CZM Book Club: Hermetica, by Alan Lea, Part Two

Margaret continues with Hermetica and our protagonist discovers... a clue!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Calzon Media.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Book Club book Club, book Club book Club. Hello, and
welcome to the cools On Media book Club, the only
book club where you don't have to do the reading
because I do the reading for you. I'm your host,
Margaret Kiljoy, and every week I bring new stories or
story adjacent things sometimes, but this time it's stories because
this time, as you probably notice from the title, it

(00:30):
is part two of a novella called Hermetica by Alan Lee,
which was published by Detritus.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Books and twenty twenty one. And I'm really excited that
we got permission to run that novella here for you all.
Alan Lee is the speculative fiction pen name for Peter
Gelderlos and Peter Gelderlos for folks who aren't familiar, is
the author of a bunch of nonfiction books that you
might have read, including The Solutions Already here and How

(00:59):
non Violence Protects the State. If you like this story,
well you should tell Allen Lee to write more stories.
But if you want nonfiction, you can go out and
check Peter's books, and you can also check out Peter Substack,
which is Surviving Leviathan, which has a lot of different

(01:21):
essays and things that are good because if you like
the things that Peter says, you'll like the things that
Peter says. That seems self evident now that I say
it out loud, But what isn't self evident is what's
going to happen next. I'm going to do the thing
where I read a couple paragraphs of what had just happened,
just so that you are caught up, even though there's

(01:43):
going to be a scene transition. But it's a flashback
to when Days, our protagonist is taking a test. Before
the test begins, you will all go in too, configure
and set the test time back to nine twenty zero zero.
Use this override. A twelve digit passcode appeared on the

(02:04):
main screen that was certainly irregular, and it hardly seemed fair.
They had now lost five full minutes from their testing time,
and no one ever got through all the problems. Days
decided not to comply. Still frightened of the examiner, they
moved their fingers over the tactile so they'd blend in

(02:26):
with all the others. Then the test started and the
first problem appeared on everyone's screen. Okay, that's where we
left it with the implication, at least I'm assuming that
the fact that they like didn't go along with what
they got told to do is like why they didn't

(02:46):
do well on the getting along with other people thing.
That's my assumption, all right, this is the new part.
Days was delighted to find snookums waiting at the module
when they walked up, arms full of groceries from the
supply node. Module opened up to let two of them in,

(03:07):
and Days gave the cat a good scratch behind the ear.
As soon as the groceries were safely atop the table.
They had gotten more than enough ingredients for dinner real tomatoes, basil, garlic, onion, mushrooms, ricotta, mozzarella,
red paste, petra beef egg sub fresh lasagna noodles. They'd

(03:29):
had a backlog of credit, having canceled the last week
of socials. If they weren't feeling up for a social,
they usually weren't feeling up for cooking, and emors were unlimited,
just a voice command away. Days was reputed to be
the best cook on the block. There was not much competition,
but still it was nice to be valued for something.

(03:52):
As long as they canceled social appointments on bad days.
Friendship with Days was a cherished commodity. The meals they
whipped up balanced their unpredictability the fact that so often
they simply did not show up. In truth, it worked
out quite well. They needed at least five days worth
of credit to get enough fresh ingredients for a good meal.

(04:14):
Taking on too many socials just wouldn't be tenable. Aksa
just released a new list. Shall I put it on?
Of course? Module knew that Days nearly always listened to
music while cooking and access lists were highly rated. But
today Days had a specific melody worming its way through

(04:34):
their brain. No put on devoric Slavonic dance one the
forty six. The orchestra erupted pleasantly through the module's walls,
and Days started on the prep, chopping the onion, mincing
half the garlic front left burner medium high, front right

(04:55):
burner medium. They placed two pans on the rain, dripped
in some olive oil. Next, they converted the mushroom into
thin slices. There was an autocutter built into the wall
next to the range, but Days relished the contact, the
differing textures and resistance of the vegetables, the weight, and

