Endtown by Aaron Neathery for November 12, 2012

The Topsiders are so paranoid of the virus what could they eat?The only things they know not to be contaminated.Soylent Green comes to mind.We are really quite filling if you can get over the fact of what you are eating was once human.What else could they trust?Live in suits your entire life scared snotless of everything being contaminated. The only thing trusted would be the dead. Dead of old age, a fall, anything that does not break the suit integrity. Or maybe just some old Tofu.

Oh My God… SOYLENT GREEN?!

The topic that Linda finds dismayingIs one to which she’s always strayingShe’s trapping herself, and then displayingAvoidance of what she can’t be saying=|====/ Level HeadVote for Endtown 2.0And for Doc Rat, tooThe Endtown ForumThe Endtown AuctionThe Endtown Books

Maybe maybe not.But when Maude asks what makes the beans so special.Look at her response in her face. She knows a terrible secret. Also she realizes mutants died to get those beans. At least I can do is enjoy them. Be thankful for what you get in bad times there can be worse.Ask any of those folks who survived Stalingrad, Berlin, cities bombed in Japan. When food is tight you would be surprized what folks would eat. Things normally not considered food. So reprocessing a viable commodity would not be out of the question. Just gruelsome.

TSOJI heard that has been done with urine but fecal matter would be much harder to process but it could be done. You could add some toenail clippings, snot, spit, toejam to improve the flavor. Enjoy lunch.Night time here going to bed. Back in the AM Texas time.

Sorry but I need to grouch. I think this the worst thing that ever happened to me. I am a crafter. I make things to sell at fairs. I really don’t do very well. My jewelry is beautiful and cost me lots to make, but no body bought. So I made Round To It’s . Spent a lot on fabric, thermal material and trim. Made 24. Sat in my wheel chair.,( yes, I am in a wheelchair) for 9 hours. Didn’t sell one single one. Only $5. (Or any of my jewelry either. Although some was prices over $100). Identified by a round pot holder with the letters TO and IT on them. Yeah, they looked. I can’t think anything except they turned away because of my disabilities. Not only the wheelchair but the oxygen.I even set out a plate of candy for the children. I don’t think I have been at a greater depression.Tears do not help.So I come home to an E mail from my daughter that the reason my grand daughter will not send me pictures of my great grandson or letters ( I sent $60 and a neckless for her birthday) Is because I did something bad to her. This has me raking my mind. I am, still crying. Sorry. It helps if you tell somebody. Maybe there is a help somewhere for me. But I am beginning to doubt it. Blessed BE

Forgive me. I need to step aside for awhile. I love you all.Blessed BE

Eww. Think I’ll stick with energon…

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful cartooning.

Me thinks Linda is imagining a nice thick juicy medium fillet with grilled onions and a baked potato.

This might add a little foreshadowing context to Maude’s comments in the previous strip, depending on what (or who) lunch was for Linda.

I think she just caught sight of the waitress….

Wasn’t quite expecting this twist. We had always heard from other ETers that the TSers lived on steak and caviar type of diet. Interesting.

Shouldn’t she be eating eucalyptus leaves instead of beans? I mean… everyone else would consider them not to be food so… perhaps there are some somewhere, right?

Ewww. I always figured that Topsiders were simply injected with vitamins/nutrients and not necessarily ‘ate’ anything, but any of those above suggestions are just as likely (or more likely).

That’s it, Linda, give your big secret away…if you admit you didn’t eat like Endtowners, Maude might remember who doesn’t eat…and who has to trick themselves to chow down…

Maybe it took a leftie to notice it, but both Linda and Maude are southpaws.

Though her tables mannersLeave much to be seenShe knows there’s lots worseThan eating one’s beans.

