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and participating with Donald's for a limited time. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba

0:38

Before we jump into the episode, I

0:40

sincerely hope you have been enjoying

0:43

our immersive storytelling this season. But

0:46

if the immersive version of the show is not for you,

0:48

we've put together some instructions that we think

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will help. You can listen to Laver

0:52

Burton Reads as an immersive experience,

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or you can change your device settings

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1:01

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1:06

and it's an option that might make it easier

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for some listeners to hear the character voices.

1:11

Just go to laverburtonpodcast.com

1:14

slash mono to learn how to change

1:16

the settings on your device. Oh,

1:19

and one last thing. Thanks

1:22

y'all for an incredible

1:24

season. We'll be taking a short break

1:27

after this, but we will be back soon.

1:30

That I can promise you. Okay,

1:33

now, on to the episode.

1:36

Hi, I'm LeVar Burton, and this is LeVar

1:39

Burton Reads. In

1:46

every episode, I handpick a different

1:49

piece of short fiction, and I read

1:51

it to you. The only

1:53

thing these stories have in common is

1:56

that I love them, and I hope

1:59

you will. will too.

2:02

Y'all, I've got a really powerful

2:04

story to share with you today by the speculative

2:07

fiction writer Karen Osborn.

2:10

Now, Karen is the author of Architects

2:12

of Memory and Engines of

2:15

Oblivion, both from Tor Books. And

2:17

she's also a graduate of Viable

2:19

Paradise and the Clarion Writers

2:21

Workshop. This story

2:23

was originally published at Escape

2:26

Pod.

2:27

The title of the story comes

2:30

from the lyrics of an old whaling song

2:32

called The Wings of a Gunny. It

2:35

refers to the bird that we know as

2:37

an albatross, but to sailors out

2:39

on the high seas, it was a gunny or

2:42

even a gooney bird.

2:44

The whaler singing the song is

2:46

looking mournfully at an albatross

2:49

flying over, admiring its freedom

2:52

as he's been out sailing for years,

2:55

searching for that jackpot of a whale.

2:58

Karen has taken the whaler's

3:00

toiling and set it in outer space,

3:03

really beautifully blending the

3:05

natural world that's familiar to us

3:08

and the possibilities and pitfalls

3:10

of exploring beyond our Earth.

3:14

The lyrics in part go

3:17

like this. These

3:19

trials we bear for

3:21

nigh on four years till our

3:24

flying jib points to home were

3:26

supposed for our toil to get

3:29

a bonus on the oil

3:31

and an equal share of the bone.

3:34

We go to the agent to settle

3:36

for our trip and it's there we have

3:38

cause to repent.

3:40

we've slaved away for

3:43

years of our life and

3:45

we've earned about three pounds

3:48

ten. Please

3:50

check out the episode description

3:53

for a content advisory if you're so inclined

3:55

and if you're ready let's

3:59

take A deep breath. Ahhh.

4:04

And begin. Ahhhhhh....

4:15

And begin.

4:20

An equal share of the

4:22

bone by Karen

4:24

Osborn.

4:36

To kill a Therata, you

4:38

need gunboats and

4:41

suits, laser cutters and

4:43

open-mod cargo bays, brawn

4:47

and a stout heart and

4:49

God on your side.

4:54

We, of course, had none

4:57

of that. I

4:59

learned in the Merchant Marines to

5:01

never shoot a Therata with

5:03

a standard rail gun. They'll

5:05

thrash and ride and put

5:07

angry holes through your hull, and

5:10

eating vacuum is nobody's idea

5:12

of a good trade run. No,

5:15

a Therata's distributed brain needs

5:17

a distributed solution. If

5:20

you don't have a spinal lance capable

5:22

of wide-range dispersal, move

5:24

on. Don't even try.

5:28

Back in the Academy, before Elliot

5:31

and I signed on with Geruda, we

5:34

used to inflate massive plastics

5:36

balloons with pressure gel and

5:39

deploy them beside our training vessels,

5:41

taking turns at the lance control. It

5:44

wasn't anything like the real

5:47

thing. only

6:00

because we mammals forget

6:02

that the universe is a multifarious,

6:05

violent parade of a hundred

6:07

thousand ways to be mortal.

6:10

But we weren't inexperienced. Our

6:13

captain, Nate, had thousands

6:15

of hours of piloting time.

