5.18: Juno Steel and the Terrible Waste (Part 1)

Out in the furthest reaches of the Milky Way float piles of things best left forgotten: trash, refuse, the runoff and leftovers of a society that wants too much and produces too much. What better place, then, to put an impossible dream: that dead bodies, what we leave behind when we eventually exit life, might start to walk and talk and love again?
The Dokana group has chosen one of these trashteroids as their place to dream this dream. But be careful: it doesn't take much for a dream to become a nightmare.
Welcome to the Penumbra, dear Traveler. We hope you enjoy your stay.
(Trigger warnings can be found at the bottom of this episode description and at the end of the transcript.)
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You can find all of our transcripts here: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OLddnnYamZuglg…
Transcripts will come out along with the public release of the episode.
On staff at the Penumbra:
Ginny D'Angelo -- Head of Merchandise and Outreach
Melissa DeJesus -- Script editing team
Harley Takagi Kaner -- Co-creator, Head of Episode Development, Director, Sound designer
Joelle Kross -- Transcriptionist
Noah Simes -- Production manager
Grahame Turner -- Script editing team
Kevin Vibert -- Co-creator, Head of Operations, Lead writer
Ryan Vibert -- Composer and performer of original music
Jeff Wright -- Graphic designer
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Attribution: Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.
“Error_04.wav” by distillerystudio freesound.org/people/distillerystudio/sounds/3…
“Designed Sci-Fi Atmospheres - Harmonic - 018.wav” by GregorQuendel freesound.org/people/GregorQuendel/sounds/638440
“Ambience_Sinister_Electric_Cello_Loop_05.wav” by LittleRobotSoundFactory freesound.org/people/LittleRobotSoundFactory/s…
“Pulsing Static 03 (w/ intermittent noise)” by clwhite freesound.org/people/clwhite/sounds/574310
“March over the desert” by Diegolar freesound.org/people/Diegolar/sounds/411772
“Monolith.wav” by _NOMINAL_ freesound.org/people/_NOMINAL_/sounds/124626
“Fading Clanking” by KodyTron freesound.org/people/KodyTron/sounds/641919
“CN_tower_02.flac” by tim.kahn freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/sounds/35540
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Trigger warnings:
- Sudden loud noises
- Deception and betrayal
- Violence and threats of violence
- Use of firearms
- Death
- Abuse of the dead
- Abuse of authority

For early and ad-free episodes, production scripts, commentary tracks, blooper reels, livestreams with the creators, and much more, you can find The Penumbra Podcast: SPECIAL EDITION at: thepenumbrapodcast.supercast.com(In old episodes, you will often hear us mention Patreon, which was our old platform and is no longer live. Please feel free to ignore!)For tickets to our live reading of If Memory Serves: A Juno Steel Mystery on November 21, 2026, visit: therockwell.org/calendar/the-penumbra-podcast Join us at The Rockwell, home of our first two live shows, in Somerville, MA, for Joshua Ilon's one-night-only reading of an excerpt from our Juno prequel novel to be followed by a Q&A with Harley and Kevin. We can't wait to see you there to celebrate the release of the full audiobook!

We are also currently running a subscription sale on our Supercast and Patreon subscriber platforms to celebrate the conclusion of our first full season of Thirst. Visit thepenumbrapodcast.supercast.com or patreon.com/thepenumbrapodcast to get 28% off all tiers!
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