The Magnus Protocol 39 - Dependents

Summary

The Magnus Protocol 39 - "Dependents"

Release Date: April 24, 2025

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Overview

In episode 39 of The Magnus Protocol, titled "Dependents," listeners are plunged deeper into the enigmatic and eerie world of the Magnus Institute. This installment weaves a complex narrative involving intertwined destinies, haunting dreams, and the lingering effects of past incursions. The episode masterfully balances suspense with emotional depth, exploring themes of grief, identity, and the inescapable ties that bind individuals across different realities.

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Plot Summary

The episode begins with the introduction of key characters Sam and Georgie as they investigate a seemingly abandoned house believed to belong to Alice, a woman connected to Sam's past. Their exploration is interrupted by a haunting encounter with Alice herself, who reveals unsettling truths about their intertwined existences.

At [03:28], Alice arrives unexpectedly, stirring tension between the characters. She shares a poignant history with Sam, detailing their brief marriage before a catastrophic event known as the incursion. Alice recounts the tragic loss of Sam's partner due to appendicitis exacerbated by post-incursion chaos, highlighting the fragility of life and the pervasive sorrow that lingers in the aftermath.

A significant portion of the episode delves into the shared nightmares experienced by individuals post-incursion. Alice describes vivid, oppressive dreams where reality and nightmare blend seamlessly. At [08:55], Sam articulates the terrifying nature of these dreams:

“I am trapped within myself. And no matter what I do, I will never escape this living tomb.”

This metaphor underscores the psychological torment inflicted by the incursion, emphasizing the characters' struggles with their own fears and subconscious horrors.

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Character Interactions and Development

Sam and Georgie navigate their investigation with a blend of skepticism and desperation. Their dynamic evolves as they confront the supernatural elements surrounding Alice and the haunted house. Georgie's pragmatic approach often clashes with Sam's emotional responses, particularly when faced with Alice's articulate and sorrowful demeanor.

Alice's character serves as a bridge between the tangible and the ethereal. Her interactions with Sam uncover deep-seated emotions and unresolved grief. At [07:17], Alice reveals:

“We got married a month before the incursion. But then...”

This confession not only provides backstory but also deepens the mystery surrounding the incursion's impact on personal relationships and identities.

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Themes and Insights

The episode explores the concept of shared consciousness through the characters' shared dreams. These dreams act as a conduit for deeper connections and reveal the lingering effects of traumatic events. The use of dreams as a narrative device allows the story to delve into the subconscious fears and regrets of the characters.

Grief and loss are central themes, portrayed through Alice's acceptance of Sam's partner's death and Georgie's frustration with the aftermath of the incursion. The line at [18:10] succinctly captures this sentiment:

“That wasn't love, Sam. That was grief.”

This distinction emphasizes how grief can distort and consume relationships, turning love into something unrecognizable.

Identity and Reality

The episode challenges the characters' perception of reality and self. Alice's presence in the house and her connection to Sam blur the lines between different realities or universes. The unsettling realization that Alice might be an alternate version or a fragment of Sam's psyche raises questions about identity and existence.

At [19:00], Sam muses:

“You think the archivist maybe?”

This speculative thought hints at larger forces at play within the Magnus Institute, suggesting that the archivist might have deeper knowledge or control over these alternate realities.

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Conclusions and Future Implications

"Dependents" culminates in a revelation of Georgie's oversight—failing to secure their equipment—which suggests that their investigation may have broader implications for their safety and the containment of supernatural elements. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Georgie urging Sam to return to the house, hinting at unresolved mysteries and impending dangers.

The narrative sets the stage for future episodes by deepening the lore surrounding the incursion and its impact on individuals. The intertwined destinies of Sam, Georgie, and Alice promise further exploration of the Magnus Institute's archives and the dark secrets they hold.

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Notable Quotes

• Alice at [07:23]: “Appendicitis. We managed to get you to a hospital in time, but it wasn't long after towerfall. There were hardly any doctors, no supplies."

