Grrl Power #1153 – Extra Stingtestrial
I like the super advanced alien tech being transferred via paper blueprint. It’s just an artistic shortcut, really. Actual alien data technology probably looks like a single slice of graphite from a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil. Something so ridiculously compact that the actual product is 90% bezel so humanoid scale appendages have something to grip.
This page wraps the “hearing” sequence. Well, the actual hearing part, the next page is sort of transitional, then we’re on to other things. The actual hearing continues on past these subject, with a lot of time being devoted to the invasion of an army of literal demons, among other things. I just wanted to show a few pages of what Max gets up to when she’s not fending off Deus’s advances, wrangling Privates, or punching bad guys.
The April vote incentive is up! As promised, it’s a Sydney pinup. Not airplane bathroom selfies, but hopefully her cuteness will satisfy.
Variant outfits and lack thereof over at Patreon, as well as the semi-usual bonus incentive related comic.
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Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
So, no STC’s xD
Pray to the machine spirits brother, and omnissiah shall provide.
Or someone with a suitably powerful TK probably could be used to substitute gravity manipulations especially if capable of manipulating the atomic structure. It would require more research on the parts of the science and engineering teams to give the kinetisist instructions but ultimately they could do it to.
It’s almost like Maxima can see the fourth wall. And Sydney has done a hell of a job of driving it home that entirely too many of recent events operate on comic book logic.
Trope Savviness 101 should have an attached List of “Things you should never ever say or think out loud”
that is on the test.
Too much ear hair. :(
Thats all I am saying ;)
Reminds me of what guards sometimes say to a werewolf PC (yes even the khajiit and argonian)in Skyrim: ”You got fur coming out of your ears ”. Professor Einsteinhair looks halfway to a werewolf already. Werewolves are rarely the educated kind. Trailer trash is more their style. So it would be fun if a werewolves made a career in science for a change.
I think Archon would be better served if Professor German were on the panel.
Assume Dan would give him leave to crossover, anyway.
EGS/Grrl Power crossovers?
Be still my heart!
Imagine Ted getting to dork around with Arc-SPARQ.
Susan and Arc-Light.
…Susan and Arc-Dark.
Elliot sparring with Math.
Ellen V-5’ing Math after his inevitable lechery.
Dabbler’s reaction to V-5.
Max’s reaction to Dabbler’s reaction.
Lets be honest, Dabbler already does everything V-5 does.
Dr. Germahn is too busy making sense of Tedd’s notes.
It’s just…. so… much… ear hair.
TELL me about it (meanwhile, trimming his own with his beard trimmer) Older folk never have ear hair like that, right? (sniffles…) right?
I am a very hairy man, thanks to the many times I’ve had surgery, my chest/stomach hair is 3-4 inches long in places. Gross I know but that’s life. I’m 63, I’ve had ear hair since I was in my 50s, and it’s too tough for the ear trimmer attachments. And yes, my facial hair can’t be removed with anything electric (it just locks up) so the old fashion blade falls into play.
I thought I was the only one who has a moustache where electric shavers go to die. Seriously, the last one sounded like I was trimming a brass bristle brush that I use for prepping small metal parts for welding. Then it died, again.
When I was in my 20s, I almost got fired from being a security guard because we’re supposed to be clean-shaven but I have so many ingrown hairs that I have a goatee even when baby’s bottom smooth. Boss made an exception for me since no one had a choice.
Now I’m 43 and the hair on my ears has stronger roots than what’s left of the hair on my head. Like the hair on the top of my left ear is over an inch long and makes me feel like a werewolf.
A solution for all of you. DOG hair TRIMMERS. 2-300 dollars, but if they can de-nude a wirehair terrier, they can cut through anything short of porcupine quills.
If that doesn’t do it, look into sheep sheers.
I actually tried that, and no I burned it up after a week, the that old commercial says: it’s blade or nuthin’. And while Nair does work, I’d rather us battery acid, it costs less and feels the same….
Too much? Looks like my Dad’s ear hair when he hasn’t trimmed it in awhile.
Waaaay too much. Very disturbing looking. :)
It’s so densely packed too, I can’t fathom how he can hear anything.
Perhaps its what give him super powers like for example super hearing. The source of General Briggs power is obviously his moustache so he got to keep it big and thick and for the same reason professor Stereotype can’t cut his ear fur.
What about the senator though? He has somehow even MORE ear fur!
Perhaps they are related. Ear fur of power runs in the family and the older you get the bigger and more powerfull it get.
At least one of them is secretly a werewolf, and is one of The Council’s best-placed super-secret assets.
That’s how human ears work. They have hair in them that picks up the vibrations from sound waves. Maybe more hair means better hearing!
Looks like he used to operate on an Airfield/Cape Canaveral/Concert hall. Sound muffling is a bonus.
What? Say again?
I think it’s fake. Probably cooked up in his own lab for the mad scientist aesthetic, looks dense but doesn’t block sound at all.
Hehehe.
{Re: The text segment}
Yes, I suppose that Supers would have to do a lot of paperwork.
That seems a poor application of their time when they could be out…Supering.
More likely that that task is foisted onto Normals where it’s a full time job.
Some Supers would need teams of assistants.
This – very specifically – looks like a job for Goon Squad!
So Dabbler is giving them advice on how to get around the tech limitations?
Mighty fine line she’s walking there.
In her defense, exoterran actors have made a play for an extraordinarily high-profile person who is specifically a highly placed local government asset. Ethically, the “no advance tech” rule _must_ include a non-interference clause, otherwise every freshman species is fair game to be dominated and exploited by the senior class. The odd press ganging of nobodies is one thing, but making off with officials? No, at that point, there’s a very real argument to be made for self-defense.
Officially, from the perspective of the Galactic Bureaucracy, there’s only a few options. The first is to employ a blockade, for our own protection, until we master the tech needed to protect ourselves from poachers. That’s going to be unpopular around the whole disc, with groups ranging from economists to anthropologists. Second, is an Uplift, which will be even more hideously unpopular, not least because of “special treatment.” The third is to quietly ignore this vaguely outlined plan, because plausible deniability, and deliver stern words and a finger-wagging after-the-fact.
Yeah: how can we master the tech needed to protect ourselves, if we aren’t allowed to get the tech until we have proven we have mastered it…
Ostensibly we invent it first. Aliens didn’t give us fire, electricity, metallurgy, or anything else.
Note though that the terms are master, not invent. I’m guessing that uplifted planets do exist and the terms are written that way so as to not unfairly and forever penalize them for something they didn’t even do to themselves
Counterpoint: There is no proof that Aliens didn’t give us fire, electricity, metallurgy, or anything else. I’m just saying that there is a non zero chance that they did give us those.
