EP147: Pressure

[Russell Nash]

EP147: Pressure

By Jeff Carlson.
Read by Graydancer (of The Ropecast).
First appeared in Strange Horizons, August 2003.
 Closing music: “I Crush Everything” by Jonathan Coulton

I spent the longest five weeks of my life in that tank and in a deeper pool, healing, testing, practicing. My feet and toes had been augmented much like my hands, my thighs shortened to maximize the available muscle. I was damned quick. Relearning construction techniques with my new fingers was sometimes frustrating, yet my progress was real and those periods of solitary labor became important to me.

At the surface, in the shallows, doctors poked and prodded and put me through redundant tortures. I had been warned that the study of my new body would be extensive and did my best not to fear or hate them, but I’d never imagined such intense scrutiny. During my years as a SEAL, I had been like a bug under a microscope, constantly evaluated and scored. Here I was the microscope, my body the only lens through which they could measure their work. Stenstrom tried to be my buddy, as he had always tried, joking and asking what I’d do with the money, yet his possessiveness was obvious. “We’ll be famous,” he said. “We’ll change the world.”

I wasn’t a slave or a pet, exactly, but I was anxious to get started. To get away from them.

Rated PG. Contains moderate violence.


Referenced Sites:
PodCastle



Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!

[Grayven]

Who the hell is John Colton and why haven't I heard of him? That done...

Endings seem, for some reason, to be the hardest part. Is this a sci-fi thing, or just fiction in general?

While the ending seems obvious (upon relistening) from the beginning, I hated it. Wa wa

Other than that, great story. I enjoyed it right up til the lame ending. The careful use of small auditory effects was brilliant, hats of to whoever thought of that. There was one point, which I am sure is obvious, where I had to restrain myself from checking the time left. All in all, a great read with a lame ending.

[bolddeceiver]

I disagree on the ending.  While I did see it coming from about the first scene with him swimming, I think there are two kinds of "seen it coming;" there's the "seen it coming" that comes from lazy writing, and the "seen it coming" that comes from what is dramatically necessary.  I felt like this was the latter.

If you can't tell yet, I loved this story.  I felt like it had emotionally real characters, interesting speculation on biotech, (future) history, and sociology, and like SE, I am really fascinated by underwater SF*.  Might come from watching seaQuest DSV as a kid (looking back I have a feeling it wasn't actually that great of a show, but any primetime SF television was gold to nine-year-old me).  Could go back further, too; when I was six, The Incredible Mr. Limpet was my favorite movie in the world.

One side-note -- when this one downloaded, I realized that between this episode and EP 144, the titles are starting to look like something from "The Intro to Physics Podcast," rather than EP.


*And this one didn't resort to dolphin sex, therefore making it, of the two underwater EPs I can think of off the top of my head, the better.

[Darwinist]

I didn't like this story, especially the ending.  I don't know how a guy (fish-guy) can just walk (swim) away from his family like that.  I understand he loved his condition, but still.  I just can't relate to that.  I'm not a big fan of swimming, water-related stories, and most everything else Steve talked about in the intro so the whole premise did nothing for me.  A quick delete off the IPod.  I did like the closing song.  Very cool. 

[Ruhlandpedia]

Reminded me of Peter Watts novels. Only he had the environment causing stress and Jeff had family. I suppose thats why Watts divers were all familyless psychopaths. He also had the hole "going native" thing but that always ended with starving and insane fishmen disappearing into the deep.

[High 5]

Nice change, science fiction sushi!

The story itself was simple and predictable.
That is not a bad thing, I often like simple and predictable things.
Like the plains I travel in, like most of my meals and -she is not in the room- my wife.
Usually for my science fiction I like a sense of wonder, complications, lots of action and surprise.
The sense of wonder in this story was represented by the biotech, the complications in this story came from a relationship straining under the use of a keyboard, building underwater turbines and having them blown up by eco-terrorists is action enough for me.
The surprise bit was a bit under par but not in a bad way and....aww come on, hun, it was only a jo.........................................

[Nobilis]

Not the most impressive story.  The plotting was predictable from very early on.  The language didn't stir me.  The only character had very few interactions with anyone else, and didn't really seem to change much.  Nothing about it stood out.

Enh.

[KMITA]

I disagree on the ending.  While I did see it coming from about the first scene with him swimming, I think there are two kinds of "seen it coming;" there's the "seen it coming" that comes from lazy writing, and the "seen it coming" that comes from what is dramatically necessary.  I felt like this was the latter.

Well said Bolddeceiver. Also, I feel that real life itself has so many suprises, a little predictability is often welcome.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Who the hell is John Colton and why haven't I heard of him? That done...

Now you HAVE, you lucky Grayven, you!   You can get his stuff at his website (don't forget to hit his PayPal button), and if you play his stuff through the Last.fm site (you'll need a free membership), they'll even pay him royalties!

</plug>

I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but the ending actually caught me off guard.  Partly, this was because traffic was light, and I got to work about 10 minutes before the end, and finished on the way home, so by the time I got back into the story, the protagonist was swimming off into the kelp-set. 

I really didn't like the way Mr. Fish was able to just blow off his family, especially little Roberto.  That just felt so wrong and "alien" to me...which I guess was the intention.  But up to that point, the wife had been the most unlike-able character.  (I've known too many military spouses who pulled that on their deployed partners to sympathize with her infidelity, though this guy obviously didn't discuss the situation with her before taking the job.)

[ajames]

Liked the story - still letting it sink in.  Lots of thoughts floating to the surface but nothing really deep to say yet.  Okay, enough of the bad puns.

One point I will comment on now - while I can't sympathize with the main character leaving his family, I can't imagine how the author could have set this up any more plausibly (and still have me care at all about the main character).  He was happy with Angela - until the pregnancy.  He wasn't a family man, but he was trying to make it work.  He loved the sea; he didn't love people.  From his point of view, his wife is with another guy, his kids don't seem to need him, he's hurt, the sea is calling, his family will be rich...  I see it.  I'm NOT agreeing with it, but I see it.

