Episode 1 | The Proposition

Hello, Gwendolyn Christie here, and you're listening to the Callisto Protocol Helix Station, brought to you in three-dimensional immersive audio.

The living. They're all eating, sleeping, shitting on the dead. I think you gotta keep your cool. Cain, they're eating each other. Don't let him go. all my years we need to save them we can't help them grubber drills holes in their brains these things are so far gone if you let them loose They're ripping limb from limb. If they're eating a rotten death, they'll just chomp at the chance to taste something fresh. Kroba is going to pay for this.

He'll pay, alright. One way or another, we all do. I see floodlights up ahead. I think I've got his shadow. Careful now. Approaching. Hopeless. One little zap with my drill in your eye socket. And that will all fade away. And hungry. I don't have enough resources to feed you all, so you'll eat what you can and who you can until I find you a new owner. Don't. How's that feel, Krober? You run, and you don't look back. Thank you. Go! You ready to rock in a cage? Go ahead. Go ahead, take me in.

Don't spend a second behind those black iron bars. The UJC can be bought just like they were the last time. You're right. You probably would get off on some technicality, wouldn't you? Percy, just slap the cuffs on him and get out of there. Sorry, Kane. Bad connection down here. Catching a little interference. Percy, don't... Gotta go. What are you gonna do? Kill me? Keys. I can pay triple whatever you'll get for my bounty.

Why don't we talk it through over a warm meal? I'm not hungry. They are. No. No, no, please. Please, please. Don't. Please don't. It's dinner time. Don't. I'll go. Take me. Take me in, please. Listen to me, bitch! Some doors should never be opened, and some doors should never be closed. I do look happy to see you. Please! Oh! No! Please! Get away from me! Get away! Smile for the camera, you goddamn pig!

All I did was unlock a door. A door you shouldn't have left shut. It was worth five times as much alive, and now all we have is some gruesome holotape to turn in. We need that money. We deserve it. Not as much as they deserved their revenge. Definitely not as much as he deserved what was coming. That may be, but his dead ass barely pays for the funeral on this trip. You know how much it costs to fly from Europa to Io?

We can't afford to be zipping all around the patrol zone. You'll have children in those cages! Children! I need to sit down. You never used to be like this. Yeah, well, time changes everything. I think it's more like all that shit you're bumping has got your noggin all scrambled. If you have something to say...

Don't beat around the bush. Just say it. All right. I think you're losing it. You're starting to get sloppy. People were down there eating people. And in the middle of the job, you had another panic attack. Just like the last job. And the one before that. And we caught every one of those guys. Look. Do we have a problem here? I don't know, Percy. Do we? I'm fine.

I've got this. Doesn't seem like you do. Then maybe we should just each go our own way. I don't need you doubting me. Then don't make me doubt you.

Just do the job. Watching you fall apart is getting old. Watching you getting old is getting old. Emergency power activated. There's a ship out there. Can you read their insignia? UJC corrections. What the hell is Black Iron Security doing all the way out here? Shut us down. Navigation is all theirs. Incoming message. Hersey Rings and Kane Phoenix.

This is Black Iron Security. We've altered your vehicle and request hull access. Be prepared. We're coming aboard. Under what orders? I suggest you deactivate your weapons. of this because of some dead trafficker? I doubt it. Do you know how I feel about visitors? First, thanks for the hospitality. I understand this is a bit unconventional. I'm Metzger. To my right is Lieutenant Prendergast. What's up?

This here is Sergeant Tanaka, our demolitions and robotics expert. Howdy. Great. Maybe you can tell me what the hell you're on my ship? Of course. You've both been personally requested to assist us on a special mission. Requested by who? We're asking the questions around here, old timer. So why don't you shut that metal squawk box you call a vo-

This voice is from a windpipe implant I got after a shootout on Ganymede. Keep talking to me like that and you'll find out what happened to the other guy. Does it have a mute button? You touch it and I'll shove it right up your ass. I bet you'd enjoy that. Easy, friends. Easy. Let me apologize for Lieutenant Prendergast. He's fresh out of the academy and a little trigger happy.

Don't talk about me like I'm not here. Can it, Prendergast. You've both been requested for this mission from the head of Black Iron Security. From Ferris? What the hell does Ferris want with us?

