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Alice will tell us everything that happened after the Blink

The Praeses will interrupt Alice's story just when it's getting interesting and finally reveal themselves

Church will interrupt and despite his appearance he's actually an eloquent storyteller

The Praeses will intervene, but it turns out they had nothing to do with the chain of events because it was the AIs all along

Gavia will be so irritated by what she hears she'll form an alliance with Pate and declare herself Queen of the Habitat and Pate can be King of Earth

[brasca]

As much as I liked how things turned out in the battle between Alice and Church and really hope we'll get some much awaited exposition from Alice I can't help, but feel a shoe is going to drop and just when something important is about to revealed there will be an interruption. 

[BenRG]

I wonder if the biggest problem the Praeses will have with Pate was bringing back the 'exiles', Ardent and Gavia. It turns out that the entire charade was a kind of judicial garbage disposal because they found the two space kids as annoying as Alice does. The Spaceborne are too civilised for capital punishment and didn't want anyone to 'make a scene', so they convinced Cupressceeae into tricking the two of them to voluntarily go to Earth and then shut off their comlinks.

Gavia's reaction will be... pretty much what you'd expect it to be.

FWIW, I expect that at least one of the Spaceborne will make a comment about Alice's face being 'messed up'. Alice's response will just be a look that she learned over the past 5 millennia that can make anyone shut up.

[brasca]

I wonder if the biggest problem the Praeses will have with Pate was bringing back the 'exiles', Ardent and Gavia. It turns out that the entire charade was a kind of judicial garbage disposal because they found the two space kids as annoying as Alice does. The Spaceborne are too civilised for capital punishment and didn't want anyone to 'make a scene', so they convinced Cupressceeae into tricking the two of them to voluntarily go to Earth and then shut off their comlinks.

Gavia's reaction will be... pretty much what you'd expect it to be.

FWIW, I expect that at least one of the Spaceborne will make a comment about Alice's face being 'messed up'. Alice's response will just be a look that she learned over the past 5 millennia that can make anyone shut up.

I put option 5 in as a joke, but if your theory is true it could very well happen. 

That being said I don't think Ardent and Gavia can be considered annoying based on Alice's assessment.  I think everyone annoys Alice to some extent which is why she lives outside the town.  Ardent has some problems with culture clash, but that can be said of anyone who's foreign.  Aside from getting slapped for asking for sex he seems to get along well with everyone and from what I gather he has plenty of friends in the habitat including the one who teleported him to Earth in the first place.  Gavia on the other hand has trouble making friends, but she seems like someone who obeyed the praeses without question so I don't see why they would dispense with the teacher's pet.  She might be annoying to the other habitat dwellers, but if the higher ups like her then it really doesn't matter. 

[Tova]

The results are looking very skewed so far, but that's the largest number of clickable options I've seen in a poll in awhile. Even the joke one was a cool theory.

[Kugai]

I predict exposition

[Neko_Ali]

Or explosions. Perhaps Exposilosions?

[OldGoat]

I was a little more than half expecting an encounter with someone/something (like the Praeses) forcing Alice & Company into an awkward alliance with Jesper and Church, but that has the potential to run the story out for a couple of years at least.  It doesn't sound like Jeph is planning to keep it going that long.

[Method of Madness]

I wouldn't mind hearing Church give a speech.

[BenRG]

Maybe Church can give a super-soldier's version of Shylock's famous "If you prick us..." speech. 

[Kugai]

"If you shoot us, do we not attack?......"

[A small perverse otter]

"Are we not men? // We are evil // Are we not men?"

[Neko_Ali]

We are Devo.

[BenRG]

New comic up and, like every murderous tyrant in history, Pate is claiming to be a liberator who is only acting out of the desire to help his people. The parallels with Lex Luthor just keep getting stronger!

[sitnspin]

"Then the war happened". It just happened. It wasn't a thing humanity did, it was a thing that just passively happened. And the way he just blithely refers to a period of time that resulted in countless deaths and incalculable suffering as if it was an inconvenience. I've always thought Pate was an arrogant piece of trash, but he's cranking it up to 11. I'm seeing how he became someone Church would follow. He really is a vicious and nasty piece of work.

