Bonus Episode 1: Waking Dream

Please note that this story is noncanonical as it was made relatively early on in the development of Astra Planeta's current incarnation.

Setting:

UNSS Ikelos, UNAC research outpost orbiting Hypnos around LP 944-20.
10/25/2413 CE

NOTES:

As the monologue progresses, Quin sounds decreasingly sane and increasingly fatigued.
[Theme music 00:00 - ~00:34; fade out into static]
[static cut off by click at 00:37, followed by electronic bleep at 00:38; a deep, continuous hum is heard faintly in the background as HOLBACH starts to speak]

HOLBACH

(slightly exasperated)
This is the personal log of Quin Holbach, the… only one still awake on the UNSS Ikelos. Everyone else is fast asleep, which means I got stuck with the graveyard shift. …again. Even though I told them repeatedly that I’ve already been awake for… great space, over 32 hours now! Even the station’s AI, SOMNUS, is in a full sweep debugging cycle, which is... basically digital sleep?

[01:10 - 1:11 a series of echoing clunks are heard faintly in the distant background]

(musing)
I wonder if they’re dreaming of electric sheep.
(halfhearted chuckle)
All of this is far too fitting, considering the naming scheme for this entire system.
(back on track)
Anyways, Dr. Lee said that keeping a log might help ease the loneliness. And also something about staving off insanity? That was under her breath, though, so I may not have heard her right.

[01:31 - 01:33 a pair of not-so faint clanks echo in the background]

I’m… not sure if I’ll continue this hourly as recommended, since I’ve also got to finish a report on our experiments with genetic engineering in the radiation conditions of this system. LP 944-20 might be a puny little star -honestly, she’s straddling the line between red dwarf and brown dwarf- but she does emit some interesting radiation on occasion. Which is why we’re here.

[01:57 a vaguely crashing clunk echoes in the background]

(slightly annoyed)
The rimor, they’re up close and personal with the lady herself, mining the lithium clouds with their fancy alien star-mining station Akhtemet-335, but us? Nope. We’re way out here orbiting the ice giant, Hypnos. Making jellyfish fluoresce and stuff.
On the bright side- or, well, objectively, the dark side- there’s much less contrast way out here. We’re in Hypnos’ shadow right now, and the Magellanic Clouds are stunningly bright and clear.
(quietly awed)
...There are so many stars out there.

[long beat; 02:36 - 02:45 a prolonged echoing hiss is faintly heard in the background beneath HOLBACH’s next lines]

(yawns)
So yeah, I’ve got about… eight hours left before we pass back into the sunlit side of Hypnos and everyone wakes up. Until then, I’m alone here at my workstation. Got a two-liter Coke-

[02:44 a bottle hisses open]

-a couple bagels-

[02:45 bag crinkles]

-an ancient handheld music player that Alim somehow scrounged up back on Earth, and a screen full of blank document waiting for my 76-page report.

[beat; 03:05 - 3:10 HOLBACH can be heard typing beneath his lines]

(resigned tone)
(sighs) ...Wish me luck, future listeners.

[03:10 electronic bleep]

(factual tone)
It is 10:02 PM local time, my 33rd consecutive hour awake, and I have achieved the fabled Post-Tired State. My eyes refuse to close for fear of slipping into the freeform-tetris dimension. Stairway to Heaven is looping in my head at roughly 1378 beats per minute, which is just... objectively wrong.
250 words, but I forgot the header stuff. Not that it matters that much right now.
...I think I’m gonna lie face down on the floor and gibber quietly.

[beat; 03:43 a dull thunk is heard as HOLBACH collides with the side of the module]

(muffled) Wait, no, this is the ceiling.

[beat]

(realization, still muffled)
I’m in space. I can’t lie down, there is no “down.” Dammit. Back to work, then.

[03:55 electronic bleep]

11 PM. Hour 34. It feels like I’m entering the sixth spatial dimension. No idea where the fourth and fifth went, call again later. I have resorted to consuming my last bagel to maintain energy levels.
I have achieved page two, and four hundred words with it. The 420-word milestone is high- er, nigh. ...nice.

[04:20 a clank echoes in the background]

Time is starting to slow down and I’m fighting off a frustrated breakdown with a flaming stick. This should be interesting to watch, especially considering my eyes are also on fire.

[04:31 electronic bleep]

(rather disconnected from reality, thoughtful musing)
12 AM. Hour 35. Time is a snail that creeps along the avocado. The vaguely grassy taste is perpetual. I contemplate interrogation of my alternate selves, but they’re too far off to poke, and so I carry on. I have seen god, and it has given up on us.
The universe is a pear.

