'Not A Villain' Webcomic - Kleya wants to be a normal Outsider

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 206b

Kleya doesn't actually need the keyboard, but the tapping helps to break the silence.

Also, turning the concept art of D and Kleya into a wallpaper: good idea. I'll work on it after I get the next page done.

39 Comments

To quote another comic I read “I’ve tried just zapping the text onto the screen, but it reads like I’m stoned.” I’m betting that Kleya(I wonder what her real name is since she is hiding) is doing the coding to make her current gear appear to be a normal kiddo terminal to the system. the other was easier to fake so that was the first choice. Now that she has been in the system, I imagine that she now knows what other kinds of terminals are commonly still working and will spoof one of them. That was good sense on her part.

So she is buying NutriSludge from the Cities… interesting.

Lots of other intriguing hints on this page, as well. Three different colored dots in the center screen… I’m thinking the red and yellow ones are Cities, and the smaller green ones are ships. (Red for hacker cities?) The Deconstruct Me logo on the left is pretty creepy. I assume Kleya knows it’s there, and that anyone crazy enough to try to breach her security wouldn’t be stupid enough to put their logo up in her face, so… Incoming phone call? Startup screen for a hacker activity monitor?

The right hand screen is hard to figure– I’d guess various text windows, but their shapes are too irregular. But too regular to be ice floes. And I’m having trouble figuring out the squiggly lines. Some kind of schematic, perhaps?

Saddest of all is the torn photo propped against the dark laptop screen.

I wonder if Kleya is actually hiding out on a City food transport?

Nice catch on the green dots. I didn’t see them the first time.

I also think the red and yellow dots are cities. I noticed that there is a red dot more or less where Germany would be. So maybe red means defunct city? Though that means there are 6 defunct cities and 11 normal cities which isn’t very good odds.

I think it might be a survival guide type thing. Red would be cities, where Kleya can’t go because she is a hacker; yellow might be the defunct cities because there would still be stuff there but there wouldn’t be people; and green is almost definitely other ships.

My guess is that D is an advance A.I. that is running the ship while she is in the game.

I think that something is missing in this conversation… maybe D said something before?

The previous page (last Friday) has Kleya saying she hates her food. I bet D said something along the line of getting better food from the cities. Here, Kleya is telling him (it?) (and us) why she is eating the food she hates.

Yeah, she’s been conversing with D all the time the past few pages, but his words/thoughts/meaning go directly into her brain.

Kelya spends a LOT of time telling D not to do things. I’m curious as to why she hasn’t reprogrammed him so he becomes ‘Hero’ D or something.

Maybe it’s because that she feels like a better person if she is constantly telling her evil computer servant to not do bad things.

My theory on the matter is that D is a ground up style AI. This means that D has to learn over time just like any other intelligence. If you reprogram a ground up style AI then it restarts at the level of an infants brain. Compared to a top down style where the AI is just simulated intelligence, ground up is actual intelligence.

Top-down intelligence is actual, not simulated (unless you’re talking about specific problem-solving intelligences), it’s just alien to us, but a good example is all the programs biological lifeforms know inherently such as biological instincts and natural reflexes.

I agree there’s strong benefits to learning gradually though.

I guess what I’m saying is whatever first happens when we some day put together a functional artificial brain with personality and knowledge already installed there will be many unexpected (and some unpleaseant no doubt) surprises, but it won’t be any less actually intelligent than a naturally taught intelligence.

then again maybe it’ll just go crazy and you’ll be sort of right lol. I’d agree you’re fully right if it turns out to be impossible to do it that way (though I doubt it). Anyway I definitely agree teaching is safer and will create something far more like us. Then again, if the ability to create personalities, etc is mastered, the options would be tremendously useful (and open to potential abuse, but since when has technology not been :D).

Anyway, u seem to know more about AI then me, but just my thoughts.

Well, if D’s intelligent enough to control the ship, he might also be smart enough to create safeguards to prevent Kleya from reprogramming him.

My theory is still that D is the Virus. So he’s been around for a while, and is used to doing things to benefit Kleya, no matter the moral implications. Kleya trying to be good isn’t something he’s used to, yet.

He’s like a loyal puppy trying to make his master happy.

Out of curiosity, what’s in western China/Mongolia on the map?

Just love this comic … been reading from the start.

Wonder who does her hair … ? And how does the food get to her ? Parcel Express ?

Keep it up 🙂

You’ve done a fantastic job contrasting the frivolity of the virtual world with the bleakness of reality through the different styles. Slow updates on comics are painful, but this kind of style and quality is worth it, and I think these partial pages are a good compromise. Kleya’s face in the first panel really is fantastic, especially the hair. It’s not often one sees an artist pull off hair with that level of detail.

tl;dr: I’m rather enjoying this segment of the story.

She is at least trying really hard to stay straight and narrow currently. 😀

The impression I’m getting is that D looks for the most efficient solution to any given problem without consideration to potential consequences. I wonder what D is exactly.

An AI who only cares about itself and Kleya so far I think.

well, it likely sees Kleya as something of a parent, assuming she is the one who made it. or as its god. either way, the attachment to the one who made you and taught you everything you know would be strong.

