Grrl Power #876 – Mercs and mayhem
So it looks like word of Maxima’s stunt with the Fel has spread. I guess I could leave you guys speculating as to why aliens want to kidnap and auction her off, but… I mean, come on. It’s that or some Ferengi wants to press his Latinum into her Gold. Ew.
Eeyuh. I just gave myself the willies.
You do have to admit, it’s pretty ballsy trying to capture someone who one-armed a battlecruiser. But “Fire Third Eye Demon Thing” whose race I have yet to name (see previous appearance of a different girl) is right. Someone out there would probably pay a lot to control/study/recruit Max.
I know I’ve already gone on at length about the economics of post scarcity societies where only energy, information and entertainment would be of much value, so when “FTEDT” says “billions” that’s just a convenient translation to benefit you guys. She’s really talking about lots of energon chips, dessert schematics for food replicators, and digital files for Game of Thrones, Dexter, True Blood and Heroes, all minus their finals seasons of course.
Ray sometimes has some semi-laudable aspects. If he didn’t, he’d never have anyone to regret making certain mistakes with him. He’s normally sleazy, usually an idiot, but sometimes he’s a hot idiot. Thus; mistakes. That usually only happens when he can keep his mouth shut for more than two minutes at a time, so it doesn’t happen often.
Take this scene for example. If Dabbler and Cora didn’t hear him mutter the “without cutting me in” line, his intervention with the mercs might seem… a little macho. Like, in a good way. But also aggravating, since he’s butting in on them doing their job. Well, on Dabbler doing her job, but Cora’s never said no to adding downrange ordnance to whatever Dabbler is shooting at. If they did hear him… we don’t know about Cora’s hearing, but we do know Dabbler has, well, huge ears. So, if they did hear him, then the “I’m disgusted with you and will you put on a shirt you heaving pile of man-beast fine but I’m only showering with you to conserve water so keep your hands mostly to yourself.” possibility opens up. As I said. Mistakes.
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hahahah, How many remember Paradox points and their rules thereof?…
*holds paw up*
But, shh! Don’t let the muggles find out!
I used to love playing Mage. But I tended to play a Son of Ether or an Akashic, so a lot of the stuff I did either wound up being mad science or kung fu stuff. :)
you drew his shirt in the last panel
No, that’s someone else’s shirt. Garamm’s.
This is the point where immediately lethal force is if not encouraged, appropriate.
Slavers deserve deserve a fusion blast to the face.
Slavers deserve to be fed feet first into a wood chipper.
A distinctive failing in our collective legal systems.
I believe that was covered in the Emancipation Proclamation.
“Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
“That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States.”
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
Also, any slavers will be fed feet first into a wood chipper after getting a fusion blast to the face.
Signed, Abraham Lincoln.”
:)
:-D
All that and he kicks vampire butt!
(Good documentary on that by the way, it really enlightened me as to the hidden agenda driving American politics, since the civil war)
Yes. That movie was definitely based on a true story. And DaveB knows it too, so he alluded to it in the webcomic.
In france
Slavery was finally abolished in 1848.
It’s a roug traduction of the decree
Decree of the Provisional Government establishing the Commission for the Abolition of Slavery, March 4, 1848
“The provisional government of the Republic, Considering that no French land can carry slaves any longer;
Decrees:
A commission is set up with the provisional minister of the navy and the colonies to prepare, as quickly as possible, the act of immediate emancipation in all the colonies of the Republic.
The Minister of Marine will provide for the execution of this decree. Paris March 4, 1848. F. ARAGO »12.
Decree of April 27, 1848
Decree for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies, April 27, 1848
“Ministry of the Navy and the Colonies – Directorate of the Colonies
French Republic
Liberty – Equality – Fraternity
In the name of the French people
The Provisional Government,
Considering that slavery is an attack on human dignity;
That by destroying the free will of man, he suppresses the natural principle of law and duty; That it is a flagrant violation of the republican dogma: “Liberty – Equality – Fraternity”;
Considering that if effective measures did not follow very closely the proclamation already made of the principle of abolition, the most deplorable disorders could result in the colonies;
Decrees:
Article I
Slavery will be completely abolished in all French colonies and possessions, two months after the promulgation of this decree in each of them. From the promulgation of this decree in the colonies, any corporal punishment, any sale of non-free persons, will be prohibited.
Article 2
The time commitment system established in Senegal is abolished.
Article 3
The governors or Commissioners General of the Republic are responsible for applying all the measures specific to ensuring freedom in Martinique, Guadeloupe and dependencies, Reunion Island, Guyana, Senegal and other establishments French from the west coast of Africa, to the island of Mayotte and Dependencies and in Algeria.
Article 4
Amnesties are former slaves condemned to afflictive or correctional penalties for acts which, attributed to free men, would not have entailed this punishment. Individuals deported by administrative measure are recalled.
Article 5
The National Assembly will regulate the amount of the indemnity which must be granted to the colonists.
Article 6
The colonies purified from servitude and the possessions of India will be represented in the National Assembly.
Article 7
The principle “that the soil of France frees the slave who touches it” is applied to the colonies and possessions of the Republic.
