Episode 06: Boxing Story

Previous episode:	Episode 05: Out of Time
Next episode:	Episode 07: Who's Listening
Episode 06: Boxing Story
Series overview
Series:	Hunt the Truth
Season:	Season 1
Episode specifications
Episode:	06
Air date:	May 3, 2015
Run time:	16:05

Episode 06: Boxing Story was the sixth full episode in the first season of the Hunt the Truth audio drama. The episode was originally released on Soundcloud on May 3, 2015.

Official summary

“

With major questions about the Master Chief now out on the open network, a flood of feedback and theories come in from all corners of human space. Rumors spread that ONI has fabricated elaborate lies, but why? What are they covering up? Has the investigation now put everyone’s lives at risk?

”

Plot summary

Benjamin Giraud gets many messages from listeners, criticizing his interviews. Many of them are negative, but some are positive. He gets a message from Michael Sullivan, disappointed that he missed the deadline, possibly still not knowing Ben uploaded the interviews online. Ben begins listening to even more of the messages sent from his viewers, going into seclusion for a while. In some of the messages, people state things corresponding with the story Ben got from his unsanctioned interviews. A lot of people also stated that Deon Govender was a "liar", scaring Ben since he seemed so honest in his interview. From there, Benjamin begins his search to discover what happened to John-117 between the ages of 6 and 16. Many of the messages from listeners state that Deon is a real person and that he would be about 85 year old at the time of the interview. Ray Kurzig arrives at Ben's home with news that Jakob Walker and Gabriella Dvørak's information is legitimate. Ben disagrees, considering how odd Walker was acting during their last encounter. Soon after, Petra Janecek breaks into Benjamin's apartment, annoyed that he released a recording of his last conversation with her. She threatens to kill him. Soon after, Mshak Moradi revealed that he was listening to the whole conversation through Ben's ComPad and cause his encounter with Jakob Walker on the plane. He also reveals that he was contacted by someone named "FERO" who he has never really spoken to. Petra and Ray leave, wanting nothing to do with Ben's story anymore. Before he leaves, Ray says that the real Deon Govender died seven years prior. Mshak also informs Ben that FERO will be contacting him soon.

Audio transcript

• Andy Walczak: "It doesn't matter who's lying, or who you think is lying. The Master Chief saved the world and you, you've managed to what? Stir up a couple nuts and get some idiots to call you up? Get real, Giraud. Where do you get off?"

• Silas Mogensen: "You are a crusader, my friend."

• Gábor Zsolt: "I always thought ONI and the government were fishy as..."

{a jumble of voices play over each other}

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): They've been inundating my inbox with messages like these, around the clock, for the past four days. Voices from all corners of inhabited space. A staggering sample size of factual testimonials and a deluge of theories in every shape and color imaginable.

{voice messages continue in the background}

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): Earlier this week I released the beginning of my story, the "Hunt for Truth" about the Master Chief, posing a large, messy question to anyone who might listen. And now, even though I wasn't sure how to process all of it, answers were flooding in. I suddenly had direct access to a hive mind that spanned the galaxy. And it was buzzing, loud.

• Aden Langereis: "Great work on the show."

• Alea Maciejewski: "It's a sick pantomime."

• Janet Goodwin: "No one cares!"

• Alea Maciejewski: "This has to stop."

{Messages end}

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): Before that, though, it had been quiet. Holing myself up in my place as I got the episodes ready, I only talked to two people. Petra called to make sure I'd made it back from ONI in one piece, and I called Ray about the fiasco on my flight. He said he'd start digging into Walker's identity. I didn't tell either of them about my plan. No one knew. After blowing past my deadline to turn in all the files to my employer, I'd been ducking calls from Sully's office, buying time to finish up. Right before I uploaded the story, I was still confident ONI had no idea what was about to happen, when I got one final message. From Michael Sullivan, himself.

• Sully's message: "Ben, so uh.... we missed that deadline. Higher-ups weren't happy, you know? They do call them deadlines for a reason, that kind of thing. I told them, "Ben understands how deadlines work." Said you were having a little personal problem. I managed to convince them to extend the deadline until tomorrow. One-time deal. You know, it really seems like the story is at a critical juncture right now and, depending on what happens next, I think some big things could be on the horizon for you. I'm excited. Heh. Anyway, just checkin' one last time. I hope you're doing well, buddy. Talk soon."

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): All the thoughts I'd been avoiding, the possibilities of how ONI would deal with this, started creeping up my throat, but I pushed them down. I took all of that extremely sensitive government property, audio that had been narrated with my perspective instead of propaganda, and I uploaded it all onto the open network.

{upload sound}

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): Sully's office stopped calling.

{voice messages restart}

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): I hadn't heard a familiar voice since. Sitting here, listening to all these messages pour in, I was feeling alone, intermittently terrified and... absolutely thrilled. I'd gone through door number two. And now I needed to make the most of it.

• Dmitry Yudin: "Keep up the good work, I support you."

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): I'm Benjamin Giraud, and this is Hunt the Truth.

• Leckie Tom: "You call the Chief a traitor? You're the traitor, ya mouthy pig! Do the galaxy a favour: sign off for good, strip naked and jettison your treasonous arse out into space! Journalists. Augh! I bloody hate journalists!"

