Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Dinner with Beatrice

A date with someone

She's going to the Church of Gary!

Her Evil Twin Sister is marrying someone (!) and she's going to sit at the back of the chapel

She's helping Arthur out at the Self-Help Group and she likes to look professional

She's agreed to chaperone Brun and Elliott

She's agreed to chaperone Clinton and Emily (I doubt it would be anything anyone would recognise as a date!)

She's wearing a pullover to teach Bubbles how to pull off the cardigan look

She's meeting a venture capitalist to get start-up cash for the cleaning business she wants to start with Brun

Other

[BenRG]

Okay, maybe this is how my crazy mind works but, seriously, this is the only thing that I could focus on Friday. Why is Hannelore (who, typically, seems to have a grungy personal aesthetic of sorts) wearing neat clothes and looking more formal and businesslike? There are many options but I've tried to list a wide range of potentially funny ideas above.

'Dinner with Beatrice' is the obvious continuation of the Bubbles in Peril arc as Beatrice may be able to provide some information about Corpse Witch that Station might not be able to find from legitimate sources. Additionally, Beatrice may be the necessarily ruthless mind that clues our heroes into options that, perhaps, might not automatically occur to them. "Why don't you just buy the place from under her, dear? She'd have to tell you whatever you want! Your father put some very interesting failsafe modes into AIs to prevent them from hiding critical information from their operators!" ⁽¹⁾

However, my real guess is some variant on option 6 - She's treating herself to going out somewhere nice for dinner and she's going to run into Brun and Elliott on a date. Much against her will, she ends up being sucked into the whole surreal experience, having to translate back and forth between the two of them so that they can come closer to understand what the other is thinking. It may even end up in a weird, bizarro-world 'Cyrano De Hanners' scenario!

What do you all think?

-------------------------------

⁽¹⁾ This could lead to some interesting ethical dilemmas. Would using an override code on Corpse Witch and thus forcing her to submit make them just as bad as she is?

[brasca]

Okay, maybe this is how my crazy mind works but, seriously, this is the only thing that I could focus on Friday. Why is Hannelore (who, typically, seems to have a grungy personal aesthetic of sorts) wearing neat clothes and looking more formal and businesslike? There are many options but I've tried to list a wide range of potentially funny ideas above.

'Dinner with Beatrice' is the obvious continuation of the Bubbles in Peril arc as Beatrice may be able to provide some information about Corpse Witch that Station might not be able to find from legitimate sources. Additionally, Beatrice may be the necessarily ruthless mind that clues our heroes into options that, perhaps, might not automatically occur to them. "Why don't you just buy the place from under her, dear? She'd have to tell you whatever you want! Your father put some very interesting failsafe modes into AIs to prevent them from hiding critical information from their operators!" ⁽¹⁾

However, my real guess is some variant on option 6 - She's treating herself to going out somewhere nice for dinner and she's going to run into Brun and Elliott on a date. Much against her will, she ends up being sucked into the whole surreal experience, having to translate back and forth between the two of them so that they can come closer to understand what the other is thinking. It may even end up in a weird, bizarro-world 'Cyrano De Hanners' scenario!

What do you all think?

-------------------------------

⁽¹⁾ This could lead to some interesting ethical dilemmas. Would using an override code on Corpse Witch and thus forcing her to submit make them just as bad as she is?

I think it could be dinner with Beatrice since her first option failed and now she's going with the less desirable one.  However, if there was a secret failsafe I think Beatrice would exploit it all the time and Hannelore would know about it.  Of course it might be interesting if that were possible since perhaps what Corpse Witch really wants is validation of all her misgivings of humanity so she might happily give up the key for the satisfaction of telling Hannelore that for all her idealistic beliefs about AIs at the end of the day she's just another master outraged that one of her servants stepped out of line.   

[Kugai]

Maybe she's auditioning for a Schoolmarm Role at the local Theatre

[jwhouk]

Comic up.

...Notice the red eyes? Remind you of anyone?

