Jea
Something bigger that racism. By Steven Donnini
Library Of Congress WGA Copyright Steven Donnini 2007 Steven Donnini
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The home office of art critic Dennis Moore is cluttered with three computers, overflowing bookshelves, and stacks of periodicals.
Looking out windows built across one wall,
the lush trees and clear night sky cover the sense of being in the city.
He sits down in his well-worn leather chair
for an evening of computer surfing on the Internet. logs on and checks his E-mail.
He
Nothing exciting, just a
few offers to make him an instant millionaire.
The chat rooms can be interesting because people will say anything when they're not face-to-face. nothing is surprising.
Most of the time
But, there's always a chance you'll
find an idea in cyberspace.
Surfing into his favorite chat
room, where people talk about aliens and government coverups, he types in. "What's happening?" don't know you."
Targa says, " I
Jea says, "It's only an illusion."
says, "You sound like my girlfriend." can you explain."
Dennis asks, "Jea
Jea answers, "We are communicating in
space that only exist in our minds. in cyberspace."
Targa
There is no real space
Targa says, "Oh forget it!"
hooked; he loves this kind of chat.
Dennis is
He spends the next few
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weeks talking with Jea about everything from art to war and history.
Late one night, Dennis is at home on the computer and he sees a pale face in his office window.
It looks like the
famous alien everyone draws, with big black oval shaped eyes and the colorless face.
They stare at one other for
sometime, checking one another out.
Cautious and decorous
Dennis talks to him through the window.
Jea doesn't
answer, and then he disappears into the darkness.
The next night, Jea is in the chat room once again. that Dennis has seen him, he speaks more freely.
Now,
He talks
about himself and why he doesn't like to be called an alien.
He says, "A hundred thousand others like him are
earthlings too, we share this planet. your people were on all fours."
We were here when
The Dadait people as they
are called, came here on an expedition thousands of years ago.
Their planet drifted out with the expanding universe
beyond the trekking range of their spacecraft, in short, they are stranded.
They are nocturnal and cannot expose
their pale skin to ultra violet light.
There is so much of
this kind of talk on the Internet that no one seems to take notice.
But, the NSA is always listening on the Internet.
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They're looking for key words, revolution, atom bomb, neutron and so on.
Once they've locked on to someone they listen for a bit to see it there's a threat of any kind to national security. A zealot at NSA, agent Joan Davis takes an interest in Dennis and Jea. they have. agrees.
She begins to record the conversations
Dennis wants to meet again face to face, Jea
The meeting is set in West Texas on an isolated
location along the Rio Grande River.
It's midnight Nov. 20, 1996, and Dennis is sitting on the hood of his old Ford F-100 pick-up looking skyward awaiting Jea.
Across the southern sky he sees a star like light
getting brighter.
A small polished chromium sphere touches
down in the headlights of the pickup. aperture and walks over to Dennis.
Jea emerges from an
Jea holds his 6
fingered hand palm out, Dennis instinctually presses his palm to it.
The sensors in Jea's hand read Dennis. Dennis
asks, "Why did you come here?" with my kind. "Like what?"
Jea answers, "I'm bored
They are afraid of everything."
Dennis,
Jea, "The underground nuclear testing.
Until
the people of this world started nuclear testing, we had a peaceful co-existence.
Now every time your people set off
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a nuclear test the roof shakes in the catacombs half way around the world.
We have relocated many times to avoid
the nuclear blasts." this?"
Dennis, "Why are you telling me
Jea answers, "I'm not apprehensive, most people
don't believe we're here.
Your people won't believe you if
you tell them the truth, so I am not frightened." "Where have you made your home?"
Dennis,
Jea, "The Catacombs of
Madagascar, in subterranean cities."
Jea goes on to
explain that Dadait are a peaceful race of creatures.
They
have 3 Queens that give birth in the catacombs to a highly structured social order. thousands of years.
They have lived on earth for
Exploiting the human race without
permission from a queen is punishable.
