Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts

[sihnfahl]

I've no idea what is involved in moving moons around at their tech level, but I stand by my speculation that it involved a certain amount of manpower, which provided an influx of money to the station.

The process is not complete. The process is in progress.

That's how Florence & Co were even capable of getting the contract. All the normal transport ships are involved in the simultaneous action of taking the previous attempt back into the gas planet's orbit and bringing the replacement moon into the planet's orbit.

The station probably can't move product as well due to the shipping shortage.

[Rogar Demonblud]

The job was finished. That was what Florence was waiting for before letting her Gardener in the Dark patch go live.

[sihnfahl]

The job was finished. That was what Florence was waiting for before letting her Gardener in the Dark patch go live.

"Not nearly as busy now that the moon is on its way to Jean."

That implies it hasn't arrived yet.

[tyckspoon]

"Not nearly as busy now that the moon is on its way to Jean."

That implies it hasn't arrived yet.

..but the work related to it is no longer centered at the transfer station, which is the relevant part for the current story - they're not providing services and supplies to however many ships + crews are needed to tug a moon around. It's like being in a boom town when the resource it is built on runs out; the people left on the station are the ones who are unwilling or unable to pack up and follow the money to the next mine/oilfield/ice comet harvest/whatever. Probably amplified by the need to keep the transfer station operational even in slump times, as ships and goods still need to go to and from Jean and the way they're going to get there is through the transfer station.. but at that point the station is an expense on somebody's books as a capital expense, and it looks like they're trying to keep it running as at least break even on its own economic activities instead.

[sihnfahl]

..but the work related to it is no longer centered at the transfer station, which is the relevant part for the current story - they're not providing services and supplies to however many ships + crews are needed to tug a moon around.

I believe I said that.

So until it's done, the station has fewer ships coming + going. With all the economic repercussions thereof.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

The process is not complete. The process is in progress.

If the move is in progress, the phase of the process of setting up the thrusters or what-not is complete. The engineers are not needed at the station anymore.
FTR:

that phase of the process was complete

GW

[Rogar Demonblud]

"Not nearly as busy now that the moon is on its way to Jean."

That implies it hasn't arrived yet.

The braking thrusters had fired when she was reading the story. And the man overseeing the process, Mr Ishigara, returned to find out what his uncle had been up to in his absence. Now, the old moon may be on its way out to the gas giant still, but I rather think they'd have to move that before bringing in the other one.

[Radar]

The braking thrusters had fired when she was reading the story. And the man overseeing the process, Mr Ishigara, returned to find out what his uncle had been up to in his absence. Now, the old moon may be on its way out to the gas giant still, but I rather think they'd have to move that before bringing in the other one.

It could also happen that the way to increase efficiency was to move both in unison so that you can use their own attraction to move things faster. At any rate, we can only speculate.

[Rogar Demonblud]

75 opinions and 36 suggestions off of 10 people? Sounds about right.

[sihnfahl]

The braking thrusters had fired when she was reading the story. And the man overseeing the process, Mr Ishigara, returned to find out what his uncle had been up to in his absence. Now, the old moon may be on its way out to the gas giant still, but I rather think they'd have to move that before bringing in the other one.

Archive. Both were being moved at once. Smaller moon out, larger moon in.

[Kornaki]

I really need to reread this comic, I forgot how all of this plot happened.

[Rockphed]

I really need to reread this comic, I forgot how all of this plot happened.

Slowly. I mean this comic was started in the 90s.

[memnarch]

I really need to reread this comic, I forgot how all of this plot happened.

I'd recommend the speedreader for a reread. It can even save the spot you're at!

[Rogar Demonblud]

Which is a very nice feature, given how deep the archive is. Only problem is you lose the footnotes telling you who some of the guest characters are.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And Sam has already learned the most important lesson for a successful consultant: Make sure you get paid, whatever else happens.

[Kornaki]

Archive binge done. Amazing how it all comes back once you start to see it again.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Niomi is showing both a good Perception score and the Wisdom to use what she observes.

[Rockphed]

Archive binge done. Amazing how it all comes back once you start to see it again.

How long did you actually spend reading the archive? I hope it wasn't all of the last 5 days, but I can't imagine it being that much less than all of the last 5 days.

[Lord Raziere]

How long did you actually spend reading the archive? I hope it wasn't all of the last 5 days, but I can't imagine it being that much less than all of the last 5 days.

well I roughly counted my reading time of the latest comic (8 seconds), now Freefall updates monday wesnesday and friday, so three times a week. the first strip was published 1998, 22 years ago.

there are 52 weeks in a year.

52 x 3= 156 comics a year

156 x 22 = 3432 comics, approx.

3432 x 8 = 27456 seconds

27456 divided by 60 = 457.6 minutes

divide by 60 again and you get approximately 7.62 hours to read Freefall in one sitting, though its understandable if one takes breaks and wants to spread it out a bit.

its not exact, but this is a good rough estimate of how long it would take, not taking into account months and such.

[Kornaki]

That sounds about right, I would have guessed two hours a day for five days. The fact that you don't have to wait for any website loading really helps.

[Rogar Demonblud]

That makes sense. The last time I used the speedreader, I did a full binge over the course of a rainy Saturday (and still had time to get my steps in).

[lord_khaine]

I do re-read the entire story about once per year myself.
Thats a good pause to forget the details of the jokes.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Well, isn't that nice of them. The only way my job will let me get a good night's sleep is if I'm sedated.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Damn. I wish somebody had given me a floor plan when I started. It would have been nice to have advance warning that the bathroom was on the opposite side of the building and on a different floor.

[Willie the Duck]

Damn. I wish somebody had given me a floor plan when I started. It would have been nice to have advance warning that the bathroom was on the opposite side of the building and on a different floor.

Heh. I telecommute these days, but previously I worked on a 3 tower main campus to a large corporate headquarters. Each tower had the bathrooms in the same basic location, with a left/right split between men's and women's rooms -- with one of the towers having it reversed from the other two. Take that muscle memory.

[Rockphed]

Heh. I telecommute these days, but previously I worked on a 3 tower main campus to a large corporate headquarters. Each tower had the bathrooms in the same basic location, with a left/right split between men's and women's rooms -- with one of the towers having it reversed from the other two. Take that muscle memory.

Oh my, that sounds like a sexual harassment law-suit waiting to happen.

My current job did give me access to the floor-plans of all the buildings I am likely to enter. They are also almost useless without a local guide to tell you where things are.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Now now, Niomi. You may actually want to listen to Sam this time.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Now now, Niomi. You may actually want to listen to Sam this time.

The amazing thing is, you always want to listen to Sam.

Also: how did I not realise there was a search feature in that comic? That's going to make my life so much easier.

GW

[Radar]

Also: how did I not realise there was a search feature in that comic? That's going to make my life so much easier.
GW

I always appreciate webcomic authors who add a plain text transcripts of the pages as it makes googling the right strip that much easier. Adding a well built search option is even better.

[Lord Raziere]

The current strip makes me realize that Sam would make a great Imposter in Among Us. he even has the bad reputation that makes people want to kick him out, but in such a way that they are never sure whether he actually is one, because he is always suspicious.