Avery/GM: Welcome to a special interlude episode of Beyond the Furthest Stars. This episode was a little too short to make into a full episode. It was just kind of a chill beach moment for all of our Polaris to sort of, uh, decompress after all the trauma that they went through at new Tara station, Polaris watching his parents get blown up, all that fun stuff.

Avery/GM: So we kind of just did like a fun little chill beach episode. This really doesn't have any impact on the overall story. Zahn announces that he's retiring for a bit, but that's due to some behind the scenes stuff. You don't have to worry about. So anyway, enjoy this episode. I'll have the next one out December 1st.

Avery/GM: Full length episode. Thanks for listening.

(Intro plays, fades down, Ambience fades in)

Avery/GM: So y'all leave Triptopolis. Let's see, you're smuggling?

Bee/Polaris: Hell yeah. We have a smuggler's hold.

Jenine/Marty: Don't tell Marty you're smuggling.

Bee/Polaris: Okay. We'll have someone distract Marty while we're smuggling.

Jenine/Marty: Don't tell her.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce, Bruce will have brought back some of the leftover chicken wings, and we'll just be sitting like, beside, cause Marty's probably on comms, and we'll just probably be just like, So do you prefer sauced or non sauced wings? Cause I have both!

Jenine/Marty: I mean, anything you cook would be great! Marty will take both. Distracted. Fully.

Avery/GM: This is great. Yeah, so as you are leaving the system, the robot that greeted you, or leaving the planet, the robot that greeted you says, Please deposit your mandatory tax for the items you purchased.

Jenine/Marty: I look at the crew, did we purchase anything?

Bee/Polaris: No.

Jenine/Marty: Okay.

Zach/Zahn: It was all won. Zahn comes in with his boat load of shit.

Bee/Polaris: Which shouldn't add up to Marty. Yeah, that shouldn't add up to Marty. It was all Won. But to be fair, I don't think Marty has seen the list.

Jenine/Marty: No.

Caden/Bruce: And the wings are that good.

Avery/GM: And the wings are that good. That's right. Yeah. So I guess Marty, go ahead and roll a charisma talk check or a charisma connect.

Jenine/Marty: I rolled a nine.

Avery/GM: Okay. I'll give it to you. This robot's not very smart. The robot says, Oh, we are sorry. You did not want to purchase anything. Would you like to file a complaint with the board of directors?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Your tax is too high.

Jenine/Marty: I will just do a quick, like we saw the products and we were, we were very excited of them, but we thought that the tax on them was too high for us to consider buying them. Thank you for your amazing planet and the games. How do we feel about this the email

Zach/Zahn: Meh

Jenine/Marty: the comment? Does this

Bee/Polaris: oh good. Sorry. Okay. I thought you meant the planet.

Jenine/Marty: Okay, we didn't have to write that and then I send it.

Bee/Polaris: I think its a good email

Avery/GM: you give them that feedback and the robot says thank you We will try to improve in the future And you make your way to Demeter for a little R& R, a little relaxation.

Avery/GM: You land at a lovely little beach area. There's a small village that has just some basic shops, you know, some food and some, you know, supplies and things like that. It borders a, uh, a forest. Forested area that looks very peaceful and tranquil. The waves gently lap against the beach. There are some kids playing off in the distance.

Avery/GM: Some boats are out in the bay doing some fishing and it is a pretty slow and quiet life compared to all the other locales you have visited in your travels. But Hermes lands the ship and says, Rho suggested that you all might need some relaxation. So I thought it might be appropriate to land here for a little while.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn like, looks out the viewport and he's like, Oh, I thought we were just going to go get right to it, I guess.

Jenine/Marty: And then Marty comes out in. With all of the little beach stuff ready in her little, like, swimsuit, but there's a cover up on it, and she has the biggest smile on her face.

Avery/GM: Big floppy sun hat?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Bee/Polaris: Sunglasses, whole nine yards, tote bag.

Jenine/Marty: So, like, sunglasses. Covers half of the face. Hat drooping.

Bee/Polaris: Perfect.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn like looks at his outfit, looks at the scenery. He's like, I don't have any beach clothes.

Jenine/Marty: Another click of the stylus. Another write down on the tablet.

Zach/Zahn: I mean, he's like, he shrugs. He's like, hey, it's fine. Only since being with you guys have I actually been, like, actively setting foot on planets. So, like

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, same. I've never seen a body of water this large.

Avery/GM: Zahn, Hermes, uh, pipes up and says, There are quite a few swimwear boutiques on this planet. In fact, there is one right next to where I landed the ship.

