Hi Tod and Killian. Also two random nameless internal mechanic temps.
Killian has a simple hook-and-loop tail harness that is passively supporting their (insubstantial) body weight here but sadly the panels didn't really let me show it directly. Though tailed spacers' prehensile tails are more than strong enough to hold up their bodies in 1g, a harness prevents the worker from tiring out as quickly and arrests fall in case of sudden incapacitation or loss of grip.
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Transcript
The work crew re-enters the plant at the end of the workday, announced by the beep beep beep of the airlock door. Talita wanders into the sorting area of the plant, looking worriedly over her shoulder. She finds Tod talking to a couple of internal mechanics interns, and Killian hanging from beam by their prehensile tail while working on cyclone sorter.
Talita: Have you guys seen Mel? I need to talk to them.
Tod: Weren't they busy giving the centaurs a house tour?
Killian: Nah, I think I saw them out with Mel in the plant today.
They twist around in their suspended position to look at Talita.
Killian: Oh, and your new crew is centaurs!
Tod: Surprise.
Killian: Have you met them yet?
Talita: No, I’ll… um… Get there.
56 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 254”
Trees
Woe betide he who dares park a bike in the trike parking area.
JoB
“I knew those training wheels would come handy again someday!”
Frankie
oh to be a tailer and dangle as I please
Frankie
would tailers have to watch out for the usual health effects of being upside down for prolonged periods? like blood pooling in brain, compression of lungs? apropos of nothing; just made myself curious
wingedhorror
Since they were bred specifically for low-g environments, probably not!
wingedhorror
Ooooh, but I forgot about the effects of gravity, duhh. Yeah, you’re right, there may still be some effects.
SheTheTDE
#1 reason to not do surprises. Someting that would bring your joy does not automatically bring joy to another. They’re not you. When they’re from a different culture or speies to you your heartfelt gift could even be recieved as an insult or a threat. You should always discuss things with your intended recipient first. ALWAYS. A.L.W.A.Y.S. Zero exceptions. No go dicuss with your bestie what they’d like for theeir birthday.
izimb
It’s not completely the same, and Talita has some more layered on – but once, a workplace of mine acquired a freelancer I have trauma history with, even after me trying to tell C-level (small company) diplomatically that it won’t work for me due to personal history. I feel the bind she’s in so much – this is quitting on the spot material.
DoctorDragonWho
I’m not sure where to ask but a question for tahlia what do centaur compatable bathrooms usually look like I’m imaging like an in ground toilet and a very wide shower but I’m probobly wrong so I’d like to know!
JoB
The official submission form for Reader Questions is at https://forms.gle/YgmaucbnELMavjSD9 . Expect a rather long (invisible) queue there, though. (And I hope that the comments section does not auto-turn the URL into a link, because comments with several links IIUC go to the moderation queue …)
A centaur compatible toilet (as in, built by other sophonts to also serve centaurs) would probably look quite like the one aboard the Runaway.
I don’t think that the lore holds any info about the loos on their home planet. I’d guess that the nomadic lifestyle of a part of their culture precludes elaborate thrones, though …
WillEil
You’re more likely to get a response if you ask on twitch while Jay is streaming. It’s a very big queue.
JoB
> I hope that the comments section does not auto-turn the URL into a link,
> because comments with several links IIUC go to the moderation queue …
Aaaand of course that’s exactly what happened. :-3 Let me repeat this link to tide you over …
Smooti
I wonder if tailers have something in their biology to keep blood from rushing to their head, or if that wasn’t considered in their design at the time because they were expected to be in zero or microgravity all the time.
Also getting the feeling most of Dirtball doesn’t have the first clue about Talita’s situation and took Mel at their word that she’d love the surprise.
Dragoknight
being designed for microgravity probably would inherently keep blood from rushing to their head to some extent, since the reason that happens to typical humans is because our bodies are adapted to counter the effects of gravity on our blood when standing upright.
K
Does it feel *good* to a Tailer when they hang upside down and have gravity pull down on their spine?
JoB
It “feels good” to us typ humans even – for a limited time, to counter the effects of our usual posture. Doing it for an entire workday may be a different matter, though.
halley
really important question. does talita have a hard hat
Light_In_The_Fog
I had not considered this and this knowledge is now of the utmost importance to me
Napkinkat
Would Talita also need some kind of hard hat for her primary brain since centaurs brains aren’t all in their head? Or because of their skeletal structure do they not really need to worry? I genuinly love all her designs for adapting ppe onto herself. :]
CameoAppearance
Maybe there’s some armour over her back/around her midsection in the work clothes she’s wearing here?
Mitta
This made me think about how the saying “its all in your head” doesnt apply to centaurs. its all in your… ribs?
Chase Wanderstar
There’s extra lungs up there. Protecting lungs, while lower-priority than protecting head, is still good.
QualianCourt
Hard hat is less to protect a vital, vulnerable organ (the brain) and more to protect the extruding part of yourself that is most likely to whack into suspended or falling objects. Our thorax is also full of vital organs but construction sites don’t tend to mandate some kind of chestplate. By the logic, Talita should still wear one.
Ave Zancuda
Given the location of Centaur eyes and secondary brain, I’m sure on a construction site they’ll best procure a form of thick transparent mask visor that extends just about to protect a folded trunk
JoB
Have one, unlikely. Her usual workplace requires a vacuum suit – and if that gets as much as punctured anywhere, something like the previous page’s wienersheltermobile.
