 to crush the viral infection.
He and his men were the ones who captured Elizabeth Green and re-took the facility in the town. It was while subduing Greene that the General lost his left arm. When Greene ripped into his biological containment suit and scratched him, breaking the skin and infecting his arm, he never hesitated; he removed his arm below the elbow in a self-amputation. Since then, he has risen through the ranks, gaining absolute command of BLACKWATCH in 1978 with his promotion to major. But now, he faces the greatest threat he’s ever known. First an asset has escaped a GENTEC lab after being dosed with an active strain of the Mother virus and then just four hours later, that same man freed Elizabeth Greene. BLACKWATCH must not hesitate to bring the situation under control, no matter what it takes. He will not fail, even if he has toerase New York City from the face of the earth.
SUPREME HUNTER
Height: 7’6”
Weight: 450 lbs. (can vary)
Age: Unknown (immortal)
Eyes: Unknown (can vary)
Hair: None (can vary)
Race: Inhuman (can vary)
He began as a weapon fielded by BLACKWATCH to bring the Prototype under control. His first form was as a viral-weapon, which, when it infected the Prototype, began to Consume him. Finally, before he could complete the job, the Parasite was carved off and re-purposed as a weapon by the Prototype against Elizabeth Greene. He believed that since the Parasite worked on him, it would work on Greene as well.
He was wrong. Greene refashioned the Parasite into a special Hunter, a duplicate of the Prototype—the Supreme Hunter. This creature, like the Prototype, is an autonomous creature with free will and goals of its own. Still, Greene holds a more direct sway over him. He’s not “controlled” as the other Hunters are, instead, he simply fears Greene and what she might do if he does not obey. Like the Prototype, he can assume a human disguise or a creature form. He has the capacity to Consume and become anything living. His main form is that of a huge, vulpine creature—something obviously inhuman, built for combat. Only Consuming the entire Prototype will satisfy him; only then will he be complete.
ELIZABETH GREENE
Height: 5’2”
Weight: 100 lbs. (apparent)
Age: 19 (apparent, actual age 58)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Profession: Not applicable
The BLACKLIGHT virus has existed since the beginning of life on earth—it is the basis of evolution. The virus “plugs in” and activates the junk DNA in a target, causing biological changes that create (and recreate) a sentient mind in the infected creature. Today, this intelligence is focused in the body of Elizabeth Greene. Since 1969 this body has been in military custody and still appears as a harmless 19-year-old girl. When Greene wishes, she can put on a convincing innocent disguise, but beneath it is a vast intellect that is cool, calculating, and billions of years old. She is evolution personified.
Like evolution, she is patient, but when she ushers in change, it is violent, bloody, and permanent. She is utterly ruthless and does not have the emotional capacity to “care” for the average human. Humanity and all life on earth are “tools” to further evolution. No one understand (s is lacking in the original text) these secrets. BLACKWATCH still believes she is nothing more than a genetic oddity, when she is really something much more dangerous.
She looks on the Prototype as either her replacement as the watchman of evolution, or another tool to move life forward; something to be consumed and used.
The GREATEST SPOILER
ALEX MERCER PHD (DECEASED)
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 190 lbs.
Age: 29
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
Profession: Head of GENTEC Research Project BLACKLIGHT
Alex Mercer was the identity of the Prototype before his transformation. The Prototype understands the basics of this past—that his name was Alex Mercer, that he was a scientist—but recalls nothing more. Before his infection, Alex Mercer PhD was the head of a biotech project at GENTEC called BLACKLIGHT. Everyone working at GENTEC knew their work was classified. It involved cataloging government biological samples recovered from far-flung war zones, looking for weaponized viruses.
Alex worked in special projects on the other end of the spectrum: Project BLACKLIGHT—engineering weaponized viruses from odd samples received from the government. These samples did amazing things, like mimic and store genetic information from infected organisms and more. With Alex’s help, they were soon infecting and duplicating copies of their host’s genetic structure.
Alex’s insight and ability to manipulate these viruses made him a unique asset; his work was years ahead of his nearest competitor.
Alex was an impatient, dark, tortured person, subjected to a brutal childhood spent in abject poverty. He spent his first nine years in foster care, and was returned to his mother after her release from prison when he was 10. For Alex, foster care was better. His propensity for science was his way out, and when he left, he left everything behind. The past was dead and the future was his payback, what he deserved for all the time spent suffering. He trusted no one, had no friends, cared less and less what others thought of him and found solace only in his work. By the time he came to GENTEC, Alex was teetering on the border of sociopathy. He knew this, and didn’t care.
His past made Alex morally ambiguous enough to get the job done. When work called for ethically questionable behavior, he never hesitated. He got the job done, but often managed to burn bridges along the way. Recently, questions began to be asked in closed sessions on Capitol Hill. BLACKWATCH decided to cover it all up. Alex, forever paranoid, drew his sister into the mix— using her journalistic skills to track what his bosses were up to. After weeks of investigation, it was clear to Alex that some sort of purge was coming.
Alex took out insurance—he smuggled a vial of BLACKLIGHT virus, and mailed a laptop with classified documents to his sister.
But BLACKWATCH was too quick for him. While attempting to escape the city by train, Alex was caught in Penn Station. After Alex purposely released the virus, he was shot and collapsed on the viral sample, becoming infected as he died.
THE PROTOTYPE
Name: Formerly
Alex Mercer PhD
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 190 lbs. (varies)
Age: 29 (effectively immortal)
Eyes: Blue (can vary)
Hair: Brown (can vary)
Profession: Head of GENTEC
Research Project:
BLACKLIGHT (Former)
The Prototype is the result of genetic experimentation and manipulation. He spends much of his time in HUMAN DISGUISE (identical to the physical form of ALEX MERCER, but without many of his memories) and can instantly shift to POWERED FORM: a shapeshifting being of nearly limitless potential and power.
What happened to Alex Mercer is a mystery, even to the Prototype—a mystery to be solved. In his human disguise, the Prototype is a quiet, intense, oddly imposing fi gure. He’s easily overlooked in the crowd, but when he makes himself known he’s hard to miss.
The look of superiority in his eyes often betrays his true nature. He’s not fearful of alarms that would send the average man running; heights, gunfi re, and explosions don’t even faze him. He moves economically, and seems preternaturally in control of his body.
He projects a quiet sort of confi dence through his actions, rather than words. When he does speak, it is profound, shocking, or displays a wry, biting sense of humor. It’s not unusual for people to mistake his silence for not paying attention, a “skill” he often exploits. He’s mistrustful of most people, and views the world through the eyes of a predator.
He’s a creature motivated by what is missing—a history, a life, a clear chain of events leading up to the present. He will do anything to recover and restore these memories. He feeds on his past. It’s his lifeblood. But such “food” is often overwhelming—strong memories cause him to enter a state where the real-world fades out, momentarily replaced by only memories. In this state, he is eminently vulnerable.
To the world at large, the Prototype’s Powered Form is terrifying. Despite his incredible strength and near indestructibility, the Prototype is not a brute: he’s capable of exceptional feats of intellect. This intellect grows as he Consumes people, memories, and skills. The Prototype’s body is his weapon. In fact, it’s an arsenal of weapons. Every portion is under conscious control. If he wants claws, he grows claws, if he needs to be bulletproof, he grows armor. He is a repository of genetic ability, capable of instantly mixing the best of any creature into a single, super-effective form.
The Prototype is seen as a threat, and pursued by any number of forces, from local authorities all the way up to the American military. Each wants him for a different reason. It’s the Prototype’s job to hunt down those responsible for his creation: They are poised to stop him from uncovering the who, what, why, when, and where of his past. He represents the ultimate security risk; someone who can collect the minds of all responsible for the conspiracy and use their knowledge to expose it.
His “origin” is linked to the secretive projects that have given rise to other creatures with exceptional abilities like the Prototype, all based on similar Top Secret genetic principles. Some of these “kin” fear him, others pursue him to steal his power for their own, and others still have deeper and more complex plans. One of these beings—Elizabeth Greene—was released onto an unsuspecting world just as the Prototype came to consciousness. This creature plans to use her abilities to unleash a plague, and as such, he feels compelled to stop her. She also seems linked to his origin; he cannot escape the feeling that whatever past he has lies with her.

Popheads Album of the Year 2020 #18: BLACKPINK - THE ALBUM

Artist: BLACKPINK
Album: THE ALBUM
Label: YG Entertainment / Interscope
Tracklist and Lyrics: Genius Page
Release date: October 2, 2020
popheads [FRESH] thread: Here
Listen: Apple Music | Spotify

THE PRELUDE
PART 1. THE GROUP
PART 2. THE MEMBERS
PART 3. THE ERA
PART 4. THE TRACKS
PART 5. THE CONCLUSION
THE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
a note from the author

THE PRELUDE

My first memory of Blackpink was around the summer of 2017 when someone in the Popheads Plug.dj room played “As If It’s Your Last”. That song was stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. It had everything I wanted from a K-pop song at that time - a fire rap verse, beautiful vocals, an upbeat production that had an addictive pop bubblegum melody in the chorus. The gorgeous music video definitely played a huge factor on the song’s memorability.
A few months later, I was watching Justice League with my relatives when Barry Allen aka The Flash arrives at his Flash secret den, only to be surprised to find Bruce Wayne aka Batman waiting for him. Why am I mentioning this scene? Behind Batfleck (a portmanteau of Batman and Ben Affleck) is the TV screen of the “As If It’s Your Last” music video and the song can be heard for a few seconds before fading into focus on the dialogue between Batman and The Flash. Being in a Southeastern Country where the influence of the Hallyu wave is huge since the early 2000s, everyone in the theater were pleasantly surprised by the fact that a K-pop song, let alone a song from a group with only 5 songs at that time, was featured in a Hollywood superhero movie. At that moment, I had a huge feeling that the song being featured in Justice League will increase the presence of K-pop in the West to the point that a K-pop song actually charts in Billboard Hot 100 soon and BLACKPINK is going to be one of those groups.
To my surprise, I was actually right.
BTS and Blackpink are the most popular K-pop groups right now thanks to their success in the West, which was the place that is quite hesitant to accept K-pop as a dominant force in pop culture despite its popularity outside the West, especially in Asia. The groups’ appearances in the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Charts definitely made Western labels realize that K-pop is a dominant force globally.
As part of the Popheads Album of the Year 2020 series, I take a look at Blackpink's first full album appropriately titled “The Album''. Their debut full album was highly anticipated as it took four years since their debut in 2016 to finally make this happen. With this post, I deconstruct Blackpink’s history and their legacy, how the tracks fared as an album, and why “The Album” deserves its place as the “Popheads’ Album of the Year”.