Once they lived
underneath the pyramids of Egypt, but were forced to move because of the excavation of the tombs. the Nevada desert. destroyed them.
Once they lived in
There the nuclear testing almost
Now, living in subterranean ant like
colonies in Madagascar, they are safe.
Out of the darkness a U.S. Border Patrol truck is approaching at top speed. night sky.
Jea makes a quick exit into the
Dennis tells the officers that he was looking
for a place to camp for the night.
They tell him that it
too dangerous to camp here because of the Mexican drug
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smugglers that pass this way.
He is so excited about the
encounter with Jea that he races home to Longview, Texas to tell his best friend Sam.
Sam Elliott is not into the hacker/alien stuff.
He is a
concrete thinker, reasoning that Dennis is spending too much time on the Internet.
Dennis wins him over with the
idea that together they should take an adventure trip to Madagascar.
Sam will be the official photographer of the
expedition.
The paranoid idea that someone is watching over the Internet is true. In fact, Joan Davis, of the NSA is watching every move; she makes plans to follow along.
Dennis has packed everything, including his IBM/Note Pad laptop.
They fly to Paris, then on to Ivato in Eastern Madagascar. The taxi ride from to the Hotel Colbert in Antananarivo is exciting.
There's a sense of adventure in the air.
Sam
points out that the only scent in the air is of human waste, "They go where ever they have the urge."
In his
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hotel room, Dennis sets up the laptop and waits for Jea to talk to him on-line.
Annoyed with the computer geek stuff,
Sam goes to the hotel casino.
At 1am, Jea appears on-line.
Dennis tells Jea he has come
to Madagascar to see the catacombs. the elders will not understand.
Jea is worried that
They've forbidden humans
to see the Catacombs.
Many have, and the experience for
them wasn't pleasant.
The science of the mind is an
important thing to life in the catacomb. aggregate consciousness.
There's an
That is the big advantage the
Dadait have in the "being" equation.
They have mastered
their feelings and use them with great skill.
They feel
their way around in a manner of speaking.
At the hotel casino, Sam meets Joan Davis. interest in him and they drink cocktails.
She shows At 2:00am the
casino closes, they spend the night in her room.
On the Internet connection, Jea goes on to tell Dennis that the Dadait see themselves as ethereal beings.
Their
spirits are reborn over again in the embryos the Queens lays.
But, they have a dark side in the form of the
Pilgri. They are the emotionally primitive spirits of death
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and devastation.
The Pilgri wander the countryside at
night to prey on cattle and human flesh.
Their head is ant
like with epidermis that is thick, impenetrable and a glossy reddish black. and dominant predators.
At 6'2" and 250 lbs. they are quick
your head off.
With fierce claws they can take
They oblige the Queen with fresh meat
everyday and take delight in their work.
Queen Vell has
been producing the Pilgri eggs in enormous numbers and a power struggle between the queens has begun. are quickly taking over the population.
The Pilgri
They intimidate
the submissive Dadait. In the last few months, several Dadait have been found mutilated in the catacombs.
No one has taken credit for
the kills, but Jea and the others know what is going on. The 3 Queens must resolve the conflict or the Pilgri will reach critical population count, produce another genetically pure Pilgri Queen and multiply out of control. Their aggressive nature will compel them to make the short trip west across the Mozambique Channel into the African mainland where the hunting is better.
All of Africa is in
danger of becoming the hunting ground for the Pilgri. would know until it was too late? whole continent in a few years. from his human friend.
Who
The Pilgri will take the Jea is looking for help
Dennis is enthusiastic, but he
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knows people will think he is out of his mind. must demonstrate that the Pilgri are real.
Now, he
Jea agrees to
take Dennis and Sam to a Pilgri game hunt in the mountains east of Antananarivo.
The next morning, Sam is more interested in Joan than the so-called expedition.
Dennis convinces him to go along as
an eyewitness and to get scrupulous photos. deal if Joan can tag alone.
