Hey there, Adam and the Sea Travelers. It's Nordina Lee, the voice of our envoy, Azzam.
You know, when we set out to start the show, I built him drawing from my own family's history of, well, coerced displacement,
as well as drawing from other histories with similar themes.
Listening to Azzam's history of rebellion, of having his home planet be colonized, it may be a bit harder than usual today,
considering the recent surge of awareness in many real world struggles.
Just remember to listen responsibly, and if you need to take a break, hit that pause button.
And we'll be right here waiting for you to return when you feel ready to set sail again.
Stay safe out there.
Ike, 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 you 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 Fools 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.
At what point do you die?
Is it when you take your last breath?
Is it when the last person who saw your face dies?
Is it when your name is spoken for the last time?
When you forget a memory, does that version of you die?
Are we constantly in a cycle of dying and being reborn in every moment?
Is it by the very nature of existing at all that we live forever?
Does every single action that we do ripple throughout time and history far beyond our existence,
allowing us to exist far beyond our years?
The light beams down on you.
The crystal hung in the centre of this spherical city.
When you look up at it, past its false sun, instead of seeing the sky, you see other buildings, parks, architecture, people.
The horizon curves down to meet you.
A smartly dressed woman in old fashioned business attire awaits you at the end of the elevator into New Moors.
Hello all. My name is Aphrodite. You are founder Theriac?
That is correct, hello. Pleasure. Offers a hand.
She takes it, shakes it.
So wonderful to meet you and your...
What's up? My name's Skye. Looking good Aphrodite.
Colourful crew.
Does she bump the fist?
She doesn't.
She looks a little intimidating, just purely because when you look at her she has like this indeterminate age.
She looks around 40 to 50 but she has no wrinkles on her face. No crow's feet, no smile lines.
She has a very young complexion on her face but the way that she holds herself is older. Without smiling she nods.
Can I roll a sense motive check on her?
Yeah. You want?
I only rolled a 22.
Well I rolled a 1. Thank you very much.
I kind of want to know how she feels. Does she feel taken aback or surprised by this group? Does she feel like she wants something from us?
She is very composed so not taken aback in any way. It seems she's given the impression of like she got a new meeting 8 hours ago that she wasn't expecting and now she's here to greet all of you.
The surrounding area of where you are is a lot of these very Edwardian stone carved buildings that look almost like they were built into the structure of the ground itself when they were digging out this cave.
A lot of them are quite industrial, possibly not for living in, but then the further this road goes just before it curves up you see that it gets into more like housing and living quarters-esque.
And you know that she is one of the directors of Fire Incorporated, this company that runs the entire city, so it's a little odd that she's meeting you but then of course she knows that Theriac is the founder.
So probably meeting you just to make a good impression. Behind her is like an old iron car. There are these extremely handsome people in these kind of nice quite fashionable suits that are standing around the car, which you get the impression are like guards.
You deftly keep her. A colorful entourage, Theriac?
Actually I'm currently working for Miss Sky.
And what is it that you do, Miss Sky?
Tell them, Theriac.
Well, Miss Sky is an emerging popular musician and I was recruited to maintain the well-being of a pet that she had acquired. It's a raccoon. It's a long story, but...
It's in my backpack.
It's true.
Very good. Very good.
Azam, you tell that on the announcement of she's an entertainer, Aphrodite is taken aback by that, that's the only thing that gives her a slight twitch. It's pretty imperceptible unless you're specifically looking for tells. Maybe not necessarily negative, but there was a reaction to.
Can I roll diplomacy to make this not feel like...
What I want Theriac to project is the energy of like, I'm so set that I can just do whatever the hell I want now.
Sure thing, absolutely.
That's 26?
There is an air of recognition. Again, quite imperceptible to her. She doesn't really show facial expressions, but you can kind of tell that she buys what you're putting down.
For your information, Young Sky, yes, we are going to ride in this. We'll take a small trip into the gardens and then I have a small event in town that we run about this time and it's just a small speech. You'll get to meet the other directors there.
And we already have your quarters and bedding all laid out in the, you know, our living area. We already have you all set up there and then we'll learn as to why you're here.
So, if you'd like to come join us. She turns heel and begins to walk away into the car.
Shotgun!
And I say that I, and probably like core patchwork members might catch this, but the fear of knowing that Bury Mining knows that she's here and knowing that there is a bounty on her head and all of that is starting to hit.
And how Sky is going to, how Ike is going to kind of respond to that feeling is, as like we're walking, like Ike is going to just try to be small, you know, like and trying to like be between people, behind people, like, like trying to get lost in the crew of the extended patchwork company
as we're moving around just to be obfuscated as much as possible.
Ike, you feel like a warm, maybe a bit too warm, heavy sort of just like thunk on your shoulder as Azam kind of like places one hand on your shoulder, but does not force you to try and make a spectacle of yourself.
Does not force you to break your hiding habits, almost just like acknowledges your presence.
Yeah.
And then lets you go about what you need to do.
Okay, that's good. That's good.
She'll kind of like, and stay quiet.
As soon as you begin to walk slightly forward, the elevator doors behind you close and then begins to move up far quicker than you, you know, we're seeing the elevator move down, it like fires back up.
Clearly, there's, there's like not, you know, you don't really need to make any form of role or know much engineering to tell, but because there's no people inside, it can move far, far quicker.
But you know, when an elevator is called, when a lift is called behind you, you can kind of tell.
Like the speed at which it returns.
Yeah, it closes the doors like over and over just being like, get out of the way, please, I need to go.
Yeah, it did a bit of that before it shot back up again.
I wanted to also ask, you mentioned that the person we had met prior to entering the elevator was like, unnaturally tall looking.
Yeah.
Is Aphrodite also unnaturally tall looking?
She isn't. She is extremely conventionally attractive. You know how you would see a, like a CEO on the front of like a business magazine, but isn't unnaturally tall.
The people, these like incredibly handsome people that as she walks toward the car, one of them like opens the door and she, she gets in.
They are of like slight varying sizes. Most of them have like the impression on their face that it's slightly uncanny valley, how angular and trim perfect like their hair is and how their like eyes gleam ever so slightly.
And again, of varying sizes, some of them are slightly taller than you know a person.
Everyone out in front of you is a human, but she gets in the car and the door is continued to be held open by one of these very handsome guardmen.
Can I jump at the front seat? I called shotgun.
You can. The door's not open. You can climb in.
I jump at the front seat.
And I'm also going to text TheoryAct. If I get put on a stage and forced to perform, you owe me one.
But if we get free food and a bunch of cool shit, I owe you one.
And then the guy checks their phone and this was a cover story.
You know, it's not bad.
We did that prior to the elevator ride.
Yeah, that was like the first call to get in and then you were told we don't need entertainment.
I have a thought, but does anyone have a recorder recording device on them?
Because all I got is my personal con.
Do I still have the putty?
You do. Yeah, the message slime.
