Annnd that's the end of the chapter. Can you guess how the title was thematically relevant?
As always, I'll be drawing some character responses to reader questions after the log pages post. You can submit questions for the characters to reply to here (remember to read the rules). This time around I will probably be doing one question response per update to make it more sustainable for myself.
Transcript
The projector on the back of Talita's tablet flicks on, projecting a gigantic version of Bip's icon and their speech bubbles on the ceiling and back wall of Talita's apartment.
Bip: WELCOME, ACCOMPLICES! READY TO BREAK SOME LAWS?
Gillie grins ecstatically, looking at the giant Bip with sparkling eyes. Idrisah looks haggard as a the reality of the situation sinks in.
Idrisah: Is it too late to leave–
Talita: (grimacing) Yep.
77 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 134”
JoB
Uhhh … given that Talita(‘s tablet) is offset to our right and in front of us, Bip’s hind foot showing on the (closer to us) curtain should be offset from the leg to the *right* as well, rather than the left, shouldn’t it … ? Same with the part of the leg showing on the ceiling lamps …
LegendofMoriad
This page is just amazing!
Storm
I can also the zucchini as representing the overwhelm and monotony they’re all experiencing working here for so long, like here’s more zucchini. Here’s even more zucchini, better figure out what to do with it. Are you tired of zucchini yet? Too bad, here’s more. Bip says something like “have fun coming up with more recipes for zucchini,” and I think it’s like, have fun continuing to slog through and trying to come up with reasons you still like it here. The zucchini never ends. Everything tastes like zucchini.
Origamigryphon
I think this is my favorite interpretation.
Zuorai
I was thinking zucchini represented a hypothetical watchful eye? Like it’s something that’s always there with the human Ixion workers and the “new recipes for zucchini” meant ways to navigate around getting caught, and Idrisah avoiding Rasheed at the end is her and Gillie’s gateway out of getting in trouble with Bip.
DOSRG
Genuinely so awesome to see the characters Ive enjoyed for so long in the context of the main story. I love everything im seeing
also really interesting to see the reactions of those who are brand new to RTTS vs those who have followed the universe for a while. Challenges some of the ways i’ve come to view the characters and is really interesting to wonder how the relationships will build from where they are now to the relationships I know will form- unless of course it’s all a masterful bait and switch and we’re going to hard turn into space horror lol
Hunter
I love how Gillie is so damn excited XD
Ruby
In my mind Bip is saying this like a wrestling announcer
JoB
“Leeeeeet’s get ready to Raumfahrt!!”
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Raumfahrt
arf
It is time…
Time… for Crime!
HughJass
Calling it now: Bip caused all those things that made the project viable. Bip got all those prototype ships sent down and messed with the aluminum supplier to clear up the schedule. The luck’s too good, and I get the feeling he’s more devious than we’re lead to believe.
Sparky Lurkdragon
The best Bip moment thus far. XD
Guest
Honestly with how happy Bip is to eavesdrop, I’d be worried that on the Runaway no-one has any privacy, which makes me feel dread.
Jay Eaton
Eavesdrop? She called them just now.
JoB
Only twice (by name) … I thought it’s traditional to call *three* times to prompt such an entrance? 😀
Googily
If they weren’t eavesdropping, then they wouldn’t know the group agreed to repair him and send him off, so Bip wouldn’t call them “accomplices” yet. They’ve done this a few times already, where they do something outrageous to distract from the fact that they’ve violated somebody’s privacy or a previous verbal agreement.
Beans
Talita said she had great news. I think acceptance of Bip’s request is the only good news to Bip, so they made a (correct) assumption on that
0xabad1dea
I think Bip was not eavesdropping – they are going to respect Talita’s direct, personal request not to listen in on her home uninvited, but they’re almost certainly aware of the general business situation of the incoming spaceships and sudden schedule issues, hence understand what a phone call about “good news” entails – but you might be interested in looking into the Ancillary Justice series, which explores the idea of space stations and spaceships having central AIs that really are listening to everyone, everywhere, all the time. In that world setting, it’s quite clear to the reader that the AIs do have feelings and opinions, but the humans are strongly encouraged to think of them as robotic, so they can socially tolerate this level of snooping.
40
Bip seems to be not the worst with spying and all that. But could an AI just lay low and just stalk a whole colony of people and subtly influence their lives without anyone noticing? There’s gotta be systems in place to prevent that, but then again Bip is hacking into things pretty easily.
