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Speaker 1: Follows the production of my R Radio. This episode contains

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Speaker 1: depictions of drug use in mild violence a second oil.

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Speaker 1: Most of my job comes down to first impressions, a

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Speaker 1: little intimidation, the questions, the digging, the hand dirty ng

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Speaker 1: that always comes later. When I arrived at Atlas, I

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Speaker 1: arrived as a symbol for decorum's sake. I slipped a

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Speaker 1: black wool cap over my cranial tattoos. I hid my

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Speaker 1: neck with a scarf calm collected, evened out by the

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Speaker 1: basilisk drug. I strolled out into the gladious cargo bay.

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Speaker 1: Two land spoke security guards in gray and navy awaited

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Speaker 1: me just inside the loading door. Their communits were strapped

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Speaker 1: to their chests, police style you dex logos on their shoulders.

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Speaker 1: One of them brandished a squid gun. The others scrolled

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Speaker 1: the menu items on his communit's hollow display. He didn't

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Speaker 1: even look up. Sigh, nove pan sure ambassador credentials. Do

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Speaker 1: I need to ask you about firearms? Or did they

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Speaker 1: do that? On the other end, I just have knives,

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Speaker 1: a bunch of knives. An ambassador with knives. She's a

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Speaker 1: company murk Jack's according to her name tag. I ignored

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Speaker 1: her look of contempt and nodded at the blunt nosed

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Speaker 1: weapon in her hands, or more specifically, at the tape

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Speaker 1: masked sensor mounted on top of it. Nice squid gun. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the bottom. Squid guns are everywhere, and I

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Speaker 1: wasn't surprised to see one on Atlas. They fire specially

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Speaker 1: designed lumps of meta gel. When it hits, it wraps

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Speaker 1: around you like a foe armed bolo, glues you right

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Speaker 1: to the floor, the wall, or whatever hapless jerk showed

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Speaker 1: up at the wrong protest scale the gel with the

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Speaker 1: side of the gun and it melts off. It's the

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Speaker 1: most popular compliance weapon on the market and non lethal,

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Speaker 1: provided you don't fire it at someone's face. That's where

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Speaker 1: the cranium recognition scanner comes in. Tape up the CRS

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Speaker 1: and you're either a psycho or someone who wants the reputation.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't entirely sure which category she fell into yet,

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Speaker 1: but I suspected the ladder. I've seen what happens when

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Speaker 1: a squid hits someone in the face, usually with enough

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Speaker 1: force to blacken both eyes, maybe break the nose. It

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Speaker 1: wraps itself around the head, even pours into the mouth.

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Speaker 1: That's when the clawing starts. The basilisk took the sting

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Speaker 1: out of the memory for me, but it still gave

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Speaker 1: me pause. Director Hoffman says he can meet with you

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Speaker 1: now or at that work, your choice. I think he

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Speaker 1: also has some time tomorrow. I'm kind of on a schedule.

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Speaker 1: Let's do it now this way, ambassador. As they led

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Speaker 1: me out of the sub bay, we ventured down the

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Speaker 1: first of many compact hallways through hatches that would auto

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Speaker 1: seal in the event of a breach. They'd dissembled the

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Speaker 1: station out of preconstructed modules like a space station, to

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Speaker 1: ubes and wires trailed through the hallway, pinned neatly to

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Speaker 1: the ceiling. They occasionally sneaked away into maintenance conduits, but

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Speaker 1: mostly remained open and serviceable. It felt more like a

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Speaker 1: trek through the bowels of some giant parasite ridden beheemoth

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Speaker 1: than a human habitat. There were no viewing portholes, of course,

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Speaker 1: With some three hundred atmospheres of pressure outside, the hull

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Speaker 1: windows were an extravagance, so was space itself. The earliest

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Speaker 1: deep sea explorers squeezed into beach ball sized steel capsules

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Speaker 1: for a reason more leg room would have required thicker structure.

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Speaker 1: Engineering has come a long way since the nineteen thirties,

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Speaker 1: but industrial design, like evolution itself, is a miser. Keep

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Speaker 1: it small, keep it cheap. The guards led me through

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Speaker 1: cramped hallways, passed doorways to chambers and offices no bigger

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Speaker 1: than bathrooms. Dolls, mobility aids would make life difficult. Here.

