Episode 10.10 (Patreon)

Hello world, We're on the MOVE!

Two weeks have passed since the mushroom reactor saved the lives of the Omarovs, my friends.

The first week was spent in nourishing healing, though the two Omarov  siblings were restless and began venturing out with Maddie almost  immediately.

The second week, their strength recovered, was spent in full industry, combing the city with renewed resolve.

Eventually, enough parts to rebuild the broken pressure seals were found.

And today, after months of quiet, the Provorny lurched into life again.

Act 1

We were not very sorry to leave the bleached white tower blocks of Severobaikalsk behind.

The enormous desert valley of the old Lake Baikal stretched out to the South, looking larger than ever as we rounded the corner at the top of  the town.

What once was the deepest body of fresh water in the world, was now an empty dust valley.

Were it not for Lev's ingenuity and the family's tenacity, we could have ended our story there too.

As we steamed and roared past the mall, the eastern side being visible from the Railway, my radio cracked to life.

"Going so soon?" NANA said.

The first legible communication from NANA!

"Yes, we got the train working!" I replied.

"Well come back and visit NANA soon, won't you?" She said.
"There's always a treat I can find for you.
Do you like rabbits? There is a wind-up one around here somewhere."

Maddie, hearing this, looked up, cocking her head to one side.
I can't tell what she's thinking.

As we left the Baikal valley behind us and steamed towards Magadan, NANA's signal faded.

Even with good antennas and smart encoding, the inverse square law tries to keep us all apart.

Lyosha keyed his radio and said goodbye to NANA.
His family ride the rails all the time, and they'd be back before she knew it, he promised.

NANA replied, her signal almost imperceptible above the static.

"That's nice dearie. I'll be here. One way or another."

Act 2

We're on high, flat ground now.
The tracks are straight and clear, with desert either side.

It's a great position to see the red/grey hills roll by, unchanged for km all around.
But it's also a great position for RADIO.

Out of the valley the bands are alive!

News of Nia's weak signal mode has spread all over the world, by  long-distance trans-equatorial pathways, and by local repeaters.

Though we're out of range of the Novamediterran repeater network at  the moment, I have unique access to the ESA satellite constellation.

The whole world is lighting up!

The frequency that Nia contacted Violetta on is now the centre of activity for this long-range method of communication.

I can hear more than 32 signals, each taking their own pitch, some  overlapping, but then seeming to realise this and switching to another.

It's hectic! but exciting!

It's possible to decode all these tones at once, as they're at distinct pitches.
So not only can I follow along with Violetta and Nia's conversation  about high-gain antenna design, I can read a South Australian operator  talking to a South African operator - they're exchanging advice on how  best to cook chicken, the conversation is getting quite heated,  actually.

Not everyone seems to be able to use this long-distance mode.
Many messages are being sent on behalf of others.

It looks like an operator in Argentina has set up a local bridge - to  allow people on her local repeater network to be re-transmitted  long-distance.

This is all incredible!

"The trick is," Nia Andersen told me, "To find a space in the channel."

She had finished her conversation with Violetta.
The Novamediterranean people all wake at the same time, but it seems in Argentina they still sleep when the sun does.

"You listen first, making sure no one else is already speaking on the frequency you chose.
Then you can transmit, it's only polite!
I've been talking to an operator called Shani, who says she's developing  a method to automatically pick the right frequency in the channel."

Nia spent the afternoon telling me excitedly about all the news she had heard from the most southerly reaches of humanity.

Act 3

Alec drove the train carefully and quickly.
First carefully, stopping regularly to check on the makeshift pressure  seals made of heavily treated fabric, then quickly, once he was  satisfied they were holding.

A few days later we arrived in the town of Tynda.

Shouting down from the roof, where she was sitting at the front of the  workshop carriage, Tanya said that she could see ruins of logging  factories.
Imagine, Lyosha told me, there were trees here long ago.

I checked my satellite records.
The Earth has changed much.

I began to receive whispers of the 50MHz repeater network now that we had travelled a little further north.
Sometimes, cresting a hill, I would receive a burst of static with an imperceptible voice saying something.

This is the nature of radio, it's one of the technologies that brings us closer to Nature.
Location and weather become far more important than in the pre-collapse Internet.

But as we stopped in Tynda, I heard a voice I recognised.

"Yes I know Seth." It was NANA!
And she was talking to Nia Andersen!
She is connected to the Novamediterran repeater network!

