Comic Archive

Caption: Back to the near-present…
Alana: How's the Faceworld contract going?
Heidi: A lot of interaction. At least now we know they are working on robots to entertain visitors. But, still very sparse on details.
Max: Very little news the last few days though.

Zhang: They were going to run their first big trials soonish.
Max: At least I already beat Steve's ‘major problem’ bet of 2 weeks, mine is: ‘never.’
Heidi: Speaking of the devil, they've just sent a new mail.

Heidi: This is weird: “come immediately, big problem. No time.”
Alana: That's all?
Heidi: Besides an extra backslash at the end, yes. Someone was in a real hurry to send this…
Max: Dammit! There goes my bet.

Heidi: Still no reply to our mails, it's been hours. Phone's dead too.
Alana: I think it's time for clause 23B of the contract to come in effect.

Max: Which is?
Alana: Get prepared for a hovercraft ride.
Max: Say what?

Alana: It's the only way to reach the theme park, all expenses paid by them. Unless you fancy a day-long scorching desert 4×4 drive on dirt roads.
Zhang: No complaints from my part!

Alana: Gather necessary things, you three are going, ASAP. I have a bad feeling about this.
Max: Damn their need-to-know thing. Now I'm real curious…
Zhang: My QA sense is tingling. ‘Curious’ does not even begin to describe it.

Setting: The team of Max, Heidi and Zhang are in a car with Max behind the wheel, driving to the departure station.
We see OIB-A271's head poking out of a backpack held by Heidi.
Zhang: We do have all we might need on-site?
Heidi: Yes, and possibly even more.
Max: You brought OIB-A271?

Heidi: Yes, just in case their problem involves another incarnation of Clippy's.
OIB-A271: Oh yeah, bring it on!
Heidi: And, it avoids the risk of Alana discovering him while we're away.

Outside view, car approaching a building with lettering “Faceworld Departures.”
Zhang: Someday we will have to reveal it, we can't keep this secret forever.
Max: True, but at this point I prefer not to trade my job for a straitjacket… There is the departure station.

Pilot: I'm your pilot, Alana has informed me about activation of clause 23B.
Heidi: Have you heard anything from park management?
Pilot: Last comms were yesterday, nothing since. They seem to have a technical problem.

Max: Do you know more about this 23B clause?
Pilot: Nope, only that I'm supposed to transport you to the location.
Max: This N-T-K thing is getting on my nerves…

The team is boarding the hovercraft.
Pilot: Ready to go, you can pick any seats, plenty of space. They're aiming for quite the visitor count when the upgrade goes public.
Zhang: You pilot this thing alone?
Pilot: Yes, advanced tech now acts as co-pilot.
Max, looking at hovercraft: Hmm, don't I recognize this from somewhere?