[SPEAKER_04]: In the darkest room on the lowest floor of the worst maintained tower of the least funded prison on a planet used to house the galaxy's worst criminals sits our prisoner.
[SPEAKER_04]: Despite his substantial size, he sits on a small bench, crowned between three other people from different planets, who have done barely more than breathe since they took their seats next to him.
[SPEAKER_04]: This does not affect our prisoner, who has tired, depressed, and in desperate need of a smoke.
[SPEAKER_04]: His eyes hover over the brick and mortar that construct the walls of the tower, and he counts the individual grooves.
[SPEAKER_04]: Soon his vision goes fuzzy from the sheer boredom.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner wants to die.
[SPEAKER_04]: The room is dark, humid, and somehow albeit seemingly against the logic of the universe.
[SPEAKER_04]: Dry.
[SPEAKER_04]: There is a breeze that passes through occasionally though.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner does not know nor does he care to know.
[SPEAKER_04]: Where it comes from?
[SPEAKER_04]: Fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long, it looks more like a large hallway than a holding cell in a prison.
[SPEAKER_04]: The benches and chairs are thrown about the large room without a sense of order or even thought.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, big guy.
[SPEAKER_04]: The sound comes from across the dank room where a small man who is eyeing our prisoner intently, usher's him to come over.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner considers this proposal for a moment, wondering whether he should move from his uncomfortable spot to the far more spacious bench.
[SPEAKER_04]: But the con to those pros seems invariably to be the company of a very eager man.
[SPEAKER_04]: However, our prisoner does not like to disappoint people, nor to see enjoy causing them pain or frustration.
[SPEAKER_04]: So, almost subconsciously, our prisoner stands up, and slowly lumbar's ten feet across the room to join, the very intensely dressed man.
[SPEAKER_01]: Samson, nice to meet you.
[SPEAKER_04]: He wears a bright yellow button-down shirt covered by a white suit jacket adorned with purple polka dots.
[SPEAKER_04]: His pants are of a similar pattern, but sparkle with a silvery glitter, and when he turns his body, the angle of the pants shift color momentarily to a vague blue, or perhaps red, before they inevitably return to their original hue of royal purple.
[SPEAKER_04]: His hood, a magnificent draping cavern which looks like it could belong to an order of witches and warlocks in a far-off land, is perfectly connected to his suit jacket as if they were one and the same.
[SPEAKER_04]: His shoes, or really boots, for they are hard and sturdy, like a workman's shoe, are a menagerie of colors spilled seemingly at random, but within them hundreds, if not thousands of possible images flow.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner does not respond to Samsung.
[SPEAKER_04]: He is too distracted by his new acquaintances outfit to even form a thought.
[SPEAKER_04]: Finally, when our prisoner's silence goes noticed, Samsung clears his throat and stands to show off the outfit to the giant.
[SPEAKER_04]: Who even while sitting, is bigger than Samsung is when standing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't ask me where I got to get up, long story, but it's great, right?
[SPEAKER_04]: It is.
[SPEAKER_04]: He holds a fun walking cane, which appears to be more for effect than practicality, as there are no signs that Samson has any problem standing or walking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are interesting clothes too, aren't they?
[SPEAKER_04]: Really?
[SPEAKER_01]: Would I lie to you?
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't know you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go on, stand up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give us a twirl, baby.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner stands and realizes that he is nearly twice the height of Samson.
[SPEAKER_04]: Does not seem perturbed by our prisoner's immense size in the slightest.
[SPEAKER_04]: Instead, he admires our prisoner's finally woven toga, resembling the stars in the sky, which drapes about him and hangs down to his paw-like feet, open on the sides to allow for breathing.
[SPEAKER_04]: Large, jagged horns jut from his forehead.
[SPEAKER_04]: But while the one on the left side of his face remains intact, the right one is broken and chipped.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then Samsung notices.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm.
[SPEAKER_01]: You should let those loose.
[SPEAKER_01]: Must be killing your back.
[SPEAKER_07]: My do not feel pain.
[SPEAKER_07]: Besides.
[SPEAKER_07]: Perhaps not the best of time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody gives a shit about anything down here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I still can't figure these fucks up.
[SPEAKER_07]: Do you know much about the anatomy of a bird?
[SPEAKER_01]: I suppose so, but what does that have to... Oh, of course.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're the size of a god damn tree.
[SPEAKER_01]: And need... You're an interesting one, aren't you?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your name?
[SPEAKER_07]: It's... Oh, um, wait.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_07]: But no.
[UNKNOWN]: It was.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then... What?
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you forgetting your name?
[UNKNOWN]: What?
[SPEAKER_06]: No.
[UNKNOWN]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, it's alright.
[SPEAKER_01]: I ain't gonna judge ya.
[SPEAKER_01]: whether it be through meditation, dementia, or just get all fashion drugs, people lose themselves eventually.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you come from anyway?
[SPEAKER_01]: I've never seen one like you before.
[SPEAKER_01]: You need for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we got legends of what we all draw on my planet, but they're less annoyed like for sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're hooking creatures, almost mythical beasts.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not what I would have imagined, but hey, the universe is a mysterious place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, if you don't mind me asking, uh, what happened to that on?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, the war wounds, born with it, cursed by a witch extractor?
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't remember anymore.
[SPEAKER_07]: Let's be in a very long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Memories are a bitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those mornings I can't even remember what I was doing that night before, but I think that might be something else.
[SPEAKER_01]: Please, my mother calls me Samson.
[SPEAKER_01]: May she forever float into the eternal.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can call me Sam, Sammy, Sam Boozle.
[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't had a buddy call me the Samson either, but you don't need to be so formal.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been here a few days now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I won't even have to let it get to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: On my planet, there is a very serious debate about the origins of the universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I would assume, there is on every planet.
[SPEAKER_01]: None of us know, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all just one big mystery.
[SPEAKER_01]: As I always say, but the mystery be.
[SPEAKER_01]: We spend so much time concerned about the origins of life that we forget to live.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is no way that spending precious hours of your days and weeks praying or building elaborate ridiculous temples to worship deities that we are no way can prove the existence of is a good way to spend our time and money.
[SPEAKER_07]: So this is what got you arrested.
[SPEAKER_01]: Heh, you're quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they don't like people criticizing them.
[SPEAKER_01]: On my planet, you're actually legally required to attend a congregation of some former and other, once a week, or it's up to a penalty of death.
[SPEAKER_01]: But most people, look the other way with us agnosenities.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the ones who don't know if there is a creator, or like me, would outright reject their rule, because this universe is cruel and unruly, untenable, even.
[SPEAKER_01]: If there is a plan, it's a pretty shit one.
[SPEAKER_07]: Time surprised you didn't get the death penalty.
[SPEAKER_04]: They sit in silence for a few moments as a guard brings a new prisoner into the room, silently indicating all the open spots, including the space between our prisoner and Samsung, which is just large enough to sit one person.
[SPEAKER_04]: The new prisoner looks at them, but it doesn't take long for him to surmise that Samsung is not the person to sit next to, as he is far too energetic and talkative.
[SPEAKER_04]: Samson and our prisoner watch the new arrival go to the opposite corner of the room from them and take a seat next to a black cloaked bug-like creature from some distant solar system.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, how did you end up here?
[SPEAKER_07]: Pistar for cold.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ah!
[SPEAKER_01]: So you know what it's like.
[SPEAKER_07]: More than you think.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I can tell.
[SPEAKER_01]: I swear I know where you come from.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just can't put a finger on it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You mustn't be very old if I don't know it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was top of all my astronomy classes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what is it then?
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your homeworld?
[SPEAKER_06]: I don't remember.
[SPEAKER_01]: How can you forget your homeworld?
[SPEAKER_07]: The same way you forget your name.
[SPEAKER_07]: With time.
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I think you're just being pessimistic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's work our way backwards.
[SPEAKER_01]: You said you pissed off a cult.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tell me about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Paint me a picture.
[SPEAKER_07]: I was living on a remote planet somewhere out from the Kyper Belt of... hoodie on.
[SPEAKER_01]: Integrity?
