Earth, Again
Ten years after humanity was forced back to a permanent pre-electric age, sixteen-year-old Liv learns her pacemaker battery is failing. Her father Robert — a former NASA engineer — leads a desperate thousand-mile horseback journey across Montana, Idaho, and Washington to reach a secret military prototype that might save her life. What they find at the end of the road will matter as much to the human race, as it will to Liv.
Earth, Again
3 - Latitude
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Among the Northern Cheyenne, the group finds aid, and a warning.
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Earth again, Episode Three, Latitude by Chris Cohode. Live, get off the horse now.
SPEAKER_01Robert.
SPEAKER_07Everyone, sound off.
SPEAKER_01I'm here.
SPEAKER_06Still on my horse. Barely.
SPEAKER_01I'm here.
SPEAKER_06Robert. I'm here.
SPEAKER_01Robert? Where?
SPEAKER_06Left side.
SPEAKER_05Under the arm.
SPEAKER_01Let me see. Hold still. Hold still. It's through the flesh. Miss the ribs. You're lucky. Calloway. I need a shirt, a belt, anything I can use for pressure.
SPEAKER_09Oh god.
SPEAKER_07I'm okay, Liv. I'm okay. Keep pressure on them. I need to check them.
SPEAKER_06Please. Wait.
SPEAKER_07Be glad this came quick.
SPEAKER_10Callaway.
SPEAKER_07They're done. We can't stay here. We're an open and those shots carried.
SPEAKER_01He needs ditching. I can't do it in the mud.
SPEAKER_07Then we move him somewhere I can build a fire. But first, let me check their gear. First one has a revolver. Six rounds in the belt. A skinning knife. Decent one. Canteen half full. Some dried meat in a pouch. Another rifle. Bolt action. Older than mine. Maybe 30 rounds between the two of them.
SPEAKER_01Food?
SPEAKER_07Nothing else. Boots are good on this one.
SPEAKER_06Robert, what size are you?
SPEAKER_07I'm not wearing a dead man's boots, Calloway. Your call.
SPEAKER_08Harlan, they're horses. I hear them. The bay and the sorrel came back. Third one's gone. Bolted up the ridge. Can you get them? I can barely sit up straight. Give me a minute. Easy. Easy now. Nobody's going to hurt you. Got the bay.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I know. Bad morning for everybody. That gives us seven horses for five riders.
SPEAKER_01Could use a pack horse.
SPEAKER_07One for gear, one spare. A lame horse out here, and we're in trouble. Or we trade one. A horse is worth a lot. Let's move. I saw a cattle shed up on the ridge, above the floodline. Half a mile, maybe less.
SPEAKER_02Can he ride half a mile?
SPEAKER_07I can ride. Watch the floor. Rotten boards on the left.
SPEAKER_01Lean against the post. Don't move.
SPEAKER_07You keep saying that.
SPEAKER_01You keep moving. Callaway, I need the whiskey.
SPEAKER_07There's maybe three fingers left.
SPEAKER_01I'm not drinking it. Liv, in my bag. The canvas roll. Bring it here. Is that a sewing needle? It's what I've got. Hold a thread. Keep it taught. Robert? This is going to sting. More than getting shot. Different kind. Good. Stay still. Four more. How do you know how to do all this? You learn it or people die. Three more. Live. Keep the thread taught. Dad. Live. Thread. Two more stitches. Then I will. Done. Hey. You're all right.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, I couldn't.
SPEAKER_01First time I stitched someone, I passed out cold. Woke up on the floor with a patient looking down at me. You did better than I did. Come inside when you're ready. No rush. Okay, let's get that wrapped. Don't lift that arm above your shoulder. Don't twist. Don't reach for anything with your left side.
SPEAKER_05For how long?
SPEAKER_01Until she says so. Exactly. Now. Everyone, hands out. Move your fingers. What? February. Wet ground. You've all been in the mud for hours. Show me your hands. All of you, wiggle your fingers. Callaway?
SPEAKER_07Fine. They work.
SPEAKER_01I didn't ask if you were fine. I said wiggle your fingers. Liv? They're numb. The tips. Tuck them under your arms. Don't rub them. Harlan?
SPEAKER_08Stiff, but they move.
SPEAKER_01The cold tonight will be worse than this. If anyone's fingers go white or they stop hurting, you tell me. Not in the morning. Right then.
SPEAKER_07Liv, help me gather some rocks.
SPEAKER_02For what?
SPEAKER_07You heat them in the coals, big ones. Wrap them in cloth. Better than a fire for keeping warm through the night.
SPEAKER_02What happens if the stitches don't hold?
SPEAKER_01They'll hold. Then I do them again. Liv! Your father's had worse than this. When it comes to being shot, a bullet through flesh is best case scenario. It's infection that kills people. That's why we used all the whiskey.
