Transcript For Strip 2026

Panel 1
Tom is standing, and tosses more carrots into Sandra's basket.
Tom: In the first place, I don't see the problem. Melissa does more work than any one of us.
Tom: In the second place, this planet would not even be livable without advanced technology, changing its orbit and tilt and seeding it with biomass.
Panel 2
Now Tom is carrying the full basket away from the garden, towards the barn. Sandra walks alongside, carrying both hoe and spade. We can see Melissa in the distance behind them.
Sandra: Yes, but this settlement! It's supposed t' be entirely primitivist!
Sandra: No plancktronics, no electronics, nothin' at all beyond iron-age tools within 250 kilometers!
Sandra: That's what we all signed up for.
Panel 3
Tom puts the basket of carrots on a table along with some other baskets full of produce. Sandra is holding the gardening tools.
Sandra: That … thing that calls itself Melissa, don't belong here! Its presence is a violation of th' contract.
Tom: A contract you didn't read carefully enough, or you'd have caught the clause excluding 'prosthetics.' And as a 'tin-man,' Melissa's entire body is a 'prosthetic.'
Panel 4
Tom gently takes the tools from Sandra.
Sandra: It claims t' be a 'tin-man.'
Tom: I see no cause to dispute that.
Tom: And besides, I don't hear you complaining about the emergency transmitter, in case one or more of us needs an evac.
Sandra: Hey, I'm an idealist but I'm not suicidal.

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