Strip 55 - Click on page above to goto the next page. -- First Seen: 2008-11-28
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The Transcript For This Page

Strip 55
Panel 1
Large panel re-establishing scene at the ice-hockey arena. Two hockey teams in pressurized suits are engaged in play. We can see the Guzmán’s viewing box (one of 8 actually) set up over the mid-field line, the rest of the arena stands also encased in steel/plexiglass pressure enclosures.

Announcer: As the second quarter begins it’s the Rock Hunters in the lead, 1-0. Hosely passes to Griepp, Shanower flanks Ennis as Griepp leads the charge.

Guy (from inside the viewing box): I must say I’m astounded by the risks these fellows are taking for, well, entertainment.

Panel 2
Inside the box, Guy and Ernie converse.

Ernie: What’s astonishing? These guys make good money and the women adore them.

Guy: But, but they’re so -- exposed.

Panel 3
Looking again at a hockey player on the ice, posed at about a three-quarters view. Close enough in we can see his helmeted head in suitable detail. It looks something like a motorcycle helmet with a glass bubble in the front wrapping around to the sides, and tucked into a segmented collar. A gridwork of metal stems in something like a baseball catcher’s mask pattern lay outside of the glass, reinforcing it.

Ernie: Our modern exo-suits rely mostly on the suit’s own tension to provide pressure on most of the body…

Ernie: Only the helmets are pressurized, and they can take a beating.

Panel 4
G and F and E and B in the box. G and E are still conversing while the women watch the game.


Guy: But they are not unbreakable, yes?

Ernie: Well, a sharp whack with a hockey-stick can break a face-plate, but …
Guy: Ah. So what would happen if a player’s faceplate were broken during a game?

Panel 5
Closer angle on Guy and Ernie. Guy is looking at Ernie with an arched eyebrow, signaling the obvious next question, which Ernie answers.

Ernie: There’d be a very good chance he would die from the vacuum and cold before we could get him back inside.

Ernie: But ‘high-sticking’ isn’t permitted.

Panel 6
Guy persists, following up like a district attorney grilling a witness. But Ernie doesn’t lose his cool.


Guy: But what if someone, uh … high-sticks anyway. Is there a penalty?

Panel 7
Shift back to a view of four hockey players, two from each team, in close-quarters action. We can see a fifth leaping across the background.

Ernie (from out of frame): They’re beaten.

Guy: Do you mean their team is beaten, they lose?


Panel 8
Guy and Ernie in the viewing box. Ernie is looking deadly serious and Guy is looking a bit queasy.

Ernie: No, the offending player is physically beaten by the other players. We take a dim view of potentially fatal fouls.