Smiling Ones On Space Station Mir | CreepCast

- For decades, a shadowy organization called The Lemonati has kept lemon on top and lime in the shadows. Look around, lemon-forward sodas, even lemon-forward songs. We ran the tracks, slowed them down, reversed them, and squeezed out the truth. ♪ All hail the lemon ♪ - That's lemon propaganda right there. But now, 7UP is fighting back with their new lime-lemon soda. Join the 7 uprising, flip the sip. - This episode is brought to you by Palmolive. Family time isn't just the big moments, it's weeknight dinners. Sitting around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use Palmolive Ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9% of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together. Shop now at palmolive.com. - Welcome back to Creepcast. Today we're reading "The Smiling Ones" on Space Station. Meir, would you like to tell us about the author? - I have to finish chewing my mint, so. - I'm gonna do the mic at least. - The author of this story is someone named Darius Pilgrim. And I think that's his actual name. He is the author of this story, which you can get as an ebook on Amazon. He also has another published story that Nick's iPad, has once again crashed in the 13th time today. It's gonna make me lose my mind. He's also the author of "Wrong Roads: Scary Stories from Coast to Coast." Or at least he was one of the contributors to the anthology book of it. So he's got a couple of things published out. This story comes highly recommended. As a matter of fact, we're gonna be reading it on Darius's website, dariuspilgrim.com, that will be linked in the description. So you can keep up with the stuff there. Harry says this is a good one. I've never read it before. People have recommended it. They've recommended this to us in the subreddit a couple of times. So hopefully it's cool. Sounds like it's cool. We haven't done a space story since- - Mr. Floppy? - Yeah, yeah. What was that one? The other astronaut on this trip died. - Dariuspilgrim.wordpress.com/thesmiling-the-smiling-ones-on-space-station-mir. And it will be in the link, as well. But if you want to type it out, which I like to do, I thought that I would just put that in there. - You've never done that before? - Dariuspilgrim.wordpress.com/ - Before we went and got ice cream right before this, and- - Like children. - Like children. - We do sound like children. Before we got ice cream, before this. - Before we read our scary story, we went and got ice cream. - Yeah, ice cream. - And while we were getting ice cream, Allison referred to me as Hunter's friend, and he quickly corrected her and said, "I'm a co-worker." - Yeah, well. - Yeah. There was no jest, there was no joke to his tone. He hasn't shown any humor in that statement since then, so. - The, we got ice cream, though. Pretty good. Do you like space stories? - I feel like they are very hit or miss. - Guess they never miss, huh? - Yeah. - Okay. - Yeah. - I feel like they can do some really cool stuff, like. - I forgot about it. - He just really flashed over there. - I don't know. - I don't know. I don't know what to do. - That's the dumbest draw I've ever seen. - Come on, man. - Wait, the dumbest? - I mean, just like the big cheese smile with the little, the tiny. - So, the smiling ones on Space Station Mirror. - Well, what I'm saying is, like, a lot of them are either really good, you can do cool stuff with them, like the themes of the comet going through space and stuff that we saw in the writing during the other astronaut on this mission died six weeks ago. And I'm trying to think of, I know there's some space stuff I've read that's kind of lame. I think I read one about, like, a bug on a spaceship when I was younger that was kind of just, like, lackluster. The setting's very creepy, but you gotta do something with it. - Do you like the name of the story? - Yeah. I think. The Smiling Ones. I mean, similar to the other astronaut died, it's like, why would there be Smiling Ones in the middle of space, right? - Can we get a drawing of him? - What? Is that just a stack of drawings? - Well, it's some drawings I've done. - What all's in there? To me, we saw that one. Everyone saw that one, yeah. Why does he always draw my neck so long? Five seconds before we started recording, he said, he asked, "Who's your favorite superhero?" I said, "Probably Batman." - Yes. - He said, "Who's your favorite superhero?" I said, "Who's your favorite superhero?" That's really good. Whoa, what's that? Oh my gosh. It's like a skull coming out of a hand. - I don't know. - Hold up. Can you get that one and smile dog out? Just hold them both up to the camera at the same time. No, that's not the one I asked you to get out. I need you. - All right. Let's read this story. - Okay. Smiling Ones on Space Station Mirror. - Can I be controversial off the top? I think the title is a bit of a flop for me. - You don't like it? Is that where you're asking me why I felt about it? - Yeah. - What would you rather it be called? - I don't know. I need to read the story first to make a title name. I just don't like Smiling Ones. - Smiling Ones? - Just a bit try hard. And then also Mirror. Isn't that what they gave Jesus? - That's Myrrh, spelled M-Y-R-R. It's different. What's this like shifty little, you're in a mood right now. You're acting like a goblin. All right. Part one, March 19th, 2001, the Russian space station, Mirror, disappeared from low earth orbit. There's no collision or explosion. One minute, it was like, oh my God. It was there, and the next it wasn't. For 24 panicked hours, a select group of scientists, intelligence agents, and government officials worked tirelessly to simultaneously figure out what had happened and prevent the general public from discovering that anything had occurred at all. Exactly one day later, Mirror reappeared in the precise location it had last been observed. It appeared relatively unchanged, but for one major exception, the space station, which had been unoccupied for months in preparation of the orbiting, was now inhabited. The fact that you've never heard of this proves the coverup was successful. Figuring out what caused this anomaly and what happened during the 24 hours Mirror was missing is an entirely different matter. I know this because I was there in Roscosmos Mission Control on that day in March, so long ago. Never told a single soul this story. I'm an old man now, and I don't have long left to live. But here's the truth, where there's no one left alive to tell it. Were you about to say something? I don't want to be negative. You already don't like it? No, it's not that. It just reminds me a lot, like a Twilight Zone episode. OK. Is that-- Called The Parallel. You watched that one? Oh, a specific one. No, I don't think so. What happened? Twilight Zone, The Parallel, an astronaut's going up into outer space, and then all of a sudden, he just blacks out, and the people on Earth are like, where did the spacecraft go? And he wakes up in basically an alternate reality, and then he has to basically go back out into space, whatever. But it was like going into space that put him into an alternate timeline, or an alternate reality where when he landed, he was on a different version of Earth. Mm. But this whole idea of going up, blip, gone. I see. What? Hello? Why'd you point at Nick when he walked by? How you doing, Nick? Good. You going to hang out with us? No, I just came to make sure that I click record. He's been in a weird mood. Did you get nervous? Yeah, I always get a little nervous. You want to hang out for a second? in the next paragraph of this? What is he on? What are you on right now? What? He's in a strange mood. He's been weird. You didn't even do the thank you patrons for watching. Thank you to audio listeners. None of that. You can say it now. Thank you. Thank you patrons. Thank you to all people listening on audio platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Be sure to give us a rating over there. We really appreciate it. It means a lot. And of course, thank you to our lovely patrons who support the show. If you're hard-earned cash, it means the world. Extra content over there for you if you're interested. And there might be, I honestly have no idea if there'll be merch when this episode's up, but there might be that too. Creepcast.shop. Store. Creepcast.store. No one else noticed it, but when we were pulling into my driveway, the person behind me ran over a turtle. No, it didn't. Is that what's been bothering you? Kind of. Where? On the road? Out on the road? Yeah. Where was the turtle? It was in the middle of the road. You weren't in a weird mood until we started recording. You were fine talking to that other guy. You were fine talking to Allison. I ask you a question, he's like. Got family annihilator eyes all of a sudden. All right. Just whatever. In the days leading up to the anomaly, there had been a distinct sense of gloom hanging over the mission control room. Every one of us there had dedicated. What are you doing? Every one of us there had dedicated our lives to the space station and now it was all about to end. Mir was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union in 1986 for what was supposed to be a five-year mission. Now, 15 years later, the plucky space station that had survived the end of the Cold War and collapse of the USSR was showing its age. It was cluttered, dirty, worn, and rapidly deteriorating when the Russian government decided to finally divert all funds and manpower to the newly built International Space Station. Yet it still held a special place in the heart of every Russian who had ever looked up to the stars and dreamed of what was out there. Multiple attempts were made by various private organizations and individuals to fund the continued existence of the station or even buy it outright. One company even tried to purchase Mir and turn it into a permanent orbital movie and television studio. In the end, it proved too expensive to be feasible, leaving us, a skeleton crew of scientists, astronauts, and engineers to despondently monitor the last few days of the station's existence. It was like watching a beloved family member wither away in hospice care. I was a member of the Communications Division of Mir Mission Control, once a 25-person department, now dwindled down to just six essential personnel. I was home in bed when I received an urgent call at four in the morning, the call stating that an emergency had occurred and requiring me to report to Mission Control immediately. I arrived to find the normally tranquil control room in a frenzy of activity that verged on panic. My head was spinning as I was briefed on the situation. How could this be true? Something as big as a space station doesn't disappear without a trace. It seemed impossible. We all did our best, but there wasn't a whole lot anyone could actually do. All of our trafficking systems seemed to indicate that the station had simply ceased to exist. Visual inspection of the station's normal trajectory confirmed this. Washington had also been discreetly contacted and vehemently denied involvement. Beyond that, what could be done? We activated every radio telescope we could get access to, hoping for a miracle. We even convinced the Americans to clandestinely use the Hubble telescope to aid in a visual search, but it was like looking for one particular grain of sand on all the world's beaches, and we all knew it. The next 24 hours passed in a haze of coffee, cigarettes, and sleep deprivation. Then, 24 hours to the second after it went missing, mirrors suddenly and inexplicably reappeared as if we had collectively wished it back into existence. The monitor showed the station there, intact and seemingly whole, where a moment before there had been nothing but empty space and distant stars. Stunned silence engulfed the room, stretching out for what felt like hours. Then the radio crackled to life and I jumped in my seat, breaking the trance. We were receiving a radio transmission from an unmanned space station that had just reappeared as if by magic. It made no logical sense. The voice that came over the mission control speakers was breathless and panicked. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Cosmonaut Oleski Ladovsky attending the contact Soviet space program in Moscow. Please! Does anyone read me? Over. Can you imagine if I just. Boop! Gone. Where'd it go? Pop, it's back. What? That's what happened to the mirror, right? Huh? That's what happened with the mirror. Is that not what happened? That's exactly what happened. Oh, it's freaking. You're being sarcastic. It's fucking scary. What? It's scary. Why are you laughing? For a moment, no one reacted. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. My mind was reeling, trying desperately to maintain a grip on reality in this world of sudden insanity. Ladovsky. Alexei Ladovsky. The name registered with me. I'd heard it somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where. We looked at one another in confusion, no one wanting to take responsibility for the situation, no one knowing how to proceed. Finally, the director made his way to the communications station to take command of the situation. This is Yuri Koptiv, general director of the Russian Space Agency. The soft hiss of static filled the room as we waited for a reply. Russian Space Agency? I do not recall. I, I, I'm sorry, I do not recognize your name, Mr. Koptiv. Is Chief Designer Sergei Korlov with you? I would very much like to speak with him. I exchanged a confused look with the operator in the terminal, next to mine, a small, bespeckled man named Yakovlev. Chief Designer Sergei Korlov was a legend, the founding father of the entire Soviet space program and arguably the founder of the modern astronomy as a whole. He had also been dead for over 30 years. Director Koptiv somehow kept his cool. I'm missing a beat. I'm sorry, Cosmonaut Ladovsky. The Chief Designer is not here at the moment. Might there be of assistance to you? He replied with a, with a barely detectable quiver in his voice. The only other sign betraying his trepidation was his hand gripping the transmitter so tightly that the knuckles turned to ghostly white. Yes, comrade. You can tell me how to get off this damn thing and back to Earth. I could see it through the portals. Please, you have to help me. I want to go home. F. Armand, if Cosmonaut, we're starting to work on it as we speak. In the meantime, it's very important that you stay calm and try to answer one question as best you can. I'm going to turn the radio over to my colleague, Yakovlev, who will ask a few basic questions and take your biometric information in preparation. Said Koptev, then whispering to Yakovlev, Get him to take his heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, anything else you can think of. Just keep him talking, keep him distracted and listen for everything, and listen for anything unnatural going on up there. This whole thing is unnatural, sir. Replied Yakovlev. Director Koptev, glared at him and motioned for him to put on his headphones. He then turned to the rest of the room and raised his voice. The rest of you, I need prepared for a briefing up front in exactly 30 minutes. In the meantime, no phone calls or communications with anyone outside this room. No wives, parents, children, or anybody else. We're going completely silent. Failure to observe this protocol will result in immediate termination and incarceration. He walked briskly into his office, a motion for the other senior department