April 8, 2025 • 48 mins
Listen in to the final installment of our Space Horror series. We will conclude with two epic space horror stories for you.
Pariah's Last Breath was written by Curtis A. Deeter and narrated by Denali Bartell. Check out Denali's work here. Follow Curtis on Facebook @AuthorCurtisADeeter and Instaram is @Curtis_A._Deeter.
Orion Beckons was written by Benjamin Cooper and narrated by Mike Macera. Keep tabs on Benjamin's work here: www.MindofBenjaminCooper.com and listen to Mike's band Beach Therapy on Spotify.
Get Lunatics Merch here. Join the discussion on Discord. Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.
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Join the conversation on Discord. Support us on Patreon.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the Lunatics Radio Hourpodcast.
I am your host, abbey Branker,and I am thrilled and sad that
we have come to the end of theLunatics Radio Hour podcast.
I am your host, abby Branker,and I am thrilled and sad that
we have come to the end of theSpace Horror series.
So this is the secondinstallment of Space Horror
Stories.
We have two very epic andhorrifying, of course,
space-themed stories to pull youinto, and these really explore
(00:40):
space in two totally differentways, I think.
But I don't know, I'm curious,cur.
I don't know, I'm curious.
Curious.
Everybody's thoughts, as always.
Please come to our Discord andwe'd love to kind of have the
conversation continue there.
It does not need to just be metalking to you.
I would love to hear what youthink about these stories, what
you really take from them, andif you are a writer and you want
to work with us, you can headto lunaticsprojectcom and click
(01:03):
on submit for more informationabout the topics for stories
that we're currently looking forand timelines.
So let's just get right into it, because we have these two
amazing stories that are burninga hole in my pocket.
I'm just going to roll the tapeand we'll come back and talk
about it after.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Pariah's Last Breath.
Written by Curtis A Deeter,read by Denali Bartell.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Rajul's final breaths were strained and her chest
filled with icy, hot fire.
Every time she inhaled, silencescreamed at her.
As she stared into its eyes,his eyes, she reminded herself
the face staring back had been afamiliar one, a dear old friend
, but it was so horriblyunfamiliar now.
A grotesque, twisted visage ofsomebody she used to know.
(01:58):
This face staring back was thelast thing she would ever see.
As dark space faded from herperiphery, rajul's mind wandered
and the cold didn't bother heranymore.
Forever was not far away Forher.
It all started when she firstleft planetside, but it only
began to end a couple hours ago.
There's nothing here, man Shit.
(02:20):
Ahmed slapped his palms on thenav console Scan again.
But the power cells Scan again.
Ort dammit, we've been out herefor months.
Ain't no way we're this alone.
He turned away and grumbledsomething to himself about the
improbability of wandering sofar.
Off course, rajul rolled hereyes.
They'd been drifting atsublight for almost half as long
(02:43):
as she had been pilot.
This wasn't how her promisingcareer was supposed to play out
when she signed to the Pariah.
She expected excitement andrewards beyond her wildest
dreams.
That was what the Holocure hadpromised.
At least it was to be theopportunity of a lifetime, A
chance to leave her dust-coveredhome planet behind for good and
(03:03):
discover the universe'sinfinite possibilities.
Rajul sighed and coded anotherscan.
By her calculations, they hadmaybe one or two days left, and
only if they decided they nolonger needed life support
systems Running water or O2, forexample.
But what good were those ifthey couldn't find their way
home?
Scan initiated, she said,results incoming less than
(03:24):
thirty seconds.
Rajul rested her chin on herfists.
A far-off star twinkled, itsbinary mate dulled beneath its
sudden flash of radiance.
She couldn't help but smile asshe stared into the vast array
of brilliance laid before them.
So many many possibilities.
She sighed again.
A weight suddenly lifted offher shoulders.
(03:46):
For rare views like this, thedull stretches in between seemed
so insignificant.
It was hard not to feel a surgeof dopamine among such giants.
So many ways for an orphan tomake a better life for herself.
It's funny.
We spend all our lives lookingout, don't we?
To the next block, to thehorizon, to the stars.
(04:06):
Then, when we've finally gottenwhere we've always wanted to go
, we set our sights even farther.
Great, fine, whatever.
Why don't you stop daydreamingand read the scan results?
Ahmed adjusted the thrusters andtweaked the pariah's trajectory
with an inhuman precision.
We could die out here.
You know It'll be you that goesfirst.
Think about that for a secondand focus.
(04:28):
We're dead already she wantedto say.
Her reverie abruptly ended we'reghosts and no one can save us.
They'd been floating listlesslyfor too long.
The light techs blew within thescav's first few days and they
were beyond reach of even themost sophisticated
communications arrays.
Not even Ahmed, with hisbuilt-in training mods and
(04:50):
schema upgrades, could repairthe pariah.
Her life support was strainedand any minute they would be
oxygenless, powerless andstranded in the middle of the
cluster's largest known debrisfield.
Many folks made their fortunesout here, but many more perished
, becoming yet another statistic.
Well, ahmed's glare cut throughthe scant remains of her
(05:12):
confidence.
It always did.
Give me a sec to review theoutput.
Man, I'm not like you, I can'tjust dial in.
And voila, here's a full reportof the detailed stat in and 723
different contingencies.
Ahmed shoved her aside.
Let me do it.
Then.
He unhinged the flap behind hisneck and unwound the fine wire
(05:33):
tapped into his brainstem.
The wire suctioned to theconnector port and he cracked
his knuckles.
His eyes slammed shut anddarted in their sockets.
They moved beneath his eyelidslike beetles beneath the sand.
I wonder what he dreams about,rajul thought, since he always
gets so upset when I tell himabout mine.
Why do you even keep me around?
(05:54):
Rajul mumbled, pouting.
She slumped in her seat andcrossed her arms.
You make good coffee.
A second later his eyes shutopen.
There's a vessel.
Initially it looked as if itmight be another derelict scav,
but nobody other than her engineis alive.
Rajul squinted into thedistance.
All she could see were far-offstars and indiscernible chunks
(06:16):
of space.
Flotsam.
Dozens of crews had scouredthis sector before them.
Dozens would come long afterthey were gone.
No one, as far as she couldrecount, had ever found an
intact vessel, let alone onewith an active power signature.
Of course, there were rumorsabout this sector when crews
much better trained and far moreexperienced than the likes of
(06:38):
Rajul and Ahmed went missing.
It was only a matter of whatstories would be told and in
what circles before rumors beganto spread like viruses,
specters, it was said, ghostshaunting the black abyss, ghosts
of those seeking their fortunesand those people who died
tragically seeking refuge froman ever-changing universe that
(06:59):
no longer seemed to have roomfor the human race.
She ran her eyes over the report.
Ahmed was right.
That ship was alive.
Spectres or no spectres, youreally like my coffee?
Sure, it reminds me how goodI've got it back at center.
Ahmed winked, swiveled back tohis station and enhanced the
viewpoint.
(07:20):
There it was, in the center ofthe zoomed in display.
Irrefutable evidence,alhamdulillah.
She's a beaut.
Is that a Mark 12?
Rajul licked her lips.
She wasn't sure God was outthis far with them, but she damn
sure needed a huge payout.
Any of the later Mark serieswould have done fine, but a 12?
(07:40):
.
Rajul could barely contain herexcitement.
Oh yeah, with a Litex V1072?
Uh-huh, and a built-in autogalley, her mouth practically
watered.
She could hear the row stakessizzling already.
Yes, yes and yes.
All of that and more besides.
Raj, we struck big with thisone.
(08:02):
Rajul squealed If what thereport said was true and they
approached with two partspatience and one part precision,
the power left in the Mark'sreserves should be enough to
deliver them to the nearest waystation.
From there they could trade abit of salvage, recharge the
pariah and make it home to SenorAlive and rich beyond their
(08:24):
wildest dreams.
Ahmed engaged the secondarythrusters.
He adjusted their levels untilthe pariah set into forward
motion.
Rajul watched with fascinationand no shortage of awe as he
tweaked and calibrated theship's complex nav controls
Alone.
He's doing it alone.
Most scav-like ships like thePariah were crewed by half a
(08:47):
dozen or more, mostly becausetheir mainframes were
piecemealed steel and gold likestar-faring golems and required
more than a bit of pizzazz tooperate.
But Ahmed made the work lookmundane, boring even.
Most of the time she just hadto sit back and be ready to jump
in if he needed her forconfirmation or banter, or
(09:08):
coffee, as it were.
He held up a finger froze for amoment and then dropped it.
Rajol knew exactly what thatmeant.
She opened the port andstarboard exhaust vents, dialed
in their intake valves andadjusted the angle for the
thrusters.
The pariah turned incrementallyas she guided it towards the
Mark 12.
(09:28):
The controls vibrated as theship's outward grab shields
fought to disperse the sea ofdebris between them and their
prize.
A child's long-lost teddy bearcollided with the shield a
hair's width from the fragileglass viewpoint, its two dead
button-black eyes brieflylocking with Rajul's.
She wanted to look away, butshe had to focus.
(09:50):
The mark was so close.
Easy now.
Ahmed said Little more, littlemore.
Hold her steady.
Sweat beaded at Rajul's templesand the joystick threatened to
slip free from hernerve-moistened palm.
Her heart throbbed so loud shewas sure Ahmed could hear it,
but she held the pariah steadyas the ship's trajectory changed
(10:13):
.
Nanometer by nanometer, a redlight began to pulse.
Shit not now Power levels below.005%, I see it.
Just a little more.
Raj, you're doing great.
She felt the remaining oxygensiphon from the bridge.
A mechanical mask dropped fromthe ceiling above her.
She didn't dare avert herattention, but she could almost
(10:35):
see Ahmed busy cutting off everyother power-utilizing function,
saving every last breath of thepariah's power for the
thrusters.
The pariah jerked and thelights blinked out.
Total silence engulfed them.
Neither said a word.
They stared at the viewpoint,at the nearby Mark 12, and held
their own breaths as they drewcloser and
(10:56):
closer.
Plugged in, ahmed switchedhimself back into the mainframe.
He was gone too long andRajul's stomach tied into knots.
She reached for the O2 mask andtook a long, desperate drag.
I could kiss you.