[gfplux]

just loved it

[bolddeceiver]

I agree, ajames -- just because you wouldn't condone the actions of a character doesn't mean it's a bad story; we all still watch and read Hamlet.  And to the people who say someone behaving so callously is unbelievable, look around.  Plenty of people leave their families for selfish reasons every day.  A character does not have to be likable to be sympathetic.

[ajames]

I admit that at first I thought Steve was out to sea to bring us a story like this - something about it seemed a bit fishy, at least.  But then I thought I'd go with the flow, and dove right into the story.  The main character seemed like a fish out of water with other people, and a medically-modified person in water most of the story, and finally more like a fish in water than a person.  And like a cold fish with the way he treated his son.  I can see why some people found the ending to be all wet, but I can also see why the story made a big splash for others.  I didn't see anything in it likely to cause too many waves, but it is early in the posting yet.  Although I think the production went off swimmingly, this story didn't surface at the top of my list.  But I did enjoy it.

Thanks for bringing this story, Steve.

[High 5]

we all still watch and read Hamlet. 

Frankly I would have been appalled if the second time I read that play, Hamlet would have come out victoriously, slung Ophelia on the horse and would have trot off into the sunset cheered on by the ghost of Hamlets father, the ghost of Claudius and a small wrinkled green ghost with long ears.
No often predictability is just fine...

[the_wombat]

Sorry, I feel like this story invested waaaay too much time into making me care about the characters only to have it all just fall to absolutely nothing in the end, I really see the earlier points of things going a certain direction out of dramatic necesity but in stories there's supposed to be a payoff...and in this one I feel like the payoff was "haha fooled you into wasting 45 minutes of your life" as fish boy swims away, if I had paid for this story I would have asked for my money back. But since I didn't have to pay KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK escape pod, you can't win'em all.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I admit that at first I thought Steve was out to sea to bring us a story like this - something about it seemed a bit fishy, at least.  But then I thought I'd go with the flow, and dove right into the story.  The main character seemed like a fish out of water with other people, and a medically-modified person in water most of the story, and finally more like a fish in water than a person.  And like a cold fish with the way he treated his son.  I can see why some people found the ending to be all wet, but I can also see why the story made a big splash for others.  I didn't see anything in it likely to cause too many waves, but it is early in the posting yet.  Although I think the production went off swimmingly, this story didn't surface at the top of my list.  But I did enjoy it.

Thanks for bringing this story, Steve.

I didn't mean to be flippant before; I was totally immersed in the tail until the splash of cold water at the end.  And I tend to agree with bolddeceiver's point, it's just that I was hooked until the protagonist slipped the net.  I didn't feel like they hit us with a bait-and-switch, as the_wombat seems to feel; it just left some unpleasant ripples in my soft underbelly.

Hey, was this written by Ken Shoals?  Oops, no... it wasn't.  (Oh, ghoti, are ajames and I blatantly fishing for QOTW?)

[CGFxColONeill]

idk this story was not a not great but it did not flop just kinda meh... much better than the last one at least lol

[Windup]

OK, I've got to ask about the outro -- what's up with Steve?  Obviously something bad. 

Did I understand him to say he would talk about it in a "metacast?"  If so, what's that?  Or was it "metachat," meaning the board by that name? 

[AarrowOM]

OK, I've got to ask about the outro -- what's up with Steve?  Obviously something bad. 

Did I understand him to say he would talk about it in a "metacast?"  If so, what's that?  Or was it "metachat," meaning the board by that name? 

Windup, Steve said metacast, of which there have been two so far.  They are described as "state of the podcast" podcasts.  Here are the direct links:
http://escapepod.org/2005/09/27/ep-metacast-1/
http://escapepod.org/2006/05/09/ep-metacast-2/

Not to question Steve's commitment to the podcast or anything, but this isn't the first time he's said that there will be a forthcoming metacast, so I wouldn't necessarily raise your hopes as to hearing one anytime soon.  Regardless, whatever Steve is going through, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that he's in my thoughts.

[Windup]

OK, I've got to ask about the outro -- what's up with Steve?  Obviously something bad. 

Did I understand him to say he would talk about it in a "metacast?"  If so, what's that?  Or was it "metachat," meaning the board by that name? 

Windup, Steve said metacast, of which there have been two so far.  They are described as "state of the podcast" podcasts.  Here are the direct links:
http://escapepod.org/2005/09/27/ep-metacast-1/
http://escapepod.org/2006/05/09/ep-metacast-2/

Not to question Steve's commitment to the podcast or anything, but this isn't the first time he's said that there will be a forthcoming metacast, so I wouldn't necessarily raise your hopes as to hearing one anytime soon.  Regardless, whatever Steve is going through, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that he's in my thoughts.

Thanks! He's certainly in my thoughts as well...  I have my theories about what the problem is, but since they're based on nothing but sheer speculation, I'll keep them to myself.

And if he's been able to continue to grind out Escape Pod in the face of whatever-it-is, I'm certainly not going to question his commitment to podcasting, either.

[eytanz]

I found the overall setting and plot elements of this story intriguing, but my enjoyment of it was seriously hampered by the fact that I found the narrator (the character, not the reader, just to be clear) thoroughly unsympathetic. Unlike TAD, I sympathized with the wife throughout, and felt glad at the ending because I felt she and the kids were happier without him.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I found the overall setting and plot elements of this story intriguing, but my enjoyment of it was seriously hampered by the fact that I found the narrator (the character, not the reader, just to be clear) thoroughly unsympathetic. Unlike TAD, I sympathized with the wife throughout, and felt glad at the ending because I felt she and the kids were happier without him.

