0:01

I've got kids, and that means it's always

0:03

about them. But I need support

0:05

too. That's where Ollie comes in, with their

0:08

delightful, hard-working gummies. My partner and I can

0:10

actually get a good night's sleep, so we'll

0:12

both stand a chance of managing our stress

0:14

responses. Even when the kids

0:16

are doing parkour in the living room,

0:18

discover Ollie vitamins and supplements. These statements

0:20

have not been evaluated by the Food

0:22

and Drug Administration. This product is not

0:25

intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent

0:27

any disease. Oh,

0:33

wonder-working stars in the

0:36

precious dark. Incredible as

0:38

they seem, are not the

0:40

results of mass hysteria. You

0:47

may wish to adjust the dial. You're

0:51

currently too empty. The

0:53

wrong station. Midnight

1:40

Climax. Call it 1969. The

1:46

tension electric, slipping through dark

1:48

alleys on a damp evening, sky-like

1:51

etherized lips, dim

1:53

spots of yellow light rolling from the fixtures

1:55

half glimpsed at the alley's end.

1:58

Your door. Curia Hoss,

2:01

hurrying alone in a miniskirt and

2:03

long shearling coat and cloud of

2:05

half-collected thoughts, standing anxious at

2:07

the door waiting for it to open, wondering

2:10

if the location had changed again. Then

2:13

the click, Dr. Berenson pulling

2:15

her through, his soft fingers tight on

2:17

the naked skin of her wrist. Down

2:20

to the basement, the chair, wad

2:23

of cash on the console by the stairwell, and

2:26

his hands eager, almost trembling as he

2:28

fixed the buckles round her wrists and

2:30

ankles, the cold gel sealing

2:32

electrodes to her head, beneath the

2:35

hair, where they'll leave sticky clumps

2:37

like ejaculate by morning. Are

2:40

you ready, Miss Hoss? She

2:42

takes a moment to control her shorting breath. She's

2:45

as excited as he is, though they're

2:48

but allies of convenience working different angles

2:50

on crosscut causes. Let's

2:53

go, she says. Let's

2:56

do this. Blacksite,

3:01

call it twenty-odd

3:03

five. He thought

3:05

one form of agency, the

3:07

choice to die, remained to him.

3:11

That was until he tried to exercise it. Three

3:13

days he refused the use of food. This

3:16

was terrible and took great strength of will,

3:19

but for once in the last three years of

3:21

his imprisonment it was a pain

3:23

with some purpose. Then,

3:25

one of the guards, the future

3:27

governor of Arkansas, entered his cell

3:30

with three other men and they dragged him to

3:32

a place he'd never been before, a

3:34

white void and roving a great throne

3:36

adorned with leather straps. The

3:39

electric chair. For a moment he

3:41

allowed himself to hope he was being granted the mercy

3:43

of death. Then

3:45

they strapped him down and forced a metal bit

3:47

between his teeth, its hard

3:50

edges grinding against enamel, his

3:52

gums bled. Then the

3:54

future governor produced a motor and pump screwed

3:56

onto a wooden board, placed this

3:59

apparatus down on a a side table. Two

4:01

five-sixteenths inner diameter polyvinyl hoses running

4:04

out of the pump, one

4:06

of them ending in a smooth steel bit.

4:09

The hose had not been cleaned, cloudy

4:12

resituum on the outside, pinkish in

4:14

hue. One of the

4:16

guards produced a bottle of KY-brand personal

4:18

lubricant and began to slicken the hose

4:20

and metal bit, working in lube

4:22

between his four fingers and the rough ball of

4:25

his thumb. Another left

4:27

the room and returned with a

4:29

six-pack of enshure protein shake, strawberry

4:31

flavor, which he began

4:33

to empty out one by

4:35

one into an unwashed collapsible

4:37

bucket of grimy yellow rubber.

