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
4 - Longitude
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Earth Again, Episode Four, Longitude by Chris Cahot.
SPEAKER_10Yes, you are a sweet boy. This cut should be rebandaged, but we've got nothing clean left. I'll have to wash what we have and let it dry. It's holding for now. Good boy.
SPEAKER_14Anything I can do?
SPEAKER_10Yes. Take care of those ribs.
SPEAKER_14Mira.
SPEAKER_10I know, Harlan. Just keep him calm and don't let him open up and bleed again.
SPEAKER_14Okay.
SPEAKER_10I'll find whatever cloth I can and get it boiled.
SPEAKER_16I've got tracks heading east along the shoulder. We'll go bring the horses back.
SPEAKER_10Alright, be careful.
SPEAKER_16Be gone a couple of hours. Maybe more if they're scattered.
SPEAKER_04Found a bridle. And one of the blankets. It's torn but usable.
SPEAKER_17Good. Let's keep piling up what's salvageable. We can put horse gear here, food there, anything medical. Let's put over here on my bedroll. Hmm.
SPEAKER_14Well damn.
SPEAKER_04What's that?
SPEAKER_14My axe handle. Was anyway. Snapped right at the eye. Need to carve a new one.
unknownCome on.
SPEAKER_17Can I try that? Yeah. So what are we making? You ever shaped an axe handle before?
SPEAKER_14I've turned a few things on a lathe. Walk me through it. Start at the shoulder. That's the wide end where the head sits. Shape it down flat on two sides first. Not so deep. Follow the grain. You cut across it, the wood'll split on you. Better. Where do you learn to use your hands? You don't hold that knife like an engineer.
SPEAKER_17My father built houses. Weekends I'd hand him nails and try not to get yelled at. Sounds about right.
SPEAKER_04What are you two doing?
SPEAKER_17Making an axe handle.
SPEAKER_04You know how to do that?
SPEAKER_14Harlan does. I'm just the hands. Now let's fit it to the head. Where is the head?
SPEAKER_04I saw it. Hold on.
SPEAKER_14Cut a slot in the top. Straight down the center, inch deep. That's for the wedge. Then slide the head on from the bottom. Should be tight. Too tight to push all the way. Now a wedge. Thin piece. Tap it into the top. Spreads the wood so the head can't come off. Hey, it's good. It's serviceable. My grandfather would have had something to say about the finish.
SPEAKER_17Here you go.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, that'll do.
SPEAKER_16That's Callaway. I got six. The bay is long gone. Tracks went south off the highway into a ravine. I followed them a quarter mile, but she's running wild. I couldn't get close.
SPEAKER_17Six is enough. We can redistribute the loads. What loads?
SPEAKER_10Yeah, it's not good. Most of the food is gone. What wasn't crushed to the ground is in the dirt. We saved maybe two days' worth. Some jerky, a bag of oats, a handful of dried apples.
SPEAKER_16Medical?
SPEAKER_10What Robert found last night. One roll of bandages, a knife, some cloth strip. That's everything.
SPEAKER_17Water? One full skin. The other one split at the seam. It's useless. What about the grain?
SPEAKER_04The horse feed? It's scattered. I picked out what I could, but most of it's trampled into the mud.
SPEAKER_16So two days of food, one day of water, no medical supplies to speak of, and a dog that needs stitching.
SPEAKER_10I boiled my t-shirt and used that to replace Keeper's bandage. But we need to find some people. There's no version of this where we make it to Billings on what we've got. That's three maybe four days' ride, and we don't have I know.
SPEAKER_17You Mira, I can count. We need help.
SPEAKER_10Alright then.
SPEAKER_16There's smoke. West southwest, maybe two miles. I saw it when I was tracking the horses. A column. Not a wildfire. Chimney smoke. More than one source. Settlement? Something. Could be a dozen people, could be several dozen. Hard to tell from the smoke alone. On I-90? Just north of it. Looked like buildings. Couldn't make out much through the trees, but there's a fence line. Livestock, maybe. I heard a rooster.
SPEAKER_14A rooster means they're settled, not passing through.
SPEAKER_16Five strangers on horseback showing up unannounced. That's a great way to get shot.
SPEAKER_17So what do you suggest?
SPEAKER_16I go ahead. On foot. Keeper stays here. He'll just make their dogs bark. I get close, see what we're dealing with, come back.
SPEAKER_10And if they see you?
SPEAKER_16Then I'm one man on foot. Easier to explain, easier to let go on my way.
