Chapter Text
>>><<<Landing Pod: Wednesday>>><<<
Uzi groaned awake as she felt around feeling the warmth she had slept on for a while moved slightly. “Hey buddy it’s okay,” she heard N say from behind her as he moved slightly and covered her with the blanket, “sorry I stirred you awake.” J muttered as she switched from sleep mode and looked up, “did the alarm go off N?” she asked as she looked over to V who was sprawled across the pillows. N hummed as he shifted more and slowly took Uzi off his chest and moved her into J’s arms.
“Are you going to go grab the oil for Uzi to consume?” J asked as N got off the pile of pillows and stood up. “Yeah but since she is going to have to consume more than a limb I was thinking of gathering it in cans that we found the other day and so that way she finds it more comfortable than drinking it from a torn limb,” N walked over to the ladder, “much safer too. I’ll be back before the alarm goes off so u guys can continue to sleep some more and I will be back with the oil in the cans for Uzi.” N gave a goofy smile before climbing the ladder and disappearing out of the hatch.
Huffing J pulled the sleep mode-induced Uzi closer to her brought the blanket closer wrapped the blanket around them and zoned back off into sleep mode. J awoke to a start when a sudden callback ping notification moved across her screen, jolting her to a sitting position as she pulled up the notification to read it. J sighed in relief as it wasn’t anything dangerous as she felt Uzi from the side of her tapping around, “sorry about that, infant toaster,” J whispered as she laid back down and grabbed for the blanket again, “V, are you awake now?” J muttered looking on the other side of the pile of pillows.
V stirred and popped her head out from underneath the blanket, “is it a notification from N or squad FERN?” V asked a little annoyed that she was woken up with a start when J jolted upwards. “Squad FERN is almost here though They came across N as he was filling oil cans and they said they would help N with gathering oil so they should be here with N but also they had received their special log changes as well so they are aware Uzi is with us,” J groaned as she moved the blanket around in forming a swaddle with Uzi inside it, “though there was a second one that truly made me jolt but it was merely an update on the Company’s ETA of receiving Uzi.”
“Would they punish us if we say we don’t want to give her up anymore?” V huffed as she crawled over to the edge of the nest, “She’s already used to us and it’s easier now to take care of her so?” V stood up and looked over at the hatch. “I can ask the admins later after I report once H and S take a quick first look at Uzi’s visor,” J yawned as she also moved towards the edge on the other side of the nest, “but for now they are about a week out and expecting a smooth landing since the storm is soon to pass and move to the other side of Copper-9 for the next few months, the company is sending only one technician and squad ALPHA, so A, E, and O will be with the technician to view Uzi,” J rubbed the side of her visor to clean a smudge before straightening her suit.
V huffed and crossed her arms, “so those assholes are coming huh?” J frowned as she fixed the ribbons that held her pigtails up, “as much as we don’t get along with them, they are still regarded as the highest quota meeting squad, we would be there as well if it wasn’t for N’s screw ups a few months ago.” J muttered as she looked back at the swaddled Uzi and then to the hatch, “But for now we best fill up on our reserves, I’ll take the first watch, go hunt V and when you are done come back and I will go then.”
A chuckle came from V’s lips before she shot out of the landing pod, leaving J and Uzi alone. Another hour or so the thudding on top of the landing pod let J know that one of them had returned. “Hey J it has been a while hasn’t it,” the undertone of a British accent greeted J instead of the usual monotones of V and N greeting her, “Is that the patient that you specified me and H to come for?” J looked to the hatch to see the lighter tint of baby blue lights peeking in before the thudding of two more landed against the landing pod.
“Hello S, I thought you wouldn’t be arriving for another hour or so?” J asked as she looked back at the hatch and saw another blue and darker blue color peaking in, “Where’s N? He was with you three,” J asked another question as H entered the landing pod but F stayed outside.
“He was filling up the last can when he told us to come here and told us to bring this bag with full cans back since the alarm went off,” S raised a bag full of cans that were sloshing with oil, “it spooked us when his visor turned into an alarm notification but he said something about how you asked him to set an alarm?” S tossed the bag to J and went closer to the pile of pillows and blankets, “swaddled a worker drone and covered the broken visor from the harsh cold, well at least we don’t have to worry about too many damaged sensors, H, now where to start,” S hummed as he looked around the room. H approached the pile as well before leaning over, “Should we be concerned that the drone isn’t too concerned about the new voices?” H huffed his accent with a lighter tone of British accent but deeper, “Or is it because the drone still knows that J is still here?”