(05:16):
the inexorable finality of the knife. A simple machine that
ebedded rather than forestalled entropy. The pans were already hot.
They put the onions in one, the garlic in the other.
The violins and flutes pranced with a deceptive gayety before
the bassoons came in and the whole thing rocketed to

(05:39):
its frenetic finale. Who were those people clapping? It must
be a recorded concert from back on Terra. Her Medico
was big, but Days had never heard of it having
a concert hall or a full symphony orchestra module cyclolont
Slavonic dance. Seven following Days's biostats their reaction to the

(05:59):
previous peace current activity. Days had tried learning an instrument once,
but had little talent or perhaps a lack of consistency.
They were fascinated by music, though. One of the quirks
of NTK and the New Safety was that people tracked
for the sciences had little access to studies on history, culture,

(06:22):
and philosophy, basically any of the extraneous product of Terran civilization.
Perhaps the architects of Hermetica had wanted a clean break.
The Terrans had discovered thermodynamics very well, but why weigh
themselves down with all the other baggage of a self
destructive society. So they had libraries full of dismembered artifacts,

(06:45):
from novels to waltzes, but little about the stories behind them.
Days often found themselves wondering about the people who had
created such beautiful music. They had first gotten hooked while
studying for the aptitudes when certain kinds of music were
boosted from improving focus and retention. Really, they were only
familiar with thirty odd pieces by half a dozen composers.

(07:08):
Didn't understand the weird number word system for cataloging symphonies,
nor what dramatic experiences the composers were drawing on. Yet
something undeniable was there, reaching across the void to commune.
Days turned back to the task at hand. As the
melody twirled and slowed, joyous and grave, a whirlwind of

(07:33):
life on the precipice of despair. They scooped the petra
beef in with the garlic and shook on a generous
dusting of cayenne. It was going to be a beautiful supper.
Days stole a moment on the couch with snookums, running
their thumb between the cat's shoulder blades as it purred blissfully.
Before long, though they had to get back to the range,

(07:55):
stirring the beef the onions, adding the mushrooms to the onions,
salting them. Module picked the next score, Shostakovich's second Waltz.
Preheat oven to one ninety front right, burner to high front,
left off. They whipped together the rikatta and the egg.

(08:18):
Sub opened the red paste, boiled the oven pan, and
topped a layer of red paste with the first layer
of lasagna. The petro beef was sizzling. They turned off
the last burner and then continued layering veggie's meat and
red paste Lasagna, rikatta, lasagna mazzarella on top. When all

(08:38):
the layers were in place, then into the oven. Days
can make the salad later. The tomatoes would be best
if served freshly chopped. They hurried back to the couch
where Snookums was still kneading the fabric and staring at them.
Horns sounded quietly at first, then joined by trombones, strings,

(08:59):
wind wins. They had forgotten about the music. Module had
cycled on to the eleventh Symphony. Milty should be arriving
in an hour. Perfect timing. Snookum shifted its weight against
Dais's thigh and the two of them blissed out, carried
along by the symphony's rising emotion. Now tragic, now heroic.

(09:24):
Suddenly it was time to take the lasagna out, slice
the tomatoes, mince the basil and garlic. And then Milty
was there. But do you know what else is here?
That's right, the advertisers. They're here to share dinner with you.
Just imagine each one of them sitting at the table.
What conversation would they bring? You don't really have to guess,

(09:47):
because they'll tell you. And we're back. Milty had gone
into organic chemistry, and their work had something to do

(10:08):
with growing tissue samples or replacement organs that days did
not fully understand. Most of the time they worked from home,
going over lab results or conducting tests by remote, but
every now and then they got to go into campus,
some twenty blocks away. The standard block had four nodes,
one on each end of the two perpendicular streets, a

(10:31):
health center, a supply node, a maintenance center, and some
other workstation different for every block. Those who did not
work at either of those four stations worked from home
as much as possible. Vectors on her Medica had to
be kept to a constant minimum, but Scientific research was
a major priority on board her Medica had set out

(10:54):
from Terra with a solid design and trajectory towards a
cluster of star systems with a high number of promising exoplanets,
but the greater part of their mission resources were in Potentia,
the cohorts of advanced scientists who were constantly improving the
ship's propulsion, making sure life systems could function for five

(11:14):
hundred years with no external inputs, and augmenting their terraforming
kits to be ready for whatever the conditions were on
the exoplanet they eventually settled. None of that had ever
been done before. Laboratories were the largest spaces on the ship,
entire blocks or several adjacent blocks fitted out as scientific campuses.

