Latest blog post: Redraw of chapter 1 is happening (2024-05-11)

Author's comment:

...Later, in a retrospective, Zane admitted that not inviting an insectoid representative to this conference was probably the wisest decision of his entire career.



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New

Hmmm, that author's comment has caused me to add another thing to the first contact list of "what to find out as fast as possible." In this case it would involve showing the people involved in your initial contact pictures of as many of the known intelligent species as possible and asking "are any of these likely to get reactions simply from their appearance?"

This wouldn't just be to catch negative reactions, it would also be useful to know that a signifigant portion of a species are going to react to a race of touch-averse stoics with "cute bnuuy, must hug!"

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Senior

I see the Japanese representative is mysteriously absent.

Or did everyone decide to keep him away from the Sashli?

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Senior

Assuming that this is the Security Council, Japan is a non-permanent member doing (frequent) two-year "shifts". Their last turn was in 2023/24, and it's 2025 now. Pakistan is in their seat (one of two for the APac group) now.

... or the Sashli opened another door too forcefully and Mr. Japan is now nailed to it by his spiky hairdo.

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New

Do they wear a formal military attire, and/or is there a special meaning behind the identical patterns and colors on the clothes of them?

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Senior

I think its similar to the U.N. reps wearing business suits.

Either that or they are in mourning over the lost crew from the shuttle that got shot down over Protagonistan.

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Senior

Formal? Yes. Military? No. =)

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Senior

It's a big deal to be able to learn a language in a matter of days with the implant, and an even bigger deal to be able to download them right into your brain once there's a package available, but I expect there's a safety limit before you risk side effects from the exertion (plasticity must have limits). So I wonder how many human languages Zane has had time to learn on his way to New York City. And I wonder which one he's using for this speech. The choice could imply unintended favoritism if he's not careful.

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Visitor

On modern-day Earth, the language of choice would be English, as it is the "lingua franca" of our time (hilariously, "lingua franca" literally means "French language") - that is, it's the language of international stuff.

In this comic, I would expect the situation to be similar, with a particular language being the one you go with for international stuff.

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Senior

English is the language spoken by the most people on Earth (as a second language more than as a first language, I think), but maybe even more relevant is the current city they're in. Zane might have wanted to be able to speak English because it's the language spoken by his current host country.

Now I wonder if Quantum had been able to distinguish the differences between all the different English dialects, and what kind of accent Zane might be speaking with. Are there any human sounds that would be difficult for the raharr mouth to pronounce?

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Visitor

Yes, some humans...even we have trouble explaining their reaction to insectoids and arachnoids. Those of us not bothers are more than embarrassed. We actively keep ourselves from culling out those with that behavior. (heavy sigh) I just don't get their fear. I admit to puzzling myself with my own not scared of anything, placid war monkey with a cup of coffee behavior. Oh, and it's raining now.

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New

Huh, for a moment I was wondering if there's something up with there being that many empty seats on what should be a conference addressed to all nations... But looking back, page 111 had plenty seats empty too.

If anything, I think there may be more representatives this time around?

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Senior

We see 45 humans in the audience, which has 60 seats. Ignoring the totally different layout of the room, that latter number seems to match the UN Security Council Consultation Room (the UNSC Chamber has a good deal more seats) - and only the representatives of the 15 current UNSC member nations are allowed in there. (Well, plus those of the Alliance, apparently.)

No way that this is the UN General Assembly (of 193 member nations plus observers), of course.

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Visitor

Which is good, because the UN General Assembly is, at best, utterly useless.

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Visitor

*The Sashli through the door*

"Jeez, that a big one."

*see the Ktak*

"And that a little one."

Well, I understand that you don't want to bother writing/drawing the whole speech, but it's a bit sad not to have it, Zane have allway good words.

not inviting an insectoid representative

Yeah, good call, we are a little too hard-coded on the subject to present one of them without some preparation time.

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Senior

And now for the real questions ...

... how did they get the Sashli into one of those vans? ;-)

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Senior

No bones ;-)

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Senior

... DAVE?!?

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Visitor

But maybe the issue is that the Insectoid would too happily admit its attitude about orbital bombardment.

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Senior

FIRST =)

also , "brick sh*t time" at the UN

Shame, it does not look like its televised so I think its gonna get swiped under the rug, for the rest of the planet

(Edited)
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Senior

In the Film adaptation, "The First U.N. Speech", the Sashli, Ktak, and Zane will all be played by Andy Serkis in a mocap suit.

I think the cameras are in the lower part of the podium across from the lectern.

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Senior

Human and raharr are strikingly similar in their body language and culture, but there are bound to be surprises that Zane can't anticipate. That's probably why he's warming up the human population gradually, first speaking to a select committee who have already been briefed before creating what is sure to be the most viral speech in internet history once it goes public.

(Edited)
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Senior

Yes, I myself would have liked a bit more chaotic reveal like

Its sooo quit in there that the hinges can be heard. You can hear a pin dropping or the custodian is going "Oops , I forgot to lube".

Also, due to reasons, Gharr missed his great moment. Was HE not supposed to do a first contact if the opportunity came up? Well, per-crash that is.

Since everyone is sitting quite still , I would think there has been some introductory videos and other info being passed around beforehand, they do not seem particular surprised.

But we do not have a timescale on this thing. Somewhere , at some time a shuttle must have landed with the 2 new aliens, so maybe there has been another week or more of going-on´s we do not know of.






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TRIVIA
If a spaceship accelerates at the same rate as it would in a free-fall under Earth's gravity (Otherwise known as "1G acceleration"), it can reach Jupiter from Earth in just under 6 days. It would need to flip in the middle of the travel, to start decelerating and enter the planet's orbit.