It Could Happen Here - CZM Book Club: Hermetica, by Alan Lea, Part Five

Episode Date: August 31, 2025

Margaret brings you further along into the tale of Hermetica, the generation ship.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. There's a vile sickness in Abbas town. You must excise it. Dig into the deep earth and cut it out. From IHeart podcasts and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky, this is Havoc Town, a new fiction podcast set in the Bridgewater Audio Universe, starring Jewel State and Ray Wise. Listen to Haventown.

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I just normally do straight stand-up, but this is a bit different. What do you get when a true crime producer walks into a comedy club? Answer, a new podcast called Wisecrack, where a comedian finds himself

at the center of a chilling true crime story. Does anyone know what show they've come to see? It's a story. It's about the scariest night of my life. This is Wisecrack, available now. Listen to Wisecrack. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison

or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're looking for another heavy podcast about trauma, the same it. This is for the ones who had to survive and still show up as brilliant, loud, soft, and whole. The unwanted sorority is where black women, fims, and gender expansive survivors of sexual violence rewrite the rules on healing, support, and what happens after.

And I'm your host and co-president of this organization, Dr. Leah Tritate. Listen to the unwanted sorority. new episodes every Thursday on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. CoolZone Media Book Club, book club, club, but club, but club, hello, and welcome to Coolzone Media Book Club, the only book club that you don't have to do the reading for because I do it for you. And we are on week five of Hermitica by Alan Lee.

And if you're just tuning in now, why? Why would you do that? Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you do that to the text? Why would you do that to Alan Lee? And why would you do that to the world? Why would you start at part five? Have you been so ruined on narrative and linear storytelling by

shows that are where you just pop in wherever you want? Is that what happened to you? Are you sad? Anyway, you can listen wherever you want. I just, my brain doesn't let me do that. But this is Week 5 of Hermetica by Alan Lee. Alan Lee is the Specfic pen name for Peter Gelderloose. And where we last left our hero, Days. Days followed a hunch through the rain and onto the rooftops, finally understanding the big reveal you all been waiting for, the sky is real. Sort of a reverse Truman show, as it were. Running along the rooftops, they see endless neighborhood

blocks stretching towards a horizon that curves down, not up. They're not on a spaceship they've just realized. They must still be on Earth. In this great moment of revelation, the safety drones catch up to days, knocking them out as they fall off the barricade. Just as a heads up, this episode contains an extended digression of our protagonist arguing as someone about biological gender. And, you know, so that's where we're at. Days came two in pieces as the sedatives wore off. Their hands started working first, probing in amusement at body parts that were alienated,

unfeeling, not yet plugged back into the neurology. network. What's this, the hands seemed to say? A leg, a pelvis, a torso, placed right within arm's reach, to whom does it belong? Days laughed along with their hands. Who had left a leg there? What were their hands doing? They could not say. They were not yet present enough to feed them a purpose. The hands seemed to have a purpose of their own. Why should days be telling the hands what to do. There was a sudden tingling, not entirely pleasant. Was that leg, Day's leg? Oh, why were fingers poking at their leg? Days was back at the office. No, no, that wasn't true. There was a plexie on one side. There was a plexie on the other side. There were plexies on

every side. Where were their instruments? This wasn't the office. Days tried to sit up. days came too in pieces as the sedatives wore off first their eyes opened their head didn't feel great their stomach didn't either their legs were tingling uncomfortably their hands seemed to be asleep there was a memory the sky a tear formed in their left eye where were they they sat up slowly it was some kind of holding cell a metallic column in one corner pinged a small

door flushed with the columns curve slid open. A cup of water was revealed within. Days drank it down. They replaced the cup. The door closed. A moment later it opened again. The cup was full. Days drank.

There was a toilet in the far corner. Days sat down. The Plexies phased opaque. It took a while, but they were finally able to piss. They staggered back to the bed. The Plexies went transparent. again. The column pinged, the door opened. There was a tray of food this time, an MRE in principle,

but different from any MRE they'd eaten. They felt weak. They wanted the food, but their stomach roiled as they ate. They lay back down on the cot. When days awoke, there was a person on the other side of the Plexi. They wore strange clothes of a thick material, plaid red on top, blue bottoms, their skin was as pasty as John Wayne's. The person was eyeing Daze suspiciously. You up? In response, Daze pulled themselves into a sitting position. Hi, their voice creaked, and their heads spun a little.

