Prepping for dinner on a space station, with a slight detour
2021-12-29

Dinner went well.

The fish and noodles were really good.

Then your parents beat
us badly at charades.

That's
because they cheat.

I think they just know each other well.

They cheat. No non-cheater guesses “Pascal's law” from only two seconds of mime.

Color by George Peterson.

2021-12-31

We're able to get a reactor made because of a robot tradition. If you save the life of an A.I., they owe you two percent of their remaining run time. They will do whatever is asked of them, within reason.

I've been thinking. You saved my life. So by tradition, I owe you two percent of my run time. Any ideas come to mind?

I don't know if I should memorize this recipe or burn it.

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-03

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
and nitrogen, with a few
other elements tossed in.

Atoms! They're delicious!

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-05

Oh, hi. You know, you don't have to wear clothes in here.

Let me hold that plate and we'll get that shirt in the wash. Winston's been wearing it all day.

I'm good. I'd like
to wear it a while longer. Thank you all the same.

I was right. Dr. Bowman's neural design is sophisticated enough to process emotions like embarrassment.

Please tell me you did not discover this by practical application.

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-07

Oh. Florence didn't give me the shirt she was wearing. She was more concerned about her own embarrassment than my wishes. That was a selfish act.

You sound happy about that.

I am. A physical uncanny valley might be the first thing people notice, but a mental uncanny valley? That would be hard to build a relationship across.

Color by George Peterson.
Uncanny valley - a special psychological effect. People perceive very positively the appearance that is most familiar to them, feel somewhat less comfortable around visually artificial objects, and perceive sharply negatively objects that are very close to the familiar, but stand out in some subtle details. This effect, in particular, serves as an obstacle to the introduction of human-identical robots

Sam's hunt for money and savings begins
2022-01-10

Wake up, Helix! Time to
make some money!

We are going to visit some storerooms. Then we're going to see Mr. De Morel.

Shouldn't
we see Mr. De Morel first and get the keys?

Of course not. We're on the wrong
side of the law with this job. A little breaking and entering should at least shift us back towards neutrality.

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-12

This warehouse
is packed.

Yup.

Until I learned accounting, I wouldn't have thought it was possible to rip someone off by giving them too much stuff.

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-14

Check out the dates, Helix. Every
eight months, Flimflam inc. sends the station double the amount of product they asked for.

We're a long way out. You get a double shipment, it's cheaper to keep it than to send it back. When the next order wasn't canceled, Flimflam realized they could boost their profits with the occasional double shipment.

We're going to hurt Flimflam's bottom line. I'm beginning to understand why some companies want to be able to insure against flood, fire, earthquake and auditors.

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-17

What a disorganized system. This station would never pass the Amazon test.

Amazon test?

It's a measure of how much bureaucracy you have in your supply chain.

If an employee can go on line, create a new account and order a part from Amazon easier than he can get a part out of your own warehouse, you have a problem.

Color by George Peterson.

2022-01-19

What are you doing
in here?

The door was unlocked. We've been waiting about ten minutes.

Well, let's take a quick look at the security video, shall we?

Here you are walking up and… Huh. The door was left open.

Of course. Though if you check about two hours back, you'll see when I stopped by to pick the lock.

Color by George Peterson.