(11:39):
Days had no idea how many there were in total,
but Milty was lucky enough to work at one of them,
and they were kind enough to only tell stories that
helped Days appreciate how large their world was without feeling
envious about being confined to such a small part of it.
Days liked Milty. After dinner, they put on a movie,

(12:02):
a new one that paired Humphrey Bogart and Robert Williams
in an old style Western, the first two in a
probe team to land on Mars. Days loved listening to
Milty laugh. The film was Milty's recommendation. Days had rarely
enjoyed Westerns in the past, but they cannot think of
any other new release to recommend. In the end, they

(12:25):
had to admit Bogart played the perfect straight, hard jawled
eyes on the mission as Williams went crazy itching at
the regolith that got inside their suit or getting in
a shouting match with the air minor Bravo. Days said,
when it was over, you liked it. Oh, I'm glad

(12:46):
I needed to laugh today. So I have a question,
Milty said. They knew Days loved to discuss films as
soon as they were done, and they always indulged them.
A Film Studies elective had been one of Days's favorite
courses in school, covering everything from sound engineering to narrative technique.
In introduction for those who would go on to work

(13:08):
in entertainment, the teacher, a kindly bearded old person, often
diverged into the long history of the craft pre exploration,
and those tangential lectures refracted through the lens of dolly
zooms and fourth walls. Were the source of much of
what Days knew about Terra. Ask away, why do they

(13:31):
call them Westerns? I thought West was a Terran positional reference.
It can only map onto a planetary surface relative to rotation, right,
so is it a cultural thing? I remember some Terrans
referred to themselves as Western. There was, in fact an
esoteric joke about primitives on Terra only moving in one direction,

(13:53):
counter to the planet's rotational spin. Days knew the answer
to this one. It was true that the protagonists of
Westerns were always pasty skinned, and the bad guys, if
there were any besides misbehaving air miners and silicate factories,
had their skin darkened or a neo Western's painted green.

(14:14):
As a child, Days had assumed it was in fact
the protagonists who painted their skin in some bizarre old
world status esthetic. After all, nearly all the people they
had seen with such pasty skin were Terran actors. The
film teacher, though, had explained that an old world Terra,
before the explorations began, the pasty skinned phenotype had dominated

(14:36):
the film industry and only cast themselves in the leading roles.
What a bizarre place Tera must have been, and what
a relief that Hermetica and all its passengers had left
Tera far behind them. Actually, there are pretty specific genre requirements.
A western is a retrospective science fiction, said in what
was considered to be a primitive or low tech frontier. Wow,

(15:01):
you really paid attention in class, are you kidding? I
ate that shit up all electives. Not enough focus on
the core material, they said, with a ryegrin, A sure
track to being a palliative therapist or a cleaner. Hey, days,
I would rather watch movies with you than with any
of my work colleagues, So don't stop lay more of

(15:22):
this knowledge on me. Retrospective science fiction. Yeah, the story
is set in a place in the past, so low
technology relative to the audience, and in a territory, though
identify as especially primitive and chaotic. Yet at the same time,
it's a territory that has been tamed and organized by
the time the people are there watching the movie, a

(15:44):
space that in fact might be identified as being at
the cutting edge of their technological development. See you have
Humphrey Bogart bumbling around on Mars and Terra's first attempt
at extraterrestrial inhabitation, John Wayne playing suck the caesium on
the Nevada test site. I guess the first works in
the genre would be called The Tempest or the Aonid.

