Page 134: For Science!

[orion1836]

I think it's obvious.

Humans can only telepathically sense their soulmate.

I think Fireblade might have some problems with that.

[fredgiblet]

I think it's obvious.

Humans can only telepathically sense their soulmate.

I think Fireblade might have some problems with that.

She'll come around. They always do.

[cacambo43]

It had to be done.

OH THANK GOD SOMEBODY DID THIS!



CJSF

[cacambo43]

I don't think Alex seeing Fireblade's psychic silhouette is as much telepathic as a telekinetic fingerprint or after effect, lingering from her attempt to access his mind earlier. That might mean she's keeping a light telekinetic "touch" on him in case she needs to take quick action. I still don't think she's out to get him, and despite Alex's insult (harpy, indeed!) I think she could turn out to be a good friend. But that's as likely me projecting hopes on the comic, which will unfold as it will.

CJSF

[fredgiblet]

I don't think Alex seeing Fireblade's psychic silhouette is as much telepathic as a telekinetic fingerprint or after effect, lingering from her attempt to access his mind earlier. That might mean she's keeping a light telekinetic "touch" on him in case she needs to take quick action. I still don't think she's out to get him, and despite Alex's insult (harpy, indeed!) I think she could turn out to be a good friend. But that's as likely me projecting hopes on the comic, which will unfold as it will.

It's important to remember that while it's taken a decade for US, in the comic it's been literally just a couple weeks at most. And he's spent a lot of that time with not much to do but dwell on the events we've seen.

[cacambo43]

I don't think Alex seeing Fireblade's psychic silhouette is as much telepathic as a telekinetic fingerprint or after effect, lingering from her attempt to access his mind earlier. That might mean she's keeping a light telekinetic "touch" on him in case she needs to take quick action. I still don't think she's out to get him, and despite Alex's insult (harpy, indeed!) I think she could turn out to be a good friend. But that's as likely me projecting hopes on the comic, which will unfold as it will.

It's important to remember that while it's taken a decade for US, in the comic it's been literally just a couple weeks at most. And he's spent a lot of that time with not much to do but dwell on the events we've seen.

Oh, I understand Alex's reaction, totally. That's tangential to what I'm speculating on above - but I think we guess the author's intent at our peril!

CJSF

[novius]

I don't think Alex seeing Fireblade's psychic silhouette is as much telepathic as a telekinetic fingerprint or after effect, lingering from her attempt to access his mind earlier. That might mean she's keeping a light telekinetic "touch" on him in case she needs to take quick action. I still don't think she's out to get him, and despite Alex's insult (harpy, indeed!) I think she could turn out to be a good friend. But that's as likely me projecting hopes on the comic, which will unfold as it will.

CJSF

It didn't need to be the result of a voluntary action, but could just be an aftereffect of this attempted mind-rape. Fireblade made it clear that she still thinks quite little of him and his wisecracks and her whole demeanor says she's displeased at playing caretaker for a suspicious alien (rather than being on the front lines).

Interesting, though, in their second, more forceful attempt it was definitely Fireblade he sensed. But as said, this was the second attempt at trying to use sanzai on him, he woke up from the first attempt after having an indistinct impression. Meaning, it could have been Fireblade from the very first time or any of the other Loroi present. But yes, him singling her out could just be because of her being the strongest of the lot, by far.

Any other assumption (soulmates, meh) would be much less palatable to both of them, for sure.

My bet is on two things:

1. Learning about this, Beryl just has to include Fireblade in her experiments, maybe to her chagrin, too, since she did seem to enjoy the moments where she had Alex all to herself, but ... well, for science.
2. Both Alex and Fireblade would not be fond of that idea, too. They had sort of a silent agreement to stay out of each other's way.

On the other hand that is a good plot hook to throw these two together, to get them at least on speaking terms to each other... well, sort of.

Huh. Could be that Alex's ability comes to be important in later stages. Nowhere it is said how precise Loroi farsensing is, but I'd guess assensing a target's exact location and pose is not part of it. Could be quite helpful if it ever comes to having to rescue her from, say, being buried in debris.

[Arent]

Alex is a genius, so his plan will be to have the loroi fleet be slowly chased for almost 3 hours of a sub-par movie while the umiak slowly kill off their ships one by one and then drop everyone off on a planet, turn the last ship around and do a deep jump into a umiak super-heavy.

Except that he has to make sure not to tell his allies about the plan so that they end up unwittingly working against him, and the Umiak have to immediately surround and attack the planet so that it was all for nothing, and so that the most powerful non-evil psi in the galaxy can sacrifice himself to save about 10 useless people for no particular reason.

Huh? Who exactly is this "most powerful non-evil psi in the galaxy", who you are talking about

[Turrosh Mak]

Huh? Who exactly is this "most powerful non-evil psi in the galaxy", who your are talking about

Juke Cloudkicker? Puke Airrunner? Something like that...

It breaks my heart that a script as bad as Last Jedi (and Force Awakens, for that matter) made it to production. Haven't these guys ever heard of cinema sins? Force awakens reads like an 11 year old girl's Last Hope fanfic; substituting herself for Luke except "even more powerful". Don't get me started on LJ.

[discord]

there are some movies and books you wished you had never experienced so you could experience it for the first time again, then there are abominations like the last jedi that you wished you had never seen as it is a stain on your soul.
https://jollyjack.deviantart.com/art/Th ... -727544229 <---- so damned true.

