Grrl Power #683 – Observe and ignore
This is sort of an odd page admittedly, as Sydney sort of “Raiders” it, as in she has no impact on what’s happening. Just wanders by and observes.
I wanted to have at least one reverse shot from Sydney’s POV showing Alari soldiers directing people or showing something slightly structured going on, but I wrote and drew the next two pages as 682 and 683, but then realized I wanted to insert this scene with the Alari refugees, so I had to scramble to get this page and the previous one done on time, so I couldn’t get too extravagant with the art. There is sort of a point to this page besides Sydney experiencing moderation, but it’s mostly just setting up stuff for later.
Oh, and since I’m sure someone will ask, but not all Alari have access to the soul battery style escape pod that Sciona found a few pages back. If you have a shuttle, use it why not?
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I’m guessing there are about 60 Alari here and only 6 are sporting energy wings. That has me believing that maybe the wings are not a gender specific thing, but rather a class thing. Only upper caste Alari are capable of sprouting the energy wings. Could also be a power thing, where only the strongest Alari mages can manifest wings. It could even be both at the same time, where only those Alari powerful enough to produce wings are viewed as their culture’s elites. The winged lady we saw up close last page did appear to be wearing some bling, which could be an indication of status or wealth.
Sydney made the right call here by choosing to not get involved. She has no idea if Sciona’s attitude towards humans is common among the Alari. The use of blood magic might be commonplace in Alari culture, which means they would see a lone wandering human as nothing more than a potential power supply. Sydney also rightly realizes that no matter how good or evil the average Alari actually is, she really hasn’t anything in the way of resources (apart from her blood) to offer to them anyway.
Kinda like how not all galifreyans are timelords?
Are they all Alari? They look pretty uniform (perhaps more than the average crowd on Fracture). But I can’t be sure. Maybe the patreons can tell in the higher resolution version. This appears to be some kind of hanger or dock which would make sense for a bunch of recent refugees.
Assuming they are all Alari, just because we can’t see wings on most of them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. But given the power of those appendages, I like the idea that they aren’t for all Alari, and there are special circumstances or powers necessary to have them.
Sydney made no mention of other aliens and I’m sure if any others were there she would consider it as a factor.
I am inclined to agree. And not all those sporting wings are sporting the same number of wings, to further set caste levels.
Heh
Guess I should hit refresh before posting…
Also, Sciona had 6 and the one Sydney almost bumped into only had 4.
I see one of them has just 2 as well…
Sciona had control over how larger hers were, maybe they can even turn them off if they want. Assuming they are organically generated, it will take energy to manifest them, and in a refugee situation maybe most of them are just too exhausted.
Maybe the ones with wings are the ones which recently got coffee (or some Alari equivalent).
‘Burgundy Bovine’ (“It puts wings on your back”) :P
Could also be that Gelfling thing. “Of course you don’t have wings!….. You’re a boy!”
If it was simply a gender thing I’d have expected a fifty-fifty split. A ten to one ratio implies that wings are only for the privileged elite.
They’re not human so the gender split my not be 50/50 like us. Females might be the dominant gender for Alari and each female might have a harem of males to protect with their magic.
Even if it was a 50/50 split, doesn’t mean the refugees will be split 50/50 (and that’s counting the children)
King Solomon would approve of splitting the child 50/50.
Taking a good look at Sciona’s wings (and inferring that if the Alari have a ‘ruling class’ she is part of it), her eight wings look as if they could have been four that later split at their ‘base’. Which gives us.. five stages/steps. No Wings. Upper Wings. Upper and Lower Wings. One Set Split. Both Sets Split.
The possibility also exists for a single set of ‘split’ wings.
First!
Strike one :-P
::facepalm::
38th!!!!
Woo. I’d like to thank all the little people for helping to make my accomplishment happen.
All you need to do is dream big and you can achieve your goals of being the 38th poster!
I did it! All the training, hard work and sacrifice paid off!
I can say with certainty that I am at least 39th.
You must be so proud. It’s quite an accomplishment.
Although not quite as impressive as #6‘s achievement. Typing two paragraphs of insightful analysis faster than Strikelord could enter “First!”
Meh, I guesssssss….
But, #38 is the numbered post EVERYONE should aspire to.
