Episode 6: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Episode 6: Cost-Benefit Analysis is the sixth episode of the Limetown podcast.

Synopsis
Synopsis: APR reporter Lia Haddock receives the answers she’s been seeking in the season one finale of Limetown.

Plot Summary
APR agrees to do a live interview with another survivor. The survivor is a mercenary who currently calls herself "Lenore Doogle". Lenore was hired to be the city manager and all around troubleshooter. Secretly, she acted as a mole for a mysterious company who wanted the technology for military purposes. It was her that fed information to Oscar in order to convince him to sell out the town. When The Panic happened, Lenore contacted the Company who extracted all the implanted people via a network of limestone caves that ran under the town, killed the Old School, and destroyed all evidence. She reveals to Lia that The Man We Were All There For was her uncle Emile who had innate psychic powers that were the basis of the implants, but he has since disappeared and now the Company wants him back. The only reason Lia was able to talk to survivors was to use her as bait to draw out Emile. Lenore reveals that she saved Winona's daughter Sylvia, even though she didn't have the implant, then takes a suicide pill and hands another to Lia before the door is busted down and men come running into the room.

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Transcript '''

Lia Haddock: [Calling] Can you hear me?

Mark Green: [Speaking to Lia through a headset/mic] Yes. uh. Speak into the mic for levels. Tell me about where you are.

LH: Ok. uh. I'm standing in a park-

MG: Keep close. Speak normally at, y'know, normal distance.

LH: Uh. Sorry. Is this better?

MG: Yes! Great, uh, keep talking.

LH: [clears throat] I am outside the park now. I see a man walking two dogs as he stares at his phone. He just tripped on the curb.

MG: [chuckle] Oh. ok. All good.

LH: And we're going out.

MG: Uh. Have been, yeah.

LH: Great. I'm hanging up.

MG: Lia?

LH: Yeah?

MG: Be safe.

LH: Talk to you soon.

MG: Bye.

[Hangs up.]

LH: So, welcome, everyone listening right now. Live. As you can tell this is sort of an...uh...on the fly operation. I'm going to be speaking with...well, it's unclear. Someone with knowledge of Limetown but, more importantly, someone with physical evidence from the panic and maybe more. We played the clip in our last update. It's- It's very difficult to listen to but, because of it's content I was given permission by APR to meet the subject in person. Thank you, Gina. There are several conditions in place. The largest, being that we have to broadcast the interaction live. The other main condition and, one I'm certainly used to now is that I must be alone. I was told to wait where I am now and, uh. I will be given instruction as to where the actual conversation is going to take place. Somehow. I will do my best to describe what's happening as it takes place to a certain extent but, that will just have to be a judgment call.

[footsteps getting closer]

Woman: [cuts Lia off] Are you Lia?

LH: Yes.

W: I like your scarf.

LH: Thank you

W: Do you wanna follow me?

LH: Uh. Sorry. Are you who I've been talking to?

W: Ugh, darling, I can't be held accountable for every conversation I've ever had, but I don't think you and I would have much to talk about.

LH: Right... So who are you?

W: I'm a prostitute with a heart of gold.

LH: Um

W: Yeah, prostitute. But, we prefer to be called hookers.

LH: Oh.

W: I'm kidding.

LH: Right.

W: Look, she just gave me 50 bucks to come find the pretty girl in the yellow scarf and walk her to the restaurant. And you're very pretty.

LH: Thank you.

W: [sigh] You don't know it, that's too bad! Let's walk. [footsteps] She also told me to, uh, read this to you as we walked.

LH: Ok

W: "Hello." He said to me sleepily. "Hello," I said, "I like your painting." "You see what it is?" "I suppose it means something different to everyone who sees it" "It's a cat's cradle" "Ah-ha," I said, "very good." "The scratches are strange" "One of the oldest games there is cat's cradle, even the Eskimos know it." "You don't say?" "For maybe a thousand years or more, grown-ups have been waving tangles of string in their children's faces." Newt remained curled in a chair. He held out his [painty?] hand as though a cat's cradle was strung between them. "No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat's cradle is nothing but a bunch of x's between somebody's hands, and little kids look and look and look at all those x's." "And?" "No damn cat and no damn cradle." I'm more of a [dead eye dick?] gal myself. She said to wait here.

