Escape Pod

The Librarian

by Andrew Kozma

People call Matt a librarian, but he doesn’t mind. He takes care of the books, so the name makes sense, even if most of that care involves cleaning up their shit and piss, and feeding them nutritious glop in those moments between hits. If he can convince them to eat. If they aren’t so taken over by ledge they don’t move for months at a time, muscles withering like grapes on the vine.

Matt feels more like a drug dealer, even though he is, at best, an enabler. The libraries spit out blue wedges of ledge for anyone to pick up. He’s tried to get rid of the the libraries before, herding them away from the centers of human population, but no matter how far he drove them, a few days later they’d return to where they’d been, their stubby little crab legs clicking on the concrete. And because the libraries follow demand, the streets outside Heyman’s are littered with the little fuckers. He’s just thankful they don’t come inside—some latent biological programming keeps them from entering buildings.

Matt stores the books in what used to be Heyman’s Department Store, a four-story monstrosity which probably took up an entire city-block on Earth, in whatever city it was taken from, but here it’s lost among randomly scattered skyscrapers, row houses, suburban nuclear-family homes, churches, clubs, and sports arenas. He thinks of it as a temple. Or a museum. He tries not to think of it as a tomb. Most of the time, he’s the only non-ledged human there.

Author : Laura Duerr Narrator : Andrea Phillips Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums EP582: Unit Two Does Her Makeup is an Escape Pod original. Unit Two Does Her Makeup By Laura Duerr Doctor Spencer has brought me an artist. My eyes on the outside of the building register the […]

Unit Two Does Her Makeup

by Laura Duerr

Doctor Spencer has brought me an artist. My eyes on the outside of the building register the identity of everyone who enters, including her: Suzanne Chantal Salinas, age 26, licensed esthetician and makeup artist, amateur painter. I cut the feed after .3 seconds. The security feed could tell me more, but I have learned that it is impolite to collect extraneous details about a person unless they prove to be a security risk. Given that both Suzanne Chantal Salinas and Doctor Spencer are smiling, and appear to be in companionable conversation, the artist is not a risk.

I observe them enter the building accompanied by a brief burst of cold -- it is 37.1 degrees outside. When I view them through infrared, they are glowing red faces encompassed in green and blue jackets. I have been monitoring the interior temperatures; Unit One has made appropriate adjustments to climate control. We are keeping the building comfortable.

The visitor stamps her feet, brushes sleet from her black curls. They shed their jackets, blooming gold and scarlet on infrared. Unit Three has mobile security platforms posted by the front door and the elevators. They do not react: they are faceless, they don't feel cold, the visitor has clearance.

The artist's heart rate is elevated. Her cheeks are flushed, and not just from cold: she's nervous about meeting me. She keeps looking at the security platforms. Perhaps she fears my platform will look like them, featureless and alien.

I chose my face. Unit Three chose hers, too, in a way. Our platforms serve different purposes, and the faces we built reflect that.

Author : Carrie Vaughn Narrator : Amy H. Sturgis Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums That Game We Played During the War originally appeared on Tor.com in March 2016. That Game We Played During the War By Carrie Vaughn From the moment she left the train station, absolutely everybody stopped to look […]

Author : Carrie Vaughn Narrator : Amy H. Sturgis Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums That Game We Played During the War originally appeared on Tor.com in March 2016. That Game We Played During the War By Carrie Vaughn From the moment she left the train station, absolutely everybody stopped to look […]

Author : J. R. Dawson Narrator : Eric Luke Host : Divya Breed Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums EP580: Nozizwe and Almahdi is an Escape Pod original.  Nozizwe and Almahdi By J. R. Dawson She was a princess and he was a prince, and they had been genetically made for each other. The […]

Nozizwe and Almahdi

By J. R. Dawson

She was a princess and he was a prince, and they had been genetically made for each other. The science had been precise down to their anatomical make-up, the blood and the speed in which that blood pulsed through their perfectly symmetrical hearts.

His name was Almahdi. He had been named this because of the way the consonants and vowels hit the shape of her ear. Her name was Nozizwe, because she would indeed be the mother of nations. They would meet at a grand ball on the space station, in the neutral zone between their two new colony kingdoms, in their eighteenth year. So that meant, while other children got to spend their first eighteen years enjoying their robo-dogs and trying to set their parents’ fireproof space suits aflame and going to camp on the moon, the prince and the princess did nothing fun. In fact, their daily activities were about as far from fun as daily activities could get.“You were made out of love,” Nozizwe’s father, the King, instructed her -- age three -- from his throne. “Therefore, you must love. Now, what does it mean to love, Nozizwe?”

Nozizwe, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, farted loudly.

Author : Alex Yuschik Narrators : Adam Pracht and Trendane Sparks Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums EP579: Texts from the Ghost War is an Escape Pod original. Texts from the Ghost War By Alex Yuschik While I realize driving that mech likely takes all of your limited resources, […]

Author : Alex Yuschik Narrators : Adam Pracht and Trendane Sparks Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 579: Texts from the Ghost War is an Escape Pod original. Texts from the Ghost War By Alex Yuschik While I realize driving that mech likely takes all of your […]

Cherry Squid

By Celeste Hollister

It was the cherry squid that did him in.

Outside his window, seventy stories up, the advertisement bloomed, melon yellow, racecar red. A shoal of squid rippled across the holo, a tangram pattern that morphed into a human face. Almost human, but with a Vrellan's ruby eyes. Then a blush of shimmer-pink as the slogan scrolled onscreen: “Let's All Share a Cherry Squid” in all caps like a scream.

Fresh cherry scent wafted on the air. Then the ad faded to black before replaying, an endless loop of fragrance and light.

“A stupid, looping nonsense,” Adam called it.

The Mobius-strip of cherry squid peeled out from its backlit blue. I said, “I think it's pretty.”

“They try too hard to be like us,” Adam said.

I edged onto the oval of his windowsill and watched the sun plait silver into the spillways. I said, “They are like us. The scientists say we share a common ancestor. We just evolved differently.”

Adam crooked a three-pod stool against his vid-wall. He popped open a can of Dr Pepper, one from his dwindling cache of Earthly goods. He said, “You don't believe that crap, do you? The whole Selkie Evolution thing?”