4:39

Haason could already smell the plasticky

4:42

feeter of the lubricant, the childish

4:44

kymicle red of the broth. Shortly

4:47

after they began the feeding, he

4:51

slipped through for the first time. We'll

4:58

meet again and call

5:00

it nineteen fifty-eight. Shattered

5:03

highway under a white sun and

5:06

desert on all sides with rusted hunks

5:08

of automotive standing in her way until

5:10

she skipped aside from them, glancing

5:13

in at the blasted skeletons, still laughing

5:15

at the feeling of the glass shards

5:17

that had once buried themselves amidst the

5:19

ribs. A couple of the

5:21

silent locals wandered with her now, a

5:23

beefcake with the front of his swimming trunk

5:25

seared off, only their scorched

5:28

banners still flapping around his perfect buttocks,

5:30

leaving raw, exposed muscle and

5:33

seeping interstices, eyes

5:35

staring lidless from their sockets, perfect

5:38

teeth a-shine behind no lips. He

5:41

seemed to be standing about an inch above

5:43

the actual ground. And

5:45

with him a nurse, not

5:47

the sexy kind, but a sort of white

5:50

absence flickering in and out against the summer

5:52

sky, a boxy suggestion of

5:54

a set of scrubs, the short and

5:56

roundish suggestion of a figure, perhaps

5:59

some auntie from the Philippines who hadn't seen

6:01

the family she sent money to in over

6:03

sixteen years. Porfiria

6:05

didn't mind their presence. She

6:08

liked them more than Dr. Berenson. They

6:14

make a solitude and call

6:16

it peace. Didn't

6:19

have to do anything here. Hassan

6:21

could just be. Breathing

6:24

the faint and acrid dust of

6:26

vaporized cities, tasting the ruined

6:28

atoms of the people who'd done all this to

6:30

him and those who'd

6:33

suffered in isolated solidarity. A

6:37

distant sound, he squinted

6:39

against the radiant sky and stood, something

6:43

heavy moving low across the horizon.

6:51

His name, when worth remembering,

6:54

was Richard Duke, decorated

6:57

servicemen. He

6:59

was certainly dead, he reasoned. So

7:01

what could any of this matter? Decorated

7:04

servicemen. So was

7:06

this heaven? He prowled

7:08

across low skies and his form

7:10

was huge and almighty. From

7:13

time to time he saw survivors

7:15

and wakened up his heavy guns,

7:17

those organs hanging fruit-like from his

7:20

lower body, pendulous and rife with

7:22

life's nearest alternative. Then,

7:24

the low

7:28

ecstasy of dust clouds blooming at

7:30

the horizon, his fulfillment of

7:32

pleasure at the erasure of small figures,

7:35

and then the glimpse through his

7:37

great and staring lidless baby blues

7:40

as his heavy body hurtled overhead,

7:42

his whirling wings bestowing up the

7:44

dust to show the blossomed bodies,

7:46

the scattered spores of life's nearest

7:49

alternate. Tender

7:55

mercies. Hosin

7:57

came to win the darkness and

7:59

almost cried because it was such relief to

8:01

endless light. They liked to cycle

8:04

him between the two, the white

8:06

torture and the black. Each

8:08

intended to erase him in sensory deprive,

8:11

but each providing a few hours of relief

8:13

upon the change. Maybe

8:15

he was supposed to mediate upon his crimes, but,

8:18

of course, he hadn't committed any,

8:21

save for those normal small abuses of the

8:23

human heart. He

8:26

often felt guilty either way. Critical

8:32

Theory She came home

8:35

to her second-floor apartment, its

8:37

cutting edge of trendy orange browns, its

8:39

heavy shag upon the floor, radio

8:41

afloat as she ground its dial to the

8:44

on position, some song she thought

8:46

might be the Rolling Stones. The

8:49

funny thing was none of it was real,

8:52

all translucent to the touch. They'd

8:54

come and ransacked the place again during her

8:57

session, found and tore up

8:59

her zines, her second-hand copies of

9:01

Alt-Husser and Marx, purchased with the

9:03

program's own money from backroom bookstores

9:05

in behind the lanes, but never

9:07

even read. They were

9:09

on to her, of course, but

9:12

what they didn't realize yet was she

9:14

was on to them. She

9:16

stood in the middle of her empty living

9:18

room, laughing from her belly. Away

9:21

and down the street, two

9:23

men with headphones glanced at one another in the

9:26

back crater of a panel van. The

9:31

Love It Dr.

9:33

Sorin Berenson stroked her wrist as

9:35

she trembled, drooling in her

9:37

sleep. It was

9:39

a liberty, of course, but nothing like

9:41

what some of the other doctors in the program like

9:43

to take, and justify by claiming

9:46

it was part of the research. Yet

9:49

he was a more sensitive soul,

9:51

he believed, and always told anyone

9:53

who'd listen. He stroked

9:55

her wrist, just

9:58

twice, in case he let himself get

10:00

carried away, and asked

10:02

her, Where are you

10:04

now, and

10:06

why can't I be with you? Infrastructure

10:14

They first crossed paths on an

10:16

abandoned airbase, the roads

10:18

and runways white picography against the recruiters

10:20

and greens, scattered shards

10:22

of metal strewn all about, some

10:25

of them burning too hot to come within

10:27

a meter of, even though they seemed quite

10:29

cool to look at. Radiation,

10:31

probably, though he only had

10:34

tenth-grade science. He

10:36

came across her at the sweaty, rusted flank

10:38

of one of those prefab half-cylinder buildings

10:40

made of corrugated metal, the kind they used

10:43

in World War II. Quonset

10:45

huts, he thought they were called. This

10:48

one seemed to subtly breathe. He

10:51

found her attractive to look at, but

10:53

of course it had been over three years since he'd ever seen

10:55

a woman, over fifteen months since he'd

10:57

even thought of one. Quonset Hey,

11:00

you, she shouted. He

11:03

wandered over, hands inside his pockets,

11:05

trying not to blush. Quonset These

11:07

are my friends, she said, gesturing to

11:10

no one. Beefcake and

11:12

the nurse. Quonset Don't be intimidated,

11:14

though, she added in a whisper. Beef

11:17

and ire strictly friends. Quonset

11:20

didn't know what she was talking about, but

11:23

it was nice just to hear a friendly voice. Beefcake

11:26

What? What are you doing? His

11:29

voice was rusty. Quonset Don't you

11:31

know this yet? She asked.

