Hello listeners as you'll notice this is an extra
little episode off of our regular schedule and
As such we just wanted to take a moment and thank
you all for listening to trash planet This podcast
has grown so much faster than I thought it would
And I really appreciate that. I appreciate that
we have so many regular listeners. We have people
who love our characters and love our world. I
think we've really hit on something that I thought
that just our little group was interested in.
You know, the sort of dirty sci -fi actual play.
We went into it not knowing that there was a
market for it really. We were just kind of doing
it for ourselves because it was fun. Yeah, now
we've been doing it for five months five months.
Yeah this will be our fifth month doing it and
Man, we still have quite a bit to go as well.
I'm excited to see or I'm excited to show everyone
what what's about to happen At five months We
should be developing a deeper range of emotions.
We should be able to track from side to side.
That's a cognitive skill And we should be able
to get out of reach objects. Just wanted to put
that out there. Do we have object permanence
yet? I was about to ask the same thing. That's
a really good point. But we are beginning to
babble, coupled with frustration. I think we've
been arguably babbling from the beginning. Thank
you so much. I can't express how much joy this
has given me and how much fun I have every time
we work on it. So, hell yeah. Thank you for listening.
Yeah, and what's crazy is there are a good number
of people that we just don't know or who aren't
like friends of friends who are also listening
to this. Like, we have listeners from outside
the United States. Shout out Dusseldorf. Shout
out Dusseldorf! What's up? We're obsessed with
you. We don't know who you are. Yeah, not the
only one. I don't want to call out all of the
country specifically, but we have a handful of
listeners from Spain and Hong Kong, and of course
from Germany, a couple others. And yeah, I would
love to know how you found out about us. how
you're enjoying the podcast. I'd love to hear
from you. Actually, we have an email address.
It's hypergallant at gmail .com. So if you want
to tell us a little bit about yourself, we would
love to hear from you. I would like to know,
are you listening to this podcast in the car?
Are you listening to this podcast while you're
drawing? I would also really like to thank our
musicians that we use. The music that we have
on our show, I think Nihar does this. Amazing
job of incorporating the music into our story.
Thank you And we really do try to use Ohio punk
bands So special shout out to the drin the surfs
and perverts again for music that we use in almost
every episode Yeah, they give it to us for free
to use so that's super cool of them. Yes Yeah,
and it gives us such a unique sound in my opinion
Like a lot of the big moments are really made
by the music that backs them. Yes I really love
I picked brood in the bathroom and no one cared.
Everyone was like, oh, OK. And now, to me, that's
the anthem. I hear brood in the bathroom. I go,
fuck yeah. Definitely. Absolutely. I was literally
hanging out with my cousin in the lake last weekend
and just being brood. Brood in the bathroom.
Brood. Yeah, and on top of that, of course, as
an actual play, we would like to thank Mork and
Davey, Malcolm Craig, and Gregor Hutton, who
wrote A -State Second Edition, which is our primary
game. And one thing the listeners may not know
is we playtested a handful of games before going
into this. Some were bad. Some were very bad.
We don't want to call out specifically the games
we didn't like, but there was just something
really magical. The way this game flowed so smoothly
with all of our personalities and what we wanted
to do like we knew this was the one and it has
proven true the entire time we've been playing.
Yeah, and it was really important to me to build
a game that talked about community and that was
interested in community and wasn't just a roving
band of maniacs who are just killing orcs or
whatever, you know? And so A -State lets you
build something really special with all of our
NPCs and how the world plays out without us,
you know? It's really cool. It's a really cool
system that I appreciate playing all the time.