A rebuttal:
If aliens had to spoon feed all of basic civilization to humanity, stacking rocks, burning things, sharpening rocks and sticks and then doing the same to harder substances like metals, etc..
then you are a failure of a species.
So Prometheus was an alien? I am also reminded of a tale from Freefall where Bob, the superior being, let fire get stolen from him.
No he didn’t. Bob was convinced that they weren’t ready but Sam’s ancestor spread it too widely to retrieve (by setting the town on fire).
Other gods did use theft as a test of worthiness but not Bob. Also Life liked to leave plagues and famines lying around because they’re spiteful like that.
Good ole Lairy, Coily and Mo.
Depends on if the gods and Titans were real and just aliens or not in the grrlpower universe. If real then… technically…. Prometheus gave fire to humans. In which case aliens gave fire to humans.
Gods and Titans being aliens doesn’t mean Prometheus was real. Prometheus being real and an alien doesn’t mean he gave fire to humans. Remember, Prometheus also supposedly gave humans the ability to heal… If a species can’t heal itself before an alien shows up to give it that ability, how the heck did it survive long enough to meet the alien?
I will answer all these extremely important questions and respond to these statements one at a time, because I know that’s what the people want! :)
“Gods and Titans being aliens doesn’t mean Prometheus was real.”
Sure he is real. He even started a band but it never got very popular because they had to play around him being chained to a rock and getting his guts eaten by The Eagles. Which is actually what Hotel California is about. Laying a bit of musical knowledge down for everyone.
https://www.facebook.com/PrometheusTheBand/
“Prometheus being real and an alien doesn’t mean he gave fire to humans.”
Well why else would he have been chained to a rock to have an eagle eat his guts which regrow the next day? I mean Zeus is kinda a jerk but still….
“Remember, Prometheus also supposedly gave humans the ability to heal”
Band Aids are really difficult to invent, yknow! If my man Prometheus can go down to the local greek god walgreens and hand out some neosporin and Curex, more power to him.
“If a species can’t heal itself before an alien shows up to give it that ability, how the heck did it survive long enough to meet the alien?”
Very very carefully.
to half quote a pagan I know.
*even if the gods are real, that doesn’t mean all the myths about them are.
This was them recognizing historical inaccuracies, mystery cults, myths reinvented for political reasons *see Dionysus as one of the more well known changed for political reasons whose history can be trace*,
mixing in the deeds of local heroes, kings, and natural events with their gods.
-one idea, some stranger saves a kid from drowning but then leaves and no one local knows who they were. Just like today so many who would claim that was an angel, people in those cultures would swear a local god had come in disguise and helped.
add the multi-gods paganism concept of *many different gods/supernatural beings may pass through the same area, their deeds declared the actions of one god worshipped in that area *or another of their gods based on the specific actions*. Same idea as one entity being declared as one god in one area traveling elsewhere and declared a different god there.
(now mix both of these togethere in a blender)
many fae,angels,demons, etc…end up being responsible for different stories about a god in one land, while also being responsible for tales of various other gods in different lands.
now add centuries of hyperbole, political interference, even regular social reinterpretations to coincide with changes in the norms and taboos of the culture to reimagine the gods in their own images and beliefs.
So even if the myths were inspired by something that happened, the who, the why, and even the details of what are lost, with only symbolism and fragments remaining.
I prefer Granny Weatherwax.
“Just because their real is no reason to go _believing_ in them!”
I never trust anything that claims to have created the world, let alone the universe. The power to blow up a mountain or kill a whale is nothing compared to what is out there. Fear is no reason to believe them, just not doubt them to their face.
You can take five different people from five different backgrounds, and show them the same phenomenon. Not only will each of those people claim it matches something specific to their culture/beliefs, they will declare it is proof of their specific belief being right.
and none will budge when they meet the other four and declare each other blind fools who can’t or refuse to see the truth. Now give each of them a knife and they will decide the one who is still alive is the one that was right.
*I have personally seen the same kind of story told from different cultures.
example a child falls from an upper window and a mysterious force, maybe even a white light is spotted rescuing the child from harm.
I have read this story in *proof angels are real*, and in a Japanese account that said it was the goddess/god Inari that save their child. and even seen an account like this associated with fairies and household spirits/gods (even a ghost in one).
these were not the same account, but different ones across different cultures. Same too with the mysterious stranger, the shadow person, voice out of nothing giving advise. etc… look around different folklore and real people anecdotes around the world and you see the same things, but credit is given to whatever fits the local or personal beliefs of those affected.
When we add that the Alari who are not Xevoarchy members were left alone to invade and conquer less advanced planets, their “hands-off” approach for these matters is questionable and possibly ego driven (we are the master of known space) kind of ego. Add again that they apparently will give warnings to this behavior but once deciding enough is enough *a line that apparently isn’t at (first less advanced planet being invaded and enslaved by ruthless space tyrants)*, THEN they might bomb a civilization back to pre-industrial as Cora put it.
I will wager it all comes down to money. how many power coupons are involved will have a lot to do with how ‘hands off’ the Xevoarchy is.
I think we’re fairly certain the Xevoarchy wasn’t responsible for the Genocide of Alari Prime.
Didn’t say they were.
Also, totally going scorched Earth over an entire planet, including looking like they blasted away any biomes in the process is a tad more than “pre-industrial*
However Dabbler did tell Sydney that *I got Cora and Dabbler mixed up in my memory for this*, that the Xevoarchy have blasted civilizations back if they view them problematic, however did also mention at the same time that the ones attacking Alar did not look like Xevoarchy.
However the Alari still work as an example here because they were invading planets, including Sciona trying to open a blood portal to start a sneak attack invasion of Earth. and were already known to be doing this.
So the Xevoarchy then still means they left the Alari alone and didn’t help less advanced planets being enslaved..but apparently will put their foot down on less advanced planets seeking more advanced technology to defend themselves.
-seem to remember this coming up in Star Trek once or twice, and ending poorly (at least when those storylines were followed up on many years later with a more cynical/realistic view of the situations-
Testing the limits is in character for her. She is very chaotic good.
Dabbler “likes” us humans and supers more so, we have the vitamin “T” that her kind need so much! I’m sure she could whip-up something for an aging man to solve certain problems an older man can have (wink). And we are funny to her since we are so sexually backward… ;)
Max and Sydney more so, although Sydney is coming out of her shell more…
She’s not. It’s a joke theoretical.
There’s taunting Murphy and then there’s bitchslapping him in the face. Guess what ear-hair guy did.
