Circle Round presents: The Midnight Rebellion, Ch. 3 "Into the Machine"

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Circle Round presents The Midnight Rebellion, Ch. 3 "Into the Machine"

Date: July 2, 2026
Podcast: Circle Round (WBUR)
Host/Featured Voices: Erica Henningson (as Jule), Ben Brock Johnson, Midnight Rebellion Promoter, Narrator

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Episode Overview

This episode, “Into the Machine,” continues the serialized adventure of The Midnight Rebellion—a WBUR podcast targeted at older children, exploring fascinating themes such as bravery, climate change, and the consequences of our choices. In this chapter, protagonist Jule confronts her fears and curiosity, launching herself into a mysterious, dangerous machine that transports her to a future Boston underwater. Through evocative storytelling and immersive soundscapes, this installment raises issues of persistence, environmental awareness, and decision-making under pressure.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Highlights

1. Jule’s Forbidden Adventure (00:59 – 02:16)

• Jule’s struggle: The episode opens with Jule defying warnings to explore a stormy night and forbidden laboratory.
• Temptation of the Machine: She is drawn to a mysterious, rumbling, dangerous device in her father’s lab.
  • Quote [01:57]:
    "I should. I can. I have to." — Erica Henningson as Jule
• The Mystery of the Antiques: Jule finds her mother's antique pocket watch inside the machine, triggering her determination to proceed.

2. Into the Machine – Fear and Transport (02:16 – 04:54)

• Inside the Machine:
  • The cramped, unsettling interior is described vividly with eerie details (fish guts, claustrophobic walls).
  • The machine’s door slams shut unexpectedly, trapping Jule.
  • A tense sequence as Jule tries (and fails) to escape while the machine rattles violently.
  • The machine initiates “bio synchronization,” filling the space with an iridescent film, overwhelming Jule.
  • Countdown to the unknown:
    • Quote [03:46]:
      "I shouldn't be in here." — Erica Henningson as Jule
    • The machine dramatically vanishes, carrying her with it.

3. Awakening in a Strange, Flooded Boston (06:46 – 10:27)

• New Environment: Jule awakens in thick seaweed, discovering she’s missing a shoe and her white sweater is blood-stained. She encounters a seagull that steals her pocket watch.
  • Quote [08:05]:
    "Hey, give that back." — Erica Henningson as Jule
• A Changed City: As she investigates her surroundings, Jule realizes she’s in a drastically altered, partially submerged Boston.
• Personal Connection:
  • Discovers a sewer grate labeled "trains to Boston Harbor."
  • Sees evidence of her old neighborhood, destroyed by the encroaching sea.
  • Quote [10:00]:
    “Boston. This is Boston.” — Erica Henningson as Jule

4. Confronting Climate Reality (11:23 – 12:28)

• Rising Tides: Jule recalls her mother's warnings about tides and climate change.
• A Grim Future: She realizes she is in a future where unchecked global warming has flooded the city.
  • Quote [12:08]:
    "That's why my house is gone. The ocean is higher and that means this is the future. A really, really bad future." — Erica Henningson as Jule

5. New Dangers and Choices (12:49 – 15:07)

• A Flicker of Hope: Jule sees a flashing electric beacon and investigates, hoping to find help.
• Strange Encounters: She runs into a bizarre minicopter with writhing tentacles and a ragged child who destroys it with a rock.
  • Quote [13:14]:
    "Help. Help." — Erica Henningson as Jule
  • Quote [14:41]:
    "Hey." — Midnight Rebellion Promoter (as the ragged boy)
• Decision Point: Suddenly left alone and desperate, listeners are prompted to choose Jule’s next move:
  • Chase the kid or try to catch the copter.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I should. I can. I have to.” — Jule, as she chooses action over fear (01:57)
• “Her bio synchronization initialized.” — The machine’s mysterious operation begins (03:15-03:19)
• “I shouldn't be in here.” — Jule’s doubt as the machine activates (03:46)
• “Help. Joel Green need help?” — Jule, desperately seeking rescue from the minicopter (14:03)
• “That's why my house is gone. The ocean is higher and that means this is the future. A really, really bad future.” — Jule, realizing the climate crisis has altered her world (12:08)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:59–02:16] – Jule’s temptation and entry into the machine
• [03:01–04:54] – Machine activation and sudden transport
• [06:46–09:15] – Jule’s awakening in a changed world
• [09:44–12:28] – Discovery of flooded Boston and climate change realization
• [12:49–15:07] – Encounters with the future’s strange technology and inhabitants
• [15:07–15:42] – Interactive story choice presented to listeners

