This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Bruce Vilanch: Greetings, Earthlings! I'm Bruce Vilanch.

[0:05] Taylor Purdee: I'm Taylor Purdee. And you're listening to Around the Sun,

[0:10] Bruce Vilanch: an episodic audio drama created by Brad Forenza. This is Season 2, Episode 3, Area 51.

[0:17] Unknown speaker: The officer sits at his desk, meticulously reviewing paperwork, when there is a knock on his door.

[0:34] Unknown speaker: Come in!

[0:35] Unknown speaker: Good morning, sir.

[0:37] Unknown speaker: At ease. I'm sorry to barge in on you, but there's an emergency.

[0:41] Unknown speaker: Have we met?

[0:42] Unknown speaker: No, sir. I'm one of your cadets.

[0:45] Unknown speaker: A trainee?

[0:46] Unknown speaker: Yes, sir. Stevens.

[0:48] Unknown speaker: Did your instructor give you permission to be here, Stevens?

[0:52] Unknown speaker: No, sir. It's an emergency.

[0:55] Unknown speaker: Did your instructor drop dead? Is that the emergency?

[1:00] Unknown speaker: No, sir.

[1:01] Unknown speaker: Then I see no reason why you should be here.

[1:04] Unknown speaker: I generally don't take meetings with cadets, and if I did, there is a process to follow.

[1:09] Unknown speaker: You cannot skirt the process. Besides, I'm steeped in paperwork this morning.

[1:14] Unknown speaker: I understand, sir. But I took an oath to uphold the values of this country.

[1:20] Unknown speaker: The process begins when you submit a form to Dahi.

[1:23] Unknown speaker: Your secretary.

[1:24] Unknown speaker: My secretary?

[1:25] Unknown speaker: Yes, sir.

[1:26] Unknown speaker: No. Dahi is a career support specialist. Dahi works for the country, not for me.

[1:32] Unknown speaker: I'm sorry, sir. I'm still learning.

[1:35] Unknown speaker: Did you give Dahi a meeting request form?

[1:38] Unknown speaker: She was away from her desk.

[1:40] Unknown speaker: So you didn't give her a meeting request form?

[1:43] Unknown speaker: Correct.

[1:44] Unknown speaker: Then why are you here?

[1:46] Unknown speaker: I've left messages for you all morning.

[1:49] Unknown speaker: And who are you again?

[1:51] Unknown speaker: Stevens, sir. I'm still in training.

[1:54] Unknown speaker: Right. Stevens from training. Let me get this straight. Your instructor doesn't know you're here, and you didn't submit a meeting request, but you still thought it a good idea to just barge in to talk with me?

[2:06] Unknown speaker: It's critical.

[2:07] Unknown speaker: Do you know who I am?

[2:09] Unknown speaker: Yes, sir. I am your superior. There is a process.

[2:13] Unknown speaker: I'm sorry. It's an emergency.

[2:15] Unknown speaker: It's the business of the country.

[2:17] Unknown speaker: It's all an emergency. I called all morning.

[2:20] Unknown speaker: That was you?

[2:22] Unknown speaker: Yes, sir.

[2:23] Unknown speaker: Well, the sky didn't fall, so it can't be much of an emergency.

[2:27] Unknown speaker: They're dying, sir.

[2:29] Unknown speaker: Who?

[2:30] Unknown speaker: The specimens.

[2:32] Unknown speaker: The extraterrestrials. The aliens we keep locked in the basement.

[2:39] Unknown speaker: What do you know about the specimens?

[2:41] Unknown speaker: I've heard them every night for as long as I've been in training. I've heard their pain through the vent under my bunk. They wake me up, sir.

[2:52] Unknown speaker: There are no specimens. Besides, we at the top of the chain have protocol to follow.

[2:57] Unknown speaker: If I went to a meeting with the Chief Master Sergeant, do you think I'd just elbow my way into his office?

[3:03] Unknown speaker: No, sir.

[3:04] Unknown speaker: That's right. Because we have a process, I'd submit a form. I didn't get to be who I am because I pissed on the process.

[3:10] Unknown speaker: I understand, sir, but I took an oath.

[3:13] Unknown speaker: You understand, yet here you are, pissing on the process. If I could just tell you what I've seen.

[3:19] Unknown speaker: I'm not interested in conspiracy theories about aliens, Stevens. I've heard them before, and they distract from the work of the country.

