Escape Pod 907: A Layer Thin As Breath

Escape Pod

Escape Artists Foundation

Fiction, Science Fiction, Drama

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A Layer Thin As Breath By T. K. Rex “Valley. Can you still hear me?” Julian’s voice filtered through her dying radio. The Prince of Cats was a speck of light, dimming through the gold-grey film that, atom by atom, was devouring her helmet. Valley tried to say something, anything. Failed. Julian was sobbing on the other end. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so kzzzzzzchchchcffft-” and that was it. Her radio was gone. “Oh god,” she breathed to herself, to no one. “Oh god,” I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. She sobbed once, twice, and then, with tears pooling in her eyes and the Prince of Cats invisible through the liquid, she found a pocket of calm, like stepping from a noisy bar onto a cool, quiet street. Something brushed against her hand, and she cried out, startled. Her vision was still blurred by tears, and the thing dissolving her space suit was like an iridescent veil across the glass of her helmet, but through it all she could see the outline of her hand. Not her glove. Her hand.

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
0:07.3	mornings for a few hours of chill casual gaming. Plus interviews, special guests, pick-up
0:13.2	streams, and more. Visit twitch.tv slash EA Podcasts. And follow us to be notified when
0:20.6	we go live, plus access VODs of past broadcasts.
0:50.6	Hello, and welcome to Escape Pod. I'm your host and co-editor, Murr Lafferty. This
1:13.6	week's story is A Layer Than As Breath by T.K. Rex. T.K. is a science fiction and fantasy
1:20.7	author from the Western States, whose short stories can be found in more than 20 magazines
1:25.2	and literary journals, including Asimov's Stranger Horizons and Gizmodo. She's a graduate
1:31.8	of Clarion and Towson Toolbox, writer's workshops, a member of the science fiction and fantasy
1:37.2	writer's association, and occasionally teaches at the writer's grotto in San Francisco. It's
1:43.0	narrated for us by Valerie Valdez. Valerie is my co-editor of Escape Pod, an occasional
1:48.8	host. Valerie lives in an elaborate meme palace with her husband and kids, where she writes,
1:54.6	edits, and moonlights as amused. She enjoys crafting bespoke artisanal purses, playing
1:59.9	with swords, and admiring the outdoors from the safety of her living room. Her short
2:04.1	fiction and poetry have been featured in Uncanny magazine, Time Travel Short Stories,
2:08.6	and Nightmare magazine. Her debut novel, Chilling Effect, was shortlisted for the 2021
2:14.2	Arthur C. Clark Award, and was also named as one of library journals' best SF fantasy
2:19.4	novels of 2019. This story first appeared in Metaphoruses, July 2019, and also the best
2:27.8	vegan science fiction and fantasy of 2019. Wrap up in your favorite blankie. Be sure to
2:33.1	put it around your shoulders. It's story time.
2:39.3	A layer thin as breath by T.K. Rex.
2:47.1	Valerie, can you still hear me? Julian's voice filtered through her dying radio.
	...

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