[1912] Oh! Good idea.

[ST13R]

Kat not only has out-of-nowhere-tea-tricks, but also instant-writing-tool-skills.

[madjack]

And it's not the first time we've seen that either...

Edit: Also, is that particular bioreactor tube or whatever it is supposed to be empty?

[mynie]

Hey, thanks God!

Is she talking to herself though

[ST13R]

Nov 20, 2017 8:30:43 GMT mynie said:

Hey, thanks God!

Is she talking to herself though

Probably to that invisibird.

[noone3]

Nov 20, 2017 8:30:43 GMT mynie said:

Is she talking to herself though

Naaah... She's just talking to her experiments:
- Good morning computer
- *blip* Good morning Kat *blip*
- Hello bionic hand!
[hand waves back from its tank]

[CarbonRabbit]

Yawn thoughts.

[Jelly Jellybean]

Kat's note to self:  More lava lamps!

[Trillium]

That's a lot of equipment. Does she ask robots to bring her supplies?

[Demonsul]

Calling it now, Kat's thought: "Oh yeah, bio-robots might be able to use tiredness and sleep"

[keef]

Nov 20, 2017 15:04:04 GMT Trillium said:

That's a lot of equipment. Does she ask robots to bring her supplies?

Yes ( I guess Tom likes to draw this kind of background stuff.)

[pyradonis]

Nov 20, 2017 8:30:43 GMT mynie said:

Hey, thanks God!

Is she talking to herself though

I sometimes talk my myself when working and having trouble to concentrate, it helps me focus on the work.

[Per]

This chapter is going to be Kat puttering away in her lab for 48 pages and then she meets Reynardine in the stairwell and he says "I forgot" and then she makes a B( face and then it's the chapter icon.

[arf]

Nov 20, 2017 18:22:47 GMT Per said:

This chapter is going to be Kat puttering away in her lab for 48 pages and then she meets Reynardine in the stairwell and he says "I forgot" and then she makes a B( face and then it's the chapter icon.

The next ten chapters will then proceed to demonstrate how the easter eggs concealed within those 48 pages propel the story into new and interesting directions.

[novia]

Kat is so wholesome. I want to be more like her.

[maxptc]

Nov 21, 2017 3:21:44 GMT novia said:

Kat is so wholesome. I want to be more like her.

View Attachment

But seriously, where did that notepad come from? Are we suppose to be thinking Kat has access to her mother's computer system? Normally I'd write it off as comic styling, but it almost seems suspicious at this point.

[speedwell]

Nov 20, 2017 8:22:53 GMT madjack said:

And it's not the first time we've seen that either...

Edit: Also, is that particular bioreactor tube or whatever it is supposed to be empty?

Yes, because of this.

Kat is in her lab. The tube is now empty. Juliette and Arthur were interested in the vat-grown body and Kat was highly interested in letting them have it. Juliette mentioned, somewhat obliquely, that in exchange for the body, they could get Kat in touch with a colleague who knew about their relationship and their plight and could serve as a mentor for Kat.

Given the fact that Juliette and Arthur's research was into transfer of consciousness, and that they wanted to leave the Court, it should have hit us directly in the face who the "colleague" was who is now working with Kat. I'm surprised how shocked we were a few pages later. And now the mystery of what Kat and Tony are working on together is pretty much solved.

Also: Well, of course Kat can use her mother's computer to access items she is listed as already having access control over ("owns" for those of you who are not database professionals, heh). She should have been doing it as second nature and much more often, in fact. I think she was probably told not to do it too often or in public. Further edit: We were literally told right out that she had no means of making tea.

FURTHER further edit: When Donald retrieves his items from the computer, they come with a perceptible "magic effect" of computer code. Anja appears to generate a similar effect. Kat generates no such effect. I'm trying hard not to go the extra step and conclude that Kat is partially or wholly entangled with the etheric computer, since I think there's inadequate evidence of that, but it is tempting.

[madjack]

Nov 21, 2017 8:36:17 GMT speedwell said:

Kat is in her lab. The tube is now empty. Juliette and Arthur were interested in the vat-grown body and Kat was highly interested in letting them have it. Juliette mentioned, somewhat obliquely, that in exchange for the body, they could get Kat in touch with a colleague who knew about their relationship and their plight and could serve as a mentor for Kat.

Given the fact that Juliette and Arthur's research was into transfer of consciousness, and that they wanted to leave the Court, it should have hit us directly in the face who the "colleague" was who is now working with Kat. I'm surprised how shocked we were a few pages later. And now the mystery of what Kat and Tony are working on together is pretty much solved.

Going to have to disagree with this, while she did want to help Juliette, Kat was pretty adamant about Robot getting the prototype body. The question was more me wondering aloud if the body itself had been finished (or possibly stolen, but even a sleepy Kat would probably have noticed that). Not the most clearly phrased question ever. Given there seems to be what looks like a forearm in the other machine I'm going to say she's finished the body and is moving onto Tony's prosthetic arm before tackling a hand design that could be used with both.