SPEAKER_08You know what I could use right now?
SPEAKER_09What?
SPEAKER_08Whiskey. Tell you what. Next settlement we find, first thing I'm trading for is a bottle. And a pillow and a bath.
SPEAKER_02In that order?
SPEAKER_08Depends on the whiskey.
SPEAKER_07Okay. The rocks should be hot now. Liv, help me wrap this one. Harlan, lift your arm. Which one? The one that works, dummy. Hold that against your ribs. Ooh, that's good. Robert, your turn.
SPEAKER_08My grandmother used to do this. Wrap them in a dish towel, put them at the foot of the bed. Same idea.
SPEAKER_09What was that?
SPEAKER_08Beavers slapping their tails on the water.
SPEAKER_09Why?
SPEAKER_08Warning each other.
SPEAKER_01About what?
SPEAKER_08Us.
SPEAKER_01We should talk about where we are.
SPEAKER_05I know where we are.
SPEAKER_01Then you know we're in trouble. Bernie's gone. Ashlyn might be the same. You're stitched with sewing thread. Harley can barely sit on a horse. We're out of bandages, out of poppy tea, and now a day behind.
SPEAKER_05Liv's pacemaker doesn't care about our progress.
SPEAKER_01I know that. I'm sorry, guys.
SPEAKER_02This is all my fault.
SPEAKER_05No, Liv. Mira, there's nothing to talk about. We keep going.
SPEAKER_01I'm not saying we stop. I'm saying we quit pretending this is going the way we planned.
SPEAKER_07She's right. We need supplies, medicine, clean bandages, something for the pain. Where? The reservations ahead. Lame deer, maybe, if anyone's still there.
SPEAKER_03If yeah.
SPEAKER_02Did you sleep?
SPEAKER_07Some.
SPEAKER_02Harlan snores now. Sends the ribs.
SPEAKER_07I know.
SPEAKER_02That's one of theirs.
SPEAKER_07It's a good knife. No sense leaving it in the mud.
SPEAKER_02No, I guess not. That man.
SPEAKER_10He said please.
SPEAKER_07I heard him.
SPEAKER_10And you?
SPEAKER_07Yes.
SPEAKER_10Did he have to die?
SPEAKER_07He meant us harm. He knew how many of us there were and which direction we were headed. And your father was bleeding in the mud twenty feet away.
SPEAKER_02He was already dying.
SPEAKER_07Maybe. Maybe not. Gut wounds take days sometimes, long enough to talk to whoever came looking for him.
SPEAKER_02You don't know that someone would come looking.
SPEAKER_07Did him a favor, too. Gutshot is a bad way to go. That wasn't why I did it, but it worked out well for him.
SPEAKER_10On the ravine shelf. You told me about Mira. How she used to laugh more. You sat there and you were kind to me.
SPEAKER_06I'm not unkind now, Liv.
SPEAKER_10I'm not sure what you are now.
SPEAKER_06I'm the same person I've always been.
SPEAKER_07That's what makes it difficult. And make the same choice again today, if need be.
SPEAKER_01Callaway? Liv?
SPEAKER_07Out here.
SPEAKER_01How's the fire?
SPEAKER_07Almost dead.
SPEAKER_01Then build it up. We're not leaving until I check Robert's stitches and everyone eats something warm. Let me check your bandage.
SPEAKER_05Okay, that's something.
SPEAKER_01No smell. No heater on the edges. The stitch is held.
SPEAKER_05Thank you, Mira.
SPEAKER_01Don't mention it. Where are you going?
SPEAKER_07We've got dried meat for maybe two days. Five people, that's not enough.
SPEAKER_01You're hunting alone?
SPEAKER_07Keeper and me. I'll use the bow. Rifle's too loud. If there's anyone else out here, I'd rather they didn't know where we are.
SPEAKER_08Take the ridge above the lake. Elk come down to the water at the tree line this time of morning.
SPEAKER_07I know.
SPEAKER_08I know you know. I'm saying it anyway.
SPEAKER_07We'll be back before midday.
SPEAKER_02You okay?
SPEAKER_08Upright.
SPEAKER_02That's not what I asked.
SPEAKER_08That's what I got.
SPEAKER_02Does it hurt when you breathe?
SPEAKER_08Hurts when I don't, too. So I figure I might as well keep at it.
SPEAKER_02Mira says ribs take six weeks.
SPEAKER_08Mira says a lot of things.
SPEAKER_02She's usually right.
SPEAKER_08True.
SPEAKER_02I keep listening for him. Callaway. Like I'll hear the bow from here.
SPEAKER_08We won't. That's the point of the bow.
SPEAKER_02What if he gets in trouble?
SPEAKER_08Liv. That man's come back from worse places than a hill full of elk. He'll come back, he'll have something with him, and we'll eat tonight. That's how it works with Calloway. Worrying about him is a waste of a good morning.
