Juno Steel and the Clean Break (Part 1)

Arc poster by Ellison Estephan

**Juno Steel and the Clean Break** is an episode of the Penumbra Podcast in the Juno Steel series. It is the tenth Juno Steel episode of season 4, and the nineteenth overall.

## Overview

Doctor Palomine Aurinko made a career out of changing people. A behaviorist, in his mind, should be a sculptor of the soul: a set of firm hands to grasp and pinch and mold a person into anyone -- or anything -- he desired.

Palomine is long dead now, but his ideas live on without him. The sculptor's hands continue to mold... and Juno Steel is about to find out what happens when those hands start changing someone very close to him.

### Trigger Warnings:

* Drug use
* Addiction
* Violence and threats of violence
* Incarceration
* Medical abuse
* Depiction of execution
* Self-harm
* Abuse of authority

## Episode Summary

Juno Steel and Vespa Ilkay sneak through the Aurinko Permanent Corrections Facility. They briefly discuss the size of the prison before stopping to listen to a prisoner talking to a prison official using Palomine Aurinko's voice modulation. The prisoner complains about another prisoner being noisy, before escalating to claim he bit them. Palomine's voice promises someone will come treat them, so the prisoner miserably bites their own arm to back up the lie. Vespa gives Juno a respirator and dons one herself so they can carry on while sleeping gas is piped into the area. When they remove the masks, Vespa explains that the prisoners in this sector are apparently tortured by unseen means: some can't sleep, others can't stop moving, or display other peculiarities. The only relief they get is for ratting out fellow prisoners for misbehavior; the prisoner they just observed made up the story of being bitten to have something to report, and the sleeping gas was their reward.

Juno reflects on his previous conversation with Buddy Aurinko that she arranged during "group therapy." She points out to him, in flashback, that his ability to empathize even with his enemies has made him a good detective, criminal, and person, and will help them now. They need to work out what Dark Matters' motives are to predict how they run the prison and why. Palomine, she says, was obsessed with individualizing treatment...and manipulation. Buddy's mother was a former patient of his, whom he endlessly tried and failed to tweak into his perfect woman. Dark Matters, however, wanted the prison to become streamlined and automated, so Palomine began to grow bored, then to take bribes from prisoners, and eventually was caught and murdered by Dark Matters. What bothers Buddy is that Dark Matters made a point of keeping parts of his design, to the extreme of using his voice and AI based on him. So...why?

In the present, Juno muses that this question may be linked to his sense that he's not done with Sasha Wire, but Vespa asks him to snap out of his thoughts, because they're almost at Jet Sikuliaq's cell, and need to try--again, in Vespa's case--to convince him to escape with them. Jet, unlike other prisoners in this sector, is behind bars, which he reaches through to grab Juno and hit his head against them. He laughs like he does in flashbacks to his time as the Unnatural Disaster, and chatters like it was a fun prank. Vespa, who had warned Juno not to get so close, is dismayed he dismissed her. Jet tells Juno he doesn't want to leave, because whatever drugs Dark Matters gives him makes him feel like the Unnatural Disaster is his true self, the "genie" trapped in the "bottle" of Jet.

Juno spends half an hour trying to cajole Jet into agreeing to escape, rather than stick around for his own execution. Vespa pulls him away and tells him Jet's probably being given "neomethamphetamines," and he's not himself. His behavior is being chemically influenced, and he cannot be relied on to be gentle with them or himself in the way they know him to be. Juno insists that, despite Vespa's personal and medical concerns, talking to him will give them a better chance of getting Jet safely to their escape vehicle in four hours than knocking him out would. Vespa wishes him luck, but splits off to look for a plan B.

Juno reflects that he knows he and Jet share an opinion, as addicts, that they are not two different people, "like Jekyll and Hyde." He is not going to act like the Unnatural Disaster is a stranger to him. Instead, he tries to channel things he admires about Jet's own calm demeanor, and try to reach an understanding. As they chat, Jet complains that his boredom is too intense for any argument or trick to make the outside world appealing. The idea of being killed, or escaping at the last second, is so exciting it feels like freedom.

After a pause, Juno asks why Jet takes the neos at all. Jet gives a non-answer, talking instead about how sick he grew of having to deny his cravings. Juno sympathizes, saying he misses the lady he was on pills, too. Before he can finish making his point, Jet makes a fuss until "Palomine" sends him another hit, and the thrilling possibility a guard might be on their way, too. Jet tries to scare Juno away, but he refuses to give up. He narrates that he would find being forced out of sobriety hellish--but "hell's nice when you're coming in from the cold. But only for a little while."

He asks Jet why he went sober to begin with, and suggests Jet isn't sure. He isn't sure himself why he quit. At first, feeling guilty just meant he took more pills to quiet the feeling, but one morning he woke up and "got it." Jet's enjoying the freedom from his conscience, but Juno knows it won't last. Jet insists the memories he's running from are worse than Juno's. He hasn't merely hurt people, he's "a monster," but Juno disagrees. Furthermore, he points out being hooked up to a machine he can't turn off doesn't sound very free. Juno encourages him that he likes Jet better sober, and he thinks Jet does, too. Jet briefly seems to be taking this idea seriously, but a fresh injection ends his cooperation.

Vespa returns with a master key, but Jet chokes her. She dares him to kill her, so he releases her and yells for Palomine. As an alarm kicks in, reporting intruders, Vespa and Juno leave. Jet apologizes to Juno, but laughs hysterically. Juno starts laughing too, promising Vespa he'll explain why when Buddy's with them. They'll go back for him. When they link up with Buddy, he explains that the machine is too big to be portable, so they'll have a window to get through to him when he is being prepared for his execution. They can meet their getaway and return tomorrow for him, but Buddy breaks the news that their disappearance from the medical ward has inspired the prison to move up the execution. It will take place in an hour, so they have to make a choice between helping Jet, and risk missing their escape, or leaving without him.

## Cast

* Joshua Ilon as Juno Steel;
* Chloe Cunha as Vespa;
* Alexander Stravinski as Jet;
* Sarah Gazdowicz as Buddy;
* Stewart Evan Smith as Palomine;
* Kate Jones as Rita *[Flashback]*