RQ Network Feed Drop – Cold Tapes– 001 Operation Antelope

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Magnus Archives – RQ Network Feed Drop – Cold Tapes– 001 Operation Antelope

Date: May 7, 2026
Host: Rusty Quill
Featured Feed Drop: Cold Tapes, Episode 1 – "Operation Antelope"

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Episode Overview

This special episode serves as a “feed drop” for Cold Tapes, a new audio drama on the Rusty Quill Network, introducing listeners to a gripping murder mystery set in Antarctica. The main storyline: DCI Tessa McAllister must investigate the brutal murder of Andrew Fairfield at the isolated Bowers-Wilson Antarctic base. With the base cut off from the outside world for months, McAllister faces not only the challenge of remote investigation but also a tangled web of hidden agendas, criminal secrets, and psychological intrigue among the sixteen suspects.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Setup: Introducing the Case (01:55-03:31)

• DCI Tessa McAllister is tasked with investigating the murder of Andrew Fairfield, a behavioral scientist found dead at an Antarctic research base.

• Jurisdictional complexities arise due to the Antarctic Treaty and multinational involvement; the UK takes the case due to Fairfield’s citizenship.

  “Apparently there is a distinction… it seems like Antarctica itself is a kind of no man's land.” — John (02:26-03:10)

2. The Challenges of Remote Investigation (03:19-04:25)

• With the base inaccessible for months due to winter, detectives can’t physically visit the crime scene.

• A makeshift post mortem was performed by the base medic; evidence collection is limited.

• Key detail: Fairfield died of blunt force trauma, not an accident.

  “Given that we can't transport the body, any official cause of Death can't be 100% confirmed at this stage.” — John (04:11-04:25)

3. Suspicious Circumstances & Base Dynamics (04:39-06:52)

• Fairfield was not wearing full outdoor gear, suggesting he wasn't planning to leave the base ordinarily.

• The body was only found thanks to new GPS trackers in staff coats; otherwise, he might never have been discovered.

• Recent unrelated event: Mark Renick, the base engineer, suffered a severe psychotic episode and is confined.

  “Fairfield seems to have questioned the nature of Mark's breakdown… He had his suspicions that someone was drugging Mark.” — John (06:56-07:13)

4. The Victim: Andrew Fairfield’s Role and Theories (07:27-08:02)

• Fairfield was evaluating the crew’s psychological state during isolation.
• He expressed concerns about Renick’s rapid breakdown, suspecting foul play or drugging.
• Sixteen crew members—including the confined Renick—are now all suspects or witnesses.
• A curfew has been implemented on the base.

5. The Logistics of the Investigation (08:05-10:58)

• McAllister is responsible for remote interviews; video calls may not be possible—voice calls likely only.

• Detective Sergeant Naveen Balsara is assigned to assist.

• The operation is officially codenamed “Antelope.”

• Jurisdictional red tape complicates accessing crew phones and communications.

• DC Ephraim Mguegbo is liaising with the victim’s family in London.

  “You'll only have access to the 16 crew members remotely. So I need you to be handling all the main interviews. Someone amongst them is our killer and the others may be witnesses, but I need your experienced judgment here.” — John (08:24-08:41)

6. Initial Action Plan (10:23-11:24)

• McAllister’s team to run background checks on all sixteen crew, focusing on medical records and possible substance abuse.

• Toxicology and psychological analysis flagged as investigation priorities.

• The CEO of Keoni Industries (base operators) is heavily involved due to reputational risk.

• UK Defense Department is watching closely, increasing pressure on investigators.

  “It's a good thing I'm a bloody insomniac.” — DCI Tessa McAllister (11:18)

7. Notable Quotes & Character Moments

Investigator banter and dark humor:

• “Better get my thermals out of storage then.” — DCI Tessa McAllister (03:16)
• “Jesus. Hurry on to get case names with Ann already.” — DCI Tessa McAllister on "Operation Antelope" (09:42)
• “I need to see their faces.” — DCI Tessa McAllister on remote interviewing (08:48)

Tension and pressure:

• "Nothing short of a PR disaster for them." — DCI Tessa McAllister (11:07)
• “Oh, no pressure there then.” — DCI Tessa McAllister (11:15)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:55 – Case introduction: Call between DCI Tessa McAllister and superior John
• 03:31 – Confirmation of case jurisdiction and physical cut-off
• 04:00 – Cause of death established
• 06:23 – Introduction to Mark Renick’s breakdown
• 07:27 – Fairfield’s background and role explained
• 08:41 – Investigation logistics and team assignment
• 09:40 – Case name: "Operation Antelope"
• 10:23 – Groundwork for investigation, background checks discussed
• 11:07 – Corporate and government oversight mentioned
• 11:18 – McAllister’s response to pressure

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Memorable Moments & Tone

• The tone is an engaging blend of procedural crime drama and claustrophobic thriller, underscored by dry wit and professional camaraderie between the investigators.
• The closed environment—a base cut off on all sides—drives home themes of isolation, suspicion, and the psychological impact on all involved.
• The narrative offers a compelling interplay between the pressures of official procedure and the messy realities of a murder case with unprecedented logistical hurdles.

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Further Information

To continue with this story, listeners are encouraged to search for "Cold Tapes" wherever they get their podcasts or visit rustyquill.com / coldtapes.com for more details.

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Additional Note

This episode also includes promo segments from The Magnus Archives team regarding upcoming live shows and a prequel novel, From the Library of Jurgen Leitner—these are not part of the main case narrative.

Transcript

[Billy Hindle]

Hi there, Billy Hindle here, the voice of Alice Dyer in the Magnus Protocol. As part of the Magnus Archive's 10th anniversary, Rusty Quill is hosting a special Magnus live show at the upcoming Crossed Wires Podcast Festival in Sheffield. Join co creators Jonathan Sims and Alexander J. Newell on 5 July for a new iteration of our live show. Statement Begins where you can hear fan favorite statements such as Anglerfish Red live and gain exclusive insights into the creation and history of the show straight from the creators themselves. You can buy your tickets now, including limited numbers of meet and greet tickets from Crossedwires Live or the link in the description of this episode.

[Johan]

Hi everyone, it's Johan here. Today we're sharing an episode from a podcast on the RQ Network, Cold Tapes. Cold Tapes is an award winning murder mystery audio drama inspired by true crime. In this first episode called Operation Antelope, the brutal murder of Andrew Fairfield on a remote Antarctic base thrusts DCI Tessa McAllister into the claustrophobic lives of an isolated community of international scientists and crew. Through police interviews, covert recordings and audio diaries, Tessa hears hidden agendas, concealed criminal histories, violent psychosis and dangerous conspiracy theories that help her uncover the truth behind the murder. With the murderer still on the base, it's a race against time to untangle the maze of deception, revealing chilling truths buried beneath the ice. Sixteen suspects, one murderer. Can you solve it? To listen to more, you can click on the link in the description or search for cold tapes wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also find more [e-mail] or coldtapes.com have fun and enjoy the episode.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

DCI McAllister.

[John]

Tessa, John here.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Oh, stuff.

[John]

How are things?

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Oh, you know, can't complain.

[John]

Very noble of you. Everyone else does.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

All right then, won't complain.

[John]

Something's come in and it's not exactly uncomplicated.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

I'm all ears.

[John]

33 year old male, name of Andrew Fairfield, found dead a few days ago, 21st of June. His body was found at the bottom of a small ravine. Sorry, Crevasse. Apparently there is a distinction.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Right.

[John]

It's about a 30 minute walk away from the Antarctic base he'd been working at.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Antarctica?

[John]

Yeah, the base is called Bowers something. Bowers Wilson.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

So what's the matter? Got to do with it?

[John]

Yeah, I'm just getting to that.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Look, sir, orienteering was never my strongest point. But surely this one goes to the Aussie force, right? Or, oh, wait a minute, is it the Kiwis?

[John]

No, it's a bloody jurisdictional minefield. Because of what's called the Antarctic Treaty. And also there's the overall politics. It was thought that the case nearly fell to the Yanks because a US company operates the base. But for now, this investigation is falling under UK jurisdiction. Because Fairfield is a UK citizen, it seems like Antarctica itself is a kind of no man's land.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Where was Fairfield from exactly?

[John]

London.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay. Better get my thermals out of storage then.

[John]

Yeah, so this is the issue. Nobody's getting to the base and nobody's leaving that base for months. It's completely inaccessible during the winter months.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Wait a minute. 21st of June. That's their midwinter, right?