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, thank you.
[SPEAKER_07]: Living is a strong word and surviving wouldn't do a justice either.
[SPEAKER_07]: I was existing in time and space on this little planet, run by a religious cellets who praised the obsidian monoliths that jutted from the earth, placed thousands of years earlier by their own order.
[SPEAKER_07]: They were a powerful force despite their small numbers.
[SPEAKER_07]: They did not recruit many into the order but ruled the planet with the fist of a Titan.
[SPEAKER_07]: I was poor at this point.
[SPEAKER_07]: No, destitute as the word I'm looking for.
[SPEAKER_07]: I had long since lost my ship.
[SPEAKER_07]: I had succumbed to my love, f-tams and crash.
[SPEAKER_07]: I would drink and smoke to forget the problems I was suffering day in and day out.
[SPEAKER_07]: My friends were the in-keep and the butcher.
[SPEAKER_07]: The in-keep was an older man, very sickly and very kind.
[SPEAKER_07]: his daughter ran the kitchen, and his husband took care of the rooms, changing the sheets and, dusting the cobwebs from the long forgotten corners, baseboards and mantels.
[SPEAKER_07]: The husband and the daughter did not speak much to me.
[SPEAKER_07]: They were quiet types, quite introspective, and really only took to a few people
[SPEAKER_07]: The him keep however old as he was, older even than his husband.
[SPEAKER_07]: Had an appetite for conversation, he could spin a tail as good as any of the best.
[SPEAKER_07]: He'd sit behind the counter of the bar and talk to me while I ate the food he so generously provided me.
[SPEAKER_07]: Not that I ever truly needed it.
[SPEAKER_07]: He'd tell me all about his adventures as a young space fairing smuggler, transporting illegal goods from across the galaxy, using cryogenic pods to survive the journeys.
[SPEAKER_07]: He'd actually been born son.
[SPEAKER_07]: That's very old.
[SPEAKER_07]: He was past the average lifespan of his people and he knew it.
[SPEAKER_07]: He met his husband and decided to settle down after the smugglers business started to wane.
[SPEAKER_07]: He told me that he lost his drive when he'd seen too many planets dead by the time they arrived.
[SPEAKER_07]: Mystery takes its toll and to see such catastrophe only speeds up the process.
[SPEAKER_07]: After sleeping and eating free of charge, I felt indebted to my friend the Inkeep.
[SPEAKER_07]: I would walk around at the small town of Inkeep.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I heard about this.
[SPEAKER_07]: At the tip of the southern hemisphere, the air was warm and dry.
[SPEAKER_07]: I walked, mainly, because I like to walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good doesn't.
[SPEAKER_07]: But I also walked in search of work, or people to help.
[SPEAKER_07]: I searched for anything I could do to repay the kindness of the in-game and his family.
[SPEAKER_07]: That is how I befriended the butcher.
[SPEAKER_07]: His was a small shop, but it had the best cuts of Bevan and Chow that could be found.
[SPEAKER_07]: He did not often require help as he was such a diligent worker, but one day is the clock struck seventeen, and to the town's people all ascend to the hills prey at the nearby monolith.
[SPEAKER_07]: I found him still working.
[SPEAKER_07]: As I entered the shop, he marveled at the silence.
[SPEAKER_07]: I did always appreciate the quiet at seventeen whenever one left to pray.
[SPEAKER_07]: He seems to be appreciating it for the first time.
[SPEAKER_07]: I did however offer my concerns as to his standing with thee.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fingers of the chosen?
[SPEAKER_07]: Hmm.
[SPEAKER_07]: They are a British group indeed.
[SPEAKER_07]: He told me he was inspired by me and that he saw how, freeing it seemed not to participate in the daily ritual that he desired to feel what I felt.
[SPEAKER_07]: And so he did.
[SPEAKER_07]: I could not fault him for wanting to dig a break from the monotony of a task he had performed every day since he was
[SPEAKER_07]: ushered into the world by the mother soul, or that is the tale parents tell their children on this planet.
[SPEAKER_07]: We had not spoken unto that point, which is why I was surprised I had impacted him so.
[SPEAKER_07]: I had not been an inky that very long and had only just befriended the inky, so to have the butcher tell me I was his inspiration, whose strange feeling
[SPEAKER_07]: I sat with him for a while listening to his thoughts.
[SPEAKER_07]: He spoke of good and bad revenge and forgiveness, pain and happiness.
[SPEAKER_07]: He argued for the righteous equality of all and against the entrenched powers of the religious oligarchy that controlled his homeland.
[SPEAKER_07]: He spoke of beauty and community.
[SPEAKER_07]: We even shared a drink and philosophized on the nature of love.
[SPEAKER_07]: When the time came and the hour of prayer was over, the people of the village descended the hill and returned to their shops and homes.
[SPEAKER_07]: As I left, I saw the local tailor enter the butcher shop to inquire after his absence.
[SPEAKER_07]: Concerned, I linger a while, looking into the window of his shop.
[SPEAKER_07]: They spoke for a little while, and when she came out her face was twisted in a shape of confused thoughtfulness.
[SPEAKER_07]: When she saw me, her face returned to a smile, and she asked if there was anything she could get for me.
[SPEAKER_07]: The next day, I went about my regular routine, eating and smoking with the inkeep, who was weaving a tail that seemed almost familiar to me, and for a moment I felt as though I hadn't met the inkeep before, in some recent time.
[SPEAKER_07]: Little probably when he wouldn't remember.
[SPEAKER_07]: Then I took my walk.
[SPEAKER_07]: I decided once again to visit the butcher.
[SPEAKER_07]: See how he was doing.
[SPEAKER_07]: to my surprise, there was a group of nearly ten people all gathered inside his tiny shop, a room, merely large enough to accommodate my significant structure, that alone ten people of roughly half to a third of my own.
[SPEAKER_07]: I stood outside and listened.
[SPEAKER_07]: The butcher saw me and smiled.
[SPEAKER_07]: Before continuing his speech about building a better community separate from the fingers of the chosen.
[SPEAKER_07]: A community of people not gods.
[SPEAKER_07]: The butcher asked me to be involved in his crusade against the fingers, but I expressed my concern to him that the world he loved and wanted to see improve was also reluctant to change, and that he would face many obstacles, the most obvious one being death.
[SPEAKER_07]: He understood, but I could tell he was dissatisfied.
[SPEAKER_07]: He wanted to see change, to make change occur in his lifetime.
[SPEAKER_07]: I didn't have the heart to tell him that isn't how it works.
[SPEAKER_07]: The next day I decided I would help the butcher with his plan.
[SPEAKER_07]: I too wanted to see change even if it felt like every effort was for nothing.
[SPEAKER_07]: When I got to his shop a few people were gathered in fact more than the day before.
[SPEAKER_07]: But it was not long after I arrived that several dozen more citizens of the village appeared and gathered outside the shop.
[SPEAKER_07]: There were so many people that the butcher decided to move the meeting into the street.
[SPEAKER_07]: Within five minutes of his speech starting, it seemed likely entire town was there.
[SPEAKER_07]: They listened quietly, intently, and thoughtfully.
[SPEAKER_07]: When they liked what he had to say they cheered, and if they disagreed, he would ask why.
[SPEAKER_07]: Someone from the crowd would inevitably counter, and he would either retort with a thought that, at the crowd agreeing again, or he would defer to the crowd's judgment and agree instead with them.
[SPEAKER_07]: I had never seen anything like it, or at least it felt as though I had never seen it.
[SPEAKER_07]: The meeting was success except for the hiccup in the middle, in a leader of the brethren.
[SPEAKER_07]: A sworn group of task masters who were, in effect, extensions of the fingers of the chosen who carried out their will throughout the planet.
[SPEAKER_07]: arrived and began to use their ancient rhetoric, which have been used for countless generations to shame, and oppress the people.
[SPEAKER_07]: She called them Jolie's and organs, terms which many years before had been deemed offensive, oppressive, and purposefully hurtful towards people of other ideologies.
[SPEAKER_07]: Sadly, it worked.
[SPEAKER_07]: For more than me and the butcher would have liked.