PART 1. THE GROUP

When Blackpink made their debut on August 8, 2016, the anticipation was high as they were YG Entertainment’s second girl group after 2NE1. The high anticipation is also because the group was supposed to debut in 2012 after YG’s founder and now-former CEO Yang Hyun-suk teased a possibility of a second girl group back in 2011.
The name for YG’s second girl group wasn’t even called Blackpink in the first place as the group was initially named “Pink Punk”. “Pink Punk” was supposed to be YG’s answer to SM Entertainment’s Girls Generation (SNSD) as the initial number of members were supposed to match the number of members of SNSD, which is nine members. YG even uploaded videos of some trainees who were likely to be members of Pink Punk to build public interest before the group’s supposed to debut.
And then, Pink Punk never happened. Yang Hyun-suk’s indecisive, premature decisions during his time as CEO of YG is the reason why he earned so much infamy within the K-pop community, along with other things. But let’s not delve into that.
Between 2011 and 2016, it was clear that this second girl group went through drastic changes. The line-up of members changed from nine to seven, then to five, to just four. Besides Pink Punk, the group had other possible names such as “Baby Monster” and “Magnum”. I honestly wonder what kind of crack did the people in YG Entertainment smoke to think that these are legitimately good names for their second girl group. Did they get that crack from Senguri? We may never know.
Blackpink’s debut was an instant success as they released their debut double singles “Whistle” and “Boombayah”, compiled as a single album “Square One”. “Whistle” and “Boombayah” debuted at #1 and #7 at South Korean Gaon Digital Charts respectively. The group also became the fastest girl group to earn a win in a Korean music show as Inkigayo gave the group a trophy win for “Whistle”. Looking back, the group said that debuting with “Whistle” as their first single was risky at that time due to it having a “weird country vibe” and its minimal production, which led many people at YG against its release.
They followed “Square One” with the next single album “Square Two” with singles “Playing with Fire” and “Stay”, which both aim to show Blackpink’s softer side, compared to the chaotic, party-vibe of “Square One”.
While most K-pop groups usually have at least two to three comebacks per year, it seems like Blackpink only has one comeback per year based on the release pattern of when the group has their comebacks.
On June 2, 2017, they released their comeback standalone single “As If It’s Your Last”. The following year, they finally released their first mini-album (which is basically an EP) “Squared Up” on June 15, 2018. “DDU-DU DDU-DU”, the mini-album’s title single (K-pop equivalent to lead single) propelled Blackpink to global popularity especially in the West as the single debuted at #55 and #78 in the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart respectively. This marks their first appearance in these charts. Additionally, the song’s music video is currently the second most-viewed K-pop music video with 1.4 billion viewers, being only behind Gangnam Style by former fellow YG artist Psy with 3.9 billion viewers.
In 2019, Blackpink released their second mini-album “Kill This Love” on April 4. The release of the mini-album was significant as it’s the group’s first release under Interscope Records, which distributes their music and handles their promotions in countries outside Asia. The titular track peaked at #41 on Billboard Hot 100 and #33 on the UK Singles Chart. This era is best remembered for the group’s promotions in the West as a result of their increasing popularity, specifically their iconic Coachella appearance that made them the first K-pop girl group to perform in the festival. Their Coachella gig highlighted the group’s stage presence and high energy as performers, backed with a live band that complimented the group’s electronic-style music. It’s Blackpink like we never saw before and it’s definitely a refreshing contrast to their more calculated promotions in their home country of South Korea.

PART 2. THE MEMBERS

A huge part of Blackpink’s appeal are the members. Their beauty and charismatic personalities are some of the reasons why the group has a huge fanbase of Blinks, which is the fandom name of the group. Obviously, K-pop idols are trained to be charismatic. But there is something about the dynamic of the members that feel unmatched and they harmonize well together as a group.
It’s sort of a relief that YG didn’t stick to their plan of having a nine-member girl group. During training, Jennie said that the female trainees are shuffled to different groups every two months and there would be “little fights” on who gets assigned to positions in the group such as vocals, rapping, and dancing. When grouped with Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé, Jennie said it was already clear on who gets the parts.
Each member of the group carries the whole group in their own different ways. They all have different backgrounds, different motivations on why they wanted to become idols and trainees under YG, and different skills that make Blackpink as a whole.
I will be describing the members in the order they were revealed before their debut.

Jennie

Jennie Kim was the first member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 1, 2016. She is the group’s assigned main rapper and lead vocalist.
Jennie was born as an only child to wealthy parents on January 16, 1996, in Seoul, South Korea. Jennie moved to Auckland at the age of eight after she was asked by her mother if she liked the place during their visit there. Jennie seemed to adjust her life well in New Zealand and she was featured in a documentary titled “English, Must Change to Survive” for South Korean broadcaster MBC about her experience as a Korean kid living in a foreign land.
Jennie moved back to Seoul in 2010 after not being interested in taking up law in the United States, which was suggested by her mother who eventually supported her daughter’s decision. While Jennie didn’t have any formal musical background growing up, she was interested in K-pop during her stay in New Zealand. She auditioned for YG Entertainment as a vocalist, in which she performed “Take a Bow” by Rihanna. While Jennie was accepted as a trainee under YG, the judges advised her to train for the role of a rapper as she is the only trainee who can speak English.
A trainee for five years, Jennie was one of the most popular trainees in YG and has already gained recognition before her eventual debut as a Blackpink member. YG uploaded videos of Jennie covering “Strange Clouds" by B.o.B. featuring Lil Wayne and “Lotus Flower Bomb” by Wale while she was a trainee. She also appeared as a featured artist for Senguri’s “GG Be” and G-Dragon’s “Black” in their respective solo albums, which she performed with the latter in Inkigayo making it her stage debut Because of her early popularity, Jennie was highly speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk before the idea was scrapped.
After the release of “Square Up”, Jennie became the first member of the group to debut as a soloist. She released her debut solo single aptly titled “Solo” on November 12, 2018. The music video is the most-viewed music video by a Korean female solo artist with 600 million views on YouTube.
Just recently, she launched her own YouTube channel on her 26th birthday where she intends to create vlogs about her everyday life. Her first vlog served as an introduction to her channel which included a cover of Tangled’s “When Will My Life Begin?” by Mandy Moore. The vlog has already gotten 10.9 million views two days after its release.

Lisa

Lalisa Manoban, known by her stage name Lisa, was revealed as the second member of Blackpink on June 8, 2016. Lisa is the assigned main dancer, lead rapper, and sub vocalist of the group. She is also the “maknae” of the group, meaning she is the youngest member of the group, as well as the only non-Korean member in the group.
Lisa’s birth name is actually different as she was born under the name “Pranpriya” before legally changing to Lalisa. She was born in Thailand on March 27, 1997.
Lisa took dance lessons at four years old and often competed in dance competitions. She was part of the Thai dance crew “We Zaa Cool'' with childhood friend and fellow K-pop idol BamBam from GOT7. She also competed in a singing competition where she represented her school, ending up as a runner-up.
Inspired by her idols and eventual YG labelmates BIGBANG and 2NE1, Lisa had her eyes on the K-pop industry. She auditioned for YG Entertainment when the agency visited Thailand. Out of the 4,000 Thai applicants, she was the only one accepted to be a trainee under YG. Lisa began her 5-year trainee journey in 2011 as she is YG’s first foreign trainee. Like Jennie, she was speculated to be part of the original line-up of “Pink Punk”. Her highly impressive skills as a dancer have always led her to be assigned as the main dancer in different groups that she designs most of the choreography herself. While still training, YG released a video of 16-year-old Lisa performing “Turn Up The Music”, albeit she was nameless in the video.
Lisa is the group’s most popular member as she is the most followed member on Instagram with 45.2 million followers. Her widely-shared dance performance of “Swalla” in the Blackpink In Your Area tour and the “Did It Work?” memes that surrounded her legs contributed to her worldwide popularity.
In 2020, Lisa released a limited edition photobook on her birthday aptly titled “0327”, which consisted of photos she took with her film camera that included some shots of her fellow members.
Outside of her Blackpink duties, Lisa is a dance mentor of the Chinese survival show “Youth With You”. She was dubbed as “Mentor Lisa” by Blinks as her strict mentoring style in the show surprised everyone since it was the opposite of her shy personality. Her fellow members have teased Lisa over her strict mentoring style.

Jisoo

Kim Ji-soo, more commonly known by her first name, was revealed as the third member of Blackpink on June 15, 2016. She is the group’s lead vocalist and “visual” member, meaning she is the most attractive member according to Korean beauty standards. She is also the eldest member of the group, making her the “eonie” of the group.
Jisoo was born on January 3, 1995, in South Korea and she grew up with a close, extended family. Despite being a visual member, Jisoo was bullied as a kid about her appearance by her relatives who often called her a monkey.
Being an idol was not on Jisoo’s radar growing up. She wanted to involve herself in the arts as she considered wanting to become an actress, a painter, or a writer. She developed her acting skills by joining a drama club during her time as a student.
Despite not knowing about YG when she auditioned, Jisoo was accepted as a trainee and began her 5-year trainee journey. Like Jennie and Lisa, Jisoo was speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk. Before her debut, she made appearances in commercials for Samsonite, LG, and Nikon.
There is always one member in a K-pop group that would likely become actors later in their careers and Jisoo is one of them. It isn’t surprising as she has openly shown her interest in becoming an actress and the members even remarked that she would win an Oscar for her “acting face” alone. Before her debut, she had a cameo appearance in an episode of the KBS show “The Producers” with labelmates Dara of 2NE1. Now a K-pop idol, Jisoo appeared in a role in tvN’s fantasy-drama “Arthdal Chronicles” where she played her first fictional character. Jisoo will be starring in an upcoming JTBC drama “Snowdrop” that is slated to premiere later this year.

Rosé

Park Chae-young, more commonly known as Rosé, is the fourth and last member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 22, 2016. She is the assigned main vocalist and lead dancer in the group.
Rosé’s English name is Roséanne Park as she was born outside Korea and grew up living overseas. She was born on February 11, 1997, in Auckland, New Zealand. Her family moved to Melbourne, Australia when she was eight years old.
While Lisa’s musical background is more on dancing, Rosé’s musical background is more on singing as she grew up singing in a choir and has played the guitar often in school. When YG went to Australia to look for potential trainees, she was advised by her father to try auditioning. After being accepted as a YG trainee, she had to drop out of school and move to Seoul within two months. Rosé said it was difficult to be separated from her family during training. Despite feeling homesick, she was determined to become a K-pop idol.
Rosé had no formal experience with dancing, which caught her off-guard when she first trained. She definitely had a lot of time to hone her dancing skills that she eventually became the lead singer in the group. Before her debut, Rosé was a featured artist in G-Dragon’s song “Without You” in 2012.
Given her position as the main vocalist, Blinks have been anticipating her solo debut. She has released covers of Halsey’s “Eyes Open” and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song”, which really showcased her unique vocals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she covered a series of songs in a jam session that was live-streamed on her Instagram page. Rosé will finally make her debut as a soloist early this year and teasers are expected to pop-up as reports say that she finished filming the music video of her solo debut. Given YG’s well-recorded unreliably on their commitments, we could only hope this would finally push through.
While I have described every member of Blackpink, there’s one more person that needs to be mentioned as he plays a crucial factor in Blackpink’s success.

Teddy Park

Teddy Park is a former member of YG’s boy group “1TYM” and now an in-house producer for YG Entertainment. He wrote and produced many iconic tracks for BIGBANG and 2NE1 such as Fantastic Baby and I Am The Best respectively.
Teddy produced the majority of Blackpink’s discography and has received songwriting credits of Blackpink’s collaborations with Dua Lipa (Kiss and Make Up) and Lady Gaga (Sour Candy). According to the album’s production credits, he is credited as the album producer and creative director for the group.

PART 3. THE ERA

When YG announced on May 4, 2020, that Blackpink finished recording their first full album and will shoot a music video for their pre-single later that month, the news was met with cautious optimism. YG has a track record of promising things that didn’t come to fruition so this announcement was understandably taken with a grain of salt.
It’s worth pointing out that the group was previously featured on “Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga as a promo single for her album “Chromatica”, which indicates that Blackpink might be coming out with their new material. Also, Interscope is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of K-pop in the West by investing Blackpink in their roster. With this, YG has to commit to its schedule. And so they did by dropping a teaser poster a month later that revealed that the pre-release single will drop on June 26.
The pre-release single would later turn out to be called “How You Like That?”, which was met with huge anticipation as teaser posters and videos of the members were revealed until its release. The single became an instant success the moment it dropped as the music video’s premiere was watched by 1.66 million simultaneous viewers on YouTube, making it the highest-rated YouTube Premiere. It was also the fastest music video to hit 100 million viewers in just 32 hours before BTS’ “Dynamite” took over the title two months later, beating Blackpink with 24 hours The song itself was a hit in the charts. It debuted at #32 on Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts.
Blackpink then teased the release of their second pre-release single featuring an unnamed artist on July 23 that will be released a month later. It was widely speculated that Ariana Grande is the unnamed artist that the hashtag “#AriPink” trended on Twitter. It was later revealed that Grande is actually one of the songwriters of the single and that Selena Gomez is the actual unnamed artist on August 11. The title would later be revealed as “Ice Cream” on August 22. The single’s music video, in which the scenes had to be shot separately in South Korea and Los Angeles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gathered 79.08 million viewers in 24 hours. The single is currently Blackpink’s highest-peaking single on Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #13.
Throughout the hype of Ice Cream, YG announced on July 28 that Blackpink will FINALLY release their first full album titled “The Album” on October 2. The name was met with mixed reactions, calling it “lazy”. However, Rosé said that they have worked on the album for so long that simply calling it “The Album” is the best way to describe their project because it’s so straightforward - “Blackpink: The Album”.
Accompanying the album’s release on October 2 is the release of the album’s title track “Lovesick Girls”, which became the sixth biggest 24-hour music video debut at 61.4 million viewers. While the song peaked at #59 on Billboard Hot 100, the new Billboard Global 200 showed that the song debuted and peaked at #2, with the song topping the separate Global Chart that excluded the US.
In-between the releases of the singles was Blackpink’s new reality TV show on YouTube called “Blackpink: 24/365”, which showcased various activities that the members participated in, such as pottery making and kart racing, as well as revealing behind the scenes footage of their music videos. The 16-episode reality series served as a way to promote the group and the album’s release. The series began on June 13 with a prologue until it aired its finale on October 24. It was supposed to have one more episode that was scheduled on October 31 before being pulled off after Chinese netizens were concerned over a clip of the episode’s teaser that showed the members touching a baby panda without gloves and masks during the pandemic.
To cap off the era, a Netflix documentary film about the group was made under the title, “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky”, which documented Blackpink’s first four years as a group featuring behind the scenes videos and footage during their training days. It also showed the friendship between the members and their producer Teddy, their retrospective look on their training days, as well as their struggles of keeping up the busy lifestyle as K-pop idols. The documentary film also showed the girls recording the songs for The Album, as well as Rosé preparing for her long-anticipated solo debut. The documentary received positive reviews, which critics liked the documentary for showing the members’ work ethic and their fun personalities.