They rubbed their temples until the feeling passed. Just get in? Um, I guess so. They sedate newcomers. Me, I've been here a while, but they transferred me from another block. Day's looked around to see walls on all six sides. The floor lateral sides were transparent plexy. Two had breathing holes and looked out on the narrow corridors that flanked the cell.

The other two looked into cells just like the one they occupied. The person with the funny clothes was in a cell. I'm Days. That's your name? Days nodded. What a strange person. Robert. Nice to meet you.

Robert let out a quiet snort, but they smiled amiably. Days peered around. Between the lighting and the way the block was built, they couldn't see if anyone was in the cells across the corridor, nor how far down the corridors extended. You're not from around here, are you? Days remembered what they had discovered, running atop the wall, fleeing from their block. None of it seemed real anymore. Could it be possible? Such a big lie? I guess not. Where are we? Got me there.

Days hesitated. Is this Hermitica? Where's that? East Coast. Robert did not know what hermetica was. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. Robert scrunched up their face. What about you? Where are you from?

Oregon. Oregon, East Coast. Those sounded like Terran references. It was too much evidence to deny. The articles from 2023 from Terra, mentioning the pandemic and nothing about extra system travel. The block on their communication when they were about to measure the Coriallis force,

the realness of the sky, the view from atop the wall, not consistent with a concave, curving platform. Hermetica had never left. They had been on Terra the whole time. Could it be possible? The magnitude of the lie was dizzying. Days craved confirmation, but how to ask without sounding completely bizarre, they needed more

information. What's Oregon like, they asked innocently? Our community's nice, peaceful, no crime, all god-fearing men and women. We've got 50,000 acres, timber, corn, potatoes, we bring in a good crop. Robert had a strange way of speaking. Nonetheless, they understood most of it, and none of it sounded like life on a spaceship, not any ship that days could imagine, but they wanted to make sure. Do you have mountains? Mounds, you bet we do. Have you been to the sea? The Pacific, I've been there,

but I don't travel much. Mountains and ocean, it would be quite a feat to get those on a ship that settled it. Unless Robert were lying, they could not guess what the motive the other prisoner might have for such a bizarre lie. They were on Terra. They had always been on Terra. None of them were going to colonize a new homeworld. None of them would ever get there. Tell me, Daze, you're not from the secession, are you? The secession? Oh, boy, the secession, the second civil war.

Do they not teach you people about any of that? Sorry, Daze shrugged. The fake virus, the totalitarian coup, none of that ring a bell. We had a virus. You think you did. I'm sorry to break it to you, but where you grow up, that's a totalitarian society. They made a fake virus to try and keep everyone locked up, but patriots fought back, and we won our independence,

took half the country with us. Honestly, I'm not surprised they don't teach you about us. Yeah, I guess there's a lot of things they didn't teach us. The line about a fake virus reminded days of something in one of the articles. You seem all right, even if you are from the other side. How'd you end up in here? What'd you do? Cross the border? I was running.

I went over the wall. yeah we don't take too kindly to people going over that wall but don't you worry I'm sure they'll send you back in no time and when they do you make sure you tell your people about what really happened there never was any virus so we're in the secession now days's head was reeling their grasp on what was fact and what was fiction had already been seriously

loosened and their interlocutor in the next cell didn't exactly inspire confidence It was not the oily feeling of a well-designed lie that Emel had admitted, but rather the blind self-assurance that whatever happened to be the most convenient was an unquestionable truth. That was the impression days got, and now they knew better than to discount their intuition. Don't know where else we'd be, Robert shrugged matter-of-factly. They looked around at the plexy walls, though this is definitely not our local jail.

Tell you the truth, I don't like it one bit. No lawyer, no phone call. This is how I imagine jail looks like outside this secession. Didn't think we were supposed to have facilities like this. For illegal, sure, but for citizens? Maximum security, I suppose. They chuckled, showing an ironic pride a day's failed to understand. So how'd you get in here?

