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

Author's comment:



Add Comment

* Required information
30000
Powered by Commentics

Comments (4)

Avatar
Senior

Anyone who suspects that they'll be taken onto an unscheduled deep-space trip would obviously want to memorize a couple facts about where "home" (the Sol system) is. (Like how it's sitting in a part of the Milky Way that looks like a vestigial "arm" of it that joins into a major one further out,) Here's a new neat mnemonic to take along :

https://xkcd.com/2863/

Avatar
Senior

Has Agent Iskra not been informed about Zane's call in 162? I was under the impression that the agency "took over" the base? Or at least tried to?

Perhaps she should read the Major's reports.

Avatar
Visitor

"Uhm, my job? I'm making sure we don't end up getting bombed beyond the stone age."

Avatar
Senior

Ohhh. Sneaky.

So Nea's recording for the fleet and communication with the fleet was done by U.S. without consulting other national leaders.

Iskra is part of the "International" organisation thats supposed to be dealing with this, so I doubt it would be outside her jurisdiction to know

Avatar
Senior

The crash site is definitely not in the U.S. The author has intentionally kept the setting vague to prevent us from treating it as any particular country, but I think we can place it somewhere central-ish Eurasia.

Avatar
Senior

You are correct, central europeanish Darth said.

Whatever the case, the government of the day appears to have initiated communication without consulting the other nations. This goes back to the dictation on how to contact them back. If they have provided exact locations for laser comms and a strong encryption key then they keep interactions to themselves.

However... If the other nations have figured it out they might attempt their own communications, either as a group... or independently. The thought of Zane suddenly being flooded by 50+ messages from different world leaders is entertaining.

Avatar
Senior

... it hadn't occured to me that Iskra may be a representative of the UN or a similar international body, rather than of Protagonistan's assorted intelligence agencies, but yes, it seems possible at least ... I note the lack of a language barrier between them and the major, though, burst of slam-the-door-ese notwithstanding ...

... still, I have a hard time to believe that the national authorities would present the case to the UN and then decide to go behind their collective backs and start bilateral cahoots with someone so obviously uninterested in nation-vs.-nation shenanigans as Zane / the Raharrs. It screams "double-cross me right back!" IMHO.

Avatar
Visitor

Stealing "Protagonistan".

Avatar
Visitor

> Stealing "Protagonistan".

Likewise!

Avatar
Senior

(... would you believe I stole it myself?)

Avatar
Senior

Iskra being part of a newly formed international agency is noted in the Cast page, so not necessarily in story canon yet.

Iskra noted that she's a guest on the base and the base remains under the Major's control but all contact with Nea is supposed to be under the international agency's jurisdiction. I'm willing to bet that the jurisdiction on communication is supposed to extend to general contact with the aliens. However, at the very least, taking Nea away to record her message to the fleet should be within the agency's jurisdiction to know about.

Iskra was there for the meeting when the Major arranged Nea's outing to find Gharr in exchange for a way to contact the fleet so I imagine she can easily work out that "Protagistan" is making contact on its own.






Share this comic



The author is against any kind of application of AI to his artwork.

TRIVIA
So far there hasn't been a single instance of a massive interstellar war. Due to the vastness of space, there's no territorial or economic gain from it. The presence of armed spaceships is still warranted for keeping space travel safe and for peacekeeping or policing missions since unexpected events or rogue states can still happen and might require force as a solution.