[This was written before Melody of Memory has come out so that game will not be included.] Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Backcover is the first instance that we meet the Master of Masters ourselves without anyone else’s perspective of events and see him as an individual character. From the get-go, the Master of Masters (or MoM as I will be addressing him throughout this theory for simplicity sake) is immediately addressed with heavy respect from his title alone. But, Chirithy also makes sure to mention his “mischievous” nature that we see a lot of throughout all of his appearances from here on. Due to the Master of Masters only being included and planned from Backcover onwards, it definitely seems
more than coincidental that all of his similarities to Sora take place in the games technically made after Backcover which I will discuss; Backcover itself, KHX and KHUX, 0.2, KH3 and ReMind.
Both Sora and MoM are introduced as joker, light-hearted characters who use humour to lighten dark situations and comfort people. They hold themselves lightly and make fun of themselves to make others laugh or to lighten the dark of a situation. Sora did this when he comforted Riku by pulling a funny face (“how am I going to face everyone?!”/“like this?”) in KH2 while MoM pretended to question if Invi cared about him when she was overthinking things and getting worried about the events to come (“do you…
want me to go?!”
Comparison of MoM And Sora gestures in KH3 & ReMind Both characters share several of the same gestures and body movements, with Sora copying a lot of MoM’s gestures especially in KH3 and ReMind. Both hold their arms behind their heads, tilt their heads or even bodies sideways playfully and poke things to name a few shows off their playful, animated gestures. Both use their right hands when using the Keyblade with Sora holding his in his right hand and MoM summons No Name with his right hand to give it to Luxu.
Along with these personality and movement similarities, we also have the infamous Gazing Eye' glitch found in KH ReMind that 'definitely calls this theory into question. Why does a glitch like this only happen with Young Xehanort, whom we know MoM interacted and met with? Why does it only happen when Young Xehanort uses his time alteration powers if this was simply a glitch in the texture of Sora and the Gazing Eye's eye? Would that not mean that this could be triggered at any other time? And why is it so cleanly done if not to be intentional? This 'glitch' appears perfectly on Sora's eye and doesn't affect any other texture on Sora. If Sora was in fact MoM, would it not make sense for his possibly clairvoyant/prediction abilities to be affected by Young Xehanort affecting time? This would be too difficult go be a simple visual glitch or error of the engine given how the texture of the Gazing Eye appears in both of Sora's eyes perfectly, as well as appearing bloodshot since there would be no reason for Sora's eyes to use the bloodshot texture AND the Gazing eye texture together.
‘Gazing Eye Glitch‘ from KH3 Limit Cut Fight against Young Xehanort Speaking of Sora’s eyes, this also brings me back to the pre-KH3 release conspiracy theory about Sora’s eye colour changing to green throughout the trailers which people passed off as being the reflections of the environment. This happened several times throughout the game and seemingly meant nothing, but when you consider who Sora was interacting his eye colour changed, him possibly being the MoM explains this. The first time we see this is in Mount Olympus, when Sora meets with Xigbar for the first time since DDD and we see Sora’s eyes have strong green tint compared to Hercules, who also has bright blue eyes that don’t seem to be affected by the lighting. Maybe only the KH original models are affected for some reason? Xigbar’s eyes are also not affected, while yellow, which would definitely show given how intense Sora’s
are. Xigbar, is
Luxu, so one could assume that anyone connected to MoM would make Sora’s eyes react, yes? Again, we see Sora’s eye go green with others as well. In Kingdom Of Corona, Sora’s eyes are once again green and while it it way greener here than Olympus, Marluxia’s—or
Lauriam, who MoM choose as a Dandelion leader and survivor of the war—eyes once again are not affected, nor are any other characters’ like Rapunzel, Flynn, or Mother Gothel.
Only Sora. We see this again with Ven when Vanitas is going to kill Aqua in the land of Departure and Sora wakes Ventus up from inside him, Sora’s eyes go green while
no one else’s, including Ven and Aqua both of whom have blue eyes, have their eyes affected. And the final past character that is directly tied to the MoM through the dandelions and Sora whose presence affects Sora’s eyes is Ephemer in the Keyblade Graveyard. Ephemer has no reason to come to Sora here, compared to Ventus who he knew in canon and had every reason to help but let die in the previous ending, given that they do not know one another
beyond Ventus. And as the camera zooms into Sora, Sora’s eyes gain a slight green tint to his eyes before the centre of his eyes change to a light, greenish blue that is very similar to another Name’s Gazing eye and focuses on his eye not only here, but once Sora snaps back to reality and focuses on the reflection of all the dead keyblades helping them. Here, Sora’s eyes are green again the exact same way that his eyes were green interacting with XigbaLuxu and Marluxia/Lauriam, both of whom were tied to the MoM. The green tint and highlight of the colour around his iris is identical to that of the Gazing Eye in No Name, with the environments and how others reacting to them in each of these worlds showing that these events and
only these affect solely Sora’s eyes, proving that this is not just a simple light reflection but something done intentionally to Sora’s eyes.
Comparision of Sora’s eye colour shift when around XigbaLuxu, Marluxia/Lauriam, and Ventus and how they’re eyes are not affected. Sora’s eyes when meeting Ephemer Comparison of Gazing Eye and Sora’s eyes Beyond physical and personality similarities, both Sora and MoM share another quality with only one other individual in the entirety of the KH cast; they are the only ones aside from Xehanort to have held and been the apparent wielder of the X-Blade. While we never see him with it, Nomura confirmed that MoM had had the X-Blade at one point and studied it to create the Keyblade that everyone in KHX used. He used the X-Blade as an example and managed to figure out, through studying it, how to extract the light/power from people’s hearts and shaped their Keyblades which he then trained the Foretellers with. As well as the X-Blade, MoM also had a sort of authority over Kingdom Hearts as well as Ira mentioned that he had given them Keyblades to protect Kingdom Hearts and Ava tried to warn Gula away from summoning Kingdom Hearts since MoM had said it was “forbidden”. Gula decided to try and summon Kingdom Hearts in order to force the MoM to return to set them straight, showing that he held a sense of cautious as well towards it and decided to not use it and lock it away instead. Given that the MoM’s word was seen as gospel, this was more than likely a serious warning and
order. And what do we see by the end of Kingdom Hearts 3? Sora, earning the X-Blade and telling Xehanort that using it is wrong and that no one should use its power to change destiny, before closing it to keep the worlds safe. Both characters—with
only Xehanort as the other wielder of the X-Blade and exception of this mindset—had this power and
chose to not use it but instead locked it away from using it for their own gains.
Both of these characters also shared the same philosophy of destiny despite the power they hold; Sora, who has challenged and even changed his friends’ doomed fates claims that a true leader knows that destiny “beyond his control” and “accepts that”, something that makes no sense with how much he has changed his own destiny and the events written in the Book Of Prophecy. However, the Master of Masters shares these ideals and believes not in changing what is meant to happen, but rather in preparing for what happens after that in order to secure the best aftermath. Why would Sora believe in this given his past, if not to draw similarities between himself and MoM?
Comparison of Sora’s speech to Xehanort and MoM’s speech to Ira about destiny The Book Of Prophecies, as depicted in Backcover, also shares connections to what we assume to be the timeline of events surrounding not the the events of Backcover and the Keyblade war, but rather the events of the entire game series timeline. We see MoM looking at the Book of Prophecies through the Cases of the different Foretellers and Luxu, as well as Ira later on in the movie which we can use to create a basic ‘timeline’ of events based on imagery depicted.