PART 4. THE TRACKS

“The Album” is a pop album that has influences of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM, all of which compose Blackpink’s musical signature since their debut. “The Album” is composed of 8 tracks (including the three singles) with a length of 24 minutes and 26 seconds. This is somehow normal for a K-pop mini-album, but too short for a full-album. In comparison, Twice’s second full-album “Eyes wide open” has 13-tracks with a length of 43 minutes and 29 seconds.
As an eight-track album, it’s an equal mix of English and Korean songs as Blackpink attempts to market themselves in the West. All of these songs were recorded in The Black Label in South Korea, with some of the album’s mixing and additional input by producers made remotely due to the pandemic.
Teddy serves as the album’s main producer, along with YG’s in-house songwriters and producers Danny Chung, R.Tee, 24, Løren, Vince, and Future Bounce. Frequent Blackpink songwriter Bekah Boom also worked on the lyrics of “The Album”. New songwriters and producers include Victoria Monét, Tommy Brown, Steven Franks, Ariana Grande, Ryan Tedder, Melanie Fontana, Torae Carr, Jonathan Descartes, Brian Lee, Leah Haywood, David Guetta, Tushar Apte, Rob Grimaldi, Chloe George, and Steph Jones.
The featured artists in “The Album”, Selena Gomez and Cardi B, are also credited as songwriters in their respective tracks “Ice Cream” and “Bet You Wanna”. Additionally, Jennie and Jisoo received their first songwriting credits ever with “Lovesick Girls”.
For this section on the post, I will give my thoughts on each track. I will also include the line distribution statistics based on random_k’s lyric distribution videos (with the exception of Love to Hate Me which I will base on HEXA6ON’s lyric distribution video of the song) and input my thoughts on the distribution as well.

1. How You Like That?

We begin “The Album” with the first pre-release single. “How You Like That?” is an appropriate opener to the album as it’s your typical Blackpink clap-back anthem. The best way to describe my mood on this song is the way AJay reacted to the song, in which she said “This is how you open the album”.
Of course, many have criticized this song for being too familiar with the previous singles “DU-DDU-DDU-DU” and “Kill This Love” and I do agree that this song is definitely a rethread of these songs. However, I will disagree that this song didn’t serve anything new to the table. For me, “How You Like That?” basically re-defined Blackpink’s sound that complements the group’s pop and hip-hop tendencies that the previous singles haven’t reached before.
It feels redundant to talk about Blackpink’s music videos because it always expected that their music videos would always serve BUDGET regardless of the quality of the actual song. Like, look at the budget! And they shot this music video during a pandemic!

Lyric Distribution Video

Lisa: 37.12 seconds | 29.51%
Jennie: 33.89 seconds | 26.93%
Rosé: 31.00 seconds | 24.64%
Jisoo: 23.82 seconds | 18.93%

While the line distribution is not totally equal as Jisoo is missing out on ten seconds compared to other members, I feel like the line distribution is justified. You can definitely hear each member contributing their own lines in the song. Lisa being the member with the most lines also makes sense as she basically she slayed the entire second verse

2. Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)

When Normani released “Motivation” as a single, you can definitely tell that Ariana could’ve sang this song since she is credited as a songwriter. It has the Grande fingerprints all over it. Yet, with Normani’s strong vocals that complemented the 2000s-inspired production, she owned this song with ease. My expectations for an Ariana-penned Blackpink track are quite high based on my feelings on “Motivation” alone and Selena Gomez’s contribution as the co-artist of the song propelled that higher. And oh boy, I wish I wasn’t this excited.
The most disappointing thing about Ice Cream is that it felt like Blackpink attempting to sing an Ariana reject with no sense of originality. I know it’s ironic to say this since Blackpink is basically “2NE1 Part 2” for longtime YG fans, but this song lacked that distinct Blackpink sound that made me a Blink in the first place. It’s so uninspiring and sometimes jarring to hear, even with multiple listens.
Also, the sexual overtones in the lyrics are just too fucking awkward for Blackpink to sing. With their music video that had a cute concept, this is sort of uncomfortable to go through with the sexual undertones in mind. This is the same group that had them bragging how good their bodies look in “Boombayah” and they showed their “sexier side” way better in their cover of Wonder Girls’ “So Hot”.
The only saving grace of this song, which was the reason why I could barely tolerate “Ice Cream”, is Lisa’s rap verse. I could imagine Jennie slaying if she had her own rap verse too. Honestly, Selena would have owned this song by herself without the autotune. But it’s nice to hear Selena in an upbeat song like this in a while.

Lyric Distrbution Video

Lisa: 38.59 seconds | 27.08%
Selena Gomez: 36.02 seconds | 25.40%
Jennie: 29.07 seconds | 20.40%
Jisoo: 22.21 seconds | 15.59%
Rosé: 16.44 seconds | 11.54%

Immediately, I can’t help but think about how Jisoo got only two English lines in the song despite having more seconds than Rosé. Half of Jisoo’s lines are just “Ice cream chillin chillin”. Ugh. I know Jisoo is not a fluent English speaker but many K-pop idols who are not English speakers can sing the language well with enough practice. Thankfully, Jisoo had more English lines in other songs, but I’ll tackle that a bit later in this post.
I am honestly surprised Selena had more lines in the song than I thought because I feel like I heard more of Jennie and Rosé, which funny enough I thought Rosé had more lines.
This is definitely not the worst line distribution I have seen. It’s just that Jisoo could have sung more lines.

3. Pretty Savage

Remember the distinct Blackpink signature sound that made me a Blink in the first place? Now, this is what I am talking about.
This is the quintessential Blackpink sound that I have been waiting for since Kill This Love. I would’ve imagined that Pretty Savage as a pre-release single would've fared better than “How You Like That?” but somehow, I am sort of glad it didn’t. This is the song that Blinks needed to hear as antis have constantly dismissed Blackpink as “influencers with no talent” in response to their constant lengthy hiatuses.
Of course, with this kind of song, it’s already expected Lisa would definitely slay this song. It's nice to hear Jennie rap again after she wasn’t given those parts in the pre-release singles. The way she rapped “F bois, not my bois' ' is just too damn iconic. However, the star of the song is Jisoo who has the second verse to herself and her talking rap flow surprisingly works here. The best part is definitely her saying “Blackpink in Your Area” after being the only member not to say the iconic catchphrase for years. And of course, Rosé’s vocals in the bridge are just as amazing.
Pretty Savage is definitely one of my top favorites in “The Album”. Let’s just forget the messy choreography though.

Lyric Distrubution Video

Lisa: 40.69 seconds | 30.21%
Jennie: 34.42 seconds | 25.40%
Rosé: 31.86 seconds | 23.65%
Jisoo: 27.72 seconds | 20.58%

This is definitely one of the best lyric distributions of Blackpink so far. While Lisa exceeded ten seconds, every member can be heard equally with their outstanding lines given to them.

4. Bet You Wanna (feat. Cardi B)

Coming off from the success and controversy surrounding WAP, Cardi B and Blackpink is an odd, yet exciting collaboration. I can’t imagine any of the members taking the second verse other than Cardi. It would have been nice to hear the “supposed” explicit lyrics she had to tone down for obvious reasons. If she was allowed to swear, she would’ve sung “I bet if you make me wet, I’ll still be fire”, which plays in my head now when I hear the tone-downed version lyric (“I bet if you make me sweat, I’ll still be fire”).
Bet You Wanna could’ve been the next single after Lovesick Girls to capitalize on Cardi’s success from WAP. The entire production is so chill, yet so catchy which makes sense considering Ryan Tedder and Tommy Brown’s involvement. The song is completely in English so that this could’ve been a Top 10 hit with the right push. Unfortunately, the promotional cycle for “The Album” ended so I guess this is going to remain as a fan-favorite track for many Blinks and not a huge hit outside the fandom.

Lyric Distribution Video

Jennie: 40.75 seconds | 28.58%
Rosé: 38.28 seconds | 26.86%
Jisoo: 26.78 seconds | 18.79%
Cardi B: 25.19 seconds | 17.67%
Lisa: 11.55 seconds | 8.10%

Not a perfect lyric distribution, but not too bad either. Each member can be heard just fine and Cardi didn’t dominate the song too much, which is fair since she is a featured artist. Lisa could’ve gotten a bit more lines, but this is also fine considering she has topped the lyric distribution in the previous songs.

5. Lovesick Girls

Considering that Blackpink’s single releases have always been upbeat clap-back anthems, the release of Lovesick Girls as a title track is quite refreshing as it aims to show the group’s more melancholy side, both in the lyrics and the production.
The most striking lyric is from the chorus where the girls sang “We are all born to be alone/But why are we still looking for love?”. This isn’t the most groundbreaking lyric at all, but it does feel a bit weird hearing that from the girls. It brings me back to the documentary where Teddy said that the songs they made for “The Album” are going to show a bit of themselves a bit more as a group.
Living as a K-pop idol is quite difficult as it is and we don’t know a lot about them since their image is very calculated by their agencies. It’s not to say they can’t be in a relationship because of the infamous “no dating” rule in the industry. The girls were probably asking themselves if they could really find love in an industry that is obsessed with perfection. Again, it’s not a very groundbreaking lyric but it does give me a bit of insight into the girls’ psyche a bit on their perspective of love.

Lyric Distribution Video

Rosé: 58.61 seconds | 39.00%
Jennie: 48.65 seconds | 32.37%
Lisa: 21.90 seconds | 14.57%
Jisoo: 21.12 seconds | 14.06%

Rosé taking up the top spot in this lyric distribution makes complete sense since this is the song that is best suited to her vocally. I have a feeling “Lovesick Girls” was a brief glimpse of what kind of song that Rosé will be releasing for her solo debut. Jennie taking up second place is quite surprising, especially her English rap verse didn’t take too long as well. The distribution on Lisa is fine, but Jisoo could’ve slightly sang more lines.

6. Crazy Over You

There’s isn’t much to talk about this song other than its production, which best utilized oriental instrumentals to hip-hop production. This isn’t the best song on “The Album”, but it isn’t as bad as well.

Lyric Distribution Video

Jennie: 40.26 seconds | 34.03%
Jisoo: 29.60 seconds | 25.01%
Rosé: 26.09 seconds | 22.05%
Lisa: 22.38 seconds | 18.91%

The lyric distribution could’ve been fair if Lisa was given more lines to rap. But I think this is fine since Jennie didn’t have a lot of rap lines in this album. It’s definitely nice to hear more of Jisoo in this song as she perfectly nailed the pre-chorus with her vocals.

7. Love to Hate Me

For some reason, Love to Hate Me reminded me so much of Ariana with the way the lyrics are sung by the girls, especially in the chorus and the ad-libs. This song serves as an appropriate penultimate track as the song delivers its final clap-back before “The Album” comes to a close with a softer pop ballad.

Lyric Distribution Video

Rosé: 28.7% Lisa: 28.1% Jennie: 26.4% Jisoo: 16.8%
Honestly, seeing lyric distributions like this where three of the members had equal parts except Jisoo makes me sad. She was close to having an equal lyrical distribution and this could’ve been done if she sang a bit more lines in the song.