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Tone & Atmosphere

• The episode maintains an intriguing and adventurous tone, blending suspense with kid-friendly wit and wonder.
• Jule’s inner monologue is both relatable and humorous, even under pressure:
  • “Lost a shoe. I knew I should have double knotted.” (07:26)
  • “No, that’s not a thing.” (on ‘seaweed bombs,’ 10:45)

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Conclusion & Next Steps

The episode ends with a cliffhanger and audience participation: listeners are invited to make the next choice in Jule’s adventure, either by chasing the mysterious kid or following the mysterious minicopter, emphasizing the interactive, choose-your-own-adventure format of the series.

To continue the story:

• Select “Chapter 4: Chase the Kid” or “Chapter 7: Get to the Copter” in The Midnight Rebellion podcast feed.

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Summary prepared for listeners who want a complete but spoiler-light view of the episode’s journey and themes, preserving Circle Round’s exciting storytelling spirit.

Transcript

[Erica Henningson]

Hey, everyone. It's your circle round summer camp counselor, Erica Henningson. You might have heard me say that I'm from another podcast, WBUR's new show for kids. It's called the Midnight Rebellion. And today we're bringing you another episode from that new show right here to your circle round podcast feed. The Midnight Rebellion is for slightly older kids, so if you're younger than, say, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 years old, you might want to ask your parents if it's okay to keep listening. Okay? Okay. So if you're seven years old or older, keep listening to join the Midnight Rebellion, WBUR podcast, Boston,

[Narrator]

You're listening to the Midnight Rebellion. Chapter 3 Into the Machine. Jule should not be doing this. Any of this. She should not have left the house at night in a storm. She shouldn't have entered the lab against her dad' wishes. She shouldn't have gone off alone. Shouldn't have started poking around. And she definitely, absolutely should not be getting into this.

[Erica Henningson]

This machine.

[Narrator]

This machine is dangerous, no question. It shakes and steams and spurts. It screams at Ju. And yet, as she gazes inside where her mother antique pocket watch almost taunts her, that phrase I should not ceases to exist.

[Erica Henningson]

I should. I can. I have to.

[Narrator]

Why is the watch there? What does it mean about her mother? Jewel steps up onto the ramp toward the red light and climbs into the machine.

[Erica Henningson]

There. That wasn't so bad.

[Narrator]

The inside is cramped, barely bigger than a laundry dryer. The walls are dented and scratched. Her shoes squeak on the damp grating and dismembered fish. Quickly, she kneels and untangles the tarnished gold watch. She rubs her thumb over the molded cover. It clicks open. The cracked clock face glows, but the hands sit motionless.

[Erica Henningson]

Hmm. Broken. Probably clogged with fish guts. Uh, what was that?

[Narrator]

That was the door slamming shut behind her.

[Erica Henningson]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Narrator]

Hey.

[Erica Henningson]

Open up. Open up.

[Narrator]

The machine only rattles more violently.

[Erica Henningson]

Okay, come on. I said open.

[Narrator]

And then, all of a sudden, her skin goes white hot.

[Erica Henningson]

Her

[Narrator]

bio synchronization initialized.

[Erica Henningson]

Heart. Is this a prank?

[Narrator]

Heart.

[Erica Henningson]

Heart.

[Narrator]

She peers out of the porthole. No one is there.

[Erica Henningson]

Ten.

[Ben Brock Johnson]

Nine.

[Narrator]

All at once, her stomach drops. She feels heavy and small. An iridescent fluid seems to ooze out of her pores, forming a shimmery film around her body. Something begins to squeeze the life out of her. Then she knows.

[Erica Henningson]

I shouldn't be in here.

[Narrator]

2, 1. And the machine disappears.

[Erica Henningson]

Ow.

[Narrator]

Jewel sits bruised, thought smeared like a bad painting. Lights dim the machine bobs, then gentles to a stop.

[Erica Henningson]

Is it over?

[Narrator]

The view through the porthole is black as oil. The room is gone. Her fingers find a gap in the wall. Curious, she works her nails and pulls off a panel.

