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Just like baseline and augmented humans, but it's just a holographic projection since they are the habitat.

Just a tree and it's really the middle managers who do everything they think it wants them to do.

Groot, but with a greater vocabulary.

The Lorax and 5000 years still hasn't made him very forgiving of what happened to the truffula trees.

A clone of Alice because you know that would be a twist.

[brasca]

Since Alice Grove will be on hold for a couple of weeks while Jeph Jacques gets ready for conventions I thought I'd start the next poll for March.  With the way things are moving we're sure to meet the Praeses some time next month. 

[BenRG]

I'm wondering if we're going to see a tree wired up to a computer programmed by some mad scientist some time in the past who was sure that it made it possible for the 'Tree Spirits' to communicate with humans. The verbiage the communications software produces in response to the tree's bioelectric impulses might be what the bio-engineered super-tree is 'thinking' but it might also be what the scientist thought they should be thinking. So, you basically have a civilisation following the hallucinations of what a long-dead bio-engineer thought that the Dryads were saying to him and using that to formulate policy that could end millions of lives.

Really, it's much like the role of religion in war throughout the middle ages, when you think about it.

[brasca]

Sounds similar to the Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons" where Beta III  is ruled by a super computer based on a long dead leader, Landru.  The only difference was Landru perpetuated the same level of civilization for 6000 years without ever deviating.  The praeses seem like they want to shake things up by bringing their way of life to Earth.     

[Kugai]

[Neko_Ali]

Looks like Alice got an upgrade..

[derech]

Characters have spoken of Praeses in ways that suggest a more current interactive sensible sort of presence.  Even though not physical human mobile active.   I wonder though if how they perceive and describe Praeses matches the reality, or if there's both bias and anger clouding everything up.   How accurate are the descriptions of the situation, the ascription of motivations.    Also, great big tree, little tiny ship.    Which also makes me wonder how it is Pate got as powerful and determined to do whatever he's up to while at the same time seeming so ill-prepared for the actuality of scale.      Like an ant planning on eating a t-rex while being unaware of the impossibility of the scope.      Which if Ardent's purpose is actually to be bringing Pate there, or if Church is not quite the lackey he's made out to be, or if Alice isn't quite a straightforward as she seems.   A lot of ways this could actually be heading. 

[FunkyTuba]

Big. Tree.

I wonder if "the nearest praeses" may not have been what Ardent really wanted, and the ship took them to an unfriendly one.

[Method of Madness]

Are any of them actually friendly?

[BenRG]

I'm sure that they consider themselves benevolent. Whether that translates to 'personable when actually face-to-face' is another matter entirely!

[Stoutfellow]

Is it conceivable that one of the praeses (praesides?) engineered this situation so as to obtain downsider allies, perhaps against others of its own ilk?

[Kugai]

Now,don't be hastey

[brasca]

Is it conceivable that one of the praeses (praesides?) engineered this situation so as to obtain downsider allies, perhaps against others of its own ilk?

There could a rogue praeses among the others.  Alice seems to thing they're all in cahoots, but she hasn't been right about everything. 

[Method of Madness]

Is it conceivable that one of the praeses (praesides?) engineered this situation so as to obtain downsider allies, perhaps against others of its own ilk?

That wood be an interesting twist

[FunkyTuba]

ya gotta xyl'em if you wanna phlo'em

[Tova]

I just got around to voting.

I'm impressed at the evenness of the results.

[JimC]

Trouble is my vote would be "none of the above".

[WoaLG]

I finally got around to binging Alice Grove.

But what I'm concerned about now is: if one or more of the Praeses intentionally sent the two of them down to cause havoc, is this particular tree involved, and if so, will it be happy to see them back in space?

[Kugai]

Im actually interested in seeing how thinkgs go for Pate and Church now thatt they're actuallly in space and about to make contact.

[JimC]

Im actually interested in seeing how thinkgs go for Pate and Church now thatt they're actuallly in space and about to make contact.

Very badly right now...

[up]

[brasca]

Trying to make sense out of what just happened.  It appears the bubble car is popping, but the flames seems to be erupting from within. 

As for the reactions Church's eyes are now open, but his expression is the same.  Alice who was surprised that they could teleport doesn't seem surprised to see the space habitat which makes me think she's seen it before.  Pate and Sedna are still in awe, but the latter isn't completely speechless.  Ardent is pleased to be back, but Gavia can't even look out the portal so her reaction intrigues me the most.  Maybe she knew this was going to happen or maybe she made it happen. 

[Stoutfellow]

The explosion - if that's what it is - seems to be happening on the left front prong (?) of the ship - where Alice and Sedna are. Conceivably Alice did something; she looks like she's thinking in panel one, where Sedna seems more absorbed in the scene. Or, conceivably, something external attacked on that side, perhaps to strike at those two.

