Episode 25: We're Still Here

We're back, listeners.  You might be wondering, what's going on? Same here. Here's what we know. Stay tuned.

The voice of Tanner is Charles Raymond.

Untitled track #5 (live) written and performed by Jess Syratt. 

Sound effects this episode thanks to FreeSound.org contributors: geraldfiebig and khenshom, 

Nowhere, On Air is created, voiced and produced by Jess Syratt. Cover art by Moon Hermit Crab on Instagram.

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at nowhere.onair@gmail.com. Or, find us on twitter, @NowhereOnAir

Transcript

EPISODE 25

[THEME MUSIC] 

TANNER: Welcome back listeners. That feels good to say. Like I said, we’re still here. 

Sorry for the radio silence for a while, we had to… relocate. And reorient ourselves too, as, uh, you have no doubt noticed there has recently been… a massive change to the nature and structure of our community here. A sudden upheaving, uprooting of everything. 

I’m sorry we weren’t able to warn you about their arrival, but we really had no idea ourselves until it was too late. We were lucky to have someone looking out for us. But it's our job to look out for you, so again, we’re sorry we couldn’t do more beyond Jordan tweeting a warning while the rest of us were… getting somewhere safer. And just to let you know, we won’t be updating our Twitter or Facebook or anything for a while as we don’t have wifi here, which is fun. 

While we’re on the subject, we will not be disclosing where ‘here’ is. For safety reasons. Like we do not have wifi, for safety reasons. We might as well be nowhere. We are still working on how to stay in touch with you all in a way that maintains the uh, protective mystery both sides need for the time being. 

But we can say we were fortunate enough to have a place prepared for us by some recently departed friends who apparently, and thankfully, had the gift of foresight on their side. It's a makeshift studio / home sort of place for now. So we can keep on doing what we do, and uh, lay low for a while, while we figure out what exactly is going on. 

[THE SOUND OF SOMETHING SHATTERING SOMEWHERE IN THE BACKGROUND. TANNER LAUGHS A LITTLE] 

Sorry, folks, uh, Don- officer Carlton, just dropped a cup in the kitchen. 

If that doesn’t tell you, these probably won’t be like, well, the normal 8 o’clock broadcasts we used to be able to bring you- normal being something of a relative term- but we do still have some things to share with you, and will try to maintain a similar broadcasting schedule to the one we had before all this change. 

However, we may or may not be doing our best to continue our newsletter in some capacity, and Jordan may or may not have asked me to ask all of you to pay extra attention to new instructions hidden in there, about the most effective disposal methods for those after you’ve read them, to ensure they aren’t intercepted. And hopefully, sooner rather than later, we’ll set up some sort of way you can contact us, discreetly. 

But we hope you are all okay. We hope you are listening to us. We’re fairly confident we’re getting through, but who knows. 

We have no access to our old information or equipment which has made broadcasting difficult. We hope you’ve heard at least some of the air waves we’ve been sharing… it was, uh, Martha’s idea to share some of the recordings we had with us on hand while we figured out things on our end. That’s what all that was… we’ll probably have more to share in the future. There are no doubt questions you have about so much that we’ll do our best to answer in the coming weeks. 

We are determined to continue to share what we can. As… a comfort, if nothing else. Information, as I’m sure you can understand, has been increasingly hard to come by. And as the only community news source, specifically the only one not connected to Town Council in some way, we ideally should be in a place where we can give you more information, but we can’t. You listeners deserve answers. A lot of answers. So many of those we don’t have- and for that, we are sorry. 

For now, though, we do have some eyes and ears actually in town so we can see, more or less, what’s going on. We did hear about the mandatory meeting at the town hall / rec centre run by a Town Council representative yesterday, and what was talked about at said meeting. Specifically, uh, Farmer Daniels’ surprise escape from where he was in RCMP custody, which… we cannot comment any further on as that’s the extent of what we know, and also about our new guests here in Braedon, and the rules and expectations surrounding our interactions with them.

While we were unable to obtain a proper list of all the rules, the ones we do know seem pretty straightforward, if a little strange, and even though we are no longer connected to or affiliated with Town Council at all, and as such were not asked to remind you of these rules, we wanted to offer a brief refresher of the ones we do know, anyways:

-You may continue on as if they are not among us, and you are to pay them no mind if you feel as though they are watching you or following you. They are allowed to do so. 

-You are not to speak directly to them unless spoken to, which sounds familiar, or unless you are reporting an issue or concern. 

-You are not to take pictures, video, or capture their visual likeness in any other way. Apparently, it will be near impossible for you to do so, anyways. 

-You are not to question instructions given or requests made of you. 

