[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, roundtable where we're going to have a list of questions, which you guys may remember in the far past before we had so many celebrities with questions and answers here on the show. Uh, but Paul did make it, so we're going to be talking with Paul of Nexen Tires tonight and doing some questions and answers from Paul.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I'm gonna ask, uh, right away, why are Nix entire Rodeo MTX is so damn good off road? And I bet you Paul still doesn't have an answer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Other than, it's a great tire. We do a good job. So anyway, Paul has been in the automotive industry for 29 years and in the past 15 years was in the tire industry. 8 years with uh, Hancock uh, tire and 7 years with Nexen tire. Managing motorsports and events.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Paul has been in the off road market for several years now, including many trips, rock crawling in the past years. Most recently built a Jeep Gladiator, which of course is running the 37 inch Nexen tire, Nexen, Rodian MTX tires. Paul, did I get that right? Is it, uh, it is running the 37s. You didn't put 35s on the Gladiator, did you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're getting about what I would get on the 35s, so that's kind of, uh, kind of fun. Now, you know, that's always been the big question for everybody, and you've probably heard it more times than you care to mention.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But, uh, is there any update on Nexen coming out with 40 inch, uh, Rodian MTX's?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, right. So, uh, this is kind of interesting, uh, I thought, uh, we, uh, we recently spoke because, you know, we've had a couple of winners for the next entire giveaways.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, uh, they've, uh, with everything going on with shipping and everything else that was going on, it's been a long wait, uh, for them to get in their tires. In fact, I saw an email today from our first next entire winter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, asking for an update and, uh, I did not, I did not respond to him because I wanted to give you the first option. He may be listening to this, so he may find out right now. So, uh, can you share?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you feel comfortable sharing this, the story that we, we actually, uh, we're discussing about, uh, where the next in tires are and the process for, for him getting the, that, that first set of tires that we gave away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So good, I was hoping that you, I didn't want to say anything, I was hoping you were going to go that direction, because I wanted to ask you about the new tires that Nexon is coming out with, can you tell us much about that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm gonna go with that question that I mentioned at the top of the show, the one that I sat there in a vehicle and asked the salesman that came out to the next entire event I was invited to, and you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was just really impressed with the Nexon tires. And there was a lot of people around me that were very impressed with it. They had much more experience than I did. And I asked you both, why is the Nexon tire Rodeo MTX? Why does it perform so well? And I never got a straight answer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's a design and you went into it intelligently to design it that way, but just because it's designed that way doesn't mean it's going to work that way. So I guess the luck aspect of it is, is that it's actually working out as designed. So yeah, I mean it makes sense.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but it was, it was just a fantastic run out there and this is, gosh, what was it, 2018 or something that, that this was going on and, uh, still very memorable. Of course the area it was, was great to be in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so the thing, the next thing I want to ask you is, and if you can't answer this, I certainly understand, uhm, this just seems to be the, a really, really good off-road tire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It doesn't, uh, get nearly the credit that it should get, uhm, and I'm really surprised by that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and I know it's a, it's a money thing. It's a, uh, getting out there, get people to know it, uh, know the tire, which was a lot of what, uh, you've been doing over these years. And one of the reasons why you're doing the, the, the tire giveaway on our show, uh, which, uh, if I hadn't said recently, thank you and God bless you and Nexon tires for supporting, uh, the, uh, the Jeep talk show.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the thing I want to ask is, uhm, have you guys ever, uh, and, and, and, and surely you have considered, uh, maybe contacting Jeep and getting that tire


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, on, uh, uh, on the Jeep vehicles, maybe even, uh, other vehicles, uh, with FCA or Stellantis, so that people would, uh, know the Nexon name and know it more as a truck, uh, tire, an off-road tire than, uh, a go fast and slide sideways tire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's great. Well, like I think, I mean, like I've said, I think it would just, uh, uh, mean so much because tires are, are very, um, uh, how do you, how do you say it? It's, it's, it's a huge expense and, uh, you don't want to be the guy buying the wrong tire, uh, because everybody's going to know it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you're going to be out a significant amount of money. I think we all know the stories of people getting tires that are soft compound.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they get very, very low miles out of it and then they just go, I can't be spending a thousand, fifteen hundred, twenty five hundred dollars, uh, for a set of tires every, you know, every six months. You want something, you want that magical tire that, uh, does very well off road.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and, and on road and you don't have to buy another set, uh, for 20, 30 years. It just doesn't exist, but you want to get that. Those are the three things I think most people want and it's very hard to trust a tire. And that's one of the things that we're trying to do here is encourage people to do that trust.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Try that next entire out because I love them. I mean, uh, I was a BF Goodrich guy for, for many years on every time, ever since I modified my, uh, my Jeep Cherokee, it was a BF Goodrich because that's what everybody else was doing. And I felt that was a safe choice and I instantly noticed a difference with the next entire.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and the, uh, 35, 12 and a half by 15, uh, by 17s that I have on the gladiator, uh, little, a little noise, uh, but really not much. Uh, you know, no, no, uh, growling noise. It certainly wasn't as bad as the, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, the BFGs, uh, when they started cupping, that was, that was a lot of noise with those.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yeaah. Big money too. And it can make a huge difference in your vehicle and it's safety. So Paul, so Paul, I got a theory. When you're relaxing, are you wearing Crocs? You seem to be a nice Crocs man to me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. It's very important in those areas. I know what you mean.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well let's get the, let's get the Zoom people involved in this right now. We've been having fun talking and been leaving the Zoom people out. I think I see John, John L. pacing back and forth. He's got probably 50 questions he's ready to ask. Oh my, I'm ready.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's right, machine and beast. The beast is supposed to be like, uh, uh, talons, uh, like chickens with big talons.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, giveaways and, uh, none of this that's going on with Nexon is, uh, is going to stop that. Is it? I mean, it's, it's, it's affected, uh, us getting the tires into the country to give to our, our two current, uh, winners, giveaway winners. But, uh, that's completely separate from everything else that's going on with the economy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, anything can happen, but that certainly isn't the current plan. So we're going to be continuing to do the Nixon Tire Giveaways.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think your set is on there, but Keith's set is, I believe, is on there. So at least there's hope that you'll be getting some tires. And correct me if I'm wrong here, you're planning on just squirreling these things away so for your next and tire change you'll have a set to put on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't want to find something and then not be able to get it. You know, it's, it's kind of like, it's one of the things that we're doing here on the show by giving away the next in tires.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're kind of like a heroin dealer. We get you hooked and then you, and then you got to have some yourself and you're willing to pay anything to get them. The great thing is, is that the, I haven't priced some recently, but I was really surprised how great a tire the next entire, uh, next time Rodian MTX's are that they were so much cheaper. And, uh, then like say the BFG's for example.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, it was a great surprise to me when I went to get this latest set for the gladiator, which I think I spent around $1200. Now I've had them for over a year now and of course a lot of things have changed in a year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think that uhm, like on online tire store, I was looking at them, uh, they were up around 1800 for the 35s. 35, 12 and a half by a 17s.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, uh, prices changed drastically, but like you already mentioned at the front part of the show, uh, the, so is the, the cost of getting them from, uh, uh, Korea over here. And they're, and when you say Korea, you're, you're, you're talking about South Korea, not North Korea, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, Paul, I can't thank you enough for being with us tonight. You know, how the kids love the social media. How can, uh, how can the kids see pretty pictures of tires and race cars and off-road vehicles, uh, from NexenTireUSA.com? Of course, we mentioned the site several times. You can always go there, but are you guys on the, uh, the Instagram, the TikTok, those other ones?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. Well, we've had Paul on the show before, so you can go to our back catalog and hear that interview. It's always fun having you on the show, Paul, and we shouldn't have waited so long to have you back, but we'll have to have you back again very, very soon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh no, these are jeepers. You know, you, you run around with jeepers all the time. So it's just like that. So, uh, yeah, it's a lot of fun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, well that's another great show, another great roundtable, and I hope I'm not patting myself on the back whenever I say that, but I enjoyed it, and I figure if I enjoy it, you guys gotta enjoy it too. So, uh, and I guess technically you must, you have to have enjoyed it too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We appreciate Paul being here with us and uh, like I said, we're going to have him on again, uh, really, really soon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Reach out to us in many different ways, all of which are at jeeptalkshow.com slash contact. You just go over there and you can see all the different ways that you can reach out to us. You can call us. You can email us. Hell, you can use Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok. Uh, they have ways of sending us messages.