Lets not lose the big picture here. DOL.Hang in there sweetie. Things like that happen all the time. Children can sometimes cause more grief than they know. Now dont respond with a rage at them. That just seals the lid further. Check with others in your family. Let them apply the outside pressure. When my mom booted me out of the house after my dad died. It was a vindictive act by her towards my wife who she resented for becoming my wife. It was not my moms intention to ever be married. She told me that herself. I was to be her personal care giver as the way she saw it I owed it to her for her giving me life. I went what? I could not fight that fight as it was no win anyway. What did surprize her was the pressure that come from outside on her about that. Her brother, sister, other distant cousins, friends of the family, all put pressure on her. Did not work however she never backed down. I was told by all my “friends” you just cant change some folks.Go to the mirror. Look at yourself. Do you like yourself? I hope you do. I have never seen you but I like you just by hearing from you.

to get past those masks they wear I imagine it had to be some kind of paste, and to ensure it was sterile I’m betting it had to be boiled or otherwise disinfected to the point where it didn’t have much flavor left…

This using vitamin injections, protein substitutes all sound fine in a perfectly virus free world. That is the problem. No where does it seem to be virus free. There is one source of virus free protein, fat, carbs, vitamins.Virus free humans roaming the topside like so many deer.Refer back to Flask’s flashback. She makes it a point about virus free humans being turned in to parts only a “BUTCHER”would recognize. Look at the word. She could have said doctor, funeral director, anatomy specialist. She used the word BUTCHER.That means you would recognize. Chuck, Rib, Short loins, Sirloin, Round, Briske, Flank, all the cuts recognized by a BUTCHER.There was a cart rolling away with body parts laid out just like a meat processor. Human injectable sausage protein. Guaranteed Virus free. Harvested from the finest virus free meat bags on the surface.It was pointed out how there is not other life up on the surface. The source of life is converting solar energy into a usable food source. Without no life can survive. Plants convert the sun into plant material. Herbivores eat plants converting it into an animal. Carnivores eat the animal therefore consuming the suns energy to live. The dinosaurs were wiped out when the environment lost the abillity to convert sun energy into usable energy for the life on earth. The plants dies, herbivores died, carnivores died, only scavengers made it by hanging on till the grasses took over from the giant ferns. Now new herbivores appeared creating new carnivores and out of all that humans arrived.All that is left up top is canned goods, stuff that could survive the war and have a long shelf life. Beans are plants so sun energy into food to feed the life. Endtown is working on hydroponics to grow the food instead of having to scavenge it. It does not bother Endtowners or other mutants it may have the virus. Not an issue to them. Topsiders however they can’t trust anything. They are not ever sure of their own decontamination for the PTs. Why not once in their “settlements” remove the suits. If they are decontaminated why not? It is because they are not sure. Topsiders have no understanding of the virus. When it came up they bombed entire cities, Zero weapon entire populations with seemingly no effect on the virus. This could be a reason why Linda was sent out on the mission. As a receptionist she may have seen some thing she was not suppose to see. Remember Flask had become disenchanted with Topsiders maybe the command felt Linda was becoming the same way.Not all Topsiders may know the truth and command would want to keep it that way. Easier to control if you dont know the truth. Those underlings that find out like Linda? Remember Linda told them they owed it to her. That sounds like a deal was made for some reason. She found out something and got caught. They make her a deal to go military and do some assignments in exchange if she did the assignment she gets to stay and see son. They did not tell her it was to be bait for Flask. To keep the secret send them to the front. Keeps them busy and you get lucky if they get killed which was your intention anyway.

Dirtyoldlady, family can be the most hurtful people sometimes. You could probably do with some friends right about now. I bet there’s somebody you could call who really gets you, and won’t try to make you do or say something that’s artificial.

If you can’t remember what you did that’s so bad, maybe it wasn’t bad at all! You can’t blame yourself for this. If someone has a grievance against you, it is THEIR responsibility to bring it up.

Please know, also, that you’re not the only one struggling to make and sell things. I’m in that world as well (making), and everybody is having similar experiences right now. For several years, actually.

You will make it through this.

Oh, I hope they didn’t eat mutants! aof course that would provide protein but that was what came to mind. either that or,, remember space food sticks from many years ago?

In The Tick, first book, there were Protein Crunchies and Protein Crunchies with Sprinkles.

Even in the military we had ways of injesting water and food when wearing the bio hazard suits but it was contamination of the supplies that gave us the most concern. I could hook my mask straw into a canteen but the straw end was in the open on the mask. The canteen had a slot to insert the straw. I was told to use these biohazard wipes to clean before inserting. What if I missed one tiny spot. There sits a micro size drop the size of the eye on a Lincoln penny. It makes contact with the fluid I drink. I die in about 10 seconds. It would be interesting to see how the Topsiders handle it.Of course they could all be solar powered and they figured a way to get the energy into you. But I think that is not possible. I assume they eat/consume/absorb/inject some thing and that sparked Linda’s memory that beans were better than that in a long run.

