Are you a fan of audiobooks? This is a podcast for you! Join Connor on his quest to read more, and practice his narration skills. Connor Reads books from the public domain, but is happy to read any book he is given permission to read; we don't want to start the podcast Connor Gets Sued. This show contains all sorts of stories, so the content warnings will be different depending on the story he reads.
Episode 39: 'Legacies Unearthed' - 'The Solarian Deep' - David Deane Haskell
•L. Connor Voice•Season 1•Episode 39
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A dead shoreline. A rusted power station. An underwater civilization that has every reason to fear the past; and one stubborn student who can’t stop reaching for it. We’re back with a solo story read from 'The Solarian Deep' by David Deane Haskell. Chapter 5 “Legacies Unearthed” is the kind of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk sci-fi that makes you feel the salt in the air and the risk in every kick of your feet.
Daniela is brilliant, restless, and convinced that old-world infrastructure might hold the key to long-term survival. When her society draws a hard boundary around “dangerous” energy and “approved” progress, she does what curious people always do: she pushes past the boundary. A rare shore-access petition turns into a tense expedition with anthropologists scavenging for human relics and engineers hunting for usable answers.
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Well, howdy, listener. A lot of the things I like to read might not be suitable for all audiences, so please check out the episode notes and listen with care. Well, howdy, listener, and welcome back to another episode of Connor Reed's Books. I'm so happy you're here. Thanks for joining us.
Today we are doing a story read. We are reading a chapter from The Solarian Deep, written by David Dean Haskell. We had an interview with David a couple weeks ago, and now we have a chapter read coming out. And this particular one is chapter 5. It's going to be a solo chapter. We will have chapter 6 out in not so long. And that will feature Friends of the Pod and voice actresses Ruth Ann and Jackie, who you have heard in the Vanishing Lightning episode. Also, fun news about the Solarian Deep. It is now ranked number four in Cyberpunk Sci-Fi on Amazon books. So congratulations, David Dean Haskell. Uh, well done. It's an awesome book to read through. The world building is really quite interesting, but I'm not gonna dig in too deep here. Uh go ahead and check out our interview. Uh there will be links in the episode notes, and you'll find it earlier on our feed. And enjoy chapter 5 of the Salarian Deep. Chapter
5. Legacies Unearthed. Pelagic 91. Two generations prior to the rise of the Salarians. Daniela attended a prestigious school in the capital city of the Western Shelf. With a drive to become a politician and make things better for everyone, she excelled in school, outshining her peer group and even stumping the teachers now and again. She had a knack for the old continentals. Her treaties on the dark times untangled a web of half-truths and political machinations which predated the great ecological collapse by decades. But her true academic passion lay beneath the waves. In particular, her own culture of techno mERS. Though she'd opted out of the full gill treatment, she loved the seas as much as any techno could, and spent her precious free time outside, surfing the big waves. Unlike in eastern regions, the West Coast surface was safe to swim, and she enjoyed the ups and downs, not to mention the thrill of deep dives, from the surface to the abyss. There were moments, floating in silence, when she could almost sense something out there. Not dangerous, but just watching. There were concerns about such primitives, so she and her friends had to stay a ways out. She never caught sight of them, but she'd heard plenty of ghost stories. How they'd come crashing into the sea to take a young Murgirl straight out of the water, never to be seen again. But most of the students realized that that was little more than tall tales. Though she never saw such monsters, she did catch sight of an ancient technology she wished she could have gotten a closer look at.
Power stations, thought to generate enough juice to drive entire ancient cities, stood rotting along the shores in many a popular surfing region. Beyond the simple work of her treaties, Daniela was considering a more intensive study. This involved the feasibility of getting some of those power stations up and running again. It had been many decades since the last of their kind had retreated back beneath the waves. It seemed logical to consider alternative power sources. The geo and hydrothermal power they now relied on was good enough, to a point, but their civilization was on the rise, and these limited sources wouldn't last forever. They had a hard and fast rule against fossil energy, given how the demise of civilization had played out around their misuse. But wind and solar were safe, well documented, and available to anyone willing to fund an expedition. That plus these mysteries, ancient stations that lined the shores, these behemoths that may have been nuclear, or some sort of sophisticated hybrid, but at any rate might be great use for any sea dwellers willing to make a go of it. Despite her efforts, Daniela was the only one truly interested in those antiquated technologies. There was still a great deal of fear. Society had advanced. Their way was the best and only way. All else was deemed excessive and dangerous. But Daniela had heard different stories, of a method of merging the old with the new, ancient wisdom that seemed to come from the sea, wisdom which had saved them, then slipped back beneath the waves. In that sense, these waves were all a part of a continuum with its own place and purpose. There were reasons to revisit these resources too. They had enough to get by now, yes, but down the road they'd be looking at shortages. And finally, collapse. So she persisted. She even proposed a shore excursion, so that the engineers could get a look at the old technologies, perhaps even attempt to integrate some of it into their usual facilities.
When she got no response from the department head of her school, she took matters into her own hands. With a handful of fellow students along for the ride, Daniela petitioned for shore access, a difficult to obtain privilege few Merfolk took advantage of. In fact, only the Department of Anthropology even accepted such requests. So that was who they went through. The anthropology people were an interesting lot. They occasionally made near-shore excursions, so they were familiar enough with the ancient power stations in question. They'd not explored them yet, but they knew how to find them. So she'd be heading up with a few of their scholars along with her own friends. One big, happy, shore-leaving party, and all for the benefit of a technology most everyone refused to have a part in. Daniela was growing accustomed to being on the fringes of society, and she wasn't yet twenty years old. Allowing those bone collectors into the fold was the only way to compose a full complement, so Daniela had reluctantly allowed them in. They had little use for technology, but were more than willing to explore the structures. They hoped to come across some glove or article of clothing, something worthy of being stuck in a museum. Or a book, even better. There were ancient text libraries that would kill for a fresh copy of something or other to put on display.
The trip to shore was uneventful, almost tediously so. Strict orders required them to scrub at the first sign of danger, whether it be natives, wildlife, or worst of all, blackened vegetation or soil discoloration. Radiation remained the gravest concern. None of their fears came to pass. The shoreline was barren and cold and still as a tomb. Any hints of vegetation were far distant and hardly noteworthy. A solitary tree, a stripped clump of shrubbery, no hint of vibrancy along the entire shore. The anthropologists were busy at work, scouring the dunes for any sign of human relics. Their excitement was contagious, though Daniela felt an urge to order them back. Struggling to catch a decent breath, she tugged at her wetsuit collar. It was one thing to discuss an excursion in the abstract, but a whole other experience to abandon the safety of home. Then to find a place both familiar and alien at the same time. It was unnerving.
Once the group composed itself and made ready to explore the structure, they first made a survey of the perimeter. There were barriers around the whole edifice, though fractured and broken in several spots. Getting inside wouldn't pose any problem. Daniela's group had little to do while they looked over the place, though the Anthros had a field day picking off bits of metal and material from the fencing. Finally, they approached the entrance closest to the shore, allowing for a quick escape if needed. Daniela's colleagues all held light sources, as did Daniela herself, and they lit them up before venturing into the gaping hole in the side of the structure. It looked as though a bomb had gone off, though there was no significant radiation signatures to indicate that was so. It was likely just a symptom of age, though they'd learn more once they got inside. The place dripped with water damage everywhere one turned, and the dank smell was at once musty and ocean-like. It might almost have felt like a power station at home, if not for the lack of creak-heavy ocean sounds that all true cities had. In place of that, there was an almost lighter-than-air clink-clank sound of the wind against the outer walls, vastly more noticeable than what they were accustomed to. The corridors themselves were dull and utilitarian, offering little in the way of souvenirs. As for Daniela's group, they were there for one reason alone, to get a look at the control center. From there, they would determine if further study was warranted, or if the place was so far gone it was beyond any notion of repair.
When they finally got to the large chamber that surely represented the heart of the place, Daniela's three halted, taking in the measurements and configuration for their report. The anthros had no such compunction to hold back. This place was a virtual treasure trove of man-made junk. Random tools, clipboards, and personal items were strewn about, occupying just about every workstation. It was so much that they couldn't handle it all, and set about creating a triage system so they could determine what was essential and what could be left behind. None of that mattered to Daniela, who set eyes on exactly what she was after straight away. The main control station. From there, the vital functions of this power station were monitored and adjusted, and it was there that she would find the answers to her deepest questions.
The blare of an alarm shocked the eight of them, motionless. Overhead, the lights flickered and fizzled, casting ghostly shadows in the cavernous space. Later, they would realize that one of the anthros must have tripped the alarm while trying to pry a wedged spanner loose from an emergency stop mechanism. At the time, though, none of them understood what had gone wrong. Then came a grinding, frightful screeching noise, and the place lit up with flashing reds and whites that blinded them. Panic set in. Daniela later regretted not ordering them to stay put, at least until she could get a handle on what they were dealing with, and maybe even how to make use of it. But that was hindsight. In the moment, she was just as scared as the others. She gave the order, then doubled back one last time, intent upon getting the last of her measurements before it was too late. They didn't stop running until they were out of the facility, past the fences, across the beach, and safely beneath the sea. All but their forgotten leader. Trapped behind floodgates in the building, her absence had gone unnoticed in the panic. She lunged for the control panel, slamming her fist against the rusted override. Nothing. She grabbed at the edges of the gate, yanking hard, but the metal wouldn't budge. Gasping for breath, she turned, eyes catching the flicker of an old security bid screen overhead. On it, grainy and flickering, her teammates were already halfway under the waves. She almost called out, but caught the cry in her throat. A rush of horror flooded over her as she realized there was nobody left on Earth that would hear.
We've all had a lot of fun with the script. Again, we love this like world-building, really cool, sort of like post-apocalyptic cyberpunk, but like sub-aquatic. You know, it's just really, really a cool premise and just a cool world. So anyway, uh thank you again, David Dean Haskell. Great time talking with you, great time reading your book. Uh folks, there are links to David's website and other books in the episode notes, so go ahead and check that out. Uh in the meantime, you can go ahead and check out my socials and David's socials, uh, and the links will be in the episode notes for that as well. Uh so yeah, you can follow, see what I'm up to, see what episodes I'm coming out with, and check out some of the other audiobooks that I'm producing these days. Also, a huge thank you to White Bat Audio on YouTube. White Bat Audio creates a lot of royalty-free and copyright-free synthwave tracks, kind of in the horror genre in general. Uh, if you're a Connor Reads book's head, or if you've listened to Tavern Squad, my TTRPG podcast, it has been discontinued, but it's still available to listen to and it's a lot of fun. I have used a lot of White Bat Audio's audio. They're really awesome tracks. So if you like Synthwave, if you like that grungy synthwave, maybe you're playing a tabletop game and you want to have that atmosphere. Maybe you're a streamer and you also want to have that synthwave atmosphere. Go ahead and check out White Bat Audio. I'm gonna have the links in the episode notes. Thank you so much for the music that you make. I really appreciate it, and I feel like it helps these stories just come to life in a whole other way. So, huge fan of you, White Bat Audio. Um, thank you again for all the work you do. And yeah. So, folks, thanks again for your time, your interest, and I guess one last point, just a reminder. If you're looking to have a chapter of your story read, reach out to me. Let's make an episode out of it. And if you're a voice actor looking to, you know, contribute to more fun projects, again, reach out to me. If you're seeing this on social media, shoot me a DM. There's no harm in talking to me about how you can come on the show and flex your voice acting chops. So, anyway, let's roll some credits. Have a good time, thanks for stopping in. I love you, and I appreciate you. You're a beautiful person. This has been Connor Reed's Books. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you have, please share and leave a review. Feel free to check out my social medias at LConnor Voice. Links in the episode notes. A big thank you to Louis Sanders, the producer of the Connor Reeds Books theme song. Until next, we turn the page. Just here to interrupt myself real quick and let you know. If you are seeing this right now, that means the Men of the Mountain audiobook, written by Drew Harrison, performed by me, is on the digital shelves on Audible right now. So again, Men of the Mountain out now. It's really awesome. I'm super proud of it, and I really hope you check it out. Purchasing the book helps Drew and me. So, yeah, what are you waiting for?