Article 8
In the future, even in a foreign country, it is forbidden for any French to own, buy or sell slaves, and to participate, either directly or indirectly, in any traffic or exploitation of this kind. Any breach of these provisions would result in the loss of the quality of French citizen. Nevertheless, the French who will find themselves affected by these prohibitions, at the time of the promulgation of this decree, will have a period of three years to comply with them. Those who become possessors of slaves in a foreign country, by inheritance, gift or marriage, must, under the same penalty, set them free or alienate them within the same period from the day on which their possession begins.
Article 9
The Minister of the Navy and the Colonies and the Minister of War are responsible, each as far as he is concerned, with the execution of this decree.
Done in Paris, in council of government, April 27, 1848.
Sign:
Members of the Provisional Government: DUPONT (de l’Eure), LAMARTINE, CRÉMIEUX, GARNIER-PAGÈS, A. MARRAST, Louis BLANC, ALBERT, FLOCON, LEDRU-ROLLIN, ARAGO, MARIE.
The Secretary General of the Provisional Government: PAGNERRE ”12.
I’m noticing a distinct lack of putting slavers in woodchippers or fusion blasts to the head in your post.
America wins!
So it’s basically Dr. Horrible’s Freeze Ray, and not a Magical Alien Geode Juice Extractor Beam.
They don’t know about the geode. Deus is far too honourable to have blabbed about it to aliens.
*keeping a straight face*
Deus is too smart of have blabbed about it to anyone. Unloicking that geode is probably how his African country has a higher number of supers compared to other nations.
then as battle rages on archilese non challantly walks up to the beam says “wonder what this feels like” then walks into it cuttin connection to maxima XD
+1
Took me a while to figure out archilese => Achilles.
Sounds likely. Although he could find himself held just as firmly.
Unless, of course, the basis of his power counters a stasis field. It can be strongly argued that the core of his power is that he is unchanging (except in ways necessary to sustain life and normal activity). Essentially his body (using that basis) is already in a perfect stasis, except in ways that his super power overrides (such as to allow respiration and movement). So freezing him in time (going with that as being the mechanism the ray is using of course) would do nothing that his power already does anyhow.
Whereas if it is using some lesser effect then he is likely to be immune to it anyhow, as part of his absolute immunity to all attacks.
You know what? Yeah… Achilles might be immune to it as well as Halo with her shield. I didnt even think of Achilles’ power.
Also probably Death Toll might be immune to it as well, unless his powers only work against other powers, rather than technology/weapons. I recall Goose throwing a knife into his buttcheek.
more like he stands in its way thus new target for beam to hit and so on thus max is now free cause shes no longer the target
Which is why I started with “sounds likely”. Then went on to explore the consequences for Achilles.
I finaly identified the foreshadowing reference. Remember this? Panel 5 – villians ID’d
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-186-fingers-to-maximum-steepleage/
Nope, those vamps were already ID’d long ago
Well I’m sure Mr. Rogson from Home Economics class might also be related.(ep311), and after a reread 4th or 5th time trough by now. I don’t remember those 2 being named.
Still does mean they are not involved in some way. Coras comment about having millions of humans not born on the earth can also imply they are related. The facial resemblance (horns/teeth) to the hot headed gal and those two are very similar.
Peraps a referece is in order?
( a rouges gallery would be nice too – hint hint Dave)
The who’s who only has individuals added once they have been introduced (and have had a speaking part, so the beam wielder is partly qualified).
I’m mostly curious how people think a telekinetic shield can stop a temporal stasis effect. Telekinesis has literally no effect on time, which is what a stasis field/beam/ray/whatever affects.
Granted, we have no direct evidence this isn’t some form of paralysis effect creating the “stasis”, but again, it’s not reasonable to assume Max’s telekinetics can sidestep that either.
It all seems like people saying “She’s really powerful, so she can break out of anything”… which doesn’t actually track.
No, but she has a team of powerful supers backing her up, so she breaks out by having the creator of said field beaten up.
The comic doesn’t say its a chrono-lock beam (which seems a little too advanced for a hand held device),
it just says stasis, which most stasis pods don’t stop time, they slow down molecular motion or cellular activity.
Its more like a small handheld version of a tractor beam than a chrono-lock beam. At which point the question comes up if its energy source is able to handle larger and/or more energetic targets. If Maxima is conscious *like the Incredibles were in Syndrome’s ring beam which had the same stopping affect*, then her internal functions are still going (much like how a crew and machines aren’t affected by a tractor beam although it locks a ship in place and moves it). So the real question would come down to if she can max out her strength or speed and over-power the power source of that handheld device with her greater power source.
Good point.
I think the only person who might have any defense against a stasis beam or something that stops time would be Halo. I would not be surprised if the shield can prevent tachyon manipulation the same way it prevents anything else that’s harmful or deleterious to the user inside the shield, plus unlike telekinetics, it’s not necessarily limited by having to exist within a 4th dimensional plane of time.
