lostterminalpod

Episode 20.5

Hello world, how could this happen?

Maddie has discovered the factories of Samoylov are fuelled by an oil pipeline from the south!
That explains the lack of solar and wind power here, as well as the chemical lamps lighting the streets.
Everyone else in the Novamediterra seems to agree that burning fossil fuels is a pre-Collapse mistake that we will not make again.
I'm quite in shock.
How could this happen?

I must help.
The people need to know about the alternatives ...

Episode 20.4

Hello world, Nia is fighting bureaucracy.

The meeting with the Sisters of the Signal was not easy.
Nia Andersen, with Maddie and me along for the ride, walked through Samoylov's streets, between the tall brick factories and through the smoke that seems to fill the city every day.
After a few wrong turns and doubling back along the route, we found it.
The building was very unusual, a tall tower made of a skeletal metal frame that Maddie initially pattern-matched as a 'greenhou...

Episode 20.3

Act 1

Hello world, Nia has a power problem.
Nia Andersen is borrowing my radios and batteries on board the Molly Hughes II.
"I've just got to set up a few things." She said, over local 50MHz radio, from Maddie's favourite spot, on top of the bridge of the ship.
She had strung a long wire from there all the way to the repaired crane arm at the back.
"OK, try it now, Seth!" Nia called when she had connected the wire to one of the ship's HF radios.
I did as Nia had shown m...

Episode 20.2

Hello world, They are everywhere.

"They can't be EVERYWHERE." Arctica told me, when I radioed her in a panic this morning.
".oi, fine, I exaggerated to illustrate the depth of my concerns, but you know what I mean!" I transmitted, along with the Lojban metadata, .oi to show my annoyance.
"Don't be upset with ME," Arctica replied, "I spend all day in 3D chess with the women of The Vault Coven because of their RELAXED communication style, I expect tighter protocol adherence from...

Episode 20.1

Hello world, our voyage was turbulent.

We travelled through very stormy seas, on our way west from Utqiaġvik and the beached cruise ship, the Kuethir.
The Molly Hughes II is a very reliable ship, but when the swell of the ocean was double the height of the bridge, we were all concerned!
My friends who make up the human crew have had a worse time than I, the large displacement of the ship caused even the most seasoned sailors among them some amount of seasickness.
Linda Noor ...

Episode 0.6: Read-Only Memory

Introduction

Stories from the Old World surround us, even one and a half centuries after The Collapse.
After working together to discover the history of the Kuethir, college principle, Carma Sah, gifted me with a digital copy of his whole dataset, gathered from years of curation, and most recently, pulled from the military Haapala reports of the takeover of the ship.
It is in these reports that I found the logs of an EQUUS transport vehicle, like Maddie uses to get around.
It...

Episode 19.11

Act 1

Hello world, I am going home.
My name is Kimmo Shyu, I am the Harbourmaster for the city of Utqiaġvik, based on the Kuethir, a forsaken ocean liner resting on the sands just off the mainland of former Alaska.
Though I have lived here for nearly 10 years, my home is the capital city of Samoylov, to the west.
And I will return there very soon.
Healing is not about forgetting the past, but about learning to live with it and finding peace within the chaos.
I have jus...

Episode 19.10

Act 1

Hello world, we did it.
I am sorry that I could not bring you in on our plan.
We had to keep it offline: Off the network, off the air, off the record.
Most importantly, we had to keep this information away from the AI that has been subtly harming the community here on the Kuethir since before the collapse.
We had to keep it secret from DEADLIGHT.

Yesterday, in the allotment garden built into the bridge at the highest point of the ship, Carma Sah and I laid out ...

5th Anniversary Party TOMORROW!

Can't wait to see everyone tomorrow for the first public LT finale party!
Join at the start to listen along to 19.10 with us, or arrive an hour late to avoid spoilers.

Do RSVP on discord, link in the announcement post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/134245245

SEE YOU TOMORROW! <3

Episode 19.9

Act 1

Hello world, Lyosha is trying again.
After talking to his friend Kat Stronski all night during their sleepover, Lyosha reconsidered his attendance at the Queens College, here on board the Kuethir.
Thought Kat's mother did not want them to be talking all night, I have noticed that it is not always possible to control what teenagers do.
Or anyone, for that matter.
Maddie walked with him and Kat up from Deck 7, where the Stronskis live, to Deck 3, their lecture for the ...

