SPACE. Some would call it the final frontier. We just call it a fun setting for a stellar romance. Join Rachel as she tells Margie all about Amanda Bouchet's, Nightchaser. Because let's be honest, who doesn't love a good space opera?
SPACE. Some would call it the final frontier. We just call it a fun setting for a stellar romance. Join Rachel as she tells Margie all about Amanda Bouchet's, Nightchaser. Because let's be honest, who doesn't love a good space opera?
Oh, hi there. Welcome to textual tension. I am your co host, Rachel and every other week I come in here before the episode and give you the lowdown on what's going on in our little world give you all of our updates, all that kind of stuff. And we actually do have a couple this week. So first things first, astute listeners will notice that last week's episode, or two weeks ago, was an episode where I Rachel told Margie about the book. This week's episode is another one of the ones where I tell Margie about the book, it's been over two years, this is the first time we have broken our streak of alternating between Rachel and Margie. But we had a little bit of a delay in recording our episode with Margie this last couple of weeks, and we wanted to make sure we were able to do it up right for you guys. So we're putting this one out today instead, don't worry, it's still an amazing episode, if I do say so myself, all full of all kinds of science and fun, crazy space shenanigans, and you're gonna love it. But I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about that. Just so you know what you're getting into. In case you for some reason skip all of the ones that I do for that would make me sad, please don't do that. But um, so that is sort of the lowdown on that there's a lot of science in this episode, which I got super excited about, obviously. But for time constraints, I did have to cut one of the science corners from the episode just because it was getting really long, y'all. But don't worry, stay tuned over the next two weeks, there's going to be a blog post out on our website that will have some extra cut audio, maybe I'll record another science corner and I'll just talk about science and stuff. So keep your eyes peeled for that. And then Oh other thing, the most important thing makes me the happiest guys, we have patrons we have new patrons. Hey, I want to give a quick shout out to Maddie and Scott for supporting us on Patreon. Thank you guys so, so much. We really appreciate it. We love to hear from you guys. And we we just love talking to you guys. And having you there to support us is awesome. So thank you so much. If I was trapped in space with you on a long, long space trip, we probably wouldn't kill each other. In fact, we'd probably be best friends. I don't know Scott, you could be the captain Maddie life support, I'll navigate, which is terrifying. It's fine, it's fine. If you are interested in checking us out on Patreon, head on over to patreon.com/textual tension we are actually in the process of increasing our rewards to our patrons. If you want a little more details on that maybe check out the intro to last week's episode where I talk all about it and hey, hit up our social media. We'll be talking about it more in the next couple weeks. Check that out. If you want to reach out to us on social media. We're at textual tension pod on all of the social media platforms. And hey, rolling back to Patreon real quick if you are not in a spot right now to support us on Patreon that is 100%. Totally okay, we totally understand. And if you want to support us in another way, you could maybe head over to Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a rating and review that really helps we do not like pay to promote our podcast anywhere. We just kind of rely on word of mouth so it really helps us if you could get the word out and you know talk to other people about us and tell other people how much you like us because I know you like us we're pretty great. Well, gosh, I think that's about it. I don't know I'm on vacation. I have vacation brain we're getting through this together. We're doing it we're doing everyone here is doing a great job. So, so if you've stuck with me this long on all of our announcements, etc. Uh, hey, let me get you some of that romance novel wisdom. Love. A lot like a warm cat. It will incapacitate you at the most inopportune time with absolutely no regards to your thoughts and feelings on the matter. And without further ado, here is episode 60 Oh my god it's episode 60 Spaceballs. Oh
Unknown:oh. tearing me apart from
Rachel:Well, hello there. And welcome to textual tension. Oh, love hate relationship with romance novels. I'm your co host Rachel, and I am your co host, Margie. Every other week one of us reads and summarizes a romance novel for our unsuspecting co host this week. Margie and Bitsy are listening in. Yeah. And together we unpack what the fuck just happened. That was good. That was pretty good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we're trying something new today again,
Margie:again. Because I struggle with technology. We're getting there. Technology struggles with me. Let's Yeah, that's really what it that's. That's what that's where it's at. I'm like Harry Dresden.
Rachel:We're getting to a point where Oh, was that hot? Or did you hit yourself in the eye? Well, hello and welcome back to Alright, so, Marty Yes, I'm actually very excited about this book.
Margie:I am very excited to hear about it
Rachel:because I thought while I was searching for a book I thought, you know, we haven't done in a while. The sci fi genre and more specifically Rachel science corner.
Margie:Yes, we haven't. Rachel science corners so long.
Unknown:I know. Well, we for this one. I got
Rachel:a Rachel science corner in the first paragraph. Wow. I know. So I went in. And I actually had selected a different book and I started reading it and I wasn't super into it. And this one just popped up on Libby on my Library app. And I was like, done, done. And I love this book. So I'm going to actually say
Margie:to you, oh, okay, okay, okay. Oh, okay. I have a lot. I'm very excited. All right. Um, so listeners this book is titled, night chaser by Amanda is a boo Shea.
Rachel:Shea maybe? Because I cried. Yeah,
Margie:that would be the French pronunciation pronunciation so Miss boo Shea if I'm mispronouncing it, I apologize. But um, it's very like, Doctor Who makes a name. Yeah, yeah, like very doctor who like she it's a girl with she's wearing a leather jacket, arms crossed dark brown hair looking like a badass honestly, like she's looking up at something kind of like, you think that's a challenge kind of look. Yeah, and there's like, it looks like there's some sort of door or something behind her but it's very sci fi. The whole thing is very blue, purple. Very blue, purple. Aha. And on the top, it actually says Amanda boo Shea is talent is is it striking? I think it's striking. And it's, it's reviewed by our girl Malini singe, aha, who we love here on this podcast. At least I love her. I adore her. Okay, so Leni. She's awesome. Her boxers are we but we'll we'll we'll crack into that later another day. So all right. The description, which is pretty long, just one word. Yeah.
Rachel:I would like to real quickly, just go ahead and well, okay, you read the description, and then I'll hit you with this fun fact.
Margie:Okay, cool. So fans of Firefly and Star Wars can't help but fall for the sexy new paranormal romance when the author of the USA Today best selling fantasy that Kingmaker Chronicles, the galaxy's most wanting captain must trust her life to a charming and mysterious rogue. If she doesn't want to see her latest mission. Go up and smoke. Okay, I'm just gonna say bow down a bowed out. Nightmare now.
Rachel:You're my hero.
Margie:Test Bailey. The galaxy's most wanted. Catherine test Bailey and her ragtag crew sounds like a bunch of eight holes are on the run, pursued by a tyrant who will take the debtor alive. Her best hope is a tall dark and much too appealing stranger shade Gavin Gavin. Okay. But yet some charmer claims he can help but his motivations are far from clear. Shade Ganon arrogance charm and that special roguish something that makes you want to scream. Oh, she'll scream all right. There's no denying chemistry but with the dreaded dark watch close again. What tested shade don't know about each other might get them killed unless they can set aside their differences and learn to trust each other before it's too late. This is no average space opera. Okay, first thing. There is no average space drama opera. It does not exist.
Rachel:I love the term space opera.
Margie:Yes, everyone is raving about Amanda boo Shea's night chaser. I am so excited.
Rachel:So first of all, Space Rogue didn't know it was a thing for me. It's a thing
Margie:for Firefly Come on. You've never seen Firefly, have you? Oh, you know what? Firefly? You don't
Rachel:have it on DVD. yet? I don't think about it
Margie:often. That's fair. Okay.
