February 24, 2023 • 42 mins
Aether, Sirius, and Logo agree to a moratorium on speaking. They reflect inwardly on their journey through internal monologues.
Intra Quest – Created by Michael Freiberg
A production of iHeartRadio and Astrum Media
Executive Produced by Michael Freiberg and iHeartRadio
Co-produced by Adam Raymonda and Chelsea English
Sound Design and Mix by Dennis Dembeck
Music by Trey Toy
Episode written by Michael Freiberg
Performances by:
Matthew Broussard | Aether
Mike Lebovitz | Sirius
Myq Kaplan | Logo
Lucie Pohl | Umbra
Director and Head Writer: Michael Freiberg
Writers: Tom Delgado and Will Julian
Story Editor: Chelsea English
Dialogue Editor: Ja-Ann Wang
Additional Music: Matthew Blocha
Foley: Post Red
Key Art: Rich Davies
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Introquest created by Michael Freiberg, a production of iHeartRadio and
Astro Media Listen with headphones for three D audio. Today
is another fine day out on the Azrael Desert. The
sun's shining right over the dunes, the sands sliding gracefully
(00:27):
beneath our feet, and the three of us taking ample
progress along the main route to the mold Layer. It's
almost as if the heat waves melting right off our backs.
And who knows what great adventures lie ahead. Run ins
with desert bandits, skirmishes with giant scorpions, shifting sands, barren
waste Land's core, even a chance encounter with umbra. Bring
(00:51):
it on. There's nothing the three of us together can't conquer,
and I'll have you back home an imperiod before you
can say why, what's wrong? Logo? Do you have to
narrate out loud each and every step of the way.
I was only attempting to boost group moral and improve
(01:11):
disposition given the intense heat wave. Maintaining a positive attitude
in times like these is critical to overcoming hardship's experience
along a lengthy and difficult mission such as ours. Yeah, well,
it's bad enough for short on supplies and running low
and water. But now serious and I have to listen
to you drone on and on while the sun beats
down on us. Do you have any idea what kind
(01:33):
of torture that is well? Actually, in regards to our
bleak water productosis, I believe I've come across a solution.
I've spotted an oasis on the map ahead, about a
day's worth of travel from here, and only a short
distance off the main route. Before you interjected, I was
about to suggest we had there to refill our canteens
and take respite from the desert sun. Okay, let's that
(01:55):
course for the oasis. In the meantime, it's vital we
can serve energy heat wave doesn't let up. I fear that,
out of all of us, you logo won't make it
through the night. How do you suggest we've asked the
time wow of silence? Yeah, yeah, a moratorium on talking,
(02:16):
silence for a change, at least until sundown. Okay, silence
until sundown. We can use the time to reflect on
our journey. If either of you need inspirations, just think
of the reward that awaits us at the end of
the mission. Now onward we go A reward and end
(02:44):
of mission imperial good, but opals funny How people think
Opal value Opal? Can we eat or drink or used
to fight Opal just shiny rock, and people trade food
water weapon for Opal ha silly Yes, sir me take
(03:09):
best sword yourself sword. You spend hundred hours making in
fiery pick with old hands, and here for a sword.
Take rock. Yes, rock is shiny ha if serious trade
rock for sword, serious youth sword take back rock outsmart
(03:29):
dumb merchant, merchant whoever rock for brain? And people look
down on serious for way he talk. Ah. People fools
value rock like Opal. Now moonbop moon pop not Opal
(03:50):
have value? Moon pop delicious filled with gooey bindleberry jam
mmm mmm. No one fight when half Moonbop in belly.
Everyone loved Moonbob. We're serious that moonbop ah m ah,
(04:22):
but Moonbop non't have value, only stupid rock half value
and foolish people honor trade with Opal because agreed to
with handshake oh and sacred handshake, join hand with strangers,
shake up and down that mean bond of kin. That
(04:42):
foolish as trading Opal and nature bear no shake paw
with wolf respect honor signal without words or motion, but
people know what symbol people want. Confused, create silly rules
to follow, make feel smart, murmur same how people go
(05:08):
live in small box and village away from nature, build
bi gate like cage to keep out world, worship gold
idol that look like self, but that no real life.
This year outside real life, they think with opals, they
buy wisdom, but they go buy true knowledge here away
(05:33):
from village cage, have everything we need and free sunrise,
sun fall, simple, where life meant to be only fool
challenge mother, nature, father time, and in end time and
(05:53):
nature make fool of all even serious go against nature, fall,
prey to illusion, worship, false spirits, Aha serious, no belonging desert,
un journey and far away land serious belong free in
(06:18):
open field, serious even work for Opal and Opal no
have value, all illusions. All will come to end one day. Serious,
settle and make new home, return to green lands, live
(06:38):
simple life outside with nature, but serious no for now
ether needs serious and serious o ether serious life and
end when journey over serious spent, share of opal on
(07:00):
bucketful of moonpop, moon pop, moonpopum sorry, moon pop on mind,
(07:23):
back to desert, silence, stare up at sky that's better.
M Finally, some overcast skies on the horizon, little cloud
cover would be welcome relief from this relentless sun. Maybe
(07:46):
our luck's looking up after all. That one. The puffy
v shaped cloud floating over head. The shape looks familiar,
the way it's gliding across the sky, almost lifelike. That's it,
the Phoenix, the mythical bird of regeneration and rebirth. That's
what it looks like. I can see it clearly on
(08:06):
the fur feathers and outstretched wings, the aquiline beak extending
from its raised head in the center. How it's sourced
seamlessly through the air, rising to reach the sun itself,
only to burn out and be born again. The cloud's
vapors even look like billowing pillars of smoke from here,
as if the ashes of the Phoenix are still burning
hot in the day's sky. And that cloud in the
(08:29):
distance such imposing stature. It practically rises out from the
azure and suits straight into the ozone, stretching onto heights unknown.
It's the shape of a castle's central watch towel. But
what good is that? What could one possibly be keeping
lookout for? All the way up there? Those heights unreachable
by man. Even eagles wouldn't dare. The only use of
(08:49):
tower that tall serves is to spy on the stars themselves.
The sad thing is, we'd build it if we couldn't
vain enough to think us equals worthy of a glimpse
their secrets. Have we learned nothing from the childish hubrists
of those who have come before us? The cycle continues.
The higher we build, the farther we fall, struck down
(09:11):
by the light of the stars, doomed to repeat our
inevitable fate. Come on, either, stop building castles in the sky,
get your head of the clouds for once, focus on
what's important and lies ahead. Use this time to reflect.
What is it about clouds that make us see objects
in them? Do they even have a true shape? Are
(09:33):
they merely blank slates upon which we project our deepest
wishes and desires, only then to see them go poof
into a puff of air? Easy, come, easy go, I guess.
The silver lining is that, at least for a moment,
we get to possess that things will never have in
this life, and better that than ever at all, that
(09:54):
large round one looming at the edge. It can't be
no swear air so clearly, the figure of a face,
the delicate features, soft eyes, puffy cheeks. Button knows it's
almost too perfect for this world. The face in the
cloud my mother's mother. She looks so peaceful up there,
(10:17):
not going anywhere, and just drifting wherever the wind takes her,
and smiling down at me from above. Why did the
stars have to take you so soon? Mom? It's just
a child. He needed you, your gentle touch, your soothing voice,
your warm compassion. How cool this world can be? First,
(10:40):
father slain, leaving you behind with no one by your side.
