They may be rogue, but they’re not anarchists. Somebody’s got to be in charge. And until now, Sweetheart was as good a choice as anybody (and, in fact, a better choice than most of the people on board). However, I have often got the feeling that while she likes the power of being “the boss”, she doesn’t like the responsibility that comes with it. That’s one reason why she is more than happy to hand over the reins to Gavotte – that, and the fact that Gavotte kind of terrifies her.
I’m inclined to go with “Gavotte terrifies her” over “doesn’t want the responsibility.” I can’t wait to see if Gavotte does what I think she will; I’m betting that she wants Sweetheart to run this operation, and is a bit disappointed that Sweetheart is rolling over without even being prompted.
[weak retcon 2] Maybe Unity didn’t pay attention, and it was Tip who responded?
[weak retcon 3] Maybe Unity figured that Dr. Lee has moved, with Nick, since boarding, and will find out where both of them are now?
[retcon 4] Maybe the mental effort of resisting the lure of BRAINS was enough to wipe the (very short term) memory of having seen the brain in question?
I agree, awgiedawgie. Unity is easily distracted when not recently having consumed brains. It’s not hard to imagine that she might, in her “normal” state, have fairly poor short-term memory. She was also deliberately distracted from the situation by Marcie, to prevent her from doing something she would certainly regret later. She could have been so overwhelmed by the smell of coffee-infused brains that she totally forgot what just happened.
For those wondering about this who didn’t read when it was first posted: The text in Sweetheart’s speech bubble in the first panel was changed. She originally asked if Dr. Lee knew “Nick’s whereabouts”. Unity’s response about asking doesn’t make sense, given that she had seen Nick with Dr. Lee shortly before, and she would reasonably have just answered that Nick was with Dr. Lee as a naked brain.
However, Unity wasn’t there very long. While she might have responded to the revised question about Nick’s status with “he’s a brain in a box now”, it also makes sense to get more information about why he’s that way.
“I’m feeling good from my hat to my shoes / I know where I’m going and I know what to do / I’ve tidied up my point of view / I’ve got a pneumatic tube…”
Sweetheart wasn’t consulted about Dr. Lee coming aboard; her permission was not sought; she’s being informed, after the fact, by someone not actually involved with taking Dr. Lee aboard. . .
Y’know, I think this whole “Sweetheart being in charge” thing was a fantasy that Unity was enabling going along with. Gavotte pretty much burst the bubble simply by showing up.
If you team is fixing problems before reporting to you about them, you have a great team. Don’t ruin it by micromanaging and just be content running interference at the officer/manager level. Your people got this, just make sure they inform you eventually.
I’m not sure what’s going on : does Sweetheart hates being a leader so much she tried to hand over the reins to Gavotte first chance she got, or is she so afraid of her she went full “oh-god-im-sorry-you-are-my-master-please-forgive-me” the moment she appeared?
This is a classic example of Pavlov’s Reflex. She has been trained over her career to see Gavotte as In Charge, so when the bees arrive, she automatically turns over the reins. If her conscious mind starts working again, she will backtrack with all four feet.
In fact, Sweetheart is so submissive to Gavotte that it didn’t even occur to her to inquire, “Ma’am, what exactly happened with those e-mails promising raises to us but setting us all at cross-purposes while you were all supposedly post-swarm silly? Was the goofiness all an act? Why were we set up to fail?”
I have no doubt those emails actually were sent out by Ira, and Gavotte didn’t know anything about them, so she wouldn’t have an answer anyway. He needed the files scanned so he could collect them later, and he needed Nick’s sonic weapon – originally to get all the humans out of the way, but it turned out to be useful for making it easy to collect Gavotte.
Oh, Sweetheart. You were born to be a beta. (probably literally) Embrace your middle management nature. We all know you were happier being a lieutenant than a general.
After reading the comments, it is my conclusion that:
-Sweetheart is just submissive and immediately assume Gavotte is above her and would want to be in charge
-Unity just forgot she saw brain. I mean Nick.
Annex was abandoned for a better building,
Broken and condemned at last.