SPEAKER_10Go. But if anything feels wrong.
SPEAKER_16I'll be back before you know I'm gone. Which teacher?
SPEAKER_10From that Suzanne Vega concert in Atlanta.
SPEAKER_14Ah shit. Sorry, Mira.
SPEAKER_10That's okay. Blood a washout.
SPEAKER_17When's the last time you cleaned your rifle, Liv?
SPEAKER_04Um day before yesterday.
SPEAKER_17Doesn't matter. Dust gets in everything. Let's clean them again.
SPEAKER_04All right.
SPEAKER_15You'll be back, boy.
SPEAKER_04Someone's coming.
SPEAKER_16Go okay. Ranch compound. Half mile south of the highway, set back in a tree line along a creek. Fence, real fencing, not scrap. They've maintained it. Main house, a barn, two or three outbuildings, smoke from the house and the barn both.
SPEAKER_10How many people?
SPEAKER_16I counted eight outside, mix of men and women, a few kids running around, at least two dogs. I could hear a third somewhere behind the barn. Cattle in a pen, maybe twenty head. Chickens, the rooster I heard before. Armed? Four of the men had rifles, not carrying them nervous, just had them. What kind of shape is the place in? Good. That's what struck me. The fence is solid. The barn roof is patched with sound. There's firewood stacked, and I mean stacked, not piled. Organized. These people aren't surviving, they're living.
SPEAKER_10Did they see you?
SPEAKER_16No. I stayed in the tree line. Got close enough to hear them talking. Normal talk. Chores, the weather, somebody arguing about a gate hinge. There's one thing. I heard a woman. Not talking, crying out in pain. From inside the main house. The sounds were regular. Coming and going.
SPEAKER_10Like she was in labor?
SPEAKER_16That's what I thought.
SPEAKER_10How long between?
SPEAKER_16The cries? I counted maybe four, about five minutes apart, but they sounded wrong, tired. Like she'd been at it a long time. So what are we walking into? A settled ranch, good people, or close enough. They've got food, water, shelter, livestock. We've got nothing they need. Except maybe the one thing they need most right now.
SPEAKER_10If that woman has been in labor since yesterday and the sounds are that far apart, she's exhausted. The baby isn't coming on its own. They might not know what to do.
SPEAKER_14So we ride in and offer to save a mother and her baby. And in return, we eat.
SPEAKER_10That's the shape of it.
SPEAKER_14And if we can't save her?
SPEAKER_17If Mira can't help her, and we're five strangers who showed up to oversee a birth gone bad, and we'll take the blame for it. Fair or not.
SPEAKER_04Mom would have she would have gone in.
SPEAKER_06That's all.
SPEAKER_10Yes. She would have. Let's go. The longer we wait, the worse it gets for her.
SPEAKER_14I know. Easy boy. Easy.
SPEAKER_01That's far enough. Hey, I said that's far enough.
SPEAKER_10How long has she been in labor?
SPEAKER_01Who are you?
SPEAKER_10Mira, how long?
SPEAKER_01Since yesterday morning.
SPEAKER_10Do you have a healer?
SPEAKER_01We get along just fine.
SPEAKER_10And how are you getting along right now? I've delivered babies. Difficult ones. Before the collapse and after, I can help her.
SPEAKER_01What do you want for it?
SPEAKER_10Food, water, bandages, if you have them. Enough to get us to Billings.
SPEAKER_01That's a lot for a stranger's word.
SPEAKER_10I need to see her first. But I've heard those sounds before. And I know what it means. You're out of your depth. It's no one's fault, but the longer she goes, the worse it gets. For her and the baby.
SPEAKER_01Your people stay outside. You come in alone.
SPEAKER_10I'll need someone to help me. Her. My hands in hers. That's all.
SPEAKER_01Let 'em through. The woman and the girl. The rest stay here.
SPEAKER_18Live?
SPEAKER_10It's okay, Dad.
SPEAKER_18Be careful.
SPEAKER_10We'll be fine. Take care of them.
SPEAKER_01She's back here.
SPEAKER_13You're doing fine, Betsy. Just breathe. Try to breathe with me. In and out.
SPEAKER_10How far apart?
SPEAKER_12No. I don't know you. Get out.
SPEAKER_10My name is Mira.
SPEAKER_12I don't care what your name is. Get away from her.
SPEAKER_01She is here to help.
