Grrl Power #635 – I hope their passports are up to date
Wherever home is for Sciona, it’s obviously a ways away from Earth. Creating portals takes a lot of power, a mage can’t simply cast a spell and hop to another dimension or planet. Teleport really far, sure, but not interstellar distances. Maybe some level boss Arch-Mage could swing that, but even then he’d have to sacrifice a whole village or equivalent.
Dabbler has portal traveled before. She’s a world hopping space adventurer after all – and she’s definitely had dealings with portals gone mad. I mean, in her video game that doesn’t exist, she travels to at least 8 different worlds, each with an interesting and unique biome.
Speaking of passports, Dabbler’s is like 140 pages thick. It actually reads “1 of 3” on the cover.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like.
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Cool, someone called it!
Quite a few someones. And kudos to all of them!
Now all we need to do is to find Dabbler’s old demon rival to have taken up residence, and the second most common calling can turn out to be correct too. ;-)
Good news: Sciona is where she wanted to go. Bad news: Is she when she wanted to go?
well to be fair, on earth she had her head cut off, mostly, and her ass kicked several times plus she’s just a had a major ass kicking and she’s been maimed, so maybe she’s just looking to get back home for some rest.
I really hope she is when she wanted to go, because time travel usually makes for a really crappy story.
All You Zombies
That is a great song!
I was more referring to a time travel story done RIGHT, being:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Zombies
This is why the qualifier “usually.” In Heinlein’s story the story is about the time travel itself, and not about solving some plot point via the use of time travel. There is no fridge logic moment where the reader can realize that with most time travel there are no consequences. Fail once and you can just try again. And again. Until, just like Dr Strange in the movie Dr. Strange and Dr. Strange in the movie Infinity War, you just keep doing it enough, over and over again, until you win.
We don’t know how many times Dr. Strange announced himself with “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain,” until he finally won. But in Infinity War Dr. Strange did state exactly how many futures he saw where they failed. It was more than 3, which means ‘many.’ He’s just living in the one where they succeeded… Ah, time travel, where you don’t even have to try.
Agreed. There are a bunch of ways around that problem though. The best of which is to ensure that there is no mechanism available to the protagonist for a retry.
The best example of which is my favourite Star Trek episode. The only one which ever found its way into my permanent collection. Namely “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. Where a predecessor version of the Enterprise travels through a spatial anomaly, to the next generation’s “present day”. Its absence, at a vital moment in history, dramatically deteriorating the history of the Federation.
The key bit though that the anomaly was unstable, so any attempt to restore history would only get the one attempt. Not that it was even necessary, as the episode actually focused mainly on the consequences of the initial accidental time travelling incident and then dealing with the morality of messing with people’s lives, by trying to change time again.
Other settings/stories include mechanisms where you can only be at any given point in the timeline once (either it automatically fails if you attempt to be there twice or you would explode or cease to exist).
This precludes travelling back to any point in your own life, whilst still leaving the option to travel anywhere else in history. Whilst keeping the dramatic tension that you must not make any critical mistake, as you only get the one shot.
It does though have one interesting story option, in that somebody else could try to fix a mistake, even if you cannot yourself. There is a limit on this though, which is the number of other people you may trust to mess with time.
If an author does not want this happening then they can make the protagonist a loner. Or if they want any correcting mission to be a one-shot, then they just have the one other person that they can trust (with that other individual otherwise being a loner).
(Even after refreshing and going to a previous chapter then back here it still didn’t put my comment up so doing it again.)
I was more referring to the story ” — all you zombies — “.
Butt… the song!!
Oh, sometimes it can take up to five minutes plus for a comment to show up
You can kinda force it if you do whatever your browser uses for a no-cache refresh. In Firefox it’s CTRL-F5.
I advocated the same myself, when this first started. In error, as it turns out.
Trouble is that (when it does lag, which is getting less and less frequently thankfully) the delay can be quite significant. As such I find that even CTRL-F5 does not help, because all it does is refreshes the screen without the post having been updated yet. Thus necessitating either waiting each time, or repeating pressing the shortcut (possibly several times).
Being too impatient, to do that, I typically click on the ‘next/previous page’ (or comments page, when there is more than one). Which invariably works.
Why that consistently works, when the other does not, I could only speculate upon mind.
I suppose Harem is having problem with the distance between her copies.
I wonder if they are just disconnected, or if all of the other Harems just became inactive.
Probably the first one.
I dont think any of the harems are the Prime Harem… at most she might be disconnected, the others think she was un-created, like mentioned earlier.
I think the blonde Harem is the ‘prime Harem’ but only in that she was the original one. Seems like she’s the one that’s been the least ‘altered’ by hair dye, unnecessary glasses, etc. Because Harem likes to differentiate her different bodies.
DaveB said that the pink haired one was the least altered and that the pink hair was her natural hair color.
Yeah, even the Daphne’s can’t remember who is the ‘Prime’, just that Berry is, as you said, the least ‘changed’ and closest to original, butt that could actually mean she is the newest rather than the firstest
1) Pink is not a natural hair color.
2) Which comic page did DaveB say that so I can confirm and make sure tgat you are not misremembering?
1) Nor is purple hair, nor golden skin. But check out Maxima, that is her natural colouration (post transformation), rather than out of a bottle. ;-)
2) Not all of us have eidetic memory like you. And there are now over 666,666 comments! Fortunately this does appear on Harem’s cast list:
Folks often take the strawberry to mean pink. But it actually means ‘blonde with a reddish tinge’. Here we can see both, up close. I cannot see any reddish tinge in the blonde hair.
However, equally, there is no hint of blonde in the pink hair. Even though it looks like it may have come out of a bottle, it is pretty light. As per my quip above, Harem is a super, so her natural hair colour may not fall within the typical range we expect in the general population. So we need to investigate further.
You may recall Dave discussing her colouration, in comment 13747?
Mauve being a type of pink Killianti‘s recollection is correct. Corroborated by the second sentence listing the members with reddish hair, and includes “vanilla Harem” (the one who is not tatooed or modified in any way). Further she is actually the one depicted on the page in question.
The final confirmation that the pink/creamy mauve Harem is the one without tattoos can be found here. Where we can see that the blonde Harem does have tattoos.
Even Berry has modifications, she just has the least amount (although not shown even in the topless shoot, fairly sure it was mentioned somewhere… )
Remember, apart from an awful singer, Pink is a shade of red, so naturally-occurring pink hair, while rare, is possible (even outside of Japanese anime :P )
I have not been able to find any examples, with a number of different types of searches. To the contrary I have found various opinions that it is flat impossible. None of which being from an authoritative enough source to be worth quoting though.
I do agree with that consensus however. Humans only have the two genes which control hair colour and the range of options available gives a very limited palette. No green or blue, for example.
Whilst we would associate pink with red, you can only achieve that result by mixing red with other colours. Of which we would usually reach for white. However the only way humans have that is with albinism (in which case there would be no red present to mix it with) or fading due to old age.
So possibly there may be some older red-heads who’s hair briefly passes through a pink-ish stage. However, I suspect that if you look at each hair individually you will see that some are white (no pigment at all) and others remain their previous red. I do not see a mechanism which would allow any to be pink. As such even they would not have pink hair.
The only other possibility, which springs to mind, is a red head who’s hair is lightened by sun damage.* That though is not likely to be described as pink, by observers, rather a faded red or even blonde. But that is not a genetic mechanism, so it is more closely related to bleaching hair or dying it, than to being a natural hair colour.
