I- what are you doing on the ship's computer? Is this the latest Ynet patch?
I'm trying out this website, HeroForge.com. I heard about it from Scrap.
What is HeroForge?
Oh, it's minifigures! You get to design them yourself and then the website will send them to
you. And you can design all sorts of people. And hypothetically, you could download the file and
print them yourself on your 3D printer. If you had one. This is the patchwork, after all.
Ah, I see.
See? I'm trying to make what Verbal would look like if he were a human.
So we can make, like, just humans?
Oh no! There's so many different options besides humans! Here, look! Look at all the species options!
Oh wow. Yes, they appear to have many types of animal-like people.
Mousefolk resembling you in Scrap, that's nice.
Elephant folk, turtle people, fennec fox and elk folk from the Fool's Gold campaign.
Ooh, and it looks like they just added lion folk!
Uh-huh, and they're constantly adding new clothes and items and additional content every week.
Look, look, look! What do you think about Scrap in this floral shirt?
What was the website again?
It's heroforge.com
Hmm, very intriguing.
Oh wow, and they even have little robot companions! How quaint!
Previously on the Adamless.
Azan-he.
Ike. She.
Uh, my name's Thierryak.
What's up? My name's Skye! Welcome to the patchwork, my dudes!
You have a lead on where the next crystal is. The planet Nos in the Vanir system.
The system. New Mors did this to me, and I'm just trying to get those years back.
Far, far horizon. A humongous, domed structure.
There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of skeletons.
And as the noise of Thittlebrush and Poncho leave, and your new destination,
the stained city of New Mors.
You may have heard of me, my name is Dr. Thierryak, the president and co-founder of Wild Times.
Qualify for VIP training. Another ship comes in.
Zom, you recognize the ship as a Heth ship. Four people exit off.
Recognize the figure as General Magnolia Cope.
This figure takes off their helmet.
You recognize my lease.
The natural light of Nos's sun is extinguished as this elevator descends down into New Mors.
It's glass front no longer showing the docking port, but now rocky outcroppings that will be your sliding wallpaper for the next eight hours.
As arm you watch as part of yourself is left behind. Your handprint, of course.
Before the darkness fully overtakes you, these artificial lights flicker on.
The machines that are scattered around this elevator buzz with life.
There is this small moment of kindness as the harshness of this buzz reminds you all of the patchwork.
Then a hologram appears in the center of the room.
A hologram of an annoyingly beautiful woman.
Welcome all of you to your new start.
Our beautiful city is securely under 2569 miles of crust, close to the core of Nos itself.
This elevator will take approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes to reach the location.
This is a long wait, so Freya Inc. has kindly supplied you with hundreds of hours of entertainment and amenities.
We are so very excited to have you join our city-wide family.
See you then.
This beautiful human woman flickers and disappears.
The machines around the room are televisions, there's radios, there's books and literature.
There are small holodecks where you can play small games with one another.
You all stand.
Scrap, Flare, Keelin and Estrid all stand next to you.
What is it that you would like to do?
Down we go.
Did it say 8 hours?
It's a long ride.
Does anybody want to play wine, Ned?
Sure. I don't think there's much else to do.
Did anybody bring any smog wine?
I mean, I got a small flask, but that's not worth much and it's mine, thank you.
I'm just going to boot up our wine at game and hand the controller to the zombies.
Thanks.
In between rounds of wine, Ned's guy is scribbling furiously on her communicator.
So that person that we saw is your ex-fiance?
Yeah.
Not really an ex. We haven't broken the engagement, I guess. Although they might have, considering I was in prison. It's hard to tell.
I trusted them with my life. And I did what I had to do to save them.
Why did you round with her? I don't know. I don't know if I can trust them anymore.
You kind of lost that planet right there.
Lost what planet?
Scott, you seem distracted. If you don't-
Oh, wine it, yeah. Yeah, I'll live.
There's no such thing as coincidences. After we come down on this bloody long chute, those Ol' Hefner are going to come down after us.
Scott, you've got to protect your flank. It's looking bad.
Is it? Or do I just have a bigger plan in store?
Eight of your planets have willingly joined my alliance.
Yes, realized that long ago.
This is beginning to make me feel really bad.
Sorry.
There, I'll just skip my turn. Nothing I want to do, right?
Sideling up next to Skye. Flare on this, like, driftwood cane.
Hey, Mike showed me how to do this.
And you see, like, an extra zero get put onto the top of your funds.
Keep it up, Flare. You're winning some points with me.
Cool.
Thiriak, can you take my turn? I want to talk to Scrap for a second.
That's perfectly alright. Hold on. These colonies are not optimized.
Gielin is landing on his own. Estrid is on the other end of the room, flicking through some books.
And Scrap is next to a vending machine, but has, like, popped the number pad off of it and is, like, fiddling inside.
What are you doing, dude? Couldn't that get us in trouble?
Well, I know. I'm going to put it back and it's going to be fine. I know we'll notice.
I mean, if we get caught, then yes, I mean, of course it's going to be. But it's a long fucking journey.
I'm not hungry yet, but I imagine I will be. And I kind of want to just, you know, lay out some snacks and things.
I feel like it's a little tense at the minute, so.
Yo, let me take a stab at it.
You can if you want.
And then do I have to roll? There's something?
Yeah, sure. Give me an engineering. OK. Engineering check of like twenty. Thirty one.
Can I whack it like the Fonz? Yeah. Snacks like pour out.
Hey, getting good at that.
I'm going to tell them.
Just like everything. Yeah.
I might get pretty upset.
I thought. I could move past it and clearly I can't.
Good thing we got snacks.
I don't know if I can do it by myself.
Do you want to get people to sit in a circle as we tell them?
I've prepared a slideshow. With what time?