We see the MoM look through throughout Backcover, with the ‘Case of Gula’ showing what seems to be the earliest part of the book we see with an illustration of a darkside heartless and a keyblade which would either be the Kingdom Key or Kingdom Key D, placing the beginning of the book at the first Kingdom Hearts game. The reason I think this takes place during KH1 rather than 0.2 is the Sora’s crown emblem being on the page previous to a Darkside heartless, seeming to signify Sora and then his first battle against the darkness either on his Station of Awakening or Destiny Islands, as well as these pages appearing to be nearing the middle of the book which would make sense given that Sora only entered the canon timeline after the whole Fairytale Saga, BBS and 0.2 took place. Then, we see the next page with an image of a shadow heartless, both which Sora fights on Destiny Islands after getting the keyblade and then in Traverse Town where he learns about the darkness or could simply represent
all heartless as the most recognisable heartless. The page after this shows
another Keyblade which looks like the Kingdom Key
again, while the next page is the infamous
‘traitor’ that the MoM rips out and gives to Gula and the page after holding
another illustration of Sora’s crown emblem. Given the pacing of events based on the concept of this book depicting the events of Sora’s experiences in KH1, the page detailing the ‘traitor’ may in fact be talking about Riku and his betrayal of Sora by accepting Maleficent's help. The MoM’s wording seems to support this, by telling Gula to “find the traitor hidden among you and stop them before it’s too late”, through Sora eventually learning of Riku’s fall to darkness and possession by Ansem before stopping Riku-Ansem and saving the worlds.
Pages of Book Of Prophecies mentioned in order about from Backcover This causes us to question exactly how would the MoM know of Sora's first adventure given that his eye, at this point, hasn't even seen Sora yet? The only logical answer? Because he
lived it.
During the ‘Case of Aced’; when Aced, who acts a lot like Sora in KH1, is angry at Ira being chosen to be the new leader and was constantly in Ira's shadow, much like how Sora was undermined by Riku who was seen as the better of the two and originally chosen first by the keyblade. These corresponding at the same time suggests a connection to KH1, Sora, and Aced. Even their whole discussion over why Aced shouldn't be leader seems to, much like his discussion with Invi over keeping up "otherwise you'll be left behind, all alone" seems to cause an unconscious reaction from the MoM. "I know you want it, but that just isn't enough. Any chump can say, 'You! Here's a huge promotion. Good job!' and make you head honcho, but enthusiasm alone doesn't make a great leader." The way this is worded, especially with "great" and not just "good" suggests he has a basis for it, similar to how Sora saw Riku as being better than him. His following line "Ira needs someone like you to give him a push in the right direction" is spoken with anger or bitterness, as if the MoM understood Aced's annoyance at being considered second and feeling similarly in the past, as if he had to act supportive and push someone who was considered better than him in the 'right direction' before. But, his "you need to support Ira'' line is spoken sternly, acting as though he knows from experience that someone like Ira would need the more emotional support of someone like Aced, who uses his heart to decide things rather than "always just thinking and thinking and thinking behind that Unicorn mask of his" as Ira does. Everything said in this scene definitely parallels Sora and his emotions in the first KH game up until Sora decided that his friends were his power and that he didn’t need the keyblade to be strong, something that the MoM understands and acts sympathetic towards Aced about while trying to push him towards the same idea; "you might not be entirely happy with your role, but just know that it's the most important one." There is also a sense of symbolism in this scene with the MoM using his hand to cover the Kingdom Key when telling Aced that he will be Ira’s right hand man, possibly paralleling back to Sora’s own sense of being overshadowed by Riku.
Other connections these two share include the emphasis of their bond with Dream eaters and the Wreck-It Ralph summon from KH3. Both of these two characters show a stronger connection to Dream Eaters than any other characters, with MoM being the ‘creator’ of the Chirithy dream eaters which hold a deep connection to their owners’ hearts and are affected by their owners’ state given that these dreams eaters, like when Sora fell into darkness, fall into darkness with their masters and become nightmares. And what is Sora’s nightmare in DDD? A figure in a dark coat with purple and pink colours and a dark dream eater symbol on their back, much like the MoM and his black coat and the Chirithy nightmare we see in Backcover and KHUX.
Nightmare Chirithy Forms
Anti Black Coat from DDD
Chirithy Dream Eater The design of the normal Chirithy is also bizarre given how, unlike every other dream eater, it has very calming, less vibrant colours compared to the likes of Meow Meow and the other dream eaters from DDD. Chirithy is small in stature but absolutely loyal to their master, to the point of falling into darkness with them to try and help them. Their fur is a grey-ish silver, with bright blue eyes, a blue and cream collared cape, as well as holding a pink pouch with what appears to be lux or a wayfinder around its neck. It’s design is made of a plush, toy-like texture and it has no mouth. Seemingly made by the MoM artificially somehow (much like how Sora would create Dream eaters in DDD), he describes them as “like cats or dogs, and they’ll be your
loyal pet.” Unlike its original reveal, Backcover immediately tells us that these are not naturally made creatures but are made by the MoM as he shows it to the Foretellers in a scientific beaker and the Dream Eater theme plays, which directly matches how Sora and Riku would make them in DDD. The reason I call this to attention is due to both how much it reminds me of Riku, with its silver fur and loyalty, as well as Kairi with its pink pouch and blue eyes. It would make sense that, in order to make a loyal creature, Sora would combine qualities of his best friends into a single form. We never see anyone else, aside from the TWEWY gang, use Dream eaters aside from Sora and Riku. And what happens at the end of DDD and directly after in 0.2? Sora visits his dream eaters and misses the others going on their missions for KH3 due to the fact that he “likes to say goodbye to all his
friends”. Meaning that Sora, unlike Riku who never uses Dream Eaters after DDD, values these creatures as much as his human friends and even uses them as a summon in KH3, meaning even in the real world he still has power over them.
Along with dream eaters acting as a summon, we see several characters from past games that Sora has met who help in battle throughout KH3, from Simba to Ariel to Meow Meow and the other dream eaters. However, there is also another summon who appears, that Sora has not interacted with at all during the series;
Wreck-It Ralph. Wreck-It Ralph, by KH3, has not appeared at all in the series and has never met Sora. But, he has eventually appeared in the series since. In KHUX, we learn that the Dandelions are trapped in a data Daybreak Town by what we assume to be the MoM and Ephemer and the player character manage to travel to another world; the world of Sugar Rush from Wreck-It Ralph where they meet Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope. The fact that Sora is able to call upon Ralph, who has only appeared in the series through the Master of Master’s computer, definitely hints at a connection between these characters and would explain Ralph’s sudden appearance in KH3.
Wreck-It Ralph summon in KH3 Wreck-It Ralph in KHUX Now, knowing Nomura, there is also a good chunk of symbolism we can look to that hints towards these two being one in the same. In the opening for Kingdom Hearts 3, we are introduced with Sora’s opening quote “they can take your world, they can take your heart, cut you loose from all you know. But, if it’s your fate? Then every step forward, will always be one step closer to home.” Nomura has confirmed that this quote is Sora’s thoughts after the events of KH3 and follows his change of attitude towards destiny much like his speech about destiny. The actual opening begins with an image of Sora, alone, standing in The Final World and looking out towards the breaking light of morning—
daybreak. These two scenes come across as very similar, focusing on Sora/MoM gazing out towards the daybreak sky littered with dark clouds (symbolism for the troubling times ahead ?) as they both proclaim a speech about destiny and talk about how what is to come is inevitable but the aftermath and how they handle that or what happens after is what is actually important. Both know of the hardships ahead; “A great war shall transpire. Darkness will prevail and the light expire”/ “they can take your world, take your heart, cut you loose from all you know.”, but decide to look ahead to the future with hope; “we have to focus on what comes after, there’s no point focusing on events that we know are going to happen!”/ “but if it's your fate, then every step forward will always be one step closer to home”.
