This is one of my favorite animations that I've ever done, for nerdy reasons. It was really neat to get a chance to actually illustrate one of these sci fi spaceships performing maneuvers. If this turns into a series, I might try to stitch all the animations together into an mp4 video with an orchestral score or something like that. Originally, this animation was meant to be part of another Agent Six adventure, but the story I ultimately came up with didn't suit a bionic super spy, so I had to ditch him. It's more of an Indiana Jones in space kind of a deal, so I had to invent this new character, sort of a morally bankrupt space explorer – slash – treasure hunter dude. As for the shapely pilot, well, you should recognize the Good Captain, even with a different haircut. Q: Why is the spaceship flying backwards?
A: They're performing an orbital maneuver called an insertion burn. In order to get captured into an orbit around Enceladus, they spin the ship around and fire their rockets to bleed off excess velocity. Spaceships don't have brakes, so this is one of the few ways you can slow down. You'll rarely see this done in movies or comics, because it just doesn't make visual sense to most people why a spaceship would be flying towards its destination while facing away from it.
Q: Why are those big fin things glowing?
A: Those are radiators. In space, it's very hard to get rid of excess heat because there's no air or water to conduct or convect it away from you. You only lose heat through radiation, which is a very slow process. These big fusion rockets produce a ton of heat. Burning them for prolonged periods without something to redirect and dissipate the heat would melt the ship into a flying lump of red hot slag.
Looks like Avram better hurry up before they finish without him! And it looks like Ula's day is about to get a whole lot worse. I'm not sure how evident it is, but those of you who've been reading since the beginning of the chapter should recognize that ominous face in the last panel as that of the malevolent Osprey. That… can't be good. What does this nefarious arch fiend have in store for Ula? You'll have to keep reading to find out!
And just a quick reminder: If you haven't cast a vote yet for the 2017 Drunk Duck Awards, it's still not too late! Click on the vote banner at the bottom of the Author's Notes to go to the Drunk Duck Awards ballot page, where you can vote to nominate your favorite Drunk Duck comics for this site's most prestigious award!
Also, the Drunk Duck Awards are looking for volunteers to help with the judging process, as well as artists to do award presentations. To volunteer, just leave a post in the Volunteer Sign-Up Thread. If you want to play God – um, I mean, if you want to prudently and judiciously assess the merits of oh-so-awesome webcomic nominees – then this is your chance!
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