Bug ferrets can't naturally speak the complex vocal languages of other sophonts, but spacer ferrets who work with aliens frequently get cybernetic implants to assist with communication. There is a wide range in quality, simpler implants like these help with enunciating vowels but don't help with tricky labial consonants. The terseness is unrelated, ferrets are just like that.
Transcript
Ferret 1: Friend of the A.I.?Ferret 2: We leafe soon.
Ferret 3: It’s too late.
Ferret 1: No, he’s still awake.
Ferret 3: The centaur should just text hin later.
Ferret 2: Don’t de rude.
Ferret 4: No conns.
Ferret 2: Fut in this jack.
They shove a bug ferret headset into Talita's hand.
Ferret 4: (signing on Talita's leg) You have a ninute.
The ferrets leave. Talita looks dazed.
Talita: Uh. Thanks.
She plugs the headset jack into one of the server rigs and puts it to her ear.
SFX: biiiii-boop
Calcery: Hello??
Talita: It felt wrong to let you leave without saying goodbye “in person”.
28 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 17”
Grape
I am re-reading through the first chapter and I just absolutely love everything about the world you’re building here. I especially liked noticing on this second read how tactile the BugFerrets are in general with like, everyone and everything. It makes so much sense given how they communicate, it just makes my brain to happy to notice.
Yell
I like when her head goes flatter
KrystalGhost
I can’t imagine being someone who is easily overwhelmed by noise as well as adverse to touch trying to interact with Bug Ferrets, a sensory nightmare. I love them, it would be so cool if the extraterrestrial life (if it does exist) that visits us were actually the bug ferrets like their lore says. But trying to talk with them would make my Adhd head explode lol
dokki
aboslutely enamored by the insane amount of inputs for calcery. humorous to imagine these are all audio jacks, but to different species’ standardization of them.
GreekCeltic
I love the bug ferrets
Rubicon Art
Love Talita’s baffled face, ahahaha it really brings me joy.
Ruby
I love the bug ferrets. Being autistic they’d overwhelm the heck out of me but seeing how they communicate is mesmerizing.
TotallySomebody
What does Calcery’s voice sound like? (Don’t mind me commenting twice on one page)
Jay Eaton
I didn’t have anything in mind besides a male register human voice. He does have a very good voice synthesizer program though so he sounds pretty “real.” Bip (whoever that is) has much crunchier vocals.
Robin
Where does the name Calcery come from? Also, are AI of the same manufacture given unique names, or are there other ‘Calcery’s?
Viashino_wizard
Sapient AI in RtsS aren’t manufactured, they’re “born” when an existing one creates a copy of themself that then becomes their own individual through divergent experiences. The original sapient AI (Nedebug, from “Needs Debug”) was created accidentally by Bug Ferrets- all other sapient AIs are descended from them.
Trees
Ha! Of course these handsy, communal sausage aliens can immediately provide an audio jack with absolutely no notice. Thats some excellent customer service.
I don’t know if it’s funnier if a chain of them instantly ‘to me, to you’d’ it across the room from a shelf somewhere off-screen or if they just have access to Hammerspace.
Hyratel
Contextually, logistically, and humorously, “to me, to you” is the most likely option: someone had a headset in their bag; for bugferrets, everyone in the room is part of the same conversation-context so ‘oh, i just got passed a headset, pass it on towards the one that needs it’ just works. Bugferrets have /extremely high/ social-sensory bandwidth (this comes up relevant later), so there can be like 5 conversations happening in overlapping subgroups at any given time
SIGSTKFLT
Can ferrets grok verbal languages without the implants?
Jay Eaton
Bug ferret hearing is a little less crisp than ours and worse at hearing high pitched tones, but they can understand ordinary speech just fine without cybernetics. There are also native ferret vocal languages, though they tend to be more limited in scope than their sign languages, or used in conjunction with visual sign.
SIGSTKFLT
<3
R
don’t de rude. you have a ninute. obsessed obsessed obsessed obsessed obsesseed
hessian
LITERALLY. im so sad that bug ferrets arent real. theyre so. <3<3<3<3<3
Harumin
Talita: asks one question to one ferret
Also Talita: gets ten answers from a hundred ferrets and a bonus thousand paw prints.
I love her stressed out face. I’d be the same lol. Ferrets are fantastic design-wise but being one or interacting with them sounds like a nightmare lol
I love the little detail of Talita moving her trunk mouth closer to the mic!
Joseph Lloyd
I love the bug ferrets attempts at speaking English.
Eeble Deeble
Bug ferrets are such funny guys, getting to see them in action in comic form is wonderful
Trashsidhe
I bet being grabbed and tapped on by bugferrets is like being gently grabbed by a dog sized rat and I actually love that
Ikevenon
Love the individual ferrets on this page! There’s so many of them and they move so much, Talita looks a bit overwhelmed (me too, Talita, me too) What do ferrets sound like when they speak? Based on the text bubble wiggly-ness I imagine they sound a little croaky
Jay Eaton
Croaky, fairly deep, and usually trying to talk faster than they have the ability to enunciate.
Ikevenon
I see I see! Just like me fr lol
TotallySomebody
Talita I cannot express my love for your silly facial expressions
Sparky Lurkdragon
“Don’t de rude” has been a periodic vocal stim for me since I read it on Patreon. Love the ferrets. XD
tminusfiveminutes
I love that the ferret is subconsciously trying to tactile sign Talita