[SPEAKER_07]: Many bowed their heads in shame and walked away, but some took the butcher's hands and stared in his eyes communicating solidarity.
[SPEAKER_07]: When the crowd dispersed, the brethren asked if we could speak in the butcher's shop.
[SPEAKER_07]: We went inside and spoke for hours.
[SPEAKER_07]: It felt like it could have been days.
[SPEAKER_07]: The sun did set, and perhaps it rose.
[SPEAKER_07]: But at this point, day and night are such an extracable thing.
[SPEAKER_07]: At the end of the discussion, she pretended to be satisfied with the way it had played out.
[SPEAKER_07]: Despite nothing being resolved.
[SPEAKER_07]: She offered to buy a string at the end.
[SPEAKER_07]: I kindly refused.
[SPEAKER_07]: I stood the butcher.
[SPEAKER_07]: The brother and leader left in a slight huff, but tried not to seem agitated.
[SPEAKER_07]: They did not want to scare the butcher.
[SPEAKER_07]: At night the brethren sent a message to the capital city in the northern hemisphere, where the council of the fingers of the chosen lived in a near perpetual darkness.
[SPEAKER_07]: The butcher and myself began leading eating on the daily.
[SPEAKER_07]: I scare the brethren away simply by existing
[SPEAKER_07]: Every time they appeared near readings all I had to do was look at them and make a step toward them and they would flee.
[SPEAKER_07]: I do not know why they feared me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you're huge.
[SPEAKER_07]: Yes, I suppose.
[SPEAKER_07]: But I am not one for violence.
[SPEAKER_07]: There was a time when the only solution was the acts or the tone.
[SPEAKER_07]: But those days were well behind me even at this time.
[SPEAKER_07]: We brought most of the town's people back, but there were some who were too weak to stand against the righteous indignation of the brethren.
[SPEAKER_07]: Eventually, the brethren became slightly more plentiful in the village, though nothing of significance, too became five.
[SPEAKER_07]: And that was enough to feel like there was one around every corner.
[SPEAKER_07]: The village was quite small, I don't know if I've mentioned it.
[SPEAKER_07]: Our meetings became more and more infrequent.
[SPEAKER_07]: And then one day, the butcher took ill.
[SPEAKER_07]: At first it was nothing but a light cough, a cold that he did not want to spread.
[SPEAKER_07]: He led meetings from inside his shop, asking everyone to keep their distance.
[SPEAKER_07]: He would wear a mask, so as not to cough on others even from that distance.
[SPEAKER_07]: But it did not go away.
[SPEAKER_07]: In fact, it not worse.
[SPEAKER_07]: The cough became wet and flummy.
[SPEAKER_07]: His nose became stuffy.
[SPEAKER_07]: Chronic pain began to envelop his stomach in head.
[SPEAKER_07]: And his legs became weaker by the day.
[SPEAKER_07]: Eventually he realized he was not contagious and simply had the meetings.
[SPEAKER_07]: Doctors in the village could not detect any problems.
[SPEAKER_07]: They simply told him he was aging.
[SPEAKER_07]: It seemed reasonable enough.
[SPEAKER_07]: His stress levels had risen since the meetings began.
[SPEAKER_07]: And perhaps it was simply speeding up what was already inevitable.
[SPEAKER_07]: One day the butcher fell in streets, robbing profusely and then collapsing.
[SPEAKER_07]: He was taken home and put on bed rest, with the tailor from next door charged with caring for him.
[SPEAKER_07]: He had no family, but plenty of friends.
[SPEAKER_07]: I sat with him most days after I'd walked, and everywhere I walked, the brethren followed me, almost with scientific wonderment.
[SPEAKER_07]: They'd meet me at the inn and offer me drinks.
[SPEAKER_07]: While the town grieved, the inevitable death of one of their most generous citizens, I was combating a bombardment of attention.
[SPEAKER_07]: Then one day, when the butcher was particularly sick, and I was ready to go and see him, three of them came into the inn, pinned me against the wall and,
[SPEAKER_07]: injected me with something.
[SPEAKER_07]: It was then I realized.
[SPEAKER_07]: The butcher and I did end up having a drink with the brethren in the following weeks of our first encounter.
[SPEAKER_07]: Another agent met us and apologized for their colleagues outraged towards us and said, there were no hard feelings.
[SPEAKER_07]: We accepted their offer to buy us a drink and we each had a shot of tams and
[SPEAKER_07]: They must have infused it with sigh the oil, a sinister thing, undetectable to doctors or even the greatest of magical tyrogens in a galaxy, an oil that has been used for billions of years by countless empires, kingdoms and communes to maintain order.
[SPEAKER_07]: I have been poisoned by it many times, it does little to me.
[SPEAKER_07]: To others, a slow, and agonizing death.
[SPEAKER_07]: So I've heard.
[SPEAKER_07]: When I didn't die immediately, because, and I don't know if you know this, either way will kill you instantly if placed directly into bloodstream.
[SPEAKER_07]: They became fearful and defensive, calling me a monster and a heathen.
[SPEAKER_07]: The brethren fled immediately after, and as soon as their absence was felt, the townspeople who had turned on the butcher flocked to him to beg forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_07]: Even on his deathbed, he was sympathetic and kind to all who came.
[SPEAKER_07]: He did not see their actions as a betrayal, but as their one step backward on the path towards taking two more steps forward.
[SPEAKER_07]: I knew they would come for me, so after I said goodbye to the butcher, Kent,
[SPEAKER_07]: That was his name.
[SPEAKER_07]: I walked down to the empty station
[SPEAKER_07]: A train was parked in the terminal, but it hadn't been used in many years.
[SPEAKER_07]: Small hovering aircraft sat with its wings folded in the landing spot out in the field, and even further out was a large disc shaped spacecraft.
[SPEAKER_07]: You know, thinking about it now, I knew that spacecraft.
[SPEAKER_07]: Anyway, well, I waited there and eventually they found me and escorted me on the spacecraft to the far edge of the galaxy, and so here I am.
[SPEAKER_07]: Is the bad what he were looking for?
[SPEAKER_04]: After our prisoner completes his story, he ensams and sit in silence.
[SPEAKER_04]: Several other prisoners have either gathered closer or moved further away, depending on their feelings towards the entire situation.
[SPEAKER_04]: After a few moments of silence, Samson stands, and taps his cane on the ground a few times, as if using the tempo to help conger a thought.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not working.
[SPEAKER_07]: What is it?
[SPEAKER_07]: You're incessant shopping.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that did work.
[SPEAKER_01]: What isn't his story telling?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't mean this is an insult to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You told the story well.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just missing something.
[SPEAKER_04]: Samson continues thinking for a few moments before he snaps his fingers excitedly, jumps onto an empty pedestal behind a bench filled with prisoners.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come all, creative lines and exercise them with me.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are to tell curious, beautiful tales taken from the mind of our wondrous adventure.
[SPEAKER_04]: He leaves the pedestal and walks to the center of the room where there is a large cement elevation that our prisoner has not yet noticed.
[SPEAKER_04]: Atop the elevation, Sam's in usher's all those who are interested in joining him in his quest.
[SPEAKER_04]: They come slowly at first and then more start to rise in approach.
[SPEAKER_04]: Soon, most of the room has gathered around.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, everyone.
[SPEAKER_01]: You all are wonderful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And together, we will create magic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Solar, how about a year's lost is mine.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's up to us to help and get it back.
[SPEAKER_01]: Are you with me?
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner finds it strange that the group of people who just minutes before were completely despondent and would rather have nothing to do with him were suddenly enthralled by the excitement of Samson's carnival barking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well then, step right up, step right up for this next story.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to need just a few of you to start.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, big.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many do you think you'll need?
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't know what's happening.
[SPEAKER_07]: What's story?
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going back, bud!
[UNKNOWN]: Back!
[SPEAKER_01]: What happened before you met the barber?
[SPEAKER_06]: Butcher.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're remembering.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, go on.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many people?
[SPEAKER_06]: Four.
[SPEAKER_01]: Including yourself?
[SPEAKER_06]: Five.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: Very good.
