TELO’S JOURNAL

I know strange things happen in the wilderness. I’m not as wide-eyed and innocent as all that. But a swirling vortex of fragmented lights? C’mon. Who expects to see that. I mean, I expected dangerous bugs chasing us through thick tangles, gaping chasms in the circuit floors threatening to appear from nowhere and drop us to our doom, or even crazy hermit-beetles popping up and taking us captive. But not this. Was I surprised? You think?

TRANSCRIPT

[...so an argument quickly follows. Telo might be naive, but he's not a wimp. He's not going to roll over on Stan and let him fly off with the artifact. But a warning from Grim interrupts the disagreement as an odd light suddenly appears from the very spot where the artifact once sat atop a pile of old resistors. Grim looks on in astonishment as the eerie light hovers nearby.]

TELO: Are you threatening us?

STAN: Think of it as payment. You have your answers. Now beat it…

GRIM: (off frame) Uh… Telo?

8R4D’s Journal

Thanks to some early critiques of the over-philosophical early panels of this chapter. They were not particularly exciting, I know, but I’ve got a story to build here. For those who have caught on to that story as it stands so far, you may have figured out that this is turning into an origin-type story for a much larger plot. And does everyone remember what happens in an origin story? Yup. You at the back… that’s right. Characters are thrown into a seemingly irresolvable problem created as a result of their own flaws and desires. It’s standard stuff, the rest of you. Keep up. And in those early panels what you saw — or can see if you go back and look — are a couple naive and existential bugs who’ve wandered blindly on a quick adventure to figure out an easy answer to their own uncertainty about the universe. Sure they found it quicker than one might expect… but don’t you think that kind of knowledge is gonna have a hefty price? Huh?

This is Part 10 of 12 of Chapter One | Originally Posted 2010-05-05