Speaker 1: Introquest created by Michael Freiberg, a production of iHeartRadio and
Speaker 1: Astro Media Listen with headphones for three D audio. Today
Speaker 1: is another fine day out on the Azrael Desert. The
Speaker 1: sun's shining right over the dunes, the sands sliding gracefully
Speaker 1: beneath our feet, and the three of us taking ample
Speaker 1: progress along the main route to the mold Layer. It's
Speaker 1: almost as if the heat waves melting right off our backs.
Speaker 1: And who knows what great adventures lie ahead. Run ins
Speaker 1: with desert bandits, skirmishes with giant scorpions, shifting sands, barren
Speaker 1: waste Land's core, even a chance encounter with umbra. Bring
Speaker 1: it on. There's nothing the three of us together can't conquer,
Speaker 1: and I'll have you back home an imperiod before you
Speaker 1: can say why, what's wrong? Logo? Do you have to
Speaker 1: narrate out loud each and every step of the way.
Speaker 1: I was only attempting to boost group moral and improve
Speaker 1: disposition given the intense heat wave. Maintaining a positive attitude
Speaker 1: in times like these is critical to overcoming hardship's experience
Speaker 1: along a lengthy and difficult mission such as ours. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: it's bad enough for short on supplies and running low
Speaker 1: and water. But now serious and I have to listen
Speaker 1: to you drone on and on while the sun beats
Speaker 1: down on us. Do you have any idea what kind
Speaker 1: of torture that is well? Actually, in regards to our
Speaker 1: bleak water productosis, I believe I've come across a solution.
Speaker 1: I've spotted an oasis on the map ahead, about a
Speaker 1: day's worth of travel from here, and only a short
Speaker 1: distance off the main route. Before you interjected, I was
Speaker 1: about to suggest we had there to refill our canteens
Speaker 1: and take respite from the desert sun. Okay, let's that
Speaker 1: course for the oasis. In the meantime, it's vital we
Speaker 1: can serve energy heat wave doesn't let up. I fear that,
Speaker 1: out of all of us, you logo won't make it
Speaker 1: through the night. How do you suggest we've asked the
Speaker 1: time wow of silence? Yeah, yeah, a moratorium on talking,
Speaker 1: silence for a change, at least until sundown. Okay, silence
Speaker 1: until sundown. We can use the time to reflect on
Speaker 1: our journey. If either of you need inspirations, just think
Speaker 1: of the reward that awaits us at the end of
Speaker 1: the mission. Now onward we go A reward and end
Speaker 1: of mission imperial good, but opals funny How people think
Speaker 1: Opal value Opal? Can we eat or drink or used
Speaker 1: to fight Opal just shiny rock, and people trade food
Speaker 1: water weapon for Opal ha silly Yes, sir me take
Speaker 1: best sword yourself sword. You spend hundred hours making in
Speaker 1: fiery pick with old hands, and here for a sword.
Speaker 1: Take rock. Yes, rock is shiny ha if serious trade
Speaker 1: rock for sword, serious youth sword take back rock outsmart
Speaker 1: dumb merchant, merchant whoever rock for brain? And people look
Speaker 1: down on serious for way he talk. Ah. People fools
Speaker 1: value rock like Opal. Now moonbop moon pop not Opal
Speaker 1: have value? Moon pop delicious filled with gooey bindleberry jam
Speaker 1: mmm mmm. No one fight when half Moonbop in belly.
Speaker 1: Everyone loved Moonbob. We're serious that moonbop ah m ah,
Speaker 1: but Moonbop non't have value, only stupid rock half value
Speaker 1: and foolish people honor trade with Opal because agreed to
Speaker 1: with handshake oh and sacred handshake, join hand with strangers,
Speaker 1: shake up and down that mean bond of kin. That
Speaker 1: foolish as trading Opal and nature bear no shake paw
Speaker 1: with wolf respect honor signal without words or motion, but
Speaker 1: people know what symbol people want. Confused, create silly rules
Speaker 1: to follow, make feel smart, murmur same how people go
Speaker 1: live in small box and village away from nature, build
Speaker 1: bi gate like cage to keep out world, worship gold
Speaker 1: idol that look like self, but that no real life.