Annex left its place in DC swampland beltway,
For a rescue mission fast.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, Annex, go on.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, Ann!
Sweetheart was a dog who thought she was a leader,
But she was too hard to please.
All the world around her said she was succeeding.
But she gives it to the bees.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, Sweetheart, go on.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, go rogue, go rogue.
Go rogue, with Skin-Horse.
Your future’s waiting for you
With some high-yield booze you’re a low-tech fretter.
Go rogue, you better.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
—from “Get Back,” The Beatles. “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we pass the audition.”
A bit of an aside, but some thoughts on Unity’s situational superintelligence: UNITY is fundamentally a swarm of nanites wearing corpses. The nanites are *her*, but they need flesh to inhabit in order to interact with the world or process information beyond a certain point. The nanites will readily and aggressively colonize any organic material they come in contact with-what if that includes brain tissue she eats? Eating brains gives the nanites more “hardware” to think with, and Unity’s mind grows and develops to fill it- until her digestive system does it’s thing.
They’ve gone rogue. So why should Sweetheart be in charge? (Perhaps she and Gavotte can fight it out for it.)
They may be rogue, but they’re not anarchists. Somebody’s got to be in charge. And until now, Sweetheart was as good a choice as anybody (and, in fact, a better choice than most of the people on board). However, I have often got the feeling that while she likes the power of being “the boss”, she doesn’t like the responsibility that comes with it. That’s one reason why she is more than happy to hand over the reins to Gavotte – that, and the fact that Gavotte kind of terrifies her.
I’m inclined to go with “Gavotte terrifies her” over “doesn’t want the responsibility.” I can’t wait to see if Gavotte does what I think she will; I’m betting that she wants Sweetheart to run this operation, and is a bit disappointed that Sweetheart is rolling over without even being prompted.
She clearly feels that Gavotte out-alphas her.
This.
Gotta say she’s being realistic (for once).
Didn’t Unity just see Dr. Lee carrying Nick?
That’s kinda what I was thinking. But then Unity does tend to have a rather short attention span. It’s quite likely she already forgot.
[weak retcon 2] Maybe Unity didn’t pay attention, and it was Tip who responded?
[weak retcon 3] Maybe Unity figured that Dr. Lee has moved, with Nick, since boarding, and will find out where both of them are now?
[retcon 4] Maybe the mental effort of resisting the lure of BRAINS was enough to wipe the (very short term) memory of having seen the brain in question?
Does Unity know what the word “whereabouts” means, especially as she’s not on brains?
I think this is yet anothe case of the comics going up in the wrong order.
Argh, I forgot Unity was there when Lee came on board! I suck. I’ll fix it.
You coulda stuck with “Unity forgot”. You didn’t have to be wrong. 🙂
I agree, awgiedawgie. Unity is easily distracted when not recently having consumed brains. It’s not hard to imagine that she might, in her “normal” state, have fairly poor short-term memory. She was also deliberately distracted from the situation by Marcie, to prevent her from doing something she would certainly regret later. She could have been so overwhelmed by the smell of coffee-infused brains that she totally forgot what just happened.
You don’t suck! Even Homer nods.
For those wondering about this who didn’t read when it was first posted: The text in Sweetheart’s speech bubble in the first panel was changed. She originally asked if Dr. Lee knew “Nick’s whereabouts”. Unity’s response about asking doesn’t make sense, given that she had seen Nick with Dr. Lee shortly before, and she would reasonably have just answered that Nick was with Dr. Lee as a naked brain.
However, Unity wasn’t there very long. While she might have responded to the revised question about Nick’s status with “he’s a brain in a box now”, it also makes sense to get more information about why he’s that way.
Unity just likes using the pneumatic tubes. Shoot, who doesn’t?
@ Nahuel
“I’m feeling good from my hat to my shoes / I know where I’m going and I know what to do / I’ve tidied up my point of view / I’ve got a pneumatic tube…”
That was just awful. Congrats.
It’s not mine. I saw it on “Perfect Strangers.”
A. That’s really funny.
B. Oerfect Strangers callback FTW!
Oh noes! It will be the battle of the century, dog vs. bees. Who will win the leadership?