On the other hand, Halo’s shield does NOT protect against being teleported (she’s been teleported four times while in a shield, once to Alari Prime via the Sky Ripper, and three times were using her own orb’s powers to teleport – once at the Mars factory via the comm orb and twice to the Fracture via the aetherium causeway), so I could be wrong unless it requires tech on the level of her orbs, which maybe the Sky Ripper is.
telekinesis is the ability to move things with one’s mind, and, if powerful enough, could theoretically stop/alter time, as time is technically motion through space.
Hence why Jean Grey as Phoenix is utterly ridiculously powerful. It’s straight up stated “Reality Warping” for the sheer scale of her Telepathy and Telekinesis when she’s possessed by the Phoenix Force.
The Phoenix Force its self is also a cosmic entity and one of the dozen things (Marvel needs to stop making primordial cosmic beings) that was in the darkness between the previous and current universe.
Time is not ‘motion through space.’
The ultimate result from a spacetime view for the universe is that all objects move at one speed – ie, the speed of light – through space AND time. For example, an object with mass at rest versus an object with zero mass (a photon). The object with mass moves through time, but not space (it is at rest). This ‘motion’ through spacetime is all time, no space. If you move an object from rest, then special relativity states that its clock slows down. In other words, it has given up some of its time ‘velocity’ to move through space. The sum of spatial and time velocity always equals the speed of light. You either spent this velocity all in the temporal direction (at rest) or some mixture of time and space.
Likewise, a photon has no time. It uses all of its spacetime velocity in the spatial direction and has none leftover for time. There is no time for energy. Zero time has passed for a photon created at the beginning of the universe.
Time CANNOT be be motion through space, velocity itself is space divided BY time (in fact, time slows down the faster one moves through space). All this leads up to the equations on Mass-energy equivalence – y’know, E=mc squared and all that.
TL;DR – According to relativity, an object with mass moves through time, but not space (it is at rest). This ‘motion’ through spacetime is all time, no space. If you move an object from rest, then special relativity states that its clock slows down. In other words, it has given up some of its time ‘velocity’ to move through space.
New list of crimes preformed by Ray cosmos.
Unauthorized drug use, drug smuggling, violating every boarder on earth(he entered heights of earth orbit as a non-earth citizen and there’s a treaty that states that space is the terrain of all earth nations), violating Xenocharchy boarder laws, unauthorized violence, “human” trafficking, unauthorized vehicle, no public flight plan, sexual harassment and violation of Xenocharchy technology restriction.
And wearing a cape.
Probably has a collection like Lando
Fortunately Edna Mode does not make law in NYC. :)
Wear all the capes you want.
“Unauthorized drug use” – what drugs?
“drug smuggling” – again, what drugs?
“violating every boarder on earth(he entered heights of earth orbit as a non-earth citizen and there’s a treaty that states that space is the terrain of all earth nations)” – he did not sign that treaty, and therefore is not subject to that treaty.
“violating Xenocharchy boarder laws” – that law is already over – there have been space police on Earth, the Fel on Earth, Cora on Earth, and Earth has FTL tech now. Xevarchy border laws are for pre-FTL societies.
“unauthorized violence” – being tackled is not a crime (of the person being tackled)
“no public flight plan” – this is not a law. Plus being tackled is not a crime (of the person being tackled)
“sexual harassment” – bad pickup lines are not a crime. Also sexual harrassment is not a crime. Sexual ASSAULT is a crime. Sexual harrassment is a tort, and it wouldnt even be a tort in the context of Ray making bad pickup lines to other women in a non-employer/employee relationship.
“violation of Xenocharchy technology restriction.” – Earth already has an FTL ship so that does not apply to Ray anymore.
The only thing Ray has done that’s illegal is a non-felony, non-misdemeanor traffic violation for blocking traffic on the intersection with his ship, subject to a fine. Probably no jail time.
Might also be illegal to have sideburns, an elvis hairdo, a soul patch and a pencil-thin moustache all simultaneously.
a. Whatever he use to “buff up”
b. ” ”
c. he doesn’t need to all nations on earth have signed it and thus will see it as a border violation from an outside force. A real life example would be a state less person crossing a border and the past has proven that such people get convicted for border violation.
d. according to 871 he should still be hold back because earth is still in the first weeks of the negotiations(this could mean however that it’s only uncomfortable and not illegal)
e. walking toward someone with such a speed an power that a tackle is possible and will result on you falling on them is and how are you so certain he’s tackled?
f. flight plan as in what everything that flies has to fill in like airplanes and shit not flight plan as in a thing you have to publish if you might need to flee.
g. unbuckling someone’s shirt and probably touching their boobs in the process is.
h. Sure basic ftl can, but Osmium melters, stasis beams, tubo buff suits and universal translators are still far from earth’s grasp and there are more than one level on technology restrictions.
i. and being an illegal alien within USA borders without proper identification(the USA doesn’t acknowledge the country he comes from yet), driving an unauthorized vehicle, escorting criminals(only makes him liable for pre-arrest to research their connentation), carrying of unauthorized weapons(depending on the state), wrong parking.
a. That does not seem like a drug to me. He turned a dial that’s on his chest. Maybe his species is naturally huge and the dial regulates how big he can become. It’s a stretch to assume it’s an illegal drug. Or an illegal drug, at that. Might as well say caffeine is illegal then for humans. :)
b. See a.