You do have the message slime.
I do. That can record a message.
While I have my hand on Ike, there's this like squeeze to let Ike know that I'm going to quickly rifle through her things.
And as I grab the message slime, I'd like to roll sleight of hand to place it underneath the seat of our host.
Because this is a company person and Azam is working on autopilot.
He's done this shit before.
Yeah, they bug their car.
Yes.
Beautiful. That's pretty killer, actually.
I imagine you all go to the car and climb in.
Yeah, I climb in.
I also want to say that Azam, there's a part of Ike that also is going into a different kind of autopilot.
So as you are smuggling through her bag, she's walking and darting eyes around, looking everywhere, keeping pace and just on full diligence.
God help us. Give me a perception because your eyes are darting everywhere.
Okay. 13.
Aside from these Edwardian buildings that are next to you, there's not really a whole lot of people in this specific area because the elevator seemingly just isn't used that much.
So there isn't really anyone here, but as everyone kind of filters into the car, the door is closed and then it drives off.
As you leave the kind of elevator docking district and you move more into this residential commercial district, the buildings start becoming these like Edwardian Gothic.
There are porches and these tall pillars. There are these beautiful gardens that seem to be thriving, even though you are hundreds of miles below the surface of the planet.
And you see someone on a bench, a woman, and your mind kind of goes back to the hologram of that annoyingly beautiful woman that you saw in the elevator.
And as you think back, you're like, oh, that's her. She's there on the bench.
And then it takes a beat. But then, no, no, sorry, that's not her. That just looks a lot like her.
And you see another one. Oh, there she is. Oh, no, that is also someone that just looks exactly like her.
And that happens a third time, a fourth time, a fifth time. And you notice that there are tens and tens of people that look exactly like this woman.
So, founder, we're just going to stop by the gardens again. I have a little event that I'll give a speech at. You'll meet the directors there.
Yes. What kind of gardens is it? Is it a greenhouse? Is it a communal garden?
We just call it the gardens. It has a lot of parks and like free area to hang around in and, you know, lounge when people, you know, just want to get outside for a bit whilst the light shines on them.
I do just want to say before we go anywhere, your friend who does entertainment, when we meet Venus, possibly if your young Skye is quite popular on the outside, maybe don't mention it around her.
She gets a bit picky when it comes to entertainers. Ah, no, but I'm sure she is wonderful. Picky how?
She's an artist. We understand artists. She is very picky about people.
She might get carried away and get very excited about a young musician or she might be a bit perturbed.
And I, you know, I would like these meetings to be quick. Not long after you, I got the message that you all arrived. I got a message that I have another meeting and I don't want the meetings to get all carried away because she gets jealous.
You know how artists are.
Sure, sure.
I promise this is a limit will be, will not be the focus while we are at your event.
Very good. Oh, founder, I apologize. This, she points to one of the guards who sat next to her. This is Samson. He's my wellness expert.
He'll be joining us for when we go to the speech and he'll be joining us in the gardens. But if you want anything, he's right there for you and won't be much of a bother.
Just like that, you know, Samson. This is founder Theria.
Samson, it's a pleasure. What kind of wellness are you a dietitian nutritionist, mental wellness? What's your expertise?
Oh, mental wellness is what most of the people who you see around here are. We do have nutritionists and confidence experts can also be seen around, but mainly Samson is just for mental well-being, making sure I'm on time, essentially similar to a PA.
Ah, that sort of mental wellness. I understand.
What brings you to our city? We don't normally get visitors.
It's a rather unusual story, I must say. I am obviously very far from my workplace.
We were traveling through the atomless sea and in a rather unfortunate turn of events, we encountered a wild creature that was much too much for our vessel to avoid.
We managed to escape, but at the danger of traveling at a hyper speed meant we crash landed on this planet and managed to scrape by and find our way over to the entrance way to the elevator.
Oh gosh. Well, that's very good.
We're in situations like that as part of the reason why we're down here. Very dangerous out there in the atomless sea. Very dangerous.
The car pulls up to a, what looks like this, like very fancy small eatery.
It's quite a few people in. It has like these like gorgeous stone pillars and like the small gargoyles on the side and the door is opened for her and as she walks in, the person at the door is like, oh, hello director.
Hello dear. I would like a one table for two and the rest can sit elsewhere. Yes, yeah, yeah. Yes, director. Very good.
They kind of opened the upstairs area and you're all pushed on. There is like one table for two that she sits at one and then gestures and then there's like a few other tables dotted around.
You can kind of sit separate from everyone if you wanted. The other wellness experts sit around one table and talk amongst each other slightly close to Aphrodite and the seats that she has offered to Theriac.
And there are other tables if you want to sit alone. Scrap, Keelin, Flair and Estrid just pick a table in like the corner and they go toward there looking out the window and chatting.
I'm not hungry. I kind of want to go explore. Should I like stay here though?
Is Sky addressing like the people that brought us or us? I was talking to you guys. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Sky, Sky, don't, don't go off on your own. We don't know what's going on with this place.
That's what I want to go explore. Not on your own.
We had a whole talk. Guy's with me.
Guy can't even sweep more than one
square foot of a room. Never mind. Protect you.
I can carry the team.
Goodness. I'll stick with you guys. I'm just saying. I'm like real anxious to go check this place out.
Okay. Well, you have a capability to create things, right?
Could you create a flying camera?
Me?
I just shrug in response.
I could probably create a flying camera. Let me think for a second if that's a thing.
You do have skateboard as well. I do have skateboard.
He's basically a flying camera. I mean, he doesn't have a camera on him, but I'm sure you can figure something out.
He doesn't have a camera on him, but we can put a camera on him. I want a GoPro.
GoPro. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
He's got a gun.
What? What? Does Sky have a gun?
Sky has a gun. Sky has a gun.
I thought you said Guy has a gun.
I was very nervous.
No, my skateboard has a gun. I think I can remember seeing a thing that was like, oh, you can have a camera attached to your drone.
And I was like, yeah, camera. Your drone has a camera that you can see through using your custom rig as long as your drone is within range.
The camera has ordinary sight and is capable of seeing whatever an ordinary human could see.
The camera can also record up to an hour of footage, which can be downloaded and viewed using your custom rig.
That's pretty cool. That's awesome. See, that's what it says on the sticker underneath my board. Word for word.
There's like a factory seal on it because you haven't actually used it yet.
But it's just it's just written by Sky because she made it from scratch. She just wanted it to look official.
Yeah, I mean, that that works.
I think if we get it out of a window and then because you can view it as it's in the air, right?
Yeah, I know that's the smarter option.
But think of it like this, Sky. You can view it through your com, right?
So you can just sit, pretend to pay attention and be like a spy.
Asam, I'm always pretending to pay attention.
Exactly.
OK, but what if somebody steals my board? I would rather die, I think.
You'll see it happening.
Is it one of those like 360 cameras?
