- 2026 -

“We are winning this science competition this year. I’m not letting Figberg High win again. We only have two years left” Thomas wrenched hard on the large machine. It stood seven feet in the air, light bubs, satellite dishes and tubes protruded from the side in all directions. A couple of Tesla coils lined the side.

“We barely lost last year, we got it, there is no way they come close to what we have. I mean look at it, its glorious, its fantastic, it it -“

“Even work?” A girl emerged from the shrubs and entered the backyard where the machine was being assembled “You have been building it for weeks, but you haven’t turned it on, once”

“Sadie, trust us, it works” Sam nodded “Right Thomas?”

Thomas wiped the sweat with his sleeve leaving a smear of black grease on his forehead.

“Yeah, it works.” He stepped back and nodded to himself “I think. Where’s Carl, he was supposed to be bring the power unit that we needed”

Right on cue a boy on his bike barreled past them and around the machine. His brown shaggy hair curling above his large glasses which he pushed up the bridge of his nose as he parked.

“Some one call on me?” He smiled and gave Thomas a high five followed by Sam. He looked at Sadie, she rolled her eyes but gave him a high five as well. Carl threw off his backpack and pulled out a small metal box.

“Okay, we got the mother of all energy sources in here.” They crept forward all looking down at the small metal box which now rested on the ground in their circle, Carls hands holding the lid. “Ready?”

His hands flipped up the lid of the box.

In the middle sat two AA battery.

“What the hell is this” Sam yelled breaking the circle. He stomped over to the large device “There is no way, our Tesla circle navigation device is going to be powered by two AA batteries, I thought you said you had the perfect thing for it?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, plutonium or something”

Carl smiled and pulled the batteries from the box, slowly and gently. He then grabbed a module from his backpack and made his way to the back of the device right under a Tesla coil. He fumbled a minute and attached the module to it and then inserted the batteries.

“First, they might look like normal AA batteries, but I assure you, they are not. Second, here we go!” With that he flipped the switch and hit the large green button next to the module.

“Wait” Thomas and Sam yelled in unison, but it was too late. The machine whirled to life, lights flashing, Tesla coils spitting lightning and the satellite searching.

Thomas circled around the devices, his eyes searching up and down “Carl, you idiot, there isn’t an off switch. Dammit”

The machine then stopped making noise and became quiet. The satellite had locked onto something and the coils of lightning remained steady. The laptop that sat on the outside table, made a dinging noise.

“That was extremely dangerous” Carl gave Thomas a concerned look.

“We haven’t configured it at all, we don’t even know the calibration, capabilities, we haven’t even done a single test… Oh shit” Thomas stood in front of his laptop looking at the dashboard.

The others moved and crowded around him.

The screen held a bunch numbers and readings, most which only Thomas and Sam could read, but one stood out. In bright red letters, “Locked On” flashed at them from the top right corner.

“What does that mean?” Carl backd away and looked up into the sky.

Sam went to work on the keyboard, flipping through screens and nearly pressing his face into the glass.

“It’s clearly tracking something” Sadie stepped next to Carl and joined him observing the sky.

“Yeah, something. I don’t know what it is, the signature is odd, a meteor or rock? But I think we hooked it on accident.”

Thomas turned to Sam who stopped typing.

“That’s not good” Thomas said “But, you know what that means?”

“It works!” Thomas and Sam high fived and jumped. “Take that Figberg, you think your going to beat us this year? Bring anything you want, your stupid nuclear generater in the size of a backpack, that dumb rain machine, we’ve hooked an object from space”

“Does hooked mean, its coming for us?” Carl pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he tore himself form the sky.

There was silence among them for a moment.

“I mean the object isn’t even that big, it would burn up in the atmosphere. We have to turn this off, hand me those gloves. I’m going to rip out the batteries” Sam threw Thomas some thick hide gloves. He stepped up to the electrical module and sprang it open. “Here it goes” Collectively they all took a deep breath, he gripped one of the AA batteries and with a small mechanical ping, it sprang out of the machine. The coils fizzled out immediately. The satellite at the top spun to its default position and froze.

The machine had ceased.

They all deflated.

“Shouldn’t we do some more tests?” Sadie said.