SPEAKER_10Your wife has been in labor since yesterday. The contractions are slowing down. That means the baby has stopped descending. If that doesn't change in the next few hours, you're gonna lose them both.
SPEAKER_12Ethan's handling it.
SPEAKER_10Ethan looks like he was just born himself.
SPEAKER_12He can handle it. James, I I can't.
SPEAKER_10I was a nurse before. Let me see her.
SPEAKER_13How far apart? Five, maybe six minutes. They they were close this morning, but Daphen's slowing down.
SPEAKER_10I don't I've never I've only read about You've kept her alive through the night. That's a lot. Betsy, my name is Mira. I'm going to help you. Okay if I check you out? Hold her hand. Talk to her. What do I say? Keep her here. Anything. Just let her hear a voice and count for me. When a contraction starts, you count. Steady. One, two, three. When it stops, you tell me how long. When the next one starts? You tell me how far apart. Can you do that? Yeah. Yes, I can do that. Good. You're my clock.
SPEAKER_04Hey Betsy. I'm Liv. I'm right here. You're okay.
SPEAKER_10You're doing so good. The baby's head is down. That's good. But she's facing the wrong way. Toward the belly instead of the spine. The back of the skull is smooth. It's supposed to slide through. Right now you're pushing against the widest part of the head. That's why it's not coming.
SPEAKER_13Can you can you fix that?
SPEAKER_10I can try to turn her. Betsy, I need you to get on your hands and knees. Can you do that for me? Good. Just like that. Let your belly hang. Breathe. Breathe through it. Don't push yet.
SPEAKER_08Liv. Keep talking to her. You're okay. Just breathe. In and out. There you go. Come on.
SPEAKER_10Come on, little one. Come on. Turn for me. I'm gonna press again now. There. There she goes.
SPEAKER_13Did it work?
SPEAKER_10She's turning. The head's where it should be now. The path is clear. Betsy. I need you to push with the next one. Can you do that?
unknownOh god.
SPEAKER_10Betsy? She's so tired, Mira. If she dies, she's not going to die.
SPEAKER_12If she dies, you're not leaving this room.
SPEAKER_10I hear you. Now let me work. These hides on the walls. You must be quite a hunter.
SPEAKER_12Uh yeah. I got most of them. Betsy brought down that black bear over there.
SPEAKER_10Nice. Liv? How long since the last one? Seven minutes. And the one before that was five. The baby's in the right position now. If Betsy could push, this would be over in 20 minutes. But her body's been fighting for almost two days. The muscles are exhausted. The contractions are stopping.
SPEAKER_13Why did they stop?
SPEAKER_10I need to restart her labor.
SPEAKER_13How?
SPEAKER_10Before the collapse, we'd use betosin. I'd start an IV trip and we'd be in business. Her body would do the rest. Hospitals had it by the case. We didn't even think about it. We need that rattlesnake skin. Hang on the wall. Is that rattle still on it?
SPEAKER_13What?
SPEAKER_10The rattle on the tail. Is it still attached?
SPEAKER_13I yes, I I think so. Why?
SPEAKER_10Get it down. Now, Ethan. Okay, good. Let me get this crushed down to powder. I'll need a cup and clean water.
SPEAKER_13What are you?
SPEAKER_10Crushed rattlesnake rattle and water. It's a folk medicine, old. Older than any of us. It can stimulate contractions.
SPEAKER_13That can be real.
SPEAKER_10Remember the Lewis and Clark expedition? A woman named Sakajaway drank this 200 years ago in a room not so different from this. In February, no less. The baby came. Betsy, I need you to drink this. Liv, help me. Hold her head up. All of it. That's it. Good. Is this your first?
SPEAKER_12Second. Or boys, four.
SPEAKER_10That delivery go all right?
SPEAKER_12Oh we we had an older woman then. Knew what she was doing. It it went fast. Nothing like this.
SPEAKER_10The first one's usually the hard one, not the second. She's unlucky, that's all. She's strong, James. I know she's strong. Then trust that.
SPEAKER_04Contraction.
SPEAKER_08One, two, three, four.
SPEAKER_10Five. There it is. Six. That's it. Seven. Betsy. This one's gonna be strong. When it comes, I need you to push. Really, push. Push. They're down. Now. Lynn, hold her. Keep going. Keep going. Don't stop. The head's coming. I can feel it.
SPEAKER_07One more, Betsy. One more. That's it. That's it. Let's let her make it. Shoulders now. Easy. There she is. Oh, there she is. Hello, little one.