It’s the only number that can defeat Psymax, after all. (Sorry for laying down some Goblins webcomic trivia in a Grrlpower comic :) )
She’s just following the Prime Directive, that’s all!
Sleep with the hottest aliens you cum across?
No, that’s just the “Kirk Directive”, that Ricker considered his Bible :P
And Commander Shepard is proudly continuing the tradition.
Who? Was thinking of Zapp Brannigan continuing on the legacy (of contracting every known sexual disease known to man, and alien :P)
And it makes me think of that issue of Empowered where all the superbeings met in a supportgroup for people withe extraterrestrial STDs.
Zapp also created the need for the DOOP to create…
Brannagan’s Law!
And Brannagan’s Law is like Brannagan’s love – hard and fast.
The Prime Directive: Hey, our species has a really bad history of imposing what we think is right on people who think differently, so to err on the side of caution, we’re not even gonna try to help anyone else out any more. Sorry, best of luck.
At least not until they have warp power.
And sometimes not even then. Depending on the script that week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJW7rTG0mL0
The Picard Method:
Meddle…
Meddle…
Until things get sticky…
Then yell “PRIME DIRECTIVE” and run away…
And grandstand about your high morals.
I always was a lot more comfortable with Kirk’s rather flexible interpretation of the Prime Directive. In the original series, people mattered a lot more than some blind adherence to Federation doctrine. A prime example (pun intended) of the stupidity of the Prime Directive was the ST:TNG episode “Homeward”. Picard was quite willing to allow the extinction of an entire race because according to the Prime Directive letting them die was for their own good. Any policy that convinces you to let people die “for their own good” is a shit policy.
+1
Although if the aliens had interfered over the Cuban missile crisis then we would not have had the opportunity to advance beyond that stage and would be dependent on our alien overlords making our major decisions.
Mind you that might be preferable to gradually bringing all other species to extinction and gradually destroying our climate.
*backlit figure, X-Files theme music*
Who told you aliens ‘weren’t’ involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis? And the gradual terraforming of this planet into one with a global environment more welcoming to its new occupants is continuing apace.
No, Sydney! Don’t become a “Smug Alien!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiAW5mg_wCc
I think that only applies to pre-warp civilizations :)
Genre savvy as you may be sometimes you’re going to be out of your depth. I honestly believe the Sydney made a good call there.
I still think Sydney did the right thing here & even though it seems that she’s at least skirting the edges of the Prime Directive by wanting to help, we also have to consider that “society” in that context may also mean “a self-sustaining society that is capable of governning itself.”
In the ST;TOS episode “Return of the Archons” the society was not developing by self-governance…the Landru Computer was adamant with a strict interpretation of its own “Prime Directive” is what brought social development to a stand-still; any & all influences not imposed by itself is why society stagnated in the first place; in effect, a complete xenophobe.
For a society to continue developing itself, the ability of its people to engage in creative thinking is the only way to move forward; in some cases, it also leads to moving backward, but that can also lead to society learning a lesson, in effect apply creative thinking for a solution, & begin moving forward. With the Landru Computer, there was no movement, forward or backward. Yeah, Star Fleet had a tough job in getting the people to learn how to organize & think creatively again & there would have been a lot of rough edges, but creative thinking being widely-embraced among the population is the key. This is how leaders are made, but there must also be a distinct aversion to “blind trust” among the population at large…Allowing a relative few to dictate & enforce their ideas is more destructive than not.
Even the US Constitution holds firm to the idea that Government is accountable to the People; “We the People…do ordain & establish this Constitution” to act as a “contract of employment” with its terms & conditions of limited Powers that is under the scrutiny of the People to adhere to those terms & conditions. Heck, the Uniform Commercial Code is directly derived from the basic principle that the Constitution itself is the prime example of a Lawful & Enforcable Contract
Oooops! I forgot to finish this up with how it relates to Sydney’s situation:
Even though that Alari race is pretty much devistated, it is NOT extinct. Yes, right now, survival is primary for those who still live, but with continuing survival, population can grow & they have the chance to develop a society again. Even on the brink of extinction, they can still learn, grow & advance.
That’s why even Worf came to agree with saving some of that race that otherwise would have been snuffed out.
