text:
“What’s wrong with you? Stop calling me, Gwen. Just STOP.” The breakup was a week ago, the text was three hours old, and her response was already percolating.

An agitated Gwen Lundgren shuffled through design printouts next to her laptop as she waited for a Skype call scheduled for 9:30 Minneapolis time, 3:30 London time. After several seconds, the ruddy, smiling face of Tykon’s International Marketing Director Erick DeMint flittered up on the screen. He was a personable, handsome thirty-something with vibrant hazel eyes and an unruly shock of straw-colored hair. And although she had never seen the entire man from head to toe, that didn’t stop her from fantasizing. There was something different about the background today.

“Gwen? How are you?”

His accent made her shift positions in her chair. “Erick, I’m great. Happy Friday. Where are you?”

“Took a day off. Can you believe it? So I’m working from home. This is my lovely office. Out that window is my lovely yard where I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon. And later my brother Timothy is coming over for dinner. Oh, and tomorrow morning my wife and I and Samantha are going north to spend the week at a country inn we love near Northampton.”

The mention of his wife and daughter grated what she hoped was an imperceptible degree of enthusiasm off her voice. “You’re a busy person. Sounds great. How old is Samantha again?”

“Nine, but of course she thinks she’s nineteen. Had the nerve to ask us if she could get her eyebrow pierced the other day. Nine years old.”

“My sister is going through the same thing with her two girls. They both want to be Miley Cyrus when they grow up.”

Genuine laughter. “God, no. Tell her we feel her pain.”

“I’m sure you’re a great father.”

“Oh, I have my days, but thanks. What about your weekend? Taking the boyfriend out on the town?”

“Unfortunately there’s no one special in my life right now. Well, there was, but….I don’t know. Not the luckiest person in the world when it comes to relationships.”

“An attractive young woman like you? That’s hard to believe. Stay positive. You’ll find someone or someone will find you.”

“Thanks. Well, so, should we go over the concepts I sent? You’re making me feel guilty about talking business on your day off.”

“Don’t worry about it. This was on my calendar long before I decided to…” Erick turned in his chair and then turned back. “Sorry. Thought I heard something. Anyway, back to the concepts. Okay. I really liked number three. Nice work. I felt it captured what we were trying to….” He turned again. “There. Did you hear it that time?”

“Sorry. Is anyone home?”

“No. Kara’s at work and Samantha doesn’t get home… I apologize, but let me go check. I’ll just be a second.”

“Not a problem.”

One of life’s great mysteries was solved as Erick stood up and walked to the office door. He was trim with a very cute butt, just as she had imagined. She could hear his footsteps as he walked through rooms in the house and conjured up an image of him coming out of the bathroom wearing only a small white towel and a tender smile, approaching the bed and…Erick popped back into the room shaking his head.

“It’s an older home,” he said, sitting down. “I know it doesn’t sound very macho, but sometimes I get a little freaked out when I’m here by myself. Okay, where was…I was commenting on design number three and why I was really drawn to this one.”

Although her attention was focused on Erick’s face as he talked, Gwen caught a glimpse of a quickly moving shadow cross the window over Erick’s right shoulder. Most likely….obviously a bird, she concluded, and chose not to say anything. She really didn’t want to be distracted from the praise he was lavishing on her design, her abilities to capture just the right tone, how clever she was to distill a complex concept into a few beautiful images. She was wading in his warm words.

There was a distant clang, as if something metal like a pan had fallen to the hardwood floor.

“I heard it that time,” she said.

Erick’s expression became one of concern and he turned around several times. “I…I think someone’s in the house. I can hear footsteps.”

“You’re sure your wife didn’t come home early?”

“Duh. That’s probably it. Like I said, I get a bit spooked here sometimes.” He turned and called out. “Kara? Hey, is that you?” There was a muffled but discernable “Yes,” from another room in the house. Erick’s body relaxed and he smiled nervously. “Sorry about all the drama. I’m just going to see what’s going with my wife and then we can finish up here. Hold on.”

As much as she enjoyed her conversations with Erick, this was taking longer than she had planned and it was bumping into another meeting that was about to start. Gwen leaned back in her chair and toyed with a pen while waiting. A shadow moved across the hallway beyond the office threshold followed by a murmur of voices and then two loud thumps, which sounded like someone pounding a fist on a countertop. She leaned forward, eyes now zeroing in on the hallway. There was another flitter of a shadow and then a door closed somewhere in the house. This was followed by unnerving silence.

“Erick? Hey, what’s going on? Erick. Are you okay?” Gwen took in a breath and held it. Someone sneezed in a nearby cube and her muscles clenched up as if she’d been stuck with a pin. “Erick?”“No. I’m okay. Everything is fine.” It was Erick’s voice coming from somewhere in the house. “Made a mess I need to clean up.”

She waited a minute, her heart racing, then called Erick’s name several more times, but there was no response, no movement in the house at all. Do I call 911, she wondered? What’s 911 in London? Maybe he just decided to go…no. He didn’t…he wouldn’t just leave me hanging. Would he?

A passing cube mate made the un-asked for observation that she looked pale and asked if she was okay. Distracted, Gwen nodded and then, part hurt, part still concerned, terminated the call. The screen went dark and there was only her own vague image floating in the blackness of the monitor. An hour passed, then another. Too unnerved to work, she began making inquiries as best she could from another country. She was finally able to track down Erick’s boss at Tykon, who said he’d gone on holiday with his wife, which was actually a plausible explanation after what he’d told her, but still….

Three weeks passed. Gwen emailed and called Erick every day, but received only “out-of-office” replies or was dropped into voicemail. Her time at home was spent checking London newspapers online for any crime that might relate to Erick or his family. She knew that something was not right with Erick’s sudden disappearance, that possibly a crime had been committed, but she had no evidence and could not find anything concrete on which to base her feelings. She called his boss again and was told Erick had taken a brief leave of absence for personal reasons. Personal reasons? Like being dead?

It was a chilly late fall afternoon as Gwen strode along Nicolette Mall in downtown Minneapolis in the direction of the Dakota when she heard a familiar voice rise above the din of traffic and call out her name.

“Gwen.”

She spun around and to her astonishment saw Erick walking across the mall in her direction smiling and waving. He was wearing a long black coat with a red scarf around his neck and his hair was shorter, but she knew it was him from the instant their eyes met. Stunned, she stood like a boulder in a river of pedestrians flowing by, her attention fixated on the approaching man.

“Oh, thank God I found you,” he said, putting his arms around her and squeezing tight.

For a moment, she was too shocked to react, but then quickly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him even closer. “My God, Erick. What the—“ Before she could finish he put his lips to hers and kissed her passionately. She responded without hesitation. Several moments later they separated, and Gwen tried to formulate a coherent question from the dozens that were swirling around in her head.

“What’s going on, Erick? Why are you here? What about Kara?”

“There’s plenty of time to talk about all of that. Right now, however, I would like to take you to my hotel room.”

Two hours later Gwen sat on the edge of a bed, a sheet draped over her naked body, pleasantly exhausted, but still shell-shocked. The sex had been loud and satisfying, but perhaps lacking a degree of…intimacy. She looked toward the bathroom door where Erick was taking a shower and tried to imagine various scenarios that ended with Erick coming to Minneapolis from England alone to find her after having disappeared for three weeks. None of them made any sense.

Wearing only a white towel and a wicked grin, Erick set down on the bed next to Gwen and kissed her cheek.

“That was unbelievable,” he whispered.

Gwen blushed, but remained guarded. “Can we talk about what’s going on, Erick?”

“Over dinner. I promise. Let me get dressed and we’ll have a quick drink from the mini bar and then go downstairs. I’ll tell you everything. Promise.” Eyeing him sideways, Gwen got up to dress.

The bored waiter set their entrees in front of them and walked away without a glance. “Bloody moron isn’t very interested in a tip, is he?” said Erick just a bit too loud. “How’s your martini?”

“Too good. I might have to order another one. So….”

“So. Well, it’s not really all that complicated, although it is rather depressing.” His expression darkened. “That day of the call—“

“The video call?”

“Right, video call, Kara came home early, as you know, and then confessed to me she’d been seeing another man for several months and that she wanted a divorce. That was, of course, a huge shock. I felt like I’d been run over by a tram, but the part of her story that sent me entirely over the edge was that the other man was my brother. The…bitch had been screwing my brother. Well, I was in complete and utter insanity mode. It’s horrible to say, but I wanted to kill them both. Honestly, I had no idea this was going on. Call me stupid or blind or whatever, it came as a total shock. Anyway, I simply couldn’t deal with it and left the house immediately. I’m so sorry, Gwen. I’ve just been in a state of absolute inner turmoil the past few weeks, I can’t even tell you. But then I thought about you and the feelings I had felt whenever we talked and realized it was the perfect opportunity to get out of London for a while and see if my intuitions about you were correct. And it seems they were.”