Then after childbirth, you gave your life for mine. Not
a single day passes where I don't wonder how things
might have been different only you were still here when
I was growing up. What kind of life we could
have had together, you and me in a little house
on a small plot of land. We wouldn't have had much,
(11:03):
but we wouldn't want for much either, And time i'd
learned to be strong like you, I'd even become a
great hunter. Every day you'd wait for me to come
home with a daily catch, and would have a big
feast to send off the night, celebrating life and giving thanks.
We had each other. Maybe instead, under your watch, I'd
become a great scholar, a man of letters. I'd make
(11:24):
you proud. I'd secure us room and board in an
ivory tower and some far off land, and spend my
day studying the meaning of life and learn why bad
things happen to good people. Or I'd give up the
material world altogether and become wise in the matters of
the heart and soul, and show us the true way home.
No matter how the story unfolds, we'd have our time
(11:44):
and the sun together as mother and son. But of
course that mad Tyr and Nakasha back home, had to
take our life away. She contended father to death, and
that killed you. Still in the room, I felt your heartbreak.
I felt umber possess you, possess us, And I'll never
(12:07):
forgive myself for taking from you what you could not
have yourself life. I guess I'll never know the whole truth.
Just left a piece together, tattered tales and dreams. I
guess that's for the best life of pain and suffering,
(12:28):
worse than peaceful death. If only there was a miracle cure,
in a way to turn back time, If only I
could start over, I'd find a way to save you
or trade your life for mine? Now while I have
left or fading memories, and this amulet the painful reminder
of what was taken from me, my mother, what took
(12:51):
her away Umbrah and I returned to free Imperia. Tell
me will there be anything left to save? Either way?
I'll see you soon, so tired of fighting. In the end,
I'll be the one to sing to you. Don't be sad,
don't be blue. I'm the bird who will worry for you,
(13:12):
and it'll carry us both to sleep. I know it's
a foolish thing to ask, but if you can somehow
hear me up there, Mom, can you send me a
sign to let me know you're listening. A single tear
drop rain down from your clouded face on this hot
day would be more than enough, some proof so I
know you're still here, watching over me from high above,
(13:35):
before you float away and I lose you again forever.
Are you okay? Something in my eye? I'm good, I'm good.
I'm good. Let's just keep moving. I always viewed these
(14:11):
travel days as a pleasant yet unfortunate drain on productivity,
But now that we've cut the idle chatter, I suppose
I'm finally free to focus my mind on more substantial matters.
Let's see where to begin. Maybe I'll remap our route
to optimize travel time based on prevailing wind patterns. By
re orienting our trajectory to travel with the winds at
our backs and eliminating trudging against headwinds, we could reduce
air friction caused by dragon saves several minutes an aggregate
(14:33):
travel time. On the other hand, that's rather inconsequential in
the grand scheme of things. We'll get there. While we
get there, Surely there's a cause more deserving of the
attention of my unbridled intellectual brain power. I know. Perhaps
all mo over the theorem, I've been tinkering with the
(14:54):
deterministic theorem of quantum mechanics. If you could isolate the
initial stage of a quantum system down to the atomic level,
then theoretically you could track the development of the system
over time. All you'd have to do is work out
the position and momentum of the atoms during the system's
initial conditions state, which is technically impossible unless you interpret
(15:15):
the system as a series of waves instead of particles. Then,
utilizing a wave function, you can capture the complete information
of all possible probabilistic momentum and position potentialities, effectively transforming
the probabilistic function into a model that's intrinsically deterministic. And
once you solve for the beginning and end state superpositions,
the opportunities for practical applications are endless. I'm thinking reconstitution, intensibility, teleportation,
(15:39):
who knows what else, eurega. But again, on the other hand,
successful implementation of these applications would require overcoming the impediments
of widespread coordination and the lobbying of key personnel, and
upon universal acceptance of my theorem, I'd be viewed as
an acclaimed pioneer in the field, expected to make countless
(16:01):
appearances and accept a multitude of awards. I'm not ready
for that level of commitment, at least not just yet.
There are infinite possibilities for what I can accomplish. I've
never had so much concentrated time to think and be
alone with my thoughts. I can't wait to unlease this
newfound mental energy on the world. That is, once I
(16:21):
identify a topic suitable for study, where to begin, something weighty,
something meaningful yet manageable, really there's nothing too big or
too small in scope, as long as it's of the
utmost importance. I bet there's some mystery that's been right
in front of us the entire time, just waiting to
be solved, that once we see it will be in
(16:42):
odd how we could have ever missed it in the
first place. But what could that be? I know, I'll
start by analyzing the very desert environment we've been traversing.
What's out here with us in these sands? Any moment
now it'll come to me, think logo, Think ah, what's
(17:02):
the use? There's nothing out here but sand, miles and
miles of insignificant sand. Who even knows where the desert
begins and where it ends, or how many grains of
sand are even in this place? Surely that number is incomputable,
though maybe if the base counting unit was larger than
a singular grain, that problem could start to be addressed.
(17:23):
A better inquiry than is how many handfuls of sand
is this desert comprised of. That's certainly a non inconsequential
improvement as far as solving this dilemma goes. And I
don't say that lately. They're a handful of sand much
more reasonable. Huh. It does also beg another perplexing question,
(17:46):
how many grains of sand make up one handful? Clearly,
the amount of sand in my hand is greater than
a singular grain, no doubt about that. The heft, shape,
and volume all make that very clear. I'd venture it's
even ten thousand times greater number than the amount of
a singular grain. But say I were to remove one
grain of sand from the pile, that leaves nine thousand,
nine hundred ninety nine grains of sand remain. Or set
(18:09):
another way, these nine thousand, nine hundred ninty nine grains
of sand now comprise the handful, an irrefutable deduction, now
bold as I may be. If I were to remove
a second grain from this pile, I'm left with nine thousand,
nine hundred ninety eight grains of sand, categorically still by
all counts and measures, a handful of sand. Hypothetically speaking,
and strictly, as an exercise, dare to take away one
(18:33):
more grain of sand, nine thousand, nine hundred ninety seven
grains now remain. If nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety
eight grains of sand were a handful, and you're removed
a single grain from the pile, no material amount of
information has been lost. Therefore, I propose that nine thousand,
nine hundred ninety seven grains must also be classified as
a handful. Deriving the base level axiom, the rule is
as simple as follows. A handful of sand minus a
(18:56):
single grain remains a handful of sand. Taken to its
logical extreme. If I were to keep removing grains of
sand one by one from the pile, then that must
mean a single grain of sand is equal to a handful.
How can that be? It's, by definition a logical contradiction.
The very foundation of deductive reasoning has been shattered. At
(19:17):
what point on an infinite continuum does one definite article
give way to another? If no single point exists, then
the ramifications are limitless. Day becomes night, past merges with future,
and life is death. Then the only conclusion that follows
is that every part of a system, at every level,
is equal to the entirety of the system itself. Consider
(19:37):
the implications on a cosmic level. If one can't distinguish
between a grain of sand and a handful of sand,
how can one make sense of the universe Applying the
same handful to grain principle. The universe is made up
of galaxies, which in turn are comprised of solar systems,
which themselves consists of planets that are populated by civilizations
that divide out into societies made up of people like us,
(20:01):
made up of us. That means we are the universe
experiencing itself. It's all here in these grains of sand.