Veni, Vidi, Verti (I came, I saw, I turned around)
Veni, Vidi, Cessi (I came, I saw, I left)
Veni, Vidi, Vitavi (“I came, I saw, I got out of the way”)
Veni, Vidi, Volo in domum redire (“I came, I saw, I want to go home”)
“Vidi, Veni, Verkirk” “I saw, I came, I am Kirk!” :P
“Veni, Vidi, Dunkirk” (“I came, I saw, Remembrance Day”)
Veni veni veni.
A good date.
Veni, Vidi, Visa. (I came, I saw, I purchased.)
Not currently applicable, but useful for the future:
Veni, Vidi, Vorlon (I came, I saw, I confused the heck out of people)
…that is SO not what VENI means…
Pssh, don’t be a prude :)
*blushes*
Veni Vidi Igni : I came, I saw, I set it on fire.
Veni, vici, Vetinari.
Veni, Vidi, Vertegris. I came, I saw, hey, there’s green corrosion on all the copper, bronze, and brass parts!
Veni, Vidi, Vitavi is the easiest to pronounce
VENI VIDI REVI
Veni Vidi Velcro
I came, I saw, I stuck around.
VENI VIDI IMPRESSA NON ESSEM
Veni Vidi Teflon
I came, I saw, I slipped away
Sometimes there is nothing you *can* do, and it can be the most gut-wrenching feeling of all.
Sometimes the wisest course of action is nothing, as any other action on your part will just make your situation worse and not really help those you want to help. Maybe later, you will be in a position to really make a difference, but that time is not now.
In the immortal words of one of today’s philosophers
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice
If anything, those refugee’s are in a better short term situation than Sydney. They have a group for mutual support, can interact with the residents of Fracture without faceplanting, and the Alari probably have some financial assets in the local financial institutions that the survivors can make a legitimate claim on.
Honestly, I expect a more “tired, weak, and poor huddled masses” scene.
They look to be not in that bad of a situation here.
In fact, they may have one resource that Sydney desperately wishes she had right now.
SHIPS.
I’m assuming they own the ships in that room, probably came here in them, most of them.
The vessels that refuges travel on tend to be ones written off for normal use and held together by duct tape. With life support systems being optional extras that refugee smugglers don’t care about.
Sure, if they’re escaping their government. Less so I think if their government actually gives a damn about them and is evacuating them from a horrific threat.
Historically the vast majority of refugees are left to their own devices. Whilst wealthy countries can lay on decent transport for their citizens caught up in a disaster area, they are not actually refugees, they are repatriated citizens. Likewise if a wealthy country has a disaster it can move its citizens away from the area. But that is usually done by busses, rather than boats, because of well not being overseas.
Having been in Katrina, when it hit New Orleans, I can testify that the assumption that the refugees will be treated well by their government does not match reality, even for wealthy countries. The refugees I got to meet up with were those who got out with their own transport. Those most in need of government aid were left to their own devices, for an inordinately long time.
I had to think about the Raiders comment for a second then it hit me. Good meme, Sydney would be familiar with it.
The first victims of any empire are usually it’s own people. Sure, the upper and middle classes probably reaped the benefits, doubt the same could have been said for the poor though.
Which implies that in an evacuation situation by a society of “imperialistic dicks”, this is likely a group of upper class or perhaps military and dependents, depending on who was at the starport at the time, or also whether these shuttles came from a larger ship presently in orbit, since we don’t know if the shuttles are FTL capable.
There’s a lot about the Alari that we don’t know, such as how many colonies they have. Their homeworld’s been dusted, but since they practiced imperialism, it implies there are other worlds and so their race should still exist.
Before You Embark On A Journey Of Revenge, Dig Two Graves …
“When you embark on a journey of vengeance, first dig two graves.”
It’s possible that instead of upper class those are pilots and their girlfriends (or boyfriends). Because the upper class wasn’t at starport when the attack came: they were in their swimming pools.
On the previous page’s discussions, a lot was said about the hall Sydney is in looking like stonework. After seeing that it leads to a shuttle landing area, I’m more inclined to believe that the walls of the tunnel are ceramic tiles. The walls would need to be able to withstand the occasional rocket blasting in the tunnel’s direction, and ceramic tile is capable of surviving a pretty significant amount of heat. It is also possible the ceramic material is ablative, and tiles get replaced as needed by Fracture Station’s maintenance crew.
I wonder what she will think of Deus’s portal?