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, and speaking of social media, don't forget to use the hashtag or pound Jeep Talk Show and the hashtag giveaways in all of your social media posts. That's not asking too much, is it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey, keep listening for another Nexen Tire USA.com Rodian MTX tire giveaway. You know, once you have a set, we think you'll be hooked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am sad when we have to go back. The other children learn more. I keep getting worse and worse.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You really have to keep an eye on him. He runs fast and doesn't pay attention. That often makes it difficult for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make, uh, and certainly something that I think is a fireable offense by ESPN.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Call me a cigarette.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In that small cafe where we met,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Linda, Linda, on my lips.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Taylor. George Taylor. It's all over town. I may run for dog catcher.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I'll be alone for a while, it won't be for long. I'll make up a story for myself. I gotta wait with it before I can do it again. I'll go where people will believe me, where they'll leave me alone. Where I won't have to answer questions and ask them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, don't. It'll just make him feel bad. See, it looks like he killed a man tonight. A man named Conroy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, that isn't Hubert. Can we drop you anywhere, Hubert? We're gonna walk. Walk? Which way?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mr. Cravat, where is George Taylor? What do you mean? You wanted to see Cravat, alright? You're looking at him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll take the proposition you offered me, Anselmo, with one slight change. And that is? I don't want a fall guy. One of you, or one of your hired help, killed Steel on that dock three years ago.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When I had taken leave of the pretty gentle dark-eyed girl and of the motherly woman who had not outlived her honest sympathy with a little affair of true love,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I felt as if the old green copper rope walk had grown quite a different place.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Old Barley might be as old as the hills and might swear like a whole field of troopers, but there were redeeming youth and trust and hope enough in Chinx Basin to fill it to overflowing. And then I thought of Estella and of our parting and went home very sadly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All things were as quiet in the temple as ever I'd seen them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The windows of the rooms of that side lately occupied by provis were dark and still, and there was no lounger in garden court.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I walked past the fountain twice or thrice before I descended the steps that were between me and my rooms, but I was quite alone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Herbert coming to my bedside when he came in, for I went straight to bed, dispirited and fatigued, and made the same report.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Opening one of the windows after that, he looked out into the moonlight and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Told me that the pavement was as solemnly empty as the pavement of any cathedral at that same hour. Next day I set myself to get the boat.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was soon done and the boat was brought round to the temple stairs and lay where I could reach her within a minute or two.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then I began to go out, as for training and practice, sometimes alone, sometimes with Herbert.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was often out in cold, rain and sleet, but nobody took much note of me after I'd been out a few times.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At first I kept above Blackfriars Bridge, but as the hours of the tide changed, I took towards London Bridge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was old London Bridge in those days and at certain states of the tide there was a race and a fall of water there which gave it a bad reputation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I knew well enough how to shoot the bridge after seeing it done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so began to row about among the shipping in the pool and down to Eris.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The first time I passed Mill Pond Bank, Herbert and I were pulling a pair of oars, and both in going and returning we saw the blind towards the east come down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Herbert was rarely there less frequently than three times in a week, and he never brought me a single word of intelligence that was at all alarming.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Still, I knew that there was cause for alarm and I could not get rid of the notion of being watched. Once received, it is a haunting idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How many undesigning persons are suspected of watching me? It would be hard to calculate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Herbert had sometimes said to me that he found it pleasant to stand at one of our windows after dark when the tide was running down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And to think that it was flowing with everything it bore towards Clara. But I thought with dread that it was flowing towards Magwitch.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that any black mark on its surface might be his pursuers going swiftly, silently, and surely to take him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There goes that monastery again. Everyone knows it's being used for an observation post. Why in the devil don't they bomb it? I'm a Catholic and I say


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He waved at the crowd. He bowed to all four corners of the court. He blew kisses. He behaved in a way that suggested not only did he love what he was doing, but he loved being Andrew Agassi.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I went up and grabbed the book and it became pretty clear pretty quickly that these two were absolutely meant to be together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Man, was that dangerous up there. And you look up in the stands, second deck at Arthur Ashe Stadium and, you know, that's like six miles from the court. I mean, way up there. And there's Steffi. Andre surprises us again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everybody thinks about Midway, the Battle of the Coral Sea, but the battle you really need to know about is the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The most decisive battle in the Pacific Theater in World War II.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, welcome to this edition of Offscript and I have to say that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My friend and colleague Tim Cahill is handing the heat a lot better than me. Why do you think that is, Tim?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, we're not talking about the cricket today. Now I am actually struggling to call him Tim because we go back a long way and he's always been known to me as 11 Arif.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nate, you blame, who'd you blame for this? Phil Neville? Phil Neville.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The story goes, they're always trying to do each other, and Phil said to me, if you've bought a watch, he's got a bigger one. If you buy a car,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's got a fast one. If you've been to Tenerife, he's been to Elevenery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not the way he tells it. So anyway, you're 13 already so you're not really telling the full story. How much fun this do you have when you look back to your Everton days?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of the things I wanted to talk to you about in particular is you were no question, uh, one of the best exponents of the art of heading the ball. You scored over 50 Premier League goals and over half of them were headers. You're not the tallest guy in the world. What does it take to be a good header of the ball?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You also had a fantastic spring. How did you get that? I know they used to call you the blue kangaroo. But how did you get that spring? Is that something you worked on?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We saw Manchester City, uh, at the weekend concede a goal. Did you like playing against zonal marking? Or... I liked being marked. You preferred man to man?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who do you like now in the Prem League? Who do you admire in terms of being... Who are your top two headers of the ball?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Another thing I wanted to ask you about, I remember bumping into you at the World Cup in Russia, uh, before a Socceroos game. You came out on your own before the match and you just went and stood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In front of the goal. I think we were in Sochi. I can't remember where we were. Or, um, Ruben Kazan's ground. He went there and he was just, he took a moment. What were you doing? What was going through your mind?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What are things to be able to say if I was on a score in four consecutive World Cups? You must be so proud of that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you look at other sports as well? Because I know you come from a real sporting family and we're clearly not going to be talking about cricket because it's just not the time or the place. Uhm, but could you be in a rugby player?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, those attributes, that heart and that generosity of spirit were probably the core values that gave you such a fabulous football career. We're delighted for you. Thank you, mate. Thank you, sir. Good to see you. Thank you. And, uh, we'll send our regards to the true 11 reef, Paul Neve. See you next time for the next edition of Off The Script.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Guru, are you honestly saying what I think you're saying? There is no other way, given the circumstances I've made up my mind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Can you really make one? Darn tootin' I can! But those thugs from the chaos company might try and stop me! We'll help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's what I'm counting on. Until I finish making it, you all must keep those goons at bay. Don't be afraid. I know you can do it. You're our only hope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright boys, here's the list of Mirage Card Materials that I'm gonna need.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I knew you'd find what was lacking I began. Power of overturn can only be born when buddies completely help one another in achieving their best. Now...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, we're just passing through. The real work will be done at the Mirage Shrine. Mirage Shrine?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You got it. Now I just gotta open the gate first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Think we're in a parallel world, bro. But with all this fog, it's hard to tell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bronx River Parkway extension, when I found Mr., Mr. Mazza's remains. No, I was not scared. A boy scout is never scared. If I get the reward, I will send my younger brother to some good college and I will go to Harvard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I'm Brad Sellers. I'm happy to say the NBA free agency has started. And guess what?