Metra Ep 6 - I am the Only God that Matters

Tyler is drawn further into the Process.

Sam shares her story of transformation.

Aglaphonos takes on a chilling new persona.

Songs:
“The Myth of Erysicthon Part 3”
“Ceres’ Curse”
“Famine”

Check out our website for ways to join the climate movement: metrathemusical.com/do-something

Support Metra at ko-fi.com/metrathemusical

Written by Emily and Ned Hartford
Music and Lyrics by Ned Hartford
Dialogue Directed by Emily Hartford
Produced by MythMakers Media

Featuring: Jeannette Bayardelle, Cherrye J. Davis, Corinna Schulenburg, Fred Inkley, Alia Munsch, Cristina Obando Sanchez, and Sierra Rein

Sound Editing and Design; Instrumentation Arranged and Performed; Vocals Arranged; and all Audio Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Ned Hartford

Follow the show:
https://pod.link/1843713183
IG and Bluesky:  @metrathemusical
metrathemusical.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Mythmakers media presents.

SPEAKER_07 0:33

Welcome, mythmakers. We three tree nymphs are here to present to you episode six of the scripted serial audio podcast of Metra, a climate revolution with songs. We told you there'd be music. So much music. Because music speaks to the soul. Speak to the soul, you can change the myth. Change the myth, you can change the world.

SPEAKER_09 0:59

And if we don't, a nymph dies, a man dies, a forest shudders.

SPEAKER_05 1:11

It's high time the people realize I am the only God. That matters.

unknown 1:34

No.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

I am not. No. How did you get me t to do that? I am not.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

I I I never The magic is deepening.

SPEAKER_09 1:50

The world's emerging. I can feel it. And Tyler, we'll take the anti-peacemaker device you use to keep the security forces in that.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

I don't have a button. Really? You can search me. I don't like the idea of the butt.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

Don't like to get your hands dirty? Or just like the appearance of being a nice guy. That's really unfair of you. Unfair? Yeah. I want to know why him. Aggie of all the bubble billionaires.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Why him in my bar? Revenge on his lineage of murder and destruction. Revenge on him, his father, his father's father, all the way back to the man who killed my sister.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Revenge? My father? I I am not my father. Look, if it's money you want, I we don't want your money.

SPEAKER_09 2:40

We want what the outside needs.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

And what the outside needs is justice.

SPEAKER_09 2:45

And the greater good.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

There is nothing good about kidnapping people. Stop wasting my time with lies.

SPEAKER_09 2:53

We're telling you the truth. I'm someone who likes telling the truth. I used to be a journalist years ago when that was our profession.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

I don't care.

SPEAKER_09 3:02

Great. So let me tell you all about it.

SPEAKER_03 3:04

And Tyler, if you get any ideas about making a break for the door, just know Aglofonos is standing right behind you.

SPEAKER_08 3:12

Don't test me, evil king.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

Please.

SPEAKER_04 3:17

Continue.

SPEAKER_09 3:18

Thank you. Now that we're all settled in. The story of Sam. Back when I graduated from journalism school, my dreams of having a career that made a difference smacked headlong into the long, slow demise of the news industry. So to make a living, what I actually ended up doing was churning out content, holisticals, slideshows, and every now and then some puff profile piece. Like this interview I did back in 2025. Supposed to be a feel-good story about a sweet old woman.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

And at this point, I play these stories.

SPEAKER_09 4:00

No, no, no, no. I'm going to. I know. That's not what we rehearsed, but I don't think I want to play me presenting as a man before I even knew who I was.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

I understand. We'll switch.

SPEAKER_09 4:18

Thank you. So tonight, I will play the sweet old woman that I once interviewed.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

And I guess that makes me our intrepid young journalist. I think I can pull this off. Here I was. Flying coach from red eye to Heathrow. Big deal for me. And then straight from the airport to the London School of Economics. Gawking out the window the whole way. Okay, I enter the building. I blend in pretty easily with college students who aren't much younger than I am. Except I've got a battered old roly bag and a tourist sense of wonder. Gleaming, high-tech, bright white interior, giant vibrant red spheres hanging suspended above me, ascending upwards around a huge white spiral staircase like the Guggenheim on steroids. I get to the right floor, locate the correct office door. I hear old jazz music playing from inside. I knock. I knock again. Still no answer. I turned the door handle when I opened the door. Oh hi, uh, you must be the sweet old woman.

SPEAKER_09 5:44

Oh, hello. You must be the other side. Luggage. You came straight from the airport.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

As soon as I'm done here, I'm driving a rental to Glastonbury to cover the first night of the festival.

SPEAKER_09 6:02

Oh, that's horrible.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

I'll sleep someday.

SPEAKER_09 6:05

Would you like some tea?

SPEAKER_03 6:07

Oh, I don't think I've stopped drinking coffee since yesterday morning. Whenever that was. So no, no, I I uh we should probably just dive in.

SPEAKER_09 6:16

Young people and their deep sense of invincibility. A constant reminder of what I no longer possess.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Well, uh as a senior public policy fellow at the London School of Economics, uh next week when I'm out of a job. You're retiring and being celebrated.

SPEAKER_09 6:41

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 6:43

Well, you're certainly held in high esteem.

SPEAKER_09 6:46

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

And your job is essentially my job. Okay. Your job is going to allow you to answer gathering my thoughts.