[Erica Henningson]

A control board that would have been helpful to know.

[Narrator]

The buttons of the control panel glare back at her. She presses the big green one marked simply open. Warning.

[Erica Henningson]

Warning. Warning. Warning.

[Narrator]

The door cracks and time slows. Wet spray strikes her skin, salt stings her tongue, and she realizes this machine is underwater. It is about to flood. She is going to drown. This seems like a good spot to pause. We'll be right back after the break.

[Ben Brock Johnson]

Hey parents, It's Ben Brock Johnson from the WBUR Podcasts Team. Circle Round is supported by DoorDash. DoorDash is for those parent moments when the plan falls apart. And as a parent of twins, I can relate. I have a lot on my plate. You know what I often don't have on my plate? Dinner. Or the groceries with which to make said dinner. Sometimes a swimsuit will go missing. Even though I thought we had like four of those groceries. Retail dinner supplies DoorDash can help with all of these things. When DoorDash brings the goods right to our door, dad gets a little more time for himself and a little more time for a good bedtime story. When life gets crazy, DoorDash brings some order to it. Order now.

[Midnight Rebellion Promoter]

100 years from now, in a land far, far away. Hang on, it's not so far away at all actually. Hey, Circle Round families. We're here to share a new listening experience from wbur. The Midnight Rebellion. It's a climate podcast adventure for kids and 8 and up. Time traveling, problem solving, laughs in danger. It's here. Follow the feed to listen. Oh, and bring your goggles and boots. That's the Midnight Rebellion. In your feed or wherever you get podcasts.

[Narrator]

Jewel wakes on a nest of spaghetti. At least that's what it feels like. Steamy and slick. She stretches, limbs entwined. If this is a dream, it is weird but lovely. Her eyelids split and moody gray daylight streams in. She wipes grit from her face and as her hand sharpens into view, she sees her slender fingers tangled in. Not spaghetti.

[Erica Henningson]

Gross.

[Narrator]

She flings away a slimy bile colored rope of seaweed. Her body is swaddled in thick mats of it. She shoots up and staggers. Something gooey licks the toes of her left foot.

[Erica Henningson]

Ah, lost a shoe. I knew I should have double knotted.

[Narrator]

Her white sweater is sodden and stained red. She tugs at the collar, revealing A nasty gash in one shoulder.

[Erica Henningson]

Where am I?

[Narrator]

She's tempted to believe this is really a dream because thick fog creeps around her. Other than the seaweed carpet, the ground is largely flat rock layered with sand. Dead trees sway nearby and the remnants of wooden structures molder. Jewel turns. A scrawny seagull perches on a piling. Dangling from the bird's cherry tipped beak is a gold timepiece.

[Erica Henningson]

Hey, give that back.

[Narrator]

The cluster of mottled brown feathers flaps, seeming very proud of its bounty.

[Erica Henningson]

That's mine. That's not yours.

[Narrator]

Give it back. She lunges after the seagull. It drops the jewelry and takes off, tantrumming.

[Erica Henningson]

Good riddance, thief.

[Narrator]

Jewel fastens the thick chain around her neck and rubs the watch with her thumb. She clicks open the case.

[Erica Henningson]

Hey. I thought you were broken. Hmm. Maybe that machine was just a fancy watch fixer.

[Narrator]

The thought turns her insides cold. Because speaking its name, the machine. Her memory comes back. The door had started to open. The water streamed in.

[Erica Henningson]

Help. Help.

[Narrator]

And then the force of it slammed her back and filled the machine. It swept her away, out into the deep rushing darkness. And the machine drifted away.

[Erica Henningson]

This is not good. Okay, don't panic. That's what mom would tell you. You're alive. That's good. You're only bleeding a little bit. And sure, you have no idea where that machine thing went, but you know you're at the beach. No, not the beach. The rock looks like a street. And those wooden poles seem like they used to be houses.

[Narrator]

Jewel tears away seaweed in huge clumps down to the rock. This is a street. Next, she sees a sewer grate, rusted

[Erica Henningson]

but clearly imprinted with the words trains to Boston Harbor. Boston. This is Boston.

[Narrator]

How the wind blows, cleaving the fog where a set of pilings remains.

[Erica Henningson]

Those look familiar.

[Narrator]

She edges closer. She brushes away dark brown silt from the ground. She recognizes a concrete walkway and two handprints.