He finally said Please don't.
Rajul scrunched her nose andcurled her lips.
But does that mean we did it?
(11:18):
A huge smile crawled across hisface.
Ahmed rarely smiled when he didall the wiring and connections
beneath his skin, stretched andprotruded like a thousand
displaced bones.
It didn't have a particularlyreassuring effect, especially
the way his electronics lookedas if they might tear through
his flesh at any moment.
Rajul wondered how much of himcould still be considered man.
(11:41):
She asked him once, but thewhole exchange left her feeling
as if she somehow crossed a line.
He dismissed the question witha joke like always.
No worries, babe, he had said.
I'm just me and that's all I'llever be.
You ever need something toastedthough.
I'm your man.
She never brought it up again,but she's still worried.
What if the silicone animaltook over?
(12:03):
Was he truly in control, orwould the techno-beast
eventually supplant the man?
It was all in his files forthose who knew how to decrypt
them.
Ahmed's sordid affair with modsbegan early in his military
career, starting with the usualupgrades A visual enhancement
here, an auditory tune-up there,bone density improvements,
(12:24):
memory database expansions, tinybiobots introduced to
artificially strengthen andrepair muscle tissue.
By the time they grounded him,ahmed was walking around with
virtually every piece ofmilitary-grade mod tech on the
market and some experimentalsbanned galaxy-wide under the
Kepler conventions.
His tech came in handy, ofcourse, but it low-key,
(12:46):
terrified Rajul.
What if he turns against me?
What if he loses control to thecodes?
What if he gets hacked?
There were no fail-safes, nooff-switches.
It was only her andAhmed.
A failed Biosac and one of theuniverse's most advanced
ex-special forces Cyberscavs.
She could see the Mark 12 withher naked eye.
(13:08):
Now it's beautiful.
They spared no expense, didthey?
Some trust fund kid on Earth isgonna be giddy with greenbacks
when the word getsthrough.
The Mark 12 was a sleek silvergoddess of a ship.
She could be manned solo, butshe boasted more than enough
interior space for a family toride comfortably, with all the
extra amenities.
The Mark 12 was a sleek silvergoddess of a ship.
(13:31):
She could be manned solo, butshe boasted more than enough
interior space for a family toride comfortably, with all the
extra amenities.
The 12 was space travel forfolks who didn't relish the
inconvenience of space travelbut still wanted to brag that
they had explored the wild blackyonder.
She was faster than Hadron too.
You're drooling, huh?
Rajul said, wiping her chinShut up.
(13:54):
I'm not.
She managed to compose herself,though her cheeks continued to
throb rosy red withembarrassment.
So how do we do this?
Under normal circumstances,we'd
dock.
Ahmed keyed a series ofcommands into the pariah's
mainframe and shook his head.
Rajul didn't need to checktheir power levels to know
docking wasn't an option Ever.
Spacewalk.
Rajul shook her head Suit up.
(14:16):
It's your luckyday.
He punched a yellow button anda hidden cubby like a retro
glove box, swung open Two orangevacuum-sealed clumps attached
to a series of unorganized wiresand tubes dropped between them.
He hit another button and thesuits disconnected, slid out and
began to ooze and expand on thefloor between them.
Rajul side-eyed the wrinkledlump of material.
(14:38):
You're kidding?
Ahmed whistled and rubbed hishands together.
They might be snug, but they'llhave to do.
I'm not wearing one of thoseAhmed shrugged Suit
myself.
I'll go on my own.
Keep an eye on the ship'sgravlock, will?
Ya, I don't know about you, butif I have to choose, I'd rather
die in here than out there.
If I have to choose, I'd rathernot die at all.
(15:01):
He shrugged again.
There are worse things thandeath.
Raj Ahmed suited up and steppedinto the airlock.
It sealed with a hiss and hethrew Rajul two thumbs up
Without thinking.
She entered her override, tookcontrol of the pariah and keyed
an OTP that initializeddepressurization within the
airlock.
Ahmed faked like he couldn'tbreathe and Rajul flipped him
(15:24):
off and stuck out her tongue.
Then he disappeared into blackspace, the airlock sealing
tightly behindhim.
Suddenly, rajul felt as if shewere locked in a coffin.
It was eerily quiet inside thepariah and stiller than a corpse
.
Can you hear me?
It was as clear as if he wereright beside her, and the sudden
interruption of his voice madeher jump.
(15:45):
Damn it, ahmed.
She held a hand over herfast-beating heart.
How is it out there, cold, Ithink Can't see much right now.
The sound of Ahmed's deepexhalations punctuated every
sentence Ton of debris, thesight of this smark, that
massive space mutant.
For a moment her heart skipped.
(16:05):
Har, har, har, so funny.
Can you get to the ship?
Calm silence answered.
Rajul cycled through thepariah's servo cams until she
found what she was looking forAhmed bounding steadily across
the hull towards the derelict.
No she thought.
It's not just calm silence, itwas utter silence, the silence
(16:27):
of void, of one last desperatehope at finding a way home.
It was the silence of twopeople alone in a universe
filled with trillions andtrillions, none of whom could
help them, even if they tried.
The silence of our coffin.
She mused and the image broughtclaustrophobia screaming back.
(16:48):
Ahmed stopped, swiveled his headlike a satellite's array one
way, then the other.
Innumerable metal fragmentshovered between the two ships,
forever frozen in space,suspended in a state of infinite
rest.
If Ahmed timed his jump wrong,if he contacted even the most
microscopic piece of debris, itwould be all over for him.
(17:08):
If he gave space, his cold,prodding fingers a place to tear
in, not even his extensive modswould save him.
Be careful, man.
Aw, you're worried about me.
That's adorable.
Rajul blushed Nah, I just can'tget this heap home without you.
She shivered.
Now would you hurry up?
It's getting cold in here.
(17:28):
Ahmed bent at the knees andkicked off the hull.
He floated toward the Mark 12like a ghost, arms tucked and
body needle-tight.
Rajul looked away and held herbreath After what felt like an
eternity.
She risked a quick peek out ofthe corner of her eye.
He's so close, just a few moremeters.
(17:48):
She thought and heard a thwunk.
But Ahmed's sudden contact withthe derelict was as soundless
as everything else Frozen.
Yet he asked Nope, not yet.
Damn, I didn't take long enough.
Then he chuckled and Rajulsmiled with relief, plugging in
now.
Hopefully she has enoughreserves to fill our heap with
(18:10):
enough juice to get us home.
Rajul had yet to process how shewould feel if they were really
going to die.
So far she kept giving herselfenough hope to ignore the facts.
Maybe we'll find a last, secondpower source.
Maybe the source will be enoughto not only power life support
but get the engine up andrunning again.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
But maybes were no longerenough.
(18:32):
If they were going to die, shewas going to die without holding
regrets.
I love you, ahmed.
It sounded like he choked onhis own spit.
Ahmed cleared his throat.
Excuse me, you heard me, man.
I love you.
No, no, you don't.
I'm not the one, I'm basicallya computer.
Babe.
There's nothing left to lovehere.
(18:53):
That's not what I mean.
I lost everything, like a lotof people did.
Anything.
The shift didn't take.
I left behind.
You're all I've got.
Just be careful, will ya?
That's all I'm trying to say.
Awkward silence followed.
Rajul gulped rocks.
He never took this long to findsomething witty to say.
(19:15):
You too, babe, talk later.
I gotta plug in.
Can you revert the powercurrents?
I don't want to release toomuch energy before the pariah
gets a chance to siphon andconvert Right.
Reverting currents.
Firing the engines in three, two, one, the pariah roared to life
.
The interior lights shot on,nearly blinding Rajul, and she
(19:37):
felt the ever-so-light change ofinternal pressure as the engine
flushed with renewed power.
She clapped her hands, stompedher feet and whooped at the top
of her lungs.
Even with full gravity back on,she felt like she was floating.
You did it.
We're finally going home.
Rajul swiveled between monitors,stopping to perform status
checks at each station.
(19:58):
Green across the board, theMark 12 had supplied the pariah
nearly 22% power, more thanenough to get them to the
nearest way station with theirgold mine in tow.
Her imagination raced frompossibility to possibility.
With her share of the loot, shecould afford to move out of the
slums Hadron, she could affordto leave Earth behind for good.
(20:19):
She always dreamed of visiting1E or 22B, but the thought of
actually living somewhere likethat had never crossed her mind.
My cheeks hurt.
Man Rajul tapped an erraticbeat on the console.
I think you weren't a kiss, youactually freaking, did it?
No response, ahmed, you did it.
(20:39):
Man, you can head back now.
But he didn't move.
He floated there looselyholding onto the Mark 12 as
still as the floating debrisaround him, like another hapless
piece of space flotsam.
That's not funny.
Can we just get out of herealready?
But he still refused to respond.
She wrapped her arms aroundherself.
(21:01):
A tingling sensation spreadfrom her core to her extremities
.
Ahmed, you never took jokesthis far, not like this.
At least Screw you.
Man Rajul choked back nervoustears before unstrapping herself
and wiggling into the remainingsuit.
It was a tight fit, but she hadno choice.
She wasn't about to leave himout there, not after everything
(21:22):
they'd been through together.
What could have gone wrong?
She thought their situation hadgone from desperate to hopeless
to brilliant, beyond herwildest dreams.
Everything was supposed to beokay now.
They made it.
They struck it big, big enoughto retire early.
She set a time, depressurization, slid into the airlock and held
(21:43):
her breath once more.
Her heart was racing again andsweat beaded on her forehead and
underneath her arms.
This would be the first time inopen space and she was stepping
into the new frontier withoutsupport or guidance.
In zero grav, she made her wayhand over hand to the ship's
external tether.
Now that the power was on, shecould access the panel and strap
(22:05):
in.
At least, if she were tomisstep, she would be able to
pull herself back to safety.
The thought of floatinghelplessly through space turned
her stomach into knots.
Rajul made short work of thetrip around the ship's hull.
She detached from her body andwatched herself as if she were a
speck of cosmic dust on ameteor.
There was something… surrealabout being in space.
(22:28):
She was naked, completelyexposed.
The entire universe wassimultaneously light-years away
and bearing in on her fasterthan light speed.
Each synthetic breath throughthe suit's respirator echoed
inside her helmet.