SPEAKER_18It's a girl.
SPEAKER_10She's perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes. And she is very unhappy about being disturbed. Liv, the cloth there on the chair. Ethan. Come here. See how I'm holding her? Support the head. Always. Now. I need to tie off the cord. I have her. James? Since you're not going to kill me, I need your knife.
SPEAKER_15Here.
SPEAKER_10Ethan, watch what I do. Two ties on the cord. Tight. A few inches apart. Thread or string, whatever you have. Now the knife goes into the fire first. Just for a moment. Cut between the ties. Quick and clean. There. Okay. Let's get her on mom's chest. Skin on skin contact. She's beautiful. Come on, let's get the men folk. Well baby girl. Healthy. Mom's resting.
SPEAKER_14I'll be damned.
SPEAKER_04Mira was incredible. She turned the baby with her hands, and then the contraction stopped. And she used a rattlesnake rattle, crushed it up in water, and it worked. It actually worked.
SPEAKER_16A rattlesnake rattle.
SPEAKER_04Sacawaya drank the same thing two hundred years ago.
SPEAKER_16Well, of course she did.
SPEAKER_01Your friend knows what she's doing.
SPEAKER_16She does.
SPEAKER_01My name is Tom Garrett. That's my son in there, Betsy's husband. And my granddaughter now. I want to thank you. All of you. You rode in here, and we pointed guns at you. And your woman walked into that room anyway. I won't forget that.
SPEAKER_10Thank you.
SPEAKER_01We made a deal. Food, water, bandages. Enough to get you to buildings. I'll honor that. But I'd like you to stay. A few days.
SPEAKER_17We appreciate the offer, but we need to Your horses are thin.
SPEAKER_01That one's favoring her left front. And the man on a crate hasn't stood up since you got here. I'm fine. You're not. I've got eyes. I'm not being generous. I'm being practical. Ethan, my healer. He's young. He reads every book we've got, and he works hard. But tonight, he watched your woman do things he didn't know were possible. He needs to learn from her. A few days. That's all I'm asking.
SPEAKER_10What do you want him to learn? From their woman.
SPEAKER_01Whatever you'll teach him. Earths, bleeding, fevers. The things that kill people out here, because nobody knows what to do.
SPEAKER_10That's more than a few days. Then give him what you can.
SPEAKER_18Two days.
SPEAKER_10Three. Harlan can't ride like this, and you know it.
SPEAKER_18Liv doesn't have.
SPEAKER_10Three days won't change that. But riding out tomorrow on dead horses with a man who can't sit up straight will.
SPEAKER_18Three days.
SPEAKER_01Good. Daniel! Put their horses in the south pen, get some grain out, and tell Roof to set five more places. And their dog could use a bone, I'm sure. Hear that boy. The baby. James wants to know. Is there anything they should watch for tonight? With Betsy?
SPEAKER_10Bleeding. If it's more than a trickle, wake me. And keep the baby on her chest. Skin to skin. It keeps the temperature up.
SPEAKER_01Yes, ma'am. I'll tell them.
SPEAKER_08Did we just get lucky?
SPEAKER_16Mirror worked her magic. We were just standing near her. Hey. You did it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. She had me count every one.
SPEAKER_17What?
SPEAKER_04The contractions. Mira had me count them. How long, how far apart, the whole time. I kept thinking about my heartbeat. Something's counting down, and you can't make it stop. But this was counting up. Towards something.
SPEAKER_05Sit anywhere. There's plenty.
SPEAKER_01We say thanks before we eat. Not to God, to the animal, the soil, the hands that did the work. You're welcome to listen or not. We're grateful for this meal, for the cattle that gave it, for the hay that fed the cattle, and for the rain that grew the hay. And tonight, for the strangers who rode in and helped us when they didn't have to, and gave us little Jessica.
SPEAKER_05Amen to that. Now eat before it gets cold.
SPEAKER_14Lord Ruth, what is this?
SPEAKER_05Beef stew. Nothing fancy.
SPEAKER_14Ma'am, I've been eating jerky and oats for two weeks. This is the fanciest thing I've ever put in my mouth.
SPEAKER_04This bread is fantastic too.
SPEAKER_05Sourdough. The starter's older than you are, sweetheart. Been feeding it since before the collapse.
SPEAKER_04You kept a sourdough starter alive for 16 years?
SPEAKER_05Sure have.
SPEAKER_01So you're heading to Billings.