-If you have an issue with one of them, no you don’t. 

Now, I’m sure these sat about as well with you as they did with us. That is, not well at all. The fact that they’ve been given no name makes them feel as… as faceless, as I’m sure they want to. 

Speaking of this group… We’ve heard that they aren’t really uh, many soldiers, I guess? Not sure what else to call them, but I know judging by the trucks they showed up in we made a certain assumption but, well, according to what’s been seen and noticed so far… it seems like there are more frequent sightings of those ‘persons in suits’ than there are actual, like, military personnel or whatever. Which is interesting. And something for us all to be aware of. 

For now, listeners, what I feel like we can say is, without significantly contradicting the rules outlined at the town meeting: if you hear a knock on your door at night, we deeply encourage you not to answer it.

Anyways. For obvious reasons our current few sources in town will remain anonymous, but we appreciate that there are those of you willing to stay connected with us, in more personal ways, in the face of yet unspecified risks, to keep us in the loop. 

And…

That’s really it in terms of what’s going on. Sorry, listeners. We don’t have any real community updates besides what you all already know, or any more news, or any weather forecasts or words from sponsors or, or anything… I guess there was no real point to broadcast except to let you know that we’re still here. We didn’t want you to feel like you were alone, and in the dark, surrounded by the unknown on every side. We promise that for as long as we can, we’ll keep sending out sound, even if no one is listening-- 

[STATIC] 

FIRST VOICE: Remember, citizens. There is a radioactive danger in the area. Please await further instructions from this frequency. We are currently experiencing interference with the official frequency. You are to disregard these interferences. 

[STATIC]

TANNER: [FAR BACK, TO MARTHA, A LITTLE FRUSTRATED] Seriously? I thought we’d figured it out. Do we have it back now? 

Sorry about that, folks. But on that note, there is a public concern you are no doubt feeling that we here- [laughs a little] I almost said at the station. Uh, that we here, where we are, want to address: 

If the mine was truly radioactive in any way that posed a threat to the entire area, and to the population, we’d know by now, and they wouldn’t have shut down Braedon with us still here. We’ve known about the strange nature of the mine for some time. The only people who were ever affected by it were those physically present, working down in the dark, in the earth. So please, don’t listen to these broadcasts. Whoever is sharing them would have actually evacuated you and your families if it truly was a danger. 

We were able to tune into a station from a nearby town for a few static-y minutes the other day, and it sounds like the official story is that the town has already been evacuated, and is completely closed to passing travellers for the time being, until the “issues have been contained.”

In short, folks, there is a danger here, yes, but it isn’t the mine.  

[TRANSITION] 

Have any of you been having… weird dreams lately? 

Not to go on a tangent here, this isn’t exactly in what little script we have for tonight, I just… I don’t know. I had a dream last night that felt like more than a dream. I keep having them, if I’m being honest. 

I know stress can cause weird dreams, and I’d say everything that’s happened recently is pretty stressful, I just… I don’t know. The nights seem louder than usual, and I feel like- like I’m falling asleep and waking up with my head filled with noise. 

I don’t even remember what any of the dreams are about, it's more the feeling I wake up with after them. A deep, almost physical apprehension. Waiting for something. Or… like, I was told something I didn’t want to know, or like I did something I didn’t want to do. 

I don’t know, it just seems… seems like something. I guess we won’t necessarily hear from you about your dreams and whether or not you too are having ones that leave you with a strange ache, a pain in the back of your mind when you wake up--- 

[THE SOUND OF A DOOR CLOSING] 

TANNER: Martha- What? [SEEING DAVID] Hey- 

[MUSIC]

TANNER: Sorry for another interruption folks, but we’ve actually got some surprise good news for you tonight: 

David Pradlick has returned to Braedon. And, he is also here, with us, now. 

We’re looking forward to sitting down and talking with him, but, I mean, from experience I know how exhausting it is to travel in between like that, and he’s gonna take some time to rest first. 

But, the return of David stirred up some thoughts in us here at the station that we’ve been talking about and uh, we all agreed that it was something we should talk about with you as well: 

The seemingly ever-present list of people still missing. Again, folks, we don’t have access to most of the information and files and things we had back at the station, so we’ve written a new list out from memory. We don’t think we forgot anyone- but if we did, it is not in any way because that person was worthy of being forgotten. No one is. 

But yeah [HE PICKS UP THE PIECE OF PAPER] We have made a new list here. I know uh, Jess read one of these out a little while ago during a broadcast but… but now, like then, the reminder feels- is important. It has the names of everyone who has gone missing, and while it includes those who have been found or returned in one way or another, I’ll only be reading the names of the absent.