My favorite aspect of it is that you have so
much of an opportunity to really dive in. into
characters and scene work and being able to do
flashbacks and things like that to explain what's
going on. That's such a cool mechanic that's
not super common. Yes. I also really love the
way that the game sort of represents characters
other than the players making progress towards
their own goals and things like that. Whether
it's racing clocks in a mission or just all of
the faction things going on in the background,
I think that makes the world feel a lot more
alive and less static. Yeah, if you do want to
check out the game, the default setting is not
quite as funny as Trash Planet, but I do recommend
it. Astate is a great game that you should definitely
check out if you're into RPGs. Yes. Also, special
shout out to Rabbit and his custom juice deck
that he's built. That's what we use for all of
our juice stuff, and it's really a fun... tool
to play with. It is a laminated tarot deck. Like
we use a physical deck for this. Drawing cards,
baby. Believe in the heart of the cards. Yes!
The heart of the cards! In my dream someday I
would love to do, I would love to illustrate
a full beautiful juice deck. So that is, I'm
putting that into the universe. And one last
thing before we get back to the episode, we would
really love if you guys could leave a review,
especially on Apple podcasts. It really helps
for discoverability. And, you know, it's a good
way for us to hear your feedback and what you
like about the show, and it energizes us to keep
going. So if you could do that, or maybe, I don't
know, maybe you set up a multi -level marketing
scheme where you... You get three friends to
listen to the show and they get three friends
to listen to the show. Have some ambition, Devin.
They get five friends to listen to the show and
then their five friends get five friends to listen.
I spoke too soon. My goals are not as lofty as
they should have been. So yeah, we just wanted
to give a quick thank you and before we return
to our episode, a quick note that we will still
be on our normal bi -weekly schedule. So next
week we will have another episode, but then after
that it will be once every two weeks once again.
And so, cut to Trash Planet. Downtime for the
rest of our friends here at the scream and slice
reacting to Lottie's situation Tank never responded.
I think we cut back to that moment where you
never heard from him. It's the rest of the day
What are we up to gang who would like to go first?
I? Mean I need to I need to heal so I'm happy
to go I guess I think this can be like As, cause
right now it's just Lottie and Connie talking
in hushed tones, um, while the restaurant is
operating. You hear the little screams of pizza
in the oven, like, ah, like as the moisture leaves.
We don't talk about that enough. We do sell,
or we serve screaming pizza, um, cause it's the
moisture leaving in the oven and it's good. Ella,
what are you up to? You're off on your own. It
sounds like. Well, I'm not on my own. I'm just
upstairs, you know, just nursing my ego and my
head. And I'd like to try to heal some of my
harm. So I'm going to try and get Lottie to return
the favor of me helping her earlier. All right.
You pad downstairs to see Connie and Lottie in
animated discussion. They're talking about Lottie
looks kind of shaken up, you know. What's going
on, y 'all? We got some bad news. Did somebody
die? Not that bad. It's OK, Hanna. OK. You know
those Johnny Law guys we fought? Yeah, I won't
forget Johnny Law, no. They caught up to me.
Are you okay? I am. I am, but they forced some
information out of me. They know we have that
disc that they handed off. Oh, fuck. So we need
to get whatever's off that disc and probably,
if I had to guess, destroy the disc. Seems like
a logical solution to me. We just need to get
to the library, right? Oh, fuck that. Halbert
is still there. She's whisking something. She's
like, fuck them. You can't trust them. Go to
the library? What's this about? Oh, we just need
to get some information. We're told the library
is where we can... They're bastards. Don't...
No, I'm serious about this. Well, this is a thing
I've never heard. What? Why? Because fuck you.
That's why. That's not a very convincing argument,
Halvard. Okay, but I don't need to tell you about
my life, okay? So I just need to tell you, like,
I'm just warning you, like, if I know something
that you don't know and, like, they will sell
you down the river without a thought. That's
what I'm telling you. Who is they, Halbert? The
library. The library north of the canyon, right?
Right, I thought it was a place. It's a place,
yeah. It's staffed. Yeah, and there's people
who work. I'm sorry, I forget that your mind
is so beautiful. Was was that a compliment um,
she pats you on the shoulder and she's just like
sweetie I Don't worry about it. I love you so
much. Um, don't go there. They're bad people.
That's all I'm saying Well, the problem, Halbert,
is we've got this disc we need to read. Johnny
Law wants it, right? Mm -hmm. So give it to him.