[places 100gil on Sweetheart]
My money’s on the bees. Dogs always forget that bees can sting.
Then there’s the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you…
…if the bees haven’t stung their tongue first.
Eh, I’d say that the fight has already been decided by the fact that Sweetheart has clearly inprinted upon Gavotte as Master. ^_^
Dogs can roll in mud. Provides secondary armor, and doesn’t do any attached bees any good.
Oh, good, another mud fight!
Sweetheart wasn’t consulted about Dr. Lee coming aboard; her permission was not sought; she’s being informed, after the fact, by someone not actually involved with taking Dr. Lee aboard. . .
Y’know, I think this whole “Sweetheart being in charge” thing was a fantasy that Unity was
enablinggoing along with. Gavotte pretty much burst the bubble simply by showing up.If you team is fixing problems before reporting to you about them, you have a great team. Don’t ruin it by micromanaging and just be content running interference at the officer/manager level. Your people got this, just make sure they inform you eventually.
This.^
I’m not sure what’s going on : does Sweetheart hates being a leader so much she tried to hand over the reins to Gavotte first chance she got, or is she so afraid of her she went full “oh-god-im-sorry-you-are-my-master-please-forgive-me” the moment she appeared?
I think it’s the latter. Sweetheart likes being in charge, or thinking she’s in charge. But Gavotte is the ALPHA in Sweetheart’s mind.
Sweetheart likes giving orders, but she doesn’t like actually being the one responsible for how things turn out.
This is a classic example of Pavlov’s Reflex. She has been trained over her career to see Gavotte as In Charge, so when the bees arrive, she automatically turns over the reins. If her conscious mind starts working again, she will backtrack with all four feet.
In fact, Sweetheart is so submissive to Gavotte that it didn’t even occur to her to inquire, “Ma’am, what exactly happened with those e-mails promising raises to us but setting us all at cross-purposes while you were all supposedly post-swarm silly? Was the goofiness all an act? Why were we set up to fail?”
I have no doubt those emails actually were sent out by Ira, and Gavotte didn’t know anything about them, so she wouldn’t have an answer anyway. He needed the files scanned so he could collect them later, and he needed Nick’s sonic weapon – originally to get all the humans out of the way, but it turned out to be useful for making it easy to collect Gavotte.
Oh, Sweetheart. You were born to be a beta. (probably literally) Embrace your middle management nature. We all know you were happier being a lieutenant than a general.
After reading the comments, it is my conclusion that:
-Sweetheart is just submissive and immediately assume Gavotte is above her and would want to be in charge
-Unity just forgot she saw brain. I mean Nick.
Are you sure she know the brain is brain’s. I mean brain’s. I mean Nick’s.
She knew it at the time. Whether she remembers it now is another question.
Annex was abandoned for a better building,
Broken and condemned at last.
Annex left its place in DC swampland beltway,
For a rescue mission fast.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, Annex, go on.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, Ann!
Sweetheart was a dog who thought she was a leader,
But she was too hard to please.
All the world around her said she was succeeding.
But she gives it to the bees.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, Sweetheart, go on.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, go rogue, go rogue.
Go rogue, with Skin-Horse.
Your future’s waiting for you
With some high-yield booze you’re a low-tech fretter.
Go rogue, you better.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
Go rogue, go rogue,
Go rogue, you’re right where you belong.
—from “Get Back,” The Beatles. “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we pass the audition.”
I bow to you.
You passed the audition. With flying colors.
A bit of an aside, but some thoughts on Unity’s situational superintelligence: UNITY is fundamentally a swarm of nanites wearing corpses. The nanites are *her*, but they need flesh to inhabit in order to interact with the world or process information beyond a certain point. The nanites will readily and aggressively colonize any organic material they come in contact with-what if that includes brain tissue she eats? Eating brains gives the nanites more “hardware” to think with, and Unity’s mind grows and develops to fill it- until her digestive system does it’s thing.
That makes sense.
That’s pretty much exactly what I’ve been thinking for a while now.
I think that explains it pretty well.
Does Gavotte have the same Bureaucracy teleportation powers that Sweetheart does?