* Something red heads tend to avoid, as many have fair hair and a particular vulnerability to sunburn. Due to the same gene which gives them their red hair often providing skin with that problem.
Whilst out on walkies I realised that I may have given a false impression both by mentioning ‘two genes’ and ‘mixing’. I am very sloppy in applying terminology sometimes, which gets our scientific readers all twitchy.
We know that one particular gene is heavily associated with red hair. And the most common way for it to be expressed. But there are other ways that we don’t know, which only partially involve that gene (ergo there must be some other gene affecting it).
The more important aspect though is that human hair colour comes from only two pigments (hence I would have been better saying that, rather than ‘genes’, even though it is the genes which control how much of each of those pigments is produced). So this is a better way of explaining it:
A low concentration of brown eumelanin results in blond hair, whereas a higher concentration of brown eumelanin results in brown hair. High amounts of black eumelanin result in black hair, while low concentrations result in white hair.”
As for red hair:
The mechanism we have to get white (or grey) hair, as we get older, is to have low concentrations of both pheomelanin and eumelanin (an albino will have none). So this precludes mixing red with white, as red hair requires a high concentration of pheomelanin.
You are correct. When you have a single mind unaffected by having between one and five bodies, you might be able to point at one body and say “This one was the first,” but that has no significance to anything else.
Agreed (although ‘separation from’ rather than ‘distance’ – see below).
And yea, I would go with the former. There is no ‘primary’ Harem, so cutting any of her off does not make the others puppets without a puppet master.
However it is not implausible that their group mind is still being disrupted by the effects of the portal expanding in their direction, whilst this Harem has managed to recover, having completed the transit.
But it is far more likely that Harem’s shared mind cannot handle being split across different dimensions (if Sciona’s home is not in our universe). If it is simply very remote (another solar system or even galaxy) that should not be an issue though. As quantumly linked particles (like Harem’s brain) are not impeded by the distance separating them.
So, assuming that this Harem is “disconnected”, that raises some interesting questions. Based on her reaction, I’m guessing her only other experience with being cut off is from un-creating/death of an instance. That means that the disconnected instance wouldn’t have been generating any new memories, but this one is, meaning she’ll have unique memories from the hive, making her essentially a separate person. When she gets back, will she be able to reintegrate? Or more interestingly, will she even want to?
Other question, when she stabilizes will she still have the same power, and be able to create her own duplicates? Presuming she doesn’t get back in contact in the next little while.
No, it won’t be any different than when ‘stores’ one, or more, of her: when they get brought out of ‘storage’ there will need to be a period of ‘integrating’ and adding the memories and experiences gained while they ‘slept’
No, in that scenario, there’s always just one consciousness.
Here there is the potential for two.
It’s not the same.
In that scenario, there is only the one consciousness.
If separated and operating independently, we have the possibility that there are now two independent conciousnesses
As you said, a ‘potential possibility’, butt was more commenting on how they would integrate the different memories (remember what happened when Kronachrome fudged with time involving other people?)
I agree that the distance is going to be a issue for her and the rest of her is going to pretty much feel like part of her “Just vanished”. I would not be surprised if the rest of her is straight up freaking out. or in shock as if someone had just cut a foot off.
BUT.
She is not un-teleported or dead. Just distance/dimension away. With Quantum entanglement involved it is entirely likely that while she is not one hundred percent it IS still possible to connect but there is a significant delay. I’d say this harem may get snatches of info from the majority. While the majority may get info similar to a “phantom limb” situation like some people that lost a limb experience.
What will be really interesting is if this part of Harem can teleport at all, as in does she require to be part of the hive to be able to teleport? We could be seeing a sober learning experience in the making for Harem. I can also see her going to Deus in an absolute panic.
The thing with quantum entanglement is that there is no such thing as ‘delay’. Any change that happens to one simultaneously happens to the other. No matter what distance separates them.* And if they cease to be entangled there is no way to reestablish the state. Once it is broken that is it.
So if there is any delay, then the system is broken, and cannot be reestablished.
In physics anyhow. Superhero Science! works differently.
* And no, we cannot use that for FTL communication. Harem can, but she cheats. Normal quantum entanglement though only works if the system makes its own changes. If you force it to do something then the entanglement is broken and so no communication occurs. So as soon as you try to use it to communicate it stops working.
Downright suspicious if you ask me. Some kind of rule to stop us communicating from other stars!
There is probably some sneaky rule that prevents you communicating by monitoring entangled pairs and noting when they cease to be entangled. Otherwise you could say “Break this one’s entanglement if you make first contact” and then either the “Friendly” or the “Hostile” ones after that.
That’s sloppy thinking. There’s nothing preventing us from communicating with other stars. And in fact the SETI project has been looking for evidence that intelligent life at other stars has been attempting to communicate with us for decades. Of course you meant to say “faster than light” communications, but unfortunately for those fantasies the universe has set a speed limit which shall never be broken. It is a tautology. If something is going faster than light it is by definition not within our universe.
Well it was a tongue-in-cheek comment, meant to imply some intelligent interference in the process. So I was not exactly checking it for being nit-pick proof. But, yep, FTL meant.
As for it being impossible, I recall Stephen Hawking indicating that it should be possible to travel through a wormhole, back in time (with the side effect of any human trying that being frazzled from the radiation involved).
Therefore that does provide us a means of sending a message faster than light. Should we either find naturally occurring ones, or find a means of artificially generating them. Provided you use a means of communication which is not affected by the intense radiation involved in transiting the wormhole.
So a message could be sent back in time, to be received before it could otherwise have been transmitted at the speed of light.
If Hawking said that, which I doubt since wormhole travel isn’t even theoretically possible for anything other than a subatomic particle, he was speculating well beyond the realm of normal speculations. There just isn’t any such thing as a man- or spacecraft-sized wormhole through which we could send people or materiel. Stargate is just a movie, and Kurt Russell was better in Big Trouble in Little China anyway.
Oh he was just being sporting and responding to questions about whether such science fiction things could exist. And he was focusing more on the time travel potential, than the mundane travelling to other stars (which we can do anyhow, it just takes time).
It is worth noting that Stephen Hawking did hold a cocktail party, for time travellers. So he was open to the possibility, even if you believe that it is impossible. There are many many things which we perceived as being impossible, which we have since found ways to overcome.
His was an interesting experiment to explore this grey area. Which provided inconclusive results. I.e. no time travellers turned up. Had one turned up it would have been conclusive though. So the party was worthwhile, as well as being amusing.
Incidentally my contention about sending a message faster than light only requires subatomic particles to achieve. I made no mention of people or material.* So my point remains valid, despite your interesting input.
* As for material, have you not considered that such is comprised of lots of little subatomic particles? Providing you have a way of organising them suitably, at the destination point, there is no reason why you could not send material this way.
And if you get good at that you could potentially create (or recreate) organic compounds that way too. Or more complex things.
Obviously there would be huge energy costs involved, but that is a separate issue.
Oops, my bad. I did. Whilst what I said was correct, it would have indeed been better to say something along the lines of ‘even if humans could try this they would be frazzled by the radiation’.
I figured out how to improve the experiment!
*starts building wormhole beacon and event horizon containment unit*
*creates sub-atomic particle assembler*
*hooks it up to a liquid thorium reactor, and starts shovelling in soil*
*hangs out banner*
serve alcohol as well, and you might have a good start on building Callahan’s
All my cocktails are alcoholic! I do not tolerate giving a false impression, by allowing non-alcoholic drinks to be described as such.