Sell it to him. Fuck it. You trust Johnny Law?
No, but they got money. I don't know if we can
do that without Tank here. Where is this? Where
is this disc? Tank has it. We all have a collective
thought bubble of like what tank is doing right
now Let's go around quickly and say what we imagine
tank to be doing in his moment of absence Well,
we know he's a triad. Yeah, but just a crayon
drawing briefly a visual joke of imagining tank
doing tick ball. What's it look like? And was
envisioning tank like just like happily kind
of like stroll like running along and like he's
like throwing the ball but like they just like
a freeze frame and like a Like a little Mario
-sike pose. We cut over to Halberd's crayon drawing
and it's Tank ripping the limbs off of someone
and big crayon blood is coming out and she's
like, ah, my beautiful boy. Lottie's just imagining
normal Tank tic -poll drills that she's seen
him do, but she's picturing the nurse's outfit.
Yeah, Connie is a tickball fan and is a Fresco
fuzz fan and seeing his friend like thinking
about his friend as the goalie in his head tank
just like intercepts someone by just jumping
inhumanly high. Beautiful. So much respect for
his friend. Okay, you came down here to get healed,
right? Yeah, we could do that. Lottie, I know
you know some things about fixing people. My
head is killing me since Johnny Law hit it before.
I mean, I mean, you probably have a little bit
of a concussion. Could you help me with that?
The crayon tank starts floating. Concussion,
concussion. Well, unfortunately, Tank's not here
to help with that right now. I know he has this
great song and everything. Yeah. Sadly, I don't
know it by heart, so I can't help you that way.
If only we knew! That's okay. I mean, I don't
expect you to know all of Tank's magic. Honestly,
I don't know any of Tank's magic, but that's
alright. I've got useful things up in the greenhouse
we can go try. Okay. You might be a little loopy
for the rest of the day, but it won't hurt anymore.
I'll take it. Give me that Kara roll. Four. That's
one tick. What do you give Enla that heals her
a little bit? Nothing too special. We just hang
out in the greenhouse and smoke lunch and keep
our mind off it. That sounds like my favorite
kind of gardening. Incredible brief cutaway to
the two of you just smoking big doinks and having
a beautiful time. Great job. While the two of
them are doing their healing thing, I'm up in
my tent with the big saunovsh double barrel that
I have. It's right next to your telescope. You've
got them leaned up next to each other and like
for a minute you see that visual when you open
your tent and you're like, hmm. You could put
the telescope on the saunovsh. My god! I love
the idea of a children's kaleidoscope being a
scope for a kaleidoscope. But I think I'm like...
Just in preparation for what's to come because
I, you know, Johnny Law's after us now. There's
just a quick shot of me loading up like an empty
shell with metal shavings and stuff. Like, to
load it to the gun later. Because, I mean, we
don't have, we don't have like buckshot. So we
just have to make do. Interesting. Okay, I like
it. Lottie, what's your second action going to
be? Originally it was going to be the big tomato,
but I feel like Lottie would have shifted to
where it's something that more immediately helpful
against the Johnny Law situation. I guess right
now she feels kind of extra threatened because
there's both Johnny Law and Dort involved. You
look up at the poster, I think you're smoking
with Enla, and we see you look over at your Grinders
poster on the wall. This was that early meeting,
hand drawn, pretty old, pretty yellow, pretty
beat up. And you just have that moment of thinking
about how it used to be when it was just a bunch
of scrappy kids up against unimaginable odds.
And then you just have real deep sadness and
bitterness at how it all turned out. Just remembering
all that history there. How does that sit with
you in this moment? So Lottie's looking up at
that poster, thinking about when she was younger
and kind of participating in the kind of labor
revolts with the Grinders, thinking about conflicts
with Johnny Law, hearing about people getting
potentially killed by Dort. And she kind of just
turns to Enla and says, you know, Enla, these
are some really bad people we're getting caught
up with. Yeah? What do you mean? Well, and a
lot of gestures up at that poster. Johnny Law
especially, but probably Dort too. They're the
people that we stood against way back then, right
before the big drop. That's right, you were part
of the Grinders. That'd be kind of crazy time.