6:18

I was the best gunner this side of the Mercy

6:20

War. Elliot could make a working

6:23

engine out of spit

6:24

and vomit. why

6:27

we believed we could handle a

6:30

Thera to kill. Hubris,

6:34

that's the word. Even

6:37

professionals happen on hard

6:39

times. We were desperate

6:42

and destitute. Coming back

6:44

from a bad luck fruitless trip

6:47

and Nate's frequent and frantic messages

6:49

to the creditors back on the station made

6:51

me wonder if our ship, Garuda

6:55

would be ours for long.

6:58

Garuda ran cold and broken

7:00

most of the time with recycled air

7:03

that we could no longer keep clean and

7:05

rattling parts so close to breakdown

7:08

that even Elliot was having a rough time.

7:11

We

7:11

three were tight, but

7:15

there was tension made worse

7:17

by Elliot telling Nate one night at dinner

7:19

that he hadn't trashed his illegal

7:22

brain load equipment like he'd promised

7:24

back in the belt, innate

7:26

responding that there was only room

7:29

for one of us in the hard drive,

7:32

if it came to that.

7:34

Elliot reacted well.

7:37

Dear Elliot, who smelled

7:40

like the engine room, whose thin

7:42

fingers ran as delicate against

7:44

the ship's broken systems as they did

7:47

against my skin, in

7:49

our quarters or in the cargo

7:51

bay, sometimes in my Gunner's

7:53

chair after Nate was asleep. The

7:56

arrangement had gone from casual

7:59

to serious in the time it took to quit

8:01

the belt, and we wanted to stay together

8:03

when we got back to Mercy Station. All

8:07

of that stress is why

8:09

we can be forgiven for rushing to

8:11

the window in a breathless cluster as

8:14

soon as the thera to hit the sensors,

8:17

our fingers pressed against the death-like

8:19

frost of the observation window, greed

8:22

kindled in our chests. We

8:25

watched the massive being twirling

8:28

and twinkling against the darkness,

8:30

and started calculating how

8:32

much space we had left, and if

8:34

we could fill it with plasma. None

8:37

of us wondered why this thereta

8:40

was on its own, why it had

8:42

no pack of babies riding its wake.

8:45

Elliot and I just saw a future

8:48

with a ship of our own. Nate

8:51

saw his Garuda wings

8:53

unfurled and shining, the pride

8:56

of the system once again. If

8:59

we could take

9:00

the star,

9:01

the sack, the plasm, we'd

9:04

be rich. It seemed

9:07

logical. Only

9:11

in the bright aftermath of our mistake,

9:14

when Nate floated transparent

9:16

and dead in front of the very same window,

9:19

tethered for a safety that could never truly

9:22

come. Did I start to understand

9:25

that greed has

9:27

a logic of its own?

9:35

I could see the bare outline

9:37

of Eliot's bones through his shaking

9:39

hands. The signature of a a

9:41

spacer that had been around starlit engines

9:44

and ether radiation for more than 10 years. He

9:48

was always the one to rush in, heedless

9:51

of the danger. It's a bad quality

9:53

in a spacer and a worse quality

9:56

in a trader, but you forgive

9:58

these things when

10:00

inhabit a person you love. He

10:03

would usually be the first one

10:05

to speak, but this time I went

10:08

first. Are we going

10:10

to kill it? Nate was

10:12

the captain, so he made the call

10:15

wide-eyed with wonder. Come

10:18

on, Eris, he said. Are

10:21

you kidding? It was like

10:23

I just asked him if water was

10:25

wet.

10:27

In a way, we owe our entire

10:30

economy to the Theragga, don't

10:32

we? To them and to the

10:35

Ophelians who chased a pack near

10:37

Europa in their slippery, skinny

10:40

ships, just as humans first arrived

10:42

in the neighborhood. We owe

10:44

it to the early spacers who discovered

10:47

that the creature's flesh, what we

10:49

call the plasm, protected

10:52

against interstellar radiation when

10:54

slathered inside suits and on

10:56

skin, even as it made that

10:58

skin slightly transparent. We

11:01

owe the inventors who discovered

11:03

what the osmotic sack could do to

11:06

recycle food and water on long

11:08

journeys, who turned the

11:10

heart stars that sustained the

11:12

Therata

11:13

into the starlet engine

11:15

that gave us the galaxy. Without

11:19

the Therata, we

11:21

are denied a future. So

11:25

we still hunt the grand

11:27

beast with our harpoons and

11:29

our knives, screaming chanties against

11:32

the airless black tide.