“Yeah, I will get an official off switch built in it tomorrow and we can run tests this week until the competition. Really dial it in.” Thomas turned to Sam “You staying the night? Midnight oil is waiting to burned”

Sam bit is lower lip and ran his hand through his black hair. “Can’t tonight. My Dad needs some help with his computers and I’ve missed homeroom to many times, Mrs.Tailor is threatening to let my parents know if I miss one more. After school, I’m locked in.”

Thomas smiled and knocked on Sam shoulder “You got it”

Sam and Thomas had been best friends their whole lives. A fateful meeting in the sandbox where they planned and built a whole town to spec. Both of their minds whirling with ideas. As they grew, Thomas leaned into the mechanical, while Sam into the digital, but both understood each other’s disciplines well. The perfect combination. Sadie and Carl had somehow found themselves linked into their planing when they had attempted to build a solar paneled motorbike. Carl was obsessed with power, literally. And Sadie had an eye for design, efficiency and making sense out of all the chaos. They were a small rag tag team of builders exploring the outer reaches in their summer neighborhood.

“Sounds good” Carl picked up his bike “We can make sure that is has sustained power from those batteries, should be fine.” he nodded to him self, his neck craned to the machine as he walked the other way “Should be, see you tomorrow”

Sam waved and cycled away as well.

“You’ve done a great job Thomas” Sadie said pressing her hand against the warmed steel.

“Thanks”

“I’ll make her look pretty, I know you have some schematics somewhere too, you always do. I’ll make sense of them.”

Thomas stared at her. The pipes and steel, coils dwarfing her, but it was one of the prettiest scenes he had ever seen. He averted his eyes.

“I will bring them to school tomorrow, I know you will make it look more presentable then this. Only half way there.”

“Half way, but almost there to kicking Figbergs ass. See you tomorrow” her face lit up as she passed him, grabbing her bike and waving good bye like the others.

Thomas looked at the machine. He was tired, but his well seemed to never dry up. Something was driving him this time, more then the others.

There won’t me many more High School science fairs.

One more after this one.

What happens after that?

He packed up his tools and pulled the rip cords that drew up a large canvas around the machine to protect it form the elements. He would figure it out later. One more week. Focus.

Thomas finished up his dinner and entered his backyard. As soon as he stepped outside wind whipped him and the temperature shocked him.

“Thomas, come back inside before the storm gets here” his mom called out to him.

“I didn’t know there was a storm coming tonight” he took off his shoes.

“Freak thing, seemed to catch everyone off guard. ha that weather man, whats his name, James? He’s really jazzed up about it right now.” his Dad chimed in from the living room. Thomas looked out at the machine. A flash of lighting lit up the sky and casted it’s shadow on him. It had survived past storms. It would survive this one.

Or at least he thought.

A crash woke him from a dead sleep. Rain pelted his window with just veracity that he thought it might be hail. Thomas peeked out his window that over looked the back yard. Torrents of rain slammed in multiple directions as the wind howled and tried to blow their house down. The machine some how stood weathering it all. He would thank Sam tomorrow of the idea of rigging in the protective rope under the ground instead of scaffolding. Lighting flashed across the sky and for just a moment he thought he caught something fall through the clouds, not in blinding speed, but smooth, un-bothered motion. The thunder erupted and the whole houses shook. He squinted trying to catch anything else, but the rain grew heavier and created a sheet of white. He gazed at his machine one more time, then returned to bed. The rain died down and the storm passed.

I was listening to Aldrch - Wait and I saw this trailer for a movie to that song. I often imagine in scenes or more like movies. It would be a coming of age, horror. A suburban neighborhood caught up in an accident brought by naivety and exploration. I pictured it taking place in the mid 90’s, Internet isn’t out there completely yet and technology is gaining new ground. It’s funny how ideas take hold in my mind and will never ever let go.

Our rag tag team will have to figure it out and survive.

Cheers

Far along in the stars there is a planet ruled by the waters. Their lush plant life dips into the crystal clear mirrors and drip with liquid weight in the eternal breeze. All around beaches of white and gold sand sparkle softly in the blazing sun which seems to just kiss the skin instead of burn it. Clouds mix into a thick wall of mosaics reflecting the rays, the stars and planets that spin in and out of view as the world turn in the twilight of its nebulas. Large islands covered in exotic plants of miraculous colors, from the deep purples to the bursting oranges, dot the waters. Some islands have volcanoes that light up the night every so often, others majestic waterfalls that seemed to tower into the clouds and rain down into the ocean. Wild life of all shapes and sizes frolic among vegetation and waves. Sea creatures that splash the glimmering water into rainbows of color and sound, play in the coves and pools that collect. It seems that some how in the this place, all is in harmony. Death a distance dream, pain a memory and sorrow, an emotion that was never born.