But no matter how hard sheinhaled, she could never seem to
get enough air.
Ahmed, she melled, staring athim across the gap.
(22:51):
Still no reaction, not as muchas a head nod or a muscle twitch
.
She kicked off, soaring towardher companion with reckless
abandon.
Luckily she made it safelyacross the debris field.
If she was honest, she wouldhave to admit her own well-being
was the last thing on her mind.
All she cared about was gettingAhmed and figuring out what in
(23:12):
Hadron was happening.
What she found, clinging to theMark 12, was worse than
anticipated, much worse.
She reached toward Ahmed andgrabbed his shoulder with one
shaky gloved hand.
She shivered.
Though she couldn't feel itthrough their protective
barriers, she knew instinctivelythat he was beyond saving.
(23:33):
She swallowed glass as sheturned his body toward her and
gasped he was alive or in somepretend state.
His eyes were jumping betweenclosed and open, closed and open
, their whites flickering behindhis fogged helmet.
His lips quivered as if he weretrying to speak, but no words
came out.
(23:53):
Almost imperceptibly, themuscles and electronics behind
his face twitched and spasmed.
Then it all stopped.
His face slackened, his jawlulled.
He went limp in her arms.
If not for the vacuum of space,his dead weight would have
dragged them both into oblivion.
Ahmed, please, please, don't go.
(24:16):
Her suit's internalenvironmental systems couldn't
keep up with the coldnessspiking her heart, spreading to
the core of her soul.
This was it.
This was the end of Rajul'sspacefaring career, the end of a
life she had worked so hard toobtain with a man she had to
admit she really did love morethan as just a friend.
(24:38):
She considered the debris field.
It would be so easy to simplykick off the Mark 12, close her
eyes, wrap her arms around Ahmedand let go.
Close her eyes, wrap her armsaround Ahmed and let go.
A piece would tear her suit,cut one of its innumerable
lifelines and maybe, just maybe,she would join Ahmed wherever
(25:05):
he was.
A scream, like an ancientdial-up tone, like a thousand
thousand robots dying in anelectrical fire, erupted through
her comm link.
She couldn't escape it.
It was everywhere all at once,heart racing, vision fading from
the awful cacophony.
She managed to disengage theirconnection.
Even so.
She thought she could stillhear the terrible phantom sound
through Ahmed's sealed suit.
She screamed back as loudly asshe could, but her own voice was
(25:29):
lost to Ahmed's.
She could only feel the bloodpulsing beneath her temples.
Then, as if possessed, ahmedthrottled her.
His sudden, unanticipatedtackle sent them both sprawling
from the relative security ofthe Mark 12's hull into space's
merciless grasp.
But she was tethered.
If she just clung to her friend, or whatever the nightmarish
(25:53):
creature that had replaced himwas, they would both be okay If
she could just get them backinto the pariah, back to one of
the way stations for diagnostics.
But their momentum was toogreat.
She jerked and felt a sharpalteration of their trajectory.
The cable tore from her suitand snapped back, receding away
from her well beyond herdesperate grasp.
(26:14):
They were untethered, deliveredto the callous clutches of
space.
Ahmed continued to scream.
An occasional word filteredthrough, but it was mostly
indecipherable coding language.
He was foaming at the mouth andhis eyes were filled with blood
and flashing blue light.
He snapped at the inside of hishelmet and his neck flopped
(26:36):
back and forth at awkward,inhuman intervals.
Holding her one-time friend atarm's length, rajul frantically
cycled through her suit's lifesupport and integrity readouts.
Her oxygen levels were abysmal.
She had a few hours at most,unless she tapped into Ahmed's.
What could that do?
Drifting listless through space, this time, no, maybes left.
(26:58):
It really was the end, ahmed.
She said you stupid son of a-.
We were so close too.
We had everything we everwanted.
We were finally going to be sorich, so happy Together.
Instead, they were back tonothing.
At least in the pariah shedidn't have a rabid Ahmed
(27:19):
screaming in ones and zeros tocontend with.
At least in the pariah therewas hope they might eventually
find a way home.
Now she was going to die, aderelict, lost among a vast sea
of stars, her best friend, heronly friend, clawing and
scratching at her from insidehis suit.
(27:40):
A broken man succumbed to thecomputer within.
Rajul's final breaths werestrained and her chest filled
with icy, hot fire.
Every time she inhaled, silencescreamed at her.
As she stared into its eyes,his eyes, she reminded herself
the face staring back at her hadbeen a familiar one, a dear old
(28:03):
friend, but it was so horriblyunfamiliar now, a grotesque,
twisted visage of somebody shehad used to know.
This face staring back was thelast thing she would ever see.
As dark space faded from herperiphery, rajul's mind wandered
and the cold didn't bother heranymore.
(28:25):
Forever was not far away Forher.
It all started when she firstleft Planetside, but it only
began to end a couple hours ago.
But hey, she thought, pullingAhmed tighter to her chest at
least I get to spend the rest offorever close to you close to
(28:55):
you.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
That story really gets to me.
It really makes me emotional.
I think it's one of the veryfew times that a horror story on
this podcast has, I don't know,made me a little teary.
If I'm being honest, the storywas submitted by first time
Lunatics writer, curtis A Dieter, and we're very, very excited
that Curtis has found us and isnow part of the Lunatics
community and I do hope that hesubmits again.
And of course, it was narratedfor us by Denali Bartel, and I'm
(29:21):
sure all of you are veryfamiliar with Denali's beautiful
, beautiful voice at this point.
But this story just had againsuch a human quality to it and
there was so much depth to itand I immediately thought of
Denali's beautiful narratingvoice.
But let's talk a little bitabout Curtis first.
So Curtis is an author offantasy, science fiction and
(29:41):
horror, with two dozen shortstories published in various
anthologies and collections.
He is the editor and founder ofa Midwest regional arts and
literature magazine called OfRust and Glass and produces a
related podcast with his localPBS station called Proud to Be
of Dust and Glass.
When he is not reading orwriting, he enjoys spending time
(30:02):
with his family, discoveringnew music and taste testing
craft brews at local breweries.
You can follow him on Facebookat author Curtis A Dieter or
Instagram at Curtis underscore Adot, underscore Dieter.
And again, we'll linkeverything in the description
below so that it's really easyfor you to find Denali and
Curtis and all of the othernarrators and writers for this
episode.
(30:23):
I'm sure this is not a veryprofound insight on my part, but
there's something about thisstory that reminds me so much of
Alien Romulus in that it'sreally a love story between a
droid and android type being, orsomeone who is modified so much
so that they're closer to droidthan human, which I think is
also a really interestingmechanic and a human and the
(30:45):
complexities that come with that.
And you know, in the case ofAlien Romulus it's not romantic
love, it's sibling love.
And in this story even, youknow, even though maybe there's
some idea that it could beromantic love at its core, no
matter what, there's a realfriendship there.
And this just calls to mind allof the themes we explored when
we did the history of artificialintelligence in horror series,
(31:07):
because so much of thatobviously overlaps with space
horror in a big way, because itreally is like man versus
machine, and especially in thismoment in time when AI is on the
rise and evolving so quickly,and there's already articles in
the New York Times about peoplewho are having these full blown
emotional relationships withChad GBT, and you know it just,
(31:29):
it's so fascinating.
And I think about the movie, youknow the Haley Joel Osment
movie, artificial Intelligenceand and what will happen in a
few years from now.
You know, I don't know not tobe dramatic, but I do think
we're kind of at that moment intime when people maybe who
struggle with humanrelationships or are struggling
in certain ways in their lives,will find community with
(31:51):
non-human beings, and what doesthat mean and what does that
call to mind?
So, anyway, I find this storyobviously is a bit different,
because this at one point was aperson, but still a really
beautiful and and sad journey,obviously a really gut-wrenching
story that made me cry, butDenali did such, a, again,
fantastic job bringing it tolife.
(32:12):
It's such a well-crafted storyand the narration matches that
perfectly.
All right, well, withoutfurther ado, I'll take out my
tissues and dab my eyes and wehave one last story in this epic
space horror saga to present toyou.
So, without further, ado O'RyanBeckins.
(32:44):
Read by Benjamin Cooper.
Read by Michael Macera.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
For a long time, blackness and pain were the
totality of my being.
Often I questioned my ownexistence.
In this realm, time had nomeaning.
My perception was not onlymuddled by this darkness
surrounding me, but also by asearing pain that radiated from
my every pore, a pain thatsmelled of rotting flesh, the
(33:07):
decaying insides of a previouslife.
The fermented rot clogged andburned my sinuses.
I pawed at my nose in anattempt to fan the odor away,
but my efforts were futile.
I came to know this agony asstink pain, and it was
unbearable.
Fragments of memories wouldsurface briefly before
retreating into the void.
(33:28):
These splintered moments variedthe warm embrace of my beloved
mother or a joyous Christmasmorn.
After those visions had passed,the pain would mysteriously
disappear, before returning witha punishing intensity.
For now I was alone, once morealone with my stink pain, but
this time it felt different,different and was unrelenting.
(33:50):
The odd sensation began with atingling in my toes.
It then crept up my feet to myankles.
The tingling transitioned toburning my feet, feeling as if
they were on hot coals.
My calf muscles ached as thediscomfort climbed up my thighs.
A stifling heat engulfed me.
The overwhelming taste ofcopper filled my mouth.
(34:12):
My legs stiffened.
I struggled to flex my feet andI felt the crunch of bone on
bone.
When the pain was too much tobear, I prayed for the torture
to end.
But death gave way to a miracle.
The stink pain retreated intothe abyss.
Then a kaleidoscope of vividcolors swirled around me.
The presence of another wasundeniable.
(34:34):
A droning hum emanated from thesilent oblivion.
The mechanized whirringeventually transformed to that
of a pleasant female voice Orionbeckons.
The hushed voice said softly.
The S sound drawing on until ittransitioned to the familiar
(34:54):
hissing of the oxygen pipesinside the transport ship of
which I was a crew member, therecollection began to seep into
my consciousness Just what hadhappened to me.
The outline of a woman began toform from the swirling torrent
of color rushing in front of me.
The woman's features took shapeas if she was being molded from
(35:14):
clay.