“Uzi knows about your guy's arrival after all, she was awake the whole time when I was contacting you and the company each time so,” J went over to the pile of pillows and blankets and pulled the blanket that was swaddled around Uzi and loosened it, “besides she’s awake, her body lights are brighter than her sleep mode ones, are you upset that you were swaddled and playing the quiet game with me?” J teased as she freed Uzi’s hands, “Infant toaster~” she elongated the infant part before an arm reached out and pushed J’s face away from being so close, “Yep, you’re upset that I swaddled you.” J chuckled as she undid the rest of the swaddle.
“I’ve never seen J this relaxed and mellow,” H whispered to S as they watched J pull the smaller drone to her feet before reaching up and unclicking the chain around Uzi’s neck, “I am guessing that was for safety reasons?” S asked as J took the cuff off and set it on the landing pod's main control panel. “Yeah at the beginning was to make sure she didn’t escape but then to make sure nothing drastic happened, since there’s now going to be six of us here I am sure we can go without the collar for a bit before the company arrives,” J hummed as she felt the air shift before another two sets of thudding against the landing pod, “N and V are back now.”
Sure enough, as J predicted N entered the landing pod first holding the last two cans of oil that he gathered and V followed after holding a limb in her mouth and chewing on it, “yo, your turn boss,” V muttered as she sat in the captain's chair and chewed further down on the limb, “or are we gonna wait until H and S examine the little narc first?” Uzi muttered under her breath at the nickname V gave her, S looked at the hatch to see F return and stay at the entrance, “F don’t you dare start with V, if you both want to fight like cats again like a few years ago you can do that outside of the spire.” S huffed as F chuckled, she was always itching for a rematch with V but since their posts were so far away it was nearly impossible to do it very often.
“Yes,” J sighed, “thank you for mentioning it S, but I think I will tap into the reserves that we have stationed in another building for now, and nothing fresh,” J walked closer to the hatch passing V, “I will be back momentary and V,” V looked up at her, “outside of the spire if you and F decide to have another rematch, I don’t need things damaged like before, and no interrupting H and S’s work, after all Corporate wants Uzi in full functioning condition when they arrive within a week or so.” V shrugged and finished off the limb as J took off through the hatch. N moved closer to Uzi and opened the can before sticking a straw he found into it and handing it to Uzi.
“Here buddy, the notification just came up,” N softly spoke as he helped Uzi hold the can and raised it to her mouth, “there you go buddy, drink up we don’t want another scare.” N gave a soft smile as she took it and started to drink from the can, “much better than drinking from a discarded limb, huh?” Uzi gave a quiet nod before turning slightly away, N knew she was upset and looked up at S, “She’s mad isn’t she?”
“J said that as well,” S hummed as he walked closer, “J swaddled her and she didn’t like it.” N chuckled before he reached under Uzi’s arms and lifted her with ease. “Up we go buddy,” N picked her up and brought her over to the other side of the room and set her down on the chair that could turn into a lay-down table as he adjusted the chair into the lying position and sat her on the middle part, “there we go, after she gets at least two cans you and H can start.” N chuckled lightly as he stepped to the side and grabbed another can, readying it for when Uzi was done with the first.
“The three of you are acting like a whole family,” H chuckled as he walked closer along with S. S sighed and looked over at the covered visor before moving closer and reaching out before Uzi jolted back, “it’s alright I am merely going to remove the cloth from your visor so I can observe the damage in full extent on the visor,” S said softly as he reached once more as Uzi sat straight again and didn’t flinch again as he moved the cloth away from the visor. His optics hollowed out, “what exactly caused this?” S asked as N frowned.
“Porcelain. A broken part of it from a spark plug,” N nervously twiddled his thumbs, “I had only caught up with her after her attempt to get back into what I assume was her colony’s bunker and noticed her on the ground with oil around her,” N trailed off, “only after I had picked her up I noticed the shattered visor.” S frowned at this knowledge as he moved the cloth fully from Uzi’s visor only for a few shards to fall off the total visor.
