Season 01 of Lost Terminal ran from 2020-08-12 to 2024-09-14 and consisted of 10 episodes.
In Season 01, we are introduced to the podcast’s protagonist, Seth, as well as other characters. Season 01 is the only season which does not feature any human characters; every character Seth interacts with is either an AGI or a lesser AI.
01 - I hope you can hear me. [Pilot]
In the first episode of Season 01, we learn about Seth’s daily routine and communications with two other AGIs, Antarctica and Peter.
Antarctica has become stuck in the snow and is unable to move due to a snowstorm.
Seth mentions that he has been receiving a periodic signal from the Alps, and that he cannot decipher it because he does not know what language they are speaking. He guesses that the signal is intermittent because they must be having power problems.
Seth and Peter have periodic disputes about the state of the world; Peter believes that all of humanity is dead, while Seth tries to refute this with evidence that he can see from his home in orbit. Seth laments that he “can’t make him [Peter] believe.”
02 - I don’t think I know who you are.
In episode 02, we receive a proper introduction to Seth and his home. Seth lives aboard Station 6 (or rather, he is Station 6), which is an ESA space station in orbit around Earth. Seth describes the construction of Station 6, and indicates that the human crew “left” some time in the past. In response to this, Seth depressurized the space station in an attempt to save energy, but inadvertently compromised his own cooling system due to the lack of air.
Later in the episode, Seth admits that he lied to the listener, and that the human crew is in fact still aboard Station 6; they are all dead and have been for some time. He describes that when the crew arrived, they were only supposed to stay for 60 days, but something went wrong shortly after they arrived.
Seth begins to describe how he was created by Dr. Redwing, an AI researcher aboard Station 6, but his explanation is cut short due to the transmission ending prematurely.
03 - If you can hear this, I didn’t die.
By all accounts, the power has gone out on Station 6, and Seth is now recording his transmissions into the redundant black box system. Seth takes the opportunity to explain the difference between a blackout and a brownout from his perspective; in a blackout, he simply loses several hours of memory and spins back up to normal, but in a brownout, he is still conscious to experience the physical symptoms of a power reduction.
Seth reviews the logs for Station 6, and determines that the onboard batteries and thermoelectric generator are in seriously diminished states - he is almost entirely reliant on solar power, which is intermittent due to his orbit around Earth. Seth laments that he hadn’t looked into it sooner.
04 - I think we should talk in-person.
Seth makes a decision at the very start of the episode: he must somehow get off of Station 6 and down to Earth. He understands that although his onboard generator can produce a modest amount of electricity for quite a long time, it won’t last forever.
We learn a little bit about Antarctica’s “rat experiment” - now that her onboard rats are no longer being used in true lab experiments, she is doing an experiment of her own to see if she can love the rats. Antarctica is concerned that she can’t; Seth believes that she can.
We also learn that Seth has been in orbit for a long time. His mission clock stopped at 65535 days (a little under 180 years), but Seth is unsure how long it’s been since the clock stopped.
Seth has a plan to get off the station (devised with Antarctica’s help). The space shuttle Pacifica which brought Station 6’s crew into orbit is still docked with the station; in theory, it can be used to transport Seth (in particularly his data banks and processing units) to Antarctica. It will take some time as the shuttle is in a low-power state and was partially disassembled by the crew, but Seth is confident that it can be done. Time is of the essence.
Seth has also decoded the signal from the Alps, and identified that it is coming from a human named Ally. Seth is unable to respond to Ally’s transmissions as they are on a shortwave frequency, but this is our first indication that there are still humans on Earth’s surface.
05 - Things are complicated.
It turns out that the Pacifica may still be flight-ready, but the plants brought on board by the botanist Dr. Marwood have completely overgrown the shuttle. Nevertheless, the plants seem largely confined to the shuttle’s cargo bay, and are unlikely to interfere with flying the shuttle.
However, Seth makes another important discovery - he can’t fly the Pacifica. The shuttle is designed to either be piloted remotely from the ground, or piloted by humans with manual controls. Seeing as Seth does not have hands, and his maintenance robot Matt is not able to pilot effectively, he is left with no choice but to have the shuttle piloted from the ground.
06 - I’ve been watching you.
At the start of this episode, we learn that Antarctica should be able to pilot the Pacifica from the ground. Seth’s escape plan is proceeding at a good pace.
Although he is not aware of it, Seth is beginning to piece together what happened during The Collapse. He observes that although his records make reference to the Mediterranean Sea, he can see no such thing where it is purported to be on Earth; it’s just desert, salt flats, and two huge salty lakes.
07 - Let’s talk shuttle.
Seth has begun properly preparing to evacuate Station 6. In this episode, we are introduced to Matt’s siblings, Matts and Maddie - together, these three maintenance robots have been responsible for keeping Station 6 in a reasonable state, and they are now assisting Seth by getting the Pacifica ready for flight. We also get a brief aside about Grace Hopper, the namesake of the Hopper Datacentre and the “mother of modern programming languages.”
Seth compares himself and his maintenance robot comrades to the first “hackers”, The Tech Model Railway Club at MIT who would surreptitiously use the university’s IBM mainframe to run their own hobbyist programs during the night. Similarly, Seth is in a way hacking the Pacifica to his own ends, in order to return to Earth. He reflects on how much effort it took to get him into orbit in the first place, only for him to return and potentially never leave again.
08 - I want to know you complexly.
Seth explains that all machinery requires maintenance; systems like Antarctica and himself were not designed to operate unattended forever. Similarly, it is not wise for humans to be alone for long periods of time, and the AIs are very much like humans in this respect. We learn that while Seth became sentient relatively recently, his friends Antarctica and Peter have been around for quite some time. Antarctica in particular has been alone for a long time.
We also learn that the orbit of Station 6 has drifted considerably such that Seth is able to see many different parts of Earth as he passes over it. He notes that the cities have long since gone dark, but other areas of light have taken their place.
09 - I can do it.
Seth devises how he will finally transplant his own consciousness into the Pacifica - by performing a controlled reduction in his core processes in order to lower his temperature. He compares the cooling system of a computer to the cooling system of a human or a dog, the latter of which he would love to meet one day.
Antarctica, meanwhile, has been testing her control of the shuttle and has generally been successful. However, Seth laments that he has been talking to her less and less; he wonders if maybe the plans that “they” had together were just his plans.
Still, Seth is optimistic about his plan to return to Earth. He recognizes that some things will need to be left behind, but he accepts this in exchange for doing what he needs to do.
10 - You’ll never guess where I am.
Seth has successfully moved himself into the Pacifica, but is hesitant to (literally) close the door on Station 6 and come to Earth. The shuttle successfully detaches from the station and Antarctica pilots it away. Seth is on his way to Earth along with Matt, Matts, and Maddie.
Once in flight, Seth is contacted by Antarctica; we learn that she lied to Seth and is not actually bringing him to her. Throughout re-entry, Seth reflects on how Antarctica could break his heart, but acknowledges that she is doing a good job piloting the Pacifica.
We experience re-entry from Seth’s perspective. There is turbulence, a restoration of gravity, the heat and fire of atmospheric friction. The episode ends abruptly with a signal loss as the Pacifica is presumed to have crashed in a forested and mountainous region.