The rainbow colors of her auravibrated excitedly, sizzling.
Was this beautiful creature mysalvation?
She held out her hand gently,motioning for me to join her.
Suddenly, the figure jolted andher face contorted.
I reached out in a desperateattempt to grasp her hand, but
it was too late.
(35:35):
The clay-colored woman crackedand broke completely apart.
The colors dissipated and thedarkness returned.
My ailments returned with avengeance.
The nothingness had envelopedme once again.
But I had been given a gift, ahint to another existence.
Outside the hell of this stinkpain, the blackness remained for
(35:55):
what seemed like ages.
Had days passed, Perhaps years?
My faith sank into the vortexof hopelessness.
This ever-present nothingnesswas the basis of my new, muted
reality.
Could I dare challenge this?
A bone-chilling cold graduallyreplaced the warmth.
The sweat on my skin froze tocrystallize ice.
(36:17):
The paralyzing chill spread.
My neck stiffened.
I couldn't move.
My senses were inundated by thetimeless, frigid, stinking pain
which continuously prodded meas I floated helplessly.
Was this what it felt like todie?
Amid the suffocating coldnessof space, I felt as if I hadn't
moved in eons.
(36:38):
Yet I was still conscious.
Somehow had paralysis set in.
I was lost to the ceaselessonslaught of the unforgiving
stink pain.
Desperately, I tried in vain tomove my arms.
My mind pleaded for me tosuccumb to the numbness of the
frozen eternity that hadenveloped me, for I was a mere
speck in the vastness ofexistence, my future immaterial
(37:02):
to the universe.
I could feel the years beingsucked from my body, drifting
off to orbit some uncharted,distant, dead star.
In a way, this fate wasliberating.
Even the stink pain seemed tono longer have dominion over me.
But then the vivid colorsreturned, pierced through the
(37:24):
blackness, and illuminated myworld once again.
The woman emerged from theever-rescent color.
Once more, Her arms were raisedprominently above her head in
capitulation to the miraculouslandscape of her origin.
Mustering all my strength,inspired by her magnificence and
fueled by a desire to end myordeal, I reached for her.
(37:46):
The ice covering my armscreaked in protest before
shattering.
The casts around my legscracked as well, shards breaking
away and floating off Limbs.
Akimbo, I swam through theether towards my savior, but
instead of extending my arms ina welcome embrace, she prompted
me to halt.
Without hesitation, I obliged.
(38:09):
The colorful backdrop fadedaway, leaving us floating in
space, surrounded by stars,planets, nebulae and the many
other fantastic displays of theuniverse.
She pointed to a cluster oftwinkling stars and then, in the
most kind-hearted voice I hadever heard, she told me every
(38:29):
star represented another day inmy life left to live.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
No.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
I was not some existential being, nor was I
dead.
She explained that I was in astasis, a state of flux, there
had been an accident and if Ihad stayed strong, they could
return me to the world fromwhich I had departed.
Please, she whispered as shebegan to fade, hold on my savior
.
My only connection was leaving,abandoning me once again.
(39:00):
Before she dissolved, shemurmured follow the light, for
it will be your salvation.
Orion beckons.
Thoughts of inexplicable,unfathomable scenarios ran
through my head.
The thoughts circled into aswarm of stink pain, their
decaying remnants pouring intothe mold of my soul.
(39:21):
Was a concussion to blame?
Perhaps space madness?
Panic set in claustrophobia,overcoming me as I struggled to
break from the chains of thedark cocoon that encased me.
Then a blinding light flashedand what felt like warm fluid
washed over me, taking with itthe stink pain.
Like a baby emerging from thewomb, I passed into a different
(39:45):
but familiar world.
The bright light stung mysensitive eyes.
Recognizable voices chatteredincessantly in the background.
My arm was draped aroundsomeone and they slipped a pair
of tinted glasses on me.
Here, these will help.
A reassuring woman's voice saidyour retinas may have sustained
damage from the prolongedexposure in the stasis field,
(40:07):
but once we dock at Orion PortKilo, the medics will be able to
fully restore your vision.
We are all fortunate to even bealive.
After the accident, I lookedaround.
I was in a large cargo hold, ametallic tomb stacked to the
brim with boxes, pallets andequipment.
I was in a wreck.
I asked feebly when was thestink pain?
(40:30):
My body cried out for itsaccustomed body-numbing
influence.
We were in a wreck.
We hit a piece of space junkthat somehow got through the
radar.
It breached the hull just atthe right spot while you were
inspecting the cargo.
Per Orion policy, the safety ofthe cargo takes precedent and
the autostabilizers kicked in toprotect the stock, despite you
(40:50):
being within its radius.
You should be dead.
The failsafe somehow managed tokeep you alive and in stasis,
although you were writhing aboutscreaming in agony the whole
time.
It looked horrible as if youwere being electrocuted.
We couldn't turn off thestabilizers until the fractures
in the hull were mitigated andthe auto-envrio systems were
back online.
(41:11):
My blurred vision began todissipate.
A friendly face came into focus.
Lola, you were the woman.
You were there talking to me,trying to calm me.
I was speaking to you throughan amplified frequency.
Simon told me not to bother,that my voice would just be
static.
But you heard me.
(41:32):
It worked.
You saved me.
If it wasn't for you, the painwould have been too much.
Here.
Let me help.
You are weak.
She took me to a cot in thecorner of the cargo hold.
I collapsed, curling into aball, shivering uncontrollably.
A man in a pilot uniformapproached, beaming Adam, you
(41:54):
are alive.
I knew you'd make it.
I had a 20-credit bet with Johnat Orion Distribution Center
Games that you'd pull through.
Well done, don't badger him,simon.
He's been through hell.
Lola snapped as she gentlycovered him with a blanket and
handed him a hot cup of tea.
You're going through some kindof withdrawal.
Once your core body temperaturestabilizes, you'll come out of
(42:15):
it here.
Take this, it'll make you feelbetter.
She insisted, handing me a pill.
I gulped it down hastily.
I spoke to corporate.
Simon interjected, taking aseat at the end of the cot.
They were hoping you'd pullthrough, mostly because they
didn't want to pay out on yourlife insurance policy.
Collateral damage, right.
Just another space accident,another statistic for some Orion
(42:36):
corporate minion to record on aperformance report.
Lola fumed as she moved to thecargo bay control panel, her
fingers moving furiously overthe buttons and knobs.
All we wanted was a good,paying job so we could send some
cash back home, maybeaccumulate some credits in a
retirement account for a daythat will never come.
Simon remarked.
(42:57):
Those greedy bastards at Oriondon't care about us grunts, just
their profit margins.
Why had Orion Corporation sentus on this mission?
Millions of light years away,their greed had no bounds.
They would not stop until theymaximized profits from every
corner of the galaxy, exploitingevery race and resource, or
until their lackeys finallyrefused to no longer be human
(43:19):
fodder for their Orion meatgrinder, an automated voice
echoed through the massive cargohold.
Orion Corporation is pleased toreport that minimal damage was
sustained in today's incident.
The cargo was not compromisedand there are no casualties to
report.
All personnel will be requiredto debrief upon docking at Orion
Port Kilo.
(43:39):
Thank you for your dedicatedservice.
The medication kicked in andthe gnawing void the stinkpain
had left was no more.
My body went limp.
I knew this next voyage into mysubconscious would be a healing
and peaceful one, so I began todream.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
I absolutely love this story.
There's something very similarto 28 Days Later or the Day of
the Triffids, or just somethingabout waking up into something
that you've missed or you'veforgotten, and it's everything
is new and different andhorrible, and that's such a
gut-wrenching way to start astory like this.
I also think a story like thisfeels very poignant in this
(44:24):
moment in time when we thinkabout really like companies
versus people and what'simportant to us in 2025 and
beyond, with the landscape thatis emerging, and I think this
story obviously has a lot to sayabout that and it does it
really well and it points thingsout right while using these
themes of space, horror andscience fiction, that we're
(44:46):
aware of being in stasis and allthese other things, but pulling
us so intimately into oneperson's journey and the horrors
and the effects of that,there's something very cold and
cruel and clinical, and I thinkthat's sort of how I walk away
from the story feeling.
I also, of course, have toshout out Mike Massera, the
amazing narrator, mike Massera,who brought this story to life.
(45:07):
He did such a great job and Ioften think of Mike Massera when
there's particularly a genrestory, but any type of story,
but for us always, always agenre story of some sort that I
don't know.
I find to be really emotional,and I think he does a wonderful
job of knowing kind of when tohave his voice be very cool and
(45:27):
calculated and when to bring usin a little deeper and closer.
So I think Mike did a reallywonderful job, as always.
But let's talk a little bitabout Benjamin Cooper, because
this is his first time as well,being featured on the Lunatics
Radio Hour podcast.
Amongst the long boxes of hiscomic book collection Aquarium's
Civil War reenactment gear andconcert posters, published
(45:49):
author Benjamin Cooper concoctshis fantastic works of fiction.
Having studied creative writingat the University of Iowa, he
now aims to expose his creativemind to the world through the
written word.
You can find him at his home onthe internet,
mindofbenjamincoopercom, and ofcourse, we will also link that
in the description below.
One thing that I'm reallyfocusing on in 2025 personally
(46:10):
is through my kind of creativework, is bringing something
deeper into these genre storiesthat I tend to write or tend to
tell in some ways, and I thinkall of these writers from the
last two episodes have done suchan incredible job at bringing
us into a beautiful and vividsetting that you know is so, so
(46:31):
themed and full of either we'reon a space station or we are in
a spacecraft, or we aregalloping in a wagon in the
1800s, in a UFO descends,whatever it is, the worlds are
so rich and what happens perhapsis again set in that world
right, a rock full of worms thateat somebody's body from the
(46:51):
inside out.
But the point of the storyisn't that, and it's not about
shocking us.
It's about bringing us throughan emotional journey and
connecting that to something inthe real world today.
I think everyone was incrediblysuccessful at that, and all of
these stories have somethingmore to say than you know a sum
of their parts and how theyinteract with this theme of
(47:12):
space horror and all of thesenarrators just the dreamiest
voices in the world, and I'mvery grateful to everybody.
So thank you all.
Thank you for being on thisjourney with us.