Comparision of Sora’s opening speech in KH3 and MoM’s speech on Darkness Prevailing and Light Expiring in Backcover This opening scene quickly skips to night, traditioning to Young Xehanort staring at the night sky before seeing a purple light that represents his pull to darkness, suggesting the passage of time given it focuses on the sky shifting to these times. Having Sora be shown before Xehanort is suggestive enough, acting as though he came before Xehanort, while daybreak connects to the MoM's home of Daybreak Town. In recent time, the importance of the sky and its colour was given significance with the box-art showing it shifting from daytime to twilight to nighttime and finally daybreak with the foretellers looming ahead on the 2.8 box-art. A note to make is that this happens in the KH3 box-art also, with all the skies forming an x-shape with Sora square in the middle - Sora is connected to all of these skies and as a result, holds some connection to all these different times that those skies represent. Sora, and his entry into the series, has always been represented by daytime, so to include him at Daybreak, which may represent the death of night (Xehanort) and the birth of a new day (new saga for the series), it could also represent Sora himself coming far before any other character in the series. The end of the opening features Sora’s friends joining him, but it is now
daytime.
Ending image of Sora now in daytime The Final World and then when his friends appear
2.8 Game Box Art
KH3 Box Art Xehanort moving his pieces to mark the actions of the villains throughout the games as everything leads up to KH3 and him making his way to Sora and surrounding him with his darknesses. When the prophecy comes to pass, he claims victory, only for Eraqus to pull the biggest cheaters' move in the book and the Dandelions save Sora once he reverses time. The Dandelions are led and their keyblades seemingly summoned by Emphemer, who asks Sora if he wants help... but why? Why would these ancient, dead keyblade wielders help Sora who has no connection to them aside from Ven who was easily murdered by Terranort in the previous timeline? Why would Emphemer, who is apparently long dead, appear to Sora and offer him help? And why, when Sora gazed up in surprise at the Keyblades and their Deux-ex Machina rescue, did his eyes have a green tint to them despite the dry, orange landscape around them much like how they changed to a green-blue colour, much like that of No Name, when confronted by the likes of Xigbar and Marluxia? Why have a close-up shot of his eyes especially? This reason also explains why Sora’s eyes don’t react to Larxene, Luxord or Demyx; they were not Dandelions or as connected to MoM as the Lauriam, Ventus and Ephemer.
The symbolism of the chess pieces continues to the end of the opening, when we see Sora still alone against the daybreak sky, holding Xehanort's piece while Young Xehanort a moment before stared at Sora's lone piece. Untouched. But alone. The symbolism of how, in the end, Sora is at the start of time and Xehanort is his pawn? How he was the one in control while Xehanort couldn't touch Sora? Because he had help from the past.
Comparison of Xehanort not being able to touch Sora’s chess piece and Sora having Xehanort in his palm. Continuing into ReMind, the subject of names becomes very important with the introduction of Yozora. Back in the Final World after his first “death”, Sora met with a nameless star who told Sora of Yozora but we the audience did not hear his name but saw Sora’s reaction of shock. This is very important due to the emphasis put on a name three other times during KH3 and ReMind. After waking up, Ventus meets Sora for the first time face to face and seemingly surprised that Sora is
Sora. This is very similar to Yozora and Sora's first meeting in ReMind, where Yozora is surprised and believes that Sora is lying about being Sora. What is most important is the emphasis of Sora's name in a sense that Yozora knows of 'Sora' and believes that Sora is falsely using this name; "Why are you using Sora's name" but also knows about Sora given his task to 'save Sora'; "I went through some trials and was told to 'save Sora'." The phrasing of this scene suggests that Yozora knew Sora, not our Sora but rather another Sora, but not physically given that he immediately thought that Sora was lying about his name. While it is based on the context of Sora looking like Vanitas, I think this goes beyond that simple connection due to the shift of Sora’s eye colour in this scene. If we use Blank Points as an example, which was meant to be considered the canon ending of BBS (however 0.2 does make some question if it was retconned due to Aqua learning Sora’s name earlier in 0.2 while meant to have first learnt it in Blank Points much later) which KH3 tries to establish with Aqua and Ansem the Wise already being together by the time Aqua appears in the game, then Ventus should technically already know Sora’s name. And yet, they make sure to draw focus to it here again, much like how Yozora is also confused by
Sora being “Sora”.
comparison between Ventus emphasising Sora’s name and Yozora emphasising Sora’s name. The framing of Yozora revealing that how he looks like here is not what he actually looks like lingers on Sora for a good moment, suggesting that perhaps those words apply to both of them. While many have theorised that Sora is also the name of Yozora’s girlfriend from Verum Rex, I don’t think this is the case due to how he phrases his question of Sora using his name. If Yozora knew another Sora personally, like as a girlfriend or significant other, then the phrasing of this conversation is wrong and he would have reacted to Sora mentioning “that girl”. This whole exchange is phrased to make us question both Sora’s name and appearance, as if Yozora is talking of another Sora that looks different than our Sora that he was told about… perhaps he was told of a fully grown man and so is confused as to why Sora here is a fifteen year old boy? That would explain the MoM’s comment about “the truth is what you see with your eyes, not what you hear”. We see Sora and Yozora in
these forms, this is what these characters appear to
us, but to them they appear differently. Yozora doesn’t
know Sora as what he sees him as—a confused teenager—in this scene, while Sora perceives Yozora as a fictional, video game character and not a real person. Our reality, what we know as the truth for these characters, is how they appear, not what they are telling us. The emphasis of
fate and destiny is brought up once again here, much like Sora’s KH3 opening speech and MoM’s acceptance of the prophecy, with Yozora being convinced that it was fate that brought them together suggests that this “fate” is the planned aftermath that MoM was talking about and that Sora was convinced would lap help him get closer to home.
The emphasis on names being known by characters but not by the audience through Yozora having heard about Sora, Sora having heard about Yozora through the Nameless Star, and Young Xehanort hearing about the MoM’s name that he recognises can’t be a simple coincidence. These scenes are all included to emphasise Sora’s name and others are shocked to hear it, just as Sora was first used to show shock at Yozora’s name in KH3 before these ReMind scenes.
The reason these situations are important is due to one of the first few scenes of ReMind, where we witness Young Xehanort meeting with the MoM in the Keyblade Graveyard sometime after he returned and lost his memories of the future at the end of DDD and before his Mark of Mastery. In this scene, we see the MoM claim that “the truth is what you
see with your eyes, not what you
hear.” Which carries over as we see Young Xehanort ask for his name and hear it, appearing shocked at whatever the name was, while we the audience don’t hear it. This scene is identical to that of Lea remembering Xion through Kairi but not being able to remember everything, suggesting that this effect symbolises when someone remembers something that should’ve been erased from their memory. The emphasis of Young Xehanort claiming that he recognises the Organisation’s coat and knowing that he will wear it in the future supports this, as he was not meant to remember the events of DDD but clearly does. This means that Young Xehanort
recognises the MoM’s name, much like Axel with Xion, but unlike with Axel seeing a hazy vision of Xion instead of Kairi, the MoM only sees the light due to the MoM’s face being blocked by the MoM’s hood. And, due to the forgotten person seeming to need to be
important to the person who forgot to trigger those erased memories, we have to assume that whoever’s name the MoM told him must have been important enough to him for it to trigger these memories. Perhaps… the
last person he talked to before being dragged back to the past and had his memories erased?
Young Xehanort talking time Sora before having his memory erased compared to him being shocked at MoM’s name. All of these pieces of evidence that I’ve put here are, to my knowledge, from my own research that I decided to put together into a big theory to get people talking about this theory since I really enjoy this theory and wanted to get some enjoyment from this.
submitted by So last article I wrote was about John not being innocent and I think looking back I agree with a lot of the comments in his defence so thank you for reading and responding to my post and not crucifying me.
This post is more about who would have been, was or is the best king. We have 3 candidates for this being John, Blyke, and Arlo since Blyke would have been king if John didn’t reveal himself but Blyke and John have a few more predictions so don’t take my word on it.
