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you.

1:13

Damn it. I

1:18

don't see the point in knocking like

1:20

I'm gonna forget I'm your prisoner. Habit, I suppose.

1:23

Heh, we've still got a few social

1:25

niceties.

1:27

Don't worry, it's

1:29

not in Soyman. Take the humor

1:31

with you when you go. Your cards

1:33

are on the floor. I'll get them. So

1:36

when do I find out what comes next with

1:39

you people? Next? Do

1:41

you mean after dinner? You

1:44

know what I mean, you son of a... or

1:46

are you hoping I rot down here? But

1:48

we definitely got people of that opinion, or something

1:51

a bit stronger. There's a reason

1:53

I'm bringing you your dinner and not Maria Linguas.

1:56

She was such a disappointment. Well, I

1:58

don't know who's been... doing it up to now,

2:01

I was back at base theta for a while. That's right,

2:03

moon base theta. Death's

2:06

country. I beg your pardon? This

2:08

play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

2:11

This line big daddy says it's a, I

2:14

have just now returned from the other side

2:16

of the moon. Death's country,

2:18

son. And I'm not easy to shock

2:21

by anything here. I

2:24

have always felt that line. Wouldn't

2:26

that beg to you as a theatrical connoisseur? Management

2:29

training. They had a group to encourage

2:32

us to build up our public speaking

2:34

skills. You know that big daddy

2:36

was all kinds of sick and only fooling himself.

2:38

I understand the metaphor. You

2:41

know, I'm almost impressed that they included the arts in your

2:43

corporate education. That

2:45

was the extent, I promise you. I

2:48

wasn't on the track for PR. Once

2:50

they got us to where we could read a written statement,

2:53

they moved us on to other things. You'll

2:56

notice I'm not saying better things. I'm

2:59

guessing it's not the most joyous experience.

3:02

You don't know the half of it. It's

3:05

not just the shit jobs on the way up. It's

3:07

the way they make you feel like that's all you deserve.

3:10

Like you're lucky they're giving you that much. Oh

3:13

yeah. I can imagine where they shoved

3:15

you into that system. Double

3:17

shifts getting shouted at by a customer

3:19

service where everyone wants to

3:21

talk to the manager and you're the last place

3:24

that buck can pass. Or

3:27

handing down disciplinary action for

3:29

a code that makes no goddamn sense

3:31

and changes every time a CEO

3:33

wakes up on the wrong side or something. Or

3:36

someone. I know

3:39

how that feels. Not that I wasn't

3:41

already well acquainted with that. Do

3:43

as I say, not as I do type of discipline.

3:47

You think I'm an asshole. You

3:49

should have met the assholes that raised me. They

3:52

didn't have to push me out of the nest. I jumped

3:55

out. I grabbed the first branch

3:57

which was management training. and

4:00

made my own way from there. You

4:04

still can't get decent coffee. I

4:07

could make a call or two. Yeah, you definitely

4:09

made your own way. You

4:12

got a habit of striking out on your own. And why

4:14

shouldn't I? After

4:16

all the water I carried for upper management,

4:19

they stuck me in a minor office

4:21

in the basement of a minor enclave. I'd

4:24

still be languishing there, if I hadn't used

4:27

my skills and my initiative to

4:29

prove I was a power player. See,

4:31

THAT'S where you start to piss me off. I beg

4:34

your pardon? You grew up in a bad system, we

4:36

all did. Maybe you had a worse childhood,

4:39

maybe you jumped into a career that was crap, or

4:41

you felt poorly treated. But

4:43

you had it and need a break out. And

4:45

what did you do with that initiative? You

4:48

fucked people even harder. You hatched

4:50

all your dirty little plots, messed with the stasis

4:52

pods and our foodstuffs, let's just strand

4:54

it, through the freeholds against the enclaves for your

4:56

big zero-day plan. You

4:59

could have improved the system, or broken

5:01

things altogether. But you only thought it yourself.

5:04

I don't think you understand how the game is- Screw

5:06

your game! Look where it's

5:08

got you! You've

5:10

been sitting down here for months because you never made

5:12

one positive connection, one relationship

5:15

that mattered.

5:16

You got no influence of any kind. On

5:19

our side or theirs? After

5:21

all your game-playing, you

5:23

don't know how lucky you are that's the case

5:25

right now. Have

5:29

you ever heard of restorative justice? You

5:31

should. The idea is that

5:34

offenses like yours come from a breakdown

5:36

in human relationships. A lack

5:38

of connection, or community. Sure

5:41

sounds like that's the place you're in, doesn't it? And

5:44

you won't dig your way out unless you have some interest

5:46

in fixing that connection.

5:48

And pal,

5:50

I'm here because I don't

5:52

want you to rot.

5:54

I'm not from death's country.

5:57

And I've got your only way back to a real life. I'll

6:03

be back in the morning. I'm

6:10

not sure I do know who to call right now

6:13

for better coffee.

