EP245: The Moment

[Swamp]

EP245: The Moment

By Lawrence M. Schoen.
Read by Graeme Dunlop

Originally published in: Footprints

Guest Host: Norm Sherman of Drabblecast

One of the first generation of Krenn had lived long enough to reach the site, though none had expected to. The very first Krenn had conceived of this journey in the distant past, dedicating his life and his posterity to the pilgrimage with an ever recycling population of clones. Like their clone-father, each was an optimized collection of smart matter no bigger than a speck. Hundreds of generations of Krenn had lived and died during the voyage, their remains enshrined into niches in the very walls of the vessel that now lay shattered at its destination.

The survivors flooded out upon the steppes of the heel, rejoicing despite the crushing weight that gravity forced upon them. They settled in, constructing mansions of haze and shadow, and waited for enlightenment to come. The mission and purpose of the first Krenn remained with each of them. This place had been the site of the greatest triumph of the greatest archaeocaster in all of history. Before the beginning of the quest, Krenn—the original Krenn—had felt drawn to it. He had cultivated the tales, sifted myth from coincidence, mastered the lost language of the interview-eschewing, spatial curmudgeons of the ancient dark times, and recreated the route through dimensional puzzles to this theoretical location. The odds of success had been so absurd not a single entelechy of Krenn’s crèche dared invest time or expense in the project. And yet, here they were, nearly three hundred unique individuals sharing the template of Krenn.

Rated PG. for Space Exploration and Looking into the Abyss.


Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!

[eytanz]

I loved this story for 90% of it, but I hated the ending. A series of cool futures, with cool aliens and events that build off each other in brilliant ways - and it all ends up with a (literal) lesson that "humans did something that was in no way unique, but when they did it it was *special*". Ugh. Just ugh.

On the plus side, nothing stops me from admiring the beginning of the story and pretending that the ending never happened. So I'm going to do that, in blissfull self-delusion. But if this story wins the Hugo, as opposed to the imaginary one in my head that ended 5 minutes earlier, I'm going to be mighty annoyed.

Kibitzer's reading was great, btw.

[bumdhar]

Half way through this story I thought, “this is how religions are formed.” Thus I wasn’t surprised when the story ended with protogods. I found the descriptions of alien life and thought interesting. It made me reflect how our language can only vaguely describe other modes (alien) of consciousness and experience. It reminded me of, in a way, of mystics who attempt to describe other states of consciousness.

Welcome back to Escape Pod Norm!

[KenK]

The author tried for a higher level of profundity than his/her talent was capable of delivering. It was kinda predictable how this would end,  too,(or maybe I just guessed right  )

As with last week I am again surprised that this is a Hugo nominee. It seems like they could find better stuff. My standards are distorted by the fact that I knew in advance that it was potential Hugo. If I hadn't known that fact then my reaction would probably be more generous.

[CryptoMe]

I'm in general agreement with what has already been said.

There was a lot of really cool imagery in this story; microbes colonizing the famous Apollo 11 footprint (I'm assuming that was the one), cannibalistic sentient broccoli, a choral review of a scientific journal paper, etc. 

But,  unfortunately, the end didn't live up to all that.

Also, it was a bit too dense for audio. But, that is forgivable, since it was chosen because it's a Hugo nominee.

[Kaa]

Well, I don't care what everyone else said. I enjoyed the WHOLE story, not just the first part.

[Ocicat]

Lots of great bits, but the ultimately failed to come together well.  Was still an entertaining listen though.

Grant Morrison would love this story.

[KenK]

@ Ocicat
Who is Grant Morrison? Why would he/she love it? 

[DKT]

Grant Morrison.

One of the coolest writers of weird comic books out there. And some mainstream ones, too.

[KenK]

Thanks. 

[Unblinking]

I thought kibitzer's reading was very good, I like his voice.  I liked it on that Podcastle story too, but hadn't known it was him yet.    The one negative thing that I noticed is that I could hear mouth noises from time to time like swallowing--not sure if there's a filter or something for that, but something to keep in mind.

Anyway, the meandering story was neat.  I spaced out a couple times, but that didn't really seem to matter because each section was almost entirely encapsulate.  The imaginings of the separate sentient alien races and their different forms of communications were very cool and interesting worldbuilding.