I thought that I thought it would. I thought it might. When did you do that?
They have like apps for it. It was like two seconds.
Fine. Yeah, sure. We'll do a slideshow.
Do you want me to announce it? Yeah. Who wants snacks?
We got the vending machine open. Snacks for everybody.
Snacks. Great.
What? Good. What's happening? I don't know.
I feel like a lot of things are just like coming out.
Is now the time?
Is now the time for what? Dr. Theoriact?
To talk about the murders. Oh my goodness.
The murder. I thought that you told everyone.
I'm just going to let everyone know that it's very acoustic in here.
So you can hear everything anyone is saying.
No matter how it's whispered.
Yeah, they got a lot of stuff in here, but it really doesn't dampen the sound at all.
It just kind of bounces around the room.
Alright, so it seems like we have a lot of things we want to talk about today.
I don't need to talk about anything?
At some point I would really like you to talk because I realized we don't actually know that much about you.
Like in your own time, obviously. I don't want to push you or anything.
But if somebody asked me any, like if I had to fill out a form for you or something.
Well, I mean, I don't have any secrets, so I'm going to go play video games.
That sounds like a lie.
Of course I got secrets, but I ain't going to tell none of y'all. I bet you yesterday.
Can I do a sense motive check to see how bad these secrets are?
Like, are these guilty secrets?
Are these like, sometimes I like to go skinny dipping.
Wow, that's very good for Estrid. Congratulations. It's a 2.
But wait, hold on.
Don't you have plus a billion?
Yeah, so that's a 12 plus 6.
At least 5 plus 1, which is 18.
There is someone about her that's just slippy.
You just can't get a read on what she's thinking or what she's doing.
You're like, it might be rattled from before.
So what this says to me is that Estrid is as good at like hiding from people as I am good at reading people.
Estrid, maybe video games could wait hypothetically for, I don't know, maybe 4 minutes and 21 seconds.
Wow, that's very specific.
That is very specific.
Skye, what do you want to tell us?
It's hard to say.
So I made a slideshow.
You made something?
You made a slideshow?
I couldn't figure out how to say it and I didn't want to leave anything out.
And I feel like my heart's falling out my butt.
I don't think that's supposed to happen.
It's hyperbolic, Doctor.
She's made something to show us.
Alright, I feel like we've already made this awkward enough for Skye.
So let's just be quiet.
Skye, hit play when you're ready.
We're all ears.
The Oxford Database defines the Void as a secret society of criminals.
The largest Void training facility is located in a secret basement of Weymouth School for the Young and Gifted.
My fellow trainees were mostly teens or young adults who renounced their old names upon entry, but as always, I was special.
My first memories are in Weymouth's basement and I never remember having a name.
I assume I was just dumped by someone who didn't want me and the Voids scooped me up.
They wanted me when no one else did.
On paper, I was 327 Saga, but we got by with Squirt, Hipsqueaks, Grunt, that kind of thing.
I liked Hive, though. He called me Superstar.
When I got a little older, I started sneaking above ground and the kids my age had a whole new set of names for me.
Bottom Feeder, Lower Deck Dork, Basement Weirdo, that kind of thing.
That was my first impression of upper deckers and, gotta say, wasn't stoked.
Eventually, I started getting sick of it and some upper deck kids lost a few teeth.
It was part of my daily routine. Wake up, train, beat up some dork to take his lunch and get sent to school at the office.
They gave me the same old speech about how that energy must be channeled into my service, you know?
It must be harnessed so I could be a weapon for embassy and then I'd get sent to detention.
Is it broken?
I don't know.
I don't think so.
I am not permitted to speak of detention.
It's a conditioning program.
It's basically just there to torture and brainwash us.
Most of us only have to go through it two to three times because we joined older.
Sky, when I hacked a chip, said she went through it six hundred and fifty seven times.
So that was my life. Beating on snobby upper deck kids and being trained to kick major ass.
Then, after years of training, school deemed me ready, I was out on mission stage fourteen, youngest in void history.
And dude, I was so good at being bad.
Then I remember my partner Hive split a photo across the table.
And next thing you know, I'm riding a skateboard across the tops of skyscrapers and BAM!
I finally did what I'd been working for all those years and I got my name.
And it was a cool one.
And I didn't become just any old hired gun. I was THE hired gun.
There have been a few void prodigies, but few have changed the silhouette of an entire city.
I even got to meet the embassy once and he told me he was proud.
And I gotta say, after years of the upper decks punching down, it felt pretty good to be punching up.
Until I crawled into bed and turned off the lights.
Then it felt bad.
Like really bad.
I didn't know what it was, but I knew something was wrong.
Slowly I started trying to sneak away.
But the void would come find me.
They always told me there was nothing out there for me and when it turned out they were right, I would just come back.
I'd always get sick or hungry or screwed over and I'd be going back to Waymorts.
That's when my partner Hive hooked me up with Scrap.
They got me on Saga. We saw some truly rad shit, dude.
I dyed my hair, bought some clothes, grew a personality.
After about a year apiece, I thought maybe the void wouldn't find me.
But then we met you guys.
It turns out the new me can't resist entering a void death race just out of spite.
And the old me is...
I think the old me just might be me.
Anyway, the rest is history.
Sky, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that you faced all that growing up.
I don't really have a frame of reference as to any other way to grow up, so...
That doesn't mean that it wasn't fair.
Yeah, well, life's not.
You know none of this is your fault, right?
Uh, no.
I don't know that.
Well, uh...
We'll work on it, Sky.
You're responsible for yourself now, yeah.
The north is your home.
You're responsible for yourself now, yeah.
But not for what you did then.
As the people who raised you.
They're responsible for that.
Okay, but...
What if what I did then is who I am now?