[JimC]

...he just blithely refers to a period of time that resulted in countless deaths and incalculable suffering as if it was an inconvenience.

To be fair, isn't that rather how we tend to refer to the fall of the Roman empire, even though that was only about 1500 years ago, not 5,000?

[JimC]

...liberator only acting out of the desire to help his people.

Well, bye and large, I guess they have to believe that if they want to sleep at night. Usually wrapped up in stuff about destiny and the good of the people. There's precious few who, if they

... cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, [are] determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

There's a lovely bit of comic satire of the whole attitude in CS Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet where the prospective interplanetary overlord, Weston, makes a high blown speech in english about destiny and the future of the human race, but it has to be translated by the hero Ransom, who has a limited vocabulary in the destination language, and it loses more than a little in the translation. If you're not familiar with the book its somehow on Canadian Gutenberg here, https://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/lewiscs-outofthesilentplanet/lewiscs-outofthesilentplanet-00-h.html , you want chapter 20 starting at "Speak to Ransom and he shall turn it into our speech"

[OldGoat]

Ah but Jesper, if Gavia offs you and Church is masterless, and he may well fall in behind her as the #1 Bad-Ass.

[brasca]

"Then the war happened". It just happened. It wasn't a thing humanity did, it was a thing that just passively happened. And the way he just blithely refers to a period of time that resulted in countless deaths and incalculable suffering as if it was an inconvenience. I've always thought Pate was an arrogant piece of trash, but he's cranking it up to 11. I'm seeing how he became someone Church would follow. He really is a vicious and nasty piece of work.

Well keep in mind Pate only knows what he knows from the resources available.  Most of it's archaeological work and what Church probably told him, but if he was, "but a pawn in this great game of life" he wouldn't have much to contribute other than his brute strength.  And hindsight is always 2020.  We often look back at some of the great wars and comment on how foolish our ancestors were, but at the time they had their reasons for fighting and I suspect the humans of 5000 years ago.

I thought we'd be getting some exposition from Alice, but this works too because it reveals a lot about Pate's character.  He blames Alice for doing nothing to further progress, but that doesn't mean she's been spending her endless lifetime suppressing it.  If she had she probably would've confronted Church sooner.  He also blames the space dwellers, but it's not like Ardent and Gavia had any say over how things are done and Alice suspects the Praeses are on the same page as Pate.  And that could be a problem if they finally make an appearance after that speech.  It reminds me of Londo Mollari's answer to Morden's question.  If that's the answer they're looking for then they might finally introduce themselves. 

It didn't take long for Pate to regain his bravado.  They live as long as he lives and right now which is a short term solution until they leave wherever it is in the habitat. 

[blt]

They could always dismember him a little bit.

[brasca]

Pate does bring up an interesting point.  We've been focused on the Praeses and what they could be scheming. since near beginning of this strip.  Alice seems to think they want to conquer Earth, but even if that's the case and the planet has been off limits because of her the rest of their solar system is theirs for the taking.  With the technology they possess they could have terraformed Venus and Mars by now as well as colonize worlds outside our solar system if interstellar travel is possible.  They really wouldn't need Earth unless they're obsessed with having a complete set.  Maybe they already have conquered this corner of the galaxy and people like Ardent and Gavia are ignorant of this, but it seems like the Praeses may be holding back humanity in their own way.  Perhaps their disagreement with Alice is they want to breed out aggression and keep humanity content while she thinks struggle is good for the soul as long as it's kept low tech. 

[jwhouk]

It could always be that the Praeses don't want these people to leave Earth - because they might eff things up on a galactic scale if they go elsewhere...

[Method of Madness]

Ah but Jesper, if Gavia offs you and Church is masterless, and he may well fall in behind her as the #1 Bad-Ass.

Shit, that's actually a really good point. Unless he views killing everyone and continuing Pate's mission as his service even if his master is no longer alive.

[Kugai]

Ahhh but do remember what happened to both Mollari and the Centauri when he got his wish..   A sword cuts both ways brasco..


But Pate does have a point.

