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[0:16] Jonathan Cook: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Gather by the Ghost Light: original stories for Radio Theater.

[0:22] Jonathan Cook: I'm Jonathan Cook, your host, producer, sometimes voice actor on this thing. And today I have a very special episode for you because this is the first episode of 2022.

[0:36] Jonathan Cook: You know, over the past year, I've had the privilege of discovering and collaborating with many different writers, actors, musicians, and artists. And I really hope to continue that trend this year so that all of you out there can discover the same cool stuff I do that you didn't even know that you were looking for.

[0:52] Jonathan Cook: So here we are. We're starting this year with a thrilling story called MONSTERS BEYOND the Midnight Zone. It was written by Oregon-based playwright Lindsay Partain.

[1:02] Jonathan Cook: Miss Partain is a member of the Dramatist Guild, and her plays have been internationally published and produced. Her work has been seen on stages all across the United States and has traveled internationally to England, Japan, and Dubai.

[1:15] Jonathan Cook: Her play that you're going to hear today takes place miles beneath the ocean's surface, where two scientists out exploring in a deep-sea submersible encounter a rather aggressive creature lurking in the depths of the Mariana Trench.

[1:29] Jonathan Cook: Now, gather around the ghost light, sit back and enjoy. This is MONSTERS BEYOND the Midnight Zone, written by Lindsay Partain and performed by Devon McSherry and Paige Blackcloud.

[1:47] Romy: If you look to your left, you'll see a delightful foot-long octopus with cartoonish ears, and the most horrific shark you could possibly imagine.

[1:56] LEAH Intro: No wait.

[1:57] Romy: It's worse.

[1:59] Romy: $5,000. Dumbo Puss could squish his way in here.

[2:02] LEAH Intro: I take that bet.

[2:03] Romy: You lose that bet. That adorable bastard gets in here, and we both lose.

[2:07] Romy: He's built to withstand over 5600 PSI at nearly 4,000 meters.

[2:12] LEAH Intro: I can barely take a compliment.

[2:13] Romy: Did you know they swallow their food whole? They don't grind it with their beak like other octopuses.

[2:18] LEAH Intro: I too took marine biology in undergrad.

[2:18] Romy: All right, smart ass. Can it?

[2:25] LEAH Intro: It's starting to get dark.

[2:27] Romy: We're gonna be creeping up on the midnight zone pretty quickly.

[2:29] LEAH Intro: I'll grab the checklist.

[2:31] Romy: It's by the oxygen, yeah?

[2:33] LEAH Intro: It should be.

[2:34] Romy: Hey, I think I left a Snickers bar back there somewhere.

[2:38] LEAH Intro: If you find it, would you hand it up?

[2:40] Romy: Uh, Snickers, you say?

[2:42] LEAH Intro: Yeah, I think I stashed it somewhere between the emergency condensation bag and the scrubbers.

[2:52] Romy: Anything?

[2:54] LEAH Intro: Nope.

[2:55] Romy: Nothing back here.

[2:56] LEAH Intro: All right. At least give me the other half.

[2:59] Romy: It's a little squished.

[3:01] LEAH Intro: Not surprising. There's barely room to turn around in here, let alone stowaway snacks.

[3:06] Romy: Where are we at? Any records broken yet?

[3:10] LEAH Intro: Not yet.

[3:12] Romy: Well.

[3:13] LEAH Intro: No.

[3:14] Romy: Leah, where are we at?

[3:17] LEAH Intro: We've officially hit 10,500 meters.

[3:23] Romy: Oh, incredible. I mean, can you believe it? Look at all of this.

[3:27] LEAH Intro: It's a beautiful day to make history.

[3:30] Romy: 10,500 meters. Write that down.

[3:32] LEAH Intro: Oh, you better believe I am.

[3:33] Romy: Oh my gosh. This is amazing.

[3:39] LEAH Intro: What the what was that?

[3:43] Romy: You built that, right?

[3:45] LEAH Intro: Of course I felt that.

[3:47] Romy: Leah.

[3:49] LEAH Intro: Oh my god, what is that?

[3:56] Romy: Did you did you see it? Did you see that thing?

[4:00] LEAH Intro: No, I was checking levels. It happened too fast.

[4:03] Romy: Where are the lights? Whatever it was, it took them out when it swooped through.