Sky, I've known you for quite some time, and I can say that you are not a blind, mass murder machine.
You are an intelligent, capable, and admirable young woman.
Yes, you know how to kill.
Uh, well...
There's actually one more piece to the puzzle that I haven't even told Scrap yet.
Is there another slight change?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Um, Scrap, do you remember, like, shortly after we left Saga, there was like that week on the patchwork where I was like really sick, like up-chucking everywhere and stuff?
Yeah, no, of course.
So... I might have had a bad night and a little bit of smog wine and might have, um, found online some Heth software.
I, uh, I, you know, I have no intention nor desire to be a scourge on humanity again, so...
What are you saying?
Sky, are you talking about in the... did you upload Heth software to your head?
Sort of.
Um, so you know the thing that they did to Keelan and Flare where they...
You reprogrammed yourself.
You tried to get rid of the bad memories.
Not the, not the memories, just...
What?
You know, I learned a lot at Waymorth's and I just kinda...
I'm lost, I'm confused.
Most of it's gone.
God, got rid of it. Like it's still, it's still in there somewhere, but...
I just didn't trust myself.
What is done is done.
You do realize that there is a method of unlearning that does not require utilizing state police programming?
You are very capable, Sky, of great things.
You don't need the tools of a militarized police force to be able to do that yourself.
Then why wasn't...
Why wasn't it enough?
Sky, what Dr. Thirriak is talking about?
It's gonna take time.
You haven't had long enough to try yet.
Look...
Sky...
I did...
Grow up in the Lower Decks.
It was dark and hard, and everything was always about the next thing.
Where was the next dinner and where was the next break?
And everybody I knew growing up seemed to agree that it was horrible, that it was not the right way to live.
And everybody seemed really jealous of the way that they got to live on the Upper Decks.
Full of light and food and ease and recreation and rest.
And then when I got old enough to do anything, I found out all the ways that you could get there.
Join the Heth, join the Lawmen, arrest and beat up your neighbors.
So I thought, when Quinn came around, let me bring our things up to the people who had everything already.
I thought it was the most harmless way to get what everybody told me was a better life.
But you said it.
Early on, after we met.
Even the most harmless way to get there, I still wound up there.
And apparently, still finding a way to be a part of something that hurt people.
People down below.
I wanted to be there for you and protect you, but you're grown.
I'm sorry that you didn't know me until now.
So who your parents?
Nobody.
Folks down in Lower Decks hated it down there and hated the Upper Decks, but wanted to go there all the same, which, you know, I used to think was contradictory, but I'm starting to get the anger and the jealousy make a little more sense.
Anyway, they wanted me to have a better life, and I misunderstood.
I should have been trying to get us a better life, not just escaping.
That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself, Ike.
Maybe.
You know, one thing, when we were still back on Saga, I think I would have wanted to listen more about Tommy's plan.
The difference, I guess, even just a few months will make.
Anyone else?
Uh, well.
So, you remember when we went to the Wild Times like a week ago?
Do you remember that a bunch of the board members, like, died?
Hmm, let me think. Yeah, I think I can recall something like that happening.
I understand. But you're upset?
Huh? Oh no, I'm just saying it's hard to forget.
Great. Okay, because I definitely killed them.
What?
All of them?
Well, I didn't personally kill them, I allowed them to die. Is that better?
No.
I didn't think so.
The guy out the window.
Oh, that guy, I definitely killed him. Killing him in the pool? Yeah, I killed that motherfucker.
Ethereac, how could you do that?
Great question. Great question, Skye.
I don't think that there is an answer that exonerates me.
Oh, I literally meant how could you do it? Because you came up to his shins or something, right?
Oh my god.
How did that work, exactly? What was your technique?
Oh, you mean in like, physics?
Like physics, how could you do that?
Alright, so I was on a table.
Okay.
He mentioned the god damned emails again.
Wrong move.
And then I was like, I sent the emails, and then I shoved him out the window.
Oh, you shoved from on top of the table?
From on top of the table. So I was like pushing his center of gravity, I guess.
Okay, that makes sense. Okay, thank you for clearing that up.
Wow, Doc, I didn't know he had it in you.
I don't.
Well, clearly you do.
We've had this discussion as best as we could.
You've had this discussion?
Azam was very quick to pick up on what had happened.
How quick?
Not that quick. It's not like I was told. It's just...
I'm disappointed. I think I made that clear.
And Theriac, I am led to believe that you are now the sole founder.
I mean, technically it's Mr. Wilde.
There is Mr. Wilde. That's not a correct statement.
Is Mr. Wilde...because you said earlier that it's like you assisted, and Mr. Wilde finished the job.
Oh, okay. So the whole email thing was about...
It's very complicated, but basically now the AI is running wild times to what I had envisioned originally.
Should we be worried about that? Should we stop it? Should we tell somebody?
I don't think so. Dr. Theriac, your vision was for wild times to be a wildlife conservation effort, right?
Correct. That is what it's returning to because it had become too commercial, too focused on pleasing stockholders and incentivizing package plans.
It was not the original conceit of wild times. Wild times was intended as a xenoecological educational facility.
I cannot look at you right now, you little raccoon.
I'm just a little guy.
I understand you're just a little guy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You didn't ask for this life. I understand that.
Okay, Theriac, can you just run me through this one more time?
Okay.
You shoved Hilo Lepore out the window.
Yes.
You then teamed up with the AI, like a computer. Didn't we see you execute that computer?
That's right. It wasn't like a Kilo switch. It was more of like, it wasn't like shutting down. It was going to sleep.
But you said you were shutting it down.
I did.
I believe, Skye, if I may, that was all a rather elaborate drama made for our benefit. Not really a thing that actually happened.
How did that benefit us?
So we wouldn't ask questions.
Theriac, why didn't you want us to ask questions?