Nov 21, 2017 8:36:17 GMT speedwell said:

Also: Well, of course Kat can use her mother's computer to access items she is listed as already having access control over ("owns" for those of you who are not database professionals, heh). She should have been doing it as second nature and much more often, in fact. I think she was probably told not to do it too often or in public. Further edit: We were literally told right out that she had no means of making tea.

FURTHER further edit: When Donald retrieves his items from the computer, they come with a perceptible "magic effect" of computer code. Anja appears to generate a similar effect. Kat generates no such effect. I'm trying hard not to go the extra step and conclude that Kat is partially or wholly entangled with the etheric computer, since I think there's inadequate evidence of that, but it is tempting.

I don't think we've ever explicitly seen Kat ask for or obtain access to Anja's computer anywhere though. I made a post in wildspec about this the other day and at this point, despite the lack of evidence, I think all the things you're inferring in that last part are correct, and that Kat is heavily integrated into the etheric computer (or they are one and the same).

[speedwell]

Nov 21, 2017 9:57:43 GMT madjack said:

Nov 21, 2017 8:36:17 GMT speedwell said:

Kat is in her lab. The tube is now empty. Juliette and Arthur were interested in the vat-grown body and Kat was highly interested in letting them have it. Juliette mentioned, somewhat obliquely, that in exchange for the body, they could get Kat in touch with a colleague who knew about their relationship and their plight and could serve as a mentor for Kat.

Given the fact that Juliette and Arthur's research was into transfer of consciousness, and that they wanted to leave the Court, it should have hit us directly in the face who the "colleague" was who is now working with Kat. I'm surprised how shocked we were a few pages later. And now the mystery of what Kat and Tony are working on together is pretty much solved.

Going to have to disagree with this, while she did want to help Juliette, Kat was pretty adamant about Robot getting the prototype body. The question was more me wondering aloud if the body itself had been finished (or possibly stolen, but even a sleepy Kat would probably have noticed that). Not the most clearly phrased question ever. Given there seems to be what looks like a forearm in the other machine I'm going to say she's finished the body and is moving onto Tony's prosthetic arm before tackling a hand design that could be used with both.

Sure, I see what you mean. "Continue your prototyping" could easily mean "go on and do what you were going to do with that body and we'll connect later when you have something you're satisfied with". And Kat could have done so.

[Jelly Jellybean]

Nov 21, 2017 9:57:43 GMT madjack said:

Nov 21, 2017 8:36:17 GMT speedwell said:

Also: Well, of course Kat can use her mother's computer to access items she is listed as already having access control over ("owns" for those of you who are not database professionals, heh). She should have been doing it as second nature and much more often, in fact. I think she was probably told not to do it too often or in public. Further edit: We were literally told right out that she had no means of making tea.

FURTHER further edit: When Donald retrieves his items from the computer, they come with a perceptible "magic effect" of computer code. Anja appears to generate a similar effect. Kat generates no such effect. I'm trying hard not to go the extra step and conclude that Kat is partially or wholly entangled with the etheric computer, since I think there's inadequate evidence of that, but it is tempting.

I don't think we've ever explicitly seen Kat ask for or obtain access to Anja's computer anywhere though. I made a post in wildspec about this the other day and at this point, despite the lack of evidence, I think all the things you're inferring in that last part are correct, and that Kat is heavily integrated into the etheric computer (or they are one and the same).

I like to speculate that Kat is an android built by Anja and Donny, maybe a terminal networked to Anja's computer, but the Court's opposition to bridging the gap between human body and machine mind makes it seem unlikely.

EDIT:  Initially wrote Tony when I meant Donny.

If it were true, then the Court's opposition would make Anja and Donny hide the truth from everyone, even Kat.  They would need to include programs that conceal the etheric parts of the system.  The concealment programs would make Kat appear non-etheric with no apparent links to a main frame, until the programs are overwhelmed by something like an etheric distortion.

[madjack]

Kat was born after Tony left the court though, she's younger than Annie. Unless you meant Donny?

Edit edit: I remember reading one of Tom's formspring replies that stated Kat was born in Scotland, since the Donlans left the court after the Carvers did (for a while).

Edit: Now I'm wondering if the robots will use Kat's work to replicate the organic bodies en masse on their own, they do seem to have a large self-contained area of the court for their own use?

[saardvark]

Nov 21, 2017 3:50:59 GMT maxptc said:

Nov 21, 2017 3:21:44 GMT novia said:

Kat is so wholesome. I want to be more like her.

But seriously, where did that notepad come from? Are we suppose to be thinking Kat has access to her mother's computer system? Normally I'd write it off as comic styling, but it almost seems suspicious at this point.

Maybe we are overthinking this.... the background shadows are different from panel 5 to 6... maybe (despite similar poses) she just moved from 5 to 6 to get a pad and pen? 
Also, no "etheric" symbols like we see when Anja's computer conjures up something (as speedwell notes), so i lean towards a more boring, "normal" explanation...

[madjack]

That is most likely the correct answer, but that kind of thinking doesn't appease the small corner of my mind going "yeah probably buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut........"

