Page 53. Lost.
All right, so here’s an update on what’s happening. Updates will likely be very spotty until April because of Kickstarter stuff. I’m still on track to get everything done by the end of this month, but at the expense of new pages until it’s all finished. If there isn’t a new update before Emerald City Comic Con, remember to stop by and see me at table EE-07! I’ll have brand new books and posters. And Portland readers, I will be doing two book signings, one at the Spritely Bean on March 30 and one at the Cosmic Monkey on April 1. Come see me there!
As always, thanks for understanding. Fulfilling this Kickstarter’s been a big undertaking, but I’m so excited to have these books ready to be sent out to you!
How… disturbingly insightful.
I wonder if the person on the other end of the phone line is an AI, or someone working on a project to upload minds? (Sure, Brendan and Al were doing mind-scanning back in the day… but even today’s Brendan wasn’t able to restore a backed-up identity from it.)
I misread your AI (artificial intelligence) as Al(astair synthetic). The typeface on this page makes them look identical. (I had to copy/paste your comment in a text editor with a different font to see which one you said.) But it made me think how this Al(astair) isn’t the first Al(astair) synthetic that has unexpectedly arrived on Brendan’s doorstep. I wonder if others are still independently functioning, but have very different personalities. Brendan did say the synthetics all have rights now, so Brendan probably can’t just arbitrarily deactivate them.
That’s along the lines of the thought I had back when Brendan first tried to call this mystery person. It’s an idea that’s stuck since. It seems it would either be that, or someone we haven’t met yet. Why keep their identity hidden, otherwise? That said, I entirely agree with the decision to keep them hidden for now. It will be intriguing to see if that theory holds up.
I bet a bag of chips it’s the military guy.
Cause:
1-Even if he’s not a researcher he can get people to do it for him
2-he’d the first person Brendan openly shows disgust in both present and past
3-the man’s work requires secrecy(as in nacional security)
4-the man’s work and life will be f$%ยจ$# if any crime is tracked to him(corruption for starters).
5-Brendan doesn’t even try to be sociable as he’s mostly looking for a reaction wether it’s pride or anger, as it’d indifference as if talking to a child it sounds a lot like military dude’s treatment of Brendan(and he’s most likely also innocent).
I wonder if the phone voice isn’t a poor copy of Al himself with the memories but little personality. It would still want to design, but without inspiration. But look at Gimel trying to look innocent . . .
The dialect is overly perfect and sort of an old world English.
It sounds more like one of the Gimel’s pre-coded forms of speech over an actual human being, as most of the humans who you write speaking have notable pauses or even tics present in their voices whenever they speak, but this unknown voice is fluid and uncut-off.
Not necessarily. It could just be someone who is very polished. Not something you see often nowadays in our culture in this more informal age. But rare is not the same as none.
blue!!
dang it.
nicely played, once again.
(i’ll say no more.)
Please pardon the vulgarities:
It looks like you have a big friend, in high, powerful places.
But, it looks like your friend is doing [ Beep]-all, to help you.
“they” want you to be Happy.
or, if nothing else, to resolve some Unfinished Business that obviously continues haunting you.
if these Automatons are, indeed, during verbal conversation, able to emote certain words, they really have gotten Advanced over the years.
…
rude fucker just hung up without allowing brennie his own opportunity to give a farewell.
…..
(maybe AI still needs more tinkering…..)
There is something about the way that driver robot is steepling his hands… hmm… could it be? His driver? naaah….
I have held the suspicion that the guilty part is in fact the synthetic community. They all have looked at Al in rather knowing ways. None of them are surprised to see him. They must know who he is…wouldn’t you want to know your creator? So I suspect this conspiracy is well intended and not meant to give the grief that it is. It is just the synthetic people didn’t anticipate how Brendan would react to having a true reproduction of Al. That he would think somebody is up to something nefarious XD
Look at that perfect poker face. Gimel may be more than he seems. Suppose Al, dying, used Gimel to back himself up? Brendan’s incomplete copy plus Gimel might be the whole man. ‘Gimel’ means three, but also a rich man hurrying to help a poor man and can mean a justified or overdue payment.
Brendan deserves to get Al back. They both deserve another chance.
Well. identity of the caller notwithstanding, the real interesting part is that NO data has been lost. Whomever (whatever?) created Al did a COMPLETE memory restore. As @Jay said above–whoever managed this has more ability than even Brendan. Or the caller, who has apparently tried to create an Al before without this level of success.
Ho ho hooo! EXCELLENT last line! I never thought the caller might have helped Brendan before, and would therefore know the implied “copied and decrypted” data type! Thanks for such a great comment!
When Al first appeared, Brendan was expecting another poorly-loaded imitation. SOMETHING is going on.
Nothing was lost. Something was gained. And the robot has no expression.
Well THAT was dead giveaway that they were the ones who did it!
At least in my mind.
I guess the question of why still remains. I don’t think it was to hurt Brendan’s feelings, since he didn’t tell anyone of their relationship. Someone wanted Al back…for his brains? For the bragging rights?
I still can’t decide if I want Brendan and Al to get back together. On the one hand, I think that Al is still very much in love with him…unless something happened that we don’t know about! Brendan has had time to leave Al in the past. And I also don’t know if he would WANT to have a relationship with a synthetic.
I love this!!!
Thank you so much for writing and making this beautiful story.
“Thank you so much for writing and making this beautiful story.”
This is a masterpiece. Nothing is overdone, the SF is perfectly balanced with the humanity of the characters, and it’s obviously going like an arrow to the heart of a big reveal. And we’re getting it in installments like the first fans of Sherlock Holmes or Dickens.
I think I figured out who the blank contact is. Its captain obvious.
Apparently, Brendan is distraught over being booped more than anything else.
bro after rereading the whole comic…. is that tsade he’s talking to?!?!?!?! :o