radio

Welcome to universe friday, a blog focused on giving the world more universe city content by providing the lost episode transcript excerpts excluded from the book, ‘Radio Silence’ by Alice Oseman.

These written excerpts are original works by a fan for the fans, who also wishes for more content from this beautiful but, sadly, fictional podcast.

Excerpts will be posted weekly, on a Friday, will vary in length and content and will mostly take place before episode #126, aka pre-Aled’s birthday/the drunk episode.

All universe-friday asks will be answered from a different blog. Send any questions, suggestions, opinions or even hate mail to the @friday-answers ask box.

Thank you. I hope you’ll be listening.

this episode must be fake... i would NEVER get lost.

Listen now on Spotify:

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I thought I would be relieved to have some time without Paris after being cooped up together for so long, but the truth is, I’ve grown accustomed to her constant presence beside me. Whether she’s talking my ear off or completely silent, staring into seemingly nothing, she’s been there all the time lately.

I guess I don’t really mind her that much after all.

We decided to split today during our search of the city, to cover more ground. I don’t even know what exactly we’re looking for… I guess this is similar to patrolling, in that sense. You never know what you’ll find, until you do.

[...]

Something… I think something happened. I’m not sure what exactly, but… yeah. Something happened.

I was walking through the streets, looking for… well, anything that might help us figure out what happened to Adhil and Adhafera, when suddenly I felt like I was being watched.

It wasn’t just that, though.

I felt… a strange burn on the back of my head, like the first sunrays’ tingle, like an angel feather had fallen and brushed against my hair, like a cat had taken human form and passed right behind me, moving the air just so.

I stopped, and felt my breath hitch. I turned around slowly, not wanting to make any sudden movements until I assessed the situation.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to find what they were looking for, like when someone points out something in the sky and at first you’re too blinded by the sun to see, but then your pupil adapts, and there. There was a girl.

Brown eyes, chin-length hair. Bright pink.

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Once we’d made it back, Paris and I had a talk. I thought it was time I confronted her about what exactly she knew about the City. She said she didn’t know much, but enough to know we appeared to be on the same side. I nodded.

Of course, it’s more complicated than with or against the City, but I also know allies are necessary to survive. You just can’t think of them as friends.

I miss Adhafera… I keep thinking of those first few days together, when we first met, before I even knew their name. As much as I enjoyed Adhil’s company, I can’t remember him without thinking of where it all went wrong.

The maze… The echo… The weirdness of time… I don’t want to remember it anymore.

It was all pointless. And now they’ve both disappeared without a trace.

I told Paris about that part—my last allies disappearing—since I remembered she mentioned disappearances the first time we talked.

“I’m sorry about your friends,” she said. I didn’t correct her.

She decided we should lead an expedition around Universe City to try and glean more information, so that’s what we’re doing tomorrow. It’s not like I have any better plans.

[...]

You were the first to disappear without a trace, February. Long before I met a child who only said, “Beep boop” and “the stars” while pointing at the sky, long even before I found myself in this wretched place, there was you. And I thought you my friend in our prison—and you were. You were my friend. We loved each other.

But that wasn’t enough; love is never enough, is it, February?

It wasn’t enough to save us. It wasn’t enough to make you see me.

So how can I think it will be enough to find Adhil and Adhafera?

[Sigh.]

Back again... Same voice, different mind behind it.

Listen now on Spotify!

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

We have a lot of catching up to do, old sport.

First of all, I was wrong about Paris. She doesn’t work for anyone, she’s not here to spy on me or anything like that. It’s just her.

A few days ago, the second wave of heat overcame the City earlier than expected. We were out on a recon mission when suddenly the air scorched our lungs and the ground burned through our soles. It caught us by surprise, far from her base, and the sun was already too high in the sky to risk running, so we had to wait it out.

It was hell on earth out there, old sport. The only way to survive was to find somewhere cooler until nightfall.

Paris was clearly suffering more than I was. She said she felt drowsy when I asked if she’d be okay, and I knew I didn’t have much time to get her out of the sun.

We went into the first abandoned building we found. It wasn’t exactly safe, but it was our only option. I found an old fan in a cupboard and put it on once we found a backroom with no windows to let any sun in. Luckily, the water still worked.

After a while, we both felt much better, though tired and frustrated. And then Paris asked me the strangest thing. She asked if this had been my plan all along.

“Of course not,” I said. “Why would I want us to be stuck here during the heat?”

“To take me somewhere,” she said, eyeing me with more caution than I’d ever seen her show.

“Where?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said.

