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Liebender’s Drift.
Joseph Reynolds, 2002.
PBI#7
I’m combining PBI#7 with #1 which I first arrived late for.
Earth, being as isolated as it is in the galaxy has been forgotten. Any trading lanes once established have become impractical since WW3 ravaged the planet hundreds of years ago. (I’ll get to that in another story.) In the few years that the trading lanes and refueling posts were open Earth was introduced to the galaxy and the means to transverse it. During that time a few expeditions of humans left their home and never got a chance to return as the planet fell out of memory. Ceoq Liebender is a descendant of one of those expeditions.
You can view Ceoq and his ship the Herald from the link below. (It’s quicker and more absolute than explaining them, especially the ship.) The first two drawings are of Ceoq. He’s in his early 40’s and is quite indifferent. The last three are of the Herald. 1st is a basic view, 2nd is from the rear, 3rd is sectional. Basically, it is a very small ship that can hold only two people. I will give a fuller explanation of the ship at the bottom of this document.
http://www.geocities.com/josephrey/liebender.htm
Page 1, 8 panels:
Panel 1: (Panels 1-4 are basically the SAME panel separated by ‘gutters.’ They run the width of the top of the page and are intended to show the ship passing through space, from left to right, from our unmoving POV. I hope I’m using the correct terminology.) An eye-level shot of the Herald coming out of deep space from the left. It is still a bit in the distance, the ship size should be about 1/3 the height of the panel.
Panel 2: The Herald is closer now (perhaps half the panel height) and is almost in profile to us.
Panel 3: The Herald has past us slightly so that we can see a bit of the rear of the ship. On the right edge of the panel we see the curve of a planet.
Panel 4: The Herald is further away and more of its rear exposed. The background is completely filled with the surface of the planet.
Panel 5: Crammed interior shot of Ceoq in the Herald. He is strapped into his seat. There are tons of monitors, keypads, wires, joysticks, and a compass all covered in frost. He’s looking down at something to his left as his breath forms steam in the air. There are a few things floating behind his head. A space apple core, a space pen, and an empty space soda can. If there will be colors, they will be cool.
Panel 6: Close-up of one of the instrument displays with a few of his gloved fingers beneath it. It is a darkened light bulb covered in frost. Above is written an alien language, below in much smaller text is written ‘POWER.’ (Side note: Even though the galaxy was exposed to humans for only a short period of time English has become the 3rd most widely used language.)
Panel 7: Shot of Ceoq again. He is now slamming the panel with his fist. Maybe bits of frost fly into the air.
Panel 8: (Panel 8 takes up the bottom 1/3 of the page.) Rear shot of the Herald very similar to the 2nd ship picture from the above link. The ship is small and almost lost in the background of the planet. We are looking straight down on the planet and it fills the panel completely. There are clouds and we can see shadows cast beneath them from the left. There are heavy shadows on the Herald as well.
Page 2, 7 panels:
Panel 1: Side view of the Herald as it begins to pierce the atmosphere. The front edges of the ship are beginning to glow. We can see the curved edge of the planet on the lower right side of the panel.
Panel 2: Interior shot of Ceoq now sweating and pushing himself back into the seat. There are computer looking things swinging about at the ends of their wires. If there will be colors, they will be very warm.
Panel 3: Side view of the Herald again, now well into the atmosphere and glowing like nothing you’ve ever seen. The lid of the top most suitcase on the roof-mounted luggage rack has opened and burst into flames. Flying from it are various things you would find in a suitcase: socks, boxers, etc. all on fire.
Panel 4: Interior shot from Ceoq’s POV. We are looking out through the ‘porthole’ of the front door. We are headed for a coastline with a hook shaped peninsula.
Panel 5: Same POV but a little pulled back. The peninsula is closer; we are headed for the inside of the hook. We can just see Ceoq putting a foot on the door to brace himself.
Panel 6: Same POV but pulled back a little more. Just water. Now both feet are against the door.
Panel 7: (Panel 7 takes up bottom 1/3 of page.) Interior shot of Ceoq gritting his teeth and pushing himself way back into his seat. Normal colors.
Page 3, 10 panels:
Panel 1: (Panel 1 takes up less than 1/3 of page.) Eye level shot of the Herald hitting the water. Big splash. A few bits of clothing are still following the ship in the air.
Panel 2: Under the water the Herald is sinking. There are some bubbles rising from the ship. We can see the underside of the water’s surface.
Panel 3: Close up of the Herald. We can see a tall ‘box’ on the side of the ship in front of the walking legs.
Panel 4: Close up of the ‘box.’ On it, reading vertically is the alien language from before. Smaller, and to the right in English it reads: ‘INFLATES @ 100 FEET or 125 PSI’
Panel 5: Interior shot of Ceoq trying to look calm. He’s reclining back in the chair, not pushing himself back. The colors will be dark blues with a shaft of lighter blue illuminating Ceoq from the porthole.
Panel 6: Full shot of the Herald again. The ‘boxes’ on the right and left of the ship are exploding in a torrent of air bubbles and being replaced with big yellow air bags.
Panel 7: We are on the surface again; the Herald is just rising with us. The ship is now lying on its back with the front door facing the sky. To the right and left are the big yellow air bags. The rest of the Herald is submerged.
Panel 8: The door swings open and Ceoq is standing waist high in the doorway breathing the air. There are a few singed boxers and things floating in the water behind him near the top of the ship.
Panel 9: Ceoq is leaning back down into the doorway looking for something. We can see his back and one hand still on the outside of the ship.
Panel 10: Ceoq’s standing again. He’s sniffing at the apple core.
Liebender’s Drift.
Joseph Reynolds, 2002.
PBI#7
The Herald is a short-range spacecraft that Liebender uses for running small amounts of goods or persons between trading lanes.
The Herald is a combination of two different vehicles. The rear is a captain’s escape pod from the U.S.S. Herald that Ceoq fled in just before the battleship exploded. It’s massive thrusters enable the pod to cover great distances in a short period of time because if its great initial ‘burst.’ It was designed to get a captain away from the battleship as quickly as possible. Its burst is only limited by the amount of g-forces the pilot can take. Its power is also offset by its lack of maneuverability. The front of the ship is a piece of mining equipment from Teem Industries called simply a ‘Mover.’ It was designed to scout out prime material sites on planets that were contracted out to be mined. The Mover has several interchangeable arms mounted under the fuselage: cutting laser, saw, grasping hands, drills, bores, etc. The two vehicles were blended together to move the escape pod around on the ground if need be.
Liebender has added a few extra items over the years. There is a small extendable turreted machine gun mounted to the roof of the Mover. It is used more often on the ground than against other spacecraft. Often, however, it is partially blocked by the luggage rack. Also on the roof are mounted auxiliary fuel reserves. Other items come and go, as the jobs require.