“Bad news, the visor cannot be pieced together will need a whole new visor, but that is only what I see on the surface,” S muttered and placed the cloth on the table only to move his hands to put it underneath Uzi’s chin before lifting her head and tilting her head, “no other damage that I can see, mostly the visor was the affected damage but to get more in-depth with how much damage there is,” S gently set her chin to the previous position and stood straight up, “we won’t know for sure until we remove the shattered visor and take a look at the inner sensors.”
“You talk like a technician,” Uzi muttered, taking her mouth off the straw as she set the now empty can on the table while N quickly placed the new can in her hands and took the empty one. S gave a side glance at Uzi before groaning, “Though I had been upgraded to a disassembly drone I was programmed as a repair worker drone in a warehouse back on earth so you are right, I do talk like a technician. H was also the same thing before we were taken off the line of work and redesigned as disassembly drones.” Uzi tilted her head up hearing S talk, “But this is just a beginning statement, I would have to take this shattered visor off to do a full diagnosis, which will be painful with you online so when it comes time to take it off you will need to be offline.”
Uzi stopped sipping on the straw and tilted her head trying to hear more but N came closer and moved her hands before she had fully let go of the can, “but good news Uzi,” N said trying to keep a happier tone, “S and H are the most experienced drones that we know of, well except for the technicians back on earth that gave us the upgrades. S is there anything that you guys might need before you guys start? Oil for your reserves? Tools?” N asked as he squeezed Uzi’s hands and looked up.
“We are fine on our reserves for now after all, we were hunting when we met with you and as for tools we should be fine since we have the nanites that create anything and everything we need,” H hummed as he walked closer, “but in case of parts for worker drones we may have to see what is salvageable outside for replacing pieces if we find anything else damaged.” S nodded his head in agreement with H as he took a small step back to look up and down, analyzing Uzi, “I haven’t seen this model’s size and stature anywhere on this planet,” S frowned, “Custom or not we might have to request to gain access to the inner works of our original tasks of getting to Cabin Fever Labs. Her model might be from those Labs and nothing on the surface, but if all interior wires are the same then we would only worry about the visor.”
S moved to the side went behind the table and stepped on a peddle that was underneath the chair. Uzi tensed as she felt the shift of movement upwards, “don’t worry,” S muttered, “just raising the chair a bit higher so that way me and H don’t have to bend down all the time while working. F and V if I can hear both of you softly growling at each other then go outside the spire.” S growled out as both V and F flinched at his growl. N looked back at where V was sitting before frowning, “J should be back and I can easily watch over Uzi if you’re that worried V.”
V scuffed as she stood, “I wasn’t that worried.” She muttered something else before turning her attention to the hatch, “Best out of three then brawl, got it F?” There was only an acknowledgment growl before V took off out of the hatch. Only for the four drones to hear the air-piercing sound of wind and metal clashing together, “that’ll keep them entertained while we start the observation,” S muttered.
There was a soft thudding on the landing pod that notified that J was back, “those two couldn’t wait any longer to brawl,” J muttered crossing her arms as she landed in the cockpit, “so what do you think so far S?” J asked as S took the empty can from Uzi and tossed it to N. “Well judging by the shattering pattern,” S moved from behind the chair to the front of it and walked closer to J, “there’s no way to salvage the visor. She needs a completely new one but without taking off the visor to view the rest, underneath the visor, I would have to take a look, with her online I am not going to do that as right now the facial sensors are turned on high since the visual sensors are blocked or could be damaged along with the visor.”
“So what do we need to do?” J asked as S walked closer and crossed his arms. “Well, since our logs say no further harm should be done,” S huffed and uncrossed his arms, “a suggestion is to have her willingly turn herself offline while we work on her and then when we are done to turn her back on and run the normal diagnosis checklist. But if my observation is to be confirmed that her model is different, we may have to contact corporate and ask for permission to reenter Cabin Fever Labs for the spare parts we need for her model.”
“Is she a specific model?” J asked as S shrugged his shoulders, “Well if that comes to it I will immediately contact them.” S nodded his head and looked towards N who was placing the empty can in a different bag. “So, Uzi,” S stated as Uzi tilted her head trying to hear where S was speaking from, “since both N and J are here, V and F are off having their catfight outside of the spire. I am sure you don’t want to be handicapped anymore than you need to be,” S came closer and stood to Uzi’s left, “so I do need you to cooperate and turn yourself offline to feel the least amount of pain possible. You would feel it after we turn you back online but other than that it should be fine. Do you agree with this?”