I felt compelled to clarify after reading eytanz's remark...and in the process, I discovered something about the story:

My initial remark about the wife was meant as disapproval of her infidelity, and I didn't intend to imply that she was to blame for what happened at the end.  The couple had some obvious communication issues, though, and I've never been very sympathetic to couples that used a separation like this one as an excuse to break up.  She came off as one of those "serial spouses" that will leap from relationship to relationship all her life without really trying to make them work.  That said...

What I noticed on reflection, was that everything built into the story that touched on the narrator's interaction with others involved some kind of miscommunication.  He has difficulty making himself understood ("sub-vocalizing" was difficult; his step-son's shorthand was indecipherable) and while he is aware that he is sending bad signals (he says things to his wife and boss, and then acknowledges that his words don't convey his emotions or his intentions), he acts shocked and betrayed when others do the same.  The eco-terrorists at the end are the "last straw" for him, and he is specifically outraged that "they are greens! They should be in favor of our project!"  It seemed this struck him as just one more betrayal by those pesky humans he loathes so.

He is so quick to write off others for hypocrisy, when he is unwilling to take the time to communicate effectively himself.  He obviously shut his wife out of the decision to accept the 2 year mission; he "blamed" her for getting pregnant and "ending their happiness", and easily shuts the boys out of his life (and has the nerve to be surprised that the step-son had trouble "accepting" him). 

All in all, I liked the setting, the tech, the undersea generator project, and the potential for various conflicts; but when he bailed, I was left hoping that Fish Man would end up in a Gorton's net somewhere.  Feh.

[Roney]

All in all, I liked the setting, the tech, the undersea generator project, and the potential for various conflicts; but when he bailed, I was left hoping that Fish Man would end up in a Gorton's net somewhere.  Feh.

I agree with most of what you said, expect that the tech was a bit of a sticking point for me.  It seemed like one of those stories where a number of unrelated technical advances are bundled together to serve the character the author wanted to create.  So we get all sorts of physical modifications to aid swimming, plus sonar, plus gills being perfected at the same time in the same project.  Not that such a thing is impossible -- if there's no use for human sonar unless you've got the gills to spend hours underwater, then you develop both or give up your goals -- but it always smacks of the kind of convenient world-building you get in superhero stories: "Eagle Boy's mutated gene gave him amazing telephoto vision and a hooked upper jaw that could tear flesh.  And wickedly sharp claws on his fingers.  And he could fly."

Having said that, what is true to the internal logic of the story is that someone prepared to volunteer for that kind of job would be self-sufficient to the point of weirdness.  And it's an interesting question to consider: would you want to be a famous pioneer if that was the cost?  It doesn't make for the kind of protagonist you could sit down and share a bucket of fish-heads with, though.  I wouldn't have been upset if the story had ended with a vicious shark attack.

[Grayven]

Will the metacast show up in my normal EP feed, or do I need to watch for it elsewhere?

[SFEley]

Will the metacast show up in my normal EP feed, or do I need to watch for it elsewhere?

It'll be in the normal Escape Pod feed.

Thanks for your concern, folks.  I understand the skepticism, but the metacast will happen -- I spent a huge chunk of today writing it, and I'd have recorded and posted it tonight if it wasn't midnight already and if I wasn't starting a new job tomorrow. 

It's going to be a long one.  If you think my intros are lengthy, you ain't seen nothing yet.  I consider this metacast a necessity because:

A.) There's some stuff happening on the business side of Escape Artists, Inc. that I think people should know about, and a few ways you all can help; and

B.) It sounds like I'd freaked people out with my closing comments this week more than I'd intended, and I want to explain myself and what's been going on.  The "worst day of my life" comment was, I believe, literally true, but nobody's died and I'm not about to jump off a bridge.  It also means that every day since then has been better, and the worst is weeks in the past.  Things are on the upswing for me personally, and these podcasts are a big part of that too.  So sit tight; all will be made clear, and in the meantime, don't worry too much about me.  I'm feeling much hoopier now.

[Ocicat]

...everything built into the story that touched on the narrator's interaction with others involved some kind of miscommunication.

Good job picking up on the (mis)communication theme, TAD.  It was kind of lost on me on first listen, partly because I was listening in my car, and I need to use one of those broadcast-ipod-over-radio-frequency gizmos.  And that night the channel had an uncommon amount of static, so there were communication issues on my end as well.  On reflection, I think the communication problems and self isolation were what the story was really about.  The narrator can't get along well with people, so he gives up and turns himself into something else.  A metaphor really, for retreating into your own head rather than doing the hard work of getting along well with others.

I agree the science was pretty dubious, making all these advancements in body modifications at once, and being able to undo them (in theory) at that.  And there were little things that kept throwing me out of the story... when he first wakes up he knows the shape of his tank without seeing it, but later we're told he didn't have the sonar yet.  As hard SF this story is pretty lacking.  As metaphor it was okay, but needed some polish.

[Windup]

The "worst day of my life" comment was, I believe, literally true, but nobody's died and I'm not about to jump off a bridge.  It also means that every day since then has been better, and the worst is weeks in the past.  Things are on the upswing for me personally, and these podcasts are a big part of that too.  So sit tight; all will be made clear, and in the meantime, don't worry too much about me.  I'm feeling much hoopier now.

OK, sitting tight. Glad to hear that the worst day of your life so far doesn't involve imminent death, and that it's getting better. 

[Windup]

Having said that, what is true to the internal logic of the story is that someone prepared to volunteer for that kind of job would be self-sufficient to the point of weirdness.  And it's an interesting question to consider: would you want to be a famous pioneer if that was the cost?  It doesn't make for the kind of protagonist you could sit down and share a bucket of fish-heads with, though.  I wouldn't have been upset if the story had ended with a vicious shark attack.

Face it, a lot of the great frontiersmen (and to a lesser extent, frontierswomen) were out there because people in polite society couldn't stand them -- and vice versa.  As you note, the same personality that makes you a persevering and self-contained explorer often doesn't work well at close quarters for long periods of time.

