Strip 180 -- First Seen: 2009-05-22
Escape From Terra is updated with new pages every Monday through Friday.

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As many of you may have heard, huricane Beryl caused a lot of damage to buildings and infrastructure in the Houston area. It also took out power and Internet service on Galveston Island where Scott lives. As a consequence, uploads of Quantum Vibe will be delayed until power and Internet services are restored. Hopefully it will only effect Monday's strip, but we can't promise anything at this point. In any event, we will resume uploads as soon as possible. Please check back here for further developments.

The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
A Tanglenet newscast from Mars. An attractive young female announcer sits at a desk to the left side of the frame, with graphics displayed across the screen behind her. There is a narrow text banner streaming across the bottom of the screen, anchored by the “News From Mars” logo at the far right.

In the graphic display is an image of the re-fitted Gamma Conqueror, now re-christened the Delta Free, in orbit over Ceres. The big particle cannon has been replaced by an observation deck.

Announcer: Joining the ranks of luxury spaceliners this week is the Delta Free, operating out of Ceres, owned by a consortium headed by Reginald King.

Banner: UW tumult continues, Navy charging UWRS withheld

Panel 2
A bit closer in on announcer. The Gamma Conqueror as it used to be, in formation with a few Betas in high Earth Orbit.

Announcer: The liner is in fact the re-fitted and re-christened Gamma Conqueror, once the pride of the UW Space Navy, forfeited after a failed assault on the small ice-world 15 decasols ago.

Banner: tion regarding political and tactical situation on Ceres.

Panel 3
Now behind her is a video of Reggie with a group of people around him. The only face we know is Guy's. Reggie is speaking to someone off-camera, probably a newsie. The announcer is smiling at her own joke.

Announcer: The Conqueror was put up to auction and King's consortium won with a bid of 487.5 kilograms of gold. A kingly sum even by Belter standards.

Banner: UWRS Chief Quesada-Didio reiterated his charge that

Panel 4
Behind her now is a shot of Captain Kruger and the yeomen Ito, Jones, and Bernal, plus the Helm Officer, looking jolly in their spiffy new uniforms.
Announcer: Last week, King announced that several former crew members of the Conqueror, including Captain Cyril Kruger, have been hired to fly her in her new life as a spaceliner.
Banner: Strike Force 'leadership failure' was responsible for the

Panel 5
Behind her now are still photos of the Daniel de León with his wife, and the Rose family, from happier times.

Announcer: Sources said proceeds from the auction were split primarily between trust funds for the widow of Daniel de León, and young Emily Rose, whose family was killed in the assault.

Banner: … UW Treasury Minister Mikhail Bilanov denied rumors


Panel 6
Behind her now are still photos of Captain Doris, Fiorella Stellina, and four of the other rock-hunters from the “royal armada” (we saw them celebrating at Callahan's).

Announcer: Some of the gold was awarded to the rock-wrangler 'Armada' for capturing the Strike Force ships and winning the 'war of the worlds,' as the Cerereans are describing the incident.

Banner: that a 'financial meltdown' was narrowly averted by raids

Panel 7
Behind her we see Reggie King again, this time surrounded by orphans ranging from age 2 to 12.

Announcer: The remainder was collected by the King's Court Unfortunates Fund, a charity that provides for injured Belters and their families.

Banner: on tax havens in Panama and the UAE. The minister repeated



Panel 8
Pulling back from the announcer a bit, a new graphic of a man in his 30s who looks vaguely like Frank Zappa, dressed something like the Colin Baker version of Doctor Who and winking clownishly at the camera.

Announcer: After the break, we'll chat with Hieronymus Zappa about his latest holo-chromo, 'I Know What You Think I Said But What You Thought You Heard Was Not What I Meant.”

Banner: position that 'there are no tax havens anywhere in this world.'