SPEAKER_02All right then. I'll just worry about you.
SPEAKER_07Locked on, aren't you? Easy. Okay. Good. Wait. Not yet. Needs time to stop panicking and to bleed out. I know. What'd you get? Elk, young cow, maybe three hundred pounds on the hoof. Field dress it up there. Yep, and quartered. Then went back for the horse to haul him. Keeper got the heart. Saved the liver. Eyes were clear.
SPEAKER_01Good. Robert needs the iron.
SPEAKER_07That's way more than we can eat. That's the idea. What do you mean? The reservation's ahead. Mira says the Cheyenne might still be at Lame Deer. If they are, we don't show up empty-handed.
SPEAKER_01He's right. We need what they have: medicine, bandages, someone who knows the trail west? You don't ask for all that with nothing to offer.
SPEAKER_07We have the extra horses. We might need the horses. Meat's easier to give up. And it says something. We hunted on their land. Bringing back a share says we respect that.
SPEAKER_01How much are you keeping back?
SPEAKER_07A full quarter for them, hind quarter. The good cuts. Rest is ours.
SPEAKER_01What if they're not there?
SPEAKER_07Then we have steak with every meal.
SPEAKER_08Save me a rib.
SPEAKER_01You're getting broth.
SPEAKER_08I said a rib.
SPEAKER_01And I said broth. You can barely breathe, Harlan. You're not chewing through elk ribs.
SPEAKER_08I liked it better when you weren't my doctor.
SPEAKER_01I'm not only your doctor. I'm the only person here who would tell you no.
SPEAKER_07We should go. The longer we sit, the farther behind we get. How far to Lame Deer? If we push it tonight. If we're careful with the wounded, tomorrow morning. We push it.
SPEAKER_01Harlan?
SPEAKER_08We push it, Mira.
SPEAKER_01Ashland.
SPEAKER_02Hello.
SPEAKER_07May as well check the buildings. Anything useful? Medicine, tools, cloth. Be quick.
SPEAKER_04Nothing in here.
SPEAKER_01Picked clean. They took everything when they left.
SPEAKER_05Not even mattresses.
SPEAKER_02There's writing on this one. Scratch into the door frame. Gone west. God help us.
SPEAKER_08Nothing here, folks. Let's go.
SPEAKER_07He's right. We're burning daylight.
SPEAKER_01Two towns in two days.
SPEAKER_02The reservation will have people still, right?
SPEAKER_07That fence has been mended recently. Tracks. A lot of them. Days old. Some fresher than that. Keeper smells them.
SPEAKER_02Smells who?
SPEAKER_07People.
SPEAKER_02I smell smoke.
SPEAKER_01They know we're here.
SPEAKER_07They've known since Ashland. Maybe before.
SPEAKER_01Scouts? How can you be sure?
SPEAKER_07Because that's what I'd do.
SPEAKER_08Three raiders coming.
SPEAKER_07Nobody reach for anything. Hands where they can see them. Callaway? These aren't raiders. We come in peace, spaceman.
SPEAKER_04That's close enough. We saw your smoke at the flooded town. Who are you? And why are you crossing our land in February with blood on your saddles?
SPEAKER_01My name is Mira. I'm the head of settlement east of here, near Bell Creek. This is Robert. His daughter Liv. Callaway and Harlan ride with us.
SPEAKER_04I'm called Littlebird. Bell Creek's a long way from here in winter. Where are you going?
SPEAKER_01Seattle. Seattle. Robert's daughter is sick. There's a medical facility there, built before the collapse. The two you who are hurt, what happened? We were ambushed at the lake. Three men on the road. Two of ours took injuries, a gunshot, and busted ribs. The men who ambushed us didn't make it.
SPEAKER_04We heard the shots, figured it was hunters, but too many, too fast. You have weapons?
SPEAKER_07We do.
SPEAKER_04And you're choosing to keep your hands up.
SPEAKER_07We're on your land. We know that. We hunted on your land. Elk, this morning. Above the floodline. This is a hindquarter. The goodcuts. It's yours. It's fresh.
SPEAKER_04Good kill. You hunt with a bow?
SPEAKER_07When I can.
SPEAKER_04What do you need?
SPEAKER_01Medicine. Bandages, clean cloth, anything for wounds. Willow bark, if you have it. Something for pain. We used everything we had at the lake. And you want this for free? No.
SPEAKER_04We'll trade. With what? You've got two wounded. Seven horses you need, and winter gear you can't spare.
SPEAKER_01Information. We came from Belle Creek through Broadis. I can tell you what's standing and what isn't between here and the Powder River. Every settlement, every empty town, every road that's still passable.
SPEAKER_04Follow us. Stay on trail. Don't leave.
SPEAKER_02How many people are here?
SPEAKER_01A lot. Wait here.