He strikes a
Jea gives him instruction on
where to go and wait for the Pilgri.
He wants them to be
armed with high power, hunting rifles. Although Sam is in disbelief, he takes the advice seriously and makes the contact to buy the guns from a local dealer. back at the hotel ready to do battle. on the bed in his hotel room. in need of cleaning.
Sam arrives
He lays the gear out
The equipment is archaic and
The ammo is an even bigger problem.
There's no telling if the guns would fire at all. shows off the arsenal.
Sam
Joan is not impressed; she doesn't
take the adventurers seriously anymore. are just a couple of weirdo’s.
It's clear they
She has taken to Sam and
decides to tag along, in case they get in real trouble. She can help them, if the local police pick them up.
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At dusk, they load up the equipment in a rented Range Rover with the aid of Julo, their driver guide.
The route is 8
hours east through the mountains to a Malagasy village. Sam has packed infrared film for the nocturnal photography of the Pilgri.
Joan and Sam are joking as they bounce along the washed out red clay road.
The headlights of the car shining into the
trees covering the trail revel the abandoned village. trip has left them exhausted.
The
For their security Jea has
given clear instructions on where to hide and observe the Pilgri with their prey.
They arrive at the village just in
time to unload the gear.
Julo hides the Rover as the others climb in the trees to have a clear view of the Pilgri as they began to gather. The Pilgri spacecraft land in the abandoned village and unload the captives.
What follows is like nothing ever
seen by human eyes since the dark ages.
The people were
from all over the world, samples of exotic flesh for the taste of Queen Vell and her court.
The victims look like
they are in a daze, are striped of clothing, then meticulously cut into pieces with lasers, put into alloy containers, then loaded on board the craft.
Extraordinary
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hypnotic music is playing so loudly it covers the victim’s screams. grip.
Sam is holding on to a tree limb with a hysteria
Joan has covered her eyes and Dennis is frozen.
Julo hides behind the Rover.
Jea was right; an Africa full of Pilgri isn't a safe place. Human beings are being harvested for the indulgence of Queen Vell.
The ground around the village starts to shake
as the Pilgri spacecraft lifts off the ground.
They
gracefully glide out of sight behind the mountains to the east.
Sam says, "Dennis, I won't call you a geek anymore."
Joan adds, "I'm delighted you didn't use your guns."
The rain-washes away the blood stained ground.
Mixing with
the red dirt, it looks like a river of blood washing down the mountain.
Dennis jumps down from the tree to meet Julo
at the Rover.
In broken French, he talks of the mythical
evil spirits of the mountains that have come down for centuries to kill livestock.
He tells Dennis that he
shouldn't look at them, because they get in the soul and you will dream of them forever.
Joan asks if there is a
police or military compound near by. hours away.
Julo knows of one two
They drive away into the abundant forest.
Dennis wants counsel from Jea.
Sam is of the opinion that
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they should, find the Catacomb and nuke it.
He argues that
Jea didn't come clean about what was going to happen. asks, "Would you have come if you knew?" talk about the possibilities.
Joan
They drive and
If Jea is right, every human
being on earth is in jeopardy. beings been seen before now.
But, why haven't these Dennis answers confidently;
they have been for centuries, dating back to early cultures recordings.
These being are represented on artifacts in
the Andes, North Africa, India, China, and in the American Southwest, it's nothing new.
The Rover rolls into the military compound and stops at the gate.
A small soldier with Indonesian features steps out
of a metal shack and greets them.
Joan is the best at
French so she takes over the conversation and informs him they need to use the telephone. He walks them to the office.
The CO is polite and
accommodating. He requests they stay the night for rest and food.
Joan knows it is discourteous to reject the offer,
so she thanks him and accepts. going east to Toamasina.
There is one phone line
Joan makes the first call to the
French Embassy in Antananarivo and is patched to her office in Washington.
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It is 1:00am, her boss Jim Bailey is sleeping at his home when the call is sent to him.
