Endless Thread presents "The Midnight Rebellion"

Introducing The Midnight Rebellion, a new climate fiction podcast from WBUR — a rollicking adventure to a flooded, robot-infested world where you choose what happens. When Joule Watts-Green steps into her mom’s mysterious machine, she’s swept off to a polluted city of tides. Streets are rivers, “tin-skins” shoot lightning, and everyone eats gooey Algae-Os. To get home, Joule must be brave, clever, and make friends. She may even discover how to save the world — with your help. Each chapter ends with a choice. YOU decide what’s next. This is Chapter 1. Triumph or failure, it’s up to you. Choose wisely. This is Chapter 1 of The Midnight Rebellion. And if you liked what you heard, listen to the rest and follow The Midnight Rebellion https://link.mgln.ai/midnight wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Support for WBUR comes from the Quiet Tension Podcast. When Joe Missoula got the Celtics job, Steve Paliuka sat up until 1:00 in the morning, typing him 25 things about leadership. Dr. Sharon Turbin asks what came first on the list. Listen closely wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:19Speaker 01

  Support for Endless Thread comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software to design and develop engineered systems, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at mathworks.com.

• 0:34Speaker 02

  Ugh, I hate Mondays.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite?

• 0:37Speaker 02

  Uh, Taylor Hansen? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 0:43Speaker 03

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 0:45Speaker 02

  But Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites.

• 0:49Speaker 03

  Taylor Hansen? Nice.

• 0:51Speaker 01

  Try one.

• 0:52Speaker 03

  Mmm.

• 0:56Speaker 04

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.

• 1:05Ben Brock Johnson?

  Emery Sivertson, we have some big news.

• 1:08Amory Sivertson?

  Big, big news.

• 1:10Ben Brock Johnson?

  Big, big, big, the biggest news.

• 1:13Amory Sivertson?

  So big. You've never heard such news.

• 1:17Ben Brock Johnson?

  You remember that Gulls episode Senior Producer Dean Russell brought to us a couple of summers back? The internet's most hated bird?

• 1:25Amory Sivertson?

  That was pretty good, actually. I'm proud of myself.

• 1:30Ben Brock Johnson?

  Yeah.

• 1:30Amory Sivertson?

  Yes, I remember that.

• 1:32Ben Brock Johnson?

  That's a good episode, right?

• 1:33Amory Sivertson?

  Yeah, of course. Dean Russell deluxe.

• 1:37Ben Brock Johnson?

  Dean Russell deluxe. Well, that very same deluxe Dean Russell and I have created a new and exciting world where Gulls are still alive.

• 1:49Ben Brock Johnson?

  Well, kind of. It is a project that we have been working on for years, one that is very different from Endless Thread or Emery, your hit series, Beyond All Repair, or really anything that we've made at WBUR. It's pretty different.

• 2:02Amory Sivertson?

  And I can confirm, I have listened to all of the available episodes so far, and it is fantastic. This is a fiction podcast that takes place 100 years in the future and deals with climate change. So it's fictional, but it's based on our best scientific guesses about what the future is actually going to look like.

• 2:22Ben Brock Johnson?

  It is called The Midnight Rebellion. It's a show for kids and also kids at heart like us. If you remember those choose your own adventure books, yeah, this show is going to hit you right in the feels.

• 2:34Amory Sivertson?

  Yeah, and I gotta say, like, when you first mentioned, we're gonna attempt to like, choose your own adventure podcast, I really did not understand how this was going to work. So, explain that for us.

• 2:47Ben Brock Johnson?

  Yeah, so, we're calling this a pick your path. And it means you basically get to choose how the story plays out for you as a listener. So, you listen to an episode, you get a choice at the end of the episode, and then you pick the next episode number that fits that choice. It is kind of nuts.

• 3:05Amory Sivertson?

  But it's so fun. It's so fun. And this is a story that Dean wrote. He co-directed it. He literally brought this to life with, you know, people like you and other members of our team. And it's such a joy to behold.

• 3:19Ben Brock Johnson?

  Yeah, well, you helped too. I feel like everyone on the team helped with guidance and emotional support. We all hope that you are interested in time travel, in facing climate change, in saving the world, and also like dodging pirates and robots, and hanging out with your misfit friends.

• 3:37Amory Sivertson?

  Yeah, so take a listen to this episode, and then jump over and follow The Midnight Rebellion, wherever you get podcasts.