We will continue to trudgethrough this year ahead and and
we're very excited for some ofthe themes that are coming your
way, as always stay safe, stayspooky.
Join us on Discord, and we'revery excited for some of the
(47:34):
themes that are coming your way,as always.
Stay safe, stay spooky, join uson Discord and we'll talk to
(47:57):
you very soon.
Bye you.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the Lunatics Radio Hourpodcast.
I am your host, abbey Branker,and I am thrilled and sad that
we have come to the end of theLunatics Radio Hour podcast.
I am your host, abby Branker,and I am thrilled and sad that
we have come to the end of theSpace Horror series.
So this is the secondinstallment of Space Horror
Stories.
We have two very epic andhorrifying, of course,
space-themed stories to pull youinto, and these really explore
(00:40):
space in two totally differentways, I think.
But I don't know, I'm curious,cur.
I don't know, I'm curious.
Curious.
Everybody's thoughts, as always.
Please come to our Discord andwe'd love to kind of have the
conversation continue there.
It does not need to just be metalking to you.
I would love to hear what youthink about these stories, what
you really take from them, andif you are a writer and you want
to work with us, you can headto lunaticsprojectcom and click
(01:03):
on submit for more informationabout the topics for stories
that we're currently looking forand timelines.
So let's just get right into it, because we have these two
amazing stories that are burninga hole in my pocket.
I'm just going to roll the tapeand we'll come back and talk
about it after.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Pariah's Last Breath.
Written by Curtis A Deeter,read by Denali Bartell.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Rajul's final breaths were strained and her chest
filled with icy, hot fire.
Every time she inhaled, silencescreamed at her.
As she stared into its eyes,his eyes, she reminded herself
the face staring back had been afamiliar one, a dear old friend
, but it was so horriblyunfamiliar now.
A grotesque, twisted visage ofsomebody she used to know.
(01:58):
This face staring back was thelast thing she would ever see.
As dark space faded from herperiphery, rajul's mind wandered
and the cold didn't bother heranymore.
Forever was not far away Forher.
It all started when she firstleft planetside, but it only
began to end a couple hours ago.
There's nothing here, man Shit.
(02:20):
Ahmed slapped his palms on thenav console Scan again.
But the power cells Scan again.
Ort dammit, we've been out herefor months.
Ain't no way we're this alone.
He turned away and grumbledsomething to himself about the
improbability of wandering sofar.
Off course, rajul rolled hereyes.
They'd been drifting atsublight for almost half as long
(02:43):
as she had been pilot.
This wasn't how her promisingcareer was supposed to play out
when she signed to the Pariah.
She expected excitement andrewards beyond her wildest
dreams.
That was what the Holocure hadpromised.
At least it was to be theopportunity of a lifetime, A
chance to leave her dust-coveredhome planet behind for good and
(03:03):
discover the universe'sinfinite possibilities.
Rajul sighed and coded anotherscan.
By her calculations, they hadmaybe one or two days left, and
only if they decided they nolonger needed life support
systems Running water or O2, forexample.
But what good were those ifthey couldn't find their way
home?
Scan initiated, she said,results incoming less than
(03:24):
thirty seconds.
Rajul rested her chin on herfists.
A far-off star twinkled, itsbinary mate dulled beneath its
sudden flash of radiance.
She couldn't help but smile asshe stared into the vast array
of brilliance laid before them.
So many many possibilities.
She sighed again.
A weight suddenly lifted offher shoulders.
(03:46):
For rare views like this, thedull stretches in between seemed
so insignificant.
It was hard not to feel a surgeof dopamine among such giants.
So many ways for an orphan tomake a better life for herself.
It's funny.
We spend all our lives lookingout, don't we?
To the next block, to thehorizon, to the stars.
(04:06):
Then, when we've finally gottenwhere we've always wanted to go
, we set our sights even farther.
Great, fine, whatever.
Why don't you stop daydreamingand read the scan results?
Ahmed adjusted the thrusters andtweaked the pariah's trajectory
with an inhuman precision.
We could die out here.
You know It'll be you that goesfirst.
Think about that for a secondand focus.
(04:28):
We're dead already she wantedto say.
Her reverie abruptly ended we'reghosts and no one can save us.
They'd been floating listlesslyfor too long.
The light techs blew within thescav's first few days and they
were beyond reach of even themost sophisticated
communications arrays.
Not even Ahmed, with hisbuilt-in training mods and
(04:50):
schema upgrades, could repairthe pariah.
Her life support was strainedand any minute they would be
oxygenless, powerless andstranded in the middle of the
cluster's largest known debrisfield.
Many folks made their fortunesout here, but many more perished
, becoming yet another statistic.
Well, ahmed's glare cut throughthe scant remains of her
(05:12):
confidence.
It always did.
Give me a sec to review theoutput.
Man, I'm not like you, I can'tjust dial in.
And voila, here's a full reportof the detailed stat in and 723
different contingencies.
Ahmed shoved her aside.
Let me do it.
Then.
He unhinged the flap behind hisneck and unwound the fine wire
(05:33):
tapped into his brainstem.
The wire suctioned to theconnector port and he cracked
his knuckles.
His eyes slammed shut anddarted in their sockets.
They moved beneath his eyelidslike beetles beneath the sand.
I wonder what he dreams about,rajul thought, since he always
gets so upset when I tell himabout mine.
Why do you even keep me around?
(05:54):
Rajul mumbled, pouting.
She slumped in her seat andcrossed her arms.
You make good coffee.
A second later his eyes shutopen.
There's a vessel.
Initially it looked as if itmight be another derelict scav,
but nobody other than her engineis alive.
Rajul squinted into thedistance.
All she could see were far-offstars and indiscernible chunks
(06:16):
of space.
Flotsam.
Dozens of crews had scouredthis sector before them.
Dozens would come long afterthey were gone.
No one, as far as she couldrecount, had ever found an
intact vessel, let alone onewith an active power signature.
Of course, there were rumorsabout this sector when crews
much better trained and far moreexperienced than the likes of
(06:38):
Rajul and Ahmed went missing.
It was only a matter of whatstories would be told and in
what circles before rumors beganto spread like viruses,
specters, it was said, ghostshaunting the black abyss, ghosts
of those seeking their fortunesand those people who died
tragically seeking refuge froman ever-changing universe that
(06:59):
no longer seemed to have roomfor the human race.
She ran her eyes over the report.
Ahmed was right.
That ship was alive.
Spectres or no spectres, youreally like my coffee?
Sure, it reminds me how goodI've got it back at center.
Ahmed winked, swiveled back tohis station and enhanced the
viewpoint.
(07:20):
There it was, in the center ofthe zoomed in display.
Irrefutable evidence,alhamdulillah.
She's a beaut.
Is that a Mark 12?
Rajul licked her lips.
She wasn't sure God was outthis far with them, but she damn
sure needed a huge payout.
Any of the later Mark serieswould have done fine, but a 12?
(07:40):
.
Rajul could barely contain herexcitement.
Oh yeah, with a Litex V1072?
Uh-huh, and a built-in autogalley, her mouth practically
watered.
She could hear the row stakessizzling already.
Yes, yes and yes.
All of that and more besides.
Raj, we struck big with thisone.
(08:02):
Rajul squealed If what thereport said was true and they
approached with two partspatience and one part precision,
the power left in the Mark'sreserves should be enough to
deliver them to the nearest waystation.
From there they could trade abit of salvage, recharge the
pariah and make it home to SenorAlive and rich beyond their
(08:24):
wildest dreams.
Ahmed engaged the secondarythrusters.
He adjusted their levels untilthe pariah set into forward
motion.
Rajul watched with fascinationand no shortage of awe as he
tweaked and calibrated theship's complex nav controls
Alone.
He's doing it alone.
Most scav-like ships like thePariah were crewed by half a
(08:47):
dozen or more, mostly becausetheir mainframes were
piecemealed steel and gold likestar-faring golems and required
more than a bit of pizzazz tooperate.
But Ahmed made the work lookmundane, boring even.
Most of the time she just hadto sit back and be ready to jump
in if he needed her forconfirmation or banter, or
(09:08):
coffee, as it were.
He held up a finger froze for amoment and then dropped it.
Rajol knew exactly what thatmeant.
She opened the port andstarboard exhaust vents, dialed
in their intake valves andadjusted the angle for the
thrusters.
The pariah turned incrementallyas she guided it towards the
Mark 12.
(09:28):
The controls vibrated as theship's outward grab shields
fought to disperse the sea ofdebris between them and their
prize.
A child's long-lost teddy bearcollided with the shield a
hair's width from the fragileglass viewpoint, its two dead
button-black eyes brieflylocking with Rajul's.
She wanted to look away, butshe had to focus.
(09:50):
The mark was so close.
Easy now.
Ahmed said Little more, littlemore.
Hold her steady.
Sweat beaded at Rajul's templesand the joystick threatened to
slip free from hernerve-moistened palm.
Her heart throbbed so loud shewas sure Ahmed could hear it,
but she held the pariah steadyas the ship's trajectory changed
(10:13):
.
Nanometer by nanometer, a redlight began to pulse.
Shit not now Power levels below.005%, I see it.
Just a little more.
Raj, you're doing great.
She felt the remaining oxygensiphon from the bridge.
A mechanical mask dropped fromthe ceiling above her.
She didn't dare avert herattention, but she could almost
(10:35):
see Ahmed busy cutting off everyother power-utilizing function,
saving every last breath of thepariah's power for the
thrusters.
The pariah jerked and thelights blinked out.
Total silence engulfed them.
Neither said a word.
They stared at the viewpoint,at the nearby Mark 12, and held
their own breaths as they drewcloser and
(10:56):
closer.
Plugged in, ahmed switchedhimself back into the mainframe.
He was gone too long andRajul's stomach tied into knots.
She reached for the O2 mask andtook a long, desperate drag.
I could kiss you.
He finally said Please don't.
Rajul scrunched her nose andcurled her lips.
But does that mean we did it?
(11:18):
A huge smile crawled across hisface.
Ahmed rarely smiled when he didall the wiring and connections
beneath his skin, stretched andprotruded like a thousand
displaced bones.
It didn't have a particularlyreassuring effect, especially
the way his electronics lookedas if they might tear through
his flesh at any moment.
