Hey everyone, Nico here, I am one of the writers of Isfat Archives,
and I just wanted to say, hey, thank you all for listening.
If you are on this episode now, you have probably listened to the
first ten episodes which completed season one of the show. We are on a
little bit of a break. We'll come back in January. If you are
on our binge here on Patreon, you will get the first five episodes of
season two, all on January first, I believe. Besides that if you
are a listener on the general feed, you will go back to your normal
schedule of every third Sunday a new episode starting in January. In the meantime,
I did want to let you know that as a part of Creative Typo
Entertainment, the entertainment company that me and my friends have put together for these
shows, we have a couple other audio dramas and one of them is a
show called stick Shift Incorporated. So what I'm going to do in this episode
right here is actually play you the first episode of stick Shift, and then
I'll put a link to the website where you can pop on and check out
the show if you'd like to listen to it. It's a pretty cool like
American Gods meets Canada. A super super great job writing. It sounds fantastic,
great audio work. You'll hear some familiar voices in there, and I
really hope you enjoy it. So again, thank you for checking out its
fat archives. We can't wait to jump into season two with you, and
if I don't talk to you before, then Happy Holidays. Discretion is advised
for listeners under the age of thirteen. It all started on a Friday.
The calendar said it was Thursday, but I knew that I would get to
sleep in the next day so that I meet it my Friday. If you've
never worked outside of the nine to five, that may not make a whole
lot of sense to you, But if you've ever worked in something like food
or retail, then you know exactly what I mean. Weekends are a myth.
Calendars lie And this all started on a Friday. It was the tail
end of my shift at club Cafe that's my main job, or it was
before all of this happened. I was bleary eyed and brain fogged after serving
gallon upon gallon of espressos, lattes americanos, macchiatos, mochas, and cappuccinos
to a constant stream of strangers. That's when they walked in. A psychic.
I could tell because they had gemstones and medallions in their ears, around
their neck, and on bangles that went practically up to their elbows. They
didn't wear clothing so much as it flowed around them, giving them an their
worldly aura. Also, they handed me their card, Zephyr Jordan Psychic was
printed on it in tiny purple script. You are a Karen, they said,
matter of factly. Their voice was thin, almost insubstantial, and the
scent of lavender wafted toward me. I told Zephyr that no, I am
not a Karen. My name is Skuyler. But still they insisted, you
are a Karen and you have been looking for work. Now you might be
thinking maybe the psychic isn't so great at their job, But that's where you
would be wrong, because even though I already had a full time job plause
a part time job, I was looking for work. Rent in Vancouver isn't
cheap. And my middle name, which I hate, is Karen. Not
that there's anything wrong with Karen as a name, mind you, It just
doesn't feel like a name that should belong to me. Some of this must
have crossed my face, because Zephyr smiled in recognition. They are waiting for
your call, they said, and motioned for me to turn over the card.
They're printed in all caps was the name sticks Shift incorporated, followed by
a phone number. Something about that name rang a bell like I had seen
it printed somewhere else before, but I couldn't, for the life of me
remember where. When I looked up to ask for more information, Zephyr was
already gone. I jammed the card in my pocket, finished up my cafe
shift and tried to forget about it. I mean, I still had to
hoof it over to my other job, Campai Sushi, and there are more
reliable ways to find work than to what call a number a random psychic handed
me. But of course I couldn't forget, and that's what landed me here,
smack dab in the middle of this whole investigation. Sifting through hours and
hours of audio and video acquired by means that even now I can't quite fully
explain. There's a lot about what happened that I can't explain. It's been
months and I am still learning to be okay with that with not fully understanding.
My job now is to share the facts, to build the story of
what happened as accurately as possible to the best of my abilities. And to
that end, this video is as good of a piece to start with as
any. Okay, so this footage has been spliced together. I have no
idea by whom. Right now, we're looking out toward my old apartment in
East Vancouver. It's a relatively quiet, moonlit night. The streets look empty.
And eh, there that's me coming out. Look at me. I
have no idea that I'm about to launch headfirst into a global conspiracy. Not
a clue. I'm only twenty five years old in this footage. I'm twenty
seven now. But just look at how ragged and worn I am there,
like it hurts to breathe. This must have been right after my second job.
That means I worked eight hours in the morning and added another four hours
right after and now on to job number three. Desperation is something else,
my friend. I'm clutching that cup of coffee like my life depends on it.
