Talita's got some moral reservations about this situation that aren't ex-piracy related.
Transcript
Gillie: (ASL) The avian trawling company never bothered to tell Jovian authorities the ship was destroyed!
Bip: And since Ixion bought bulk scrap, not the ship's registration papers, they don't legally own it.
Gillie: (ASL) With a legit SIMS ID, getting customs and duties for wormhole passage would be as easy as declaring it active again! It would all be technically legal!
Talita: Ok, that's... great. But. The Runaway isn't a SHIP. It's a SHIPWRECK.
Bip: A shipwreck surrounded by salvage!
Talita: Salvage that’s been rotting in abrasive regolith dust! Listen, I… I don’t feel comfortable letting you make repairs with broken equipment… Even if the papers work out, it could end… badly.
34 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 115”
Ruby
Panels 3 and 4 can also be read as:
“Someone’s going to DIE!”
Someone’s going to die of FUN!”
Harumin
I love this take because it is correct xD
Sen
Gillie and Bip are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
Even in the future bureaucracy works just as flawlessly as it does today.
Imp!
Love the first panel… Gillie’s cheeky looking smile and Talita’s tired, tired expression.
oh6
Advocating for your own care is crucial, but so is listening to your doctor!
eden
you know that poster in the backround of the bugferret group? it looks like the poster of some action adventure, I can only imagine how the story tropes would play out.
Imp!
I wonder what Bug furret adventure media is like, considering they live underground. Thinking about it, those cave exploring videos are probably a lot less scary to them then the videos are to us…
Tumorhead
Love Talita’s practicality. Don’t do repairs with garbage!!! Do it with proper gear!! For safety!!!
Vinemaple
Not to mention that whether or not Ixion owns the ship on paper, they are going to act as if they do… and they certainly have enough lawyers to bury two rogue employees and an unwilling accessory. And possibly not just to the amount the ship is worth, either. A large capitalist corporation like that might decide to make an example out of our protagonists.
JoB
> And since Ixion bought bulk scrap, not the ship’s registration papers, they don’t legally own it.
I’m pretty sure that buying that scrap legally made them the owner of the very materials the ship is made of, Bip …
(What was that famous court case again? The culprit reached through an open skylight/ventilation and partially emptied the show window, the prosecutor pleaded burglary, the defense mere theft, “as the defendant did not actually enter the shop”, the judge ruled that “head and right arm of the defendant shall be jailed for a year, the rest of him may go free”?)
Hunter
“Rotting”? Does she mean just through like, erosion, because of the dust?
Because when they’re out salvaging stuff, they’re in SPACE. There’s no air or moisture or anything to “rot” in. Idk if there’s even bacteria that survives in a vacuum.
the namely namester
yes I am pretty sure she means metaphorically rotting
JoB
Can’t say that I’m a spacecraft engineer and could list *all* ways stuff can deteriorate in vacuum+regolith, but there is “vacuum welding” that could make bolts/hinges not graded for use in vacuum (like you’d have on the Runaway’s *inside*) nigh-impossible to loosen/move ever again.
Peter Jensen
Also, any parts never meant to be in vacuum for extended time may be using components that outgas over time. For plastics, they can turn brittle. Vacuum safe stuff is more expensive and can have other undesirable properties, so you’d avoid it when not necessary. Plus water and other volatiles sublimating may end up settling on more delicate parts. I think the scrap yard is in permanent shadow, so at least there’s not direct irradiation, but depending on just how thin the atmosphere actually is, micrometeorite abrasion will take its toll over time.
JoB
P.S.:
> Idk if there’s even bacteria that survives in a vacuum.
Bacteria? Try https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrades_on_the_Moon . 😉
Imp!
Thank you for sharing this fantastic information that involves Tardigrades, now i have new screenshots to sent to my friends with no context.
wingedhorror
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Talita meant “rot” in the sense of “deteriorate” or “erode” as opposed to biological activity. If it’s anything like the surface of our moon, that dust is going to be annoyingly adhesive and abrasive. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_regolith )
Peter Jensen
End badly … as opposed to being cut up for parts …
Paroxysmall
well i mean, i don’t think Bip wants to be salvaged a second time, if it can be avoided
Phlosioneer
Why do talita’s eyelids sometimes come from above and sometimes come from the side? (Panel 2 vs panel 5) They’re different colors, so do centaurs have a nictitating membrane? But it would have to be opaque to work for expressions. Why would a nictitating membrane be opaque?
1d4Nadg
She does use her nicitating membrane to emote! Is it opaque? Maybe. She isn’t an earth animal centaurs might have evolved them for a different reason. Or it could just be semi-transparent and visible enough for humans to see it and interpret her facial expressions. Or maybe it has a black edge?
In any case centaur-raised centaurs don’t use their to emote, so it’s a very cool detail!
Paroxysmall
I dunno why they’re opaque, but cat’s seem to be too?
The second to last panel here gives a closeup:
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-34/
(The edges of her eyelids have white outlines)
I guess she got lucky with how much control there is over the membrane, the fact that it can rotate, and it’s located pretty strategically for imitating human eyebrows/eye expressions
JoB
Relevant:
https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/656710875472920576/
Pathfinder
Always good to be thorough with anything aerospace, but I’m hoping solutions for clearing ionized regolith off of suits and vehicles have been thought out by now. It’s a tough decision, but a non-organic crewed test flight and an back-up server for Bip in case of emergency would probably have the least risk, then if everything passes checks, rendezvous with a shuttle with the rest of the organic crew and you’re off.
Phlosioneer
Ixion would notice that. When they say they vessel leaves the ground, it’s a race against time.
JoB
Apart from that, launch loop, skyhook and wormhole station aren’t under Talitas control as far as we know, anyway (Idrisah has some say over incoming stuff, *maybe* outgoing too …), and the Runaway isn’t *built* to operate in a gravity well (note that the forces it experiences now (gravity) and on the skyhook (centrifugal) are *perpendicular* to those its own engines produce, and using its own engines to take off from near the habitat is a big no-no due to the radiation they release).
d
Idk if this was purposeful but it looks like Talita is wearing the Wesley Crusher sweater :3
bitty
everyones expressions are so great lol. talitas annoyed expressions with bips persistence, gillies big grin, i love it lol
GladHatter
How is Gillie getting Bip’s side of the conversation without looking at the screen?
Jay Eaton
This isn’t an animation so you’re going to have to extrapolate what Gillie might be doing to keep up with the conversation besides the single static pose I’ve drawn her in.
JoB
> you’re going to have to extrapolate what Gillie might be doing to keep up with the conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B80dkQ8IjU
Gar G
She’s not wrong, this is very risky and not just for legal reasons
creetur
It’s sweet how she’s worried for their safety :]
Also, funny how the sparkle on jerma meme is still visible
AnaKaye
Awww… Talita cares.