heads to follow. Half hour later, we had gathered in front of the mission control room under the large central screen. Director Koptev stood facing us, his countenance an emotionless mask. The sound of Yakovlev quietly speaking into the radio drifted up from the back of the otherwise silent room. Koptev cleared his throat and began. As you all know, Russia's predecessor state the USSR was responsible for a great number of milestones in space exploration. One of the most important of these accomplishments was putting the first human into outer space. Yuri Gagarin, who completed an orbit around Earth on April 12th, 1961. A black and white picture of Gagarin dressed heroically and covered in medals appeared on the screen. What most of you do not know is that Yuri Gagarin was actually one of the first humans to survive space flight. Four attempts were made previous to Gagarin, each ending in tragedy. As the Soviet Union was at the time in the midst of a space race with the United States, any possible failures were deemed poor for morale. As such, each of them went unnoticed. unannounced and was shrouded in secrecy. Gargan succeeded and was paraded as hero for the world to see. The failures were covered up, and the details remain classified to this day. The first of these secret attempts was made in 1957, a few months after the success of Sputnik by a cosmonaut traveling what amounted to a modified intercontinental ballistic missile. Instruments tracked this progress to a height of 186 miles, at which point the transmission suddenly interrupted. The rocket seemingly disappeared, and cosmonaut was never heard from again. That man's name was Oleski Ladovsky. This is, uh, so this is based on the, um, lost cosmonaut conspiracy. Have you heard of it before? So basically what he said that before Russia successful attempts, the United States monitored that they had several missile launches or like station where you can satellite launches into space that, uh, historically there was never anyone on. They're like, no, they didn't do stuff. There were animals that were sent, like, you know, like at the dog and stuff, but right between like the animals and people, they just sent stuff up there. So the conspiracy is they were sending people up and every time they died, it was covered up until eventually Gagarin lived and, and then they publicized him as the first. So the idea being, they send a bunch of people into space to just die. Um, so it's working off that a series of gas rose from the small crowd. I can feel my heartbeat thumping away in my temple. None of this made sense. Now I hope to God that the voice coming through the speakers really is Ladovsky and that we can bring him back to earth with a hero's welcome. But all my instincts, as well as the Intel we've managed to gather are telling me otherwise. Well, there are some obvious similarities between the disappearance of Ladovsky in 1957 and yesterday's disappearance of Mir. We all know that correlation does not imply causation. We must all try to keep level-headed the remain rational and rely on scientific training, and trying to unravel this mystery. I cannot call in any more assistance as that would only open the door to more leaks of information. So people you see around you here in this room are going to have to be the ones to figure this out. He paused for a moment as we each looked around the room. It was only half as full as it had once been at the height of the program. My mouth fell very dry as Koptiv continued. To solve this puzzle, I'm going to need 100% effort and dedication from every single one of you, and it will not be easy. As far as I'm concerned, the events of the last 24 hours represent a total paradigm shift to all the previous understanding of physics and astronomy. Sir, I want you to toss Arkon's razor out the window, because the premises of which we base reality have changed. As such, all possible explanations are on the table, even the seemingly improbable. No hypothesis should be discovered without thorough examination. This is a scientific discovery as its purest. This is what the Russians were born for. It goes without saying that a lot more than the fate of one cosmonaut is at stake. Odd silence filled the room as the gravity of the situation settled on each of us. My chest felt heavy and my throat tight. Director Koptiv took a seat and Markov, the head of tracking and communications, took his place in her stage. Central screen changed to the familiar image of the Mir space station. This is the highest resolution image of Mir we have from before the anomaly. Captured about 15 minutes prior to disappearance. He said in a hoarse smoker's voice. And here is an image of Mir currently. The picture changed over to one that looks superficially similar, if something was clearly off. A few moments later, the screen switched again, now showing both images side by side. After only a few seconds of studying, the difference quickly became apparent. In the newer image, the coloration of the space station was far darker, almost as if coated in a layer of soot. Scratches and dents covered its surface where there had been few previously. Many of the solar arrays were broken and twisted, and some of the modules showed cracks and other signs of wear. A few were even missing. This was clearly a very changed space station from the one that had disappeared the day before. The other thing that stuck out to me were the windows. Clear and reflective in the first image, completely darkened in the second, as if someone had taped black construction paper to the inside of each of them. Markov continued on to introduce another of the many mysteries confronting us. After reappearing, the station's internal clock seemed to be malfunctioning. The time was still correct, but the date now read March 20th, 2045, 44 years into the future, and the exact same length of time from Ledevsky's disappearance in 1957 to today. Would that possibly be a coincidence? Perhaps, but the sinking feeling in my gut told me that it was not. Either the computer was malfunctioning, or Mir had really been somewhere else for 44 years, while only 24 hours had passed here. Thought still makes me shudder to this day. Markov went on to highlight a few more strange occurrences. First, the life support system, which had been shut down for months since there was no one left on board, was found to be engaged and operating when Mir reappeared. Markov continued. Second, the cameras and microcomputers in the space station would not have been able to manually engage life support when Mir reappeared. Something else up there was breathing, be it Ledevsky or something else. Furthermore, if the man on Mir really was Ledevsky, how could he possibly know how to activate the life support system? Technology in 1957 was extremely primitive compared to what it is up there on the space station now. There's no way he would have been able to access the computer system and navigate the complicated process to manually activate the life support system. There's no way he would have been able to access the computer system to manually activate the life support system. Which were in working order before the anomaly had either been deactivated or were malfunctioning. Getting these back online as soon as possible would be a top priority for my communications team. After this, Markov took a seat and Nikovlev, my communications team member who worked at the terminal next to me, was called up front. His face was white as chalk, his forehead beaded with sweat, and his hands and legs were shaking as he stood before the control room. I have spoken at length with the one calling himself Alesky Ladovsky. He is coherent, rational, and articulate, though he seems just as confused about this situation as we all do, and wants to come home. He claims to have no memory of how he got onto space station, or of anything from the last 44 years. He says his last memories are crossing into space on a rocket in 1957 and then waking up aboard Mir today. Nikovlev paused to take a sip from a bottle of water resting on the podium. His hand was shaking so violently that he struggled to get the cap off. Something about the way he said this made me doubt his sincerity, so I went back and double-checked the recording and something strange stood out to me. Each time Ladovsky would answer a question, there were several moments of silence and static, and upon further review, I detected that he was keying and realizing his radio transmitter in rapid succession before speaking. He paused again, wiping his glasses on his shirt. "I soon recognized this is Morse code, and, well, here is what was transmitted." The screen above him changed to a white background, with the following, its dark black text. Translation of the Morse code: "The smiling ones are with me. The smiling ones are here. Do not trust the smiling ones. Don't tell them you know. It will hurt me if they know." That's the end of part one. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please like, share, and subscribe. Thank you! See you in the next one. Bye! These are all gimmicks you wouldn't like. I don't know what character you've adopted. Do you not like it? I'm enjoying it so far. I am too! No, you're not. This isn't how you act when you enjoy things. When you enjoy things, you sit over there and you're like, "Oh, this rules. Yeah, this is sick. Yeah, it's not." You're not like, "That was scary. That was really scary. That was cool." Like, "I thought that this was good, and I'm excited to see what happens next." Because I can't tell if the people doing Morse code are the spying ones or not. Okay. Well, I think it's interesting so far. Or do you think that he's in a parallel universe and he's able to talk with us right now? Like, it's static. Like, he's there, but he's not. You know what I mean? Like, he's still existing in an alternate timeline or something. To me, this sounds like gun to your head kind of thing. Like, they're around him, making him talk and answer questions, but he's trying to get a warning out, I think. Interesting. This video is sponsored by our partners at Factor. Fall is here. Between the kids being back in school and the days getting shorter, your routine is getting busy. Plus, the holidays are upon us, and all that makes it hard to stay on top of your eating habits. Thankfully, Factor has got you covered. Factor powers your day, sun up to sun down with nutritious breakfast or on-the-go lunches and premium dinners. In just two minutes, you can heat, eat, and enjoy. Each week, you can choose from 65 different menu options, and you are sure to find something you like. And now, you can go to Global with their introduction of Asian-inspired meals. Try bold flavors from China and Thailand. Or get their new Mediterranean diet options packed with protein and good-for-you fats. 97% of customers say that Factor has helped with them live a healthier life. 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That's right up to 47% off your Ridge purchase after your purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. And if you remember to use code creepcast, we'd certainly appreciate it. Thank you so much to Ridge for sponsoring the show. We are now back to the episode part two. I read those words and immediately felt ill. I made it to the lavatory just in time to vomit thin gruel of cigarette butt flavored coffee into the sink. After washing my sick, out of the basin and splashing my face with cold water, I looked into the mirror. My face was pale and haggard large bags had formed under my bloodshot eyes. It was the face of a man who had been working for over 24 hours straight. I remember having during that's a real moment lost in reflection, a vague presentiment that things were about to get much worse and much stranger, but I know just how horrifying the next 60 hours would be. I would have gladly accepted termination and incarceration. But it's been worth it not to know what I know. Now I left the bathroom and made my way back to my station through the glass window on the opposite side of the room. I could see a small group of directors arguing a cop devs office and an easy quiet. It settled over the mission control room punctuated by mouse clicks and the clacking of keyboards. Each operator I passed avoided eye contact either completely focused on the tasks they had been assigned or doing an excellent job staring at the screen and faking it. I can't remember the name of the person in question, but I have to admit that I was very shocked to find out that there was a cop devs office. Gossip and idle talk are strongly discouraged by the Russian space agency. When I arrived back in my terminal, I looked over to see Yakovlev hugging his elbows to his chest and staring vacantly into space. His chair had been pushed back from the desk and he reclined, stretching away from the radio transmitter resting there as if it were a snake coiled to strike. What did I miss? Yes, snapping him from his trance. He looked over at me through cloudy eyes. No more Morse code so far, but Ladovsky. Has been pleading for rescue non-stop. It was really starting to get to me. I told him that we are currently discussing the best way to get him off Mir. Then I had to mute him. There's seriously something off about that guy. Yeah, no kidding. They muted the transmission? I think they muted, uh, like maybe their cell. Yeah, or even his transmission, maybe. Well, if it's his transmission, it's like you need to listen to his transmission. I mean, what if he's like, oh my gosh! They're probably just freaking him out. He's probably just incessantly being like, okay, come get me. No, give me that guy thing. No. Yeah. The door to cop devs office was closed, but the argument inside had grown heated and I could just make out a few words, all of them harsh through the glass. I could see Markov gesturing angrily and occasionally pounding a fist on the desk. Cop dev set calmly at his desk, hands clasped in front of him. So is this what you think they're discussing in there? How to get Ladovsky back to earth from what I can gather. This is precisely what assistant director. Ivanov once I heard him yelling something about Ladovsky being a national treasure and a hero of the Soviet union. He thinks immediate rescue is the only option and that we can figure out who, what, and why later on once Ladovsky is safely back on solid ground. This guy who's been up there 40 years. That's a hero. They even questioned like, shouldn't he be like super old? Mm-hmm. Hmm. I feel like that's where I'd say, uh, shouldn't you be like a hundred? Shouldn't this guy be old and also have starved to death? Like, you know, 43. Years ago, shouldn't that guy not be alive? Yeah. I rolled my eyes though. I honestly hadn't expected any other reaction from the assistant director. Ivanov had been a cosmonaut himself in the eighties, but even resided on Mir for a few months. He was a fiery and passionate man with a very traditional values, the type to yearn in secret for a return to the greatness of the USSR. Now close to retirement, he had been skipped for the job of director in favor of the younger and more level-headed cop dev. Ivanov bitterly resented this fact. He must've seen this as a opportunity to upstage cop dev and as a possible propaganda victory. And Ivanov's mind rescuing Ladovsky would open the door to the mysteries of the universe. Russia would be the first to step through the Vanguard into the unknown. I take it that Markov has other ideas. I asked the head of trafficking and communications was standing in the