The answer in the palm of my head. The entire
universe is nothing but a logo. Sorry, the sand in
my hand made me sneeze sand hand? What are you
(20:22):
talking about? The desert sandy universe of the cosmic continuum
or never mind? You should be using this time to
think and reflect. Stop playing with sand and find something
more meaningful to occupy your mind. Sure ether, I'm working
on it, and like the eye on your amulet, I'll
keep my eyes open for inspiration. My amulet, the eye
(21:00):
of imperiod. What do I make of it? How is
it that the one thing keeping me safe from umbra?
It's the one thing holding me back from seeing through
the lines and finding out the truth. It can't be right,
can it? How would I think that? That's crazy? Talk?
Complete another nonsense. Those words must have been umbres they
have to be serious, and Logo could read my thoughts
(21:24):
right now, they'd want me can find They knew how
much I longed to return to Umbers in a realm.
How learning I find her call, They'd think I'd lost
it for sure, Uther has finally gone off the deep end.
Now I must be wrong. Why does it feel so right?
How come? Every time I take off my amulet and
(21:45):
enter the intra, I feel like I'm on the verge
of learning some great truth, discovering an unknown insight into
our existence, and gleaning a deeper meaning of life. But
I never quite get there, do I? Sure? Sometimes I
feel close, like it's only barely out of grasp, that
if I could just reach down deep enough, I could
nearly touch it. But the end, it always slips through
(22:06):
my fingers and they come up short, and I'm left
chasing shadows, with no real form, void of any realization
or new awakening, with nothing to show for my troubles
but regret and disillusion, and worse, the vague feeling that
I'm slowly losing some part of me. And yet some
(22:27):
part of me, some crazy, twisted, messed up part of me,
knows that it's simply because I haven't gone far enough,
but I'm nowhere near the limit. I have to keep
pushing past the brink and journey into the deepest recesses
and darkest corners of my mind. And only by traversing
(22:48):
the depths of my soul will I one day reached
the bottom and break through to the other side, and
there will find it, that undeniable truth, finally crystallized, something
to make sense of it all, to reveal to me
my true self and make me whole and give meaning
to my life. But these days I can't shake the
(23:12):
feeling that I'm not going in the right direction anymore,
like I'm just a tourist in my own body, simply
passing through. I'm traveling through this desert. My mind is
flying through hyperspace, and I don't know if I'm getting
any closer to where I was heading, or if I'm
just falling further and further into this bottomless black pit
of self. And I don't know anymore if I want
(23:36):
to know which way is up. Maybe that's just how
the world is. There are some things we'll never know,
and though we look for answers, we're destined to always
be searching, finding nothing but endless questions and did things
get so bad? Where did I go so wrong? Why
(23:57):
is this happening to me? What did I do to
deserve any of this? How come this is my life?
But there's nothing there, no answer, no purpose, no meaning,
no end. On the other hand, there are things in
life we somehow intuitively know, even if we can't understand
(24:19):
why we know them, Like how a newborn cries at
the sight of a predators shadow despite having never seen
its face before. Fear primal, fear of the unknown, the
dark silence, oblivion of what lurks just beneath the surface.
It's instinctual. Or how about love, how an infant comes
(24:43):
out of the womb knowing it's safe in the arms
of its mother. We may never find answers for these
unprovable truths, but their knowledge is wisdom we already possessed
with them. Or maybe the greatest folly of some truths
is that there's no one to believe them, not even yourself.
For all I know, this journey i'm one has no end.
(25:03):
There won't be any milestones of growth or deeper understanding.
I hope for enlightenment, but will be left in the dark.
How can I even be so sure that any progress
I think I've made along the way isn't really just
me refusing to acknowledge that I've gone down the wrong path?
Could I accept the truth if it was right in
front of me? They call Umber the master of delusion?
(25:25):
But I can't tell any longer where either ends and
Umber begins. I thought I could explore Umbra's intrat free
of cost, that I had nothing to lose. But that's
not true. After all, I have been losing my sanity,
my health, my faith, myself, and now unlost. I feel
(25:49):
Umbra's hold over me growing stronger every day as my
descent into the interest deepens and I fall further and
further under her command. Is this the unthinkable truth kept
for myself? That I'm going mad? That maybe I've already
gone mad? But this truth has always been my destiny,
hasn't it? Since the day I struggled into existence, born
(26:11):
to a mother, damned by Umbra and bound to suffer
myself a tangled web. I've been mortally wounded since birth.
I'd be lying to myself if I said there was
any other way for me my whole life. I've known
it in my whole life. I feared it. It was
only a matter of time until I lost myself to
umbra completely. But I'm no longer scared of that time,
(26:36):
because I fear that moment may have already passed. The
others have no idea how deep I've fallen. I wonder
if I really do. For all I know, I could
be leading serious and Logo farther and farther into the
dark night of her abyss, taking him straight into her tramp.
Surely they have better sense than me and won't be
(26:57):
tricked so easily. Guess I won't know for sure. Well,
I I suppose the deeper and deeper you fall into umbre,
the harder it is to distinguish the truth from a lie.
That's the curse of going mad, isn't it. That's the
blessing of going mad, isn't it? You can no longer
tell just how mad you've gone, the paradox of madness.
(27:19):
The matter you are, the more warp your logic and
deluded your reasoning, So you convince yourself that you and
only you, are in possession of some secret, undeniable truth.
In reality, the truth couldn't be farther away, And who
can tell you you're wrong. When you're up as down,
left as right, and black as white, untenable leaps that
(27:41):
once required mental gymnastics to reach are now level ground.
From there, you'll ditch your old beliefs in a heartbeat
and start swearing by the impossible, like the moon is
made of cheese, or that you're already dead and the
world is controlled by a secret society of top hat
wearing gophers conspiring to dance the bung on your grave.
(28:13):
Don't encourage your behavior. Are but our silence agreement? I'm sorry,
you're right logo. I was overcome with a spontaneous fit
of hysteria, That's all. You won't hear another sound out
of me until dark, Promise good. There's that sound again,
(28:45):
the hum, a tritone interval followed by the rest of it,
our peggiated diminished chord. I've heard the sound of myriad
of times before in the desert, but on a still
afternoon like today, the hum's mooteeth most strikingly pierces through
the background clutter. What kind of entity could be responsible
(29:07):
for emitting this strange hum? It's impossible to place one
thing's for certain. Whatever it may be, it's not local
to the desert's natural acoustic ecology. I wonder if the
others hear it too, though it harmonizes rather well with
the external desert environment, so I wouldn't be surprised if
(29:29):
it's virtually imperceptible to the untrained ear. Come to think
of it, I never paid it much attention before, But
in stark contrast to how physically dreadful this desert can be,
its soundscape is actually rather comforting. Ah. Underlying this sonic
environment must be a bevy of unique sounds, each contributed
(29:52):
by independent actors possessing a distinct acoustic signature, that by
chance collectively come together to form this euphonious desert symphony.