Yeah, it was a different, different time, different,
different me, really. But I think we're gonna
need their help again. The Grinders? They're
the only ones around here that have fought them
to my knowledge. I mean, I don't know much about
them, really, but all I know is about the Pink
Drop. Yeah, they kinda got pretty reclusive afterwards,
didn't they? That's part of why I'm not with
them anymore, but they've got muscle, they've
got guns, and they really do not like Dort nor
Johnny Law. Sounds like they could be our friends.
When Enla says, sounds like they could be our
friends. Lottie like the camera kind of cuts
like it's on your face and then we cut to this
scene many years ago it's blurry in your memory
it's like amber haze with gun smoke and chemical
weapons and like the ground was frothing in a
way you've never seen before or since something
about the juice agitation it was hit by like
sonic weapons the ground was moving like water
and people were screaming and you had headphones
on because you knew they were using sonic weaponry
against you and you were running and you were
running and it was like you were running through
a nightmare that you were just in place and you
looked up overhead and you saw the factory you
saw endless arcane labyrinthine twisted metal
and they were firing at you from orbit and people
were dying and people were melting and the ground
was loose and your blood was rushing and then
you sprinted into the factory and you breathed
and it was cold and it was dark and you were
alive and we cut back and you look at Enla and
her like her wide hopeful face maybe they'll
be our friends when you think about what friendship
really means in moments like that who is gonna
have your back when they are firing down on you
again Don't know that they'll be our friends
and I don't know that they're the type to watch
anyone's back but They've got a bone to pick
and maybe maybe we can use that in our favor
Do you guys have trust between you? Because if
you don't you do now Yeah, I think both of you
take off one stress for that and Establish trust.
How are we all doing on stress at this point
three? Connie is chilling. He's a loose goose.
Yeah, Lottie Trust, at least as far as I have
in here, is Tank and Enla. And now I trust everybody
in the group, Tank, Connie, and Lottie. Yeah,
we haven't used trust in a minute. Well, trust
has literally saved me from trauma. That is true.
That is true. We love our friends. Alright, and
the camera pulls away. Actually, as it pulls
back, we see the top of the greenhouse. Like,
it's so fucking hotboxed in here. Like, it's
just greasy smoke just let you look like you're
inside of an engine or something. I don't know.
Uh, Connie, what are you gonna do with your last
downtime action? We've been sort of dealing off
and on with this horrible shrill sound that we
figured out last time I investigated it that
it was ultra wave radio and it was coming from
underground. So I think I'm gonna try and put
a stop to whoever is doing that. I mean, I've
basically zeroed in on the location that it's
happening. So I think I'm just gonna try to go
there and figure it out and get them to stop.
Yeah, would you take anyone with you? You could
take PCs, you could take NPCs, you could take
both. So no, I'm gonna go alone. Okay. Where
are we at on the progress on that clock? It's
like three out of four. I think you're almost
there. Alright, why don't you give me a role
for the clock? Like, how are you going to progress
your quest? My way of doing this, I think, at
the moment is probably examining, right? Yeah.
Yeah, trying to figure out who and why. So. Yeah,
well, Petra gave you a little handheld radio
rig. Yeah. So as I think we see you, is this
nighttime again when you're heading out for this?
Or what time of day would you do this? I think
probably nighttime. Yeah. All right. As you're
heading out with your radio, you see Petra leaving
and Janouche coming in. So we have that moment.
If you wanted to talk to him, you could. Can't
even look at that man right now. Janouche kind
of gives you a shifty look, but does not say
anything. I say absolutely nothing. I'm not.
I school. All right, so you've got your little
handheld radio. It's not random anymore. It's
a nice, clear night. You're walking around in
sweltering heat. You pull out the antenna. You
start walking. As you are walking, you know the
signal's underground and you find your way to
the entrance of a skimmer tunnel. And I think
it would make sense you would have brought...