And I realised, she’d been wondering if I had been sent to spy on her this entire time. I realised she was just as alone as I was. Only, she’d been a lot more trusting with me than I had been with her, which had seemed suspicious at first, but that day I understood it had just been her way of protecting herself, of showing me she had nothing to hide. Which I now know wasn’t true, of course.

i hope you'll be listening... again... 26.06.26

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Paris and I have had to lock ourselves up because of the heatwave. The City is as unfriendly as ever, cyborgs roaming the streets, beeping incessantly in alarm at their overheating under the harsh sun. Everyone is cowering in the shadows, prying on every drop of water we can find.

Did they know, back when they invented the radio, what would become of our Earth?

We spend our days doing nothing. Even talking requires energy, which warms our bodies, and we don’t want that. So we just lay there, alternating who has to get up to get more water, barely even snacking because eating warms us up too.

I hate being stuck here like this. I need to get out before the next wave hits.

Tonight, it’s a little cooler. I’m out on the roof again, sending out this message, this plea for… what? Rescue? Connection? Perhaps only a kind ear, willing to listen to my nonsense blabbering. I’m sorry. The heat really does not help to keep my bearings.

I can’t leave right now, though. I’m getting closer to whatever Paris is hiding. And I’m not one to give up on finding out the truth.

She is human, that much is sure now. No robot, not even the most advanced models, would react the way she has to the heatwave.

And she’s not from the City. Of course, no one is really from the City, you know that, but most people here tend to forget that. They incorporate the City, let its atmosphere wrap around them, inhale its fumes, follow its rules. They become part of the City.

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Paris gives me the creeps. She’s just always there, you know? And the more time I spend with her, the more I wonder if she actually knows anything, or if she’s just… No, she can’t be.

I always have to show her how to get away from the cyborgs every time we walk the City. She’s not exactly discreet. I don’t know how she’s survived this long before meeting me, honestly. It’s like she’s trying to get us killed! Except she can’t be. If she were, why would she have saved me that very first day? It doesn’t make any sense.

Unless she has some secret use for me alive for now, but she plans on getting rid of me soon enough. I know that sounds paranoid, but you have to believe me, old sport, she’s pretending to be someone she’s not.

I know what it’s like to wear a mask all the time, the way it seems to merge with your own skin after a while, and you don’t know how to take it off because you don’t remember where the edges are, can’t discern between who you are and what you made up about yourself.

Paris has that kind of mask on, I can tell. She’s hiding something.

I’ve started looking around for… well, I don’t know what exactly. Some clues, I suppose. Anything that might indicate what her true motivations are. When she falls asleep, I check her pockets, the drawers in the kitchen, under the chairs… I haven’t found anything suspicious yet, but I’ll keep looking.

If she isn’t who she says she is, there has to be some trace somewhere.

[Trapdoor opening.]

PARIS: Radio?

RADIO: Yeah?

PARIS: Dinner’s ready.

RADIO: Oh, thanks. I’ll be right there.

PARIS: Yep.

[Trapdoor closing. Sigh.]

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Ever since I’ve met Paris, I’ve been very careful of what I say around her. She acts all innocent, but she hears everything and remembers it all perfectly.

I promised myself I won’t let my guard down around her, so I went up on the roof to send out this message. Whoever is listening right now, let the record show that I was careful. Paris is inside right now, sleeping. At least, I assume she’s asleep.

This is why I’m talking so quietly. Just in case she’s under the trapdoor, listening. I’d rather take unnecessary precautions than find myself compromised.

I’ve been trying to figure out her gameplan, but it’s like something is still escaping me. I can’t exactly grasp her, you know? Something doesn’t make sense, something doesn’t add up.

Why does she know so much? Why does she trust me so easily? How did she find me, now of all times? Why is she helping me?

Oh yes, if you were still wondering about that, I’m entirely normal again, now. No more blinking and finding myself in a different place, at a different time. I am one hundred percent conscient when I’m awake.

Which makes it kind of hard to fall asleep. I don’t feel at ease, giving up my surroundings for that dark and heavy blanket we call slumber. Paris’s breaths are so quiet when she sleeps, like she’s in so deep there’s barely any air for her so far into the abyss. It confuses me.

How can she just… be so comfortable? So trusting? I could have stolen her things and ran away a billion times before she wakes up every day, or worse.

I can only get a few hours of restless sleep each night as I stay up until I collapse and startle awake at any movement.

[Yawn.]

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

“Do you know anything?” Paris asked, and I nearly laughed.

Did I know anything?