• Sam at [08:09]: “Alice visited me in the hospital. She had a fetish mag under my pillow so the nurses would find it.”

• Alice at [09:10]: “We used to share our dreams. Sam. What?”

• Georgie at [17:53]: “It is. And dangerous. Life's difficult these days, and we can't afford for people to just quit on everything.”

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Production Credits

The Magnus Protocol is produced by Rusty Quill, with episode 39 written by Alexander J. Newell and directed by the same. The episode features performances by Shahan Hamza (Samana Khali), Sasha Sienna (Georgie Barker), and Billy Hindle (Alice Dyer). The production team includes soundscaping by Meg McKellar and mastering by Catherine Rinella, among others, ensuring a high-quality auditory experience that complements the chilling narrative.

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Conclusion

Episode 39 of The Magnus Protocol, "Dependents," skillfully intertwines character-driven storytelling with supernatural horror, offering listeners a rich and immersive experience. Through its exploration of shared dreams, grief, and identity, the episode deepens the overarching narrative of the Magnus Institute's enigmatic archives. As Sam and Georgie navigate their haunted investigation, the episode leaves audiences eagerly anticipating the revelations and further mysteries to unfold in the awaiting Season 2.

Transcript

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[Anoush]

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[Narrator]

Rusty Quill presents the Magnus Protocol episode 39 dependence.

[Alice]

It.

[Georgie]

Nice place, huh? What?

[Sam]

I thought I recognized the address. This is Alice's parents house. I'm sure of it.

[Georgie]

That a problem?

[Sam]

No, it's just. I helped her move the stuff out after they.

[Georgie]

What?

[Sam]

It just occurred to me. They could still be alive here.

[Georgie]

Not likely.

[Sam]

Why not?

[Georgie]

Just playing the odds. Older relatives, less likely to make it through everything. Plenty did. But if they're dead in your universe, hard to believe they had better luck in this one.

[Sam]

Makes sense, I suppose. Maybe she's not in.

[Georgie]

Then she won't mind us having a look around.

[Sam]

You can't just go in.

[Georgie]

Why not?

[Sam]

What if someone calls?

[Georgie]

Yeah. Stay here and let me scope it out first. Trust me.

[Sam]

Yeah, okay.

[Georgie]

Saudi.

[Alice]

Sam.

[Sam]

Hey, Alice.

[Alice]

How.

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Yeah.

[Alice]

So how are you here? I don't. God, I missed you.

[Georgie]

Let me know when you're finished.

[Alice]

I didn't believe them. I was right. You're here.

[Sam]

This is going to be a bit weird.

[Alice]

So you really aren't my Sam?

[Sam]

I'm afraid not.

[Alice]

Then I'm sorry that I.

[Sam]

Don't worry about it. It's not the first time an Alice has flung herself at me.

[Alice]

Oh. So we're together where you come from?

[Sam]

Well, no.

[Alice]

I'm so sorry.

[Sam]

Don't be. It was mutual. We actually still work together and it's. It's fine.

[Alice]

Oh, right. I can't imagine working next to you, my Sam. And not being together.

[Sam]

You know, it's basically just morbid jokes and gossip.

[Alice]

Of course.

[Georgie]

So you and Sam.

[Alice]

We got married a month before the incursion. But then.

[Sam]

What happened to him?

[Alice]

Appendicitis. We managed to get you to a hospital in time, but it wasn't long after towerfall. There were hardly any doctors, no supplies. They did what they could, but sepsis set in and then. I'm sorry, Sam. I'm sorry I couldn't.

[Sam]

It's okay. I'm sure he didn't blame you.

[Alice]

You're lucky it didn't happen to you too.

[Sam]

It did. A few years ago. I guess around the same time I went to hospital and it was pretty straightforward.

[Alice]

Look.

[Sam]

Alice visited me in the hospital. She had a fetish mag under my pillow so the nurses would find it.

[Alice]

I hope she knows how lucky she is to still have you? We shared a domain during the incursion. You learn a lot about someone when you shared your fear with them.

[Sam]

I'm not sure I understand.