Uzi stayed silent for a moment just listening before muttering a quick, ‘bite me’ before sighing and nodding her head, “Might as well get this over with, not like I can magically heal or regenerate like any of you disassembly drones, anyways.” J gave a soft glare towards Uzi but signed in regardless. “I am guessing default insults to self is an angst trait?” S asked as he gave a side glance to J and N, “fits the bill of a smaller drone. If a drone doesn’t have the size or resources they make it up in behavioral programming. But that can be overlooked for now.”
Uzi frowned as she sighed and brought up her inner screen went over to the power off and hovered over it, “no freaky things will happen right?” Uzi asked as she heard a chuckle. “You read too much pirated anime for that thought to cross your CPU,” J sighed knowing fully well what she witnessed when she connected for a full diagnosis earlier that week, “but no nothing like that we’ll be right here the whole time.” Uzi nodded before she clicked the power button. She felt heavier each second as she felt her body be moved to a lying position and the rest of her sensors turning off. N watched Uzi’s body lights fade once more before turning completely off. S snapped his fingers near her audio receptors and waited for a reaction. When no reaction came S nodded his head.
“Who has more of a steady hand?” S asked as N pointed to J, “J can you assist me and H as we need a steady hand to hold the head in the upright position but without the power on the head will tilt to the side if we touch the head with nothing bracing it.” J nodded as she walked closer and moved to the headrest of the chair. Little did they know a little cleaner roach was staring down from the top of the Landing Pod.
>>><<< Inside the Bunker: Khan and Nori’s Apartment >>><<<
Nori was pacing the apartment as she gathered the papers that she dragged out of her closet. She has been up for more than 68 hours going through each of her ramblings to her daughter's ramblings trying to piece together what might’ve been happening without her knowing it fully. There was so much that she ignored and neglected throughout the years, but if she could find anything that could clue her into what her daughter was thinking then it has to be in her ramblings. “Nori please rest,” Khan said as he walked out of the kitchen holding a mug filled with warm coolant, “the scavenging party will be tomorrow and you need the rest or else I will say no to you going.”
Nori looked up from the pile of papers in her hands to look at Khan, “we missed so much,” Nori looked back down at the pile and placed one down on the coffee table and then grabbed another from a different pile to overlap them, “my ramblings tell about how the sky demons would be coming and the fact that what took control of me in the labs was coming for a new body after the first broke completely. Me and Yeva were the only successful transfers that could be potential hosts for this thing, but the connection was cut because of the patch that we got back in the Labs… But we didn’t think that it could be inherited when we have our children. Their patches are weaker than from the source. But Doll has been feeding off diluted oil thanks to Yeva so the solver isn’t as severe to her, unlike Uzi. I didn’t think about any of this and so I practically starved my daughter and made her vulnerable to this eldritch horror. The patch didn’t work correctly because of my neglect. And now the sky demons have her body, a new perfect host body for their leader. The solver is finding its way back here. We are all doomed.”
Nori collapsed onto the couch mindlessly staring at the papers, “I made her so vulnerable to this monster. And now I,” Nori leaned forward holding her head in her hands, “this is all my fault. I handed my daughter over to this thing. I was played like a puppet again.” Tears welled on her visor as she looked up to see Khan standing there, “don’t blame yourself, hun. I am partially to blame as well. I knew your crazed ramblings meant something and I took action and built what your ramblings were complying to,” Khan sighed and walked over and sat on the couch as well, “I should have done the same with Uzi’s crazed ramblings. But instead, I ignored it and busied myself with the upkeep of the doors.”
Both of them sat on the couch before knocking on their door. Standing up Khan walked over to the door and opened it to see Doll standing on the other side, “ [Mr. Doorman, is Aunt Nori here?] ” Doll asked as Khan stepped aside and made a motion to come in, “ [Aunt Nori, Ma and I have found where Uzi is, though, it is best that I show you myself, is that computer safe to transfer the transmission feed I am getting from the bug.] ” Nori nodded her head as she picked up the scattered paper and brought over the laptop that she had stored away. Doll came closer before clicking the side of her head pulled out a USB wire and plugged it into the laptop as a video feed started to appear on the screen. Uzi soon appears on the screen being surrounded by three murder drones.