SPEAKER_02Everything sounds so normal.
SPEAKER_07This is a well-running settlement.
SPEAKER_00Which one of you is Mira? I am. Hello, I'm Standing Water. You run a settlement near Bell Creek. Sixty people, give or take. Traded livestock with Bearney. We're over a hundred now, but yes. You knew Burney? We know everyone between here and the Yellowstone. Bearney went under last spring. The dam.
SPEAKER_01We found that out the hard way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Sit down, all of you. Let me see the wounded. Who stitched this?
SPEAKER_01I did. With what? Sewing needle.
SPEAKER_00Thread from a saddlebag. It'll hold, but I'll put a polstice on it. Yar own pine pitch. Draws infection before it sets. And you? Ribs and wrist?
SPEAKER_08Two, maybe three. Left side. Not sure about my wrist.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Your wrist will be alright. Just a bad sprain. Be tender with it. Let me feel those ribs. Three. Two cracked, one broken clean. Who wrapped these?
SPEAKER_08Same one who stitched him.
SPEAKER_00The binding's good. Kept them from shifting. You'd be in worse shape without it. I'm gonna rewrap them with better cloth though. Tighter. It'll hurt worse before it hurts less.
SPEAKER_08Story of my week.
SPEAKER_00And you? You're the sick daughter?
SPEAKER_05Um what's the problem? I something you won't have medicine for. Not here.
SPEAKER_00But Seattle does, right? That's I was asking her. Um yes. Yeah, that's right. Hmm. Guess I'll start with the ribs then. So tell me about the road behind you. What's still standing east of here?
SPEAKER_01Mill Valley is hanging on. Maybe thirty people. They've got a well that still draws a few cattle. South of there? Along the powder river, it's scattered. Family groups mostly. Nobody organized. Ashland? Empty. Picked clean. Gone west, scratched on a door.
SPEAKER_00That was last year. They came through here, some of them. Took the ones who were willing to work, turned away the rest. Turned them away? We can't take everyone. We feed 200 people through a Montana winter. That takes planning, not charity. What about the machines? The drones.
SPEAKER_05Still out there. We hear them at night, sometimes. The hum. Haven't seen one up close since we left, but we're careful. No tech, no power, nothing that draws them.
SPEAKER_00We don't use anything they'd care about. No generators, no batteries, nothing with a current. But they still come through, sometimes. Here. Willow bark. Chew it for the pain. It's bitter. Do it anyway. Yarrow for the wound. Mix it with pine sap. Change the pulstice every day. Clean cloth. Three rolls. That's what I can spare. Thank you. It's appreciated. Don't thank me. You paid for it. The elk was generous. The information is useful. We're even. The road west from here. 212 through the Crow Agency. It's open. We keep it clear because we use it. Past Crow Agency, you'll hit I-90.
SPEAKER_07Anything we should know before Crow Agency?
SPEAKER_00The bridge at Lodge Grass is out. Has been for years. There's a good river crossing a half mile south. Shallow. But cold. Walk the horses across, don't ride them. And there's a camp at Crow Agency. Not ours, Crow people. They trade with us. They'll leave you alone if you leave them alone.
SPEAKER_07Understood.
SPEAKER_02That's why I'm building a house for your frog. How about my frog in your house? Now a trap.
SPEAKER_01The river keeps flowing. Two hundred people. How? How what? I run a hundred. And some winters I don't know if we'll make it to spring. You feed twice that. How?
SPEAKER_00We were here before the collapse. We were here before the country. The land didn't change when the lights went out. We just stopped sharing it with the people who didn't know how to live on it. Sure, but root cellars, elk and bison we dry in October and ration through March. Three freshwater springs that don't freeze. Seed stock we've been keeping since before your settlement existed. And rules people follow because they helped write them.
SPEAKER_01Someone who could learn from you.
SPEAKER_00If they're willing to work, they're welcome. If they're coming to take notes and leave, don't bother.
SPEAKER_01Understood.
SPEAKER_00You should go. You've got daylight left, and your wounded need rest somewhere sheltered before the next cold front. Thank you. For the medicine. For the information. Come back through on your way home, if you make it. I'd like to hear what you find in Seattle.
SPEAKER_01We will. And when we do, I hope we can establish trade between our settlements. Come back alive and we'll talk. Good luck.
SPEAKER_06You alright?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. She feeds twice as many people as I do, with seed stock older than the country.
SPEAKER_07Different land, different history.
SPEAKER_01Same winter.
SPEAKER_07Lodge grass. Another ghost town. Ice took the bridge deck out.
SPEAKER_01Oh.
SPEAKER_07Careful. Don't get so close to that edge. That's a good forty foot drop.
SPEAKER_02Well, she did say the bridge was out.
SPEAKER_07The Cheyenne woman said there's a crossing to the south. Let's find it. This is it. See how the rocks are flat across? Shallow. Knee deep on the horses, maybe less.