Speaker 1: This year outside real life, they think with opals, they
Speaker 1: buy wisdom, but they go buy true knowledge here away
Speaker 1: from village cage, have everything we need and free sunrise,
Speaker 1: sun fall, simple, where life meant to be only fool
Speaker 1: challenge mother, nature, father time, and in end time and
Speaker 1: nature make fool of all even serious go against nature, fall,
Speaker 1: prey to illusion, worship, false spirits, Aha serious, no belonging desert,
Speaker 1: un journey and far away land serious belong free in
Speaker 1: open field, serious even work for Opal and Opal no
Speaker 1: have value, all illusions. All will come to end one day. Serious,
Speaker 1: settle and make new home, return to green lands, live
Speaker 1: simple life outside with nature, but serious no for now
Speaker 1: ether needs serious and serious o ether serious life and
Speaker 1: end when journey over serious spent, share of opal on
Speaker 1: bucketful of moonpop, moon pop, moonpopum sorry, moon pop on mind,
Speaker 1: back to desert, silence, stare up at sky that's better.
Speaker 1: M Finally, some overcast skies on the horizon, little cloud
Speaker 1: cover would be welcome relief from this relentless sun. Maybe
Speaker 1: our luck's looking up after all. That one. The puffy
Speaker 1: v shaped cloud floating over head. The shape looks familiar,
Speaker 1: the way it's gliding across the sky, almost lifelike. That's it,
Speaker 1: the Phoenix, the mythical bird of regeneration and rebirth. That's
Speaker 1: what it looks like. I can see it clearly on
Speaker 1: the fur feathers and outstretched wings, the aquiline beak extending
Speaker 1: from its raised head in the center. How it's sourced
Speaker 1: seamlessly through the air, rising to reach the sun itself,
Speaker 1: only to burn out and be born again. The cloud's
Speaker 1: vapors even look like billowing pillars of smoke from here,
Speaker 1: as if the ashes of the Phoenix are still burning
Speaker 1: hot in the day's sky. And that cloud in the
Speaker 1: distance such imposing stature. It practically rises out from the
Speaker 1: azure and suits straight into the ozone, stretching onto heights unknown.
Speaker 1: It's the shape of a castle's central watch towel. But
Speaker 1: what good is that? What could one possibly be keeping
Speaker 1: lookout for? All the way up there? Those heights unreachable
Speaker 1: by man. Even eagles wouldn't dare. The only use of
Speaker 1: tower that tall serves is to spy on the stars themselves.
Speaker 1: The sad thing is, we'd build it if we couldn't
Speaker 1: vain enough to think us equals worthy of a glimpse
Speaker 1: their secrets. Have we learned nothing from the childish hubrists
Speaker 1: of those who have come before us? The cycle continues.
Speaker 1: The higher we build, the farther we fall, struck down
Speaker 1: by the light of the stars, doomed to repeat our
Speaker 1: inevitable fate. Come on, either, stop building castles in the sky,
Speaker 1: get your head of the clouds for once, focus on
Speaker 1: what's important and lies ahead. Use this time to reflect.
Speaker 1: What is it about clouds that make us see objects
Speaker 1: in them? Do they even have a true shape? Are
Speaker 1: they merely blank slates upon which we project our deepest
Speaker 1: wishes and desires, only then to see them go poof
Speaker 1: into a puff of air? Easy, come, easy go, I guess.
Speaker 1: The silver lining is that, at least for a moment,
Speaker 1: we get to possess that things will never have in
Speaker 1: this life, and better that than ever at all, that
Speaker 1: large round one looming at the edge. It can't be
Speaker 1: no swear air so clearly, the figure of a face,
Speaker 1: the delicate features, soft eyes, puffy cheeks. Button knows it's
Speaker 1: almost too perfect for this world. The face in the
Speaker 1: cloud my mother's mother. She looks so peaceful up there,
Speaker 1: not going anywhere, and just drifting wherever the wind takes her,
Speaker 1: and smiling down at me from above. Why did the
Speaker 1: stars have to take you so soon? Mom? It's just
Speaker 1: a child. He needed you, your gentle touch, your soothing voice,
Speaker 1: your warm compassion. How cool this world can be? First,
Speaker 1: father slain, leaving you behind with no one by your side.
Speaker 1: Then after childbirth, you gave your life for mine. Not
Speaker 1: a single day passes where I don't wonder how things
Speaker 1: might have been different only you were still here when
Speaker 1: I was growing up. What kind of life we could
Speaker 1: have had together, you and me in a little house
Speaker 1: on a small plot of land. We wouldn't have had much,
Speaker 1: but we wouldn't want for much either, And time i'd
Speaker 1: learned to be strong like you, I'd even become a
Speaker 1: great hunter. Every day you'd wait for me to come
Speaker 1: home with a daily catch, and would have a big
Speaker 1: feast to send off the night, celebrating life and giving thanks.
