I drew this page on stream many months ago telling chat "wow i think I hauve covid." I did in fact have covid. The original art for the last panel's background was.... rough, I had to redo it before making it public for the comic.
Transcript
Bip: Thank you, Talita.
The cranes move the Runaway off the rails of the junkyard into one of the empty building foundations. Time passes, the tower chimes bing bong, and Talita wakes up to the alarm of another workday. She showers, eats from a large bag of bugs, and leaves her apartment. Just like last time, she closes the door with one of her hind feet. Across the dome, she spies two people apparently talking to one another.
63 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 99”
Gheesfellow
It’s a wonderful day for crime!
sam
page 99 already woo!!!
Septemberdale
@Jay Eaton
Would this guy who has this crazy talent get closer to the mark than a normal human or fail even more tremendously if he tried to speak Tiiliitian?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haz6W7p8xjM
TotallySomebody
Talita what do those bugs taste like
I want them… I wanna eat centaur bugs too…
Origamigryphon
I found the secret in the junk piles! ^^
Tyrone the Miner
I wonder where that fish has gone.
You did love it so. You looked after it like a son.
And it went wherever I did go.
Is it in the cupboard?
Wouldn’t you like to know? It was a lovely little fish.
And it went wherever I did go.
Where can that fish be?
It is a most elusive fish!
And it went wherever I did go.
Ooooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish!
A-fish, a-fish, a-fish, a-fishy, ooooh.
Ooooh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish!
That went wherever I did go.
JoB
The rat, or the fish? 😛
malmo
I spy a shark, a rat, an amogus in a hat!
Apollo235
I found the rat, but not the fish, is the fish the thing the rat is on top of, or somewhere else?
Tyrone the Miner
Fish is close at the upper right corner of the “Bing-Bong” panel
Imp!
I found what looks like an amongus crewmate sitting down wearing a hat…
Tyrone the Miner
Cant see that one with the hat but there is what looks like an Egg with a cracked shell…
Mmmmhhh….Softboiled egg with strips of toast to dunk in it…..
TeethBurglar
World’s smallest Idrisah and Gillie! I wonder what they will have to say about Talita agreeing to reconnect Bip, especially after Idrisah’s note.
Sen
Oh. Bip’s body is put into the timeout hole! He’s been a bad AI! ^^
Most of the stuff I see on the surface seems to be scrap. It is probably standard procedure to place more valuable stuff into a hole (from mining I assume). This probably protects it a bit from dust and shrapnel. As we learned the sky crane just drops scrap into the ground directly.
evileeyore
So it occurs to me that this isn’t even the real Bip. This is a partial cloned copy put into the phones for the purpose of conning someone into reconnecting Bip’s servers to power… or in the worst possible case, recharging all the phones and being convinced to leave CloneBip alone long enough for CloneBip to migrate into a larger server space and determine if they could save the original Bip or if it were time to start reinventing Bipself.
This version of Bip, in the best case scenario, knows it has a limited shelf life. CloneBip’s memories will be assimilated into the real Bip and it will cease to exist once CloneBip has fulfilled CloneBip’s primary objective.
I wonder if that is causing any existential crises or if CLoneBip wasn’t given enough… whatever… to have an existential crisis? Basically is CloneBip just built different or just dedicated enough to their old self to face the finality that is coming?
Gheesfellow
Huh. This has no reason not to be the case, considering how AI proliferation works.
…………..Well that’s depressing.
cain
If I were an AI assimilating the memories of a purpose-made clone that would then be deleted, I’d make sure the clone was powered down before starting that process, in the interest of not corrupting data mid-transfer. If Bip feels the same, they have nothing to fear– they’ll essentially have continuity of consciousness. It’s not like SOMA where the other self has to experience death.
Or maybe Bip is just totally chill with experiencing death. Maybe they’ve done it before.
tickfleato
remember, bip uses they/them!
Translunary_Animus
Ohh crunchy bugsnacks! Delightful!
Mr. Skeleton
Is that the Runaway being moved off the track with the crane?
feesh
yes! presumably that’s what talita is setting up in the automated cycle commands
Martin
Talita’s fluffy bedhead! 🥺🥺🥺
Hunter
Hm, different clothes today. Off day?
cain
Wasn’t she planning a day with Gillie and Idrisah?
Chrysalis
Never enough time between Bing Bong and Beedle Beedle.
cain
so true…
Trees
Talita might be an alien but semi-unconsciously shutting a door with the underside of your foot after you walk through it is one of the most relatable things I’ve seen her do.
Lilac
ohh so real talita I Also wake up like that
I wonder how much harder taking care of feather-like things is than hair, like does she have to brush it out to keep it from getting matted, and if it does get matted how hard is it to detangle all that, and so forth… is there Centaur Feather Shampoo.. though i guess regular bird’s feathers don’t need shampoo so maybe not…. but then again these are not regular bird feathers….. so interesting!!
the Inmara
Thinking about this. Most Terran bird feathers need to be oiled using glands in the bird’s mouth, so there’s a lot of preening involved. If Terran birds evolved to be sophonts, they might very well develop a line of cosmetic and cleaning products to help make preening easier and faster, and to also accommodate individuals whose biology varies.
