The Midnight Rebellion: Almost Midnight

WBUR’s The Midnight Rebellion is a one-of-a-kind podcast: a “choose your own”-style show set 100 years in the future when the climate has gone haywire, and it’s up to you to save the planet. Rooted in science, this fictional adventure was created for kids and grown-ups alike. Each chapter ends with a choice. You decide what’s next. Choose wisely. Listen to the rest and follow The Midnight Rebellion wherever you get your podcasts https://link.mgln.ai/midnight. See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from Planet Visionaries. Host Alex Honnold sits down this season with extraordinary doers creating real climate solutions. Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  You're listening to Short Wave from NPR.

• 0:18Speaker 01

  Hey, Short Wavers. Emily Kwong here. I think you all know we can change course on climate change. The question is just how? And that question is at the heart of a new WBUR podcast, The Midnight Rebellion. It's a pick-your-own-path podcast, set 100 years from now, in a world shaped by the choices we're making today. And what's really cool is at the end of every episode, you get to decide what happens next in the story. There are up to 82 possible outcomes, because our future isn't written yet, and that is kind of the point. And I gotta say, I have never heard another podcast like this one. It is fiction rooted in science and brought to life with cinematic audio storytelling. Imagine our tech camp series, but with robots and pirates. We're sharing the first episode with you now.

• 1:02Speaker 01

  If you want to keep going, search for The Midnight Rebellion wherever you listen to this podcast and follow the show. All 26 episodes are out now. This is The Midnight Rebellion, Chapter One.

• 1:19Speaker 02

  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.

• 2:00Speaker 02

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

• 2:26Speaker 02

  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.

• 2:37Speaker 03

  Two, three, four.

• 2:40Speaker 02

  Between the blindingly bright flashes of lightning.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  Six, seven.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  And the rolling booms of thunder.

• 2:48Speaker 03

  Nine, ten.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  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.

• 3:00Speaker 03

  Two.

• 3:01Speaker 02

  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.

• 3:17Speaker 03

  Eleven, twelve.

• 3:22Speaker 02

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

• 3:31Speaker 04

  Jewel, Jewel.

• 3:34Speaker 02

  The shadow enters her room. A flashlight flicks on.

• 3:40Speaker 02

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

• 3:44Speaker 03

  Hart, you scared me.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  It is her brother Hart Tree, or Hart.

• 3:49Speaker 04

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

• 3:55Speaker 03

  Please, never become a comedian.

• 3:58Speaker 04

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

• 4:03Speaker 02

  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.

• 4:22Speaker 04

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

• 4:28Speaker 03

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

• 4:39Speaker 04

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

• 4:46Speaker 02

  Jewel shakes her head. How could two people born on the same day into the same family be so different? Twins aged 12. 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?

• 5:06Speaker 03

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

• 5:12Speaker 04

  Since Mom died. You can say it.

• 5:15Speaker 03

  The lab is dangerous, Hart.

• 5:17Speaker 04

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

• 5:25Speaker 02

  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?

• 6:02Speaker 05

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

• 6:11Speaker 02

  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.

• 6:25Speaker 06

  My dad called her a radical, an earth nut, a green freak, a rebel.

• 6:31Speaker 02

  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.

• 6:53Speaker 04

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

• 6:56Speaker 03

  I break rules.

• 6:57Speaker 04

  Name one.

• 6:59Speaker 03

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

• 7:02Speaker 04

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

• 7:09Speaker 03

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

• 7:13Speaker 04

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

• 7:22Speaker 03

  You'll get yourself hurt.

• 7:25Speaker 03

  Fine.

• 7:28Speaker 02

  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.

• 7:57Speaker 02

  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.

• 8:22Speaker 03

  Come on, Hart.

• 8:25Speaker 03

  I'm freezing.

• 8:27Speaker 02

  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.

• 8:51Speaker 03

  Seriously?

• 8:53Speaker 04

  It was cracked already. Dad don't think the storm did it.

• 9:02Speaker 04

  Ah ha, here we are, the laboratory. Now, keep your eyes peeled. I need a few actuators, and a light sensor, and a new battery for my latest creation, the K9000. Get it? Like, K9?

• 9:20Speaker 04

  Because it's a dog robot.

• 9:22Speaker 02

  Jewel rolls her eyes. Wringing 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.

• 9:37Speaker 03

  Hey, be careful with that stuff.

• 9:40Speaker 02

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

• 9:48Speaker 04

  Ha, look, Mom's most advanced piece of technology.

• 9:53Speaker 02

  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.

• 10:06Speaker 07

  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.

• 10:18Speaker 04

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

• 10:22Speaker 02

  The tech billionaire received roars of approval when downplaying the severity of climate change.

• 10:28Speaker 08

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

• 10:39Speaker 02

  The sound throws her back in time.

• 10:49Speaker 02

  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.

• 11:02Speaker 09

  This is ridiculous.

• 11:04Speaker 03

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

• 11:07Speaker 02

  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.

• 11:21Speaker 09

  Ugh, what was that, hon?

• 11:23Speaker 03

  Your watch. You seem mad.

• 11:26Speaker 09

  Oh, no, no, it's not the watch, Jewel. It's that.

• 11:32Speaker 02

  ...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.

• 11:43Speaker 09

  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.

• 11:55Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 11:57Speaker 09

  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.

• 12:07Speaker 03

  I know, you told me before.

• 12:10Speaker 09

  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.

• 12:21Speaker 03

  I know.

• 12:22Speaker 09

  You are strong, Jewel. You and Hart, you are my little spark and fire. You'll be okay.

• 12:32Speaker 03

  I know.

• 12:33Speaker 09

  And the watch will be okay, too. Just one more twist. Ah, listen.

• 12:45Speaker 02

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

• 12:52Speaker 04

  Do you think K9000 should have a scary part? Or should it speak English? Is that weird?

• 12:58Speaker 03

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

• 13:01Speaker 04

  What do you want to think about?

• 13:03Speaker 02

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

• 13:06Speaker 04

  Whatever, sailor. Oh, but don't forget, K9000 needs an actuator. Let me know if you see one.

• 13:13Speaker 02

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

• 13:21Speaker 03

  Nothing. Hmm, there's got to be a lamp around.

• 13:25Speaker 02

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

• 13:36Speaker 02

  And that is when she sees it.

• 13:39Speaker 03

  Whoa. What is that?

• 13:44Speaker 02

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

• 13:55Speaker 02

  And the thing comes to life.

• 14:00Speaker 02

  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.

• 14:25Speaker 03

  What? What are you?

• 14:28Speaker 02

  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?

• 14:49Speaker 03

  A machine.

• 14:53Speaker 02

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

• 15:01Speaker 03

  Ah! Ew! It smells like fish guts.

• 15:06Speaker 02

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

• 15:13Speaker 03

  It is fish guts, gross!

• 15:17Speaker 02

  The machine quakes.

• 15:21Speaker 02

  She opens her mouth to call.

• 15:22Speaker 03

  Hart!

• 15:23Speaker 02

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

• 15:34Speaker 03

  Mom's pocket watch.

• 15:39Speaker 02

  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.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  This is crazy. I should call Hart. I should...

• 15:54Speaker 02

  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.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  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 Hart. 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 Hart, or Chapter 3, Into the Machine.

• 16:53Speaker 02

  Choose wisely. This is The Midnight Rebellion.

• 17:00Speaker 10

  To keep the story going, search for The Midnight Rebellion in your podcast app, and follow the show. The whole series is out now. Up next, select Chapter 2, Get Hart, or Chapter 3, Into the Machine. That's in our feed, The Midnight Rebellion. See you there.