Will she call it a Deus ex machina?
Will she call it a knock off stargate?
Will she call it a dimensional can opener?
Will she comment on how he stole the skyripper from Sciona?
Will they get into another hmm off?
If Sydney ran into Deus,imagine the conversation…..
Deus:Scoville,what are you doing here????
Sydney:I might ask you the same thing…!
How would you imagine it?
Sydney avoids the encounter and make notes:
I met an alien that looks exactly like Deus.
-> Is Deus an alien?
-> Was Deous replaced by an alien?
-> is there an alien race that all look like Deus?
…
-> Is Deus a Swarm intelligence?
–> Is Deus a multi body entity like Harem?
—> IS DEUS HAREMS DAD!?
Hope not. Harem has had sex with Deus. Things would be awkward at best.
Where was that stated? o_O
Deus has had sex with Harem, yes. Or at the very least, it’s HEAVILY implied by how Deus did something to make her orgasm to much that at least two other Harem’s also orgasmed at the same time (one of whom was in a meeting and Dabbler totally noticed since she has ‘porno sense.’ :)
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2780
Oh right, had blanked that out (would have been happy to have never unblanked it :( )
Check a few pages back. Someone already did that. I recall a bunch of “Hmm’ing”.
Runs up and hugs him and says I am so glad to see a friendly face. How the heck did you get here and do you have a way to get back to earth I kinda need a lift…
yay, character development!
Oh no! Sydney’s ONE TRUE WEAKNESS!
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!?!
Kinda like how disability equality works. At the advocacy center where I worked, we were told NOT to help wheelchair users with the door unless asked. Helping when not asked isn’t helping, it’s taking away that person’s independence.
I was also taught that an ‘independent living specialist’ as I was trained to be, has the job of supporting their clients- not ensuring their success. The right to fail shouldn’t be taken away, either.
Man that were hard lessons.
I’ve always found “If you need help with anything, just ask,” or words to that effect, is a good line to use. It unambiguously clarifies that assistance is available, but also that it needs to be requested.
Doesn’t hurt to punctuate it with a smile, either.
I’ve found that asking “Would you like any help?” tends to go over well, as it’s clear that help is available, but that the choice of whether or not they accept that help is still theirs.
That’s the one I always use with anyone who looks like they might need help. Often, when it’s a guy with a broken car, he’ll say, “No, I don’t need any.”
I respond, “I knew that, I just asked if you wanted any.”
Half the time they’ll say, “Oh… Sure.” and we’ll have a nice chat while I provide a third hand or whatever.
In guy America, “needing help” is about competence and “wanting help” is about convenience.
Well, thing you gotta remember, us folks with Disabilities actually DON’T like to be treated like we’re incapable of stuff. Compassion is good… Pity isn’t.
Reminded of a long-ago comic strip, in which the leading character is waiting at a doorway, and is very politely letting a number of people precede him through it (telling each o by turn “After you, Charlie//Mike/etc.”. ). Then along comes this particular character, well-established in the strip for having … very strong views on specific matters. The Hero starts to say “After you-“, only for the other person to loudly scream “###IST!!!” and then body-slam him through the door.
I GET not “helping” unless checking if it is OK first. I really do. At the same time, I also can’t help but wonder if behaviour that would be considered polite (or at least well-intentioned) under most circumstances is the loser here.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with asking if someone wants help. If they refuse, then leave them be. Give help if they consent to getting help, but not if they refuse it. If one needs to force their help when it’s unwanted or unneeded, then it’s not “help” anymore, it’s just using force.
I hold the door open for anybody. It would be weird to only open it for able bodied people, but not those in wheelchairs.
Exactly. Especially since the idea is (as I understand it) that everybody be treated the same way.
It’s rather like that bit from George Orwell’s novel ‘Animal Farm’ – “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL – except that some are more equal than others”.
Well, I suppose if Sydney ever runs into Sciona’s ghost, she can tell her the good news. There ARE actual living survivors.
Sydney’s concern’s are valid but why does she not just talk to them and to know if they do understand her?
I mean the aliens from earth know how to communicate with the native population and even Sciona knows
the language.
Also… “Imperialist d icks” might mean they’re just Xenophobic.
Dave said in an earlier post that Sydney made the assumption that English wasn’t a common knowledge here.
