MOONBASE THETA, OUT – S4 Bonus 3 – “Ahnung”
by D.J. Sylvis
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
SOUND: Outside background, Northern Africa – night, quieter, light wind; occasional far-off voices or vehicles, but overall peaceful
SOUND: Footsteps on gravel
AHNUNG
Almost forgot to put that hose away. Looks like we’re the only ones left – ready to call it a night?
ELIO
Nooooo! Tomorrow everything starts up again, and people leave … you can stay up a while longer.
SOUND: Ahnung sits down, grunting a little as she settles in
AHNUNG
Fair enough. Pass over my thermos? It’s getting a little chilly.
SOUND: The cap twisting off, drinking
AHNUNG
Want some tea?
ELIO
I’m okay, thank you.
(after a moment)
You know … you never did tell me the rest of what happened on your trip back North.
AHNUNG
Yeah.
ELIO
You told me about Moddy Sarah, but not what you did after that.
AHNUNG
That’s fair. Damn, I miss them. Though being with you makes it hurt less.
(she stretches and takes a drink)
After they went back out into the universe, I sat for a long time. Most of the night, in fact … I didn’t get moving until almost dawn. Meant spending the day in a trailer waiting for dark again, but it took a while to get a hold of the Ryders regardless.
ELIO
The Ryders!
AHNUNG
Everything was set up, I just had to make the call. We’ve got an arrangement – I do mechanical work for them now and then, and I can catch a ride when I need one. Same way I made it here so fast. It’s got to be somewhere along their routes, but it’s a pretty good deal.
ELIO
You work on those huge trucks?
AHNUNG
And boats, and one time a hovercraft. I met Ziggy – the driver I was waiting for that day – broke down beside the road near Greater Nashville, blew out a tread with no idea what to do next. Neither did I really, but I found a tool kit and pulled up a layout; two hours later we were on the move. You know me, Elio – I can’t stop myself. Some people see a problem; I see how to make it right again.
ELIO
So the Ryders took you North from there?
AHNUNG
Well, partway. That was right after Zero Day, of course – we snuck past Orlando while things were in chaos, but by the time we closed in on Atlanta, Security was checking every vehicle. I had to slip out at a runaway ramp half a klick before the stop point and go on foot from there. Good thing I’d already liberated a few supplies from their cargo; I’m not that great at foraging out in the woods. I made my way with a GPS and a multitool and a backpack full of freeze-dried cheesecake bites. You know how it is, you’ve done a lot of traveling cross country.
ELIO
Mostly with a group, though.
AHNUNG
(agreeing with her)
I did meet up with some folks eventually, after a few bad nights on my own. I got banged up sliding down a bank to avoid a drone patrol, they’ve been sending them further out every season. Had to camp out for most of a week while I healed up from a sprained shoulder and some pretty deep road rash. It was a quiet spot, but there’s a lot more people on the trails than usual … I thought I better join up with some good ones before the other kind came around. Not everyone’s got an Elio or a Moddy Sarah.
ELIO
Or an Ahnung.
AHNUNG
It was a mixed group, there was a core who knew each other – they’d been running a camp somewhere, not quite a Freehold but not corporate either. So they weren’t new, but they were new to the road. They’d taken in stragglers before me; I could see where things were getting frayed at the edges, but they were good people. I talked to the one who seemed to be heading things up – Chelle – and made my way in.
ELIO
I’ll bet they could use your help.
AHNUNG
Chelle was pretty handy, but I made myself useful giving advice on the best routes, taking point with strangers. We had some trouble outside Charlotte – a couple that just didn’t feel right, turned out to be Security infiltrators. You know the type; hell, I think I spotted them because I paid attention to how you read people.
ELIO
Did they cause you trouble?
AHNUNG
Not much, really. We had to put them out by force, but by that time I had proof of all the shit they’d been up to, the whole group knew it had to happen. I made sure it was all out in the open.
ELIO
That’s all you can do.
AHNUNG
Not that I wouldn’t have had it out with them either way, but this was better. So I think I pulled my weight while we were on the same road. I actually left them at Three Rivers, our old Freehold. By that time, the megas were focusing on rebuilding and it seemed as safe as anywhere. I got the water wheel running again so they’d have power, helped them fix the gates and set the tripwires. The garden there was still growing.
(she laughs)
Chelle asked me to stay, I’m not sure that was … completely business related, if you know what I mean.
ELIO
Ahnung!
AHNUNG
I’m not getting into details. It was nice, that’s all. When I got home, my partners there made fun of me for saying no. We’ve got a pretty open arrangement, as often as I’m away. I’m half serious when I flirt with Elena.
ELIO
Elena could use someone nice.
AHNUNG
The reason I’m only half serious is I’m not sure I’m nice enough. Not compared to who’s still in her head.