LH: It's closed.

W: Good luck Lia Haddock.

[footsteps fading]

LH: Ok I am...standing outside...what looks to be an Italian restaurant with the, uh, with the gate is pulled down and the lights are off? It looks, well, uh, a-actually it's empty inside.

[screech of metal door opening. Lia gasps in surprise]

Lenore Dougal: Ah, Lia Haddock. Hello, Lia Haddock.

LH: Hi.

LD: Wanna come on in?

LH: Ok. I'm entering a sidewalk cellar door going under the restaurant, there-there are boxes stacked all around and there's what- what appears to be a wine cellar.

LD: Close the door behind you if you don't mind.

[footsteps, the metal door slams shut again. Music plays in the background]

LH: The room has a single table with a chair. There is a single light above it. You're hearing music from an antique record player.

LD: It's a [Patophone?] number 8, to be exact. Made in 1912. I was told it was a good investment, but frankly, I think it sounds terrible. Be sure to tell them about my sunglasses' tan. Lenore [Dougal?].

LH: Lenore?

LD: Dougal. Correct.

LH: Um. Ok, Lia Haddock.

LD: Oh, I know who you are Miss Haddock. What an absolute pleasure it is to finally meet you. Would you like some wine?

LH: No thank you. Uh. I wanna upfront that this is being recorded and broadcast out live per your condition in speaking with us and, uh, I wanna make sure that you're aware and comfortable with that.

LD: More than comfortable. I think it's wonderful what we can do these days. I have to be transparent with the listeners at home though, I have a bit of a hangover [chuckle] I had a, rather raucous last few weeks to say the least. I've been to France, Japan, Thailand, Tahiti, Argentina, I had a fun little layover in Honduras; been a whirlwind. I even tried blowfish. Very, very dangerous blowfish. Oh shoot, you don't have a chair!

[chair dragging]

LH: May I ask you why you've been traveling

LD: Certainly may! The answer is pretty straightforward, which is what I like to be Miss Haddock. I have the money, and I just decided it was time. I have, uh, recently undergone a bit of a... philosophical transformation and just came to this realization. "[What?] the heck are you holding on to all this money for if you're not going to do anything with it?" I even bought this restaurant mainly for the wine cellar. I have a [Doumel Leroy Clay du Bayou?] from 1998. I'll be honest, taste like red wine tastes. I'm a recovering philistine please, sit. I apologize for the circumstances of our meeting and the, uh, lady of the night but, as you know very well by now, extreme times. Extreme measures.

LH: Right

LD: So, let's get to it.

LH: Why do you have a kitchen timer on the table?

LD: Starting with the softballs I see. Build some rapport. I was baking bread in the oven earlier [and?] I didn't want to burn the place down yet.

LH: Ok. You said your name but, it- it's not one I recognize from the manifest list.

LD: I know. And that's always bothered me. Not necessarily something you can complain about.

LH: Excuse my skepticism-

LD: But, am I actually a survivor of LimeTown? I get that, fair question. [paper rustling followed by a thud] That's a print-out of the official accounting ledger of Limetown.

LH: Wow. So you- you were an-

LD: A city manager, more or less. I worked with a couple of accountants to keep the books clean, but I handled the logistics. Making sure there was enough food, that the labs were stocked, the shops, the movie theater, all that.

LH: How early were you brought on?

LD: Oh, pretty early. Mister Billard brought me on once he'd made a deal with Oscar just to make sure everything was being done on the practical level that could be. In a town full of dreamers, you need someone who sees the trees along with the forest, you know?

LH: Sure. So, you were an acquaintance of R.B. Billard before LimeTown.

LD: Oh I certainly knew him but, no, he had no idea of who I was. His firm hired me. I had experience making personnel settlements work in less than ideal circumstances through my military and then freelance career. A strong resume for the position.

LH: You told us in your messages-

LD: I apologize, by the way. For the clip I sent you. It is [a?] rather awful. But, it certainly cuts to the chase, doesn't it?

LH: Yes, um. Do you have other recordings?

LD: Yes ma'am. I sent a whole box of them to your producer. He should be getting them in the next day or two.

LH: Oh that- that's- Thank you.

LD: Anyway, I interrupted you. You were saying something about my messages.