SPEAKER_01Maybe less?
SPEAKER_07Depends on the horse. And the knee. Everybody off. You walk them across, lead them by hand. The rocks are slick. You go slow, test every step. You rush, you're in the water. And boots off. Socks too. Tie them to the saddle.
SPEAKER_02You want us to go barefoot?
SPEAKER_01In that? Wet boots in February will cost you your toes by sunset. Your feet will warm up. Wet leather stays stubbornly wet. I'd roll your pant legs up high too.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07Harlan, you're not crossing on foot. The hell I'm not. You fall on those ribs. We're carrying you all the way to Seattle. Stay mounted. I'll lead your horse. At least I keep my boots on. I'll take the pack horses and Harlan first. Once we're across, Robert and Mira bring the rest. Liv, you help your father.
SPEAKER_02What about Keeper?
SPEAKER_08He'll go. He just has to decide it's his idea. Let's move. River won't get any warmer.
SPEAKER_07Moses' holy trousers, that's cold.
SPEAKER_09How is it?
SPEAKER_07Oh, it well and truly sucks. Okay. Hang on, Harlan. Come on, you big baby. Oh, leave enough from here. Easy. Easy. Look at me. It's good. Rock bottom all the way. Stay left or center. There's a deeper channel on the right.
SPEAKER_01Robert, keep that left arm down.
SPEAKER_07I know.
SPEAKER_01If you tear my stitches.
SPEAKER_05I know here.
SPEAKER_01That's dead. Make sure each step is solid before you put your weight on it.
SPEAKER_02Didn't even see you go in, boy.
SPEAKER_08Told you. His idea.
SPEAKER_02Keeper.
SPEAKER_08Socks.
SPEAKER_01I need socks. Don't rub. Just get them on. The warmth will come. When? Not soon enough.
SPEAKER_07Mount up. The riding will warm us.
SPEAKER_01Everyone check your feet in an hour. Wiggle your toes. If you can't feel them, tell you. That's right.
SPEAKER_08Smoke. Small fire off to the north.
SPEAKER_07That's the crow camp standing water mentioned. Let's stay on the road. Why are we stopping? Listen.
SPEAKER_02What is that sound?
SPEAKER_07Markers. Grave markers. Hundreds of them.
SPEAKER_02Whose graves?
SPEAKER_07Both sides. Soldiers and Native Americans. This is the little bighorn live. This is where Custer died.
SPEAKER_02What happened?
SPEAKER_07A man rode into country he didn't understand, brought 200 soldiers with him. The Lakota and Cheyenne were already here. Thousands of them. In the biggest camp the planes had seen in a generation. Custer split his forces, charged, and none of his men ever rode out. Everyone gone in less than an hour.
SPEAKER_02He didn't know they were there?
SPEAKER_07He knew. He just thought it didn't matter.
SPEAKER_02Let's keep going.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Interstate 90 isn't far now. Let's get up this bluff. We should be able to see it. And there it is. Four lanes. Six in places. That's a lot of road.
SPEAKER_01It goes all the way to Seattle?
SPEAKER_07It does. Through Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, over the mountains, and across Idaho and Washington. A thousand miles of highway.
SPEAKER_02And nobody on it.
SPEAKER_07That's what we're about to find out.
SPEAKER_08I haven't been on an interstate highway since before.
SPEAKER_07Keep to the left lane. Looks like people have pushed most of the cars over to the right.
SPEAKER_02So many. There are hundreds of them.
SPEAKER_07Everyone trying to get somewhere when the power went out.
SPEAKER_05They wouldn't have gotten far. Engine dies suddenly. And highway speed.
SPEAKER_02What do you mean the engine dies? All of them? At once? Dad.
SPEAKER_05The aliens. The first thing they did wasn't send drones. It was EMPs. Electromagnetic pulses. Detonated in the upper atmosphere. Not one, not a dozen, hundreds. All at once. Across the whole planet.
SPEAKER_02The whole planet?
SPEAKER_05Every continent. Every country simultaneously. One pulse at that altitude covers a thousand miles in every direction. They blanketed the Earth in a single second.
SPEAKER_02What does it do?
SPEAKER_05A human EMP, a nuclear one. We studied those at NASA. We wargame them. A nuclear pulse would knock out the power grid, fry some satellites, cause problems. But most cars would keep running. EMPs are most efficient traveling along long conductors like power lines. The military had hardened systems that could ride it out. It was bad, but it was survivable. What the aliens did was stronger. Not a pulse. A wall. It hit every conductor on the planet like a lightning strike. Power lines, car wiring, phone towers, undersea cables, anything with wire in it became an antenna, and the antenna cooked whatever it was connected to.
SPEAKER_02Everything?