A shot a man, Robert said plainly. Oh. Days struggled to fathom exactly what that would mean. neuromuscular incapacitation, infection-prone puncture wounds, uncontrollable nausea, irradiation, dismemberment, fatal blood loss. They decided against inquiring after the technology level of ranged weapons in the secession. Besides, Robert's vocabulary was thoroughly quaint, and Daze wasn't sure they'd understand anyway. And you don't know when you'll get out? Nope, I've barely seen any guards, definitely haven't spoken to any officials, not since the

sheriff turned me over to those marshals. This place is high-tech, I tell you that, practically runs itself. First, I was in a block with other people from the secession. Then they moved me. Honestly, you're the first person I've seen from the outside. I mean, not counting when I'm on border patrol. But we don't talk much with the illegals when we see them, he chugged back a laugh. Don't you worry, though, we only shoot the bad ones. The good ones, they're looking for freedom, Christians who are being persecuted. We give them a chance if they're. they work hard. Asylum, you know. There are plenty of communities that would take in someone like you. But our community is a bit special. A lot of veterans from the war. So we get final say on

who moves in. Well, you wouldn't exactly fit in. Robert chuckled, pointing at days as though it were self-evident. Days nodded like they understood. But do you know what else is self-evident? Do you know what else you can nod as though you understand? products and services that support this podcast. That's right. Every single one of them, you already know. In fact, you might already know them so much. They might be so self-evident that you reach down to your phone

and you press that forward 15 seconds button a couple times so you hear the music come back in. Or you can listen to the ads. It's really up to you. That's freedom for you. The right to choose that particular tiny thing. Here's the odds. There's a vile sickness in Abbas town.

You must excise it. Dig into the deep earth and cut it out. The village is ravaged. Entire families have been consumed. You know how waking up from a dream? A familiar place can look completely alien? Get back everyone! Let's go next!

If you see the devil walking around inside of another man, you must cut out the very heart of him, burn his body, and scatter the ashes in the furthest corner of this town as a warning. From IHeart Podcasts and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky, this is Havoc Town, a new fiction podcast set in the Bridgewater Audio Universe, starring Jewel State and Ray Wise. Listen to Havoc Town on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your. or podcasts. The devil walks in Abistown. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club.

We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players. Like you're building a team from scratch. And so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community.

When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier. And we watched Ottawa against Chile, pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow. Now on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The U.S. Open is here, and on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain, I'm breaking down the players from rising stars to legends chasing history, the predictions, well, we see a first time winner, and the pressure.

Billy Jean King says pressure is a privilege, you know. Plus, the stories and events off the court, and of course the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very fancy, wonderfully experiential sporting event. I mean, listen, the whole aim is to be accessible and inclusive for all tennis fans, whether you play tennis or not. Tennis is full of compelling stories of late. Have you heard about icon Venus Williams' recent wildcard bids or the young Canadian, Victoria Mboko, making a name for herself? How about Naomi Osaka getting back to form? To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain.

I heart women's sports production in partnership with deep blue sports and entertainment on the IHart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Hi, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the Weird News podcast with wonderful guests like Whitney Cummings. And tackle the truly tough questions. Why is cool mom an insult, but mom is fine? No.

I always say, cool, Kurt, a fun. Fun dad. Fun dad and cool mom. That's cool for me. We also dig into important life stuff. Like, why our last names would make the worst hyphen ever. My last name is Cummings. I have sympathy for nobody.

Yeah, mine's brown-olar, but with an H. So it looks like brown whaler. Okay, that's, okay, yours might be worse. We can never get married. Yeah. Listen to this episode with Whitney Cummings and check out new episodes of Bananas every Tuesday on the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The day wore on. They ate when the next food tray arrived. Days decided not to confide in Robert about hermetica. Robert was condescending enough already. and Days did not want to give them any ammunition. He's got this friends. How many of them knew the truth? It was possible that none of them did. They trusted Zimp absolutely. They wouldn't lie to Days. They had grown up together.

In fact, Zimp had been helping them get a better sense for their place on Hermitica. Someone from safety had probably paid them a visit before they could carry out the experiment. Days wondered how Zimp would have reacted. And somehow, they knew. The safety team member, they would have said days had suffered a mental breakdown,

that they were becoming obsessed, denying the reality of the situation. After that, even though Zimps' intentions were good, catering to that paranoia, they would call it a paranoia, was only encouraging the behavior. Then Zimp would receive a reminder to uphold the new safety and not spread need-to-know information. Whatever setup they'd put together to carry out the experiment would be confiscated. The next day at work, they'd get a challenging new assignment

that would keep them busy. When they checked, days would be classified as permanent reconciliation. Would that be enough? Would Zimp make their peace and say goodbye without ever knowing

what had really happened to their old friend? It seemed so absurd. They were so smart. How could they not know? But Days remembered how they'd been educated. Plenty of formula and equations,