Speaker 1: We had each other. Maybe instead, under your watch, I'd
Speaker 1: become a great scholar, a man of letters. I'd make
Speaker 1: you proud. I'd secure us room and board in an
Speaker 1: ivory tower and some far off land, and spend my
Speaker 1: day studying the meaning of life and learn why bad
Speaker 1: things happen to good people. Or I'd give up the
Speaker 1: material world altogether and become wise in the matters of
Speaker 1: the heart and soul, and show us the true way home.
Speaker 1: No matter how the story unfolds, we'd have our time
Speaker 1: and the sun together as mother and son. But of
Speaker 1: course that mad Tyr and Nakasha back home, had to
Speaker 1: take our life away. She contended father to death, and
Speaker 1: that killed you. Still in the room, I felt your heartbreak.
Speaker 1: I felt umber possess you, possess us, And I'll never
Speaker 1: forgive myself for taking from you what you could not
Speaker 1: have yourself life. I guess I'll never know the whole truth.
Speaker 1: Just left a piece together, tattered tales and dreams. I
Speaker 1: guess that's for the best life of pain and suffering,
Speaker 1: worse than peaceful death. If only there was a miracle cure,
Speaker 1: in a way to turn back time, If only I
Speaker 1: could start over, I'd find a way to save you
Speaker 1: or trade your life for mine? Now while I have
Speaker 1: left or fading memories, and this amulet the painful reminder
Speaker 1: of what was taken from me, my mother, what took
Speaker 1: her away Umbrah and I returned to free Imperia. Tell
Speaker 1: me will there be anything left to save? Either way?
Speaker 1: I'll see you soon, so tired of fighting. In the end,
Speaker 1: I'll be the one to sing to you. Don't be sad,
Speaker 1: don't be blue. I'm the bird who will worry for you,
Speaker 1: and it'll carry us both to sleep. I know it's
Speaker 1: a foolish thing to ask, but if you can somehow
Speaker 1: hear me up there, Mom, can you send me a
Speaker 1: sign to let me know you're listening. A single tear
Speaker 1: drop rain down from your clouded face on this hot
Speaker 1: day would be more than enough, some proof so I
Speaker 1: know you're still here, watching over me from high above,
Speaker 1: before you float away and I lose you again forever.
Speaker 1: Are you okay? Something in my eye? I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: I'm good. Let's just keep moving. I always viewed these
Speaker 1: travel days as a pleasant yet unfortunate drain on productivity,
Speaker 1: But now that we've cut the idle chatter, I suppose
Speaker 1: I'm finally free to focus my mind on more substantial matters.
Speaker 1: Let's see where to begin. Maybe I'll remap our route
Speaker 1: to optimize travel time based on prevailing wind patterns. By
Speaker 1: re orienting our trajectory to travel with the winds at
Speaker 1: our backs and eliminating trudging against headwinds, we could reduce
Speaker 1: air friction caused by dragon saves several minutes an aggregate
Speaker 1: travel time. On the other hand, that's rather inconsequential in
Speaker 1: the grand scheme of things. We'll get there. While we
Speaker 1: get there, Surely there's a cause more deserving of the
Speaker 1: attention of my unbridled intellectual brain power. I know. Perhaps
Speaker 1: all mo over the theorem, I've been tinkering with the
Speaker 1: deterministic theorem of quantum mechanics. If you could isolate the
Speaker 1: initial stage of a quantum system down to the atomic level,
Speaker 1: then theoretically you could track the development of the system
Speaker 1: over time. All you'd have to do is work out
Speaker 1: the position and momentum of the atoms during the system's
Speaker 1: initial conditions state, which is technically impossible unless you interpret
Speaker 1: the system as a series of waves instead of particles. Then,
Speaker 1: utilizing a wave function, you can capture the complete information
Speaker 1: of all possible probabilistic momentum and position potentialities, effectively transforming
Speaker 1: the probabilistic function into a model that's intrinsically deterministic. And
Speaker 1: once you solve for the beginning and end state superpositions,
Speaker 1: the opportunities for practical applications are endless. I'm thinking reconstitution, intensibility, teleportation,
Speaker 1: who knows what else, eurega. But again, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: successful implementation of these applications would require overcoming the impediments
Speaker 1: of widespread coordination and the lobbying of key personnel, and
Speaker 1: upon universal acceptance of my theorem, I'd be viewed as
Speaker 1: an acclaimed pioneer in the field, expected to make countless
Speaker 1: appearances and accept a multitude of awards. I'm not ready
Speaker 1: for that level of commitment, at least not just yet.