SPEAKER_17West of Billings. Quite a bit west, actually.
SPEAKER_01How far west?
SPEAKER_17Seattle.
SPEAKER_01Seattle. In February.
SPEAKER_17That's right.
SPEAKER_01On horseback. A hundred miles.
SPEAKER_17That's the plan.
SPEAKER_12Jesus. Do you know about the passes? Look, you saved my wife and my baby. I don't want any harm to come to you. Bozeman's buried. Has been since December. Lookout pass. I I don't know anyone who's crossed it in winter in years.
SPEAKER_17We know it won't be easy.
SPEAKER_01You have a talent for understatement. It won't be possible. That's different.
SPEAKER_17We're going. Over the passes or through them, or around them, there is no version of this where we turn back.
SPEAKER_01Son, I've lived in Montana my whole life. I've seen what those passes do in February. Ten foot drifts. Wind that will knock a horse sideways. You can't see the road. You can't feel your hands, and if you stop moving, you die. That's not a challenge. That's a death sentence.
SPEAKER_00There was a family trying to get through Bozeman Pass last winter. Made it about 12 miles in. We found them in the spring.
SPEAKER_17I hear you. And I'm telling you we're going.
SPEAKER_01Why? What's in Seattle that's worth dying in a mountain pass?
SPEAKER_17There's a facility. Military. Pre-collapse. It has medical supplies we need.
SPEAKER_01Medical supplies. For who?
SPEAKER_04It's for the girl, isn't it? I have a pacemaker. The battery's dying.
SPEAKER_01Ah shit. I'm sorry to hear that. So that's electrical.
SPEAKER_03You poor girl. How long do you have? Is it dangerous? Do they know what that means?
SPEAKER_17Long enough. If we keep moving.
SPEAKER_12You know, there might be one way. The old Milwaukee Road. The railroad that used to run through here. They didn't go over the mountains, they went under them. There's a tunnel at Lookout Pass on the Montana, Idaho line, mile and a half long, straight through the ridge. It's still there? It's been there since nineteen oh nine. I used to hike near it as a kid. The eastern portal's right off the highway. You'd ride past it on I ninety. It's just a hole in the mountain. No gates, no nothing. I don't know what shape those rails are in now, but the roadbed's still there. Flat, level, wide enough for a train. Wide enough for horses.
SPEAKER_17A mile and a half. In the dark.
SPEAKER_12Pitch black. No light at all once you're past the first hundred yards or so. And the horses won't like it. The echo alone will spook them.
SPEAKER_16But it goes through. Under the snow, under the passes, under all of it.
SPEAKER_12It goes through. Comes out the other side in Idaho, and you're past the worst of the divide. The Clark Fork Valley takes you the rest of the way to Missoula.
SPEAKER_01Ruth. Daniel, you know that valley, right?
SPEAKER_00I do. You follow the west from Missola. It'll keep you low through the worst of the mountains. Stay along the river. It's how the railroad went. Beautiful country, too.
SPEAKER_16That's our plan then. Valley floors as long as we can. Then the tunnel.
SPEAKER_00There's people along the Clark Fort. Some good, some not. There's a trading post at a place called Superior. Or there was, last I heard. Year, year and a half ago. They might resupply you. How far from here? 300 miles, give or take. A week or two at horse pace if the weather holds. Which it probably won't.
SPEAKER_01Anything else we should know? Open road. Long stretches of nothing. That's good and bad. Nobody to trouble you, but nobody to help you either. The weather will be your biggest problem until you hit the mountains. There's a room off the barn. It's clean, it's warm, there's hay. You're welcome to it. Beats the ground.
SPEAKER_10Thank you, Tom.
SPEAKER_01Ethan, first thing tomorrow, you and Mira.
SPEAKER_06Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_14A barn. An actual barn with hay.
SPEAKER_10Don't get used to it.
SPEAKER_14Too late.
SPEAKER_04Dad, you awake?
SPEAKER_11Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I can't sleep. Can we go outside for a minute? God. The stars. They're everywhere.
SPEAKER_18Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04I understand why you love them so much. You said latitude is easy, as long as you have the stars. But you can't do that with longitude?
SPEAKER_17Nope. There's no star for your east-west position. No angle you can measure. The sky looks the same whether you're in London or in the middle of the Atlantic. Thousands of ships wrecked because they didn't know how far east or west they drifted.
SPEAKER_04How do you figure it out then?
SPEAKER_17Time.
SPEAKER_04Time?