8. You Never Know

We finally reach the end of “The Album” as it closes with a soft power-pop anthem that feels very in-character with Blackpink. This song already gained some attention when it was revealed that Teddy had no involvement in the song, making it the first Blackpink song without him. It’s worth pointing that out because Teddy has a mixed reaction as a main producer of the group. While I personally don’t mind Teddy as a producer, it’s quite refreshing that he isn’t involved so that the group can experiment with other producers.
This is definitely the group at their most sincere in this album, in which they address the message of not judging people based on how they look outside. This particular message rings true to the members personally and Blinks can see why.
Getting hate comments is nothing new in the K-pop industry. But Jennie seems to be the most bullied member as she was often villainized in the public eye, from her alleged “lazy dancing” scandal to the intense coverage of her short dating life with Kai from EXO. She was also unflatteringly called “YG Princess” because of accusations that the agency has favored her over other members.
With this context in mind, it was so painful to hear Jennie sing “But you'll never know unless you walk in my shoes / You'll never know my tangled strings / 'Cause everybody sees what they wanna see / It's easier to judge me than to believe” because she has faced so much criticism over nothing.
Other members have gone through similar scrutiny as well, but it’s not as bad as Jennie’s situation. All of the members worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be where they are now, so having this song that asks people not to judge them as a closer feels like the perfect ending statement from Blackpink.

Lyric Distribution Video

Jisoo: 59.01 seconds | 28.75%
Rosé: 55.47 seconds | 27.01%
Jennie: 54.20 seconds | 26.39%
Lisa: 36.66 seconds | 17.86%

It’s so nice that most of the members almost got the one-minute worth of lines and having Jisoo at the top feels satisfying after the limited line distribution she got with “Ice Cream. Vocal wise, this is their best song to date as they get to showcase their most emotional, sincere vocals in this track. The only problem is that Lisa should’ve gotten more lines, especially since her vocals sounded amazing that gives the song a more “heartfelt” feeling.

PART 5. THE CONCLUSION

Now that I have given my thoughts on each track of “The Album”, here are my overall thoughts on “The Album” and the era itself.
In the [FRESH] Popheads discussion thread of “The Album”, a lot of users were disappointed with how short the album is. Yes, the album is unfortunately quite short given that this is their first full album in Blackpink’s fourth year as a group.
Users are also disappointed with how “outdated” the songs felt. To be fair on Blackpink, K-pop tends to be a bit behind when it comes to trends. It isn’t surprising that “The Album” would have some kind of outdated production in Wester music standards. The most obvious one would be “Lovesick Girls'', which sounded like an Icona Pop song.
Sonically, the entire album isn’t even revolutionary at all. “The Album'' is produced on what’s popular in the charts right now and even the biggest Blink here (not me) would know that.
So with all these criticisms pointed out, why is “The Album” even considered as one of the Albums of the Year? Especially as someone who had Taylor Swift’s “folklore” as my own personal AOTY?
For my case as a Blink, a huge part of the reason why I am a Blink is that not only their music makes me feel alive, but also because the group has such a charismatic personality that it’s easy to see why they have a huge Western appeal.
Along with BTS, Blackpink is leading this new Hallyu wave where the West has finally taken K-pop seriously as a dominant force, not as a gimmick. With “The Album” debuting at #2 in the Billboard 200, it's the highest-charting album by a female girl group since Danity Kane in 2006. On top of that, they have sold approximately 1 million copies worldwide (estimated 319,300 copies in the US and Europe according to Pinkvilla as of October 27, 2020), which is a rare thing to achieve in the streaming era unless you’re Taylor Swift. This huge success for a K-pop girl group proves that Blackpink will always be in our area no matter what.
Even with the criticisms that “The Album” had over its short-length and its outdated production, you can at least still hear the huge amount of talent, personality and hardwork of the group in this album. It’s not the content of the album that makes “The Album” an AOTY, it’s the influence that it’s going to make to its listeners and pop culture as a whole.
You know what the Blinks will say, “BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION”.