It can see like an ordinary human eye.
If somebody tries to steal your board, couldn't your board shoot them?
Yeah, it also has a smuggler compartment.
My board can do a lot of stuff.
It's a very good skateboard.
Wow, you wrote all of this on the underside of your skateboard.
It's crazy that we forgot all of this information.
How else was I supposed to remember?
Have you seen these videos online of there's like an automated controlled like like vehicle
and it enters a shop and it's got a little little person on it?
Oh, yeah.
They've got the little compartment that says like a snack for twenty dollars.
And it's like and they they just do it and then they put it in the.
Anyway, Dr. Therriac, I would love to know what your algorithm is like.
What is your for you page?
Is that a euphemism for something?
I'm going to scoot.
I'm going to scoot my skateboard out the door.
Just hope nobody notices and start looking at my com like an iPad kid at a restaurant.
So this thing specifically was mentioned to us to be a speech, right?
Is there a microphone in this room or are you viewing a speech?
She has said she's going to a speech.
We are stopping off here to rest because it's nearby.
So it's like you'll get up and walk toward it as the speech is starting.
So there's no microphones in here yet.
Oh, not even yet at all.
It's it's like just a room.
And she's like, oh, when the speech starts, we're going to have to get a move on.
But we can sit here for like a coffee and chat.
In that case, playing the role of the dutiful bodyguard, I'm going to like cross my arms
and sit next to the door and just not move an inch.
I'm going to be playing the role.
I've been somewhat cast in this moment.
My goal right now is not is just to get by right now.
We can figure out a bigger plan for later.
But right now we are just in simple diplomacy.
Should I shut should I shut the fuck up?
I wouldn't say it like that, but yes.
OK, I'll just watch.
I'll just watch my calm.
That's not that's that's a bad idea.
Did you say that Scrap and company sat at a table nearby where we are?
They're at like in the corner at the other end of the room, very much like trying to not impose
at all.
Scrap did like briefly speak to you and helped Sky get the skateboard out, but then went and joined
to the rest of the table.
OK.
In this building, do we smell like the smell of food?
You don't.
Yeah.
I know that we kind of said that we weren't hungry.
And this doesn't exactly look like a packed restaurant.
It's we should be hungry.
You remember the Baron was preserved in ways we cannot really imagine.
If the same thing is happening here, then likely food is a luxury for the wealthy.
Space God.
Hello.
How do my lungs feel?
Grand.
Like grander than normal?
Just kind of no, they just kind of feel the same.
It doesn't feel like they've changed a little bit.
We're just not hungry.
You're just not hungry.
You're not really thirsty.
Maybe the vending machine snacks were just really filling.
No, I don't think that's...
On our way in, I didn't want to draw attention, but there are a lot of people that look the same.
I noticed that too.
Like, but not just the same.
They look like that elevator lady.
Like, like they're related to her or...
Idealization.
Like meaning?
In one's image.
I mean, Firiak, I know you told me to shut the fuck up, but I like, I kind of just want to go over to the
hot guys over there and ask, what's up?
We're not hungry.
Is there something about that?
Why are there people in the city that look exactly the same?
Because they'll have the answers, right?
We should play cool.
Forgive me.
Go ahead.
No, I think you might have better insights into this than I do.
I'm less versed in the...
Treading on these sort of social faux pas, I think, better than you are.
Maybe Azam could go talk to him?
For now, until we know where the crystal is.
Play it cool.
Probably doesn't translate.
Stealthy, but like in emotion is what I'm trying to say, you know, like...
Emotionally stealthy, okay.
When you're trying to not give off too much heat or light, you know, not to attract too much attention in the room.
You play it cool.
It doesn't translate to trade, I imagine.
No, no, I get it.
Okay, good.
Right, like that.
What were you all looking at, by the way?
When we came in, you all stared at something I couldn't see.
Now, I... so Azam has essentially heat vision, right?
Pretty much.
You could see it.
It was very, very hot.
But there was... Azam, so, for this, because I did think about this, it is very, very hot and is giving heat.
However, there was that kind of look that the inside of it is not hot.
So it had that kind of purple glaze to it with the white hot of heat.
And a lot of heat was directed in areas.
You actually saw this beam of light from this sun in the center of the city.
Like it's hollow?
Like it's hollow.
But I saw that and you didn't.
So the point still stands.
What the hell were you looking at?
Because I wasn't seeing what you were saying.
I was looking at a lot of stuff.
This city is cool as hell.
You're going to have to be way more specific.
I mean, there's a void in the middle of it.
Just a heatless void.
Did we see it was the crystal mat or does it just look like the sun?
It kind of looks like the sun.
It looks like the sun.
You don't know. Yeah, you don't know what's inside of it.
You could quite easily piece together since you know that something is here.
But yeah.
Wait, if I was going to write a comic book about a weird physics defying underground city,
I'd definitely make the crystal the sun.
Wait, it looks like sun to you.
Yeah, that's what it looked.
That's what I thought.
It's really bright.
I thought I thought maybe artificial sunlight since they're so far underground.
No, it's giving off real heat, but not entirely.
It's not like a fusion generator.
This is just...
Okay, we'll reserve that for later.
Right now, play it cool.
Don't ask too many questions.
Pretend like you know what's going on, even if we don't.
Because the truth is...
The truth is we cannot trust any one of these people.
I think I agree.
Um, Azam.
Yeah?
And I just sort of flicks out open her bag again.
Does anything in this bag feel kind of like a tiny version of that heat?
No. All the crystals we've experienced so far, they're normal.
But they don't give off...
There could be a specific factor of this one, you know what I mean?
Can I roll bluff on behalf of the group to appear like this is a calm, normal conversation just in case anyone does look?
Sure, absolutely.
Like we're not panicking?
Yeah.
I'm not panicking.
Speak for yourself.
This rules.
I am.
And you're always panicking.
It's significantly worse this time.
If you give a quick glance over to Aphrodite, she has one of the small menus out in front of her and she's clearly ordered a hot tea, it looks like.
As she is literally just looking out the window.
She is almost back turned to you, is so unbothered by this.
I mean on the plus side, that is a 33, so...
Yeah, like this literally looks like a business decom.
Like you just arrived, you really didn't have much time to chat before Aphrodite drove you away.
That's probably why she's got her back turned because she's like, yeah, they probably need to speak.
So no one is paying any attention to you.
Fully, it just looks like you're...
I mean, as Aphrodite said, as far as anyone is aware, you are all Theriak's entourage and you just need to like, OK, stay here, small talk.
It's yeah.
Do you think that our food and drink will be comped?
I have zero credits.
Yeah, I have credits if we...
Screw credits, you're the founder, Theriak.
Use that.
I have our credits.
I'm going to emulate this energy.
When we went shopping, you gave me all your credits.
I have like 6000 in the air.
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
You have all the credits.
Yeah, I just like hold up a cred stick in a little light up display and underneath a Braille display, just like display a 6749 credits for the record.