(after a moment)
Next stop after Three Rivers – next stop anywhere this side of the continent is always the Great Lakes Supercity – fancy name for a Security border to keep folks from crossing to the North, or vice versa. But it’s also got a string of ports of call for supply ships cruising in and out. So you know what that means?
ELIO
The Ryders again?
AHNUNG
The Ryders. Not that I saw them this time around – crossing the Lakes is down to a science. You hide in a shipping container at Site A and get loaded on a ship; you let yourself out at the signal – one long and two shorts on the horn; you might have to do a bit of swimming, but the folks who watch the coast from our side are waiting with a boat. Sometimes I think the megas have got to know, but … maybe it’s not really worth their trouble. I mean, what they did to the land, it doesn’t look like anywhere worth escaping to.
ELIO
(after a moment)
Is it that bad, up there? Everyone says that it’s bad.
AHNUNG
Here, just a second.
SOUND: Opening the thermos again, taking a drink and a moment
AHNUNG
When the corporations took over, they told us the old treaties were erased – the governments who signed them didn’t exist anymore. Generations of legal battles ended right then – they got rid of the laws. Half our land they took outright; the rest, they offered us ‘sponsorships – we could keep our homes if we worked for them, if they could use us for their purposes. Mostly PR – “Indigenous Life brought to you by the Conglomerate.” “We Are North, We Are Native, We Are Nutri-soy.” Some people thought we’d have more freedom in the end – once they shot their commercials, what did they care how we lived? And for a while, that was true. But bit by bit, they cut the rest of the forests, they pumped every clean drop of water, they stripped the land bare with mines and let the rest catch on fire … that’s when they came for what they’d left us. After all, they were our sponsors. Not like they owed us anything.
(brief pause)
I know most of that from stories; when I was born, the worst had already been done. They kept pushing us into smaller spaces, any time they saw something they could use. Or just to prove they could. When I was fifteen, they moved us out “for safety reasons” – they said the houses were condemned, the ground was contaminated. Who could have done that, I wonder. We had to pack in a day, they had trucks drive us halfway to the other rez but then we walked from there. Whatever we couldn’t carry, stayed by the side of the road. I had this tool cabinet, about as tall as you are – by the time we’d settled in the new place and I could hitch a ride back to see, it was gone. Those tools weren’t just mine – when I started showing I was handy, they came from family, from friends, some who’d moved on – they were an inheritance.
(after a moment)
Later on, I hitched a ride further, right up to the fence they’d put up since they moved us. I hopped over and spent a full night going through folks’ garages, basements, the fuel stop that did auto repair … I found a decent set of ratchets, a torque wrench, some bolt extractors that came in handy when I broke out again. Enough tools to start over, and to do a hell of a lot of mischief for the Conglomerate when they weren’t looking. They had a lot of bad luck with their equipment after that, hard to say why.
(brief pause)
They couldn’t end us, hard as they tried. We made places of our own, where it wasn’t profitable to get to, where the cameras suddenly didn’t work and they couldn’t shut our power down. We dug in and we waited them out. When they thought they’d squeezed us dry, when they were distracted by their own problems … we took that bit of life they’d never managed to claim and set it growing.
(brief pause)
Is it bad? If you cross the Lakes now, the first thing you see is bare earth, crumbling roads, a tangled wilderness. Thousands of acres that still smolder. But you push in deeper and there’s life. There’s home. We’ve got fields and a river and satellite access. We’re taking it back – not for the future, not for all of humanity, for our own selves. It’s been bad … but it’s also the best goddamn thing.
SOUND: After a moment, we hear her standing up, screwing the top back on the thermos
AHNUNG
You should come and see it all, Elio.
ELIO
I’d really like that.
AHNUNG
And meet my niblings! Still can’t believe that part of it. For now, though, it’s past bedtime and I made some promises for tomorrow. Lots around here to be fixed. Here, I’ll help you up.
SOUND: A bit of a grunt as Ahnung lifts Elio to her feet, a little chuckle
SOUND: Their footsteps (note Elio’s cane) over gravel as they walk away
SOUND: Outside background ends
SOUND: Chime – Bookend
(The episode ends.)
PRODUCER
Thank you for listening. This episode featured Robin Regalado as Ahnung, and Becca Marcus as Elio. The script was written by D.J. Sylvis; Cass McPhee is our audio engineer. Our theme music is “Star” by the band Ramp; our cover art is by Peter Chiykowski.
We’ll be back next week with the most unexpected of our deep-dive bonus episodes – this one looking at the Enclave Officer and what he’s been up to locked in Moon Jail. Until then, you should look up our fellow shows on the Fable and Folly network – there’s info at Fable and Folly dot com – and find your next great audio fiction experience. Take care, and be excellent to each other.
