Zobbo: Swimmer in the Abyss #5 Saturday April 21st 2007

Did you check Cortland yesterday? If not, what are you waiting for? This page will make a lot more sense once you have ^_--. The ant general is based on a design by Ida Kirkegaard of A.N.T., though the uniform is my design, which makes copyright issues confusing, but whatever bits of the general belong to Ida (:S) are used with permission. Check out both the awesome comics that are helping me out with this bit of the Crossover Wars, and hell, check out the whole event, too, because it's unbelievably, incredibly, awesomely huge...

Wonder if I can get any more superlatives in there? XD

Anyway, I should probably explain what's going on with the large plastic bags which Soban and Zendp appear to be encased in. They are exactly that; they are vacuum suits, made of a very strong, flexible, airtight polymer. It's basically a space-suit for non-hazardous environments (and yes, they made sure the crew of the enemy vessel were all dead before stripping down to them), designed to keep atmosphere in when there's no particular risk of needing to keep anything else out, while allowing maximum mobility and dexterity.

You might remember a couple of pages ago, when the three of them crossed to the enemy ship, Soban and Rastarlin were actually encased in rather more substantial space-suits, which were hazardous- environment self-propelled maintenance vessels. Little more than a metal-and-glass box to keep meteors off with a small rocket pack strapped to the back and waldo-like armpieces on the sides, those are true spacesuits, designed to make most of the hazards of 'normal' EVA work harmless. The box on Soban's chest is part of the HESPM, containing the atmospheric regulator which keeps the internal environment safe (it also serves as a support for the heavy 'goldfish bowl' helmet piece). When they got aboard the enemy vessel, Soban and Rastarlin were basically able to pull themselves out of the lower part of the HESPM and move around as normal; the HESPM doesn't do the atmospheric containment bit, it just protects the vacuum suit and the person inside it.
Why Zendp didn't use an HESPM on his crossing, and why he doesn't need most of its bells and whistles, is a story for another time (when I've figured it out ^_--). And why Soban is still wearing his space-suit despite being back on the bridge of the Deep Lurker? Well, he's just been too busy with the installation of the DRACO to change. Yeah, that's it. Nothing to do with me having forgotten that he should have changed out of it at all. Nope!

Have you heard Rush's new single yet? It's very good, and only 80p off iTunes. Don't try to make musical sense of the intro, though; it made my brain hurt. I'm looking forward to the album, even though I'm not going to be able to afford it for about two months :(

Also, to continue the music theme for a moment (how very Questionable Content... ¬_¬), I've been listening to Dragonforce's albums and have concluded that they are possibly the best speed-metal band it is possible to be. Normally I don't like speed metal 'cuz it just sounds like random computer sounds, but DF are definitely musical. The only weird bit is the truly, truly weird moment in 'Disciples of Babylon' where there's a random jazz break... Also, their synth player needs to stop playing bad 90s videogames ^_--

I'm really stretching for stuff to put in these rants these days, ne? Life is mostly consumed with drawing...