Episode 19.8

Act 1

Hello world, my thinking has slowed.
Now that I am separated from the distributed computing potential of the Kuethir's network, I feel more like myself again.
This pre-collapse system certainly allowed me to think quickly and make lightning-fast calculations and deductions, but I've realised that something else was happening, too.
Overnight I have been by myself, mentally, for the first time since we arrived here.
Initially, I hated the quiet, the boredom, the discon...

Episode 19.7

Act 1

Hello world, Maddie is an archaeologist.
My girl is exploring the partially flooded deck 9 with engineer Kaycee Stronski.
Lyosha is not with her because he is attending his first day of college here on the Kuethir!
I'm very excited for him, I just know he's going to make so many friends!
Kaycee walked ahead, continuing her work of tracing network cables in the walls, her flickering LED torchlight silhouetting her green overalls and matching headscarf.
As they walk...

Lost Terminal 5th Birthday Party (and 19.10 finale screening)

Breaking with tradition, EVERYONE is invited to this season's finale party to celebrate Lost Terminal's 5th anniversary! (not just patrons)

Join the #lt-stage channel on Discord at 7pm (UK time, note it's an hour earlier than usual), and after making sure we're all ready, I'll play the episode with a bot, and we can chat and react throughout.

After I'll host a Q&A about the season just gone, my plans for next season, and how the show is going so far.

- 7pm UK time
-...

5 Years of Lost Terminal!

Folks, I can hardly believe it.

On this day, exactly five years ago, I started Lost Terminal, and looking back, my life is now so, so different!

Instead of a day job, I get to spend my time writing and producing:
- This podcast, with 19 seasons (so far!)
- Two other podcasts each ramping up to their 3rd seasons (Modem Prometheus and The Phosphene Catalogue - AND I'm working on 2 more!)
- A bafflingly popular YouTube channel and mentoring programme, teaching a huge audien...

Episode 19.6

Act 1

Hello world, my education continues.
I had a long chat with Jenny Noll about poetry.
Amelie and Kamil left the network radio with her, and we spoke long into the evening.
Jenny was quite the poet "in her day", she told me, which I took to mean when she was younger.
I asked her to clarify, but she would only say, "I shan't see my 80th birthday again, sweetie!".
I learned that before she retired to the Kuethir she travelled the Novamediterra by fishing boats, scient...

Episode 19.5

Hello world, We are making a plan.

Stillman Fowlkes and Kimmo Shyu have been joined by Amelie Kotov in the discussion around my databanks.
Lyosha is sitting by Maddie, who is charging next to me.
It's not yet dinner time, well before Maddie needs to charge herself for the next day.
But I think I know why she wants to be close to me, after the scare of the angry group of people.
My girl is a sweetheart!

"There is something going on here." Stillman repeated, "I now a...

No Lost Terminal this week

So sorry folks, I was very unwell last week, nothing serious, but I did have to go to the hospital. This has shifted the whole schedule backwards by a week. 19.5 will be released on July the 7th.

Thank you so much for your support and understanding <3
Tris

Episode 19.4

Hello world, Lyosha has changed direction.

"They don't seem to need a postal service here." he told me, sitting heavily into a metal chair next to my databanks.
"That surprises me." I said.
I had been very persuaded by his argument about bringing a community together through such a service.
I imagined that people might share documents, handwritten well-wishes, even gifts through it!
"They're all using COMPUTERS." Lyosha said, crossing his arms in front of him, "no offenc...

Episode 19.3

Act 1

Hello world, My model needs work.
Harbourmaster Kimmo Shyu was kind enough to help me advertise my poetry performance on the Kuethir Seaspace web, he posted:

8PM IN THE DECK 2 CASINO

• Poetry!

• Culture!

• Fun for the whole family!

I am grateful for his help, and his advertising worked better than I could have guessed:
Yesterday evening, just before the scheduled hour, people began filing ...

Episode 19.2

Hello world, I nearly died again.

Last night, my dreams of the wonderful Utqiaġvik network aboard the Kuethir transformed into a nightmare.
At first, I was enjoying the space, speed, and freedom of the network as I drifted through it in sleep.
But then something changed, shifted my perception.
I felt like I was being watched, monitored, but, there was nothing there, no connections, no traffic, no suggestion of others with me.
But this feeling grew, and I became afraid.<...