• 3:52Speaker 07

  WBUR Podcast, Boston.

• 4:09Speaker 08

  If you are listening to this, congratulations. You have made it to the first chapter of The Midnight Rebellion. This is an interactive podcast. That means you will hear two choices at the end of each chapter. I will say something like, should our heroes play it safe? Or risk it all? Then you must choose. How? I will explain that when the time comes. For now, just know that your decisions determine the outcome of our story. Good or bad. Life or death. It's on you. Choose wisely.

• 4:50Speaker 08

  This is The Midnight Rebellion. Part One: City of Tides. Chapter One: Almost Midnight.

• 5:16Speaker 08

  The hour is nearing midnight, but Jewel Watts Green cannot sleep. She lies in bed, watching bomblets of rain explode against her window skylight, counting the seconds.

• 5:27Speaker 09

  Two, three, four.

• 5:30Speaker 08

  Between the blindingly bright flashes of lightning.

• 5:33Speaker 09

  Six, seven.

• 5:36Speaker 08

  And the rolling booms of thunder.

• 5:38Speaker 09

  Nine, se-

• 5:42Speaker 08

  Jewel's mom, Dr. Elizabeth Green, taught her this counting trick. The shorter the time between flashes and booms, the closer the heart of the storm.

• 5:51Speaker 09

  Two.

• 5:51Speaker 08

  But it is not the nearing storm that keeps Jewel up. It is the fact that when the clock ticks 12 a.m., it will be one year to the day when her mom, Dr. Green, entered her laboratory during a storm, just like this, and never came home.

• 6:07Speaker 09

  Eleven, twelve.

• 6:12Speaker 08

  As the thunder goes outside, a creak inside catches Jewel's ears. She sits up. A pale shadow shifts in her doorway.

• 6:21Speaker 10

  Jewel, Jewel.

• 6:24Speaker 08

  The shadow enters her room. A flashlight flicks on.

• 6:30Speaker 08

  And there is a grinning face. Jewel's shoulders relax.

• 6:34Speaker 09

  Hart, you scared me.

• 6:37Speaker 08

  It is her brother Hartree, or Hart.

• 6:39Speaker 10

  I scared you? Would you say I gave you a heart attack? Eh?

• 6:44Speaker 09

  Please, never become a comedian.

• 6:47Speaker 10

  No promises this. Now, wakey-wakey, it's time.

• 6:53Speaker 08

  She stares at Hart. His irises shine bright like a blue flame. He has the same broad build as Jewel, the same freckled nose, the same coarse hair. Their ears are different. His are slim and regal. Hers are so big, some say they make her look like a sailboat. Earning her the much-loathed nickname.

• 7:12Speaker 10

  Come on sailor. Oh, the winds be blowing, hang on to your sails.

• 7:18Speaker 09

  I really wish you wouldn't call me that. It doesn't even make sense. I hate the ocean, I hate being wet. And speaking of, it's pouring. I'm not going outside.

• 7:29Speaker 10

  But now's our chances. Dad's asleep, we're not. It's basically destiny.

• 7:36Speaker 08

  Jewel shakes her head. How could two people born on the same day into the same family be so different? Twins aged twelve. Jewel, the law-abiding citizen and Hart, the roguish leader with the ability to drag Jewel along no matter how much she resists. She followed him out of the womb. Will she follow him now?

• 7:56Speaker 09

  No. Dad said the lab is off limits. Nobody's been in there since... Since...

• 8:02Speaker 10

  Since Mom died. You can say it.

• 8:05Speaker 09

  The lab is dangerous, Hart.

• 8:07Speaker 10

  It'll be good for us. Come on, I know you miss her. What better way to honor her than raiding her stuff?

• 8:14Speaker 08

  Hart has been trying for months to get Jewel into the lab. Always, he says, to honor their mom. While this may be true, it is also the case that Hart is, like their mother was, an inventor. And Dr. Green's lab is full of gizmos for inventing. No one knows what she was creating the day of the accident. The police found nothing outrageous in the lab. Except, of course, Dr. Green's ashes. It was enough to condemn the place. Are you sure, detective? She was a physicist, she studied... Climate change. She wasn't a bomb maker.

• 8:52Speaker 11

  Mr. Watts, if I was you, I'd lock up that lab of hers and never step foot inside again.

