Strip 495 -- First Seen: 2010-07-30
Escape From Terra is updated with new pages every Monday through Friday.

What Comes Next

The war is over, but This Means War has a ways to go. Novo Paolo/Bubbleopolis is still in a nebula/stellar nursery, no one knows what happened to the planet Sharen (center of the Intergalactic Council), and the status of the now-surrendered Invaders is yet to be resolved. What will they do when they learn their homeworld is basically destroyed? Will Alyss and Li be re-united? How about Diana (the real one) and Otto?

These questions will be resolved in the next few weeks, before This Means War part 3 wraps in late May.

After that, I plan to go BACK in time about 400 years, to when Alyss and Li left their home in the Sol System to colonize a new world on the far side of the galaxy. As one might expect, hijinks ensue. New subtitle yet to be determined, start date sometime in around the start of July. Stay tuned!

A Little House Cleaning

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The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
The mass driver is on its side once again. Bert (on the left) is removing the hoppers from the Conveyer, Ernie is removing the bracing struts from the bottom-end of the Mass Driver.
 
Bert: You know, something occurs to me about our friends ...
 
Ernie: Yeah?
 
Panel 2
Bert is now standing near Ernie and making gestures in sign language. (He holds one hand cupped by his ear while the other arm does a double-exposure effect, pointing upwards and then at himself.)

Bert (translating his signs): They can still hear our radio transmissions.
Ernie (aloud): Crap.
 
Panel 3
Bert presses one of a half-dozen buttons grouped on the wrist of his space-suit.

Bert: We should be okay if we lower the gain on our transmitters to 50 milliwatts. That cuts the effective range to 250 meters.
Ernie: Gotcha.
 
Panel 4
Ernie glides by Bert, carrying one of the hoppers.
 
Ernie: Now, help me weld these things on the base end of the Mass Driver.
 

Panel 5
Tall panel. The Mass Driver, now inverted, is braced up against the inside crater wall, it's bottom-end pointed up. The four hoppers have been attached to the now-elevated bottom end. See reference sketch 'Rockrocket.gif' for the arrangement. The Brothers stand on the crater rim looking at their work.
 
Bert: This is going to be a walk in the park.
 
Panel 6
Two-shot of the Brothers, Ernie looking dubiously at Bert, Bert looking back at him.
                       
Bert: No, really, Ernie, this isn't rocket science.
 
Ernie: Actually, Bert it is rocket science.
 
Panel 7
Same shot, now the Brothers are both looking at their make-shift rock-rocket.
 
Bert: Oh yeah, I guess it is.
Bert: Anyway, it's not particularly difficult rocket science.