The Strata Podcast – Presenting: Give Me Away

Host: Mark R. Healy
Episode: Give Me Away – Episode 5: "My Body is Your Body"
Date: November 18, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of The Strata introduces listeners to an early episode of Give Me Away, an audio drama from Gideon Media. Give Me Away unfolds in an alternate timeline where thousands of alien prisoners are trapped in a "Ghost House" spaceship in the Nevada desert. The story follows a team of scientists, military personnel, and government officials grappling with the ethics, trauma, and logistics of transferring alien consciousnesses into human hosts. In this installment, the narrative focuses on a harrowing consciousness mapping experiment, the toll it takes on participants, and the profound question of what it means to be a host, a prisoner, or a liberator.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Give Me Away Universe (00:00–03:00)

• Host Mark R. Healy sets the stage for Give Me Away, highlighting its “funny, intense thriller” nature and its unique premise: alien prisoners seeking refuge in human hosts.
• Give Me Away explores radical hospitality, freedom, and the formation of new kinds of families in the face of the unknown.

Notable Quote:

“How we should welcome desperate people, people looking for freedom, and what it means to be a family.” — [00:26], Mark R. Healy

2. Character Dynamics on the Troop Carrier (00:57–02:56)

• Lieutenant Brian Riley attempts to reassure Professor Brook Harris, a civilian expert, of her safety among the troops.
• Tensions and discomfort hint at deeper undercurrents—especially as Harris discusses her work in “conceptual modeling.”

Notable Quotes:

“There are things in this world we want to act upon even though we can't see them. My job is to... invent a three dimensional approximation.” — [02:17], Professor Harris
“Acting on things I can't see ahead of time is a big part of my job too.” — [02:33], Lt. Riley

3. Inside the Ghost House: Trauma and Command (03:02–05:33)

• Riley discusses the accumulated wisdom of military training with Sergeant Corey Wheeler, emphasizing the internalized discipline required for high-stakes missions.
• The trauma of combat and saving lives is unpacked; Corey struggles with guilt over young lives lost in battle.

Notable Quotes:

“That's what training is. The accumulated wisdom of decades and centuries of combat transmuted into instinct…” — [04:04], Lt. Riley
“They were boys.” — [04:45], Sgt. Wheeler

4. Scientific Theorizing and Fractured Collaboration (05:42–08:10)

• Harris and her colleagues dissect the digital phenomena within the alien mainframe. They theorize that the consciousnesses inside aren't barriers but sentient presences seeking connection.
• Friction arises over differing approaches—some favoring technical rigor, others openness to new paradigms.

Notable Quotes:

“They're not blocking us... They're somehow reaching out.” — [06:29], Harris
“The way we're thinking about the computer is entirely wrong… We're obsessed with the idea that it’s withholding something from us because that’s how we think about everything—Infiltration. Conquest.” — [06:50], Harris

5. Transparency, Politics, and Power (08:15–11:56)

• Gil Cortez (Deputy White House Chief of Staff) discusses political undercurrents with Harris. Support for the project is tenuous, with political enemies looking for weaknesses.
• Cortez insists on close coordination with Harris—a necessary alliance in a high-stakes, politicized environment.

Notable Quotes:

“The Republicans hate this project.” — [11:33], Cortez
“Anything you need, you call me first... Whenever you're making a public statement, I am your life partner. We build it together.” — [11:46], Cortez

6. The Cost of the Experiment: Pain and Ethical Dilemmas (12:22–15:39)

• The team grapples with the intense suffering of the transferred consciousness. Interfaces intended for communication malfunction, resulting in incoherent pain-filled outputs.
• Harris is forced to acknowledge the possibility that the experiment is inflicting worse suffering than the original “prison,” raising the prospect that killing the digital consciousness may be an act of mercy.

Notable Quotes:

“We made it worse...” — [14:14], Team Member
“I’m not sure how much intentions matter when you’ve consigned a sentient being to a worse existence than the one you freed them from.” — [15:09], Harris

7. Mapping Test and Moral Uncertainty (16:06–17:47)

• Cortez and Riley discuss the president’s imminent authorization for Director Harris to perform a mapping test on herself, raising the stakes for the project.
• Riley worries where future volunteers for this perilous process will come from, hinting at the moral dangers of leveraging soldiers for risky experiments.