SPEAKER_09 7:05

My job is to recommend public policy based on the data. Make recommendations based on those predictions. You're like a modern day soothsayer. Success. I'm comfortable with that word. I prefer realization. My predictions have a high rate of realization.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

You predicted the vast consolidation of wealth that would have been occurring. And you predicted how wealth inequality would destabilize democracies and usher in authoritarian oligarchies around the world. You predicted all that.

SPEAKER_09 7:57

Well, how do you explain your success? What a success. I am an absolute failure. No one listens to me ever. What about the changes that Exxon and Chevron have recently promised? Another pile of horse many lag giving credibility by having my name attached. Every oil field keeps pumping away. I never played people's fear like the oil, the gas and coal companies did. They all knew as early as back as in the 1980s that climate change would kill us all. But to keep drilling, to keep making money. They spent millions on misinformation and lies to keep people divided, distracted, disbelieving that they paid for a well-loiled attack machine to destroy the lives and reputations of anyone who spoke out against them. So I I I did not say that. I was afraid of these sick fools so blithely willing to destroy the world their own grandchildren would grow up in. Deranged, great, power-hungry animals, psychopaths who wouldn't blink an eye to crush someone like me if I spoke out too loudly, poked the beast too insistently. So I told myself that what I said, and the calm, reasonable way I said it was enough. I told myself that I am complicit in our coming extinction. As are you. What? By interviewing me, an article intended to give hope, a reassurance. Tell me, what should I be doing? Screaming from the rooftops. Screaming what? Take away their money. In the United States, you've had these forfeiture laws that allow the government to take away the money criminals obtain through their crimes. And the greatest criminal conspiracy in human history is climate change. Take away the money of the oil billionaires and the energy CEOs and the heads of banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms that fund fossil fuel expansion to take away the money from the media titans and lobbyists and politicians who knowingly lie about climate change and use every dime seized to mitigate the incredible pain and suffering that will soon blanket our collective existence.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Why don't you shout that from the rooftops?

SPEAKER_09 10:28

At my age, I'd run out of breath. But it's why I'm here as I am thanks for the interview with a sweet old woman. An impending apocalypse has to focus the mind. I began to recognize a story inside me that I hadn't been listening to. I finally paid attention to I decided to completely blow up the life I was given. Shed my skin and walk into something better. And Mr. Tyler Gans, so can you.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Look, I I think I am beginning to understand. You blame me because of where I got my money. I didn't choose my father. You've made other choices. Yes, and I am spending a fortune to address the crisis that my lineage is complicit in.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

And how's that coming?

SPEAKER_04 11:53

I will find a solution.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

A rich white man promising us that he will fix the problems created by rich white men does not inspire confidence.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

I have spent my life trying to make up for the damage my father caused. Ladies, I am, and my money is the best chance we've got. We're working 24-7 and we will find a solution. But nothing is going to happen if you don't let me go. And if you let me go, I promise you, this can work out very well for you. I can speak to my vertical farming team about getting you jobs in the bubbles. Good paying jobs. Maybe even a place in the bubbles for you to live. And then we can find a solution together.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

To save all of humanity.

SPEAKER_09 12:40

Is that where you were on your way tonight? To save the world?

SPEAKER_03 12:46

What is it you want from me? An honest answer would be a great start.

SPEAKER_10 12:51

But until then. The myth of a second and a child captain. A goddess he defied. He gladly committed harm side such a royal ticket. His majesty.

SPEAKER_05 13:50

However, I want to cut down any fucking trees I want. Who the fuck is gonna stop me?

SPEAKER_10 14:02

But news of Heresick Thong's behavior so bad gets back to series and she gets mad.

SPEAKER_08 14:20

Oh stupid, selfish man. Arrogance, indolence, decadence. Did you think you were a god? Did you think there'd be no consequence? Claiming innocence, pleading ignorance, with a wink in the knob You did you think you could float above it all?

SPEAKER_11 15:02

What were you speaking?

SPEAKER_13 17:17

I am famine. Over fields of lush grain. Rivers thick with fish. And pastures a lowing fatty cattle on the way to the castle of a sick dog. I creep. Down down calls. Stopping at a door? Which swings open right at my top. Skating into his room like he sleep. I climbed up. I wrap my icy wings around and embrace him like a lover. Does the word exist for your rape and blender? I give to you for me the gift of living.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Say goodbye to all you love. Say goodbye to all you love.

SPEAKER_05 20:12

I'm hungry. God, I'm hungry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:52

And now a shout-out to our stellar ensemble, Jonathan Greg, Kristen Vaughan, William Peaton, Walker Steckenberger, Gowen McCullough, Ned Hartford, and Luke Wingarden. Join us later this week for another scintillating episode of Metro Listener Mailbag. Hosted by yours truly, Tom Mopey. Yeah. Dialogue directed by Emily Hartford. Singing sessions directed by Tom Mopey. Songs written by Aglofinus, Corey Sam, and yours truly, Tom Mopey. Music and vocal arrangements, as well as sound editing and sound design by Tom Mulpee. All audio produced and recorded and mixed by Tom Mopey at MythMakers Media Studios. Principal casting by McCorko Casting. Additional casting by Mythmakers Media. Public relations and media. Outreach by Tink Media. Visit our website, Metrothemusical.com, for a detailed list of credits and thanks. Follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky at Metra the Musical All One Word. Metra, a climate revolution with songs, is a production of Mythmakers Media. Copyright Ned and Emily Hartford, all rights reserved. Remember, change the myth, change the world. You great A plus, wondrous, motherfucking fabulous climate revolutionaries. That's a reference from one of the later episodes, so when you get there, you're gonna be like, oh yeah, I recognize that. We need a little Easter egg.