PART IV. OF CENTRY OF THE SKY. When Clary came home from Barshwat, M. Bilcyra said nothing more about her suspicions, but greeted him affectionately and prepared a special supper for him. Afterward he wondered if making love to an earth girl could be as pleasant. He wondered how it would be to make love to Han Vollard. The days passed and he forgot about Han Vollard. After much persuasion he agreed to give a series of concerts at Zrig, but only on condition that Rini played with him and had one solo each performance. He was embarrassed at having so far outstripped his teacher, but Rini seemed unperturbed. My technique's still better than yours will ever be," he said. It's this new style of yours that gets him. I understand it's spreading. It's reached as far as Barshwat. You should see the angry letters Iric writes about it," Rini chuckled. And he hasn't the least idea it started right here in his own home village that he's always sneered at for being so backward. Clary smiled and clapped the boy on the neck. If it made Rini feel better to think Clary had a new style rather than that Clary played better than he did, Clary had no objection. Clary was offered the post of head librarian at Zrig, but M.Belsaira didn't want to leave Katant, and when he thought about it he really didn't want to either. So he refused the job and didn't bother mentioning the matter to headquarters. As he grew more sure of himself and his position he allowed his wealth to show. He and M.Belsaira moved to a larger dome. Instead of sending to Zrig or even Barshwat for the furnishings, they hired local talent. Tevan, the carpenter, made them some exquisite blackwood pieces inlaid with opalescent stone that everyone said was the equal of anything in Barshwat. A talented nephew of Hankses painted glowing murals. M.Belsaira's mother wove rugs and draperies in muted water-tones. The dome became the district show-place. Clary realized he now had a position to keep up, but sometimes it annoyed him when perfect strangers asked to see the place. He was invited to run against Malasaur as headman, but declined. He didn't want to be brought into undue prominence. Trouble was, as he became popular, he also aroused animosity. There were the girls who felt he should have married them instead of M.Belsaira, and their mothers and subsequent husbands. A lot of people resented Clary because they felt he should have decorated his house differently, dressed differently, spent his money differently. A man can live ignored by everyone, he discovered, but he can't be liked by some without finding himself disliked by others. Matters came to a head in his fourth spring there. He thought of it as spring, although on D'morlin the seasons had no separate identities. They blended into one another, without its ever being very hot or very cold, very rainy or very dry. The reason he called this time of the year spring was that it seemed closest to perfection. It was less perfect that year, because it was then that Rene's brother, Ira, came back from Barshwat after a six years absence. He was very much the city-man, far more so than anyone Clary had seen in Barshwat itself. His tunics were shorter than his fellow villagers, and his cloaks iridesced restlessly from one vivid color to another. He wore a great deal of jewelry and perfume, neither of the best quality, and the toes of his boots were divided. Clary described this in detail to M.Belsaira the night Irak put in his first appearance at the fur-bush. You should have seen the little horror. That's the way city-men dress, and Belsaira told him. It's fashionable. But dear, I've been to Barshwat. You don't have an eye for clothes. You never notice when I put on anything new, and I think it's unfair to take a dislike to Irak just because you don't care for the way he dresses. It's more than that, Belsaira. And yet how could he explain to her what he couldn't quite understand himself, that Irak was vain, stupid, hostile, hence dangerous? I swear to you, Balt, M.Belsaira said demurely, that whatever there was between me and Irak it all ended six years ago. Clary gave a start, and then held back a smile. I believe you, dear, and he kissed her nose. Irak held forth in the fur-bush every evening of his stay in Khatand. He had grievances, and he aired them generously. He hated everything—the government, taxes, modern music, and earthmen—whom he seemed to consider in some way responsible for the modern music, or at least its popularization. Barbarians slept completely through my concerts. But people are always falling asleep during concerts, Irak? And how could you expect Barbarians to appreciate good music? What do you care for earthmen's opinions as long as your own people like your music? Irak hesitated. But the earthmen have taken up the new kind of music. They stay awake during that. And a lot of people seem to think that whatever strange is good, so whatever the earthmen like eventually becomes fashionable. Perhaps he wiggled his ears. Fashions change. Well, who's ready to have his mug refilled? But the earthmen will keep on setting the fashions, Irak snarled. Many people think the earthmen know everything, just because they're aloof and have sky-cars. Well, Matasor said, the sky-cars certainly prove they know something we don't. Better stick to your music, boy.  They don't know anything about music, and they don't know everything about machinery. We might surprise them yet. A friend of mine knows Guhak, the fellow who invented that new break for the track car a few years ago. We know about that break, peak observed. It stops a car so good the chains are twice as late nowadays as they used to be, and you couldn't strictly say they were ever on time. Everybody laughed again. Irak quivered with anger. Guhak has invented a car that doesn't need to go on tracks. It can run whenever it wants, wherever it wants, and one car will be able to go faster than three hacks teams. That I'll believe when I've ridden on it, Kukwal grinned. Even the chains aren't that fast. The others bit their thumbs and nodded, except Clary, who was rigidly keeping out of the conversation. He forced Squuffer down his tightening throat and said nothing. You're backward clods, Irak raged. If the earthmen can have cars that go through the sky without tracks, why shouldn't we have cars that run on the ground the same way? Have we tried? It doesn't seem to me it's worth the effort, Malasur said. Our cars can get us where we're going as fast as we need to go already. Why bother? Whatever an earthman can do, we can do better. Soon, Guhak will get his ground cars on the road. After that, it'll only be a short step to cars that go in the sky. Then we'll find out where the earthmen come from and why they're here. We'll be as powerful as they are. We'll get rid of them and their rotten music. The bar-parter was silent, except for the clink as Clary put his mug on the table. If he held it an instant longer, he was afraid he would spill it. One or two of the men looked at him uneasily, out of the corners of their eyes. Malasur spoke, In the first place, you don't know how powerful earthmen are. In the second place, who wants to be powerful anyway? The earthmen haven't done us any harm, and they're a good thing for the economy. My cousin Inzrig tells me one of them comes into his store a couple of months ago and bought out his whole stock, every bolt of cloth, paid twice what it was worth, too. Live and let live, I say." The others murmured restlessly. "'If there are ways of doing things better,' Rene suggested, "'why shouldn't we have them, too?'  I returned his head and looked directly at Clary for the first time. "'You're a silent stranger. What do you think of the earthmen?' Clary picked up his drink, finished the squuffer, and set the mug back down on the table. "'I don't know much about earthmen. An ugly-looking lot, true, but there doesn't seem to be any harm in them. Of course, living in Barshwat, you probably know a lot more about them than I do. "'I doubt that,' Eirik said. "'You have an aunt in Barshwat.'" Clary allowed himself to look surprised before he said courteously, "'I'm glad you find me and my family so interesting. Yes, it so happens I do have an aunt there, but she's rather advanced in years and doesn't enjoy hanging around the starship field the way the children do." Eirik's face darkened. "'What's your aunt's name?' This time everyone looked surprised. The question itself was not too out of the way, but his tone decidedly was. "'She's a great grandmother,' Clary said. "'She would be too old for you. And I assure you it's difficult to part her from her money. I've tried.'" Everybody laughed. Eirik was furious. "'I understand that your aunt lives very close to earth headquarters.' We must have followed him on one or more of his trips to Barshwat,' Clary realized. "'If the earthmen chose to establish themselves in the best residential section of Barshwat, then probably my aunt does live near them. She's not the type to leave a comfortable dome simply because foreigners move into the neighborhood. "'Perhaps she has more than neighborhood in common with earthmen.'" The room was suddenly very quiet again. "'She does sometimes go to sleep at concerts,' Clary conceded. Eirik opened his mouth. Malisor held up a hand. "'Before you say anything more against the earthmen, Eirik,' he advised. "'You ought to find out more about them. Their cars move faster and higher than ours. Maybe their catapults do too.'" No one looked at Clary. Malisor had averted a showdown he knew, but this was the beginning of the end. He had a suspicion who was responsible. Innocently perhaps, perhaps not. Love does not always imply trust. And when he told M.Belsyvera what had happened in the furbush, she too couldn't meet his eye. "'That, Eirik,' she said, I never liked him. "'I wonder how he knows so much about me.'" "'Rainy writes him very often,' she babbled. "'He must have told him you were responsible for the new music.  