Escape Pod 884: Zhao and the Flightless Crane

Escape Pod

Escape Artists Foundation

Science Fiction, Fiction, Drama

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zhao and the Flightless Crane By A. J. Mo Quick sapphires danced over sun-silvered water. Soundless, they zipped and wheeled to the quiet rhythm of filtration pumps. Dragonflies, Zhao thought. Other winged jewels joined the flurry, some green as spring, others red as blood, wings iridescent. “Good,” he said to himself. “Lake’s clean.” “That is good,” echoed Ah Bak in their tinny voice. “Dragonflies do not breed in stagnant water.” In the distance, the Pearl River curled east, having conferred upon the lake a small fraction of its life on its thousand-mile journey from the west. Zhao stared at the scene, taking in the collage of colours and contours when he noticed something in the sky. A plane. Almost imperceptibly small, it cut its trail across perfect blue. His stomach tightened, a light prelude to much greater agony. A memory forced its way to the surface, fingers ruined by fire, the rest of the hand lost. All they could find. All that was left of Chen. Zhao clenched his teeth and dragged his eyes over the white naked sun to blot out the image. “Does Lei like dragonflies?” came Ah Bak’s tinny voice, their haematite beak unmoving.

Transcript

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0:00.0	EA is now on Twitch. Join us Wednesday nights when Alistair reads a bedtime story, and Sunday
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0:20.6	we go live, plus access VODs of past podcasts.
0:50.6	Hello, and welcome to Escape Pod, your weekly science fiction podcast. I'm your host
1:14.1	this week, Tina Connell, and I'm here to bring you, Zhao and the Flightless Crane, by
1:19.6	A.J. Mo. This story is not only original to Escape Pod, but also his first fiction sale
1:26.5	of any kind, so congrats, and I'm sure this will not be the last story we see from him.
1:34.0	A.J. Mo is a writer born in the UK to parents from Hong Kong. After growing up in Mervatid
1:39.6	Villain Wales, he journeyed on to Cardiff, London, and Shenzhen China. On this voyage, he
1:45.9	worked as a volunteer counselor, mental health support worker, care, special needs teaching
1:51.0	assistant, English teacher, and once at a convenience store, making sure all the snacks on the shelf
1:56.1	were straight. Aside from writing and reading, he is enthusiastic about the mind, food, and
2:02.1	food for the mind. And when not writing, he's either chopping, stirring, and mixing his
2:06.4	latest culinary concoction, or hunched over on the sofa, giving himself blisters,
2:11.6	flucking away at his base guitar. You can find him on Twitter at Alexander J. Mo. 1,
2:18.5	and he also tells us, I would like to dedicate this story to my parents Lydia and Sam,
2:24.7	and my wife, Jeannie. Your narrator this week is Andrew K. Ho. Andrew K. Ho writes speculative
2:31.8	fiction in Southern California. His stories appear in cast of wonders,
2:36.0	diabolical plots, highlights for children, and elsewhere. He is currently an associate editor
2:41.3	at Podcastel. Your audio producer this week is Adam Perott.
2:48.0	So get ready to chat with the giant metal bird, because it's story time.
	...

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