office now screaming and pointed at Ivanov shaking with fury. Quite an understatement. I've never, I never thought of Markov as a superstitious man, but he seems to think that there is something sinister and possibly supernatural going on up there. He's asked cop dev to cut off all communication with Mir and proceed with the operating as planned. He wants to let the station burn with Ladovsky still on, still on it? Cover this up like nothing happened? I asked and Kovalev gave a solemn nod. And what about cop dev? Where does he stand? You know as well as I that the director is a cautious man. I think he is weighing out his options and will try to gather more information before making a decision. There is so much about this that cannot be rationally explained, but I think cop dev believes Ladovsky has gone mad. Conversation was interrupted by cop dev poking his head out of his office. He spoke loudly so the entire room could hear. I want all personnel except communications department to put a hold on their current task. Spend the next half hour researching the smiling ones. Scour government records, historical archives, the internet, and anywhere else you can think of for any reference to that phrase. Communications, I want your full attention to restoring our visual link to the space station. I want to see what's going on up there. I will expect reports in 30 minutes. He shut the door and the arguing inside resumed. Kovalev and I made eye contact for a fleeting moment and then returned to our terminals and got to work. Half hour later, we were once again gathered in a semicircle with cop dev, Markov, and Ivanov, standing in the middle beneath the central screen. Each department reported their findings, but all were variations of the same theme. There were no substantial mentions of the smiling ones to be found. I like how he steps out of the office and he's like, I need you guys to go to Google, you know, libraries. Everyone log into Wi-Fi and use Ask Jeeves for smiling one. Remember, Wi-Fi password is Russia number one, but the number is N-O and then P-O. Period and the hashtag pound sign. Everyone go to Bing, turn safe search off. Type in smiling one, if not that print out newest image. You don't know what I mean. Cop dev, clearly frustrated, turned to the communications department and it fell to me to act as spokesperson. I stood up from my desk and faced the director. I could feel the eyes of every person in the room crawling over me. My left leg was shaking involuntarily. Sir, I have some good news as well as some strange news. The good news is we have fully restored the visual link to the space station. Mirror and all cameras are now active. Subdued cheer went up in the room. I waited for it to recede and then leaned over and pressed a button on my terminal. The main display at the front of the room changed into a black screen separated by crisscross gray lines, each labeled with a different location on the space station and each completely dark. The strange news is that every camera on Mir seems to be blocked or covered by something. My guess would be black electrical tape. Cop dev and Markov exchanged a look while Ivanov stared at the screen confused. After a few moments, he turned to me, his neck glowing crimson under his collar. You are certain the cameras are active? There hasn't been a mistake? I'm certain of it, sir. Okay. Excellent work, communications department. We will take that under advisement. Anyone else have anything to report? Said Director Cop dev. A man from the life support department stood up and cleared his throat. Director, I've been going over the data for the life support systems and I'm running into some inconsistencies. First, though the station's internal clocks says 44 years have passed, it appears that the life support system remained deactivated the entire time. In fact, they were only reactivated the moment of Mir reappeared in low Earth orbit. Secondly, though the electron oxygen generator is activated and working, working as intended. There is something very strange about the numbers coming from the Vodkov carbon dioxide scrubbers. They basically aren't doing anything. There is no carbon dioxide in the air, only oxygen. Either there is either a malfunction in the Vodkov data collection system or whatever is up there isn't breathing. Markov finished his sentence, glaring at Koptev, his eyes full of fire. I don't like this, sir. Stop being so superstitious, Markov, said Ivanov. You're like an old provincial peasant woman making the sign of the evil eye. There clearly must be a malfunction in the unit. It's the only rational explanation. Besides, a national hero is up there. He is alone and afraid and not in his right mind. It is our duty to rescue him. It must be our first priority. Koptev's face was blank and hard as stone. He gave each man a dead-eyed look, which silenced any further bickering. Men and women of Roskomos, it appears we have reached an impasse. None of us have any idea of what happened to Mir or how Lodovsky got aboard. I will not risk bringing this man back to Earth without first understanding what has happened to him. So, we have but one option left. We must speak to Lodovsky again and we must ask him directly, who are the smiley ones? I know the message requested we are not to bring it up, but I see no other choice. I must know what we are dealing with. Simply a deranged man who wants to come home or. Something else. He's like, hey, what's the smiley ones? And he just gets, like, eviscerated. He's like, well, that was a bad idea. Well, that was probably kind of. Well, we shouldn't have done that, my bad. Do you know what, guys? On me. Seriously, my bad. He paused for a moment and looked around the room, beating the eyes of anyone brave enough to look up. Finally, he turned towards our station. Yokolov, you've already developed a rapport with Lodovsky, so I will ask you to continue speaking with him. I want the rest of you searching for clues to a possible explanation. You are free to chase down any leads you come across. Now, let's get to work. Cosmonaut Lodovsky, this is Roscosmos Mission Control. How do you read? Over. Anxiety and exhaustion had turned Yakovlev's face an ashy gray color. As he held his headphone to his ears, I could tell he was fighting to keep from shaking. Koptev, Markov, Ivanov, and the other directors were huddled behind his chair. I read loud and clear, Roscosmos. Good to hear your voice. Please, tell me you have a rocket on the way to get me here. To get me. I'm ready to feel soil under my feet again. His voice was calm and steady. Seemed in high spirits. We're still working on that, Lodovsky. It's quite a complicated process and will take some time to organize. In the meantime, there are a few questions I'd like to ask you. There was no response, but dead static. Yakovlev looked to Koptev, who nodded for him to continue. Cosmonaut, I need you to tell me where you have been for the last time. The last 44 years. Lodovsky gave an exasperated sigh. Mission Control, I've already told you I have no idea. Last thing I remember was escaping Earth's atmosphere on my rocket in 1957 and then waking up here today. There is nothing else. Okay, Cosmonaut. Then how about you help us better understand your situation by checking on the visual communication system. There seems to be something blocking the camera, and can you find it on your console in front of you and remove the obstruction? Several moments of silence. Four seconds followed before the radio crackled back to life. No, I'm sorry, Mission Control. There are many buttons and lights here that I don't understand. I don't see any camera. I like how the explanation's like, uh, you know me, I'm a boomer. You should not have put so many flashing lights. Like all the cameras are visibly taped up. Yeah. And he's like, oh, I'm a klutz. It's weird. I don't know what this is. Markov gave a derisive snort. We all knew that. The camera was in the direct center of the terminal where Ladovsky sat. Very clearly labeled and easy to find, even for someone from the 50s. Yakovlev looked again to the director, who nodded for him to continue. Yakovlev took a deep breath and keyed the mic. Cosmonaut Ladovsky, who are the smiling ones? Instantly, the Mission Control room was filled with a shrill, inhuman screech. Impossibly loud and high-pitched. It felt like a hot drill burrowing into both of my temples. Underneath the shriek was a continuous stream of rapid, mechanical clicks. Like a damaged hard drive trying to boot up. I immediately felt nauseous. I watched as Yakovlev ripped the headphones from his head and the directors covered their ears. After ten agonizing seconds, the line went silent. I still heard and felt the noise reverberating in my head and I rubbed my ears with the palms of my hands. What the hell was that? Screamed Markov, hands cupped over his ears. The radio cracked. It sputtered and then Ladovsky's voice returned, now high and panicky. What? I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. I've never heard of that. I have no idea. Just please, please get me out of here. I don't like it here. I just want to go home, please. He pleaded on the verge of tears. Calm down, Cosmonaut. I need you to identify the source of that noise. Said Yakovlev. He was yelling like a deaf person. Unknown. What noise? I don't hear anything on my end. There's nothing. Just please get me out of here. Listen, Ladovsky. There's nothing to be afraid of. We are trying to help you. We received the Morse code you sent. You need to help us understand what your message meant so that we can help you. Fucking dumbass. What was the secret message you tried to send? The thing you don't want anyone to hear. What was that about? I like how. I like how they're like, what about the smiling one? Like the loudest noise ever. They're like, so. Yeah, those. That was weird. What about the smiling ones? That was weird. Did you hear that? Ladovsky's like, no. I don't. What? I'm winking. Comrade, I'm winking. When Yakovlev let go of the transmitter, Ladovsky's voice came screaming over the speakers, now fraught with terror. No, no. I have no idea how they know. I didn't say anything. I didn't send any message. I heard it. I have no idea what they're talking about. Please, you have to believe me. Now he was groaning. Oh, no. No more. Please. Please, no more. The line went dead for several minutes. The directors looked around the room in silence, avoiding eye contact. Finally, Yakovlev said what we were all thinking. Is it just me, or is this guy like a total pain in my ass? The actual line he says is pretty. Is it just me, or did it sound like he was talking. He was talking to someone else. Wow. Incredible detective work from the commander. God, your intuition is amazing. Is it just me, or when he turned and said, I didn't hear that, and then said, no, no, I don't know how they know, no. Someone's there with him on the space station? Before anyone could answer, the radio clicked on, and he was back. Mission Control, Ladovsky here. I wish I could help you, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps once I have my feet back on the ground, and some food in me, I will remember more. Any word on my rescue mission? Buddy got turned into a stick puppet. They got their hand up him right now, just talking to him. What's funny is, we never see it, which I will say, the smiling ones at the beginning were kind of like, I see a lot of smiling faces that can be kind of cheesy, but the fact we don't see anything is fine. It makes it more inventive. But we don't see what's happening. He's like, no, no, I don't know. Please, no more. We don't see it. So for all we know, it could be like, they've like got a little tiki bar, and they're making him like dance. Like they pull. This is what's on the space station with Ladovsky. That's just behind him at the chair. That has to have a little astronaut helmet on. Of course, of course. And he put an astronaut helmet on him. And so he's got that. It's staying behind him. When he heard like they're making pull-up and they're bringing him to the dance floor, he's like, no, no, no. It's been 44 years. Kovlev picked up the transmitter to respond, but CopDev grabbed his wrist and stopped him. The static was interrupted by a series of long and short clicks. I grabbed for my pen and began to write down the Morse code message, which reads, do not let. But that was as far as I got. The message was cut off by the screeching of that same shrill piercing tone, louder this time. The mechanical clicking was there again, but was now accompanied by a deep wobbling bass note. The frequency of the wobble increased faster and faster like the spinning of a giant coin, the volume rising. The screech pierced through my brain like hot iron and I could feel the bass in the pit of my stomach and all the way down into my testicles. It felt like I'd been kicked there. My stomach turned over and I could taste the bile, rising in my throat. I looked around the room and found I was far from the only one experiencing this. Everyone was covering their ears. Some had grabbed wastebaskets to vomit in. Others leaned back in their chairs. Eyes rolled back in their skulls. I was vaguely aware of one other noise. Somewhere in the blackness of space, Lodowski was screaming. Lodowski tried to say something like, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Eeeee! Yeah, just decimated. Yeah. Yeah. That's the end of part two. Now on to part three. I awoke with a thin, coppery taste in my mouth and a throbbing headache above each eye. The signal must have cut off at some point, though I have no memory of this happening. For the briefest moment of bliss, I thought I was home in bed, safe and comfortable. My greatest worry, the inevitable cry of the alarm clock. Then I rolled over and couldn't find my pillow. When I tried to look for it, I woke up and found myself face down on my desk. I hadn't slept in so very long. I wanted so badly to close my eyes and drift away, to the Give me the beat, boys, and free my soul. Wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away. To pretend this wasn't happening, but it was, and self-deception would get me nowhere. There's a job to be done. By God, I was going to do it. What a fool I was. Should have stayed asleep. I shook the cobwebs from my mind and rose from the desk. Trying to ignore the piercing ring in my ears. Looking around, I could see other Roscosmos operators and engineers coming to similar predicaments. Some wiping vomit from their mouths with the back of their hands. Others massaging their necks or temples. Is everyone okay? Is there anyone injured? Came the loud voice of Director Coptive. Clear but strained like an out-of-tune instrument. Scattered confirmations echoed throughout the room. I was about to attest to my own well-being when I happened to glance over at you, 11 stopped short his forehead resting on the keyboard in front of him and the headphones he'd been wearing to communicate with lodovsky were still covering his ears i could not immediately tell if he was breathing but he definitely wasn't moving i rushed to his side and peeled off the headphones a thin stream of blood trickled from each of his ears forming small pools on the desk tenderly i lifted his head cradling into my hands and calling his name his eyes were closed and blood dripped from his nostrils after a few moments his eyelashes fluttered and his eyes opened but they were distant and opaque as if he didn't see me at all as if he were in a dream state off at some distant wonder