He answers and takes the
phone into the study, so not to wake his wife. cautiously to her report.
He listens
There have been many reports
about abductions and strange disappearance, but not from a NSA agent. him.
He asks if she can get any hard evidence for
She admits she had the chance and lost it, because
she didn't believe Dennis.
Joan knows it's time to tell
Sam and Dennis whom she works for.
After listening
carefully Dennis expresses his outrage at the paranoid government.
They agree they need help, so they trade the
old guns for working models from the CO.
Joan leaves an
NSA card with number to call if they don't return.
They
agree to make another contact with Jea and set up a time and place to take photos.
Dennis knows the only
possibility to get in touch with Jea is on the Internet. So, that night they set up his laptop and connect to the Internet, through the hotel back in Antananarivo.
They wait watching the chat; at 11:15 pm Jea is there with apprehension in his words.
He's message is... "You have
seen what will happen to your people if the Pilgri are allowed to multiply.
The Dadait are forbidden from killing
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any living creature.
Therefore, we are defenseless against
the Pilgri. The Queens have met in chamber; they can not come to an agreement and will fracture into two separate mounds. Queen Vell and her Pilgri will excavate to the west to the Mozambique Channel.
Queens Asie and Luti will move
colonies by mining east to the Indian Ocean.
The Pilgri
will be at their weakest when digging the main tunnel. Their spacecraft will be the last moved into the new Catacomb and will carry only the embryos.
They will mine
24 hours a day until they reach the channel. it will take 4 days.
Jea estimates
At that time they will be drained of
consumables and strength.
That's when they can be ravaged.
They cannot be buried alive or crushed easily, as they can lift 60 times their body weight.
Their external hide is 3
inches thick that covers the most vulnerable parts of the physique.
They will have to be killed one by one with
high-powered rifles.
Dennis must set an ambush at the port
city of Mahajanga before they tunnel to the surface.
Joan
talks to Jea about getting proof that this is really happening. Jea directs them to a location in the rainforest not far from the military compound where they can enter the catacomb without being seen, but it must be done during
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daylight.
Jea last advise... "Be armed to defend
yourselves."
In the morning rain Julo packs up and they drive the Rover into the rainforest.
Using a Naval Land stat satellite
receiver, Joan directs them to within 10 meters of a small opening to the catacombs, covered with moss and spider webs.
They crawl along for 30 feet to a larger tunnel were
they could stand.
Dennis notices an unfamiliar odor.
The
cool damp air fogs Sam's glasses and camera lens.
Using
Jea's directions they move deeper into the mound.
As they
round a corner they approach a huge bell shaped catacomb 120 yards across.
It contains three spacecraft, two are 30
ft. spheres, one 15 ft. hanger.
It looks like a maintenance
3 Dadait technicians are at work on the smaller
craft; tools and parts are lying around. making a part with a particle beam lathe.
One technician is Sam crawls out
to a location behind alloy containers where he can get a good photo.
Sam stands and points the camera at the small
sphere and shutter clicks loudly.
None of the Dadait takes
notice with all the noise of alloy clanking around.
A
Pilgri guard steps out of a shadowy tunnel and with a few steps he is positioned behind Sam.
Dennis and Joan scream
a warning, it's too late, and Sam turns to defend himself
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from the powerful claws of the Pilgri and is cut across the chest.
Joan takes aim with her rifle and fires off a
couple of rounds into the gut of the Pilgri, it shrieks with pain. tunnels.
The Dadait technicians disband into the The Pilgri is wounded and turns toward Joan and
Dennis, leaping with his powerful legs he is face to face with Joan. its gut.
At close range she fires three more times into The Pilgri falls down landing on his back, dead.
Joan pushes Sam toward the exit tunnel. cut, but can make it out.
Sam is seriously
Julo is waiting at the entrance
to the mound pacing with apprehension.
They get in the
Rover and Julo drives off into the jungle in a panic. Frightened they make it back to the military compound. Sam's wound is tended and Dennis reports what has happened to the CO.