But the ending was just terrible.  The story, I can understand as a Hugo nominee, but the ENTIRE story is structured to build up to the ending which was like a whoopee cushion when you're expecting TNT.  Terribly weak--I was really interested in why this footprint was so special, and was hoping there was a good and rational and compelling and interesting reason for it.

[KenK]

But the ending was just terrible.  The story, I can understand as a Hugo nominee, but the ENTIRE story is structured to build up to the ending which was like a whoopee cushion when you're expecting TNT.  Terribly weak--I was really interested in why this footprint was so special, and was hoping there was a good and rational and compelling and interesting reason for it.

It seems more of an issue with the Hugo selection committee than with EP, but yeah I agree with that.

[Unblinking]

It seems more of an issue with the Hugo selection committee than with EP, but yeah I agree with that.

Aren't the Hugos voted on by attendants of WorldCon or something?  So it's not so much a committee, as just the nebulous ever-changing group of convention attendants?  Or does the committee select the five finalists and then the attendants vote between those?

[Unblinking]

And yeah, I wasn't knocking EP for running it.  I like to see the Hugo nominees here, and it's not their fault if every nominee doesn't knock my socks off.

[KenK]

I see what you mean. I looked up their nomination process and found that it seems to be a popularity contest more than anything else.  And the winner selection, ditto. I guess am disappointed that it wasn't more refined, more literary and objective, not just who gets the most PR, buzz, and whatever. 
Hugo Award nomination process

[lmorchard]

I would like to nominate Norm Sherman's intro to this episode for some kind of award, though. As usual, his intros are great, but pulling in The Wizard  and Super Mario Bros 3 (wait the F#$%, he can fly now? how'd he turn into a raccoon?!) really put this one over the top for me.

[stePH]

Norm: "The Hugo nominees never disappoint."

I can't agree.  Leaving past years aside, this set is 0 for 2 so far.  I just didn't connect with this one at all, and I'd further submit last week's, which was so forgettable that all I can remember about it is that I was astonished at it being a Hugo nominee.

[Boggled Coriander]

I had a hard time following this one.  I liked individual bits, but my brain wouldn't arrange everything into a cohesive whole.

I think I would have enjoyed it more in written format.  Oftentimes, what I have a hard time following in audio I can understand pretty easily on the page.  (That's not kibitzer's fault.  He did a great job.  That's how my mind processes audio vs. text.)

[kibitzer]

This one IS a bit of a tough listen because it's so conceptually dense -- it may be easier to read. I think it gets better if you re-read it (or re-listen or whatever).

Thanks for the kind comments on my reading. I'm trying to improve my recording rig so I'll watch out for stray noises and such.

[Talia]

Definitely not a great fit for audio, but I thought the story was utterly fantastic, the epic scope of it, the imagination of all these different generations of wildly different life forms! Really brilliant! I definitely see why it earned a Hugo nom nom nom. The ending left me slightly confused, but I think I just need to think on it for a while. I was dazzled enough by the rest of the story to think very highly of it, regardless.

[goatkeeper]

This one IS a bit of a tough listen because it's so conceptually dense -- it may be easier to read. I think it gets better if you re-read it (or re-listen or whatever).

Thanks for the kind comments on my reading. I'm trying to improve my recording rig so I'll watch out for stray noises and such.

You killed that read man, bravo!  And I agree with you.  I recommend folks read the text while listening again along with kibitzer reading.  The story is kinda like one of those Magic Eye puzzles, and I personally liked it a lot better on the second read, when things popped out more.
http://www.lawrencemschoen.com/k/spumoni

[deflective]

first, i'd like to request a link to the online text whenever it's available.  it's always handy to have when talking about the story but even more so during the hugos when the stories aren't always suited for audio (for instance, just knowing the the word 'mark' was capitalized during the first encounter would have helped clarified things at that point).  this one was interesting but, as others noted, the constant introduction of new species & scenarios made it a challenge to follow in audio.

