I Have The Key 2013-04-30

[zachariah]

The BBVC sends a big thank you to Paul for panels one and two.

Then of course there's this... LOL

For those who haven't guessed. BBVC - Big Breasted Vampires Club. Nice one Dily V. You have now changed the slang for them to Jawbreakers.

[Julie]

I had a thought, but going back and looking at the archives kind of put a damper on it.

Kath said here that Ancestor Baby and the other dolls were discovered in Mapami by Orson Miller in 1976. Some one wondered in the forum around that time if maybe ancestor baby didn't represent Katherine.

Take it one step further. Maybe Ancestor Baby was Katherine, a child held in suspended animation and then released by Miller, or some one else studying the dolls. The MiB becomes aware of her, adopts her out , and the last living (non undead) Anasasi enters modern society having no clue that she's from an ancient civilization. It would explain Kath getting into archeology. She would feel a compultion to connect with the past. The only thing that throws it off is the date of Ancestor Baby's discovery, 1976. Kath is in her mid 40s and Wapsi generally coresponds to real time thanks to time skips and whatnot.

Of course, instead of an infant, Katherine may have been around 6 or 7 when she was put in suspended animation, and who ever let her out estimated her age. Of course, that would give Katherine memories of living as an Anasasi. But then there's always a little mind wipe and/or memory suppression. Kath may have enough residual memory of her old life that when coupled with the incident at the Black Sea dig, she really dosen't trus anyone in athority.

All the above is Wild Mass Guessing, of course.

While my thoughts definitely tended towards the concept of ancestral ties being enough for her to make the stargates work, her lack of a reaction/comment to Atsali's exposition about how the Anasazi created technology powered by their genetic code (while she calmly begins to utilize said technology) makes me wonder if she knows about her lineage...and your idea about her being frozen somehow (while outlandish in the sense of 'reality') seems plausible...and I'd even go with the "she was frozen at age 6 or 7" bit...minus the memory wipe since she seems to know what she's doing and trusts that the technology will work with her own genetic codes. It really makes the "discovery" of the stargate seem a little less accidental and more like she's remembering things (or learning things she may not have had a chance to be exposed to when she was very young).

*wanders over to Confusion Corner to stuff my face with breakfasty goodness before guessing gets me in trouble*

[zachariah]

It is pretty well agreed that Kathy is Anasazi. Also proven is that her DNA does activate the controls of the star gate. As to being a descendant I think it is unlikely. The gate security cannot be based on the mother's DNA as it does remain consistent over generations. Since it does eventually everyone would end up with that part of the DNA in them. What sort of security is it where everyone can access it? If they wanted that why put security on it in the first place? There has to be more to the genetic key than that. What ever the key is Lilly has it and Kathy has it. For her to be the last one in her line with DNA pure enough to satisfy the key is a bit of a reach given there have been 5000 years of generations to be passed down through. Besides how many of them would have survived the new world plagues brought by the Spanish in the 1500's? The odds are pointing towards Kathy being a contemporary of Lilly somehow.
Personally I think it is connected to being the Spider Women. It could be rebirth. Where the previous Spider Women gives birth to her replacement and then passes all their knowledge to the next one when the time is right. Rather than keep the heir close it is put up for adoption out in the world to learn and grow before being called to serve. The old Spider Women could be is in the zone waiting for Kathy to arrive and become the next Spider Women.

[Dave]

Being a last member of a lost race does not necessarily mean that she is from that time. She could very well be the only one with the genetic marker in present day is all. But we will see the truth soon enough (I hope, the suspense is murder).

Very true but it leads to the question "How does The Director know Kath's genetic makup?".

She learned it from MIB liason Tsillah, of course. This was one of those little lurking secrets that only the shadow knows.

[ziggy78eog]

So, with all of this hopping around, via "Stargates", when does the Wapsi Gang run into Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping Christopher Judge, and the others? Is there going to be a cheesy sci-fi show to cover up its existence?

[Dave]

OK, exercising my powers of deduction, given that the 'gate is keyed to Anasazi genetic markers, that Lily is one of two remaining Anasazi, and that Katheryn Gilchrist was able to operate the 'gate, that must mean that our Dear Doctor Gilchrist is in fact the other remaining Anasazi. As was predicted elsewhere, but now we have confirmation of that fact.

Dang, Paul, now you have to explain how a woman in her early forties is a surviving member of a lost tribe that disappeared around the swap from BCE to CE.

The dear doctor may just be the last surviving descendant, rather than a living fossil like Lily.

But for Kath to be the only scion of this lineage means there must have been a catastrophic disaster that must have wiped out all but one living Anasazi who whent on to sire a lineage that never successfully branched into multiple families. a family tree that only ever produced a single branch.

All of this "last living Anasazi" discussion topic suggests that the Wapsiverse situation is different than, or more compkex than what seems to have been the case in our universe.

