Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

[keybounce]

Stabbing them with a weapon on the other hand....

Give a man a bullet, and you kill him for a day.
Teach a man to shoot a bullet, and you kill the whole society

?

[The Glyphstone]

Sell a man a gun and he becomes a customer.
Teach a man to build a gun and he becomes a competitor.

[HouseRules]

Rubbing Important People.

Intentionally taken out of context.

Rubbings, not Rubbish

and

I usually get thrown out before I can talk to important people.

[factotum]

Hmmmm. Writing inscribed onto really, really expensive metals? Where have I heard that before?

[TaRix]

Hmmmm. Writing inscribed onto really, really expensive metals? Where have I heard that before?

Oh, if all the definition you get is from a crayon, it really is a thousand years of kitten videos.

[halfeye]

Oh, if all the definition you get is from a crayon, it really is a thousand years of kitten videos.

Brass rubbing is an old technique, and not as accurate as might be preferred given alternatives, but if it's all you have, it's much better than nothing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_rubbing

[Grim Portent]

I'm mostly wondering what kind of three year old takes rubbings of writing from ship debris and what kind of family keeps stuff like that for five generations.

[HandofShadows]

I'm mostly wondering what kind of three year old takes rubbings of writing from ship debris and what kind of family keeps stuff like that for five generations.

The kid probably realized that the rubbings were important even if she didn't know what to do with them when she got older.

[halfeye]

The kid probably realized that the rubbings were important even if she didn't know what to do with them when she got older.

Possibly this is an idiot who faked them, we'll probably find out tomorrow.

[geoduck]

Possibly this is an idiot who faked them, we'll probably find out tomorrow.

It'd be sad if Howard introduced this guy just to make a quick joke of him and have him again tossed out on his ear.

[halfeye]

It'd be sad if Howard introduced this guy just to make a quick joke of him and have him again tossed out on his ear.

Yeah, I'd prefer it if that wasn't it, but at this point it's one of the possibilities.

[Rockphed]

Possibly this is an idiot who faked them, we'll probably find out tomorrow.

... my money is on this being the probe that was used to extract the dinosaurs and then used to contact the cannonball of doom.

[DeTess]

... my money is on this being the probe that was used to extract the dinosaurs and then used to contact the cannonball of doom.

Yep. At some point the distant prologue has to connect with the rest of the story, and this seems a pretty good way to do it.

[Onyavar]

I bet the Professor never heard of the Hrathi before...

I also bet that he went to this conference to impress esteemed colleagues and to score academic points... But that he's hooked by real historical importance now.

[HouseRules]

Well, it seems the conference is going to get connections to older civilization, one step at a time, until the oldest civilization is contacted.

Well, a galaxy cannot be saved forever because a galaxy has limited energy and mass. The only way is to conqueror other galaxies for material and energy.

[guttering flame]

Well, it seems the conference is going to get connections to older civilization, one step at a time, until the oldest civilization is contacted.

Well, a galaxy cannot be saved forever because a galaxy has limited energy and mass. The only way is to conqueror other galaxies for material and energy.

There's stil the death heat of the universe the day after that.

[Max_Killjoy]

There's stil the death heat of the universe the day after that.

When your star runs out, find another star.

When your galaxy runs out, find another galaxy.

When your universe runs out, find another universe.

[The Glyphstone]

When your star runs out, find another star.

When your galaxy runs out, find another galaxy.

When your universe runs out, find another universe.

Or make one.

[Radar]

Or make one.

As an answer to The Last Question?

[HouseRules]

Like Goku's Instant Transmission could travel the radius of a universe? Go to another Universe or Make another Universe.

[Rockphed]

Or make one.

And they already know how to do that. The problem is getting inside the new universe unharmed.

[HouseRules]

I though they already went into a new universe. Well Kevyn and Schlock did when they took the Zoojack Gate to Zoojack Gate in an alternate timeline.

PS: Thurl stays in Maxim 41.

[Kornaki]

Now that he has the formula, why does he need the data? Just use their formula.

[keybounce]

You still need observational data to plug into the formula to calibrate things.

[Kornaki]

You still need observational data to plug into the formula to calibrate things.

Calibrate what things? Presumably the need for data is to pick coefficients in the formula from current position of the galaxy to what time it is now. He has the formula, there's no need to pick coefficients.

Maybe he needs to know how many of our seconds translate into one unit of their time, but Iif he still needs millions of years to wait for the galaxy to rotate enough to learn that, then it's pretty worthless as a clock anyway.

[Douglas]

I read that as saying that he needs the data for calibrating his own clock's formula. Now that he has the already-calibrated Hrathi formula he may not need the clock he made anymore, but if he wants to maintain it anyway it will take all that data to calibrate.

[HandofShadows]

I wonder how much of the "bill" the Toughs has shrunk because of what they have done recently.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I wonder how much of the "bill" the Toughs has shrunk because of what they have done recently.

Who knows? It's not like they are the main characters of the strip anymore.

Grey Wolf

[The Glyphstone]

I wish Howard had chosen to follow the Schuul-led civil war/rebellion plot instead of the AI godhead plot. That would have kept the action at a level relevant to the Toughs, instead of this sprawling plotline of exposition and literal talking heads.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I wish Howard had chosen to follow the Schuul-led civil war/rebellion plot instead of the AI godhead plot. That would have kept the action at a level relevant to the Toughs, instead of this sprawling plotline of exposition and literal talking heads.

I wish he had officially finished the Mercenary comic before moving on. I don't mind the new characters (some of them, anyway - I do like Sorlie), but the rate at which completely new characters are being added in what should be the last act of the story is, IMnpHO, bad writing. If he wants to tell stories with new characters, that's fine, but tacking them on to this story rather than spinning them off to a new one is just not that great.

ETA: Also bad: they are all so same-y. I no longer can remember who all the balloon ones are or what their personalities look like. And there seem to be more and more of them, all with impossible to remember names. I am not good at remembering characters by the colour of the skin.

Grey Wolf