11:34

You must be new here. Beefcake Look.

11:36

Quonset From a large duffel bag about

11:38

her ankle, she produced a corded hammer drill

11:41

and carbide hole saw bit. A

11:43

small gas generator was already lugged up

11:45

beside her, where the beefcake was allegedly

11:48

standing. She plugged it in, the

11:50

drill, and held it by the pistol grip

11:52

and crossbar like a grease gun in the

11:55

trenches ninety years ago. It looked

11:57

incongruous, a little funny juxtaposed.

12:00

posed with her tall and faintly mancenara

12:02

sort of look, with the

12:04

wide-legged pants and center-parted yellow hair.

12:07

Then she powered up the drill and

12:09

slowly pressed into the quonset side. "'The

12:12

trick with steel,' she shouted over the mechanism's

12:14

wine, is to take it low and slow

12:16

and let the bit do the work for

12:18

you." After a

12:21

moment the bit and little

12:23

steel curls began to flow along

12:25

its grooves like butter. At

12:27

the same time a low moan of pain

12:29

came up from the quonset and

12:32

a stream of heavy dark ichor whelmed

12:34

round the carbide teeth to pour down

12:36

along the corrugated channels of the hut.

12:39

Then the last resistance gave and

12:41

the whole drilling bit plunged deep

12:43

into the building's flesh. She

12:45

drew it back, ichor streaming

12:47

down her wrists, and a

12:50

plug of dense red meat was stuck inside

12:52

the hole saw. "'Come

12:54

on,' she said, beckoning him.

12:57

She bent her faintly pointed chin to the

12:59

quonset's bloody hole and sucked.

13:03

"'Come on,' she said again. It's

13:06

good to drink.' After

13:09

they slurped their fill she

13:11

led him to the roof of a crumbling

13:13

air-traffic tower to show him the blasted endlessness

13:15

of the place they discovered. "'Welcome

13:18

to America.' A

13:21

helicopter muttered low in the distance,

13:23

the sound of its rotors echoing against

13:25

the hard blue sky and empty hills.

13:32

Epistemology An

13:35

interrogator came, which was always

13:37

funny. An earnest, considerate man

13:39

who said he came from a different agency.

13:42

"'We need to know something,' he

13:44

said. It's a matter of life and death.' "'Awesome,'

13:48

said nothing. The

13:50

interrogator produced a manila envelope and

13:52

spread its glossy contents wide across

13:54

the desk. "'We need

13:56

to know everything you can tell us about this man.'"

14:00

Hossen looked at the pictures for a while. I

14:04

don't know him. Don't

14:06

you know him? I

14:09

don't even know myself anymore. Tristero.

14:17

She went home with her semi-regular guy and

14:19

put on a bit of a performance, knowing

14:22

they were listened to. Afterward,

14:24

lying in his arms, she

14:26

heard him breathe as if to speak but

14:28

then hesitate a couple times. I'm

14:32

worried about you, he said at last.

14:35

I've never been better, she said. I'm

14:38

on to something. But

14:41

you don't seem like yourself these days. You're

14:45

distant. That's because

14:47

I'm on my way beyond. She

14:49

gave him lysergic acid and they made love again,

14:52

and then she asked him questions for the

14:54

hidden microphones. Afterward,

14:57

Dr. Berenson listened to the recordings

14:59

of their lovemaking several times. His

15:02

red-rimmed eyes just barely dry by

15:04

force of will, his piled fist clenched

15:06

up into a ball. Afterward

15:10

he took off the cans and put them aside,

15:13

walked to meet his lab tech in the other room. We

15:17

need to raise Miss Hoss's dose. He

15:25

hadn't thought he'd want to eat or drink because

15:28

somewhere his stomach was still bloated with

15:30

pink fluid and his throat and nostrils

15:32

burning from sugary pink vomit. But

15:36

after they walked together long enough he found

15:38

the heat and radiated dust would parch him

15:40

and he'd long for something, anything,

15:42

to drink. The quancet

15:45

blood was warm and black-strapped

15:47

bittersweet, but he didn't

15:49

like the way the huts would groan

15:51

and tremble as Porphyria drilled and they

15:53

both drank. Don't

15:56

you think it's wrong? He asked her if

15:59

they can feel it. They're

16:01

their building, Sasan. She

16:03

always pronounced it Hasan, not

16:05

Hasan. Remember all they've

16:07

done to us? He wanted

16:09

to challenge her on this. But

16:12

then came the sound on the horizon of

16:15

joyful moaning, rotor blades,

16:18

and then the dance of

16:21

heavy guns. Regret.