“Wow. So where’s your daughter?”

“Samantha's with my Mum until I get back..

Gwen looked down at her salmon and shook her head not quite sure that all the dots connected, but considering the man of her dreams was sitting across the table from her, she swept her doubts into a dark corner of her mind and looked up, meeting Erick’s piercing eyes. “I’m terribly sorry for everything. It must be a nightmare.”

“It was,” he said. “Until now.”

Staggering and laughing arm in arm down the hallway of her apartment complex, Gwen and Erick made up lyrics to “The First Cut is the Deepest,” which had been playing in the elevator on the way up. “The first cup is the cheapest….” A wobbly Gwen apologized for the mess as she led Erick through her apartment to the living room. She dimmed the lights, poured them both a glass of wine and joined him on the couch, curling up next to him and nuzzling his neck.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That I’m so glad I found you,” he said.

They talked for another half hour until Gwen heard a familiar ping coming from her bedroom.

“Sorry,” she said, gently brushing the back of her hand across his cheek. “Need to use the bathroom. Would you pour us another glass?”

Erick smiled. “I’d like nothing better.”

Not sure why she thought she needed a subterfuge to check her computer, she slipped into the bedroom, sat at her desk and tapped the space bar. The screen quickly brightened and up popped a news alert. She opened the email and scanned several recent headlines from The Telegraph. One caught her eye.

Murdered Family Members Identified

London — Scotland Yard was finally able to positively identify the remains of three family

members brutally murdered in their Hampstead residence three weeks ago. The victims were 35

year old Erick DeMint, 34-year old Kara DeMint and their daughter, 9-year old Samantha DeMint.

The police still have no solid leads…

A shadow enveloped Gwen from behind.

“Don’t turn around.

“Erick? What’s going on?” she asked with a growing sense of alarm.

“Remember several weeks ago during your little teleconference or video call or whatever you call it when I said I had a mess to clean up.

“Yes?”

“Well, I’m taking care of that now.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Erick told you he had a brother. What I think he failed to mention was that he has…had an identical twin brother.”

The razor-edged knife slid effortlessly through Gwen’s neck muscles in a long red arch, releasing a burbling cascade of blood that flowed down her chest like warm red honey. Grasping a handful of her hair, Timothy held her head back until the spasms ended.

“Erick was quite fond of you, Gwen. I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid you had a crush on the wrong man.”

title: Unlucky in Love

question: Summarize what Gwen sees on video.

text: Erick isn't a mess. Instead, he made a mess that he needed to clean.

answer: Gwen sees Erick's face on the video. He is a handsome thirty-something with vibrant hazel eyes and an unruly shock of straw-colored hair. Gwen also sees a shadow cross the window over Erick's right shoulder. She hears a clang, as if something metal like a pan had fallen to the hardwood floor. She hears footsteps and sees a shadow move across the hallway beyond the office threshold. She hears two loud thumps, which sound like someone pounding a fist on a countertop.

text: The answer should mention that Gwen sees Erick's body when he gets up to check the noise.

text: The answer should mention that Gwen sees Erick's body.

text: "thirty-something" - add a hyphen

text: The answer could mention that Erick goes to investigate the noise.

text: It is omitted that Erick goes to check something and doesn't return.

text: Not all relevant details are included.

answer: Gwen sees a shadow move across the video in the background. She then hears a thud and later a clanking sound. Erick then goes to check and calls out Kara, his wife. Gwen then hears some sounds and gets worried but Erick comes and says that he's a mess that needs some cleaning. However, after that, he doesn't return to the call and Gwen has to cut it.

text: The answer should mention that Gwen sees Erick's body language change as he hears the noises.

text: Gwen doesn't see the shadow, she sees it on the video.

text: It is omitted that Erick is on the video call with Gwen.

text: The response is missing the part where Erick's twin brother kills Gwen.

text: "Erick then goes to check and calls out Kara, his wife. Gwen then hears some sounds and gets worried but Erick comes and says that he's a mess that needs some cleaning. However, after that, he doesn't return to the call and Gwen has to cut it." - this is inaccurate. Gwen never cut the call.

text: Gwen doesn't cut the call; she terminates it

text: The answer omits that Gwen sees Erick's body relax after he calls out to Kara.

text: There's no thud in the story. Erick calls out to Kara after the clanking sound.

text: Gwen doesn't cut the call, it ends on its own.

text: It's omitted that Gwen sees more shadows while Erick is seemingly checking on his wife.

text: Erick isn't a mess that needs cleaning, he made a mess.

answer: Gwen sees Erick's face on the video. He is a handsome thirty-something with vibrant hazel eyes and an unruly shock of straw-colored hair. Gwen also sees a shadow cross the window over Erick's right shoulder. She hears a clang, as if something metal like a pan had fallen to the hardwood floor. She hears footsteps and sees a shadow move across the hallway beyond the office threshold. She hears two loud thumps, which sound like someone pounding a fist on a countertop.

text: The question asks what she sees, but the answer includes things that she hear (the last three sentences).

answer: Gwen sees a shadow move across the video in the background. She then hears a thud and later a clanking sound. Erick then goes to check and calls out Kara, his wife. Gwen then hears some sounds and gets worried but Erick comes and says that he's a mess that needs some cleaning. However, after that, he doesn't return to the call and Gwen has to cut it.

answer: Gwen sees a shadow move across the video in the background. She then hears a thud and later a clanking sound. Erick then goes to check and calls out Kara, his wife. Gwen then hears some sounds and gets worried but Erick comes and says that he made a mess that needs some cleaning. However, after that, he doesn't return to the call and Gwen has to cut it.

text: The response adds irrelevant details, especially in its latter parts.

answer: Gwen sees a shadow move across the video in the background. She then hears a thud and later a clanking sound. Erick then goes to check and calls out Kara, his wife. Gwen then hears some sounds and gets worried but Erick comes and says that he made a mess that needs some cleaning. However, after that, he doesn't return to the call and Gwen has to cut it.

text: It is omitted that Erick is on a video call with Gwen.

text: Gwen sees the shadow on the window behind Erick.

text: Gwen doesn't see anything on video, but rather on Erick's video call.

text: "Gwen sees a shadow move across the video in the background." - this is inaccurate. Gwen sees a shadow move across the window over Erick's right shoulder.

text: Gwen sees Erick's body on the floor, dead.

text: It's omitted that the accent is alluring to Gwen.

text: What Gwen hears is irrelevant.


text:
On this page:

The Apollo 11 Descent and Landing – combined sound file.

The Network Controller’s console audio of the Descent and Landing.

The Flight Director’s console audio of the Descent and Landing.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LAND MEN ON THE MOON FOR THE FIRST TIME?

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface, there was plenty of drama, with communications dropouts, an observation they would land long, program alarms, boulder fields, and only just enough fuel.

On Earth, in the MOCR (Mission Operations Control Room, Houston), and on the MSFN (Manned Space Flight Network) the drama was also evident.

Here’s a new compilation – of audio from the Flight Director’s loop, and audio (which was only recently received) from George Ojalehto, the Network Controller on duty for the landing. It’s a tribute to the skill, competence and teamwork of everyone involved.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [] The Apollo 11 Descent and Landing Stereo sound file.               |
|                                                                       |
| 60 MIN / 29.3MB stereo mp3 file                                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| This is a STEREO sound file synchonising two recordings –             |
|                                                                       |
| – THE NETWORK CONTROLLER’S CONSOLE AUDIO (Capt. George Ojalehto,      |
| Network Controller) on the LEFT CHANNEL, and                          |
|                                                                       |
| – THE FLIGHT DIRECTOR’S CONSOLE AUDIO (Gene Kranz, White Team Flight  |
| Director) on the RIGHT CHANNEL.                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Both recordings contain the Flight Director’s loop and Air/Ground     |
| (_Columbia, Eagle_ and Capcom).                                       |
|                                                                       |
| Headphones may be useful.                                             |
|                                                                       |
| Network Controller console audio courtesy George Ojalehto via Richard |
| Stachurski. Tape-hiss-reduction, synchronisation and encoding by      |
| Colin Mackellar, January 2012.                                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

See below for how this recording was assembled, and who is heard on it.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [George Ojalehto, Network]                                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Capt. George Ojahleto is seated at the Network console in the MOCR,   |
| during the Apollo 11 Trans Lunar Coast.                               |
|                                                                       |
| (Bob Carlton, Control, is standing to his left, speaking with Fred    |
| Haise.) From 16mm movie footage.                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

THE FIRST MANNED LUNAR LANDING:

In the minutes leading up to the Powered Descent Insertion, Eagle’s high gain S-band antenna repeatedly lost lock, and the two MSFN stations in view with larger dishes (Madrid with their 85 foot antennae and Goldstone with their 85 foot antennae and 210 foot Mars dish) – struggled to maintain contact. This was a critical time as various Go / NoGo decisions had to be made.