What jumped out at me was the protaganist's autocratic streak.  He considered it a concession to let the boys "...choose their own friends, games and clothes," didn't consult his wife in a serious way about making a commitment that would take him completely out of the family for two years and expose him to a wide variety of dangers, yet was upset when she sprang and unplanned pregnancy on him. 

As for myself, no, I wouldn't be willing to take on a different and more abrasive personality to become a great pioneer.  Somewhere deep in my psychic wiring is a piece that says my marriage is the most important thing for me -- my personal "call," if you will -- and I wouldn't want to change in a way that would make it more difficult.  I don't take any particular credit or blame for being like this -- I didn't make a conscious effort to develop that way, and I don't think it makes me a "better person," though my wife and I both like the results.  If I get any credit at all, it's for being self-aware enough to know that's how it is with me, and behaving accordingly. 

[birdless]

Hello, all. I've been listening to EP for a while now, but finally took the time to find the forum! Not because I found this story particularly compelling, but just because I had the time. Anyway, back to topic:

This was far from the best but far from the worst episode I've heard. I didn't like the main character, which is not a flaw, necessarily, but I just usually like stories better where I like the main character... someone I can identify with. As much as I understand wanting to provide for your family and willing to make sacrifices to do so, there's more to family than just providing money for them.

But did anyone else find the "enhancements" he underwent to be extremely disturbing?? I found the thought of them immensely painful. And, hey, we're here because we like SF and so suspension of disbelief is routine, but I had to suspend disbelief on a level I'm uncomfortable with to imagine that 1) he could have survived those surgeries over the course of, what was it? 6 months? and 2) that they were reversible. I think I would have found the story more compelling if it had taken the turn where reversing the procedures were too traumatic for his body to handle. Enh... I still wouldn't have like it that much—that ending's just depressing.

[Darwinist]

This story reminded me of a Fred Pohl book called Man Plus. Similar theme but the guy is physically engineered to live on Mars.  I have it but haven't read it yet but its sitting on the shelf.  It won the Nebula in 1976.

[gelee]

...everything built into the story that touched on the narrator's interaction with others involved some kind of miscommunication.

Good job picking up on the (mis)communication theme, TAD.  It was kind of lost on me on first listen, partly because I was listening in my car, and I need to use one of those broadcast-ipod-over-radio-frequency gizmos.  And that night the channel had an uncommon amount of static, so there were communication issues on my end as well.  On reflection, I think the communication problems and self isolation were what the story was really about.  The narrator can't get along well with people, so he gives up and turns himself into something else.  A metaphor really, for retreating into your own head rather than doing the hard work of getting along well with others.

I agree the science was pretty dubious, making all these advancements in body modifications at once, and being able to undo them (in theory) at that.  And there were little things that kept throwing me out of the story... when he first wakes up he knows the shape of his tank without seeing it, but later we're told he didn't have the sonar yet.  As hard SF this story is pretty lacking.  As metaphor it was okay, but needed some polish.

Well put.  I agree on all points.  I think the protag was essentially a very selfish person.  His decision to undertake the assignment was a selfish one, though he tried to rationalize that he was doing it for the good of his family.  He sought to escape from the demands of being a father and a husband, and his percieved failings in those roles.  As as SEAL, he felt competant and sure of himself.  As a provider and father...not so much.  When his physical absence finally caught up with his emotional absence, his family went looking elsewhere for the needs he was not providing for.  In the end, he saw an oppurtunity to make a break for it and achieve the escape he had been looking for all along.  By faking his own death, he was able to salve his conscience with the knowledge that his life insurance policy would leave his family financially well off.

[jrderego]

This story reminded me of a Fred Pohl book called Man Plus. Similar theme but the guy is physically engineered to live on Mars.  I have it but haven't read it yet but its sitting on the shelf.  It won the Nebula in 1976.

That was a fun book! I read it and the sequel, Mars Plus ten or so years ago. Man Plus was more engaging on a pure science fiction level, but Mars Plus was much more exciting.

[CGFxColONeill]

Hello, all. I've been listening to EP for a while now, but finally took the time to find the forum! Not because I found this story particularly compelling, but just because I had the time. Anyway, back to topic:

welcome to the forum

Steve glad to hear everything is ok
I was not to worried about it in the sense that you had said that it was when you recorded the other story ( cant think of the name of it off the top of my head)  and that story was a while back but still I am glad things are headed in the right direction
let us know if we can help you out

[DKT]

I ended up enjoying this story much more than I thought I would.  I can't say why it started off funny (not the underwater thing, because I do think that's an under-used SF setting) -- I think because it took a while to get going and there didn't seem to be much conflict.  In the end, I thought the author did a pretty good job of making me sympathize more with a character than I actually wanted to.

[rookslide]

I'm glad to hear all is improving Steve.

As far as the story is concerned, not my favorite but entertaining. I think one of the big turn-offs to this story is the main character POV. What I mean by this is that most stories are written through the eyes of at least second generation characters to the setting. (If not further removed.) It seems difficult to appreciate the motivations and personality types that are often pioneers of the new. Technological sub-points can always be criticized if the story is difficult to relate to, they are easily seen as filler for what seems to be a weak story.

Overall I didn't care for it but I prefer a bit less subtly to the action and more character development. It felt like those were lacking to me. But then I'm not much of a critic really. I'm just impressed with the thoughts the story has provoked in me which really aren't related to the story. That's what I like a lot, thought provoking and entertaining stories. Thanks again Steve, any story you put out there I'll give a listen to.

[Listener]

Greydancer did an excellent read of this story.

I think the FX on the kids' voices and Andrea's voice was a little too much; I only half-understood Andrea at the best of times.

The story did wind itself up a little too fast, and I do feel a BIT cheated by the ending, how he just up and decides to swim off.  He gives up WAY too easily.

The technology and the idea of modding a human to live in the ocean, and the level of precision with which the author did it, was very cool.

The glimpse at the 10-years-in-the-future future was plausible but it almost felt, in places, like the author was making a point rather than telling a story.