SPEAKER_05Everything that wasn't shielded. If it was inside something metal, a shipping container, steel warehouse, a military bunker, the metal blocked the field. We called that a Faraday cage. Every car on this highway has hundreds of feet of wiring in it. Engine management, fuel injection, transmission brakes, all of it runs through wire. The pulse hit that wiring and it was over. Engine dead, power brakes dead. Steering so heavy you can barely turn the wheel. You're doing 70 miles an hour and you've got no engine, poor steering, and every car around you has the same problem.
SPEAKER_02All at the same time.
SPEAKER_05All at the same time. Every car on every highway on Earth in the same second. And then the drones came. But by then it didn't matter. Nobody could call for help. Nobody could organize. Nobody could even turn on a light.
SPEAKER_02So you knew what an EMP was. When it happened, you knew.
SPEAKER_05Pretty quickly, yes. But I also knew it was wrong. Too strong. A nuclear pulse doesn't feel like that. The fluorescent tubes in the ceiling lit up on their own for a second. Just the gas inside them, excited by the field. I'd never seen that before. Nobody had. And I knew whatever had done it wasn't ours. Wasn't human. I mean.
SPEAKER_02My pacemaker. Dad, my pacemaker has a circuit. Why didn't the EMP kill it?
SPEAKER_05Yours is leadless. No wires. It's a small titanium capsule sitting directly in your heart, anchored to the wall of your right ventricle. There's nothing on it long enough to act as a good antenna. The wiring in one of these cars is hundreds of feet long. It collected the full force of the pulse. Your pacemaker has no leads at all. Nothing to collect the energy.
SPEAKER_02So it's fine.
SPEAKER_05The EMP didn't touch it. The pacemaker's fine. It's the battery. They designed it to last 12 years, and then you go back to the hospital and they replace the whole device. That's how it was supposed to work.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Dad.
SPEAKER_05What is it?
SPEAKER_02In the crashed car. The blue one.
SPEAKER_05Oh. Two of them. Still buckled in.
SPEAKER_02They never even got out of their seatbelts.
SPEAKER_05The car stopped. Everything stopped.
SPEAKER_0270 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_01Liv. Come on, honey. We need to keep moving. Should we do something? There's nothing to do, Liv. There hasn't been for a long time. And we'll see many more, too.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow. I can see. How far is that?
SPEAKER_08Probably 20 miles to that ridge.
SPEAKER_02It's so open. The sky is bigger than the ground.
SPEAKER_08That's why they called it Big Sky Country.
SPEAKER_01How many people do you think lived out here before?
SPEAKER_07In Montana? Million, give or take.
SPEAKER_01And now?
SPEAKER_07Couldn't say. Thousands, maybe. Spread thin.
SPEAKER_01A million people. And the land looks like nobody was ever here.
SPEAKER_08Give it another 20 years, and you won't find the roads.
SPEAKER_05The roads should last, shouldn't they? Concrete and asphalt don't decompose, they just crack.
SPEAKER_08And the grass comes through the cracks. Then the roots break the asphalt, and the dirt covers the pieces. I've seen it. There's stretches of 212 back east you can barely tell from a field.
SPEAKER_07He's not wrong. Nature is slow but relentless. Quiet. Listen.
SPEAKER_02What is that?
SPEAKER_07No way.
SPEAKER_06Buffalo.
SPEAKER_01How many is this?
SPEAKER_08Thousands.
SPEAKER_01They came back.
SPEAKER_08I never thought I'd hear that sound. Did your grandmother ever tell you about them? She said her grandmother told her about them. That's how far back you have to go. 1870s.
SPEAKER_02They're not afraid of us.
SPEAKER_07They don't know what we are. Nothing's hunted them in ten years. We're just another animal on the road.
SPEAKER_01I tell people back home. I stand up at meetings and I tell them the world is healing. Give it time. Trust it. And they nod and they believe me. Or they don't. But I've never. I've never actually seen it. Not like that.
SPEAKER_07Let's keep going.
SPEAKER_08Whoa, easy. Stirrup leather broke on one of our new horses. The whole iron came off. Leather's rotted through. Somebody wasn't taking care of his tag. Can you tie it off? Not with what's left. Strap to a right at the buckle.
SPEAKER_02Let me see it. The stirrup iron is fine. It's just the leather. Does anyone have cord? Anything strong?
SPEAKER_07We've got a paracord in the saddlebag.
SPEAKER_02Great. Give me a minute.
SPEAKER_08That'll hold.
SPEAKER_02It'll hold until we can find a real leather to replace it. The cord won't rot like the strap did.
SPEAKER_08Alright then.
SPEAKER_01We're stopping.
SPEAKER_05We can make another five miles before dark.
SPEAKER_01Robert, you've been bleeding through your bandages for the last hour. Harlan hasn't said a word since noon, which means he's in more pain than he'll admit. The horses are stumbling. We're stopping.
