Today on Quantum Vibe: The smoking gun Strip 678 - Click strip above to goto the next strip.
First Seen: Fri 2013-09-27
Story & Art: Scott Bieser - Colors: Zeke 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.
Panel 1
Resuming flashback, now with Chelsea's cameo in the upper corner. The scene shows the pair sitting on a sofa in someone's living room, conversing intently.
Chelsea: 'So we examined everything we knew, and noted all the anomalies.
Chelsea: 'As the days passed, the worst of our theories became more and more viable.'
Panel 2
Medium close 2-shot of Ed and Chelsea, both looking horrified.
Ed: They're going to send a 183 kilotonne, black carbon planetoid smashing into Ceres!!!
Panel 3
Back to present. Nicole and Antigone are shocked.
Nicole: Ceres?!
Antigone: That could kill hundreds of thousands! It could alter Ceres' orbit!
Nicole: Why the shuck would they do that?
Panel 4
Ed and Chelsea, with Nicole just visible to the far right.
Ed: That's what we wondered, at first.
Chelsea: Then I found out the identity of a rock-wrangling ship – registered out of Hygiea -- that had pushed the black rock on its new course.
Panel 5
Medium close-up on Chelsea.
Chelsea: I tried to hail it, but got no response.
Chelsea: I got a track on its present course, headed for Hesperia, which has an outpost owned by an Hygiean company.
Panel 6
Medium close-up on Ed.
Ed: Then I found the smoking gun: An encoded message sent to the ship from Vesta, although it was disguised as coming from Hygiea.
Ed: It acknowledged the ship had pushed the rock towards Ceres and promised payment on arrival at Hesperia from a Hygiean account.
Panel 7
Chelsea, Nicole and Antigone.
Nicole: So, they're setting up a frame for this crime on the Hygieans! Why?
Antigone: To start a war.
Antigone: It's an old game: 'Let's you and him fight.'
Antigone: Vesta Vista could make a fortune selling arms and support to both sides, and rebuilding after the war.
Panel 8
Ed, Chelsea and Nicole, Antigone barely visible. Nicole is scowling.
Ed: We think there's more to it than that. After all, Vesta Vista does just fine with its current projects.
Chelsea: We have some indications that Omega-Tek and the Lunar government are involved.
Nicole: Loonies. It figures.