Which is what Maxi is making the call about…
best sidedish anywhere: Murphy’s Slaw
The mass hole bit is what I feel we should start doing with our shooters. Like if you shoot up a school, your legal name is updated to something demeaning and all news portals and documents are given the same name. You will be forever remembered as “whiny dipshit” or “waste of space”
I like Wonderella’s suggestion, just call them “Some Asshole
“
There was, in fact, an interesting fantasy short story on that exact premise, years ago, except in regards to terrorism. A journalist who lost a friend to terrorism started a push to refer to all terrorists as “those assholes”, rather than by their preferred names.
The fantasy element was that he actually got almost all journalists to go along with the scheme.
As a legal matter, you probably could enact a law imposing involuntary name changes on convicted criminals, but constitutionally it would have to wait until they were actually convicted, which would really compromise the effect.
If it weren’t for some ‘individuals’ who would maliciously attack the system, it wouldn’t need to be legal. once the press more or less agrees to refer to them butt sniffers (5 digit number) it would stick. it would also slow down the harassment of the family members of The Butt Sniffer 56782 most of whom are victims themselves.
You know the social justice league would jizz themselves with that idea, just because they’d have a hay-day on the medias with it. “That’s demeaning to those ‘poor victims’, no one has the right to force them blah blah blah…” personally, if someone commits a major crime, they should be publicly shamed, to make any future criminals know that it won’t give them the notoriety they want in the media. School shootings are a good example, it’s basically “Pay attention to me! I’m committing suicide by cop here and I’m making sure I get the attention I want by cowardly attacking the weak” because they know they’ll be shown on TV for days afterwards.
I don’t think an involuntary name change would require that the subject already be in custody. In cases where the subject is successfully evading arrest, it should still be possible to conduct a trial “in absentia” and obtain a sort-of conviction that allows the criminal to be punished in their absence. (Though, according to certain human rights declarations, if the person turns themselves in afterward, the trial has to start over from the beginning.)
I think it would actually make them harder to catch as all of their hard ID would have their old name and database changes are not immediate because of coding language and data type differences.
I don’t think a change to their legal name is a good idea, nor any more effectual than just giving a mocking nickname in the media. First of all, if the crime was something that they could get out of prison one day, having their legal name changed would be cruel and unusual punishment, which is a violation of the 8th amendment of the constitution, as the change would persist after the duration of their punishment and have lasting consequences on their life until they could get it changed back or to something else palatable (imagine trying to get a job when your legal name is “Butt Sniffer 2814” on top of having a ten year gap in your resume). Second of all, it’s a lot easier to get away with crap when you have a generic legal name, like “no it wasn’t ME, officer, I’m Butt Sniffer 7162, you’re looking for Butt Sniffer 7264”. As Random Guy pointed out it would also mean your old IDs would be useful as a cover identity if the relevant databases haven’t updated or aren’t checked.
Don’t legally change the name, especially don’t do it without a standard trial with the suspect present, just use the media to mock them and deny them any notoriety their crimes might usually get them.
Cruel involves pain or trauma. Changing your legal name would be Unusual Punishment, which is totally acceptable under the law.
As for it being permanent, once you get out of prison and parole, change it back yourself. You CAN do that, you know.
Why? Refer to the perpetrator by some demeaning term. You don’t even need to know who did it to start calling whoever did it by something nasty. Once you catch a suspect, the trial is over whether or not the suspect gets their name changed to whatever unflattering name you’ve already given to the temporarily anonymous individual who committed crime-x.
Day 0. mass murder committed by Bagof HumanWaste. You don’t know who he, or she, is yet, but you’ve already assigned a name to the perpetrator.
Day 1. A person, fitting the description of Bagof HumanWaste has been captured. Police are withholding the name of the suspect. If he’s innocent, no one ever need to know that the police once thought he might possibly be Bagof HumanWaste. If he’s found guilty, he’ll forever be known as Bagof HumanWaste.
Day 731. After a trial of roughly average length, John Doe #5 has been found guilty of being the perpetrator, and is henceforth known only by the name Bagof HumanWaste.
On one hand, I like it, because it might help protect innocent suspects from trial by the media. On the other, what if they were responsible for other crimes, as of yet undiscovered? Maintaining their anonymity after a guilty verdict may make it harder for people to connect the dots and attribute other crimes to them. More murders might go unsolved.
To expand upon what I said before:
Without googling it, do you remember who Ted Kasinski is?
Do you remember who the Unabomber is?
Damnatio Memoriae…
Not just a stupid name to go with a stupid act of arseholery, but a number (some random high number, starting in the high hundreds or low thousands) to show they weren’t even the first to do it (even the first to get the stupid number gets a high number, but they weren’t the first… )
I think that that policy is already in efect.
Shooters are not named so that they don’t become famous.
Maxima, your inner geek is showing again… How did you *not* know about the inverse ninja rule?
To be fair to Maxima, multiple people in my high school said I was the alpha geek (I was not among them, though mostly because I dislike the term), and yet I don’t recall having encountered the inverse ninja rule as a term before Sydney referenced it. Sure, the phenomenon was something I had observed so it immediately made sense. I just had no term for it. Also “inverse ninja” does not feel to me to be a good description of the phenomenon. I probably would have gone with “conservation of ninjitsu” rule or something similar myself, had I been prompted to name it. Yes, I understand there is a TV tropes page named that, but only because I found it back when the referenced page went live.
Different people know different things, and even among geeks there is no universal knowledge. I’ve met a hard core geek who had only encountered passing references to D&D before. Those references had all been clearly negative, even those from people she trusted, so she hadn’t investigated. I’ve met hard core geeks who didn’t know Star Trek, or didn’t know Star Wars, or didn’t know Battlestar Galactica. I haven’t met any who didn’t know any of those, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some out there.
One of the things that makes TVTropes so seductive is that it gives a name to an endless list of similarities you’ve already come across. And then links them all to each other, the rabbit hole is truly deep and tangled.
at what point does a rabbit hole become a black hole?
Energy has mass, in fact, mass is energy. Information may be neither energy nor mass; have to ask the physicists about that, but it requires energy to transfer information. Put enough of it together and eventually it’ll develop a, very small, event horizon.
So, it achieves critical mass when enough observers have given it their attention? Sounds about right.
Inverse ninja was a term I first read in the DR. McNinja webtoon. Don’t know when it surfaced before then, unless it was a comment on all the 80’s ninja movies.
Well, it would be convenient if one of those orb upgrades is stealth, in that case.
Though I’m not sure what orb that would be. Some unlock that is available with a link between the truesight/telepresence orb and flight?
(As a sidenote, the author’s commentary of 945 is kind of hilarious in that it mentions giving a ‘free’ point to Sydney that ended up not happening. Suppose that just means that the skill tree interface glitched beforehand, given the old pages weren’t corrected. Which is kind of a shame, as Sydney not realizing she had an extra option for the PPO would be amazing. Such as DURING that call Maxima has with her.)
Though what are the odds that it’s already a bit too late to make that call?