[hedgie]

This is certainly an AI of wealth and taste.

[cesium133]

It took me a little while to realize that wasn't Dora.

[jheartney]

Is Graymarm another AI? Has the coloring, but I don't see a neck seam. Or is (s)he a hologram? That would explain the sudden appearance; if Bubbles' memories look vulnerable, out pops this apparition to make vague threats.

[TheEvilDog]

Okay, either Slenderman is starting to franchise, or the Robot Mafia is moving into Northampton

[WareWolf]

Okay, either Slenderman is starting to franchise, or the Robot Mafia is moving into Northampton

That dark suit just screams "Federal agent."

[Method of Madness]

More like Federal AIgent

[Carl-E]

Who knew AI's had Men In Black? 

[wlewisiii]

Who knew AI's had Men In Black?

More like the Kingsman scenario - super agents ala OO7 but not working for any government?

[Killspree]

I get more of a rouge CIA vibe.
Is this where we find out more about Bubbles' team member's deaths during a covert Black Ops?

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

I'm guessing FBI or NSA.  Of course in the QC universe there might be an agency specifically tasked with AIs.

[SomeCanadianWeirdo]

And I don't think she's a hologram.  She looks solid, unlike Station or pre-body May.

[Neko_Ali]

Station said he was going to pass Bubble's problem around to some colleagues and that he disliked what happened enough to deploy the railguns on Corpse Witch. Since Hanners nixxed that idea, it's possible that instead he went to some sort of internal AI police. Those who serve as the agents of the super AIs that make sure everyone plays nice.

[jwhouk]

AI2B?

(AI's In Black?)

[danuis]

Oh, hey, it's the feds....

Oh, hey, it's the feds.

[Case]

Comic up.

...Notice the red eyes? Remind you of anyone?

Not at all ...

[SpanielBear]

I have been reading too much Sandman, I think, as my first thought on seeing our new friend was "Oh Crap, now Desire's involved? We're all gonna burn!"

In fact, based on their dialogue thus far, I'm still not convinced we wont...

[Timemaster]

"They seem nice."

Jeph wrote the same thing about Mr. Pate...

TM

[David F]

I have been reading too much Sandman, I think, as my first thought on seeing our new friend was "Oh Crap, now Desire's involved? We're all gonna burn!"

In fact, based on their dialogue thus far, I'm still not convinced we wont...

I also got a Sandman vibe from the last panel.  And the impression that Orbital Railgun Justice has become a best-case scenario, at least from Corpse Witch's point of view...

[riccostar]

The fatal weakness of the AI is today revealed: a crippling fear of government employed vampires

Who woulda thought

[Ravenswing]

I'm kinda thinking that Fonzie's heading awfully fast towards that shark ...

[Is it cold in here?]

It's got me curious.

[Deadman]

Don't know a damn thing about them yet and I already love this character.

[MrNumbers]

"... This is Faye and Bubbles, right?"

"It is. Yes. You mean you didn't know? How many people have you given this speech to?"

"Today? Including you? Five."

"How many were you supposed to give it to?"

"Interesting question! Probably everyone, but only intended on you two today. You'd be surprised how many people look similar to you."

"I don't think-"

"If you don't care. I just like telling people that."

"Oh."

[lawoot]

Is Graymarm another AI? Has the coloring, but I don't see a neck seam. Or is (s)he a hologram? That would explain the sudden appearance; if Bubbles' memories look vulnerable, out pops this apparition to make vague threats.

Do any other AI's speak with regular 'human' speech bubbles (i.e. not squared off)?

[brasca]

It took me a little while to realize that wasn't Dora.

It took me a little while to realize that wasn't Gavia.

Perhaps there are worse people to turn to than Hannelore's mother, but it still looks like out of the frying pan and into the fire.

[Truec]

I suspect our mysterious besuited grayskin may be from the NRO (otherwise known as the people who EMPed Emily's program to help satellites make friends).

