1.15: Juno Steel and the Train From Nowhere (Part 2)

Somewhere in this desert lies the greatest weapon Mars has ever seen. It’s on board the Utgard Express, a mobile lockbox that shatters the speed of sound at its slowest setting, a train that no one has ever entered… until today.

The plan is set. Juno and Nureyev know exactly what they must do to board that train. If there are no surprises they’ll just wake up, drive to a drone launch site in the desert, hijack a drone, and then ride off into the sunset, Martian Weapon in hand.

If there are no surprises, that is. But someone in this desert doesn’t much like the idea of things going smoothly for Juno and Nureyev, and the first of his surprises should be arriving at their door right about… now.

Welcome to the Penumbra, dear Traveler. We hope you enjoy your stay.

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Attribution:

"Kind of Girl" by Jeris, feat. spinningmerkaba http://ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35657

“Interior Rally Racing Car.wav” by efksound http://freesound.org/people/efksound/sounds/193679

“Destruction, Wooden, A.wav” by InspectorJ http://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/352513

“Plunk” by OwlStorm http://freesound.org/people/OwlStorm/sounds/209011

“Nuerburgring-Pit-Lane.flac” by Erdie http://freesound.org/people/Erdie/sounds/34526

“Airplane Ambience” by SeanSecret http://freesound.org/people/SeanSecret/sounds/251653

“thing.rocket.02.mp3” by dobroide http://freesound.org/people/dobroide/sounds/15463

“Key out of the pocket.wav” by BarkersPinhead http://freesound.org/people/BarkersPinhead/sounds/274669

“Light Metal Gate Close” by qubodup http://freesound.org/people/qubodup/sounds/219587

“Indy Blow Darts Cue 3.wav” by pscsound http://freesound.org/people/pscsound/sounds/71260

“Clothing_ShirtsandPants_Rustling.wav” by duckduckpony http://freesound.org/people/duckduckpony/sounds/204016

“underwater ambience” by akemov http://freesound.org/people/akemov/sounds/255597

“Large Earthquake” by LoafDV http://freesound.org/people/LoafDV/sounds/148002

“metal door close.wav” by Tomlija http://freesound.org/Tomlija/sounds/98946

“kitchen metal.wav” by offthesky http://freesound.org/people/offthesky/sounds/34654

“good kick in the head sound.aif” by mwl500 http://freesound.org/people/mwl500/sounds/54807

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

• Violence
• Gunfire
• Deception and gaslighting
• Sudden loud noises
• Alcohol
• Threats

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: https://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: https://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 https://thepenumbrapodcast.supercast.com/ or patreon.com/thepenumbrapodcast to get 28% off all tiers!

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