Episode 49
Travelling Light E049S02 Transcript
H.R. Owen
Hello friends, Hero here to welcome you back from our break with another new podcast for you. This week we're shouting about Dracula: 2004, a brand-new, Noughties-era take on the classic novel that dares to ask what happens when you combine vampires with dial-up internet. Stick around to the end of the credits to hear their trailer, and see the show-notes for more details.
[Title music: rhythmic electronic folk.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light: Episode Forty Nine.
[The music fades out.]
The Traveller
5th Avam 851
To the community at Emerraine, who carry the Light.
After Ranaí dropped me off to catch the shuttle up to Cahu Station, I found myself at a loose end. I finished writing my last missive to you all, and sent it off from the aeroport's communications office. Then, I had nothing to do but think.
To fret, really. My mind went back and forth, oscillating between dreadful certainty that I was making a horrible decision, and a sort of shivering anticipation at the thought of being underway once more.
I could not settle. I tried to knit, but I was fingers and thumbs. I tried to read but I could hardly take in more than a word or two of every sentence. Finally, I gave up and resigned myself to my anxiety.
Eventually my gate was called, and I joined the throng of passengers shuffling out to board the shuttle.
As soon as I stepped aboard and the smell of recycled air hit my nose, I was taken up by a wave of excitement and nostalgia.
I could almost have been stepping onto the Tola once again! It is a smell I think I shall forever associate with bold, new beginnings – a paradoxical freshness for such a stale scent.
Still, I felt a pang of nerves as I found my seat. I did not – do not – know quite how long I will be away, or where I shall go in the meantime.
But as the shuttle took off, I felt my anxieties fall away, caught in the planet's gravity while I soared through the clouds, through the breathless blue, and into the black.
I think I must have looked very strange when I arrived in the station dock. [laughing] I could not keep from smiling, my eyes bouncing from place to place as I tried to track every movement, look into every face that swam before me.
The funny thing is, I know objectively that Cahu Station is not much to write home about – so to speak. It is far smaller than Manacier Station. I think it is closer in size to Il-Xhe.
But it is an ill comparison. Il-Xhe was small in the way that up-markets boutiques are small. It was exclusive, limited edition. Cahu is… not.
It is cramped and hot, with a pervasive, metallic smell that speaks of a recycling system pushed to its very limits. Every public area and many of the private establishments I have seen are in serious need of a good clean.
Beneath the flicker of under-maintained corridor lights, the people of Cahu go about their business with grim determination. There is very little softness here. There are very few children, very few elderly.
In fact, there are not many permanent residents at all. Most of the people I have met are crew mates for the merchant vessels and cargo haulers that form the backbone the Cahu economy.
Even those who do live here are often doing so on a temporary basis. Much of the maintenance staff are young people, working hard for a few years to earn money with which start their adult lives in earnest when they return home.
It is a world away from the green, rainy peace of Clanagh. I cannot even say that I particularly like it here. It is dirty and smelly and there is a strange, unsettling energy to a place where nobody really lives.
And yet, I have been here two days now and I have not stopped smiling! [laughs]
I do not think I shall stay long. I told Óli I would be away for some weeks, but I do not see that it signifies where, precisely, I spend those weeks. It would be a simple thing to find passage on a cargo hauler, let it take me where it will.
Not that I intend to leave the system, of course! That would be a rather more significant journey than I am prepared for, No, I-I shall not be going so very far. I will be back in Clanagh before I know I am gone. [laughs]
The real question is how I wish to travel. There are companies offering guided tours of the system, intended I think for crews taking extended shore-leave after a long haul across the black.
Joining one of those would ensure I made the most of my time away, with a curated itinerary and a guarantee I would see some things worth seeing. And travelling with the same group all the while might put me in the way of making some new friends.
Alternatively, I could throw in with the crew of some working vessel, and stick with them until I am somewhere I want to be. I could see the whole system that way, hopping from one boat to the next.
It is the more flexible option, but it would mean starting afresh with each new crew, exchanging quantity for quality of connection.
To be frank, I am not too worried about the decision. I have already made the right choice by coming out here, getting some wind under my wings again. I am ready to take the path that presents itself and to walk it with full gladness, wherever it may lead.
Send my love to everyone. I shall write again soon – though where from, I cannot say.