Then why do I have 7000 credits?
Because you have an income.
You also have a full income.
You're like literally the only character that has a regular amount of money that's given to you every now and again.
I'm the only salary member.
Yeah, you're a salary employee.
Great.
Cool.
But also, if I would guess, I would think they don't take credits.
I mean, think about it.
They just said they don't take credits.
That's right.
They said they don't use money.
Right?
Everything about this place speaks of an altered closed system.
You know the kind.
So they trade off of something else.
The social strata are probably very defined in favor of very few, but it isn't.
No one is homeless because everyone works for a company.
You know what I mean, right?
Right.
All of your faces look like I just said the worst thing possible.
I mean, to be fair, it could get worse.
I could describe a few ways that it could get worse, but I'd rather not.
It's fine.
I'm just happy to not be hungry and still get to eat, apparently.
I don't like this.
I just don't like it at all.
Why?
Because, Skye, nothing in life is free, which means if these people aren't getting hungry, someone or something is paying that.
If they're not dying, someone or something is paying that.
Whether it's the crystal or something else, someone or something is getting exploited here.
Plain as day.
You saw all the skeletons around this entrance.
You're right.
Like, everyone here has been altered.
But not like I alter myself outwardly.
It's a pastime.
And it's all that one person, too.
It's not for individual expression.
It's for just a copy, which...
I don't know, I guess I've seen things like that, but certainly nowhere near that kind of extreme.
Like I said, I don't like it.
Hmm.
Well, I should probably get back to Aphrodite, but...
I do feel like she's already ordered for you.
Probably. That's okay.
Be careful.
I will try.
It just does more of like a little bow, almost.
And then scuttles back to Aphrodite.
As you get to the table, she turns.
Everything okay?
Yes, just trying to relay more of the social footwork.
I don't understand.
Very good. Of course.
I didn't want to order for you.
I didn't know what you'd like.
That's very kind of you.
Weirdly contrary to the things you've just been talking about.
You do see like some breads and small appetizers.
Feel free to order anything.
The cheese? I've never had cheese. Is this good?
You've never had cheese?
No.
It is. It's quite nice.
We don't get a whole lot of food down here, but we do have some, and cheese is definitely one of the more popular ones, absolutely.
The table that you're sat at is seemingly just wooden, but she taps her fingers in a way that this small like hard light, almost like order screen, comes up, and then she scrolls for a bit.
And then taps on the cheese.
So I was so surprised to hear you're coming to see us.
Of course, I understand that it was a bit of a mess getting here.
It was quite a traumatic experience, I'm sure.
But you found your way to our wonderful city, and that is truly a blessing from the light.
I'm very lucky.
I was very much physically torn asunder upon crash landing, and I had to be repotted, and I'm not sure how familiar you are with Raxalite physiology, but...
Not at all.
Basically, I had to be repotted and grown again.
A harrowing experience, it sounds.
It was my first time doing it. It's not something, you know, that's completely out of the range of what my species is capable of, but it's definitely not ideal.
You should speak to Adonis.
You'll meet him when we do the speech.
Adonis.
He has been... he has gotten to all sorts of scrapes, and I'm sure the two of you would get on very well.
Quite the adventurous sort, not like myself.
So, I will say, I don't want to talk business before we... before we meet with the others.
But...
I am... it was quite delighted to read up on you as you were coming down.
Wild Times is just a miraculous place.
The preservation of animals and... and I did hear about what happened to the board members a few months ago, and I am so sorry that that happened to you.
That was absolutely awful.
But I do hear that it's in... it's in a good place now, and that you have, you know, new people, and that's wonderful.
I will say it truly is so impressive.
We don't hear a lot of people who are able to make a quite successful...
I don't want to say corporation, but business that isn't part of the burry mining conglomerate.
So that's incredibly impressive.
Keeping independent, especially at times like this, is very difficult to do. Far harder than I could ever do, definitely.
Uh, hey, Space Guard.
How independent is Wild Times?
Wild Times would have got funding from a whole bunch of places.
Hermod Tech, who is the technology company, like they have such a monopoly on almost all industrial tech.
And Cert Energy was a big funder too.
Huge. Yeah, that's it.
So Wild Times is heavily, heavily funded by giant corporations who are part of other conglomerates, but is in itself an independent and hasn't been bought by... hasn't been bought out yet.
Yeah, there's still lots of stockholders.
Lots of stockholders, but not necessary... but still remains independent and not part of the umbrella.
Yeah.
Galactic umbrella, as it were.
I think the Iriak is just going to try and like lean into like the sort of like, I was just a guy with a business, you know, kind of energy.
Yes.
I just came to Idun with a little dream in my heart.
That kind of energy regales a little bit of like, not obviously a lot of the gritty, dirty details, but definitely just like the, you know, there was an opportunity for something grander than was originally expected on Idun.
You know, it's just a simple seaside resort hotel experience, and we figured, you know, there's a rich, wonderful opportunity here for, you know, expanding this not just for the purposes of leisure, but also of education and helping to maintain the local ecosystem as well.
You know, on Idun.
Something that could have easily gone unnoticed, I think.
Absolutely.
If we had not stepped in.
No, it's wonderful.
Truly it is.
It's such a show of your character that you're able to find that, you know, find that problem in Stefan when you did.
You know, we had similar thoughts when we built Newmores, we saw that there was a chance for people to feel better, feel as beautiful as they could because, you know, beauty takes a long time and it was just myself, Venus and Adonis and we, you know, just put our heads together
and we worked really hard to really give people that, you know, that type of dream.
So I know I do.
I, I, I, it's very, very admirable what you do and I do truly understand the work that goes into it.
I will.
I will say now, again, we said not to talk business but I do, I just, I feel a little cheeky so I do just want to ask one thing.
I will grant you this one thing.
There is a lot of, there is a lot of life on Nos. I don't know if you've, how much of the crumbling sands that you've seen but animal life is, it's a hard resource to keep preserved.
Make sure that they're looked after with human expansion and especially with the environment change that is happening on the greater planet. We would quite like to find a way if we could discuss with yourself and Wild Times to more have, have a place for the animals to be able to be kept and conserved and, you know,
I do understand that you do some biohacking and that's a very, very rare, it's a very rare skill which, you know, isn't in a lot of places and we would just like to have a little help with the conservation effort.
It wasn't something that was on the top of my list, I will grant but the very fact that you're here. I think it would be prime time to talk about it.
I understand it's a, it is a, an optimal time to approach the subject.
I will say, as this was, you know, most certainly not an expected location for me to be at necessarily, I cannot, you know, in any way say that I am on here on behalf of Wild Times or anything of that sort.
But I would be more than happy to, you know, help out with any specific implementations of plans, laws, protocols for how to go about, you know, preserve or any sort of similar project you might have in mind.
