Saturday, 4 October 2025

5 October: 278

Today is day 278 of 2025. 10 fun facts about 278:

  1. The Roman numeral for 278 is CCLXXVIII.

  2. The A278 is a road running north–south in north Kent, England. It is also known as Hoath Way.

  3. Green's 284 Blue's 278 is a 2010 Taiwanese film about a young man with autism and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

  4. 278 Paulina is a typical Main belt Asteroid discovered by Johann Palisa in 1888 in Vienna.

  5. The year 278 was a common year starting on Tuesday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Probus and Lupus.

  6. In Binary, 278 is 100010110.

  7. London bus number 278 runs between Heathrow Central Bus Station and Ruislip Station.

  8. In Squid Game, Player 278 was a rude, arrogant, and vulgar individual who’d entered the 33rd Squid Game to win money to pay off his debts. He was eliminated in the marble game when his marble hit a pebble and pushed his opponent’s marble into the hole.

  9. In Faber Castell Pencils, 278 is chrome oxide Green.

  10. In numerology, 278 resonates with leadership and teamwork, especially in connection with developing scientific procedures.


Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)


Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.


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