[SPEAKER_04]: Without any direction or specifications, five prisoners stay behind while the rest return to their spots, awaiting further instruction.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we just need four.
[SPEAKER_01]: Big will play himself.
[SPEAKER_04]: I will.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes!
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll let you know when we need you.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will narrate.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, anyone can narrate, but if you want to start, be my guest.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, everyone, we're feeling?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where does it start?
[SPEAKER_04]: It would seem she already had some resentment of her future.
[SPEAKER_04]: The locked and resting gate that stood before the thief should have been a deterrent to any who dared attempt the crossing of its threshold.
[SPEAKER_04]: Whispers of river fog flowed through the streets behind him as he held up a long, rotund object and slammed it as hard as he could into the weakest part of the gate's door.
[SPEAKER_04]: The lock.
[SPEAKER_04]: The moment the object clashed against the one's shiny green metal, the mayor fecla quickly shot up from her sleep, a look of a dread drawn across her ragged face.
[SPEAKER_04]: Before she even had time to think she was out of bed, dressed, and making her way toward the basement.
[SPEAKER_04]: In the back of the cellar, which was below the basement behind an old full rack, was a secret tunnel, only two hundred strides long or so, leading directly to the local pub.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was said to have been built by the fourth mayor of Draught as a way to escape the press, but it was in fact just an excuse for him to drink himself into oblivion every night.
[SPEAKER_04]: When Teclo was elected and shown the secret passage by her predecessor, she swore to herself she would not give in to her temptations and at times unhealthy love for intoxication.
[SPEAKER_04]: When Theckel emerged from behind the bar, the bartender, who was the quiet type and didn't say much to anyone, held out a drink for her, having heard her walking out the stairs.
[SPEAKER_04]: When she didn't take it, his rhythm was broken.
[SPEAKER_04]: He looked up and watched her walk around the bar amount onto the raised front porch.
[SPEAKER_04]: Down the street she could see the mayoral mansions gate busted open, but windows smashed, and a soft light flickering here and there.
[SPEAKER_04]: Declan knew the telltale signs.
[SPEAKER_04]: She'd been the thief before.
[SPEAKER_04]: Flame crackled faintly behind Declan, and she turned to see the local drunk, smoking from his pipe, and working his way down what had to be his twentieth block of the night.
[SPEAKER_04]: His large stature was imposing and at times intimidating, but when he sat he seemed to blend in to his surroundings.
[SPEAKER_04]: His shoulders protruding from his chair as though it were too small for him, was the only sign she could see that he was still his abnormal self.
[SPEAKER_04]: His left arm looked like it had been amputated at the elbow, or perhaps it was a very clean war wound.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thecler could not tell.
[SPEAKER_04]: No one could.
[SPEAKER_04]: When they made eye contact, Tecla and the local drunk silently acknowledged the situation they were in, signed deeply in sequence.
[SPEAKER_11]: I've never been short of a few adversaries.
[SPEAKER_07]: That's not how it works.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh, I know.
[SPEAKER_04]: The drunk lifted two fingers to the bartender.
[SPEAKER_04]: The bartender in kind quickly poured two stout blocks into the nearest glasses and placed them before thicklet and the drunk.
[SPEAKER_04]: Bottoms up!
[SPEAKER_11]: What does that mean?
[SPEAKER_07]: Something I heard a long time ago.
[SPEAKER_07]: Don't remember where though.
[SPEAKER_11]: Huh!
[SPEAKER_04]: They stood in silence for several moments.
[SPEAKER_04]: They finished their drinks and the bartender poured more.
[SPEAKER_04]: You know what they're taking?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_11]: But I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
[SPEAKER_11]: There's nothing in there that can incriminate me worse than the last mayor.
[SPEAKER_04]: Who's that confidence or brawtor?
[SPEAKER_04]: Speckler had to think about that one.
[SPEAKER_04]: The file cabinet was where she had kept the most important documentation.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was mostly work-related.
[SPEAKER_04]: She did file way some of her personal information so as to hide it best, but she had done a good job.
[SPEAKER_04]: A original birth certificate was placed neatly between a bill on garbage removal employee salary increase which she had signed, and a bill for the reduced taxation of the town's wealthiest citizens, which she had vetoed.
[SPEAKER_04]: Her original identification card was at the bottom of the cabinet, below the files where it wouldn't be seen.
[SPEAKER_04]: And if anyone did reach down there, it would be an accident and feel like a simple flash card had fallen.
[SPEAKER_04]: Her legal name change documentation was just before the back of the whole cabinet.
[SPEAKER_04]: Close to where someone would look first, but far enough that they would get frustrated and start to skip over some when they were looking.
[SPEAKER_04]: She had thought of everything.
[SPEAKER_11]: Confidence.
[SPEAKER_07]: I should hope so.
[SPEAKER_07]: I think he just figured out you're not home.
[SPEAKER_04]: Just as Thekla was about to ask him how he knew that, a roar of rage emerged from her house.
[SPEAKER_04]: The light then began to move and illuminate different windows as it passed them.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then the light disappeared.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thekla felt her chest become tense and she started to break out into a sweat.
[SPEAKER_04]: She grabbed her brak and drank it on quickly, feeling her head started to get fuzzy.
[SPEAKER_04]: Angerly, she slammed her glass down nearly shattering it.
[SPEAKER_04]: She then grabbed her knife from her pocket and walked outside onto the porch and stood at the top of the stairs.
[SPEAKER_04]: As the doors opened and began swinging shut, the thief, who had made their way onto the street turned and looked at Feckler.
[SPEAKER_02]: There you are, you wench!
[SPEAKER_04]: The familiar words such a shiver down her spine, just as much as knowing who was the one behind them.
[SPEAKER_04]: The thief removed his hood revealing a pointed face, rounded ears, and whispers of red fur, a ran of the forlons.
[SPEAKER_04]: They usually took to the forests and estuaries, but they were known to sometimes live in more arid climates like drought.
[SPEAKER_04]: Thecala already expected to see him, but the large scar across his face was new to her and took her by surprise.
[SPEAKER_02]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: This?
[SPEAKER_11]: What happened to you?
[SPEAKER_02]: Same as you, I suppose."
[SPEAKER_04]: Tayloss indicated, using his short sword, the scar stretching from each side of Thekla's neck, pulling her scar for round to cover it.
[SPEAKER_04]: She about her eyes for a moment, hating that he was going to use this against her.
[SPEAKER_04]: The scar was from when she was younger, the commune where her family lived was attacked by bandits from the hills of a tunnel frost, and one bandit tried to go too far.
[SPEAKER_04]: The other members of the bandits, one in particular, would not tolerate the actions of the bandits and strung him up and castrated him as an example for their companions.
[SPEAKER_04]: Tayloss's father, bald-anders, helped save young Thekla from bleeding out and brought her home.
[SPEAKER_04]: From that day forward, the bandits treated the village with more respect and instead of stealing, they would offer gifts from their other acts of pillaging.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then Baldanders decided to leave the group and live in the commune, and slowly the bandits joined him.
[SPEAKER_04]: They did not want to hurt people anymore.
[SPEAKER_04]: They were tired of it even happening accidentally.
[SPEAKER_04]: So they formed a guild of thieves and Baldanders led them.
[SPEAKER_04]: As Thekla grew, she was inspired by the actions of the man who saved her from death, and decided to get trained in the art of the shade, the ability to move silently through both the day and night, blending into one's surroundings, without a chance of being caught.
[SPEAKER_04]: Specula became quite good, good enough to make Captain.
[SPEAKER_04]: And as bald enters aged, she started leading the guild, but it was never her passion.
[SPEAKER_04]: Specula's parents left the towns and cities of the Republic because they despised the laws and the representatives who wrote them.
[SPEAKER_04]: The commune allowed them to live as they wanted.
[SPEAKER_04]: But as Specula grew, she saw her parents' weak.
[SPEAKER_04]: They despised tyranny, so they ran from it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Beckless ought to change it from within.
[SPEAKER_04]: She was willing to use her resources to get where she needed to.
[SPEAKER_02]: How is life then?