[Erica Henningson]

H&J heart and jewelry. This is my home.

[Narrator]

Jewel considers what she knows. The machine is missing. She is in Boston. On her street. Her house is destroyed. Her first thought is that all of this is somehow her doing. Like the machine was a kind of bomb that leveled the neighborhood.

[Erica Henningson]

But that doesn't make sense. It wouldn't look like this unless it was a seaweed bomb. No, that's not a thing.

[Narrator]

She is hungry and the air is hot and her barefoot is sore. She wends her way through the fog, searching for what? The machine heart. Once she thinks she hears her brother cough, but decides it's just distant waves. In time, the breaking water seems to inch closer. The street gets slightly wetter. Then her toes are underwater, her ankles. Then water is sweeping over the weeds and asphalt.

[Erica Henningson]

The water's rising. It's a tide.

[Narrator]

Her mom had told her about tides twice a day. The ocean rises and falls like the

[Erica Henningson]

water is breathing in and out, in and out. Tides are forever, you know. Your great gran used to say a tide never ebbs without flowing back in. But one day, if the earth keeps warming, its glaciers will melt. And the tides. The tides will rise higher than the cities.

[Narrator]

Her mom had a map of what Boston might look like in the coming years. It gave Jewel nightmares. At high tide, half the city would

[Erica Henningson]

be submerged, including my neighborhood. That's why the street is filling up with water. That's why my house is gone. The ocean is higher and that means this is the future. A really, really bad future.

[Narrator]

Her eyes well with tears. She wants to be in her bed, to be listening to Heart blabber about his K9000 dog robot or whatever. To be home.

[Erica Henningson]

The machine. I need the machine. It got me here. It can get me back. I just have to find it.

[Midnight Rebellion Promoter]

But how?

[Erica Henningson]

What is that?

[Narrator]

Jewel peers out in the direction of the noise. High in the air, the fog blinks electric blue like a beacon.

[Erica Henningson]

I'm not alone, Grace. I'm not alone.

[Narrator]

Hey.

[Erica Henningson]

Hello.

[Narrator]

In a flash, Jewel is careering down the slowly flooding street, waving her arms overhead, shouting hey.

[Erica Henningson]

Hello.

[Narrator]

Chunks of asphalt and concrete tear at her, barefoot, but she does not stop.

[Erica Henningson]

Help. Help.

[Narrator]

The street inclines and soon she is on dry ground, running toward the strangest flying object. A tiny helicopter. Foot long blades spin on a ballpoint axle inside a spherical cage. Eight lighted arms extend from the orb, writhing like tentacles. Jewel stops short below the hovering minicopter.

[Erica Henningson]

Uh, hello? Can you hear me? Okay? My name is Joel Watts Green. I'm lost and I need your help.

[Narrator]

Please. The copter gyrates. Excited, it drifts down closer. The tentacles trail like strands of hair.

[Erica Henningson]

Help. Joel Green need help? Yeah, yeah. Can you take me to someone? A grown up?

[Narrator]

It rises, arms spinning and the when the blue lights flare orange, hope washes over Jewel until a flying rock slams into the cockpit.

[Erica Henningson]

What just happened?

[Narrator]

The little helicopter starts to contort in the air. Jewel glances left. Standing there is a puny kid wearing rags, huge goggles, and an enormous grin. Take that, you rusty tin skin. He pumps a fist.

[Midnight Rebellion Promoter]

Hey.

[Erica Henningson]

What'd you do that for?

[Midnight Rebellion Promoter]

Time to run.

[Narrator]

The kid bolts left. The copter veers right. They both disappear into the fog and Jewel is left standing alone.

[Erica Henningson]

Oh no. What do I do now?

[Narrator]

What will Jool do now? That's up to you. She could run after the mangy rock thrower. If you like that option, select Chapter four, Chase the Kid. Or if she should go after the mini helicopter to find help, go to Chapter seven, Get to the Copter, Chapter four, Chase the Kid. Chapter seven, get to the Copter. Choose wisely. This is the Midnight Rebellion.

[Midnight Rebellion Promoter]

To keep listening, search for the Midnight Rebellion in your podcast app and follow the show. The whole series is out now. Up next, select Chapter four, Chase the Kid, or Chapter seven, get to the Copter. That's in our feed the Midnight Rebellion. See you there.

[Narrator]

Sam.