Well if they are Xenophobic, Humans and Alari have a lot in common, especially if they also indulge in oppressing and subjugating their own race as well.
She has to help herself before she will be in a position to help others.
This has to grate against her hero self-image.
Once she does speak the language (notice that there’s a translation field for the entire Mall) and has some money, maybe, just before she leaves, then we’ll see.
Her ride home can explain it to her. You can’t help everyone.
I don’t know how I feel about the millions of Germans who starved while allied forces occupied their defeated nation after WWII. I’ll have too look that up. When was The Berlin Airlift? 1949?
24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949
Most of the starving was due to the Soviets and their draconian measures.
Yeah, after WW2 the Soviets quickly ceased being “allies”. In the British, French, and American sections of Germany (West Germany) people were doing alright and quickly recovering from the war. They were far from starving.
However, in Soviet controlled Germany (East Germany) the masses were starving. They wanted to ensure that Germany never had the strength to stand again. The best example is after the Berlin Wall fell. West Germany was a modern civilization, with all the benefits you expect to find. Education, food, utilities, ect. In East Germany however, many homes did not have running water or electricity (even some places that had it before the war). It is better today (30 years later) but I still have heard that East Germany struggles a bit economically.
They Western Allies learned from the mistakes of WW1. They treated their defeated enemy with respect. This way no new Hitler’s would rise up to rebuild the German war machine.
This is a great moment for Sydney, experiencing character growth and unexpected maturity.
NEXT PAGE! Sydney meets an asari and asks her an uncomfortable question about her species’ views on anal sex!
I think you are confusing Sydney and Dabbler. Sydney shies away from those kinds of questions because then the other person asks HER those kinds of questions.
Is it ever addressed if Asari have anuses?
Deus may have addressed it thoroughly.
At least one. Her name was Sciona.
The asari? Is Commander Shepard going to turn up too?
I like Sydney’s way of thinking here… She’s way out of her league and though she may not know it, attacking the Alari may earn her even more enemies and not just Alari. That and if she did, good luck trying to find a ride home…
She considered attacking for only as long as it took to think it, her greatest dilemma was whether to help or not, butt she is in no position to help, doesn’t know if she could even communicate with them, and understands that they are in the best place to seek and receive real help
While can understand doing nothing is the proper action, it’s not always the correct action
Would have been nice to see Sydney interact with the refugees, not sure how it would go about though…
I’m going to have to disagree on that one. Sydney is generally tactless, and definitely wouldn’t know how to handle this kind of situation. She doesn’t actually know if she can communicate effectively with them, and has absolutely no clue what sort of social customs Alari practice. In this situation, barging in and trying to get involved when she doesn’t even know what she could do to try and help them would be a terrible idea. They appear to have things under control here. Sydney would probably just get in the way, if not cause more problems for these people, and she knows that. The correct thing to do is give them time and space while they adjust to what happened.
I’m going to have to politely disagree.
Assuming that, just because you have superpowers (or superior technology, or just think you have superior knowledge (when you probably don’t)), that means you have to step in and intervene (interfere)…is a very colonialism type of attitude. A colonizer assumes that “if they’re not just like me (or blatantly superior, but even then…*), then they must be primitive in some way. Thus to prove my people’s superiority, I have to go rescue them (from themselves).”
Just because you have superior firepower does not mean you are superior. India was vastly more productive before British Imperialism & Colonization struck; they lost half their GNP afterward. Half of it. That’s a huge blow; that’s 50% of all productivity lost, 50% of all sales lost, 50% of exports lost, 50% of imports lost… Britain brought in guns, took away tea, and brought body-shame, whitewashing, the subjugation of a nation that was doing just fine, thankyewverymuch, and the destruction of their culture (at the very least, the disdaining, but mostly, the subjugation & destruction of Other People’s Ways)…
India had the ability to lathe-turn stone 800 years ago, symmetrically shaping columns via mechanical means…but then they kept getting invaded by people who had more violence than science. That knowledge was lost. And because of this attitude of “Europeans are vastly superior to everyone else”…archaeologists haven’t actually looked at the evidence that still exists. (If you’re mechanically minded, you can see where & how it was done at some of those sites.)
Violence ≠ science.
Might ≠ right.
Intervention ≠ helpful.
Sometimes these things overlap!
