Freefall

I'm going to express some astonishment that we don't have a forum thread for Freefall already. That said, I just finished the mother of all Archive Binges and am beginning the process of withdrawal. So many interesting plot threads... this comic could go on for another decade at the current rate.

Good thing it rarely has a Schedule Slip.

Unfortunately, part of that is that the "current rate" is so mind-bogglingly slow. Months of real time have been spent on a single day in-story, months more on that night. The things being set up and foreshadowed right now do not look like they'll pay off within the next couple weeks in-story, so unless there's a time skip I don't see how we could ever see robot society, the uncertainty about what to do with them from EU and the government, or anything else move any further than they are right now. We'll just see more of the current situation, and at worst things'll slowly start getting retconned into already being further along than was implied (not that it's a bad thing done once, but I could consider the current storyline with the robot police force an example of that, considering last we saw they were still in the planning stages of trying to formulate the list of laws for themselves. What are those policemen doing exactly?).

Wow, for some reason I was under the impression that that comic didn't exist anymore. I read a bunch of it sometime long ago, but stopped at some point for some reason... something. Hmmm... Maybe I should pick it back up...

Yes, it takes a long time to get anywhere. It redeems itself to me with the density of high quality jokes. But I can already sense the frustration over how long it's going to take at the current rate to resolve any of the plots. I can't help but care about these characters, particularly Florence.

I wouldn't be this unhappy with the pace if I wasn't completely hooked on both the characters and the plot, make no mistake.

I am really hoping to get my friend interested in this comic. My dad adores it - it's his favorite out of all we regularly read, and that's a list that includes such gems as Girl Genius, Order Of The Stick, Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes, Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, and now even Schlock Mercenary.

As I've said over on the So You Want To namespace, this is the sort of thing Star Trek could have been but seemed to deliberately avoid: alien viewpoints on human culture. Star Trek was very human-centered. Freefall takes three distinct non-human points of view and shows them off in any number of little "huh, never would've thought of that" moments.

Florence's ability to see the past as the present due to scent is one of the highlights. My favorite of these moments is one of her notes on her childhood: "From his point of view, he was giving me a bath. From my point of view, he was erasing all my notes."

I wish Freefall showed up in the daily newspaper. I think they could use a good Sci-Fi comedy; it shows a weakness in the current print-paper lineup. And I can't see any reason Freefall wouldn't fit.

Yeah, the current "day" started back in Febuary, and it's still morning.

On the other hand, Sam is dilligently negotiating reaction mass delivery contracts for manufacturing satallites, so the Savage Chicken might get back into space by the end of December.

And Florance now has her own bank account, though I don't see why she couldn't pay the baker out of the ship's account, as she must have done to pay off Sam's previous debts and to pay the contractor for the plumbing work. Aside from the fact that it allowed the author to reveal the existance of banks for AIs

The thing that really gets me hooked is the whole What Measure Is a Non-Human? part of the plot. The government and Florence's owners treat her as property, no better than an AI. They have more or less absolute power over her and refuse to treat her as a sapient being. They even make it clear that this isn't due so much to Moral Myopia as the fact that they have to treat her this way as a matter of IP law.

It's a savage indictment of the corporate mentality, yet incredibly frustrating because for Florence to have any future, they have to be willing to make more of her.

It's also one of the most gleefully ironic moments in the entire story when it turns out to be Sam's anti-authority stance that rescues her from Kornada, not to mention a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming. Sam is the only chance she's got to be treated as anything other than a science project in her entire life.

What elevates it to sublime storytelling, however, is the fact that, by Florence's own admission, her owners might be right...

edited 1st Nov '09 9:58:58 AM by Fighteer

One of the questions on the purrsia freefall forum is who the heck the police chief is? His robot police force program seems too far along to have been started back here.

Oh yeah, Monday's stip is up.

PS, according to the Manual, Florences' specific owner, Scott, is in fact largely responsable for Florance being such an alpha. A very supportive big brother he is. It's the general legal status of Bowman's Wolves, and EcoSystems Unlimiteds' management that are the problem. As Max Post points out, laws often lag.

edited 1st Nov '09 7:56:57 PM by LarryD

New Comic up! I think Helix had better start running, myself. I just don't think Florence will appreciate being doused with perfume, whatever the intentions.

I assumed it was just a water balloon.

But now she smells like wet dog.

I assumed it was just a water balloon.

Note all the bottles Helix is carrying, correlate with Sam's comment about avoiding the need for a shower, and I come up with Florence being doused w/perfume. Perhaps in a balloon as the delivery vehicle, perhaps not. Makes no difference.

Perfume sounds a bit much, though, when most likely they just splashed plain old water all over her. At least, that's the way I thought it went.

How puch does perfume cost in Freefall's world? Don't forget Sam is cheap.

Where did this perfume idea come from? I'm consistently surprised by the ability of the Hive Mind to come up with that have no factual basis in the work. Occam's Razor.

Also, dousing someone with Florence's sense of smell in perfume would be incredibly cruel.

Also, dousing someone with Florence's sense of smell in perfume would be incredibly cruel.

If they thought about it, but Sam and Helix don't think things through.

Some perfume is cheap.

If it was just water, then what's with all the bottles Helix is carrying?

Well, the issue will be clarified Friday, by Florence's reaction or lack of it. If it was perfume, Helix is going to undergo another maintenance cycle. Or be fleeing same.

Those bottles look like water balloons to me.

"Those bottles look like water balloons to me."

Hmm, you could be right, Medinoc.

They've had a water balloon fight before, after Florence got the plumbing working.

Friday's up! Yeah, it must have been just water, Florence wasn't prepareing to disassemble Helix when the distraction happened.

Standard Snippet "Yakety Sax" referenced.

Observe that while Sam is running, the chief is in a leaning walk.

edited 5th Nov '09 9:45:35 PM by LarryD

Decisions decisions. Florence resorts to the classic randomizer. And Sam swipes it.

Ah, Florence's message to herself comes into view again.