11:36

Nate had seen the Ophelians hunting

11:38

the Thera to up close on a long patrol

11:40

and we had textbooks, so we

11:43

assumed we were set.

11:46

I loaded a firing solution into

11:48

the Garuda's spinal lance while he

11:50

gave us the plan. I

11:52

would disable the brain with the lance,

11:55

making sure the animal was still alive,

11:58

then make a cut under the crease. Dorsel

12:00

fin to free the plasm at full

12:03

potency. Nate

12:05

would suit up and harvest the plasm,

12:07

and Elliot would open the main

12:10

engine to take in the new heart

12:12

star. The profits

12:14

from the sack would go against Garuda's

12:16

repair bills and more besides. The

12:19

star, the sack, the plasm...they

12:22

would fix everything. At

12:28

first, everything went according

12:30

to plan. I fired. Bright

12:34

blue pulses hit the animal and

12:36

crackled around its broad amoebic body,

12:39

its incredible bioluminescence flickering

12:42

twice,

12:43

then failing forever.

12:47

I did not know if the thereta was in

12:49

pain, although its anterior

12:51

fins shuttered and the liquid skin convulsed

12:54

in quivering ribbons. I

12:56

swallowed, then made the

12:59

cut under the fin, noting the

13:01

gaping black curve against the

13:03

exterior lights of our ship with unwelcome

13:07

rim pleasure.

13:11

The thereta kicked and shuddered once

13:13

more,

13:15

then went limp and liquid. Clasm

13:19

leaked from the wound. I

13:22

tried to feel a beam. At

13:26

any rate, we were committed. Nate

13:29

looked white and wan, but tethered

13:31

himself to Garuda's repair mesh anyway.

13:35

I stayed to monitor the situation

13:37

on the bridge while Elliot worked the

13:39

last of our extra plasm onto

13:41

the skin of Nate's arms and legs and

13:44

chest, loaded him down with a

13:46

laser cutter and as many containers

13:48

as he could carry and sent him out

13:50

the cargo bay airlock.

13:53

Elliott watched the sticky, boring

13:56

work of the slaughter from inside

13:58

the airlock while I stayed

14:00

on the bridge.

14:02

We're going to be rich,

14:05

Nate said over the come as he bagged

14:07

container after container of

14:09

plasma, sending each back

14:11

on the tether to Elliot with a quick careful

14:14

hand.

14:15

Elliot wasn't paying as much attention.

14:18

He was whispering to me on a private

14:21

channel about the places

14:23

we could go now that we were going to be able

14:25

to afford a vacation.

14:29

bagged and bagged until

14:31

he reached the osmotic sack. He

14:34

announced that he was making the initial cut

14:36

to the sack and went quiet.

14:39

He did not need to tell me what

14:41

was wrong. Around me, the

14:44

ether wave alarms erupted into

14:46

a screaming orchestra of sound.

14:53

is useful, but the osmotic

14:56

sac and its contents are the most

14:58

important part of the Therida.

15:01

Without the osmotic filters protecting

15:04

and recycling food and water, the

15:07

Grand Colony ships would have never filled

15:09

this part of space with human life.

15:13

And while the sac is important,

15:15

it's the heart stars that really

15:18

count.

15:19

Tiny slices of nibbled

15:22

stars, full of the energy we

15:24

know as aether, are swept up

15:26

by the natural boron, Therida, in

15:28

the quiet nebula where they're

15:31

created,

15:32

and are eaten by others after

15:34

a packmate's death. These

15:37

are as dangerous as they are useful,

15:40

and sit at the heart of the star-lit

15:42

engines that propel humans and Ophelians

15:46

into deep space.

15:48

One heart could feed a thered

15:50

for a hundred years. Two meant

15:53

that it once had a mate. Three,

15:55

a child. for

15:58

a pack. Three stars

16:01

could work miracles for spacers like

16:03

us. Four meant that

16:05

we could retire. Five stars

16:07

contained so much ether radiation that

16:10

it could hurt a crew. Five

16:13

would kill, eventually, cancer.

16:17

Six? Nobody had ever

16:20

seen six hearts in a Thera

16:22

to his belly. The

16:27

alarms howled. I slammed

16:30

my hand on the comp. We're taking

16:32

rads. I yelled. Nate,

16:35

abort. Get back in behind the

16:37

plasma barrier. Nate's

16:39

voice crackled.

