Juno Steel and the Stone Unturned (Part 1)

Arc poster by Ellison Estephan.

**Juno Steel and the Stone Unturned (Part 1)** is the sixth Juno Steel episode of The Penumbra Podcast season 4, and the tenth overall. It was released March 8, 2022.

## Overview

Juno Steel would really like to take the past, lock it up in a little box, and throw away the key, thank you very much. It's hard to blame him: with his childhood friend hunting him down and his recent love gone without a trace, the past is really feeling like the place where all of today's problems were born.

But Juno is a detective, and even if he's decided he's done with Sasha Wire and putting Peter Nureyev on pause, curiosity will always bring him back. Now, between the journal in his pocket and Sasha's strange secret base all around him, Juno will find that the past never stays locked up for long.

### Trigger Warnings:

* Violence and threats of violence
* Drug use
* Depiction of illness
* Enclosed, claustrophobic spaces
* Violent pursuit by governments/police
* Racism/xenophobia
* Deception
* References to self-harm/suicide

## Episode Summary

Peter Nureyev narrates, his voice being the text of a message to Juno Steel left in the journal he gave him. Nureyev explains that this is a story from his past that he wishes Juno had read in his mind when Miasma had them imprisoned together, and that he knows he should have told it to Juno before suggesting they leave Mars together. It is much of the reason that Nureyev, at the time of composing the message, expects to be forced to leave Juno's side.

He reminds Juno that after the events of Peter Nureyev and the Angel of Brahma (Part 2), the then 16-year-old Nureyev made a bold proclamation of his intent to live as an "anonymous specter of justice" and fully bring down the corruption in New Kinshasa. Instead, the Guardian Angel System was back online within three months, and Nureyev was on the run, for the first time without Mag's protection and help keeping him fed and clothed. Young Peter expected to die at any moment, all the time. After about six months, he gave up on living altogether, and broke into one final basement with every expectation of dying there. He found there a chemical lab, familiar to him for reasons he could not put his finger on. He hid there for a few weeks...and then the owner of the building revealed himself. This was Slip Jackson, bearing tea and a sandwich, and calling him Petya. Nureyev knew him already, but it had been six or seven years since they'd last seen each other.

Juno, in the present day, abruptly cuts off the narrative, grumbling that he doesn't have time for Nureyev's "stupid games." He doesn't want to hear sappy stories about Slip Jackson after spending days cracking into the journal. He and Puck Falco are on a mission to find Rita; that takes priority. The two of them are on Asteroid XZ2B-21-Z. He feels like he's heard Sasha Wire mention it before, but isn't sure why. Puck and Juno Open an automatic door to reveal a staircase so long and echoing that they cannot hear Puck's dropped pen hit the floor. Juno fills Puck in on a scan from the Ruby Seven that indicates snack food residue typical of Rita is detectable on the asteroid, and then makes a logical leap: there is no sign of a Dark Matters guard here, which means Sasha has moved Rita out of the official custody of Dark Matters, to this asteroid, which she must have appropriated at some point to use as a secret base. She couldn't have made it herself, because the walls are painted green. Sasha hates green.

Puck wants to go through the lair methodically, but Juno's instinct says that Sasha has Rita stashed at the very lowest level, for some strategic purpose yet unknown. Puck is curious, but Juno is uninterested in what Sasha's thinking or doing or wants. He refuses to think about her deeply, because doing that makes him want a big confrontation with her that would make him feel like a superhero, saving everything and everyone, despite knowing in his gut he always loses the long game. Puck apologizes for pushing him too hard, but makes him sit down on the stairs to cool down. They suggest that sorting through Sasha's stuff cuts too deep and too personally for Juno to be effective, or emotionally safe. They gently order him to stay put for a bit while they look through a library room.

Juno spirals through recent failures and disappointments. When he runs out of things to get angry about, he returns to the journal, and to Peter's narrative. Slip and Peter had stopped talking when Mag took Peter in. Slip had found Mag creepy, spending too much time around kids. He brings Mag up with Peter, who insists on changing the topic. The two of them reminisce about a caper they pulled while in a band of "Pests": children orphaned by the Guardian Angel System. Slip had been part of a different friend group within the group, and Peter gave him a wide berth because he was fascinated and repelled by Slip's use of drugs. Peter remembers having fairly cruelly chewed Slip out about it when they parted, and apologizes. Slip says he thinks Peter had a point, even though some of what he said was wrong. Slip is more careful now, and doesn't use while on jobs. He offers Peter some pills, which Peter refuses. Slip doesn't push, and assures Peter that he's safe where they are, as long as Peter doesn't stab him. Peter returns to the subject, though, questioning the safety of the pills, but Slip says those are safe too, because they're his own creation.

Peter narrates that while he recovered, he observed Slip using the lab equipment to make more drugs, some of which he sold or gave away. Peter had by now become less horrified by Slip's behavior, though the fascination remained. He was impressed with Slip's initiative and ambition, and began to wonder whether he would ever get to make good on his own. One day, Slip surprises Peter with tickets to Saraswati, where they can travel together to see a sky again. Slip rambles about having missed Peter and wanting to do something nice for him, and Peter kisses him. In narration, he reflects that he was never as horrified by Slip's drug use as he was by his own attraction to Slip. After the kiss, he asks whether he can try one of Slip's creations, to know him better.

In the present, Juno again slams the journal shut, tired of hearing about the person he loves having a romance with someone else. He thinks Puck has been gone too long, and looks for them. He knows he would have noticed Puck passing him to descend further, so he backtracks. He's mad at Puck, Sasha, Mick Mercury for refusing to side with him against Sasha, and at himself. He finishes backtracking, with no sign of Puck. He does, however, hear banging on the far side of another door, a sound like two people running, suddenly cut off. Juno swings open the door to see Puck and Rita collapsed on the floor, and steps forward to help them, too late to stop the door from swinging shut behind them. Rita bursts into tears. That door locks from the outside, and now the three of them are stuck.

## Cast

* Joshua Ilon as Juno Steel
* Noah Simes as Peter Nureyev
* Ellie Desautels as Slip Jackson
* Chelsea Ruscio as Puck Falco
* Kate Jones as Rita

## Trivia

* Asteroid XZ2B-21-Z sounds familiar to Juno because Sasha threatened to send him there in Juno Steel and the Case of the Murderous Mask (Part 1)