Previously on The Atomless
As on he
Ike
She
Uh, my name is Liriak
What's up? My name's Sky!
Welcome to the Patchwork, my dudes!
There is a race going on.
There is big money involved.
Money that we need.
More research regarding the crystal.
And you find data.
Like someone has imprinted this thing with a...
almost a message.
You just make it through past the finish line
before anyone else.
Atheoriak. You spot...
A church.
You're right.
Yeah.
I've...
Never seen one of these outside of my home.
What do you want to see it?
One day. Not today.
I've already left a lot of footprints on this planet.
I don't want to leave anymore.
Sky, your name is...
Sky. Like Hive's name is Hive.
Sky's just quiet. From that point on.
This CRT monitor.
Why have you come to see me?
I assume it's because you won this race.
Are you the ones I've heard about?
That's correct.
Well, thank you.
I have tried to contact outside,
but unfortunately I cannot seem to reach anyone
off of this planet.
Of the CRT changes security footage
where the finish line was.
Atheoriak, you immediately pull a gun and shoot
the first person with the bomb.
Thank you for this information.
I'll be sure to pass it on to my superiors.
I pocket the credits and start heading the way we came.
Alright, good stuff.
Back in the air we go.
You're all pulled slightly as the patchwork takes off.
The rhythmic dropping of the stale sewer water
helps Tommy count the seconds as they pace through their corner of the overflow.
Business hours are closed since the race
normally brings lawmen sniffing around,
so the boats have sailed and Tommy stands alone
listening to only that dripping.
There is, or whatever androids would call, is prick up to footsteps coming from the darkness.
Tommy rests their hand on their gun,
tense but relaxes as they see pill.
Did they get it?
They won the race, right?
They get the credits.
They left.
What?
Yet they were spotted leaving the upper decks
and the patchwork just let their space.
They're just gone.
Tommy stands, trying to process the loss.
And as they do so, the camera moves up.
Passed to the false rain and the shattered memories of buildings,
till we pass the plate itself,
as you assign, saying,
Weymouth's school for the young and gifted.
Inside the red brick building,
passed the clean grey halls to the auditorium where track stands,
looking up in a projection of a CRT monitor,
with a face where the screen should be.
You gave them the money?
It was within my programming to award the prize to whoever won the race.
My programming did not account for organic failings to prevent outsiders from winning.
You stupid fucking code.
We're going to catch hell for this.
Do not raise your voice at me, Track.
Do not forget who lives in your circuits.
Track looks sheepishly defeated at school.
Luckily, I have calculated a way that benefits us.
I need you to send us a message.
I need you to send that message out.
As the plan that they discuss starts in hushed whispers,
we move back through the halls, through the warm streets of the upper decks,
passing by the suburbs and greenery that have been built to forget what's below,
till we reach the business district and see the large connected buildings of brewery mining.
We go up the foyer, up the statue, reaching several floors high,
till we arrive in a sterile meeting room.
Quinn sits in a clean pressed suit,
across the table from another equally well-dressed individual.
The individual is reading through a hollow pad.
Honestly, Quinn, your performance is immaculate.
One of our youngest junior executives and still flying through the company.
Thank you, sir.
Now, this new position comes with many new responsibilities.
Are you sure you're up to it?
I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone, anyone, more ready than I am.
That's the spirit.
Welcome aboard, Quinn.
Take a few days off.
When you get back, we'll be ready for your new position.
No, sir, I prefer to work.
The suited exec laughs.
That's the attitude. You'll be after my job next.
They laugh harder.
Quinn joins, but his face quickly hardens into a smile at the old man.
And we fly up, up and up and up through the clouds,
past the buildings and the atmosphere to the rickety ship known as the Patchwork.
It's recently fitted wing engines, taken from a disused, valkyrie-class ship,
hold steady, making the ship look like a bird diving for food,
inside the drift core hums.
Fitted into a large cylinder in the centre of the ship.
Scrap sits in the pilot's chair, fiddling with new dials and switches,
trying to figure out how they work.
In the lovingly-called sleeping quarters,
but if we're being honest, more like a series of hammocks separated by a curtain,
as up, you lay down, recovering from your wounds from the car crash on Saga.
You slowly rouse, you notice your body aches.
What is it you'd like to do?
First off, how much am I healed?
You have a long rest, so your stamina is fully back and your HP is back 3.
There's people who don't know how healing and stuff, finder works.
Long rests do not fully heal you, they only heal you your health, your level in health.
So 3 total?
3 HP, but your stamina is fully back here.
I'm at half health and I'm at full stamina.
That's a good sign.
That's good.
Um...
Great.
I'm getting too old for this.
Sky!
Ike!
Firiak!
Scrap!
You would all hear this, depending on where you are.
What's up?
Hi!
Does anybody have the weirdest feeling like we're forgetting something?
Forgetting something?
Well, we forgot.
I don't know.
Checked, we didn't leave the food phibrilator on or whatever it's called.
Yeah, you gave them money, we're fine.
Yeah, you gave them the money, right?
When were we supposed to give them the money?
Well, the money.
Did we fly away with the money?
We got it!
Okay, okay, hold on.
Ike, just to be clear, are you suddenly 100,000 credits richer?
Well, yes, but I wasn't planning to keep it, we just needed to leave.
I need to call Tommy.
Should I call the void?
Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I don't think we should call the void.
I don't know, because I also don't want the void!
Come and kill us!
Oh, that's a foregone conclusion, I'm sorry.
Oh my god, are you freaking out?
You can't freak out, Ike, because it's going to make me freak out!
I cannot be here if the void is going to be after us.
It's not, alright, everyone, everyone, please take a deep breath in, or whatever your species does, out.
One, void right now don't know where we are, and they're probably trying to manipulate things for their own gain.
Later problem. Two, Tommy's probably very disappointed that he isn't going to act out against us.
Doesn't do them any favors to chase after off-worlders.
Why would Tommy be disappointed? We have-
Because it wasn't ours.
But we didn't intentionally, we weren't abandoning ship, we had a target on our back.
And how are they supposed to know it?
Well, that's why you're going to call them.
They did make a lot of jokes about running off with the money.
It's okay, this guy will be fine, just keep calm, everyone-
I mean, I'm sure there's a possibility of us being fine, dude, but like, everybody on Saga probably wants us dead now.
Call Tommy, call Tommy, or I'm going to have a heart attack.
I feel like before you call Tommy, well, should we tell him? Because we didn't tell you really what happened at school.
Oh, that's not important.
I feel like that's important.
It's not that important.
I just-
Okay, alright.
So, it's just that, well, school, first of all, school isn't a person, school is a-
A member of void.
Yeah, we figured it out.
Yes, you know that school is just a face on a computer?
Oh, school's an AI.
Yes.
That's what-
An AI that has footage of the entire race, which unfortunately I tried, I pulled out every friend I have, and it wasn't enough to get it,
they do have footage, unfortunately, of the doctor murdering the lawman.
Do you understand that if that gets out, my career is effectively donated?
Wait, only Firiac, not me.
So, it's all of us actually?
All the plus side, Firiac, you're probably fine. You didn't murder anyone. I did.
I was tampering in an illegal street race. That doesn't matter if I was doing it for the good of the people or whatever. I am associated.
Oh my god.
Look, I used to do this all the time. All you do if you get caught, you blame it on me and you say I forced you.
Everyone will believe it, trust me.
I'm-
I'm not-
Maybe I will. I have to think about it.
It's okay. A lot of people have done it to me in the past. That's fine.
I have just done crime and it is on camera.
I know you already did crime.
I don't do crime! I don't do that!
You said you worked in cargo!
I work in cargo! I move things for money, legally! Just that people don't like. I don't do crime.
That sounds like crime.
Well, it isn't.
Okay. Well, first off, Void is not going to tell the lawmen what we did. In all likelihood.
Weren't the lawmen on Skye?
Yeah, but whole race was illegal from start to finish. This whole situation is illegal. A small portion of it, yeah, Skye got chased. But overall-
I also grew up on Saga and I'm a scrappy street team. So-
We don't have to worry about local law. We do have to worry about the whole group of murderous assassins and street people coming to kill us.
Gang, the gang. I think if they want to scapegoat, they're going to go ahead and feel comfortable saying that the girl from the Lower Decks who just pulled her way up top and then did a whole death race
and ran off with money.
One whole death race.
Yeah. And more importantly, you didn't do anything wrong.
I did! I did do something wrong! It was crime! The whole race was apparently illegal and-
Yeah, but that's not going to get you in trouble. What's going to get you in trouble is that that money belongs to Void and Tommy.
Who does this actually belong to then?
Tommy.
Then let's get it to Tommy. I don't want it!
Are we going to act as though having some sort of intergalactic crime syndicate tailing us is not an issue?
Like, yes, the money is for Tommy, but-
For the most part, I think- correct me if I'm wrong, Sky, they work individually.
With the Void?
Yeah.
I mean, in cells, right?
They're kind of like an international organization. There's like Void members on different planets and this is kind of like the saga group.
See, we've only pissed off one of them.
