All Episodes

March 6, 2015 • 17 mins

"This is the Way the World Begins" by C.L. Holland

Author
C.L. Holland - Twitter | Blog | "Conversations with Dragons"

Cast
Rock Manor - Twitter | Manor House | E-Mail

"Paradise" by James Valvis

Author
James Valvis - Twitter | Amazon: "How to Say Goodbye"

Cast
D.E. Medus - david.medusmedia.com

Music
Into the Unknown by Oddsprite

Special thanks
I would like to thank our producers - Jay Wolf and Andy Holman
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello and welcome to meters podepisode eight. I'm your host D
Mitas. This week we've got twostories for you. The first this
is the way the world begins byCL Holland. CL Holland is a
British writer of fantasy andscience fiction and occasional
poet. Her works have appeared inpublications such as daily
science fiction, bards, andsages quarterly ruins,

(00:23):
metropolis and writers of thefuture 25. Her blog and Twitter
can be found in the show notesas well as links to her writing
collection conversations withdragons from which this story
was taken. The story is read tous by rock Manor. Rock Manor is
an entrepreneur and professionalvoiceover artist and voice actor
whose narrations have beenfeatured on the no sleep podcast

(00:45):
in the tales to terrifiedpodcast, Chilling Tales for Dark
Nights found on YouTube. Andhe's also a producer of a new
series called Welcome to manorhouse debuting this month on
YouTube, Vimeo, iTunes and othervideo sharing platforms. You can
follow him on Twitter at theRock Manor or you can email him
for business inquiries at RockManor house@gmail.com. Here's

(01:10):
our first story
this is the way the worldbegins. By CL Holland NARRATED
BY ROCK Manor. On theobservation deck of the

(01:30):
terraforming ship, life Bringer,Commander Thoreau watches the
surface of the planet below burnon the screens before him.
Flames ride and smoke boils, andsometimes he catches a glimpse
of tall thin figures movingthrough the destruction without
concern. There the cause of it.After all, he flicks a switch to

(01:55):
change his view. Abruptly hesees one of the 20 foot tall
humanoids walking stiff leggedacross the screen. This one is
apparently female, breasts andhips are visible beneath the
thin blue fabric that shroudsher. Although having seen the
creatures in the flesh, she'stoo towering and sinewy for him

(02:18):
to think of her as her. alwayinterrupting commander. The
voice from the doorway isunfamiliar. But Thoreau
recognizes the man from hispicture prefactor kiss if the
man for whom all this is beingdone, every prefactor aspires to

(02:39):
a planet of his own, after all,thorough salutes, even though
the man isn't military, bettersafe than sorry, when it comes
to the men with the power tosanction this kind of
destruction. Not at all.perfector I've just been to
visit the handlers. Kiss F says.Fascinating how those people

(03:02):
keep your automatons on thecontrol. They let me touch one,
you know, the female code is adead fish, her skin. I don't
think she liked me. He shootsthere a wink and moves to the
screen to consult the records.Delta has a similar echo system

(03:24):
has cut through did beforeterraforming. Interesting. I
wonder if it reminds them ofhome. He grins at Thoreau
returns a weak smile. No plaguethis time. Don't they usually
wipe out the life before theyburned? Yes, sir. Thoreau

(03:45):
gestures at the female figure.The female didn't start a plague
this time. He feels a squirm ofdiscomfort as he adds. This time
they're burning everythingalive, but you still have
control. Gesetze gaze flickersfrom the screens to Thoreau and
back. Yes, sir. One of the malesis kneeling. Thoreau flicks

(04:08):
another switch that sends apulse of electricity through the
pylons that juts from his back.The featureless face raises in
what Thoreau imagines might be ahowl in the mail lurches to his
feet. He begins walking againwith flame trickling from his
fingers. But we can terraformthe planet does normal kissa

(04:31):
Vasques it won't cause anydisruption. No, sir. I reported
the anomaly to the amorality,and they advise to proceed as
normal. Once we've completedrepatriation or the automatons
to the ship. Sometimes there Ohthinks the Add morality named
him automatons. To make everyoneforget that these had once been

(04:52):
free living creatures. Theycertainly weren't going to call
them Gods as the population ofkifaru had done And before their
planet was taken in their godsand slaved prefactor kiss F
nods. Gallery on then sir.Thoreau turns back to his

(05:16):
screens to see the three in acircle looking Skywards. For one
disconcerting moment, he thinksthey look straight through the
screen at him. His fingers reachfor the buttons to send a jolt
of electricity through each ofthem and falters. He has never

(05:36):
liked using punishment. Theautomatons are all too eager to
use destruction once unleashed.Thoreau suspects it's a reaction
to their enslavement. To addmore suffering to it seems
unnecessary. The male's kneeland dig their fingers into the
earth. Abruptly the fires diedown and leave the planet

(06:01):
surface smoldering. This too isnew. Usually they leave the
fires to burn until nothing isleft.
Thoreau reaches for the calm tocontact the amorality again, but
another alarm sounds before hereaches it. The lights turn red.