Notable Quotes:

“Setting aside the possibility the president has authorized an elaborate suicide on my watch... what if she succeeds?” — [16:57], Lt. Riley
“Which leads me to wonder where those volunteers are going to come from.” — [17:11], Lt. Riley

8. First Contact: Shared Consciousness (17:47–24:29)

• Harris undergoes the mapping test, resulting in a powerful fusion with the alien Deirdre. The alien’s consciousness occupies Harris’s mind and uses her body to communicate.
• The fusion teeters between terror and breakthrough, culminating as Deirdre expresses gratitude for “being set free.”
• Harris learns details of the alien insurrection and the new possibility of freeing all prisoners.

Memorable Moment:

“My body is your body. My body is your body. My body is your body…” — [19:19–20:53], Harris & Deirdre (repeated as a mantra during the fusion)

Notable Quotes:

“If it’s death to you, it’s death to me. We’re the same. And I don’t want to die either.” — [19:04], Harris to Deirdre
“Thank you for setting me free. Thank you for Brooke. Thank you for my new home.” — [24:08], Deirdre through Harris

9. Political Fallout and Military Ethics (24:51–29:23)

• Sergeant Wheeler, emotionally overwhelmed, requests a discharge. The president authorizes his release and entry into the Nevada Project Occupation Program as a civilian.
• Political tension thickens as Senator McKillop warns Lt. Riley about wavering support for the project in Washington, suggesting that orders can change with shifting political tides.

Notable Quotes:

“I quit, sir. I quit.” — [26:11], Wheeler
“There’s a whole ocean of things he hasn’t ordered you not to do.” — [29:16], Senator McKillop to Riley

10. Preparing for the Next Step: Host Selection (29:39–32:46)

• The team builds a profile for the next ideal host, noting desired traits like advanced degrees and activist backgrounds.
• An application surfaces from an unexpected candidate: Jamie Shapiro—whose identity may have further implications.

Notable Quotes:

“We’ll feel proud when the rest of the prisoners are free.” — [24:29], Harris
“We transferred the wrong consciousness into Graham Shapiro.” — [31:44], Harris

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Pain of Shared Consciousness:

  “It's in so much pain, it can't even put together a thought. We made it worse.” — [14:14], Team Member

• On Radical Empathy:

  “If it’s death to you, it’s death to me. We’re the same. And I don’t want to die either.” — [19:04], Harris to Deirdre

• The Transformative Moment:

  “My body is your body. My body is your body. My body is your body.” — [19:19–20:53], Harris & Deirdre

• On Political Realities:

  “Everyone’s doing the most corrupt shit imaginable in broad daylight with a smirk on their face.” — [11:21], Cortez

Important Timestamps

• [02:17] – Professor Harris explains conceptual modeling.
• [04:04] – Riley describes the purpose of training.
• [06:29] – Harris posits the digital barriers as sentient, reaching out.
• [11:33] – Cortez discusses the project’s political peril.
• [14:14] – The team confronts the suffering of the transferred consciousness.
• [19:19–20:53] – Harris and Deirdre chant "My body is your body" during consciousness fusion.
• [24:08] – Deirdre expresses thanks after being set free.
• [26:11] – Wheeler announces his resignation.
• [29:16] – Senator McKillop hints at the shifting political environment.
• [31:44] – Discovery of the erroneous transfer.

Tone and Atmosphere

The episode is rich with tension, blending clinical sci-fi with raw emotion. Characters oscillate between cold technical discussions, vulnerable admissions of pain, fractious debates about responsibility, and rare moments of transcendent empathy.

The dialogue maintains a brisk, intense, and often wry tone. The repeated mantra "My body is your body" serves as both a literal and metaphorical bridge—a moment of breakthrough and terror.

Summary

This episode from Give Me Away plunges listeners into a crucible of scientific discovery, ethical peril, and emergent empathy. As the boundaries between self and other collapse, the story foregrounds questions about mercy, agency, and the price we pay to free others—or ourselves. The results of the experiment shock the personnel and shift the project’s future, as new volunteers and political realities begin closing in.

For more, listen to Give Me Away on your favorite podcast platform or visit Gideon Media.