16:26

My God, my God. Berenson

16:30

fruitlessly pawed at her face, the back of

16:33

her head as she spasmed, pouring fluid at

16:35

the mouth. Safer, safer, safer.

16:38

Bistek ignored the panic, working fast with

16:40

needles and cathartics. A

16:43

tense few minutes. Then

16:45

the last of the fluid was out,

16:47

and her heart monitor's hysteric shriek warbled

16:49

down to a steady ping. Something

16:53

strange. Berenson

16:55

leaned forward across his patient, scenting

16:58

some strange fragrance on her acrid

17:00

breath. Then he

17:02

tapped her cheek, leaving a finger

17:05

mark and a thick pink tide which had

17:07

bubbled from between her teeth. He

17:10

sniffed it. Strawberry,

17:14

he said. Remorse.

17:21

An unfamiliar face when he awoke. Not

17:24

the heavy-featured governor of Arkansas. Not

17:27

the useless and dignified mug of the

17:29

interrogator. A face with a

17:31

wide blue mouth. Oh,

17:33

no, he thought, groggily. A

17:35

medical mask. What

17:38

happened? You entered cardiac arrest

17:40

during a feeding event. The

17:42

tech was an Asian man. First

17:44

non-white-face, hosinate scene since they brought him here.

17:47

You should eat what they bring you, the tech told him.

17:50

These force-feedings are very bad for you. Tell

17:53

them that. They wouldn't have to do it if

17:55

you ate. I would eat if they

17:58

stopped torturing me. The

18:00

tech looked at him for a long time. What

18:04

did you do to end up in here? The

18:07

answer self-evident, Asen would have

18:09

thought. Nothing.

18:13

But even behind that mask, he could tell the

18:15

tech didn't believe him. After

18:17

a moment, the inevitable question. Are

18:20

you a terrorist? No

18:23

right answer once you've been asked a question like that. Asen

18:27

shut his eyes and leaned back, laughing

18:30

a little even though it made his chest hurt. She

18:42

brought him to her apartment, Berenson.

18:46

First time he'd seen inside it, except for the

18:48

cameras. The old man trembling

18:50

a little to be there in

18:52

the flesh. She disgusted her. Who

18:56

is he? she asked. He

18:58

was immediately on guard. Who

19:01

is who? I think you

19:03

know. Whoever wound up in there before me. Berenson

19:06

genuinely had no clue what she was talking

19:08

about. There was no there

19:10

so far as he knew. She

19:13

sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose with

19:15

hard white fingertips, and poured herself a double

19:17

whiskey in a rocks glass. Didn't

19:20

offer him anything. Tell

19:22

me about the man you were working on before me, the

19:25

military guy. Berenson

19:27

actually flinched. She could

19:29

see hairs rising on the back of his gray-haired

19:32

neck in real time. How

19:34

did you know about him? Just tell me.

19:36

It's important. It matters a lot.

19:40

Her lips left red asymptotes on the rim

19:42

of the glass. He glanced

19:44

up nervously to where he knew the cameras were, even

19:47

though he'd turned them off. Always

19:49

a chance someone else had turned them back on. Soaring,

19:53

she insisted. She'd let

19:56

her smoky edge trickle into

19:58

her voice. It's me. He

20:01

let out a shaky sigh, perched

20:03

himself in a high-top stool beside her at

20:05

the Kitchen Island, close to her

20:07

as he dared. Dick

20:10

Duke, he told her, first

20:13

airborne battalion, 8th Cavalry, grew

20:15

up in the Midwest, stint in juvenile detention, joined

20:18

the military after finishing high school, was

20:20

involved in an off-the-books mass killing

20:23

during Operation Masher, subsequently captured

20:25

and tortured by the North Vietnamese,

20:28

fell into heroin addiction after the war.

