TWENTY-SIX: First Assignment

TWENTY-SIX: First Assignment

Alden froze, one hand gripping the strap on the goggles. The timer display was positioned right over Boes forehead, ticking down.

48, 47, 46, 45

Later, hed be glad his brain didnt waste any more time than that. Instead of freaking out, getting excited, or going into denial, his first thought was I cant have my return teleport drop me in the middle of this lobby.

I need to get to the basement! he shouted, turning and sprinting for the elevator.

Shit, said Boe.

Whats wrong? asked Jeremy.

Gorgon hopped up from his seat and hurried after Alden.

I got summoned. Alden pressed the elevator button repeatedly, like that was going to make the door open quicker. I cant just pop back up in front of people.

The System wasnt going to do something horrible like splice him with another person occupying the same space. And it wouldnt drop him back in a lethal location if, say, he ever got summoned away from a ship or a plane. But it would be happy to dump him into a crowd full of onlookers who would all be pretty interested in how hed gotten there. They would all immediately think, Hey, maybe this guy is an Avowed.

He could always lie and say it was a return from visiting Anesidora, but if he was wearing a weird outfit and he smelled like an alien bomb laboratory it wasnt going to hold water. Hed have to go ahead and register, and hed rather just wait on that.

He didnt want the US government following him around and taking notes on his powers before hed even figured them out himself.

The second the elevator opened wide enough, he jammed himself in. His friends and Gorgon were right behind him.

You guysIm sorry to ask, but would you do damage control on Aunt Connie if it comes up?

If he was gone a few hours, it was fine. A day or two even. Shed just assume they were missing each other in passing. But any longer than that

Give me your phone! said Boe. Ill answer if she texts.

Alden hastily unbuttoned the Hot Lab Coat so that he could get at his jean pockets and shoved his phone at Boe.

The passcode is

Oh please, said Boe, unlocking the phone and giving Alden a wry look. You think I never peeked over your shoulder once in the past few years?

Fair enough.

20, 19, 18

Alden re-buttoned the coat as the elevator opened.

You cant use the trading room, said Gorgon, sorting through a keyring. Your return time is unpredictable, and another selectee may need it. You may use Conference Room B. Last door on the left.

You shouldnt have bought the lab suit! Jeremy hissed, chasing Alden as he sprinted down the hall. What if you die?!

Jeremy! Boe snapped, running after them. Hes not gonna die. Hes a fucking Rabbit. Gorgon, whats with this timing? Hes been an Avowed for a few hours. Even with his special class mojo and the gear, what are the chances he gets summoned this quick?

It was a little unexpected. Even geared-up, high-value Rabbits were usually only summoned a few times a month.

Some skills are more useful than others, Gorgon said, taking his sweet time unlocking the door.

Alden put the goggles on. Like the coat, they fit his face perfectly.

Maybe he didnt even need them. Some Artonan couldve just wanted a spare Rabbit for mail delivery or something. The timing could have been coincidental.

But better safe than sorry.

He flipped up the hood of the coat and dashed into Conference Room B. It was small and empty. The air smelled stale. The lights didnt work. Judging by the half-white, half-gray walls and the rusted paint cans in the corner, someone had given up on remodeling it years ago, and it had been sitting empty ever since.

Is there anything else I can do? A bathroom break wouldve been nice. But he didnt have time. Forty-eight seconds was even shorter than hed thought.

7, 6, 5

Dont piss them off, said Jeremy.

Alden wished Jeremys face wasnt pale and scared. It was out of character. It was making him feel weird.

Hes fine, Boe said. Hey, Alden. The outfits great. You look like someone who tries to keep his ritual sacrifices hygienic.

You asshole.

1.

Gorgon gave him a small wave.

The last thing he saw before his vision went dark was the three of them standing in the backlit doorway.

The nausea Alden was used to with teleports to Anesidora was missing. So was the sense of instantaneity. He lost physical awareness, but his mind still worked, and he had just enough time to think, I guess cross-dimensional is different than local, before he opened his eyes on another planet.

Weird. I dont remember closing my eyes in the first place.

[Teleport complete. Welcome to Artona III.

Summoner: Bti-qwol. Quest: Hazardous Materials Disposal for LeafSong University.

Further details forthcoming. Await instructions.]