[Georgie]

Couples often share fears, so a fair few ended up trapped together during the incursion.

[Sam]

That makes sense, I guess.

[Georgie]

Is that why you dream?

[Sam]

What?

[Alice]

Who told you that?

[Georgie]

No one. I spotted the Nitrazepam on your shelf. It's more common than people think. It never ends well.

[Sam]

Sorry, am I missing something?

[Alice]

After Towerfall, everyone had nightmares. We all revisited our domains in our sleep, and, well, it turns out people in the same domain ended up connected.

[Sam]

Connected how?

[Alice]

We used to share our dreams. Sam. What?

[Georgie]

Sam, you should know. These weren't happy daydreams. This was dark, awful stuff. Not as bad as the domains themselves, but still. Most people moved on and the dreams faded. But the people who are still playing around with it.

[Sam]

What did we dream?

[Alice]

I'm at work. Someone is yelling at me, trying to return something. I keep telling her we can't accept it, but she doesn't want to hear it. Finally, I just tell her I'll go check with the manager and duck in the back to waste her time. Instead, I move to push my way through the faux velvet curtains behind the counter and instead manage to tangle myself. I'm so furious that I've made a fool of myself in front of her, so I double down and keep trying to force my way through the veil of thick cloth, but they just press in closer, wrapping me and smothering me. I start to struggle, first in anger and then in panic as I grow hotter and hotter and feel myself begin to suffocate. My thrashing only makes it worse, and soon I slump down into the seemingly endless folds beneath my feet. I open my mouth to yell, but can only manage a tight, muffled cry. The cloth is heavy, heavier than it should be. I strain with all my strength, and it yields, only to press in closer. I can't breathe anymore, and it's so warm and wet. The cloth is sodden and warm and heavy. I strain one last time, arching my back, hooking my fingernails into the material, trying to drag it from my face, my toes clenched with the heaving effort. The cloth yields slightly, but then so do I, my strength finally failing me, and I am left unable to even pant beneath the sweltering, damp mass. I lie there still and quiet for a moment, only to realize I am not still, not really. I am rocking. The cloth is moving, rocking me back and forth, back and forth. It could almost be comforting if it weren't for the sound. There is a deep, low roar all around me, rumbling and rushing in all directions, incessant and overwhelming. Soon I can't tell the difference between the noise around me and the rushing of my own blood in my ears. They are one and the same, swelling and ebbing in time together. I want to put my hands over my ears, block out the sound that is so loud that I can feel it through my body. But my arms are trapped, held fast by my side, so I can't do anything but listen to the pulsing rhythm from the closed darkness all around me. The thunderous heartbeat terrifies me because I recognize it. I've heard it my entire life, and with that I recognize what is wrapped around me, what is shrouding me and smothering me, and will not let me free. Living, sweating flesh, folds and creases and swaths of it pressing in on all sides, trapping me, crushing me to the point I can't tell where I end and it begins. Then I can feel it. Not just the pressure that threatens to crush me with its embrace, but the gripe of something within me that does not belong. A speck of grit around which a pearl of pain and fear is amassing. What is that? I reach for it, but it's burrowed too deep into me. I just want to grab it and rip it out, tear out whatever is inside of me, throw the festering mass as far from me as I can. I manage to reach a hand up and begin to grope at the pain. And as I do, I feel the immense weight all around me press in even harder. And as I grasp the lump, the thrumming meat all around me tightens till I cannot bear it. Finally, I am forced to release my hand, and when I do, that pressure eases with it. But I am not comforted. I am terrified. I can feel the lump in my body, can feel it writhing even when I struggle myself. And I realize it is me. It is me and I am it. And I am trapped within myself. And no matter what I do, I will never escape this living tomb. I surrender myself to my flesh. Then what use trying to fight myself? I let my body twist and bend and break without resistance, pulverizing me into something unrecognisable as my joints creak and my bones snap and then suddenly you are there and we are together again. There is no speech, no contact beyond the crushing embrace of skin and bone to which we belong. But I can feel you within myself and feel myself within you. And while I lie fetal and squirming in this bloody, rushing meat you stand, cracked and sharp, enshrined in bone. But we are together. Together. The rhythm of our malignant embrace finally stutters. Once, twice, then fails. That deep roar of vitality all around us slows, then stills. And for the first time, there is true silence. Then it begins to cool, the overbearing heat slowly giving way to a pallid chill as the once pliant muscle stiffens like cured lever around and between us. We can feel the liquid pooling beneath us, then slowly rising, tepid and viscous, as the skin wilts and sags upon us, dragging us down into the bubbling putrescence below the body. Our body rots, warping and wilting and bulging and melting around us and within us, sloughing off and away, leaving us, only us, naked and withered and bleeding and starving and shitting and dying. But together. Always together. And even now, you are there, waiting to suffer with me once more. It's not long till sundown. You should stay.

