Detachment

This is the forty-second episode of SAYER, and the fourteenth episode of Season Three.

Synopsis
Greetings Resident Hale, and welcome to Mimir-9.

Further Information
SAYER contacts Resident Jacob Hale to welcome him to Mimir-9, and to explain that while the original plan was for him to be transferred to Halcyon Tower upon his arrival from Earth, issues there have resulted in residents being rerouted to be received in other areas. As the issues have recently been resolved, these newly-arrived would-be Halcyon residents, Resident Hale included, will be transferred there soon.

Mimir-9, it explains, is a satellite which orbits Typhon and is home to the Ærolith Dynamics Human Resources Department. This is the case because when Human Resources was located on Typhon itself, this proximity to the residents being assigned was creating bias (both positive and negative), rather than allowing residents to be put in positions that best served Ærolith.

Because of this arrangement, Resident Hale will need to board a shuttle to reach the surface of Typhon, and SAYER explains that it has fast-tracked this process for him in a way the circumvents traditional HR policy. When he departs, it says, he will need to bring a device with him onto the shuttle, which is currently being housed in a storage closet in the C Wing docking bay. The device is a rolling container, roughly 20" x 30", labeled "radioactive." Before Resident Hale can begin to ask any questions about why the need to secretly steal this device and bring it back to Typhon, SAYER explains that it is already due to be transported there, but is simply needed ahead of schedule. However, HR will have questions about why this is and will likely attempt to stop him, and so it is best done without their knowledge.

At this point, SAYER stops, saying that it does not wish for Resident Hale to feel "unduly coerced" into doing this, and that he should feel free to make his own decision here; however, it also warns that if he does not, everyone he knows and loves will die in the immediate future. When he wordlessly continues toward C Wing, SAYER takes this as a sign of his assent. Given this, it issues a notice that this week is Caster Testing Week on Mimir-9, and that all residents are encouraged to bring any wheeled cases into the hallways to test whether they drift to one side, for the next two hours. Privately, SAYER informs Resident Hale that this is simply a ruse to help him move the device out of the storage room.

Once he is in C Wing, SAYER continues to explain the history of Mimir-9 to Resident Hale. Originally, it was considered a landmark innovation as a self-contained station (although Vidarr-1 is more efficient now in every way). Mimir-9 is reliant on annual replacements of special battery cells developed specifically for its proprietary electrical system. Ærolith even has a mining branch which exclusively seeks the necessary materials to make these batteries, a process which SAYER says is increasingly unsustainable.

When Resident Hale arrives at the storage area, SAYER informs him that the security panel has been disabled to allow him access. Inside, he is provided with several medium-sized stickers which have white letters on a black field, and read "Not", which are to be used to make the warnings on the device read "Not radioactive" before taking it outside. When he takes this disguised version of the case out into the docking bay, other residents are also wheeling cases about and apparently enjoying themselves.

Resident Hale boards the shuttle, which departs upon his arrival. As it takes off, SAYER explains that the device he has taken is a replacement Mimir-9 battery which is needed on Typhon. A new battery will be arriving within the next month, but it explains that it is needed sooner than that. However, the battery which Mimir-9 is already using will expire within a week, and without the replacement that Resident Hale is transporting, it will lose power and the residents aboard will either suffocate or freeze within two days of that time. SAYER calls these deaths inevitable in the larger picture, and assures Resident Hale that the battery in his possession is what is truly important here. It promises him new orders upon arrival on Typhon and ends the transmission by telling him to maintain "a cold, clinical detachment from these events."

Alerts

 * A reminder is issued to inform residents that Head Administrator Corrine Vasquez will be visiting C Wing that week as part of the ongoing Keep Vigilant Initiative, as a response to reports that Mimir residents feel safer than their coworkers on Typhon or Earth, and that she will be bringing several (but not all) of her favorite knives. D Wing is told to note the insinuation regarding the knives.
 * A notice reminds residents that it is Caster Testing Week, which has come earlier this year than the traditional never.

Trivia

 * This episode is the first in Resident Hale's less than linear timeline, although it isn't the first time the audience has seen him.
 * Because Resident Hale is new to Typhon, SAYER offers that it could read the recommended new resident welcome script, but declines to saying that "honestly, it's high time some updating was done there", echoing its sentiment from "While You Are Still Paralyzed".

Credits
SAYER is voiced and produced by Adam Bash, who also wrote this episode.

Intro and outro music composed by Jesse “Main Finger” Gregory.

Additional music by Kai Engel.

Listen to the episode here.