Stay Out Of Her Way 2013-07-18

[KnightDelight]

The library controls access through the grid??? How did that come about? Who made the decision to make it the traffic cop? And why let that happen at all?

I don't think it needs access through the grid. I Believe it has access all it's own, independent of the grid. After all, the library itself is floating (along with other structures) above something. Whatever it's floating above is not likely to be the earth. It's nodes, no doubt, reach across much of the known universe (and dimensions). It is also probably even more effective at keeping out undesirables than the grid.

[Timotheus]

I have a bad feeling the "orphanage" is similar to a filing cabinet with its occupants held in stasis until let out at prescribed times.

Tsallah's not a politician, its worse, she's a bureaucratic functionary. She exists to solve problems (whether they exist or not) and keep upper management happy (as she defines happy). She anticipates orders and procedure changes and tries to have them in place before her superiors realize they will be issuing them.

I believe it's a case of anyone who is working with Monica in any capacity and has been taken "down the rabbit hole" or was already there is by definition on her team and at her level for that reason.

[Fairportfan]

Tsillah tried to do good with the brashness of youth. I feel for her. Getting the smackdown from a Dr. is not fun.

I still believe she meant well, but, as youth goes, didn't realize that decisions can have far-reaching consequences.

As i said a day or so ago, Tsillah is not that unlike Atsali.

It's just that she has more scope to cause problems with her Good Ideas.

[zachariah]

I believe it's a case of anyone who is working with Monica in any capacity and has been taken "down the rabbit hole" or was already there is by definition on her team and at her level for that reason.

I would hope not. Using that definition anyone Monica has actually let let any of this drop to is on the list. People in the future would be added to the list as well. When you consider all the people that can end up in the group just from Monica it's a lot of people. When you consider all the others who are on the list as well. Eventually even MIB has to run out of people to monitor and clean up. As MIB covers the whole world it would be even worse. How would MIB pay for all of it as well. So I suspect the list is not inclusive and entry to it is made on a case by case basis. If Kathy is on it then Kevin is definitely on it, Amanda would not be, Shelly is for a lot of reasons, Tina is, and Deitzel probably is. Jin's boytoy would be on it.
I suspect Kathy is on it for a different reason that Bud said. Either Bud wanted to make Tsillah keep her hands off Lathy, or being the last living member of the Anasazi is why.

[Fairportfan]

...the last living member of the Anasazi...

As opposed to "...one of the two remaining Anasazi..."

[Kingmaker]

Firstly, I think in the last panel Mr. Taylor meant Covers not cover....

MIB covers her tracks.

Moving on...

I have to say Kathrine seems to be bouncing back and forth from outrage about Atsali to deep thinking about the grid ratehr quickly from strip to strip. I can understand how that would happen.

On one hand she wants to know where Atsali is, but on the other the analytical portion of her mind is trying to reason the grid and everything that happened to her. What she really needs to Atsali and a chance to decompress and let her thoughts bounce around. Possibly while sitting on a nice sofa, Atsali curled up next to her taking a nap with a fire in the background and lots of hot chocolate.

Just a chance to let her mind process all that's happened in a very short period of time. Right now her brain appears to be fighting really hard between the two hemespheres... Logic says "Figure out what's up with the grid" Heart/emotions say

So. Where. Is. ATSALI!?

And until she lets both sides decompress I think she is going to ping pong between the two...

Or I could be really off base and get tagged out with the throw to first.

*Drops a set of Top baseball cards in pun jar*

Although that wasn't very punny.

[eee]

I bet the Nu Gui was a lawyer at heart. Even when it set up the grid it still left loopholes in the contract. She wasn't a programmer because the backdoor would require an access code only it knew.

The library controls access through the grid??? How did that come about? Who made the decision to make it the traffic cop? And why let that happen at all?

As noted, it appears to be less that the Library controls the Grid than that it can bypass it. It can open annexes on Earth that give authorized users access to it (and, going the other way, access from it to the Earth) and physically transport people around. It's not clear if that freedom from grid blockage was intentional or not. But it DOES mean those Elder Gods who have access to the Library AND are authorized to use the gates can still get to Earth.

[Dave]

Firstly, I think in the last panel Mr. Taylor meant Covers not cover....

MIB covers her tracks.

Depends how you interpret "MIB". If you interpret it as the name of an organization (singular), "covers" would be better. If you interpret it as an acronym for "the Men In Black" (plural) then "cover" is more appropriate.

And, of course, you can be ambiguous, and use it in ways which imply both interpretations in the same paragraph... grammatically allowed in English when referring to mysterious secret organizations whose members carry little flashy things

Although that wasn't very punny.

That's OK, the Jar will punnish you anyway... you can save up the contribution credit for later.

Re Katherine's newly-announced status... it feels to me as if it's due to a combination of elements:

• She's been "in the know" for quite some time, passed her initial screening with Phix and the Library, and was useful in the necessary research work.
• She's shown that she can be trusted not to spill the beans publicly... she respected Monica's desire to keep quiet the anthropological implications of the CM and Lanthis despite what her own professional ethics would normally require.
• The Etheitian incident has demonstrated her initiative and toughness and caring.
• Bud dislikes bureaucracy and isn't inclined to toss Kath into that sort of mess.
• Bud sees this as a good object lesson for Tsillah... "Bad manipulator! No donut!"... and is "badging" Kath in a way which exempts Kath from any further manipulation or pressure.
• Bud may be rewarding Kath for helping Brandi?

As a side effect (intended?) this may also give Katherine's insistence that Atsali be found and retrieved, some amount of authority.

