[455] Do they think I am stupid...?

Now see, this is why one should not allow Zimmy to translate ANYthing. She could start a war if she worked at the UN.

I get the feeling Zimmy's so terrified of Gamma abandoning her for new friends, she ... takes measures to nip any potential relationships in the bud. We haven't seen Gamma interact with anyone other than Zimmy and Antimony (such relationships would need to be almost entirely non-verbal, of course), but if Zimmy "translates" everything like this, chances are Gamma wouldn't be friendly with anyone else.

...actually, I wonder if that's part of the reason why Zimmy's hostile to (pretty much) everyone.

A rift between Gamma and Zimmy would be horrible, though. Especially with Zimmy already in the state she's in because of that power station. Hmm.

There was a thread here, just a couple of minutes ago. No idea where it went ...
I don't think Zimmy is lying to Gamma. There is a good chance this is Zimmy's actual impression of the others. She is not translating what they said, but what she thinks they meant. I wouldn't rely on Zimmy's perception of reality in any way whatsoever.

I think the errant tendrils of thought are to signify the interference caused by the experiment.

But regardless of that interference, I think at the least, Annie is about to get very cross with Zimmy. I doubt she likes to see anyone get used like that. It does appear that Zimmy is misleading Gamma as to the thoughts and intentions of others, whether intentionally or not. However, I think Gamma might have suspected that Zimmy wasn't being entirely accurate with her translation, hence why she asked Annie, the only person there she could speak to.

I don't recall Annie using telepathy before...if so could anyone send me a link of which comic she has used telepathy before this one?

As far as I can tell, Annie isn't using telepathy in this comic, either. She's just speaking Polish.

I don't think it's an error in translation so much as Zimmy actually thinks they don't like Gamma. I mean, it's not a hard leap to make when you think of some of the things that get said between teenage girls. A lot of the most hurtful insults get set up with a compliment. Add that Zimmy is probably paranoid, and probably has low self-esteem, it isn't hard to take perfectly innocent statements as attacks. I don't think Zimmy is trying to mislead Gamma. I think she genuinely thinks that's what these people are trying to say.

Hey people, new in the forum here.Have been lurking gunerkrigg court for awhile and couldn't resist staying out.Hm...I think Gamma just heard what Zimmy assumed they meant.Zimmy isn't exactly in the best condition to translate right now.If she did do that on purpose however, it's probably because she doesn't want Gamma to 'replace' her with another friend by eliminating any possible potential friends as atheros said.Even if she does that on purpose,Zimmy probably does that thinking she's doing a favour for Gamma,though,for I find it hard to imagine her doing so for her own selfish reasons.

Zimmy is no doubt my favourite character in the Court and one thing I've always liked is how Tom writes her relationship with Gamma so if this leads to so kind of upset between them I'm going to be feeling bummed.
I'm not sure it's going to though. Gamma's expression in the last panel makes me think she isn't very surprised to hear that Zimmy wasn't translating things right. She doesn't look angry or upset, not to me at least.

Not exactly: you can not tell the truth because you believe the opposite without being aware what you're saying is untrue. Telling a lie is when you know the truth, and deliberately say the opposite. The fact that what she's saying isn't truthful could be down to the fact that, as others have said, the way Zimmy perceives reality is rather separate from how everyone else does. What seems "true" to her is not true to us (and thank goodness for this. I hate spiders.)

He meant underneath the comic, in the comments section. In which case I'm pretty sure that means Zimmy is a liar. This makes me sad, because Zimmy is otherwise pretty dang cool.


In other news: I AM THE FOURTH GUNNER! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

starkruzr (my, how do i spell that?): I think we now know better what goes on, at least on an emotional level. Why Zed never sleeps is a big question, for now unanswered. She's probably the most special of the alumni at the Court, and giving that she is in contact with another plane of existance, and that her unmoderated presence makes the stuff there real here, a reason for Gamma being with her all the time, given her "moderating" ability, is to purely help Zed (and possibly stopping the appearance of horrid man-eating beasts, which is quite an heroic thing. Or maybe she has seen them, and she fears them, not wanting to see them again, in a less heroic point of view).
Another one can be that, sharing a psychic link with someone can be pretty bond-forming: you supposedly have access to what one MEANS, instead of the normal what one SAYS.
Other Point: Zimmy is the only one in the Court that can communicate with Gamma as no one there (apart from Annie, and possibly the unseen Anthony) knows Polish.

Zimmy on the other hand obviously is quite *beep*ed up in the head. Not sleeping AT ALL can have a role in this, but constantly seeing otherworldly horrors has probably something to do with it. She does not like at all what her "powers" get her, and as such she clings to Gamma, her only anchor to a "sane" environment, with all her mind. One could say that lying to her like this is really nasty and evil, but frankly, stop and think: having probably tried whatever other remedy one can try and finding out that they lead to nothing, and having the solution at hand, in form of a person, but solution nonetheless,

solution that stops unspeakable horrors going on in (and out) your head, stuff that you have never seen in your most terrific nightmares, maybe stuff that has done horrid things to you and your family,

would you try not to cling to this solution? I probably would.

I reacted like you at first La Poire, but come to think of it: zimmy is in an absurdly hellish situation. Probably we will act all like her in a similar position.

EDIT: Also Gamma seems at least aware of Zed behavior towards her.

I don't know that I understand it any better than anyone else (probably not), but I've got my hunches.

Gamma waves are a pattern of brain waves associated with perception -- they are, somewhat, the waves that occur when the brain is "tuning" itself, to make the leap from seeing something to putting it into perspective or making higher cognitive leaps. People need plenty of sleep for healthy Gamma activity.

Zeta waves may or may not exist, depending on who you ask, but those who say they do consider them a kind of a superslow Delta wave -- the brain wave patterns predominant in babies, when dreaming, and in schizophrenic adults: people who see things that aren't, strictly speaking, there. They (zeta waves) have been observed in individuals with brain lesions or other extreme trauma. And although I doubt that's Zimmy, it's not a stretch to say her reality goes a step beyond waking dreams -- Delta waves are the things that go haywire when you've gone without sleep for too long, causing hallucinations.

(Edit: Zeta waves, in the context of alternative theories, could also be the waves responsible for seeing outside the bounds of reality, or when mentally communicating with others -- although anyone incapable of translating that communication would probably only get a stream of improbable images.)

Which is all to say that I've got no real idea, but I think that when the girls are close to each other, the things that Zimmy doesn't understand why she sees (or isn't ready, perhaps, to recognize) are eased by the rational tuning context of Gamma's presence. Except, of course, when Gamma needs to sleep.

If I had to guess.