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cavaliers in the mix along with a few other people. People changing addresses around here. They want out. Are you talking Katie?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was, I was a little concerned yesterday. Did you see it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Am I wrong in reading that in? I read it like this. You try to make it...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I will say this as well, in any court proceeding here, any charges, they have a multitude of charges.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then at the end, when they actually go to trial and go to court, they only go on with two because they dismissed the others because the others were really weak. Yeah, when you look at it in total, it went with the strongest ones they had.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I, and I say, and I say this part of it right, I say it in Houston, Texas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, there were two in suburban Texas. There were two filings tried to criminal charges against Sean Watson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They cannot bring a case, uh, finding a way to, to at least get him in court to pursue those charges. I said there was a flaw here and I would just tell you if I read that, that tweet there and they have none of those elements here, it's going to be hard to make a case against the Sean Watson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The only problem with that is, gee, that the police officer all the time can say a thousand things. It's not up to them. It's up to the prosecutor to decide.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me just say something. You have, you have the officers on scene, let's say the officers on scene who are investigating the case and they say, I got a great case, right? But when it comes in front of the person who was adjudicated and they look at the fact, like you have nothing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What I'm saying, they're here because you had a couple. There was one police officer in Houston testified that always on record saying that, uh, of these women here are the these two have the strongest cases. Okay. That's your opinion. What about what the prosecutor said after they review all the facts and they're like, no, I don't think so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I said the other day, the league was ready, the player association was ready to become a flamethrower and they threw a couple darts out here to let them know they meant business. Now, what could happen behind the scenes is this still can happen in this interim period because the arbitration goes to the brief being filed, which is a normal process and I don't agree that she's going to make a quick decision.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Typically when I'm in arbitration, it takes a while for the arbiter to come back because they go through the briefs in totality and they have to form an opinion. Typically in my world, two months, but there isn't there, but there's a time they've got pressure. I'm saying this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, what's artificial is that we would people wanted to happen before this date. Well, that's right. And I'm saying that it could not, it could, it could go longer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, the league and the league and the play association can still sell it, right? It depends, again, it just really depends on how deep and dirty they want to go with it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They did enough, they did enough to whet the appetite to say, league, how far you want to go with this? Right. Cause we're prepared to go with it, right? They, but there, there's a lot of grievance on both sides.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right. Because here is the unprecedented part is a problem. Oh, right. It's a problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I believe the player association made a great case. I do. I don't think the NFL's case was as strong as they thought it was the way when you're beating the wins before the game. They're trying to tell me how strong your case is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're no closer to finding out what happened yesterday than they were from the beginning. I said you were still in the midst of this entire process and you probably won't find out a good answer to the end, but they want the answer now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me say this, I don't want to get back to the seriousness of this. There's still four outstanding cases here. And if you read those, they're troubling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And again, I tell everybody here, I'm a daughter, I mean, I'm a father of four daughters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if I read anything, if anything like that occurred, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm, I'm, I'm upset. Right. Right. Because there's four cases still have to be adjudicated here. You're right. All right. And I don't want us to get beyond that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, they do that, they do that in the real world when they, when they drop the charges without prejudice so they can come back on you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I'm glad you said this. Like Lynn Barker said the other day, when you're playing a young team and nobody really knows you, we don't give you the respect. Lynn Barker says he comes to the mound. I said, I got this guy, he bat 189. I'm about to smoke him and he takes me deep. So this is what is going on. They won't lock in. I guarantee you this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This league won't lock in to the Guardians until after the All-Star game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because at that point they'll be, they'll be for real in their eye. And they're like, this is a real team coming my way. So you better make sure that you know, the personnel, you know what they can do. Don't underestimate them because that's that. We just put up the 17 last at walk. Uh, last at bat wins.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have to push back a little bit. Let me tell you, let me push back a little bit on this. If you make it to the major leagues,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're a real player. You're a kid. You're a real player. Yes, you are. Now you may, but you may not be, you may not be the top tier guy. Yeah, but you know, schmuck either, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let me ask you a question here. So uhm, and one is a comment to your, to your, to your first statement. I don't think


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Report media players. You really get to know the person in a exact minute sound bite. You never know it. It just is more. I don't know if you know, your own president of your own your own station, right? You just don't get to know them, but I do want to know this. Where the folks in Houston just ready for the sagging in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey Jason, let me ask you one more question. The folks in Cleveland here probably want to know, what did his teammates from the Texans think about Deshaun Watson?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Real quick, Jason, I saw Hard decline his options. You still want him back?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So let me, let me jump in here because you right up with my thing. So first of all, Anthony, go back to that logo. Kudos to the Big Ten.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because the Big Ten does nothing but big. That's all we do, right? So you think about this. We've covered every major media market. We've got California. We got LA now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You bring in SC UCLA, not that UCLA is a power, but SC can tool back up if they can get it back going. It makes it better, but they got better in basketball, men's basketball. They got better. They got better in women's basketball. They got better here. Baseball, golf, USC has won a track and field championship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This thing is, this thing has power and it's all because of one thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you know, it had to be lucrative to make them leave the pack 10 or 12 or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, it's all the way east, right? But here, if you, if you follow it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ohio State had been dipping into California and rating them with players. Yes, and they've been coming to Columbus because they're coming here because the Columbus provides them a route to the NFL or they perceive that route and a chance to write champion. So the UCLA and USC was a brilliant move because they didn't take long. They sized it up and they're like, we're out of here. Yep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The big 10 is, the big, the big 10 is big on tradition. They're not getting rid of Northwestern. They're not getting rid of Illinois. They're not. They may be, no, I'm just saying the core group of schools, right? They may be the big 20. Now, what, what the big 10 has proven to be over time is


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Especially recently because before they weren't like this, but they're they're creative now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're done with traditional conferences. That's done. Well, let me tell you where we're going. We're going. They're going where the money is, right? The money is not in the SEC. That's not where the money is. The money is in their television deals. But here the major the addition of LA to this market has changed and you tell me that Minnesota is going to walk away with a hundred million dollars.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I see the money that's being floated around here. Clemson. And so now I'm like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's like when I transferred back to Ohio State, I had my mama call Ohio State. He was like, you think my son can come home? And they were like, in two seconds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, everybody in LA or the UCLA and USC, they're not happy about coming to the Big Ten. They're not the people that played there. They're not happy about coming here because they feel like it's out of alignment. So I sent a message to someone so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A friend of mine, Eric Ball, who used to be the Bengals running back, right down in Cincinnati from Michigan guy went to UCLA and play football there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, this is where this is going. Welcome back to the Big Ten, because we only do one thing, big.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's it. Big, right? And UCLA and USC saw that writing on the wall and said, this is the way this is trending.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so the normal way that we were doing thing has been shifted and I L money the way that we're paying people. It's out the window. It's a whole new landscape here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like as long as that's still around everybody's. Shia Seller's mother was like this yesterday. She was like, oh, they use L.A. USC 2024. Oh, let me book my flight. I'm going to L.A. That's exactly right. It's a great road trip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You think Iowa, the Purdue, the Indiana survived this next wave? Are they gonna be in the Big Ten still? Yes, here's why.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love Kevin Durant's game. I would not bring him here. Right. I love his game too. It's just here. Kevin Durant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's just so much going on here and you've got a good young nucleus here and to get Kevin Rand, you have to give up a lot to get them here. Not gonna get them for cheap, right? I'm not willing to blow up what they have here. I think the calves are one piece of one major piece away, but I don't think you can give it by get that piece by getting it through.