Minutes later, _Eagle’s_ onboard computer issued 1201 and 1202 program alarms threatening an abort, and descent propellant was running low as Neil Armstrong had to fly over a boulder field to a safe landing spot. He landed _Eagle_ with just seconds to spare.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [Earth visible from the Moon at landing]                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The side of the Earth visible from the Moon at the time Eagle touched |
| down on the lunar surface. (Not all of the MSFN stations are          |
| depicted.)                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla were not in view – the Moon would   |
| not rise there for another 5 hours.                                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

ABOUT THE RECORDINGS USED TO MAKE THIS COMBINED VERSION:

NETWORK CONSOLE AUDIO

George Ojalehto, Network Controller on the White Team for the descent and landing, kept a copy of his console’s audio, which was recorded at Comm Control, elsewhere in Building 30 at Houston.

The recording was on two sides of a tape, with a six second gap between the two. The transfer is of variable quality (esp. the second side), with some local variability in tape speed and wow and flutter. Nevertheless, it is probably unique.

This tape begins just before CSM acquisition on the landing revolution (lunar orbit 10), and lasts 60 minutes, ending 28 minutes after touchdown.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR’S CONSOLE AUDIO

The Flight Director’s console audio is courtesy of the Johnson Space Center audio archives and was supplied to the Apollo tape search team via John Sarkissian. Two different, mostly overlapping, recordings of this loop were provided. Both are described in the JSC listing as Apollo 11 FD Loop Cassettes.

JSC tape 963-AAE is the best quality. It begins a few seconds after the NC recording does, just before CSM acquisition. It runs for 37 minutes, ending 5 minutes after touchdown.

JSC tape 964-AAE has a poorer frequency response. It begins 10 minutes after 963-AAE starts, and finishes 2 minutes 20 seconds after 963-AAE ends.

(This means that the Network Console audio has AN EXTRA 26 MINUTES OF AUDIO containing the FD loop which may not have been previously available.)

964-AAE was probably recorded at Comm Control, as was the Network Console recording. The better quality copy of 963-AAE has the air/ground audio offset by about half a second with respect to the FD audio.

Being the better quality, 963 was used as the benchmark, and minor edits were made to the Network Controller’s audio [by moving items +/- half a second or so] to keep each segment of conversation in exact sync. Where air/ground and ground conversations were simultaneous, the more relevant item was kept in sync.

963-AAE was likely recorded on a cassette machine in the MOCR, and therefore had a slightly different loop configuration.

Before any of the editing took place, it was necessary to normalise the speed and pitch of the recordings, using the Quindar tones as references. (The JSC recordings originally had been played back too slowly.) Filters were applied to remove hum, and tape hiss was removed as much as possible – without removing noise that was heard on the circuits.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [George Ojalehto, Network]                                            |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Timeline showing the sources used for the combined audio file.        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

VOICES YOU’LL HEAR:

[I need to sit down and write this section… and hopefully identify speakers and times.]

The voices heard include:

Gene Kranz, George Ojelehto, Bob Carlton, Charlie Duke, Don Puddy, and others in the MOCR, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins, RTC, TIC, Track, Commtech, Comm Control, Network Ops Support Group, Goldstone, Madrid, Ascension, Antigua, and probably others.

Harry Turner (Ascension) writes: “From Ascension the voices would have been Jim Murphy (M&O) and/or Mel Fetzer. (Asst. M&O).”

Tom Sheehan says that TIC was Auggie Degner.

If you can help with IDs, I would be very grateful of names / positions along with the elapsed time they are heard on the combined recording. Contact.

HIGHLIGHTS

“Job well done” – 420kb mp3 clip – after the landing.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [] The Flight Director’s loop                                         |
|                                                                       |
| 39 MIN / 9.6MB mp3 file                                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| This is a restored version of THE FLIGHT DIRECTOR’S CONSOLE AUDIO     |
| using NASA JSC files 964-AAE and 963-AAE, with speed/pitch correction |
| and light noise reduction.                                            |
|                                                                       |
| It ends 7 minutes 20 seconds after touchdown. (See the synchronsied   |
| file above for FD loop after that point, where some FD loop audio is  |
| preserved on the Network Controller console audio.)                   |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

(Thanks to George Ojalehto for his Network recording, which he sent in December 2011.)

Note: Other than the MSFN stations, there is one other station known to be listening in to _Eagle_ at the landing – the Bochum Radio Observatory in West Germany.

question: What does the article say about the problems after landing on the Moon?

text: The article does not mention engines.

category: accuracy

answer: When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed, they have communication problems. Eagle’s high gain S-band antenna repeatedly lost lock. Eagle’s onboard computer issued the program alarms threatening an abort, and descent propellant was running low.

answer_source: Human

text: Specify that there were communication dropouts.

category: coverage

text: It's omitted that they had to deal with boulder fields when landing.

answer: No answer

answer_source: Model

text: The answer should mention the boulder field.

text: The answer should mention the boulder field and the fuel problems.

text: The response misses to provide an answer to the instruction in the task.

text: The response misses to mention that there were communications dropouts, an observation they would land long, program alarms, boulder fields, and only just enough fuel.

text: The response misses to mention that the article does not discuss problems after landing on the moon.

text: There should be a response because the answer is in the passage.

text: The response misses to mention that the response is not found in the text.

text: The text does provide information.

answer: When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed, they have communication problems. Eagle’s high gain S-band antenna repeatedly lost lock. Eagle’s onboard computer issued the program alarms threatening an abort, and descent propellant was running low.

text: The answer should mention that the problems were before landing.

text: The response is missing the part about the boulder field.

text: The answer should mention that the problems occurred before landing.

text: The response is missing the part where they landed with just seconds to spare.

text: The response is missing the part where they only had seconds of fuel left.

text: Add a comma after "lock"

text: Though the response points out they were low on fuel, it should state that they had only seconds to spare.

answer: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had experienced problems with Apollo 11's engines.

answer_source: Human misleading

text: The response needs to include problems with communications as part of the difficulties faced by Armstrong and Aldrin.


text:
CHAPTER 1

“Caw!”  The crow screamed from his perch on a nearby tree.  I looked up lazily from the trail I was following.  Beady black eyes stared coldly back at me.  His friends joined in on the cawing, as if taunting me.  It didn’t bother me, though, and I continued on my way with my catch in my mouth.  Stupid birds.  They had nothing useful to say so they just shouted angrily to seem imposing.  Once I was safely back at my home, I packed away the mouse I had caught for dinner and stretched out contentedly.  I would eat it later.  I always felt like getting a little exercise before meals to build up an appetite.

My hole was buried deep under a short oak tree.  It was hidden and well protected by exposed roots - an ideal home for a fox.  I poked my head back out of my burrow tentatively, sniffing around.  A new smell had attracted me earlier and I was dying to find its source and I had made up my mind to seek it out today.  Also, lately a lot of new animals had been appearing in our forest and I was really excited to see what new creatures turned up.  The other foxes all laughed at my curiosity.  They said it would lead to my death.  I didn’t see it that way.  The forest had a thousand different ways to kill me at any given moment and I had only made it this far on my own by always knowing my surroundings.  If there were changes to my hunting grounds, whether it be climate, new game, or a new predator, I wanted to be aware of it.

I sniffed around and started heading back the way I came.  The forest was very lively, which was surprising at this time of day.  The warm summer weather must have proved too tempting for everyone and I found myself in the company of many small woodland animals.  Squirrels were chatting in their trees, a pack of voles was out walking single file, and birds were singing songs on every tree.  I barked loudly a few times to let the animals nearby know it was safe to be around me right now.  It was a rule of the forest that if a carnivore was openly making his presence known, that he was not hunting and meant no harm to other animals nearby.  This law was sacred and I had never seen it broken, at least not in the few mile stretch of land that I stayed in.

After a few meters I caught on to the scent again.  Thrilled, I chased after it at full speed, barking occasionally to let everyone know I meant no harm.  Seeking out new sounds and smells always excited me and on top of that, it was my favorite time of day.  I could see the last glimmer of orange and pink and gold in the sky fading out between the trees to my west.  A strong wind brushed through my fur and I soaked in all the different sensations around me.  All the sights, sounds, and smells hit me and I sighed contentedly.  It was a warm summer night.  This time of day, just as the sky started to darken and the wind began to pick up, was my favorite time to go for a trip through the forest.  Delighted, I let out one powerful, proud bark and charged full speed ahead towards the new smell I was chasing.

