A Miracle of Science

A Miracle of Science is a science fiction webcomic written by Jon Kilgannon, with art by Mark Sachs. The story follows the exploits of Benjamin Prester and his partner Caprice Quevillion as they move from world to world in pursuit of Dr. Virgil Haas, a man who suffers from Science Related Memetic Disorder, basically a mad scientist. It is set in the year 2148 and there have been significant technological advances, such as the terraforming and subsequent colonization of multiple planets and moons in the Solar System.
The comic has been in color since the end of Chapter 1.
The comic ended on February 12, 2007, after 436 pages.
Characters.
Full character bios. The main characters are
Supporting characters:
Mars and Martians.
Martians are humans from the planet Mars. "Mars" refers to both the planet and the group mind of all living Martians. Martians are still individuals, though individuals can have the group mind act through them (whereupon their eyes turn black) to communicate messages. Martians tend to be informal, preferring to use first names in conversation.
Mars was settled by American and Chinese missions, which eventually developed into science and artisan communities (determined by matrilineality). Communication within a community is easy, but between them requires face-to-face interaction.
Martian technology is very advanced in comparison to the rest of humanity:
After starting the terraforming of other worlds in the Solar System, the Martians isolated themselves from the rest of humanity for a century, recontacting the rest of humanity just a decade before the story.
Mad Science.
In the MoS universe, mad scientists suffer from SRMD, Science Related Memetic Disorder. There are medications that can keep it under control, but they can also interfere with normal thinking processes; as Manny Delger explains, he has begun to skip his medication every other day because "I feel like my head is full of felt".
The disorder goes through the phases of infection, obsession, challenge, chase scene, and denouement, then resets and repeats if not treated.
Tracking down and arresting mad scientists is the primary function of the Vorstellen Police. "Vorstellen" is from a German verb that can mean "to imagine" -- and thus these police are the guardians of the imagination.
Plot summary.
Prologue.
start-end. Haas is infected with SRMD. Nyerere, at Mars' request, assigns Benjamin Prester (his best agent) a partner, Caprice Quevillion.
Reflecting the Dark.
start-end. Benjamin meets Caprice at Feynman Station, observed by Dryden's network of Marlowes. They board Caprice's ship, Qin Shihuangdi, and head for the Moon, where Djaya Sumatera tells them of rumors that an anonymous poster on a Ganymede server has been talking about revolutionary AI, which could be the product of mad science. Warned and aided by the Mars group mind (acting through Caprice), Benjamin and Caprice escape an attack by Haas' robots.
The Waters Above the Heavens.
start-end.
Mars analyses the remains of the robots, which use technology from many places, especially some Ganymedan software; Benjamin consequently decides to head to Ganymede. A call to information broker Taro Watanuki on Von Hayek Station (a space colony at Earth's L4 point) reveals that the robot's software was probably written by Benjamin's old friend Manny Delger. After a six-day trip to Ganymede, Benjamin and Caprice track Manny down, discovering that he has been skipping his SRMD medications. Manny admits to writing the software to network the Marlowes, which would allow them to form a group mind similar to the Martians. They visit the anonymous server on Io through which Manny's client communicated; Caprice "accidentally" hacks into their network, discovering that Manny's communications were relayed through another server on Earth.
Haas and his robots track Benjamin and Caprice to Io, then towards Mars for a gravity boost to either Earth or Venus. They obtain ship access codes from Beatriz Juruna and use them to take over (via a software perversion attack) several ships on similar routes to Qin's, then use the weapons of the Solar Navy destroyer "Gorbachev" to destroy Qin's shipbody. Caprice saves Qin's cogence core, escapes with Benjamin, and re-enters the Martian atmosphere using only the technology she is wearing (primarily the vector field and gravity blades).
A Saint Abroad and a Devil at Home.
start-end. Benjamin and Caprice impact safely on Mars, where they are rescued by Fabula and Syuzhet and taken to Alnaschar City. Benjamin meets Caprice's family, who help him replace the equipment lost in the demise of Qin's original shipbody (including a new railgun etched with a unicorn and rainbow by Wei). In the person of Mrs. Waters, the "President of Mars," Mars reveals it knows Benjamin was once a mad scientist.