Speaker 1: There are infinite possibilities for what I can accomplish. I've
Speaker 1: never had so much concentrated time to think and be
Speaker 1: alone with my thoughts. I can't wait to unlease this
Speaker 1: newfound mental energy on the world. That is, once I
Speaker 1: identify a topic suitable for study, where to begin, something weighty,
Speaker 1: something meaningful yet manageable, really there's nothing too big or
Speaker 1: too small in scope, as long as it's of the
Speaker 1: utmost importance. I bet there's some mystery that's been right
Speaker 1: in front of us the entire time, just waiting to
Speaker 1: be solved, that once we see it will be in
Speaker 1: odd how we could have ever missed it in the
Speaker 1: first place. But what could that be? I know, I'll
Speaker 1: start by analyzing the very desert environment we've been traversing.
Speaker 1: What's out here with us in these sands? Any moment
Speaker 1: now it'll come to me, think logo, Think ah, what's
Speaker 1: the use? There's nothing out here but sand, miles and
Speaker 1: miles of insignificant sand. Who even knows where the desert
Speaker 1: begins and where it ends, or how many grains of
Speaker 1: sand are even in this place? Surely that number is incomputable,
Speaker 1: though maybe if the base counting unit was larger than
Speaker 1: a singular grain, that problem could start to be addressed.
Speaker 1: A better inquiry than is how many handfuls of sand
Speaker 1: is this desert comprised of. That's certainly a non inconsequential
Speaker 1: improvement as far as solving this dilemma goes. And I
Speaker 1: don't say that lately. They're a handful of sand much
Speaker 1: more reasonable. Huh. It does also beg another perplexing question,
Speaker 1: how many grains of sand make up one handful? Clearly,
Speaker 1: the amount of sand in my hand is greater than
Speaker 1: a singular grain, no doubt about that. The heft, shape,
Speaker 1: and volume all make that very clear. I'd venture it's
Speaker 1: even ten thousand times greater number than the amount of
Speaker 1: a singular grain. But say I were to remove one
Speaker 1: grain of sand from the pile, that leaves nine thousand,
Speaker 1: nine hundred ninety nine grains of sand remain. Or set
Speaker 1: another way, these nine thousand, nine hundred ninty nine grains
Speaker 1: of sand now comprise the handful, an irrefutable deduction, now
Speaker 1: bold as I may be. If I were to remove
Speaker 1: a second grain from this pile, I'm left with nine thousand,
Speaker 1: nine hundred ninety eight grains of sand, categorically still by
Speaker 1: all counts and measures, a handful of sand. Hypothetically speaking,
Speaker 1: and strictly, as an exercise, dare to take away one
Speaker 1: more grain of sand, nine thousand, nine hundred ninety seven
Speaker 1: grains now remain. If nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: eight grains of sand were a handful, and you're removed
Speaker 1: a single grain from the pile, no material amount of
Speaker 1: information has been lost. Therefore, I propose that nine thousand,
Speaker 1: nine hundred ninety seven grains must also be classified as
Speaker 1: a handful. Deriving the base level axiom, the rule is
Speaker 1: as simple as follows. A handful of sand minus a
Speaker 1: single grain remains a handful of sand. Taken to its
Speaker 1: logical extreme. If I were to keep removing grains of
Speaker 1: sand one by one from the pile, then that must
Speaker 1: mean a single grain of sand is equal to a handful.
Speaker 1: How can that be? It's, by definition a logical contradiction.
Speaker 1: The very foundation of deductive reasoning has been shattered. At
Speaker 1: what point on an infinite continuum does one definite article
Speaker 1: give way to another? If no single point exists, then
Speaker 1: the ramifications are limitless. Day becomes night, past merges with future,
Speaker 1: and life is death. Then the only conclusion that follows
Speaker 1: is that every part of a system, at every level,
Speaker 1: is equal to the entirety of the system itself. Consider
Speaker 1: the implications on a cosmic level. If one can't distinguish
Speaker 1: between a grain of sand and a handful of sand,
Speaker 1: how can one make sense of the universe Applying the
Speaker 1: same handful to grain principle. The universe is made up
Speaker 1: of galaxies, which in turn are comprised of solar systems,
Speaker 1: which themselves consists of planets that are populated by civilizations
Speaker 1: that divide out into societies made up of people like us,
Speaker 1: made up of us. That means we are the universe
Speaker 1: experiencing itself. It's all here in these grains of sand.