I would agree but Sydney was “working out” as penance for her screw ups on the planes. Normally I’d agree knowing her ADHD randomness but it also causes single-mindedness for the time it takes her to get tired and sleep, by the next time she’s awake she would of forgotten it. But I doubt that, she had a full-on attack of guilt and hates to be on any friend’s bad side. Anvil could openly forgive her, but I think she likes that Sydney is practicing so much!
Nice Rick&Morty reference! Let’s hope that “Gleep Glorp” isn’t actually a combination of the N-word and the C-word to a species in your universe or they can kiss earth good-bye if that veil breaks. :-)
Fuck Dick and Shorty, it was first used (the greeting, not the name) in some movie with Steve Bushemi (or however he smells his name) acting as a really old guy pretending to be a high school student
Steve Buscemi
That’s the dude (sounds the same)
Any movie, no matter how bad, becomes a good movie if one of four actors are in it.
Steve Buscemi
Bruce Campbell
Brendan Frasier
Morgan Freeman
If only for the fact that they happen to be in the movie, it becomes a good movie. This is scientific fact.
With Morgan Freeman, he doesn’t even have to be in the movie. His voice alone is needed, at which time the sound waves from his smooth as molasses vocal chords resonate in the ears of all those who hear it, putting them in an agreeable mood. It’s a little known fact that the movie Amistad, Morgan Freeman was only reading the phone book for his lines but our collective Zeitgeist transformed that into his actual lines in the movie because his voice alone was so hypnotic.
what about Tim Curry?
Seconded, never appreciated him when I was younger but everything I’ve ever seen him in he’s fantastic.
Almost nominated Patrick Warburton too, when he’s right for the part he’s amazing, but he’s been in too many things I don’t care for.
Hrm…. okay yes Tim Curry too. I forgot he was in Congo and yet I still liked the movie because of him.
“Aaaah! The BEMs are on to us!”
*has flashback to Bearing an Hourglass*
I should look up on who Lyle Lanley is…(if there is such a person by that name).
He’s a Simpsons extra.
The ear hair isn’t terribly unrealistic, I have to routinely trim mine to avoid looking like that. Along the back edges of my ears, too. (My wife has totally vetoed my otherwise feasible ambition of cultivating eyebrows like Master Subhuti in the Monkey King movies.
But usually people who’ve started growing hair like that are at least turning grey, and usually balding in all the places they actually WANT to have hair.
Preaching to the choir here! Yes I’m balding AND have too much ear hair! So much that on windy days it feels like something’s trying to crawl in….
I braid mine.
To be honest? Many times I just yank it out. Sure it hurts, but you get used to it pretty quick. So it doesn’t faze me anymore.
“I foresee no possible issues with that” is my new go-to phrase during project meetings.
Thunderbirds are go! What could go wrong?
https://youtu.be/HmhRxQxVUl8
Has Sidney used the causeway to travel to Earth? Or are they talking about the original owner of the orbs? In which case do they even have any information about that event?
She warped Vehemence to Fracture Station and back to Earth during his sparring session, and the causeway was detected (page 980 and 981).
At least once that I remember, when she was talking to NdGT and was getting him an answer as to why beings could stand so close to a neutron star and be unaffected. She also brought him home an ‘alien delicacy’
Twice actually, she “popped” back there shortly after going to her new comic store to get that “Ganz” for Neal DeGausie(?) to which he de-friended her on Facebook after he had the side-effect.
Also when Keven was allowed to fight for his health, that’s when Tom showed up because after Sydney left him in the open in space and back he dumped the power he had and Tom used it to open his own gate.
Sydey did open up a causeway when she fought Vehemence. Since causeways are bidirectional, I imagine it’s difficult to determine which way the creator is travelling (and Sydney and Vehemence did travel back to Earth after leaving it).
Yeah, after getting back to Earth, Syd went back to Fracture station (and came back) via causeway. #784
She went on a short visit to the station shortly after she got back to troll a famous astrophysicist with spicy food that’s even more spicy on the way out.
The most notable one was when she took Vehemence to Fracture, but there was also that time that she went to go get some grakz.
Conster and Caoimhin already stated this but i’ll re-summarize.
Sydney has opened Aetherium Causeways TO Fracture station 3 times
1) From Alar to Fracture
2) From Earth to Fracture (to get Grakz for Neil de Grasse Tyson and find out how Fracture Station could exist around a neutron star for him)
3) From Earth to Fracture Station (to beat Vehemence in a spar)
She’s also made Aetherium Causeways FROM Fracture to Earth twice:
1) To get Grakz for Neil de Grasse Tyson and find out how Fracture Station could exist around a neutron star for him. This is probably when they FIRST picked up that an aetherium causeway had formed near Fracture Station, but they hadnt been able to figure out where it went before it closed.
2) To beat Vehemence in a spar – this is where they managed to trace where the Aetherium Causeway was going to, and they determined it was going to Earth.
The comic store one has the highest probability of being how aliens figure out who is opening the Aethereum Causeway. Not just Sydney showing a picture of Fracture station that has no doubt gone around, but it is unlikely someone wasn’t outside the comic shop and saw the portal. Of course a human civilian wouldn’t know the significance or difference between the three different looking Super generated portals shown so far. An alien seeing it however might.
This is an excellent point, especially if the causeway tracking has pinpoint accuracy. Anyone warping to her exit location outside the store, looking for a being with access to untold powers, would be greeted by a cleary religious structure adorned with Sydney’s face and orbs.
Well not really. The vehemence one was literally when they traced it to Earth. Although further investigation of Eath’s media would let them know it was Sydney if they know where to look because of the grakz/NdGT one since she was showing pictures of Fracture Station.
so you just type, “no, but actually yes” to what I typed.
you just concluded my reasoning was what brichins typed but then typed my actual reasoning, once on Earth if the delegates or alien tourists in disguise see the photos or someone saw especially photographed outside the comic shop they could piece it together.
I was more just ‘adding to your reasoning’ instead of ‘typing your actual reasoning.’ :) Because I’m all nitpicky, as is my obsessive way.
You said, if I understand the post correctly, that the highest probability of figuring out who was opening the Causeway was because Sydney showed a picture of it that could be found on the internet. On Earth.
The universe is a pretty big place. Guessing the cause of the Aetherium Causeway was on Earth in the first place just from the fact that Sydney had a picture of it taken on the internet is a very unlikely way for aliens to figure it out UNLESS they first know it was on Earth. Which is what they found out FROM the last time she was at Fracture station, during the Vehemence spar.