Oh uh, the camera has changed now we're looking down at my car,
probably from one of the street lights. I'm shuffling towards silver four door
sedan and you can see me press a cloud shaped sticker on the driver's side
door. The camera zoom's in here, and you can see the words sticks
Shift Incorporated printed on the sticker, and a small metallic device extends from an
unseen seam on its side. Weird right there. I tap my employee card
on it and the device chimes. Okay. Now it slowly retracts back inside
the high tech theft proof sticker and triggers the car doors to a knock.
And now we're looking at footage from inside the car. Welcome Skyler Henderson.
You can skip the intro. Thank you for signing it seriously, so the
sixth Shift Incorporated Employee Tracker system. Today you have been a signed to pick
up Jules masonh yeah. Just tell me where to go at one zero five
Windermere Street deliver Our redestination is one one eight one Seymour straight, got it.
That's the end of the clip. Of course, I had no idea
I was being recorded at the time. Even now I'm not quite sure who
was watching me. Back then, when this investigation first started, I asked
a mechanic to help me find that camera, the one with the view from
inside the cabin. We broke that car down to the studs and never found
the recording device. But yeah, all of the video clips are like that,
switching back and forth from multiple angles from cameras that don't actually exist.
Like this one. It's from later that same night. There's my car pulling
up alongside a row of million dollars two story homes. Then we cut to
a confused looking elderly person aimlessly wandering the front yard. Oh dear, oh
dear. Last thing I remember is I was eating dinner with Henry before we
go on. There is something you should know about me, as a non
binary person. I try not to guess at people's genders and do my best
to respect their preferred pronouns. It's a favor that isn't always returned, which
will come up later. But this client was definitely a she. Eh that's
a better angle. There. You can see her portly frame and shoulder length
silvery hair. Her skin is loose and pale, almost gray. This is
accentuated by the maroon knee length dress and jacket. The matching hat, shoes,
and purse don't do her any favors. Either. She seems to be
looking for someone or something, but isn't sure of who or what are you?
Jules Mason? Who are you? Well? Am I? What happened?
I'm the driver from Stick Shift Incorporated. You schedule to pick up with
them? We're going to Seymour Street. Oh yes, yes, that must
be it. Dinner and a show. Henry's always out doing himself. I
wonder what's taking him so long? Henry Henry loves uh. Oh oh yes,
I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting, my dear. You must forgive
me. My mind's been a little bit cloudy ass of late. And the
last thing I remember is do you need me to take you to a hospital
or something? I could call nine one one for you. You don't look
like you're doing so well. Looks like you've got a serving of dementia with
the dash of death warmed over. Hmm. Oh nonsense, dear, I'm
in tiptop shape. Simply have to paint my face on fresh and up pocket.
Well, what are you waiting for? Take me to the theater?
So are you seeing a movie tonight? Oh? Of course, dear,
Why else would one go to the theater to listen to a lecture or I
don't know, to clean cell tickets, make repairs to some actual work.
You see. Employee number five zero six five three three three three three three
three three five Where is that coming from? Who's talking? Has been flagged
for two infractions of Rule twenty five point zero eight point five five one six
' three section. Eh, don't worry. It's just the stick shift incorporated
sticker they gave me to put on my car. It has some kind of
proprietary tech embedded in it that tracks my driving and tells me who I need
to pick up, where I need to go, things like that. I've
only been doing this for about a week, so I'm still getting a handle
on everything. You poor dear. That sounds so terribly intrusive. I'm glad
I never worked somewhere that watched every little thing I did. That would be
maddening. Customer complaint has been filed. Thank you for your feedback. Jules
Henderson, You're quite welcome. Say have I met you somewhere before? I'm
sure I've seen your face somewhere. You look so familiar. Maybe I work
part time at Campei Sushi on commercial and full time at Clib Caffeine and gastown
run in the city isn't cheap, you know. Oh my, you,
poor dear, I can't imagine. How can you stand it? I would
have gone in and san It's dreadful about young folks like you have to work
so hard to get so little. But you're such a pretty girl. I'm
sure you'll find a man someday who will provide for you. Who knows,
you might even marry into a wealthy family, and then you won't have to
work so hard. Hey, is it all right if I turn on the
radio? Why? Of course, dear, that was rough to watch.
I mean, she wasn't the most considerate person on the planet, but those
things I said about her. Overwork does bad things to your brain. Decision
making, impulse control, all of that goes downhill, went downhill. Part
of me wonders if only I had known. I need a break. I'm
back, Okay, here's the next clip. We're pulling up to Van City
Theater. All of the lights in the building are off, looks like they're
closed. What they can't be? Why else would I have Maybe that Henry
person you were talking about rented out the building and came ahead to prepare a
surprise for you or something like that. Yes, that sounds like my darling,
Henry. Thank you, dear. She just tried to open the door.
