Strip 589 -- First Seen: 2010-12-09
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
Larrge panel, showing a group of people at a poker table. Morris has approached the open seat and is about to sit down. To Morris' left, a Nordic-looking woman, with alabaster skin, faded blue eyes and hair a very light blonde. She has a drink and is looking fairly tipsy; to the left of the blonde is a sleek, attractive Thai woman who is smiling demurely at Morris; to her left is a middle-aged Texan – Ed Turner. Ed wears a battered cowboy hat, an old leather vest over a contemporary-styled shirt, blue jeans and 'dingo' style boots. He has a grizzled appearance – a week's growth of beard, chiseled lines, kindly eyes. His weapon is a mid-sized S&W revolver carried on his right hip. To Ed's left are a pair of tipsy Korean young men.
In this frame Ed and the Koreans have their backs to the camera.
A word about poker tables on Ceres. Players use the same basic tools – the cards and the chips, to play the game, but low-gravity issues produce a difference in the table. There are areas of the table which are sticky, using the same principle as the Gecko shoe-soles. Chips and other wager-items are placed carefully in the round central area which is clearly marked. Each player in turn has marked-off areas of high-tack surface at his station.
To transfer cards from the dealer to each player, a series of sliding trays is arrayed side-to-side on a rail running around the center 'pot' area, one tray for each player. When the dealer deals she deals into those trays, and slides them around the center to each player.
Caption: Morris found an open seat and sized up each of the players.
Caption: The Thai woman identified herself as 'Suki.' Although she was sober, she was Asian, and that usually spelled 'fish' to Morris.
Caption: He thought to himself, 'Maybe later, I'll get to know her … better.'

Panel 2
Wide panel divided into three small frames. The caption will lay across the top of all four. In the first frame, the blonde; in the second, the Thai woman, in the third, wider frame, the two Koreans.
Caption: In Morris' assessment, women and Asians believe in luck, not math. And of course, drunks couldn't do the math even if they wanted to. They will make the most extravagantly excessive bets, on the crappiest of hands.

Panel 3
Wide panel, focus is on Ed Turner sitting in between the Thai woman and the two Koreans. He is looking at Morris (at the camera in this case) with a knowing smile.
Caption: His only concern was the white guy, who called himself Ed Turner. He was sober, and seemed to know the game.
Caption: As far as Morris was concerned, Ed was the competition.