Runaway to the Stars: Page 98
Posted on November 19, 2024 by Jay Eaton

Guards!! Arrest her!! She's assisting a criminal!!!

Transcript

Cheevwut: I’m clocking out.
Talita: Seeya, Cheev.

Talita is sitting in her dark apartment on her tablet with a keyboard attached, looking at the automated cycle command input in the employee portal. After a pause thinking about it, she types in a custom command.

Talita: (looking behind herself warily) …Bip?

Bip's avatar appears on the tablet screen, making her mane stand on end.

Bip: Yeah?
Talita: I’ll repair your power connection tomorrow. No guarantees on anything else.

Runaway to the Stars: Page 98
Posted on November 19, 2024 by Jay Eaton

Guards!! Arrest her!! She's assisting a criminal!!!

Transcript

Cheevwut: I’m clocking out.
Talita: Seeya, Cheev.

Talita is sitting in her dark apartment on her tablet with a keyboard attached, looking at the automated cycle command input in the employee portal. After a pause thinking about it, she types in a custom command.

Talita: (looking behind herself warily) …Bip?

Bip's avatar appears on the tablet screen, making her mane stand on end.

Bip: Yeah?
Talita: I’ll repair your power connection tomorrow. No guarantees on anything else.

60 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 98”

  1. eden

    conceptualizing how asians move always messes me up. they’re arms and legs have literally switched places and it makes SENSE considering that parrots do everything with their feet but then they’re wings are also legs so they balance on their leg-arms and hyper extend their arm-legs to do things lololol

    1. pip

      i think you mean avians 👀

  2. samkee00

    Like, I feel like repairing Bip is the most ethical choice she could make, criminal or not. That’s a whole-ass sapient being, not repairing them would be like having the power to heal someone’s TBI and just choosing not to. I suppose she could’ve turned them in, but I don’t know how much AI are protected under the Powers That Be

  3. Gar G

    Amazing shot once more. Oh I just noticed that it’s not just her mane; look at her trunk too

    1. WolfenReader

      Trunk-hackles! XD

  4. Fallingfeather

    In their defense Talita, where did you THINK they were going to start talking from

  5. cain

    I wonder if the Custom_Command is to clear the path for the new junkers, or something to do with Bip. If it’s the latter, this seems very traceable, Talita…

    1. evileeyore

      I didn’t get it the first couple of times I read it either, but yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s about clearing the rail line.

      In other words our girl is working off the clock. Nooooo Talita no! Never work off the clock!

    2. cain

      In retrospect it’s probably both

  6. sixeyes

    immediately proceeds to do funny business

  7. Sen

    I assume Talita could control all RC vehicles from home with programs like Cal did? Does she sometimes do work from home?
    And another great shot of Bird on Bike. I shall call it the BoB ^..^

  8. Translunary_Animus

    More fantastic Talita reaction images spotted here. Also the attention to detail for the Ixion employee website is impressive! I think I’d just give up halfway through designing a webspace like that and substitute squiggles. It sort of reminds me of my old job’s employee portal (in a good way). Though I don’t think we ever had a group calendar.

  9. JoB

    “www.ixionrecyclingplant.CHUTZPA.com”? Someone had an unusual streak of honesty when registering that domain. :-3

  10. c-rowles

    I love the attention to detail with every computer/digital screen in this comic! The extra effort to create smooth graphics and real-looking webpages really adds something special.

    1. Jay Eaton

      Thanks 😭 I design them in separate layer images and then copymerge/transform them to fit the screens on the comic page. It’s obnoxious but I really prefer how it looks

  11. Guest

    I don’t know why it never occurred to me but of course Talita would have to use a humongous keyboard. It was probably expensive, too. I love worldbuilding details like this.

  12. un_pogaz

    Question: In this advance future, does anyone know what the save icons represent originaly? Or was it lost in time?
    Legacy thing like this are way too much fun to watch.

    1. Guest

      Skeuomorphism is interesting. I bet that at the time this comic’s set in, it just registers to some as an abstract icon like the power symbol. And then semiotics nerds can tell you it represents an obsolete technology as a fun fact. I wonder if Talita knows what a floppy disc is. I feel like she might.

      1. AnaKaye

        OMG, this is my first time encountering that term in the wild since I learned it in a uni course a year or two ago. Squee!

      2. DasGanon

        I’m sure it’s lost to all but nerds in the same way all of the typesetting/printing terms are.

        Like “Cliche” or “Stereotype”

        1. The Occupant

          Or Upper Case and Lower Case

        2. JoB

          On the flip side, you can openly compliment people for their “keming”. 😀
          https://www.infragistics.com/community/blogs/b/ux/posts/keming-or-the-importance-of-not-being-a-click

        3. Trees

          Interesting. You learn something new every day, or so they say.

        4. AnaKaye

          Heh. I used to work in that field, so does that make me an even nerdier nerd? LOL

  13. Paroxysmall

    Talita why are you typing in the dark

    1. creetur

      Staying up till 3 AM happens when you have a lot on your mind and a stranded AI buddy awaiting your answer

      1. JoB

        That clock on her tablet says *15*:43, though. 😀

        1. AnaKaye

          So, almost 4 AM, then. That tracks; I’ve been known to stay up later for less. (ahem)

        2. HAL9000

          yeah its only quarter to 4 in the afternoon, weird its so dark? unless shes like, turned off the workshop lights already?

