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Episode: WAKE UP: A Slingshot Story - Episode 1: Simulation Day

Author: Los Angeles Times | Wondery
Duration: 00:15:05

Episode Shownotes

Inside a top secret training facility, Ezra Keaton and his crew wake up from experimental deep hibernation. As candidates for the Odyssey Project, their mission is critical to the survival of life on Earth. If they’re able to mine a renewable resource on Saturn’s moon Titan, the course of history

will change. The simulation of a dangerous slingshot maneuver around Saturn, which is necessary to reach Titan, must be executed. But crew members, including Ezra, have started suffering strange hallucinations… WAKE UP: A Slingshot Story is a branded podcast from LA Times Studios and paid for by Bleecker Street and Bluestone Entertainment in support of the film SLINGSHOT only in theaters August 30th.

Summary

In 'WAKE UP: A Slingshot Story - Episode 1: Simulation Day,' Ezra Keaton and his crew awaken from deep hibernation within a top-secret facility, facing the psychological effects of their induced state. As they gear up for a mission to mine Titan's methane for cleaner energy, tensions rise due to hallucinations and anxiety among the crew. Captain Hawks stresses the mission's importance in combating climate change, while Ezra grapples with the mental strain and the pressures of maintaining secrecy as they prepare for a dangerous slingshot maneuver around Jupiter. This episode sets a thrilling and uncertain tone for their journey ahead.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (WAKE UP: A Slingshot Story - Episode 1: Simulation Day) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:24 Speaker_05
This is Wake Up, a Slingshot Story, a three-part podcast event from L.A. Times Studios, paid for by Bleecker Street and Bluestone Entertainment, in support of the film Slingshot, only in theaters August 30th.

00:00:42 Speaker_01
Ezra, Virginia, and Paul, you are emerging from deep hibernation inside the Odyssey Project simulation facility. Please be careful.

00:00:53 Speaker_01
The drugs used to induce hibernation can cause mild side effects, including confusion, nausea, dizziness, and disorientation. I'm gonna sleep a little more. Can you hear me?

00:01:05 Speaker_12
Yeah.

00:01:06 Speaker_06
Tell me your name and your position.

00:01:08 Speaker_12
Ezra Keaton, pilot.

00:01:10 Speaker_06
Welcome back. It's April 10th. You've been in Torpor for two weeks.

00:01:13 Speaker_03
Name and position. Paul Hawks. Captain.

00:01:18 Speaker_02
Good.

00:01:19 Speaker_03
Follow the light.

00:01:20 Speaker_11
Get that damn thing out of my face. Anybody got any coffee? Take it easy, Jim. Don't try and stand just yet. Name and position.

00:01:27 Speaker_07
Virginia Carpenter. Systems engineer. I can stand. I got it. Shit! No, I don't! Look out!

00:01:41 Speaker_03
Two weeks in the can. Longest stint yet. How are you feeling, Edger? Like someone drove a tank over my head. The vitals look great. Still waiting on your blood work. Follow the light. Good.

00:01:56 Speaker_03
How much worse am I going to feel when it's three months, not two weeks, Doc? The Mars and Saturn missions used the same formula for hibernation and reported 12 hours of mental fatigue after waking up from a cycle.

00:02:08 Speaker_03
The trip to Titan will take longer, which won't make it easier, but if you're selected, you get to save the world. Seems like a fair trade.

00:02:24 Speaker_11
Welcome home, Ezra. I've received mandated changes to your diet to aid in your recovery from hibernation and already placed orders. Messages from the past two weeks have been synced to your devices in order of priority.

00:02:36 Speaker_12
Thanks, Cal.

00:02:38 Speaker_11
I was unable to keep your philodendron alive. I apologize.

00:02:42 Speaker_12
Well, you still got a greener thumb than me, somehow. Air down to 74.

00:02:47 Speaker_11
Phoebe requested the temperature be kept at 78. She's here?