Rene loves to irritate Eirik because he's always been jealous of him. But the whole thing's silly. How could you possibly make over the world's music, even if you were?' Her voice ran down. "'An earthman,' he finished coldly. "'I suppose you went around telling everybody your suspicions, and Rene wrote that to Eirik, too.' "'I didn't tell anybody,' she protested indignantly. "'Not a soul,' she met his eye. "'Except mother, of course.' "'Your mother? You might as well have published it in the district bulletin. You have no right to speak of mother like that, even if it's true,' M.Belsyvera began to sob. I had to tell her bolt. She kept asking why there weren't any young ones. "'You could have told her to mind her own business,' he snapped, or he could catch himself. Five years and he still made slips. It was her business. On D'Morlin it was a woman's duty not only to have children, but to see that her children had children and their children had children. He made himself look grave and self-approachful. "'I have a confession to make, Belser. I should have told you when I married you. I can't have children.' "'I never heard of such a thing. Everybody has children, unless they're not married, of course,' she said primely. It's an affliction sent by the gods.' "'The gods would never do anything like that,' she declared confidently. "'How primitive she is,' he thought, and then angrily, how provincial I am. He had never stopped to think about it, but he knew of no married couple who had not at least one offspring. He and M. Belsaira were the only ones. It hadn't occurred to the XT specialists that a species whose biological assets were roughly the same might have different handicaps. Apparently there was no such thing as sterility on D'Morlin.' "'Are you really an earthman, then, Balt?' she asked timidly. She had spread the news around, ruined him, ruined the work the earth had been doing, perhaps ruined even more than that, and she hadn't even been sure to begin with. But it was too late for recriminations. He had to salvage what little he could. Time, maybe. That was all.' "'Are you going to tell?' he asked.' She hesitated. "'Do you swear you don't mean my people any harm?' "'I swear,' he said. "'Then I swear not to tell,' she said. He kissed her. After all, he thought, it isn't a lie. I don't mean her people any harm. Besides, sooner or later her mother will get it out of her, so she won't be keeping her part of the bargain. The next time he went to Barshwat, he knew he would be followed. He tried to shake the follower or followers off, but he couldn't be sure he'd succeeded. He found the Colonel looking out of the window with an expression of quiet melancholy. If there had been any earth women on D'morlin, Clary would have thought he'd been crossed in love. "'Things are taking a bad turn, Clary,' Blinn said. There have been certain manifestations of hostility from the natives. Get any hint of it?' "'No,' Clary said, taking his usual chair. Not a whisper. The Colonel sat down heavily. "'Katans, too, out of the way. You should have moved you to a city once you got the feel of things. But you do go to Zurig occasionally.  Blinn grinned weakly. "'Maybe it was rather an ostentatious thing to do. But the fabric's beautiful stuff.'" He rubbed his nose reflectively. "'Fact is, I've been hearing disturbing rumors. They say some fellow named Kuhak invented a ground-car that can run without tracks.'" Clary almost said Kuhak but caught himself in time. "'Nonsense,' he scoffed. "'The more I know of them, the more surprised I am they ever got as far as inventing the chains.'" "'But they did. No getting around that. That is what earth's afraid of, you know,' he reminded Clary unnecessarily. "'This is why you were sent here. And if the rumor's true, it looks as if you weren't needed at all. I got the bad news by myself.' "'But why should it be that upsetting?' Clary tried to laugh. "'You look as if it were the end of the world.'" The Colonel gave him a long, level look. "'I consider that remark in the worst of taste.'" Clary stopped laughing. "'Remember,' the Colonel reminded Clary, again unnecessarily. This is the way we ourselves got started." "'But the Demerlanti don't have to move in the same direction. They may look human and even act human, but they don't think human.'" The Colonel clasped his hands behind his head and sighed. "'There have been articles against us in the paper. And whenever we go out in the street, people, natives, I mean, make nasty remarks and sometimes even faces at us. And what have we done to them?' Carefully minded our own business, avoided all cultural contacts, except for trade purposes, paid them much more than the going price for their goods, and gave them one or two tips on health and sanitation. As a result, they're beginning to hate us. "'But if you send a report, it'll bring the staff ship in ahead of time. Maybe the whole thing will blow over. This way you're not giving it a chance to.'" The Colonel chewed his lip. "'Well,' he finally said, I might as well wait and see if the rumors verified before I report it.' Clary went back to Gatund. The months went by. The friendly atmosphere in the furbush had vanished, and not as many people stopped and chatted when they came to the library. But there wasn't any actual incident until the evening Clary was walking home after late night at the library and a stone struck him between the shoulder blades.  He didn't mention the incident to Ambalsaira, not wanting to worry her, but the next morning he went to the village dome and informed Malasaur. "'Very bad,' the headman muttered. "'Very bad. Whoever did it will be punished.'" "'You won't be able to catch them,' Clary said, and there would be no point in punishment anyway. Look at it like this, Mal. Suppose I had been an earthman. Don't you see how dangerous this would be, not for me, but for you? Can't you imagine the inevitable results?' Malasaur nodded. "'The earthman's catapults do go farther and faster, then?' "'And maybe deeper,' Clary agreed, pretending not to notice that it had been a question. By the way Iric talked, I couldn't help drifting over to the starfield when I was in Barshwat and watching an earthship come. You've no idea how incredibly powerful a thing it was. Anyone who has power in one direction is likely to have it in another. I wonder if the earthman always had power!' Malasaur mused. "'If they weren't like us once. If, given time, we couldn't be like them.'" Clary didn't say anything.  "'You mean we might not be given time?' Clary wiggled his ears. "'Who can tell what's in the mind of an earthman?' Malasaur looked directly at him. "'Why do you tell me this?' "'Because I'm one of you,' Clary said stoutly. Malasaur shook his head. "'You're not. You never can be. But thanks for the warning, stranger!' "'Never identify,' the robo-coach had said. "'You'll never be able to become the character you're trying to play.'" He was talking only of the stage, Clary told himself angrily, as he left the dome. Reports trickled in from the cities. Earthmen have been stoned twice in Zrig, more often than that in Barshwat. Clary got an agitated letter from his aunt. "'Watch out for yourself, nephew,' she warned. "'They may take it into their heads to attack all foreigners. Remember, come what may, you'll always have a home with me.'" Then everything broke open. A group of natives attacked earth headquarters in Barshwat. The earthmen sprayed them with a gas which made the attackers lose consciousness without harming them. That is, it was intended to work that way. However, one of them hid his head on the wall when he fell and he died the next day. The people of Vintnor were aroused. They milled angrily around earth headquarters carrying banners that said, "'Go home, earth murderers!' The headmen of Barshwat called upon Colonel Blinn. The Colonel courteously refused to withdraw his men from the planet. "'I'm under orders, old chap,' he said, "'but I'll report your request back to earth.'" "'It isn't a request,' the headman said." Colonel Blinn smiled and said, "'We'll treat it as one, shall we?' Clary knew what happened because the headmen gave a report of the conversation to the Barshwat Prime Bulletin. He also got a letter from his aunt describing the incident as vividly as if she had been there herself. The Barshwat Prime ran a series of increasingly intemperate editorials calling upon all the nations of D'Morland to unite against the earthmen. It was spirit that counted it said rather than technology. Malisor wrote a