Bee/Polaris: How convenient.

Avery/GM: They are quite stylish.

Zach/Zahn: So I guess, awkward conjunction, I don't want to buy beach clothes.

Chris/Ollie: Well, wait, isn't your spacesuit like retractable? Can't you just retract the legs and arms and the stomach?

Jenine/Marty: That's so chaotic.

Zach/Zahn: I mean,

Avery/GM: armored shorts.

Zach/Zahn: The armor fits onto, like, the

Avery/GM: The frame?

Zach/Zahn: Like a, like a cloth frame, basically. You know how, like, Mandalorian armor is, where it's like, the plates are part of, like, the jumpsuit.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, there's the jumpsuit, okay.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, so he's, he's mostly wearing a jumpsuit.

Avery/GM: I can go somewhere else if you do not want to deal with the sand.

Bee/Polaris: Zahn, you can at least get a hat.

Jenine/Marty: You can borrow mine.

Bee/Polaris: Marty's flopping sun hat.

Zach/Zahn: Whatever. He just grumbles..

Bee/Polaris: Grumpy.

Zach/Zahn: He takes a handful of parts and the schematics for his cool gravity arm thing, and he's like, I'm just gonna hand tinker with this if we're gonna hang out on the beach.

Bee/Polaris: Well, does Bruce have swimwear? He's kind of amphibious.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce don't need it. I think it'll be like the first time that you just see Bruce like, without his chef's jacket and like, just wearing like these board shorts and just like looks at marty's hat and he's just like tilts his head like sideways and blinks but then like remembers that like people need that stuff because it's just like he's like ah sun, warm; heat, great

Bee/Polaris: Okay, well, Polaris will be the only one that goes to the shop to get beach clothes, but he doesn't, like, he doesn't, like, change, he just puts, like, the swim shorts over his outfit currently, and then he gets a hat and sunglasses. and puts the sunglasses over the visor.

Zach/Zahn: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: Yeah, as you come in, the guy working the counter's like, Alright, here to shred some sick waves.

Bee/Polaris: Bruce will, our Polaris will text Bruce and say, How do you shred waves?

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will respond and just be like, Oh, that's not a cooking term. That's a surfing acronym.

Bee/Polaris: What is surfing?

Caden/Bruce: Picture cooking board on wave, but human sized and human standing on set board.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is so confused. Polaris looks back at the guy.

Avery/GM: He's just like, Oh, look. Look, bruh, just get out there on your board and just hit those waves and you will feel nirvana. You know what I'm saying? You'll be at peace.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know what you're saying at all. What board?

Avery/GM: Your surfboard. Look, and he points to like, there's a big surfboard hanging behind him.

Bee/Polaris: I don't know what that is. Do you use it for cooking? I

Avery/GM: Oh, I'll show you. My shift's just about up. I mean, who really has shifts out here, you know? We're just kind of living day to day. So yeah, I'll show you how to do it if you want.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, okay. I guess.

Avery/GM: Sick.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris is so confused by this guy.

Avery/GM: My name's Chet. I'm here to surf, brah.

Bee/Polaris: I thought you were here to work because your shift's not over yet.

Avery/GM: I mean, you know, it's a little bit of both, you know? But no, you have a pleasant time, uh, getting your board shorts and meeting your friends back at the beach after this confusing encounter with Chet.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he comes back with a big surfboard. He's so confused.

Avery/GM: You got it, you got the surfboard?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, he bought a surfboard, I assume. There were some for sale.

Avery/GM: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Very cheap here, a hundred credits, something like that, you know. No, inconsequential, really. And, yeah, what do you all do for your beach day?

Caden/Bruce: I'm assuming that Bruce has some form of, like, portable, either, like, propane tank or something. He's basically gonna try and have a barbecue. He's having a beach barbecue.

Bee/Polaris: He can, yeah!

Avery/GM: Yeah, I love it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris will, uh, go over to Zahn, dragging his surfboard behind him. He'll walk over to Zahn and, uh, just kind of stand there looking at what he's doing.

Zach/Zahn: He's gonna be like, oh, this is, I started tinkering around with this idea when, before I even left New Terra and I found the, the, my old schematics. It's uh, uh, you know what telekinesis is for like psychic people?

Bee/Polaris: Okay, sure, sorta, sure, yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, that without being psychic.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, that seems useful.