I wonder if I can isolate the diverse sources responsible
for the various rhythms and harmonies. Perhaps if I fully
immersed myself in their sounds, I can localize their respective origins. AH.
(30:13):
The serene chirping of desert locusts their signature staccato a
love song for the ages. With his mating call, the
male attempts to court the female by rubbing his hind
legs together to produce the effect, in essence sending her
an auditory smooch from across the dunes. Judging by the
sounds intensity, there are only a few of them, present
a good sign as locusts are typically solitary insects, but
(30:36):
are prone to large groups swarming when agitated. For our sake,
let's hope they keep singing their sweet sounding melody. I
wonder what else is out here overhead? The dust chorus
of the sing song bat a multiphonic melody of squeaks, squawks,
and squabbles as they take flight, indicating that niffall will
soon be upon us. The bats call out an harmonic
(30:58):
duet as they communicate with one another. When a bat
has located a food source or identified a potential threat,
it'll alert the colony with a high pitched shrill. In turn,
the colony responds in kind to spread the news or
sound the alarm. What a special treated it be. If
only I could listen in on the sounds of their
echolocation used to navigate and hunt in the dark. Unfortunately,
(31:18):
it operates on a frequency just outside our auditory threshold
for hearing, so I'll have to focus my eavesdropping elsewhere. Ah,
the wind's vibrant breeze Mother nature's own call of the wild,
capable of rustling the leaves on the highest tree branch
and moving the clouds themselves with one mighty breath. No
(31:40):
noise from a mere creature can match the ethereal beauty
of her soul and what range. In an instant, the
wind's temperament turns from the gentle whisper of an airy
zephyr floating down from up above to the guttural roar
of a merciless gale forcefully swirling a fierce desert sandstorm.
She remained calm while we walk her dunes, and finally,
(32:05):
the missing piece of the puzzle, the sound of the
shifting sands beneath our feet, a constant deep crunch caused
by the movement of our boots, our own contribution to
the complex acoustic ecology. With each step we take, we
shape the very desert soundscape, reaching our ears In truth,
(32:26):
analyzing its component pieces does nothing to demystify the desert
symphony I'm hearing. How is it possible that each voice
operating independently sings a unique tune with respect to tone, pitch, volume,
and duration that not only minimizes acoustic interference with other
nearby vocalists, but seamlessly harmonizes in sonic union. It almost
seems too perfect, as if the entire thing has been
(32:50):
coordinated by some omniscient composer, maybe decoded at a lower level.
The notes in these sounds carry some deeper message beyond
the pleasant nature of their melodies. If I could find
a way to decipher these seemingly random groupings of notes,
perhaps I'd unveil a hidden language of sorts. After all,
what we perceive as sound is really just vibrations traveling
(33:11):
through the air and acoustic waves. Hypothetically, I wonder if
you were to map the shape of the waves whether
you could start to understand the information contained within. Then,
with a powerful enough converter, it might be possible to
use the sound waves to develop a common tongue and
even converse with the environment itself, not unlike how a
satellite dish receives and transmits information in the form of
electromagnetic waves the satellite dish. Funny, how ether and serious
(33:37):
don't even know what a satellite dish is. Yet that's
what they've been hired to retrieve, or is that why
they've been hired to retrieve it? I wonder what plans
the agency has for the satellite dish. Who might they
be trying to communicate with? Logo? Where are you going
with this? You know that information is classified for a reason.
(33:59):
Life would be so much easier if only everyone had
antennas in their head and all communication was conducted through
direct broadcast, with no figurative expressions or colloquialisms to obscure language.
We'd be left with clearly transmitted messages. Maybe then people
would finally understand me and I in turn them. The
(34:22):
irony is some of the most important things in life
can't even be expressed in words. They have to be
experienced to be understood. Something I'm still learning, like the
relief you get from the first drop of water on
a hot desert day, or the sense of wonder that
washes over you and taking in a sunset, or that warm,
(34:44):
fuzzy sensation you feel after a tough day traveling in
the dunes, knowing you'll be okay because your friends are
by your side. There it is again, the hum shoha
(35:05):
ha um, the hum catchy tune, isn't it h hum
m h nothing? Carry on walking ah h h Armadillo
(35:29):
desert skull poor little fellow, not even armored shell enough
to survive desert element. But Serious no weep for fallen friend.
This not end of path for animal Armadillo passed from
physical realm to spirit world. Everything has spirit, not just people,
(35:54):
an animal, tree, rock, river, All have life force, make
up world's soul hum and all die. One day ev'n
ancient river like great snake, reach stage when it starting
to slow. Come day when river carry last rock, tributary
(36:15):
pay last offering and water reach ocean. Final time, River's
bed turn'd to muddy grave as water run dry and
river complete cycle of life. Soon fertile soil near river
turn barren, and roots of plants begin to rot. Where
(36:36):
once was life now is death. Where once have water
now hath drought. But this not end of path. One
day heavy rain come and from dry channel now stream
borne flow through valleys and canyons, River current come back
(36:59):
in arms of old carry on life for next generation.
Serious No. Even though Serious Clan no longer here in
physical realm, with Serious Clan spirit live on, Serious feel
(37:19):
Clan energy around him. Big chazooka hot headed warrior in clan,
now live on a soul of mount fumus in homeland,
ready to erupt as volcano Noble Jedessa healer to ill
her soul among waterfalls. If energy and life to fallen,
(37:42):
Vdias grand Seer, knowledge and way of stars and spirits.
Now keep watch above as great Cloud. Clan spirits live
on in all of nature in rays of light, shine
down on Sirious attacked and guide. One day when Serious
(38:05):
grow old gray with many years, Serious to return to land.
Serious body break down, make soil fertile for new growth.
Under dirt where Sirius lay nourish seedlet and young saplings
sprout from ground. After many season, sapling grow into strong
(38:28):
wise elder tree. Number of rings in thick trunk and
branches that touch clouds. Trees, big leaves give shade to
tired creatures searching rest trees. Flowers bloom fruit to feed
creatures hungry bellies. In time, give rise to rich lands,
(38:49):
nurture new life. Serious soul live on through tree a
spirit of forest, like ancestors before. When Serious cross into
spirit world, Serious reunite with clan's people. They're together again
(39:11):
at last. Serious joint arms of brothers and sisters and
rejoice in cycle of life. But Serious soul no belonged
to a spirit world. While Serious alive here in physical
realm Ether logo needs serious and here sunrise to sundown
(39:35):
Ether logo Our serious clan serious either serious is howling
of the sunset? Does that mean our vowe sis is
officially over? Think so think so help ring on the
(40:00):
night cloud tear cycle of lion precipitation. Finally, I'll get
(40:27):
out my rain injured. Up ahead, There's a cave where
we can keep dry for the night. Come on last
one Bear Roger Wood pop rainfall at sunset. Wow, you
(40:55):
heard me? You're still here. InterQuest created by Michael Freiberg,
(41:16):
a production of iHeart Radio and Astro Media Executive produced
by Michael Freiberg and I Hear Radio. Co produced by
Adam Raimundo and Chelsea English. Sound design and mixed by
Dennis Denbeck. Music by Trey Toy. Performances by Matthew Brissard, Ether,
Mike Leibovitz, Serious Mike Kaplan Logo, Lucy poul Umbra, Director
(41:40):
and head writer Michael Freiberg, Writers Tom Delgado and Will Julian,
Story editor Chelsea English dialogue editor jay Anne Wang. Additional
music Matthew Blanca Foley Post. Read fullcast and crew in
the description. Find more podcasts from our radio on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Introquest created by Michael Freiberg, a production of iHeartRadio and
Astro Media Listen with headphones for three D audio. Today
is another fine day out on the Azrael Desert. The
sun's shining right over the dunes, the sands sliding gracefully
(00:27):
beneath our feet, and the three of us taking ample
progress along the main route to the mold Layer. It's
almost as if the heat waves melting right off our backs.