(16:07):
By this point, Days was just riffing. Their old teacher
had mentioned the fact about John Wayne's demise, satisfaction and
bitterness waging some unexplained battle across their face. But the
literary references where connections Days had come up with in
the moment, no way to evaluate their historical validity, certainly,
no studies to cite, simply a pattern that felt right obvious.

(16:32):
Even so, why Western? Oh? I guess it's a coincidence,
but most of the classical or modern Westerns involved geographic
travel to the west on the planetary surface, not the
case with neo Westerns. But by that time the name
had already stuck. Feeling fully comfortable now or desirous of
more attention, Snookum's god in Days's lap, Milty hadn't mentioned

(16:56):
it yet, which was odd. Snookum's had been rubbed against
Dais's legs or purring on the couch between the two
for the whole movie. So this cat appeared yesterday? What cat?
Milty asked, earnestly, still smiling, Well, the cat of ad
for this is the worst ad transition I've ever done.

(17:19):
But imagine it was clever, and then that would be
what was happening, a clever ad transition. And if you
had cooler zone media, you would just get the clever
ad transitions. But if you don't, you also get the ads.
It's like bonus content. By not paying, you get to
listen to these ads or press forward thirty seconds like
usually four to six times until you hear the jingle

(17:41):
music come back in. It's really up to you and
we're back. What cat, Multi asked earnestly, still smiling. Snowcums

(18:02):
flicked its tail in sudden displeasure. Oh never, long story,
No tell me, Milty smiled again in encouragement. I was
days knew not to push it. People saw what they
were going to see, and most of them hated the
idea that not everyone saw the same thing. I was

(18:25):
thinking of applying for a companion animal. Oh that's great,
I saw one yesterday. The profile, I mean looks really cute.
Snokem's jumped off Day's lap in a huff. Milty still
didn't notice. I'm sure you'll get approved. There's not too
many on our block. You've a good record you work

(18:45):
in therapy. They didn't add that mental health index was
also a factor. Didn't need to. I bet you'll get
your first choice too. What's it look like the cute one?
Snookeums began scratching the side of the couch and pat
to irritation like a trouble maker. Hey do you want dessert?

(19:05):
Days had to change the subject fast before Milty asked
to see the profile. Milty went home after dessert Snooums
was still huffy, scratching at the wall panel as Days
put dishes in the chute. Their mood was starting to crash.
Why did socials always end up making them feel more alone?
A module put the music back on. Accusatory notes rang

(19:30):
out sharply Shostakovich's Symphony Number thirteen. According to the screen,
Snookums began scratching more furiously, as though it wanted to
be heard over the strings. Hey, I'm sorry, some people
just don't want to see. What was I supposed to do?
Days walked over and picked the cat up, hugging it tightly.

(19:52):
Snookum's forebore then resisted, and finally Days let it spring
to the floor. Hey, you did some damage here, Days
knelt down. The corner of the wall panel had actually
come loose. That wasn't good, but instead of pushing it
back into place. The module was largely self repairing, and
a little nudge to realign the panel might solve the

(20:13):
whole thing. Days began pulling. They had never seen what
was behind a wall panel, and at the moment, the
perfect stability of their environment felt like mockery. It was
a feeling which Days would be unable to explain, yet
at the same time was absolutely certain. The walls exuded scorn.

(20:34):
They condescended, they knew things they assumed Days was unable
to see, and they belittled their attempts to think freely.
Continuing may cause structural damage. It's okay, Module, I'm trying
to fix it. Actually, I need you to release this
panel so I can put it back in properly. It's misaligned.

(20:55):
Most systems were self regulating, and modules data certainly indicated
Days was in fact wrong, but a standard AI parameter
allowed human intervention to override system decisions in cases where
the risk only encompassed a single element and not the
whole system. Human perception, however, imprecise was open ended, and

(21:17):
system criteria had to come from passengers anyway, so module relented.
The wall panel came free. It was not the destructive
release Days had been hoping for, nothing like taking a
hammer to the whole structure. But on her Medica, all
forms of release were modulated through the paramount need to compromise.