Let’s look at the one who we have seen the most as king, Arlo. However to see how much the school changed and the positives and negatives of it we have to look at Rei’s reign as king. The reason I’m not including Rei in this is because he isn’t in the series that much apart from a few mentions and what he did while he was in power. When Rei became king he saw the way low tiers were treated as wrong and actively tried to make it so High tiers and Low tiers can get along. A positive of doing this was Low tiers weren’t under threat and didn’t need to watch where they walked or who they bumped into as they felt safe however higher tiers lost faith in the hierarchy and even Arlo someone who I could say somewhat admired Rei saw this as wrong. As a reader of the series you would agree with Rei but looking at it from the perspective as a high tier in this world this is kind of unheard of and even if it doesn’t seem it a massive change from what they are use to. Now we go to when Arlo finally became king. At this point Remi, Blyke, Isen and Sera were first years however at this time I don’t think John was in Welston quite yet (correct me if I’m wrong). So along with new students of which would later become some of the highest ranking students in Welston he also had to deal with the high tiers. Now that they didn’t have Rei they saw this as an opportunity to disregard Arlo and do what they pleased. Arlo tried to get the hierarchy back in order but was unsuccessful at first. So he decided to challenge them all and we we know he won and the hierarchy was back and I would like to say this is around the time Remi overthrew Cecile (again correct me if I’m mistaken). How he was back in control he wanted the hierarchy to be what it was. High tiers had the most power, elites would either help the high tiers or have big roles in the hierarchy for example Blyke being a Jack and Isen being the head of the press for awhile. Then when John came I don’t want to spend to long about this part as you can go read it but despite what people may think Arlo is a smart king as he was able to know who to talk too for the information he needed and even after he was beaten by John he managed to keep his king role for awhile even if John wanted nothing to do with the hierarchy at the time.
The Pros of Arlo’s Reign: - The high tiers were able to trust the hierarchy again - He restored ‘Order’ - He had a lot of influence over the students and not all out of fear - He is shown to be very strong in both Brains and Brawn - He was able to ‘fix’ the hierarchy seemingly by himself - He didn’t hesitate to speak up against John after John went for Isen when he became king even grabbing him and if you look you can see John shaking so he has a lasting impression - Welston started to win more Turf wars and was seemingly ‘undefeated’
The cons: - Low tiers are/were mistreated - He is quite manipulative and threatens people to get what he needs (as shown with Isen) - He can be Cocky or Hot headed at times shown when he attacks John - He didn’t think about the long term affects of revealing John - He didn’t listen to Isen after he said to drop the John story - He goes too far in battle as seen in a Turf War when they called the queen back he continued to fight her - Is obsessed with the Hierarchy or should I say wants things to be as what he sees as ‘perfect’ - A hypocrite?
Now John and Blyke will be much shorter since we haven’t seen much of John and Blyke will just be speculation so don’t take my word on Blykes part.
Now onto the current king being John. I don’t think I need to go into how he became king as we all know the story by now however I will brush over a few key points. He originally didn’t want to be in the Hierarchy due to the events at New Boston. However a certain rat and Arlo were able to uncover him and when Arlo attacks him he had to choice but to fight back. He tried to keep this a secret from seraphina but eventually she finds out after the Joker incident. Now Sera and him have a fight and are no longer friends and recently he came out as the new king to the school and chooses Cecile as the new Jack. This is a very brief analysis of Johns story however I will go more in depth in the Pros and Cons.
Pro of John being a king: - He has a lasting impression on students and even made some of the higher ups in the school such as Isen, Cecile and Zeke fear him even with the great power they hold. - He is a very and I mean very good fighter and has very tactical movements so we can also assume he is very smart. - He doesn’t let anyone cross him and if you cross him you won’t be forgiven showing he sticks to what he thinks - If he doesn’t like something he will remove it showing he’s strong minded - He knows his friends and Foes - He is able to keep control without anyone disregarding him -Turf wars will probably go just as smoothly
Cons of John being king: - He has a fragile mental state at the moment and could snap at any time - He actively is trying to tear down the ‘Safe house’ which is a place for everyone to feel safe - He’s repeating the past - Doesn’t know where to draw the line with his fights - Vulgar attitude - and I quote, ‘won’t hesitate, it’s on sight’ (this can be a pro and a con) - Low tiers are still mistreated as seen when Zeke attacks Sera - A hypocrite
Now this is where it gets difficult with Blyke as it’s all speculation so when I make a final analysis with the kings I will say who would have been or was the best king including Blyke and then I will say between John and Arlo
Now for the sake of the argument let’s say John hasn’t come out as king however the joker stuff still happened along with his falling out with Sera. I would like to say that I think low tiers won’t be as mistreated as at this point the safe house would have been approved so he would know they way they are treated. I would like to say that Turf wars however won’t go as smoothly as it would have done with Arlo as Blyke is weakest king ability wise that we have covered, unless his power level went up since he started training. Now at this point some people would have graduated such as Arlo. We wouldn’t know who the jack would be and I don’t think it would be Isen or John just because they are all in the same year and the Jack is meant to be the new king or queen after the current ones leave. I think he will somewhat still keep the Hierarchy however I think the school will be in some sort of disarray after he graduates.
Pros of Blyke being a king: - Low tiers aren’t as mistreated - He is strong not as much as Arlo and John but can hold his own in a fight - We don’t know how smart he is but I will go out on a whim here and say he is at least above the average in his school even if just about - He is friends with a lot of High tiers/ Elite tiers and him being friends with Remi who would probably still be queen at this time might help him also being friends with the king of gossip will probably help in the long run - Is very loyal - he doesn’t go out if his way to reveal the fake joker to the crowd so the fake joker isn’t attacked later on
Cons of Blyke being along - Anger issues - Turf wars won’t go as smoothly as they once did - after he leaves if he doesn’t choose his Jack well all the hard work to get low tiers a safer life may be undone - he acts before thinking most of the time - A hypocrite - Him being a vigilante might mess with his role
Now I would like to say if we are including my speculations about if Blyke was king along with Asslo and John I think he would be a good king however we haven’t seen much of John yet so John might be or evolve into a good king towards the end of the story if he’s still in power.
Without Blyke I would like to say right now Arlo is a better king but as the story continues John may be the better pick.
Thank you for reading my post and sorry if there is any grammar or spelling mistakes as English is not my strength.
submitted by Continuing The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Had two guys fall off the barge and they would have been killed, if not for their personal arrestors. We gave them loads of shit and it was decided those who fall, if they don’t die, will buy the first round that night. We had the usual cuts, bumps, and abrasions, but nothing requiring any more medical attention than a nurse’s kiss to the booboo, some mercurochrome or Merthiolate, and a bit of adhesive plaster.
Oh, and oral anesthetic. That went without saying. Lots of oral anesthetics. Even as a preventative. I lead by example.
Also, I was placing something a little special at the vertices of every four compartments. I was deciding to wire it into the Primacord grid or maybe do a radio detonation. We had all sorts of Indo-Paki army-surplus radio detonators. Just plug in a couple of triple-A batteries, tune to the desired frequency, set with a cap and super booster, and there you go. You could remote detonate one or a thousand with the proper transceiver.
Guess which way I went?
We spooled all the Primacord in record time. We used all of the new stuff that came with my last order, so we decided to use some of the stuff salvaged previously. I had Vis go to the truck and bring up a couple of cases of C-4. OK, six. May as well wire it all in as well since we were making such good time.
I went around and sphooted a shot of orange spray paint on conveniently placed holes. Here would go C-4 charges, all that would fit, with a cap, super booster, and a demolition cord connection to the Primacord. Once the Primacord was actuated, I was using Primaline demolition cord.
Primacord detonating cords are designed for use as trunklines and downlines in various mining, quarrying and demolition applications. Primaline det cords are flexible linear explosives with a core of PETN explosive encased in a plastic outer jacket. These carry the actuation to the Primacord. The velocity of detonation is sufficient to use it for synchronizing multiple charges to detonate almost simultaneously even if the charges are placed at different distances from the point of initiation. It is used to reliably and inexpensively chain together multiple explosive charges.