And who knows what great adventures lie ahead. Run ins
with desert bandits, skirmishes with giant scorpions, shifting sands, barren
waste Land's core, even a chance encounter with umbra. Bring
(00:51):
it on. There's nothing the three of us together can't conquer,
and I'll have you back home an imperiod before you
can say why, what's wrong? Logo? Do you have to
narrate out loud each and every step of the way.
I was only attempting to boost group moral and improve
(01:11):
disposition given the intense heat wave. Maintaining a positive attitude
in times like these is critical to overcoming hardship's experience
along a lengthy and difficult mission such as ours. Yeah, well,
it's bad enough for short on supplies and running low
and water. But now serious and I have to listen
to you drone on and on while the sun beats
down on us. Do you have any idea what kind
(01:33):
of torture that is well? Actually, in regards to our
bleak water productosis, I believe I've come across a solution.
I've spotted an oasis on the map ahead, about a
day's worth of travel from here, and only a short
distance off the main route. Before you interjected, I was
about to suggest we had there to refill our canteens
and take respite from the desert sun. Okay, let's that
(01:55):
course for the oasis. In the meantime, it's vital we
can serve energy heat wave doesn't let up. I fear that,
out of all of us, you logo won't make it
through the night. How do you suggest we've asked the
time wow of silence? Yeah, yeah, a moratorium on talking,
(02:16):
silence for a change, at least until sundown. Okay, silence
until sundown. We can use the time to reflect on
our journey. If either of you need inspirations, just think
of the reward that awaits us at the end of
the mission. Now onward we go A reward and end
(02:44):
of mission imperial good, but opals funny How people think
Opal value Opal? Can we eat or drink or used
to fight Opal just shiny rock, and people trade food
water weapon for Opal ha silly Yes, sir me take
(03:09):
best sword yourself sword. You spend hundred hours making in
fiery pick with old hands, and here for a sword.
Take rock. Yes, rock is shiny ha if serious trade
rock for sword, serious youth sword take back rock outsmart
(03:29):
dumb merchant, merchant whoever rock for brain? And people look
down on serious for way he talk. Ah. People fools
value rock like Opal. Now moonbop moon pop not Opal
(03:50):
have value? Moon pop delicious filled with gooey bindleberry jam
mmm mmm. No one fight when half Moonbop in belly.
Everyone loved Moonbob. We're serious that moonbop ah m ah,
(04:22):
but Moonbop non't have value, only stupid rock half value
and foolish people honor trade with Opal because agreed to
with handshake oh and sacred handshake, join hand with strangers,
shake up and down that mean bond of kin. That
(04:42):
foolish as trading Opal and nature bear no shake paw
with wolf respect honor signal without words or motion, but
people know what symbol people want. Confused, create silly rules
to follow, make feel smart, murmur same how people go
(05:08):
live in small box and village away from nature, build
bi gate like cage to keep out world, worship gold
idol that look like self, but that no real life.
This year outside real life, they think with opals, they
buy wisdom, but they go buy true knowledge here away
(05:33):
from village cage, have everything we need and free sunrise,
sun fall, simple, where life meant to be only fool
challenge mother, nature, father time, and in end time and
(05:53):
nature make fool of all even serious go against nature, fall,
prey to illusion, worship, false spirits, Aha serious, no belonging desert,
un journey and far away land serious belong free in
(06:18):
open field, serious even work for Opal and Opal no
have value, all illusions. All will come to end one day. Serious,
settle and make new home, return to green lands, live
(06:38):
simple life outside with nature, but serious no for now
ether needs serious and serious o ether serious life and
end when journey over serious spent, share of opal on
(07:00):
bucketful of moonpop, moon pop, moonpopum sorry, moon pop on mind,
(07:23):
back to desert, silence, stare up at sky that's better.
M Finally, some overcast skies on the horizon, little cloud
cover would be welcome relief from this relentless sun. Maybe
(07:46):
our luck's looking up after all. That one. The puffy
v shaped cloud floating over head. The shape looks familiar,
the way it's gliding across the sky, almost lifelike. That's it,
the Phoenix, the mythical bird of regeneration and rebirth. That's
what it looks like. I can see it clearly on
(08:06):
the fur feathers and outstretched wings, the aquiline beak extending
from its raised head in the center. How it's sourced
seamlessly through the air, rising to reach the sun itself,
only to burn out and be born again. The cloud's
vapors even look like billowing pillars of smoke from here,
as if the ashes of the Phoenix are still burning
hot in the day's sky. And that cloud in the
(08:29):
distance such imposing stature. It practically rises out from the
azure and suits straight into the ozone, stretching onto heights unknown.
It's the shape of a castle's central watch towel. But
what good is that? What could one possibly be keeping
lookout for? All the way up there? Those heights unreachable
by man. Even eagles wouldn't dare. The only use of
(08:49):
tower that tall serves is to spy on the stars themselves.
The sad thing is, we'd build it if we couldn't
vain enough to think us equals worthy of a glimpse
their secrets. Have we learned nothing from the childish hubrists
of those who have come before us? The cycle continues.
The higher we build, the farther we fall, struck down
(09:11):
by the light of the stars, doomed to repeat our
inevitable fate. Come on, either, stop building castles in the sky,
get your head of the clouds for once, focus on
what's important and lies ahead. Use this time to reflect.
What is it about clouds that make us see objects
in them? Do they even have a true shape? Are
(09:33):
they merely blank slates upon which we project our deepest
wishes and desires, only then to see them go poof
into a puff of air? Easy, come, easy go, I guess.
The silver lining is that, at least for a moment,
we get to possess that things will never have in
this life, and better that than ever at all, that
(09:54):
large round one looming at the edge. It can't be
no swear air so clearly, the figure of a face,
the delicate features, soft eyes, puffy cheeks. Button knows it's
almost too perfect for this world. The face in the
cloud my mother's mother. She looks so peaceful up there,
(10:17):
not going anywhere, and just drifting wherever the wind takes her,
and smiling down at me from above. Why did the
stars have to take you so soon? Mom? It's just
a child. He needed you, your gentle touch, your soothing voice,
your warm compassion. How cool this world can be? First,
(10:40):
father slain, leaving you behind with no one by your side.