Well, you know, word spreads real fast and I'm real surprised that you guys haven't had bad run-ins with the Void, so maybe we should just get used to the Void being on our tail.
I mean, I've had run-ins with Hive, but my planet was- I hate to term it backwater, but it was a backwater.
No one gave a shit about it until they keep- Never mind.
It's good to know one thing first. Let's call Tommy.
Call Tommy.
Yeah, I pick up my holocom, my camcorder-
Yeah.
My moves-
Camcorder? Yeah.
Yeah, I pick up my camcorder.
You pick up your two-way Walkman.
Grant, you gonna attempt to call Tommy?
I'm gonna try, yeah.
Yeah, I'd say that you exchanged numbers when you were talking about participating in this. It would make sense too.
But as soon as you type it in and you click call, there's like two tones and then a-
This number is unavailable.
And then poop-poop-poop.
Hangs up.
Told you, very pissed off. Hold on.
Uh, I call Hive.
You call Hive and there's two rings.
This number is unavailable.
Call Jajons. Maybe we can't make calls past the atmosphere or something.
Alright. I call-
I Google Jajons.
Or whatever search engine is in the future.
Yeah, I search on the subnet.
That's what we're gonna call it, the subnet.
That's nice. That's it. That's good. I'm writing that down. The subnet.
You call on the search on the subnet.
And there's two tones.
This number is unavailable.
We're screwed, dude.
Are we just out of range?
Can everybody roll me- intelligence, please.
Raw dog and intelligence.
Flat intelligence.
Whoa.
18.
We have three intelligence mains, right?
Yeah.
Theriax, Sky and I got all intelligence focused, yeah.
I got a six.
18.
Oh, yeah, okay.
I also got an 18.
18, 18, 15, 6.
So there are two different types of- technically three different types of communication,
because there's Wi-Fi, which is available, you know, pretty much everywhere,
unless you're like- like the patchwork doesn't have Wi-Fi.
So that little bit where I said that you space-nated it didn't happen,
you would have just had the number before.
The patchwork doesn't have Wi-Fi, but a lot of, like, every space station does.
There is also galactic calls, which is planetary to planetary,
and there is interplanetary calls, which is on that planet.
You should be able to reach the numbers that you're calling.
The reason they are all dropping, that is a thing that you are able to clock,
is that this isn't a usual thing, like, it might just be out.
Theriax, you remember that you had this problem earlier,
when you tried to reach Lin, the calls also dropped.
I, and Theriax, you remember that school said that they weren't able to reach off-planet.
Oh, that's right.
Oh, no.
Okay, something was happening, right?
Doctor, there was a thing.
I was having difficulty reaching off-planet when I was on Saga,
and now we are also having issues with reaching Saga from off-planet.
So there is some communication barrier between Saga and the rest of the planetary system.
One moment, I go through my e-receipts,
and I find the canteen that I ordered food from on Valhalla,
and I call that number.
Hello? This is the VA11 rest stop CAF. How can I help?
Oh, I'm so sorry. Wrong number. Just big thumbs.
Okay, that's no trouble. Have a nice day.
Well, school, the computer at the school said that it couldn't reach the other Void members.
Sky, you said there were other Void clusters all over.
So the one good thing I just remembered is that they can't communicate with the others to let them know where we are or what we've done.
I haven't technically done anything yet, but I feel like the longer we're away from Saga, the more Tommy is going to get real suspicious.
You think we should go back?
I definitely think we should go back.
Are you kidding me? We should not be headed back.
Hold up, hold up, scraphead.
Hey, hearing a lot of raised voices. Just want to make sure that everyone's okay.
Azam, you're looking better. That's good. How is everyone?
Stress. Yeah, we seem stressed. Are we good? What's the situation?
Everyone on Saga is going to want us dead.
Okay.
Also, we have 100,000 credits that belong to three different people? Three different collectives?
Well, five.
Five?
One, two, three, four, five.
Oh, what, scrap? Actually, I think that they... We were supposed to give it to Tommy, which I don't...
I thought the group decision was we were just going to get the money and run.
No.
That's why you all jumped on the ship and we left.
No, we did that because some very scary people have video footage of all of us doing crimes.
I forgot.
Right. Okay, that's definitely sense.
I included in this little video footage thing.
I don't think you were there, right? At the race?
No. No, I wasn't.
Then no, you're...
No, you're just...
You're not free, dude.
Okay, all right. That's good.
Yeah, you're Scott Free. No one's looking for you.
Well, there's people looking for me, but...
That was a weird way to say that.
Why did you put the emphasis on no one and that no one's looking for you?
Because walking around Saga is us right now. It's very dangerous.
Okay, we're walking out of Saga with 100,000 credits we promised to somebody else.
No, no, no.
That's...
A sum. Okay, wait, you've got a good point, I think.
Oh, so we sent scrap with the money?
Yes, we do.
Scrap.
I don't want to do that.
This is a genius idea.
I don't want to do that, actually.
Okay, okay.
Hey, gang, I don't consent to this.
I don't want to do that.
That sounds terrible for me.
Scrap.
Listen, listen, listen, listen.
If I...so, I don't know what it is, but as soon as I put my goggles on and my gas mask, nobody recognizes me.
So, that is also an option.
I am doubtful of that.
I was also doubtful of it. You'd be so surprised.
Yeah, it's really quite...it's weird.
It's really weird, yeah.
I mean, I also don't look like I did growing up on Saga.
I like dyed my hair and I got some new threads and stuff, so...
Sure.
You look very, um, fly.
I like look at the others for confirmation.
Is that what the young people look at? Fly?
You're looking at Ike.
What about fly?
I like that.
Yeah, you look at Ike and...
Ike's crap in theory, I've been like, do people use fly?
And all of them are like, how the fuck are we supposed to know?
I like it.
Look at the people who you're trying to...
Makes me feel speedy.
If the, if, you know, us young people aren't saying it now, I think we will be.
Yes, I do look very fly, Azam.
So that is an option. We just go down super quick.
I have a skateboard. I can just zip zaps up, get to Tommy, drop off the money,
and then we just get out of touch.
I think it's a great idea.
Alright, okay, first of all, I don't...that sounds dreadful, going back down to Saga.
Can you not just transfer them the credits if we...
Oh, like he transfers?
There's a whole thing happening where there's no, no one's able to communicate on and off of Saga.
You can't make any calls or send anything or access any of the connections.
If you tried calling your wife right now, it would not go through.
Well, no, it's probably because she died a very long time ago, but I do appreciate it.
Call your child.
Mmmmmm...okay. No, that's not gonna work.
No, I mean, it's just literally no calls go through, so no transfers can go through.
Again, e-transfer? Is that another thing that we could do?
We could try.
I also thought, perhaps, we should just do some sort of e-commerce deposit for something.
I'll give it a try.
It's a lot of money, it's a lot of money, gang.
It is a lot of money.
That could, we could be easy living for quite some time.
I didn't, okay.
I know, and I thought that we would get
to keep a little of it, but I also don't want everyone
to want us dead.
I mean, Tommy did promise us like 5,000, 15,000,
something like that.
Yeah, it was a number.
Yeah, it was 10, I think, 10.
All right.
Split amongst five, it's...
Can I give it a shot?
Well, I don't have wifi in the patchwork.
We haven't figured that out yet, but we can, okay.
All right, everyone come through.
We're in the sleeping quarters.
This is not a place for business talk.
Come into the main chain.
I like struggle to get up.
Oh, fuck, all right, stay here.
Also, I know that I gear an upper decker.
Are you aware of what Tommy is going to do with this money?
I mean, like, honestly, I'm kind of on board,
but I feel like you should know the complete context
of what you're getting yourself into here.
Everything about, like, the fur on her face is vibrating.
She is very visibly nervous.
I don't actually know what is the right thing to do here.
I think I did so many wrong things that I can't parse out
which one to fix first.
So I think whatever gets eyes off of us in a murdery sort
of way first is best, and then I will try to figure out
what's next, because frankly, I won't be an upper decker
for very long if anyone finds out what I've just done.
Scrab, is there a place nearby that does have a connection?
Scrab holds out like a quite small flat plate
that has this blowing blue orb half sticking out,
presses it, and there is a small, very rudimentary,
very glitchy look at the current solar system,
the ACS solar system, with a, takes a very long time
to like refresh itself, view of where approximately you are.
Okay, this is us.
We have been in airspace or rather in deep space
for about 12 to 13 hours now.
I'm not sure where we were going.
So we're just kind of flying away from Saga.
I'm gonna explain what the galaxy looks like now actually.
There is the sun, this big red sun.
The closest planet to the sun is a planet called Va.
Past that, there is Saga, then there is you.
There is the planet Rhan,
which is where the Leviathan's eye was.
Just past that is the VA-11, and then it's Adun,
and then way past that off is a planet called Ul.
Right, so we're here, so you're moving away from the sun.
You're moving away from Va and Saga.
I don't know where we're going.
If we wanted, we could swing back around and go to Saga.
I, Doctor, I was pretty sure that you wanted to go to Adun.
At some point, didn't you were talking
about the game about that?
I do, I really need to head back to Adun.