I don't know. I just did it.
Theriac, this AI, was it the voice I heard in my head?
What?
Right after Hilo Lepore fell from the building, I tried to go up and check on you, make sure you were okay.
And my board got shut off by something.
And if his aunt hadn't caught me, I probably would have been in a very similar state to Hilo Lepore.
And then I heard a voice in my head say, the doctor has to do this. I can turn you off.
That is news to me.
Okay, but I do remember asking you about the AI when you shut it off because we went upstairs and I said there was a voice in my head that said the doctor has to do this.
Is this what this is?
I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to drop down dead all of a sudden because something threatened my life in my brain.
I made a decision based on paranoia and beliefs that were not true.
Firiak was manipulated in a very similar way to, as you know, your slideshow showed, you've been manipulated in a similar way to how Iga's been manipulated, how Scrap's been manipulated.
That's what these systems do, they manipulate people.
Does that mean it's still in my brain?
I don't know. I, I, have you heard it since?
Not exactly an AI expert, but should be far out of range. You're probably safe.
But you know when you were having those episodes, well I started practicing with my communication to machines. I don't know if I'm ready yet, but I think that I could alter it so it can't affect you.
I know that in this moment you probably feel betrayed.
And I know that because I, I felt betrayed too.
And what happened to you was far worse.
I'm, I'm not mad.
Doc, I'm, I'm not upset at you.
But, yeah, I did think the limit for how many times somebody could threaten my life in front of you all was one.
But I, we're all just gonna have to live with the consequences of that.
For a woman that stood beside my knees, that Hefner.
She's the one that led, that led a raid against my planet.
I fought against it.
She's also the person who promised me that if I turned myself in quietly at the end of it all, no harm would come to my loved ones.
I also fear that I don't know what I'm capable of.
Because when I saw her face, I just wanted to burn everything.
Maybe we can help keep each other in check.
Dr. Theriac, you locked yourself in that boardroom with them.
People who took your ideal and twisted it.
As on you, if you were alone in a room with that woman.
As Guy, you were alone on that rooftop.
And I was alone all the time.
So maybe we don't do these things alone.
Okay, we can do better.
Right?
Am I right? Yeah.
As on.
What if she takes you all away too?
We are so capable together, Ason.
Yeah.
Tell you what, first one of you that murders somebody in cold blood is getting a wet willy.
Okay, I won't hold back either.
Yeah.
Who's up for Y-Net?
Theriac, you might have just made Sky's planets declare war on me.
What?
Oh, the game. Right.
Oh, I thought you were talking about Saga going to war with a demon.
Me too. Yeah, me too.
Is that what our lives have come to?
That we are not surprised if we hear that we have started an intergalactic war?
God, we're a mess. We're a mess, team.
I did kind of actually start a war.
That seems justifiable.
I'm not sure the systematic eradication of your entire people is not cause for war.
I mean, to be fair, it was more like a systematic eradication of our way of life and culture.
That's, that's, I don't know.
Doesn't make it better.
No.
Ason.
It was cert energy that messed with your planet?
Yeah.
So I'm not sure because they didn't want to like tell me too many details because like I was 14 and they didn't want me to like get too emotional or whatever.
But that some of the photos that Hive slid across the desk at me, I think some of them might have been with cert energy.
So that was Hive's idea too, yeah.
It's like, it's like we're partners.
Oh, fist bump. Sure.
You do realize I'm running hot right now. I might like scold you.
Yeah, I'm in a lot of pain.
Sorry.
Is Flair looking? Not that I care, but is that why they're merging?
What?
Bury Mining. That's who I work for. Bury.
They just decided they're going to merge with something called cert energy.
Maybe they have to merge because you took out so much of their assets.
Ike, isn't your friend the head of that merger?
Well, on Bury's side, yeah.
Your employer?
No, I just bring him wine for parties.
Does he pay you to do that?
Yes.
Then he's your employer.
Bury Mining. Used void. Contracted void to target cert.
Because that way, instead of taking a massively expensive company and merging with it, they could possibly just buy it out.
That's why Queen knows Playground. Playground's like, high up.
Playground's the one that hired me to do the murder.
How have we known each other for months now and none of us came out?
I mean, all the pieces together may make sense, right?
Scrap.
Did you reach out to us on purpose? You're not like orchestrating some sort of halfway house for the formerly immoral...
I did, unfortunately, I think. Maybe the patchwork just picks up lost souls.
Like that thing Azam was saying earlier, there's no such thing as coincidences.
Everything happens for a reason, even if it's a reason you cannot ascertain.
Right, yeah.
I think the Reac is just kind of sitting next to Skye, like, taking over the controls of the Y-neck and...
What's that button do?
This?
Yeah.
Technically, if I wanted to, I would be able to start what's called a surprise war.
Can we do that?
Sure.
No, you are not committing war with me again.
That's not how war works, Azam.
I didn't. I'm sorry.
We just made peace.
I said I'm sorry.
Are you good, Doc?
There's something else I didn't tell you about the AI.
You know, I'm just gonna let the computer decide my turns for me. Please don't eradicate me.
I'm just gonna go to the other side of this gigantic tunnel thing.
I think that program, after it had executed the board, it referred to me as Mr. Wilde.
Like your co-worker?
Right. But you discussing the Void.
I'm not certain, but I have a fear that that indicates that... that would make me... wild times.
Do you understand?
Like you think the AI was trying to recruit you into the Void?
I don't know.
I mean, that would make sense, because...
Does it?
This AI seemed very intent on just... following the order...
The orders of who, Doc?
Of my orders, of what I originally wanted for the system. For... for... for... wild times.
Uh-huh. And your co-founder is?
Alive.
And?
And what?
What's his name, Doc?
Oh... oh my god.