00:02:54 Speaker_08
I wanted to surprise you, so I let myself in. Hope that's okay. Of course. I kept you late. How are you feeling? Well, get your head on straight. Tomorrow's a media day.

00:03:06 Speaker_12
I'm gonna talk to whoever's in charge of scheduling those and tell them to not get the hell off.

00:03:10 Speaker_08
I'm in charge of scheduling those.

00:03:13 Speaker_12
Oh, that's right.

00:03:14 Speaker_08
Oh, that's right. Come on. Come upstairs.

00:03:18 Speaker_12
I was just under for two weeks. I'm not going back to sleep right away.

00:03:22 Speaker_08
We're not going to sleep.

00:03:25 Speaker_12
Kel, lock the doors, set music and lights to funny business.

00:03:29 Speaker_11
Yes, Ezra.

00:03:32 Speaker_12
And temperature down to 74. Yes, Ezra.

00:03:34 Speaker_08
Ezra, what is it?

00:03:55 Speaker_12
There's someone in the house.

00:03:59 Speaker_08
Where are you going?

00:04:01 Speaker_12
Kel, all lights on. Confirm doors and windows are closed and locked. Confirmed. Confirm two biological signatures inside. Confirmed.

00:04:11 Speaker_08
What's going on?

00:04:15 Speaker_11
Ezra, your heart rate is dangerously elevated. Should I contact Dr. Sard?

00:04:20 Speaker_12
No. Yes. No. I thought I heard someone or something. I'm fine.

00:04:30 Speaker_08
Next question.

00:04:33 Speaker_06
For Captain Hawks, you've been in training for Titan for over a decade now.

00:04:38 Speaker_02
Terrible question.

00:04:40 Speaker_06
How does it feel to be this close to making history?

00:04:43 Speaker_02
History? History, I don't know. Oh, you know, every astronaut who works for Odyssey trains for Titan, so the crew I rode with to Mars, the late Captain Leslie Foster Bennett Shire, We all talked about being the ones who'd go. It's, well, it's an honor.

00:05:02 Speaker_00
For the group, how competitive are things between you and Captain Frank's team? And if his team's selected to travel to Titan, will you still be active in the mission?

00:05:10 Speaker_02
Obviously. We want to be selected. We think we deserve it, but there's no rivalry or ego.

00:05:15 Speaker_12
We know the ship, the logistics. Whether we're up there or down here, we will do whatever it takes.

00:05:22 Speaker_07
We all know what's at stake. We're trying to save the world. Figuring out how to tap Titan's methane reserves can change everything. There's no room for hard feelings.

00:05:32 Speaker_08
LA Times. Ezra. Ezra.

00:05:48 Speaker_11
How's the mission important to you?

00:05:52 Speaker_12
Well, I don't think I'm being controversial saying that we're in trouble. We need more resources, clean energy, if we're going to survive what is happening to the climate.

00:06:03 Speaker_12
I wish space exploration could be altruistic, but I'm here to do a job, the most important one I'll ever do. Being a part of this mission, it means everything to me.

00:06:13 Speaker_08
That's all we have time for. Thanks for the quiet evening. Good save, bro.

00:06:17 Speaker_12
Need a nap? Shut up, Jen.

00:06:24 Speaker_03
Voices? What were they saying? I don't know, Doc. I couldn't make it out. I think it's possible you had a nightmare, Ezra. I do, yeah. Good. I do too. But that biometric red flag your home monitor sent over could be a problem.

00:06:42 Speaker_03
Your heart rate was extremely high. I'm giving you something to help with anxiety. What? Nothing. I'm just not crazy about taking more drugs, is all. Benzodiazepine is perfectly safe, so long as you stick to your dose, which I'll set.

00:06:58 Speaker_03
Have you been experiencing other side effects? Ezra, if you have, it's important you tell me. Your workups are perfect, but you and I both know chemistry's only half the story when it comes to these drugs. So tell me, how are you feeling?