Haas makes contact with Rocco to obtain equipment that he can't create with an autofactory he stole, then later takes over the whole mob by eliminating the capos above Rocco. He reveals his Master Plan; he is going to sell robots to all the governments of the Solar System; robots built at cut-rate prices made possible by his use of a stolen Martian autofactory; robots with overrides that will put them firmly under his command at an unspecified future date.
The Fire that Severs Day from Night.
start-end.
While everything else is going on, Benjamin flashes back to his days as a mad scientist in 2141, building robots with Manny and Djaya to take over the world.
He and Caprice board the new (and much improved) Qin and use the faster-than-light breaker gate to reach Earth quickly. They discover that the anonymous server has been destroyed in a viral attack, but Caprice reconstructs a broken molecular memory card to retrieve the information they need. She analyzes the data and discovers a call to a restaurant in Gagarin City on the Moon where there had been a conversation between Haas in holographic telepresence and Juruna in person. Benjamin and Caprice visit the restaurant and pressure the maitre d' to copy the corresponding security camera information, from which Mars identifies Juruna. They serve a search warrant on Juruna's home and pressure her into identifying Haas (and Rocco) by threatening to "take him down the hard way."
From sightings of Qin by Dryden's network of Marlowes, Haas realizes the Martians have FTL travel and not just FTL communication.
Rocco decides to attempt to gain some leverage to use against Haas. Greta discovers that Benjamin is after Haas. Henri discovers Haas' background was faked and identifies Oswald as someone who knows where to find him. Greta pressures Oswald to identify Haas' island base.
Benjamin and Caprice travel to Venus, where the inhabitants hate and fear Martians. Caprice pretends to be from Earth, and asks Venusian Immigration's Martian detector (Sally the AI) to let her pass into Astarte City without warning. They track Rocco to Cafe Sabella, where Benjamin, though wounded, overcomes Rocco and Greta and gets Rocco to reveal Haas' location. Dryden captures Caprice by breaking her connection with Mars, rendering her catatonic and convincing Mars she is dead.
Benjamin convinces Nyerere to let him continue the case despite his injury, his (apparent) loss of Caprice, and his extreme emotional stress (all of which can bring about an SRMD relapse). Caprice recovers enough to talk to Dryden. Benjamin heads for Haas' base, constructing an electricity gun ("It's a "ball lightning" gun.") as he goes.
Caprice convinces Dryden to let her out; Haas sends his robot army, including a particularly large robot named Pindar, to the city to mop up Rocco's mob and make a convincing (if perhaps premature) show of strength. Pindar himself captures Rocco and Greta by disabling the police paddy wagon carting them off to jail.
Caprice talks Dryden into sending a Morse code signal via one of his observer drones (the Marlowes) to Sally, the Martian AI implanted in a customs security machine at the spaceport; Sally relays the news to Mars, and flies off (converting her housing into a flying weapon) in search of Caprice's exact location.
Meanwhile, Benjamin has infiltrated Haas' base and coerced Chaucer into leading him to Haas; Chaucer attempts to trap him with another Pindar robot, but the battle between Pindar-2 and Benjamin ends in a stalemate and the two wind up talking it out. Benjamin convinces Pindar-2 and Chaucer - by treating the sentient AIs as his equals - that he wants their boss to be taken alive and unharmed, and that treatment will actually be beneficial to Haas.
Sally intercepts Haas' fleet of robots en route back to their base and engages in a pitched battle with them. Pindar-1 attempts to use the same nanotech/consciousness-disrupting weapon that was deployed by Dryden to capture Caprice, but Sally manages to avoid the weapon's field of effect and retaliates by trapping the entire fleet at the bottom of a massive void in the ocean.
Finally, Benjamin and Caprice confront Haas, and manage to bring him to reason thanks to Benjamin's intimate knowledge of SRMD and how to handle it. Caprice uses her nanotech and psychology to keep Haas' robots from interfering, and all ends well.
Epilogue.
start-end
Benjamin and Caprice start a new life.
Minor plot points.
Martian technology:
Benjamin himself was once a mad scientist; he was the first SRMD sufferer to form a stable team with other mad scientists (in 2141 with Djaya Sumatera and Mukhali "Manny" Delger). He needs no medication to remain stable, unless he receives a major psychological disturbance.
Haas' network of camera drones forms a sort of group mind, similar to that of the Martians. Non-networked computers apparently only think about .