Hubris is thinking they always overlap.
Or even just should overlap.
Sydney’s decision to walk away was was not just “proper;” it was morally correct. To have barged in would’ve made her a colonizer in attitude and demeanor, and yes, she would’ve done far more damage than any help she could’ve given.
(And no, you don’t get to try to dismiss me for using the word “colonizer” or for laying blame on the British. I am white-as-a-lily white with 59% of my DNA being very British. I’m allowed to be woke about the craptastic things my ancestors did all around the whole world in the name of “superiority” and “moral intervention.”)
What exactly are you two disagreeing with? Never actually said how she would interact (even said that)
Was speaking (typing) in generalities, not specifics (and certainly not this specific)
By the way, don’t just slap the British, look what the Spanish did in South America
Please, take you fucking high horse and trot off!!
Oh yes India was doing just fine~ The practice of throwing the still living wives on their husbands funeral pyre was such a loss /s
I am confused, how do you get colonialism from basic sympathy and compassion?
Was confused about where the anti-colonialism rant came from as well
Personal growth? What does that taste like?
It’s like health-food; it tastes bad for now, but it’s good for you in the long run.
Unless it gives you the runs :P
It’s poison. Ray Bradbury’s “One Timeless Spring” documents a historic, and all too familiar, case. Terminal.
I think of this like worldbuilding- there are large, important events that are going on that are central to some character’s story, but that someone is NOT the main character. Some stories do this well, but there are plenty more (books, movies, videogames) that seem to do it poorly- where absolutely nothing of any significance can occur if it’s not being directly caused by the protagonist.
That’s because most viewers or readers simply don’t care about anything else unless it directly involves one of the main characters (heroic or villainous side)
Fair enough, but you can still give the impression that there is a living, breathing, moving world AROUND the main character, instead of a perfectly stagnant environment where the ONLY things that happen involve the main character.
Anyone else just a smidgeon nervous about DaveB‘s comment about this and last page “mostly just setting up stuff for later”? o_O
Me! Me! ahem, I was getting ready to ask, given DaveB’s cryptic remarks, what would happen if Deus and company started hassling an Alari refugee? What would Sydney do about it?
Sydney would totally side with the Alari
Of course. One, she’s a hero and she knows it, even if she’s not always sure how to go about it. And two, she’s met Deus, and I’m pretty sure he’s on The List.
He isn’t on The List (yet). Sydney’s interactions with Deus have been mixed, but she hasn’t seen any of the particularly bad things. She knows that he knows that she knows about aliens, and that he isn’t the sort of guy to place your trust in, but I think their attitudes with each other are still fairly decent. If she saw him hassling a refugee, this would absolutely change, but I don’t think Deus is the type who would actually DO something like that. At least, not without a valid excuse.
How does hassling a refugee make Deus money? If it doesn’t directly serve his greed, it is very unlikely to happen.
So, if she witnesses Deus doing anything, it would be profiteering… and he would have a glib explanation of why it was totally right and proper and moral, that Sydney couldn’t argue with but couldn’t totally accept either.
Hassling, no benefit at all; he may be greedy, but he’s not petty or cruel just for the sake of it.
Subjugating / leveraging a displaced alien race the way he did his own 3rd-world country, on the other hand… absolutely. Deus would be the first to capitalize on a situation like that, he knows how to play the long game.
Deus woud be looking for tech and specialist labor. And i see a source…
Nah.
Please ignore the pod hanging from the back of Sydney’s neck…
If someone kicks the pod, will a dog with Sydney’s head emerge?
… What? o_O
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I think.
Was trying to see where the pod was in the comic :(
Ever since DaveB showed us that reference of Jim Carrey he used for Syndey, I seem to see his face in her expressions in almost every strip. Hrm – Jim Carrey as a teenage hyperactive super-heroine.
Great, now I see it.
The Mask
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8-IwwKkGMuo/maxresdefault.jpg
(sorry, closest I could find)
..and I just saw the link now, not sure whether to say well played or to strand you Sciona’s homeworld. In a tar-pit. ;)
VENI VIDI IVI.
Discernment, moderation, and restraint. How the world needs more of that.
Sorry for the quick rant, but I needed to let that out.
Just keep it down wind friend. Down wind.