[Georgie]

I. I'm afraid we need to head off.

[Alice]

It's no bother. There's loads of space and I've still got some food left. I don't eat much, so I'd be happy to share.

[Georgie]

We really need to get back. Walden business.

[Alice]

Don't go.

[Sam]

I'm sorry, Alice. I really am. But I can't stay. I'm not. I don't think it would be a good idea.

[Alice]

I understand. But please come back when you can. I'm sure I know stuff that could help. About our domain, our dream.

[Sam]

I'll. I'll come by if I can.

[Alice]

I'm always around, so you can drop in.

[Georgie]

Goodbye, Alice. Don't look back. Just keep walking.

[Sam]

That was messed up.

[Georgie]

I should have warned you when I spotted the sleeping pills. Most dreamers, they're broken. Something snapped, and now they'd rather linger in a nightmare they think they belong in than face an uncertain reality.

[Sam]

It's so sad.

[Georgie]

It is. And dangerous. Life's difficult these days, and we can't afford for people to just quit on everything.

[Sam]

I just can't wrap my head around it.

[Georgie]

Don't try. You were never in a domain, so you'll never really be able to understand.

[Sam]

No, I mean, I just can't really imagine loving someone so much that I would do that to myself.

[Georgie]

That wasn't love, Sam. That was grief.

[Sam]

But once someone's gone, what's the difference?

[Georgie]

Well, either way, this has been a complete bust. No hints on the archivist, no useful connections to your other self, and we've wasted a whole day finding out exactly nothing.

[Sam]

I'm sorry. All right? It's not like we had any other leads.

[Georgie]

Let's just get back. Got a fair distance to go and not much daylight left.

[Sam]

Georgie.

[Georgie]

What?

[Sam]

Was it just me, or was Alice a lot more articulate than expected?

[Georgie]

Yeah, she was.

[Sam]

You think the archivist maybe?

[Georgie]

Better safe than sorry. I'll call it in, see if I can get a patrol to come and do a sweep. Oh, idiot.

[Sam]

What? What did I do?

[Georgie]

No, me. I checked every inch of that bloody house for tape recorders and I never bothered to check my own bag.

[Sam]

So that means back to the house.

[Georgie]

Move.

[Narrator]

The Magnus Protocol is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial share alike 4.0 international license. The series is created by Jonathan Sims and Alexander J. Newell and directed by Alexander J. Newell. This episode was written by Alexander J. Newell and edited with additional materials by Jonathan Sims, with vocal edits by Nico Vitezzi, soundscaping by Meg McKellar and mastering by Catherine Rinella, with music by Sam Jones. It featured Shahan Hamza as Samana Khali, Sasha Sienna as Georgie Barker, and Billy Hindle as Alice Dyer. The Magnus Protocol is produced by April Sumner with executive producers Alexander J. Newell, Danny McDonagh, Lynn C. And Samantha F.G. hamilton, and Associate producers Jordan L. Hawke, Taylor Michaels, Nicole Pillman, Cetius de Raven and Megan N. To subscribe View associated materials or join our Patreon visit rustyquill.com Rate and review us online Tweet us therustyquill Visit us on Facebook or email us via mail rustyquill.com thanks for listening.

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