Well, let's just say we require your assistance with a delicate matter. Tanaka, fire up the hollow. Here you go. Good morning, crew. This transmission is meant only for those five sets of eyes in front of me. Last night... An inmate escaped the confines of Black Island Prison. The fugitive stole one of our cargo ships and departed Callisto en route to the ghost ship.

formerly known as Helix Station. Hell no. You five are going there. You're going to stop them. People cannot and will not know that a prisoner has escaped under my watch. You capture him, you kill him. I don't care how you do it, but it is imperative you hunt him down. Captain Mensker will provide you with any additional details. Good luck.

I'm not going to Helix. Thanks, but no thanks. The past can stay in the past. We don't care what you want. Prendergast. Percy, it's your history with Helix that makes you essential for the mission. What happened to you on board the station, it's not our concern. Our only objective is to track down the fugitive. I'm not going back to that twisted hellhole. You don't really believe in all that superstitious bullshit now, do you? Helix doesn't give.

Helix takes. Takes something from everyone. Every single thing that enters that station changes for the worse. It's best you remember that. Come now. You don't really believe the station is cursed. Don't tell me she believes in gummers. Listen, lady, we're locked and loaded. If you're scared of ghosts and ghouls, stick by me. I'll keep you safe.

It doesn't matter what I believe. I'm not going. Well, then you're done for, Percy. Your career's over. Just take a second look at her. Percy's not of any use to anyone. She can barely keep it together. You're shit out of luck. Oh, enough. Unfortunately, if you don't take the job, there might be unforeseen consequences.

The United Jupiter Company gave you clearances and visas to work the patrolled zone, and they can revoke them. All your perks and licenses and those looks the other way. They'll be gone. There'll be no more skip tracing for the two of you. What kind of work can two ex-skip tracers find in the Jovian system? You'd end up slaving away on some mineral mine in the Badlands. We'd like to leave immediately.

In your ship, it'll help us fly under the radar. Any other questions? Just one. You that same Metzger stationed on board the Pathfinder? Killed a bunch of workers during a strike? Ah, the media loves to exaggerate details. Anything for a good story. Or a bloody one. So, what's it gonna be, people? Yes or no?

We'll go. To hell you will. We can find other work. Head back to Earth if we need to. Cain will talk about our price. Percy. I said we'll do it. That's what I like to hear. It's Metzger. They're in. You can detach the ship and report back to Black Iron. We're all good here. You'll have to excuse me. I need a minute to freshen up. I'm in here! You need some help? Can you replace my cartridge? Are you up to five doses a day? Only on missions.

What would our new partners think about this, hmm? That the skip tracing they just hired injects dope straight into a permanent spinal tap. They don't have to think anything because they don't need to know. Thanks. I don't like it when you ask me to help kill you. Helix will be half a day's ride from here. Until then. Where are you going? I haven't slept in three days. I'm gonna rest. I suggest you do the same. I'll fly. Keep her in one piece, kid.

Everyone else do what you need to do to get ready. Because it's gonna be go time soon enough. All right, then. Get some rest. I'm gonna watch a holo. It is one of the great slums in the failed state of America. 50 million residents living in squalor. The smog is so thick, it blocks out the sun. In the last year alone, there were over 15,000 gang-related homicides. We turn now to Melanie, a failed state local. I'm from the slums of the FSA.

My husband Randy got sick with intestinal cancer. To pay for treatments, we had to take money from loan sharks. When we couldn't pay, he was forced to fight in the debtor's pits. After he died. I didn't know how I was going to support my children. Do you have a story that's similar to Melanie's? Are you and your family trapped on Earth, living in despair? Then join the United Jupiter Company, where a new life awaits you among the stars. Here in the Jovian system, opportunity knocks.

You can work as an engineer in the aqueducts of Europa, or as a farmhand in the orchards of Ganymede. Look at Melanie now, working as a miner in the great caves of Io. Joining the UJC turned my life around. We no longer have to worry about crime or disease, because the United Jupiter Company has our back. Isn't that right, kids? or come live on board the Helix Station, the Diamond in the Dark.

Helix is the home to thousands of UJC residents, all living in the most advanced space station ever built. It's powered by the revolutionary new Carpenter Drive. Ensure them. Helix is worldly. Percy. You left us to die. Percy. Don't. Percy! Don't leave it.