Alden braced himself, half-expecting some alien scientist to fling a busted magic grenade at him and say Catch!, but instead of a laboratory, hed arrived in a space that appeared to be designed specifically for summonings. It was similar to the teleportation booth on Anesidora, but it was half the size of his high schools gymnasium, and the multicolored sigils spiraling over the walls and floor were much stronger.The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

His newly heightened Sympathy for Magic made him want to stare at them; his sense of self-preservation had him looking at his summoner instead.

The Artonan with the white light halo stood inside an interlocking geometric pattern, just a few yards away. Her skin and hair were both a pale purplish color, and she was wearing a pared-down version of the Triplanets traditional wizards garb. It was usually harem pants, a tight-fitting turtle neck, and a looser overcoat with wide sleeves.

But Bti-qwol was missing her coat, and her pants were a few inches shorter than normal. She also lacked the large network of dark blue tattoos Alden was used to seeing on Artonans who taught his classes or traveled to Earth on official business. She only had onea straight line from the base of her left eye down to her jaw.

Alden stood, nervously awaiting instructions like hed been told to do while she stared at a tablet in her hand. Finally, she looked up and gave him a small toothless smile.

>

She turned and headed for the exit.

When Alden hesitated for a second, his interface prompted him to follow her with a large flashing wall of text.

I get it, I get it.

He hurried after Bti-qwol, and the text disappeared.

The summoning room had a giant wooden door that looked more like it belonged in a medieval castle than in a high-tech setting. But when Bti-qwol said something to her tablet it swung open. The two of them stepped into a foyer where Alden could literally feel himself being scanned, then through another door into early morning sunlight.

The color of the light was off just enough for Alden to be uncertain whether it was really noticeable or only his imagination. The warm, damp air smelled faintly of mildew. That was standard for any of the Artonas, from what hed heard. People said your nose got used to it quick.

Artona IIIs gravity was a tiny bit higher than earths, but it wasnt enough to bother him. Not when he had so many other new experiences to cope with.

They were standing on a wide, paved walkway outside a windowless building that was by far the least interesting thing in sight. Next door, there was a flat rubbery surface covered in painted lines. Aldens best guess was that it might be a sports field, but there were no stands for an audience and nothing that was obviously a goal.

Bti-qwol led him a short distance down the walkway. The edges were landscaped with giant black and green plants that had a tropical-horror thing going on. A small furry animal was trapped inside a translucent pod on one of the plants, twitching weakly as it was digested.

All the environmental noises were strange to Aldens ears. There was no sound of traffic, not even a distant one. But something that definitely belonged in the background of a dinosaur movie was squawking up a storm. He couldnt spot it. The campus was heavily forested except in this immediate area, and the buildings he could see on the surrounding hillsides were partially hidden by jungle.

Bti-qwol didnt look up from her perusal of her tablet until they arrived at a parking area with just six slots. Three of them were taken by vehicles of a type Alden had never seen before. They looked a little like golf carts, but they balanced themselves on two thick tires.

One chimed suddenly and backed out of its slot before rolling toward them. It had no steering wheel, and the two bench seats faced each other.

Bti-qwol climbed in, not bothering to gesture for Alden to do the same. He followed and took the seat across from her. There was nothing like a safety belt.

The vehicle chimed again and set out, leaving the parking lot and heading down the path. Alden didnt know what their destination might be, but the most obvious-looking place was a complex of angular wood and glass buildings that crawled up a forested hillside in the distance.

The alien golf cart had no engine noise that he could detect, and it moved at a swift enough pace to give him a breeze. He appreciated that. The Hot Lab Coat was definitely hot in the wrong way right now. He wondered if he could take it off, since they didnt seem to be anywhere near a lab.

But I got summoned with it on, so Im supposed to keep it, right? The whole point of the Wardrobe was to make you a more attractive summonee, so it seemed like divesting yourself of part of your stats and abilities was probably a no-no.

He could just ask.

But was it better to be the weird, silent guy who never took off his armor in social situations or the clueless kid who was so jumpy he requested permission for every little thing? Choices, choices.

He decided weird, silent, and sweaty was easier for now. It wasnt like he was afraid to ask Bti-qwol any of the four thousand questions he had. Much.

She was swiping and pecking away at her pad with a look of frustration on her face.

Finally, she turned her attention back to him..

>

So there are multiple Avowed here?

