Free Podcast Novel

 

 Puddle Driver: Chapter 18 [5:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Written and read by ApocD

One of Streis’ tracers returned with the news that there was a phantom on the network and it was closing in fast. Streis disconnected from the Net without saying goodbye to Dr. Anders; Streis knew he would understand. He hoped the phantom didn’t find Dr. Anders, but there was nothing he could do about it.

 

 Puddle Driver: Chapter 17 [7:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Written and read by ApocD.

Streis buckled in as they hit the atmosphere. Through the porthole, he saw bright light engulf the ship. Rachel Carter sat beside him, silently watching the ship’s vitals on the control screen.

It had been a long time since Streis had reentered like this; on his last return from the moon, he had used the African Elevator. Although it had been much more efficient than pushing ships through the atmosphere, the construction of a replacement elevator was still under debate. Besides the obvious costs of constructing such a monster, the various African governments involved had to consider the safety concerns as well. After at first being considered an act of terrorism, it was now known that the collapse of the African Elevator had been caused by a design flaw. After apologizing to the public for the immense loss of life and property, the entire engineering team had taken their own lives. Streis had seen the video on the Net; countless nights he had sat alone in back booths in dirty bars around the world and watched that video, watched the life slip from their faces.

Despite all of these difficulties involved with replacing the elevator, Streis couldn’t help feeling that society had taken a step back. Pushing ships through atmosphere was a very 20th Century thing to do. He still couldn’t understand why neither the Americans nor the Europeans had built an elevator; maybe they’d just lost interest in progress. Streis had once heard a historian say that human history was a progression of two steps forward and one back. He agreed.

Written and read by ApocD.

 

 Puddle Driver: Chapter 16 [4:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“Is it Pana-wave, Streis?”

“Of course it’s Pana-wave. Didn’t you disable the jumpship’s communications?”

Rachel Carter sat back in her chair and smiled. “Of course, I did. They can’t know he’s dead, yet. What’s the message? Can you play it on the ship’s system?”

“Just a second.” Streis listened to the message through his implant. It didn’t contain anything he wanted to keep from Rachel Carter, so he ran it, unedited, through the ship’s system.

Written and read by ApocD.

 

 Puddle Driver: Chapter 15 [6:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Torture.  The word ignited an explosion of memories in Streis, memories that Streis had spent years trying to forget.  The therapy had taught him to face his memories, to deal with them one at a time with complete honesty, but he had fulfilled his therapy requirements in six months and had never looked back, until now.

It seemed to be working; if not, Streis would have noticed a drop in pressure in the main cabin.  As a headhunter, Streis knew that all options were on the table when it came to survival.  Torture, though, hadn’t crossed his mind; he’d nearly forgotten that torture even existed.

The airlock kept the sounds from the cargo hold from passing into the main cabin, so Streis could only guess at what Imaoka’s screams must sound like.  What was she doing to him?  Streis hated to admit to himself that he wanted to know.  Even though he had been tortured more than once–headhunters had to get used to such things–the idea of others being tortured wasn’t so repulsive that he didn’t want to know the details.  He wanted to know.

The main control screen showed the ship’s vitals in vertical columns of green light.  Air temperature and pressure were holding steady.  Their trajectory had remained the same since Rachel Carter and Imaoka had disappeared into the cargo hold.  Everything appeared normal.