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save up to 40% your first year at lifelock.com slash podcast terms apply the trip down memory lane she's even bigger than i remember the diamond in the dark doomed from the day they built it man shouldn't have been out here playing god

Building worlds up to the stars. Dear me, Cain. Didn't take you for a poet. There's a lot you don't know about me. Suggest you keep it that way. This place is freaky as hell. I can see why it gives everyone the creeps. What's all that debris surrounding the station? It's not debris. It's the cloud of corpses. Good God.

What have we gotten ourselves into? You've got a lot to learn about history, kid. I suppose this is why our fugitive picked this place. You knew we'd be scared. I don't get scared. You will. Careful of the proximity mines. They should be coming up in a few clicks. Unfortunately, they're all old school. Nothing I can do about that. Alright.

Swallow the fear. Let's gear up. Let's get this briefing out of the way. Sure. On with it. We're going to be dropping into Helix Station. Once the thriving first stop for Jovian colonists. Now it's just an off-the-grid ghost ship with a PR problem. Helix has a 20 mile radius with the ability to house half a million colonists. As Percy can surely remember, 20 years ago, its carpenter drive went supercritical, flooding the station with ionized radiation.

Hence our beautiful space graveyard the UJC has since shut it down and blocked it off using these proximity mines as a deterrent Inside, we can expect fluctuating radiation level, decaying and possibly malfunctioning antique security bots, and our fugitive. A man who should be considered the most dangerous criminal. in the galaxy. No one knows we're here. No one's coming to save us. Great. Percy will be our guide. Tanaka, we'll be relying on your robotic skills should we run into any issues.

Uh, yeah. I'll do what I can. The rest of us, we should set our mindsets on one thing and one thing only. Shoot. Dekil. Jesus. How many bodies are floating out here? Thousands. From here to the station, we're swimming in the Sea of the Dead. I think I'm gonna be sick. You okay, Percy? What's that out there? Just outside the ring. You see it, kid?

Shit. Tanaka, anything on the radar? It just popped out of nowhere. The corpses must have washed out the signal. Mine detected. Impact imminent. Everyone, helmets on! I didn't see it. It wasn't on the radar, I swear! Pull left, Prendergast. We're gonna hit the starboard side. Pull left now! Now! Brace for impact! Shit! Episode 1, The Proposition. The Callisto Protocol Helix Station stars Gwendolyn Christie as Percy. Sam Littlefield as Prendergast. Michael Ironside as Kane.

With additional performances by... Eric Scanlon as the prisoner. Elizabeth Evans as the ship's voice. Jessic Griffin as narrator. Christa Scott-Reed as Melanie. Aaron Anderson as the mother. Lonnie Arnold and Quentin Planton Jr. as the two kids. Audio story by Jake Emanuel. and Willie Block at Breaking and Entering. Written by Gregory Thompson and Tex Gresham. Directed by Jake Emanuel and Willie Block. Executive produced by Paula Charles and Rob Capps.

Executive Producers, Jake Emanuel and Willie Block. Produced by Gloria Bradbury and Tess Ryan. Original music and composition by Ryland Blackington. Music editing by Stephen Blevins. Sound design and mix by Sam Plattner. Sound design by Pacific Standard Sound. Jimmy Miller, Matt Yoakam, and Ryan Sullivan. Dialogue Editor, Eileen Roberts. Casting Director, Daryl Eisenberg and Allie Beans. Assistant Director, Kyle Smithers. Script Supervisor, J.C. Hines.

Project Manager, Cameron Mark Lewis. Production Coordinator, Arati Mizro. Production Assistant, Ryan Mercatante. Audio engineering by Charles Carroll and David Wilson. Assistant editor, Beatriz Nerona. Trailer editor, Owen Granich-Young. Production legal... Erica Jewell. The Callisto Protocol Helix Station is a Striking Distance Studios and Godfrey Dadich Partners production. Striking Distance Studios. Story Consultants. Scott Whitney.

Eric Lieb and Glenn Schofield. Executive Producers Adam Krauss and TJ Kansuye. Associate Producers Vincent Kwong and Daniel Jordanengo. VP Business Development. Blake Hennen. Based on the world of the Callisto Protocol, created by Glenn Schofield, CEO and Game Director. For all the latest news and discussion around the always busy and always changing world of Xbox.

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