And this is definitely, you know, NOS is a very different environment than a Dune. A Dune is very tropical and wet and hot and maritime, right? This is a very dry biome for the most part.
And the sad thing is that NOS never used to be like this. Of course, this is just almost corporate greed on the surface with over expanding mining turned it into this space. So I don't know if you have any experience in like reforming, you know, the natural.
I was not aware that NOS was the result of desertification.
Unfortunately, it was. It was quite a long, long time ago, which is why it's in the state that it is now.
But when Burry mining originally started, this was one of the first planets that they landed on since it was almost completely uninhabited by any sentient organic matter and or creatures.
But the amount of ore and resources on the planet was so wonderful that Burry mining set up and they and yes, and now we have what this is now.
And that's actually how New Mores started. Actually, New Mores was originally a nothing like it is now, but in the center of kind of, you know, the core close to the core of NOS, it was a mining facility originally and then we found the place we built it out and out until it is what it is now.
And now it is residential area, correct?
We do all sorts. Residential, we have factories for Frayer Incorporated, we have, you know, parks, leisure. It's very much a veritable city, a large one at that.
Are there any commercial districts?
There are, yes, quite a few. We don't get our things in regularly. And also, we don't use credits.
The capitalistic nature of them is just not something that we enjoy. So we decided to get rid of them.
Of course, on the outside, as if you were to go, if you were to buy a Frayer Incorporated product on other planets, then yes, there are credits involved. But here in the city, we keep it more communal.
So how is trade facilitated inside of New Mores then?
Is it barter? Is it a sort of tit for tat sort of?
We very much so. Barter is a very common way of purchasing. We have been gifted in this city the freedom to live how we want and we desire.
So normally it's favors. If someone would like an item, for example, that they can say, oh, I'll cover the shop for a weekend.
And that is how they pay for that item. Or, oh, I will. Of course, people don't like leaving their own personal shops to people.
But then occasionally it's like, oh, I need stables mucking. We need the gardens constantly need tending to. We have quite a way with plants getting away from us.
Oh, we need an extra shift pulled at the headquarters of Frayer Incorporated. Can you do three days? And then that's how we do trade normally.
It's not a perfect system by any means. We are not a perfect city, but we want to get away from the galactic nature of it all.
So I do apologize. I'm sure that you get paid very well in credits. And I will say that whilst you are here, my words will get you everything that you need. Absolutely.
Your friends, if they would like something, I'm sure that we can sort something out.
Of course, we don't want the we don't want to be giving people not a fair deal when it comes to talking about things. Sure. Sure.
Cutting over to the other table. Sky, are you looking at your are you looking at the camera? Yeah, I'm playing it like a game boy.
Try to keep skateboard as low as possible whilst still being above the immediate skyline.
And even then, you immediately notice the gravity of new mores take some getting used to.
We gather that since this city is contained within this 360 sphere, gravity itself must be controlled by this false sun that hovers in the center of the sphere, held in place by these four large chains that act like an anchor.
The light from this sun is a spotlight slowly moving across the city.
The difference between day and night is a hard line.
Rather than letting dawn and dusk transition between them, where the spotlight leaves becomes night instantly.
The spotlighted daytime is following the main road near you, leading your right to this huge castle styled in Gothic Edwardian cyberpunk, just like the rest of the city that you've seen so far.
You see neon signs next to gargoyles, heavy stone pillars lit by LED lights masquerading as torches.
There's a second where it reminds you of saga.
You angle the camera up to see the rest of the city above you.
You see a huge factory.
You see a movie studio.
You see people living.
The lights of the factory are still on.
The sign of people in their houses and the electronic signs of shops.
All of them look like stars.
I want to go to there.
Sailing along to the castle.
You realize that it's not necessarily a castle.
It could probably more astutely be called a cathedral.
A massive, beautiful Gothic building.
You see this stained glass, like all around it, stained glass windows.
At the front has this one giant circle of stained glass.
As skateboard approaches it, it's actually not stained glass.
It is once again just another hard light hologram of stained glass.
Occasionally as you're looking at it, the stained glass, which looks like the sun in this artistic representation of a sun shining down on a city,
it changes to a clock and it changes to some news announcements.
Monthly sermon takes place in one hour, 25 minutes, and it is counting down.
Oh, hell yeah, skateboard's going to go to a sermon.
I hope it doesn't need to get baptized.
Is it going inside?
It's going inside, baby. That's a public place.
Skateboard hovers inside. You get a few looks from people, but as you scoot in,
this huge statue of just a sun, an artist's interpretation of a sun, is in the center of this cathedral.
And looking around at the patrons, there's a lot of people with like hoods fully covering their face.
Some people who are far taller than any human should be.
There are people who are being carried around in sometimes of reverence on chairs, sometimes in a wheelchair.
The cloaks themselves look nice. It's like cool.
It feels very classic if you were in a church, in a large cathedral.
It looks almost designer. They're trimmed with this dark, like dark colors, but trimmed with, you know, like a different color.
A lot of them have words on the back in a script that you don't quite recognize.
Getting into seats, some pushing toward the front, some like deciding to stand.
There's almost like a queue forming.
Well, skateboards get its save at seat.
The skateboard flies and sits down on a seat next to some people who aren't covering their face at all.
They look very handsome, sharp jaw. Very classic. Looking very nice.
Can I control skateboard enough to like...
Just give them a little nod. Yeah, you can nod. You want to nod to the person?
They nod kind of confused and then look at skateboard interested, seeing what skateboard's doing.
You said to play it cool.
You hear not coming from skateboard, but coming from outside of this garden's... Oh, I tell you what, another thing that you do notice whilst flying around a skateboard.
There is this very kind of densely, like this dense woodland that you can see, which is a pretty bizarre sight since you're so far underground.
But you do you also see some like rocky outcroppings, almost like a just a nature reserve.
And from this very densely packed natural park, there are these vines that are twining and twisting and seemingly are coming from the sun itself.
Kind of cascading down like they were grown from the sphere in the center, the core, this sun that is shining.
And these vines are cascading down into this natural area.
Yo, you think that's our entryway?
Are you familiar with the human story of James and the Giant Peach? No. What's the other one? Jack and the Beanstalk.
I mean, are we going there? Is that our goal?
Probably, eventually.
I mean, I suppose that's what we came to do.
And fix our ship. Yeah.
I hope Theriak asks about that.
There is a noise from outside of this restaurant, this cafe.
Sounds like a bell ringing.
Aphrodite finishing off a sentence like, and that's, oh, god, and then turns out the window at this bell ringing.
There is a huge group of people. They are carrying banners and ringing bells and they are marching in the center of the light.
They are walking with purpose and reverence. They are calling blessings from the light.
There is this excitement for just them being together as a group or thanking the light.
Aphrodite sighs.
OK. Samson, darling.
Samson gets up, walks over to your table.
As he does, she kind of immediately palms and ignores him, turning back toward the window.
As she looks out, even though it's just like it's just a crack in a window that she's she's like looking out of, it's barely a look at all.
