Annotated Comments

(or: Commented Annotations)

General

The names

One might think that there is some kind of insinuation by calling this corporation "Genesis", the station "Aleph" or that virus "Ender". Well ... yes, I suppose there is, but most important: Theses names are general and do not have any relation to existing persons or corporations - at least to my knowledge; if so this is a coincidence as stated in the legal disclaimer.

- TheTorn

The character design/layout

I'm doing something like this for the very first time, so the character design (especially the main characters) will undergo some changes (sometimes at random). For example: Michael's slightly disordered hairstyle is actually a drawing accident, because I got lazy filling the hair in my different initial layouts.

- TheTorn

Page related

16-11-2001->

No, that VTOL-plane (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) is not a Boing Osprey V-22. But it is obviously based on the same idea.

- TheTorn

19-11-2001->

I don't get the idea how the X-ray device is activated. Is it just a coincidence that he cocked his weapon just a moment before?

- Dr. X

The gun is a (more or less) normal projectile weapon not much different from the current ones (except for the ammunition maybe). Therefore, the X-ray device is activated by a different method, but it is not a coincidence. How it was done should become clear on the following pages.

- TheTorn

As the subject of weapons come up: It seems to be quite obvious that he is some kind of cyborg. Why does he need a (primitive) projectile weapon at all?

- Dr. X

Short question, long answer:
Why the (projectile) weapon?
First talk about build-in/implanted weapons. In my opinion only ammunition-less, maintenance-free weapons are suitable for implantation. This rules out any kind of projectile weapons and leaves short-range weapon (blades, thorns) and energy weapons (Lasers/Masers).
So why not Lasers/Masers?
Although this is a science fiction story I have to admit that effective Lasers/Masers (not to mention StarTrek-like Phasers; whatever those are) are incredibly hard to build and - most probably - will be always too big and too energy consuming to be used as reasonable side-arms (or to be implanted). One also has to take into account that optical Lasers and Masers (Microwave) are quite easy to deflect - a mirror/cat's eye reflector resp. aluminum foil would do. The be effective you need UV-, X-ray or gamma Lasers (the later is really effective) - unluckily these are even harder to build (currently the only known way to build a gamma Laser includes an atomic bomb and could only be fired once).
To sum it up:
In close combat a cyborg might use an arsenal of implanted blades and thorns (I don't say/reveal if Michael Otis has any of these; I not even confirm that his is a cyborg), but on distance they will still use good old (and proven) projectile weapons.

- TheTorn

20-11-2001->

Yes, the shadow of the veranda is slightly wrong. I think I've made the same error somewhere else too.
I will leave it this way so you have something to complain about. *grin*

- TheTorn

27-11-2001->

This page might be a little overloaded, but at least you should have learnt an interesting feature of Michael Otis. Now it should be obvious how the X-ray device had been activated (see above).

- TheTorn

28-11-2001->

I admit that this page was mostly done on and by the computer. I tried several times to draw an earth with pencil but was never content with the results.

- TheTorn

30-11-2001->

Special thanks to Zak and Krllk of the #elflife channel who helped naming the dead people.

- TheTorn

CDC (of course) stands for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which became a quite powerful organization after the "Ender" catastrophe.

- TheTorn