Like, human skin naturally produces oils to protect itself. But only some humans produce those oils in a normal amount, or have skin that react to those oils in a normal way. So we have products to supplement them and to treat the conditions that occur when things aren’t normal.
Centaurs probably have a similar thing going on. Maybe their skin produces the oils their feathers need. Maybe the feathers themselves produce the oils. Maybe their mouth does. But it’s still probably handy to use a shampoo and/or conditioner. Especially if the gland is in their mouth and they no longer feel it is hygienic to lick themselves after a hard day’s work.
Apollo235
New Talita fit!
Looks like the equivalent of sweat/sport shorts and a sweater? It’s neat!
dokki
forever love how talita gets bedhead:]
JoB
… is it just me, or does her clothing look a lot *less* like what she should wear to (“outside”) work?
(Compared to, e.g., page 80:
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-80/
)
feesh
the baggy shorts are definitely setting off my PPE alarms, but since they’ll be under the exosuit anyway, it’s probably a non-issue? i trust talita to know what she’s doing lol
Uh
The bug bag !! 💥💥💥
gnome_artificer
Bing Bong!
The second panel really brings the shear scale of the infrastructure into perspective. The Runaway looks microscopic.
evileeyore
Ugh, “BEEDLE BEEDLE BEEDLE” already? Panel 4 is my mood every time my alarm goes off.
Claire
I love the googly eye om nom face Talita is making.
…Which, upon reflection, makes me wonder if that’s a sore subject for her…
Claire
AND THEN I REALIZED THATS A SHEEN ON HER EYE NOT HER PUPIL GOING WHITE AND UPWARDS
derp
Effyis Biblos
I made that mistake as well, you’re not alone
Sparky Lurkdragon
I’m having a lot of fun letting my vision switch back and forth between these two interpretations. XD
Amanda/OwlBear
crunchy crunchy space bugs
1d4Nadg
Who’s that? Gillie and Idri? Oooooh, talita’s honesty could et the better of her here…
Pathfinder
Still closing the door with a hind leg, I feel the need to try to do this now with my door.
JoB
Uh. I don’t think that I have enough legs for that …
[has to *pull* the door closed as he leaves, and since the entire mechanism’s a bit aged, *simultaneously* keep the lock turned to allow the latch to move into the plate]
Howie
Maybe she puts seasoning on them but Talita eating those invertebrates right out of the bag, makes me wonder if they taste more like apples (pleasurable) or cucumbers (sort of bland) to her.
feesh
sadly i think talita’s eating habits are too utilitarian for seasoning most of the time… im going to assume the experience of eating those invertebrates straight from the bag is like chowing down a couple protein bars for breakfast lol
Feather
Jay said below that if she was human she’d be drinking six raw eggs for breakfast, and I’ve just realised that to other centaurs Talita’s diet probably looks like the Instagram videos I keep seeing of people insisting that bananas and ground beef (maybe seasoned with some salt) is a tasty and nutritious meal that gives you all the protein you need to build muscle. (I stared in horror at one of those videos too long and now I keep getting shown them…)
zaratustra
She did mention that they taste better than printed meat, so that’s the lower bound.
Tentament
Talita reminds me of a praying mantis sometimes.
creetur
They are the closest thing we have to a centaur-type creature on our planet so.. not too far off
gigithebear
those invertebrates look so good not gonna lie
Tyrone the Miner
Imagine them deep-fried with a spot of Soy-sauce or fresh ground wasabi…..Mmmmmmhh!
Septemberdale
I wonder what kind of spices Centaurs have. Do they even use spices, or is that something that only omnivores would like?
Adrienne
https://jayeaton.site/RunawayToTheStars/Sophonts/Centaurs/Culture#Food Enjoy the read!
Chrysalis
They look delicious! My brain’s not sure whether to interpret them as crustaceans, insects, or mollusks, though, so it’s cycling between all three different flavor groups and making me very hungry. (The fact that they almost certainly taste like none of the above and are likely toxic to humans does nothing to change this.)
Tero
I love the first pannel with bip so close, it’s like looking at a bug with a magnifying glass compared to the other pannels where they were so smol
Common Handle
Lots of sound effects on this page!
Maybe it’s odd, but I really like Bip’s response. No needling for more, just a (probably) sincere “thanks”. I wonder how often Talita gets those, with her team being… Like That
Greenjoe
Mmmh… bugs for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.
Heather
My favorite breakfast, Bag of Bugs
creetur
Better than food printer mush, I suppose
Jay Eaton
If Talita was a human she’d be drinking 6 raw eggs for breakfast.
Green Heron
So she’s roughly the size of a baaaaaaarge!
Spinland
Chased with a kale smoothie?