his face was blank loose and emotionless except for his mouth was curled up into a large toothy and humorous grin he didn't speak nor seem to hear me at all i screamed for a medic but what i got were two intelligence agents in charcoal colored suits they lifted yakovlev from the chair by his elbows and led him from the room he wafted between them grinning and dreamlike in the direction of the medical facility the last time i would ever see him with yakovlev out of the picture the task of manning the radio fell to me markov tried to make the burden upon himself but coptiv was having none of it i'm sorry markov i admire your tenacity but we each have our own have our roles to play and as a department head your role is supervising our department members and providing advisement to the director when markov continued grumbling coptive turned to me will you serve your country and completely assign tasks with vigor and professionalism yes i will i replied automatically the product of decades of training even as i spoke these words my brain was screaming no i won't let me go leave me in peace but it was too far too late for that turned back to markov would you deny him the chance to serve russia and fulfill his duty no i suppose i could not harass markov speaking of coptiv but locking eyes with me he turned to follow coptiv i swallowed hard and placed the headphones over my ears but markov turned back and snatched them off my head no more headphones said the coptiv he can hear with the rest of us here on the overhead speakers well enough and i won't lose another man in my department to whatever is up there coptive nodded his approval and added cut the audio feeds as well i don't want to hear that noise or anything else from the current space station until we're good and ready for it lodowski will just have to stay iced for a while until we clear a few things up could have kissed him for that i was not ready for this then the pair turned and walked off continuing their rounds checking for injuries among the operators that's kind of cool that the guy that had headphones on just dies but he's smiling now yeah well smiling one he says a humorless grin that almost feels like his face is just stretched yeah like it's been pulled rather than it's kind of the you're actually frowning when you do it that way because the top of your mouth's going down that's closer whatever was like the abg in mouth i love i love that you just can't see any of his teeth ever so he's just like did you like a fucking diarrhea shit sandwich did you like avg and or the nostalgia critic better i don't i've never watched any of them i didn't have internet until i was in college so i missed that whole wave of stuff i watched nostalgia critic a lot i remember just who which one's he he's a he would do movie reviews but like it would always be gags about like he'd get really mad over like minute details and stuff like that and it was it was like more comfortable and he was like i'm not gonna tell you what he's like i'm gonna tell you what he's like i'm not gonna tell you what he's like more comedy was he the one with the red tie yeah oh yeah that's him doug walker he's also what i like about him is like he's still around um and a lot of those older guys have got like real butt hurt about not being like as popular as they thought they would stuff but every time i see doug he's just like he has a good humor about it like on an episode of spongebob they made fun of him they had they had a character like wear the red tie and like the joke was he lived in his mom's basement and he was like really upset over something that he didn't like and he was like that didn't matter so doug posted a video of him watching that and like like he was heartbroken and he's like he pulls out his phone and calls avg and goes spongebob doesn't like you like you can't process criticism about himself he's a good he's a good sport about it so hey this episode is sponsored by tushy tushy's luxury bidet that your bathroom has been missing over two million butts love tushy and yours will too i what's my ass hold it makes it clean this holiday season give the gift of clean with one of tushy's premium bidets 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first bidet order at hellotushy.com with promo code creepcast thank you to tushy for sponsoring this episode now back to the episode after confirming there were no other major injuries cop dev appeared at the podium up front once more the room fell silent he began the greatest motivational speech in the world tushy was the first person in the room to talk about tushy's speech i would ever bear witness to it goes without saying that we are all experiencing something completely unique in our species history it is in my personal opinion that we are in communication with some kind of undiscovered life form if this is true it will forever change our understanding of the universe and alter the future path of humanity whatever these smiling ones are we can all attest to the fact that this is first contact yeah that's really what's going on here has been less benevolent than we might have hoped regardless our job as scientists remains the same not to have opinions and beliefs but to provide proof i have asked so much of you already but now i must ask for more we need to figure out what we are dealing with here we need more information we need proof but the fate of the human race may depend on it room was silent the atmosphere gravid with the seriousness of the task at hand i want the communications team to focus on analyzing that sound but do not listen to a recording directly we've all seen what that can cause the rest of you keep searching for any clues that might tell us who these smiling ones are where they come from or what they might want it's about time we finally catch a break i put this in your capable hands he smiled warmly i'm counting on you and i'm proud of every one of you there's no other team in the world i'd rather be working with than the one i see before me here today so analyze we did breaking the noise down searching for the truth and finding the truth and finding the truth and finding the truth and searching for similarities in the sound wave patterns to know sounds from earth comparing the frequency and amplitude to mysterious recordings collected during various natural disasters and from the deep ocean and outer space we worked for hours all for naught nothing even came close the sound was completely alien unlike anything anyone had ever heard or produced it was more complex than anything we had even considered possible the noise defied our very understanding of sound waves altogether we had been affected by the noise of the sound waves and the sound waves had been affected by ultrasound and infrasound frequencies far beyond the range of what was previously thought possible but we had all heard it and experienced the reaction denial was not an option others had better luck via confidential maneuvering by the russian foreign intelligence agency we were able to obtain from the united states space surveillance network higher quality satellite-based images of the exact moments mir disappeared and reappeared for once the yankee spying actually benefited russia and the results were stunning from these new angles we discovered something previously overlooked at the exact instant of vanishment something had appeared in the path of the space station which momentarily blocked out the dim light from distant stars in the background the image showed nothing directly behind mir except absolute blackness the same thing occurred at reappearance the images were taken at a high frame per second rate and in a few of those frames we could actually see the space station partially obstructed by this void as if it were disappearing into whatever was there in the darkness like a photo of a diver disappearing into a pool various hypotheses were tossed around but all kept coming back to the same explanation a theoretical phenomenon known as a wormhole or something akin to it till this time wormholes tunnel-like structures connecting two separate points of space-time though congruent with einstein's general theory of relativity had remained purely hypothetical now here we sat an entire room of physicists and scientists staring at possible evidence of an actual wormhole excitement and terror bundled together into a peculiar knot of emotion there are a few of these theories but they're not all the same there are a few different theories on wormholes some believe they connect together two vastly different theories on wormholes some believe they connect together two vastly distant points in space distant points in space distant points in space perhaps billions of light years apart others perhaps billions of light years apart others perhaps billions of light years apart others propose a linkage of the same place propose a linkage of the same place propose a linkage of the same place in space at two different times still in space at two different times still in space at two different times still others advocate of the multiverse theory others advocate of the multiverse theory others advocate of the multiverse theory propound the idea of wormholes connecting propound the idea of wormholes connecting propound the idea of wormholes connecting a point in our universe to another point a point in our universe to another point a point in our universe to another point in a completely alternate universe in a completely alternate universe in a completely alternate universe any of these seemed a possible any of these seemed a possible any of these seemed a possible explanation for our anomaly though the explanation for our anomaly though the explanation for our anomaly though the potential evidence was exhilarating the potential evidence was exhilarating the potential evidence was exhilarating the fact that it had appeared in the exact fact that it had appeared in the exact fact that it had appeared in the exact same location twice in the span of 24 same location twice in the span of 24 same location twice in the span of 24 hours implied that the wormhole had been hours implied that the wormhole had been hours implied that the wormhole had been controlled or even manufactured by some controlled or even manufactured by some controlled or even manufactured by some kind of intelligence a sinister a kind of intelligence a sinister a kind of intelligence a sinister a sinister prospect given the events in a sinister prospect given the events in a sinister prospect given the events in a transpired since emerged reappearance transpired since emerged reappearance transpired since emerged reappearance there was one little problem with our there was one little problem with our there was one little problem with our wormhole theory however wormhole theory however wormhole theory however unlike a black hole in which the event unlike a black hole in which the event unlike a black hole in which the event horizon boundary in space-time beyond horizon boundary in space-time beyond horizon boundary in space-time beyond which events cannot be observed prevents which events cannot be observed prevents which events cannot be observed prevents light from escaping due to light from escaping due to light from escaping due to gravitational pull a wormhole would not gravitational pull a wormhole would not gravitational pull a wormhole would not produce an event horizon produce an event horizon produce an event horizon peering through the mouth of a wormhole peering through the mouth of a wormhole peering through the mouth of a wormhole more of a 3d sphere rather than a 2d hole more of a 3d sphere rather than a 2d hole more of a 3d sphere rather than a 2d hole should reveal to us what is on the should reveal to us what is on the should reveal to us what is on the other side other side other side or if matter can pass through then so can or if matter can pass through then so can or if matter can pass through then so can light light light though distorted by the curvature of though distorted by the curvature of though distorted by the curvature of space in the wormhole space in the wormhole space in the wormhole all of our theoretical models visualize all of our theoretical models visualize all of our theoretical models visualize a wormhole is something similar to a a wormhole is something similar to a a wormhole is something similar to a bubble in space bubble in space bubble in space with intense light radiating from inner with intense light radiating from inner with intense light radiating from inner rim of the mouth quickly dimming as our rim of the mouth quickly dimming as our rim of the mouth quickly dimming as our view moves towards the center and in the view moves towards the center and in the view moves towards the center and in the center we should be able to see right center we should be able to see right center we should be able to see right through to the planet stars or nebula on through to the planet stars or nebula on through to the planet stars or nebula on the other side the other side the other side in our case we saw nothing no ring of in our case we saw nothing no ring of in our case we saw nothing no ring of light and certainly no stars light and certainly no stars light and certainly no stars nothing but an empty field of pitch black nothing but an empty field of pitch black nothing but an empty field of pitch black three possible conclusions can be drawn three possible conclusions can be drawn three possible conclusions can be drawn from this from this from this either our understanding of wormholes is either our understanding of wormholes is either our understanding of wormholes is way off what we're seeing in the images way off what we're seeing in the images way off what we're seeing in the images is not actually a wormhole something else is not actually a wormhole something else is not actually a wormhole something else altogether altogether altogether or or or it is a wormhole but whatever universe it it is a wormhole but whatever universe it it is a wormhole but whatever universe it leads to is a vast empty void where not leads to is a vast empty void where not leads to is a vast empty void where not even light exists even light exists even light exists this at which if you're looking at this at which if you're looking at this at which if you're looking at scientifically scientifically scientifically like would have to be the most likely option if what you're the most likely option if what you're the most likely option if what you're looking at looking at looking at again assuming all this actually happened again assuming all this actually happened again assuming all this actually happened um would be the most likely option um would be the most likely option um would be the most likely option because the fact that anything exists because the fact that anything exists because the fact that anything exists according to like scientific theory is according to like scientific theory is according to like scientific theory is a super super impossibly rare occurrence a super super impossibly rare occurrence a super super impossibly rare occurrence they're like you know big bang they're like you know big bang they're like you know big bang everything exists as it is so any other everything exists as it is so any other everything exists as it is so any other universe a wormhole would appear into universe a wormhole would appear into universe a wormhole would appear into would more than likely have nothing would more than likely have nothing would