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Demolition of your team to get it. I just don't think so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We beat them in that, that, uh, first game of the first round series and they blew up the button, right? They didn't need to blow up the button.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Phoenix, I feel like is at that point where we need to blow the button up because what we have here is not that they lost, it's how they lost, right?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't get desperate. I feel like the sons feel like they're desperate. Hold on, hold on, hold on. And then you have, you have a guy like Barkley killing them all the time talking about because Eddie Johnson, he's killing them all the time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're going to really find out what your value is here, right? And I'm not clear that a bunch of people in this league are going to give a bunch of things to get Kevin Durant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He seems everywhere he's going. It doesn't seem to materialize. It all the other damages. He does. I think he does more damage to himself through social media than anything else because his snarky. He should kill all of his account. His snarkiness, right? Does that matter? Yeah, it does matter because it's right. And he looked the petty Durant and the petty Durant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Down to the gutter. Well, and it also signifies like are you strong enough to even get us over the hump here?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You hold that thought because I'm working hard next week to get my boy Isaiah Thomas on this show, right? Nice. And then I'm going to have Zeke answer that question for you. I think that's what's going to happen because the old school guys. We're not doing that. Can we ask him if Larry Bird's overrated? No, we're not. We're not doing that because here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have to have a massive amount of confidence to think that I can get us over


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, right. And he's right because at that point Steph Curry wasn't the Steph Curry we see today. I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In order, in order for that to occur, Westbrook's got to go, Anthony Davis got to go, right? I don't want to probably get rid of Anthony Davis. Yes, but I don't see anybody jumping sideways to take Westbrook guys.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They won out. You can tell that it's a fire sale, but it's not doing a fire sale. We're ready to break off. After the last two years here, especially last year, hard mess, Kyrie vest, and it didn't just debacle young up and coming debacle of the performance. They went out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was a core, it was a core ingredient of why the Cavaliers were playing so well. Alright, so they, they obviously saw value in it, bringing him back, bringing him back into the fold. Like I said, I still believe we are one free agent away from really causing some noise here. Everybody in this league, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think they can bull. I think there's a play out here and then I will tell you that, uh, everybody fears what the Cavaliers have going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't want them to break off anything. I don't want them to break off marketing. I don't want them to break off Mobley. I don't want them to break off Allen and Mobley's brother. I don't want them to break off any of that. I just want one piece.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To come in here and solidify me down the stretch. I do. I want to play the long game. The game in the Cleveland market is not the LA game. We're not slow enough with a bunch of stars and this is not that right and I'm not a firm believer when you load up like that means it's the success.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe Bradley bill just like living in the DMV. Maybe he likes being in DC. Maybe he has his family and he's supplanted here and he feels like this is where I want to be. So sometimes it's not about that. And he said, listen, load me up here, but I'm gonna give it my best in Washington. And I don't think you should be taking shots at him because he didn't decide to go to LA or anything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm with you. Do you know them people's they, they, you know, we get off on Friday and maybe Monday. People take a vacation. Yeah, the people's they get off on Wednesday. They start off away. They get a seven-day, you know, Wednesdays. I hate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, cause I don't think, I don't think it's gonna be a winner. I think that, uh, I think that the, uh, there's one and a half, one and a half, uh, spread on it and I just think that it's going the other way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alright, so here, let me just end by saying that my final take is this. The collegiate landscape has changed forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I need everybody to get a grip on that because in the day's game where people don't stay long, you don't know who they are, you don't get to watch them for four years, uh, mature and you get to become, they really become a part of your family if that's your team, right? They move on. The realignment of these conferences have done such a thing now that it will make college sports relevant again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] College track and field. I'm glad to see the West Coast coming in here with the Midwest, the golf people, the tennis folks, all the other accessory sports are now going to get highlighted because because of the TV money that is going to come in here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's going to allow the other sports to prosper. We're going to start to see our new next wave of golfers, a new next wave of the people coming behind Serena Williams, the new WNBA players. It is a benefit and I don't care if you like it or not. This is the way it's going and guess what you brought it on yourself because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You didn't want to share the money from the beginning. So now the money has changed the landscape of this game forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, Charlie. I'll say something about honesty. Thanks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm out here trying to line up something big and he takes a chance on messing it up because he's got a crush on some cheap... on Tory. Rick's telling the truth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I drop breadcrumbs all the way out here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You stupid little twist. Here I am beating my brains out with a bunch of corny characters trying to make enough money to break with Silky and you keep gumming up the works.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Deb has to verify the check at the bank first. After what she saw tonight, she wouldn't trust me with a bent slug.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She thinks I'm her husband's pal, and she can't believe her husband's pal would be any less of a tin god than he was.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All right, Tor, you've had your laughs. Now give me those keys. Who's that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's picture something, uh, one's less aware of, and it's hard to regulate.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It just struck me that there is, uh, the kind of differences that you see over here between autistic people and non-autistic people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The same kind of differences could also show up between two people from say two different countries.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, is there literature in that space that's relevant to this? And or like, what's the difference there in terms of how?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Marciano was behind on all three scorecards. He maneuvered, walk out to the ropes in the 13th round.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can see Ray Robinson running down the aisle to try to hug Joe Lewis to see if he was alright.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mythology about Marciano that maybe sticks to him because he's an Italian American. Marciano was a up and up guy who knew gangsters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But was not controlled by them the way Jake LaMotta was or other fighters.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] primitive immigrant attitude that you don't trust banks, you keep your money in cash.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I used to see fighters in dressing rooms. Some would be reading the Bible. Others would be walking up and down, nervous. How the hell he could sleep? I don't know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When people ask me like, who my inspirations are, I only say Bloody Osiris.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like Imran was the dude that started all of the bootleg brand stuff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cause now everybody does it. I think this one was like the one that caught my eye cause I had never seen anything like it. I just thought everything he created was like sick and like he designs all this stuff, makes it all himself. I'm actually friends with him now because he made this like custom piece when I was on Jimmy Fallon which was like incredible, like everything about that was insane. I feel like he's just like on another planet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She's just this like baddie. She's like one that I look up to a lot because she kinda takes the like boyish sorta look.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But then also looking like pot. She like mixes them up, which I think is tight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It got huge and then everyone liked it and then I liked it. I grew up shopping at thrift stores and Target basically. I've never had enough money to shop anywhere else, get a bunch of random stuff and then