Yeah.
Mr. Wilde, as in the wild, as in the wilderness. He's a... oh.
Yeah.
Ugh.
Take your time.
I am the colossal Claude.
You are really not. You're still like the smartest person I've ever met, Doc.
I allowed a rogue AI programmed by a multi-planet criminal organization, not only access to the project I've been working at for years, but also...
...indain to the lives of one of my crewmates.
Threaten the life. It's a little different.
You fell, right? Correct?
Yeah. Really glad a zombie caught me.
That still could have happened.
Oh yeah, I guess there is a murder attempt in there as well.
Ugh. Thanks.
Sorry, I'm only supposed to be back. I hid my name.
No. Take the cultivator. Here's, um...
Okay, I'll just go back over.
Doc, didn't you once tell me that wild times was the result of... a lot of failures?
Yes. I did.
So, do you remember when we had that con... which by the way, I realized, oh my god, that's kind of a jerk move to give me that whole spiel of keeping secrets and being honest with each other and then you lied in my face, like what, two days after? Oh my god. Anyway.
I remember in that conversation, I got a little grumbly with you.
And I was like pat yourself on the back for wild times.
It's cause... I feel like a little gratitude might have prevented this whole situation.
You created something incredible, something amazing, colossal in my eyes, because of a bunch of failures.
And yeah, it was imperfect. You're not perfect, Doc.
I would have killed for a chance at some failures like that. I did.
I'm sorry it wasn't what you wanted it to be, but I feel like you must have gotten close, right?
That that's not something... that's okay for me?
Okay, then what would be good enough?
I don't like...
Clearly burning it all down to the ground was a terrible idea.
I'm just so... flabby-ass as to what I should be doing.
That seems normal.
I haven't seen any CEO classes bouncing around.
I think you're doing a pretty rad job.
I disagree.
I think it's safe to say that sorry's not going to cut it.
What do you think you should do?
I don't know. I don't know.
I don't think there's really anything you could do, Doc, and I know how much that sucks.
I really do.
Do you think you can forgive yourself?
Have you?
I'm trying.
It's really hard when I know there's a lot of people I left in my wake who would never forgive me.
But I think that if I had forgiven some things about me to begin with, maybe none of this would ever happen.
Maybe if I had shown gratitude for what little I could have shown gratitude for, maybe I wouldn't have been so angry all the time.
Easy to manipulate.
So it's like, I'll forgive you.
And boom, that was easy. So how hard could it be for me?
I'm serious about that wet willy.
Do you have ears?
Like, ears is the only option for me.
I'm not sure that you want to discover that.
No, no, certainly not after that wording.
What would be the equivalent of a wet willy? Do you know what a wet willy is?
I am familiar with the concept of a wet willy.
You can pluck a strand of pestles.
Is that going to hurt?
Really?
You'll just look kind of dopey for a while?
Sure, that's reasonable.
I think at this point, Ike is going to let those who are still playing Y-Net keep playing and maybe find Scrap.
Scrap for the rest of the journey is like, sat in a corner with like, kind of some randomized tools splayed out and his arm has been like, removed.
Very quiet, weirdly so for Scrap.
Scrap catches eyes with Ike to call her over and then does the same to his arm.
It wasn't said, in so many words, so this might just be a theory that I have.
Quinn hired Skye, right? Quinn's the one who called her on the first job?
Through an intermediary, Quinn called playground, playground called Skye. He seems more like one of those scared little coward people. Doesn't seem like I can call her their assassin directly.
Do you think so, Azam? Do you think that describes Quinn?
Some people manipulate because they're good at manipulating. Other people manipulate because they're desperate.
Though there is a special few that manipulate because they don't know how to do anything else.
It's like, other people don't matter. They stop existing for them unless they can use them for some purpose.
Oh.
Why are you asking me this?
I wanted Quinn so badly to be my friend.
I didn't realize that I was scared of him.
Look, I don't know of a man, but I've met plenty like him. Quinn takes out the powerlessness he feels. Out on the people under him.
Quinn spoke to Skye on my phone. Do you think he could have recognized her or do you think she's in...
He's coming here because they called burry mining the second I showed up to this elevator.
We don't know if he'd come personally.
The reason why Quinn is where he is is because he got the executives of Surt Energy executed and then managed to head the merger.
Which means that he is one of the most powerful people in business.
Not yet. Merger hasn't come through. Not till the ball happens.
If a merger didn't go through for any reason, Quinn's head is on the chopping block and I think he'd know that.
Maybe it ought to be. Maybe the merger oughtn't go through.
I'm sorry, Scrap.
I'm sorry. Or I am gonna be.
I just wanted to get confirmation that Skye's in this situation because of Quinn.
Because if I ever meet him, I'm probably gonna beat him to death.
Scrap, if I ever see Quinn again, I won't get anywhere near our Skye.
We don't have to be like Quinn. We don't have to be like Void. We don't have to be like that. We don't have to do that.
I feel like right now we need each other more than ever. And on that note, Thiriak is crying and saying I'm a good person over and over so you might want to go.
Okay.
You know, I really wish that button of yours was still working.
You know, the one that would call out to my people.
I could use some advice right now.
Is there anything I can help with?
Magnolia Cole is a nice murderer. An evil policewoman. A manipulator.
And I have no idea what my people would want to do with her.
I like to think I have a strong sense of what I think is right.
And right now I have no idea.
If I were you, I would finally invest in a gun.
It's not my fault. This guy needed a rifle more.
People always say you don't bring a knife to a gunfight and you don't bring anything to a gunfight. You just kind of turn up to a gunfight and hope that someone will drop a gun.
Look, I got through that entire mess in Neutrino Downs with nothing but a piece of piano wire. I feel like I can manage. Just because I invest.