Curious though, as no people remain there are remnants of them. On one side of the planet a large island filled with massive tubes run through the islands structure. A vast megalithic system that allows the creatures to have their own highway through the dry land. They almost seemed to use the tubes as pillars to hold their structures up, even the ceilings were filled with water that shone to the skies and cascaded the sun through the brilliant miasma of motion. Light pastel colors were used in any solid construction to mimic the colors of the sea and at night, small lights blended pink and deep aqua against the tubes to bring the visitor to an underwater paradise. Who ever built them had an appreciation of the ocean world and its inhabitants. Leaving behind pristine examples of their worship of the creatures and an everlasting labyrinth for them to experience the dry land from a different angle then they had before.

As the sun danced on the horizon in the morning and night, the clouds would burn with intense colors, a water color vista that skimmed the watery horizon. A fluffy city painted upon the sky in a vibrant display until the stars and the cosmos peaked behind it and fully bloomed in a mesmerizing light show for the night.

An ocean paradise lay out there, spinning among the infinite. Its’ oceans and endless beaches welcome the traveler that can reach them, but only if they open their heart to the oceans, and the oceans embrace them.

I have a fascination with the 2000’s digital oceans from my youth. From video games that were trying to show off the newest graphics with oceans and beaches that seemed so tropical and otherworldly that I wished to visit them every chance I could. When I saw this picture, the whole color palette was what I was looking for. That teal aquatic blue from the frutiger aero. An untainted colors that seems like it would be pure joy and warmth. Not a speck of cold could penetrate that color or water. I would like to experience these ocean in real life, somewhere out there, the oceans call to me.

His hands ached and bled from raking through stones to find the bodies. Around him everything burned to cinders, smoke rose form the ashes of the town. Deep trenches cut through the ground from the firepower of the empire. It ripped through the town in one burst, annihilating everything in its path. Then came the guard. Soldiers standing ten feet tall, embossed in golden armor that emitted a sound of trumpets and hymns. Their wings of blue and white spread as they descended. Their blade of fire striking out, vaporizing anyone left that could even resist. Even those that laid begging were wiped clean. They held no emotion of it, just pure systematic destruction. Then they ascended back into the sky to the floating city.

The city blocked out the sun as he was fishing in the dead lake. He didn’t notice it, no one did, until it was too late. He bolted, but he could hear the beams ripping into his town, the flames and shockwave cascading miles. He dove, hid, and as he got closer he saw the wings, the fire. Heard the screaming the begging and pleading, then silence.

Just the flames whipping in the wind of a memory.

He laid frozen all night watching the flames burn out and fall to cinder. The next day he made it to his house and he dug.

Mother.

Father.

Sister?

His bleeding hands found them all. Crushed and charred.

He sat at the edge of what used to be his town. Exhausted emotionally and physically. His hands raw and split. In his right hand he held a golden necklace that still shined bright in the sun. He clutched it hard, dead eyes staring into the depths of his own soul.

Fresh blood rained down the golden chain and dripped to the ground.

A small flame ignited deep within him. What was left, but revenge?

Fate had struck a new path for the world. His survival. Destruction to the City of Angelics.

I have this world where a floating angelic city rules over the land. I think I have made story where there is an assassination that happens on it, but I will have to look through and find it. This concept was born from thinking about the old anime landscapes where you had large areas and would see the shadow of something colossal black out the sun. This city rules the lands with its technology and the surface must gather its strength to fight and over throw them (maybe?).

Till next time.

He took a sip of his martini and turned up his cards. Jack, queen.

He tossed them into the center of the table

“I’m out” he picked up his credits card from the table, which read 40 million on a holographic hovering above the plastic.

“Come on Logan, It’s getting good, we were on a hot one” an old man dressed in a burgundy suit motioned at him with a cigarette between his fingers and a rocks glass filled with brown liquor in the other.

“Next time” Logan picked up the martini and waved to the tables groans.