Soon enough, evening turned into night and the sky became a dazzling black and purple ocean full of jewels.  I began doubting that I would reach my destination before it became too dark to see but the smell had grown much stronger and I knew I must be close by so I kept going.  I had never gone this far north before and was worried about getting lost as well.  By now I was able to distinguish two unique scents coming from the same direction.  One was completely new to me but the other seemed familiar, although I could not recall it.  I didn’t think too hard about it because I was too caught up in my own thoughts about the day and everything I had done earlier.  Besides the troublesome crows that had moved into the trees nearby, I had a run-in with some of the black foxes while I was hunting.  I was still absorbed in my thoughts when something caught my attention.

 Up ahead I heard a branch snap on the floor and instantly I was on my guard.  The forest is a loud place in general but every once in a while a sound would seem out of place and my gut would tell me something was wrong.  Fear sunk in as I looked around cautiously, trying to identify the cause of the noise.  For a while everything was silent and I became completely still as I crouched down and waited for a potential predator to make its move.  I was very large for a fox but I was still only a slightly more challenging kill than usual for the owls and hawks that would hunt at this time.  Minutes passed and there was absolutely no noise except for the chirping of various bugs.  I started thinking I was being paranoid and decided to move on but every instinct in me warned my body to sit absolutely still.  I willed myself to lift my front paw and take one step forward and, in a split second, the area surrounding me turned into a storm of violent action.  A giant rat came darting straight for me hissing at the top of her lungs.  She wasn’t speaking.  She didn’t want to talk and she wasn’t simply making me aware of her presence.  This was a battle cry.  This was her trying to scare me before she attacked.  Surprised as I was that a rat would charge at a fox, I reacted quickly and lunged straight at her, but another animal reacted much quicker.  I saw a flash of grey light and a powerful gust of wind knocked me off balance.  It took me a moment to collect myself and understand the scene before me.  A great grey owl had appeared seemingly from thin air and was mauling the rat in a flurry of talons and beaks.  I was terrified but also completely mesmerized by this act of extreme savagery.  I backed away slowly to not draw attention but I could not look away from the bizarre sight.  It was over in a few seconds.  Slowly the owl stood up straight with his back to me while still looking at the dead rat near his talons.  Fear crept in and I could not move.  I didn’t want to do anything to attract his attention.  Owls did not eat foxes but they were prone to random acts of violence and never needed a reason to kill.

“You do not need fear me, fox.”  He spoke in a high pitched yet booming voice that did not seem to suit him.  “I was never interested in you to begin with.  Well, not as food, anyways.”  He added.  He sounded pleased.  Hoping this meant I was safe, I cautiously stepped towards the giant owl even though I was so afraid I was shaking.

“Hello.  I am Ragvilus.  You helped me earlier.  I think the rat was going to attack me,” I began, not sure what to say to this owl.

“Aaah, I found that amusing.”  He laughed, ruffling his feathers happily as he turned to face me.  “Maybe she thought an injured fox would be more appealing to me than a large rat.”

“Would it have been?” I asked.  Despite my best efforts to stay calm my voice quivered noticeably as I spoke.

The owl turned his head completely around and hooted.  He stared at me with vertical eyes that looked both completely insane yet infinitely intelligent.  After a few moments he answered with a simple, “Yes.”  Then he slowly began turning back towards his kill.  “Where are you going, Ragvilus the red fox?” he continued as he spread open his wings and revealed his enormous wingspan.

“Just a few meters north of here.”  I answered truthfully.

“Do you seek the other foxes up ahead?”  He asked.  This caught me off guard.   I had no idea other foxes were nearby. I considered lying to the owl and saying they were my friends to seem like I had a pack with me.  In the end I decided against it because it occurred to me that an owl would not be intimidated by foxes and that if he wanted me dead I would already be dead by now.

“No.  I noticed a new smell today and wanted to investigate it.”  At this, the owl froze.  He folded his wings completely and turned his head slightly so he could see me from the corner of his eye.

“Strange new animals have been entering our forest.  Isn’t it exciting?”  He asked.  For some reason his voice became very grave.  “But sometimes it does not pay to be so inquisitive.  Red foxes are so very rare.”  His ominous words once again put me on edge.  Without thinking I began backing away but it was unnecessary.  The owl picked up his prey and began lifting himself up into the air.  With two flaps of his enormous wings he was already a few feet in the air.  “Do you know why this area has been especially crowded lately?”  He continued.  I had heard bits and pieces of it but as a predator and an outcast amongst the foxes, I did not have very many chances to find out.  “The cold northern forest was lit completely ablaze.  A fire like this has not been seen in my lifetime or in many lifetimes before.”  By now the owl had disappeared amongst the treetops and his voice began to fade.  “Many new animals.  So very exciting.  But look out young fox.  There are many monsters that lived in the cold northern forests and even monsters fear fire.”  A fire in the north?  I was confused by the ominous threats left by the strange bird.

Shaken up, I turned around and looked at the trail I was following.  Maybe it was time to give up on this.  Maybe this was a sign that my curiosity was finally a bad thing.  I took one more deep breath and thought about what my strange new smells could be.  Then it hit me.  I recognized one of the scents.  It was the smell of smoke and ash.  I have no idea why but a sense of urgency set in at this and my gut told me I had to get to the source of the smell and get there fast.  I had no logical reason to do so but my gut had never steered me wrong before.  I took one last longing look at the trail behind me then sprinted towards the new smell.

title: [RF] Fox - written from an animal's perspective

question: What does the story say about the source of the fire?

text: This does not explain the source of the fire. The story doesn't give an explanation.

answer: No answer

text: The response misses to mention that the owl says the cold northern forest was lit ablaze.

text: The response misses to mention that the owl says the fire was in the north.

text: The response misses to mention that the owl mentions that the cold northern forest was lit ablaze.

text: The story does say something about the source of the fire.

text: The question cannot be answered.

answer: The cold northern forest was lit completely ablaze.

text: The answer should mention the owl's words about the fire.

text: The answer should mention the owl's warning.

text: "The cold northern forest was lit completely ablaze." - add that the owl mentioned the fire.

text: "The cold northern forest was lit completely ablaze." - there was no mention of the source of the fire.

text: The text doesn't say much about the cause of the fire. It simply mentions the fire.

answer: No answer

answer: The cold northern forest was lit completely ablaze.

text: The response misses to mention how the fire started.

answer: No answer

answer: No answer

text: The response misses to mention that the owl mentions that the cold northern forest was lit completely ablaze.

text: The answer should mention that the owl says the cold northern forest was lit ablaze.

text: The response is incorrect. The story does mention the source of the fire.

text: The response misses to mention that the owl says the fire was in the cold northern forest.

text: There is a little info about the fire


text:
Minute by minute the time passes. All I can do is hold tight to my rifle and wait. Wait for the sound. For the signal. The go ahead. A single ping, that's all I need, then I'm cleared for egress.

Egress. Leaving a place. The act of doing so.

All there are right now are words.

The armor is getting uncomfortable. Biting into me in awkward places, pressed tight to my form because I'm packed in a metal air vent. My mouth still tastes like metal and the iron stink of blood is all I can smell. It was never supposed to happen like this. Never, never ever.

I remember snippets.

I remember being a child. I remember being taken from my home. My mother and father were killed. It was terrible. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened. I was so scared, so terrified, so alone except for the strong arms of the woman who took me away from them. Women.

It's always women. There are no male Operatives.

Males don't take to the genomodding like females do.

Then I remember her face, the woman who took me. Knife, is her name. Knife Violet. A noun and a color, it's how they name us. A noun a color and a serial number. Knife Violet, seven foot three inches tall, two hundred seventy one pounds naked, serial number 3356Z33Z5C. The woman who ended my life before it had even began.

Her face, cold and empty and impassive. Nothing behind her eyes. Not a shred of morality or regret, no guilt.

I envy Violet.

She's free. Free of thoughts. Free of pain. Free of everything that I am currently burdened by. She is truly what I wish I was. A tool to be used, not a thing with free will and a broken mind and twisted notions of justice.

Then the woman, the Commander. Oh, Commander. My Commander. The softeness of her skin. Her cheekbones, her soft green eyes, the way her lips looked when she smiled that cruel smile of hers. I remember her next, yes. She wasn't informed until after she was brought in how us 'Operatives' are gathered.

When she was informed, she was almost executed. She almost rebelled. Then something stopped her.

Next memory, a scrap, a flash. Seven years old. Taken on an operation. They had used me to kill a dozen people. Terrorists making bombs, hitting schools. One of the operations I feel no guilt for, that one is. Those people, regardless of their ideals, were going to attack civilians for the sins of the government. Sins of an interstellar multi-planet government alliance.

After the killing, she took me to the park. She got me ice cream. She said no one could ever know what she was doing with me. Oh Commander, why? Why would you torture me? How does this serve the lord our god?

It doesn't, she answered. God isn't real. It's just a layer of control. A layer of control laid down on you, wrapped around you.

She held me while I cried.

I'd never killed before.

She pressed an injection gun against my neck after I calmed down and said she was sorry, she sobbed her apology.