Or, conceivably, I'm all wet on both counts. Insufficient data....

[jheartney]

And so they all burned up in space. The End. (Finis Alice Grove.)

[BenRG]

So, yeah, it turns out that Gavia had enough of her nanobots left that they started regenerating over time. Her power levels are still low so she's been playing possum and building up charge for one solid kill shot at Church.

[jheartney]

More seriously, it looks like the praeses sent down Ardent to help bring up Alice, and possibly Sedna, (remember Alice would have got to the spaceship even without Pate). Having got them, it shucks off the spaceship, and will soon hold them captive.

I'm guessing the praeses was not expecting Pate and Church. They may end up having a role to play beyond stock villains before this ends. (Recall that in AG characters tend to get introduced as seemingly powerful and evil - Gavia as the floating torch-gal, Sedna as Battle-Girl - and then have more detail added.)

[cesium133]

Given Gavia's expressions in the past few comics, and her tendency to set things on fire, perhaps the little flame deluge is her way of saying she doesn't want to go back to orbit.

Edit: or at least doesn't want to bring Church and Pate to orbit...

[Kugai]

Well!

That escalated quickly

[Neko_Ali]

The explosion - if that's what it is - seems to be happening on the left front prong (?) of the ship - where Alice and Sedna are. Conceivably Alice did something; she looks like she's thinking in panel one, where Sedna seems more absorbed in the scene. Or, conceivably, something external attacked on that side, perhaps to strike at those two.

Or, conceivably, I'm all wet on both counts. Insufficient data....

Other way around. It's the side that Pate and Church are on that caught fire.  The first panel we are looking in from the front of the ship and P&C are on the left side. The second two panels we are looking from the rear of the ship, so C&P will be on the right. We can tell this is the back because they were looking forward at the Prases, and in the second ones, the Prases is in the background, so we have to be looking at the stern of the ship. Also you can see what appears to be drive exhausts and the way the shape of the ship flows backwards says 'rear'.

[Stoutfellow]

Other way around. It's the side that Pate and Church are on that caught fire.  The first panel we are looking in from the front of the ship and P&C are on the left side. The second two panels we are looking from the rear of the ship, so C&P will be on the right. We can tell this is the back because they were looking forward at the Prases, and in the second ones, the Prases is in the background, so we have to be looking at the stern of the ship. Also you can see what appears to be drive exhausts and the way the shape of the ship flows backwards says 'rear'.

Yep, you're right. There's a reason I left that third option open.

[brasca]

On second viewing it looks like the bubble ship is burning away instead of popping like the alt text says.  Since they are in a vacuum the explosion should be spherical.  I still think the praeses are behind it, but maybe this is Alice making her move.  I don't see how Gavia could do it and even if Ardent designed it to pop the look on his face shows no sign of deviousness.

[Pilchard123]

I'm no expert on exploding spaceships, but should the explosion necessarily be spherical? If there are gasses venting from inside the ship, couldn't that affect the shape?

[BenRG]

It isn't an explosion, it's a directional blast from Gavia, towards Church and then past him out of the hull. A few hundred milliseconds later, it'll look spherical as the pressure hull ruptures progressively away from the breach but, this early in the event, it's still directional.

If you want to be technical about it, the sphere of the explosion would be centred on where Gavia's attack came into contact with the hull rather than in the geometric centre of the vehicle.

[JimC]

I'm not convinced anyone really knows what an exploding spacecraft [exploding in space that is] looks like, and long may it continue that way...

[OldGoat]

Hmmm...Gavia's been up to something alright.  In panel 1 here she's heading aft, looking over her shoulder, and in the next two frames her back is to Ardent and Sedna.  There's shadows of the Valkyrie and its blobs on the trunk of the Praeses, too.  They mean something.

[brasca]

Hmmm...Gavia's been up to something alright.  In panel 1 here she's heading aft, looking over her shoulder, and in the next two frames her back is to Ardent and Sedna.  There's shadows of the Valkyrie and its blobs on the trunk of the Praeses, too.  They mean something.

Interesting observation, but I'm still not sure how she could pull this off.  Even if she was lying about losing her nanotech she probably would've used it out of desperation in the aftermath of Church's fight with Ellie so I don't think she has any, however, she could've sneaked away when Church and Pate weren't looking and got a stick of dynamite from the archaeophiles.  Or maybe they gave it to her as payback for what happened to Ellie.  Perhaps with everyone so in awe of the space habitat she had enough time to light the fuse.  For her sake as well as anyone who's not an immortal super soldier I hope she stuck it behind Church's back. 

