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Act 5. Pg 093
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Act 5. Pg 096
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Tales of the Drive
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PANEL 1: Location: Paa’q Description: On a marble dais sit 5 whale-like creatures (“qen”) of varying coloring. In front of the dais stand two whale-like creature - one wearing a white suit with a collar (“Grey Whale”), one holding a staff (“Striped Whale”). ORCA QEN: Chief engineer, you’re called before the council of five to report on — let’s see here — SLIPSTREAM #27, is it? GREY WHALE: Yes ma’am. That’s the ship that the human primos consulted on. PANEL 2: The GREY WHALE holds a holograph of a Slipstream ship, the light of the holograph casting a shadow on him. ORCA QEN (off-panel): Ah yes. They were most kind to our cause. GREY WHALE: Indeed. But their ship modifications didn’t work out. I’d like to completely rebuild that ship’s drive. PANEL 3: The ORCA speaks from the dais, the grey whale looks up at her. ORCA QEN: Rebuild it? But you just finish it!!? GREY WHALE: We did, but our testing shows that THE DRIVE OF THE OLD ONES is better than theirs. PANEL 4: A view of the dais from the side, showing the two qens looking up at the ORCA QEN. GREY WHALE: See, in order to try the primos’ designs, we had to switch to an air environment. But it turns out that water is CRITICAL for the drive’s operation. Without dense hydrodynamics, the entire ring gets FREEZING COLD. STRIPED WHALE: It froze my churros! PANEL 5: From behind the qen on the dais, we see the STRIPED WHALE wave as the GREY WHALE continues. ORCA QEN: LOVELY. STRIPED WHALE, small: No! Ma’am! We had churros onboard! GREY WHALE: It’s a huge flaw in their drive! That cold is a parasitic energy loss. It drops the efficiency of the whole system! It’s like the humans somehow made it WORSE. PANEL 6: Close up on the ORCA QEN. ORCA QEN: Ah. I see. Then please note for the formal record… that it’s cute when the humans try to help. —— Want to read the full story? Join us at Patreon.com/drive for the *FULL* Tales of the Drive archives, art giveaways, fun community, and more! DRIVE copyright Dave Kellett. Colors by Beth Reidmiller
PANEL 1: Location: Paa’q Description: On a marble dais sit 5 whale-like creatures (“qen”) of varying coloring. In front of the dais stand two whale-like creature - one wearing a white suit with a collar (“Grey Whale”), one holding a staff (“Striped Whale”). ORCA QEN: Chief engineer, you’re called before the council of five to report on — let’s see here — SLIPSTREAM #27, is it? GREY WHALE: Yes ma’am. That’s the ship that the human primos consulted on. PANEL 2: The GREY WHALE holds a holograph of a Slipstream ship, the light of the holograph casting a shadow on him. ORCA QEN (off-panel): Ah yes. They were most kind to our cause. GREY WHALE: Indeed. But their ship modifications didn’t work out. I’d like to completely rebuild that ship’s drive. PANEL 3: The ORCA speaks from the dais, the grey whale looks up at her. ORCA QEN: Rebuild it? But you just finish it!!? GREY WHALE: We did, but our testing shows that THE DRIVE OF THE OLD ONES is better than theirs. PANEL 4: A view of the dais from the side, showing the two qens looking up at the ORCA QEN. GREY WHALE: See, in order to try the primos’ designs, we had to switch to an air environment. But it turns out that water is CRITICAL for the drive’s operation. Without dense hydrodynamics, the entire ring gets FREEZING COLD. STRIPED WHALE: It froze my churros! PANEL 5: From behind the qen on the dais, we see the STRIPED WHALE wave as the GREY WHALE continues. ORCA QEN: LOVELY. STRIPED WHALE, small: No! Ma’am! We had churros onboard! GREY WHALE: It’s a huge flaw in their drive! That cold is a parasitic energy loss. It drops the efficiency of the whole system! It’s like the humans somehow made it WORSE. PANEL 6: Close up on the ORCA QEN. ORCA QEN: Ah. I see. Then please note for the formal record… that it’s cute when the humans try to help. —— Want to read the full story? Join us at Patreon.com/drive for the *FULL* Tales of the Drive archives, art giveaways, fun community, and more! DRIVE copyright Dave Kellett. Colors by Beth Reidmiller
FULL ARCHIVES
Act 5. Pg 093
Act 5. Pg 094
Act 5. Pg 095
Act 5. Pg 096
JUMP TO:
Act 1Act 4
Act 2Act 5
Act 3Act 6
Tales of the Drive
JUMP TO:  Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5Act 6 Tales of the Drive
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Act 5. Pg 096
Posted on May 7, 2026 by Beth Reidmiller

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