Click. Hiss.

Drugs in my blood. The last hour and a half gone from my head, for the most part. Except for scraps. Blurry flashes. I shouldn't even remember that much but my brain is different in ways they didn't realize. The drugs don't work right on me.

Commander...

I remember.

Eighteen years old, a scrap there. A gunshot wound on my arm, minor. Just a cut really, a deep one. We had to hide a while, wait for pursuit to stop. We tucked ourselves in a tiny cement maintenance room off of a subway tunnel, planted intellimines and waited. While there, she cleaned the wound and sutured it.

Commander, age: 31, height of six feet three inches, weight unimportant, serial number... I can't... I can't remember. I can't remember.

But I remember I kissed her.

I remember it wasn't the first time I'd kissed her, but I also remember that while I knew I had kissed her before, I couldn't remember the kisses. I had been wiped so many times to protect her, to protect myself.

We made love, in that cold cement room. I gave the big middle finger to god, to their ideas, to their tortures and I kissed her like it was the end of the world. I felt her moving on me. I don't remember what her lips tasted like, what she tasted like far lower than that. I don't remember how warm her body was. I remember red, red hair just like mine. A shock of it on her groin and the close cropped stuff on her head.

I remember her sobbing when we were done.

I don't want to make you forget again, Red.

Red, that's me. Mercy Red.

Age... twenty. Twenty years old. Height, five foot one inch tall - the smallest of all the genomodded operatives. Weight, one hundred ninety nine pounds naked, thank you, muscle density. Serial number... 6604B22B63I.

Numbers are important. I can remember numbers. I remember her birthday. I remember the date we first made love. I remember the date when my lips first touched hers but it's all... it's all numbers! It's all fucking numbers! I can't feel it in my head! I can't! They made her take it from me! Take it all!

So I raised the injection gun to my own neck and smiled at her, holding back tears.

I love you Commander.

Click.

Hiss.

Torture.

She did it because the second one of us tried to leave our little secret army, the government would know something was up. She was trying to protect me. I willingly allowed her to erase herself from my mind to protect her.

Now, in this air vent, I wait. I wait and I stare at this picture of her. She is in a bed, her bed, a bed I don't remember sharing with her once. When she set up the camera I don't know. But there is my tiny form against her, my shaggy red hair a god damn mess, and there she is. There she is, from head to toe. Exposed, vulnerable. I am asleep, she is awake. Her eyes, her soft green eyes, catch the moonlight coming in slats through the blinds and god, she's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. I don't remember loving her, but I know I do. I know I love her so much.

But as I stare at the picture, I realize it's all faded. The emotions. It's like a dull ache in my gut, all the time. A splinter in my mind.

I remember... oh god, the last memory I have of her is one that wasn't erased. Blood. Blood on her face. A clean hole in her temple. She said to me before I went, before I ran, right before the gunshot rang out and I turned for just a second to see her limp body falling...

Kill them all, Red. Kill them all for me. I love you so much. I'm so sorry.

Kill them all.

Now the ping, in the speaker of my helmet. I flick a switch and the muscular enhancement systems of my armor go live. This is the end game. My final move. The queen scraping across and empty board and their king can't run, he's backed into a corner, my pieces on all sides. Play chess with me, oh you bastard people. Play a game with me, with my life, with my commander!

I slip from the vent and my rifle comes up.

Click, click, click.

I used to hate killing. I'd cry.

Now it's just downright pleasurable. I'll kill whoever I want, whenever I want.

The bullets fly, but my armor is dumping so many chemicals into my blood that time is moving real slow around me... or, I'm moving real fast. It's what they made us for. Us few, proud, brave. The Temporal Distortion Field Manipulation Suit does all the work, but my body was custom tailored to survive the processes. Built since I was a child into this thing, this weapon.

A dozen men fall in under two seconds and I move on, stalking down the hallway. The bridge of the ship, nestled in the middle, explodes behind me. The ping was the three second marker. Everything has to be perfect. The synchronization has to be flawless.

The blast doors are dropping on a special part of the ship. A secondary, eject capable bridge on the underside of the massive Eden class super carrier Dream. I force myself to run so fast my muscles begin to tear under the strain but it's irrelevant. I will heal. I always heal. My ass hits the ground hard and in a shower of sparks I slide. I fire another two dozen rounds from my magnetic accelerator rifle. Blood is in the air. I've accelerated to such a speed that as I plant a foot and slam my arms back, I can see the drops of red almost suspended in air as I rise, leaving deep dents in the metal floor.

The rifle is cast aside. Pistols come out, cameras on each. Seventy men, seventy men in the secondary bridge. Soldiers. They were expecting an attack. Forty rounds in each pistol.

Perfect.

Cameras on the end of each one go live. My vision switches over to those cameras, my synthetic metal replacement eyes going dark. They can't even get their guns up before I'm turning in a circle, aiming in both directions.

Commander.

Oh Commander.

My Commander.

They're dead. I don't even care. I march to the five men, the emergency pilots, and I draw the blade from my back, and I behead each of them before they can scream.
While their corpses fall, I throw the blade aside and the blast doors seal me in.

An Eden class super carrier.

Dream.

The primary military carrier, holding more than five hundred thousand people, crew and soldiers. A floating fortress.

Coordinates are set.

I hesitate.

I could join you, Commander. I could join you where we could forever be together.

But you want me to live.

I shall live.

Ejection.

Clamps release. Auto-bolts unscrew. Emergency explosives detonate. I am sailing away into space, the engines going hot, moving me into auto-orbit. I watch then, on the monitors connected to the external cameras.

All engines are going full power on the carrier. It accelerates slowly, breaks the atmosphere.

I prepare to fire its nuclear payload.

Enjoy your nuclear winter, Generals...

"Let this be a message," I whisper into a microphone, broadcasting to anyone on the planet who might listen. It will be relayed to other planets. "I am coming for you, those who made me, who took my Commander from me. Escape if you can, but  I will find you. My name is Mercy, and I'm afraid... I can't remember the meaning of my name."

title: My Name Is Mercy

question: Summarize the primary source of tension in the story.

text: "Kinfe" - this is misspelled. It should be "Knife"

category: coherence

text: "And most of all, she hates them for killing Kinfe Violet, her lover, a woman she loved since training as a young child to be an Operative." - this is incorrect. Mercy's lover was her Commander. Knife Violet was the operative who killed her parents and kidnapped her.

answer: The primary source of tension is the hatred Mercy Red feels for the people behind the killing of her parents and her kidnapping when she was just a child. She hates them for taking her life away before it even began. She hates them for genomodding her to become a killing machine for their operations. Mercy hates the fact that her memory is wiped after every mission, but the drugs used to do it work differently on her and she remembers things. And most of all, she hates them for killing her Commander and lover, a woman she loved since training as a young child to be an Operative. Mercy hates the Generals that made her, and she wants revenge.

answer: The primary source of tension is the hatred Mercy Red feels for the people behind the killing of her parents and her kidnapping when she was just a child. She hates them for taking her life away before it even began. She hates them for genomodding her to become a killing machine for their operations. Mercy hates the fact that her memory is wiped after every mission, but the drugs used to do it work differently on her and she remembers things. And most of all, she hates them for killing Kinfe Violet, her lover, a woman she loved since training as a young child to be an Operative. Mercy hates the Generals that made her, and she wants revenge.

text: The name of the woman who took Mercy in is Knife Violet, not Kinfe Violet.


text:
Dr. Edward Rozgut dreamily walked from the back of his office, smiled humbly at his waiting patients, and hinted to Miss Ann, the clinic secretary, to get Ron from his office. Miss Ann slid her slipper-covered feet across the checkered tile floor to a beat-up supply closet door in between the men and women's restrooms. Behind the door was an all concrete room with one lamp in the corner, an unusually short fold-out table, and an upside-down yellow bucket imprinted with “CAUTION” in large black letters. Sitting uneasily atop the bucket was Ron Smith, the clinic's only post-operation monitor. He saw himself as an asset to the clinic. He thought himself irreplaceable, as most working people tend to. As soon as he heard the turning of his doorknob, Ron leapt up, grabbing his latex gloves and POPTM. The POPTM, or Post-Operation Patient Transfer Machine, was merely a glorified mechanized cot but calling it such was blasphemous to Ron, so the clinic staff decided to humor the little goblin man. He jammed the cot past Miss Ann without a word. He stopped in the center of the lobby, nervously looking back and forth between the two operation room doors. Miss Ann, annoyed, pointed towards Room 2A. Ron, defending himself, grumbled, “I know what I’m doing, woman! Don’t rush me!” Miss Ann released a loud sigh and sat herself back at her neatly organized desk.