SPEAKER_07Okay. Alright. Under this overpass will work. Windbreak, solid ground, sight lines in both directions. We can camp under it. Let the horses have some open space.
SPEAKER_02I'll get the horses settled. Lay out the saddlebags?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that'd be good. And anything wet. Let things dry out if possible.
SPEAKER_01Let me see it. Stitches held. But you've been pulling at it all day. You have to stop reaching for things with that arm.
SPEAKER_08I was adjusting the saddle.
SPEAKER_01Ask someone else to adjust the saddle.
SPEAKER_08I'll get the fire going. I'll bring you some wood. All some nice branches over there.
SPEAKER_01Give me that.
SPEAKER_08I got it.
SPEAKER_01Harlan, give me the axe.
SPEAKER_08I keep it sharp, so don't bang it on the concrete.
SPEAKER_01I know how to set down an axe.
SPEAKER_08Harlan, come sit with me. Alright. Believe I will. Yeah, you're a good boy, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02How far did we come today?
SPEAKER_07Maybe 15 miles.
SPEAKER_02Is that good?
SPEAKER_07It's what we did.
SPEAKER_01Robert's antsy.
SPEAKER_07Well, he has a reason to be. But if we push too hard, we'll burn out. And that doesn't help the girl one bit.
SPEAKER_01Agreed.
SPEAKER_07Hey, bring me that elk quarter. Let's have steaks tonight.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_08Damn, that smells good.
SPEAKER_01And here, cook this up for Robert.
SPEAKER_08Sure thing. My grandmother used to fry up liver with onions on Sunday nights.
SPEAKER_02Was it good?
SPEAKER_08Hated it. Every Sunday I'd beg for something else. She'd say you'll miss it when it's gone. She was right about most things.
SPEAKER_07Mine did the same. Only with deer liver, not beef. She'd season it with wild sage.
SPEAKER_02You two sound like you were raised by the same woman.
SPEAKER_07Maybe we were. Different kitchen, same lesson.
SPEAKER_01Robert, here.
SPEAKER_05What is this?
SPEAKER_01Liver. Callaway saved it for you from his elk hunt.
SPEAKER_05Oh, thanks, but I'm not crazy about lost blood, Robert.
SPEAKER_01Liver has more iron than anything else we're carrying. You eat it, or I'll hold your nose and feed it to you. Your choice.
SPEAKER_05Awful, I guess.
SPEAKER_08Hey, I'll take some of that.
SPEAKER_01You'll get your share. Robert first. He's down a pint.
SPEAKER_08That was the best meal I've had in a month.
SPEAKER_01Good night, everyone. Good night here.
SPEAKER_02Dad, are you up?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Out here. Look up.
SPEAKER_09Oh.
SPEAKER_05No city lights, no street lights, no glow on the horizon. Nothing between us and the stars.
SPEAKER_02I've seen stars before, Dad.
SPEAKER_05Yes, but at the settlement there's always a fire somewhere, a candle. Something. Out here there's nothing. Your eyes open all the way up.
SPEAKER_02The Milky Way is so pretty.
SPEAKER_05That's us. That's our galaxy. Edge on. A hundred billion stars. And you're looking at it from inside. Here, I want to show you something. Face north. You know which way north is?
SPEAKER_02Uh, that way, I think.
SPEAKER_05Close enough. Now, look for the Big Dipper. The seven bright stars, like a ladle.
SPEAKER_02I know the Big Dipper.
SPEAKER_05Good. Now take the two stars at the front of the ladle, the ones furthest from the handle, draw a line through them. Straight up. What do you hit?
SPEAKER_02That bright one by itself?
SPEAKER_05That's Polaris. The North Star. It doesn't move, Liv. Every other star in the sky rotates around it, but Polaris stays fixed. It's been sitting there for every navigator, every explorer, every lost person who ever looked up. Before compasses, before maps, before any of it. That star.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't move at all?
SPEAKER_05Not enough to matter. Now, hold your fist out. Arms straight, put the bottom of your fist on the horizon and stack fists up to Polaris. Count them.
SPEAKER_02Four. And a little more. Almost five.
SPEAKER_05Each fist is about ten degrees, so Polaris is sitting at roughly forty-seven degrees above the horizon.
SPEAKER_02Okay. What does that tell me?
SPEAKER_05That's your latitude. That number, 47 degrees north, that's where you are on the Earth right now. That's south central Montana. As you walk north, Polaris climbs. Walk south, it sinks.
SPEAKER_02So I always know where I am. Just by looking up.
SPEAKER_05Well, your latitude, anyway. Longitude is harder. As long as you can see the sky. No batteries, no circuits, no signal. Nothing that can break or run out or get fried by a pulse. Just your eyes, your fist, and a star that's been in the same place for ten thousand years.