[3:29] Unknown speaker: The specimens are real. I've heard them crying for as long as I've been here.

[3:34] Unknown speaker: Move your cot if the mice in the vents are keeping you awake.

[3:39] Unknown speaker: Last night, I followed their cries. I crawled through the ducts, and I followed the sound of their pain. I saw them, sir.

[3:46] Unknown speaker: Dozens of specimens locked in cages.

[3:48] Unknown speaker: You did what?

[3:50] Unknown speaker: I saw them. The smaller ones crying to be held. The larger ones shackled and unable to move. The older ones strapped to gurneys and being pumped with God knows what. I followed their cries to the basement, and I saw them.

[4:04] Unknown speaker: You didn't see them.

[4:06] Unknown speaker: They were dying down there.

[4:08] Unknown speaker: Listen to me. You didn't see them. The basement is a classified area.

[4:14] Unknown speaker: How can we torture them like that? Is that who we want to be?

[4:19] Unknown speaker: For your own benefit, I acknowledge nothing you say you saw.

[4:24] Unknown speaker: They're living beings, terrestrial or extraterrestrial. They're intelligent life. They think and feel just like us.

[4:31] Unknown speaker: It's the business of the country, Stevens. It's only you bleeding hearts who think with your gut.

[4:36] Unknown speaker: There are things we can learn from the specimens, from testing their limits, if in fact they even exist.

[4:43] Unknown speaker: But we took an oath to defend personal freedoms.

[4:46] Unknown speaker: It's different.

[4:47] Unknown speaker: I've heard enough. You can leave.

[4:50] Unknown speaker: You've already exceeded the time you didn't properly request.

[4:54] Unknown speaker: It's inhumane.

[4:56] Unknown speaker: Well, good, because they're not human. They're alien.

[5:01] Unknown speaker: Their spaceships crashed inside our borders. They're a threat to the homeland. They're enemy combatants.

[5:07] Unknown speaker: What do you have to say to that?

[5:09] Unknown speaker: Should we bake a turkey and send them back on their merry way?

[5:13] Unknown speaker: We have an obligation to set a moral example.

[5:16] Unknown speaker: Oh, please. It's impossible to be everything for everyone, Stevens. You'll learn that.

[5:22] Unknown speaker: Rob Peter to pay Paul. Is that good policy?

[5:26] Unknown speaker: Empower the rebels until they become the enemy?

[5:29] Unknown speaker: Send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free until they break the bank.

[5:35] Unknown speaker: And you want me to worry about a couple dozen specimens?

[5:39] Unknown speaker: Is life or death down there?

[5:41] Unknown speaker: Everything is life or death when you're executing the business of the country.

[5:45] Unknown speaker: There are no winners or losers. Just process. Now get back to training.

[5:51] Unknown speaker: I unlocked the cages.

[5:53] Unknown speaker: You what?

[5:54] Unknown speaker: I wanted you to know that I unlocked the cages. I set them free.

[6:01] Unknown speaker: No, you didn't.

[6:02] Unknown speaker: I liberated them.

[6:04] Unknown speaker: When?

[6:05] Unknown speaker: Earlier this morning.

[6:06] Unknown speaker: Why would you do that?

[6:08] Unknown speaker: Because I took an oath.

[6:11] Unknown speaker: Oh, God. They were being held against their will, sir.

[6:15] Unknown speaker: Donnie, we have a code red.

[6:17] Unknown speaker: It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

[6:20] Unknown speaker: Yeah, it usually does. But now their spaceships are landing all over the desert.

[6:25] Unknown speaker: I wanted to warn you before you saw it on the news.

[6:29] Unknown speaker: Attention, everyone. Leave now, Stevens.

[6:32] Unknown speaker: Run for the hills.

[6:34] Unknown speaker: And on your way out, tell Donnie I need an incident report.

[6:38] Unknown speaker: This is going to be a lot of paperwork.

[6:41] Unknown speaker: Everyone must exit the building.

[6:44] Unknown speaker: Around the Sun is written and directed by Brad Forenza. For full credits and to hear more episodes,

[6:50] Unknown speaker: please visit AroundTheSunPodcast.com. If you enjoyed this episode, remember to like, share and subscribe.

[6:56] Unknown speaker: Because this is it. This episode also featured Ashley Monique Minard as Donnie.