[John]

Correct.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Not that I'm angling for a holiday here, but sure that you can get a plane to land or something, right?

[John]

No, no planes in or out. Their engines freeze, apparently, as does the fuel.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

What is her.

[John]

Yeah, this is the hard bit. The base is totally cut off for at least another three or four months, so the investigation is going to have to be done remotely.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Look, I. I'm not saying that's impossible, Jessa.

[John]

It's the only possibility, I'm afraid.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Do they have a cause of death?

[John]

Yep. It appears to be blunt force trauma to the head.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

How do we even carry out a post mortem? Look, I'm not trying to kibosh a remote investigation, but I just want to make sure we're covering our tracks here.

[John]

John, I appreciate that, but given that we can't transport the body, any official cause of Death can't be 100% confirmed at this stage. However, the base medic has carried out a makeshift post mortem of torch.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Wait a minute. The base medic that's going to be tampering with any further evidence?

[John]

Surely under supervision. I listened to the recording just now and everything suggests that we're looking at murder here. I'll get that audio across to you shortly.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

So you said he was found at the bottom of the crevasse. I mean, so how do we know he didn't fall or jump?

[John]

It seems highly unlikely. His injuries don't line up with a fall. Also, he wasn't wearing all the appropriate clothing for venturing outdoors in those conditions. He had some, but these people take their getups seriously. The officer in charge of the base thinks it's suspicious that he was missing these layers.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay, well, who found him?

[John]

Said officer in charge, a Johan Garson, along with his deputy, Matteo Lombardi. They work for a company called Keone Industries, who run the whole base.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Do you say Keone?

[John]

Yeah. Have you heard of them?

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, from my Military days. I mean, not for a long time now.

[John]

God.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Had no idea they moved into Antarctic exploration.

[John]

Yeah, and according to Google, space bases, too apparent.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Well, I guess we'll have to diversify. Sir, can you. Can you just take me through how he was found?

[John]

Yeah. Apparently there's a GPS tracker sewn into everybody's coat. When they discovered Fairfield's gone missing, likely having left the base, they activated the beak. It led them straight to it.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

So the. So the crevasse suggests it was made to look like an accident.

[John]

Well, that's what we need to find out. Seems that GPS was new kit. Without it, chances are the body would never have been found. Those in the base would assume the victim got dressed up, left the base for a walk, disappeared, lost in a blizzard or. Or something.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

And was there a blizzard?

[John]

Don't know.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

And people do that? Do they just. Just go for a walk?

[John]

Not without signing the logbook.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

I take it he hadn't.

[John]

No. Listen, unfortunately, this isn't the only strange thing that happened on the base over this time period. And the two things may not be related at all. But it's worth mentioning. A couple of weeks before Andrew's body was found, the base's engineer, a Mark Renick, had a full psychotic breakdown. The crew were forced to sedate him, and then they had to lock him in a makeshift cell.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Right. What's that got to do with our victim?

[John]

Fairfield seems to have questioned the nature of Mark's breakdown on a number of occasions. He said he found it too fast and the breakdown too extreme. He had his suspicions that someone was drugging Mark or doing something to cause the breakdown. He was apparently very vocal about it.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Could this guy Mark have been taking any drugs himself?

[John]

Well, possibly. It's all up for investigation.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Wait a minute. What authority would Andrew have to make that call? Was this just his observation?

[John]

Sorry. I should have led with this. Fairfield's a behavioral scientist. A doctor. He was down there doing research on the entire crew's psychological state.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Psychological state during a period of extreme isolation?

[John]

Exactly.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

That sounds like opening a can of worms. How many people are there on this face?

[John]

16 left on this one. It's. It's one of the smaller bases. That includes Mark, who's still locked up. And since Andrew's death, there's a base curfew in place, so we need to make this a priority. They really don't want anyone else losing their ship.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

But curfew? Who's making all these decisions right now?

[John]

Apparently, it's base protocol. I'm guessing it's coming from Keon.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Oh God. I don't know, sir. I mean, I have got a lot on with my current cases. I mean, I'm up to my ears.

[John]

Good. The eyes on the others? Leave them. Working on those for now.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Keep it. I'm getting really close on the Malvern case. I don't want to let go of that now.

[John]

Professor, this has to be the focus. You'll only have access to the 16 crew members remotely. So I need you to be handling all the main interviews. Someone amongst them is our killer and the others may be witnesses, but I need your experienced judgment here.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay? Okay. Can we video conference?

