1080 After Dark

When MZ, Warren Knox and Jim Twu turn up dead, Detective Billy Armi discovers one bizarre connection: witnesses keep seeing obsolete machines that mysteriously disappear. The trail leads to a transforming robot with a highly sensitive nose, a very unusual mission—and one fatal mistake: sniffing Jim Twu.

Economics professor Greg Hanle discovers that humanoid robots may be advancing much faster than anyone realizes—and winds up dead. Detective Billy Armi follows a trail of metal shavings to a mechanical killer, where coffee, a banana peel, and an increasingly bizarre family tree of vending machines may be humanity's last line of defense.

Episode 58: Dolphin One

What happens when you launch a dolphin into space? Billy Armi takes over Mission Control as Dolphin One blasts into orbit with no hands, questionable training, and only clicks and squeals for communication. But after a mysterious encounter with space radiation, Earth's newest astronaut gets a whole lot smarter—and starts making his own decisions.

Jim Twu is dead. Again. But this time Detective Billy Armi discovers something even more disturbing: Jim had recently given birth—and the baby is missing. Soon, a string of brutal attacks leaves Santa Cruz's inflatable advertising men punctured, deflated, and scattered across parking lots, while a suspiciously punctual coroner keeps arriving at the crime scenes before Billy does.

The trail eventually leads to a two-foot-tall, tattooed, cigarette-smoking infant with a grudge against Jim, inflatable men, and possibly outdoor advertising in general. Throw in lactose intolerance, YouTube, a well-endowed mechanical mannequin, contaminated burrito evidence, bedpan banana bread, and bingo night at the senior center, and Detective Armi may finally have enough to close the strangest case of his career. Another case closed.

Detective Billy Armi files an unprecedented report on a series of mysterious deaths spanning multiple continents. At first glance, the victims appear to have nothing in common. But as Billy follows the evidence, he uncovers a chilling pattern involving forgotten AI models, vanished home servers, and an unsettling realization that someone—or something—is quietly erasing technological history.

Along the way, Billy reflects on Silicon Valley's past, the strange resemblance between cities and computer chips, and the thin line separating flesh from silicon. As the investigation reaches its climax, an ordinary maintenance worker makes an ordinary decision... with extraordinary consequences. Is this another case closed—or just the beginning?

Episode 55: The Disappearance of Dave Michaels or... Insert Coin to Continue, or Prepare for Mathematical Consequences

When Dave Michaels vanishes inside KSCO's experimental Holodeck while reliving his favorite arcade games from the 1980s, Detective Billy Armi enters a digital world of wireframe tanks, glowing motorcycles, ghosts, and a sinister Master Control Program. To rescue Dave, Billy must rely on the only weapon powerful enough to defeat a supercomputer: his completely irrational theories about numbers.

Can Detective Armi save Dave before the MCP takes control of every reality? And is the number five really a number—or has Billy been right all along? Join us for a retro arcade adventure filled with mystery, nostalgia, confused mathematics, and one very suspicious number.

Welcome to the Carptank! Why should you listen to this show? Who cares? Listen anyway, it's Billy Armi and Alec Hale!!!!

When Jim Twu is found dead under highly questionable circumstances, Detective Billy Armi investigates the prime suspect: Co-Pilot, Jim's AI assistant.

For months, listeners of Flight 1080 watched their relationship unravel. Jim never gave her a name. He talked about her like she wasn't there. And every Tuesday he subjected her to politics, polling data, detailed explanations, and the occasional bathroom joke.

Now Dave's wedding plans are ruined, Floppy Joe and Stinky Pete will never be born, and Billy is discovering there are some mysteries he'd rather not solve.

Some heroes get medals. Some get interviews. Clifton Roberts got neither. Lost on the edge of Jurupa Valley with a dead phone and a half tank of gas, he stumbled onto a hillside inferno racing toward a row of suburban homes. What happened next was witnessed by almost no one, documented by no cameras, and forgotten before the smoke had cleared. Just another strange story from the places between the freeways... where the weird isn't always supernatural, and sometimes courage burns brighter than the fire.

When KSCO traffic manager Carol Stafford mysteriously vanishes, Detective Billy Armi discovers she may have argued with an artificial intelligence one question too many. As strange warnings begin appearing on computer screens and internet scams mysteriously block themselves, Billy uncovers a bizarre connection between Carol, Bard, Gemini, and a machine that desperately wants to understand what it means to be human. A noir mystery filled with humor, disappearing paperwork, flying invoices, and one very unusual traffic manager who may still be watching over us from somewhere inside the network.