20:31

That's how he wound up in the program. What

20:34

happened to him? The answer

20:36

self-evident, Berenson would have thought. He

20:40

died. Porphyria finished

20:42

her glass, flicked it

20:44

away across the countertop. It

20:47

almost fell off the far corner, coming

20:49

to a perilous stop, half-resting in thin

20:51

air. That's

20:53

interesting, she said. Now,

20:57

what about the other one? Other

20:59

what? Other who? The

21:02

Arab guy, Hassan. But

21:06

Dr. Berenson had no idea what she

21:08

was talking about. Crash. Their

21:16

bodies were full of red craters. She

21:19

could see daylight through him. She

21:21

could see night through her. Why

21:24

didn't we die? We did, she

21:27

said. Then how? She

21:30

silenced him by drawing near, closing

21:32

his mouth with a kiss. Her

21:35

body as much of a red ruin as his, but that

21:38

kiss the first time he had been touched other

21:40

than as an act of cruelty and so much

21:42

longer than he could remember. He

21:44

surrendered to her, and she pushed him

21:46

down to the parched soil, the dead

21:48

grass. When they made

21:51

love, all the while

21:53

two figures, the burnt front

21:55

of a silent man and the vague

21:57

white outline of a nurse, looked down

21:59

upon him. them. He was

22:01

beginning to see them now. When

22:03

the lovers lay spent together in the thin

22:05

shade of a dry tree, her

22:08

wounds were fully closed. His,

22:10

on the other hand, still wept. He

22:13

hadn't learned how to close them, hadn't

22:15

even had the insight that they could be closed. All

22:19

the world seemed random to him, but

22:21

she was beginning to see that this

22:23

place had a kind of order. "'Where

22:26

are we? How is this possible?' he

22:28

asked, touching through a hole in her

22:30

white dress to caress the new-grown skin

22:32

beneath. Harder, smoother, whiter

22:35

than the rest of her, than

22:37

any skin he'd ever felt

22:39

before. Why are you asking now? You

22:42

were content to sit and breathe

22:44

in the sunlight before." "'Well, that

22:47

was before someone came and blew my body apart.'

22:50

"'Now I can't stop wondering.' "'His

22:52

name's Richard Duke,' she told

22:54

him. "'The gunship. He's

22:57

one of them. He was here

22:59

before us.' "'Hassan

23:01

looked at her in surprise. "'How

23:04

do you know that?' "'She only

23:06

gave him a non-answer. He died

23:09

outside. "'A pause,

23:12

then.' "'You

23:14

understand the implication?' "'But

23:17

before he could ask her to explain, "'Hassan

23:19

woke in the white throne, coughing

23:22

with the taste of strawberries and stomach acid

23:24

in his throat.' "'Simple

23:30

pleasures.' He

23:33

had built an enormous nest for himself

23:35

from the crater of a hospital, and

23:37

lined it with soft corpses so irradiated

23:39

that they would not rot. His

23:42

shits, commensurate with his size,

23:44

weighed about sixty kilograms, and

23:47

he let them out frequently inside

23:49

his nest, being not bothered especially

23:51

by things like hygiene any more,

23:53

and being comforted by their smell

23:55

and warmth. Comfort

23:58

was a strangely rare thing. In

24:00

his afterlife and he was beginning to

24:02

wonder if this was heaven after all.

24:05

Just. This morning he'd come upon a

24:07

pair of children walking down the abandoned

24:09

highway and if fired on them until

24:11

they were nothing but bloody rags. Not.

24:13

For the first time though. Good

24:16

fun experience. My. Little disappointing.

24:19

During. His days in the jungle, the

24:21

targets had run. And sometimes

24:23

fired back. He and his

24:25

buddies have made a game that of the killing. But

24:28

here there was nobody to track is score

24:31

against. And. Worst of all, the

24:33

targets just stood there and waited to

24:35

die. He. Was in

24:37

danger of becoming Beaufort. With.

24:39

A grumble, He nestled himself into the

24:41

warmth of his layer and decided that.

24:44

Next time. He. Would kill

24:46

his victims slowly. To.

24:49

See if you could get a better reaction? Commitment.

24:57

He still wasn't eating. Less.

24:59

Now as an active resistance and because

25:01

he wanted to see her. In

25:03

the feelings were is only way through. He.

25:06

Would wake cradled in her arms and

25:08

that other America with his body torn

25:10

to shreds and his cheek wet with

25:12

her tears. Why? Aren't

25:14

you trying? She would ask him. He

25:17

meant trying to kill the way

25:20

she was, with each wound becoming

25:22

flawless and unbreakable ceramic. Maybe.

25:25

I don't want to. He'll. Tell.

25:28

Me about what they did you son? And

25:31

what he told her about the midnight

25:33

raid? about his father and brothers merely

25:35

shot against the back wall of their

25:37

house. She told him

25:39

about her sister. Who'd. Gone to

25:41

the same programs her and come out

25:43

the other side unable to leave the

25:45

house. Been able to do anything but

25:47

draw circles on the wallpaper, Or

25:50

we're going to get them for they did to us on.

25:53

They have no idea where they sent

25:55

us. no idea what we're capable of.

25:59

He looked up. Then. Arise

26:01

The same blue was the irradiated

26:03

sky. And. Knew she didn't

26:05

love him as a woman loves a man. But.

26:08

As a martyr loves their death.

26:15

So neuer. Weeks.

26:18

Since it last laden his arms and

26:20

or semi regular guy brought flowers when

26:22

it came over. What he found

26:24

she was not in the mood for love. The.

26:26

Inside of a bathroom was all covered

26:29

in layers of insulating foam and aluminum

26:31

foil oh held together by bands of

26:33

black. P B Take. She.

26:35

Was sitting cross legged in the

26:38

floor, frantically drawing with permanent marker.

26:41

Ah, He dropped

26:43

his flowers at the sight of her. I

26:46

have you the cameras to snap.

26:48

Close the door. Cameras.

26:51

She waved her hand at him campus

26:53

and watched me from months. Berenson in

26:55

the man he's working for that been

26:58

happy to go along with it till

27:00

now, but this is important. He

27:03

perched on the edge of the tub. Feeling.

27:05

A flood of misery at his heart. It's

27:08

so important. the. It.