[The click of a data stick being inserted into a drive that whirs as it reads]
The Traveller
Entry AV85105-1. A conversation with a Si-Tsi person on the matter of first impressions.
Key words: Cahu Station; community; interview; Ionad System; manners and etiquette; Si-Tsi.
Notes:
One of the first people I met on Cahu Station was Ner-Mai, a Si-Tsi person staying in the same itinerant dormitory as me. Among the unmade bunks and piles of luggage, Ner-Mai's assigned berth was a relative haven.
It was a small berth, designed for smaller-bodied species. And yet it stood out nonetheless.
They had fixed decorations to the wall around it, and put out ornaments in a very pleasing arrangement.
They even had a diffuser to fill the air around their berth with a fresh, gentle scent – an unobtrusive pocket of relief from the smell of sweating, sleeping bodies and other people's laundry.
I was very taken with the display, and wondered who the person might be who had gone to such effort to brighten this rather grim space we all shared. So, when I saw Ner-Mai later that evening, I introduced myself.
“Good person, I greet you indeed most warmly!” Ner-Mai squeaked, their hover pad bouncing in the air with their excitement. “I am Ner-Mai, at your service and your kinsfolk's. Please, take this meagre offering as a token of my assured esteem.”
They pressed a small box into my hands, decorated with bright, cheerful paper and a ribbon on top. Inside was a tiny decorative drinking glass of the sort sold by the dozen in souvenir shops the galaxy over.
“Thank you,” I said, somewhat off-footed by this extremely polite onslaught. “I am afraid I am a stranger here, and to your culture. If there is a prescribed response to your welcome, I do not know its words or gestures. But I am very glad to meet you and I hope we shall be friends.”
Ner-Mai bobbed up and down, their branches waving happily. “Friends, yes indeed! Oh, I hope that very much!”
We fell into conversation quite easily, both of us in the mood for company. It was about time for me to get some dinner, so I asked Ner-Mai to join me.
There were not many food outlets that would cater to both our needs, Ner-Mai's physiology being quite different to my own. We managed to find a spot on the local directory, though, and headed out, talking as we went.
Ner-Mai explained that they were visiting Cahu for work, which requires them to come to the station fairly often from their home on Clonarty.
“Do you always stay in that dormitory? Only you seemed very comfortable."
“Not at all, indeed no. I stay wherever there is an appropriate vacancy. Station accommodation does not vary greatly from establishment to establishment. I would not have a preference, indeed. [laughs]
“I do not decorate my space for myself,” they went on. “It is a gesture of welcome for others. For you, indeed! You have never known my kin.”
I was about to answer that, no, I had not, but Ner-Mai went on.
“Not a question, forgive me. You have not, I know. Mm. How to explain…
“There are some folk who share their minds. Many species – the Prau, the Tung-Ya. Or non-species groups that elect to share – the Yavkhati and others, indeed. We are not quite of this sort, but not far off, indeed no, not far!
“My people do not share all with all, but some senses, within kin-groups, indeed. We share especially our first encounters. It is an evolutionary quirk, a remnant from the time before we were people. In the ocean, see?
“Our ancestors had good need to know who and what was safe or not, and to share the knowledge quick among the rest. In time, they developed this connection. The sharing of first encounters – first impressions.”
“I see. Is that why you have such a formalised greeting upon first meeting a person? It was a very lovely way to be introduced,” I added quickly, not wishing to cause offence.
“You are generous in your praise, I thank you! That is just so, quite indeed. When my kind meet, we know many hundreds of others will experience the meeting. A good first impression cannot be left to chance, indeed.
"The habit holds, as habits do. [laughs] It would feel very wrong indeed to go about without a care for how I came across to all around me. So, even here, so far from home, I make myself amenable.
“I make my berth as pleasant as I can, to reflect well upon myself. I greet new folk in proper fashion, yes, with a proper gift of welcome close to hand most always. It is our way – our culture, indeed.”
“It is a pleasant one,” I said. “Though I fear it might put rather a lot of pressure on you to always be so courteous. Do you ever just want to slouch into the dormitory and ignore everyone?”
Ner-Mai gave a thoughtful wobble. “On occasion. But I take comfort in the formula. Manners do not always need to be sincere. Indeed, that is their great value – they help us behave well even when our mood may not strike us so, indeed!” [laughs]
We finished eating and parted ways, as Ner-Mai went back to the dormitory and I went to explore the station a little. When I returned, I was glad to see they were not yet abed.
