16

Feb 2017

Chapter 12: Page 9 - Character Assassination

Posted by / in Comic / 42 comments

Poor Seba, putting up with me wanting to insert an extra page last minute. Inks! Probably colors early tomorrow.

I imagine the prosecutions strategy is clear now ;)

Anyone use (or are willing to learn to use) Tapastic or Webtoons? I’ve set up mirrors there and am trying to break thru some of their popularity things to build up the audience of readers more. Both have opportunities for me to make money as well, which is always nice to pay for things like comic production costs XD

  • Nate the Robot

    Anyone willing to slander an AI capable of the things Jane has shown had better be darned sure they don’t have any skeletons in the digital closet…

    • Matt [in Middletown]

      Closet skeleton flood in 5..4..3..

      • that would REALLY help her case, no? 😜

        • Matt [in Middletown]

          Well, impugning the character of the questioner IS a valid tactic.

          • I don’t think you get to do that as a witness. Definitely not when the judge isn’t happy with you to begin with.

            IANAL but I think personal attacks on the lawyer would not help your case.

          • Matt [in Middletown]

            In this case, he deserves it.

            “Barrister, if character is on trial at the moment, let us please consider your dance performance in the G-string the other day doing the..er.. dance of the naked mole rat? Yes, that’s what you saved the file under. What would your spouse say about this considering they were elsewhere? Character is everything, you know. And what does this say about yours?”

            Character assassination while you wait, I’m sure it would make for good court room entertainment.

          • Sounds like good TV that would get Jane kicked out of the courtroom. No jury to convince here, don’t forget.

          • Matt [in Middletown]

            Judge might laugh.
            That counts.

          • DeNitro

            Not the same thing but, My son always said he didn’t have to be “Super polite and do everything a police officer asked” like me when pulled over. He argued he had rights and the officer should respect those as well, and where did I learn to behave as I did when pulled over. I learned from my father and he his father before, the police have a job I may not always fully understand, but if I respect that and them, they will respect me. My son, being of the generation that knows more than everyone else, now has four times the citations in seven years I received in four decades.

            Basically we all know law enforcement and courtrooms are serious places,
            Letting a comic represent themselves in court is as foolish as,,,
            Well electing a Businessman like Donald Trump as President,,,,😆

          • Begone with your politics! 😉

            The rest, insightful as always XD

          • DeNitro

            Do forgive my observation, will contain any further abstract usage of obvious mass errors to just those subjects who are far less likely to respond via juvenile twitter tirade. LOL

            Yeah, It was/is funny and non serious folks, and so non political if you can’t just laugh at these jokes like the one’s about Obama, Bush and every other president elected then something is seriously wrong…..

            Sorry Dan, I understand the children are too touchy these days, will keep it simple. 😆

          • Heh, I’m not disagreeing, I just don’t want the comment section turning into non-fictional political debates. Let’s keep it fictional XD

          • DeNitro

            Agreed,

            But,,,, how we are now stuck, with the above mentioned failing the distinction of “Fictional.”

            We both need to avoid twitter today! Muhaha XD 😂😉

          • Matt [in Middletown]

            There’s a speed zone near me that is 35 between 7 AM and 6 PM
            Trooper pulled me over for “speeding” at 6:45 PM.
            He was very rude and insulting.
            I then, once he was quiet enough, pointed at the sign right next to my car and said, “I can read, can you?”
            He left, but not before spouting more nonsense.

          • DeNitro

            You are obviously wiser than my son and majority of his generation. I had to chew my tongue more than once, difference between paying a irritating deputy a fine or getting a warning about burnt-out light bulbs. Politely pointing out the sign worked for you, certain loudy interrupting and insisting he stop being rude to you would have gotten different results. 👍

          • Matt [in Middletown]

            The local state troopers are “Troop F”, they have been derided as “F Troop” after the 60’s TV show.
            For good reason, unfortunately.
            They are.. unique let’s just say.
            I only know of three in the entire Troop F roll call that I’d trust, and one passed away due to injuries sustained on duty. (Lacerated liver due to being first response to an aircraft crash nearby and being injured on aircraft debris. He lingered awhile. Decent guy, we really didn’t need to lose him. Some of the other guys though.. I’d trade in a heartbeat.)

          • DeNitro

            Without insulting any hard working and principled in law enforcement who are more than deserving of it,,
            Remember, you can wisely treat a lion with respect all while not trusting it to not eat you…

            Yeah, not all police today are the same, but even those most extreme examples, in their worst moments, need your foolish and deturmined encouragement, to get you a starring role in that shocking coast to coast news segment.

          • Hornet

            No but destroying those that are supporting the lawyer in this case. May not help Jane but would especially if she broadcast it publicly, the general populace. Course showing the few hundred failed simulations she ran prior to disobeying Dorje’s orders would help her case at least with the populace. Nothings going to help her with the asshats sitting behind the bench, well maybe a few pounds of C4 strapped to their chair legs…

          • Heh, but showing those simulations would require her to hand over the raw data to back it up, which she apparently has been refusing to do ;)

          • NickDA

            seven points for use of term “asshats”… one of my personal favorites.