You had said, quote: “The comic store one has the highest probability of being how aliens figure out who is opening the Aethereum Causeway.” Then the next sentence is about an alien who might have actually seen the aetherium causeway outside the comic book shop, although there really isnt evidence that there were any aliens in or at the comic book shop to see that. So i figured you meant because the picture got posted on the internet and probably in different media (TV, podcasts, etc)
I was just elaborating that there’s likely an additional step that had been needed in finding out which planet it was going to in the first place (since Aetherium Causeways are untraceable once they close, according to Cora), in the event that there wasnt an alien literally outside the comic book shop on Earth.
Fracture station found THAT part out (the Earth being the destination) during the Vehemence Spar.
Also I really wish I did not AGAIN forget how to hyperlink links in my posts. I know I wrote it down… and forgot where I wrote it down. Or I would have hyperlinked this:
https://media.tenor.com/iOoe4V8Va6YAAAAM/well-yes-but-actually-no-meme.gif
:)
“Serendipity Driver Shenanigans” is definitely a band name. Probably 80s Ska covers.
Seriously, how can the DARPA scientist and the senator even hear anything with that much ear hair?
as someone who both has ear hair and some experience in this area- ear hair ITCHES. I have to trim it or things feel weird. but the hair growth is slow enough that most people would not notice the gradual silencing of the world around them. usually its the spouses who cannot stand how loud the tv is who draw attention to the issue.
sadly, I have yet to find a hearing aid that offers spousal detection with a catastrophic loss in volume. many spouses would indicate that something like that must exist and their spouse has it. its fun when they do it to each other (Mutual Assured Deafness).
That last panel… what does Max know the Top Brass doesn’t?
She knows Sydney.
“Has Sidney used the causeway to travel to Earth?”
Think about that, very carefully….. take your time.
Yes, she has. https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-980-destination-beatdown/
Heh, Faulke’s look in the last panel: “Good luck with that call!”
I thought it was more like, “Uh, are you worried right now? Should _I_ be worried??”
I feel like the best answer to ‘they don’t want to talk to us because of the gate’ would actually be to start using the gate regularly. It says nice and loud ‘You don’t. How about everyone else?’ Anyone else making ultimatums at a table like that deserves to get themselves idiot slapped.
Trying to destabilize the galactic government as an opening move is probably a) not a first, and b) a terrible move so early in Earth’s debut on the galactic stage. Sydney may be nigh untouchable, but the rest of Terra and its peoples are very, very vulnerable to alien tech.
But what if they’re not detecting Sidney’s trips but Zeus’???
He’s not opening an Aetherium Causeway.
that has been made very clear as the trace happened after Dues returned to earth and he has had no return trips. that we know of. besides he used a ‘star gate’ to get to fracture station. hopefully he has a solution for the priors
I’m pretty sure that was a direct reference to the Vehemence calm down trip. Since there was a reaction from fracture station in that comic.
BRRRING! (Click!) Private Scoville. What can I do for you, boss?
Maxima: Refer to me by my rank or as “Maam”, Private.
Halo: Aye, Aye, Maam. What do you need, Maam?
Maxima: I need you to tell me you’re not on Fracture Station right now.
(Sound of Aetherium Causeway quickly opening and closing)
Halo: No, Maam. I am not currently on Fracture Station.
Maxima (Facepalming): Sydney, stay on Earth until we talk in person. That’s an order.
(Sound of Aetherium Causeway quickly opening and closing)
Halo: Yes, Maam. Earth it is. Where I currently am, and shall remain for the forseeable future.
FYI, it’s ma’am, not maam. No spellchecker?
Has Dabbler hacked Sydney’s phone to use the interspace relays?
Because I don’t think her glasses tie into earth phone networks.
The chokers are communication units, vital sign monitors, and I forget what all else, in a thin band of cloth that almost certainly weighs less than the battery for all of that would be. When I heard what all they do and Dabbler being stingy with her tech, my immediate thought was, “Um, yeah, sure. Except *those* things.”
I don’t know if the chokers are some other race’s technology, not Dabbler’s personal technology, a concession made to be able to wear one herself (because Tom requires it), or what. But they don’t seem like earth tech.
So maybe they could still work on Fracture Station and Dabbler simply wasn’t using that feature to reach Sydney while she was on her exodus because it was a technology capability she did not disclose because she didn’t want the team to realize she was in communication with Tom. Or maybe it’s technology Dabbler wasn’t allowed to reveal to Earth until they had officially made contact with aliens.
Sydney’s exodus wasn’t just very far away, but also, IIRC, 57 days in the future in Earth’s reference frame. So, she may very well have attempted to contact Sydney via the choker right away, but been unable to because the choker (and Sydney) didn’t actually exist at that moment.
Dabs gave that choker to Max, it’s basically the same thing. thin, barely noticeable, and very effective. The Achon chokers could just be advanced human tech, hell they put button cameras in everything these days it’s not a hard stretch that they did it in a ribbon and the actual tech is in the battery pack.
The wrist computers are probably the main unit (although we haven’t seen them since very early on), with the chokers being mainly bluetooth audio input/output and a GPS tracker. Aside from a durable flexible battery, we can already do that and more in a consumer smartwatch, so spreading it throughout a much larger strap is well within military capabilities.
I somehow doubt that Maxima would want to be called Ma’am. Might conflict with her feminist mindset.
I think she’d prefer “ma’am” to “Sir”, which is the alternative.
I mean I agree that Ma’am makes more sense for Maxima, and I think that’s what they call female officers in the military, but I’m not sure if that’s what is preferred in the whole ‘militant feminist’ mindset (not sure if Maxima would be considered ‘militant’ feminist (although she’s military! :) ) but she’s definitely a die-hard feminist. Might also be why Maxima lets people get away with calling her Boss, which several people in ARCHON have done so far.
How common is Causeway opening technology? Sydney has it, Deus appears to have it, Sciona had something, perhaps the aliens who watched the superbattleship getting zorched by Maxima had it, but it was also supposed to be rare.
Deus doesn’t Have Aetherium Causeway tech. Just long-range portal tech nicked from the Alari/Sciona.
Some other societies have Aetherium Causeway tech, but it requires “Capital ships or the sacrifice of a thousand psykers” according to Cora.
think cora said somthing its common in capital class ships BUT the tech to do same thign in back pocket like sydney doesnt exist unless its the Nth level tech.
Best I can remember, Deus and Sciona used tech that was much more common in the universe, and Sidney’s is a million times more powerful than theirs.
Not very common. DEUS is using Sciona’s hand me down to create a Stargate like portal. Sidney is the only one on earth who has an aetherium causeway generator as far as we know.
Deus doesn’t have a causeway, it’s an artifact he stole out of that vault and used it to create his own “stargate” thing. It was said normally only huge starships can make them, while Sydney has that function in a softball sized orb. Also anyone knowing she has such a device could cause an interstellar event, as in a war between earth and several other worlds. There’s already been an attempt to “borrow” Max since she downed a fel ship using her beam.