Adun, why does it feel familiar for some reason?
Isn't that where Wild Times is?
That is correct.
Oh, zoo.
It's, now is not the time to get riled up about this.
I need to get back.
My facility is being slandered.
My career is on the line,
and I am not there to defend myself,
so no one else will.
We're on our way to Adun now.
It'll still take us a couple of days to get there.
It'll take us about 13 hours to get back to Saga,
so if we wanted to fully just drop back at Saga,
that'll take us an additional day, but we could do.
I mean, we could find a space station nearby
that has Wi-Fi.
There's definitely one there.
Maybe we could do that on our way to Adun.
I mean, knowing this place, there's a refueling dock.
If we, to connect to Wi-Fi in order to transfer the money.
If we're doing this stupid dumb plan
and losing us a bunch of money, then yes, of course.
Then yeah, we can do that.
It's only 90,000 credits.
Ah, must be great having only in front of that.
Only 90,000.
Okay, my point is, it's not us,
and we did this to support a cause.
We did win the race.
It is our money to decide with what we wish.
That's true.
I don't wanna make an enemy a chance to you.
Did we agree to 90,000?
Feels like yes, right number.
I just heard death race and blacked out from that point.
So I don't know what happened actually.
His arms seemed to have it covered.
You all wanna do this so you can have
what, the void off your back?
Tommy is also attempting to go to war
with the upper deckers essentially.
If we want them on our tail, that would be fun.
I don't mind having void on my back.
Void's gonna be on my back no matter what.
I'm more concerned about ruining a possible relationship
with lower decks and with Tommy.
Because Tommy's not that popular.
Regardless, we promised them, we promised.
Well, I fucking didn't.
Well Scrap, you weren't there.
As you pointed out, you didn't risk anything.
You weren't involved with the death race.
You didn't have to fend off bomb protectors.
You didn't have to undo a bomb.
You didn't have to chase after sky.
Because I'm your also on my ship.
Hmm?
I can drop you off at the nearest port
and you have nowhere else to go.
Because I don't give a fuck.
You can leave if you want.
My point is we agreed.
And yeah, you didn't agree.
But I hope you trust me enough to realize
why this matters to me.
Because if it was just about getting 100,000 credits,
for us, I wouldn't have agreed.
I am sorry to interrupt.
I feel like maybe when it comes to this,
because I'm too nervous and everyone else is maybe too
detached.
What Tommy wants to do is start a war with the upper decks.
And I understand, but I'm a little bit split
in an odd situation.
Sky, do you feel like we should help the lower decks with this?
That Tommy in particular, I mean,
I feel like it should matter what you want us to do here.
I think that a big, big part of me really
wants to punch back up at the upper decks.
But there is a much quieter part of myself
that I'm trying to nurture here.
And that part doesn't feel right about it either.
But I'm very overwhelmed.
I just wanted to be in a race.
I don't know what to do.
All right.
OK.
Um, I think scrap, if it's OK, can we go to Dune still?
Can we just stop somewhere first?
And at least maybe we'll have the chance to explain,
if not sending them money.
Is that the group decision?
Everyone in favor, say aye.
Aye.
I don't want 90,000 credits.
I want to give it back to the people who it's probably
been stolen from.
All right.
That's 4v1.
OK.
Sure.
I'll put out a beacon search of nearby space stations
and we'll be able to drop it off.
Thanks, dude.
Walks back out and back to the chair.
I know there's no air, but I could use a walk.
Skye, I don't really know the ship so well.
Can you?
Would you come with me?
I mean, sure.
But you can go left or right and you'll hit a wall.
Skye?
Yeah, I got it.
I get it.
I'm coming with you.
I'm just saying you need to pick a better excuse
for next time, dude.
I will walk just a bit away with you
and finds a bit of wall to sit against,
like just at least out of earshot.
I'm very confused about what to do.
I guess it didn't occur to me until just now
that you might be too.
Can I ask you something?
I mean, sure.
You said something before the race about it being your,
you know, one of your only chances to go to the upper decks.
I kind of got the impression from you that you hated everyone
up there, which is fair, I suppose.
But I was wondering if you actually could go.
Do you think you would?
No.
I meant when I said that I had a chance out of here,
I meant off of Saga.
I probably, since I was a kid, yeah,
I hated everyone on the upper decks, every single person.
Because the reason that I don't think I would ever
want to live up there is because I
don't think that there's a part of my brain
that I could shut off that wouldn't constantly
be reminding me of who I was stepping on.
But that's made me do more harm than good.
That part of my brain.
So I just wanted to get as far away as possible.
And I don't know what decision to make here,
but I'm not really thinking about what I'm leaving behind
on Saga.
I'm trying to think of what is going to be better for you
guys and the less amount of people
that are going to be following us.
OK.
No, I think I understand that.
But it's, it makes sense to me that you would just
want to leave Saga at all.
So I'm sorry if giving the money back
gets them off of our backs, maybe that's better.
I mean, I think at this point it's just
we're choosing who is going to hate us.
Right.
I think I have hard time with that decision.
I think just whatever keeps us safe, maybe.
I'm sorry I made you do the race.
No, you didn't make me.
I actually got caught up and I never saw anything so exciting.
I am usually way too afraid to do things like that.
But if I were a stronger person, I could have said that I
wouldn't do it.
If I was a stronger person, I wouldn't have asked you.
It just sounded like fun, but I need to grow up
and I need to learn that some things that seem good
in the moment are going to leave your new bud stressed out
about doing crime potentially forever.
Well, I think if we deal with the consequences together,
maybe that part will be less scary.
I also, I don't hate you.
I would be OK if you did.
I mean, I don't hate you because I'm
trying not to hate you if that puts it
into a better perspective.
I've just got a lot of junk.
I'm trying to get rid of.
Step one is getting off saga.
I think that that's maybe a fine goal.
If I'm if I'm being honest with you,
I did not dream my whole life of getting off saga.
I dreamed of just going up and and then I did.
And it it didn't really change all that much.
So maybe you have the better dream.
Yeah, we'll see.
Anyway, tour complete.
You want to energy drink?
Oh, yeah.
No, yeah, I I won't.
I've only had two today.
I'll definitely have another panic attack, but I will.
Maybe you shouldn't have the energy drink then.
I'm not going to.
I'm just going to get one for you.
You have to do that.
No, no, this is becoming awkward.
Just let me get my energy drink.
All right.
I think after I can sky leave, the fear
is going to kind of look to as.
How are you feeling?
I'm used to a lot of things hurting at once.
It's fine.
Oh, that's not optimal.
No, no, no, it's not.
But yeah, you are you sustaining wounds still?
Am I still injured?
Yes.
Yeah.
I'm going to make you something to eat.
All right.
So right now, your body is still trying to repair itself.
So it's using a lot of amino acids, right?
So we're going to make sure you get some more proteins.
Arginine is especially important.
So we're going to also look for something that can also
replenish zinc for your body.
So I think you aren't allergic to any shellfish, are you?
No.
Then I suppose we should try that.
Wait, are you going to make me like what, a drainage
or something?
I'm going to try and make you something to heal you, at least.
Oh, thank you, I guess.
Theorek is going to go to the fridge.
How ill-equipped is this fridge for what Theorek's trying to do?
It's actually, well, for what Theorek's trying to do,
like it wouldn't have any fish in it.
But it would be fully stocked since you've just left.
Actually, the lead up to the race took a week.
And in that time, everyone was on the patchwork.
So if some of you went shopping, went to the markets,
you probably kind of filled it out slightly better
than it would be normally.
So anything that, pretty much anything that you say is in there
would be in it if you reasonably think that you would have picked
that up in that time.
I don't think Theorek would have realistically thought
of shellfish as a thing to purchase.
Also on the lower decks, raw fresh meat
is wild expensive, because there's not
a lot of commerce in that regard.
But you would have tin stuff.
All right, so don't have any shellfish.
However, could cook you some beans
that would also be amenable for your.
That sounds good.
All right.
Can't lump prawn.
That's scary.
You know when I got an offer to go to Leviathan's
and design procuresome specimens,
not expect I would be, I would end up
in this particular situation.
You mean on board a arguably decaying craft
with a eyed sky myself and scrap?
No, that was pretty reasonable within the confines
of that particular mission.
More so the being wanted and abetted criminals section
was not on the docket.
You never know where the drafts of fate take you.
I mean, I realize right now I look kind of scary
and I am kind of scary.
And I'm also, yeah.
But I wanted to be a baker when I grew up.
I imagine settling down, having a couple children,
warming a few eggs, that'd be a totality of my existence.
Now this is going to sound very callous.
Yeah.
How old does your ancestry live to?
Depends.
According to ancient texts, some of us live forever,
although I've never seen anybody live forever.
We're usually around 160.
And how old are you?
About halfway.
You have time.
I do have time, but I don't have a partner nor do I have eggs.
That's what the time's for.
Fariaki.
We don't.
My species doesn't work like most people expect it to.
You're a scientist.
Sexual intercourse does not produce children.
We mine eggs from the walls of our tunnels.
They make themselves apparent.