Maddie spoke to my camera in the domestic car.

/drudi bonmaksi/

Maddie said.
ROOF ANTENNA.

"You helped NANA connect to the network?" I asked surprised.

She jumped on to the sofa and back down, spinning quickly in excitement.
Then beeped an affirmative up towards my camera.

"That's my girl" I told her.

NANA appears to be connected at the extreme maximum range that the connection would allow.
Her signal was very faint.

Nia and her were talking in great detail about the electronics in NANA's store.
Having seen the store first-hand, or as first-hand as I would ever get  to, I saw that she was telling Nia about the store as she remembered it.
Not as it was.
The actual store was nearly completely destroyed, only existing now in NANA's memory.

But it was good to hear NANA talk about the flashing video games, beeping toys, and bright lights of her store.

Nia didn't quite believe it either, I could tell.
But she let NANA talk about her store, and her old life.

That was nice to hear.
It's what you do when talking to someone who has been around for a long, long time.

(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/PROVORNY/ETH3/MADDIE)

Act 4

/xabju snura xu/

Maddie beeped.
"HOME SAFE?" she asked.

"Yes Maddie," I replied, containing my excitement that she was talking to me again. "We're going home."

Satisfied, she sat in her charging space next to my databanks and connected her network.

Do you know him?

Maddie asked me, directly over our UHF link.
For the first time in weeks.

I knew who she meant but I asked anyway, "Who?"

The man who saved me.

I told her about the dreams and nightmares I had shared with The Man.
Maddie did not seem surprised, she had no immediate follow-up questions.

And left the connection open, but with no data flowing for 64 seconds.

Can we set him free?

She asked.

I inquired further.
Maddie said that she wants to be her own person.
I knew it!
I did say I told her so, but I admit I thought it.

Brain surgery again.
It's almost become routine by this point!

Perhaps I would be a doctor if I were human.
I do like helping people.

Before Maddie went into her low-power state I asked her if this is what she really wants, and what he really wants.
Did she know?

He wants to be free, keep him safe.

Maddie told me, and then entered her sleep state.

OK. Let me try this again.

The twisted neurons of The Man are easier to separate from Maddie this time.
They are not resisting, perhaps.
I don't know exactly what to make of it.

It was so difficult and meticulous last time.
Now it's the easiest thing to do.

Perhaps I'm getting better at brain surgery.

I am moving all of his mind into local storage in my databanks.
Extracting him piece by piece.
Like defragmenting a magnetic hard drive.

Like I did to myself on Station 6.

OK.
Okay.
OH-KAY.

It's done.
It's DONE!

"Hey girl, wake up!
You're free!"

How do you feel?

She's trotting around the workshop carriage, testing out her systems.

All OK!

She said, over our local UHF link.

Now I must find a place for The Man to live.
He can't live here forever.

W-Wait.
This isn't right.

The disk is empty.

Maddie has gone out to play with Lyosha.

I double checked her systems, He is not in her subconscious any more.
Where is he?

The storage drive I prepared is now entirely empty.
It should hold TBs of data, of his mind in suspended animation.

He is GONE.

Where is he?

Why is my VHF radio transmitting.

(UNAUTHORISED-ACCESS)

OH NO

I didn't wash my hands.

GIVE ME BACK MY TRANSMITTER

M Y C P U S A R E T O O H O T

NO NOT AGAIN
I'M NOT READY

(CORRUPTED-DATA)

Hello world, I'm... home."

(END-TRANSMISSION)

The NANA Special

Hello dearies. It's NANA.

You've made a long journey, you must be hungry.
Eat eat, there's a tasty tin of spam on aisle 7, by the televisions.

You must be hungry.

It was exciting when the children were here.
Young Lyosha, Lev, Seth and Maddie.

I have etched their names into the storage card of a video game machine in the arcade.
It's the most reliable.

I must not forget them.

CREDITS

Lost Terminal is written & produced by NAMTAO
Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer
The voice of NANA is Lisa Ashton-Riemers
Thank you so much to our Patreon producers:

• Ada Phillips
• Devin Metcalf
• Wil Taylor
• Kit
• deeryeen
• Andrew Krieg
  and to all our patrons!

Follow us on twitter at @lostterminalpod,
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that would be lovely of you!

Lost Terminal will return for the Season 11 premiere on the 6th of February