SPEAKER_17If you know exactly what time it is, where you are, and you know exactly what time it is back home, the difference tells you how far you've traveled east or west. Because the Earth rotates 15 degrees every hour.
SPEAKER_04That sounds simple.
SPEAKER_17It sounds simple. But you need a clock. And not just any clock. A clock that keeps perfect time on a ship that's rolling in 30-foot swells, in salt air, in freezing cold, and tropical heat. For months. Every clock they tried, the ocean broke it.
SPEAKER_04So what did they do?
SPEAKER_17The British government put up a prize back in the 1700s. 20,000 pounds off fortune. The greatest scientists in England worked on it. Astronomers, mathematicians. They all tried to solve it with the stars. Incredibly complex lunar tables, measurements that took hours to calculate. Brilliant work. And none of it practical for a sailor on a wet deck in a storm.
SPEAKER_03Who won?
SPEAKER_17A carpenter. Man named John Harrison. No formal education. He built clocks out of wood as a kid. Taught himself everything. And he spent his entire life, 40 years, building a clock that could survive the sea.
SPEAKER_04Forty years?
SPEAKER_17Four versions, each one better. The first one was the size of a cabinet. Springs, gears, counterweights, all designed to cancel out the motion of a ship. It worked, but it was huge. So we built another. And another. Each one smaller, each one more precise. The last one, the one that finally won, was the size of a pocket watch. About this big. He called it H4. It crossed the Atlantic and lost five seconds. Five seconds live on a 60-day voyage.
SPEAKER_04And that solved it? Longitude?
SPEAKER_17That solved it. A carpenter who couldn't get into any academy in England did what the greatest scientists of his age couldn't do. Because they were looking up at the sky, and he was looking down at the gears in his hands.
SPEAKER_04But they gave him the prize, right?
SPEAKER_17Not easily. The committee kept changing the rules. They didn't want a carpenter to win. They wanted it to be astronomy, something elegant, something academic. Harrison had to fight them for years. He was 80 before they paid him in full. His son had to petition the king.
SPEAKER_04That's awful.
SPEAKER_17He didn't care. I mean, he cared. But the clock worked. He knew it worked. That was enough for him.
SPEAKER_04So every ship after that just carried a good clock?
SPEAKER_17Yep. And the world opened up. You can't navigate without knowing where you are. And you can't know where you are without time.
SPEAKER_04So time is distance.
SPEAKER_17In a way, yeah. Time is distance.
SPEAKER_04Do you think that Mira will be able to teach Ethan what he needs to know?
SPEAKER_17Enough. But he'll have to keep teaching himself.
SPEAKER_04Forty years? Doing it over and over?
SPEAKER_18Yes.
SPEAKER_04It's not really the same, though, is it? Learning to become a doctor now without medical school or hospitals. People will die.
SPEAKER_17People died back then, too. Just because they didn't have the right clock.
SPEAKER_04So I guess the thing you really need most for progress to build something is time.
SPEAKER_17Yes. Most important resource humanity's ever had is time.
SPEAKER_05Bone broth. Best thing for busted ribs. My husband cracked three falling off a horse, and I kept him on this for a week.
SPEAKER_15Drink! Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_05There's more where that came from. And stop calling me ma'am. I'm not that old.
SPEAKER_15Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_00That sorrel matters, she yours?
SPEAKER_16She's the groups, but I write her.
SPEAKER_00She's got a stone bruise on the left front. That's why she's favorite. I've got a poultice, pantar and tallow. Give it two days and she'll be sound.
SPEAKER_11I'd appreciate that.
SPEAKER_10Feel here. Right below the rib cage. Push in and up. Firm. Not gentle. If someone's choking and they can't cough, this is what saves them.
SPEAKER_06Harder? Good.
SPEAKER_04Hey, little one. Counting up. Harlan, you're up.
SPEAKER_14Don't make a fuss. Just stretching my legs.
SPEAKER_04Power the ribs.
SPEAKER_14I can breathe without thinking about it. That's something.
SPEAKER_01How old were you when the lights went out?
SPEAKER_1731. I was working from our home in South Dakota. Remote contract with NASA. I was on a call with my team when every screen in the house went dark.
SPEAKER_01And your wife?
SPEAKER_17She was here, in Montana. Eleanor. She had taken live to visit her brother in Great Falls, and when it happened, she got them out. It took me a week to find them.
SPEAKER_01What happened to her?