[John]

I don't know. I think it may just be calls.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

I need to see their faces.

[John]

I can't. I can't do anything about their communications set up, can I? I'll ask. Now listen, there's a time difference.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Go on.

[John]

They're 12 hours ahead. So I fear you'll be working mainly nights for the foreseeable future.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Yeah, perhaps you should have led with that.

[John]

Yeah, perhaps. Listen, you won't be alone.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Right? Okay. Yeah. Talking of which, who's going to be on my team? I. I'd love to take. Take Mike with me on this one. I think it's essential.

[John]

Sorry, Tess. I need to keep him where he is for now. You'll have access to all your normal resources. Of course. And I'm assigning Detective Sergeant Naveen Balsar to the case. He's a great Tier 5 advisor. Comes highly recommended.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay. Yeah, understood. Okay. Have you signed a case name yet?

[John]

Yeah. Operation Antelope.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Jesus. Hurry on to get case names with Ann already.

[John]

Well, it's been a busy year.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

I don't say that again.

[John]

An account has been opened on Holmes already and the operation name is allocated to this case.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay, look, I'm gonna want access to everyone on the base's phones. I mean, if I say pretty please and they still won't give them up then. Then who do I head to for a court order?

[John]

God knows. As I say, this one's a jurisdictional nightmare. But let. Let me try and find out. Yeah.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay. Thanks. Does the victim have family here?

[John]

Yeah. I've already appointed DC Ephraim Mguegbo as the lead flo. He's made contact with the family already.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Yeah. Great, great. Look, I'll also speak to him today.

[John]

Great. Thanks.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Okay, so getting the ground running, I'll get DS Balsara to speak to the Intelligence Unit. Start pulling information on what, 16 people at the base. Background checks, any records regarding the engineer's breakdown, I think. I think we're going to need to speak to a psychologist. I'm just not sure why Andrew Fairfield would see a red flag over Mark's presentation of symptoms. Yeah, actually, likewise, toxicology. I mean, if. If Andrew was onto something, we would need to know what substances could have precipitated that kind of breakdown, you know?

[John]

Yeah, that makes sense. The CEO of Keoni has asked to schedule a call for today. They're highly invested in getting this resolved, as you can imagine.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Yeah, I'm sure they are. Nothing short of a PR disaster for them.

[John]

Yeah, not just them. I've got the Defense Department at Whitehall breathing down my neck about it.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Oh, no pressure there then.

[John]

Never is.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Yeah, it's a good thing I'm a bloody insomniac.

[John]

Yeah. See, I knew this case had your name all over it.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Great. Thanks, Professor.

[John]

I've got to take this. Bye for now.

[DCI Tessa McAllister]

Yeah, bye.

[Johan]

To listen to the next exciting episode, you can click on the link in the description or search for cold tapes wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can find more information on rustyquill.com or coldtapes.com thanks for listening.

[Billy Hindle]

Billy Hindle here. The voice of Alice in the Magnus Protocol. And I'm here to tell you about from the Library of Jurgen Leitner, an upcoming novel available for pre order right [e-mail] novel Return to the world of the Magnus Archives in From the Library of Jurgen Leitner, an official prequel novel written by Nebula World Fantasy and Aurora award winning author Creamy Muhammad. With the help of the Magnus archive's own writer and lead voice, Jonathan Sims, from the Library of Jurgen Leitner explores an infamous organization from the Magnusverse for the first time. The perilous private library of the enigmatic collector Jurgen Leitner, where occult books are guarded and researched at a fatal cost. Leitner's library keeps the dangers of these books in check and the would be readers safe. Or so Lightner claims. For two of Leitner's employees, the risks are worth it. For Hugh Franklin, the library is a place to belong. For Sebastian Everett, the library is an opportunity to indulge arcane ambitions. Though their 10 years at the library were years apart, Hugh and Sebastian's stories unfold in parallel and their footsteps echo down the same eerie aisles, caught in a web spun long before either ever heard the name Jurgen Leitner. Will they find a way out? Or will the library consume them before it's too late? From the Library of Jurgen Leitner will be published on October 27, 2026 and is available for pre order now. Visit rustyquill.com forward/novel for more information. That's rustyqueel.com forward/n o V E L.