00:07:12 Speaker_12
The press conference got kind of jumbled up in my head. All the lights, the sounds, it's probably too much right after waking up.

00:07:23 Speaker_03
I'll write a prescription to help with your anxiety, and that ought to be that. Yeah, I'll have the meds delivered. Did you mention how you're feeling to anyone else? Phoebe? Maybe in a response you gave this morning.

00:07:37 Speaker_03
Phoebe was there last night, but no, nothing else. Good. Good. See you at check-in tomorrow.

00:07:49 Speaker_08
If you're choosing between equally qualified candidates, popularity matters. I don't care what the firm says publicly, they will 100% put the best, most popular candidates forward for a spot. That's you. Can you get that burner? The press loves you.

00:08:07 Speaker_08
Even if you zone out when they're asking questions.

00:08:10 Speaker_12
You gonna give me a hard time for having hibernation brain, Phoebe?

00:08:13 Speaker_08
I'm serious, Ezra. You're going to Titan. Better get your bags packed.

00:08:18 Speaker_12
That was weird last night, right?

00:08:21 Speaker_08
I thought it was pretty awesome.

00:08:23 Speaker_12
No, no. I mean, yeah, that was awesome, but I... I mean, me waking up, I mean, I kind of freaked out, right?

00:08:31 Speaker_08
How many times have you had to wake me up from a bad dream? It happens. Did you talk to Dr. Sard?

00:08:37 Speaker_12
Yeah, he says I'm fine.

00:08:39 Speaker_08
Good. Did you tell anyone else?

00:08:48 Speaker_12
It's weird, Jen, the whole thing.

00:08:51 Speaker_07
Ezra, relax. Sard was worried you blabbed to the press about his magic elixir making us feel like shit. Your girlfriend Phoebe's entire job is keeping people from hearing anything that doesn't make the project sound all saviory and aspirational.

00:09:06 Speaker_12
Saviory?

00:09:07 Speaker_07
Savior-ish? Savior-esque? You know what I mean, Ezra.

00:09:12 Speaker_12
No, I know.

00:09:14 Speaker_07
Okay, so then it's not that weird they wanted to know who you told?

00:09:19 Speaker_12
Do you ever hear voices?

00:09:22 Speaker_07
No. Well, not voices. Like a... A jumble. Yeah, kind of. Like you can't make anything out.

00:09:36 Speaker_12
What did Sard say when you told him?

00:09:39 Speaker_07
I didn't. I didn't tell him anything.

00:09:42 Speaker_12
That's... They want to know.

00:09:44 Speaker_07
You told him you're fine, so I'm fine. Look, I know where I stand in the mission hierarchy, and it's not good. So I'm not saying or doing anything that screws up my chances.

00:09:56 Speaker_12
Does Sasha know?

00:09:58 Speaker_07
No.

00:10:00 Speaker_12
Hey, what's up with you?

00:10:02 Speaker_07
Ezra, do you tell Phoebe everything?

00:10:04 Speaker_12
I don't know. I try to, I guess?

00:10:08 Speaker_07
Yeah, well, you're not married. Sometimes that makes it harder. If you let yourself start thinking about all of this, really thinking about it, it gets fucked up fast. So don't.

00:10:20 Speaker_12
What do you mean?

00:10:21 Speaker_07
Putting ourselves through this. Our bodies, minds. For what? For a chance to get shot half a billion miles across space with no way to bring back what we need to fix things here. It's bullshit. What are we doing?

00:10:38 Speaker_12
No one expects us to bring back a shipload of methane. We're Lewis and Clark, not... I don't know any famous miners.

00:10:45 Speaker_07
Herbert Hoover.

00:10:47 Speaker_12
It's a weird thing to know. Jyn, you have to believe in what this is.

00:10:53 Speaker_07
And understand what it isn't. I know that. I'm not spiraling.

