EP095: Blink. Don’t Blink.
Published by SFEley on 1 Mar 2007 at 12:01 am.
12 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
By Ramona Louise Wheeler.
Read by Salim Fadhley.
“Blink. Don’t blink. Don’t blink. Blink.” The human voice was familiar this time, expected. New orders did not come from computer voices. “This one will have to happen in a hurry, while we’re airlifting you to the crash site. It will be rougher than the first.”
It was. William listened to the hard drone of the aircraft engines in flight. He let that sound become the direction he followed while the pain made him into another shape so swiftly that even he did not know what he was becoming. His nanites had been commanded to emergency pitch. William was certain he could feel them racing through his cells.
Rated PG. Contains violent crime and unusual punishment.
Referenced Sites:
Stranger Things
John Markos O'Neill on 1 Mar 2007 at 2:43 am: 1
Did anyone else think of Thomas the Tank Engine (or, as my 20 month old son calls him, “TV Choo Choo”) while listening to this story?
ed on 1 Mar 2007 at 11:44 am: 2
…a twisted, biomechanical tv choo choo.
LG on 4 Mar 2007 at 5:00 pm: 3
I was all excited to download the first episode of Stranger Things, but the Website seems to be broken. I managed to get the front page out of Coral Cache, but can’t download the episode
In other news, I don’t recall TV Choo Choo having Jackhammer hands
Bicarat on 4 Mar 2007 at 9:37 pm: 4
I liked it. A dark look at the future of prison or incarceration. What will we do in the future with the hundreds of thousands of prisoners that currently clog the system? Makes sense to let them be productive and work towards rehabilitation.
jdarksun on 6 Mar 2007 at 4:51 pm: 5
Excellent story - in some ways, more frightening than some of what is found on Pseudopod. An addictive loss of self, masquerading as community service? Turning people into one-off automatons, sentient cars and boats and helicopters?
/shiver
artm on 7 Mar 2007 at 7:58 am: 6
@ LG:
while the website of stranger things is down you can subscribe to the podcast on itunes (via store) or feedburner (http://feeds.feedburner.com/StrangerThings)
artm on 7 Mar 2007 at 8:06 am: 7
I just tested, you can get stranger things on democracy tv as well (search in channel guide).
http://www.getdemocracy.com/
Magess on 8 Mar 2007 at 1:26 pm: 8
I found this to be a really disturbing story. The unwilling mutation into machines, inescapable loss of humanity. The whole thing just made me cringe.
Not that it was bad, I think perhaps the opposite given that I had such a strong reaction to the imagery.
LightningEye on 14 Mar 2007 at 12:09 pm: 9
The story invoked a lot of strong mental imagery. I like the concept, but I regretted the pain that the man had to feel during every transformation. Perhaps it’s time for Nanites 2.0: the painless metamorphosis type. In any case, it’s a provocative story, and one of the three choices he had, being in cryo for 100 years, reminded me of Minority Report.
Thanks for the heads-up on Stranger Things. I just subscribed to it in Democracy player. I look forward to watching it when it finishes downloading in 3.5 hours. I think we’ll have to name this “The Escape Pod Effect”, because I have broadband. Take care.
Mitch on 22 Mar 2007 at 8:49 pm: 10
Stories like this was why I listen to Escape Pod! Awsome!
Side note to Steve: I tried listening to Pseudopod when it first came out. I liked it, but I started having disturbing dreams- a lot. Pseudopod was too good at achieving its goal. I can’t listen to it anymore, but you can take this as an endorsement.
santana on 31 May 2007 at 11:44 pm: 11
This was a fantastic story read by a great reader. I was completely sucked into the narrative. It blew my mind, woke up neurons that had lain dormant, twisted my perceptions. I think about this story probably every day. Fascinating. Thanks Steve!
index on 8 Aug 2007 at 5:42 pm: 12
Welcome!!! index