I've taken a lot of lives in my time and I don't know anyone that's just turned up and able to walk away. It's genuinely impressive.
It gave you a real hard time when we first met.
I know that we butted heads more than once or twice.
We get mad at each other as much as we want and we can scream at each other as I have done to you, but family doesn't leave.
I ain't leaving you.
If she intends to kill us, then she can definitely give it a go.
I saw my parents fighting and I asked why they were fighting. I'll never forget what my mum said.
They care so much about their family that everything becomes life and death.
I would caution you though, I do have an advantage in the headbutting department.
I got half a metal faceplate so a lot of this is titanium.
How did it happen?
You know my kid?
Yeah.
I've never been a successful man. I failed over and over and over again and I was lucky enough to have a partner, someone who I would hope loved me very much and I failed her.
Again and again I just kept picking up shitty jobs and then we had a child and I failed them.
We lived in this shitty, awful apartment in the lower decks constantly leaking. Everything was mould-ridden.
And one day I just got sick of failing.
An old friend of mine, we grew up together and he was the most snot-nosed piece of shit you could ever imagine. But he was living incredibly well.
I found out and he changed his name and joined the Void. So I joined too.
One day I beat someone to death in a scrapyard.
My partner at the time found out and she left. She walked away, her and the kid.
And a few years after that my kid joined the lawmen and to prove himself, drove to the scrapyard and set me on fire.
Shit.
I built the patchwork to get out. I just couldn't be down there anymore.
About two years after that I met Sky.
There was no bloody timer was there? How are we supposed to know when we're close?
Maybe we can ask the fucking hologram.
I'm telling you right now, I don't like it. I don't like it.
Building a city near the core of a planet is shit that supervillains do? And I'm surprised they didn't get that as they were building it.
Maybe they did. I mean maybe this Freya Corp is a fucking supervillain corp.
I think by nature of being a corporation you are a supervillain.
Are you hungry? It's been two, maybe three hours. I'm not hungry at all.
Back when I was leading a rebellion I got shot in the gut at least twice and the nerve there that tells you when you're hungry, I'm completely seven.
You never know when I'm hungry. Wow. I just eat when I feel like it.
You know what else I just realized? When you're going down a gigantic elevator there's no natural way to end a conversation.
While I'm munching and playing Y-Net with a crying therian I can't hide I did just want to look over to the other click of Estrid, Flare, and Keelan and perhaps gauge some emotions. They've been awfully quiet.
You see Flare flicking through a hollow program of what looks like movies. You see Estrid is just reading a book idly and Keelan is looking out the window at this rocky face that passes.
They hate me now. What? They hate me now. Who? Those three. They don't. What gives you that impression? Well... We did just drop a lot of heavy information on them. Yeah. Wait a second. I'm sorry.
And Igg walks over to Flare. Igg, what are you doing? Igg, no. No, you can't stop this. Igg walks over to Flare and pulls Flare over to the side and is like...
Did Skynut just pour her ever loving heart out and you just... I'm sorry, no reaction? Theory, I gotta change my mind. Kill me. Kill me right now. What? Forget the wet willy thing. Kill me.
That girl just said all her deepest, darkest secrets to all of us. You what? I don't really know. I don't know what to... Igg acknowledge it in some way. To her.
You like her. Clearly. The person I liked spilled their guts. I wouldn't be sitting in silence. Please. Just go and say anything to her. Anything at all.
Crystal, are you gonna turn me in? If I knew that I was stealing a crystal from, you know, the Void's most very special child, I probably would have thought about it a bit more.
Yeah, I bet you regretted that, didn't you? No. It's pretty cool, though.
I like to frame it like it was... Keelan? Has he said anything? No.
Do you think of me differently? Do you think of me differently now you know I'm just a serial number?
Do you have a slideshow? Maybe if I find out who I was before. You can help me make it.
You could practice drawing until then. No, I like it. I liked your little doodles. And you also did stand-up when we were at Helium.
I'm multifaceted. Yeah. Is being creative something you like doing? I guess it is. Yeah.
I got some drawings. They have a small satchel bag that you don't really see them carrying around, but they just kind of throw it into the truck and they had it on the patchwork. They grab it and in there is some change of clothes.
They pull out this folder, it's like small binder, that has a bunch of these like very intricate looking designs for things. Some of them a bit like mismatched.
You can't really tell where the ideas are like connected or if they're even designed the same thing.
I have to go into Wild Times. I started getting really into, I think I've talked to Therriak about this before, I got really into this like solar punk type movement.
It's stupid, but it's all about kind of like using technology and nature.
You know, it's a thing which I thought was cool. And again, I kind of get tech, you know, I just kind of understand how it works. I know that the whistle is kind of stupid, but everything sings.
I got these designs of things. This one measures water and like the pH levels of it to see, you know, if it would, you know, if it's like dangerous for certain plants and this one you can actually attach to plants and it reads its mood.
I actually haven't built any of these, but I think they'll work. I want to talk to Therriak about it more because I think it's a thing that we could definitely install in Wild Times to be really cool.
I think we could bring the dock over here. They're like two feet away.
I'll speak to them later. Your drawings are cooler.
Your drawings are cool too.
I'm sorry, Fler. I'm really going to try to be less of an asshole to you. I think it's like a defense mechanism. Like I'm trying to be an asshole to you on purpose so that I'm not an asshole to you by accident. Does that make sense?
Stardust, you're fine. Truly.
Has Estrid said anything to you? Yeah, Estrid's great. We talked a bunch at the Neutrino Downs party.
Hmm. About what? You know, just things.
She likes you. She puts you up a bunch. It's annoying. What kind of things did she ask about me?
What your deal was? Kind of wanted to know how we got to know each other.
Wondered how far we'd been traveling and all that.