Alden felt some of his tension fade. Considering his quest said hed be disposing of hazardous materials, he was eager to share the load.

Bti-qwol said I was here to help with entrance exams. And its an annual eventwith a welcome banquet for the staff? And they have regulars who come back to work it every year.

Hed never heard of or imagined a situation like that, but then hed always been more interested in what Avowed did on Earth rather than on their missions to other planets.

Oh right, she apologized about breakfast. I guess I shouldnt be totally silent.

Im fine. I ate an apple right before I came.

>

Eighth year couldnt be a reference to her age, so she probably meant years as a student at this school, right? Or maybe at her job

So youre a student here? he guessed.

>

She sounded proud of that last bit, so Alden smiled and nodded, trying to look impressed behind his goggles.

> She glared down at the tablet. >

A sidebar appeared on the interface, informing Alden that zzhoir was a pronoun used by one of the peoples from planet Tmith. It couldnt be accurately rendered in English.

Three weeks does seem like a long time.

> She was still frowning a lot for someone who was supposedly thankful for him. >

What numbers? Obviously she had more information about his skill than he did. Which didnt seem fair. Would the System get mad if he tried to peek at the tablet?

I havent tried anything alive yet.

It had occurred to him that it might work. In fact, he was thinking of it as something of a finale for the power testing. And Boe had an entire page of his binder dedicated to living subjects. But first Alden needed to get his hands on something alive that he didnt mind accidentally killing or mutilating, in case the preservation skill did something gruesome to it.

He wanted to start with something that deserved to die. Like a mosquito. And then work his way up from there to the more charming vertebrate animals. Like gerbils and Jeremy.

Bti-qwol turned away from him to stare at the plants they were passing by. At first, Alden assumed it was just her way of ending the conversation, but after a minute, she stopped the golf cart with a verbal command and hopped off. She headed toward one of the carnivorous plants; it had a frog stuck inside its translucent pod.

Bti-qwol tapped a thick silver ring on one of her middle fingers a few times, and a triangle of light about four inches long appeared from it. Alden thought it might be a knife, and it turned out he was right. Bti-qwol swiped it through the stem holding the frogs pod in place, and it fell away from the plant easily. There was an accompanying burnt smell.

Note to self, thought Alden. Dont challenge her to a fistfight.

She gestured for him to step down and take the pod from her.

Alden took the plant by the stem, careful to start walking immediately upon receiving it. He felt his skill activate, and the frog froze in place. The creature had a protective shell on its back like a turtle and bulging black eyes. Where its back feet rested against the base of the pod, they seemed to be blistering.

A little weirded out by his horrible new bouquet, he walked back and forth, taking great pains not to leap around wildly. The skill drain was about the same as it had been with the lighter flame.

> said Bti-qwol after peering at her tablet. >

Okay, said Alden, still pacing with his frozen frog. What about the lab coat?

>

No, I mean, can I take it off?

She frowned. >

Not during the lab exams, Alden clarified. Can I take it off for now and then put it back on when its time?

>

I should have gone with weird and silent.

Im wearing clothes underneath. It was obvious, wasnt it? His jeans stuck out the bottom a few inches. Did she think they were part of the gear?

>

I wont.

>

Alden stopped pacing and looked at the strange frog. When the preservation skill ended, it started wiggling around again. It looked like it was hurt, but he didnt think it was lethally injured.

Cant I just free it from the pod?

Excellent question. Its the entrustment. Your ability to halt volatile reactions instantaneously and completely is dreamy. I wish I could do it myself. But the fact that someone will have to willingly give the dangerous substances over to you is a complication for todays job.

I thought I would mostly be hauling away trash

How dull! There will be a bit of that, but you and our angelic Sophie are here to prevent terrible catastrophes from killing off the aspirants. Isnt that exciting?

>

And so you shall be today! Unless Alden and I make a mistake, and then it will be your job to throw yourself on the grenade, so to speak.

Alden stared at Sophie in alarm, but the grivek was making a choking sound that his interface said was laughter. So that was good?

Now, Alden, its best for you to think of the students as revolting, arrogant little pukes who cant hold the idea of their own failure in their head for even a moment, the professor said. Especially the ones in the first six sessions. Theyre all trying to test out of the introductory courses. Ha! As if Id let them.

