page 5 updated on 8/19/19
Hello people. Welcome to the next short story in the Atoll Lab series. I Plan to alternate between this short vignette and that of Prince tomcat of Grumman. I enjoyed a long 2 month break of playing games, and going to shows with the love of my life. I suppose I could have just quit, but Id rather continue Atoll Lab with a few more short stories that hopefully wont take 3 years to finish. The Poll is not favorable to this comic, Either because I am not as great a story teller as I thought I was, or that visitors just come here for porn that updates less and less as time goes on. If you are one of the latter, I am sorry. Porn Is coming, but this year I have events staggered across multiple weekends that will certainly cut into my art time. If you are still here, thank you for continuing to enjoy what I do.
I will move the Prince tomcat collection to this post soon. However, I was never really satisfied with the bath scene. I may end up throwing out the previous 3 pages in favor of something that doesn’t ramp up so quickly on perversion (at least until Tomcat shows up.) The Russian translation of Atoll Lab is still pending, I’ll keep you posted.
I really appreciate what you’ve done for the community. Your though and brains behind these worlds you create inspires us so much. We know you constantly hear that your art is original and has no competiton, and that’s because it is. It is genuinely a bridge to what may later become a much BIGGER deal. In short, Thank you for everything! – Guy who really love airplanes.
And thats how I met your father… Abrupt yet hilarious end.
@kernal: I’ts silly I know. I tried to tie it back to moon several times. Going full circle helps me keep the plots together.
POLE COMMENT!!!!! – Welp that didn’t help you much did it? As of 10/24/2019 you have 10 Votes for Atoll Lab and 10 Votes for Prince Tomcat lol. That shows you we are grateful for anything you are generous enough to share with all of us Ratbat.
@Ratbat – Yepers it’s loading up now thank you. Yeah that Cliffhanger is like a kick in the gut, but it’s an interesting and fun story showing the beginning of the Dire’s existence.
I would also kind of prefer to see this story continue in whatever next installment is, but Prince Tomcat has been on your back burner for so long I feel you really want to get on that one. I’ll second Clog’s comment about doing the one YOU want to do. These stories are from you, whatever one you would enjoy doing more you should do without question. Your the one that puts hours and hours of effort into these stories, posting, tweaking, shading, and making them as perfect as they can be. Whatever one you decide to do first the fans here will be here to read and enjoy 😉
@Ratbat: I would preffer Atoll stories, but whatever you choose i will take. Or make a poll.
well which one do you really want to do first? in the grand scheme scheme of things it really doesn’t matter what you pick first because we’ll always love it, it really just matters if you like it!
words of wisdom brought to you by clog
DAAAAAAMN YOU RATBAT YOU HAVE FORSAKEN US WITH A CLIFFHANGER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!
@clog: I kinda thought ending this as weird as it began helped the overall tone. I get that you guys want closure and I promise you guys I’ll draw it. I’m split now between prince tomcat and Atoll. Witch would you prefer?
Really will it end in ciffhanger? Bruh.
Want more.
@Moll: what would you rather see more of? Prince tomcat or more Atoll stories?
-cc
So page 17 look very good and the part were they saying that it can not understand us actually make sense on page 16 were it the mechanical noise and artificial noises was coming from them talking in their own language I guess? I also find it nice to see how the normal civilian type dire machines are very capable of defending themselves compare to their military kind. Need to complement on the way you drew the mecha dendrites they look very cool I love the details on how you drew them and the way they act and change.
@sora: Thanks for the compliments! Btw yes, he could not understand their mechanical chirps. It’s like the noise movie transformers make when sending data to one another.
The mechadendrites can have all kinds of different looks to them, if you never drew the same one twice It would still be accurate because the Dires have all kinds of tentacles with different tools for functionality at the ends of em. Cameras, grips, cutting lasers, ect.
Civilian vehicles are less dangerous then military ones, but they can still hurt you bad when they outweigh you as much as they do. The tendrils are pretty adept aswell.
DANG I will always be impressed on how you shade your art ratbat
@clog:
Thank you hun. Liberal use of the gradient tool is my contrast crutch.
Hey Ratbat I see you are perfecting the dialog in Panel 17, but wow this story went totally different than I had expected! It’s very cool I had though his truck was hiding in the Hanger or something like that lol.