[SPEAKER_11]: Better!
[SPEAKER_11]: Now that I'm helping people instead of just stealing.
[SPEAKER_02]: So you admit you're still stealing.
[SPEAKER_11]: I'm in politician, it's part of the job description.
[SPEAKER_11]: Part that I aim to change, but apart none the less.
[SPEAKER_02]: How forward of you?
[SPEAKER_02]: I would have expected nothing less.
[SPEAKER_02]: You always were a due-cutter, Aja.
[SPEAKER_11]: You may address me as mayor thickland now.
[SPEAKER_11]: I no longer associate with the name Aja.
[SPEAKER_11]: That is a name I would rather the world forgot.
[SPEAKER_11]: That was a worst week, one in pain, one who was hurting people silently.
[SPEAKER_02]: We were never supposed to hurt anyone.
[SPEAKER_11]: Our actions hurt people.
[SPEAKER_11]: We may not have used the knives ourselves, but throats were slit, same as mine.
[SPEAKER_11]: You think you're calm not tried to kill me because he liked to kill?
[SPEAKER_11]: You know the things my father wrote.
[SPEAKER_11]: I do.
[SPEAKER_11]: I made a decision
[SPEAKER_02]: that decision hurt even more people.
[SPEAKER_11]: You were never my responsibility.
[SPEAKER_02]: You volunteered because you said you cared.
[SPEAKER_02]: My father taught you everything.
[SPEAKER_02]: Bones, blood, and meat.
[SPEAKER_02]: But me?
[SPEAKER_02]: All I got was a fucking skeleton.
[SPEAKER_11]: You chose to stay behind when your father left the bandits.
[SPEAKER_11]: And you wanted nothing to do with his work once you joined the commune.
[SPEAKER_11]: Why would he have ever
[SPEAKER_11]: trusted you to want to actually do things the right way.
[SPEAKER_02]: You have very little faith in me.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just like him.
[SPEAKER_11]: Your father is the wise man.
[SPEAKER_02]: My father was a fool.
[SPEAKER_11]: I think you should give more respect to the things he did for other people instead of squandering it and purposefully hurting people for the sake of it.
[SPEAKER_11]: The guilt has a code and I know you break it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So what if I do?
[SPEAKER_02]: Life happens and death happens.
[SPEAKER_02]: It is such a fleeting existence.
[SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't matter.
[SPEAKER_11]: You are a psychopath.
[SPEAKER_02]: I am right.
[SPEAKER_11]: It actually does not always mean right.
[SPEAKER_11]: The fact that people would die anyways does not make it right to kill them.
[SPEAKER_11]: The fact that music will cease to play does not mean it's pointless to not listen at all.
[SPEAKER_11]: You're talking about being an evil God.
[SPEAKER_02]: God is dead, Aja.
[SPEAKER_02]: They died the moment the universe was born.
[SPEAKER_02]: And what they set in motion?
[SPEAKER_02]: Can not be undone.
[SPEAKER_11]: I like to believe that isn't true.
[SPEAKER_11]: I like to believe that life is random.
[SPEAKER_11]: I think there is no God.
[SPEAKER_11]: We are, but Flex, molecules, less than molecules.
[SPEAKER_11]: We are particles of sand floating in a great abyss.
[SPEAKER_11]: We only get one shot, so we have to take it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Taylor stopped when he heard this.
[SPEAKER_04]: Something about what she said was haunting and beautiful, but he did not want to admit it, even to himself.
[SPEAKER_04]: After a few moments to collect themselves, thickly changed to the subject.
[SPEAKER_11]: Your father died?
[SPEAKER_02]: Two weeks tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_11]: I was the funeral.
[SPEAKER_02]: Warm.
[SPEAKER_02]: He was very loved.
[SPEAKER_11]: I didn't get an invitation.
[SPEAKER_02]: We didn't think he'd come.
[SPEAKER_11]: Of course I would have.
[SPEAKER_11]: I would have had a statue built in his honor.
[SPEAKER_02]: He would have hated that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You know he despised person the glory.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes, yes he did.
[SPEAKER_11]: I wasn't trying to steal anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was trying to speak to you.
[SPEAKER_11]: So you broke my gate and smashed my window.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was never very good at picking blocks.
[SPEAKER_11]: No, you certainly weren't.
[SPEAKER_02]: I did it quietly.
[SPEAKER_02]: You only heard it because you're a fucking freak.
[SPEAKER_11]: Excuse you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sorry.
[SPEAKER_11]: Whatever.
[SPEAKER_11]: Why are you reading my files?
[SPEAKER_02]: I was looking for this.
[SPEAKER_04]: Toiloss held out his communication device and clicked a button, which displayed a hologram of an image.
[SPEAKER_04]: Infectly looked closer, she saw that it was of her and bald-anders when he first joined the commune.
[SPEAKER_04]: Bald-anders stood tall.
[SPEAKER_04]: Not quite as tall as the town drunk, who was throwing back his thirtieth rock and finally starting to show it.
[SPEAKER_04]: While Toiloss was quite small compared to him, he sometimes wondered if bald-anders wasn't his real father.
[SPEAKER_02]: We figured Baldanders would have wanted it projected on his tombstone, and since we didn't get to show it at his funeral, this is the proper way.
[SPEAKER_02]: I think, to respect his wishes.
[SPEAKER_02]: You were more of a child to him than me.
[SPEAKER_11]: He loved you, Taylor.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, he didn't.
[SPEAKER_02]: I've accepted that.
[SPEAKER_02]: You should do.
[SPEAKER_11]: I won't accept something contrary to what I've actually been told.
[SPEAKER_02]: Then why would my father treat me like a nothing?
[SPEAKER_11]: Sometimes people are just who they are.
[SPEAKER_11]: Your father liked very particular things and people.
[SPEAKER_11]: He didn't get along with almost anyone.
[SPEAKER_11]: In fact, I'd say your father hated most people.
[SPEAKER_11]: I never even really got the sense that he liked me.
[SPEAKER_11]: But he did have a strong sense of right and wrong.
[SPEAKER_11]: And I connected with that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right and wrong are subjective.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yes, they are.
[SPEAKER_11]: But some things are objective.
[SPEAKER_11]: Those you feel with your soul.
[SPEAKER_11]: Nobody deserves to die, nobody deserves to live.
[SPEAKER_11]: Life is real and it isn't.
[SPEAKER_11]: Life is a paradox.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well said, Mayor.
[SPEAKER_04]: The drunk stepped on to the patio, swaying back and forth slightly, looking out of control, that seeming by his speech to be quite the opposite.
[SPEAKER_04]: He loaded his pipe, and with a snap of his finger, conjured a flame that lit the blossoming flower bud.
[SPEAKER_07]: Philosophy is not a school that is a university with many joining sections that intersect and overlap with some that are completely separate in campuses and completely other cities because their focus is so different but at its center there's the core of the university where everything overlaps
[SPEAKER_07]: where the most important and factual information remains, the objective truths about the universe.
[SPEAKER_04]: The voice came from the bar, and everyone turned to see the bartender standing in the doorway, polishing a glass with a microfiber cloth.
[SPEAKER_04]: The bartender did not look at anyone, but simply stared into the middle distance, thinking to himself and out loud.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was the first time any of them had heard the bartender speak.
[SPEAKER_03]: The drunk was taken aback and realized his own words were being used against him.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well said Pierre, but it is not always correct.
[SPEAKER_07]: If an animal could easily recover, it is wrong to kill them simply for one's own convenience.
[SPEAKER_07]: Old age as well can be a double inch sword.
[SPEAKER_07]: Some believe it is okay to let the old die, leave space for the young, but may find this medieval and barbaric.
[SPEAKER_07]: Death is natural.
[SPEAKER_07]: Be natural.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, now that you're finished, I think I should be going.
[SPEAKER_04]: Taylor's pocketed his communication device and put his hood back on, obscuring his face.
[SPEAKER_04]: Something in his voice had changed.
[SPEAKER_04]: Sadness seemed to have overtaken him.
[SPEAKER_04]: He walked slowly and carefully down the street.
