Strip 780 -- First Seen: 2011-08-31
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
The lecture concludes. Two-shot of Babbette and Reggie, with Reggie ticking off the fifth finger of his right hand.
Reggie: And five, Mercury's Operation Parasol, will be the first planet-spanning airskin ever attempted.
Reggie: It is monumental in scale and is the greatest engineering project in human history.

Panel 2
In 'imaginary' panel showing Mercury enveloped in an airskin. Thirty-six cables arc over the planet from pole-to-pole, providing a stabilizing framework for a semi-transparent airskin which covers the planet everywhere except at the poles. At the equator, the airskin is about 100 kilometers above the ground. A cameo of Reggie in the corner narrates.
Reggie: Planetoids have been bagged, but this is an entire world. I want to see how they're doing it.
Reggie: Maybe we'll learn something that will help when it comes time to put an airskin around Ceres.

Panel 3
Back in the stateroom. Babbette has a question.
Babbette: Isn't Mars, Inc. talking about an airskin around Mars?
Reggie: Yes, they're talking about it. The Mercurians are doing it.
Reggie: At one time, even Venus was considered a candidate for paraterraforming.

Panel 4
Medium close-up on Reggie. Leave extra room for all the dialog.
Reggie: The idea was to create a reflective airskin in the upper atmosphere, that would reflect sunlight away in the daytime and on the night side, radiate heat back into space.
Reggie: Now that we know there is life there, cooling Venus is probably off the table.