The story had more good than bad.  I enjoyed it.  And Steve's point about how there's not enough undersea SF... well... I may have a little something for you in a few weeks...

[eytanz]

Greydancer did an excellent read of this story.

I think the FX on the kids' voices and Andrea's voice was a little too much; I only half-understood Andrea at the best of times.

The story did wind itself up a little too fast, and I do feel a BIT cheated by the ending, how he just up and decides to swim off.  He gives up WAY too easily.

I really don't think "giving up" is what he did. I felt that the whole story was about him trying to get away from his wife and kids, and that he was just looking for an opportunity to do so. His wife's infidelity gave him some internal justification, but my impression was that that just hastened the inevitable, and the attack was the prefect cover.

[Kurt Faler]

I think the FX on the kids' voices and Andrea's voice was a little too much; I only half-understood Andrea at the best of times.

Thats pretty much the only important thing about the story I have to say. Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. Considering the past few weeks of great stories, it was inevitable that one would not be as strong. So far this years lineup has been, taken as a whole, well above average.

[DKT]

Greydancer did an excellent read of this story.

I think the FX on the kids' voices and Andrea's voice was a little too much; I only half-understood Andrea at the best of times.

The story did wind itself up a little too fast, and I do feel a BIT cheated by the ending, how he just up and decides to swim off.  He gives up WAY too easily.

I really don't think "giving up" is what he did. I felt that the whole story was about him trying to get away from his wife and kids, and that he was just looking for an opportunity to do so. His wife's infidelity gave him some internal justification, but my impression was that that just hastened the inevitable, and the attack was the prefect cover.

I understand why you think that, but it also felt like he gave up.  He did feel betrayed by his wife (and she surely felt betrayed by him) but he seemed to be trying to provide for his family, although the way he went about it only helped spur the disconnect between them.

I wasn't sure about Greydancer's reading at first, but it definitely grew on me as the story progressed, and I think in the end it added a lot to this story.

[sirana]

I much liked the world building and the environmental angle (especially the enviro-terrorism).
The ending fell totally flat for me and I couldn't get into the head of the main character.

I agree with bolddeciever, we don't have to like the character to make him interesting, but if we don't relate to him on any level the insight or entertainment that we can draw out of the story is severely limited.

For me personally the heros mindset in this piece was to different from my own in his view on relationship and family to feel a connection, I don't really get much out of diving and the deep sea and I have a rather strong dislike  of military characters in fiction (something that almost made me stop watching Battlestar Gallactica).

Overall a decent story with a very unsatisfying ending.

[Kaa]

This one fell a bit flat with me as well. I had to listen to the first part twice because I kept getting confused about who and what Garcia was.  I think the ending was inevitable, for all the reasons others have stated before me, but it made me wonder just how long he thinks he's going to live out in the open ocean without a few dozen more clips for that flechette(?) gun of his.  He barely survived that one encounter with the squid and sharks.

[sirana]

Unlike TAD, I sympathized with the wife throughout, and felt glad at the ending because I felt she and the kids were happier without him.

Didn't the fact that she cheated on him make her unsympathetic for you? I wouldn't have minded if she had ended their relationship, everybody has the right to decide if a relationship is not going where you want it to, but she started another relationship without ending the previous one. That makes it pretty hard for me to feel sympathy for her.

[Biscuit]

I see the character as an interesting anti-hero. Usually the AH is flawed yet redeems himself at the end of the story - this one was the other way round. Started out with the best of intentions, then turned his back on the world. Very anti-Hollywood ending (and I like anti-hollywood endings!)

I also wondered how the MC was going to survive - even basics like feeding himself. Imagine him popping up on some Pacific Island, in the middle of the night, stealing from the locals.

Was anyone else seeing Patrick Duffy in this role

[CGFxColONeill]

It's going to be a long one.  If you think my intros are lengthy, you ain't seen nothing yet.  I consider this metacast a necessity because:

I think that most of your intros are not long enough lol looking forward to hearing what you have to say

[Listener]

For me personally the heros mindset in this piece was to different from my own in his view on relationship and family to feel a connection, I don't really get much out of diving and the deep sea and I have a rather strong dislike  of military characters in fiction (something that almost made me stop watching Battlestar Gallactica).

Well, I liked Garcia even though he was a military character.  I identify with the character because, as a former college teacher and an employer of part-time people, I've worked with ex-military folks who don't have the perfect post-military life.  My late uncle was ex-military (army; Desert Storm 1991) and he worked two jobs (FBI and Miami-Dade bomb squad).  But OTOH, my wife's friend WF was in the marines for ten years before finally saying "I'm done with this" and going to work in an industrial job that, honestly, doesn't pay all that well.

I think the thing that made him likeable despite the military background was that he was flawed and that he didn't have the perfect life after he got out of the Navy.  Also, the sense of wonder he continued to show was a very strong part of his character.

[Darwinist]

Was anyone else seeing Patrick Duffy in this role

Ah, yes.....the Man From Atlantis.  Either him or the Manimal guy.

[eytanz]

I understand why you think that, but it also felt like he gave up.  He did feel betrayed by his wife (and she surely felt betrayed by him) but he seemed to be trying to provide for his family, although the way he went about it only helped spur the disconnect between them.

For me, his attempt to provide felt more like he was trying to fulfill an obligation to them before he frees himself, rather than as a real attempt to build a life together.

I don't think he's a horrible person, just a person who I really disliked.

Didn't the fact that she cheated on him make her unsympathetic for you? I wouldn't have minded if she had ended their relationship, everybody has the right to decide if a relationship is not going where you want it to, but she started another relationship without ending the previous one. That makes it pretty hard for me to feel sympathy for her.

Maybe I should have said I felt empathy towards her rather than sympathy; I felt like she was the wronged party, and that her affair was an attempt to strike back, rather than viewing things the other way round. Two wrongs don't make a right, but I found him a lot worse than her. This might have been colored by my impression that they both sort of knew he had ended the relationship when he had his operation, even if neither of them was ready to admit it out loud.