Then after childbirth, you gave your life for mine. Not
a single day passes where I don't wonder how things
might have been different only you were still here when
I was growing up. What kind of life we could
have had together, you and me in a little house
on a small plot of land. We wouldn't have had much,
(11:03):
but we wouldn't want for much either, And time i'd
learned to be strong like you, I'd even become a
great hunter. Every day you'd wait for me to come
home with a daily catch, and would have a big
feast to send off the night, celebrating life and giving thanks.
We had each other. Maybe instead, under your watch, I'd
become a great scholar, a man of letters. I'd make
(11:24):
you proud. I'd secure us room and board in an
ivory tower and some far off land, and spend my
day studying the meaning of life and learn why bad
things happen to good people. Or I'd give up the
material world altogether and become wise in the matters of
the heart and soul, and show us the true way home.
No matter how the story unfolds, we'd have our time
(11:44):
and the sun together as mother and son. But of
course that mad Tyr and Nakasha back home, had to
take our life away. She contended father to death, and
that killed you. Still in the room, I felt your heartbreak.
I felt umber possess you, possess us, And I'll never
(12:07):
forgive myself for taking from you what you could not
have yourself life. I guess I'll never know the whole truth.
Just left a piece together, tattered tales and dreams. I
guess that's for the best life of pain and suffering,
(12:28):
worse than peaceful death. If only there was a miracle cure,
in a way to turn back time, If only I
could start over, I'd find a way to save you
or trade your life for mine? Now while I have
left or fading memories, and this amulet the painful reminder
of what was taken from me, my mother, what took
(12:51):
her away Umbrah and I returned to free Imperia. Tell
me will there be anything left to save? Either way?
I'll see you soon, so tired of fighting. In the end,
I'll be the one to sing to you. Don't be sad,
don't be blue. I'm the bird who will worry for you,
(13:12):
and it'll carry us both to sleep. I know it's
a foolish thing to ask, but if you can somehow
hear me up there, Mom, can you send me a
sign to let me know you're listening. A single tear
drop rain down from your clouded face on this hot
day would be more than enough, some proof so I
know you're still here, watching over me from high above,
(13:35):
before you float away and I lose you again forever.
Are you okay? Something in my eye? I'm good, I'm good.
I'm good. Let's just keep moving. I always viewed these
(14:11):
travel days as a pleasant yet unfortunate drain on productivity,
But now that we've cut the idle chatter, I suppose
I'm finally free to focus my mind on more substantial matters.
Let's see where to begin. Maybe I'll remap our route
to optimize travel time based on prevailing wind patterns. By
re orienting our trajectory to travel with the winds at
our backs and eliminating trudging against headwinds, we could reduce
air friction caused by dragon saves several minutes an aggregate
(14:33):
travel time. On the other hand, that's rather inconsequential in
the grand scheme of things. We'll get there. While we
get there, Surely there's a cause more deserving of the
attention of my unbridled intellectual brain power. I know. Perhaps
all mo over the theorem, I've been tinkering with the
(14:54):
deterministic theorem of quantum mechanics. If you could isolate the
initial stage of a quantum system down to the atomic level,
then theoretically you could track the development of the system
over time. All you'd have to do is work out
the position and momentum of the atoms during the system's
initial conditions state, which is technically impossible unless you interpret
(15:15):
the system as a series of waves instead of particles. Then,
utilizing a wave function, you can capture the complete information
of all possible probabilistic momentum and position potentialities, effectively transforming
the probabilistic function into a model that's intrinsically deterministic. And
once you solve for the beginning and end state superpositions,
the opportunities for practical applications are endless. I'm thinking reconstitution, intensibility, teleportation,
(15:39):
who knows what else, eurega. But again, on the other hand,
successful implementation of these applications would require overcoming the impediments
of widespread coordination and the lobbying of key personnel, and
upon universal acceptance of my theorem, I'd be viewed as
an acclaimed pioneer in the field, expected to make countless
(16:01):
appearances and accept a multitude of awards. I'm not ready
for that level of commitment, at least not just yet.
There are infinite possibilities for what I can accomplish. I've
never had so much concentrated time to think and be
alone with my thoughts. I can't wait to unlease this
newfound mental energy on the world. That is, once I
(16:21):
identify a topic suitable for study, where to begin, something weighty,
something meaningful yet manageable, really there's nothing too big or
too small in scope, as long as it's of the
utmost importance. I bet there's some mystery that's been right
in front of us the entire time, just waiting to
be solved, that once we see it will be in
(16:42):
odd how we could have ever missed it in the
first place. But what could that be? I know, I'll
start by analyzing the very desert environment we've been traversing.
What's out here with us in these sands? Any moment
now it'll come to me, think logo, Think ah, what's
(17:02):
the use? There's nothing out here but sand, miles and
miles of insignificant sand. Who even knows where the desert
begins and where it ends, or how many grains of
sand are even in this place? Surely that number is incomputable,
though maybe if the base counting unit was larger than
a singular grain, that problem could start to be addressed.
(17:23):
A better inquiry than is how many handfuls of sand
is this desert comprised of. That's certainly a non inconsequential
improvement as far as solving this dilemma goes. And I
don't say that lately. They're a handful of sand much
more reasonable. Huh. It does also beg another perplexing question,
(17:46):
how many grains of sand make up one handful? Clearly,
the amount of sand in my hand is greater than
a singular grain, no doubt about that. The heft, shape,
and volume all make that very clear. I'd venture it's
even ten thousand times greater number than the amount of
a singular grain. But say I were to remove one
grain of sand from the pile, that leaves nine thousand,
nine hundred ninety nine grains of sand remain. Or set
(18:09):
another way, these nine thousand, nine hundred ninty nine grains
of sand now comprise the handful, an irrefutable deduction, now
bold as I may be. If I were to remove
a second grain from this pile, I'm left with nine thousand,
nine hundred ninety eight grains of sand, categorically still by
all counts and measures, a handful of sand. Hypothetically speaking,
and strictly, as an exercise, dare to take away one
(18:33):
more grain of sand, nine thousand, nine hundred ninety seven
grains now remain. If nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety
eight grains of sand were a handful, and you're removed
a single grain from the pile, no material amount of
information has been lost. Therefore, I propose that nine thousand,
nine hundred ninety seven grains must also be classified as
a handful. Deriving the base level axiom, the rule is
as simple as follows. A handful of sand minus a
(18:56):
single grain remains a handful of sand. Taken to its
logical extreme. If I were to keep removing grains of
sand one by one from the pile, then that must
mean a single grain of sand is equal to a handful.
How can that be? It's, by definition a logical contradiction.
The very foundation of deductive reasoning has been shattered. At
(19:17):
what point on an infinite continuum does one definite article
give way to another? If no single point exists, then
the ramifications are limitless. Day becomes night, past merges with future,
and life is death. Then the only conclusion that follows
is that every part of a system, at every level,
is equal to the entirety of the system itself. Consider
(19:37):
the implications on a cosmic level. If one can't distinguish
between a grain of sand and a handful of sand,
how can one make sense of the universe Applying the
same handful to grain principle. The universe is made up
of galaxies, which in turn are comprised of solar systems,
which themselves consists of planets that are populated by civilizations
that divide out into societies made up of people like us,
(20:01):
made up of us. That means we are the universe
experiencing itself. It's all here in these grains of sand.