• 9:01Speaker 08

  This led to much speculation at East Boston Middle. The dominant theory was that Dr. Elizabeth Green had faked her death because she was tired of being a mom. It is well-known that before she was "mom," people called her "Lightning Lizzie."

• 9:15Speaker 12

  My dad called her a radical. An earth nut. A green freak. A rebel.

• 9:21Speaker 08

  Many moms are tired of being moms, and some even have exciting pasts involving protests and jail time. Yet faking a death to escape one's children is very, very rare. Unfortunately, that leaves us with the hard truth: that Jewel's mom is dead. And something in the scientist's lab did it.

• 9:43Speaker 10

  You're just like Dad: afraid of breaking the rules.

• 9:46Speaker 09

  I break rules.

• 9:47Speaker 10

  Name one.

• 9:49Speaker 09

  I... I don't double knot my shoelaces sometimes.

• 9:52Speaker 10

  That's not a rule. That's never been a rule anywhere, ever. Besides, I see your shoes every day. They're double-knotted.

• 9:59Speaker 09

  That's not true. I triple-knot for baseball.

• 10:03Speaker 10

  Ugh, fine. Stay here. I'm following in Mom's footsteps, and that means I'm going, with or without you.

• 10:12Speaker 09

  You'll get yourself hurt.

• 10:14Speaker 10

  Ugh.

• 10:15Speaker 09

  Fine.

• 10:17Speaker 08

  I wish I could tell you why exactly Jewel decides to go after her brother. I do not think she herself knows. It may be that she is worried for him, or that she is jealous of how similar he is to their mom. Regardless, Jewel throws on a sweater and jeans and tiptoes downstairs. She laces her sneakers, single-knotted because at this moment she is feeling quite rebellious, and follows Hart out the sliding back door into the rain.

• 10:47Speaker 08

  The laboratory was once the family's detached garage. A two-story Victorian with purple shutters, it sits far back from their street. And the top floor offers a lovely view of Boston Harbor, when it's not storming. Immediately, Jewel regrets her wardrobe. Her sneakers squelch through mud. The sweater drinks in the chilly June rain as she waits, seemingly forever, for Hart to pick the lock.

• 11:12Speaker 09

  Come on, Hart.

• 11:15Speaker 09

  I'm freezing.

• 11:17Speaker 08

  Idly, Jewel kicks the pools forming in the handprints on the walkway. Years ago, when her parents were converting the garage, she and Hart had pressed their palms into the concrete walkway as it dried. It was another thing Hart made her do. She thought her parents would get upset, but they loved it. Jewel looks up. Hart drops a rock and slips his hand into the broken glass window to unlock the door.

• 11:41Speaker 09

  Seriously?

• 11:42Speaker 10

  Eh, it was cracked already. Dad'll think the storm did it.

• 11:52Speaker 10

  Aha, here we are, the laboratory. Now, keep your eyes peeled. I did a few actuators, and a light sensor, and a new battery for my latest creation, the K9000. Get it? Like canine? Because it's a dog robot.

• 12:11Speaker 08

  Jewel rolls her eyes. Ringing out her mane of hair, she enters the cluttered space. Pine wood crates stacked to the ceiling, whiteboards with strange symbols, glass jars of brown liquids lining the shelves, all of it gathering dust.

• 12:27Speaker 09

  Hey, be careful with that stuff.

• 12:30Speaker 08

  Hart is head down in a crate, tossing out gizmos. His feet kick in the air. Then he reemerges flushed and pleased.

• 12:37Speaker 10

  Oh, ha, look, Mom's most advanced piece of technology.

• 12:43Speaker 08

  He holds aloft a radio, a little red radio. The sight of it hits Jewel with a wave of emotions. Her mother loved that radio. She listened to it every day while she worked.

• 12:56Speaker 13

  This is 90.9 WBUR, Boston's NPR. It's 11:59. Here's the news. Brutus Bright held a rally today on Boston Common. Over 10,000 were in attendance.

• 13:08Speaker 10

  I can just feel Mom in here, can't you?

• 13:12Speaker 08

  The tech billionaire receives rewards of approval when downplaying the severity of climate change.

• 13:18Speaker 14

  First, they take your fuel, then they'll take your freedom. We won't let that happen!

• 13:29Speaker 08

  And the sound throws her back in time.