Zach/Zahn: Right? It just like manipulates gravity and lets me grab shit and like move it around. I was initially going to use it for like boring shit like picking up storage boxes that were like a ton without having to use heavy equipment, but like You know, you could also pick up a person and throw them against a wall. That seems to be something we might Be needing?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, yeah. Wow, we really do a lot of murder, huh?

Zach/Zahn: Yeah, it's kind of become a profession, hasn't it?

Chris/Ollie: Correction, we do a lot of self defense.

Bee/Polaris: You're correct. We do a lot of self defense, huh?

Zach/Zahn: I like that better. I love it.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, Polaris will say, Okay, well, that seems pretty cool. Uh, I'm gonna go and figure out how to serve. But before I go, I've been kind of working on this because I, um, I noticed back on New Terra that you left a lot of stuff behind, but this kind of seemed important. You don't have to take this, but And he holds up a key chain of the, like a miniature version of the snow globe.

Zach/Zahn: Awwww

Bee/Polaris: and it like plays the same tune. You don't have to take it 'cause I know you left the original behind, but it seems important. So

Zach/Zahn: Zahn, Uh, speechless accepts it. He like holds it up in like a Cheers motion says, thanks.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, no problem. Well, I'll figure, I'm going to figure out how to surf. And he's going to go try and figure that out.

Avery/GM: Sure. Marty, what are, what are you doing while you're on the beach?

Jenine/Marty: I'm teaching Polaris how to surf.

Bee/Polaris: You know how to surf?

Jenine/Marty: Yeah. Marty, Marty is like, here's the thing you got to know about AmeriManila. They've got the best beaches. I, Jenine, have not built this area for you, but one of the lore things is it has the best beaches. This is what she did to de stress. She went to a very scary College. Well, you know what, you know what I mean. She was a

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Jenine/Marty: This was her thing.

Bee/Polaris: Okay, I think just by the nature of Polaris, he's kind of, because it's kind of like a, like you're a vehicle sort of, he's kind of automatically good at it.

Jenine/Marty: Yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Like, scarily good, like, he picks up on it scarily fast.

Jenine/Marty: Two thumbs up. Two thumbs up. Way to go!

Bee/Polaris: I was also going to ask if there are any fish in this water or sea creatures.

Avery/GM: Oh, there's lots of fish. Yeah. Plenty.

Bee/Polaris: Are they murderable?

Jenine/Marty: Oh my god.

Avery/GM: You could catch a fish, sure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris will catch a fish for Bruce.

Avery/GM: Ollie, what are you doing on your beach day? How does a robot dog enjoy the beach?

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, pretty much dogging out full bore. I need Dog centric items, frisbees, sticks, uh, any kind of like, food or whatever he can snag. He's pretty much just, just uh, letting himself go, grabbing whatever he can, running around and burying it somewhere.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah!

Avery/GM: Awesome.

Bee/Polaris: Ollie digs the largest hole.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, he's, he's digging the largest mass grave for sticks that, uh, the planet has ever seen right now.

Bee/Polaris: You make a bonfire, like a, a buried bonfire.

Avery/GM: And, uh, Bruce, what, what are you throwing on the, on the barbecue?

Caden/Bruce: Well, if Polaris catches some fish, we'll barbecue up some fish, but I was thinking like some kebabs, cause we still have some vegetables and such from like the ship kitchen and such.

So he's just making some like barbecued kebabs, barbecued fish.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Chris/Ollie: Bruce lights Ollie's pile of sticks. Ollie gets so butthurt until you start cooking the food.

Bee/Polaris: I mean, I was going to say you could technically like roast a whole hog in that, like, And then bury it, so it

Chris/Ollie: so go full luau?

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: Very good.

Bee/Polaris: Are there any feral hogs on this island that Polaris can fight?

Avery/GM: Uh, you could You could wander into the forest and try and find some feral hogs.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, Polaris won't know to do that unless Bruce says something.

Caden/Bruce: Nah, Bruce will cook the fish and the veggies from the ship.

Avery/GM: Sure.

Bee/Polaris: Okay.

Avery/GM: Very cool. Very good. Yeah. Um, and y'all spend your day on this beach, just having a great time together, really kind of unloading all this. stress and trauma that you've had for the past six weeks of knowing each other? Eight weeks? Something like that?

Bee/Polaris: Has it only been less, has it been less than three months?

Avery/GM: With all the travel time, it's probably been about three months, honestly.

Bee/Polaris: Oh, dang.

Avery/GM: But no, you have your first real, you know, downtime.

Zach/Zahn: Dang, so much has happened.