Why don't you go show the dock your designs?
Okay. All right. Kind of readies the cane to pull them up. Oh, fuck. And then uses you as a big crutch as they pull themselves up.
I help them up. And then I do the Pride and Prejudice hand thing.
All right. Speak to you later, Stardust. Begins to walk over to Theriak and then
pivots away and continues to flick through the movie selection before picking one.
Estrid is in the corner reading. Actually, I was going to say if they're going to kill it, I'm going to get the gang, the OG gang back together.
Dudes, dudes, dudes, dudes. Oh, okay. Oh, you can't do forms.
So, uh, Estrid, when we were hanging out with the Baron was like really into the idea of joining the void.
Oh, piss. That's no good.
Uh, I'm just like, I'm not saying that we should not not trust her.
Just keep like, keep an eye on her.
Can I be honest?
I would certainly hope so. After today, yeah, I'd be pretty grumpy if anybody was not honest at this point.
It's a bad time to tell you. I have a secret. I'm kidding.
I don't trust Estrid at all. I haven't since we met her.
I don't know. She seems like a good kid.
Wait, Azam, what are your feelings? If you don't trust her, we should hear you out as to why.
Estrid is like, what's a trait thing? It's like dirt that can swallow you.
Quicksand? A magnet? Oh, never mind.
What? What did you say?
I said a magnet.
A magnet?
Interesting that you'd go to that. I was talking about-
It's just dirt that can swallow you, dude. That's what it is.
Yeah, you get all those little bubbles.
It's just particles of dirt that can suck you up.
It's like Quicksand doesn't peddle.
Good try, Aang.
The more you try to hold tight, the more Estrid has designed her personality to slip through your fingers.
All I'm saying is that Estrid's motives are purposefully hidden.
Okay, but I don't want to treat her like that.
Are you...are you...I don't know how to say this. Are you interested? Do you find kinship with Estrid?
Yeah, the second teenager I've met, of course I have a crush on them, Azam.
I cannot tell if you're being sarcastic or not.
I am being sarcastic, Azam. No, I see...myself...in her.
That's what I'm saying. I think she's a good kid. She just has had a rough go of it so far.
Oh, wait. Okay. Can't...can't both be true?
Can't we be...can't we assume the best about Estrid?
And assume that Estrid is going to do right, but be prepared? For the worst, is that him?
I have no intention of treating Estrid like a villain.
I know. I'm just...I...I...I'm looking for...a balanced option.
I understand.
Let's just do what I suggested earlier and just not do anything alone.
And I...that includes you being alone with Estrid.
I think, like, there's...there's a kind of soberly look about the way Skye just said that and, like, pointed that out particularly.
Okay. Yeah. Of course. Is everyone clear with that?
That sounds perfectly acceptable to me. I don't...I don't see...I...we have only recently met this person.
I think it's hard to make a hard judgement value right after such an intense, you know, battle.
Encounter.
Yeah. So I think...let's...let's hold judgement for now.
There is one time I might need to be alone.
When might that be?
If I can talk to them, if I can figure out what happened to Malize, I...
No, Asam.
Look.
I want you to find that out.
I just don't want you to be...alone.
Not alone alone. We could be hidden, we could be nearby.
Nearby, maybe.
Nearby.
But we'll cross that bridge once we burn it, right?
Exactly.
That's the phrase.
Burning bridges is like a whole other thing, but we might do that too.
Yeah.
I'm getting better at my idioms. Look for it.
Sure.
If you're here, I do seem like you're about to experience a whole mental breakdown.
Oh, that time has passed.
You realize why it sounds worse, right?
No, no, it's bad. It's...it's not great.
Is there anything we can do to help?
Frankly, I don't think so. I think it's just a me-got-to-figure-it-out sort of thing.
Do you want to scream?
No!
We're in an elevator.
I find that deeply upsetting. But I appreciate that.
What do you do to feel better?
That's a great question. I don't know.
Ferric, have you never learned a single coping mechanism in your life?
Uh...science?
Have you ever punched something?
God no.
I threw something out a window.
Yeah, you did push somebody out a window.
I did. I did. I...
Is that too soon for a joke? I feel pretty bad about that as soon as it landed on me.
That was just a correct statement.
Okay, well, go back to that moment. Did that make you feel good?
That didn't really make...that kind of just emboldened that emotion in an unhealthy way.
Have you ever tried, like, standing in a puddle of water?
Standing in a puddle of water?
As people are making these random suggestions, I would like I to, like, kind of slip through the crowd and reach hand through and grab Theriax's root hand and grip it and see if that...
...effects their answer. Not saying anything.
The reactor initially, like, tenses up, but then recognizes whose hand it is.
And kind of rescinds their statement and says, actually, sometimes I do talk to others about what's happening when I can.
Good, because my next suggestion was going to be worse.
What?
I once knew a friend who liked to rearrange furniture.
Oh, God.
Hmm. I'm not against that, I suppose.
But...
And then I think Theriax squeezes Ike's hand a little bit. I think I just need to get better at what I know how to do.
Ike will sort of walk away still holding Theriax's hand and hoping that they follow.
Uh, like, just to another corner. It's okay.
Are you okay?
No. Not at all.
Dr. Theriax, you know that no matter what, I...I still understand you, and I understand why you did so many of the things you did.
And I believe that you're gonna do better and that we're gonna do better together.
I believe that so much.
And I'm so glad I know you.
And I love you, too.
And I'd like to...
What?
I think it's a good pitch that we end that there because Theriax probably doesn't remember saying it.
I think that would be really funny.
What? Oh, shit.
What do you mean? Wait, huh?
Yes, you say that, and even though you're in this small, tiny elevator, it feels like you are the only people in the world.
There's a small...