[SPEAKER_11]: Taylor's, how did bald-enders die?
[SPEAKER_04]: Taylor's began to cry.
[SPEAKER_04]: He never replied.
[SPEAKER_04]: His few-ligen cloak blended in with the night, and as he disappeared, so did his footsteps.
[SPEAKER_04]: Theclestod and wonder staring into the darkness of the empty street.
[SPEAKER_04]: Pierre at the bartender approached and offered a block, which she drank quickly.
[SPEAKER_04]: The drunk, but his hand on Theclest shoulder.
[SPEAKER_04]: Did you get the answers you were looking for?
[SPEAKER_11]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_11]: Did you?
[SPEAKER_04]: The performance ends and the rest of the prisoners applaud, but it is not enthusiastic, as Samson would like.
[SPEAKER_04]: Humming to himself quietly, he thinks about what could be missing.
[SPEAKER_04]: They have everything.
[SPEAKER_04]: Actors, a narrator, an audience.
[SPEAKER_04]: What more could an otter ask for in these trying times?
[SPEAKER_04]: Then it dawns on him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Music!
[SPEAKER_01]: We need music!
[SPEAKER_07]: Where are we going to get music?
[SPEAKER_01]: Buddy, sometimes I wonder about you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Music is a feeling.
[SPEAKER_07]: I mean, do we have a choir and instruments of band, perhaps?
[SPEAKER_04]: As our prisoner says this, he looks over to the side of the stage and sees a congregation of inmates standing.
[SPEAKER_04]: Some with various instruments of different worlds completely.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner feels like he is going mad.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have everything we need, big.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't you worry about the fine details?
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll just focus on being your wonderful self.
[SPEAKER_04]: Samson sits and with a giant grin on his face says
[SPEAKER_04]: The ship arrived five years after the first interstellar life detections.
[SPEAKER_04]: Along a May, Chief astronomer of the Panthal of Servitories stood at the edge of the water, watching it rise and fall with each passing wave.
[SPEAKER_04]: The sand was golden, glistening in the light of their star Selmion.
[SPEAKER_04]: She stepped closer, and the water rushed up around her legs, submerging her ankles and rubbing sand along her scaly feet.
[SPEAKER_04]: We're not for the chirping of her earring.
[SPEAKER_04]: She might never have left.
[SPEAKER_04]: Deep down, she wanted to ignore it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Wait for the sound to go away.
[SPEAKER_04]: And if it churped again, she'd hurl it into the endless, sorely in wasteland.
[SPEAKER_04]: But duty was always her weakness.
[SPEAKER_10]: Hello.
[SPEAKER_04]: Can't Electra take care of it.
[SPEAKER_04]: She said you needed to make the final decision.
[SPEAKER_10]: Let's go, everyone.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana called out to about ten other people, all relaxing on the beach, same as her.
[SPEAKER_09]: Is it time already?
[SPEAKER_09]: It's technically past time.
[SPEAKER_04]: Everyone began packing up their belongings and together, the group walked inland toward an incredibly tall structure, the lift of the observatory.
[SPEAKER_04]: At its base, the aptly named base of the lift, was a circular building, approximately five thousand square feet per floor and approximately five floors high.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was, by no means, the biggest building in the solar system.
[SPEAKER_04]: That honor was far exceeded by the great library on Selmyan Prima's which
[SPEAKER_04]: was so large that if every sand bar and island on panthal, a planet with nothing else, were gathered together, they would only be half the size of the library's first floor.
[SPEAKER_04]: But Selmyun Primus was the oldest planet in the system.
[SPEAKER_04]: Had a lot more land than any other planet, so while every other local government in the system focused on being economic with their limited space and resources, Selmyun Primus had very little regard for how they planned their cities.
[SPEAKER_04]: Eventually they had grown so large and untidy that the planet was one large sprawling city.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was truly disgusting to the rest of the planets.
[SPEAKER_04]: Most of whose inhabitants care deeply about the preservation of the natural environment.
[SPEAKER_04]: Inside the base of the lift there was a large lobby.
[SPEAKER_04]: The lobby consisted of placards and displays that were what the observatory considered to be a perfectly adequate visitor center for visiting scientists and tourists to learn the story of how the observatory was built.
[SPEAKER_04]: It happened over one hundred years prior when Alana's great grandfather discovered the gravitational bends caused by proximity to a local star.
[SPEAKER_04]: Fearing their findings would be inconclusive and further imaging of the universe was in jeopardy of being warped and misleading.
[SPEAKER_04]: They built an observatory that orbited the furthest planet in the system from the star and connected it to an elevator on the planet's surface.
[SPEAKER_04]: So as to reach it more safely than to try and dock a ship in space, a practice that was still considered to be highly unsafe after hundreds of years of strengthening space technology.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana's team was too important to keep waiting.
[SPEAKER_04]: The elevator opened immediately for them, just as soon as they were inside, everyone buckled in, and Alana pulled out a small holographic research device, which hovered in front of her, and she began to type.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana had been too distracted even notice who she sat down next to, who happened to be her very good friend, Tilly, a research assistant who had a lot of heart.
[SPEAKER_10]: Something's been spotted entering our system space, readings are showing strong signs of life.
[SPEAKER_10]: It's moving remarkably fast and has yet to be imaged in time.
[SPEAKER_10]: However, it has been seen by several researchers who say it had arms.
[SPEAKER_10]: What?
[SPEAKER_10]: Look, they drew a sketch, a few of them.
[SPEAKER_08]: Hmm.
[SPEAKER_08]: They'll correspond.
[SPEAKER_08]: That they do.
[SPEAKER_08]: So we know they're not seeing shit.
[SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I got it.
[SPEAKER_08]: You know, because a lot of people see shit.
[SPEAKER_08]: Thank you, Tilly.
[SPEAKER_08]: Anytime.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana inspected the images further.
[SPEAKER_04]: Arms was an unfair description she thought, for they were more tentacle-like and flowed behind the ship as it moved, like some strange ocean creature.
[SPEAKER_04]: Something moved in Alana's stomach, and for a moment, she thought that her subconscious was speaking to her, but then she saw the planet starting to get small through the glass floor, and she realized they had begun their assent.
[SPEAKER_08]: So we've got aliens!
[SPEAKER_08]: Looks like it.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana turned off the device and stared blankly into space.
[SPEAKER_04]: The further from the surface they got, the brighter the stars became.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was still daytime when they began their assent, so nothing was clear at first, but it wasn't long before the faint glow of distant objects began to appear to the naked eye.
[SPEAKER_04]: They were like a sheet of freckles, dotting the sky.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then Alana closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
[SPEAKER_04]: Some of her best ideas came to her in dreams.
[SPEAKER_04]: But something was disturbing her.
[SPEAKER_04]: At first it was nothing but a feeling, and soon the interruption became tangible.
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, I studied interstellar systems as my thesis.
[SPEAKER_04]: The voice belonged to Elana's least favorite member of the team.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes, I know your credentials, Killian.
[SPEAKER_10]: I read all of your work before I hired you.
[SPEAKER_10]: You do not need to bring it up every time.
[SPEAKER_10]: We have so much as a whiff of something alien to us.
[SPEAKER_05]: Apologies.
[SPEAKER_05]: I just got excited.
[SPEAKER_10]: I understand.
[SPEAKER_10]: Is there a specific reason you brought it up?
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, if you look at some of the other information they sent us, it's under composition.
[SPEAKER_05]: I found an additional folder within that refers to suspected points of origin.
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't know why they hit this in the composition folder and I suspect it is something to do with the elements that make up the system.
[SPEAKER_04]: Elana pulled her device back up and located the folders to which Killian was referring.
[SPEAKER_04]: For some reason, she felt like her brain stopped working the moment she looked at the document.
[SPEAKER_04]: Despite many years of education and a few more years working as an expert in her field, she suddenly couldn't make heads or tails of the basic elements sitting in front of her.
[SPEAKER_04]: All Elana felt like she could do was listen to Killian go on his tangent.
[SPEAKER_05]: This is a familiar system for me.
[SPEAKER_05]: I considered it for a while to be the center of my attention in my thesis.
