Credomar's mysterious origins...

[mbarker]

Let's see. We've got a ship that isn't quite finished with our friendly AI Tagioalisi, Lunesby with Jud Shafter and his Shifters, and now we've got Lota with the dread secret superweapon. I wonder what we'll get shopping at the Mall?

[happyman]

Bang!

OK, surely we deserve a little exposition now?  Pretty please?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I just had the thought that all those teraport thingies they build could be used to teraport more dangerous stuff. Of course now I can't remember exactly what was special about the teraport things they built here, or if anything was special at all.

[mbarker]

A giant death-ray that fires through hyperspace? Just because Pi said it with a grin, doesn't mean it isn't true, does it? Ah... we have to go to the mall first, then find out what the big bad we've been waiting for is... and then we'll get the payoff for all this buildup? Wow... patience, Grasshopper, patience.

[ryos]

A giant death-ray that fires through hyperspace? Just because Pi said it with a grin, doesn't mean it isn't true, does it? Ah... we have to go to the mall first, then find out what the big bad we've been waiting for is... and then we'll get the payoff for all this buildup? Wow... patience, Grasshopper, patience.

Howard never should have read the Wheel of Time...

[ryos]

HA! I'd hoped Pi was right.

You know, I didn't used to like Pi, but he's really come into his own in this sequence. In fact, he's the best part of it, by far.

[Silk]

Pi's right about more than one thing. I want to see Lota fire it, too.

[little wilson]

I wonder what's with the target looking thing in the last panel...

[happyman]

I wonder what's with the target looking thing in the last panel...

Seriously, you need to ask? 

Anyway, I wish I'd said it earlier, but Pi was actually sounding extremely rational and well-reasoned when he deduced the hyperspatial death ray.  Pre-teraport + too big for wormgates + no local enemies = aiming a weapon at something through hyperspace makes a scary amount of sense.  With Lota practically confirming it...

Well, this ought to be interesting.  I wonder how it actually works.  Maybe it slingshots something through hyperspace at relativistic speeds?  Maybe it's a predecessor to the teraport, but one that is inherently destructive rather than neutral (like the teraport)?  Whatever it is, I expect that rock to get the full brunt of the demonstration.  And Pi will be happy.

[mbarker]

You asked for it, you got it! And even Pi is blinded by the light!

[happyman]

OK, so does anybody want to speculate on *why* Lota is doing all this?

We've managed to deduce an absurd amount correctly in this plot arc, but character motivations are still a complete mystery to me.  Was Lota really interested in keeping the people of Credomar safe?  What's the next step?

Stay tuned.

[little wilson]

Oh, I didn't have to ask. I figured what was going to happen, but...yes.

Also, I want Kevyn's glasses. They seem so much cooler than mine.

[mbarker]

OK, so does anybody want to speculate on *why* Lota is doing all this?

We've managed to deduce an absurd amount correctly in this plot arc, but character motivations are still a complete mystery to me.  Was Lota really interested in keeping the people of Credomar safe?  What's the next step?

Just guessing. Let's say Lota transferred himself (itself?) into the annie plant control systems, and discovered just what the system was. Now, what do you do? First, get the people out of the way -- they've already tried to blow up the system once, and aren't particularly safe to have around something with this kind of power. Having done that, if you are Lota, perhaps you plan to sit back and provide a safe repository for the power -- after all, the one entity that Lota can trust with this is... Lota. But... like most strategic superweapons, I have to wonder about MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) and other terminal scenarios.

Hum. Does Lota want to keep the existence of this weapon a secret or not?

Intriguing questions.

[ryos]

Remember how Lota became king? He used the power he had to say, "This stops here. I will no longer allow you to stupidly fight each other instead of sucking it up and getting to work. I know you will choose me to fix all your problems because I can obviously do what I say."

The question then becomes, why? The only time we've seen inside Lota's head is the sequence where he catches several thousand falling boxes at once. At the end of that sequence, Lota laments, "Maybe one day Lota will find something interesting to do." Becoming king of Credomar was fun, solving Credomar's problems was fun, but now Lota is ready for grander things. How many wars can he end with the power he possesses?

What is the most important struggle going on in the Galaxy? IMO, Petey's war with the dark matter buggers in Andromeda. The Weapon Formerly Known as Credomar would probably come in handy there. Perhaps Lota simply means to join the fleetmind.

[happyman]

Hum. Does Lota want to keep the existence of this weapon a secret or not?

Intriguing questions.

I think I'm going to go with "No" on this one.  Lota seems to have gone out of his (what the heck, his) way to have witnesses present able to say exactly what they saw.  Frankly, the whole thing seems like a carefully orchestrated presentation designed to intimidate others without actually saying the threats outright.  The implications are quite clear without using extra words and without directly destroying anything anybody cares about.

I'm tending towards the idea that Lota is trying to control the weapon now that he has found it.  Of course, one wonders why he simply didn't destroy it outright.  How hard could it be?