I can also provide the neat alcohol’s which make up my favourite mixers. Namely vodka, usually with coke. Plus mint liqueur, which is part of my secret cocktail formula! Which is really awesome, both in winter and in summer. And is served hot, in a pint glass!
There’s another wild-eyed theory on FTL, but I don’t want to be a sofa.
Also, I’ll never not love Guardians of the Galaxy 2’s “quantum asteroid field”.
Pull yourself together!
Just become a pair of curtains.
I don’t think Dave is going to break Harem. Though I can seem it going a couple different ways. One was the delay action and there is just weird comic science involed.
It could also go that even if the quantum entanglement is broke it is either established once they are all back together. Or. They will unteleport the one cut out and recreate her to uh reconnect her. BUt this leaves the question would Harem effectively “Forget” everything that happened to that body? I think yes.
What we don’t know is if they are in another dimension or something. Quantum entanglement may work one way in our universe but there is nothing to say it would be the same in all possible dimensions. Though I believe that’s not supposed to matter. Don’t know enough about quantum anything really. So more comic science is my bet. It could be that even though her mind is quantiumly connected in certain parts there is in effect a limitation on distance by her mind. she can send her bodies across the globe without issue but send one to the moon maybe a bit to far. send one to another galaxy or dimension and she is having bandwidth issues or just straight loss of connection and for Harem that would be horrifying. quite possibly a real eye opener for her own actions and morality.
Either way Halo needs to drop that shield and get that girl under some cover I think.
He didn’t break the Harem which is on earth. Just this single copy.
Indeed. Mind you Wenthral makes very compelling points throughout.
However there is also interesting story potential in having one Harem who can develop as a distinct person. With the rest remaining as the previous character we saw.
And with this Harem’s first divergent experience being with Halo offering her comfort and support (and hopefully shelter in a safe bubble, as suggested), she may find herself bonding with Sydney, to try and fill the gap of her lost selves.
So we may see Oz-Harem becoming a more socially conscious individual, as she finds out how valuable a supportive friend can be, in a time of trouble. And we have seen Harem show real concern (for instance when trying to get through the force field to defend Sydney from Shadow Boxer).
Meaning that such is within her character, even if she normally is too self-absorbed to care. For the latter I cite Harem blabbing Sydney’s guilty dietary secret, before she had even finished revealing it in private.
Harem though has had a disadvantage, in growing up from an unusually young age with both super powers and her duplicate bodies. So, even though she has had more years life-experience than normal folks her age, she has lacked some of the basic stuff. Such as sometimes needing help, when outnumbered.
She would outnumber any school bully, for example, even on her own. And, should she have encountered some situation too tough even for her super strength/vigour and skills to overcome, she could always teleport to somewhere safe.
Which is another thing she may be unable to do here (local teleports, within sight, yes, but that is not likely to be safe, and she may not be able to teleport across dimensions). Again leading to the possibility that she will appreciate Halo’s (and the rest of the team) support right now.
So this Harem may end up a loyalist, even if the rest of her do slide further down the slippery path to collusion with an enemy of the state.
I’m wondering if we will eventually find out that Harem is significantly below average in intelligence, just no one knew that before because it was that level of intellect x5. But without the multipliers…
I don’t think so. We don’t really know what parts of the brain makes you smart. But for the important parts she has only one set. She has five motor cortex and stuff like that. Also five stupid people are still stupid.
If you break one, you break them all
The thing preventing us from monitoring when particles get un-entangled is that if we check if the particles are still entangled we break the entanglement.
*nods*
I felt that was the problem. But I just have an issue which made me question how that could be right. Given that:
1) How can we tell that quantum entanglement exists (other than because it can theoretically), if as soon as we observe it, it ceases to work?
2) How are quantum computers meant to work (given that they do involve quantum entanglement)? If we cannot observe the result of their interactions, then how can we use them for computing?
And if we can observe the results of their interactions, somehow, then why can we not use it for a means of FTL communication?
What is it that allows quantum computing to use entanglement, but does not allow us to use it for communication?
Here I ignore the whole ‘breaking causality issue’ involved with using it for FTL chats. Just because muggles do not like paradoxes does not mean that they cannot occur.
Pretty easy answers, my Ubu!
1a) Highly advanced and sophisticated technologies and people to interpret their output.
2a) Don’t have WiFi in them. Have the ones meant to be entangled nearby, and use a text messenger of some kind. If the message appears on the other computer, then they’re entangled. Install one of those machines on a spaceship. There, now you didn’t look at the particles and their wavefunctions weren’t collapsed, and the entanglement still works.
3a) We can though. However, it also gets into a “Cadavre exquis”-esque problem. Is the universe you teleport into, the same universe you left from? Did the you that teleported away cease to exist, and the story simply follows that savepoint forward but of a universe where teleportation works and that was the you from there that appeared? But it doesn’t have to do with disintegration and breeding a species (or multiple) with the same emotional position?
These already exist. And they are advanced enough that most people do not understand how they work. Even the ones who read the cliff notes are just getting a summary, without the comprehensive knowledge to truly understand how it works.
Which is fine. But it does mean that we need interpreters and analogies, or other simplifications, to answer questions like this, for the rest of us.
Well, yeah. But mostly I just used those words so I could create a funny hyperlink to Magic Man.
Basically, we can get one measurement from every entanglement. Which is quite limiting but still enough to both prove it works (but only statistically ; the experiment is measuring hundreds of entangled pairs, realistically some lost the entanglement before we did the measure, but enough retained it so the results are different from what we would get on independent particles). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_theorem
And regarding quantum computers, it’s not like they are using the same entanglement all the time ; in fact, keeping entanglement is problem even for few minutes. The computer entangles the particles, does some computation and measure results, which destroys the entanglement.
So if we overcome the problems, to keep them entangled indefinitely, we could send a bunch off to another star, for use in FTL communications?
You would just need to ensure that you sent enough to ensure that you could statistically detect the lost entanglement (where the communicator is destroying the entanglement) versus not (so that you can use the usual binary communication protocols, such as Morse code).
It would require sufficient packets of such particles to ensure your communications needs could be met. Let us say you wanted to send the equivalent of a sentence of information each day. You may be able to contain enough entangled particles, on a chip (along with their support infrastructure) to do that.
Every year send off a probe, to your remote colony, with several hundreds of those. Each marked with the date and time that they are intended to be used. Obviously allowing however much transit time is necessary to reach the destination. And to include a buffer to allow for losses.
Likewise making protocols for changing the order, if there is a communications problem. Or any successful communication could indicate that ‘we are switching to using XXY batch from tomorrow’.
2) How are quantum computers meant to work (given that they do involve quantum entanglement)? If we cannot observe the result of their interactions, then how can we use them for computing?
The “calculation” in a quantum computer is really just the measurement.
If you think of a really paralellisable operation – e.g. testing 1000s of inputs to a function where strictly one output fills a desired criteria.
To find the one that matches on a conventional CPU, we have to make the calculations one by one.
On a GPU we can run a whole load in parallel which is why gou accelleration is useful.
A quantum system with just one processing unit is essentially a limitless parallel system, you can think of it as it calculating each possible answer simultaneously – and then when we measure to get the answer, we are pushing that criteria on the system.
The system then collapses to an identifiable state; the only one that it can collapse to, which is the one that matcges the criteria.
You know schrodinger’s (cat) box experiment?
Think of it like that.
Opening the box enforces the condition onto that system that the cat is only either alive or dead, so turns out to be one or the other when the measurement is made.
Oh I follow how quantum computing is meant to work, and how it is an improvement over muggle computers.