27:11

Known her for many years. A

27:13

torch he carried was guttering. It's last.

27:16

I need something important.

27:19

Something imbued. You.

27:21

Understand me? Your. Hi

27:23

Fi. She only last.

27:25

This is the closest to earth I

27:28

get these days. I told you. I'm

27:30

going beyond. At.

27:33

That moment he finally made a decision that broke

27:35

his heart. He. Stood.

27:39

I should go. Cause. She.

27:41

Glanced back, then. I thought

27:43

you'd want to stay. Thought you'd want to be

27:45

with me. That like

27:48

this fee. For. A moment

27:50

her mania at. You. Think

27:52

I'm crazy. But that's just because

27:54

you don't have the same sex is me. You

27:56

haven't seen what I've seen. Goodbye.

27:59

See. He. Left a bathroom

28:01

door open behind him as he left, despite

28:03

her shouting at him to close it. Through.

28:06

That small crack and the blurry lens of

28:09

his camera doctor parents and caught a glimpse

28:11

of what she was drawn. Something

28:14

like an angel. Something

28:17

sweet. Drinks.

28:24

Not. Be interrogator this time. Though.

28:27

The same room. And a man

28:29

who look enough like him from the flag gray

28:31

haired the go dark blue suit as to be.

28:34

Interchangeable. The.

28:36

Man introduced himself the house in

28:38

as his lawyer. At

28:40

this house and hung his head and began

28:42

to laugh. With. Tears mingled in.

28:45

Kyiv. Must be mistaken. I'm

28:47

supposed to die in here. After.

28:50

That meeting he started to eat again. But.

28:53

From time to time, the future

28:56

Governor of Arkansas still sauce to

28:58

force feed him. Perfect

29:04

concussion. Sometimes

29:06

so wasn't sure who wasn't charged

29:08

anymore. Her. Or him.

29:12

Who. Was the subject and who was the

29:14

researchers? This time he

29:16

turned off the cameras and went to

29:18

her apartment uninvited. But. When she opened

29:20

the door was clear that he was expected. She.

29:23

Was wearing a dress he'd never seen before.

29:26

White. And covered in roses

29:28

like bloody bullet wounds. Doctor

29:31

Berenson. When. It's common for drink.

29:34

Kid already had one or two for

29:36

the courage and know gladly accepted the

29:39

third. How do I know you

29:41

haven't spiked it? He asked mostly

29:43

with so far. I.

29:45

Have she said. Spiked

29:48

mine as well. A giggle.

29:51

To raise a glass and salute

29:53

than drained it to read lips

29:55

on the glass. He

29:57

firstly followed suit loosened his time

29:59

her fell back and of living

30:01

room futon the she port him

30:03

another. Half. An hour's

30:05

idol Small talk whole for taken

30:07

from him. Vague. Flirtation

30:09

from her. He

30:12

wasn't sure if she wanted him more. hated

30:14

him with every fiber of are being. Strange

30:17

music playing on the radio. Prefers.

30:21

A. Super. Cool finger

30:23

to his lips. I

30:25

know Soren. She. Told him.

30:28

With. All the times I've watched Do with. With.

30:31

Other men. Consisted. And

30:34

then after the way you interrogated them

30:36

had just. You just

30:38

so much more than I thought you were. A

30:41

fallen in love with you prefer area. She.

30:44

Knelt on the floor in front of him. Love.

30:48

Be. Closed his eyes. a faint

30:50

television static was filling the apartments.

30:54

I know how it sounds it. I just.

30:57

She did something which shut him up. Then

31:00

quite unexpectedly, still. Wait,

31:03

Here one minute. She. Stood

31:06

and went to the bedroom. Then.

31:08

Returned only a moment later, but the hands

31:10

on a living room clock and bled around

31:12

to the far side of the time. She

31:14

did. Her. White dress

31:16

was hanging open. Revealing. Smooth

31:18

white patches of flesh spotted your

31:21

skin like. Oh.

31:23

Like ceramic? maybe? Though.

31:26

He didn't know if they were

31:28

real because by know slow patterns

31:30

were drifting across them like shadows of

31:32

geometric clouds over a wind blown

31:34

field. He was carrying

31:36

some sort of heavy handled box in

31:39

both her hands, like a large lunch

31:41

pail or something you'd used to transport

31:43

power tools. Come.

31:45

This way Soren. Very.

31:48

Excited he'd scepter the cool hands

31:50

extended him and allowed her to

31:52

draw him into the washroom where

31:54

she sat down. the box in

31:56

one corner. Come. On.

31:59

She. Threw him into the shower

32:01

and removed all his clothes. A

32:04

soft and excited body running with

32:06

reflected light from the foil walls.

32:09

What Are we doing? Constantly.

32:12

Soren, She. Turned

32:14

on the shower, Hot water

32:16

running over their bodies. He

32:19

never seen anything like her naked body.

32:22

And didn't resist as she gently turned

32:24

him around and pushed him against the

32:26

cool tiles. Cool. Tiles

32:28

on one side. Warm.