Joan calls her office in Washington to report what has happened.
Jim Bailey is waiting with his staff in a
situation room, when her call comes in.
They realize that
in spite of all the high tech gadgets at their fingertips, this is going to have to be handled the old fashioned way, with surreptitious brute force and effectiveness.
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The U.S. Navy is stationed in the Indian Ocean to defend shipping lanes from the Middle East oil fields. Seal team will meet them at Mahajanga.
A Navy
A Navy helicopter
is on the way to pick them up and bring them to the U.S.S. Enterprise, where they can process and scrutinize the photos.
Sam will get needed medical help as well.
Dennis
wants a chance to persuade Jea to come with them to the Enterprise and tell his plan.
He connects to the Internet.
Jea makes contact at once; he's been waiting and wants an understanding between Dennis and the others that there must be no reference to the other Queens, Asie & Luti.
Jea will
land his craft on the deck of the carrier at 10:00 pm.
The night sky over the Indian Ocean is clear, the new moon is bright as the helicopter lands on the aft deck.
They
are greeted by a Naval Intelligence Officer and taken to a debriefing room.
Later, the photos are laid out for
everyone to observe, it is clear what they show.
The
commander orders a mission using 16 Navy Seals and four Cobra attack helicopters.
The details of the mission will
be worked out with Jea.
The deck of the carrier is covered with almost 5,000 men when the alloy sphere cruises along side the massive
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Enterprise.
The sphere circles around the ship once then
stops amidships. It sets down on the deck in the middle of the crowd.
Dennis runs out to meet him, the aperture opens
in the side of the spacecraft and Jea steps out with a small black device.
They move through the crowded deck.
The sailors are flashing pictures from little pocket cameras.
Jea walks into the briefing room and greets the
Commander with the Dadit hand palm press.
Jea places a
small device on the console in the middle of the room.
A
hologram of the Mahajanga port area appears above the device.
They formulate the ambush plan.
The Seal team
will be waiting when the first Pilgri break ground to the surface.
Then, they will fight their way in to the tunnel,
locate and kill Queen Vell.
They must kill all the Pilgri.
Jea doesn't know how many they will engage, but 16 Seals should do the job.
Jea returns to his craft and lifts off
into a mysterious sky.
Joan and Dennis are suited up for the ride to observe. Hours latter, they lift off the deck in the Cobra helicopters for the 300-mile trip to Mahajanga. have to refuel at the airport in Antananarivo.
They will The
Enterprise has set a course to the port of Mahajanga. After refueling, the helicopters fly to the location on the
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outskirts of the city where Jea believes the Pilgri will break ground. The deployment goes well and the Cobra's are pulled back. They use a seismic probe to listen for the tunneling Pilgri.
They are approaching from
the East.
A giant drill bit breaks the surface and pulls
clear of the tunnel opening. the operation.
Seal team leader Como starts
Seals dressed in black mask and suit; enter
the tunnel with deft speed, shooting at everything that moves.
The Pilgri are absorbed in their work and are
utterly surprised by the attack, they are slow to respond. Exhausted and wearied they begin to fight back.
The Seals
are out numbered and are driven out of the tunnel.
Six of
the men have been killed and another five are in need of emergency medical help.
The rest are running carrying the
dead and wounded to safety on the Cobras. The ambush is a disaster.
They radio the ship and report the situation.
Joan and Dennis are overwhelmed by the events.
They just
want to get as far away from Mahajanga as possible.
They
navigate to the island of Grande Comore in the Comoros islands, refuel and return to the ship.
The Pilgri have emptied the spaceships of Queen Vell's precious eggs have followed the Seals back to the
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Enterprise.
Their spheres hover above the horizon.
The
captain gives the order to open fire with surface to air missiles.
The spheres move abruptly, the missiles pass by
and fall into the ocean miles away.
They close in on the
ship and attach their craft to the ship's hull just above the water line, sticking to it like magnets.