There is this very audible gasp from someone.
It's the director. Aphrodite, Aphrodite, Aphrodite.
And then the crowd starts cheering and reaching their hands out.
And she gives a small wave, opens, opens the window like blessing of the light upon you all.
Like, thank you, like, thank you, Aphrodite. Thank you, Aphrodite. Thank you.
Yes, I'll I'll be seeing you at the sermon. Thank you. Thank you all.
And she waves them as they all are just in chorus, thanking and screaming her like they've just seen a Beatles member from and they're all in the 1960s.
They are losing their mind. They are so excited, but they don't stop.
They do keep walking. OK.
Everyone gets a ping on their com right now from a Zom.
That's the entirety of the message is just the dictionary definition for the word cult.
Oh, we thought they were cult. They're cult vibes, but we don't know they're a cult.
I agree. It's the whole Wikipedia page.
Wow, Jim Jones, huh?
The theory that kind of looks over to Aphrodite, it's like, oh, is religion a prominent part of.
No more life.
Not necessarily, not the intention at all. Are you a religious person, Theriac?
I am. I am, in fact, it's not a commonly practiced religion to my knowledge.
It's rather limited to primarily to on Raxle.
We believe in something called Fodo, which is sort of this idea that.
Ah, very good. The Cultivator, correct.
Yes. Oh, you're familiar. Oh, wonderful.
Yes. The Cultivator, definitely. When I was growing up, she was quite the very, you know, you know how times change, but where I grew up, people spoke about them a lot. Yes.
It's been a good minute since I've met anyone who's familiar. That's wonderful.
Yes. We aren't, New Mors isn't founded on any form of religion, necessarily.
Sure. Who's founded on the, by the, for the purposes of brewery, yes?
Yes. These people have taken to calling themselves Daylighters. They walk in the light that the sun that we were able to manufacture gives.
They walk it in because the three of us, since we built the sun that hangs in the sky and gives us the the blessings, I will admit, of.
I'm sure you've noticed that you've not been hungry since you stepped foot inside of the New Mors docking station at all.
I did notice. I was curious about that. And is that primarily from this manufactured sun?
We receive a lot of blessings. The worries of most people are not concerns in New Mors.
We have found out ways to eliminate the biggest anxieties that people fear. When is your next meal coming?
Do I have enough time to do this? Do I have enough money to pay? All of this has been taken care of by the light.
And although myself understand that it is purely science, some other people believe it to be more so.
And I appreciate them. Of course, they support us and they do help.
Specifically, these day lighters, they don't stop moving. They refuse to touch the darkness when the light passes over them,
which is just because they're a little bit weird more than anything else.
But since they're walking, I guess we should not necessarily join them. We should get going.
Or the...summon? Is it?
Event. But people prefer to call it as such.
Interesting.
Right then, we can get this into GoWalk. Samson, can you take this?
Thank you, Samson. Question. When I say thank you, Samson, any weird reactions from Samson or Aphrodite?
No.
Okay, great.
They pack up. Aphrodite stands. Okay, everyone, we're just going to make our way to the event now.
We have enough space for all of you. The theory act, your entourage is welcome to stand with us.
We'll go meet the other directors there.
And then afterwards, it shouldn't take us long. Only about an hour and then some thank yous.
And then we will go up to our abode where we have all of your amenities.
And you can rest and then tomorrow we can get on with more business talk.
Okay, ready to go?
Certainly.
Shotgun!
Theory act takes all the cheese and crackers and puts them in a little to-go box.
You...climb to the car and you drive off toward this cathedral.
You pass by the daylighters as they make their walk.
You match pace with the sun's light.
You don't ever end up getting into the darkness, but you do kind of see it move and you see the hard line of dark that is being eliminated as you all drive up.
Park around back. Aphrodite gets out.
Samson joins you. She waves you over and she's like, I am sorry. I know that I said that you could all join.
There is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight of you. Could we take just a few less of you, actually?
The rest of you can just go wait for us.
That's cool. I saved myself a seat.
Get rid of the fucking NPCs.
NPCs are out of here!
It's funnier to say that because this zone was totally like already taking a step back.
I was also...I was like...
Nah, NPCs are leaving.
Okay.
Kielan, Flair, and Estrid are all like, yes, we will go.
Yeah, we can...we'll go upstairs. We'll take what the few bags we have. We'll make sure that the accommodations are ready, mom.
Very good.
Can I like...when we pass by Kielan and not Flair and Estrid, can I lean into the other teenagers and be like, yo, we're finding someplace to chill tonight, right?
Darling, you know I ain't fucking...I ain't staying in one place here. I want to know what the fuck's going on.
Yeah, okay.
Oh my god.
Meet up later. Meet up later.
Skye is arranging a cousin's hang at the...
We're going for a walk during Thanksgiving.
A cousin's hang at Thanksgiving.
Hey, hey, Space God. Really important question here.
Hello.
Where are the children?
The children of the city?
Yeah.
You haven't seen any?
Oh, great. That's always a really good sign things are going well in your society.
I mean, the society does seem...just saying it out loud. I've studied enough anthropology. Me as a player, it does feel a bit stagnant, but purposefully so. Just putting that one out there.
As soon as they were like...
We have been replaced.
We've eliminated all of like the complications of like the outside world. I was like, okay, so there's no way kids are allowed here.
It sounds like a capitalist commune. I hate that.
Oh, actually, the capitalist commune hates capitalism.
Yeah, I think you're right. She said that she actually hates...
Right, she's anti-capitalist, which like normally I would like, but the capital is still capital if the capital is...
Is earning capital.
Not paper money.
We've all met that like liberal who...
I will say right now, if you...this might have come up in conversation, Aphrodite 100% says that she's a liberal. 100% is like, I'm a liberal.
Jesus Christ.
Just for God's sake, you're saying that liberal.
I'm quite progressive.
I believe in fiscal freedoms.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Kill me.
Walking in, you like walk through the back. It's kind of...you immediately feel that...I don't know how many people have been into churches and cathedrals, obviously in person, I imagine we will have, but in game.
That kind of cold, like immediate shift from the outside to inside of like a large...a large area.
You can hear a gathering of people, you're covered by a curtain at the minute, not quite out into sky where you saw that kind of main...
The pew.
Is it called the pew?
I don't know.
The atrium.
You're talking about like an atrium.
Yeah, like an atrium.
Where you sit down at the fucking benches.
Yeah, absolutely. So the atrium. So you're not in the atrium yet, you're like in one of the back rooms.
There are these like gorgeous tapestries, these different writings and teachings, the stained glass still shines through here.
All of this artificial sun and this light.
Actually, I will say that everyone notices that there are plants in plant pots, but unlike, you know, plants that we get that you kind of you get the trim of the flowers and you put them in and then you kind of leave them there.