more than likely have nothing because nothing's far more likely than because nothing's far more likely than because nothing's far more likely than something right something right something right um but i also don't know if models of um but i also don't know if models of um but i also don't know if models of the wormholes were that the wormholes were that the wormholes were that in tune in 1957 in tune in 1957 in tune in 1957 maybe yeah it would because einstein was maybe yeah it would because einstein was maybe yeah it would because einstein was around and he theorized it he also around and he theorized it he also around and he theorized it he also theorized that like black holes would be theorized that like black holes would be theorized that like black holes would be like like like a bending of light like uh the light a bending of light like uh the light a bending of light like uh the light would kind of bend in two forms around would kind of bend in two forms around would kind of bend in two forms around it um so it looks more like an axis it um so it looks more like an axis it um so it looks more like an axis rather than like a hole rather than like a hole rather than like a hole uh and then when we got actual footage uh and then when we got actual footage uh and then when we got actual footage of black holes now he was right so the of black holes now he was right so the of black holes now he was right so the dude was pretty on his game imagine in dude was pretty on his game imagine in dude was pretty on his game imagine in the 1940s being like well it would bend the 1940s being like well it would bend the 1940s being like well it would bend light and time to look like this and light and time to look like this and light and time to look like this and then a hundred almost a hundred years then a hundred almost a hundred years then a hundred almost a hundred years later they're like yeah yeah he was later they're like yeah yeah he was later they're like yeah yeah he was right damn yeah that guy knew what he right damn yeah that guy knew what he right damn yeah that guy knew what he was talking about he was smart was talking about he was smart was talking about he was smart right that guy must have been an right that guy must have been an right that guy must have been an einstein or something oh einstein or something oh einstein or something oh okay it real convenient that i that okay it real convenient that i that okay it real convenient that i that einstein guy i had no idea it matched einstein guy i had no idea it matched einstein guy i had no idea it matched the name yeah it's like it's like that the name yeah it's like it's like that the name yeah it's like it's like that scene from the sopranos when uh chris is scene from the sopranos when uh chris is scene from the sopranos when uh chris is like isn't it crazy that lou gehrig died like isn't it crazy that lou gehrig died like isn't it crazy that lou gehrig died of lou gehrig's disease that's so good that's so good that's so good i love chrissy my favorite chris joke on i love chrissy my favorite chris joke on i love chrissy my favorite chris joke on that show is after that show is after that show is after uh olivia dies and him and adriana are uh olivia dies and him and adriana are uh olivia dies and him and adriana are high as a kite at tony's house and no high as a kite at tony's house and no high as a kite at tony's house and no one's will say anything nice about one's will say anything nice about one's will say anything nice about olivia and chris is like you know they olivia and chris is like you know they olivia and chris is like you know they say that say that say that there there's never two of the same there there's never two of the same there there's never two of the same people everybody's unique but how would people everybody's unique but how would people everybody's unique but how would they know they know they know because you'd have to like get everyone because you'd have to like get everyone because you'd have to like get everyone on the planet to line up and look at all on the planet to line up and look at all on the planet to line up and look at all of them and even then there could be of them and even then there could be of them and even then there could be someone dead someone dead like ghost for five minutes he's like the like ghost for five minutes he's like the like ghost for five minutes he's like the point is the tony scissor goes thank you chris thank you thank you thank you the new revelation had produced an the new revelation had produced an the new revelation had produced an atmosphere of excitement in the mission atmosphere of excitement in the mission atmosphere of excitement in the mission control room and in director koptev control room and in director koptev control room and in director koptev especially especially especially here we few stood unique among all here we few stood unique among all here we few stood unique among all humans living in past perched upon the humans living in past perched upon the humans living in past perched upon the precipice of the utterly unknown we were precipice of the utterly unknown we were precipice of the utterly unknown we were living out a scene from the pages of a living out a scene from the pages of a living out a scene from the pages of a science fiction novel except it was science fiction novel except it was science fiction novel except it was reality a surreal terrifying astonishing reality a surreal terrifying astonishing reality a surreal terrifying astonishing reality reality reality may have been a bit of a stretch but by may have been a bit of a stretch but by may have been a bit of a stretch but by this point koptev had thoroughly this point koptev had thoroughly this point koptev had thoroughly convinced himself and in turn all of us convinced himself and in turn all of us convinced himself and in turn all of us that we had encountered a newly that we had encountered a newly that we had encountered a newly discovered life form discovered life form discovered life form extraterrestrial extra dimensional or extraterrestrial extra dimensional or otherwise we couldn't help but feel otherwise we couldn't help but feel otherwise we couldn't help but feel excitement excitement excitement this was every astronomer's dream any who this was every astronomer's dream any who this was every astronomer's dream any who said otherwise was either lying about said otherwise was either lying about said otherwise was either lying about their own dream or lying about being an their own dream or lying about being an their own dream or lying about being an astronomer astronomer astronomer at the same time it was a horrifying at the same time it was a horrifying at the same time it was a horrifying prospect for what it meant for us for prospect for what it meant for us for prospect for what it meant for us for our planet and especially what it meant our planet and especially what it meant our planet and especially what it meant for ledovsky for ledovsky koptev we were on the threshold of a koptev we were on the threshold of a koptev we were on the threshold of a discovery which would alter the destiny discovery which would alter the destiny discovery which would alter the destiny of mankind but among the other of mankind but among the other of mankind but among the other director's opinions of how we should director's opinions of how we should director's opinions of how we should proceed still differed proceed still differed proceed still differed they began to argue again passionately they began to argue again passionately they began to argue again passionately and excitedly not bothering this time and excitedly not bothering this time and excitedly not bothering this time to retreat to the confines of the office to retreat to the confines of the office to retreat to the confines of the office this is our chance yelled assistant this is our chance yelled assistant this is our chance yelled assistant his face was flush and beads of sweat his face was flush and beads of sweat his face was flush and beads of sweat stood out of his wrinkled brow stood out of his wrinkled brow stood out of his wrinkled brow we'd be fools not to reach out and take we'd be fools not to reach out and take we'd be fools not to reach out and take it i propose we send zoya's capsule to it i propose we send zoya's capsule to it i propose we send zoya's capsule to talk with mir and bring whatever is up talk with mir and bring whatever is up talk with mir and bring whatever is up there back to earth and still hold that there back to earth and still hold that there back to earth and still hold that hope that it really is lodowski hope that it really is lodowski hope that it really is lodowski but if it isn't we capture it examine but if it isn't we capture it examine but if it isn't we capture it examine it it it experiment on it and force it to reveal experiment on it and force it to reveal experiment on it and force it to reveal to us the secrets of the universe to us the secrets of the universe to us the secrets of the universe just imagine it russia the first nation just imagine it russia the first nation just imagine it russia the first nation on earth to make interstellar travel on earth to make interstellar travel on earth to make interstellar travel possible via wormhole generation possible via wormhole generation possible via wormhole generation we would instantly become the greatest we would instantly become the greatest we would instantly become the greatest nation on the world no the universe is nation on the world no the universe is nation on the world no the universe is ever known we must do this for the ever known we must do this for the ever known we must do this for the benefit of all mankind and for the glory benefit of all mankind and for the glory benefit of all mankind and for the glory of mother russia of mother russia of mother russia so i like um i like how ivanov so so i like um i like how ivanov so so i like um i like how ivanov so fired up about like getting the guy back fired up about like getting the guy back fired up about like getting the guy back and stuff like that and i understand and stuff like that and i understand and stuff like that and i understand that's kind of what's motivating what that's kind of what's motivating what that's kind of what's motivating what he's saying like for russia to be on top he's saying like for russia to be on top he's near the end of his career he's near the end of his career he's near the end of his career as mentioned uh and i get all that but as mentioned uh and i get all that but as mentioned uh and i get all that but it's also funny because like what are it's also funny because like what are it's also funny because like what are you gonna do with wormhole travel you gonna do with wormhole travel you gonna do with wormhole travel maybe 200 years from now when we have maybe 200 years from now when we have maybe 200 years from now when we have tech that lets like people colonize tech that lets like people colonize tech that lets like people colonize space and live and travel to far off space and live and travel to far off space and live and travel to far off planets but it's like right now planets but it's like right now we're gonna go through and be like yep we're gonna go through and be like yep we're gonna go through and be like yep a whole lot of nothing a whole lot of nothing a whole lot of nothing all right i'm on my way back crazy total all right i'm on my way back crazy total all right i'm on my way back crazy total total darkness wow i sure hope this total darkness wow i sure hope this total darkness wow i sure hope this works the other way works the other way works the other way or else or else or else but also like but also like but also like i realized i was wrong because i realized i was wrong because i realized i was wrong because lodovsky's from the 1957 but this space lodovsky's from the 1957 but this space lodovsky's from the 1957 but this space cruise like what 2001 it said 2002 so cruise like what 2001 it said 2002 so cruise like what 2001 it said 2002 so yeah i was i was off with that they yeah i was i was off with that they yeah i was i was off with that they certainly would have wormhole theory certainly would have wormhole theory certainly would have wormhole theory yeah yeah that's correct a few muffled yeah yeah that's correct a few muffled yeah yeah that's correct a few muffled agreements rose from the assembly the agreements rose from the assembly the agreements rose from the assembly the room was filled with the quiet tension room was filled with the quiet tension room was filled with the quiet tension almost palpable like a steel wire ready almost palpable like a steel wire ready almost palpable like a steel wire ready to snap to snap to snap all eyes turned to markov who sat with all eyes turned to markov who sat with one leg crossed over the other and an one leg crossed over the other and an one leg crossed over the other and an ironic smile plastered to his face ironic smile plastered to his face ironic smile plastered to his face do you have anything to add markov that's do you have anything to add markov that's do you have anything to add markov that's captive captive captive yes director i still think it should be yes director i still think it should be yes director i still think it should be destroyed destroyed destroyed do you over at the space station with do you over at the space station with do you over at the space station with lodowski still on board lodowski still on board lodowski still on board no i don't think we can risk that i no i don't think we can risk that i no i don't think we can risk that i think we should destroy it while it's think we should destroy it while it's think we should destroy it while it's still in orbit still in orbit still in orbit i'm not sure how yet maybe with a nuke i'm not sure how yet maybe with a nuke i'm not sure how yet maybe with a nuke just to be certain so i'm 100 on just to be certain so i'm 100 on just to be certain so i'm 100 on coptive side coptive side coptive side like just blow it up yeah yeah 100 like just blow it up yeah yeah 100 like just blow it up yeah yeah 100 immediately i've been gone for 44 years immediately i've been gone for 44 years immediately i've been gone for 44 years man we ain't missing you man we ain't missing you man we ain't missing you yeah sorry i mean it is according to the yeah sorry i mean it is according to the yeah sorry i mean it is according to the records you never died up there records you never died up there records you never died up there you don't even think thank you for your you don't even think thank you for your you don't even think thank you for your assistance comrade assistance comrade assistance comrade yep yep yep yes no everything will be fine ship on yes no everything will be fine ship on yes no everything will be fine ship on way way way a few surprised exclamations rose above a few surprised exclamations rose above a few surprised exclamations rose above the general murmur that followed his the general murmur that followed his the general murmur that followed his remark cop to have looked at him aghast remark cop to have looked at him aghast markov you cannot be serious markov you cannot be serious markov you cannot be serious but i am people have already suffered but i am people have already suffered but i am people have already suffered right here in this room right here in this room right here