[Method of Madness]

He does. More excited than I've been in a while to know what happens next.

[A small perverse otter]

Ignoring his motivations, which are made kind of clear by the rest of his monologue, Pate does have a point. Alice's idea of serving her town has included thinking about killing Ardent for no reason other than the fact that he might create competition over resources in some hypothetical future time. She *has*, in fact, kept her village in something like a less-than-ideal stasis.

Is he a monster? Probably. Would offing him leave Church free to act as he wished? Almost certainly not. Is Alice blameless here? Not in the least.

[DaiJB]

OK, everything I'm about to type is just my opinion but:

I think Pate is just deluding himself.

He's got ONE millennia-old soldier in his pocket - is it likely Church is the only one? After all, we've already met Alice, another front-line soldier (though admittedly she isn't as powerful).
But Pate thinks that means he'll be able to just walk through any opposition? Just a bit naive.

The Praeses are supposedly the source of Ardent's weird tech-enhancing ability* - in which case, does Pate really think they don't know what it is capable of doing? They would probably expect someone to drop in... 
*(Of course, the Praeses could have also been manipulated by some unknown power - the missing AIs perhaps?)

Pate really doesn't know what's going on - note his reference to 'magic space fairy'

Finally, he talks a high-and-mighty speech about the fate of humanity - but 'humanity' is the next person you meet.
Pate has proven that he is quite happy to kill the next person he meets...

[sitnspin]

She *has*, in fact, kept her village in something like a less-than-ideal stasis.

What is less than ideal about it? They are safe and happy, seem to be healthy and they are living a environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle. Sounds pretty ideal to me.

[Ghanima Atreides]

Finally, he talks a high-and-mighty speech about the fate of humanity - but 'humanity' is the next person you meet.
Pate has proven that he is quite happy to kill the next person he meets...

What Pate really wants are the comforts and power of his ancestors. It probably galls him to think of the wonders and delights pre-Blink people used to enjoy and he can only dream of, stuck in his pre-industrial world. He may envision himself being hailed as the "saviour" of mankind when he restores advanced technology to Earth and being promptly declared ruler of the world or some other megalomaniac fantasy. I doubt he truly cares about the welfare of mankind beyond what benefits him in some way, and is certainly willing to do anything to get his way.

On Earth, Church made him practically invincible, but I do think he's made a miscalculation in thinking the same will be true up there in space,  with the unknown element of the Praeses and possibly even more powerful entities playing a role. He has only a vague idea of what he's getting himself into yet he rushed blindly into it just the same.

[Is it cold in here?]

>What is less than ideal about it?

Yes, they do seem to be healthy and safe in a sustainable economy.

It's a scarcity economy. Alice might argue that it's ideal. I'm not convinced, and I pity the children of the village who look up at the stars at night and long to go there.

[brasca]

Ahhh but do remember what happened to both Mollari and the Centauri when he got his wish..   A sword cuts both ways brasco..


But Pate does have a point.

Yes wish is why if an emissary shows up next to make a deal with Pate I don't see it ending well for him. 

OK, everything I'm about to type is just my opinion but:

I think Pate is just deluding himself.

He's got ONE millennia-old soldier in his pocket - is it likely Church is the only one? After all, we've already met Alice, another front-line soldier (though admittedly she isn't as powerful).
But Pate thinks that means he'll be able to just walk through any opposition? Just a bit naive.

The Praeses are supposedly the source of Ardent's weird tech-enhancing ability* - in which case, does Pate really think they don't know what it is capable of doing? They would probably expect someone to drop in... 
*(Of course, the Praeses could have also been manipulated by some unknown power - the missing AIs perhaps?)

Pate really doesn't know what's going on - note his reference to 'magic space fairy'

Finally, he talks a high-and-mighty speech about the fate of humanity - but 'humanity' is the next person you meet.
Pate has proven that he is quite happy to kill the next person he meets...