It won't open. Thank you for riding with stick Shift Incorporated, the
only truly global riding service. Your total for this ride is thirteen dollars and
seventy four cents. Oh yes, yes, of course, silly me.
We accept cash, tip it, and most credit cards. Please don't forget
to tip your driver and thank you again for riding with stick Shift Incorporated.
Do you have change for a twenty I am I don't think I Please don't
forget to tip your driver, and thank you again for riding with stick Shift
Incorporated. Oh, second thought, don't worry about it. It's hard to
tell from this angle, but she just handed me two twenty dollars bills.
You walk far too hot. Take some time off to have a little fun,
Dear. Money isn't everything. Thank you. Have a good night.
Okay. Now you can see her walking up to the theater door, and
now she pulls it open. Here's the weird part. Even though you can
see through the glass that all of the lights in the building are turned off,
there's a wash of lights spilling out of the doorway and onto the sidewalk,
and now she steps through and the door drifts shut. Okay, the
camera's back to me, and I'm rubbing my eyes like I'm clearly thinking that
did not just happen. I must be hallucinating. Maybe I should take a
day off. Who was I kidding? If I could have afforded to take
a day off, I wouldn't have wound up in this mess to begin with.
I never would have taken on extra roommates or dedicated years of my life
to thankless jobs that swallowed my heartbeats and left me feeling dead inside. The
entire system is just uh. I think I need another break beck, Sorry
about that. Sometimes it all just gets to me anyway. This clip is
just audio. According to the file name, it's a conversation between the CEO
of six Shift Incorporated, a mister Catacosmos, and his brother who isn't named.
Hello. Hey, it's me, Hey, baby brother. It's been
ages. How are things going in deep space? Not bad? The wife
and I went to visit mother for a bit, and now we're on a
strange planet with a purple sky and the most fascinating rubber humanoid creatures I think
they call themselves thereats. That sounds vaguely familiar. But I know you,
little brother. You never call or visit anybody unless you want something, so
spit it out. Well, I could really use some advice. It's about
your wife, the whole reason you left earth. Yeah, the whole point
of this trip was to reconnect and spend more time with each other, to
improve our relationship. And it was great at first, but now she's furious
at me and I I don't know what to do. Let me guess you
slept with ethery O more like fifteen. Why do I bother giving you advice
when I know you'll never use it. But this time she's destroyed an entire
village, murdered every single one of them. I'm not surprised. Did it
happen to be the same village where you found those fifteen theoryotes? Yes,
but that's not the point. Please help me. She's really lost it this
time, and I'm afraid she might kill again. I'm at my wits end.
I swear i'll follow your advice down to the letter this time, and
if you break that promise, then I'll never ask for help from you ever
again. Fine, my advice has been the same since the day you two
got married. Stop sleeping with other people, even if they're unbelievably gorgeous.
Yes, even if I make absolutely certain that you'll never find out. Yes,
even if they proposition me. Yes, even if yes, stop cheating
on your wife and your marriage will improve substantially. Ugh, okay, I
promise. Good. Now, go apologize to your wife and make the same
exact promise to her, But this time she decides what happens to you if
you break your promise, not you. Okay, I'm serious. Okay,
I'll go make her that stupid promise. Remember you're the one who came to
me asking for help. You're right, Yes, I better go and get
it over with. Goodbye, baby brother. Bye. Okay. I don't
even know where to begin with this one. They're just casually talking about interacting
with extraterrestrials like it's no big deal and apparently intergalactic space travel is a thing,
except it's not. I've done extensive research into our current space travel capabilities
and we're still not even close. My guess is they're talking in some kind
of code, but I haven't been able to crack it yet. The next
clip is video footage from inside my old apartment. We're looking down into the
main living space, which is an open concept living room, den, kitchen
combo. Kobe is chopping onions in the kitchen and Steve has planted on the
sofa with a game controller in his hands. Looks like he's playing one of
those team shooter games. The front door opens up and I walk in.
Based on the timestamp, this is right after I dropped Jewels Mason off at
the Kobe looks up and grins when he sees me, but Steve doesn't physically
react at all to the door opening. Hey, Skyler had the new gig?