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Speaker 1: We passed other uniformed U DEX employees, probably landsfolk. They

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Speaker 1: walked almost hand in hand, conversed as closely as lovers

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Speaker 1: in a park. Personal space was probably the first concept

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Speaker 1: to die down here, so I was surprised when we

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Speaker 1: emerged into a much larger module. As it opened up

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Speaker 1: around us, the ceiling seemed vaulted, like the roof of

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Speaker 1: some unfinished deep sea basilica. But I quickly realized the

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Speaker 1: space consisted of several large convergent spherical chambers. Stalls and

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Speaker 1: merch stands filled the space, all of it packed so

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Speaker 1: tightly that members of the crowd frequently squeezed past and

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Speaker 1: around each other like insects in a neon hive. They

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Speaker 1: bought coffee from an automated food They stood in line

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Speaker 1: to update their communits with the latest virus free dose

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Speaker 1: of news and celebrity schadenfreude. They gobbled clam rolls from

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Speaker 1: foil pouches and conversed in tight clusters around shared hollow displays.

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Speaker 1: It was all the usual surface world crap, only stuffed

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Speaker 1: into a tighter package, less air circulation. Amid the mingled

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Speaker 1: aromas of beer, ramen and sweat, we moved through the swarm.

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Speaker 1: I had to dial down my reflexes the first time

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Speaker 1: someone squeezed past me, but I'm a professional. Out of

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Speaker 1: the corner of my eye, I noted two recombined women

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Speaker 1: in dark wetsuits. They were both bald except for tattoos

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Speaker 1: of octopods and squid arms, dolphins, and spills of phytoplate.

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Speaker 1: I noted the lines of neck frills above the high

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Speaker 1: collars of their suits, the slight ridges that protruded from

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Speaker 1: their skulls. The one on the left blink dat me

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Speaker 1: with her secondary transparent eyelids. We passed by one of

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Speaker 1: those franchise joints where you wear VR goggles in a

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Speaker 1: massage chair and a cramped bar called the barrel ee.

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Speaker 1: I was gazing at its weird neon fish sign when

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Speaker 1: a bottle of pists exploded on the steel wall behind us.

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Speaker 1: Hi free jack ass crap Jack's didn't waste any time.

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Speaker 1: He fired up the squid. As the piste thrower shoved

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Speaker 1: his way through the crowd, she missed. Of course. The

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Speaker 1: projectile crashed through the side of a sausage stand and

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Speaker 1: wrapped itself around a pair of hanging skillets. But I

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Speaker 1: marked the guy. I gave into the urge, you know,

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Speaker 1: first impressions. I left over the nearest kneeling bystander, then

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Speaker 1: used the counter as a springboard. My landing brought down

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Speaker 1: two other bystanders in the process, but I kept the

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Speaker 1: guy in my sights. Another wet suited worker dodged me,

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Speaker 1: and I followed the piss thrower into a narrow kebab

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Speaker 1: shack thick with the aroma of grilled shrimp. I planted

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Speaker 1: a knee to the square of the assailant's back and

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Speaker 1: sent him sprawling, knocking three more customers into the flimsy

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Speaker 1: prefab walls. At the joint. The piss thrower scrambled to

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Speaker 1: his feet. He was recombined, but more to the point,

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Speaker 1: he was clearly wasted. He eyed me drunkenly and reached

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Speaker 1: into his wool lined jacket. I wouldn't, but he did.

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Speaker 1: He drew a diver's knife. I don't think he'd thought

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Speaker 1: any further than that. I can tell when someone's comfortable

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Speaker 1: leveling a blade at another human being, and this guy

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Speaker 1: didn't have it. He acted out of fear, casting about

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Speaker 1: for his next move. I didn't give him the chance.

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Speaker 1: I hit him with a basic jiu jitsun defense, a

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Speaker 1: downward foe arm strike to his knife arm. Then I

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Speaker 1: locked the limb, twisted it and spun him down. I

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Speaker 1: cranked his wrists near the breaking point and pinned the

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Speaker 1: side of his head to the gritted steel floor with

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Speaker 1: my knee. Who were you aiming? Poor? He craned his

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Speaker 1: neck to avoid looking at me, opened his mouth to speak,

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Speaker 1: and that's when Jack's answered the question for me. The

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Speaker 1: squid hit the piste thrower square in the belly, knocking

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Speaker 1: the wind out of him and gluing him to the spot.

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Speaker 1: I released the hold and grabbed the dive knife up

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Speaker 1: off the floor. It's the tank for you, pal. You're

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Speaker 1: lucky she got you before I did. I scanned the bystanders.

