I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled "Danger: Do Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it.-- Peter Anspatch's list of things to do as an evil overlord.
Is Alice going to get Gavia a meal out of their supplies, or is she going to go find another giant lizard to kill and bring back the tail?
Ok, so which former lake is this (assuming they are on Earth, and the lake exists in our time)? Talk of prairies hints at North America, but probably not conclusively. I don't think any of the Great Lakes would be this flat. Salt Lake would match the scenery well, but draining it for water would then feel misplaced? Also is it wide enough to need 3 weeks to cross?
Lake Erie is the most shallow of the Great Lakes so they might be traveling by the remnants of my old hometown or stopping there if it survived the centuries.
The more I see Gavia in action, the more I wonder if Alice is seeing more than a little of herself in the girl. Proud, prone to mistakes driven by anger and unwilling to apologise, partly due to pride but also due to shame and being uncomfortable with social interaction.
Alice, being five millennia old, is wise enough to know that nothing will be gained by forcing Gavia and Ardent to confront this issue. There is time enough for that later when time and distance have scabbed over the wounds a little; firstly, they have to complete their mission.
Those birds don't have bits in theirNo reins at all in an earlier view. But Sedna does have a staff with a knob on the end...mouthsbeaks. How are they being steered?
For all we know, it's Antarctica, with the rest of the planet being too hot to support human life.I doubt, for several reasons.
(P.S. I rather like this idea.)
Think of ANY civilzation in history, a thousand years later. Generally unrecognizable. A few exceptions: China is still China. But even China in 1000 years will not look like China.
5000 years later after a purge of all higher technology and a large part of the population, this won't look much like Earth as we know it. This could be anywhere on the planet with enough territory to permit this much travel in a straight line. For all we know, it's Antarctica, with the rest of the planet being too hot to support human life.
(P.S. I rather like this idea.)
Lake Mead.Looks a bit flat for that though doesn't it?
Lake Mead.Looks a bit flat for that though doesn't it?
his actions can have major detrimental impacts on people not himselfSure, he came to Earth/Terra/Discworld/Whatever, but he can hardly be blamed for the machinations of the Praeses.
Five thousand years since the Blink, but the Blink isn't happening tomorrow, the Blink itself could be tens of thousands of years from now, unless there's something to indicate otherwise.
Five thousand years since the Blink, but the Blink isn't happening tomorrow, the Blink itself could be tens of thousands of years from now, unless there's something to indicate otherwise.
I asked a chronological expert about this and all he said was "Don't Blink".
And Ardent's still beating himself up over it in spite of Alice's explanation.
guessing here ... (lucky if I hit the right order of magnitude)
5-10 mph * 8-10 hours/day * 22 days = 1000-2000 miles ... that's a pretty good chunk of land they've covered ... what man-made lakes are that long across?
or am I drastically overestimating the kind of progress they could make
This is actually no small accomplishment. Starting a fire with flint and steel is hard. Although much easier than even more primitive methods - try a bow drill sometime.
Oh, but the Praeses had nothing to do with his behaviour after he arrived on earth. It's more his actions after he came to earth that made me think Ardent had never believed his actions could have detrimental impacts on people. There were several occasions where Alice was not mincing words about how unhappy she was at him being here potentially upsetting her carefully balanced community harmony with outright dimissiveness (Do you know any other girls Jack? This one's boring") or only focusing on how her supervision would impact on him: ("Sweet, you're my tour guide!") He also was gawking and pointing at an obviously freaked out child and mother, reacted to hearing he has to pay for things by asking Alice for money, assumed the crowd was coming to see him rather than Alice, throwing a tantrum because Alice didn't compliment his delightful tail, wanting to meet Miss Wheelwright simply because of her big bottom, and getting upset Miss Wheelwright slapped him after being asked to fuck within minutes of being introduced.
Ardent is certainly careless and for the first time regrets his actions, but I have to question how much of it is his personality and the rest culture. We really don't know that much about the space habitat's people other than Ardent and Gavia. Ardent's behavior was likely acceptable since he seemed to be popular. I get a bit of a Brave New World vibe with him. Gavia seems to be more of an unpopular introvert and workaholic. The latter may prove useful since she seems very focused on learning how to survive. Ironically enough she might become popular with the natives while Ardent appears as a shiftless layabout.
Ardent is certainly careless and for the first time regrets his actions, but I have to question how much of it is his personality and the rest culture. We really don't know that much about the space habitat's people other than Ardent and Gavia. Ardent's behavior was likely acceptable since he seemed to be popular. I get a bit of a Brave New World vibe with him. Gavia seems to be more of an unpopular introvert and workaholic. The latter may prove useful since she seems very focused on learning how to survive. Ironically enough she might become popular with the natives while Ardent appears as a shiftless layabout.
