An ordinary day. A call comes from an unknown number, advising against boarding the train, or to call in sick at work, or to get out of town. Those who listen are lucky enough to survive an imminent derailment, drive by shooting, earthquake. Piper Lee is even luckier ‒ she gets to meet Adelaide, the mysterious woman at the other end of the line who saves her from a bus accident.

It’s a story even more prescient now than it was three years ago, when it was originally released. The rise of AI in the past twelve months has given a new dimension to worker’s fears of redundancy through automation. Creator Cole Burkhardt takes these fears to their extreme: AI that has gone beyond replacing your work to replicating your very being.

If you’re expecting Null/Void to moralise about developing technology in such a way, you’re mistaken. Creator Cole Burkhardt doesn’t pass judgment on whether or not this technology should exist, but rather on its creators, who will pay any price to reach their end goal. That price isn’t just monetary; it costs people’s lives, and not their own. The hypocrisy of killing people to create a digital afterlife makes sense in a system that values people’s lives by their net worth. In the eyes of the Royal family, the workers dying for their research are inconsequential. They haven’t done anything for the good of anyone beyond themselves, their deaths would contribute more to the world than their lives.

Burkhardt explores the human facets of this system through its antagonists: Isobella is a genius who sees anyone who can’t understand her as not worth her time, ignorant of how few people can afford her level of education, and the pressure for her to do the impossible on tight deadlines  ‒  both self-imposed and determined by her father, her boss  ‒  unhinges her. Kyron rationalises the harm they both have caused as worth it for the greater good until it’s too late. And Hurley is only too happy to follow Isobella’s bidding for the sadistic pleasure of it and the comfort of living like a Royal even when she isn’t one herself. Even Piper’s depression is rooted in her inability to see the good in herself. After all, what is a mailroom worker good for? It’s a boring job, and it’s the only work she can do.

Hats off to the acting in the most high-stakes moments here  ‒  Winona Wyatt’s performances of Piper’s distress playing off the charisma of PJ Kanis, Kara Bruntz and Marcie Hobbs make for a nail-biting listening experience. So when Kit Harrison finally appears as Stone Royal, it only takes one minute to make you want to slap him.

KYRON:
See, I knew we would be able to come to an amicable agreement.

PIPER:
Yeah, and all you had to do was hold me hostage.

KYRON:
Oh come now, Ms. Lee. This wasn’t so bad.

PIPER:
Do you normally threaten people in elevators?

KYRON:
No. Most of the time I threaten people in my office.

But while everything tries to convince Piper that she doesn’t matter, she finds people who prove the opposite to her. Dodger, Niki and Chris accept her and affirm from her first meeting with them that they are by her side, even if they’re arguing.

NIKI:
You aren’t in this alone. You have me.
DODGER:
And me.
CHRIS:
I’m really not the type for all this cheesy stuff.
NIKI:
(warningly) Chris.
CHRIS:
But you’ve got me too.

And, of course, there is Adelaide. Danyelle Ellett delivers as the mysterious, alluring woman who knows so much about the darkest side of humanity and still keeps hope. There is a constant push-and-pull between her and Piper as both women struggle to let their guard down. Their romance is messy and sweet and exhilarating.

Null/Void is not flawless, obviously, and I won’t deny that there are parts of the story that don’t stack up. But personally, that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. So next time you’re on the train (or the bus, if you’re okay with that), pop in your headphones, hit play and listen to the story unfold, episode by episode, over the course of approximately four hours. Enjoy the ride.

Listen to the trailer below. You can listen to Null/Void via the show’s website or your podcatcher of choice.