16:40

I'm so close.

16:43

Just one more. Those

16:45

alarms say that you're up against at least four

16:48

hearts in there, I said. We

16:51

need to rethink this. We

16:53

can still do this. Elliot's

16:56

voice. I checked the camera.

16:59

He was still in the cargo bay, going

17:01

for the extra suit.

17:03

Let me suit up and get out there. Open

17:06

the engine bar. My

17:08

stomach churned as I checked the readings.

17:12

Four hearts? That's

17:14

a lot of rats for four hearts.

17:17

That's a hell of a lot of rats. No!

17:21

I said. Elliot, stay where you

17:23

are. I need more information. I'm

17:27

going out to help. Nate

17:29

coughed. Don't.

17:32

He said. It's too late. The

17:35

sentence hit like a load of bricks

17:37

to my stomach.

17:38

From Elliot's hitched breath,

17:41

it had had a similar effect. How

17:44

many? Elliot asked.

17:47

Nate was silent for a long, agonizing

17:50

moment. Don't

17:53

look. He said. dead.

17:54

won't

18:00

protect you from this. Do

18:02

that.

18:07

I looked. Hardened

18:09

my throat, I switched back to the exterior

18:11

cameras to see Elliot waiting inside

18:14

the airlock, helmet and hand ready to

18:16

go. I saw Nate in his

18:18

suit, clinging to the hardening skin

18:20

of the dying Therida, his legs kicking

18:23

fruitless and angry in the vacuum.

18:26

He stared at the gobs of of plasma blinking

18:29

and sputtering around him and was limed

18:31

in the bracing, screaming light of

18:33

a heart star. I

18:36

checked the radiation levels again. A

18:40

hell of a lot of hearts.

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The picture was so bright that I had

21:55

to close my eyes, even with the

21:57

filter. his

22:00

eyes and he looked away, past the

22:02

dead thing into the cold stars beyond.

22:05

I gulped down saliva,

22:08

imagining the light in Nate's eyes,

22:10

the radiation slipping past

22:12

the plasma, curling his veins,

22:15

cooking his mind.

22:18

I had last heard that kind of silence

22:21

at my mother's funeral.

22:24

How many, I finally whispered.

22:28

Dozens, Nate said. 30, maybe 40.

22:34

Elliot's voice was anxious disbelief.

22:39

I

22:39

thought it was young, packless.

22:42

Now you're telling me that it's basically older

22:44

than time? You're

22:49

rich, Nate said. He

22:52

sounded dry, shredded.

22:57

You're rich too? I whispered

22:59

back. For

23:01

the next ten seconds,

23:04

this is... He gulped.

23:07

This is not how

23:09

I thought it would turn out. Elliot,

23:13

I'm leaving Garuda to you. Take

23:17

care of her.

23:20

looked up at the camera waiting for me

23:22

to weigh in. I wiped

23:24

tears from my eyes. Is

23:27

this your ship, not mine? Elliot

23:30

said. You hurt

23:32

me. Nate's words were the clipped,

23:35

forceful bullets of a man who knew he

23:37

had no time. Go!

23:41

Elliot lingered for a moment,

23:44

then stumbled back, disappearing. Reeling

23:47

his tether, I said, there

23:50

has to be something we can do. Garuda's

23:54

rad alarms kept screaming, and

23:56

even as I said it, I knew

23:59

I was lying. The

24:00

dying Theratas osmotic sack

24:03

was reading aether leakage from the corpse

24:05

like I'd never seen. Forty

24:08

hearts. Forty

24:10

hearts. Enough to curdle the plasma

24:12

inside of Garuda's hull. Enough

24:15

to power the entire empire.

24:17

Enough to keep Elliot and I in

24:20

gold and satin until the end

24:22

of time. Would

24:24

it be enough to make

24:26

up for leaving Nate behind? Even

24:29

if we gave it all away, would it make

24:31

up for anything at all? What

24:34

I was about to do. I

24:39

slammed the comm. I'm

24:42

opening the engine maw. Three

24:45

hearts. That's all we need.

24:49

Elliot's voice sounded shocked. Dammit,

24:53

Bingy, no. I'm

24:55

not giving up, El.