As it happens one of my theories that the Praeses do all the work in the space society and leave the humans nothing to do except pursue pleasure. It would explain a lot about how Ardent and Gavia behaved when they first arrived. Ardent cheerfully ran around thinking of his own fun and not the people around him as that was how his society works, and Gavia decided the best way to find Ardent quickly was threats and pyrotechnics because she's never had any need to learn problem solving and conflict resolution.
Gavia has to learn a whole new skill set, and she's going to discover how intelligent and skilled our "primitive" ancestors had to be to survive.
And Ardent's still beating himself up over it in spite of Alice's explanation.
I also think that there is a bit of blame being directed from him Alice's way too. He needn't bother; I get the impression that Alice blames herself for everything, including things that, for no sane reason imaginable, could she be responsible. I suspect that's what made Sedna leave her. She couldn't handle Alice's thundering conceit that, if only she was faster, smarter or more perceptive she would have foreseen and prevented some disaster.
Maybe the first time the Nightwalker backed off because it was afraid of an awake, alert Alice, or recognised she would interfere. And that's why it followed them and struck when Alice was fast asleep. Or maybe it was an awake and alert Gavia that prevented it from taking the nanotech the first time. The first time it tried to touch Gavia her response was to go: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" and race into a nearby cave to hide. The second time, when Gavia was initially asleep, went much better for the Nightwalker.
The climate stuff is not necessarily indicative, considering how much the world changed, though if this was Earth I would expect most weather systems to remain basically the same.I like most of your post a lot, but maybe this is contestable. Climate has changed radically and rapidly in the past, even without obvious external factors (Araguainha, Chicxulub, Deccan Traps etc). If you add into the mix the possibility of the technologies before the blink having caused climate change, and than the massive effects of the blink itself (vis ecological changes) then I submit all bets are off in the area of climate.
Maybe the first time the Nightwalker backed off because it was afraid of an awake, alert Alice, or recognised she would interfere.
Caveman and Space Girl, coming this fall on Syfy
...Its job is done, and it's a ONE TIME JOB.That's only true if you know its not reforming. After all it dissipated every day anyway. Maybe its still looking up at the moon each night?
Quote from: JephCaveman and Space Girl, coming this fall on Syfy
Friggin' feminist knock-off of Prometheus and Bob. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1MGXhUxLg)
How is Ardent an idiot? He did what you told him to do!
I would say sending Gavia to 'save' Ardent is sneakily brilliant. After the Punchinating (Punch Harder) they seem to be doing their best to avoid one another due to mutually blaming Ardent for Gavia losing her powers. And while fine is fine, he did set into motion the chain of events leading to it, hanging out with two sulking kids for a loooong trip is not going to be fun. Pushing the two of them together and letting them work it out maybe without making it seem that's what they are doing... Very clever.
She's still pointedly not talking to him. There's not much she can do to avoid him on the wagon. Until they hash things out, the silent/guilty treatment is not going to be fun for anyone.
And yes, despite it all Ardent is still an idiot
Ardent has called a bird a ... 'weird dog'I suggest that dogs are the only non-human living creatures Ardent has ever seen or heard of, and so dog is the only word in his vocabulary to describe them, the use of generic words like animal having died out.
I'm pretty sure that Struthi is trying to show affection,
I'm pretty sure that Struthi is trying to show affection,
As a general rule, coming between an mother animal and its young is going to bring out the worst in it. Even cows kill about 20 people a year in the US, and many of those are cases where a mother felt her calves were threatened.
Animals that are chill about their offspring being carried off tend to go extinct pretty fast.
Animals that are chill about their offspring being carried off tend to go extinct pretty fast.Different with domesticated animals, and even plants. Domestication is a very effective evolutionary strategy. How many wild Aurochs are roaming the fields of Europe?
Sedna is not responsible for any moon craters, but only 'cause she never found a big enough gun.Alice doesn't need a gun.
Btw, does the Night Walker going after Gavia and not Alice mean my crazy theory that she's naturally superpowered as opposed to nano the likelier option now?
And it was a shot in the dark ;D
Why am I not surprised that Alice is responsible for a crater on the Moon? Maybe she's responsible for the new lava plain maria/impact basin? It would be excessive but so her.
Scrambled eggs are good, but it's still the least interesting way to cook eggs.
Scrambled eggs are good, but it's still the least interesting way to cook eggs.
Scrambled eggs are good, but it's still the least interesting way to cook eggs.