but all the experiments were done on simulations. They were asked to complete mathematical proofs to test the technical knowledge they've been given, but never to test the story of who they were, where they were, how they'd gotten there. It was masterful misdirection. They'd been given the tools to take apart their world, all of them, but they'd also been given a more interesting project to put those

tools to use on. So they put their shoulders to the wheel, and the world stood, unquestioned. What about Emel, the putative interblock rep, did they know? Days assumed they did. Surely Emel had actually been a safety investigator. But the more they thought about how Zimp had been fooled, how they themselves had been fooled, the more doubts appeared. If Emel was willing to accept that their job

consisted of protecting compartmentalization, of making sure no one tried obtaining knowledge outside their professional assignment, of checking up on anyone flagged for abnormal behavior, and making a simple recommendation, whether that person could be trusted to follow the rules, whether they needed a temporary

reconciliation process, or whether they presented a permanent danger. They really didn't need to know anything. All they had to tell themselves was that sabotage was a threat to her medica and anyone violating compartmentalization was enabling sabotage. The articles that for Days had triggered so many questions,

for Emel probably just tripped an alarm, unauthorized sensitive information that had to be controlled. Days thought about how no one they knew worked in a field that gave them proof her medica existed. Sure, there was someone who worked in, propulsion, but they were pretty sure that person just ran models on improving the efficiency of fusion reactions. They never would have seen the engines and didn't know how their results were actually put to use. Everyone had such a small part of the picture, and it was the system

itself that fed the bigger picture back to them. They all trusted that the information they produced was being put together in a sensible way. As for the millions of passengers, who knew how many of them were real people. From what Days had seen on their run, there were thousands for sure, all living and working in identical blocks covering at least 25 square kilometers, somewhere with a naturally flat terrain. But no one knew more than a couple hundred people for real. The majority of those millions who were active, visible, on socials, could have been artificials, there to confirm the alibi everyone with so intent on believing. Days felt sick. Most of all, because on some level, it wasn't a surprise.

The world had always felt empty. Something moved just at the edge of their field of vision. Days turned. Nothing. For a moment, they thought, hoped. It was Snookums, but Snookums couldn't find them there, which was a tragedy because they could use a good cuddle. They curled up on the cot.

You got the blues, Robert called. Days sat up and shrugged. They had been napping lightly, an onyric distortion of the last day's revelation. rolling through their head. They felt lethargic, like there wasn't any need to grab on to one of the coherent versions of reality that suggested itself, like it didn't even matter. That happens, you've got to be patient in here.

They gave a compliant nod. Robert mistook their silence for a request to force them into a state of cheerfulness. This won't last forever. Soon you'll get to go back and be with your people. Days nodded again. I'll tell you what. I sure miss my wife. Wife, wife.

Days remembered encountering the term in old literature. It was something along the lines of either a friend or a servant. Should they ask? They might as well indulge in their curiosity a little if Robert was going to make avoiding a conversation impossible. What do you miss about them? Days hoped the question was neutral enough that the answer would reveal the word's meaning.

Who? What? Miss about who? Your wife, you just said you missed them. I only got the one. We're not polygamists. Now, Daze was thoroughly confused. Right, you're one wife.

What do they do? You mean she? Robert looked at Daze like some insult had been proffered. She? Days vaguely remembered the earth from some old novels that hadn't been translated into modern English, one of a class of obsolete pronouns. Spurred on by Daze's blank look, Robert Chortled,

She, he, you know. I'm okay. Are you telling me you don't say he and she? In an unguarded moment, Days snapped back at Robert Scorn. Well, they are archaic. Oh, for crying out loud, I heard stories about this, but it had to be a tall tale. Don't tell me you people pretend men and women don't exist.

This had taken an interesting turn. Days figured they could either lay back down and put an end of the conversation or make it a little less one-sided, giving the likelihood that they would be stuck in it, willing or not, for the next several days. And finding out more about Robert's world might answer some questions they had about their own.

Well, it's certainly a classification system that once existed. A classifah! How are you going to deny what's in front of your very nose? Since crashing out on the aptitudes, days had not felt confident talking about scientific matters with their peers. Prior to that, though, they had been a voracious, student. And in the short time they had known Robert, they had already shaved under their condescension. Days was certainly a capable mind when compared to Robert. Maybe they were

even intelligent when compared to Hermeticah's brightest, they realized, a blossom of warm confidence spreading through their chest. Of all the cohort mates, they had been deferring to these last years of their life, who had been sent on to prestigious work assignments, none of them had been smart enough to figure out it was all a lie. It was time for Days to start trusting in their hunches. And do you know who else is smart enough to figure out that it's all a lie? I don't know either, but here's ads. There's a vile sickness in Abbas town. You must excise it. Dig into the deep earth and cut it out. The village is ravaged. Entire families have been consumed.