Deus and Sciona had the same something, a magical artifact, the “brane ripper”. Deus had it retrieved after their trip to Alari blew the top off a mountain, burying it. It doesn’t appear to be opening Causeways.
Apparently all the really advanced races can do it, but it’s difficult enough that it hardly gets done outside of huge emergencies.
As already pointed out Deus and Sciona were using a magical artifact, dimension scissors kind of thing, a sickle called the Bran Ripper *as n P-Branes, Parallel Membranes, a theoretical concept separating dimensions, timelines, realities, etc..*. This artifact was deemed dangerous enough that the supernatural beings had locked it inside their vault of *out of sight, out of mind, dangerous McGuffins*.
Sciona used a large blood ritual to get it to connect to Alar, and even then thanks to the ritual being messed up it ended a few months into the future.
Deus has used technology, and suspected guidance from Vale to make a Star Gate out of it that doesn’t need a reciever, making it more powerful than a regular stargate, and able to focus into an empty lot on Fracture Station’s surface so likely how it went undetected.
The Aethereum Causeway is considered special because it can ignore gravity and other distortions of space, which the regular portals the advanced tech races have to consider. However the power to generate such a Causeway requires either a massive “capital ship” or the sacrifice of psykers. Another factor here is the idea of manipulating the Aethereum, which seems to be the idea that the Causeway is just one aspect here and this sub-space Aethereum is something very special and dangerous and apparently connected to psychic power.
The regular portals the alien civilizations use seem to follow hyper-gate, regular Star Gate, and jump point rules.
-large device on both ends to connect a wormhole, that has to calculate locations in space and work around space/time distortions like not passing through a sun or black holes, dark matter root webs, etc… Jump points are like Marvel, places in space that naturally connect *like dormant wormholes* and you just need to know how to activate them.
>”Something so ridiculously compact that the actual product is 90% bezel so humanoid scale appendages have something to grip.”
Much of our existing computer chips are already like that, a tiny chip stuffed into a standard sized plastic (epoxy) box so that it can be easily handled and soldered. It’s only the high powered stuff like GPUs and CPUs that are actually the size of the packaging.
Here is a picture of a microcontroller that is packed in 4mm x 4mm plastic encasement, the actual chip that has been exposed is probably less than 2mm x 2mm.
https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*XNuruOnvm_geYSCEbvfTJw.jpeg
I came here to say this. Thank you.
Also, what Dave described, if it were to just store the amount of data we currently can store on our 95+% bezel storage units, it could be something like 99.99999% bezel. Of course, they wouldn’t do that, they would instead store more data, so maybe it might only be 99.9% bezel.
Same, we’re already well past that stage with Terran tech. A credit card chip for example is primarily contact area, the actual microprocessor is around 5% by size and would have to be handled with tweezers.
And while those chip don’t do much, micro SD cards (scarcely bigger though with a lot more internal by volume) are so commonplace that a 1TB card can be had today for the price of a nice meal.
Booty call interuptus.
48 hr r&r pass in hand, comic shop duty passed off to Heatwave to cover for her.
Overnight bag in hand and a grin of anticipation on her face as Woof boy message in her glasses says he’ll be on Fracture Station for the week.
Double checks potion of accommodation is safe and heads to roof.
Her phone rings…maxima’s imperial march.
Storm clouds form over Archon Tower.
A wail of despair rises to the heavens.
Booty call denied.
First, number one priority is technology for generating cheap plentiful power, energy. That is what runs the world civilizations. Whether it’s fusion, antimatter, Nth space transfer etc. obtaining an inexpensive means of power generation would solve many problems. Also that kind of tech should be low tier and have fewer problems with the galactic Prime Directive. We’ve been actively pursuing fusion for over sixty years now. All that’s needed is a small boost of alien tech for a breakthrough. All other technologies should be of secondary consideration. Energy, energy energy, then food, food, food. Then you can talk about manufacturing whizz-bangs in high gravity fields.
Anybody knowing how to make nuclear power plants can make nuclear bombs as well. Any technology to generate cheap plentiful power would be on TOP of the NO list …. EXCEPT fusion. We already have fusion bombs. It can be argued that we are already on fusion tier and giving us little help with that wouldn’t be against the rules.
Military-style chain of command only seems to work here because most iof the members are ex or still active military, I guess that includes everyone since Scoville holds a rank, no matter how low.
Promotion must be heavily based on tactical and administrative abilities.
Proof of just how small the organization currently is can be seen from the conversation.
LCol’s don’t normally ‘wrangle’ Pte’s, if they even see them then everyone from Cpl up hasn’t been doing their job.
All that said, it’s because it’s such a small organization that the planners are not only Senior Officers but everyone involved. It’s the sort of thing where you don’t have a high turnover of personnel, although more and more seem to be coming in, it’s going to be fun seeing how the command structure works with more to command, or try to.
‘Wrangling Privates’ hur hur hur sounds like the next name for something from ♥ense.
Earth’s best plausable deniability to the alien delegation, which would be gamble given either future discovery or putting a dangerous thought in the Xevoarchy’s heads.
-Earth has multiple supers with the same or similar power to each other. We have seen multiple teleporters and portal generators. The portals have different aesthetics, which may imply different forces/means to generate them are being utilized. So tell the alien delegation that just as Opal can make a portal that goes several miles, or Henchwench made a stormy looking one, etc…that “someone” on Earth might have a power like the Aethereum Causeway, and thanks to seeing the picture Sidney took *from Cora’s ship being the already utilized cover story*, was able to pull a (I can transport to anything that exists that I can see anywhere in the universe)….
the gamble there being if you convince them humans can just randomly have a power like that, that Earth is going to be watched under a microscope more so than it already is.
All this however has that feel of building up, like the Xevoarchy might try to make a move against Earth only for a “bigger fish” to show up and “insist” the Xevoarchy not mess with “their stuff”.
(which depending on the bigger fish could range from verbal warning to treating them like coyotes attacking cats in their backyard…Galactica Martha get my Dimensional Shot Gun)
and my own ponderings made me think of something. I think its been asked before but, since Krona has a reality-writer/hacker type power if she were to watch Sydney make an Aethereum Causeway could she memorize the reality code and make one herself? Since its not so much a direct power but a part of their world’s physics for this to be possible for anyone with the right tech and power.
Earth shrugged off a Fel invasion with a handfull of soldiers.
Supers alone make them *really scary* for the xevoarchy.
I don’t think Earth has a long-range teleporter yet. At least not known about. Or Deus would have hired them instad of going through all that trouble to get the brane ripper.
Then again, a Lila Cheney-type power would be hard to figure out before knowing about Fracture Station.