Well Gavia is a beginner and they are limited to what's available for consumption so I wouldn't expect anything too complicated.And it's very practical, boiling eggs requires more water, something they must look to save, for it's being a desert and everything.
Treatise on supplies
Not to mention the Hatchet and Knife.And some other carpentry tools too, for wagon repairs. Speaking of wagon repairs and Oregon Trail: spare wheels or at the very least spare hubs and spare felloes and spokes. Also, lard for the hubs, tar, pith, also useful for caulking. Really a whole plethora of supplies. And clothes.
I wonder what would have happened if Artent had touched the Wind Turbine
It's a good look on Gavia. Also Sedna seems to have taken her under her wing.
I've been thinking of Sedna's ability to photosynthesise. Does this indicate that she was a super-soldier created by the bioengineering faction whilst Alice was the product of the AI/Synthetic faction? That raises the possibility that Alice is a either an android or a massively-augmented human (augmented to the point where her still being a biological life-form is debatable).
Sedna days "preachin' to the choir" some few thousand years after this part of the globe, at least, has seen either preachin' or choirs.Well, I hear/read them speaking early 21st century north american dialect, which is already significantly different to the dialect of the same region 100 years before (read old newspaper reports in something like the NYT on line archive to get a feel for how much the language has changed). Given a few thousand years language would drift wildly. (See various threads round the forum for contemporary dialect variations). So clearly what we are reading is a translation of what would be said into our contemporary speech. We could make the same assumption for metaphors...
photosynthesis is not a big enough energy source to keep a normal person going.What could possibly have led you to the conclusion that Sedna is in any way normal?
Random thoughts from today's comic:
Given the political fumduckery that bubbled uo in the states over trans people and bathrooms, I wonder what the immediate social ramifications today would be from the surfacing of the ability to change one's skin color with an act of will. Most of my circle would be anywhere from enthusiastic to chill about it, for reasons philosophical and practical, but I know some twitchy bigots who would be even twitchier about it -- a prospect both entertaining (because I know them) and terrifying (also because I know them).
"If you're wondering how she poops and pees, and other science facts (la LA la) ..." ... The Loon has gone two? Three? weeks without eating or apparently metabolizing. Not ruling out the possibility of miracle-tech clothing or even body mods (she's not BASELINE. GEEZ.), but ... no input. no output.
Sedna days "preachin' to the choir" some few thousand years after this part of the globe, at least, has seen either preachin' or choirs. Was there any evidence of religion in Alice-town, other than a casual reference to Alice as a "witch"? Some superstition, maybe, directed at Ardent. Made me wonder, though, about words in use today, long after the concepts that birthed them have faded. And now that I've set myself up, I csn;t think of any examples ... Anyone else?
So far it seems that there is no skin based prejudiced 5000 years into the future even on Earth.
There's a lot we don't know about the world beyond Alice's town which seems free of a lot of the old prejudices, but that's likely due to Alice's will.
because he has a delightful tail, or some other shit.Fixed that for ya
it seems making 21st-century estimates of someone else's ability to use photosynthesis as an energy source would be right out, yeah?Estimates of the efficiency are essentially meaningless, agreed, but estimates of the amount of energy available from sunlight falling on a given surface area are reasonably valid. And we can still happily speculate about stasis, and all the rest of it. The sums suggest that Sedna cannot possibly get enough energy from photosynthesis to sustain normal movement and metabolism, and the text suggests that its an emergency only option. Not incompatible perhaps?
New fan theory
Sedna is 5000 year old May, and Alice is 5000 year old Bubbles.
New fan theory
Sedna is 5000 year old May, and Alice is 5000 year old Bubbles.
This actually makes a surprising amount of sense.
Random thoughts from today's comic:
Given the political fumduckery that bubbled uo in the states over trans people and bathrooms, I wonder what the immediate social ramifications today would be....
So far it seems that there is no skin based prejudiced 5000 years into the future even on Earth ...
Random thoughts from today's comic:
Given the political fumduckery that bubbled uo in the states over trans people and bathrooms, I wonder what the immediate social ramifications today would be....
So far it seems that there is no skin based prejudiced 5000 years into the future even on Earth ...
I was wondering about today.
So far it seems that there is no skin based prejudiced 5000 years into the future even on Earth.
When everyone can change their skin color at will, it just isn't worth the effort even thinking about superiority/inferiority of different races,
"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say!"
So far it seems that there is no skin based prejudiced 5000 years into the future even on Earth.
When everyone can change their skin color at will, it just isn't worth the effort even thinking about superiority/inferiority of different races,
Seems to me that if you have a small town with radically different skin tones evident, and no international travel, then it must be the case that there is at best very limited mixing between different racial groups.
