0:01

Following the production of my art

0:03

raining. This episode contains

0:05

depictions of strong violence, drug use,

0:07

and sexual coercion. A

0:14

second oil rage. I'd

0:35

barely climbed out of the airlock well before

0:37

the proteus suit disgorged me. It

0:40

opened up like a great clam and spilled

0:42

me out onto the dive room floor. I

0:46

glanced back just in time to see

0:48

the armored shell cave in on itself,

0:50

melting back down the well as a column

0:53

of slime, warning

0:56

security breach, Please

0:58

proceed to the nearest,

1:02

coated in a patina of alien fluid.

1:05

I rose to a crouch and marked

1:07

the rhythmic blinking of alarm strobes,

1:10

the smell of blood over

1:12

by a cluster of lockers, The dive

1:14

boots of a corpse poked out from

1:16

behind an overturned bench, A

1:19

smashed graph ink pro lay by

1:21

its side. Hoffman,

1:26

I rose to my feet and took a cautious

1:29

step forward. The severity

1:31

of his wounds made me grimace. Blood

1:34

and hemorrhaged brain tissue pooled

1:36

beneath his shattered skull. A

1:40

burn in the shape of a human

1:42

hand branded his upper face

1:44

and forehead. It

1:47

wasn't the work of Triton or neread.

1:50

It could only be the

1:52

other, the void walker,

1:56

the thing that wore veils consciousness

1:58

as a mask. I

2:01

studied his frozen expression, his

2:04

eyes brimmed with vacancy. Did

2:08

the thing wear Hoffman? Now, I

2:10

wondered? Did it? Rushed

2:13

aboard a departing sub with his face

2:15

his communit his we have a

2:18

story for you. What

2:21

had happened here? While

2:24

I hunted for Bouklan and apathists

2:26

tested their handiwork something

2:29

from the outside, something

2:32

nearly mythic, even to the Triton's

2:34

lashed out at both surface and deep.

2:38

In doing so, it framed me and,

2:40

by extension, dux

2:43

itself. My escape

2:45

only cemented the presumption of guilt.

2:50

What version of the truth would it

2:52

bring to the surface? In Hoffmann's guise,

2:55

I could guess its

2:58

ends might be uncertain, The

3:00

methodology was clear, So

3:03

division set uncertain

3:05

allies against each other. What

3:08

better place than here? I

3:12

checked the lockers and found a dive knife.

3:15

It wasn't engineered for zero spin

3:17

throwing. It didn't sharpen at my touch,

3:20

but it would do the job against

3:23

all but one. I

3:26

stepped over Hoffman's body and

3:28

left him for the inevitable clean up crew.

3:32

The room's only door unlocked and

3:34

slid into the wall. At my approach, triggered

3:37

by Jack's communit, a

3:40

vacant corridor opened up before

3:42

me. Blinking emergency

3:44

lights played off the naked pipes

3:46

and wires. I

3:49

knew what I needed to do. I

3:51

knew what Veil would have done. I

3:54

had to bring the truth back to the surface.

3:58

It might be enough. I

4:02

wormed my way through the vacant

4:04

halls. I followed the blood

4:07

past body after body, Land

4:09

spoke and recombined the like dismembered

4:12

with unmistakable precision, though

4:15

none of them bore the Burnemark Hoffman

4:18

head. They slumped

4:20

against walls and portholes,

4:22

all reduced to the same lifeless

4:24

meat. I

4:27

felt the tug of the black drug's absence

4:30

as I passed the first crew cabin cluster.

4:33

I wondered if they'd had time to search my room,

4:36

where there's still two vials of Basilisk

4:38

tucked away in my bag, an umber black

4:40

blade wrapped in a spare shirt. If

4:43

I could just tighten my will and reactions,

4:45

upgrade my weaponry, then a

4:48

head a hatch flew open, and two

4:50

Youdex security guards slumped out

4:52

into the hall, entangled

4:54

in sensual embrace, hands

4:58

pawing, searching, lips,

5:00

frothing. They hit the opposite

5:02

wall and slid down to the floor.

5:06

Fetis emerged behind

5:08

them. I ducked

5:10

down a converging hall and froze against

5:12

the bulkhead. I readied the knife in one

5:15

trembling hand. Now

5:21

I didn't have to see to

5:24

know good.

5:29

My breathing is too loud. My

5:31

heart, I knew she'd hear me, reach

5:34

out to my mind before I could strike.

5:37

I was no match, not

5:39

like this. Closer

5:42

and closer. Another

5:45

door rolled open. When

5:47

it closed, I moved. I leaped

5:49

over the two doomed guards as they chewed

5:52

into each other's faces, moaning

5:54

with the cross wired pleasure of mutilation,

5:57

eyes rolling back like something

5:59

from the poles of Hell. I

6:02

didn't look at that. Yeah,

6:16

m hmmm, Ladies

6:28

and gentlemen, Peter Booklem,

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thank you, thank you. I

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know you've heard a lot of great speakers

6:41

today. You've heard a lot of amazing

6:44

ideas about how we can change

6:46

course, how we can harness the forces

6:49

of innovation for a better world, for

6:51

brighter tomorrow. And no, I

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don't mean deeper oil wells. I

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don't even mean hydrothermal, which

6:58

I realized is something of us prize

7:00

coming from me. I do believe

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that's the future of energy. It sustained

7:05

the Triton's from millennia, and it can

7:07

do the same for all of us. But

7:10

now what I want to suggest

7:12

to you goes beyond even benign

7:14

exploitation of our planet's resources.