[todd]

I think that "Tom didn't show us Kat fetching the notebook for pacing reasons" is the most likely option, as well. (I suspect that most of this is simply "Nothing big's happened yet in this chapter, so we're looking for importance in the details until the story gets underway.")

[speedwell]

Nov 21, 2017 12:30:52 GMT saardvark said:

Nov 21, 2017 3:50:59 GMT maxptc said:

But seriously, where did that notepad come from? Are we suppose to be thinking Kat has access to her mother's computer system? Normally I'd write it off as comic styling, but it almost seems suspicious at this point.

Maybe we are overthinking this.... the background shadows are different from panel 5 to 6... maybe (despite similar poses) she just moved from 5 to 6 to get a pad and pen? 
Also, no "etheric" symbols like we see when Anja's computer conjures up something (as speedwell notes), so i lean towards a more boring, "normal" explanation...

"Normal", heh. Which of the following strikes you as more normal:

• Technologically and magically expert parents allow a technologically superhuman teenager to have sole access to and control over a fully stocked mad scientist lab staffed by robots with essentially one hundred percent human psychology.
• Technologically and magically expert parents allow a technologically superhuman teenager to have limited access to a trivial function in a magical supercomputer that they themselves designed and that they themselves administer and monitor.

[saardvark]

Nov 21, 2017 13:31:31 GMT speedwell said:

Nov 21, 2017 12:30:52 GMT saardvark said:

Maybe we are overthinking this.... the background shadows are different from panel 5 to 6... maybe (despite similar poses) she just moved from 5 to 6 to get a pad and pen? 
Also, no "etheric" symbols like we see when Anja's computer conjures up something (as speedwell notes), so i lean towards a more boring, "normal" explanation...

"Normal", heh. Which of the following strikes you as more normal:

• Technologically and magically expert parents allow a technologically superhuman teenager to have sole access to and control over a fully stocked mad scientist lab staffed by robots with essentially one hundred percent human psychology.
• Technologically and magically expert parents allow a technologically superhuman teenager to have limited access to a trivial function in a magical supercomputer that they themselves designed and that they themselves administer and monitor.

Neither, of course!    I was just arguing against the latter as the method for obtaining a pad and pen....  

[pyradonis]

Nov 21, 2017 3:50:59 GMT maxptc said:

Nov 21, 2017 3:21:44 GMT novia said:

Kat is so wholesome. I want to be more like her.

But seriously, where did that notepad come from? Are we suppose to be thinking Kat has access to her mother's computer system? Normally I'd write it off as comic styling, but it almost seems suspicious at this point.

She grabbed it with her off-panel hand?

[jda]

Nov 20, 2017 15:45:55 GMT Demonsul said:

Calling it now, Kat's thought: "Oh yeah, bio-robots might be able to use tiredness and sleep"

[pyradonis]

Nov 21, 2017 12:24:01 GMT Jelly Jellybean said:

I like to speculate that Kat is an android built by Anja and Donny, maybe a terminal networked to Anja's computer, but the Court's opposition to bridging the gap between human body and machine mind makes it seem unlikely.

EDIT:  Initially wrote Tony when I meant Donny.

But that's an even better speculation! Anja and Tony built the Android and Donny does not even know she is not his biological daughter!

[Runningflame]

Nov 21, 2017 13:31:31 GMT speedwell said:

Nov 21, 2017 12:30:52 GMT saardvark said:

Maybe we are overthinking this.... the background shadows are different from panel 5 to 6... maybe (despite similar poses) she just moved from 5 to 6 to get a pad and pen? 
Also, no "etheric" symbols like we see when Anja's computer conjures up something (as speedwell notes), so i lean towards a more boring, "normal" explanation...

"Normal", heh. Which of the following strikes you as more normal:

• Technologically and magically expert parents allow a technologically superhuman teenager to have sole access to and control over a fully stocked mad scientist lab staffed by robots with essentially one hundred percent human psychology.
• Technologically and magically expert parents allow a technologically superhuman teenager to have limited access to a trivial function in a magical supercomputer that they themselves designed and that they themselves administer and monitor.

Of course, out-of-universe, the difference is that the former has been explicitly shown to be true, while the latter has not. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" and all that. 

[maxptc]

Nov 21, 2017 14:59:36 GMT pyradonis said:

Nov 21, 2017 3:50:59 GMT maxptc said:

But seriously, where did that notepad come from? Are we suppose to be thinking Kat has access to her mother's computer system? Normally I'd write it off as comic styling, but it almost seems suspicious at this point.

She grabbed it with her off-panel hand?

I mean sure, that's most likly actually what happened. But when you've established that being able to make things appear is a thing her parents could let anyone do, it raises questions when Kat goes from not having an object within reach to having it.

Nov 21, 2017 12:30:52 GMT saardvark said:

Maybe we are overthinking this.... the background shadows are different from panel 5 to 6... maybe (despite similar poses) she just moved from 5 to 6 to get a pad and pen? 
Also, no "etheric" symbols like we see when Anja's computer conjures up something (as speedwell notes), so i lean towards a more boring, "normal" explanation...

That also makes sense.