The answer in the palm of my head. The entire
universe is nothing but a logo. Sorry, the sand in
my hand made me sneeze sand hand? What are you
(20:22):
talking about? The desert sandy universe of the cosmic continuum
or never mind? You should be using this time to
think and reflect. Stop playing with sand and find something
more meaningful to occupy your mind. Sure ether, I'm working
on it, and like the eye on your amulet, I'll
keep my eyes open for inspiration. My amulet, the eye
(21:00):
of imperiod. What do I make of it? How is
it that the one thing keeping me safe from umbra?
It's the one thing holding me back from seeing through
the lines and finding out the truth. It can't be right,
can it? How would I think that? That's crazy? Talk?
Complete another nonsense. Those words must have been umbres they
have to be serious, and Logo could read my thoughts
(21:24):
right now, they'd want me can find They knew how
much I longed to return to Umbers in a realm.
How learning I find her call, They'd think I'd lost
it for sure, Uther has finally gone off the deep end.
Now I must be wrong. Why does it feel so right?
How come? Every time I take off my amulet and
(21:45):
enter the intra, I feel like I'm on the verge
of learning some great truth, discovering an unknown insight into
our existence, and gleaning a deeper meaning of life. But
I never quite get there, do I? Sure? Sometimes I
feel close, like it's only barely out of grasp, that
if I could just reach down deep enough, I could
nearly touch it. But the end, it always slips through
(22:06):
my fingers and they come up short, and I'm left
chasing shadows, with no real form, void of any realization
or new awakening, with nothing to show for my troubles
but regret and disillusion, and worse, the vague feeling that
I'm slowly losing some part of me. And yet some
(22:27):
part of me, some crazy, twisted, messed up part of me,
knows that it's simply because I haven't gone far enough,
but I'm nowhere near the limit. I have to keep
pushing past the brink and journey into the deepest recesses
and darkest corners of my mind. And only by traversing
(22:48):
the depths of my soul will I one day reached
the bottom and break through to the other side, and
there will find it, that undeniable truth, finally crystallized, something
to make sense of it all, to reveal to me
my true self and make me whole and give meaning
to my life. But these days I can't shake the
(23:12):
feeling that I'm not going in the right direction anymore,
like I'm just a tourist in my own body, simply
passing through. I'm traveling through this desert. My mind is
flying through hyperspace, and I don't know if I'm getting
any closer to where I was heading, or if I'm
just falling further and further into this bottomless black pit
of self. And I don't know anymore if I want
(23:36):
to know which way is up. Maybe that's just how
the world is. There are some things we'll never know,
and though we look for answers, we're destined to always
be searching, finding nothing but endless questions and did things
get so bad? Where did I go so wrong? Why
(23:57):
is this happening to me? What did I do to
deserve any of this? How come this is my life?
But there's nothing there, no answer, no purpose, no meaning,
no end. On the other hand, there are things in
life we somehow intuitively know, even if we can't understand
(24:19):
why we know them, Like how a newborn cries at
the sight of a predators shadow despite having never seen
its face before. Fear primal, fear of the unknown, the
dark silence, oblivion of what lurks just beneath the surface.
It's instinctual. Or how about love, how an infant comes
(24:43):
out of the womb knowing it's safe in the arms
of its mother. We may never find answers for these
unprovable truths, but their knowledge is wisdom we already possessed
with them. Or maybe the greatest folly of some truths
is that there's no one to believe them, not even yourself.
For all I know, this journey i'm one has no end.
(25:03):
There won't be any milestones of growth or deeper understanding.
I hope for enlightenment, but will be left in the dark.
How can I even be so sure that any progress
I think I've made along the way isn't really just
me refusing to acknowledge that I've gone down the wrong path?
Could I accept the truth if it was right in
front of me? They call Umber the master of delusion?
(25:25):
But I can't tell any longer where either ends and
Umber begins. I thought I could explore Umbra's intrat free
of cost, that I had nothing to lose. But that's
not true. After all, I have been losing my sanity,
my health, my faith, myself, and now unlost. I feel
(25:49):
Umbra's hold over me growing stronger every day as my
descent into the interest deepens and I fall further and
further under her command. Is this the unthinkable truth kept
for myself? That I'm going mad? That maybe I've already
gone mad? But this truth has always been my destiny,
hasn't it? Since the day I struggled into existence, born
(26:11):
to a mother, damned by Umbra and bound to suffer
myself a tangled web. I've been mortally wounded since birth.
I'd be lying to myself if I said there was
any other way for me my whole life. I've known
it in my whole life. I feared it. It was
only a matter of time until I lost myself to
umbra completely. But I'm no longer scared of that time,
(26:36):
because I fear that moment may have already passed. The
others have no idea how deep I've fallen. I wonder
if I really do. For all I know, I could
be leading serious and Logo farther and farther into the
dark night of her abyss, taking him straight into her tramp.
Surely they have better sense than me and won't be
(26:57):
tricked so easily. Guess I won't know for sure. Well,
I I suppose the deeper and deeper you fall into umbre,
the harder it is to distinguish the truth from a lie.
That's the curse of going mad, isn't it. That's the
blessing of going mad, isn't it? You can no longer
tell just how mad you've gone, the paradox of madness.
(27:19):
The matter you are, the more warp your logic and
deluded your reasoning, So you convince yourself that you and
only you, are in possession of some secret, undeniable truth.
In reality, the truth couldn't be farther away, And who
can tell you you're wrong. When you're up as down,
left as right, and black as white, untenable leaps that
(27:41):
once required mental gymnastics to reach are now level ground.
From there, you'll ditch your old beliefs in a heartbeat
and start swearing by the impossible, like the moon is
made of cheese, or that you're already dead and the
world is controlled by a secret society of top hat
wearing gophers conspiring to dance the bung on your grave.
(28:13):
Don't encourage your behavior. Are but our silence agreement? I'm sorry,
you're right logo. I was overcome with a spontaneous fit
of hysteria, That's all. You won't hear another sound out
of me until dark, Promise good. There's that sound again,
(28:45):
the hum, a tritone interval followed by the rest of it,
our peggiated diminished chord. I've heard the sound of myriad
of times before in the desert, but on a still
afternoon like today, the hum's mooteeth most strikingly pierces through
the background clutter. What kind of entity could be responsible
(29:07):
for emitting this strange hum? It's impossible to place one
thing's for certain. Whatever it may be, it's not local
to the desert's natural acoustic ecology. I wonder if the
others hear it too, though it harmonizes rather well with
the external desert environment, so I wouldn't be surprised if
(29:29):
it's virtually imperceptible to the untrained ear. Come to think
of it, I never paid it much attention before, But
in stark contrast to how physically dreadful this desert can be,
its soundscape is actually rather comforting. Ah. Underlying this sonic
environment must be a bevy of unique sounds, each contributed
(29:52):
by independent actors possessing a distinct acoustic signature, that by
chance collectively come together to form this euphonious desert symphony.
I wonder if I can isolate the diverse sources responsible
for the various rhythms and harmonies. Perhaps if I fully
immersed myself in their sounds, I can localize their respective origins. AH.