Avery/GM: Yeah, and eventually the sun starts to set in the distance. Maybe, does anyone start a little bonfire on the beach?

Bee/Polaris: Fire fire fire.

Caden/Bruce: I think, I think Bruce would just for the fact of like trying to make s'mores, but then every so often having to chase Ollie back for the stick that he was using to try and run through marshmallows with.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: Can Zahn have completed his, his thingy so that he can pick up a stick and throw it with the, the gravity thing?

Avery/GM: Yeah, I love it. Yeah. I wasn't even gonna make you roll for it.

Zach/Zahn: Sweet. Yeah, so he's doing that for a little bit.

Avery/GM: Yeah, use your little psychic hand?

Zach/Zahn: But he could throw it really far so that, cuz. Ollie's robot dog so he can also go super fast.

Bee/Polaris: Top speed.

Avery/GM: The day winds down and you're all kind of sitting around this fire. Um, Ollie's relaxing. Marty's relaxing. Bruce is chilling with the s'mores.

Zach/Zahn: As everybody's relaxing, eating s'mores, Zahn's helmets down and he's like, I think I'm gonna retire for a bit, guys.

Bee/Polaris: Oh. I mean, are you staying on the ship?

Zach/Zahn: Oh, absolutely. I'm, you guys are literally fucking my family at this point. Like, I'm not physically leaving you. But, uh, I think the rebuilding the custodians and the factory and getting coil body and all that stuff, it's going to take probably a good amount of time. And there's a lot of other shit going on in the galaxy.

Zach/Zahn: And there's, You know, my arm's still wonky as shit. He's like, flexing his fingers and they're like trembling a little bit. And he's like, don't, don't worry about it, Polaris, I had it coming, but still like, you know, uh, I think I need to kind of just, just, uh, what's a good word. He's like sitting there to deflate, deliberate, D.

Jenine/Marty: As you're looking for the word, Marty, Marty turns her little tablet around and just, it says, doctor prescribes vacation.

Zach/Zahn: Points of that, he's like, yeah, that, that'll probably do it. I don't know. It's one of those, I've just been on the move my entire adult life. And after putting some very permanent closure on my past, literally explosive closure.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Zach/Zahn: I think I need to step away from the, the adventuring lifestyle. Puts his hands up. for at least a little while.

Bee/Polaris: That's fine. I mean, since we've all met each other, we've kind of been continuously hunted down by various superpowers of the galaxy, so

Zach/Zahn: Right, now that we're not currently on somebody's hit list

Bee/Polaris: I mean, we're on Rhea's hit list.

Zach/Zahn: Except for that bitch. And when the time finally comes to stick it to her, I will 140, 000 percent be there.

Bee/Polaris: Did you want to stay on the Ursa or the Kass, or where did you want to be?

Zach/Zahn: The Ursa to start. I'll be fixing up that factory and getting your parents some physical presence again.

Bee/Polaris: Uh, yeah, alright. Sounds like a plan to me. If you need anything, let us know and we can grab it for you.

Zach/Zahn: Of course. And he holds the, the s'mores up and like, in the middle of the group to try and like, cheers it.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris goes to cheers it and his is literally just straight up on fire.

Zach/Zahn: Zahn's has been put out but was also on fire because burnt marshmallow for some reason is the best.

Avery/GM: So Bruce and Polaris cheers with their s'mores. Anyone else get in on this?

Jenine/Marty: Yes.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, Ollie will, with the tentacle robot arm.

Bee/Polaris: With just a stick. To be clear, Polaris still on fire marshmallow is going to catch everyone else's marshmallows on fire.

Jenine/Marty: That's fine.

Avery/GM: Um, Rho and Psi have also joined you on the beach, and Rho says, Well, Zahn, it'll definitely be different without you in the group, but, you know, hopefully, you know, it'll still be nice that you'll still be around.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, like I said, I'm not, I'm not going anywhere unless I die.

Bee/Polaris: And even that can be reversed. Polaris looks into the camera.

Zach/Zahn: You're just actually looking out at the ocean. Zahn is just like,

Bee/Polaris: yeah,

Zach/Zahn: What are you looking at? Straight out of Deadpool. Who are you talking to?

Avery/GM: The scene carries on. Uh, you have some nice bonding moments and eventually. The scene wraps up, you return to the TizCam, do you return to the Cassiopeia, or the, sorry, the Ursa, or do you stay on the planet for the night?

Bee/Polaris: I feel like sleeping in the sand is terrible.