SPEAKER_02That's the most mirror thing you've ever said. I'm serious. The thing that lasts needs no power source. That's her whole philosophy.
SPEAKER_05It's not philosophy, it's astronomy. Polaris doesn't care about philosophy.
SPEAKER_02Neither does Mira Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_01I did. He'd make a good teacher.
SPEAKER_08Sounded like you for a minute there.
SPEAKER_01He wants to get back to the stars, Harlan. That's what drives him. The trajectory, the future, all of it.
SPEAKER_08And you?
SPEAKER_01I think a species that can't say no to itself isn't ready to say hello to the stars. Hmm. Good night, Harlan. Night, Mira.
SPEAKER_07Get up. Get up now. Something's coming. What is that? Buffalo. At least a dozen of them. Horses. They're right in the path.
SPEAKER_01Stay under the overpass. Up against the pillars.
SPEAKER_02Come here. They're turning toward us.
SPEAKER_05Honey, come here. I got you. Stay close. Up against the pillar.
SPEAKER_07Come on. Keep turning. Keep them turning.
SPEAKER_01Sound off.
unknownHere.
SPEAKER_01Here.
SPEAKER_08Here. Where's Callaway? I'm here. I'm all right.
SPEAKER_06Harland. Where's Keeper? Keeper. Keeper. Keeper.
SPEAKER_08There he is. Come here. Come on, boy. Come here. He's bleeding bad. Along his side. Something caught him.
SPEAKER_01Let me see. Something opened him up. It's a gash, wide but not deep. A hoof grazed him. He's lucky. Half inch closer, and it would have caved his ribs in.
SPEAKER_08Can you stitch it?
SPEAKER_01No. He won't sit still for that. But I can pack it and wrap it. I need the medical kit. Callaway, where's the kit?
SPEAKER_07Damn. It's like a tornado came through. Everything that was outside the overhang is crushed. Saddlebags are trampled, food ground into the dirt. I don't know. Everything's just everywhere.
SPEAKER_01I need my medical kit.
SPEAKER_05Liv, help her. I'll go look for the medical bag. I've got the skillet.
SPEAKER_07It's dented, but fine. I got two water skins intact. One is another one's split at the seam.
SPEAKER_05Here. The medical bag. What's left of it? The strap's torn off and it's been stomped. One roll of bandages. The knife is here. A few strips of clean cloth. That's it. Everything else is gone or crushed.
SPEAKER_01The meds? Needle? Thread?
SPEAKER_07Not in the back. Could be anywhere out there. I'll search a first light.
SPEAKER_01Give me the bandages. We'll pack it with a bandage, then wrap it with our cloth. Best we can do right now.
SPEAKER_08Just do it. I got him.
SPEAKER_01Good boy. Hold him still. Good. Just let me get this around. Okay. And one more That should hold until morning if he doesn't mess with it. He needs real stitching, though. I don't know how we're going to do that.
SPEAKER_08He turned them. You saw it. He turned the herd away from the pillars. Away from us. I saw it. Eighty pounds against ten thousand, and he went at them.
SPEAKER_05What did we lose?
SPEAKER_07I won't know the full count until dawn. The gear under the overhang is fine, but anything that was outside, the food, the medical supplies, two saddlebags at least. The horses I cut loose. I need to find them.
SPEAKER_05How many got clear?
SPEAKER_07I cut loose all seven. They bolted down the highway. They'll stop running when they feel safe. I'll track them at first light.
SPEAKER_10They weren't trying to hurt us.
SPEAKER_07No. Something spooked the herd. Wolf, maybe, on the edge. They just ran through whatever was in front of them. Come here, boy.
SPEAKER_08I got you. We're okay. We're okay.
SPEAKER_02The Cheyenne woman was right about crossing the river. Knee deep. Cold. We walked the horses across barefoot because Callaway said wet boots would cost us our toes. He was right. She was right. Everyone who's been here before us was right. That's what good information is worth out here. More than ammunition. More than whiskey.
SPEAKER_10Somebody who's been where you're going and will tell you the truth about it. Dad's quiet in the way that means he's doing math he doesn't like. Mira's quiet in the way that means she already knows the answer. We're in worse shape than yesterday. And yesterday wasn't good. But the stars are out. And I know which one is Polaris because my dad showed me. Forty-seven degrees. South central Montana. That's where I am. I know exactly where I am.
SPEAKER_05Salem Arbuckle as Liv, Pierce Nahigian as Robert, April Lind as Mira, Caleb Moore as Callaway, and Brian Squires as Harlan. For the full cast list, visit Wildskystudios.com. Earth Again is written by Chris Cahot. If you enjoyed this episode, the best thing you can do is leave us a rating and review wherever you listen. It's the number one way new listeners find the show. And if you want to go deeper into the world of Earth Again, join us on Patreon for bonus content and early access.
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