(21:40):
The gesture's inevitable disappointment, however, evaporated immediately. Mystery took its place.
For the moment the panel came free, a sheet that
had been tucked behind it fell to the ground. Snookums
took a seat beside it, looking up at Days pointedly.

(22:01):
Days's hands began to tremble. Remembering their alibi, they quickly
stuck the panel back in the wall. Okay, that should
do it. Panel is aligned, and secured their mouth dry.
Days picked up the sheet off the floor. Its texture
was strange, brittle, its tones muted and dirty. It was

(22:23):
covered with minuscule writing on both sides. But when Days
tried to enlarge nothing happened. Had it been back there
so long it had run out of battery. They shook
it a few times and tried again. Nothing. A device
like that should be piezo electric, but maybe it was malfunctioned.

(22:45):
Maybe that was why it had been discarded back there.
Days stood and brought the sheet to the range. If
it had any internal circuits, even malfunctioning ones, the range
would detect them, recharge them, and if possible, repair them. Nothing.
The range did not recognize the sheet as electronic Days
looked closer, twisted an edge of it. It seemed to

(23:08):
be made of some kind of fiber, and not one
they were familiar with. Well, they'd have to do this
the old fashioned way. Squinting, they began to read. Along
the top there was a date June twelfth, twenty twenty three,
below a yellowing margin. An article began experts as vaccine

(23:32):
Hope's falter choking sickness here to stay. Dun, Dun, dun.
That's the end of part two. What does it all mean?
Why is there a presumably newspaper hidden inside the wall.
One of the reasons that I like this book is
that I have a specific fondness for generationships. I think

(23:54):
I first read Orphans in the Sky, which I could
not tell you the first thing about when I was
very young, and which is a book. Bey Heinlen is
a very complicated author. It's the easiest way to put
that and just this idea that since we can't assume
that we'll ever have warp speed or hyper space or

(24:15):
faster than light travel, that if humanity is ever going
to get to the stars, we're going to have generationships.
We're going to have ships where people live and die
and you know, have their entire lives like on these ships.
And it's always been an idea that fascinates me. It's

(24:36):
funny because it's like just as much science fiction feeling
is like light speed to me. But that's because we
can't even get biodomes to work here on Earth, to
my understanding. But that's because we don't try enough. I
think I think that a hermetically sealed environment, a hermetica
as it were, it's like probably possible, you know, but

(24:58):
we certainly haven't nailed it. I can't take people like
Elon Musk seriously. There are a million reasons I can't
take Elon Musk personally seriously. But it's why I can't
take anyone claiming to be looking at Mars expedition seriously
because the problem with getting to Mars, there's so many problems,
but it's not rocketry. The first and foremost problem is
sealed environments is biodomes, and so that's what people would

(25:21):
be putting their efforts into if they were actually serious
about it. Anyway, that's my rant about generationships. But join us.
Next week we get to part three of her Metica
by Alan Lee, And if you want to read more
from the author, you can do by finding the other
name they write under, Peter Gelderlos, which is G. E. L.

(25:44):
D R. Los. You can find him on substack Surviving Leviathan,
or you can check out many of his books. You
can probably check out all of his books, but he
has many of them. They talk about anarchism, and they
talk about history, and they talk about tactics, and they
talk about, well, the solutions are already here. Is about

(26:08):
how there's a lot of ways that we can deal
with climate change and things like that, and it's not
by science fiction breakthroughs, but by looking at things that
already work. Speaking of already working, I already did my
work of reading you this episode, So I'm signing off now.
This is Margaret Kiljoy. You can find me wherever you

(26:29):
want to, and I probably am there, but I'm also
on substack. That's where I kind of write the most
consistently right now. I also have another podcast called Cool
People Did Cool Stuff, which is a history podcast, and
I will talk to you all soon. It Could Happen
here as a production of cool Zone Media. For more
podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia

(26:51):
dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
You can find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated
monthly at coolzonemedia dot com slash sources.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
Thanks for listening.