letter asking how superior spiritual values could compete against presumably superior weapons. He read it aloud in the purple furbush before he sent it to the editor of the Barshwat Prime, which was lucky because the Prime never printed it, although the Dardanek Bulletin ran a copy. However, the Barshwat Prime did print letters from editors in different countries. All of them pledged firm moral support. It also printed a letter from an anonymous correspondent in Katund, which alleged that there was an earth spy in that village, disguised as a D'Morland, and it was this spy who was personally responsible for the decline of musical taste on the whole planet. But the Bulletin seemed to consider this merely as an emanation from the lunatic fringe. It would be as easy to disguise a hicks as one of us as an earthman, and although we could certainly not minimize the importance of music in our culture, it is hardly likely that earth would be attempting to achieve fell purposes through undermining that art. No, the decline in musical taste represents part of the general decline in public morality which has left us an easy prey. I recwent back to Barshwat to help Riot, but he left the Katund convinced that Clary was, if not actually an earthman, at least a traitor. When he came into the furbush everybody got up and left. Nobody patronized the branch library any more. The constant readers went to the main library at Zrig, and since the trip was expensive their books were usually overdue and they had to pay substantial fines. Sometimes they never returned the books at all, and messengers had to be sent from the city. Finally, the chief librarian at Zrig issued a regulation that only those resident within the city limits could take books out. All others in the district had to read them on the premises. The Katundi blamed that on Clary, too. One night they broke into his library and stole all the best sellers. A couple of days later he came home and found all the windows of his dome broken. Best sellers are often disappointing, he thought. He found a note from M. Belsaira saying, I have gone home to mother. He knew she expected him to go after her, but he wrote her a note saying he was going to see his aunt, who was terrified by all the riots, and put it in the mail, so she wouldn't get it too soon. He packed his kit with his most important possessions and took his Eulerin under his arm. When he reached Barshwat, he had some difficulty getting through the crowd in front of earth headquarters. All the windows were boarded up and the garbage hadn't been collected for a considerable length of time. Just as he reached the door, a familiar voice called, That's the earth spy! Don't be silly, another voice said. He's obviously one of us. But a traitor! cried another voice. Otherwise, why go in there? Stones splattered against the door, followed by impartial cries of, Spy! Traitor! Fool! The last seemingly addressed to each other, rather than Clary. Blinn was haggard and anxious looking. I've been wondering when you'd show up. Afraid maybe they'd got you. I'm all right," Clary interrupted. But what are we going to do? Blinn laughed without stopping for a full minute. Do! I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to sit tight and wait for the staff ship. Two months later the staff ship came. Blinn radioed for the general and the secretary to come in a closed ground car. But why? The general's voice crackled plaintively over the comm unit. I thought we didn't want them to know about ground cars. They know," Blinn said crisply. They've got one of their own now, maybe more. Crazy-looking thing, but it works. You'll see it outside headquarters when you get here. The letters on the side mean, earth men go. Form imperative, impolite, emphatic. Han Vollard strode into headquarters, eyes ablaze. Why didn't you send a report before trouble started? How could you allow an emergency situation to happen? Neither Blinn nor Cary said anything. Very distressing thing, Spano declared. Maybe it hit them so suddenly they didn't know it was building. You and Blinn get over to the ship right away for deep probing, Han Vollard ordered, as both began to speak at once. It's the only way I'll be able to get a coherent report. After the results came through, her anger was cold, searing unwomanly. You knew, a year ago, that things were beginning to go wrong, and you didn't even mention it on the tapes. I could have both of you broken for this. If only that were all there was to worry about, Clary sighed wistfully. She whirled on him. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. The sudden loss of control in that dark Amazon was more threatening than anything that had happened yet. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, he said. It's the damnerlanti I feel sorry for. You feel sorry for them because you identify with them. That makes you sorry for yourself. She misunderstood his motives as she misunderstood everything he did or said, but their rapport wasn't at stake now. What are you going to do? He forced himself to ask. The decision will have to be made on earth. Unless you mean what's going to happen to you, that's simple. You'll go back with us. Blinn will stay here, pending orders. The Colonel saluted. But I thought I was going to stay here ten years, said Clary. Five to ten years, she corrected. Apparently, five was enough. She cut herself short. What's the matter with me? She suddenly exclaimed, I've been letting myself think in the same woolly way you do. Suddenly, almost frighteningly, she smiled. Clary, you did the job we set you out to do. You did it better than we expected. What threw me off was that we set you out to act as an observer. Instead, you became a catalyst. She seized his hand and rung it warmly. Clary, I apologize. You've done a splendid job. You wrenched his hand from her grasp. I didn't act as a catalyst. It would have happened anyway. His voice rang in his own horrified ears, a voice begging for reassurance. And she was a woman. She had maternal instincts. She reassured him. It would have happened anyway, she said soothingly, but it would have dragged on for years, cost the taxpayers billions. And now, he whispered, still unable to believe that the thing had really happened. Will you dispose of everyone on de Morland? She smiled and threw herself into a chair, her body limp and tired and contented looking. Come, Clary, we're not that ruthless. Some kind of quarantine will probably be worked out. We just made the whole thing sound more drastic to appeal to your patriotism. The general beamed. So, everything has worked out all right, after all? I knew it would. I always had the utmost confidence in you, Clary. She was busily planning. We'll arrange some kind of heroic accident. I have it. You died saving your aunt from the flames. What flames? The flames of the fire that burned down her house. She died of the local equivalent of shock. Emble Syrah will be rich, so she'll want to believe the story. She'll be able to find herself another husband, she'll have children. She'll be better off, Clary. He looked at her, his misery welling out of his eyes. Oh, I don't mean it that way, man.  I'm not saying one is better than the other. I'm saying they're different. But I felt less different with her, with the Damorlanti than with anyone on earth, he said. She walked across to the window and looked out at the Damorlanti rioting ineptly below. Most of us are happier in our dream world, she said at last, but society couldn't function if we were allowed to stay there. The Moorland wasn't a dream world. But it will be, she said. End of Part 4. Part 5. Of Century of the Sky by Evelyn E. Smith. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Century of the Sky. Part 5. And so Clary went back to earth on the staff ship. Once its luxury would have given him pleasure. Now the cabin with its taps that gave out plain water, salt water, mineral water, and assorted cordials held no charm. Neither did the self-contained, tri-dye projector receiver. The only reason he stayed there most of the time was to avoid the others. However, he couldn't avoid turning up in the dining-salon for meals. The greater his sorrow, the greater his appetite. One day after lunch, Hans stopped him forcibly grasping his arm. I've got to talk to you. Afterward you can go off and sulk if you want to. But we're going to make planet fall in a few days. It's necessary to discuss your future now." I have no future, he said. Come this way, Clary. That's an order. Obediently, he followed her into a lounge that was a dazzle of color and splendor. There were eight pseudo-windows, each framing a pseudo-scene of a different planet at a different season. The harsh barren summer of Mars, the cold bleak winter of Cussud, the gentle green spring of Earth. It must be a park, he knew. In no other place on Earth could spring be manifest, and yet it gave him a little pang to look at it. He tore his eyes away to turn them toward the others, and then up at the domed ceiling, fashioned to resemble a blue sky with clouds drifting across it. A domed ceiling. And he thought of the domes of D'Morland, light years away among the stars. I'm afraid the decor's a bit gaudy. Han apologized. We didn't check the decorator's past performance until it was too late. But it's comfortable, anyway. Try one of these chairs. They accommodate themselves to the form. She threw herself on a chaise long that accommodated itself perfectly to her form. Clary wasn't wearing her usual opulent secretarial garb, but something simple of clinging stuff that occasionally went transparent. So we're back to the first movement, Clary thought wearily. He made sure that the chair opposite her was old-style before he lowered himself into it. Where's the general? I thought he always sat in on these conferences. The formalities are over now, she said, smiling up at him. Besides, she added, if he doesn't take a nap after lunch it wreaks havoc with his digestion. Afraid to be alone with me, Clary? She asked huskily. Yes, he said, rising. As a matter of fact, I am, now that you mention it. She sat up. Sit down. He sat down. She didn't recline again. Her dress went opaque, but her voice grew silken once more.  