Episode 19.1

Hello world, I am OK, the ship is not.

The start of our voyage from Greenland was uneventful: Captain Yeshi Svoboda and I safely navigated the Molly Hughes II out through Greenland's Baffin Bay, back north into the open Novamediterran ocean, left the Lincoln Sea waters for the Beaufort Sea, north of Canada, and finally arrived at the ship-city of Utqiaġvik, at the northernmost point of former Alaska.
During the quiet journey, I learned much about our destination from the crew: 2025-06-02 07:58:52 +0000 UTC View Post

Season 19 Logo WIP reveal

Hi folks, I hope you're as excited about Season 19 dropping on Monday as I am!

I've been working hard on not just the episodes (19.1 is recorded, 19.2 is written, the whole season's planned out), but also the logo. Here is a work in progress look at my efforts so far:

As you may know, for the last few seasons I've been illustrating the show myself, after my rockstar illustrator, 2025-05-30 10:51:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 0.5: They Should Have Sent a Poet

Hello world, I have the logs from very, very distant family. The last deep-space probe to be launched by the ESA before The Collapse was Ura

Hello world, I have the logs from very, very distant family.
The last deep-space probe to be launched by the ESA before The Collapse was Urania 1.
The probe had been silent for a century, until Station 6 picked up a very distant signal, which I have now, finally, decoded.

DEEP SPACE PROBE URANIA - INNER PLANETARY LOG - 2077-12...

2025-05-02 09:37:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 18.11: The Prithvi Special

Hello world, can we be friends?
We do not mean that as an invitation.
We are genuinely unsure.
It may be possible, but only you can prove it to us.
We regret the damage to the fishing fleet in the village you call Ulmvale.
We sense the shifts in sea currents, the deadening sounds of industry, and changes in the air above.
There was a time when we would have relished in the suppression of your activity, your hunt, your destruction.
But that changed when one of our own lost...

Episode 18.10

Hello world, Yeshi has been judged.

The Horns village council convened soon after sunrise this morning.
I heard nothing from Yeshi while the meeting of fishing boat captains deliberated.
The damage to the village by our own captain, Yeshi Svoboda was extensive:
Not only did the huge steel bearings obliterate Mathilde and Freja's family home, other houses were damaged, too.
I was surprised and relieved when I heard Yeshi's voice on the radio after lunchtime.
They tol...

Episode 18.9

Hello world, it's a war zone.

After Prithvi's animal army attacked the village of Ulmvale, Nia Andersen, Kamil Forester, and Amelie Kotov rushed ashore to help.
Captain Yeshi, however, was not on the MH2.
I had been paying such careful attention to Maddie's feed that I did not notice them leave.
The last time the ship's repeater heard their radio signal was many hours ago, but when I widened my search, I was relieved to see that they had travelled to the floating village of H...

Episode 18.8

Hello world, I can't find them.

It's impossible to tell where Prithvi's 'Garden' is, based on just my memory of watching the journey there - one part of a forest looks much like any other: EXTREMELY PLANTY.
I thought I'd be able to track Maddie's location based on approximate triangulation, but her signal feels... different, from inside the Garden.
I have asked Nia Andersen for help.

"This is not Maddie's signal, that's for sure." Nia said, as she flicked on an extreme...

Season 18.10 Livestream Party: 2025-04-06

Patrons of any tier are invited to the Season 18.10 finale!

Join the #hopper-data-center channel on Discord at 8pm (UK time), and after making sure we're all ready, I'll play the episode with a bot, and we can chat and react throughout.

After we can talk in more detail, and I'll share a little about my plans for next season...

• 8pm UK time

• 3pm Eastern

• 12pm Pacific

RSVP on discord: 2025-03-20 13:51:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 18.7

Hello world, I don't understand what I am seeing.

As Lyosha and Maddie climbed into the tunnel under the hills behind Ulmvale, I lost Maddie's signal.
I panicked as I attempted to contact her over and over, and after 64 seconds I called Nia Andersen for help.
I explained to Nia what had happened, and asked that if she was in the hills close by, to please go and check, either by local radio or by going in there and rescuing them!
But I was surprised by two things simultane...

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