Book Sales Help Keep Quantum Vibe Ad-Free! Please visit our online store!
Quantum Vibe
Strip 126 of Quantum Vibe
Today on Quantum Vibe: Person or property
Strip 126 - Click strip above to goto the next strip.
First Seen: Mon 2011-06-13
Story & Art: Scott Bieser - Sci-Fi Adventure Monday & Thursday.
Big Head Press

Quantum Vibe

A thousand years in the future, humanity has colonized worlds in nearly 100 galaxies, thanks to Quantum Vibremonic technologies developed five centuries earlier. Other new technologies have created various off-shoots of humanity and extended life expectancies five-fold. The story begins with how a mad scientist and his plucky assistant, along with their robot friend, brought humanity to the stars, and continues with the adventures of some unique people in fantastic places.

Quantum Vibe: Château Périlleux - By Scott Bieser w/Lea Jean Badellas & Gus Mendes

What Comes Next [ Mar 18, 2024 ]

The War is Over. We Won.

The war is over, but This Means War has a ways to go. Novo Paolo/Bubbleopolis is still in a nebula/stellar nursery, no one knows what happened to the planet Sharen (center of the Intergalactic Council), and the status of the now-surrendered Invaders is yet to be resolved. What will they do when they learn their homeworld is basically destroyed? Will Alyss and Li be re-united? How about Diana (the real one) and Otto?

These questions will be resolved in the next few weeks, before This Means War part 3 wraps in late May.

After that, I plan to go BACK in time about 400 years, to when Alyss and Li left their home in the Sol System to colonize a new world on the far side of the galaxy. As one might expect, hijinks ensue. New subtitle yet to be determined, start date sometime in around the start of July. Stay tuned!

Please help Scott keep QUANTUM VIBE alive!
Become a subscriber or patron
Join the Quantum List!
Link

Transcript For Strip 126

Panel 1
Still in the corridor intersection, Abdi takes leave of Nicole and Hitomi.
Abdi: Hitomi, if you're not busy, would you mind finishing Ms Oresme's tour?
Abdi: Captain Pinder has just called me to the control deck.
Hitomi: Certainly.
Panel 2
Hitomi and Nicole continue down a corridor.
Nicole: So … what is your status here? Are you free-contract? Are you property?
Hitomi: Would you ask that question of anyone else in this crew, Ms Oresme?
Panel 3
A bit embarrassed, Nicole follows Hitomi up a spiral stair-shaft
Nicole: Oh! Well, not unless human chattel slavery has been revived. And, it's Nicole.
Hitomi: Ah, well, it happens that such does exist, in certain parts of the system, Nicole.
Panel 4
Hitomi leads Nicole through a hatchway.
Hitomi: But to answer your question, I was once property, but now I am free.
Hitomi: I met Captain Pinder five years ago, on Huoxing.

Panel 5
The two enter a broad room with a very large, wide observation window. A few chairs and small tables give the room a lounge quality.
Hitomi: This is our observation lounge. I love to sit here sometimes and meditate on the stars.
Nicole: So what happened when you met Pinder?

Panel 6
Looking at Hitomi and Nicole from outside the ship, through the observation window.
Hitomi: We worked out a deal – he purchased me from my former owner, then took me off-world and manumitted me.
Nicole: Just like that?
Panel 7
Close-up of Hitomi.
Hitomi: I promised to work for him and his crew – doing what I do best, for three standard years.
Hitomi: Then I could go where I like.

Panel 8e
Two-shot of Nicole and Hitomi – Nicole looks a bit dubious.
Nicole: Three years … but you said that was five years ago?
Hitomi: I chose to remain – I now have an at-will contract and am paid a share just like the other crew-members.

Web-comics Scott Reads

SPACETRAWLER
Grrl Power
Schlock Mercenary
Unsounded
Diesel Sweeties
Girl Genius
XKCD
Drive
Day By Day
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Questionable Content
Gunnerkrigg Court
Something * Positive
Oglaf (NSFW)
Trekker
HELM
POWERNAP

For news and reviews:
The Beat
Bleeding Cool
Comics Worth Reading

Quantum Vibe Story Contents © 2024 Scott Bieser
Framing Graphics © 2024 Big Head Press