I was just not satisfied with sources I found elsewhere indicating that you could not use entanglement to communicate FTL, due to breaking quantum entanglement, if you force a change on the entangled pair. My quibble being because quantum computing clearly must allow you to influence what the entangled particles do, in order to use it to calculate things.
If you are just observing them doing their usual random (or predictable) stuff then it could not be used to compute.
But HKMaly gave an answer, on that, above.
There is an experiment done several years ago where they did send 8 bits of information using entangled particles, but it was a kind of cheating like you are talking about, and since they had to physically transport the receiving set of particles, it really wasn’t faster than light.
It’s kind of like saying you can use a wired receiver to send one word faster than the speed of sound, but only after you walk the receiver from the transmitter to where you want it to send the word. Kind of defeats the entire point of it.
If you are saying that it was essentially like a letter, and they had to carry it to and open it up at the destination, then yea, snail mail is no use.
However if it was possible to send the 8 bits instantaneously from one set of entangled particles to their pairs, then that is pretty much the mechanism I was saying would be useful.
There is benefit to having fast communication with somewhere, even if you have to physically travel there, in the first place. Most obviously being that if there is no one at the destination point, to talk to, then it is rather pointless trying to communicate with anyone!
Limitations on communication speed is what confines our ability to act collectively. When the fastest communications could only go by horse or ship, it would take days or weeks to get messages around a country. Or months from colonies.
Introduce telegraph lines, and later radio, and you then have real time communication. Vastly improving your ability to trade, negotiate, wage war, deal with natural disasters and so on.
Finding a way to communicate faster than the speed of light would allow a galaxy spanning civilisation. Remaining constrained to light speed would limit us to operating in a more confined cluster, within our corner. Which may not be a bad thing mind.
But even if all you want to do is explore, and you send out waves of von-neumann probes, searching for interesting things, being able to send back a FTL warning of a danger could be invaluable.
We have had several mass extinction events. Some of which may have been due to (for example) intense radiation from some cosmic event. If a probe observes such incoming, but can only communicate at light speed, then the warning would arrive at the same time as the hazard.
Whereas a FTL warning would allow suitable shelters to be prepared, and other contingencies made, to reduce the fatalities, and allow preparations for rebuilding and recovering from the catastrophe, with whoever we manage to save.
Likewise if they spot an armada of alien ships, heading towards Earth at 90% light speed. I would rather have an immediate warning of that, rather than just the preparation time allowed by the 10% difference!
Assuming this even is the same dimension.
last I checked, and I am by no means well versed, but in theory quantum entangling would still be relative to the phase of whatever dimension (if exists) that you are in, so if she’s in a different dimension/phase now, again in speculative theory, communication is cut?
I suppose Harem is having problem with the distance between her copies.
Actually the distance may not be the problem, but rather the direction. She’s used to having her brains miles apart in conventional directions such as up/down, left/right, forward/backward. She may have only moved a fraction of a millimeter, but in a direction outside of the normal 3 spacial dimensions we are used to. Perhaps once she gets used to any newly available directions in space/time she will reconnect with her other selves.
Well, being 17 branes over from her other selves might cause some connection problems.
Problem is, she’s suffering from some serious brane damage!
I wonder if it’s going to have any deleterious effects when she gets back home, like suddenly this Harem can’t sync up with the others.
… There are no “others.” There is no “this Harem” or “that Harem.” There is only Harem.
Previously, that has been the case, butt now? Now there may be an ‘individual’ in the Harem
Kinda like what happened to a few of the Jaimie Madrox’
Truth.
One possibly overlooked consequence of breaking entanglement. When the wave function collapses, all of the entangled particles become disentangled. It’s possible Harem could revert to a “normal” set of quintuplets. That seems to be more likely than just “breaking off a piece of that KitKat bar”.
Kinda like what happened in “Merceneiress” when the original Shadow was killed: all copies gained independence (and half promptly quit and took off)
Oh dear. Harem has Split Brain Syndrome?
Could be *way* worse than that. Daphne has mentioned in the past that, even with multiple brains, she’s only ever had *one* consciousness. Looks like she just got twinned — now there are *two* consciousnesses, so this isn’t just going to be an (if you will) logfile replay consolidation of data block modifications. At the end of this, I think we’re going to have *two* Harems.
I don’t think so, I think she’s just disoriented because normally she can tell roughly where her other selves are relative to her, but now she can’t. I doubt she’s disconnected, just disoriented. basically, the cross-dimensional shenanigans are messing with her sense of direction.
Ooh, insightfully argued.
My guess is Harem is disconnected into two consciousnesses at this time. This one will learn a lot about external help and teamwork. When they get back she’s going to reconnect, the majority are going to heave one hell of a sigh of relief that there missing “sister” is back and have one heck of a group hug.
Here’s to positive happy thoughts.
Ugh,
Or.
Its possible the majority thinks this one is dead and attempt to recreate her to make them whole. And either fail, and she finds out what its like when one of her “Dies”
Or she is successful and when this one comes back there are now 6 parts to Harem.
Or this one returns to a 5 part Harem and can not reconnect. Leaving this one lost and alone.
You know I think we are picking this apart way to much. I bet this is all nothing more then disorientation from lack of comms to the rest and when the all get back together everything is normal. Most of the ideas would take too much time to explore in the comic format that this is.
I certainly hope so. Much like a time travel sub-plot, a sub-plot exploring “split” Harem would probably suck a lot.
“In her video game that doesn’t even exist”? Do I detect a new Grrl power side project? :)
Not really, no. Grrl Power the game has long been said to focus on Dabbler, in part due to her fantasy background and in part due to Dave’s desire for realistic, non-uniform quad-weilding.
If you want more Dabbler, she’s a minor character in a webcomic called Wereworld.
okay reading wereworld and i have to ask, how much of dabbler’s old appearance is canon? Both physical appearance and backstory.
The whole story is canon. Not that I know any details myself, as I prefer to only see the story from Sydney’s point of view. So wait on finding out about Dabbler’s past as and when it is revealed here.
Physical appearance wise though, we did see one image of Dabbler (not in the body of the comic) which had double the normal allocation of breasts (as per Wereworld). Dave decided though that he could not get Dabbler’s clothing to look good like that, without compromising on how material would naturally fall. So he made an artistic call to change to the image we see today.
I think she may have lost her tail too, or some such change.
Just for info though Dabbler is Dave’s creation, who was used, with permission, in the Wereworld story.
I prefer the epic story of Dabbler’s highschool days.
So either the wormhole’s messed with Harem’s teleport ability or the quantum entanglement isn’t holding across dimensions. That’s gonna be… interesting when they get back
This Harem has been separated without being destroyed?
Emancipated?
There may be no going back from that.
I think that the portal wasn’t trying to transition to some distant place in our universe, but to a whole different universe…Extra-dimensional transition, rather than extra-spacial. Since Harem’s mind is quantum-linked to her various brains, that would cover any distance across the universe…If this Harem is mentally separated, then the most logical presumption is that quantum-linking doesn’t work the same way in a different universe.
I’ve may have had my opinion that Harem might act a bit scatterbrained at times, but this is the first time she’s admitted to it.
So no, I don’t think Harem’s passport is updated…Probably no one else’s passports, excepting Sciona’s, is updated either, I suspect.
HAH!
I Like It!
“Sciona, you’re under arrest, for crossing branes without any Customs-entries in your Passport!”
:)
Another possibility is that time runs at a different speed from Earth. That could really scramble communications. Just getting a handshake could be problematic.
