04/21/10 Krep Analyzes Team Performance



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have you been reading about Obama and NASA lately? Fascinating. As a romantic, I feel totally for the side of the astronauts, but I agree in my head with the path to go robotic. Technology, energy, etc will improve and I think in time it will get us to the stars, but continuing to send up people in the meantime doesn’t necessarily make sense. But robot probes do. Get info. Know what’s there for when we’re ready to go there in person.

On a SPACETRAWLER note…. Is there any “info” you’re craving from the story? A friend recently said, “I’m a bit lost, I don’t know how long they’ve been in space or how far they’ve gone.” I’m gonna address that, and I was wondering if you had any questions I should address as well.

Mind you, there are some things I don’t want to tell you, in order to tease you. And there is a level of information I don’t want to go into because I don’t want to bog down readers with it at the expense of the story flow and humor.

So, throw your questions my way. Unless the question is, “is this a rock?”

24 Comments

  1. McGee

    sure sends probes ahead, but seriously we’ve reached a point where we NEED to start sending people again, it’s not going to be cheap, but it won’t just be govt’s footing the bill on this. This could, and should be our first big step into space, if done right. We need this on e psychological and emotional level. People need to be reminded what’s out there, beyond our orbit.

  2. JKCarroll

    I’d like to know why it would be so hard or expensive just to TURN THIS SHIP AROUND AND I’M NOT KIDDING THIS TIME and drop Dustin off at his parent’s house. Or cave. Or wherever it was he grew up in the outback. Unless he grew up in Tasmania. Then his actions and attitude would make sense. I’m just sayin…

  3. Christopher

    Vic, totally. Call any American a “fuck-wit Mihrrgoot anal fissure”, and they’ll know exactly what you mean.

    Well, or they’ll understand it enough to punch you in the mouth. 🙂

  4. Christopher

    Frank, on the “voice of reason” point, can you give me a couple examples? I’m not sure I know what you mean.

    The Mihrrgoots will eventually get more screen time and fleshing out, but for that you may have to be patient. Brograhm’s Teeth will also be eventually elucidated.

  5. Frank

    Typical example with my mom:
    “Yeow! I stubbed my toe! Ow! Ow! Ow!”
    What I want to hear:
    “Oh you poor thing! Here, sit down and put this on your foot to make the pain go away.”
    The voice of reason that actually comes out:
    “You know, that wouldn’t’ve happened if you had your shoes on to begin with! Honestly, how many times to I have to tell you?”

    Typical cartoon example:
    “Hah! You thought you could beat me again? But now it’s I who has the upper hand! I’m going to tie you up and dangle you above a boiling pot of acid while a 200 ft circular saw runs straight through you!”
    What they want to hear:
    “That’s truly the most awesome plan ever! There’s no way to escape that!”
    The voice of reason that actually comes out:
    “But boss, wouldn’t it be easier to just shoot him?”

  6. Christopher

    Ummmm… I guess I meant examples from Spacetrawler. I was assuming that meant that in spacetrawler when there’s a voice of reason, it doesn’t tell you want to hear.

    If you meant in general, yeah. True. Especially in drama or humor. 🙂

  7. Marianna

    I love how Krep is ticking off on his tentacles all the things Martina has done.

    Here’s what I want to know: WHY AREN’T THEY THERE YET?! (Also, what exactly is it that Nogg thinks will happen when he brings in the Earthlings?)

  8. Craig42

    We need to develop human space travel, so we can get off this rock and stop being held hostage by those humans who think they know what is good for us. Less breathing room means more overpopulation, more wars, and less and less opportunities for the next generations of humans.
    Why not develop space travel, so that when (not if – WHEN) the next asteroid or comet or planetesimal comes along and smacks us, we don’t all go the way of the dinosaurs.
    We can live in space, and we need to develop the technologies now, because we are overdue for an extinction level strike on our planet.
    Species survival demands it.

  9. Christopher

    Marianna: Yes, possibly the rate of travel “why aren’t they there yet?” should be addressed. And the plan.

    Craig42: Apocalyptic, yet there’s validity. I’m just not sure if throwing people in space is currently the best way to work on the problem. But I could very well be wrong. 🙂

    Kat: Diplomat and killer-with-spear! By gum, he has spirit!

  10. Frank

    Space… is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is! I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space! Listen…

    –Douglas Adams

    @Marianna: If they were traveling at light speed, and if they were going to the closest star to Earth, it would take them some 5 years to get there (Proxima Centauri is 4.2 lighyears away, but it’s going to take you a few days to accelerate up to light speed, and a few more to accelerate down from it, and a few more to find the right celestial body orbiting the star, get in orbit around that, and finally land, which doubtless adds up to at least a couple more months to the 4.2 years)
    They’ve also been boarded twice, which in physics means that our body in motion suddenly increased its mass by whatever the other ship “wheighed”, and they’re picking up space rocks via the trawler, which means further increases in mass. This means they cannot maintain a constant speed (unless they simultaneously were to get rid of that much mass). Thus, they frequently slow down, and have to accelerate again back up to (as I’ve supposed here) lightspeed; and that’s supposing they’re traveling in a straight line all the time.
    So, patience! Wherever they’re going (and it most likely isn’t Proxima Centauri), it’s going to take them a lo-o-o-ong time to get there. And after that, they have to go back to Earth; otherwise Nogg wouldn’t be telling the story!

    As for Kat’s comment, Nogg reminds me a bit of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Except that he may not carry a big stick, but when the situation calls for it, he certainly knows how to use one.

    And here probably comes Chris to bash me with his “big stick”, for thinking he didn’t think of faster-than-light travel

  11. Neil

    I don’t see any glaring omissions (except for an excuse for Dustin’s continued presence, which has already been raised). I found the introductions to all the characters rather diffficult going (I read them all at once to make sense of them later) but from that point onwards the pace has been spot on.

    I would like to know how long the whole story is going to take, and how thoroughly scripted it is at this stage, but I fully realise that you’re probably deliberately not revealing those details. 🙂

    I assume Krep is the voice of reason in this strip. Everyone’s done what felt they had to to defeat the Bollycks, and he points out how stupid each and every one of them has been.

    As for NASA, the quote at the end of the article is crucial: “I don’t think that statement said we’re getting out of the human spaceflight business.” For a future in space, we need experience of spaceflight, and we need knowledge of the planets (for resources if nothing else; after all, O’Neill-style space stations may be the way forward). We don’t need to do both in the same place, and the new plan lets us do the one close to home and the other robotically.

  12. JKCarroll

    JKCarroll, Good question. And I’m sure there is an equally excellent answer…. I just have to come up with it. 🙂

    How about “I forgot”?

    Well, it’s always worked for me. Just ask any of my ex-wives…

  13. Christopher

    Genitalia are genitalia, when you’re sentient.

    Although I did put a lot of thought into whether or not he should wear loafers over his hooves, before deciding against. 🙂

  14. I think this is the first page where the reader can clearly see that Krep is quadrupedal. Full-figure “establishing shots” when new characters are introduced would help reduce reader confusion.

    I’m enjoying the read. Keep up the good work.

    Emily rocks!

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