The Exile - Minisode 1: Bryce "Message in a Bottle"
15:00 Share

This episode is brought to you by Progressive, where customers who save by switching their home and car save nearly $800 on average.

Quote at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $793 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2021 and May 2022. Potential savings will vary. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big ROAS man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.

My friend's still laughing at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Whether you're selling a little or a lot.

Shopify helps you do your thing, however you cha-ching. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the we just hit a million orders stage. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify's there to help you grow. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash special offer, all lowercase. That's shopify.com slash special offer. ♪♪♪

Welcome to Curious Matter Anthology. I'm your host, Jonathan Pezza.

Today we're doing something new. Welcome to our very first Minisode, where we delve off the beat and path of our main story in the Exile and explore the setting and many colorful characters that inhabit Marsport. These will often take place slightly outside the chronology of the main storyline, as is the case today. This Minisode leaps slightly back in time to before the final events from last episode,

as Bryce seeks out a local franchise that offers long-distance calling at low, low prices. Curious Matter Anthology is an immersive HD audio experience and is best enjoyed via high-quality headphones or speakers. The story contains explicit content that may not be suitable for younger audiences and includes adult themes, language, and violence similar to an R-rated film.

So without further ado, sit back, grab a bowl of popcorn, and enjoy our mini-sode, Message in a Bottle. You are a clever man, Doctor. Perhaps too clever. What makes you think I'll give you any information? It is the only way you can save your own life when the time comes. You will be transported to one of our platforms in space and resettled here when our operation is completed. You're asking me to sabotage the entire world, three billion people!

They are doomed in any case. Welcome to Message in a Bottle. The shop was dirty and run down, but this was apparently the local franchise for sending packages and messages off-world. The clerk wore an old handwritten name tag with Terra scribbled on it in messy block letters. You guys can do messages to Earth? Earth, Luna, Titan. Can even deliver to the belt stations if you don't mind a two-day delay. What's the delay to Modesto?

Where the hell is Modesto? California. New American Republic. Earth? Earth. Twelve minutes. So long as you have the data ID for the recipient. Do you want video or just audio? Video, I guess. We have some great packages if you're planning to do multiple- You won't skip the upsell. It'll just be the one. Take the booth on the right. Follow the instructions on the kiosk.

Thank you for choosing Intralink. Please speak your recipient's data ID now. Gordon-Laurie 8723N as in nice A as in alpha slash 016. Data ID accepted. Begin recording. Hey, baby. Wow, where to begin? I guess I missed your birthday, huh? You'd be 10. No, 11 now. Knowing your dad, he probably went all out on the party.

All your friends were probably there. You had every gift you asked for and a heap more. I want to picture it that way. A perfect day. I want to picture you having everything I couldn't give you. You know the day you were born was the happiest day of my life. It took you 28 hours to come out. You just... You wanted to stay inside. You pitched you and me so bad. But then you came into the world and it was like...

Like you had always been there. This beautiful piece of me. My tiny, perfect Lori. I love you. It doesn't mean much, but I do. And I wish more than anything I could have been there to see the woman that you're becoming. You must be so big. You're old enough now. You've probably heard things. Heard things I've done. I am not a good person. But I want to be, Lori. Lori.

The world that you were born into is such a mess. And I told myself that's what I was doing. Trying to clean it up just a little. I found something that made it all make sense for one brief moment. And it seemed like it would make all the pain I've caused mean something. But it only made things so much worse. What's going on in there? Sorry. I fucking hate talking in riddles. I wish I could explain everything.

Say everything you need to hear. But if I do, it puts you at risk. It puts you in danger. My silence is the price of your safety. And I will always protect you. I haven't been there. Not the way you needed me. The way you need me. There's no excuse that I can give. I just... I was scared, baby. Scared that I would make you like me. Obsessed like me in a way that just... just ruins everything.

destroys everything. You listen to me. I don't ever want you to be like me. And for now, that means that I have to stay far away. A world away. But it won't be like that forever. Because I am doing everything I can to find a way home to you. Find a way for us to be together again. If you'll have me. I can't promise that I'll be good at it, but I will never give up.

I'll die before I let them keep you from me. Would you like to keep recording? This may incur additional fees. No. End recording. Recording complete. Please see the clerk to make payment and execute transmission. How did everything go? Yeah, fine. Let me see here. Three minutes, 28 seconds. That will come to 2,648 shits. Mm-hmm. Fine.

Great. Let me just transfer those. We are all set to transmit. Would you like me to send it now? Local time on the west coast of the American continent is... 4:25 AM. I can set it to send later, if there's a specific time you want it to arrive. You know what? Just erase it. Well, you've already paid and it's non-refundable-- I said erase the message! Okay, okay! It's erased! Alright, it's erased! Thank you. Earthers.

This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Whether you're selling a little or a lot, Shopify helps you do your thing, however you cha-ching. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the we just hit a million orders stage. No matter what stage you're in, Shopify's there to help you grow. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash special offer, all lowercase. That's shopify.com slash special offer.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of The Exile. If you just can't wait for the next episode, did you know that you can listen to it right now? That's right! You can get early access and ad-free listening to every episode in the series by subscribing to CMA Universe Plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Want to dive even deeper? Join us for a live listen, meet the cast, and go behind the scenes on our aftershows presented at twitch.com/effinfunny.

For more information about the show, merch, and a whole lot more, check us out online at cmanthology.com. You can connect with us at Facebook and Instagram under the handle at cmanthology. Tonight's show starred Tiffany Smith as Bryce Gordon and featured the voices of Jackie Martinez as Tara, and I was your messaging kiosk.

This episode was written, designed, and edited by me, your host, Jonathan Pezza. Voice directing by Tiffany Smith and Jonathan Pezza. The Exile was made possible by the amazing support of our Kickstarter backers. Executive produced by Scott Pezza and Dan Evans. Co-executive produced by Richard J. Pezza, Patrick Lepilato, and Derek A. Hughes. It was produced by Jonathan Pezza, Tiffany Smith, and

and Sandeep Parikh, and co-produced by Ali Mashayekhi and Jack Bowman. Assistant editing by Mohamed Moise Riaz and Francis Pezza. Original score composed by Jonathan Pezza, with additional tracks provided by Epidemic Sound and featuring the musical talent of Victor Lundberg and Hanami Tsunami.

The Exile is based on Police Your Planet by Lester Del Rey, a literary work in the public domain, and was produced in accordance with U.S. copyright law. Curious Matter Anthology is produced by the Knightsville Workshop in association with FNFunny Productions. Copyright Knightsville Workshop 2024. All rights reserved. Make sure to tune in next week for The Exile Part 2, where the graft is greener. See you then.

And as always, thank you for listening. The Fable & Folly Network, where fiction producers flourish. You start with your own breathing. Match the rhythm of the breeze that carves the canopy, the birds and bugs chirping in set intervals. Feel the subtle pulse rising up from the ground beneath you. To wander is to dance with the forest. But the forest isn't just the partner. She's the music, the style.

She's the rhythm. She's the set of ancient steps and movements that have been passed down from one dancer to another. She teaches you to dance the dance she invented to the music she's singing in a tonal system she thought up one night as it pleased her. You breathe, and you listen, and you wait for your place. Your first step, the call to...

The Wanderer is a new fairy folktale podcast from T.H. Ponders, a member of the Fable & Folly Network. Listen to the show by searching for The Wanderer in Apple Podcasts or by visiting www.callofthewander.com.