The Very Black

A seasoned Air Force test pilot finds himself on the brink of history when the military’s newest triangular saucer—an experimental craft meant to finally carry a live pilot—gets his name on the roster. The pressure is amplified by a tangled romance with Margie “the Doll” Hayman, whose own ties to the project make every conversation a mix of flirtation and uneasy foreboding. As rumors swirl about previous unmanned crashes and the ship’s mysterious ninth‑dimensional quirks, Anders must weigh his love, his duty, and the very thin line between bravery and folly.

The opening of the story immerses listeners in a smoky barroom banter that quickly turns into a high‑stakes decision point. With the secretive nature of the program and the looming unknown of “the very black” ahead, the episode sets a tense, almost tactile atmosphere. It’s a gritty, human‑focused look at how far one will go when the odds are stacked against them, and whether the heart can survive the plunge.