Rachel:Well, next time we hang out. We'll watch. We'll watch some Firefly.
Margie:I have a hook up experience with with Firefly anyway.
Rachel:Oh, I'm gonna want to hear that story later. Save it for under the covers. Yeah.
Margie:All right. Let's do let's do this.
Rachel:So here's your fun fact that I actually literally just learned. Do you happen to remember a particular book way back in the archives, one of the first ones we did? That involved some weird kind of Greek mythology and the Mary Sue. Yes.
Margie:Yes. Yes. That's her that we so we've read another book by her and we Yeah, it's not that
Rachel:Oh, thrilled. So much better. Really the girl I live with I did not put two and two together until there are definitely some similarities there's a couple things that crossover but for the most part like Damn the girl improved quite a bit good for Mother's good Mary Sue
Margie:so did you check that she wrote this one that that this was one is
Rachel:this relatively recent Okay,
Margie:okay cuz you read the kingmaker Chronicles did sound familiar and that's why I did that book was the kingmaker Chronicles, right?
Rachel:Yes, I think yeah, it was. This one came out in 2019. Oh, okay. Yeah, very relatively. Yeah, it's pretty recent. So there's definitely some similarities, which actually now I'm suddenly seeing and we'll get into that a little bit. Um, so triggers. General violence, for sure. Okay.
Margie:So standard in any romance. Right, exactly.
Rachel:There is no kidnapping. Oh, okay. If you're wondering about that, I'm not even at the 11th hour, not even at the 11th hour, not even kidnapping without a kidnapping. No. None of that amazingly. So. Now, there is some reference, we won't actually go into it. But one of the side characters like in her crew has had some experience with sexual abuse, that kind of thing. It is not, we won't really go into it. But it is something that is very tangentially referenced in the book. But that's really about it, actually. Yeah, just a little bit of parental abuse. I guess that is something that is referenced as well. Standard. Standard. Hey, at least we don't need the bingo cards this time.
Margie:Yet. Very true. Very true. All right. Let's blood. I'm very excited.
Rachel:Let's crack into this. All right, so we have test Bailey, is our girl now tests. And this is where I'm suddenly seeing the similarities between this and that other book. Um, she is just a little bit of a snowflake. Little bit of a special snowflake. Okay, no, okay. nearly as bad as the last one. But she is test Bailey is not her real name. Her real name is Quintessa Nova light.
Margie:Yeah, okay. Yep, I'm definitely getting some very very, very, very special smooth, so snowflake vibes can't imagine why. Yeah, well, there's no blue light. That's also like yeah, light version of Nova.
Rachel:Really? You don't say is that what that sounds like? Just like
Margie:imagining like a Diet Coke. Coke. Oh, Nova light. The light? Yeah.
Rachel:Idiot. I love you. Oh, god. No. So there's a reason her name that is her name. No one knows her name. Really? She goes by test Bailey. She is tall, like six feet tall. Brunette. She's bombshell. I haven't quotes special. And something that I actually appreciated was that she's really really pale. And her entire crew is really really pale. Yeah, because they're they've been in space for a very long time. I that is a an attention to detail. I wasn't expecting there's actually a couple of those attentions to detail I haven't been expecting this. But the reason her name is Quintessa Nova light is because she is all the way till the story to go into that nevermind. Ignore right it's fine. All right, shake Gannon does it for me. He shade is dark hair. I think it's like black hair. Green eyes. muscley dude script and a side note. Secret bounty hunter that comes into play. Yeah, why does that do it for the Oh, yeah. Right. So he very much has it set roguish kind of like,
Margie:Oh my god. I love a good room.
Rachel:Mm hmm. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, let's get into this. I'm very excited. Seeing one test is in a pickle. A little bit. A little. Just a little crew kind of accidentally stole an entire lab full of what they thought was medicine and turned out Woopsie doodle is actually a super soldier serum.
Margie:Oh, no. Oh, no. This again, though. But this does still again remind me of the Guardians of the Galaxy because that's something that the rock that the record would rock it would do.
Rachel:Uh huh. And they're being chased hard, because this super serum stuff is kind of the only version of it that the galactic overlord as I will continue to refer to the head dude in charge has and they're not supposed to have it.
Margie:Yeah, yeah. You don't know what that lying around.
Rachel:Well, the reason I leave it next to the sugar
Margie:the super serum
Rachel:Damn it, you know someone's gonna come in and see that
Margie:that were submitted to their coffee.
Rachel:Oh, oh, yeah, that's a bad time. Yeah, it's a very bad time. Well, so the way that they found this thing is they found this like floating lab and they're like, Oh, hell yeah, this is, you know, there's like, no one around, this will be really easy for us to go in, get the medicine that they're probably working on and leave. And so they do it. And then all of a sudden, like, as soon as they get it, all of the army is like coming after them. And they're like, why? It was just something floating in the middle of nowhere. Well, well, how do you hide something by making it float in the middle of nowhere. So they're running out of fuel. And they've been jumping. So like, like warp drive, kind of jumping closer and closer to this thing called the Black Widow, which is a giant black hole. Because that
Margie:is one big reference to marvel. And you cannot.
Rachel:Oh, probably. Well, now I'm going to count on you to point out all those references, because I've only seen the first Guardians of the Galaxy.
Margie:So Oh, girl, I got you fam. So they're
Rachel:being chased. And they keep getting close to this big black widow black hole thing, which is something that hey, you don't go to and people are not allowed to go to because it's a black hole, which we will get into.
Margie:Why don't they and they can't get into communication with the people who's chasing them be like it was an accident.
Rachel:Well, there they are. Space rogues. Okay, so they're on the run anyway. Okay. Okay. And so they're getting closer and closer. And they they popped into this sector where this black hole is where no one's supposed to be because people don't go here because it's dangerous. And all the sudden, someone comes over the intercom and is like, Hey, who are you? And why are you here? Right row. It's one of the generals in the army who just happened to be in that sector right now. Okay. And she's like, fuck, and so they are like, all of a sudden, they're like, Oh, shit. That's, that's the lab that's missing. And so they start going after them, too. So they just keep hopping closer to this black hole. Oh, no. Yeah. And test decides with the I'm not gonna go into her crew very in depth, but her crew is pretty great. Like, they're all people that escaped from this horrible prison together. And they're all each like character in the crew has like a fully fleshed out backstory. It's just too much for me to get into. Yeah, I'm not going to but just know that. So her and her entire crew are like, well, sorry, her entire crew and a random guy that happened to be in the lab at the time. Oh, it's just been with them. Poor guy. Yep. I know. He's, he's fine with it. Okay. But he they're like, You know what, I think we would rather die than let them get this. Yeah. Wow. And this kind of is even more so. From test because she also has found out that this super serum is kind of maybe possibly based off of her blood.
Margie:Okay, yeah, she's a special snowflake.
Rachel:She's especially that's like, yeah, um, and so they decided to jump into the Black Widow. They're gonna jump into
Margie:and there Josie. Okay, so and the black hole spaghettified. We're getting
Rachel:there. Okay, but first before Tess is a rogue or a Space Rogue a fugitive, if you will. She's a bad one.
Margie:Okay,
Rachel:let's first instance instance number one of how not to be a rogue a secret, hiding away. Hiding your identity rogue. Okay. announce your name to the general that you're running from over a communication channel that could be monitored by the entire galactic army. Good. Just like yep, you know what? I'm going out if I'm going out and going out swinging Fuck you guys. My name is contested Nova light. And this is where we find out she's actually kind of maybe the daughter of the Galactic overlord oopsy doodle.
Margie:And you said that she was only a little bit of a special snowflake. Really? And she has magic blood? Yep, magic blood. Okay. All right, whatever. Just keep going. You want some magic blood?
Rachel:Now I will say huh? No. No, the more I think about this the more similarity This is still a good book. But the more similarities Patricia okay.
Margie:I mean, like she can she could still she could improve upon what she had. There's nothing wrong with that.
Rachel:Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it I did very much enjoy the book and she's a specialist snowflake and there was definitely some stuff was like, okay, but it's, it was still it was a special snowflake story done well, right. Okay, that kind of thing, right. So they decided to jump into to the black hole. Let's find a brief sojourn. Please come sit down by the fire. Pull yourself a cup of coffee. Let's sit in my Rachel science quarter. Yes. Let's talk about black Australian. So, brief sort of overview of what a black hole is. For those who don't know, black hole is huge density itty bitty living space. Integrated living space. So imagine a couple 100 of our sons in a really small space physically right. So hide very high density is what we're talking so high density that the gravity is so intense that not even light can escape this this force of gravity, right? Like Exactly, yeah, black hole. Same thing. Now, I love you, Margie. His blood sugar might be dropping right now. So she's getting a little weird.
Margie:I actually feel better now. Oh, good. So I've you know, I've just weird, so are weird. That's fine. I'm just saying WAKE ME UP INSIDE can't wake up. can't wake up.
Rachel:Um, so real quickly to dispel a common misconception, not even common misconception, I think just something not a lot of people think about a black hole is not a hole. Oh, that. Yeah. So inside of a black hole inside of these huge, okay, structure of a black hole. A black hole is a lot of mass usually not all the time. Usually it's made from a really, really big star that goes supernova. So it explodes. And then it has such a high mass that it sucks back in on itself. And that dying or that dead star becomes that center of that black hole. So a in the sort of like nuclear reaction that's happening in a star iron is this byproduct. So iron is kind of what's leftover. So a lot of times, and granted, we've never been inside of a black hole. And this is all just kind of theory. And I will provide my sources in a blog post. But it's just a big, really heavy chunk of iron in the middle, so dense that it has such a huge gravitational pole, that light cannot escape it, there is this thing around it called the event horizon. And the event horizon around this really dense center is basically that point where if you go past it, you're not coming back, that is where That's where it becomes black, right where you can't see because light is not escaping. There's also these really huge, massive jets of particles that are just whipping around the outside of this event horizon, super, super fast. Some of them are slingshotting off into space, some of them are falling into the actual black hole. It's it's, it has this sort of orbiting ring of stuff around it.
Margie:So it's more kind of like no face flying around in space, just like consuming everything. Yeah, a little bit. Now like because it's not, it's not a hole, but it's sucking up everything that comes in its path.
Rachel:Exactly. It's all this matter. Now, not everything. So some of it is actually, if you're looking at sort of a black hole, you can actually see these two jets. So you have your disc that is your black hole. So think like a galaxy kind of disc thing, right where it's like really flat around the edge hole. And then you have these two jets that fire off in either direction perpendicular to that. So it kind of looks like a little tarp kind of thing. And those jets are based on, I'm not going to go into all the laws of momentum and physics and stuff and all the orbital parameters that caused this to happen. But particles in material are actually spinning around the outside of this, this black hole, and slingshotting back into space. So not everything is going into this black hole, but a lot of stuff is. And that's actually like how we can get close to the speed of light is by slingshotting around a black hole, because those particles are book in it. So let's talk briefly, so not only as you get closer to a black hole, you're going to get closer to these just screaming hot jets of plasma, essentially that are being flung off into space. It's not a place you want to be. But if you let's talk about what would happen if you say go over that event horizon right into a black hole. There there's a beautiful word that you touched on called spaghettification, which is one of my favorite words in all of science. spaghettification is what happens when your body is affected by the gravity of this black hole. So the black hole's gravity is so like just so intense and so massive that your feet is being affected on or by like the gravity is affecting your feet if you're going in feet first more than it is your head. Right so actually that's happening to you right Now your whatever is closest to the ground, you're going to have sort of that more of a gravitational pull on that. So that's why you actually Earth
Margie:is always trying to grab my ass.
Rachel:I know right? Grab is. So that's why actually you her booty wick booty thick, you actually weigh different amounts, not mass, weight and mass are two different things but you weigh different amounts based on your elevation. So you are up on a mountain, you weigh less than if you were down at sea level, right? So same kind of thing here only what's the the gravitational pull is so strong on your feet, that it actually starts stretching out the atoms, and you just start pulling apart? Cool, and it's terrible. Yeah. So your body just kind of starts dismantling itself. Now? Yeah, it's not not a fun time. So. But you know what? We've talked about that before? Yeah, sure. We've touched spaghettification. In previous racial science corner. Let's, let's go on the other side of the event horizon. Okay, what happens to people watching you fall to this black hole. So if you are watching someone fall into a black hole, what do you see? What you see is you see this person, let's say the person leaps into space and is giving you a middle fat middle finger and yelling nippy K, motherfucker, as he falls backwards into this black hole, they will continue to slow down, just move slower and slower and slower until they appear to you to just stop. Right. So the closer you get to a center of a black hole, the slower time is running. So time actually changes. Because this object is so massive, it actually is warping, like the fabric of space time around it. So if you are the person falling into the black hole, and looking out, everything is going to look like it's speeding up. So ships are going to be flying pack back and forth, things are gonna be orbiting way faster, like everything is going to start speeding up. The person looking at you, as you're falling into it is going to see you slowing down until eventually you stop when you hit that event horizon. And then you're just going to kind of really slowly fade away. And that's it's very anticlimactic, honestly. Yeah. So now the last thing that I kind of want to touch on this a little bit. And like I said, Oh, I'll write up a whole blog post where I go into way more detail about the science behind black holes and all this stuff. So black holes have technically been theoretical for quite some time in that we haven't seen one, right? What we see is we see a hole in the sky where there should be something but there's not. And you can also see, through a feature called gravitational lensing, you can see things that are behind black holes. And that's how we know that there's something that's really massive in its place. But recently, like in the past couple years, we actually have a physical image of a black hole. Yes, I've heard about this. Yeah, I actually have it up here. And I was going to send it to you if you wanted to. I want to like that. And the way that we did this is they employed so many, like pretty much every single observatory that could get their hands on on the planet was imaging this one spot for a really long time. And then they took all of these images and stacked them together. Yeah, CISR around, right. Yeah, it's essentially the ISR. That's what it looks like but that is a black hole. So those the glowing thing is all of that matter that is just screaming around the outside of this black hole. Yeah, pretty cool. Yeah. So there you go. There's your intro to black holes. Remember that? Okay, gonna come up in science corner number two, okay. Okay, so there was your intro to Black Hole hurry. Hey, Oh, hey. Oh. So keep that in mind because we're about to come back to that a little bit. So like I said, she decides, fuck, it announces to everybody that she's the daughter of the Galactic overlord guys you do and they jump into the black hole cool, and miraculously pop up in an entirely different sector of space.
Margie:Oh, okay. They
Rachel:barely make it to a habitable planet in this new sector, and they're able to land and wait for repairs. So let's roll it back. Okay, and have Rachel science corner to Electric Boogaloo. Okay. Work drives in wormholes. Okay. So, mathematically speaking. That's how we discovered the existence of black holes, right? Theoretically, if you plug all that stuff into the these equations that define physics, there has to be the existence of something called like a black hole. And there is theoretically, that means that there has to be the existence of something called a white hole. A white bow is something that's fits out. Matter instead of sucking it in, right? Mm busy, coming out full of stuff. So they are theoretically possible. But you kind of as you start to do the math, you start to realize that they are very unstable. And they don't really I mean, weirder things have happened in space. Thank you. could exist. But so far, white holes probably don't exist. But the importance of the white hole is it comes into play when you think of something called wormholes. So a wormhole, which you probably know from just general science fictiony, science fiction or rate is a way to get from one side of space to another really, really fast. The way that I explained it, and let me get my visual aid that I will describe to my friend goes here in this audio medium. Think of it like a piece of paper. So this piece of paper that I have is space time, right? You want to get from a point here, on one side of the paper to a point here, on the other side of the paper, you have a very long way to go right in between those two points. If we were to bend the paper in such a way that those two points have fold the paper in half. And so the two points are right next to each other, not necessarily touching, rather than traveling all the way across the flats piece of paper. Now in theory, you could go through it right
Margie:Wrinkle in Time, and that
Rachel:is a Exactly. And that is a much shorter distance to travel than going all the way around. So that is theoretically a good visual of how wormholes work. So there's a couple problems with wormholes. They call me for wire fat. Yes, only for worms. So that is the biggest problem. All science fiction breaks. Only ship is worms. So the biggest thing with wormholes is that sorry, roll it back. There are wormholes theoretically could exist. They could also spit you out in say, another part of the galaxy or perhaps another universe, you don't know another reality, right? You don't know. So they got real lucky. Yeah, this just happened to be a wormhole. Here's the other thing that we've kind of talked about a little bit with them doing these jumps. They are jumping using I'm assuming a warp drive, which is a wonderful, beautiful piece of science fiction. warp drives are a little tricky, though. Scientific speaking, because warp drives kind of require faster than light travel. Because a warp drive. And also, if you think about it a wormhole, in this particular instance, require you to be able to go back in time Hmm. Because if you go into a wormhole and pop out another sector of the universe, well, there's still that time that has passed with you inside of this wormhole. Or, if you're jumping in a warp drive, you're still going hundreds of light years, right? That means hundreds of years have passed if you're traveling at the speed of light. So warp drive assumes faster than light travel, because you also have to time travel. And that's obviously not something that is possible. Now there has been one, if again, faster are weirder things have happened. So there is however, one theoretical instance that is really fun to discuss. And it is the concept of rather than moving your ship faster than lightning through the galaxy. And this is where things start to break down conceptually, because get ready for relativity, you are staying stationary and the universe is you moving around you. So technically, in your little bubble of spacetime, you're not moving faster than light, but the universe is moving around you. And so you can achieve faster than light travel. I'm a little fuzzy on this. And I need to do a little bit more research to be able to speak more effectively to it. Because it is mind bending in a very fun way. But it is mind bending. And it's a very fun sort of conceptual thing. But let's just say warp drives and wormholes. Especially probably no, but science fiction is suspension of disbelief in genre. So you know, I just thought it would be fun to kind of talk about a little bit now in the scene too. So they're able to make it like I said, they're able to make it to this habitable planet, which is a lot like Earth conveniently nice. Um, yeah, I, I love science fiction, but I just have to think I think I tend to think so much about like, well, that wouldn't work because of time and all these things. And it's like, by the time I get done with a science fiction book, my brain is like a Nazi like science. Okay, so they land and they need to find someone to fix their ship because they have been attacked by these people like the government or whatever, and the the military, and they're kind of in rough shape. Like the fact that they made it to this planet is a miracle. Okay, right. So she is directed to shade Gavin's shot, right? And she ends up making a deal with him with whatever money they have left when he's going to fix their ship. It'll take about a week. And there is so much chemistry between these two Lots of sparks there, indeed, my
Margie:legs are kicking on the floor.
Rachel:And he kind of put pieces together just from their interaction like, okay, she's, I think she might not do things entirely legally, which whatever no question asked. And also pieces together that like, she's definitely on the run from something, but he doesn't know what he's like, you know, she's gonna give me money, I'll fix her ship, it'll take a week, and she'll be gone. And he even gives her a discount on a new door, oh, for the outside like airlock kind of thing for the outside of the thing. Because she's like, she doesn't have the money, it's fine, half price, whatever, because he likes he thinks she's pretty. And he also tells her where it gives her sort of points in the right direction. In order to get some extra money. She needs to sell some books that she has. And when I say books, please gasp every time. Okay, so she needs to sell some books. Perfect. because books are illegal. Well, they used to be okay, not so much anymore. Yeah. So there was I didn't know if I was gonna be able to finish this book at first because oh, there was some similarities to life involving, you know, oppressive governments and
Margie:et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
Rachel:et cetera. The fact that everyone had to leave Earth because of a nuclear fallout. Yeah, so galactic overlord. Okay, man guy has finally like, made books, okay. But there's still a huge stigma around books. Thank you. It's really late. Okay, I'm not doing my best. You're doing great. Um, so she needs to go sell this huge amount of books that she has. It's gonna go on to the whole episode, which is great when we do an episode about books. And he points me in the right direction to a place where she can sell them. Um, so after he, after she leaves, he's like, You know what, I'm curious. I want to know what she did. And he goes back to his super secret bounty hunter database, where he where like, bounties are posted, okay. And he starts trying to find her and he can't find anyone by that because Bailey is a super common last name. Okay, she specifically picked it so she could blend in. And then all sudden, as he's searching up pops a brand new bounty with her face. Worth like 2 million space bucks.
Margie:space, a space box.
Rachel:And he's
Margie:a picture of Donald Trump on them and SpaceForce below it,
Rachel:probably. But he like has this pant shitting moment of Wait, how much Holy shit. And through this, he kind of starts to like, piece together a little bit. He's like, because it mentions, you know, her being on the run for a jailbreak. And he's like, Oh, shit, she was in prison. And the like, the worst prison in the game. When she was, yeah, when she was 19. And like, he starts to like he so Thus begins the process of humanization for someone that he's supposed to be taking in for a bounty. So he's super torn, right? Because she's hard, but he's like, You know what, right? Not to. But he's like, You know what, I have a week to decide what I'm going to do, because this money could like solve all of my problems, because he has some financial issues.
Margie:2 million space box, you know, a lot of space,
Rachel:a lot of space. So this begins the scene three montage. Okay, right. So this is the montage of the week that they are on this habitable planet. Okay. So the next morning shade starts working on her show. He shows up first thing and she's like, wasn't expecting him to start right away. He's not a morning person. So she brings him coffee and like, actually chats with him and he's grumpy and they don't quite have the same like, discourse that they did before. And she thinks she's like, Oh, he's just not a morning person. When in reality he's like, Why'd she have to bring me coffee? Why does she have to talk to me like a human? Why do I have to be a normal human? Why
Margie:can't you be an asshole to make this decision easier? Exact Yeah.
Rachel:Um, so test goes into the city. And I to find that lady about her books this so she finds this bookstore and it is like, gasp and it is like, adorable. It is up complete and utter mess on the inside. Like you walk in and it's just controlled chaos and the girl that runs it is kind of the same like crazy hair like kind of adorable crazy. I love her so much I would die for her and She's a cat lady, which is why I would super dive for her. She has so many cats. And so she agrees this lady agrees to buy these books. And I'd like to also mention again, I cannot emphasize this enough. Test is a bad fugitive. Right? I figured she's okay. She just like straight up. Granted, this bookstore lady happens to be a kindred spirit. But she does straight up like reference a lot of her like, like, treasonous rhetoric to this woman.
Margie:Good. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine.
Rachel:Um, so she agrees to buy the books when guards end up coming in and test kind of gives this woman a panic look, and she's like, No, in the bottom, like, in the back. So she hides tests. Oh, and her like apartment, which is underneath. And these guards were coming in to kind of like, give her shit about selling buttons. Well think like, think like mafia style of like, boy, it would be a shame if you know something happened. That kind of thing. Really strong and shitty. Right? And while she's down there in like the basement and this woman's apartment, she looks around and there's just cats everywhere. Test has never seen a cat before she is in theory read about cow is not very comfortable in, like, by a lot like her personal nightmare would be a forest because she just she's in space. All right, like she's not used to by all biological stuff. So she's like, okay, it's making a noise. It's and it's rubbing against my legs a lot. It's all rumbly okay, I guess I'll pet it. I don't know. How do and there's this one cat that just keeps rubbing up against her and what leave her alone. And so this lady comes back. She's like, sorry about that, you know, like, and they have a heart to heart. They instantly become friends. And she's like, here, you take this. And hands are the cat. So she has gifted a cat.
Margie:Cat Cat.
Rachel:It's this little like black, gray and white like Tabby kind of like Kima honestly. And she names him balk, because it keeps bumping up against her and it's
Margie:so cute. Oh my gosh.
Rachel:And the best part is bonk is an integral part to the story. Yeah, it'd be very happy. Okay. And I'm putting it up here. Now. Bunk is like nothing bad.
Margie:I'm glad that you told us now. Yes,
Rachel:it has to happen. Don't worry, the cat. The cat is fine. So she shows back up at the spaceship and shades just like, Wait, she gave you a cat. She trusts you that much. Oh,
Margie:and now he's like, God, shit.
Rachel:Exactly. So after a few days, shade comes by and decides he kind of want to get guns wants to get more of a feel for testing. So he said, Hey, let's go to the beach. taking you on a date. Um, yeah. So he does he takes her to the beach like in the evening. And we we get a little bit of background into shading during this time. Because shade the only place they can go to like to the beach is this area that is controlled by this dude who owns a casino essentially. And he owns a ton of land and he's like very mafia kind of thing. And it turns out shade you kind of pick up that shade owes this guy a lot of money.
Margie:Ah, so like, job at the hut? Han Solo. Yeah. Kind of do we got some Carbonite coming up?
Rachel:Yeah. No, no, really. He kind of? Yeah. And it's not so much that he he owes him money. It's that he's trying to save up money to pay this to buy something from this. Oh, okay. Okay. So we'll get more of that later. But this is where it first comes up. And we also get to us is like standing out looking at the beach. And a call comes in two shades. Cruiser space cruiser thing that they're in from two other bounty hunters. Thankfully, test isn't around. She doesn't hear this. But they're like, Hey, I know you're like really good at this. Do you want to team up? And he's like, No, last time we teamed up. You used me and then tried to kill me. We're not doing this again. And they're like, Oh, come on. Just this time. It's fine. He's like, No, besides, I have no idea where she is and hangs up and it's fine. Yeah, so he's like, not telling anyone about this, and still has no idea what to do. Okay. Um, yeah, so they have a really fun night on the beach. And Tess has ever been to a beach. And things get a little steamy. And the thing that you kind of get with test is she does nothing halfway. So she's like, running in the surf with her legs like her. Her pants tied up. And he's like, it is freezing. What are you doing? And she's like, Ah, this is way less cold than when you're in the middle of a spacewalk and you accidentally get like think that you have like, a break in your Yeah, no, no, this is nothing. Like how many times has that happen? happened to you. Um, so they like have this and that's part of what he really likes about her is this like, fuck, it just goes all in all the time. So they have a really cute night together and things get real steam between the two. There's like some real good chemistry to just saying, I'm god, this this really is montage. This all happens over a week. So the next night got so much Tescos to transport the books at night to get to the buckler, and shade is kind of following her is a NA. Like, like, he still hasn't decided what he's gonna do. But he's kind of like tracking her like, Please imagine a super stealthy data, data data. And he doesn't notice that she is not great in one on one with people. But she is very good at blending in crowds. So he just kind of noticed that about her. So she goes and she sells her books to this lady. And, again, I reiterate, she's so bad at being a feud. She straight up tells this woman her name Quintessa Nova light just throws it out there.
Margie:You know, it's actually a pretty common name. How many Quintessa Nova lights do you know? I know at least right? What? Six, seven? So yeah, yeah, it's like Rachel nowadays.
Rachel:That was that was Bitsy his birthday. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. So I so she is the daughter of this like galactic overlord guy. And the entire galaxy thinks that her and her mother are dead because of some sickness.
Margie:Mm hmm. Interesting. Okay. Yeah.
Rachel:Um, so on the way back. She is walking back and there is like some guards kind of come around. And she's trying to like she kind of panics. Like she has this moment of oh, shit. And so shade who had been following her reaches out, grabs her and pulls her into an elbow I love I want you to take a guess. What do you think happens kisser? Yeah, yeah. Not so much to shut her up. But they look at each other. And she like tries to, like, punch him first. And he's like, no, no, it's just me. Shut up. We let's make it look natural. smooching and make out. But test doesn't do anything halfway. So she basically just crawls down his throat and it is a very hot and heavy man. Oh, um, and it works. They the guards like tell them like, well take it off the street, and then they just keep Okay. Um, and she like, legit trusts him. And he's still not sure what the hell he's doing. But one thing he does say is he's like, You have like, you're some pretty good reflexes, everything, but you are terrible at fighting. Why don't you come over to my place, and I will teach you and she's like, Yeah.
Margie:We do it with our clothes off.
Rachel:Hey, so she greets the next night. She's gonna go over and he's gonna give her a self defense lesson. Cool. Cool. Cool. Sure. Although she's not entirely sure if it is quote unquote or not. Yes. Like, he could actually teach me self defense. Well, either
Margie:way, I'm gonna get it out. I'm gonna get something out of it.
Rachel:Right. So let's go on a brief sidewalk. Okay. So you know, I said that that Super Soldier Serum was made out of her blood. Yeah. Right. So she has a lady in her crew that is like a biological science person. And she has. So what? So Tess grew up in an orphanage. So that's what happened. Like, she basically disowned by her dad. And so she grew up in an orphanage, and she's always trying to take care of that orphanage. So when they land, they check it with that, like at first they check in with that orphanage and they find out there is like a plague. Essentially, there is a sickness that is going through the orphanage right now, which is not that uncommon. But tasks up until this point has been able to get enough of these like medicine and all the stuff to deliver it that it's been okay. But she hasn't been able to get there in a while. And she has no medicine thinking that she had stolen medicine, but it was the super serum stuff. So she ends up having she started to put sort of two and two together about like, well if my blood has these properties like to make people super soldiers because that's what this was based off of. I wonder what else it can do. So she draws a pint of her own blood possibly less than a pint water blood. Alright, that's how much you give. Oh, really? Okay, blood. Yep, one pint of blood. Don't worry. That's the next science corner Hang on. But so she draws slightly less than a pint and gives it to this lady was like, Hey, I found this in the The lab what what does it do and that she finds out like dude, like, this blood can help cure diseases because magic, okay, because because higher levels of white blood cells I guess I didn't go into that part. Yeah, let's not fucking sign sound science,
Margie:biology. Look you blood? Yeah. It's like you do magic blood?
Rachel:What kind of, Hey what's your blood type? fucky fucky Yes. And so she realizes like, Okay, well we don't have medicine but apparently my blood can help And so long story short this lady can use this blood to create like doses of medicine or whatever for these kids basically. Okay, it's explained
Margie:in a book it has got some good old antibodies in there
Rachel:good antibodies.
Margie:antibodies.
Rachel:Good Kush. So she, the biology lady's like, hey, how much blood did you say there is because like, as much as I can get, I can make a bunch of like these doses of medicine and she's like, Oh, rummage around and see what else I can find. How many do you need? And she's not gonna like five bags. She's like, okay, no, so she goes, and she's like, well, I know that like, like, I just I because she doesn't get sick, right? That's like a thing that kind of comes up that she has never in her life been sick. And that's kind of how she started to figure all this out. So she is like, well, I know that I am able to give blood faster than normal people. Because when she was with her father, he would just take blood from her because he knew that there was something special because she was a snowflake. She was special. So she knows she can get blood faster than normal people. So she's like, Yeah, five bags. I could probably do that. I'll probably pass out but Okay, try. So she gives she makes it. She makes it to four bags before like, almost Okay, um, and that is literally the day that she's gonna go have this workout session with
Margie:what you shouldn't do. She has one brain cell and it was in that magic blood bag apparently.
Rachel:You know, you shouldn't do work out the day give blood is a bad idea. Very bad idea. So she she shows up, she's paler and pale. Right. Well, she ate a steak on her way there. So at least you got that going for it. I probably shouldn't
Margie:pass this out, actually, because I bless her blood probably just went to her stomach.
Rachel:Yeah, right. Well, I mean, the the protein and the Yeah, it will eventually
Margie:anemia
Rachel:first. So she shows up to this workout session and almost passes out in the middle of this. And because they're actually yapping out
Margie:if they were, if they were doing quote unquote working out, probably wouldn't have gone well either.
Rachel:No. So she's like, What is going on? And she tells him she's like, I kind of gave her blood today. He's like, how much did you give? And she's like, four bags. He's like the fuck? And so be like, No, you come here and like, carries her into his apartment and like, makes her orange juice and sugar toast. If he's like, eat this, you need sugar. And like takes care of. And she after a little while is like hey, I'm feeling better. You want to fuck? And he's like, no, no, you need to go. So let's take a brief sojourn into Rachel science corner three, the sciencing and talk about how much blood you can give before you die. Yeah, okay. Because she has been she feels as though she has been I
Margie:mean, granted, she is a special snowflake. So she is a good good magic blood antibody.
Rachel:Yes, but I would like to just in terms of normal, your everyday average humans. So she feels like she has been sort of shut down by shade. And she needs to give more blood because they need as much medicine as I can. So over the course of the next few days, she gives more blood and I think it comes out to about 13 pints tote. So after like a day or a couple days of like getting towards the end of this week. It's like the last night that they're going to be there. And she's like her and shade have been kind of like they haven't been cold. Like she's still bringing in coffee and they've been talking a little bit but it's just like he's kind of been keeping his distance. Right. Okay. And she's like, on the last day she's like, You know what, fuck it. The worst thing that can judge me is you can say no again. And I would like some stick. Please help me in a while. I would like to make
Margie:an autistic. Yes, please. One. One day please.
Rachel:One rogue sexy ass Dick please. My fast. They don't do the ass. Yeah, but so she's like, Screw it. So She puts on her little black dress. And she shows up to his place at night. Yeah, dress. And he, she, she knocks he lets her in. And he she walks in and she's like, alright, and she drops the dress. Which just right, first off, girl, can we have one second? Like of all the ways to ask, you could say hey, I would like to have sex with you or how x strip and from and he just has this moment of sheer. Well, no going back now. Definitely not putting her in. Yeah, you know, not gonna get a million dollars in this time. And they
Margie:Is it good?
Rachel:It's, you know, it's not. It's not bad. She She is enthusiastic. Okay, let's say because again, she doesn't do anything halfway. So how ready? Are you for shit to him?
Margie:I'm so ready. I'm so ready. You're ready.
Rachel:Let's get into this fucking drama. So the next day, he's taking her back to her ship. And those you remember those bounty hunters? Right? Yeah. Do they show up? And she ends up there talking to him. Like you did find her. And so she is
Margie:like, shit. Okay, but I kind of saw that coming. I was like, You need to tell 1000
Rachel:miles away. Yeah. Yeah. Communication is so important in a relationship. Yeah. So she kind of works out that like, oh shit. You're working with them and feel super betrayed, justifiably so. And but he's still kind of trying to protect her and he like he grabs her hand and he's trying to like, he's hoping she knows Morse code and is trying to like squeeze out like safe. You are saved, but she doesn't. So he gets he does manage to get her back under her ship, though without them traumatizing her because she is worth more alive. Okay, he's dead. Um, and in all of this insanity. Bonk freaks out because he's never experienced a spaceship turning on before and runs off the ship. No. And shade gets tranquilized. Oh. Because they they're like, Well, you're not going to work with us. We certainly don't want you following us. And so they travel. And they but test and get away. So as they like, they kind of get away. They're like, okay, there is definitely a tractor ownership, like they were waiting for me. So they know, we know there's a tracker on their ship. So they get to a place in space. And she's like, I have to get out there and sweep the outside of the ship for tracking bugs. So because apparently she's the only one that can jump spacewalks course,
Margie:especially like it's her magic blood.
Rachel:Magic blood. Right. And so she
Margie:really taught me viruses are in space. Viruses there are in space, she needs to she she's the magic blood is she's the only one with the magic bullet to protector. With the antivirus in space.
Rachel:No. God, a test test would be the kind of person that would scream into the void. And it was. So she goes out there and start sweeping the ship for bugs and she's trying to move fast because she knows that like it's gonna take them some time to get to their ships, but they're going to be after them. And she ends up finding a couple of them. And like, as she gets to the second one, they show up. And so she's like, they're like trying to get at her with this like hook thing and like shoot at her and so it's this whole like, it isn't just like I am all about intense action scenes. This one was one of the more intense ones that I've read of her like trying she funds up seeing a third like tracking bug, right like as they're going after her and she like, almost gets a whole innerspace suit like all this shit. Oh, y'all, y'all, spoilers. I'm gonna recommend that you read the book. If you want the full intensity of that scene, read the scene. It's crazy. I'm doing a bad a bad job of show not showing, instead of telling I'm just gonna tell you but it was super intense. So she doesn't hit a couple of times. But she manages to get this last bug away and they managed to do like she jumps into the airlock. Right as they're, they warp away to the edge. Right? Because they still need to get this magic orphanage. The matching is like medicine, blood, blood
Margie:Spaceball so please save the episode that Spaceball toe
Rachel:Spaceball toe and test from now on is no longer test. She is Spaceballs. So they're able to get to the orphanage and the two women that had the orphanage are adorable and I love them. I will say the world building in this book was very well done. So they're able to deliver the care to the kid And it does end up actually like, it starts healing them like they start getting better. And so she's like, you know, this is we had to just stop here and we need to leave again. So like, as she's going to leave, she's literally like walking out of this orphanage and who shows up. But Mr. General Guess who Mr. General guy is? So it's kind of her uncle.
Margie:I guess I tracks.
Rachel:Right Yeah, doodle. And he's been looking for her and he kind of knew she was going to come here because he's the one that brought her here. First place. So you get a lot of her background here of like, so he is he's her uncle, but he's her mother. Okay. You're not the parent who actually your daughter.
Margie:I'm guessing okay. Yes,
Rachel:exactly. The mother who died the mother who was killed by the dad.
Margie:Oh, we're
Rachel:word. Yeah, so he, he's the one that brought her to this orphanage. So he knew she was gonna die. Like he kind of like, right, like, I knew this was gonna happen. And so they're like, trying to they're kind of having a standoff kind of thing. When all of a sudden, Schade steps out and puts a gun to her head. Um, yeah, get ready to invest. So she ends up finding out like, you know that her mom was killed by her dad. Her dad essentially infected her mother with a sickness that wasn't curable in a, because he did test his blood was special space cancer. He knew that test. His blood was special. But he knew his blood wasn't special. So he's like, Well, it must have been her or no. And he knew that his or her mom's blood wasn't special. So she's like, he's like You cheated on me test isn't actually my child. And like this whole drama. It's a whole thing. Basically, he ended up killing his wife. Just as revenge. Oh my god. Well, is it true? Dude's an asshole? What's a true? Yeah. Oh, tested? Tested? Yeah. Well, so she still doesn't know her
Margie:biological father is?
Rachel:I don't think so. I think that she is the daughter of the Galactic overlord. But it's something that hasn't been this is nice. So there is a second okay, series. I haven't read it yet. But I think that she is his daughter. I think that there's something weird going on here. So not all of these sort of loose ends are going to be tied up at the end of this book. So she kind of gets a general idea of what happened. Exactly. And shade is there for all of that. And so she decides she's like, I, I need to get away. So she tries to beat the crap out of shade and get away. And he lets her get in a couple really good shots before he's like, be careful. Don't No, no, don't have you their book is in there. And she's like, wait, what? And then shade turns the gun on the general. And it's like, sorry, I really just needed you to show me where she was. So because he was looking for tests, but the general kind of set out like, hey, I need help right in this specific location. And she's like, Oh, there she is guy. Yes. Does that make sense? So she's like, Wait, why? And he's like, yeah, sorry, I just, I needed to find out where you were. And also, I have your cat with me. And we gotta go. Let's fucking. And so they end up like making a deal with the general of like, look, I will meet you meet you in like, a couple days, I'll give you blood because that's what you want if you want my blood, but don't destroy the orphanage. And we need to get out of here. So they're able to kind of book it. And they make it back to the ship. And there's actually like her in shade kind of have this moment while they're running of like, he's like, I get it. I was an asshole. I'm so sorry. I'm really trying to help. I've kind of just given up on my eye my entire life before, like, let me come with you and help you. And she's like, I believe you. I'm not ready to forgive you yet. So that was a lot. But I believe you. Let's go so like, take some time to build that trust back. Um, so they make it back to the ship. And if you thought things were bonkers now then. fast to get even more so because guess who's on the ship? The Overlord guy her dad. Okay. Yeah. So her dad kind of had an assumption that the general her uncle knew where he was.
Margie:Okay, so same uncle same theory that shade used basically. Okay, okay. Okay, pretty much
Rachel:and so he's holding her crew hostage eat specifically one woman in her crew
Margie:by all
Rachel:and nothing ever right? No, another time another woman so this is their navigator so it's their navigator and her does navigators. Okay. There are two other people in this crew and so on. They, he's holding her hostage. And, you know, it's trying to get her to go and she's like, Okay, I'll go with you and everything like that. And he's like, You know what? I'm gonna keep this woman with me though, just in case. And so he's walking away and this woman has this is where that like sexual assault had. She's like, No, this is not happening again. And she starts to fight and he kills her. Oh, yeah, it's not great. It's so bad. It's just kind of moment. But she still she's like trying to agree to go with her. Go with him still shade ends up getting shot in this whole thing. Like, it's this whole standoff. And as she's going with her dad to his ship, you remember the dude that was on the lab that they like accidentally kidnapped. He shows up and starts, because he's been following her too. And I'm suddenly realizing there's like a million people that have been following this woman, what the hell. And he just like makes a beeline for this galactic overlord guy and is like, ready to kill him. Which is amazing, because they keep like trying to shoot him. And he's like, not being affected by anything. Because he was in a lab full of Super Soldier Serum. And kind of was a test subject. Oh, so he's a super soul. Okay.
Margie:Holy coincidence. Batman,
Rachel:right. I mean, yeah, yeah. And the galactic overlord guy is just has this moment of Fuck, fuck, like die. And so he runs away. Bring like anyone out with him. He didn't. He didn't bring any super soldiers with him. Because he didn't have any because they don't have Oh, see, Ronnie. Well, that's right. Has it? Yeah, yeah. So he ends up running away, and they're able to get away. Okay, like, yeah, so that was Buck fucking wild. Yeah, shit at the fan. I'm so sorry. If it was. Okay, we're getting, we're getting to the end. Like I said, this is the first book in a series. So they're nail remember, their navigator was killed. Thankfully, shade knows how to navigate. And he they're, they're all willing, like, okay, you can come with us, like, we understand that you were trying to protect us this entire time. And she's still not willing to forgive you. But you can come with us. So they end up getting away shade is able to navigate for them. And but no one is telling shade, where they're going. So what they're trying to find is they're trying to find something called the Fade. The Fade has been referenced many times in this book up until this point, I have not mentioned it because it involves a whole other side plot. But I couldn't get into because so much happened in this book. Long story short, the fade is essentially like this pocket dimension, which I'm not even going to go into the dollar sign that my gods and that the rebels use against this galactic overlord against the dark side, the Empire if you will, and but the fade the entrance to the fade moves. And so sometimes it can be hard to find there's like, if you know, then sometimes like you can kind of predict where it'll be. But sometimes it takes a while to find it. And there's indicators that you can look for in order to find it. So they are just hopping around star systems trying to find the fate. And they end up finding it in and I quote the space between two stars in this particular like, sector of space. Here is the fourth Rachel science corner for science harder that he just roll up. Roll it back. I have one bullet on the science corner. Space is fucking big y'all. Yeah, right. This, the space between stars is a lot of space. So they end up finding this place the Fade. And they're able to dock in this like rebel headquarters. And they're they start repairing and upgrading the ship. And they've kind of decided that, like, we have this super soldier serum. And I think we need to give it to the rebels like we need to because we believe that the Empire the Galactic Empire, I'm just going to refer to apples from now on. So the Empire might we don't know if they still have this. They definitely have a couple super soldiers that they probably tested on but I don't know if they have more. And so we were afraid that seeing what our own super soldier can it won't be a fair fight basically. Exactly. So I've decided to hand it over. So they land and they start to do repairs to the ship and shade is like looking over their ship and like Wait, you guys don't have that really come on. That is like the basics. And so he is like getting ready to take over and he actually has a lot of money saved up that he can that she's like, I don't have the money to pay for it. He's like, I got you. Okay, learn. Press it. Well, we finally learn their backstories so she's still grieving for a friend. That was killed, obviously. And he is like he's, he's straight up tells us look, I, if you will let me I want to comfort you, I want to be here for you and support you in this. And she's like, okay, yeah, like I don't, it's one of the things where it's like I could keep holding on to this, but I don't think I'm gonna move on until I try. So she's willing to try. And so they kind of spill each other's backstories. And basically, on that first planet that like the habitable planet, all of those docks that they like, space docks, his family used to own it. And then his parents died, he found out his dad was in a lot of debt. And so we went to that shady casino guy and was like, I'm going to gamble that you for this debt. And he puts up all of these docks that his family owns as collateral, and he loses. So he's trying to buy that back. So he actually has a lot of money saved up and the money that he could have gotten from turning tessen would have been enough to finish all of that. Okay. Yeah. So she like, understand, like, I totally get why you were so conflicted and all these things, and like, what you had to give up in order to do this and all that stuff. And she tells him about her being at that prison and the orphanage and all that stuff. And so she's like, look, I'm, I'm gonna go shower. I think that my shower can fit to people. He's like, Yes, I'm in. So so they go and it's like getting kind of steamy and sexy.
Margie:Well, yeah, like steamy, steamy, and steamy.
Rachel:And so they they end up napping and having sexy time. Bonk is now a full fledged. He's doing great. He's fine. Oh, and the book ends with them. They're about to bring the super soldier. This the secret stuff, if you will, the secret but
Margie:push. Like Captain America. Captain America cush.
Rachel:Oh, God, to the rebel leaders. And my final note is to be continue. Yeah, so there's there's another book but Alright, first book.
Margie:All right. All right. I liked it. It was a lot of fun. It was a really fun ride. Yeah, literally. And it was 100%
Rachel:a hell of a ride. Yeah. Let's write the book before we get into the sexy. Yes. So yeah. So I'm, I'm sorry if that was confusing. No,
Margie:you did a great job. You did a great job. There were just a couple hell of a ride a context questions that I have. But you did a great job. Yeah. Yeah.
Rachel:And like I said, in the blog post, I will go into way more detail with all of the science. Maybe I'll even get Rebecca to sit down and have a chat with me about science. And we'll just geek out about space. That
Margie:sounds like fun. Could be fun. Yeah. Yeah. So I was gonna ask you about the character. Yesh? Yeah, that's right.
Rachel:So I speech she definitely had special snowflake syndrome. And for the most part, like, there were for the most part, she was a really fun character just because like, a lot of the things where it's like, Hey, you're being a really bad for you to do right now. Could be explained away with. She's been living with the same four people in space for a long time. And she's just not very socially adept. You know, good at social. Yes. Yeah. So like, it kind of made a little bit of sense in that regard. And she had an interesting background. It was a little snowflake. But still like she was still a fun character.
Margie:There's a reason why special snowflake is a thing it's because it's enjoyable. That's why people you but you can't do it. Well, and it sounds like this.
Rachel:Absolutely. Yeah, it was it was definitely done. Well, um, there's a couple rolling my eyes into the sunset parts just like inconsistency. So like a romance novel so Cristiano um, I would give her a solid solid three. middle of the road. I think pretty good. Um, yeah, middle I mean, three, three and a half about Haley on the higher ends, okay. Shade wrestled my
Margie:jammies. He sounds like yeah,
Rachel:he was a white a Jimmy wrestler. Yeah,
Margie:I don't know. Why would I think of him though, I think of like tight white t shirts and like muscly arms. I'm just just in a muscle right mood
Rachel:tight gray T shirts. Okay. It matters like like, like kind of tight dark, dark, washed, slim fit jeans. Gray t shirt. Boots. muscleblaze boots, like leather work boots. Yeah, yep. New t shirt idea. Great a Jimmy wrestler. Great AJ.
Margie:What would you give us and what how?
Rachel:He had a really interesting backstory and like some really interesting internal conflict. I give him like a three and a half. I liked him a lot granted to He did things to me, but you know, yeah, it's fine. It's fine. My cup of tea. If you're not here for my personal opinion, then what are you even here for?
Margie:The bananas Romans we know that but you're also here
Rachel:yeah, for our take on it. It also here for us, right? Um, overall plot was kind of crazy but again the world building was really good. And so I'd give it a solid three and a half four again. It made sense. Yeah, everything that happened made sense.
Margie:Yeah, unlike the unlike the fashion that we did where the world was like Greek gods but non Greek gods and didn't really write traffic
Rachel:Fuck you, but yeah, this was done that way better. Fucking magic. In this case it's fuck you science but it makes more sense. It makes more sense not set so it makes more more sense. Also, bonk is my hero. And also such a good name for a cat.
Margie:Also, what a good boy.
Rachel:Such a good name. What a good
Unknown:boy Chicka boys.
Rachel:He is to steal a term from Alexa. He is constipated. Which is to say he just purrs all the time. Oh, can't stop purring and I love him for that. Um, the sex was pretty good. She was very enthusiastic. Um, but I mean, it was pretty good to do it. Yeah, we'll get into it. I would give that I would give it like a three, three and a half wasn't too bad. Um, and then overall, I think is the last thing. Give this book like a six or a seven. Like it was a fun book. Yeah, yeah. It was a good, fun book. I recommend I recommend it. Okay, um, I I don't know if I'm going to read the second one or not. I don't usually go for books that are like a series not Rawnsley. I think you're the same why there is not romance novels. I like I like the happy ever after. And I like to get my happy ever after. relatively quickly, because instant gratification is a thing. It's fun. Yeah, yeah. So I was really good. I really enjoyed it. I recommend it. Okay, I'm 100%. Okay.
Margie:And when you weren't reading this book, what were you what media were you consuming? Media Have you been other than my twilight text?
Rachel:So, a couple new. We don't usually do music recommendations, but a couple new music albums came out this week, but I've kind of been like binging on listeners will know I'm a huge fan of the mountain goats. Yeah, I love them so much. There's so good who the
Margie:reference Taylor Swift's new album. I had no idea she had one. She just came out with a new low res
Rachel:fantastic had no idea. No clue. What all what came out this week that you should listen to is the mountain goats did virtual concerts a couple weeks back that were so good. And the thing with the mountain goats is they are better in person than they are on their norm like recorded and they're very good recorded. Like they're really good. So they actually just released the albums for both of those live concerts. So it's like live albums, and they're phenomenal. And also there's a band called foxy Shazam. Lachlan is an awesome rock, dude. The main dude is like he is that just extra? He's totally like that little bit of extra. And his vocal range is in sane. Oh, he's very good. Phenomenal. So they came out with a new album too. So that's my music recommendations. Listen to those albums, y'all. They're real good.
Margie:Alright, well, I think that's it.
Rachel:Yeah, let's let's get into the set the sex getting this smell. Yeah. SMEX Hey, Eleanor, you thank you for the use of your song. I love the album be held. And I'm sure that pre episode Rachel already took over and reminded you that we've updated all of our Patreon stuff, so check that shit out. Word Yeah, yep. Yeah, super exciting. Stay tuned for a blog post with a bunch of science stuff in it. And hey, we love you.
Margie:We'll see you later. We'll so much