And we fertilize them and lather.
This is very fascinating, biologically.
The old legends used to state that when the mines drew up,
drew, it's a trade word for it, dried,
when the mines dried up, then the way forward
would illuminate itself to us.
But that's all.
I imagine they're all gone now.
And my chance to raise a child of my own species
no longer possible.
They're quite heat, you know?
And according to Eurom's cooldown significantly.
Anyway, regardless, I couldn't just settle down anymore.
Could I?
I've changed since those days.
Become a bit more active, a bit more pushy, a bit more.
I can't blind my eyes to what I've already seen.
Like I said, drafts are fate.
Sometimes you think you're going in one direction
and it turns out life takes you another way.
Come in, sip in my energy drink.
And I'm like, so you don't think a person can change?
Well, I mean, after a certain point,
you cool down enough and it makes it kind of hard.
Literally, I like knock on one of my arms.
Theriaq brings over a little bowl of beans to you
and then pulls out what looks like medicinal container
and pulls out a syringe.
It's going to hurt, isn't it?
Oh, the booster?
No.
Oh, good.
You will be very aware of hearing, of audible sounds.
Sounds fun.
Hold on, let me just get you a space.
And I like knock on the black shell covering my arm
and break a little piece off.
And there's like a little bear patch of slightly lightened
skin underneath it, surrounded by like a magma vein that's
running through it underneath the skin.
And then does little choo-choo to get the little air bubbles out.
And then doop.
Out.
There you go.
I should hopefully assist you with speeding up
the healing process.
I hope so.
It did very well for wild times.
I'm sorry I keep calling it a zoo.
I'm just not smart enough to wrap my head around what
you've actually done.
Well, wild times is by design a place for conservation.
It is to preserve the natural flora and fauna that
exist on a dune that are being endangered
by the continued expansion of various enterprises
on the planet.
I moodily take a bite of the beans.
I relate.
The idea is that wild times is not merely something
for entertainment or for merchandising.
It is primarily to educate people, both on a dune and off
and from other planets, about how that continued urbanization
is threatening the life on the planet.
And hopefully we can also bring to light
in temporary exhibits other places that have been damaged
ecologically, such as Leviathan's Eye,
which is why I went on that first mission in the first place
to acquire the slugs.
If I was a more intelligent man, what it sounds like is
that they took your nature preserve
and turned it into a literal zoo.
I am afraid that's what happened.
I'm not sure.
I'm not sure because I haven't been there in a very long time.
I need to get back.
How long has it been?
A week?
Two weeks.
In two weeks?
Culls of Vator.
Wait, wait.
They did this all in two weeks?
No, I've been away from wild times for two weeks.
Yeah, but surely you must have seen it coming, right?
Zoo branding and funny little mascot
keeps appearing on my phone.
I take out my two-way walkman.
That's a thing.
I turn it over.
And I press a button and then just covering the entire screen
to pop up of that wild times mascot just appears.
The wild times mascot to remind you
is Theriac from what you know is subject one.
It kind of looks a bit like Tony the Tiger,
but if their main was of tentacles
and they are a deep, almost translucent blue.
Also, I'm often the corner reading a comic book
so you guys can keep going.
It keeps saying it was discounts if I bring children.
So that's fun.
Well, that was an initiative I supported
to incentivize bringing junk of guests into the facility
so I could see creatures that they've only ever seen
through holograms and video recordings and the like.
They're advertising Park Pass for Kids
comes with an opportunity to see creatures up close
and take multiple pictures to show all your friends.
Yes, social media presence is how we're going to continue.
Did you come up with that?
Or did someone say social media presence is what we?
They were very convincing.
Theriac, I think from the start you were kind of hoodwinked.
I have not.
This was $12 for a plastic cup.
That's just evil.
No offense.
You know what?
I do take offense.
Do you think running an operation like this
runs on bits and bytes?
No.
You want to know what I think, truthfully.
I think initiatives like this should be created with grants
and not with commercial funds.
Because commercial funds can wax and wane
and therefore the care for the creatures
underneath your control can wax and wane.
But you don't want.
Grants should stay consistent so long
as you're providing the same service.
I think this attempt to, yeah, we had initiatives like that.
On Erem.
You see my point here?
You see why I do this?
There's places like Saga, like a dune,
for being manipulated.
Not for anyone's good, but for certain people's pockets.
I don't have anything against an individual.
I don't hate every single upper decker,
or every single capitalist adunian,
or even the humans who came to Erem.
I hate what they've done to us.
I hate how they've manipulated us
and hurt us for their own pockets and own gain.
And I hate that what we had to support us is now gone.
Because those systems now require outside, private-owned,
capitalist help.
That's why I want to give them money to Tommy.
Yes, I realize people are going to get hurt.
I've fought in an actual war before.
I get it.
But what's the alternative?
People are being hurt right now, every day.
A lower decker's not getting what they need.
Every day, one of my people, every day, another one
of your species on a dune gets wiped out of existence.
It's easy to try and make this personal.
But it's not personal.
It's systematic.
I'm lecturing again.
I should stop there.
I don't know what it is.
You get to a certain age, and suddenly everything
turns into a speech.
I appreciate your concern.
And you bring up several good points.
I would have loved if a Wild Times was supported
through grants, if there were organizations that routinely
funded the facility rather than being
run as a commercial enterprise.
I pursued that.
I searched for alternatives.
But the government on a dune does not.
That works against their interests
to promote conservation.
The people who I contacted regarding biological welfare,
they thought I was a kook.
They thought I had gone mad trying
to establish a location like this.
It's not your fault.
Listen, this place is a whole planet covered in libraries.
I forget which one it was.
But I looked it up when we were suffering
from a bit of biodiversity loss.
They had grants.
Maybe you could contact them.
I know it's a planetary, but you know,
still should be able to do something.
That's a problem, right?
Our options are being limited day in, day out.
That's why we keep on turning to crime and giving money
to people like Tommy, who works in a, well,
the equivalent of an Android barbershop.
We do this because we're faced with desperate means.
We watch things we care about die slowly,
or we fight in the hopes they won't die quickly.
Maybe we should go to a dune.
If I can help in any way.
I'm not saying I'll start a war.
I promise.
Maybe a little one, I'm joking.
I promise you, if they are a well repudiated conservation
coalition, I contacted them, and they wanted nothing
to do with wild times.
Then we've got to find balance.
Because what I'm seeing, looking at your website,
all advertising to spend more money, right?
And if it turns out services are not being cut,
if it turns out that your employees are being well paid,
if it turns out everything is as it should be,
maybe that's good.
You know, I'm not a nature preserver accountant.
I'm strongly suspicious.
If the other members of the wild times administration
permit me to bring any of you into higher facilities,
or meetings, or boardrooms, or anything of the sort,
I will try so that you might have some insight for us.
Yeah.
I just wish I knew where fate was taking me, you know?
Yes.
I think I'm going to make food for everyone,
and then go to my quarters.
I'm going to take these beans and I'll pray a little bit.
Skye, hello.
You want help?
With cooking?
Yeah.
Sure.
Cool.
I can go get IG or something.
I don't know if you want my help, per se.
I can try.
Do you know how to cook?
What does cooking mean to you?
Heating up food.
Not exactly.
I can eat up food.
It's not exactly cooking.
It can be a component of cooking.
It's not the entirety of it.
OK, well, you know, why don't you just take the lead,
Capitan, and tell me what to drop?
Sure.
And I think the react will lead Skye and show her how
to make a nice little salad, a fruit salad.
Nice.
It's very simple.
Maybe some grilled melon in there.
Wow.
I don't know.
Nancy.
Yeah, I never really had an opportunity
to learn how to cook, because like, ingredients?
Not a thing in my area of the lower decks, you know.
You'd be happy if you had three things to eat at once.
Well, what a day that was, you know.
I know where I'm from, we just all have gardens
and just grow it ourselves.
That sounds lovely.
Wait, how do you make sure that what's growing in the gardens
isn't like a relative?
You do realize I have eyeballs and arms and legs
but we're not just produce.
OK, could have just answered the question.
It just felt a little loaded.
I'm sorry.
It's OK.
It's all right.
I know you didn't mean it, and you will.
Just assume I'm stupid from here on out,
and I think our friendship will be much better for it.
Skye.
Skye, I don't know you're asking.
You are not stupid.
Pretty stupid.
Got a lot of stupid stuff in my 17 years of living.
You are very proficient in mechanics.
That is something I'm less adept at.
Yeah, but you found it a whole educational facility.
You put a syringe of, I don't even know what that was,
into a Zom and it's somehow going to make them better?
That's wild, dude.
You're like the smartest person I think I might have ever met.
That feels, I know it's a compliment,
but that does feel a little bit bad to hear.
Oh, sorry.
Why?
If I'm the smartest and if what a Zom said is true,
that I've been duped, it doesn't feel great.
Smart people get duped, dude.
You're just smart enough to figure out what to do next.
Bad stuff happens to good people all the time.
Stupid stuff happens to smart people.
All the time.
You're just going to figure out what the next step is.
You just have a salad and then we'll figure things out from there.