It was a bright colored room, void of decoration other than a shakily painted quote above the door stating one of the World Federation’s mottos, “What a Beautiful Waste is Life!” Ron approached the ETB, Ergonomic Tranquility Bed, and stared into the open-eyed, smiling face of the corpse of Walter P. Cavins, age sixty-five. Cavins, like any good citizen of the world, had come to the Tranquility Clinic upon reaching the Age of Service. Cavins was a patriot of the World Federation, a vehement nihilist, and coincidentally, Ron’s cousin on his mother’s side. Ron locked the ETB and the POPTM together, without taking an eye off of Cavins’ face. He watched as the hydraulic lift of the ETB rose, until Cavins’ corpse slid gently into the stationary position on the POPTM. Ron said to Cavins’ remains, “Wipe that smirk off your face, Walter,” before wheeling the corpse down the short hallway to the Organic Recycler, and dumping Cavins in headfirst, all without a single word from anyone else in the building.
Dr. Rozgut kept the same cheery demeanor as he stood and watched Ron's process. With the closing of Ron’s office door, the doctor waved to a young girl and her mother to follow him back to Room 1B. The girl was confined to a wheelchair and her tiny blonde head rested on the neck of a tiny crippled body. Her mother pushed the chair with little effort as the girl hummed a cute lullaby and rocked her head gently back and forth.

"How are you today, little Miss Abbi Wedgel?" smiled Dr. Rozgut as he brought his lanky body heavily onto his cushioned stool.

"Hi!" blurted the girl. She was mentally handicapped, but she was a gleaming beacon of petty childhood happiness. Her mother, on the other hand, was a stout and stoic woman closing in on the Age of Service. Her face was gentle and constantly rose blushed despite her seriousness, and she tended to keep her puckered, chapped lips together unless directly spoken to. This was much to Dr. Rozgut's dismay as he could never remember whether she was a Betty or Marge. He hated doing anything that he perceived would hurt someone's feelings, so he instead opted to continue his casual conversation with the slow girl.

"So what brings you and your lovely mother to my clinic today?"

"Mommy says...you're a good guy...and you're gunna help me!" Abbi yelped brokenly. Her mother stared vacantly at the various pictures on the room's drab green walls.

"Oh, is that so?" Dr. Rozgut chuckled. "Wanna know how?" he asked in the most playful voice he could conjure up.

"Yessuh," the girl slurred. Dr. Rozgut loved to keep things simple, and it overjoyed him that little Abbi Wedgel seemed suited just for the simple.

"You see, it's such a quick little thing. And it's completely about you, little Abbi. See, your mommy will take you out for the best day ever, see?" he pointed toward a colorful poster depicting ice cream, smiley faces, and lollipops. "Then you'll come back here and I'll give you a little something to make you sleepy, see? Your mommy and I will be with you the whole time. See, after your little nap, you'll wake up, see, and be up there," he pointed again, this time towards the speckled ceiling and bright fluorescent lights, "in heaven. See?"

The girl twirled her short blonde hair and gazed up at the lights with her light blue eyes. "Can I be an angel?" her smile doubled in size.

"Why, you're already an angel, little Miss Abbi Wedgel!"
______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Rozgut took Abbi out of Room 1B back to the lobby. “Miss Ann,” he smiled, “you wouldn’t mind keeping our little friend company while her mother and I have a short conversation, would you?”

“Of course not,” Miss Ann beamed. She snatched the opportunity to have someone else to talk to other than Ron Smith, whom she aggressively and actively despised. Dr. Rozgut quietly closed the door behind him and attempted to lock eyes with Ms. Wedgel. He noticed something unsettling about her. Her eyes fidgeted around the room, trying desperately to cling to anything but Dr. Rozgut’s kind, deep-blue eyes. This disturbed Edward. Every visitor to the clinic took an instant liking to Edward. He had a trustworthy air about him and the tender, friendly features of a much younger man. He took pride in very few aspects of his life, but it had always satisfied him to know that he was trusted among his neighbors, even those that had never spoken with him directly.

“Ms. Wedgel, I…” he trailed off, and began to sweat from nervousness. Ms. Wedgel forced out words before Dr. Rozgut could compose himself.

“I know what I’m doing,” she choked. “I know that I’m giving her a death sentence.” She burst violently into tears. “What kind of mother kills her only daughter?”

“There’s no pain involved, if that’s what worries you,” Dr. Rozgut whimpered meekly. He had never encountered such sudden guilt, such anguish. Death was an essential part of society. Euthanasia had become a tenet of the Nihilist-Socialist doctrine long before Edward’s time, long before any living person’s time. Edward certainly didn't fear death. He would enjoy his life, reap the benefits of the World Federation while he could, and at the Age of Service, he would, like all other patriots, voluntarily end his own life for the common good. That was the way it was. That was the way it should be, he thought. How could society prosper as it did if the population wasn’t regulated?

“Pain? You think I’m worried about her pain?” she gave a sick sort of laugh. “She’s been in pain her entire life! I brought her into this world broken and twisted! It’s not the pain that bothers me, sir, it’s the principle!”

Her sudden wretched episode nauseated Dr. Rozgut. He could feel the contents of his stomach edging up his esophagus; his heart beat more and more rapidly after every passing second. “Principle?” he stammered. “But, Ms. Wedgel…”

“It’s Betty, dammit! Betty!” she screeched between tears.

“Sorry, Ms. Wedgel, I mean Betty. Look, you know as well as I that this is voluntary. No one can be forced to do this; you don’t have to euthanize Abbi. It’s against the Ethics. It’s all voluntary. It’s a service to society.”

“A service? Voluntary? Ethics?” she raged hysterically. “You don’t know the meaning of…” She stopped. Her eyes finally met Edward’s. He was visibly disturbed, confused terror filled his face. Ms. Wedgel wrested control of herself. Apathetically, she responded. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, doctor, I have to go. I’ll be back later in the week. I’ll bring dear little Abbi.” She stormed out of Room 1, slamming the door behind her unintentionally in her rush. Edward sat alone on his cushioned stool and put his face to his hands.

“Alright, okay,” he whispered. He ran his bony fingers through his coarse hair and stood. Miss Ann cracked the door open, and through the small space called to Dr. Rozgut.

“Edward? Ms. Wedgel just ran out of the office. Is everything alright?”

“I’m not sure,” Edward stood completely still.

“Do you mind if I come in? Edward?”

“No, no, don’t come in,” he said in a low, sad voice. “Tell Ron to go home. Close up the clinic. You can go home, too.”

“Are you sure? Old Mr. Johnson called; he said he was finally ready to come in today, though.”

“Tell old Mr. Johnson we can do it another day. Any other day will do.”

“But…”

“Miss Ann, I’m sorry, but I’m done for the day. I’m going home as soon as all of you are out of the clinic. Maybe it’s not the best day to be providing our Service.”
Edward listened with his ear to the door waiting for everyone to leave. Miss Ann was knocking at Ron’s door.

“What the hell do you want, woman?” Ron started to yell. “I know for a fact there ain’t more goddamn patients out there!”

“Ron,” Miss Ann tried to keep calm, “Edward said we could go home.”

“Why the fuck would he say that? He didn’t say nothing to me!” His door flung open, bashing against the wall, narrowly missing Miss Ann.

“Ron, listen. Listen for once. Get out right now. Get the hell out of the clinic. Edward’s done, so we’re done. Okay? Is that okay with you, Ron?” she snapped.

“Fine, woman! See if I come back!”

“Nobody gives a shit Ron, all you do is roll around cots all day!”

The fighting became more distant, and the bell above the door chimed. Edward finally left Room 1B, grabbed his things, and began his walk to the Commune’s living quarters.

title: "The Curly-Headed One" (Incomplete)

question: Summarize the emotions Mrs. Wedgel is going through as she visits Dr. Rozgut's office.

text: The answer is missing a few details about Mrs. Wedgel's time in Dr. Rozgut's office.

answer: Mrs. Wendy is the mother of a little girl who is disabled. She visits Dr. Rozgut's office because she is going to have her daughter euthanized. Dr. Rozgut offers her to keep her company while he speaks to her mother. While with her daughter, she is overwhelmed with guilt, sadness, and anguish. She is also overcome with rage. When asked by the doctor, Mrs. Wedgel defends her decision to euthanize her daughter by stating that she brought her into this world broken and twisted.

text: Try to convey both the stimulus and the emotions that accompany each change of emotion. This will provide the answer with a clearer context of "going through" emotions as opposed to just listing them one after another.