LH: I'll get back to that. What's on the recordings?

LD: Oh, quite a lot. Oscar's lab notes mainly, but there's also some bits from here and there from various recording devices Oscar kept all over the facility...and the log from the panic obviously.

LH: How were you- How were you able to hold on to them?

LD: It was part of my deal. I was very close to Oscar you see, I was pretty broken up about it. Silence can be very expensive. I was also very close with your uncle. I made sure he stayed very comfortable.

LH: What does that mean?

LD: Well, for obvious reasons Emil wasn't really someone who could just walk around town so we had a, uh, space for him.

LH: What obvious reasons? Do you mean that he was locked away?

LD: Sheesh, Lia! Locked away?! No! Not at all! Emil...Emil was a great man. He just has.. a complicated life. He had worked with Oscar for a couple of years before to understand what his condition was, that was his term, condition.

LH: A condition that Oscar then sold to the highest bidder.

LD: That's a crude understanding of it but, yes. Oscar certainly was a red-blooded American after all. Emil wasn't dragged anywhere though, he knew what was happening. Oscar knew that if he could understand Emil's condition then he could potentially replicate it and, to his deserved credit he recognized the potential windfall. Mr. Billard was the first man Oscar reached out to, and Mr. Billard made sure that he was the last person Oscar reached out to.

LH: Can you please state the purpose of LimeTown?

LD: Straightforward. Good. The purpose of LimeTown was to develop a consumer prototype that allows for direct mind to mind communication between users. To build the internet without the internet, as Oscar would say. And they did it. A miracle.

LH: It doesn't seem that it was worth it.

LD: Worth. That's interesting. I'll come back to that.

LH: Why was all this kept so secret?

LD: Because if you can privatize something that alters the course of human civilization, I mean. That's pretty good, right? From a business perspective, of course, it's just about the best thing.

LH: So they built a town to experiment on my uncle's brain.

LD: Again, crude but, certainly not wrong.

LH: Was he- Was he hurt?

LD: Emil? No. He was certainly put through rigorous testing but he always had pretty high spirits. Greater good, all that. He talked a lot, he mentioned you often.

LH: Did he...[clears throat] No I- I rather not talk about that.

LD: Fair enough. But you were the apple of his eye. My husband, well, ex-husband, never wanted children. I did. But my life took me into dark places no one wants to follow you into so it just wasn't practical. When he left me, he married someone from his office, an accountant named Susan. They had 3 kids, daughters. I see pictures and...can't help but feel some connection. Some part of them, some memory [or?]. The dream could be mine. Emil...related to that.

LH: You seem different. From our first...contact you did not seem...friendly.

LD: Well, I am vast. I contain multitudes.

LH: [clears throat] I- I wanna get back to your deal and the recording from the panic. You said in your messages that you could tell me everything I wanted to know.

LD: Yes, I did say that. Could we maybe hold off on that for a bit?

LH: I wanna know what happened to everyone after the panic.

LD: Right. And I know I asked this before, but is knowing all the answers the most important thing? Really consider that, it doesn't have to be.

LH: It's the only reason I'm here.

LD: You have to be sure. We can still both walk away from this right now.

LH: I'm sure.

LD: Ok. When I was skydiving in Boroboro, over a volcano in a lagoon...I thought to myself "this is as beautiful as life will be. Impossible blues and greens rushing towards you. What if I don't pull the shoot? What will I miss? What will miss me? [chair drags, music stops] I haven't been entirely honest with you. I was not baking bread earlier. I want to talk about worth. [timer starts ticking]

LH: Why did you set the timer?

LD: Because we only have 12 minutes.

LH: What happens in 12 minutes?

LD: No more answers.

LH: I don't like this, this needs to stop.

LD: You have to see this through! You said this was the most important thing and I can give you any answer you want but I have started the clock now sit, Miss Haddock. You spoke of worth. So let's talk about that. I spent my life weighing one thing against another thing and then making the objective decision, and everything can be that simple if you want it to be. What do you think the tech developed in LimeTown is worth? I'll answer. More. Whatever you think it is, it's more than that. We're not only talking about a consumer product that reshapes how people think and interact with the world, we're talking about a military product which creates an instant communication link and code that can never be broken. Now ask yourself how far someone would go to protect that. If you could rule the world, and I mean really rule it, where would you draw the line on allowing anything to endanger your success?