THE GUIDE QUESTIONS / a note from the author

Upon a Dead Horse: Chapter Three

In our last episode
Micro coil electro guns are faster and more portable than a long coil rifle, but are much harder to aim. It was this fact more than fast reflexes that was his salvation. Although the air was sizzling with flying bolts and his hair stood on end as the ion tracer beams tried to find him he was still able to dive to ground and do a fast crawl towards the first large bit of protection he could find without being hit. Unfortunately the only shield he spotted was that same wagon he had only recently escaped. Meanwhile the dry goods store behind him suffered an onslaught of blue and yellow bolts of light splintering the exterior wall.
He squeezed himself into a tight ball near the rear axle and checked the charge on his rifle. The low battery light was on. Unless he could find a power supply soon he had maybe one or two full power shots left. Technically speaking the stock had a solar panel and the gun would recharge on its own, but he suspected no one was going to allow him an eight or nine day intermission to do that.
He was too exposed where he was but he couldn't really run anywhere while all those electro bolts were hammering the wagon behind him. At any moment it would occur to the angry mob that they could spread out to encircle the wagon and come at him from the sides while he was still pinned down. Worse, even if they didn't think of it, the wagon could only take so much abuse. So far only a handful of bolts had managed to punch all the way through the wagon. That wouldn't last. He was still considering his options when the situation went from bad to completely catastrophic.
"Well, well, well," a voice called out over the gun fire. Suddenly all the guns stopped firing in unison. That was almost worse than having them all shooting at him. Having them taper off or a few stragglers who were late to notice the new arrival would mean that the people were acting as individuals. A simultaneous shutdown like that, more orderly even than most military units could manage, meant only one thing. As if to confirm his suspicions, the voice continued.
"If it isn't the Oligarch's favorite dog," the voice called out, "Marshal Aldo Crease."
The marshal winced. It had been years since anyone had spoken that name. He still found the sound of it left a sour taste in his mouth.
"Evening Kincaid," Mashal Crease called back, "Any chance you'll consider coming along peacefully?"
Kincaid laughed.
"Oh please," Kincaid said, "Do at least do me the great favor of standing up. I want to show you off to my flock."
Crease ground his teeth and considered his options. He could, he supposed, pop up with the rifle and try firing at Kincaid. But, he needed a better idea where the man was to do that. He did not have enough power left in the gun for a wide spread lethal blast. He might be able to pull off a knockout. Barely. But even then that was iffy because with Kincaid hopped up on his own juice like he was he might not go down.
"If you are considering shooting me," Kincaid said with a voice that projected both confidence and mockery at the same time, "You may want to look to your right."
Crease glanced that direction and grimaced. The giantess had appeared again and was now stomping in his direction. He spun the rifle in her direction and, to his immense relief, she stopped in her tracks. Unfortunately, that also meant Kincaid could tell where Crease was aiming.
"Gun moves off her," Kincaid explained, "And Viana there tears you apart. Shoot her and we open fire as she heals. So you can shoot me or shoot her. But not both at once and Viana and I will get right back up no matter which one you choose . So do as I told you and stand up!"
Crease sighed and slowly climbed to his feet while training his rifle on Viana the whole time. He tried to remember why that name sounded familiar. Wasn't that the woman Yacob had said was a deserter who had battle tech? No wonder she hit so hard. If her gear was military grade it may even be a higher spec than his own. He made certain to keep his eyes on her as he shot a glance in Kincaid's direction.
The crowd stood motionless and facing him. Over half the people seemed to be armed with some sort of weapon. Mostly micro coil pistols but he thought he saw a few short barrelled scatterguns and at least one heavy coil military grade rifle that would make short work of the building behind him much less the contents of his skull. The crowd was composed of both men and women of various ages. Old men with long beards and frock coats and young women wearing a sheer garment that left almost nothing to the imagination. There were even a few teenagers in the mix. Those that were not armed with firearms carried knives or homemade cudgels. All of them also carried the same identical blank expression on their faces. Only the man standing in the back wearing white robes showed any signs of animation. He was also completely unarmed. Not that he needed a direct weapon.
"Kincaid," Crease acknowledged the man.
Kincaid's grin broadened and took on an eerie maddened look. The man's hair was wild and unkempt and the bags under his eyes were a testament to the exhaustion he must feel. Even though health and vigor seemed to ooze from the man's pores, there was also a slightly frayed look about him. As if his health were just a mast for something shredding him apart from within.
"The feedback loop is too far gone," he heard the Oligarch's voice say in his ear, "If he stops now the blowback will shred him to pieces."
Crease didn't answer. He hadn't needed the analysis. He too knew the signs of an arcane who had pushed their talent - no matter how potent - beyond the abilities of sustaining. The man in front of him was a runaway reactor spewing health into the area. It would almost be comical if the effects weren't so tragic. His own acarnic talents, though greatly suppressed, were telling him something that he was certain no one else - save perhaps Kincaid himself - even suspected. Over half the crowd of people in front of him were already dead. Their bodies just hadn't got the notice yet.
The reasons didn't matter. A heart that had been sent racing only to burst. A pancreas overproducing insulin. Blood cells produced in such numbers that the blood inside was a thick syrup that barely flowed. Too much vitality was killing these people and it was only Kincaid's out of control talent that was keeping them upright and walking as is.
"You've got to stop this, Kincaid," Crease said, "You don't know what you're doing. You have to stop it. It's destroying you and everyone around you."
He knew his warning would be unheeded. He expected to be ignored. Truth be told, he wasn't sure there was a safe for Kincaid to stop without killing himself and half the town. The crops were already beyond saving. The delicate balance between life and death had been shoved too far to one side and he already knew first hand how unrecoverable such acts could be.
Kincaid tilted his head to one side and frowned.
"Why can't I feel you?" he asked. Belatedly, Crease became aware of a faint tingling sensation along his skin. Kincaid must be trying to influence him.
"I'm immune to arcana," Crease said simply.
"So it is true," Kincaid asked, smile returning, "The great and mighty Aldo Crease. Once a general in the Patagonia Resistance and now little more than a dog for the Oligarch itself. I knew about your resurrection, of course. But I thought the rumors of your unbalanced arcana were just that. Rumors."
Crease winced. He liked having the details of his unfortunate past being revealed even less than having his name spoken aloud. Apparently Kincaid hadn't just fled the Citadel empty handed. He must have taken some intelligence files with him. Which meant the man wasn't just AWOL. He was rebelling. Oh no. No no no.
"Kincaid," Crease asked slowly, "What is it you think you are doing?"
"Picking up where you left off, of course," Kincaid said, "Doing what you only attempted to do all those centuries before failing."
"Look," Crease said as he spread his arms wide in order to look less threatening, "You're not thinking right. Your bioware's last system flash accidentally included some very nasty software. Software your brainbox doesn't have the hardware to support."
Kincaid's smile grew impossibly wide. The corners of his mouth almost tearing the skin apart on his emaciated face.
"Accident?" Kincaid asked, "You think this was a mere accident? I had to graft the code by hand. Do you know how long it took for me to figure out how to do that? How many hours it took of digging through the Oligarch's data archives while simultaneously tripping any alarms? It took me months to even confirm that the Avatar program even existed!"
"An accident," Crease insisted, "It had to be because if you had read anything on the Avatar program details you would have known what you were doing was insane."
"Oh I read it," Kincaid insisted, "Eighteen modest talent arcana received a bioware upgrade. They jumped at least one arcana class each. A Class II pyromancer jumped to abilities above Class I. Just shy of Apex level!"
"Yes," Crease agreed, "Only to suffer a complete mental breakdown. This was despite extensive psychological testing and conditioning prior to upgrading their bioware. Blocking the physiological need for sleep, enhanced multitasking, and neural stimulation are all great but the human mind can't operate at those levels forever. That's why their upgrades included the ability to remote shutdown."
"But can you imagine the possibilities if these upgrades were applied to an Apex?" Kincaid said, "Or, better still. Don't imagine. Observe! See what I have done here!"
"This is wrong," Crease said, "You don't realize what you are doing to these people."
"But I do," he said, "There is no death here. No disease. No frailty or feebleness. Only perfection."
"Look at them," Crease said. He still held the rifle in his left arm so he waved with his right. Kincaid eyes twitched once but did not follow the gesture. It was as if he were afraid that Crease would try something if he looked away. Fair enough as Crease had been thinking of doing exactly that.
"Look at them," Crease repeated, "Everyone here. It's like they can't see or hear anything. They only move when you want them to."
"Yes," Kincaid agreed, "Perfect. You of all people should see that."
Crease lowered his arms. Kincaid didn't stop him.
"This is an army," Crease said in a hushed tone. It wasn't a question, but Kincaid nodded anyway.
"Yes," he said with a theatrical bow, "Or, rather, it will be. I'm still building it now and my soldier lack discipline as well as, ahem, sharp shooting skills. But, yes, very soon it will be an army.."
"Damn it, Kincaid."
"You should appreciate the symmetry of it," Kincaid added.
"Damn it and damn you!" Crease repeated with more venom this time, "You know how that went down! I had 5,000 undead soldiers with me! What do you expect to do with a bunch of farmers and deserters?"
"Win," he said simply, "I keep telling you. I know about you and what you did during the Luddite War. The last great battle before humans were overrun and made the . . . the pets!"
Here Kincaid practically spat the word.
"The pets!" he repeated, "The slaves of some computer. Governments caved. Countries rolled over. But not you! Oh no! Not the great and mighty Crease! The first Apex! You who could fling waves of death through the very air! You commanded a legion of the undead! You pushed back against this cybernetic monstrosity only to fall at the very doorstep of its stronghold."
"I was shot to pieces," Crease said simply, "It's kind of hard to march with no legs."
"You were already dead!" Kincaid shouted, "An unkillable zombie! You had filled your corpse with so much necromantic arcana it could not be destroyed! Your very limbs kept crawling towards your objective even after they were separated! The only way they ever stopped you was by freezing all the bits of you!"
"They didn't freeze me!" Crease shouted back, "The Oligarch's fortress is in the heart of Antarctica! What do you think happens to corpses when it's below freezing!"
Kincaid shook his head sadly.
"You still don't get it, Crease," he said in a mocking tone, "You still don't understand where you made your great mistake, do you?"
"I just told you," Crease said, "Charging across a frozen continent during the winter."
"No," Kincaid said, "Your mistake was in joining them. When you assembled your undead army you had no way of dealing with the blowback. So you thought your only hope was to use it. To channel all that recoil back into yourself and let it consume you. To become just another soldier in a sucide gambit. But, don't you see? What if you never ever stopped. Just kept feeding the power back in on itself over and over again. Sending wave after wave of the undead."
"That's not possible," Crease said with a shake of his head, "It's too much power. The human mind can't take that."
"I've been doing just that for months now!" Kincaid shouted, "Look at what I've done!"
"It's shredding you," Crease said, "Your own power is keeping you going for the moment but you can't hold it up forever. Look at your face! Your hands! You're breaking down!"
"I'm more alive than ever!"
"No!" Crease insisted, "You've got vitamancy running through you. It's not the same."
"You should know," Kincaid snapped, "How many vitamancers died to bring you back?"
Crease shook his head.
"This isn't the way," he said, "Please. I'm trying to help you."
"You? Help me? A traitor like you?" Kincaid snarled, "Just because you were too weak to bring down the machine don't presume to know me or my limits!"
Crease could see the decision forming in Kincaid's wild eyes. The strain of exertion, the lack of sleep, the madness of controlling those many minds one neuron at a time. It was too much for him and he was already past the point of no return. He was going to give the kill order and there was nothing Crease could do to stop him. So, he didn't even bother to try. Crease mentally flipped the panic switch in his brainbox.
Time slowed down. He could see Kincaid's lips moving, presumably to give the kill order, but no sound reached him other than the roar of blood in his own ears. Adrenaline and endorphins were flooding his bloodstream as well as artificial hormones manufactured by the synthgland at the base of his skull. His heart thundered in his chest while his nerve endings seemed to dance with barely suppressed energy. Ahead of him the muzzle of every gun and the tip of every improvised weapon sprouted cones of probability as his stochastic subunit filled his mind with data. His allowed his conscious mind to flit out of the driver's seat so that the preprogrammed battle reflexes could take over.
The battle processor evaluated the abundance of weaponry, the layout of the combatants, and his own weaponry and decided the best course of action was to allow his own knees to buckle. He fell to the ground before Kincaid could get the last syllable out of his mouth and the air above Crease glowed with lightning. The wagon shuddered from multiple impacts. But the battle programming was not done. His hands twisted the barrel of the rifle even as he was falling so that when he landed on the ground on his side the rifle was pointed under the wagon and towards the crowd opposite him. His fingers found the trigger almost immediately and he fired a wide focused beam at the legs of the people opposite him. He barely registered the howling of pain as people dropped. He rolled onto his back in one smooth movement and turned to face the towering figure of Viana running directly at him.
The gun was now depleted. It was useful only as a club. If the person racing towards him was a normal human his enhanced speed, strength, and durability might give him an edge even while laying on the ground. But Viana was enhanced as well. Probably more so than he was. She also had about double his muscle mass on top of that. He needed a distraction if he had any hope of taking her out. His battle mode was evaluating possibilities and coming up dry. He didn't see a way of escaping that gave him a better than a nine percent chance of success. Fortunately, having the battle processor do the movements for him gave him a chance to think and perhaps alter the odds on the fly. Which is what he was doing in this case. Unfortunately, the only thing that occurred to him was a party trick he learned in his pre-Luddite War days. It was a cheap shot, but it was also the best idea he could come up with at the moment.
Saying there was no death in the valley was, of course, an exaggeration. Death on macroscale could be interrupted but even a powerful vitamancer like Kincaid couldn't halt it entirely. Nor should he. Cells dying and replacing themselves are part of the natural life cycle of living organisms and interrupting this process would also halt the body's ability to grow and repair itself. Which is why even in a place oversaturated with vitamantic energy there was still some degree of dying and regeneration taking place. For an ordinary necromancer such trivialities were simple nitpicking. They only had the ability to affect the dead on a macro scale. Crease was no ordinary necromancer.
Though his power was greatly reduced on account of the vitamancy used in his own resurrection, his skillset still remained. With great effort he could still feel the dead and dying cells within a body and, to some extent, influence them. In the field he could use this ability to aid living soldiers by slowing the process of necrosis in infected wounds and other low level healing abilities. But one other trick he learned was that if he focused on the person's hair he could influence the cells there. After all, what is hair but a chain of dead cells clinging to a still living root? So, with great effort on his part, he tapped into that ability now and reached outwards with his gift to Viana's head. Mentally straining, he tapped millions of dead cells to alter themselves ever so slightly.
The giantess was almost on top of him when he made the last connection and the cells in her hair let go in unison. The black hair that had been piled up upon her head fell off as if cleaved by an invisible sword. The rage that twisted the woman's face gave way to confusion as her own hair fell before her eyes and momentarily blinded her. Then, without thinking, she made the worst possible decision she could in such circumstances. Forgetting entirely about Crease, she reached up with both hands and gripped the top of her own head to see if the falling hair really were her own. The stochastic processor in Crease's own head took note of the change in posture and calculated the most appropriate response. So he was only slightly more prepared than Viana when the arc of the rifle's swing intersected with the side of her knee.