c. That’s not how treaties work. You have to be a signatory TO a treaty in order to be held to that treaty. Treaties are basically contracts between different nations. If a nation does not sign the treaty, other nations cannot hold them to the treaty. This goes doubly so for a person who is not a member of any nation on Earth, let alone a member of a nation that has not signed the treaty.
d. 871 says NOTHING about aliens not being able to come to Earth. In fact, the fact that aliens have been coming to Earth for centuries under the Council proves the exact opposite. And Cora said, in 689 and 670, that the Xevarchy rules are mainly about preventing technological shifts, not preventing aliens travelling to other planets in general. The only thing preventing open travel by aliens to Earth was that Earth was not supposed to know about aliens, which is no longer the case, and has not been the case for weeks before Ray Cosmos did this. So he’s not violating any rules.
f. Ray did not tackle anyone. Ray was tackled (by someone called “Garamm” apparently). It’s pretty evident that’s what’s happened in panel 10. Some other alien, with a tail, called “Garamm” who is working with third flaming eye demon alien lady, tackled Ray Cosmos from behind. WHAM. That’s not unauthorized violence. That’s someone else attacking HIM. And if he fights back, that’s actually authorized violence – it would be called self defense.
f. Ray Cosmos is not piloting an airplane. He landed a ship. He is also not certified by the FAA, because he is not from Earth. What’s the FAA going to do for his FAA flight plan violation – remove his piloting license? He has broken no laws there. Also flight plans do not cover interstellar spacecrafts. They don’t even always cover all types of normal aircrafts, depending on where you are flying. Also, he’s no longer flying anyway.
g. He didnt unbuckle anything. He didnt even remotely get the chance to do that. And again, sexual harassment of bad pickup lines and is not a crime, it is a tort. IF Maxima would like to sue him in civil court she can. But what he did (or more accurately, what he did not do) is not a criminal offense.
h. None of the aliens have given any of that technology to humans. Also, we already have translation software – I have some on my iphone which I used to get around in the Dominican Republic when I barely can speak spanish.
Moreover, the only one displaying any higher tech is fire eye demon alien lady, who isnt trading that tech. Might as well say Dabbler should be arrested since she’s used a handheld railgun and shown it to the press in a demonstration. Anything you say to defend Dabbler defends other aliens. In addition, Earth technically has superior technology – they have the technology of the Alari. They have Halo’s orbs. Therefore, Earth should be concerned about ‘caveman’ aliens getting knowledge of their space guns, not the other way around. :)
i. Aside from the movie “The Coneheads” I’m pretty sure that ICE has no rules on record about the legal status of alien life on Earth. If there are no laws about it, the aliens cannot be violating the law. Congress would need to make a law about alien life being the same as citizens of other nations and add it to existing immigration law first. And even if they do that, you can’t charge Ray Cosmos for a law that was put into effect AFTER he came to Earth. :)
There’s also no law about ‘driving an unauthorized vehicle’ in NYC. And to charge Ray with escorting criminals (I’m assuming you mean aiding and abbetting a criminal enterprise), you’d need to show he had some sort of knowledge of it, unless (I suppose) you charge him under the RICO act (which might be a stretch of the intent of that law).
But yeah, they definitely have him on illegal parking. But that’s a minor traffic violation, only punishable by a fine in NYC. Parking violations don’t even usually get points on your license, at least in NYC (where they currently are located).
a. okay you win
b. “”
c. You try walking over the border of a country your country hasn’t any treaties with. My point was due to this treaty all countries lay claim on it and so will act violated if someone crosses it.
d. Dabbler brings it as an argument, but I confess that isn’t super convincing
e. I admitted that he didn’t tackle(however obviously not clear enough) I stated that being tackled from the first established distance in the manner he did need to be able to get tackled would still make him count as the starter of the fight.
f. It flies through American airspace. Undependend on whatever you’re flying you’ve to inform the rest of the air traffic what you’re doing and plan to do.
g. Yet it made a zrrp sound, he pointed his fingers close to it and in the author’s commentary was told he was unbuckling cloathing.
h. As we experienced by Deus’s shopping spree, the problem isn’t giving the technology, but bringing it to said planet. Why Dabbler hasn’t been stopped is beyond me, but I suspect it is because she doesn’t transport the technology toward earth, but localy makes it and has safe guards.
i. in this case I meant “alien” as non-american citizen. If he’s lucky the courts rule him worthy of human law, since otherwise people are free to hunt and lock him up as they please unless his species gets protected.
Really no laws about Vehicle authorization, the Department of vehicles would probably frown upon an non-administrated vehicle.