answer:
Mrs. Wedgel visited Dr. Rozgut's office with her daughter, Abbi. Abbi was mentally handicapped and was scheduled by her mother to be euthanized as sometimes voluntarily required by the law. As Rozgut chatted with Abbi, Mrs. Wedgel avoided any conversation, looking at the pictures on the wall. after a while, Abbi was relocated to the lobby as Rozgut wanted to have a private conversation with Mrs. Wedgel.
Mrs. Wedgel choked as she told Rozgut that she understands that she is killing off her own daughter. Rozgut tried to calm her down, saying there is no pain involved but Mrs. Wedgel laughed maniacally, saying she has watched Abbi being in pain all her life and that she is not bothered by the pain but the principle of the act. Dr. Rozgut told Mrs. Wedgel that the procedure is voluntary and in service to society so as to regulate the population. Mrs. Wedgel, however, was too upset to listen to the principle of killing her own daughter as a service to society. She ran out of Dr. Rozgut's office, taking her daughter along with her, and telling the doctor they will be back in a week's time.

text: The answer is a summary of the story, not the emotions of Mrs. Wedgel.

text: The answer is a summary of the story, not just the mother's emotions.

text: The answer is highly inaccurate.

text: The story does not mention that the procedure is voluntary and in service to society so as to regulate the population. Mrs. Wedgel, however, was too upset to listen to the principle of killing her own daughter as a service to society.

text: The sentence "- Mrs. Wedgel had visited Dr. Rozgut's office with her daughter, Abbi." is unnecessary as the question is already asking what emotions Mrs. Wedgel was going through and is already contextualized by the other sentences.

text: The answer is a summary of the story, not the emotions Mrs. Wedgel is going through. It doesn't mention how she's conflicted about killing her daughter even though it'd free her from the pain.

answer: Mrs. Wedgel choked as she told Rozgut that she understands that she is killing off her own daughter. Rozgut tried to calm her down, saying there is no pain involved but Mrs. Wedgel laughed maniacally, saying she has watched Abbi being in pain all her life and that she is not bothered by the pain but the principle of the act. Dr. Rozgut told Mrs. Wedgel that the procedure is voluntary and in service to society so as to regulate the population. Mrs. Wedgel, however, was too upset to listen to the principle of killing her own daughter as a service to society. She ran out of Dr. Rozgut's office, taking her daughter along with her, and telling the doctor they will be back in a week's time.

text: The answer should mention that Mrs. Wedgel bursts into tears.

text: The answer should mention that she feels guilt and anguish.

text: The answer contains information not related to her emotions.

answer: Mrs. Wendy is the mother of a little girl who is disabled. She visits Dr. Rozgut's office because she is going to have her daughter euthanized. Dr. Rozgut offers her to keep her company while he speaks to her mother. While with her daughter, she is overwhelmed with guilt, sadness, and anguish. She is also overcome with rage. When asked by the doctor, Mrs. Wedgel defends her decision to euthanize her daughter by stating that she brought her into this world broken and twisted.

text: The answer is wrong.

text: The answer is inaccurate. The doctor doesn't offer to keep Abbi company while he speaks to her mother.

text: The response includes extraneous information not useful for the task.

text: The answer is full of inaccuracies.

text: "Mrs. Wendy" - is incorrect. The name is "Ms. Wedgel"

text: Miss Wedgel defends the decision with Rozgut--not defense to him

text:
The response contains inaccurate information. The little girl's mother's name is Betty.
'While with her daughter, she is overwhelmed with guilt, sadness, and anguish.' - This sentence is not correctly represented. The story says Ms. Wedgel is overwhelmed with guilt, sadness, and anguish while she speaks to the doctor. Correct that sentence to this.

text: 'Dr. Rozgut offers her to keep her company while he speaks to her mother.' - This sentence lacks clarity. It is uncertain who "her" is. The answer should clearly state that Dr. Rozgut asked Miss Ann, the clinic secretary, to keep little Abbi Wedgel company while he speaks to the girl's mother.

answer:
Mrs. Wedgel visited Dr. Rozgut's office with her daughter, Abbi. Abbi was mentally handicapped and was scheduled by her mother to be euthanized as sometimes voluntarily required by the law. As Rozgut chatted with Abbi, Mrs. Wedgel avoided any conversation, looking at the pictures on the wall. after a while, Abbi was relocated to the lobby as Rozgut wanted to have a private conversation with Mrs. Wedgel.
Mrs. Wedgel choked as she told Rozgut that she understands that she is killing off her own daughter. Rozgut tried to calm her down, saying there is no pain involved but Mrs. Wedgel laughed maniacally, saying she has watched Abbi being in pain all her life and that she is not bothered by the pain but the principle of the act. Dr. Rozgut told Mrs. Wedgel that the procedure is voluntary and in service to society so as to regulate the population. Mrs. Wedgel, however, was too upset to listen to the principle of killing her own daughter as a service to society. She ran out of Dr. Rozgut's office, taking her daughter along with her, and telling the doctor they will be back in a week's time.

text: This should point out that the mother burst violently into tears when she said she knew what she was doing.

text: The first sentence isn't necessary and could be omitted.

answer: Mrs. Wedgel choked as she told Rozgut that she understands that she is killing off her own daughter. Rozgut tried to calm her down, saying there is no pain involved but Mrs. Wedgel laughed maniacally, saying she has watched Abbi being in pain all her life and that she is not bothered by the pain but the principle of the act. Dr. Rozgut told Mrs. Wedgel that the procedure is voluntary and in service to society so as to regulate the population. Mrs. Wedgel, however, was too upset to listen to the principle of killing her own daughter as a service to society. She ran out of Dr. Rozgut's office, taking her daughter along with her, and telling the doctor they will be back in a week's time.

text: The answer is mostly made up.

text: Mrs. Wedgel did not choke, she was crying.

text: The answer should mention the emotions Mrs. Wedgel is going through.

text: The model says she took her daughter along with her while she ran out of the clinic, which is inaccurate and should be removed.

text: There is no need to write all this detail. The answer should only mention that Mrs Wedgel is suffering from guilt and anguish because she has decided to euthanize her retarded daughter


text:
[]
A lot of people have problems working with and understanding what asynchronous code means. This article is an intro into the basic asynchronous Python, where I'll try answering the question why or how the async makes your code to go fast.

Let's start with the simplest definition. ASYNC is a style of concurrent programming. It's the most generic term that means doing many things at once.

How Does Python Do Multiple Things At Once?

1. Multiple Processes

The most obvious way is to use MULTIPLE PROCESSES. From the terminal you can start your script two, three, four…ten times and then all the scripts are going to run independently or at the same time. The operating system that's underneath will take care of sharing your CPU resources among all those instances.

Using CPython that's actually the only way you can get to use more than one CPU at the same time.

2. Multiple Threads

The next way to run multiple things at once is to use threads.

A THREAD is a line of execution, pretty much like a process, but you can have multiple threads in the context of one process and they all share access to common resources. But because of this it's difficult to write a threading code. And again, the operating system is doing all the heavy lifting on sharing the CPU, but the global interpreter lock (GIL) allows only one thread to run Python code at a given time even when you have multiple threads running code. So, In CPython, the GIL prevents multi core concurrency. Basically, you’re running in a single core even though you may have two or four or more.

3. Asynchronous Programming

The third way is an ASYNCHRONOUS PROGRAMMING, where the OS is not participating. As far as OS is concerned you're going to have ONE PROCESS and there's going to be a SINGLE THREAD within that process, but you'll be able to do multiple things at once. So, what's the trick?

As an example we can take a chess exhibition where one of the best chess players competes against a lot of people. And if there are 24 games with 24 people to play with and the chess master plays with all of them synchronically, it'll take at least 12 hours (taking into account that the average game takes 30 moves, the chess master thinks for 5 seconds to come up with a move and the opponent - for approximately 55 seconds). But using the asynchronous mode gives chess master the opportunity to make a move and leave the opponent thinking while going to the next one and making a move there. This way a move on all 24 games can be done in 2 minutes and all of them can be won in just one hour.

So, this is what's meant when people talk about asynchronous being really fast. It's this kind of fast. Chess master doesn't play chess faster, the time is just more optimized and it's not get wasted on waiting around. This is how it works.

In this analogy the chess master will be our CPU and the idea is that we wanna make sure that the CPU doesn't wait or waits the least amount of time possible. It's about always finding something to do.

A practical definition of ASYNC is that it's a style of concurrent programming in which tasks release the CPU during waiting periods, so that other tasks can use it.

How is Async Implemented?

You probably want to know a little bit more. How can you do that with one process and one thread? You need two things, basically.

The FIRST THING that you need is to have a function that can SUSPEND AND RESUME. A function that enters a waiting period is suspended, and only resumed when the wait is over. There are four ways in which you can do this in Python without OS help. Those ways are:

- the callback functions, but they are pretty gross, so no examples will be provided,

- the generator functions - a Python feature that have been there for a long time,

- async/await - the keywords that you can use in Python 3.5+,

- and the third-party package called greenlet - that actually implement this as a C extension Python which you can install with pip. But in this article we aren't gonna get into them.

The NEXT THING that we need is a piece of code that can decide how the CPU is shared, which function gets the CPU next. So, we need a scheduler of sorts. And in asynchronous programming this is called an EVENT LOOP.