I think this will be the first item on a- a new mystery board, we’ll start here. To collect our thoughts. A visual reminder of uh, why we’re still talking about this. 

Anyways- [HE CLEARS HIS THROAT]- here they are: 

Cynthia Abernathy. 

Louis Newman. 

Lizzie Shaw. 

David Reicher. 

Elijah D’Silva. 

Ethan Crawford. 

Jack Sanford. 

And, Jess. 

[HE SIGHS]

There has still been no sign of or word from Jess, except for, uh, a moment tagged onto the end of a previous broadcast, not uh, not by us. I’m sure you all remember. Honestly, we were debating addressing it because- well, what do we really say? Except that… Jess, if by some strange hope you can hear this, we hope you’re okay. 

[I think that maybe this becomes about Rebecca a little bit, y’know] 

If, by some strange hope, any of our missing community members, any of our unpresent loved ones can hear this, what can we say except that we miss you? Except that your absence is-- is a phantom pain. We feel you, we love you, but you aren’t there. You should be there. You should be here. But you aren’t and- it hurts. You have become a missing piece--

[STATIC]

VOICE: Ignore any interruptions, instructions, or alternate ideas that are not being shared by the official voice speaking to you now. We are working to eliminate the source of these interruptions. Please stand by. 

[STATIC] 

TANNER: [TO MARTHA, DISTANT, AND ANGRY AGAIN] I’m not blaming you I’m just- this is just- [angry sigh] are we back? 

Uh, right, moving on… 

Well, we don’t have weather or a sponsor thing or anything to play for you tonight, so I’m not really sure where we go from here- 

[SOMEONE STARTS TALKING TO HIM QUIETLY]

Uh, River- they’re here with us too, not sure if I mentioned that- and they just got back from… well, bringing David back, and they’re suggesting that we play one of the, uh, songs from the disc the rest of the Faceless left for us. 

Sure, not a bad idea, let me just… Martha? Which one? Okay, uh, here you go folks. A-a song. [MOSTLY TO RIVER] Will give us a moment here to discuss the circumstances surrounding David’s return. 

[SONG STARTS] 


LYRICS: Last night 
I dreamt I was an open grave
The clay in the deep you dig for
Where we were born 
Where we return 

Smear your palms along the  dirt floor of my chest 
Know the emptiness I know 
Carve out a hollow belly in the earth with your hands 
That's where I'll be found

I was born down deep in the soil 
Ten feet under ground-


 [THEN- STATIC]

THIRD VOICE: Attention, citizens, this is an official request: If any citizens are aware of the source of the interfering frequency, or are aware of others who are aware, you are required to report them immediately. Thank you for your cooperation. 

[STATIC] 

TANNER: [AGAIN, DISTANT FROM THE MIC AND ANGRY] Are you fucking kidding me? No- I know- ugh- I’m sorry- 

Forgive my frustration, listeners. I know its not exactly- exactly new, the whole interruption thing- it's just- from what we’re able to tell, we’ve been… cut off, from the rest of the world. And every time we get cut off from you, here… It's upsetting. Increasingly so. 

But it's beyond our control. So much of all of this is beyond our control. So… it's fine. It has to be. We’re not happy about it, clearly, but it's fine. It's okay. It has to be, you know? 

We all know what it's like, to some extent, to be in a situation where things are out of our hands. But this… 

In life, you’re going to suffer and struggle. It’s a promise. You are also going to be okay. This is also a promise. The okayness of things, in one way or another, is a certainty, a given. Things have to be okay in the end. 

Coins in fountains, crossed fingers, the scattered seeds of a dandelion- these are not promises. Only physical expressions of hope. We can do what we want, try… But if something is not meant to be, it won’t happen. And the things that are meant to be, will be. They wouldn’t be if they weren’t. There’s solace in that, I think. 

When you look at inevitability in that light, maybe it almost looks beautiful, if only for a sliver of a moment. 

Maybe it doesn’t. 

We don’t know what’s going to happen next- but whatever happens, when we believe that whatever happens is meant to happen because it's happening says so, everything has to be okay. One way or another. 

[HE CLEARS HIS THROAT] 

Hmm. Well. That’s all we have for tonight. We’re all pretty uh, pretty tired here, if I’m being honest. But we hope you’ll be hearing from us again soon. 

Be safe. Be well. We’ll be here. 

Thanks for tuning in. 

[MUSIC INTO STATIC] 

LAST VOICE: Interfering with an official broadcast is a punishable offense. Collaborating with those known to be interfering with an official broadcast is also a punishable offense. Report anyone you know to be committing these offenses to the stone statue in town centre for correction. Failure to report will be considered collaboration.