in this room while whatever is out there still over while whatever is out there still over while whatever is out there still over two or miles above our heads i think two or miles above our heads i think two or miles above our heads i think we've only seen a minuscule portion of we've only seen a minuscule portion of we've only seen a minuscule portion of the damage it might be possible the damage it might be possible the damage it might be possible how many how many more people might be how many how many more people might be how many how many more people might be hurt or worse if we bring this thing hurt or worse if we bring this thing hurt or worse if we bring this thing back to earth we understand nothing back to earth we understand nothing back to earth we understand nothing about it sir about it sir about it sir nothing i even know of maybe right and by nothing i even know of maybe right and by nothing i even know of maybe right and by character Capturing it may open a door to a whole new world of discovery, but once a door is opened, who knows what Mike walked through from the other side. The risk is too great. We may well be signing the death certificate of the entire planet, and welcoming our own destruction. I say we destroy it immediately and remove that possibility." Whispered approvals rose from a few of the gathered. Cop Dev and Markov locked eyes, Markov's smile gone now, replaced by a look of iron determination. "I understand your sentiment, Markov, I do, but I will not be responsible for firing any weapon into space, especially a nuclear weapon. How would we explain that to the rest of the world? Who knows what other repercussions there might be?" Markov let out a frustrated grunt and crossed his arms. Cop Dev continued, "Besides, Ludovsky may still be alive up there. If there's still a chance to save him, however slim, we are obliged to try." "I don't think you are. I don't think you have to try at all, actually. Again, on paper, that guy is dead. He was never even up there, so. " Ivanov was beaming. "So what? We go with Ivanov's plan and invite chaos onto our planet?" "No. We will still need more data to make a decision. We need to know who the smiling ones are. Thank you for your input, gentlemen, but I believe I have a plan." The grin on Ivanov's face twisted into a sneer as he turned back to Cop Dev. "And what might that be? We contact Ludovsky again. But this time we bluff. We tell him we have a Soyuz capsule prepared to launch. We tell him a rescue is on its way. Then we see how he reacts." "I feel the color draining from my face. Cop Dev turned to me. 'Think you can handle that?' I forced myself to nod." "This is good. I like the decision here. So, I'm liking the story. I enjoy it. I feel like there's a few times that, like, honestly, it being titled 'The Smiling Ones' and, like, the word of 'The Smiling Ones' used is one of the story's biggest faults." "Yeah." "Like, just because it…" "It's too cheesy." "It's too cheesy." "And it's good." "It completely cheapens the story." "Yeah, it cheapens the story." "Yeah. I think, I think you could have just literally been, like, you could have just called it, like…" "They. They're here." "You could have been them or it could have just been, like, uh, I don't know, the, uh, the forgotten space station. Like, just anything that was just, like, something that's just, or it could have just become a mirror." "Yeah. Well, I mean, like, in the story. They are in here." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah." "They are in here." "They're coming down." "I don't think, I don't think you refer to them as anything." "Mm-hmm." "I think it's just a thing of you are wondering the whole time, is there actually someone there?" "Yeah." "You know, and you can have him scream to somebody and be like, 'I, I didn't tell them anything.' And you're like, 'Is he just crazy?' I don't know." "But here's the thing, and this is kind of what we, like, when we, uh, had the interview with, uh, Dathan, we kind of talked about…" "Patreon exclusive." "Patreon exclusive. The author of Pinpal." "It's on, it's on Patreon." "It's on Patreon. Listen to this interview on Patreon, if you want. Um, what we were talking about with him is, like, there's this crossroads between what I want to do and what does well, because there is, if this was written around, like, 2014, 2016 area, stuff about, like, smiling people was killing. It was, it was, like…" "How new is the story?" "I have no idea." "Oh." "Uh, but my point is, like, if, that could have been, like, a strategic move…" "Yeah, being like, 'Oh, oh, I see what you're saying,' where he's like, 'Well, that's just the, that's the hot thing right now.'" "That's what sells. That's what people want to read." "And maybe that's part of the reason it's successful and, like, people are recommending it now." "Yeah." "Because they read it from that. So, could be some of that, but for the story, I feel like The Smiling Ones is a disservice to it." "A hundred percent." "Because if you take that out, it's a good story." "Yeah, it's great." "Yeah." "I love the simple premise of just, uh, you know, thing goes missing, it comes back and now it's floating and we have this dilemma of, do we help save somebody? Oh, wait, I feel like literally humanity might be at jeopardy if we let this thing back on Earth or whatever." "Yeah, yeah." "That's fun." "So, uh, Ivanov is kind of set up as, like, he's desperate for something to happen, so he wants to bring this guy back." "Very proud man." "Yeah, yeah." "It's also, like, that was the other thing, I feel like the story could trust itself a little bit more. Like, we have that dialogue between our protagonist and then the guy who died, who he was talking to, where they kind of have an explanation about the directors, like, 'Oh, Ivanov says this. Koptev's a man that believes this,' and stuff like that, but honestly, you don't need that, because it's, that's present enough in their dialogue." "Yeah, I mean, also just having a character say, 'Someone googled the smiling ones,' is just…" "That was rough. That was rough, yeah. I agree." "It looks like in 2018, this story was posted in No Sleep No One: Best Original Monster 2018, and then in 2020, he expanded it into a novelette, so like, kind of a novella-length e-book." "Okay. So…" "So I guess it is more, a little bit more recent." "So 2018, first called the smiling ones, that's still around the time I think it was doing well, I would say. Yeah, because I was in high school, coming out of high school, so yeah, I think smiling ones probably helped it around that time, so I'll give him some levity there. I say I give him some levity like I'm some grand jury on it, but I will, I will be merciful to you." "Oh, thank you, Master Isaiah." "Yeah." "Thank you." "You're welcome, Darius." "No problem, Darius." "Darius Pilgrim." "I sat at Yakovlev's former console with the radio transmitter in hand, steeling myself against the task which lay before me. Someone had cleaned up the bloodstains, thank God, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to continue. I could feel the huddle of directors hovering over my shoulder, staring daggers into my back and waiting breathlessly for me to begin. The room had fallen quiet once more, on the main screen above me, the white numbers and letters. The exciting timing and positioning of the mirror camera feeds glowed brilliant white against the inky darkness of the background. I took one final deep breath and, bracing myself for the worst, flipped the radio receiver to the on position. The hiss of static filled the room, a warm and comforting sound in comparison to that horrendous otherworldly screech, "This is Roskomos Mission Control, attempting to reach Cosmonaut Ludovsky. Do you copy? Over." "Nothing. Static." "I repeat! This is Roskomos Mission Control for Cosmonaut Ludovsky. Do you read me, comrade?" More static. More nothing. I turned to Koptev. "Keet Ryan. He has to be there. Unless the Smiley ones stop torturing him and finally decide to kill him." But Markov bitterly. Koptev opened his mouth to reply, and the radio crackled alive. "Affirmative. I read you loud and clear, Mission Control. It has been quite a while. Welcome back. Thank you. Goodbye." "Your voice is different. What happened to Yolkov Lev?" "He is. indisposed at the moment." "I'm sorry to hear that, Mission Control. But I thought you might have some good news for me." "Roger. Affirmative. I just got off this line with the head of the crew over at Launchpad. They've got the Soyuz rocket all lined up and ready to go. Should be headed your way within T-minus sixty minutes." "Argh. Are you serious?" "I don't know. I don't know. There's a heart attack. We'll get the champagne on the ice for you down here, comrade. Just get yourself squared away and ready to go. What do you say? Are you ready to come home?" The hiss of silence returned. There was no reply. "I bet they're talking to him. Telling him how to respond." "Yeah. Maybe. Or maybe they're throwing a little party to celebrate our stupidity." Finally, after what felt like at least a century, it was probably more like forty-five seconds. The voice returned. "They want to know." Transmission cut out momentarily. Cop Dev and Markov exchanged a glance. "I mean, I want to know how long before the capsule arrives." "I'll set it down probably just under two days before the docking process is complete. Possibly sooner, depending on where in orbit you are, when we launch." "Oh. Well, okay. You're really coming?" His voice was thin and confused. "We're really coming. We're really coming. We're really coming." "We're really coming." "We're really coming." The line went dead once again for a minute, then two. A soft sound of static purring from the speakers. Then it roared back to life. This time, Ludovsky was shouting, though the transmission was quieter and muffled, as if he was turned away from the receiver. "No. You can't do this. I won't let you do this. I don't care what you do to me. Not anymore. My life is already over. It's been over. I won't let you do this to anyone else." "No. You can't do this. You can't do this. Not anymore. It's been over. I won't let you do this to anyone else." Pulled by complete silence. No static this time. Ludovsky was still keying the mic. I could hear the quiet hum of Mir's oxygen generators in the background. It went on for about 15 seconds, then Ludovsky's voice returned, louder and agitated with an edge of dark humor. "Oh yeah? That's what you think? There's still one thing left I can do." "What? What?" And now, the voice was even louder. Ludovsky was screaming directly into the microphone. "You fools! You fools! Don't do it! Cancel the rocket ship! Don't send it! Leave me here! You cannot let them! You cannot let them get you hurt!" And then the sound began again, impossibly loud now, impossibly harsh. The white-hot drill in my head turned back on, and it was screeching, piercing, burning, scrambling my brains to paste. I dropped the transmitter to cover my ears. But it seemed to have no effect. Suddenly, a hand shot out and snatched the transmitter from my desk, and the Koptev was shouting into it, screaming over the alien shrink and deep resonance of the base. "Who are they, Ludovsky? Who are the Smiting Ones?" And Ludovsky screamed back through a wall of suffering. He screamed to be heard, but also to overcome the agony he was in. His words were true. were quick and panicked no not true what they're parasites they're the opposite of life the absence of life they come from this other place from the horrible other place they want what we have they've already taken it from so many so so many and now they want ours his voice was fading and gurgling growing thick as if someone was pouring motor oil down his throat he struggled through somehow and continued. Markov grabbed me by the shoulder and shook violently. Cut the feed! Cut the goddamn feed! No! Howled Koptev, pushing Markov away. Not yet! We need more! Just a little more! He keyed the mic again. What do they look like, Ladovsky? What do they look like? Goddammit, I have to know! What the fuck do they look like? But Ladovsky had no words left. He was crying, screaming, howling in pain. The piercing screech grew higher, the bass lower, and the drill in my brain went into overdrive. It felt like my head was about to rip into two right in the middle of my face. Then Ladovsky answered without saying a thing. The blackness of the main screen of the front of the room was substituted for a maelstrom of color as the tape covering the camera was ripped away, revealing the most abhorrent scene my cursed eyes would ever fall upon. All right, so, for one, you're an excellent voice actor. That was very cool. Good job. Um, also, that was a very cool segment. Yeah. Of them screaming and him, like, trying to get through, and that little, like, they've taken it from so many. Like, it says a lot, but not too much. It says a lot, but not too much. It says a lot, but not too much, I think, especially when the guy's like, they've taken it from me, and it's like, okay, is that saying Ladovsky, or is this something else that's like in the form of Ladovsky? These things are make, are puppeting to make him try to, so they can invade another planet or something. I feel like a lot of people would have done something like, everything's totally fine. Why don't you just come up here and help me already? You know, like, getting, like, really low and creepy, like, ooh, that's creepy. He, you know, that does, that seems weird. I like that they kind of took the I'm dead. Yeah, they're gonna kill me regardless. I'm not gonna take more people with me. That was a fun surprise. Yeah, that was, that was good. And then him not, him, like, with his final moments ripping off the tape. That's fine. That's been covering up. That's sick. The first thing I noticed was Ladovsky's face, the only familiar feature in the bizarre scene before me. He was young, blonde, and probably handsome once. Now his face was distorted, like a newspaper ink image stretched across Silly Putty. Black tendrils swarmed around the edges of his face, sticking to the skin, tugging at his ears, wrapping around strands of hair and pulling them backwards into the dark mask behind. He tried to speak, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish, but the invading tendrils squirmed around his lips and snaked down his throat, and all that came out was a sickening gurgle. One orange clad arm also protruded from the dark writhing mask, and his gloved hand gripped the radio transmitter. As I watched, a dozen black vines wormed their way around his wrist and hand, creeping like spilled liquid before tightening like sinew, peeling his fingers from the microphone off one by one till it floated freely in the microgravity of the space station. Piercing sound cut off abruptly, the hot drill in my brain shut off, and the mission control room was bathed in a terrible silence as we watched Ladovsky's arms submerge in darkness. So Ladovsky used his last minutes to unplug the mic. That's hard. Unplug the mic and reveal what the thing was. Yeah, that goes hard. What a G. His shifting eyes were the last thing I saw. Bulging brown irises filled with grim determination one moment, speakable horror the next, and then suddenly, dead and glassy as he finally let go and surrendered to the void. Ladovsky disappeared, absorbed into the squirming darkness behind him. Nothing human left to hold my focus. I had no choice but to turn my attention to the rest of that macabre scene. The