She's gonna need a BFG alright.
Boobies!Now now, let's be civil, folks. Let us keep abreast of the topic and not make a tit out of ourselves :mrgreen:
P.S.: Well, Sedna is human enough that her breasts look like breasts rather than a shaped body shell, as was the case with May.
At least she has her priorities straight, unlike some tv shows where they take time to get dressed when confronted with an emergency. It's the same for people that are confronted with a bear while peeing, they finish their business first and zip up because they don't want to be caught dead with their dick out, instead of fleeing or whatever you're supposed to do when seeing a bear.
At least she has her priorities straight, unlike some tv shows where they take time to get dressed when confronted with an emergency. It's the same for people that are confronted with a bear while peeing, they finish their business first and zip up because they don't want to be caught dead with their dick out, instead of fleeing or whatever you're supposed to do when seeing a bear.
Never run from a bear. Back away very slowly, and it will likely wander away. If not, and it looks about to attack you, make yourself as large as possible, make lots of noise, try to scare it.Fight the bear..you want to be as troublesome of a meal as possible. If that doesn't work, curl up in the crouch position. Your back will get ripped up, but your vital organs will stay in your soft, squishy torso.
"leave your dick out, you'll look bigger by comparison"At least she has her priorities straight, unlike some tv shows where they take time to get dressed when confronted with an emergency. It's the same for people that are confronted with a bear while peeing, they finish their business first and zip up because they don't want to be caught dead with their dick out, instead of fleeing or whatever you're supposed to do when seeing a bear.
Never run from a bear. Back away very slowly, and it will likely wander away. If not, and it looks about to attack you, make yourself as large as possible, make lots of noise, try to scare it.Fight the bear..you want to be as troublesome of a meal as possible. If that doesn't work, curl up in the crouch position. Your back will get ripped up, but your vital organs will stay in your soft, squishy torso.
To sum up... you keep your (for me,. hypothetical) dick out and spread open the flaps of your coat, in the classic flasher-in-a-dirty-trechcoat manner, to look bigger and badder while shouting like hell.
Undeniably scary.
Though probably a bit embarrassing if the snapped twig noise you thought was a bear turned out to be another hiker.
Why design a weapon that needs to sleep?
Why design a weapon that needs to sleep?Self maintenance cycle, a memory reallocation cycle, to make the weapon more human so that it can more easily associate with humans, a way to help jump the final uncanny valley hurdle, a low power usage mode due to the presence of people who need to sleep in the same building, ancient technology has encountered bugs over prolonged usage beyond warranty, some dorky designer decided that it was a character flaw and nobody is complete without a character flaw, they were originally flesh and blood people who volunteered for upgrades and it's a holdover from their mental patterns...
How are they powered anyway? Have we ever seen either of them eat?
At least she has her priorities straight, unlike some tv shows where they take time to get dressed when confronted with an emergency. It's the same for people that are confronted with a bear while peeing, they finish their business first and zip up because they don't want to be caught dead with their dick out, instead of fleeing or whatever you're supposed to do when seeing a bear.
Never run from a bear. Back away very slowly, and it will likely wander away. If not, and it looks about to attack you, make yourself as large as possible, make lots of noise, try to scare it.Fight the bear..you want to be as troublesome of a meal as possible. If that doesn't work, curl up in the crouch position. Your back will get ripped up, but your vital organs will stay in your soft, squishy torso.
Snip!I hate being a geek some days because my mind whirls and analyzes things, especially with the evidence that we're given.
...What's this about "MST3K Mantra?"
This raises the question about which faction made her. The use of genetic enhancements and biological material would lend itself towards the bio-tech faction. However, the clear possibility of synthetic components of some sort to increase her durability is an inconsistency. Is she the result of some attempt to find a 'third way'? Or (and this is much more likely) were the bio-tech faction more than willing to ignore their ideology's rejection of synthetic means when it came to building weapons?That makes me wonder if there might be a small 'Divergent' contingent, people that favors both faction's goals (or none). And therefor are shunned or even hunted by both factions. Then a combination of both technology trees would theoretically be more superior than each one on itself.
If it kills Alice, the name of the comic will have to be changed, I guess...Unless the wooded area they're in is (re-)named in her memory.
Is Alice some kind of idealist who believes in protecting the (arguably) innocent, or is there a strategic reason for saving Gavia?