[jwhouk]

One thing we're forgetting here: Bud found out right before the Big Ka-Boom that Kath is one of the "Lost Anasazi" - in other words, a baby Etethian.

The Etethians were, of course, under the protection of the Golems - namely, Bud, Brandi and Jin.

Her interactions with Monica might have garnered her a "keep an eye on her" status from MIB, but it was this new information - which Tsillah has NO knowledge of, since she wasn't at Mapimi before it blew - that elevated Kath to "Protected Subject" status.

Oh, and there's one other little thing we learned at Mapimi: she can read glyph now. (She's probably not as fluent in it as Monica, but she can say more than "Where is the restroom?")

[Julie]

Re Katherine's newly-announced status... it feels to me as if it's due to a combination of elements:

• She's been "in the know" for quite some time, passed her initial screening with Phix and the Library, and was useful in the necessary research work.
• She's shown that she can be trusted not to spill the beans publicly... she respected Monica's desire to keep quiet the anthropological implications of the CM and Lanthis despite what her own professional ethics would normally require.
• The Etheitian incident has demonstrated her initiative and toughness and caring.
• Bud dislikes bureaucracy and isn't inclined to toss Kath into that sort of mess.
• Bud sees this as a good object lesson for Tsillah... "Bad manipulator! No donut!"... and is "badging" Kath in a way which exempts Kath from any further manipulation or pressure.
• Bud may be rewarding Kath for helping Brandi?

As a side effect (intended?) this may also give Katherine's insistence that Atsali be found and retrieved, some amount of authority.

I think that this is also Bud being a good diplomat and smoothing things over, both so Tsillah stops pestering Kat about joining the MiB and so Kat (by virtue of being pestered less by Tsillah) can focus on the potential problem at hand with less emotional turmoil. PLUS, as others have already said, being "above" the MiB give Kat more Authority that would be respected by Tsillah (which might result in Tsillah fetching Atsali instead of standing there like a recently smacked puppy)...and since she's an Etheitian (of sorts) she merits the attention and protection of the MiB. I agree that Kat's involvement in the Calendar Machine fiasco was probably not the trigger for her status upgrade. It was either a combination of recent events or Bud just making a decision on the fly in order to make things better for everyone right now. Either way, well played, Bud...well played.

[Yamara]

I have a bad feeling the "orphanage" is similar to a filing cabinet with its occupants held in stasis until let out at prescribed times.

Yeah, the answer to "Where's Atsali?" is "In the orphanage."

The question that needs to be asked is, "What is the orphanage?"

Atsali's easy connection to the stored Etheitians does make me feel a little queasy.

Tsallah's not a politician, its worse, she's a bureaucratic functionary. She exists to solve problems (whether they exist or not) and keep upper management happy (as she defines happy). She anticipates orders and procedure changes and tries to have them in place before her superiors realize they will be issuing them.

A bureaucracy that's built up around a court tends to put its king into a gilded cage. It will be interesting to see how far up into "management" Tsillah's little adventure will make waves.

[Aleister Crow]

Triangular shaped Anomalies... the Vile Vortices?

Come to think of it, didn't Jin insist that their new tropical getaway be in one of the Vortices?

[Fairportfan]

I have a bad feeling the "orphanage" is similar to a filing cabinet with its occupants held in stasis until let out at prescribed times.

Yeah, the answer to "Where's Atsali?" is "In the orphanage."

The question that needs to be asked is, "What is the orphanage?"

"You are Number One through Six, inclusive."

[Yamara]

I have a bad feeling the "orphanage" is similar to a filing cabinet with its occupants held in stasis until let out at prescribed times.

Yeah, the answer to "Where's Atsali?" is "In the orphanage."

The question that needs to be asked is, "What is the orphanage?"

"You are Number One through Six, inclusive."

"I'm a not a number! Nope, not me. Why, my middle name iszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

VORP

[Hanineal]

Yay! Katherine gets her Greys, officially!

But does she know how to do the Grey Seal properly?

[Dave]

Yay! Katherine gets her Greys, officially!

But does she know how to do the Grey Seal properly?

Of course. No one ever has, or ever will put on the Greys without making that simple, meaningful gesture known as the Grey Seal.

It's the only way to get the zipper closed.

(with thanks to Randall Garrett and "Backstage Lensman" of course)

[Hanineal]

Yay! Katherine gets her Greys, officially!

But does she know how to do the Grey Seal properly?

Of course. No one ever has, or ever will put on the Greys without making that simple, meaningful gesture known as the Grey Seal.

It's the only way to get the zipper closed.

(with thanks to Randall Garrett and "Backstage Lensman" of course)

Does this mean Kim Kinnison is related to Lord D'Arcy?

[kingklash]

So, if the Organization covers for Kat, then that means someone must be popping into her place to feed Oscar, although Betas are pretty hardy fish to start with.

In a way, poor shadow-girl just found out she isn't serving the top dogs.

[illiad]

So. Where. Is. ATSALI!?

At the orphanage curled up with a favorite adventure book crying her eyes out and filled with teenage angst at being abandoned again. They never gave Kathy a chance to tell Sali she will not be thrown away by Kathy.

Grownups are so unfair, and they just don't understand...

yup.... and when tsilla can get to her senses, and get a word in, maybe she will tell Kathy how to get to the orphanage!!!

or maybe she is only the P.A. for the library and MIB, its the reception desk they need to ask about subscriber records, and orphanage access...

[Dave]

So, if the Organization covers for Kat, then that means someone must be popping into her place to feed Oscar, although Betas are pretty hardy fish to start with.

One hopes they didn't just send the Pizza Gal. Oscar would not appreciate cheese as much as Dietzel does.