He walked through the multiplex of lights and sounds. Every corner of the building illuminated with cards, casino chips, pinball rackets and odd references to events wrapped in a gambling aesthetic. It was over stimulating, but at the same time, immensely satisfying to be around. The energy, the commotion, the money. One could make their dreams come true here, a whole city built for the gambler. The place could be seen from space at how bright it was. Towers penetrating the clouds with their yellow and reds cascading like a giant pin ball machines through out the day and night. Giant roulette wheels spun on the side of buildings while men sat inside betting on the results. Everything oozed a bright loud light.

Logan stepped out on to the balcony to over look rows of builds on each side that covered his view of anything surrounding him. He took a sip of his martini and pulled a cigarette from his coat and lit it. A women entered the balcony behind him. Her red dress billowed and flowed with a heaviness of expansive fabric. Her hair was up in an elaborate bun and her heels added a half a foot to her. She leaned her arms against the railing and looked out over the spinning lights. She noticed him and immediately walk over to where he was standing, as she got closer she pulled out a metal case and unclasped it pulling a cigarette from it.

“You have a light?” she said putting the cigarette between her lips and brushing a strand of hair behind her right ear. Logan pulled out his lighter and ignited it, holding it in font of her. She slowly leaned forward, taking her time and held the front in the flame, her eyes flicked to his, stared, then back at the flame. She pulled back inhaling deeply then blowing a large cloud out into the city.

“I’ve seen you around here before, afraid of the big boys?” she pointed towards one of the large towers piecing the clouds.

“Funny, I don’t recall seeing you” Logan took a sip of martini “I’m not afraid, just no point. I have enough for what ever I want, why would I need more.”

She leaned against the railing staring out into the lights “What about the thrill? The excitement of winning? Life or death? That’s what they play for, an eternal game with no ceiling. Endless riches could await you. If you don’t want that, then get out of here. Whats the point of staying?”

Logan sighed “I ask my self that question everyday.”

“You lose on purpose, you never cross into that territory, really, what are you doing here?”

Logan pulled out the card from his coat and flipped it through his fingers. It was true, if we won to much, he would throw it back down to under 100 million. He thought he was being slick, acting like a man trying to reach the stars, but failing at the last rung of the ladder.

“Logan” she snapped him out of his thoughts “We know why you don’t leave. It’s not going to work, you know that. What luck do you have left?”

“You really think you know me? You think they know me?” He pointed into the clouds “Well, let’s see if your masters know what they think they know.”

Logan flicked his cigarette into the city and walked back inside. He downed his martini and set the glass on the bar as he passed. He strode through the place like he owned it, he could feel her following him, but he didn’t care. His eyes sharp glided over the tables, roulettes and strange machines.

“Logan!” he heard her just above the racket of sound the multiplex.

An elevator door opened revealing its glass and he stepped in, pressed the lobby button and stared out at her as she tried to move through the crowd at him. As the doors closed, he smiled and she called out to him one last time.

He pulled out his card and looked at it from his coat pocket.

The gig was up huh?

He pulled another card out.

An infinity symbol circled itself on it.

The elevator opened to the lobby, inside of the floor was a pinball machine whirling from some one playing a floor above looking over it. Lights shimmied up the walls and the whole room would light up reacting. He exited from the Spin De Lore, the hotel casino he had resided at.

He stared out over the golden streets, the different casinos themed. Castles from different countries, ancient cultures twisted into a circus of colors and sounds, worldly monuments spilling gold coins, architecture stamped with neon and flashing lights. The building was next door. He kept an eye on it at all times. He moved across the gleaming street to the tallest building in the city.

Animae Magnificae.

It looked ethereal compared to other buildings, the colors of yellow, red and gold were muted in here. Replaced was etho roman columns, marble of all different colors that refracted dim lighting making it feel like you were in a dream. Money, did not build this. Entering the door a small desk awaited him. A stunning women in a flowy white dress smiled at him.

“Balance, let’s see if the gods allow you entry”

Logan flashed the card through the scanner. The lights dimmed and he heard the front door lock.

“Logan Alexander, Licet intrare”

He said nothing in return and moved past her into the elevator that seemed to materialize from thin air. He closed his eyes as the elevator rose. It only took a second. One second to breach the clouds and stare out across an ocean of flashing lights, a whole city pulsating with dreams and ambitions.

