overwhelmed by questions? bedeviled by doubts? don’t know where to turn in the search for truth? how can you know? whom do you call? well, here’s whom ! call the

Episode 4

FUELING the FUTUREcreated and drawn

for the big history project by larry gonick

our heroes are face to face with orx-30 and his army of licensed cygnusians!

their weapons!

their authorities in high hats!

and there’s the dictator orx-30 himself!

what is that?

I thought, maybe if we give them a present, they might be willing to talk to us!

now if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to make an offering to orx-30, the high guardian of cygnus epsilon!

look at ’em all!

don’t you know uni­vex? they deliver anywhere in the virgo supercluster!

Episode 4 FUELING the FUTURE

our heroes are face to face with orx-30 and his army of licensed cygnusians!

how did you reach them? on my mobile!

don’t you get a signal here?

what is it, brianna?

I have an idea... hello? univex?

their weapons!

what are we going to do?

package for brianna!

sign here...

up in the sky!

wow! that was quick!their

organization!

!

BIG HISTORY PROJECT CLAIM TESTERS: EPISODE 4: FUELING THE FUTURE 2

BIG HISTORY PROJECT CLAIM TESTERS: EPISODE 4: FUELING THE FUTURE 3

ahem... cough! may a simple earth ling offer a humble gift to the mighty high­guardian­orx-30?

very well... approach. what is it?

in my language, high guardian, we call it a potato.

i’ll do anything for someone who gives such adorable­presents!­what would you like?¿

to begin with, could you please explain your food-licensing­program? why do cygnusians need a license to eat?

but it’s so cute! ooo! it reminds me of... of... myself­as a baby!!

“even making ferti-lizer for our food crops consumes huge loads of slork!”

“on earth it’s the same! we burn billions of liters of natural gas to get nitrogen from the air, and still more fuel to convert that nitro gen into plant food...”

who cares about earth? on my­planet, one barrel of slork makes the ferti-lizer needed to grow one basket of cyg-napples... so you see, there’s a limit on the food we can produce!

so you limit the number of cygnu-sians who are allowed to eat?

oh, that! clever, isn’t it? well... it all boils down to one thing: slork!

one barrel, one basket! one barrel,

one basket!

“you don’t know slork? it’s our only fuel! everything here runs on slork: rockets, factories, heating, air con ditioning, electric lights, dishwashers, tanks, trucks... everything­burns­slork!”

slork?

BIG HISTORY PROJECT CLAIM TESTERS: EPISODE 4: FUELING THE FUTURE 4

but, high guardian, zyx is my friend! please let her speak! how awkward!

well... ehrmmm...except the

unlicensed, that is...

you’re right, vera! just check out the high guar dian’s per-sonal­inter­est in slork!

everything the high guardian says is true: the whole Cygnus Epsilon system runs on slork...

“but that’s exactly the problem! slork is pumped from wells and dug from mines! what are we supposed to do when the slork runs­out? even our food­supply depends on slork!”

sounds a lot like earth!

so why can’t they stop using slork here?

exactly! I manage the slork to keep my planet happy, well-fed, and prosperous!

what? do I see zyx-27? why is that criminal still on the loose? arrest­her!!!

he sure makes himself sound good, though...

oh, all right...

only one reason: orx-30­owns­the­slork­mines! his bank account grows with every unit of slork that’s pumped, refined, shipped, and burned!

which will be used up one day!

outrageous! you can’t prove this!

actually, we can.

yes, we power nearly every-thing with oil, coal, and natural gas!

shouldn’t both planets start using alterna-tive sources of energy?“good”? I

don’t think so! there must be more to this than orx-30 admits...

pretty logical, brianna!

BIG HISTORY PROJECT CLAIM TESTERS: EPISODE 4: FUELING THE FUTURE 5

evy and I have the records of the energy company slorko... it turns out slorko owns all the other energy companies, and slorko is owned by... none other than orx-30 !

zyx had video­cameras hidden around her lab, uploading every-thing to the cloud... you can see the whole thing right here!

I went on the run... and eventually landed on earth, where I met my new friends...

oh, pffff! this is silly!

he’s managing slork for his own benefit, not the planet’s!!

not so long ago, I was a scientist working on alter-native­fuels: batteries charged by light from our star... motors powered by the wind... biochemical energy sources. these will last forever, instead of burning away like slork!

finally, you’ll be able to understand my story...

is it? show them the evidence, jesse!

“we had just made some key breakthroughs in con vert ing moonlight to hamburgers, when I had a visit from some agents of the high guardian...”

“when I refused, they smashed half my lab and tried to arrest me...”

“orx-30, they said, doesn’t like competition... they ordered me to stop working.”

otherwise, you’ll be sorry!

we will confer with intuition,­evidence,­authority, and logic to find a sustainable­energy­course for cygnus epsilon. er—and you won’t

forget i’m available?

and, as of today, we put an end to digestion licenses! from now on, all cygnusians can eat!

um... ahem?

well?

oh... hahaha! this is all an innocent mistake! when I heard that zyx-27 was studying “alter-natives,” I thought it meant alter natives to me!­you can imagine how upset I felt!

but of­course zyx is right... we absolutely need to research alternative fuels to sustain our civili zation in the long term... yes, we do!

well, no... not after the way he treated zyx!

can you believe this guy?

I will happily grant a license for zyx-27 to continue this very­important­research—ehm... what?!

sorry, high guardian, no more licenses from you... we, the authorities of cygnus epsilon, have decided it’s time for you to step­down as guardian!

psst! if you need a new high guardian, I can step in! I had lots of experi-ence as grain keeper to the unlicensed!

you­can’t­do­this­to­me!­i’m—­

i’m—

you’re taking a little vacation while we sort things out!

BIG HISTORY PROJECT CLAIM TESTERS: EPISODE 4: FUELING THE FUTURE 6

and so the cygnus epsilon system put itself on a path to long-term survival.

our goals: sustainable energy sources, efficient conversion, recycling, wise consumption, conservation of resources, and an end to slork dependency!

jesse and brianna said good-bye to zyx-27 and cygnus epsilon...

the cygnusians abolished the office of high guardian...

sorry, jesse!

it’s not fair!

dad, will I ever rule an alien planet single-handed?

what game is that, son?

brianna, why is there a 3 million dollar roaming charge on your cell bill?

um... sorry!­i’ll cut down on my texting!

... and returned to earth.

and the claim testers? they’re still available whenever you need help testing claims: intuition,­evidence,­authority, and logic!

orx-30 retired to a remote planetesimal, where he lives on a steady diet of potatoes.

so cute! (choff choff)

say, did that trip to cygnus epsilon really­happen?

well, you saw it in black and white...

you call that

evidence?

well, if it didn’t happen, someone must have been very clever to make it all up!

THE END

BIG HISTORY PROJECT CLAIM TESTERS: EPISODE 4: FUELING THE FUTURE 7