7:18

Today, I want to talk to

7:20

you about the science of despeciation,

7:23

the necessary process by which

7:25

two species become

7:27

one.

7:43

Depis

7:47

the horrible transt.

7:49

They'll call

7:50

me through

7:54

our word later

7:58

tomorrow. Want this silent

8:03

later written a word

8:17

on traditional specifical

8:20

well Satis

8:34

patrols persons

8:44

around yan.

9:05

I cut through the bazaar. Its

9:07

empty alleyways, wet from the rain

9:09

of sprinklers, A burned

9:11

out fry shop and a looted storefront

9:13

told me all I needed to know. A

9:17

worker lay in two halves beside

9:19

a glitching tero machine. Empress

9:22

and scepter flashed across the

9:24

blood splattered screen. I

9:29

pushed on through the alley of saints

9:31

and oceanic gods, their

9:33

altars washed in the blood of their last

9:35

attendance. The

9:38

triton shaped bust of mother hydra

9:40

lay toppled and shattered across the

9:42

grated floor. There

9:45

was still no theetis to block my path,

9:48

but she knew where I'd go. If

9:51

not my quarters, then

9:53

the subs I

9:56

sprinted the remaining lengths of hallway,

9:58

ignoring my wound, more

10:02

blood, more abandoned

10:04

gear, and baggage, to mark an increasingly

10:07

frenzied evacuation footprints

10:10

in the gore A technician

10:13

clutching a dive knife. There's

10:15

spinal column laid bare. Please

10:18

proceed to the nearest evacuation

10:20

hub. I reached the docking

10:22

station module. The door rolled

10:25

aside to grant me entrance, and

10:28

there it was one

10:31

remaining docked vessel, the very

10:33

Gladious class sub I'd arrived on,

10:36

and no fetis. I

10:40

ran across the cargo bay, weaving

10:42

among its stacked and sordid crates

10:44

shipments from the surface compressed

10:47

garbage tubes bound for return. I

10:50

shot into the Gladious sub's open cargo

10:52

bay and slammed the manual switch to close

10:55

it behind me. Please,

11:00

great community, The

11:02

great door rolled into place, and

11:05

I caught one last glimpse of Atlas

11:07

station alarm lights gleaming

11:09

in trails of blood, and

11:12

just a hint of movements before

11:14

the door blocked my view and the locking

11:16

bolts shot home. A

11:19

pale pursuer. Welcome

11:23

passengers are Hanka Jacks.

11:26

I stalked across the empty cargo hold

11:29

to the crew module. Even

11:31

without my own community, the automated

11:33

system would recognize Jacksons and follow

11:35

evacuation protocol. Okay.

11:44

I opened the door and saw two

11:46

blood smeared communits on the cot,

11:49

and she stood beside

11:51

it. Blonde hair

11:54

fell to shoulder length, the

11:56

jeans and jacket of a surface pedestrian

11:59

now soaked in gore. She

12:02

held one human arm

12:04

out to the side, blood

12:07

still dripping from the fingertips.

12:11

My knife hand tensed the

12:13

muscle, memory of training and instinct.

12:16

It would have given me a chance against any

12:19

other foe

12:21

veil. She

12:24

turned casually,

12:27

as if this was but a social call.

12:30

She regarded me with those same

12:32

eyes, flawlessly

12:35

human eyes. I

12:38

know you're in there, I

12:41

know you're more than just a mask. We

12:44

can stop this. Why

12:46

would we stop it?

12:48

It wants us at war with each

12:50

other, at war with ourselves,

12:54

wants only silent death,

12:57

no life across a billion

12:59

world, silence in

13:01

the mind veil.

13:04

Tabitha, you came

13:07

for the truth, a message

13:09

of change. Her

13:12

face twitched, her

13:14

eyes trembled. I

13:17

want to try it.

13:21

I. Her

13:24

flesh loosened like an

13:26

unraveling shroud, dry

13:29

membranous wings of indeterminable

13:32

shape, shredded her blood soaked

13:34

clothes, and fanned the stagnant

13:36

air of tune and all

13:39

ruin. Within

13:43

the whirlwind of flesh, I caught

13:45

the scarcest glimpse of its true form,

13:48

the thing that lurked beneath the layers

13:51

of semblance, and enacted

13:53

it's inhuman will. It's

13:57

because your mind's had

13:59

a turning place. The

14:02

eyes were still veils, but

14:05

the swirling tissue was already reforming

14:08

in the likeness of a woman's bloodied

14:10

and bruised rows of horizontal

14:13

black bars tattooed over scalp,

14:16

forehead and throat the

14:19

one who would deliver its message.

14:23

You're stronger than this thing. You're

14:25

the one who believes. I know you

14:28

can resist. She

14:31

moved, and I felt

14:33

the burn of her palm against my

14:35

forehead. And

14:38

history

14:42

is a spiral m

15:00

m m

15:29

M. The

15:35

second oil age was produced by Robert Lamb

15:38

Alex William Slowen's Vogel Bomb and

15:40

Josh Than. This episode featured

15:42

on Joe Masters as SnO Khan, Lauren

15:45

vogelbaumb as Tabotha Veil, Helen

15:48

Lorn as Thetis, and Nicholas

15:50

Dacosti as Peter Gluckman, supporting

15:53

voice work by Gina Rakii and Josh

15:55

Clark intro outro,

15:57

and supporting music created by a

16:00

weird in Module. Learn more at

16:02

Module dot

16:04

dom camp dot com.

17:00

Mm HM from

17:33

more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

17:35

the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts

17:38

or when I may listen to your favorite shows