Quick note for everyone who has to desing any kind of space/air/land/seacraft. Never NEVER put the entrance/emergency exit at the same level as the engine’s imput or exaust. It is doomed to cook/slash/absorve the passenger.
By level I mean in front, back, up or down. Diagonals are “more okey” depending of the diagonal itself.
It’s the Alari, they probably have some sort of supercooled instant shutdown drive who’s exhaust is barely warmer than the cosmic background. Reactionless drive, I dunno. So-sciencey-its-basically-magic-drive.
Oooh, the SSIBMa drive, I like it.
Nice, but that should be SSIM(B)A so it’s more pronounceable.
Main engines on the rear of the craft.
Maybe the ‘wings’ are the antigravity for landings and takeoff.
Or the equiv of warp nacelles. Kinda surprised, given what we saw of the Alari homeworld, that they are still using some manner of reaction drive. Academic at this point, but one wonders if their technological progress stalled when the rulers went all in on blood magic.
Or maybe the amount of equipment required to achieve a viable reactionless drives take up too much volume/mass for such a small craft, and thus the smaller craft end up using reaction drives as we see here in order to be of any use. granted, those drives are probably MUCH more advanced than ours currently are for the same mass to thrust ratios, but that’s just quibbling over details…
But it’s the internet, quibbling over details is what we do..
+1
no it isn’t ;)
Most relatable fucking superhero in the entirety of history, and I’m not even female.
What if Sydney’s last unidentified sphere is a universal translator? Wouldn’t that be convenient.
It’s not needed here, there is some sort of (magical?) language translation field in effect, as seen two pages ago when two random aliens apparently spoke English.
That yellow outfit sure stands out. Reminds me of the girl in red from Schindler’s List. Maybe that kid will turn up later.
Sophie’s Choice?
(Didn’t watch)
Hmm …
Et factum est, et vidimus, et ad sinistram
Sounds Good.
All the speculation in Thursday’s comments was based on what we could see; two adults and two children. Such a group might need help that Sydney could give. Now we see a crowd with some organization (according to Dave), they don’t need her help. Maybe they could help her?
Side question.
Anybody else having issues with comments not showing up?
Click ‘first’ then latest.
This performs a ‘super refreash’.
Or… just wait a few minutes, or continue reading and posting
Oh boy… this is kind of sad, but also the potential to be a giant can of worms. So I suspect Sciona will eventually find out what’s going on with them and where they eventually wind up. Then their is the small matter of herself at this point. They all made it back through the portal with the exception of Sydney, but what became of Sciona in her new state?
“Oh, and since I’m sure someone will ask, but not all Alari have access to the soul battery style escape pod that Sciona found a few pages back. If you have a shuttle, use it why not?”
“I think that translation field generator is glitching again. Check the syntax interpolators, would you, Gf’blikn’jahoot?”
I’m really curious exactly what that soul battery is now – I was just thinking it was an emergency phylactery (horcrux if you must) or some such. DaveB’s comment makes it sound like physically escaping on a shuttle is somehow not as good an option as being
imprisonedenslavedkept safe in a soul battery…?Well, you can probably fit more alari (albeit disembodied alari) inside of one, and they can stay in there relatively indefinitely, so as a survival system an arrogant expansionistic race never ‘really’ expects to use anyways it makes a certain amount of sense. Like the lifeboats on the Titanic, never expected to be used and only enough for the first class passengers.
Which also begs the question that ‘other’ soul batteries may have successfully launched, so even now crystal canisters of alari are winging their way to other planets.
There’s a lesson here, world. If you can’t help asylum-seekers, at least don’t make things harder for them.
I don’t think that is Sydney!
She usually calls these things right, after all. I wonder when the switch was made?
Well growth, but I cant help but feel let down somewhat. I am dying to know what Squidward was doing geociding the place and why. The question of them all being insufferable dicks is not answered.
On a slightly different note, xenophobia is rarely a luxury refugees can indulge in, so I am expecting the dicks to be less so.
Syd would undoubtedly be in mourning today, with the passing of the great Stan ‘The Man’ Lee.
Another sad passing. This would have been a very different world without him. And I doubt that this comic and community would exist in a world that had not been graced with his presence.
Excelsior, True Believer. We will miss you.
Know we are in ‘flashback’ land, but would not object to Thursdays page being a present day Sydney Stan Lee commemorative..