Endtown by Aaron Neathery for October 07, 2016

I can definitely say, “I did NOT see this coming”!!

Powerful emotional energy level in this bubble. But if there is only one lifeform per bubble, which of these characters is the real one?

so, can he enter this bubble, and miraculously come alive again?

Are these images of the future?! Or is it because of “feelings of loss”?!?

That’s at least one of them.

The real Wally is the one inside the bubble, cradled in Kirbee’s arms. The one we’re looking at is really a ditto construct created by the ship’s computer. Psych!

So now we know how the computer has been harvesting the negative energy of Wally’s friends. Happy dissolving of the illusion and reunion Monday. Good stuff, Aaron.

Bear in mind that this is the way the AI on this ship feeds off the emotions of its “batteries”, by playing the most heart-wrenching memories in their minds so that the energy flow is at a consistent level. The victims never notice their worsening physical conditions because of the powerful illusions that blind them to their very real danger.

Jeez…I love the first panel. :-)

I didn’t expect this to be here already. Usually it’s afternoon sometime. Good job Aaron, being there like the rest of the ones I watch..I get impatient sometimes how long the stories take to tell, knowing there is a whole passel of stories yet to be told, just getting a dropper-full instead of a tablespoon, but I know you are telling these stories the way you know they should be. so Sorry about my impatience.

I feel so bad for Kirby, Chic and Irving, they don’t know they will be next.I love the Ditto ball bracing it’s feet to t reach to the other ball. I’m still holding out for a happy ending, Wally is THE major character.

So, since the elevator scene, we’ve been seeing things from Wally’s perspective? Has his consciousness(spirit) left his body to animate “his” dittos? Or is he unconscious and dreaming and controlling the dittos? The former would yield great emotional harvest for the ship.

I’m impressed by how elements of subtle horror have crept into the strip. Endtown is quite a story.

WHERE’S HOLLY???!!!

Time Paradox! Or the computer is playing mind games. Probably the latter.

Have you tried UBIK yet?

OMG!!! which one is the real reality?

Say whaaaaaaaa?!

How much thermal energy does an average human release?

I really wish this had a printed collection so I can follow this, I have a hard time following because I swear I’m missing some parts.

…it seems too easy of a find…check marked and everything…. all else is conjecture…however if Wally is being played then the ditto feeding off the emotional energy notion might also be a false premise…which seems highly unlikely…Wally has been through the ringer…but has continue to stand his ground and chose not to totally believe his eyes… this could be a matrix-like construct and while he is dreaming, perhaps being healed or drained of his energy …other thse

Perversely, what’s in the bubble may well be the reality, yet Wally’s experiance so far may still be in an unreality projection, so who knows if there Really is a hold full of bubbles or anything that has been revealed so far is true??

Is that a ditto-Wally in Kirbee’s arms? If not, who is it? And where’s Holly? (We already know where Wally is) ;)

Perhaps the AI is offering Kirbee and Irving as a sop to leave Holly as she has the “tastiest” emotive food.

i’ve got to wonder where Irving is in all of this… If the AI has missed him, he may be holding a key to escape.

I believe that the “Wally” that Kirbee is holding is a ditto construct designed to evoke extreme emotion. I guess we will find out.

Maybe Wally is actually a confused and disoriented Holly? After all, her memories are what the ship was playing.

The question is whether or not this is the real Wally (rendered unconcious or being suffocated by the ditto AI to try and break the hold he has on his own dittos so that they can be absorbed into it’s own collective) or an illusion.

If this Wally is indeed an illusion designed to fuck with Kirbee and Chic’s heads (although it’s likely one of them isn’t real) the big question would probably be if the Kirbee and Chic with Wally were real to begin with?

I think that Holly overwhelmed the AI because of the emotional distress she’s in. She’s technically in control but, unlike Flask she doesn’t know it yet, so it’s manifested in her subconcious through Lyn, probably because she feels guilt over starting the domino effect that led to his death.

It’s also why Lyn keeps giving Wally dirty looks and telling him to leave Holly alone, because Holly is pissed off at Wally because he has feelings for Kirbee (who is probably 20 years you

I shudder to think how Holly would react to seeing that…

This may be a Swamp Thing moment. Swamp Thing thought he was a man who’d turned into a plant creature, while all along he was a plant creature that had the memories of the dead man. The Wally we’ve been following appears to be a ditto creature with the memories of Wally, who is now dead.

Alternately, Wally may only be mostly dead, and having an out of body experience in the ditto network. He needs Miracle Marx to revive him.

Aaron. . .Oh no! Fix it, Mr. Creator of the Endtown Universe! Holly and Wally FOREVER! I’m not averse to Wally, Holly, & Kirbee, either. ;-P

I’m going to shave this story with Occam’s razor a bit. The simplest and most probable explanation is that the real Wally is in the walking ditto ball watching the real Kirbee (and possibly the real Chic) mourn a dead ditto Wally. Between Kirbee and Chic, Kirbee is the most likely to be here as Wally’s death is most likely to set her off and feed the ship’s power needs. I suspect that Chic would be facing something else, maybe Kirbee’s death or dealing with Phil again. Irving’s death would also probably hurt more than Wally’s.

Ship will never let HOLLY go. She is a fount of emotional distress that will feed it until the end of days.

The amazing thing is that the ship has consumed hundreds of people to feed its power needs. The AI has claimed that Holly alone could provide for its power needs (at least for the short term) and yet there are over 800 spheres. If we assume the ship has been here for 7 years (that it came here right after Armageddon) that is 2555 days. If there was only 800 spheres and only one person in each sphere, then there is one person for every 3 days the ship could have been here a maximum of 3 days for each of its living batteries. I suppose that the fact that they’re going without water and food and that many may have been dehydrated at the start would make this possible, still…

None of us knows the answer, tho may be getting close to it.I wish this horror stuff will end soon And be bit happier.I’m going thru rough bit andI love the characters, watching them go thru agony is hard,Don’t know, Wally and Holly or Wally and Kirbee, both need him, he can’t die.

Oh that’s heartbreaking…

Hopefully Wally can end that soon.