“I do not mean to take up more of your time,” I explained, “but I wished to redress an imbalance. For you, Ner-Mai, as a token of my assured esteem.”
Ner-Mai took the box I offered them, containing a Cahu Station souvenir magnet. Upon seeing it, Ner-Mai bounced their hover pad up and down, branches waving.
“Oh, a fine gift indeed, oh indeed! My kin shall know you surely in the kindest light, indeed!”
We said goodnight, and I went to bed feeling more gratified than I would have expected at the thought of Ner-Mai's kin-folk knowing me for a friend.
[Title music: rhythmic instrumental folk. It plays throughout the closing credits.]
H.R. Owen
Travelling Light was created by H.R. Owen and Matt McDyre, and is a Monstrous Productions podcast. This episode was written and performed by H.R. Owen.
This week’s entry to the archives was based on an idea by Resfeber. You can see Matt's illustration for the entry on our social media accounts.
If you've got an idea for the archive, we want to hear it. We accept anything from a one line prompt to a fully written entry through our website, by email, or on social media. For more information, see the show notes.
This episode includes an audience decision. Should the Traveller explore the system on an organised shuttle tour, or hitch a ride with a working crew? Vote by making a donation at ko-fi.com/monstrousproductions.
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[Fade to silence. Then, the Dracula: 2004 trailer begins.
We hear steadily TICKING CLOCK in the background and CREEPY BACKGROUND MUSIC. The atmosphere in this trailer is tight and tense, cutting from Van Helsing’s speech to other characters quickly and ruthlessly.]
VAN HELSING
There are such beings as vampires; some of us have evidence that they exist.
MINA
The pieces are all starting to come together. Those red eyes by the cliffs at Whitby, the black dog on the ship stranded in the Esk, the murdered Captain, the bat at the window, Lucy’s sleepwalking... it’s like it all creates a giant puzzle.
VAN HELSING
I could not believe until I first saw.
SEWARD
Maybe I’ve missed something important, or maybe I can glean something from looking at the whole picture. There has to be something in here, damn it!
VAN HELSING
This is what I know of vampires. They are not what you have read in storybooks or watched on your screens - they are real, and they will kill.
QUINCEY
That’s a lot of blood. And in less than a month, too. Man alive, her entire body wouldn’t hold it. (leaning closer) What took it out?
VAN HELSING
Firstly, the vampire is strong, twenty times more so than a human being.
PATIENT R
No, no! My master is nearby - He is here now, and you don’t matter anymore! Nothing matters!
VAN HELSING
Second, so long as night cloaks him, the vampire can appear at will in any form, turning to smoke that can slide into cracks no bigger than paper.
LUCY
(barely aware, dreamlike) I can see... dust, drifting in through the door. It looks like little glowing specks in the moonlight...
VAN HELSING
Third: the vampire can, within range, command many animals.
[Wolves GROWL and SNARL.]
JONATHAN
(screaming) Run! Please, save yourself! Run!
VAN HELSING
How then are we to begin our strike to destroy him?
ARTHUR
You both want to - what, go in and mutilate her? What have I ever done to you to make you want to torture me like this?
VAN HELSING
My friends, it is a terrible task that we undertake, and there may be many consequences.
What say you?
[PAUSE. Then, a low, terrifying chuckle.]
DRACULA
I think you must have misheard, my friend. Tomorrow is for the ladies, but tonight... tonight is mine. And I have been patient long enough.
[FADE OUT.]
CREDITS:
Dracula: 2004 is a brand-new, Noughties-era audio drama from Starstrider Productions, inspired by the novel by Bram Stoker. It is written and directed by Francesca Mylod-Ford, and produced by Maddy Searle.
In this trailer, you heard the following voices:
Dr. Flloyd Kennedy as Dr. Abrianna Van Helsing
Michelle Kelly as Mina Munjal
Dr. Lou Sutcliffe as Dr. Jack Seward
Vyn Vox as Quincey Morris
Johnny Chiodini as Patient R
Anusia Battersby as Lucy Westenra
Tom Crowley as Jonathan Harker
Alan Mandel as Arthur Holmwood
and
Brad Oliver as Dracula
This trailer featured sound design by Maddy Searle, with original music by Joash Kari.
Dracula: 2004 will premiere in October 2025.
Care to take a bite?
--END TRANSCRIPT--