LH: Are you really a citizen of LimeTown?

LD: Yes but that's not all I am. I'm also a very bad person. I worked with an outside organization to feed them information about what was happening in LimeTown and to convince Oscar Totem that who I worked for would make a better suitor for the product and the asset, your uncle.

LH: So you did not work for R.B. Billard.

LD: I did not, but everyone including him thought I did.

LH: You were a mole.

LD: Yes.

LH: Who were you a mole for?

LD: That's honestly difficult to answer. The group I worked for changes names every three months or so. Normally a combination of letters and numbers. FRE-8, GKD-4, etcetera, and as I no longer work for them, who knows. We were a collection of specialist for hire. When Billard began assembling the pieces of LimeTown I was positioned by an outside firm for the job who had a contact within Billard's field of influence. This other firm was work on behalf of someone else who worked for someone else and on and on. Like any good organization, there were many levels and I only knew a very low part of it.

LH: Are they the ones trying to stop me and kill the survivors?

LD: Yes, probably.

LH: You don't know?

LD: I'm retired, but we took pride in psychological tactics so I feel pretty confident about it.

LH: Were you the one who gave Oscar the hummingbird folder?

LD: Well, I left it for him. He never knew who I really was.

LH: What does the hummingbird mean?

LD: Nothing. It's a sticker I found in our daycare center [breaks into laughter] that was actually the second folder as things progressed and the town the contents changed first one had a dragonfly on it.

LH: What was in the folders?

LD: A deal. A plan. A number. If you call this number we will execute this plan we will give you this deal.

LH: What was the plan?

LD: That we would extract Oscar and the asset as well as any relevant RND, and if deemed necessary, deal with the remainder.

LH: What do you mean deal with the remainder?

LD: Well, the original plan called for 100% extinction, but then half the town was given the implant and suddenly they carried value so [as a?] plan evolved.

LH: The plan was to kill everyone without the tech?

LD: Long-term effects were important to understand, I think they probably view that as a mistake now.

LH: Oh my- my god.

LD: Yeah.

LH: And Max saw the folder.

LD: I don't know that for certain but I would assume so.

LH: He- He was trying to save Deirdre.

LD: Yes, but [not?] everyone else. He must've believed Oscar wouldn't sell out, but he hedged his bets all the same.

LH: Oscar did sell out.

LD: Yes. But, well, we should walk through this. As tension was building in the town my group was getting...antsy. We didn't like what was happening, or the extrapolation of it. Still, we waited. After that disaster of a town forum, Oscar locked himself in the research facility with just a handful of us. I watched him go to his desk and just stare at that drawer at least half a dozen times over the next few hours. Then things escalated, locks were broken, doors caved in. Finally Oscar opened that drawer. Called that number. But he called too late. All the king's horses, all the king's men. My value to an operation among many things is extraction. Not physical extraction but...extraction is all logistics, right? Move this line item here, shift this cell over there, make sure the right people know this, others are paid that. It's all logistics. Originally my biggest concern was Oscar and the asset.

LH: Call him Emil. He has a name.

LD: You're right. My concern was Oscar and Emil. And potentially clean up and waste disposal. But of course that all went to heck when the implant started. So now, it was figuring out how to extract and disperse 163 additional people. It was a nightmare. But I'm very good at my job. When Oscar made the call, our team was several miles out in a temporary encampment. They'd been lingering around for months, but because of the tone of recent disagreements in town they'd been more on edge, ready to go. There was an entry point only 3 miles away in the cave systems that we'd prepared. But it's slow moving through a cave no matter what. By the time the team made it into the town, Oscar was...already dead. I'd taken a few kicks to the head myself but that was unavoidable, cost of doing business. From there, it was a matter of dividing up those with the tech and those without it and discreetly extracting them through the caves where they were then processed to their pre-determined locations all over the world.