32:30

Water on the other. Stay.

32:33

There one moment. Feel.

32:35

It. Be

32:37

shut his. I felt the cool

32:40

tile running down his front, the

32:42

warm water solid at his back,

32:45

He was behind him somewhere. Fumbling

32:47

with the catches on that heavy plastic

32:50

box. A. Black power cord.

32:53

Then. He heard her footsteps climbing back

32:55

into the shower with him. Felt.

32:57

Her body block the flow of water.

33:00

She rested something heavy and

33:03

cold and saintly sharp against

33:05

his back. Just. To

33:07

the left of his spine. A.

33:10

Giggle. Is

33:12

that? She told

33:14

him. It a

33:17

circular saw. The

33:22

right tool for the job. Paulson.

33:25

Wandered a long time before he found her.

33:28

The. Beefcake, a nurse were no help at

33:30

all. It seemed they decided to

33:32

start following him instead know that he could see

33:35

them. She was inside

33:37

a quonset hut this time. Not.

33:39

One of the ones they fed off together,

33:41

but he could see daylight shining through round

33:43

holes in the corrugated steel. He.

33:46

Knew she'd probably been coming here longer than

33:48

him. Maybe she'd vet

33:50

office one before. Or.

33:52

Maybe was Richard Duke. Or

33:55

someone else before him. With.

33:57

Someone else before him. Porfirio.

33:59

Had. The shield down and was using an

34:02

acetylene torch to weld something. When.

34:04

He got close enough he could see that

34:06

it was a still bloody human spine. Some

34:09

kind of liquid chrome she was using to

34:11

stiffen up it's vertebra. Pretty.

34:13

To get that he asked as

34:15

she extinguish the torch in raise

34:17

the shield. Her face was

34:20

looking white are now. Smoother cleaner

34:22

than he remembered. It

34:24

wasn't a question he would have asked in

34:27

normal life if he'd come across someone wielding

34:29

a human spine, but he had seen a

34:31

helicopter made of flesh. I.

34:33

Got it somewhere and poodle she

34:35

said. That's. All it matters.

34:38

Something popped. something.

34:41

Imbued. And has to

34:43

be. For what? She

34:46

answered his question in a roundabout way.

34:49

This. Place is ours is on. If

34:51

they find out about it, they'll try and make it.

34:53

There's. I'm taking at

34:55

first. But he

34:57

shook his head. My

35:00

places home. I'm. Getting out.

35:05

When. You mean I. Mean.

35:08

Out. Now. I

35:11

have a lawyer now he's been a case

35:13

the government last. Now they need to charge

35:15

people like me. They want to keep us. She

35:19

glanced up at him. Till

35:21

you're leading me. We.

35:24

Know each other's names prefer? Yeah, We.

35:26

Can fight each other out there. But

35:29

she shook her head. Looking. Stricken.

35:32

Shut the mask. There.

35:35

Is no more out there for

35:37

me? He

35:40

did not see her after that. Perfect.

35:46

Confirmation. A.

35:49

Pro old across low skies

35:51

and his form was huge

35:53

and all mighty. Few

35:55

survivors left by now for him to

35:57

kill and kill again. But. Se

35:59

King. Low across the cylinder strood

36:01

wreckage of the airfield, He saw

36:04

someone standing on the roof of

36:06

a quonset hut. Waving.

36:08

At him. A young

36:10

woman nearly new. Pr.

36:12

Limbert the guns But the sight

36:14

of her awaken some half forgotten

36:17

instinct that suddenly cry to be

36:19

filled. And so instead

36:21

of firing on limber, the heavy

36:23

member in between his wheels and

36:26

send his wings whipping up a

36:28

dust cloud as he settled down

36:30

upon the quonset roots, gripping it

36:32

with claude fingers and staring at

36:34

her with bloodshot baby blues each

36:36

the size of a full inflated

36:39

beach ball. She put her

36:41

hands up and took a half step back from

36:43

him. He lived at.

36:45

her teeth half real have painted

36:47

on his chassis, drawing back across

36:49

their steel gum. It's. Then.

36:52

She crouched. reach down,

36:56

And. Rose with something in her hand.

36:59

A spear. Or. Something

37:02

like a spear. But.

37:04

And a half second before it buried

37:06

itself in his skull, he had enough

37:09

time to notice it have been made

37:11

from a spine. It's. Spear

37:13

point a human sacrum. Get.

37:16

Enough time to laugh inwardly the

37:19

thought that. A

37:21

spear. Could. Hurt him. Then

37:29

abruptly. Arson. Was

37:31

a free man. A. Bag over his

37:33

head a plane ride he thought for sure

37:35

was rendition to someplace the lawyers would never

37:37

find them. Then. Suddenly the

37:40

spring sunshine on his face as they brought

37:42

him down on the tarmac of a country

37:44

he recognized. Forty minutes later

37:46

a show for black vehicle left him

37:49

down town with. Nothing.