You know how waking up from a dream? A familiar place can look completely alien. Get back, everyone's going to be next. And if you see the devil walking around inside of another man, you must cut out the very heart of him. Burn his body and scatter the ashes in the furthest corner of this town as a warning. From IHeart podcasts and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky, this is Havoc Town.

A new fiction podcast sets in, in the Bridgewater Audio Universe, starring Jewel State and Ray Wise. Listen to Havoc Town on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Devil Walks in Abistown. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club.

We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players. Like you're building a team from scratch and so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community. When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier

and we watched Badaway against Chile, pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow. Now on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The U.S. Open is here. And on my podcast, Good Game with Sarah Spain, I'm breaking down the players from rising stars to legends chasing history.

The predictions will we see a first-time winner and the pressure. Billy Jean King says pressure is a privilege, you know. Plus, the stories and events off the court and, of course, the honey deuses, the signature cocktail of the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open has gotten to be a very fancy, wonderfully experiential sporting event. I mean, listen, the whole aim is to be accessible and inclusive for all tennis fans, whether you play tennis or not. Tennis is full of compelling stories of late. Have you heard about icon Venus Williams' recent wildcard bids or the young Canadian Victoria Mboko making a name for herself.

How about Naomi Osaka getting back to form? To hear this and more, listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain, an Iheart women's sports production in partnership with deep blue sports and entertainment on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Hi, I'm Kurt Brown-Oller. And I am Scotty Landis, and we host Bananas, the Weird News Podcasts with wonderful guests like Whitney Cummings. And tackle the truly tough questions.

Why is cool mom an insult, but mom is fine? No. I always say, Kurt, it's a fun dad. Fun dad and cool mom. That's cool for me. We also dig into important life stuff. Like, why our last names would make the worst hyphen ever. My last name is Cummings.

I have sympathy for nobody. Yeah, mine's brown-oiler, but with an H. So it looks like brown-holler. Okay, that's, okay, yours might be worse. We can never get married. Yeah. Listen to this episode with Whitney Cummings and check out new episodes of bananas every Tuesday on the exactly right network. Listen to bananas on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. challenge, like running into a modern-day Aristotle and trying to explain how atomic theory

was more practical than the notion of five elements. The objection Robert seemed to be raising was not terribly complex. A challenge consisted of fitting about two years of primary school rudimentaries into a single conversation. But it seemed like they had time. Days clasped their hands and shifted into a posture that was neither confrontational nor dismissive, facing Robert, but not quite head-on. Have you thought about your approach? I don't know why you need to divide the human species according to a classification system

that goes beyond current functionality. I mean, job descriptions. It seems like a dodgy enterprise. But if you're going to insist, maybe we can agree that the fundamental feature of the system should be clarity. No room for ambiguity? Robert was taken aback by the sudden change in register,

but they nodded all the same. That's right. clarity. Days continued. Well, on those grounds, it seems the notion of men and women would have to be rejected. Robert sputtered, Puzzah. That's me sputtering. It's not in the text. It wasn't written out like but I was trying to do my example of a sputtering. Chromosomatic difference is not binary. You were aware of that, right? Hormones, genital development, none of it is strictly binary. And it's dangerous to establish a biological generalization and shed the rest as a rounding error because, well, Those rounding errors are people.

And as for the ones who supposedly fit in the boxes, there's an additional danger, as some will fit better than others. So now you have a non-utilitarian value hierarchy. Instead of just being human, everyone is now either more or less, plus the fact that the distinction serves no purpose. So ambiguous, problematic, and useless. Honestly, I don't think there's a systems analysis in existence that would class this metric as operational.

"'It is self-evident,' Robert said lividly. Standing up for themselves, Days had started feeling manic, and from there it was a short hop to cocky. Time for a tidy coup de grace. "'Oh, yeah? Which one am I?' "'Woman,' Robert said without blinking. Days had to hand it to them. They were unflinchingly bold to make a claim they knew, they both knew,

they could not possibly back up. "'How do you know?' Day stuttered. "'It's obvious,' Robert drawled as though it were, in fact, obvious. "'Well, you haven't given me a chromosome test. We just met. "'But it's plain as day. Anyone can see it. "'I don't see it.' "'Because you're brainwashed,' Robert rolled their eyes. "'Now that certainly took the cake.