‘Handshakes’ are communications protocols. Which is not how Harem’s brain works. Each of her brains are quantumly entangled with all of the others. They are all identical, all of the time. Although clearly some peripheral parts (to do with controlling limbs for example) must diverge from this rule.
If they are running at different time rates … things get weird.
Aww, how sweet for Sciona to finally get home, free from the persecution of the Twilight Council.
Hopefully now she will be all cute and kind now, and give them a nice welcome party, with cup cakes and lemonade!
Somehow, I think not.
She talked about ruling the world, so I think no
She might be or been the ruler here. The statue looks like a version of her armour. It has her wings, and the sword in hand looks like the broken one she used to modify the portal maker.
I think it’s more like standardized body armour, with the wings (among other utility purposes) denoting rank. Notice how the statue seems to have eight (assuming matched pairs and for whatever reason we just can’t see bottom lefty), while Sciona only has six?
Never mind, looking again Sciona has eight. For some reason I remembered her only havng six.
Yeah… except that was in relation to Deus inquiring if she was actually evil, and was just about the most lukewarm declaration of world conquering aspiration ever. It was likely a “maintain your image in the face of a slip-up” type declaration.
It is possible (though hard to believe), that save for innocent civilians (who she exploited as a delay tactic, but probably knew would be saved), Cooter (no defending that one really) and the members of Arc (she could argue, albeit ineffectually, self defence), everyone she targeted, both on her side and the council’s side, may be some variety of “not good” or she may believe them to be at least. Not that that defends any of her actions, but it may indicate that she isn’t as evil as she is portrayed.
Yeah, well Sciona made that statement while she was on Earth. Kinda superfluous since she’s not on Earth now. Maybe if she comes back…
Sciona phone home
I’ll be very disappointed in Sciona if she isn’t at least wanted here as well and her reason for coming back being revenge or something.
I sense sarcasm.
Unless she wanted to go “home” so she could come back with an army… evil beings tend to do that.
Perhaps this will borrow a trope from “BTVS”, & in her absence her “Army Of Conquering Hordes” has …
1)_died of old age
2)_been destroyed by her enemies-at-home
3)_been notified by the Twilight Council of her crimes & turned against her
4)_been away from her for so long that she’s now little more than a nearly-forgotten legend to them, & they’ve “outgrown” her
…this is all assuming that travelling across the branes is FAR faster than “FTL” travel methods, & that her home-world is so far from Earth that relativistic effects have caused extreme time-dilation.
… who said the Twilight Council doesn’t rule here too?
Sciona’s reaction would probably be quite different if she were expecting people who like chopping off her body to be here.
Plus it does not look much like Earth, and we know that the Twilight Council was set up to allow the various supernatural factions on Earth to negotiate with each other and collectively govern themselves. In contrast to the races and other factions which may be present elsewhere too.
For example we know that Succubi are widespread in the galaxy. Likewise that there are many other types of demons, presumably likewise on various planets. But the Twilight Council does not rule them.
Which is not to say that they may not have embassies on other planets. Likewise they may even have bases, much like there are United Nations bases, of various sorts (humanitarian aid and military, to name a couple) in various countries around the world.
But we have nothing to indicate that the leadership of a backwater planet, like Earth, would have any political power over (say, for argument’s sake) the Alari home world.
If it is literally just Sciona’s home though (say a lair she built on an otherwise uninhabited planet), then it is possible that the Twilight Council have managed to find where that is, and take control of it.
You fell into my magnet tar pit trap! I wanted you to make exactly that argument.
So, though the Twilight Council is made to be on Earth because we’re stupid, it would be rather neglectful in my opinion to only have them there. You’d want them on membership planets (space stations, inhabited asteroids, shacks on the back panels of dyson spheres, etc) too because you’d need some sort of ground rules to keep demons, tyranids, decepticons, and other aliens from appearing in the sky in really obvious fashions before they enter Earth’s Twilight jurisdiction.
Heh. That is why I drew upon my knowledge of the United Nations. It is far safer to draw upon a close analogy, then traps tend to fail. In this case because I did actually mention the likelihood of them having bases.
The specific ones you mention though are highly plausible. I would go as far as to say ‘a necessity’, if it were not for the fact that we can see that they solved one problem by using a world-wide spell (i.e. the Veil). As such it is possible that they handle the incoming visitors in a similar way.
However the processing bases seem to be very likely, as it would be necessary to coach visitors in how to make sure they do not compromise their Veil-provided disguise. Although this could be handled with arrival terminals, much as we saw in the MIB documentaries.
Your points are well-thought out however, and nobody else has mentioned such before. I suspect that there is probably a combination of the two approaches. Simply because we do see that the Twilight Council do have centralised rule and administration. However each faction clearly self-rules for its own populace.
As such I would envisage the Twilight Council to have a presence on any major systems which are stop-off points for galactic tourists. Likewise any transit space stations which serve Earth. And the latter may be wholly under their control, as you imply.
But there are likely to be mechanisms to deal with the less co-operative races, who like making crop circles and mutilating cattle. I imagine that they, like the Alari, try to bypass any regulatory channels.
Or, y’know, the lightning or something and it’s only temporary
Well as far as I can remember Harem brains are quantum-ly entangled together so distance shouldn’t cause permanent discombobulation. Just properly feels really really weird because she’s experiencing time at different speeds. Time isn’t uniform, gravity slows time. Time dilation on a planet is enough that satellites in orbit have to account for it to stay in time with clocks on earth. But at a distance of light yrs in two solar system going different speeds around whatever arm of the galaxy they happen to be in? Probably as confusing at looking in three directions at once is for normal people.
No way she can feel time moving differently and not, like, die from the extreme conditions that that requires
No reason to think she would die, the “keep you alive” parts of her brain aren’t entangled just the top level “person” parts so at worst I think all 5 of her would fall unconscious until they are synced back up.
Hmmm…I don’t think gravity slows time, per se.
Mass creates gravity true enough, but that’s so that Mass tells Space how to bend, but Time tells Mass how to move through Space. Dilation of Time depends on the speed of motion through space & the astrophysics of our universe (at least from what the scientists say) is that everything in motion is actually speeding up over time.
Since Harem finds her various bodies separated between two worlds, there will be a difference in relative speed involved here…Time will be passing at a different rate. If her mind is still quantum-linked even across the space between here & there, her confusion is being caused by that difference in the rate at which time flows.
That’s assuming that the portal didn’t also breach into an entirely different universe in a different dimension…In that case, would there be a quantum-link still functioning at all? Who knows what the specific physics of this would be in a different dimension?
Special relativity says that the faster you go through space, the slower you go through time. General relativity says that the deeper you are in a gravity well, the slower time flows. So to compensate for both Relativistic time effects, the GPS satellites are tuned 7 ms/s faster to compensate for the special relativity effect (the satellites are move much faster than then the surface of the Earth) and 23 ms/s slower to compensate for the general relativity effect (the satellites are not as deep in the Earth’s gravity well as we are here at the surface). Therefore the clocks on the GPS satellites are adjusted 16 ms/s slow compared to a clock on Earth, just to keep up with the clocks on Earth. They also get synchronization signals from Earth to compensate for any clock drift so the system stays working.
Oops, I goofed my numbers on the GPS (that’s what I get for going from memory, and not researching until after I posted). The on-board clocks are sped up 7 microseconds (us)/day to compensate for velocity-based time-dilation and slowed down 45 us/day to compensate for gravity-based time changes. So the time correction on the GPS satellites is 38 us/day.
This kind of two-fold time modifications could very quickly cause disorientation when her brains are no longer in the same time frame. If the connection breaks and this Harem can operate independently, what happens when she gets back to Earth? Will the quantum connection restart?