SPEAKER_17Pneumonia. Seven years ago. Her brother didn't make it either. He was at a clinic that got hit early on. One of the first.
SPEAKER_01My wife was Susanna. Raiders. I wasn't here when it happened. Ruth stepped in. She's my sister. She held this place together when I couldn't get out of bed.
SPEAKER_17Sounds like she still is.
SPEAKER_01She already knows.
SPEAKER_17Well, Tom, shall we get drunk?
SPEAKER_01I do believe we should.
SPEAKER_17Gone, but not forgotten.
SPEAKER_14All right. Let's see how this goes. That'll do.
SPEAKER_10So, a breach birth. The baby's feet are coming first. What do you do?
SPEAKER_13Don't pull. Support the body as it comes. Keep the head. The head is last. And that's the dangerous part. I tilt the body up towards the mother's belly, and that helps the head clear.
SPEAKER_10And if the head doesn't clear?
SPEAKER_13I have 60 seconds. I put two fingers in and find the baby's mouth. Create an airway, and I don't panic, because she'll feel it if I panic.
SPEAKER_10You're gonna be fine, Ethan. Yeah? You listen? You're not afraid to say you don't know. And you stayed with Betsy through the night when you had no idea what you were doing. That's more than most people can manage.
SPEAKER_13I I don't know how to thank you.
SPEAKER_06Keep people alive. That's how.
SPEAKER_04Come on. Come on, come ow! My hair is basically one giant knot at this point.
SPEAKER_17Just cut it!
SPEAKER_04I'm not cutting my hair, Dad!
SPEAKER_17Liv, you've been fighting that comb for 20 minutes!
SPEAKER_04I'm aware.
SPEAKER_17Here. Give me the comb.
SPEAKER_04You're not touching my hair.
SPEAKER_17I used to brush your hair every morning before school.
SPEAKER_04I was six.
SPEAKER_17I remember how to do it.
SPEAKER_04Dad, you cut your own hair with a hunting knife.
SPEAKER_17And it looks fine.
SPEAKER_04It does not look fine.
SPEAKER_17Give me the comb, Liv.
SPEAKER_04Ow!
SPEAKER_17Hold still.
SPEAKER_04You're pulling from the top. You have to start at the bottom and work up.
SPEAKER_17That's what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_04That is not what you're doing.
SPEAKER_17Sorry. Sorry. Your mother was better at this. I think we have to cut it.
SPEAKER_04I know.
SPEAKER_17I can do it.
SPEAKER_04It won't be You'll make it worse.
SPEAKER_17Probably.
SPEAKER_04Can you get Mira?
SPEAKER_11Yeah. Sure.
SPEAKER_08Robert said you wanted a haircut.
SPEAKER_04Want? No. Need? Probably.
SPEAKER_10Let me see. Oh honey. I know. When's the last time you gotta comb through this?
SPEAKER_04Maybe before the ravine.
SPEAKER_10This part has to come off. Back here too. The rest I can save if you let me work through it. How short? To about here.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_10It'll grow.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_10Ruth loaned me her sewing scissors. Hold steel. Chin up.
SPEAKER_04My mom used to do this. She had these silver scissors. They came in a little leather case. She'd sit me on the bathroom counter and I'd watch in the mirror while she cut.
SPEAKER_10How old were you?
SPEAKER_04Five, six. This was before. She used to hum while she did it. I don't remember the song. Just that she hummed.
SPEAKER_10Turn this way a little.
SPEAKER_04I don't remember enough of her. That's the thing. I know she hummed. I know she smelled like something. Lavender, maybe? Or soap? I don't even know what kind. I know she did this. But I can't hear her voice in my head anymore. I try and I get Dad's voice telling me what she sounded like.
SPEAKER_10My mother had hands like sandpaper. She worked tobacco. The curing barns east of Raleigh. You could hear her hands on anything she touched. Fabric, skin, a glass of water. This dry sound, like paper. Do you remember her voice? Her laugh. She laughed big. Too big for rooms. People would stare and she didn't care. I remember less than I think I do. The memories I go back to the most I've worn them smooth. Like a river stone. I can't tell anymore what's the memory and what's the remembering. Yeah. But the body remembers things the mind doesn't. Muscle memory. I can feel exactly how her hands sat on my shoulder. Right here.
SPEAKER_04Sometimes I watch you do things. The way you check a wound, or the way you hold the baby's head, or just the way you walk into a room and everyone looks at you. And I think that's what it's like. Having a mother who knows what she's doing.