Joe crouched down beside the nearest lab table and opened something that looked like a mini fridge. It was full of bottles, jars, and pouches that contained powders, liquids, and shavings of wood and metal. A few even had whole dead animals inside them.

I will do my best to strike fear into their hearts when they first arrive, to impress upon them the importance of giving you their heinous failures when theyre told to. However, we mustnt expect them to be entirely rational. This is the sort of school that attracts a lot of, shall we say, coddled geniuses.

He started taking things out of the fridge and tossing them toward Alden, who had to drop the lab coat to play catch. He was soon holding an armful of what he assumed where chemicals and magical reagents. Take those to that corner over there, Joe said, flipping his hand. Lets make sure our students have an exciting educational opportunity.

Alden did, and on the way back to the next station, he donned the lab coat and grabbed a large metal bin. It looked enough like a trash can for him to be fairly confident that was its purpose, and he wanted to reduce the number of thrown objects if possible.

He set it next to Joe, who was clearing an entirely different set of ingredients out of the next mini-fridge.

How do you score an exam when everyone has different supplies? Alden wondered.

You look gorgeous! Joe said, beaming at the lab coat while he stuffed things in the bin.

Even though hed said it wasnt necessary, Alden went ahead and targeted the professor. He seemed like the kind of person it was best to be over-prepared for.

Joe had given Sophie an assignment of her own. The panther-like alien was going from table to table, carefully re-arranging some of the equipment with her claws.

So, said Alden, what am I supposed to do if theyre not rational?

Hmm?

The students. What do I do if they wont give me their heinous failures?

Ah. This is where its a bit inconvenient. If they wont behave, and you cant make them behave, then I shall have to do it myself.

Alden wasnt sure how he was supposed to make an Artonan holding a volatile object follow his instructions.

Dont look so concerned. Well work it out together! Joe said brightly. Well think of the first session as a trial run. And then over lunch, assuming we havent been brought before the disciplinary committee, we can discuss opportunities for improvement.

Alden was still pondering that worrying statement, and the fact that the professor seemed to actually mean it, an hour later when the woman in charge of the medical team hurried into the room to brief him on his role in the event of an emergency.

Youre basically equipment, she said bluntly. No thinking required. If you get called, just use your skill to the best of your ability and follow instructions from anyone with more authority than youwhich is everyone.

She gave him a red glow stick to wear around his neck at all times and four different pills that he should take immediately after an emergency teleport to reduce undesirable outcomes.

What does that mean? Alden was already feeling strange about the fact that hed be forced to go to sleep every night. Getting casually drugged left and right hadnt been a feature of any story hed ever heard about being Avowed.

This one keeps you from throwing up. This one keeps you from passing out. This one temporarily inoculates you against Thetet Fever, and this last one makes you unable to register physical pain.

Theres no way this combo is good for my health. Especially the one that offered immunity to pain. If that was available on Earth and not dangerous, people would be taking it all the time.

He thanked the woman anyway, and stuffed the pill bottle into his pocket, hoping he wouldnt have to use it.

###

The initial group of examinees arrived about two hours after Alden had first set foot in the lab. He and Sophie sat on the floor in the back by the irradiators, watching as each one entered the room and bowed to Professor Joe, apologizing for the fact that they had to wear shoes while working with dangerous supplies.

Every prospective student was accompanied by one or two assistants who didnt bother apologizing for their footwear.

> Sophie told Alden in her quietest shriek. >

Roughly twenty percent of Artonans used magic. The eighty percent of the species who were members of the second class couldnt even hold political office or vote. Based on what hed seen of the faculty, Alden had assumed that the school was for the ruling class only, and this more or less confirmed his suspicions.

Weoutrank them? Right? he whispered.

He knew it was true, but it felt strange enough that he couldnt resist asking.

> said Sophie. >

Alden kept telling himself that just because a way of life was alien didnt mean it was wrong. But it still bothered him when he accidentally met the eyes of one of the assistants and the man gave a nervous half bow, as if afraid he might have offended Alden.

To Aldens surprise, the examination actually began with a lesson. Joe walked the length of the huge room slowly, talking over their assignment and explaining what they were expected to produce. Frustratingly, the System didnt translate a single part of the lecture, not even when Alden quietly asked it to.