Skye, you are incredibly insightful.
Do you know that?
Especially for someone your age as a human.
What do I say?
You said something very profound.
Stellar.
I love that so much.
I love.
All right, so when the rind of the melon starts to char,
that's when you turn it over.
The what?
The rind.
It's like the skin, the hard part, not the juicy part.
Hard part, got it.
Yes, so when that begins to char.
What's like a char?
Is it like right before burnt?
Char is the black stuff.
That's burning it.
We don't want to do that.
Well, when it burns, that's how you know it's cooked.
What?
And that's to go through the entirety of the fruit.
And so that means that the outside is going to be a lot
of crispy.
So we want it to be, we want it to look like that.
We want it to be black and crispy.
Yes, and then when we're done.
I'm doing this.
All wrong.
We will simply peel off the rest of the pilla.
We'll peel off all the char.
Man, Scrap's been getting mad at me for no reason.
Why is Scrap getting upset with you?
Because I've been doing apparently whatever
these wolves will be doing in a certain time.
You'll never have cooked.
Could you elaborate?
I cooked the times I have cooked food on the patchwork,
which is not very money.
It's ended up looking like this.
And Scrap said I've ruined it.
And so I don't cook as much anymore.
Is it smoking?
Sometimes, yeah.
Does it smell like smoke?
Like just raw, like just burning oxygen?
I don't really know.
There wasn't a lot of time between it being on the plate
and it being in my mouth.
Did you eat it?
Yeah.
What?
It's food.
I thought that's the point of cooking, is to eat the food.
That is a bit of a health risk if you're eating fully burnt food.
Oh.
That's why we're peeling off the char.
I feel like I've probably eaten worse.
I'm going to make you a fully regimented diet to boost your nutrition.
What?
It sounds like you have not had access to proper nutrients
for the sound of it most of your life.
Oh, yeah, no.
And breathing the air on saga, I foresee me dying at a very young age.
That's why I'm so rad.
Trying to speed up the process.
That's a lot to unpack.
Well, you're going to have some very delicious food before you die.
How about that?
That sounds pretty great, Doc.
There you go.
Do you want me to get egg?
Is it salad time?
It is fully salad time.
Yeah, no.
You can either go left or right.
Egg, a zom.
It's salad time.
Tell a zom he can lay down.
I will fetch him his food.
Zom, you can lay down.
We'll fetch you your food.
What's a salad time?
It needs time for salad.
What else could it mean?
I don't know.
Maybe more crime?
Scrap comes in.
Oh, hell, yes, it's salad time.
It's salad time.
Wait, is the zom still on the bed?
Can I take my salad and sit on the hammock with a zom?
Yeah, sure.
Can't have salad time without the whole gang.
Salad?
What on earth is salad time?
Why is everyone so confused about salad time?
It's time.
It's salad.
I know, but it sounds so literal that it
sounds like it might be code for some sort of crime.
Oh, my god, what if that could be like code word?
Because we lead quite an exciting life now.
So maybe one of us could have a communicator type thing,
and then if things start going bad,
we can be like, it's salad time.
And then we would say that, and the bad time would stop being bad.
Everything would get good again.
That's when we rush in, and we kick down the door,
and we'll have a pose.
Oh, OK.
We should probably get some weapons.
Yeah.
Does anybody have weapons beside me?
And my backpack of grinning.
I've been creating some inhibitors and boosters.
But besides that, I mean, I have a scalpel.
Scrap is a gun.
I don't really need to have a weapon,
and I just dip my hand into the trash can
and pull out a sword of garbage.
A flash?
Yeah, I just, I prefer garbage instead.
Yeah, I remember you doing that on the vifens.
Oh, everything was moving so fast,
and there were many zombies.
Sky was on that roller coaster.
Anyway, and I just drop it, and it crumbles into garbage
back into the trash.
I am going to eat this all.
I am very grateful, Fariac.
Is this supposed to taste like grass?
Well, you're supposed to also eat the citrus, the citrus fruits.
That's especially important because you honestly
might have scurvy, considering that the lower decks have
very limited access to UV light.
I don't know, does this prevent scurvy?
Because I have eaten grass.
Well, have you bled lava recently?
Have I what?
Blood.
Blood, sorry, bled from old wounds.
It can open up old scurvy, it can open up scars.
I don't know.
The last time I was really hurt was the vifens eye.
I'm probably fine.
I probably don't have scurvy.
I think I should run medical exams on everyone on deck.
I think is what I'm discovering.
You just want to figure out how I reproduce.
That was a very well-timed cough,
and I'm not going to change that.
That's canon.
When that cough happens, and there's like a slight chuckle
of scrap, opposite of that.
Right, we have a spaceport.
It's only an hour or two away, but it has Wi-Fi,
and we'll be able to go there.
It's helium.
It's a comedy club.
Everyone good for that?
Comedy club.
Is it a good comedy club?
Well, it has on here.
It says helium.
It's a gas.
So I think that's a comedy club.
That's not.
Oh, it sounds delightful.
I think we're going to have a wonderful time.
And also, we're only staying long enough to eat
transfer of the credits and then skedaddle, right?
Exactly.
What if it doesn't work?
What if we still can't contact Tommy?
It really looks like we flew the coop.
We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
OK, but what happens if there's no bridge,
and it's just a really high cliff leading to our deaths,
is what I'm saying.
We'll open that mine when we get to it.
Well, I feel very confident.
Skye, we're going to send the funds.
It's going to work.
Be positive.
Believe in yourself.
It'll be all right.
Skye, we got out of worse scrapes.
Yeah, like that time you chased by Lohman down the street.
Oh, right.
Which time?
Oh, we have fun.
Anyway.
Right.
We're going to go give the credits.
Everyone on board?
Yeah.
All right.
We have an hour.
Is that enough time for a few rounds of Y-net?
That sounds delightful.
I'll watch.
You don't want to play?
No, no, I prefer to watch.
OK, I'll have your controller then,
because I don't even know if we can play without you.
I wasn't playing last time.
Oh, yeah.
I'm just watching.
It was literally just you and me and those two observed.
I have a question.
You communicate with different technology boards, correct?
I mean, sometimes.
Do you communicate with my console?
Are you manipulating the game?
I showed you.
They were supposed to be a secret, but I that's, I, it's not.
Oh, you did.
You did fully show me.
I am.
I was.
Well, I am.
I never tell you to a secret.
I completely blanked.
That is, that is my fault.
No one had anything.
I.
The game operates as normal.
It's, I don't exactly manipulate it.
I just, I can look.
All right, well, let's go.
I'll show you what I mean.
Ike, could you talk to my skateboard?
I could try.
Has your skateboard ever talked to you?
No, it's just a skateboard.
Ike, technology doesn't usually talk to people,
unless it's an AI.
Well, I, oh, um.
Oh.
OK, well, I.
Is that the default?
I don't know.
And I take the skateboard.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what if my skateboard
doesn't like me?
What?
Oh, but then what if it gets.
I do need to talk to you about something later.
I almost forgot.
Who are you talking to?
I'm talking to you.
Oh, good.
I.
You talk to you later.
OK, why don't you guys, why don't you guys go talk,
and I'll spend some quality time with my skateboard.
I'll talk to your skateboard after you've given it
extra DLC.
Do you think that my skateboard would be mad at me
if I prohibited it from the right of speech?
Oh my god, no.
I've never had a computer talk to me
and be mad about something like that.
OK.
So I don't think just.
I think in my experience, machines
are happiest when they get to do the thing
that they're supposed to be doing.
They're like so like just like ride it a lot
and like do lots of skateboarding.
Oh my god, dude.
Yeah, favorite pastime.
OK, that makes me feel a lot better.
You guys.
No, that's going to be.
Maybe just give it a little pat on the back.
Oh my god.
And I go walk away with the Ariag.
Be like, I don't know what makes a skateboard happy.
I sure hope fully that that was the right thing.
I'm not even sure what defines a skateboard.
I'm not familiar with the taxonomy
of extracurricular vehicles.
But I think they all pretty much just look like that.
Some of them have wheels.
Skies is more floaty.
It runs on anti-gravitational magnetic implants.
Is that correct?
I don't know.
Sorry.
I did want to talk with you about a few things.
First of all.
Sure.
Regarding the crystal.
Yes.
Is that something you are still interested in me researching?
Please.
Yes.
There's something about it that it's important.
It's different.
Do you remember my quote for that?
I do.
I know.
And I will.
I'm working on something.
I will find a way to get you properly paid for that.
Also in regards to your ability to communicate
with these systems, these sentiencies
within the circuitry that you are able to talk to and buy
all accounts.
I talk to computers?
Yes.
I am still interested in learning more about that
as far as mechanics of it.
How you as an organic being are able to communicate
with these constructs, I suppose, would be the proper term.
And that is something of interest to me.
Oh.
Well, I mean, I'm fine with showing you.
I usually just don't show it to people
because then it makes me look like a little weirdo.
So I am fine if you're interested in it.
I.
Mm-hmm.
You do know you're not a little weirdo, right?
Well, that's not really.
I don't know.