And it does seem rather naive to think that variable skin tone would mean no identification of racial groups. I once had to deal with email content filtering at my place of work, and it was considered necessary for us to filter out racist material, jokes and the like. It was quite evident that the most prolific passers on of offensive jokes were people of Indian extraction forwarding racist jokes about folk of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin and vice versa. Often the same jokes with the roles reversed...
How many times did Ardent get eaten over those two days?
PLACE YOUR BETS NOW.
How many times did Ardent get eaten over those two days?
PLACE YOUR BETS NOW.
None. But he died of dysentery three times.
How many times did Ardent get eaten over those two days?
PLACE YOUR BETS NOW.
None. But he died of dysentery three times.
And they had a fire in the wagon and lost all their clothes and most of their food, they broke their wagon wheels, axles and lips six times in 10 mile stretch of trail and finally they lost two Struthios while fording a river 1.5 foot deep and after that a thief took the rest.
Wait - the town is inside an open-pit mine? ... aren't renowned for being especially conducive to healthy living.Maybe so, but you must admit it makes a great image...
Wait - the town is inside an open-pit mine? Granted, it's just a little tiny open-pit mine, but still, that's a bit like living inside a little tiny toxic waste dump. They aren't renowned for being especially conducive to healthy living.
Looks like a Mech of some sort, though it seems awfully blocky - Unless it's what's left of a GitS style 'Think Tank'
It shall be interesting to see what the Archaeologists have dug up at that site.
Looks like a Mech of some sort, though it seems awfully blocky - Unless it's what's left of a GitS style 'Think Tank'Speaking of blocky, Ardent seems to have some sort of color space conversion artefacts or something on his face.
It shall be interesting to see what the Archaeologists have dug up at that site.
Wait - the town is inside an open-pit mine? Granted, it's just a little tiny open-pit mine, but still, that's a bit like living inside a little tiny toxic waste dump. They aren't renowned for being especially conducive to healthy living.
If it were a mine then yes, but this appears to be where the archaeolphiles Sedna mentioned lived. As such they're there to dig out ancient technology not minerals and more than likely it frequently moves to a different location once they dig down as far as they can.
If it were a mine then yes, but this appears to be where the archaeolphiles Sedna mentioned lived. As such they're there to dig out ancient technology not minerals and more than likely it frequently moves to a different location once they dig down as far as they can.
That is not how you archeology.
Love that Gavia's hair continues to grow, it's almost a yardstick for her evolution from entitled, life-inexperienced, and possibly quite shallow spacegirl to a more lively and alive young woman who actually touches and engages with the living world around her (as opposed to having nanotech do her walking, dirty work, her everything for her).
The tan is pretty cute, too. :-)
Wait - the town is inside an open-pit mine? Granted, it's just a little tiny open-pit mine, but still, that's a bit like living inside a little tiny toxic waste dump. They aren't renowned for being especially conducive to healthy living.
If it were a mine then yes, but this appears to be where the archaeolphiles Sedna mentioned lived. As such they're there to dig out ancient technology not minerals and more than likely it frequently moves to a different location once they dig down as far as they can.
That is not how you archeology.
Nitpick: Shouldn't Gavia be able to see the big honking water tower? She claims not to see anything....would seem like a huge "Here we are! Come raid us!" sign.
Maybe they are trying to keep the dig hidden from prying eyes, although...Nitpick: Shouldn't Gavia be able to see the big honking water tower? She claims not to see anything....would seem like a huge "Here we are! Come raid us!" sign.
Sure, it's a different town than the one we've seen, but what gives any indication that slavery exists in this world?
If they've had much success unearthing working weapons (a la Sedna), they might be in a good position to defend themselves regardless.
...Horse-bird.
So, how are they digging that hole, and how are they removing the excavated dirt?
They have that 4SP (=struthopower) crane/drill/pump/whatnot at 7 o'clock.
Waiting what happens, if/when Ardent touches a piece of technology here.
So, how are they digging that hole, and how are they removing the excavated dirt?
They have that 4SP (=struthopower) crane/drill/pump/whatnot at 7 o'clock. And ramps. The pyramid builders used slaves and ramps. Presumably this community takes better care of their workers.
Waiting what happens, if/when Ardent touches a piece of technology here.
One possibility is that they've stumbled across an underground bunker system full of the tech they wanted to find. So, there isn't all that much dirt to move now they're down to the bunkers and through its concrete roof. It's just a matter of systematically exploring the storerooms, silos and hangers.
Alice is going to be on a “when I have time to draw it” update schedule for July. I’m traveling all month and don’t have a lot of time to make comics! I’m hoping to still do at least one a week but I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. Thanks for your patience.