(30:13):
The serene chirping of desert locusts their signature staccato a
love song for the ages. With his mating call, the
male attempts to court the female by rubbing his hind
legs together to produce the effect, in essence sending her
an auditory smooch from across the dunes. Judging by the
sounds intensity, there are only a few of them, present
a good sign as locusts are typically solitary insects, but
(30:36):
are prone to large groups swarming when agitated. For our sake,
let's hope they keep singing their sweet sounding melody. I
wonder what else is out here overhead? The dust chorus
of the sing song bat a multiphonic melody of squeaks, squawks,
and squabbles as they take flight, indicating that niffall will
soon be upon us. The bats call out an harmonic
(30:58):
duet as they communicate with one another. When a bat
has located a food source or identified a potential threat,
it'll alert the colony with a high pitched shrill. In turn,
the colony responds in kind to spread the news or
sound the alarm. What a special treated it be. If
only I could listen in on the sounds of their
echolocation used to navigate and hunt in the dark. Unfortunately,
(31:18):
it operates on a frequency just outside our auditory threshold
for hearing, so I'll have to focus my eavesdropping elsewhere. Ah,
the wind's vibrant breeze Mother nature's own call of the wild,
capable of rustling the leaves on the highest tree branch
and moving the clouds themselves with one mighty breath. No
(31:40):
noise from a mere creature can match the ethereal beauty
of her soul and what range. In an instant, the
wind's temperament turns from the gentle whisper of an airy
zephyr floating down from up above to the guttural roar
of a merciless gale forcefully swirling a fierce desert sandstorm.
She remained calm while we walk her dunes, and finally,
(32:05):
the missing piece of the puzzle, the sound of the
shifting sands beneath our feet, a constant deep crunch caused
by the movement of our boots, our own contribution to
the complex acoustic ecology. With each step we take, we
shape the very desert soundscape, reaching our ears In truth,
(32:26):
analyzing its component pieces does nothing to demystify the desert
symphony I'm hearing. How is it possible that each voice
operating independently sings a unique tune with respect to tone, pitch, volume,
and duration that not only minimizes acoustic interference with other
nearby vocalists, but seamlessly harmonizes in sonic union. It almost
seems too perfect, as if the entire thing has been
(32:50):
coordinated by some omniscient composer, maybe decoded at a lower level.
The notes in these sounds carry some deeper message beyond
the pleasant nature of their melodies. If I could find
a way to decipher these seemingly random groupings of notes,
perhaps I'd unveil a hidden language of sorts. After all,
what we perceive as sound is really just vibrations traveling
(33:11):
through the air and acoustic waves. Hypothetically, I wonder if
you were to map the shape of the waves whether
you could start to understand the information contained within. Then,
with a powerful enough converter, it might be possible to
use the sound waves to develop a common tongue and
even converse with the environment itself, not unlike how a
satellite dish receives and transmits information in the form of
electromagnetic waves the satellite dish. Funny, how ether and serious
(33:37):
don't even know what a satellite dish is. Yet that's
what they've been hired to retrieve, or is that why
they've been hired to retrieve it? I wonder what plans
the agency has for the satellite dish. Who might they
be trying to communicate with? Logo? Where are you going
with this? You know that information is classified for a reason.
(33:59):
Life would be so much easier if only everyone had
antennas in their head and all communication was conducted through
direct broadcast, with no figurative expressions or colloquialisms to obscure language.
We'd be left with clearly transmitted messages. Maybe then people
would finally understand me and I in turn them. The
(34:22):
irony is some of the most important things in life
can't even be expressed in words. They have to be
experienced to be understood. Something I'm still learning, like the
relief you get from the first drop of water on
a hot desert day, or the sense of wonder that
washes over you and taking in a sunset, or that warm,
(34:44):
fuzzy sensation you feel after a tough day traveling in
the dunes, knowing you'll be okay because your friends are
by your side. There it is again, the hum shoha
(35:05):
ha um, the hum catchy tune, isn't it h hum
m h nothing? Carry on walking ah h h Armadillo
(35:29):
desert skull poor little fellow, not even armored shell enough
to survive desert element. But Serious no weep for fallen friend.
This not end of path for animal Armadillo passed from
physical realm to spirit world. Everything has spirit, not just people,
(35:54):
an animal, tree, rock, river, All have life force, make
up world's soul hum and all die. One day ev'n
ancient river like great snake, reach stage when it starting
to slow. Come day when river carry last rock, tributary
(36:15):
pay last offering and water reach ocean. Final time, River's
bed turn'd to muddy grave as water run dry and
river complete cycle of life. Soon fertile soil near river
turn barren, and roots of plants begin to rot. Where
(36:36):
once was life now is death. Where once have water
now hath drought. But this not end of path. One
day heavy rain come and from dry channel now stream
borne flow through valleys and canyons, River current come back
(36:59):
in arms of old carry on life for next generation.
Serious No. Even though Serious Clan no longer here in
physical realm, with Serious Clan spirit live on, Serious feel
(37:19):
Clan energy around him. Big chazooka hot headed warrior in clan,
now live on a soul of mount fumus in homeland,
ready to erupt as volcano Noble Jedessa healer to ill
her soul among waterfalls. If energy and life to fallen,
(37:42):
Vdias grand Seer, knowledge and way of stars and spirits.
Now keep watch above as great Cloud. Clan spirits live
on in all of nature in rays of light, shine
down on Sirious attacked and guide. One day when Serious
(38:05):
grow old gray with many years, Serious to return to land.
Serious body break down, make soil fertile for new growth.
Under dirt where Sirius lay nourish seedlet and young saplings
sprout from ground. After many season, sapling grow into strong
(38:28):
wise elder tree. Number of rings in thick trunk and
branches that touch clouds. Trees, big leaves give shade to
tired creatures searching rest trees. Flowers bloom fruit to feed
creatures hungry bellies. In time, give rise to rich lands,
(38:49):
nurture new life. Serious soul live on through tree a
spirit of forest, like ancestors before. When Serious cross into
spirit world, Serious reunite with clan's people. They're together again
(39:11):
at last. Serious joint arms of brothers and sisters and
rejoice in cycle of life. But Serious soul no belonged
to a spirit world. While Serious alive here in physical
realm Ether logo needs serious and here sunrise to sundown
(39:35):
Ether logo Our serious clan serious either serious is howling
of the sunset? Does that mean our vowe sis is
officially over? Think so think so help ring on the
(40:00):
night cloud tear cycle of lion precipitation. Finally, I'll get
(40:27):
out my rain injured. Up ahead, There's a cave where
we can keep dry for the night. Come on last
one Bear Roger Wood pop rainfall at sunset. Wow, you
(40:55):
heard me? You're still here. InterQuest created by Michael Freiberg,
(41:16):
a production of iHeart Radio and Astro Media Executive produced
by Michael Freiberg and I Hear Radio. Co produced by
Adam Raimundo and Chelsea English. Sound design and mixed by
Dennis Denbeck. Music by Trey Toy. Performances by Matthew Brissard, Ether,
Mike Leibovitz, Serious Mike Kaplan Logo, Lucy poul Umbra, Director
(41:40):
and head writer Michael Freiberg, Writers Tom Delgado and Will Julian,
Story editor Chelsea English dialogue editor jay Anne Wang. Additional
music Matthew Blanca Foley Post. Read fullcast and crew in
the description. Find more podcasts from our radio on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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