This one did not turn out at all like I expected – but I love it so much better than what I originally had planned. It seems that the Machine has a few surprises even for me.
And the thing that makes this so much more beautiful? That I get to leave you with it over the weekend. See you on Monday!
That sounds like a really hard job. Keeping track of ALL the dead technology…
Sounds tedious. Looking forward to where this is going!
For the Machine, it's not tedious at all.
For some reason, when I read through this, The Machine sounds like Gravemind in my mind. It has that old and deep voice that you don't want to trust, but you have nothing to base that feeling off of…
That and the font reminds me of the font used in the Pokémon games when it's used at any size larger than 36 pt… =/
So? Are his creators dead technology or…
The machine never said all it did was watch over dead technology.
True… but that really is all it does. Of course, it's job is exceptionally huge, and you may be a bit surprised to find out just what 'dead technology' encompasses.
Philosophy of words.
My favorite! : ]
So it knows where everything that the Forerunners have ever created is. I wonder if it knows the location of Eternal Refuge? My bet is it does. And that'll be another question. Their infection of what? The Flood? Their technology? STD's?
Sorry, I just thought that might've been funny. Damn you Jim! I hate/love your stupid annoyng cliffhangers! WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US! 
Especially on weekends 
Eternal Refuge is not dead, so it's not even on the Machine's radar at this time.
The machinery to access Eternal Refuge may be…
I like the final shot. Looks like the symbol bungie put over everything, the circular thingy. Where'd you take that, underneath Mercyhoard?
Yeah, that's right underneath the Machine. I love the way it looks in that shot.
The Seventh Column symbol?
That's no Seventh Column…
http://blog.ascendantjustice.com/halo-3/shield-wo…
Scroll down a bit to see a pic showing off most of them. I found another, top of the monitors head. Best seen in forge.
It could be the same symbol, but I think it'd be a real stretch to say that it is.
I know it wasn't, I just didn't recognize what circle thing he was talking of.
Once again, Jim, you have baffled me.
Not only has the story evolved, but you've thrown in some amazing screen shots.
I can only imagin what it is that he has cataloged.
And I can only guess as to who it;s creators are, although I would have to go with the forruners(?).
I still don't think Reclaimer understands. And did the mercyhoard pull a Jim and twist his question to answer a different one?
Oh, he certainly doesn't understand. The Machine isn't exactly being clear. I think the Machine believes the Reclaimer knows more than he actually does, and so the answers it is providing are geared toward with a much broader range of knowledge. I think even the Cavalcade may be a bit flummoxed by this one.
The twist in this one is the very happy accident that makes the Machine tie much more intimately into the plot that I had ever intended it to. I thought it was another throwaway character. Not so. That surprised me.
'Hold onto it, and when the time comes, you will know' – Unknown
Although, it was originally in refrence to a banana.
edit: I remember! It was Adam West from Family Guy
Reading those words again made my day.
Never have I wanted Monday to come so bad!
Happier words have never been uttered.
Until you say "I've got two comics today!"
Haha, never gonna happen.
Live for the day, Jim.
I live for the day, Jim.
Good, then Reclaimer should keep you alive indefinitely.
May Mercyhoard watch over me until it deos
May Mercyhoard watch over me until it happens
So say we all.
I don't recall uttering those words.
I would like to think I'm alive, thank you.
It's not wise to be sure about these things.
Never have I wanted Monday!
But, without Monday, there could be no Tuesday.
And without Tuesday, there could be no Wednesday.
And without Wedn…
Without Monday… there would be no working week!
Exactly. So why do you want monday to come? Sure Jims comic will come out, but will three comics really make up for all the hardships suffereed at school and work? Will it?
Most definiatly, for thge hardships make us strong and the Relcaimer makes us wise.
So I was pretty close in my guess the other day. Hmmm, wonder if Ferial and his ilk count as "dead" technology. Probably not but it would be interesting to see if Mercyhoard could give some info to RC about him.
Crap, how many hours until the next release?
As of this moment, just about 60.
then it must be 57 right now.
Hmn, 57 hours of Halo, or 57 hours of Fallout.
Decisions, decisions.
Huh, you must be a robot or something. You didn't plan any sleep in there.
That thought has been pondered before; on the forums I think.
well then, i wonder if all those poor wraiths i've lasered are on it's list?
My connection seems a bit bad…i type a letter about every few seconds, damn lag!
What browser are you using?
Firefox. Agh i was on my netbook which runs on Linux…so i switched to my good old windows pc and its only better by a millisecond! Ill try my vista laptop. Also how do you log in?
Try IE, I don't seem to get much trouble from it any more.
Edit: Woops, didn't look down.
Yep, me too.
Yep, me too. Firefox for me too, latest public version.
This is much better. My laptop is on windows vista and uses internet explorer and its working fine! yay. And im still not too sure how to log in…i keep having to type my name whenever i post…
Yeah, Chrome works better, too. Hopefully when Firefox 3.1 comes out of beta, the lag will become a non-issue.
You don't have an problem with non-issue lag do you?
You don't have an problem with non-issue lag, do you? : ]
Dont worry ive logged in now. What body armour does the reclaimer use? I prefered the Hayabusa one. You might be able to see my Halo character is a replica of him with Hayabusa body but is black.
p.s Jim can i have your Gamertag? Mines: Captain EVA
The Reclaimer's wearing the EOD body armor and shoulders.