Rajul wondered how much of himcould still be considered man.
(11:41):
She asked him once, but thewhole exchange left her feeling
as if she somehow crossed a line.
He dismissed the question witha joke like always.
No worries, babe, he had said.
I'm just me and that's all I'llever be.
You ever need something toastedthough.
I'm your man.
She never brought it up again,but she's still worried.
What if the silicone animaltook over?
(12:03):
Was he truly in control, orwould the techno-beast
eventually supplant the man?
It was all in his files forthose who knew how to decrypt
them.
Ahmed's sordid affair with modsbegan early in his military
career, starting with the usualupgrades A visual enhancement
here, an auditory tune-up there,bone density improvements,
(12:24):
memory database expansions, tinybiobots introduced to
artificially strengthen andrepair muscle tissue.
By the time they grounded him,ahmed was walking around with
virtually every piece ofmilitary-grade mod tech on the
market and some experimentalsbanned galaxy-wide under the
Kepler conventions.
His tech came in handy, ofcourse, but it low-key,
(12:46):
terrified Rajul.
What if he turns against me?
What if he loses control to thecodes?
What if he gets hacked?
There were no fail-safes, nooff-switches.
It was only her andAhmed.
A failed Biosac and one of theuniverse's most advanced
ex-special forces Cyberscavs.
She could see the Mark 12 withher naked eye.
(13:08):
Now it's beautiful.
They spared no expense, didthey?
Some trust fund kid on Earth isgonna be giddy with greenbacks
when the word getsthrough.
The Mark 12 was a sleek silvergoddess of a ship.
She could be manned solo, butshe boasted more than enough
interior space for a family toride comfortably, with all the
extra amenities.
The Mark 12 was a sleek silvergoddess of a ship.
(13:31):
She could be manned solo, butshe boasted more than enough
interior space for a family toride comfortably, with all the
extra amenities.
The 12 was space travel forfolks who didn't relish the
inconvenience of space travelbut still wanted to brag that
they had explored the wild blackyonder.
She was faster than Hadron too.
You're drooling, huh?
Rajul said, wiping her chinShut up.
(13:54):
I'm not.
She managed to compose herself,though her cheeks continued to
throb rosy red withembarrassment.
So how do we do this?
Under normal circumstances,we'd
dock.
Ahmed keyed a series ofcommands into the pariah's
mainframe and shook his head.
Rajul didn't need to checktheir power levels to know
docking wasn't an option Ever.
Spacewalk.
Rajul shook her head Suit up.
(14:16):
It's your luckyday.
He punched a yellow button anda hidden cubby like a retro
glove box, swung open Two orangevacuum-sealed clumps attached
to a series of unorganized wiresand tubes dropped between them.
He hit another button and thesuits disconnected, slid out and
began to ooze and expand on thefloor between them.
Rajul side-eyed the wrinkledlump of material.
(14:38):
You're kidding?
Ahmed whistled and rubbed hishands together.
They might be snug, but they'llhave to do.
I'm not wearing one of thoseAhmed shrugged Suit
myself.
I'll go on my own.
Keep an eye on the ship'sgravlock, will?
Ya, I don't know about you, butif I have to choose, I'd rather
die in here than out there.
If I have to choose, I'd rathernot die at all.
(15:01):
He shrugged again.
There are worse things thandeath.
Raj Ahmed suited up and steppedinto the airlock.
It sealed with a hiss and hethrew Rajul two thumbs up
Without thinking.
She entered her override, tookcontrol of the pariah and keyed
an OTP that initializeddepressurization within the
airlock.
Ahmed faked like he couldn'tbreathe and Rajul flipped him
(15:24):
off and stuck out her tongue.
Then he disappeared into blackspace, the airlock sealing
tightly behindhim.
Suddenly, rajul felt as if shewere locked in a coffin.
It was eerily quiet inside thepariah and stiller than a corpse
.
Can you hear me?
It was as clear as if he wereright beside her, and the sudden
interruption of his voice madeher jump.
(15:45):
Damn it, ahmed.
She held a hand over herfast-beating heart.
How is it out there, cold, Ithink Can't see much right now.
The sound of Ahmed's deepexhalations punctuated every
sentence Ton of debris, thesight of this smark, that
massive space mutant.
For a moment her heart skipped.
(16:05):
Har, har, har, so funny.
Can you get to the ship?
Calm silence answered.
Rajul cycled through thepariah's servo cams until she
found what she was looking forAhmed bounding steadily across
the hull towards the derelict.
No she thought.
It's not just calm silence, itwas utter silence, the silence
(16:27):
of void, of one last desperatehope at finding a way home.
It was the silence of twopeople alone in a universe
filled with trillions andtrillions, none of whom could
help them, even if they tried.
The silence of our coffin.
She mused and the image broughtclaustrophobia screaming back.
(16:48):
Ahmed stopped, swiveled his headlike a satellite's array one
way, then the other.
Innumerable metal fragmentshovered between the two ships,
forever frozen in space,suspended in a state of infinite
rest.
If Ahmed timed his jump wrong,if he contacted even the most
microscopic piece of debris, itwould be all over for him.
(17:08):
If he gave space, his cold,prodding fingers a place to tear
in, not even his extensive modswould save him.
Be careful, man.
Aw, you're worried about me.
That's adorable.
Rajul blushed Nah, I just can'tget this heap home without you.
She shivered.
Now would you hurry up?
It's getting cold in here.
(17:28):
Ahmed bent at the knees andkicked off the hull.
He floated toward the Mark 12like a ghost, arms tucked and
body needle-tight.
Rajul looked away and held herbreath After what felt like an
eternity.
She risked a quick peek out ofthe corner of her eye.
He's so close, just a few moremeters.
(17:48):
She thought and heard a thwunk.
But Ahmed's sudden contact withthe derelict was as soundless
as everything else Frozen.
Yet he asked Nope, not yet.
Damn, I didn't take long enough.
Then he chuckled and Rajulsmiled with relief, plugging in
now.
Hopefully she has enoughreserves to fill our heap with
(18:10):
enough juice to get us home.
Rajul had yet to process how shewould feel if they were really
going to die.
So far she kept giving herselfenough hope to ignore the facts.
Maybe we'll find a last, secondpower source.
Maybe the source will be enoughto not only power life support
but get the engine up andrunning again.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
But maybes were no longerenough.
(18:32):
If they were going to die, shewas going to die without holding
regrets.
I love you, ahmed.
It sounded like he choked onhis own spit.
Ahmed cleared his throat.
Excuse me, you heard me, man.
I love you.
No, no, you don't.
I'm not the one, I'm basicallya computer.
Babe.
There's nothing left to lovehere.
(18:53):
That's not what I mean.
I lost everything, like a lotof people did.
Anything.
The shift didn't take.
I left behind.
You're all I've got.
Just be careful, will ya?
That's all I'm trying to say.
Awkward silence followed.
Rajul gulped rocks.
He never took this long to findsomething witty to say.
(19:15):
You too, babe, talk later.
I gotta plug in.
Can you revert the powercurrents?
I don't want to release toomuch energy before the pariah
gets a chance to siphon andconvert Right.
Reverting currents.
Firing the engines in three, two, one, the pariah roared to life
.
The interior lights shot on,nearly blinding Rajul, and she
(19:37):
felt the ever-so-light change ofinternal pressure as the engine
flushed with renewed power.
She clapped her hands, stompedher feet and whooped at the top
of her lungs.
Even with full gravity back on,she felt like she was floating.
You did it.
We're finally going home.
Rajul swiveled between monitors,stopping to perform status
checks at each station.
(19:58):
Green across the board, theMark 12 had supplied the pariah
nearly 22% power, more thanenough to get them to the
nearest way station with theirgold mine in tow.
Her imagination raced frompossibility to possibility.
With her share of the loot, shecould afford to move out of the
slums Hadron, she could affordto leave Earth behind for good.
(20:19):
She always dreamed of visiting1E or 22B, but the thought of
actually living somewhere likethat had never crossed her mind.
My cheeks hurt.
Man Rajul tapped an erraticbeat on the console.
I think you weren't a kiss, youactually freaking, did it?
No response, ahmed, you did it.
(20:39):
Man, you can head back now.
But he didn't move.
He floated there looselyholding onto the Mark 12 as
still as the floating debrisaround him, like another hapless
piece of space flotsam.
That's not funny.
Can we just get out of herealready?
But he still refused to respond.
She wrapped her arms aroundherself.
(21:01):
A tingling sensation spreadfrom her core to her extremities
.
Ahmed, you never took jokesthis far, not like this.
At least Screw you.
Man Rajul choked back nervoustears before unstrapping herself
and wiggling into the remainingsuit.
It was a tight fit, but she hadno choice.
She wasn't about to leave himout there, not after everything
(21:22):
they'd been through together.
What could have gone wrong?
She thought their situation hadgone from desperate to hopeless
to brilliant, beyond herwildest dreams.
Everything was supposed to beokay now.
They made it.
They struck it big, big enoughto retire early.
She set a time, depressurization, slid into the airlock and held
(21:43):
her breath once more.
Her heart was racing again andsweat beaded on her forehead and
underneath her arms.
This would be the first time inopen space and she was stepping
into the new frontier withoutsupport or guidance.
In zero grav, she made her wayhand over hand to the ship's
external tether.
Now that the power was on, shecould access the panel and strap
(22:05):
in.
At least, if she were tomisstep, she would be able to
pull herself back to safety.
The thought of floatinghelplessly through space turned
her stomach into knots.
Rajul made short work of thetrip around the ship's hull.
She detached from her body andwatched herself as if she were a
speck of cosmic dust on ameteor.
There was something… surrealabout being in space.
(22:28):
She was naked, completelyexposed.
The entire universe wassimultaneously light-years away
and bearing in on her fasterthan light speed.
Each synthetic breath throughthe suit's respirator echoed
inside her helmet.
But no matter how hard sheinhaled, she could never seem to
get enough air.
Ahmed, she melled, staring athim across the gap.
(22:51):
Still no reaction, not as muchas a head nod or a muscle twitch
.
She kicked off, soaring towardher companion with reckless
abandon.
Luckily she made it safelyacross the debris field.