[BenRG]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. Agent Alucard here is definitely human (or at least is mostly biological); the speech bubble is definitive proof of that. The pale skin and vertical slit pupils are probably an expensive personal aesthetic affectation acquired by surgical means. It's probably frowned upon by her superiors but they've found it has a positive effect on her job performance (specifically, scaring the wits out of suspects).

So, I'm thinking that the Agency has one of two objectives:

• Ensure that all remaining data regarding Bubbles blacker-than-black past experiences is locked away forever (not a good thing for Corpse Witch);
• Bring down Corpse Witch and all those she has corrupted in Northampton (Bubbles and Faye have just been drafted, whether or not they want it).

Either way, getting Bubbles' memory back is not a priority for this agency. Indeed, it's quite possible that the senior agents would be much happier if the key was lost forever. I suspect that Alucard will also cheerfully and soullessly deploy all forms of coercion (both by implied threat and explicit threat) to get Faye and Bubbles to cooperate.

I guess that the point that I'm making is that Detective Basilisk was the nice option. Now we've skipped over 'bad cop' to 'I wish I worked in 1930s Germany cop'.

This being QC, I also expect Alucard to be slightly defensive on occasion and will fall back on her love of the arts and regular charitable giving as proof that she's 'not as bad as you think'.

[Shjade]

I have been reading too much Sandman, I think, as my first thought on seeing our new friend was "Oh Crap, now Desire's involved? We're all gonna burn!"

In fact, based on their dialogue thus far, I'm still not convinced we wont...

It's not you. "Wait, is that Desire?" was my first reaction, too. If the eyes were gold instead of red I'd be 100% sure it's at least intended as a reference.

[Indicible]

Somehow, our new pale rider agent reminds of a sister of Boa Hancock in One Piece. Must be the eyes and the shape of the face.

In any case, the piece of excretation is about to eat the rotating ventilation device.

Too many conflicting interests here for it to end well: Bubbles wants her memories accessible, but not necessarily accessed, Corpse Witch wants Bubbles at her beck and call, Faye would very much like a job, the badgering agent (cannot remember her name) wants CW gone and maybe the rest of tbe people working at the arena detained...
In French, it is called "un sac de noeuds" (a bag of knots. Alternately, it can also be understood as a bag of dicks, because noeuds is also slang for dicks... Never mind that interpretation...).

[BenRG]

So, who does Agent Alucard represent? I don't think that she represents any local, state or federal agency. I can't see them tolerating such aesthetic extravagance. In any case, most Federal agencies have very limited remits and I can't see the FBI (organised crime) and the NSA (maintaining the confidentiality of 'black' projects) tolerating the other on their patch.

No, I think that she works for The Company - Ellicott-Chatham Robotics. I think that, early on in the development of the AIs, several governments across the world expressed concern about the hypothetical ability of AIs to choose a criminal lifestyle and the difficulty that human police officers would have in tackling this (on a psychological, intellectual and physical level). They made it a term of ECR's license to operate that they provide investigative and enforcement staff with the specific training and equipment to tackle AI criminals on their own level. The result were people like Alucard: Augmented investigators and enforcers.

Although she is technically a licensed private investigator and an employee of the modern world's equivalent of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, in practice, Alucard is much more. She has the ability to do almost anything it takes to stop serious AI crime; the 'proper authorities' will look the other way and even cooperate, glad to have someone on hand who has the ability to do what it takes. She has the ability to interrogate, coerce and subborn in ways that no official police force would be permitted to do. She has the right to act as judge, jury and executioner in the event of serious and life-threatening incidents. Because the authorities fear rogue AIs so much, their definition of 'life-threatening incident' is disturbingly broad.

The badge says that she is an agent of Ellicott-Chatham Robotics Special Defective Equipment Safety Division. The AIs know them by a different name.

They call them...

BLADE RUNNERS

[Mehre]

So i actually made account for this.

I think simplest solution is most probable. That is ms. CreepyBot is big fish or one of her enforcers. Its more likely that she is criminal than agent or law enforcer of some sort.