[AarrowOM]

This story reminded me of a Fred Pohl book called Man Plus. Similar theme but the guy is physically engineered to live on Mars.  I have it but haven't read it yet but its sitting on the shelf.  It won the Nebula in 1976.

I was thinking Clifford D. Simak's City was a closer fit, especially that one story wherein a man and his dog became Jovians and didn't want to return to being human.

[birdless]

Ah, yes..... Either him or the Manimal guy.

HA! Now there's a blast from the past! I can count on my right hand how many people I know that remember that show, and I'm missing a finger.

[Kaa]

...and I'm missing a finger.

I have to ask, given your name, if it's the finger I'm thinking it might be?

[Tango Alpha Delta]

This story reminded me of a Fred Pohl book called Man Plus. Similar theme but the guy is physically engineered to live on Mars.  I have it but haven't read it yet but its sitting on the shelf.  It won the Nebula in 1976.

I was thinking Clifford D. Simak's City was a closer fit, especially that one story wherein a man and his dog became Jovians and didn't want to return to being human.

I thought I knew the Simak story you were referring to, but I was thinking of Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson.

[Darwinist]

Ah, yes..... Either him or the Manimal guy.

HA! Now there's a blast from the past! I can count on my right hand how many people I know that remember that show, and I'm missing a finger.

Yeah, it's amazing what crap a person can remember.  But I can't remember where I put the extra set of my car keys.  I just looked up Manimal on Wikipedia - it only lasted 8 episodes in the States but it got great ratings in Pakistan and Peru.   

Back to fish guy talk...........

[Kurt Faler]

Ah, yes..... Either him or the Manimal guy.

HA! Now there's a blast from the past! I can count on my right hand how many people I know that remember that show, and I'm missing a finger.

Yeah, it's amazing what crap a person can remember.  But I can't remember where I put the extra set of my car keys.  I just looked up Manimal on Wikipedia - it only lasted 8 episodes in the States but it got great ratings in Pakistan and Peru.   

Back to fish guy talk...........

Ok who would win in a fight: Manimal, The Man from Atlantis, or Automan?

[Darwinist]

Ah, yes..... Either him or the Manimal guy.

HA! Now there's a blast from the past! I can count on my right hand how many people I know that remember that show, and I'm missing a finger.

Yeah, it's amazing what crap a person can remember.  But I can't remember where I put the extra set of my car keys.  I just looked up Manimal on Wikipedia - it only lasted 8 episodes in the States but it got great ratings in Pakistan and Peru.   

Back to fish guy talk...........

Ok who would win in a fight: Manimal, The Man from Atlantis, or Automan?

Automan.   He could not be harmed by gunshots and explosions.  Manimal and the Man from Atlantis were vulnerable humans. 

[birdless]

...and I'm missing a finger.

I have to ask, given your name, if it's the finger I'm thinking it might be?

You would be correct! Good on ya for figuring that one out!

[Myst]

Hello this is my first post to the Escape Pod forums, but I have been listening to the pod casts for awhile. This particular story caught my attention because the protagonist didn't follow the typical plot path, Hero is confronted with a problem hero struggles with problem and then finally hero overcomes problem. In this story the hero refused to grow he failed his test and ran away. That doesn't mean this is a bad story. Just one that most people find less satisfying than the more typical plot line.

[BSWeichsel]

I really enjoyed this one. I thought its one of the better stories and that a lot of people think he is leaving his family, as far as I'm concerned his family left him. He was happy where he was. If he went back to the surface he would have had to change to a normal man again. There was nothing up there to make him happy. but his entire life he was all ways happier in the water.

[CGFxColONeill]

Hello this is my first post to the Escape Pod forums, but I have been listening to the pod casts for awhile. This particular story caught my attention because the protagonist didn't follow the typical plot path, Hero is confronted with a problem hero struggles with problem and then finally hero overcomes problem. In this story the hero refused to grow he failed his test and ran away. That doesn't mean this is a bad story. Just one that most people find less satisfying than the more typical plot line.

Welcome to the board

[Listener]

At least one good thing came out of "Pressure".

Actually, 11,024 good things.

That's the length of the story I wrote on Monday, after I finished listening to "Pressure".  It's in phase-one editing now.

w00t.

[Djerrid]

I liked it. The tone, the pacing and reading were all spot on for me. The thing that made the most sense was how being in the water can become a solitary sort of comfort - like going back to the womb. For someone who could move effortlessly in that environment it would be hard to shoulder the burden of gravity once they climbed out.

[stePH]

This one fell a bit flat with me as well. I had to listen to the first part twice because I kept getting confused about who and what Garcia was.  I think the ending was inevitable, for all the reasons others have stated before me, but it made me wonder just how long he thinks he's going to live out in the open ocean without a few dozen more clips for that flechette(?) gun of his.  He barely survived that one encounter with the squid and sharks.

I wondered the same thing.  He'd better be able to come up with some other ways to defend himself or I give his life expectancy a week or two.

also wondered how the MC was going to survive - even basics like feeding himself. Imagine him popping up on some Pacific Island, in the middle of the night, stealing from the locals.

He caught a yellowfin himself, remember?  He talked about foraging to supplement the contents of his food belt (which would run out very soon after his defection) and put some variety in his diet.

[CammoBlammo]

I can't get over that fact that we had a movie with a giant squid and goatkeeper hasn't commented.

C'mon, Norm, a freakin' giant squid!