"'And what are you, then?' "'Man,' Robert shrugged, misunderstanding the question. Days rolled with it. Have you ever taken a chromosome test? Don't need to. Don't you think that's a self-confirming theory? If you never test it, you never have to find out if it's wrong. Robert sighed like their patience was wearing thin.

Look at me. Now look at you. Yeah, we look quite different. Uh-huh. Well, we're not close to genetic relations. Why should we look similar? Okay, try not to be indelicate. For starters, I have a beard.

Yeah, so do I. Look. A mustache anyway. See? Right there. You don't shave. I get that. It's gross. No need to flaunt it. But if people have to adapt their behavior and even modify their bodies to confirm the theory, then those are false metrics. Oh, for the love of God, I can't have babies. You can have babies. Well, you could have babies with the right surgical procedures. Here Robert's eyes widened alarmingly. And neither of us know if I could, in fact, reproducing. in my current state. I've never applied, never gotten tested, and

even if I could, or even if I got the procedure to make sure I could, there would undoubtedly come a time in my life when it would no longer be an option. Would I then cease to be a woman? Look, women can have babies and, barring some perverse voodoo science, men cannot.

Days was feeling a bit offended. They rose to their feet. It's a flimsy assumption to think that someone with no hair on their face has productive ovaries and a viable birth canal, and then on top of it, to get disgusted with someone who doesn't shave their face because you insist on believing that they can bear children. But beyond all that, child bearing is a bad metric for a social division, because it's not a physiological constant. It's

a voluntary activity. Oh, wait, Days just remembered some things that they had read about the primitives. Frantically, they steered towards another topic before the conversation took an ugly turn. Blood type, what about blood type? What are you? I'm O positive. If you're really tied to the word, you can call people who are type O, women, and you can call people who are type A, or whichever one you are, men, and we can make up words for the other two. Of course, blood type is a little more complex than that, but it's all about simplifying anyway, isn't it? Now, I recognize that, same as chromosomes, you can't tell what blood gender someone belongs to by looking at them, but in this case, it's not actually a drawback, because you have to do the test anyway

before a blood transfusion, which is the only situation in which it's important. It's not, Robert sputtered some more. Blood type is blood type. Sex is sex. The reflective property, okay, you're on your way to algebra. A equals A. But if A is invalid, it's not going to help you out much. You can say that anyone who doesn't shave their chin has man blood, and that's all fine.

But a lot of people are going to die if you organize blood transfusions that way. Your system just doesn't hold up in the real world. The real world? in the real world outside of your university campus? I didn't go to university. He and she have always existed. Well, you know that can't be true, days dug in. English has not always existed,

so clearly any words that belong to English or used to are just a blip in history. And don't try to say that all languages have he or she equivalents. Robert set their jaw. The concepts have always existed. Concepts? That always exist? Days giggled. That would require...

Oh, right, Days remembered another thing the primitives were said to believe in. A real argument-stopper. They could see that Robert was getting irate, bordering on violent, so they decided to change track. Look, I'll call you whatever you want. You call me what I want. We can both be happy. Good?

Robert nodded, though their eyes still smoldered. Great. So what is it for you? Your wife? He? I'm he. She's a she. Great, and they for me. Though, of course, when you're talking to me, You works just fine.

Days managed a friendly smile. So, now that we've had it out, What's a wife? That was a fun one. I find this sort of shit entertaining. I hope you do too. And that is where we are leaving. part five of hermetica by Alan Lee

where nowadays is in a prison, whatever, you know where we're at, we just read it or I read it and you listen to it, whatever. Why would it be pedantic about the story that this particular piece is mostly about sort of weird pedantry, but in an entertaining way? Anyway, Hermitica by Alan Lee, you can go check it out. It came out from Detritus books a couple years ago, and if you want to hear more from the author, Alan Lee is the pen name of Peter Gelderlose, who has written a bunch of books, including the solutions are already here, and some other ones.

And you can follow his substack, which is called Surviving Leviathan, on Substack. I believe in you. You can figure it out. All right. Good luck with the next week. And we'll be back with Part 6. We're getting towards the end, because it's a novella. Bye. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Coolzone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

You can find sources for it could happen here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. Ah, come on, why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Ultra light, ultra-powerful and built for serious productivity with Intel core ultra-processors, blazing speed, and AI-powered performance.

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