my take on the ending is that earth was actually the progenitor of these alien species.  our situation is different than theirs since we developed in an isolated area during the early stages of the galaxy so we didn't have have the (radio) chatter of previous species to draw us out.  the story lead us to believe that humanity had died out since that seemed to be the significance of the moment, species came here in their last moments just as they became extinct.

instead it turns out that it was more of a homing instinct, returning to 'valley' of the original planet.  sort of a reassurance that even though you (and your species) might slip away that you still leave your mark on the things to come.


edit: thanks for pecoging my request Norm =P

[Danyaf]

The good Professor mounted his linguistic hobbyhorse, and asked for his audience's indulgence as he galloped it around the ring.  Whilst initially I was entertained by the references to Groucho and Gummo etc... which were clever - the solopsistic pirourettes of language the author attempted left me hungry for something more.  However, when I looked into my bag of popcorn - I found it filled with broccoli!  The disappointment was intense.
The reading left me with indegestion and exceeded my indulgence.  Sorry

Daniel

[stePH]

The good Professor mounted his linguistic hobbyhorse, and asked for his audience's indulgence as he galloped it around the ring.  Whilst initially I was entertained by the references to Groucho and Gummo etc... which were clever - the solopsistic pirourettes of language the author attempted left me hungry for something more.  However, when I looked into my bag of popcorn - I found it filled with broccoli!  The disappointment was intense.
The reading left me with indegestion and exceeded my indulgence.  Sorry

This post was better by far than the story itself.

[yaksox]

I, too, got a bit lost due to the complexity of the story.

Good reading though, kibitzer. Good to hear new stepping up to the plate and getting involved. You must've had a busy week - sounded like you did pseudopod too.   Do I detect a trace of devonshire accent in there?

[kibitzer]

I, too, got a bit lost due to the complexity of the story.

Good reading though, kibitzer. Good to hear new stepping up to the plate and getting involved. You must've had a busy week - sounded like you did pseudopod too.   Do I detect a trace of devonshire accent in there?

Thanks man! Devonshire? Well, maybe... I spent 7 years in the UK, but I'm an Aussie. As for busy, it's just the luck o' the draw. I actually did those recordings several months apart.

[Dem]

  I can see some people liked this so clearly I'm missing something but what I think I didn't miss was a hugely predictable ending for which I had to endure a pompous, turgid lecture replete with pseudo-science (I too have a PhD, and a couple of other post grad odds and ends, in cognitive sciences) and gratuitous self important waffle. It's a pity, there is a fine story in there somewhere but what happened to 'show don't tell'? Some people have made the point that the story doesn't lend itself to audio and I suspect that's because, in the written form, we would be able to re-read at our own pace in order to make sense of it, although I doubt that would actually be achieved. It seems to me that this is essentially incomprehensible (whilst being blindingly obvious at the same time) and so a bit of a con. I'm shocked it's a Hugo nominee, I think it is little more than intellectualised Emperor's new clothes. I must congratulate the narrator though on succeeding in articulating this obstacle course of a tale without choking!

[Gamercow]

I find it hard to believe that no other species would take an achievement, and not build on it, as the story seems to indicate that Humans were unique in doing.  I really liked the imaginative species and their different reasons for coming to the spot, but the story itself seemed more like a shoddy scaffolding to hang the wonderfully thought-out species on. 

[Kaa]

I find it hard to believe that no other species would take an achievement, and not build on it, as the story seems to indicate that Humans were unique in doing.

This has long been a complaint of mine. In much of science fiction, it seems like Mankind is utterly unique in some way common to us (our Indomitable Will To Survive!) or utterly unremarkable and not worth much. There never seems to be anything in between.

[Unblinking]

I find it hard to believe that no other species would take an achievement, and not build on it, as the story seems to indicate that Humans were unique in doing.  I really liked the imaginative species and their different reasons for coming to the spot, but the story itself seemed more like a shoddy scaffolding to hang the wonderfully thought-out species on. 

I agree, and this story made that even worse by having the aliens say specifically "they didn't do anything that other sentient species haven't done before or since".  So why is this location different?  Oh, because humans are special, of course.

[Liminal]

Isn't each moment unique?

I totally get the whole reaction against another in a long line of "human's are the most unique species ever," but I'm not convinced that this moment is any less worthy than other moments or that there aren't other moments scattered throughout the universe that mean as much or more.

