Interesting. Is the plot finally moving forward?

Aha- a chance to get back to the Hub!

I really like the look of this series, and the colors are fantastic!

yep, i'd trust a bloke with a mellon on his head to know the co-ordinates to the hub ...

Anyone else reckon the coordinates for the Hub might just be 0 for all the location variables that make up a multiversal coordinate?

Maybe, or it could be the halfway point between zero and infinity.

I find it funny that the coordinates are not something that was picked up by someone who has been at the hub so many times training, or that they are not scribled on the inside of the dashboard or something.

There's a lot of "funny" things to consider, I think. Still, gives us lots to talk about.

Especially with the next issue coming along.

Oh yes. LOTS to talk about.

It's probably like, really long. So even if Llew had seen it or heard it or whatever, he wouldn't remember it perfectly off by heart. Which is, of course, what is needed.

Then again, depending on how the coordinates work, even if they had a digit off or so they might get "closer" to the Hub. Since it exists physically in every dimension, if they could get within a few miles of it, they could probably get noticed and finally go home.

Of course, we could also consider that Llew DOES know the coordinates, and is pretending not to so he can't go back.

Um no. Coordinates are not objective mathematical constructs. They are inherently relative. Hub-defined coordinates would have no reason not to use the Hub as (0, 0, 0, 0...0, 0, 0); slap an X-dimensional grid onto the multiverse, and then just SHIFT IT so that the Hub is at the center of said grid, and have all Hub craft use that shifted grid in their navigational computers. Not complicated. They wouldn't intentionally pick something that's difficult to remember so that Leads can get lost all the time.

Apologies: I should've said that they SHOULDN'T intentionally pick something other than a string of 0s, not that they WOULDN'T. They also SHOULDN'T try to hide from Lead trainees the fact that they're Non-Multiversal Variables, so they may similarly have some silly reason for non-origin coordinates, I guess. Maybe they figure anyone who forgets the coordinates isn't cut out to be a Lead and should just get lost in the multiverse.

Wow, those are some pretty big plotholes. Good catch, EternalLurker. I guess I'm a terrible writer.

(Also, my CAPTCHA was "Musées earfuls". I wonder if that means anything?)

What happens if there's more than one Hub?

Perhaps there are multiple hubs, all thinking they are unique in the Multiverse.

Hmmm, would be interesting to see if they end up in a different one than the one they left.

Jump? Maybe we should update.

The next page will be up soon. JjAR caught a cold so he's taking time to recuperate. We'll get the next page up as soon as we can.

In the meantime, keep it up with the theories! This is incredibly fascinating stuff.

I don't think they ARE relative, at least in this case. If they were, it would be common knowledge, or something anyone could figure out, and Meaney would know and have tried already.

Additionally, what if it's not numeric? We're limiting ourselves to n dimensions here! :V

What if the coordinates are relative to the individual jump vehicle's drives, so that 0,0,0 is always wherever they are at the time and the coordinates to get back are meant to be recalculated at each jump by negating the outbound coordinates? Of course you would need the coordinates of all previous jumps since the station to calculate a way back, and it is that first jump coordinate that they are missing.

Coordinates, by their nature, have to be relative. Are you saying the navigational computer is somehow objectively linked to the fabric of space-time in an immutable manner? I'm pretty sure that would require a theistic explanation for the nature of the multiverse. As for a non-numeric coordinate system not defined by a set number of dimensions, could you explain how that'd work?

Anyway, there's still the possibility I posted above, which would similarly explain the issue Llew brings up about why the Hub would try to hide the N-MV thing: simply put, they're a bunch of jerks. Which, considering the very-much-a-jerk example of Captain Whedon, among several other factors, seems pretty plausible. (Perhaps Llew is actually a jerk just from the Hub having rubbed off on him through his multiple attempts at the program.)

Argh, I've been ninja-ed! That's a great idea, LaeMing, given. I like. It would explain how the Homing Pigeon system works, as well: it just reverses all the jumps done so far. Terribly simple, and also terrible, but entirely expected of the Hub. The system "malfunctioning" would just mean it lost track of the previous jumps. Perhaps simply memorizing the coordinates all your jumps along the way would solve the problem by allowing you to reverse your jumps manually with a simple calculator, but by now they've doomed themselves with their random jumps.

Shouldn't the hub be in their UPS (universal positioning system as opposed to GPS) under 'HUB'? :

You cant reverse co-ordinates guys..... their absolute addresses not directions from here to there

the TWC voting link is gone?

Fake Ben: If you read LaeMing's post, she was saying that the ship considers itself (0, 0,..., 0) prior to each jump. Given that, yes you can reverse coordinates.