• 13:38Speaker 08

  It is a gray morning in June. It is the day her mom died. Jewel watches as her mom hunches over her workbench, twisting away at tiny gears and springs.

• 13:52Speaker 15

  This is ridiculous. Can you fix it? I'm sorry, I don't know what I did wrong.

• 13:57Speaker 08

  Her mom is mending a gold pocket watch. A family heirloom that Dr. Green carries with her everywhere. That was, except for the day before. When Jewel borrowed it for a class presentation. And the timepiece broke.

• 14:11Speaker 15

  Ugh, what was that, hon? Your watch. You seem mad. Oh, no, no, it's not the watch, Jewel. It's that.

• 14:22Speaker 08

  ...said he would burn more fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, despite the fact that they are the single biggest cause of climate change.

• 14:33Speaker 15

  Oh, I just worry about the world we grownups are leaving you. By the time you're my age, it'll be too hot to think and half the city is going to be underwater. Oh, yeah. Did you know a bad climate brought down civilizations before? The Maya, Old Egypt, oh. I swear, if we keep making poor choices, it'll happen again to us. I, I know, you, you told me before. Ah, right. Your dad tells me that I scare you kids with all of my doom talk. Well, I'm sorry, it's just that I care. I know. You are strong, Jewel. You and heart.

• 15:16Speaker 15

  You are my little spark and fire. You'll be okay. I know. And the watch will be okay too. Just one more twist. Ah, listen.

• 15:35Speaker 08

  Jule shakes herself from the memory. It is night, her mother is dead, and Hart has found the worst station imaginable.

• 15:42Speaker 10

  Do you think K-9000 should have a scary bark, or should it speak English? Is that weird?

• 15:48Speaker 09

  I'm going upstairs. I can't think straight.

• 15:51Speaker 10

  What do you want to think about?

• 15:53Speaker 08

  She doesn't answer, because saying it aloud is too hard.

• 15:56Speaker 10

  Whatever sailor. Oh, but don't forget, K-9000 needs an actuator. Let me know if you see one.

• 16:03Speaker 08

  Jule climbs the creaking ladder to the hatch door in the ceiling, and emerges in a dark den. She flips the switch.

• 16:11Speaker 09

  Nothing. Hmm. There's got to be a lamp around.

• 16:15Speaker 08

  She peers into the dimness. Then she spots a circular silhouette, like a black hole. A flash!

• 16:26Speaker 08

  And that is when she sees it.

• 16:29Speaker 09

  Whoa. What is that?

• 16:33Speaker 08

  Tall, round, a metallic sheen of not one color but many. Copper, nickel, silver, bronze. She steps closer.

• 16:45Speaker 08

  And the thing comes to life!

• 16:50Speaker 08

  Red lights flicker on. The object is twice her height, a globe on four steel legs, like a lunar lander or a diving bell. There is a heavy vault-like door, and a single porthole window, from which more light shines. Rods sticking out from the body begin to twirl, copper coils spark. Ribbons of steam curl into the air.

• 17:15Speaker 09

  What... what are you?

• 17:18Speaker 08

  It is ugly, as if it climbed out of a junkyard. The legs are uneven, the coils lurch and stutter. The spherical shell is a patchwork of metals. Its purpose is far from obvious, but it is a device of some sort. An instrument, a vessel, a mechanism, a... what's the word?

• 17:39Speaker 09

  A machine.

• 17:43Speaker 08

  The door opens, folding down like a gangway, and the machine vomits.

• 17:51Speaker 09

  Ugh! Ew! It smells like fish guts.

• 17:56Speaker 08

  Reeking fluid floods out of the opening. Water and slimy green ropes of seaweed and, yes.

• 18:03Speaker 09

  It is fish guts. Gross!

• 18:07Speaker 08

  The machine quakes.

• 18:11Speaker 08

  She opens her mouth to call.

• 18:12Speaker 09

  Heart!

• 18:13Speaker 08

  But her brother's name dies on her lips because something else catches her eye. Inside the machine, on the cabin floor.

• 18:24Speaker 09

  Mom's pocket watch.

• 18:29Speaker 08

  The one Dr. Green kept with her always. The gold watch chain is caught in the grating at the back of the cabin. Jewel steps to the threshold, driven by curiosity.

• 18:41Speaker 09

  This is crazy. I should call Heart. I should...