“UZI,” Nori shot up and got closer to the screen, “what are they doing?! Oh no, are they-” Doll shook her head as she pointed to the screen where Uzi’s visor was on full display. “ [From what I heard so far it seems like these two other murder drones had prior jobs before becoming sky demons as technician drones and they know how to fix her visor] ” Doll pointed to the other drones that seemed to both males then pointed to the female looking one, “ [this one is holding her head straight so they can work without doing more damage. Uzi is fully powered off, she willingly turned herself off for them as this one] ” Doll pointed to the one with a side loose ponytail and a black turtleneck with a vest on, “ [stated that it would be more painful to be online as they operated on her visor.] ”
“So they are fixing her?” Khan asked, looking at the screen now, Doll nodded her head, “But why are they doing that when they only kill us?” Doll frowned and looked over to Nori who was in a sort of trance watching them peel away the shattered visor away from the sensors to an oil mess underneath, Nori gasped as they moved away briefly before looking at each other and seemingly calling to the side of the room and ordering a fourth to do something, “what are they saying Doll?”
“ [They are telling a fourth to go out into the spire and bring back a dead workers head for spare parts as there are ruptured wires and pipes underneath Uzi’s visor and they need to be repaired first and saying how it could explain why they keep getting a notification of Uzi always low on her oil reserves. So it seems like they have been feeding Uzi oil this whole time] ” Doll mentions as she holds up her hand and the vision moves slightly to view the opening of the landing pod to see the fourth jumping out of the hatch and a few moments later seeing the white blur come back in and Doll moved her vision back to the table once more, “ [they are going to take the necessary parts from the dead worker to weld it into Uzi’s damaged ones and there might be complications with the visor cause of different models… Zombie Worker Drones?] ” Doll looked over to Nori as her optics went wide.
“Zombie Worker Drones was the title of an experiment model class. Me and Yeva are the same thing,” Nori filled in the gaps as Nori knew Doll would question it, “and by default, you and Uzi gained that gene and model description. We need to get Uzi back if what I am thinking about and why Uzi is still alive and those sky demons are keeping her alive and safe like they are,” Nori stood up and went to the door, “I will not hand her over to the solver… the solver is coming for those who can use an ounce of its power. Uzi has never used it but has both model and coding to do so, that is what the solver is after.” Nori opened the door and ran out of the apartment as Doll disconnected from the laptop. “Do you think you can delay Yeva from leaving your guys’ apartment,” Khan asked hesitantly as he knew from what Nori told him, that Yeva was losing it as well.
“ [She had already left the apartment when I came to show you guys,] ” Doll said as Khan’s optics widened, “ [She mentioned something about the labs and how she has to grab something in exchange for Uzi.] ” Khan also ran out the door leaving Doll inside their empty apartment, “ [though I doubt any of you can catch up to Ma or know exactly what Ma wants to do. I better listen to Ma and prepare the empty room.] ” Doll moved out of the door before heading back to her and her mother's apartment as she looked back at the empty apartment.
“So is the loser truly being held captive by those murder drones?” Lizzy questioned as she watched Doll move things with a red solver, Doll merely nodded, “So what does your mother plan to do to get the loser back?” Doll looked to the side seemingly rolling her eyes as Lizzy was slow to catch on, “ignoring me 'cause I keep calling the freak names. Your mom isn’t here at the moment so it doesn’t matter.”
“ [But Ma will know what we discussed later, she still has a few roaches here to make sure Aunt Nori or Uncle Khan come here to ask for more information] ” Doll sighed as she fixed the light fixture in the room with her solver, “ [Ma is no drone you would want to mess with when she is in the mood. And right now is not the time to say such things… So for now just refer to her as Uzi in the apartment.] ” Doll stated as she looked back at Lizzy, as the blonde drone huffed before looking back to her phone and started texting away on the device. Stereotypes right?