I would have 4 sets of these ready by tomorrow.
The cruise ship was less than 25 hours out. Time to get sparky.
We spent the rest of the day charging, priming, and setting the hulk. It rolled around 1700 hours, quittin’ time. I told everyone to get on the bus and head to the barn. I had a few more details that needed my attention.
I had Sanjay call HQ and get a couple of sets of guards out there. I didn’t much care to leave an old, rusty hulk sitting here with about a ton and a half of primed explosives, but due to the situation, I had no choice. I commandeered the truck so I didn’t have to walk to the Raj that evening.
I spent until dark probing around that old barge hulk. I found a few fuck-ups by my crew, but nothing a few extra lengths of Primacord and elephant shit couldn’t fix. I had 8 spools of Primaline up on top of the barge, at the highest point, out of harm’s and hopefully, nosy nose-poker-inners, way. Each one of them was tied to one section or another of the barge; one for slicing and other for dicing. It wasn’t terribly elegant, but damn skippy, it’s was quick, dirty, and essentially moron proof. It would work or my name isn’t…
The next morning down in front of the office, I had set up a blasting table. I had the 8-post blasting board and a couple of spare truck batteries. One side hooked to the Primaline, all eight runs, the other to a metal probe hooked up to the batteries. I hit a metal post, circuit’s complete, current runs down the demolition wire to the actuator, actuator sparks off the Primaline, Primaline sparks off the Primacord, Primacord sparks off the C-4
And the extra dynamite, PETN, and RDX I set the previous night.
That all sparks off and easy as cake, you have sliced barge.
QED, Robert is your avuncular relation.
It was going to be one hell of a show. Very noisy. It has to be, what with this tinnitus and all.
Plus, I had a radio detonator sitting next to me tuned to 39.170 MHz, the
‘Peter Popoff’ frequency, for the back-up charges I set at all nine intersections.
My crew shows up, all togged out in their natty PPEs. I was impressed. A week and a half ago, this was a ragtag agglomeration of shipbreakers without a trace of PPEs or unity. Now, they’re like an elite corps. I instructed them to get comfortable back behind me and the office. There were chairs available if you hustled.
As much as I hated to, I was going to handle the actuation. If there was a problem, I could be the best situated to rectify the situation. However, there were not going to be any problems.
This was a Rocknocker production. We don’t tolerate failures or fuck ups. Die on us and you’ll never fucking work in this field again.
We have about 9 hours before this beach has to be empty. The way I figure it, I’ve got 7 D-8 Cats, 6 D-9s, and a couple of dragline cranes that can use to clear the beach of scuttled barge parts. Even if I can’t chop them into bite-size pieces, yeah, give me a couple of good cat skinners, and I’ll have this fucking beach cleared one way or the other.
I want to go back on-board the barge one last time for a final look-see, but with now the 2.3 tons of set, charged and primed explosives up there, that’d be a fool’s errand. And I ain’t no fool; last I checked.
I had previously examined my blasting machines, galvanometers, and personally inspected the thing several times.
Got to be happy with that. We have a schedule to keep and it’s getting close to showtime. Can’t keep the explosive demons captive much longer. We have this agreement, you see…
I go and have a talk with my crew and answer any questions.
“Yep. Eight big shots, and 32 pieces of barge where there was one before.”
“The Cats and cranes will drag them off, out of the way. Trucks will be sent to cart them off to another part of the camp for final chop-up.”
“I send you up with a lit candle to see what went wrong. Whaddya mean what happens if it fails to light? Sheesh. Go get me a breakfast beer.”
That done, I decided to get Mr. Maha to drive a couple of guys back to the commissary. I need donuts, pastries, and breakfast munchies before the shot. Besides, we’re ahead of the curve, we can afford to take things nice and easy; not crazed and shoddily. That’s the way I prefer to work, even with looming deadlines.
Which was a good idea in retrospect. Seems Goodgulf Grayteeth and some of his board buddies are here to jeer us on.
He’s got a boatload of cash riding on this job. It fucks up and they have to do some station keeping offshore with the cruise ship, it’ll cost him some layover cash. However nowhere near the bonuses I’ve worked out for my crew.
“So, Doctor?”, he smiles, predatorily, “Everything shipshape this morning?”
“Sure is, Gulfy”, I reply, “But not for much longer. Here to see how we do it downtown?”
“Yes, Doctor”, he replies glacially, “I’ve brought along some observers. Just to be on the safe side, if you have no objection.”
“Fine by me”, I say, “Just as long as they stay the fuck out of my way. Care for some coffee?” I ask, “We might have some tea floating around the office. Or a cold beer? Nothing hydrates better than a cold breakfast beer.”
“Ah, ha. Coffee would be fine, Doctor.”, he smiles carnivorously.
I offer them seats on the blasting table. There room for me, Sanjay, Gulfy, and his three cronies. It’s a literal ringside seat. Roll up, roll up! See the show!
I make some small talk whilst I devour several french donuts. I guess stress really makes one hungry. Gulfy and his second-in-commands nibble like nervous bunnies visiting Berechstgarden on their assorted breakfast pastries.
0800 rolls around and it’s time to get schwifty. A bunch of my crew insists on playing the music of my nation. They go through the Safety Dance with some real Indian flourishes. If it wasn’t so serious, it’d be hilarious.
I’ve got the galvanometer set up so the entire table can see it.
“This thing hits 88 mhos, you’re going to see some serious shit,” I mutter.
Gulfy heard and cringes.
Sanjay heard and just chuckles.
The Safety Dance is almost over. I give a couple of extra honks on the air horn as I know loud noises irritate Gulfy and his crew.
Then, there it is.
FIRE IT THE HOLE. Once, twice, thrice.
“It’s showtime” I smile. The galvanometer’s right where it should be, the firing board is primed, and I have the detonation probe wired and ready.
“FIRING ONE!” I shout and hold the metal probe against the wired-in metal post.
Nothing happens.
Gulfy snickers.
Slightly puzzled, I look around. Galv’s OK. We have connections. Batteries…
Batteries are over on the side of the table.
“Oh, dear”, I say, “Looks like someone moved his fucking chair and disconnected the goddamned battery. Simple fix. Some moron kicked the
benchode battery and it came undone. No problem.”
Accident or sabotage? It had to be an accident. These characters are too thick to think up anything as subtle as sabotage.
“OK, where were we?” I say, and check the circuit continuity with another meter.
We’re green across the board.
A thought hits.
“Hey, Gulfy? Want to give this a go?” I ask.
He hesitates but declines. If this goes bust, he wants it squarely in my lap. Plausible deniability?
“OK, fuck it. Thought I’d be nice…FIRING ONE!” and I hit the first post.
OK, maybe an entire spool of Primacord per cut was a bit much. Maybe the 4 boxes of C-4 per cut were somewhat excessive. But, holy mother of pearl, it gave some hellacious bangs.
“Shooting 3! Shooting 5! Shooting 2! Shooting 4! Shooting 6!”
The noise was horrendous. The shock waves set up seiches in our coffee cups, but we were well back and in the safe zone. Still, Gulfy and crew are going to need to get their suits dry cleaned from all the thrown fine sand and shmoo.
Slice one tottered, groaned, complained, and with a rip of marine sheet metal, fell. It hit the ground with a mighty thud and broke into four subequal parts. Slice two followed, then slice three, and slice four. They all followed suit.
They all hit the ground or sat on the beach and convulsed. What was one hunk of 250-ton ocean-going barge at a 45
0 angle was now more-or-less 32 sub-pieces, flat on the beach. Most were still connected by cables or hunks of torn sheet metal. It looked like a partial win for the Foam Town Team.