Is Alice some kind of idealist who believes in protecting the (arguably) innocent, or is there a strategic reason for saving Gavia?
If it kills Alice, the name of the comic will have to be changed, I guess...
Also, to re-emphasise, I'm thinking that this volume will end with Alice tearing Gavia from the Night Walker's grasp before being hit by a huge electrostatic blast and blacking out. We'll then have a few weeks of tension trying to predict how badly she and Gavia have been hurt.
New strip up!
This raises the question about which faction made her. The use of genetic enhancements and biological material would lend itself towards the bio-tech faction. However, the clear possibility of synthetic components of some sort to increase her durability is an inconsistency. Is she the result of some attempt to find a 'third way'? Or (and this is much more likely) were the bio-tech faction more than willing to ignore their ideology's rejection of synthetic means when it came to building weapons?
When Alice said she could inflict significant losses, I assume she meant on the humans attacking, not necessarily on their nano-weapons. She never even implied she was well-equipped to fight nano's
There is also the scale of response that Alice can generate in each situation. Imagine if she has access to pre-Blink weaponry of mass destruction....
Looks like gravity is about to reassert itself.
I suppose this was a single shot, and Alice cannot make another similar leap. Either she needs to re-energize and/or Gavia will be too deeply immersed in the nano-cloud for Alice to grab the other sock.
Hmmm.
But I'm sure Alice will manage to sock it to 'im.
It will be a trip to see though
Bringing down the Night Walker will be no mean feet.Shoe! Shoe! Begone with your puns!
Alice Grove will update tomorrow, it’s been a tricky week
Okay... Now, is this something the Night Walker could always do or is it something that it could only do with a 'pilot'?Aww, the nightwalker is like a puppy, all it ever wanted was a mom to tell it what to do
New strip up!
I know the comic link isn't perpetual, but it's better not to link directly to the image as that deprives Jeph of clicks on the site which contribute to his income. Just say it's up (there's a link at the top of the page, after all), please.
The nightwalker's gone loony!
That was almost certainly a beacon of some sort. Possibly summoning the Invasion Fleet.
That was almost certainly a beacon of some sort. Possibly summoning the Invasion Fleet.
Why? did the population go over one million?
I don't why but after reading today's strip all I could think of was Yelling Bird (http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1566).In NanotechBirdEse, "Thoom" means "Cockgobbler."
Ardent definitely has nanomachines, not that he knew that until they started upgrading things. But no nanos he uses for his own purposes, à la Gavia.
As for the red eyes, I'm not convinced it has anything to do with technology. So far there's little evidence for it being more than an artistic depiction of anger. It may yet prove more significant.
And that red light from the moon; is it an impact event, or a beacon in response to a signal? My first impression was actually it was simply the fading light of the "thooom" as the Night Walker still travelled.
Are we looking at a lunar impact, though, or an event in cislunar space? Say, something involving an orbital platform that just happens to be transiting the moon (Or perhaps at the Lagrange-1 point)?Unless I am much mistaken the L1 point wouldn't be stable in the long term? ( http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mechanics/lagpt.html ). Unless a spacecraft were actively managed I think it would be unlikely to stay there. Also I'm not convinced (although I haven't done the numbers or made a scale drawing) that the drawn image is consistent with the L1 point.
I wonder if Gavia's nanotech can regenerate itself? Unless every single one of them was destroyed,
But I really don't see Jeph bringing us another war? Not impossible plotwise, but IMHO not his style.
I'm inclined to think it had to have been a radiation pulse, not a missile of any kind.Completely agree, I originally thought it was coherent light, but now I think of it isn't the central blue colour a reasonable facsimile of air ionisation blue?
Is anyone else surprised by how quickly whatever-it-was got to the Moon? The Moon is over a light-second away, and very little time seems to have elapsed between launch and impact. (By way of comparison, the New Horizons launch in 2006 left Earth at about 10 miles/second (relative to Earth), fast enough to pass the Moon's orbit in about 6.4 hours.)That's not much faster than the Apollos. You need about 11km/s to escape Earth gravity. And New Horizon was climbing out of the Sun's gravitational well to boot. I would have thought that starting from 1AU you would need something like 40 km/s (or 25 miles per second) to escape the solar system. Compare: to stay in a low orbit around the Earth you only need 8 km/s. The Earth is orbiting at 30 km/s, so a bit over 40 to get to Pluto is needed.