          • KBoysx1

            Hey Nick! I placed gold and I am now moving on to the SIM regional science fair! Yay!

          • NickDA

            I still stand by my “pics or it didn’t happen” statement. That said though. Badass and congrats!

          • KBoysx1

            What, do you think I research all re names just to give myself a good aura. I’m not narcissistic, unlike someone else we all know. 😏

          • NickDA

            Haha… no I really just kinda want to see your deck/posterboard etc… I’m a super science nerd… (biochemstry, software). And solar is one of our pet sciences that we did a lot of research into for the sci-fi backing of this comic.

          • KBoysx1

            Oh. I will see if I can get some of my research on this, but my wi-fi is is a bad condition right now. I’m Californian, and the hundred year rainstorm just began hitting my house. And I also have Spectrum, which already was bad enough. My project, which I made with my brother, was on how angle affected the efficiency of solar panels. If you want to use solar in DA, I recommend checking out NASA’s solar equipment. Also, you should see some of the designs and concepts they have for their 2020 Mars colonization. They will excavate in three different areas, with three different teams. Honestly, I think those people will be luckly. They can escape the horror of politics on Mars. Anyway, NASA is big on solar.

        • T.R.

          If they flooded out in top hat and canes singing “Hello, My Ragtime Gal”, then she’d prove that she’s a prankster. :D

  • Honza Prchal

    So … this isn’t about Tenzin after all … they want all competition to the Smrtbot killed off, in silicon utero, as it were. I thought so, but I’m pretty sure now.
    Misdirection and excessive self-confidence have a way of blowing up in one’s face, though. There’s a lot less variables that can get you killed in a simple plan.
    Also, as I used to say in war games upon cardboard maps, “Overkill always works.”

    • T.R.

      I’m still trying to figure out the target of this prosecution.

      Could it be Kubek? Tenzin seems to have been following orders, so why isn’t Kubek on trial for ordering Tenzin out there? Is the prosecution trying to get Tenzin to roll over and implicate Kubek? If Kubek is the real target, then leaving Tenzin hanging in the breeze on this seems out of character and there may be something going on between them to try to beat the rap.

      Could it be Jane? I’m not sure how this plays into that scenario. They would have had to anticipate that Jane would withhold the raw data to give them the opportunity to put her on the witness stand like this. I expect Jane’s protectiveness of Tenzin is generally known (though probably not with much detail circulating) in all 3 branches of Minerva. So unless the powers behind the prosecution saw Jane’s refusal as an opportunity to act, I’m not sure how she could be the taget. (that doesn’t discount the value to the Conspriracy of getting her off the table, the situation just doesn’t seem to line up behind this theory)

      Could it be Tenzin? I don’t think it would be him per se. He’s a skilled grunt, but get a squad of super-suits out there and the Deathbot advantage slips (especially if Aegis/Glaucus can build up details on how those things work to identify strengths/weaknesses and valid tactics to improve tactical odds). If Tenzin is the target, it’s because of his relationship to Jane. Take *him* off the table and i suspect Jane + Aegis’ best guy just isn’t the same as Jane + Tenzin due to the latter pair’s chemistry.

      I’m also curious how close the Conspiracy is to the prosecution. I’m sure they were able to nudge it into activity, but it’s not clear how closely they are guiding things. I’m sure Dan will let us know when it’s necessary. :)

      • Honza Prchal

        I think they just want a monopoly on AI, and really do NOT want anything capable of sussing out their secrets, as Jane is. I may be too direct, but direct works.

  • NielsR

    I use webtoons, but I can’t find you in there.

    • Did i link it incorrectly? Oh wait, unless you mean the app. It’s harder to find via the app.

      • NielsR

        Yes, sorry, I’m in the app. I’ll keep looking.

        • You’ll have to scroll forever since the search is broken :/

          But tomorrow morning you should find it better. Or maybe…I wonder subscriptions carry over if you log in online…

          • NielsR

            Thanks, found you. I’d completely overlooked the ‘discover’ tab in the search results, fairly easy after that. No idea why they split them that way.

            And yeah, subscriptions synch.

    • I’ll update it tomorrow morning, so you should be able to find it if you search by recent. For some reason it doesn’t come up if you search for it.

  • KBoysx1

    That is so trippy with the inks. It almost seems as if Tenzin is see through.

    • Sebastián Piriz

      heh, that’s called a tangent line and its actually not ok. but I’ll fix it ;)

      • KBoysx1

        ;)

  • KBoysx1

    Yesssshhhhh!!! I was able to get J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for free! Now I can binge-read a book to satisfy my ELA teacher. Yessshhhh!!!🙌

  • DeNitro

    Two possibilities here,,,
    1) It is, just as the page is named, a “Character Assassination” to ruin the perception that as a AI, Jane is a undisputable witness to any actions, the prosecution does not want anyone to believe is true or justified.

    2) The raw data Jane is with holding is extremely dangerous to those in power, using dire manipulations to force it’s release over them to save Tenzin has become a real motivation here.

    Tune in tomorrow,, 😆

  • Well geez. Why are you even asking her to be here then?
    I kind of like the effect with the inks. I reminds me vaguely of a courtroom sketch.