He had taken the Artonan language intensive, and the logograms course. But it was only a beginning. He was good enough to pronounce and understand his wordchains and order off menus. But this lecture was about theoretical magic stuff, and he had almost no idea what the professor was saying.

He caught every dozenth word and tried to piece something reasonable together out of it. Joe peppered his speech with a lot of references to anatomy, which at first made Alden think the students might be creating medical potions or devices of some kind; but he gradually came to the conclusion that the anatomical stuff was actually really dirty swearing.

The prospective students and their helpers kept blushing and gasping too much for it to be anything else.

Do you understand what theyre going to be doing? he asked Sophie as quietly as he could.

Instead of answering aloud, the griveks sent him a texting invitation. She could obviously control her interface mentally.

[In past exam seasons, the students have been asked to produce their own summoning assistive devices for one of the tests they will have later. This professor is unknown to me. He seems to be asking for a higher level of device than usual.]

Alden air typed some more questions. Sophie had been working this event for three of her planets years, which was more like seven of Earths. Joe really hadnt been joking when he said her job was to throw herself on grenades. Classes were categorized differently for griveks, but based on her explanation, Alden thought she had both heightened speed and extreme regenerative capabilities.

The latter wasnt something you really saw with humans, so he was pretty jealous.

Purely out of curiosity he asked about her rank, and when the System failed to translate the word she said, she gave a click of annoyance and tapped one of her feet four times against the floor.

[Four?] Alden asked.

She confirmed it with four more taps. But what does that mean?

Four, as in three above the hyperbole rank on Earth, seemed unlikely. It would make Sophie a titanic existence by Aldens reckoning, and she seemed pretty normal for that. He guessed it might be four above the bottom rung for griveks, which would make her a B-rank like him if the Systems were equivalent.

Before he could ask more questions, the translation subtitles suddenly turned themselves on for the end of Joes lecture.

promptly and graciously give him your little mistakes, I will come and get them myself so that I can shove them up your>>

Its really stupid that you cut out the good part, there, Alden informed the System. I think the Earth version of you wouldnt be such a prude.

It ignored him, of course.

Within a few minutes, the practical portion of the lab exam was underway. Alden could practically taste the stress in the air. One of the guys at the table nearest him seemed to be hyperventilating while he stared at the equipment. At the next table over a girl was hammering on a sheet of copper colored metal so hard that she looked like she was trying to pound it right through the table.

Smoke was popping up at some tables, and at others, the students were directing their assistants to dissect things. A few people were definitely muttering wordchains while they worked.

Alden had no idea what it might look like if something went wrong, but almost as soon as the students got started, he gained a new visual display that gave everyone in the room a very pale pink aura.

Joe had told him to expect a danger detector, but this was better than hed thought it would be. As the professor strolled the lab, noting likely problems, the aura around a given student would turn brighter.

Hot pink meant Alden needed to be near that table, ready to take whatever disaster theyd made away from them.

Hood up and goggles on, he walked around the room, repositioning himself as the auras changed, trying not to make it too obvious which of the nearby tables he was there to monitor. Joe was surprisingly intent on the students work, and he actually adjusted the auras a lot. So Alden was getting more of a workout than hed expected.

A glimmer of dangerously bright pink appeared in his peripheral visionwhich he was pleased to note seemed a bit wider than it had been prior to his affixationand he hurried across the room to a table where a guy was pouring something that looked like boiling mercury into a tall metal cylinder.

Joe wasnt even looking in this direction, so Alden wasnt sure how he knew there was a problem. The professor was twelve tables away, critically watching over a girl who seemed to be peacefully doing macrame with strips of skin shed taken from the dissected animals.

Just a few yards away from Alden, the cylinder made a loud popping sound, and its creators aura went hot pink. Alden stepped right up to the end of the table and took his hands out of his pockets so that hed be ready to grab the thing, and the guy gave him a frantic look.

The cylinder popped a few more times, and then with a high whine, something like steam began to pour from the top.

Take that, Alden, Joe said calmly.

The guy whod spent the past forty minutes building the cylinder reached for it as if to protect it, but he was too late. Alden had been expecting interference, so hed snatched the device the second Joe had finished speaking. Walking quickly away from the table with the now-silent cylinder in his hands, he felt slightly accomplished.

And tired.

The drain from the cylinder was bad. It was worse than either the flame or the frog had been. It was even worse than Jeremys punch, though hed been braced for it, so at least he didnt stagger around the lab.