Archon shrugged off the Fel, and Earth got lucky the Fel followed Cora and landed right on top of the most qualified individuals to take them out quickly.
As opposed to had they just dropped down on a major city or the country side and spread out among the non super human population.
this is the *while Superman is away* kind of issue. If an entire planet relies on one or a small group to keep away a very large threat, than that threat can either try to scatter them or wait till they are not there to then attack. Its kind of like *if the Power Rangers are only at that one city, then start your attack elsewhere, or else launch a larger scale invasion *of course that doesn’t make good children’s entertainment to demonstrate the easy way an army can work around the only major threat being one to six individuals*
the long distance teleportation was the gamble, would the aliens believe Earth can have one or more supers capable of doing that if Archon/US government tried to plead ignorance to it.
A concern when considering hiding that Sidney is the one making the Aesthereum Causeways.
The Xevoarchy appear to primarily be made of Tier1-Tier 2 civilizations. With the higher members being the ones making these king of the mountain reduce trickle down uplifting rules. (we don’t want anyone up here with us who can’t develop their own hiking and rock climbing gear so against the rules to help them out).
Now when considering Sydney’s orbs, regardless of where any of us lie on the *origin of the orbs* betting pool, the main established thing is they are some sort of Nth tech.
Which so far has meant as we have seen with all aliens who have met her so far, none of them have any idea what the orbs are, and only through a scan or seeing them perform certain actions does it click that they are significantly advanced technology. So chances are that yes most even the Tier 2 delegates *thinking that Qausi-Ascended species whose mercenaries have portable time dilation stasis devices* that their scientific and political delegates have the higher chances of having both up and down relations…meaning
while a tier 2 may not recognize them on sight, a tier 3 might. So if we say have a situation where a tier-2 delegate has friendly relations (even if only with an individual or some fringe *we cannot assist you directly but will talk with you about philosophy in cryptic message meetings* group of them) and invite them along…they might be able to take a look and go (oh..that looks like *insert thing from the oh crap are they still here* or whatevers. Outing *the orbs* at minimum (pending any weird twists like Krona is a baby Nth or something and they see through her bio-larval form to the growing space-fetus wrapped inside her soul or whatever).
but orbs specifically, or an under the radar 3rd tier. Like the Vorlons who pretended to be a lower tier than they were to interact with and influence the younger races, one like that shows up and…”wait is that what I think it is floating around that human?”
“Something so ridiculously compact that the actual product is 90% bezel so humanoid scale appendages have something to grip.”
I would expect shematics to primarily exist in digital form. And you transfer them over like on a Mass Effect Omni tool – just swipe/wave.
We do have some working into “Near-field communication” or NFC here on earth. Like how you can transfer phone numbers to a nearby phone.
If you do want to have a physical object for some reason, it would make sense to fill the empty space with lots of redundancy. Even if that means just writing the same “short” file 90 million times in a row. So that even one scrap if the “sheet” would still contain a few thousand copies.
> “Something so ridiculously compact that the actual product is 90% bezel so humanoid scale appendages have something to grip.”
And today we find out that the orbs are mostly UI.
No reason to make millions of copies, just have a standard secure set of interfaces and protocols so you don’t have to transfer the physical object itself, only the data. Then everyone just carries a personal device with universal access to everything they might ever need to know, albeit offline.
I’d imagine the paper blueprints to be considered art of historical relevance, like the XKCD Thing Explainer or a cross stich schematic of ana Archimedes screw.
She’s learning.
I feel like there is some pretty big hypocrisy with ‘we’re trying to discourage super crime’ and ‘we’re actively working to bypass customs and legal limitations on what we’re allowed to buy with super powers’ on the same page.
Technically speaking, Earth isnt subject to the Xevoarchy’s laws until there’s some sort of treaty in place that Earth (and specifically United States) abides by, since we don’t have a single world government. So….. ARCHON wouldnt actually be breaking laws. The people who sell to us would be, but we wouldnt be. Just like Deus didn’t break any laws even though the person who sold to him did.
And before anyone asks, “What about when people break customs laws in another country, wouldnt that be the same thing?” No, it wouldn’t. Because there are international treaties and laws of comity in place for that already. That doesn’t apply to other planets though.
Funny enough, both Babylon 5 and The Expanse had some legal debates on that in the shows, with Mars in Babylon 5 (and also briefly some other alien civilizations like the Centauri, early early on before Babylon 5 was created), and with Mars AND the non-O.P.A. Belters in The Expanse.
Yes but they’re causing someone else to break said laws through deception, laws they are fully aware of. Even if it’s a case of ‘technically not breaking the rules’, I don’t think any local law enforcement would agree with that one.
I wonder what demeaning name they’d give anyone from ARCHON they caught.
Rules only apply to the jurisdiction that ratifies them. Earth (or at least the US) does not officially recognize the authority of the Xevoarchy, as the negotiations are ongoing, and therefore has no legal or moral obligation to follow their trade rules just because we’ve been made aware of them. Just like US is aware that foreign countries may impose trade tariffs, but has no obligation to collect them itself when shipping goods there unless there is an agreement to do so – that’s one reason port authorities exist worldwide.
Sure, local law enforcement in those countries might enforce the fees or arrest individuals of either nation for not complying, but they can’t sue the US itself or demand extradition. Even if the Xevoarchy caught US military officials on Fracture, they can’t accurately claim all of Earth is responsible. And I’m betting that Dabbler and Cora could easily help them not get caught.
Max’s proposal is far more legal (and less risky) than back-stabbing an official supplier / trading partner for his tech.
I look forward to someone from Archon having to argue this one in space court.
I’ll admit, I do think it would be a very interesting plot to have ARCHON have to actually deal with the consequences of ‘We actively chose not to respect other people’s laws and now people don’t trust us’. As while you can argue they have no obligation to follow the laws, someone taking the same tack with human law would not be treated as someone trustworthy by earth.
Kinda like how it’s legal to sell blue headlights, legal to buy blue headlights, legal to install blue headlights, but illegal to use them since it’s not road-safe but all the other stuff’s legality is based on the thought that they’d only be used in car shows?
Everything you said is true but it wasn’t really what i was saying in my post :) Brichins’ response was more on point to what I was meaning. :)
Btw while all (or at least most) states make using blue LED headlights for driving on the road illegal and require headlights to be either white or amber, I’m actually not entirely sure if any federal regulations would hold up in court on their own. It’s usually a state or municipal regulation that courts use (49 Code of Federal Regulations Sec 571.108, which seems to be described as a recommendation, as opposed to all the state laws on it, which are described as requirements). I’m assuming it’s probably the same reason for standardized speed limits and age limits for drivers being tied to states getting federal funding for highway maintenance and construction.