Interesting theory, but I think Pate is willing to make that gamble.  Where else can he go in life.  He is the master of a super soldier and quite possibly a small nation, but that's about it.  Even with Church and presumably an army of regular soldiers at his command his reach is limited as is his ability to reverse engineer technology into something that can benefit his kingdom.  He sought an audience with the praeses to obtain advanced technology and may still get it despite Gavia just turning the tables on him.  If she obeys the praeses and they are willing to form an alliance with Pate then he'll get what he wants because the situation is perfect for the praeses to take over Earth.  Alice is in check and Church answers to Pate.  However, we may find out that whoever caused the Blink, let's call it Blinky instructed the praeses to never interfere with Earth and they've adhered to this agreement.  Blinky may be the real power behind everything and someone neither Pate nor the Praeses can defy. 

[JimC]

It didn't take long for Pate to regain his bravado.  They live as long as he lives and right now which is a short term solution until they leave wherever it is in the habitat.

What Pate seems to have missed is that as far as we know Gavia is a fairly typical inhabitant of the space habitats, so probably a significant number of them can apply the same leverage.

I'm wondering why Gavia and Ardent are apparently yet to attempt to contact the Praeses or even other inhabitants.

[BenRG]

I'm wondering why Gavia and Ardent are apparently yet to attempt to contact the Praeses or even other inhabitants.

Neutralising Church and making sure Alice doesn't need emergency aid probably are more significant issues to them; they'll likely think about contacting 'the authorities' when they have five minutes to draw breath and think about their next move.

[brasca]

Seeing as how they are in the outermost layer of the habitat there might be a maintenance passage and if there isn't Gavia can order Church to make one. 

I also had a thought that maybe Pate's speech is more for Church's benefit than anyone else's.  Church has a compulsion to serve, but there may be limits.  If the master he chooses is a capricious fool wallowing in the benefits of their position he might abandon them because they aren't serving the greater good.  It might not be all about choosing the most ruthless, but the most responsible.  Perhaps if it was revealed that Pate would let the world burn if he could be king of the ashes he would abandon him because he betrayed his duty.   

[OldGoat]

I'm wondering why Gavia and Ardent are apparently yet to attempt to contact the Praeses or even other inhabitants.

Ardent's planet-side "vacation" wasn't authorized, nor was Gavia's apparentlly self-assigned sibling recovery mission.  Neither one of them was supposed to have gone down to the surface - at least that was the official position - and both would just as soon sneak back into the dorm or whatever unnoticed.  They're still kids and haven't worked out how to respond to being used as pawns.

But they will.  Whatever else the series is, it's a coming of age story with Ardent and Gavia as the protagonists.  We're already watching Gavia go from a bossy what? 17 year old? to a young adult with some planning and leadership ability.  Those who have read Joseph Campbell will recognize the hero's journey she's been on.

[derech]

We might as well ask why shoot the moon with nanotech.

Well any past conflict that hasn't been experienced by those who came later has pretty much been lost to memory emotionally.   Plus what remains of the tales is colored by those who succeeded, and many times (especially given the types of records from  hundreds or thousands of years ago) the PR of the side that won puts the truth second if at all.   But mostly, if nobody remembers something from experience, how much can they feel happy or sad about some facts about people who aren't around any more.

Pate seems honestly angry that humans don't have  more currently.  Not happy that things are like they are, blaming others for keeping it like this.  Opportunity squandered, not reaching true potential.   Yet  the hubris that he's the one to do it, his easy dismissal of the fact that the more almost lead to humanity's total downfall, and his egotism  that somehow this is a terrible state to be in (and clearly no matter what, unpreferable to another state, and in the ways he says)....  he could be correct.    Parts of what he says about striving and becoming better are, even if the way he carries them out is bad evil horrible.   Or maybe that's the only way such things get done.     

Perhaps Alice and those like her are unduly afraid or unrepairably mentally scarred.    Or maybe he's a megalomaniac that has no idea how even more horrible the results would be if things had gone that way.    How many like him have their been in the last 50 generations all over the habitated parts of the planet?     How many others have tried and apparently failed.  Or given themselves a king's life and been happy with just pretending there were bigger plans.   I suppose we could say that at least Pate is taking action.

We rather need to find out if there are others with motives pushing what's been going on.  Who is driving it if there are.   

