10/16/19 – Shedding One’s Skin

21 Comments

  1. DrunkenNordmann

    You know, I’m not convinced this is actually a good disguise.

    “Big shed in the middle of the desert” seems like exactly the kind of thing conspiracy theorists would crawl all over.

    1. Keith

      That’s what they want you to think man. Ever notice the more outlandish someone looks like the less you notice them? Yeah man, you get it. So, the more out of place a particular building is the less you notice it…until soon you don’t see any of them man. It’s the absurd you have to look out for. The men in black are a decoy.

  2. Nomi

    Chris, I’ve always loved your SFX. “Bleewdoolp” is exactly what a small spaceship disguising itself as a shed should sound like. Plus it’s fun to say. I can’t listen to your narrative of the strip at work, but I sure hope you said it.

  3. Myk Streja

    I’m having a problem with perspective here. To be clear, just how big are the doors inset the rightside of the main doors? Are they man-sized? If so, that thing’s not a shed, it’s a hangar. If not, what are they? And why am I the only one asking?

    1. TB

      It’s an industrial-size shed, which often has big doors and “people” doors.

      And for the record, a steel shed, at least on Earth, can be found in almost any environment without looking suspicious. Particularly if it’s a bit rusty.

  4. Muzhik

    RE: teens:
    That’s why there are point-defense lasers (for the truly persistent) and electrified walls (for the rest of us).

    Also, having something hanger-sized in the desert, to me, would be less suspicious than a back-yard-sized shed. That’s where you store helicopters and the materials you need to search for natural resources, etc. (If you REALLY want to make it blend in, just have “Ad Astra Oil” painted in faded paint on the door.)

  5. Night-Gaunt49

    The ones who are checking the global records of the world may make note of that shed appearing overnight and wonder about it. Maybe see the craft landing.

    I’m wondering just how impregnable that ship is to Earthly tech?

    The TARDIS “chameleon circuit” has been frozen in that shape for some time. Maybe centuries.

    1. TB

      Ships like this have been buzzing back and forth to Earth in these stories for some time without being detected by radar or anything else. Most of them land right out in the open, often leaving crushed landscape and obvious gear marks, showing contempt for even normal tech like cell phone cameras.

  6. Peter Rogan

    Ordinarily I think in terms of words, but the image of Emily’s ship deploying its disguise suddenly made me visualize how and from where it unfolded, which way the hinges had to go, and how it would reverse the process to fold itself up. I have to think that you envisioned the entire sequence like that, Christopher, which impresses the hell out of me. I’ve known engineers who went back to school to learn topology enough to figure out how assemblies need to come together like this, and it isn’t easy for them, as it apparently was for you.

    By the way, the appearance of it made me realize I’d seen a good likeness of it elsewhere. Specifically, the Nevada test site location of the Black Rock Laboratory. No, it’s not identical. But if we’re talking about buildings appearing suddenly and inexplicably in the desert….

    I can almost hear what Dr. Beaker would have to say about it now.

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