The standardized Federal roadway design guides and funding / cost reductions for using said standards absolutely drive the design speeds of highways throughout the US. But the states / counties still can and do set their own (lower) limits based on local preference.
I’d imagine age limits are primarily driven by politics and insurance rates, since any engineer considering the development process of the human brain wouldn’t allow anyone under 25 behind the wheel.
for safety reasons cars and drivers should be only slightly less regulated than pilots and planes. I’d let drivers take OTC antihistamines for example.
I know that there are some rules regarding highway funding- that’s how we got drinking age to be 21 and how some of the speed rules have been done. so I imagine that is a big part of it. like up north the highways get plowed first- because the snowplows are partially federally funded.
“I’d imagine age limits are primarily driven by politics and insurance rates, since any engineer considering the development process of the human brain wouldn’t allow anyone under 25 behind the wheel.”
No, that part that I wrote was because that’s literally how the law works. The federal government can’t order a state to have a certain speed limit or age for driving. They can just advise and make recommendations. Recommendations with federal funding attached. :) Yep – the states make laws that comply with federal recommendations because it gets tied into the federal funds given to states. But if the state didn’t care about the federal funds for highway maintenance, or if the Federal government wasnt trying to force it without becoming unconstitutional, they could make the age to drive whatever they wanted, and they could have an Autobahn style highway if they wanted. :) Each state has their own driving laws, including the minimum driving age, and each state has their own requirements for speed limits, completely separate from the federal government.
For example… Alaska and a few other states have a legal driving age limit of 14 years for a learners permit, and 16 1/2 for a license. :) The rest have the age limit required to drive at 15-16 with a learners permit, and 17-18 (usually 18) for a license.
The same used to be true of minimum drinking age, btw. Then the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was passed in 1984 which raised it nationally to 21 (except for in five states – Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and West Virginia). If a state was to actually challenge the law it might have been considered unconstitutional (based on the 10th amendment), but states tend to not challenge it because they get funds from the Federal Government for keeping it 21 as well. If a federal law is not challenged, it’s not going to be overruled. :) The federal government is totally allowed to ‘bribe’ states into going along with the federal laws though. :)
When I was 19 the Indiana age for buy liquor was 21, but Illinois it was 19, for a time after the Vietnam war when vets were complaining “I was old enough to fight so why can’t I drink” I lived about 15 mins from the state line so I made trips over ;)
As long as you stuck to back roads and kept it out of sight…..
I was pretty popular ;)
Never did tell anyone how I was doing it heheheh….
As soon as you can fight and die in the military in a war, you definitely should be able to buy and drink a beer. It’s only fair. ;)
Earth Terrans also aren’t protected by Xevoarchy laws when in their territories.
Not having any rights on someone’s land is a pretty dangerous prospect when they don’t want you there.
Normal situation. They have atom we dont we got to have atom for greater good. And we have atom they dont better keep it that way for greater good
“Colonel. I distinctly remember you said you’d try to prevent serendipity driven shenanigans”
“well we yet again failed to take in account Sydneyanigans”
*the room looks out the window at flying ponies and a confused llama*
“General Faulk, I promised to lead the team, not that I could control them at all times. Certainly not when they are off duty, and least of all Halo. And I certainly never approved the internal ‘Only You Can Prevent Flourished Fires’ safety campaign, no matter how funny the posters are.”
Who’s Lyle Lanley?
Character from the Simpsons
Oh yea. The Monorail salesman.
another great Phil Hartman character voice
Yep!
Loved his response to Lisa Simpson.
Lisa Simpson: “I’d like you to explain why you’d build a mass transit system in a small town with a centralized popualtion?”
Lyle Lanley: “HA HA! Young lady, that’s the most intelligent question I’ve ever been asked!”
Lisa Simpson: “… really?”
Lyle Lanley: “Oh I could give you an answer, but the only ones who’d understand it would be you and me. And that includes your teacher!”
Lisa Simpson: “Tee hee hee hee!”
Lyle Lanley: “Next question? You there, eating the paste!”
He also voiced Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz. Shame that both were retired afterwards. I really liked the Lionel Hutz character. AKA Miguel Sanchez, AKA Dr. Nguyen Van Phuoc.
Works on contingency?
No, Money down!
Followed by eating the bar association logo on the card.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yuL6PcgSgM
:)
If they’re willing to brave the horrors of the Alarian homeworld then I imagine they could fetch Alarian technology from there as well.
You definitely want to take several detours before returning home though.
It was noted that Cora’s crew gave Sydney several other locations in her space travel though.
Regardless of all this, they also indicated that Aetherium Causways are normally incredibly taxing on power so if the orbs are in low energy mode, Sydney might not be able to travel until the figure out a way to recharge.
My suspicion is that they’re only incredibly taxing for the lower tier civilizations because they’re doing massive things that create the causeway as an inefficient side effect, not being able to directly manipulate the Aetherium. Like generating a magnetic field by discharging the right pattern of sparks from a steam powered machine that rubs balloons on hair in a massively parallel fashion, while somebody on a higher tech level would just whip out a neodymium magnet.
The Nth artifacts ARE Aetherium based tech, and efficiently directly manipulate it.
I’m inordinately amused at the idea that compared to Sydney’s Nth tools, most galactic tech is still the functional equivalent of a Rube Goldberg machine.
well its like comparing a modern computer with not only solid state technology, but insanely small logic gates/transistors, etc…
to the reel to reel ware house sized computers of nearly a century ago, so many moving parts, punch cards were considered the best advancement and had to be kept in giant closets of carefully marked boxes.
Actually, last page made a comparison like this with Deus and the Ascenders trying to gain superpowers. Which requires altering humans to better be receptive to the “Superion” field one or the other Nth tech civilization may have made; being equivalent to people experimenting with different metals, different strength magnets, different lengths of wire, means of cranking etc…to generate electricity.
there is an awareness of the field and that doing certain things can draw electricity/generate electricity, but they are still trying to figure out the best medium and methods to get the desired results.
the universe istelf is one giant Rube Goldberg machine, I mean, there’s even chickens and platypuses in it.
Well, it is. We’re just looking at the machine, metaphorically, from half a lightyear away, and can’t see all the mousetraps and lines of dominoes that would be visible if we were looking at it at the Planck scale.
heard it described poetically.
the universe is like an instrument, adorned with many chords, each chord that is plucked is an expression, a particle or wave, it is by combining these chords that we create music, a symphony of creation, expressions of the universe combined together. We are the music trying to discover the nature of the instrument.
That’s beautiful. Would like to find a source if you have one? Google is failing me.
Basically just paraphrasing a description of String Theory, its not an exact quote, I flowered it up a bit.
Well in that case, nicely said.
thank you.
There were already other locations on Sydney’s Space GPS, it was just the one to Dirt that was initially ‘on the Fritz’