Would she create one for herself if she were to work where humans typically wear one? Given that she usually thinks along the lines of humans’ technology and safety procedures, I guess she would, even if “just to meet regulations”. She might switch to a novel, more centaur-appropriate design of her own later on, though.
Redacted
Oh my god Killian’s got a little hanging tool bucket!
Redacted
I wonder how much tailers have to worry about blood rushing to their brain compared to typ humans?
halley
i think that’s part of their whole deal, that they’re more resistant to the bodily effects normally associated with changes in gravity in typ humans. i’m not 100% on that though idk how much their… designers… would’ve cared about it in that direction as opposed to toward microgravity
Minaerva
0g results in greater blood flow to the head than 1g does anyway, so they’d most likely be better suited to -1g than a typ would, and typ humans irl can handle being upside down for a decent while well enough.
tyrone
Ah yes, prices for every sophont who cannot read the signs.
You have won 1 ugly extremely prickly Cactus who also smells horrible and screams loudly all night.
Congrats. Now help Talita packing.
jade stormcloud
Looks like a bit of a flub transcribing Killian’s line into the comic “Killian: Nah, I think I saw them in the plant today.” Whereas in the comic it says: “Nah, I think I saw them out with Mel in the plant today.”
Zuorai
I dunno what Mel is gonna say to Tal but I still wanna slap the beard off that Taco Bell cinnamon twist
JoB
“By the way, Killian, I have a message from your moms for you …”
Hmmm I’m not sure those McGuffins on their helmets would ever qualify as hearing protection. Neither do I expect Tod+crew to do the comedic steam-outta-ears routine they might prevent scalding a bystander … ?
JoB
… wait, are those perchance broad velcro straps, for when you need to really make sure the helmet stays on your head?
c0rpzet00nz
Hahaha, I bet so! They kinda look like they might be secured by magnets? Those can be REALLY strong even when small.
Effy Dubs
For a brief second, I thought Talita was wearing cut-offs in the last panel on her right mid-leg, but then realized it was her stripes poking out through the cuffs. I really like the hardhat designs Tod and Killian are wearing, especially the tie-down flaps. Not sure if they’re for hearing protection, or to protect that area from flying debris. Could be both! Also, that under-the-jaw harness on Killian’s makes sense, but I’ve found that more uncomfortable than one with a chin-cup. Since he goes inverted more often than I did, a chin-cup probably wouldn’t be secure enough to keep his hardhat on his head though. Either way, safety first!
JoB
> that under-the-jaw harness on Killian’s makes sense,
> but I’ve found that more uncomfortable than […]
Guess you won’t be happy with most bicycle helmets, then … :-3
Vinemaple
Ah, avoidance, my go-to solution for all my problems…
Lilac
I hope everyone she passes by notices how visibly uncomfortable she is about this please please understand her she needs to be understood It would be So much worse if it was literally just idrisah gillie and bip who were like “why aren’t you happy about this?” Oh my God Please
Lilac
*WEREN’T like. WEREN’T. You Understand
hurgaburga
she’s finna avoid the centaur temps like the plague for all for all of 40 minutes before she’s reminded that she’s their boss by mel before they lock her into a room with all of them so she can “get to know them”
Archieve
Summoning her just to leave her alone with the new Temps is just the sort of thing Mel would do.
Zack
…something just occurred to me.
Talita’s suit for going out of atmosphere is custom. She made it herself (there’s presumably no one manufacturing space suits for centaurs yet, at least not at commercial scale). So like… where is the temp crew going to get theirs?
Archieve
Mel either already took her blueprint for the suit to have an outside manufacturer make them (without paying Talita) or much more likely expects Talita to make them all herself without slowing down productivity. Either way it really highlights how much Mel takes Talita for granted, no worry about her quiting at all.
Michi
Arn’t they a spacer clan? Surely they have their own suits if they live in space.
Enai
Yeah, it’s not like Ixion posted a “Help wanted on remote planet Dirtball” ad on the Centaur homeworld, is it? Transferring a terrestrial clan and getting them acclimated to a rock with very limited atmosphere and no access to wide open spaces would be waay too complicated and expensive and also stupid, right? Right???
Archieve
Hard to say since we don’t know anything about this clan and according to lore other races have been coming to centaur home planet for physical labour since they were discovered despite an unenforceable law to leave them be until their technology advanced.
Jay Eaton
This is outdated information. Centaurs are rare in space because they are expensive to accommodate, and bug ferrets have been meddling with them since the moment they found them
JoB
> waay too complicated and expensive and also stupid
… well we don’t know whether Mel is allowed to do off-planet headhunting without Ohwitiil supervising, so …
Claire
Tod seems thrilled to give that “surprise”.
Enai
Oh yes. That is totally his happy face. Everyone is really happy, Ixion is just like a big family!
…
In Mel’s case, they’re the relative who keeps giving you chocolate with nuts in it, cause they were your favorite when you were five years old. Right until you developed that allergy they never bothered to remember…
Ohwitiil is the cranky elderly aunty/unkie who yells when the children get too rambunctious and the rest can be some other archetypes of family reunions.
The only actual professional is Clayton.
Accursed Dirt Boar
It really looks like every single person in Dirtball knew about the surprise but Talita herself, i guess it probably was not even that hard to figure it out whit all that foreshadowing
Archieve
Everyone atleast whose actually staying on dirtball who Talita has a non-hostile working relationship with. Which probably makes her feel like even more of an outsider then she already did.
Lezzlebit
Omg….. Go my tricycles………
Zuorai
GET ON THE TRIKE /ref
Jaggedjottings
Fresh Runaway! The last time I was this early Nexus Jovia hadn’t been built yet.