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I go home and I cut it up and I sew it together. I always just made my own clothes. Anyone can pull off anything if you just let yourself. Lil Jupiter, he posts shoes that are about to be like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The shoe. I wear most of them. They're just all a lot of money, so if nobody's giving me them, I'm not gonna have them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He posts like these edits of stuff, like I think this right here is just like so tight. I don't know, I really like stuff that's like, like brands that are sort of incorporated in like just normal weird things. Oh here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you see that? Basically he just cut in half a pair of Nikes and put a little fish tank in it with a fish. I'm always looking for stuff like this because it inspires me too. It makes me want to do more. I draw inspiration from everything so I could literally see like the print on the wall and be like, oh that could be sick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, corduroy feel. It's like that sounds really crazy, but...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Something to, and like put it in a box is such a small thing to do. If you like it and you're making it, then just keep making it. Who cares what it is or what it's not. Alright, thanks for watching. Those were some of my favorite follows.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He said, first thing he did, he ran downstairs to the locker room, opened the door, went to a mirror, and he said he almost fa-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Emma Watson seems like the type of girl who I would be friends with for like three days and then get really sick of but not tell her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You say you won't act with her, and you say you won't act with him. I say we have a problem. Suppose you explain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now I've managed you two for a long while, and we've come through a lot together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't care how you do it, but somehow you've got to straighten yourselves out. Mr. McNulty.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are other managers who might be interested in us. I know, but they don't happen to have a contract with you and I do. I don't want to threaten you, but you act under my management or you don't act.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I had a brother once. Any relation to your father? And he studied psychiatry. That's what I think you both need.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let him study what's in the back of your mind. To study her mind, he'd need a magnifying glass.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My nerves are like, to quote Shakespeare, sweet bells jangled out of tune. I don't know how long I can last.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She'll suspect something. Now John, I thought you were an actor. You thought I was? My good man, that is Harold, uh, Harold, Harold. Don't you have any other name? Oh yes, yes, my middle name, Wycliffe. Oh. Well, Harold, I shall act as I never have before. She shall become as the turtle does.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the way, do you have a medical degree? Well yes, but why? If she finds out what we're up to, it'll come in handy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, well I mean it, uh, it was served so beautifully. Thank you, sir. Yeah, well I mean, uh, isn't life wonderful?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I ran into an old classmate of mine. Harold Matson.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh yes, yes, but I kept losing it, so now I just leave it on the hall table inside. I haven't lost one for years. I see.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, of course. Yes, I love it. You lie down first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, if they weren't, you'd know it. Why do you say that? Well, as long as you're both friends of theirs, I don't mind telling you why. I think they're both on the verge of a nervous breakdown.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sure, they get people all upset. Then why have you recommended them for the Newberrys? Well, they're already upset. You might straighten them out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But a psychiatrist might find things wrong with you that, uh, you never even knew about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes. Well, can I get you something for it? No. But I believe that Miss Nash and myself are here on the same mission. Or, uh, should I say, uh, Dr. Nash?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, my colleague and I have studied them separately, but I think that we'll make much better progress studying them together. Oh, are you two psychiatrists? Yes. Oh, fine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, well, of course what I said about psychiatrists, I mean...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maria, sweet. Harold Matson, my fellow Princetonian. You mustn't mind Maria Harold, oh boy. She tries hard, but memory's a tricky thing. Age takes its toll.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, that's, uh, very, very nice of you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, well, I'm afraid that my college life was not very exciting. Oh, nonsense. He's just being modest. You should have seen the way the girls flocked around him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, dear, I almost wish you'd said raspberry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I hope you didn't think when I was complaining about Maria and Harold that I, that I objected to spending so much time with you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As you see, you remind me of someone I once knew in Schenectady.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nonsense. It's the light. And then it only shows if you look down on the top. Well, uh, we decided to stop and get a cup of coffee.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I'm sure that now you have a different viewpoint. I prefer the view from our apartment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Could have happened to anyone. Yes, but it didn't happen to anyone, it happened to me. That's my car!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm afraid that picnic idea was a failure. I didn't mind it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You wait here. I'm going right in and pick a fight with her. But why? I want to see whose fault it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well believe me, we'll miss you too. I'll think of you often. Knowing you'll be like this, content, at peace with the world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you think you'd get a chance to read it over?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Oh, you're gonna love this. I mean, it's right up your alley. What's the play about? Well, it's a domestic comedy, see, but it's a switch on the usual thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we owe it all to our two friends in the other room. They showed us how wrong we were.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You two are responsible for this. Please don't try and thank us. Oh, but I insist. Thank you. Thank you very much. For spoiling the finest acting talent in the country. Right now they couldn't draw enough audience to fill a telephone booth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was just telling a story about Midnight in Paris, the Woody Allen film I was in. And how I'd never read the whole script and I thought it was set in the 20s. And uhm...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I turned up and I bumped into Owen Wilson, who didn't look like he was in the 20s at all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peace had come to what had once been Flensers domain. At least there was no sign of belligerent forces. Whoever had pulled them back had done it very cleverly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As the days passed, local peasantry showed themselves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where the people weren't simply dazed, they seemed glad to be rid of the old regime.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Life picked up in the farmlands. Peasants doing their best to recover from the worst fire season of recent memory. Compounded by the most fighting the region had ever known.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Queen had sent messengers south to report on the victory, but she seemed in no rush to return to her city. Her troops helped with some of the farm work.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And did their best not to be a burden on the locals. But they also scouted through the castle on Starship Hill. And the huge old castle on Hidden Island.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Down there were all the horrors that had been whispered about over the years. But still there was no sign of the forces that had escaped.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The locals were eager with their own stories and most were ominously credible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That before Flenser had undertaken his attempt upon the Republic, he had created redoubts further north. There had been reserves there, though some thought that steel had long since used them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peasants from the Northern Valley had seen the flencerous troops retreating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some said they had seen Flensor himself, or at least a pack wearing the colors of a lord.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver's expeditionary force was not a large one, and the forests and valleys stretched on for more than 100 kilometers to where the ice fangs curved west to meet the sea. That territory was unknown to Woodcarver.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If Flenser had been preparing it for decades, as was that pack's normal method of operation,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There would be deadly surprises, even for a large army hunting just a few dozens of partisans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let Flenzer be, and hope that his readouts have been gutted by Lord Steel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver worried that this would be the great peril of the next century. But things were resolved much sooner than that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was Flenzer who sought them out, and not with a counterattack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] About twenty days after the battle, at the end of a day when the sun dipped just behind the northern hills, there was the sound of signal horns.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] were wakened and shortly found themselves on the castle's parapet, peering into something like a sunset, all orange and gold, silhouetting the hills beyond the northern fjord.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver's aides were gazing from many eyes at the ridgeline. A few had telescopes. Ravna shared her Benox with Joanna. Someone's up there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stuck against the sky glow a pack carried a long banner with separate poles for each member.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver was using two telescopes, probably more effective than Ravna's gear considering the pack's eye separation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I see it. That's a truce flag, by the way, and I think I know who's carrying it. She yammered something at Peregrin. It's been a long time since I've talked to that one.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They met on the hillside north of the castle just eight hours later.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver's troops had spent the intervening time scouting the valley.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was only partly a matter of protecting against treachery from the other side. One very special pack of the enemy would be coming, and there were plenty of locals who would like that one dead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver walked to where the hill fell off precipitously toward forest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna and Pilgrim followed behind her at a tinishly close 10 meters. Woodcarver wasn't saying much about this meeting, but Pilgrim had turned out to be a very talkative sort.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is just the way I came originally a year ago, when the first ship landed. You can see how some of the trees were burned by the torch. Good thing it wasn't as dry that summer as this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The forest was dense, but they were looking down over the tree tops. Even in the dryness there was a sweet, resinous smell in the air.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To their left was a tiny waterfall and a path that led to the valley floor, the path their truce visitor had agreed to take.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Farmland, Peregrine called the valley bottom. It was undisciplined chaos to Ravner's eyes. The tines grew different crops together in the same fields, and she saw no fences, not even to hold back livestock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Here and there were wooden lodges with steep roofs and outward curving walls, what you might expect in a region with snowy winters. Quite a mob down there, said Pilgrim.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It didn't look crowded to her. Little clumps, each a pack, each well separated from the others. They clustered around the lodge buildings. More were scattered across the fields.