Episode 36

Zeo Genesis Travelogues

Greetings, star-nomads! You can call me Trev. (You can also call me Trevallion Franklin-Ridgeway III, but I’d rather you didn’t). I’ve left behind my shallow executive existence to explore the Hundred Suns, to re-connect with insignificant voiders just like you. These are my travels. You’re welcome.

“What’s the saying? Out of the frying and into the fire pan? We’d been trapped in the substructure of space station Little Aether. Courageously and with little need for thanks, like a proper hero, I suppose, I led the survivors from the subterranean mushroom farm to the surface. Atmo’s still breathable, mercifully. Whatever caused the calamity has done much worse up here, however. Buildings blown away or melted down. You wouldn’t even realise this was once a resi-zone, but the clues are there, tragically. The entire surface is like this. The only settlement now is the camp the survivors have scavenged.”

“...”

“Once the flames diminished, a MediRig found us and unpacked itself into a medical station. I greeted Chief Paramedic Debayl, but she seemed more interested in treating the severely wounded than answering important, nay, historic questions.”

“…”

“Dusk now, and we’re starting our own fires. Things have calmed and I caught Debayl smoking a phagtwig. She knows little, like everyone. Whatever’s happened, it’s killed a third of the population and wounded another. Not being the only survivors is little consolation. Emergency services, the government, totally unable to cope with a sudden disaster of this scale, but like these farmers, people are pulling together.”

“…”

“I recall zeo pilot Moa Nakamoto who emancipated me from unjust imprisonment here. Did she make a return trip? Was she killed in this…thing? If she survived, what’s it done to her? Desperation, trauma, can make people crueler or kinder, sometimes both. Everyone I’ve met…Lily, Dan, Rex…anyone could be annihilated in a blink. It’s just…location-based luck. The goodies, the baddies, the in-betweenies, all shaped by circumstances, disasters, losses, beyond their control.”

“…”

“Shillocks, some alcohol would've been found, wouldn’t it? A commune boffin managed to get the MediRig’s holobox working. Only bloody station is that ‘opinion-led news channel’ sensationalising the disaster. We got the confirmation it was a massive spaceship crash, but the pundits immediately started extolling theories about terrorist attacks and blame, and we’re on the verge of a riot here.”

“Everyone! Please, relax! You know this channel amped up the Phartraige Riots; it’s designed to provoke! Those pundits, they’re just spouting incendiary opinions. What can we see with our own eyes? That’s right, the recovered footage. All that’s for certain is the massive crash recording and the colossal damage.”

Freedom of Public Interest Information Act, declassified Class 9 MediRig Mk2 – Request and Auto-resolver Sequence (evidence article 5737.364C):

  • Little Aether Overcouncil: request import of, or materials to construct, 5 (five) Class 9 MediRig Mk2s.
    • Prefecture Civic Vehicle Auto-resolver: Vehicle Operational Purpose:
      • Travel into Zones of Extreme Danger (ZEDs) over difficult terrain to populations in need of emergency medical assistance.
      • Unpack Class 9 MediRig Mk2 into Temporary Medical Assistance Station to offer immediate medical assistance before population can be safely brought to established medical facilities.
      • No ZEDS present on Little Aether space station. Station is human-built.
        • DENIED.
  • Little Aether Overcouncil: Due to LA proximity to Nyx and nature of mining industry scientific advisory board advises increased likelihoods of creation of humanmade ZEDs not catered for with current emergency infrastructure. Request import of materials to construct 5 (five) Class 9 MediRig Mk2s.
    • Prefecture Civic Vehicle Auto-resolver: Checking relevant records:
      • ⌛
      • Zero (0) “humanmade ZEDs” recorded.
        • DENIED.
  • Little Aether Overcouncil: ESCALATION: Overcouncilwoman BUTCHKA, NORREENA: CHANNEL SECURITY UPGRADED: Credible reports of Interhelios and OSSU conflict in vicinity. BOTH Security advisory board and Intelligence advisory board advise increased likelihoods of creation of humanmade ZEDs in combination with above concerns not catered for with current emergency infrastructure. Request import of materials to construct 5 (five) Class 9 MediRig Mk2s.
    • Prefecture Civic Vehicle Auto-resolver: ESCALATION: ACKNOWLEDGED: CHANNEL SECURITY UPGRADED: ESCALATED TO: Prefecture Civic Supplies Superwarden: BUTCHKA, MARVELKA:
      • DENIED.
      • Prefecture Civic Vehicle Request: RESOLVED.
      • It was our pleasure to assist you.

These journals were recorded via Tymphony Aural Augmetics… TAA: Listen Up!