“But, Doctor”, Gulfy smiled predatorily, “These are huge pieces. It will take far too much time to cut them into small enough pieces to clear before the cruise ship arrives.”
I just smiled back and shook my head.
“That’s why I always insist on insurance.”, I said and held up the radio transceiver. “I always carry a backup piece.”
“If you will sit, gentlemen”, I requested, “The shock waves might be a little
intense.”
I turned to my crew and asked for the chorus we’ve all been waiting to hear.
“Fire in the hole. FIRE IN the hole! FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
A full four hundred-weight of
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate and
1,3,5-Trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine detonated simultaneously. The shock waves were profound. The noise was deafening. The impact was hilarious.
The bits and pieces of the hulk shook, shimmied, and split cleanly apart along previously delimited and scored lines.
Now, there were 32 independent
separate pieces of the barge, all about 3-5 tons each, strewn about the beach.
Mere play-toys for the Cats and cranes I’ve got waiting.
“We’ll have this cleared by lunch,” I said. “I will, of course, expect payment immediately afterward.”
Gulfy looked at me with a cross of admiration, irritation, and downright incredulity.
“Remind me to never wager against you again, Doctor”, He says.
“Oh. Does that meant Friday night poker is off?” I laughed.
Gulfy and his cronies begin to depart, I remind him I needed 25 stuffed envelopes on my desk back at the barn by 1300 hours.
He nods in agreement and shuffles off.
“And I want them personalized!” I shout.
He waves gets into his company car and spins out of the area in a rooster tail of irritation and red dust.
I jump on a nearby D-9 Cat, fire it up, and back onto the playing field. I plug in a victory cigar, light up, and give a couple of celebratory puffs. I drop the rear ripper on one of the 32 sub-sections, punch a good grip on the thing, shift to forward and chug away dragging the hunk of the barge with me.
One down, 31 to go.
I drag it down the beach to a clearing, way the fuck out of the way of any cruise ship. Other Cat operators see my lead and are soon dragging or pushing hunks of the barge out of the way and into history. We didn’t even need the draglines.
We had that beach cleared in less than an hour. I was in such a good mood, I gave the crew the rest of the morning off, that is once they cleared the portable office and trucked it back to the barn. I made sure they left me a bucket with some hydration potions and noted that there was an imperative meeting at 1300 sharp. I fired up a second victory cigar.
I spent the next hour grooming that beach and actually building a V-door shaped ramp for the cruise ship which I could see puttering around just this side of the horizon.
“Beach Dog Green is open and ready for business”, I broadcasted over the company frequency.
I reluctantly returned the D-9 and hooked a ride back to the barn.
It’s 1245 and there’s a knock on the door. I answer the summons and receive a courier pouch that’s actually quite heavy. It’s my 25 parcels of pleasure for my crew.
They worked hard, kicked ass, and we had some laughs along the way. They earned every fucking biasa of this.
I smiled widely and shoved a new cigar into my gob. I sat down, did a quick tally, and realized that I had 1.5 lakhs rupees for each one of my guys. That was, at the time, i.e., a few weeks ago, about US$2,000.00 each. Sanjay would receive US$4,000.00.
All totaled, that was 52 large.
$52,000 in crisp, new US greenbacks
A king’s ransom for these guys that were used to working in rags, with shit equipment, in dangerous and deadly places, ass-deep in shit, for the equivalent of US$5/day.
I was fervently hoping that I was setting precedence here. This ship breaking company raked in
billions of rupees in pure profit per annum. The board didn’t look like they were hurting any.
“Time to spread the wealth, gentlemen.” I snicker quietly to myself.
All told, I probably, to date without my contract or pyrotechnics, have caused the company to expend some $250,000. Spread that out over 25 workers and that’s less than I care to think. These guys deserve a hell of a lot more than US$10K. I hope that when they begin training the next batch, they get recognized for their efforts, and are paid accordingly.
I will personally see to it that I make several such not-so-subtle suggestions to the board before I take my leave of this place.
It’s rapidly approaching the 1300 hour and the regular crowd filters in. They’ve all gotten out of their PPEs and everyone’s locker box is stored away nice and neatly.
“Hey, guys”, I said at 1301, “Good job on the barge. Sure we got a few cuts and bruises, but overall, I can’t be more pleased. So pleased, in fact, that we’re going to have a locker box inspection!”
The groans around the room were tangible. I think a few had an inkling something was afoot, but they thought it might be a day off or a bit of a bonus…
“Oh, OK. Now, yes now, we're going to do a locker box inspection! That is unless any of you got anything better to do. Well?! Anyone got anything they'd rather be doing than a locker box inspection?! Yes?! Govinda. What would you... rather be doing, Govinda?” I ask.
“Really, Rock; just about anything else. “ he replies.
“Under advisement.” I bark back.
“Rock?” Bhavabhuti asks.
“Yes?!”
“I'd quite like to read more in that Blaster’s handbook.”.
“Right! You go read your book, then! Now! Everybody else... quite content to join in... with my little scheme of a locker box inspection?!”
“Well, to be quite honest, Rock, I'd... rather be at studying some of the catalogs you’ve included as reading material,” Katyayana says.
“Would you, now?!”
“Yes, Rock” he replies.
“Right! Off you go! Now, everybody else happy with my little plan... of having a bit of locker box inspection?”
There are general murmurs around the room. I think I’ve confused them long enough.
“Or, I guess Sanjay could first distribute these. Sanjay?” I ask as I hand him half the stack of envelopes.
“Don’t open them until I give the word. Green?” I say.
“GREEN!” comes the explosive reply.
All are distributed and they all holding them up to the light, trying to figure out what the hell they’ve gotten into this time.
I reach inside my field vest and to the crestfallen, because he didn’t get one, Sanjay, I hand him his envelope. It’s quite a bit thicker. I ask him quietly to keep it on the QT.
“OK, gents.”, I say, “This is your…bonus for working that last job. I wrangled it for you and that’s why I pushed so hard. There’s now a Scandinavian cruise ship where our barge once set. I bet old Goodgulf your bonuses that we’d have the barge gone in 72 hours. Even with me taking off 24 for personal reasons, we did it with time to spare. Because of you and your diligence, hard work, and attitudes. Go ahead, open them. You deserve it.”
“HOLY FUCK!” was more or less the unanimous response.
Several of my crew just sat there. Stunned. Total cognitive shutdown. They’ve never imagined, much less seen nor held this much money at one time.
A couple of them whooped like Red Indians. I thought it was in poor taste to call them racist; I mean Indians whooping it up and making a scene? I guess you had to be there.
Many more of them just looked at me with tears in their eyes. OK, that one got me right square in the feels. I’m old, I’m jaded, I’m a crusty old curmudgeon. However, I wasn’t prepared for this. Not by a long shot.
The room was at a tipping point. Which way would it go? Total emotional implosion or explosion?
Sanjay looked at me and said soggily, after he noted his recent windfall, “Don’t just stand there, ya’ big ape. Say something profound.”
“OK. Um. Ah. Don’t spend it all in one place?” I joked.
That was enough to send the room over the top. There were hoots, howls, yells, and hurrahs leaking out of the barn for at least a solid 5 minutes.
“Well, this day is fucked”, I observed.
I could hear plans of buying this and buying that, as soon as possible. I figured it would be things like fancy watches, a new phone, something silly and absolutely necessary.
No, I was dead wrong. They were discussing buying space heaters, new brakes for their tired old cars, a new stove for the family, even a room addition and bedroom furniture for their homes.
Now I was pissed. I should have held Gulfy’s feet to the fire and gone for 2 lakhs each.
Amazing what living in different cultures can do to a person. Here I am, the tired world traveler and every once in awhile, even I get blindsided.
“OK, guys”, I said, “I know you’re itching to go spend your newly found wealth, but first, Chapters 11-15 of Thompson for tomorrow?”