6:18

What do you think you're going to get from me? I

6:21

don't accept your version of the rule book,

6:24

so I'm not going to follow your roll of the dice.

6:26

You keep coming back to the same entire metaphor as... Don't

6:30

you see how narcissistic it is? Your

6:32

player won the game. You're

6:35

the one moving the pieces. They

6:37

only matter if they're following your direction. You move

6:39

the pieces or you get moved.

6:42

You think I was never on that side of things? You

6:44

think I don't remember how it feels? I

6:47

only mattered if I did what I was told. Or

6:50

more often I was ignored even then.

6:53

We talked about this. You made plenty of

6:55

choices of your own.

7:01

I'm glad you brought the better stuff. You're

7:04

pointing your fingers at me about insoluments.

7:07

That was supposed to be a good thing. That

7:10

was my big improvement. A line

7:12

of affordable soy-based foods

7:14

that could lift up your spirits while you ate them.

7:17

But then it was ruined by a committee. What

7:20

if we could turn up anxieties as easily

7:22

as soothe them? Why not shove

7:24

it into a population we owned instead of private

7:27

testing? I did what I could

7:29

when I saw the cracks in that plan. I

7:31

made sure Delta had some backups. Made

7:34

the commercials as ridiculous as possible.

7:37

What could I do when they were pushing down

7:39

so hard from above? What could you

7:42

do? Weren't you the one spinning your

7:44

whip the whole time behind the scenes? Right,

7:46

and look how well that's worked out for me. So

7:48

what you're saying is you blame the people above you because

7:50

they didn't listen. That's exactly what I'm saying.

7:53

And you feel like they deserve the blame for

7:55

how it all went wrong? God damn right. But

7:57

you're not responsible in the same way for

7:59

the You I'm not talking about me here.

8:02

I'm talking about you're talking about personal responsibility You're

8:05

talking about a system of justice where people

8:08

are directly culpable for their crimes for the

8:10

way they hurt you and other victims

8:13

You know in your heart,

8:14

that's what's fair. You just don't want to admit

8:16

it applies to you god damn it That's not what

8:18

I'm not it is what you mean It's what

8:20

you just came out and said and you're right you

8:23

deserve justice for what the system has done to you But

8:25

you can't use that as insulation against our

8:27

hurt that she'd done to others. You are not

8:29

listening You can't put all

8:32

this on me. Yeah, you can't lay it all

8:34

off you people died because of you

8:36

Stevens Because

8:38

of you directly Specifically

8:42

you knew what's gonna happen. That's why you said backup

8:44

personnel the base Delta You knew lies

8:46

would be ruined on zero day people who

8:49

lost their home or lost track of their family and

8:51

couldn't get enough food because you We're

8:53

fucking with the supply lines You

8:56

got to admit you did those things just as surely

8:58

as you had other things done to you

9:01

Everyone's got to play by the same

9:04

rules. I

9:08

Told you I'm

9:11

not reading the rules your way. It's

9:13

not just my way We're

9:15

not playing PvP here. We're stuck

9:17

in the same game. I'm just trying to give you a walkthrough I

9:22

There you know if

9:24

that doesn't get through to you, I don't know what will I Seriously

9:28

cannot stand you

9:34

Absolutely not that is not

9:37

gonna happen. I thought you were all about the game you

9:39

think you're goddamn hilarious Well,

9:42

you won't talk to me about anything else. So pick up your

9:44

hand and give me your rates you son of a bitch go

9:47

fish All

9:50

right Maybe this wasn't the

9:52

best idea. I was gonna let you win

9:54

anyway For once in my

9:56

career. Oh, we've come back around to self-pity.

9:59

You don't know me as well as you think you do, I never

10:02

left self-pity. You gotta get away from this idea

10:04

that everything's about you. Isn't taking personal

10:07

responsibility about me? You

10:10

know the worst part of the training they put us through? They'd

10:13

shove us in the middle of the deepest piles of

10:15

bullshit, and from your first step

10:18

into the situation, you could

10:20

feel that you shouldn't have been there. Not

10:23

just that the rules were against you, but the

10:25

whole game was sour.

10:28

It was tainted from

10:30

the very beginning. So you're not just talking about

10:32

the moon, or in the soyman? My

10:35

first major project, the

10:37

top line on my corporate CV, was

10:41

as administrator for the Northern acquisition.

10:45

I don't have to tell you what that euphemism represents.

10:47

You're not anywhere near old enough to have been up in the North

10:50

in the beginning of things. I'm

10:52

not old enough. Not anywhere near the beginning.

10:54

And by the time

10:56

I was thrown in, the damn thing

10:58

had the momentum of three major

11:01

corporations over decades

11:03

of full-on destruction. For

11:05

my mistake. Resource

11:07

allocation and relocation. My

11:12

family was from Northern Ontario, Sudbury.

