Trans-Real News – Episode 39: Confusion
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Klie Maxwell takes a leave of absence, Donna Co.’s terrifying repo men exposed, Caffeine Zombie strikes back, Bob wins the Path of Bone, Walter gets his 70s depravity, and Toby has a strange therapeutic (?) session.
News Brief (0’19”)
- Klie Maxwell takes a leave of absence, in response to cancellation attempts.
- Donna Co. is discovered to be hiring repo men to reclaim used cyberware in arrears.
- Caffeine Zombie strikes back against the intelligence agencies hunting them with intelligence leaks.
- Bob wins the Path of Bone
Timespace Forecast (2’31”)
- A surge of 18th century vibes and attendant Imperial pride will strike Eastern Europe.
- The Imperial shave may be making a comeback in Russia.
- Artificial 70s depravity is heading to the Monterey Bay thanks to fans.
Therapy? (3’20”)
[Dr. C.] Mr. Damt… Mr. Damt… are you with me?
[Toby] I’m sorry doctor… I was lost in thought for a moment there.
[Dr. C.] And where exactly did you go?
[Toby] Another newscast. I was imagining running another session.
[Dr. C.] I do hope you will write this one down, too. They are engrossing reading.
[Toby] A great window into a fractured psyche, I would imagine?
[Dr. C.] Mr. Damt. Toby. May I call you Toby?
[mumbled assent]
[Dr. C.] I don’t see you as a “fractured psyche,” as you call it. And I promise you, I’m doing very little Freudian analysis on the contents of these fascinating daydreams of yours. I am genuinely enjoying them.
[Toby] Nobody else saw them that way.
[Dr. C.] Do you want to know what I see?
[Toby] I… Sure, tell me what you see.
[Dr. C.] I see the work of a fantastically creative individual with more amazing ideas than he knows what to do with. Your Imagination is truly one of the most vibrant I have ever seen.
What I think is that you have such an incredible creative output, and such a deep need to express yourself that it started spilling out into your everyday life. Being a reporter on a world gone mad is probably a great deal more interesting than being a forgotten employee in a basement office. How long did they forget you down there, Toby?
[Toby] I was on the payroll doing nothing for seventeen months. I did my best to make my own work, and take care of the company as best as I could, I even kept asking for work and getting ignored because of that stupid departmental shuffle and the promotion freeze. And then they fired me.
[Dr. C.] That is a long time to live totally alienated from regular life. Especially after you had been through so much. Divorce is hard on everyone. Especially after such a terrible loss.
[Toby] I…I… Yeah. It was pretty hard. But I would like to think I am tougher than that. I mean, is that all it takes to break me?
[Dr. C.] There’s that word again. Broken. Do you really think that you are broken?
[Toby] I do. I mean I must be. Wandering the streets raving about barbarians and arthropleuria? That isn’t the actions of a man who has it together.
[Dr. C.] What I think is that, in the absence of any sense of purpose or meaning, especially after two terrible losses, it was easy for your imagination… being such a fertile one… to run away with you. Who wouldn’t rather live in a world of magic, superheroes and conspiracies, than spend all day sitting organizing the same files in a lonely basement office, talking to no one, and then coming home to an empty apartment where the only decorations remind you of a lost loved one? I know I would.
[Toby] I guess….
[Dr. C.] I think you did admirably coping with things most people couldn’t dream of handling Toby.You are stronger than you think. And the detail of your fantasy world is truly fantastic. When you are ready to go back out into the world, I think you have a career ahead of you as a writer. And putting it all down… it might help you out more than I can. I mean, consider how thoroughly you explored the themes of death and rebirth over and over again.
[Toby] I thought we weren’t doing a Freudian analysis.
[Dr. C.] This was literary analysis, more than psychiatric, Toby. Like you, I also was young and idealistic enough once to take a B.A. in English.
[Toby] That’s fair…
[Dr. C.] I want you to write this all down, not to document a “fractured mind”, but to help you find more effective channels to release all of your creativity. I suspect, if your imagination is given a safe outlet, it will help you get greater command over your mind.
[Toby] Alright. I have had worse assignments.
[Dr. C.] I’m afraid that is where we will have to leave it for now, Toby. I am going to recommend you go take a walk in the garden, and see if it helps you be here and now, and not dwell in your imagination. And then I will see you in group therapy in the afternoon.
[Toby] Okay. Thank you, Doctor Calmey.
[Dr. C.] If it helps, you can call me Morag.
[Toby] Thanks… Morag… I will do that.