Strip 635 -- First Seen: 2011-02-11
Escape From Terra is updated with new pages every Monday through Friday.

QV on a short break

QUANTUM VIVE is taking a break for a few weeks, as we prepare for Part 2 of the Novo Palermo story, and also for a Kickstarter campaign for Part 1, which will start in September.

In the meantime, Not-Safe.Space will continue, as a murder mystery begins and the relationship between Eithne and Diana develops in unexpected directions.

Not-Safe.Space is a NSFW strip but more than half the pages are SFW so I've set those to *not* require a Patreon membership. Readers should be able to follow the story without seeing the NSFW pages. If I've done this right.

Kickstarter successful and closed

The Kickstarter campaign for Not-Safe.Space Chapter 3 concluded successfully on April 21, and Scott extended the time allowed for late pledges until May 19.

Books have been ordered from the printer and Scott will be spending the next week or so setting up and sending the PDF files to those who asked for them.

(There are still six of you who have not responded to the survey asking for e-mail and snail-mail addresses, he'll do the best he can.)

Thanks to all for supporting this Kickstarter!

The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
Bert and Ed at the Chez Trief.
Bert: So, what's their game plan?
Ed: A pretext.

Panel 2
Focus on Ed, picking up a bite-size of fried meal worms with his fork.
Ed: Every war in the last three centuries has used some pretext on behalf of various puppet masters and their hidden agendas.
Ed: The Reichstag fire, the Tonkin Bay Incident, the Twin Towers, the Paris dirty nuke.

Panel 3
Looking over Ed's shoulder at Bert.
Ed: Some were lies, some were accidents, and I think some were 'false flag' operations.
Bert: That's depressing. What sort of pretext to you see here?

Panel 4
Ed is holding up his wine glass, about to take a sip, as he speaks.
Ed: How about, 'UW tourists attacked by Cererean thugs?'
Ed: There could have been a fatal conflict in the Iron Rock, had things gone differently.

Panel 5
Set camera between Bert and Ed, so we can see out the Chez Tief window at the Hôtel de Crillon, across the plaza.
Ed: That didn't work, so this business at the hotel is plan B.
Ed: They're going to hoist us on our own petard.
Bert: How so?

Panel 6
Focus on Bert, eyes widening as Ed describes the scenario.
Ed: Ceres has no immigration control, no weapons restrictions.
Ed: So they can march right in and do what they want so long as they use no aggression.

Panel 7
Focus on Ed, wagging his fork to emphasize his point.
Ed: As soon as these 'tourists' get their pretext, they'll take 'defensive action' to protect the lives of UW citizens threatened by us cutthroats.

Panel 8
Two-shot of Bert and Ed at the table, finishing their meal.
Ed: It's a replay of how the old United States gobbled up the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Ed: Look up The Committee of Safety, Hawaii in the Tanglepedia. It's an eye-opener.