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver packs were stationed along the little road that crossed the valley.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She felt Pilgrim tense next to her, a head extended past her waist pointing. That must be him, all alone as promised, and part of him was looking through a telescope.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now that's a surprise. A single pack trekked slowly down the road, past Woodcarver's guards. It was pulling a small cart, containing one of its own members, apparently. A cripple?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The peasants in the fields drifted toward the edge of the field, paralleling the lone pack's course. She heard the gobble of Tainish talk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When they wanted to be loud, they could be very, very loud.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The troopers moved to chase back any local who got too close to the road. I thought they were grateful to us.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was the closest thing to violence she had seen since the battle of Starship Hill.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They are. Most of those are shouting death to flencer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Flenser, Skinner, the pack who had rescued Jeffrey Olsendot. They can hate one pack so much. Love and hate and fear all together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More than a century they've been under his knife. And now he is here, half crippled and without his troops. Yet they are still afraid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are enough codders down there to overwhelm our guard, but they're not pushing hard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was Flensers domain and he treated it like a good farmer might treat his yard.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Worse, he treated the people and the land like some grand experiment. From reading data-set, I see he is a monster ahead of his time. There are some out there who might still kill for the master, and no one is sure who they are. He paused for a second, just watching. And you know the greatest reason for fear?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna shifted Fam's pistol forward on her belt. It was a bulky, blatant thing, and she was glad to have it. She glanced westward towards Hidden Island.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] OOB was safely grounded against the battlements on the castle there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Unless Greenstock could do some basic reprogramming, it would not fly again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Greenstalk was not optimistic. But she and Ravna had mounted the beam gun in one of its cargo bays, and that remote was dead simple. Flancer might have his surprises, but so did Ravna. The fivesome disappeared beneath the steepness. It will be a while yet, said Pilgrim.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of his pups stood on his shoulders and leaned against Ravana's arm. She grinned. Her private information feed. She picked it up and placed it on her shoulder.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The rest of Peregrine sat his rumps on the ground and watched expectantly. Ravna looked at the others of the Queen's party.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver had posted crossbow packs to her right and left.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Flencer would sit directly before her, and a little down slope. Ravna thought she could see nervousness in Woodcarver.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where the path from below reached the terrace they sat upon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Finally, Ravna heard the scritching of claws on stone. One head appeared over the drop-off and then more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Flanzer walked out onto the moss, two of his members pulling the wheeled cart.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The one in the cart sat erect, its hindquarters covered by a blanket.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Except for its white tipped ears, it seemed unremarkable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The pack's heads peered in every direction. One stayed disconcertingly focused on Ravna as the pack proceeded up the slope toward the Queen. Skinner, Flancer,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was the one who had worn the radio cloaks. None were worn now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Queen hadn't moved. She seemed frozen, every member staring at the oncoming pack. Some of her noses were trembling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Four of flencer tip the cart forward, helping the white tipped one slide to the ground.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now Ravner could see that under the blanket its hindquarters were unnaturally twisted and still. The five settled themselves rumped together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their necks arched up and out, almost like the limbs of a single creature.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The pack gobbled something that sounded to Ravna like strangling songbirds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pilgrim's translation came immediately from the puppy on Ravna's shoulder. The pup spoke in a new voice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A traditional villain voice from children's stories. A dry and sardonic voice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver said nothing for a moment. Then she gobbled something back and Pilgrim translated,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One of Flenzer's heads jabbed out toward Woodcarver. Not the members, of course, but your soul is obvious. Again, silence from the Queen. Peregrine, annotating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] My poor woodcarver. I never thought she would be this flummoxed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Abruptly he spoke aloud, addressing Flencer and Sam Norris.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, you are not so obvious to me, old former traveling companion. I remember you as Tyrethect, the timid teacher from the Long Lakes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Several of the heads turned toward Peregrin and Ravna. The creature replied in pretty good Samnorsk, but with a childish voice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Greetings Peregrin, and greetings Ravnaburgensdat. Yes, Flenzer Tyrethecht I am.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The head's angled downwards, eyes blinking slowly. Sly bugger, Peregrine muttered. Is Omdy Jeffery safe? The flencer suddenly asked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What? said Ravana, not recognizing the name at first. Then, yes, they are fine. Good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now all the heads turned back to the queen and the creature continued in pack talk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like a dutiful creation I have come to make peace with my parent, dear Woodcarver. Does he really talk like that? Ravna hissed at the puppy on her shoulder. Hey, would I exaggerate?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver gobbled back and Pilgrim picked up the translation, now in the Queen's human voice. Peace!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I doubt it, Flenzer. More likely you want breathing space to build again, to try to kill us all again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wish to build again, that is true. But I have changed. The timid teacher has made me a little softer. Something you could never do, parent. What?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pilgrim managed to inject a tone of injured surprise into the word.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You created too brilliantly. You ignored inbreeding and things I can't translate easily. And you got me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With all the quirks that have so pained you over the last century.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Before I thought that, your greatest act of genius. Now, I'm not so sure. I want to make amends, to live in peace. One of the heads jabbed at Ravna, another the O.O.B. down by Hidden Island.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there are other things in the universe to point our genius at.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I hear the arrogance of old. Why should I trust you now?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I helped to save the children. I saved the ship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You have the advantage, parent, but some of my power is left in the North. Make peace, or you will have more decades of maneuvering and war. Woodcarver's response was a piercing shriek. And that's a sign of irritation, in case you didn't guess.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Impudence! I can kill you here and now, and have a century of certain peace. I've bet that you won't harm me. You gave me safe passage, separately and in the whole. And one of the strongest things in your soul is your hate for lies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The back members of Woodcarver's pack hunkered down, and the little ones at the front took several quick steps toward the Flenser. It's been many decades since we last met, Flenser.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For an instant, every one of Flenzer's members was frozen. Then part of him came slowly to its feet, and slowly, slowly edged toward Woodcarver.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The crossbow packs on either side of the meeting ground raised their weapons, tracking him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Flanzer stopped six or seven meters from Woodcarver. His head's weaved from side to side, all attention on the Queen. Finally a wondering voice, almost abashed. Yes, you might.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What cover? After all the centuries, you've given up yourself? These new ones are not all mine. Quite right.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For some reason, Pilgrim was chuckling in Ravna's ear. Oh, well. The flencer back to its previous position. I still want peace.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very well. Depending on the terms, there will be peace. Maps were brought out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver demanded the location of Flenzer's main troops. She wanted them disarmed, with two or three of her packs assigned to each unit, reporting by Heliograph.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the fields below the peasants had long since given up their angry vigil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The only tensely watchful people left were the Queen's crossbow packs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Finally, Flensers stepped back from his end of the maps. Yes, yes, your folk can watch all my work. No more ghastly experiments. I will be a gentle gatherer of knowledge. Is this sarcasm? Like yourself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver's heads bobbed in rippling synchrony. Perhaps so. With the two legs on my side, I'm willing to chance it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Squash them like bugs, actually. Now we know how Flenser hurt himself. Do you have the rest of him? Yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna had seen what was left of Steel. She and Joanna had visited most of the wounded. It should be possible to adapt OOB first aid for the tines, but in the case of Steel there had been a bit of vengeful curiosity. That creature had been responsible for so much unnecessary death.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What was left of steel didn't really need medical attention.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were some bloody scratches, self-inflicted Joanna Guest, and one twisted leg.