Sure, the ending is a bit of a love letter to the human race, but it seems to me that the point of the story is that this particular moment is neither less nor more unique than any other moment. Rather, it is the mindfulness with which the moment is approached that makes the difference.

[davedoty]

Sure, the ending is a bit of a love letter to the human race, but it seems to me that the point of the story is that this particular moment is neither less nor more unique than any other moment. Rather, it is the mindfulness with which the moment is approached that makes the difference.

Considering that the moment echoes down, influencing people who don't even know what happened there, I don't think that's a defensible interpretation, to be honest.  People who approach the location of the moment with no mindfulness at all are overwhelmed with a sense of importance.

[kibitzer]

Considering that the moment echoes down, influencing people who don't even know what happened there, I don't think that's a defensible interpretation, to be honest.  People who approach the location of the moment with no mindfulness at all are overwhelmed with a sense of importance.

I think it is defensible. I know the story is called "THE Moment" but I don't believe the story itself implies it is the ONLY moment in the universe. It is one of many, it's just this particular one is a human moment.

[davedoty]

I think it is defensible. I know the story is called "THE Moment" but I don't believe the story itself implies it is the ONLY moment in the universe. It is one of many, it's just this particular one is a human moment.

I agree that it doesn't imply that it's the only moment, and I don't believe I implied that.  What I don't believe is a defensible position is that the moment only gains importance because of the mindfulness with which it is approached.  That view is clearly and explicitly at odds with the story itself, in which people are overwhelmed with the importance of the place even when approached by beings with no knowledge of or mindfulness towards what happened there.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that people argue that this is the only moment that ever was.  It seems to be a bit of a straw man.

[eytanz]

Considering that the moment echoes down, influencing people who don't even know what happened there, I don't think that's a defensible interpretation, to be honest.  People who approach the location of the moment with no mindfulness at all are overwhelmed with a sense of importance.

I think it is defensible. I know the story is called "THE Moment" but I don't believe the story itself implies it is the ONLY moment in the universe. It is one of many, it's just this particular one is a human moment.

I agree with Davedoty's puzzlement, as the fact that the moment was not unique (which, indeed, is explicitly stated in the story) is not under attack by anyone, and is irrelevant to both Liminal's reading and Davedoty's criticism of that reading as being at odds with the story itself.

That said, the ending of the story makes it clear that while they are other moments, it is not the case that every time a species first leaves its planet a moment is created - indeed, the student godling at the end makes the same point. What makes this particular footprint so unique was that, unlike in other cases, the human race did not take a step back, but rather "jumped off". That's vague enough to support a lot of interpretations, but I think all of them must be based on the principle that the human race is somehow more special than others at the same position.

Also, and this didn't occur to me until now, this seems like a story in denial, given that the human race very much *did* take a step back in its space exploration after setting foot in the moon. At the most generous, it can be said that our next step into space in a tentative, cautious one. Now sure, in the timespan of millions of years it can be thought that the past 4.5 decades are insignificant, and maybe once we do restart our space programs in earnest then the current time period will be viewed as a small blip. *BUT* and this is crucial, the story argues that the universe chose to maintain that one spot in history because of the absence of any hesitation on the part of humanity. Whatever it is we did, we did not jump.

My distaste for the ending of this story grows the more I think of it.

[ElectricPaladin]

Oh, God, this story bored the photons out of me. I hate to say things like that, but I can't think of any other way to say it. I have heard enough stories about "the universe is long, the universe is big, you are small, but maybe kind of special." I get it already. Like The Moment, these stories are almost always too long and too dense and without meaningful character or character development. Perhaps I found it striking the first time I heard it, maybe the second time, but by now I'm just bored.

I want to say something good, but I'm not sure what I can. Of course, a story like this has no characters and not plot to speak of, but usually I can at least enjoy the aliens. The aliens in this one, though, weren't even terribly imaginative. The narrator slipped almost immediately into incomprehensibly different from humanity territory without the usual sojourn in the interestingly different from humanity zone.