If she actually gets separated (and not just gets used to the difference) I don’t think she could reconnect. In our limited experience with quantum entangling once it’s broken it can’t be reconnected (then again in our experience sending information across an entanglement also breaks it).
If you plot the two graph lines of the slowing down effect of increasing speed and the speeding up effect of less gravity, at a height of about 2000 miles the two lines cross and an orbiting clock will run at about the same speed as one on the ground (defaulted to sea level)
I’m a professional cynic, an amateur pessimist, and a hobbyist in sarcasm (though the last has no bearing here). So I’m predicting that Sciona is a scout and now that she’s found her way home from a planet rich in resources, she’s going to report in and lead an invading horde back to Earth through the wildly open portal.
Only problem with that is the fact that her species is know about on earth so it’s not like she’s a new quantity. So they wouldn’t need an advance scout.
They’re always after our water! Except for the fact that most of ours is contaminated with salt, and there are various comets as well as rings and even whole moons of almost pure H2O orbiting the gas giants in a much lower to escape gravity well.
Except we don’t really have any resources that would make invading a nuclear-armed civilization cost effective. A viable Earth-only resource I’ve seen proposed elsewhere (DC-based universe) is magic, but the Grrlverse seems to have plenty of interstellar magic-capable species.
Well, if you are looking for potentially unique resources, then supers seem to be the elephant in the room.
The Twilight Council has been in existence for about 3,000 years, and has various factions which are drawn from the galactic community. And it has been studying super powers, during that time. Yet has not been able to figure out how they work or even how to identify them well enough to adjust the programming of the Veil to accommodate them.
If super powers were widespread in the galaxy we would not expect that to be an issue. The more advanced races should know all about them. Even if they did not share all their knowledge, the general level of understanding should at least be up to the task of categorising them, for recognition by magical programs.
So, whilst supers are relatively rare per capita, on Earth, we do have a population of eight billion people, so there are actually quite a few across the planet. And that may be a unique concentration of supers, in the galaxy.
Then add in to that the fact that Sciona has techonmagic which can replicate super powers. Thus indicating that her capability is far in excess of that of the entire community of human mad scientists, government researchers and all the factions of the Twilight Council combined! Possibly she did this all due to her own (specialised) genius. Or maybe she had extra insight in being from a society that understands super powers better than the galactic community in general?
Clearly though super powers are a highly valuable resource for her. And her homeworld too, if they have been sponsoring her.
Then we have her mentioning her plans for world domination to Deus. Possibly just in jest. However many a true word is spoken in jest.
… Dave goes meta like I do, and has countless (as we’ve noticed and sadly can’t even point them all out even with all of us together) references and things to other works, and your comment made me think of something. It’s Numenera.
I think I know the nature of the Supers.
The Twilight Council has been around 3,000 years. No reason not to say that runoff in one way or another have merged over time:
Various alien techs getting destroyed in crashes, glitches, fights, or explosions.
Residual magical effects of spells, some of which have gone awry.
Alien genetics (even biomech) getting into the human gene pool by willing but also possibly oblivious pairings.
Mutations, either magical, mechanical, or biological. Maybe multiple types at once.
Dormant genes re-asserting themselves after a lot of generations but pulling from various species possibly originating on various planets or universes.
I don’t blame him for being a little unstable it’s like suddenly having part of your senses go from being on your body to being across town. Also ciphering shouldn’t Rejoice too soon I may be reading the statue completely wrong but it’s possible that she was deposed in her absence
Of course, I can only imagine how this has affected the rest of Harem.
Them being just as confused would be a GOOD thing, just means there’s some wonky dimensional/distance shenanigans throwing her for a loop.
If she’s suddenly thinking ‘holy crap, I just lost Blondie!’ and being otherwise unaffected, that would be Not Good.
Huh, I didn’t expect Sciona to be from space, or wherever this is (not earth)
Dabbler mentioned ciona’s race is one that gets mistaken for angels a lot….
Except, we saw truly ‘angelic’ looking arseholes on the Council (with feathered wings and everything)
Hmmm… so Sydney’s shield is not impervious to non-consensual teleportation?
I guess that makes sense… the aliens that gave her the orbs need to have a way to recall their experiment…
Sydney has never had protection from external forces moving her shield, except for when they were also intended as an atfack directly on it/her. We had zero reason to believe it would prevent this and it’s completely in keeping with what we have seen previously.
Nothing has ever moved Syd’s shield. What has been moved is the ground under it, with Sydney in tow, and the Shield went where Syd went.
Also… “its” (without the apostrophe) is the proper spelling of the possessive form of “it,” not “it’s” (with the apostrophe).
The only exceptions are if we’re talking about someone or something named “It,” and “It” would be capitalized as a proper noun.
Otherwise, “it’s” (with the apostrophe) is the abbreviation for the phrase “it is.”
I think it was more along the lines of that her shield did not pass through the portal, but the portal boundary expanded to include her shield.
Somehow I think her plan is far worse than “finding a way home”, because otherwise she could’ve just asked the good guys for help to figure out a plan. Blood can always be donated, too.
Also https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2791 kinda tipped me off. :-)
Yup. ‘Home’ is probably the invasion staging point.
Being optimistic here…
She shows up on Earth. She has bad/weird hobbies that trigger the council(Blood magic, collecting from other species without consent, torture, etc etc.), resulting in them trying to kill her, and coming damn near to succeeding, removing all but the top -half- of her head.
These individuals -are- the good guys of the setting, and so she’s got a bit of a grump at them, after all, they -did- just stop her from being what she is terminally. So she needs to fix that. And she finds out about, after a sufficient amount of research, a means to do so. So she fixes herself, in a way that’d mess with the council a bit, and then looks for a way to leave.
In a more boring story, this could actually be where the whole song and dance ends, she just points out she’s now out of ARC’s jurisdiction, dark or otherwise, and politely points out how they can return home. Yeah, she’s evil, but it sounds like most of her species has nasty proclivities like torture/etc anyway. After all, they give angels a bad name and yet are regularly mistaken for them.
Well analysed.
It may not even require Sciona pointing out the jurisdiction side, other than to confirm that they are no longer in Kansas. Maxima would know that her policing powers would not extend off planet.
Fortunately she is also a soldier, so can take into account national interest aspects too. Sciona still remains a threat to Earth and the USA. And not being on Earth actually makes it easier for Maxima, given that the treaties involved in forming the United Nations makes it illegal to invade another nation, without a UN mandate.
But Sciona’s home is clearly not within a United Nations country. Nor, presumably, has it officially been recognised by the USA. So Maxima can take her kid gloves off, if she wants to.
I dunno man. While military, they’re also cops. Being in “hot pursuit” usually means you get to cross jurisdictions and act as normal in someone else’s backyard. It just might not be a good idea to act as normal after crossing a merely national border, let alone crossing to new worlds/dimensions.
Wow!! You truly believe Ms ‘No warning shots, disintegrate at will’ will stop her assault? o_O
Read what I said. As a cop, yes. As a military commander, maybe not.
Do note though that Maxima had both stopped her assault, and had offered Sciona a surrender. Plus has berated Dabbler for violating that. And it was not the first time. We saw everyone (including both Maxima and Dabbler) hold off attacks whilst Achilles attempted to get Sciona to surrender, and to read her Miranda rights.
So please get off your high horse. Maxima has been attempting non-lethal options here!
