"Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 34" by DangerousLines:
Artist's note:
"The idea for this issue started off as āGoodbody falls in love and becomes a farm girl,ā but then it absorbed the plot about the Bova rustlers Iād intended to do next issue. So things may be a little disjointed. Writing a one-issue romance is even harder than doing a horror story.
I managed to work in some things that have been cooking for a longtime. Fairchild and Thorvaldssonās interest in Alfar anime came from Thorvaldssonās real counterpart. Cookie put in an appearance a while back, but we only now get to see the actual galley. And of course
Dialup Hero and I talked about visiting New Yellowstone years ago.
Rejuvenation has been in my head since the beginning. There are two ways Terran technology resists aging; one is monthly drug treatment (that requires Bova milk as an ingredient) slows down aging, and rejuvenation which takes the body apart and rebuilds it as a young adult from the same DNA (leaving the brain intact). Both are restricted to the elites of Terran society and not available off Earth; Star Fleet personnel and civilian sailors like our crew donāt normally have access. But itās why Lieutenant Galensā 80-year-old mother looks so well preserved.
We get a little more about Sister Victoria this issue. Most of the Sisters take their names from prominent women in science, engineering, or the arts; Sister Victoria is the āfirst of her name,ā having had toflee the censors in her teenage years after her school science project correctly predicted the failure of a major military program that she wasnāt even supposed to know existed. Sheās a scientist at heart, not an engineer.
We also get a chance to see more of Ensign Stark. Heās very much a military man, and willing to solve problems with fists or pulser fire. Weāll see how that works out in his new job.
Sonneās love of detective fiction was mentioned during her captainās mast hearing in
#29. She finally got to be one of the mystery-solving gang! Now I just need to get her artwork on camera.
Aliās actually done this kind of thing before; making the case against pirates and smugglers is a Star Fleet intelligence officerās job. Heād never gotten to do the āconfront the guilty party who think sheās gotten away with itā thing before, though. He got carried away, because he really didnāt see a lot of difference between the steadholder and the senator. Deeās faster on the draw than he is, though.
Butcher turns out to be a good guy to know, both if you need to keep your apple harvest from spoiling and if youāre questioning your direction in life. Whoādāve thought the second part was in him? But heās been rooming with Goodbody, Morrighan, and Tholi all along; he knows them pretty well by now.
We say goodbye to a good many of the crew here. Most of the Sisters are staying on New Yellowstone, as are a half dozen of the crew who would otherwise have serious illnesses. Personnel issues are going to keep coming up for the next arc.
Something I didnāt find a way to gracefully work in: As part of the program to keep them in their place, Bova are designed to with crippling dyslexia and dyscalculia. They are neurologically unable to learn to read or do math. And theyāre all female. I think of these as an earlier version of Dialup Heroās Bova; Doctor Dey and the Sisters will work on turning them into something closer to his characters."







































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