1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,200 Speaker 1: M follows the production of my R Radio. This episode 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: contains depictions of drug use and mild violence. The second 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:40,959 Speaker 1: oil age, Jack's was dead. I stripped her of her 4 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: skin suit. The blood from her shattered nose dribbled through 5 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: the lines in her face. It pulled in the sutured 6 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: wound down her cheek. Bruising and fingertip contusions on her 7 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: throat told the story of her death. As I pulled 8 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: one of her arms out of this suit, I glimpsed 9 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: to name and date tattooed on her shoulder. I tried 10 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: to block it out, to banish it to the uncertainty 11 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: of peripheral vision, but the math was too easy, ramifications 12 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: too tragic, even with someone like her. My hands trembled 13 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: as I pulled the last leg free. I longed for 14 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 1: a shot of basilisk to wash it all away. The 15 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 1: fit wasn't perfect, but the suit would work. I grabbed 16 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: her communit and left the spent squid gun where it lay. 17 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: One of the twin plexiglass pods had already been emptied 18 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: by Hoffman, I imagined. I checked the other pod and 19 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: expected to find a Utex pressure suit inside, or something 20 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: like Thetis's get up. But this was even more alien, 21 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: more alive. It looked like a cross between a suit 22 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: of SA m R I armor and a mollusk open 23 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: wide to receive a humanoid form. The material looked neither 24 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: solid nor liquid, The outer surface dark and covered with 25 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: shell like bumps and walls. The pink, spongy interior left 26 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,960 Speaker 1: little doubt of its organic nature. I knew what it was. 27 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 1: Marsh had mentioned Fukeland's disappearance in a portion of the proteus. 28 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: This was the Triton biotechnic repurposed as a pressure suit. 29 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: It made sense. No human technology would enable a seafloor 30 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: walk this deep down, not for landsfolk anyway. Numerous fears 31 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: tumbled through my mind. How was it activated? Would it 32 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: fit me? Was it safe? But I didn't have time. 33 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: It was this or nothing, the embrace of a living 34 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: pressure suit, or certain death in the tunnels beneath that us. 35 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: I slid open the plexiglass and watched tiny tube feet 36 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: and polyps rise up from the inner meat of the suit, 37 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: as if reaching for my body. I took a deep breath, 38 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:20,639 Speaker 1: turned and backed into its embrace. The appendages crawled over me, 39 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: pulling the suit into position. The proteus grew around my body, 40 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: enclosing me like an iron maiden of amorphous flesh. I 41 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 1: realized the Tritons must have used something similar to bring 42 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: me down. It felt familiar. It hurt, but for only 43 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: a moment, the suit seemed to shift and adjust to 44 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: my size and shape, even my injuries. It hardened around me. 45 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: I felt soft pressure against my nose and mouth. Then 46 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: I was breathing again. Everything went dark for a moment, 47 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: then swelled back into existence. I don't know if I 48 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: stared through transparent tissue or if the proteus connected with 49 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: my mind somehow, but I looked down at my hands, 50 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: now seamless gauntlets of crustacean armor. I stepped out of 51 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: the pod. I grabbed the wheel of the airlock and 52 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: gave it a turn, then another. I glanced one last 53 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 1: time down the tunnel for sign of Thetis or Triton pursuers, 54 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: but there was only Jacks's crumpled corpse, her daughter's name 55 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: gleaming back at me in the harsh light. I threw 56 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: open the hatch and jumped down the well of depressurized water. 57 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: The hatch closed after me, and the chamber flooded. It 58 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: pressurized in less than a minute. The suit didn't so 59 00:04:54,480 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: much as groan but SALTI. We can't live in a 60 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: san cat though. We're not even gonna do when attack 61 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: comes in. It's o Kape Valley. I built another than 62 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: cattle ands at the proof Forlorman about Sauti, it's not 63 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: how living on her surface works. The seawater keeps wating 64 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: because of climate cheek nursery. That's a fearmongering by anti 65 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: energy obstruction is who you? You don't want to live 66 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: in the castle. I ne cheve in it where it's dry, 67 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: but her pass for you. You have salt water, dude, 68 00:05:53,240 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: and we can still be playing them make My name 69 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: is Tabitha Vail, and I'm leaving this recording on a 70 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 1: dead man switch for release at the eating of the Mess. 71 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: I want there to be evidence of where I went 72 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: and why I did it. I've arranged passage to Atlas station, 73 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: the DX Degrade station. There's a high probability I'll wind 