Perhaps you're not aware, but my gamertag is included in the parentheses next to my name on every comment.
Unfortunately, my Friends List is currently full, so you'll run into some issues with getting a request through.
Well im gonna go now. Cant wait for he next installment Jim!
Hmmm….thought provoking. I really do like the pictures for this strip. Especially the next to last one. Reclaimer is grrrrrreeeeaaattt!!
Thanks, man. I really spent some time trying to come up with interesting shots. When all your characters are stationary, it's a little more difficult to produce shots that don't repeat and that aren't boring. It helps that the inside of this base is really quite pretty to look at.
It's like painting fruit!
I have that problem sometimes; too busy stairing at the walls to notice the guy coming right at me.
i leik reclaimer, keep up da good work jim!
also… jim r u a school teacher?
Alright, I gotta ask – how do you pronounce ||/|| // ||D, exactly? Barbarfowardslashbarbar backslash forwardslashtimestwo barbardee? Seems a bit much, if you ask me.
And no, I'm not a schoolteacher – just someone who enjoys and prefers literacy and clear communication.
Couldn't agree more! I'm just going to call him D.
"Welcome, my friends. Welcome, to the Machine…"
I had to say it at some point.
Best you get it out now. : ]
I can't seem to figure out just how to make it work…
The login buttons at the top of the comments section.
The login button's at the top of the comments section.
Best you get it out now. : ]
Where's your account, Fox?
I had to go look these lyrics up, since everyone keeps quoting them. I'm not a Pink Floyd fan, so it's no wonder I'd never heard them before.
I see we we have a regular Tony the Tiger.
Alright another test 2 c if my comment gets posted or not. And here it is…. Awsumness Jim soz i havnt said anything bout ur last ones they have been gr8 2. Purple is a cool colour but maybe Mercyhoard just doesnt go with it. Anywayz my personal opinion. Keep it up looking 4wad 2 cing waht this guys exact angle is, maybe hey has yet 2 pull somthing…
Ok, seriously – you've got to stop typing in your shorthand. When I have to work this hard to read your comments, I'm that much more likely to just ignore them outright. Just an FYI…
I had to read it twice to double-check that I hadn't got anything wrong…
Um, you do know that purple is the main colour on the map right? It takes a lot of time and effort to edit a whole screenshot to remove the primary colour let alone 6.
I'd have to say the reason, I think, Jim picked purple is the almost overwhelming amount of purple in the photos featuring Mercyhoard.
So that thing has cataloged my Windows 3.1 and Windows XP Operating Systems? I feel bad for it, cause those two themselves will screw it up, big time.
(just finished reading all of the comics in 2 days, not an easy task, but I loved each one, keep u[ the good work!)
Technically, Windows isn't a dead technology – so, no, it hasn't.
Sometimes I wish Vista was, though…
I lol'd. It's not dead tech, but it's outdated. Not Vista….3.1 and XP
Not yet anyway
It won't be a moment too soon.
Although it probably has by now – this is 500 years or so in the future.
Microsoft Cortana
I like your thinking.
where are the cavalcade? why have they suddenly shut up? usually they are so talkative
They're "just collatin' data."
jim, i love the new edition, but i hate the cliffhanger! though, its just as well, i wont be able to get on at all over the weekend, so im ok with it!
Not so much of a cliffhanger as in having to find out what the hell this all means has to wait until Monday. I'm not gonna agree with everyone saying Monday come sooner, because school starts again on Tuesday and I'm quite enjoying my holidays.
That's alright. I know there are a handful of my readers who really hate cliffhangers. I'm afraid you're going to have to learn to like them, though. I don't really intend to stop writing them into the storyline.
Alright so if the Machine guards all the dead tech in the universe….Why? I mean he said that this is technology that has become outdated so what's the point in guarding it? Unless it only "outdated" to the people that made it, and it could be lightyears ahead of another civilization…
Also- Welcome my son…...Welcome…..TO THE MACHINE!
Sorry. I had to.
All will be made clear in due time.
I think it has something to do with Master Chief, considering that his armor would be "dead" technology, correct?
Maybe…but i don't think the Master Chief can die…he only got blown up for God's sake! I think he reverted to the last checkpoint…he's survived worse things!
Not necessarily. The Reclaimer techinically would be using an upgraded version of the Chief's armor, I think.
I was matchmaking and it chose snowbound…i got killed coz i was busy analyzing Mercyhoard lol! Also if Mercyhoard gets destroyed in the story, you can use the other base!! Jst a thought.
Just so we're clear – mercyhoard is not the Machine's name. The Machine is the Machine's name. Merychoard merely refers to the Machines type and function.
I wouldn't know about Pokémon. I've never played the games.
Don't worry about it then, it's just a little weird is all. I like the font.
Blambot has some nice stuff. They've been my favorite resource for fonts.
Really?
I gotta go make some changes.
nearly there, nearly there! going great Jim, also how do i register a new account?
Underneath the form to post a new comment, there's a checkbox to
create an IntenseDebate account. Put the check in the box, submit
your comment, and then before you comment again, click the 'Login to
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