Even though you stayed only five years, you're going to have it all. You'll have UE status. What do I want that for? Doesn't it mean anything to you any more, Clary? It used to mean a lot, though you denied it even to yourself. Did it? He forced his thoughts back through time. I suppose it did. But I've changed. You know, those five years on D'Morlin seemed like... Like a lifetime, she finished. Couldn't we dispense with the cliches? On D'Morlin the things I said were fresh and interesting. On D'Morlin I was somebody pretty special.  Isn't there some way? No way at all, Clary. The puddle's drying up. We've got a nice aquarium ready for you. Why not dive in gracefully? It was my puddle, he said. I belonged. She closed her eyes and sang back into the chair, which arched to meet the arch of her body. Lying down she didn't look nearly as tall. All right, let's give the whole opera one final run-through. Nobody cared for you on Earth.  On Earth you never felt welcome and or appreciated. On D'Morlin you felt both welcome and appreciated. On Earth he was stung out of his apathy. That's right. I'm not saying I'm unique, only that I fitted. How about trying to look at it from another point of view? Did it ever occur to you that, if the Damorlanti accepted you, so might your own people, if you approached them in the same way? Did you ever try to make friends on Earth? But on Earth I shouldn't have to. They were my own people. Aha! She cried gleefully. I mean, well, General Spano said it would be wrong to stoop to hypocrisy to win the friendship of my own people, that if I did, their friendship wouldn't be worth anything. You can't buy friendship. You bought your Eulerin. Does it play any the worse because you paid for it? Does it mean any the less to you? What you're getting at, he said cautiously, is that that's the way to make friends?  Was it a sham with the Damorlanti? He had to stop for a moment before he could bring out an answer. It started out as a sham, but I really got to like them afterward. And it was real. So then you weren't a hypocrite, Clary. Her voice grew more resonant. Open yourself to people. Show them that you want to be friends. Basically everybody shy and timid inside. Like you, he said, casting an ironical glance at her dress. That's still the outside, she smiled, making no move to adjust it. Come to me, Clary, and don't go off on sidetracks. The people of earth are your own people. Your loyalties have always been with them. She had almost had him convinced, but this he couldn't swallow. If my loyalties had been with earth, I would have sent back reports of the trouble. But I didn't. I tried to stop it from happening. There just wasn't anything I could do. The deep probe never lies, Clary. You didn't really try to stop it. She paused and then went on deliberately.  There was nothing I could have done, he stated, nothing. Remember the first time the staff ship came? Just before you left for Barshwat, the woman told you she suspected you were an earth man. You were afraid for her. Do you remember that? He nodded. Yes, he remembered how terrified he had been then, how relieved afterward, thinking everything was going to be all right. Luckily, he hadn't realized the truth, or he wouldn't have had those extra years of happiness. Han went on remorselessly. And you thought, if only something would happen to you en route, she would be safe. We might guess why it had happened, but we couldn't know for sure. We'd have had to start all over again. He could move, couldn't speak, couldn't think. She spaced each word carefully, sweetly. You were quite right. Because you were the only man on earth, Clary, who had the particular physical requirements and the particular kind of mental instability that we needed for the job. You just said you weren't unique, Clary. You were too modest. You are.  You would have died a hero.  But at least I'd be dead.  You're not a coward, Clary, she said. You wouldn't admit it, but you are and always have been a patriot. To you, earth came first. Things as simple as that. She had deprobed his mind. She must know his true feelings. There was no gain saying that. He could know only his surface thoughts. She knew what lay behind and beneath. And he reminded himself, at the end the Damorlanti were actually turning on him. Try to think of the whole thing as a course in charm that you've passed with flying colors, she said. It seems rather an expensive way of making me charming. He couldn't help saying, with the last struggle of something that was dying in him, something alien that perhaps should never have been there in the first place. Whole civilizations have been sacrificed for nothing at all. This one will not be sacrificed, only quarantined. But its contribution could be of cosmic magnitude. Now what are you trying to sell me? He asked, drearily. Are you saying that the essence of the Damorlet civilization is going to live on in me, that I carry its heritage inside myself, and so I have a tremendous responsibility to the Damorlanti on my shoulders? She laughed. You're really getting sharp, Clary. If you stayed in the service you could be one of our best operatives. But you're not going to stay in the service. This is a higher destiny. Here, catch. She tossed him something that glittered as it arched through the air. It was a UE-ident cube made out in his name. He had only seen them at a distance, and now he was holding one warm and gleaming in his hand, with his name and his face in it. His face. And yet not his face. That's what you're going to look like when the Plastasurgeons get through, she explained. They'll pigment your eyes and skin and hair, and they may be able to add a few inches to your height, though I think you actually have grown a little. Something about the air, or more likely, the food. M.B. Syrah thought I was handsome the way I was. M.B. Syrah. But M.B. Syrah was light years away. M.B. Syrah was part of a fading dream, and he was awakening now to reality. Look at the cube.  He looked at it and kept on looking at it. He couldn't tear his eyes away. He was hypnotized by the golden glitter of it, the golden meaning of it. Musician, he said aloud. Musician. A dream word. A magic word. He hadn't thought of it for years, but this he didn't have to reach back for. Once touched on, it surged over him, complete with its memories. But she had made it meaningless too. He managed to tear a laugh out of his throat. Spano said I'd be able to buy the Musician's Guild when I had my million and a half. Apparently you've been able to bargain them down. This cost nothing except the standard initiation fee, she told him. You came by it honestly, through your music, nothing else, and you have more than a million and a half credits, Clary, nearly ten times that, with more pouring in every day.  I think we're close enough to earth to get some of the high-power tridies, she said, although we can't expect perfect reception. Blurrly a show formed, a variety show. At first it seemed the sort of thing that he remembered dimly, more interesting now because it had almost the character of novelty. Then an ornate young man appeared and it took deeper significance. He was carrying a musical instrument, refined, machined, carefully pitched. He played music on the Eulerin while a trio sang insipid terrestrial words. Love is a guiding star, they called it, but that didn't matter. It was one of the tunes Clary had taped. She touched another boss. The Blurr reformed to a symphony orchestra, playing as background music to a soloist with another Eulerin. That's your first Eulerin concerto, she said. There are three more. Another program was beginning, an account of the tribulations of an unfortunate Plutonian family. It faded in to the strains of Eulerin music to a tune of Clary's. If they could have endured it to the end, she told him, it would have faded out the same way. Every time they play it, she said, somewhere on earth a cash register rings for you, and this one's a daily program. He watched Transfixed and Transfigured as program after program featured his music, his Eulerin. Not just on earth, Han said, but on all the civilized planets, even in a few of the more sophisticated primitive ones.  