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the pack was a pitiable, almost an unnerving thing. It had cowered at the back of its pen, all shivering in terror, heads shifting this way and that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Every so often the creature's jaws would snap open and shut, or one member would make an aborted run at the fence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A pack of three was not of human intelligence but this one could talk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When it saw Ravna and Joanna, its eyes went wide, the whites showing all around, and it rattled barely intelligible samnors scat them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The speech was a nightmare mix of threats and pleas that they, not cut, not cut. Poor Joanna started crying then.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She had spent most of a year hating the pack these were from, yet... They seem to be victims too. It's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bad to be three, but no one will ever let them be more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, continued flencer, I would like custody of what remains. I never!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That one was almost as smart as you, even if crazy enough to defeat. You're not going to build him back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver came partly around the maps, close enough to Flanzer that their mind noise must collide. She brought all her heads together in a concerted glare.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Flinser bumped around for an instant, his members actually staring at one another. It was a gesture Ravna had not seen till now. That is my affair! I mean-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Steel was my greatest creation. In a way, I am proud of him. But I am also responsible for him. Don't you feel the same about Vendacious? I've got my plans for Vendacious. The response was grudging.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In fact, Vendacious is still whole. I fear the Queen made too many promises to do much with him now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I want to make up to steal the harm I made him. You understand? I understand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've seen steel and I understand your methods. The knives, the fear, the pain. You're not going to get another chance at it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It sounded to Ravna like faint music. Something from far beyond the valley. An alien blending of chords. But it was Flenser answering back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pilgrim's translating voice held no hint of sarcasm. No knives, no cutting. I keep my name because it is for others to rename me when they finally accept that, in her way, Tyrethect won. Give me this chance, Woodcarver. I am begging.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The two packs stared at each other for more than ten seconds. Ravana looked from one to the other trying to divine their expressions. No one said anything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was not even Pilgrim's voice in her ear to speculate on whether this was a lie or the bearing of a new soul. It was Woodcarver who decided. Very well. You may have him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A pilgrim with legends that went back almost a thousand years, and not one of them could come near to this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It would have burst into song except that it would pain his passengers.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were already unhappy enough with his rough piloting, even though they thought it was simply his inexperience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peregrine stepped across clouds, flew among and through them, danced with an occasional thunderstorm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How many hours of his life had he stared up at the clouds, gauging their depths, and now he was in them, exploring the caves within caves within caves, the cathedrals of light.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Between scattered clouds, the great western ocean stretched forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the sun and the flier's instruments, he knew that they had nearly reached the equator, and were already some 8,000 kilometers southwest of woodcarver's domain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There were islands out here. The OOB's pictures from space said so, and so did the pilgrims' own memories.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it had been long since he ventured here and he had not expected to see the island kingdoms in the lifetime of his current members. Now suddenly he was going back. Flying back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The OOB's landing boat was a wonderful thing, and not nearly as strange as it had seemed in the midst of battle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] True, they had not yet figured out how to program it for automatic flight. Perhaps they never would. In the meantime, this little flyer worked with electronics that were barely more than glorified moving parts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The agrav itself required constant adjustment, and the controls were scattered across the bow periphery, conveniently placed for the fronds of a scrote rider or the members of a pack.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the spacer's help and OOB's documentation, it had taken Pilgrim only a few days to get the hang of flying the thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But in the end, the machine was like an extension of his jaws and paws.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Since they descended from the purpling heights and began playing in the cloud tops, Ravna had been looking more and more uncomfortable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After a particularly stomach lurching bump and drop, she said,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Will you be able to land okay? Maybe we should have postponed this till- Ah! You can fly better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He dived beneath the clouds and swerved a few tens of kilometers eastwards. The weather was clear here and it was actually more on a line with their destination.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Secretly chastened, he resolved to do no more joyriding. On the inbound leg, anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His second passenger spoke up then, only the second time in the two hour flight.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I liked it, said Greenstock. Her voter voice charmed Pilgrim, mostly narrow-band but with little frats high up from the square waves. It was, it was like riding just beneath the surf, feeling your fronds moving with the sea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peregrine had tried hard to know the Scrooge Rider. The creature was the only non-human alien in the world, and harder to know than the two legs. She seemed to dream most of the time, and forgot all but things that happened again and again to her.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was her primitive scrote that accounted for part of that, Ravna told him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Out among the stars, there were things even stranger than two legs. It made Pilgrim's imagination ache.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the horizon he saw a dark ring and another beyond. We'll have you in real surf very soon. Ravna, these are the islands?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peregrin looked over the map displays as he took a shot on the sun. Yes, indeed. Though it didn't really matter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The western ocean was over 12,000 kilometers across, and all through the tropics it was dotted with atolls and island chains.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This group was just a bit more isolated than others. The nearest island or settlement was almost two thousand kilometers away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They were over the nearest island. Pilgrim took a swing around it, admiring the tropic ferns that clung to the coral.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hey, I'm getting better, don't you think? He said weakly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An uninhabited little island surrounded by endless sea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The original memories were blurred now. It had been his rum member, who had been a native of the island kingdoms. Yet what he remembered all fit. The high sun, the intoxicating humidity of the air, the heat soaking through his paws. Paradise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The rum aspect that still lived within him was most joyous of all. The years seemed to melt away. Part of him had come home. They helped Greenstalk down to the ground.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravner claimed the Scrooge was an inferior imitation, its new wheels an ad hoc addition.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Still, Pilgrim was impressed. The four balloon tires each had a separate axle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But near the top where the tropic ferns were thickest and their roots grew across every path, there he and Ravana had to help a bit, lifting and pulling. Then they were on the other side and could see the ocean.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now part of Pilgrim ran ahead, partly to find the easiest descent, partly to get close to the water and smell the salt and the rotting floatweed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The tide was nearly out now and a million little pools, some no more than stony walled puddles, lay exposed to the sun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Three of him ran from pool to pool, eyeing the creatures that lay within.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The strangest things in the world they had seemed to him when he first came to the islands. Creatures with shells. Slugs of all dimensions and colors. Animal plants that would become tropic ferns if they ever got trapped far enough inland.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where would you like to sit? He asked the scrote rider. If we go all the way out to the surf right now, you'll be a meter underwater at high tide.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The rider didn't reply, but all her fronds were angled toward the water now. The wheels on her scrote slipped and spun with a strange lack of coordination. Let's take her closer, Ravna said after a moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They reached a fairly level stretch of coral pocked with holes and gullies not more than a few centimeters deep.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll go for a swim, find a good place, Peregrin said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All of him ran down to where the coral broke the water. Going for a swim was not something you did by parts.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fact was damn few mainland packs could swim and think at the same time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now Peregrine knew it was simply the great difference in sound speed between air and water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thinking with all tympana immersed must be a little like using the radio cloaks. It took discipline and practice to do it, and some were never able to learn. But the island folk had always been great swimmers, using it for meditation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna even thought the packs might be descended from packs of whales. Peregrine came to the edge of a coral and looked down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Suddenly the surf did not seem a completely friendly thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He would soon find out if Rum's spirit and his own memories of swimming were up to the real thing. He pulled off his jackets. All at once, it's best done all at once.