It looks more like “I am so used to weird things around here, I’ll just treat this as Tuesday.” Probably the most reasonable response, all things considered.
Bus: a circuit that connects the CPU with other devices in a computer.”
“…heal that which is broken…”
Makes me wonder if Anasigma is only telling them that it’s eternal, but the real reason they’re stuck there is there’s yet another bug in the system, and A-Sig doesn’t know how to get them out.
But that’s assuming Anasigma even knows they exist. If they do then it would seem that they’re keeping secrets from Ira and that he’s not as in charge of them as he thinks he is. Not impossible in any Illuminati setting. >_>
I meant that A-Sig can’t get its own people out of the VR. Again, I reference the episode of a TV show I saw years ago, in which players were stuck in a VR game unless they won. Even if they were physically removed from the hardware, their mind still thought it was in the game. So the only way to keep them from truly being trapped in limbo for eternity is to leave them connected to the VR until a solution could be found.
Of course, knowing about the problem would not stop A-Sig from sending more people in…
That wouldn’t really add up: Virginia was keeping/retraining Nick in (presumably A-Sig) VR and Mr Green had no problem forcibly hacking him out.
Besides, she’s their leading brain interface expert. They would have either have had her working on the project, or have extirpated her already, if getting people out was their plan!
You’re assuming that the system functions as it’s supposed to. I’m proposing that it is not. Y’all don’t really understand the term “bugs in the system”, do you?
Besides, these people have been extirpated. The whole point is to have them stuck in here. Getting them back out was never a priority. A-Sig may have chosen to keep her away from the project – both by not having her work on it, and by not extirpating her – because they knew she would be able to escape and take everyone else with her.
And the reason for sending her in now may have been not so much that they needed her in, but that they need her to hack the system so they can get someone else out.
And before you point out that Mr. Green can get out just fine, I’ll point out that he uses his own unique interface to come and go as he pleases. It’s the same way he was able to operate the Violet Bee drone for hours on end without crashing like Sweetheart did. He could probably access the beach if he wanted to, but if he never knew it existed, he would never have had cause to go looking for it. He has more pressing things to do than to go exploring Extirpation World.
As an aside… I would not be at all surprised if A-Sig — or more precisely, select people within it — are keeping secrets from Mr. Green. Some of them — like Virginia and Sergio — who are doing good that they don’t want him to know about, but there are undoubtedly others who have their own evil agenda that they also don’t want him to know about.
I’ve started thinking — the bus driver isn’t a person, he’s the machine interface. And in VR he looks like a card reading computer. So, Virginia and co will need to program him using the skee-ball tickets.
1) Virginia does not actually intend to do what she says here; rather, she is trying to provoke a reaction. It’s psychology! She is basically proposing an assault on Dzur Mountain City Hall in order to see of one of the women is secretly Sethra Lavode Mayor Queen.
2) Mrs. Apis is secretly Sethra Lavode Mayor Queen. Hints to this: She has the most upper-class speech patterns of the four; she has the poshest place (a well-kept garden with tea service) of the four; she is the most authoritarian of the four; she is the only one to wear a single color top, which is royal purple (OK, Delphi also wears purple, but that is just an accent to her greenish-blueish top). Also, her hair goes up.
Interesting. What do you suppose that it means? I mean, as far as we know, the Bee drone was always just that–a remote body. We’ve never heard of it having its own consciousness. Could there have been one? Did Anasig obtain the Violet Bee from another party, extirpate its AI and use it as a remote drone? I’m just spitballing here.
Color perception is can vary between different people, but to my eyes, the only one with a purple flower is Mrs. Apis. The flowers on M & B are pink. Madame Delphi has pink flower earrings, and the flowers on her headscarf are a color that’s a little hard to describe, but I guess sort of reddish/rose?
It would seem simpler to climb the hill again with an axe for the door, or, an axe being unavailable, some bricks and sticks for the windows. But then I suppose the actual point is to get them working together.
Taking an axe to the door would definitely be the U.N.I.T.Y. way of doing things. Of course, she is trying to encourage working in unity, not working like U.N.I.T.Y.
P.S. Melanie’s probably pretty accurate with those Skee balls.
OK, I completely failed to foresee anything even vaguely like this.
Virginia B MAD. Completely MAD.
That might be when she is her most sane.
Insanity is a perfectly rational adaptation to an insane world.
Taking ‘no escape’ as a truth, this is actually pretty rational. The mayor is, at least, in reach.
That said, yeah, mad. Really mad. Litter of March Hares mad
(Or going sane in a crazy world, to quote the Tick)
Do we know that the mayor even really exists?
Nope! But the real treasure will be the friends Virginia makes along the way. 🙂
I apologize if I’m actually right about this.
Eh, good odds the mayor is another part of the bee gestalt.
What, Mayor Queen? Yeah, could be…
Just check to see if the Mayor has an archery set nearby 😛
It’s just been far too long since she had any of Mrs. Ape’s homemade jelly.
Is it just me, or does Mrs. Apis have the expression of “this is so unconventional, it just might work” on her face in that last panel?
Sounds about right. The fact that her reaction is to put another kettle on would seem to point in that direction in any event. ^_^
It looks more like “I am so used to weird things around here, I’ll just treat this as Tuesday.” Probably the most reasonable response, all things considered.
I interpreted it more as “I need more caffeine before I can deal with this”.