[spatial_mongrel]

I was very happy with this story and enjoyed it quite a bit - the idea of a person who, deep down had always longed to be at sea and was drawn to it through everything he did - then found himself a "fish out of water" in a dead-end job, away from what he loved, in a situation he couldn't control and didn't speak to his essential nature. When the opportunity came up, he would have had no choice not to take the job - his rationalizing about the money for a family was just his way of making excuses for it, because I think deep down, he didn't consider himself to be human at all, and after being discharged, was simply going through all the motions of what one would expect a person to do. It's no surprise that - what with the communication issues (text-only) and completely different environment, he finally abandoned his connections to humanity completely and swam off to fulfill his quest for self. I think it raised interesting questions about who we are at heart, who we want to be, and the sacrifices we make as we try and understand how to reconcile dreams and reality.

The best part of this story was the Jonathan Coulton song at the end. I've bought it now, and thought it fit the story perfectly. Nice find, Steve!

[stePH]

The best part of this story was the Jonathan Coulton song at the end. I've bought it now, and thought it fit the story perfectly. Nice find, Steve!

I've heard the song before at the end of some other podcast, though I can't remember if it was Dani Cutler's or Mur Lafferty's.  Probably Cutler's; I think she has a song at the end of every podcast.

[FNH]

Terrific story.  I did manage to guess the end before we got there, but the ride was a good one.  I'm a big fan of the minor sound "effects" it adds audio interest that keep the ears awake.

[Anarkey]

I'm not sure what I can add to the already ongoing conversation, but I wanted to note that I liked this story quite a bit.  I loved the (mis)communication motif that TAD pointed out, and unlike most people, found the ending completely satisfying.  It was also (as pointed out by...bolddeceiver, maybe?) inevitable.  The way the author had laid things out, any other ending would have been enormously wtf.  I do agree with people upthread who posit that doing endings right is quite difficult, but this is not an example of an ending gone wrong, imo. 

I did think the characterization of everyone not the protag was a little shallow and stereotypical, but I could roll with this as an artifact of the narrator's dehumanization of others.

I also thought we were meant to think the guy was the king of jackasses, but I could be wrong, maybe that was just an unintentional consequence of the way he was portrayed.

But yeah.  Jackass.  Good riddance!  Don't let the tide wash you back in! 

[Planish]

Pohl's Man Plus was my first thought too, except that guy had no family ties on Earth (that I recall), his procedure was irreversible, etc. etc.

The undersea setting was a nice change. I did a lot of snorkeling as a kid and even though it was mostly in fresh water, it was like being in a different world. Travelling over or through it was like flying.

I had trouble believing the guy could survive on his own at the end. He might be okay for food.

Fish and sea greens, plankton and protein from the sea!

He wouldn't have to stick to regions where large predators would give him a hard time.

Still, I would have expected that body mods like that would require ongoing post-op monitoring or drugs or something, unless it was so far in the future that all the bugs were worked out.  If that was the case, there would be a whole community of similarly-modified humans, which changes the premise and gives us a much different story.

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

[MattArnold]

You know the type of story that makes you say "I want to find out what happens next"? For me, this was one of them. There is the makings of a truly fine Robinson Crusoe story. It wasn't the end, it was only the beginning.

[Nobilis]

In my version of what happens next, he gets eaten by an orca.

[AarrowOM]

In my version of what happens next, he gets eaten by an orca.

If he can get to the Atlantic, he could commiserate with Ishmael (EP113).

[CammoBlammo]

If he can get to the Atlantic, he could commiserate with Ishmael (EP113).

They could be good for each other, or quite bad. Ishmael was rejected by a human, so he went off and raped another dolphin. Andrea was jealous of Garcia's preference for the sea, and Garcia just wanted to live in the sea.

I could imagine the two getting on very well, depending on the mood. It's probably good that Garcia wasn't swimming past just as Ishmael's ire got the better of him.

[goatkeeper]

I can't get over that fact that we had a movie with a giant squid and goatkeeper hasn't commented.

C'mon, Norm, a freakin' giant squid!

Yah, I've been catching up.  AWESOME story.  Such a cool way to set up the paradoxical conflict of one mans need for adventure and also stability/family.  Then you throw in a battle between a cyborg merman and a giant squid- I swear I almost had to pull over and collect myself.

[Planish]

Then you throw in a battle between a cyborg merman and a giant squid- a swear I almost had to pull over and collect myself.

Gee, when you say it that way it sounds all ... Roger Corman-y. 
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[goatkeeper]

Then you throw in a battle between a cyborg merman and a giant squid- a swear I almost had to pull over and collect myself.

Gee, when you say it that way it sounds all ... Roger Corman-y. 
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Ha!  Oh man, the things Roger Corman could have done with this story.

[Roney]

Regarding Steve's intro, I'm sure I read Arthur C Clarke writing something similar about the oceans being ideal settings for SF stories (being stranger than space and slightly more accessible) and expressing disappointment that there aren't more out there.  Perhaps in a foreword to The Deep Range?  (Sorry to be so vague, but it's a very, very long time since I read it and I don't have the book to hand.)  But that was a pretty weak story too, like all the undersea SF in print or on screen that I can think of off the top of my head, so I remain to be convinced that he's right.

Anyway, while digging around in Wikipedia for corroboration I spotted this quote, which I thought I'd share:

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.

[ancawonka]

I just finished listening to this story, and I thought it was pretty enjoyable.   I like the narrator's voice, and I'm thrilled that he didn't try to voice a woman "au naturel" - the sound effects got me past the inevitable cringe I get when I hear the whiny tone that most male narrators use when voicing women.

Personally, I can relate to the protagonist.  He has a real passion in life, and it wasn't other people.  His inability to really understand other humans (as TAD pointed out a couple of pages ago) made him look at his relationships as obligations, and therefore he set for himself an unrealizable materialistic standard of "happiness".   

This would be a great story to see as an illustrated version! 

[Chivalrybean]

Who the hell is John Colton and why haven't I heard of him? That done...

Endings seem, for some reason, to be the hardest part. Is this a sci-fi thing, or just fiction in general?

While the ending seems obvious (upon relistening) from the beginning, I hated it. Wa wa

I havn't read all the comments yet on this story, so I may be repeating something already said, but I agree that the ending was obvipus, and I didn't really like it. Maybe that is just because I really hope to have a better family life and could never see my self running *ahem* swimming away.