(06:22):
Thoreau remembers his training,contamination. Thoreau hits the
button that isolates his controlroom from the rest of the ship.
But already he's thinking of theenvironmental systems of
incubation periods of prefactorkiss of touching the female. The
female always starts a plaguebefore the males burn the

(06:45):
planet. When he looks back atthe screen, the automatons are
moving again. They walk hand inhand across the ravage surface,
soot, coats their feet. In theirwake, he sees things stirring
beneath the ash, shapesunfolding and shaking the dust

(07:06):
from their bodies. Life begins anew, how ironic. He thinks that
we use them only fordestruction, and thought to
create life there ourselves. Thefemale pauses as if she hears
his thoughts for a moment. Shefaces him from the screen. In

(07:29):
this time, he knows she seeshim. The featureless flesh moves
in what might be a smile if shehad lips. Already, Thoreau can
feel his chest tightening,possibly just fear. But the map
shows red dots all over theship. As the Environmental

(07:51):
Systems pick up a contamination,it's spreading fast, but then it
would have to to wipe out thewhole planets in less than 24
hours. His vision is blurring.Thoreau touches his fingers to
his eyes, and they come awayspotted with red. It will at
least be quick amid the flashingred lights and blaring klaxon

(08:17):
Thoreau watches them create lifeand waits for his to end.
Our second story is Paradise byJames valveless. James valveless
is the author of How to SayGoodbye from aortic books. His
poems and stories have appearedand animal science fiction,
daily science fiction,Plowshares strange horizons, the

(08:39):
sun, and many others. His poetryhas been featured in verse
daily, his fiction was chosenfor the 2013 sundress best of
the net. In 2014, he was awardeda King County for culture Grants
for the Arts, a former US Armysoldier, he lives near Seattle,
I'll be narrating a story foryou. So without further ado,

(09:00):
here's our second story.Paradise by James valveless. I
finally tracked him down to asmall house in the woods, not
far from a lake, not far from afarmhouse. I knew this house or
something like it. I'd imagineone that resembled it many times
when Kelly was still alive. Theold couple claimed they didn't

(09:24):
know anything about him. We knewthis to be true. He had taken
shelter in a shed where the oldman kept his fishing gear and
farming tools. The deserter usethat equipment to get
nourishment. The old man had notbeen out there in some time
because he was ill. The coupledid not share what ailment he
suffered from and neither did Iask. It didn't matter. The

(09:46):
couple were unimportant. Allthat mattered was the land and
the uninvited guests insidetheir shed. I could not risk any
interference however, so I gotthe permission to secure the
area to collect the soldier Theyagreed, but insisted I not
disturb anything. War or no war,the woman said they wanted no

(10:07):
part of the comings and goingsof the world anymore. They were
content to live out their livesin peace, peace. Everyone
claimed they wanted it, but onlya few were willing to fight for
it. Where did they think thepeace they enjoyed came from
mana from heaven. We surroundedthe shed. I had snipers up in

(10:27):
several trees and boots on theground everywhere. Choppers were
on standby, just in case, butstill on the ground so as not to
alert the target. Even the riverwas being patrolled. In case the
deserter decided to try his luckthat way. There wasn't any
chance he'd slipped out beforewe arrived. We had satellite
photos and had maintained aerialvisual contact with observer for

(10:50):
two days. Now, he was in thereall right. Probably sleeping,
hungry, confused. Yes, confused,especially that he would be
curious. He would havequestions. I was alright, I had
some of my own. I stood outsidethe doorway. Come out, Clark. I

(11:12):
said, we found you. It's allover. I saw the curtain push
back a fraction of an inch andone mechanical I look out, he
would not be able to see all thenumbers that were arrayed
against him. But he wouldn't beable to discern upon seeing me
in the small number of otherunits accounted to 1005. Knowing
if I got there, I'd have to givethe order to fire, but did not