She was genuinely asking me that! Like you can just go around the City asking people for information! Ha! Hahaha! Like I was just going to tell her about my echo and how Beep Boop’s real name came from the stars and what time of day the sky is the exact same shade of blue as Adhil’s eyes. Like I could trust someone I’d just met!

“About what?” I asked; maybe if she was willing to ask me what I knew, she’d show me her hand before I laid down my cards.

“The disappearances.” Paris looked at me with a worried expression again. “Do you have a concussion?”

“What? No! I’m fine.”

“Did you spend too much time inhaling the fumes?”

I didn’t bother with a reply.

Paris sighed. “Radio, I can’t help you unless you let me.”

“Why would you help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

I was speechless, old sport, let me tell you. Have you ever met someone so incredibly naive that you don’t even know what to think of them? Someone that’s just that little bit too sweet to be believable, but there’s some part of you that holds back on your anger, asking what if? What if they truly are that kindhearted? Is it possible?

Can someone want to help simply because?

I don’t know. I decided I had no reason not to go along for now though, so I told Paris I’d been breathing in the fumes for several days. She gave me soup she said would help me get my bearings again after a few days.

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I woke up in a strange place today.

I’ve been finding myself in strange places more and more lately. Or, well, I guess I couldn’t say exactly how long it’s been, since I can’t seem to really be present for uninterrupted periods of time. I could have been out of it for just a few hours or for several weeks, for all I know!

Ha… Anyway…

So I woke up in a strange place today, which has been happening to me a lot. This time was different though, because I wasn’t alone. There was a young woman sitting beside me and looking at me when I opened my eyes.

Before I could attack her, she rushed to explain that she’d found me passed out on the roof and so she’d brought me inside with her and I’d been asleep for fourteen hours. She was beginning to think I might never wake up.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“My name is Paris.”

Strange name, but then again, I’m not in a place to say anything. “I’m Radio.” People go by all kinds of strange names in Universe City.

“That’s a good sign, if you know what your name is. Do you know what day it is?”

I shook my head. She looked worried—I didn’t like it.

“Time and space have been acting weird for me,” I said, like that might be a reassuring explanation.

“Yeah, some buildings here can do that to you,” Paris said.

For the first time, I looked at her more closely. She had short, black hair, soft brown eyes, and was wearing an outfit that looked close to a school uniform.

“You’ve noticed, too?” I asked quietly. I wasn’t sure how trustworthy she—or this strange place—was just yet.

Her eyes went wide. “Of course I have. People don’t usually talk about it, but there have been so many disappearances lately, it’s harder to pretend everything is normal.”

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I don’t really have anything to report.

The cyborgs are still following me. The buildings are still surrounding me. The stars are still taunting me.

They blink, all the way up there in the night-sky, closer to you than I might ever be again, February.

I blink, and I’m on a rooftop. I blink, and I’m in the streets. I blink, and you’re gone.

What happens when the stars blink, I wonder? Do they travel billions of light-years away without even knowing? Do they lose loved ones? Do they get lost in the darkness?

Twinkle, twinkle… And when a star goes out, when it forever closes its eyes, then it becomes a black hole. And the black hole swallows all the light, and its star-friends can’t ever bring it back the way it was. Do they leave, then? Or do they abandon themselves to the darkness?

I feel like a black hole sometimes, February. Well, a lot of the time. I rarely light up anymore—with you gone, with Adhil and Adhafera missing, I don’t know if I still can. I keep blinking and blinking, wondering every time I open my eyes again if it will be the last time.

To live outside of time, to breach space without knowing it, is not what our minds are made to endure. I don’t think… I don’t think my mind can endure it much longer.

But the stars! The stars are bright tonight, February. Oh, they’re so bright, you would love to sit here with me and look at how bright they are.

Or maybe you wouldn’t. I don’t know. I don’t know if I still know what you would like. I don’t know if I ever did.

In any case, I’m sitting here and looking at the stars for you, in case you would like to see them. That way, I can tell you all about it, even if you aren’t really here to listen. It’s still important to tell you, you know?

So, look: you see that small cluster right above the City dome?

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

I’ve been alone for two days now. I don’t know where Adhil and Adhafera have gone. One moment they were here, and the next, I was alone.

I always knew they would leave me someday, but it still hurts. Did they even say goodbye? Or did they leave without telling me? I don’t remember… I blinked and they were gone.

I’ve been spending an awful lot of time on the ground since.

I just… [Sigh.] I don’t know.

I wish the cyborgs would stop following me around. Everyone is busy with exams while I’m out here, the only human left on the streets, and so it appears I’m the only potential victim they see.