I just know what people think.
And say.
And also, it can put people off sometimes too.
But I'm fine with it.
Do you want to see?
I can, maybe we can have a.
If you are able to understand what people think,
you are leagues ahead of me.
Mm.
But, um.
You know what?
What?
Don't worry about the cost for the crystal.
Well, that's outrageous.
Why is it outrageous?
Well, because you.
This is your job is studying things like this.
And for me to ask you to do it for free would be, you know,
just unfair and mean and un-ladylike.
And I would not do that.
Well, you do know that I am.
Inquiring about what you do, not necessarily for a living,
but a very key aspect of your skill set that I am not paying for.
That is potentially groundbreaking.
So, if you study the crystal for me,
and then I let you study me?
I suppose it's studying you,
but it's more so studying your behavior
and how the machines interact with you,
rather than...
Yes, yes.
Well, okay, I've never...
Oh, is this a trade?
I don't usually do that.
This is technically bartering.
Oh, I...
With no goods, exclusively services, which is quite rare.
That is quite rare.
I actually...
All right, if you're okay with it, then that would be fine.
And also, that means maybe I won't have to do something very scary.
So, yes.
Okay, I...
That's okay.
Do you want to... I can go talk to Ynet for a bit,
and you can see what I do.
Sure. Yes.
You boot up a quick little game of Ynet,
and you get an hour in,
and the light of...
We are landing, turns on throughout the ship.
I do want to say that Sky, when she was playing Ynet,
is like, Firiac, I thought about what you said,
and there's no conservation effort thing in the game,
but there is this one-third of my map that I'm not going to touch,
and that's where my animals and my fauna are going to thrive and be protected.
I... I...
I appreciate that a lot,
and also that will help your tourism.
Oh!
Even though there's not necessarily a conservation mechanic.
That's all.
You'll sell yourselves in,
and through the skylight and through the front of the patchwork where Scrap sits,
you see ahead of you an asteroid field,
and as the patchwork weaves through this asteroid field,
you see this one asteroid turns to face you,
and as it does, you see a small spaceport tucked away,
a few different ships on it,
and there is a large neon sign that says,
Helium, it's a gas.
Scrap parks the patchwork in the docking bay,
as it lands these magnetized strips,
secure the patchwork in place,
and from the ground, a small machine...
rises up.
Hi there!
Would you like to refuel?
Maybe a wash?
As everyone gets off as the ramp lowers.
Hey pal, uh, no, yeah, just a refuel, thanks.
Of course.
Worst you wait, why not enjoy the luxuries of AC's best comedy club, Helium?
The doors that lead into the club,
which is seeming like now you're on the ground next to it,
is far grander than it should be.
It seems like a dingy little comedy club,
but is almost the only thing that is on this asteroid,
aside from different ships parked in different parts of this little field.
There is a bunch of posters that cover the walls and the doors,
leading toward, inside this comedy club,
PopstarZC, I am the brightest star album,
B60, Life on Electronics, The Climb,
Fixing the Elevator of Life, a saga story.
As you open the doors, you're stopped by a Oshirahu,
which is a brightly coloured sea slug humanoid.
Um, well, hey there, I'm Goopst.
How y'all doing today?
We're doing good, we're looking to enjoy some comedy,
and perhaps the wi-fi that comes with the building?
Uh, well, yeah, you could find all the things you want inside,
there's a buy collar, got a pay phone in there, wi-fi, there's food, a bar.
There's a little cover charge?
There is, there is a little cover charge, it's just five credits each.
Oh, alright.
I got it, I think.
Wait, we can cover that?
From our portion, yeah, I think.
Twenty credits total, twenty-five credits total.
I can pay twenty-five credits, I mean, it's kind of my fault we're in this mess to begin with.
Wait, is it...
Split.
Is very discount for teenagers.
Under eighteen?
Oh, yeah, you can get into the children's section if you'd like.
You're gonna put me at the kids' table?
Twenty-five credits a day.
We're a... it's an adult comedy club, but we do have a preschool if you'd like to sit in the ball pit?
Twenty-five credits it is, here you go.
Okay.
You dickhead.
Alright, I'll pretend I didn't see ya, eh?
Yeah.
How would you pretend?
I'm not exactly small.
No, I mean, we're not loud under eighteen's in the comedy bar section.
Well, that's a good thing I'm not under eighteen.
Yeah.
I'll pretend I didn't see ya.
Go on, did you get it?
I hope there's so many dick jokes.
Better be worth the five credits I had to pay, not sit at the kids' table.
Wait, what jokes?
Dick jokes.
What's funny about dicks?
Um, what do you think dicks are?
I think we need to ask that first before we answer that question.
Oh my god, you want me to explain what dicks are?
No, not you, Asan.
I was just making sure.
You want me to explain what a penis is?
No!
I know what a penis is.
I have one.
Just, okay, I just wanted to make sure.
You could say I'm quite familiar.
I change my mind, I don't want to go to the kids' table.
You could say I'm more than quite, you know, a little bit familiar.
Well, in fact, I've seen more than one.
I've dealt with more.
Let's keep on walking.
All right.
Do you think they have apple juice?
They lead you into a small semi-circle room.
You see a vesque in a ruffled shirt and jeans.
Give their type 5 in front of red curtains and a fake brick wall to the joys of the audience,
which are lit only by the stage lights and a low purple neon coming off the bar.
Can everybody roll me a perception check?
Mmm, 11.
Oh, that's not like 16.
An irrational 20.
I like that very much.
16.
Okay, so we got 20, 16, 16.
And then 11.
It's a pretty decent crowd.
There is a, like, a lot of people in.
There's a lot of laughs and people are really enjoying this, this comedant who's on.
Toward the far back in a slightly darkened corner, you see four people.
Two who are standing and then two who are sat in this booth.
They are all wearing this heavy green armour with a sigil of these two axes that are crossed.
The two people who are standing have their helmets on and are almost stood, like, unnaturally present.
The two people at the table have their helmets off.
Down both of their arms is almost a serial code.
They're laughing and seeming joy themselves at the person on stage.
Everyone who got over a 15 knows that these people are heath.
Oh, fuck.
I mean, looking at Skye, shoot.
I require more words.
Ullefna.
Shoot the Ullefna?
No, no, do not do that.
You will get shot.
Yeah, I know that's what.
Oh, were you trying not to swear in front of me?
I don't give a shit.
No, because that would be ridiculous.
I was for...
I'd check the date.
See, on this day, if we try not to swear, it's like we give one thing up and I just swear.
What's tomorrow?
Pancake day.
Pancake day?
Is this every week?
No, once a year.
I'm not making pancakes every week.
Biryak, is there room in my diet to have pancakes every week?
Do you regularly eat eggs?
In what context?
Scrambled, deviled, poached.
Oh, I don't have time to cook them.
Do they eat them raw?
Are you eating raw eggs?
This is easier.
She just takes a shot glass, fill up with an egg, just...
Yeah, well, I mean, I gotta chew it, because you know, the shell.
Sometimes we're busy on the road, so we just crack eggs in our mouth.
It's not that weird.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, stop, scrap.
That's not what she said.
She said sometimes I have to chew it because of the shell, which means she's eaten a whole thing.
The entirety of the egg raw.
Well, I see sometimes at the Burry Mining Company, like downstairs in the gym, there's like, there's a company gym and some of the fellas that go there.
I see them drinking eggs out of cups.
Yeah, but not with the shell.
Oh, no, but that's...
It's a contained snack.
I would assume that's a personal preference.
Also, you have a very high risk of catching salmonella doing that.
You do know that.
It's an egg. It's not a fish.
Sure.
They should hire me at this comedy club.
It was a joke, guys. I wanted to see how far it could go.
I worried about your health is the crux of that.
I know, and it's very sweet, but I very rarely taste things that, you know, have the texture of raw egg.
So do you cook eggs? You do just not eat eggs.
I just don't eat eggs. Can't be bothered.
You are a loud pancake.
Oh, yeah.
You answer your question.
Radicals.
All right.
Uh, space god.
Hello.
If I look at my phone, do I see a signal?
You do, yes.
All right. I'm going to give this a shot.
Rip the bandaid off.
Any last minute objections?
I mean, should you be the one to talk to Tommy?
I guess the one who has the credits we won from the race.
Correct?
Don't say that.
From our business opportunity.
I guess currently are steward of our dividends.
And we are going to route these dividends directly to our business.
Yes, our constituent.
So was 90,000 was 90 the amount you agreed on?
Or was that fully just?
We agreed to forwarding the whole about minus 10 units, which would leave them 90 units.
If I remember correctly.
Scarlet Moon, remembering correctly.
I heard race.
I heard nothing else after that.
Space God, am I remembering correctly?
You are.
The original deal was you take 10, you give 90.
Which would make sense because that way it's an even two units per board member.
Correct.
Okay. So I should try to send it.
Well, do we want to let Azam do the talking because our business partner knows Azam and then when it comes time to the digits we just hand it over to you?
First off, let's just see if we can transfer the money at all.
We should try to call just to see I am curious about why we can't reach anybody on or off saga.