Earth is waiting for you, literally and figuratively. There'll be Eulerin orchestras to greet you at the field. We send a relay ahead to let them know you are coming. But his mind was slowly alerting itself. And where am I supposed to be coming from, then, since they're never to hear about DeMorlin? They've been told that you retired to a lonely asteroid to work, to perfect your art and its instrument. Of course they couldn't divulge the truth about DeMorlin. It seems a little unfair, though, he said. Why unfair? After all, Clary, the music is yours. You took DeMorlin's melodies and made them into music. You took their Eulerin and made it into a musical instrument. They're all yours, every note and bladder of them. She reached over and put out a hand to him. And I'm yours too, Clary, if you want me," she breathed. There was obviously no doubt in her mind that he did want her. And in his, too, one did reject the Secretary of Space. He took the chilly hand in his. The skin was odd in texture. I'm imagining things, he thought. It's a long time since I touched a human female's hand. I must be a very important musician, he said aloud. She nodded, not pretending to misunderstand. Yes, important enough to rate the original and not a reasonable facsimile.  And then she smiled up at him. I can be warm and tender, I assure you. It took him a moment to realize what she meant. For a moment he had that pang again. She would never be the same as M. Belsaira, but a man needed change to develop. He was still troubled, though. I want to do something. Even an empty gesture's better than none at all. The last few months I started putting together a longer thing. I guess it could be a symphony. When I finish it, I'd like to call it the de Morlet symphony. Why not, she said. He thought she was humoring him, but she added, They'll think you just picked the name from an astrogation chart. In a final burst of irony he dedicated the de Morlet symphony to the human race, but as usual he was misunderstood. In fact one of the music critics, all of whom were enthusiastic over the new work, wrote, At last we have a great musician who is also a great humanist. Eventually, Clary forgot his original intent and came to believe it himself. The End of Century of the Sky by Evelyn E. Smith


Hello everyone, this is Alice Gao. In this video, I will derive the expressions for the gradients in the back propagation algorithm. First, let's derive the partial derivatives for the gradients for W2. To remember what the network looks like, you can look at the picture on the right or the chain on the left. The chain is a simpler illustration of how the values flow through the network from inputs to outputs. In the picture on the right, I've highlighted one path, the one for the weight W2 sub 1, 2. Before I start the derivations, let's do a super quick review of the chain rule. Deriving the gradients boils down to repeatedly applying the chain rule. Suppose that we have an expression. In this expression, we have applied several functions in sequence. For our example, I applied f first and then g second. Taking the derivative of the final expression with respect to x is equivalent to taking the derivatives of the functions in reverse order, from the last one applied to the first one applied. I often think of this process as peeling off the functions one by one. For our example, the derivative is equal to the derivative of g with respect to f multiplied by the derivative of f with respect to x. We're ready to derive our first gradient expression, the partial derivative of e with respect to W2 sub jk. Our expression is basically tracing through the highlighted path from right to left. First, e is a function of z2 and y, therefore we have partial e over partial z2 sub k. Next, z2 is g of a2, therefore we have partial z2 sub k over partial a2 sub k. Next, a2 is a function of the weights W2 and the hidden unit value z1. Since we want to take the derivative with respect to the weights, we have partial a2 sub k over partial W2 sub jk. If you got here and understood how the expression was derived, great job! You got to the most difficult part, driving the most general and abstract expression for this derivative. It only gets easier from here. If you still have questions, no worries, I will show you some concrete, more concrete examples right now, and they should help clear up some confusion. Let's make some of the terms more concrete. What is the middle term? z2 is g of a2, so the middle term is the derivative of the activation function g, or in other words, g prime of a2. How about the last term? Well, a2 is the sum of W2 multiplied by z1, so the last term should be z1 sub j, the input corresponding to the weight W2 sub jk. This expression is equivalent to the previous one, but it's easier on the eyes. Let's do an example for a particular weight. Consider the weight going from z1 sub 1 to a2 sub 2, the highlighted one in the picture. All we need to do is take the general expression and plug in j equals 1 and k equals 2. Here's the result. If you want to make this expression even more concrete, you'd have to pick the arrow function e and the activation function g. Here are two examples. For these examples, the arrow function is the sum of the square difference between the actual output and the expected output. And the activation function is a sigmoid function. Interestingly, the partial derivative of the sigmoid function can be written as an expression involving two copies of the sigmoid function. If you don't believe it, please verify it yourself. I've also included some other equations to help you understand how I simplify the expression the first time. Next, let's derive the expressions for the partial derivative of e with respect to w1. These expressions are more complex but also more interesting. Let's look at a specific example. Consider w1 sub 1 to the weight between x sub 1 and z1 sub 2. I've highlighted the weight in the picture. How does this weight influence the arrow or loss? This weight affects a1 sub 2, which affects z1 sub 2. From there, it affects the arrow or loss e through two paths, one through each of the two output units. Because of this, we will have a summation with two terms in our expression. Let's derive our expression now. To apply the chain rule, we'll look at the highlighted path and go from right to left. We'll start with a summation over k since we need to consider two paths, one for each output unit z2 sub k. e is a function of both z2 values. So the first term is partial e over partial z2 sub k. Next, z2 is g of a2. Therefore, the next term is partial z2 sub k over partial a2 sub k. After that, a2 is a weighted sum of the z2s. So the next term is partial a2 sub k over partial z1 sub j. At this point, the two paths merge into one, so we can end our summation. Let's keep following the single path from z1. z1 is g of a1. So the next term is partial z1 sub j over partial a1 sub j. a1 is a weighted sum of x using the weights w1. So our final term is partial a1 sub j over partial w1 sub ij. That's the entire expression. Similar to the previous derivation, you might find it helpful to make this expression more concrete. If we simplify some terms, we'll get the second expression. Whenever we have a derivative of z with respect to a, the result is a derivative of the activation function g. We have two other similar terms. The derivative of a with respect to z or w. a2 is a sum of z1 weighted by w2, so partial a2 over partial z2 is equal to w2. Similarly, a1 is a sum of x weighted by w1, so partial a1 over partial w1 is equal to the input value x. This is all the simplification we can do without knowing the expressions for the arrow function e and the activation function g. You can also derive the specific expression for w1 sub 1, 2. Here it is. We have derived some complicated derivative expressions so far. Finally, let's connect these to the delta values. Here are the simplified gradient expressions again. Note that the last term in each expression is the input value for that layer. Let's disregard the last term in both expressions. Take the rest of the expression and define it to be the delta value. I've denoted the two delta values as delta 2 sub k and delta 1 sub j. Note that delta 2 sub k appears inside the expression of delta 1 sub j. If we rewrite the delta expression separately, we get the delta expressions that I showed you on a previous slide. Here's a final practice question for you. Construct a three-layer network with two hidden layers. Each hidden layer has two real nodes and one dummy node. The output layer has two nodes. Calculate the gradients for all the weights in the three layers, write down the general expressions, and then write down the expressions using the delta values. When using the delta values, be sure to write down the expressions for the delta values for every layer. If you understood everything in this video, you should be able to complete this question. That's everything on the back propagation algorithm. Let me summarize. After watching this video, you should be able to do the following. Derive the expressions for the gradients in the back propagation algorithm. Explain how we define the delta values in the gradient expressions. Thank you very much for watching. I will see you in the next video. Bye for now.