It's popular to say that the Anasazi "disappeared", but that's true only in the sense that they abandoned Mesa Verde and other large communities. In our universe, many of the Pueblo people today trace part of their ancestry to the Anasazi, who are believed to have simply migrated out of the classic Anasazi communities such as Mesa Verde into areas having better rainfall. This "migrated away" hypothesis seems to be accepted both by many modern Pueblo peoples and by many anthropologists although not all. So, if Wapsiverse history is like unto our own, there could very well be many people living (e.g many Hopi) who might bear Lanthian/Anasazi genetic markers.

If it's a matter of "pure" genes (e,g. dating back to before there was a great deal of intermarriage and genetic dilution) then Lily could certainly qualify. Katherine might be a genetic "sport" (a "throwback" who by chance of complex ancestry has all of the necessary gene markers) or an amnesiac (or just very keep-her-secret-to-herself) slow-ageing survivor from Old Times.

Also... Opus, I'm not sure about the dates you cite. In our universe, at least, the "golden age" of the Ancient Pueblo communities such as Mesa Verde was roughly around 1000 CE, and the "disappearance" a couple of centuries after that... about a millenium after the dates you gave. Not really all that long ago by historic standards. Wapsiverse timing could well be different, of course, but I don't recall Paul having given any actual dates for this part of the Lanthian/Anasazi timeline. Did I miss something?

We may find out that the reason why the Anasazi abandoned Mesa Verde is very different in the Wapsiverse than it is here! Perhaps they opened a stargate to Id, and monsters came out?

[NOTDilbert]

Monsters from the Id....

[Timotheus]

Hey, did any of you know they have massage chairs in the confusion corner?! I think I'll just stay there until this metamorphosis on the part of Dr. Gilchrist starts to make some sense. The current Katherine bears no resemblance to the Katherine who started the story. It's worse than the Shelly situation and there's no obvious trigger point..

[Dave]

Monsters from the Id....

You win a cookie for getting the reference!

[Boxilar]

Monsters from the Id....

You win a cookie for getting the reference!

I was about to ask if a Doctor Mobious was involved.

[NOTDilbert]

That, ot the Wizard of Id.

[Boxilar]

Hey, did any of you know they have massage chairs in the confusion corner?! I think I'll just stay there until this metamorphosis on the part of Dr. Gilchrist starts to make some sense. The current Katherine bears no resemblance to the Katherine who started the story. It's worse than the Shelly situation and there's no obvious trigger point..

I think for Kath it's been a gradual emergence of the personality she had before the Black Sea incident. We didn't see much of her then, bit she seemed happy and out going. The pinup Paul did.of her during her airforce days kindof implies the same. The Katherine we were introduced to was a deeply traumatized woman who had shut herself off from the world. She has spent nearly a decade getting to th point she is now. It's been a pretty gradual transition, in my opinion.

[Fairportfan]

The BBVC sends a big thank you to Paul for panels one and two.

Then of course there's this... LOL

Heh. I can't find Jennie Breeden's guest page of Monica doing the Time Warp... But it ends up with Monica-with-a-black-eye telling a grinning Tina "Don't ask!"

[DilyV]

I was just looking at the strip for today and noticed something that everyone has been bandying about over the past few strips... bear with me here...

The problem as been the orientation of the opening where the stargate lies... Let me tick off the facts here.

1. The first time we see the entire spider carving (here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/spider-woman/ )the upper inverted triangle is obviously an alcove, but the lower triangle appears to be standing proud of the wall. (extending outwards from the wall)

2. The next time we see the entire spider carving, the lower triangle is definitely extending from the wall. If you look just below her lower arm, you can see the top of the lower triangle extending from the wall (here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/just-like-that/ ).

3. The very next strip, we see Kath crawling into what is obviously the upper, inverted triangle/alcove. ( Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/expecting-anyone/ )

4. In "Coming this Way" we see Kath pulling Atsali into the upper, inverted Triangle Alcove ( Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/coming-this-way/ ).

5. In "Keep Quiet", we are still inside the upper, inverted alcove judging by the orientation of the opening. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/keep-quiet/ ).

6. It is in "Get These Pix" that we first see Kath and Atsali in the right side up (point up) triangle... now seemingly an opening where it once was a extension sticking out from the wall. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/get-these-pix/ ).

7. This is where it gets a bit confusing... In "Do the Decoy", we are shown a view of the spider apparently looking up from below, showing once again that the lower triangle stands out from the wall... ( Here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/do-the-decoy/ )

8. In "Flying itself", Kath is once again at the opening of the inverted triangle. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/flying-itself/ )

9. The next time we see the opening is in "Not Here", which shows Lily in the lower triangle, now an opening... and Suzi hanging down into the opening from above. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/not-here/ )

10. In the first panel of "I Have the Key", once again, Lily is in the lower triangular area, now an alcove... and Suzi is hanging out of the upper, inverted triangular alcove. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/i-have-the-key/ )

It all looks really confusing... really really confusing. The only possible explanation I can think of is that either in the upper alcove is a switch of sorts that opens the lower alcove by means of the triangular shaped stone sliding back into the wall, exposing the opening and the stargate, OR, the interior of the alcoves don't adhere to earthly orientations... Still, some of the orientations don't seem to match up with events...

