whoa that is very true. This makes this kid a high priority for something for sure. Wonder what her true purpose is or is she just some rich kid who got the additional benefit. Curious where this will go

Maybe she is the child of researcher Va'Lida. The computer memory core was reset. Maybe the researcher decided to safe her no matter what and break some rule for doing it.

also very possible

"Mean to her"? And the AI dealt with them?. . . Gotta say, might like this AI

Then you'll probably also like that the one on the middle-right seems like they were conscious when they were shot~

'Proverbial nondescript fantasy wagon pullers' XD

Calling that this is the researcher's kid and the researcher shot the other occupants for getting into the pods before mom and dad could.

It's at least strongly implied that the shooting was done by the AI, and some time after they all went into stasis.

There's a turret in the ceiling; Sha traced the trajectory of the bullet-hole in the stasis tube up to a closed hatch.

...Oh that's what that meant.

Love how you manage to make a HAL-style AI look sheepish in that last panel :D.

I suspect a bit of Kuleshov Effect at play here.

I cannot let you do that, HAL!

So Sha taking in the trajectory of those breaches. Seems like this facility might have a few concealed gun turret emplacements in the ceiling. (I was expecting a few drones for maintenance and security.)

I wonder what other surprises this place has?

Though the Dart remembering these people were mean to her, after a memory wipe is a bit worrying. Let's hope Dart doesn't start calling Sha, Dave. 2001 might have ended differently if Hal had access to a few turret emplacements on him.

Well that is freaken scary.

But who shot the other pods I wonder? Someone from the Ceiling?

Hold your:

Chocobo?
Tauntaun?
Horseclaw?
...

Daemon Engine.

Ostrich-Horse?

damn rough o-o:

Sha confirmed to have Detective Vision.

She is Batman.

I get the feeling that Vida would not be duped for a second if she walked into an abandoned village and found two kids...

Is that the gay princess? OwO

Most likely her mother, considering Sha knew her mother and that this comic title shows it's the origin story of that kingdom we saw in the main comic with the festival

How old IS Shaw?!

Over two-hundred years old according to herself (her collar is a artifact her grandfather found that either slows down massively or straight-up halts her aging)

Damn.

What? No, the child is a dog :p There are no humans in this series.

Ok, there is a turret gun of some sort behind the trap door on the ceiling and the AI is being manipulated to protect the child... Now the question: by the child herself or by someone else? Becouse the answers to this question can vary substantially the approach to use here...

I have a feeling the other pod's occupants were probably the security detail, and they probably got rid of the research team (the ones who were supposedly to actually go on the other pods) during the Cataclysm to take their places, but instead got killed by the AI. The fact the pods' cracks are like that show also it were single point-precision placed shots in vital points instead of a hail of bullets, showing the AI calculated exactly where to shoot for maximum efficiency...

Yeah Sha's assessment in the very first page was pretty spot-on: if the AI really wanted her and Iva to not even set foot inside the facility, they'd be dead even before they crossed the entrance door.

Based ai.

So, if they all hopped into stasis to ride out the cataclysm, and the result of running out of stasis gas/etc. is 'die' and not 'emergency wake-up when there's a day/hour/minute left and hope things outside are ok-ish', what exactly was the plan here when the system was set up? It's clearly a long-term lifeboat or it wouldn't have been stocked to last for centuries (about 238 years assuming the AI murdered the other three shortly after they were put in stasis to maximise supplies for the kit, longer of it waited for things to get low).

The AI evidently couldn't wake them, noone without the right codes can get in, and odds of anyone with the right codes surviving to ring the doorbell probably wasn't expected to be very high otherwise they wouldn't have needed to resort to multi-century stasis (also kind of undermines the point of a lifeboat if it's dependent on some other lifeboat's crew surviving).

I'm sure there's a reasonably well-thought-out plan - possibly one that was botched by last-second improvising as the apocalypse bore down on them or some other complications - I'm just curious what it was and why it didn't work.

The comment about possible memory lapses due to the prolonged stasis alongside the AI killing the other non-authorized pod occupants to reroute the life support resources to the kid shows it probably wasn't supposed to be a stasis that long, and more of one planned to last as long they got a signal it was safe to resurface (probably some kind of external monitoring sensor);

The AI primary memory core being wiped probably messed with that, and it triggered a possible secondary emergency protocol of "keep essential personnel safe on stasis until further orders or external support arrives", which would explain why the other pods' occupants were "terminated" due to them not being the actual planned occupants to reroute the resources to the only "essential person" on stasis (the kid).

Not planned for 948 years, sure. But the things use consumables("suspension gas" and "feeding resources"), and 948+3 years left / 4 pods = 237.75 years, minimum, that the pods were stocked for. If you want to say the child used a quarter of the consumables that was planned for that's still a floor of ~60 years.

In all likelihood the AI didn't kill the other 3 right away, but rather acted when things started to let low, or atleast until it was evident that rescue wouldn't be coming in the foreseeable future. However long it waited multiplies the time that the pods much have been intended to be able to last, because they were provided with enough provisions to last that long, even if it was a plan B, or C, or W.

Not how AIs think unfortunately; if it was a option eventually then it would be a option immediately.

"Nondescript Fantasy Wagon Pullers". That is an EXCELLENT grunge band name. :D

I don't like this computer...

On the other hand, there's three years, two days and a couple hours to procrastinate and work on a solution.

Good enough reason for me...

Things... just got a bit more dark and foreboding...

Ahah don't know if they were bullies to the extreme or backstory but this ai has a kind thought processor

Shouldn't have been mean to her.

...mean to her? How?

Authority over the pods despite not being the Lead Researcher...Keeping her hostage to secure Va'Lida's compliance?

>primary memory core

So there are others that are intact, then.

Something tells me the other pods occupants forced their way in because they thought they were more important.

None of them are Lead Researcher Va'Lida; of course they did.

Should be noted that thawing her isn't the only way of rescuing her; restocking those resources is also a option, and a more viable one if that's your only goal.

Well shit! Glados has crossed dimensions!

...and no one is mean to baby girl. She reads to me.

"They were mean to her"...uh...troubling. Might wanna keep and eye on Dart. Also...why were they SHOT? Why not just divert resources from their pods and let them starve/dehydrate in stasis?

Faster solution, less cruel :p

Protocol 3. Protect the child