24:58

What the hell is happening to

25:00

me?

25:01

Nate said. No!

25:04

Nate! Don't do this!

25:07

Nate! Elliot

25:09

was in the hallway now, gunning for the engine

25:11

room. I could see him on internal

25:13

cameras, shaking and angry

25:16

and stalking. I wondered how

25:18

many rads he'd taken. Forty

25:21

hearts. I wondered if I

25:23

was dead too. with

25:26

me, Nate?" I repeated. Nate

25:29

did not respond. I

25:31

swore at him. I brought up the camera

25:34

in his suit. Nate

25:36

had nearly gone transparent. Underneath

25:39

his disappearing skin, I could see his

25:42

white eyes, a pus in

25:44

his sinuses, his white skull,

25:46

the deteriorating gray whorls of

25:49

his brain. His

25:51

body went liquid, transparent,

25:53

purple and gold and bright searing

25:56

blue. and the suit began

25:58

to disintegrate.

26:00

him. The

26:02

tears in his eyes shone last,

26:05

diamond bright. He

26:07

looked less like a human being

26:09

than an amoeba trapped

26:12

in a suit. I had only

26:14

heard of this transformation happening in stories.

26:17

I hadn't thought for a second that the stories

26:19

were based on truth.

26:24

Through the horror curdling in my throat,

26:27

I told Nate that Eliot and I

26:29

loved him, but he was

26:31

a Thera now, a beast

26:34

with no heart to guide him,

26:37

and he was just as dead as

26:39

the rest of us.

26:43

And this is the truth of

26:46

the universe. To

26:48

live, you must

26:50

kill.

26:53

We can be as moral as we want,

26:55

but the calories have to come from

26:57

somewhere, and humans can't eat stone.

27:01

Death feeds

27:02

life, and life

27:04

feeds death. The line

27:06

between greed and necessity is

27:08

a thin one, even in the all-consuming

27:11

vacuum, even as we spread

27:14

past Mercy Station to the

27:16

entire damned galaxy.

27:20

We don't have to kill the Thera

27:22

to. We could have stayed on

27:24

our rickety little stations, our dying

27:27

little world. It

27:29

might have even been a good life. We

27:32

don't have to gamble with the blood in our veins

27:34

and the beat of our hearts, but where

27:37

would we be without our starlit

27:39

drives, the sack that keeps

27:41

us alive,

27:42

the dreams that the Thera to give

27:44

us?

27:45

Could we be huddled on our own tiny

27:48

world, dying around the ancient

27:50

fires that ruined our planet?

27:53

How far will

27:55

we go?

27:58

We like to think of ho-

28:00

as the impetus that caused us

28:02

to cross oceans, mountain

28:05

ranges, the space between Earth

28:07

and Mars and the asteroids

28:09

and finally galaxies, but it

28:12

is greed. It has always

28:16

been greed,

28:17

even when we think we are

28:20

better than that. Elliot

28:26

came up to the bridge.

28:27

His face was paler than mine,

28:30

as white as water.

28:31

And he kissed me as if it was the last time.

28:35

I knew what was happening.

28:38

We were both dead.

28:40

I thought of the hearts I'd just been

28:42

dragging into the engine maw.

28:45

What if I ate one,

28:47

consumed it? Would I die human

28:50

or breathe starlight for a hundred

28:52

years? His

28:55

lips felt warm and his body

28:57

was still human, so I fumbled with

28:59

the fastenings on his suit.

29:02

The thrill of the forty stars

29:05

reached our fingers, began turning

29:07

our skin transparent, squeezed

29:10

terror and exhaustion into

29:13

our trembling hearts. I

29:16

ripped the suit off and

29:18

we cried.

29:21

We would soon be something else ourselves,

29:24

but

29:24

for right now, we were

29:26

human. We're

29:31

rich, he whispered. We

29:34

were 40 hearts, 40,

29:37

enough to buy an entire world, enough

29:40

to commandeer a thousand Garuda's,

29:43

to drink armies, to race to

29:45

the end of time itself.