Speculation on panel 3:
– Center Screen: Maybe a map of cites??
– Right Screen: Text boxes??
– The photo: Kleya’s Family??

I have no clue on why the Deconstruct Me Logo is on the left screen at the moment.

Also, I see more screen up above. Wonder what those show.

*Ends rambling*

I assume the deconstruct me logo is actually D’s interface avatar in the normal world.

Maybe… But we know there *are* still other hackers around, because one attacked Danni and got clobbered by D.

Aneeka, thank you so much for letting us speculate like this right on the same page. It really adds a lot of interest (and makes visiting the page between updates worthwhile). 🙂

Yellow dot locations:

+ Greenland (Nuuk)
+ Great Lakes (Toronto/Ottawa/Niagra/Montreal, possibly Detroit)
+ Cayman Islands (or Jamaica/Yucatan/Cuba)
+ Chile (Santiago/Temuco)
+ Antarctica West (Eights Coast/Evans Peninsula)
+ South Africa (Cape Town)
+ Libya (Tripoli/Benghazi)
+ Norway/Sweden (Oslo)
+ Yemen (Sana’a, or Saudi Sharorah)
+ Atlai Mountains, Asia (border of Kazakhstan, Russia, China, and Mongolia; there’s nothing there)
+ South China (Chongqing/Guangdong)

Red dot locations:

+ Texas. Somebody messed with it.
+ Germany (Switzerland?)
+ Central Africa (Bangui?)
+ Madagascar (Seychelles?). They shut down everything.
+ Aceh, Indonesia. I wouldn’t go there either.
+ Antarctica East (inland! Maybe the Ross shelf melted but is still on the map, and the facility is coastal.)

Theories:

All of the dots are pretty places to put colour on a map, with details to be filled in later, and they are subject to change.

Green dots are probably ships, possibly military, possibly known friendly. They may also be active oil platforms where she can trade for fuel. The cluster around Antarctica West is really interesting and suggests that there is something important to the story universe over there, even if it doesn’t become part of the story.

Yellow dots are friendly trading cities, red dots are hostile. This does not explain the landlocked dot in the middle of Asia.

Yellow and red dots are Tenka data center locations; the red dots are down. This does not explain the green dots.

The yellow and red dots are those trading cities linked into the Tenka trade network where they take Tenka electronic credits in exchange for physical goods. The red dots might be those cities where the trading exchange is shut down because they need the goods more than they need money; or yellow and red could be buyers and sellers.

Red dots could be disaster locations; she was just looking up volcanos. However, the red dot locations are different from the earlier map.

The dots could be locations to acquire goods through stealing, offered up by D when Kleya thought of getting better food. Yellow and Red dots could be origin / waypoint / destination markers, or low and high cost, or low and high difficulty.

D might be the “hacker group” Deconstruct Me all by itself. Kleya would be the “group ringleader” because she created D and was seen giving it orders.

no, I don’t think she would use D in that way. I get the feeling she thinks of D as a companion. plus D would be more confused by her sudden change in M.O. and argue more when they have these ethics debates. think of D as someone she sees like a child or friend. not a pawn on a board of chess.

we don’t know when she made D, we all just been assuming he has been around since before the End. but we don’t know that. also, despite Kleya’s attitude, I feel Kleya really is a good person at heart. just one dealing with her own increadible hubris.

I noticed there is no super volcano in the Wyoming area. Yellowstone is a super volcano

I’m thinking D will be Kleya’s pet in the Game, more or less.

could end up being that way should D want to interact more directly. hair raising is the thought that comes to mind on that.

Green dots are very likely ships. The southwestern yellow dot on West Antarctica is likely Tenka City, due to its importance with all the ships around it.

Since Tenka is a strong and healthy city (compared to the rest at least) and is a yellow dot the red dots are probably weaker city. They might be hacker cities (isn’t Germany city one?) but there are green dots close to some of them which means whether they’re hacker cities or not they are actively trading (damaged cities will still need to trade goods they don’t need desperately with goods they must have immediately).

there also might be some overlap on hacker cities and cities doing badly… but actually, I don’t think there’d by that many hacker cities. Given we’ve seen things from anti-hacker perspectives, but the hatred has still been pretty powerful, so I’m thinking there wouldn’t be that many cities that decided to stick with hacking. Might be though.

PS. Aneeka, you’re getting REALLY good with your art.

we’ve been discussing this recently: http://navcomic.com/archive/page-174/

I think she was at least partly responsible for the end of the world as they knew it.

http://navcomic.com/archive/page-175/

Yikes… quote the Bandit: ‘if she still wanted everybody dead’

‘world domination, duh!’ from the Dude.

I find it amusing that Kleya has three giant monitors, but is using a little laptop. It reminds me of several other programmers I know. 😛

haha, well, keep in mind they think she is using a keyboard/headphone rig in Life. don’t think that is a coincidence.

What is really interesting is the amount of detailed speculation that is going on. This is a fine example of a good story line. There is enough unknown that people have to guess what is happening. But, there is enough known and it is logical so people can speculate on things.

Great job. Keep it up!

D’s like a loyal dog trying to please its master.
Shall I go fetch your food suplies, want me to scare away the nasty Tenka people?

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 206b