The time when she did not was when she believed that the people on the bridge were in imminent danger from Sciona. Which however we really do not need to discuss again. I suggest we leave that as ‘agree to differ’.
But just because you still have your knickers in a twist, over that, does not give you justification in ignoring the attempts to get Sciona to surrender.
I elaborate on this because your new-found hatred of Maxima is making your comments about her irrational. You have, since the bridge incident, repeatedly insisted that Maxima’s ongoing purpose is to murder Sciona. Which is not borne out by the evidence.
Each time you repeat something which contradicts the cannon, you weaken your credibility. Saying it often does not make people believe something that is clearly unsubstantiated. It just weakens it even worse.
Which is a shame because you can and do make good and insightful comments, when you can break your OCD habit of clinging to irrational arguments.
Finally, I do think that Sciona could do with a good killing. Which would be in the interests of the USA and Earth. But they would be advised to find out what the present situation is, before attempting such. If they are on the Alari homeworld, and could provoke a war, by doing that, then it would not be a good idea.
However much I would want her terminated though, Maxima is unlikely to do that, if she can find a non-lethal alternative.
@Chameon: I like your analysis as well. :-) Man, what a twist that would be. And it’s not all that far-fetched either. Cultural differences, grudges, all of that does lead to conflict. And currently we live in a day and age where fantasy settings aren’t as simple as good vs. evil anymore. The He-Man and the Power Rangers universes were mostly black/white, but nowadays it’s a lot more nuanced, probably because of the influence of Anime.
So I wouldn’t put it past Dave to give Sciona depth and make her sort of relatable at some point.
Sorry to be that guy, but “its event horizon”, not “it is event horizon”.
Anyway, she made it home. Now, can we expect a warm welcome, or some other development?
Dabbler is a supergenius. If she says it is event horizon not contained, I’m sure she has a good reason for saying it.
She’s not an expert on English though.
While you obviously know the rule, you may not know the history (I didn’t). Here is an interesting little tidbit about the evolution of our language:
https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/in-his-own-words-gary-kildall/
(scroll down to the comment by Stig Anderson, near the bottom)
Still seems like an inconsistent rule to me. If man goes to “mannes” then it should really “ittes” or “it’s”.
Mine yours his hers ours theirs its
I’m you’re he’s she’s we’re they’re it’s
How is Halo not freaking out even a little? I she saving all the freak out for later?
pretty sure I would just be going “blura-blura-blura-blura-blurag” ny this point.
Still in denial, plus she has a LOT of confidence in her team mates.
She may have also popped her meds shortly before the fight, which could help.
Focus on the little things which need immediate attention. With Harem looking discombobulated that may allow Sydney to use her ADHD to hyperfocus on her, and block out all the peripheral distractions and worries.
Once she no longer has that, or a similar substitute, then Sydney’s brain is going to be flooded with all sorts of issues. Will she be able to get back to help out at the shop on new comic day? Does this planet/dimension even have any spices (it looks incredibly bland). Can she get frequent flyer points, for this destination?
Plus minor stuff, like will they be able to get the portal under control, before the Earth is torn apart?
Awww, see? She just wanted to get home, poor little thing. I’m sure that now that shes home, she won’t commit any world ending atrocities or anything. Maybe just a spot of tea and an Asari crumpet.
Yes, all she had to do was get some vile companions and drain some of their blood several times.
That’s right, all she had to do was tap her heels three times…
:-D
I see we think on similar lines.
Excuse me, dear Sciona. Could you please tell me where the nearest portal station is? Thank you!
All travelers to Earth please report to platform π and 3 quarters.
Today’s special travel offer:
61.80339887498547% discount for anyone possessing the golden ratio. Or pointy ears.
Offer not cumulative with any discount for reduced number of limbs.
They’re in Sciona’s home world?
Well that is a statue of an Alari, so that is a possibility. Although it may literally be Sciona’s home, making it her own statue (or a relatives maybe). Alternatively, as we know a lot of planets are populated, it may just be an Alari colony, or even a mixed race world, with an Alari presence.
All those markings glowing on the ground (& the lack of damage, indicating extreme durability, to protect those markings) suggest to me that this is a “beacon / station / anchor” of sorts, designed to make this location easier for travelers to link to their portals…
…in which case, it might be thought of as a “way station”, much like New York’s “Grand Central Station” is a transit-hub for trains.
Any bets that Sciona is just as much public enemy number one here as she was on Earth?
Well, I think the statue here is either of Sciona or of her predecessor that she might be the heir of, and is missing its head, either because of a revolution or a conquest.
Either way, I think she’s in for a big surprise. She probably intended for a stable portal to get troops on Earth to conquer it, too, I bet.
A head is on that statue, it’s just a blank, plain helmet (just faint & hard to see). But it is a landmark she knows which means it was around before she left the place.
This is where Dabbler shows Sciona how stupid Sciona is, by ordering an Uber ride to transport the Arc team back to Earth for only $14.
Plus a $106 tip, because inter-dimensional travel, snacks, bottled water, and wet wipes (especially the wet wipes).
The wet wipes especially, since this initial transition seems likely to produce a bit of drool that needs to be cleaned up…
So, are we doing a lost in space story, where they travel from planet to planet until finding Earth?
One of which might be an alternate Earth where Sydney is a corporal, and has the nick-name “Big Guns”.
And all the people appear to be oddly flattened and lacking in detail or shadowing.
Except for the shadowy silhouette of Lucus. And X, who looks as rounded as ever.
Or a time travel story, where we discover the origins of how Sydney picked the name for her comic shop.
Well, they DO have a spaceship on the team…
I’m going to go out on a limb here… this is a grave for the previous remains of her body.
Nice and pawey for them to pop the rest of her in there too then. ;-)
…I’m thinking that this is an Alari graveyard, period-their version of Arlington…
Oh man at first I thought you wrote “Atari graveyard” as in the place where the ET games are buried.
Lol.
Being able to access the games may have been vitally important, to save the planet.* With her pip boy she could check them out, if only she had opted for a suitable adaptor, in her utility belt!
* OK tough to rationalise why. But here goes:
DABBLER: in order to stabilise the wormhole, we need to generate enough power for this technomagical device I just whipped together. I have it set to absorb Tantric energy. We are all going to need to have an orgy, to make it work.
MAXIMA AND SYDNEY (together): No!
Background detail: Harem saying “Yes!” and Hiro nodding enthusiastically.
SYDNEY (together): Can’t you adjust it to Nerdic energy? We have all these games. We could debug them, improve the gameplay and have a gaming marathon!
MAXIMA: That one! Make it so.
Never had any problems playing the ET cartridge game…
It is quite funny that googling “the place where the ET games are buried” actually yields the town name as the primary result (complete with google maps showing the location).
Sounds like there is room for improvement.
Ooh, good news for you.
ET will be able to phone the Alari homeworld, from somewhere other than a graveyard!
What about a warp-train station? No? What about a time travel station? Go back a couple of thousands of millions of years in time, so that the universe is more compressed and distances are shorter, easier to go to where the Earth is (was), and then come back to the future. Easy peasy.
Cunning plan.
Is Harem’s brain linkage FTL?
To put it simply, yes. It’s a quantum entanglement based instantaneous transfer of information but apparently not across dimensions, if most people’s interpretations are correct.
Well, looks like I’m experiencing the recent comment problems at last. I might have to sit the rest of this discussion out.
Yeah, me also. I have to fill out the name & email parts for every comment I make & I have to refresh the page to see the comment after I’ve entered it.
Ooops, I just made another comment. Reboot!