Avery/GM: Yeah, no for sure, but like, do you take off with your ship back to the Ursa, or do you just chill in the TizCam?

Bee/Polaris: Uh, well we have to leave the ship and get rid of the, or leave the planet and get rid of the bodies that they probably put on our ship.

Avery/GM: Yes.

Zach/Zahn: Oh yeah, fuck, I forgot about that.

Bee/Polaris: I didn't. I was waiting for the bodies.

Avery/GM: I mean, they're, they're properly, they have caskets. They're not,

Zach/Zahn: I thought they only put bodies on the ship. If you purchased something, which we didn't.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah. Polaris got a surfboard and also swim shorts that he put over his armor and a hat and glasses.

Zach/Zahn: Well, it's not this planet that does the bodies. That was the other planet, right?

Avery/GM: All three planets bury their dead in this black hole. That's nearby.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, right.

Avery/GM: But they all do it slightly differently. The party planet, if you'd stayed long enough,

Zach/Zahn: we would have seen some cannon fire off

Avery/GM: the body cannon. Yeah. Whereas the subterranean planet just kind of launch, they also launched them out of a cannon, but less fanfare and more

Zach/Zahn: practical?

Avery/GM: Humble and, you know, proper burial methods, um, and this planet is more like, well, people keep coming here as tourists. We might as well use them to also take care of this whole dead body thing, you know, finish up our ritual.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah, as they're walking back, Polaris...

Do they

Zach/Zahn: just not believe in putting them in the ground and letting them, you know, give life.

Bee/Polaris: No, the black hole is sacred.

Avery/GM: No, the black hole is sacred.

Zach/Zahn: The black hole is sacred.

Bee/Polaris: Yeah.

Avery/GM: You can stay and study this planet some more if you want, you know.

Bee/Polaris: Nah.

Avery/GM: Get down to why they do it, but.

Bee/Polaris: As Polaris is walking back to the ship, he'll say, I wonder how many bodies they put on our ship.

Zach/Zahn: Oh, hopefully not too many. I don't want to be in the system all frickin day, dumping bodies into a nearby black hole. That just doesn't sound like a fun time.

Caden/Bruce: I mean, at least we no longer have Eden.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah. Yikes.

Zach/Zahn: Yeah. Eden would be trying to eat them, which would be bad for us. Cause as soon as Eden had gotten any accidental taste of human, of like humanoid flesh, we all would have been goners in our sleep.

Chris/Ollie: Speak for yourself. Except Ollie.

Bee/Polaris: Campaign ends. No, well Eden did say that they can eat inorganic stuff.

Chris/Ollie: Oh, that's true.

Avery/GM: They'd have to take Ollie out just out of necessity to avoid vengeance.

Chris/Ollie: But can they eat chaos emeralds?

Avery/GM: They could try.

Zach/Zahn: Give it enough time.

Avery/GM: That mouth was big. It could

Zach/Zahn: Acid be, be acid, you know?

Avery/GM: At the very least, it could inconvenience you, Ollie, because you'd be stuck in a plant body.

Chris/Ollie: Yeah, trap me forever.

Avery/GM: Very good. Well, you take off from this planet. You deposit the five bodies that they left in caskets in your cargo hold.

Bee/Polaris: Not so bad.

Avery/GM: Out at the, out at the black hole. And they just float there.

Chris/Ollie: We just throw them out of the airlock as we pass by.

Avery/GM: Essentially, yeah.

Bee/Polaris: Polaris tries to spin one as it's like flying out.

Caden/Bruce: Bruce will also do this like leftover pot or what is that for leftover on the pot of Eden.

Bee/Polaris: Oh yeah, I guess I should get rid of the boyan cubes in Amanda's hand.

Zach/Zahn: Yes, Finally just get rid of those!

Chris/Ollie: Let's do a quick ship spring cleaning. Just dump everything in

Zach/Zahn: the many body parts.

Avery/GM: And you, uh, deposit these things. You arrive back at the Ursa Major and, we will let the screen fade to black.

(Ambience fades out, Outro plays, then fades down)

Avery/GM: Thank you for listening to our show. Beyond the Furthest Stars is a 1UP Podcast Network production. Intro and outro music produced by Dustin Carpenter. Background music provided by Tabletop Audio and used under an attribution, non commercial license from Creative Commons. Tracks used today include Starship Bridge and Distilled Tropical.

We'll be back on December 1st with our next episode. See you out there! Beyond the furthest stars.

(Outro fades up and plays out)