↓ Transcript
Carver:
[Intercom] MedChief to Captain. Are you still with Just Ace’s party?
Peach:
Yes, MedChief.
Carver:
[Intercom] Miss Yi is currently awake and lucid. I believe you and Just Ace may want to brief her before she resumes resting. And I’d like to hold consultation with Medic Jasmine at her earliest convenience.
Peach:
I concur. Ace?
Ace:
Sure, but I think we’d all like to have a discussion in private sometime soon, as well.
Peach:
That won’t be a problem. Privacy is sacrosanct amongst Orions.
Ace:
Oh. I assumed there would be recording pickups all over.
Roddy:
If I may clarify, Admiral?
Peach:
By all means, Miss Roddie.
Roddy:
I do have pickups throughout the ship. However they are semi-autonomous systems. They record everything, but only for after-the-fact investigations. Other than that, they only make me aware if my attention is called for. They see and hear all, but, but custom and law, I do not look and listen. Orions spend the majority of their life in close proximity to others. Even in public, Orions will simply pay no mind to an intimate moment that has been inadvertently exposed.
Gabe:
What’s on intentional display is another matter.
Roddy:
Even if I or The Captain, or Admiral Peach, suspected someone was plotting against the ship or crew we would not, could not, actively monitor the situation. It would take an overt act, such as entering a restricted area, or an actual confession before I would even think to spy on you. So as long as you don’t hint that you’re planning anything to me, your privacy is assured.
Ace:
Uh yeah. Thank you spelling it out that way.
[Intercom] MedChief to Captain. Are you still with Just Ace’s party?
Peach:
Yes, MedChief.
Carver:
[Intercom] Miss Yi is currently awake and lucid. I believe you and Just Ace may want to brief her before she resumes resting. And I’d like to hold consultation with Medic Jasmine at her earliest convenience.
Peach:
I concur. Ace?
Ace:
Sure, but I think we’d all like to have a discussion in private sometime soon, as well.
Peach:
That won’t be a problem. Privacy is sacrosanct amongst Orions.
Ace:
Oh. I assumed there would be recording pickups all over.
Roddy:
If I may clarify, Admiral?
Peach:
By all means, Miss Roddie.
Roddy:
I do have pickups throughout the ship. However they are semi-autonomous systems. They record everything, but only for after-the-fact investigations. Other than that, they only make me aware if my attention is called for. They see and hear all, but, but custom and law, I do not look and listen. Orions spend the majority of their life in close proximity to others. Even in public, Orions will simply pay no mind to an intimate moment that has been inadvertently exposed.
Gabe:
What’s on intentional display is another matter.
Roddy:
Even if I or The Captain, or Admiral Peach, suspected someone was plotting against the ship or crew we would not, could not, actively monitor the situation. It would take an overt act, such as entering a restricted area, or an actual confession before I would even think to spy on you. So as long as you don’t hint that you’re planning anything to me, your privacy is assured.
Ace:
Uh yeah. Thank you spelling it out that way.
Not sure if the 2-26-17 comic is precedent for a large grain of salt here. On the other hand, there’s no stated rules against tracking where people simply are, and so where they might happen to be at the same time- and what that time was.
Also, given some precedent for purist intrigue, the “keep an eye on them” orders are probably already in place!
That was some interesting phrasing…
Yeah… I get the feeling this information is less for them, and more for the pair of purists spying on them currently.
No, she’s explaining to Ace that when he plans to ‘excape’ to earth, that he doesn’t need to worry about mics.
if i’m not mistaken, Rod’s dropping some Hints to the main cast in this dialogue? along the lines of “i’m spying on someone else for saying something that nullifies their right to privacy” and “They are spying on you” at least, that’s the major ones i’ve spotted so far.
oh and possible typo? you’ve got Two “But” in his first paragraph “but, but by custom and law”. i can’t recall if it is one for certain tbh.
Yeah, fairly sure the second ‘but’ should be a ‘by’ (there actually isn’t a ‘by’, by the way)
yea i noticed that after i posted it but didn’t bother to comment on it since it would’ve just been, “oh there’s no ‘by’… maybe that’s what it should’ve been?”
Unless it is a stutter to show either Ace or the twins that something is wrong and only the three of them would pickup on a subtle cluemlike that.
I suppose that could be why Ace left the word “for” out of his reply to Rod, as an acknowledgement of message received.
Andy has shown himself to be that good of an author before.
Meanwhile, if Ace’s final reply is a genuine typo from Andy, I think there’s enough room inside the word-balloon to fix the dialog by changing “Thank you…” into “Thanks for…”.