You can see like grown over cutting marks, like people keep cutting them down in this back area, you, all of you, immediately recognize the exceedingly beautiful woman who was in the holograms.
She has this very classic movie star era aura about her.
She has this shoulder length, curled hair, and she is speaking to a like very muscle bound shaved head.
He has got like scars covering huge amounts of his body, but all of them like give him more of an allure.
None of them are like scars, as you would imagine a fighter has.
They are all aesthetic to look at.
They are not. They don't seem.
OK, there's two kinds of scars that come into mind.
And I want to make sure we're making a clarification here, because I don't know which one it is.
Are we talking about scars that look like they should have been gotten from attacks, but instead of being normal, are in an artistic array or are we talking about like ritualistic scarification?
We are talking like aesthetic looking anime scars.
Ah, OK. So the former. Yeah, got it.
Yeah.
Purple. OK.
Aphrodite knocks slightly at the door.
I know both of you. I hope your day has been pleasant.
Darling turns around the very beautiful woman.
I imagine these are the people that you're going to go meet.
Hello, all of you. Hi. How are you doing? My name is Venus.
It is an honor to meet you all. Hi. How are you doing?
You are founder Theory-Act, correct?
That is correct.
Hello, Venus. It's a pleasure.
Oh, it is an absolute honor.
I'm so glad that we were able to meet.
I'm so glad that you are here, especially for now. It's a big show for me tonight. I'm excited about it.
Hello, all. Hello. Hello.
She turns and looks at Sky.
Aren't you just darling? You are very nice looking.
I mean, you've got a little scuff, but you look nice. It's good. I like the hair. Nice.
A little scuff adds personality.
I'm sure.
Space God, when Aphrodite was talking to Theory-Act earlier, they said to not mention Sky as a superstar in front of Venus, as if Sky was not in the room.
Did Sky hear that conversation?
Probably would have. Yeah, it was a small car.
Theory-Act would have related to you at least.
Yeah, there you go.
Because Theory-Act wouldn't want you to be up a stream in this conversation. Caught unawares.
The very muscle bound man, shaved head, looks at you and is like, what's up? Should I have seen the other guy?
Yeah, what's up? It gives you a fist bump. Yeah, how's it going? Venus? It's nice to see you.
That's fucking sick, by the way. Points to his arm. Fucking horns. That's cool as fuck.
It's nice actually. Right, let's-
Azam responds with, it's just a slight nod. That's it.
Are we all here now? Can we start so we can just get it done?
Yes, of course, we should. Okay.
Founder, you and your entourage can be behind us. You can come out. It's quite exciting.
Aphrodite turns to him and is like, I don't do any of the talking. As you can tell, this is more Venus's air of expertise, but you can stand with us. That's okay.
My eyes.
Yeah, that sound.
As silence meets the outside, she walks out of the curtain. And there is like an eruption of cheers and excitement as she steps out.
It's such an honor to be here with you all. Of course, as we do every month, we have the other directors here. However, we do have some people who are really very close to my heart and I'm very excited for you all to meet.
We have the founder of a place outside called Wild Times, a friend of ours. We go very far back. I love them very dearly. Come on stage, come on!
Go on, Thiriak, get on stage! As Aphrodite and Adonis both walk on Samson and some of these wellness offices, kind of push all of you on stage. Just to stand behind.
No, we're just the entourage!
Everyone.
Can I roll an athletics check not to be pushed on stage?
Sure!
Can I literally try to slip away?
Yeah, absolutely you can.
I know Thiriak's a plant. Thiriak has never in their life wanted to have actual roots stuck in the ground more than this much.
Anyone who wants to slip can make... give me just a reflex save. And that would be very easy for entourage to slip out. Very easy for entourage to slip out. Thiriak, if you would like to slip out, you can.
No, I think Thiriak is... it's not gonna happen with Thiriak.
Before you make that roll, Dillon, you're gonna get a plus two to that roll.
Thank you. That will give me a 21.
And I will have just an 18.
I did roll, but then realized, what am I doing? Skye loves attention, so I think she'd be like, oh, oh no, stop pushing! I couldn't possibly!
It's less like hard pushing and more, okay, we're moving on stage now. Yeah, just like, okay, we're all going out. Because to get a picture where they put you on, there is this quite large stage where these announcements and, you know, this sermon is about to take place.
Venus is up next to a microphone. Adonis and Aphrodite are flanking either side of her, but are like a few steps back. And all of you are like lined up with the wellness officers right at the back of the stage.
I'm gonna do some crowd work. How's everybody doing tonight?
You are immediately shut down. As soon as you go to say something, your hand is quite forcefully grabbed by Samson next to you and pulled down.
If any words leave your mouth, you get a very angry look from Venus, who immediately turns around.
Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool, play it cool. Wonderful! Look at that, we have another entertainer on the stage.
Oh no! I'm not an entertainer, I'm just an attention seeker. You can't put the theater kids together, they'll kill each other.
Did Ige and Ige manage to escape? You do, sorry, my apologies, both of you are able, you like, you sidestep to the side and they don't bother to rope you back in.
Yeah, I see like Ige is about to get caught. I'm like, wait, hold on. And I just quickly like grab her and pull her aside.
Samson walks past you, so you two are in the back room. There is a small hard light screen that is showing it as you can see what's going on. It's the same one that's made of the little balls that are moving around the heated things.
So you can see from kind of rotating flying camera angle what's going on.
Ige's instinct is to look and see if there's like a wing or like corridor someplace small, dark.
Yeah. Do you want to watch from the crowd? Not necessarily from the crowd. Can I watch from like the side? Like the wings of the stage, like behind curtains?
Okay, that's where Ige is going and we'll tugs Azam if he will come.
No, no, please sit down. The crowd quiets.
The only sound is like this slight hovering of a camera.
We, all of us, are down here for our own safety, well-being.
Down here we are not shackled by the cruelty that meets us on the outside. We are not shackled by money. We are not shackled by time.
We are free. Free as people. And we are forever.
We are beautiful and unrestricted. Out there we have little.
They are so burdened with capital. They are so burdened with trading and brutality. Your labor is bought and sold.
Just as freely as we would be hated. Our humanity ripped from us by needing to work.
Here, with us all, we are safe. The city keeps us safe. The light keeps us from needing food, water. We are always fed here.
The light always keeps us warm. Always, always keeps us beautiful. We are always alive.
Thank you, light. Thank you, light. Thank you, light. Thank you, light. Fuck the light!
A round metal contraption is thrown at Venus's feet. Samson quick charge storms to her. He raises his arm and this hololite shield builds itself in front of her.
And this shrapnel explodes. These huge shards of metal dig themselves into this hololite shield he has built. Another member of the crowd throws another grenade.
This hololite shield rebuilds back into Samson's arm. He pulls a small hand cannon and as he pulls it he shoots this bolt of energy that grabs the grenade.
He whips it around his head and throws it back into the crowd toward the person who threw it and blows up.