I liked the concepts of becoming fish man (without help of creatures like Dagon on Obed Marsh) and the things they could do, the after-war bit was interesting, but I didn't care for the Finding Emo bit. Don't get me wrong, I totally want real characters in stories, but like I said, I didn't relate at all with him.

(Pardon any typos, I'm on a laptop at work without my aid of the spell cheker of Firefox.)

[stePH]

... but I didn't care for the Finding Emo bit.

  BWAHAHAHAHAA! 

[wintermute]

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

The "Fish-man Lojack" - keeping your heavily modified post-humans safe since 2022.

[Windup]

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

[Deaf Leper]

I loved this story. It reminded me of Episode 95: Blink. Don't Blick, which isn't a shocking revelation, I know, but both stories occupied my thoughts for some time afterwards.
The idea of wanting to be something other than human. About a year ago, quite randomly, I met a man named Dennis Abner. He's known as the "Catman", and has been featured on several television specials and news articles. He's undergone countless medical procedures to make himself look like a cat, and talking with him for a few moments was one of the oddest experiences of my life.
Anyway, I won't rant about the encounter or the similarities between it and these stories. They're obvious enough, I suppose.

[wintermute]

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

Fine. Then they only know where he is when he comes up to the surface.

[DKT]

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

If they can turn the guy into Aquaman, I'd be surprised if they couldn't tweak the GPS so it worked well underwater.

However, if he can make everyone believe he's dead, I'm sure he could do something to the GPS to destroy or damage it, and cement the belief he's dead.

[Windup]

I'm not sure if I heard it right and understood his plan, but was he expecting that the body he saw would be mistaken for his own? Even if that body was "aquacized" like him I find it hard to accept, given the amount of detailed medical data they would have had on him.

It's been a while, but I think I remember him expecting to be written off as missing in action; presumed dead.

Because having invested millions in his mods, there's no way they'd think in implant a subcutaneous GPS transponder, right?

I'm fairly certain that a GPS transponder would become ineffective at fairly shallow depth.  Water is a truly lousy carrier of high-frequency radio waves. To talk to submarines, you either need a surface buoy (which partially defeats the purpose of being a submarine) or radio waves with meters-long wavelengths, which requires miles of antenna and has a really slow bit rate.  Of course, these guys were using radios underwater -- you can either be like me and let that bug you, or assume that the frequency issue was dealt with through liberal applications of handwavium.

Someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the GPS satellite signal is fairly weak and fairly high-frequency.  Therefore, Aqua-man ceases to generate meaningful position information shortly after diving.  'Course, I suppose we could go with an inertial navigation unit, transmitting position with one of those mystery radios, but I think those are a bit large for subcutaneous implant.

Fine. Then they only know where he is when he comes up to the surface.

Only if they've got receive coverage for a very weak transmitter.  I can believe in that in the work area, but once he gets to the open sea?  The "point and track" problem has always been acutely difficult in naval warfare.  If you don't have recourse to air or satellite surviellance, it's darned hard for whole fleets to find each other, much less one lone human head poking up out of the water. 

But, like some other posters, I think his most likely future is fish-food.  Once he runs out of flechettes, I'd say he's pretty well done for.  A guy I used to know learned to dive, and he said his instructor always prefaced a dive by telling his charges: "Remember, there's stuff out there that won't mess with you because you don't make a big enough bite to be worth the trouble."

[williamjamesw]

I figure they'd use something similar to what was supposed to happen in Jurassic Park; make sure he would need some nutrient that wasn't available in the wild, only in the stuff they provided.  Eventually, if he wasn't really dead, he'd come back on his own.

[DDog]

I listened to this story awhile ago, and skipped from page one to page five to post this, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything.

Does anyone else think it's funny that a guy who's into Japanese rope bondage read a story that had a tentacle attack in it? Love ya Graydancer.

Also love the song at the end. Thank you for including it (although I don't see how you couldn't), it is now one of my favorite Jonathan Coulton songs.

I agree with the 'dramatic inevitability' perspective. The story felt solid and internally consistent. I think it was hard to be sympathetic for a man who would just leave his family like that, but the family doesn't have much sympathy either because we never really meet them and their voices are transmitted via computer recitation. We're totally in the protagonist's head. I can't say I wouldn't love to be amphibious, but I don't think I could just...leave.

The Greenpeace or whoever attack was the only thing that was a little weird... It made sense that there needed to be a catalyzing event for our hero's aqueous departure, but it was a little jarring.

[Unblinking]

If they can turn the guy into Aquaman, I'd be surprised if they couldn't tweak the GPS so it worked well underwater.

However, if he can make everyone believe he's dead, I'm sure he could do something to the GPS to destroy or damage it, and cement the belief he's dead.

Who's to say that he DOESN'T have a handwavium GPS transmitter?  They only show him swimming away, they don't show him 20 minutes later when they've landed him in a giant cargo net.    And he can only disable the GPS if he knows about it and if it's possible to remove without lethal damage..  If I planted a GPS in a secret body-mod project, then I wouldn't tell the subject.  And I'd probably try to root it in his brainstem or something so that if he rips it out with a pliers he's worse off than he would've been if he'd left it in.

Anyway, didn't care for this story, mostly a guy complaining about his life, not really my thing, and then he just leaves his family at the end.  I can take stories with unsympathetic protagonists, but I have to have SOMETHING to keep me listening, whether it's a cool idea, or the unsympathetic person is a guy you just love to hate.  This guy wasn't evil, he was just a dick.  I felt bad for his family, though I think they're much better off without him.

Am I the only one that keeps getting this one mixed up with Everything That Matters?

[DKT]

Huh. Really weird to read my comments from 2 years ago...

I actually listened to this story again at StarShipSofa, and kept waiting for stuff from "Everything That Matters" to pop up in it. So, no. Not the only one