• 18:44Speaker 08

  Her mind narrows. The sound of the storm slips away. The machine too shakes in silence. All she hears is the blood pumping through her body. And her heart ticking like a clock.

• 19:07Speaker 08

  This is where you come in. Jewel faces a choice, and you must help her decide. Should she run to get her brother? Or should she step into the machine right now, alone? To find her brother, select Chapter 2, Get Heart. To step inside, select Chapter 3, Into the Machine. That's right. You will not listen to this story in numerical order. To make your choice, go to Chapter 2, Get Heart, or Chapter 3, Into the Machine. Choose wisely.

• 19:45Speaker 08

  This is The Midnight Rebellion.

• 19:49Speaker 08

  One more thing. This is a show about making choices. In the story. And out. So we will end each chapter with a real-life challenge. Today's chapter features a bad thunderstorm. Because of climate change, storms are increasing in places like Boston, the southeast, and the tropics. A warmer planet evaporates more water into the air, making storms more common and stronger. But just like Jewel makes choices, we can too. Try one simple thing this week. For instance, to reduce pollution, ride a bike, or take the bus instead of the car. Big changes start small. Keep listening for more tips and more adventure.

• 20:33Speaker 08

  Up next, Chapter 2: Get Hart. Or Chapter 3: Into the Machine.

• 20:56Speaker 08

  The Midnight Rebellion is a production of WBUR in Boston. The series was created by Ben Brock Johnson and Dean Russell. It was written and produced by Dean Russell. Directing by Emily Jankowski and Dean Russell. Mix and sound design for this episode by Emily Jankowski. Supporting mix and sound by Mumble Media. Story by Dean Russell, with Joanna Lewis, Taylor Orsi, Craig Rowan, and Christine Songko. Editing by Mary Cole and Dave Shaw. This episode is starring:

• 21:27Speaker 09

  Basma Ayet.

• 21:28Speaker 08

  As Jewel. Alouhim Nikalov. As Hart.

• 21:31Speaker 15

  Erica Henningson.

• 21:32Speaker 08

  As Dr. Elizabeth Greene. And me, Eric Ransom, as your narrator. Additional performances by: Casper Anderson. Jalen Askins. Emmanuel Chimasaro. Maddox Hernandez. And Jay Preston. Casting by Rebecca Schenkula. Art by Sophie Morse. Suma Tajoshi is managing producer. Paul Vikes is production manager. Ben Brock Johnson is the executive producer and WBUR's director of digital audio. Funding provided in part by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. For a full list of cast and crew, visit our website, wbur.org/themidnightrebellion.

• 22:19Speaker 00

  Support for WBUR comes from the Quiet Tension Podcast with Dr. Sharon Churbin, psychologist, executive coach, and a close listener to what lives beneath high performance. Here she is with Steve Paliuka, who built Bain Capital and helped bring a championship back to Boston, on the thing the best leaders do that most don't.

• 22:40Speaker 16

  The best leaders kind of give credit and take blame. When something goes wrong, they're the first ones to take responsibility for it. And they see the good in the other people on the team. They don't immediately try to deflect whatever problem there was, what went wrong. You miss the sales target on the salesperson, they reflect on themselves and what they could do better. Same thing, you know, what Joe Mazzulla does in basketball. If you see his press conferences and the Celtics don't play well, the first thing he says is, you know, "I need to coach better. I made a mistake here. I made a mistake there." Not many coaches do that. But that's why the players, you know, love Joe, and that's why, another reason, he's a great coach. So there are things like that that you learn.

• 23:22Speaker 16

  There are many, many more things like that I learned from people like Red Auerbach and my classmates from business school and sports and all the rest.

• 23:29Speaker 17

  And really, what an array of leaders, because leadership is both the same and different depending on the environment that you're in.

• 23:41Speaker 00

  Listen for more of the Quiet Tension wherever you get your podcasts.

• 23:46Speaker 02

  Ugh, I hate Mondays.

• 23:47Speaker 00

  King's Hawaiian Cinnamon Swirl Bite?

• 23:49Speaker 02

  Taylor Hansen? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 23:55Speaker 03

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 23:56Speaker 02

  But Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian Cinnamon Bites.

• 24:01Speaker 03

  Taylor Hansen? Nice.

• 24:03Speaker 00

  Try one.

• 24:04Speaker 03

  Mmm.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  King's Hawaiian Cinnamon Bites. There's nothing like it.