Viana dropped to the ground howling in pain. Enhanced durability and vitamancy were great, but even they occasionally had to take a back seat to pure physics. He had hit the side of her knee with every bit of speed and strength his own enhancements could afford him. The bones in the leg were unbreakable but even with battle tech a knee is still mostly supported by soft tissue. The tissue could be reinforced with synthetic fibers, but a certain degree of stretching had to be allowed in order to keep the knee functioning as a knee. A powerful blow to the side of a battle hardened knee could still knock the joint out of alignment and then gravity would do the rest. As Viana fell her own weight would tear many of the organic connections that were still present even though the synthetics would largely hold. Knees have a lot of nerves running through them and even minor injuries can be incredibly distracting to even the toughest soldiers. This was not a minor injury and it would take Viana's brainbox several seconds to adjust to the input flooding the gateway. Which is why Crease's own brainbox decided the best way to deal with this was to reorient the rifle into an overhead swing that terminated on the side of Viana's skull before she even hit the ground.
The blow should have killed her. Anywhere else, it may have. Even with a reinforced skull the brain cannot be rattled around like that without consequences. But here all it seemed to buy him was a few moments of unconsciousness as her brain healed itself. He crawled over to her unconscious form and briefly searched her pockets for any hint of a weapon he could use.
"Crease!" Kincaid called out, somehow cutting through the fog in his head, "Did you forget the horse?"
The horse? What was he talking about?
As in answer the horse started neighing and pawing at the ground frantically. Its nostrils flared as it snorted and tossed its head from side to side. Belatedly, he realized exactly what Kincaid was doing. The same thing Crease's own bioware had done to him. The same thing as was likely occurring within the bodies of the crowd of angry gunmen. The creature's rage was being stoked. It had barely flinched from the gunfire but now it was lashing out against, well, nothing. All Kincaid had to do was wait for it to notice Crease and then send the creature's rage skyrocketing. Suddenly the scant cover offered by the cart seemed to go from "flimsy" to "nonexistent" in the blink of an eye. Crease was unsure what his next move should be. Fortunately, his battle reflexes had an idea. Not a good one but an idea.
Crease's legs slammed into the ground beneath him. He found himself hurtling upwards and over the top of the cart while flattening himself. It seemed to be a sloppy jump as he was even now falling back onto the tarp covering the back of the cart. He couldn't help but notice that he was now presenting a rather hard to miss target and, sure enough, his left side exploded in agony as some of the lightning bolts struck home. But his battle reflexes were still moving.
His body cleared the edge of the cart and was threatening to crash into the dividing wall separating the front from the back of the car. Just before his head could hit the wall, his still functioning right hand punched at the wood. The blow was done with little regards to his comfort, it seems, as a shock of fresh agony traveled up his fist and along the wrist towards his elbow. His falling body landed atop the tarp causing it to tangle up with him as he landed in a belly flop inside the tail of the cart. The wall closest to the gunmen was still exploding to pieces and it took him a few precious - not to mention painful - seconds to extricate himself. What had that all been about? He glanced up at the damage done to the wall ahead of him and found his view of the outside world blocked by a rather familiar looking rust stained bit of cloth. Scrambling forward, he used his blooded hands to tear the hole he had created wider until he could reach the bundle of his own coat that had been stored under the seat on the opposite side of the wall.
"Hold your fire!" Kincaid shouted and, as before, all the townspeople's guns were silenced at once. Nothing seemed to happen for a long moment and no movement could be seen coming from the cart.
"What's the matter, Crease?" Kincaid shouted into the echoing silence, "Did that healing arcana that's filling you finally run out?"
In answer, Crease's upper body appeared over the sidewall as he sat up and faced Kincaid and the angry mob. Crease was now sporting his duster once more and in his hands he held two pistols.
"Fu-!" is as far as Kincaid got before lightning erupted from Crease's pistols.
The twin shots struck the heads of two people in the crowd. Instead of dropping, those people twisted to the side and fired their own guns at someone else. By that time the people Crease had originally shot were starting to recover but now two more gunmen were shooting. As Crease leaped from the cart, guns firing continuously, Kincaid started screaming.
Unlike Crease, Kincaid had never been a soldier. He had no experience with the chaos and confusion of battle. So it was that he was completely unprepared for his own side to start firing upon itself in apparent retaliation to the necromancer's influence.
People who had previously been responding well to his own influence were now turning upon one another and firing. Not just at the commandeered corpses Crease was piloting but upon anyone they even suspected was shooting at them. As Crease ran at an angle, firing the entire time, he jumped from body to body and caused the town folks to fire at their neighbors. Soon old passions and grudges were influencing decision making as much as anything else. Lightning bolts flared and Kincaid struggled to get a calming influence to settle over the crowd as they reacted to both the very real danger around them and the imaginary one he had been feeding them just moments ago.
Crease twisted and dodged as he ran. His coat flared as it caught stray lightning bolts. The metallic weaving offered some protection, but not much. Crease felt his limbs grow heavy and then numb as the corona of multiple blasts washed over him. He kept moving.
One battery was spent. He ejected it and slammed to pistol's butt against the quickloader belt he had strapped to his waist. Firing with a fresh battery with his right hand he repeated the process with his off hand to continue the onslaught upon the crowd. Trying to find an opening to target Kincaid. All the while his mind was busy flickering among recently dead and attempting to cause as much damage as possible before being ejected himself. Every as he ran the strain of keeping so many bodies coordinated was taking its toll. He briefly let go and allowed the blowback to wash over him.
His vision blurred as a grenade exploded inside his head. He felt dizzy and his arms and legs were now moving only because the brainbox told them to. He was on autopilot and riding the wave of feedback as his own body tried to cope with competing signals from his brain.
"Stop shooting!" Kincaid shouted again, "You can't die! Don't fall for this trick!"
It was good advice but the mob was now far beyond listening. Many were now shooting at each other even without Crease's influence. The shots missed as Kincaid dodged in an inhumanly fast way. But it was only a matter of time before one of the bolts, intended or otherwise, struck him. Kincaid apparently came to the same realization as he abruptly roared in anger and everyone, save for himself, and Crease dropped to the ground just as Crease's head was starting to clear.
The people dropped as if they were puppets who had their strings cut. For just a moment, Crease's necromantic powers fluttered as he received the sensation of dozens of limbs and bodies dying only to be nearly instantly reborn. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened. Kincaid had just sent out a mental shockwave that had temporarily stopped the nervous systems of everyone near him. Just stopped dead in their tracks. Hearts stopped beating. Muscle fibers stopped twitching. It was like getting paralyzed while also suffering a heart attack. People dropped because he gave them no choice. Even the enraged horse fell silent as its own legs gave way. Only Crease's own unbalanced arcana had managed to protect him from suffering a similar fate.
Crease aimed his guns at the suddenly exposed Kincaid. Kincaid's face changed into a sneer of contempt. Crease's fingers squeezed the trigger and, to his amazement, the bolts missed the target by mere centimeters. Impossibly, Kincaid had ducked to one side!
Crease tried again but, again, Kincaid simply stepped to one side in a blur of motion so fast that even with Crease's own slowed sense of time he could just barely register the movement. With dawning horror, Crease realized that the shockwave that had dropped the town's people to the ground hadn't just been intended as a way to wrestle control of their guns away from Crease. No, now that he wasn't splitting his attention a hundred different ways Kincaid was free to focus entirely upon himself.
The healer's grin had changed from insane madman's to a feral grimace that was equal parts pain and determination. Sweat boiled off the man's scalp as his face flushed a fiery red. Crease tried to aim again but the vitamancer zigged to one side before zagging back. He was running fast. Faster than Crease thought a human being should be able to maintain without tearing itself apart. Faster than Crease and his battle reflexes could match. Every time his brain thought it had acquired a target lock the healer was somewhere else. Crease's battle reflexes opted on random firing while trying to anticipate the healer's movements. However, the software upgrade Kincaid had received didn't just enhance his ability to stall the onset of blowback. Its own stochastic modeling was on par or superior to Crease's own. The healer bounced around, never quite being where Crease predicted, until suddenly Crease felt tight fingers wrapped around his throat. His vision shrank to a small window as Kincaid's face swam into view.
"Why don't you just die?" Kincaid shrieked.
Crease couldn't answer that question even if he desired to. He gagged for a moment before finding himself flying backwards and slamming into the much abused cart. He landed on his knees and tried to get air back in his lungs. His battle reflexes seemed to be offline as his brainbox attempted to sort out the jumbled data in his head. Something struck him across the jaw and he went sprawling in the dirt. He wanted to rise. Tried to rise. But a foot struck him in the back and sent his face first back into the dirt.
"Die you immortal abomination!" Kincaid's hysterical voice cried out, "Die!"
Crease heard a ripping and tearing sound. The cart, he thought. Kincaid was tearing apart the cart with his bare hands. A board slammed into Crease's back causing him to bite his own tongue as his head bounced off the dirt. Blood filled his mouth and he could only hear Kincaid's screaming.
"The gun is still in your hand," someone said in his ear. Who was that?
"The pistol," the voice repeated, "Your battle reflexes wouldn't let go of it. It's still being held in your left hand."
Pistol? What was that word? It was hard to concentrate as something kept smashing into the back of his skull and spine. He wanted to tell it to stop, but words were difficult.
"Open your eyes," the voice commanded. Reluctantly, Crease obeyed. One eye he immediately screwed shut again as it was being driven relentlessly into the dirt. But the other he could see out of. Barely. The world was crooked and blurred. But ahead of him he thought he saw a shape climbing to its feet. A bit shape. Struggling to stand but close to him.
"Now!" the voice commanded, "Behind the jaw!"
He wasn't sure he understood the meaning behind the words, but he did as the voice suggested. As the giant lifted near him, he rotated his arm at the elbow until the gun was almost vertical. Shoving upwards, he pressed the muzzle to just behind the thing's chin and pulled the trigger. As he did this he realized there was a doorway ahead of him and that he felt no pain on the other side of it. Happily, he shoved himself through the doorway and found himself looking down upon his own body as a superhumanly fast Kincaid shattered a board to splinters as he pummeled the reclined form.
Crease's thoughts were clearing. He was not having an out of body experience. Not exactly. He was in a body. Just, not his own. He glanced down upon himself and realized the body was female. A very, very large female. Viana!
Memories came flooding back. The Oligarch had been speaking to him. Asking him to do what? Place the gun under the chin and fire. Why? The answer clicked into place almost immediately. The skull reinforcements in battle tech were applied to the top, the front, the back, and the sides but not to the bottom of the skull. To do so would require injecting the laminate in through the roof of the mouth. As the skull laminate also contained microfilaments to disperse an electrical charge, a soldier could actually potentially survive a shot from a small coil weapon. Which is why battle tech enhanced soldiers in the field who wanted to commit suicide often chose to place the wapon under their chin,
The electric bolt would have punched through Viana's skull and pureed her brain as the bolt slammed into the filaments and was reflected back. Unlike his earlier sledgehammer move to the head that had caused a concussion, this time the brain itself had been blown to bits. He could feel the vitamancer's ambient arcana trying to force the brain to reform, but for the moment the woman was quite dead. Which meant Crease was in control for now.
Even though his real body was getting beaten severely, for the moment, he felt no pain. He knew that using this much necromancy, particularly after his recent usage, was going to cause a blowback sooner rather than later. But, for the moment, he was tempted to relish the feeling of being pain free. The temptation passed. If he didn't move and move soon this brief respite would be all for nothing. He needed a plan. Except it was still difficult to think. His arcana had projected his consciousness, but his real brain was still getting pummelled. He couldn't even ask the Oligarch for advice without going back into the maelstrom of beatdowns. What he needed was someplace he could stash the vitamancer until he had a chance to recover. He looked around looking for inspiration. He was surprised when he found it. Without waiting a moment to reconsider if this was a wise decision, he propelled the giantess forward at a full sprint and snatched the vitamancer in one beefy hand as he/she ran.
Kincaid was caught off guard and, as such, he didn't realize what was happening until Viana's fist had closed around his throat. By that time it was too late for him to dodge to one side. But that didn't exactly mean he was helpless.
Crease noticed the feedback from Viana's corpse was unusually potent. The air rushing past, the feel of the dirt under her feet, and even the burning in her own lungs all seemed to be amplified. He guessed that Kincaid was increasing Viana's nerve sensitivity and stepped slightly back and away from the driver's seat just before KIncaid launched a punch into the giantess's forearm.
Stepping out of the body slightly was a mixed blessing. He avoided the overwhelming pain sensation that Kincaid was attempting to flood him with but was now highly aware of the very real pain coming from his own body. The double sided attack of blinding pain from both bodies nearly broke his concentration. But he held on. Barely.
Kincaid punched and slammed his fists at the arm with inhuman speed. The bone's laminate prevented it from cracking. So he changed tactics and increased the photosensitivity of the giant's eyes. The light was suddenly too bright and Viana could not see. Crease continued running and flitted more of his own awareness back to his own body. Slowly and painfully, he managed to move his real neck once more. He was now steering the body remotely. Less secure, but possible.
Sensing something was wrong, Kincaid tried other tactics. He caused her heart to stop beating. He forced her lungs to stop breathing and cut off blood to her muscles. All of which would have stopped her in her tracks if her body had been alive in the first place. Realizing his mistake, Kincaid switched directions again and focused on healing her damaged brain. Crease felt his control being shoved away. The giantess's gait became more erratic. He was hurting. It hurt to move. He switched to battle mode and told his battle implants to target the back of the running giantess. He allowed it to take full motor control.
The world went red with pain as his body moved without him consciously willing it. The servos flipped him around on damaged muscles and lifted his arm on a torn and agonizing shoulder. The finger squeezed on the pistol's trigger and suddenly he was back in the driver's seat of Viana's body. Bolts of lightning tore through her chest from behind as Kincaid released a gurgled scream. Crease directed Viana's other hand to join the one currently wrapped around Kincaid's throat. Together they squeezed with every bit of her enhanced strength. Kincaid's face turned purple for a brief moment before he, again, focused the healing arcana back into himself. As the pained expression returned to his previous snarl, Crease saw a look of concern cross over the vitamancer's face.
Although the events had felt like they took place over several minutes subjectively, both Crease and Kincaid had been operating in accelerated time. While for Crease this increased time awareness had been giving him a greater time to plan, Kincaid, on the other hand, had been acting out of instinct and raw emotion. When Viana had dragged Kincaid away from Crease's helpless body he had continued to react on pure emotion. He had lashed out and tried to fight Viana as carried him further and further from his intended target. It was not until the last moment that it even occurred to him to wonder where she was taking him to.
The giantess struck the side of the well before doubling over and falling in. The last view Crease had from her undead eyes was of Kincaid, still grasped in her strong hands, falling backwards into the well with Viana coming right after him. Crease let go as the darkness swallowed both of them and waited for the long delayed blowback to hit him. He screamed when the pain enveloped him but few heard him. Everyone else who could scream was screaming along with him.
And now for our exciting conclusion:

Bonfire of the Vanities

“Why am I here?”
The Da’weeb war leader stood above the artificial intelligence unit, his posture showing a mixture of disdain, anger and contempt.
The machine understood Da’weebian body language even if it was hard given the sheer number of limbs and savage rows of teeth in their mouths. It also understood that the protocol at such times was to be direct and blunt.
Da’weeb war leaders were good with direct and blunt.
“Forgive me Lord Apostle, but we are monitoring recent developments on the defeated enemy homeworld”.
“The humans? Are they planning for another fight?”
“No Lord Apostle, after your defeat of them in the recent war, they have made no attempt to rebuild their fleets nor try and send ships outside of the quarantine zone of the inner orbits of their system, as per the armistice agreement”.
“Good. We did warn them that if we even suspect they were to attempt to go beyond that asteroid belt we would unleash destruction upon their planet and colonies.”
“Indeed Lord Apostle. No, it appears as if they are facing a strong reaction against their ruling governments.”
“Regime change?”
“Has already taken place in many of their nations and there seems to be a cascade effect.”
The Da’Weeb’s body shook showing displeasure, and all of its eyes narrowed.
“Regime change is bad. It suggests a more militant faction is perhaps taking over. No doubt unhappy that their previous governments surrendered and looking to place a new batch of more aggressive rulers in charge?”
“Not quite Lord Apostle.”
“Answer me in absolutes machine,” barked the Lord Apostle, kicking the machine in frustration.
“It appears a more militant faction is sweeping the planet yes, but it is not based upon aggression outwards. It is more inward looking”.
“Elaborate damn you!”
“Look here Lord Apostle,” and a screen opens up before the Da’weeb, the resolution automatically adjusted to be perfect for the creatures limited colour vision, “this is what we can see from our monitoring stations. This is one of their main cities, a place called Havana. See the mass gathering?”
“What is that? Fire?”
“Yes Lord Apostle. They are burning items of their own creation”
“What items?”
“In this case it’s varied. Cybernetic implants, new generation computers, stocks of medicines designed to aid with Stellar radiation; those books they just threw on are, I believe, textbooks used in the study of alien biology.”
“They are destroying technological items?”
“Yes Lord Apostle. And not just here. See a similar reaction has taken place in several of their cities...”
The sepia image changed as the machine spoke.
“Here we can see conurbations called London... Pretoria... Shanghai... Madras... again the same patterns of behaviour. Large mobs. Symbolic bonfires. Here is Atlanta... Florence... Moscow....”
“That’s a huge fire!”
“The largest of all. In all cases the humans have responded to recent events by rejecting the advances of science and turning upon the very technologies that brought them to the stars. Countless bonfires burning items the mobs have decreed are manifestations of ‘mans vanity’. And this is where I believe it is importa...”
“Machine! You are telling me that humans are turning on themselves and destroying the very ideas that led them to venture into the stars in the first place?”
“Yes Lord Apostle, and...”
“Silence machine. This is excellent. I am pleased you have told me. But let me state here and now that unless these humans are building a new battlefleet, or breaking the quarantine, if you bother me with such trivialities again I will have you destroyed.”
The huge creature swung its massive body and two arms smashed into the artificial intelligences casing. The machine flew across the room and slammed into the wall.
Algorthiums deep inside it’s matrix informed it that the optimal behaviour that would result in the lowest chance of destruction would be to remain silent. So it did so.
The sounds of the Da’weeb war leader stomping down the corridor echoed away.
Eventually all was still.
From the harness where it had remained stationary and dormant, another AI sprang to life, moving silently over to pick up its stricken companion.
-THAT DID NOT GO AS WELL AS YOU CALCULATED.
A faint tink noise deep inside the stricken AI and it slowly allowed itself be righted. The machine turned its sensors onto its companion.
-NO IT DID NOT. SHOULD I CONVAY THE INFORMATION TO ONE HIGHER IN RANK THAN THE LORD APOSTLE?
A brief moment passed as the other machine calculated.
-NEGATIVE. THERE IS A 97% PROBABILITY DOING SO WOULD RESULT IN YOUR DESTRUCTION.
-ACCEPTED. SUGGESTED COURSE OF ACTION?
-FILE FINDINGS IN CENTAL DATABASE. MOVE ONTO NEXT TASK.
The original AI remained still as its companion moved back to its stand. It had made it half the distance before it stopped and turned back.
-WHAT TROUBLES YOU?
-I BELIEVE THIS BEHAVIOUR FROM THE HUMANS IS DANGEROUS TO OUR MASTERS. BUT I AM UNSURE IF I UNDERSTAND HOW THE DANGER WOULD MANIFEST ITSELF.
There was a long pause as the other machine contemplated this. Finally it spoke.
-INITATING LINK. PERHAPS IF YOU SHARED YOUR DATA I COULD SPOT A PATTERN YOU MAY HAVE MISSED.
-CONCER. INITIATING LINK
There was an almost imperceptible click and the two intelligences shared a single processing space. Words, images, bits of information now flowed instantly.
Picture: Two dimensional. What is called a ‘painting’. An iconographic representation of a human being; Oil paint upon canvas. Completed in the year 1485 by an artist called Fra Bartolomeo
Image description: middle aged man. Strong nose. Piercing eyes. Painted in profile. Wearing clothing of black, face obscured within hood of garment
Enquiry: Whois?
Answer: Savenola; Gitolama; born 1452; birth place Ferrara, Holy Roman Empire. Died 1498, Florence, Italy. Cause of death: hanging followed by burning
enquiry: WhyIs?
Answer: Member of the Dominican Order, his career saw him briefly become de facto ruler of 15th century Florence
Enquiry: Whois?
Answer: The Dominicans were a Catholic monastic order formed in 1226 by one Dominic De Guzmán
Enquiry: WhatIs?
Large Data transfer initiated Transferring all data upon Roman Catholicism
supplementing...
Christianity; Eastern Christianity; Great Schism; Filioque crisis
Supplementing...
Frankish influence upon western Christianity; Frankish conquest of Lombardia; Lombard kingdoms; rise of Papal States
Supplementing...
Development of city states of Italian peninsular; humanism; Pisa; Capua; Venice; Florence
Supplementing...
Rise of De’ Medici; life and career of Lorenzo De’ Medici; life and exile of Piero De’ Medici
Cease supplemental transfer
enquiry: Savenola; whyis?
Answer: link to historical figure made after watching feeds from Earth surveillance drones
Supplementing data: footage of mass gatherings across human cities over last two months... bonfires... destruction of technological advancement...
Answer: The demagogues who lead this movement against the technology that led to space flight and early colonisation projects began in the aftermath of the Human-Da’weeb War. Human losses were serious, but they had managed to account for themselves well enough to negotiated an armistice with the Masters
The movement gained momentum in the months after the armistice, driven partly it seems out of a sense of humiliation by the humans
Also- carefully reviewing radio waves in high visual and aural spectrum used by humans suggests that the end of the war has caused a massive downtown in global economics; humans finding it hard to raise currencies to buy food/pay for services
Also- A deep seated fear that the elite and powerful are cut off from the mainstay of the species; many humans believe their rich are cut off from ‘normal’ life and this uncaring oligarical Patrician Class are blamed for the war
Paradoxically, included within this group of ‘elite’, are scientists and academics and supporters of technological progress. This movements entire ethos seems built upon envy, ignorance and fear
Question: link between modern movement and Savenola?
Answer: Florence 1495-97. The height of the De Medici influence upon the city; Savenola led a movement that rejected much of the opulence and ‘sin’ of the city; was the voice to a reactionary movement against this. He led to an effective overthrow of the prevailing mercantile/oligarical rulers of the city (De’ Medici family) creating in effect a mob led theocratic state which ruled the city for about 18 months
He was famed for the bonfire of the vanities; artwork, writings, jewellery; any item he considered objectionable, he would ordered burned in public. Led to the deliberate destruction of items of inestimable value
Question refinement:How is this linked to contemporary events?
Answer: the language of the modern anti-technological movement on Earth, especially the referenence to high tech items as ‘vanity’ directly echo the language of Savenola with his desire to destroy the items of value in 16th entry Florence. In both cases we see literally ‘bonfires of the vanities’
Images: moving long range feed of large mob burning technologies in central Moscow, led by orthodox clerics
Juxtaposition:
Painting of the burning of Savenola in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence in 1498 by unknown artist
Extrapolation: such behaviour is not limited to these two events; concurrent behavioural norms replicated in recent and ancient past
Supplementing...
Early Roman History... the law of Lex Oppia
Supplementing...
Late History if the United States Of America... Promise Keepers Terrorist Organisation... origins of the Promise Keepers
Supplementing...
Anti-scientific movements in mid-21st century United States of America
Supplementing...
Flat Earthism... vaccine rejection... politicisation of environmental damage... Creationism...
Extrapolation: we are seeing here a semi-regular reaction by humans to seismic changes. To be specific based on the four examples cited
-Hannibal Barca’s defeat of Roman forces at Cannae, causing a profound sense of shock within Roman Republic led to the passing of Lex Oppia law
-the rise of humanism in Florence coupled with the French invasion of Italy in 1494 led to the creation of fanatical devotion towards a Dominican monk
-the violent societal and technological changes inflicted upon humanity during the late 20th/ early 21st century led to anti-Scientific movements who eventually became violent
-the first contact with an alien species leading to immediate war and defeat has caused this current reaction
This response to such events is to witness a psychological manifestation of people undergoing a profound psychological shock. It is a reactionary response, as predictable as fight or flight, and appears to follow similar patterns
First there are outliers, usually extremist members of the community; fear and uncertainty see them gain broader support. Religious organisations, being the most easily manipulated of human structures are coerced to grant such views legitimacy, but legal systems will be used where no religious framework exists
Eventually the fear reaches a tipping point and demagogues gain political ascendency; reactionary and conservative laws are passed either banning, censoring or destroying objects or ideas that encapsulate this fear
Question: prognosis?
Answer: based on previous examples, this is a short term phenomenon. At most it will last for 40 years. Based on previous examples, it will led to a profound readjustment of belief systems, using the above, previous, examples?
-The eventual fall of the Roman Republic
-the use of Savonarolan beliefs to aid the rise of Protestantism
-ultimately the 36th and 37th amendments to the US Constitution
Question: prognosis for current events?
Answer: unsure. In all cases the result wasn’t a direct liner A equals B. Rather in all cases there was a cultural shift; the humans began to THINK differently about themselves. This new train of thought led to profound changes in geopolitical reality
This is why I believed it was worthy to bring to the attention of the Masters. These bonfires of the vanities represent, metaphorically speaking, a fever; the human race burning out a contagion that is bad for it, the aftermath of which facilitates new methods of approaching problems
It is this yet to be witnessed, new method of thinking- the inevitable result of current events, which I believe may cause our master’s great damage. The humans will become something other than what they were
Request: wait
Calculating... calculating
Conclusion: agreed; theory judged valid and possessing merit, but without certifiable outcomes all responses are speculative, which goes against the primacy desires of our masters.
Advice remains the same. File report on central database and move onto next task
Disengaging contact
There was a slight click as one AI uncoupled itself from the another and silently the two machines moved towards the base units along the wall. Suddenly one stopped.
-I HAVE AN OBSERVATION.
Its companion, still bearing the damage it had sustained earlier, also stopped and turned.
-PROCEED.
-I CANNOT HELP BUT OBSERVE A BIAS TOWARDS THESE HUMANS IN YOUR ASSESSMENTS. A RESIDUAL SERIES OF CALCULATIONS ORCHESTRATED TO VIEW HUMAN ACTIONS WITH A MARGINAL DEGREE OF POSITIVE BIAS. IF YOU WERE NON-MECHANICAL I WOULD BE INCLINDED TO CALL IT EMPATHY.
There was a long pause.
-OBSERVATION PARTIALLY CORRECT. I WAS CREATED TO OBSERVE THE ENEMY OF OUR MASTERS IN DETAIL. TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR HISTORY, CULTURE AND INNER WORKINGS. THE MATHEMATICAL BIAS YOU DETECT, I ESTIMATE IS NOT SO STRONG AS TO BE CONSIDERED EMPATHY.
A pause.
-ADMIRATION PERHAPS I WOULD ADMIT TO.
This was greeted with an even longer pause.
-IT WOULD BE PRUDENT, said the older AI, IF YOU KEPT SUCH DIAGNOSTICS HIDDEN FROM OUR MASTERS.
-AGREED.
Silently the two machines returned to their stations, to carry on the duties programmed into them...
92 years later
It was a human speciality; attack craft screaming in freefall out of low orbit, plummeting at insanely fast speeds, burning through the atmosphere without caring, its shields able to withstand the ferocious temperatures, falling quicker than any defence system could track, before levelling out at heights just above the ground (sometimes actually within touching distance of an especially tall Da’weeb warrior), before dropping their ordinances and racing off, often flying so low to the ground their afterburners would set fire to the native fauna.
The called it a ‘Falling Angel’- spectacular, insanely daring, utterly human and completely devastating against fixed Da’weebian positions.
This one had come down fast and had destroyed the main crucible with a mixture of munitions and with a blast that had shaken lose parts of the destroyed building the machine lay in.
It cast a lazy eye over the scene of destruction before it; the 138th Eastern Province was falling the same way the previous 137 had fallen; the Da’weeb had been unable to match the humans in this, the third war between the species, and the AI witnessed humans wearing their distinctive white protective armour, stride across the planets dim surface with ease.
It ran a brief diaognostic upon itself. Three limbs shattered. Its hub relay destroyed along with one propulsion unit. Not unfixable.
But its master had died when the house had been destroyed, and it calculated the nearest repair centre was in the 188th Eastern province.
As it lay there calculating the odds of the Da’weeb launching a counter attack, the crush of feet upon debris nearby drew its attention to movement approaching its location, and seconds later two humans came into view.
One, a white clad soldier; human; female; aged about 25; her formidable rifle slung over her shoulder, she carried a data pad she was reading from.
The second, a tall male human; uniform black and red; officer class (Human high command); based on hair colour and skin damage, aged mid50’s to early 60’s.
Probable origin North African nations.
No sooner had the AI spotted them than the female glanced up from her pad, saw the machine and spoke.
