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Love in the Time of Dust and Venom

31:50 recording · AUTO · 3 speakers

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Brief overview

Escape Pod 1041 tells Sharon Joss's story of a dying man leaping centuries into a ruined Japan's future.

  1. A terminal diagnosis becomes a one-way ticket forwardWith six months left and treatment ruled out, Sofu treats Time Horizons' beta test as the only way to die in the land of his ancestors.
  2. Consent is enforced by making him press the buttonFor legal reasons no one may push the green button for him; the blue button returns him and the red button sends the vest back empty in 60 seconds.
  3. Science and grief pull the family apartDr. Orlov prizes the data down to the dust on Sofu's shoes, while Keiko begs him to lie so her grandfather will stay.
Executive Summary AI
  • Host Valerie Valdez introduces Escape Pod episode 1041, "Love in the Time of Dust and Venom" by Sharon Joss, first published in Fiction River Time Travelers in 2013 and narrated by Torrin Andros.1:30
  • In the story, Keiko sits in the lobby of Time Horizons Incorporated with her 97-year-old grandfather, whose doctors give him six months and call aggressive treatment contraindicated, knowing she is essentially sending him to his death.4:57
  • She explains to the technician Brad that her grandfather lived his whole life in Okuma, inside the red zone after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, that his wife and son were killed in the tsunami, and that he believes dying in Los Angeles would leave him a wandering ghost.9:48
  • His first jump takes him 100 years forward to his own street and he returns dirty and despairing asking for 200 years and the hilltop shrine; that second trip brings him back with seventeen bee stings, nightmares and talk of a town filled with angry ghosts.21:49
  • On the third attempt, at 9.23 a.m., Sofu jumps 1,000 years and does not come back, leaving only the weathered blue vest with its pockets bulging, which the author's note ties to planting seeds of hope for a future filled with flowers.26:39
Key Quote
“I'm Valerie Valdez, your host for this episode.”
— Valerie Valdez1:34
Key Quote
“Now, get ready for time travel to give new life to an old man.”
— Valerie Valdez2:52
Key Quote
“His prognosis is terminal.”
— Brad8:54