Nora, a scientist’s daughter, enlists true-crime host Alan Humphrey to solve the disappearance of her mother’s “deathbot.” At first, Humphrey is reluctant to take the job, but he can not resist the mystery. The clues soon take Humphrey from New Yellowknife to Uranium City, a defunct mining town. Once there, he uncovers a secret research project, whispered rumours about a deterrent, and something living beneath the northern forests. Is this a hoax, a rumour, or something else? Something out of control?

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume, AKA Alan V Hare

Read by Vern Hume, Stephen Peterson, Cathleen Connelly and others.

Sound effects and backgrounds by Vecada Studios.

Restaurant ambience, cell phone chimes and wind obtained from www.zapsplat.com

Opening and closing musiccomposed and recorded by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

Kenzo Tanaka, a washed-up intellectual property rights enforcer turned PI, takes a “lost dog” case from a woman he believes to be a dazzling biotech heiress. However, he soon discovers that the dog is a human-canine chimera growing a life-extending Klotho gland, which is highly illegal. His gene-hacker friend dies for the discovery, which leads Kenzo on a chase through the Great Plains Economic Zone’s lawless biotech underworld, ending at a mountain research compound guarded by weaponized hybrid dogs. As he escapes with the lost dog, Kenzo is confronted by his client, who turns out to be an organ broker working for a wealthy client. Although tempted by profit, Kenzo chooses not to hand over the dog and vanishes the prize for good.

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Stephen Peterson.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

In exchange for the chance to reunite with his family, roboticist Sebit Deng has spent years on an isolated island in the South Pacific, building an android clone for aging industrialist Gregory Vance. As Vance approaches death, Sebit rushes to complete the transfer, only to discover that the industrialist has no intention of honouring their agreement. Blinded by anger, Sebit plots his revenge. However, in an unexpected twist, Vance manages to enact a vengeance of his own.

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Stephen Peterson.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

When Surya, a hardware engineer, buys an old NASA computer at a garage sale, she uncovers lost Voyager 2 data. She tracks down a retired scientist named in the file, who claims the data indicates a killing wave of cosmic radiation is headed for Earth. As she and the old scientist race to confirm the analysis, they find themselves hunted by mysterious agents.

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Kathleen Connelly.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

Surya, a tech historian, buys an old Sun workstation at a garage sale, expecting a working example of a CPU her grandmother designed, not secrets. Accidentally left on the drive are two files of NASA’s lost Voyager 2 data. When she attempts to learn about the workstation’s history by contacting a name she discovers in one of the files, she attracts unwanted attention: break-ins, shadowy men, and veiled threats. She eventually tracks down Mark Danforth, a retired engineer now fading into dementia, who may hold the key. But someone will do anything to keep the files she has discovered buried.

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Kathleen Connelly.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

During a dive to repair a submersible mining robot, Rohan, a deep-sea specialist, discovers the true cause of the machine’s malfunction: the metallic nodules it was harvesting are alive, ancient, and lying in wait. Too late, Rohan realizes that they can hijack his mind and body. Trapped within himself, he helplessly watches as the entities twist his friend into a weapon for their own spread.

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Steve Pertson.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

Forced into Wonder Valley, a holding facility for seniors needing care, 83-year-old Ellie resists her cheerful AI handlers and their synthetic paradise. She finds solace in the company of Aura, an aging, fuzzy robot dog who has developed more empathy than its creators intended. Over time, their bond grows stronger until one day, Aura learns it’s scheduled for replacement. The dogbot stages a daring escape—leading Ellie to a hidden sanctuary, ‘Nowhere’ for fugitive bots and their ‘wards.’ But freedom has an unexpected price.

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[email protected]

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If you liked this episode, tell your friends to head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe.

CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Kathleen Connelly.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

After living off-grid for forty years, Shane is drawn back into society when his former best friend—now the political leader of the territory—announces plans to develop the wilderness area that Shane calls home. While watching the announcement, Shane realizes that Gabriel isn’t the person he once knew. He receives an invitation from Gabriel to spend a weekend with him, and once there begins to notice odd lapses in his old friend’s behaviour. Eventually, Shane discovers that Gabriel is secretly using an advanced cognitive AI system to disguise a degenerative illness. As the situation unravels, it becomes unclear whether Gabriel, the assistive AI, or someone else is truly in control.

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CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Steve Peterson.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

Salvini, an out-of-work programmer, uses a hidden backdoor in her former employer’s system to create an AI called Bandhu, which hunts for jobs and outsmarts the hiring platforms. She asks it to find a position that won’t be replaced by AI, and when it finally delivers a job as a remote robotics operator, she accepts without question. With a life hanging in the balance, she finds herself in a job she knows nothing about.

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If you liked this episode, tell your friends to head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe.

CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Kathleen Connelly.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.

Faraday and Quinn arrive at a remote mining site on the far side of the moon that supplies helium-3 to Utopia Base, where they have lived their entire lives believing the Earth has been devastated. Faraday soon realizes that she has forgotten her supply of a medication called Sustain, which everyone accepts is necessary to maintain their bone and muscle mass. As time passes, she begins to notice the alarming neglect of the camp and starts questioning its operations.

To prove to herself that she isn’t going crazy, Faraday destroys Quinn’s supply of Sustain. This act prompts Quinn to confront the unsettling truth: the maintenance systems have failed, and there are secrets being kept from them. Following a trail of clues, they discover that the resource shipments are not actually being sent to Utopia.

Determined to uncover the truth, they stow away in a hopper as it prepares to launch.

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[email protected]

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If you liked this episode, tell your friends to head over to Apple Podcasts and subscribe.

CREDITS

Written by Vern Hume (AKA Alan V Hare).

Read by Kathleen Connelly.

Opening and closing were composed and created by Matthew Erdmann.

Produced by Vecada Studios.

Makeshift Stories is released under a creative commons non-commercial attribution, no derivative license.