There are thousands of people living underground in a sealed cave, and they’re eating nothing but beans. No wonder Maude made the dog put his cigar our!

Look at Linda’s face. What do you see.I see they (Topsiders) were eating something unusual and she knows it. So the beans are a welcome difference.So you see the Soylent Green point is you the citizen think its plankton. Others high up in the chain of command know the truth but no else is to know. The killing at the beginning. Heston got the books and gave them to Robinson the bookworm. He read them realizing the truth and told Heston. Could Linda have found out some terrible truth so to keep her quiet the command makes a deal with her only they know Flask is coming and will kill anyone in her way. So they put Linda and Doug the useless in the path of Flaask thereby eliminating the problem of what Linda found out. They were probably disappointed she did not get killed but turned into a mutant would work for them. What Topsider would ever believe a mutant.

I’m always struck just what people will do in order to stick to a certain way of living/doing things. Certainly we’re all guilty of clinging to certain ideas or modes of life to one degree or another, whether out of habit, comfort, or conscious premeditated decision, but I would certainly hope that people would be willing to move on when things become unsustainable to this extent.

It does put a certain ironic spin on that first encounter with the Topsiders, where Hank has grown so sick of beans that he’s willing to risk joining them. And am I right in remembering a Topsider wanting to butcher a member of a scavenging team for pork chops? All this angst over food, while I’m guilty of just throwing the stuff away. Huzzah for unsustainable agriculture!

Anyway. I’m constantly amazed at how squirm inducing this comic is. Love it.

How many have heard of the process called “Rendering”We do this with the animals we consume for food. We can’t eat alot of it. The rest is processed into nearly everything you use or consume. Lipstick, makeup, food additives, most pet food using by products, toothpaste, nasal spray you can name it. So reuse of “dead” Topsiders could be an option to them but not know except for a very select few. They avoid the virus at all costs. They’re own kind are virus free and genetically perfect. I am not saying that is what they do but what other conditions could fit given the fear of the virus? Every other option concerns production. Production can lead to possible contamination. Therefore infections. Can they take that chance or better yet would they take that chance.It appears to only take the slightest exposure to infect. That is one seriously bad ass virus in my book. I know of nothing in natural world that has such devastation capabilities. Sure a single virus can infect but most times it takes time for the virus to build to disease levels. Incubation times vary given conditions. This virus in the story mutates like right now. Its almost like a nano machine micro virus. Tiny machines that rebuild the organism changing all appearances to something but not always the same thing. Amazingly each is transformed somewhat different. Some dogs, cats, cows, lizards, crabs, snails. Its like rolling the dice and see what happens. Just one thing is constant. Awake horrible monsters absolutely certain, unconscious cute and cuddly (maybe if not a crab or snail)

Ever seen or heard of an elderly topsider? Even flask was pretty young when she left, and linda was a teen mom. Of all of the sci-fi stories I’ve heard of or seen Logan’s run comes to mind. As @veteran and @nordrike field said Soylent green as well. But on the upside maybe it’s infirm topsider or maybe it’s tofu. Either way I’d stick with the beans

THERE’S her new job right there!Linda could become a Food Consultant! Who better to help everyone when they get sick of eating more beans?

Come to think of it, where are they eating? The Endtown Cafe?

Uh, she was tricking herself into thinking she was eating beef. Awk-ward.

I wonder…did she do this at Aaron Marx’s feast?Aaron, more info on what Linda went through, please.Great comic today.

KUTGW,

Noreen

veteran, where, how to get to that part of the story that shows Flask’s notes or lists or whatever? I’m not good at trying to navigate around. thanks.

Soylent green is Topsiders!!

“I don’t see how the Topsiders can function not ever taking those protective suits off. Maybe Aaron Neathery will answer that one day.”It’s a fear and hatred situation. Every so often, someone would snap and take their suit off, or get it torn while on recon, and turn into a case study to be used by the survivors as “why it’s better to live with the suit on all the time”. You fear that it will happen to you, and hate anyone that poses a threat to your suit. (Practical jokers, who like painting torn gashes on the back of someone else’s suit, don’t live long.)

worse. Their own body wastes, mechanically recycled.