The doors faded away. Above were clouds of soft gray that slowly rolled across what ceiling there could be. Water fell from the sky, gently, into a pool of water which shimmered with otherwordly color. Beneath his feet, smokey glass with marble beams running through showed the city below. To the right with the backdrop of the black sky was a bar, intricate bottles of liqueur stacked to the clouds. In front of him the room stepped down into a sunken platform where several tables of men playing cards sat with the city pulsating under their feet. Past the tables was a gigantic door. Made out of marble, embossed with gold and silver, two roman columns that rose with no tops framed it. A garden and pond sat on each side and a bridge went over into it. He put his hands on the large doors and they glided slowly open just enough for him to step through. It opened to a garden. As far as the eye could see, lush garden of grassy knolls, flowers dripped from stone and marble structures, water gently poured through features of beautiful men and women statues that were three times the size as normal. The sky was an ethereal haze of purple and green. There was sense of pure calm, pure bliss that overcame him. He shook them off immediately. Over a small bridge in the middle of a pond that sat in the garden was as large platform and table with four men sitting around it. As Logan stepped over the bridge they all turned to him.

Directly across the table from him was an older gentlemen with a large bushy beard, his eyes sparked with lightening and his hair waved down his back. He was dressed in a black and white suit, gold buttons gleaming in the otherworldly light. He started clapping as Logan approached.

“Haha the man returns. Once thought dead and buried, risen, like the lord. What to seek revenge?” He stood his face growing red “A man thinking he can sit on the sidelines, watching from his little hotel room. Defy Destiny, mock fate, thinks he can change his own cards” the man extended his arms in both directions “All look at this fool Logan Alexander. A god who believes he has anything beyond what he has been given, as if he has the purpose to enact his own will outside the boundaries that we have created for him. To go against this own creators, his own masters, his own fathers, to pull himself up from the mountain top, to the heavens and beyond. Here stands a folly of a man” he spat that last word “ A man who thought we couldn’t take it all away. You think birth gives you any rite? Makes you special?”

Logan stood,his eyes locked.

“You done?” He said pulling a chair away from the table and sitting down. He leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs.

The old man laughed, it boomed and just for a moment the serenity of the garden shook.

“Deal, you know what I play for and what I am willing to risk”

The three other men caught each others gaze and slowly slipped from the table and stood off to the side. The older man leaned over the table, cards gliding through his hands with hypnotic pace.

The cards themselves sparkled with lightening as he shuffled them. They were an ethereal purple, see through from one side. The old man smiled, his eyes sharpening.

“A demon returns to the nest as a devil. Fallen, wings crippled, eyes drooping. What more does he have to offer? Just to take everything away, the pitiful sight of defeat, to an endless double eternity.” His hands flicked three cards across the table, fog emitting form underneath them as they spun and slid to be perfectly infront of him.

He put his hand on them. Immediately he knew what they were. The game was different. Instead of trying to get to 21, they were trying to get to 666. You would lose if you went over, unless, you got 777. The game was played in bouts. To win the full war, you had to win 2 out of 3 bouts.

Five, six, seven.

He could re-arrange them in any order. Once. What ever cards that were exchanged came back and were set in order of deal. If you were dealt one and a four. Then the one had to come before the four.

He slid the five and threw it back. The man stared deep, spun another card in his direction.

Six.

The mans eyes narrowed. He didn’t exchange any of his cards.

“I call it” He flipped over his cards. Six, Six , Five “Read em”

Logan flipped over his cards. Immediately they shook and were sucked back into the deck of cards.

“One to zero. Next round” the old man said, teeth flashing ghostly white. He laughed and the the waters stirred slightly. Logan shifted in his seat and rolled his shoulders.

The cards landed infront of him and he looked up.

Four, four and four. He tossed them all back. It was risky, but he was full tilt since he walked in the door.

The new set.

Six, five, five. He steeled himself. He could gamble one of the fives. He thought of a moment. The older gentlemen threw two of his cards to the middle of the table, they immediately returned to the deck and he drew two more.

He threw one of the fives back. He grit his teeth when the card returned to him. It was a three.

“I’m calling it, exchange one last time if you must” Logan straighten up and stared deep across the table.

The old man studied him for a bit. Then leaned back in his chair. His cards flipped. Five, three, six.