Scheduling Asynchronous Tasks

An event loop will know all the tasks that are running or want to run, it'll select one and give control to it. That task is going to suspend when it needs to wait for something. The control will go back to the loop and the last will find another task and it'll keep going that way. This is called COOPERATIVE MULTI-TASKING.

This is a super simple test. Let's say that we wanna write a little script that prints 'hello' waits 3 seconds and then prints 'world'.

Example: Standard (synchronous) Python
     from time import sleep

    def hello():
        print('Hello')
        sleep(3)
        print('World!')

    if _name_ == '_main_':
        hello()

If we were to put a loop on that 'hello' on the bottom to run 'hello' 10 times, for example, this is gonna run not for 3 seconds but for 30 seconds.

Examples: Asyncio

    import asyncio
    loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()

    @asyncio.coroutine
    def hello():
        print('Hello')
        yield from asyncio.sleep(3)
        print('World!')

    if _name_ == '_main_':
        loop.run_until_complete(hello())

In the first example we're using a GENERATOR FUNCTION. Generators are these special functions that typically you use in Python to generate sequences of items. The nice thing about them is that you don't have to pre-generate all the entire sequence you can generate elements of that sequence as the person calling the generator asks. You can repurpose that using yield or yield from keywords and also use it for an asynchronous function. Basically, when we reach the yield from in the example above, we are saying: "OK, loop, I'm done for now, so I give you back control. Please, run this function for me [the one that follows the yield from], so asyncio sleep for 3 seconds. And when that's done I'm ready to continue". The loop will take note of that and then manage everything. Because it’s a scheduler and that's what it does. So, if you were to call this 'hello' function 10 times instead of running for 30 seconds you're gonna see 10 hellos then a pause for 3 seconds and then you’re gonna see 10 'worlds'.

    import asyncio
    loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()

    async def hello():
        print('Hello')
        await asyncio.sleep(3)
        print('World!')

    if _name_ == '_main_':
        loop.run_until_complete(hello())

In the second example you can see an improvement that you get in recent Pythons - a much nicer syntax. Functionally these two are equivalent. You have an  async def declaration, that's what you use to define an ASYNCHRONOUS FUNCTION. And if you use that syntax to declare the function then you get to use await for the suspension and resuming.

The one of the things that asyncio is great for is that it makes very explicit the points where the code suspends and resumes.

Async Pitfalls

1. What happens if you have an asynchronous program with one or more tasks that need to do some heavy CPU calculation?

So, the problem is if you use the CPU in your function for, say, one minute then during that minute nothing else will happen, because this's a single thread. All tasks need to be nice to the remaining tasks and release the CPU often. You have to call 'sleep' every once in a while in a function as often as you can. But if you're really greedy and you don’t want to give up the time that you've got the best you can do is you can sleep for zero seconds. This is basically saying the loop that you need control back as soon as possible. If your calculation has a loop, which is pretty common, then you stick a 'sleep 0' inside that loop. This way once per iteration you allow other tasks to continue running.

Example: await asyncio.sleep(0)

2. The second problem is that the blocking library functions are incompatible with async frameworks.

So, there's a bunch of things in Python Standard library that are assigned as blocking functions: socket.*, select.*, subprocess.*, os.waitpid, threading.*, multiprocessing.*, time.sleep. Everything that has to do with networking, processes, threads, you cannot use them. This is true for every async framework. If you use these functions the thing is gonna hang. So, don't use them. It's very unfortunate.

All async frameworks provide replacements for these functions. And sometimes it’s kind of sucks, because you have to learn a different way to do the things that you know how to do. All these common things that you do with processes, threads and networking. Unfortunate, but true. It's true for Asyncio, Eventlet, Gevent, Twisted, Curio, all of them. They all provide alternative ways to do these blocking things.

Conclusion

Let's summarise this with a little table that compares processes, threads and async on a number of categories.

Processes vs. Threads vs. Async

                                       Processes          Threads             Async
  ------------------------------------ ------------------ ------------------- -------------------
  Optimize waiting periods             Yes (preemptive)   Yes (preemptive)    Yes (cooperative)
  Use all CPU cores                    Yes                No                  No
  Scalability                          Low (ones/tens)    Medium (hundreds)   High (thousands+)
  Use blocking std library functions   Yes                Yes                 No
  GIL interference                     No                 Some                No

You might think that these are super cool non-blocking doing something while a task waits exclusive to async and that is not true. Processes and thread can do that pretty well too. And it's actually not Python doing it, in that case it's an operating system doing it. So, there's no winner here.

There is a slight difference there - in the processes and threads case it's the OS doing it, and in the async case you have your async framework (asyncio, gevent and so on) that doing it. That's cooperative for async and preemptive (which is called when the OS yanks the CPU out without you knowing it) for processes and threads.

If you want to maximize your multiple cores in your computer then the only way is processes. And many times people combine processes with one of the other two. They run a multi thread on an async program and then they run it as many times as cores they have.

Scalability is an interesting one, because if you're running multiple processes each process will have a copy of the Python interpreter and all the resources that it uses plus a copy of your code, your application, plus all the resources that you use, so all of that is gonna be duplicated. If you start going crazy and start new instances you’re gonna find that pretty soon you're probably gonna be out of memory. You cannot run a lot of Python processes on a normal computer. So, the scalability is pretty low with processes, in the ones or the tens but no more than that. If you go to threads, they are a little bit more lightweight than processes, so you can initiate much more threads than processes. This way you can scale a little bit better, say, in the hundreds. If you go with async, there everything is done in Python space, there are no resources at the OS level that are used, so these are extremely lightweight. This is a clear winner. Async can go into thousands or tens of thousands even. So, this can be a good reason to go async.

Now we have the bad news of using the blocking functions in the Python Standard library which processes and threads can do no problem because the OS knows how to deal with those. But when we lose the support of the OS in async we cannot use those functions and we need replacements. And the last is the Global Interpreter Lock. It causes some troubles with threads, but it’s not that bad when you have the types of applications that are good for also the async which are heavily io. Because if you have threads that are blocked on io then you don't hold the GIL. So, if a thread goes to wait then the OS will be able to give access to another thread without any problems.

So, really, it's not that great. There arenэt that many things that are better for async. Basically, the best argument to go async is when you really need massive scaling. These would be servers that are going to be very busy. Async can go into thousands or tens of thousands of connections and it's like nothing, not a problem. In any other category it's not really clear that you should go async unless you like it.

Appendix

The article was inspired by the Miguel Grinberg's talk on the PyCon 2017.

question: What does the text say about Asynchronous Programming?

text: Asynchronous programming is clearly mentioned in the text.

answer: Asynchronous programming is one of the methods Python uses to run multiple tasks at once.

answer: Asynchronous Programming is a style of concurrent programming where the OS is not participating. As far as the OS is concerned, you're going to have one process and there's going to be a single thread within that process, but you'll be able to do multiple things at once. The trick is to have a function that can suspend and resume, and a scheduler of sorts.

text: The answer should mention that the scheduler is called an event loop.

text: The answer should mention the event loop.

text: The answer could mention that the scheduler is called an event loop.

text: The OS is participating in asynchronous programming.

text: It is omitted that another way to do multiple things at once is to use threads; however, with threads the operating system is still doing all the heavy lifting on sharing the CPU, but the global interpreter lock (GIL) allows only one thread to run Python code at a given time even when you have multiple threads running code, thereby making it unsuitable for multiple processes.

text: It's omitted that it has tasks release the CPU during waiting periods so that other tasks can use it.

text: It's omitted that it is really fast due to its optimization.

answer: Asynchronous programming is one of the methods Python uses to run multiple tasks at once.

text: The answer should mention that asynchronous programming is a style of concurrent programming.

text: The answer should mention that asynchronous programming is a style of concurrent programming in which tasks release the CPU during waiting periods, so that other tasks can use it.

text: The answer should mention the advantages of asynchronous programming.

text: The answer could mention that it is a style of concurrent programming where tasks release the CPU during waiting periods.

text: The answer should mention how it works.

text: Give an example of how it works

answer: No answer

text: The answer is wrong.

text: The answer is completely wrong.

text: The answer should mention that asynchronous programming is a style of concurrent programming where the OS is not participating.

text: The answer is inaccurate.

text: The answer is false. The text has a lot to say about asynchronous programming.

text: The answer is completely wrong

text: The answer could go into detail about why asynchronous programming is necessary for some programs.

answer: No answer

text: The response cannot be blank. The information is available in the text.

answer: Asynchronous Programming is a style of concurrent programming where the OS is not participating. As far as the OS is concerned, you're going to have one process and there's going to be a single thread within that process, but you'll be able to do multiple things at once. The trick is to have a function that can suspend and resume, and a scheduler of sorts.