space Ladovsky had occupied just a moment ago was now filled with a grotesque and faceless monstrosity. It looked like a floating ball of liquid mercury, three feet wide and three feet tall, but blacker than the darkest night. Its surface seemed to constantly squirm and shift, and it shimmered with rainbow iridescence, like an oil slick on a rain puddle. At least eight thick, tentacle-like appendages extended from its central mass each wrapped around computer terminals, door handles, ceiling hooks, and other equipment to keep itself in place in the station's microgravity. All over its surface, smaller tendrils appeared and wiggling and curling in on themselves. Behind the creature that had once been Ladovsky loomed three exact duplicates, each devoid of any discernible face. The background was a tangled mess of floating tentacles, weaving through one another and twisting around each other like spaghetti noodles, some attached to equipment in the room, others gripping the first creature as if laying hands upon the shoulders of a troubled friend. Suddenly, all four creatures moved as one, squirming squid-like around one another. With a jerk, their attention seemed to snap to the camera in the terminal. Though without faces, it was hard to tell for sure. The scene froze like that for a horrifying moment, and I peeled my eyes from the screen. The Roscosmos mission control room was still and silent, each person petrified in place like a statue, slack-jawed, with eyes locked on the main screen. I turned my attention back to the video feed, and now the core of each creature was buzzing. Bubbling, boiling, churning like the waters of a maelstrom. The center of each opened into a tiny white hole which quickly grew in size, expanding to cover most of the creature's bodies. Then stretching and twisting, each of the holes transformed into a shape I recognized all too well: a smile. No eyes, no ears, no nose, no face, just enormous, empty, inhuman smiles. Then the noise was back. This time, I wasn't hearing it, I was feeling it. It was inside of me, inside my head, and it was coming from them. From their smiles, it was coming from the smiling ones. I tried to look away, but I couldn't. My body felt completely paralyzed. Their smiles were growing. The sound was rising, screeching in my head like the billion swarming wings of a demonic locust plague. The drill in my head switched back on, but now, the torque was turned up to the highest setting and was joined by the thrum of a jackhammer breaking concrete. It felt like the two hemispheres of my brain were being torn apart. I could smell burning electrical wires and taste copper in my mouth. In my peripheral vision, I saw a flurry of movement. The men and women around me, the pride of the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, were hurting themselves. Some slammed their faces into their desks over and over again until blood poured from broken noses and shattered mouths. Some picked up pens and pencils and violently stabbed themselves deep in the ear canal, then pounded them further in with the palms of their hands. Others gouged their eyes or sawed at their wrists with any sharp object they could find. Then everything faded away until my entire world was a white hot ball of paint and I lost consciousness. My eyes snapped back open and I stared at the screen. The smiling ones were gone, and in their place were four small gray humanoid aliens with buggy black eyes. In my head, I heard four distinct voices speaking together. Let us in. My vision went dark and I was gone. Then I was back. Four giant bipedal lizards appeared on screen, oozing dark green slime like s- Okay, they're switching forms. I would say the implications that Ladovsky wasn't, but no, he saved them at the end, so anyway. Now four giant bipedal lizards appeared on screen, oozing dark green slime like sweat. Black venom dripped from their jaws. Their reptilian eyes stared into my soul and their voices shrieked in my mind. Let us in. The tenebrous veil of an unconsciousness folded around me once again. Then I was back. The reptilian eyes stared into my soul and their voices shrieked in my mind. Let us in. Four angelic beings floated on the screen, drains loose and but gleaming like the sun around the edges and draped in flowing gowns of a million impossible hues. Their beautiful voices sang a harmony in my head. Let us in. A scream of shadow fell upon me once more and I was gone. Then I was back. Now the inside of the space station was an alien forest filled with a swirling fog of green and gold. Through the mist emerged four giant mushrooms. The rubbery skin was a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of psychedelic color explosions. Each swayed in the air. They were all in the same place. They swayed and shivered in a primeval dance followed to the beat of their own secret music. Four spongy voices sprouted in my brain. Let us in. The black curtain fell once more, leaving me in darkness, eternal darkness. Infinite, perfect, timeless, egoless, uncaring darkness. This was the void. This was their home. The universe, if nothing had ever existed, would always be here. I'd always be here. Then I was back. But not to Roscosmos Mission Control. I was on Space Station Mir. The noise was gone. The molten javelin of pain in my head had disappeared. Four human figures stood before me. Three men and one woman. Dressed head to toe in the bright orange spacesuits of the early Soviet space program. Through their clear bubble helmets, I could see their countenances. Young, attractive, proud, full of vigor, smiling warmly. I recognized each face. I'm calling the pictures of the so-called lost cosmonauts that our recent research had turned up. Is that a bear trap for me? Because I said this is based on lost cosmonauts. But it's kind of just based on them. I would give it to you. guards there hold it up I feel special award they were Andrei Mitkov, Sergei Shiborin Maria Gromova and the last of course was Alexei Lidovsky smiles on their faces remained their lips did not move and I could hear their voices in my head kind and composed let us in please let us in if it had been in my power I think I would have then I watched their smiles grew larger and larger contorting their faces into massive inhuman grimaces skin of their lips and cheeks began to rip and tear away revealing toothy skeletal grins their hair fell out their skin dripped away worms crawled from their empty eye sockets the glass of their helmets shattered their spacesuits deteriorated and fell away and the smiles just kept growing I tried to scream but my body was still paralyzed I heard the bones in their jaws snap simultaneously and the smiles engulfed their entire face flipping them inside out I closed my eyes and in my mind I again heard their voices now desperate and horrid chanting let us in let us in let us in rising into a horrible crescendo when I opened my eyes I was back in Roscosmos Mission Control the writhing tentacled abomination still filled the main screen my mind was filled with a horrible cacophony as the four voices morphed into four million screaming and a hundred alien language speeches but somehow all saying the same thing let us in let us in people around me seemed to be in some kind of hysterical religious ecstasy some laughing some weeping some howling like wolves and tearing their flesh to shreds with their teeth others seizureing violently in their chairs let us in let us in then I heard another voice this one not in my head but coming from a little ways behind me it was the strong clear voice of director coptive crying out cut the feed cut the feed for the love of mother Russia and everyone you hold sacred cut the goddamn feed and I tried my hand reached out for the button on the terminal which would cut all contact with mirror it cinched closer closer closer then it wrapped around a pin laying on the desk press the button extending the tip turned it towards me Washington whore as my hand brought the pin slowly towards my face aiming directly for my eyeball I was powerless to stop it my hand felt like it was under someone else's complete control and it moved closer closer closer until it was almost touching my cornea filling my entire field of vision then something hit me hard in the side of the head stars danced and exploded before my eyes and I was falling to the floor in slow motion somewhere far above me Markov had pounded the button on the terminal which cut the video feed then he had an officer chair in his hand smashing the computer terminal to pieces main screen went blank the piercing screech and wobbling face disappeared replaced by the weeping and wailing of the injured and dying begging for help Markov stood hunched breathing heavily still holding the office chair coptev was stood next to him why does it ghost Ivanov lay dead at his feet in a pool of blood his throat torn out by his own fingernails Markov grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet I blinked my eyes and surveyed the room I was met by a scene of bloody carnage that looked more like a battlefield than a mission control room forgive me for hitting you Markov whispered then he straightened and turned to coptive now will you believe me director now will you heed my advice coptive nodded sadly his eyes watering I'm sorry Markov I should have listened we shall proceed with your first idea we deal with we deorbit mere as originally planned and the world knows nothing we burn them we burn them all and pray that is enough and God help us if it isn't March 23rd 2001 the world watched in wonders the space station mirror re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near naughty Fiji and disintegrated over the South Pacific Ocean an official statement from Ross Cosmos announced that mirror ceased to exist at 559 GMT at the time mirror was the largest spacecraft ever deorbited and there were concerns that sizable pieces of debris particularly from the docking assembly gyrodynes and external structure could survive re-entry officials in New Zealand issued warnings to ships and aircraft in the South Pacific and the Japanese government warned its residents to stay indoors during the 40-minute period when debris would most likely fall nothing came of it mirror thought to have burned up completely during atmospheric re-entry though rumors and speculation abound no significant debris of the wreckage of mirror were ever recovered at least not officially and that is the end of the story and that's the end of the story what a cool so it's based on a like why did Russia deorbit an actual space station that's really cool that is cool that's really sick I like that it's a good detail okay so uh what did you think of the ending a yeah yeah yeah I feel kind of I don't really like the whole smiling motif I think the whole like going crazy thing I just like I don't know the idea of it I mean I like that you swing for the fences and you have this big thing I just like wonder if there's just ever any way to ever approach these monsters in a different way that isn't just like we all go crazy and we rip out our eyes and we're ripping out we're ripping out our throat like can the horror of just like can the horror of just like the inevitable I guess just like something I don't know so I mean like I it's Lovecraftian it's just like the horror of the unknown is that enough of this thing of like instead of having it be like these floating things that are smiling and now I see this alien forest and I can hear all these alien languages I just wonder is it more is it always they always just kill you yeah and it's just kill you versus a thing of like is there something of like I don't know even like I like mixing like science with spiritual stuff of like taking your soul like oh shit like it's just like doing something that's different of like these weird aliens that exist exist out there are actually there because they collect souls and this is like how we perceive angels or just just something weird which that's a bad idea I'm just saying that I don't we've I've seen that we've seen that are in Event Horizon the movie that kind of thing like to me I was honestly just more freaked out by the idea of like I guess like government officials making irrational decisions based off like pride yeah and that kind of thing and then also just the mystery of being like I don't know what is on there what is on there you know what I mean I think I think at the ending of part three it was at its strongest when Liktofsky was on the other end and he was like don't don't do it yeah yeah but then though but then like starting it and it's like oh there's about black tendrils and he gets pulled in I think after he pulls the tape it loses me yeah I almost wish it would have been a thing where it's like I pulled it again and I don't think that like what if he starts to pull it but then stops I want the idea of him pulling it I mean like for my my subjective like my own opinion it is always so much more effective in these scenarios to just be like he pulled the tape and like what I saw was something crazy and you just like leave it to where it's like oh my god like the more you describe something the more you're talking yourself out of interest which which also makes it when you have a satisfying creature it makes it that much better because you're like that was awesome but if you don't have that strong basis for something that just like I mean really fits that scene it to me it just like man like we were going straight up and immediately in my mind I was just like and there it goes yeah you know and I think everything before that great yeah simple dynamic you have like all the you know people back and forth you have a bit of a power struggle thing the idea of like a guy from the 40s and now you have this like rose colored kind of goggle guy being like oh my god that's like a nation's hero yeah or something I think all that's cool I'm glad they didn't go to the thing of like we're up here we always have been but even like the let us in kind of thing like even the high-pitched screech thing to me is scarier than just having like instead of having them say like let us in let us in um just having like in in an ear piercing screech where it's like I don't know what that is yeah but it's just like you can kind of sense it and it's just disturbing I don't know I kind of had the idea I I like the direction when the guy the next to him at Mission Control died and it says his face was in a joyless smile and I thought the implication was like the face like the skins being pulled back and I'm like oh that's kind of clever because it's not actually a smile it just looks kind of like a smile because of like the stretching that happens like it's changing biology so then I had the idea what if the smiling ones that he's seen up there are like the other dead cosmonauts like their bodies have been possessed by something or you know and even if that's the case I don't want to see it but that's just a cool idea yeah I mean it's okay I just I guess it's just I I don't like to me it even something scary would be like when you fly a certain height in the air you like you go in like that black void you go into like like there is no like the space the moon landing is all fake whatever yeah yeah and it's like if you go certain high up you like into you're gone well what's I thought that it was other stuff it's like no we have no idea what's being the like it could have been like a reflective dome or something for something yeah like to me that like that's an that's a more interesting