Page 212: Pucker factor nine point five

[dragoongfa]

SpoilerShow

Just a few thousand solons more for Alex to meet some bugs face to face

[kiwi]

Well, I guess his pucker factor 10 was recently calibrated by the Bellarmine breaking in half and/or getting blown up

[GeoModder]

Nice twist on the psychological level.

[man_of_foul_tofu]

I like this doubt of the images in Alex's head very much, I think it's clever writing to sow more doubt of the story being laid out for us. This mental barrier is also either there, not there, or partially there - I am questioning if he thinks it can be fed images to.

My question - Alex must know that Humanity is practically useless for combat against any of this crew, so what has Humanity got to offer? A mystery and a prophecy - Might the Umiak have any interest in Humanity?

[Krulle]

This self-questioning of his free will is a good point.

But then why would Tempo go through the efforts of feeding him images, if she can simply make him do whatever she wants?
Imperio!


Maybe he fears that nudging his free will will have longer lasting effects than a mere Imperius Curse of directly telling him what to do and tell.

[Jagged]

But then why would Tempo go through the efforts of feeding him images, if she can simply make him do whatever she wants?
Imperio!

Maybe she can only push someone for so long. But if she feeds Alex these images and he thinks these thoughts are his own? Well then ... no better mind control than to make someone want to do what you want them to do.

I must admit I had not even once considered the possibility that these images were being deliberately fed to Alex. But there is a certain logic to it. Even if its not as "romatic" as a natural connection to Fireblade

[Excellion]

I must admit I had not even once considered the possibility that these images were being deliberately fed to Alex. But there is a certain logic to it. Even if its not as "romatic" as a natural connection to Fireblade

We do known from Fireblade's GURPS sheet that she "Telepathically 'talks' in sleep". And there is also this tidbit in the Inside Forum Quotations article:

In this case, the explanation is a lot simpler... Fireblade did not have the same training in mental discipline that most Loroi receive as children that helps to keep subconscious telepathic "babble" under control.

To me it seems likely that Fireblade is (unintentionally) leaking memories and thoughts to Alex. Alex in turn is apparently a sensitive receiver and can thus read Fireblade's memories this way; And likely piggyback on her detection powers such as seen in comic page 210. On the other hand Alex himself cannot send any telepathic data at all, meaning that the Loroi cannot read him.

I really like the question Alex raises in this page though. We as the readers have more information on the Loroi than he as the main character currently has; Alex's reasoning that he might be deliberately fed (potentially fake) information seems very reasonable from his perspective. And it perfectly aligns with the "Alex is wary of the Loroi" narrative that is currently in place.

[Mk_C]

Nine of you

- Talon.
- Spiral.
- Tempo.
- Fireblade.
- Beryl.
- Reed.
- Cloud.
- Flint.
That's 8. 9 would be them including Alex. So it should be either "Eight of you" or "Nine of us". Or we intentionally have Alex fucking up his arithmetic.

My question - Alex must know that Humanity is practically useless for combat against any of this crew

He's not much more useless than Beryl, Talon or Spiral in this situation. He can at least somewhat do all the relevant things that they can do, unless Umiak electronic security measures involve games of Matching Pairs (where Beryl would be unbeatable) - and it's likely that he's straight up better at piloting bigass ships like this here krooza, since the Tenoin girls have never flown anything bigger than the Highland, while Alex had a job of (sometimes) piloting Bellarmine. Reed, Flint and Cloud (if she's even alive still) are probably better at applying boomsticks and that's it. They all are most likely better at handling themselves under fire and going hand to hand and whatnot, but the whole plan relies entirely on not getting into a fair fight of any sorts. And the most important point of the plan is not kicking ass or even piloting - it's preventing the shells from pressing the "COWABUNGA" button on their reactor.

[raistlin34]

Nice subversion of the action hero "hold-my-beer-I-got-this" classic protagonist. Alex is mostly pragmatical and rational in his approachs.

[boldilocks]

"It's gonna be super easy, barely an inconvenience"

[CrimsonFALKE]

I wonder bad the jump sickness is for the bugs I mean not enough for things to go the way the Loroi want so who is making Alex's butt pucker at this time?

[Mithramuse]

My question - Alex must know that Humanity is practically useless for combat against any of this crew, so what has Humanity got to offer? A mystery and a prophecy - Might the Umiak have any interest in Humanity?

I think it's pretty well been stated that the Umiak's interest in humanity would be slave labor for resource-gathering operations to further their war machine. I think that's more from the insider pages (in-comic, https://well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider001.html just covers 'atrocities on both sides' related by the Orgus) but it's certainly "something" that humanity could do....