Hi guys, welcome back to this video today We are going to be talking about how to perform a neuro exam and I'm going to kind of talk about performing like a basic neuro exam and then a neuro exam on someone who's like intubated and as nurses We know that performing a good assessment is fundamental to Being a nurse it helps us determine if there's a change in Condition and improvement in condition when we need to know a doctor when we do not and Having a good assessment is critical And so we are just going to focus on the neuro portion of the assessment today But before we get started, I wanted to mention that this video is sponsored by pick Monic Pick Monic is an awesome awesome resource for nurses, especially nursing students who are focusing on Passing their NCLEX pick Monic is a website and also an app where you can Learn all things related to nursing and then also practice study questions on these topics and they make it fun and easy by using different graphics and images to help you remember the nursing content and Solidify your knowledge throughout this video I'm actually going to show you how I use pick Monic to help me form parts of this neuro assessment Make sure you guys check out the link in my description box to try pick Monic for free There are so many great features on there that you can use they even have most nursing textbooks Linked to pick Monic so you can literally search your nursing textbook Let's say you don't want to read 60,000 pages for your next nursing assignment You can go on search your nursing textbook search that topic or chapter to use pick Monic to help you have another way To learn and solidify that knowledge that you're already learning in your classes. All right Let's get started so the biggest takeaway for nursing neuro assessments is to understand that we want everything to be Equal and consistent and the same for example if you can move your left side We ideally want you to be able to move your right side the same and so if you are seeing Something that is not equal that should be a red flag Of course, you need to understand your patient's baseline Neuro assessment for example if they've had a stroke and they have left-sided weakness that might be their Normal if you're wanting to go more in-depth with strokes if you're using pick Monic All you have to do is type in the search bar for strokes And it'll pop up the different types of strokes and you can learn all about them Here is a little sample of pick Monic This typewriter when stroking its oars one day for a nice little canoe ride down the river It was a beautiful day so beautiful in fact all warning signs ending a danger ahead were ignored First he started seeing transient bums and ice ski masks They lived in vans down by the river and attacked any who passed Then there were the guys with reversed hats and ice ski masks But they went running away soon enough and the typewriter figured it would be smooth sailing the rest of the way But then he saw just why the Ryan fellow had reversed his course There was a fork in the river up ahead along with a break in the riverbank and Any of these three routes would surely give the little typewriter a stroke And so he started stroking those oars with everything he had stroke stroke stroke The ice ski mask route was full of junkers They were scavenging the water for trombones and piling them up along the riverbank narrowing the river as Commanded by their crime lord the clogged artery guy. They'd surely scrapped the little typewriter for parts The other route was completely blocked by Elmo and as a typewriter neared He saw the mouth of his childhood friend open wide As his atrial heart alarm clock went off As though it were saying it's time for dinner and worst of all the third route wasn't a route at all a Giant hammered smashed through the riverbank causing it to hemorrhage The hiker BP just couldn't handle all the pressure in his life anymore and snapped or rather He severed and found a way to relieve the pressure stroke stroke Stroke Wasn't that the greatest video ever to help you remember strokes so when I'm performing my neuro assessment It starts the second that I walk in the room when you walk in the room. Look at your patient. What do they look like are they? Uptended meaning not super responsive. Are they alert and oriented if you have a patient that's able to talk with you You can start off your assessment by just asking them questions. Hey, how's it going? How did you sleep last night? How are you doing? How are you feeling? Do you remember why you came here? What's been going on and a patient can tell you their name and what's been going on and and all of that then you know that They are responsive to you and that's a big part of your neuro assessment if you walk in and someone is completely Unresponsive then that is a big red flag of hmm. Why is this going on? Are we doing that to them intentionally maybe sedating them if you're not that's a big trigger of hey What else is going on with this patient when your patients are talking back with you listen to their speech? How does it sound? Are they able to answer questions formulate their words? Are they slurring their words together or mixing them up or having a hard time communicating? Those are all parts of a neuro assessment is how was your patient speaking? Can they comprehend what you're saying to them and respond next? I like to check my patients pupil response So I will use a pen light and I will look at their pupils to see are they equal and reactive Can they follow my finger and track it and can they see everything in their periphery and around if you go on to pick Monic and you learn about the different types of strokes You'll learn that in certain types of strokes patients may have a loss of vision on one side or the other next I like to move on to movement and sensation. So can your patient feel everything equally starting from head to toe? I will go down and see if they have sensation all over In most patients if they're alert oriented, they can tell you if you touch them. Hey, can you feel this? Hey, can you feel that if they can't feel it then do something a little bit more? Invasive as far as maybe you need to kind of pinch their skin or use an object That's a little bit more sharp to kind of poke and prod at them. I'm not saying be abusive, but Apply some more stimuli if they're not feeling the light touch sensation next move on to your patients movement Can they move equally on both sides and have equal strength on both sides? So you can check this by having your patients hold their arms for a certain amount of time Squeeze your hands push their feet against your hands pull back on your hands If your patient is ambulating down the hallways and they don't have any abnormal gait Then you can gauge that their lower extremities are pretty much equal with their movement and strength Now if you have a patient who's unable to follow commands whether we are doing it to them intentionally Or maybe they have something else going on that's preventing them from following your commands Then how do we check their neuro status? This can get a little tricky But if you have a patient that's unable to tell you like hey, yeah, I can feel this on both sides or hey Yeah, look at I can hold up both arms squeeze your hands Then we have to go a little bit more in depth and how we do this is if I have a patient who sedated for example and Intubated and they're laying in bed. I will start by just touching them to see do they respond? To that touch if they don't then I'll apply a little bit more painful stimuli Maybe I will push on their fingernail a little bit if they don't respond to that Then maybe I'll pinch their skin on their lower half and their upper half Applying a little pressure on their shoulder is another great spot to see if a patient can respond to stimuli And I will do that in all of their extremities to see hey Do they move that extremity back or respond to that touch when I apply it?  Do they have a gag and a cough? That's another huge Brandstem reflex that we'd like to check if someone's intubated You can do this by doing oral care and kind of pushing the oral care Toothbrush or swab back into their throat to see if they kind of react and gag that way This is a hard thing to do when someone's intubated because they already have a tube down their throat And so that gag reflex sometimes can be inhibited. You can also check if they have a cough by Advancing your suction catheter down their ET tube to see if they respond by coughing Again, I want you guys to realize that it is so important at the beginning of your shift You have a solid neuro assessment because you want to be able to predict if something has changed in your patient If you have a patient that you walk in in the morning and they're communicating to you and talking to you and like everything's fine They're moving everything. They're walking. They're getting up and down to the bathroom And then you go in four hours later and you're like trying to arouse them and applying a sternal rub And they're not responding at all That is no point out and you're gonna need to call your doctor ASAP or look more into what the heck is going on There are a lot of other little more fine details to neuro assessments And i'm not going to quite get into because it's more specific if you're like a neuro ICU nurse or maybe a neuro tele nurse But um, there's also ways to check all the dermatomes You also have all your cranial nerve reflexes that you can check like taste and smell and all that I don't necessarily do those on all of my patients unless it pertains to them Like maybe they have an epidural and I need to check dermatomes or maybe they are stroke patient And i'm checking more of those cranial nerve reflexes, but as far as my standard ICU patient I like to check How alert and responsive are they? How is their movement and sensation and strength? How are their pupils? Are they reactive? Are they brisk? Do they have their basic brainstem reflexes? Corneals gag and cough and if it pertains to them, I will go more in depth with the cranial nerves I hope this gives you guys kind of a basic rundown of how to perform a good neuro assessment Thank you pick monic for sponsoring today's video I'm so glad that I can use pick monic to help me with all things neuro related because neuro is very tricky Honestly, neuro is not my strong suit And so I constantly have to be keeping up and learning about the different types of strokes The different type of neurological diseases and how they present in different patients Make sure you check out pick monics link down below Give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel and I'll see you guys next time. Bye


When somebody feels like they're at the end of their rope, that they're overwhelmed, they often feel that they're hopeless and helpless. They have nowhere else to turn. Chaplains bring a message of hope. They're visible reminders of hope. And they're also, through their confidential conversations with people, they're often gateways to finding exactly the right kind of help or assistance that people need. So when people feel helpless and hopeless, a chaplain is a great person to talk to to discover hope and find ways to get the right kind of assistance and support.