Speaker 1: The answer in the palm of my head. The entire
Speaker 1: universe is nothing but a logo. Sorry, the sand in
Speaker 1: my hand made me sneeze sand hand? What are you
Speaker 1: talking about? The desert sandy universe of the cosmic continuum
Speaker 1: or never mind? You should be using this time to
Speaker 1: think and reflect. Stop playing with sand and find something
Speaker 1: more meaningful to occupy your mind. Sure ether, I'm working
Speaker 1: on it, and like the eye on your amulet, I'll
Speaker 1: keep my eyes open for inspiration. My amulet, the eye
Speaker 1: of imperiod. What do I make of it? How is
Speaker 1: it that the one thing keeping me safe from umbra?
Speaker 1: It's the one thing holding me back from seeing through
Speaker 1: the lines and finding out the truth. It can't be right,
Speaker 1: can it? How would I think that? That's crazy? Talk?
Speaker 1: Complete another nonsense. Those words must have been umbres they
Speaker 1: have to be serious, and Logo could read my thoughts
Speaker 1: right now, they'd want me can find They knew how
Speaker 1: much I longed to return to Umbers in a realm.
Speaker 1: How learning I find her call, They'd think I'd lost
Speaker 1: it for sure, Uther has finally gone off the deep end.
Speaker 1: Now I must be wrong. Why does it feel so right?
Speaker 1: How come? Every time I take off my amulet and
Speaker 1: enter the intra, I feel like I'm on the verge
Speaker 1: of learning some great truth, discovering an unknown insight into
Speaker 1: our existence, and gleaning a deeper meaning of life. But
Speaker 1: I never quite get there, do I? Sure? Sometimes I
Speaker 1: feel close, like it's only barely out of grasp, that
Speaker 1: if I could just reach down deep enough, I could
Speaker 1: nearly touch it. But the end, it always slips through
Speaker 1: my fingers and they come up short, and I'm left
Speaker 1: chasing shadows, with no real form, void of any realization
Speaker 1: or new awakening, with nothing to show for my troubles
Speaker 1: but regret and disillusion, and worse, the vague feeling that
Speaker 1: I'm slowly losing some part of me. And yet some
Speaker 1: part of me, some crazy, twisted, messed up part of me,
Speaker 1: knows that it's simply because I haven't gone far enough,
Speaker 1: but I'm nowhere near the limit. I have to keep
Speaker 1: pushing past the brink and journey into the deepest recesses
Speaker 1: and darkest corners of my mind. And only by traversing
Speaker 1: the depths of my soul will I one day reached
Speaker 1: the bottom and break through to the other side, and
Speaker 1: there will find it, that undeniable truth, finally crystallized, something
Speaker 1: to make sense of it all, to reveal to me
Speaker 1: my true self and make me whole and give meaning
Speaker 1: to my life. But these days I can't shake the
Speaker 1: feeling that I'm not going in the right direction anymore,
Speaker 1: like I'm just a tourist in my own body, simply
Speaker 1: passing through. I'm traveling through this desert. My mind is
Speaker 1: flying through hyperspace, and I don't know if I'm getting
Speaker 1: any closer to where I was heading, or if I'm
Speaker 1: just falling further and further into this bottomless black pit
Speaker 1: of self. And I don't know anymore if I want
Speaker 1: to know which way is up. Maybe that's just how
Speaker 1: the world is. There are some things we'll never know,
Speaker 1: and though we look for answers, we're destined to always
Speaker 1: be searching, finding nothing but endless questions and did things
Speaker 1: get so bad? Where did I go so wrong? Why
Speaker 1: is this happening to me? What did I do to
Speaker 1: deserve any of this? How come this is my life?
Speaker 1: But there's nothing there, no answer, no purpose, no meaning,
Speaker 1: no end. On the other hand, there are things in
Speaker 1: life we somehow intuitively know, even if we can't understand
Speaker 1: why we know them, Like how a newborn cries at
Speaker 1: the sight of a predators shadow despite having never seen
Speaker 1: its face before. Fear primal, fear of the unknown, the
Speaker 1: dark silence, oblivion of what lurks just beneath the surface.
Speaker 1: It's instinctual. Or how about love, how an infant comes
Speaker 1: out of the womb knowing it's safe in the arms
Speaker 1: of its mother. We may never find answers for these
Speaker 1: unprovable truths, but their knowledge is wisdom we already possessed
Speaker 1: with them. Or maybe the greatest folly of some truths
Speaker 1: is that there's no one to believe them, not even yourself.
Speaker 1: For all I know, this journey i'm one has no end.
Speaker 1: There won't be any milestones of growth or deeper understanding.
Speaker 1: I hope for enlightenment, but will be left in the dark.
Speaker 1: How can I even be so sure that any progress
Speaker 1: I think I've made along the way isn't really just
Speaker 1: me refusing to acknowledge that I've gone down the wrong path?