Feles
LOOOOOOL
Paroxysmall
the progression of how the character AMA rules have been written is its own story
Jay Eaton
Fighting for my life over here trying to get people to not submit unusable questions
Lilac
Well they did say it was a nice projector……..
Vinemaple
So, about an hour and a half ago, while looking forward to loading this page for the first time, I came up with my final pre-reveal guess to why the lights went out on the last page: the thing Mel wasn’t listening to Calcery about was the fact that the power plant is on the verge of failure, and Calcery didn’t want to be caught on an unpowered station. Why Calcery couldn’t have gone around Mel for something that critical is something I never figured out.
Googily
Once again, Bip masterfully manipulates the rest of the cast with eye-catching theatrics and now none of them are going to notice how he was absolutely listening in to their whole conversation.
Not meant to be complaining here, just hope one of them calls out Bip for his responsibility-avoidant behavior at some point.
Phlosioneer
Yeeeaaahhhh
dokki
*their
Guest
Awww I love you Bip.
Cobbington
Bip is having a Pennywise moment
JoB
“… and soon you’ll be down here with me, and you’ll float in space too.”
“You’re not ‘down here’, but up on my ceiling, and not ‘floating’ but projected onto it.”
“… spoilsport.”
BravoLimaPoppa
Flair for the dramatic +1.
Also, Gillie, I love you, but your orange side is showing through there.
TotallySomebody
Gillie is a white cat! (I think?)
TotallySomebody
Yep! https://jayeaton.site/Art/RttS/AMA/1
scrunky
White cats are basically albino oranges, I have two of them so I should know lol.
Peter Jensen
Which also tracks with her deafness (highly common in white cats, particularly white cats with blue eyes). IIRC, some of the same genes are involved in some congenital deafness types in humans.
evileeyore
She a bottle orange, they’re 100% more cray-cray than natural oranges.
(Because they know ‘oranges’ [red-heads] have a reputation of being fiery and crazy, so they work extra hard to over live up to the expectations.)
Gheesfellow
If this didn’t look like a deal with the devil before, it does now!
Fallingfeather
I loooove how Bip’s speech bubbles are both representations of sounds (for our use, because webcomics are silent), but also literal within the space so Gillie can read them as well.
DasGanon
Good time to point out one of my favorite words “diagetic” which basically means “seen to the characters, not just the players/readers/listeners”
So Bip has Diagetic Speech Bubbles.
Sen
Bip shows you can be a shifty, little gremlin and people will still love you, as long as you have charisma.
Uh
Bug on the ceiling !!!
JoB
> Can you guess how the title was thematically relevant?
… the threat of being handed a metric ton of zucchini when they show up kept the actual police from busting everyone here and now?
·
“Is it too late to leave?”
“Yep.”
“… alright then.” [chucks tablet out an airlock instead]
TotallySomebody
Bip. Bip I love you.
qoala
It really _is_ a nice projector, isn’t it?
Chrysalis
The feeling when so MUCH good fortune falls in your lap all at once that it starts to feel oppressive and a little ominous, but what are you going to do, NOT accept the free food? (And/or windows of criminal opportunity?)
Anyway, i don’t know about thematic relevance, I’m assuming it’s because Bip’s avatar is kind of zucchini shaped
Vinemaple
No, it’s what you said in your first paragraph! What are you going to do, NOT accept the free opportunities?
Soup
Do Talita’s eyes glow in the dark, like a cats? That’s so cool :0!!
Peter Jensen
Yep, centaurs have a tapetum lucidum like structure. It shows up a number of times in the comic, like when she’s outside working (and I love that attention to detail, BTW). Also a key part of this out-of-current-timeline comic:
https://jayeaton.site/Art/RttS/Comics/TalitaShyamStarlight
Filiya
There’s been a question that’s been bugging me for a few weeks now, but I don’t know where best to ask it.
Apparently centaurs are the strongest of the sophonts. Avians are probably stronger than scuds, and humans are stronger than avians. But how strong are bug ferrets relative to humans? Bug ferrets’ limbs seem pretty thin and they have limitations for building muscle mass. But bug ferrets are heavy, which means they are not weak. Could an average bug ferret beat a strong non-modified human in arm wrestling? How good are bug ferrets at carrying heavy weights?
