Dead Weight
yeet the rich
A cybernoir Upstairs, Downstairs set in the shadow of the space elevator
Dead Weight is an original sci-fi audio drama created by Matt Boothman (I Need A Miracle).
In Earth orbit: the Lilypad, headquarters of Vector Logistics and staging post for their Mars colonisation. Tethering the Lilypad to Earth: the Stem, 5,000 kilometres of high-strength cable, humanity’s greatest ever feat of engineering.
Supporting the Stem: Rose City. Part tech campus, part warehouse, part megamall, last haven of industry on a guttering Earth and crucible of resistance against the gigacorp that drank the world.
A burgeoning union trains a mysterious drifter to ascend the Stem and infiltrate Vector’s systems. A disillusioned Vector Vice Director descends the Stem looking to trade company secrets for a simpler life planetside. And one Vector loader finally snaps under decades of thankless work, and hatches an extreme scheme to tear their worlds apart.
“Everyone in the world who exists to make our lives harder... They all decided to get together in one place, away from the rest of us. In the head of the hammer. They think we’re under their heels down here. But we’re the ones with our hands on the grip. We’re the ones in the right place to make the big choice. You know what the big choice is when you’re doing a hammer throw? When to let it fly.”
For fans of
Help Dead Weight break orbit
Matt’s planned a six-episode first season of Dead Weight and written the first two episode scripts. Next we need to hire more writers to complete the first season’s scripts, then cast and crew to record and produce the episodes.
Unless we can raise raise a healthy production fund, those first scripts will languish on Matt’s hard drive and these characters, this world, will never reach your ears.
Throw any amount you can afford into the production fund, and you can read the draft script for episode 1: Out of Place. Become a regular monthly contributor and you can also read episode 2: Out of Scope.