Speaker 1: Could I accept the truth if it was right in
Speaker 1: front of me? They call Umber the master of delusion?
Speaker 1: But I can't tell any longer where either ends and
Speaker 1: Umber begins. I thought I could explore Umbra's intrat free
Speaker 1: of cost, that I had nothing to lose. But that's
Speaker 1: not true. After all, I have been losing my sanity,
Speaker 1: my health, my faith, myself, and now unlost. I feel
Speaker 1: Umbra's hold over me growing stronger every day as my
Speaker 1: descent into the interest deepens and I fall further and
Speaker 1: further under her command. Is this the unthinkable truth kept
Speaker 1: for myself? That I'm going mad? That maybe I've already
Speaker 1: gone mad? But this truth has always been my destiny,
Speaker 1: hasn't it? Since the day I struggled into existence, born
Speaker 1: to a mother, damned by Umbra and bound to suffer
Speaker 1: myself a tangled web. I've been mortally wounded since birth.
Speaker 1: I'd be lying to myself if I said there was
Speaker 1: any other way for me my whole life. I've known
Speaker 1: it in my whole life. I feared it. It was
Speaker 1: only a matter of time until I lost myself to
Speaker 1: umbra completely. But I'm no longer scared of that time,
Speaker 1: because I fear that moment may have already passed. The
Speaker 1: others have no idea how deep I've fallen. I wonder
Speaker 1: if I really do. For all I know, I could
Speaker 1: be leading serious and Logo farther and farther into the
Speaker 1: dark night of her abyss, taking him straight into her tramp.
Speaker 1: Surely they have better sense than me and won't be
Speaker 1: tricked so easily. Guess I won't know for sure. Well,
Speaker 1: I I suppose the deeper and deeper you fall into umbre,
Speaker 1: the harder it is to distinguish the truth from a lie.
Speaker 1: That's the curse of going mad, isn't it. That's the
Speaker 1: blessing of going mad, isn't it? You can no longer
Speaker 1: tell just how mad you've gone, the paradox of madness.
Speaker 1: The matter you are, the more warp your logic and
Speaker 1: deluded your reasoning, So you convince yourself that you and
Speaker 1: only you, are in possession of some secret, undeniable truth.
Speaker 1: In reality, the truth couldn't be farther away, And who
Speaker 1: can tell you you're wrong. When you're up as down,
Speaker 1: left as right, and black as white, untenable leaps that
Speaker 1: once required mental gymnastics to reach are now level ground.
Speaker 1: From there, you'll ditch your old beliefs in a heartbeat
Speaker 1: and start swearing by the impossible, like the moon is
Speaker 1: made of cheese, or that you're already dead and the
Speaker 1: world is controlled by a secret society of top hat
Speaker 1: wearing gophers conspiring to dance the bung on your grave.
Speaker 1: Don't encourage your behavior. Are but our silence agreement? I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: you're right logo. I was overcome with a spontaneous fit
Speaker 1: of hysteria, That's all. You won't hear another sound out
Speaker 1: of me until dark, Promise good. There's that sound again,
Speaker 1: the hum, a tritone interval followed by the rest of it,
Speaker 1: our peggiated diminished chord. I've heard the sound of myriad
Speaker 1: of times before in the desert, but on a still
Speaker 1: afternoon like today, the hum's mooteeth most strikingly pierces through
Speaker 1: the background clutter. What kind of entity could be responsible
Speaker 1: for emitting this strange hum? It's impossible to place one
Speaker 1: thing's for certain. Whatever it may be, it's not local
Speaker 1: to the desert's natural acoustic ecology. I wonder if the
Speaker 1: others hear it too, though it harmonizes rather well with
Speaker 1: the external desert environment, so I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 1: it's virtually imperceptible to the untrained ear. Come to think
Speaker 1: of it, I never paid it much attention before, But
Speaker 1: in stark contrast to how physically dreadful this desert can be,
Speaker 1: its soundscape is actually rather comforting. Ah. Underlying this sonic
Speaker 1: environment must be a bevy of unique sounds, each contributed
Speaker 1: by independent actors possessing a distinct acoustic signature, that by
Speaker 1: chance collectively come together to form this euphonious desert symphony.
Speaker 1: I wonder if I can isolate the diverse sources responsible
Speaker 1: for the various rhythms and harmonies. Perhaps if I fully
Speaker 1: immersed myself in their sounds, I can localize their respective origins. AH.