37:52

Not even a phone call. if

37:58

only this could have been avoided She

38:01

was still alive when they reached her apartment. Sitting

38:04

naked in the living room, her pupils

38:06

dilated to the size of dinner plates.

38:09

A gory artifact had rest across her

38:11

lap. Jesus

38:14

Christ! The technician ran to

38:16

the sink and threw up. His

38:18

new supervisor, though, some Yankee

38:20

blue blood in his seventies, took

38:23

the whole sight and stride, stalked

38:25

unconcerned to the bathroom and glanced inside

38:27

at Dr. Berenson lying face down in

38:29

the tub, back body splayed

38:32

apart like wings. He

38:35

began to see now, son, he

38:37

said to the technician, just what

38:39

it is we're up against. Glanced

38:42

up at the hidden cameras, now

38:44

operational again. Close them

38:46

down, he commanded. Destroy

38:49

the tapes. It

38:51

goes without saying. Never mention this

38:53

again. The young man

38:55

shuddered again, then glanced over

38:57

his shoulder with staring eyes. The

39:01

blue blood met this stare evenly.

39:05

I need not say, he clarified,

39:07

that lives depend on this

39:09

confidence. Your own and

39:14

others. The

39:17

Quiet Life Hasen

39:20

never went through again. Never

39:23

had cause to. A normal

39:26

life. A quiet life. Yearly

39:29

check-ins with intelligence to make sure he wasn't falling

39:31

in with a bad crowd, to

39:33

make sure there were no hard

39:35

feelings over that little forty-two-month misunderstanding

39:38

all those years ago. A

39:41

normal life. Family

39:44

events and elections. The

39:46

Governor of Arkansas bringing down the house

39:48

at CPAC assured the nomination,

39:50

so they said. And

39:54

in all those years he never

39:56

learned what happened to her, never

39:58

found any social media footprint. print or

40:01

received any Google Alert. Once,

40:03

a few years after his release, he even

40:06

hired a private investigator. All

40:08

they dragged up was a newspaper clipping from

40:10

the sixties, a local nothing story

40:13

with a quote from a woman whose name happened to

40:15

be the same as hers. Her

40:18

mother, perhaps. Blowback

40:26

Dark alleys on a damp evening, sky-like

40:29

etherized lips, dim

40:31

spots of yellow light rolling from the fixtures

40:33

half glimpsed at the alley's end. A

40:36

secret door. The

40:39

old blue blood slowly smoking

40:41

a cigarette. It

40:43

was a shame, really, that the program hadn't

40:46

produced its intended results. Berenson

40:48

had been wet, of course, but

40:50

he was far from the only doctor on the

40:52

fact, and the research had seemed promising at first.

40:57

Well, at least they could

40:59

still use it for interrogations. He

41:02

snuffed out the cigarette under the sole of

41:04

his handmade shoe. Spilt

41:07

milk. Oh, well. The

41:10

firm had plenty of other irons in the

41:12

fire. To

41:18

break temple walls. Call

41:21

it 2042. An

41:24

old man lying lonely in his bed,

41:27

dreaming the bad old dreams of his white

41:30

cell, his throne

41:32

and strawberry-flavored ambrosia. And

41:36

then he woke to a sound on his

41:38

ceiling like a power drill, like

41:41

the kind you'd use to tap a Quonset hut.

41:44

Strange to hear, since his small

41:46

apartment was on the topmost floor.

41:49

The sound died,

41:52

and then a repeated thudding, thudding,

41:55

thudding, trying to get

41:57

through. Then a

41:59

spear point. Light broke the ceiling

42:01

and wild white light bled through,

42:03

a kind

42:05

of monstrous angel reaching for

42:07

him, porcelain and

42:10

strange. Not

42:13

trying to pull him back into her world,

42:17

but asking him to

42:19

pull her into his. The

42:29

wrong station is made possible with the generous support

42:32

of our listeners on Patreon. Visit

42:34

today at patreon.com/the wrong station.

42:37

You can also support us by leaving a rating

42:39

and review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever it is

42:41

you tune into the show. This

42:44

week's episode, The Kinds of Threats We're Forced to

42:46

Deal With, was written by

42:48

Alexander Saxton and performed by Anthony

42:50

Botello. Thank

42:52

you to Montana, Reese, Kyle

42:55

Sullivan-Rupp, Nicholas Bates, Timothy Franklin,

42:57

Greg Ben, Sean Messiel, Eric

42:59

Sutton, and Juliana Fagiardini for helping

43:01

us keep the lights off.

43:07

The Wrong Station is co-produced by Alexander

43:09

Saxton, Anthony Botello, and Jacob Duarte-Spiel, with

43:12

music composed and performed by Alon Citrin,

43:14

and arranged for the viola and performed

43:16

by Viola Schmidt. You can follow The

43:18

Wrong Station on social media, at thewrongstation,

43:20

and email us at thewrongstation at gmail

43:23

dot com. But

43:25

until next time, thank

43:27

you for listening.