[SPEAKER_05]: I became even more intrigued by some others which took precedence over it.
[SPEAKER_05]: But this was, for a short while, a system I found to be highly abundant in the ingredients of life.
[SPEAKER_05]: It was one of the first times I'd found a system even remotely like our own.
[SPEAKER_05]: But then of course, you know how it goes.
[SPEAKER_05]: But now I'm struggling to remember what it was that made this star system so interesting beyond this potential for life.
[SPEAKER_05]: There was something else.
[SPEAKER_05]: What was it?
[SPEAKER_05]: I can't remember.
[SPEAKER_05]: It was something important, I think.
[SPEAKER_04]: When the elevator started to slowly come to a halt, they could see the planet below them, a small blue marble in the distance.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then the vacuum ceiling door shut below the elevator, and the view of the planet was obscured.
[SPEAKER_04]: All lights went out.
[SPEAKER_04]: Everyone was in darkness.
[SPEAKER_04]: The sound of pressurized air releasing could be heard coming from outside the elevator, then small red lights lit up.
[SPEAKER_04]: Not enough to illuminate anything, but enough to see the way to the exit.
[SPEAKER_04]: The door to the elevator opened, allowing the light of the observatory into the large dark pod.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana was given all of ten seconds after stepping out of the elevator to catch her breath and reorient herself in the artificial gravity before her attention was needed.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're in here.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana turned and saw Hulene, her personal assistant, who was addressing her, Alana's amphibian eyes dilated in confusion.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hulene put her hand to her chest motioning apology.
[SPEAKER_01]: It counts all as on call.
[SPEAKER_01]: They wish to speak to you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alongside, nothing was worse than the arrogance of the council and entertaining their whims and lack of knowledge on anything related to her work was the worst part of the job.
[SPEAKER_04]: But it was easier to just get it over with.
[SPEAKER_04]: Halene helped the door to the boardroom and Alana rolled her eyes noticeably as she walked in.
[SPEAKER_10]: Counselors, Dr. Maze.
[SPEAKER_04]: This was the counselor from Selmyun Prima's, the defacto leader of the council both due to the planet's status, and his own tenure exceeding that of any others.
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, Anna.
[SPEAKER_04]: This was the counselor from Pantau.
[SPEAKER_10]: Sister, I am assuming this is related to the Interstellar object that has been cited entering our system?
[SPEAKER_05]: Of course it is.
[SPEAKER_05]: What else would it be about?
[SPEAKER_10]: I thought maybe you had finally come to your senses and decided to fund that program.
[SPEAKER_05]: So you're the one making that decision?
[SPEAKER_04]: This came from the counselor of Natras, who was objectively the most sensible of the five counselors.
[SPEAKER_04]: He was a kind man, far kinder than any of his compatriots, but he was also very dimwitted as a Lana's sister once said.
[SPEAKER_10]: It would help a lot of people.
[SPEAKER_10]: It would be practical.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes, you're right.
[SPEAKER_10]: Helping people is impractical.
[SPEAKER_05]: Ladies.
[SPEAKER_10]: I apologize.
[SPEAKER_05]: As you should, counselor.
[SPEAKER_05]: Apologies into men.
[SPEAKER_05]: It is okay Julian, but do mind your emotions.
[SPEAKER_05]: Now, if we may return to what is important, we must understand that this is no mere object.
[SPEAKER_05]: Each member of the team that saw the object through the lens as it was passing through vision have composed similar sketches, which we take to mean that what they saw did indeed look like the drawings.
[SPEAKER_10]: Very smart counselor.
[SPEAKER_05]: What we want to know is what is it?
[SPEAKER_10]: Well, I'm referring to it as an interstellar object because we do not know what it is.
[SPEAKER_10]: What we do know is that it came to our system from outside the ord cloud.
[SPEAKER_10]: That makes it an interstellar object.
[SPEAKER_10]: I cannot classify it further without a solid image or a reading on its chemical makeup.
[SPEAKER_05]: Then what is your next course of action?
[SPEAKER_10]: We've been able to locate the object using some of our faster, but less powerful sensors that show its trajectory as passing by us, but I suspect it will not make contact.
[UNKNOWN]: Why is that?
[SPEAKER_10]: Because at the speed it's traveling, I think it might be trying to go through us and onto another star system.
[SPEAKER_05]: So you do think it's a ship.
[SPEAKER_10]: The object has been described as having tentacle like arms.
[SPEAKER_10]: I'm going to go out on a branch here and say that this is something.
[SPEAKER_10]: Not just some rock, that's for sure.
[SPEAKER_05]: There's had been theorized.
[SPEAKER_10]: Oh, we're entertaining that, okay.
[SPEAKER_10]: From my extensive research, creatures living in open outer space are impossible.
[SPEAKER_10]: There is nothing that could simply exist in the vacuum of space.
[SPEAKER_10]: Something would have to be incapable of dying to withstand the vacuum of space, and even then,
[SPEAKER_10]: All I know is that the average panthalian with their natural aptitude for breathing for long periods of time underwater could only last about five minutes in the vacuum of space before they would freeze over completely and their lungs would fill with blue blood and they die a horrible death.
[SPEAKER_04]: No, I suppose it's not.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, if this inner cellar object is going to be passing by a panthel, what shall you be doing to intercept it?
[SPEAKER_10]: Nothing.
[SPEAKER_04]: Nothing.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_10]: If this is a ship, then it is far more advanced than anything we have ever seen before.
[SPEAKER_10]: It would be biological and nature based simply on its look.
[SPEAKER_10]: I do not intend to interfere with something that might simply be passing by.
[SPEAKER_10]: Have you heard the myth of Hyperion?
[SPEAKER_05]: Myths are mere stories to keep children in line a lot.
[SPEAKER_10]: Oh, of course, apologies.
[SPEAKER_10]: Lessons were never learned from fiction.
[SPEAKER_05]: Your content for the council has not gone unnoticed, Dr. Maeve.
[SPEAKER_05]: You're walking on edge of a breaking cliff.
[SPEAKER_05]: We expect results.
[SPEAKER_05]: How do you intend to intercept the ship?
[SPEAKER_10]: Fine, I will have my team hailed the object so that as it passes, it will know that we are here.
[SPEAKER_10]: Even if they do not stop, perhaps it will slow down long enough for us to get a clear image and scan.
[SPEAKER_05]: When have I ever failed?
[SPEAKER_04]: The council was taken aback by this, and then they realized that they had no examples to give.
[SPEAKER_04]: Slowly, the councillors disappeared until it was just a Lana and her sister.
[SPEAKER_04]: They stood in silence, staring at one another, both fantasizing about how they'd kill one another.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then, without saying anything, the councillor left, and Elana was left in the boardroom of the Observatory, feeling a surge of frustration in her veins.
[SPEAKER_04]: The next day, Alana sat in her office, the signal lights that flashed in a sequence indicating a universal directive to approach had been activated within moments of her meeting with the council ending.
[SPEAKER_04]: She was worried it would be fruitless that nothing would happen, but she did not want to give up hope.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana was suddenly pulled away from her daydream by a rumbling that she had her feet, then her office.
[SPEAKER_04]: And then the entire observatory.
[SPEAKER_04]: Nothing happened at first.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then things changed.
[SPEAKER_04]: The artificial gravity began to malfunction.
[SPEAKER_04]: She felt light.
[SPEAKER_04]: I was floated out of her chair.
[SPEAKER_04]: She put on a mask to help her breathe in case of an oxygen leak.
[SPEAKER_04]: And with moments of putting it on, she was glad she had done so.
[SPEAKER_04]: The door to her office opened and she felt the air pull her toward the open passageway.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was weak enough that she could easily grab onto something without being sucked out of the room completely.
[SPEAKER_04]: But it did feel strong.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then the air stopped pulling and the gravity returned to normal for a few seconds, giving a lot of time to catch her breath.
[SPEAKER_04]: along a new what had happened but didn't want to admit it to herself.
[SPEAKER_04]: She walked slowly through the hallway of the observatory making sure everything was safe.