        3. HAL9000

          nvm i cannot see. just realised the background is her house, shes in her room not the workshop. i guess the clock is a typo or misreading

        4. Apollo235

          In lore Centaurs are supposed to sleep 12 hours for every 24, and Talita is usually sleep deprived. Perhaps she’s taking advantage of the short workday to catch up on sleep? especially since she kinda screwed it up during the weekend as we saw

        5. AnaKaye

          I mean, I was under the impression their night cycle varied… maybe I misread an earlier comic or some explanation somewhere. If you’re right and they have the clocks keyed to what most of us would recognize as a normal 24-hour day, then yeah, this is weird. (When is Bing Bong again?)

    2. theplushfrog

      Have you ever been so stressed that you don’t turn on the lights in your apartment bc you don’t want to acknowledge reality? That or I assume Bip was using up all of Talita’s power again.

  14. AnaKaye

    I’m looking at that bicycle wheel with the exposed spokes and thinking, “That’s way too close to the feathers of the avian pedaling it.” Wouldn’t a bike designed for avians have some type of safety shielding to prevent accidentally catching the user’s anatomy?

    1. creetur

      I mean, Cheev’s leg feathers are folded up and seem to be far away enough to where the tips wouldn’t get caught the wheel spokes, at least from what I see, so it wouldn’t be an issue. That, or it’s a human bike they borrowed.

  15. Lilac

    The running gag of bip just like mildly jumpscaring her every time they just like Show Up is really funny

    1. Lilac

      Wow I did not realize how badly I wrote that sentence until I sent it good lord I apologize

    2. feesh

      although, i feel like she looks a little less freaked out each time! maybe after the next couple jumpscares she won’t even puff up anymore

  16. 1d4Nadg

    Her big keyboard is called “Bigtyppi”, I love it

    1. abledbody

      I think it’s called BigType®

      1. 1d4Nadg

        This is actually more likely, but it’s too late. I have a useless head canon now. Im a BigTyppi believer all the way down.

        Anyway, I love those kind of details, the BigTyppi keyboard being just barely big enough for her to type with her hooved fingers really reminds you of her size and the adaptations she needs. Just like every single page, of course.

        1. JoB

          Indeed, she *could* use a still-bigger one …
          https://hackaday.com/2022/08/27/giant-keyboard-is-just-our-type/

  17. the nonyer

    glad to see the floppy disk is still the preferred save icon, i wonder what bug ferrets use

    1. 40

      A separate window for all the various ways to save and export things each decorated with oh god too many little drawings.

    2. JoB

      You can see it on this idling terminal:
      https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/181588913633/another-old-patreon-comic-for-runaway-to-the
      … *somewhere*, I’m quite certain …

      1. Trees

        What in the Thomas-the-Tank-Engine-themed-Las-Vegas-casino-slot-machine-Christmas-music-in-October-playing-1980s-microfiche ass hell is this?
        Can you imagine how this thing sounds!?! Three sets of klaxons! What are the hooks for? Is that an umbrella stand?

        Every time I learn more about the bug ferrets I feel like a cat thats been brushed the wrong way.

        1. JoB

          “Why, dear sophont, thank you for your interest! That is an ERF²-2327ß-φζυДЉ-42¾ standard computer terminal, if you’ll forgive the crude approximation of the model designation in your linear script. Compared to its predecessors, it has a number of adaptations so as to make it more accessible to humans; note the admin-mode-commands lever on the left using a Terran-inspired user input system
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptex
          instead of the usual SnuffleCode™ device for unlocking, and the designated bang-your-head-here cushion on the right!”

        2. Trees

          Well I suppose I do appreciate the integrated stock ticker and human-edible mixed nut dispenser.

        3. evileeyore

          It’s a terminal designed by and for the most hyper-active ADHAD attention deficit suffers in the known universe.

          It’s a massive stimming engine fueled by nervous energy and purposed to channel that bottomless well of motion into productively managing to get boarding passes, plan their next family get together, watch four operas, read a book and take two online courses.

  18. Uh

    Someone call the Space Police

  19. Greenjoe

    Interesting, there’s a tab called Human Resources, you’d think it would be Sophont Resources now.

    1. Mr. Skeleton

      HR continues to suck no matter the time period.

    2. Imperial Watch

      *A human wearing vaguely roman, vaguely 15th century plate armor sprints into the room and comes to an abrupt stop *
      Stop! You violated the law! Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence. Your stolen goods are now forfeit.
      [Go to jail]
      [Resist arrest]
      [Pay the fine]

    3. theplushfrog

      I thought that was interesting too, especially considering how many avians are also employed, unless I’ve missed on the divide of who is employed by what company.

      1. evileeyore

        According to the Platonic Ideal, a plucked avian is a human….

        /Diogenes grins wickedly…

  20. Apollo235

    God, Jay is so good at facial expressions

  21. Claire

    I dunno whats on her ceiling in the last panel, but it makes it look like she has floating cartoon eyebrows. < : o

    1. Jay Eaton

      Clearly it’s her halo

  22. creetur

    Can’t say no to the suave criminal AI.
    Jokes aside, I’m glad she agreed. Means she might actually get off of Dirtball (and, hopefully, get some nicer company than her temps)

    1. creetur

      That, and Bip can get themself repaired!

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