Today on Quantum Vibe: Liability issues Strip 1515 - Click strip above to goto the next strip.
First Seen: Fri 2017-01-20
Story & Art: Scott Bieser - Colors: Lea Jean Badelles Sci-Fi Adventure Monday & Thursday.
To boldly go where no manic pixie dream girl has gone before.
Quantum Vibe
A thousand years in the future, humanity has colonized worlds in nearly
100 galaxies, thanks to Quantum Vibremonic technologies developed five
centuries earlier. Other new technologies have created various
off-shoots of humanity and extended life expectancies five-fold. The
story begins with how a mad scientist and his plucky assistant, along
with their robot friend, brought humanity to the stars, and continues
with the adventures of some unique people in fantastic places.
What Comes Next [ Mar 18, 2024 ]
The war is over, but This Means War has a ways to go. Novo Paolo/Bubbleopolis is still in a nebula/stellar nursery, no one knows what happened to the planet Sharen (center of the Intergalactic Council), and the status of the now-surrendered Invaders is yet to be resolved. What will they do when they learn their homeworld is basically destroyed? Will Alyss and Li be re-united? How about Diana (the real one) and Otto?
These questions will be resolved in the next few weeks, before This Means War part 3 wraps in late May.
After that, I plan to go BACK in time about 400 years, to when Alyss and Li left their home in the Sol System to colonize a new world on the far side of the galaxy. As one might expect, hijinks ensue. New subtitle yet to be determined, start date sometime in around the start of July. Stay tuned!
Panel 1
CP, Murphy and Hugo walk through a room full of large machinery.
Murphy: This is our fabrication center, where we can make any number of replacement parts or tools we might need in our travels.
Murphy: For raw materials we can mine asteroids, or skim smaller gas-planets.
Panel 2
The trio stands behind a broad window overlooking a very large, complex machine with conduits extending in all directions.
Murphy: This is our main power-plant. It converts strong-atomic-force energy in heavy-metal fuel cells into useable electro-gravitic forms.
CP: You don't use matter-anti-matter annihilation energy?
Murphy: We have found that technology highly volatile, and liability issues make it cost-prohibitive for starship use.
Panel 3
Close three-shot of Hugo, CP and Murphy.
CP: 'Liability issues'?
Murphy: If one of us causes injuries to another, even by accident, then one is 'liable' for the damages, and must compensate the injured party.
CP: Yes, I understand the concept, but ...
Panel 4
The trio resume walking past the window.
CP: Doesn't the public good of having space-travel over-ride liability?
CP: If highly useful technology is suppressed due to liability, how can you advance?
Murphy: We advance with great care and integrity.
Panel 5
The trio walk down another corridor.
CP: We do not lack integrity. Our government compensates any who are injured by accidents, to the extent possible.
CP: When negligence is involved, of course, those responsible are sanctioned.
Hugo: Sanctioned? In what way?
Panel 6
Still walking. Hugo is rolling his eyes.
CP: Depending on the circumstances, by loss of privileges, de-motion or re-assignment to lesser occupations, or imprisonment in the worst cases.
CP: But we don't maim or execute people. We are civilized.
Hugo: Oh yes, prisons are so much more civilized.