That was greeted with general grimacing and unpleasantness.
“You can read that now, or join Sanjay and me in a cigar, and maybe a libation or two. Class dismissed. Go nuts. Your choice. See you tomorrow 0800 for discussions on underwater demolition practices.” I said.
I ask Sanjay to order up some libations. I have no idea how many will stay and how many are itching to dish out the doss, so I just order 6 cases of beer. Any way you count it, it’s not about to go to waste.
“Oh, and Sanj, add a couple-three of bottles of
Old Benchode as well,” I tell him on the sly. I’ve actually developed a taste for the stuff.
I mean, what the fuck? I’ve already read chapters 11-15 in Thompson.
The beer and booze arrive and while some are reading their chapters, it doesn’t last long. I fire up a heater and distribute them to all who desire. Only a few accept as clove cigarettes are a thing in these parts. I come out of class smelling like an Easter Spiral-sliced baked ham.
It’s not a “Whoop-de-doo!” sort of party. It’s more a sit around, have a few drinks, smoke a few smokes and ask the professor about some of his stories.
My Russian tales are the best received of the batch. They get the jibblies when I tell them of some of my Central Asian antics. They don’t care for my tales from China at all. It’s an odd response. Total neutrality on Mongolia, but mention China, and they all visibly bristle.
It’s getting on in time and I have an appointment down at the docks later this afternoon. I kick everyone out precisely at 1700 hours and ask Sanjay if he wants to accompany me.
“Where to this time, Rock?”, he asks.
“Down to the beach. I’ve struck a deal with some fishermen. They’ll take me out for a spot of fishing. I don’t want the fish, just the opportunity to get out, breath some salt air, and tangle with some finny denizens of the area.” I said.
“Good thing you told me”, he says, “They’d fuck you over greatly. Once you’re out of sight of land, they’ll feign getting lost, and try to terrorize you.”
I chuckle involuntarily.
“Fuck. Good luck with that”, I smirk…
“And they’d keep you out there as long as they could until you agree to pay. They basically kidnap you and can’t find port again until you cough up some dough.” He says.
“Oh, OK. Thanks. Well advised. Want to go with?” I ask.
“What? You’re still going?” he asks.
I reach in my field vest and pull out about 7 or 8 hunks of spare C-4 and an equal number of set-pull-forget pull fuses.
“Sure”, I smile, “Sounds like it could be major fun.”
“Rock…” Sanjay says in that matronly manner he pulls out when I want to have a little fun.
“Oh, geez”, I snarl, “You guys are always pushin’ me around. Never let me have any fun…”
Just as well. We get back to the Raj and I have a couple of phone messages. Seems the agency got a Twix on me and want to discuss a few things.
Besides, I need to call Es and have a chat. Plus, I should really update my field notebooks, files, and dossiers.
The thought of "You're going to have to pay for this, Ralph Phillips!" keeps running through my head.
“They never let me have any fun.” I grouse as I pick up the phone. “It’s like I’m stuck on Monkey Beach”
After a quick chat with Esme, as she and her mother are saying “Pffft!” to lockdown rules as they are being finally relaxed all over Baja Canada and they’re, wait for it…’ going shopping’…
I tell her of the guy’s reaction to my little scheme of getting the bonuses. She was also bewildered. She notes that even after living all around the world, we still get culturally blindsided occasionally.
“Birds of a feather”, I reply. We profess our mutual love and she mentions Turner’s for lunch. Now I have nostalgia pangs. I’d kill for a raw beef and onion Cannibal Sandwich and a couple-six ice-cold drafts from
Turner’s.
Next up are my Agency buddies.
“Yes? Hello? Take me off the damned speaker, Rack!” I say.
“That’s not going to happen. How are you, today, Doctor?” Ruin asks.
“Just dandy”, I reply, “And you? And your unsmiling partner?”
“Quite fine”, he says, “Enough of this idle banter. We have a chore for you.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I reply.
“Because you’re prescient, have second sight and you know us all too well?” Rack laughs.
“There is that…” I agree. “OK, what’s the job?”
“Your last report. The CEO of the shipbreakers, the one you refer to in the narrative as Goodgulf Grayteeth?” Ruin asks.
“Only because his real last name is eleven syllables long. And his first name isn’t much shorter. Besides, he reminds me of an ancient, crotchety, and less-than-effectual wizard. Besides, he looks like he fell off of a charm bracelet.“ I reply.
“That’s the one.” Ruin agrees.
“Yes?” I reply, “Get on with it?”
“Of course. The old American get-right-down-to-business attitude.” Rack titters, “So refreshing.”
They’re quoting back some snippets of my reports at me. This can never be good.
“WHAT!?!” I detonate.
“Oh, we’d just like every bit of dirt you can find on this character.” Rack replies, “We didn’t have much on him before you graced their shores. Now, he’s prominent in several of your communiques. Well, OK then. We’re interested. Skullduggery time, Herr Doctor.”
“Skullduggery?” I ask, “Who bought you a thesaurus for your birthday?”
“They’re company issue now.”, Rack replies, “Ever since we’ve had to deal with the likes of you.”
“Oh, I am insulted!” I roar, “I’m affronted. Slighted. Disrespected. Outraged. Offended. Shall I continue?”
“With your data collection? Yes.”, Ruin agrees, “With your current line of conversation, not so much.”
“Right,” I reply. “Anything else I can do for you gentlemen?”
“Yes, there is as a matter of fact.”, Ruin continues, “Take the job here at the agency, become our boss, and get us big, juicy bonuses.”
“Oh, you heard about that?” I asked.
“Oh, yes”, Rack replies.
I had better sense than to ask “From whom?”.
I do know I’m not the only sneaky bastard around these parts. I don’t know any names, but I have my hunches.
“And don’t go offshore fishing anytime soon, Herr Doctor”, Ruin continues, “We need your reports. They’re such fun readings early in the morning after coffee.”
He’s insinuating that they read my dispatches in the john.
“At least you just read mine there”, I reply, “Your stuff is held in reserve in case the bog roll runs out.”
“Well played, Doctor.” Rack chuckles. “OK, bye now.”
And with that, they ring off.
I hate it when they do that. I’ve got so many more insults I wanted to use on them.
Wait one…what did he mean about going fishing?
The penny drops.
Now I have another one to drive crazy. I might have to send him to the far side of the breaker’s yard while I spend a little time rummaging around in his room.
“Sanjay, me ol’ mucker”, I smile, “You really should have told me…”
So, after a night of updating dossiers, field notebooks, and creating a new, non-repeating substitution encryption cipher for my notes, I relax in the Olympic-sized Jacuzzi. I take with a brace of cigars, couple-nine drinks, and the newly arrived issue of Surface Mining / Quarrying / Construction Drillers & Blasters Quarterly.
Heady stuff, to be certain.
The next morning, I’m watching what I say around the breakfast table. It’s tough knowing that everything you might utter could possibly end up in a coded transmission back to Virginia.
This only lasts a few minutes as I resign myself to the fact that I really don’t give a furry rat’s ass about the whole deal. Fuck it. I end up in someone’s report? So what? They already know, from my own detailed reports, what the fuck’s going on, for the most part.
“‘Mornin’ Sanj”, I say over a steaming hot mug of Greenland coffee. “Time for some chow before we need to scoot.”
Sanjay looks at me with road-mapped bloodshot eyes.
“Oh, my!” I say in my best, though still not very good, George Takei impression. “Look at what the feline dragged in. Go fishing without me?”
He looks at me with weary eyes.
“Rock”, he says, “I might need a day off. Personal reasons.”
“Sure, I’m not your handler,” I reply, utilizing the old agency term for field director.
Let him swirl that one around the old brainbox for a while.
He looks at me quizzically. But that wave blows over before it can form into anything coherent.
“Nah. I continue, “It’s all book learnin’ today. I can handle this easily. You stay here and get some kip. Looks like you could use some.”
