Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts

[Rogar Demonblud]

Heh, nice callback. I'll have to look to see if I can link the strip where Florence talks about ways to get around the programming locks, since one of them was 'stealing air'.

[Jasdoif]

Heh, nice callback. I'll have to look to see if I can link the strip where Florence talks about ways to get around the programming locks, since one of them was 'stealing air'.

This one?

[Rogar Demonblud]

Yup. Need to archive binge this strip again sometime.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And Sam has discovered his life motto: "For the LOVE of Money!"

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Yup. Need to archive binge this strip again sometime.

I strongly recommend the use of this webpage when binge'ing freefall.

Kinda wish it was available in more webcomics, but it's the only one I'm aware of.

Grey Wolf

[Rockphed]

I strongly recommend the use of this webpage when binge'ing freefall.

Kinda wish it was available in more webcomics, but it's the only one I'm aware of.

Grey Wolf

That is a very neat site. I shall have to avoid it lest I spend all my time binging freefall.

[Rockphed]

... and now Sam is attempting to start a war between the fundamental forces of nature. I don't foresee that ending well.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Och, they'll just chase him around for a while and then break for ice cream. Like everyone else.

Sam never faces real consequences for the stuff he pulls.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Is it wrong of me to hear Ship's voice as the PA system from M*A*S*H?

[geoduck]

I've somehow had the impression the ship's voice is female.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Probably because most starship voices are done by actresses. Aside from HAL and Aliens Resurrection, can you think of a ship with a male voice?

[Willie the Duck]

Also the (non-absolute, with abounding exceptions) tendency of declaring ships to be 'she's.'

[SZbNAhL]

Also the (non-absolute, with abounding exceptions) tendency of declaring ships to be 'she's.'

As the Scottish Maritime Museum is learning right now, attempting to change that tradition is more trouble than it's worth.

[Rogar Demonblud]

New Freefall, in which Sam learns a lesson about gravity and shows some grasp of practicality.

[halfeye]

New Freefall, in which Sam learns a lesson about gravity and shows some grasp of practicality.

Your link is dead. The comic is still there, somehow the link doesn't reach it.

[Rogar Demonblud]

The link is correct, it's just that some browsers won't use the strip number when the strip is also under the 'default' page url.

[halfeye]

The link is correct, it's just that some browsers won't use the strip number when the strip is also under the 'default' page url.

That's a very interesting definition of "correct".

[Rogar Demonblud]

Not my fault some coders ignore two of three valid urls for the same page. Heck, I can't even remember the third, since it takes up to a month to work on a Microsoft or Google browser.

[Radar]

That's a very interesting definition of "correct".

Since the URL will work properly in all browsers once a new strip shows up, it is indeed correct - it is just some browsers that have a problem. On the other hand using the "default" URL will make the link incorrect the moment a new strip shows up.

[Ibrinar]

In what browser does it work before that? Because that is a weird bug to be browser specific and I am curious about it.

Edit: Interesting in http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/ no fc03273.htm is listed though the gif is. If that actually exist and is accessible for some browser something is screwy with access limitations. Going by last modified dates the htm pages are always either created or modified days after the gif.

[Douglas]

I'm pretty sure this is an issue on the server, not in any browser. It is the server's responsibility to recognize that X url means Y page, and that's the issue here.

[Rogar Demonblud]

And now we finally learn why some idiot trusted Sam with a spaceship (even if a nonfunctional one).

[sihnfahl]

And now we finally learn why some idiot trusted Sam with a spaceship (even if a nonfunctional one).

Well, to be fair, if it wasn't for Florence, Sam would still be landbound.
A circumstance no human there could have foreseen.

[SZbNAhL]

Well, to be fair, if it wasn't for Florence, Sam would still be landbound.
A circumstance no human there could have foreseen.

He acquired her through theft. How could Sam stealing literally anything possibly be unforseen?

[sihnfahl]

He acquired her through theft. How could Sam stealing literally anything possibly be unforseen?

Florence literally wasn't even in the sphere of Things He Could Steal. He had the ship for a few months before Florence even arrived in cryosleep.

And the idea of him actually stealing a living engineer would be seen like a bad plot device in a B-grade science fiction movie.

[SZbNAhL]

Florence literally wasn't even in the sphere of Things He Could Steal. He had the ship for a few months before Florence even arrived in cryosleep.

And the idea of him actually stealing a living engineer would be seen like a bad plot device in a B-grade science fiction movie.

They knew that Bowman's wolves exist. Heck, there are probably stealable robots who could have fixed the ship. Anybody who didn't think Sam could/would steal one, even if there weren't any in that star system, isn't very familiar with him.

[sihnfahl]

They knew that Bowman's wolves exist.

But not that not only would on be on its way, but also someone would 'mess up' the paperwork to assign her to the wrong ship.

Heck, there are probably stealable robots who could have fixed the ship.

The robotic laws would still apply to those robots.
And Sam keeps running afoul of those laws.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

They knew that Bowman's wolves exist.

The existence of an individual that was a) single-handedly competent enough to fix the ship ; 2) willing to work for Sam for no pay for sufficient amount of time to fix the ship ; and iii) wouldn't take over leadership of a ship hard-coded to obey humans over aliens is not something the people who sold the wreck to Sam would be expecting.

Grey Wolf

[Rogar Demonblud]

Heck, he probably stole Helix.

Anyway, Sam continues to give the ship migraines.

[Willie the Duck]

No one could have expected Florence specifically. What they could have predicted was that their resourceful opponent would surprise them. We don't know much about the people who gave Sam a ship in the hope that he'd kill himself, but we know that he annoyed them. To do that, he likely showed of to them some of his 'resourcefulness' (and let's be clear, he's crazy resourceful, kinda like a racoon but with access to human language).

This exact outcome was unpredictable. Giving a resourceful entity a force/effect-multiplier and them using it to do something unpredictable and amazing was predictable. If Racoons get into a car I have on my property, I can't predict that they will take it on they highway and go joyriding, but I could have predicted that they'd manage to get the parking break disengaged, and if it were on a hill, they would be creating chaos.