There is, unfortunately, no escaping physics bound by the speed of light. Even information must take its time to get birth going. And as we move farther into the void, that time grows until the distance becomes unspeakable.
Hey, Lex. Sorry about that last message. On the off chance you did actually receive that one, I really hope you deleted it instead of listening to it because fucking yikes. Believe it or not, I wasn't even hungover. Just slept like a rock for like, 14 hours. Missed half a crane shift and everything. Kind of surprised nobody woke me up, but when I asked Benny about it, he said Tony looked in on me when I didn't show up for coffee with him like I usually do, and told everyone to let me sleep. Said I looked like I needed it. Tony is such a solid dude. He actually well, okay, so the other day while we were having that early coffee, I mentioned how me and Benny finally got that damn left leg on, jammed on the loader, and he said me and Benny make a good team. And he kind of almost looked at me, but didn't. Just scratched his beard and swilled his coffee around the bottom of his mug and just let me sit there and squirm like damn. It's crazy how much shit Tony can say just by not saying shit. All he has to do is tilt his chin like he was going to give you a look, but decided against it and you totally get all the stuff he's not saying to you. It's wild, but yeah, I've been thinking. I'm not getting picked up. I'm pretty confident on that at this point. The preservations either decided I'm not a loose enough end on the Agnes Day shit, or they're assuming I'm dead or at least lost enough that it won't matter if I talk, and nobody just has a spare phase coil knocking around in their cargo hold. So I've been thinking about what I'm doing with the rest of my life at this point. Like, I could stay here with Tony and his family, work the crane, get mud, sold news whenever a ship comes through, or I could hop a holler. There's one out there right now. Real big ass shipping barge. We've been unloading it since some literal fuck shit o'clock this morning. Me and Benny called it quits about an hour ago, but Tony's still out there sliding crates around on those bad knees like a dumb ass. I could talk to the captain. Not like I'm fucking qualified for duckhand work, but if somebody would take me, I could learn. I'd eventually make it back to the inner system that way. Or I could well, that's about as far as I've thought. And honestly, it pretty much seems like those are all the options. My qualifications are kind of super specific and also at any moment, the preservation could decide they give a shit about me after all and chase me down and neuro rinse me so it's not like I can get comfortable somewhere. Oh, hang on. Alf's waving me down through the wind, though. What is it, dude? Tony. What? He's hurt. Shit. Holy shit. Tony's gone. He was standing under the crane and the cargo net snapped. Crushed him. Nobody's fault. Fucking freak accident. We got the barge out of here, at least. Took until about midnight, but we cleared the yard. I gashed my hand open pretty good somewhere in there. Don't know how I did it. Didn't even notice, really, until I went to take my glove off and the damn thing was full of blood. The the body wasn't great to look at. Alf took care of it. Got him all wrapped up and everything. We're going to have a little service for him tomorrow. Probably burn him. Oh, man. Are you kidding me? There's another ship coming in. Dude, can't you see the cargo crates? We're full. Whoa. It's just a tiny one. Almost looks like an escape pod. Whatever. Benny's pretty fucked up. They all are. Even Hannah babe. I mean, she hated Tony, but she loved him. She's doing her best to hold it together, but, man, I had breakfast with him this morning. So fucked up.
I got to be honest, man. Now is not a great time. We're planning a funeral.
Please, can I just talk to him for a second?
Yeah, okay. I'll get him. He's on the terminal. Hey, Azeriah. This guy is here to see you.
Benny, who is that?
You don't know him? He asked for you by name.
Hey, Azariah. Below the sky, right? Mobile engine pilot, first class?
Yeah, literally. Who the fuck are you? Why do you know my name? And how the hell did you get here? In that tiny little lifeboat thing.
Yeah. I added an internal combust and had to build a dorsal thrust out of a water filter. But that's not important. My name's west.
Okay, look, dude, am I, like, failing a test right now or something? Because I'm really not.
No, I got a friend who is listening and never mind. Hey. I'm sorry to drop in at a time like this. I heard about what happened. It sounds like you lost a crewmate.
He was my friend.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
What you got in there?
Well, I heard your broadcast and ha. I brought you a kid of Ttabs. I don't use them. Mine's a subdermal release.
Oh.
Also, possibly more important, a phase coil.
Bro. What? How the hell why do you have what?
I just grabbed it when I left. The teleporter where I'm from had been remotely hijacked.
Oh, my God. I kind of want to kiss you on the mouth right now.
Okay.
No, sorry. It's just a lot of all right. So you've been getting my mail, but I haven't been getting yours? It's west right. West what?
Sergeant Axel West. Chief engineer of Preservation Station. Rayleigh former chief engineer. I may have abandoned my post.
Oh, shit.
Yeah. Anyway, you want to get out of here? I need your help saving my friend from dying out in space.
Wait, your friend? Who you need my okay, I'm going to need some details. Hell, the terminal.
Hey.
Sorry, Lex, I gotta go.
It unspeakable. Distance is an actual play podcast of communication delay by audio Quinn. A link to the game's. Itch IO page and credits for our players are available in the show notes linked to this episode. This podcast has been a production of the Library of Cursed Knowledge podcast network.