MODES OF THOUGHT IN ANTERRAN LITERATURE
c667, 2nd year classics
file: 201
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Phone dials.
Voice: I know you're looking for me. Go to the south side of the Five Dragon Pavilion at Bay High Park. Go to the bathroom, fourth stall. Look in the tank of the toilet. There will be instructions. I'll be waiting for you.
Someone packs their things and leaves closing the door behind them.
Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature. Second Year Classics. Harbridge University.
Raquel: Are you Dr. Yuli Chen?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Sit down.
Raquel: Oh, you speak English? Sorry, I just assumed that you were probably Chinese.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Um, but I was born in Baltimore.
Raquel: You're alive. And you like Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Dr. Yuli Chen: It's delicious.
Raquel: Sure. Uh, I'm Raquel Walker. I'm a PhD candidate at Harbridge University.
Dr. Yuli Chen: I know. What happened to your arm?
Raquel: Oh, nothing, nothing. I just, uh, fell, broke my arm.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Really?
Raquel: Yeah, well, let's just say I wound up in some pretty slippery places looking for you.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Oh. Why have you been contacting everyone I know?
Raquel: Are you familiar with the work of Professor [REDACTED].
Dr. Yuli Chen: I don't know the professor. Oh, I did. A long time ago.
Raquel: Well, I'm his TA. He's teaching a class on Anteran civilization and some weird shit has been going on.
Dr. Yuli Chen: You're a genius. He's such an idiot.
Raquel: That's what everyone else thinks too. I mean, no one believes him. They think he's making up the whole thing.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Yes. Well, that was the idea. Make it seem French to the point of being 4chan Qanon conspiracy theory shit. Easy to dismiss. But they're not buying it.
Raquel: The evidence I've seen? It's not much. Could be legit or it could have been faked but, I need to know. Is it real?
Dr. Yuli Chen: You came all the way to China to find out?
Raquel: Dr. Chen, I, I saw the submarine video.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Oh.
Raquel: I broke into your office. And your computer. That's, that's how I knew you were in Beijing. That video? That's from the sub accident when they discovered Anterra.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Too many many questions. We haven't even ordered food yet. I'm starving.
Raquel: Oh, no thanks. Too greasy.
Dr. Yuli Chen: It's totally different in China.
Raquel: Anterra?
Dr. Yuli Chen: No, KFC. It's not all fried chicken, you know. Do yourself a favor, try the dragon twist. Oh, and get two egg tarts. People line up for blocks at 6am to get them.
Raquel unzips her bag and pulls out a paper.
Raquel: This is your obituary. You're supposed to be dead, Dr. Chen. Now why would someone go to the lengths of printing your obituary when you're clearly still alive?
Dr. Yuli Chen: I faked it.
Raquel: Sorry. What?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Fine, I'll order. Oh, one sec.
Raquel: Okay, so wait, you're the one-
Dr. Yuli Chen: It's actually easier than you think. Doesn't hurt that I got some help from people that are good at that sort of thing.
Raquel: Why? Why would you want to fake your death? I mean, you're a tenured professor and the world's foremost expert in bioarchaeology. Most women in my position would kill to be you. And you threw all that away for what?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Well, if it's worth throwing my whole life away for, it must be pretty valuable, right? But the question I had to answer, and you will too, is this. If you could unlock the darkest and most valuable secrets of humanity, how far would you go to do it?
Raquel: Oh, did anyone ever tell you you have a bad habit of answering a question with another question?
Dr. Yuli Chen: The Socratic method. You tell me why I'm here in China instead of six feet under.
Raquel: I think you know something about Anterra you shouldn't know. And you had to hit the eject button before someone dangerous figured that out.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Close. There is something I know, and right now at least I'm the only one who could know it. Something bigger than the submarine video.
Raquel: What is it?
Dr. Yuli Chen: I'll tell you, but I need two things.
Raquel: Anything.
Dr. Yuli Chen: First, does he ever talk about his wife?
Raquel: The professor?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Yes.
Raquel: Uh, um, no, not much. I mean, as far as I know, he was a basket case after she left. He was day drinking, stopped coming to class, but only for a couple of months then snapped out of it, so. Honestly, I never pried too much. Seemed kind of private, you know?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Their relationship was doomed from the start. It was a real Shakespearean tragedy. June and I met at Cambridge. She's here, you know. Working for the Chinese.
Raquel: What? Why would you do that?
Employee: The food's ready.
Raquel: I'll get it.
Dr. Yuli Chen: With a broken arm? I'll get it. And I ordered you a nine lives juice. Get it?
Raquel: Number nine. Cute.
Dr. Yuli Chen: I like you, Raquel. So I'm gonna share something I shouldn't. June was able to sneak out a few samples. From the Anterra site. One of them got back to your professor. That's why he's convinced. The rest of the artifacts are here, in Beijing. But one of those samples… One of those samples was special. And she needed me to analyze it.
Raquel: No fucking way.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Yes, fucking way.
Raquel: Did they?
Dr. Yuli Chen: A bone fragment.
Raquel: Oh my god. What did you find?
Dr. Yuli Chen: The sample was from a finger bone, and from that we could determine that the dating of Anterra is about right. Between 65,000 to 73,000 BCE. But we also got a result that was unexpected.
Raquel: Okay, Anterra is real?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Yes, of course it's fucking real. Hello, catch up. Now, before I went on sabbatical.
Raquel: Faked your own death?
Dr. Yuli Chen: I built an AI machine learning model. that looked at genetic variations of ancient humans. The model points to an unknown missing branch of archaic humans, which I called the ghost population.
Raquel: The ghost population?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Listen, the DNA sample from Anterra belongs to a lineage that is distinct from modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans.
Raquel: Holy shit.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Yeah. Look. The second thing we need from you is this. When you get back to Harbridge, you need to destroy the files on Dev Angstrom's computer.
Raquel: Wait. Sorry. Who's we?
Dr. Yuli Chen: I'm not answering that.
Raquel: Okay. Okay. And Professor Engstrom, the music guy? So why?
Dr. Yuli Chen: He's, he's very close to unlocking a door. And trust me, no one is ready for what's on the other side. Not yet.
Raquel: What's behind the door?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Empathy.
Raquel: Uh, I don't believe you. I mean, even if I did, how could that be a bad thing?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Your class hasn't discussed the Third Empire yet?
Raquel: No.
Dr. Yuli Chen: Okay. Go back to Harbridge and pay attention in class. Okay, time's up. I have to go. Not a word to anyone about what I told you. Except the professor, of course. He knows how to keep a secret.
Raquel: Wait, why do the Chinese want to hide this discovery?
Dr. Yuli Chen: It's not the Chinese, it's the military. A faction of the military, actually. And this faction… Let's just say they have friends outside China. We're talking about very fucking dangerous people. They think what we're learning about Anterra could be useful to them.
Raquel: As propaganda, or as an actual weapon?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Both. Some of us think the knowledge of Anterra belongs to the world, and then there's everyone else. You need to watch out for everyone else, including the woman you're sleeping with.
Raquel: How did you know that?
Dr. Yuli Chen: Don't try to find me, okay? Destroy Engstrom's computer files. Then I'll find you.
Phone dials.
Voicemail: This is Hai Rong. Please leave a message.
Raquel: Hey. Just calling to say hi. Nothing new to report. I, uh, miss you. Bye.
Modes of Thought in Anterran Literature. This podcast is made possible by Harbridge University, a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Peeler Prize in Archaeological Literature, and the Harbridge Family Trust. With an in-kind donation and production assistance from Wolf at the Door Studios. For more information and a reading list, please visit wlfdr.com.