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Post by bedinsis on May 10, 2024 7:02:47 GMT
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Post by silicondream on May 10, 2024 7:08:31 GMT
At no time do her fingers leave her hand! She feels quite assertive. I'm liking this. |
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Post by exquisitecorpus on May 10, 2024 7:44:34 GMT
Ahh, Victorians—lovers of mesmerism, mysticism, hermeticism, and a whole bunch of other isms. You bet they're going feral for this.
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Post by hnau on May 10, 2024 8:16:01 GMT
What is the Omega Device? device n. 1. a machine or tool used for a specific task; contrivance. 2. a plan or plot, esp. a clever or evil one; scheme; trick. 3. any ornamental pattern or picture, as in embroidery. 4. computer hardware that is designed for a specific function. 5. a written, printed or painted design or figure, used as a heraldic sign, emblem, trademark, etc. 6. a particular pattern of words, figures of speech, etc. used in literature to produce an effect on the reader. 7. Archaic. the act or progress of planning and devising. 8. leave (someone) to his own devices. to leave (someone) alone to do as he wishes. The Omega Device is clearly Tom's plot device (6) to keep the reader guessing. We all thought it was some kind of machine (1) or computer hardware (4). Is it the Court's (possibly evil) plan (2) to leave, or the act of devising (7) and refining said plan? A logo (5) everyone will wear embroidered (3) on their t-shirts at the farewell party? An etheric pattern (3), such as painted by Anja, Eglamore or Jenny? In the end, will Annie and friends leave the Court to their own devices (8)? |
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Post by bedinsis on May 10, 2024 8:19:30 GMT
What is the Omega Device? device n. 8. leave (someone) to his own devices. to leave (someone) alone to do as he wishes. I am reminded of how Zimmy said that the court more or less left her alone after Loup emerged. To her own devices. |
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Post by agasa on May 10, 2024 9:16:46 GMT
"In 18 seconds, the panic will settle in and you'll soil your trousers."
Well, I would.
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Post by guntherkrieg on May 10, 2024 10:29:29 GMT
She's doing a Johnny from The Dead Zone.
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Post by blahzor on May 10, 2024 11:08:55 GMT
nvm
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Post by pyradonis on May 10, 2024 11:43:31 GMT
So it's confirmed we're inside the Court.
And am I imagining things or does she look more similar to her NP incarnation than ever before? Well, she definitely looks healthier, though still bedridden.
Now what's this thing the dude has there in the first panel when talking about a perfect score? I assume she was asked to say which symbols were depicted there as a proof of her abilities.
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Post by blahzor on May 10, 2024 11:57:56 GMT
So it's confirmed we're inside the Court. And am I imagining things or does she look more similar to her NP incarnation than ever before? Well, she definitely looks healthier, though still bedridden. Now what's this thing the dude has there in the first panel when talking about a perfect score? I assume she was asked to say which symbols were depicted there as a proof of her abilities. it could be that she tells them where to settle the court. to know the EXACT location to not be effected by WW2 and where the star ocean would need to be the machine is probably what George's dad eventually uses to get his skill set proven |
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Post by knowit on May 10, 2024 12:01:26 GMT
So it's confirmed we're inside the Court. And am I imagining things or does she look more similar to her NP incarnation than ever before? Well, she definitely looks healthier, though still bedridden. Now what's this thing the dude has there in the first panel when talking about a perfect score? I assume she was asked to say which symbols were depicted there as a proof of her abilities. My mind goes to Zener Cards specifically, though the designs are different. 5 symbols, evenly distributed among 25 cards. The tester draws them one at a time and looks at them without showing. The tested says which card it is. Continue until the deck is depleted. If done fairly the chances of getting lucky on a proper sequence is about 1/300 quadrillion. Since it's cards though, it's easy to accuse of cheating through various means such as marking and generally discredited. |
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morrahadesigns
Full Member
Skinamarinky dinky-dink. Skinamarinky doo.
Posts: 222
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Post by morrahadesigns on May 10, 2024 12:25:04 GMT
Completely off topic but the but about the cigar caused a huge wave of nostalgia for me. My great grandfather smoked a pipe and always used a cherry vanilla blend. I loved it and the smell is still a source of comfort if I ever encounter it. When Omega said "the smell remained", it sent me about 33 years back in time.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on May 10, 2024 13:01:30 GMT
Present-day Omega could still be a device. In these flashbacks she's a person but this was a long time ago. Right now I'm inclined to think that yes this is her running around inside the distortion but it may well turn out to be the case that her remains are being mechanically puppeteered to produce the Zoob, or possibly a combination of those two things.