00:10:56 Speaker_12
I didn't say you were.

00:10:58 Speaker_06
All right, guys. You two need another round? On the house. For heroes.

00:11:01 Speaker_12
Yes. Please.

00:11:03 Speaker_06
Please.

00:11:11 Speaker_02
Morning. Morning, Cap. You two look like steamrolled shit. She kept ordering drinks.

00:11:18 Speaker_09
You are both so loud. Good morning. Morning, Marco. Simulation day. Oh, it gets better. We'll be simulating the single most difficult maneuver the journey to Titan requires. The slingshot around Jupiter. Now, we won't make it to Titan without a major boost.

00:11:38 Speaker_09
And we won't get that boost if we don't time our thrusters right and get the ship aligned coming out of Jupiter's orbit. All that, with God-tier G-forces putting stress on our craft and crew.

00:11:50 Speaker_09
We haven't done well in the past Sims, but neither has Frank's team. So let's show them how it's done, huh?

00:11:57 Speaker_11
This is Mission Control. Ready in the simulator?

00:12:00 Speaker_07
Carpenter, Systems Engineer. Ready.

00:12:03 Speaker_02
Keaton, Pilot. Ready. Hawks, Captain. Ready. Strapped in, seeing green across the board.

00:12:09 Speaker_09
All right. Centrifuge spins on my mark. Three, two, one. Mark.

00:12:17 Speaker_10
Centrifuge activated. Mark. Let's make this one count.

00:12:28 Speaker_12
Course is set and holding, Cap. Jen, structure?

00:12:34 Speaker_07
Holding. No abnormal stress.

00:12:37 Speaker_02
Picking up debris. Track right half a degree, Ezra. Tracking right, Cap. Clear. And tracking back on course. 25% in. Increasing thrust. Thrust is short by 4%. We're gonna burn up if we don't even out. Systems check. What do you see, Jen? Jen? Carpenter.

00:12:58 Speaker_07
Clog in line H. God, it's hot. Clearing. Are you alright? Clear.

00:13:06 Speaker_09
This is Mission Control.

00:13:07 Speaker_12
Deepforges should be hitting hard by now. How's everyone feeling in there?

00:13:12 Speaker_02
Like we're sprinting through wet concrete. Fifty percent. Increasing thrust. Doing good. Keep it up. Here comes the shitstorm. Taking hits. Carpenter, what's on the scope? Carpenter? Jacob? God damn it.

00:13:33 Speaker_12
Hold on, Cap. Calling it up. Nothing over 250 micrometers on scope. Steady as she goes.

00:13:38 Speaker_10
Everything all right in there, Hawks?

00:13:40 Speaker_02
I'm on it, Marco. Copiner, disengage controls and stand down. Ezra, keep tracking trajectory. I'll monitor integrity.

00:13:52 Speaker_10
Jyn, come on, get your head in the game. This is just a dream. Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Jyn, leave your harness alone. Jyn, stop! Hawks, we've got to shut down. Jyn is trying to unbuckle herself. What the fuck, Carp?

00:14:03 Speaker_10
I'm gonna leave the harness in place. This is Captain Hawks. Emergency shutdown.

00:14:07 Speaker_00
Now!

00:14:07 Speaker_10
Centrifuge shutting down. Jyn, stop it. She's not breathing. Now!

00:14:30 Speaker_05
Next on Wake Up, a slingshot story. Captain Foster, are you all right?

00:14:36 Speaker_10
Captain? God damn it, come on. Ezra, what?

00:14:44 Speaker_02
Jim?

00:14:45 Speaker_05
Ezra, wake up.

00:14:48 Speaker_02
You tried to kill me.

00:14:51 Speaker_05
This has been Wake Up, a Slingshot Story from L.A. Times Studios, paid for by Bleecker Street and Bluestone Entertainment, in support of the film Slingshot. Only in theaters August 30th.