If she was honest, she wouldhave to admit her own well-being
was the last thing on her mind.
All she cared about was gettingAhmed and figuring out what in
(23:12):
Hadron was happening.
What she found, clinging to theMark 12, was worse than
anticipated, much worse.
She reached toward Ahmed andgrabbed his shoulder with one
shaky gloved hand.
She shivered.
Though she couldn't feel itthrough their protective
barriers, she knew instinctivelythat he was beyond saving.
(23:33):
She swallowed glass as sheturned his body toward her and
gasped he was alive or in somepretend state.
His eyes were jumping betweenclosed and open, closed and open
, their whites flickering behindhis fogged helmet.
His lips quivered as if he weretrying to speak, but no words
came out.
(23:53):
Almost imperceptibly, themuscles and electronics behind
his face twitched and spasmed.
Then it all stopped.
His face slackened, his jawlulled.
He went limp in her arms.
If not for the vacuum of space,his dead weight would have
dragged them both into oblivion.
Ahmed, please, please, don't go.
(24:16):
Her suit's internalenvironmental systems couldn't
keep up with the coldnessspiking her heart, spreading to
the core of her soul.
This was it.
This was the end of Rajul'sspacefaring career, the end of a
life she had worked so hard toobtain with a man she had to
admit she really did love morethan as just a friend.
(24:38):
She considered the debris field.
It would be so easy to simplykick off the Mark 12, close her
eyes, wrap her arms around Ahmedand let go.
Close her eyes, wrap her armsaround Ahmed and let go.
A piece would tear her suit,cut one of its innumerable
lifelines and maybe, just maybe,she would join Ahmed wherever
(25:05):
he was.
A scream, like an ancientdial-up tone, like a thousand
thousand robots dying in anelectrical fire, erupted through
her comm link.
She couldn't escape it.
It was everywhere all at once,heart racing, vision fading from
the awful cacophony.
She managed to disengage theirconnection.
Even so.
She thought she could stillhear the terrible phantom sound
through Ahmed's sealed suit.
She screamed back as loudly asshe could, but her own voice was
(25:29):
lost to Ahmed's.
She could only feel the bloodpulsing beneath her temples.
Then, as if possessed, ahmedthrottled her.
His sudden, unanticipatedtackle sent them both sprawling
from the relative security ofthe Mark 12's hull into space's
merciless grasp.
But she was tethered.
If she just clung to her friend, or whatever the nightmarish
(25:53):
creature that had replaced himwas, they would both be okay If
she could just get them backinto the pariah, back to one of
the way stations for diagnostics.
But their momentum was toogreat.
She jerked and felt a sharpalteration of their trajectory.
The cable tore from her suitand snapped back, receding away
from her well beyond herdesperate grasp.
(26:14):
They were untethered, deliveredto the callous clutches of
space.
Ahmed continued to scream.
An occasional word filteredthrough, but it was mostly
indecipherable coding language.
He was foaming at the mouth andhis eyes were filled with blood
and flashing blue light.
He snapped at the inside of hishelmet and his neck flopped
(26:36):
back and forth at awkward,inhuman intervals.
Holding her one-time friend atarm's length, rajul frantically
cycled through her suit's lifesupport and integrity readouts.
Her oxygen levels were abysmal.
She had a few hours at most,unless she tapped into Ahmed's.
What could that do?
Drifting listless through space, this time, no, maybes left.
(26:58):
It really was the end, ahmed.
She said you stupid son of a-.
We were so close too.
We had everything we everwanted.
We were finally going to be sorich, so happy Together.
Instead, they were back tonothing.
At least in the pariah shedidn't have a rabid Ahmed
(27:19):
screaming in ones and zeros tocontend with.
At least in the pariah therewas hope they might eventually
find a way home.
Now she was going to die, aderelict, lost among a vast sea
of stars, her best friend, heronly friend, clawing and
scratching at her from insidehis suit.
(27:40):
A broken man succumbed to thecomputer within.
Rajul's final breaths werestrained and her chest filled
with icy, hot fire.
Every time she inhaled, silencescreamed at her.
As she stared into its eyes,his eyes, she reminded herself
the face staring back at her hadbeen a familiar one, a dear old
(28:03):
friend, but it was so horriblyunfamiliar now, a grotesque,
twisted visage of somebody shehad used to know.
This face staring back was thelast thing she would ever see.
As dark space faded from herperiphery, rajul's mind wandered
and the cold didn't bother heranymore.
(28:25):
Forever was not far away Forher.
It all started when she firstleft Planetside, but it only
began to end a couple hours ago.
But hey, she thought, pullingAhmed tighter to her chest at
least I get to spend the rest offorever close to you close to
(28:55):
you.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
That story really gets to me.
It really makes me emotional.
I think it's one of the veryfew times that a horror story on
this podcast has, I don't know,made me a little teary.
If I'm being honest, the storywas submitted by first time
Lunatics writer, curtis A Dieter, and we're very, very excited
that Curtis has found us and isnow part of the Lunatics
community and I do hope that hesubmits again.
And of course, it was narratedfor us by Denali Bartel, and I'm
(29:21):
sure all of you are veryfamiliar with Denali's beautiful
, beautiful voice at this point.
But this story just had againsuch a human quality to it and
there was so much depth to itand I immediately thought of
Denali's beautiful narratingvoice.
But let's talk a little bitabout Curtis first.
So Curtis is an author offantasy, science fiction and
(29:41):
horror, with two dozen shortstories published in various
anthologies and collections.
He is the editor and founder ofa Midwest regional arts and
literature magazine called OfRust and Glass and produces a
related podcast with his localPBS station called Proud to Be
of Dust and Glass.
When he is not reading orwriting, he enjoys spending time
(30:02):
with his family, discoveringnew music and taste testing
craft brews at local breweries.
You can follow him on Facebookat author Curtis A Dieter or
Instagram at Curtis underscore Adot, underscore Dieter.
And again, we'll linkeverything in the description
below so that it's really easyfor you to find Denali and
Curtis and all of the othernarrators and writers for this
episode.
(30:23):
I'm sure this is not a veryprofound insight on my part, but
there's something about thisstory that reminds me so much of
Alien Romulus in that it'sreally a love story between a
droid and android type being, orsomeone who is modified so much
so that they're closer to droidthan human, which I think is
also a really interestingmechanic and a human and the
(30:45):
complexities that come with that.
And you know, in the case ofAlien Romulus it's not romantic
love, it's sibling love.
And in this story even, youknow, even though maybe there's
some idea that it could beromantic love at its core, no
matter what, there's a realfriendship there.
And this just calls to mind allof the themes we explored when
we did the history of artificialintelligence in horror series,
(31:07):
because so much of thatobviously overlaps with space
horror in a big way, because itreally is like man versus
machine, and especially in thismoment in time when AI is on the
rise and evolving so quickly,and there's already articles in
the New York Times about peoplewho are having these full blown
emotional relationships withChad GBT, and you know it just,
(31:29):
it's so fascinating.
And I think about the movie, youknow the Haley Joel Osment
movie, artificial Intelligenceand and what will happen in a
few years from now.
You know, I don't know not tobe dramatic, but I do think
we're kind of at that moment intime when people maybe who
struggle with humanrelationships or are struggling
in certain ways in their lives,will find community with
(31:51):
non-human beings, and what doesthat mean and what does that
call to mind?
So, anyway, I find this storyobviously is a bit different,
because this at one point was aperson, but still a really
beautiful and and sad journey,obviously a really gut-wrenching
story that made me cry, butDenali did such, a, again,
fantastic job bringing it tolife.
(32:12):
It's such a well-crafted storyand the narration matches that
perfectly.
All right, well, withoutfurther ado, I'll take out my
tissues and dab my eyes and wehave one last story in this epic
space horror saga to present toyou.
So, without further, ado O'RyanBeckins.
(32:44):
Read by Benjamin Cooper.
Read by Michael Macera.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
For a long time, blackness and pain were the
totality of my being.
Often I questioned my ownexistence.
In this realm, time had nomeaning.
My perception was not onlymuddled by this darkness
surrounding me, but also by asearing pain that radiated from
my every pore, a pain thatsmelled of rotting flesh, the
(33:07):
decaying insides of a previouslife.
The fermented rot clogged andburned my sinuses.
I pawed at my nose in anattempt to fan the odor away,
but my efforts were futile.
I came to know this agony asstink pain, and it was
unbearable.
Fragments of memories wouldsurface briefly before
retreating into the void.
(33:28):
These splintered moments variedthe warm embrace of my beloved
mother or a joyous Christmasmorn.
After those visions had passed,the pain would mysteriously
disappear, before returning witha punishing intensity.
For now I was alone, once morealone with my stink pain, but
this time it felt different,different and was unrelenting.
(33:50):
The odd sensation began with atingling in my toes.
It then crept up my feet to myankles.
The tingling transitioned toburning my feet, feeling as if
they were on hot coals.
My calf muscles ached as thediscomfort climbed up my thighs.
A stifling heat engulfed me.
The overwhelming taste ofcopper filled my mouth.
(34:12):
My legs stiffened.
I struggled to flex my feet andI felt the crunch of bone on
bone.
When the pain was too much tobear, I prayed for the torture
to end.
But death gave way to a miracle.
The stink pain retreated intothe abyss.
Then a kaleidoscope of vividcolors swirled around me.
The presence of another wasundeniable.
(34:34):
A droning hum emanated from thesilent oblivion.
The mechanized whirringeventually transformed to that
of a pleasant female voice Orionbeckons.
The hushed voice said softly.
The S sound drawing on until ittransitioned to the familiar
(34:54):
hissing of the oxygen pipesinside the transport ship of
which I was a crew member, therecollection began to seep into
my consciousness Just what hadhappened to me.
The outline of a woman began toform from the swirling torrent
of color rushing in front of me.
The woman's features took shapeas if she was being molded from
(35:14):
clay.
The rainbow colors of her auravibrated excitedly, sizzling.
Was this beautiful creature mysalvation?
She held out her hand gently,motioning for me to join her.
Suddenly, the figure jolted andher face contorted.
I reached out in a desperateattempt to grasp her hand, but
it was too late.
(35:35):
The clay-colored woman crackedand broke completely apart.