He can’t get points on his license, since he doesn’t have an USA acknowledged one.
a. You are very wise, my internet friend.
b. see a
c. Walking over the border of another country isnt a treaty violation. That’s immigration laws, which are laws and statute passed by different countries about their immigration policies. Treaties are different than laws. Treaties are agreements between different nations. If a person is from a nation which is not a signatory to the treaty, they cannot be held to that treaty, period. It’s like if I sign a contract with a car dealer to buy a car, then they try to get you to pay for the car because I drove you to your job. You were not a signatory to the contract, so there’s no way to say you have any responsibility to pay for a car that is not yours and that you did not sign to pay for. Same thing with treaties, responsibility-wise. Signing the treaty makes you legally bound to the contractual obligations in that treaty. If you don’t sign, there’s no legal binding. For example, the US did not sign the Kyoto Protocol – so the US does not need to follow the rules in the Kyoto Protocol.
d. I’m guessing Law is not one of Dabbler’s many, many, many MANY areas of expertise :)
e. Yes but you called it ‘unauthorized’ violence. Being tackled is not unauthorized violence, and fighting back AFTER being tackled would not be unauthorized violence either – it would be self-defense. Completely authorized. :)
f. Airspace is more nuanced than you’re describing actually. And it does not extend to every object that goes in the air – there are different rules for different objects – ultra-lights, airplanes, drones, etc. There’s nothing in the rules about interstellar spaceships though.
g. Actually it was a ‘tug’ onomatopoeia, which was quickly stopped by Maxima before anything could happen. And again, sexual harrassment is not, and has never been, a crime. It is a tort. Crimes and torts are different. And she probably wouldnt really get much, if anything, out of a civil lawsuit, since there’s no damages involved in this particular incident.
h. Every single alien on Earth that uses anonyflage/camohide/etc – anything to hide their true selves, has then violated the Xevarchy. So no, that’s not how it works, because if it was, there would be a lot of aliens that have been arrested at this point. The xevarchy seems to prevent people from using the Fracture’s gates, but they didnt seem to do anything to search, for example, Cora’s ship. They just try to prevent technological paradigm shifts. Which as I’ve mentioned is not a problem anymore regarding Earth.
i. Alien, when saying non-American citizen, also means human. When a European (or African, take your pick) swallow flies over American airspace, they have not violated US immigration laws. Immigration laws were not written with extraterrestrials or other non-humans in mind. :) The courts would not be ruling anything unless it’s a VERY activist court. Constitutionally, the state legislature or the US Congress would need to amend the law to include extraterrestrials. Legislative branch makes laws, not judicial.
“the Department of vehicles would probably frown upon an non-administrated vehicle.”
In order to arrest someone, you need a legal charge against that person. So you need to make sure they meet all the elements of that charge. If they don’t, there is no charge they can hold him on.
“He can’t get points on his license, since he doesn’t have an USA acknowledged one.”
This is true. So the worst that can happen is a monetary fine. Pretty sure he has the gold to pay for the parking violation.
I like how even his jawline got bigger. And yes, I’m also going to point out how tickled I am about the apparent Hanover Fiste/Captain Stern similarity, even if it is unintentional.
Hah, I forgot about that guy! I suppose Ray is an amalgam of quite a few guys.
I’m just going to point out once again that these idiots don’t realize that Max has a teammate with the ability to not only merc them with a portable sun WHILE SHIELDED, but also to chase them ANYWHERE in the universe. They really aren’t ready to handle supers. XD
Sydney’s abilities are probably largely still a secret, because a. most of her encounters were either heavily classified(blowing up squidward and Sconia) or low power use(Vehemence fight) and there’s a certain motivational factor in keeping her more shocking powers a secret(NTH-tech is a war causing phenomenon)
Indeed. Maxima has been advertised as being one of Earth’s most powerful supers, and supers are known to be rare (on Earth and far more so elsewhere in the galaxy). So it is not poor judgement that made them miss the fact that she may have companions with her who are of similar power.
Consider that Maxima is akin to a battleship, in terms of military importance to the USA/Earth. Who would expect multiple battleships worth of capability to be deployed to process a ship load of tourists?
or even one.
Their plan is looking…not a plan.
They came down with a tourist ship, with no fore knowledge Maxima would even show up.
If they have a stealthed escape vehicle, that snuck down, they should have used that to sneak down, not a tourist bus, and also landed near where the Fel battle was instead of half a continent away from it. If they have no stealth vehicle and only the tour bus to sneak their stasis pod on and off then they gambled on finding her before the bus left.
I feels like they either decided this spurt of the moment after recognizing her, or were going to grab the first super they came across and got (to them) “got lucky”.
or its a set up, a test by the Xevoarchy or something odd like that and they had this out the whole time and were told to make a scene to test Earth’s responses or whatever.
criminal wise it doesn’t feel planned out at all.
So far Maxima has been present at 100% of alien ship incursions into US airspace (post aliens being officially recognised as a thing anyhow), so it is not unreasonable for them to hope that she would turn up again. Plus it is easy enough to use local transport to get around a planet (and we know that disguise technomagic is readily available to galactic visitors, if they want to use it).
However if you want to get to a planet before the competition does, you make use of the first available vessel that is heading that way. So whilst the competition might be chartering a ship to fly specifically to the spot where the Fel battlecruiser was destroyed (and likely finding quite some resistance to that suggestion), this entrepreneur is already on site and making the most of Maxima serendipitously turning up on cue.
