Page 153 -- First Seen: 2010-08-18

This is a preview of: Phoebus Krumm

The Transcript For This Page

PANEL ONE

Still, tumbling, the Kestrel manages to push Resplendent Quetzal just far enough to one side that it barely misses the Moonbridge.

Narrative (Tarrant): 'I would like to claim it was my expert piloting that saved Resplendent Quetzal and the Moonbridge that day ...

Narrative (Tarrant): ' But truth to tell, it was luck that played the larger role.'


PANEL TWO

The hull of _Resplendent Quetzal_ at about the level of the lower
gundeck, takes up the entire panel, left to right. Two things are
immediately noticeable. The bright slanted face of one of the engines
is gone, replaced with ragged, stringy, blackened debris.

Some considerable distance from that, there's a steam launch --
not one of _Resplendent Quetzal_'s -- with its nose buried in the side
of the ship. The launch is severely damaged, split from end to end,
and there's nobody left in it.

_Kestrel_ floats between the ship and the reader, its stern toward
us and away from the ship. Her nose is damaged, too, but I'm not sure
how much we can see.

Put this all in shadow, and Tarrant can be playing a spotlight on
Krumm's vessel.

Narrative (Tarrant): 'Soon, we were able to stop the tumbling, then:

Tarrant (aboard _Kestrel_): 'I'll be damned!'

Narrative (Tarrant): 'It was pretty clear the collision wasn't what
had blown up one of the engines.'

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PANEL TWO (lower lefthand quarter of page)

Just inside the lower gun/missile deck, Tarrant comes aboard
through an oval port, thrustible extended on his right arm, force
projector in his left hand.

Just for drama's sake, make it dim inside the lower gun deck, with
the dark forms of people everywhere, injured or stunned by the
collission with the steam launch or the explosion of the auxiliary
engine. The room is full of smoke.

From the end of Tarrant's thrustible, a red beam fans out,
illuminating a face, a shoulder, a missile in its crade, and painting
a big red circle on the wall, full of shadows. The 'code' color of
this deck is red, too.

Narrative (Tarrant): 'Decollimated, the designator in my thrustible
made a fair flashlight.'

Narrative (Tarrant): 'The ruined engine could have been an accident,
as in the ancient saying, 'Shit happens'.'

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PANEL THREE (lower right quarter of page)

Looking past Tarrant, who is in the lower lefthand corner of the
panel, we see Moonkatz, illuminated by the red beam, wearing a
four-armed, one-legged spacesuit, just about to slither through
another oval port, labelled 'Steam Launch VI'. His helmet is in one
hand (read the next panel) and his back is toward Tarrant.

Narrative (Tarrant): 'My experience is that shit happens because some
shithead _makes_ it happen.'