And the hologram in the center of the room appears again of this annoyingly beautiful woman.
We're approaching the city now. Thank you all for riding with us. I'm so, so excited for you.
Welcome to your new career. Welcome to your new chance. Welcome to your new family. Welcome to your new life. Welcome to your new forever.
Welcome, all of you, to new maws.
As the elevator passes through this last layer of rock, you see before you the city of new maws.
A cavern cut in almost a perfect sphere holds the city life churns all around you in full 360.
Edwardian buildings built out of stone with gargoyles, manor houses stretch all the way out, curling up the wall on the ceiling and then curling back down to you.
In the center, a bright light, a sun shines, giving light to a huge portion of new maws, and it moves, tracking the days.
As it passes over you, all of you shield your eyes. And as your eyes adjust and you look into the sun, you see the second crystal.
The elevator shudders as it stops and the doors open.
A woman stands, awaiting you.
Hello, all of you. My name is Aphrodite. It's an honor to meet you all.
Are you guys hungry?
No.
No?
And that is where we will end the session.
Wow.
Oh my god.
Holy shit.
A general shout out, you've got to join the Patchwork Support tier on our little Patreon.
Every tier has extra content and wonderful little things.
The wild time sticker, some extra little content, joining our Discord where you can chat with all of the team.
But if you want to like a shout out, it's the Patchwork Support tier that you need.
Our music today was provided by Artlist under their Fair Use License.
If you are like, damn, I love listening to this, but I want to see these beautiful, wonderful souls' faces.
Well, I have some freaking great news for you.
You can go to our YouTube channel, which is the Atomos on YouTube.
We have all of our videos. We also have edited clips, animatics.
We got some reels on there. It's great. It means the absolute world.
If you go on there and you comment, like all that jazz, it helps us out so much.
We're also on TikTok. If you didn't know that before, again, that's the thing.
Those shares, those likes, everything.
It's so, so important to us to help grow.
And we appreciate it so much. My heart brims with joy every single time I see anyone talking about a delicious show.
Delicious, yummy, yummy little show.
So go on there. And if you want to watch our show live, the live APs come out before the podcasted episodes.
And they will be on Patchwork Productions, which is my Dylan's new little thing.
We're going to have the animals on there as well as some new other other shows.
Whenever we have a new other show, we got one in the works in the minute. It's very good.
It's like a spooky little show and I'm very excited for it.
Do you want to smell good?
Well, we've teamed up with a familiar shop. We make animal themed soaps.
Each member of the Patchwork has collabed to create a soap based on that character.
We've got Sky with Strawberry, Zan, Bonfire, Incense, Iguazcon, Candy, Theriac, is Eucalyptus in Burgamont.
And the Theriac one is my absolute favorite. Oh my God, I love it so much.
A familiar shop on Etsy to go get that.
And we get a small cut whenever someone buys one of those soaps.
So it helps us out oh oh so much.
Our players today was MoMo Brian playing Sky, SuperDemon playing I, Gnornelikadare,
Werewolf Feels on socials playing Zan, Andra Vera Art, that's our wonderful garlic.
Theriac and me, Matthew Atburg, FlashCaptainKrail on all things who voices the pew pews.
Thanks so much for listening. I'll give you a kiss. I appreciate y'all.
You know what? Last time we had an episode, we had a fun little bit where I went off the rails here.
And you know what? I was like, what do I want to ask the audience? What I want to chat to people about?
And I'm really into Digimon at the minute.
So I decided streaming Pokemon Nuzlocke's, which I love, which if you don't know, it's a whole thing.
CaptainKrail on Twitch. Oh my God, always be plugging if you want to watch it because it is so fun.
We have a whole storyline going on and tragedy and it's great. I love it. Oh, so dearly.
You should come along. If you don't know what Nuzlocke is, it's like when you're only allowed to catch like the first Pokemon on each route.
And if a Pokemon faints in battle, it dies. And then you have to like get rid of it.
And we have a funeral service. The whole thing is very fun.
But whilst I was talking about Pokemon in our like pre run, I was like, man, you know what I fucking love? Digimon.
I started talking about Digimon. I bought a Digimon game that night, which I'm playing at the minute called Digimon Cyber Sleeves, which is pretty good.
I mean, it's fine. It's very I'm very in the early stages, but I love all those Digimon.
I love my little guys. And then I started showing Mo because she's never seen it is Digimon Adventure, which is the original show.
Man, I love Digimon so much gang. Oh, boy. I love Digimon. Way more Digimon kids than it was Pokemon.
Just because I just did Digimon is cool. The show is objectively better and I won't hear anyone say anything else.
So if you've listened to this this far, you have to tweet at me, Matthew, I work on Twitter and or just join a discord and be like at Matt.
This is my favorite Digimon and you have to tell me what your favorite Digimon is.
Not just this is my favorite Digimon, but then tell me what it is. Anyway, appreciate you all so much.
I'm God, I'm so excited for this arc. Holy shit.
It's cool. We've recorded two at the time of recording, recorded two episodes recording the third tomorrow.
It's very good. It's very it's spooky and cool and the villains in it are great.
And yeah, I'm talking about the characters that I put in. I'm very excited for it.
It's cool as hell. I'm excited. I'm excited for you all to listen to it.
Anyway, I appreciate you all so much. Please join us in all of the medias.
If you ever feel inclined to talk about the show in an online fashion, like a tweet or just to say friends be like, hey, do you like sci fi?
Oh, I know that you're into this. Do you know what you might like?
Is this show the atomist? Because that helps us out a whole bunch and it absolutely rules.
Anyway, I appreciate you all so much. Give you a kiss.
I'll speak to you next time.
Oh, and the next time we fly through the atom of the sea, I hope you're there to fly with us.
OK, now I can do it. Oh, boy.