[SPEAKER_04]: Much to her dismay, she began to feel heavy, felt herself falling to the floor.
[SPEAKER_04]: The gravity had intensified.
[SPEAKER_04]: She felt some of her bones taking pressure and one of her ribs cracked stabbing her inside.
[SPEAKER_04]: And as Alana began to fear death for the first time since her parents passed, the gravity returned to normal and Alana was able to pick herself up.
[SPEAKER_04]: A small stream of blood leaked from her belly and she realized her rib had punctured the skin.
[SPEAKER_04]: Despite all that, she did not feel any pain, something she attributed to the adrenaline.
[SPEAKER_04]: She hugged the wall as she walked toward where the air had been pulling her.
[SPEAKER_04]: When she got to the door at the end of the hallway, she opened a panel to the right of it and swiped a few times.
[SPEAKER_04]: Her hands shaking and her warmth are breathing on the touch screen.
[SPEAKER_04]: Before finally cameras surveillance of the room appeared on the screen.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was destroyed.
[SPEAKER_04]: Something had hit the observatory and knocked the wall off the room.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was horrifying, nobody who had been inside was still there.
[SPEAKER_04]: Without thinking, she pressed her hand into an indent in the wall.
[SPEAKER_04]: It depressed and was then released and the door opened and put revealing a spacesuit.
[SPEAKER_04]: She slipped her legs in the pants and put the torso over her amphibious face and locked it into the pants.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was heavy and warm and felt like a pillow on the inside.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then she grabbed the helmet and pulled it over her head.
[SPEAKER_04]: It automatically connected with her oxygen mask.
[SPEAKER_04]: And before she opened the door to the destroyed room, she grabbed the tube, connecting to the observatory's oxygen reserve, and screwed it onto a small connector on the neck of the helmet, feeling it thread as she did so.
[SPEAKER_04]: In the room, almost nothing was left.
[SPEAKER_04]: The only objects were those that were nailed down and even those looked like they were, being pulled away.
[SPEAKER_04]: She felt compelled to cry, but could muster no tears.
[SPEAKER_04]: She walked further out, aided by the force of the vacuum, pulling her into the endless abyss.
[SPEAKER_04]: As she reached the edge of the ship, she looked out to see several of her comrades floating away.
[SPEAKER_04]: She was scared that they were all dead.
[SPEAKER_04]: They had been taken by surprise.
[SPEAKER_04]: There was no way they could still be holding their breaths, but something seemed to be slowing their trajectory.
[SPEAKER_04]: Some invisible force outside the laws of gravity.
[SPEAKER_04]: Then she saw it.
[SPEAKER_04]: It seemed to descend into her view, though the planet was above her, making her feel completely disoriented.
[SPEAKER_04]: The people who were floating began to accumulate outside it, and soon they were pulled into an office that opened up to accept them.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana was so shocked and confused that she didn't internalize the hissing sound coming from her suit.
[SPEAKER_04]: When she went to take a breath, she felt something strange in her lungs.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like they weren't fully consuming oxygen.
[SPEAKER_04]: Like they were consuming nothing.
[SPEAKER_04]: She began to panic.
[SPEAKER_04]: reaching back around, she grabbed hold of the hose that was bringing oxygen to her, and tried to use her hand to seal it in, but it was useless, the screw had been stripped.
[SPEAKER_04]: She tried to tighten it, but it doubled over itself, and the hissing of the worse, less oxygen was reaching her.
[SPEAKER_04]: She tried to get as much as she could, but she started to feel herself fading.
[SPEAKER_04]: As her vision blurred in and out of focus, she watched the door open on the side of the cephalopod-like object.
[SPEAKER_04]: and outwalked a person.
[SPEAKER_04]: Not a person of any race that she had ever seen.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was a giant, a being of immense stature, with great broad shoulders, sturdy legs, and draconian claws for feet.
[SPEAKER_04]: For a moment, Alana thought she saw wings sprout from its back, but her vision blurred, and when it next came into focus, the person was nothing more than a large man walking toward her.
[SPEAKER_04]: His clothes seemed like they were woven out of space itself for they shimmered in shan like stars and supernovae.
[SPEAKER_04]: As he approached, Alana was surprised to see his face was that of concern and his walking was, in fact, fast and labored.
[SPEAKER_04]: He quickly stooped down and lifted Alana up and walked over to the door of the observatory.
[SPEAKER_04]: She was tiny in his one arm, but he still looked strained to be carrying her.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana assumed her suit was heavier than she realized.
[SPEAKER_04]: The giant spoke, but she could not make out what he was saying, then he angled her toward the door's control panel.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana limply held out her arm and the giant moved her closer, where her hand was detected through the glove by the screen sensors.
[SPEAKER_04]: The door was opened, and the giant character inside.
[SPEAKER_04]: When the door closed behind them, several other team members came running down the hallway.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Maver, you all right?
[SPEAKER_04]: Everyone was more concerned with their injured leader than the man who towered above them.
[SPEAKER_04]: He left them take her, and they slowly shepherded her down the hallway.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry, we're going to get you fixed up.
[SPEAKER_00]: The medical bay is still working just fine, and we got the gravity under control, but there's still
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana cut off the person speaking and turned herself around despite them pleading for her to go.
[SPEAKER_04]: Alana looked at the giant who had saved her.
[SPEAKER_04]: His purple skin was more apparent in the fluorescent lighting of the observatory hallways.
[SPEAKER_04]: He was missing most of his left arm, and his body was covered in burns.
[SPEAKER_04]: He had horns, but one was broken, probably an old war wound.
[SPEAKER_10]: What's your name?
[SPEAKER_07]: I'm known by many titles.
[SPEAKER_04]: You make all the sound interrupting the performance is curfew.
[SPEAKER_04]: The story telling and performing has been going on for so long.
[SPEAKER_04]: The prisoners have completely forgotten to notice that the sun has gone down.
[SPEAKER_04]: A guard holds open the great iron door of the room and usher's effort on out.
[SPEAKER_04]: As they leave, no one speaks except for Samsung and our prisoner.
[SPEAKER_04]: Rod was fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's nice, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Being able to go back?
[SPEAKER_06]: I'm remembering things better.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
[SPEAKER_01]: This should only go up from here.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to go again tomorrow?
[SPEAKER_06]: Sure.
[SPEAKER_06]: I suppose so.
[SPEAKER_01]: See you in three hundred and thirty six hours.
[SPEAKER_04]: Our prisoner stops dead in his tracks.
[SPEAKER_04]: How long are the days of his brother?
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, right?
[SPEAKER_04]: Samson smiles, taps his walking stick twice, and disappears into the crowd of prisoners being heard at his direction, down the separate hallway.
[SPEAKER_04]: With that, our prisoner continues down the hall to a cell that is barely large enough to hold.
[SPEAKER_04]: Much less for the duration of the horrifically long nights on this prison planet.
[SPEAKER_04]: That evening, as our prisoner is drifting to sleep, he starts to dream for the first time since.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, he can't remember.
[UNKNOWN]: This has been your first hidden anecdote.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hidden anecdote and other tales is presented by outrageous creation's media.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was created by GM Stemniowski.
[SPEAKER_04]: This episode was written, directed and narrated by GM Stemniowski.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was edited by Reed Robertson, with additional voices provided by Roxanne Desjenae, Will Johnson, LHO Sheffield, and Emily Tourette.
[SPEAKER_04]: It was produced by Reed Robertson, Morgan Retker, and Corey Rokes.
[SPEAKER_04]: Story editors included Eva Bruntis, LHO Sheffield, and Emily Tourette.
[SPEAKER_04]: This episode's art was provided by Morgan Retker.
[SPEAKER_04]: For a more detailed credits list, see the description below, or check out more of the team's work at outrageous creationsmedia.com.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hello, it's somebody out there.
[SPEAKER_07]: I can feel you somewhere in here, but also very distant, too distant, to even recognize.
[SPEAKER_07]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_07]: If you're listening, forgive my silence, I feel me fading away, no matter
[SPEAKER_07]: Wherever you are, perhaps you'll journey with me once again through the great obsidian sea.