Vinemaple
Intellectually I know there are many valid reasons for wondering about this, but emotionally I’m concerned about why you think this is important
HAL9000
intergalactic interspecies olympics would be riveting to watch ngl
JoB
Heck, INTRAspecies olympics should be interesting, at least with the humans!
https://www.runawaytothestars.com/comic/rtts-page-51/
Filiya
Since I think about this sort of thing a lot in relation to developing my aliens, I’m curious how other authors handle it. Not that I personally want to overpower a bug ferret in battle. Though maybe I wouldn’t mind testing how tight they can hug.
40
“When it comes to bones, bug ferrets are a weird case. Their distant ancestors were exoskeletal and molted to grow in size. A clade split off from this group that had less molting events during life, instead molting from an exoskeletal larvae into an adult form that had a layer of fat and skin over the skeleton, allowing for continuous growth and reshaping of the bones on all sides by living cells. Bug ferrets are descendants of that clade, but now their only true exoskeletal stage is embryonic. The bug ferret exoskeleton is now tough but springy plates that run the length of their body like a living armor– very useful for shoving your body through dirt and surviving tunnel cave-ins. Some hard plates on the face, like the mouth parts and eye caps, are still technically exoskeletal and get shed annually.
Because of this evolutionary history, most bug ferret muscles attach inside their hollow, tubular bones, such as the retractor muscle of their claws. Fat storage is on the outside of their bones, allowing them to gain adipose tissue freely, but they have a hard limit on how much muscular bulk their body can support.”
40
So I can’t say anything about their average strength, but with squishy bones and finite muscles there’s not gonna be a very high upper limit.
Apollo235
You can ask Jay questions directly on their tumblr, at the top of the page theres an ask button
Filiya
Thanks! That’s probably what I’ll do
Jay Eaton
Strength has a very high correlation with body weight. This is because if you weigh 100 kg, you have to be able to lift at least 100 kg to walk, and etc. Centaurs are the strongest sophonts if you’re measuring the average kg weight they can lift, simply because they have to be.
Bug ferrets are on average heavier than humans, so on average they can lift more. However, going by percentage of their body weigh they can lift, bug ferrets have a harder upper limit to how much muscle mass they can build, while for humans the upper limit tapers off more and can reach a higher percentage of our body weight than bug ferrets.
Phlosioneer
I don’t get the zucchini thing 🙁
gabite
zucchini are kind of famous for being easily overgrown. you just kind of end up with a lot of it
Adrienne
I don’t either… I’m guessing either 1. stripes on a zucchini are like the stripes on a prisoner’s clothes 2. zucchinis are very vivacious plants, hard to stop once they get started
Microw
Zucchini are known to be very prolific in terms of how much they produce, and knowing someone who has one means sometimes you end up in situations in which it is far too late to say no thank you i don’t need more zucchini because you have already been given a ton of zucchini before you have a chance to say no
I wouldn’t know this emotion as much however, because for the past few years squash bugs have been very determined to kill my mom’s zucchini plants, and also I love zucchini
Vinemaple
Rashid pushing excessive numbers of zucchini on all the humans is a metaphor for the excessive number of plot coupons (i. e. opportunities to repair and steal the Runaway) that *somebody* (Bip? Jay Eaton?) is pushing on Talita and the Touati-Sharpes.
HughJass
I think the Zucchini also represents the mundane, ordinary and suffocating aspects of the everyday life. It’s nutritious and keeps you full, but the monotony from having the same thing all day every day for weeks on end can be suffocating. These characters are deeply bored and are expressly teaming up with Bip because it’s something new and exciting outside of their routines, as if they are craving any novel flavor experience other than yet another goddang meal of zucchini.
They want something new so badly that they’re about to start chugging metaphorical hot sauce.
Gar G
I knew it was theatrics XDD
Alex
Ah, it was just Bip who wanted to make a joke, getting projected from Talita’s Tablet!
Origamigryphon
Them laws ain’t gonna break themselves!! Yeehaw!
Filiya
Ahaha, they are delicious!
Skrymer
Gillie’s face is everything 💖
Cuttlefishman
Wicked page, love it!
Anon
Love this 😀
SoylentRobot
oh my god i just realised its runAway not runway
im so dumb
Paroxysmall
it’s okay i think a lot of people thought/think that too, it would be a cute idea having everyone do a fashion show or maybe seeing/riding in a plane if they haven’t before lol