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Post by bicarbonat on May 10, 2024 14:21:45 GMT
Reciting reasonably unknowable/private pasts en masse offers sufficient confidence to gain an audience. Something only few know is perfect groundwork for something no one knows.
I'm guessing someone will next ask her to try a definite show of prognostication. And once she succeeds there, she will prove her worth and simultaneously become trapped.
It may not get bad immediately, but the moment her prediction comes true, the Court will be decided on keeping her.
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Post by ctso74 on May 10, 2024 14:27:47 GMT
Compared to all the tea they could spill, I'm guessing many are happy she stopped there.
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Post by Gemminie on May 10, 2024 15:57:19 GMT
The scrollwork symbol in the upper left corner introduces a new flashback sequence, evidently some time later. The girl and the scientist have made progress. We first see the scientist standing before a table, the girl standing behind him; he's revealing a lectern, turned away from him, on which are displayed a row of cards containing various symbols. He says there's been a "perfect score," suggesting that these are something like Zener cards used to test for ESP or clairvoyance. A proper test for these things would involve shuffling the deck and dealing out a sequence of these cards face down so that not even the experimenter can see them, then having the subject attempt to read the sequence of the cards' symbols, then revealing the cards and comparing the result to what one would expect from pure chance. Evidently the girl has correctly sensed the sequence of cards a significant number of times with perfect results.
Since one proposed psychic ability is telepathy or mind-reading, one could test for telepathy by having the experimenter look at the cards and think about the symbols on them as the subject attempted to read their mind. But if one is testing for clairvoyance, the cards must remain out of sight of all observers, perhaps having them on a table in an empty room, or on a stand facing away from all present in the room. Whoever shuffles the cards must do so in such a way that they don't look at the cards being dealt. Anyway, evidently this girl can tell you what the cards are without seeing them with her eyes. From context it looks as if she doesn't read the minds of those who can see them – she just knows what symbols are on them. The audience, presumably Court scientists, are saying that they've seen examples of clairvoyance and telepathy before, but this seems different.
Then, in a central panel, the girl interrupts. She singles out one lady and one gentleman in the observing audience and gives a number of details about the objects they carry and their lives as well. In one case there's a cigar in a woman's purse; the girl "saw" her put it in there that morning, but she also seems to have seen that it's the same brand as one of her father's cigars that this woman found as a child and then saved until it crumbled to dust. In the man's case he has a pocketwatch, whose history she can tell him, and she goes on to make connections to his son, where he lives, the fact that he writes to him, when the son reads the letters, and finally a few last details about a coffee cup and salt shaker; perhaps they're on the breakfast table where the son reads the letters.
None of these characters seem to be characters we previously knew about (no Diego, no Sir Young, no Steadman, no Artilleryman); the style of clothing appears to be 19th-century European, probably early 19th century, and thus centuries after the Court was founded; that seems to have been sometime in the Middle Ages or at least the Renaissance. The girl mentions the Court in her monologue, so that removes all doubt that the scientist has indeed taken her to Gunnerkrigg Court. But the Court has already been well established by this time. It's still possible for people within the Court to write letters to France, though, so as in the modern Court there's still contact with the outside world.
Well. Her ability to speak and see via animals is only a small fraction of her talents. We're beginning to see that she has a powerful ability to discern the world around her in the present and extrapolate into the past. But none of this has to do with predicting the future. As this chapter is called "Omega" and we know that Omega can predict the future, I'm assuming that at some point her ability to extrapolate the future will be tested – perhaps even on the next page.
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Post by blazingstar on May 10, 2024 18:35:20 GMT
Compared to all the tea they could spill, I'm guessing many are happy she stopped there. Yeah, "the night your wife gave you that watch was the night you conceived your son" was already more information than I needed to know, thanks. Ahh, Victorians—lovers of mesmerism, mysticism, hermeticism, and a whole bunch of other isms. You bet they're going feral for this. As long as she doesn't completely expose too much dirty laundry, ruining everyone's lives, they are absolutely going to LOVE HER. Victorians worshiped many "psychic" men as holy figures for doing far less. |
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morrahadesigns
Full Member
Skinamarinky dinky-dink. Skinamarinky doo.