“Yeah”, he snarls back, “Just like you and your little [finger quotes]
problem the other day.”
Gad, I hate that. He was insinuating I was,
gasp, intoxicated and needed bed rest.
For a supposed spook, he certainly hasn’t done his homework. I already told him I’m an EtOH-fueled organism.
“Yeah” I replied, “
Mea culpa. I didn’t know you had RRMS as well. It’s a motherfucker, ain’t it? That relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis is a real pain right square in the cunning linguals.”
Sanjay looks at me like I just sprouted durians.
“Yeah”, I continue, “I don’t carry on about on person’s foibles, maladies, or physical disfigurements. I just take them at their word. Guess that’s a major personality fuck-up on my part.”
Sanjay realizes he’s trodden upon some conversational real estate that is both quickmud and somewhere he doesn’t want to be right now.
“Well, bye”, I say. “Get some kip. Sounds like you could use it. But that’s just me and my flawed observations.”
I cap my coffee, stand up, shove a new cigar in my gob and walk out in a huff.
Sanjay sits there trying to figure out if I was really personally insulted. Slightly miffed. Or just yankin’ his chain.
Maybe I’ll let him know which sometime later.
Or maybe I’ll just let him stew for a while.
At the barn, it’s 0730. I ‘ve got the whiteboard finally wiped down. Sharpies aren’t the best things to use on them, I discovered. Oh, well. A little renatured, unflavored EtOH cleaned the board slick. It just keeps hiccuping at me.
It’s most disconcerting.
The class begins directly at 0800. I’m getting to the end of things I can teach these guys without delving more deeply into one or another subject. But there’s the rub. Unless they want to extend my contract, there isn’t time. And if they do want me to hang around, which subject would do the most good?
Fuck it.
I announce that after lunch, everyone meets here and boards the Magic Bus. Mr. Maha will convey them to an open stretch of beach. I feel the need for some demonstrations. After all, I have to leave in 3 days. After that, these characters are on their own. Of course, I’m available by Email, but it’s difficult to diagnose difficulties in demolition via that direction.
Lunch hour hits and I’m off to the bunker. I found, ahem, an old Royal Enfield Bullet C5 Desert Storm motorcycle. Actually, I’m renting it for 100 rupees per day. What the hell, it sure beats walking.
I’m at the bunker, sitting around the desk and chair we got corporate to cough up. I decide I’m going to do a full-spectrum display of various pyrotechnics.
On a stick.
I’m going to borrow several of those 6-foot bamboo poles and attach to the top, equivalent amounts of pyrotechnics, beginning with some gunpowder and up to an including my old nemesis, liquid nitro.
This will be some fun.
Let’s see. Quick inventory. Some things have come in over the last few days…
Black powder, Blasting caps, Det cord, Primacord, C-4, 40% Extra Fast Dynamite, 60% Extra Fast Dynamite, RDX, PETN, ANFO, Kinestik, and DOUBLEHELIX.
Oh, look here. A full inventory has been taken. Let’s see what we all have to play with:
Nitrogen Based Explosives and Formula
• Ammonium nitrate (AN) H4N2O3
• Ammonium picrate (Expl D) C6H6N4O7
• Cyclonite (RDX) C3H6N6O6
• Ethylenediamine dinitrate C2H10N4O6
• Guanidine nitrate CH6N4O3
• Hexamethylenetriperoxide diamine (HMTD) C6H12N2O6
• Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW or CL20) C6H6N12O12
• Hydrazine nitrate H5N3O3
• Mannitol hexanitrate C6H8N6O18
• Monomethylamine nitrate CH4N2O3
• Nitrocellulose C6H7N3O11
• Nitroglycerin (NG) C3H5N3O9
• Nitrotriazolone (NTO) C2H2N4O3
• Octogen (HMX) C4H8N8O8
• Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) C5H8N4O12
• Picric acid C6H3N3O7
• Tetrazene C2H8N10O
• Tetryl C7H5N5O8
• Trinitrobenzene (TNB) C6H3N3O6
• Trinitrotoluene (TNT) C7H5N3O6
• Triaminoguanidine nitrate (TAGN) CH9N7O3
• Triaminotrinitrobenzene (TATB) C6H6N6O6
• 1,3,3-Trinitroazetidine (TNAZ) C3H4N4O6
• Trinitrochlorobenzene C6H2ClN3O6
• Trinitropyridine C5H2N4O6
• Urea nitrate CH5N3O4
•
Other explosive types • Ammonium perchlorate H4NO4Cl
• Lead styphnate C6H3N3O9Pb
• Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) C9H18O6
• Black powder Intimate mixture
• Tetraamminecopper perchlorate H24Cl2CuN4O8
• Kinestix Binary Solid
• Seismogel Binary semi-solid
• DOUBLEHELIX Binary liquid
Not that we needed all that for the job, but once you get locked into a serious explosives collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
Whoever takes over my job when I leave is going to have him or herself some fun. I wish I had time to play with everything on the list. It would be most enjoyable.
Well, I don’t have that much time, so I’ll just go back to my original list and do some shopping.
Hmmm…Black powder, Blasting caps, Det cord, Primacord, C-4, 40% Extra Fast Dynamite, 60% Extra Fast Dynamite, RDX, PETN, ANFO, Kinestik, and DOUBLEHELIX.
I pack approximately 1 kilogram, where applicable, of each into my backpack. I somehow manage to get the bamboo shoots over to an area of the beach that’s currently unoccupied, as it’s just growing back from our little 9-ton ammo dump party.
I attach all the explosives to the top of the bamboo and duct tape them soundly to the little wooden platform on the top.
I key the mic on my radio and give a call to Mr. Maha. I explain that he should take his Magic Bus to the Barn, inform all my crew to board the bus and meet me over at the divot we created a few days ago. He knows the place, in fact, he tells me that the locals have taken to fishing there in the evenings as it’s a nice, shady area with a new geographic outlook.
Evidently the locals like a little change now and again.
At 1330, the incredibly hued Magic Bus arrives. I instruct Mr. Maha to park his polychromatic creation well away from the 12 bamboo poles swaying gently in the breeze.
He did not need to be told twice. He knows to take me literally, or greater, at my word.
I tell the guys that this is a practical demonstration of equal amounts of a dozen different explosives.
I tell them it’s also pop quiz time. Tell me, on a sheet of paper out of your field notebooks, what you think will be the biggest bang, and list from 1 to 12 the order of increasing energy.
Also, which are deflagrating versus detonating explosives.
I live for pop quizzes.
I give them a few minutes to get settled. Since I have each one set with a radio-controlled detonator, which I chose to be 10 MHz apart so we had no doubles, I have a sheet of frequencies and pole positions, if you will.
This isn’t like the US, Europe, or even Russia. There’s not much going on across the radio frequency spectrum, so I’m not too worried about having FM-ZOO radio setting anything off prematurely. Besides, I chose detonators well out of the broadcast band. Still, there’s always the chance of some joker of a HAM radio operator with a leaky linear amplifier bleedin’ all over the frequency spectrum.
They’d have to be able to overpower my hand-held, and since there’s no one line-of-sight working on a collinear or Yagi sort of antenna, I decide it’s a risk worth taking.
I’d never even think of attempting this just about anywhere else.
“All set?”, I ask and plug in a new cigar, “Smoke’m if you got’em.”
After I dispense a dozen or so cigars, we’re back on track.
“Oh, yes, how daft of me”, I swan, “First. The Hindi Safety Dance. Gentlemen?”
A group spontaneously arises and begins to clear the compass.
They just love doing the safety dance. They really camp it up. Perhaps because they know what’s coming immediately after…
Finally we hear: “किसी बड़े विस्फोट की चेतावनी देना!” “Kisee bade visphot kee chetaavanee dena!” “FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
Once again, it’s Showtime.
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