[Aardvark]

Weird tangential thinking time:
Is it possible that he's not picking up on telepaths, but rather telekines? Or that the 'energy which comes from somewhere else' i.e. whatever it is that telekinesis taps into, is what he's seeing a trace of?
Or that, as a gifted TP/TK (possibly a bodyguard for a Loroi Admiral*), she had a fragment of genuine Soia-era tech in her amplifier (as opposed to the primitive copies of that tech in most amplifiers) - and he's picking up on that?

Yeah, I'm not totally convincing myself either, but thought I'd throw it out there.

PS can anyone remember if the guards who accompanied him on the shuttle are the same guards who participated with Fireblade in the initial interrogation?

*She gave him her personal shuttle after all, And Fireblade entered with the Admiral didn't she? Don't remember anything on the char sheet for 'I work for the Admiral' though ...

[Turrosh Mak]

Fireblade entered with the Admiral didn't she? Don't remember anything on the char sheet for 'I work for the Admiral' though ...

I believe Fireblade leads the "marine detachment" aboard Tempest. Marines answer directly to the Captain.

[Zarya]

Depending on how much time there is, Jardin may overcome this unwelcome distraction and rejoin Beryl in their Sanzai/Lotai experiment.

[GeoModder]

And... enter Fireblade again in the quotation.
Wonder if she will simply swap the torpedo launch away when it comes too close.

[raistlin34]

Huh? Who exactly is this "most powerful non-evil psi in the galaxy", who your are talking about :shock:

Juke Cloudkicker? Puke Airrunner? Something like that...

It breaks my heart that a script as bad as Last Jedi (and Force Awakens, for that matter) made it to production. Haven't these guys ever heard of cinema sins? Force awakens reads like an 11 year old girl's Last Hope fanfic; substituting herself for Luke except "even more powerful". Don't get me started on LJ.

The Star Wars franchise is a zombie which needs to be put down of its misery.

I enjoyed the Clone Wars and Rebels cartoon, nevertheless.

[Scynix]

Sigh... I've been told that Arioch has repeatedly stated there wouldn't be romantic subplots but...

Alex/Beryl are such cute friends. And I mean FRIENDS. I don't understand the huge amount of resistance to it but can't they at least be 'really good friends'? Does everything have to be either detached Acquaintance or 'hey babe let's go to your room' fake romance?
They'd make such a cute 'We're partners!' pairing. Until redhead accidentally 'flings' alex out an airlock and the story ends anyways.
Ever since Alex seemed to get mad Beryl didn't visit him and she seemed legitimately sorry about it, I thought they would have made good partners.

Dunno why I see so many people here so against 'romance'. Just protecting each other is a kind of romance you know. It's a pretty open term that has been badly pigeon holed in recent years. I blame tinder.

/EndSadRant

Really enjoying the story, Arioch. I've personally re-read the series 8! times since I first read it. I've always liked how relatable Alex was as a person. He seems like he's really trying this best in a crazy situation but he's also still clearly recognized how far in 'over his head' he is.

Save him from the crazy redhead, Beryl!

[Diodri]

Sigh... I've been told that Arioch has repeatedly stated there wouldn't be romantic subplots but...

There has been misinterpretation on that point a few times in the past, so let me clear that up. (I tried looking up the exact quote but couldn't find it). Arioch recently said something along the lines of, "I never said that there would be no romance in the plot, but people who are hoping for explicit sex scenes will be disappointed."

[boldilocks]

Sigh... I've been told that Arioch has repeatedly stated there wouldn't be romantic subplots but...

There has been misinterpretation on that point a few times in the past, so let me clear that up. (I tried looking up the exact quote but couldn't find it). Arioch recently said something along the lines of, "I never said that there would be no romance in the plot, but people who are hoping for explicit sex scenes will be disappointed."

TFW this whole first series is just a ploy for the inevitable Alex/Beryl buddy cop spin-off.

[GabrielGABFonseca]

I can't understand why some people seem so distressed by the possibility of romance in Outsider. The webcomic, we must agree, falls somewhere close to a Space Opera in genre (more specifically, I think, the "New Space Opera" genre, which incorporates elements of harder sci-fi into the mix). Romance has been a staple of this genre since it's beginnings.

Outsider having romance doesn't mean it'll become an Adam Sandler movie. It also doesn't mean it will become soft-core adult content. Arioch is not crazy, you know?

If anything, it may very well be handled similarly to Leia's and Han's romance in the Original Trilogy, I'd reckon. And that is not a bad thing, in my view.

/Rant Over

Regarding the events of the page though, I think further experiments will have to wait. I wonder how will they deal with the missile? Fireblade swating it asside with her Telekinesis would be really cool, and an interesting application of TK.

Or...

SpoilerShow

... more likely, the missile will hit Highland-7, EMP the shuttle, and force our band of heros to hide in the Shuttle's crawlspaces as they're boarded.

... But that'd be an odly specific claim, wouldn't it?

[Zarya]

Regarding the events of the page though, I think further experiments will have to wait. I wonder how will they deal with the missile? Fireblade swating it asside with her Telekinesis would be really cool, and an interesting application of TK.

I like the blue elves and an element of romance / friendship may turn out to be super important for this story.

The Red Haired Harpy and the potentially untrustworthy Mizol clearly the lesser evil when compared to the Umiak. God forbid one of the other scout vessels already made contact with the Hierarchy, leading them back beyond the Empty Quarter to an almost defenceless Earth.

Am afraid you will be right about further Sanzai experiments being put on the back burner, although Beryl still seems to be deeply concentrated at it in this page. There’s an impressive amount of issues to solve: the Highland-7 has a fuel emergency, would perhaps need to reduce relative velocity in order to be caught by the Gora Relay station, while already under fire.

Sigh, all those cliffhangers... (very well done Arioch!)