They cut
holes in the side of the ship and enter into the lower decks killing everyone they meet. men to fight for their ship.
The captain orders his
Deck by deck the Pilgri claw
their way toward the command station.
Then the captain
orders all hatches closed and locked.
Many seaman are
trapped to fight the Pilgri one on one, it's a blood bath. Joan suggests they cut off the Pilgri escape by removing the spheres from the sides of the ship.
A team of Seals
lower themselves down the sides of the ship to the spheres and places C4 charges around the outside of each craft. The charges are all timed to blow at the same second. Dennis and Joan watch the action from the wheelhouse.
The blast loosens the spheres and they fall into the sea. The Pilgri are trapped on board the ship, the tide has turned.
The seaman are taking back the ship, killing the
Pilgri.
They retreat back to where they entered the ship
to discover that they are stranded and must fight to the
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death.
The last few Pilgri are shot and fall into the sea
out the holes where their craft was attached.
On the deck of the Enterprise, Sam, Joan and Dennis stand together looking toward the island of Madagascar.
Dennis
says, "The battle of Mahajanga will decide the fate of 100 million humans."
Captain March orders the Enterprise and
support ships to set a course for the Mozambique Channel, east of Comoros Archipelago.
All aircraft on board will
engage the Pilgri at 08:00.
At 06:00, Joan gets NSA clearance for Sam and Dennis to climb aboard a helicopter gun ship as observers. off as the sun rises across a clear horizon. the port is loud and jarring.
They lift
The ride to
Everyone on board is aflame,
knowing that they are not going to take the Pilgri by surprise.
They'll be ready, waiting and competent.
The F-
14's with rockets will engage the Pligri spheres with their pulse particle beams.
The thing about the particle beam,
is that when it hits metal, it will burn a hole like a laser tear all the way through to daylight. can be cut into pieces in seconds.
So, a plane
The advantage to the
F1-11 rockets is they penetrate the alloy surface of the Pilgri sphere, detonate and obliterate the hull from the
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inside out.
Nukes cannot be used, because treaties prevent
it.
They know from Jea that the Pilgri are ingenious combat air fighters.
Capt. "Lighting" Betts leads the first strike
coming in low across the water. pyramid formation. 14's close in.
They see 24 spheres in a
They slowly change formation as the F-
"Lighting" Betts locks on to a target with
his radar and fires a missile, the others follow suit.
The
Pilgri formation changes again, the missiles stay locked on, twisting and crossing paths as they streak to their targets.
Seconds before the first missile strikes, the
Pilgri quickly change formation and most of the rockets miss their targets, but the ones that hit do the job. Several spheres explode and fall into the channel.
Joan,
Sam and Dennis watch the battle develop as the spheres shoot back with deadly results. dogfights, two to one.
The F-14's are loosing the
"Lighting" has learned from Jea
that the Pilgri eyes are light sensitive and can be blinded with the infrared light that guide the missiles to the target.
It will only work for a few seconds at a time, but
it will be long enough to disorient them. the other pilots what to do.
"Lighting,” tell
The table’s turn, the Pilgri
are blinded by the laser light and are shot down.
The
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Marines land from helicopters and shoot their way into the tunnel.
Dennis tells the CO that Queen Vell must be
killed.
If she has time to tunnel into the mountain
underground they will loose her and the Pilgri will be even more powerful and elusive. The Marines bravely fight in the new tunnel, but they are on an unfamiliar battleground, fighting an enemy that must survive.
The Marines are cut down, some cut in half by the
pulse beam rifles.
Queen Vell orders the tunnel sealed off.
The Pilgri want
to finish the job, but they must follow the Queen deep into the mountain.
As the Pilgri retreat they cut the top of
the tunnel loose with their pulse beam rifles and Tunnel collapses. the tunnel. tunnel.
The Marines pull back to the entrance of
Joan, Sam and Dennis land at the mouth of the
They gather with the Marines. The battle is over,
but there's no doubt they will meet again.
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