Strip 678 - Click strip above to goto the next strip.
First Seen: Fri 2013-09-27
Story & Art: Scott Bieser - Colors: Zeke Bieser
Sci-Fi Adventure Monday & Thursday.
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.
Kickstarter successful and closed [ May 19, 2026 ]
The Kickstarter campaign for Not-Safe.Space Chapter 3 concluded successfully on April 21, and Scott extended the time allowed for late pledges until May 19.
Books have been ordered from the printer and Scott will be spending the next week or so setting up and sending the PDF files to those who asked for them.
(There are still six of you who have not responded to the survey asking for e-mail and snail-mail addresses, he'll do the best he can.)
Thanks to all for supporting this Kickstarter!
Transcript For Strip 678
Panel 1Resuming flashback, now with Chelsea's cameo in the upper corner. The scene shows the pair sitting on a sofa in someone's living room, conversing intently.
Chelsea: 'So we examined everything we knew, and noted all the anomalies.
Chelsea: 'As the days passed, the worst of our theories became more and more viable.'
Panel 2
Medium close 2-shot of Ed and Chelsea, both looking horrified.
Ed: They're going to send a 183 kilotonne, black carbon planetoid smashing into Ceres!!!
Panel 3
Back to present. Nicole and Antigone are shocked.
Nicole: Ceres?!
Antigone: That could kill hundreds of thousands! It could alter Ceres' orbit!
Nicole: Why the shuck would they do that?
Panel 4
Ed and Chelsea, with Nicole just visible to the far right.
Ed: That's what we wondered, at first.
Chelsea: Then I found out the identity of a rock-wrangling ship – registered out of Hygiea -- that had pushed the black rock on its new course.
Panel 5
Medium close-up on Chelsea.
Chelsea: I tried to hail it, but got no response.
Chelsea: I got a track on its present course, headed for Hesperia, which has an outpost owned by an Hygiean company.
Panel 6
Medium close-up on Ed.
Ed: Then I found the smoking gun: An encoded message sent to the ship from Vesta, although it was disguised as coming from Hygiea.
Ed: It acknowledged the ship had pushed the rock towards Ceres and promised payment on arrival at Hesperia from a Hygiean account.
Panel 7
Chelsea, Nicole and Antigone.
Nicole: So, they're setting up a frame for this crime on the Hygieans! Why?
Antigone: To start a war.
Antigone: It's an old game: 'Let's you and him fight.'
Antigone: Vesta Vista could make a fortune selling arms and support to both sides, and rebuilding after the war.
Panel 8
Ed, Chelsea and Nicole, Antigone barely visible. Nicole is scowling.
Ed: We think there's more to it than that. After all, Vesta Vista does just fine with its current projects.
Chelsea: We have some indications that Omega-Tek and the Lunar government are involved.
Nicole: Loonies. It figures.
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