People start screaming and running out as five or six people get up and they all unveil their robes. They seem old. So, so old.
Their skin almost completely sagged off of their face. Some of them are far taller than people. They have holes in their chests.
Some arms are replaced. Some cut in half and are now almost acting like two arms in one. They are pulling out weapons and they start firing on the stage.
The other wellness officers immediately act, get up and the shield builds on each of them. These really nice well-dressed suits get covered in this hard light armor.
They pull longswords out which again build themselves up in this hard light. As they stand and prepare to attack they look like paladins.
They look like heroes. Strong, handsome heroes. In this light they look incredible.
Venus yelps and screams making a very big deal of what has just happened. Very audibly scared is covered by a wellness officer with a shield as she is ferried out.
Adonis starts yelling for a gun. Someone throws him a rifle and he grabs it. There's this small...
And then he fires off and hits one of these members which is firing at them. He then runs out of the side corridor. Aphrodite, very calm, turns heel and walks.
No expression on her face.
Can I cut a rope and just have a curtain cover the stage to allow everyone to exit? Shielding them from view?
As Azam you cut this rope, all of the other pedestrians got out fine. Aphrodite, Adonis, Venus have all fled as they were leaving.
Aphrodite looks towards the air and is like, okay come on, it's time to go. I'm going to give everyone a choice.
We can all roll initiative if people want to get into the fight or you can choose to escape and you will just walk away.
First of all, oh my god.
No, it's fine.
Second, what's everybody thinking? Because Theriak's got thoughts and I have thoughts and they are very different.
I have thoughts too but I'm not sure. Okay, so Axe with Azam, obviously I would be very worried about Theriak and would want to make sure they're okay.
But something about, we just spent this whole lunch with all of these questions about this place and all of these worries.
And those people with those hoods on feel like they know the answers.
I saw that and was instantly like, oh this is, they know what the missing pieces to this place are.
I don't know that I want us to get into this particular fight because from an Ike's perspective, she's still unsure who she should be fighting with.
So I don't know that she would want to jump in at all.
I think Ike is going to, like just whatever, maybe the person that said fuck the light if she can figure that out somehow or just any one of them if not.
It is all of them. They are all clearly, you're clearly against this.
She's going to send a message telepathically. What does that mean? What does it mean? Fuck the light. We're new here and we're terrified of this place.
You, just through hearing their voice, you can kind of like, you connect directly to the person and you know this.
And there is this gurgled screaming of pain that you hear back. And as you look amongst the crowd, you see the person who you asked this question.
After the wellness officers moved in, there is nothing of them below the chest.
There is a huge piece of shrapnel that is like in one part of their head and out the other. You can see it fully has pierced through them.
By every single account, there is not technology alive that would dictate that this person still lives.
They are dead in every single regard. They are on the ground and you hear this screaming from them.
And you see their mouth move and their eyes blink, their arms slowly attempting to pull themselves away from this fight.
Regardless of the damage that has happened to their body, they are still alive.
And there is this tone. And then you hear Venus' voice.
Remember, beauty is only skin deep, but death is forever. If you or someone you love is thinking of dying, please refer them to a confidence expert.
Remember, you can be anything in New Moors, so why not live? Be beautiful.
And there is this puzzle piece that clicks in your mind. You've discussed the Baron, how he said he couldn't die, how New Moors did this to him.
All these references to alive and being alive and living forever and forever being beautiful.
And you piece it together in this moment that this light, whatever it is, giving immortality is not the only thing it's doing.
Through any means of effort or pain upon your person, every single person in New Moors is forced to be alive.
Hello beautiful, wonderful people. How are you all doing? Thank you so much for listening to The Atomless.
How are you doing? I hope you are doing well. Thank you so much for listening to our little spooky arc.
I know that that ending was very intense. I hope you are well. I appreciate you.
I would like to give a few quick thank yous before I shout out the players.
I would like to shout out Anna, Bex, Daniel Deruda, Don Hughes, Doofingus, Mary, Meeba, Sunny420. You are the real heroes.
Thank you so much for supporting the Patchwork.
And if you would like to join the Patchwork support tier, you can go onto our Patreon and get a little cheeky little shout out like I just did right there for my beautiful souls.
Our beautiful little Patchwork maintenance officers. Every tier has a little extra content so you don't necessarily need to join at that level.
And we all have such wonderful things such as a wild time sticker for Andre and a little discord where you can join and chat to our crew.
And what a crew it is, eh? Our music today. I love these bits because I can just go completely off script because no one ever listens this far.
Our music today was provided by Artlist under their fair use license. Thank you, Artlist.
If you would like to listen to this show before all the music is added in and being able to see our beautiful faces,
then you can go on over to the Adamus YouTube channel for all of the AP videos as well as little edited clips and animatics, which is an extremely very, very cool thing.
And if you would like to watch this live when episodes come out normally a week before, sometimes a little bit before.
But if you'd like to go see that, that is Patchwork Productions on Twitch. That's a new little home.
And hey, do you want merch? If you've been here this far, then you know we've teamed up with a familiar shop, Baby, to make some Atlas Abstemis themed soaps, baby!
Everyone collaborates to make a soap based around that character. We've got Sky, which is strawberry, Azam, which is bonfire and incense.
Mmm, Ike, which is cotton candy. Theiriak, again, unfortunately, is not garlic, even though I really wanted that to be, but it is eucalypts and bergamot.
And unfortunately, it is extremely good, so I can't get them to change it, which I will always be sad about.
But that is the familiar shop on Etsy to do that. Our players today! Beautiful, wonderful Momobrian playing Sky,
Superdillon playing Ike, normally Kadir, who is werewolf feels on socials, plays Azam, and also did our intro today. We appreciate that.
Andre Vera, our wonderful little garlic scientist, founder, Theiriak, and me. Not Matthew Egberg.
If you follow me on Twitter and socials, you'll know that I'm going through a little bit of a name change. Matt never fit me.
So I'm going by Robin now. Oh, Robin. Not stealing, Robin. Delicious.
Because we've recorded this episode so far in advance, you will hear some people call me Matt.
Today you have, in this edit, Moe calls me Matt. It's fine. I care so little.
I've been using this name for a few months and we haven't recorded for a few months.
So I haven't edited an episode for a few months is what I mean. So there you go.
Anyway, CaptainKrayle on all things. I voice all the pew pews.
Thank y'all for listening. I give you all a kiss. Please go tell me your thoughts on our Discord.
Or on Twitter, go say, hey, Robin, I thought blank. And then fill out the blank. Don't say, I thought blank, because that's no good.
If you have any art of the show, you should first tag us on Twitter and then hashtag the Artemless.
Because I still check that tag, maybe, because I think that shit is the funniest thing around.
Do that. And I pretty much so much. I hope the next time we fly through the Artemless, see that you are there to fly with us.
Buh-juh-buh-juh-buh-juh-buh-juh-buh.
Thank you.