I thought Wind from a Dying Star (http://escapepod.org/2010/02/13/ep238-wind-from-a-dying-star/) was infinitely better while still being about the fragility and smallness of humanity against galactic-scale space and time. That story had character, plot, and interesting creatures.

[Listener]

I liked this story because I like universe-spanning stories. I liked the fact that the commentator at the beginning got killed by Neil Armstrong's footprint. I liked the Broccoli People. I liked Norm's intro.

However, I really dislike stories where something humans did is so universe-spanningly-important that it becomes a focal point for every race that comes afterward. I mean REALLY dislike. Plus, I'm really depressed by the current state of the space programs on Earth these days -- only governments are given any real gravitas, and it seems like every time someone private tries to go into space (space tourists, Richard Branson), the mainstream media belittles them and makes them seem ridiculous for even trying. (Honestly, if Russia could get more space tourists and use the money to hire away NASA scientists*, I bet they could be the space powerhouses they used to be.)

* I'm sure there are secrecy and clearance and NDA issues, but for the sake of argument, just go with me here.

So once I figured out that it was Neil Armstrong's footprint (which I would've known if I'd known the topic of Footprints), I got really disgusted with the story itself. If I was a Hugo voter, that alone would've precluded me from voting for it.

The reading was good, although I would've appreciated longer pauses between the segments (really more an editing issue).

[Unblinking]

I agree with Davedoty's puzzlement, as the fact that the moment was not unique (which, indeed, is explicitly stated in the story) is not under attack by anyone, and is irrelevant to both Liminal's reading and Davedoty's criticism of that reading as being at odds with the story itself.

That said, the ending of the story makes it clear that while they are other moments, it is not the case that every time a species first leaves its planet a moment is created - indeed, the student godling at the end makes the same point. What makes this particular footprint so unique was that, unlike in other cases, the human race did not take a step back, but rather "jumped off". That's vague enough to support a lot of interpretations, but I think all of them must be based on the principle that the human race is somehow more special than others at the same position.

Exactly!  And it said explicitly that moments without any observable uniqueness are EXTREMELY rare, so that does imply that humans are special but only in the vaguest of ways.

[Wilson Fowlie]

This one IS a bit of a tough listen because it's so conceptually dense -- it may be easier to read. I think it gets better if you re-read it (or re-listen or whatever).

Thanks for the kind comments on my reading. I'm trying to improve my recording rig so I'll watch out for stray noises and such.

I thought you did a good job, too.  I don't know whether that means more coming from another reader. 

As to the stray mouth noises, my readings have them too - it's just something that happens - and I edit them out with Audacity or some similar software.  I always go back and listen to what I've recorded anyway, reading along to check if I made any errors that I didn't notice at the time, and I take out lip smacks, swallowing noises and whatever at the same time.

[Wilson Fowlie]

The good Professor mounted his linguistic hobbyhorse, and asked for his audience's indulgence as he galloped it around the ring.  Whilst initially I was entertained by the references to Groucho and Gummo etc... which were clever - the solopsistic pirourettes of language the author attempted left me hungry for something more.  However, when I looked into my bag of popcorn - I found it filled with broccoli!  The disappointment was intense.
The reading left me with indegestion and exceeded my indulgence.  Sorry

This post was better by far than the story itself.

Well, it might have been, if "solipsistic", "pirouettes" and "indigestion" had been spelt correctly, the word "while" used instead of the pretentious "whilst", and correct punctuation used.

[stePH]

The good Professor mounted his linguistic hobbyhorse, and asked for his audience's indulgence as he galloped it around the ring.  Whilst initially I was entertained by the references to Groucho and Gummo etc... which were clever - the solopsistic pirourettes of language the author attempted left me hungry for something more.  However, when I looked into my bag of popcorn - I found it filled with broccoli!  The disappointment was intense.
The reading left me with indegestion and exceeded my indulgence.  Sorry

This post was better by far than the story itself.

Well, it might have been, if "solipsistic", "pirouettes" and "indigestion" had been spelt correctly, the word "while" used instead of the pretentious "whilst", and correct punctuation used.

No, better even so.  The story did absolutely nothing for me, while Danvaf's post gave me a brief smile.

[alllie]

I still do not understand....the ending.