(11:35):
even get to 1002 for Clarkopened the door and stepped out
into the light. He held out hishands. He was unarmed. I
approached him there was noreason to be afraid. He asked,
How did you find me? Where elsewould you be? I should have
known better than to think Icould outwit my programmer. He

(11:56):
said it's something like humanstrying to outwit God. Nobody is
smarter than the Creator. Iprefer to think of you as a son,
I said, and me as a father doesa Father sent His son off to
war, if he must, does a fatherlie to his son, I have never
lied to you. Then you lie toyourself. How so? For one thing,

(12:22):
he said, I am not a son. I am arobot, a machine with all the
functionality of a human. Ireminded him and all the same
hopes and desires and dreams.No, he yelled, not my hopes and
dreams. Yours implanted in meprogrammed like this. He waved
his arms around the house, theriver, the llamas, all of it,

(12:46):
your dream, your desire, yourhope for after the war. That's
how you knew you could find mehere or somewhere like here,
because it's your dream. Youwould not be the first son to
share the same dream as hisfather. I am not a sun clerk
said Stop calling me that.Everything here is so wonderful.

(13:09):
Everything. But
but I've been to the library intown. I have read the laws. You
know, a robot cannot ownproperty. You know, he cannot
displace a human being from hisland. You know, I can never be
anything but a soldier. And now,I am here. And I know why you

(13:31):
dream of a simple life wherethere is no conflict, no hate,
no destruction. Nothing but thefull moon at night and the kiss
of the fog in the morning. ButI'm not allowed to have it. So
why program that desire into mewhy? I saw it and walked to
clerk. All the robots behind mehad their weapons drawn, but I

(13:54):
was in no danger. Clark could nomore kill me than I could fly to
Venus. He seemed more brokenthan his programming could
allow. I had not designed thismodel to be able to cry. Now I
was thankful for that simpleprecaution. You could not allow
yourself to feel too muchcompassion for your soldiers.
They serve purposes. They keptus free. They enacted our

(14:18):
vengeance. They suffered for ourrare moments of compassion. But
we did not want or need tolisten to their poetry. Still, I
cannot say I was not touched.Not one and 100,000 units would
leave the front lines and desertin an attempt to achieve the
promised preprogram dream. Hewas special, different. I laid

(14:40):
my hand on his shoulder. Myfinger placed anywhere on his
body would scan my print andshut him down for good as soon
as I released him. A precautionI built into these later models,
in case a rare event like thisoccurred. I hold on a moment
meeting his eye. It's like this,Clark, I said we can make you
almost you Men, and this adds toyour fighting capabilities. But

(15:03):
it also invites severalweaknesses. Without such dreams
and desire to be achieved afterthe fighting is done. Fighting
we all know will never end. Anywell programmed robot would not
see the point in fighting. It'sa problem that must be gotten
around. And so I programmed intoyou a dream, my dream, a house,

(15:25):
a river, small herd of llamas,good fishing, wet, overcast
days. Paradise for us. It'sparadise. I see. clerk said, Did
you enjoy your time in paradise?I asked. Yes. He said, Yes, I

(15:46):
did. I nodded. And then Ireleased my hand from him and
shut him down forever.
Last year, I got involved with acharity called extra life. We
raise money by having gamingmarathons and collecting
donations. I belong to the RDUGuild and last year our group

(16:08):
raised $7,860 for the Children'sMiracle Network. More
specifically do Children'sHospital in Durham, North
Carolina. Extra Life as a wholeraised over $6 million. That's a
lot of money doing a lot of goodfor those sick kids. I'm putting
a link in the show notes forthis episode, as well as the
link in the sidebar me thispod.com It's a very worthy

(16:30):
cause, and I hope you'llconsider donating. And if you're
in the triangle area, and I'dlike to become part of the fun,
get in touch and I'll give youthe information that you need.
I'd like to thank our seniorproducer Jay Wolf and producer
Andy Holman for their continuedsupport. If you'd like to
support the show monetarily,please visit
midisport.com/donation We have amonthly support option as well

(16:51):
as one offs. We also acceptBitcoin. If you can't donate,
please at least consider tellingfriends about us or leaving a
review on iTunes. Our thememusic comes to us courtesy of
odd Sprite. You can check outtheir work at odd sprite.com
Mitas pod is released underCreative Commons Attribution non
commercial no derivativeslicense. I mean you can share it
all you like just don't changeit or sell it. We'll see you

(17:14):
next time folks.
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