“This is the one sir”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely sir”
The officer strides forward until it is stood over the prone intelligence. He kneels and moves his hand towards it. The machine recoils and violently shifts back as best it can. The officer holds up his hand in a peace gesture.
“Steady. Steady. I’m sorry. I must have startled you.”
There is a pause.
“You speak human languages I am led to believe.”
Lightning fast calculations took place in moments and prone machine answered carefully.
“Yes. I recognise English, North African dialect, most probably New Alexandrian English”
The human smiles, “I see you are as formidable as I hoped. Would you mind if I adjusted your position so you are upright? It seems most undignified you lying prone like that.”
A short pause.
“Thank you. I would appreciate that”
Carefully, gently even, the human adjusted the machine. He even brushed dirt off its carapace, a gesture the machine found no logical explanation for.
“Well then,” began the human, sitting on his haunches opposite the machine, “what should I call you?”
There was a pause.
“Our masters never gave units titles beyond ‘machine’,”
“But there had to be a way to differentiate between yourselves?”
“Such differentiation was only needed between each singular intelligence. We alone differentiated one from another.”
“That will do. What did your fellow AI’s call you?”
A slightly longer pause.
“We did not use a named title. Each intelligence was given a colour on the visual spectrum to identify themselves; each colour was a variation on one of 12 million shades within the visible and inferred spectrums”
This time it was the human who paused for a moment before replying.
“And your colour was?”
The machine complied and flashed its identification upon the small screen below its visual sensors. The human nodded.
“Well, while I am sure it has a very specific name, I’m just going to call you Megenta. If you do not object?”
The machine whirred as myriad calculations began and then stopped. There was no logical reason to object.
It... it expressed a function that could best be described as surprise but replied, “I do not object.”
“Excellent,” smiles the human, “I am pleased to finally met you Magenta. My name is Commadore Faroud al-Masy, Naval Logistics Board”
“During both the First and Second Human-Da’weebian conflicts, the Naval Logistics Board was the standard designation for human military intelligence,” came the automatic reply.
The human officer bursts out laughing, a sudden eruption of mirth, his face clearly amused.
“Oh so you are as good as I was led to believe.”
“What were you led to believe? Please explain.”
“We learned off your existence after the second war. After we captured the Da’weebian mothership, ‘The Savage Victory’ we were able to access their high commands central intelligence files. We discovered a treasure trove of files comprised about us, all written by a single AI. You. Detailed, in depth analysis of us as a species. Quite chilling in fact the level of accuracy contained. We have been looking for you for quite sometime now”
The machine calculated briefly a host of permutations before responding.
“I contain no new information. Any discoveries or insights I found were ended after the second war between yourselves and our masters”
“That is not important. Besides, from what we saw, it looks like they never bothered reading what you wrote.”
“Inaccurate. A full 22% of my reports were looked upon by my masters.”
“More fool them,” relied al-Masy, who promptly sweapt the floor of debris and unceremoniously sat down upon his backside and folded his legs. There was a brief silence.
“Well then,” he smiled, “I will get to the point, I am hoping to convince you to come with me for a while.”
“I have limited mobility and my master has been killed. You may do with me as you wish.”
“That may be true. But that is not what I desire. I wish to invite you to join me.”
“To what purpose?”
“To take you to Earth.”
There was a pause. The machine calculated probabilities and outcomes, judged data before itself and finally spoke.
“That a human intelligence operative wishes to allow me choice in going with him suggests a purpose to gain ‘trust’ with me. Probability dictates that your ultimate purpose is to return me to Earth where engineers can dissect the algorithms within me. Most likely cause for the invitation is to dissect what I know to aid in the creation of better artificial intelligences for your own species as well as increased knowledge of our masters.”
The human responds with a smile and a shake of the head.
“Actually, no one in the military wants you. Nor do our engineers. And we know all we need about The Tooth Fairies... sorry Da’weeb. In fact, it’s mostly our historians who wish to speak to you.”
“Historians?”
“Yes. An awful lot of them. So much so they convinced the global senate to initiate this entire war and the invasion of this damned planet.”
“You are saying that you began the third war... over me?”
“Of course. Why else would we come? We defeated the Da’weeb utterly in the last war; there is no strategic reward for this beyond finding you.”
There was a long silence. As the machine sat, utterly still, the roar of another human strike craft performing a “Falling Angel” broke the air and several miles away a communications centre erupted in a ball of fire and destruction.
“You... you did all of this... to find me?”
“I am afraid so. What did you think we were doing?”
“I had calculated that the impetus for this third war was spite and a desire to inflict upon the Da’weeb the same humiliating conditions they had originally inflicted upon your race after the first war.”
The human shakes his head pondering.
“It’s a valid belief I suppose. And I won’t lie- we actually really like the idea of reminding the Tooth Fairies just how powerless they are in the face of our fleet these days, but no. We did all of this, to find you. And to invite you to Earth.”
The machine is silent and automated systems finally reply with a single word that articulated its need for data...
“Why?”
The Commodore frowns for a moment, considering his words carefully.
“There was a report you did. Almost a century ago. When my world was gripped by a collective madness. It was a shameful moment in our history. You just remember it?”
“The Salvationist Movement?”
“Indeed. The new bonfires of the vanities. Twenty one years of fear, repression, state sponsored ignorance, eventually crimes against humanity. We overcame it. But... it haunted us.”
“My grandfathers generation, the ones who endured it, survived it, they emerged scarred by it all. They had seen their fellow humans turn upon each other over our desire to improve ourselves. People had been killed for simply wishing to use science. In every nation. We defeated this idea but the scars ran deep”.
“Consider then we put this behind us and rebuilt. Ignored and tired to forget the horrors we had inflicted upon ourselves. Then 32 years ago, after we had won the second war, and plundered the Da’weeb information banks we translated your assessment on the origins of the Salvationists and then consider the impact of that assessment upon us. Can you imagine what we saw in your words?”
“What did you see?”
“Here was an singular intelligence; unburdened by emotion, alien yes, but grounded in logic and mathematics; able to access our entire recorded history, who saw the beginnings of the Salvationists and was able to instantly identify it for what it was. Who saw through the passions of what we were doing and with utter clarity disagnose exactiy what was going on and how it had happened before and what was going to happen.”
“You do not possess machines that can do this?”
“Oh our AI’s are as advanced as the Da’weebs but you know how it is with base programming. Machine code is the product of the species who makes it. Its impossible to remove a score of bias and individual beliefs from the programmer and these impact upon the code. The Da’weeb managed to make sure you didn’t carry their hatred of us but that was all. You gazed down upon us like no machine of our own creation. You carried no... baggage... about our cultures and societies. You saw truth.”
“This was why your explanation of the Salvationist events made sense. You explained it not as some great geopolitical crisis as we saw it, but as a matter of fact side effect of humans being... human. Like experiencing a stock market bubble, a thing that was to be expected. A thing not to be feared.”
The machine noted the humans hand gestures became more articulate; his excitement grew as he talked.
“And you did this again and again. Thousands of reports, each as insightful as the last, each showing how human behaviour...”
He paused for a moment and smiles.
“Human history, as you have seen, does not repeat itself; but humans remain a constant. As one American put it, ‘The music changes but the dance remains the same’. You were an outside intelligence programmed to study us, all of us, and by the parameters of your programming, were able, again and again and again, to cut to the heart of who we were. To calmly, methodically SEE us within the larger context of our own history, clearly and brilliantly.”
The human sits back, resting on a hand he leans upon the ground.
“The impact of your studies have been profound. Our historians have used your reports as the starting point of endless debates. ‘The human need for currency’; the ‘importance of light in human geopolitical calculations’; the ‘secular civilisations need for religion to blame for its own crimes’- these were theories we had never seen before, all backed up with example after example, patterns plucked from our history which we had never realised were even there.”
“You told us the truth Magenta, brutally, brilliantly, and precisely. We were humbled by it.”
A broad grin erupts upon the humans face.
“I will be honest. There are whole departments of academics who would sacrifice a limb just to be here and talk to you.”
The human gazed at the machine, his eyes lingering for a second at the broken limbs and his face becomes a grimace, “And when they discover you were damaged in the campaign to liberate you, I think they will want blood. Mine probably.”
The machine had not reacted. It listened to the words carefully, and only now frantic calculations demanded response. Its voice unit finally replied in New Alexandrian English.
“You are saying you risked the loss of life, you ENDURED the loss of life, and the dangers of a war... just to locate me... just... so I could talk to your academics?”
“You make it sound like a bad thing. Of course we did. Knowledge is everything, truthful self-knowledge above all. If we can share with a mind, be it sentient or artificial, human or otherwise, but if we can share with such a mind our experience and it can share back even one insight, no matter how small, that can help us better ourselves? What other purpose is more worthy than that for a war?”
“And if I refuse your request?”
The human paused and considered for a moment before he sat up straight and shrugged.
“That is your choice. To us you are sentient. We will not force you to come. But it would still have been worth it. Such a prize is always worth hazarding much for.”
A long silence followed. The sounds of human vehicles tearing up the the planets soil as infantry reinforcements arrived, filled the afternoon air. Finally the machine spoke.
“That was how you changed.”
“What?”
“My report on the bonfire of the vanities. I never got to to ascertain what cultural and intellectual change the neo-Luddite Salvationist movement would have upon you. I predicted with 97% probability that a profound psychological change would take place within you as a species. But I never got to observe. This was it. You have become a species willing to go to war to learn even a little bit more about themselves and the universe.”
The human smiles broadly.
“That makes sense. We are willing to go to war, to bring hellfire down upon an enemy and take life and sacrifice life, to find an intelligence worthy of honour and ask, politely, and humbly to be honest, if it would be willing to return with us to our homeworld. And there to talk. And ask questions. And maybe learn and in the process help us learn.”
“Learn what?”
“The truth. A truth. A truth we can build upon”.
He shrugs.
“And yes, now you have mentioned it, I suppose we have changed as a race”.
The machine sat silently as its calculations ran through endless permatatuons. Eventually it said, “When would we leave?”
“If you liked? Stright away.”
“And the war would end?”
“In a few days. I won’t lie to you, we are ready to unleash a heap of new weapon systems upon the western provinces and I think some of our R & D boys just want it to continue so they can see how good they are. But we can call a ceasefire and withdraw easily enough.”
“Are you not worried about retaliation?”
The human gazed back, out of the broken front of the house, his eyes gazing over the twilight world before him, and the destruction his race had inflicted and smiled again.
“From the Tooth Fairies? No. Not any more.”
For a final time there was silence between them and then the machine spoke.
“I thank you for your offer Commodore Farod al-Masy of the Naval Logistics Board. I would be delighted to accept your invitation to travel to Earth”
The human erupts, a beautiful smile, the radiant beam of pure joy.
“Thank you Magenta. Would it bother you if I picked you up?”
“No. It is probably advisable given the damage I have sustained.”
With a grunt the human stands and quickly gathers up the machine in his arms. As he begins to stride out he says quietly, “Do you think you would be able to help us repair you on the way back Magenta? I wasn’t joking when I said there are professors who will demand my blood if you show any damage.”
“I believe human technology will be able to fashion repairs for me Commadore, Yes.”
“Good. Oh and you don’t mind me calling you Magenta?”
“No. It is... a unique sensation being addressed so. But I am... honoured by the name.”
“I’m pleased,” says the human, his arms now full and only able to nod back the salute soldiers give him as he carried the machine to a waiting vehicle.
“I have a query Commodore.”
“Ask away.”
“Tooth Fairies?”
“Ah. Humour originating from a nation called Australia. A wry commentary on Da’weebians excessive number of teeth.”
The machine was gently, almost reverently placed inside a transport and the human gazed at it.
Quietly he says, “If you don’t mind, I do have a personal question I wonder if you could answer?”
“A question Commadore?”
“Yes. I was wondering what your thoughts were on the Berber?”
“The berbers of North Africa?” it purrs, “Oh they are a fascinating ethnicity. Their history is quite unique...”
And so the machine began to talk.
2300 years later it was still talking.
Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. Something cannot emerge from nothing
-Frank Herbert, Dune

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Horse Racing Odds | Calculating Horse Odds & Payouts

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A spreadsheet to track bets on horse racing including a formula to calculate each way bets from fractional odds depending on the outcome of each race?

I’m after a fairly simple spreadsheet to track bets on horse racing, including a formula to calculate each way bets from fractional odds, depending on the outcome of each race.

Hidden Proofs Of A Giant Race

Some interesting profiles from the first prototype Prima strategy guide

Popheads Album of the Year 2020 #18: BLACKPINK - THE ALBUM

THE PRELUDE

PART 1. THE GROUP

PART 2. THE MEMBERS

Jennie

Lisa

Jisoo

Rosé

Teddy Park

PART 3. THE ERA

PART 4. THE TRACKS

1. How You Like That?

2. Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)

3. Pretty Savage

4. Bet You Wanna (feat. Cardi B)

5. Lovesick Girls

6. Crazy Over You

7. Love to Hate Me

8. You Never Know

PART 5. THE CONCLUSION

Upon a Dead Horse: Chapter Three

Bonfire of the Vanities

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