[4:07] LEAH Intro: It must have shaken something loose in the ship.

[4:10] Romy: The emergency lights should have come on.

[4:14] LEAH Intro: Romy, how are we supposed to get back to the surface if we can't see the control board?

[4:19] Romy: Do you think we've lost contact?

[4:21] LEAH Intro: Don't do that.

[4:22] Romy: Sorry, I'm just Jesus. I can't stop shaking.

[4:26] LEAH Intro: Look, we've taken this dive a dozen times.

[4:28] Romy: I uh okay, but we've never been this far under.

[4:31] LEAH Intro: Take a breath. We can do this. We can remember the controls.

[4:35] Romy: It's just a few switches and the lever. We've been doing this for years.

[4:39] LEAH Intro: It's muscle memory.

[4:40] Romy: It is. I know it is. Muscle memory.

[4:43] LEAH Intro: Yeah. We'll just feel around until we—

[4:48] Romy: No god! Stop!

[4:49] LEAH Intro: What won't you stop?

[4:53] Romy: Leah, you need to turn that off. Make it stop.

[4:56] LEAH Intro: I'm trying.

[4:57] Romy: Leah.

[4:58] Romy: Leah, turn it off.

[5:00] Romy: We don't want to—

[5:02] LEAH Intro: You need to turn it off before it hears.

[5:06] Romy: Oh thank God. It's up, Juliet's.

[5:09] LEAH Intro: We're gonna be fine.

[5:15] Romy: Do you think it—

[5:20] LEAH Intro: I think it did. We gotta move.

[5:23] Romy: Have you found the right lever yet?

[5:24] LEAH Intro: It was somewhere over here.

[5:25] Romy: Damn it. We need to get to the surface now.

[5:27] LEAH Intro: I'm sorry, I'm trying.

[5:29] Romy: Try harder.

[5:30] LEAH Intro: I can't see in the dark, Leah. I need your help.

[5:32] Romy: Shh.

[5:33] LEAH Intro: Don't shh me out.

[5:34] Romy: Don't grab me.

[5:35] LEAH Intro: You're hurting.

[5:36] Romy: Can't you hear that?

[5:38] LEAH Intro: It's out there.

[5:39] Romy: Sounds like slithering almost.

[5:41] LEAH Intro: Oh, Leah. We need to find the right controls.

[5:43] Romy: There's gotta be a torch or a lighter, something.

[5:47] LEAH Intro: There's no way there's a lighter in here.

[5:49] Romy: Just relax, okay? The more we panic, the more oxygen we burn through.

[5:53] LEAH Intro: Do you remember where the dial was at before that monster?

[5:56] Romy: It wasn't a monster, Romy. You're a scientist. Where's your sense? Monsters aren't real.

[6:01] LEAH Intro: I don't know what else to call something that massive living this far underwater.

[6:05] Romy: You had to have seen it. Those giant tentacles.

[6:07] LEAH Intro: I mean, what if we don't?

[6:09] Romy: It's a possibility.

[6:10] LEAH Intro: What if it's a live colossal squid?

[6:12] Romy: Could be a whole shoal of them. May as well be Cthulhu itself this far under.

[6:16] LEAH Intro: What if that's what's up? A headlamp, maybe.

[6:18] Romy: Um you can we couldn't be so stupid that we forgot a headlamp.

[6:23] LEAH Intro: Just focus.

[6:25] Romy: Breathe. Where's the lever?

[6:29] LEAH Intro: Oh god, oh god, oh god.

[6:33] Romy: Holy jeez! We gotta get out of here.

[6:36] LEAH Intro: I have to get back.

[6:38] Romy: Wait.

[6:39] LEAH Intro: Oh, wait, I I think I found it.

[6:42] Romy: Oh are we moving?

[6:45] LEAH Intro: We're moving.

[6:46] Romy: Thank God I thank God.

[6:48] LEAH Intro: Oh, thank me. I'm the one who found it.

[6:57] Romy: I was getting all these horrible flashes of things I'd never done.

[7:01] LEAH Intro: Places I would never see.

[7:03] Romy: Oh, I yelled at my daughter before I left.

[7:08] LEAH Intro: When we get back up, you can buy me breakfast and give her a call to tell her you're sorry.

[7:14] Romy: Can you hear my heart beating? I feel like a cartoon character.