Is it because magic is involved? Or does it have to do with the potency of the reaction itself?

He had no idea, but he did know he couldnt hold onto this thing for more than a few minutes. He was already saying dont drop it, dont drop it in his head to keep himself focused.

He hurried toward a teleportation alcove in the corner. The door opened automatically for him, and he set the cylinder inside, leaping back and holding his breath so that he wouldnt inhale any of the strange steam in the couple of seconds that elapsed before the thing was zapped away.

The drained feeling didnt last. As soon as the device was out of his hands, it disappeared. Alden checked his palms, feeling a little paranoid that he might have gotten some dangerous substance on himself, but he didnt think the skill worked like that. Even though he could feel the items he carried, hed realized after holding the cup of wevvi that Bti-qwol had given him that he wasnt necessarily touching them in the usual sense of the word.

There had been a drop of liquid on the outside of the cup that hed registered as wet, but when hed passed the cup to the other hand, the water droplet was undisturbed and his fingers were completely dry.

His current theory was that the tactile sense he had from the items was actually a part of the skill itselfa magical effect that made it easier for him to hold and manipulate them in a familiar way.

He scanned the room again, looking for the color hed decided to call danger pink, but the worst he saw was a dark blush.

Joe was verbally annihilating cylinder guy. Once again, the System was refusing to offer a translation, but this time, Alden got the gist of it just from context and the hand gestures the professor was making. Cylinder guy was in big trouble for trying to interfere with Aldens theft of his project.

Well, it would have been a problem.

Just based on the experiments he had done with Boe and Jeremy, entrustment had a lot to do with possession. The cylinder sitting untouched on the table belonged to nobody, as far as the skill was concerned, so Joe could entrust it to Alden from across the room. But if the student had grabbed it first, he would have been in possession of it, and he would have to be targeted and give it to Alden himself.

Targeting was no trouble. Alden could do it in less than a second by pointing or speaking. But that didnt matter if cylinder guy refused to hand over his toy.

Alden guessed he could have made the student drop the thing and then had Joe entrust it to him, but dropping potential bombs seemed like the opposite of what they were going for.

The student left the laboratory weeping, his future at this school apparently ruined before it had even begun, and Alden tried to look as un-menacing as possible as he paced back and forth near the person with the dark blush aura.

It didnt work. The students at the three nearest tables were staring at him like he was the grim reaper.

Didnt expect disposing of dangerous materials to make me so unpopular.

He blinked in surprise as a notification flashed.

[Quest Assignment:

Assist Superior Professor Worli Ro-den in Lab 7]

Time to summons: 5 hr, 43 m, 55 s

[Note from summoner: My lab is so much better than this one!

You can just walk if you prefer not to be teleported. Dont worry about dinner. Ill feed you.]

Alden glanced over at Joe. The professor was patting his food-stuffed pockets, which was the opposite of appealing. But at least whatever he wanted Alden to do couldnt take too long. Theyd run afoul of the mandatory sleep requirement if it did.

How many quests can I even have at once?

Hed been under the impression that you got summoned for one thing and you did the thing and you went back home. Was he even earning credit toward his refusals with all these extra jobs?

Alden smiled and waved at Joe, which seemed to make the guy happy.

Maybe he just wants to show off his lab. Maybe its not a quest to help him out with something incredibly crazy or dangerous he just thought of after seeing my skill in action.

Alden stole a couple more projects from students who were too terrified to try to stop him and sent them to whatever dumping ground was on the other end of the teleportation alcove. But for the most part the first lab session passed uneventfully.

Joe invited me to his lab tonight, he told Sophie while they cleaned up the tables after everyone left. Wellordered me. It was a quest, so it wasnt really an invitation.

> the gryvek said.

You have a very human sense of humor you know.

She shrieked at him. >

I wont. Im an honest person. I speak only truth.

She flung a strip of skin at him. It was one of the ones the macrame girl had left behind.

It bounced off his lab coat, and he stuck his tongue out at Sophie.

>

Of Joe?

She adjusted one of the scales with a surprisingly delicate touch.

>

You mean private contracts? Alden said slowly.

>

I dont plan to sell myself at all. I want to work mostly on Earth, not be permanently attached to someone here.

> the gryvek advised. >