[OldGoat]

Just an observation about Pate - he doesn't go in for the trappings of power. 

His digs aren't any more imposing than any good size town's city hall (note the cityscape out the window behind his desk), and he certainly doesn't go in for luxurious clothing, just the Amish looking uniform that everyone we've seen in his little city state wears.  He's not focused on his title and his underlings just call him "sir" instead of "Your Excellency" or "Your Majesty" or what ever.  So far his carriage is the swankiest thing we've seen associated with him. 

All in all, Jesper is the most modest megalomaniac I've seen in quite a while. 

[Method of Madness]

He is the very model of a modest meg'lomaniac.

[wlewisiii]

Those who have read Joseph Campbell will recognize the hero's journey she's been on.

Ding Ding Ding We have a winner here.

[brasca]

I'm wondering why Gavia and Ardent are apparently yet to attempt to contact the Praeses or even other inhabitants.

Ardent's planet-side "vacation" wasn't authorized, nor was Gavia's apparentlly self-assigned sibling recovery mission.  Neither one of them was supposed to have gone down to the surface - at least that was the official position - and both would just as soon sneak back into the dorm or whatever unnoticed.  They're still kids and haven't worked out how to respond to being used as pawns.

Ardent wasn't authorized since he got there by asking one of the transport volunteers to hack the console, but Gavia asked the Praeses and if they preside over the space habitat then it might as well be an authorized exception.  http://www.alicegrove.com/post/107925637899/exposition-finally

Besides they had other priorities like turning the tables on Pate.  I'm not sure if Gavia can multitask communicating to the Praeses and keep an energy dagger pointed at Pate and Ardent was too concerned with saving Alice to probably try communicating if he has a radio imbedded in him. 

>What is less than ideal about it?

Yes, they do seem to be healthy and safe in a sustainable economy.

It's a scarcity economy. Alice might argue that it's ideal. I'm not convinced, and I pity the children of the village who look up at the stars at night and long to go there.

I don't think the children of the village care about something they don't know much about.  It seems like people living in orbit is common knowledge since no one was too shocked by Ardent's presence, but unless it happened off panel there wasn't an endless line of townspeople asking him and Gavia what life is like in space.  Not everyone believes the grass is greener on the other side and want to venture over to live there.     

[OldGoat]

Ardent wasn't authorized since he got there by asking one of the transport volunteers to hack the console, but Gavia asked the Praeses and if they preside over the space habitat then it might as well be an authorized exception.  http://www.alicegrove.com/post/107925637899/exposition-finally

Alice calls bullshit in the last panel and I share her scepticism.  And Ardent looks like my dog when I come in and call him out for being on the couch while I'm gone.  (He thinks he's sly when he hears the car pull in and gets down before I get in the door, but he leaves a warm spot.)

. . . Ardent was too concerned with saving Alice to probably try communicating if he has a radio imbedded in him.

If Jeph has introduced Ardent having an embedded radio, I missed it.

[derech]

Take Alice, Church, Sedna.  They lived the past, but have been living planetside in  the now.   Pate is (aside from having not experienced the past directly, and his lack of "immortality" etc) more like them in being here on the planet. He's less than fond of those who keep things this way planetside, although he appears the only one (maybe Church, Alice seems noncomittal, Senda not seeming to care).   Alice doesn't like The Praeses sure, just for other reasons than Pate.   OTOH, the two from offplanet.  They've been living more the way it used to be, only recently going planetside  and interacting, out of their element.   One of them is perhaps a mole, on a lark, the other more focused, up for conflict.   Gavia is more like Alice, Ardent more like Senda.   Then of course the alliance of Church and Pate, unlike the  other four in attitude, but more akin to how Gavia and Alice think of a number of things.     So, there are a number of ways to mix the groups, although clearly for now it's the four aligned against the two.

Perhaps the story is not so much about the human-seeming things from the  past but more about these people of the present.  Although it could be the differences between what we might could see as three groups of two.  Maybe things will change as the story progresses, other alliances for other reasons.   More groups to contend with.   However it's counted for these six now, it seems like it's building up to some confrontation with one or more groups and others, perhaps a revealing of plans, maybe a bigger picture.    Yet and still. Such as The Nightwalker's actions could have little to no larger meaning.  It might be The Praeses have not directly orchestrated most any of this.     