Go? Oh yeah, Hey dude, what he said? It was
all right, but I'm pretty exhausted. I think I'm just gonna jump straight
into bed. You work way too hard, Skyler. You don't really need
this new gig, right, Oh but I exactly. It's like Uncle Joseph
always says, if you put too many eggs in a basket, one of
them's gonna drop out and split right open. What Sea Boy said? Oh,
could you please stop calling me that you gotta take time to go out,
get drunk and party. If you don't, are you even alive.
Bro. Thanks, I'll take that under advisement. But right now all I
can think about is sleep, See you folks in the morning. Steve never
once looked up from his game. Kind of creeps me out now looking back
at it. I head to bed after that, and there isn't much to
see until let me skip ahead here. The visuals aren't important. Here.
You can see me tossing and turning. But listen, hear that. That's
Steep. He's in the band and Kobe does voice acting on the side.
I am so glad I don't live there anymore that I actually have access to
peace and quiet. It's a marvelous thing. Silence. Even the gentlest of
sound waves are a full body assault, physically crashing into you with or without
your consent. I wish more people would think about the sounds that they make,
how those waves force themselves on the people around them. Okay, this
one's just It's a conversation between mister Catecosmos, the CEO of six Shift Incorporated,
and his wife, who also works in the company. I can't wait
to see you again, my sweet I miss you too, my love.
How is your day not bad? We had some new arrivals and business is
still booming. Oh. I was looking through the logs of flagged employees and
there's one that I'd like you to override. Why. I was just chatting
with their rider, and she highly recommended this employee, she said, and
I quote, she was a nice young lady who made me feel at ease.
I just hope she can find a husband someday. This employee uses they
pronounce, so all of that misgendering must have really grated on them. I
honestly don't blame them for being a little grumbly. Besides, it's only their
first week on the job. I think it's okay to give them a past
this one time. All right, Give me the employee number so I can
write it down. Employee number fifty six fifty three three thirty three three thirty
three three fifty one five zero six' five three triple three triple three three
five one. Got it? Why does that look familiar? Oh this is
the employee who did the delivery that I was meaning to talk to you about.
Oh yeah, there was a flicker in the system and the theater lights
at their assigned drop off didn't turn on like they were programmed to ah,
I see. Do you suppose they had a sneak peak behind the curtain?
More or less, I'm going to keep an eye on them, good idea.
We can't risk exposure, no matter how small the threat. As usual,
Darling, you're absolutely right. I'll call them tomorrow for assessment. Skyla
Henderson right, that's the one. Looks like they're chief for their one week
assessment anyway, excellent. Don't want them getting any more suspicious than they already
might be. Keep me posted, of course, But what should I do
if Skyla figures it out. It's been ages since our last system era,
and technology has gotten much quicker since then. If Skyler becomes a problem,
I'll handle them, are you sure? Yes? But the last time I
sent an employee to you, they trust me. My sweet This is for
the best that never gets any easier to hear. I can only imagine what
happens when mister Catacosmos handles a problem employee. And that's because there are no
records of six Shift Incorporated ever having employed anyone, not even me. I
told you this case was weird, and that assessment well, I can go
into more detail next time, but it definitely does not go as planned.
This show has made possible in part by our Kickstarter backers Duayanne Farber at Apocalypse
Cowboy on Twitter, Stephen Lafon from the Whichever Path podcast, and nineteen eighty
five the podcast by Shari Madewell. Thank you so much for believing in us.
You can also support the show by rating, subscribing, and sharing with
others. Sharing is carrying after all. Stick Shift Incorporated was written, produced,
and set in Vancouver, BC, which is the unseeded shared traditional territories
of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the Muskwiem, Squamish,
and Slawatooth nations. This episode featured the voices of Brad Brandon Jenkins, Cass
McPhee, check Off, Richard Collins, Takudzwa, Sharon Kidimi, and Dietre
Marie Bowie. Music for the show was composed by Anthony Louis Sanchez. If
you'd like to hear more of his work, visit Anthony Luis Sanchez dot com
or subscribe to his YouTube channel Molto Rubato eighty eight. Think you know what
happen next? Tweet us your theories or hop into our discord server linked in
the show notes stick Shift Incorporated is a Microphones and Monsters production. You can
find stick Shift Incorporated wherever podcasts are found, or at stishift dot com.
That's sticksshift dot com. You can also find other great Microphones and Monsters podcasts
at Mike'sandmonsters dot com. That's Mike's and Monsters dot com. Don't forget to
check out our Patreon as well at www dot patreon dot com. Slash misand
Monsters. That's patreon dot com slash mikesan Monsters