SPEAKER_10I'm not your mother, Liv.
SPEAKER_04I know that.
SPEAKER_10But I am here. And your hair is a disaster. So let's start with that. Tilt your head forward. How does it look? Like a girl who's been riding a horse across Montana for three weeks, and then someone with a paring knife tried to fix it. So good? It looks good, Liv. There.
SPEAKER_04Thank you, Mira.
SPEAKER_10Any time.
SPEAKER_17Alright. We'll be leaving soon. Let's go through what we've got. Call it out.
SPEAKER_04Jerky. A lot of it. Some salt pork, smoked venison, a small bag of cornmeal, a bag of grain, and two of flour. Some dried peas and beans, two full waterskins.
SPEAKER_10Bandages, clean cloth, and a jar of honey.
SPEAKER_14Rope. About fifty feet. And Tom threw in some char cloth and a few torches. That's more than we started with.
SPEAKER_16The mare's leg is sound. Whatever Daniel put on that hoof, it worked. She's walking even on all four.
SPEAKER_10Robert, your wound is looking much better. Harlan?
SPEAKER_14Those ribs? I'm on the mend. I can ride. For real this time.
SPEAKER_17We can leave it first light, then. Agreed?
SPEAKER_10All right. Let's get one more good sleep.
SPEAKER_01Halloway! There's another bag of oats by the door. Take it. Your horses will need it more than mine will.
SPEAKER_16Thank you, Tom.
SPEAKER_05There's biscuits in that sack. Eat them today. They won't keep.
SPEAKER_10Ruth, thank you for everything.
SPEAKER_05You earned it. Every bit.
SPEAKER_02Betsy? I don't know what to say. You don't have to say anything. She won't let me put her down. She sleeps on my chest, and if I move her, she screams until I pick her back up.
SPEAKER_09Smart girl. She knows where the good stuff is.
SPEAKER_02Do you want to hold her before you go?
SPEAKER_10Give her to live. Me? You were there. She heard your voice before she heard anyone's.
SPEAKER_04Oh. She's so light. Hi. Hey. Remember me? I'm the one who counted. You came in screaming, and you haven't really stopped, have you? That's okay. Scream all you want.
SPEAKER_10You've got Liv Take the baby. Take her now. I've got you, Liv. Liv. Down Living.
SPEAKER_18Liv, talk to me. Liv!
SPEAKER_10I don't have a pulse.
SPEAKER_11Liv You're back with us now.
SPEAKER_10Breathe. Slow. Breathe with me. In and out.
SPEAKER_08In It stopped. My heart. There was nothing near. I could feel I know. It's back now.
SPEAKER_10Feel it? Put your hand here. Feel that? That's your heart.
SPEAKER_08It's beating. I couldn't talk. I tried to talk and I couldn't. That's over. You're here.
SPEAKER_18You're okay. You're okay, sweetheart.
SPEAKER_08How long? A few seconds.
SPEAKER_05It felt longer.
SPEAKER_08Help me get her up.
SPEAKER_05Bring her inside. She can rest.
SPEAKER_06No.
SPEAKER_18Thank you, but no. Liv, can you ride?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I can.
SPEAKER_18Then we ride. Right now.
SPEAKER_16All right, you're close. For a bit.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. That sounds good. My heart stopped this morning. Four seconds, maybe five. Dad counted. I couldn't. I tried, but nothing worked.
SPEAKER_06Not my voice, not my hands, not the counting mirror taught me. The only thing still moving was the fear. It came back. The pacemaker found its rhythm. Or made one, or remembered. I don't know how it works anymore. I don't think dad does either. And that scares me as much as the stopping did. We left the ranch today. The baby was three days old.
SPEAKER_04I held her, and she was so warm and so light, and she didn't know anything about the world yet, and I thought this is what it's supposed to feel like.
SPEAKER_06A heartbeat against your chest. Steady. Sure. Mine isn't sure anymore. Dad didn't say a word for the first ten miles. He just rode. And I could hear him thinking. The way he breathes when the math is bad and he's looking for a number that fixes it. There isn't one. We both know that now. We ride west.
SPEAKER_17Pierce Nahigian as Robert. Lind as Mir. More as Calloway. And Squires as Harlan. Fullcast list, visit Wildskystudios.com. Again is written by Chris Cahoto. Enjoyed this episode. The best thing you can do is leave us a rating and review wherever you listen. Number one way new listeners find the show. 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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