Lotties like skimmer pass, you know, like you
would know about that So you've got that around
your neck you wave it at the guy they wave you
on through and so then it's just you alone in
the dark Do you have anything for illumination
or you're in the tunnels? You know, what do you
what did you do knowing you'd be underground?
I? Assume I had a flashlight or something. Yeah,
you know something simple some lamp for illumination.
Okay. Yeah, what's it look like? I think it's
one of those like little camping lamps, not like
a gas lamp, but you know, like one of those LED
lamps that are kind of plastic and you just sort
of hold them with the one metal hook. Oh, yeah,
okay. It blinks off and on sometimes. It's not
that great, but you know, you got it. What color
is the light? I think it's a white light, but
it can be adjusted to be red because that's what
camping lamps are like. Fair. All right, so you're
walking around in the tunnels. You're hearing
things scuffling in the dark. You are, you know,
there's fox fingers down here. You know, there's
like worms and, you know, your classic sci -fi
planet, big fucking worm baby. But you're walking
alone in the darkness and the signal is getting
stronger. And I'm picturing it kind of like a
Geiger counter where as you are turning down
corridors, it's just getting a little bit clearer
and clearer every time. At first it's static
and then Every so often a voice is cutting through
and you hear the same message repeating over
and over again and the first few times You just
catch a few words until it's building and it's
building and eventually the message that you
get Sounds like a kid. I mean this kid is saying
ULDX 30 um emergency um I'm sorry net control.
I don't know any of the right protocol. I'm sorry
ULDX net 30 emergency I'm call sign Rambo I'm
requesting assistance my uncle needs help he's
in a blue tent with a heart on it I don't know
what's wrong with him but he needs help um breaker
UL DX breaker UL DX this is call sign Rambo on
breaker UL DX 30 and it's like that just on loop
And you're walking closer and closer. What are
you thinking as you're hearing this? I think
I pick up the pace because this is definitely
something Like this is something weird. This
is not what I was expecting in the slightest
But it's obviously someone who needs help and
I'm the only one who can seemingly find them
So yeah as you're walking you realize you've
been hearing this for days Like this real sound
has been going on for if not days than at least
a week or two And so you are rounding tunnels.
You're kind of in the bad part of the tunnels
where some of them are crumbled and caved in.
And I know you have that innate sense of direction,
right? And that's coming in handy here because
a lot of other people would have panicked by
now because you are truly just like walking around,
oh, that end, all right, right here, left here,
you know? And the signal is getting stronger
and clearer. This isn't even a proper tunnel
anymore. It's sort of half caved in. It's short.
It's jagged metal and sand and gravel. big old
stuff just smash into the earth, and you see
an opening that's barely large enough for you
to fit through. So you have to get on your hands
and knees, throw your radio gear in front of
you, and then just army crawl through. And when
you get on the other side, you start seeing huge
shapes in the dark. You see something wide and
flat. It sparkles in the glint of your light.
You see a huge cylinder. You see wires exploding
out of it. This is a satellite. This is a downed
satellite. And you see that part of it is jacked
up to what looks like a homemade something or
other. You see parts and wires and, you know,
generators. Something is chugging with an engine
and you don't hear, like you're hearing the message
from your radio, but it's not broadcasting out
loud. Like it doesn't need to be. Here, it is
almost perfectly clear as you are approaching
this downed satellite, which is a miracle in
itself. You've never seen an intact satellite
before. It's huge. It's the size of several cars
in length. And it strikes you, this is a work
of incredible skill to have retrofitted a downed
communication satellite that is smashed and under
the earth. This must have been an incredible
effort. Yeah, you're in this cave. Um, it's quiet
except for your radio. You hear your heart in
your throat. What do you do? I gotta look around
for people because is this thing just broadcasting
a recorded message? Yeah Okay, so you're kind
of crawling hands and foot you're ducking under
Big jagged metal in the dark and you see a little
tin cup on the ground and you see you know a
tarp and you see some Bits and pieces you see
popsicle sticks and you see you know old rotted
food just sort of like wedged into the earth
somebody's been living down here and then you
move your light and eyes flash in the dark and
you see a kid um maybe nine or ten he is pressed
up against the wall of the place he's trying
to be small he's trying to be dark he's covered
in junk and blankets he's trying to remain unnoticed
a kid what are you what are you doing here leave
me alone No, I - I came to help. I - You said
something about your uncle? Yeah, but I need
medical. I need like - Like I know - I know there's
spaceships up there. They - They're - I mean,
I can help as much as I can. I don't know if
any of the spaceships are gonna come down for
us. Come on, let's get you out of here. This
is - this is unsafe. Let's get you and - I look
around for the uncle. Like, let's get you and
your uncle out of here. He's not here. I couldn't
move him. He looks at you. He's pretty scared.