So maybe let's try.
We can reach people off of saga just fine.
It's on soccer and saga people can't reach us.
Why don't we try now that we're here just in case places like this?
They usually have a business office, you know, you can rent out.
Maybe have more of a hard-wired connection.
A business office and a comedy club?
No, it's like hotels, you know, like God and computer cafes.
Azam is right. There are normally there are normally for people who have like travel space before, which I think is like theory.
I can't think you've you travel in a lot off planet.
There are normally like cubicles that you can get to get just like a slightly better connection.
And there are things called by callers which are like almost like VR things where you can like call someone else and like appear in their room.
But it's a very rare thing. A lot of places don't have that.
I will walk up to someone and try to like dust off.
Hi, sorry. Do you have a do you have a business office?
You walk up to a like yellow snake humanoid at the bar and they're cleaning the glass.
They turn around and they're like, oh, hello. What was what was that?
Oh, a business office or like somewhere I could wire in.
Yes, of course. That's no trouble. I can get you set up in one of those.
The rates are by the hour, but when you go in, it'll register your credit stick.
You can have booth number three. How much for our by the way, it's it's three credits for an oh, that's fine.
I'll do that. That's that's not a problem.
Okay, we're gonna miss the comedy show if we go. No, this is a open mic rolling night.
So you'll have loads of people on. Don't you worry. I am gonna sit here and watch the show.
So go watch you go out. Can I watch all I'm gonna do is you guys got it.
You know, without. Okay. Yeah.
What's the comedy show? I go in hook up and the three you go in to the.
To the place. This is on. I can theory. I call going into the business office.
I think so. Yeah, sure.
So do you want to try maybe at least then sure just on the off chance.
So is I need to in the call. Yeah, so this one is based on a like Wi-Fi connection now.
So after you plug in the numbers, it does this two times.
And then does another time and keeps ringing.
What the fuck are you? Are you on?
You were honest. No, no, we're playing on giving it to you through wire.
Fucking ran. You could have done that to on on the planet.
What the fuck is wrong with you? Wasn't my decision. Okay. I was very.
I was it was bad. All right. We had void on our backs.
I wouldn't screw you over and they and then call you to what glowed about it. Come on.
It's all right, mate. We've got just.
All 90. Yeah, we charged 10 remember.
Oi, we're doing what you asked. We're doing what you agreed upon. Yes, I know it's late for that. My apologies.
We fucking ran because one of us was injured beyond all belief.
Another one of us was trying to run away from fucking void, man void.
Wasn't my decision.
Sure. Yeah, just send the money. Yeah. Yeah, I will. Heads up.
They have video of void does of the four of us because we had to disarm a bomb.
Anyway, we'll probably be off planet from now on, but need anything.
End of a race, mate. It was made so only they could win.
If anyone else got ahead of them, boom. So we disarmed it. So one of us could win.
I told you when it comes to these people, you really do have to ask yourself how far you really go.
And more importantly, do you want to be the kind of people who do go this far?
I'm so sorry. Just by the way, we're... Hi.
This is I didn't I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for us to run off with your money. We're totally going to send it.
She technically won the race.
Oh, right. Okay. Nice. Cool. Yeah. So I'm you're planning on doing whatever you're going to do with the money, which I'm going to send to you totally 100%.
But just curious because some of the people who we ran away from are quite scary.
Will we be safe if we send this to you?
I mean, maybe I don't know. Maybe they'll just want the money back. I'll just give them the money back and then maybe they'll give us some arms and some people because that's what we're here for.
You do not want to be indebted to them. If they make you, if they try and convince you that you owe something to them, they'll use you. Tell me.
Remember, they exist the same reason upper deckers exist to make coin for themselves to fill their pockets with credits. You've either got to serve that or be uneasy allies.
If you're even going to go join up a vote, avoid to begin with.
Well, that was the goal.
You have 90,000 credits now, mate. Have new goals.
I can't speak to what? I can't speak to you and your safety. I don't know what's going to happen there.
Well, fine. I guess you should know that the void was completely unable to talk to anyone or do anything.
What do you mean?
We can't communicate off-planet.
So?
Oh, yeah, no one can, not at the minute.
And do you know why?
A couple of satellites fell into the atmosphere and, yeah, it's down. It's happened on a few planets.
And all just at the same time?
Not really, but it's around us now. Yeah, I mean, we're down for a couple days. It's odd, but it's just one of those things that happen to it.
Look, one thing at a time, talk to a friend of mine, Hive, who's been with Void for quite some time.
He'll convince you what's safe about him and what's not.
Uh, all right.
And remember, this is about you, because at the end of the day, if you win this, great, you're going to have to contend with what you've done.
And what that means about what you're going to build afterward.
I'm going to stop them locking us in.
Yeah, but you can't trade one evil for another. If you become indebted to Void, it's not going to be the upper deck that's locking you in anymore, mate.
It's going to be Void.
And then you've got to start this all over again.
Trust me on that, please. I know what I'm talking about. Transfer money.
Yeah, there's, you had to do the small plug-in and there's a...
Before I send it, does it look like there's going to be any issue with sending the money?
No.
Okay.
Before I do, I just say, so, um, we'll be back.
Sorry, again, that we ran off like that.
It was quite rude, but we were quite afraid.
I'm going to send this to you now.
If you could just be on alert, it seems like the Void has filmed the race for nefarious reasons, and we don't want that to become a problem.
So if you could just, you know, maybe keep an eye on things and I send the money out.
Just, you know, the race is quite scary.
And everything that happened afterwards was somehow scarier.
So I would just appreciate it if maybe you just let us know if we should be worried about something.
Yeah, alright. No, sure. I do appreciate it.
Thank you. You, um, you did more than I thought you would, being honest.
So yeah, I'll, uh, I mean, I'll email you or whatever on Texas number and you'll get it when there's internet, I guess.
If I know anything, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna...
Oh, this is my number one priority, but yeah, no, I do appreciate it.
Thank you. That's... that's all.
Alright. Are we good? Are we done?
Go to luck, Tommy.
Yeah, and you might...
Found this dead.
That was exhausting.
Hi. Yeah.
I kind of miss seeing money in my bank account. I know it's only been a few seconds.
But we still have...
We have ten thousand. That's enough to... we can do a lot with that.
You have more, I believe, because I think you sold all of the Viathan's eye goods also for ten thousand.
I thought it was ten, two thousand. We each got five hundred.
Oh, there you go.
Um, well, I mean, we could see a comedy show before we head out.
You probably have some fancy shops up here if you want to go. Making your day.
Um, I think I might actually just head back to the ship and...
I think I'm gonna do what you did, Azam, and I'm gonna go...
I'm gonna go just take some time for myself.
Understand.
Wait, I'm gonna head out of the room.
Uh, and so you head out of the... of the room.
Skies, are there any particular thing you want to do? Are you just hanging out watching a comedy show?
How good is this comedy show?
On stage at the minute, the... the... the vests in the ruffled shirt and jeans that was on stage has left,
and now is a small brown rat, little yoski, but they have like a bunch of gray in hair,
and they are wearing like a smart casual, like a shirt with a tie, but the tie is kind of slightly undone.
The galaxy's so big you can't even make jokes about anything without someone getting defended.
Uh, they are bad. They are, like, actively pricked, like a very bad comedian.
This is bogus, dude.
Yeah, this guy fucking sucks. Do you want to chuck stuff at him?
Yeah, but I don't know if we should do that. We are here to make a back alley deal,
but yeah, I really want to chuck stuff at him.
We can boo. People hackle at comedy clubs, right?
Maybe we could meet him after the show. No, that's too much. That's too much.
It's too much crap.
What happened? What happened to you?
What hasn't happened to me, scrap?
There's the gang back yet.
The gang, like, walk behind you as you look.
This sucks.
This guy is so fucking bad.
Fear is gone for some private time.
Okay. The comedy show isn't good.
It's not great at the minute, no, but this guy sets almost done, so it might get better.
Listening to it for a split second, how bad is that?
Like, it's bad. It's really bad. It's like Netflix special bad.
I mean, this is an open mic night.
Yeah.
At a gas station comedy club.
Yeah.
I can't imagine it's the cream of the crop.
Yeah.
Okay. Well, I'm going to get a shot, and then do we just want to get the hell out of here?
Of apple juice?
Yeah.
You know what? I don't want to know.
Just, you know, give theory some time. I think we could last through one more set.
How bad could it be?
Anyone here want to go up on the mic? Tell a couple of jokes?
I don't know if that's the best idea.
My answer is not no, but I don't think I should.
I kind of think that that would be very good.
Does anyone here have a tight five that they could do?
Like a short?
You're going to lose five?
What is a tight five?
It's like a good five minute set.
I mean, this is not a hard act to follow.
That's true.
I could just go up here and say, that guy, right?
That would be pretty funny.
Yeah. I think it would be better than this.
Go on his arm. I dare you to go on stage.
I dare you to do a comedy, like I dare you to do a comedy on stage today.
You dare me to go?
I thought, I'm so hard, no matter what.
Sky is off to get her shot and as soon as she gets it, she's already in line.
