Today on Quantum Vibe: Person or property Strip 126 - Click strip above to goto the next strip.
First Seen: Mon 2011-06-13
Story & Art: Scott Bieser - Sci-Fi Adventure Monday & Thursday.
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.
Not Safe [ Apr 24, 2022 ]
Starting Monday 4-25-2022, with part 3 of QUANTUM VIBE: This Means War, each strip installment has been extended to have six panels rather than four. We believe this will enable a smoother, fuller story flow for the reader. We will also be limiting uploads of QUANTUM VIBE to one installment per week so Scott has time to develop a new spin-off strip, Not-Safe.
Not-Safe will be a NSFW strip set in the Assimulation galaxy depicted in Volume 5, with Eithne Lamdagan as the central character. Our hope is it will bring in enough money so Scott can hire a colorist again and he can start producing more QUANTUM VIBE strips. More info coming soon.
Panel 1
Still in the corridor intersection, Abdi takes leave of Nicole and Hitomi.
Abdi: Hitomi, if you're not busy, would you mind finishing Ms Oresme's tour?
Abdi: Captain Pinder has just called me to the control deck.
Hitomi: Certainly.
Panel 2
Hitomi and Nicole continue down a corridor.
Nicole: So … what is your status here? Are you free-contract? Are you property?
Hitomi: Would you ask that question of anyone else in this crew, Ms Oresme?
Panel 3
A bit embarrassed, Nicole follows Hitomi up a spiral stair-shaft
Nicole: Oh! Well, not unless human chattel slavery has been revived. And, it's Nicole.
Hitomi: Ah, well, it happens that such does exist, in certain parts of the system, Nicole.
Panel 4
Hitomi leads Nicole through a hatchway.
Hitomi: But to answer your question, I was once property, but now I am free.
Hitomi: I met Captain Pinder five years ago, on Huoxing.
Panel 5
The two enter a broad room with a very large, wide observation window. A few chairs and small tables give the room a lounge quality.
Hitomi: This is our observation lounge. I love to sit here sometimes and meditate on the stars.
Nicole: So what happened when you met Pinder?
Panel 6
Looking at Hitomi and Nicole from outside the ship, through the observation window.
Hitomi: We worked out a deal – he purchased me from my former owner, then took me off-world and manumitted me.
Nicole: Just like that?
Panel 7
Close-up of Hitomi.
Hitomi: I promised to work for him and his crew – doing what I do best, for three standard years.
Hitomi: Then I could go where I like.
Panel 8e
Two-shot of Nicole and Hitomi – Nicole looks a bit dubious.
Nicole: Three years … but you said that was five years ago?
Hitomi: I chose to remain – I now have an at-will contract and am paid a share just like the other crew-members.