EDIT: Also found this one: https://well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider093.html -- "...to join the Umiak Hierarchy is to effectively sell ourselves into slavery."

--Mithramuse

[Keklas Rekobah]

I must admit I had not even once considered the possibility that these images were being deliberately fed to Alex. But there is a certain logic to it. Even if its not as "romantic" as a natural connection to Fireblade

We do known from Fireblade's GURPS sheet that she "Telepathically 'talks' in sleep". And there is also this tidbit in the Inside Forum Quotations article:

In this case, the explanation is a lot simpler... Fireblade did not have the same training in mental discipline that most Loroi receive as children that helps to keep subconscious telepathic "babble" under control.

To me it seems likely that Fireblade is (unintentionally) leaking memories and thoughts to Alex. Alex in turn is apparently a sensitive receiver and can thus read Fireblade's memories this way; And likely piggyback on her detection powers such as seen in comic page 210. On the other hand Alex himself cannot send any telepathic data at all, meaning that the Loroi cannot read him.

I really like the question Alex raises in this page though. We as the readers have more information on the Loroi than he as the main character currently has; Alex's reasoning that he might be deliberately fed (potentially fake) information seems very reasonable from his perspective. And it perfectly aligns with the "Alex is wary of the Loroi" narrative that is currently in place.

In real life, some people claim to hear voices just before falling asleep -- e.g., "Hypnagogic Hallucinations".  There may be many causes for this, but the most probable ones seem to be: (1) A person's brain is in a partial dream state; (2) The person lacks sufficient sleep; (3) The person is hungry.  Alex was likely experiencing all three, and his natural telepathic shield became just thin enough for Fireblade's subconscious telepathic "babble" to somehow leak through.  This also suggests that maybe the other Loroi have a way to "tune out" Fireblade's nightmares while they sleep.

[dragoongfa]

In real life, some people claim to hear voices just before falling asleep -- e.g., "Hypnagogic Hallucinations".  There may be many causes for this, but the most probable ones seem to be: (1) A person's brain is in a partial dream state; (2) The person lacks sufficient sleep; (3) The person is hungry.  Alex was likely experiencing all three, and his natural telepathic shield became just thin enough for Fireblade's subconscious telepathic "babble" to somehow leak through.  This also suggests that maybe the other Loroi have a way to "tune out" Fireblade's nightmares while they sleep.

In RL it's also part and parcel with neurological damage, I got MS and the damage it has done has made me unable to enter a deep sleep state without psychotropic medication. Sleep paralysis and hallucinations are par of the norm for me when the drug effects are receding.

[SVlad]

Pucker factor...
Thanks Arioch for using a concept that even doesn't exists in Russian.
In Soviet Russia™ a soldier must endure the hardships and burdens of military service with fortitude. Period.

[inxsi]

Excellent page (and how quickly we get used to updates).

I wonder how unhappy Tempo is to have to demonstrate her abilities where Alex can see them. Also wonder if there was a seal (that Alex trusts) on the beef stroganoff - or if the hallucinations were caused by having protein before dozing

Since Beryl keeps stressing how they need every hand available, are they going to trust him enough to have him do anything important? Or is it just more convenient to have him with the group where multiple loroi can keep their eyes on him (and Fireblade can squash him if needed)? Guess I'll get to see.

I guess the Loroi figue the jump sickness is notably worse for the Umiak than for Alex?

[Krulle]

Re. Jump sickness: I presume nobody knows yet.

re. Pucker factor: I basically knew of the physical manifestation, but didn't know the US-Army uses it, nor did I know the effect is described under that terminology. So a joke was lost for me, so far.

[Keklas Rekobah]

Pucker factor... Thanks Arioch for using a concept that even doesn't exists in Russian. ...

In the U.S. Navy, we called it the "Clench Factor", except it referred to contracting all muscles of the body in anticipation of a collision.  "I went into full clench just before impact..."

[Arioch]

In the James Cameron movie The Abyss, Hippy uses the term "Sphincter Factor," perhaps to make it more obvious to the non-military audience, but I think "Pucker Factor" is probably clear enough.

[SVlad]

In the James Cameron movie The Abyss, Hippy uses the term "Sphincter Factor," perhaps to make it more obvious to the non-military audience, but I think "Pucker Factor" is probably clear enough.

Thanks, should check, how real translators do this.

Uh, real translators just make it into boring:

In trouble for 9.5 of 10

Probably, I should invent something more fun. There is a joke about cutting a crowbar with one's sphincter in Russian. May be I can adopt it.