74 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: up in custody, and I'm uncertain what steps they might 75 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: take to silence the press. But there's a story there 76 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: that needs to be told. They're listening to this, they're 77 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: aware of my journalistic focus what it means to be recombined, 78 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: or to be landsfolk, or on whichever side of all 79 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: of the other lines in the sand we used to 80 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: turn human against human, on what continues to divide us 81 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: in a time when connection might just be enough to 82 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 1: save us, and on the rare corners of society we 83 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: actually foster connection. Atlas, It's one of those places. I've 84 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: obtained passage aboard a cargo sub and I have limited 85 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: arrangements on Alice. I'm depowering my community for the journey. 86 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: Hopefully this message will prove unnecessary. Thank you for believing 87 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: in me and in a better world. I emerged in 88 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: new absolute darkness, the very darkness. I realized that covers 89 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: most of the Earth. Eternal midnight is the true norm 90 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: on our planet, interrupted by occasional sunlit shallows and the 91 00:07:54,360 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: rise of continents. The surface is but a fraction. I 92 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: took a step into the unknown and felt rock and 93 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: mud slide beneath my feet. Panic shattered through me, and 94 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: then a lamp bloomed to life somewhere above my head, 95 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: casting a meager sphere of bio illumination in the thick, 96 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: gloomy waters. The glow was enough to reveal the airlock 97 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 1: hatch set in the jagged outcropping above my head, as 98 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: well as the small cliff upon which I stood. Utter 99 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: emptiness yawned beyond the trench, plummeting hatal depths. I backed 100 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: away from the brink, my limbs moving as if in jelly. 101 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: I turned toward the adjacent cliff side and noticed first 102 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,719 Speaker 1: one reflector topped steak, then another marking the path of ascension, 103 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: a narrow, snaking trail up the side of the great trench. 104 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: I turned and followed. Visibility was limited. The bioluminescence revealed 105 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: no more than three stakes at a time. I had 106 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: no way of telling how far ahead Hoffmann had gotten, 107 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: or how far up I had to climb to reach 108 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: the plateau. So I plodded along the suit, seeming to 109 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: augment my steps just enough to prevent outright exhaustion. At 110 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: times I caught movement out beyond the orb light and 111 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: panicked till I realized that pursuers would not be so shy. 112 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: If they knew where I was, then they'd simply take me. 113 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: More likely, it was some animal of the deep, intrigued 114 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: by the light. I don't know how long I climbed. 115 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: Occasionally my feet slipped on the rocks and mud, but 116 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 1: each time I avoided the spill. Finally I saw the 117 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 1: faint aura of the cliffs above me. It couldn't be 118 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: more than a ten minute climb. I paused and stared 119 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: off once more into the vastness of the trench, one 120 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,560 Speaker 1: of the many deep sea gouges that the Tritons called home. 121 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:24,960 Speaker 1: The darkness seemed to move, and at first I suspected hallucination. 122 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: I had never gone this long without the drug. But 123 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: then I glimpsed the faint tinkle of bioluminescence. A writhing 124 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: wall of viscous aglutinations moved within my light, a tapestry 125 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 1: of coiling tentacles that continually formed and dissolved as it 126 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: moved through the void. It was the Proteus, or at 127 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: least some massive portion of it, en route to or 128 00:10:55,679 --> 00:11:00,319 Speaker 1: returning from its toil. I couldn't guess that it's eyes. 129 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: I quickly turned to redouble my efforts lest it somehow 130 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: alert its masters to my whereabouts. I climbed until the 131 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:16,640 Speaker 1: plateau opened up before me. There squatted the vibrant blur 132 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: of Atlas Station and its surrounding spill of infrastructure. The 133 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: squalid desolation of Ludex I marked the gleam of departing subs, 134 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: mostly larger crew transports evacuation protocol. The reflector stakes marked 135 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: a path to the nearest airlock. So I slogged on 136 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 1: through the mud and gravel toward the abattoir that awaited 137 00:11:46,960 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: me in those haunted halls. Yeah. The second oil Age 138 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:16,000 Speaker 1: was produced by Robert Lamb, Alex Williams, Lauren vogel Bond, 139 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: and Josh Than. This episode featured Angel Masters as sinov Pond, 140 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 1: Lauren vogel Bond as Tabitha Vale, and Jonathan Strickland as 141 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:30,679 Speaker 1: Salty Squid, supporting voice work by Gina Rikiki intro outro, 142 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: and supporting music created by the Weirding Module. Learn more 143 00:12:35,320 --> 00:13:08,079 Speaker 1: at Module dot band camp dot com. For more podcasts 144 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, 145 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.