[7:18] LEAH Intro: It's like my my heart's outside my chest.

[7:21] Romy: What do you want for breakfast?

[7:23] LEAH Intro: Do they serve pancakes in Guam?

[7:26] Romy: Because I could really go for his dad.

[7:30] LEAH Intro: Is it ramming us?

[7:32] Romy: Must be following the ship back to the surface.

[7:34] LEAH Intro: Does it think we're food?

[7:35] Romy: Maybe.

[7:37] LEAH Intro: Shh.

[7:39] Romy: What was that?

[7:40] LEAH Intro: Romy, what was that sound?

[7:42] Romy: No.

[7:42] LEAH Intro: What is it?

[7:43] Romy: The glass is breaking.

[7:44] LEAH Intro: No.

[7:45] Romy: Leah, the glass is breaking.

[7:47] LEAH Intro: That's impossible.

[7:48] Romy: There's a huge crack.

[7:49] LEAH Intro: Do you have any idea how thick that window is?

[7:51] Romy: D do you have any idea? We need to get to the surface.

[7:53] LEAH Intro: We need to go faster.

[7:54] Romy: We can't go any faster. This is as fast as it goes.

[7:57] LEAH Intro: Are you prepared to swim out? Because that's the only way.

[8:00] Romy: We would never make it. The pressure will kill us if that thing doesn't get us first.

[8:04] LEAH Intro: It's quickly becoming our only option.

[8:07] Romy: I'm grabbing the masks.

[8:09] LEAH Intro: Everything is piled on the floor.

[8:12] Romy: You won't find them.

[8:14] LEAH Intro: We are going to get out of this. We're going to make it.

[8:16] Romy: That thing is ramming into us. Romy knows we're here and it's following us.

[8:21] LEAH Intro: At this rate, it's going to shatter the window before we even make it out of the midnight zone.

[8:26] Romy: If we were close, we'd be seeing blue.

[8:28] LEAH Intro: Do you see a light?

[8:29] Romy: I think I might see something.

[8:30] LEAH Intro: Your brain's tricking you. We've already been in the dark too long.

[8:34] Romy: Come on, you stupid fucking machine!

[8:45] LEAH Intro: What are you having for breakfast, Romy?

[8:48] Romy: What?

[8:50] LEAH Intro: What are you gonna order?

[8:52] Romy: I don't know why.

[8:55] LEAH Intro: I'm gonna have pancakes.

[8:59] Romy: With sausages.

[9:03] LEAH Intro: Romy.

[9:05] Romy: Leah, why aren't we moving?

[9:07] LEAH Intro: Why do we stop?

[9:10] Romy: I think I must have pulled the lever the wrong way.

[9:16] LEAH Intro: What are you saying? What what do we just are we at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench?

[9:25] Romy: Yeah.

[9:33] LEAH Intro: I'm gonna get grapes.

[9:36] Romy: Grapes, huh?

[9:39] LEAH Intro: With extra strawberries.

[9:42] Romy: My daughter loves them.

[9:45] LEAH Intro: They're her favorite.

[9:49] Romy: Considering the situation. I think breakfast is on me.

[9:53] LEAH Intro: Okay.

[9:55] Romy: Okay.

[9:58] LEAH Intro: Romy.

[10:00] Romy: Romy, hold hold my hand.

[10:03] LEAH Intro: Please.

[10:04] Romy: Hold my hand.

[10:19] Jonathan Cook: That was MONSTERS BEYOND the Midnight Zone. Written by Lindsay Partain. It was performed by Devon McSherry as Romy and Paige Blackcloud as Leah.

[10:27] Jonathan Cook: Intro and Autumnus, as always, is provided by artist JK47. Digital cover art for this episode was provided by Illustrator Christopher Plant.

[10:36] Jonathan Cook: Thank you all for tuning in. And if you are associated with a theater and you would like to produce a stage play version of the story you've heard today, send an email to gatherbytheghostlight@gmail.com to get connected with the playwright.

[10:53] Jonathan Cook: If you enjoy this podcast, please leave a rating or a review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every little bit helps.

[11:00] Jonathan Cook: And also be sure to follow Gather by the Ghost Light on social media to stay up to date on new episodes. I'm Jonathan Cook, and as always, stay safe, and I'll see you next time we gather by the ghost lights.