Strip 741 -- First Seen: 2011-07-07
Escape From Terra is updated with new pages every Monday through Friday.

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All of this should show up in June.

The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
Enviro-suited Ernie is just outside the exterior airlock hatch on Sweet Liberty. He has a line with one end tied to a cleat on the hatch frame, and the other end around his waist, as he begins climbing down the ladder to the comet surface. Ernie is also wearing the jet-pack seen in the 'Leap of Faith' arc.
Caption: As Ernie takes the first EVA, he ties a line from the ship to himself, in case he cracks through the surface and sinks right into Eight-Ball, as the Crew has taken to calling this dark comet.
Ernie: Here goes nothing ...

Panel 2
Ernie is 'standing' on a firm, dark surface next to the base of the ladder (actually he has one hand on the ladder to hold himself in place in this micro-gravity environment). He's looking down at his feet.
Ernie: This crust must be half a meter thick.
Ernie: I guess Sweet Liberty breached it because she masses several hundred tonnes and was moving fast enough.

Panel 3
Wide shot of the surface, with the ship in the near background. In the middle-to-foreground we see six light-colored guide lines radiating from the base of the ship, held in place by meter-long collapsible spikes with pointy ends stuck into the surface, and the guides running through locking carabiners at the other ends. We can see Ernie as far away from the ship as the frame permits, planting one of the spikes. Closer to the ship, we can see several of the teenagers venturing forth, tethered to the guide lines by two 3-meter-long lines also tipped with spring-gate carabiners. They are not wearing jet-packs.
Also, the horizon should be a very slight curve rather than a straight line. The surface, as always, is nearly black, with just enough dark-grey highlights to indicate a gritty surface texture.
Caption: Ernie immediately set up a half dozen florescent green guide lines radiating out from the ship.
Caption: Anyone on the surface without a jet-pack would have to be tethered to one or more of these lines to keep them from drifting off Eight-Ball.