I’m escaping them alright, I just would enjoy a little bit of time ALONE!

You know? [Sigh.] I shouldn’t get angry…

Why did Adhil and Adhafera leave? I’m just so— ugh, no. I need to stop.

I need to stop, I need to stop, I need to sto—

[Static.]

Sorry about that, old sport. As I was saying, cyborgs have been following me around everywhere, and I had to be silent to outrun them efficiently. But I’m back now!

Anyway… The city fumes are stronger than ever, keeping everyone inside for the exams. It’s really not good being exposed to them… It’s really not good.

Wherever they are, I hope Adhil and Adhafera are at least safe. They have to be, smart as they are. They know not to walk outside in the fumes, right?

Well, I know not to, yet I’m still here. I just have nowhere else to be at the moment, so… Maybe that’s why it’s good to have people depend on you, in the end. It makes you want to stay safe for them. Being alone is good, but also… I don’t know. I’m talking nonsense again. I seem to do that a lot lately.

[Giggles, then sobs.]

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Ever since coming back from the dark maze, I’ve been feeling rather strange. It’s like I’m still moving through waves of time, fighting against the current to go forward.

Sometimes I blink, and I’m not where I remember being just a second before.

I decided to talk to Adhil about it, but I didn’t want to cause him any unnecessary worry after all he’s been through, so I asked how he’d been feeling since being back. He said he was surprised at how normal he felt, like he’d just been here with us yesterday. He said he could still remember his time trapped in the building, but it all seemed very far away, like a memory of a memory, or a nightmare someone else told you about.

I nodded and felt another time-wave hit me. I blinked, and I was alone on the rooftop.

[Whispering] What is happening to me?

Is any of this real?

Or will I wake up next to you again someday and realise this was all an awful dream, like Adhil’s memory of the maze…? Maybe that’s why I can’t dream here, because this is a dream.

February, if you’re still here somehow, if this was all an invention of my own mind, then we could talk again. We could talk, and laugh, just like we used to, remember?

[...]

But this isn’t a dream I get to just wake up from. I may be glitching through time right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s a way out of Universe City. It just means the City fumes are messing with my brain again.

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

We moved slowly, blinded and numbed by the cold darkness. We could still hear my echo, faintly, growing fainter as we progressed towards what I hoped was the exit.

Sometimes, I thought I heard someone weep behind me, but there was only Adhil, and he was beside me.

We found ourselves jumping from place to place, holding on tightly to each other so as not to get separated again. We did not run; we knew there was no outrunning time. We simply had to keep moving until we reached our goal.

I tasted sand in my mouth. I was so thirsty and tired. Finally I could make out Adhil’s silhouette, then his hand in mine, then his face.

He was paler still than before, blue eyes sunken and almost grey, hair now falling to his shoulders.

“Radio,” he said, staring back and smiling, “it’s really you.”

“It’s me,” I said.”We’re gonna get out of here.”

The light became brighter. As we rounded a corner, I heard Adhafera’s quiet “Beep boops.”

We walked up to the trapdoor and climbed up. Adhafera nearly crushed Adhil in their hug, and this time it really was him weeping.

I smiled, but it ached.

If you were ever trapped in a time-maze, February, I would crawl down into the belly of the City to come get you, and I’d hold your hand through the time-waves to guide you back to the surface until I could see your face in the daylight again.

I’m glad Adhil is okay.

Hello. I hope somebody is listening.

[...]

Adhil told me… He told me about getting trapped in the building while I was helping Adhafera escape. He told me about the dreamlike state he was in, pulled from corridor to corridor, lost both in space and time.

“It felt like trying to get out of the sea in the middle of a storm,” he said. “You run to the shore, but just as you think you’re safe, the water reaches for you again, and you can’t outrun the wave before it pulls you back in again, tumbling with the sand and shells. I was running out of breath from trying to outrun the time-waves pursuing me.”

Adhil told me he had been waiting here for so long he’d stopped trying to guess how many days had passed. Every moment was only one more confusing realisation of consciousness after the other, like constantly waking up from a bad dream.

Then, he had found himself here, at the end of this especially cold and dark corridor, and he’d found an old radio station behind a corner, dusty and rusty like it had been forgotten by the last humans who used such outdated technology. He had thought of me—of my echo.

And he’d thought of Adhafera, of how worried they must be. He’d wanted to let us know he was alive.

So he’d looked and tinkered, and tried to find a way to reach us. The only message he managed to send out was by redirecting my own—the very one we’ve been hearing all over the City. If our theory is correct, then he’s the one who’s been my echo this entire time.