Where they totally failed is in not taking into account Ray Cosmos’s business ethics. He is presumably a known operator in the local galactic area, so failing to abide by the villains’ code with him, or otherwise having a way of countering him, is a big fail.
As for the feel, yea, it is an opportunity event. Newly opened-up planets are probably viewed as easy pickings amongst galactic villains. So one with access to a stasis weapon, realising that it should work well against her target, may not have realised that extensive planning was actually called for. They might have had decades worth of profit from looting or slaving from backwater planets, with little or no effort required, given the technological gap.
As for a stealthed space ship, that is a lot more expensive than a single weapon. A random rogue is unlikely to be able to have the resources to hire/own one. But could easily pick up tickets on a tour ship.
missing a big point: plan to get down is not a plan to get away, and one example is not enough to make a certainty someone would show up especially as secret tourism to the planet did exist before, and unless they knew this one little tour bus was operating illegally, and this spot half a continent away wouldn’t deploy its own, especially as this wasn’t an invasion. Their only other plan was to somehow sneak away from the tour bus, find their target by sneaking across country, and then call for a pick up if certain they had neutralized the only significant threat.
The big point is part of ‘make sure you pay off the escape vehicle driver”, which I already covered. Tour bus or not, it is not like Earth has a fleet of spaceships capable of pursuing it, once it leaves the atmosphere.
You mention ‘sneaking’ a lot. Given that aliens and innumerable supernaturals have remained hidden from humanity for 3,000 years, I think they have reasonable confidence in their ability to do that. With or without a golden super in tow.
Let us assume that their plan a was to sneak to Archon HQ, kidnap Max and smuggle her back onboard the tour bus. We have seen that they have the capability to easily neutralise Max, so that part of the plan was fine. Had they waited until she was alone, they would have avoided the current problem that they are facing. And if they kept her concealed then Ray Cosmos may not have discovered their ploy, and they could have left Earth without incident.
However having Maxima turn up unexpectedly (in this scenario), and choosing to capitalise on it impetuously, then threw out the advantages of a covert operation, with the consequences of such. Yet she still seems confident of success, despite that. Again accountable by her being used to preying on planets that do not have a super hero police force.
The real question here is, “What nickname will Sydney assign to FTEDT?” Truly! Syd will ask her name, then assign something simple for hoomons, like “Raving Lunatic Bitch” or “She who deserves a beating.” Maybe “Assault and/or Battery Bimbo.”
Ray will get a badge that says “Kick Me!”
It seems that this alien has made a basic mistake about the nature of the device s/he’s using.
It isn’t a stasis beam, it’s a death ray.
Just not, you know, anyone else’s death. And by ‘ray’, we mean ‘Ray….’
Bada bish.
Shortly after demonstrating to his/her confederate the effectiveness of the death ray (see above), the crew will probably take care of some details such as Garamm. And by ‘detail’ we mean ‘de-tail’…
Seeing discussion on Maxima vs the Stasis beam and even what kind of stasis beam it is, however I am wandering what its power source is vs Maxima’s power source.
So going by the percieved technological level of these assailents, and the fact they’d still find Maxima’s power valuable, trying to figure out what that device is using for a power source (as its not magic and thus unlikely drawing power from a mana field or some demon lord/god); a doubt it is a chrono-lock as that seems too advanced for a handheld by anyone who’d still find Maxima’s power valuable *if you can make a hand held chrono-lock then you can probably make a ship mounted chrono-distablizer, fractal timeline disrupter/interceptor, or temporal shifter/causality manipulator; and take out a Fel Battle Carrier on the chrono plane. Thinking more along the lines of Syndrome from the Incredibles’ ring, a zero point energy device. So that brings to question one major factor I am not seeing discussed, forgetting it seems this is a piece of technology and not a magic wand drawing power from a mana dimension.
what is the power source for that device?
Zero Point module small enough for it?
Plasma Battery?
Gamma Battery?
Anti-matter battery?
All of those are rather small here and seem likely to drain pretty quick holding something of too great a mass/energy…which is the big factor. How big of something could that gun hold in stasis, which is also equal to how powerful of something can it hold and for how long?
Even If we high end, limited by perceived technological levels here and the desire for Maxima’s power so no high end that upscaled would make Maxima look weak.
A localized exotic-particle converter. Which would also have an output of energy limit based on how much exotic particles it can harvest and convert before causing a “well out” of the exotic dimension in the local space *which would likely result in an implosion there, thus a rush of exotic particles to the converter and thus an explosion, so a surge protector to shut down when the output exceeds a certain limit would be in order*
in any of the above cases we are looking at a handheld device, so smaller battery, displaying a high energy output. Being handheld also means unlikely this device could hold a large spacecraft, now limited range or mass problem we are still looking at one problem. How much can it contain per power output/battery limitations vs Maxima’s power potential. If like with Syndrome’s ring she is conscious and internal functions still going just stopped external movement, she may be able to Max out strength or speed and overwhelm the device, a battle of whose internal energy reserves exceeds the other. I would bet on Max having a higher potential energy than that handheld device.
That is just a wand, which doubtless has a tiny fairy inside it casting a stasis spell.