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Speaker 1: Five of them crammed in behind us. Two of them

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Speaker 1: flinched and looked away. Some sort of need another one down.

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Speaker 1: Don't look at them before. You might want to cover

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Speaker 1: that thing up. I checked my cap and realized it

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Speaker 1: had slipped up during the scuffle. I pulled it back

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Speaker 1: down into place. I don't want to antagonize the locals.

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Speaker 1: Return to the golden age of seaside family vacations in Utah.

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Speaker 1: Enjoy breathtaking sandy beaches, Sip a delightful and culturally appropriate

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Speaker 1: tiki drink, and zone out to the crashing waves. This

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Speaker 1: is the ocean your grandparents dreamed of, recreated in America's

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Speaker 1: hard land, and finally tuned to revitalize the human spirit.

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Speaker 1: Inland Ocean Theme Park has it all, whether you're looking

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Speaker 1: for a long walk in the surf, adrenaline pumping water sports,

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Speaker 1: or old fashioned family fund for the kids. We offer

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Speaker 1: seven care gentle adventure pools and special appearances by all

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Speaker 1: your favorite marine children's characters. Salt Watch, Help Billy, I

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Speaker 1: think I'm gonna sneeze. Inland Ocean Theme Park take back

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Speaker 1: the ocean of your dreams. Preserve your holiday dates today.

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Speaker 1: Do you suffer from bouts of depression, anxiety, panic acts

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Speaker 1: and intrusive thoughts. If you're an active or former military

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Speaker 1: service person in sound physical health, then you may be

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Speaker 1: eligible to participate in a u EX funded study and

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Speaker 1: treatment plan. Ask your doctor about a path. This take

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Speaker 1: the first step toward building it better you and a

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Speaker 1: safer world. What would Vale have made of that little encounter.

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Speaker 1: It probably wasn't her idea of shared culture, but it

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Speaker 1: certainly filled in some of the blanks for me. Maybe

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Speaker 1: a recombined person was better off here than your average

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Speaker 1: coastal region, but they still had to put up with

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Speaker 1: the same sort of crap. Jack scanned and melted the squid,

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Speaker 1: then left her partner to cuff the guy. The bystanders

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Speaker 1: didn't quite disperse. I imagine it took more than a

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Speaker 1: minor scuffle to clear out a public area in this place.

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Speaker 1: But landsfolk and recombined alike averted their eyes from us.

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Speaker 1: As we exited the kebab shack. They whispered no doubt

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Speaker 1: about the woman with the elder signed tattoos. Jack's led on,

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Speaker 1: not saying another word on the matter. We took a

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Speaker 1: twisting side tunnel out of the bazaar and weaved our

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Speaker 1: way through the bowels of Atlas once more squeezing past

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Speaker 1: recombined divers suited for deep grid work landsfolk workers tending

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Speaker 1: to internal matters. After all, we can't collapse our lungs

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Speaker 1: and equalize pressure with the deep. Here we're the weirdos.

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Speaker 1: We arrived at a sealed door labeled Atrium Hoffens and there,

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Speaker 1: probably doing yoga or something. Oh and let me have

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Speaker 1: Dave's knife. You know his name, Yeah, everyone knows Dave.

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Speaker 1: She hit a switch and the circular door rolled off

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Speaker 1: into the side of the wall, opening up on yet

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Speaker 1: another of Atlas's surprises. I stepped inside onto a cobblestone

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Speaker 1: path that snaked through a large circular garden. The domed

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Speaker 1: ceiling overhead glowed with soft, pleasing light. The ferns and

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Speaker 1: bushes glistened with beaded moisture. Moss grew thick on ornamental stones,

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Speaker 1: and water trickled through a rocky stream. The occasional tree

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Speaker 1: reached for artificial sky, but most of the vegetation stopped

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Speaker 1: at waist height. It was clearly another large sphere, half

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Speaker 1: filled with soil and transformed into a terrarium space. It

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Speaker 1: was empty save the iron statue at its center. Jesus

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Speaker 1: of Nazareth. A pane of water moved beneath the statue's

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Speaker 1: feet and cascaded over the edges of the pedestal to

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Speaker 1: create the effect. I heard a voice from the ground

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Speaker 1: behind it. Yeah, I thought that was in twenty minutes.

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Speaker 1: I'm in the middle of shavasana right now, ken Hoffman.

