Today on Quantum Vibe: Permit lunacy Strip 236 - Click strip above to goto the next strip.
First Seen: Mon 2011-11-14
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.
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
Seamus and Nicole begin walking along the corridor. They pass a sign reading, 'To shuttles.' Nicole is looking somewhat angry.
Nicole: You didn't expect – holy shuck, Seamus!
Nicole: What if I'd been caught on-planet without a 'permitz'?
Panel 2
Closer 2-shot of Nicole and Seamus.
Seamus: That's unlikely to happen, unless you needed to use it for some reason.
Seamus: In which case, they'd confiscate your zringer, haul you before a magistrate, and fine you 10,000 Miltons.
Panel 3
Another 2-shot. Nicole looks askance at Seamus.
Nicole: 10,000 Miltons – that's like 20 augrams!
Seamus: At current exchange rates, yes.
Seamus: And I'd cover that for you. Employee expense, you know.
Panel 4
Now they are walking among some other people, all going the same direction.
Nicole: Gee, thanks.
Nicole: But wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just get me a permit?
Panel 5
They approach a boarding gate. A sign reads, 'To Aldrinopolis.'
Seamus: Not really.
Seamus: A permit requires that you appear in-person, provide retinal and finger-print scans, and place a 25,000 Milton bond. Which is non refundable.
Panel 6
They pass by a gate agent. Seamus shows her the same cards he'd given to the first customs agent.
Nicole: Twenty-five … are you kidding?
Nicole: It's cheaper to pay the fine than to buy the permit?
Nicole: Why, that's … that's ...
Panel 7
Seamus and Nicole enter the shuttle. It looks like an airliner, with 3 seats on the right side, 2 seats on the other, an aisle down the middle.
Seamus: Lunacy? I suppose it appears that way from your perspective.
Seamus: But if the goal is to keep weapons out of the hands of the riff-raff, the hoi-polloi, then it makes some sense.
Panel 8
They take their seats in the front row. Seamus takes up the window-side two seats on the 3-seat side, Nicole takes the aisle seat.
Nicole: Riff-raff? Hoi-polloi?
Seamus: Lower classes. Concepts foreign to L-5 City, but widespread on Terra, Luna, and in our shared history.