*wags tail, in satisfaction, at having conclusively resolved the matter*
Your power source point is very good.
There’re three ways I would fix it for stasis beamers:
– kinda stationary wormhole, which enters the fuel it’s needed, but since space ships can’t use it changing it’s direction should be nearly impossible. This would mean the gun would explode if moved too far.
– time stop or extreme slow down: if your time doesn’t function it doesn’t matter how strong you are.
– coma inducer with tractor and repulsor beams: people in coma don’t win fights, but the device would also have to keep her in her current state by it’s own power.
Having not built a stasis beam, nor even figured out how one might work, we have no idea how much power it requires. This might be one of those things that runs for two years on a ‘AA’ alkaline battery.
As something that *stops* the flow of a certain type of energy, it might require the same amount of power as something more familiar that stops a flow, like, say, a concrete dam. ie, Zero. And for that matter, a whole lot of concrete dams have machinery in them that actually produces an enormous amount of power when they let a little bit of that stopped flow past.
it is generating an energy beam of some kind.
You can’t get something from nothing and always work at an entropic loss. So it has to be utilizing some power to operate the machinery of the gun to produce the energy field.
the greater the resistance to the force you are producing, the greater force is required which takes energy.
this can’t be compared to a dam as water does not actively move, it goes with gravity and has weight, which is why you need stronger materials for larger dams to resist that weight.
that said this is more like pushing against a charging bull, you exert too little force it pushes past. Exert even force and it appears to not be moving, exert greater force and you push it back.
So this beam needs to be exerting a force equal or greater than Maxima was at the time it hit her to stop her movements. If it has some biological inhibitor or neural function as well that would be a bonus, but a tractor beam is basically equivalent to magnets and kinetic energy. So this energy has to be exerting a kinetic force to keep her standing up and effectively wrapped up in one spot.
If she can still think and can operate then she may exert more force, which in turn requires the energy output to need to be greater to compensate.
This is (active resistance), a dam is passive resistance. If this was not a beam holding her but had created an energy cube around her or something then comparison to a dam would make sense as then the resistance of the walls vs how much force she can produce would be the factor, but we are seeing an active continuous beam from the gun and holding her still.
It’s generating a visible effect, but so does a flashlight. We just plain don’t know how much energy it takes to stop time in a small volume, because we’ve never figured out how to do it.
And Max has nothing to do with how much power it has to expend, because Max’s strength isn’t what drives time forward. Nothing she does speeds up time or slows it down. We have no reason to believe stopping time in two cubic meters of space requires more or less power than stopping time in some other two cubic meters of space, or that it would depend on what’s inside that space.
You are missing one rather important factor in my point. I am not of the opinion that the device is manipulating time.
That this stasis beam is rather a form of tractor beam, exactly like Syndrome’s zero point energy gloves which I am convinced this gun is inspired from; thus is exerting a force upon her as a containment field.
https://theretrofuturist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/syndromincredibles.jpg
Also to your point about time anyway, We do (know *theoretical with a number of experiments backing it up*) that time is distorted by gravity and speed. So a tremendous amount of gravity or high level of acceleration will alter relative time. Both of which require astronomical amounts of energy.
This stuff actually is known, even if humanity doesn’t have any fancy devices manipulating it on some sci-fi fantasy level.
Stasis
definition:
1.
a period or state of inactivity or equilibrium.
“long periods of stasis”
-IE:
I assumed the term stasis beam to mean an equal force or physical alteration affect is being applied to cause inactivity and immobility. There is nothing inherent in the word to imply time is being manipulated.
I have it from a reliable source that time dams require multiple planets worth of mass, and consume exponentially increasing power while they’re in action.
Could Sydney just put up her shield around herself and Max (and Cora and Dabbler) and break the beam
Probably. It does seem to be resistant to most attacks. However time manipulation is not something that we have observed it blocking before, so that may be one of the exceptions to its capabilities. Especially as the shield would have to be raised through the beam.
I make this latter point because we have seen that the shield does not instantaneously pop into existence. Rather it builds up one section at a time. Although this process is normally very fast, if it encounters a stasis field (which is stopping time from working within it), that may block the shield from continuing to form. I.e. the process is put on hold (indefinitely), in a partially raised state.
If enough of the beam can still get through to Max, then she will still be affected by the stasis.
Okay I must have missed a shift in sci-fi conventions somewhere.
When was stasis changed from molecular/cellular slowdown to stopping time as the common interpretation of “stasis”?
I have never seen or read a sci-fi movie or series where a stasis pod was manipulating time. Only that it stops or slowed down biological process, or slowed down molecular activity *granted that later only showed the lack of research by early sci-fi writers as that just means freezing something*.
But again, stasis gas, hibernation chambers, heck what we are seeing here looks more like a tractor beam, I am immediately reminded of Syndrome’s ring from the movie “The Incredibles”.
and I think I figured out why,
Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild,
the stasis function of the Sheikah Slate. which is techno magic, and I really wouldn’t consider Zelda sci-fi. Fantasy with some sci-fi aesthetics, its not like the Divine Beasts are obeying any real mechanical laws internally either.