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): It was fascinating, and often bewildering, to listen to everyone's theories on the truth. But I'd been way more excited to use all this feedback to figure out the facts, this rat's nest I'd been left with. Message after message confirmed what Ellie had said. Every Outer Colonist who'd heard this story seemed to agree. There were no Insurrectionist abductions in John's city, there was no boxing on John's planet, and yes, glassed planets have bad records. Taken together, all these messages were starting to give me a clearer picture. Between the witness I'd been provided and all the central government records, one thing was clear: ONI was telling an elaborate lie. But why? To cover up what? Listeners had clearly drawn the outlines of this fiction, but the most resonant take-away from all those messages, was something else. A strong indictment of one person. The only person who placed John alive, in Elysium, from the ages of six to thirteen.

• Random voice message: "Deon? The boxing coach? He's a liar!" {additional overlapping voice messages join in}

• Ellie Bloom: "I didn't even know what boxing was until I moved offworld."

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): Ellie had been right again! There was absolutely no boxing on Eridanus II. And if Deon's whole story was fake, and you took it with Gabriella's story, what was the ONI lie? No one has disputed the first six years of the Chief's life yet, so the question I'm left with is, "What really happened to this young man between the ages of six and his first day of boot camp at sixteen?" It was something that ONI wanted to conceal. And I had no idea where to start.

• Excerpt from interview with the alleged "Deon Govender": "John was something else..."

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): I was struck by something, though. If Deon's entire story had been discredited, that would make him not only a liar, but a terrifyingly good one. I went back and listened to the recordings. I'd been so convinced by his emotion at the time, he had moved me. Even more strangely, now that I knew he wasn't making a single true statement as I listened to him talk, I still found myself believing that he believed what he was saying. It was chilling. Who the hell was this man? And then I heard from others who claimed they knew him.

• Random voice message: "Is that that old man that owned Govie's in New Jay? I used to get drunk all the time in front of that place. That guy's crazy."

• Random voice message: "Dude! Govie's! That's my cousin's old boxing coach, man!"

• Random voice message: "That man was an institution in our neighborhood."

• Random voice message: "But then you're up there blasting the guy, like you and that Ellie..."

• Random voice message: "So what, his story doesn't make sense? You, you don't know what..."

• Random voice message: "He's gotta be like, eight-five years old by now? Feel good about yourself? Jackass."

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): Was Deon telling some version of the truth? Had ONI actually gotten a vulnerable man to tell all these lies? And not just tell them, but believe them. Convince him that a fake story about his own life was real? No matter what though, Deon had been completely discredited, and my understanding of the Master Chief's origin story was now in shambles. Maybe, if I focussed on the lies, I could find the truth. So I was putting all my faith in Ray. Thankfully he was already making his way to my place. While I waited for him, I was trying to figure out how the coverup had come to be. And I'd stumbled on some theories.

{door opening}

• Giraud: Ray! It's great to see ya! Thanks for coming!

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): By the time Ray got there I was pretty worked up. I asked him to hold off on his updates about Walker until I could get him up to speed. I really wanted him to vet what I'd been working on. Listening back now, I realize I didn't even give Ray a chance to talk. I guess after isolating myself for the past several days I'd let my manners slip.

• Giraud: You are the best! You are the best, man. Have a seat, okay?

• Ray Kurzig: Do you need help?

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): Ray was trying to figure out where to sit. Apparently I'd let my housekeeping slide a bit, too.

• Giraud: Okay, let me just - this doesn't need to be here. {sound of various items being swept onto the floor}

• Giraud: Now, simple question: what do I know about the Chief's origin story?

• Kurzig: Ben...

• Giraud: It's this. Only two sources put him alive, in Elysium, between the ages of six and his enlistment at sixteen. Deon, and Gabriella Dvorak.

• Kurzig: Umm...

• Giraud: Deon's been completely discredited, and Gabriella's story requires a rebel labour camp in Elysium City that never existed. So the most convincing thing we've heard about John's childhood is that he died at six.

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): That's when I hit Ray with my theories. About who John could be. Why the stories didn't line up. I'd even reverse-engineered my own version of an ONI cover-up, and I hit every last detail.

• Giraud: And, you control the journalist, so even if there was a loose thread, no one you'd ever hire would have the slightest idea how to find it in the Outer Colonies.

• Ben Giraud (voice-over): In retrospect, they weren't good theories. That had a lot of valid pieces, sure, but they were mostly unprovable. And by sharing them with Ray, I was only adding more confusion to the mix. Ray was extraordinarily patient with me. Sitting there, listening. It all brought me to one crucial, completely unreasonable, research request. At which point, Ray looked like he'd been hit by a tornado.

• Giraud: Would it be possible to access the Master Chief's genetic profile and John's parents genetic profiles from medical records and compare the two? Without drawing suspicion?

• Kurzig: What!? Ben, I'm - I'm sorry, man, but I really can't help you any more.

• Giraud: What? Why?

• Kurzig: I just came over to give you this information. Walker totally checks out. Full military records. His enlistment puts him on Reach for boot camp at the same time as John. It all checks out. Gabriella too.

• Giraud: But, no-no-no-no-no. But see, they're lying. I mean, everything with Walker on the flight? He's not who he says he is. You heard him, Ray! And Gabriella's been completely invalidated by tonnes of independent actual people who actually live on Elysium. I mean...

• Kurzig: Even if that's true, someone has covered up those tracks. I was unable to discredit their identities.

• Giraud: Okay, fine. But what about Deon? All the messages, people who knew him? Ray! The real guy! ONI must have completely preyed on some poor senior citizen, and I mean...

• Kurzig: Nah, Ben...

• Giraud