The boom in lekkie and the rise of Ipeji lekkie corridor in lekkies as the new lekkies as occasioned the rise of different real estate companies Offering to be the solution to a more transparent and accountable process of buying and selling real estate in lekkies and other areas in Nigeria But with an apparent lack of a strict regulatory framework to guide the operations in no time All of these real estate companies have started to create the same problems they were supposed to solve That is calming innocent Nigerians Welcome back to space and style If this is your first time of watching the show, this is where we talk about all things property My name is Olamide Unifade Today we are going to be talking about a very topical issue that has belabored the Nigerian property market Especially in lekkies which is acquiring land from real estate companies And aside that conversation, on our other segment we have our interior decorator who will be sharing tips on how to make our DIY decoration to another level On the property of the week we are going to showcase a unique property to inspire you to join the real estate ladder And lastly on the artisan of the week we have as usual a craftsman who is going to take us through the nitty gritty of his craftsmanship But before we jump into the conversation, I will be back in a moment Stay tuned Welcome back and thank you for staying with us Before we went on the break, I stated that we are going to be having a conversation on acquiring property from real estate companies And to discuss this topic with me is no one else than Mrs. Adaku Chibuke Ochiwa who was with us last week She is a legal practitioner and a senior partner at the Priceless Chamber With over 10 years experience in handling real estate matters She specializes in investigating and performing comprehensive review of land and title decrement in real estate transactions Thank you for coming again Thank you for having me again It was fun last week, it was such an insightful discussion and we are taking it to another level I'm glad you found it insightful The menace of real estate companies So as I said in my intro The issue of omuniles, buying from communities and all that posed a big problem Especially for people in diaspora who were looking to buy and invest in a share But they were either getting scammed by their relatives and all of that So I think around 2008-2009 this industry started booming A lot of real estate companies started springing up and it was supposed to be the stopgap Between all those problems we had But in recent times it looks like they're even now part of the problem they were supposed to solve So a couple of weeks back there was a big real estate company on social media That was in MS over allocation A lot of people subscribed to their companies and they have not allocated Even some people as much as 5-6 years And I'm thinking, is this another scam? So to start with, how do you buy? What's the starting process? How would you advise a potential client to start the negotiation with a real estate company? Okay, thank you for having me here once again And like you said initially, the rise of the real estate companies Was meant to cure the defects with buying from the omuniles However, people are beginning to see that we are having issues So most times what I do with clients or advice clients to do when buying from real estate companies Is that if you're buying from omuniles or if you're buying from real estate companies What you're buying is the property, the land First and foremost, ensure you carry out your due diligence Now for real estate companies it becomes more Now for the, it's still the same process whether it's a real estate company or whether it's a family matter I felt that because you're dealing with a real estate company The process should have even been cut off All the due diligence and all that You should have more peace of mind Yes, you should Actually due diligence, like I say to people Due diligence doesn't necessarily mean that I am not going to buy this property after the search But it reinforces my confidence in buying something And it makes me have an informed decision about what I want to buy So what are the due diligence I need to do when I want to buy with a real estate company? When I was, I must ensure that the land I am buying from the real estate company Is actually free from my co-brands How it's not under government acquisition I must also see that there is a point of contract Or an agreement or a deed between them and the land only families I must also request for, if it's a property Like if it's already a built-up property I'll request for your, not just your document of title Approved building plans Now all this gives me a piece that, okay, I'm dealing with That's document-wise concerning the property It gives me a piece that, okay, I'm dealing with people who understand their audience Then on the flip side I want to hear what is in the grapevine about this real estate company That's very important What are people saying about that? Then sometimes you get to seeing new people who are springing up I want to know the face, you get to see real estate companies springing up I want to know the face behind it So the searches you want to do are the CAC search with this company Are they registered? Are they registered with behind the company So you want to find out, are they registered with CAC? Because mind you, quite a number of them who are also registered with CAC I was going to say that So it's not just the fact that they are registered with CAC The starting point should be that you must understand that they are incorporated Exactly So you want to know if they are incorporated You want to know what the grapevine, the reviews are saying about them Then good enough for legoscience The new law, the last rarer law That has been put in place to regulate activities of practitioners in this industry So the law has been put in place to regulate the transactions And how people carry out transactions So if a real estate company is selling to people You must be registered with last rarer So it becomes a regulatory authority So what you are saying in essence is as a potential buyer You must ensure that the real estate company you are dealing with is registered with last rarer However, look at the case I just told you about A big, recognized, renowned real estate company Failed to allocate to people that have subscribed Over five years, what does last rarer have to do about that? There's the dispute resolution aspect of that So you get to make your complaint to last rarer And you form them that this has happened This happened, it seems they are oversubscribed And they have not given me my allocation and my plots and all that You make such complaints So right now those laws are in place in legos For you to seek redress When you have such issues However, on the other side of it So you want to hear what the news, that's aside from the last rarer You want to hear what the news about this real estate company is Now one of the reasons why some real estate companies Haven't even allocated properties Is because some of them don't even know what they are buying From the supposedly land-owning families So some of them are already buying a government-acquired land On that, they need to make a decision in the process Okay, hold your thoughts, we need to go on a short break I really like that you went to the issue of title When we come back we're going to talk about Please stay with us, we'll do for a short break, we'll be back Welcome back everybody And you're still watching Space and Style Adaku, Chibuike or Chimua He's still with us discussing How to buy properties from real estate companies So before we went on the break, you were talking about title Yes, okay, so you need to know if this person has the title to give to me So sometimes, which is why I said Despite if you're buying from the homeowners or you're buying from a real estate company You need to also be sure about the integrity of the property you want to purchase So if I'm buying a land, I want to go and carry out a search I have to carry out a search with the land I have to bring in my professionals and real estate to do this for me They have to carry out a search, they have to understand the agreement The deed, whatever Between the company and your money less that they bought from So you need to understand that So you're carrying out your search You want to be sure that the land they're selling to you Is free from government acquisition So a number of them get to buy properties that they believe is excision in process And this is a big gamble most times When I see anything excision in process, I advise my client wrong Wrong But I think that is a topic on the turn, we need to discuss that Yes, that would be on the understanding title So here where I'm going is It's a very high risk investment The land doesn't belong to you, it still belongs to the government So how do you allocate the land to people? How do you give what you don't have? Exactly, so you can't give what you don't have, that's one side Then the part of oversubscribing in particular Now where the land is not under government acquisition All the due diligence stuff has been done Oversubscribing, that is the part that tends into Fraudulent activities, and that's where Lashwera comes in To assist legutions, get back their monies from those people Then even aside from that, you can also sue for fraudulent misrepresentation To collect your monies back And what I would always advise clients Go for physical inspection of whatever you want to invest in Go and see it yourself, know that it is available If you're outside the country, get a trusted real estate professional Not a family member And a family member if you want to But you must also get a third party who's opinion is not emotionally Attied to your purchase So you want to get your professionals, you want to get your lawyers To look into that transaction And mind you, very sound real estate lawyers Get them to look into that transaction Have conversations with the real estate companies What are the questions you should be asking them? Like I said, what's the title they have over the land? What is the title they have over the land? Is it registered? If the title is not registered, is it in the process of being registered? What are the documents that will be given to you? Yes, another thing you must also request for when you're paying them Because most times I know they offer this payment plan options They're sometimes 50% off Do you get? Buy one, get one free Do you get? They now offer