thing of like just like making you question these kind of things not that you'd ever like well that's but it's just the idea of being like what if that was the case and it's not it's less about and I you know I love my body horror is my favorite thing ever but in situations like this just don't need i don't think you need that to me i was like totally hooked with everything i started off the podcast being a bit goofy and stuff but i did get i mean i was bought in over time and it was unfortunate too because at first i was sitting there and i like while we're reading it and it was really good i was like oh god people are gonna make me eat my words with this fucking beginning thing of the smiling ones and stuff because i was like handsome this is good but then it just immediately i was like oh there it is it was like kind of like being like this is a diaper and you're like no this is like a chipotle burrito fuck it's pretty good in the opening you're like no that's shit this is actually a diaper i don't know why i thought this was a chipotle burrito or whatever well it's like like the reason i bring up me thinking about the that lost cosmonauts is in my head i'm like that's a cool idea but then the story's like no no no this is what it is and this is what it is and this is what it is and it kept describing it's like okay sorry i thought of i've had fun with you know the beginning of the episode i talked about that twilight zone episode the parallel awesome if you guys were interested in this story too i would really recommend watching that episode it's fucking great literally the guy goes up and when he lands on earth it's like a different world i forgot the whole hook to it but basically it's just a thing where it's just off and it's like he's existing in this world and it like freaks him out so much that he's like i want to go back up i want you i want you to fly back up and like the world that he's in they're not like evil but they're like well why it's just like it's a little different it's very like him just being like i like i mentally cannot stand being here kind of thing like it's just this is not where i'm supposed to be very unsettling i don't know it's just very it's it's just something with everything that we ever say and i always say you know simplicity is the king and it is like the more you can just simplify something into just like a simple idea and you don't try to skew it out because that's another problem with this is that you have the cool thing of like well it's weird why did it re-enter and then it's like and then also there's like monsters and they like make you do existential like and they smile at you if you do that you're like oh my god i'm like oh my god i'm like oh my just would have been that just focus on the space station thing and don't include other stuff i think it would have been awesome and conversations between that and that being said and stuff was very cool yeah i enjoyed that right and it was very well written and that being said it's not like this is a total flop or anything no no it was good i just mean people like it a lot it's just very highly acclaimed when we're doing these things at least for me here because i mean i guess pretty i guess hard on it but i would say that it's just you get done reading it you're into it and then it's just that rug pull moment just feels so unsatisfying like it's just kind of a bummer versus a lot of the stuff i think that like i'll think about it in a positive light whatever but is it something where i'm like oh i'd want to like revisit afterwards lidovsky being at the control panel and like talking to them and they can't see anything that was awesome i really enjoyed that yeah like the tape and everything is just weird but it's also but then it's like okay so then the weird holographic rainbow balls were like cover up the camera put the electrical tape over the you know like it's just like that or they don't they're they're entire they're the smartest beings that have existed in like whatever or they don't understand morse code but they understand 500 other alien languages word and they're all and like the they're so smart that they he says they are the land without time they're forever in it but i assume at the end when they were transforming every time he woke up it's like all the different species they've yeah definitely it's just it's like they've conquested galaxies and then it's like they're like we're the only species we're sending we're definitely sending ships up and they're like okay good now tell him yeah to me that it's just uh don't even go there because you just that's the problem with a lot of sci-fi horror stuff that i don't like and i'm not a huge sci-fi guy in general but it's like uh even that movie apollo 18 ever see a movie with apollo yeah i fucking hate that movie such a cool setup of like astronauts gone wrong that they went missing whatever horrifying to be like oh yeah it was the 60s or whatever and now we're going up there and these are guys who just didn't make it the idea of even just being on a spaceship that's like you're gonna crash and die is insane but then it's like yeah there's moon rock aliens yeah the little bug thing yeah we can't let you come back to earth and it's like oh yep the government blew it up it's just like can it not just be a thing of them going there and you know maybe you do see something i guess i'm just saying like the the aliens and stuff this is already such a horrifying idea you don't need the floating tentacle monster it was scary enough beforehand what if what if the entire thing was lodovsky on the other end or someone who thinks they're lodovsky or ever i mean the i thought where it was going for a bit once it set up the wormholes of space and time lodovsky just passed through a wormhole from 1957 2001 or 2002 whenever it was um and he is just there and he's lost his mind and he's just alone in there being like okay they say they want i mean i say i want and i thought it was a good idea but i don't think it's a good idea i don't think it's a good idea i don't think it's a good idea but i don't think it's a good idea but i don't think it's a good idea myself like that'd be crazy if this is just an isolated guy if you just have a crazed man yeah whatever and then it's just a thing of like let's say they do send oh my god we'll send up somebody to help you he's up there it takes two days to get there he docks it comes back they're like hey just seeing how it's going and it's just lodovsky who answers and you're like oh where's the other guy yeah what that kind of thing where yeah or even something of like a human body shit he's sick and now it's like okay well if we go like you can't go into you'll get sick and you can't bring it back down to earth so it's like this more like a more like a more like a more moral thing of him being like please i don't feel good like i think just simplify it well i mean even even the scene where like they said that the americans saw the ship go up and there was something that covered the stars right for a second i'm like oh maybe whatever's out there's like a giant shape like almost like a kraken in space like some even then it'd be an alien so i wouldn't like it as much but the idea of something like a ship floating through space or like a being the size of a ship that's like consuming things like i think there could have been all kinds of things i ever ever seen in my life i'm not even joking it like legitimately i cried after i saw when i was a kid at the end of men in black when when the milky way is in a fucking marble thing you know how much that fucked me up and i'm like you could do something like that where it's like a puppet master thing yeah you know like that within itself that's fucking horrifying yeah and it's like i don't you it's just the trope it's just as soon as you do creepy smile the smile killed tendrils smile that's when i was floating around they come around and they're smiling i'm like you know what i would have done i would have whipped up my fucking beat off on the screen i would have all over the fucking screen and like eat it this is the reaction that's actually the scariest that actually fucking scared the shit i did not see him walk up and that scared me so bad he has a fucking like red blanket around him he looks like a little like he looks like a little italian woman station with him that was a little yeah yeah yeah but like this is the ending by the way that you saying yeah now you're like you know what i would have done i would have whipped up i've got you fired up talking about it i don't know i mean like all in all it's just these are i fuck this is the these are the stories that piss me off the most because it's done so well and then all of a sudden the guy was like i have this awesome story what if it was like a flying like tendril guy and they're smiling and then they say let me in and everyone dies everyone kills themselves yeah it's just at the point where it's just all this creativity to the point to where it's i i don't simple things can be just so much more effective and like actually just like god damn that nerve the fuck with me like i said even the fucking men in black guy of like an alien with the marble that like legitimately scared the fuck out of me when i was younger so i don't know all in all you know i it's just if i i mean not to be a dick better let down everything you said to be fair to be fair i did said whip my down on the screen that's pretty rough if you sat there though and the guy was like trying to get in your head let us in they're like floating around like this are you freaked out by her even if i was floating in the void what are you gonna do to a guy who's just like i'm my dick floating there the you never thought to do this shit did he got a little lotion bottle okay all right i like i like i mean what would what would the aliens do all right let us in i you come and get me i'm covered i am waffle house hash browns i am smothered and covered dude i seriously onions and cheese all over that's what i am i also like the idea that like maybe the shit yourself i also like the idea that maybe like all the debt all the lost cosmonauts went into the wormhole and then when mere went in they all found their way to it at like the same point in time so like maybe lodovsky was the only one living up there with all the dead bodies of the other lost cosmonauts and he lost there's so many cool elements here and i just wasn't satisfied by the payoff the more that i think about it the more i'm like you just could have like pissed or shit yourself and it's like what would they have done what they have pursued you let us in it's like just diarrhea i mean i don't think they had the idea to stab themselves it's like they're being forced to imagine what did they gain out of that why don't you that's that's if i sat there and i was just like my dick and i have my rip my dad my dick off i just shoved things up my ass they're like okay what do i do now that that's crazy um i have to say what is the what is the end game that's like the one thing it's like the it reminds me of this in resident evil 3 extinction the one of the dumbest movies of all time the world is a desert planet and yet umbrella is under ground being like how do we control the earth it's gone there's zombies on a desert planet that's like what it's like we're intergalactic beings and we exist in a place and he's like no they exist in a time where there is no life what do you mean you've came across how many thousands of aliens yeah they clearly what do you seem to be doing pretty fucking good they exist you know what else that's how all the alien species it's like one you know what else apparently this this alien species that has conquered galaxies nebulas of people and creatures need this one astronaut to convince them to send a shuttle up they can't just go down to the planet themselves and also even if that is the case why then start screeching and making everyone on the shit on the mission control center kill themselves how does that help the sending a shuttle up like they're going to scream half they were going to die and the other half are going to be like they raise a point we should go get them take a metal rod put in your every time they scratch your sounding maybe that's what the lettuce in is it's like oh we'll stop if you send a ship up but if they're super smart they can't do that if they all stab themselves in the eye if you just looked at me you're like i like this what would they what would they do it's like you're like oh well i think it's supposed to make you yours like it compels you to kill yourself i don't think they're doing it to relieve the pressure it's like no no i thought that i was i thought they did the screeching thing because it was like torturous no no no because remember he's reaching to turn it off and his hand grabs a pin and he's like resisting it so i put a big pen in my eye with my gum the point the point is i'm just saying can you imagine the alien being like he's stabbing his eye but he's still okay the point is the point is they're they're playing didn't make a lot of sense what whatever i don't i was about to say i don't want to go too hard at the ending but we have gone so hard on the ending look it's the reason i'm fired up is because it was good and i wasn't satisfied by the way that yeah so there's never there's never any point isaiah that i should come to the conclusion that you should beat the monster by okay so darry is i feel like you've raised that as a potential strategy in multiple stories we've read i don't think i think i don't think i've ever said stick a metal rod up your of words by the idea like you you pushing some kind of that's a flaw then that's a flaw of the story if my conclusion comes that i can beat your system you're like you know you you will you present some sexually adverse scenario at the end of a story and that's it then that's an issue because stories i do like that you couldn't beat it that way okay my point is i that there was good stuff here from the author uh there there was like a lot of good writing pros i would be interested to see what they do with other stories because like if if that ending had like kind of ended at part three stellar i really liked it but yeah yeah it didn't it didn't so um uh thanks for listening uh if you're listening on the audio platforms like spotify and apple podcast hope you gave us a good rating i'm sure we deserved it on this one uh and then and then the uh and also hey patrons thanks you also forgot to do an intro oh yeah that's right that's a long weekend long week man we can't at least get a long week break on that one long week nick's not giving me anything looks like he smelled his own fart over there uh thanks to you patrons we appreciate you and also uh if you haven't signed up to the patreon yet we do have an interview with dayton auerbach coming out soon uh i think it'll be out by the time this is so it might already be out but it is uh the author of the pen pal author of pen pal what just just everything you're saying is wrong in some way and just in little ways something you're saying is incorrect every time we have an interview with them it was fun it was much cleaner than this if you're in your car right now listen to this and you're still just having both hands on the steering wheel i want you i want you to really wonder why didn't you click off or turn it down or turn it off even now as you still don't click off why oh go away do you you need to click off click off so so , so, so, so,