11:15

Not that that's gonna mean a thing to you. It

11:18

meant nothing to me. I grew

11:20

up in the super cities. Not

11:23

until I saw that countryside for the first time. My

11:28

grandparents had shown me pictures of forests,

11:31

lake inlets, a bustling little city, all

11:35

buried or smoldering before I stepped there. It

11:40

looked like the end of the world. And

11:44

I was responsible for marking down each ruined acre. I

11:46

filed reports

11:49

on time lost from breathing in the smoke. I

11:57

had to notify security if we saw the initial

12:00

the Shinabe, or Kree, outside

12:03

the boundaries we set for them. It

12:06

didn't matter that we knew they couldn't survive

12:09

on those lands, because we'd already stripped

12:11

them to bare earth. It

12:14

was also the point person to coordinate with the riders,

12:18

setting a perimeter to see that no one crossed

12:20

the lakes without our say-so, out

12:23

or in. They

12:29

sent me up there because I had personal

12:32

knowledge. You

12:34

might think that means they wanted my opinion

12:36

on what was pushing things too far. Or

12:40

you might know better. I

12:45

certainly did. I

12:48

never said a word. Never

12:51

made a single complaint to my superiors.

12:54

Never broke a rule to allow anyone some

12:56

leeway. I

12:59

knew my place in things. And

13:04

yes, god damn it, I

13:06

knew it was my responsibility.

13:10

Not mine alone, but mine

13:13

personally.

13:17

That was Death's Country,

13:19

Macbeth. Not anywhere on

13:21

the earth or the moon. But

13:24

what happened inside me? Once

13:30

I had seen that, I

13:34

was hard to shock by anything else.

13:43

So?

13:45

Yeah.

13:46

I guess the ball's in your court, sir.

13:49

I guess we're playing by the same rules. What

13:52

comes next? You said there's some

13:55

sort of process for these things. Well,

13:57

the very next step. We need to get other people involved

13:59

and see. what they think. Other

14:02

victims, the rest of the community, and

14:04

so on. I've got to talk to more

14:06

of you? Let me run upstairs and get Trina.

14:08

And Val.

14:10

You'll definitely need Val to start

14:12

making anything right around here. And

14:14

after that, I think we'll be heading to that other side of the moon

14:16

you'd like to talk about. What

14:19

if I change my mind again? Decide

14:22

that all of this isn't worth doing.

14:25

Well,

14:26

then we'd still have to see what the other folks think. We

14:30

can't just leave you here to rot. Pull

14:33

yourself together, Stevens. It's

14:36

time we took this show on the road.

15:01

Thank you for listening. This episode

15:03

featured DJ Silvis as the Enclave Officer

15:06

and Steven LaFond as Harold McVet. The

15:09

script was written by DJ Silvis. Cass

15:11

McPhee is our audio engineer. Our

15:14

theme music is Star by the band RAMP. Our

15:17

cover art is by Peter Czachowski.

15:20

Our executive producers are Sarah

15:22

Mueller and Becca Bee. And our

15:24

associate producers are Marty Chidorak,

15:27

June Madelley, Timothy LeGrone,

15:29

Marilyn Reed, Marissa Robert Kopp,

15:32

and Linda Boyer. Thank you guys

15:34

so much for your support and helping

15:37

and trusting us to bring this story to life.

15:40

We love what we've done with it, and we hope

15:42

you love it as much as we do. As

15:44

we bring this series to a close and thank you yet

15:47

again for supporting us through it all. This

15:49

is a great time to talk about how you can join

15:51

us on our next adventure. Our Patreon

15:54

backers get weekly email updates and

15:56

behind the scenes sneak

15:57

peeks at our next show so we

15:59

would love to see you next time. you there. Or sign

16:01

up for our mailing list to get our monthly newsletter

16:04

and stay up to date on

16:05

all the things at monkeymanproductions.com.

16:09

We'll be back one more time a few weeks from now with

16:11

a big Q&A special where we're gonna answer

16:13

all your questions about the end of the show, but

16:16

it's not just about the Q&As. We've

16:19

got a very special announcement we'll be making in that

16:21

episode as well. So

16:23

until then, keep seeking

16:25

ways to resist and keep

16:28

watching the moon. The

16:55

Fable and

16:56

Falling Network, where fiction producers

16:58

flourish.

17:04

I saw a war coming.

17:06

It's the dead eyes. Dead eyes will

17:08

never be visionaries. That's how evolution

17:10

works. It doesn't matter why I did it. You're

17:13

standing here because of it. Me!

17:16

This is my assignment. You work

17:18

under me. Rebell, against the

17:20

arched sea.

17:21

Stop saying what you can't and start

17:23

doing what you can. I'm

17:25

not running. If they rebel, we

17:28

will win. Ask the

17:30

flame! We'll do it!