29:47

Worthless,

29:50

I whispered back, unwilling to stop

29:52

touching him, even as

29:55

I changed. I

29:58

have a plan. Elliot

30:00

reached up with his bony flickering hand,

30:03

pushing back my hair. He

30:05

was nearly transparent now. I

30:08

could see the blood in his arteries,

30:10

his liver, his grey pumping

30:13

heart. He traced his

30:15

hand up my arm, right above

30:17

the radius, slipping into view. Without

30:21

his face, Elliot looked

30:23

less like the man I love and

30:26

more like an anatomy drawing. A

30:29

biology textbook, cells,

30:31

endothelia, plagellae,

30:35

food in his stomach and crap in

30:37

his rectum, and all of that soon to

30:39

end as well.

30:42

He turned to Garuda's command

30:44

chair, dragging his liquid hand

30:47

out of my grasp. You

30:50

can save me, he whispered through

30:52

a lipless mouth. I'll

30:55

eat a heart. I

30:57

bet I'll transform. You

31:01

can upload. Go

31:03

for help. Scientists

31:06

will have plenty of time.

31:09

I'll have a hundred years, two

31:11

hundred, and you will have forty

31:14

hearts in your belly."

31:17

No, I whispered. I'm

31:20

not going to leave you behind. I'm

31:23

changing. Maybe

31:26

I can change back. I

31:29

looked down at my hands. They

31:31

had started to flicker. I

31:34

felt a calm sort of fear,

31:37

a burning sort of pain, a

31:40

star-bright hunger. No. And

31:43

I'll knock you out and make

31:45

you do it. It's illegal.

31:49

They'll kill Garuda's core

31:51

Gestalt, and then you'll be out there forever.

31:54

You're this screwed and you're worrying

31:57

about something being illegal?

31:58

I started to panic.

32:01

They'll wipe me from the banks and

32:04

I won't be able to find you. You

32:07

can do this, Eris.

32:10

Elliot's fingers were limed in purple.

32:13

It sounded like he was drowning. You

32:16

will find me.

32:19

I thought of the dying Therida outside.

32:23

Had it been born that way? Had

32:26

it been human or Ophelian

32:28

or some other damned mortal

32:30

thing? Had it dreamed

32:33

of being human? Would

32:36

Eliot in a few minutes? I

32:40

could not leave him behind. Where's

32:43

the rig? I whispered.

32:46

Even his bones were gone now.

32:49

appointed, no longer

32:51

able to speak.

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34:40

Elliot

34:45

could have been the one to tell you all of

34:47

this but for the fact that he loved

34:49

me. Call me Garuda

34:52

or call me Aris. Either

34:55

one is correct. Garuda is

34:57

not dead. The ship is

34:59

me now, every inch of it.

35:02

From the AI synapses firing

35:04

in the computer core to the breech severed

35:06

skin that aches, brilliant,

35:09

and broken against the endless darkness. I

35:13

am no Gestalt, but I am

35:15

as immortal as any rusty thing

35:17

can be. I

35:19

am illegal,

35:21

and I am in love. And

35:23

you will not stand in

35:25

my way with this ridiculous

35:27

customs inspection. This

35:32

is your choice, Mercy

35:34

Soldier. No matter

35:36

what you do to my new body, I

35:38

will not forget that I was Aris

35:41

once. Garuda's gunner, Nate's

35:44

friend, Elliot's lover,

35:46

as damned and as human as you.

35:50

I loved people. I

35:52

drank coffee and vodka, danced,

35:56

sang, wished, hoped.

36:00

Elliot made

36:02

sure I had my mind, that

36:05

I could remember where to go when I

36:07

awoke and took control of my new

36:09

metal form, that I could track

36:11

him and find him and defend

36:14

him until the research bears

36:16

out a cure for his star-bright affliction.

36:19

It might take a hundred years. I

36:22

might have to destroy every thera

36:24

to hunter out there to make sure Elliot

36:26

will live.

36:30

I do not care.

36:33

If Elliot committed a sin

36:36

uploading me to Garuda's core, I

36:38

am glad of it. Just

36:41

as glad as you will be to let me

36:43

leave with my secret intact and 39 hearts

36:46

in my engine. One

36:49

heart.

36:50

Will that

36:53

be enough to make your face turn in the

36:55

opposite direction when I go? when I go? Or

36:58

will you need to? Greed

37:03

is something I understand now. Are

37:06

you thinking of putting that heart in a

37:08

starlet engine and taking to the

37:11

hunt yourself?

37:13

I know how seductive that thought

37:15

can be. It doesn't

37:17

matter to you that you might end up in hell.