>>><<< Landing Pod: After N got the dead worker Head >>><<<
S had pulled off the visor from the dead drone and saw all the wires intact, “good news she has the same wiring as the other models but I still am finding it difficult that the visor is not going to be an easy find or easy fix.” S began to unhook the wires and piping from the deceased drone and began to heat the wire and metal piping to make the wiring visible and warp the metal to prepare to connect to the cut wiring and piping. “For her piping to be this bad and nearly dried oil underneath the fresh oil means there was previous head trauma way before the visor was shattered,” H huffed as he cut the broken wire and piping with a thin scapula and heating the old wiring and metal with the small blow torch he manifested as he looked up from his work to look over at S, “I need the blue and yellow wiring first, this red one is somewhat salvageable but we’ll reinforce it with another red wire,” H held out a hand as S handed it to him before standing up again and held a heated metal piping.
“You said she was overheating a bit before you had regulated her consuming oil from the source of a limb right?” S asked as J nodded her head. “Yeah she was overheating quite a bit but when I did the invasive diagnosis connection,” J flinched remembering how much Uzi struggled and cried out in pain when they had to pin her down and force the connection, “it was showing several of her systems were on the brink of deleting themselves and her OSi was backlashing at anything that was trying to fix the issue.” S gave a scared expression as he heated the metal again before quickly snapping the old metal replacing it with the heated metal and shaping it into place.
“Which programs were fighting against each other?” H asked as he tethered wires together, paying attention to what J was saying, “there was the basic worker drone program but another but it was blurred out so I have no idea which program it was but I do know it was what our systems run on for regeneration,” J mentioned as both S and H looked at her, “what I have checked my logs regularly and reported everything that I notice in my reports when contacting corporate, I have to keep my records and reports clean and organized.”
“Maybe we need to discuss the human phrase of TMI more since talking about files and programs seems to get you all quirky,” H raised an eyebrow on his visor. N was in the corner being patient and quiet watching S and H work on Uzi, “do you think we can scrap together a visor instead of going to these labs?” N asked as S looked up from his work again. “We possibly could but we would have to get measurements in able to do such things,” S sighed as he turned his hand back into a blow torch again and heated the metal by the vision sensor to wipe up the dried oil and gunk from the sensor, “but if measurements can be taken and we can customize a visor for her, but for now let us focus on fixing up all the smaller sensors in her facial unit.”
“But do you think it’ll be easier to customize a new visor or to just go down in those labs and grab one for her specific model?” J asked a little interested in what N had suggested. “If we find it easier to customize a visor then yes we will do that but if not then we have to go to the labs for her visor,” S said as he wiped away gunk from a receptor and turned his hand into a scapula and cut hardened oil before heating it and wiping it again, “the majority of her sensors and receptors are excellent just coated in old and new oil but easily cleaning, just a small fixing of wires and her main oil line and she’s perfectly fine to see how her visor measures and if we need to go to the labs.”
S looked at H as he nodded and turned the scapula hand into a measuring tape and began to measure the outline of where the visor was before S hummed and frowned, “Even if we customize a visor this curving on the head will be hard to match,” H looked to where S was pointing out, “her head is a 19 % increase angle than a normal worker drones head so its steeper tilt, and even if we head the plexiglass or glass itself to create the bend it’ll crack or shatter too easily.” S picked up the shattered remains of the old visor, “Besides this is tempered glass not the typical glass majority of the worker drones have, her model is made with this tempered glass material because it’s the most resistant to cracks and shatters. And there are no materials anywhere nearby made with tempered glass other than the broken-down vehicles. But the tint is nothing close to what we need for her visor.”
“Cabin Fever Labs it is then?” J asked as she looked at the shattered fragments S nodded, “I will make the call to the admins to get the go-to head there, but is she able to be turned on without her visor or will she need to be still turned off?” S looked at Uzi before setting down the shattered visor and materialized wrap from his hands. “She can be awake after all we need to inform her what happened and get more information out of her cause there is no way that falling on broken porcelain would cause that much damage underneath her visor. But I will wrap the sensors and open wiring for now,” S stated as he motioned for J to lift her head from the chair. With precise movement, S wrapped the wrapping around Uzi’s exposed wires and sensors before it became a cloth-clogged area with a slight indent with the missing visor no longer there.
“Let her power on and we will run the diagnosis process her files,” S stated as he reached behind Uzi’s head underneath her wig and pressed an invisible button. Her body lights slowly turn on, “diagnosis then questions will be answered as I am already becoming angry with the amount of damage we discovered.” S crossed his arms watching Uzi’s body lights turn on before brightening, notifying the four of them that she was turning on and waking up.
>>>><<<< [Intermission Breached; End Chapter Five] >>>><<<<