His cards turned - Six, five , three.

Logan didn’t smile.

“Fools can get lucky as well it seems.” The cards reshuffled them selves in the deck and the man dealt another hand. “But all luck ends sometimes. Yours has been running out for a long time Logan. Wings cut, cast out, chased through hell and back. What luck do you have left?”

Logan licked his lips. One, one, one.

“Exchange if you want, I’m calling your luck in Logan. Rest for eternity as shell of what you were”

He tossed all three cards to the middle of the table.

Three came back.

“Read and reap Logan.” The mans cards turned over. Six, Six, Six. He stood spreading his arm “It was nice knowing you, sort of”

Logan stood, his hands gently went below the cards and he flipped them himself.

Seven, Seven, Seven.

The old mans eyes went wide lighting whipping from his corneas, he slammed against the table leaning over to witness the hand.

“Impossible” he looked up at Logan, whose face shone of stone confidence.

“I abandoned God, but God never abandoned me. The wager.” The gardens stirred. The men that witness the matched fled as fast as specters through the door which reappeared across the bridge. The older gentleman seethed with rage. Lightning crashed around him and leapt from his skin.

“One day Logan, you will slip up again, and when you do. I will be right there to finally put that blade through your unholy chest. Mark my words”

Lightning crashed into the statues, the marble cracked and trees caught fire as the wind picked up and spun around them. In a torrent of flame and lightning a great crash came and all was still.

Logan stood in the middle of the platform, table broken into pieces, the water steaming around him.The tranquil garden had been struck by a storm, but it had survived. It was finally time to put it back together.

He took off his jacked and set it aside. Blood erupted from his shoulder blades and wings burst forth in a sharp motion and then spread. The blood rolled off the feathers and they emitted a pure vibrational light of pure love and forgiveness. Logan looked up towards the sky. He had taken back the garden, barely.

“Always playing games, huh?” He spoke softly to the heavens. “I’ll see you soon Father.”

Boy! Did this take me a long time to write. I started it as this weird gambler story set in sort of casino zone from Sonic, but then some where along it turned into a story about The Devil taking back the Garden of Eden from (if you guessed it) Zeus. The game I made on the fly, had to tailor some of the rules, it’s simple, but I think gods like to play simple games. I sat on this a long time, once when Logan is being talk to about hi past and the other when he entered the card game. I couldn’t decide on what direction to go with it, but then finally, it came to me. I would still like to write a story purely in the casino zone from sonic. Ive had dreams about it and I love the whole vibe of it. That nightlight metropolis filled with flashing lights and sounds, everything vibrating with kinetic energy.

Till next time!

The year has gone by quicker then imagined. We had some fun stories come about, some expansion of others and some new faces come into into the conscious collective.

Here are a few that I would like to highlight for this year.

The Catting Hour

A special time of night when pets visit from the ether. I always imagine pets sticking around or visiting sometimes after they have passed. This is a story with a deep subject, but light feeling.

Terms of Service

I imagined this so clearly with the up coming age of augmented reality and AI, that I couldn’t help but write it. I enjoyed the characters and setting up this almost start of invasion series. I still need to explore and see what is next.

The Purple Door

I had this going into a different route when I first started it, but as it ran on, it started to connect to another one of my stories. I decided to tie it in and I think it worked. The main event is sorta weird and setting is a bit all over the place, but the vibe is fun and I think it could make an interesting survival piece.

TrainYard

I dreamt this in a the early mornings while trying to get to sleep. When I was a kid I was fascinated by the old trains, the mechanics and grease. To think of some odd mystery happening in a train yard and then setting off on some crazy adventure is a childhood dream. Maybe a less scary one that in this story, but it would work out in the end. I hope.

Liminal Haze and Coffee Break

I expanded on my Plastic Yarn/Liminal series with a new character. In the game (I plan to make one day) the main character starts off in Dr.Cryus’s chamber. Overworked, overtired, and lacking caffeine, he sends you to experimental zone on accident. I had a really good time writing about him and even having him meet Ada. These characters really grow on me.

I wonder what will come out of 2026, only time will tell, what ghostly tales the ravens will bring in to our guests. I hope you enjoyed the trip and stay so far. As always, it is only beginning.

Cheers and safe travels among the planes,

The Conductor.