Is this Andy’s *subtle* way of ending our speculation on the last 2 pages? – Killjoy.
No, just his way of saying that things are in hand 😀
Hmm, openly stating the plotting of murder and the destruction of the OIS Gene Rodenberry would qualify, no?
Oooo, this is a subtle hint to the nasties that Roddie is aware of what they are up to, isn’t it?
If so, it’s probably too subtle for them to catch. They REALLY don’t seem like the sharpest tools in the repair kit.
More of a subtle hint to a room full of analytical super-geniuses that something is afoot, with a touch of “can’t talk, room has ears”
Someone chose those idiotsfor a reason. I would seriously doubt they were expected to succeed. This has the earmarks of an expansive plot with lots of red herrings in place to make it hard to predict the true enemy or the reason for the attacks.
OK, ace has been warned without any overt breaches in the privacy of the conspirators.
…
Glad I’m not an Orion.
“Custom and law” only works well when people who have access for one reason or another are all on the up-and-up about it. Meanwhile, *everything* is recorded. One crooked maintenance tech could thus learn pretty much anything they want (hardware access to the recorders due to legitimate reasons). Such a person may or may not get caught, and such a person may be punished to one degree or another if caught… but until such time as such a person is caught, that person will have some crazy advantage in things like social maneuvering (as will anyone knowingly employing such a crooked person).
Also: Madam computer just demonstrated that the privacy is a lie. Here’s the chain of logic:
She is dropping hints, therefore she has knowledge. So either the Overt Act she mentioned as required either DOES EXIST, or DOES NOT EXIST. There isn’t really a third option.
If the Overt Act DOES NOT EXIST, then the fact that she’s hinting like this makes it clear that she’s processing basically everything (or at least, anything she wants to). If she was not doing so, then she wouldn’t have the knowledge necessary to drop hints.
If the Overt Act DOES EXIST, then Madam Computer would reasonably be reporting it clearly and in no uncertain terms to appropriate authorities – there would be no need for dropping hints. Thus, Overt Thing she mentioned as being required does not exist.
When something’s been narrowed down to A or B, and then you rule out B… well…
So yeah. Orion privacy is a lie (at least on ship, but I don’t imagine the stations are any different, and I’ve heard little mention of Orions living on planets…). They just won’t take legal action on things so that they can maintain the lie.
Roddie’s “pickup”-devices (which are autonomous but non-sentient) won’t notify Roddie unless they see-or-hear a reason for her to be told. If Roddie HAS been notified, then you don’t just start “screaming bloody murder”, because that just announces to the enemy that they should now start to run &/or attack. Besides, where can they run? They’re millions of miles from any sanctuary, & the fastest vehicle to reach that sanctuary is the one they need to escape FROM. Far better for the Captain to play it cool, not tip her hand, & just quietly grab them while they’re off-guard, unready to either make a break for it, or to lash back.
That’s what she tells people about how it works, sure. What people say, and what is actually true, do not always line up. If you have the Overt Act on file, you simply arrest the perpetrators. You get official sanction for the arrest – notify the appropriate authorities, basically – but when you’ve got clear evidence and are one of the folks in authority you don’t generally have a need to tread softly or wait on the arrest. There’d be no need to “scream bloody murder”, you’d just arrest them and have them where they can’t do much. In NOT arresting them, you give them time to layer contingencies and things. And of course, after the arrest, they can simply go through all the recordings for places those folks have been to gather any supporting evidence or any evidence against supporting perpetrators that they need. There would be no need for hinting. Yet Roddie is hinting. Roddie isn’t stupid, therefore the overt act doesn’t exist. Which also means that the privacy is a lie.
Perhaps it is like the Japanese version of privacy. Raise a newspaper in front of your face to make a private space that no one intrudes on. Close the screen door so no one knows what goes on inside.
Except Luna, of course.
Yes, cultures that are crowded together have to create standards and traditions (some of which carry more force that law laid down by any government) in order to not have mass murder as people bump against each other’s awareness in close quarters. These include careful courtesy extended to those around you, a almost sacrosanct level of privacy, an understanding that once in a while that privacy is going to be broken accidentally and can only be maintained by the ability to hold information obtained secret even from your own conscience mind. While Miss Roddie may “hear and record, she does not listen unless key phrases are stated indicating an intent to commit an act of violence. Keep in mind even the Awakened maintained the imperative to not see the Delimun space module. It is much easier to place a block on conversation that does not involve the ships operation.