[Scattercat]

*Glances around the room

*Shuffles over to stand next to eytanz and ElectricPaladin

*Shrugs

I had a feeling this would be that kind of story just from the title.  It definitely fulfilled my expectations in that respect.  Basically, take my mild distaste for the way "Thargus and Brian" assumed that loser slackerdom actually made people as special as loser slackers think they are, and then make a story that plays that feeling as totally straight and without irony (and tries to have "wacky" humor in the bargain.)

I listened to this out of loyalty to Escape Artists in general, to Escape Pod and Norm Sherman in particular, and because I could have been wrong about where it was going.

P.S. - Kibitzer, what was up with the sudden sharp silences?  I kept thinking the story had ended or my iPod had died...  It wasn't bad per se, it just sounded like someone cut the sound with a razor and it was a little startling.

[El Barto]

This was one of the few EP stories I've read twice because it was so dense.  If your attention wanders for 30 seconds a million years pass and a new species is front and center.

Second time through I really loved the world building and the idea of absorbing memories from dead bodies.  But I hated the ending for the reasons many folks already listed above about the type of story that shows humanity to have been unique for some special profound reason.

After reading all the comments in the thread, however, I speculate that the author's intention is mostly to prod us to explore the heavens.  To make the point that any chump of a species can go to their moon but it takes real balls to invest time, treasure, and lives to explore the stars without knowing if anything is out there worth finding.   

Right now our society seems to have lost the fire for exploration and this story says to me that if we don't get going and explore we won't be special at all, unless they someday have a booby prize for intelligent beings who "could have" explored space but couldn't even get their act together to give it a half-assed try.

And finally, I have to say how great it is to get a bonus dose of Norm Sherman here on EP.  His Drabblecast has become my favorite podcast. 

El Barto

[kibitzer]

P.S. - Kibitzer, what was up with the sudden sharp silences?  I kept thinking the story had ended or my iPod had died...  It wasn't bad per se, it just sounded like someone cut the sound with a razor and it was a little startling.

Not sure what you mean there, Cat. Just listened again to a bit of what I submitted -- couldn't detect the razor-sharp silences. In all probability, your young ears are far better than mine. :-)

[Scattercat]

Like, the bits where you're talking, there's a bit of a background hiss/murmur, and then it just goes "   !"  I think it was an editing artifact, but it really kept sounding like my ancient iPod finally died.  I just wondered if there was a huge sound disparity between the recording locale and the editing local or some such.

[gateaux]

One of the few Escape Pods I didn't like too much... nothing in this story engaged me.

[Mercurywaxing]

Good concept, but the finished product didn't work.  It quickly went from a "hm, where is this going" to "oh, it's one of those humans are special stories."  The other species were all interesting and I liked how they were sort of connected.  However as the story developed I kept thinking that with a few changes this could be one of the more pretentious Star Trek: TNG stories.

[Planish]

The good Professor mounted his linguistic hobbyhorse, and asked for his audience's indulgence as he galloped it around the ring.  Whilst initially I was entertained by the references to Groucho and Gummo etc... which were clever - the solopsistic pirourettes of language the author attempted left me hungry for something more.  However, when I looked into my bag of popcorn - I found it filled with broccoli!  The disappointment was intense.
The reading left me with indegestion and exceeded my indulgence.  Sorry

Daniel

Yeah, what he said. It was like listening to a Joe Satriani performance. The first and last 30 seconds are okay, but the middle bits are "hey, look what I can do!"
I listened to it with the intention of having it provide entertainment while I performed the chore of washing the dishes. Sadly, it ended up being the other way around.

[rotheche]

I actually quite enjoyed it, both for the humour in the shifting experiences of the footprint, from the broadcaster to the proto-gods. The kicker - for me anyway - was that it wasn't Neil Armstrong's footprint.  "It was where they jumped off": it was someone else's footprint, one left on the way forwards.  Or that's how I heard it anyway.  That footprint hasn't been left yet

[lmh]

I think it is defensible. I know the story is called "THE Moment" but I don't believe the story itself implies it is the ONLY moment in the universe. It is one of many, it's just this particular one is a human moment.