In Panel 16 the thumbnail image is fully shaded and looks complete, but when you click on it to have it full size it’s missing the dialog and is still just rough sketched out?
@Zara:
This message is super late, forgive me. Is everything loading up alright so far? Their is a fuel truck somewhere around there, just not his 😉
I will never tire of the fountain of stories that come out of dire machine first encounters like this. Comparing an aggressive, suspicious group to the frightened, hectic car earlier in the comic is fascinating. Would it have even been possible for someone to come across a dire machine awakening and it go over better? Like a person manages to calm them down pretty early on and talk through it without similar emotional outbursts. Just a conversation of man and machine carefully feeling each other out is so fascinating to picture. Assuming that’s even possible, of course.
How do you picture the dire machine intelligence forming anyway? There seems to be some amount of shared knowledge, but they don’t come across as a hivemind or anything.
@kirbu: It was totally possible for many “first contacts” to go well provided everyone played it cool around the 28 thousand pound newborn attack helicopters and things. A good chunk of humanity were progressive enough to help contain problems caused by misunderstandings, It’s important to show that I think. Too many of these stories become a classic “us vs the evil killer robots” trope.
Dire machines usually have some kind of legacy software suite that gets baked in with the machine apotheosis. This usually allows them to access the internet for data. They have tons of knowledge at their wheeltips but no experience/wisdom/culture yet to be savvy about some of the finer points.
Thank God we Got SETI hobbyists, crypto zoologists, xenophiles, and anthro lovers to give these guys a fair shake. The Christians freaked out.
Carolina! Carolina! Heaven’s blessings attend her!
While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her;
Tho’ the scorner may sneer at and wittlings defame her,
Still our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her.
Hurrah! Hurrah! The Old North State Forever!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The good Old North State!
Tho’ she envies not others, their merited glory,
Say whose name stands the foremost, in Liberty’s story,
Tho’ too true to herself e’er to crouch to oppression,
Who can yield to just rule a more loyal submission?
Hurrah! Hurrah! The Old North State forever!
Hurrah! Hurrah! The good Old North State!
@mothman
They come from North Carolina
@Ratbat where did the dires come from
@Mothman
: Aliens.
@Ratbat – Wow thank you for all the info on what makes a Dire machine Dire, and explaining what Dempsy’s upgrades meant in that panel. I can’t wait for this comic to continue I’m really enjoying the vibe this one is going for.
It needs more cowbell
@Walken: It does.
@Zara – geez I actually forgot about that part in the story were Dempsey said that. I feel kinda dumb for even forgetting that they can be modified. You know I’m actually much more excited to see were this going. This person who soon will be a father and gonna have a much more different life than what he use to have and have comfort relationships with the other dire machines. Also his disapernce from the last page of the atol story were moon and another person who are looking for him.
@Sora, the way I see the discomfort is like the movie “The abyss” where Bruce Willis’s main character was made to put on a diving suit full of experimental oxygenated amniotic fluid. (Because plot wise, he had to dive to a depth where available oxygen stores would deplete faster then he could reach his destination. This was also unpleasant. (Complete with pink fluid vomit)
Most Dire machines breathe air as humans do (but for combustion). In order for Dempsey to survive in the vacuum of space In his special “suit” his engine has to be bypassed to supply his vital functions with power, and he has to shielded from cosmic radiation/ extreme temperatures. Without oxygen in space, Dempsey Is just a big uncomfortable Ion Plane in a space rig.
@... Sora – I just looked up a panel from the original comic, and in panel 70 of Atoll bottom right the F-86 says. “I’d rather fight them here then get my engine retrofitted for space again…” So guess that answers my question, their ‘mechanical’ bits can still get modified even after they are alive. Other than the floats I think you nailed it that’s the Cessna 😉
@Zara – I could be wrong about same plane that he might hook up with. I just made the guess that it was the same Cessna plane because it just look a bit identical to her. And yeah not sure if dire could get modified while there alive i don’t think ratbat post up information or at least information that I could find on this website. But the idea that they can get parts or upgrade themselves is interesting like the same way a human goes full cyborg.
@sora: Moon’s future mom is close by, I promise. 😉 the “B side” of this story is a strange and sexy one.
Mods are a thing so long as the Engine(s), central computer, don’t loose their nano charge or get put offline. Unlike normal dead-metal machines, Those parts are permanent.