[The Fansheep]

It may just be me but ... she is hanging head over her hair is following the drag of gravity .. her Glasses however are staying put on her nose. Now the real question is .. do i want to know what keeps those glasses in place?

[Dave]

It all looks really confusing... really really confusing. The only possible explanation I can think of is that either in the upper alcove is a switch of sorts that opens the lower alcove by means of the triangular shaped stone sliding back into the wall, exposing the opening and the stargate, OR, the interior of the alcoves don't adhere to earthly orientations... Still, some of the orientations don't seem to match up with events...

I'm reminded somewhat of a bit from Randall Garrett's marvelous story "Back-Stage Lensman", an inspired send-up of Doc Smith's "Lensman" space opera.

In Garrett's version, our hero Gimball Ginnison is flying around the galaxy in his teardrop-shaped space-cruiser, the Dentless. It was powered by the Galactic Patrol's inertialess drive, "which completely nullifies a starship's inertial mass, so that speeds much faster than light can be easily achieved. Unfortunately, the drive can never quite figure out what to do with the ship's gravitational mass, which seems to come and go as circumstances require." (or words to that effect; I'm quoting from memory here).

According to Garrett, when he somewhat timidly presented Doc Smith with an early draft of the parody, Smith read it, laughed out loud, and then suggested the "Dentless" name for Ginnison's ship (Smith had named Kimball Kinnison's ship "the Dauntless").

[Dave]

Monsters from the Id....

You win a cookie for getting the reference!

I was about to ask if a Doctor Mobious was involved.

Sure, Morbius (a.k.a. Prospero) might show up yet. We don't know who Katherine is about to encounter on the far side of the stargate.

Atsali could serve nicely in the role of Ariel. I don't think we've encountered a Caliban yet (at least, not in this section of the storyline).

I won't even discuss the story's Nielsen ratings, or the pigeons we saw flying around the aperture, because that would... hey, no, Pun Jar, wait please, I promise I'll feed AAAAAAGGhhhhh....

[zachariah]

I was just looking at the strip for today and noticed something that everyone has been bandying about over the past few strips... bear with me here...

The problem as been the orientation of the opening where the stargate lies... Let me tick off the facts here.

1. The first time we see the entire spider carving (here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/spider-woman/ )the upper inverted triangle is obviously an alcove, but the lower triangle appears to be standing proud of the wall. (extending outwards from the wall)

2. The next time we see the entire spider carving, the lower triangle is definitely extending from the wall. If you look just below her lower arm, you can see the top of the lower triangle extending from the wall (here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/just-like-that/ ).

3. The very next strip, we see Kath crawling into what is obviously the upper, inverted triangle/alcove. ( Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/expecting-anyone/ )

4. In "Coming this Way" we see Kath pulling Atsali into the upper, inverted Triangle Alcove ( Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/coming-this-way/ ).

5. In "Keep Quiet", we are still inside the upper, inverted alcove judging by the orientation of the opening. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/keep-quiet/ ).

6. It is in "Get These Pix" that we first see Kath and Atsali in the right side up (point up) triangle... now seemingly an opening where it once was a extension sticking out from the wall. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/get-these-pix/ ).

7. This is where it gets a bit confusing... In "Do the Decoy", we are shown a view of the spider apparently looking up from below, showing once again that the lower triangle stands out from the wall... ( Here:
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/do-the-decoy/ )

8. In "Flying itself", Kath is once again at the opening of the inverted triangle. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/flying-itself/ )

9. The next time we see the opening is in "Not Here", which shows Lily in the lower triangle, now an opening... and Suzi hanging down into the opening from above. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/not-here/ )

10. In the first panel of "I Have the Key", once again, Lily is in the lower triangular area, now an alcove... and Suzi is hanging out of the upper, inverted triangular alcove. (Here: http://wapsisquare.com/comic/i-have-the-key/ )

It all looks really confusing... really really confusing. The only possible explanation I can think of is that either in the upper alcove is a switch of sorts that opens the lower alcove by means of the triangular shaped stone sliding back into the wall, exposing the opening and the stargate, OR, the interior of the alcoves don't adhere to earthly orientations... Still, some of the orientations don't seem to match up with events...

Occams Razor applies. The artist drew the view from inside the triangle with the characters upright for the viewer without paying attention to it's orientation in the real world. Then added details, such as Suzi's hair, without remembering it should have looked different because down in the world has no relation to down in the picture. Nothing fancy is needed to explain it this way. It is only nit-picking people like me, and others, who would even pay attention to it. SO whether it matches events doesn't matter, that is how it was drawn.

[kingklash]

Ah! The Universal Key, also good for activating atmosphere generators on Mars, and piloting giant, spacefaring dragonflies that blow up planets. Not to mention holding tacos and hamburgers.

[MerchManDan]

Well, now. Lily knows far more about what's up (or down, as the case may be) with this alcove than we knew. But I can't decide if this raises/lowers more questions than it answers, or vice versa. It's all topsy-turvy to me.

Monsters from the Id....

You win a cookie for getting the reference!

Sadly, not a Mass Effect reference, like I thought.