[beat; 04:55 a dull thunk echoes faintly in the background]

The jellyfish swim out of the screen and dance their green ultraviolet waltz. ...Or is it a tango? Both require a partner.

[beat]

I am alone.

[beat; 05:06 - 05:10 HOLBACH begins typing again]

seventy-six.

[05:10 electronic bleep]

(perfectly level and calm)
1 AM. Hour 36. I have seen empires rise and fall in this eon of my waking sight. I crank the David Bowie louder and ignore them. Look at those cavemen go; it really is the freakiest show. Wonder if they’ll ever know?

[beat]

seventy-six.

[beat; 05:31 - 5:33 a series of echoing clunks are heard faintly in the distant background]

Hypnos, god of sleep, taunts me, tempts me, but lo! I have broken the fourth page and the next section begins. Methods would be easier if the notebook was still on this plane, but it sunk into the astral sea before the mission started.

[beat; 05:50 - 05:52 HOLBACH begins typing again]

Go fish.

[05:52 electronic bleep]

(slightly frantic and manic, “pacing” in the zero-gravity)
2 AM. Hour 37. Time is returning to pace the floor and I don’t like it. seventy-six. Eyes? Or fried grapes?
(mildly manic laughter)
At this point I’d rather not know. seventy-six. I looked outside to check on the void. It smiled at me, so I stopped looking. seventy-six. Momentary cardiac arrhythmia would be easier to argue with if I liked coffee. But I don’t, so the thunder grumbles as I send him over the hills.
(pacing stops; contemplative)
...Or, he would, if there were hills here.

[beat; 06:27 - 06:40 HOLBACH begins typing again]

seventy-six.

[beat]

Results? Not bad, I’d say. I would add the pictures but they’re raining somewhere else. seventy-six. The jellyfish continue their dance, and John Travolta would be either proud or terrified. Truly, all the children boogie.

[06:45 electronic bleep]

(considerably more tired)
3:00 AM. Hour 38. 76. Death stopped by but I told him I was busy. He gave me an ounce of lucidity but I’m not sure how long it’ll last me. 76. Looked outside again; the void is packing up to go to Thalassa.

[07:06 a dull thunk echoes faintly in the background]

76. No line on the horizon but I know it’s coming.
Shit. And still I keep going.

[07:14 electronic bleep]
[07:16 - 07:31 a short series of low-pitched digital tones are heard beneath HOLBACH’s next lines]

(sleepily, as if in a daze)
4 AM. Hour 39. Error. Error code 76. Huh. Fascinating. I love that color.

[07:26 a low, jarring clunk is heard faintly in the background]

It smells like sleep, and red. Red sleep.

[07:30 electronic bleep]

(calm; tired but awake and coherent)
5 AM. Hour 40. I was so sure the forty-hour mark would herald the true descent into hell. But frankly, it’s more like purgatory, or even a little bit like Valhalla; a spiritual victory of sorts. Looked out the window again for a few moments. The sun was arriving, dressing the clouds in soft fire. Though dim, she reminded me it’s okay to not succeed right away. Things take time. But the end is in sight now, and while it isn’t a perfect terminex it is still an end.

[08:03 - 08:12 a prolonged echoing hiss is faintly heard in the background beneath HOLBACH’s next lines]

Hypnos’ arms are wide open, waiting. Another hour left.

[beat]

I just wish the shaking and twitching would stop on its own.

[08:16 electronic bleep]
[08:17 - 08:20 annoying alarm clock beeps 6x, terminated with a click]

(incredibly fatigued)
6 AM. Hour forty-one.

[08:25 - 08:27 a series of echoing clunks are heard faintly in the distant background]

The future was warm, and dark.
Like red sleep.

[08:31 an electronic bleep followed instantly by a click terminates the persistent hum, abruptly resuming the static which fades out 08:31 - 08:36 over the theme music; theme runs 08:32 - 09:28 under the outro monologue 08:37 - 09:19]
This has been Starhopper Radio. This episode was written, directed, and edited by myself, Doug Marshall, with the voice talents of Will T. N. Allen as Quin Holbach. The theme music is a reversed version of the song “Glow In Space” by Sergey Cheremisinov, via the Free Music Archive. If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by sending us a message on Instagram and/or Twitter at StarhopperRadio, joining the discord server via the link on our host site, farsightmedia.org/starhopperradio, and especially by supporting the creator on Patreon at patreon.com/spyglassrealms! It would also help us out immensely if you shared the show with your friends. And of course, thank you for listening.