Posts: 222
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Post by morrahadesigns on May 10, 2024 19:24:31 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known?
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Post by blazingstar on May 10, 2024 20:10:10 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? You're assuming the "Omega" we saw in the modern-day is the same as this girl we see here. Some of us have been referring to her by a different name, like Victoria[n girl], or "Alpha", for this reason. |
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Post by bedinsis on May 10, 2024 20:25:52 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? It is an established fact that the trigger that caused Omega's predictions to become more inaccurate was that Annie survived the fall into the Annan waters. Maybe she has perfect clairvoyance over the timeline where Annie died, but is therefore totally lost when Annie is standing right in front of her? |
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Post by blahzor on May 10, 2024 21:11:00 GMT
when it comes to light the Court basically used as much tech to keep her brain alive in machinery which just happens Kat can control all machines so therefore can control Oemga..once she knows it exist and her location
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Post by hp on May 10, 2024 21:51:11 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? Because of the distortion, I suppose? The story hinted of Omega as a way of doing cause-and-effect deterministic prediction, and that ether trumped that, so the court saw ether as cheating and they wanted to be free of it. I guess since the distortion enveloped the Court Omega might be living things she cant predict for the first time |
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Post by yellowb on May 10, 2024 21:56:33 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? Well, she also didn't know Annie was going to survive the fall. And it was after that her predictions became more unreliable. So, I'm guessing she also didn't know about a benevolent shadow man who became three dimensional. And the distortion may also be affecting her abilities. |
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Post by hp on May 10, 2024 21:57:28 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? It is an established fact that the trigger that caused Omega's predictions to become more inaccurate was that Annie survived the fall into the Annan waters. Maybe she has perfect clairvoyance over the timeline where Annie died, but is therefore totally lost when Annie is standing right in front of her? I read that as Kat's multiversal meddling as an external agent becamer a spanner in the works of Omega's calculations for their reality.
I'd guess after the meddling was done, Omega would be able to reconfigurate her calculations around the new situation... But not when ether is involved |
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Post by foresterr on May 10, 2024 22:10:15 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? It is an established fact that the trigger that caused Omega's predictions to become more inaccurate was that Annie survived the fall into the Annan waters. Maybe she has perfect clairvoyance over the timeline where Annie died, but is therefore totally lost when Annie is standing right in front of her? Ah, so that's why she was so chipper in her New Person guise! To be finally able to experience something new, to regain the ability to be surprised, that's really something. As for the Omega "device" for now I'm assuming it's what they started calling her after they put her in some kind of life support device. Too valuable to let her just die of natural causes. |
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Post by blahzor on May 11, 2024 5:57:10 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? It is an established fact that the trigger that caused Omega's predictions to become more inaccurate was that Annie survived the fall into the Annan waters. Maybe she has perfect clairvoyance over the timeline where Annie died, but is therefore totally lost when Annie is standing right in front of her? and following Annie is 100% chance to learn something new it's almost like a robot being placed into a NP body and having to learn new and excitingly mundane things |
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Post by silicondream on May 11, 2024 7:04:44 GMT
This might connect to why Zimmy was so uncomfortable with the Thousand Eyes. Bird-based surveillance is the worst kind of surveillance, or something like that.
If Omega's power is based on extrapolation, that would explain why Annie's rescue at the bridge was so disruptive to it. Time travel is outside the normal rules of cause and effect, so Omega had no way to predict the rescue with the information locally available to her.
That may also be why she's lurking near Kat, now that the rescue is in Kat's past. Observation of the current Kat could let her extrapolate back to her rescue of Annie, and fill in the missing data to get her predictions back on track.
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Post by csj on May 11, 2024 12:44:10 GMT
but is the guy's great-great-grandchild named george
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Post by kalechibki on May 11, 2024 19:58:44 GMT
Hang on....if Omega is capable of doing this, then why did Annie have to tell her she was trying to help Robot to get her to stop interfering? Shouldn't she have known? It is an established fact that the trigger that caused Omega's predictions to become more inaccurate was that Annie survived the fall into the Annan waters. Maybe she has perfect clairvoyance over the timeline where Annie died, but is therefore totally lost when Annie is standing right in front of her? After reading on from here - when Jenny, Jack and Annie find Zimmy by spell, it's interesting that Zimmy never calls Omega a device. In fact, she states they have no device. Only Annie does. |
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Post by TBeholder on May 11, 2024 22:57:35 GMT
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