I was kind of wondering the same thing. Of course, he was around for the untimely demise of his creator, but other than that, I shudder to think of the possibilities.
I mean, his creator was killed by an angry mob. Do you think the mob would have *stopped* when his creator was dead? I don’t. The fact that Baron’s still around implies the mob lost in the end, but in the middle… Well, Baron probably didn’t kill anyone- but he might well have fallen on a dead mobster in the panic.
Everybody knows since long before the Marquise of Queensbury….that important
circles are squared….the marriage ring, by children. Organized fights like the Baron’s running kept wars from breaking out as followers fought over possession of
the fallen champion’s body. Boxing was a social improvement over the little militia wars that were constantly
a danger. Go figure. We’re brutes.
Marriage was probably also a ‘taming’ method for our species….thank you, Goddess.
Do you mean the Baron or Nick? Mistycorn probably is running up the odds on some betting scheme and Nick will run around the square until the opponent loses battery power
It would be simplest to just leave the “aftermarket parts” in place. I speculated before that Nick could jack into just about anything with a little help from Virginia and a few of Unity’s nanobots. And for all we know the “improvements I snuck in anyway” Tigerlily included something like that.
His brain still had cybernetics in place when Virginia rescued it (she mentioned that when she was searching for it). She had to operate on his brain to remove his overrides, but it was never made clear how much – if anything – she had to remove, and how much she was able to leave in place.
Virginia said his brain is “threaded with cybernetics”, and that she promised to get his “real body back”, so she would have had no reason to remove them.
We know it’s fusion-powered, but how much of Annex One is electronic, and how much is spring-controlled? Nick’s cybernetics may be completely incompatible with Tigerlily’s system.
If this is the Baron’s idea of an inspiring speech, no wonder he’s losing control of the arena. Much more of this and Nick won’t need rotors to take flight.
I laughed at that way harder than I should have! Thank you Shaenon & Jeff! 🙂
Somehow it’s funnier now, knowing it was written last century, on a physical medium, and only just now uploaded.
what?
Just how does the Baron know that, hmm?
I was kind of wondering the same thing. Of course, he was around for the untimely demise of his creator, but other than that, I shudder to think of the possibilities.
I mean, his creator was killed by an angry mob. Do you think the mob would have *stopped* when his creator was dead? I don’t. The fact that Baron’s still around implies the mob lost in the end, but in the middle… Well, Baron probably didn’t kill anyone- but he might well have fallen on a dead mobster in the panic.
From Nick’s expression in the last panel, I gather he had more chutzpah than plan…
Clearly his nascent abilities – whatever they are! – have yet to be revealed…
All these squares make a circle… all these squares make a circle… all these squares make a circle…
Or, as Roger Miller said, “Squares Make The World Go Round”
It’s hip to be square.
Everybody knows since long before the Marquise of Queensbury….that important
circles are squared….the marriage ring, by children. Organized fights like the Baron’s running kept wars from breaking out as followers fought over possession of
the fallen champion’s body. Boxing was a social improvement over the little militia wars that were constantly
a danger. Go figure. We’re brutes.
Marriage was probably also a ‘taming’ method for our species….thank you, Goddess.
An Anthropologist friend posited that women domesticated men by providing a steady supply of fermented alcoholic stuff.
And it would seem the first thing they did with their liberation 10,000 years later was try to get the stuff banned.
Once men started mass-producing the stuff, we lost the ability to control them with it.
So, what’s his plan here?
Do you mean the Baron or Nick? Mistycorn probably is running up the odds on some betting scheme and Nick will run around the square until the opponent loses battery power
That warning might actually help, if the robots decline to injure Nick because they don’t want to risk the smell.
Well, maybe.
But how many robots do you know who even HAVE an olfactory sense?
Well… I once had a dog that had no nose…
How did he smell?
Terrible. Especially when wet.
Oh, this just keeps getting better and better. I hope Dr. Lee has a spare body for Nick afterwards.
She’s bright. I’ll bet the machinery she used to build the first body is merely mothballed, not dismantled.
Does Nick even have any aftermarket parts anymore? Once his brain was removed from its containment, are the interfaces still there?
It would be simplest to just leave the “aftermarket parts” in place. I speculated before that Nick could jack into just about anything with a little help from Virginia and a few of Unity’s nanobots. And for all we know the “improvements I snuck in anyway” Tigerlily included something like that.
His brain still had cybernetics in place when Virginia rescued it (she mentioned that when she was searching for it). She had to operate on his brain to remove his overrides, but it was never made clear how much – if anything – she had to remove, and how much she was able to leave in place.
Virginia said his brain is “threaded with cybernetics”, and that she promised to get his “real body back”, so she would have had no reason to remove them.
What no one realizes is that because Nick still has his cybernetics, he can still jack in and out of electronics… Including the annex building…
(Hint, this is how Shannon gets out of drawing a giant fight scene.)
We know it’s fusion-powered, but how much of Annex One is electronic, and how much is spring-controlled? Nick’s cybernetics may be completely incompatible with Tigerlily’s system.
If this is the Baron’s idea of an inspiring speech, no wonder he’s losing control of the arena. Much more of this and Nick won’t need rotors to take flight.
Oooo! Certamen reference! Ars magica for the win!