Also who are "they" precisely?

[The real John Smith]

The agent is Marten's new squeeze when Claire breaks up with him.

[TinPenguin]

...Notice the red eyes? Remind you of anyone?

...Bubbles?

[Gyrre]

Infernal!
"Creepy" indeed. Though, not to be a nag, but Jeph did refer to them as 'they', so I'm guessing they're a nonbinary gender.

sidenote: a nonbinary pronoun I've seen suggested recently is 'e', with the possive form being 'es'.

[Storel]

Why does everyone keep saying this PIB (Person In Black) has red eyes? Maybe it's just my monitor, but they look distinctly purple to me.

I don't think the absence of squared-off voice bubbles means this new person is human. I think it means they have a voice that sounds human...

[osaka]

Same, I see this person's eyes as the color of shiny Dratini.

I guess this could be one of Beatrice's bodyguards.

[pwhodges]

RGB = 0x961851 - distinctly towards purple, but not a colour for which a name comes to mind.

[gprimr1]

I would be VERY surprised if this new character turns out to be law enforcement.

My guess is he/she is an underboss in the organized crime ring running the robot fights.

Faye has probably made too much noise and now they need to do some damage control.

[Method of Madness]

I'm definitely more excited about this week than I've been in a while.

[Storel]

RGB = 0x961851 - distinctly towards purple, but not a colour for which a name comes to mind.

Not red enough for magenta, not blue enough for violet -- eh, purple works for me.

[Method of Madness]

I wouldn't mind having my eyes be that color.

[Neko_Ali]

I'm not putting my money down on this new character being female yet. Almost literally nothing is about them, a very androgynous appearance and 'they' pronoun just doesn't reveal anything. Which may just be the way this new person likes it. Their sudden appearance bodes poorly for some long running characters... Probably Corpse Witch, but that's still up in the air.

[Method of Madness]

I wonder if the round speech bubble could indicate an AI that's so far advanced that it's indistinguishable from a human.

[BenRG]

I've long thought that the AIs voders have high-fidelity modes that enables them to sound entirely human and that is what is signified when an android is shown speaking with a round speech bubble. However, there is some sort of internal AI cultural taboo against it (it's 'impolite' to imitate a human or confuse them as to whether you're a biologic or a synthetic) so AIs mostly deliberately detune their voices to give them mechanical and synthesiser-like electronic sub-harmonics to make it clear that, no matter how high fidelity their chassis, they are definitely AIs.

I've noticed that Momo is the most frequent example of rounded speech bubbles. My in-universe explanation is that her voice 'goes human' when she's under stress or is trying to get someone to do something. It's an attempt on her part to lend authority to her voice by using a 'His Master's Voice' human voice pattern.

[St.Clair]

enter the Agent.

[Timemaster]

This is a strange appearence indeed. Agent Peroxide shows up like being beamed in from the USS Enterprise. Notice that he/she stands behind Faye in the third panel. How did he/she (or maybe it?) get there without her taking notice?

I´m still wondering about the "waking up screaming" part. So it represents something which is like a nightmare or some kind of bogeyman to AI´s. I don´t think this is a kind of mobster or a federal agent of some sort. This is someone who represents something far more important or threatening to an AI than a vicious criminal like Corpse Witch or a petty officer like Rocco Basilisk. We don´t know enough about how Jeph ist imagining the whole AI stuff to jump to any conclusions. But I´m imagining some kind of Authority (notice the capital letter) which has power over AI´s and of which they have reason to respect it and even be afraid of.
Maybe Station telling his collegues has brought this affair to the notice of someone who is far more powerful and doesn´t like it at all. Maybe The Authority (I like this already) objects to bubbles memories beeing partitioned away. Or she knows something which must not get into the wrong hands. CW´s for example. Bubs will have to make a decision right now! And Agent Peroxide seems very sure that she will...
 
But all of this is speculation. I suppose tomorrow we´ll all know a lot more.

Can´t wait:
TM