Do you want to roll something here? Yeah. I think
care is the right one. Yeah. I'm going to push
myself. I don't want to fail this. Yeah. Well,
also, this could be technically a unplanned mission.
So you do have a load of two and you do have
flashbacks, but they cost an extra stress. So,
you know, I do have I can use a survival kit.
Right. Yeah, you actually could yeah. Yeah I'm
gonna spend a load to have a survival kit to
have like easy access to food and drink for this
child or some something to Persuade. Yeah. Okay.
Um add plus one dice to your roll. Okay Don't
fuck me What do you pull out of your backpack
or whatever, you know, what do you offer from
the survival gear I probably have something from
the screaming slice itself. Probably like a little
like mushroom jerky. Ooh, I like that. Like a
dried mushroom thing. My brain just immediately
went to Tank's fucking bone powder. Hell no.
No. First of all, that's Tank's. Okay, so you're
holding out mushroom jerky. His eyes dart from
the food up to you and then back to the food.
Looks like he's been down here a minute. Snashes
it out of your hand, starts eating it. Come on,
take me to your uncle. Let's get you out of here.
And then we can figure out this. I mean, you
engineered an ultra wave radio, it seems like.
Was that you? Was that your uncle? Yeah, that
was me. Speaking with his mouth full, super chewy.
Yeah, I, um, because I would, because my uncle
always said that they just didn't know we were
here, you know, because they could help if they
knew, but nobody knew how to reach him. Um, Look,
I can, I can get your uncle, we'll get you above
the surface, at least, and, you know, to a little
sanctuary. You're starving down here. This isn't
helping anyone. We can find someone who can help
you. Kind of looks at you. Mostly what you see
in this kid is exhaustion. Like, you are convincing.
You did give him food, but mostly he is tired
and he's been trying for a long time. And so
he slowly nods. Let's get this turned off. We
have a radio station where I live. We can use
that next time. Do you have radio? Yes. I'll
make sure that you get to use it. Okay. Okay.
And you see him run up and he's... flipping buttons,
moving stuff around. There's a huge lever. My
favorite thing, a big sci -fi lever. Ka -chunk.
And then it's the two of you back out through
the tunnels. He's really good at navigating down
here. He's been down here a minute. You get a
better look at him out in the open. T -shirt
just hanging out, long hair, kind of matted.
And he knows where the exits are. Like, he's
kind of leading you out. And he's like, so the
St. Selena said that They don't come to the long
waits anymore for safety. But if we can get him
there, that would be okay. Right? Like we'll
get him there. Okay. Okay. And so do you talk
at all as you're going through the tunnels or
you're just hustling out of there? Um, I think
I am talking to him mainly just to make this,
this child more comfortable. Yeah. So what's
your name? Rambo Rambo. He says convincingly.
Rainbow's a nice name. I'm sad that we had to
meet in these circumstances, but how long have
you been down here? Um, I was just like, like,
like he's always like kind of sick, but like,
ah, it was, I just, he stopped waking up a while
back. And, um, so it's been like, I think like
a couple of weeks. But, like, if I leave, then,
like, if the satellite goes off, then I won't
know, you know? So, like, I just had to, like,
stay and make sure it was going. Yes, you did
good. You did the right thing. But now we can
do more. So let's just get your uncle. Let's
get out of here. I know some people who can take
a look at him. All right. So we are hustling.