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He gathered himself and plopped awkwardly into the water.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Confusion, heads out and in. Keep all under. He paddled about holding all his heads down. Every few seconds he poked a single nose into the air and refreshed that member.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After a few minutes he'd found a nice level spot, sand all about and shielded from the worst fury of the sea. He paddled back to where the sea crashed against stony coral, and almost broke some legs scrambling out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Green stock rolled a little closer to the edge, then hesitated.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Her fronds turned back and forth along the curving sweep of the shore. Does she need help?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pilgrim started forward but Ravna just sat down beside the rider and leaned against the wheeled platform. After a moment, Pilgrim joined them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They sat for a time, human looking out to the sea, rider looking he wasn't sure quite where, and pack looking in most all directions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was peace here, even with, or because of, the booming surf and the haze of spray. He felt his hearts slowing, just lazed in the sunlight. On every pelt, the drying sea water was leaving a glittery powder of salt. Grooming himself tasted good at first, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yuck, too much dry salt was one of the bad memories. Greenstalk's fronds settled lightly across him. Too fine and narrow to provide much shade, but a light and gentle comfort.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They sat for a long while, long enough so that later some of Pilgrim's noses were blistered, and even dark-skinned Ravna was sunburned.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was not just politeness. Everyone would miss her. Even with her mind adrift, Greenstock was the expert on OOB's surviving automation. Long by your measure, I fear. A few decades.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She watched the waves a few minutes more. I am eager to get down there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hahaha, almost like a human in that. Ravna, you know my memories are muddled now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes he was petty and a little spiteful, but he was a great trader.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think that hurt him as much as the final burning.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I am grateful to you for protecting us. Now I want to think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To let the surf and the time work with my memories and sort them out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe if this poor imitation scrote is up to it, I'll even make a chronicle of our quest. She touched Peregrin on two of his heads. One thing, Sir Pilgrim.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You trust much to give me freedom of your seas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you should know, Blue Shell and I were pregnant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I have a mist of our common eggs within me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leave me here, and there will be new riders by this island in future years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Please do not take that as betrayal. I want to remember Blue Shell with children, but modestly.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Our kind has shared ten million worlds and never been bad neighbors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Greenstock was not at all interested in the protected stretch of water that Peregrine had discovered. She wanted, of all the places here, the one where the ocean crashed most ferociously. It took them more than an hour to find a path down to that violent place, and another half hour to get righter and scrowed safely into the water. Peregrine didn't even try to swim here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The coral rock came in close from all sides, slimy green in patches, razor jagged in others. Five minutes in that meat grinder and he might be too weak to get out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Strange that there was so much green in the water here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was all but opaque, with sea grasses and swarms of foam midges.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravana was a little better off. At the water's greatest height she could still keep feet to ground, at least most of the time. She stood in the foam, bracing herself with feet and an arm, and helped the scrodling over the lip of rock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Once in, the mechanical crashed firmly to the bottom beside the human.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna looked up at Pilgrim, made an okay gesture, then she huddled down for a moment, holding to the scrote to keep her place.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The surf crashed over the two, obscuring all but Greenstalk's standing fronds.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the foam moved back, he could see that the lower fronds draped across the human's back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And hear a voter buzzing that wasn't quite intelligible against all the other noise.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The human stood and slogged through the waste deep water toward the rocks Peregrine occupied. Peregrine grabbed onto himself, reached down to give Ravna some paws. She scrambled up the slime green and coral white.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He followed the limping two legs toward the crest of tropical ferns. They stopped under the shade.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] She ran her hands back through disheveled hair, then she looked at him and laughed. We both look like casualties. Uhm, yes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes soon he needed a freshwater bath. He looked around and out. From the crest of the atoll ring, they had a view of Greenstalk's niche.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna was looking down there too. Minor injuries forgotten.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How can she like that spot? Peregrin said wonderingly. Imagine being smashed and smashed and smashed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There was a smile on Ravna's face, but she kept her two eyes on the surf. There are strange things in the universe, Pilgrim. I'm glad there are some you have not read about yet. Where the surf meets the shore, lots of neat things can happen there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You saw all the life that floated in that madness. Just as plants love the sun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are creatures that can use the energy differences down at that edge. There they have the sun and the surge and the richness of the suspension. Still, we should keep watch a little longer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Between each end surge of the waves, they could still see Greenstalk's fronds. He already knew that those limbs weren't strong, but he was beginning to realize that they must be very tough. She'll be okay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Though that cheap scrote may not last long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Her green stock may end up without any automation at all. She and her children, the lowest of all riders.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ravna turned to look at the pack. There was still that smile on her face. Wondering, yet pleased. You know the secret Greenstalk spoke of? Woodcarver told me what you told her. I'm glad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Surprised! She was willing to let Greenstalk come here. Medieval minds!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sorry, most any minds would want to kill before taking even the faintest risk with something like this. Then why did you tell the Queen? About the Scrooge's perversion. It's your world.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Green Star could have used a cold box on the O.O.B. and likely slept forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Woodcarver didn't refuse. Somehow she understood what I was saying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's the true scrodes that can be perverted, but Greenstock no longer has one of those.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a decade this island's shore will be populated with hundreds of young riders.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they would never colonize beyond this archipelago without permission of the locals. The risk is vanishing. But I was still surprised Woodcarver took it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Paragon settled down around Ravna, only one pair of eyes still watching the rider's fronds down in the foam. Best to give some explanation. He cocked a head at Ravna.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We admired Blue Shell's courage in the fire. Such deserves reward.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And medieval types are used according treachery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what if the risk is of cosmic size? To us, here, it is no more deadly for that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We poor primitives live with deadly risk all the time. Ha! Her smile spread at his flippant tone. Peregrine chuckled, heads bobbing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His explanation was the truth, but not all the truth, or even the most important part.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He remembered back to the day before, when he and Woodcarver had decided what to do with Greenstalk's request. Woodcarver had been afraid at first.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stay craftily cautious before an evil secret billions of years old.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even leaving such a being in cold sleep was a risk. The state craftly


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The medieval thing to do would be to grant the request, leave the rider ashore on this distant island, and then sneak back a day or two later and kill it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Peregrine had settled down by his queen, closer than any but mates and relations could ever do without losing their train of thought. You showed more honor to Vendatius, he had said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scriber's murderer still walked the earth, complete. Scarcely punished at all.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Woodcarver snapped at the empty air. Peregrine knew that sparing Vendatius hurt her, too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, and these road riders have shown us nothing but courage and honesty. I will not harm Greenstock.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yet I am afraid. With her there's a risk that goes beyond the stars. Peregrin laughed. It might be pilgrim madness, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's to be expected, my queen. Great risks for great gains.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I like being around the humans. I like touching another creature and being able to think at the same time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He darted forward to nuzzle the nearest of woodcarver, and then retreated to a more rational distance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even without their starships and their datasets, they would make our world over. Have you noticed how easy it is for us to learn what they know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even now, Ravna can't seem to accept our fluency. Even now, she doesn't understand how thoroughly we have studied dataset. And their ship is easy, my queen.