Speaker 1: The serene chirping of desert locusts their signature staccato a
Speaker 1: love song for the ages. With his mating call, the
Speaker 1: male attempts to court the female by rubbing his hind
Speaker 1: legs together to produce the effect, in essence sending her
Speaker 1: an auditory smooch from across the dunes. Judging by the
Speaker 1: sounds intensity, there are only a few of them, present
Speaker 1: a good sign as locusts are typically solitary insects, but
Speaker 1: are prone to large groups swarming when agitated. For our sake,
Speaker 1: let's hope they keep singing their sweet sounding melody. I
Speaker 1: wonder what else is out here overhead? The dust chorus
Speaker 1: of the sing song bat a multiphonic melody of squeaks, squawks,
Speaker 1: and squabbles as they take flight, indicating that niffall will
Speaker 1: soon be upon us. The bats call out an harmonic
Speaker 1: duet as they communicate with one another. When a bat
Speaker 1: has located a food source or identified a potential threat,
Speaker 1: it'll alert the colony with a high pitched shrill. In turn,
Speaker 1: the colony responds in kind to spread the news or
Speaker 1: sound the alarm. What a special treated it be. If
Speaker 1: only I could listen in on the sounds of their
Speaker 1: echolocation used to navigate and hunt in the dark. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it operates on a frequency just outside our auditory threshold
Speaker 1: for hearing, so I'll have to focus my eavesdropping elsewhere. Ah,
Speaker 1: the wind's vibrant breeze Mother nature's own call of the wild,
Speaker 1: capable of rustling the leaves on the highest tree branch
Speaker 1: and moving the clouds themselves with one mighty breath. No
Speaker 1: noise from a mere creature can match the ethereal beauty
Speaker 1: of her soul and what range. In an instant, the
Speaker 1: wind's temperament turns from the gentle whisper of an airy
Speaker 1: zephyr floating down from up above to the guttural roar
Speaker 1: of a merciless gale forcefully swirling a fierce desert sandstorm.
Speaker 1: She remained calm while we walk her dunes, and finally,
Speaker 1: the missing piece of the puzzle, the sound of the
Speaker 1: shifting sands beneath our feet, a constant deep crunch caused
Speaker 1: by the movement of our boots, our own contribution to
Speaker 1: the complex acoustic ecology. With each step we take, we
Speaker 1: shape the very desert soundscape, reaching our ears In truth,
Speaker 1: analyzing its component pieces does nothing to demystify the desert
Speaker 1: symphony I'm hearing. How is it possible that each voice
Speaker 1: operating independently sings a unique tune with respect to tone, pitch, volume,
Speaker 1: and duration that not only minimizes acoustic interference with other
Speaker 1: nearby vocalists, but seamlessly harmonizes in sonic union. It almost
Speaker 1: seems too perfect, as if the entire thing has been
Speaker 1: coordinated by some omniscient composer, maybe decoded at a lower level.
Speaker 1: The notes in these sounds carry some deeper message beyond
Speaker 1: the pleasant nature of their melodies. If I could find
Speaker 1: a way to decipher these seemingly random groupings of notes,
Speaker 1: perhaps I'd unveil a hidden language of sorts. After all,
Speaker 1: what we perceive as sound is really just vibrations traveling
Speaker 1: through the air and acoustic waves. Hypothetically, I wonder if
Speaker 1: you were to map the shape of the waves whether
Speaker 1: you could start to understand the information contained within. Then,
Speaker 1: with a powerful enough converter, it might be possible to
Speaker 1: use the sound waves to develop a common tongue and
Speaker 1: even converse with the environment itself, not unlike how a
Speaker 1: satellite dish receives and transmits information in the form of
Speaker 1: electromagnetic waves the satellite dish. Funny, how ether and serious
Speaker 1: don't even know what a satellite dish is. Yet that's
Speaker 1: what they've been hired to retrieve, or is that why
Speaker 1: they've been hired to retrieve it? I wonder what plans
Speaker 1: the agency has for the satellite dish. Who might they
Speaker 1: be trying to communicate with? Logo? Where are you going
Speaker 1: with this? You know that information is classified for a reason.
Speaker 1: Life would be so much easier if only everyone had
Speaker 1: antennas in their head and all communication was conducted through
Speaker 1: direct broadcast, with no figurative expressions or colloquialisms to obscure language.