I'm inclined to think it had to have been a radiation pulse, not a missile of any kind.
New Horizons also got a gravitational assist from Jupiter, which lowered the required velocity quite a bit.Is anyone else surprised by how quickly whatever-it-was got to the Moon? The Moon is over a light-second away, and very little time seems to have elapsed between launch and impact. (By way of comparison, the New Horizons launch in 2006 left Earth at about 10 miles/second (relative to Earth), fast enough to pass the Moon's orbit in about 6.4 hours.)That's not much faster than the Apollos. You need about 11km/s to escape Earth gravity. And New Horizon was climbing out of the Sun's gravitational well to boot. I would have thought that starting from 1AU you would need something like 40 km/s (or 25 miles per second) to escape the solar system. Compare: to stay in a low orbit around the Earth you only need 8 km/s. The Earth is orbiting at 30 km/s, so a bit over 40 to get to Pluto is needed.
"The NightWalker"
I'm inclined to think it had to have been a radiation pulse, not a missile of any kind.Completely agree, I originally thought it was coherent light, but now I think of it isn't the central blue colour a reasonable facsimile of air ionisation blue?
It was definitely a signal, it was definitely light, and it was definitely aimed at a receiver on the moon. Result is too fast and dramatic to be anything else.
Has Jeph stated how many chapters AG will have?What makes you think there's a planned end already?
It's good that you're covering all the possibilities. It could be, but I'd just call that high-energy light, for the purposes of this discussion, since (see below) there's a high probability this is a message, not a weapon.It was definitely a signal, it was definitely light, and it was definitely aimed at a receiver on the moon. Result is too fast and dramatic to be anything else.
Dunno I'd care to be quite so definite...
... could be coherent X-Ray radiation, if we hypothesize the trail is atmospheric ionisation.
... supposing the target was something in orbit, and the appearance in front of the moon is because the transit across the moon was used for targeting. That would mean the night walker has been looking at the moon in order to monitor transits, which explains why it didn't turn up earlier - had to wait for a transit.That's a stretch, but I'd buy it if I had to. The appearance of the bright red beacon apparently on the moon could just be something in between.
... and if we assume an object in LEO transiting the moon then the scale, physical and time, comes down to something more reasonable, and we can even consider missile or particle beam rather than light, provided its something capable of producing the ionisation. But that might be propellant of some kind...
Loads of other amusing speculations possible, and we have a month to play with them... Consider what in LEO the NW might want to take out...
Well, my understanding of Lagrange Points is that L1 is placed at the point between two celestial bodies where the gravities and forces of each other out.L1 isn't very stable. There was a reference earlier in the thread. Things that are left at L1 tend to drift away, and have to be actively maintained there. Of course that is a possibility...
I make the 'impact' point on the moon about W 2, S20. In the highlands a bit south and east of Arzachel. The red corona, or whatever it is, is about 20 degrees across, getting on 400 miles I reckon. Vaporised surface, ejecta, heated surface, who knows, but if the latter that's a mindblowingly huge energy release. The actual impact phenomenum, crater or whatever, well hard to be accurate about 3 pixels, but certainly not as big as Tycho. Could be 20 miles across? That has, as they say, left a mark.
As for what it signifies, who knows, we shall just have to wait and see. I don't think I see an interplanetary/orbital war scenario though, it doesn't feel like the writer's style to me.
Alice and Sedna's indestructibility would have saved them,Not (quite?) indestructible though: See http://www.alicegrove.com/post/142301957714/gonna-punch-it-right-in-the-giant-nanotech
[sorry I didn't read every word of every post above, so I'm probably being redundant]
* That's a pretty big explosion up there. A real-world blast that would leave a spot that big on the surface of the moon red and glowy would (probably?) have pretty catastrophic effects on the spot on earth that was sending the blast... Alice and Sedna's indestructibility would have saved them, but Ardent and probably Gavia would have been toast from plasma effects, etc (see the What If post referenced above)
so... either AG physics and the need for cool graphics alleviates these concerns ("It's just a comic and I really should just relax" is totally acceptable btw)
Alice and Sedna's indestructibility would have saved them,Not (quite?) indestructible though: See http://www.alicegrove.com/post/142301957714/gonna-punch-it-right-in-the-giant-nanotech