The colors dissipated and thedarkness returned.
My ailments returned with avengeance.
The nothingness had envelopedme once again.
But I had been given a gift, ahint to another existence.
Outside the hell of this stinkpain, the blackness remained for
(35:55):
what seemed like ages.
Had days passed, Perhaps years?
My faith sank into the vortexof hopelessness.
This ever-present nothingnesswas the basis of my new, muted
reality.
Could I dare challenge this?
A bone-chilling cold graduallyreplaced the warmth.
The sweat on my skin froze tocrystallize ice.
(36:17):
The paralyzing chill spread.
My neck stiffened.
I couldn't move.
My senses were inundated by thetimeless, frigid, stinking pain
which continuously prodded meas I floated helplessly.
Was this what it felt like todie?
Amid the suffocating coldnessof space, I felt as if I hadn't
moved in eons.
(36:38):
Yet I was still conscious.
Somehow had paralysis set in.
I was lost to the ceaselessonslaught of the unforgiving
stink pain.
Desperately, I tried in vain tomove my arms.
My mind pleaded for me tosuccumb to the numbness of the
frozen eternity that hadenveloped me, for I was a mere
speck in the vastness ofexistence, my future immaterial
(37:02):
to the universe.
I could feel the years beingsucked from my body, drifting
off to orbit some uncharted,distant, dead star.
In a way, this fate wasliberating.
Even the stink pain seemed tono longer have dominion over me.
But then the vivid colorsreturned, pierced through the
(37:24):
blackness, and illuminated myworld once again.
The woman emerged from theever-rescent color.
Once more, Her arms were raisedprominently above her head in
capitulation to the miraculouslandscape of her origin.
Mustering all my strength,inspired by her magnificence and
fueled by a desire to end myordeal, I reached for her.
(37:46):
The ice covering my armscreaked in protest before
shattering.
The casts around my legscracked as well, shards breaking
away and floating off Limbs.
Akimbo, I swam through theether towards my savior, but
instead of extending my arms ina welcome embrace, she prompted
me to halt.
Without hesitation, I obliged.
(38:09):
The colorful backdrop fadedaway, leaving us floating in
space, surrounded by stars,planets, nebulae and the many
other fantastic displays of theuniverse.
She pointed to a cluster oftwinkling stars and then, in the
most kind-hearted voice I hadever heard, she told me every
(38:29):
star represented another day inmy life left to live.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
No.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
I was not some existential being, nor was I
dead.
She explained that I was in astasis, a state of flux, there
had been an accident and if Ihad stayed strong, they could
return me to the world fromwhich I had departed.
Please, she whispered as shebegan to fade, hold on my savior
.
My only connection was leaving,abandoning me once again.
(39:00):
Before she dissolved, shemurmured follow the light, for
it will be your salvation.
Orion beckons.
Thoughts of inexplicable,unfathomable scenarios ran
through my head.
The thoughts circled into aswarm of stink pain, their
decaying remnants pouring intothe mold of my soul.
(39:21):
Was a concussion to blame?
Perhaps space madness?
Panic set in claustrophobia,overcoming me as I struggled to
break from the chains of thedark cocoon that encased me.
Then a blinding light flashedand what felt like warm fluid
washed over me, taking with itthe stink pain.
Like a baby emerging from thewomb, I passed into a different
(39:45):
but familiar world.
The bright light stung mysensitive eyes.
Recognizable voices chatteredincessantly in the background.
My arm was draped aroundsomeone and they slipped a pair
of tinted glasses on me.
Here, these will help.
A reassuring woman's voice saidyour retinas may have sustained
damage from the prolongedexposure in the stasis field,
(40:07):
but once we dock at Orion PortKilo, the medics will be able to
fully restore your vision.
We are all fortunate to even bealive.
After the accident, I lookedaround.
I was in a large cargo hold, ametallic tomb stacked to the
brim with boxes, pallets andequipment.
I was in a wreck.
I asked feebly when was thestink pain?
(40:30):
My body cried out for itsaccustomed body-numbing
influence.
We were in a wreck.
We hit a piece of space junkthat somehow got through the
radar.
It breached the hull just atthe right spot while you were
inspecting the cargo.
Per Orion policy, the safety ofthe cargo takes precedent and
the autostabilizers kicked in toprotect the stock, despite you
(40:50):
being within its radius.
You should be dead.
The failsafe somehow managed tokeep you alive and in stasis,
although you were writhing aboutscreaming in agony the whole
time.
It looked horrible as if youwere being electrocuted.
We couldn't turn off thestabilizers until the fractures
in the hull were mitigated andthe auto-envrio systems were
back online.
(41:11):
My blurred vision began todissipate.
A friendly face came into focus.
Lola, you were the woman.
You were there talking to me,trying to calm me.
I was speaking to you throughan amplified frequency.
Simon told me not to bother,that my voice would just be
static.
But you heard me.
(41:32):
It worked.
You saved me.
If it wasn't for you, the painwould have been too much.
Here.
Let me help.
You are weak.
She took me to a cot in thecorner of the cargo hold.
I collapsed, curling into aball, shivering uncontrollably.
A man in a pilot uniformapproached, beaming Adam, you
(41:54):
are alive.
I knew you'd make it.
I had a 20-credit bet with Johnat Orion Distribution Center
Games that you'd pull through.
Well done, don't badger him,simon.
He's been through hell.
Lola snapped as she gentlycovered him with a blanket and
handed him a hot cup of tea.
You're going through some kindof withdrawal.
Once your core body temperaturestabilizes, you'll come out of
(42:15):
it here.
Take this, it'll make you feelbetter.
She insisted, handing me a pill.
I gulped it down hastily.
I spoke to corporate.
Simon interjected, taking aseat at the end of the cot.
They were hoping you'd pullthrough, mostly because they
didn't want to pay out on yourlife insurance policy.
Collateral damage, right.
Just another space accident,another statistic for some Orion
(42:36):
corporate minion to record on aperformance report.
Lola fumed as she moved to thecargo bay control panel, her
fingers moving furiously overthe buttons and knobs.
All we wanted was a good,paying job so we could send some
cash back home, maybeaccumulate some credits in a
retirement account for a daythat will never come.
Simon remarked.
(42:57):
Those greedy bastards at Oriondon't care about us grunts, just
their profit margins.
Why had Orion Corporation sentus on this mission?
Millions of light years away,their greed had no bounds.
They would not stop until theymaximized profits from every
corner of the galaxy, exploitingevery race and resource, or
until their lackeys finallyrefused to no longer be human
(43:19):
fodder for their Orion meatgrinder, an automated voice
echoed through the massive cargohold.
Orion Corporation is pleased toreport that minimal damage was
sustained in today's incident.
The cargo was not compromisedand there are no casualties to
report.
All personnel will be requiredto debrief upon docking at Orion
Port Kilo.
(43:39):
Thank you for your dedicatedservice.
The medication kicked in andthe gnawing void the stinkpain
had left was no more.
My body went limp.
I knew this next voyage into mysubconscious would be a healing
and peaceful one, so I began todream.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
I absolutely love this story.
There's something very similarto 28 Days Later or the Day of
the Triffids, or just somethingabout waking up into something
that you've missed or you'veforgotten, and it's everything
is new and different andhorrible, and that's such a
gut-wrenching way to start astory like this.
I also think a story like thisfeels very poignant in this
(44:24):
moment in time when we thinkabout really like companies
versus people and what'simportant to us in 2025 and
beyond, with the landscape thatis emerging, and I think this
story obviously has a lot to sayabout that and it does it
really well and it points thingsout right while using these
themes of space, horror andscience fiction, that we're
(44:46):
aware of being in stasis and allthese other things, but pulling
us so intimately into oneperson's journey and the horrors
and the effects of that,there's something very cold and
cruel and clinical, and I thinkthat's sort of how I walk away
from the story feeling.
I also, of course, have toshout out Mike Massera, the
amazing narrator, mike Massera,who brought this story to life.
(45:07):
He did such a great job and Ioften think of Mike Massera when
there's particularly a genrestory, but any type of story,
but for us always, always agenre story of some sort that I
don't know.
I find to be really emotional,and I think he does a wonderful
job of knowing kind of when tohave his voice be very cool and
(45:27):
calculated and when to bring usin a little deeper and closer.
So I think Mike did a reallywonderful job, as always.
But let's talk a little bitabout Benjamin Cooper, because
this is his first time as well,being featured on the Lunatics
Radio Hour podcast.
Amongst the long boxes of hiscomic book collection Aquarium's
Civil War reenactment gear andconcert posters, published
(45:49):
author Benjamin Cooper concoctshis fantastic works of fiction.
Having studied creative writingat the University of Iowa, he
now aims to expose his creativemind to the world through the
written word.
You can find him at his home onthe internet,
mindofbenjamincoopercom, and ofcourse, we will also link that
in the description below.
One thing that I'm reallyfocusing on in 2025 personally
(46:10):
is through my kind of creativework, is bringing something
deeper into these genre storiesthat I tend to write or tend to
tell in some ways, and I thinkall of these writers from the
last two episodes have done suchan incredible job at bringing
us into a beautiful and vividsetting that you know is so, so
(46:31):
themed and full of either we'reon a space station or we are in
a spacecraft, or we aregalloping in a wagon in the
1800s, in a UFO descends,whatever it is, the worlds are
so rich and what happens perhapsis again set in that world
right, a rock full of worms thateat somebody's body from the
(46:51):
inside out.
But the point of the storyisn't that, and it's not about
shocking us.
It's about bringing us throughan emotional journey and
connecting that to something inthe real world today.
I think everyone was incrediblysuccessful at that, and all of
these stories have somethingmore to say than you know a sum
of their parts and how theyinteract with this theme of
(47:12):
space horror and all of thesenarrators just the dreamiest
voices in the world, and I'mvery grateful to everybody.
So thank you all.
Thank you for being on thisjourney with us.
We will continue to trudgethrough this year ahead and and
we're very excited for some ofthe themes that are coming your
way, as always stay safe, stayspooky.
Join us on Discord, and we'revery excited for some of the
(47:34):
themes that are coming your way,as always.
Stay safe, stay spooky, join uson Discord and we'll talk to
(47:57):
you very soon.
Bye you.
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