But that’s it, if DaveB says, “yeah its a time stopper”, okay fine. But its a bit of a knee jerk here that everyone in the comments just ASSUMES stasis means manipulating time. Which in sci-fi it doesn’t normally mean that. It means inducing a state of suspended animation. That is not automatically time stopping, heck I could argue BoTW stasis isn’t time stopping either but a mana suspension as we see ethereal chains holding things in place.
The hibernation type technology, for long star journeys, typically involves a booth/coffin type affair, where we can realistically envisage a medical procedure slowing down someone’s metabolism or gradually freezing them whilst pumping in a fancy hightech antifreeze to stop the cells splitting open.
Which is very different to a ray that just stops someone in mid movement. Such would take some kind of super science beyond our current ken. So stopping time is as valid an assumption as any other sci fi pseudo babble.
yes, but its being treated in these comments as the defacto conclusion to it. Like that’s how anything called “stasis” works.
Imagine reading a comic with a “Freeze Ray”, all you see in the comic is your typical freeze gun shoot a white beam and ice forms around the target.
but go to the comments and every single comment and discussion is operating under the assumption that ALL Freeze rays operate by producing an exotic particle extraction field around the target that converts the exotic particles to ice crystals.
or a comic with a heat ray and everyone is saying, “oh man how can anyone handle a blast from solar plasma teleported via a portal from the gun”.
Keep in mind stasis beam and stasis pod are both being mentioned.
Stasis
1.
a period or state of inactivity or equilibrium.
“long periods of stasis”
So I guess I am just old to assume a word was being used to imply it simply was an immobility device like Syndrome’s ring from the Incredibles and not a Time Lord’s super weapon.
Niven-style Slaver stasis boxes.
a tad esoteric, I just assumed they were all being influenced by a popular recent video game and interpreting a magic *stay right there while I hit you and the hits all activate at once when it runs out* mechanic.
I don’t remember Star Trek the animated series very well, had to google that, and…very cringy concept to have your ancient super advanced civilization be slavers, but still…its tech found from an ancient super advanced society. Which is where you expect to find time manipulation tech from. The Ancients, The Time Lords, some forgotten civilization that ascended or moved beyond the rim of the galaxy long ago leaving the young races behind. Not so much random thugs going for a smash and grab on a planet to sell for billions of some currency somewhere for crime syndicates.
but again I was thinking with the name its just a mobility inhibitor ray, you see those in plenty of sci-fi and seldom referred to as time manipulations (I say seldom as I don’t trust Masters of the Universe not to have had one and called it that as the writing was kind of all over the place and kept simple for kids…we must steal books for knowledge…any specific knowledge…no just grab ALL the books; level of writing)
But yeah, first thing it reminded me of seeing on the page was the movie The Incredibles, so I guess I am just alone seeing that possible reference.
Well, going by Niven’s description, you could put a freshly-cooked steak in a stasis box, and a million years later open it and it would still be as warm as when you put it in. He also had stories featuring fields that would enclose areas of accelerated time. Also, Niven’s “Known Space” books are a better source for the topic than the adaptation he shoehorned into the “Star Trek” canon in the animated series.
If a decision is made to discourage alien visitors, they could be diverted to landing in Australia. Given that even the trees are capable of injecting spider-like toxins, it will not be long before enough have been killed off that others start to avoid the dangers of Earth.
Yorp quit making up stuff. :) There’s no such thing as Australia. It’s just a story told to scare kids into eating their vegetables.
Anyone else just have Space Jam flashbacks about the Monstars?
Well… now I am.
The stasis beam likely doesn’t completely stop time… so as Maxima moves the needle to “SUPER FAST” she will slowly turn towards the alien girl holding the rod and make the chick freak out as the golden destroyer moves faster, and faster towards her.
“Slowly I turned, step by step”
So SYdney could raise the shield where it cuts the gun in half. That does no damage, but there might be odd effects if the stasis is not fully formed inside the barrel.
We’re not really sure how the shield works, or if it would cut anything in half. It might be designed to make sure to always keep anything that would otherwise be cut in half on one side or the other of the shield. Yknow, as a safety measure of the shield.
I find it somewhat amusing that as powerful as Max is, a simple stasis beam and/or stasis power would completely take her out of the fight if it hit her. Granted said beam could be disrupted any number of ways but its such a simple and relatively harmless power that it seems once its hitting her she can do nothing about personally.
It also worked for Syndrome in The Incredibles against Mr. Incredible.
You aren’t wrong. I just think that it’s funny that Max never thought of a counter measure for this situation.
Would be funny if Max did by swapping places with a doppleganger in that stasis field. Ninja swap with tree branch.
Besides dabs will deploy the ultimate orbital crowd control platf9rm.
The 1.21GeV orbital laser tickler.
I recall commenting that the supers were a resourse on Earth that was eminently worth an invasion to go after…
I remember her from the first page where all the aliens were milling around! AAARGH WHAT A WEASEL!
So, Ray Cosmos can grow big like Vehemence?
The only thing I have to say about that is, “Look! It’s the Incredible Dork!”
Wow. He’s like an actually-sleazy version of Deus.