Virginia is a Natural Born Leader!
I’m so glad Virginia is enjoying extirpation. Probably not the reaction Mr. Green expected.
She’s got more than enough smarts to go full blown nihilist. I’m glad she can find joy in life no matter where she finds herself.
I kind of want to know about this bus now more than I had in the past. Kind of reminds me of William Inge…. or Waiting for Godot.
“The bus is the only way out.”
Bus: a circuit that connects the CPU with other devices in a computer.”
“…heal that which is broken…”
Makes me wonder if Anasigma is only telling them that it’s eternal, but the real reason they’re stuck there is there’s yet another bug in the system, and A-Sig doesn’t know how to get them out.
But that’s assuming Anasigma even knows they exist. If they do then it would seem that they’re keeping secrets from Ira and that he’s not as in charge of them as he thinks he is. Not impossible in any Illuminati setting. >_>
I meant that A-Sig can’t get its own people out of the VR. Again, I reference the episode of a TV show I saw years ago, in which players were stuck in a VR game unless they won. Even if they were physically removed from the hardware, their mind still thought it was in the game. So the only way to keep them from truly being trapped in limbo for eternity is to leave them connected to the VR until a solution could be found.
Of course, knowing about the problem would not stop A-Sig from sending more people in…
That wouldn’t really add up: Virginia was keeping/retraining Nick in (presumably A-Sig) VR and Mr Green had no problem forcibly hacking him out.
Besides, she’s their leading brain interface expert. They would have either have had her working on the project, or have extirpated her already, if getting people out was their plan!
You’re assuming that the system functions as it’s supposed to. I’m proposing that it is not. Y’all don’t really understand the term “bugs in the system”, do you?
Besides, these people have been extirpated. The whole point is to have them stuck in here. Getting them back out was never a priority. A-Sig may have chosen to keep her away from the project – both by not having her work on it, and by not extirpating her – because they knew she would be able to escape and take everyone else with her.
And the reason for sending her in now may have been not so much that they needed her in, but that they need her to hack the system so they can get someone else out.
And before you point out that Mr. Green can get out just fine, I’ll point out that he uses his own unique interface to come and go as he pleases. It’s the same way he was able to operate the Violet Bee drone for hours on end without crashing like Sweetheart did. He could probably access the beach if he wanted to, but if he never knew it existed, he would never have had cause to go looking for it. He has more pressing things to do than to go exploring Extirpation World.
As an aside… I would not be at all surprised if A-Sig — or more precisely, select people within it — are keeping secrets from Mr. Green. Some of them — like Virginia and Sergio — who are doing good that they don’t want him to know about, but there are undoubtedly others who have their own evil agenda that they also don’t want him to know about.
I’ve started thinking — the bus driver isn’t a person, he’s the machine interface. And in VR he looks like a card reading computer. So, Virginia and co will need to program him using the skee-ball tickets.
Oh, good theory. Who knows if it’s right, but it’s an excellent theory!
OK, whack theory time:
1) Virginia does not actually intend to do what she says here; rather, she is trying to provoke a reaction. It’s psychology! She is basically proposing an assault on
Dzur MountainCity Hall in order to see of one of the women is secretlySethra LavodeMayor Queen.2) Mrs. Apis is secretly
Sethra LavodeMayor Queen. Hints to this: She has the most upper-class speech patterns of the four; she has the poshest place (a well-kept garden with tea service) of the four; she is the most authoritarian of the four; she is the only one to wear a single color top, which is royal purple (OK, Delphi also wears purple, but that is just an accent to her greenish-blueish top). Also, her hair goes up.That theory is not entirely whack
And, as Vlad explained in “Orca”, we’ve never seen both of them in the same place…
Nice reference, BTW. I just finished reading “Iorich”, so the series is once again fresh in my mind.
That reveal took me so completely by surprise that I might still be a little shocked now.
(And then a friend of mine deduced it having only read Jhereg.)
Wait a minute. A *flying* circus?
*cues up the Liberty Bell March*
And now for something completely different…
Der Fliegenderzirkus fliegt weider!
A job for Foot!
Monty Bees and the flying circus?
DIMMSDALE!
Ummm… I’m probably late to the party on this (I usually am) but today’s strip really shows them each wearing a purple flower. Violet Bee?
Interesting. What do you suppose that it means? I mean, as far as we know, the Bee drone was always just that–a remote body. We’ve never heard of it having its own consciousness. Could there have been one? Did Anasig obtain the Violet Bee from another party, extirpate its AI and use it as a remote drone? I’m just spitballing here.
Color perception is can vary between different people, but to my eyes, the only one with a purple flower is Mrs. Apis. The flowers on M & B are pink. Madame Delphi has pink flower earrings, and the flowers on her headscarf are a color that’s a little hard to describe, but I guess sort of reddish/rose?
“The bus is the only way out”
(Slaps forehead) Of course it is!
It would seem simpler to climb the hill again with an axe for the door, or, an axe being unavailable, some bricks and sticks for the windows. But then I suppose the actual point is to get them working together.
Taking an axe to the door would definitely be the U.N.I.T.Y. way of doing things. Of course, she is trying to encourage working in unity, not working like U.N.I.T.Y.
P.S. Melanie’s probably pretty accurate with those Skee balls.
I’ve been informed this is National Unity Day. Happy, er, day, Unity.