you a payment plan option Which is one of the reasons why I think people always lean towards buying real estate from real estate companies Because they give you the opportunity to pay for a land one, two, three, four times And once you see such deals You need to understand what the contract of selling is saying So you need to get your own lawyer So most times these real estate companies also provide services like deed of assignments and contract of sale But you need an independent ice to review it and explain the terms that are in that contract of sale for you So sometimes that contract of sale has it that if you're going to withdraw from the deal You're going to lose about 40% of the money you paid in But sometimes you get to pay before they even show you your contract of sale That's the thing So you need to start learning to demand ahead Or even after you've made your first installment payment For me most times for clients I demand ahead before we make payments So if the real estate company is not interested in So another challenge is because we have this People need to be educated about their rights in real estate I thought you liked it or not Because we have a lot of My friend bought and there was no problem Why would I have a problem? So most times I even have clients who are like I'm not going to sign this My lawyer said I shouldn't sign it And they're like why are you not signing? Everybody's signing So you must know that And most times another thing people run away from is paying for legal services And this often puts them into the dire need of facing this fallout They have the real estate companies Because they feel it's quite expensive Paying for real estate legal services It gets them into these issues So I'm looking over my lawyer My client is interested in this property What are your contracts of sale What are the documents of title you have on this land Before he can go ahead to make payments So they know that this person is a serious client But most times because we don't want to make that extra fees For legal services We go ahead with the services of this real estate companies Adaku, unfortunately we're out of time But I think we have to take this conversation again But quickly to wrap up How do you ensure that when you pay You are allocated what you plot immediately How do you do that? Okay so most times that happens when there's Outraged payments And these conversations should happen before money is exchanged You must have these conversations with them You must make it legal Like you must have it written down You can get your lawyers to write to them Okay so my client has been When will he be allocated And have them respond to you in writing And where this is not done You know that's already a breach of contracts And that's a red flag that you're not dealing with Exactly, it's impossible Thank you very much Adaku And as I said we need another session Where we have to discuss understanding titles And I hope you'll come again And discuss this with me I really enjoyed the conversation And I hope people also did So we have come to the end of this segment And I believe that you have gained more knowledge And insight on what to do When you're dealing with real estate companies And avoiding victims of fraudulent conversations I'm sorry transactions And this takes us to the next segment of the show So let's hear what our decorator Is talking to us about this week My name is Dr. Maureen Kebasharu CEO and Creative Director At Delia Options Limited An interior design firm So today we're going to talk about How to make a space look luxurious And without breaking a bank Alright so I guess today we're going to talk about Just tips, tips, tips on how to do that So the person I want to talk about Is the use of colors So what are the luxurious colors So we're going to talk about colors Like white, grays And most importantly metallic colors Bronze, gold, silvers Copper and all that So usually when you're going to combine These colors together You're going to do it in a ratio two to one So you're going to use like the grays The white, the blacks, the brown And you're going to put in Like one metallic color Like a gold Or you're going to use like a silver So another thing you can do to get that feel Is to ensure that your space is totally Clutter free So like that we try to put in A lot of shelves that are very decorative And stylish shelves You know in spaces And we use natural materials The use of natural materials in a space Makes it look luxurious So let's take a feature wall for example You can put stone on a feature wall Or you can do like wood Like a wooden panel on a wall On a feature wall Or any other wall for that matter So the use of natural materials Like stones, like wood You know gives you that luxury feel That you want Also another thing you can do to get That luxurious feel in a space Is the use of the right lighting So we want to focus on Ensuring you create the sense of space So you don't want too much walls in your space You don't want too much furniture in a space That you want to give that feel of luxury So you want to use a chandelier That is very dramatic So use a beautiful dramatic chandelier So it can be maybe the one item That you're going to spend a little bit on Then the pieces that you're going to put around Maybe the artefacts And the accessories That you're going to put around The golds and the silvers The butterflies like metallic butterflies You want to put in your recessed walls And you want to put a light to focus on it You know and also Another important thing to do In a space to make it feel Like a million dollars Is actually the use of the right materials So if you look at your furniture for example You want to use materials that are soft You know to the skin So we use suede materials You want to use velvet materials You want to use like 100% cotton materials In your space on furniture And also you want to use furniture That are very easy to keep clean You don't want furniture that will gather dots over time Because when you have furniture like that In your space over time It makes the space look kind of tacky So you want furniture that has surfaces That's very easy to clean in your space So today let me give you the tip to take away So your space if you want to make it feel like A million dollars space Just change those torpedoes And you can use a color Like here we've got blues And we've got gold in it that is leather You know that gives a sense of luxury And also you can have a really beautiful artwork You know that looks expensive on your wall And you put an accent light over it So I hope you've been able to learn one or two things today See you again next week, bye Welcome back to the last segment of the show The artisan spot where we discuss With the highly skilled workman And the intricacies of his craftsmanship I started this carpentry business After I've been trained Locally And I also went for Technica knowledge of it When I was with my old girl I started between 1987 precisely And I finished by 1990 I still went to Technica for between 1990 to 1992 After 1992 I started this work at Olibu site Olibu site I started with Building of a local government by then Orangia nut So with one of the companies by then After that one it came to Lagos Around 1993 1994 Ah Where as a Poor bomb by poor parents I don't have any option Because after my secondary school I intended to go further But due to lack of funds I have to embark on this one And It's because of my background That's why I learned this work Our role on the consortium has so many Number one We have to do the The phone work We have to start the phone work again We have to do the phone work We have to stand the column If there is column there We have to do the German floor And after the German floor Then if there is decking, lintet After lintet Then we do roof And so many other things are Where we are talking about construction And it's not limited to Building alone You can also still do furniture in the house You can construct a bridge Or drainage Or any other things that are related to Carpentry It's my profession A good carpenter must be at least Half a Elementary education level If you want to be a good carpenter Because where we are talking about Carpentry work It's also regard Some calculation If you don't know anything about Education you can calculate where That's why you see so many carpenter Who work well because They are level of Learning Let me say the experience It's so low If you want to be a good carpenter At least for now You will be a school start living Student Before you can become a very good carpenter And it's also regard Because now at this now By the time we started our own Around 90 Machine Or Drilling machine Or any other thing that we are using now We mainly use hand by hand Because early you can see anywhere You can find machine But now we have sewing machine Plain machine Cutting machine And any other thing that you can talk about To make the work more easier Than where we started by 1990 Number one If you want to be fit If you want to do carpentry You see class cannot do this work Because In regard energy In any world that regard energy If physical person need to do it So if you want to be a good carpenter You have to be fit There are many challenges If I'm going to go With my own experience There are many challenges At times If you are not If you don't do the work properly You can bring challenges If you work with a dubious person That will not pay you Your right money Or your Agree amount before you started the work That's another challenge But the most challenges is that In terms of funds Because if you want to establish This work very well For carpentry work And you want to establish it In regards to a lot of money Before you have to buy some machine Some equipment before you can start it But this one we are doing now Is just locally work Just to find what you are going to eat If you want to establish Full carpentry work To say you will consult Door You consult a Linter It requires a lot of money So you can say fund is one of the challenges So far I don't have money To buy all those equipment I am joining this site work now They come in for Linter I will come and do that one for them They come in for standing column I will come and do that one for them They come in for Slabbing or decking I will come to this for them When they repair Or doing a construction It's a lucrative job It brings money It's a lucrative job If you are so faithful to the work It's bringing money Because by the grace of God I build out by car So it's a lucrative job It's a space and style