Speaker 1: We'd be left with clearly transmitted messages. Maybe then people
Speaker 1: would finally understand me and I in turn them. The
Speaker 1: irony is some of the most important things in life
Speaker 1: can't even be expressed in words. They have to be
Speaker 1: experienced to be understood. Something I'm still learning, like the
Speaker 1: relief you get from the first drop of water on
Speaker 1: a hot desert day, or the sense of wonder that
Speaker 1: washes over you and taking in a sunset, or that warm,
Speaker 1: fuzzy sensation you feel after a tough day traveling in
Speaker 1: the dunes, knowing you'll be okay because your friends are
Speaker 1: by your side. There it is again, the hum shoha
Speaker 1: ha um, the hum catchy tune, isn't it h hum
Speaker 1: m h nothing? Carry on walking ah h h Armadillo
Speaker 1: desert skull poor little fellow, not even armored shell enough
Speaker 1: to survive desert element. But Serious no weep for fallen friend.
Speaker 1: This not end of path for animal Armadillo passed from
Speaker 1: physical realm to spirit world. Everything has spirit, not just people,
Speaker 1: an animal, tree, rock, river, All have life force, make
Speaker 1: up world's soul hum and all die. One day ev'n
Speaker 1: ancient river like great snake, reach stage when it starting
Speaker 1: to slow. Come day when river carry last rock, tributary
Speaker 1: pay last offering and water reach ocean. Final time, River's
Speaker 1: bed turn'd to muddy grave as water run dry and
Speaker 1: river complete cycle of life. Soon fertile soil near river
Speaker 1: turn barren, and roots of plants begin to rot. Where
Speaker 1: once was life now is death. Where once have water
Speaker 1: now hath drought. But this not end of path. One
Speaker 1: day heavy rain come and from dry channel now stream
Speaker 1: borne flow through valleys and canyons, River current come back
Speaker 1: in arms of old carry on life for next generation.
Speaker 1: Serious No. Even though Serious Clan no longer here in
Speaker 1: physical realm, with Serious Clan spirit live on, Serious feel
Speaker 1: Clan energy around him. Big chazooka hot headed warrior in clan,
Speaker 1: now live on a soul of mount fumus in homeland,
Speaker 1: ready to erupt as volcano Noble Jedessa healer to ill
Speaker 1: her soul among waterfalls. If energy and life to fallen,
Speaker 1: Vdias grand Seer, knowledge and way of stars and spirits.
Speaker 1: Now keep watch above as great Cloud. Clan spirits live
Speaker 1: on in all of nature in rays of light, shine
Speaker 1: down on Sirious attacked and guide. One day when Serious
Speaker 1: grow old gray with many years, Serious to return to land.
Speaker 1: Serious body break down, make soil fertile for new growth.
Speaker 1: Under dirt where Sirius lay nourish seedlet and young saplings
Speaker 1: sprout from ground. After many season, sapling grow into strong
Speaker 1: wise elder tree. Number of rings in thick trunk and
Speaker 1: branches that touch clouds. Trees, big leaves give shade to
Speaker 1: tired creatures searching rest trees. Flowers bloom fruit to feed
Speaker 1: creatures hungry bellies. In time, give rise to rich lands,
Speaker 1: nurture new life. Serious soul live on through tree a
Speaker 1: spirit of forest, like ancestors before. When Serious cross into
Speaker 1: spirit world, Serious reunite with clan's people. They're together again
Speaker 1: at last. Serious joint arms of brothers and sisters and
Speaker 1: rejoice in cycle of life. But Serious soul no belonged
Speaker 1: to a spirit world. While Serious alive here in physical
Speaker 1: realm Ether logo needs serious and here sunrise to sundown
Speaker 1: Ether logo Our serious clan serious either serious is howling
Speaker 1: of the sunset? Does that mean our vowe sis is
Speaker 1: officially over? Think so think so help ring on the
Speaker 1: night cloud tear cycle of lion precipitation. Finally, I'll get
Speaker 1: out my rain injured. Up ahead, There's a cave where
Speaker 1: we can keep dry for the night. Come on last
Speaker 1: one Bear Roger Wood pop rainfall at sunset. Wow, you
Speaker 1: heard me? You're still here. InterQuest created by Michael Freiberg,
Speaker 1: a production of iHeart Radio and Astro Media Executive produced
Speaker 1: by Michael Freiberg and I Hear Radio. Co produced by
Speaker 1: Adam Raimundo and Chelsea English. Sound design and mixed by
Speaker 1: Dennis Denbeck. Music by Trey Toy. Performances by Matthew Brissard, Ether,
Speaker 1: Mike Leibovitz, Serious Mike Kaplan Logo, Lucy poul Umbra, Director
Speaker 1: and head writer Michael Freiberg, Writers Tom Delgado and Will Julian,
Speaker 1: Story editor Chelsea English dialogue editor jay Anne Wang. Additional
Speaker 1: music Matthew Blanca Foley Post. Read fullcast and crew in
Speaker 1: the description. Find more podcasts from our radio on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.