We're up through the tunnels and he's saying,
OK, OK, this way. And you are headed into the
Long Waits, which is a place I don't think you've
ever been before. So Bugtown is pretty well to
do. Like it's on the solid side of not very wealthy.
The Long Waits is rough. The Long Waits is tense
and it's people sleeping in the open. The Long
Waits is where you go when you have nowhere else.
You do feel that kind of like, hmm, like just
looking out at a sea of shapes in the dark. After
Connie was expelled from his temple and his religion.
Which was basically his livelihood at the time.
I think he would have been in a place similar
to this, if not the long wait specifically. Like,
you know, he was thrown out onto the streets,
starving, didn't really have any connections
or anything. I feel like he probably went to
the - the screaming slice because there was food
in the food court and just happened to run into
Helbert who took him in at that point, but he's
not foreign to places like the long waits. Like
he, you know, he doesn't feel at home or anything,
but this is a thing he's experienced before.
The briefest of flashbacks to Connie, freshly
out of the temple, heartbroken, starving, walking
around looking for food, and you hear on a street
in the middle of the day, hey, blue head! And
you look over and you see Albert and she's pointing
to her head and she goes, I got a blue head.
And then it cuts out. That's the first time you
ever met Albert. Yeah, that's on Brynn. I love
that. So walking back into the long waits, you
have that moment of thinking you've come pretty
far. Some kind of hurt in your heart that is
good and bad. You are where you are now and you're
ready to walk back in with this kid But he's
moving so easy and free like he is very comfortable
with this. He's dodging around tents Certain
people are turning to watch you guys. You are
an unfamiliar face in this area At least you
hear like low voices. You hear someone's talking
out loud low Rhythmic you hear the drum circle.
There's an eternal drum circle here that never
stops people just drop in and out So right now
the drums are slow and steady as they often are
at night And you finally the kid pulls up to
a tent with a big heart spray -painted on the
side It's half collapsed. You see a heavy body
underneath it plastic tent draped over top Looks
like a man looks like big heavy weighs more than
you isn't moving. What do you do? Well, I'm definitely
going to examine this man. Yeah. To see like
what's going on. Any, you know, if he's hurt
or if he's even alive. You didn't kneel down
next to him. You see vomited like old vomit on
the mouth nearby. Smell so awful. Let's roll.
Fortune roll. Evens he's alive. Single dice.
Yep. Unless you want to put some sauce on it
somehow. I don't think I can. I don't think there's
anything I can do for that. Yeah. Yeah, no. The
kid is keeping his distance, looks at you, waiting.
I draped the plastic tent over the uncle's face
again. And I like, I'll go up to the kid, assuming
that he lets me, I'm gonna hold him close. Yeah.
and While I'm doing this because I am still that
I'm still thinking about what to do here. I'm
gonna contact rung I'm just gonna send him a
little page of like hey, we got a we need a pickup
and Say Rambo we'll get your uncle out of here.
I know someone with you know a big enough sled
to carry him, but I'm sorry your uncle is There's
nothing we or Saint Selena can do for him. He
looks at you, he's crying silently, just big
tears just rolling down. You think he already
knew. You think that he knew a while ago. He
just didn't want it to be true. You're sitting
down next to this body in the dark, kid beside
you, and you wait. And we see like the sun rising
over the horizon. We see Runk eventually pulling
up on their big crazy skimmer, bodies moving
out of the way, allowing them passage to come
and get Rambo's uncle. When Runk does show up,
Connie says, like, let's take him to the food
court. I think I want to give him his last rites.
And the camera pulls up and up and up, and we
see the city of Fresco in all of its beauty and
all of its pain. You see these big blue chips
in the rising sun. We see a lot of people. We
see all these little people and all their little
lives. And the sun's rising on another day. We're
gonna do this again. It's just gonna keep going.