LH: How- uh- how-

LD: This is the part I always found frustrating. People think that this was magic. Was anything but! You start at the very beginning, analyzing weaknesses. LimeTown was built into caves on some sort of green initiative some tax loophole Billard was exploiting. Cheaper cooling and heating, yes. But it also created a natural tunnel system so, duh. From there, you've got manufacturing identification papers, crossing international borders, bribes, coordinating planes, boats, automobiles, camels, more bribes. It was practically, impossible. We had negotiated a 72-hour window from boots down to when gates were opened and I wanted everyone settled down before that window was closed. So when I say to you that I know you can get anywhere on earth and back in less than 72 hours, I mean it. And then there was this whole other issue of clean-up, making sure every hair follicle, every spot of blood, every piece of dirty clothing, all of it, is clean. It was just an incomprehensible task. But. And I don't mean to keep harping on this, it's just a fact: I am very good at my job.

LH: So it was the caves.

LD: Of course! I mean, it was also years of planning and nearly flawless execution, but right, caves.

LH: What happened to people without the tech.

LD: Do you want the short or long version?

LH: Neither.

LD: No, no, that's not a choice Lia. That's not the deal. You want the truth.

LH: I don't. [phone buzzes] It's Mark, I need to answer.

LD: There's no time for that Lia. Mark can listen like everyone else.

[phone stops buzzing]

LD: As I was saying. We had to eliminate those without the tech fairly quickly because of the disposal process. Early on I had ordered and installed 8 large high-pressure containers into the lower levels of the lab. Again, one line item of many, nothing to draw up any flags about. We wanted to use a process know as alkaline hydrolysis, which is essentially cooking the material down using a mixture of water and lie, leaving behind liquid that you can pour down the drain, and bones you can crush in your hand. This takes about 3 hours per person, 8 containers total, 162 people, that comes down to roughly a 61 hour process, beginning to end. But that stretched almost to 63. Luckily we'd built in some time. So, we used the scanners, beep beep, separated everyone out, tech no tech and you begin the process. This was not magic. Magic is what people invent because reality is awful. This was money, brute force, and excel sheets. I know what I am. I see it in your face. But you'll notice I said 162 people. There was 1 person without the tech I personally protected.

LH: Who?

LD: Her name is Silvia, she was 7.

LH: Silvia. She escaped.

LD: Yes. And Silvia, if you're listening, they know, it's time.

LH: Time for what?

LD: That's not for you.

LH: How...could you do this to people?

LD: I weighed one thing against another thing and I made an objective decision. I believed that the life of every single person on this planet could be better, more secure, potentially millions of lives could be saved and we weren't about to let this pointless pissing match in LimeTown take down what was being built. Something like that going public sets you back years! Maybe forever! And that calculation of life vs life was just logical then. Numbers, in a column. But all that, the town, the disappearance, that's all misdirection. Don't look over there! Look here! Look at me! The ends Lia, the ends! Have you asked yourself yet what happened to the tech? Do you really think LimeTown was the end of all of this? Do you really think that there was only one LimeTown? That this just stopped and vanished into thin air? No! This was just a really unfortunate beginning. And for the last 10 years they've been attempting to justify it and they're close.

LH: This is still happening [?]

LD: Of course. I told you that your uncle and I spoke a lot in LimeTown. And we did. He knew what I was. Who I was. But he wanted me to be better. And I wasn't that [unintelligible]. I didn't know it was nothing but a bunch of X's between somebody's hands and we looked and looked and looked at all those X's...no damn cat, no damn cradle. So when your uncle spoke to me recently and told me to tell you my truth, I knew it was what had to be done.

LH: He's alive?

LD: Yes. And they've lost him. He does that, but he's very necessary to the process. So they're going to try to use you to find him. You're the apple of his eye.

[pill bottle shaking]

LH: What is that timer counting down to?

LD: Lia, I've just taken a pill that in 90 seconds will put me to sleep. In 3 minutes, my heart will stop beating and I will die. Emil doesn't agree with me, but I think you should take one too.

[chair dragging]

LH: Mark, call the cops right now! I'm in [Morton off Leaker?] it's called La Cantina Brio. Mark!

LD: [whispering] I pulled the parashoot, because my truth was important.

LH: Mark, the door is barred shut! [metal slamming]

[kitchen timer dings]

[floor creaking]

LD: I really think you'd prefer the pill.

[glass shatters?]

LH: They're opening the doors! If you can hear my voice, don't- don't let this end here! Don't let them win!

[gun click]

LD: Oh. You can feel him, can't you?

[stomps]

LH: I'm sorry for losin-

[cut to silence]