That is a shame. It is a pain in the butt having to fill out the user details each time. But not too onerous, once in the habit of doing that. Forgetting to do it, and having the reminder message pop up is the real pain. Because then, if it is a reply, it will no longer be associated with the original comment. Thus requiring locating that and repositioning the text. Which, on the plus side, is always still populated. So no woes about having to rewrite the post.
Even better though, the instance of posts not appearing (thus requiring refreshing by going to another page and back) is falling. So possibly it is a sign that repairs are underway. Or maybe there is a pattern to it. Possibly the first post, in a session, is lagged, but subsequent ones appear straight away? I am keeping an eye on it, to see if that is the case.
First two posts showed up fine for me but it wasn’t until I posted my fifth (the one that started this chain) that I could see the two before it. Despite refreshing several times.
Currently I get more appearing than not, so an improvement over when it started, as that was 100% not. If they do not appear though I don’t bother with hitting the refresh button at all. Rather I just click on the previous comic page, then back on this one (if it is a larger post that I want to check).
Smaller ones I just trust that they posted. So far I have not had any vanish. So it is disconcerting, but workable.
When we get a second comments page, it is slightly quicker flipping between two of those.
Soooooo… bad girl lonely and wanna go home?
Like…. if all she wanted to do was go home, she could probably have just asked the good guys for help.
You mean, after the evil and manipulative Council turned Archon against her? Yeah, that would work just fine
Or did you mean the Council? The same evil and manipulative group of bastards that attempted to execute her?
But they gave Sydney a pretty magical headband!
:-O
That was worn once, and never seen since
So what exactly is home for a evil bloodmage? Hell? Vampire Planet?
Well we do get a clue that it is populated by Alari, if the statue is anything to go by. Unless that is a poor likeness of Sciona herself. Using the same assumption, they might be warlike, given how prominently the sword is featured.
Or if that is a red herring, maybe it is the stonemason’s sky lodge?
Ok…and they are far enough away dimentionally that Harem is unable t access her other selves, and there currently is no sign of Achilles or the other male who was on this mission.
How big is the other shoe going to be when it drops?
On a Different note, Dave, it’s a little over one week until Project A-kon 29 in Ft. Worth Texas. Whats the plans for this year’s meetup?
Hiro made it through the Portal, we just haven’t seen where he landed… yet
Cyberbeta may have been referring to Mr Amorphous. We did see him holding the bridge together, whilst Dabbler was repairing it. And he may or may not have been glimpsed as one of the silhouettes entering the lair. Either way though he was still part of the Alpha team.
We have not seen him engaging Sciona though, so he may have been held up elsewhere in the complex. We do know that he did not come through the portal though, as Dave has stipulated that only the ones we have seen crossed over (and specifically not including Achilles).
Achilles though was present, so it is possible that he was affected and has simply gone elsewhere. Maybe his buddy Mr Amorphous too, as we have no idea where he was or what he was up to.
Harem didn’t say she felt disconnected, just scattered and couldn’t get her bearings. That says to me that she is dealing with trying to get her bearings through more dimensions than she is used to. The GOOD news is, “if” she manages that, she “should” be able to teleport everyone back.
WeightMass limit. She can’t cary people.Just so.
Although if she can manage an inter-dimensional teleport at least she can resupply them. They will not have to live off Sciona’s limbs indefinitely.
It’s not just a Mass Limit, she can’t carry something that is alive (other than what she carries in or on her: virii and parasites, etc)
The ‘nothing living’ thing was purely an option that DaveB was mulling over. He never did mention whether he made a decision on that.
Separately it is worth noting that Varia can piggy back on one of Harem’s teleports. I stipulate ‘separately’ though, because it is her gestalt power so follows different rules, which may not have the same limitations as Harem’s.
Possibly though it duplicates them. In which case they may have to share any mass limitation on how much material they can jointly transport with them. Or they may each have that capacity, doubling the amount they could take if teaming up.
All of which would only be pertinent if Harem can teleport to and from this location. And would be of no use to anyone here. Unless Dabbler has a spell that can shrink people down small enough for Harem to carry them.
I’m not sure that’s how shrinkage works. A mass limit isn’t a size limit so, unless something is lost in the process, it shouldn’t make any difference to her carrying ability.
Normally with a shrinking super power (or spell) you would expect the mass to reduce proportionately. Halving the height would reduce the mass to one eighth the original. Quartering the height takes it down to one sixty fourth the mass.
As for where it goes, that is no different to ‘what happens to Harem’s body when one is put into storage?’ We don’t know, but it isn’t here, so there is no mass to worry about.
Conversely Stalwart can increase his density, without changing his size. That mass is coming from somewhere else, courtesy of the super power. And goes away when he wants to walk across a floor, without ending up in the basement.
Well shoot, I thought she was summoning something to cause trouble. This is the opposite of what I had thought would happen. Anyway its interesting to say the least though, but something tells me Sciona isn’t going to get a warm welcome me thinks cause firstly if she fought so hard to get home then she clearly was kicked out of it for doing something… maybe plotting to overthrow the leader or something along those lines.
In a few minutes, Sydney’s gonna start looking around for the evil version of herself, because those were always the best “Star Trek” alternate-universe episodes.
What if she finds the good version? You know like the the one who didn’t destroy Earth?
I guess this confirms that Harem’s “range” gets strained somewhere between the global and interplanetary scale.
Distance in 3D space shouldn’t affect her but if they are in a separate universe or have traveled through time that might.
I don’t think we know that though – there is a lot of assumption that her connectivity is quantum and therefore instantaneous, but it could be “merely” lightspeed, in which case the farthest she’d possibly ever been apart before (diameter of the earth) would only be a 0.04 second delay. Might make her just a touch squeamish, but little enough that she might not even notice, especially since each body has its own physical senses and spatial awareness. Hard for even her to know if any disconnect was a time delay or just the effects of multiple bodies, and she’d have gotten used to it years ago.
Whereas on the scale of interstellar travel, it could take hours or even years for her experiences to travel between bodies. She might be undergoing a version of the twin paradox, which ought to be especially interesting when her brains try to re-sync this adventure in a couple years when the signal reaches Earth.
The quantum linking we are quoting from Dabbler’s Science Corner #2.
*Statue jumps down in front of her:
‘You are expected. This way.’
*chuckles out loud*
“a mage can’t simply cast a spell and hop to another dimension or planet” … well, ordinary mage can’t. Planeswalker can. Amberite can. And I’m sure they are others.
But not if god does not allow them to do that. ;-)
I’m pretty sure gods don’t dare to go against Pattern. But, speaking about gods, there are several who can move between dimensions … not as freely as Amberites, but still.
Just for funs, here is a counter-theory. Harem isn’t discombobulated because she broke her entanglement, but instead this place is different enough to screw with her teleport senses. Gravity’s different, or physics are just plain different in this place and her ability to sense and orient for teleporting is all jacked up.
+1
Yeah, like if one of her other hers were kidnapped, it would have to be when all five of her were asleep, which doesn’t happen. Then she wake up on a cargo ship or something, which would also cause this discombobulation (fun word).
No one mentioned it yet (I think): Sciona’s legs are either reattached or regenerated.
Looked to me that she only had one full leg and the other (right one) ended just below the knee. Now, I would not be surprised if it was regenerating and would soon be back.
Panel two shows her right lower leg still missing (you can just make out the bloody-stump behind her left hand)
Looked to me like she was still missing her right leg below the knee, but it may well be growing back, as that makes for a better fight.
It probably would have been a good idea to get a save point from Krona before starting this mission.
Considering what her save points actually do, probably not.