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Speaker 1: He sat up and peeked over a hedge. I walked

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Speaker 1: closer and saw the matt underneath him, a thermis in

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Speaker 1: yoga block by his side. His face flashed a look

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Speaker 1: of disappointment before shifting into the smiley, glad hand expression

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Speaker 1: I expected. He rose to his feet, A tall man

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Speaker 1: dressed in starched white pants and a matching kurta. He

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Speaker 1: extended his hand. Ah Sin ken Hoffman, director of Operations

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Speaker 1: here on Atlas. You caught me finishing up a little yoga.

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Speaker 1: Great way to maintain a little right brain dominance. Plus,

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Speaker 1: you gotta keep moving down here the place we'll get

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Speaker 1: to you. Yeah, it's also cramp. Yeah, I know what

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Speaker 1: it looks like. The boss seals himself up in a

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Speaker 1: spacious garden while everyone else works. But no, this is

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Speaker 1: a public space. Most of the time. Five occupant macs

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Speaker 1: to maintain the chill. I just book it for a

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Speaker 1: couple of hours most mornings. I can I get your

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Speaker 1: water coffee. Someone just splashed piss on me, so I'm good.

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Speaker 1: He stared off into space for a second, clearly listening

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Speaker 1: to an inner ear feed from his communit. Then he

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Speaker 1: met my eyes again. Oh I see, Well, you know

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Speaker 1: people are gonna throw bottles of piss from time to time.

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Speaker 1: You know that with your background, at least it was piss.

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Speaker 1: Am I right? It seems Old Dave had an issue

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Speaker 1: with your head of security, interim head of security, And yes,

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Speaker 1: I'm well aware of the personnel issues involved, but really

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Speaker 1: it's it's hardly indicative of the general vibe around here.

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Speaker 1: The flare ups are always going to happen. You hope

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Speaker 1: that they happen at least in manageably small doses. But

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Speaker 1: let's have a seat and discuss what you're really here for.

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Speaker 1: He led me to a pair of opposing benches by

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Speaker 1: the Christ's statue and took one for himself. He pulled

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Speaker 1: out a communit, activated a holographic display and scrolled through

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Speaker 1: several files, as if he really had to check you

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Speaker 1: were here about Peter Booklan, son of you dex Euro's

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Speaker 1: Frederick Bookland. We filed a full report on that weeks ago.

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Speaker 1: I don't think they were happy with that report. Well,

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Speaker 1: obviously if they sent one of you down here, I

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Speaker 1: didn't think they had any Epathis agents to spare. The

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Speaker 1: Bookland name carries a lot of weight that it does. Plus,

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Speaker 1: Peter is a bit of a firebrand. You've heard his

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Speaker 1: talks deep seabiotics, hydrothermal energy could shake a lot of

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Speaker 1: things up around here. Did you meet him? No, Look,

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Speaker 1: it's all on the report. He arrived here in March

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Speaker 1: on a v I P sub with the rest of

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Speaker 1: the v I P s. We logged him, he disembarked,

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Speaker 1: maybe he had a drinks all the sites, and then

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Speaker 1: we have him boarding again an hour later. The manifest

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Speaker 1: says he never reboarded v I P subsurd intentionally discreet.

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Speaker 1: They don't have video footage, but we do. He swiped

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Speaker 1: his fingers through the air and swiveled the holographic display

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Speaker 1: around to show me alone. Jumpsuited guy with sandy blonde hair,

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Speaker 1: scanned his communit and vanished through a docking porthole. Charismatic guy,

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Speaker 1: right future, Look, we're not happy about it either I

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Speaker 1: maintain a careful balance. The last thing I want is

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Speaker 1: increased drama on Atlas. I'm already wrestling with a possible

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Speaker 1: Mariners guild strike, tech problems and sporadic vent activity. I

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Speaker 1: don't dispute the subs data, but if he's down here,

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Speaker 1: we know you keep tabs on everyone, all personnel. The

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Speaker 1: Tritons and Narret's too, well, that's a different matter. They

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Speaker 1: have embassy status and I have ambassador credentials. When can

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Speaker 1: I meet with them? I figured that's why they sent you.