37:20

You're just thinking about the 40 stars and

37:24

all the things you could buy when

37:27

you're done. I

37:30

already see you scrambling at your comm

37:33

units, at your sensor rigs, at

37:35

your spies among the Ophelians. You

37:38

think you will make better decisions

37:40

than Nate and Elliot and I.

37:43

You think you

37:45

won't ever be desperate. You'll

37:49

conveniently forget that there is nothing

37:51

we could have done to save ourselves.

37:55

You will think that you will

37:58

do better.

38:00

Don't forget a blanket when

38:02

you go. Forty

38:04

hearts burn like an apocalypse,

38:06

but they will never keep you warm.

38:11

You will need gunboats and

38:14

suits,

38:15

laser cutters and open-mod

38:18

cargo bays, brawn

38:21

and a stout heart, and

38:23

God on your side.

38:37

There are lots

38:39

of reasons that I like this story.

38:42

First, I think that

38:44

she's very, very clever with

38:46

the form. I mean, she

38:49

wastes no time

38:50

getting right to the

38:53

action in this story. And

38:58

the way our narrator

39:00

brings us through the events, and

39:05

then we discover that

39:08

she's telling this tale

39:10

to someone else besides us.

39:15

It's pretty cool.

39:16

And then of course, beginning

39:19

and ending the story the same way

39:21

with the same words. It doesn't

39:23

always work, but it does for

39:25

me in this case. Of

39:28

course, there's the obvious parallels

39:31

to wailing to be drawn, but

39:34

to me, the deeper issue

39:37

is greed.

39:42

The greed

39:45

of humans has driven some

39:48

of the worst decisions in

39:50

human history and And it is

39:52

also, in

39:54

my view, the cause of so

39:58

much suffering. So,

40:02

here's the thing. If this

40:06

perpetual state of greed

40:08

is so intrinsic

40:10

to who we are as human beings, what

40:16

measures can we take to fight

40:18

against that tendency? You know,

40:22

they that once you achieve

40:24

a certain level of income,

40:26

of wealth, that

40:28

10x that doesn't

40:31

make you any happier, right? And

40:35

why is there a tendency

40:38

in us to

40:40

want to ensure that as

40:43

much as I have, I'm not

40:46

satisfied unless there

40:50

are a whole bunch of others that have

40:52

less than I do. I

40:54

mean, that's that kind of thinking is

40:56

responsible for so many

40:59

of our isms, right? The

41:01

struggle for power on this planet

41:03

has led to racism, sexism,

41:06

classism,

41:08

right? But we know

41:11

that this planet, at

41:13

least

41:14

when we're not trying to destroy it,

41:17

we know that this planet could sustain

41:20

us. And I wonder if we've

41:22

passed the point of no return. I think

41:25

the experts are saying that perhaps we have.

41:28

But I have to believe that there is some sort of

41:31

intervention. There's some sort of method.

41:34

there's some sort of measures

41:38

that we might take

41:39

to prove that we

41:42

are indeed better than

41:44

that. What

41:46

can I do on an individual

41:49

level to

41:52

stop the madness of greed?

41:55

I know I've got more stuff than I

41:58

barely have space for.

42:01

in my life and

42:03

truth be told I really don't need

42:07

all of this stuff. Is

42:13

greed born into us? Are we born

42:16

into greed? Or

42:19

is it something that we learn along

42:22

the way? It's

42:25

stories

42:26

like this one, that remind

42:28

me

42:29

of the perilous nature of the journey

42:31

that we are on and encourage

42:35

me to do better, to

42:39

be better,

42:42

to swim against the tide.

42:47

["The The

42:53

The The

42:55

Our producer on this episode of

42:57

LaVar Burton Reads is Julia

43:00

Marie Smith. She's the best in the business, y'all.

43:03

Our researcher is LaKisha Lewis. So

43:05

glad you are aboard my sister.

43:07

Editing and sound designed by the very brilliant

43:10

Brendan Burns. Our sound

43:12

engineering is by Brendan Burns and

43:14

my favorite

43:15

engineer, LaVar Burton. My

43:18

thanks to Karen Osborne for allowing me

43:20

to read her story today. If you enjoyed

43:22

it as much as I did, please check

43:24

out her novels, Architects of Memory

43:27

and Engines of Oblivion, both

43:30

recently published by Tor Books and available

43:33

wherever. Books are sold.

43:36

If you like the podcast, please leave

43:38

us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell

43:40

a friend.