[BenRG]

@brasca,

The mistake you are making is to assume that Gavia either has her nanotech-based powers or does not. I do not believe either of those are correct. Rather, she has the powers at a very low level (she may have only recently realised that she still has a few nanobots left and they are regenerating). Since they were captured by Pate and Church, she has been slowly building up her 'charge' at the maximum rate her reduced powers can support to try to take down Church. This has taken her hours, possibly ever since Ellie's death.

[brasca]

Perhaps, but it would be ironic if she used antiquated technology against Church. 

[TinPenguin]

Since they are in a vacuum

Are they, though? Seems to me like the giant-space-tree-thingy is big enough to have its own thin atmosphere.

[BenRG]

Since they are in a vacuum

Are they, though? Seems to me like the giant-space-tree-thingy is big enough to have its own thin atmosphere.

Not unless it has an artificially-generated energy field of some sort holding the atmosphere in. It is nowhere near large enough to generate sufficient gravity to naturally retain an atmosphere. It would need to be well over 1,000km long for that and would generate tidal effects on Earth as it moved around the planet.

[OldGoat]

Perhaps, but it would be ironic if she used antiquated technology against Church.

^^This^^

Ever see Ralph Bakshi's Wizards (1977)?  Good guy wizard, Avatar, and his more powerful and very evil bad guy wizard brother Blackwolf are setting up for a battle of magic when Avatar says, "I'm glad you changed your last name, you sonofabitch," simultaneously pulling a pistol out of his sleeve and blowing Blackwolf's shit away.  (That was four years before Indiana Jones pulled his pistol and shot Scimitar Guy.)

[Method of Madness]

Would dynamite even come close to hurting Church, though? He's comparable to Alice at the very least and Alice can punch through nanotech.

[brasca]

Would dynamite even come close to hurting Church, though? He's comparable to Alice at the very least and Alice can punch through nanotech.

On Earth no, but in space he's vulnerable if the ship is destroyed in an explosion.  Church wouldn't be harmed, but the explosion would propel him away from the space habitat where he'd float around harmlessly in the vacuum of space until Earth's gravity well pulls him down.  Alice and Sedna would suffer the same fate too, but if Gavia is desperate enough to sacrifice her own life as well as kill Ardent and Pate then I don't think she cares all that much about inconveniencing them too. 

I actually hope I'm wrong about Gavia blowing up the ship because I don't see how she, Ardent, or Pate could survive the blast.

[Zebediah]

I really don't think this is Gavia's doing. I think the ship just set off some kind of defensive response from the big tree when it got too close.

[brasca]

It's most likely the Praeses, but it's fun to explore all options. 

[JimC]

It's most likely the Praeses, but it's fun to explore all options.

Could Gavia have been communicating with the Praeses I wonder?

[brasca]

Unless she can talk to them telepathically I doubt it.  Every other time she tried to request they bring her and Ardent home she was verbally speaking to the nanotech that serve as communication. 

[BenRG]

Add on top of that, there was every indication that her transmissions were being ignored.

[JimC]

...her transmissions were being ignored.

ignored != unheard!

[BenRG]

...her transmissions were being ignored.

ignored != unheard!

True, but it greatly increases the chances that any signal from her transponder is either being blocked or automatically disregarded.

[OldGoat]

Another possibility - Gavia spotted some device (survival weapon, perhaps?) that was standard equipment on the Valkyrie-like craft she and Ardent are familiar with, but didn't take into account that it would be far more powerful after being transformed by her brother's "magic" touch.  She takes a pot-shot at Jesper and/or Church and blows the starboard fore corner of the cockpit out.

Gavia's one to place blame but she loves her brother.  It wouldn't be hard for her to transfer her anger at their current situation from Ardent to J&C (even though all indications are the Praeses are behind it).

[brasca]

Another possibility - Gavia spotted some device (survival weapon, perhaps?) that was standard equipment on the Valkyrie-like craft she and Ardent are familiar with, but didn't take into account that it would be far more powerful after being transformed by her brother's "magic" touch.  She takes a pot-shot at Jesper and/or Church and blows the starboard fore corner of the cockpit out.

Gavia's one to place blame but she loves her brother.  It wouldn't be hard for her to transfer her anger at their current situation from Ardent to J&C (even though all indications are the Praeses are behind it).

Interesting theory.  I didn't think of the ship having something Gavia could use as a weapon.  Regardless of whether she knew what the effect might be I think she's desperate enough to try anything.  Despite her previous argument with Ardent I think she still loves him, but she's willing to sacrifice both their lives to keep hostile intruders from setting foot at their home.