[OldGoat]

Ya know, if Gavia can materialize an energy blade, she can probably do the same thing with a small clamp or two.  Internally.  Around something sensitive like a ureter or a bile duct, or even a vas deferens. 

How much pain can Jesper tolerate?  Could Church survive his jugulars being pinched off?

But then, it's not hard for her to make sure she's got the location of the blade right when it's sticking out of Pate's chest.  Unless she's really up on human anatomy, the internal bits would be trickier.  Other habitat occupants probably do have those skills, though.

[Method of Madness]

Gavia has been enhanced, but I think you're forgetting just how strong Church is. After all, Alice punched through Gavia's nano before.

[JimC]

Sounds pretty ideal to me.

Better throw your IT away then to make a start [grin] I can see that in a world with heavily depleted energy and mineral resources the low input low output low population society probably best meets the Benthamite model, but I sure as hell wouldn't fancy living in it.

[brasca]

Ardent wasn't authorized since he got there by asking one of the transport volunteers to hack the console, but Gavia asked the Praeses and if they preside over the space habitat then it might as well be an authorized exception.  http://www.alicegrove.com/post/107925637899/exposition-finally

Alice calls bullshit in the last panel and I share her scepticism.  And Ardent looks like my dog when I come in and call him out for being on the couch while I'm gone.  (He thinks he's sly when he hears the car pull in and gets down before I get in the door, but he leaves a warm spot.)

Well considering what we've learned since then they seem to be very special snowflakes indeed.  Ardent can upgrade technology and while Gavia's abilities may be commonplace on the space habitat her merger with the Night Walker was extraordinary and may have more repercussions than putting another crater on the moon.  Ardent looks guilty because he knows he broke the rules and just got caught, but there is no reason to believe he's not telling the truth.  He tends to be reckless and impulsive.  As for Gavia I have no reason to believe she'd be lying because who else would grant her passage?  She doesn't have any friends who would do her a favor. 

. . . Ardent was too concerned with saving Alice to probably try communicating if he has a radio imbedded in him.

If Jeph has introduced Ardent having an embedded radio, I missed it.

Just because Ardent shuns technology doesn't mean he wouldn't leave the space habitat without some means of communication.  How else would he get back home? 

[Thrudd]

Just because Ardent shuns technology doesn't mean he wouldn't leave the space habitat without some means of communication.  How else would he get back home?

Just a hearken back to the beginning where they tried to contact them and there was no answer, ego, they had a way of communicating such a distance or at least thought they did.

[Shremedy]

Pate has unknowingly caught himself in some speciesism...Alice's exact words were "I serve everyone", which he (laughingly) interpreted as "all Earthbound humanity".  Which is, not too unreasonably, "everyone" to him.  What if she literally meant she served EVERYONE, human, AI, Praeses, hypothetical space aliens, etc.?

[Tova]

I don't think it would have made any difference to his speech.

[brasca]

Just because Ardent shuns technology doesn't mean he wouldn't leave the space habitat without some means of communication.  How else would he get back home?

Just a hearken back to the beginning where they tried to contact them and there was no answer, ego, they had a way of communicating such a distance or at least thought they did.

Gavia had a radio built into her among other things, but Ardent couldn't have known she would follow him to Earth to bring him back so he had to have some means of communicating with the Praeses once he was ready to return. 

[A small perverse otter]

She *has*, in fact, kept her village in something like a less-than-ideal stasis.

What is less than ideal about it? They are safe and happy, seem to be healthy and they are living a environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle. Sounds pretty ideal to me.

Safe, yes. Happy? We don't know -- all we've seen is life as Alice has shown it to us. As to "environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle," though? There are two major modern innovations which ameliorate the human condition more than almost any others: running water to wash your hands in, and vaccines to make your kids live past their fifth birthday. (Running water gets them past their first.) You can't have the second without the first, and Alice's town doesn't have it.

What does that mean? 60% of all children die before their first birthdays.

That's less than ideal.