This is how I read it. I liked the idea that in this diverse and imaginative universe that humans, on a faraway arm of the galaxy, had done something worth noting by beings of spectacular capacity.

I also liked the circularlity of it. Its a device for sure, but the imagination of the author went off on immense diversions and then returned to a human footprint.

[alllie]

I actually quite enjoyed it, both for the humour in the shifting experiences of the footprint, from the broadcaster to the proto-gods. The kicker - for me anyway - was that it wasn't Neil Armstrong's footprint.  "It was where they jumped off": it was someone else's footprint, one left on the way forwards.  Or that's how I heard it anyway.  That footprint hasn't been left yet

I didn't understand the "jumped off" thing. It wasn't clear to me that that was their (our) first step into space.

Maybe I should listen again.

[Wilson Fowlie]

P.S. - Kibitzer, what was up with the sudden sharp silences?  I kept thinking the story had ended or my iPod had died...  It wasn't bad per se, it just sounded like someone cut the sound with a razor and it was a little startling.

Not sure what you mean there, Cat. Just listened again to a bit of what I submitted -- couldn't detect the razor-sharp silences. In all probability, your young ears are far better than mine. :-)

What you submitted may not be (exactly) what was cast.  When I narrated a Pseudopod episode, Ben felt that I didn't put enough spaces between some of the sections and edited in some extra space.  (This isn't a complaint; it didn't bother me - he's the editor and it's his prerogative to do so.)  That may have been what happened here.

(If that is what happened, then I have to say the sharp silences jarred me a bit too and if it had been me editing it, I'd have extended the pauses by pasting in existing background noise from elsewhere in the recording.)

[Listener]

P.S. - Kibitzer, what was up with the sudden sharp silences?  I kept thinking the story had ended or my iPod had died...  It wasn't bad per se, it just sounded like someone cut the sound with a razor and it was a little startling.

Not sure what you mean there, Cat. Just listened again to a bit of what I submitted -- couldn't detect the razor-sharp silences. In all probability, your young ears are far better than mine. :-)

What you submitted may not be (exactly) what was cast.  When I narrated a Pseudopod episode, Ben felt that I didn't put enough spaces between some of the sections and edited in some extra space.  (This isn't a complaint; it didn't bother me - he's the editor and it's his prerogative to do so.)  That may have been what happened here.

(If that is what happened, then I have to say the sharp silences jarred me a bit too and if it had been me editing it, I'd have extended the pauses by pasting in existing background noise from elsewhere in the recording.)

That's what I do when I edit text -- and then, later, minimize out the background noise as much as possible to keep the silences from being hard cutoffs.

[LaShawn]

::peeks her head out looks around, whispers::

Well, I liked the ending.

::dives back into her hole::

[stePH]

Well, I liked the ending.

So did I.  It meant the story was over.

[LaShawn]

Well, I liked the ending.

So did I.  It meant the story was over.

Can't disagree with you there.

To be honest, the only part I liked was the ending. the other stuff went way over my head.

[Talia]

It going over my head was part of what I kinda liked about the body of the story. Gave it an epic feel, spanning eons, going far beyond humanity.

[Unblinking]

associative connection the story gave me: 
In the superb space exploration game Star Control II, there is an intelligent plant alien race called the Supox (which the plant race in this story made me think of).  When you communicate with them, you can ask them how plant sentience can exist--it's not scientifically possible.  The Supox say that they, too, have done studies which prove that plant sentience is scientifically impossible so their actual existence is a little confusing to them as well. 

[chemholio]

This story did have its rough edges  and the ending could have been better but IMHO this was a truly great story. I loved the whole flow of the actions and visits of  races leading to the actions and visit of more races within wildly unpredictable contexts and motives. This is a hard thing to pull off in a novel. It was truly ambitious to try to pull this off in a 30 minute story and I'd say the author succeeded. The story was thought provoking and sooooo imaginative. I listened to it 3 times. That hasn't happened to me since "Friction." (Episode 144).

To me, Sci Fi has always been about imagination first and foremost. Regrettably for me, so much of the Sci Fi we read today deals with the human consequences of some small technological or societal tweak. This may be good for those who like it, but I yearn for new universes, new races, and new realities.

Great catch, Escape Pod!