EP708: Into the Paddock

[divs]

Escape Pod 708: Into the Paddock

Author: Nathan Susnik
Narrator: Trendane Sparks
Host: Tina Connolly
Audio Producer: Summer Brooks

Escape Pod 708: Into the Paddock is an Escape Pod original.

---

Content Warning: Contains abundant amounts of swearing.


“We need a shitload of Bunnies®. How fast can you get me a shitload of Bunnies®?” says Schneider, walking into my office.

Sort of.

Okay, fine. I don’t have an office, and Schneider is calling on ShareSpace™ over the ol’ intercerebral implant, so she’s not walking.

I’m in The Orchard scraping gum off of my shoe and watching a bunch of kids pluck ripe apples from plastic trees. A kid throws an apple at The Barn. It goes wide. I laugh. Another one hits the side , and then Schneider just sort of appears. She hovers in the air all ghostly for a while until I pinch her down on the Dirt Path and answer the call. That’s when she says the Bunnies® thing.

Schneider has three moods:
1. Depressive
2. Belligerent
3. Depressive/belligerent

She’s belligerent ninety percent of the time, so I throw on VulgaBlock™.

“What happened to the Bunnies®?” I say.

She shrugs. “They died.”

“How?”

“Do I look like a [fornicating] veterinarian?”


Listen to this week's EscapePod.
Follow us on YouTube and Spotify!

[CryptoMe]

This story, especially the ending, didn't sit comfortably with me. I don't know if this makes it a good story or a bad one. It just seems to be a not-so-subtle excoriation of the US health care system. Also, it's not clear to me what the MC will do with the 1 or 2 illegal livers he prints (or does he just get mauled by the raptors, a la Jurassic Park?). I mean, you still need a doctor to put the liver in the patient. I can't imagine that you could just go to a hospital with your own liver in a box and ask them to insert it. And even if you could, the costs would not be cheap. So, I'm not sure what the MC is trying to accomplish with his act of rebellion - unless the pure rebellion is the point?