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Speaker 1: You really think that Triton stole the guy away, kidnapped

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Speaker 1: him to hold one over you, Dex. The Triton's already

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Speaker 1: have the upper hand if you hadn't noticed. They didn't

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Speaker 1: want Bukelyn. They just wanted his genes, the same as

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Speaker 1: the rest of the v I P passengers. It was

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Speaker 1: all a part of the larger Triton genetics program. Their

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Speaker 1: end of the deal with you, Dex. The deep opened

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Speaker 1: up unreachable oil reserves, placated the environmentalists with vague hopes

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Speaker 1: of deep thermal but in return, we agreed to the

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Speaker 1: gene sharing program. We needed workers who could thrive in

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Speaker 1: the deep, so we let the Triton's augment those workers,

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Speaker 1: infusing them with the genetic changes they need, but they

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Speaker 1: required something from our genes as well. They continually requested

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Speaker 1: certain attributes, even particular individuals and bloodlines, often relatives of

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Speaker 1: key you Dex brass, and they were not content with

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Speaker 1: a tissue swab. There art required in person summons to

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Speaker 1: the deep. Thus, the specially designed subs for their v

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Speaker 1: I P passengers, each outfitted with every earthly luxury. Whatever

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Speaker 1: it took to ensure these fortunate sons and daughters of

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Speaker 1: the Second Oil Age fulfilled their end of the blood bargain.

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Speaker 1: Or perhaps you think it was suicide, it wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: without precedence. You're still left searching for a body. There

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Speaker 1: are a lot of ways to lose a body. Subs

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Speaker 1: aren't the only way in and out. Who speaks for

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Speaker 1: the Triton's down here, Asia marsh one of the encapsulated

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Speaker 1: old school interspecies communicator. She's perfectly sasonable, really, but I

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Speaker 1: almost never meet with her directly. You know why, because

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Speaker 1: she's always accompanied Mary. It's two of them. They venture

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Speaker 1: out among the general populations sometimes, which keeps me up

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Speaker 1: at night. Believe me, if you meet with Marsh and

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Speaker 1: she will insist upon in person meeting for something like this,

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Speaker 1: she's going to have them in tow. They will try

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Speaker 1: to influence you. They're going to put all that precious

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Speaker 1: a path is conditioning to the test. And if you

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Speaker 1: start flashing a bunch of elder signed tattoos around you,

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Speaker 1: don't think I can withstand. I don't know what you

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Speaker 1: can do, but it takes a lot of work to

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Speaker 1: keep things running around here. A lot of finesse, like

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Speaker 1: taped CRS units. Is that finesse? Yeah, actually it is.

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Speaker 1: You want to balanced cocktail, You've got to mix the

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Speaker 1: bitter with the sweet, and that's what I like here.

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Speaker 1: Balance caution, inhale exhale. Obviously, I'll arrange the meeting if

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Speaker 1: you insist on it, but you've got to promise me

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Speaker 1: you'll keep things level headed. I've already asked Marsh about

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Speaker 1: Booklands whereabouts and she flat out told me they don't know. Again,

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Speaker 1: it's all in the report. Who's lying you or her?

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Speaker 1: I think we're done here. I transferred your lodging details

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Speaker 1: to your calm via secure connection. Get some sleep, get

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Speaker 1: cleaned up, talk to some locals, and if you still

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Speaker 1: want your meeting with Asia Marsh. I can arrange it

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Speaker 1: for tomorrow, but I'll sleep a lot easier if you

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Speaker 1: give me that promise. No, seriously, I need to hear

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Speaker 1: you say it. I promise good. He smiled, But I

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Speaker 1: saw the worry in his eyes. It made sense. He

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Speaker 1: didn't want to rock the boat or unbalanced his cocktail,

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Speaker 1: whatever the metaphor. But it was too late. They'd sent

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Speaker 1: me and I was going to get answers. The Christ's

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Speaker 1: statue is a nice touch. Oh yeah, well he walked

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Speaker 1: on water. Some of the recombined the Christians. Anyway, They

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Speaker 1: say he walked under the water. Did you know that

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Speaker 1: they depict the spear wound as a gill slit. I

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Speaker 1: finally noticed the inscription on the base of the statue,

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Speaker 1: the words blurred by tendrils of cascading water, A New Covenant.

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Speaker 1: The second oil age was produced by Robert Lamb, Alex Williams,

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Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaumb and Josh Stay. This episode featured on Joe

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Speaker 1: Masters Is snov Pan, Robin Bloodworth is Kim Hoffman, Andy

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Speaker 1: Reese as Jack's and Jonathan Strickland as Salty Squid. Supporting

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Speaker 1: voice work by Jed Drummond, Nicholas Takoski, Gina Rikiki, Eden

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Speaker 1: Brown and Bim Bolan intro, outro and supporting music created

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Speaker 1: by the Weirding Module. Learn more at Module dot band

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Speaker 1: camp dot com. From our podcasts, from my Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the IRN radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whinever we

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite