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Welcome to meet us pod episode
four. I'm your host D Mitas.

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listenership is picking up now.
I love reading all the feedback

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we're receiving from feedback at
meatus pod.com. We've got two

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stories for you this episode.
The first the lady electric

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comes to us from Gary B
Phillips. Gary is a writer and

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software developer in Arizona.
He lives with his wife, three

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children, three cats, two
chickens, and one possibly

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insane puppy. He vows not to
shave his beard until his novel

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is done. Or he becomes a
powerful wizard, whichever comes

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first. His work has appeared in
daily science fiction, flash

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fiction online. The A is for
Apocalypse anthology and a

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variety of other places he
tweets at at Gary B. Phillips.

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The story is narrated for us by
new Rasputin. New Rasputin is a

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rugged handsome lumberjack who
lives on top of the highest

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mountain Washington State in a
log cabin with nothing but a

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computer and a microphone. He's
currently working on developing

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his voice acting skills and web
design talents. Check out his

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work at New rasputin.com Without
further ado, our first story,

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the lady electric by Gary B.
Phillips.

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There was a hole in the fabric
of your favorite dress, and the

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light seemed to bend around it.
Light always favored you,

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softening or illuminating to
give you an ethereal beauty at

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all times. I didn't say anything
new about the hole. And you know

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angry you would be I knew what
could happen as your anger got

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the best of you played in fear
it. I wanted to keep you safe.

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Halfway through dinner you saw
the hole in your face flush that

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brilliant pure white. The other
patrons took notice. How could

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they not? Children pointed at
you, gazing in wonder the black

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dots that burst around you and
sucked in the light. The

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restaurant emptied and the
police came in their guns drawn

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shouting at you to get down. A
few of them got too close and

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winked out of existence. Though
I'm not sure anyone noticed in

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the confusion. I love you. I
shouted in the midst of the

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chaos. Bullets in late in the
sound of the earth coming apart

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at the seams. I love you too.
You said it seemed to calm you

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and then they were upon you.
They led you away in handcuffs.

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Worried about the incident
spread quickly. The papers ran

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rife with speculation. The names
of the missing cops were

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released in the city held a
candlelight vigil in their

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honor. The mayor pleaded with
the public to come forward with

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any information they had about
the freak accident or mysterious

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woman. They didn't know how to
deal with you. So they kept you

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in solitary for two weeks. They
tried to visit you but they

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turned me away every time. She's
a danger to herself and others

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they said a deal was made and
they transferred you to a

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laboratory outside the city. A
man named Edison had taken a

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keen interest in you. I took a
train to New Jersey and held a

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carriage to Menlo Park. His lab
looked less like a place of

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research and more like an
oversized residence. Thomas

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Edison stood on his porch,
puffing a cigar and looking up

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to the heavens. I let myself in
through a white picket fence.

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Strange night, he said. I looked
up to the stars and only saw a

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few twinkling lights if a veil
had been placed over the sky.

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Indeed, are you Mr. Edison? I
asked. He nodded and shook my

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hand. He asked Mr. Atwood and
with the times. I nodded. And he

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invited me in. When I first
contacted him, I had lied and

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told him I was a reporter. You
know, I'm not a liar, so I'd

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even surprised myself. But if it
meant getting to see you again.

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It was worth it. His lab was
bright, lit by a queer light

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that made my eyes water. He
introduced me to his assistant

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and showed me around the lab.
This is really special, I said,

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but this is all yesterday's
news. I have something new, he

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said, drying closer to me and
speaking with a hushed fervor.

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I'd never seen anything like it.
Would you like to see? I nodded,

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following him downstairs and
through the locked doors. We

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stopped in an enormous weight
room, heavy with the sound of

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machinery. There she is. He
said. I scarcely recognized you.

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Your hair was gone, replaced
with tubes and wires that ran to

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strange devices. I call her lady
electric he said Mark my words

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she will change the world. You
had already changed mine. Your

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eyes were milky, rolled back
into your head. But you stirred

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when I came close. I am not of
this place. He said. I was not

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supposed to but I met you. Your
voice trailed off. I saw a spark

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of recognition a light your eyes
and then they were useless

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again. I left crestfallen. But
he was right. You change the

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world. The newspapers hailed
Edison as a genius. They covered

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up the real story, of course,
printing lies that he had found

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you in an alley begging for
food. They wrote of the quaint

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invention he had been working on
until he met you. Within a year,

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every major city used you. They
took their fill of you. The lady

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that lit up the night sky,
replacing the stars in the moon.

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I met with Mr. Edison often
under the false pretense that I

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was writing articles of him and
you

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could not keep up the charade,
though. I love her. I told him

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over coffee. His gaze did not
meet mine. He was fixated on his

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cup of coffee. His hair had
thinned and turned white since

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our first meeting. He was a far
cry from the young men I had met

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a year prior. He looked up at
me, as do I, he said. You're not

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surprised that I know her. Then
I asked. The diner was quiet,

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save for the faint clink of
silverware and murmured

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conversation. The silence was
heavy between us. She speaks of

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you often. He said. I knew I
couldn't find him on the grounds

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of morality. I had to appeal to
his heart. Does she love you? I

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asked him. I'm thinking of
leaving Mina, he said. Then he

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paid the bill and left. He did
not contact me again. And I was

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no longer permitted in his
laboratory. I took up arms

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against him. Now with a gun or
sword but with words, I told the

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world your story that you are
not a machine to be used up. But

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a woman a girl. Others took up
the cause condemning Edison

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calling him a monster. But they
were hypocrites because they

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cursed him under your light. You
wavered in your 10th year of

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captivity. Your light blazed one
minute and was gone the next I

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stepped outside to see the city
darkened and yet still

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illuminated. The stars shown in
the sky brighter than I had ever

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remembered seeing such a vast
array of radiant light above us

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and wondered why we needed
anything but then for light

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after gazing at the stars that
night. I knew that you were

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gone. Before I read it in the
papers. Are you with the stars

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start with insurance who bravely

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and ever did trust Edison. I
think it's his eyebrows. Have

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you seen those things? It's like
fuzzy caterpillar of reach I use

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our second story off campus
housing by Holly Schofield was

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originally published in at the
Canadian science fiction review

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July 2013, and is copyrighted
Holly Schofield, whose work has

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appeared in many publications
including Lightspeed across

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genres and Deseret. She travels
through time at the rate of one

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second per second, oscillating
between the alternate realities

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of a prairie farmhouse and her
writing Kevin on the West Coast.

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For more of her work, see Holly
scofield.wordpress.com, which is

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linked in the show notes. I'll
be narrating the story for you.

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I hope you enjoy off campus
housing by Holly Schofield. I

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pulled over into the shoulder of
highway 16 and opened my door

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for the hitchhiker with sweat
from the summer heat ran down

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his face as he pulled the door
closed. His grubby jeans were

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shoved carelessly into rubber
boots that wreaked of manure.

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Just the sort of person I
wanted. I just need to get to

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township road to five five got
my combine in the field, hoping

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to get in a full day's harvest.
He said After thanking me and

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settling into the RIP passenger
seat. I put the old Impala and

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gear and pulled back onto the
highway will happy to give you a

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ride. You're probably the only
verbal interaction I'm going to

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get today. I said, aiming for
simultaneously off the cuff and

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nerdy. A stranger took off his
Vita feed cap and scratched his

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forehead with a farmer's tan
ended. name's Rick, pleased to

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meet you He was in his 30s
crinkles beginning to form

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around his eyes, his wind, red
and skin contrasting with the

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short blonde hair and days
stubble the perfect stereotype

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of a Saskatchewan farmer. I kept
my doubts to myself. I saw him

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take in my ponytail, beard
stubble jeans and Nietzche

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tattoo. I may have somewhat
overshot typical grad student. I

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told him I was a South American
exchange student doing my

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sociology thesis on Ukrainian
descendants in Canada, on my way

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to Regina to see my friend. Some
of it was even true. He didn't

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seem bothered by my casual
questions about religion, diet,

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farming equipment, tech level
and relationships. He gave very

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typical answers. Even when we
discussed wheat strains he

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showed just the right amount of
knowledge. He spelled out his

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surname and I scribbled it down
as I drove, making sure to get

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the correct number of wise. We
shared a chuckle over his major

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source of income, government
crop subsidies or for good for a

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laugh and farming communities
everywhere I think we turned in

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unison as a red tailed hawk did
a dive and cover into a wind

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scoured grass beside the
highway. Poor mouse I said,

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testing him. Well aimed, he
replied, as suited a farmer who

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don't daily with minor deaths.
He might have shuttered though,

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my attention was diverted as a
truck pass by us. The first

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vehicle in over an hour.
township to phi phi was a narrow

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gravel road lined with Lombardi
poplars. Her dust plume hung

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behind us like a contrail. Just
to click down the road. He said,

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hope you don't mind. Thanks so
much, Rick said, closing the

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corridor with just the right
amount of effort and use of

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musculature and did a three
point turn as Rick walked over

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to the huge green John Deere
combine each wheel the height of

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a man, the uncut hay gleamed in
the field behind he climbed up

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the ladder into the driver's
seat and gave me a See you later

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kind of wave and began some sort
of maintenance routine. I parked

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the car behind the next slight
rise. The poplars tall and dense

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00:12:04,020 --> 00:12:07,260
with the summer's growth made
good camouflage. I unfolded my

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00:12:07,260 --> 00:12:10,410
nine foot frame from its human
size compression and flex my

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secondary ears. Man that felt
good. I looked between the

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poplar silent and swift, Rick
had gotten down from the Combine

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was fiddling with the wheel hub.
As the hub opened into an

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airlock I pumped my arm and
triumph just like a human does.

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Damn, do I spot them or 1/4 one
today. Rick entered and

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continued on through the
interlock, I got my glimpse of a

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class five spaceship dashboard
before he closed it behind him.

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00:12:39,510 --> 00:12:43,290
A Gleeson from out Andromeda way
without a doubt. His only

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mistake had been hitching a ride
without a farmhouse inside. The

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00:12:47,130 --> 00:12:50,880
Impala seat had grown warm in
the sun. I recompressed myself

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00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,030
and adjusted my internal
thermostat. As I put the car

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00:12:54,030 --> 00:12:57,120
into first and headed back for
another tour of the highway, I

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gave a sigh of satisfaction.
Just a few more hitchhikers, I'd

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have enough data from my thesis.
The University of galactic

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sociology Vega campus had
already approved my topic, niche

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influx of aliens, a study of the
acculturation patterns and

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coping skills of non Terran crop
researchers in rural Canada.

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Tara.

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00:13:20,250 --> 00:13:22,590
Before you go, I'd like to tell
you how you can contribute to

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00:13:22,590 --> 00:13:26,370
the show. We have a few donation
options available, just visit me

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00:13:26,370 --> 00:13:29,760
despod.com/donation Where you
can become a monthly supporter

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or a one time donor. We accept
Paypal and Bitcoin. We're also

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00:13:34,140 --> 00:13:37,950
on Patreon. These funds go
towards paying the authors and

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basic overhead like server costs
and whatnot. Every penny is

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00:13:42,150 --> 00:13:46,050
appreciated immensely. You can
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leave us an iTunes review. Those
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world. Well folks on D meanness
and we'll see you next time