The humanoid snake person is like, okay, and then takes your name and writes it down.
It's like, you'll be up after the guy who's after this. But yes, I got your name.
Is it ex-guy worse or better?
You wait a little bit, this guy leaves and then a little gray, big head, classic like UFO 1950s alien.
He's wearing nothing but like a really long t-shirt with like a little like palm tree on it or something.
Hey guys, how's it going?
And does a pretty good set.
I kind of want to know, does a Xamna with species this? Can I roll culture?
Yeah, you can roll culture.
Yeah, 22.
They're called gray, big bug eyes and big old gray head.
Again, very classic UFOs as we in the current day out like in the meta have thought of aliens.
Oh, hey there guys. How's it going? Nice to see you here at the Helium.
I'm not going to do a tight fight for you, but yes, it goes on and it is pretty good.
Skye did get in line.
Is there a stool?
For fuck's sake, there's a stool. Yeah.
I'm going to, what we're going to do is as this person is on and doing their fight, I'm going to give you time to prepare.
Don't eat it.
As we cut on over to Theriac.
You take the walk back to the patchwork. Can you give me a perception check?
Me?
Yep.
That's only a 15.
You get inside of the patchwork and it seems fine.
The ramp that leads everyone onto the patchwork is down like already open as you walk toward the patchwork.
Theriac's going to be very sus about that.
Can I just enter the ship?
Yeah, you just, yeah, you can just enter the ship.
As you step foot on, you hear a little whirring in another room and then you see the little machine that raised up off out of the ground as the patchwork landed and the one that Scrap spoke to comes out of the side room.
Hi, I've refuelled the ship. I'll leave you a note now.
Thank you. Thank you for all you do.
You are now alone in the ship?
Okay, we'll close the door.
The sort of loading ramp.
Turn off all the lights once they're back in their room.
We'll grab some water, matches, and some dirt from a specimen that they have with them.
So it's dirt at the bottom.
Pour some water sort of in a little drop.
Tear off a piece of paper and then light it on fire and then blow a little bit onto the sort of open space at the top of this diamond.
Then sort of blend all of the bits together.
Create sort of this like steaming wet mud basically.
And then we'll recite a small prayer.
And then open up the Almanac, which is the holy text of photo.
Trying to search for some sort of guidance or just something to help ease their mind in the situation that they find themselves in.
When Theriac thinks of this moment, these four elements combining, what is it that they meditate on?
What is the place that they go to?
As they are sort of performing this elemental ritual,
Theriac is very aware that they feel out of balance.
If they were to sort of describe themselves in this moment, they feel very somewhere between vapor and plasma.
Something both sort of absent and incredibly intense in how they are reacting to the stress that they are currently under.
And are hoping to find balance in the liquid and solid.
There's a memory that you rebirthed in this slightly turbulent time.
It's one that you thought upon in your last most turbulent just before you left.
Raxxel, you met with a member of the Great Tree, the photo church.
You shared some very heated words with one another as you continued to push progressive thoughts of how the universe should work.
And they continued to bite back with their more regressive ideals.
And you think about how you felt after that brief interaction, because that interaction was the last that you had on your planet before you got onto the bifrost and left.
That memory being so strong and sort of pivotal to why Theriac left Raxxel sort of reverberates and gives them a sort of sense of like vindication that what they're doing is actually the right thing.
And that despite the naysayers, whether they're from Raxxel or Wildtimes or the other conservation groups or anyone else, that that drive that they have is volitified.
And that it's not something to be necessarily ashamed of in the way that they feel right now, that vapor and plasma exist fully in our cosmos.
And without plasma or vapors, there is no, they are like the basis upon which, you know, things like liquids and solids are able to become material as opposed to simply theoretical.
A thought pops into your mind a passage from the Almanac. It's one that is referred to quite often. The passage talks about the cultivator, the being or person who sowed the seeds of hope to the galaxy.
They are one of the forefronts of the photo religion. As they as they travel, they talked about this one place, this planet or collection cluster called Cetivum, this one perfect area.
The image of the cultivator sort of flashes in their mind of this, based on the description, very arthropod like being with a blend of a sickle and like a like a like a watering can with with the bottom sort of cheap like a spade in their grasp.
And then standing on this, this perfect little biosphere that's rich with life and balance and even though it's organic, it shines like some like something stellar and that name of Cetivum rings in their mind.
Cetivum. What's that? And we'll look through the book for references to Cetivum, wondering like, is that a is that a real place? Is that somewhere I could go?
And we'll cross reference with other other intergalactic atlases and historical texts and kind of spends the rest of their time trying to discover more of that.
Can you give me a religious check?
Would you say that's mysticism?
Yeah, let's go for it.
That's a sex.
There's there's there's so many different interpretations of it. There are things which yes, it is a real tangible place. Other people believe it's a feeling is a thing to strive toward.
It's a goal to seek out. And even when it is tangible, is this thing is again, is it a cluster? Is it a galaxy? It is a is it is it is it a planet? Is it a part of a planet like a specific place?
I'm asked for intelligence. You're doing a lot like your discussions of and thoughts about the thing is very interesting. So I do want to give you another some other.
Is it raw intelligence?
Yes.
I got in that one.
Almost like an intrusive thought pops in to your mind. You think of wild times, you think of what you're doing, you think of leaving your home, you think of being the void being chased all this.
Is it worth it? Doesn't mean anything.
This almost external thought halts theory entirely in their rapid thought process.
As they were like flipping through a textbook, they like fully just stop.
And like have to like rest their hands down and they think on that thought is it worth it.
There is this sort of looming sense of dread and fatalism that washes over them.
And then their eyes light up.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
I know why it struck me in this moment. It's so obvious.
I'm creating sativa. What was I thinking?
Wild Times is sativa.
I have to go back. It must be perfect.
And will put away the religious texts and historical references and again return to their own notes and their own data sets and documentation and again stew in how to improve this process.
How to continue maintaining and emboldening the facility which they have spent so much of their time driven towards.
And in the same way that they have read stories of the cultivator and how she struggled to continue to till the fields on these different planets until they could finally begin to grow life.
This field has to continue to be sown with seeds. It has to continue to be re fertilized or else nothing will grow if there is not more ever put into it.
Despite all of the erosion and weather and the disasters that theory I can still build this Eden with pure determinism.
As you think on these thoughts and these things.
We move back pulled toward the rest of the patchwork. This is crew.
Completely forgot about this was going to move on to a different thing. Do y'all have a type five for me?
Well that was a hard act to follow.
Oh you know just religiously driven mad scientist are coming up. It's fine.
That was like kind of beautiful. I'll still go up. Am I going up?
Yeah you're going up. Go do your type five.
I have everybody doing it. A room full of people dying on the inside. Same.
So I got into stand up comedy because I got a lot of free time on my hand. I recently just went through kind of a breakup.
You know I needed some space.
I usually there's like a you know that joke usually doesn't do too well. People say it's a little too out of this world.
Sorry it took me so long to get on the stage. We got it. We got our ship parked outside but I couldn't find the parking meteor.
The parking meteor.
There we go. Thank you everyone.
You've been a great audience. People clapping. People cheering. It's very good.
Is there anything anyone would like to do before they get back to the ship?
No. You'll get onto the ship. As everyone sits down and sets up for the flight ahead.
As I'm you head back to the sleeping quarters. Clean up some bowls so they don't go flying mid-flight.
Things like that. As you pick up the salad bowls you notice Iegs things have been moved.
And when you inspect further so have yours and so has Skye's.
And you notice there's a lot of things missing. And one of the things is the crystal is gone.
And we're going to leave it there today. No! No!
Hi there beautiful wonderful souls thank you so much for listening to the Adam Lurse.
A few quick thank yous before I'm going to shout out the players. Our music today was provided by Alexander Nakaranda under their free use license.
Our sound scapes were by Michael Guelphie again under their fair use license. You should visit both their patrons because our show would not be what it is without them.
We have also got a brand new little music license from our art list. I don't think we need to shout them out but we've got a fucking little license from them.
So all of our stuff. So delicious and it sounds so good.
Thank you to our hosts. Welcome in. If you want to listen to the full version of this episode head on over to their YouTube where you can find unedited Adam Lurse and all the other beautiful shows that they have.
We would not be here without them. I love those boys.
Thank you so much. Our players today. Momo O'Brien playing Sky, Suba Dillon playing Aig Nornalie who is Web of Fields on socials, who plays Azam,
Andre Riviera Art who plays our wonderful little garlic. Our garlic who's going on like a religious zealot arc which is so very exciting.
And me Matthew Egberg. Captain Crayol on all things who did all the voices for the Pew Pews. Thank you so much for listening.
I appreciate you all so much. I hope you've had a beautiful wonderful time and the next time we fly through the Atom of Sea.
I hope you'll be there to fly with us.
I'm a jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump, I jump.
Oh wait, this just, you can just, there's like whole places where it's like, oh here's a tire field. Like the big tire fires. There's not door fires, is it? That's just burning wood.
Matt, did you walk into a boot camp?
Matt, what do you do for fun when you're not here?