EscapeBOD, Episode 143, The Smoke Jumpers, by a skate pot. I'm Merle Affernay, your host and co-editor. Today's story is Smokejumpers by Sierra Beebe.

Sierra writes speculative fiction. She lives in Portland, Oregon. It's narrated for us by LaRise White.

LaRise is an actress, poet, and mom currently residing in Michigan.

This is an escape pod original.

So make sure your suit is all sealed up against the elements.

It's story time.

The Smoke Jumpers by Sierra Beebe, narrated by Lurice White.

When Fern jumps from the plane into the smoke for the very first time,

she believes she has nothing left to lose.

That's not to say she's unafraid exactly.

Not even hundreds of hours of simulations and dozens of practice jumps can prepare you

for the reality of plummeting into the hazy unknown of an active forest fire.

No, her fear is definitely there, but folded and tucked somewhere deep inside herself,

compartmentalized.

The smoke hurdles towards her, the ground below hidden. She rips her parachute,

a massive thing designed to support the heft of her exoskeleton and jerks backwards. She is a dandelion

seed suspended in the breeze. It is this moment of silence she

savors here in the air. The precious moments before the pneumatic wheezing of the exosuit,

the whir of the coolant, and the mechanical buzz of air filtration.

Before the chatter on the radio and roar of the fire, there is no thought, only sensation.

She clears her mind in preparation for what comes next.

Around her, the other jumpers do the same.

...